explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3059: Water Damage

2025-03-06T18:41:35Z

Calpurnia Tate:

I suppose that there'd be no way to make a 'no fault' claim on your policy. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.248|141.101.98.248]] 18:22, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
: Bravo![[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.15|172.70.163.15]] 09:57, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Will I have to buy a lithospheric humidifier if I live in a boat? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.190.58|172.71.190.58]] 18:54, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

So is this a series now? Should we make a tag? [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 18:56, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

: Probably so. Maxwell's Demon was made a category with only three examples, so I don't see why subduction can't also be a category with 1194, 1388, 1829, 2616, 3021, 3059, and almost 2987. [[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 09:00, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:: Made a category for that with everything on your list except for 2987. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:50, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
um guys, you might wanna check the new what if video [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 19:04, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

What is going on with the templates? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 19:28, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

He's on a real geology kick lately huh. Unfortunately zero of them are funny. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.238|162.158.154.238]] 19:32, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
:Are you kidding? He rocks! Igneously, sedimentarily ''and'' metamorphically! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.4|172.69.195.4]] 21:04, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
::Oh, you mean ingeniously, sentimentally, and metaphorically. Yes. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 02:53, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Ponytail is likely wrong here. Water leads to partial melting of the mantle above the slab, not the crust itself. [[User:Rhesus|Rhesus]] ([[User talk:Rhesus|talk]]) 08:15, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

An insurance company could totally defraud millions of Home and business owners by selling too cheap earthquake and volcano insurance with really long lifetimes before installing lithospheric dehumidifiers to make those phenomenons extremely rare. Homeowners beware! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.36|162.158.103.36]] 13:29, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Could we make a category for house related things, with comics like this one and the fridge one and the life hacks series? genuine question I don't fully understand categories.--[[User:Calpurnia Tate|Calpurnia Tate]] ([[User talk:Calpurnia Tate|talk]]) 13:55, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:It can be done (not by me, but I've probably seen well over half the comic-category categories created). If you think that it's useful, I would suggest:
:*Either here, below, or in the Community Portal pages, lay out your case.
:*It helps if you suggest a name (or several alternatives) to encompass what you think is "a subject". Could be ''really'' broad ("Houses"), but I think you're looking to something a lot tighter. (Not quite knowing what you have in mind, so far, I'll wait until I see your next step before seriously suggesting/critiquing the possible choice(s)...)
:*List the candidate comics. Obviously [[3059: Water Damage]], and very likely [[3037: Radon]], but "the fridge one" immediately reminds me of two different ones you could mean, for different reasons (possibly you'd want them both, and other 'fridge ones' I'm currently not counting!). My inkling is that ''some'' of the Life Hacks are relevent to your idea (e.g. [[1494: Insurance]], but maybe not for that reason), though not others. And maybe checking the existing [[:Category:Tips]] (or similar) will add some (but not all) of that Cat to your list. ...in short demonstrate that "house related things" is a sane group (to which we can also attach a sane name).
:*There's several people here who I know will see the fleshed out idea and might well implement it (hopefully not before others have chance to provide feedback, and... dare I suggest it... I might pop back up with steering suggestiions!). Certainly more likely to do so when justified. You should ''not'' (though people do) just add <nowiki>[[Some Category Name]]</nowiki> to the bottom of pages, seemingly at random, and hope someone will un-Redlink this Cat for you after the fact (it's harder to check what you're thinking of including).
:*As and when it ''is'' set up, the resulting Cat-listing page can be freely nicified, maybe made a member of a some super-Cat, other categories made members of ''it'' and any further comics that you (and others) had accidentally not noted as equivalent can be added so easily. But we need to know where to start from. Which is up to you. (Or, having posited the possibility, someone else may jump in with a convincing grouping ...no guarantee it'll match what you think, though.)
:Not the only way to procede (nor necessarily the most thorough), but a way which covers most of the bases. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.245|172.70.91.245]] 15:53, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
::A couple of possible suggestions that are a little more specific than 'House-related':
::* 'Building Inspection' would cover these two and the fractal building plan one, but probably not the others mentioned
::* 'Home Improvements' might (debatably) cover these and the one where where he's trying to use 'reverse aircon' to cool down the outside (was this 'the fridge one'?)
::::''insert'': Forgot that one! Ok, adding that to my list of possibly intended ones, together with a fourth that occured to me only as I clicked Save Changes... I'm not too far off suggesting a "Fridges" Cat, now..! ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.178|141.101.98.178]] 16:38, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
::Can't think of anything that would cover all those indicated without being too vague as a category, though.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.109|172.70.163.109]] 16:29, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:Ok! I haven't figured what the name should be, I'm just calling it houses until I can come up with something better. I got the idea from noticing that recently there have been a couple of comics relating to houses ([[3051: Hardwood]] [[3037: Radon]]) And I was also thinking of [[1077: Home Organization]] and [[1567: Kitchen Tips]]--[[User:Calpurnia Tate|Calpurnia Tate]] ([[User talk:Calpurnia Tate|talk]]) 18:41, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3059: Water Damage

