explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-12-17T02:31:50Z

Btx40: /* Explanation */ Link diorite

{{comic
| number = 3171
| date = November 21, 2025
| title = Geologic Core Sample
| image = geologic_core_sample_2x.png
| imagesize = 493x790px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you drill at the right angle and time things perfectly, your core sample can include a section of a rival team's coring equipment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A GEOLOGIC RIBBIT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This image presents a core sample taken by a slightly overenthusiastic team of geologists.

A {{w|core sample}} is a cylindrical piece of something, in this case the rock of Earth's crust, obtained with special drills, taken in order to study the layers within. In typical xkcd fashion, the core sample depicted here contains a mix of real rocks found in core samples, and many humorous or fictional additions. It's shown that, on the way down, the coring drills have hit many, many obstacles they really shouldn't have, culminating in the punchline that the geologists have drilled straight through the Earth to the opposite hemisphere and out the other side — far deeper than any core sample could be taken in reality. In the real world the deepest borehole is the [[1330: Kola Borehole]] which attained maximum true vertical depth of 12,262 metres (40,230 ft; 7.619 mi) in 1989.

;Topsoil :{{w|Topsoil}} is the uppermost layer of the typical {{w|pedosphere}}, which often needs to be dug through before reaching actual rock. Whether the soil section of the core would actually be retained and counted is up to the nature of the study being made, but it will become clear that this core sample wasn't obtained with much thought of finesse.
;Till :{{w|Till}} is unsorted glacial sediment, which might underlie the soil layer and form the transition to the foundation rock below.
;Granite bedrock :{{w|Bedrock}} is solid rock, and there may normally be nothing but more bedrock beneath it until the Earth's {{w|Mantle_(geology)|mantle}}. {{w|Granite}} is a very common igneous rock that could normally form such bedrock.
:There are suggestions, from what is seen beneath it, that this particular layer of 'bedrock' (though being a natural material, at source) has been placed here as a construction base, infilled over with the above layers in this particular spot.
:Bedrock could also be a reference to the unmineable blocks that make up the bottom of the world in Minecraft.
;Bottomsoil :A fictional counterpart of topsoil. Topsoil is so named because it is generally found on top of other layers, and not to distinguish it from a separate 'bottomsoil' layer. Here, however, there are apparently two layers of soil somehow sandwiching the bedrock layer. Theoretically, the intervening granite could have been laid (as a slab) upon the lowest layers of an excavated area, later to be sampled by this corer ''as if'' a natural layer.
;Roof/Floor of subway car :These two layers are indications that the drill has broken into a subway tunnel (possibly from amongst those shown in [[1196: Subways]]), dug deep into the rock, or perhaps {{w|Tunnel#Cut-and-cover|cut'n'covered}} into the ground (hence, perhaps, the anomalous granite being added above — though the further tunnel lining/ceiling is not given a label, that would hold up the initial infill of soil). The section of tunnel it penetrated happened to contain a subway train, which has also been 'sampled'. The drill has essentially compressed the 'void' that is the interior of the car and the rest of the tunnel. This may seem to be good luck (given a later layer), but this still doesn't bode well for the subway train that may have been trying to move when the drill started to pierce it.
;More granite :Granite ''is'' a very common igneous rock.
;Municipal water main:A pipe has been partly sliced through (enough to one side to not force the collapse of its void). Most water pipes of this size would not normally be forced through rock, only the loose material above it, relying upon pressure to carry water upwards, where necessary.
:However, {{w|combined sewer|drainage systems}} (that rely upon gravity for most of the route) may need at times to be dug deeper to maximize the natural flow. Some {{w|Thames Tideway Tunnel|particularly large projects}} may be excavated deeply through rock, even below some subway lines, though they'll be tunnels/pipes with a far larger bore than seen here, for both construction and capacity reasons.
;Slightly different granite:There are {{w|QAPF diagram|''many'' subtypes}} of granite, as well as being a lot of it.
;Piece of screaming spelunker's arm:Cave systems exist underground in many places, though more usually within rock-types more likely to dissolve than granite layers. The main exception might be from {{w|Lava tube|volcanic tunnels}} left in {{w|basalt}}, but that's technically ''still'' not granite, meaning that any cave system here would need explaining.
:{{w|Spelunkers}} (also known as cavers) explore caves, and one must have been in the wrong place when the corer passed through, suffering a clear injury (possibly greater than any that the unknown (but not ''directly'' impacted) subway users might have already suffered). If the spelunker was not already screaming ''before'' the drill came through (perhaps for help, if they were stuck — the size of the cave is unknown, with the open space closed up, as with the subway), losing a chunk of arm will have definitely prompted screams.
;Cool crystals with no resale value:There are many geological processes that can concentrate elements and compounds in a way that form crystalline minerals. Some are useful as ores, others are valued just as the crystals themselves (for aesthetic reasons or otherwise).
:Whatever these crystals are, as a small seam within the granitic layer just below the spelunker's location, they look nice (or are otherwise interesting), but either have little further application or are just so common that there's no point trying to make use of this deposit (even if they could perhaps be more 'easily' reached by any spelunker not put off by the threat of drillbits).
;Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:When coring rock, it's possible for the tip of the coring drill to encounter problems (like particularly dense and hard rock) that damage it, perhaps by bending its track too much and shearing off the head.
:This latest attempt, probably sent down slightly to the side of the prior one (unless it had managed to gouge out ''just'' the remains of the previous drillpipe, and retain the rock/subway/spelunker layers previously cored out) has encountered the tip of the prior attempt.
:If there's one thing guaranteed to be as tough as a drillbit, it's ''another'' drillbit, which must necessarily be hard enough to cut through the expected rock types. Luckily, the first one was clearly damaged enough, by its prior encounter, that it didn't thwart this next attempt and (perhaps literally) grind it to a halt. Nor, apparently, was there a repeat of whatever issue left that first drill like this.
:Being in the middle of the core, it could be that these bits are meant to be from another attempt to drill the diameter of the Earth from a complete different location. Assuming absurd precision, all such drill holes would meet at the center of the Earth.
;Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:{{w|Diorite}} is a real type of igneous rock — an intermediate between actual granite and {{w|gabbro}} — but an [http://animorphs.fandom.com/wiki/Andalite Andalite] is an alien from the Animorphs book series, which [[Randall]] enjoys and has [[:Category:Animorphs|referenced before]]. Perhaps Randall is "misremembering" the name of {{w|andesite}}, another type of igneous rock, from his [[1223: Dwarf Fortress|knowledge of]] the complex set of reality-inspired rock types encountered in the game {{w|Dwarf Fortress}}. As the sample appears right before the Netherrack sample, it may also be referencing {{w|Minecraft}}, as granite, diorite, and andesite exist in that game as mineable stone types.
;Netherrack:A dark red, and entirely fictional.{{Citation needed}} stone appearing in Minecraft, with which Randall is [[861: Wisdom Teeth|also well acquainted]]. In Minecraft, Netherrack typically only appears naturally in The Nether, an alternate dimension resembling hell. In the overworld, where the core sample is presumably being taken, Netherrack only naturally forms in ruins of Nether Portals found on the surface, so for it to appear this deep in the sample, it would need to have been placed there by another person, likely while mining. (Some fan theories suggest that the nether is under the overworld, which isn't literally true in-game, but some mods exist that make this true.)
;Balrog wing:The balrog is a creature in {{w|Lord of the Rings}}, found deep beneath the world, awakened when the dwarves delved too deep and too greedily, as it could be suggested that the geologists are doing here. It was previously encountered in the title text of [[3141: Mantle Model]]. The {{w|Balrog#Characteristics|balrog's wings}} are often discussed, in the context of whether it had them, and therefore whether they could or should have helped it escape the fall that was forced upon it in the books. At least one balrog, however, now appears to have at least one less wing than those it previously had. We do not know if there was any screaming involved.
;Granite:This label is applied to rock that appears to cover both ends of a 'height' of rock-core that is simplified by a diagrammatic cut. From the context of later layers, this would include a very long length of drilled material that passes into the {{w|Earth's mantle}}, and [[3145: Piercing|perhaps]] at least some of its core, before coming back up through the granite to be found somewhere on the other side of the planet.

; Topsoil:Beyond the indeterminate length of granite, the sample transitions back into the loose upper layers, indicating that the exploratory core is now being taken from ascending layers (albeit in a location lacking subways, etc, or just managing to miss everything seen in the preceding section).
;Cement:On emerging from the other side of the Earth, the geologists have drilled through the foundations of a building.
;Floorboards / Carpet:These two layers are typical of a reasonably well-equipped residential building — probably the ground floor, without any basement level. The core is coming up inside a furnished room.
;Possessions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere
:The core sample has tunneled up into somebody's house, probably while they are there, and has traveled through some of the furniture, fixtures and/or fittings, to their clear annoyance.

Apart from the less expected elements to the core that was cut and retrieved (and the sheer impossibility of drilling the necessary several thousand miles 'down' through the Earth, and then drawing that sample back out again), the comic heavily plays upon the fact that someone with the ability and equipment to take this sample is, nevertheless, not as sure about geology as they perhaps ought to be, with almost all rock just being considered 'granite', without any better (or more accurate) qualification.

The title text suggests that core sampling is a competitive pursuit, in which, with the correct drilling angle, dark arts can be employed to interfere with the coring experiment of a "rival team". This is, outside of cold war-type pettiness, not considered a constructive approach to science.{{Citation needed}}

Only about 15% of the Earth's land surface is directly antipodal to other land, which would make this sample less than "typical" if it was aimed directly down through the exact centre of the Earth and back up again (a distance of almost 8,000 miles, or more than 12,000 km). If one were to do this from a random spot of land, one would be much more likely to have the sample terminate in an ocean; the chances of ending up in a house would be even lower. However, considering that the title text mentions drilling at an angle, the 'other hemisphere' point might be not necessarily be at the antipodal point, and there also seems to be the capacity to aim at a more desirable target, in which case this is a "typical" core under ''deliberately'' chosen circumstances. The exact nature of reaching "the other hemisphere" is not expanded upon — it could be as simple as drilling (mostly sideways) a short distance across the {{w|equator}}, or {{w|prime meridian}}, or having to go at least a quarter of the way of a great circle under the planet's surface (slightly over 1.4 times the Earth's radius, by the most direct route), in any direction, such that the two ends cannot be counted as being in any single arbitrary hemisphere.

This comic comes not long after [[3162: Heart Mountain]], which involved strange stratification, so may be part of the same thought process about the nature, and occasional oddities, of the geologic column.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Caption at the top of the panel:] Typical geologic core sample
:[Below this is a drawing of a cylindrical core sample with various labels, in order from the top of the panel toward the bottom.]
:[A short, dark section of core:] Topsoil
:[A more obviously granular shorter section with a diagonal transition:] Till
:[A light and lightly-marked phase:] Granite bedrock
:[Repeating the Topsoil appearance:] Bottomsoil
:[A short/squat and possibly squeezed 'lump':] Roof of subway car
:[A similar squeezed-out lump:] Floor of subway car
:[A longer length of the 'granite' texture, within which...:] More granite
:[Not quite half of a pipe-width, cut out as a gap perpendicular and not quite all the way across the core:] Municipal water main
:[Slightly more grainy version of the 'granite':] Slightly different granite
:[In a junction between 'granites', an squat, unidentifiable lump:] Piece of screaming spelunker's arm
:[Within a longer granite layer, a short stretch of spiky/crystalline features:] Cool crystals with no resale value
:[Within the same granite layer, an intrusion of mechanical-looking junk:] Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:[As per granite, but slightly more grainy:] Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:[Dark, cobbly textured stone:] Netherrack
:[Within a stretch of granite, a short, dark but otherwise unidentifiable lump:] Balrog wing
:[At this point, there is a discontinuity indicating that an arbitrary length has been omitted. The sample then resumes:]
:[Still 'granite':] Granite
:[Dark soil texture:] Topsoil
:[Light, fine and sparse 'grains':] Cement
:[Two very short cross-sections, each with contrasting wood-grain stripes:] Floorboards
:[Two very short sections with a textile-base plus piles appearance:] Carpet
:[A mish-mash of 'stuff', possibly including cloth, metal components, grainy wood and 'topped' at the lowest end by something equally puzzling at an angle:] Possesions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]
[[Category:Minecraft]]

3167: Car Size

2025-11-12T22:11:10Z

Btx40: /* Explanation */ Corrections & Mad Max mention

{{comic
| number = 3167
| date = November 12, 2025
| title = Car Size
| image = car_size_2x.png
| imagesize = 348x754px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'They really shouldn't let those small cars drive in traffic. I worry I'm going to kill someone if I hit one! They should have to drive on the sidewalk, safely out of the way.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A CAR WITH AN ICBM. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic demonstrates one reason why vehicles have gotten progressively larger and more powerful, due to a type of {{w|arms race}}. When vehicles of different sizes share the road, passengers in the smaller ones will usually be more at risk in collisions. They have less momentum, and the body construction material provides less protection. So, for safety reasons, people have incentive to buy larger cars.

