explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3227: Creation

2026-04-06T06:56:42Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the web page, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this {{w|April Fool's Day}} comic, several new viewing modes have been added to the xkcd website, accessible through a {{w|drop-down list}} beneath the comic (not visible on Explain xkcd). This allows various different viewing experiences for the entire website, including older comics. Some are "normal" viewing modes, like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things further and/or in more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The accompanying comic references one of the first lines of the {{w|Bible}} (Genesis 1:3), wherein God creates light. Here, though, before God has a chance to fully appreciate the work, a person on Earth immediately requests an implementation of {{w|dark mode}}. Dark mode is a feature on many websites and devices which displays text in white against a black background instead of the default black text on a white background. In low ambient light this makes for a less intense viewing experience that is easier on the eyes, so many people who spend a lot of time looking at screens prefer dark mode (whereas casual users often find light mode easier to read). On OLED screens, another benefit is that because of the primarily low brightness of the screen, less battery life is consumed, which makes it useful for those who want to be energy-efficient or extend their battery life.

This demand represents a common experience for web and app designers, who spend a lot of time creating something that looks beautiful to them, and in their particular use case, only to find when it is put out into the wild that it doesn't suit the needs of many of their actual users, who don't particularly care about the effort they've put in.

Dark mode is not usually implemented on planets,{{cn}} although one could argue that night-time is effectively Earth's "dark mode", which could have been created by God as a response to the person. (That seems likely, in fact, given that the very next words in Genesis 1:4 are "and he separated the light from the darkness".) The comic deviates somewhat from traditional Judeo-Christian theology, as in Genesis the day/night cycle was created on the first day, but humans were created on the sixth day - thus, the "dark mode" (night-time) would already have been implemented by the time humans existed. Possibly the person is actually requesting a dark mode that can be toggled at will, rather than one which occurs automatically each day.

Unlike most comics, the title text contains no jokes, but rather explains the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===List of modes===
; Light Mode
: The usual site experience. Typically, where sites have light and dark modes, light is the default option, so as to mimic ink on paper (such as printed {{w|newspaper comic strip}}s).

; Lighter Mode
: The entire web page is filtered to look {{w|Exposure (photography)#Overexposure and underexposure|overexposed}}, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.

; Dark Mode
: A standard "white content on black background" dark mode. Specifically, Dark Mode inverts the colors of the page (which makes a {{w|Negative (photography)|colour-negative}} and then hue-rotates it by 180 degrees (to make hue return to normal, only brightness-reversed. (For example, see comic [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution|556]], with dark mode enabled, to see how the hue is maintained.) The background of the page, normally light blue, becomes a dark blue; (near-)whites become (near-)blacks, and vice-versa, only mid-tones staying the same. This inversion makes the content of this particular comic, with the original transition from a dark pane to "let there be light" panes and the subsequent request for this very feature, particularly nonsensical, as it seems to start fully bright, then darken as God creates light.

; Darkest Mode
: Everything on the webpage turns completely black (severely 'underexposed', in effect, the opposite to "Lighter mode" but also even more extreme). The exception is the drop down menu widget, which may appear as merely a dark gray — and depending upon the browser itself, the dropped-down menu may be its 'natural' appearance when it becomes fully active — which is of course extremely helpful for navigating back out of this mode or onward onto others.

; Blurry Mode
: {{w|Blur (photographic effect)|Blurs}} the entire webpage. This is not conventionally desirable as it makes it harder to read text and interpret visuals. Whereas light and dark mode support can improve {{w|Web accessibility|accessibility}} for certain vision conditions, this mode makes already poor vision even worse.

; Grayscale Mode
: Applies a standard {{w|grayscale}}/{{w|Colorfulness#Saturation|desaturation}} conversion filter to the entire webpage. Many devices provide a grayscale mode as one of their color filter settings, which can simulate different {{w|color vision deficiencies}}. Grayscale specifically can also help improve focus by preventing colors from catching the eye and making distractions less visually appealing.

; Greyscale Mode
: Operates identically to Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (to go along with the respective {{w|American and British English spelling differences|British English}} use of ''{{wiktionary|gray}}/{{wiktionary|grey}}'').

; Dorian Greyscale Mode
: Makes the webpage slowly turn grey, including darkening/fading-to-grey 'white' areas. This refers to ''{{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}'', in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome. The transformation finishes after 5 minutes.

: Of note is that the surname of the titular character is "{{w|Grey (disambiguation)#People|Gray}}" (as is still common, if not dominant, in Britain), but the mode itself is named for the primary British/non-American standard English version of the word for such a hueless shade.

: No relation to the {{w|Dorian mode}}, a musical scale.

; Space Opera Mode
: Turns the entire page into a ''{{w|Star Wars}}''-style opening scroll, which loops round until you change the mode. Scrolling the mouse scrolls up or down through the page content. {{w|Space opera}} is a genre of sci-fi that ''Star Wars'' falls under.

; 3D Mode
: Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph 3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}. [[Randall]] has used 3D space before for [[848|another joke comic]].

; Origami Mode
: Rotates and folds various pieces of the webpage, as if it were {{w|origami}}-folded.

; Ink Mode
: Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink, which is often used for the initial roughing-out of a drawing.

; Spring Mode
: Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate around an axis when the page is scrolled, and giving it a {{w|springboard}} look, hence the name. The axis around which the page precesses is perpendicular to the axis the user scrolls on. This means that when the page is scrolled vertically (the usual direction), the comic wobbles around a horizontal axis, but when scrolled horizontally (if your screen size or zoom allows it), the comic precesses about the vertical axis.

; Antipodes Mode
: Turns the entire webpage upside down. An {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also a term used to refer to {{w|Australia}} and {{w|New Zealand}} by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".

; Hacker Mode
: Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical green-on-black coding environment color scheme often used by {{w|hacker}}s on film and TV. This visual shorthand is a holdover from early {{w|monochrome monitor}}s that used P1 phosphor. (Modern terminal software has no such limitations, and many programmers today use {{w|syntax highlighting}} to color-code operators and keywords.)

; Screensaver Mode
: Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges. A common type of {{w|screensaver}} has some text or other element drifting around the screen in this way. Many people ended up watching such screensavers, waiting for the bouncing graphic to hit the corner of the screen. Like with Hacker Mode, there is an element of nostalgia to this; screensavers are less necessary on modern LCD screens, so fewer setups use them.

; Modem Mode
: Slowly reveals the comic from top to bottom, as if slowly loading (but [[598: Porn|only in approximation]]) the way images often used to have to be progressively rendered from a low-rate stream of image data in the days of more limited dial-up connections and also a lower-performance {{w|Internet backbone}} in general. This is accompanied by audio of the sound of a {{w|modem}} communicating over such a connection. NB - this mode does not appear to function correctly/reliably for some viewers.

; Stained Glass Mode
: Fills each closed area of the comic with a separate color to mimic the look of {{w|stained glass}} imagery. The colors vary each time this mode is selected or the page is reloaded in this mode, which works by flooding a single pseudorandom hue over all areas of near-white, each flood bounded only by any sufficiently dark or saturated drawn line/border.

; Airplane Mode
: Makes the comic fly around on the page, with the {{w|onomatopoeia}} "NYOOM!" written next to it, as if it were an {{w|airplane}}. This is unlike the usual use of {{w|airplane mode}} to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all {{w|radio frequency}}) features of a mobile device, as required on most flights. Of course, the website's "Airplane Mode" does no such thing, and would be pointless to enable on an airplane.{{cn}}

; Boat Mode
: Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water. While [[165: Turn Signals|extremely unlikely]], this could theoretically counteract the rocking motion of a boat, stabilizing the page content. In practice, it is unlikely to help with {{w|seasickness}}. (As of 2024, some smart devices started offering a "vehicle motion cues" feature that is meant to reduce motion sickness, although it is designed for road vehicles rather than watercraft.)

: This mode is a reference to the longstanding mention of a Boat Mode in the [[footnote]], which says "Remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode".

==Transcript==
:[Black background with white caption boxes.]
:Caption: And God said,
:Caption:"Let there be light,"

:[A bright explosion of light from a star in the center, with a white caption box.]
:Caption: And there was light.

:[The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]
:[The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]
:Caption: God saw that the light was-
:Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

<noinclude>{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]
</noinclude>

3227: Creation

2026-04-06T06:56:11Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the web page, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this {{w|April Fool's Day}} comic, several new viewing modes have been added to the xkcd website, accessible through a {{w|drop-down list}} beneath the comic (not visible on Explain xkcd). This allows various different viewing experiences for the entire website, including older comics. Some are "normal" viewing modes, like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things further and/or in more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The accompanying comic references one of the first lines of the {{w|Bible}} (Genesis 1:3), wherein God creates light. Here, though, before God has a chance to fully appreciate the work, a person on Earth immediately requests an implementation of {{w|dark mode}}. Dark mode is a feature on many websites and devices which displays text in white against a black background instead of the default black text on a white background. In low ambient light this makes for a less intense viewing experience that is easier on the eyes, so many people who spend a lot of time looking at screens prefer dark mode (whereas casual users often find light mode easier to read). On OLED screens, another benefit is that because of the primarily low brightness of the screen, less battery life is consumed, which makes it useful for those who want to be energy-efficient or extend their battery life.

This demand represents a common experience for web and app designers, who spend a lot of time creating something that looks beautiful to them, and in their particular use case, only to find when it is put out into the wild that it doesn't suit the needs of many of their actual users, who don't particularly care about the effort they've put in.

Dark mode is not usually implemented on planets,{{cn}} although one could argue that night-time is effectively Earth's "dark mode", which could have been created by God as a response to the person. (That seems likely, in fact, given that the very next words in Genesis 1:4 are "and he separated the light from the darkness".) The comic deviates somewhat from traditional Judeo-Christian theology, as in Genesis the day/night cycle was created on the first day, but humans were created on the sixth day - thus, the "dark mode" (night-time) would already have been implemented by the time humans existed. Possibly the person is actually requesting a dark mode that can be toggled at will, rather than one which occurs automatically each day.

Unlike most comics, the title text contains no jokes, but rather explains the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===List Of Modes===
; Light Mode
: The usual site experience. Typically, where sites have light and dark modes, light is the default option, so as to mimic ink on paper (such as printed {{w|newspaper comic strip}}s).

; Lighter Mode
: The entire web page is filtered to look {{w|Exposure (photography)#Overexposure and underexposure|overexposed}}, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.

; Dark Mode
: A standard "white content on black background" dark mode. Specifically, Dark Mode inverts the colors of the page (which makes a {{w|Negative (photography)|colour-negative}} and then hue-rotates it by 180 degrees (to make hue return to normal, only brightness-reversed. (For example, see comic [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution|556]], with dark mode enabled, to see how the hue is maintained.) The background of the page, normally light blue, becomes a dark blue; (near-)whites become (near-)blacks, and vice-versa, only mid-tones staying the same. This inversion makes the content of this particular comic, with the original transition from a dark pane to "let there be light" panes and the subsequent request for this very feature, particularly nonsensical, as it seems to start fully bright, then darken as God creates light.

; Darkest Mode
: Everything on the webpage turns completely black (severely 'underexposed', in effect, the opposite to "Lighter mode" but also even more extreme). The exception is the drop down menu widget, which may appear as merely a dark gray — and depending upon the browser itself, the dropped-down menu may be its 'natural' appearance when it becomes fully active — which is of course extremely helpful for navigating back out of this mode or onward onto others.

; Blurry Mode
: {{w|Blur (photographic effect)|Blurs}} the entire webpage. This is not conventionally desirable as it makes it harder to read text and interpret visuals. Whereas light and dark mode support can improve {{w|Web accessibility|accessibility}} for certain vision conditions, this mode makes already poor vision even worse.

; Grayscale Mode
: Applies a standard {{w|grayscale}}/{{w|Colorfulness#Saturation|desaturation}} conversion filter to the entire webpage. Many devices provide a grayscale mode as one of their color filter settings, which can simulate different {{w|color vision deficiencies}}. Grayscale specifically can also help improve focus by preventing colors from catching the eye and making distractions less visually appealing.

; Greyscale Mode
: Operates identically to Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (to go along with the respective {{w|American and British English spelling differences|British English}} use of ''{{wiktionary|gray}}/{{wiktionary|grey}}'').

; Dorian Greyscale Mode
: Makes the webpage slowly turn grey, including darkening/fading-to-grey 'white' areas. This refers to ''{{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}'', in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome. The transformation finishes after 5 minutes.

: Of note is that the surname of the titular character is "{{w|Grey (disambiguation)#People|Gray}}" (as is still common, if not dominant, in Britain), but the mode itself is named for the primary British/non-American standard English version of the word for such a hueless shade.

: No relation to the {{w|Dorian mode}}, a musical scale.

; Space Opera Mode
: Turns the entire page into a ''{{w|Star Wars}}''-style opening scroll, which loops round until you change the mode. Scrolling the mouse scrolls up or down through the page content. {{w|Space opera}} is a genre of sci-fi that ''Star Wars'' falls under.

; 3D Mode
: Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph 3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}. [[Randall]] has used 3D space before for [[848|another joke comic]].

; Origami Mode
: Rotates and folds various pieces of the webpage, as if it were {{w|origami}}-folded.

; Ink Mode
: Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink, which is often used for the initial roughing-out of a drawing.

; Spring Mode
: Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate around an axis when the page is scrolled, and giving it a {{w|springboard}} look, hence the name. The axis around which the page precesses is perpendicular to the axis the user scrolls on. This means that when the page is scrolled vertically (the usual direction), the comic wobbles around a horizontal axis, but when scrolled horizontally (if your screen size or zoom allows it), the comic precesses about the vertical axis.

; Antipodes Mode
: Turns the entire webpage upside down. An {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also a term used to refer to {{w|Australia}} and {{w|New Zealand}} by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".

; Hacker Mode
: Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical green-on-black coding environment color scheme often used by {{w|hacker}}s on film and TV. This visual shorthand is a holdover from early {{w|monochrome monitor}}s that used P1 phosphor. (Modern terminal software has no such limitations, and many programmers today use {{w|syntax highlighting}} to color-code operators and keywords.)

; Screensaver Mode
: Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges. A common type of {{w|screensaver}} has some text or other element drifting around the screen in this way. Many people ended up watching such screensavers, waiting for the bouncing graphic to hit the corner of the screen. Like with Hacker Mode, there is an element of nostalgia to this; screensavers are less necessary on modern LCD screens, so fewer setups use them.

; Modem Mode
: Slowly reveals the comic from top to bottom, as if slowly loading (but [[598: Porn|only in approximation]]) the way images often used to have to be progressively rendered from a low-rate stream of image data in the days of more limited dial-up connections and also a lower-performance {{w|Internet backbone}} in general. This is accompanied by audio of the sound of a {{w|modem}} communicating over such a connection. NB - this mode does not appear to function correctly/reliably for some viewers.

; Stained Glass Mode
: Fills each closed area of the comic with a separate color to mimic the look of {{w|stained glass}} imagery. The colors vary each time this mode is selected or the page is reloaded in this mode, which works by flooding a single pseudorandom hue over all areas of near-white, each flood bounded only by any sufficiently dark or saturated drawn line/border.

; Airplane Mode
: Makes the comic fly around on the page, with the {{w|onomatopoeia}} "NYOOM!" written next to it, as if it were an {{w|airplane}}. This is unlike the usual use of {{w|airplane mode}} to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all {{w|radio frequency}}) features of a mobile device, as required on most flights. Of course, the website's "Airplane Mode" does no such thing, and would be pointless to enable on an airplane.{{cn}}

; Boat Mode
: Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water. While [[165: Turn Signals|extremely unlikely]], this could theoretically counteract the rocking motion of a boat, stabilizing the page content. In practice, it is unlikely to help with {{w|seasickness}}. (As of 2024, some smart devices started offering a "vehicle motion cues" feature that is meant to reduce motion sickness, although it is designed for road vehicles rather than watercraft.)

: This mode is a reference to the longstanding mention of a Boat Mode in the [[footnote]], which says "Remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode".

==Transcript==
:[Black background with white caption boxes.]
:Caption: And God said,
:Caption:"Let there be light,"

:[A bright explosion of light from a star in the center, with a white caption box.]
:Caption: And there was light.

:[The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]
:[The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]
:Caption: God saw that the light was-
:Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

<noinclude>{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]
</noinclude>

3227: Creation

2026-04-03T18:53:29Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the web page, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this {{w|April Fool's Day}} comic, several new viewing modes have been added to the xkcd website, accessible through a {{w|drop-down list}} beneath the comic (not visible on Explain xkcd). This allows various different viewing experiences for the entire website, including older comics. Some are "normal" viewing modes, like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things further and/or in more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The accompanying comic references one of the first lines of the {{w|Bible}} (Genesis 1:3), wherein God creates light. Here, though, before God has a chance to fully appreciate their work, a person on Earth immediately requests an implementation of {{w|dark mode}}. Dark mode is a feature on many websites and devices which displays text in white against a black background instead of the default black text on a white background. In low ambient light this makes for a less intense viewing experience that is easier on the eyes, so many people who spend a lot of time looking at screens prefer dark mode (whereas casual users often find light mode easier to read). On OLED screens, another benefit is that because of the primarily low brightness of the screen, less battery life is consumed, which makes it useful for those who want to be energy-efficient or extend their battery life.

This demand represents a common experience for web and app designers, who spend a lot of time creating something that looks beautiful to them, and in their particular use case, only to find when it is put out into the wild that it doesn't suit the needs of many of their actual users, who don't particularly care about the effort they've put in.

Dark mode is not usually implemented on planets,{{cn}} although one could argue that night-time is effectively Earth's "dark mode", which could have been created by God as a response to the person. (That seems likely, in fact, given that the very next words in Genesis 1:4 are "and he separated the light from the darkness".) The comic deviates somewhat from traditional Judeo-Christian theology, as in Genesis the day/night cycle was created on the first day, but humans were created on the sixth day - thus, the "dark mode" (night-time) would already have been implemented by the time humans existed. Possibly the person is actually requesting a dark mode that can be toggled at will, rather than one which occurs automatically each day.

Unlike most comics, the title text contains no jokes, but rather explains the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===Table of modes===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Mode
! Description
|-
| Light Mode
| The usual site experience. Typically, where sites have light and dark modes, light is the default option, so as to mimic ink on paper (such as printed {{w|newspaper comic strip}}s).
|-
| Lighter Mode
| The entire web page is filtered to look {{w|Exposure (photography)#Overexposure and underexposure|overexposed}}, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.
|-
| Dark Mode
| A standard "white content on black background" dark mode. Specifically, Dark Mode inverts the colors of the page and hue-rotates them by 180 degrees (see comic [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution|556]] with dark mode enabled), while also setting the background of the page to a dark blue. This inversion makes the content of this particular comic, with the original transition from a dark pane to "let there be light" panes and the subsequent request for this very feature, particularly nonsensical, as it seems to start fully bright, then darken as God creates light.
|-
| Darkest Mode
| Everything on the webpage turns completely black (severely 'underexposed', in effect, the opposite to "Lighter mode" but also even more extreme). The exception is the drop down menu widget, which may appear as merely a dark gray — and depending upon the browser itself, the dropped-down menu may be its 'natural' appearance when it becomes fully active — which is of course extremely helpful for navigating back out of this mode or onward onto others.
|-
| Blurry Mode
| {{w|Blur (photographic effect)|Blurs}} the entire webpage. This is not conventionally desirable as it makes it harder to read text and interpret visuals. Whereas light and dark mode support can improve {{w|Web accessibility|accessibility}} for certain vision conditions, this mode makes already poor vision even worse.
|-
| Grayscale Mode
| Applies a standard {{w|grayscale}}/{{w|Colorfulness#Saturation|desaturation}} conversion filter to the entire webpage. Many devices provide a grayscale mode as one of their color filter settings, which can simulate different {{w|color vision deficiencies}}. Grayscale specifically can also help improve focus by preventing colors from catching the eye and making distractions less visually appealing.
|-
| Greyscale Mode
| Operates identically to Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (to go along with the respective {{w|American and British English spelling differences|British English}} use of ''{{wiktionary|gray}}/{{wiktionary|grey}}'').
|-
| Dorian Greyscale Mode
| Makes the webpage slowly turn grey, including darkening/fading-to-grey 'white' areas. This refers to ''{{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}'', in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome.

Of note is that the surname of the titular character is "{{w|Grey (disambiguation)#People|Gray}}" (as is still common, if not dominant, in Britain), but the mode itself is named for the primary British/non-American standard English version of the word for such a hueless shade.

No relation to the {{w|Dorian mode}}, a musical scale.
|-
| Space Opera Mode
| Turns the entire page into a ''{{w|Star Wars}}''-style opening scroll, which loops round until you change the mode. Scrolling the mouse scrolls up or down through the page content. {{w|Space opera}} is a genre of sci-fi that ''Star Wars'' falls under.
|-
| 3D Mode
| Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph 3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}. [[Randall]] has used 3D space before for [[848|another joke comic]].
|-
| Origami Mode
| Rotates and folds various pieces of the webpage, as if it were {{w|origami}}-folded.
|-
| Ink Mode
| Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink, which is often used for the initial roughing-out of a drawing.
|-
| Spring Mode
| Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate around an axis when the page is scrolled, and giving it a {{w|springboard}} look, hence the name. The axis around which the page precesses is perpendicular to the axis the user scrolls on. This means that when the page is scrolled vertically (the usual direction), the comic wobbles around a horizontal axis, but when scrolled horizontally (if your screen size or zoom allows it), the comic precesses about the vertical axis.
|-
| Antipodes Mode
| Turns the entire webpage upside down. An {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also a term used to refer to {{w|Australia}} and {{w|New Zealand}} by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".
|-
| Hacker Mode
| Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical green-on-black coding environment color scheme often used by {{w|hacker}}s on film and TV. This visual shorthand is a holdover from early {{w|monochrome monitor}}s that used P1 phosphor. (Modern terminal software has no such limitations, and many programmers today use {{w|syntax highlighting}} to color-code operators and keywords.)
|-
| Screensaver Mode
| Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges. A common type of {{w|screensaver}} has some text or other element drifting around the screen in this way. Many people ended up watching such screensavers, waiting for the bouncing graphic to hit the corner of the screen. Like with Hacker Mode, there is an element of nostalgia to this; screensavers are less necessary on modern LCD screens, so fewer setups use them.
|-
| Modem Mode
| Slowly reveals the comic from top to bottom, as if slowly loading (but [[598: Porn|only in approximation]]) the way images often used to have to be progressively rendered from a low-rate stream of image data in the days of more limited dial-up connections and also a lower-performance {{w|Internet backbone}} in general. This is accompanied by audio of the sound of a {{w|modem}} communicating over such a connection. NB - this mode does not appear to function correctly/reliably for some viewers.
|-
| Stained Glass Mode
| Fills each closed area of the comic with a separate color to mimic the look of {{w|stained glass}} imagery. The colors vary each time this mode is selected or the page is reloaded in this mode, which works by flooding a single pseudorandom hue over all areas of near-white, each flood bounded only by any sufficiently dark or saturated drawn line/border.
|-
| Airplane Mode
| Makes the comic fly around on the page, with the {{w|onomatopoeia}} "NYOOM!" written next to it, as if it were an {{w|airplane}}. This is unlike the usual use of {{w|airplane mode}} to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all {{w|radio frequency}}) features of a mobile device, as required on most flights. Of course, the website's "Airplane Mode" does no such thing, and would be pointless to enable on an airplane.{{cn}}
|-
| Boat Mode
| Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water. While [[165: Turn Signals|extremely unlikely]], this could theoretically counteract the rocking motion of a boat, stabilizing the page content. In practice, it is unlikely to help with {{w|seasickness}}. (As of 2024, some smart devices started offering a "vehicle motion cues" feature that is meant to reduce motion sickness, although it is designed for road vehicles rather than watercraft.)

This mode is a reference to the longstanding mention of a Boat Mode in the [[footnote]], which says "Remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode".
|}

==Transcript==
:[Black background with white caption boxes.]
:Caption: And God said,
:Caption:"Let there be light,"

:[A bright explosion of light from a star in the center, with a white caption box.]
:Caption: And there was light.

:[The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]
:[The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]
:Caption: God saw that the light was-
:Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

<noinclude>{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]
</noinclude>

3227: Creation

2026-04-02T22:26:45Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the web page, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this {{w|April Fool's Day}} comic, several new viewing modes have been added to the xkcd website, accessible through a {{w|drop-down list}} beneath the comic (not visible on Explain xkcd). This allows various different viewing experiences for the entire website, including older comics. Some are "normal" viewing modes, like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things further and/or in more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The accompanying comic references one of the first lines of the {{w|Bible}} (Genesis 1:3), wherein God creates light. Here, though, before God has a chance to fully appreciate their work, a person on Earth immediately requests an implementation of {{w|dark mode}}. Dark mode is a feature on many websites and devices which displays text in white against a black background instead of the default black text on a white background. In low ambient light this makes for a less intense viewing experience that is easier on the eyes, so many people who spend a lot of time looking at screens prefer dark mode (whereas casual users often find light mode easier to read). On OLED screens, another benefit is that because of the primarily low brightness of the screen, less battery life is consumed, which makes it useful for those who want to be energy-efficient or extend their battery life.

This demand represents a common experience for web and app designers, who spend a lot of time creating something that looks beautiful to them, and in their particular use case, only to find when it is put out into the wild that it doesn't suit the needs of many of their actual users, who don't particularly care about the effort they've put in.

Dark mode is not usually implemented on planets (although one could argue that night-time is effectively Earth's "dark mode", which could have been created by God as a response to the person). The comic deviates somewhat from traditional Judeo-Christian theology, as in Genesis the day/night cycle was created on the first day, but humans were created on the sixth day - thus, the "dark mode" (night-time) would already have been implemented by the time humans existed. Possibly the person is actually requesting a dark mode that can be toggled at will, rather than one which occurs automatically each day.

