explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

User talk:42.book.addict

2024-11-29T13:03:56Z

CategoryGeneral: Not XKCD-related.

<center>'''Archive 1'''</center>
<center>[[File:archive.png]]</center>
<center>For old and irrelevant messages, see my [[User talk:42.book.addict/archive|archive!]]</center>

== introductions ==
Just replying to your message (also dw no big deal for bothering me)
You click on your username and there should be an edit box. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 04:58, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:it says that i dont have permission to create the page…
:There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. it says [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:33, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

I think you might have to wait some time (like a timer) until you can edit your own page... I think I only got to edit my page after 1 month of creating my account.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 21:31, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:ok, thx [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

My guess on where you live is somewhere in the GMT zone, so United Kingdom.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 03:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:nope, im a california girl :) ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 05:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

lol you never know with utc times --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 16:52, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

== Depends what you wanted to do... ==

Is the following what you intended? 
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = [[{{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}}]] | float = left }} 
{{clear}}...or is even the [[]] part not what you want?{{clear}}
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = {{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}} | float = left }} 
{{clear}}As brief a guide as I can manage:
*URL links use []. Although literal https://www.google.com will self-link without ''any'' wikimarkup, you probably don't want it to look like that most of the time.
** Just give the URL, as in <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com]</nowiki></code>, to get a [https://www.google.com] (i.e. a reference number), not the best way to do it. It can be organised better with a 'References' section, but we don't do that here (they do on wikipedia, but usually with other bits to it.
** Better to give the URL and the text to use (after a space, a character that never appears raw in any proper URL). This can be <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!]</nowiki></code> or even <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]</nowiki></code>, to give [https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!] or [https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]... But perhaps best not to do the latter too much (I really didn't want to post that without the "(only kidding!)" part, in fact.)
*Internalised wikilinks use the [[]]s.
**Anything that can be found under the title, e.g. "2: Petit Trees (sketch)" (or, because of redirections, "2" and "Petit Trees (sketch)" go to the same spot, so <code><nowiki>[[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]</nowiki></code> gives you the literal links [[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]
**Or use <code><nowiki>[[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]</nowiki></code>, additional text separated by the 'pipe' symbol (i.e. "|"), to link to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]
**You can also link across to articles on other 'wikimedia family' sites, but I'm not going to try to summarise that, as the primary reason to do that is to go to an actual Wikipedia article, and there's a template set up to do that ''very'' nicely, already (and also a few other places, like Wiktionary, and some not-really-wikis with a similar philosphy like TVTropes). If in doubt, do it as a URL link ''or'' find a place where someone else has clearly markuped a link to the same site as you want to link to.
*So, anyway, Wikilink templates use the {{template|w}}-template, with one or two paramaters (pipe-separated). (It shortcuts the thing you'd maybe use [[]]s for
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link to "{{w|Article}}" (it capitalises the first character, even if you don't)
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article|with alternate text}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link there but "{{w|article|with alternate text}}"
**If the article name has whitespace (or other 'URL-unfriendly' characters) in it, those characters in the URL (which you wouldn't want to use) will be rendered as something URL-friendly. The URL for "Whitespace (programming language)", for example, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) but you wouldn't normally use that so literally in any case, and definitely not when you can significanty shorten it with the {{template|w}} notation.
***What you can do is (without 'alternate link text') render it as <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}}</nowiki></code> - i.e. {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}} - but that's not nice to see 'rendered raw' when you ''want'' the spaces. You could give it alternate text via <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> to give {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}} ...but that's wasteful and unnecessary.
***Instead, just do <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> (that's the literal copy of the article's own page title, from the rendered page) - and shows as {{w|Whitespace (programming language)}} - which is good. Although <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> might be the best way to seemlessly link to {{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}} ...depends what you want to appear there.
***And you can link to header anchors pretty much ''like'' the URL of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language)#History by using <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> to have you show {{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}} or whatever else you might want to use.
**Also, for the use of a link which is singular but which you would like to include as the plural (usually the "...s" or "...es" version), you could use article-name first parameter and ''pluralised'' article name as second, but instead of <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural|Plurals}}</nowiki></code>, for a link to the {{w|Plural|Plurals}}, you can save yourself a lot of effort by doing <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural}}s</nowiki></code> to also give you a linke to {{w|Plural}}s. Magic, eh? And it also works with <code><nowiki>{{w|Ox}}en</nowiki></code> to link the different standard plural of {{w|Ox}}en to the article for "Ox" (better than linking to the word for {{w|Oxen}}, which ends up redirecting to {{w|Ox}} anyway).
...so, anyway, that's the basics. And a few not-so-basics. So if the solutions to your tagging issue aren't already solved (or even if they are!), you might have enough info here to kludge it into whatever form of infobox info text you ''really'' wanted to use. Ok? Probably far too much info for you to absorb in one go, but covers loads of interesting possibilities. About the only thing you don't want to do is wikilink straight to the word "trans", at that'll be a disambiguation page. And there's also no way (or reason?) to use the terms "trans man"/"trans woman" as the pluralised "trans men"/"trans women" versions via the "directly add the plural suffix" thing, of course. :P Anyway, FYI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.217|162.158.38.217]] 20:40, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
::oh my god thank you so much [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:38, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

== You're doing several edits of signed Talk contributions. ==

Don't do that. Insofar as any edit 'belongs' to anyone, if you write a contribution to a Talk page (or the community portal) and sign it properly, and it isn't actual span or vandalism or similar idiocy, then you don't expect someone to 'correct' what you wrote.

In at least one case, you didn't even understand it enough to correct it (by the standards of your own attempted correction). So perhaps just a better idea not to. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.87|141.101.98.87]] 22:54, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
:I’m cleaning up the maintenance pages and I did those edits so that we don’t have dead links on the wiki. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 01:07, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
::also, I’ve added a comment clarifying the {{Citation needed}} thread [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 01:26, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
:::There are plenty of dead links. Sometimes for practical reasons. I note that you have done a lot of editing, recently, and cleaning up articles is good, but I think you're being told that you're taking it too far to mess with other people's words that are ''supposed'' to be their own, rather than the more collaborative pages.
:::For the [[Citation needed]], perhaps the editor did not want that page to have a "Pages with Citation Needed" link to it (could have used the more literal ''<nowiki>[Citation needed]</nowiki>'', or similar). Or perhaps they didn't even want the meta-tag appearing in superscript and italics at all. You don't know their mind.
:::For the [[Padlock]], the (apparent) original author came back and corrected your so-called correction back again. Not reason to be edited, anyway, even if they hadn't been sure what they intended. (I note some minor typos in that explanation. But I wouldn't dive in and make such corrections either, in a Talk namespace page like that.) Trivial, and not your concern anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.131|172.70.86.131]] 07:22, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
::::Duly noted. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:10, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

== CG acounts ==

Hi 42.

I have now had time to look into the whole CG account situation and have reacted and commented both to them and to the message on my talk page. Thanks for the good work. I will give the CG a week to react. Then I will decide next week what to do about them based on their reactions. You are welcome to let me know if they do something stupid in the mean time and also if you know of more CG accounts than the ones I have been alerted to (as seen in my newest reply.)

I did change your talk page because it was made so it was easy to see what comments where left but hard to find them. And it also hid new edits and I do not think a users talk page should hide what people have written, also not if complaints. Seems you have been editing a bit too much on talk pages... But also that you have learned what not to edit?

Best regards
--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:48, 29 September 2024 (UTC
:Great-glad that’s resolved. I changed back the “hidden comments” thing because it doesn’t make it impossible to access again-you just need to scroll down and click “old squabbles”. I have made a habit of moving comments out of it whenever I receive a message-that’s less tedious than having such a long and irrelevant talk page. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:30, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:It's apparently that different CGs are in charge of different parts of the wiki. e. g. GonscriptGuide and GonscriptGlossary are for language-related pages. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.71|172.69.194.71]] 02:53, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

I want to re-raise and join the concern raised by others that the "hidden comments" / "old squabbles" thing is a bad idea, and possibly completely unacceptable. It makes your page hard to navigate and unlike every other Talk page, and generally makes it impossible to find things for anyone not extremely familiar with your particular mechanism, which seems to be unique to you. Even knowing you have an "old squabbles" link to click, I have trouble finding it and get annoyed and frustrated, and that makes me annoyed and frustrated with you, even if I should not be. I do not think you want people annoyed and frustrated with you. I strongly recommend you remove it. Put your "old squabbles" on an archive page or remove them entirely, but please don't veil them in this fashion. Thank you. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:54, 2 October 2024 (UTC)
:Hi, personally I don't really give a shit about the "old squabbles" like I see why people are annoyed by it (see one of the converstions in "old squabbles) but I don't really see why its a a big deal. This is what I'd do. If you REALLY don't wanna get rid of it, I would make it bigger, like a heading, and put it were the "old squabbles" used to be. That way if someones looking for it, the link is obvious and is were the origanals used to be. I think that would be a pretty good compromise, but you can take what I've said with a grain of salt as I'm not one of the people whom have a problem with it. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 14:02, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
::Alsos just saw your break post, good for you!! :) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 14:07, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
::[[User talk:42.book.addict/archive|Archived.]] [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:17, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

== Adding the "please sign"/etc comments. ==

I really {{diff|352542|wasn't suggesting}} that anyone go into every Talk page and 'update' it just with the guide comment. It's the kind of thing I have tried to do if I (think I) have good cause to be editing the page (usually to fix someone's very recent non-signing).

Like I said, it's all just a partial/sticking-plaster solution, and often enough seems not to be read/remembered ''anyway''. The returns on blanket-editing pretty much everything are low, probably not really worth spending your time on. (Something else may 'need' to be done tomorrow, which means loads of premature edits were done that could have waited a bit longer and saved server-resources.) You're eager to help, I know that. You ''might'' be being overeager. Pace youself, perhaps? ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.23|141.101.98.23]] 18:23, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

== didn't your user page originally say she/they? ==

Why did you remove it [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 06:58, 11 October 2024 (UTC)
:Does it matter? Anyone can say anything and (page history aside) unsay anything. It shouldn't bother you to have been said, ''nor'' to have had it (and anything else) removed.
:42: Sorry to interject before you do. You can remove ''this'' bit (definitely my reply, if not CC's whole question) if you consider it an issue not worth persisting on your pages. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.202|141.101.99.202]] 08:23, 11 October 2024 (UTC)
:What I put on my user page my choice. I can remove it if I want, I can add things if I want. If you want to know the reason why, please check the editing history of my user page. Thanks, 141.101.99.202. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:20, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

==find the secret message C:==


== I can't edit it, myself, so... ==

In {{diff|352951|this edit}}, you shuffled up a 'demonstration' version of {{template|Citation needed}} into the preceding word, as if it were an actual one rather than a demonstrative one. Actually, I think that the proper change would be to (with a space to both sides) make it <code><nowiki>{{template|Citation needed}}</nowiki></code>, like I did just here, but I'll let you decide. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.108|172.70.90.108]] 05:42, 16 October 2024 (UTC)
:Oops. Fixed now. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:02, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

== User talk page deletion ==

Hi.

Why do you want to delete my talk page? [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Pere_prlpz&oldid=336267&diff=cur] --[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 22:53, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Hi, sorry. I was looking through [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|Sqrt-1’s contributions]] since they had a habit of creating pages purely to not have a red link. I was looking though their old edits and tagging any unused and unnecessary user/talk pages with Category:Pages to delete. I’ll revert it, if you wish. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:57, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
::Never mind, you’ve already reverted it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:13, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

== Wow ==
Wow, I've just reached the top of the [[Main Page]] leaderboard. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 13:02, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

User talk:42.book.addict

2024-11-29T12:55:25Z

CategoryGeneral: Undo revision 358181 by ConscriptGlossary (talk)

User talk:42.book.addict

2024-11-29T12:42:16Z

CategoryGeneral: This is not XKCD-related

Category talk:Periodic table

2024-11-29T12:38:38Z

CategoryGeneral:

'''Note for editors:''' Periodic table comics, as well as those with chemical equations, would almost unavoidably contain lowercase letters, due to IUPAC's strict rules. If you see a lowercase letter, use the [[:Category:Comics with lowercase text]]. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 12:37, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Category talk:Periodic table

2024-11-29T12:37:27Z

CategoryGeneral: Many have forgotten this.

'''Note for editors:''' Periodic table comics would almost unavoidably contain lowercase letters, due to IUPAC's strict rules. If you see a lowercase letter, use the [[:Category:Comics with lowercase text]]. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 12:37, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

2975: Classical Periodic Table

2024-11-29T12:32:10Z

CategoryGeneral: The FAQ says Trivia should be under Transcript.

{{comic
| number = 2975
| date = August 21, 2024
| title = Classical Periodic Table
| image = classical_periodic_table_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x530px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Personally I think mercury is more of a 'wet earth' hybrid element.
}}

==Explanation==
An element is a basic atomic building block of the physical world. Ancient civilizations believed in a small number of broad elements. The most famous are the {{w|classical element|classical (Hellenistic) elements}} of earth, fire, air, water, and sometimes a fifth element such as "void", "ether", or "quintessence". The Chinese {{w|Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|wuxing}} system was a bit different, dropping air and adding elements for wood and metal. Such elemental theories fell out of favor as alchemists and later scientists began to discover what we now recognize as the atomic model, and today 118 elements are recognized and organized into the {{w|Periodic Table of Elements}}.

Here, Randall has taken a modern periodic table and merged and color-coded the modern elements to represent the four classical elements, leaving only the edges and boundaries between dissimilar regions. Gaseous elements such as hydrogen are colored light blue for "air". Bromine and mercury, the two elements that remain liquid at room temperature and pressure, are colored dark blue for "water". Radioactive elements along the bottom of the table whose isotopes have only extremely short half-lives are red for "fire", with the rest of the chart filled in brown for "earth". The "earth" region includes many elements which are radioactive but have isotopes whose half-lives are greater than 1 day. (All elements also have radioactive isotopes with much shorter half-lives, but most of the universe's supply of any given element will tend to be its longest-lived isotope, since others rapidly decay.)

The title text says that mercury should be classified as "wet earth". While it's a liquid, it has a very high surface tension so even large drops will stick together and may seem almost like a gel. Additionally, as evidenced by a {{w|Pseudoscience|very trustworthy source}}[https://what-if.xkcd.com/50/], mercury (at room temperature) is functionally a solid for many fluid purposes, including boating.
===Table Sections===
{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Section in Randall’s Table
! scope="col" | Symbol
! scope="col" | Periodic table groups
! scope="col" | Elements contained
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Air || A || All noble gases and most reactive nonmetals || Hydrogen, Helium, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon, Chlorine, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, Radon || These elements are a gas at room temperature, so they are grouped into "air".
|-
| Water || W || One metal and one nonmetal || Bromine, Mercury || These elements are liquid at room temperature, so they are grouped into “water”.
|-
| Fire || F || One alkali metal and many synthetic metals || Astatine, Francium, Nobelium, Lawrencium, Rutherfordium, Dubnium, Seaborgium, Bohrium, Hassium, Meitnerium, Darmstadtium, Roentgenium, Copernicium, Nihonium, Flerovium, Moscovium, Livermorium, Tennessine, Oganesson || These are all highly radioactive metals (with perhaps an exception for astatine and oganesson, which may be metalloids or nonmetals) with the most stable isotope having a half-life less than one day and a tendency to violently decompose, hence they are classified as "fire". Any unshielded exposure to them tends to include severe burns, be they radiation or otherwise.
|-
| Earth || E || Most metals and metalloids || All other elements || Most of the periodic table consists of solid metals (and a few solid metalloids and nonmetals) which collectively make up most of the planet "{{w|Earth}}" and the life-forms living on it (in combination with each other and several of the marked non-earth elements).
|}

In actual chemistry, the symbol "W" is used for tungsten (from the germanic "Wolfram", taken from the traditional name of the ore-stone that tungsten was originally found in; "Tungsten" is of swedish origin) and "F" is the symbol for fluorine (its latin-derived name was coined for how its common minerals were used to help other smelted ores to 'flow', by lowering the melting point of the mixture). There are no chemical elements currently given the letters "A" or "E", although there are a number of two-character symbols that start with these (and also "F", but none for "W"). Argon, erbium and einsteinium were at certain times (and places) symbolically just their initial letters alone, however, in juxtoposition to "Wo" once having been used for wolfram.

The classical elements (and, as early chemistry developed, some of the earliest known current periodic-table elements) were often given pictorial symbols as a shorthand/code as befit the select, exclusive and secretive nature of that time's alchemical arts. Just one of these representations used a figurative set of triangles: upward-pointing for air and fire, downward-pointing for earth and water, with air and earth having a line across, to give 🜁, 🜂, 🜃 and 🜄.

This comic is similar to [[2913: Periodic Table Regions]], which also groups elements using unconventional methods. The classical elements have been a topic of previous comics, such as [[965: Elements]]

==Transcript==
:[Header:]
:Classical Periodic Table

:[A diagram in the shape of the periodic table of elements is split into labeled colored regions. Each region is labeled with a large letter over a word in smaller letters. The colored regions are discontinuous with respect to the elements they cover.]

:[The regions and colors are as follows:]
:* A: Air: light blue: Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Chlorine, and the noble gases.
:* W: Water: dark blue: Bromine and Mercury.
:* F: Fire: red-orange: Astatine, Francium, and everything from Nobelium onwards (radioactive).
:* E: Earth: brown: everything else, covers majority of the diagram.

==Trivia==

* In Randall's first What-If book, it is explained that a 1-liter (sides of 10 cm / ~3.94 inches) cube of Astatine, which cannot exist under standard conditions, would "immediately turn into a column of superheated gas" which would destroy roughly a city block.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Periodic table]]

2723: Outdated Periodic Table

2024-11-29T12:26:29Z

CategoryGeneral: I'm sorry, but I really hate advertising.

{{comic
| number = 2723
| date = January 11, 2023
| title = Outdated Periodic Table
| image = outdated_periodic_table_2x.png
| imagesize = 360x350px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Researchers claim to have synthesized six additional elements in the second row, temporarily named 'pentium' through 'unnilium'.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic shows figure 6.14 from a science text book, which displays ''The {{w|periodic table}} of the elements'', but with only the first four elements ({{w|hydrogen}}, {{w|helium}}, {{w|lithium}} and {{w|beryllium}}) shown. [[Randall]] claims in the caption that you can use such charts to date a publication based upon the {{w|Chemical elements|elements}} present or missing. While this is true in a sense - for example, {{w|Nihonium}}, {{w|Moscovium}}, {{w|Tennessine}} and {{w|Oganesson}} were first discovered in 2003 and named in 2016, thus charts made before 2016 would have the {{w|systematic element name}}s Ununtrium, Ununpentium, Ununseptium and Ununoctium and completely absent before 2003 - Randall injects humor by taking it to the extreme and showcasing a periodic table from a book published just half an hour after the {{w|Big Bang}}, at which time those four elements were the only ones present.

From about 10 seconds until about 20 minutes after the Big Bang, the phase that is known as the {{w|Big Bang nucleosynthesis}} occurred. At that time, hydrogen ions (single protons) provided for helium in abundance and traces of lithium. Some berylium-7 was also formed, which is an unstable {{w|Isotopes of beryllium|isotope}} having a half life of 53 days. Randall's science book was published when those four elements were the only ones in existence, even though this would be absurd since no life as we know it could exist with only these four elements to write and publish the book; perhaps it is why Randall's mysterious textbook seems and manages to reflect the direct state of elements existing in nature, even though the real life periodic table was slowly filled out based on what could be easily found and later synthesized. For example, despite helium being one of the first elements to exist, and still one of the most common in the universe (roughly 24%, by mass, with hydrogen being around 75% and every other element combined being the remainder), it did not appear in the earliest periodic tables.

The title text refers to how yet-undiscovered elements are given a {{w|systematic element name}} as a temporary name, until a more permanent name is decided upon. The names are based upon a standard group of Greek and Latin roots that read out the decimal digits of an element's unique {{w|atomic number}} (i.e., the number of protons) and adding "-ium" to the end. The claim in the title text is that, in the textbook with the figure, researchers claim they have synthesized six additional elements in the second row, temporarily named 'pentium' (atomic number "5") through to 'unnilium' ("one zero", or "10"). In reality, all these elements are well known as {{w|Boron}}, {{w|Carbon}}, {{w|Nitrogen}}, {{w|Oxygen}}, {{w|Fluorine}} and {{w|Neon}}. The word "Pentium" is also the name of a computer hardware company which ''may'' put some amount of boron in its products.

==Transcript==

:[Subheading]: Figure 6.14
:[Title]: The periodic table of the elements

:[The following four rectangles featuring the large element abbreviation, with the full element name written below, in a typical periodic table style]
:[Top row, far left]: H Hydrogen
:[Top row, far right, detached from any other box]: He Helium
:[Bottom row, attached directly below the "H" box]: Li Lithium
:[Bottom row, attached directly to the right of "Li"]: Be Beryllium

:[Caption below the panel]:
:You can spot an outdated science textbook by checking the bottom of the periodic table for missing elements. For example, mine was published half an hour after the Big Bang.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Periodic table]]

2723: Outdated Periodic Table

2024-11-29T12:25:21Z

CategoryGeneral: Brand name) (Again, if you see a periodic table comic or one with chemical equations, please mind the lowercase letters.

{{comic
| number = 2723
| date = January 11, 2023
| title = Outdated Periodic Table
| image = outdated_periodic_table_2x.png
| imagesize = 360x350px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Researchers claim to have synthesized six additional elements in the second row, temporarily named 'pentium' through 'unnilium'.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic shows figure 6.14 from a science text book, which displays ''The {{w|periodic table}} of the elements'', but with only the first four elements ({{w|hydrogen}}, {{w|helium}}, {{w|lithium}} and {{w|beryllium}}) shown. [[Randall]] claims in the caption that you can use such charts to date a publication based upon the {{w|Chemical elements|elements}} present or missing. While this is true in a sense - for example, {{w|Nihonium}}, {{w|Moscovium}}, {{w|Tennessine}} and {{w|Oganesson}} were first discovered in 2003 and named in 2016, thus charts made before 2016 would have the {{w|systematic element name}}s Ununtrium, Ununpentium, Ununseptium and Ununoctium and completely absent before 2003 - Randall injects humor by taking it to the extreme and showcasing a periodic table from a book published just half an hour after the {{w|Big Bang}}, at which time those four elements were the only ones present.

From about 10 seconds until about 20 minutes after the Big Bang, the phase that is known as the {{w|Big Bang nucleosynthesis}} occurred. At that time, hydrogen ions (single protons) provided for helium in abundance and traces of lithium. Some berylium-7 was also formed, which is an unstable {{w|Isotopes of beryllium|isotope}} having a half life of 53 days. Randall's science book was published when those four elements were the only ones in existence, even though this would be absurd since no life as we know it could exist with only these four elements to write and publish the book; perhaps it is why Randall's mysterious textbook seems and manages to reflect the direct state of elements existing in nature, even though the real life periodic table was slowly filled out based on what could be easily found and later synthesized. For example, despite helium being one of the first elements to exist, and still one of the most common in the universe (roughly 24%, by mass, with hydrogen being around 75% and every other element combined being the remainder), it did not appear in the earliest periodic tables.

The title text refers to how yet-undiscovered elements are given a {{w|systematic element name}} as a temporary name, until a more permanent name is decided upon. The names are based upon a standard group of Greek and Latin roots that read out the decimal digits of an element's unique {{w|atomic number}} (i.e., the number of protons) and adding "-ium" to the end. The claim in the title text is that, in the textbook with the figure, researchers claim they have synthesized six additional elements in the second row, temporarily named 'pentium' (atomic number "5") through to 'unnilium' ("one zero", or "10"). In reality, all these elements are well known as {{w|Boron}}, {{w|Carbon}}, {{w|Nitrogen}}, {{w|Oxygen}}, {{w|Fluorine}} and {{w|Neon}}. The word "Pentium" is also the name of a computer hardware company which ''may'' put some amount of boron in its products.

==Transcript==

:[Subheading]: Figure 6.14
:[Title]: The periodic table of the elements

:[The following four rectangles featuring the large element abbreviation, with the full element name written below, in a typical periodic table style]
:[Top row, far left]: H Hydrogen
:[Top row, far right, detached from any other box]: He Helium
:[Bottom row, attached directly below the "H" box]: Li Lithium
:[Bottom row, attached directly to the right of "Li"]: Be Beryllium

:[Caption below the panel]:
:You can spot an outdated science textbook by checking the bottom of the periodic table for missing elements. For example, mine was published half an hour after the Big Bang.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Periodic table]]

2639: Periodic Table Changes

2024-11-29T12:19:59Z

CategoryGeneral: Periodic tables and chemical equations almost unavoidably have lowercase letters.

{{comic
| number = 2639
| date = June 29, 2022
| title = Periodic Table Changes
| image = periodic_table_changes.png
| titletext = It's nice how the end of the periodic table is flush with the edge these days, so I think we should agree no one should find any new elements after #118 unless they discover a whole row at once.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|periodic table}} is a table used to arrange {{w|chemical elements}} according to their chemical and physical properties. This comic proposes "changes" to the periodic table that would be more pleasant aesthetically or make the periodic table look more regular. Some of these are (somewhat) practical changes to element abbreviations that could improve clarity in English, though changing documents to use different abbreviations would probably be more trouble than it's worth. However, other changes move elements around without considering that elements would stop being arranged by their properties. The periodic table would stop being useful after such changes unless said changes were meant to physically change the material properties of the elements, which would be impossible, although the comic plans to solve the problem with "free training" to their atomic behavior.

Other modifications make up new elements or remove existing ones from the table, which would not be a reasonable decision given that the periodic table is supposed to include all existing elements, whether they make the table neater or they don't. See explanation for the proposed changes in the [[#Table of the proposed changes|table]] below.

The title text suggests discovering elements only in entire rows at once, a suggestion which is far more unreasonable than it appears on its surface. Elements with more protons than 118 could be discovered in future by collisions in particle accelerators, but as of right now, the chances of finding or synthesizing samples of such elements lasting longer than 10 quadrillionths (10−14) of a second is looking rather grim. Furthermore, the theoretical 8th period is expected to contain 50, more than any row in the current 7-period table. Taking this all into account, discovering an entire row's worth of elements all at once is nothing short of a herculean undertaking, and its difficulty only grows in orders of magnitude for each successive row. With all that said, however, elements beyond 118 are unlikely to have practical applications in science and engineering due to their vanishingly short lifespan and may probably only ever serve as intellectual curiosities. Thus, refraining from updating the periodic table prior to the discovery of the entire 8th period is not a terrible sacrifice to make in the name of preserving the table's visual aesthetics (provided data of new elements are recorded and catalogued in other ways).

This is another [[:Category:Comics with red annotations|comic containing red annotations]] over a complex and established structure. It suggests changing the periodic table, which was also discussed in [[2214: Chemistry Nobel]].

===Table of the proposed changes===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Proposed change !! Explanation
|-
|Move helium over here. It fits so nicely!||Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen. However, the reason it is placed at the far-right Group 18 and not Group 2 is because it is a {{w|noble gas}}, rather than a reactive {{w|alkaline earth metal}}. You could say helium is in group 2 because it has two electrons in its outer shell, but normal periodic tables place it in group 18, the noble gases, with which it has far more in common. Hydrogen has similar problems being in group 1, as it's a non-metal and the elements below it are metals which don't have much in common with it chemically. There are periodic tables that show hydrogen floating above the periodic table for that reason.

Group 18 was not known at the time of the original table, which used I-VII (1-7) for the otherwise full-height columns, which turns out to reflect the number of free ('valence') electrons in their outer 'orbit', in one useful understanding of the atomic model. When added, the new final column was called either VIII (having a full outer shell) or Group 0 (having none free) and placed to the right of VII. It was originally thought that these so-called "noble gases" (no relation to Alfred Nobel of explosives and science prize fame{{fact}}) were unable to react with other elements. However, xenon compounds were discovered in 1962, and many other {{w|noble gas compounds}} have been discovered since then under a variety of conditions.

From the fourth row downwards the inserted block of Transition Metals represent a larger electron shell with more positions for free electrons and those elements to the right would have more electrons than those above them, by this measure, but their physical properties are still best dictated and aligned by the complement to the valence (i.e. the gap-size). The current numbering system shows the outer-shell electrons accurately in the rows where the ten new columns are, but the upper rows of columns 13-18 have ten more (or sixteen more, for Helium) than is the case. Similarly, once lanthanides and actinides are considered, the group number and outer-shell count becomes disconnected again in the opposite way. But it still seems useful enough to currently label in this manner under current {{w|IUPAC}} guidance.
|-
|Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!|| TBD (to be determined). Elements in that corner, such as carbon, oxygen, phosphorous, and nitrogen, participate in covalent bonding and are the primary elements involved in biochemical reactions, which may be why they are considered cooler than other elements.
|-
|Sp (Spite element)||Wedged between fluorine and neon. This is a reference to spite houses, houses jammed into a narrow space to block other construction, or spite fences, which are fences built to annoy neighbors. However, such an element would have an atomic number greater than fluorine's (9) but less than neon's (10).
|-
|Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*||Tixanium (Tx) replaces five metals, including titanium (Ti).