In the "Soon" panel, Randall has extrapolated this to adding spiked armor and weaponry to large cars, and other drivers will need to do the same to compete on the road. This scenario is reminiscent of the vehicles from the {{w|Mad Max}} franchise.

The title text views this from the opposite perspective. The owner of a large car is worried that they'll kill people in small cars, so they shouldn't drive on the road at all. But the suggestion that they should drive on sidewalks is even worse, as it would put many pedestrians in danger. This is obviously absurd, but many people suggest that bikes should do the same for their own safety. Forcing bicycles to be ridden on the sidewalk is the cheapest way to keep cyclists safe if we are not allowed to inconvenience drivers.

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

[The comic is made up of four panels, each featuring Cueball talking to Megan or vice versa, both of them surrounded by progressively larger vehicles.]

[Panel one is labeled "100 years ago." Cueball and Megan are standing with a bicycle to the left of them and an old-fashioned car to their right.]

Cueball: It's too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too.

[Panel two is labeled "50 years ago." Cueball and Megan are standing between a small hatchback (right) and a slightly larger sedan (left).]

Megan: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one.

[Panel three is labeled "Today." Cueball and Megan are standing between a large SUV (left) and an even larger SUV (right).]

Cueball: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don't get the biggest one, I'm putting my family at risk.

[Panel four is labeled "Soon." Cueball and Megan are standing to the left of a massive SUV with metal plates bolted to its side, spiked panels attached to the front and back, and two giant spiked clubs hanging from a rotor on top of the car. Another massive spiked club is visible coming from the left of the panel, presumably attached to a similar car.]

Megan: If I don't install more whirling spike clubs, I'll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

List of all comics

2025-11-05T11:29:47Z

Btx40: Renaming

{{List of comics}}

This is a list of comics from 3001 to {{LATESTCOMIC}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding"
|-
!#
!Title
!Talk
!Image
!Date<onlyinclude>
{{comicsrow|3163|2025-11-03|Repair Video|repair video 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3162|2025-10-31|Heart Mountain|heart mountain 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3161|2025-10-29|Airspeed|airspeed 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3160|2025-10-27|Document Forgery|document forgery 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3159|2025-10-24|Continents|continents 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3158|2025-10-22|Shielding Chart|shielding chart 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3157|2025-10-20|Emperor Palpatine|emperor palpatine 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3156|2025-10-17|Planetary Rings|planetary rings 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3155|2025-10-15|Physics Paths|physics paths 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3154|2025-10-13|Physics Insight|physics insight 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3153|2025-10-10|Hot Water Balloon|hot water balloon 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3152|2025-10-08|Skateboard|skateboard 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3151|2025-10-06|Window Screen|window screen 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3150|2025-10-03|Ping|ping 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3149|2025-10-01|Measure Twice, Cut Once|measure twice cut once 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3148|2025-09-29|100% All Achievements|100 all achievements 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3147|2025-09-26|Hiking|hiking 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3146|2025-09-24|Fantastic Four|fantastic four 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3145|2025-09-22|Piercing|piercing 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3144|2025-09-19|Phase Changes|phase changes 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3143|2025-09-17|Question Mark|question mark.png}}
{{comicsrow|3142|2025-09-15|(City)-Style Pizza|city style pizza 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3141|2025-09-12|Mantle Model|mantle model 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3140|2025-09-10|Biology Department|biology department 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3139|2025-09-08|Chess Variant|chess variant 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3138|2025-09-05|Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure|dimensional lumber tape measure 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3137|2025-09-03|Cursed Number|cursed number 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3136|2025-09-01|Pull|pull 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3135|2025-08-29|Sea Level|sea level 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3134|2025-08-27|Wavefunction Collapse|wavefunction collapse 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3133|2025-08-25|Dual Roomba|dual roomba 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3132|2025-08-22|Coastline Similarity|coastline similarity 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3131|2025-08-20|Cesium|cesium 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3130|2025-08-18|Predicament|predicament 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3129|2025-08-15|Archaeology Research|archaeology research 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3128|2025-08-13|Thread Meeting|thread meeting 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3127|2025-08-11|Where Babies Come From|where babies come from 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3126|2025-08-08|Disclaimer|disclaimer 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3125|2025-08-06|Snake-in-the-Box Problem|snake in the box problem 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3124|2025-08-04|Grounded|grounded 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3123|2025-08-01|Canon|canon 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3122|2025-07-30|Bad Map Projection: Interrupted Spheres|bad map projection interrupted spheres 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3121|2025-07-28|Kite Incident|kite incident 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3120|2025-07-25|Geologic Periods|geologic periods 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3119|2025-07-23|Flettner Rotor|flettner rotor 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3118|2025-07-21|iNaturalist Animals and Plants|inaturalist animals and plants 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3117|2025-07-18|Replication Crisis|replication crisis 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3116|2025-07-16|Echo Chamber|echo chamber 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3115|2025-07-14|Unsolved Physics Problems|unsolved physics problems 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3114|2025-07-11|Building a Fire|building a fire 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3113|2025-07-09|Fix This Sign|fix this sign 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3112|2025-07-07|Geology Murder|geology murder 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3111|2025-07-04|Artificial Gravity|artificial gravity 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3110|2025-07-02|Global Ranking|global ranking 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3109|2025-06-30|Dehumidifier|dehumidifier 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3108|2025-06-27|Laser Danger|laser danger 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3107|2025-06-25|Weather Balloons|weather balloons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3106|2025-06-23|Farads|farads 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3105|2025-06-20|Interoperability|interoperability 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3104|2025-06-18|Tukey|tukey 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3103|2025-06-16|Exoplanet System|exoplanet system 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3102|2025-06-13|Reading a Big Number|reading a big number 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3101|2025-06-11|Good Science|good science 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3100|2025-06-09|Alert Sound|alert sound 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3099|2025-06-06|Neighbor-Source Heat Pump|neighbor source heat pump 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3098|2025-06-04|Trojan Horse|trojan horse 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3097|2025-06-02|Bridge Types|bridge types 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3096|2025-05-30|Check Engine|check engine 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3095|2025-05-28|Archaea|archaea 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3094|2025-05-26|Mass Spec|mass spec 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3093|2025-05-23|Drafting|drafting 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3092|2025-05-21|Baker's Units|bakers units 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3091|2025-05-19|Renormalization|renormalization 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3090|2025-05-16|Sail Physics|sail physics 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3089|2025-05-14|Modern|modern 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3088|2025-05-12|Deposition|deposition 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3087|2025-05-09|Pascal's Law|pascals law 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3086|2025-05-07|Globe Safety|globe safety 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3085|2025-05-05|About 20 Pounds|about 20 pounds 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3084|2025-05-02|Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object|unstoppable force and immovable object 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3083|2025-04-30|Jupiter Core|jupiter core 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3082|2025-04-28|Chess Position|chess position 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3081|2025-04-25|PhD Timeline|phd timeline 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3080|2025-04-23|Tennis Balls|tennis balls 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3079|2025-04-21|Air Fact|air fact 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3078|2025-04-18|Anchor Bolts|anchor screws 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3077|2025-04-16|de Sitter|de sitter 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3076|2025-04-14|The Roads Both Taken|the roads both taken 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3075|2025-04-11|Anachronym Challenge|anachronym challenge 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3074|2025-04-09|Push Notifications|push notifications 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3073|2025-04-07|Tariffs|tariffs 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3072|2025-04-04|Stargazing 4|stargazing 4 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3071|2025-04-02|Decay Chain|decay chain 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3070|2025-03-31|Orogeny|orogeny 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3069|2025-03-28|Terror Bird|terror bird 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3068|2025-03-26|Rock Identification|rock identification 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3067|2025-03-24|SawStart|sawstart.png}}
{{comicsrow|3066|2025-03-21|Cosmic Distance Calibration|cosmic distance calibration 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3065|2025-03-19|Square Units|square units 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3064|2025-03-17|Lungfish|lungfish 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3063|2025-03-14|Planet Definitions|planet definitions 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3062|2025-03-12|Off By One|off by one 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3061|2025-03-10|Water Balloons|water balloons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3060|2025-03-07|Omniroll|omniroll 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3059|2025-03-05|Water Damage|water damage 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3058|2025-03-03|Tall Structures|tall structures 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3057|2025-02-28|Excusing Yourself|excusing yourself 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3056|2025-02-26|RNA|rna 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3055|2025-02-24|Giants|giants 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3054|2025-02-21|Scream Cipher|scream cipher 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3053|2025-02-19|KM3NeT|km3net 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3052|2025-02-17|Archive Request|archive request 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3051|2025-02-14|Hardwood|hardwood 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3050|2025-02-12|Atom|atom 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3049|2025-02-10|Incoming Asteroid|incoming asteroid 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3048|2025-02-07|Suspension Bridge|suspension bridge 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3047|2025-02-05|Rotary Tool|rotary tool 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3046|2025-02-03|Stromatolites|stromatolites 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3045|2025-01-31|AlphaMove|alphamove 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3044|2025-01-29|Humidifier Review|humidifier review 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3043|2025-01-27|Muons|muons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3042|2025-01-24|T. Rex Evolution|t rex evolution 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3041|2025-01-22|Unit Circle|unit circle 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3040|2025-01-20|Chemical Formulas|chemical formulas 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3039|2025-01-17|Human Altitude|human altitude 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3038|2025-01-15|Uncanceled Units|uncanceled units 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3037|2025-01-13|Radon|radon 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3036|2025-01-10|Chess Zoo|chess zoo 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3035|2025-01-08|Trimix|trimix 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3034|2025-01-06|Features of Adulthood|features of adulthood 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3033|2025-01-03|Origami Black Hole|origami black hole 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3032|2025-01-01|Skew-T Log-P|skew t log p 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3031|2024-12-30|Time Capsule Instructions|time capsule instructions 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3030|2024-12-27|Lasering Incidents|lasering incidents 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3029|2024-12-25|Sun Avoidance|sun avoidance 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3028|2024-12-23|D&D Roll|dnd roll 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3027|2024-12-20|Exclusion Principle|exclusion principle 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3026|2024-12-18|Linear Sort|linear sort 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3025|2024-12-16|Phase Change|phase change 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3024|2024-12-13|METAR|metar 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3023|2024-12-11|The Maritime Approximation|the maritime approximation 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3022|2024-12-09|Making Tea|making tea 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3021|2024-12-06|Seismologists|seismologists 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3020|2024-12-04|Infinite Armada Chess|infinite armada chess 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3019|2024-12-02|Advent Calendar Advent Calendar|advent calendar advent calendar 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3018|2024-11-29|Second Stage|second stage 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3017|2024-11-27|Neutrino Modem|neutrino modem 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3016|2024-11-25|Cold Air|cold air 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3015|2024-11-22|D&D Combinatorics|dnd combinatorics 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3014|2024-11-20|Arizona Chess|arizona chess 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3013|2024-11-18|Kedging Cannon|kedging cannon 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3012|2024-11-15|The Future of Orion|the future of orion 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3011|2024-11-13|Europa Clipper|europa clipper 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3010|2024-11-11|Geometriphylogenetics|geometriphylogenetics 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3009|2024-11-08|Number Shortage|number shortage 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3008|2024-11-06|Proterozoic Rocks|proterozoic rocks 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3007|2024-11-04|Probabilistic Uncertainty|probabilistic uncertainty 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3006|2024-11-01|Demons|demons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3005|2024-10-30|Disposal|disposal 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3004|2024-10-28|Wells|wells 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3003|2024-10-25|Sandwich Helix|sandwich helix 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3002|2024-10-23|RNAWorld|rnaworld 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3001|2024-10-21|Temperature Scales|temperature scales 2x.png}}</onlyinclude>
|}

[[Category:Comics| 3001]]

3158: Shielding Chart

2025-11-02T21:47:47Z

Btx40: /* Explanation */ No longer incomplete

{{comic
| number = 3158
| date = October 22, 2025
| title = Shielding Chart
| image = shielding_chart_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x720px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sharks can occasionally travel short distances through air when pursuing prey, but their attenuation coefficient is pretty high.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is part of a series on [[:Category:Confusion matrices|confusion matrices]].