Unlike most comics, the title text contains no jokes, but rather explains the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===Table of modes===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Mode
! Description
|-
| Light Mode
| The usual site experience. Typically, where sites have light and dark modes, light is the default option, so as to mimic ink on paper (such as printed {{w|newspaper comic strip}}s).
|-
| Lighter Mode
| The entire web page is filtered to look {{w|Exposure (photography)#Overexposure and underexposure|overexposed}}, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.
|-
| Dark Mode
| A standard "white content on black background" dark mode. Specifically, Dark Mode seems to invert the brightness of most colors (see comic [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution|556]] with dark mode enabled), but sets colors close to white to black, ignoring their original color (see comic [[2342: Exposure Notification|2342]] with dark mode enabled). This inversion makes the content of this particular comic, with the original transition from a dark pane to "let there be light" panes and the subsequent request for this very feature, particularly nonsensical, as it seems to start fully bright, then darken as God creates light.
|-
| Darkest Mode
| Everything on the webpage turns completely black (severely 'underexposed', in effect, the opposite to "Lighter mode" but also even more extreme). The exception is the drop down menu widget, which may appear as merely a dark gray — and depending upon the browser itself, the dropped-down menu may be its 'natural' appearance when it becomes fully active — which is of course extremely helpful for navigating back out of this mode or onward onto others.
|-
| Blurry Mode
| {{w|Blur (photographic effect)|Blurs}} the entire webpage. This is not conventionally desirable as it makes it harder to read text and interpret visuals. Whereas light and dark mode support can improve {{w|Web accessibility|accessibility}} for certain vision conditions, this mode makes already poor vision even worse.
|-
| Grayscale Mode
| Applies a standard {{w|grayscale}}/{{w|Colorfulness#Saturation|desaturation}} conversion filter to the entire webpage. Many devices provide a grayscale mode as one of their color filter settings, which can simulate different {{w|color vision deficiencies}}. Grayscale specifically can also help improve focus by preventing colors from catching the eye and making distractions less visually appealing.
|-
| Greyscale Mode
| Operates identically to Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (to go along with the respective {{w|American and British English spelling differences|British English}} use of ''{{wiktionary|gray}}/{{wiktionary|grey}}'').
|-
| Dorian Greyscale Mode
| Makes the webpage slowly turn grey, including darkening/fading-to-grey 'white' areas. This refers to ''{{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}'', in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome.

Of note is that the surname of the titular character is "{{w|Grey (disambiguation)#People|Gray}}" (as is still common, if not dominant, in Britain), but the mode itself is named for the primary British/non-American standard English version of the word for such a hueless shade.

No relation to the {{w|Dorian mode}}, a musical scale.
|-
| Space Opera Mode
| Turns the entire page into a ''{{w|Star Wars}}''-style opening scroll, which loops round until you change the mode. Scrolling the mouse scrolls up or down through the page content.
|-
| 3D Mode
| Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph 3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}. [[Randall]] has used 3D space before for [[848|another joke comic]].
|-
| Origami Mode
| Rotates and folds various pieces of the webpage, as if it were {{w|origami}}-folded.
|-
| Ink Mode
| Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink.
|-
| Spring Mode
| Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate around an axis when the page is scrolled, and giving it a {{w|springboard}} look, hence the name. The axis around which the page precesses is perpendicular to the axis the user scrolls on. This means that when the page is scrolled vertically (the usual direction), the comic wobbles around a horizontal axis, but when scrolled horizontally (if your screen size or zoom allows it), the comic precesses about the vertical axis.
|-
| Antipodes Mode
| Turns the entire webpage upside down. An {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also a term used to refer to {{w|Australia}} and {{w|New Zealand}} by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".
|-
| Hacker Mode
| Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical green-on-black coding environment color scheme often used by {{w|hacker}}s on film and TV. This visual shorthand is a holdover from early {{w|monochrome monitor}}s that used P1 phosphor. (Modern terminal software has no such limitations, and many programmers today use {{w|syntax highlighting}} to color-code operators and keywords.)
|-
| Screensaver Mode
| Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges. A common type of {{w|screensaver}} has some text or other element drifting around the screen in this way. Many people ended up watching such screensavers, waiting for the bouncing graphic to hit the corner of the screen. Like with Hacker Mode, there is an element of nostalgia to this; screensavers are less necessary on modern LCD screens, so fewer setups use them.
|-
| Modem Mode
| Slowly reveals the comic top to bottom, as if slowly loading (but [[598: Porn|only in approximation]]) the way images often used to have to be progressively rendered from a low-rate stream of image data in the days of more limited dial-up connections and also a lower-performance {{w|Internet backbone}} in general. This is accompanied by audio of the sound of a {{w|modem}} communicating over such a connection. NB - this mode does not appear to function correctly/reliably for some viewers.
|-
| Stained Glass Mode
| Fills each closed area of the comic with a separate color to mimic the look of {{w|stained glass}} imagery. The colors vary each time this mode is selected or the page is reloaded in this mode, which works by flooding a single pseudorandom hue over all areas of near-white, each flood bounded only by any sufficiently dark or saturated drawn line/border.
|-
| Airplane Mode
| Makes the comic fly around on the page, with a "NYOOM!" written next to it, as if it were an {{w|airplane}}. This is unlike the usual use of "airplane mode" to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all {{w|radio frequency}}) features of a mobile device, as required on most flights. Of course, this Airplane Mode is likely not required on an airplane{{cn}}.
|-
| Boat Mode
| Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water.

This is a reference to the longstanding mention of a Boat Mode in the [[footnote]], which says "Remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode".
|}

==Transcript==
:[Black background with white caption boxes.]
:Caption: And God said,
:Caption:"Let there be light,"

:[A bright explosion of light from a star in the center, with a white caption box.]
:Caption: And there was light.

:[The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]
:[The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]
:Caption: God saw that the light was-
:Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

<noinclude>{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]
</noinclude>

3227: Creation

2026-04-02T22:25:35Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the web page, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this {{w|April Fool's Day}} comic, several new viewing modes have been added to the xkcd website, accessible through a {{w|drop-down list}} beneath the comic (not visible on Explain xkcd). This allows various different viewing experiences for the entire website, including older comics. Some are "normal" viewing modes, like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things further and/or in more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The accompanying comic references one of the first lines of the {{w|Bible}} (Genesis 1:3), wherein God creates light. Here, though, before God has a chance to fully appreciate their work, a person on Earth immediately requests an implementation of {{w|dark mode}}. Dark mode is a feature on many websites and devices which displays text in white against a black background instead of the default black text on a white background. In low ambient light this makes for a less intense viewing experience that is easier on the eyes, so many people who spend a lot of time looking at screens prefer dark mode (whereas casual users often find light mode easier to read). On OLED screens, another benefit is that because of the primarily low brightness of the screen, less battery life is consumed, which makes it useful for those who want to be energy-efficient or extend their battery life.

This demand represents a common experience for web and app designers, who spend a lot of time creating something that looks beautiful to them, and in their particular use case, only to find when it is put out into the wild that it doesn't suit the needs of many of their actual users, who don't particularly care about the effort they've put in.

Dark mode is not usually implemented on planets (although one could argue that night-time is effectively Earth's "dark mode", which could have been created by God as a response to the person). The comic deviates somewhat from traditional Judeo-Christian theology, as in Genesis the day/night cycle was created on the first day, but humans were created on the sixth day - thus, the "dark mode" (night-time) would already have been implemented by the time humans existed. Possibly the person is actually requesting a dark mode that can be toggled at will, rather than one which occurs automatically each day.

Unlike most comics, the title text contains no jokes, but rather explains the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===Table of modes===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Mode
! Description
|-
| Light Mode
| The usual site experience. Typically, where sites have light and dark modes, light is the default option, so as to mimic ink on paper (such as printed {{w|newspaper comic strip}}s).
|-
| Lighter Mode
| The entire web page is filtered to look {{w|Exposure (photography)#Overexposure and underexposure|overexposed}}, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.
|-
| Dark Mode
| A standard "white content on black background" dark mode. Specifically, Dark Mode seems to invert the brightness of most colors (see comic [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution|556]] with dark mode enabled), but sets colors close to white to black, ignoring their original color (see comic [[2342: Exposure Notification|2342]] with dark mode enabled). This inversion makes the content of this particular comic, with the original transition from a dark pane to "let there be light" panes and the subsequent request for this very feature, particularly nonsensical, as it seems to start fully bright, then darken as God creates light.
|-
| Darkest Mode
| Everything on the webpage turns completely black (severely 'underexposed', in effect, the opposite to "Lighter mode" but also even more extreme). The exception is the drop down menu widget, which may appear as merely a dark gray — and depending upon the browser itself, the dropped-down menu may be its 'natural' appearance when it becomes fully active — which is of course extremely helpful for navigating back out of this mode or onward onto others.
|-
| Blurry Mode
| {{w|Blur (photographic effect)|Blurs}} the entire webpage. This is not conventionally desirable as it makes it harder to read text and interpret visuals. Whereas light and dark mode support can improve {{w|Web accessibility|accessibility}} for certain vision conditions, this mode makes already poor vision even worse.
|-
| Grayscale Mode
| Applies a standard {{w|grayscale}}/{{w|Colorfulness#Saturation|desaturation}} conversion filter to the entire webpage. Many devices provide a grayscale mode as one of their color filter settings, which can simulate different {{w|color vision deficiencies}}. Grayscale specifically can also help improve focus by preventing colors from catching the eye and making distractions less visually appealing.
|-
| Greyscale Mode
| Operates identically to Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (to go along with the respective {{w|American and British English spelling differences|British English}} use of ''{{wiktionary|gray}}/{{wiktionary|grey}}'').
|-
| Dorian Greyscale Mode
| Makes the webpage slowly turn grey, including darkening/fading-to-grey 'white' areas. This refers to {{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}, in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome.

Of note is that the surname of the titular character is "{{w|Grey (disambiguation)#People|Gray}}" (as is still common, if not dominant, in Britain), but the mode itself is named for the primary British/non-American standard English version of the word for such a hueless shade.

No relation to the {{w|Dorian mode}}, a musical scale.
|-
| Space Opera Mode
| Turns the entire page into a ''{{w|Star Wars}}''-style opening scroll, which loops round until you change the mode. Scrolling the mouse scrolls up or down through the page content.
|-
| 3D Mode
| Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph 3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}. [[Randall]] has used 3D space before for [[848|another joke comic]].
|-
| Origami Mode
| Rotates and folds various pieces of the webpage, as if it were {{w|origami}}-folded.
|-
| Ink Mode
| Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink.
|-
| Spring Mode
| Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate around an axis when the page is scrolled, and giving it a {{w|springboard}} look, hence the name. The axis around which the page precesses is perpendicular to the axis the user scrolls on. This means that when the page is scrolled vertically (the usual direction), the comic wobbles around a horizontal axis, but when scrolled horizontally (if your screen size or zoom allows it), the comic precesses about the vertical axis.
|-
| Antipodes Mode
| Turns the entire webpage upside down. An {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also a term used to refer to {{w|Australia}} and {{w|New Zealand}} by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".
|-
| Hacker Mode
| Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical green-on-black coding environment color scheme often used by {{w|hacker}}s on film and TV. This visual shorthand is a holdover from early {{w|monochrome monitor}}s that used P1 phosphor. (Modern terminal software has no such limitations, and many programmers today use {{w|syntax highlighting}} to color-code operators and keywords.)
|-
| Screensaver Mode
| Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges. A common type of {{w|screensaver}} has some text or other element drifting around the screen in this way. Many people ended up watching such screensavers, waiting for the bouncing graphic to hit the corner of the screen. Like with Hacker Mode, there is an element of nostalgia to this; screensavers are less necessary on modern LCD screens, so fewer setups use them.
|-
| Modem Mode
| Slowly reveals the comic top to bottom, as if slowly loading (but [[598: Porn|only in approximation]]) the way images often used to have to be progressively rendered from a low-rate stream of image data in the days of more limited dial-up connections and also a lower-performance {{w|Internet backbone}} in general. This is accompanied by audio of the sound of a {{w|modem}} communicating over such a connection. NB - this mode does not appear to function correctly/reliably for some viewers.
|-
| Stained Glass Mode
| Fills each closed area of the comic with a separate color to mimic the look of {{w|stained glass}} imagery. The colors vary each time this mode is selected or the page is reloaded in this mode, which works by flooding a single pseudorandom hue over all areas of near-white, each flood bounded only by any sufficiently dark or saturated drawn line/border.
|-
| Airplane Mode
| Makes the comic fly around on the page, with a "NYOOM!" written next to it, as if it were an {{w|airplane}}. This is unlike the usual use of "airplane mode" to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all {{w|radio frequency}}) features of a mobile device, as required on most flights. Of course, this Airplane Mode is likely not required on an airplane{{cn}}.
|-
| Boat Mode
| Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water.

This is a reference to the longstanding mention of a Boat Mode in the [[footnote]], which says "Remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode".
|}

==Transcript==
:[Black background with white caption boxes.]
:Caption: And God said,
:Caption:"Let there be light,"

:[A bright explosion of light from a star in the center, with a white caption box.]
:Caption: And there was light.

:[The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]
:[The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]
:Caption: God saw that the light was-
:Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

<noinclude>{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]
</noinclude>

3213: Dental Formulas

2026-03-02T06:19:24Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3213
| date = February 27, 2026
| title = Dental Formulas
| image = dental_formulas_2x.png
| imagesize = 212x337px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I mean, half of these are undefined. And your multiplication dots are too low; they look like decimal points.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by your new dentist, who has a pure math background. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A {{w|dental formula}} specifies the number of teeth of each type on each side of the jaw for a given species, with dots separating the numbers. There are two rows, representing the upper and lower jaw, separated by a horizontal line. The number of {{w|incisors}} is indicated first, {{w|canine teeth|canines}} second, {{w|premolars}} third, and finally {{w|molars}}, so the formula in the comic would represent 3 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 1 molar on each side of the upper jaw, and equal numbers in the lower jaw except only 2 premolars. This is the dental formula for the {{w|Felidae|cat family}}. The adult human dental formula is 2.1.2.3 for both the upper and lower jaw.

Cueball is (wrongly) treating a dental formula as an arithmetic expression, with the line indicating division and the dots indicating multiplication: 3⋅1⋅3⋅1 divided by 3⋅1⋅2⋅1. In the title text his statement that half the formulae are undefined refers to animals that lack one of the four types of teeth in the lower jaw, leading to a zero in the "denominator" of the dental formula and an undefined division expression. He also notes that the "dots are too low", as in fact the dots in a dental formula are {{w|Full stop|period characters}} and aren't meant to imply multiplication, which uses {{w|Interpunct#In_mathematics_and_science|middle dot}} characters, except in the Commonwealth, where this is reversed.

The word '{{wiktionary|mammologist}}' is an alternate spelling of '{{wiktionary|mammalogist}}', for one who studies {{w|mammals}}. Or, in some cases, specifically studying the mammaries (i.e. breasts) which mark out mammals in general. The specific study of teeth might be termed 'odontology', so we should assume that the experts who Cueball is referencing are not specifically tooth-focused, merely using this particular specialism to help with their own particular, arguably far wider, brief that is not so entirely fixated solely upon ''any'' particular body parts.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Cueball and Megan are standing in front of a whiteboard, on which is written
::3.1.3.1 3.1.2.1
:along with a drawing of a tooth and some other scribbles.]

:Cueball: Do mammologists think these are hard?
:Cueball: I mean this one just evaluates to 3/2.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Mathematicians encounter dental formulas

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Math]]

3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-28T17:21:30Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3199
| date = January 26, 2026
| title = Early Arthropods
| image = early_arthropods_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x469px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Ugh, I'm never going to be like spiders. My descendants will all just be normal arthropods who mind their own busines and don't do anything weird.' --The ancestor of a bunch of eusocial insects
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an arthropod who will get 10 pointy things to zap a metal box and tell it stuff.. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic points out that something we generally take for granted — {{w|spider}}s spinning webs — can {{w|Defamiliarization|seem weird}} and disgusting when we consider the details of what it involves. Whereas the kind of adaptation referred to by the first {{w|arthropod}} (seen in {{w|isopoda|isopods}}) and by the second ({{w|scorpion}}s or {{w|crab}}s) may seem like obvious things for evolution to arrive at, it may be less clear how something would arrive at the outcome of web construction.

Note that evolution in real life does not work the way the comic implies, as creatures cannot choose a direction in which to evolve.{{citation needed}} An individual organism can choose to pursue certain activities, but these only affect its number of offspring. An intelligent species could accelerate this gradual process of natural selection through artificial selection that favored certain individuals, but this would still require many generations to make observable progress, and would generally require a more advanced understanding of what ''can'' be achieved. While many species select for fitness during reproduction, this is normally for traits that are already present, or of novel features that arise randomly and stand out as an advantage against their peers. Only humans are known to pursue major change, and mostly in other domesticated species, and even then it is an {{w|Dog breeding#Criticism|imperfect process}} that can be very hit-and-miss.

[[:Category:Spiders|Spiders]] are a recurring theme on xkcd.

[[2314:_Carcinization|Crabs]] are a recurring theme in biology (and [[2418:_Metacarcinization|conversations with Randall]]).

The {{w|eusocial}} insects mentioned in the title text are another group of arthropods with high levels of social organisation, mainly bees and ants. As such, they are notable for ''not'' "minding their own busines{{asic}}", as their ancestor arthropod apparently expects. Eusociality has evolved multiple times in the ''{{w|Hymenoptera}}'' alone, as well as in termites. There is no arthropod species that is the ancestor to all the eusocial arthropods and no others. While there are a number of species of {{w|social spider}}, there aren't any that meet the strict definition of eusociality. Eusocial insects have been known to do weird things, such as [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09425-w giving birth to a separate species].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Wide panel with three small arthropods standing on the ocean floor. Two of the creatures are facing the leftmost one. Small bubbles and particles float around them.]
:Arthropod 1: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Arthropod 1: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Arthropod 2: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Arthropod 3: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[Beat panel narrowed in on the arthropods.]

:[Same scene:]
:Arthropod 1: '''''Dude.'''''
:Arthropod 2: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?
:Arthropod 3: '''''What??!'''''

== Trivia ==
"Business" is misspelled in the title text as "busines".

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Biology]]

3175: Website Task Flowchart

2025-12-03T21:59:35Z

AgentMuffin: Trimming down and reorganizing explanation

{{comic
| number = 3175
| date = December 1, 2025
| title = Website Task Flowchart
| image = website_task_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 333x683px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Tired of waiting on hold? Use our website to chat with one of our live agents, who are available to produce words at you 24/7!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a live agent producing words at you. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This is a flowchart comic. It ostensibly shows how to accomplish a task on a generic website. With the improvements to web infrastructure, {{w|accessibility}}, and {{w|user experience}} research over the decades, one might think that this would be simple. And sometimes, indeed, everything just works as expected. However, the flowchart indicates that this system often fails to handle error states gracefully and can {{wiktionary|a chain is only as strong as its weakest link|completely shut down}} when the smallest [[2347: Dependency|dependency]] breaks.

The first step is to try to access the website. This includes {{w|Loading (computing)|pulling it up}}, and possibly {{w|Login|signing into an account}}. Websites may have legitimate or [[792: Password Reuse|nefarious]] reasons to profile their users. Either way, it is often another step in the way of the user's goals.

The very start of the process can already fail if the website doesn't load, you enter an incorrect username or password, or the website's {{w|authentication}} service is having problems and rejecting legitimate credentials, for example. Issues at this stage are often out of the user's control, and can kneecap your productivity if you rely on that website, as was recently discussed in [[3170: Service Outage]]. The flowchart provides no specific {{w|troubleshooting}} guidance, as the exact steps will vary greatly depending on the specific problem, and readers may have their own troubleshooting process similar to [[627: Tech Support Cheat Sheet]]. It could involve visiting another website like "[https://www.isitdownrightnow.com Is It Down Right Now?]" to see if others are having the same issue, double-checking your login information, or looking up any specific error messages the site gives. You may simply have to wait until the broken service is restored.

If you can enter the website, the next part of the flowchart asks if you finished your task successfully. If you have managed to both log in and do your work (perhaps eventually), it simply congratulates you for finishing your task. Failure here could be because of other issues with the website, such as {{w|Software bug|bugs}}, or [[3170: Service Outage|service outages]] in the middle of your work, or simply because the site doesn't have the tools to accomplish your specific task. You may have to use tools that ''are'' available in alternative or creative ways to accomplish what you need to. This might not be an option if your data or workflow relies on a specific site, or if alternatives are sketchy or paywalled.

As the flowchart suggests, troubleshooting a website can be a major deviation from your goals, and can involve following many false leads for hours on end. There's a chance that the issue resolves, putting you back on track. But in the meantime, you're trying to find a solution on your own. According to the chart, talking to tech support is a last resort.

If your troubleshooting fails at either stage, the chart guides you to call the website's {{w|customer service}} line, which is framed as admitting defeat. The flowchart reckons that an {{w|Automated attendant|automated}} phone system will put you {{w|Hold (telephone)|on hold}} and a {{w|On hold messaging|prerecorded message}} will then suggest trying to use the website ''instead'' of calling directly. While this would be helpful for someone calling the support line ''before'' trying the website, it assumes that the site is working properly and that the task can actually be accomplished there. It's like kicking you when you're already down to hear that "advice" after spending hours trying to use a website that simply would not work like you need it to.

From there, the flowchart predicts that you will be so frustrated, you'll throw away both your computer and your phone into the sea before even listening to the rest of the on-hold message. This would be a drastic and non-trivial way of responding to the situation, as it would waste important devices which may cost over $1,000 each, and would {{w|Data loss|destroy the information stored on them}}. (It would, at least, formally end your attempt to use the website.) The flowchart presents this as an inevitability as a form of {{w|hyperbole}}.

The title text is another part of the presumed hold message, perhaps for anyone who had not followed the flowchart as faithfully. It encourages the caller to visit the website's {{w|live chat}} function, a fairly recent development that combines the best and worst aspects of both online and phone-line support. It can be ambiguous whether the "live agent" is zero, one, or many people. You may reach a qualified staff member with all the answers to your questions. Or, the conversation may be passed around between various less-than-knowledgeable staff who are merely following a ''script'' with a flowchart process (hopefully more useful than this one) to let them give more expert advice than they might be capable of. Or, increasingly since 2024, you may connect to a {{w|chatbot}} that processes your queries, follows a similar script, and may be more difficult to reason with or escalate the issue. It may {{wiktionary|triage}} your initial responses before 'bothering' a real human who can help you with your request, if it is able to transfer you to a human at all.

The claim that the agent can "produce words at you" (rather than "talk", "speak", or "communicate") implies that their responses won't convey any information, or perhaps even basic understanding of the problem. If the live chat is open 24/7, you may reach a human agent elsewhere in the world who {{w|English as a second or foreign language|doesn't speak English natively}} and struggles to understand you. This could also be a blatantly honest admission that you will converse with a potentially inexhaustible {{w|large language model}}, where the words you receive might demonstrate {{w|Markov chain|even less understanding}} of your problem, as merely being able to send even [[1068: Swiftkey|vaguely logical sequences of words]] might be worse than useless. Additionally, giving random vague sequences of words would add to the user's frustration, strengthening their urge to throw their laptop into the ocean.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[Caption above the panel:]
Doing a task using a company or organization's website:

[Below this is a flowchart, starting with "Go to website, try to log in"]

[Box 1 (start):] Go to website, try to log in (go to to box 2)

[Box 2:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 3
*No: Go to box 6

[Box 3:] Try to do your task (go to box 4)

[Box 4:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 5
*No: Go to box 8

[Box 5 (end):] Nice! Done!

[Box 6:] Spend hours troubleshooting account/login (go to box 7)

[Box 7:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 3
*No: Go to box 10

[Box 8:] Spend hours troubleshooting website (go to box 9)

[Box 9:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 5
*No: Go to box 10

[Box 10:] Give up and call customer service (go to box 11)

[Box 11:] Hold message: "Did you know you could do all of this more quickly and easily on our website? Just go to W-W-W dot..." (go to box 12)

[Box 12 (end):] Throw phone and laptop into the sea
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Flowcharts]]
[[Category:Internet]]

1068: Swiftkey

2025-12-03T20:01:04Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 1068
| date = June 13, 2012
| title = Swiftkey
| image = swiftkey.png
| titletext = Although the Markov chain-style text model is still rudimentary; it recently gave me "Massachusetts Institute of America". Although I have to admit it sounds prestigious.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] has installed {{w|SwiftKey}} on his smartphone and brags about this to [[Megan]]. SwiftKey is a product that is installable on {{w|iOS}}/{{w|Android (operating system)|Android}}-based phones and tablets.

Cueball explains that if you type space bar on the keyboard it auto-completes the word you are currently typing founded on its best guess, and then if you continue to press space it will add new words using this guessing process based on the previous word(s) and what it believes is the most likely words you would use in a sentence containing the previous word(s).

Megan asks what happens if you begin a new message by just using space to automatically create a text. Cueball's best guess is that it begins with the word SwiftKey has found to be the typical starting word and then continues as normal from that.

Megan then realizes that in this way it builds up his "typical" sentence and she tries this over the next eight small frames: ''I am so sorry- that's never happened before.''

"I am so sorry– that's never happened before." is a typical excuse for a mishap, usually when {{tvtropes|TheLoinsSleepTonight|one fails to produce an erection when it is needed}}, or alternatively {{w|Premature ejaculation|maintain one}} for a mutually satisfying length of time. Such a phrase being quoted by an algorithm implies that such mishaps are common, and therefore "I am so sorry– that's never happened before." is a lie.

SwiftKey has noticed their inclusion in xkcd and have created a blog post for other users to comment with their default phrase when they hit the "central prediction key". The results are [http://www.swiftkey.com/swiftkey-on-xkcd pretty funny] (the site now redirects to a website asking to download the keyboard, an archived version can be found [https://web.archive.org/web/20190226120542/https://blog.swiftkey.com/swiftkey-on-xkcd/ here]). In addition, Reddit users have a similar model creating [https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditSimulator /r/subredditsimulator], which is populated by bots generating submissions and comments based on the language of their subreddits.

===Title text===
In the title text, a {{w|Markov chain}} refers to a system that transitions between a countable number of states, based only on the current state and none of the previous ones that led up to it. SwiftKey follows this property since it provides outputs based only on the most recently entered word or words, not the whole sentence.