2025-03-06T18:41:11Z

Calpurnia Tate:

Talk:3059: Water Damage

2025-03-06T13:55:08Z

Calpurnia Tate:

2998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects

2024-10-28T14:12:52Z

Calpurnia Tate: fixed typo

{{comic
| number = 2998
| date = October 14, 2024
| title = Ravioli-Shaped Objects
| image = ravioli_shaped_objects_2x.png
| imagesize = 608x569px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's a real accomplishment to mess up a ravioli recipe badly enough that the resulting incident touches all four quadrants of the NFPA hazard diamond.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Ravioli}} are a kind of stuffed {{w|pasta}} comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough, commonly square shaped, and serving as the object of this comic's table, which can be seen as a kind of {{w|confusion matrix}}. This comic compares four ravioli-shaped objects (square shaped objects with bulging cross-sections due to their filling) with some common actions associated with them. See the [[#Table of ravioli objects|table]] below.

The title text refers to the {{w|NFPA 704}} diagram for hazardous materials, a diamond figure put out by the {{w|National Fire Protection Association}} showing four kinds of fire hazards. A ravioli that touched all four quadrants would be a health hazard, fire hazard, and demonstrate (chemical) reactivity, and have some other miscellaneous hazard(s). The NFPA diamond was previously mentioned in [[2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond]].

===Table of ravioli objects===
{| class="wikitable" | style="background:#E6C3C3;"
! Ravioli-Shaped Objects
! scope="col"| Eat with a fork
! scope="col"| Rest your head on
! scope="col"| Puncture and slurp
! scope="col"| Install in your phone
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Ravioli}}
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"|Ravioli pasta would indeed be suitable to be eaten with a fork, as shown.
|Ravioli pasta is not structurally strong enough to support the weight of a human head while reclining, and would break and spill its filling over one's head and the object one is resting on. It may also be covered in sauce, adding to the general mess.
|style="background:#FBF8CE;"|If the ravioli filling is fluid enough, one could slurp it out with a straw. This would waste the pasta component, if it were not eaten afterwards.
|Phones are not meant to run on ravioli. Stuffing a phone with a ravioli would cause it to break as shown, spilling the filling through the phone, which is a terrible idea.

There is a mobile app named Ravioli, but it is quite unlikely that Randall had that in his mind.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Throw pillow}}
|Throw pillows are made of cloth and are inedible, whether one uses a fork or not.
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"|A throw pillow is meant to be used as head support while reclining on furniture.
|Throw pillows do not usually have liquids inside them. Hence, Cueball finds, to his dismay, that it's empty.
|Throw pillows are significantly bigger than phones and as such can't fit inside them, nor can typical pillows power them. As depicted, the attempt to force a pillow inside the phone has split the latter in half; the top half of the phone is visible on top of the pillow, and a bit of the bottom half can be seen beneath it.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Capri Sun}}
|Eating a pouch of sweetened juice with a fork would most likely simply pierce the pouch and spill the liquid all over Cueball.
|style="background:#FBF8CE;"|A Capri Sun would serve as a waterbed of sorts, and wouldn't be unduly uncomfortable in a pinch. However, it's still possible that the pouch could rupture and leave you with a sticky head and no support.
|style="background:#C5E6C3;"|Capri Suns are meant to be drunk like this, and are enjoyed by many.{{citation needed}}
|The phone shown is surrounded by spilled Capri Sun, implying that the attempt to force the two together punctured the pouch. The resulting spillage would most likely just result in the surface of the phone becoming annoyingly sticky, but if the liquid managed to get inside the phone (especially if the cover had been removed to try to put it in the compartment that usually holds the battery) it could cause a more significant and difficult to clean mess. Once actual power is provided (either an actual battery being subsequently used or the device offered external power by cable or inductance charger), the remaining residue could cause any number of further faults, and perhaps even critical component damage.
|-
! scope="row"| Bulging {{w|Lithium-ion battery|Lithium Battery}}
|Bulging lithium batteries are explosive hazards and should not be punctured lest they explode. Additionally the contents of the battery are toxic if one were to somehow manage to eat the burning bits of the battery.
|A lithium battery is a small, hard object, and a bulging one is no exception. Since the bulging comes from a buildup of heat and gas, (the primary gases being hydrogen and carbon dioxide), it would also be a constant fire hazard, which would not be conducive to relaxation.{{cn}} Lithium battery themed throw pillows, which bulge similarly to such batteries, do exist as a novelty item. Notably, these types of batteries are often referred to as "spicy pillows".
|Similarly to the 'eat with a fork' example, puncturing a bulging lithium battery is a bad idea.
|A bulging lithium battery ''could'' be installed in a phone, if one is willing to break the phone a bit (like the screen in the comic) to accommodate the bulging of the battery. More commonly, bulging batteries form inside the phone itself; if you don't usually have reason to charge or store it separately, you might only notice the problem when it causes the case or screen (shown as partly cracked, in the image) to distort significantly. In [[1422: My Phone is Dying]], [[Beret Guy]]'s phone is expanding. Although in his case it is not the normal bulging battery that causes this.
Upon noticing the bulging of a battery, it is strongly suggested that you uninstall it from the device it is in. It is at least no longer good at holding/delivering its power, and may even become at least as {{w|Lithium-ion battery#Fire hazard|hazardous}} as when used in all the other scenarios, so you should [https://www.reading.ac.uk/health-safety-services/fire-safety/lithium-battery-information/i-have-a-swollen-lithium-ion-battery-what-should-i-do ignore it at your peril].
|}