Various hazardous (or merely obnoxious) materials, objects, and effects can have their danger reduced with specialized protective equipment. The yellow squares are where the shield fails to protect against the object. The grey-yellow squares are where the shield is partially successful, but still presents some risk. The grey squares are where the shield succeeds.

The first five barriers are materials/conditions which may be used to block some things and not others, which makes for a relatively normal comparison matrix. The last five barriers are devices which are deliberately designed and manufactured to block the last five materials/effects. Comparing those with effects for which they aren't designed is presented for absurdity.

The first three hazards - Gamma Rays, Neutrons, and Alpha Particles - represent different types of radiation. Their associated "beep" and "click" sounds mirror real detection behavior: "beep" corresponds to ionizing radiation like gamma and alpha particles, detected by modern radiation detectors, while "click" refers to neutron detection, which uses a separate type of counter designed for neutral particles. {{w|Geiger counter|Geiger counters}}, an earlier form of radiation detector, also clicked.

All but two tiles feature [[Cueball]] (or in one case [[Hairy]]) trying to make use of that column's chosen 'protective shield', although in the case of some scenarios (involving vacuum or water) he may also be sufficiently equipped against the environment he finds himself in. Also present will be the row's specific 'effect', either in its own right (an object or creature that embodies the phenomenon automatically) or as conveyed by [[Megan]] (when not just present as onlooker) who may also have had the 'shield' primarily delegated to her. The two main exceptions are where Cueball himself emits the sound (from within 'protective' suits that turn out to be ineffectual sound-blockers), to apparently annoy Megan, and depictions of radio reception (which always show Cueball's attempt to transmit, whether or not it shows a successful incoming message).

Some hazards, such as {{w|alpha particles}}, a form of radiation with particularly low penetrative power, can be easily deterred by common things; even a relatively short distance through air is enough to minimize their impact. Comparatively, more dangerous hazards, such as the far more penetrative {{w|gamma rays}}, are unaffected by all but the shielding methods actually intended for them. No effect is either all effective or all ineffective, against each form of 'shielding', and neither is any instance of shield consistent against all effects.

The title text notes that, while the shark hazard is shown on the chart to be entirely nullified by a sufficient air barrier, in reality sharks are capable of attacking prey even if it is a short distance out of the water. However, it claims a high "attenuation coefficient", which is an {{tvtropes|ExpospeakGag|overly scientific way of saying}} that you don't need a ''lot'' of air between you and the shark before it can't hurt you. Indeed, while sharks can jump out of the water to a certain height, there's a hard line between "vulnerable" and "out of reach", and a person can be within arm's reach of a shark's attack while they themselves are in no danger whatsoever. So long as they ''don't'' unwisely reach out to tempt fate.

This table might imply that lead is the best defense against everything in general, but it is toxic, so don't bring lead with you at all times.
===Table===
{| class="wikitable" | style="background:#E6C3C3;"
! Shielding Chart
! scope="col"| {{w|Air}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Lead}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Water}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Glass}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Vacuum}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Oven mitts}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Armor}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Hazmat suit|Bio-hazard suit}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Faraday cage}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Shark cage}}
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Gamma rays}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Gamma rays are not significantly shielded by air.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Lead is commonly used as {{w|Lead shielding|shielding}} against gamma rays. Lead works because of its density and high atomic number, scattering gamma rays.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Water can be used to shield against gamma rays, but you need at least 10 feet of water between you and the gamma rays for it to work.
|colspan=7; style="background:#FFF978;"|Gamma rays have the highest energy of any type of light and have no mass or charge, making them pass through most materials easily.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Neutrons}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Neutrons are not stopped by low density materials such as air.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Lead's high density means that neutrons will keep bumping into lead nuclei, losing their energy through inelastic scattering. However since lead nuclei are much heavier than neutrons, most of the energy will remain with the neutron; as a result, many collisions are needed to slow the neutrons. Some neutrons will also be absorbed by the nuclei, although the {{w|Cross section (physics)|cross section}} is rather low.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Since protons and neutrons have almost the same mass, a collision with a hydrogen atom in water will result in the neutron losing almost half of its energy, resulting in a very rapid attenuation. Moreover the cross section for the fusion of neutrons and protons is high, leading to most neutrons being captured to form deuterium.
|colspan=7; style="background:#FFF978;"|None of these materials are dense enough to slow or absorb neutrons in significant quantities.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Alpha particles}}
|colspan=4; style="background:#C4C5C7"|As alpha particles are almost completely unable to travel through most materials, any of these would effectively stop them. Even if they didn't, the intervening air and distance to Cueball would prevent them being detected in any case. In the third panel, Cueball questions if his equipment is working, as this is the only thing which isn't detected within the first four shields.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|While alpha particles are unable to travel through air, they can move freely in a vacuum. As such, alpha particles are able to reach Cueball in this scenario, activating his detector and allowing Cueball to know that his equipment is indeed working properly.
|colspan=3; style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As with the first four shields, any of these materials would block the particles, and in any case they would have a hard time travelling through air to reach Cueball regardless of the shield provided.
|colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|There are gaps in both the cages through which the particles could pass. In both cases, the emitter has been moved closer to the observer, because otherwise the effect would be masked by the intervening air.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Light}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Light passes easily through air; if it didn't, we would not be able to see.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As lead is a solid, opaque material, light is not able to pass through it.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Water is mostly transparent to visible light. It will attenuate over long distances, but won't be quickly blocked.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|As glass is a largely transparent substance, light is usually able to pass through it.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Because a lack of air does not impact the travel of light, it reaches Cueball without issue.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Cueball is able to use the opaque oven mitts to cover the light source, successfully preventing the light from reaching him.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|The helmet Cueball is wearing is opaque, blocking the light from reaching him. It also makes this a fairly useless set of armor.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As with the oven mitts, Hairy uses the helmet part of the biohazard suit to block the light source.
|colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|As both types of cages have holes in them, it is easy for the light to pass through the holes and reach Cueball.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Sound}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air is the most common medium through which we perceive sound. It would not serve as an effective barrier between a source of sound and someone's ears, unless it was over a very great distance.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Lead is very dense, and is in fact used for soundproofing due to its resistance to buffeting by airborne sound waves. But, as an extremely dense solid, it is a very fast conductor of vibration within itself (so long as the thickness of the material does not invoke the dampening softness and attenuate those vibrations). In this case, Megan is directly knocking upon the lead screen itself, which seems to be enough for the sound of the knocking to emerge at Cueball's side.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Sound travels significantly faster and further in water than in air, making it difficult to locate and understand, but certainly not doing any good when it comes to ''blocking'' sound. The image in this square is of a dolphin,[[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''cetacean needed'']]] detecting fish using sound waves, which it is very good at doing precisely ''because'' its sounds travel very well through water.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Glass, while useful for muffling sound, cannot block it entirely, as anyone whose neighbors mow the lawn at 6:00 can attest to.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|"In space, no one can hear you scream." In a vacuum (like space), there are no atoms or molecules to carry sound waves.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Oven mitts are thick enough that they block some of the sound if a person shouts into them, but it will not be enough to fully block out the sound.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|The two cases of whether sound can penetrate suits are the only two cases where Cueball is trying (successfully) to inflict the phenomenon on [[Megan]], who otherwise features only as the (attempted) instigator. Neither suit is able (or intended) to significantly block sound waves.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|The cages are open enough that their ability to block sound is negligible, and standing in one will do very little to block out sound.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Heat}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air can be a fairly effective thermal insulator when constrained, as in {{w|aerogels}} and many types of insulation. However, freely moving air as depicted in this panel flows as it heats up, transferring heat from the campfire to Cueball's marshmallow. Additionally, air does little to block thermal radiation from the heat source.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Lead conducts heat, allowing Cueball to toast a marshmallow on the surface of the shield. However, since lead is poisonous, he should not do this.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Heat will raise the temperature of water. If the temperature is raised high enough the water will start to boil; boiling has long been used by humanity to prepare food. Marshmallows however are not meant to be boiled.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Cueball appears to be holding a glass bottle over an open fire, into which he has presumably placed his marshmallows. Depending on the temperature, the type of glass and its thickness, it is possible to heat the contents of a glass container, but if the container is unsuitable this can be dangerous to the user. Also, it is unclear how he proposes to consume the sticky marshmallow mess this would create.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|The lack of matter in a vacuum completely blocks transmission by conduction and convection, the two main ways in which heat is spread. It still allows transmission by radiation, which is less efficient. For the specific example of the thermos shown in the image, the way they are constructed completely blocks radiation, but there are enough residual air particles for a very slow convection. The fact that the shielding is made from one single (very thin) piece, and it has lips, also allows some conduction.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Cueball is holding a pan over an open fire while wearing oven mitts. Pans whose grip or handle is not made of a material that conducts less heat than the pan proper are dangerous to grab onto with one's bare hands: wearing oven mitts protects the user from heat. It should be noted that, depending on the weight of the pan and the time the pan needs to be held over a fire to prepare its contents, this can be quite tiring for the user.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A suit of armor is made of metal, which will conduct the heat and do little to protect one's hands against an open flame. The inside of the gloves will be made of some kind of cloth and/or leather, which, as well as giving little protection, might pose a fire hazard.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Bio-hazard suits are designed to help filter air and allow the user to handle dangerous chemicals. However, most bio-hazard suits are made out of fabrics with a laminate coating, both of which are prone to burning and allow heat to pass through.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|Both cages have a minimal effect on the heat from a fire. Depending on the intensity of the fire and the distance from the cage this can create a comfortably warm temperature to the person inside of the cage.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Swords}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air has a negligible force against objects and is unable to stop Megan's sword's thrust.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Lead is a heavy and dense metal, and as a result, it can stop blows from a sword.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|While water has a greater force than air against objects, it is still not enough to stop Megan's attack.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Glass is easily broken by sharp blows, especially if it isn't tempered, and as a result does not stop Megan's sword.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A vacuum has no resistance against objects and unsurprisingly is not able to stop Megan's attack.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are typically made of fabric, which would provide only limited protection. They also do not cover the full body.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|The metallic armor Cueball is wearing was probably designed to stop penetrating and slashing sword blows, with further layers beneath to dampen impacts.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Swords are sharp, and as such are able to break through the thin hazmat suit Cueball is wearing.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A Faraday cage can be a fine mesh, optimal to screen out various radio frequencies of EM radiation but not intended to stop anything else and comparatively delicate against any physical penetration.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A shark cage, while able to provide resistance against larger threats, has holes through which Megan's sword can go.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Particulate matter#Health problems|Toxic dust}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Dust can travel through air, hanging onto small currents. Air does nothing to protect Cueball.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|{{w|Lead poisoning|Lead is poisonous}}, so while a solid lead barrier would prevent toxic dust from passing through, any dust or metal fragments from the shield would still be dangerous.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Water actually can be {{w|Dust abatement|used to prevent the spread of dust}}. However, toxic dust that gets into drinking water will {{w|Water pollution#Groundwater pollution|contaminate it}}, and could cause health problems, just as airborne toxic dust can.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Dust cannot travel through glass, and being fully encased in a glass bell protects one from dust (though it would bring its own problems).
| style="background:#FFF978;"|With no air to slow it down, dust in space can move at dangerously high speeds, possibly fast enough to tear through Cueball's space suit.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are worn on the hands and do not normally interfere with one's breathing. However, if there is a notable amount of toxic dust in the air, holding an oven mitt over one's face is better than no protection.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A suit of armor still allows the wearer to breathe, and provides no particular protection from dust.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A biohazard suit is fully enclosed with its own internal oxygen supply, and so protects the wearer from airborne particles.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|Both cages are too open to provide any significant protection against dust.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Radio}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Radio waves are more than able to travel through air. This is what allows walkie-talkies to work.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Although lead is a relatively poor conductor and therefore attenuates radio waves less than most metals, a lead enclosure can still work as a Faraday cage with a sufficiently thick layer of lead.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Radio waves from two-way radios, like the kind shown in the comic, {{w|Radio propagation#Direct modes (line-of-sight)|cannot penetrate deep water}}. There are {{w|Radio propagation#Surface modes (groundwave)|radio frequencies that ''can'' penetrate deep water}}, but these have a much lower frequency, require more powerful transmitters, and (in the case of {{w|Extremely low frequency#Difficulties of ELF communication|extremely low frequencies}}) cannot transmit audio.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|In a similar way that glass is transparent to visual light, it is also transparent to radio waves, allowing them to pass through.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|As there is nothing getting in the way of radio waves in a vacuum, radios work very well in space. This allows ground control to communicate with astronauts in space.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts, typically being made of fabric, have no effect on radio waves.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A metal suit of armor blocks radio waves. This is because metals are very good electrical conductors, which block the radio waves.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Biohazard suits do not block radio waves, and someone wearing such a suit can send and receive radio transmissions without issue.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A {{w|Faraday cage}} is specifically designed to block electromagnetic fields such as radio waves. In fact, this is the ''only'' 'hazard' here that it blocks.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|The openings in a shark cage are too wide for the cage to experience the properties of a Faraday cage.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Sharks}}
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Sharks cannot travel very far on land or in the air.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Shielding yourself with lead plates will effectively protect you against sharks.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Sharks live in water, so water is not an effective shield against sharks.{{cn}}
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Glass will effectively protect you against sharks, provided that it is thick enough. In fact, sharks are commonly (and safely) shown to the public in aquariums.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|In the vacuum of space, Cueball is very far from sharks' ocean habitat (though he may be at risk of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xcvAoKojo dolphins]).
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Although shark-shaped Oven mitts are quite common due to their similar appearance, oven mitts are not very effective at stopping sharks.{{cn}}
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Depending on the design of the armor, a shark might be able to permanently deform it enough that it causes injury, though the more flexible {{w|Chain_mail#Practical_uses|chain mail}} ''is'' successfully used to prevent actual piercing damage from bites.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A biohazard suit is weak enough that a shark can rip through it.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A Faraday cage is weak enough that a shark can rip through it.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A shark cage is specifically designed to protect against sharks. In fact, this is the ''only'' hazard here that it blocks.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[The whole comic is in one panel]
:[A 10x10 matrix sits in the middle with rows labelled as follows:]
:Gamma Rays
:Neutrons
:Alpha Particles
:Light
:Sound
:Heat
:Swords
:Toxic Dust
:Radio
:Sharks
:[The columns are:]
:Air
:Lead
:Water
:Glass
:Vacuum
:Oven Mitts
:Armor
:Bio-Hazard Suit
:Faraday Cage
:Shark Cage