While titanium certainly has an impressive name, and is used in the aerospace industry and other high-performance applications, the others are hardly boring; manganese, for example, was part of the cover story for the top-secret {{w|Project Azorian}}.
|-

|Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
* Sodium: Na (Natrium) => So
* Potassium: K (Kalium) => Pm
* Iron: Fe (Ferrum) => I
* Silver: Ag (Argentum) => Sv
* Gold: Au (Aurum) => Gd
* Tin: Sn (Stannum) => Tn
* Lead: Pb (Plumbum) => Ld
|Since I is already used for Iodine, it gets a new abbreviation Io, and Gadolinium is re-abbreviated to Gm to free up Gd.

Note that most of these changes will actually make the table less readable if one considers languages other than English. For example, in European languages, 'I' for iron will work for Irish (Iarann) (but not for Dutch, as 'ijzer' doesn't really start with 'i' but with 'ij'. It would be capitalized, e.g. at the start of a sentence, as 'IJzer'.) and also Tamil (இரும்பு [irumpu]), while 'Fe' currently matches in French, Italian, Portuguese, and most of the languages in Spain. Similarly, Natrium is still used in most Germanic languages.

This group of changes doesn't include antimony (Sb -- stibium), but that’s because it gets replaced by “carbon III” (see below). Nor is copper changed from its "Cu" for "cuprum".
|-
|Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon||
* Indium (In) -> C II.
* Antimony (Sb) -> C III.
* Tellurium (Te) -> C IV.
* Thallium (Tl) -> C V.
* Bismuth (Bi) -> C VI.
Carbon can make four covalent bonds, which means it can form a huge range of chemicals, above all ones vital to life. The post-transition metals don't have this level of interest. If there were more elements like carbon, it could allow more exciting chemistry and perhaps new kinds of life.
|-
|That W annoys me|| Tungsten: W (Wolfram) -> Tg.

Another element whose symbol doesn't match its English name. "Wolfram" is the name for tungsten in some languages and is derived from the mineral wolframite, which comes from the name "wolf rām" in Middle High German (wolf soot).

Tungsten (lit. "Heavy stone") is a Swedish word, yet "Wolfram" is used in Swedish for the metal.

Oddly, despite changing Latin and German abbreviations to English, Randall does not change the symbol for mercury (Hg from the Greek "hydrargyrum").

|-
|3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep Yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (Tokyium, Delhium, and Jakartium?) to be more fair.
|Four elements -- yttrium (Y), ytterbium (Yb), terbium (Tb) and erbium (Er) -- are named after {{w|Ytterby}}, a Swedish village where they were discovered. (Even worse, all are rare earth metals.) Four of the other rare earth metals, Scandium (Sc), thulium (Tm), holmium (Ho) and gadolinium (Gd) were isolated from minerals found in the same quarry. Randall suggests naming 3 of them after some other major world cities, despite those cities having no connection to those elements.
* Terbium (Tb) -> Tokyium (Ty) - Tokyo
* Erbium (Er) -> Delhium (Dh) - Delhi
* Ytterbium (Yb) -> Jakartium (Jk) - Jakarta
Randall may be using using 2010 census data (2946); Ytterby mine is located on the island of Resarö, found under 0187TB103 in table [https://www.scb.se/en/finding-statistics/statistics-by-subject-area/environment/land-use/localities-and-urban-areas/pong/tables-and-graphs/localities-2020-population-land-area-population-density-per-locality/ MI0810], population 3212 (2020 census).

Interestingly, {{w|Isaac Asimov}} made essentially the same remark in his science essay ''The Multiplying Elements'', saying that it was a waste of element names that could have been used to honor great contributors to chemistry. One obvious candidate would be {{w|Henry Moseley}} (mentioned in another of Asimov's essays, ''The Nobel Prize That Wasn't'') who used early X-ray spectroscopy to resolve the confusion over rare earth elements, finally put the Periodic Table on a firm ground and conceived the idea of "Atomic Number".
|-
|Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.||Though the lanthanides and actinides typically are placed underneath the bottom of the table, they actually belong in the 6th and 7th rows of the table between the 2nd and 3rd columns, as they are numbered elements 57-70 and 89-102. This section of the table is typically excised to give the overall shape more appealing dimensions; including this section in the main table [https://sciencenotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/PeriodicTableExtended.png extends the length dramatically]. This proves rather unwieldy especially when referencing the table for the lower-numbered elements, which are generally more common, and/or elements far to the sides of the table, which are often more influential in chemical reactions. Randall recommends that a subset of these elements be placed in a new row at the bottom of the table (making them elements 93-110) and they will receive "training" to adjust to their new columns.
|}

==Transcript==
:Changes I would make to the periodic table
:[A modified periodic table is shown, with changes in red.]

:[Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen.]
:Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
:[Two elements labeled TBD are added to the left of boron and aluminium.]
:Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
:[A narrow triangular shape is wedged between fluorine and neon.]
:Sp (Spite element)
:[Tx replaces five elements: scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium and manganese.]
:Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
:[The symbols of sodium (Na), potassium (K), iron (Fe), silver (Ag), gold (Au), tin (Sn) and lead (Pb) are changed to use letters from their English names (So, Pm, I, Sv, Gd, Tn and Ld respectively).]
:Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
:[The symbols of indium, antimony, tellurium, thallium and bismuth are changed to symbols containing the letter C followed by Roman numerals II to VI, respectively.]
:Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon
:[The symbol of tungsten is changed from W to Tg.]
:That W annoys me
:[Neodymium, in the lanthanides/actinides block, is independantly highlighted, with an arrow and new outline suggesting it is to be moved directly below the Nickel column of the main table.]
:Neodymium can stay—magnets are cool
:[Arrows and outlines indicating that parts of the other lanthanide and actinide rows are also to be placed under the bottom of the main table, to make this a new and complete single row. Those not included, and not otherwise obscured by floating text, are scribbled over.]
:Move
:Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.
:[The symbols of terbium, erbium and ytterbium, all part of the prior move, are changed to Ty, Dh and Jk, respectively.]
:3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (tokyium, delhium, and jakartium?) to be more fair.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics with red annotations]]
[[Category:Periodic table]]

User talk:42.book.addict

2024-11-29T12:14:14Z

CategoryGeneral: Reverted

356: Nerd Sniping

2024-11-29T12:13:06Z

CategoryGeneral: We've been so nerd-sniped that few noticed the lowercase letters.

{{comic
| number = 356
| date = December 12, 2007
| title = Nerd Sniping
| image = nerd sniping.png
| titletext = I first saw this problem on the Google Labs Aptitude Test. A professor and I filled a blackboard without getting anywhere. Have fun.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Nerd}}s have a way of getting distracted easily and focusing on one thing and ignoring the rest, when they feel their specific skills are challenged by an interesting problem. [[Black Hat]] has decided to make this into a disturbing game of getting nerds, in this case a physicist, to stop in the middle of a street and get crushed by traffic by showing them an interesting problem to solve. (This may be based on a real event—see the [[#Trivia|trivia]] section).

The problem Black Hat shows is an electronics engineering thought experiment to find the resistance between two points. In normal wiring, a one-ohm resistor would result in one ohm of resistance. Two resistors connected in a series, where electricity has to go through each, has two ohms of resistance. Two one-ohm [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/resistors-in-parallel-circuit-analysis-with-parallel-resistance/ resistors in parallel] give the circuit only half an ohm since you have a conductivity (inverse resistance) that is the sum of the conductivities of the path (1 ohm of resistance is 1 {{w|Siemens_(unit)|siemens}} of conductance, thus over two paths is 2 siemens or 0.5 ohms). With an infinite grid of equal resistors, you have an infinite number of paths to take, and for each path an infinite number of both series and parallel paths to consider, so much more advanced methods are needed. The exact answer to the question is (4/π − 1/2) ohms, or about [http://oeis.org/A211074 0.773] ohms. See [http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath668/kmath668.htm Infinite Grid of Resistors].

Black Hat explains the concept of his new sport, '''Nerd Sniping''', to [[Cueball]] while {{w|Murder|'''''killing'''''}} the physicist, but Cueball is appalled and will have no part in this sport, which doesn't make Black Hat give up on him as he suggests it would be fun if he made his own sign. Black Hat finally suggests that "physicists are two points, mathematicians three." This may indicate that he considers a mathematician to be a more difficult target for his game than a physicist would be. It is unclear whether this is meant as a dig on physicists or on mathematicians; it might be because physicists are interested in a wider range of problems, or because mathematicians require a higher-quality problem to hold their interest. Alternatively, he just dislikes mathematicians more, and is thus willing to award more points for sniping one of them.

In the title text, [[Randall]] explains that he saw this problem in a [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2004/09/pencils-down-people.html Google Labs Aptitude Test]. This is a collection of puzzles published by {{w|Google}} as a parody of tests such as the {{w|SAT}}. Google is known for using logic & math puzzles in their job interviews.

Randall explained in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24 a speech at Google] five days before this comic was released that he was nerd sniped, in a way, by that problem in this test (see problem 10 on [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ap14FtNN91w/Rll5oF8Px0I/AAAAAAAAAHo/cHG6a83cmlI/s1600-h/GLAT_3.jpg page 2]), and got quite irritated when he ultimately found that it was actually a modern physics research problem, requiring very advanced math, far more complicated than the other puzzles. Putting such a problem in an aptitude test can be a way of testing if someone might realize when they cannot solve a problem and remember to move along to the other problems. If they fail to do this, they will never reach the easier problems that come later, and will fail due to their inability to realize when they will come up short. This is also important knowledge to have about yourself. Seen in this context, it is not necessarily a bad idea to have such an impossible problem in an aptitude test, as it is disadvantageous to have someone who is easily nerd sniped working for you.

Note that the truck should have stopped no matter what, since the nerd was walking on a pedestrian crossing. However, the driver may have seen him walking, then estimated that he would be safe before reaching him and realized too late that he had stopped in the street. Alternatively, the truck driver is part of Black Hat's sport, or was also nerd sniped by the sign.

Randall has later referred back to the concept of ''Nerd Sniping'' several times in the past, such as in the title text of [[730: Circuit Diagram]], and in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' blog. In [https://what-if.xkcd.com/113/ Visit Every State] (7 years after this comics release), the entire comic was shown at the top and the truck again further down the post—Randall has again been nerd sniped by a paper he read. This also happens to him in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/ Lunar Swimming]—see the title text for the second to last picture.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is sitting on a chair, Cueball is standing next to him. Across the street, another Cueball-like guy is coming from a building walking towards the pedestrian crossing across from Black Hat.]
:Black Hat: There's a certain type of brain that's easily disabled.
:Black Hat: If you show it an interesting problem, it involuntarily drops everything else to work on it.

:[The Cueball-like man across the street is about to enter a crosswalk, which is seen from right behind Black Hat in his chair, holding onto the sign, which is still pointing down. Cueball is looking on.]
:Black Hat: This has led me to invent a new sport: Nerd Sniping.
:Black Hat: See that physicist crossing the road?

:[Black Hat lifts up the sign when the physicist is in the middle of the street, halfway across the pedestrian crossing.]
:Black Hat: Hey!

:[A close-up of Black Hat's sign is shown in a frameless panel. There is text above and below an image of a four-by-five grid of nodes with resistors (shown as wiggly lines) between every node and also continuing away from the 16 outer nodes. A total of 5 columns with 5 and 4 rows with 6 resistors for a total of 20 nodes and 49 resistors. Two nodes, a knight's move apart, are marked with red circles in the 3rd row 2nd column and the 2nd row 4th column.]
:Sign: On this infinite grid of ideal one-ohm resistors,
:Sign: what's the equivalent resistance between the two marked nodes?

:[The Cueball-like physicist has stopped pondering the questions, a hand to his chin.]
:Physicist: It's... Hmm. Interesting. Maybe if you start with... No, wait. Hmm... You could—

:[In another frameless panel, a ten-wheeled truck is zooming past from the right, apparently going through the spot where the physicist just stood.]
:Truck: <big>''Foooom''</big>

:[Cueball looks down on Black Hat, who looks back up from his chair at the curb, again holding the sign down. He lifts one hand up while replying.]
:Cueball: I will have no part in this.
:Black Hat: C'mon, make a sign. It's fun! Physicists are two points, mathematicians three.

==Trivia==
*It could be that Randall was inspired by a story from {{w|John Horton Conway|John H. Conway}} about when he was involved in a "near" nerd snipe event that was a perfect match for this comic.
**The story can be read in the book ''[https://books.google.ca/books?id=aFHyUfFUVIwC&printsec=frontcover&hl=da#v=onepage&q&f=false Candid Science Five]'' from 2005 (two years before this comics release), specifically on [https://books.google.ca/books?id=aFHyUfFUVIwC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=Coxeter+came+to+Cambridge+and+he+gave+a+lecture,+then+he+had+this+problem+...++Ileft+the+lecture+room+thinking.+As+I+was+walking+through+Cambridge,+suddenly+theidea+hit+me,++but+it+hit+me+while+I+was+in+the+middle+of+the+road.++When+the+ideahit+me+I+stopped+and+a+large+truck+ran+into+me+...++So+I+pretended+that+Coxeter+hadcalculated+the+difficulty+of+this+problem+so+precisely+that+he+knew+that+I+would+getthe+solution+just+in+the+middle+of+the+roa&source=bl&ots=CgmxTG2n0w&sig=ohqqBGtJrpuQFeiCPPusMVsQUV4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIy4KdnPakyAIV0ZeICh2OGghP#v=onepage&q=%22in%20the%20middle%20of%20the%20road%22&f=false pages 21–22]:
::"{{w|Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter|[Donald] Coxeter}} is my hero. I remember a story at one of the conferences in Coxeter's honor and people were telling how this wonderful man had turned them into mathematicians. I thought I must say something different. So when I got up, I said, “Lots of people have come here to thank Coxeter; I've come here to forgive him.” I told them that Coxeter once very nearly succeeded in murdering me. His murder weapon was something that even Agatha Christie would never have thought of: a mathematical problem. Then I told the story, which is actually true.
:: Coxeter came to Cambridge and gave a lecture. Then he had this problem for which he gave proofs for selected examples, and he asked for a unified proof. I left the lecture room thinking. As I was walking through Cambridge, suddenly the idea hit me, but it hit me while I was in the middle of the road. When the idea hit me I stopped and a large truck ran into me and bruised me considerably and the man considerably swore at me. So I pretended that Coxeter had calculated the difficulty of this problem so precisely that he knew that I would get the solution just in the middle of the road. In fact I limped back after the accident to the meeting. Coxeter was still there, and I said, “You nearly killed me.” Then I told him the solution. It eventually became a joint paper. Ever since, I've called that theorem “the murder weapon”. One consequence of it is that in a group if a² = b³ = c⁵ = (abc)⁻¹, then c⁶¹⁰ = 1."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Google]]

124: Blogofractal

2024-11-28T03:38:14Z

CategoryGeneral: Too many lowercase letters

{{comic
| number = 124
| date = July 5, 2006
| title = Blogofractal
| image = blogofractal.png
| titletext = Edward Tufte's 'The Visual Display of Quantitative Information' is a fantastic book, and should be required reading for anyone in either the sciences or graphic design.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Blogosphere}} is a blanket term for all the blogs on the internet that link together and share information to the extent that the term "blogosphere" arose to describe the collective of blogs. This comic proposes a new structure for defining all blogs by a {{w|fractal}} of blogs.

{{w|Edward Tufte}} is a statistician who worked on data visualization and wrote books on the subject, including "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information," as mentioned in the title text.

{| class="wikitable"
! Meme !! Explanation
|-
|TripMaster Monkey says || {{w|Tripmaster Monkey}} is a book by {{w|Maxine Hong Kingston}} about Wittman Ah Sing, an American graduate of Chinese heritage. 'Monkey says' may be based on the saying 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' and/or the children's game Simon Says.
|-
|118th Post!! || This may be a riff on the "first post" phenomenon, or the "milestone marks" like "1000th post".
|-
|Wikiconstitution! || The Onion wrote [https://www.theonion.com/articles/congress-abandons-wikiconstitution,5026/ a 2005 article] about putting the {{w|Constitution}} on a Wiki to allow public editing. This may be a reference to "[[285|Protect the constution]]".
|-
|OMG || Common acronym for "Oh My God," often used in messaging.
|-
|DeCSS || {{w|DeCSS}} was a piece of code for decrypting DVDs. There was a significant effort to prevent this code from being distributed, which triggered the {{w|Streisand effect}}.
|-
|Casemod your Boyfriend!! || {{w|Case modding}} is the modification of a computer chassis (or less commonly other devices), usually to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Casemodding a boyfriend would therefore attempt to make him more attractive.
|-
|FLICKR || A well known [https://www.flickr.com/ photo sharing site].
|-
|They're saying on Kos that || The {{w|Daily Kos}} is a web blog that publishes news and opinions about American politics, from a liberal standpoint. Alternatively, {{w|Kos}} is a Greek island and popular holiday destination.
|-
|https://slashdot.org/articl || {{w|Slashdot}} is a technology-related news website frequented by geeks.
|-
|tagCloud || A {{w|Tag Cloud}} is a visual representation of keyword meta-data, usually with font size increasing with importance.
|-
|Cory Doctorow is a little upset about copyright law. || This is an understatement, as [[Cory Doctorow]] is a strong activist in this area.
|-
|Hey guys what if Google is evil?!? || {{w|Don't be evil}} was the corporate motto of Google, however the sheer quantity of data held by Google is a somewhat scary thought. A number of conspiracy theories exist that [[792|Google is evil]], bent on world domination, run by the government/CIA/FBI/illuminati/aliens. The motto was replaced by "do the right thing" in late 2010s.
|-
|I'll sleep with you for a FreeIpods deal. || This is a parody on how desperate people are in getting either iPhones (extremely popular yet expensive smartphones from Apple) or getting laid. (Coincidentally, years later, someone tried to sell her virginity in exchange for an iPhone: https://www.techinasia.com/chinese-girl-sells-virginity-iphone4/ )
|-
|FirstPsot!! || Some users on sites that accept comments will race to write the first comment (usually saying something like "First post!" or some variation thereof). In this variation, the user has misspelt "post" in the rush to have the first post. This was later mentionned in [[269: TCMP]] and [[1258: First]]
|-
|Snakes on an I don't Even Care Anymore || There were many jokes about {{w|Snakes on a Plane}} where a supposedly new movie to come out was named "Snakes on a ______." Clearly this person is tired of those jokes. See also [[107: Snakes on a Plane! 2]]
|-
|KiwiWiki || A New Zealand (Kiwi) related wiki exists at [https://kiwiwiki.co.nz kiwiwiki.co.nz], and this is likely included because Kiwi is an anagram of Wiki.
|-
|CSS || Reference to {{w|Cascading Style Sheets}}.
|-
|Comments (0) || The number of comments is zero, sometimes indicating that nobody cares.
|-
|Blogotesseract || This is a joke on the word "blogosphere", or "blogocube" in the caption. This comic contains many such jokes where the word sphere is replaced by some other object. A {{w|Tesseract|tesseract}} is a four-dimensional analog of the cube.
|-
|¡play games! || One of the most frequent ads are those that mention "Play free games!". While these sites are real, they tend to be collections of Flash-based games taken from other sites from the Internet.
|-
|[RSS icon.] || {{w|RSS}} is a standard for web feeds.
|-
|is AYB retro yet? || The shoot-'em-up game "{{w|Zero Wing}}" on SEGA's Genesis console features an English translation so terrible it has long been a source of memetic humor. The line in question is, "'''A'''ll '''Y'''our '''B'''ase are belong to us!"
|-
|Google Google Google Apple Google Goog || ...a reference to how Apple is going into a prominence that rivals the ubiquitousness of Google, perhaps?
|-
|Cheney totally shot a dude!!! || A reference to the {{w|Dick Cheney hunting incident}}.
|-
|Watch this toddler get owned by a squirrel!!! || An example of clickbait, usually a sensationalized headline that links to a page or video that is either of passing interesting or none at all. 'Funny' videos of animals and babies/toddlers tend to spread like wildfire online.
|-
|Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers || A reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMU0tzLwhbE a widely circulated video], captured at a developers' conference, featuring a perspiring {{w|Steve Ballmer}} chanting the word "developers."
|-
|I installed a Mac Mini inside ANOTHER Mac Mini! || This is most likely a reference to how Mac minis are popular to install just about anywhere due to their small size. For example, they are commonly installed to use with a TV (“HTPC”), as small home servers, in cars and trailers, and even mounted on the back of monitors. However, installing an entire Mac mini inside another Mac mini (especially of the same generation) would be a very challenging, if not impossible, task. This could also be referencing Hackintoshes, that is, installing a Macintosh operating system in a Windows-designed machine. In this case, installing a “Mac Mini” (informally referring to macOS (Mac OS X at the time of the comic)) inside another is a relatively trivial, albeit meta, task.
|-
|Check out this vid of Jon Stewart || {{w|Jon Stewart}} is (after being replaced by comedian {{w|Trevor Noah}} for a time) the host of ''{{w|The Daily Show}}'', a late-night political comedy/satire program.
|-
|9-11 <-> Trent Lott! || This could refer to the {{rw|9/11|conspiracy theories}} regarding the {{w|September 11 attacks|incident from September 11, 2001}}, the date when the Twin Towers of the {{w|World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center}} in New York City fell. What actually happened is that Arab/Muslim terrorists deliberately crashed their planes into the towers with the purpose of killing infidels, but the theory tells that the government ordered the intentional demolition of the towers. In this post, the poster linked the September 11 incident to {{w|Trent Lott}} (a former US Senator).
|-
|Web 7.1 || This is a parody of {{w|Web 2.0}}, a concept in which content from the Internet is provided beyond the webpage. Despite its name, Web 2.0 does not really involve making an entirely new series of tubes or updating the existing ones, a point that the post parodies.
|-
|Kryptonite™ locks vulnerable to "keys!" || Around 2004, it was demonstrated that some tubular pin tumbler locks of the diameter used on Kryptonite locks could easily be opened with the shaft of an inexpensive Bic ballpoint pen of matching diameter, and this was widely reported.
|-
|Interesting post! Check out my blog, it has useful info on CARBON MONOXIDE LITIGATION || An example of a spam comment found where users can comment.
|-
|FIREFLY!! || Reference to {{w|Firefly (TV series)|Firefly}}, a US television series that was cancelled after only 14 episodes. Despite its short run, it amassed a strong fanbase that used internet petitions and blogs to help fuel the push for the film {{w|Serenity_(film)|Serenity}}. Firefly is a [[:Category:Firefly|common topic]] on XKCD.
|-
|HELP ME || This is a simple post where someone is requesting help in hopes that the readers of the blog would bring solutions.
|-
|Engadget || [https://engadget.com Engadget] is a technology-related website.
|-
|Boing Boing || Reference to collaborative blog site [https://boingboing.net/ Boing Boing].
|-
|Gizmodo || [https://gizmodo.com Gizmodo] is a technology-related website hosted by Gawker.
|-
|MAKE Blog: DIY baby || This refers to various DIY (do it yourself) blogs. In this case, the blog post would refer to how to make a baby, which, most likely, would lead into pornographic territory. This post might also refer to the "How is babby formed?" meme. This was later mentionned in [[550: Density]] and the title text of [[481: Listen to Yourself]].
|-
|My friend has a band!! || Blogs and other social media are common tools used by people to promote their (and their friend's) bands.
|-
|Jon released an exploit in the protocol for meeting girls. || Exploits bypass hardware/software security, permitting cracking or simple extension of the current capabilities of the hardware/software. (One example: an exploit in video-game consoles would permit someone to play homebrew applications or pirated games among other things.) In this case, the exploit went beyond the technological, permitting the exploiter to meet girls.
|-
|Internets! || "Internets" is a memetic version of saying "Internet".
|-
|Howard Dean? || {{w|Howard Dean}} was Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. He also ran for president in 2004, becoming famous among liberals for his unabashedly progressive positions, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j6xm7e5bJo also for a memetic scream].
|-
|So I hear there's a hurricane. || Blogging shut-ins can be hilariously out of touch with the outside world. Given the date of this comic (2006 was a slow year for hurricanes), the clueless blogger is probably asking about 2005's {{w|Hurricane Katrina}}, perhaps the most devastating hurricane to hit New Orleans.
|-
|We should elect this dude! || People have strong political opinions.
|-
|Google Maps is da best!! || Google Maps is a world mapping service from Google. "Da" is a common intentional misspelling of "the."
|-
|Moderation: +1 Sassy || A joke on Slashdot's moderating mechanism. Each post can get a moderation that consists of a score (+1/-1) and a reason (Insightful/Funny/Troll/etc.) "Sassy" is not one of the standard reasons.
|-
|RSS! || {{w|RSS}} again.
|-
|A-list || the most popular bloggers in the blogosphere are referred to as A-list, following a similar designation for actors. Also, possibly a reference to "A List Apart," a blog & publishing company focused mainly on emerging web technologies.
|-
|<3 || Emoticon for a heart.
|-
|Trackback URL? || {{w|Trackback}} is a mechanism by which a blog receives a notification when another blog has linked to it, similar to {{w|pingback}}.
|-
|I shot a man in Reno check it out on YouTube! || The first half of this line comes from Jonny Cash's song "Folsom Prison Blues," which is "But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die". The second half turns it around, because people often say "I did X, watch it on YouTube."
|-
|HEY LOOK ROBOTS! || Both real-world experiments with robotics and science fiction stories involving robots are popular on the Internet.
|-
|Net Neutrality! || {{w|Net neutrality}} is a hot topic. It is the principle that ISPs and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally. There is great debate as to what level this should be enforced or not, and whether it should be regulated.
|-
|Friends Only. || Personal blogging and social media websites typically have privacy settings that allow you to control who can see the posts. The "Friends Only" setting would prevent anyone who the user has not granted the "Friend" status to from seeing the content.
|-
|Dupe! || A common note if the same thing gets posted twice on some forum (Short for "duplicate."). There are two instances of this in the comic, therefore one of them is a dupe itself.
|-
|AJAX? || AJAX is a generic brand found in Mickey Mouse Works cartoons. It is also a JavaScript-based web technology enabling complex user interfaces ("{{w|Ajax (programming)|Asynchronous JavaScript + XML}}") and a brand of cleaning powder.
|-
|COMPLY || This is likely a reference to science fiction stories where a race of cyborgs or collection of robots tries to assimilate, force compliance upon, or otherwise enslave all life in the universe.
|-
|Cowboy Neal || One of the original Slashdot editors.
|-
|Blogodrome || This is a parody on the word "blogosphere". This word is also in the caption.
|-
|Hey look I got Linux running on my tonsils! || People would often brag about getting Linux to run on strange hardware, from toasters to esoteric computers. This is taken to the ridiculous extreme of tonsils.
|-
|Look alive, blogonauts! || Possibly a comment from a moderator of a dying blog attempting to motivate their users into generating more content.
|-
|Cafepress cockrings || {{w|Cafepress}} is a website that allows users to put pictures/logos on just about anything (T-shirts, mugs, etc.). Currently, however, cockrings are not available.
|-
|BOOBIES!! || Another reference to the "First Post" phenomenon. The popular news site {{w|Fark|FARK}} automatically changes entries of "First post" to "BOOBIES" and modifies the timestamp to be many hours in the future.
|-
|MIA || "Missing in Action," a term applied to people who fought in wars, yet were never found.
|-
|A Beowulf Cluster... of BLOGS!! || A {{w|Beowulf cluster}} is a computer cluster of computers networked together resulting in a high-performance parallel computing cluster. For a while, it was a fad to get one running on various strange platforms. This is a facetious example.
|-
|SPOILER ALERT || Often stated on the top of a post that contained spoilers. (See {{w|Spoiler (media)}}.)
|-
|You have been eaten by a Grue. || This is a reference to the first of the {{w|Zork}} games. When the protagonist enters a house, the protagonist would quickly enter a dark corridor. Attempting to travel without some form of light would lead to the message "You have been eaten by a Grue," ending the game. Said message became a meme. This has
been referenced before in [[91: Pwned]].
|-
|Ruby on a monorail || A riff on the name {{w|Ruby on Rails}}, a common platform for web applications.
|-
|Lesbians! || Homosexual eroticism is rather popular on the Internet, doubly so with the opposite gender (e.g. lesbians with straight men).
|-
|DNF Released! || "{{w|Duke Nukem Forever}}," a memetically long overdue sequel to the popular first person shooter video game "{{w|Duke Nukem}}," was still unreleased at the time this comic was published; the blog is either a hoax of some kind or yet another jab at the long development cycle.
|-
|Steampunk || {{w|Steam punk}} is a sub-genre of science fiction that involves the blending of futuristic technology with Victorian Era aesthetics and materials.
|-
|BLAG || "Blag" is a memetic form of "{{w|blog}}." This term was referred to in later comics like [[148: Mispronouncing]], [[181: Interblag]], and [[239: Blagofaire]]. Randall also refers to his own xkcd blog as a "[https://blog.xkcd.com/ blag]."
|-
|PONIES! || A pony is a short horse. This could potentially be referencing the Hasbro line of "{{w|My Little Pony}}" toys, although the series wasn't as well known or as popular with adults when this comic was published. 
|-
|Xeni found some porn! || In some roleplaying games, whenever a character finds something, the message "[name] found [item]" appears. In this case, Xeni found pornography. Xeni probably refers to {{w|Xeni Jardin}}, a BoingBoing editor.
|-
|IRONY || This could be a reference to criticisms that the Internet doesn't know what "irony" means.
|-
|LIARS! || This could be a reference to a recurring comment indicating that the original post is fabricated.
|-
|Linux on Rails! || Another riff on the name {{w|Ruby on Rails}}.
|-
|Blogocube || This is just a parody of the name "blogosphere". This word is also in the caption.
|-
|del.icio.us! || Del.icio.us (this post making a pun on the word "delicious!", obviously) is a bookmark-sharing service. After complaints that Yahoo ate and killed the service, it was sold and traded around for a while; it still exists, but under new software and management.
|-
|404 || "Web page not found," probably the most common error gotten in a web browser: {{w|HTTP 404}}. See comic [[404]].
|-
|o.O || An emoticon indicating confusion or shock.
|-
|Don't slam the source when you close it. || The original phrase (generally spoken from parents to children) is "Don't slam the door when you close it." This twists it around to refer to {{w|Closed source software}}.
|}