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

:[A 4x4 grid of squares. The columns are labeled: Eat with a fork, rest your head on, puncture and slurp, install in your phone. The rows are: Ravioli, throw pillow, Capri Sun, bulging lithium battery. Each row has an image of each respective item above the title, with the words “Home Sweet Home” on the throw pillow, and “Fruit” on the Capri Sun.]

Top-Left
:Ravioli, eat with a fork: [green]
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He is eating from a plate from ravioli.]
::Cueball: ''Nom Nom Nom''

Top Mid-Left
:Ravioli, Rest your head on: [red]
::[Cueball is lying down on a couch with ravioli smooshed on his head and the couch. Ravioli bits can be seen on the ground]
::Cueball: Eww.

Top Mid-Right
:Ravioli, puncture and slurp: [yellow]
::[Cueball is slurping from a ravioli through a straw. In front of him is table with two plates, presumably with ravioli on them.]
::''Slurp''

Top-Right
:Ravioli, Install in your phone: [red]
::[A phone is shown with bits of ravioli sticking out and tomato sauce is dripping out.]

Top-Mid Left
:Throw pillow, eat with a fork: [red]
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He is poking with a fork at a throw pillow covered in tomato sauce.]
::''Poke poke''

Top-Mid Mid-Left
:Throw pillow, rest your head on: [green]
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and is lying on a couch. His head is resting on a throw pillow.]

Top-Mid Mid-Right
:Throw pillow, puncture and slurp: [red]
::[Cueball is sucking on a straw that is inserted in a pillow.]
::Cueball: Aw man, this one is empty.

Top-Mid Right
:Throw pillow, install in your phone: [red]
::[A phone is shown on a throw pillow that has the words “Home Sweet Home” partially obscured.]

Bottom-Mid Left
:Capri Sun, eat with a fork: [red]
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He has stabbed a Capri Sun on a plate and is now splattered with juice.]

Bottom-Mid Mid-Left
:Capri Sun, rest your head on: [yellow]
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and is lying on a couch. His head is resting on a Capri Sun.]
::Cueball: Honestly kind of comfortable.

Bottom-Mid Mid-Right
:Capri Sun, puncture and slurp: [green]
::[Cueball is drinking from a Capri Sun through a straw.]
::''Sluuurp''

Bottom-Mid Right
:Capri Sun, Install in your phone: [red]
::[A phone is shown to be squishing a Capri Sun. Juice is trickling out.]

Bottom Left
:Bulging lithium battery, eat with a fork: [red]
::[An explosion bordered by 4 skull and crossbones.]

Bottom Mid-Left
:Bulging lithium battery, rest your head on: [red]
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and lying on his couch. His head is resting on a smoldering battery.]
::Cueball: This fire hazard is uncomfortable.

Bottom Mid-Right
:Bulging lithium battery, puncture and slurp: [red]
::[An explosion bordered by 4 skull and crossbones.]

Bottom Right
:Bulging lithium battery, install in your phone: [red]
::[A phone with a bulging back, presumably from the bulging lithium battery. The phone’s screen is cracked in the center.]

==Trivia==
Surprisingly, the bottom right square was [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/4/4f/20241019165156%21ravioli_shaped_objects_2x.png initially marked in  green ] rather than  red  (or  yellow ) when it was first uploaded. This square may have been marked in green because, although putting a bulging battery in a mobile phone is not normal usage, it is a situation that can ''arise'' from normal usage when a "healthy" battery begins to fail. One other suggestion was that this was an [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd phone]], and a dodgy battery is part of a 'feature', such as an 'integrated hand warmer' or 'dynamic expansion').