:[In all of the Gamma Ray boxes, Cueball stands next to a gamma ray emitter with a smattering of dots a short distance away from it, which is perched on a table as necessary, a geiger counter held in his hand or worn.]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[Just standing a few feet from the emitter. The geiger counter Cueball wears beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep!

:[Gamma Rays vs. Lead - gray tile]
:[The gamma ray emitter and the table have a lead enclosure covering them. The geiger counter, held towards everything else in Cueball's hand, does not beep.]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Water - grayish-yellow tile]
:[The gamma ray emitter and table are placed in a large, nearly full, glass of water. Cueball's outstretched geiger counter beeps once:] Beep!

:[Gamma Rays vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[A glass 'bell-jar' covers the gamma ray emitter, atop the table, the geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep!

:[Gamma Rays vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[The gamma ray emitter appears to be held within an open hatch of a satellite. The satellite, together with a spacesuited Cueball, can be seen to be in orbit around the Earth. His chest-mounted geiger counter is transmitting three beeps:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile]
:[Megan stands to the left of the gamma ray emitter, wearing oven mitts and covering the emitter with one hand. Cueball’s body-mounted geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Armor - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands to the right of the gamma ray emitter wearing a suit of plate armor. From inside the armor, his Geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands to the right of the gamma ray emitter wearing a bio-hazard suit. From inside the suit, his Geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is surrounded by a mesh cage. His geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is within a barred cage. His geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[In all of the Neutron boxes, Cueball stands next to a neutron emitter, that looks like two half-sphere shells that are angled slightly open in Cueball's direction, in similar scenarios to the above but with a heftier pedestal in place of the table. No visible effects emit from the emitter. Cueball holds the top handle of the same large detector in each scenario.]

:[Neutrons vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[The detector emits two clicks:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Lead - grayish-yellow tile]
:[The emitter and pedestal are within their lead enclosure. The detector clicks once:] Click

:[Neutrons vs. Water - gray tile]
:[The emitter and pedestal are in the large glass of water. The detector makes no noise.]

:[Neutrons vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[The glass bell-jar covers the pedestalled emitter. The detector clicks twice:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[The emitter sits in the satellite's open hatch. Spacesuited Cueball's hand-held detector transmits two clicks:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile]
:[Megan wears oven gloves and covers the emitter, on its pedestal, with both hands. Cueball's detector clicks twice:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Armor - yellow tile]
:[Cueball has removed his armor’s helmet and placed it over the emitter. His detector clicks twice:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands as normal, having draped his unworn biohazard suit over the emitter, leaving the hood on the floor. His detector sounds two clicks:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Within his mesh cage, two clicks come from Cueball's detector:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Within a barred cage, the detector Cueball holds clicks twice:] Click Click

:[In all of the Alpha Particle boxes, it is a small spherical mass or flask with 'fizzy' strands or dashes, set in the same base scenarios as previously.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Air - gray tile]
:[Cueball is holding a detector and looking at it. The detector is doing nothing.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Lead - gray tile]
:[There is a lead wall between the alpha particle source and Cueball. Cueball's worn detector is doing nothing.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Water - gray tile]
:[The alpha particle item is stood in a large glass of water. Cueball is holding a detector and looking at it. The detector is doing nothing.]
:[Cueball:] Does this thing even work?

:[Alpha Particles vs. Glass - gray tile]
:[The source, on its table, is covered by a bell-jar. Cueball stands looking at it, wearing a detector that does nothing.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[The source of alpha particles is inside the open satellite hatch. Spacesuited Cueball floats nearby, with a detector that transmits three beeps:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Alpha Particles vs. Oven Mitts - gray tile]
:[Megan wears over mitts, placing one over the source on its table. Cueball looks ok, his worn detector doing nothing.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Armor - gray tile]
:[Cueball, in his full suit of armor, has picked up the source from its table and is holding it directly in his hand. There is no sign of any detector activity occuring.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - gray tile]
:[Cueball, wearing the bio-hazard suit, looks impassively at the source on the top of its table. There are no beeps.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[The table with the source has been moved to be right next to the mesh cage. Cueball, inside the cage, presses right up to the inside of the same mesh edge, putting his detector right next to it. There are three beeps:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Alpha Particles vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Again, the source, on its table, is right next to the bars of the cage. And, again, Cueball is pressed right up against (and perhaps through) the inside edge of the cage. Three beeps sound:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Megan points a brightly lit battery torch towards Cueball, in an attempt to inflict the effects of Light upon him.]

:[Light vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[Megan points the torch towards Cueball. Rays of lights splay out over Cueball's face as he instinctively holds one arm protectively over his eyes.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Light vs. Lead - gray tile]
:[Megan points the torch towards Cueball, but only illuminates a lead wall that stands between them. Cueball makes no reaction.]

:[Light vs. Water - grayish-yellow tile]
:[Megan stands nose-deep in the giant glass of water, aiming her shining torch out through the water and out of the glass towards Cueball. Cueball shields his eyes with his arm, but is silent.]

:[Light vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[Megan stands within a person-sized bell-jar, shining her torch towards Cueball, who is outside and shielding his eyes.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Light vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[Megan and Cueball, in spacesuits (i.e. with 'fishbowl helmets'), are seen orbiting high above the planet below. Megan holds a torch, shining it towards Cueball.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Light vs. Oven Mitts - gray tile]
:[Megan points her torch towards Cueball. Cueball wears oven-gloves, and casually holds one begloved hand over the end of the torch, from which no light is seen.]

:[Light vs. Armor - grey tile]
:[Megan shones her torch upon the armored figure of Cueball, whose helmet visor is down.]
:[Cueball:] Nope.

:[Light vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - grey tile]
:[Megan makes to point her torch at Cueball, who is dressed in all but the hood of his bio-hazard suit. He holds the hood out, fully covering Megan's torch.]

:[Light vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[The torch is pointed by Megan towards Cueball, arm across his eyes as he stands within in his mesh cage.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Light vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Megan's torch shines through the bars of the cage at Cueball, his arm protectively held up.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[In most cases, Megan appears to be screaming in Cueball's direction, to depict the incidence of Sound.]

:[Sound vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands with his hands over his ears, as a tensed-up Megan lets out a loud scream.]
:[Megan:] AAAAAAAAA!

:[Sound vs. Lead - yellow tile]
:[Between Megan and Cueball is a full-height thick lead wall. Megan is tapping on her side.]
:[Megan:] Knock Knock
:[Cueball:] Who is it?

:[Sound vs. Water - yellow tile]
:[An underwater scene, showing sea-floor with various corals/sea-plants. Just above is a dolphin, projecting sound waves towards two small fish.]

:[Sound vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[Megan is stood within her person-sized bell-jar, screaming loudly. The bell-jar is vibrating. Cueball is covering his ears.]
:[Megan, in notably distorted text:] AAAAAAAA!

:[Sound vs. Vacuum - grey tile]
:[Megan and Cueball float in space, high above the planet. They are both wearing space helmets. An abortive speech-bubble emerges from Megan's helmet.]
:[Megan:] .....

:[Sound vs. Oven Mitts - grey tile]
:[Megan stands to the left of Cueball, wearing oven-gloves. Her hands are over her mouth, muffling her attempts to say anything.]
:[Megan:] <two lines of unintelligble sounds>

:[Sound vs. Armor - yellow tile]
:[Megan is holding her hands over her ears. Cueball is wearing his suit of armor, which is vibrating, while he emits a large scream.]
:[Cueball:] AAAAAAAAA!

:[Sound vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Megan has her hands over her ears. Cueball is screaming from within his bio-hazard suit.]
:[Cueball:] AAAAAAAAA!

:[Sound vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Megan is yelling at Cueball, standing within his mesh cage with his hands over his ears.]
:[Megan:] AAAAAAAA!

:[Sound vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Megan yells, as Cueball holds his hands over his ears behind the bars of the cage.]
:[Megan:] AAAAAAAA!

:[The row depicting Fire tends to show a small campfire, or other more expansive flames. In all but one case, Cueball is present. In most of these instances, he is holding a marshmallow, sometimes at the end of a long stick.]

:[Heat vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[There is a campfire, with Cueball extending a stick-speared marshmallow over it.]

:[Heat vs. Lead - yellow tile]
:[A campfire has a lead slab propped up above it. Cueball's marshmallow-stick is being held to its upper surface.]
:[Marshmallow:] TSSSSS
:[Voice from off-panel:] NO!

:[Heat vs. Water - yellow tile]
:[A campfire heats a cauldron/cooking-pot held over it. Cueball dips his stick with a marshmallow into the container as splashes/vapor emerge. Megan stands behind Cueball.]
:[Cueball:] They're better boiled.
:[Megan:] NO!

:[Heat vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[With a campfire between them, Megan and Cueball stand with sticks in their hands, held close to the fire. Megan has speared her own marshmallow. Cueball holds something, that looks like a wine bottle, in a forked/looped end, a few small puffs of vapor emerging from open top of the bottle.]

:[Heat vs. Vacuum - greyish-yellow tile]
:[Surrounded by a general setting of flames, there appears to be a cross-section of a vacuum flask. The neck of the flask is plugged. The inside of the flask appears to be half full of liquid with some solid chunks floating in it.]
:[Arrowed label, pointing at the flask's chunks:] Ice

:[Heat vs. Oven Mitts - grey tile]
:[Megan and Cueball stand around the campfire, Megan holding her marshmallow-on-a-stick. Cueball is wearing oven gloves and, with one hand almost over the flames, is holding the handle of a frying pan that is actually in the flames. Something (possibly a marshmallow) seems to be sizzling in the pan.]

:[Heat vs. Armor - yellow tile]
:[Megan is holding her marshmallow stick over the campfire. Cueball is holding his marshmallow over the fire, directly in his gauntleted hand, as he wears the full armor.]
:[Cueball:] OW! OW!

:[Heat vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Around the campfire, Megan toasts her marshmallow normally. Cueball wears his biohazard suit, holding his gloved hand close to the flames whilst holding a marshmallow.]
:[Cueball:] Ow! Ow!

:[Heat vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[The campfire is built just to the left of the mesh cage, within which Cueball is standing.]
:[Cueball:] Mmm, warm.

:[Heat vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball's cage has a campfire just outside its bars.]
:[Cueball:] Mmm, warm.



