explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2632: Greatest Scientist

2022-06-13T18:43:06Z

Ahiijny:

If anyone knows how to get this to work with the bar at the top, please do it![[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 18:32, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
:[[User:SqueakSquawk4]] for everything to display correctly I think you need to follow the steps here: [[User:DgbrtBOT#When_the_BOT_fails...]] [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:43, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

2273: Truck Proximity

2020-02-26T21:28:29Z

Ahiijny: Undo revision 187791 by 173.245.52.97 (talk): Removed discussion page comment accidentally added to main page (looks like it's already been copied to the discussion page)

{{comic
| number = 2273
| date = February 26, 2020
| title = Truck Proximity
| image = truck_proximity.png
| titletext = See also: Farm animals and dinosaurs. I am so confident that there exists children's media that involves dinosaurs driving trucks on a farm that I'm writing this without even Googling to check.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DINOSAUR DRIVING A TRUCK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a graph showing the relationship between time spent in proximity to trucks and level of knowledge about different types of trucks. For the average person, the two go together: people who do not spend much time around trucks are less likely to have knowledge about trucks, and people who spend more time around trucks are more likely to have knowledge about trucks. People with jobs or hobbies involving trucks spend a lot of time with them and must know how they work, so they fit this trend but at a higher level on both axes. Small children think trucks are cool and learn a lot about them. They then share this knowledge with their parents. The parents keep children away from trucks.

The title text wagers that there are, in fact, books about dinosaurs driving trucks on farms. Indeed, [https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Farm-Penny-Dale/dp/0763699365 Dinosaur Farm!] and [https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Farm-Frann-Preston-Gannon/dp/1454911328 Dinosaur Farm] are two examples.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2236: Is it Christmas?

2019-12-04T14:50:52Z

Ahiijny: /* More Ads */

according Wayback Machine, the site [https://web.archive.org/web/20181225014549/https://isitchristmas.com/ still] [https://web.archive.org/web/20171225032723/https://isitchristmas.com/ says] [https://web.archive.org/web/20161209052757/https://isitchristmas.com/ NO] [https://web.archive.org/web/20151225060146/https://isitchristmas.com/ even] on Christmas. --[[User:Valepert|valepert]] ([[User talk:Valepert|talk]]) 21:56, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:Hmmm, maybe it will be fixed this year. I imagine everybody spammed the guy on twitter when it didnt work last year. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:06, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:; It checks your system time
:It uses the <code>new Date()</code> constructor to check whether it is Christmas, which uses your system time. Thus, the Wayback won't get anything, but changing your system time will. Kay? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 22:14, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Okay so looking at isitchristmas.com, there's a comment at the top of the page saying to look at the console, but I don't see anything in there, anyone know what that might be about? Also at the bottom of the html file, the bottommost <script> tag looks like it might contain code for a chat client? I don't know JS so I'm unsure, but I tried changing all the related "false" values to "true" that looked relevant and nothing happened, so idk. Maybe someone else can figure it out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:03, 2 December 2019 (UTC)
:(I'm the dev.) Check back again closer to Christmas, on 12/23 or 12/24. [[User:Konklone|Konklone]] ([[User talk:Konklone|talk]]) 00:55, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::I mean, I kind of find that suspect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.234|172.68.47.234]] 01:39, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::seconded. that's a suspicious lot of javascript just to display yes or no, even with globalisation. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.144|141.101.107.144]] 10:07, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::::There are some other features besides globalization, but they only take effect closer to Christmas. [[User:Konklone|Konklone]] ([[User talk:Konklone|talk]]) 17:24, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::::Aha! I found some more info from your blog: https://konklone.com/post/isitchristmas-dot-com-2013-more-and-better [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.59|172.68.142.59]] 21:55, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Well, one way to put it is that the overall probability of a false negative is 0.27%, which doesn't seem too bad, but the conditional probability of a false negative given that it's Christmas is 100%, which is horrid. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 22:37, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Of course it depends on your definition of "It's Christmas". The figure is right if you just mean Christmas Day and ignore the Julian vs Gregorian issue, but not you subscribe to "the 12 days of Christmas" = Christmas ... Just saying ;-) [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 23:53, 2 December 2019 (UTC)
:Every year, people ask me about including multiple definitions of Christmas, but I think for my own sanity it's going to keep looking just at 12/25. ;) [[User:Konklone|Konklone]] ([[User talk:Konklone|talk]]) 00:57, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::There's an assumption here that people will only want to celebrate Christmas once a year. Might be different for someone living in a community with multiple religions who likes the holiday, or wants an excuse to take an additional day off work! --[[User:Marcus Rowland|Marcus Rowland]] ([[User talk:Marcus Rowland|talk]]) 11:08, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::But that would not be Christmas. Christmas is the day the Bible states Jesus was born (or at least if it is in the bible at all, the day Christians choose to claim Jesus was born). Thus only one day can be Christmas and no matter how you choose to celebrate and when or how many days, still only the 25th of December will be Christmas! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:41, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::::Not only Bible doesn't say anything about when was Jesus born, the first Christmas celebration happened in year 336 and the date was likely chosen to match Roman Festival of Saturnalia. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:49, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::::I'm Catholic, Christmas day is one day a year, but Christmas (the liturgical season) ends on The Baptism of the Lord, which varies but can be as late as January 13th. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.91|172.69.63.91]] 15:19, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::::There are at least two Christmas days, as noted previously - the Western one on 25th December, and the Eastern Orthodox version which is based on an older calendar and is now in January according to the Western calendar, because their calendar has slipped compared to ours. But if someone wants to celebrate both there is really no reason why not - they don't have to be followers of the religion to want to take a holiday. Or if you want another reason, in communities with followers of both versions of Christianity, there will be days when the followers of one or another version are celebrating Christmas and businesses etc. are closed, which will affect everyone regardless of which religion they follow, if any. --[[User:Marcus Rowland|Marcus Rowland]] ([[User talk:Marcus Rowland|talk]]) 15:33, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
How do we know Randall's version is wrong on Christmas? Has anyone set their system clock to Dec 25 and checked it? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 02:14, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:Have tested; Randall's displayed "no" as per main image. isitchritmas displayed "yes" as per explanation. [[User:RedHillian|RedHillian]] ([[User talk:RedHillian|talk]]) 02:44, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::It may be Randall uses Server-Time, and not client-time like isitchristmas.com - Also, in the official Calendars, there are two Christmas days, first and second day of Christmas. I think Randall went only for the gifting day, which is different in many countries anyway. My kids get there presents on Christmas eve (24 December), their friends mostly on 6 December (Sint Nicolas) (or the evening before). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.62|141.101.77.62]] 07:45, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:: Based on his 99.73% accuracy comment, I assume the comic is a static image, and will always show "NO", even on Christmas day. I think that is the whole joke, that his comic is correct 364 (+ leap days) of the year, when it is not Christmas. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.158|172.69.34.158]] 08:23, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::Of course this is a static image, that is the whole point. ;-) In Demark we also have the [https://erdetfredag.dk/ is it Friday] which at least is easier to check if it works, as it changes from No (Nej) to Yes (Ja) once a week. As mentioned above in Denmark the isitchristmas answers in Danish with a Nej. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:34, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::Yes, that is clearly what the comic implies - that it is static and will be wrong on Christmas. But to be fair, it would very much be Randall's style to instead change this comic to say "YES" on christmas, and then ALSO to change it again so that it is wrong on some ''other'' unexpected day... :) [[User:Praxiq|Praxiq]] ([[User talk:Praxiq|talk]]) 05:23, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

About "when is christmas". Christmas consists of two days, which makes the calculation of predicted correctness too optimistic. (99,45% for 363/365 and for 364/366; 99,38% for 363/365.25)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.62|141.101.77.62]] 07:45, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:No only the 25th of December is called Christmas Day. All other days are thus not Christmas, but just days you choose to celebrate that the 25th is Christmas! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:41, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:: Ah, learned something today. In Germany and several neighbouring countries Christmas has two days, a first and a second Christmas day (25th and 26th of December). As Christ was born in the night, both days around that night get celebrated. Stupidly I assumed this would be the case in English speaking countries too. So, the UK and a few former colonies have only one day of Christmas, and a "Boxing Day". Thanks for making me spill my time on wikipedia and other sources. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.39|172.69.54.39]] 08:10, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

"In the western world celebrated on 25th" is not correct. For UK,US and Canada and probably a lot others it might be true, german and I think spanish speaking countries not.
:No no. Even when you celebrate Christmas Eve on December 24th (as also in Denmark) we call the 25th Christmas Day. Even if you also celebrate the 2nd Christmas day, there is only one day a year that it is Christmas, and that is the 25th of December. That is when Christians claim Jesus was born. Of course I celebrate the Winter solstice (and accept that I do this a few days off, since that is when I can have the day off.) In Denmark we count the days up till the 24th and celebrate in the evening, (as the Vikings always did, because the new day began the sun set.) We do not look at the 12 days after. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:34, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::The word "celebrated" or "to celebrate", means (according to [https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/celebrate Lexico/Oxford]): "Acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjoyable activity." This activity is not set as a single day for the western world. E.g. in Germany it is acknowledget with social gatherings and enjoyable activities for at least 3 days: Christmas eve (24th), First Christmas day (25th) and second christmas day (26th December). Additionally not all the western world (is that even properly defined?) does acknowledge the birth of christ (significant/happy event) by social gatherings or enjoyable activities (e.g. you, as you stated yourself.)--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 09:59, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::The word celebrate is not present in the comic. That is about the question if today is Christmas. When you choose to celebrate Christmas has nothing to do with what day is Christmas, and also other religious holidays has nothing to do with Christmas at all. Do not mix up different issues here. This comic is only wrong on 25th of December which is Christmas day. All other days you choose to celebrate Christmas is not Christmas Day! And thus it is not Christmas! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:41, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::::So you also agree, that the statement in the explanation is wrong? I will change it.--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:47, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:The XKCD page has the additional advantage of being equally accurate whether you follow [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar Western] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_liturgical_calendar Eastern Orthodox] calendars, or whatever calendar you choose! --[[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 08:39, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::::I didn't mean to stir up such a hornet's nest, but there is a possible distinction between the Season of Christmas (from Christmas Day to Twelfth Night) and just Christmas Day and I was referring to that. Nobody talks of Advent Day or Lent Day and Easter is clearly Good Friday, Easter Day and Easter Monday, even if the Eggs are meant for just Easter Day. Just saying ;-) [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 19:04, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Reminds me of [[937: TornadoGuard]] in subject matter.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 09:47, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:I was mostly reminded of [[1132: Frequentists vs. Bayesians]]. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:06, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Is the comic closely enough related to be put into [[:Category:Statistics]]?--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:21, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:No. There is nothing statistic here. It is just 1/365 giving the error percentage. That the explanation goes into statistics to tell how bad this version of is it x-mas is, does not make the comics topic statistics --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:01, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Some other sites with the same idea: http://ismycomputeron.com https://shouldiblamecaching.com http://iscaliforniaonfire.com http://www.ismycomputeronfire.com/ [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 14:47, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Also this flowchart: [[1723: Meteorite Identification]] - I am currently to absent-minded to get a proper wording for the relation right. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:57, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:Not seeing the similarity. The flowchart he mocks there is actually a real flowchart, which helps you realize that the stone you find is not a meteorite. Because it never is... until it is. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:01, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::Both ask a question where the answer is known to usually be "no" and then go ahead, to proclaim "no" without further checks. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:37, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Maybe it's just me, but I took this comic to be a mockery of a vastly over-complicated solution to a simple problem. I mean, have you looked at the source code for isitchristmas.com? Crazy! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.195|172.69.63.195]] 20:47, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:I think he just mocks pages in general that tells you something you know. I do though enjoy to sometimes look at the, [https://erdetfredag.dk/ is it Friday page], but only when I know it is Friday, as it is always nice to think about the weekend is near, early Friday morning. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:01, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