"Massachusetts Institute of America" is a nonexistent organization. The name appears to have formed by combining "{{w|Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}" and either "[Field] Institute of America" (e.g. "{{w|Archaeological Institute of America}}", "{{w|Braille Institute of America}}", "{{w|Józef Piłsudski Institute of America}}") or "United States of America". This illustrates the {{w|memoryless}} property of a Markov chain; after generating "Massachusetts Institute of", SwiftKey may have attempted to predict the next word using only the last "of" or "Institute of". Since it was not considering the word "Massachusetts" at all, the word "America" was viewed as the most likely follow-up—regardless of it turning out to be redundant in the bigger picture, since {{w|Massachusetts}} is already part of America. Compare the notional {{tvtropes|DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment|Department of Redundancy Department}}.

The phrase is also humorous because an {{w|institute}} is founded to promote a certain purpose or cause. Even though the "Massachusetts Institute of America" sounds important at first glance, its actual purpose is not stated in either of the expected places, making the reader do a double take while {{w|parsing}}. This creates a name that might be trying too hard to "sound prestigious" for lack of anything of substance to support that prestige.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball showing his phone to Megan.]
:Cueball: Have you tried SwiftKey? It's got the first decent language model I've seen. It learns from your SMS/Email archives what words you use together most often.

:[Cueball and Megan in a frameless panel, with Megan now holding Cueball's phone.]
:Cueball: Spacebar inserts its best guess. So if I type "The Empi" and hit space three times, it types "The Empire Strikes Back".
:Megan: What if you mash space in a blank message?

:[Zoomed in on Megan looking at Cueball's phone, with Cueball now off-frame to the left.]
:Cueball: I guess it fills in your most likely first word, then the word that usually follows it...
:Megan: So it builds up your "typical" sentence. Cool! Let's see yours!
:Cueball: Uh—

:[Eight small frames arranged in panel space, 2 frames wide by 4 frames high, showing each word added by Swiftkey as Megan hits space each time:]
:SwiftKey: I
:SwiftKey: Am
:SwiftKey: So
:SwiftKey: Sorry—
:SwiftKey: That's
:SwiftKey: Never
:SwiftKey: Happened
:SwiftKey: Before.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

3145: Piercing

2025-09-25T21:02:49Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3145
| date = September 22, 2025
| title = Piercing
| image = piercing_2x.png
| imagesize = 272x391px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some lava around the piercing site is normal, but keep an eye out for spreading earthquakes and eruptive activity that might indicate rifting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by A BOT WHO IS ''NOT'' "JUST IN A PHASE", MOM. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The comic shows a {{w|directional drilling}} rig which will drill a hole through the {{w|lithosphere}} to create a {{w|borehole}} with a constant curvature. Normally, this could be for scientific study, or something functional like creating a well or installing a heat exchanger. In this case, though, the comic suggests that the borehole is being created so that the Earth can be fitted with a piercing like a giant ring. In many societies, piercings in humans are subject to age restrictions or recommendations; it appears that in the world of the comic, the same is true of planets, as it states that the Earth is now old enough to go ahead with this procedure.

The caption may draw on the idea of dating the {{w|age of Earth}} using geologic evidence. However, rather than determining the age with greater {{w|accuracy and precision}}, the fictional geologists have determined that the age falls into a certain developmental stage, as of a human life. In the real world, the {{w|geologic time scale}} does divide the Earth's history into units such as eons and eras. These may sound comparable to stages or years of one's life, but are defined by properties of the {{w|Geologic record|rock record}}—not by developmental milestones that all planets would be expected to go through. (The histories of other celestial bodies, like [https://planetary.org/space-images/geologic-time-scales-for Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the Moon], are divided into different eras, based on unique geologic events that occurred on each.)

The title text plays on the normal warnings about piercings, replacing inflammation around the piercing with lava, and signs of infection such as pus, widening holes, or swelling with earthquakes and eruptions.

==Transcript==

:[One large panel, overlaid by two smaller ones in the corners, shows the Earth with an upward opening curve through its crust and mantle.]

:Small panel 1: [Arrow pointing to a machine on tracks with an arm and a tube into the ground, with Cueball, Megan, and Ponytail nearby] Directional drilling rig

:[Label on curve in the main panel]: Constant curvature borehole

:Small panel 2: [Earth with a ring embedded onto it]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Good news: Geologists have decided that Earth is finally old enough to get its first lithosphere piercing!
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Geology]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]

3143: Question Mark

2025-09-18T22:02:48Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3143
| date = September 17, 2025
| title = Question Mark
| image = question_mark_2x.png
| imagesize = 380x463px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...
}}

==Explanation==
{{#ifeq:{{PAGENAME}}|Main Page||{{notice|bcolor=0d5bb3|image=Ambox warning blue construction.svg|{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}| |
{{#if:This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.
|'''''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|{{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} incomplete explanations]] colon:''''' This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period. If you can fix this issue comma, '''[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} edit the page]''' exclamation mark!
|'''''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|{{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} incomplete explanations]] colon:''''' ''Please help by [{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} editing it] exclamation mark!
}}
|{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}|Category|
{{#if:This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.
|'''''This category is [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|incomplete]]:''''' This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.
|'''''This category is [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|incomplete]]:''''' ''Please add more pages to this category!
}}
|{{#if:This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.
|'''''This is [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|incomplete]]:''''' This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period. If you can fix this issue, '''[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} edit the page]'''!
|'''''This is [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|incomplete]]:''''' ''Please help by [{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} editing it]!
}}
}}
}}{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}|Template||[[Category:Incomplete explanations]]}}
}}}}

In colloquial English, the phrase "{{wiktionary|question_mark#Particle|question mark}}" is sometimes{{acn}} added to the end of an interrogative sentence to emphasize its uncertainty, as if the question mark in a written representation of the utterance should be spoken aloud instead of remaining implicit in the {{w|Intonation (linguistics)#English|rising intonation}}, perhaps to reinforce true questions in dialects that exhibit a {{w|high rising terminal}} even for normal statements. When [[Hairy]] uses it, [[Cueball]] feels compelled to respond by doing the same with other punctuation marks; and even other matters of formatting, such as typographical emphasis and whitespace.

Cueball mentions the film ''{{w|Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle}},'' illustrating the common use of italics to indicate titles of films (as well as other works, e.g. books, albums and series, depending on the stylebook used) and colons to separate subtitles from titles. From the context, Hairy and Cueball had differently polarised opinions about the merits of this film.

The title text reads: "Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot..." Randall uses, and {{tvtropes|ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud|vocalises}}, three different whitespace characters in this statement. Specifically, the three-per-em space (U+2004), the medium mathematical space (U+205F) and the hair space (U+200A). Normally they'd be used for typesetting mathematical formulae and in {{w|microtypography}}, without any expected audible distinction or meaning beyond text-placement and alignment in printed media.

Translated, it looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Characters in title text
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my   speech..."
|-
! Ordinary whitespace
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my speech..."
|}

Pronouncing punctuation used to be a staple of {{w|Dictation (exercise)|dictation}}, especially in the 20th century, when secretaries taking dictation to type letters were more commonplace. The expression "…, {{wiktionary|period#Interjection|period}}" or "…, {{wiktionary|full stop#Interjection|full stop}}", taken to mean "…and that's final", originates from this usage.{{acn}} Since Cueball is pronouncing all other punctuation marks as well, his final "period" denotes only the mark and not the common expression, especially since the latter would usually require mention of the comma before and then an ''additional'' spoken "period" after.

The Kooblen, in Phil Foglio's Buck Godot setting, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205448/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070125 speak in this way] to express punctuation.

==Transcript==
{{#ifeq:{{PAGENAME}}|Main Page||{{notice|bcolor=04b60c|image=Ambox warning green construction.svg|'''''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete transcripts|{{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete transcripts|R}} incomplete transcripts]] colon{{#if:Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.|:''''' Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period. If you can fix this issue comma, '''[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} edit the page]''' exclamation mark!|.''' Please help by [{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} editing it]!}}}}{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}|Template||[[Category:Incomplete transcripts]]}}}}

:[Hairy and Cueball are both walking to the right.]
:Hairy: That movie was so good. Maybe even the greatest movie of all time question mark?
:Cueball: Yeah comma, but you said that about italics ''Charlie's Angels Colon: Full Throttle'' period. Paragraph break.
:Cueball: I question your judgment period.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:When people say "question mark" out loud as a rhetorical device, it always makes me want to say my other punctuation and formatting too.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Movies]]

3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

2025-07-23T00:34:50Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3118
| date = July 21, 2025
| title = iNaturalist Animals and Plants
| image = inaturalist_animals_and_plants_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x508px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Washington, DC: Eastern gray squirrel, Amur honeysuckle. Puerto Rico: Crested anole, sea grape. US as a whole: Mallard, eastern poison ivy.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created AS IT WAS MOST REPORTED, NOT AS IT MOST COMMONLY OCCURS. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is a map of the United States showing, for each state, the name of the animal and plant most commonly reported on the {{w|citizen science}} social network {{w|iNaturalist}}. As the comic notes, these are not the most-encountered species, just the ones reported the most on iNaturalist. iNaturalist is a citizen science social network that shares observations of nature. In some cases the species most reported is an invasive species causing concern, such as brown anole and Amur honeysuckle, while some local species which are actually the most present and observable may escape being fully reported by not being considered worthy of any note.

For some smaller states, the animal and plant names are listed outside the state, with a connector line to the state. Some non-state regions are covered in the title text: the {{w|District of Columbia}}, too small to list such information on the district itself and in an awkward location for a connector; {{w|Puerto Rico}}, an unincorporated U.S. territory with a large population outside the 50 standard states (both contiguous and otherwise); and the U.S. as a whole.

The most common animals are Common Eastern Bumble Bee and White-tailed Deer, with 7 states each, while the most common plant is Common Milkweed, with 6 states. Of the 26 different animal species mentioned, 5 are mammals, 4 are birds, 12 are reptiles, and 5 are insects.

iNaturalist community members have [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/today-s-xkcd-comic-is-about-inaturalist/67916 noted] that several species have made it on the list due to a few prolific contributors contributing large numbers of observations of the same species.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Need to finish indenting the lines.}}
:[The comic shows a map of the United States with state borders (including Hawaii and Alaska inset in the lower left) and two-letter state codes for each state. The map includes the {{w|Northwest Angle}}, which is not typically shown on maps of this scale.]
:[Above the map]: The Most-Observed Animal and Plant in Each State on iNaturalist
:[Below that, in parentheses]: Not the most common species in the state, just the one people have reported the most times.
:[Each state has text of the format "Animal" on top and "Plant" below. For RI, VT, NH, MA, CT, NJ, DE, and MD, the text is outside the state border with a line connecting them.]

:[In alphabetical order, the states have the following Animal/Plant text]:

:Alabama: Gulf Fritillary; American Sweetgum 
:Alaska: Moose; Fireweed 
:Arizona: Ornate Tree Lizard; Saguaro 
:Arkansas: Three-toed Box Turtle; Chinese Privet 
:California: Western Fence Lizard; California Poppy 
:Colorado: Mule Deer; Great Mullein 
:Connecticut: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Striped Wintergreen 
:Delaware: Fowler's Toad; American Pokeweed 
:Florida: Brown Anole; White Beggar-ticks 
:Georgia: Green Anole; American Sweetgum 
:Hawaii: Green Sea Turtle; ʻŌhiʻa Lehua 
:Idaho: Mallard; Big Sagebrush 
:Illinois: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed 
:Indiana: American Robin; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Iowa: White-tailed Deer; Common Milkweed 
:Kansas: Ornate Box Turtle; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Kentucky: Common Box Turtle; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Louisiana: Green Anole; Bald Cypress 
:Maine: American Herring Gull; Canadian Bunchberry 
:Maryland: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine 
:Massachusetts: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine 
:Michigan: White-tailed Deer; Common Milkweed 
:Minnesota: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed 
:Mississippi: Northern Cardinal; Pale Pitcher Plant 
:Missouri: Brown-belted Bumble Bee; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Montana: White-tailed Deer; Common Yarrow 
:Nebraska: American Robin; Common Milkweed 
:Nevada: Common Side-blotched Lizard; Creosote Bush 
:New Hampshire: White-tailed Deer; Eastern White Pine 
:New Jersey: Spotted Lanternfly; Common Mugwort 
:New Mexico: Mule Deer; Creosote Bush 
:New York: Eastern Gray Squirrel; White Snakeroot 
:North Carolina: Eastern Gray Squirrel; Christmas Fern 
:North Dakota: American Bison; Prairie Rose 
:Ohio: Eastern Pondhawk; Virginia Springbeauty 
:Oklahoma: Pond Slider; Eastern Redcedar 
:Oregon: Mule Deer; Western Ponderosa Pine 
:Pennsylvania: White-tailed Deer; Garlic Mustard 
:Rhode Island: American Herring Gull; Rugosa Rose 
:South Carolina: Northern Cardinal; American Sweetgum 
:South Dakota: American Bison; Hoary Vervain 
:Tennessee: American Robin; Christmas Fern 
:Texas: Northern Cardinal; Pinkladies 
:Utah: Mule Deer; Utah Juniper 
:Vermont: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine 
:Virginia: White-tailed Deer; Eastern Poison Ivy 
:Washington: Mallard; Western Sword Fern 
:West Virginia: White-tailed Deer; Great Rhododendron 
:Wisconsin: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed 
:Wyoming: American Bison; Sticky Geranium 

==Trivia==

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]

3102: Reading a Big Number

2025-06-15T00:50:09Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3102
| date = June 13, 2025
| title = Reading a Big Number
| image = reading_a_big_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x438px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by An Accidentally Escaped Quotation Mark. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic expresses [[Randall]]'s reactions to reading {{w|large number}}s. It starts with normal digits and commas you would find in a large number, but gradually becomes more and more chaotic. It turns out that this is not a number at all, but some sort of printing error in whatever Randall is reading.

The very start of the comic is a bit absurd. In most cases, you can tell that a number like this is very large because of how long it is when written out; you wouldn't have to completely reinterpret it at the end of ''every'' group of digits. However, to tell exactly which "-illion" the number falls into, you would have to count the groups, and the scale of such a large number would grow less familiar as you try to keep track of how large it even is. Certain sizes of numbers tend to show up in specific contexts, like {{w|astronomy}}. So, rather than literally showing Randall's developing thoughts on the evidently massive size of this number, the comic also shows how he tends to interpret numbers at each possible "-illion" scale. See detailed explanation of Randall's thoughts in the [[#Table of thoughts|table]] below, where also the title text is explained.

There are a few possible explanations for seeing a number like this appear in a software application. It may have appeared due to an out-of-bounds read operation where the computer tries to interpret unrelated data as text. Another possible explanation is misuse of the {{w|printf}} function in the {{w|C programming language}}. If strings passed to printf do not contain a {{w|null byte}} to terminate the string, it will go further into memory, again into unrelated data. Or the programmer might have several printf statements back to back, forgetting that printf doesn't add newlines (like the println function in other programming languages), so all their debug information gets printed on the same line. If the alternating grouping into 4 and 3 digits and the double quote is left aside the number it might be possible that the whole number is hexadecimal and even bigger than its size indicates at first.

==Table of thoughts==
{| class="wikitable"
! Number fragment !! Thought !! Explanation
|-
| 54 || 54! Great! I know that number. Solid start. || 54 is a number with some real-world familiarity for most people. It is small enough to appear on digital clocks, and has enough factors to be listed on standard multiplication tables as 6 × 9.

Randall pretending to reckon with the start of such a large number is probably meant to draw attention to the meaninglessness of doing so. Unless the exact value is somehow important, most readers wouldn't find much of a meaningful difference between "54 zillion" or "over 50 zillion", or even "zillions and zillions". In practice, the brain {{w|Approximate number system|can only approximate}} numbers this large; the {{w|Just-noticeable difference|threshold needed to tell the difference}} between the amounts that they represent is too high. Randall expresses a similar sentiment once he gets to the trillions and quadrillions.
|-
| ,000 (thousand) || Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand. || Underselling how long the number is with the "at least a thousand", but is a fair thought from the POV of not being able to know how long the number is.
|-
| ,000 (million) || A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money. || Excitement from how large the number must be. {{w|Population}}s (like the number of people in a region) and large sums of money are both often measured in millions.
|-
| ,000 (billion) || Yikes! If this is money, it's a lot of money. || Three commas means a number in the billions. That's a lot of money for one person to have. Big decisions by large corporations, such as {{w|megamerger}}s, are often measured in billions of dollars in costs.
|-
| ,000,000 (quadrillion) || Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it. || Five commas is a number in the quadrillions. At this point the number is too big for human minds to comprehend.
|-
| ,000 (quintillion) || All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers. || Astronomy often deals with extremely large numbers due to the incredible scale of the universe. For example, the distance to the Andromeda galaxy in kilometers could be numbered in quintillions. Alternatively, the person calculating the number made a mistake. Regarding the unit conversion there has recently been a comic about such a thing in [[3065: Square Units]] and similar mistakes has been used in [[2585: Rounding]].
|-
| ,0000 (!?) || Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right. || Commas are placed every three digits in {{w|Decimal separator#Digit grouping|typical western usage}} (although not necessarily in various other {{w|Indian numbering system#Decimal formatting|cultures}}), so something is wrong. However, it might simply be that someone misplaced the comma to the right, meaning that this group has four digits and the next one would likely have two (the next comma in the 'correct' place). If the next group is three, then either the commas are now ''all'' misplaced or possibly someone/something just doubled up a zero by accident. A mistake of any kind makes one think that the number may not actually be accurate but, if the former, at least it might just be a relatively unimportant transposition.
|-
| ,0000 || Oh no. || A second group of four zeroes means it's not a typo. Something is seriously wrong. Note that some countries like [https://www.aceninja.sg/insights/2025/01/01/understanding-chinese-cultural-nuances-numerals China] or [https://www.kanpai-japan.com/learn-japanese/how-to-count-in-japanese Japan] (where 4-digit groupings are common) or [https://www.cuemath.com/numbers/indian-place-value-chart/ India] (which uses a unique 2- and 3-digit mixed system) may use non 3-digit groupings, but have their own rules for number groupings.
|-
| ,054 || What is happening. || Big numbers are normally rounded, so it's very strange to see a non-zero value this far down in the place values. Also, "54" matches the digits at the start of the number so it could indicate the number was copied incorrectly. The non-zero digits here imply that all of the digits so far, including the zeroes, are {{w|significant figures}}; the number is not only extremely large, but implausibly precise with at least 30 sig figs. By way of comparison, the diameter of the observable universe is about 4.4 × 1026 m, and if that measurement had 30 sig figs, it would be precise to about half a millimeter.
|-
| ,000"000 || Someone messed up real bad. || The arcsecond mark " (more properly written as a {{w|double prime}} symbol, ″) indicates that this number is an angle or a distance in inches. For an angle, even accounting for how small an arcsecond is (1/3600th of a degree), this angle would be a huge number of rotations. As for inches, it would represent a distance much larger than the observable universe, though it is uncommon to use customary units like inches in conjunction with large numbers.

Alternatively, this could be "to-the-11th-power" (…00011 000…), which would make the already extremely large number extremely ridiculously big.

This could also be a sign of bad copy-pasting, where the quotation mark " was accidentally copied along with the large number but not with a matching one. Or if this number was being printed from a computer program, the mark may be a sign that the closing quote around a computer string was accidentally {{w|Escape character|escaped}}, causing it to be interpreted as a literal written quote mark character to be included in the string, rather than a special symbol marking the end of the string.
|-
| ,00c2ef46 || Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me. || Numbers normally only use the digits 0–9. The presence of the letters c, e, and f suggests that this number is written in {{w|hexadecimal}}, or {{w|Radix|base}} 16, where going up one place represents multiplying by sixteen instead of ten. Instead of ten possible digits for each place, there need to be sixteen: after 9, you count A, B, C, D, E, F, before carrying over to 10. Hexadecimal is mostly used by computers, so Randall, as a programmer, might be worried that the hexadecimal appearing is his fault. Seeing a long string of unexpected characters may indicate a memory bug, such as a ''{{w|buffer overflow}}''. These bugs can lead to crashes, data corruption, and security vulnerabilities, which Randall would rather not be responsible for.

If not for the c and f, the letter e could also be read as {{w|E notation}}, a shorthand for {{w|scientific notation}} in many calculators and computer programs. There, "e" means "times ten {{w|to the power of}}", so …00e46 (= …00 × 1046) would add 46 more zeros to the value of the preceding number. However, usually the number would be {{w|Normalized number|normalized}} to have a single digit before a decimal part, changing any extra digits into a bigger {{w|Power of 10|exponent of ten}}, such as 5.4e84 (= 5.4 × 1084). The point of normalization is to make it easier to compare the magnitudes of very large and very small numbers, so that the reader doesn't need to count digits in the first place.
|-
| (title text) || [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration??? || In the United States, UK, India, China, Korea, Japan, and other countries, the dot is used to separate the integer part of a number from its fractional part. However, most of mainland Europe and South America uses the comma for this purpose. In some places, one may also see the period used to group digits. Since the final number is unreadable and potentially infinite, this implies that Randall has, naturally, made up an explanation instead of trying to figure out what was really happening.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:[A large number is written along the middle of the panel. Above and below the number there are 10 labels, (5 above and 5 below), and from each label a small curved line points to a part of the number. There is a heading above the top labels:]
:<big>Thought process while reading a big number:</big>

:[The number is continuing off the edge of the comic to the right, the last digit is missing about a third:]
:'''<big>54,000,000,000,000,000,000,0000,0000,054,000"000,00c2ef46</big>'''

:[The labels are listed below in the reading order as from where the small lines are pointing on to the number, so both those above and below the number, not first all those above. Text in the brackets indicate where on the number the line is pointing:]

:[To the first two numbers before the first comma, label above the number:]
:54! Great! I know that number. Solid start.

:[To the first zero after the first comma, label below the number:]
:Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand.

:[To the second comma, label above the number:]
:A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money.

:[To the third comma, label below the number:]
:Yikes! If this is money, it's a '''''lot''''' of money.

:[To the fifth comma, label above the number:]
:Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it.

:[To the sixth comma, label below the number:]
:All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers.

:[To the middle of a group of four zeros after the seventh comma, label above the number:]
:Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right.

:[To the middle of a group of four zeros after the eighth comma, label below the number:]
:Oh '''''no'''''.

:[To the last two numbers of the three digits after the ninth comma, label below the number:]
:What is happening.

:[To a quotation mark, where the eleventh comma should have been, label above the number:]
:Someone messed up real bad.

:[To the first number in a group with mixed alphanumeric numbers, where the thirteenth comma should have been, label below the number:]
:Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

3102: Reading a Big Number

2025-06-15T00:42:40Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3102
| date = June 13, 2025
| title = Reading a Big Number
| image = reading_a_big_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x438px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by An Accidentally Escaped Quotation Mark. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic expresses [[Randall]]'s reactions to reading {{w|large number}}s. It starts with normal digits and commas you would find in a large number, but gradually becomes more and more chaotic. It turns out that this is not a number at all, but some sort of printing error in whatever Randall is reading.

The very start of the comic is a bit absurd. In most cases, you can tell that a number like this is very large because of how long it is when written out; you wouldn't have to completely reinterpret it at the end of ''every'' group of digits. However, to tell exactly which "-illion" the number falls into, you would have to count the groups, and the scale of such a large number would grow less familiar as you try to keep track of how large it even is. Certain sizes of numbers tend to show up in specific contexts, like {{w|astronomy}}. So, rather than literally showing Randall's developing thoughts on the evidently massive size of this number, the comic also shows how he tends to interpret numbers at each possible "-illion" scale. See detailed explanation of Randall's thoughts in the [[#Table of thoughts|table]] below, where also the title text is explained.

There are a few possible explanations for seeing a number like this appear in a software application. It may have appeared due to an out-of-bounds read operation where the computer tries to interpret unrelated data as text. Another possible explanation is misuse of the {{w|printf}} function in the {{w|C programming language}}. If strings passed to printf do not contain a {{w|null byte}} to terminate the string, it will go further into memory, again into unrelated data. Or the programmer might have several printf statements back to back, forgetting that printf doesn't add newlines (like the println function in other programming languages), so all their debug information gets printed on the same line. If the alternating grouping into 4 and 3 digits and the double quote is left aside the number it might be possible that the whole number is hexadecimal and even bigger than its size indicates at first.

==Table of thoughts==
{| class="wikitable"
! Number fragment !! Thought !! Explanation
|-
| 54 || 54! Great! I know that number. Solid start. || 54 is a number with some real-world familiarity for most people. It is small enough to appear on digital clocks, and has enough factors to be listed on standard multiplication tables as 6 × 9.