More likely, it was just because Randall automatically went with the default association of "Row N is appopriate for Column N", as is his [[:Category:Confusion matrices|usual design]] for these comics, to which he adds adjustments for other surprises, exceptions and outright jokes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Phones]]

Talk:2931: Chasing

2024-05-17T00:34:18Z

Calpurnia Tate: whale explanation

Weather permitting, the aurora borealis may be visible from northern US tonight. I wonder if that inspired this comic. There's also a new "Twister" sequel coming out this summer, which is about tornado chasers. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:14, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

Sadly, given last month's event, "Total Solar Eclipse" is not on the chart. With the changing clouds over Texas on eclipse day, many were driving around figuring out where best to watch from. I would put it at the top of the chart and almost fully to the right. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.61|172.68.34.61]] 21:41, 10 May 2024 (UTC)
:I'm ''astonished'' that solar eclipses aren't in this comic or the title text. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 22:42, 10 May 2024 (UTC)
:: Yeah, I would replace Tornados with that TSE. Tornados might be exciting in person, and people might be chasing them, but they are more terrifying than exciting. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.187|172.70.246.187]] 08:11, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

I feel like Randall is selling Ice Cream Trucks short. [[User:Doctorhook|Doctorhook]] ([[User talk:Doctorhook|talk]]) 02:56, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
:I strongly disagree with this chart, about the possibility of chasing the Grand Canyon & the international dateline. Owing to length & downhill grade of the former, & timing sensitive nature of the latter.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 03:02, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
::What 'timing sensitive nature' of the latter? Apart from {{w|International Date Line#Historic alterations|historic changes}}, and lacking any further proposed ones, you're just talking about a discontinuity effect that happens ''continuously''.
::Unless you mean timing it for an hour (or maybe two, or more, depending upon less straightforward TZ-abuttal??) every day, you can perhaps step/paddle back and forth between "very late night" on one date and "very early in the morning" on the next-but-one date. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.62|172.69.195.62]] 09:39, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

Uhhh, isn't it an activity to take donkeys down into the Grand Canyon? That feels not all that different than the convoy thing - pretty sure it IS similarly done in groups, and that it's indeed to see the place better... :) And that radios would be advisable. And I've never even been anywhere near there! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:11, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
:I would moreso call that exploring than chasing. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.72|172.69.214.72]] 13:55, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

Seems to have completely missed the eclipse chasers all over the US recently :D [[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.187|172.70.246.187]] 08:08, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
:You could say "they've been eclipsed"... (Which is what they all want!) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.62|172.69.195.62]] 09:39, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

I believe I read about a plan to chase the interstellar object 'Oumuamua, which would be like chasing a comet but even more so. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.70|162.158.38.70]] 20:17, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

Speaking as someone who lives where there are none of the former and many of the latter, seeing a possum would be much more exciting than seeing a hot air balloon.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.29|172.70.90.29]] 09:21, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
: Ok, not hot-air, but: https://projectpossum.org/research/balloon-nlc-imagery/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 10:51, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

For the whale explanation, don't scientists chase whales as well?--[[User:Calpurnia Tate|Calpurnia Tate]] ([[User talk:Calpurnia Tate|talk]]) 00:34, 17 May 2024 (UTC)
== Number of Apollo astronauts ==

Are we counting unique individuals or total visits? There were six landings with two astronauts each, but someone went twice? {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.249|20:48, 11 May 2024}}
:Nobody doubled up. 6x2=12. (Some went on up to three separate 'walks'/drives away from their craft, but no-one landed twice.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 21:59, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

::Arguably the crews of Apollos 8, 10, and 13 also visited the Moon; As did the Command Module Pilots on the six missions with landings. These guys all got 99.9+% of the way there, and while they didn't touch it, nor did the twelve guys who landed (none of whom were brave enough to take their gloves off while outside the LEM).

::In this extended group of lunar visitors, there were some double ups, e.g. Jim Lovell, who was on Apollos 8 and 13. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.3|172.68.210.3]] 22:55, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

::You could also say that many of them got 100.1-% of the way there, when they orbited around the far side. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.99|172.70.211.99]] 00:35, 12 May 2024 (UTC)

:: In total, 24 people '''went''' to the moon on 9 trips (Apollo missions 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17), with 12 men actually landing, walking and driving around, and leaving (Apollo missions 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17). There were 3 people who flew there twice, but nobody landed more than once, ''yet''. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 18:44, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

I so much want to include Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.130|172.69.71.130]] 14:46, 12 May 2024 (UTC)