== More Ads ==

Am I the only one who again got adds in between paragraphs on this wiki? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:37, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
: Nope, but I only get them occasionally. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:53, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
:: Right now I'm seeing a lot of them in the discussion section that's transcluded on the main comic page, but not if I go directly to the Discussion Talk: page. See also [[Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads]] (the previous discussion about this). [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 14:50, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

== The Asterisk ==

One thing nobody has mentioned yet: the asterisk after "NO" is very distinctly drawn with 4 lines, for 8 points. The vertical points are longest; the horizontal points second-longest; and the diagonal points are shortest. This is a very popular way to represent the star of bethlehem, especially as a christmas tree topper - see https://imgur.com/a/B9det9a for lots of ornaments that look an awful lot like that asterisk! I'm sure it's deliberate, given the Christmas theme of the comic. (I intended to update the explanation to point this out, but as a new user I can't upload the image here, and I'm not sure if linking to external images is good etiquette. So instead I'm posting here, in case someone else wants to update the explanation. The linked imgur is a collage of my own creation, but it's made up of 6 copyrighted photos. They're marketing photos from Amazon, Wayfair, and other sites, of products for sale - I believe using them educationally as a representative sample of ornaments depicting the star of bethlehem should constitute fair use, but IANAL.)

[[User:Praxiq|Praxiq]] ([[User talk:Praxiq|talk]]) 05:18, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

File:201912040943 - More Ads.PNG

2019-12-04T14:45:08Z

Ahiijny: The irony.

The irony.

Talk:2236: Is it Christmas?

2019-12-03T14:47:39Z

Ahiijny: Some related links

Talk:2200: Unreachable State

2019-09-11T18:50:58Z

Ahiijny: Time travel hype

When I tried to go here originally, it was unreachable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.61|162.158.107.61]] 03:54, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:Yes that was really a funny coincidence, although it lasted a bit too long. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:37, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
::Any relation to the user database breach & DDOS attacks that hit some other xkcd community this week?[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:00, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Nothing about the comic suggests a website. it looks more like the error message of a program. also, i don't think CB is typing it, just reading. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.124|172.68.50.124]] 06:20, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:Im positive you are right, Cueball's hands are hovering over the keyboard while he reads this message. The caption is a note to programers not to leave this kind of message to users by writing them when tired. I will correct the explanation and the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:45, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

;"Can't happen"
This comic is not about "a problem that the programmers did not anticipate", but rather a situation that the programmer rules out as impossible, which is technically called "Can't happen" or "Impossible Error" in the hacker/programmer's jargon. See http://catb.org/jargon/html/C/can-t-happen.html

For example:
<source lang=php>
for ($i=1;$i<=5;++$i) {echo $i." - ";}
if ($i<10) {echo "Bye!";} else {echo "Can't happen!";}
</source>
[[User:ElfQrin|ElfQrin]] ([[User talk:ElfQrin|talk]]) 07:14, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Also it helps not to be too cute even with impossible error messages. A colleague left a message along the lines of <q>Application rubbish bin has broken.</q> once. Cue a somewhat perplexed user call several years later…
<blockquote>
“Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one.
But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.”

Who is genuinely surprised that Cueball managed to reach the unreachable error condition?

― Terry Pratchett, Mort
</blockquote>

--[[User:Kventin|Kventin]] ([[User talk:Kventin|talk]]) 07:51, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
: Do you mean "garbage collector"? Because that's not being cute, that's the actual technical term. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.30|162.158.122.30]] 13:24, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

The "anything can happen" may be reference to undefined behavior in some programming languages (most famous are C and C++) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_behavior. And the error message is rather about assertion failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assertion_(software_development) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.54|162.158.92.54]] 08:03, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

:Undefined behaviour [https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/?p=633 can even result in time travel]! [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:44, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

I rewrote the intro from a developer's perspective, since I'm pretty sure this is more about coding than about websites. Would be nice to add something about assertions there too. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:37, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

It's relatively common to include assertions for certain invariants because it can potentially allow compilers to make better optimizations, though this is usually a sign of premature optimization. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 15:11, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2200: Unreachable State

2019-09-11T18:44:47Z

Ahiijny: Re: undefined behaviour

When I tried to go here originally, it was unreachable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.61|162.158.107.61]] 03:54, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:Yes that was really a funny coincidence, although it lasted a bit too long. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:37, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
::Any relation to the user database breach & DDOS attacks that hit some other xkcd community this week?[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:00, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Nothing about the comic suggests a website. it looks more like the error message of a program. also, i don't think CB is typing it, just reading. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.124|172.68.50.124]] 06:20, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:Im positive you are right, Cueball's hands are hovering over the keyboard while he reads this message. The caption is a note to programers not to leave this kind of message to users by writing them when tired. I will correct the explanation and the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:45, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

;"Can't happen"
This comic is not about "a problem that the programmers did not anticipate", but rather a situation that the programmer rules out as impossible, which is technically called "Can't happen" or "Impossible Error" in the hacker/programmer's jargon. See http://catb.org/jargon/html/C/can-t-happen.html

For example:
<source lang=php>
for ($i=1;$i<=5;++$i) {echo $i." - ";}
if ($i<10) {echo "Bye!";} else {echo "Can't happen!";}
</source>
[[User:ElfQrin|ElfQrin]] ([[User talk:ElfQrin|talk]]) 07:14, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Also it helps not to be too cute even with impossible error messages. A colleague left a message along the lines of <q>Application rubbish bin has broken.</q> once. Cue a somewhat perplexed user call several years later…
<blockquote>
“Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one.
But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.”

Who is genuinely surprised that Cueball managed to reach the unreachable error condition?

― Terry Pratchett, Mort
</blockquote>

--[[User:Kventin|Kventin]] ([[User talk:Kventin|talk]]) 07:51, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
: Do you mean "garbage collector"? Because that's not being cute, that's the actual technical term. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.30|162.158.122.30]] 13:24, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

The "anything can happen" may be reference to undefined behavior in some programming languages (most famous are C and C++) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_behavior. And the error message is rather about assertion failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assertion_(software_development) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.54|162.158.92.54]] 08:03, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

:Undefined behaviour [https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/?p=633 can result in time travel]! [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:44, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

I rewrote the intro from a developer's perspective, since I'm pretty sure this is more about coding than about websites. Would be nice to add something about assertions there too. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:37, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

It's relatively common to include assertions for certain invariants because it can potentially allow compilers to make better optimizations, though this is usually a sign of premature optimization. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 15:11, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2169: Predictive Models

2019-06-30T06:42:41Z

Ahiijny: Reminded me of that Target data analytics article

If you click on the comic, it opens a page with error 404. Looking at the URL, it says "At the July 28th meeting", which I assume is the prediction result to the title text suggesting that they will be 1 month late. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.174|162.158.106.174]] 17:13, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

: Fixsed it, my years of mediawiki knowledge have finally come to use. [[User:Iggyvolz|Iggyvolz]] ([[User talk:Iggyvolz|talk]])

In the HTML tag for the link (the <a> tag surrounding the comic image) after the link it says "cancel the meeting! our cover is blown" [[User:Everlastingwonder|Everlastingwonder]] ([[User talk:Everlastingwonder|talk]]) 17:21, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

In the [https://m.xkcd.com/2169/ mobile version], you can read «See also: [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."» It leads to a 404, like the other examples in the comments here. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.136|172.69.44.136]] 17:31, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

This looks a whole lot like Gmail's [https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/smart-compose-using-neural-networks-to.html Smart Compose] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.76|172.68.206.76]]

Today GMail actually predicted the beginning of my mail correctly. I typed literally zero characters and it already knew how to continue. In the future, we won't even have to upload our brains to a computer, a backup will already be available there automatically. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 21:32, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

Not a backup, a simulation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.184|108.162.219.184]] 04:46, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

On my Mac the title text only shows "WE WILL ARREST THE REVOLUTION MEMBERS" while on my iPad (where you long press to see title texts) long pressing only shows the link. Weird. Also someone remind me to check the link again on July 28. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:10, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

: On my Ubuntu system, both Firefox and Chrome display "WE WILL ARREST THE REVOLUTION MEMBERS" as the title text and "<nowiki>https://xkcd.com/[AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab]</nowiki>" as the link target, which is also what's in the HTML source. Additionally, the HTML source is malformed, with quotes inside quotes in the href attribute. - [[User:Linneris|Linneris]] ([[User talk:Linneris|talk]]) 14:37, 29 June 2019 (UTC)
::Malformed. Precisely! I think there was a glitch while the comic was uploaded, which used the title text as a link in addition to as the title text. It didn't include the last part due to the quotes. It will be either fixed or legitimate, or at least make the href a little nicer. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:24, 29 June 2019 (UTC)
:::Actually... Looking at the comic again (for the first time on my PC), I would like to rethink that. I think this is Randall's method of demonstrating the [tab]; clicking and looking at the URL. [EDIT] Man, the more I think, the weirder it gets. Maybe it's about how sometimes you can find the information on the client side in the code where it should be hidden? I don't know anymore. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:27, 29 June 2019 (UTC)
::When you look at the source of [https://xkcd.com/2169/%5BAT%20THE%20JULY%2028TH%20MEETING%5D%5Btab%5D that 404 page], you can see six HTML comments with the content ''a padding to disable MSIE and Chrome friendly error page''. This is to prevent MSIE and Chrome from displaying "helpful" proprietary error pages. If you change the link in the slightest, you will also get a 404 page, but without these comments. I assume that either this was a glitch (intended or unintended) and this particular 404 page was modified so that everyone can see that the authors are aware of it, *or* it's a hint pointing to somewhere else. A rabbit hole maybe? I would like the latter to be true, but I haven't found anything.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.168|162.158.90.168]] 22:42, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