:[Megan is thrusting a sword rightwards, towards/into Cueball, in this row. Cueball also holds a sword, in all but one case, but lowered and not in a defensive manner.]

:[Swords vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[Megan is poking Cueball with a sword.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Swords vs. Lead - gray tile]
:[Cueball is standing in a lead container as Megan hits her sword against the outside of it, making a metallic sound:] Clank

:[Swords vs. Water - yellow tile]
:[Cueball and Megan are both underwater, wearing diving gear. Megan is poking Cueball with her sword.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Swords vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[Megan is standing in her person-sized bell jar; however, she has smashed a hole in the side and is now poking Cueball with her sword through the hole.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Swords vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[Cueball and Megan are floating in space, wearing spacesuits. Megan is poking Cueball with her sword.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Swords vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands next to Megan, wearing oven mitts. Megan is poking him with her sword.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Swords vs. Armor - gray tile]
:[Cueball is standing in a suit of armor next to Megan. She tries to poke him but cannot penetrate the armor, instead producing a metallic "clink"]
:[Cueball:] Ha!

:[Swords vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is wearing his biohazard suit as Megan pokes him with her sword.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Swords vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing inside a person-sized Faraday cage as Megan pokes him with her sword through the mesh.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Swords vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing inside of a shark cage as Megan pokes him with her sword through the bars.]
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Clouds, and further particulate specks, illustrate the Toxic Dust row, in several cases apparently being discharged by a burning brazier. All tiles have Cueball in the scene.]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing next to a container resembling a metal trash can, with flames visible on top and a cloud of smoke and particulates rising from the flames.]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Lead - grayish-yellow tile]
:[The burning trash can is encased in a rectangular lead box. Cueball is touching the outside of the lead box as a few particulates are coming off of it.]
:[Cueball: This shield is also ''producing'' toxic dust.]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Water - yellow tile]
:[Cueball and Megan are both standing (presumably) outside, watching as particulates hover in the air. There are a few clouds present as well.]
:[Cueball: Don't worry, this will all be safely absorbed by the groundwater.]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Glass - gray tile]
:[Cueball is standing in a person-sized bell jar as toxic dust floats around the outside of it.]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is floating in space next to a satellite with an open hatch that is emitting toxic dust.]
:[Satellite: Achoo!]
:[Cueball: My suit!]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing next to the burning trash can and covering his face with an oven-mitted hand.]
:[Cueball: ''Cough'']

:[Toxic Dust vs. Armor - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing next to the burning trash can in a suit of armor.]
:[Cueball: ''Cough'']

:[Toxic Dust vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - gray tile]
:[Cueball is standing next to the burning trash can while wearing his biohazard suit. He is unaffected by the toxic dust it is producing.]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing next to the burning trash can in a person-sized Faraday cage.]
:[Cueball: ''Cough'']

:[Toxic Dust vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing in a shark cage next to the burning trash can.]
:[Cueball: ''Cough'']

:[Cueball tends to carry a two-way radio handset, in the Radio row, except where the transceiver appears to be part of the various protective suits that he is wearing.]

:[Radio vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is holding a handheld two-way radio in his right hand, close to his face, and speaking into it. A voice from the radio is responding to him.]
:[Cueball: Eagle Base, come in.]
:[Radio: Go ahead.]

:[Radio vs. Lead - gray tile
:[Cueball is standing inside a lead box, again holding the radio close to his face.]
:[Cueball: Eagle Base, come in? Hello?]

:[Radio vs. Water - gray tile]
:[Cueball is underwater, in a diving suit. He is once again holding a hand radio. Bubbles are rising from his helmet and a shark is swimming underneath him.]
:[Cueball: Hello?]

:[Radio vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing inside a person-sized bell jar, holding the radio close to his face.]
:[Cueball: Is this... part of the mission?]
:[Radio: Sure.]

:[Radio vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is floating in space next to the satellite. He is not visibly holding a radio, implying that it is integrated into his spacesuit.]
:[Cueball: Eagle Base, I have the package.]

:[Radio vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile
:[Cueball is wearing oven mitts while holding the radio close to his face.]
:[Cueball: Eagle Base, tactical mitts acquired.]
:[Radio: Copy that.]

:[Radio vs. Armor - gray tile]
:[Cueball is standing in a suit of armor. He is not visibly holding a radio.]
:[Cueball: Repeat that? My suit radio is having issues.]

:[Radio vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is wearing his biohazard suit. He is not visibly holding a radio.]
:[Cueball: Copy that.]

:[Radio vs. Faraday Cage - gray tile
:[Cueball is standing inside a person-sized Faraday cage, holding the radio close to his face.]
:[Cueball: Eagle Base? Come in?]

:[Radio vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is standing in a shark cage, holding the radio close to his face.]
:[Cueball: Eagle Base, why am I-]
:[Radio: Don't worry about it.]

:[Each tile in the Shark row depicts a shark, except when only the shark's fin is seen emerging from a body of water. Cueball is somehow present in each case.]

:[Sharks vs. Air - gray tile]
:[Cueball is standing on land next to a body of water. A shark fin is protruding from the surface of the water.]

:[Sharks vs. Lead - gray tile]
:[Cueball, wearing diving gear, is standing on the ocean floor in a person-sized lead container. A few small fish are swimming above and to the left of him and a shark is floating below the fish.]

:[Sharks vs. Water - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is again underwater, wearing diving gear. He is very close to a shark and seems to be pointing at it.]
:[Cueball: Kitty!]

:[Sharks vs. Glass - gray tile]
:[The shark is now in a water tank, behind a wall of glass. Cueball and Megan are standing next to the tank, looking at what is likely an informative plaque in front of it.]

:[Sharks vs. Vacuum - gray tile]
:[Cueball is floating in space. Earth is visible in the background, with a shark fin visibly protruding from a body of water.]

:[Sharks vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is underwater, wearing diving gear and oven mitts, he gently touches the shark's snout.]
:[Cueball:] ''Boop!''

:[Sharks vs. Armor - grayish-yellow tile]
:[Cueball is underwater, now wearing a suit of armor. The shark appears to be biting his armored right hand.]
:[Shark:] cronch cronch
:[Cueball:] Ow.

:[Sharks vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Cueball, underwater and wearing his biohazard suit, is now petting the shark on its snout.]
:[Cueball:] Good kitty!

:[Sharks vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is inside an underwater Faraday cage, which is suspended by a tether going straight up. The shark is in the process of tearing apart the cage.]
:[Cueball:] ''No! Bad kitty!''

:[Sharks vs. Shark Cage - gray tile]
:[Cueball is underwater, in a shark cage suspended from one side by a tether going straight up. The shark is swimming a short distance away from the cage.]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-16T19:09:37Z

Btx40:

Altoona-style is listed first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations but that's because the list is alphabetical. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I prefer +style pizza. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:16, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
: Not a fan of electrons as a topping then? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:37, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Imo, positron pizza is far better. Some people won’t appreciate it though, as it disintegrates [in] your mouth. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 15:28, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I’m pretty sure this comic is intended to be titled “<City>-Style Pizza”, as it is labeled in the HTML of xkcd.com (notably, xkcd.com itsel uses “-Style Pizza” for the <title> elements and the rss/atom feeds, but not for the visible title. (But there, the “<city>” gets swallowed by the browser)--[[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 21:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Altoona-style most literally looks like a sandwich except cheese instead of a top bun《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:54, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, a bunch of open-faced sandwiches side-by-side. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 22:07, 15 September 2025 (UTC)Pat
: It looks most like a heart attack in waiting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:42, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

On a related note, locally (hint: absolutely nowhere near the place mentioned), there's a business advertising "genuine New York-style bagels". The juxtaposition of the "genuine" claim and yet the acknowledgement that they are only of the given ''style'' always makes me wonder what worth the genuineness truly has, with an ocean's-width of distance between any physical manifestation of New Yorkification and what we have here. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought he was talking about Altoona Iowa (less than half the size of Altoona Pennsylvania). Look up “Altoona Iowa pizza” and one of the top hits will tell you it’s ranked one of the worst in the nation. You see, in Iowa, they lay out the dough, put on the ‘toppings’ (ahem) then dump on so much cheese that you can’t see any of the ‘toppings’ (ahem) anymore. When I came home from college in another state, I had to teach my mother how to make good pizza. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C|2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C]] 23:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Well at least THIS one was about a kind of pi. I guess pi does round to 3.142. [[Special:Contributions/138.88.96.2|138.88.96.2]] 00:16, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Shame he missed out on Pittsburgh's 'specialty' with this... since they had the sheer audacity to call it 'Ohio Valley Pizza'... Which I hadn't even *heard* of, let alone actually seen, in 40 years of living in Cincinnati! -Edit: Turns out it originates from Steubenville, which had he named it 'Steubenville style pizza' would've put it way down on the bottom left somewhere. -Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7|2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7]] 01:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a way of displaying article titles that have non-standard characters in them. Could something similar be done here? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 04:05, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:they do, but it doesn't work. {{w|WP:DISPLAYTITLE|DISPLAYTITLE}} doesn't support <> symbols. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 13:29, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

The article is describing the Altoona style pizza, but Randall is calling on the viewer to look it up on Google images because the picture is likely more offensive than the description. I don't know what the wiki policy is but a picture in the article would do a much better job at explaining than anything Randall may or may not like about the ingredients. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 06:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Surely it's no coincidence that XKCD 3142 is about pie. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I hope it ''is'' a coincidence, because I'd like to think that Randall knows better than to call a pizza – a dish that isn't a pie – a "pie". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 12:53, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Says the person whose name is a pancake that calls itself a pudding. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding yorkshire pudding] is made similarly to a pancake, but it ends up more like a bun. And the British just call any dessert a "pudding", though I don't see how a yorkshire pudding could be a dessert... [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:22, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Randall suggests that pizza quality correlates with city size. That means Brazilians were right all along, and the best pizza is from São Paulo. [[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 14:01, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No - it's completely outclassed by Chongqing Pizza. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

What about moving this page to [[3142: (City)-Style Pizza]] or similar? --[[User:Birdlover32767|Birdlover32767]] ([[User talk:Birdlover32767|talk]]) 16:25, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I had never heard of pizza styles "being named after a city" when I was living in Europe or South America. Is that just a USA thing? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:31, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No, several regions in Italy also have pizza styles named after them (e.g. Naples, Sicily & Rome) --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:07, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-16T19:07:12Z

Btx40:

Altoona-style is listed first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations but that's because the list is alphabetical. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I prefer +style pizza. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:16, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
: Not a fan of electrons as a topping then? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:37, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Imo, positron pizza is far better. Some people won’t appreciate it though, as it disintegrates [in] your mouth. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 15:28, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I’m pretty sure this comic is intended to be titled “<City>-Style Pizza”, as it is labeled in the HTML of xkcd.com (notably, xkcd.com itsel uses “-Style Pizza” for the <title> elements and the rss/atom feeds, but not for the visible title. (But there, the “<city>” gets swallowed by the browser)--[[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 21:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Altoona-style most literally looks like a sandwich except cheese instead of a top bun《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:54, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, a bunch of open-faced sandwiches side-by-side. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 22:07, 15 September 2025 (UTC)Pat
: It looks most like a heart attack in waiting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:42, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

On a related note, locally (hint: absolutely nowhere near the place mentioned), there's a business advertising "genuine New York-style bagels". The juxtaposition of the "genuine" claim and yet the acknowledgement that they are only of the given ''style'' always makes me wonder what worth the genuineness truly has, with an ocean's-width of distance between any physical manifestation of New Yorkification and what we have here. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought he was talking about Altoona Iowa (less than half the size of Altoona Pennsylvania). Look up “Altoona Iowa pizza” and one of the top hits will tell you it’s ranked one of the worst in the nation. You see, in Iowa, they lay out the dough, put on the ‘toppings’ (ahem) then dump on so much cheese that you can’t see any of the ‘toppings’ (ahem) anymore. When I came home from college in another state, I had to teach my mother how to make good pizza. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C|2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C]] 23:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Well at least THIS one was about a kind of pi. I guess pi does round to 3.142. [[Special:Contributions/138.88.96.2|138.88.96.2]] 00:16, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Shame he missed out on Pittsburgh's 'specialty' with this... since they had the sheer audacity to call it 'Ohio Valley Pizza'... Which I hadn't even *heard* of, let alone actually seen, in 40 years of living in Cincinnati! -Edit: Turns out it originates from Steubenville, which had he named it 'Steubenville style pizza' would've put it way down on the bottom left somewhere. -Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7|2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7]] 01:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a way of displaying article titles that have non-standard characters in them. Could something similar be done here? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 04:05, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:they do, but it doesn't work. {{w|WP:DISPLAYTITLE|DISPLAYTITLE}} doesn't support <> symbols. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 13:29, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