Randall pretending to reckon with the start of such a large number is probably meant to draw attention to the meaninglessness of doing so. Unless the exact value is somehow important, most readers wouldn't find much of a meaningful difference between "54 zillion" or "over 50 zillion", or even "zillions and zillions". In practice, the brain {{w|Approximate number system|can only approximate}} numbers this large; the {{w|Just-noticeable difference|threshold needed to tell the difference}} between the amounts that they represent is too high. Randall expresses a similar sentiment once he gets to the trillions and quadrillions.
|-
| ,000 (thousand) || Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand. || Underselling how long the number is with the "at least a thousand", but is a fair thought from the POV of not being able to know how long the number is.
|-
| ,000 (million) || A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money. || Excitement from how large the number must be. {{w|Population}}s (like the number of people in a region) and large sums of money are both often measured in millions.
|-
| ,000 (billion) || Yikes! If this is money, it's a lot of money. || Three commas means a number in the billions. That's a lot of money for one person to have. Big decisions by large corporations, such as {{w|megamerger}}s, are often measured in billions of dollars in costs.
|-
| ,000,000 (quadrillion) || Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it. || Five commas is a number in the quadrillions. At this point the number is too big for human minds to comprehend.
|-
| ,000 (quintillion) || All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers. || Astronomy often deals with extremely large numbers due to the incredible scale of the universe. For example, the distance to the Andromeda galaxy in kilometers could be numbered in quintillions. Alternatively, the person calculating the number made a mistake. Regarding the unit conversion there has recently been a comic about such a thing in [[3065: Square Units]] and similar mistakes has been used in [[2585: Rounding]].
|-
| ,0000 (!?) || Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right. || Commas are placed every three digits in {{w|Decimal separator#Digit grouping|typical western usage}} (although not necessarily in various other {{w|Indian numbering system#Decimal formatting|cultures}}), so something is wrong. However, it might simply be that someone misplaced the comma to the right, meaning that this group has four digits and the next one would likely have two (the next comma in the 'correct' place). If the next group is three, then either the commas are now ''all'' misplaced or possibly someone/something just doubled up a zero by accident. A mistake of any kind makes one think that the number may not actually be accurate but, if the former, at least it might just be a relatively unimportant transposition.
|-
| ,0000 || Oh no. || A second group of four zeroes means it's not a typo. Something is seriously wrong. Note that some countries like [https://www.aceninja.sg/insights/2025/01/01/understanding-chinese-cultural-nuances-numerals China] or [https://www.kanpai-japan.com/learn-japanese/how-to-count-in-japanese Japan] (where 4-digit groupings are common) or [https://www.cuemath.com/numbers/indian-place-value-chart/ India] (which uses a unique 2- and 3-digit mixed system) may use non 3-digit groupings, but have their own rules for number groupings.
|-
| ,054 || What is happening. || Big numbers are normally rounded, so it's very strange to see a non-zero value this far down in the place values. Also, "54" matches the digits at the start of the number so it could indicate the number was copied incorrectly. The non-zero digits here imply that all of the digits so far, including the zeroes, are {{w|significant figures}}; the number is not only extremely large, but implausibly precise with at least 30 sig figs. By way of comparison, the diameter of the observable universe is about 4.4 × 1026 m, and if that measurement had 30 sig figs, it would be precise to about half a millimeter.
|-
| ,000"000 || Someone messed up real bad. || The arcsecond mark " (more properly written as a {{w|double prime}} symbol, ″) indicates that this number is an angle or a distance in inches. For an angle, even accounting for how small an arcsecond is (1/3600th of a degree), this angle would be a huge number of rotations. As for inches, it would represent a distance much larger than the observable universe, though it is uncommon to use customary units like inches in conjunction with large numbers.

Alternatively, this could be "to-the-11th-power" (…00011 000…), which would make the already extremely large number extremely ridiculously big.

This could also be a sign of bad copy-pasting, where the quotation mark " was accidentally copied along with the large number but not with a matching one. Or if this number was being printed from a computer program, the mark may be a sign that the closing quote around a computer string was accidentally {{w|Escape character|escaped}}, causing it to be interpreted as a literal written quote mark character to be included in the string, rather than a special symbol marking the end of the string.
|-
| ,00c2ef46 || Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me. || Numbers normally only use the digits 0–9. The use of letters suggest that this is a hexadecimal number. Hexadecimal is mostly used by computers, so Randall, as a programmer, might be worried that the hexadecimal appearing is his fault. Seeing a long string of unexpected characters may indicate a memory bug, such as a ''{{w|buffer overflow}}''. These bugs can lead to crashes, data corruption, and security vulnerabilities, which Randall would rather not be responsible for.

If not for the c and f, the letter e could also be read as {{w|E notation}}, a shorthand for {{w|scientific notation}} in many calculators and computer programs. There, "e" means "times ten {{w|to the power of}}", so …00e46 (= …00 × 1046) would add 46 more zeros to the value of the preceding number. However, usually the number would be {{w|Normalized number|normalized}} to have a single digit before a decimal part, changing any extra digits into a bigger {{w|Power of 10|exponent of ten}}, such as 5.4e84 (= 5.4 × 1084). The point of normalization is to make it easier to compare the magnitudes of very large and very small numbers, so that the reader doesn't need to count digits in the first place.
|-
| (title text) || [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration??? || In the United States, UK, India, China, Korea, Japan, and other countries, the dot is used to separate the integer part of a number from its fractional part. However, most of mainland Europe and South America uses the comma for this purpose. In some places, one may also see the period used to group digits. Since the final number is unreadable and potentially infinite, this implies that Randall has, naturally, made up an explanation instead of trying to figure out what was really happening.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:[A large number is written along the middle of the panel. Above and below the number there are 10 labels, (5 above and 5 below), and from each label a small curved line points to a part of the number. There is a heading above the top labels:]
:<big>Thought process while reading a big number:</big>

:[The number is continuing off the edge of the comic to the right, the last digit is missing about a third:]
:'''<big>54,000,000,000,000,000,000,0000,0000,054,000"000,00c2ef46</big>'''

:[The labels are listed below in the reading order as from where the small lines are pointing on to the number, so both those above and below the number, not first all those above. Text in the brackets indicate where on the number the line is pointing:]

:[To the first two numbers before the first comma, label above the number:]
:54! Great! I know that number. Solid start.

:[To the first zero after the first comma, label below the number:]
:Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand.

:[To the second comma, label above the number:]
:A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money.

:[To the third comma, label below the number:]
:Yikes! If this is money, it's a '''''lot''''' of money.

:[To the fifth comma, label above the number:]
:Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it.

:[To the sixth comma, label below the number:]
:All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers.

:[To the middle of a group of four zeros after the seventh comma, label above the number:]
:Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right.

:[To the middle of a group of four zeros after the eighth comma, label below the number:]
:Oh '''''no'''''.

:[To the last two numbers of the three digits after the ninth comma, label below the number:]
:What is happening.

:[To a quotation mark, where the eleventh comma should have been, label above the number:]
:Someone messed up real bad.

:[To the first number in a group with mixed alphanumeric numbers, where the thirteenth comma should have been, label below the number:]
:Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

3102: Reading a Big Number

2025-06-15T00:37:02Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3102
| date = June 13, 2025
| title = Reading a Big Number
| image = reading_a_big_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x438px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by An Accidentally Escaped Quotation Mark. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic expresses [[Randall]]'s reactions to reading {{w|large number}}s. It starts with normal digits and commas you would find in a large number, but gradually becomes more and more chaotic. It turns out that this is not a number at all, but some sort of printing error in whatever Randall is reading.

The very start of the comic is a bit absurd. In most cases, you can tell that a number like this is very large because of how long it is when written out; you wouldn't have to completely reinterpret it at the end of ''every'' group of digits. However, to tell exactly which "-illion" the number falls into, you would have to count the groups, and the scale of such a large number would grow less familiar as you try to keep track of how large it even is. Certain sizes of numbers tend to show up in specific contexts, like {{w|astronomy}}. So, rather than literally showing Randall's developing thoughts on the evidently massive size of this number, the comic also shows how he tends to interpret numbers at each possible "-illion" scale. See detailed explanation of Randall's thoughts in the [[#Table of thoughts|table]] below, where also the title text is explained.

There are a few possible explanations for seeing a number like this appear in a software application. It may have appeared due to an out-of-bounds read operation where the computer tries to interpret unrelated data as text. Another possible explanation is misuse of the {{w|printf}} function in the {{w|C programming language}}. If strings passed to printf do not contain a {{w|null byte}} to terminate the string, it will go further into memory, again into unrelated data. Or the programmer might have several printf statements back to back, forgetting that printf doesn't add newlines (like the println function in other programming languages), so all their debug information gets printed on the same line. If the alternating grouping into 4 and 3 digits and the double quote is left aside the number it might be possible that the whole number is hexadecimal and even bigger than its size indicates at first.

==Table of thoughts==
{| class="wikitable"
! Number fragment !! Thought !! Explanation
|-
| 54 || 54! Great! I know that number. Solid start. || 54 is a number with some real-world familiarity for most people. It is small enough to appear on digital clocks, and has enough factors to be listed on standard multiplication tables as 6 × 9.

Randall pretending to reckon with the start of such a large number is probably meant to draw attention to the meaninglessness of doing so. Unless the exact value is somehow important, most readers wouldn't find much of a meaningful difference between "54 zillion" or "over 50 zillion", or even "zillions and zillions". In practice, the brain {{w|Approximate number system|can only approximate}} numbers this large; the {{w|Just-noticeable difference|threshold needed to tell the difference}} between the amounts that they represent is too high. Randall expresses a similar sentiment once he gets to the trillions and quadrillions.
|-
| ,000 (thousand) || Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand. || Underselling how long the number is with the "at least a thousand", but is a fair thought from the POV of not being able to know how long the number is.
|-
| ,000 (million) || A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money. || Excitement from how large the number must be. {{w|Population}}s (like the number of people in a region) and large sums of money are both often measured in millions.
|-
| ,000 (billion) || Yikes! If this is money, it's a lot of money. || Three commas means a number in the billions. That's a lot of money for one person to have. Big decisions by large corporations, such as {{w|megamerger}}s, are often measured in billions of dollars in costs.
|-
| ,000,000 (quadrillion) || Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it. || Five commas is a number in the quadrillions. At this point the number is too big for human minds to comprehend.
|-
| ,000 (quintillion) || All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers. || Astronomy often deals with extremely large numbers due to the incredible scale of the universe. For example, the distance to the Andromeda galaxy in kilometers could be numbered in quintillions. Alternatively, the person calculating the number made a mistake. Regarding the unit conversion there has recently been a comic about such a thing in [[3065: Square Units]] and similar mistakes has been used in [[2585: Rounding]].
|-
| ,0000 (!?) || Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right. || Commas are placed every three digits in {{w|Decimal separator#Digit grouping|typical western usage}} (although not necessarily in various other {{w|Indian numbering system#Decimal formatting|cultures}}), so something is wrong. However, it might simply be that someone misplaced the comma to the right, meaning that this group has four digits and the next one would likely have two (the next comma in the 'correct' place). If the next group is three, then either the commas are now ''all'' misplaced or possibly someone/something just doubled up a zero by accident. A mistake of any kind makes one think that the number may not actually be accurate but, if the former, at least it might just be a relatively unimportant transposition.
|-
| ,0000 || Oh no. || A second group of four zeroes means it's not a typo. Something is seriously wrong. Note that some countries like [https://www.aceninja.sg/insights/2025/01/01/understanding-chinese-cultural-nuances-numerals China] or [https://www.kanpai-japan.com/learn-japanese/how-to-count-in-japanese Japan] (where 4-digit groupings are common) or [https://www.cuemath.com/numbers/indian-place-value-chart/ India] (which uses a unique 2- and 3-digit mixed system) may use non 3-digit groupings, but have their own rules for number groupings.
|-
| ,054 || What is happening. || Big numbers are normally rounded, so it's very strange to see a non-zero value this far down in the place values. Also, "54" matches the digits at the start of the number so it could indicate the number was copied incorrectly. The non-zero digits here imply that all of the digits so far, including the zeroes, are {{w|significant figures}}; the number is not only extremely large, but implausibly precise with at least 30 sig figs. By way of comparison, the diameter of the observable universe is about 4.4 × 1026 m, and if that measurement had 30 sig figs, it would be precise to about half a millimeter.
|-
| ,000"000 || Someone messed up real bad. || The arcsecond mark " indicates that this number is an angle or a distance in inches. For an angle, even accounting for how small an arcsecond is (1/3600th of a degree), this angle would be a huge number rotations. As for inches, it would represent a distance much larger than the observable universe, it is also uncommon to use customary units like inches in conjunction with large numbers. Alternatively, this could be "to-the-11th-power", which would make the already extremely large number extremely ridiculously big. This could also be a sign of bad copy-pasting, where the quotation mark " was accidentally copied along with the large number but not with a matching one. Or if this number was being printed from a computer program, the mark may be a sign that the closing quote around a computer string was accidentally escaped, causing it to become present in the string rather than indicating the end of the string.
|-
| ,00c2ef46 || Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me. || Numbers normally only use the digits 0–9. The use of letters suggest that this is a hexadecimal number. Hexadecimal is mostly used by computers, so Randall, as a programmer, might be worried that the hexadecimal appearing is his fault. Seeing a long string of unexpected characters may indicate a memory bug, such as a ''{{w|buffer overflow}}''. These bugs can lead to crashes, data corruption, and security vulnerabilities, which Randall would rather not be responsible for.

If not for the c and f, the letter e could also be read as {{w|E notation}}, a shorthand for {{w|scientific notation}} in many calculators and computer programs. There, "e" means "times ten {{w|to the power of}}", so …00e46 (= …00 × 1046) would add 46 more zeros to the value of the preceding number. However, usually the number would be {{w|Normalized number|normalized}} to have a single digit before a decimal part, changing any extra digits into a bigger {{w|Power of 10|exponent of ten}}, such as 5.4e84 (= 5.4 × 1084). The point of normalization is to make it easier to compare the magnitudes of very large and very small numbers, so that the reader doesn't need to count digits in the first place.
|-
| (title text) || [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration??? || In the United States, UK, India, China, Korea, Japan, and other countries, the dot is used to separate the integer part of a number from its fractional part. However, most of mainland Europe and South America uses the comma for this purpose. In some places, one may also see the period used to group digits. Since the final number is unreadable and potentially infinite, this implies that Randall has, naturally, made up an explanation instead of trying to figure out what was really happening.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:[A large number is written along the middle of the panel. Above and below the number there are 10 labels, (5 above and 5 below), and from each label a small curved line points to a part of the number. There is a heading above the top labels:]
:<big>Thought process while reading a big number:</big>

:[The number is continuing off the edge of the comic to the right, the last digit is missing about a third:]
:'''<big>54,000,000,000,000,000,000,0000,0000,054,000"000,00c2ef46</big>'''

:[The labels are listed below in the reading order as from where the small lines are pointing on to the number, so both those above and below the number, not first all those above. Text in the brackets indicate where on the number the line is pointing:]

:[To the first two numbers before the first comma, label above the number:]
:54! Great! I know that number. Solid start.

:[To the first zero after the first comma, label below the number:]
:Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand.

:[To the second comma, label above the number:]
:A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money.

:[To the third comma, label below the number:]
:Yikes! If this is money, it's a '''''lot''''' of money.

:[To the fifth comma, label above the number:]
:Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it.

:[To the sixth comma, label below the number:]
:All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers.

:[To the middle of a group of four zeros after the seventh comma, label above the number:]
:Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right.

:[To the middle of a group of four zeros after the eighth comma, label below the number:]
:Oh '''''no'''''.

:[To the last two numbers of the three digits after the ninth comma, label below the number:]
:What is happening.

:[To a quotation mark, where the eleventh comma should have been, label above the number:]
:Someone messed up real bad.

:[To the first number in a group with mixed alphanumeric numbers, where the thirteenth comma should have been, label below the number:]
:Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

3102: Reading a Big Number

2025-06-14T03:17:50Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3102
| date = June 13, 2025
| title = Reading a Big Number
| image = reading_a_big_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x438px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by A Number So Big It Glitches Out. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic expresses [[Randall]]'s reactions to reading {{w|large number}}s. It starts with normal digits and commas you would find in a large number, but gradually becomes more and more chaotic. It turns out that this is not a number at all, but some sort of printing error in whatever Randall is reading.

The very start of the comic is a bit absurd. In most cases, you can tell that a number like this is very large because of how long it is when written out; you wouldn't have to completely reinterpret it at the end of ''every'' group of digits. However, to tell exactly which "-illion" the number falls into, you would have to count the groups, and the scale of such a large number would grow less familiar as you try to keep track of how large it even is. Certain sizes of numbers tend to show up in specific contexts, like {{w|astronomy}}. So, rather than literally showing Randall's developing thoughts on the evidently massive size of this number, the comic also shows how he tends to interpret numbers at each possible "-illion" scale.

{| class="wikitable"
! Number fragment !! Thought !! Explanation
|-
| 54 || 54! Great! I know that number. Solid start. || 54 is a number with some real-world familiarity for most people. It is small enough to appear on digital clocks, and has enough factors to be listed on standard multiplication tables as 6 × 9.

Randall pretending to reckon with the start of such a large number is probably meant to draw attention to the meaninglessness of doing so. Unless the exact value is somehow important, most readers wouldn't find much of a meaningful difference between "54 zillion" or "over 50 zillion", or even "zillions and zillions". In practice, the brain {{w|Approximate number system|can only approximate}} numbers this large; the {{w|Just-noticeable difference|threshold needed to tell the difference}} between the amounts that they represent is too high. Randall expresses a similar sentiment once he gets to the trillions and quadrillions.
|-
| ,000 (thousand) || Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand. || Underselling how long the number is with the "at least a thousand", but is a fair thought from the POV of not being able to know how long the number is.
|-
| ,000 (million) || A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money. || Excitement from how large the number must be. {{w|Population}}s (like the number of people in a region) and large sums of money are both often measured in millions.
|-
| ,000 (billion) || Yikes! If this is money, it's a lot of money. || Three commas means a number in the billions. That's a lot of money for one person to have. Big decisions by large corporations, such as {{w|megamerger}}s, are often measured in billions of dollars in costs.
|-
| ,000,000 (quadrillion) || Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it. || Five commas is a number in the quadrillions. At this point the number is too big for human minds to comprehend.
|-
| ,000 (quintillion) || All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers. || Astronomy often deals with extremely large numbers due to the incredible scale of the universe. For example, the distance to the Andromeda galaxy in kilometers could be numbered in quintillions. Alternatively, the person calculating the number made a mistake.
|-
| ,0000 (!?) || Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right. || Commas are placed every three digits in {{w|Decimal separator#Digit grouping|typical western usage}} (although not necessarily in various other {{w|Indian numbering system#Decimal formatting|cultures}}), so something is wrong. However, it might simply be that someone misplaced the comma to the right, meaning that this group has four digits and the next one would likely have two (the next comma in the 'correct' place). If the next group is three, then either the commas are now ''all'' misplaced or possibly someone/something just doubled up a zero by accident. A mistake of any kind makes one think that the number may not actually be accurate but, if the former, at least it might just be a relatively unimportant transposition.
|-
| ,0000 || Oh no. || A second group of four zeroes means it's not a typo. Something is seriously wrong. Note that some countries like [https://www.aceninja.sg/insights/2025/01/01/understanding-chinese-cultural-nuances-numerals China] or [https://www.kanpai-japan.com/learn-japanese/how-to-count-in-japanese Japan] (where 4-digit groupings are common) or [https://www.cuemath.com/numbers/indian-place-value-chart/ India] (which uses a unique 2- and 3-digit mixed system) may use non 3-digit groupings, but have their own rules for number groupings.
|-
| ,054 || What is happening. || Big numbers are normally rounded, so it's very strange to see a non-zero value this far down in the place values. Also, "54" matches the digits at the start of the number so it could indicate the number was copied incorrectly. The non-zero digits here imply that all of the digits so far, including the zeroes, are {{w|significant figures}}; the number is not only extremely large, but implausibly precise with at least 30 sig figs. By way of comparison, the diameter of the observable universe is about 4.4 × 1026 m, and if that measurement had 30 sigfigs, it would be precise to about half a millimeter.
|-
| ,000"000 || Someone messed up real bad. || The arcsecond mark " indicates that this number is an angle or a distance in inches. For an angle, even accounting for how small an arcsecond is (1/3600th of a degree), this angle would be a huge number rotations. As for inches, it would represent a distance much larger than the observable universe, it is also uncommon to use customary units like inches in conjunction with large numbers. Alternatively, this could be "to-the-11th-power", which would make the already extremely large number extremely ridiculously big.
|-
| ,00c2ef46 || Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me. || Numbers normally only use the digits 0-9. The use of letters suggest that this is a hexadecimal number. Angles are not normally expressed in hexadecimal. Hexadecimal is mostly used by computers, so Randall, as a programmer, might be worried that the hexadecimal appearing is his fault. Seeing a long string of unexpected characters may indicate a memory bug, such as a ''{{w|buffer overflow}}''. These bugs can lead to crashes, data corruption and security vulnerabilities, and Randall would rather not be responsible for it.
|-
| (title text) || [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration??? || In the United States, UK, India, China, Korea, Japan, and other countries, the dot is used to separate the integer part of a number from its fractional part. However, most of mainland Europe and South America uses the comma for this purpose. In some places, one may also see the period used to group digits. Since the final number is unreadable and potentially infinite, this implies that Randall has, naturally, made up an explanation instead of trying to figure out what was really happening.
|-
|}

There are a few possible explanations for seeing a number like this appear in a software application. It may have appeared due to an out-of-bounds read operation where the computer tries to interpret unrelated data as text. Another possible explanation is misuse of the {{w|printf}} function in the {{w|C programming language}}. If strings passed to printf do not contain a {{w|null byte}} to terminate the string, it will go further into memory, again into unrelated data. Or the programmer might have several printf statements back to back, forgetting that printf doesn't add newlines (like the println function in other programming languages), so all their debug information gets printed on the same line.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:Thought Process While Reading a Big Number
:54,000,000,000,000,000,000,0000,0000,054,000"000,00c2ef46 [continuing off the edge of the comic]
:[At various points on the number, a line is connected from the number to a note]

:[Before first comma] 54! Great! I know that number. Solid start.
:[After first comma] Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand.
:[After second comma] A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money.
:[After third comma] Yikes! If this is money, it's a '''''lot''''' of money.
:[After fifth comma] Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it.
:[After sixth comma] All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers.
:[After seventh comma (first group of 4 zeros)] Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right.
:[After eighth comma (second group of 4 zeros)] Oh '''''no'''''.
:[After ninth comma (second 54)] What is happening.
:[By quotation mark] Someone messed up real bad.
:[By mixed alphanumeric numbers] Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Math]]

3102: Reading a Big Number

2025-06-14T03:10:28Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3102
| date = June 13, 2025
| title = Reading a Big Number
| image = reading_a_big_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x438px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by A Number So Big It Glitches Out. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic expresses [[Randall]]'s reactions to reading {{w|large number}}s. It starts with normal digits and commas you would find in a large number, but gradually becomes more and more chaotic. It turns out that this is not a number at all, but some sort of printing error in whatever Randall is reading.

The very start of the comic is a bit absurd. In most cases, you can tell that a number like this is very large because of how long it is when written out; you wouldn't have to completely reinterpret it at the end of ''every'' group of digits. However, to tell exactly which "-illion" the number falls into, you would have to count the groups, and the scale of such a large number would grow less familiar as you try to keep track of how large it even is. Certain sizes of numbers tend to show up in specific contexts, like {{w|astronomy}}. So, rather than literally showing Randall's developing thoughts on the evidently massive size of this number, the comic also shows how he tends to interpret numbers at each possible "-illion" scale.

{| class="wikitable"
! Number fragment !! Thought !! Explanation
|-
| 54 || 54! Great! I know that number. Solid start. || 54 is a number with some real-world familiarity for most people. It is small enough to appear on digital clocks, and has enough factors to be listed on standard multiplication tables as 6 × 9.