This reminds me of that time where via data analytics on things like shopping habits, [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html Target figured out that a teen girl was pregnant before her father did]. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 06:42, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-24T19:07:56Z

Ahiijny: Indent

The comic as a whole is making fun of how meta software developers get about the user experience, seeking to name all the different types of interactions a user can have with an app or webpage.
This comic is massive for me on my desktop (chrome); I wonder if this is a joke about bad UX or if it is a genuine error? [[User:Fwacer|Fwacer]] ([[User talk:Fwacer|talk]]) 18:50, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

:It's not this big on xkcd.com. Did it start this big and got fixed on the original site? Update: replaced with the image from xkcd.com which was much smaller. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:55, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

To me, it comes across as a hyperbolic play on the common confusion between the meaning of UI and UX. [https://twitter.com/sdw/status/709853249407361024] [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 19:06, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-24T19:06:33Z

Ahiijny: UI vs UX

The comic as a whole is making fun of how meta software developers get about the user experience, seeking to name all the different types of interactions a user can have with an app or webpage.
This comic is massive for me on my desktop (chrome); I wonder if this is a joke about bad UX or if it is a genuine error? [[User:Fwacer|Fwacer]] ([[User talk:Fwacer|talk]]) 18:50, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

:It's not this big on xkcd.com. Did it start this big and got fixed on the original site? Update: replaced with the image from xkcd.com which was much smaller. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:55, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

:To me, it comes across as a hyperbolic play on the common confusion between the meaning of UI and UX. [https://twitter.com/sdw/status/709853249407361024] [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 19:06, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

2119: Video Orientation

2019-03-04T20:22:46Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ Humour, possibly

{{comic
| number = 2119
| date = March 4, 2019
| title = Video Orientation
| image = video_orientation.png
| titletext = CIRCULAR VIDEO - PROS: Solves aspect ratio problem. CONS: Never trust anyone who talks to you from inside a circle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This was created by a TRUSTWORTHY CIRCULAR VIDEO. Nothing about Bold and Dynamic. Bad dubious template. Better explanation on horizontal and vertical needed. DO NOT DELETE THIS TOO SOON (It already was once.}}

This comic compares different pros and cons of 3 video angles, one of which entirely made-up.

Horizontal angling is:

1. Good for people not used to phones, and has been used for centuries. (True)

2. Not the best at capturing a human's entire body, without also capturing much of their surroundings. (True)

3. Potentially uncomfortable for the one making the recording to maintain over a long period of time, as most phones were designed for vertical holding. (True)

4. A more accurate visualization of the way humans view the world; we view approximately 150 degrees horizontally and only 50 degrees vertically. (Not stated in the comic)

Vertical angling is:

1. The norm for most users capturing video on their smartphone. (Questionable)

2. Not ideal for capturing the background. (True, when not used in panoramic view)

3. Better at capturing the whole body of a human subject. (True)

4. Is less stressful on the hands of the one holding the mobile recording device. (Questionable)

[[Randall]] does love a good [https://explainxkcd.com/690/ compromise], so he suggests "Diagonal Angling" as a third option to satisfy the needs of both types of user.

Diagonal angling is:

1. Not a standard format of video.{{Citation needed}} (True)

2. Equally annoying to all viewers. (Almost certainly true)

3. Flawless, as in perfect in every way.{{Dubious}} (False)

The issue with this is that diagonal angling fails to fully capture the benefits of either horizontal or vertical angling.

The titletext quip about circular video would be a reference to having a demon trapped inside a summoning circle, hence not trusting anything that would be said to you.

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

:[The image shows three columns by three rows with the following headers:]
:'''Video Orientation'''
:'''Pros'''
:'''Cons'''

:[First row:]
:[A wide picture with a text above:]
:Horizontal
:[Pros are:]
:*Looks normal to old people
:*Format used by a century of cinema
:[Cons are:]
:*Humans are taller than are wide
:*I'm not turning my phone sideways

:[Second row:]
:[A high picture with a text above:]
:Vertical
:[Pros are:]
:*How most normal people shoot and watch video now so we may as well accept it
:[Cons are:]
:*Human world is mostly a horizontal plane

:[Third row:]
:[A picture rotated by 45 degrees with a text above:]
:Diagonal
:[Pros are:]
:*Bold and dynamic
:*Equally annoying to all viewers
:*Good compromise
:[Cons are:]
:*None

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Compromise]]

Template:Dubious

2019-03-04T20:21:40Z

Ahiijny: Why not

[[[1847|''dubious'']]]<noinclude>
[[Category:Templates]]</noinclude>

2116: .NORM Normal File Format

2019-02-25T16:15:50Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ Image link

{{comic
| number = 2116
| date = February 25, 2019
| title = .NORM Normal File Format
| image = norm_normal_file_format.png
| titletext = At some point, compression becomes an aesthetic design choice. Luckily, SVG is a really flexible format, so there's no reason it can't support vector JPEG artifacts.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ABNORMAL FILE STANDARD. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball's friend seem to have sent him a rather unusual datafile passed off as a new "normal" standard.
The file is visually compressed in a way to seemingly keep as much information in one Word document as possible.

The comic image links to a [https://twitter.com/openelex/status/853977391747801088 tweet by OpenElections] that displays an Excel file produced by the City of Detroit that contains a lookup table for the city's absentee precincts in 2016.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is at a computer. Someone is talking to him from off-panel.]
:Voice: I sent you the data.
:Cueball: Thanks!
:Cueball: …this is a Word document containing an embedded photo you took of your screen with the spreadsheet open.
:Voice: Yeah? Does your computer not support .NORM files? Maybe you need to update.

:Caption: Since everyone sends stuff this way anyway, we should just formalize it as a standard.

{{comic discussion}}

2114: Launch Conditions

2019-02-20T20:48:43Z

Ahiijny: Wikilinked Challenger disaster

{{comic
| number = 2114
| date = February 20, 2019
| title = Launch Conditions
| image = launch_conditions.png
| titletext = Though I do think the tiny vent on one of the boosters labeled "O-RING" is in poor taste.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a O-RING FAILURE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

An image of a rocket with a progressively larger white cloud around it is shown, but no external object for scale is visible until the third panel.
It is then revealed to be a model or miniature by the relatively enormous size of Ponytail's head.
The dialogue confirms that it emits clouds of water vapor as a humidifier, which mimic the appearance of the exhaust plume of a full-size rocket.

Modern rocket launches are backed by a ''Sound Suppression System'' avoiding damages to the rocket itself, the payload, or even humans inside. This system drops vast amounts of water into the exhaust of the rocket engines and vaporizes immediately. This vapor mainly interrupts the sound reflections from the ground. This reduces the sound to a level the rocket can withstand but also produces a big cloud of water vapor. In fact the cloud at the ground consists mostly of water and not the exhaust of the rocket engines. This article shows how the system works: [https://interestingengineering.com/nasa-sound-suppression-system-prevents-rocket-from-exploding NASA's Incredible Sound Suppression System Prevents Rockets from Exploding (interestingengineering.com)].

This comic appeared the day after the death of Peter Cosgrove, who was known for photographing many Space Shuttle launches.

The title text references the failed o-ring that led to the {{Wikipedia|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|explosion of the ''Challenger'' Space Shuttle}} and the death of all on board.
The failure of the o-ring was due to poor statistical analysis of the failure under launch conditions for that day causing the launch to be pushed forward at lower temperatures than what is acceptable.
For the humidifier to vent gas from this opening is indeed in poor taste, even though the model does not resemble a shuttle.

Richard Feynman had a famous story regarding the o-ring incident. A group of people were trying to figure out why the o-ring had failed. They were all arguing, as it was passing the tests they were running on it astoundingly. Feynman walks into the room with a glass of ice-water, and drops the o-ring into it. It immediately ruptures. He then walks out. http://www.feynman.com/science/the-challenger-disaster/

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A rocket sits on a launch pad and the tower to the left has retracted its access arms. The engines have just start firing and a small cloud at the bottom is visible.]

:[The rocket still sits on the pad but the cloud is growing and extending to both sides on the ground.]

:[Ponytail's head in a size like the rocket appears above it. The cloud covers the full ground and hides a bigger part of the rocket.]

:[Zoom out. Ponytail stands behind a pedestal with a rocket model on top and the cloud is all around the bottom of the rocket and below.]
:Off screen: It's still pretty dry in here.
:Ponytail: I love the new humidifier, though.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]

2104: Biff Tannen

2019-01-29T18:52:39Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ Biff's past self, not Marty's past self

{{comic
| number = 2104
| date = January 28, 2019
| title = Biff Tannen
| image = biff_tannen.png
| titletext = I can't help myself; now I want to read a bunch of thinkpieces from newspapers in Biff's 1985 arguing over whether the growth of the region into a corporate dystopia was inevitable.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic is based on ''{{w|Back to the Future II}}''. In this movie, the character Biff Tannen steals the time machine, which is the main plot device, and uses it to go back in time from 2015 to 1955. He then gives a sports almanac that contains the outcomes of 50 years (1950–2000) worth of sporting events to his younger self. His younger self uses this sports almanac to make millions by successfully betting on {{w|horse races}}. He then forms a company, and calls it [https://backtothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/BiffCo BiffCo]. While in the movie the protagonists reverse this, by stealing the almanac back, Cueball imagines the universe where BiffCo exists as continuing to exist in parallel. This is consistent with the {{w|multiverse}} theory.