==Transcript==
:From the makers of the Blogosphere, Blogocube, and Blogodrome comes
:the Blogofractal

:[A large rectangle subdivided into rectangles in a fractal pattern, most with a phrase or word inside. Some subdivisions cannot be seen, as they are too small.]
:[Mostly left to right from top-left corner.]
:TripMaster Monkey says
:118th Post!!
:Wikiconstitution!
:OMG
:DeCSS
:Casemod your Boyfriend!!
:FLICKR
:They're saying on Kos that
:<nowiki>https://slashdot.org/articl</nowiki>
:tagCloud
:Cory Doctorow is a little upset about copyright law.
:Hey guys what if Google is evil?!?
:I'll sleep with you for a FreeIpods deal.
:FirstPsot!!
:Snakes on an I don't Even Care Anymore
:KiwiWiki
:CSS
:Comments (0)
:Blogotesseract
:¡play games!
:[RSS icon.]
:is AYB retro yet?
:Google Google Google Apple Google Goog
:Cheney totally shot a dude!!!
:Watch this toddler get owned by a squirrel!!!
:Developers
:Developers
:Developers
:Developers
:I installed a Mac Mini inside ANOTHER Mac Mini!
:Check out this vid of Jon Stewart
:9-11 <-> Trent Lott!
:Web 7.1
:Kryptonite™ locks vulnerable to "keys!"
:Interesting post! Check out my blog, it has useful info on CARBON MONOXIDE LITIGATION
:FIREFLY!!
:HELP ME
:Engadget
:Boing Boing
:Gizmodo
:MAKE Blog: DIY baby
:My friend has a band!!
:Jon released an exploit in the protocol for meeting girls.
:Internets!
:Howard Dean?
:So I hear there's a hurricane.
:We should elect this dude!
:Google Maps is da best!!
:Moderation: +1 Sassy
:RSS!
:A-list
:<3
:Trackback URL?
:I shot a man in Reno check it out on YouTube!
:HEY LOOK ROBOTS!
:Net Neutrality!
:Friends Only.
:Dupe!
:AJAX?
:COMPLY
:Cowboy Neal
:Blogodrome
:Hey look I got Linux running on my tonsils!
:Look alive, blogonauts!
:Cafepress cockrings
:BOOBIES!!
:MIA
:A Beowulf Cluster... of BLOGS!!
:SPOILER ALERT
:Dupe!
:You have been eaten by a Grue.
:Ruby on a monorail
:Lesbians!
:DNF Released!
:Steampunk
:BLAG
:PONIES!
:Xeni found some porn!
:IRONY
:LIARS!
:Linux on Rails!
:Blogocube
:del.icio.us!
:404
:o.O
:Don't slam the source when you close it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:9/11]]

Talk:2633: Astronomer Hotline

2024-11-28T03:34:43Z

CategoryGeneral:

Someone really needs to check on the bot. This is the second day in a row where I have had to begin the article! [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 13:06, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

The fact that this is the Astronomer Helpline seems like commentary on the frequency with which astronomers are asked about mysterious objects, and/or the fact that astronomers (who tend to spend a lot of time looking at the sky) rarely report seeing unidentified objects. It could also be noted that calling fireflies a UFO would technically be accurate, as they are objects which are flying that the observers apparently could not readily identify. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.121|172.71.82.121]] 13:36, 15 June 2022 (UTC)
:There is about 2000 species of fireflies. OF COURSE I can't identify which one it is, considering it's so dark I only see the light. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:22, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Title text probably referes to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas Periodical cicadas] that appears every 17 years.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.99|172.71.98.99]] 13:58, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

As someone from a country without fireflies, is "Ground Stars" a normal word for fireflies or a joke? (similar to how planets are "wandering stars", so to an astronomer everything is a star, similar to [[2017: Stargazing 2]]) [[User:Sqek|Sqek]] ([[User talk:Sqek|talk]]) 14:17, 15 June 2022 (UTC)
:A joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.4|172.70.115.4]] 14:54, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

The second last paragraph is extremely confusing. Someone should fix it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.38|162.158.203.38]] 15:17, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

I have removed the paragraph referenced in the above comment; it was confusing, and seemed focused on explaining the reasons for cicadas having prime-numbered year cycles. While this is interesting, it is not relevant to understanding any of the jokes, especially since two helpful links to periodical cicadas and Brood X were already included earlier in the article. Parties interested in learning cicada facts may follow those links; to explain the joke, it is enough to acknowledge that periodical cicadas are a thing, not explore the ecology or evolution of such a trait. If I overstepped, feel free to reinstate with a clearer explanation. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 16:16, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Does anyone else think that the 'Weird Bug Helpline' may be a play on more conventional helplines, and weird computer bugs that only appear 'every 17 years' when a user presents with an odd edge case that wasn't anticipated? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.43|162.158.159.43]] 09:16, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

;I just got a message from the Odd Perfect Number hotline!
I was trying to explain to someone today that the question of whether there are any {{w|odd number|odd}} {{w|perfect number}}s is an open problem, so I asked {{w|Google Assistant}} and was informed that https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.07176 proves that there aren't! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.235|162.158.166.235]] 21:15, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

;Cosmic Ray Phenomena
When I started reading the comic, I was sure it's referring to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray_visual_phenomena cosmic ray phenomena]. Reading further it made less sense, though I feel it should be mentioned in this explanation. {{unsigned ip|172.68.221.5}}
:I do not agree. This is something happening to astronauts in space. Not to a guy calling an astronomy hot-line. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:35, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

;Trivia US UFO helpline
AFAIK you can only report UFOs to the ''Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group'' (AOIMSG) if you're in the military. They really want to have sensor data, too. But with a smartphone, you can get apps to identify astronomical objects or airplanes by pointing your phone at them. metabunk.org does a lot of UFO identification. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.76|162.158.203.76]] 11:07, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

;other xkcd related?
https://xkcd.com/1391/ - people forgetting that the sun is visible during day
https://xkcd.com/1493/ - the bug hotline might have been built on the bug tracker

;Could this comic be referring to the Supernova Early Warning System?
Is this comic possibly a reference to the Supernova Early Warning System(SNEWS) or some other similar astronomy organisation? SNEWS is basically an astronomer hotline(or rather mailing list). If astronomers detect what they think is a supernova, they let astronomers(amateur and professional) around the world know about the event, so that they can try to point their telescopes at the supernova quickly enough to observe it/ work out what it is/ study it. I always thought of this as an astronomer hotline: If you see some strange lights in the night sky, you can call upon every astronomer in the world to point their telescopes at it and work out what it is. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.47|172.68.210.47]] 08:20, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Probably the opposite: [http://ugg.weishi.qq.com/news/77onSOAvi1TdiOB4K/ A man in China called the police saying that he was being followed by a drone in the dark. It turns out that it was a star.] [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 12:56, 27 November 2024 (UTC)
:A common problem. Military units have fired anti-aircraft guns at Venus, and some people apparently can't even [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7489457.stm recognise the Moon for what it is]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.79|172.69.194.79]] 14:46, 27 November 2024 (UTC)

It has been suggested that this comic be added to [[:Category:Firefly]]. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 03:34, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

1391: Darkness

2024-11-28T03:33:50Z

CategoryGeneral: The inverted brightness category seems to be under-used.

{{comic
| number = 1391
| date = July 7, 2014
| title = Darkness
| image = darkness.png
| titletext = This was actually wish #406. Wish #2 was for him to lose the ability to remember that each new wish wasn't my first.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Ponytail]] as a [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]] describes the sunset as though it were an unprecedented, newsworthy event, rather than {{tvtropes|MundaneMadeAwesome| something mundane}} that happens every day. They even have a reporter ([[Cueball]]) on the spot reporting from where the ''darkness'' has spread so far.

The {{w|sunset}} is a common event.{{Citation needed}} {{w|Isaac Asimov}} based his short story {{w|Nightfall (Asimov short story and novel)|Nightfall}} on a fictional civilization that doesn't know darkness because the planet is always illuminated by the six stars surrounding it. The story describes how people would react (mass insanity, fall of civilization) when the orbital motion of the planet eventually leads to five of the suns setting, plus one in eclipse.

Describing mundane occurrences in unusual detail, to show off how odd they really are, is something [[Randall]] has done before (for instance about dreaming in [[203: Hallucinations]]). But the caption below the main panel adds another twist to the joke by showing that the news report wasn't a mere imagine spot, but something actually happening due to the interference of Randall's final wish to his {{w|genie}}, which caused all news reporters to forget the day-night cycle.

Another possible meaning is that this comic is a reference to the way the media often talk about {{w|global warming}} as if each weather occurrence had meaning outside of its context like in [[1321: Cold]]. That take on the weather and the day-night cycle being denied because of a skewed point of view was also used on the {{w|Daily Show}}. The segment "[http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/18l8gy/unusually-large-snowstorm Unusually Large Snowstorm]" from February 10, 2010, used the same trope. Several Daily Show correspondents have different views on the weather based on where they are, ending with a correspondent who equates nighttime with everlasting darkness.

The caption references the fact that there is a limit to the number of wishes. It is a common rule, often used in fiction, that you get {{tvtropes|ThreeWishes|three wishes}} from a {{tvtropes|GenieInABottle|genie in a bottle}}. There usually is an added stipulation that no wish may be used to acquire more wishes.

In the title text, however, it is stated that Randall has managed to bypass the three wish limit rule. This was accomplished by using his second wish to simply make the genie unable to remember granting the speaker any wishes. He has thus used the same trick on the genie as he used here on the media. The media wish turns out '''not''' to have been his last (i.e. third), but rather wish number 406. This shows just how far, "make someone forget something", can go by applying it to the genie.

There is possibly an inconsistency in the comic, when seen from the title text's perspective. Since his second wish, all his wishes would have been seen as the first by the genie and thus, if the title text is true, he could have said: "Genie, for my ''first'' wish, make everyone in the media forget about the day-night cycle." However, in the light of the title text (to be seen as an add on, and thus not always related directly to the comics image) he appears to voluntarily end the whole scenario by explicitly declaring it over. Whether this would finally trigger the genie to end the wishing-cycle is unknown, and depends upon the exact priority of the genie's induced amnesia over its end-of-wishes habits.

It is interesting that it was his second wish that gave him unlimited wishes. What did he wish for on wish #1? Maybe he wasted the first wish because he did not believe the genie was able to grant wishes – a common error. On the other hand, he may have used the first wish to learn how to make his second wish circumvent the three rule limit. His first wish could have been to read the genie's mind to determine what he could wish for to give him unlimited wishes.

*To have three wishes from a genie, but really only needing one was the joke in [[152: Hamster Ball]]. Perhaps this genie is the same, and the first wish was for a human-sized hamster ball. Much later - inspired by the hamster ball? - he breaks the genie rules to get access to unlimited (not limited to the normal three) genie wishes.
*The concept of having unlimited wishes has previously been explored in [[1086: Eyelash Wish Log]] - one of the wishes is also related to news anchors - the wish is to control the direction they are looking.
*Genies are also part of [[532: Piano]] and [[879: Lamp]], although these two jokes are of a more juvenile character.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is a news anchor at a media desk and she reports:]
:Ponytail: ...getting reports that the darkness has spread as far west as Texas. Let's go live to our reporter in Houston.

:[From a breaking news window in the bottom right corner of the panel, Cueball as a newscaster stands in darkness with two people walking behind him:]
:Cueball: It's been thirty minutes since the sun vanished...

:[Caption below the panel]:
:Caption: "Genie, for my last wish, make everyone in the media forget about the day-night cycle."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:News anchor]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Genie]]

1560: Bubblegum

2024-11-28T03:32:51Z

CategoryGeneral:

{{comic
| number = 1560
| date = August 5, 2015
| title = Bubblegum
| image = bubblegum.png
| titletext = I came here to chew bubblegum and say no more than eighteen words... and I'm all out of
}}

==Explanation==
This comic spoofs the [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/quotes iconic quote] from the 1988 action movie ''{{w|They Live}}'', where the armed protagonist, upon entering a bank, states that "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum." This implies that the protagonist will soon fight the people in the bank, as he cannot do the other objective he came there for (chewing bubble gum). This phrase has been quoted and modified often enough that it's often mistakenly attributed to other sources.

Former wrestler Rowdy {{w|Roddy Piper}}, who played the protagonist in ''They Live'', died five days prior to the publication of this comic so this comic is most likely a [[:Category:Tribute|tribute]] to him. The iconic quote was an ad-lib Piper himself came up with.

In the comic, [[Beret Guy]] stands in an open doorway with a strong light behind him, a typical pose in action movies when someone is dramatically entering a room. However, in this instance, Beret Guy claims that he is here to "chew bubble gum and make friends". He then offers a stick of gum to both [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]], making it clear he intends to do both of his stated objectives. This is expected from Beret Guy, who is usually both naïve about the world and beings that surround him, and also friendly to them.

The title text seems to be a slight dig at the trope of a laconic hero who utters only a few gnomic words, as in the ''They Live'' scene. It is another variation of the line, with meta-humor. The speaker states that he is here to say 18 words and chew bubble gum, but reaches 18 words before he is able to finish his sentence. Thus, readers are left in ambiguity as to whether or not he is also out of bubble gum, as the line could end "and I'm all out of words", "and I'm all out of gum", or "and I'm all out of both." Of course if it is a tribute to Rowdy it could have been "and I'm all out of time!" And his time was up just then before that last word.

Strangely, though, [[Randall]] has not preserved the number of words in the original film quote: there are 16. There would be 18 if 'bubble gum' (which occurs twice) were taken as two words, but in the comic, it is clear that Randall takes it as one.

Beret Guy has previously indicated he has a finite number of words he can say in [[1493: Meeting]]. In comic [[3009]], it was indicated that they're running out of numbers.

In [[1110: Click and Drag]] Megan, walking out on to a platform on the left side of the tower Burj Khalifa, says "I came here to chew bubblegum... And I'm all out of bubblegum" to which Cueball walking with her replies "That's a shame" (see [http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/1n2w.png picture here].)

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy stands dramatically silhouetted in a doorway.]
:Beret Guy: I came here to chew bubblegum and make friends!

:[Beret Guy, in normal lighting, looks at Megan and Cueball who stare back. A silent beat panel.]

:[Beret Guy put his hand out offering a stick of gum to Megan and Cueball.]
:Beret Guy: Want some gum?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Tribute]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1493: Meeting

2024-11-28T03:31:57Z

CategoryGeneral: Computer screen

{{comic
| number = 1493
| date = March 2, 2015
| title = Meeting
| image = meeting.png
| titletext = Here at CompanyName.website, our three main strengths are our web-facing chairs, our huge collection of white papers, and the fact that we physically cannot die.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Beret Guy]]'s business, as previously seen in [[1032: Networking]] and [[1293: Job Interview]], is going well, although it is unclear why. The common theme in these three comics is that Beret Guy misuses common business cliches. The following are examples and phrases that [[Randall]] is likely making a joke about:

*"If you're reading this, the web server was installed correctly.™" When a web server is installed automatically (like Apache through a package manager), it typically comes with a minimal configuration meant to deliver a single page saying all is working fine. Usually, a company will then configure the web server to provide actual meaningful content, such as contact information and a list of the company's services. It appears that in this case Beret Guy's company kept the page as is, but also trademarked the sentence as the company's motto, and proudly displays it under the company logo.

*"CompanyName.website": Companies are usually given descriptive or evocative names; Beret Guy's company, meanwhile, has been given a generic placeholder name that explains nothing about the company or website except that it is a company with a website. Currently, almost every middle-sized company runs a website, so it doesn't mean Beret Guy's company is in the information technology business (but many elements are specifically parodying Google). "[http://Companyname.website Companyname.website]" redirects to xkcd.com.

*"Welcome to a meeting!" The usual way to start a meeting is to welcome the participants by telling them in which meeting they are (e.g. "Welcome to the meeting on..."). Here, the complete lack of specifics in this sentence is an indication that the meeting has, in fact, no purpose at all, except to be just "A meeting". It could also mean that Beret Guy does not know the proper way to welcome people to a meeting.

*"I'm almost out of words so I'll keep this short." A common theme in the busy world of business is lack of time, so "I'm almost out of time" would be a valid reason for keeping a meeting short, rather than a finite quantity of words. Aside from the fiction movie {{w|A Thousand Words (film)|A Thousand Words}} or people taking a {{w|Vow of Silence}}, people usually don't have a particular quota on the number of words they have or can use. Beret Guy also seems to run out of words in the title text of [[1560: Bubblegum]]. The characters also seems to run out of numbers in the [[3009]].

*"Just wanna touch bases." Often business professions will contact a customer to "touch base," meaning to check in for a status update. The use of the plural "bases" suggests Beret Guy does not know what this means. This could also be a word play on the expression "Cover some bases".

*"Self-driving car project" Google has been working on {{w|self-driving cars}}, which usually shouldn't be lost track of and found by the police. The fact that it was launched "by accident" is concerning. It could mean the car was turned on by mistake and then left unattended, or perhaps that a driver of one of their cars fell asleep or otherwise stopped controlling the vehicle, or [[Black Hat]] [[1559|left a large boulder in one of the seats and sent it off to Anchorage, Alaska]], but it is not clear because the accidental launch may refer to the project itself rather than the car. The involvement of the police may imply that the car crashed or otherwise obstructed traffic. That said, 90 miles before crashing was at that time a good result for a self-driving car, especially when you didn't even know you built a self-driving car. What's especially ironic is the implication that the employees were carpooling (sharing a single vehicle for their commute, for reasons of efficiency/economy) in the self-driving car, and yet this carpool activity ended with the car setting off with nobody in it at all. These types of cars were the topic of the later comic [[1559: Driving]], maybe misusing one of Beret Guy's cars. Self-driving cars are a [[:Category: Self-driving cars|recurring topic]] on xkcd.

*"Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?" In the real world, when companies want to find out "who [their] customers are", they are talking about learning more about their existing customers (e.g. age groups, interests, genders) in order to more closely match these customers' needs, and to discover ways to attract more of them. Here, Beret Guy and [[Ponytail]] apparently use the phrase literally - they have no records of making any sales. A normal enterprise struggles to sell its products/services in order to get money. Getting cash from an unknown source would lead to serious troubles - failure to comply with tax code, suspicion of money laundering - but overall, most enterprises suffer the opposite problem: they try as hard as they can but don't get enough cash to be profitable (despite keeping precise information about where cash comes from). Note, that the accidental launching of a project would suggest a theme, that large cash infusions for unknown or {{w| Money laundering|unscrupulous}} reasons could imply anonymous {{w|Venture capital|VC}} investors, perhaps amateurs or acting in an overheated market.

*"{{w|Bug tracker}}" usually refers to systems for tracking discovery, analysis, and fixing of software bugs (errors and problems), not the physical location of insects.

*"Web-facing" (title text) usually refers to software or a server that is connected to the internet using a web interface. However, in this case, the term is applied to chairs (likely meaning that they are either materially {{w|Webbing#Furniture|web-plaited}} or placed in front of a computer with internet browsing capability, or both; may also possibly refer to other definitions of "web").

*"White papers" (title text) are usually policy recommendations, but here Beret Guy is likely talking about actual (near-worthless) blank white pieces of paper.

*"Main strengths" (title text) typically refer to one's skills, but "we physically cannot die" may refer to the fact that incorporated companies are in a sense anthropomorphized — they're legally treated as "persons", with the ability to sue and be sued in civil courts; or, just as likely, that Beret Guy and his employees are literally immortal, in which case that would indeed be a great asset which could be used in a variety of ways, such as economizing on costs of living, participating in physically dangerous projects with impunity, or investing for a long, long time.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is shown in silhouette. Above Beret Guy there is a black sign with white (and grey) text. Above this is his address to those in the meeting:]
:Beret Guy: Welcome to a meeting! I'm almost out of words, so I'll keep this short. Just wanna touch bases.
:[White text in the black sign (''.website'' in grey):]
:CompanyName.website
:''If you're reading this, the web''
:''server was installed correctly.™''

:[Beret Guy stands in front of an office chair and a table talking.]
:Beret Guy: First, a few updates. We've learned from the state police that the self-driving car project we launched by accident during this morning's carpool has come to an end about 90 miles outside of town. Very exciting!

:[Pony tail sits at the table.]
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Profits are up. Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?
:Ponytail: Nope. Money keeps appearing, but we have no idea how or why.
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Great!

:[Back to the situation from frame two.]
:Beret Guy: Oh, and one last thing—I saw a cool red beetle in the hall. Can someone add it to the bug tracker?
:[person off-panel]: Just did!
:Beret Guy: Thanks!

==Trivia==
*"CompanyName.website" is actually a domain name that was registered on 2014-11-20 and [http://companyname.website which redirects to xkcd.com]. Presumably, it is owned by Randall, for the same reason as in [[305]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Self-driving cars]]

2185: Cumulonimbus

2024-11-15T11:47:08Z

CategoryGeneral:

{{comic
| number = 2185
| date = August 5, 2019
| title = Cumulonimbus
| image = cumulonimbus.png
| titletext = The rarest of all clouds is the altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent cloud, caused by an interaction between warm moist air, cool dry air, cold slippery air, cursed air, and a cloud of nanobots.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic follows the naming of clouds. As with other lists (like previously in [[1874]], [[2022: Sports Champions]] and later [[2497]], [[2687]] and [[2954]]), it starts off as normal but then gets more unusual until it is unrealistic.

;Cumulus
: The first panel shows a {{w|cumulus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heap". These are common clouds and are relatively small. Cumulus clouds form when warm (and thus rising) moist air condenses when it hits the {{w|dew point}}, the temperature at which relative humidity hits 100%. Cumulus clouds with sharp, defined borders are still growing. When they stop growing (because the rising moist air is exhausted), they get fuzzy and fluffy, and eventually dissolve.
;Cumulonimbus
: The second panel shows a {{w|cumulonimbus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heaping raincloud", with the upper part about the same size as the lower part. Though somewhat like the cumulus cloud, it is more prone to causing rain and lightning. Cumulonimbus clouds, like cumulus clouds, grow vertically because of their moist warm air, but they have enough energy to reach the top of the {{w|troposphere}}, giving them the distinctive anvil shape shown in the comic and their tendency to produce nasty weather.
;Cumulonimbulonimbus
: The third panel shows an even bigger cloud and names it cumulonimbulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy raincloud"). Here the scientific facts end and the humor begins. The cloud has the upper part about twice as large as the lower part. The humor here comes from building up an even bigger name by adding another "nimbus" element for the cloud as its size increases, suggesting that its growth as compared to the second cloud shown has made it even more "rainy".
;Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus
: The fourth panel shows an absurdly large cloud with three major layers and gives it the name cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy rainy heaping raincloud"). This is a combination of the third and second cloud names in this comic, and indeed the fourth cloud looks a lot like the second one emerging out of the top of the third. This cloud may look like a [[220: Philosophy|super soaker]], ready to spray water on everyone, or perhaps a faucet ready to open and pour water down.
;Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent
: The title text takes this comic to its logical extreme by naming a new cloud that has the longest name of them all and is also supposedly the rarest. Its name can be translated as "mid-altitude, heaped, lense-shaped, layered, grey, rainy, wispy, breast-like and lit at night". It mentions a common joke in weather communities, making fun of the common [https://youtu.be/WMtAaETOVSY?t=448 trope] that thunderstorms form when "warm moist air" meets "cold dry air," an extreme oversimplification. A complicated cloud needs complicated processes, so Randall adds in "cold slippery air," then {{w|curse}}d air and {{w|nanobots}}, which makes the cloud impossible since neither of those exist.{{Citation needed}}

:The name of this cloud is a {{w|Compound (linguistics)|compound}} of the following cloud names:
:{{w|altocumulus}}: "heap up high"; these clouds are mid-altitude white patches.
:{{w|lenticular cloud}}, often shaped like a flying saucer.
:{{w|Stratus cloud|stratus}}: a layered cloud, effectively above-ground fog.
:{{w|Nimbostratus cloud|nimbus}}: a grey cloud producing continuous rain.
:{{w|Cirrus cloud|cirrus}}: a cloud that looks like thin, wispy strands.
:"lenticulo" gets repeated, perhaps indicating that there's a second disc in the cloud.
:{{w|mammatus}}: a breast-like cloud structure that forms at the bottom of some thunderstorm clouds, which signifies sinking air and is associated with severe storm activity and, in the central United States, tornado formation.
:{{w|noctilucent}}: a cloud-like structure formed from ice crystals, often formed after volcano eruptions and other cataclysmic events and illuminated by a just-set sun.

The {{w|International Cloud Atlas}} defines the cloud types that are recognized by the WMO, the {{w|World Meteorological Organization}}. It was first published in 1896. Similarly, {{w|IUPAC}} publishes a manual that allows chemists to name chemical compounds in a consistent manner. The Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent may thus be a pun on IUPAC, which (theoretically) offers a unique name for each possible strand of DNA and other complex molecules (such as [[wikt:Appendix:List of protologisms/Long words/Titin|Titin]]). Therefore, Randall might have seen a unique cloud that has never been observed before, but yet, thanks to IUPAC-like cloud naming rules, he came up with a "valid" name for his observation.

==Transcript==
:[Drawing of a small cloud with with a label beneath:]
:Cumulus

:[Drawing of a medium sized tall hourglass shaped cloud with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbus

:[Drawing of a large cloud, larger at the top than at the bottom, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbus

:[Drawing of a huge and very complicated cloud in three layers, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus

==Trivia==
*On xkcd, this comic replaced a preceding "disappearing comic", which temporarily was assigned the sequence number 2185, as it followed the Friday comic [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] already on Sunday. But that was just to prevent the trouble a not numbered comic was having on the xkcd site. It was designed to disappear completely and leave no trace in xkcd's history or archives when this comic was released. The original comic does also no longer appear in explain xkcd's comic navigation either, and is hence linked here: [[Disappearing Sunday Update]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Robots]] 
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]

2185: Cumulonimbus

2024-11-15T11:23:34Z

CategoryGeneral:

{{comic
| number = 2185
| date = August 5, 2019
| title = Cumulonimbus
| image = cumulonimbus.png
| titletext = The rarest of all clouds is the altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent cloud, caused by an interaction between warm moist air, cool dry air, cold slippery air, cursed air, and a cloud of nanobots.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic follows the naming of clouds. As with other lists (like in [[2022: Sports Champions]] and later [[2497]], [[2687]] and [[2954]]), it starts off as normal but then gets more unusual until it is unrealistic.

;Cumulus
: The first panel shows a {{w|cumulus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heap". These are common clouds and are relatively small. Cumulus clouds form when warm (and thus rising) moist air condenses when it hits the {{w|dew point}}, the temperature at which relative humidity hits 100%. Cumulus clouds with sharp, defined borders are still growing. When they stop growing (because the rising moist air is exhausted), they get fuzzy and fluffy, and eventually dissolve.
;Cumulonimbus
: The second panel shows a {{w|cumulonimbus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heaping raincloud", with the upper part about the same size as the lower part. Though somewhat like the cumulus cloud, it is more prone to causing rain and lightning. Cumulonimbus clouds, like cumulus clouds, grow vertically because of their moist warm air, but they have enough energy to reach the top of the {{w|troposphere}}, giving them the distinctive anvil shape shown in the comic and their tendency to produce nasty weather.
;Cumulonimbulonimbus
: The third panel shows an even bigger cloud and names it cumulonimbulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy raincloud"). Here the scientific facts end and the humor begins. The cloud has the upper part about twice as large as the lower part. The humor here comes from building up an even bigger name by adding another "nimbus" element for the cloud as its size increases, suggesting that its growth as compared to the second cloud shown has made it even more "rainy".
;Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus
: The fourth panel shows an absurdly large cloud with three major layers and gives it the name cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy rainy heaping raincloud"). This is a combination of the third and second cloud names in this comic, and indeed the fourth cloud looks a lot like the second one emerging out of the top of the third. This cloud may look like a [[220: Philosophy|super soaker]], ready to spray water on everyone, or perhaps a faucet ready to open and pour water down.
;Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent
: The title text takes this comic to its logical extreme by naming a new cloud that has the longest name of them all and is also supposedly the rarest. Its name can be translated as "mid-altitude, heaped, lense-shaped, layered, grey, rainy, wispy, breast-like and lit at night". It mentions a common joke in weather communities, making fun of the common [https://youtu.be/WMtAaETOVSY?t=448 trope] that thunderstorms form when "warm moist air" meets "cold dry air," an extreme oversimplification. A complicated cloud needs complicated processes, so Randall adds in "cold slippery air," then {{w|curse}}d air and {{w|nanobots}}, which makes the cloud impossible since neither of those exist.{{Citation needed}}

:The name of this cloud is a {{w|Compound (linguistics)|compound}} of the following cloud names:
:{{w|altocumulus}}: "heap up high"; these clouds are mid-altitude white patches.
:{{w|lenticular cloud}}, often shaped like a flying saucer.
:{{w|Stratus cloud|stratus}}: a layered cloud, effectively above-ground fog.
:{{w|Nimbostratus cloud|nimbus}}: a grey cloud producing continuous rain.
:{{w|Cirrus cloud|cirrus}}: a cloud that looks like thin, wispy strands.
:"lenticulo" gets repeated, perhaps indicating that there's a second disc in the cloud.
:{{w|mammatus}}: a breast-like cloud structure that forms at the bottom of some thunderstorm clouds, which signifies sinking air and is associated with severe storm activity and, in the central United States, tornado formation.
:{{w|noctilucent}}: a cloud-like structure formed from ice crystals, often formed after volcano eruptions and other cataclysmic events and illuminated by a just-set sun.