Randall reckoning with the start of such a large number is probably ironic. Unless the exact value is somehow important, most readers wouldn't find much of a meaningful difference between "54 zillion" or "over 50 zillion", or even "zillions and zillions". Randall expresses a similar sentiment once he gets to the trillions and quadrillions.
|-
| ,000 || Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand. || Underselling how long the number is with the "at least a thousand", but is a fair thought from the POV of not being able to know how long the number is.
|-
| ,000 || A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money. || Excitement from how large the number must be. {{w|Population}}s (like the number of people in a region) and large sums of money are both often measured in millions.
|-
| ,000 || Yikes! If this is money, it's a lot of money. || Three commas means a number in the billions. That's a lot of money for one person to have. Big decisions by large corporations, such as {{w|megamerger}}s, are often measured in billions of dollars in costs.
|-
| ,000,000 || Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it. || Five commas is a number in the quadrillions. At this point the number is too big for human minds to comprehend.
|-
| ,000 || All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers. || Astronomy often deals with extremely large numbers due to the incredible scale of the universe. For example, the distance to the Andromeda galaxy in kilometers could be numbered in quintillions. Alternatively, the person calculating the number made a mistake.
|-
| ,0000 || Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right. || Commas are placed every three digits in {{w|Decimal separator#Digit grouping|typical western usage}} (although not necessarily in various other {{w|Indian numbering system#Decimal formatting|cultures}}), so something is wrong. However, it might simply be that someone misplaced the comma to the right, meaning that this group has four digits and the next one would likely have two (the next comma in the 'correct' place). If the next group is three, then either the commas are now ''all'' misplaced or possibly someone/something just doubled up a zero by accident. A mistake of any kind makes one think that the number may not actually be accurate but, if the former, at least it might just be a relatively unimportant transposition.
|-
| ,0000 || Oh no. || A second group of four zeroes means it's not a typo. Something is seriously wrong. Note that some countries like [https://www.aceninja.sg/insights/2025/01/01/understanding-chinese-cultural-nuances-numerals China] or [https://www.kanpai-japan.com/learn-japanese/how-to-count-in-japanese Japan] (where 4-digit groupings are common) or [https://www.cuemath.com/numbers/indian-place-value-chart/ India] (which uses a unique 2- and 3-digit mixed system) may use non 3-digit groupings, but have their own rules for number groupings.
|-
| ,054 || What is happening. || Big numbers are normally rounded, so it's very strange to see a non-zero value this far down in the place values. Also, "54" matches the digits at the start of the number so it could indicate the number was copied incorrectly. The non-zero digits here imply that all of the digits so far, including the zeroes, are {{w|significant figures}}; the number is not only extremely large, but implausibly precise with at least 30 sig figs. By way of comparison, the diameter of the observable universe is about 4.4 × 1026 m, and if that measurement had 30 sigfigs, it would be precise to about half a millimeter.
|-
| ,000"000 || Someone messed up real bad. || The arcsecond mark " indicates that this number is an angle or a distance in inches. For an angle, even accounting for how small an arcsecond is (1/3600th of a degree), this angle would be a huge number rotations. As for inches, it would represent a distance much larger than the observable universe, it is also uncommon to use customary units like inches in conjunction with large numbers. Alternatively, this could be "to-the-11th-power", which would make the already extremely large number extremely ridiculously big.
|-
| ,00c2ef46 || Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me. || Numbers normally only use the digits 0-9. The use of letters suggest that this is a hexadecimal number. Angles are not normally expressed in hexadecimal. Hexadecimal is mostly used by computers, so Randall, as a programmer, might be worried that the hexadecimal appearing is his fault. Seeing a long string of unexpected characters may indicate a memory bug, such as a ''{{w|buffer overflow}}''. These bugs can lead to crashes, data corruption and security vulnerabilities, and Randall would rather not be responsible for it.
|-
| (title text) || [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration??? || In the United States, UK, India, China, Korea, Japan, and other countries, the dot is used to separate the integer part of a number from its fractional part. However, most of mainland Europe and South America uses the comma for this purpose. In some places, one may also see the period used to group digits. Since the final number is unreadable and potentially infinite, this implies that Randall has, naturally, made up an explanation instead of trying to figure out what was really happening.
|-
|}

There are a few possible explanations for seeing a number like this appear in a software application. It may have appeared due to an out-of-bounds read operation where the computer tries to interpret unrelated data as text. Another possible explanation is misuse of the {{w|printf}} function in the {{w|C programming language}}. If strings passed to printf do not contain a {{w|null byte}} to terminate the string, it will go further into memory, again into unrelated data. Or the programmer might have several printf statements back to back, forgetting that printf doesn't add newlines (like the println function in other programming languages), so all their debug information gets printed on the same line.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:Thought Process While Reading a Big Number
:54,000,000,000,000,000,000,0000,0000,054,000"000,00c2ef46 [continuing off the edge of the comic]
:[At various points on the number, a line is connected from the number to a note]

:[Before first comma] 54! Great! I know that number. Solid start.
:[After first comma] Oh, a comma and some zeros. Cool. Must be at least 54 thousand.
:[After second comma] A second comma! I wonder if we're talking population or money.
:[After third comma] Yikes! If this is money, it's a '''''lot''''' of money.
:[After fifth comma] Why am I reading this? Whatever this number is, I'm not going to be able to visualize it.
:[After sixth comma] All right, either someone made a unit conversion error or this is one of those incomprehensible astronomy numbers.
:[After seventh comma (first group of 4 zeros)] Oh no. Is this a misplaced comma or an extra zero? I guess we'll see if the next group has two zeros or three. If it's two, we can at least hope the digits are right.
:[After eighth comma (second group of 4 zeros)] Oh '''''no'''''.
:[After ninth comma (second 54)] What is happening.
:[By quotation mark] Someone messed up real bad.
:[By mixed alphanumeric numbers] Someone messed up real bad and I hope it wasn't me.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Math]]

3062: Off By One

2025-03-13T23:15:50Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3062
| date = March 12, 2025
| title = Off By One
| image = off_by_one_2x.png
| imagesize = 202x337px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It does come at the small cost of a LOT more off-by-40-or-50 errors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The explanation is currently too hard to understand for non-technical readers.}}

In computer programming and computer science, an {{w|off-by-one error}} is a very common human mistake left by an engineer who instructed the computer to process one too many or one too few items than are actually present. This can arise from a number of sources, including:
*Mistakenly using a ≤ (less than or equals) comparison where a < (less than) comparison was needed to terminate a {{w|Loop (programming)|loop}}, or vice versa (or, alternately, ≥ mixed up with >)
*Confusion between {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero-}} and one-based indexing of {{w|Array (data type)|arrays}} in code, either by convention or by definition in the code. Often, when numbering (indexing) elements in programming, counting starts from 0, so the initial element is not the "first" but actually the "zeroth". When using an {{w|Array (data structure)|array data structure}}, where elements are stored at equally spaced {{w|memory address}}es, zero-indexing lets you calculate the address of the <var>i</var>th element more easily: address(<var>i</var>) = address(<var>array</var>) + <var>spacing</var> × <var>i</var>. However, not all programming languages do this.
*{{w|Fencepost error}}s (which some consider to be synonymous with off-by-one errors). These are often related to the norm, in programming language loop constructs, to require inclusivity on the lower side of the range but exclusivity on the upper side [<var>min</var> ≤ <var>i</var> < <var>max</var>). Consider the length of a range, such as the whole numbers from 4 to 6. If this is considered inclusive on one side and exclusive on the other, then the correct length is 2, to count the set {4, 5}. This is easily obtained via the subtraction <var>max</var> − <var>min</var>. However, if the range is considered inclusive on both sides, as when placing fenceposts to hold a length of fence, then the correct length is 3, to count the set {4, 5, 6}. This is one more than the difference, and one more than the length usually used in software engineering, so the formula for this case is actually <var>max</var> − <var>min</var> + 1.

[[Cueball]] has attempted to combat off-by-one errors in his new programming language by introducing off-by-40-to-50 errors, which will indeed ensure that a simple reference to a value is rarely off by one. This severe change would introduce immediate failures in almost every program. A programmer attempting to correct such failures would end up completely removing direct comparison with the end value of a range, the usual cause of off-by-one errors, but would have to design for all of their values being up to 50 off from correct in every statement or line. For example, a normal loop can miss many elements (and possibly revisit others more than once, and/or out of order), not just possibly omit or over-extend one of the endpoints.

The title text states the obvious; by changing every number by 40 to 50, any number will be 40 to 50 off. This will compound further as the change can happen many times on a single line, as well as further by existing unforced off-by-one errors (or itself being left ill-defined or misunderstood, depending on whether "between" here is being understood as inclusive or exclusive) leading to potential off-by-39-to-51 errors.

The title text can be used to infer that the 40-to-50 range is inclusive on both ends, despite the word "between" often implying an exclusive range.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball faces Ponytail and Hairy while pointing behind him towards a laptop computer standing on a small desk.]
:Cueball: Any time an integer is stored or read, its value is adjusted upward or downward by a random amount between 40 and 50.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My new language almost completely eliminates off-by-one errors.

{{comic discussion}}

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

3062: Off By One

2025-03-13T23:06:40Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3062
| date = March 12, 2025
| title = Off By One
| image = off_by_one_2x.png
| imagesize = 202x337px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It does come at the small cost of a LOT more off-by-40-or-50 errors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The explanation is currently too hard to understand for non-technical readers.}}

In computer programming and computer science, an {{w|off-by-one error}} is a very common human mistake left by an engineer who instructed the computer to process one too many or one too few items than are actually present. This can arise from a number of sources, including:
*Mistakenly using a ≤ (less than or equals) comparison where a < (less than) comparison was needed to terminate a {{w|Loop (programming)|loop}}, or vice versa (or, alternately, ≥ mixed up with >)
*Confusion between {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero-}} and one-based indexing of arrays in code, either by convention or by definition in the code. Often, when numbering (indexing) elements in programming, counting starts from 0, so the initial element is not the "first" but actually the "zeroth". (However, not all programming languages do this.)
*{{w|Fencepost error}}s (which some consider to be synonymous with off-by-one errors). These are often related to the norm, in programming language loop constructs, to require inclusivity on the lower side of the range but exclusivity on the upper side [<var>min</var> ≤ <var>i</var> < <var>max</var>). Consider the length of a range, such as the whole numbers from 4 to 6. If this is considered inclusive on one side and exclusive on the other, then the correct length is 2, to count the set {4, 5}. This is easily obtained via the subtraction <var>max</var> − <var>min</var>. However, if the range is considered inclusive on both sides, as when placing fenceposts to hold a length of fence, then the correct length is 3, to count the set {4, 5, 6}. This is one more than the difference, and one more than the length usually used in software engineering, so the formula for this case is actually <var>max</var> − <var>min</var> + 1.

[[Cueball]] has attempted to combat off-by-one errors in his new programming language by introducing off-by-40-to-50 errors, which will indeed ensure that a simple reference to a value is rarely off by one. This severe change would introduce immediate failures in almost every program. A programmer attempting to correct such failures would end up completely removing direct comparison with the end value of a range, the usual cause of off-by-one errors, but would have to design for all of their values being up to 50 off from correct in every statement or line. For example, a normal loop can miss many elements (and possibly revisit others more than once, and/or out of order), not just possibly omit or over-extend one of the endpoints.

The title text states the obvious; by changing every number by 40 to 50, any number will be 40 to 50 off. This will compound further as the change can happen many times on a single line, as well as further by existing unforced off-by-one errors (or itself being left ill-defined or misunderstood, depending on whether "between" here is being understood as inclusive or exclusive) leading to potential off-by-39-to-51 errors.

The title text can be used to infer that the 40-to-50 range is inclusive on both ends, despite the word "between" often implying an exclusive range.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball faces Ponytail and Hairy while pointing behind him towards a laptop computer standing on a small desk.]
:Cueball: Any time an integer is stored or read, its value is adjusted upward or downward by a random amount between 40 and 50.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My new language almost completely eliminates off-by-one errors.

{{comic discussion}}

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

3062: Off By One

2025-03-13T23:05:31Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 3062
| date = March 12, 2025
| title = Off By One
| image = off_by_one_2x.png
| imagesize = 202x337px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It does come at the small cost of a LOT more off-by-40-or-50 errors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The explanation is currently too hard to understand for non-technical readers.}}

In computer programming and computer science, an {{w|off-by-one error}} is a very common human mistake left by an engineer who instructed the computer to process one too many or one too few items than are actually present. This can arise from a number of sources, including:
*Mistakenly using a ≤ (less than or equals) comparison where a < (less than) comparison was needed to terminate a {{w|Loop (programming)|loop}}, or vice versa (or, alternately, ≥ mixed up with >)
*Confusion between {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero-}} and one-based indexing of arrays in code, either by convention or by definition in the code. Often, when numbering (indexing) elements in programming, counting starts from 0, so the initial element is not the "first" but actually the "zeroth". (However, not all programming languages do this.)
*{{w|Fencepost error}}s (which some consider to be synonymous with off-by-one errors). These are often related to the norm, in programming language loop constructs, to require inclusivity on the lower side of the range but exclusivity on the upper side [<var>min</var> ≤ <var>i</var> < <var>max</var>). Consider the length of a range, such as the whole numbers from 4 to 6. If this is considered inclusive on one side and exclusive on the other, then the correct length is 2, to count the set {4, 5}, which is easily obtained via the subtraction <var>max</var> − <var>min</var>. However, if the range is considered inclusive on both sides, as when placing fenceposts to hold a length of fence, then the correct length is 3, to count the set {4, 5, 6}, which is one more than the difference, and one more than the length usually used in software engineering. So the formula for this case is actually <var>max</var> − <var>min</var> + 1.

[[Cueball]] has attempted to combat off-by-one errors in his new programming language by introducing off-by-40-to-50 errors, which will indeed ensure that a simple reference to a value is rarely off by one. This severe change would introduce immediate failures in almost every program. A programmer attempting to correct such failures would end up completely removing direct comparison with the end value of a range, the usual cause of off-by-one errors, but would have to design for all of their values being up to 50 off from correct in every statement or line. For example, a normal loop can miss many elements (and possibly revisit others more than once, and/or out of order), not just possibly omit or over-extend one of the endpoints.

The title text states the obvious; by changing every number by 40 to 50, any number will be 40 to 50 off. This will compound further as the change can happen many times on a single line, as well as further by existing unforced off-by-one errors (or itself being left ill-defined or misunderstood, depending on whether "between" here is being understood as inclusive or exclusive) leading to potential off-by-39-to-51 errors.

The title text can be used to infer that the 40-to-50 range is inclusive on both ends, despite the word "between" often implying an exclusive range.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball faces Ponytail and Hairy while pointing behind him towards a laptop computer standing on a small desk.]
:Cueball: Any time an integer is stored or read, its value is adjusted upward or downward by a random amount between 40 and 50.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My new language almost completely eliminates off-by-one errors.

{{comic discussion}}

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

3062: Off By One

2025-03-13T21:16:07Z

AgentMuffin:

3062: Off By One

2025-03-13T21:15:16Z

AgentMuffin:

User:AgentMuffin

2025-03-13T21:07:04Z

AgentMuffin: Blanked the page

2994: Númenor Margaritaville

2024-10-06T19:18:00Z

AgentMuffin: Context

{{comic
| number = 2994
| date = October 4, 2024
| title = Númenor Margaritaville
| image = numenor_margaritaville_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x553px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I see white shores, and beyond it, a far green country under a tequila sunrise.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ELVISH PARROTHEAD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is conflating {{w|J.R.R. Tolkien}}'s fictional island "[https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/N%C3%BAmenor Númenor]" with the beach resort in {{w|Jimmy Buffett}}'s "{{w|Margaritaville}}". The Elf who is telling him about Númenor, and Aragorn's link to it, becomes progressively more upset, and for cause.

Aragorn, more precisely [https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Aragorn_II Aragorn II], is the principal Mannish protagonist of Tolkien's {{w|The_Lord_of_the_Rings|The Lord of the Rings}}. He is crowned High King of Gondor and Arnor at the end of the saga. He is descended from [https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Elros Elros Tar-Minyatur], first king of Númenor and brother of {{w|Elrond}}.

"I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead" is a line from Buffett's song "Growing Older But Not Up", from his 1981 album ''{{w|Coconut Telegraph}}''. [https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ar-Pharaz%C3%B4n Ar-Pharazôn] refers to the twenty-fifth, and last, king of Númenor. He sought to conquer the {{w|Valinor|Undying Lands}}, resolving to win eternal life, or die in the attempt. He was therefore responsible for the destruction of Númenor, the removal of the Undying Lands from {{w|Cosmology_of_Tolkien%27s_legendarium#Arda|Arda}}, and the transformation of Arda into a sphere.

"If there's a heaven for me, I'm sure it has a beach attached" is a quote from the chapter "A Caribbean Soul" of Buffett's autobiography ''{{w|A Pirate Looks at Fifty}}''. [https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Tol_Eress%C3%ABa Tol Eressëa] is an island off the coast of Aman, the continent on which the Valar (divine angelic spirits) live. Aman is thought to have been inspired by the concept of a [https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Aman#Inspiration paradise out of time].

Cueball's last line alludes to a statement made by Galadriel in ''{{w|The Fellowship of the Ring}}'', in the chapter "The Mirror of Galadriel": "I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel." Cueball's altered version of the statement refers to {{w|Key West, Florida}}, a city closely associated with Buffett, where he lived for many years, recorded albums, and established the first restaurant in his {{w|Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville|Margaritaville chain}}.

The title text alludes to a line from Chapter 9:The Grey Havens in ''{{w|The Return of the King}}''. "And then it seemed to him" ({{w|Frodo_Baggins|Frodo}}) "that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise." The modified line makes a reference to the {{w|Tequila sunrise}} cocktail - and, perhaps, to the {{w|Tequila_Sunrise_(Eagles_song)|song by Eagles}}, which is thematically similar to "Margaritaville".

Tolkien's legendarium is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:LOTR frequently alluded to] in xkcd.

==Transcript==
:[An Elf woman with a decorated headband around her long blonde hair and wearing a long dress is walking and talking with Cueball who walks ahead of her looking back at her over his shoulder.]
:Elf: Aragorn was king of Gondor, but we Elves remember when his line ruled Númenor.
:Cueball: Oh, the place from the Jimmy Buffett songs?

:[Closeup on Cueball who has stopped and turned towards the now off-panel Elf. The Elf's reaction is coming from a star burst in the top left corner of the panel.]
:Elf [off-panel]: What.
:Cueball: The semi-mythical seafaring Atlantic paradise? He sang about it. With the fancy cocktails?

:[Zoom back out showing that the Elf and Cueball are now standing facing each other.]
:Elf: ...You mean Margaritaville?
:Cueball: Yeah, that must be the modern name.

:[Another closeup on Cueball with the Elf speaking off-panel as before.]
:Elf [off-panel]: Númenor is not Margaritaville.
:Cueball: "I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead," sang Ar-Pharazôn, king of island life.

:[Zoom back out to see the Elf is now facepalming while Cueball continues.]
:Elf: Please stop.
:Cueball: "If there's a heaven for me, I'm sure it has a beach attached" is about the shores of Tol Eressëa.

:[The Elf is walking away from Cueball who raises his finger in the air.]
:Elf: See, this is why I'm leaving the world of Men.
:Cueball: You shall diminish, and go into Key West.

==Trivia==

In the image of the comic [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/f/f7/20241006145447%21numenor_margaritaville_2x.png as first published], Númenor was styled "Numenor", and Ar-Pharazôn was given as "Tar-Pharazôn". Cueball had mistakenly appended the Elvish ({{w|Quenya}}) royal title Tar to the Mannish ({{w|Adûnaic}}) regnal name Pharazôn; the king did have a Quenya name, Tar-Calion, but he didn't use it, following the precedent established by most of the Kings of Númenor and signaling the increasing estrangement of the Men of the West (apart from the Elf Friends) from the Elves. The errors were corrected two days after publication.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Food]]

2989: Physics Lab Thermostat

2024-09-24T06:43:07Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2989
| date = September 23, 2024
| title = Physics Lab Thermostat
| image = physics_lab_thermostat_2x.png
| imagesize = 264x296px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hopefully the HVAC people set it to only affect the AIR in the room.
}}

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

This comic is about the {{w|Boltzmann constant}}, which relates the average kinetic energy of a particle in a gas with the temperature of the gas. The Boltzmann constant is defined as 1.380649 × 10^-23 J/K (joules per kelvin).

Randall imagines a physics lab having a dial that can alter the constant between 1.418 x 10^-23 J/K and 1.351 x 10^-23 J/K. If the average kinetic energy of gas particles remains constant when moving the dial, then changing the Boltzmann constant would change how this average energy is measured in Kelvins, thus "changing the temperature". Changing one of the fundamental constants of thermodynamics would have dangerous effects.{{acn}}

There have previously been control panels for properties of the universe in [[1620: Christmas Settings]] and [[1763: Catcalling]].

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

:[A black circular dial is shown with a white indicator line at the upper right. The label above the dial, enclosed in a rectangular box, says:]
:Local Boltzmann Constant
:[The two extremes of the dial are labeled as follows, the first value on the left and the second value on the right:]
:1.418 x 10-23 J/K
:1.351 x 10-23 J/K
:[The indicator line is pointing to a position on the dial somewhere around 1.375 x 10-23 J/K.]
:[Caption below the panel:]
:Physics Lab Thermostat

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]

2982: Water Filtration

2024-09-07T06:33:47Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2982
| date = September 6, 2024
| title = Water Filtration
| image = water_filtration_2x.png
| imagesize = 593x467px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = You'd think the most expensive part would be the quark-gluon plasma chamber, but it's actually usually the tube to the top of the atmosphere to carry the cosmic rays down.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a REVERSE ELECTROLYSIS RUBE GOLDBERG FILTERING MACHINE SEASONED WITH LOVE (OR AT LEAST MORE WELL WATER) - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic seems to be a diagram of how well water is purified, a common procedure done to make said water safe to drink. However, this well water is "purified" through a series of increasingly unnecessary, expensive, and possibly hazardous steps.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Step
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Water softener
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{w|Water softening}} is the removal of calcium, magnesium, and certain other metal cations in hard water. The resulting soft water requires less soap for the same cleaning effort, as soap is not wasted bonding with calcium ions. Soft water also extends the lifetime of plumbing by reducing or eliminating scale build-up in pipes and fittings. The comic shows the water being passed through some granulated material; presumably, {{w|ion-exchange resins}} are being used to treat the water.
|-
|Reverse osmosis
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{w|Reverse osmosis}} is one of the main steps used in modern water-purification systems. It relies on using osmotic membranes and high pressures to separate water molecules from dissolved solutes and biological substances.
|-
|Ultraviolet Sterilization
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{w|Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation|Ultraviolet sterilization}} uses UV lamps at short wavelengths to kill micro-organisms in the water.
|-
|Autoclave
|{{No|Fake}}
|{{w|Autoclaves}} are devices that sterilize items with high temperatures and pressures. While they are commonly used in hospital and laboratory settings to sterilize equipment, it is not normally used to purify water, as it would generate steam by the end of it. Furthermore, it would be extremely energy-intensive to convert the large volumes of water required for human consumption to steam.
|-
|Condenser
|{{No|Fake}}
|This isn't a purification step, but rather condenses the steam generated by the autoclave back into water.
|-
|Regular osmosis
|{{No|Fake}}
|Regular osmosis is the reverse of the previous Reverse Osmosis step. Oddly enough, this wouldn't directly contaminate the water, since the water is extremely pure as of this moment. Instead this step would simply remove water from the from the main stream, leaving the filtrate unchanged.
|-
|X-Ray Sterilization
|{{No|Fake}}
|While {{w|Sterilization_(microbiology)#Non-ionizing_radiation_sterilization|X-ray Sterilization}} is used to sterilize equipment, it is not normally used for water.
|-
|Carbon Filter
|{{No|Fake}}
|The water is passed through some volume of carbon. A riff on activated carbon filters, which are used in water filtration (seen later in the process)
|-
|Neutron Source
|{{No|Fake}}
|A {{w|neutron source}} generates high-energy neutrons. High-energy neutrons are highly penetrating and will cause ionization events to occur due to collision with atoms in the water. This can potentially make the water more radioactive due to the generation of radioactive isotopes
|-
|Activated Carbon Filter
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{w|Activated carbon}} is a form of carbon commonly used to filter contaminants from water and air, as it has a large surface area available to adsorb impurities on its surface. While this isn't a strange step to see in a water purification process, Randall makes a pun here with its proximity to the neutron source - the carbon has been {{w|Neutron activation|'activated'}} by the neutron source, and is currently radioactive. Water filtered through this may pick up radioactive isotopes from the filter.
|-
|Gamma Ray Sterilization
|{{No|Fake}}
|Similar to x-ray sterilization, this step uses {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_(microbiology)#Ionizing_radiation_sterilization|gamma rays}} to sterilize the water. As gamma rays are a form of ionizing radiation, this can potentially irradiate the water.
|-
|Cosmic Ray Sterilization
|{{No|Fake}}
|Similar to the previous step, but this time using high energy {{w|cosmic rays}} to do so. This would be incredibly impractical, as cosmic rays are generally blocked by the atmosphere at high altitudes. Furthermore, their extremely high energy would cause multiple high-energy particles to be created on impact with the water molecules, irradiating the water significantly.
|-
|Electrolysis
|{{No|Fake}}
|RO
|-
|Oxygen Spallation
|{{No|Fake}}
|The oxygen is apparently broken down, by some means, back into hydrogen (the opposite process from the fusion reactions that created it in the first place, inside stars). The oxygen nuclei contained neutrons; either these are expelled (not shown), or the hydrogen includes deuterium or tritium (to use the neutrons), or the neutrons are further broken down to give protons, electrons, and antineutrinos (not shown).
|-
|Ionizer
|{{No|Fake}}
|RO
|-
|Condenser 
|{{No|Fake}}
|RO
|-
|Quark-Gluon Plasma Chamber
|{{No|Fake}}
|RO 
|-
|Hydrogenation
|{{No|Fake}}
|RO
|-
|Nucleosynthesis
|{{No|Fake}}
|RO
|-
|Reverse Electrolysis
|{{No|Fake}}
|RO
|-
|Adding Well Water
|{{No|Fake}}
|A second pipe is linked to the first that simply feeds untreated well water into the pipes, undoing the entire process. Even if the well water is only a small portion of the faucet water, its presence has now contaminated the now incredibly pure water, making it potentially unsafe to drink if the original well water was contaminated with toxins or pathogens. This act of putting well water into the faucet after treating it may be a riff on the cultural interest in "spring water" or "pure glacial water" that is said to have additional minerals or beneficial properties but is oftentimes not meaningfully distinct from properly treated tap water.
|}

The title text briefly covers the cost implications of the components. Various 'real' filter elements will either have material or energy costs (if not both), in operation or to replenish their effectiveness, and the high energy input needed to disassociate hadrons into raw quark–gluon plasma (at bulk levels) would seem to require the most in terms of running the equioment. But it is pointed out that to ''ensure'' enough cosmic rays reach that particular phase of steralisation, there would have to be a pipe (not shown) leading out to the edge of the atmosphere to optimistically carry down such particles (due to also containing ''no'' air, i.e. keeping it out to negate the normal {{w|Air shower (physics)|shielding and dissipating effect}} of the atmosphere).

Whether a one-off-cost or needing regular replacement, the setting up of such a tubular structure (a vertical air-proof pipe perhaps somewhere between 100 and 10,000 kilometres high) would be technically challenging and has not ever been actually accomplished. Whereas the conditions for a quark–gluon plasma, albeit in limited quantities, at least have been fulfilled at {{w|CERN}} (with its 27 kilometre airless pipe that goes round within a vast circular tunnel).

Although it doesn't label itself as such, this might be deemed an honorable member of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors]].

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

{{comic discussion}}

Template:No

2024-09-07T06:32:25Z

AgentMuffin: Created page with "<noinclude> {| class="wikitable" |- |</noinclude>style="background:#FFC7C7;vertical-align:middle;text-align:{{{align|center}}};{{{style|}}}" class="table-no"|{{{1|No}}}<noincl..."

<noinclude>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|</noinclude>style="background:#FFC7C7;vertical-align:middle;text-align:{{{align|center}}};{{{style|}}}" class="table-no"|{{{1|No}}}<noinclude>
|}
</noinclude>

Template:Yes

2024-09-07T06:32:22Z

AgentMuffin: Created page with "<noinclude> {| class="wikitable" |- |</noinclude>style="background:#9EFF9E;vertical-align:middle;text-align:{{{align|center}}};{{{style|}}}" class="table-yes"|{{{1|Yes}}}<noin..."

<noinclude>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|</noinclude>style="background:#9EFF9E;vertical-align:middle;text-align:{{{align|center}}};{{{style|}}}" class="table-yes"|{{{1|Yes}}}<noinclude>
|}
</noinclude>

2946: 1.2 Kilofives

2024-06-16T02:49:26Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2946
| date = June 14, 2024
| title = 1.2 Kilofives
| image = 1 2 kilofives 2x.png
| imagesize = 256x342px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh yeah? Give me 50 milliscore reasons why I should stop.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 83.333... millidozen BOTS, Y2K reference added by ZC - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Abraham Lincoln's {{w|Gettysburg Address}} features the phrase "four {{wiktionary|score#Noun|score}} and seven"‍ to refer to 87: a "score" is a group of 20. This is akin to French, where 87 is written ''quatre-vingt sept'', which literally translates as "four-twenties [and] seven". However, most English speakers nowadays would only recognize this poetic usage of "score" from Lincoln's speech. Inspired by this, [[Cueball]] (possibly representing [[Randall]]) uses a metric prefix to state the population of a town.