Cueball mentions that this universe would not have any ''counterfactuals'' to work with. This is often short in epistemology for {{w|counterfactual conditionals}}, that is, conditional statements about what ''would'' be true if something ''were'' true that we know for a fact is not true. For instance, Randall’s “[[what if?]]” series is based on counterfactuals, for it explores hypotheticals—conditionals which are contrary to fact. The first post in that series, about what would happen if you tried to hit a baseball that was thrown at 90% the speed of light, is a counterfactual, because we know for a fact that a baseball has never been hit at such a speed{{Citation needed}}. In the case of the universe where BiffCo exists, they would not have any information on the ''counterfactuals'', that is, the facts about what would happen if Biff did not have this almanac.

The movie is set in the fictional town of Hill Valley, California. When the protagonists return to 1985, they find that Biff has turned the town’s “Courthouse Square” into a 27-story casino, and generally taken over Hill Valley. Cueball interprets this as “the decline of the city, and general social decay”.

''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis]'' is a book, published in June 2016, that gives an account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town, and offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. This comic is a play on the title of this book, which has been described as explaining the “social, regional, and class” issues in white working-class America. The white American working class was a key factor in the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, and many critics have interpreted the book as an explanation of his election, which was deemed improbable by many analysts before it happened. Netflix [https://deadline.com/2019/01/netflix-hillbilly-elegy-ron-howard-movie-deal-40m-1202541118/ purchased the rights] to an upcoming film adaptation of the book three days before this comic, prompting another wave of criticism of the book's theories.

Cueball is proposing a similarly-titled book, set in the ''Back to the Future II'' universe where BiffCo exists, that would describe the supposed factors leading to the rise of Biff Tannen in Hill Valley. In that universe, while the rise of Biff—and the subsequent decay of the city—is the result of his using a future sports almanac to cheat at sports betting, the rest of the population would have to guess at the structural societal issues that might have caused Biff’s otherwise inexplicable success. Thus, Cueball compares such blind guessing with the analysis contained in ''Hillbilly Elegy''.

This makes White Hat Guy angry, because it’s such a painfully long setup for a really stupid pun. There is also a decent chance that the book White Hat Guy is currently reading is ''Hillbilly Elegy'', which would make the joke more insulting to him, as it compares the book to useless theorizing about an event which was really caused by time traveling. After seeing similar symptoms in our society, perhaps he would consider that we are living in such a world predetermined to negative effects. It would probably frustrate him that being optimistic for the future and hoping for a changing society would be an effort in vain, when the universe is similarly tampered with by time-travellers. Alternatively, he is enjoying the book and is angry at the insult to it.

[[Randall]] is known to have [[1756: I'm With Her|supported Hillary Clinton]], the opposing candidate, in the 2016 election, having made a comic just to promote her, and particularly [[1779: 2017|sad comics]] following Trump's election. Therefore, he may have made this comic as an insult to a book which supposedly explains the election of the candidate he opposed, by comparing it to useless (and wrong) theorizing. It may also be intended as an insult to Trump himself, by comparing the dystopian universe where Biff rose to power (albeit not as President) to the actual universe where Trump rose to power.

Alternatively, the comic may be an allusion to alleged Russian tampering of the 2016 U.S. elections: Randall is proposing that it is futile to attribute Donald Trump's rise to power to any set of structural, societal issues that may have acted indirectly while ignoring the hidden, speculated, but far more direct cause of foul play, just as it would be futile to analyze Biff Tannen's rise to power by similar means, ignoring the impact of foul play via time travel and a sports almanac.

The title text continues this comparison by mentioning thinkpieces from newspapers that would appear in the ''Back to the Future II'' universe where BiffCo exists. Various thinkpieces did appear in real life newspapers in an attempt to explain Trump’s rise to power after his election, and asking whether it was inevitable.

As ''{{w|Back to the Future II}}''’s important October 2015 setting date approached, commentators began noting the similarities between the older version of the character Biff Tannen and then presidential candidate Donald Trump. When the comparison was brought to the attention of the film’s writer, Bob Gale, in an interview, he [https://www.thedailybeast.com/back-to-the-future-writer-biff-tannen-is-based-on-donald-trump# claimed] that elements of Tannen’s personality were actually based on Trump, who was already well known in the late 1980s for his work in real estate and tabloid controversies. Thus, there is a real connection between Biff Tannen and Donald Trump. This supports the comparison between the two made by Randall. That being said, actor Tom Wilson has [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4lYCaFx3Og denied] that his performance of the role was in any way based on Trump.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball talks while walking up behind White Hat, who is reading in an armchair.]
:Cueball: You know, in the universe where Biff Tannen took Marty McFly’s sports almanac back in time, the people wouldn’t have any counterfactuals to work with.
:Cueball: Their world would be ''the'' world.

:[White Hat turns his head to look at Cueball as he keeps talking.]
:Cueball: They would have spent decades debating which structural problems enabled the rise of BiffCo, the decline of the city, and general social decay.
:Cueball: Everyone would find reasons it confirmed their pet theory.

:Cueball: I'm going to write a book set in that universe. I'll call it ''Hill Valley Elegy''.
:[White Hat turns his head back to his book in disgust.]
:White Hat: ... I ''hate'' you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Time travel]]

2090: Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram

2018-12-26T22:03:43Z

Ahiijny: Wikilinked Euler diagram

{{comic
| number = 2090
| date = December 26, 2018
| title = Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram
| image = feathered_dinosaur_venn_diagram.png
| titletext = My pet theory is that in real life, the kid at the beginning of Jurassic Park who made fun of the 'six-foot turkey' never got a talking-to from Dr. Grant, and grew up to produce several of the movie's sequels.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY WHO FOUGHT AN OSTRICH. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a jab at people who dismiss the idea of dinosaurs having feathers just because they don't sound deadly. Adding feathers to a reptile can trigger a cognitive dissonance; people today see feathers and think of harmless birds.

The diagram is in actuality a {{w|Euler diagram}}, rather than a Venn diagram. A Venn diagram shows all possible combinations of two sets, including those with no elements, and as such all of the circles must intersect. A Euler diagram only depicts the non-empty combinations, and therefore does not have this constraint. However, this is a technicality, and many people use the words interchangeably.

The Euler diagram is explaining that the ostrich (and a few other avian species) are in fact deadly. The point is that anyone who has tried to fight an ostrich would be scared of a dinosaur with feathers.

The title text says "My pet theory is that in real life, the kid at the beginning of Jurassic Park who made fun of the 'six-foot turkey' never got a talking-to from Dr. Grant, and grew up to produce several of the movie's sequels."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[The comic shows a rectangular panel containing two circles, side by side. A caption is underneath each circle.]

:Left circle caption: People Who Don't Think Feathered Dinosaurs Sound Scary

:Right circle caption: People Who Have Tried To Fight An Ostrich

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]

2061: Tectonics Game

2018-10-19T21:39:47Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ cn should go outside the period

{{comic
| number = 2061
| date = October 19, 2018
| title = Tectonics Game
| image = tectonics_game.png
| titletext = They're limiting the playtesters to type A3 V stars, so the games will all end before the Sun consumes the Earth.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Written by a Tectonics Developer. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. What do L_T etc mean?}}

This comic is to show similarity to many simulation games, which have various niche popularity. Similar to Maxis' {{w|Spore_(2008_video_game)|Spore}}, the game in question allows you to terraform entire worlds. However, in a typical Randall twist, unlike most simulation games, you could not speed up the progress of time to make world-changing endeavours occur in a matter of seconds. The game operates in real time, which means most of the user time-frame will be spent idly watching nearly non-moving continents, drifting at the real speed of continental drift, a couple of inches a year, which makes for very slow gameplay. Thus several millennia of play time is needed to reach a game {{w|Achievement (video gaming)|achievement}} of forming a kilometre high mountain.

Many {{w|computer games}} {{w|simulate}} to one degree or another real items and tasks, but often simplify them to fit into a game format -- to make them more exciting, to make them quicker, to advance a particular plot line or quest, etc. For example, a game about farming might allow you to grow corn, but whereas in real life corn takes about 90 days to germinate from seed and grow to maturity, in a game the growth might be instantaneous or measured by minutes, rather than by days/weeks/months.

In this game, especially, one would expect such shortcuts, given the extreme time frames required for {{w|geological}} events to be manifested. The joke is that this game is so realistic that it's played in "real-time", which means for every second or hour or æon something would take in real life, in the game it would take the same second or hour or æon to happen. Playing such a game where the events take longer than the person would be alive would likely be unsatisfying.{{Citation_needed}} A mildly less extreme example of a simulation game being played in real-time would be the {{w|Penn_%26_Teller%27s_Smoke_and_Mirrors#Desert_Bus|Desert Bus}} video game where you have to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona, to Las Vegas, Nevada, in real time at a maximum speed of 45 MPH. The trip requires eight hours of continuous play to complete, at which point you score one point with the option to continue playing for additional points at the rate of one point per successful eight hour trip. The action consists almost entirely of just keeping the bus from veering off the road. It cannot be paused or sped up, and failure requires a tow back to the starting point at the same 45 MPH speed.

The frames show some elements of gameplay. The first frame shows a destructive plate margin in which an oceanic plate (grey) is being subducted under a continental plate (brown with a person standing on it) while sediments between the plates are compressed to form mountains. Clockwise from top left, the second frame shows: a cross section through the planet, Various statistics about the planet (CO2 levels of 840 ppm, solar irradiation of 1184 W/m2 and heat-flow through the crust of 91 mW/m2). Solar irradiation and heat-flow are similar to the Earth, but CO2 levels are raised. Bottom right is several stats titled LT and bottom left is a view of the planet showing the proportion covered by ice (3%) land (31%) and water (66%). It seems that the raised CO2 levels have reduced the amount of ice compared to the Earth. The final panel shows some of the achievements that can be unlocked, the first is 1 km mountain. Below that seems to be achievements in the formation of an atoll.

Type A3V stars are white main sequence stars. They have a shorter lifespan than the sun, hundreds of millions of years, compared to the 10 billion years lifespan of the sun. By starting the game now with an A3V star, there would be time to complete the game before the sun becomes a red giant and destroys the Earth.

This comic's number and content regarding simulations in real time may also be a reference to {{w|Arthur_C._Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke}}'s {{w|2061:_Odyssey_Three|2061: Odyssey Three}}, the third book in the {{w|Space_Odyssey|Space Odyssey}} series, in which {{w|Monolith_(Space_Odyssey)|monoliths}} are left throughout the solar system, manipulating environments to encourage the evolution of intelligent life.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Cueball is standing behind Ponytail, who is sitting on the floor playing a video game on a TV which displays a diagram of tectonic plates.]
:Cueball: What game is that?
:Ponytail: ''Tectonics''!
:Ponytail: You steer chunks of crust around, rifting, subducting, and building and eroding mountains.