The {{w|International Cloud Atlas}} defines the cloud types that are recognized by the WMO, the {{w|World Meteorological Organization}}. It was first published in 1896. Similarly, {{w|IUPAC}} publishes a manual that allows chemists to name chemical compounds in a consistent manner. The Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent may thus be a pun on IUPAC, which (theoretically) offers a unique name for each possible strand of DNA and other complex molecules (such as [[wikt:Appendix:List of protologisms/Long words/Titin|Titin]]). Therefore, Randall might have seen a unique cloud that has never been observed before, but yet, thanks to IUPAC-like cloud naming rules, he came up with a "valid" name for his observation.

==Transcript==
:[Drawing of a small cloud with with a label beneath:]
:Cumulus

:[Drawing of a medium sized tall hourglass shaped cloud with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbus

:[Drawing of a large cloud, larger at the top than at the bottom, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbus

:[Drawing of a huge and very complicated cloud in three layers, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus

==Trivia==
*On xkcd, this comic replaced a preceding "disappearing comic", which temporarily was assigned the sequence number 2185, as it followed the Friday comic [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] already on Sunday. But that was just to prevent the trouble a not numbered comic was having on the xkcd site. It was designed to disappear completely and leave no trace in xkcd's history or archives when this comic was released. The original comic does also no longer appear in explain xkcd's comic navigation either, and is hence linked here: [[Disappearing Sunday Update]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Robots]] 
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]

2185: Cumulonimbus

2024-11-15T11:09:20Z

CategoryGeneral:

{{comic
| number = 2185
| date = August 5, 2019
| title = Cumulonimbus
| image = cumulonimbus.png
| titletext = The rarest of all clouds is the altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent cloud, caused by an interaction between warm moist air, cool dry air, cold slippery air, cursed air, and a cloud of nanobots.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic follows the naming of clouds. As with other lists (like in [[2022: Sports Champions]] and later [[2497]] and [[2954]]), it starts off as normal but then gets more unusual until it is unrealistic.

;Cumulus
: The first panel shows a {{w|cumulus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heap". These are common clouds and are relatively small. Cumulus clouds form when warm (and thus rising) moist air condenses when it hits the {{w|dew point}}, the temperature at which relative humidity hits 100%. Cumulus clouds with sharp, defined borders are still growing. When they stop growing (because the rising moist air is exhausted), they get fuzzy and fluffy, and eventually dissolve.
;Cumulonimbus
: The second panel shows a {{w|cumulonimbus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heaping raincloud", with the upper part about the same size as the lower part. Though somewhat like the cumulus cloud, it is more prone to causing rain and lightning. Cumulonimbus clouds, like cumulus clouds, grow vertically because of their moist warm air, but they have enough energy to reach the top of the {{w|troposphere}}, giving them the distinctive anvil shape shown in the comic and their tendency to produce nasty weather.
;Cumulonimbulonimbus
: The third panel shows an even bigger cloud and names it cumulonimbulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy raincloud"). Here the scientific facts end and the humor begins. The cloud has the upper part about twice as large as the lower part. The humor here comes from building up an even bigger name by adding another "nimbus" element for the cloud as its size increases, suggesting that its growth as compared to the second cloud shown has made it even more "rainy".
;Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus
: The fourth panel shows an absurdly large cloud with three major layers and gives it the name cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy rainy heaping raincloud"). This is a combination of the third and second cloud names in this comic, and indeed the fourth cloud looks a lot like the second one emerging out of the top of the third. This cloud may look like a [[220: Philosophy|super soaker]], ready to spray water on everyone, or perhaps a faucet ready to open and pour water down.
;Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent
: The title text takes this comic to its logical extreme by naming a new cloud that has the longest name of them all and is also supposedly the rarest. Its name can be translated as "mid-altitude, heaped, lense-shaped, layered, grey, rainy, wispy, breast-like and lit at night". It mentions a common joke in weather communities, making fun of the common [https://youtu.be/WMtAaETOVSY?t=448 trope] that thunderstorms form when "warm moist air" meets "cold dry air," an extreme oversimplification. A complicated cloud needs complicated processes, so Randall adds in "cold slippery air," then {{w|curse}}d air and {{w|nanobots}}, which makes the cloud impossible since neither of those exist.{{Citation needed}}

:The name of this cloud is a {{w|Compound (linguistics)|compound}} of the following cloud names:
:{{w|altocumulus}}: "heap up high"; these clouds are mid-altitude white patches.
:{{w|lenticular cloud}}, often shaped like a flying saucer.
:{{w|Stratus cloud|stratus}}: a layered cloud, effectively above-ground fog.
:{{w|Nimbostratus cloud|nimbus}}: a grey cloud producing continuous rain.
:{{w|Cirrus cloud|cirrus}}: a cloud that looks like thin, wispy strands.
:"lenticulo" gets repeated, perhaps indicating that there's a second disc in the cloud.
:{{w|mammatus}}: a breast-like cloud structure that forms at the bottom of some thunderstorm clouds, which signifies sinking air and is associated with severe storm activity and, in the central United States, tornado formation.
:{{w|noctilucent}}: a cloud-like structure formed from ice crystals, often formed after volcano eruptions and other cataclysmic events and illuminated by a just-set sun.

The {{w|International Cloud Atlas}} defines the cloud types that are recognized by the WMO, the {{w|World Meteorological Organization}}. It was first published in 1896. Similarly, {{w|IUPAC}} publishes a manual that allows chemists to name chemical compounds in a consistent manner. The Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent may thus be a pun on IUPAC, which (theoretically) offers a unique name for each possible strand of DNA and other complex molecules (such as [[wikt:Appendix:List of protologisms/Long words/Titin|Titin]]). Therefore, Randall might have seen a unique cloud that has never been observed before, but yet, thanks to IUPAC-like cloud naming rules, he came up with a "valid" name for his observation.

==Transcript==
:[Drawing of a small cloud with with a label beneath:]
:Cumulus

:[Drawing of a medium sized tall hourglass shaped cloud with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbus

:[Drawing of a large cloud, larger at the top than at the bottom, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbus

:[Drawing of a huge and very complicated cloud in three layers, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus

==Trivia==
*On xkcd, this comic replaced a preceding "disappearing comic", which temporarily was assigned the sequence number 2185, as it followed the Friday comic [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] already on Sunday. But that was just to prevent the trouble a not numbered comic was having on the xkcd site. It was designed to disappear completely and leave no trace in xkcd's history or archives when this comic was released. The original comic does also no longer appear in explain xkcd's comic navigation either, and is hence linked here: [[Disappearing Sunday Update]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Robots]] 
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]

2185: Cumulonimbus

2024-11-15T11:08:52Z

CategoryGeneral:

{{comic
| number = 2185
| date = August 5, 2019
| title = Cumulonimbus
| image = cumulonimbus.png
| titletext = The rarest of all clouds is the altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent cloud, caused by an interaction between warm moist air, cool dry air, cold slippery air, cursed air, and a cloud of nanobots.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic follows the naming of clouds. As with other lists (like in [[2022: Sports Champions]] and later [[2497]]), it starts off as normal but then gets more unusual until it is unrealistic.

;Cumulus
: The first panel shows a {{w|cumulus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heap". These are common clouds and are relatively small. Cumulus clouds form when warm (and thus rising) moist air condenses when it hits the {{w|dew point}}, the temperature at which relative humidity hits 100%. Cumulus clouds with sharp, defined borders are still growing. When they stop growing (because the rising moist air is exhausted), they get fuzzy and fluffy, and eventually dissolve.
;Cumulonimbus
: The second panel shows a {{w|cumulonimbus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heaping raincloud", with the upper part about the same size as the lower part. Though somewhat like the cumulus cloud, it is more prone to causing rain and lightning. Cumulonimbus clouds, like cumulus clouds, grow vertically because of their moist warm air, but they have enough energy to reach the top of the {{w|troposphere}}, giving them the distinctive anvil shape shown in the comic and their tendency to produce nasty weather.
;Cumulonimbulonimbus
: The third panel shows an even bigger cloud and names it cumulonimbulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy raincloud"). Here the scientific facts end and the humor begins. The cloud has the upper part about twice as large as the lower part. The humor here comes from building up an even bigger name by adding another "nimbus" element for the cloud as its size increases, suggesting that its growth as compared to the second cloud shown has made it even more "rainy".
;Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus
: The fourth panel shows an absurdly large cloud with three major layers and gives it the name cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy rainy heaping raincloud"). This is a combination of the third and second cloud names in this comic, and indeed the fourth cloud looks a lot like the second one emerging out of the top of the third. This cloud may look like a [[220: Philosophy|super soaker]], ready to spray water on everyone, or perhaps a faucet ready to open and pour water down.
;Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent
: The title text takes this comic to its logical extreme by naming a new cloud that has the longest name of them all and is also supposedly the rarest. Its name can be translated as "mid-altitude, heaped, lense-shaped, layered, grey, rainy, wispy, breast-like and lit at night". It mentions a common joke in weather communities, making fun of the common [https://youtu.be/WMtAaETOVSY?t=448 trope] that thunderstorms form when "warm moist air" meets "cold dry air," an extreme oversimplification. A complicated cloud needs complicated processes, so Randall adds in "cold slippery air," then {{w|curse}}d air and {{w|nanobots}}, which makes the cloud impossible since neither of those exist.{{Citation needed}}

:The name of this cloud is a {{w|Compound (linguistics)|compound}} of the following cloud names:
:{{w|altocumulus}}: "heap up high"; these clouds are mid-altitude white patches.
:{{w|lenticular cloud}}, often shaped like a flying saucer.
:{{w|Stratus cloud|stratus}}: a layered cloud, effectively above-ground fog.
:{{w|Nimbostratus cloud|nimbus}}: a grey cloud producing continuous rain.
:{{w|Cirrus cloud|cirrus}}: a cloud that looks like thin, wispy strands.
:"lenticulo" gets repeated, perhaps indicating that there's a second disc in the cloud.
:{{w|mammatus}}: a breast-like cloud structure that forms at the bottom of some thunderstorm clouds, which signifies sinking air and is associated with severe storm activity and, in the central United States, tornado formation.
:{{w|noctilucent}}: a cloud-like structure formed from ice crystals, often formed after volcano eruptions and other cataclysmic events and illuminated by a just-set sun.

The {{w|International Cloud Atlas}} defines the cloud types that are recognized by the WMO, the {{w|World Meteorological Organization}}. It was first published in 1896. Similarly, {{w|IUPAC}} publishes a manual that allows chemists to name chemical compounds in a consistent manner. The Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent may thus be a pun on IUPAC, which (theoretically) offers a unique name for each possible strand of DNA and other complex molecules (such as [[wikt:Appendix:List of protologisms/Long words/Titin|Titin]]). Therefore, Randall might have seen a unique cloud that has never been observed before, but yet, thanks to IUPAC-like cloud naming rules, he came up with a "valid" name for his observation.

==Transcript==
:[Drawing of a small cloud with with a label beneath:]
:Cumulus

:[Drawing of a medium sized tall hourglass shaped cloud with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbus

:[Drawing of a large cloud, larger at the top than at the bottom, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbus

:[Drawing of a huge and very complicated cloud in three layers, with a label beneath:]
:Cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus

==Trivia==
*On xkcd, this comic replaced a preceding "disappearing comic", which temporarily was assigned the sequence number 2185, as it followed the Friday comic [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] already on Sunday. But that was just to prevent the trouble a not numbered comic was having on the xkcd site. It was designed to disappear completely and leave no trace in xkcd's history or archives when this comic was released. The original comic does also no longer appear in explain xkcd's comic navigation either, and is hence linked here: [[Disappearing Sunday Update]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Robots]] 
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]

2022: Sports Champions

2024-11-15T11:06:42Z

CategoryGeneral:

{{comic
| number = 2022
| date = July 20, 2018
| title = Sports Champions
| image = sports_champions.png
| titletext = For a long time, people thought maybe Usain Bolt was the one for running, until the 2090s and the incredible dominance of Derek Legs.
}}

==Explanation==
In an example of {{w|nominative determinism}}, the comic lists people whose surname relates to their participation in various sports. It is presented as though it was created in the far future, reflecting on champions over the decades through to the 2080s. The first three are real sportspeople, the remainder are imaginary players of the future. The names progress from real, to fictional-but-plausible, to rare or highly unusual, to utterly implausible and impractical names.

Every caricature participates in their sport, except for Jebediah, who is standing at a [[1661|lectern]].

;Margaret Court (1960s, Tennis)
:{{w|Margaret Court}} is an Australian tennis player, former world number 1, who won many competitions in the 1960s and 70s. A {{w|tennis court|tennis '''court'''}} is the playing arena used in that sport.
;Gary Player (1970s, Golf)
:{{w|Gary Player}} is a South African golfer who won nine major championships between 1959 and 1978. Competitors are often known as '''players''', such as in {{w|The Players Championship}}.
;Lonzo Ball (2020s, Basketball)
:{{w|Lonzo Ball}} is an American professional basketball player, with the Los Angeles Lakers at the time of publishing. The 2020s decade predicts future success, as he began playing professionally in 2017 and the comic was published in 2018. Basketball is, of course, a {{w|ball game|'''ball''' game}}.
;Jake Halfpipe (2030s, Skateboarding)
:A '''{{w|half-pipe|halfpipe}}''' is a structure used in extreme sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding.
;Sarah Goggles (2030s, Swimming)
:'''{{w|Goggles}}''' are protective eyewear used in many sports, such as swimming or skiing.
;Kevin Slurve (2050s, Baseball)
:A '''{{w|slurve}}''' is a baseball throwing technique, a portmanteau of '''sl'''ider and c'''urve'''.
;Julia Chairlift (2050s, Skiing)
:A '''{{w|chairlift}}''' is an aerial machine often used to transport winter sports participants up mountains.
;Dwight Shuttlecock (2060s, Badminton)
:A '''{{w|shuttlecock}}''' is a projectile used in the sport of badminton.
;Brandon Sponsorship (2060s, Unclear)
:Sporting professionals are often {{w|Sponsor (commercial)|sponsored}} by corporations. Brandon is holding a pair of shoes, which are probably a branded '''sponsorship''' item. Possible pun on "brand on sponsorship", i.e. a sponsored player.
;Kate Dopingscandal (2070s, Cycling)
:There have been many '''{{w|List of doping cases in cycling|doping scandal}}s''' in the world of cycling. Doping refers to the "use of physiological substances or abnormal methods to obtain an artificial increase in performance." (See: [[1173: Steroids]].)
;Jebediah Disasterous Postgame-PressConference (2080s, Unspecified)
:At the end of sporting events - i.e. post-game - there is often a {{w|News conference|press conference}} where the competitors discuss the result. Sometimes, these live interviews are a disaster. Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous".
;Title Text<nowiki>:</nowiki> Usain Bolt (2010s) and Derek Legs (2090s, Sprinting)
:From the title text, {{w|Usain Bolt}} is a retired world record {{w|100 metres|sprinter}}. He was a solid contender for this list since he can '''bolt''' down the track. However the fictional Derek '''Legs''' is selected, either as an even faster sprinter, or because “legs” more clearly and unambiguously relates to running than “bolt” does.

==Transcript==
:[Two rows of people wielding sports equipment are shown, six in the upper row, five in the lower, only the last has no equipment but is standing behind a lectern with a microphone attached to it. Below each person, their name is given and the decade in which they were champions of their sport is given below their name, in brackets. Here is a list of the 11 people:]

:[Woman with dark hair holding a tennis racket]
:Margaret Court
:(1960s)

:[Cueball with a golf club]
:Gary Player
:(1970s)

:[Cueball with a basketball]
:Lonzo Ball
:(2020s)

:[Hairy on a skateboard]
:Jake Halfpipe
:(2030s)

:[Woman with dark hair wearing a swim cap and goggles]
:Sarah Goggles
:(2030s)

:[A man with a baseball cap throwing a baseball to the right]
:Kevin Slurve
:(2050s)

:[A woman with long black hair in a knit cap and wearing ski googles is standing on skis holding ski poles]
:Julia Chairlift
:(2050s)

:[Hairy holding a badminton racket bouncing a shuttlecock on it]
:Dwight Shuttlecock
:(2060s)

:[Hairy holding a pair of shoes in his hand]
:Brandon Sponsorship
:(2060s)

:[Hairbun standing next to a bicycle.]
:Kate Dopingscandal
:(2070s)

:[Hairy standing behind a lectern with a microphone on it.]
:Jebediah Disasterous Postgame PressConference
:(2080s)

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Fun fact: Every sport eventually produces a champion competitor named after a common element of the game.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
[[Category:Skateboard]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Fun fact]]

2022: Sports Champions

2024-11-15T10:57:08Z

CategoryGeneral: Changed link target

{{comic
| number = 2022
| date = July 20, 2018
| title = Sports Champions
| image = sports_champions.png
| titletext = For a long time, people thought maybe Usain Bolt was the one for running, until the 2090s and the incredible dominance of Derek Legs.
}}

==Explanation==
In an example of {{w|nominative determinism}}, the comic lists people whose surname relates to their participation in various sports. It is presented as though it was created in the far future, reflecting on champions over the decades through to the 2080s. The first three are real sportspeople, the remainder are imaginary players of the future. The names progress from real, to fictional-but-plausible, to rare or highly unusual, to utterly implausible and impractical names.

Every caricature participates in their sport, except for Jebediah, who is standing at a [[1661|lectern]].

;Margaret Court (1960s, Tennis)
:{{w|Margaret Court}} is an Australian tennis player, former world number 1, who won many competitions in the 1960s and 70s. A {{w|tennis court|tennis '''court'''}} is the playing arena used in that sport.
;Gary Player (1970s, Golf)
:{{w|Gary Player}} is a South African golfer who won nine major championships between 1959 and 1978. Competitors are often known as '''players''', such as in {{w|The Players Championship}}.
;Lonzo Ball (2020s, Basketball)
:{{w|Lonzo Ball}} is an American professional basketball player, with the Los Angeles Lakers at the time of publishing. The 2020s decade predicts future success, as he began playing professionally in 2017 and the comic was published in 2018. Basketball is, of course, a {{w|ball game|'''ball''' game}}.
;Jake Halfpipe (2030s, Skateboarding)
:A '''{{w|half-pipe|halfpipe}}''' is a structure used in extreme sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding.
;Sarah Goggles (2030s, Swimming)
:'''{{w|Goggles}}''' are protective eyewear used in many sports, such as swimming or skiing.
;Kevin Slurve (2050s, Baseball)
:A '''{{w|slurve}}''' is a baseball throwing technique, a portmanteau of '''sl'''ider and c'''urve'''.
;Julia Chairlift (2050s, Skiing)
:A '''{{w|chairlift}}''' is an aerial machine often used to transport winter sports participants up mountains.
;Dwight Shuttlecock (2060s, Badminton)
:A '''{{w|shuttlecock}}''' is a projectile used in the sport of badminton.
;Brandon Sponsorship (2060s, Unclear)
:Sporting professionals are often {{w|Sponsor (commercial)|sponsored}} by corporations. Brandon is holding a pair of shoes, which are probably a branded '''sponsorship''' item. Possible pun on "brand on sponsorship", i.e. a sponsored player.
;Kate Dopingscandal (2070s, Cycling)
:There have been many '''{{w|List of doping cases in cycling|doping scandal}}s''' in the world of cycling. Doping refers to the "use of physiological substances or abnormal methods to obtain an artificial increase in performance." (See: [[1173: Steroids]].)
;Jebediah Disasterous Postgame-PressConference (2080s, Unspecified)
:At the end of sporting events - i.e. post-game - there is often a {{w|News conference|press conference}} where the competitors discuss the result. Sometimes, these live interviews are a disaster. Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous".
;Title Text<nowiki>:</nowiki> Usain Bolt (2010s) and Derek Legs (2090s, Sprinting)
:From the title text, {{w|Usain Bolt}} is a retired world record {{w|100 metres|sprinter}}. He was a solid contender for this list since he can '''bolt''' down the track. However the fictional Derek '''Legs''' is selected, either as an even faster sprinter, or because “legs” more clearly and unambiguously relates to running than “bolt” does.

==Transcript==
:[Two rows of people wielding sports equipment are shown, six in the upper row, five in the lower, only the last has no equipment but is standing behind a lectern with a microphone attached to it. Below each person, their name is given and the decade in which they were champions of their sport is given below their name, in brackets. Here is a list of the 11 people:]

:[Woman with dark hair holding a tennis racket]
:Margaret Court
:(1960s)

:[Cueball with a golf club]
:Gary Player
:(1970s)

:[Cueball with a basketball]
:Lonzo Ball
:(2020s)

:[Hairy on a skateboard]
:Jake Halfpipe
:(2030s)

:[Woman with dark hair wearing a swim cap and goggles]
:Sarah Goggles
:(2030s)

:[A man with a baseball cap throwing a baseball to the right]
:Kevin Slurve
:(2050s)

:[A woman with long black hair in a knit cap and wearing ski googles is standing on skis holding ski poles]
:Julia Chairlift
:(2050s)

:[Hairy holding a badminton racket bouncing a shuttlecock on it]
:Dwight Shuttlecock
:(2060s)

:[Hairy holding a pair of shoes in his hand]
:Brandon Sponsorship
:(2060s)

:[Hairbun standing next to a bicycle.]
:Kate Dopingscandal
:(2070s)

:[Hairy standing behind a lectern with a microphone on it.]
:Jebediah Disasterous Postgame PressConference
:(2080s)

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Fun fact: Every sport eventually produces a champion competitor named after a common element of the game.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
[[Category:Skateboard]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Fun fact]]

2614: 2

2024-11-15T10:11:33Z

CategoryGeneral: You must have confused the two. This comic is not one of the seventy-two incher comics.

<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2". For comic #2, see [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2614
| date = May 2, 2022
| title = 2
| image = 2.png
| titletext = It's like sigma summation notation, except instead of summing the argument over all values of i, you 2 the argument over all values of 2.
}}

==Explanation==

This demonstrates the different ways in which the number 2 can be typeset in various scientific fields. While these ways of typesetting are used with any number, using the number 2 in this instance provides a clear illustration how adding numbers can significantly alter a feature of a concept (such as the number of electrons in an atom) or perform a mathematical operation on it (such as raising a value to its second power).

The dotted box represents any character (a number, letter, or bigram of letters, as appropriate to the various signifiers). All the other notation consists only of the digit 2, with occasional additional punctuation, in various locations in relation to this character. Each of these is labelled as to what its 'purpose' might normally be with respect to the general term:
;Regular Math
:Precedes the term. "2x" indicates two times the value of ''x'' in normal {{w|algebra|algebraic}} use that should be familiar for many people.
;Physics
:A preceding superscript. "2H" would indicate the particular {{w|isotope}} of hydrogen with the atomic weight of two, namely deuterium, which is most often encountered when working with the atomic level of matter where the total number of neutrons and protons in the atom is important. It can also represent {{w|tetration}}, which is iterated exponentiation.
;Chemical Physics
:A preceding subscript, as in "2He", indicates the atomic number of an atom, which is the number of protons it contains. It is thus a guide to the number of electrons its unionised form usually has and hence is meaningful for its potential chemical interactions with other atoms. This number of protons should be invariant for any particular named element, but is usually given simultaneously with the presuperscripted mass number for which it can indicate the applicable nuclear physics. {{w|Chemical physics}} is a subdiscipline of physics and chemistry. It can also represent {{w|pentation}}, which is iterated tetration.
;Regular Math or Footnotes
:A trailing superscript is typical of a {{w|Exponentiation|power value}}; in this case "x²" would be ''x'' multiplied by itself - a common mathematical standard.
:Additionally, superscripted numbers are one common way to mark words in a line of text in a way to refer to a {{w|Note (typography)|footnote}}, typically placed at the bottom of the page and containing additional information that would distract from the main text itself. The ambiguity between footnotes and exponents was used in [[1184: Circumference Formula]].
;Chemistry
:A trailing subscript is used in chemistry to indicate a multiple of the element (or group of elements, in brackets) in a {{w|chemical formula}}. "H2O" indicates two hydrogen atoms bond with a single oxygen atom in a molecule of water.
;Matrices! ("2,2")
:Extending the trailing subscript with a comma-separated value usually indicates a multidimensional array (e.g., establishing a 2-by-2 square of numbers, or this particular position in such an array), which is in the realm of {{w|Matrix (mathematics)|matrix mathematics}}. This is a little bit beyond 'everyday algebra' for many people, as seemingly indicated by the exclamation of the mere mention of matrices.
;The Physicists Are At It Again ("2;2")
:This label encompasses a mark that turns the prior comma into a semicolon, as part of the trailing subscript. This is a common notation for the {{w|Covariant derivative}} of a tensor field, which is commonly used in the mathematics of general relativity.
;Either High School Math Function or Incomprehensible Group Theory
:The number 2 in parentheses that follow a term would normally be the argument to a {{w|Function (mathematics)|function}}. For example, "f(2)" means that you should take the value 2, and find the result if manipulated by the predefined function ''f''. It is generally taught as part of algebraic mathematics in {{w|Secondary school|high school}}.
:In {{w|group theory}}, however, the number 2 in parentheses could indicate a special kind of group, such as an element of a symmetry group that keeps 2 fixed, or some kind of group of 2x2 matrices. For instance, {{w|SU(2)}} is a 3-dimensional {{w|Lie group}} of {{w|unitary matrices}}. These concepts are taught in graduate or advanced undergraduate mathematics courses.
;Oh no. Whatever this is, it's cursed.
:A symbol centered underneath another larger symbol is normally reserved for doing summations or products, where the big symbol is Σ or Π, or some other operation applied to a sequence of numbers. It does not make sense to have a single number on top of a smaller one. As with [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems|other things]] where something appears to have gone wrong in Randall's comic universe, the explanation for this particular anomaly is that it is 'Cursed'.
:Two {{w|natural number}}s may be stacked directly on top of one another in parentheses as {{w|binomial coefficient}}s: ( <table style="display: inline-table; line-height: 0.6em; vertical-align: middle; font-size:7pt; text-size-adjust: none;"><tr><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>2</td></tr></table>), but those are always the same size, denoting a {{w|combination}}. In this case, ''2 choose 2'' is equal to one combination.
:The usage mentioned in the title text is an operation (e.g. Σ for summation) over a variable, usually indicated by a letter such as i, where the operation is performed over all values of the variable (i.e., you Σ (sum) the argument over all values of i). In the "2" case, the title text says "you 2 the argument over all values of 2" (i.e., the Σ operation has been replaced by the "2" operation and the i variable has been replaced by the "2" variable). 2 is usually not an operation, though the definition of 2 under {{w|Church_encoding#Church_numerals|Church encoding}} is a function that takes in and produces functions. 2 applied to 2 in Church encoding is 4. However, the title text implies that 2 is treated like a variable, which it is not (and it's definitely not a operator and variable at the same time).
: Things being cursed is a common trope within recent xkcd comics, which have mentioned items including [[2332:_Cursed_Chair|Cursed chairs]] and [[:Category:Cursed_Connectors|cursed connectors]]. This notation is one of the few occasions where the supernatural has demonstrable implications for science and mathematics for those foolhardy enough to use it.

==Transcript==
:[An apparent generalisation of a scientific expression consisting of a dotted rectangular 'box' outline, left empty, and various commonly-themed symbology around it:]

:[as normal text, to the left of all the rest:] 2
:[superscript to the immediate left of the box:] 2
:[subscript also to the immediate left of the box:] 2
:[superscript to the immediate right of the box:] 2
:[subscript also to the immediate right of the box:] 2;2 [i.e. separated by a semicolon]
:[as normal text, to the right of almost all the rest:] (2) [i.e. enclosed in standard parentheses]
:[smaller subscript, centered immediately beneath the 2 within the parentheses:] 2

:[Further details are drawn in grey tone, around or near various of the elements of the expression:]
;[Captions above the numbers]
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftmost 2:] Regular Math
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftwards superscript 2:] Physics
:[with an arrow pointing to the rightwards superscript 2:] Regular math or footnotes
:[with an arrow pointing to the parenthetical 2 at the right:] Either high school math functions or incomprehensible group theory

;[Captions below the numbers]
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftwards subscript 2:] Chemical Physics
:[with an arrow pointing to just the rightwards subscript 2:] Chemistry
:[with an arrow pointing to a distorted grey ring snaking around only the comma of the semicolon and the following 2 of the rightmost subscript:] Matrices!
:[with an arrow pointing to a larger grey ring that passes fully around the whole semicolon and final 2 of the rightmost subscript:] The physicists are at it again
:[with an arrow pointing to the small 2 placed below the parenthetical 2:] Oh no. Whatever this is, it's cursed.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]
[[Category:Footnotes]]

724: Hell

2024-11-10T02:13:29Z

CategoryGeneral: Removed duplicate text

{{comic
| number = 724
| date = April 7, 2010
| title = Hell
| image = hell.png
| titletext = There's also a Katamari level where everything is just slightly bigger than you, and a Mario level with a star just out of reach.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Tetris}} is a game where the player has to manipulate falling blocks into forming complete rows, which will then be deleted and give points to the player. This comic is a play on this, presenting the player with a version of the game with a curved bottom that renders forming flat rows nearly impossible. {{w|Hell}} is a {{w|Religion#Mythology|mythological and/or religious concept}} of a posthumous punishment for wrongdoers, depicted in many religions as eternal torment. Here the Tetris player feels they are in Hell when they try to play this game.