The article is describing the Altoona style pizza, but Randall is calling on the viewer to look it up on Google images because the picture is likely more offensive than the description. I don't know what the wiki policy is but a picture in the article would do a much better job at explaining than anything Randall may or may not like about the ingredients. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 06:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Surely it's no coincidence that XKCD 3142 is about pie. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I hope it ''is'' a coincidence, because I'd like to think that Randall knows better than to call a pizza – a dish that isn't a pie – a "pie". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 12:53, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Says the person whose name is a pancake that calls itself a pudding. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding yorkshire pudding] is made similarly to a pancake, but it ends up more like a bun. And the British just call any dessert a "pudding", though I don't see how a yorkshire pudding could be a dessert... [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:22, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Randall suggests that pizza quality correlates with city size. That means Brazilians were right all along, and the best pizza is from São Paulo. [[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 14:01, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No - it's completely outclassed by Chongqing Pizza. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

What about moving this page to [[3142: (City)-Style Pizza]] or similar? --[[User:Birdlover32767|Birdlover32767]] ([[User talk:Birdlover32767|talk]]) 16:25, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I had never heard of pizza styles "being named after a city" when I was living in Europe or South America. Is that just a USA thing? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:31, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No, several regions in Italy also have pizza styled named after them (e.g. Naples, Sicily & Rome) --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:07, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

List of all comics

2025-09-14T21:17:49Z

Btx40: missed one

{{List of comics}}

This is a list of comics from 3000 to {{LATESTCOMIC}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding"
|-
!#
!Title
!Talk
!Image
!Date<onlyinclude>
{{comicsrow|3141|2025-09-12|Mantle Model|mantle model 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3140|2025-09-10|Biology Department|biology department 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3139|2025-09-08|Chess Variant|chess variant 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3138|2025-09-05|Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure|dimensional lumber tape measure 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3137|2025-09-03|Cursed Number|cursed number 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3136|2025-09-01|Pull|pull 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3135|2025-08-29|Sea Level|sea level 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3134|2025-08-27|Wavefunction Collapse|wavefunction collapse 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3133|2025-08-25|Dual Roomba|dual roomba 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3132|2025-08-22|Coastline Similarity|coastline similarity 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3131|2025-08-20|Cesium|cesium 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3130|2025-08-18|Predicament|predicament 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3129|2025-08-15|Archaeology Research|archaeology research 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3128|2025-08-13|Thread Meeting|thread meeting 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3127|2025-08-11|Where Babies Come From|where babies come from 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3126|2025-08-08|Disclaimer|disclaimer 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3125|2025-08-06|Snake-in-the-Box Problem|snake in the box problem 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3124|2025-08-04|Grounded|grounded 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3123|2025-08-01|Canon|canon 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3122|2025-07-30|Bad Map Projection: Interrupted Spheres|bad map projection interrupted spheres 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3121|2025-07-28|Kite Incident|kite incident 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3120|2025-07-25|Geologic Periods|geologic periods 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3119|2025-07-23|Flettner Rotor|flettner rotor 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3118|2025-07-21|iNaturalist Animals and Plants|inaturalist animals and plants 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3117|2025-07-18|Replication Crisis|replication crisis 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3116|2025-07-16|Echo Chamber|echo chamber 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3115|2025-07-14|Unsolved Physics Problems|unsolved physics problems 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3114|2025-07-11|Building a Fire|building a fire 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3113|2025-07-09|Fix This Sign|fix this sign 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3112|2025-07-07|Geology Murder|geology murder 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3111|2025-07-04|Artificial Gravity|artificial gravity 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3110|2025-07-02|Global Ranking|global ranking 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3109|2025-06-30|Dehumidifier|dehumidifier 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3108|2025-06-27|Laser Danger|laser danger 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3107|2025-06-25|Weather Balloons|weather balloons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3106|2025-06-23|Farads|farads 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3105|2025-06-20|Interoperability|interoperability 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3104|2025-06-18|Tukey|tukey 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3103|2025-06-16|Exoplanet System|exoplanet system 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3102|2025-06-13|Reading a Big Number|reading a big number 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3101|2025-06-11|Good Science|good science 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3100|2025-06-09|Alert Sound|alert sound 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3099|2025-06-06|Neighbor-Source Heat Pump|neighbor source heat pump 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3098|2025-06-04|Trojan Horse|trojan horse 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3097|2025-06-02|Bridge Types|bridge types 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3096|2025-05-30|Check Engine|check engine 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3095|2025-05-28|Archaea|archaea 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3094|2025-05-26|Mass Spec|mass spec 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3093|2025-05-23|Drafting|drafting 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3092|2025-05-21|Baker's Units|bakers units 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3091|2025-05-19|Renormalization|renormalization 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3090|2025-05-16|Sail Physics|sail physics 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3089|2025-05-14|Modern|modern 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3088|2025-05-12|Deposition|deposition 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3087|2025-05-09|Pascal's Law|pascals law 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3086|2025-05-07|Globe Safety|globe safety 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3085|2025-05-05|About 20 Pounds|about 20 pounds 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3084|2025-05-02|Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object|unstoppable force and immovable object 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3083|2025-04-30|Jupiter Core|jupiter core 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3082|2025-04-28|Chess Position|chess position 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3081|2025-04-25|PhD Timeline|phd timeline 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3080|2025-04-23|Tennis Balls|tennis balls 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3079|2025-04-21|Air Fact|air fact 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3078|2025-04-18|Anchor Screws|anchor screws 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3077|2025-04-16|de Sitter|de sitter 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3076|2025-04-14|The Roads Both Taken|the roads both taken 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3075|2025-04-11|Anachronym Challenge|anachronym challenge 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3074|2025-04-09|Push Notifications|push notifications 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3073|2025-04-07|Tariffs|tariffs 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3072|2025-04-04|Stargazing 4|stargazing 4 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3071|2025-04-02|Decay Chain|decay chain 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3070|2025-03-31|Orogeny|orogeny 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3069|2025-03-28|Terror Bird|terror bird 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3068|2025-03-26|Rock Identification|rock identification 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3067|2025-03-24|SawStart|sawstart.png}}
{{comicsrow|3066|2025-03-21|Cosmic Distance Calibration|cosmic distance calibration 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3065|2025-03-19|Square Units|square units 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3064|2025-03-17|Lungfish|lungfish 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3063|2025-03-14|Planet Definitions|planet definitions 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3062|2025-03-12|Off By One|off by one 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3061|2025-03-10|Water Balloons|water balloons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3060|2025-03-07|Omniroll|omniroll 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3059|2025-03-05|Water Damage|water damage 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3058|2025-03-03|Tall Structures|tall structures 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3057|2025-02-28|Excusing Yourself|excusing yourself 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3056|2025-02-26|RNA|rna 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3055|2025-02-24|Giants|giants 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3054|2025-02-21|Scream Cipher|scream cipher 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3053|2025-02-19|KM3NeT|km3net 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3052|2025-02-17|Archive Request|archive request 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3051|2025-02-14|Hardwood|hardwood 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3050|2025-02-12|Atom|atom 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3049|2025-02-10|Incoming Asteroid|incoming asteroid 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3048|2025-02-07|Suspension Bridge|suspension bridge 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3047|2025-02-05|Rotary Tool|rotary tool 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3046|2025-02-03|Stromatolites|stromatolites 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3045|2025-01-31|AlphaMove|alphamove 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3044|2025-01-29|Humidifier Review|humidifier review 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3043|2025-01-27|Muons|muons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3042|2025-01-24|T. Rex Evolution|t rex evolution 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3041|2025-01-22|Unit Circle|unit circle 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3040|2025-01-20|Chemical Formulas|chemical formulas 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3039|2025-01-17|Human Altitude|human altitude 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3038|2025-01-15|Uncanceled Units|uncanceled units 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3037|2025-01-13|Radon|radon 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3036|2025-01-10|Chess Zoo|chess zoo 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3035|2025-01-08|Trimix|trimix 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3034|2025-01-06|Features of Adulthood|features of adulthood 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3033|2025-01-03|Origami Black Hole|origami black hole 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3032|2025-01-01|Skew-T Log-P|skew t log p 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3031|2024-12-30|Time Capsule Instructions|time capsule instructions 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3030|2024-12-27|Lasering Incidents|lasering incidents 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3029|2024-12-25|Sun Avoidance|sun avoidance 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3028|2024-12-23|D&D Roll|dnd roll 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3027|2024-12-20|Exclusion Principle|exclusion principle 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3026|2024-12-18|Linear Sort|linear sort 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3025|2024-12-16|Phase Change|phase change 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3024|2024-12-13|METAR|metar 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3023|2024-12-11|The Maritime Approximation|the maritime approximation 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3022|2024-12-09|Making Tea|making tea 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3021|2024-12-06|Seismologists|seismologists 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3020|2024-12-04|Infinite Armada Chess|infinite armada chess 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3019|2024-12-02|Advent Calendar Advent Calendar|advent calendar advent calendar 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3018|2024-11-29|Second Stage|second stage 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3017|2024-11-27|Neutrino Modem|neutrino modem 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3016|2024-11-25|Cold Air|cold air 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3015|2024-11-22|D&D Combinatorics|dnd combinatorics 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3014|2024-11-20|Arizona Chess|arizona chess 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3013|2024-11-18|Kedging Cannon|kedging cannon 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3012|2024-11-15|The Future of Orion|the future of orion 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3011|2024-11-13|Europa Clipper|europa clipper 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3010|2024-11-11|Geometriphylogenetics|geometriphylogenetics 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3009|2024-11-08|Number Shortage|number shortage 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3008|2024-11-06|Proterozoic Rocks|proterozoic rocks 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3007|2024-11-04|Probabilistic Uncertainty|probabilistic uncertainty 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3006|2024-11-01|Demons|demons 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3005|2024-10-30|Disposal|disposal 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3004|2024-10-28|Wells|wells 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3003|2024-10-25|Sandwich Helix|sandwich helix 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3002|2024-10-23|RNAWorld|rnaworld 2x.png}}
{{comicsrow|3001|2024-10-21|Temperature Scales|temperature scales 2x.png}}</onlyinclude>
|}

[[Category:Comics| 3001]]

3124: Grounded

2025-08-05T00:10:19Z

Btx40: Change link to m9ore relevant topic

{{comic
| number = 3124
| date = August 4, 2025
| title = Grounded
| image = grounded_2x.png
| imagesize = 294x335px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We should have you at the gate in just under two hours--two and a half if we get pulled over.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by a COP ASKING IF THE PILOT KNOWS WHY THEY WERE PULLED OVER. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic depicts a plane that has been delayed due to unfavorable weather. The pilot and first officer have considered simply driving the plane to the destination instead of waiting for favorable weather to fly, noting that they have considered their maximum taxiing speed and bridge clearance heights. Driving a plane on the public highway is probably illegal, under transportation and vehicle registration laws, plus impractical due to the excessive width and height (and maybe length) of the vehicle and the {{w|Jet blast|backwash from the engines}}, and because jetliners taxi at only 25-35 mph — far slower than simply taking a car or bus — and rolling at nearer to {{w|Rotation (aeronautics)|rotation}} speed for prolonged periods would be mechanically problematic, especially on non-straight roads.

The title text further extends the joke, saying that driving will probably get them pulled over by police and further extend the drive time. However, the drive would probably be extended by more than 30 minutes, and the plane would most likely be stopped, resulting in the drive/flight being curtailed.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A plane is at an airport gate, connected to the jet bridge. There are other ground vehicles nearby and another gate with a jet bridge extending from it.]
:Voice from the plane: This is your captain speaking. As you've probably noticed, we're still grounded due to weather
:Voice from the plane: But the first officer and I have been looking at bridge clearance maps and our top taxiing speed, And we have an idea.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Aviation]]

3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

2025-07-25T00:46:05Z

Btx40: /* Explanation */ Lay out table for animals

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

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

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

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

The most reported animals are Common Eastern Bumble Bee and White-tailed Deer, with 7 states each, while the most reported plant is Common Milkweed, with 6 states. Of the 26 different animal species mentioned, 5 are mammals, 4 are birds, 12 are reptiles, and 5 are insects. This is part of what makes the results for "US as a whole" surprising: they only top the list in one or two states, yet become the most reported when adding up the numbers nationwide.