:[A view of the game screen is shown. It includes a large cross-section of the Earth with smaller charts around it.]
:Ponytail: You try to keep your climate stable and your biosphere rich. Avoid making large igneous provinces! They're the ''worst''.

:[Cueball holds his hand out.]
:Cueball: Cool!
:Cueball: Can I try?
:Ponytail: Sure!

:[Cueball plays the game.]
:Cueball: ...How do I unpause?
:Ponytail: It's not paused.
:Cueball: ...
:Ponytail: Continents can only move a few inches per year.

:[Cueball holds the controller in one hand, now uninterested in the game. The screen shows an achievement page with nothing completed.]
:Cueball: It's ''real-time''?
:Ponytail: Just 400 millennia to go until your first mountain achievement!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Video games]]

Talk:2061: Tectonics Game

2018-10-19T18:20:02Z

Ahiijny: Comment

My wife is trying to physically restrain me from immediately starting to write this game...int main ( int arggggg...ow...get off [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:52, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Wrote my first transcript. Hopefully it isn't terrible, haha. [[User:IYN|IYN]] ([[User talk:IYN|talk]]) 17:13, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Not bad, but please do not remove the incomplete tag too soon. Even my smaller changes don't convince me right now that it's complete. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:34, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Who wants to help me make this? [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 17:24, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

With a sufficiently large time warp, this actually sounds like it would be pretty fun. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:20, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2051: Bad Opinions

2018-09-26T20:26:06Z

Ahiijny: Comment: outrage addiction?

just did my first transcript, hope its good :) [[User:Nintendo Mc|Nintendo Mc]] ([[User talk:Nintendo Mc|talk]]) 15:14, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

Same whoops -Welp

How the heck do you "violently express your opinion" in a non-physical medium? Seems like the logic of someone who is looking for an excuse to retaliate with actual violence. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 15:41, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

''Cough'' Me and the Flat Earth Society. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 15:44, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

This is clearly a reference to [[386:_Duty_Calls]]. The chair is the same. Cueball's posture is the same. The desk is the same. The subject matter is roughly the same. The monitor and keyboard are now a laptop. Cueball's unhealthy obsession (which is still relatable to many) has become insanity.[[User:KDulcimer|KDulcimer]] ([[User talk:KDulcimer|talk]]) 17:23, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

I think this comic is primarily commenting on the phenomenon of outrage addiction (relevant: [https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/between-church-and-hard-place/201209/is-our-political-outrage-addictive Psychology Today: "Is Our Political Outrage Addictive?"], [https://world.wng.org/2018/07/online_outrage_addiction World Magazine: "Online outrage addiction"], [https://qz.com/1333018/how-americans-can-break-their-outrage-addiction/ Quartz: "How Americans can break their outrage addiction"]). [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 20:26, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2035: Dark Matter Candidates

2018-08-22T19:47:21Z

Ahiijny: Re: buzzkill astronomers

"thin patina of grime covering the whole universe" is a reference to the "International prototype kilogram" and the necessity to keep it dust-free to preserve its reference status. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.100|108.162.229.100]] 11:14, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
:I think it's just referring to how your room or furniture can get super dirty and completely covered in dust, but you don't really notice it getting dirty because it happens so gradually. But once you actually get around to cleaning your room and you remove all the dust you realize how insanely filthy your room was, now that you can compare it to clean. Since there hasn't been a massive universe cleaning within human history, we wouldn't really be able to tell if the universe was coated in dirt because we wouldn't remember what it looks like clean. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 12:53, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
::I concur, my thought upon reading the "thin patina of grime" was when I helped a friend power wash his back deck and we realized it was far more dirty than we thought; as the newly washed sections stood out in stark contrast to the grimy parts.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.246|162.158.186.246]] 19:29, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
One can only hope that the solution for dealing with space cows involves space cowboys. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.136|162.158.75.136]] 20:40, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
;109 kg - 1033 kg black holes
Not sure if it's a mistake by Randall or he has something other in mind. But most of his black holes are far too lightweight:
*109 kg is a million tons, the Great Pyramid of Giza wights six times of that
*6x1024 kg Earth
*2x1030 kg Sun
*1031 kg smallest known stellar black hole
*1040 kg the real big black holes with a diameter in the size of our solar system
Everything except the Buzzkill is below a single solar mass. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:24, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
: The theoretical lower limit for black hole mass is the planck mass (22 µg), although such micro black holes would evaporate very quickly under standard models. However, larger black holes were excluded fairly early by gravitational lensing searches ('buzzkill' cases), so smaller black holes had to be considered separately as dark matter candidates. --[[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 20:40, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
::You misunderstand my point: Those not discovered smaller black holes would need an explanation how they did form but more important here how they could be ruled out as Randall states. A nano black hole at 1010 kg disproved by gamma rays? What's Randall's point? He was more accurate in the past. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:18, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
:::Um, his point is that we know that black holes that size (regardless of how they came into existence) would "evaporate" in a burst of gamma rays through the process that causes Hawking radiation. Which the explanation above, you know, explains. Similarly, other light black holes (which would be formed by any number of theoretical processes other than collapsing stars, usually involving conditions early in the Big Bang) would be ruled out by the other reasons given, also explained in the explanation. {{unsigned ip|172.69.70.125}}

; Axon pun?
My first thought upon reading 'axion' was that it was a pun on axon. Neurons have typical membrane potentials in the mV range, which lines up nicely with the meV energy of axions. Coincidence? --[[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 20:44, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
:An axion is a suggested subatomic particle. I'm not a biologist but if one meV is enough energy to trigger an axon our biology wouldn't work that smoothly. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:18, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
:: It's mV (electrical potential), not meV (energy/mass). It's a stretch, but Randall's included more distant puns before in XKCD. Source for action potential strength: [http://understandingcontext.com/2014/01/ei-electric-potential-curve/] --[[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 23:15, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

While this comic is about Dark Matter, does the explanation really need to include a justification on why Dark Matter really exists as a "substance" instead of being some error in our understanding of gravity? It seems a little excessive and unnecessary to me. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:46, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
:I'm with you but this comic is about that "substance" like most astronomers are. This always reminds me to aether - also a famous "substance" in space more than hundred years ago which nobody could explain. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:32, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks for the laugh - my thoughts exactly! In fact, part of me wonders if Randall is actually making fun of the whole idea that there's a dark matter particle at all, since there's such a wide range of possible sizes for such a particle. His humor can be so subtle at times that someone may not realize when they're actually the butt of his joke. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 23:55, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
:::Actually, the observings that dark matter doesn't seem to be at same places as normal matter is countering the idea that it's because of error in out understanding of gravity. Like, not completely disproving it, but making it less likely. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:15, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
:Excessive? Maybe. But the first responses to you indicate that people who have presumably even read the explanation as to why dark matter really exists don't understand why we expect that dark matter really exists. (Sure, modified gravity theories were a reasonable alternative hypothesis fifteen years ago, but that was before we'd made multiple independent observations that the gravitational effects are decoupled from the presence of visible matter, and thus cannot simply be gravity working differently at galactic mass scales than General Relativity predicts.) {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.5}}
::I'm not interested in debating which viewpoint is correct. I'm not even picking a side, and yet others seem eager to argue their side with me. I'm only asking if that even needs to be included in the explanation, as it tends to distract from the points made in the comic. I think it might be more helpful to mention why it's called dark matter in the first place, which I don't see at all - maybe because of this distraction. Please remember that our primary purpose is to explain the comic, not to write a wikipedia article on the subject matter. Thanks for sharing though. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 05:31, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Furthermore, while space cowboys were mentioned earlier in the discussion, I suspect Randall included space cows in the chart specifically as a reference to the movie Space Cowboys. Also, I think the point about Neutron Star Data ruling out black holes in that mass range is because you can't have both of them with the same mass, since the current theory is that they both form from a star collapse, but at different masses. You're always going to get one or the other from that size star, and since we find neutron stars in that range, we can't have black holes there too. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:59, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
:The mass of neutron stars is well understood. A smaller star ends at a white dwarf and the big ones produce a black hole. Nonetheless our sun will end up into a white dwarf and the others require higher masses as in the buzzkill range at the graph. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:32, 20 August 2018 (UTC)
::My point exactly - we now know quite a bit about the mass needed and process required to form a neutron star, making it unlikely the same mass would be able to form a black hole. I think that's what Randall meant in that part of the chart, but that's not what the explanation states. (Unfortunately, I've reached the point where I no longer want to argue with other editors over correct explanations.) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 23:55, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

; The Mysterious Eight Ball
How many of you remember the 8 Ball as a funny toy that you would ask questions and then turn over to receive an answer. Could that be the joke referred to in the 8 ball as a possible source of mysterious dark matter? --[[User:ProfKrueger|ProfKrueger]] ([[User talk:ProfKrueger|talk]]) 00:41, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're being physics-nerd-sniped! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 00:09, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Sorry to be picky, but I'm having trouble with "a star which was nearly in line with the sun appeared closer to the sun than usual." Doesn't a distant star's apparent position move away from the sun compared to the direct path? The light ray we see has been bent toward us, so it appears further away than an unaffected ray would, no?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.105|162.158.74.105]] 03:31, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
:You're not picky - you are just right. It's fixed. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:06, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Can anyone explain how the paragraph associated with Buzzkill Astronomers has anything at all to do with a group of negative or skeptical astronomers? Am I misunderstanding the meaning of that phrase? If I'm just in the dark about some inside joke in astronomy, perhaps the explanation could enlighten me (and maybe others). As it reads right now, I don't see how anyone would find that explanation helpful. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:31, 22 August 2018 (UTC)
:My interpretation: "Black holes above a certain size would be impossible to miss [by astronomers]". In other words, the observations of astronomers rule out any dark matter candidates in that mass range. What a buzzkill, those astronomers, making those observations... [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 19:47, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

2035: Dark Matter Candidates

2018-08-20T14:18:02Z

Ahiijny: Added to orbit lines part

{{comic
| number = 2035
| date = August 20, 2018
| title = Dark Matter Candidates
| image = dark_matter_candidates.png
| titletext = My theory is that dark matter is actually just a thin patina of grime covering the whole universe, and we don't notice it because we haven't thoroughly cleaned the place in eons.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Every section needs to be filled and explained. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic gives a set of possibilities of what dark matter could possibly be, charted by mass from smallest (given in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronvolt#Mass Electronvolts]) to largest (given in kilograms). In cosmology, {{w|Dark_matter| dark matter}} is an unknown type of matter thought to account for 85% of the total matter in the universe. The joke in this comic is that the range of the mass of the possible particles and objects stretch over 81 powers of ten. Randall filled the gap between small candidate particles and large candidate objects with highly absurd suggestions.