The title text presents similar situations where frustration is likely to occur. ''{{w|Katamari_(series)|Katamari Damacy}}'' is a video game in which the player controls a sticky sphere which grows by assimilating objects smaller than itself, so gameplay would be extremely frustrating if none of the objects available is smaller than your sphere. ''{{w|Super_Mario_(series)|Super Mario}}'' is a long-running franchise of platforming games; in some of the games (beginning with ''{{w|Super Mario 64}}''), levels are completed by collecting large, golden [https://www.mariowiki.com/Power_Star Power Stars] – so it would be very frustrating if one is impossible to reach.

There actually is a star in ''Super Mario 64'' that is just out of reach in the [https://ukikipedia.net/wiki/A_Button_Challenge A Button Challenge], where the goal is to minimize the number of presses of the A button. The star ''Treasure of the Ocean Cave'' is just 24 units too high to be reached without using the A button, and no alternative method has been found yet to get it without pressing A.
As of February 16 2023 however, this star has been solved in 0.5 A presses, which means it only requires A to be held, and not pressed. Thus, in a full-game run, it can use an A press from earlier in the run.

This last part may also be a reference to the {{w|Ancient Greek myth}} of {{w|Tantalus}}; as punishment for cannibalism, he suffers in {{w|Hades}}, confined to a pool with a fruit tree above it. As his punishment, the fruit branches on the tree recoil every time he tries to eat, and the water recedes every time he tries to drink.

Also see comic [[888: Heaven]], which presents an inverse situation in which the Tetris game provides unfairly perfect pieces to help the player win.

There is a playable version of this comic at [http://www.kongregate.com/games/banthar/hell-tetris Kongregate] which, unsurprisingly, is frustratingly difficult ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reFPscApObs but not impossible]) to play. Another playable version of the game with similar graphics experience and tweaked game design (has an Easy mode and challenge modes) is also released on Itch.io [https://livelycarpet87.itch.io/hell-tet here].

==Transcript==
:[The panel shows the display of a Tetris game where the bottom of the pit is curved into a semicircle making the two blocks at the bottom, a square and a reverse L piece lean crookedly towards each other at the bottom of the pit; an S piece is falling and the next piece is an L piece.]
:Next
:Top
:000000
:Score
:000000
:Level
:01
:[Below the panel:]
:Hell

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Katamari Damacy]]
[[Category:Video games]]

556: Alternative Energy Revolution

2024-11-10T02:05:25Z

CategoryGeneral: The incomplete tag was removed really too soon.

{{comic
| number = 556
| date = March 16, 2009
| title = Alternative Energy Revolution
| image = alternative_energy_revolution.jpg
| titletext = The moment their arms spun freely in our air, they were doomed -- for Man has earned his right to hold this planet against all comers, by virtue of occasionally producing someone totally batshit insane.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|last panel}}
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are looking at modern "{{w|windmills}}" (known as {{w|wind turbines}}) harnessing wind energy into electrical energy. They comment that there's something creepy about the windmills. They allude to the book ''{{w|The War of the Worlds}}'' by {{w|H. G. Wells}} (the Jeff Wayne musical version of {{w|Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds|The War of the Worlds}} has paintings of the Martian tripods somewhat like these turbines) and also to {{w|John Christopher|John Christopher's}} ''{{w|The Tripods|Tripods}}'' trilogy, a young adult series of books that is also about aliens who ride in walking tripods. Suddenly the windmills' pylons split into three legs, becoming the tripods suggested.

They exclaim that {{w|Al Gore}} has doomed us all. Gore is a former Vice President of the United States of America, known for his environmental activism and promotion of green energy sources, relevant because wind turbines like the ones here are one of the alternative energy sources he supports. In the final frame, the seventeenth-century literary figure {{w|Don Quixote}} arrives. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]]'s depiction seems to be inspired by {{w|Don Quixote (Picasso)|the drawing}} by {{w|Pablo Picasso}}. In the original story, Don Quixote is a wandering knight of questionable sanity who fights a windmill, which he believes to be a giant. Hence, he is the appropriate person to deal with this threat. Wind turbines also appear in later comics. In [[1119: Undoing]], Randall still seems to dislike them. In [[1378: Turbine]], the turbine is alive as it is in this comic, though its talking may simply be anthropomorphism.

The title is a joke on the phrase "Alternative Energy Revolution," which normally refers to replacing of harmful power sources with eco-friendly options. However, in this case, the Alternative Energy sources are literally rising up in a revolution against humanity, while their rotor blades are revolving. The title text is also a reference to {{w|The War of the Worlds}}: "But there are no bacteria in Mars... when I watched them they were irrevocably doomed... By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers." Of course, this time we are only saved because we — in spite of having evolved — still produce insane members of our species: some of them occasionally being crazy in a practical way (as Don Quixote's special powers lie in defeating windmills).

==Transcript==
:[A field with seven wind turbines is silhouetted against a dusk sky. One of the turbines is much closer than the others. The panel is double height and width of the two next panels to the right.]

:[Cueball standing and Megan sitting on the ground are overlooking the wind turbines.]
:Cueball: I'm all for green energy, but those turbines creep me out. They remind me of War of the Worlds, or the Tripod books.

:[While the two are in the same position but longer to the left in the panel wiggly lines form around the last word to indicate a high rumbling sound.]
:Megan: They ''are'' unnerving.
:Cueball: I can't shake the feeling that at any moment they'll—
:''Rumble''

:[The next line in the comic has five small square panels:]
:[A leg begins to split off one wind turbine.]
:''Crack''

:[The leg separates from the body of the wind turbine.]

:[The new leg lands on the ground.]
:''Boom''

:[Another leg begins to split off the other side of the wind turbine's body.]
:''Crack''

:[The new leg hits the ground, forming a tripod base.]
:''Boom''

:[A panel even wider than the first, but the same height as the 2nd and 3rd panel. Four of the wind turbines rampage across the field. Six smoke plumes rise from the ground where there are also nine to ten distinct red fires burning. The turbines move towards towers and buildings to the right.]

:[Cueball and Megan are now both standing. This panel and the last three panels in the last row is all the same size, a third of the total comic in width and the same height as the previous panel.]
:Megan: Oh no.
:Cueball: Al Gore, you've doomed us all.
:Megan: It's coming this way!
:Cueball: Run!

:[One of the enormous tripod wind turbine feet lands right behind the running couple, sending debris flying.]
:'''Boom'''

:[Cueball and Megan run up a small hill (that continue up in the next panel).]
:Megan: What now?
:Cueball: Someone has to stop them.
:Megan: But who could-
:Voice (off panel): '''Stand aside!'''

:[A man with a black hat and a beard sits mounted on a horse at the top of the hill, lance at the ready.]

==Trivia==
* This is one of the six [[Footer comics|footer comics]] featured in the bottom segment of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
* There is a [https://youtu.be/kRuqPKcxMZY fan-made animated version] of this comic on YouTube.
* This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023401/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Wind turbine]]
[[Category:Footer comics]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

162: Angular Momentum

2024-11-10T01:53:27Z

CategoryGeneral: Undo the edit

{{comic
| number = 162
| date = September 25, 2006
| title = Angular Momentum
| image = angular_momentum.jpg
| titletext = With reasonable assumptions about latitude and body shape, how much time might she gain them? Note: whatever the answer, sunrise always comes too soon. (Also, is it worth it if she throws up?)
}}

==Explanation==
Every moving object, including the Earth, possesses {{w|momentum}}. The Earth has a very high momentum due to its large mass and high speed as it orbits the Sun. However, the comic refers specifically to the Earth's angular momentum generated by its rotation on its axis, which creates the day/night cycle. This momentum can change (increase, decrease, or halt) through the application of force from another object, which acts as the transfer of momentum from one object to another.

[[Megan]] is attempting to slow down the Earth's angular momentum by spinning counterclockwise (a.k.a. {{wiktionary|anticlockwise}}) and force her momentum onto the Earth, so she can have more time to spend with [[Cueball]]. The momentum she produces is minuscule relative to the Earth's. The attosecond she's gaining by spinning while being with Cueball is nothing compared with the seconds spent spinning. A Reddit user [https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/5ccbzs/comment/d9vskah calculated] the time Megan is gaining by spinning is less than the time it takes for light to travel across 5% of the diameter of an atom. Megan could gain a considerably larger (but still minuscule) amount of time [https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/4mdihu/request_if_every_single_person_in_the_world_did/d3uvmk3/ by walking to the equator]. Later, in [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]], the same kind of spinning Megan is used in the first frame to tell that xkcd loves momentum. {{w|Wired (magazine)|Wired}} [https://www.wired.com/2014/04/can-you-slow-down-a-day-using-angular-momentum/ calculated] how much time Megan slowed down. And finally, in ''[[xkcd: volume 0]]'', this is also calculated above the comic, giving a final value of 10-35s per turn, or 1/10000 of a quectosecond. This comic is referenced at the end of the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|42|Longest Sunset}}''.

The title text also jokes that the amount of time Megan is gaining from spinning might also not be worth her risk of vomiting due to the dizziness.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits sideways on a bed under an open window in the corner of a room. He is looking at Megan, who is spinning fast, indicated with two large circles indicating where her arms that are spread far out rotate, as well as two smaller circles around her knees and feet. The bed sheets are clearly messed up, as if someone has used it for activities other than sleeping. It is night and dark gray outside the window, and inside the room everything is also gray but lighter. Behind the spoken text, the background is white, but fades to the darker gray at the edges. There is also different gray shading in different parts of the room.]
:Cueball: What are you doing?
:Megan: Spinning counterclockwise
:Megan: Each turn robs the planet of angular momentum
:Megan: Slowing its spin the tiniest bit
:Megan: Lengthening the night, pushing back the dawn
:Megan: Giving me a little more time here
:Megan: With you

==Trivia==
* This is one of the six [[Footer comics|footer comics]] featured in the bottom segment of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
* This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023401/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Footer comics]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]

Talk:3009: Number Shortage

2024-11-10T01:51:04Z

CategoryGeneral: /* Google */ new section

I bet there's plenty of 9s left. They obviously didn't get a proper range of digits at Benford's Discount Number Store. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 05:53, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

Is this not an error? "15 2s and 12 3s" uses up one 3. So shouldn't it next be 11 3s left, not 10? -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.144.152|172.69.144.152]] 10:41, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

the consequences of our actions /ref [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:45, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

The above mentioned “error” is not an error. When she says there are 13 2s left, that uses up one 3. [[User:PedanticMan|PedanticMan]] ([[User talk:PedanticMan|talk]]) 11:13, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

: There's no pause, no "No wait" after "13 2s". Is she reevaluating numbers instantly realtime midsentence? Did she start the sentence planning to say one thing and instantly altered it partway through? I guess that's what Randall is going for. -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.144.162|172.69.144.162]] 12:00, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
::That's what I assumed, and I already included it in the explanation. But I'm not sure if the title text is consistent with that interpretation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:35, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

If anyone wants to see self-referentiality of numbers taken even further, here is a series of posts that I wrote on "self-describing numbers": https://atmos.warplight.dev/profile/1p8WCZnqqG6N3ZOsJxBgUTo/p1cNCw1OTsioTQBRk [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 12:09, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

the first stage of grief is denial [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 12:19, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
: So you saw that the Harris banner is still up too, eh? There may be no shortage of absolute numbers, but numbers of things, yeah, there are shortages. Like, chances to act to avert disaster, like weren't taken in 2016, and we got lucky ... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.92|172.68.23.92]] 17:37, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure "15" uses up one 3 (3*5) and "12" uses up two 2's and one 3 (2*2*3) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.213|172.71.222.213]] 15:09, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

"Well? How many numbers do we have left?"
"Oh great! There's one more!"
(Yes, I know this goes against the logic of the original comic)
[[User:Turquoise Hat|Turquoise Hat]] ([[User talk:Turquoise Hat|talk]]) 17:36, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

== "None" ==

Instead of having to say "I don't know" in the title text, one could just say "none". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.170|172.70.110.170]] 19:46, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
:It's funnier to imagine that they forgot how to articulate "zero" as a concept. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 20:56, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

== Google ==
So, is this comic related to the Google incident? Google seems to be suffering from money '''shortage''' after being fined in large '''number'''s. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 01:51, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

User talk:Hdjensofjfnen

2024-11-10T00:49:13Z

CategoryGeneral: This page was actually created by someone else.

Would you mind helping to fix the neography wiki (neography.miraheze.org)? [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 13:44, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

1555: Exoplanet Names 2

2024-11-01T10:56:26Z

CategoryGeneral: IPA

{{comic
| number = 1555
| date = July 24, 2015
| title = Exoplanet Names 2
| image = exoplanet_names_2.png
| titletext = I'm going to drive this Netherlands joke so far into the ground they'll have to build levees around it to keep the sea out.
}}
{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
This comic is a continuation of [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], and was published the day after NASA announced the discovery of a number of planets, including a planet called a cousin to Earth, {{w|Kepler-452b}}. [[Black Hat]] proposes naming it {{w|Pluto}}, both to commemorate the flyby of the {{w|dwarf planet}} of that name by NASA's {{w|New Horizons}} earlier the same month, but also to end the discussion about the status of Pluto, which is subject to debate among both scientists and laypeople over whether-or-not it should be considered a planet. Pluto was considered a planet for a long period of time until, in 2006, the {{w|International Astronomical Union}} (IAU) created a new definition for the word 'planet' designed to exclude Pluto and similar objects, resulting in much debate (The IAU is the organization that takes responsibility for naming celestial bodies like planets, stars, and much more).

It may appear that, with Black Hat's suggestion, the answer to the question "is Pluto a planet?" will therefore always be "yes", regardless of the status of the Pluto in our Solar System according to the IAU. However the same [https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau0603/ IAU official definition] that excludes Pluto also states that a 'planet' has to orbit our sun, so according to the IAU, nothing in this comic is a planet (the IAU definition only allows them to be {{w|exoplanets}}, which, like dwarf planets, are not planets). Hence, the debate indeed becomes 'a little more confusing'. This is in line with Black Hat's characterization as a mischief-maker.

The title text is referring to the planet name entry ''Netherlands VI'' for the star ''EPIC 201912552''. Randall continues his references to the Netherlands taking over the Earth, Mars, and Pluto after Earth's oceans have been transferred to Mars. The joke started in two consecutive ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' articles, {{what if|53|Drain the Oceans}} and {{what if|54|Drain the Oceans: Part II}}, and it was referenced again in {{what if|57|Dropping a Mountain}} and in [[1551: Pluto]] a week before this comic came out. {{w|New Netherland}} was actually a Dutch colony with {{w|New York City}}, formerly known as {{w|New Amsterdam}}, as its capital. In the title text Randall mentions he will continue with this joke driving it so far into the ground (meaning way beyond the point where it stops being funny) that the Dutch will have to build {{w|levee}}s around it to keep the sea out.

===Table===
This table explains each entry in the comic table. The "Status" column refers to the comic [[1253: Exoplanet Names]] and indicates if the entry was already in the older comic (Old), if it has been updated (Update), or if it's a new addition (New).

{| class="wikitable"
! Star !! Planet !! Status !! Suggested Name !! Explanation
|-
| rowspan=7 | {{w|Gliese 667}} || {{w|Gliese 667 Cb|b}} || Old || {{w|Space Planet}} || A very unimaginative name, since every planet is in space.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cc|c}} || Old || PILF || Pun of {{w|MILF pornography|MILF}}, i.e. ''Planet I'd Like to Fuck''. Planet c is a relatively hot planet, within the habitable zone.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cd|d}} || Old || A Star || "A {{w|Star}}" is obviously a bad name for a planet. A* (pronounced "A star") is already used in astronomy, for example the Milky Way's black hole core is {{w|Sagittarius A*}}. "A star" is also the name for the character {{w|asterisk}} and the name of the popular {{w|A* search algorithm}} in computer science.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Ce|e}} || Old || e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;-- || [[Mrs. Roberts]] is probably trying to use {{w|SQL injection}} like in [[327|Exploits of a Mom]], in which her son [[Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--]] caused the school a lot of trouble when his name was put in. The idea here is that the {{w|IAU}} would enter the name into their system and promptly lose all of their data pertaining to planets. Note that Planet e is located in the habitable zone of the star system.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cf|f}} || Old || Blogosphere || rowspan = 2 | Weird ''{{w|blog}}''-related terms are a recurring theme in xkcd. See, for instance, [[181|comic 181]].
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cg|g}} || Old || Blogodrome
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_667c_h/ h] || Old || {{w|Earth}} || Planet candidate h is about the mass of the Earth, and described as "tantalizing": [https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2013/08/aa21331-13/aa21331-13.html A dynamically-packed planetary system around GJ with three super-Earths in its habitable zone]. See also ([[1231: Habitable Zone]]). Like several other names below, naming a second planet Earth would be highly confusing.
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Tau Ceti}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_b/ b] || Old || Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B || This refers to the game {{w|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri}}.
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_c/ c] || Old || Giant Dog Planet || {{w|VY Canis Majoris}} is one of the largest known stars at our galaxy and belongs to the constellation {{w|Canis Major}}, Latin for "greater dog". The constellation further contains {{w|Sirius}}, the brightest star in the night sky, also called "Dog Star".
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_d/ d] || Old || Tiny Dog Planet || cf. {{w|Canis Minor}}, Latin for "lesser dog", another constellation.
|-
|{{w|Tau Ceti e|e}} || Old || Phil Plainet || A reference to {{w|Phil Plait}}, a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer.
|-
|{{w|Tau Ceti f|f}} || Old || Unicode Snowman || The Unicode character ☃ may be a reference to the planet's estimated surface temperature of -40 °C (-40 °F). However, this name would be pronounced differently (being a symbol, not a word or name) in different languages. Planets in our solar system are assigned to {{w|Astronomical symbols|astronomical symbols}} like ♁ for Venus or ♂ for Mars.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 832}} || {{w|Gliese 832 b|b}} || Old || Asshole Jupiter || This massive planet orbits a {{w|red dwarf}} star at the longest known period of 3416 days at this category. Many exoplanets are described as "Hot Jupiters" because they are high-temperature gas giants; if one were to read "hot" as a description of attractiveness rather than temperature, one might generate names like this one.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 832 c|c}} || New || {{w|Waterworld}} starring Kevin Costner || [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114898/ Waterworld] is a 1995 film starring Kevin Costner about Earth almost completely covered in water. The surname was previously spelled incorrectly with a 'K'.
|-
| rowspan=6 | {{w|Gliese 581}} || {{w|Gliese 581 b|b}} || Old || Waist-deep {{w|Cats}} || {{w|Waist Deep}} is an action film from 2006, and the {{w|Lolcat}} meme does not need explaining. The name may also simply be a reference to being "waist-deep" in (i.e. surrounded by many) cats.
|-
| {{w|Gliese|c}} || Old || Planet #14 || About 200th discovered exoplanet (in 2007); reported to be the first potentially Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its star, though that is in doubt now. The joke might be that like "Space Planet", "Planet #14" is a generic and unoriginal name, although it could plausibly be a reference to [https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Planet_14 Planet 14], a potential homeworld of the Cybermen in the long-running science-fiction series ''Doctor Who''. Also of note is that this is the 15th entry in the original table so the numbering is {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero-based}}.
An interesting (?) coincidence is that the 14th and 15th {{w|Definition of planet#Minor planets|Minor planets}} (then called asteroids) were discovered in 1851; see see {{w|List of minor planets: 1–1000}}. If they were to be counted among the planets of the {{w|Solar System}}, as was sometimes done then, the 14th known planetary body would be {{w| 7 Iris|Iris}} (discovered in 1847, a year before {{w|Neptune}}).
|-
|{{w|Gliese 581 d|d}} || Old || Ballderaan || A {{w|wikt:balls|crude pun}} on the planet {{w|Alderaan}} from the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 581 e|e}} || Old || Eternia Prime || {{w|Eternia}} is a fictional planet, venue of the ''{{w|Masters of the Universe}}'' animated series and toy collection.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 581 f|f}} || Old || Taupe Mars || {{w|Kim Stanley Robinson}}'s award-winning {{w|Mars trilogy}} (''Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars'' after various stages of {{w|terraformation}}). {{w|Taupe}} is a brownish-grey color.
|-
|{{w|Gliese|g}} || Old || Jelly-Filled Planet || Possibly a reference to the conjecture that this tidally locked planet has an isolated habitable zone under the substellar point, akin to the pocket of jelly in a jelly doughnut.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Epsilon Eridani}} || {{w|Epsilon Eridani b|b}} || Old || Skydot || [https://skydot.lanl.gov SkyDOT] is the Sky Database for Objects in Time-Domain run by {{w|LANL}} for the {{w|U.S. Dept. of Energy}} and includes data for [https://skydot.lanl.gov/nsvs/star.php?num=14831575&mask=32004 Epsilon Eridani] that can be used to constrain the orbital parameters of ε Eri b. It may also refer to how objects in space may appear as bland, bright dots in the night sky.
|-
| {{w|Epsilon Eridani c#Planet c|c}} || Old || Laser Noises || A {{w|Laser}} does not produce {{w|Noise (electronics)|noise}} in the signal sense; it only works at a well-defined frequency. In science fiction films, however, laser weapon discharges are usually accompanied by sound. Sun-like Epsilon Eridani became a popular setting for science fiction after its publicity as a target of the {{w|Project Ozma}} experiment.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 176}} || {{w|Gliese 176 b|b}} || Old || {{w|Pandora}} || The mythological name {{w|Pandora}} fulfills most of IAU's guidelines and has been popular for planets in science fiction; most recently and famously is {{w|Pandora (Avatar)|the venue}} of James Cameron's ''{{w|Avatar (film)|Avatar}}'' (although actually it is not a planet but just a moon of a gas giant in Alpha Centauri A). It is also a hellish planet from {{w|Frank Herbert}}'s {{w|Frank Herbert bibliography#WorShip novels|WorShip}} series of novels, a jungle planet in Brothers Strugatsky's {{w|Noon Universe}} and the planet used in {{w|Borderlands (video game)|Borderlands Games}}.
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_176_c/ c] || Old || Pantera || A near homophone of Pandora, possibly named for the {{w|Pantera|heavy metal band}}, which was named for the {{w|De Tomaso Pantera|Italian sports car}}, which was named for the panther. Could be a reference to the Avatar movie by James Cameron. The band was ALSO referenced in Terraria, due to the Plantera boss.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-61}} || {{w|Kepler-61b|b}} || Old || GoldenPalace.com || A gambling website, known for {{w|GoldenPalace.com|paying to have their name in unusual places}} (like forehead tattoos, species names...).
|-
| {{w|Groombridge 34|Groombridge 34A}} || b || New || Hot Mess || This is a reference to the phrase {{w|wikt:hot mess|hot mess}}, meaning a person who is dishevelled but nevertheless attractive.
|-
| Kepler-442 || {{w|Kepler-442b|b}} || New || Seas of {{w|Toothpaste}} ||
|-
| Gliese-422 || b || New || This one weird planet || Most likely a reference to {{w|clickbait}} articles found on the internet.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|EPIC 201367065|EPIC-201367065}} || b || New || {{w|Sulawesi}} || {{w|Sulawesi|An island }} in the Indonesian archipelago. Including it in non-Earth maps is an xkcd running gag.
|-
| c || New || Huge {{w|Soccer}} Ball ||
|-
| d || New || Geodude || [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Geodude_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29 Geodude] is a Pokémon characterised by its ball-like shape. It resembles a clump of rocks.
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Kepler-296}} || b || New || Kerbal Space Planet || {{w|Kerbal Space Program}} is a game where model rockets are launched on a scale version of the Earth. It has been referenced in xkcd a number of times (in the title text of [[1106: ADD]], in [[1244: Six Words]], as a part of [[1350: Lorenz]] and in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]]). Note, though, that the actual planet corresponding to the Earth in the game is called [https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Kerbin "Kerbin"].
|-
| c || New || A$aplanet || Most probably a pun on the rap group {{w|A$AP Mob}} and their most prominent member {{w|A$AP Rocky}}. May also be a pun on {{w|Kesha}}, also written as Ke$ha. In that case the c of the planet's designation would belong to the name.
|-
| d || New || {{w|Jurassic World}} || ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'' was the most recent movie in the ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}'' series.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-296e|e}} || New || This Land || Reference to Wash's dialogue in the pilot episode of {{w|Firefly (TV Series)|Firefly}}. Or perhaps the folk song "This Land is Your Land", written and made famous by Woody Guthrie.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-296f|f}} || New || Springfield || The name of {{w|Springfield (The Simpsons)|the town}} in which animated sitcom {{w|The Simpsons}} is set; possibly a reference to the running joke that the state in which Springfield is located has never been named.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|HR 7722}} || {{w|HR 7722 b|b}} || New || {{w|Betelgeuse}} || rowspan=2 | {{w|Betelgeuse}} is a star in the constellation Orion. It is commonly (at least by speakers of English) pronounced as "beetlejuice". {{w|Beetlejuice}}, however is a film directed by {{w|Tim Burton}} from 1988. Similarly to Dune/Arrakis (see Gliese 180) and the two Uranuses (see Kepler-283), naming two planets with names that are generally regarded to be identical would cause severe confusion in astronomical discussions.
|-
| {{w|HR 7722 c|c}} || New || Beetlejuice
|-
| EPIC 201912552 || b || New || {{w|Netherlands}} VI || The title text references this entry. See the explanation of the title text above the table entry.
|-
| rowspan=3 | Gliese 3293 || b || New || Antispit || In the comic [https://www.mspaintadventures.com/ Homestuck] there is a luminous moon named [[wikia:w:c:mspa:Prospit|Prospit]].
|-
| c || New || {{w|Google Earth}} || {{w|Google Earth}} is a service, similar to Google Maps, which projects satellite data on a 3D globe that can be zoomed in on. Other features, such as models of buildings, can also appear.
|-
| d || New || {{w|Planet of the Apes (disambiguation)}} || The way a Wikipedia article would be titled, for example, to distinguish from the {{w|Planet of the Apes (novel)|the original novel}}, {{w|Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|the first film}}, {{w|Planet of the Apes (2001 film)|the Tim Burton remake}} and {{w|Rise of the Planet of the Apes|the reboot series}}. In each adaptation, a group of astronauts lands on what is believed to be a "Planet of the Apes", which turns out to be a post-apocalyptic Earth. A Wikipedia page for this planet would itself conflict with an existing disambiguation page, possibly requiring a second-level disambiguation page to be created.
|-
| rowspan=2 | Kepler-283 || b || New || ˈjʊərənəs || rowspan = 2 | Two alternative pronunciations (written in {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}) for the planet name Uranus; the first one translates as "YU-ri-nus" ("urine-us"), while the second translates as "yu-RAIN-us" ("your anus"). The first pronunciation (being the same as how the {{w|Uranus (mythology)|Greek god}} is pronounced in English) is preferred by astronomers, but both are commonly heard. Similarly to Dune/Arrakis (see Gliese 180) and Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice (see HR 7722), naming two planets with names that are generally regarded to be identical would cause severe confusion in astronomical discussions.
|-
| c || New || jʊˈreɪnəs
|-
! colspan=5 | Second half of the table:
|-
| rowspan=4 | {{w|Upsilon Andromedae}} || b || New || Fourthmeal || {{w|Taco Bell}} has an ad campaign adding a meal after dinner. Possibly also a reference to {{w|Hobbit}}s and [https://askmiddlearth.tumblr.com/post/41765286488/the-seven-daily-hobbit-meals seven daily meals]. This entry was misspelled Andromidae in the first comic (and also in the first released version of this one, see [[#Trivia|trivia]].) Although the star was mentioned in the previous chart, this entry "b" was not. In that comic the chart was shown as a part of a list. And the b entry was above the cut-off line. So the next object was also called "c" in the previous chart.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae c|c}} || Old || Stampy || The name of the elephant from the {{w|Simpsons}} episode {{w|Bart Gets an Elephant}}.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae d|d}} || Old || Moonchild || The name Bastian gives the Childlike Empress in {{w|The Neverending Story}}.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae e|e}} || Old || Ham Sphere || [https://www.hamsphere.com HamSphere] is a {{w|Amateur radio|Ham Radio}} simulator program. Ham radio uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages and more. A pun of Hemisphere.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|82 G. Eridani|HD 20794}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_b/ b] || Old || Cosmic Sands || style="font-family:'Comic Sans MS', 'Comic Sans'" | A {{w|pun}} on the name of the font {{w|Comic Sans}}. (See also: [[590|590: Papyrus]].)
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_c/ c] || Old || {{w|Legoland}} || {{w|Legoland}} is a chain of {{w|theme park}}s owned by the {{w|Lego Group}}. Potentially a reference to the movie {{w|The World's End (film)|The World's End}}, in which the protagonist Gary King tells the alien invaders to "get in your rocket and fuck off back to Legoland".
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_d/ d] || Old || Planet with Arms || A reference to the [https://www.thecolorsofmysoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy.jpg early covers] of {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}? Could also be a reference to [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/birds-with-arms "Birds with Arms" meme].
|-
| {{w|HD 85512}} || {{w|HD 85512 b|b}} || Old || Lax Morality || Possibly a parody of science fiction in which certain planets are suggested to be uniformly lax in morals (i.e. full of sex, drugs, etc.). See {{tvtropes|Planetville|the TVTropes listing}}, and related. Or, possibly a reference to {{w|GCU Grey Area}}.
|-
| rowspan=6 | {{w|HD 40307}} || {{w|HD 40307 b|b}} || Old || Good Planet || Similar to the above, except with good planets. May also be yet another non-descriptive name, like "Space Planet" and "Planet #14".
|-
|{{w|HD|c}} || Old || Problemland || See above. Also may be a reference to Iceland/Greenland naming scheme[https://anitasnotebook.com/travelstories/how-iceland-and-greenland-ended-up-with-such-messed-up-names/], where Problemland may actually be a better place to visit than "Good Planet."
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 d|d}} || Old || Slickle || This is a reference to "[https//zdarsky.tumblr.com/post/2837139960 The Petals Fall Twice]" (possibly NSFW), which was made as a humorous example of bad fan-fiction. The word itself is a portmanteau of "slowly", "licked", and "tickled".
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 e|e}} || Old || Spare Parts || This suggests that the planet is "worthless" or "junk". This is false, of course. May be a reference to the fact it is a planet with nothing much different from the other planets.
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 f|f}} || Old || {{w|New Jersey}} VI || Refers to the state of {{w|New Jersey}}; may be an insult to either.
|-
|{{w|HD|g}} || Old || How Do I Join the {{w|IAU}} || This implies that the user "got lost" on the IAU website and thought that the "planet name suggestion" input was for general queries.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|Gliese 163}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_b/ b] || Old || Neil Tyson's Mustache || {{w|Neil deGrasse Tyson}} is a famous American astrophysicist and science communicator who does maintain a distinguished mustache.
|-
|{{w|Gliese|c}} || Old || help@gmail.com || Similar to "How Do I Join the IAU", this implies that the user confused the "planet suggestion" text box for a new email they are trying to send.
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_d/ d] || Old || Hair-Covered Planet || Refers to the well-known {{w|Hairy ball theorem}} of topology.
|-
| {{w|Pi Mensae}} || {{w|Pi Mensae b|b}} || Old || {{w|Natural satellite|Moon Holder}} || {{w|Jupiter}} has more than 60 discovered moons, and still counting... A planet ten times more massive ''must'' also be a Moon Holder.
|-
| {{w|HD 189733}} || {{w|HD 189733 b|b}} || Old || Permadeath || A well-characterized "{{w|Hot Jupiter}}" at a temperature range of 973 ± 33 K to 1,212 ± 11 K. The name refers to the feature of {{w|Permanent death}} common in many RPGs and roguelikes. Or may reference permafrost, which has also been discussed in the comic.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-22}} || {{w|Kepler-22 b|b}} || Old || Blue Ivy || Blue Ivy Carter is the daughter of musicians {{w|Beyoncé}} and {{w|Jay-Z}}.
|-
| KOI-2474 || b || New || Store-Brand {{w|Earth}} || A {{w|Store brand}} is a line of products branded by a retailer. They have a reputation for being lower quality than other brands, and are often marketed similarly to other brands. This is implying that this is a cheaper version of Earth. (This entry replaced the completely different entry Kepler-3284b Blainsley from the previous chart).
|-
| Kepler-437 || b || Update || {{w|Unicorn}} Thresher || As far as we can tell, Kepler-437b is in the vicinity of the constellation Monoceros, aka the Unicorn. (This was labeled Kepler-3255b in the previous chart)
|-
| KOI-2418 || b || Old || Spherical Discworld || {{w|The Discworld}} is the fictional setting for British author {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s {{w|Discworld}} series of humorous fantasy novels; it consists of a large disc supported by four elephants themselves standing on top of a turtle flying through space. The joke being that the planet could not be spherical and disc-shaped at the same time. (Was listed as Kepler-2418 in the previous chart).
|-
| {{w|Kepler-438}} || {{w|Kepler-438b|b}} || Update || Emergency Backup Earth || This candidate planet has an {{w|Earth Similarity Index}} of 0.89, making it one of the most habitable {{w|Kepler object of interest}}. The name suggests that it could be used as a backup in case something happened to our current planet. (Was listed as Kepler-1686 in the previous chart; Kepler-1686 b was proven to be a false positive by NASA in 2015).
|-
| KOI-3010 || {{w|KOI-3010.01|b}} || Old || Feeeoooooooop || Possibly the onomatopoeia for something getting sucked into a black hole.
|-
| Kepler-442 || {{w|Keppler-442b|b}} || Old || Liz || Just a regular name (for a person, not a planet). Maybe a reference to the Magic School Bus.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|82 Eridani}} || b || New || Horsemeat Surface|| A reference to the {{w|2013 meat adulteration scandal}}, where horsemeat was found in burgers alleging to contain beef. This planet's name suggests that the surface of the entire planet would also contain improperly declared horsemeat.
|-
| c || New || The {{w|Moon}} || This name would cause confusion with the Earth's moon, which in English is called The Moon. It is also a poor name choice as 82 Eridani c is not a moon, but a planet. This may also be a reference to the name that the Chinese astronomers gave to an exoplanet — the name was previously the nickname of the moon.
|-
| d || New || Constant Saxophones || May refer to the fact that there are lots of different kinds of {{w|Saxophone#The_saxophone_family|saxophones}}. A Constant Saxophone may only be able to play one note, while several Constant Saxophones tuned to different notes could assemble the tone range of either normal saxophone. Constant Saxophones could also imply that Saxophone music is played constantly, everywhere on the planet. This could get tiresome for the residents of the planet.
|-
| {{w|HD 102365}} || b || New || Little Big Planet || This refers to the videogame {{w|LittleBigPlanet}}. Little Big Planet was also mentioned implicitly in [[Size Venn Diagram]].
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 180}} || b || New || Dune || rowspan=2 | Both references to Frank Herbert's {{w|Dune (novel)|Dune}} book series. The planet Arrakis (informally referred to as 'Dune') is the central planet in the mythology, where the mind-enhancing substance 'spice' comes from. Use of spice enables, among others, supercomputing-like mental computation as well as hyperspace navigation. Having two neighbouring planets with names that are historically used to refer to a single planet would sow further confusion in the already extensive catalog of planet names. This is similarly to Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice (see HR 7722) and the two Uranuses (see Kepler-283).
|-
| c || New || Arrakis
|-
| {{w|Fomalhaut}} || b || New || Swarm of {{w|Bees}} ||From Wikipedia: Fomalhaut b could be a conglomeration of rubble from a recent collision between comet-to-asteroid-sized bodies and not actually identify a planet.
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Kepler-62}} || {{w|Kepler-62b|b}} || New || Sporty || rowspan=5 | A reference to the {{w|Spice Girls}}. See also the previous comic, [[1554: Spice Girls]], where [[Megan]] was unable to list the members of this pop group. In this case the names are correct, and would give Megan a new and interesting reason to remember them. {{w|Kepler-62f}} is a [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-62e.html super-Earth-size planet], that may be potentially habitable. {{w|Kepler-62e}} is a possible [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-62e.html water world].
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62c|c}} || New || Baby
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62d|d}} || New || Scary
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62e|e}} || New || Ginger
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62f|f}} || New || Posh
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|HD 69830}} || {{w|HD 69830 b|b}} || New || Planet.xxx || {{w|.xxx}} is a controversial top level domain (like to .com and .net) that is intended to distinguish porn sites from other types of website. Planet X is the name for a still undiscovered planet in our solar system, a common theme both in real science and fiction. The search for "Planet X" lead, by chance, to the discovery of Pluto.
|-
| {{w|HD 69830 c|c}} || New || Novella || A {{w|novella}} is a form of prose with length between a {{w|short story}} and a {{w|novel}}. Common examples of novellas are romance literature centering around intense lustful encounters in cheap paperback books, though also 'serious' literature may be in novella form.
|-
| {{w|HD 69830 d|d}} || New || Sexoplanet || Like the other two planets orbiting this star, the "69" in the stars designation has lead to a sex joke: All planets in this comic are "exo-planets", planets not orbiting our sun. Adding a single "s" in front results in immature humor.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 682}} || {{w|Gliese 682 b|b}} || New || Verdant Hellscape || A contradictory name. "[[wikt:verdant|Verdant]]" usually signifies to be lush with green plant life, while "[[wikt:hellscape|hellscape]]" describes a desolate landscape destroyed by heat and cataclysm.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 682 c|c}} || New || Unsubscribe || On YouTube, "subscribers" (people who get updates on a person's channel) are highly valued, and to "unsubscribe" from anyone is deemed to be offensive. "Unsubscribe" is also the command one sends to {{w|Electronic mailing list}}s to stop receiving said mailing list. In this sense it may imply a desire to no longer be bothered with these silly discussions around planet-names. Like "help@gmail.com" and "How do I join the IAU", "unsubscribe" is a frequently seen accidental message on the Internet in contexts where it is not going to work as a command.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-452}} || {{w|Kepler-452b|b}} || New || {{w|Pluto}} || This is the planet Black Hat is referring to at the top of the table.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Black Hat points with a stick at a slide showing an image of a planet with unknown features marked by questions marks.]
:Kepler-452b