{{w|Metric prefix}}es can be added to a unit to scale up or down its magnitude. For example, "{{w|kilo-}}" raises the unit's magnitude by a factor of 1,000, so a {{w|kilometer}} is as long as 1,000 {{w|meter}}s. Although metric prefixes can be added to {{w|List of metric units|all sorts of units}}, they're not ordinarily added before number words to change their magnitude. With that in mind, the expression "kilofive" for 5,000 is unusual; the number would usually be spoken "five thousand".

Taking "kilofive" to be a unit meaning 5,000, the population of East Hills, 6,000, can therefore be expressed as 1.2 kilofives. But phrasing a number this way requires the listener to make excess calculations to understand it, so [[White Hat]] would probably get confused or annoyed.

It is somewhat common for metric prefixes to go ''after'' numbers in abbreviations. Well-known examples are "{{w|Y2K}}" for "year 2000", and "{{w|4K resolution}}" for "4,000 [pixels]". The number 5,000 is abbreviated as "{{w|5K}}" in several phrases such as the "{{w|5K run}}" and "{{w|5K resolution}}". However, the prefix is implied to modify an unstated unit afterwards—the "five-kilo''meter'' run", "five-{{wiktionary|kilopixel|kilo''pixel''}} resolution"—not the preceding number. And saying "1.2 5K" would be even more awkward, liable to be misunderstood as "1.25k" or 1,250.

In the title text, Cueball has apparently annoyed White Hat with his confusing expressions of numbers, but he doubles down, now directly including the word "score". 50 milliscore, or 50 × 1&frasl;1000 × 20, would be equal to 1.

The comic might refer to the village of {{w|East Hills, New York}}. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,284, or 1.214 kilosixes.

==Trivia==
In Roman numerals, {{w|Roman_numerals#Large_numbers|symbols can be added to numerals}} to denote orders of magnitude. In this system, 1,000 might be written as "CIↃ". This rough pattern of marks, as typically chisled or impressed into wax by a stylus, would later be refined and expressed in the not dissimilar shape of the "M" as most often seen these days to represent the thousands value in dates/etc. Alternately "I" (nominally '1') could be given a bar above it, as would any other such numerals involve in that expression, to indicate the value being denoted being of the higher order.

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

:[Cueball, with his palm raised, is talking to White Hat. There is a sign on the ground in the background.]
:Cueball: It's a pretty small town—the population is just 1.2 kilofives.
:[The sign reads:]
:Welcome to
:East Hills
:Pop. 6,000

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't know why Abraham Lincoln should be the only one who gets to come up with weird ways to say normal numbers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Language]]

2946: 1.2 Kilofives

2024-06-16T02:44:30Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2946
| date = June 14, 2024
| title = 1.2 Kilofives
| image = 1 2 kilofives 2x.png
| imagesize = 256x342px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh yeah? Give me 50 milliscore reasons why I should stop.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 83.333... millidozen BOTS, Y2K reference added by ZC - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Abraham Lincoln's {{w|Gettysburg Address}} features the phrase "four {{wiktionary|score#Noun|score}} and seven"‍ to refer to 87: a "score" is a group of 20. This is akin to French, where 87 is written ''quatre-vingt sept'', which literally translates as "four-twenties [and] seven". However, most English speakers nowadays would only recognize this poetic usage of "score" from Lincoln's speech. Inspired by this, [[Cueball]] (possibly representing [[Randall]]) uses a metric prefix to state the population of a town.

{{w|Metric prefix}}es can be added to a unit to scale up or down its magnitude. For example, "{{w|kilo-}}" raises the unit's magnitude by a factor of 1,000, so a {{w|kilometer}} is as long as 1,000 {{w|meter}}s. Although metric prefixes can be added to {{w|List of metric units|all sorts of units}}, they're not ordinarily added before number words to change their magnitude. With that in mind, the expression "kilofive" for 5,000 is unusual, and would require the listener to make excess calculations to understand it. It would usually be spoken "five thousand".

It is somewhat common for metric prefixes to go ''after'' numbers in abbreviations. Well-known examples are "{{w|Y2K}}" for "year 2000", and "{{w|4K resolution}}" for "4,000 [pixels]". The number 5,000 is abbreviated as "{{w|5K}}" in several phrases such as the "{{w|5K run}}" and "{{w|5K resolution}}". However, the prefix is implied to modify an unstated unit afterwards—the "five-kilo''meter'' run", "five-{{wiktionary|kilopixel|kilo''pixel''}} resolution"—not the preceding number. And saying "1.2 5K" would be even more awkward, liable to be misunderstood as "1.25k" or 1,250.

Taking "kilofive" to be a unit meaning 5,000, the population of East Hills, 6,000, can therefore be expressed as 1.2 kilofives.

In the title text, Cueball has apparently annoyed [[White Hat]] with his confusing expressions of numbers, but he doubles down, now directly including the word "score". 50 milliscore, or 50 × 1&frasl;1000 × 20, would be equal to 1.

The comic might refer to the village of {{w|East Hills, New York}}. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,284, or 1.214 kilosixes.

==Trivia==
In Roman numerals, {{w|Roman_numerals#Large_numbers|symbols can be added to numerals}} to denote orders of magnitude. In this system, 1,000 might be written as "CIↃ". This rough pattern of marks, as typically chisled or impressed into wax by a stylus, would later be refined and expressed in the not dissimilar shape of the "M" as most often seen these days to represent the thousands value in dates/etc. Alternately "I" (nominally '1') could be given a bar above it, as would any other such numerals involve in that expression, to indicate the value being denoted being of the higher order.

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

:[Cueball, with his palm raised, is talking to White Hat. There is a sign on the ground in the background.]
:Cueball: It's a pretty small town—the population is just 1.2 kilofives.
:[The sign reads:]
:Welcome to
:East Hills
:Pop. 6,000

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't know why Abraham Lincoln should be the only one who gets to come up with weird ways to say normal numbers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Language]]

2946: 1.2 Kilofives

2024-06-15T09:37:51Z

AgentMuffin:

1734: Reductionism

2024-05-16T14:35:40Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 1734
| date = September 16, 2016
| title = Reductionism
| image = reductionism.png
| titletext = "I've noticed you physics people can be a little on the reductionist side." "That's ridiculous. Name ONE reductionist word I've ever said."
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Reductionism}} is an approach that seeks to understand the world by breaking problems into simpler pieces. This approach can disregard emergent properties which appear only from the individual parts working together.

In this comic [[Randall]] shows the first part of a dictionary entry on the word ''Reductionism''. In a real dictionary like [http://www.dictionary.com/ Dictionary.com] an [http://www.dictionary.com/browse/reductionism entry] with similar build up looks like this:
:Reductionism
:Noun
:1. The theory that every complex phenomenon, especially in biology or psychology, can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation during the phenomenon.
:2. The practice of simplifying a complex idea, issue, condition, or the like, especially to the point of minimizing, obscuring, or distorting it.
In the comic the ''n'' refers to {{w|noun}} and the "1." indicate that this is the first of more than one entries about the word.

The meta joke is that Randall is attempting to define the word ''reductionism'' by taking the reductionist approach to its extreme. He thus breaks the word into its 12 individual letters explaining the origin of each individual letter, acting as if the word was nothing more than the "sum" of all its letters. In doing so he entirely fails to explain the actual meaning of the word. (Maybe a reader could guess the meaning based on how the entry is written… or maybe the whole dictionary is written like this, making it practically useless.)

The entire entry number 1. could in principle have 12 phrases one for each of the letters R, E, D, U, C, T, I, O, N, I, S and M, but here only the first two for R and E are included, the third (D) only just starts when the entry is cut off at the bottom of the panel. It could be argued that the two I's could share one explanation, but as a reductionist you might not even notice that the I had already been explained.

As it happens, every letter of the {{w|Latin alphabet}} (the writing system used by the {{w|English language}} and many other languages) is ultimately derived from {{w|Egyptian hieroglyphics}}, not just "R". But maybe the same sentence is used for all the {{w|consonants}} as the only word in the explanation for "D" is "is"; the same that starts the explanation for "R".

The second letter that is explained is "E", a {{w|vowel}}. In modern English spelling, the letter "E" is used – alone or in combination – to represent a number of different vowel sounds (compare "gene", "bed", "crepe"). In the word "reductionism", the "E" can be pronounced as /ɪ/ ("rih"ductionism), /iː/ ("ree"ductionism) or /ə/ ("ruh"ductionism), depending on dialect and emphasis, but the comic is talking about the sound used to pronounce the letter itself, /iː/ ("long E"). It explains that this vowel sound was normally represented with the letter "I" until the 1500's. This is a reference to the {{w|Great Vowel Shift}}, a change in the pronunciation of many English vowels around that time. Before then, a word like "see" was pronounced /seː/ (approximately "seh", with no diphthong), while a word like "bite" was pronounced /biːt/ ("beet"). So in modern English pronunciation, the "long E" sound is the same as what the "long I" spelling used to represent.

In the title text, two people are speaking. The first speaker has noticed that "physics people can be a little on the reductionist side". (Randall would consider himself a physicist). The presumed physicist then says that it is a ridiculous notion. He challenges the other to "Name ONE reductionist word I've ever said." But by claiming he is not a reductionist by focusing on the individual words (which, even/especially in the case of "reductionist", are never used ''solely'' by reductionists) he is asking for an impossible comparison to be made, when proof of reductionism is clearly an emergent property of a fuller sentences, if not whole discourses. By insisting on focusing only upon individual words in this manner the speaker likely proves themself a reductionist, in the very act of trying to refute this accusation.

Reductionism has previously appeared [[1416:_Pixels#Holism.2C_Reductionism.2C_Mu|deep down]] in [[1416: Pixels]].

==Transcript==
:[The comic represents an entry in a dictionary for a word. Unlike normal comics not only capital letters are used, and thus here the capitalization of the comic is also used in the transcript. The entry is cut off through the bottom of the fourth line by the bottom of the panel, but the last line is still readable.]
:'''REDUCTIONISM'''•''n''. 1. "R" is a letter with
:origins in the Egyptian hieroglyphics. "E"
:stands for a vowel sound normally
:represented by "I" until the 1500's. "D" is

==Trivia==
*This comic was posted as normally on a Friday, but it was also posted the day after the previous comic [[1733: Solar Spectrum]].
**This marks the first time on xkcd where, in a week where only three comics where released, there was a release on both Thursday and Friday.
***The only other times there has been released comics on both Thursday and Friday has been in the series weeks where a five comic series has been released on five consecutive days from Monday to Friday.
**The reason that the previous comic's release day was postponed from the scheduled Wednesday release to a [[:Category:Thursday comics|Thursday release]] was because Randall noticed the extreme popularity of the previous comic from Monday: [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]].
***Randall even explained this in the header text, see [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|this trivia item]] in the popular comics explanation.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]

2920: Survey Marker

2024-04-17T08:06:54Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2920
| date = April 15, 2024
| title = Survey Marker
| image = survey_marker_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Fun fact: The standard North American NAD83 coordinate system is misaligned from the actual Earth, off-center by about 7 feet. Someone knows where I am, and I'm in the wrong place.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GUIDED MISSILE THAT MISSED THE TARGET DUE TO COORDINATE DRIFT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball and Megan have found a {{w|survey marker}} on the ground. Survey markers such as these are used as reference points for the {{w|North_American_Datum|NAD 83 and NAVD 88}} geodetic reference systems, and the {{w|U.S. National Geodetic Survey}} has a database storing the coordinates of these markers. However, those two systems are being replaced by the {{w|National_Spatial_Reference_System#Datum_of_2022|New Datums of 2022}} (delayed to 2024-2025), which is primarily based on satellite systems and gravimetric models.

When they update the database, in the comic Cueball's altitude changes to compensate (as well as moving his horizontal location) leaving him panicking in mid-air. In reality, updating a database to change the coordinates of a location would not physically move items at the location.{{Citation needed}} Arguably, if they did, no-one would much notice, since everything surrounding them should similarly move simultaneously to its corrected position as well. However, this shifting does not seem to apply to Megan. This might be because she is still standing next to the survey marker, while Cueball is standing at the point in the database; Cueball's comfort in being at an ''exact'' known location has opened up an unexpected vulnerability. Or perhaps it is simply due to Megan being prepared for the update unlike Cueball.

The title text refers to NAD 83 being around 7 feet off. This is in reference to both {{w|World Geodetic System|WGS84}} and presumably the New Datum.

Absurd outcomes from differing survey standards was also the topic of [[2888: US Survey Foot]].

==Transcript==
:[Zoomed in view of a round marker on the ground, with small specks of dirt around it. There is one line of text going around the central part in the outer rim of the marker, with the first three words written around the top, and the last two words written around the bottom (thus not text that are going all the way around in one single line). Inside this rim there are more text on three lines. In the center there is a small cross in a triangle pointing up in relation to the central text. There are more unreadable text below the last line of text and around the inner part of the rim. And off panel voice, which in the next panel turns out to be Cueball, is written above the mark.]
:U.S. Geological Survey bench mark
:Elevation above sea 447 feet
:Cueball (off-panel): I love finding these survey markers. It's somehow reassuring.

:[Cueball and Megan are shown as they look down on the marker. Cueball has one leg on either side of the marker and Megan stands to the right.]
:Cueball: I like that someone, somewhere, knows where this spot is.
:Cueball: If I stand on it, they know where '''''I''''' am.

:[Cueball and Megan looks up at each other.]
:Megan: But the NAD83 and NAVD88 datums are getting replaced soon. That marker's coordinates could shift by like 5 feet.

:[Megan is looking down at her phone in her hand, standing in the same place in relation to the marker. Cueball is now floating in the air behind her 5 feet above the ground, while flailing with his arms and legs (as shown with three small curved lines at the end of either arm and above and below him.)]
:Megan: Oh look, it just got updated.
:Cueball: '''''Hey! Put me back!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Fun fact]]

2911: Greenland Size

2024-03-26T03:03:44Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2911
| date = March 25, 2024
| title = Greenland Size
| image = greenland_size_2x.png
| imagesize = 262x304px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Mercator projection drastically distorts the size of almost every area of land except a small ring around the North and South Poles.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MAP THAT'S WAY BIGGER THAN IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Because the Earth is curved, all flat maps have some distortion. (A common comparison is flattening an orange peel, which cannot be done without tearing and wrinkling it.) Different {{w|map projection}}s can distort different {{w|Map projection#Metric properties of maps|metric properties}}, such as distances, areas, and angles, while leaving others intact. It can be desirable to preserve different metrics in different applications.

The {{w|Mercator projection}}, depicted in the comic, prioritizes overall shape. This allows for easy course planning at sea, since angles are preserved. In exchange, Mercator is often criticized for distorting size: land near the poles looks larger than the same area of land near the {{w|equator}}. A common complaint is that {{w|Greenland}} appears as big on the map as {{w|Africa}}, when Africa actually has 14 times as much area as Greenland. When these size distortions are presented out of context, they can create bias and misconceptions about different places.

[[Cueball]]'s dialogue leads the reader to expect this complaint. However, instead of comparing ''relative'' sizes of two mapped landmasses, [[Cueball]] compares the ''absolute'' sizes of the mapped Greenland and the actual country. On a typical world map, Greenland might be centimeters or inches across (depending on the map's size). In real life, Greenland is about 650 miles or 1,050 km across from east to west ([//britannica.com/place/Greenland source]). Cueball deems this misleading, presenting it as a failure of this specific map or projection.

Of course, this is absurd. The purpose of any map is to be a small chart, presenting information much more compactly so that it is easy to read and interpret. Any actual-size world map would have to be the size of the Earth's surface, which would make it useless.{{Citation needed}} In addition, if the map includes a {{w|Scale (map)|scale}}, it is candid about the difference to actual size.

The title text is about the fact that a horizontal line on a worldwide Mercator projection corresponds to a line of latitude. Most lines of latitude are thousands of miles (kilometers) long, but they become smaller and smaller approaching the poles, and in fact there ''is'' a line of latitude in a small-diameter circle around each pole whose length would equal the width of the map that Cueball is looking at. If Cueball's map were 1 m wide, then this line of latitude would be at 89.999998568° N or S - that is, the line of latitude there would be one circle for each of the poles with a circumference of 1 m.

A map at a scale of 1:1 was discussed in {{w|Lewis Carroll}}'s "{{w|Sylvie and Bruno Concluded}}":

<blockquote>
''"That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"'' 
''"About six inches to the mile."'' 
''"Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"'' 
''"Have you used it much?" I enquired.'' 
''"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."''
</blockquote>

Mercator projections have been mentioned previously in [[977: Map Projections]], [[2082: Mercator Projection]], and [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator]].

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

:[Cueball and White Hat are looking at a world map on the wall showing a Mercator projection, with Cueball gesturing with his hand towards the map.]
:Cueball: This map is really misleading about the size of Greenland.
:Cueball: It's actually '''''much''''' bigger than that - it's hundreds of miles across.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]

2911: Greenland Size

2024-03-26T03:01:38Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2911
| date = March 25, 2024
| title = Greenland Size
| image = greenland_size_2x.png
| imagesize = 262x304px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Mercator projection drastically distorts the size of almost every area of land except a small ring around the North and South Poles.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MAP THAT'S WAY BIGGER THAN IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Because the Earth is curved, all flat maps have some distortion. (A common comparison is flattening an orange peel, which cannot be done without tearing and wrinkling it.) Different {{w|map projection}}s can distort different {{w|Map projection#Metric properties of maps|metric properties}}, such as distances, areas, and angles, while leaving others intact. It can be desirable to preserve different metrics in different applications.

The {{w|Mercator projection}}, depicted in the comic, prioritizes overall shape. This allows for easy course planning at sea, since angles are preserved. In exchange, Mercator is often criticized for distorting size: land near the poles looks larger than the same area of land near the {{w|equator}}. A common complaint is that {{w|Greenland}} appears as big on the map as {{w|Africa}}, when Africa actually has 14 times as much area as Greenland. When these size distortions are presented out of context, they can create bias and misconceptions about different places.

[[Cueball]]'s dialogue leads the reader to expect this complaint. However, instead of comparing ''relative'' sizes of two mapped landmasses, [[Cueball]] compares the ''absolute'' sizes of the mapped Greenland and the actual country. On a typical world map, Greenland might be centimeters or inches across (depending on the map's size). In real life, Greenland is about 650 miles or 1,050 km across from east to west ([//britannica.com/place/Greenland source]). Cueball deems this misleading, presenting it as a failure of this specific map or projection.

Of course, this is absurd. The purpose of any map is to be a small chart, presenting information much more compactly so that it is easy to read and interpret. Any actual-size world map would have to be the size of the Earth's surface, which would make it useless.{{Citation needed}}

The title text is about the fact that a horizontal line on a worldwide Mercator projection corresponds to a line of latitude. Most lines of latitude are thousands of miles (kilometers) long, but they become smaller and smaller approaching the poles, and in fact there ''is'' a line of latitude in a small-diameter circle around each pole whose length would equal the width of the map that Cueball is looking at. If Cueball's map were 1 m wide, then this line of latitude would be at 89.999998568° N or S - that is, the line of latitude there would be one circle for each of the poles with a circumference of 1 m.

A map at a scale of 1:1 was discussed in {{w|Lewis Carroll}}'s "{{w|Sylvie and Bruno Concluded}}":

<blockquote>
''"That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"'' 
''"About six inches to the mile."'' 
''"Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"'' 
''"Have you used it much?" I enquired.'' 
''"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."''
</blockquote>

Mercator projections have been mentioned previously in [[977: Map Projections]], [[2082: Mercator Projection]], and [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator]].

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

:[Cueball and White Hat are looking at a world map on the wall showing a Mercator projection, with Cueball gesturing with his hand towards the map.]
:Cueball: This map is really misleading about the size of Greenland.
:Cueball: It's actually '''''much''''' bigger than that - it's hundreds of miles across.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]

2911: Greenland Size

2024-03-26T03:00:40Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2911
| date = March 25, 2024
| title = Greenland Size
| image = greenland_size_2x.png
| imagesize = 262x304px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Mercator projection drastically distorts the size of almost every area of land except a small ring around the North and South Poles.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MAP THAT'S WAY BIGGER THAN IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Because the Earth is curved, all flat maps have some distortion. (A common comparison is flattening an orange peel, which cannot be done without tearing and wrinkling it.) Different {{w|map projection}}s can distort different {{w|Map projection#Metric properties of maps|metric properties}}, such as distances, areas, and angles, while leaving others intact. It can be desirable to preserve different metrics in different applications.

The {{w|Mercator projection}}, depicted in the comic, prioritizes overall shape. This allows for easy course planning at sea, since angles are preserved. In exchange, Mercator is often criticized for distorting size: land near the poles looks larger than the same area of land near the {{w|equator}}. A common complaint is that {{w|Greenland}} appears as big on the map as {{w|Africa}}, when Africa actually has 14 times as much area as Greenland. When these size distortions are presented out of context, they can create bias and misconceptions about different places.

[[Cueball]]'s dialogue leads the reader to expect this complaint. However, instead of comparing ''relative'' sizes of two mapped landmasses, [[Cueball]] compares the ''absolute'' sizes of the mapped Greenland and the actual country. On a typical world map, Greenland might be centimeters or inches across (depending on the map's size). In real life, Greenland is about 650 miles or 1,050 km across from east to west ([//britannica.com/place/Greenland source]). Cueball deems this misleading, presenting it as a failure of this specific map or projection.

Of course, this is absurd. The purpose of any map is to be a small chart, presenting information much more compactly so that it is easy to read and interpret. Any actual-size world map would have to be the size of the Earth's surface, which would make it useless.{{Citation needed}}

The title text is about the fact that a horizontal line on a worldwide Mercator projection corresponds to a line of latitude. Most lines of latitude are thousands of miles (kilometers) long, but they become smaller and smaller approaching the poles, and in fact there ''is'' a line of latitude in a small-diameter circle around each pole whose length would equal the width of the map that Cueball is looking at. If Cueball's map were 1 m wide, then this line of latitude would be at 89.999998568° N or S - that is, the line of latitude there would be one circle for each of the poles with a circumference of 1 m.

A map at a scale of 1:1 was discussed in Lewis Carroll's "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded":

<blockquote>
''"That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"'' 
''"About six inches to the mile."'' 
''"Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"'' 
''"Have you used it much?" I enquired.'' 
''"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."''
</blockquote>

Mercator projections have been mentioned previously in [[977: Map Projections]], [[2082: Mercator Projection]], and [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator]].

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

:[Cueball and White Hat are looking at a world map on the wall showing a Mercator projection, with Cueball gesturing with his hand towards the map.]
:Cueball: This map is really misleading about the size of Greenland.
:Cueball: It's actually '''''much''''' bigger than that - it's hundreds of miles across.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]

2907: Schwa

2024-03-19T10:38:52Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2907
| date = March 15, 2024
| title = Schwa
| image = schwa_2x.png
| imagesize = 301x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Doug's cousin, the one from London, runs a Bumble love cult.
}}

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

The comic and title text conversational excerpts are examples of speech that can be spoken in some US dialects using ''only'' the {{w|schwa}} (ə) vowel-sound. [[Randall]] makes the observational joke that the schwa is so common that one can learn the English language without learning any other vowel sounds, if one sticks to the right topics of conversation.

This claim works for any dialect featuring the {{w|Phonological history of English close back vowels#STRUT–COMMA merger|STRUT-COMMA merger}}, including most of the US dialects that Randall himself would be most familiar with.

Part of the humor is the unusual idea of hyper-efficient language learning that focuses on all words with a common vowel sound rather than, say, the 1000 most common words.
* Randall has a longstanding interest in minimalist visions of English communication. He published a whole book, Thing Explainer, about explaining complex ideas — such as the Up-Goer 5 — using “only the ten hundred words people use the most often.”

The intended pronunciation of the conversation can be written in the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} (while preserving punctuation marks) as:
:Megan: /wəts əp? wəz dəɡ ˈɡənə kəm? dəɡ ləvz brən{{w|Voiceless postalveolar affricate|t͡ʃ}}./
:Ponytail: /ˈnə{{w|Glottal stop|ʔ}}<nowiki />ə, dəɡz stək kəz əv ə ˈtən(ə)l əbˈstrək{{w|Voiceless postalveolar fricative|ʃ}}(ə)n. ə trək dəmpt ə tən əv ˈən{{w|Voiced palatal approximant|j}}(ə)nz./
:Megan: /ə{{w|Voiceless velar fricative|x}}./

The title text, in IPA, if only schwas were used:
:/dəgz ˈkəz(ə)n, {{w|Voiced dental fricative|ð}}<nowiki />ə wən frəm ˈlənd(ə)n, rənz ə ˈbəmb(ə)l ləv kəlt./

The comic may also be poking fun at the large set of different letter combinations that result in the schwa sound (here using "a", "au…e", "o", "o…e", "ou", "u", "u…e", "uh", and in the title text "e"). English is somewhat infamous for its {{w|English orthography#Sound-to-spelling correspondences|loose sound-to-spelling correspondence}}, with vowels in general having various spellings in different words. (A common joke about this claims that "fish" can be respelled as "{{w|ghoti}}", with /f/ as in "tou'''gh'''", /{{w|Near-close near-front unrounded vowel|ɪ}}/ as in "w'''o'''men", and /ʃ/ as in "mo'''ti'''on".) Schwa in particular is spelled in very many ways, because {{w|unstressed vowel}}s tend to {{w|Reduced vowel|reduce to schwa}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan, Cueball, and Ponytail stand in front of a dinner table, with Megan and Cueball facing Ponytail. Megan has her hand on the rightmost chair while Ponytail has her palm out.]
:Megan: What's up? Was Doug gonna come? Doug loves brunch.
:Ponytail: Nuh uh, Doug's stuck 'cause of a tunnel obstruction. A truck dumped a ton of onions.
:Megan: Ugh.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English. In fact, if you stick to the right conversation topics, you can avoid learning any other ones.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2907: Schwa

2024-03-16T22:01:31Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2907
| date = March 15, 2024
| title = Schwa
| image = schwa_2x.png
| imagesize = 301x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Doug's cousin, the one from London, runs a Bumble love cult.
}}

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

All the speech (as well as the title text) in this comic can be spoken, at least in some dialects and enunciations, using ''only'' a {{w|schwa}} (ə) as all its voiced vowel-sounds. It works in any dialect featuring the {{w|Phonological history of English close back vowels#STRUT–COMMA merger|STRUT-COMMA merger}}, including most of the US dialects that [[Randall]] himself would be most familiar with. Since all of the words can be spoken with only a schwa, Randall states that the schwa is so common that one can learn the English language without learning any other vowel sounds if they stick to the right conversation topics.