'''{{w|Axion|Axion}}'''

A hypothetical elementary particle that might be a component of dark matter.

'''{{w|Sterile_neutrino|Sterile neutrino}}'''

A hypothetical particle interacting only via gravity. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.

'''{{w|Electron|Electrons}} painted with space {{w|camouflage|camouflage}}'''

'''{{w|Neutralino|Neutralino}}'''

A hypothetical particle from {{w|Supersymmetry|Supersymmetry}}. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.

'''{{w|Q-ball|Q-ball}}'''

In theoretical physics, a Q-ball is a stable group of particles. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.

In billiards, a cue ball is the white (or yellow) ball hit with the cue in normal play.

'''{{w|Pollen|Pollen}}'''

A joke candidate, though people with seasonal allergies may suspect that the universe genuinely is made up entirely of pollen in the springtime.

'''{{w|Ceratopogonidae|No-See-Ums}}'''

Also called Ceratopogonidae, a family of small flies (1–4 mm long) who can pass through most window screens.

'''{{w|Pool (cue sports)|8-balls}}'''

In billiards, the 8-ball is a black ball numbered 8. It's a pun with Q-ball/cue ball.

'''Space {{w|Cow|Cows}}'''

'''{{w|Obelisk|Obelisks}}, {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|Monoliths}}, {{w|Pyramid power|Pyramids}}'''

While those human constructions are huge on a human scale, they're negligible at universe-scale.
They often show up in fiction and pseudo-scientific literature as alien artifacts generating immense unknown power out of nowhere.

'''Black Holes ruled out by:'''
* Gamma Rays
** If dark matter were black holes of this size, the black holes would be evaporating in bursts of hawking radiation, and we'd see a buzz of gamma rays from every direction.
* GRB lensing
* Neutron Star Data
* Micro lensing
* Solar System Stability
* Buzzkill Astronomers

'''Maybe those orbit lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy'''

Any diagram of our solar system (or any solar system) will show lines representing the path the planet takes around its sun. Since planets orbit in ellipses, there will be an ellipse for every planet. This lines don't show real objects, though. Astronomers just draw them on pictures of the solar system to show where the planets move. If you draw a line on a map to give someone directions, that line isn't an object in real life; it's just on the map. If these lines were real, they would be ''huge'' (Earth's would be 940 million km long (2π AU) and Neptune's would be 28 ''billion'' kilometers long. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten (1977)] gives a good sense of just how large these orbit lines need to be in order to be visible in space diagrams. If these orbit lines were also very dense, they would have a huge mass and could possibly account for the missing 85% of the mass in the universe. But they would also constantly be impaling the inner four planets, including the Earth, which would be a problem. Overall, not a very likely candidate.

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

:Dark matter candidates:
:[A line graph is shown and labeled at left quarter in eV and further to the right in g together with some prefixes.]
:[The labels read:]
:µeV, meV, eV, keV, MeV, GeV, TeV, 10-18kg, ng, µg, mg, g, kg, TON, 106kg, 1012kg, 1018kg, 1024kg, 1030kg

:[All items are shown in bars ranging between two approximately values:]
:< 1 µeV - 10 meV
:Axion

:1 eV - 10 keV
:Sterile neutrino

:1 MeV (exactly)
:Electrons painted with space camouflage

:10 GeV - 10 TeV
:Neutralino

:100 TeV - 10-17 kg
:Q-ball

:1 ng - 100 ng
:Pollen

:0.1 mg - 1 mg
:No-See-Ums

:10-1 g (exactly)
:Bees

:10 g - 100 g
:8-balls

:100 kg - TON
:Space Cows

:TON - 109 kg
:Obelisks, Monoliths, Pyramids

:109 kg - 1033 kg
:Black Holes ruled out by:
:109 kg - 1013 kg
:Gamma Rays
:1013 kg - 1017 kg
:GRB lensing
:1015 kg - 1022 kg
:Neutron Star Data
:1021 kg - 1030 kg
:Micro lensing
:1024 kg - 1030 kg
:Solar System Stability
:1030 kg - 1033 kg
:Buzzkill Astronomers

:10^:1033 kg - >1036 kg
:Maybe those orbit lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]

2019: An Apple for a Dollar

2018-07-13T19:24:55Z

Ahiijny: Added link to related xkcd strip

{{comic
| number = 2019
| date = July 13, 2018
| title = An Apple for a Dollar
| image = an_apple_for_a_dollar.png
| titletext = I'd like 0.4608 apples, please.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an APPLE - needs an explanation of "platonic ideal exchange". Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Megan]] is about to buy an apple at a grocery store when she is surprised that the price is exactly one dollar. In most cases in the US, {{w|Sales taxes in the United States|sales tax}} must be taken into account, but most states exempt food sold in grocery stores, so the price comes out to a round value. This is so strange for Megan that it throws her for a loop.

Megan likely shares Randall's background of engineering and math. When learning science, engineering, and math in the education system, one studies examples where every number is some round value, and all situations are simplified to the barest essentials so as to demonstrate the ideas being taught. Then, when doing real problems in the real world, one spends the rest of one's life almost never being able to use the simplified tricks demonstrated as examples in school, because when math is used to describe the natural world, nothing is ever a round number unless by design.

The harsh difference between being able to buy an apple for a dollar at this quaint store, and having to deal with arbitrary decimals and numbers in the rest of life could be touching on Megan's life experience of the world not being what she was prepared for, resulting in her intense response. Regardless if that is true or not, it seems the cashier is unable to figure out how to handle it (or does not want to), and raises the price to an arbitrary non-rounded value, which has the intended effect of halting Megan's outburst.

Megan's references refer to common parameters used in solving science or math questions. A {{w|Frictionless plane}} is a scenario from the writings of Galileo to calculate the movement of an object down an {{w|inclined plane}}. However, his equations did not account for {{w|friction}}.

"A train leaving Chicago at 40 mph" refers to common math questions, involving trains and solving for the distance required to overtake said train, although this problem involves the rather unrealistic assumption that the train's velocity keeps constant. Like the frictionless plane, this is a common simplification that allows the problem to be solved with quite simple techniques, just like having round quantities (e.g. 1 dollar/apple) eases arithmetic problems. See also [[669: Experiment]].

The comic repeats a common theme in the strip of engineers and computer scientists trying to apply their technical experience to social situations. In this case, the conversation partner is "normal", and does not respond supportively, which is a common situation in the real world and a possible point of empathy with readers.

;Title text
Apparently Megan only has a dollar, so she would not be able to buy a whole apple at the new price (0.4608 × $2.17 ≈ $1). Stores usually sell whole apples, so asking for a fraction of one is not likely to work out.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is at the store counter, behind which Ponytail (the cashier) is waiting.]
:Megan: Just this apple, thanks.
:Ponytail: That will be one dollar.
:Megan: Exactly? No tax or anything?
:Ponytail: That's right.

:[Megan stares at the apple in a frameless panel.]

:[Scene zooms in on Megan.]
:Ponytail: ...Is that a problem?
:Megan: It's just weird to realize that every other transaction in my life will be more complicated than this.

:[Scene changes focus to Ponytail behind the counter.]
:Megan: This is like a platonic ideal exchange. An apple for a dollar.
:Ponytail: I see.

:[Scene changes back to Megan, once again lost in profound contemplation of the apple.]
:Megan: Are we on a frictionless plane? Is a train leaving Chicago at 40 mph? ''Should I solve for something??''
:Ponytail: Okay, apples are $2.17 now.
:Megan: That's... probably better for us both.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2014: JWST Delays

2018-07-03T13:40:45Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ Added a link to the recent NASA delay announcement

{{comic
| number = 2014
| date = July 2, 2018
| title = JWST Delays
| image = jwst_delays.png
| titletext = Since delays should get less likely closer to the launch, most astronomers in 2018 believed the expansion of the schedule was slowing, but by early 2020 new measurements indicated that it was actually accelerating.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DELAYED TELESCOPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) is a {{w|space telescope}} that was created to be the successor of the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}}.

The telescope has been in development since 1996, but has been plagued by numerous delays and cost overruns. This comic was likely inspired by the most recent [https://nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-completes-webb-telescope-review-commits-to-launch-in-early-2021 delay announcement], which was posted on June 27, 2018. As of July 3, 2018, the JWST is scheduled to launch on March 30, 2021.

This comic portrays the launch delays and the new predicted launch years and the times at which those predictions were made. There have been so many delays in this project that you can plot a line of best fit with a surprisingly high degree of accuracy. Randall says optimistically that the line’s slope is less than one (there is less than one year of ''new'' delay per year of elapsed time), implying, of course, that if events continue without further intervention, it will eventually be built, with a predicted date of late 2026.

The title text compares the famous research over the [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_expansion_of_the_universe universe’s accelerating expansion] to the apparently ever-delaying schedule and observes that the delay per time does not decrease, although the date gets nearer (which should help to schedule the launch date, as research and unknown parameters are replaced with engineering and exact predictions and measurements).

The Wikipedia article linked above includes a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope#Cost_and_schedule_issues table] which provides the data points for the chart:

{| class=wikitable
! width=35 | Year !! Planned launch !! Time left (years)
|-
| 1997 || 2007 || 10
|-
| 1998 || 2007 || 9
|-
| 1999 || 2007 to 2008 || 8-9
|-
| 2000 || 2009 || 9
|-
| 2002 || 2010 || 8
|-
| 2003 || 2011 || 8
|-
| 2005 || 2013 || 8
|-
| 2006 || 2014 || 8
|-
| 2008 || 2014 || 6
|-
| 2010 || 2015 to 2016 || 5-6
|-
| 2011 || 2018 || 7
|-
| 2013 || 2018 || 5
|-
| 2017 || 2019 || 2
|-
|2018 || 2020 || 2
|-
|2018 || 2021 || 3
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

2001: Clickbait-Corrected p-Value

2018-06-02T13:05:59Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ Clarified first part of sentence

{{comic
| number = 2001
| date = June 1, 2018
| title = Clickbait-Corrected p-Value
| image = clickbait_corrected_p_value.png
| titletext = When comparing hypotheses with Bayesian methods, the similar 'clickbayes factor' can account for some harder-to-quantify priors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Click here to learn more about the influence of Clickbait... But please first explain p-value. Most people don't know. And more wiki links.}}
This is yet another comic dealing with [[:Category:Clickbait|Clickbait]], and is satire mocking researchers/journalists/publishers for fudging research data based on what brings in the most advertising revenue. The topic of fudging research data in academia has also previously appeared in [[882: Significant]] and [[1478: P-Values]].