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

=== Animal Species ===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Species
! States reported in
! Invasive?
! class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
|
|
|
|
|}

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

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

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

==Trivia==
In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/c/c9/20250723151925%21inaturalist_animals_and_plants_2x.png original version of the comic], the postal codes for Iowa, Florida, Alaska, and Hawaii were missing from the map. They were later added.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

3100: Alert Sound

2025-06-09T22:35:53Z

Btx40: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3100
| date = June 9, 2025
| title = Alert Sound
| image = alert_sound_2x.png
| imagesize = 393x455px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = With a good battery, the device can easily last for 5 or 10 years, although the walls probably won't.
}}

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

Most computers play sounds to notify users of various events, such as a device being connected.

Randall proposes placing a small noise making device in the wall of a room that a computer is typically used in. Because the noisemaker is programmed to periodically play a "device connected" sound, this would cause concern for the occupant of the room.

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3099: Neighbor-Source Heat Pump

2025-06-09T22:26:25Z

Btx40: Undo revision 379090 by 64.114.223.90 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 3099
| date = June 6, 2025
| title = Neighbor-Source Heat Pump
| image = neighbor_source_heat_pump_2x.png
| imagesize = 431x284px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The installation of the pipes on the inside of the insulation can be challenging, especially when the neighbor could come home at any minute.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by A HOT-TEMPERED NEIGHBOUR. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
Using electricity to heat the home used to involve direct use of {{w|Joule heating|resistive heating}}, as an alternative to burning fuel of some sort, but more recently both this and the fuel-burning boiler have started to be replaced (or sometimes augmented) by developments in heat-pump technology which, much like the operation of a typical refrigerator, use a relatively small amount of power to move heat to where it is most needed (away from where the heat is ''not'' required). This is most commonly and conveniently done using an {{w|air source heat pump}} installed on the outside wall of the building/apartment, which can extract heat from the ambient outside air and use that to heat the inside of the household, and often also maintain its hot-water supply. Because of the varying nature of the external climate, this is less efficient (or at least more technically difficult) in colder weather, the time when the heating would be most appreciated. (The biggest problem being that trying to extract heat from air close to the freezing point of water, or below, will tend to condense out and freeze any moisture in the air, upon the external components, reducing the ability to extract heat from the air, a problem that might be solved by temporarily sending heat outwards to defrost the heatsink pipework.)

An alternate method of harvesting heat is the {{w|ground source heat pump}}. This does the same job of extracting heat energy from ''its'' surroundings (pipes sent deep into the ground, rather than just being exposed to the air by the side of the building), and benefits from the more constant temperature of the pedosphere (or deeper) which is often deeper than the [[402: 1,000 Miles North|frost-line]], always giving a ''relatively'' warm heat-source, to extract energy from, even in the depths of winter. If set up to also cool a home, in warm conditions, it also finds the same reliably small range of ground-temperatures useful in being ''cooler'' than the ambient air of summer, thus being more suited to disperse excess heat into whilst cooling the indoors environment. A further method, the water source heat pump, similarly makes use of a sufficiently large body of water's tendency to provide a near constant 4°C temperature (whatever the external conditions) in its depths.

In this comic, [[Randall]] goes further and finds a handy source of heat (in winter) and cold (in summer)… the house of a neighbor, which is itself being actively maintained (perhaps by more traditional heating and cooling technology) at a temperature which approaches his own preference for temperature. Being thermally inverted to the current seasonal conditions, it would be even more economical to tap into for heat during cold times and coolness during the warmer ones. At least it would be for Randall, not the neighbor who is now forced to effectively air-condition ''two'' buildings, instead of the one they thought they were maintaining. This is accomplished by sending the pipes (that ''might'' have been just buried in the ground) from the heat-exchange unit off into the walls of the neighbouring house to tap into the artificially-maintained temperature there.

The title text addresses some of the issues involved when trying to properly install the Neighbor-Source Heat Pump, without the neighbor realising that they are about to be leeched from in this way. It may already be quite difficult to interfere with the structure of the neighbouring house (in this case, by feeding pipes up into at least two of its wall cavities) without this being noticed once the absent neighbour returns, but to do so under the imminent risk of being observed at work by the neighbour arriving home would take [[666: Silent Hammer|even more care]] to accomplish.

While the small-scale application suggested here can thus be assumed to cause neighborly trouble, this concept has been in use on much larger scales for about the last ten years with virtually no repercussions - which is largely due to [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200908-the-buildings-warmed-by-the-human-body the tapped neighboring premises not being residential buildings]. On top of this, {{w|district heating}}, or "neighborhood heating" is a real system where a centralized heat source provides heating for multiple buildings in the neighborhood, either through a dedicated heat source (created to exploit the economies of scale) just for this purpose, or else taking waste heat from some other local amenity (e.g. a waste incinerator) that is producing sufficient quantities to spare as a side-effect of its core operation. This is humorously in contrast to to the comic where someone steals heat from one of their neighbours as one might {{w|Cable television piracy|steal Cable TV}}.

==Transcript==
:[Two houses are shown next to each other. They have almost identical facades with a base, two windows on either side of a door and a chimney to the right on the roof. But next to the left house there is a small box with two light-blue pipes going from the house to the box. From the bottom of the box two similar light-blue pipes goes a bit down under ground, the left further than the right, and then they bend to the right and goes under the neighboring house to the right. The upper pipe closest to the ground is shown to enter the wall of the right house, going almost up to the roof, and then bending sharply around going down below ground. Then it goes under ground to the other side of the house and do the same in the right wall, going up and down. Where it goes under ground, it connects to the the other pipe that has gone all the way straight under the house.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:A covertly-installed '''''Neighbor-Source Heat Pump''''' takes advantage of the fact that your neighbor keeps their house cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Physics]]

3099: Neighbor-Source Heat Pump

2025-06-07T02:39:15Z

Btx40: Add links and clean up edit collision

2025-01-14T12:55:08Z

Btx40: /* Events */ Add sortable attribute

{{comic
| number = 3034
| date = January 6, 2025
| title = Features of Adulthood
| image = features_of_adulthood_2x.png
| imagesize = 704x620px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I don't dig pit traps and cover them with sticks and a thin layer of leaves nearly as much as I expected; I find a chance to do it barely once a month.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Unexpectedly created by an adult BOT digging pit traps - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a graph comparing the (mostly) common ideas of adulthood from a young person's perspective with reality of it. The plot is fully populated, with many issues (both common and uncommon) matching expectations pretty well, as well as features that are much rarer than expected (like encounters with quicksand, crocodiles and explosives), and some very common issues that don't occur to young people, such as deciding what to eat, or dealing with weird noises and smells.

It is clear that much of the 'lower-right triangle' (things that don't come up nearly as often as expected) are ''direct'' references to fictional scenarios on film or TV, likely particularly the type of fiction that [[Randall]] consumed as a child (probably including cartoons and action movies). In contrast, the complimentary 'upper-left triangle' largely consists of the type of mundane adult activities that children don't see or notice in real life, and which often aren't interesting enough to be disproportionately common in fiction.