The intended pronunciation of the conversation can be written in the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} as:
:Megan: /wəts əp? wəz dəɡ ˈɡənə kəm? dəɡ ləvz brən{{w|Voiceless postalveolar affricate|t͡ʃ}}./
:Ponytail: /ˈnə{{w|Glottal stop|ʔ}}<nowiki />ə, dəɡz stək kəz əv ə ˈtən(ə)l əbˈstrək{{w|Voiceless postalveolar fricative|ʃ}}(ə)n. ə trək dəmpt ə tən əv ˈən{{w|Voiced palatal approximant|j}}(ə)nz./
:Megan: /ə{{w|Voiceless velar fricative|x}}./

As an experiment to see you have an accent of your own which supports this effect, you could try to say “Wh_t's _p? W_s D_g g_nn_ c_me? D_g l_vs br_nch.” and “N_-_, D_g's st_ck 'c_z _f _ t_nn_l _bstr_kch_n. _ tr_ck d_mpt _ t_n _f _ny_ns.”, using the same inflection at each underscore.

The title text, in IPA, if only schwas were used:
:/dəgz ˈkəz(ə)n, {{w|Voiced dental fricative|ð}}<nowiki />ə wən frəm ˈlənd(ə)n, rənz ə ˈbəmb(ə)l ləv kəlt./
Fill in the blanks by saying “D_g's c_z(_)n, th_ w_n fr_m L_nd_n, r_ns _ B_mb_l l_v c_lt.”

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan, Cueball, and Ponytail stand in front of a dinner table, with Megan and Cueball facing Ponytail. Megan has her hand on the rightmost chair while Ponytail has her palm out.]
:Megan: What's up? Was Doug gonna come? Doug loves brunch.
:Ponytail: Nuh uh, Doug's stuck 'cause of a tunnel obstruction. A truck dumped a ton of onions.
:Megan: Ugh.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English. In fact, if you stick to the right conversation topics, you can avoid learning any other ones.

{{comic discussion}}

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

Talk:2907: Schwa

2024-03-16T21:53:36Z

AgentMuffin:

In what crazy dialect do these all use the same 1 vowel? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.73|172.68.210.73]] 22:10, 15 March 2024 (UTC)
:I can think of several. I was immediately reminded of Lucy Porter's Hull accent ([https://www.google.com/search?q=hull+accent+oh+no some examples, including videos/audio, here]), but I can also think of New Zealand (more 'i'ish vowels, at least stereotypically), South African (down a couple of tones from that), and a number of state-side accents that ''conceivably'' are what Randall's drawing upon. [...as ninjaed, below, by 172.71.166.190 at 22:30]
:My own accent (when given its full reign) actually tends to be consonant-light ("o'er" for "over", such that my vowels tend to be ''two or three'' separate tones in a row), so it doesn't work so well. But if I shift my focus to try to impersonate people from ten miles to the north (or a dozen or so miles east) from where I grew up then I can actually get quite close to 'perfect monovowelism' (still suppressing the consonants!). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.139|172.69.79.139]] 22:32, 15 March 2024 (UTC)
:All of them? I had to read the explanation to get what constitutes a schwa, but then I read the comic again, and yeah, they're all roughly the same sound, in the average North American accent anyway. Only exception is the word "A", which people might often pronounce like the letter "A", which of course isn't a schwa, :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:57, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
::'Round these 'ere parts, you'd never say "A"-to-rhyme-with-"Hay" (except to stress "that isn't just ''a(y)'' good song but ''the(e)'' best song ever!", e.g.). Still confused, me, though when at my first ever French class at school, the teacher (with not far off the local accent) told us that 'un' and 'une' were "the words for 'uh'...". Which only became clear when she clarified "...like 'uh book', 'uh table', 'uh window'...". This was actually how we all spoke. (More or less... Ah din't spake quart ser m'tch lahk dat, wot wi' mi mam'n'dad bofe bin frum a cupla tarns ovver, f'witch ah gut uh rep f'beyin "posch". Ur mebbe 'twuz cuz mi mam whir uh titch'r, ser ah gut lurnt t' spake proppah?) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.3|172.71.242.3]] 17:23, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Personally I pronounce those pretty much all the same (I live in Boston like Randall but don't have an actual Boston accent)
--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.190|172.71.166.190]] 22:30, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

I didn't think it was considered schwa when stressed as in "up" and "love". But my dictionary has a schwa in its pronunciation guide for both, so I guess I was wrong. But this basically means the usual "short U" pronunciation is schwa. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:59, 15 March 2024 (UTC)
:Some dialects split the vowel at the end of "comma" from the vowel in "strut," but most North American dialects don't. So in pronouncing dictionaries, you will sometimes see the strut vowel written ʌ and the comma vowel written ə even though they might be exactly the same in your accent. In vowels that split comma and strut, schwa is rarely stressed, but that's not a rule. This is sometimes confused by American teachers, who try to explain why they see two different symbols for the same sound. But they really are different sounds, and Americans just don't use /ʌ/ at all. [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 02:50, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
::Plus, this "schwa is never stressed" mnemonic doesn't even make perfect predictions for dialects without the merger. I've heard that in ''undone'' /ʌnˈdʌn/, the unstressed vowel doesn't go to schwa. In the end, the IPA wasn't created just for English, and it only defines [ə] as a mid central vowel, not an unstressed one. Reduced vowels may often mid-centralize, but nothing says a language can't stress mid central vowels at other times, just like any other vowel quality can be stressed or unstressed. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]] 21:53, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

This all works in a generically american accent, except for the i vowel in onion, which cannot be schwa-ified in any english accent I've ever heard. [[Special:Contributions/
172.69.34.171|172.69.34.171]] 23:27, 15 March 2024 (UTC)
:Depends. {{wiktionary|onion|Wiktionary says}} /ˈʌn.jən/ (any particular places?) or /ˈʌŋ.jɪn/ (Canada) (and an obsolete version that I'd imagine the Kiwis to use).
:If the /j/ ''isn't'' considered a vowel then you could definitely justify something like "un-yun" or "ern-yern" or even "in-yin" (amongst various ''other'' like-vowel versions)...
:If you do the /j*n/ more as in {{wiktionary|eon|/ˈi.ɑn/, /ˈeɪ.ɑn/, /ˈiː.ən/, /ˈiː.ɒn/ or /ˈeɪ.ɒn/}} then clearly you can't switch to "uhn-uh-uhn" quite so easily. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.69|162.158.74.69]] 23:52, 15 March 2024 (UTC)
:It says every vowel SOUND, which is different than "how each vowel sounds". The sound of that I is a Y. The O following it indeed uses the schwa. :) That's my guess, anyway, I don't know these pronunciation things that deeply. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:57, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
:This dipthong has a consonant in it. What is going on? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.182|172.69.65.182]] 12:15, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
: "''except for the i vowel in onion''" IMHO, there is no 'i' in onion. UN-YUN. The Y acts more of a consonant. -Me (born of a Missouri mom and a Connecticut father, babbled in Colorado, schooled in Calif then New Jersey within hearing of South Philly, yo!) [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 20:18, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
I can't read the words "love cult" without thinking of DHMIS 3. [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 00:10, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
::The /j/ sound commonly found in "onion" is not generally considered a vowel. As a test, try to put it between two consonants to make a complete syllable: first try to say /np/, and notice you have to add a schwa (neutral vowel), /nəp/; then try to say /nyp/, and you'll add that same extra vowel, /nyəp/. It's sometimes called a "semivowel", because it has some properties of a vowel and some of a consonant; or sometimes a "glide", because of the way it sets at the edge a syllable. - [[User:IMSoP|IMSoP]] ([[User talk:IMSoP|talk]]) 16:01, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

If someone actually read this conversation to me using only schwa, I don't think I'd understand it. I usually consider myself a fluent English speaker, but my native language - Polish - doesm't have this vovel at all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.231|162.158.103.231]] 07:16, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, I think for us non-native speakers this is quite hard to replicate. I had to read the sentences out loud several times before I heard it. The standard British English I learned at school 35 years ago tends to have less Schwas in it, I guess. In German we do have some Schwas, mainly towards the end of words, but I don't think it is possible to construct whole sentence without any other vowels. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.157|162.158.155.157]] 07:56, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
I’m american (boston area) but some of these vowels do sound different from others to me, although it still seems it would be clear and ok if they’re all said the same. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.182|172.69.65.182]] 12:15, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Randall seems to have terminally confused the schwa [ǝ] with [ʌ] as in "cup". I've never seen such an incorrect xkcd. In the UK, the Manchester accent almost universally consists of [ǝ] and even they wouldn't be able to use [ǝ] for "onion" [[Special:Contributions/172.69.223.163|172.69.223.163]] 13:04, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
:The explanation mentioned the {{w|strut–comma merger}} well before this comment. There's no need to jump to {{w|Linguistic prescriptivism|calling other dialects "incorrect"}}. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]] 21:53, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Maybe a better symbol could be used than an apostrophe in the explanation? It's difficult to read/spot, and the quote is surrounded in quotation marks, which makes it a little confusing. I'm not sure what though. --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 15:24, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

:Maybe an underscore? “D_gs c_s(_)n, th_ _n fr_m L_nd_n, r_ns _ B_mbl l_v c_lt.” - 16:01, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

It's a shame Schwa isn't pronounced with a schwa. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 16:47, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

For an example of where people mispronounce vowels for comic effect, here's a 40 year old and occasionally very impolite/politically incorrect BBC comedy which used people speaking in different accents as their conceit for different languages. So an englishman speaking very bad french comes across very like these XKCD characters https://youtu.be/ycqc0L4a2wQ?si=KO_qvZqMJH-3Gy1N&t=90 [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 16:52, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

2907: Schwa

2024-03-16T21:16:12Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2907
| date = March 15, 2024
| title = Schwa
| image = schwa_2x.png
| imagesize = 301x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Doug's cousin, the one from London, runs a Bumble love cult.
}}

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

All the speech (as well as the title text) in this comic can be spoken, at least in some dialects and enunciations, using ''only'' a {{w|schwa}} (ə) as all its voiced vowel-sounds. It works in any dialect featuring the {{w|Phonological history of English close back vowels#STRUT–COMMA merger|STRUT-COMMA merger}}, including most of the US dialects that [[Randall]] himself would be most familiar with. Since all of the words can be spoken with only a schwa, Randall states that the schwa is so common that one can learn the English language without learning any other vowel sounds if they stick to the right conversation topics.

The intended pronunciation of the conversation can be written in the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} as:
:Megan: /wəts əp? wəz dəɡ ˈɡənə kəm? dəɡ ləvz brən{{w|Voiceless postalveolar affricate|t͡ʃ}}./
:Ponytail: /ˈnə{{w|Glottal stop|ʔ}}<nowiki />ə, dəɡz stək kəz əv ə ˈtən(ə)l əbˈstrək{{w|Voiceless postalveolar fricative|ʃ}}(ə)n. ə trək dəmpt ə tən əv ˈən{{w|Voiced palatal approximant|j}}(ə)nz./
:Megan: /ə{{w|Voiceless velar fricative|x}}./

As an experiment to see you have an accent of your own which supports this effect, you could try to say “Wh'ts 'p? W's D'g g'nn' c'm'? D'g l'vs br'nch.” and “N' ', D'gs st'ck c's 'f ' t'nn'l 'bstr'ct'n. ' tr'ck d'mpd ' t'n 'f 'n'ns.”, using the same inflection at each apostrophe.

The title text, in IPA, if only schwas were used:
:/dəgz ˈkəz(ə)n, {{w|Voiced dental fricative|ð}}<nowiki />ə wən frəm ˈlənd(ə)n, rənz ə ˈbəmb(ə)l ləv kəlt./
Fill in the blanks by saying “D'gs c's(')n, th' 'n fr'm L'nd'n, r'ns ' B'mb'l l'v c'lt.”

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan, Cueball, and Ponytail stand in front of a dinner table, with Megan and Cueball facing Ponytail. Megan has her hand on the rightmost chair while Ponytail has her palm out.]
:Megan: What's up? Was Doug gonna come? Doug loves brunch.
:Ponytail: Nuh uh, Doug's stuck 'cause of a tunnel obstruction. A truck dumped a ton of onions.
:Megan: Ugh.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English. In fact, if you stick to the right conversation topics, you can avoid learning any other ones.

{{comic discussion}}

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

134: Myspace

2024-02-07T04:30:34Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 134
| date = July 28, 2006
| title = Myspace
| image = myspace.png
| titletext = It's like they got together and said 'what do we miss most from the internet in 1998? that's right, embedded MIDI!'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references a common issue that users would experience in the late 2000s on the now outdated website {{w|MySpace}}. At the time, an individual with a profile on that website would be able to choose a song that would automatically play when anyone accessed said profile. This was a heavily promoted feature in which the majority of users would partake. The song would interrupt whatever else the user was doing, such as listening to music, watching a video, or simply browsing in silence.

For further context, MySpace at the time did not have a universal "news feed" to browse, so users would perform most of their interaction with other users by actively going to their profiles. Thus, the auto-playing music became a compounding problem, as the user could experience it several times per browsing session.

The "first five seconds" refers to approximately how long it would take a typical user to pause the music. Fewer keyboards at the time would have had volume control keys, and web browsers did not support media keys (such as a play/pause key) [//howtogeek.com/698434/your-keyboards-media-keys-work-in-all-modern-web-browsers until a decade later]. As a result, many users would have needed to find an on-screen pause button and aim the {{w|mouse pointer}} at it.

Future social networks would eschew features like this, as they are perceived by the user base to be annoying and distracting. However, the issue in some ways persists, as sites like Facebook now auto-play sound on videos and advertisements (unless the user opts out).

The title text refers to the fact that old pages, back in the late 1990s, used embedded {{w|MIDI}} files, which would not only play automatically, but also have no way to stop playing. The viewer would have to leave the website or externally mute the audio. Additionally, some Macintosh computers at the time had a bug that would automatically play MIDI files at the maximum computer volume, making them an incredible nuisance. MIDI files do not contain actual audio, but instead contain instructions for which notes to play on which musical instruments, and upon playback, these instructions would render sound from a library of MIDI audio samples installed in the computer's operating system — audio samples that were often artificially synthesized and of poor quality, producing music reminiscent of early video games; this may have made these web pages with embedded MIDI even more annoying. (In fairness, it should be noted that high-quality MIDI audio samples are also available, often recorded from actual musical instruments, and capable of reproducing realistic music.)

==Transcript==
:[Computer screen showing a myspace page.]
:Oh man, you and everyone in earshot are gonna '''love''' the first five seconds of this song!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

Talk:2890: Relationship Advice

2024-02-06T16:02:26Z

AgentMuffin:

Anybody else think that White Hat might be aromantic? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:47, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
:I see no reason to assume he is talking about romance at all. All relationships can be difficult, whether romantic, sexual, platonic, familiar or professional. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 19:07, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
::Yeah, I don't think the explanation (as of this reply) is really relevant, he just struggles to form any kind of meaningful relationship. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.156|172.70.100.156]] 19:18, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
:I would agree if he expressed disinterest or something, but I don't think negativity = aromantic.
:I’m on the original user’s side. The language expressed in the comic is negative and disinterested, as White Hat thinks that relationships are gruelling and require a lot of resolve to engage in. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.4|172.71.151.4]] 00:07, 6 February 2024 (UTC)
::I thought White Hat's sentiments (at least in the first half) were common in alloromantic culture. "Relationships require work to maintain" is widespread advice. My own interpretation is that it's parodying the attachment of a competitive and hopeless attitude to relationships, where allo people often seem to highly resent their partners. (Maybe some of them are aroace in denial, but that's another conversation…) Because of this attitude, White Hat has gotten so frustrated that he's told himself that relationships should literally ''feel'' like "work", and are all hopeless and joyless, to rationalize his own relationship troubles (implied by "are '''''you''''' okay?"). The punchline, "This is '''''normal!'''''", is lampooning how these unhealthy sentiments have become cultural norms, with White Hat standing in for them. I'm not confident that my ''exact'' reading here is correct, but I do think the comic paints White Hat as hurting, misguided, possibly trying to tear down others' relationships, and an allegory for some wider theme in society. So it seems off to say that Randall would be allegorizing about aromantic people as such. Also, I've heard that committed relationships, such as {{w|queerplatonic relationship}}s, are important to at least some aromantic people. If White Hat were (knowingly) aro, he'd likely include these under his use of the word "relationships", right? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]] 16:02, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

Jeez. I can relate.... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.143|172.70.178.143]] 19:15, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

I think it's pretty clear that the "offscreen voice" is one of Cueball or Ponytail, the frame is just close up on White Hat so we can't see which of his companions is responding. And "wary and unsure news"? I think a better expression would be "unsure agreement". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:22, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
:It looked like an ESL contribution to me, too. My choice of change (not seeing this until just now) was "...expresses a wary agreement". Covers all the various things from "I don't know where you're going with this, but I'll let you continue until I do" through "I know it's just the drink talking, but anything you say as I get you out of this bar and safely home" to "you're too handy with your fists, and ready to use them, I'm not gonna argue while you're in this mood".
:If I were to classify WH's scenario, though, he's just had a sudden setback in some relationship, and it's the shock that's making him ramble. His companions know that something's happened, but are perhaps not fully aware of what it is that has hit him hard. - But I was never that good with social cues. If I'm anywhere close to general opinion then it's only because everyone else is equally lacking in the non-stick-figure body language and audible cues. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.20|172.69.194.20]] 00:31, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

2883: Astronaut Guests

2024-01-20T03:48:08Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2883
| date = January 19, 2024
| title = Astronaut Guests
| image = astronaut_guests.png
| imagesize = 331x391px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They didn't bring us a gift, but considering the kinetic energy of a bottle of wine at orbital speed, that's probably for the best.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SIX ASTRONAUTS OVER YOUR HEAD RIGHT NOW - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

To impress the current houseguest(s), [[Cueball]] misleadingly claims that they previously "had six {{w|astronauts}} over for dinner." Normally, this would be interpreted as the astronauts being friends with the hosts (which confers social prestige), going inside their house, and eating. As it turns out, the astronauts actually only briefly passed over the {{w|property line}}s while in {{w|orbit}}, and, by chance, this happened during dinnertime. Cueball is considering the property lines to extend up indefinitely, causing the astronauts to technically be at their house despite being hundreds of miles away, vertically.

This is also a pun on the word "over", as the personnel of the International Space Station are overhead when it passes above you—yet they did not go "over ''to'' someone's house" in the sense that English speakers would usually assume.

The caption makes Cueball's statement even less impressive, alleging that statements like it are correct in a lot of places. This would make it not even interesting as a {{w|coincidence}}.

This comic was posted the same day as the American release of a film set on the ISS (conveniently named ''{{w|I.S.S. (film)|I.S.S.}}'').

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
[Cueball and three others are eating around a table.]

Cueball: We don't have houseguests often, but we once had six astronauts over for dinner.

Guest: Oh, wow!

Cueball (muttering): ''…for 7½ milliseconds in mid-August 2012.''

[Caption:] If you spend enough time looking at orbital records and property lines, you can make this claim in a lot of places.

{{comic discussion}}

2883: Astronaut Guests

2024-01-20T03:34:41Z

AgentMuffin: Not familiar enough with the character names, but it's a start

Talk:233: A New CAPTCHA Approach

2024-01-15T06:06:57Z

AgentMuffin:

Both of those fail against autistic people (and people who have diseases similar to autism, one example being FG syndrome). [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 17:49, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
:Or, y'know, people who haven't seen the movie/episode. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 21:09, 28 April 2014 (UTC)
:Not really. It depends more on what type of person they are, less on what conditions they have. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 10:46, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

Not exactly, because kids with autistic-spectrum disorders can be more sensitive. The only pop-culture example I can think of is Sheldon Cooper's sadness when he learned of Professor Proton's passing. {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.240}}
:Can confirm. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 10:46, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

A better example would be the dog in I Am Legend. Also, the text for the question and for the answers would both have to be distorted slightly. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.87|173.245.50.87]] 06:02, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

The obvious alusion is Deckard's empathy test on Leon in Blade Runner to determine whether he is human. {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.30}}
:You know it was from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick first, right? The movie was based on that. {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.166}}

I don't remember crying to that scene when I was younger. I do- I mean, did cry when Optimus Prime died in the '87 Transformers movie though. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.225|108.162.249.225]] 04:25, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

The funniest thing is the Infosphere does use Fry's dog as a captcha like this. Hutc {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.193}}

This seems to be an allusion to the Voight-Kampff test in the movie Blade Runner. The test is used to distinguish humans from 'Replicas' (artificial humans) by asking questions designed to elicit an emotional response, and then monitoring biological metrics in the respondent. The idea being that replicas would be unable to maintain a convincing fakery against such a systematized methodology. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 01:55, 25 September 2015 (UTC)
:It's "Replicants", not "Replicas". [[User:The Cat Lady|--The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 10:36, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Am I the only one who didn't cry with that episode with Fry's dog? I mean it was sad but I didn't cry. On top of that one of the movies makes that scene a LOT less sad.

I suppose I'm just a cold, heartless satellite. Fry's dog may work on spambots but not satellites. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 15:35, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

I never really cry in movies because I know that they are fake. most of the time.

=== Captcha ===
Another captcha approach is making use of the [[Halting Problem]] (Will this program halt?), as computers can't solve it, while humans can find a pattern. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:39, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
:...or die trying! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.174|172.70.85.174]] 20:58, 12 December 2022 (UTC)

i didn't cry because when i saw it it didn't relate in any way to something that happened to me (now it does D:) [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 20:37, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
:>comforting headpats --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.141|162.158.33.141]] 13:13, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

=== Extra layer to title text? ===
''Futurama'' has robots, right? Is that part of the joke? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]] 06:06, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

2871: Definitely

2023-12-25T13:50:43Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2871
| date = December 22, 2023
| title = Definitely
| image = definitely_2x.png
| imagesize = 463x461px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = A really mean prank you can play on someone who's picky about words is to add a 'definitely->definitively' autocorrect rule to their keyboard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DEFIANT DEFINITION of DEFINATELEY - defanitely needs a table, but this is the one universe where it needs it! Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The word "''{{wiktionary|definitely}}''" is commonly {{wiktionary|misspelt}}{{cn}} because the {{w|vowel}}s in the middle syllables are reduced to unstressed {{w|centralized vowel}}s that [https://youtu.be/qu4zyRqILYM?t=111 can be spelled with any vowel letter], or are omitted completely. (The Wiktionary link gives three pronunciations, /ˈdɛf.ɪ.nɪt.li/, /ˈdɛf.ə.nɪt.li/, /ˈdɛf.nɪt.li/, which are just some of the differences you might encounter.) Remembering that it ultimately has a common root with "finite", and thus has the two 'i's, might not help if you also/instead perhaps link it in your head to "''define''" (which might erroneously lead to "''defin'''e'''tely''") and not "definition").

The comic gives twelve 'words' that the subtitle claims are all real, and gives their definitions, whereas in reality only the first (the definitely definitive spelling of "''definitely''") and the last (defying the trend by being the actual word "''{{wiktionary|defiantly}}''") are indeed so.

The first three alternate 'words' listed do have Wiktionary entries that indicate they are common mis-spellings of the first (with "definately" having been used previously in [[1238: Enlightenment]]), and the last has a secondary 'meaning' of possibly being such an error, but (as of the publication of this comic/edit) the words "''defenitely''", "''defintely''", "''definetely''" [defined as "{{w|Definitely, Maybe}}"], "''definantly''", "''defanitely''", "''defineatly''" and "''definitly''" are ''so'' wrong that they don't even have a corrective article created for them. Some of them don't even look like they'd even be sufficiently homophonic substitutes, though the actions of accent and dialect may indeed be capable of creating compatible (mis)elocutions for each.

"Defiantly" may be such a common misspelling because of spellcheck. Other mistakes are caught and can be corrected, but the substitution of a different real word is harder to identify as wrong, especially when the correction mechanism jumped the 'wrong way' in rendering a correct spelling. e.g., the misspelling "definatly" (with both substitution and omission errors separating it from the intended word) may be deemed incorrectly correctable to "defiantly" (a single transposition away from what was typed).

The definition of "defanitely" (in one universe out of 14 million) references the movie "Avengers: Infinity War". In this movie, Doctor Strange looks into the future and sees 14 million possible outcomes, but only one of them is favorable.

The title text adds to the word confusion by suggesting the real word "''{{wiktionary|definitively}}''" (for which Wiktionary has a 'See also' link to "definitely") be made to be used (against the will of a word-wise individual) as a substitution for the original definitely definitive spelling. In certain contexts it even fulfils the same basic sense as the original and so may survive proofreading by a third party. Or even the author glancing through their own work, and the brain not twigging the increased number of riser-rich characters but mentally voicing the intended word anyway... Even if it is noticed, it may be considered more a "''{{wiktionary|thinko}}''" than a "''{{wiktionary|typo}}''" as it keeps happening, at least until the afflicted typist starts to pay close and distracting attention to their output.

This kind of [[:Category:Substitutions|substitution]] is a recurring subject on xkcd, with one of the more famous ones being [[1031: s/keyboard/leopard/]], where "''keyboard''" is replaced by "''leopard''" in the text.