Clickbait is the practice of using deceptive or manipulative headlines to entice readers to click on a dubious news story, often with the purpose of generating ad revenue.

Hypothesis testing in statistics is a standard method to determine whether a particular hypothesis is supported by the data. For the topic given in this comic, a researcher might compare data on athletic performance with data on chocolate consumption by those athletes to determine whether the two trend together. By convention, the "null hypothesis" (designated H0) is that there's no correlation (that chocolate isn't correlated with athletic performance, in this case) and the "alternate hypothesis" (Ha) is that they are correlated. (If the study consists of ''feeding'' chocolate to one of two identical groups and not the other, rather than tracking what they'd be eating anyway, then the alternative hypothesis can be strengthened to be that chocolate *causes* improved performance.) These sets are subjected to statistical tests which return a "p-value", which indicates the probability of observing the obtained results (or any more extreme value), assuming that the null hypothesis is true. (The p-value is NOT the probability that the null hypothesis is correct.) Hence, if the p-value is low enough, the null hypothesis is rejected, and we conclude that the alternate hypothesis is supported by the data.

In this comic, the p-value is corrected by a factor that takes clickbait into account. This factor has the effect of increasing the p-value if H1 is more clickbaity than H0, and decreases the p-value if H0 is more clickbaity than H1. This suggests that whatever clickers of clickbait believe, the reverse is likely to be true.

Or, another interpretation could be that this factor corrects for a selection bias effect where the p-values for more clickbaity H1s tend to be lower than they should be and p-values for non-clickbaity H0s to be higher than they should be. For example, one explanation could be that for p-values that are on the cusp of significance, researchers may be more incentivized to fudge and adjust the data to get the p-value down if the H1 is highly sensational, since the H1 would make the research more likely to get published and attract attention. (See also [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken/ FiveThirtyEight's article on p-hacking] and [https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/200745/how-much-do-we-know-about-p-hacking-in-the-wild/200752#200752 this Stack Exchange question about p-hacking in the wild].)

As the statistical results now depend on people's beliefs about the hypothesis, this is as far from actual science as one can get. However, in a way, it is more in tune with a quote by Arbuthnot (one of the originators of the use of p-values) attributing variation to active thought rather than chance, "From whence it follows, that it is Art, not Chance, that governs." Randall applying that quote to the thoughts of the masses, bringing it in line with "Art".

[[1475: Technically|Technically]], the comic's depiction of null and alternative hypotheses is not entirely correct. As the alternative hypothesis (H1) predicts that chocolate will ''improve performance'' (i.e., a one-tailed, directional hypothesis), the null hypothesis (H0) should predict that chocolate will do nothing ''or'' make performance worse. In other words, the alternative hypothesis should be true if and only if the null hypothesis is false. For example, alternatively, if the H1 were to say that ''chocolate will change performance'' (for better or worse; i.e., a two-tailed hypothesis) then H0 should say that ''chocolate will do nothing''.

==Transcript==
:[Under a heading that says Clickbait-Corrected p-Value there is a mathematic formula. Below that is the description of the two used variables and what they mean:]
:Clickbait-corrected p-value:

:PCL = Ptraditional ∙ click(H1)/click(H0)

:H0: NULL hypothesis ("Chocolate has no effect on athletic performance")
:H1: Alternative hypothesis ("Chocolate boosts athletic performance")
:click(H): Fraction of test subjects who click on a headline announcing that H is true

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Clickbait]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2001: Clickbait-Corrected p-Value

2018-06-02T13:03:21Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ Tweaked the wording for the H1 and H0 clarifying explanation at the end

{{comic
| number = 2001
| date = June 1, 2018
| title = Clickbait-Corrected p-Value
| image = clickbait_corrected_p_value.png
| titletext = When comparing hypotheses with Bayesian methods, the similar 'clickbayes factor' can account for some harder-to-quantify priors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Click here to learn more about the influence of Clickbait... But please first explain p-value. Most people don't know. And more wiki links.}}
This is yet another comic dealing with [[:Category:Clickbait|Clickbait]], and is satire mocking researchers/journalists/publishers for fudging research data based on what brings in the most advertising revenue. Similar topics have previously appeared in [[882: Significant]] and [[1478: P-Values]].

Clickbait is the practice of using deceptive or manipulative headlines to entice readers to click on a dubious news story, often with the purpose of generating ad revenue.

Hypothesis testing in statistics is a standard method to determine whether a particular hypothesis is supported by the data. For the topic given in this comic, a researcher might compare data on athletic performance with data on chocolate consumption by those athletes to determine whether the two trend together. By convention, the "null hypothesis" (designated H0) is that there's no correlation (that chocolate isn't correlated with athletic performance, in this case) and the "alternate hypothesis" (Ha) is that they are correlated. (If the study consists of ''feeding'' chocolate to one of two identical groups and not the other, rather than tracking what they'd be eating anyway, then the alternative hypothesis can be strengthened to be that chocolate *causes* improved performance.) These sets are subjected to statistical tests which return a "p-value", which indicates the probability of observing the obtained results (or any more extreme value), assuming that the null hypothesis is true. (The p-value is NOT the probability that the null hypothesis is correct.) Hence, if the p-value is low enough, the null hypothesis is rejected, and we conclude that the alternate hypothesis is supported by the data.

In this comic, the p-value is corrected by a factor that takes clickbait into account. This factor has the effect of increasing the p-value if H1 is more clickbaity than H0, and decreases the p-value if H0 is more clickbaity than H1. This suggests that whatever clickers of clickbait believe, the reverse is likely to be true.

Or, another interpretation could be that this factor corrects for a selection bias effect where the p-values for more clickbaity H1s tend to be lower than they should be and p-values for non-clickbaity H0s to be higher than they should be. For example, one explanation could be that for p-values that are on the cusp of significance, researchers may be more incentivized to fudge and adjust the data to get the p-value down if the H1 is highly sensational, since the H1 would make the research more likely to get published and attract attention. (See also [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken/ FiveThirtyEight's article on p-hacking] and [https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/200745/how-much-do-we-know-about-p-hacking-in-the-wild/200752#200752 this Stack Exchange question about p-hacking in the wild].)

As the statistical results now depend on people's beliefs about the hypothesis, this is as far from actual science as one can get. However, in a way, it is more in tune with a quote by Arbuthnot (one of the originators of the use of p-values) attributing variation to active thought rather than chance, "From whence it follows, that it is Art, not Chance, that governs." Randall applying that quote to the thoughts of the masses, bringing it in line with "Art".

[[1475: Technically|Technically]], the comic's depiction of null and alternative hypotheses is not entirely correct. As the alternative hypothesis (H1) predicts that chocolate will ''improve performance'' (i.e., a one-tailed, directional hypothesis), the null hypothesis (H0) should predict that chocolate will do nothing ''or'' make performance worse. In other words, the alternative hypothesis should be true if and only if the null hypothesis is false. For example, alternatively, if the H1 were to say that ''chocolate will change performance'' (for better or worse; i.e., a two-tailed hypothesis) then H0 should say that ''chocolate will do nothing''.

==Transcript==
:[Under a heading that says Clickbait-Corrected p-Value there is a mathematic formula. Below that is the description of the two used variables and what they mean:]
:Clickbait-corrected p-value:

:PCL = Ptraditional ∙ click(H1)/click(H0)

:H0: NULL hypothesis ("Chocolate has no effect on athletic performance")
:H1: Alternative hypothesis ("Chocolate boosts athletic performance")
:click(H): Fraction of test subjects who click on a headline announcing that H is true

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Clickbait]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2001: Clickbait-Corrected p-Value

2018-06-02T12:55:08Z

Ahiijny: Added another possible interpretation of p-value correction

{{comic
| number = 2001
| date = June 1, 2018
| title = Clickbait-Corrected p-Value
| image = clickbait_corrected_p_value.png
| titletext = When comparing hypotheses with Bayesian methods, the similar 'clickbayes factor' can account for some harder-to-quantify priors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Click here to learn more about the influence of Clickbait... But please first explain p-value. Most people don't know. And more wiki links.}}
This is yet another comic dealing with [[:Category:Clickbait|Clickbait]], and is satire mocking researchers/journalists/publishers for fudging research data based on what brings in the most advertising revenue. Similar topics have previously appeared in [[882: Significant]] and [[1478: P-Values]].

Clickbait is the practice of using deceptive or manipulative headlines to entice readers to click on a dubious news story, often with the purpose of generating ad revenue.

Hypothesis testing in statistics is a standard method to determine whether a particular hypothesis is supported by the data. For the topic given in this comic, a researcher might compare data on athletic performance with data on chocolate consumption by those athletes to determine whether the two trend together. By convention, the "null hypothesis" (designated H0) is that there's no correlation (that chocolate isn't correlated with athletic performance, in this case) and the "alternate hypothesis" (Ha) is that they are correlated. (If the study consists of ''feeding'' chocolate to one of two identical groups and not the other, rather than tracking what they'd be eating anyway, then the alternative hypothesis can be strengthened to be that chocolate *causes* improved performance.) These sets are subjected to statistical tests which return a "p-value", which indicates the probability of observing the obtained results (or any more extreme value), assuming that the null hypothesis is true. (The p-value is NOT the probability that the null hypothesis is correct.) Hence, if the p-value is low enough, the null hypothesis is rejected, and we conclude that the alternate hypothesis is supported by the data.

In this comic, the p-value is corrected by a factor that takes clickbait into account. This factor has the effect of increasing the p-value if H1 is more clickbaity than H0, and decreases the p-value if H0 is more clickbaity than H1. This suggests that whatever clickers of clickbait believe, the reverse is likely to be true.

Or, another interpretation could be that this factor corrects for a selection bias effect where the p-values for more clickbaity H1s tend to be lower than they should be and p-values for non-clickbaity H0s to be higher than they should be. For example, one explanation could be that for p-values that are on the cusp of significance, researchers may be more incentivized to fudge and adjust the data to get the p-value down if the H1 is highly sensational, since the H1 would make the research more likely to get published and attract attention. (See also [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken/ FiveThirtyEight's article on p-hacking] and [https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/200745/how-much-do-we-know-about-p-hacking-in-the-wild/200752#200752 this Stack Exchange question about p-hacking in the wild].)