:Black Hat: NASA has announced the discovery of a (super-)Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.
:Black Hat: I suggest we name this planet "Pluto", both to celebrate the great work by the ''New Horizons'' team, and to make the stupid "Is Pluto a planet" debate a little more confusing

:While we wait to hear from the IAU,
:here's a revised and updated list of
:planet name suggestions (see xkcd.com/1253)
:New or updated entries in red

:[The table is in three separate columns. There is a small arrow pointing at the second column, named "Planet", indicating the planet's name corresponding to the star at the first row. The third column shows the planet name suggestions.]

:{| class="wikitable"
! Star !! Planet !! Suggested Name
|-
| rowspan=7 |Gliese 667||b||Space Planet
|-
|c||PILF
|-
|d||A Star
|-
|e||e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--
|-
|f||Blogosphere
|-
|g||Blogodrome
|-
|h||Earth
|-
| rowspan=5 |Tau Ceti||b||Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B
|-
|c||Giant Dog Planet
|-
|d||Tiny Dog Planet
|-
|e||Phil Plainet
|-
|f||Unicode Snowman
|-
| rowspan=2|Gliese 832||b||Asshole Jupiter
|-
|c||Waterworld starring Kevin Costner
|-
| rowspan= 6|Gliese 581||b||Waist-deep Cats
|-
|c||Planet #14
|-
|d||Ballderaan
|-
|e||Eternia Prime
|-
|f||Taupe Mars
|-
|g||Jelly-Filled Planet
|-
| rowspan= 2|Epsilon Eridani||b||Skydot
|-
|c||Laser Noises
|-
| rowspan= 2|Gliese 176||b||Pandora
|-
|c||Pantera
|-
|Kepler-61||b||GoldenPalace.com
|-
|Groombridge 34A||b||Hot Mess
|-
|Kepler-442||b||Seas of Toothpaste
|-
|Gliese-442||b||This one weird planet
|-
| rowspan= 3|EPIC-201367065||b||Sulawesi
|-
|c||Huge Soccer Ball
|-
|d||Geodude
|-
| rowspan= 5|Kepler-296||b||Kerbal Space Planet
|-
|c||A$aplanet
|-
|d||Jurassic World
|-
|e||This Land
|-
|f||Springfield
|-
| rowspan= 2|HR 7722||b||Betelgeuse
|-
|c||Beetlejuice
|-
|EPIC 201912552||b||Netherlands VI
|-
| rowspan= 3|Gliese 3293||b||Antispit
|-
|c||Google Earth
|-
|d||Planet of the Apes (disambiguation)
|-
| rowspan= 2|Kepler-283||b||ˈjʊərənəs
|-
|c||jʊˈreɪnəs
|-
| rowspan= 4|Upsilon Andromedae||b||Fourthmeal
|-
|c||Stampy
|-
|d||Moonchild
|-
|e||Ham Sphere
|-
| rowspan= 3|HD 20794||b||Cosmic Sands
|-
|c||Legoland
|-
|d||Planet with Arms
|-
|HD 85512||b||Lax Morality
|-
| rowspan= 6|HD 40307||b||Good Planet
|-
|c||Problemland
|-
|d||Slickle
|-
|e||Spare Parts
|-
|f||New Jersey VI
|-
|g||How Do I Join the IAU
|-
| rowspan= 3|Gliese 163||b||Neil Tyson's Mustache
|-
|c||help@gmail.com
|-
|d||Hair-Covered Planet
|-
|Pi Mensae||b||Moon Holder
|-
|HD 189733||b||Permadeath
|-
|Kepler-22||b||Blue Ivy
|-
|KOI-2474||b||Store-Brand Earth
|-
|Kepler-437||b||Unicorn Thresher
|-
|KOI-2418||b||Spherical Discworld
|-
|Kepler-438||b||Emergency Backup Earth
|-
|KOI-3010||b||Feeeoooooooop
|-
|Kepler-442||b||Liz
|-
|rowspan = 3|82 Eridani ||b ||Horsemeat Surface 
|-
|c ||The Moon 
|-
|d ||Constant Saxophones 
|-
|HD 102365 ||b ||Little Big Planet 
|-
|rowspan = 2|Gliese 180 ||b ||Dune 
|-
|c ||Arrakis 
|-
|Fomalhaut ||b ||Swarm of Bees 
|-
|rowspan = 5|Kepler-62 ||b ||Sporty 
|-
|c ||Baby 
|-
|d ||Scary 
|-
|e ||Ginger 
|-
|f ||Posh 
|-
|rowspan = 3|HD 69830 ||b ||Planet.xxx 
|-
|c ||Novella 
|-
|d ||Sexoplanet 
|-
|rowspan = 2|Gliese 682 ||b ||Verdant Hellscape 
|-
|c ||Unsubscribe 
|-
|Kepler-452 ||b ||Pluto 
|}

==Trivia==
* The IPA character for stress is a vertical line ˈ, but Randall uses a slanted line similar to acute accent ´ or prime ′.
* In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/f/fd/20150725002854!exoplanet_names_2.png original version] of this comic, there were three errors, but they were corrected later the same day:
** Waterworld starring Kevin '''Kostner''' (instead of '''Costner''')
** Upsilon '''Andromidae''' (instead of '''Andromedae''')
** '''Formalhaut''' (instead of '''Fomalhaut''')
* After the initial release of this comic Randall added a jumbled version of the address to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1555/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1555/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"Full explanation & dissection & transcription available http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1555"'', with \n characters replacing the backslashes instead of the JSON-specific \\.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Exoplanet Names]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Exoplanet Names]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Kerbal Space Program]]
[[Category:Bees]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Spice Girls]]

Category talk:Google

2024-11-01T10:21:32Z

CategoryGeneral: Created blank page

I suspect that the next comic will be about Google. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 10:21, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

3005: Disposal

2024-10-31T01:30:22Z

CategoryGeneral: Cueball

{{comic
| number = 3005
| date = October 30, 2024
| title = Disposal
| image = disposal_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x331px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We were disappointed that the rocket didn't make a THOOOONK noise when it went into the tube, but we're setting up big loudspeakers for future launches to add the sound effect.
}}

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

This comic is about humorous solutions to problems. Instead of trying to make a rocket that doesn’t explode upon impact, [[Randall]]’s team has decided to make a rocket disposal hole, hence the comic name.

SpaceX initially had many instances of explosion on impact, as illustrated in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ#this montage].

This comic came out about 2 weeks after {{w|SpaceX}} successfully caught the returning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Super_Heavy# Super Heavy booster rocket] using giant arms on the launch tower.

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

:[A two-stage rocket is ascending with a plume of exhaust behind it]
:[The first stage falls off and the second stage ignites]
:[The first stage begins to fall, turned off]
:[The first stage reignites to control trajectory and attitude]
:[The first stage falls toward a large hole with a lid. A Cueball is holding the lid open]
:[Cueball pushes the lid closed]
:Click
:[The first stage, now out of sight, explodes, Cueball shielding his ears and flinching away from the loud noise]
:BOOOOM
:Caption below comic:
:Our rockets were good at steering, but we couldn't get them to land without exploding, so we just dug a rocket disposal hole.

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

2665: America Songs

2024-10-30T03:29:21Z

CategoryGeneral: Removed Dominica, though there's another country called the "Dominican" republic

{{comic
| number = 2665
| date = August 29, 2022
| title = America Songs
| image = america_songs.png
| titletext = Juraaaassic Park, Juraaaassic Park, God shed his grace on theeeee
}}

==Explanation==
Many songs, particularly those written by Americans, contain the word "America." Randall has listed 6 such songs: "{{w|America the Beautiful}}", "{{w|God Bless America}}", Neil Diamond's "{{w|America (Neil Diamond song)|America}}", "{{w|America (West Side Story song)|America}}" from the Broadway musical ''{{w|West Side Story}}'', the Guess Who's "{{w|American Woman}}" and Green Day's "{{w|American Idiot (song)|American Idiot}}". These songs usually either praise the United States for its perceived virtues or mock it for its perceived flaws. Regardless of the content of the song, one could likely sing such songs replacing each usage of the word "America" or "American" with another four-syllable word or phrase with emphasis on the second syllable, without disrupting the {{w|cadence}} or meter of the song. Words and phrases like this are said to "{{w|Scansion|scan}}" with the word "America," which means to conform to that metrical pattern.

The comic provides a list of such names, most of which are locations. While some share virtues or flaws with the United States, most would fit into songs about the United States poorly, and only some are prominent enough to justify a song praising or mocking them. So the substitution is humorous for most of the examples. Other examples include Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Liberia, Nigeria, Bolivia, Siberia, Somalia, Albania, Bulgaria, Colombia, Cambodia, Armenia, Australia, Estonia, Mongolia, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Africa, El Salvador, the Alamo, the Netherlands, and the Philippines.

Note that inhabitants of some real-world locations mentioned in this comic do not pronounce their names in a way that scans with "America". Also note that the adjective form of many of the places listed either does not exist or does not fit the same rhythmic structure as "American". (For instance, while "Antarctican Idiot" scans with "American Idiot", "St. Petersburgian Idiot" does not; meanwhile, "Canada" does not scan with "America", but "Canadian" does scan with "American" and was in fact used as such in Weird Al's parody, "{{w|Canadian Idiot}}".) In these cases, it would be necessary to use the noun form of the name to preserve the song's meter.

The title text provides an example: substituting "{{w|Jurassic Park}}" for "America" in the song "{{w|America the Beautiful}}".

A similar comparison in "scanning" was made in [[1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]].

===Table of names matching the rythmic meter of America===
{| class="wikitable"
! Name || Description
|-
! colspan="2" | Map
|-
| Sasketchewan || Spelled incorrectly, should be ''{{w|Saskatchewan}}''. A province in Canada, whose capital is {{w|Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina}} and largest city is {{w|Saskatoon}}.
|-
| {{w|Ontario}} || The largest Canadian province by population and 2nd largest by total area. Includes the capital of Canada, {{w|Ottawa}}, and its largest city, {{w|Toronto}}.
|-
| {{w|Olympia, Washington|Olympia}} || Capital of the state of {{w|Washington}}.
|-
| {{w|Yosemite}} || National park in the state of {{w|California}}. Pronounced "yoh-SEM-ih-tee" (/joʊ.'sɛ.mɪ.ˌti/).
|-
| {{w|Los Angeles}} || Largest city in the state of California, and 2nd largest city in the United States. There is [[2480|another city]] under the same name in the state of Texas.
|-
| {{w|Lake Michigan}} || One of the five {{w|Great Lakes}} in the United States. Borders the states of {{w|Wisconsin}}, {{w|Illinois}}, {{w|Indiana}}, and {{w|Michigan}}.
|-
| {{w|Peoria, Illinois|Peoria}} || The county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, and the largest city on the Illinois River. The oldest permanent European settlement in Illinois, according to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey.
|-
| {{w|Columbia, Missouri|Columbia}} (MO) || Fourth largest city in the state of {{w|Missouri}}. One of {{w|Columbia#United_States|many cities}} in the US named after {{w|Columbia (personification)|Columbia}}.
|-
| {{w|Montpelier, Vermont|Montpelier}} || The capital of the state of {{w|Vermont}}, which is a three syllable word pronounced mont-PEEL-yur and thus is erroneously on this list.{{cn}} However, the demonym "Montpelierite" is in fact four syllables so it can be used for the "American" songs.
|-
| {{w|Schenectady, New York|Schenectady}} || City in Schenectady County, {{w|New York}}. In the 19th century, nationally influential companies and industries developed in Schenectady, including {{w|General Electric}} and American Locomotive Company (ALCO).
|-
| {{w|Centralia, Pennsylvania|Centralia}} || Near-ghost town in central {{w|Pennsylvania}} due to a {{w|Centralia mine fire|long running mine fire}} burning beneath the town.
|-
| {{w|Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis}} || Capital city of the state of {{w|Maryland}} and home to the {{w|United States Naval Academy}}.
|-
| {{w|Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia}} (SC) || Capital of the state of {{w|South Carolina}}. One of {{w|Columbia#United_States|many cities}} in the US named after {{w|Columbia (personification)|Columbia}}.
|-
| {{w|Vidalia, Georgia|Vidalia}} || City in the state of {{w|Georgia}}, known for their {{w|Vidalia onion}}s. Vidalia may not actually scan to "America", as it is pronounced "vy-DALE-yuh", not "vy-DALE-ee-ah" or "vee-DAHL-ee-ah".
|-
| {{w|Acadia National Park|Acadia}} || National park in the state of {{w|Maine}}.
|-
| {{w|Connecticut}} || US State, whose capital is {{w|Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford}} and largest city is {{w|Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport}}.
|-
| {{w|LaGuardia Airport|LaGuardia}} || One of the three major airports in {{w|New York City}} metropolitan area, named after former mayor {{w|Fiorello La Guardia}}. The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoQEddtFN3Q ''West Side Story'' song in question] was performed on February 29, 2020 on [https://youtu.be/6d7Vk_qaiB8?t=150 ''Saturday Night Live''.] The airport was described in 2014 by [[Joe Biden]] as being like a third-world country.
|-
| {{w|Virginia Beach}} || Most populous city in the state of {{w|Virginia}}. Name is pronounced with five syllables when speaking formally, Ver-gin-ee-a Beach, but speaking quickly can be squashed into Ver-gin-ya.
|-
| {{w|The Villages, Florida|The Villages}} || An unincorporated senior living community in the state of {{w|Florida}}. Notable for its local newspaper, ''{{w|The Villages Daily Sun}}'', which was the only top 25 American newspaper (by circulation) to show growth in 2022.[https://pressgazette.co.uk/us-newspaper-circulations-2022/]
|-
| {{w|St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg}} || The fifth largest city in the state of Florida. Part of the {{w|Tampa Bay area|Tampa Bay metropolitan area}}.
|-
| {{w|Miami Beach, Florida|Miami Beach}} || A coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, across the bay from the city of {{w|Miami}}.
|-
! colspan="2" | Below the map
|-
| {{w|Algeria}} || A country in North Africa. The largest and the 9th most populated country on the continent of Africa. Bordered to the northeast by Tunisia; to the east by Libya; to the southeast by Niger; to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and Western Sahara; to the west by Morocco; and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea.
|-
| {{w|Armenia}} || A landlocked country located in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region. Singing "God bless Armenia" may anger some Calvinists who mishear the song.
|-
| {{w|Monrovia}} || The capital city of the West African country of {{w|Liberia}}.
|-
| {{w|Brasília|Brasilia}} || The federal capital of the country of {{w|Brazil}} and Brazil's 3rd populous city. Actually spelled ''Brasília''.
|-
| {{w|Australia}} || A country which comprises the mainland of the continent of Australia. The world's sixth largest country by area.
|-
| {{w|Valencia}} || The 3rd most populous city in the country of {{w|Spain}}.
|-
| {{w|Byzantium}} || An ancient Greek city and capital of the {{w|Byzantine Empire}}. Its name was changed to New Rome in 324, Constantinople in 330, and finally Istanbul in 1930.
|-
| {{w|Assyria}} || An major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state and then a territorial state and eventually an empire. The Assyrian Empire fell to the Babylonians and Medes in the late 7th century BC.
|-
| {{w|Beringia}} || A prehistoric land mass and region in the {{w|Bering Sea}} region. It is the most popular site of the hypothesized "land bridge" that early humans used to migrate to the Americas.
|-
| {{w|Antarctica}} || The earth's southernmost and least-populated continent, mostly covered by ice.
|-
| {{w|Sokovia}} || A fictional country in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Described to be in eastern Europe between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Its capital city is destroyed during a battle between Ultron and the Avengers in the film ''{{w|Avengers: Age of Ultron}}'', leading to the ratification of the Sokovia Accords.
|-
| {{w|Andromeda}} || Several things: a {{w|Andromeda (constellation)|constellation in space}}, a {{w|Andromeda Galaxy|galaxy}} within that constellation, or the {{w|Andromeda (mythology)|Greek mythological character}} whom the constellation and galaxy are named after.
|-
| {{w|Lothlórien|Lothlorien}} || A realm of the elves in {{w|Middle-earth}} in the {{w|Tolkien's legendarium|works of J. R. R. Tolkien}}. Ruled by Galadriel and Celeborn. Actually spelled ''Lothlórien'' in the books.
|-
| ''{{w|Subnautica}}'' || Not a place, but an open-world survival action-adventure video game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment released in 2018.
|-
| {{w|metaverse|The Metaverse}} || The online world of {{w|virtual reality}}. (To substitute into ''American Idiot'', the singer could use "don't wanna be a Metaverse Idiot" or "The Metaverse idiot".)
|-
| {{w|Econo Lodge|EconoLodge}} || Actually spelled ''Econo Lodge'', though their wordmark doesn't help. An economy motel chain in the US and Canada.
|-
| Jurassic Park (title text) || Jurassic Park is the titular theme park of cloned dinosaurs in the ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}'' franchise of books, films, and other media. Inevitably, the dinosaurs escape and attack humans.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A header is written above a map of the US mainland:]
:<big>Places whose names scan to "America," so they can be substituted into songs such as:</big>
:''America the Beautiful''
:''God Bless America''
:Neil Diamond – ''America''
:West Side Story – ''America''
:The Guess Who – ''American Woman''
:Green Day – ''American Idiot''
:[Above the map, towards the left:]
:Sasketchewan
:[Towards the right:]
:Ontario
:[A number of places are marked on the map. From top to bottom, left to right:]
:Olympia
:Yosemite
:Los Angeles

:Lake Michigan
:Peoria
:Columbia (in Missouri)

:Acadia
:Montpelier
:Schenectady
:Connecticut
:LaGuardia
:Centralia
:Annapolis
:Virginia Beach
:Columbia (in South Carolina)
:Vidalia
:The Villages
:St. Petersburg
:Miami Beach
:[Below the map, in columns:]
:Australia
:Armenia
:Monrovia
:Brasilia
:Australia
:Valencia

:Byzantium
:Assyria
:Beringia
:Antarctica

:Sokovia
:Andromenda

:Lothlorien
:Subnautica

:The Metaverse
:EconoLodge

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]

1031: s/keyboard/leopard/

2024-10-30T03:25:14Z

CategoryGeneral: Markup

{{comic
| number = 1031
| date = March 19, 2012
| title = s/keyboard/leopard/
| image = s keyboard leopard.png
| titletext = Problem Exists Between Leopard And Chair
}}
*Clicking on the image takes you to [http://wiki.xkcd.com/irc/Leopard this link] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190810230906/http://wiki.xkcd.com:80/irc/Leopard archive]).

==Explanation==
[[Randall|Randall's]] browser looks like {{w|Google Chrome}}, and he has installed at least four extensions on it, which explains the little symbols to the right of the address bar. Extensions are small programs that install into your {{w|Internet browser}} and change the Web pages as you view them. Some make pages easier to read, some remove ads (the third extension is [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom AdBlock]) and so on.

For the joke in this comic, an extension accidentally replaces the word "{{w|Computer keyboard|keyboard}}" with "{{w|leopard}}" in a regex (or {{w|regular expression}}). In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means to "match" (specify and recognize) patterns in text, such as particular characters or words. The command to substitute/replace a string is "s", e.g. "s/old/new/g" replaces any occurrence of "old" with "new". The title therefore contains the command to change "keyboard" into "leopard".

It's not clear what the extension Randall installed was actually supposed to do, but most extensions that revolve around text replacement are humorous in nature (such as [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cloud-to-butt-plus/apmlngnhgbnjpajelfkmabhkfapgnoai?hl=en Cloud to Butt], which replaces all instances of "[[908: The Cloud|the cloud]]" with "my butt").

The title text references the common IT phrase "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair" or {{w|PEBKAC}}, which means that the problem is caused by the user, not by any failure of the computer. However, due to the substitution, it is now "Problem Exists Between Leopard And Chair".

There has been several [[:Category:Substitutions|comics using substitutions]], both before and after this one.

===Sentences===



; Weird, my leopard just switched to Chinese.
: Sometimes, the keyboard settings may switch to Chinese due to a bug, or by unconsciously making the change. It is quite common for users with non-US keyboard layouts to find they have accidentally switched to the 'default', and conceivably this 'feature' could work the other way. Especially on systems with significant historic Chinese involvement in its [[2166: Stack|development]].
: Leopards are nor known to speak at all, let alone Chinese. Alternately, it refers to a change in diet of {{w|Man-eater|one form}} or {{w|Chinese restaurant|another}}.