==Transcript==
:[A list of 12 words with their meanings. The lines between the words and their meaning are aligned, with the words to the left being right-aligned. Above the 12 rows of words there are underlined captions:]
:Word   Meaning

:Definitely - Definitely
:Definetly - ''Almost'' definitely
:Definately - Probably
:Definatly - Probably not
:Defenitely - Not telling (it's a surprise)
:Defintely - Per the prophecy
:Definetely - Definitely, maybe
:Definantly - To be decided by coin toss
:Defanitely - In one universe out of 14 million
:Defineatly - Only the gods know
:Definitly - Unless someone cute shows up
:Defiantly - Defiantly

:[Caption below the panel:]
:People think the word "definitely" is often misspelled, but it's actually just several words with different meanings.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]

2871: Definitely

2023-12-25T13:48:49Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2871
| date = December 22, 2023
| title = Definitely
| image = definitely_2x.png
| imagesize = 463x461px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = A really mean prank you can play on someone who's picky about words is to add a 'definitely->definitively' autocorrect rule to their keyboard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DEFIANT DEFINITION of DEFINATELEY - defanitely needs a table, but this is the one universe where it needs it! Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The word "''{{wiktionary|definitely}}''" is commonly {{wiktionary|misspelt}}{{cn}} because the {{w|vowel}}s in the middle syllables are reduced to unstressed {{w|centralized vowel}}s, which [https://youtu.be/qu4zyRqILYM?t=111 can be spelled with any vowel letter], or omitted completely. (The Wiktionary link gives three pronunciations, /ˈdɛf.ɪ.nɪt.li/, /ˈdɛf.ə.nɪt.li/, /ˈdɛf.nɪt.li/, which are just some of the differences you might encounter.) Remembering that it ultimately has a common root with "finite", and thus has the two 'i's, might not help if you also/instead perhaps link it in your head to "''define''" (which might erroneously lead to "''defin'''e'''tely''") and not "definition").

The comic gives twelve 'words' that the subtitle claims are all real, and gives their definitions, whereas in reality only the first (the definitely definitive spelling of "''definitely''") and the last (defying the trend by being the actual word "''{{wiktionary|defiantly}}''") are indeed so.

The first three alternate 'words' listed do have Wiktionary entries that indicate they are common mis-spellings of the first (with "definately" having been used previously in [[1238: Enlightenment]]), and the last has a secondary 'meaning' of possibly being such an error, but (as of the publication of this comic/edit) the words "''defenitely''", "''defintely''", "''definetely''" [defined as "{{w|Definitely, Maybe}}"], "''definantly''", "''defanitely''", "''defineatly''" and "''definitly''" are ''so'' wrong that they don't even have a corrective article created for them. Some of them don't even look like they'd even be sufficiently homophonic substitutes, though the actions of accent and dialect may indeed be capable of creating compatible (mis)elocutions for each.

"Defiantly" may be such a common misspelling because of spellcheck. Other mistakes are caught and can be corrected, but the substitution of a different real word is harder to identify as wrong, especially when the correction mechanism jumped the 'wrong way' in rendering a correct spelling. e.g., the misspelling "definatly" (with both substitution and omission errors separating it from the intended word) may be deemed incorrectly correctable to "defiantly" (a single transposition away from what was typed).

The definition of "defanitely" (in one universe out of 14 million) references the movie "Avengers: Infinity War". In this movie, Doctor Strange looks into the future and sees 14 million possible outcomes, but only one of them is favorable.

The title text adds to the word confusion by suggesting the real word "''{{wiktionary|definitively}}''" (for which Wiktionary has a 'See also' link to "definitely") be made to be used (against the will of a word-wise individual) as a substitution for the original definitely definitive spelling. In certain contexts it even fulfils the same basic sense as the original and so may survive proofreading by a third party. Or even the author glancing through their own work, and the brain not twigging the increased number of riser-rich characters but mentally voicing the intended word anyway... Even if it is noticed, it may be considered more a "''{{wiktionary|thinko}}''" than a "''{{wiktionary|typo}}''" as it keeps happening, at least until the afflicted typist starts to pay close and distracting attention to their output.

This kind of [[:Category:Substitutions|substitution]] is a recurring subject on xkcd, with one of the more famous ones being [[1031: s/keyboard/leopard/]], where "''keyboard''" is replaced by "''leopard''" in the text.

==Transcript==
:[A list of 12 words with their meanings. The lines between the words and their meaning are aligned, with the words to the left being right-aligned. Above the 12 rows of words there are underlined captions:]
:Word   Meaning

:Definitely - Definitely
:Definetly - ''Almost'' definitely
:Definately - Probably
:Definatly - Probably not
:Defenitely - Not telling (it's a surprise)
:Defintely - Per the prophecy
:Definetely - Definitely, maybe
:Definantly - To be decided by coin toss
:Defanitely - In one universe out of 14 million
:Defineatly - Only the gods know
:Definitly - Unless someone cute shows up
:Defiantly - Defiantly

:[Caption below the panel:]
:People think the word "definitely" is often misspelled, but it's actually just several words with different meanings.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]

2069: Wishlist

2023-11-28T06:39:29Z

AgentMuffin:

{{comic
| number = 2069
| date = November 7, 2018
| title = Wishlist
| image = wishlist.png
| titletext = Disappointed that they caved to fan pressure and went with Ruth Bader Ginsburg over Elena Kagan.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Super Smash Bros.}}'' (pronounced ''Super Smash Brothers'' and usually shortened to ''Smash'') is a crossover fighting game series published by {{w|Nintendo}}, with the core roster of playable characters originating from Nintendo's own franchises such as ''Super Mario'' and ''The Legend of Zelda''. At the time this comic was published, there were 77 playable characters in total across the 5 games in the series. Starting with the third game, ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', characters from third-party franchises (non-Nintendo) have been made available, though most of them had at least made major appearances on a Nintendo system at some point. This comic is a parody of various fans' wishes for the roster of ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', which was announced in 2018 along with multiple trailers revealing new characters to appear in the roster. In the November 1st trailer it was stated every new character in the launch version of the game had been announced, though with five more characters coming in 2019 as {{w|downloadable content}}.

Throughout the series fans have suggested new characters to add; however, developer acquiescence to these requests is rare, with only six characters out of 77 ({{w|King Dedede}}, Steve, {{w|Sonic the Hedgehog}}, {{w|Ryu (Street Fighter)|Ryu}}, {{w|Bayonetta (character)|Bayonetta}}, and {{w|Ridley (Metroid)|Ridley}}) having been added this way. On November 3rd, 2018, the developer studio {{w|Sora Ltd.}} made a statement on Twitter telling fans that the as-yet unrevealed DLC characters for ''Ultimate'' were already chosen and that they were not accepting further requests; all remaining characters would then be gradually released over the next three years, culminating in {{w|Sora (Kingdom Hearts)|Sora}}'s reveal in October 2021.

This comic lists 16 "characters" that Randall supposedly wishes were made available in ''Super Smash Bros.'', ranging from plausible playable characters, to the absurd.

; Mario / Luigi hybrid
: {{w|Mario}} and {{w|Luigi}} are characters in the ''{{w|Super Mario}}'' series, one of Nintendo's flagship franchises. They are both playable characters in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. A hybrid of these two characters would be quite interesting, even though such a concept does not exist within the Super Mario series. When considering how Mario and Luigi have evolved throughout the Smash series, one could argue that {{w|Dr. Mario}} is a hybrid of these two in terms of moveset.

; The SkiFree monster
: ''{{w|SkiFree}}'' is a computer game for Windows released in 1991. The player controls a skier trying to avoid obstacles. After the end of a full run, a {{w|Yeti|white furry monster}} appears, and tries to catch the player. The ''SkiFree'' monster was a subject of the [[667: SkiFree]] comic. Unlike most of the characters on this list, the ''SkiFree'' monster at least has had an appearance on a Nintendo system, as the game had a {{w|Game Boy Color}} port as part of the "The Best of Entertainment Pack" in 2001.

; Siri
: {{w|Siri}} is the name given to Apple's personal virtual assistant for iOS, macOS, and its other operating systems. Siri is generally a voice without a visual representation, so it is unclear how Siri would be a playable character in ''Super Smash Bros.''

; Ellie from ''Up''
: Ellie is one of the characters in ''{{w|Up (2009 film)|Up}}'', a 2009 {{w|Pixar}} film. In the beginning of the film, Ellie passes away, leaving her husband Carl alone, and leading him to start his adventure in Paradise Falls. While there was a {{w|Up (video game)|tie-in video game based on the movie}} released in the same year for multiple systems (including the Wii and Nintendo DS), Ellie was not playable in it.

; Zordon
: {{w|Zordon}} is a fictional character from the ''Power Rangers'' franchise who serves as the mentor for the earlier Ranger teams. While he is technically trapped in another dimension, he is usually depicted as a blurry head in a tube. He occasionally has lightning powers, and had a robot sidekick (Alpha 5) who might be able to move him around. Alas, he is currently dead, having used his life energy to remove all evil from the galaxy at that time. While there have been many Power Rangers video games over the years, including on Nintendo platforms, Zordon would be an unlikely character not only due to his lack of extremities, but also due to the fact that the Power Rangers franchise is primarily built on stock footage of the Japanese ''Super Sentai'' series.

; Clippy
: Clippit, commonly nicknamed {{w|Clippy}}, was one of the Office Assistants for {{w|Microsoft Office}} (versions 1997 to 2003). It was an user interface with the purpose to assist users. Clippy (and the other Office Assistants) was negatively received by users, and was eventually removed in Office 2007.

; The Sarlaac [sic]
: The {{w|Sarlacc}} is an alien monster that lived in {{w|Tatooine}} in the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe. It is most prominently shown in the film ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}'', when the main heroes are sentenced to death by being dropped into the Sarlacc's mouth. Notably, the Sarlacc is a large, stationary creature embedded in the ground (essentially, a pit).
: This could be a reference to the {{w|List_of_recurring_Mario_franchise_enemies#Piranha_Plant|Piranha Plant}} being confirmed as a DLC character, as Piranha Plants are typically stationary and embedded in the ground, and also have their big, toothy mouth as a primary feature.
: While the Sarlacc was featured in 1994's ''{{w|Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi}}'' for the {{w|Super Nintendo Entertainment System}}, its lack of mobility would make it a poor choice for a character.

; InstallShield Wizard
: A ''wizard'' is a type of UI that simplifies configuration of an app or process by guiding the user through a number of screens in sequence. A user makes one decision on each screen, and the overall process puts less cognitive load on the user.
: {{w|InstallShield}} is a proprietary software tool for creating installer applications (or software packages) for Microsoft Windows. When the created package is being installed, the installer application can be shown in form of a 'standard Windows Wizard' dialog. Depending on the creativity of the user creating the package, the Wizard can display images while different stages of the installer are being executed.
: There are known instances of The InstallShield Wizard showing a wizard-like character images. Also, the standard wording of the installer text shown to the user ('software-to-be-installed is preparing the InstallShield Wizard, which will guide you through the program setup process') suggests that the Wizard is a 'real character'.

; Mr. Clean
: {{w|Mr. Clean}} is a brand and mascot for {{w|Procter & Gamble}} used for all-purpose cleaners and melamine foam cleaners.

; Comet Cursor
: {{w|Comet Cursor}} was Windows software that allowed users or websites to customise the mouse cursor. It was often installed with minimal user interaction and was accused of tracking users and being "spyware".

; Beto O'Rourke
: {{w|Beto O'Rourke}} is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 16th congressional district since 2013. He was the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2018 Texas U.S. Senate election (which was held the day before this comic appeared), running against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. O'Rourke received much media attention leading up to the election, with many considering the election abnormally competitive. He ultimately did lose against Ted Cruz.
: While not a video game character, it is more than possible to create a Mii Fighter based on Beto O'Rourke in the game. However, the game does not come with a Beto O'Rourke Mii, and Nintendo has not created an official Mii of Beto O'Rourke.{{citation needed}}

; The Monopoly boot
: The "boot" is one of the classic pewter tokens from the board game ''{{w|Monopoly (game)|Monopoly}}''. Despite the absurdity of the request, the boot appeared in the 1999 ''Monopoly'' video game adaptation for the Nintendo 64. In 2017, the boot token was retired from the standard version of ''Monopoly''.

; Lot's wife
: Lot and his wife are characters from the book of Genesis in the Bible. According to the book of Genesis, Lot and his family had to {{w|Sodom_and_Gomorrah#In_the_Book_of_Genesis|flee the city of Sodom}}, which was being judged by God for its wickedness. They were commanded to flee and not look back at the city. However, Lot's wife looked back at the city and was turned into a pillar of salt. It is unclear which version of Lot's wife Randall wishes to be playable in the game.

; D.B. Cooper
: [[D. B. Cooper]] is the name popularly used to refer to an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft on November 24, 1971. He extorted $200,000 in ransom and parachuted out of the plane. His identity and whereabouts have never been discovered. D.B. Cooper was a subject of the [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] comic. As mentioned above, an enterprising player could easily make a Mii Fighter based on D.B. Cooper, though no such Mii has been provided by Nintendo.

; The Blair Witch
: The Blair Witch is the titular character of the ''{{w|The Blair Witch Project}}'', a 1999 "found footage" supernatural horror film. The film became one of the most successful independent films of all time. The witch is never actually shown in the film, making it difficult to turn into a character in the game.

; Mavis Beacon
: ''{{w|Mavis Beacon (character)|Mavis Beacon}}'' is a fictional character and the mascot of the ''{{w|Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing}}'' software series.

The title text refers to two US Supreme Court Associate Justices who were considered as additions to ''Smash''. {{w|Ruth Bader Ginsburg}} was appointed by Bill Clinton; {{w|Elena Kagan}} was appointed by Barack Obama. Both are considered to be on the "liberal" wing of the court, but Ginsburg’s forceful dissenting opinions may explain why she would have been a more popular character for Super Smash Bros. Additionally, Ginsburg has been parodied on ''{{w|Saturday Night Live}}'', adding to her popularity: [http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/cast/kate-mckinnon-15056/impersonation/ruth-bader-ginsburg-100221]

==Transcript==
:[In a frame a bullet-list is shown:]
:Mario/Luigi hybrid
:The SkiFree monster
:Siri
:Ellie from ''Up''
:Zordon
:Clippy
:The Sarlaac
:The InstallShield Wizard
:Mr. Clean
:Comet Cursor
:Beto O'Rourke
:The Monopoly boot
:Lot's wife
:D.B. Cooper
:The Blair Witch
:Mavis Beacon

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Super Smash Brothers never did end up adding anyone from my wishlist.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring D. B. Cooper]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Talk:2852: Parameterball

2023-11-11T13:27:36Z

AgentMuffin:

added transcript and a kinda crappy explanation [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 17:36, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
: added a bit of crappy info to the explanation. also hi nqh [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 17:42, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
: added crappy edits. also do i have an account or… [[User:TenGolf MathHacker|TenGolf MathHacker]] ([[User talk:TenGolf MathHacker|talk]]) 19:30, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

Does the tennis court in upper right look about 50% larger than normal to anyone else? The ping-pong table definitely looks too small, about half size. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:07, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

: I'd say the the upper right is similar width to a tennis court but is 25% longer. The lower left looks to be similar width to table tennis / ping pong but is about half as long. So the explanations for those need revising. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.51|162.158.62.51]] 18:13, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

: My first reaction to the upper right was very clear: “Aha, Randall means that the players are scaled down to 20cm! Therefore ''parameter''ball.”--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.89|162.158.87.89]] 23:11, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

I have some neat plans for that Incomplete template. Get ready for an occasional change to something random that uses anything but metric... [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:29, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
: mobile account here, first of many implemented [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.48|172.70.42.48]] 20:55, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
If no limits, then neutron star or black hole ball exists as much as more non lethal games. {{unsigned ip|172.71.151.139|00:06, 9 November 2023}}

Could the title text be talking about the mass of a bowling ball, rather than then density? If the diameter of a bowling ball is 20cm and the diameter of a table tennis ball is 4cm, which is consistent with a quick Google search, than the volume of the bowling ball is around 125 times as big as the table tennis ball (because we have to cube it for three dimensions). Let's assume a bowling ball is 12 pounds, which is about average. Therefore, a ping pong ball with the density of a bowling ball would weigh much less than a pound. A 12 pound table tennis ball, however, could easily cause equipment damage. [[User:Thexkcdnerd|Thexkcdnerd]] ([[User talk:Thexkcdnerd|talk]]) 02:44, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
:I'm sure a one-pound table tennis ball could do sufficient damage to destroy a racquet, but I guess there's really only one way to find out, and I don't know where to find a one-pound ping pong ball. Or is it pingpong? Ping-Pong? pingPong? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.62|172.70.214.62]] 05:03, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
::Originally "gossima", with hard rubber balls, even before "whiff-waff" (or "wiff-waff" or "whiff-whaff" or something). First ''properly'' marketed as "ping-pong", in its recognisable form though. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.115|172.71.122.115]] 09:07, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
::A snooker/pool ball would probably have similar density to a bowling ball. I can well imagine equipment (and bodily) damage playing table tennis with a snooker ball. {{unsigned ip|172.71.242.37|13:23, 9 November 2023}}
:Isn't the bowling ball a reference to the 'bowling ball on a sheet' metaphor for the distortion of space-time by the gravitational fields of massive objects?[[Special:Contributions/172.71.123.146|172.71.123.146]] 09:31, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
:Also, isn't the density of a bowling ball also a changing parameter in the game of ten-pin bowling? Don't have bowling balls different weights, and unlike nine-pin bowling a fixed volume/size, and thus a variable density? It doesn't really matter for the explanation but describing the end point with an item that itself is variable isn't really helpful. The entries giraffe, screwdriver and large board game board are having the same problem. "A large boulder the size of a small boulder" https://twitter.com/SheriffAlert/status/1221881862244749315 [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:34, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
::The size isn't fixed, but yes, the weight can be changed by varying the size ''or'' density (within limits), and they can even have varying density within the ball.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.244|172.69.194.244]] 17:30, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, too dense a ping-pong "ball" (e.g. a pebble) is able to damage the foam coating of a "more professional" racket models. As a kid I have had been yelled at by the PE teacher for such horseplay and I have been given a basic and inferior plywood-and-thin-rubber model (with the rubber peeling off) as a punishment. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.250|162.158.102.250]] 13:32, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Does the screwdriver measurement relate to the drink or the tool?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.245|172.69.194.245]] 09:32, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

The explanation claims that the max density depicted is that of a bowling ball. However, the balls in the first three panels look much too light for that, and the ball in the fourth would probably have crushed the player if it was that dense. I would guess a solid rubber ball would be a better estimate (although the one in the second panel is hard to judge).[[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.83|172.71.242.83]] 11:28, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Only now have I learned that links can exist in the incomplete explanation text. It seems self-evident now,, but still. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.142|172.68.58.142]] 13:55, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Can each player choose a different raquet[sic] size? None of the examples suggest this. Also, is the construction of the racket a parameter? Tennis rackets have woven strings in the racket head, which a really tiny ball could pass through, and would have trouble controlling something marble-sized. Ping-pong paddles have a solid head with a rubber surface, which nothing larger than atomic size is likely to pass through. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:54, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
: The racquets they're using in the different panels are different sizes, and the title text says that 'players don't learn the [ball density] until after '''choosing their raquets''' Or do you mean could the two players have different racquets ''from each other''?.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.205|172.70.91.205]] 09:35, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

The fact that people keep editing the EXPLANATION NEEDED template made me realize we should have an archive for that purely for the lols [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.14|172.71.30.14]] 15:51, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
: That's a bet [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 16:21, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
::I didn't think anyone would actually do that, thanks! =) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.178|172.71.30.178]] 16:51, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
:::Was actually planning on doing it earlier today, but this reminded me about it [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 17:02, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
I wonder how long this will keep going. My guess is that I'll be the only one still doing it when the next comic gets released [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.178|172.71.30.178]] 17:04, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
: I have a few more to push out (wink) [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 17:06, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

This would make a GREAT video game.... - [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.113|172.71.254.113]] 09:17, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Idea: To avoid edit spam, we make another copy of the page meant for parameter editing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.140|108.162.238.140]] 12:40, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
:Idea: We don't bother. I ''had'' collected a whole lot of Incomplete non-BOT versions (from the point just before someone removes them, mainly) and was going to put them up in ''my'' userpage (once I bothered to get one), but I don't think it's worth kt. And, in this case, it's just self-promotion to alter one when not making any other valid change. I prefer spontaneity in my humor, not "trying to one-up the last person". Personal opinion, YMMV. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.245|172.69.194.245]] 13:49, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

I doubt the misspelling is anything more than a typo of "racquet". The French derivation is an interesting side note, but it seems like a leap to say it's "likely" Randall's intention. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.174|172.70.38.174]] 15:21, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
:Randall ''has'' just made plain typos, but he's also several times made deliberate 'errors' with actual reference to his love of language/writing and skill. And, given his US-spelling bias, it's a strange leap to a Anglo-French mish-mash if he just miswrote (in typing ''and'' comic-lettering) something quite so far from his 'normal' version. On balance, having had no part in that particular bit of wording, I think "likely" is a good hedge by the one who wrote that. And still perfectly allows for it to be a typo, if it was. (But keep an eye out for revised comic/alt-text!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.48|172.71.182.48]] 15:33, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
::I often find I understand Randall's thinking well above average, that I just instinctively get what he's getting at even when others are stuck in debate, and I'm of the opinion that he just wanted to get fancier/more formal than "racket" (maybe partly to stay distinct from other uses of that word), but since that spelling is unusual in North America that he simply forgot or didn't realize there's a C. I find this explanation is strengthened by him spelling it the same way in the Mouseover text. I feel confident it's nothing more complicated than that (remembering Occam's Razor). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:31, 11 November 2023 (UTC)
::[[1530: Keyboard Mash|Why fixate on these bizarre details? Randall is a normal, fallible human writing with his human hands.]] [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]] 13:27, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2846: Daylight Saving Choice

2023-10-26T04:25:28Z

AgentMuffin:

I instead suggest that we make the DST shift 12 hours. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.1.190|172.68.1.190]] 15:16, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

:I have better idea: What about observing the DST change in fall but ignoring the DST change in spring? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:18, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

The terrorist plot wasn't thwarted by this kind of proposal. It was just due to the fact that DST laws differ between countries. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:31, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

: The Palestinian terrorist plot on 5th September 1999 definitively was. One group of terrorists switched to ST as decided by authorities, while other refused to and used DST. [[User:Abukaj|Abukaj]] ([[User talk:Abukaj|talk]]) 16:36, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

When I read the comic, I applied it to this upcoming clock change which would turn the clocks back to "standard" time. Thus the ironic joke is that if you don't like daylight savings time then don't change your clocks, so you are then stuck in daylight savings time forever. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:46, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
:This was also my initial (and continuing) impression... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.190|172.71.242.190]] 23:43, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

== Average 39 minutes ==

While this figure makes sense (rather than 30 minutes) it was still slightly unexpected at first; as DST has a duration of 238 days, the average year-round time would be 238/365 hours ahead of Standard, or 39 minutes and 7.4 seconds. 
(Or, to factor in that a leap day occurs in 97 of every 400 years, 238/(365 ⁹⁷⁄₄₀₀) = 39 minutes and 5.8 seconds)

In fact, the original DST duration was set to actually be 6 months long (last Sunday of April to October), before being extended in 1987 and 2007 to reach its current 34 weeks.

[[User:SomeDee|SomeDee]] ([[User talk:SomeDee|talk]]) 15:23, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

I was wondering where that number came from... trust him to use the most absurd metric possible for averaging, instead of, for instance, the average deviation of sunrise, solar noon, or sunset... or even their earliest or latest times. - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.102|172.68.2.102]] 17:17, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

I haven't calculated for myself what US DST would actually average out at (presuming Randall is correct), but 'average year-round clock offset' for Europe (inc. UK, at least currently) would be different because it starts ''one week earlier'' (last Sunday in March, rather than first Sunday in April, if I remember the months right). One fifty-twoth of an hour (going straight to how the weightings change, rather than calculating the full averages in my head anew) is going to be slightly more than a minute of difference, so probably in the realms of UTC(+regional hourly shift)+40minutes. Maybe even +41 if it rounds off over into the ''next'' minute. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.175|172.71.242.175]] 22:15, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

== Major health ==

> "''has been found to cause major health problems''"

Citation needed.

One reported factoid:
''"..a group of U.S. researchers ...determined that heart attack risk jumped 24 percent the Monday after switching over to daylight saving time. .....dropped 21 percent on the Tuesday after the fall time change."''
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2018/10/26/can-daylight-saving-time-hurt-the-heart-prepare-now-for-spring
24% in fall, 21% in spring, suggests 3% net, which is more likely margin-of-error than major-problem.

"has been suggested" or "controversial" but not "has been found".

:So it basically evens out? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.90|172.69.23.90]] 18:26, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

:Your link doesn't work. Also, does it means the heart attack risk is worse whole half year? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:18, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Wikipedia's article cites [https://web.archive.org/web/20140313140334/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131101-when-does-daylight-savings-time-end-november-3-science/ this National Geographic article] [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]] ([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk]]) 20:35, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

== Personal Inclination ==

I haven't changed clocks for DST in years. That system is garbage; it doesn't even fall on obvious days. When someone says a clock is off, shrug & say "That's debateable. This one's right year-round, how often do you have to set yours?"
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:36, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
: Huh? So you're an hour late or early for half the year? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.9|172.70.215.9]] 21:29, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
: What would be "obvious days"? The equinoces, I suppose would be the astronomical absolutes, but they vary by several (calendar) days, and does this mean that clocks change at their hour, minute and second, regardless of whether in the middle of a week ''and workday''..? Also, the benefit (or otherwise) of any given date changes by latitude. And on what sleep cycles (early mornings or late evenings) any given person has. Equinox-nailed switchovers (or even tied to month-endings, say March 31st 24:00 to September 30th 24:00) just don't help much more (maybe less) than current versions. Heck, it's arbitrary, as might be many other choices, but it seems to keep disruption to the minimum (during changeover), and if the redistribution of hours isn't to your liking (a farmer may get up at/before dawn ''every day'', regardless of what pesky clocks say, 'cos animals and crops don't 'adjust' by our method) then that's up to you. But I bet some things will change around you and you at least need to mentally adjust to what time everyone around you decides it is. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.232|172.70.85.232]] 23:58, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
:Clock time is itself arbitrary. Why 12 hours twice instead of, say, 10 hours for one cycle per solar day? The answer boils down to "In ancient times, it was easy to divide 12 into fractions in your head. Also, counting hours at night was harder (no sundials) and less important (because pre-electricity, most people just slept)." [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:28, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
::Easy in modern times, too, since 12, 24, and 60 are {{w|highly composite number}}s and 10 can't even divide into thirds or quarters… [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]] 04:25, 26 October 2023 (UTC)