As the statistical results now depend on people's beliefs about the hypothesis, this is as far from actual science as one can get. However, in a way, it is more in tune with a quote by Arbuthnot (one of the originators of the use of p-values) attributing variation to active thought rather than chance, "From whence it follows, that it is Art, not Chance, that governs." Randall applying that quote to the thoughts of the masses, bringing it in line with "Art".

The comic does not present a correct example of null and alternative hypotheses. As the alternative hypothesis (H1) predicts that chocolate will '''improve performance''' (i.e., a one-tailed, directional hypothesis) the null hypothesis (H0) should predict that chocolate will '''do nothing''' or '''make performance worse'''. If, on the other hand, the alternative hypothesis (H1) was that chocolate would '''change performance''' (for better or worse; i.e., a two-tailed hypothesis) then the null hypothes (H0) would be that chocolate would simply '''do nothing'''. In other words, the alternative hypothesis should be true if and only if the null hypothesis is false.

==Transcript==
:[Under a heading that says Clickbait-Corrected p-Value there is a mathematic formula. Below that is the description of the two used variables and what they mean:]
:Clickbait-corrected p-value:

:PCL = Ptraditional ∙ click(H1)/click(H0)

:H0: NULL hypothesis ("Chocolate has no effect on athletic performance")
:H1: Alternative hypothesis ("Chocolate boosts athletic performance")
:click(H): Fraction of test subjects who click on a headline announcing that H is true

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Clickbait]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2001: Clickbait-Corrected p-Value

2018-06-02T12:36:28Z

Ahiijny: /* Explanation */ Refactored a bit

{{comic
| number = 2001
| date = June 1, 2018
| title = Clickbait-Corrected p-Value
| image = clickbait_corrected_p_value.png
| titletext = When comparing hypotheses with Bayesian methods, the similar 'clickbayes factor' can account for some harder-to-quantify priors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Click here to learn more about the influence of Clickbait... But please first explain p-value. Most people don't know. And more wiki links.}}
This is yet another comic dealing with [[:Category:Clickbait|Clickbait]], and is satire mocking researchers/journalists/publishers for fudging research data based on what brings in the most advertising revenue. Similar topics have previously appeared in [[882: Significant]] and [[1478: P-Values]].

Clickbait is the practice of using deceptive or manipulative headlines to entice readers to click on a dubious news story, often with the purpose of generating ad revenue.

Hypothesis testing in statistics is a standard method to determine whether a particular hypothesis is supported by the data. For the topic given in this comic, a researcher might compare data on athletic performance with data on chocolate consumption by those athletes to determine whether the two trend together. By convention, the "null hypothesis" (designated H0) is that there's no correlation (that chocolate isn't correlated with athletic performance, in this case) and the "alternate hypothesis" (Ha) is that they are correlated. (If the study consists of ''feeding'' chocolate to one of two identical groups and not the other, rather than tracking what they'd be eating anyway, then the alternative hypothesis can be strengthened to be that chocolate *causes* improved performance.) These sets are subjected to statistical tests which return a "p-value", which indicates the probability of observing the obtained results (or any more extreme value), assuming that the null hypothesis is true. (The p-value is NOT the probability that the null hypothesis is correct.) Hence, if the p-value is low enough, the null hypothesis is rejected, and we conclude that the alternate hypothesis is supported by the data.

In this comic, the p-value is corrected by a factor that takes into account clickbait. This factor has the effect of increasing the p-value if H1 is more clickbaity than H0, and decreases the p-value if H0 is more clickbaity than H1. This suggests that whatever clickers of clickbait believe, the reverse is likely to be true.

As the statistical results now depend on people's beliefs about the hypothesis, this is as far from actual science as one can get. However, in a way, it is more in tune with a quote by Arbuthnot (one of the originators of the use of p-values) attributing variation to active thought rather than chance, "From whence it follows, that it is Art, not Chance, that governs." Randall applying that quote to the thoughts of the masses, bringing it in line with "Art".

The comic does not present a correct example of null and alternative hypotheses. As the alternative hypothesis (H1) predicts that chocolate will '''improve performance''' (i.e., a one-tailed, directional hypothesis) the null hypothesis (H0) should predict that chocolate will '''do nothing''' or '''make performance worse'''. If, on the other hand, the alternative hypothesis (H1) was that chocolate would '''change performance''' (for better or worse; i.e., a two-tailed hypothesis) then the null hypothes (H0) would be that chocolate would simply '''do nothing'''. In other words, the alternative hypothesis should be true if and only if the null hypothesis is false.

==Transcript==
:[Under a heading that says Clickbait-Corrected p-Value there is a mathematic formula. Below that is the description of the two used variables and what they mean:]
:Clickbait-corrected p-value:

:PCL = Ptraditional ∙ click(H1)/click(H0)

:H0: NULL hypothesis ("Chocolate has no effect on athletic performance")
:H1: Alternative hypothesis ("Chocolate boosts athletic performance")
:click(H): Fraction of test subjects who click on a headline announcing that H is true

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Clickbait]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

500: Election

2015-10-02T08:52:28Z

Ahiijny: Unmatched quotation mark.

{{comic
| number = 500
| date = November 5, 2008
| title = Election
| image = election.png
| titletext = Someday I'll be rich enough to hire Nate Silver to help make all my life decisions. 'Should I sleep with her?' 'Well, I'm showing a 35% chance it will end badly.'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic was published the day after the {{w|United States presidential election, 2008|2008 presidential election}} in the US. [[Cueball]] has been closely following the quantitative aspect of the election for over a year and a half, and he seems to be relieved that it's over. Now that the election has passed, he does not have to follow the many different opinion polls, number-crunching analyses, and news clips about people like {{w|Joe the Plumber}} that he has kept close track of during the election season. As soon as he says this, however, he starts to search for information on the {{w|United States presidential election, 2012|2012 election}}, suggesting that his political obsession has not at all passed.

A list of the elements Cueball had been thinking about:
* {{w|Opinion poll|Opinion polls}}: These are simply surveys of voters' opinions on various issues and who they plan to vote for. They tend to be the primary source for predicting the outcome of elections as they can be created well in advance.
* {{w|Exit poll|Exit polls}}: These are surveys conducted with people who have just voted. They are useful as they provide data at the very last minute, so that no other unforeseen circumstances can affect people's decisions (and undecided is no longer an option). However they are not available until the last minute, and can be more biased than opinion polls.
* {{w|Margin of error|Margins of error}}: As censuses are expensive and ultimately pointless given that the election is effectively a big census, with did not vote as an option, {{w|pundits}} (or "talking-heads") use surveys, which involves just interviewing a hopefully representative random sample of voters. This however means that the surveys results are not likely to be quite the same as an equivalent census, a margin of error reflects how much variation could likely be expected due to the fact that a sample was used they do not cover issues such a sample being unrepresentative.
* {{w|Attack ad|Attack ads}}: Attack ads are a form of political campaigning where rather than emphasizing their own qualifications and attributes a candidate or a group affiliated with the candidate tries to convince voters that their opponents are unsuitable for the office.
* {{w|Game Change|Game-changers}}: Game-changers are events that pundits claim will lead to significant changes in polls. During an election season, at least one election event a month for each candidate is promoted as a "game-changer" by the media. In actuality, it usually has no affect on the outcome as most voters are already decided in US presidential elections.
* {{w|Opinion_poll#Tracking_polls|Tracking polls}}: A tracking poll is a poll repeated at intervals and averaged. For example, a monthly tracking poll uses the data from the past month and discards older data.
* {{w|Swing State|Swing states}}: In the United States several states have significant support for one party, and hence due to the fact that the electoral college gives all of a states vote to a single candidate, small changes in votes do not change the party which has the majority of the vote, and hence does not change who receives that state's electoral college votes. Other states, which have near equal support for the candidate are referred to as swing states, and are particularly interesting for pundits, as relatively small changes in votes can have significant effects on the end result.
* {{w|Swing Vote|Swing votes}}: Swing votes are similar to swing states, expect that they refer to groups of people. If there is a significant social group a large segment of which could possibly vote for either side, they are of particular interest for pundits.
* {{w|Bradley effect}}: The Bradley effect is a theory that in elections containing a minority candidate, polls will often tend to overstate their level of support. It is theorized that this is due to people not wanting to appear racist whilst being surveyed, so some people who support a non-minority candidate may either claim to be undecided or planning to vote for the minority candidate. However as voting is private, at that point they may reveal their true preference. The effect is named after Los Angeles Mayor {{w|Tom Bradley (American politician)|Tom Bradley}}, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite having appeared to have a significant lead in the opinion polls. This effect was particularly interesting for pundits in the 2008 US Presidential Election because of the running of {{w|Barack Obama}}, the first African American presidential candidate. As there was no precedent for this at this level, some pundits were concerned about how much of his lead in the polls might be due to this effect.
* <name> the <occupation>: A significant event in the 2008 US Presidential Election was a question proposed to the then Democratic nominee Barack Obama by {{w|Joe the Plumber}}. This promoted a variety of hitbacks and counter-hits. Cueball is referring to the tendency of the media at the time to refer to many critics of the two candidates using the {{w|snowclone}} "<name> the <occupation>", where <name> is replaced by the person's first name and <occupation> by their occupation.

The title text is about statistician {{w|Nate Silver}}, who became something of a geek celebrity for his analysis during the campaign. He correctly predicted the outcomes of 49 of the 50 states in the 2008 election on his blog. It jokes that having him predict the outcomes of life decisions would make choosing the best thing to do very easy. So if Cueball ask Nate - "Should I sleep with her?" Then Nate could give him a forecast like this: "Well, I'm showing a 35% chance it will end badly."

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at his computer desk, staring at his computer.]

:Cueball: It's over.
:Cueball: After twenty months it's finally over.
:Cueball: I don't have to be an election junkie anymore.

:[Closeup of Cueball's face and screen.]

:Cueball: I don't have to care about opinion polls, exit polls, margins of error, attack ads, game-changers, tracking polls, swing states, swing votes, the Bradley effect, or <name> the <occupation>.
:Cueball: I'm free.

:[Cueball staring at his computer screen, full shot.]
:[Cueball types on his computer.]
:''Tap Tap''

:[On screen:]
:Google '2012 polling statistics'

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Politics]]