; I work with one leopard on my desk and another in the leopard tray.
: Keyboards often take up desk space, and one solution is to have a [https://www.bpfonline.co.uk/search.asp?catid=2737 keyboard tray] that slides from under the desk, or out of the computer cabinet, when needed. This person apparently has two ''separate'' keyboards attached to their system(s), one taking up desk space and the other on the tray. This is probably more convenient than having two keyboards side by side (or on top of each other) on the desktop or two separate 'trays' (or two keyboards somehow jammed into the same tray), and often a person with such a requirement will have a computer for typical use (with the most accessible keyboard) and a second one only occasional use (with the second keyboard). They could also use a {{w|KVM switch}} for some of the peripherals, but it may not be quite as convenient or as easy to set up as to double up on the keyboards.
: Leopards are traditionally solitary animals outside of mating season, or when a mother is raising her cub(s), and so however practical it is to have two leopards in close proximity, it might be a somewhat necessary compromise to give them each their own area in a given workspace.

; Ever cleaned a leopard? They're filthy.
: Most people will use a keyboard for a long time, rarely replacing them unless they are actually broken, and possibly using old ones with new computers (if not integrated within their system, as with laptops). All this time, general detritus, skin, hair and even scraps of food will accumulate upon and beneath the keys unless cleaned thoroughly. Most people don't try to clean a keyboard ''until'' the accumulated grime starts to make typing a problem with less sensitive (or over sensitive!) keys. If you're finding it necessary to clean a keyboard at all, you will probably find quite a lot of filth to clean off/out.
: Leopards, like most cats, are generally adept at keeping themselves clean. However, as a wild animal they're perhaps considered less 'clean' than one would hope a household or workplace appliance might be, and this would depend upon one's attitude to their grooming by licking themselves all over.

; The iPhone virtual leopard is the fastest IMO.
: The response time of a keyboard is one of the factors that determine its quality, and the ability to rapidly enter characters (words, code, commands). A {{w|virtual keyboard}}, often implemented as a touch-screen 'app', has to integrate into the interface and the speaker here apparently rates the default iPhone type more than others of this kind.
: Real leopards are known to run fast. It is possible that a virtual leopard may be made to exemplify this speed. The makers of the iPhone have possibly made a virtual leopard that is faster than all real leopards, or at least they have made ''their'' virtual leopard faster than all other virtual leopards from all other vendors.

; I rarely email from my phone—I'm so slow when I'm not on a leopard.
: A disadvantage with virtual keyboards is often the lack of {{w|Haptic technology|haptic feedback}}, as well as the compressed and compromised layout required to fit the keys within interface. It is often much easier to use a proper full-sized keyboard, whether you hunt-and-peck or are an accomplished touch-typist, although this may depend a lot on practice.
: In the context of leopards, the individual concerned seems to appreciate the advantages of being on an actual leopard when emailing, as it makes them faster. This could mean faster because the leopard itself is wont to run around. Or perhaps it is because sitting on the back of a leopard (not particularly known for being a patient beast of burden) means you ''have'' to do what you are trying to do much faster, before the consequences being on a (possibly annoyed) leopard literally come back to bite you.

; My leopard died when I spilled tea on it :(
: Keyboards are not generally waterproof, and react badly to any liquid spill upon them. If you are lucky, you can quickly drain them, let them dry and they will not suffer too many ill effects in the long run. But, if the less resiliant electronics get directly affected, it can mean having to replace the now unresponsive keyboard.
: Leopards are animals which eventually die. They are not known to be particularly susceptible to tea, as a substance, although the typically very hot water would not be comfortable and might contribute to the mortality of one in certain circumstances. Either way, it seems like an upsetting experience. "My leopard" suggests (as with several of the above) that a leopard is being kept as a pet, working animal or perhaps a personal zoo inhabitant, and the loss certainly seems more than if a random leopard were accidentally splashed with a drink.

==Transcript==
:[There are two browser windows open on a computer screen.]
:[The first browser window, taking up most of the screen, but partly blocked by the other window at the bottom, has a Wikipedia article open. The title of the page can be seen on the active tab.]
:Computer leopard - Wikip...
:[Next to the address bar are four add-ons and the toolbar icon. One of the add-ons is a letter:]
:R
:[To the left on the page are standard menus, with lots of unreadable text, except these words:]
:Help
:Go Search
:[The page is not at the top of the article, so the text begins mid sentence, the very top of the letters just cut of in the first visible sentence.]
:which range from pocket-sized leopards to large desktop leopards, the leopard remains the most common user input device. In addition to text entry, specialized leopards are used for computer gaming.
:While many computer interfaces rely on mice or touchscreens, UNIX-style command-line interfaces require users to interact with a leopard.
:[Below is the contents list - the text in the brackets can barely be read. And only the very top of the 2.3 line can be seen, and is thus only a qualified guess at what it was supposed to say, although it fits with the real wiki article.]
:Contents [hide]
:1. History
:2. Leopard types
::2.1 Standard
::2.2 Laptop-sized
::2.3 Thumb-sized
:[To the right there is a picture of a keyboard. The picture text written below:]
:IBM Model M Leopard

:[The second browser window overlapping the first, at the level of the 2.3 menu point in the content menu, is a message board. The title of the page can be seen on the active tab:]
:Discuss - Leopard issu...
:[Next to the address bar are four add-ons and the toolbar icon. One of the add-ons is a letter:]
:R
:[In the window there is a list of topics next to icons of those starting the topic. The top post is just inside the frame, the icon cut of at the very top.]
:[Face of Cueball-like guy on white background:]
:Weird, my leopard just switched to Chinese.
::3 days ago
:[Super close-up of the head of a person with dark hair on black background:]
:I work with one leopard on my desk and another in the leopard tray.
::3 days ago
:[Full picture of a Cueball-like guy, with white background in the bottom half and dark in the upper half (which would conceal any hair on the persons head):]
:Ever cleaned a leopard? They're ''filthy''.
::2 days ago
:[Head of a cat on black background:]
:The iPhone virtual leopard is the fastest IMO.
::19 hours ago
:[Head of a girl with long blond hair on white background:]
:I rarely email from my phone—I'm so slow when I'm not on a leopard.
::11 hours ago
:[Head of Cueball-like guy. A line seems to be going our from his head, but it could just be one of the lines used to fill in the background:]
:My leopard died when I spilled tea on it :(
::2 hours ago

:[Below the main panel of the comic is the following caption:]
:The Internet got 100 times better when, thanks to an extension with a typo'd regex, my browser started replacing the word "keyboard" with "leopard".

==Trivia==
*When first posted, the title was written with lowercase characters, which Randall never uses. This was later changed to small caps.
*The title text could reference [[A-Minus-Minus]], the comic containing the phrase "Instead of office chair, package contained bobcat".


{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Regex]]

224: Lisp

2024-10-30T03:20:34Z

CategoryGeneral: Lowercase

{{comic
| number = 224
| date = February 16, 2007
| title = Lisp
| image = lisp.jpg
| titletext = We lost the documentation on quantum mechanics. You'll have to decode the regexes yourself.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Lisp (programming language)|Lisp}} is a computer programming language with simple, highly regular syntax. The language's most notable feature is that programs take the same form as the language's primary data structure (the linked list). This blurs the line between code and data and permits programs to inspect and even alter their own source code, thereby opening up deep opportunities for {{w|metaprogramming}}. Lisp is also a {{w|Functional programming|functional programming language}} (though not purely functional, as {{w|Haskell (programming language)|some more recent languages are}}), meaning that programs are expressed in terms that are simple elaborations or extensions of the {{w|lambda calculus}}, a formal mathematical model of computation. This gives programs written in functional languages such as Lisp a distinctively abstract, mathematical form that is commonly considered difficult to fully {{w|Grok#In_computer_programmer_culture|grok}} (see [[1270: Functional]]).

The phrase ''A suffusion of blue'' is a reference to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' book ''{{w|The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}}''. In it, an ''{{w|I Ching}}'' calculator calculates that everything above the value of 4 is ''a suffusion of yellow''.

In the comic, Cueball marvels at the fundamental and complete nature of the language of creation that he sees in his dream. In the Lisp programming language, "car" is a primitive (i.e. basic) function that produces the first item in a list. The line "My God, It's full of '{{w|CAR_and_CDR|car}}'s" is a pun, most likely referring to the movie {{w|2010 (film)|2010: The Year We Make Contact}}, the sequel to {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}. In the book {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}, when astronaut David Bowman accidentally activates a star gate, he exclaims as he enters it "The thing's hollow — it goes on forever — and — oh my God - it's full of stars!", although he does not say anything in the first movie during the final sequence. This likely also includes a transitive reference a chapter in {{w|The Little Schemer}}, a popular introductory Lisp book, called ''*Oh My Gawd*: It's Full of Stars'', also itself a reference to 2001. From the shape of the two discs in front of Cueball, it may also be referring to Terry Pratchett's book ''The Last Hero'' where the last survivor of a ship that went under the disc says “Oh my God it’s full of elephants.”

In the second panel, Cueball remarks that, "At once, just like they said, I felt a great enlightenment." This is a reference to a pattern of observations among programmers and computer scientists that while Lisp often seems alien or arcane — even deliberately so, even to experienced hackers, even with repeated exposure over time — truly ''understanding'' Lisp in a deep, non-superficial way, results in a profound epiphany, a sudden and abiding ''illumination'' wherein one's preconceived notions about computation and programming are fundamentally transfigured, oftentimes over the course of a very short span such as during a single all-day hacking binge. Lispers commonly describe the experience as being akin to learning programming for the first time ''again''; {{w|Daniel P. Friedman}} (author of much ground-breaking research and many popular introductory texts on Lisp and programming language design) described it as "[learning] ''to think {{w|Recursive_definition|recursively}}''," and contended that "''thinking about'' [functional] ''computing is one of the most exciting things the human mind can do''."

Cueball's remarks about patterns, metapatterns, and the disappearance of syntax are reactions to the elegant simplicity of the Lisp programming language, in which it is relatively easy to build immensely sophisticated programs using simple recursive elaborations of structure. This is fundamentally unlike the much more typical and common {{w|Imperative programming|imperative programming languages}}, in which programs are written as chains of instructions for the machine to follow.

Cueball then, in the third, borderless panel, muses that this has to have been the language the gods used to create the universe, which is a pretty bold statement that Cueball seems to make because he views Lisp as something flawless and perfect, as these are qualities that often subjectively apply to things that people, like Cueball, claim to have been made or used by gods or other holy beings.

A cloudy, bearded man, presumably representing God, states that this is untrue, and after a surprised inquiry from Cueball replies that the universe was actually hacked together with the programming language {{w|Perl}}. Perl employs an idiosyncratic syntax that borrows liberally from a number of other languages. Although a versatile language often employed for assembling projects quickly (the much-loved {{w|Programming Perl}} introduces it as "[the] ''language for getting your job done''"), Perl has a reputation for being ugly and inelegant, partly as a result of its pidgin-like fusion of many inconsistent language elements and code styles. It was famously described as a "{{w|Swiss Army knife|Swiss-Army}} chainsaw," because it is very powerful but also unwieldy and unattractive. By way of contrast to Daniel Friedman above, {{w|Larry Wall}}, the creator of Perl, criticized the highly cerebral Lisp attitude toward programming with the words
<blockquote>"By policy, LISP has never really catered to mere mortals.</blockquote>
<blockquote>And, of course, mere mortals have never really forgiven LISP for not catering to them."</blockquote>

The joke is that the Creator, like many software developers, was a bit rushed and chose to quickly throw together a working prototype rather than do the job right from the beginning; concurrently, that Cueball, thinking he has discovered an amazing and beautiful secret in the hidden world of Lisp, learns that in fact the real world is filled with ugly hacks and quick-and-dirty imperative code.

A (possible) hidden joke might be an oblique reference to {{w|Greenspun's tenth rule}} when God replies with "I mean, ostensibly, yes." Greenspun's tenth rule says that any sufficiently complex program written in another high level programming language will necessarily contain an imperfect, undocumented, slow, and bug-ridden implementation of about half of {{w|Common Lisp}}. Greenspun's tenth rule was meant to express the belief that Common Lisp, a large, full-featured Lisp dialect, is so flexible and robust that any attempt to render any really sophisticated program in most other languages requires the programmer to expend extraordinary effort unwittingly reinventing, in needlessly convoluted fashion, features and systems that would be elegant and trivial in Common Lisp. This explains why such a program might look or feel "Lispy" to an unfamiliar observer, and why the universe (if viewed as such a program) might ''look'' to mathematicians and scientists as though it probably has a beautifully simple mathematical basis, even if in reality it was just hacked together with a bunch of ersatz, special-case rules.

The title text continues the analogy by suggesting that the theory of {{w|quantum mechanics}} was written in {{w|Regular expression|regular expressions}} ("regexes"), a complex language for pattern matching used heavily in Perl. Regular expressions are often criticized as being a {{w|write-only language}}, that is, a language so complicated in syntax that any significant program written in them cannot be understood by anybody (often not even the original author). Documentation is essential to assist in the understanding of complex regular expressions. The title text claims that at some point, the documentation for quantum mechanics was lost, which explains why quantum mechanics is so bizarre and counterintuitive.

==Transcript==
:[Floating in space.]
:Speaker: Last night I drifted off while reading a Lisp book.
:Cueball: Huh?
:Speaker: Suddenly, I was bathed in a suffusion of blue.

:[Floating in space before a vast concept tree.]
:Speaker: At once, just like they said, I felt a great enlightenment. I saw the naked structure of Lisp code unfold before me.
:Cueball: My God
:Cueball: It's full of 'car's
:Speaker: The patterns and metapatterns danced. Syntax faded, and I swam in the purity of quantified conception. Of ideas manifest.

:[Close-up of floating in space before part of a concept tree.]
:Truly, this was the language from which the gods wrought the Universe.

:[Floating in space with God appearing through a line of clouds.]
:God: No, it's not.
:Cueball: It's not?
:God: I mean, ostensibly, yes. Honestly, we hacked most of it together with Perl.

==Trivia==
*In his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=29m11s Google-speech], [[Randall]] said that he spent 3–4 hours on getting the blue shading just right.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Regex]]

2383: Electoral Precedent 2020

2024-10-30T02:45:57Z

CategoryGeneral: Possibly due to missing apostrophe

{{comic
| number = 2383
| date = November 9, 2020
| title = Electoral Precedent 2020
| image = electoral_precedent_2020-new.png
| titletext = He also broke the streak that incumbents with websites are unbeatable and Delawareans can't win, creating a new precedent: Only someone from Delaware can defeat an incumbent with a website.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is an update to [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], adding "broken precedents" for the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020. It was published six days after the 2020 election took place, and two days after {{w|Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference|most news networks "called" the election}}, projecting Biden as the winner. The majority of the comic's panels are duplicates from 1122, with the exception of the 2012 panel (modified to show that Obama did in fact break the streak), the 2016 panel (added to reflect the election of Donald Trump), and the two 2020 panels. It continues the theme of pointing out that an arbitrary 'precedent' can always be invoked to predict the outcome of an election. Presidential elections happen rarely enough that each is a unique event, and ''something'' is always happening for the first time. Like with the other examples, the precedents mentioned here mix factors that could plausibly impact the election (such as one candidate having been impeached), with precedents that are just a product of time and chance (like a successful challenger having a website).

The final two panels again show how, no matter which candidate won in 2020, it would be a 'first' in some way.
* No sitting president who was impeached was even nominated for the office again until Donald Trump. (Only two other US presidents have been impeached. Bill Clinton couldn't run again afterward due to term limits, Andrew Johnson failed to be nominated at the 1868 Democratic Convention.) After the election, it remains true that no impeached president has ever been re-elected. (As of July 2024, Trump is considered the Republican nominee, should he win that election, this statement could become false, depending on how exactly one interprets it.)
* Prior to the 2020 election, no challenger with a website ever won. This, however, is easily explained by the fact that incumbent presidents usually win, and websites are a fairly new technology. The last time a challenger beat an incumbent was in 1992 before Internet use was widespread. By 1996 that had changed and both the incumbent [http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/websites/cg96/ Bill Clinton campaign] and the challenger [http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm Bob Dole campaign] had websites that look very simple by today's standards. The title text points out that one could just as easily say that incumbents with websites are unbeatable, until that precedent was broken in 2020.

The 2020 election was also precedent breaking in a few ways that Randall didn't mention:
* At 78, [[Joe Biden]] was the oldest president ever on the day of his inauguration.
* Biden's running mate Kamala Harris is the first-ever female vice president, first Black vice president, and the first Asian vice president (her parents are from Jamaica and India). She's also the first Democratic vice president from the West.
* Biden received over 80 million votes, the highest ever, beating Obama 2008's previous record of just under 69.5 million votes. The second-highest raw vote total was for Trump, with approximately 74.2 million votes, ''also'' beating Obama 2008. Turnout as a percentage of the eligible population was the highest in over a century. Unlike the other precedents, however, this one was not an inevitable outcome of a Biden-Harris victory.

Also, Biden is the first president from the state of Delaware, thus he broke the "precedent" that Delawareans can't win. Randall then proceeds to combine these 2 facts to create a new precedent: Only Delawareans can defeat incumbents with a website.

==Table of New Broken Precedents==

All original options can be found at [[1122: Electoral Precedent]].

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Broken Precedent !! Explanation !! Validity

|-
|2012
|Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. ... Until Obama did.
|Mitt Romney stood 6' 2", an inch taller than President Obama. Nonetheless, Obama was re-elected for a second term.
|True
|-
|2016
|No one has become president without government or military experience. ... Until Trump did.
|Every president prior to Trump had either been a general in the US Army, a congressman, a state governor, or a cabinet member.
|True
|-
|2020?
|No one has won after being impeached. ✓
|None of the two prior presidents who were impeached even ran for re-election. This is the first time this specific condition has even been tested.
|Trump was impeached, ran, and lost, so this test remains true at this point in history.
|-
|2020?
|No challenger with a website has won. X
|The ''possibility'' of having a website only arose in the 1990s and Bill Clinton seems to not have had one when he succeeded Bush Sr. Although websites became increasingly ubiquitous, no president since had ever been defeated by their respective challengers.
|"...until Biden did."
|}

==Transcript==
:The problem with statements like
:"No <party> candidate has won the election without <state>"
:Or
:"No president has been reelected under <circumstances>"

:<nowiki>★</nowiki> Updated for 2020 ★

:[Each statement below has its own panel. The year is in a caption, the precedent is stated by a standing Cueball in the main panel, and the president who broke it is below the panel.]
:1788... No one has been elected president before. ...But Washington was.
:1792... No incumbent has ever been reelected. ...Until Washington.
:1796... No one without false teeth has become president. ...But Adams did.
:1800... No challenger has beaten an incumbent. ...But Jefferson did.
:1804... No incumbent has beaten a challenger. ...Until Jefferson.
:1808... No congressman has ever become president. ...Until Madison.
:1812... No one can win without New York. ...But Madison did.
:1816... No candidate who doesn't wear a wig can get elected. ...Until Monroe was.
:1820... No one who wears pants instead of breeches can be reelected. ...But Monroe was.
:1824... No one has ever won without a popular majority. ...J.Q. Adams did.
:1828... Only people from Massachusetts and Virginia can win. ...Until Jackson did.
:1832... The only presidents who get reelected are Virginians. ...Until Jackson.
:1836... New Yorkers always lose. ...Until Van Buren.
:1840... No one over 65 has won the presidency. ...Until Harrison did.
:1844... No one who's lost his home state has won. ...But Polk did.
:1848... As goes Mississippi, so goes the nation. ...Until 1848.
:1852... New England Democrats can't win. ...Until Pierce did.
:1856... No one can become president without getting married. ...Until Buchanan did.
:1860... No one over 6'3" can get elected. ...Until Lincoln.
:1864... No one with a beard has been reelected. ...But Lincoln was.
:1868... No one can be president if their parents are alive. ...Until Grant.
:1872... No one with a beard has been reelected in peacetime. ...Until Grant was.
:1876... No one can win a majority of the popular vote and still lose. ...Tilden did.
:1880... As goes California, so goes the nation. ...Until it went Hancock.
:1884... Candidates named "James" can't lose. ...Until James Blaine.
:1888... No sitting president has been beaten since the Civil War. ...Cleveland was.
:1892... No former president has been elected. ...Until Cleveland.
:1896... Tall Midwesterners are unbeatable. ...Bryan wasn't.
:1900... No Republican shorter than 5'8" has been reelected. ...Until McKinley was.
:1904... No one under 45 has been elected. ...Roosevelt did.
:1908... No Republican who hasn't served in the military has won. ...Until Taft.
:[The precedent takes up the entire panel this year. Consequently, there is no Cueball.] 1912... After Lincoln beat the Democrats while sporting a beard with no mustache, the only Democrats who can win have a mustache with no beard. ...Wilson had neither.
:1916... No Democrat has won while losing West Virginia. ...Wilson did.
:1920... No incumbent senator has won. ...Until Harding.
:1924... No one with two Cs in their name has become president. ...Until Calvin Coolidge.
:1928... No one who got ten million votes has lost. ...Until Al Smith.
:1932... No Democrat has won since women secured the right to vote. ...Until FDR did.
:1936... No president's been reelected with double-digit unemployment. ...Until FDR was.
:1940... No one has won a third term. ...Until FDR did.
:1944... No Democrat has won during wartime. ...Until FDR did.
:1948... Democrats can't win without Alabama. ...Truman did.
:1952... No Republican has won without winning the House or Senate. ...Eisenhower did.
:1956... No one can beat the same nominee a second time in a leap year rematch. ...Until Eisenhower.
:1960... Catholics can't win. ...Until Kennedy.
:1964... Every Republican who's taken Louisiana has won. ...Until Goldwater.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1968... No Republican vice president has risen to the Presidency through an election. ...Until Nixon.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1972... Quakers can't win twice. ...Until Nixon did.
:1976... No one who lost New Mexico has won. ...But Carter did.
:1980... No one has been elected president after a divorce. ...Until Reagan was.
:1984... No left-handed president has been reelected. ...Until Reagan was.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1988... No one with two middle names has become president. ...Until "Herbert Walker".
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1992... No Democrat has won without a majority of the Catholic vote. ...Until Clinton did.
:[The precedent takes up the entire panel this year. Consequently, there is no Cueball.] 1996... No Dem. incumbent without combat experience has beaten someone whose first name is worth more in Scrabble. ...Until Bill beat Bob.
:2000... No Republican has won without Vermont. ...Until Bush did.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 2004... No Republican without combat experience has beaten someone two inches taller ...Until Bush did.
:2008... No Democrat can win without Missouri. ...Until Obama did.
:2012... Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. ... Until Obama did.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 2016... No one has become president without government or military experience. ... Until Trump did.
:2020? No one has won after being impeached. <big>✓</big>
:2020? No challenger with a website has won. <big>X</big>

:[Caption below the comic]
:Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden for breaking the website curse!

==Trivia==
* This comic seems to have used the same image as [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], and so the original version of this comic had a ghost image of the original 2012 2nd "streak": "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost."
* Also, the panels for past elections that were wrong before continue to be wrong, including 1812, 1816, 1820, 1904, and 1952. See [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], Table of Broken Precedents for details.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ronald Reagan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Joe Biden]]

1122: Electoral Precedent

2024-10-30T02:45:10Z

CategoryGeneral: Due to missing apostrophe?

{{comic
| number = 1122
| date = October 17, 2012
| title = Electoral Precedent
| image = electoral_precedent.png
| titletext = No white guy who's been mentioned on Twitter has gone on to win.
}}

==Explanation==

During election season in U.S. presidential elections — and especially in election night coverage — it is common for the media to make comments like the ones set out in the first panel of this comic. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] is demonstrating the problem with making such statements, many of which simply come down to coincidence.

After the first panel the next 56 panels in this comic refer to each one of the {{w|United States presidential election#Electoral college results|56 presidential elections}} in U.S. history before {{w|Barack Obama|Obama's}} re-election in 2012. The panels depict a pre-election commentator noting a quality or condition that has never occurred to a candidate until one of the candidates in that election broke the streak. In other words, one can always find at least one unique thing about a candidate who has gone on to win (or in some cases, lose) or the circumstances under which they won (or lost) that is unique from all previous winners (or losers). It's worth noting that some of these 'firsts' were truly precedent-setting (such as the first incumbent losing, the first president to win a third term, the first Catholic president, etc.), but the fact that they hadn't happened was no assurance that there wouldn't be a first time. As the years pass on, these 'streaks' become more and more nested and complicated, and then brought by Randall to the point of absurdity by pointing out very trivial things, such as "No Democratic {{w|incumbent}} without combat experience has ever beaten someone whose first name is worth more in {{w|Scrabble}}" (1996).

The flaw made by pundits while reporting such streaks is that there will always be ''something'' that has never happened before in an election, and they purport to suggest that these things are related to the candidate's win or loss. Randall considers this a logical flaw. A common one is, as noted in several panels, candidates can't win without winning certain states. The question, however, is one of {{w|Correlation does not imply causation|cause or effect}}.

Given that there have only been 56 elections, there are always going to be things that haven't happened before. If you go out looking for them, you're sure to find some. There is no magic about why these events haven't happened. In most cases, it is merely a coincidence.

In the last two panels, two more statements like the previous are given. They were both true before the {{w|United States presidential election, 2012|election in 2012}} on November the 6th. The comic came out in the middle of the campaign on October the 17th. The statements were constructed so that the first predicts that Obama can't win over {{w|Mitt Romney}}, and the second that he cannot lose. As Obama won the election he thus ended the streak ''Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers'' whereas the other streak is still valid.

The title text refers to the fact that {{w|Twitter}} was founded in 2006. Obama won in 2008, so at the time of the comic it was true that no white male person mentioned on Twitter had ever gone on to win the presidency; although certainly some former presidents, all of whom were white males, have subsequently been mentioned on Twitter. This streak was broken in the next election year when Donald Trump won the 2016 election.

During these last four weeks before the election, Randall posted no fewer than four comics related to this election. The others are: [[1127: Congress]], [[1130: Poll Watching]] and [[1131: Math]].

In 2020, Randall posted an update to this comic: [[2383: Electoral Precedent 2020]].