==Events==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Event
! Expected frequency in adulthood
! Actual frequency in adulthood
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Eating utensil etiquette#Fork etiquette|Which fork you're supposed to use for what}}
| 0%
| 0%
| Traditional, formal dining involves {{w|Fork#Types of forks|different types of forks}} for different courses of a meal. Learning {{w|Table setting#Place setting|which fork to use}} for which course might be taught in {{w|etiquette school}}, and is perceived as a signifier of social class (though this is likely an exaggerated concern). Dining has generally become less formal in Western society since the mid-20th century; as a result, most people are used to only using a single fork, or at most two, for their meals. This means that, for most people, {{tvtropes|FormalFullArrayOfCutlery|the issue rarely comes up}}, even in adulthood.
|-
| {{tvtropes|CartoonBomb|Lit fuses}}
| 40%
| 0%
| Explosives with visible lit fuses are commonly seen in movies and TV shows, particularly in cartoons. In reality, the average person is unlikely to deal with explosives at all. When explosives are used, they're usually electrically detonated, or sometimes use a concealed fuse (e.g. {{w|grenade}}s). Visible, burning fuses are sufficiently obsolete that most people will never encounter them directly.
|-
| {{tvtropes|PalatePropping|Shoving a stick}} in a {{w|crocodile}}'s mouth to wedge it open
| 80%
| 0%
| Placing a vertical stick in a crocodile’s mouth is a popular TV trope to prevent the crocodile from {{w|Crocodile attack|biting down}} (usually on the stick placer). Crocodile attacks on humans are common only in specific geographical areas, meaning that most people will never encounter them. Even when such an encounter happens, using a stick in that way would almost certainly be ineffective.
|-
| {{w|Quicksand}}
| 100%
| 0%
| Quicksand is {{tvtropes|QuicksandSucks|common in adventure fiction}}, but it's quite rare in real life (nor does it generally behave the way it's depicted in such fiction). The average person is unlikely to ever encounter it.
|-
| {{w|Car chase}}s
| 35%
| 5%
| Car chases are frequently seen in movies and TV shows involving police, including real-life police shows, but unless you're a police officer or criminal trying to evade them, you'll probably never be involved in one.
|-
| {{w|Grappling hook}}s
| 100%
| 5%
| A grappling hook is a device, typically made of metal, with multiple hooks and features to allow it to be secured to the end of a rope. It can be thrown to either grab an object at a distance and pull it toward you, or to anchor the rope to an elevated point (such as on a cliff or building) to aid in climbing. The latter use is quite common in action and adventure fiction. While such devices do exist in real life, they generally have specialty uses that the average person is unlikely to have the need for.
|-
| People offering free drugs
| 30%
| 10%
| Children being warned about illicit drugs have often been cautioned that drug dealers would inevitably approach them and offer them free drugs, in order to encourage an addiction and gain a reliable customer. In real life, drug dealers virtually never work that way, and are unlikely to part with their product unless payment has been made. Most people are introduced to drugs by friends or acquaintances, who might offer some for free, but that's only likely in specific social groups and situations.
|-
| {{w|Parachute}}s
| 80%
| 10%
| {{w|Parachuting}} allows people to jump out of planes at altitude, or from other elevated heights, and slow their descent enough to land safely. This is dramatic enough to come up often in adventure fiction. Parachutes are, of course, used in real life, but most people will only have reason to use them if they put the money and effort into recreational skydiving or {{w|BASE jumping}}.
|-
| {{w|Barrels}}
| 95%
| 10%
| Wooden or {{w|Drum (container)|metal}} storage containers are frequently used as concealment, improvised weapons and (sometimes explosive) obstacles in popular media. While barrels are actually quite common, they're large enough that the majority of people rarely have a reason to interact with them, unless they happen to work in a job that either sells or uses liquids in large quantities.
|-
| {{w|Middle name}}s
| 15%
| 20%
| A second (or occasionally also third or more) {{w|given name}}, common in some traditions. In most Anglophone countries, having a middle name is common, but most people only use them in formal situations where a full name is required (as when filling out legal documents), or if they adopt the middle name to be known by (in which case, most people will not realise this). This is true to the point where most people don't know the middle names of most of their acquaintances, or even if they have one. In consequence, both as a child and as an adult, middle names will be encountered occasionally, but not regularly.
|-
| {{w|Food fight}}s
| 50%
| 20%
| A common trope in fiction has a young people eating together (often in a cafeteria), and someone playfully begins throwing food, causing others to retaliate, until the whole room devolves into a food fight. Such a fight is inherently messy and irresponsible, but is unlikely to actually hurt anyone seriously, and so represents youthful hijinks. Such events aren't unknown in real life, but aren't necessarily pleasant (food is wasted and people might miss their meal as a result, you might end up covered in food all day, clean-up is a big job, punishments are likely to be handed out, and clothes might be permanently stained), so they aren't nearly as common as someone raised on fiction might imagine. Adults are most likely to encounter them being indulged in by the children in their life, rather than taking part themselves.
|-
| {{tvtropes|TwinSwitch|Twins switching places}}
| 90%
| 20%
| In fiction, if a pair of identical twins are introduced, it's almost inevitable that they'll trade places at some point, each trying to pass for the other, whether as a prank, or for some more serious purpose (a version of {{w|Chekhov's gun}}). Actual identical twins are quite rare (roughly 1 in 300 live births), even identical twins might not look exactly alike, and many twins get tired of being confused for one another at a young age, and so have no interest trying to trade places as adults. Frankly, a real life percentage above 0% may be a joke.
|-
| {{w|Flat tire}}s
| 10%
| 25%
| Anyone who drives or rides a vehicle with tires faces the possibility of a tire going flat, due to either wear or road damage. This is usually merely an inconvenience, as it requires stopping to change or patch the tire, but a person lacking the knowledge or equipment to do so might have to call for help and/or be stranded until help arrives. Young people tend to be aware of this possibility, but it may happen a bit more often than they'd expect.
|-
| {{w|Briefcase}}s
| 70%
| 25%
| Frequently used to carry documents and other small office equipment, they've historically been treated as part of the standard kit for a white collar worker. In fiction, they are often portrayed as {{tvtropes|BriefcaseFullOfMoney|a means to carry a large amount of cash}}, {{tvtropes|BriefcaseBlaster|conceal a firearm}}, or a {{tvtropes|MacGuffin}}. The popularity of briefcases has been declining after the 1980s. In modern times, documents are likely to be kept digitally and people are far more likely to carry a laptop bag for work than a briefcase.
|-
| {{w|Martial arts}}
| 95%
| 25%
| A child raised on action films and TV shows may assume that use of martial arts is a normal part of life for most adults. In reality, most adults aren't trained in martial arts, and those who are very rarely use them in an actual fight. Martial arts are generally encountered only in classes or competitions set up specifically for it.
|-
| {{w|Water damage}}
| 0%
| 25%
| Water getting into the wrong places can be a serious problem, causing damage to homes and other buildings, vehicles, infrastructure, and all kinds of property. Such damage can happen without much warning, can be hard to detect at first, and can be hard to deal with. While precautions are usually taken to prevent such things from getting wet, water incursion can still happen, due to weather events, flooding, plumbing leaks, accidental spills, and even condensation. Children are likely to be entirely unaware of this, but many adults have to deal with it at some point in their lives.
|-
| {{w|Backpack}}s
| 40%
| 40%
| Backpacks of various sizes are a versatile means to carry items. They are almost as popular in real life as in fiction, though the contents may be somewhat different.
|-
| My {{w|Transcript (education)|academic record}}
| 95%
| 30%
| A child's life revolves around school: it's where they spend a large fraction of their waking hours, classmates make up most of their social circle, class schedules dictate when and how they spend their free time, and parental figures often punish/reward children based on their academic performance. The child may assume that school will continue to be an ever-present all-ecompassing feature of their future life, with their grades constituting a "permanent record" that will follow them into adulthood.
In reality, academic records aren't anywhere near that important. Some entry-level jobs may consider a candidate's past grades, but they're a tertiary concern after job interviews and professional references. By the time a person reaches their late 20s, academic records become irrelevant and are supplanted by the person's professional résumé.
|-
| {{w|Adhesive}}s
| 15%
| 50%
| Adhesives such as {{w|glue}}, {{w|adhesive tape|tape}} and {{w|epoxy resin}} are used to bond items together, typically for use in arts and crafts. They also have widespread industrial applications.
|-
| {{w|Board game}}s
| 60%
| 50%
| Board games of various kinds (such as {{w|chess}}, {{w|checkers|checkers/draughts}}, {{w|Monopoly (game)|Monopoly}}, {{w|Parcheesi}}/{{w|Ludo}}, {{w|Risk (game)|Risk}}, {{w|Snakes & Ladders}}, {{w|Cluedo|Clue/Cluedo}}, {{w|Trivial Pursuit}} or [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3149/lost-valley-of-the-dinosaurs Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs]) were often a staple for family home entertainment, in the past. The use of such games has likely declined somewhat with the evolution of other entertainment options (such as video games), but they remain a popular social activity, with the number and complexity of such games having grown substantially.
|-
| Tying {{w|knot}}s
| 85%
| 40%
| There are a large number of knots, with a similar variety of uses. Knowing the right types of knots can be highly useful in certain situations, but how often those situations come up heavily depends on individual circumstances. Camping, fishing and rock-climbing require tying specialty knots quite frequently, but for people who don't have such hobbies, their use is less common. The high expected frequency suggests that [[Randall]] was encouraged to learn knots as a child, possible due to involvement in {{w|scouting}}, or some other outdoor activity, and the emphasis suggested that they'd come up a lot. When interest in knot-heavy activities wanes, the application of knots tends to fall off as well.
|-
| {{w|Cable management}}
| 0%
| 50%
| Cable management is the act of tidying up the cables in and around a computer or other device, which is an annoying but often required task for most adults. Most children are never involved in this task, and don't even realize that it exists until they're old enough to both be responsible for significant electronics and care about tidiness.
|-
| {{w|Laser}}s
| 90%
| 50%
|Lasers are common in sci-fi and spy stories. In real life, the average person will never encounter lasers as a weapon, but they do have a number of practical applications, some that nearly everyone encounters (such as bar code readers), and others that depend on occupation and hobbies (such a laser cutting and engraving). As someone who is interested in science and technology, Randall likely encounters and uses lasers much more than the average person.
|-
| Dangerous driving situations
| 40%
| 60%
| Dangerous driving situations, while existent in lots of {{w|Car chase|children's media}}, still would not be very expected to show up in real life. However, adults who drive have to worry about dangerous driving situations almost constantly to avoid accidents.
|-
| {{w|Pizza}}
| 55%
| 55%
| In the US, pizza is commonly consumed as a takeout or delivery food. it's often a favorite food for children, and is often a favorite of child-oriented characters, such as {{w|Spider-Man}} and the {{w|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles}}. Since it's convenient, filling, tasty and inexpensive, adults tend to enjoy it as well, and some eat is just as frequently as they might have expected as children.
|-
| {{w|Star Wars}}
| 80%
| 55%
| The Star Wars franchise began with the release of the eponymous film in 1977, which was followed by two sequels, and ultimately spawned a media empire of films, television shows, books, video games and merchandising which continues to this day. The series has always had appeal to both children and adults. As a childhood fan, [[Randall]] evidently expected the franchise to continue to be of importance when he was an adult. While it apparently isn't quite as prominent in his adult life as he might have expected, the franchise continues to be a significant feature in popular culture, and he seemingly [[:Category:Star Wars|remains a fan]], even decades later.
|-
| Cool toys
| 95%
| 55%
| Children love to play with cool toys, and naïvely assume they always will. Many adults still buy cool toys, but don't play with them in order to collect them in the best condition as status symbols.
|-
| {{w|Weather forecast}}s
| 10%
| 60%
| Children generally have very little interest in weather forecasts, outside of exceptional circumstances (such as snow days, or extreme weather events). [[Randall]], as an adult, takes an avid interest in weather and the process of forecasting it, and has created [[:Category:Weather|multiple strips dealing with the topic.]]
|-
| {{w|Batteries}}
| 50%
| 60%
| When Randall was a child batteries would have been a necessary but annoying reality, needed to keep toys and games operating. In contrast adult devices would normally operate on mains power. However the advent of cheap and powerful lithium-ion batteries has meant that a large variety of devices from consumer electronics to motor vehicles are now battery powered which Randall would probably not expected.
|-
| {{w|Power tools}}
| 75%
| 66%
| Children are often fascinated by power tools, and are generally not allowed to use them unsupervised (or at all), due to the risk of injury. Such a child might dream of the day when they can own and use all the tools they want. How often adults actually use power tools depends heavily on occupation and lifestyle. Someone working in a building or manufacturing trade might use them constantly, others might rarely or never find an occasion to use them.
|-
| {{w|Video game}}s
| 60%
| 75%
| During [[Randall]]'s childhood, video games were a relatively new technology, and were often dismissed as juvenile and pointless. With the passage of time, they've become increasingly common as a pastime for adults. Given the increasing complexity of electronic games, it's not uncommon for adults to spend more time on them than children.
|-
| Figuring out what to have for dinner
| 10%
| 85%
| For many children, dinner is something that just 'arrives', having been decided on and prepared by the relevant caregiver. The simple function of making a decision probably seems trivial to children, but planning meals every day (possibly multiple times a day), involves accounting for such factors as nutrition, cost, availability of ingredients, the time and effort involved (with respect to everyone's schedules) and individual taste and possible dietary restrictions (which can become complex when dealing with multiple people). Most people also want variety in their meals, so repeating a small number of dishes can quickly become boring, but managing a large number of dishes presents more challenges. This process can take up far more mental bandwidth than children are ever aware of. Additionally, the range of foodstuffs available to affluent people in Western societies has significantly increased since Randall's childhood, which may induce choice paralysis when confronted with them.
|-
| {{w|Heating, ventilation and air conditioning|HVAC}} issues
| 20%
| 80%
| HVAC is an acronym that stands for 'heating, ventilation and air conditioning.' If one owns a home, problems with the heater or air conditioner can quickly make your home very uncomfortable (too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer) and becomes something you have to deal with right away. This kind of home maintenance is often virtually invisible to children, but something adults have to think about far more frequently
|-
| {{w|Cooking}}
| 95%
| 85%
|
|-
| Secret {{w|password}}s
| 60%
| 90%
| Traditionally, in fiction, secret passwords have been portrayed as used for purposes such as espionage and admission to secret clubs. Children, accordingly, tend to think of them as an exciting part of adult life. In modern times, most people use secret passwords on a daily basis, but for more mundane purposes such as accessing websites and voicemail. Managing multiple passwords tends to become a chore, rather than a source of intrigue.
|-
| Laundry
| 75%
| 90%
|
|-
| {{w|Tax}}es
| 100%
| 90%
| One of two inevitable things in life, {{w|Death and taxes (idiom)|the other being death}}. Complaints about taxes (both their level and the effort involved in calculating them) are so common that children may grow up thinking that adults constantly have to deal with taxes, and the strip suggests that's only a mild exaggeration. For the typical American, income taxes only need to be done once a year, but taxes are generally withdrawn from every paycheck, and all major financial transactions have to be considered for tax implications. Additionally, American stores typically don't include sales tax in the listed price, so taxes have to be considered every time someone makes a purchase.
|-
| Customer service
| 40%
| 90%
|
|-
| Shopping
| 100%
| 90%
|
|-
| Unexplained smells or noises
| 5%
| 100%
| With relatively few exceptions, children tend to be oblivious to subtle noises or smells around them. Adults, however, tend to be aware that they can potentially be serious. A strange smell might indicate anything from a fire to a gas leak to mold to vehicle problems, while strange sounds could indicate mechanical or electrical problems (in a building or vehicle), or any number of other dangers. Of course, such things could also be unimportant, but that's difficult to know until you've found the source, which can be difficult to do. As a result, adults may spend a lot more time thinking about such things than children would ever expect.
|-
| Pocket radio communicators
| 75%
| 100%
| When [[Randall]] was growing up, the pocket radio communicators were mostly seen in spy fiction or science fiction, and children often dreamed of a day when such devices were available to them. In the 21st century, the ubiquity of {{w|cell phone}}s and other electronic devices means that having, carrying, and using such communicators is a nearly universal experience.
|-
| Bills
| 90%
| 100%
| Most households have to contend with electricity, water and telecommunication service bills. Children will often hear their parents complaining about having to deal with bills, and will generally find out that this task is just as common as it was presented.
|-
| Digging {{w|pit trap}}s (title text)
| N/A
| N/A
| Inside the Star Destroyer in [[1608: Hoverboard]] we see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fd/1608_1055x1090y_Trap_covered_with_leaves_and_flying_Ponytail_at_bottom_of_hull.png Cueball cover a pit trap with leaves], so this is something Randall actually thinks about sometimes!
|}

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

:[Shown is a scatter plot, with arrowed labels on the axes:]
:Y axis label: How often it comes up in my adult life
:X axis label: How often I expected it to come up in my adult life

:[First row of items (comes up very often, from least to most expected):]
:Unexplained smells or noises; customer service; pocket radio communicators; bills; shopping
:[Items row by row from the second row onwards:]
:Figuring out what to have for dinner; HVAC issues; secret passwords; laundry; cooking; taxes
:Weather forecasts; batteries; video games; power tools
:Cable management; dangerous driving situations; pizza; Star Wars; lasers; cool toys
:Adhesives; board games; tying knots
:Water damage; backpacks; my academic record
:Flat tires; briefcases; martial arts
:Middle names; people offering free drugs; food fights; parachutes; twins switching places; barrels
:[Last row (comes up very rarely, from least to most expected):]
:Which fork you're supposed to use for what; car chases; lit fuses; shoving a stick in a crocodile's mouth to wedge it open; grappling hooks; quicksand

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Board games]]
[[Category:Animals]]

3034: Features of Adulthood