===Table of Broken Precedents===

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Broken Precedent !! Explanation !! Validity
|-
| 1788
| No one has been elected president before. ...But Washington was.
| Discounting the Articles of Confederation and its {{w|President of the Continental Congress|president}}, Washington is the first president of the United States.{{Citation needed}}
| True
|-
| 1792
| No incumbent has ever been reelected. ...Until Washington.
| Washington is the first person who had a second term. He was unopposed so there was no challenger.
| True
|-
| 1796
| No one without false teeth has become president. ...But Adams did.
| Washington had false teeth, made of human teeth and other materials. His successor Adams, despite having tooth decay, refused to wear false teeth.
| True
|-
| 1800
| No challenger has beaten an incumbent. ...But Jefferson did.
| Adams is the first president not to have a second term, due to signing the unpopular {{w|Alien and Sedition Acts}}. He was defeated by the challenger, Jefferson.
| True
|-
| 1804
| No incumbent has beaten a challenger. ...Until Jefferson.
| The 2 previous incumbents were Washington, who was unopposed, and Adams, who lost as an incumbent (to Jefferson).
| True
|-
| 1808
| No congressman has ever become president. ...Until Madison.
| While George Washington served in the House of Burgesses, Madison served as congressman for Virginia's 5th district from 1789 to 1793 and the 15th District from 1793 to 1797 in the U. S. Congress.
| True
|-
| 1812
| No one can win without New York. ...But Madison did.
| While it is true New York voted against Madison but he still won, New York did not vote for Washington due to an {{w|1788-89_United_States_presidential_election#Failure_of_New_York_to_appoint_electors|internal dispute}}.
| False
|-
| 1816
| No candidate who doesn't wear a wig can get elected. ...Until Monroe was.
| Despite popular misconception, Washington did not wear a wig, but in fact powdered his hair white.
| False
|-
| 1820
| No one who wears pants instead of {{w|Culottes|breeches}} can be reelected. ...But Monroe was.
| The first 5 presidents, including Monroe, all wore breeches.
| False
|-
| 1824
| No one has ever won without a popular majority. ...J.Q. Adams did.
| Jackson won the plurality of the popular vote and Electoral College. But as it was a four way election, he did not achieve a majority - so the vote went to Congress, who elected John Quincy Adams.
| True
|-
| 1828
| Only people from Massachusetts and Virginia can win. ...Until Jackson did.
| Jackson was from South Carolina, while all previous presidents were from Massachusetts or Virginia.
| True
|-
| 1832
| The only presidents who get reelected are Virginians. ...Until Jackson.
| Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe were the only re-elected presidents at that time, and they were all Virginians.
| True
|-
| 1836
| New Yorkers always lose. ...Until Van Buren.
| Martin Van Buren is the first president from the state of New York.
| True
|-
|1840
| No one over 65 has won the presidency. ...Until Harrison did.
| He was 68 and the first over 65, and died of pneumonia 31 days after giving the longest inauguration to date.
| True
|-
|1844
| No one who's lost his home state has won. ...But Polk did.
| If "home state" refers to the state of residence, Polk is the first, losing Tennessee to Clay but took 15 of the 26 states including New York. However, if you count it as state of birth, Jackson and Harrison already did.
| Maybe
|-
|1848
| As goes Mississippi, so goes the nation. ...Until 1848.
| Prior to 1848, every candidate who had won the state of Mississippi had won the election, with the only exception being the 1824 election, where John Quincy Adams was elected by Congress, due to no one winning the Electoral College. In 1848, Lewis Cass won the state of Mississippi, but lost the election to Zachary Taylor.
| True
|-
|1852
|New England Democrats can't win. ...Until Pierce did.
|Pierce is the first candidate from the Democratic Party from New England, specifically New Hampshire, and he won the election of 1852.
| True
|-
|1856
| No one can become president without getting married. ...Until Buchanan did.
| While other presidents were widowers, Buchanan was the first unmarried president, being a life long bachelor.
| True
|-
|1860
| No one over 6'3" can get elected. ...Until Lincoln.
| Lincoln was the first president over 6'3" president, at 6'4" tall, making him the tallest president to date.
| True
|-
|1864
|No one with a beard has been reelected. ...But Lincoln was.
|Lincoln was the first U.S. president to have a beard.
|True
|-
|1868
|No one can be president if their parents are alive. ...Until Grant.
|The veracity depends on if BOTH parents have to be alive, or if any parents are alive. If either parent can be alive, then Washington's mother, Mary Ball Washington, died four months after he became president. If both have to be alive, Grant was indeed the first president to have both parents alive when assuming office.
|Maybe
|-
|1872
|No one with a beard has been reelected in peacetime. ...Until Grant was.
|Grant was the second U.S. president (behind Lincoln) to be reelected with a beard, but only Grant was reelected during peacetime.
|True
|-
|1876
|No one can win a majority of the popular vote and still lose. ...Tilden did.
|Samuel Tilden won a majority of the popular vote, with 51%, but lost in the electoral college in a {{w|1876 United States presidential election|contested election}}, resolved by the {{w|Compromise of 1877}}. (During the election of 1824, Jackson won the popular vote but did not win more than half of it, a majority)
|True
|-
|1880
|As goes California, so goes the nation. ...Until it went Hancock.
|Since being a state in 1850, the winner of California had won the election - until 1880 when Winfield Hancock won California but lost the election to James Garfield.
|True
|-
|1884
|Candidates named "James" can't lose. ...Until James Blaine.
|James Blaine was the first major candidate with the first name "James" to lose an election, losing to Grover Cleveland.
|True
|-
|1888
|No sitting president has been beaten since the Civil War. ...Cleveland was.
|Grover Cleveland was the first president since the end of the Civil War to be defeated by a challenger, losing to Benjamin Harrison. Andrew Johnson was not chosen as the Democratic candidate in 1868. Ulysses S. Grant served 2 terms and did not run for a 3rd term. Rutherford B. Hayes and Chester A. Arthur (who became president after the assassination of James Garfield) did not seek reelection after their first term.
|True
|-
|1892
|No former president has been elected. ...Until Cleveland.
|Cleveland was the first (and thus far only) president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms, winning the presidential election in 1884, losing in 1888, and winning in 1892.
|True
|-
|1896
|Tall Midwesterners are unbeatable. ...Bryan wasn't.
|William Jennings Bryan lost the 1896 election to William McKinley. Bryan's measurements have been lost to history, but contemporary historians described him as "a tall, slender, handsome fellow".
|True
|-
|1900
|No Republican shorter than 5'8" has been reelected. ...Until McKinley was.
|At the time, McKinley was only the 3rd Republican who was reelected (behind Lincoln and Grant). And he was the shortest of them all, at 5'7" tall.
|True
|-
|1904
|No one under 45 has been elected. ...Roosevelt was.
|At the start of his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president, taking office at the age of 42 when McKinley died in 1901. However, he was not elected President until 1904, by which time he was no longer under 45. The precedent was broken in 1960 when Kennedy was elected at age 43.
|False
|-
|1908
|No Republican who hasn't served in the military has won. ...Until Taft.
|Taft was the first Republican to win an election and not serve in the military - Lincoln served during the Black Hawk War; Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and McKinley served in the Civil War; and Theodore Roosevelt served in the Spanish-American War.
|True
|-
|1912
|After Lincoln beat the Democrats while sporting a beard with no mustache, the only Democrats who can win have a mustache with no beard. ...Wilson had neither.
|From Lincoln's presidency to Wilson's, only one Democrat won- Grover Cleveland, who had a mustache but no beard.
|True
|-
|1916
|No Democrat has won while losing West Virginia. ...Wilson did.
|Since its statehood in 1863, Wilson is the first Democrat to lose West Virginia, but win the national election.
|True
|-
|1920
|No incumbent senator has won. ...Until Harding.
|Harding was the first sitting Senator to become President - he resigned his position as Senator to become President.
|True
|-
|1924
|No one with two Cs in their name has become president. ...Until Calvin Coolidge.
|'''C'''alvin '''C'''oolidge was the first with "two C's in his name". Presidents with "one C" in their names prior to Coolidge were John Quin'''c'''y Adams, Andrew Ja'''c'''kson, Za'''c'''hary Taylor, Franklin Pier'''c'''e, James Bu'''c'''hanan, Abraham Lin'''c'''oln, '''C'''hester A. Arthur, Grover '''C'''leveland and William M'''c'''Kinley.
|True
|-
|1928
|No one who got ten million votes has lost. ...Until Al Smith.
|Smith was the first candidate to get more than 10 million votes and lose. He received over 15 million votes, but lost to Herbert Hoover, who received 21.4 million votes, and won the electoral college, 444-87.
|True
|-
|1932
|No Democrat has won since women secured the right to vote. ...Until FDR did.
|FDR was the first Democrat to win since 1919 when women secured the right to vote.
|True
|-
|1936
|No President's been reelected with double-digit unemployment. ...Until FDR was.
|FDR was reelected during the Great Depression when unemployment peaked at 22-25%.
|True
|-
|1940
|No one has won a third term. ...Until FDR did.
|FDR is the first and only president to be elected for 4 terms due to his popularity/policies. This is now made impossible by the {{w|Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|22nd amendment}}, which limits a president to 2 elected terms.
|True
|-
|1944
|No Democrat has won during wartime. ...Until FDR did.
|The United States has engaged in many minor wars near-constantly since its formation, although it being "wartime" in the country for many of these is debatable. Martin Van Buren won during the Second Seminole War, Franklin Pierce won during the Cayuse war and Apache war, James Buchanan won during Bleeding Kansas, the Third Seminole War, the Yakima War, and the Second Opium War, Grover Cleveland won during the Garza Revolution, and Woodrow Wilson won during the Border War, the Occupation of Nicaragua, the Occupation of Haiti, and the Occupation of the Dominican Republic.
|False
|-
|1948
|Democrats can't win without Alabama. ...Truman did.
|Although technically true, the Democrat party did not appear on the ballot in Alabama in 1948, making it impossible for them to have won under any circumstances. It's also worth noting that Alabama had consistently voted Democrat in every election since Alabama's formation as a state except for 1864, when it was in the confederate states, and in 1868 and 1872, where Ulysses S. Grant would win both times. A democrat would not lose a popular vote in Alabama while appearing on the ballot until 1968, and would not win an election while losing the vote in Alabama until 1992.
|True
|-
|1952
|No Republican has won without winning the House or Senate. ...Eisenhower did.
|Republicans won control of ''both'' the {{w|1952 United States House of Representatives elections|House}} and {{w|1952 United States Senate elections|Senate}} in 1952. This precedent would be broken in 1956 after Democrats flipped both chambers in 1954.
|True
|-
|1956
|No one can beat the same nominee a second time in a leap year rematch. ...Until Eisenhower.
|The phrase "leap year" excludes the elections of 1800 and 1900, which were not leap years in the U.S. or most other countries (although they were leap years in Russia, which was still using the Julian calendar).
|True
|-
|1960
|Catholics can't win. ...Kennedy beat Nixon.
|The only other Catholic to be nominated until 1960 was Democrat Alfred E. Smith in 1928.
|True
|-
|1964
|Every Republican who's taken Louisiana has won. ...Until Goldwater.
|Prior to 1964, only two Republicans had won Louisiana: Rutherford Hayes in 1876 and Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. Both won, however in 1876 the election in Louisiana was contested until the Compromise of 1877 resolved it in favor of Hayes.
|True
|-
|1968
|No Republican vice president has risen to the Presidency through an election. ...Until Nixon.
|Theodore Roosevelt, the winner of the 1904 election, was a Republican former Vice President, but he had already risen to the Presidency in 1901 when McKinley died in office.
|True
|-
|1972
|Quakers can't win twice. ...Until Nixon did.
|The only Quaker president before Nixon was Herbert Hoover. Hoover only served one term.
|True
|-
|1976
|No one who lost New Mexico has won. ...But Carter did.
|From its statehood in 1912 to 1972, New Mexico had been a reliable bellwether state. (The 1976 election is still, as of 2021, the only one where the winner of the popular vote did not take New Mexico.)
|True
|-
|1980
|No one has been elected President after a divorce. ...Until Reagan was.
|Reagan was the first divorced President.
|True
|-
|1984
|No left-handed president has been reelected. ...Until Reagan was.
|Reagan is one of 8 left-handed presidents (as of 2022). None of the 4 left-handed presidents prior to Reagan was reelected (James Garfield was assassinated in his first year in office, Gerald Ford was never elected at all, and Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman only served one full term each).
|True
|-
|1988
|No one with two middle names has become president. ...Until "Herbert Walker".
|George H. W. Bush is the first and to date only president with 2 middle names.
|True
|-
|1992
|No Democrat has won without a majority of the Catholic vote. ...Until Clinton did.
|The exact breakdown of the Catholic vote in each individual election is unknown until the advent of demographic-based exit polling, however Catholics have historically been strongly Democratic until 1968. In 1976, Carter won an estimated 54-57% of the Catholic vote, while in 1992 Bill Clinton only won 44% due to the independent campaign of Ross Perot.
|True
|-
|1996
|No Dem. incumbent without combat experience has beaten someone whose first name is worth more in Scrabble. ...Until Bill beat Bob.
|This refers to {{w|Bill Clinton}} and {{w|Bob Dole}}. However, their legal names are William Jefferson Clinton and Robert Joseph Dole. Their first names are William (worth 12 points) and Robert (worth 8 points), not Bill and Bob.
|
|-
|2000
|No Republican has won without Vermont. ...Until Bush did.
|Vermont had voted for Republicans in every presidential election from 1856 (the first contested by the Republicans) to 1988, with the exception of 1964. George W. Bush was indeed the first Republican to win the presidency while losing Vermont.
|True
|-
|2004
|No Republican without combat experience has beaten someone two inches taller. ...Until Bush did.
|John Kerry served for 4 months in the Vietnam war, while George Bush has no combat experience. John Kerry is 11 cm taller than George Bush which is actually about 4.3 inches, not 2. Assuming "two inches taller" means *at least* two inches taller and not *about* two inches taller, then Randall is correct.
|Maybe
|-
|2008
|No Democrat can win without Missouri. ...Until Obama did.
|Missouri had been a Democratic stronghold for the later half of the 19th century and was a {{w|Missouri bellwether|key bellwether state}} from 1904 to 2004. Obama is the first Democrat to win without Missouri, and 2008 is considered the year when Missouri ceased being a bellwether.
|True
|-
|2012?
|Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers.
|Barack Obama is 6' 1" (185 cm), and Mitt Romney is 6' 2" (188 cm). When Obama won, it broke the streak.
|...Until Obama did.
|-
|2012?
|No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost.
|This apparently refers only to major party nominees, as many third party and other nominees with a first name containing "K" have lost, such as {{w|Frank T. Johns}} of the Socialist Labor Party of America. Major party nominees with a "K" have won, such as Democrats Franklin Pierce, Franklin Roosevelt, and Barack Obama. If Romney had won, it would have broken the streak with respect to major party nominees, although not the streak as stated, which had already been broken with respect to all nominees.
|True
|-
|Title text
|No white guy who's been mentioned on Twitter has gone on to win.
|Twitter was founded in 2006; Barack Obama was the first president elected since its founding, and although he had been mentioned on Twitter prior to his election, he is not a white male and so did not break the streak. The streak was broken in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected.
|...Until Trump did.
|}

==Transcript==
:The problem with statements like
:"No <party> candidate has won the election without <state>"
:Or
:"No president has been reelected under <circumstances>"

:[Each statement below has its own panel. The year is in a caption, the precedent is stated by a standing Cueball in the main panel, and the president who broke it is below the panel.]
:1788... No one has been elected president before. ...But Washington was.
:1792... No incumbent has ever been reelected. ...Until Washington.
:1796... No one without false teeth has become president. ...But Adams did.
:1800... No challenger has beaten an incumbent. ...But Jefferson did.
:1804... No incumbent has beaten a challenger. ...Until Jefferson.
:1808... No congressman has ever become president. ...Until Madison.
:1812... No one can win without New York. ...But Madison did.
:1816... No candidate who doesn't wear a wig can get elected. ...Until Monroe was.
:1820... No one who wears pants instead of breeches can be reelected. ...But Monroe was.
:1824... No one has ever won without a popular majority. ...J.Q. Adams did.
:1828... Only people from Massachusetts and Virginia can win. ...Until Jackson did.
:1832... The only presidents who get reelected are Virginians. ...Until Jackson.
:1836... New Yorkers always lose. ...Until Van Buren.
:1840... No one over 65 has won the presidency. ...Until Harrison did.
:1844... No one who's lost his home state has won. ...But Polk did.
:1848... As goes Mississippi, so goes the nation. ...Until 1848.
:1852... New England Democrats can't win. ...Until Pierce did.
:1856... No one can become president without getting married. ...Until Buchanan did.
:1860... No one over 6'3" can get elected. ...Until Lincoln.
:1864... No one with a beard has been reelected. ...But Lincoln was.
:1868... No one can be president if their parents are alive. ...Until Grant.
:1872... No one with a beard has been reelected in peacetime. ...Until Grant was.
:1876... No one can win a majority of the popular vote and still lose. ...Tilden did.
:1880... As goes California, so goes the nation. ...Until it went Hancock.
:1884... Candidates named "James" can't lose. ...Until James Blaine.
:1888... No sitting president has been beaten since the Civil War. ...Cleveland was.
:1892... No former president has been elected. ...Until Cleveland.
:1896... Tall Midwesterners are unbeatable. ...Bryan wasn't.
:1900... No Republican shorter than 5'8" has been reelected. ...Until McKinley was.
:1904... No one under 45 has been elected. ...Roosevelt did.
:1908... No Republican who hasn't served in the military has won. ...Until Taft.
:[The precedent takes up the entire panel this year. Consequently, there is no Cueball.] 1912... After Lincoln beat the Democrats while sporting a beard with no mustache, the only Democrats who can win have a mustache with no beard. ...Wilson had neither.
:1916... No Democrat has won while losing West Virginia. ...Wilson did.
:1920... No incumbent senator has won. ...Until Harding.
:1924... No one with two Cs in their name has become president. ...Until Calvin Coolidge.
:1928... No one who got ten million votes has lost. ...Until Al Smith.
:1932... No Democrat has won since women secured the right to vote. ...Until FDR did.
:1936... No president's been reelected with double-digit unemployment. ...Until FDR was.
:1940... No one has won a third term. ...Until FDR did.
:1944... No Democrat has won during wartime. ...Until FDR did.
:1948... Democrats can't win without Alabama. ...Truman did.
:1952... No Republican has won without winning the House or Senate. ...Eisenhower did.
:1956... No one can beat the same nominee a second time in a leap year rematch. ...Until Eisenhower.
:1960... Catholics can't win. ...Until Kennedy.
:1964... Every Republican who's taken Louisiana has won. ...Until Goldwater.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1968... No Republican vice president has risen to the Presidency through an election. ...Until Nixon.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1972... Quakers can't win twice. ...Until Nixon did.
:1976... No one who lost New Mexico has won. ...But Carter did.
:1980... No one has been elected president after a divorce. ...Until Reagan was.
:1984... No left-handed president has been reelected. ...Until Reagan was.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1988... No one with two middle names has become president. ...Until "Herbert Walker".
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 1992... No Democrat has won without a majority of the Catholic vote. ...Until Clinton did.
:[The precedent takes up the entire panel this year. Consequently, there is no Cueball.] 1996... No Dem. incumbent without combat experience has beaten someone whose first name is worth more in Scrabble. ...Until Bill beat Bob.
:2000... No Republican has won without Vermont. ...Until Bush did.
:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's head in this frame.] 2004... No Republican without combat experience has beaten someone two inches taller ...Until Bush did.
:2008... No Democrat can win without Missouri. ...Until Obama did.
:[This year has two panels.] 2012... [Panel one] Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. [Panel two] No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost. [Text under panels] Which streak will break?

[[Category:Comics featuring Ronald Reagan]]

==Trivia/Errors==
* There was an error in the original 1800 panel of the comic, as Jefferson (not Adams) was the first challenger to beat an incumbent, when Jefferson beat then-president Adams in 1800. This was later corrected.

* The first president without a wig was technically Washington, who did not wear a wig, but in fact powdered his hair white.

* Although Theodore Roosevelt became the first president under age 45 and was later elected president, he was not elected before the age of 45.

* Also, one of the statements of a streak for the 2012 elections can be considered wrong: in 1952, the Republican candidate/running mate Eisenhower/Nixon defeated the Democratic alliterative ticket Stevenson/Sparkman (in what can only be described as a landslide). The comic has been changed, and now reads "Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers" as the streak which would have the Republican ticket as the winners.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

1970: Name Dominoes

2024-10-30T02:06:32Z

CategoryGeneral: It seems that this tag is being overused.

{{comic
| number = 1970
| date = March 21, 2018
| title = Name Dominoes
| image = name_dominoes.png
| titletext = In competition, you can only play a name if you know who the person is. No fair saying "Frank ... Johnson. That sounds like a real person! Let me just Google him real quick."
}}

*A large version of the comic picture can be found [https://xkcd.com/1970/large/ here].
*A numbered version can be found [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/73/1970-_Name_Dominoes_-_The_large_image_with_numbers.jpg here].

==Explanation==
{{w|Dominoes}} is a family of boardgames played with rectangular "domino" tiles. A domino tile is divided into two squares, each displaying a number. Under most rules, a domino tile is placed on the table adjacent to another tile, and the adjacent ends must match in some way (usually by the number displayed on the touching ends). Randall's "name dominoes" shows a set of domino tiles with people's names instead of numbers, and adjacent tiles are matched by whether the closest name is the same (such as how Chris Evans' family name matches Evan Taylor Jones' given name). A large board is covered in rectangular "dominoes" (271 pieces), with each domino bearing the name of a "well-known" person or character (fictional). The dominoes are arranged as if a game of dominoes were being played, but instead of the game requiring the number of spots of adjacent dominoes to match up, this game requires adjacent ''names'' to match up. Because most people have two or more names, different matches are made at each end of a domino. Fun fact is that two of the people are "named after" the game: {{w|Fats Domino}} and {{w|Domino Harvey}}.

The match can be exact (e.g., "Kevin" on one domino adjacent to "Kevin" on another), homonymic (e.g., "Klein" adjacent to "Kline"), nickname-based (e.g., "James" adjacent to "Jimmy", which in turn is adjacent to "Jim"), or gender different versions of a name (e.g., "Olivia" adjacent to "Oliver"). Sometimes last names are matched up with first names (e.g., "{{w|Elizabeth Warren}}" adjacent to "{{w|Warren Beatty}}"), and in some cases only a single name is used (e.g., "{{w|Columbo}}", "{{w|Drake_(musician)|Drake}}", "{{w|Garfield_(character)|Garfield}}", "{{w|Prince_(musician)|Prince}}"). Singular names are represented by a half-size square "domino" (or "{{w|Polyomino|monomino}}"), with a few exceptions: "{{w|Garnet_(Steven_Universe)|Garnet}}" has a full-size tile (a complex reference explained below), and "{{w|Batman}}" and "{{w|Superman}}" have full-size tiles and are placed as though they were two-part names: the first square of "Superman" is matched with "Super", and the second square is matched with the second square of "Batman" (as though both characters had the last name "Man"). Some people have three or more names (e.g., "{{w|Frank Lloyd Wright}}") and have a 3-square domino tile (or "straight {{w|Tromino|tromino}}", 50% longer than normal) which permits matching to a middle name (e.g. "Frank Lloyd Wright" is matched to "{{w|Lloyd Alexander}}" and "{{w|Harold Lloyd}}").

The names come from a wide variety of fields: scientists (e.g., {{w|Isaac Newton}}), historical figures ({{w|George Washington}}), musicians ({{w|Drake (musician)|Drake}}), politicians ({{w|John Kerry}}), actors ({{w|Kevin Costner}}), writers ({{w|Washington Irving}}), fashion designers ({{w|Oscar de la Renta}}), and so on. Most of the names are real people but a few are fictional characters, including some non-human characters like {{w|Garfield_(character)|Garfield}} and {{w|Grover#Super_Grover|Super Grover}}. In one case the nick name for a company is used: {{w|Ma Bell}} aka Bell System. Another "play on names" can be seen on [[1529: Bracket]].

One notable reference beyond just the use of a name is in the bottom left, there is the connection [ {{w|William Safire}} ][ Garnet ][ {{w|Jack Ruby|Ruby, Jack}} ]. The connection seems to be based on the fact that {{w|Sapphire}}, {{w|Garnet}} and {{w|Ruby}} are all {{w|gemstones}}, which does not match the implied rules of the game. This tile is a reference to the character {{w|Garnet_(Steven_Universe)|Garnet}} in the cartoon {{w|Steven Universe}}, who is a "fusion" formed by two Gems: Ruby and Sapphire. Thus, the name "Garnet" is treated as though it was two names "Ruby" and "Sapphire", requiring a two-square tile despite having a one-word name. Randall has previously made references to this universe in [[1608: Hoverboard]]. (See [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/39/1608_1031x1095y_Steven_Universe_family_and_ice_cream_prediction.png this] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fa/1608_1077x1109y_Darth_Vaders_talks_about_Steven_Universe_on_the_bridge_Megan_adjust_antenna.png this] image from that comic). Additionally, Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan and Rand Paul have been mentioned before, in the title text of [[1277: Ayn Random]]. That idea may have been the prototype for this. Connecting {{w|Marilyn Manson}} with {{w|Marilyn Monroe}} and {{w|Charles Manson}} is likely a tongue-in-cheek reference, as the musician's stage name was ''literally chosen'' in the same way as this. In at least one case it is not entirely clear who is being referred to: "John Kelly" most likely refers to Gen. {{w|John F. Kelly}}, Donald Trump's chief of staff, but the name is extremely common and could equally refer to {{w|John Kelly|any number of people}}.

The title text spells out a rule that a player may only place a tile if they know who that person is. This is a variation of a rule in {{w|Scrabble}}, where a player loses a turn if their chosen word don't survive a dictionary challenge over the validity of the word. This rule implies that players are allowed to create new name dominoes tiles and that it is not a fixed set. In this case the player that is challenged has used the name Frank Johnson of which there are {{w|Frank Johnson|12 exact matches}} on Wikipedia along with six with a middle name and more. (The player was likely trying to place a tile in the upper-left area of the board, in an attempt to connect the "Frank Vincent" and "Lyndon Johnson" dominoes. The move was subsequently made impossible when the "Francis Drake" domino was played.) In a google search as of the day the comic came out the first hit was {{w|Frank Johnson (basketball)|Frank Johnson}} who is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. Randall has made several [[:Category:Basketball|references to basketball]] in his comics.

==Table of names==
The number # refers to the numbers on this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/73/1970-_Name_Dominoes_-_The_large_image_with_numbers.jpg numbered picture]. Read more on this page: [[1970: Name Dominoes/Numbered images]].

Wiki links have been tested but may not go to the right place.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!style="width:15%"|Domino
!style="width:45%"|Notability and notes
!style="width:15%"|Connections
!style="width:20%"|Mode
!style="width:5%"|#
|-
|{{w|Christian Campbell}}
|Canadian American stage and screen actor, writer, and photographer. Most likely refers to the actor, but there are also a Trinidadian-Bahamian poet called {{w|Christian Campbell (poet)|Christian Campbell}}.
|Neve Campbell Naomi Campbell
|Last-Last Last-Last
|1
|-
|{{w|Neve Campbell}}
|Canadian actress, known for starring in the movie series {{w|Scream (1996 film)|Scream}}.
|Christian Campbell Joseph Campbell
|Last-Last Last-Last
|2
|-
|{{w|Joe McCarthy}}
|Joseph McCarthy, (also called {{w|Joseph_McCarthy#Legacy|Joe McCarthy}}), served as U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. {{w|McCarthyism}} is named after him. It was the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence, especially caused by fear of Communist influence during the beginning of the cold war. McCarthyism has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1947 to 1956.
|Eugene McCarthy Joseph Smith
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|3
|-
|{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}
|Eugene Joseph McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time Congressman from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. (He is not to be confused with the other Senator McCarthy, Joseph McCarthy, see #3)
|Joe McCarthy Gene Vincent
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|4
|-
|{{w|Gene Vincent}}
|American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly.
|Eugene McCarthy Gene Kelly Frank Vincent
|First-First (approximate) First-First Last-Last
|5
|-
|{{w|Gene Kelly}}
|American actor and dancer known primarily for musicals such as 'Singing in the rain'
|Gene Vincent John Kelly
|First-First Last-Last
|6
|-
|{{w|Kate Hudson}}
|Golden Globe-winning American actress. Won for playing Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous in 2000.
|Rock Hudson Katherine Johnson
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|7
|-
|{{w|Rock Hudson}}
|American actor who was viewed as a prominent 'heartthrob' of the Hollywood Golden Age, staring as the lead man in many movies during the 1950s and 60s, among other {{w|Giant (1956 film)|Giant}}, James Deans last film, for which both where nominated for an Oscar in the best actor category. He later became known for his secret homosexual life. Hudson died from AIDS-related complications in 1985, becoming the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.
|Katie Hudson The Rock
|Last-Last First-Last
|8
|-
|{{w|Gordon Brown}}
|British Prime Minister from 2007-2010.
|James Brown
|Last-Last
|9
|-
|{{w|James Brown}}
|American singer, known as the Godfather of Soul
|Gordon Brown John Brown James Newton Howard
|Last-Last Last-Last First-First
|10
|-
|{{w|John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown}}
|American abolitionist who led an attack on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. There are several other {{w|John Brown|John Browns}}.
|James Brown John Howard John Wayne
|Last-Last First-First First-First
|11
|-
|{{w|John Howard}}
|Australian politician. Served as 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 1996-2007. There are several other {{w|John Howard (disambiguation)|John Howards}} but this Prime Minister is by far the best known among them.
|John Brown Howard Stern
|First-First Last-First
|12
|-
|{{w|Columbo}}
|Fictional character. Homicide detective from American TV show "Columbo"; portrayed by actor Peter Falk.
|Chris Columbus
|Only-Last (approximate)
|13
|-
|{{w|Chris Columbus (filmmaker)|Chris Columbus}}
|Film director and screenwriter.
|Columbo Christopher Columbus Chris Hughes
|Last-Only (approximate) First-First (approximate) and Last-Last First-First
|14
|-
|{{w|Christopher Columbus}}
|Italian explorer. Credited with "discovering" the Americas in 1492 by leading voyages and establishing continued ties between Europe and the Americas.
|Chris Columbus
|First-First (approximate) and Last-Last
|15
|-
|{{w|Naomi Campbell}}
|British model and actress.
|Christian Campbell Joseph Campbell Naomi Klein
|Last-Last Last-Last First-First
|16
|-
|{{w|Joseph Campbell}}
|American author. Most known for his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces about the hero type found throughout world mythologies.
|Neve Campbell Naomi Campbell Joseph Smith
|Last-Last Last-Last First-First
|17
|-
|{{w|Joseph Smith}}
|American religious leader; founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other churches in the Christian Restorationist movement. Translator of The Book of Mormon.
|Joe McCarthy Joseph Campbell
|First-First (approximate) First-First
|18
|-
|{{w|Frank Vincent}}
|American actor.
|Gene Vincent Francis Drake
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|19
|-
|{{w|John Kelly|John Kelly(1)}}
|Many people are named John Kelly, it is unclear which one Randall is referring to.
|Gene Kelly Katherine Johnson
|Last-Last First-Last (approximate)
|20
|-
|{{w|Katherine Johnson}}
|African-American mathematician at NASA. Calculated trajectories, launch windows, and flight paths for NASA moon missions and the Space Shuttle.
|Kate Hudson John Kelly Lyndon Johnson
|First-First (approximate) Last-First (approximate) Last-Last
|21
|-
|{{w|Dwayne Johnson|The Rock}}
|Nickname for Dwayne Johnson, a pro wrestler, and actor.
|Rock Hudson Chris Rock Oscar the Grouch
|Last-First Last-Last First-Middle
|22
|-
|{{w|Chris Rock}}
|American comedian.
|The Rock Chris Isaac
|Last-Last First-First
|23
|-
|{{w|Chris Isaac}}
|Former quarterback in the Canadian Football League. Probable misspelling of {{w|Chris Isaak}}, American musician.
|Chris Rock Isaac Newton
|First-First Last-First
|24
|-
|{{w|James Newton Howard}}
|American composer, conductor, music producer and musician.
|James Brown Isaac Newton Wayne Newton Wayne Howard
|First-First Middle-Last Middle-Last Last-Last
|25
|-
|{{w|John Wayne}}
|American actor, known primarily for roles in Westerns
|John Brown Wayne Newton
|First-First Last-First
|26
|-
|{{w|Howard Stern}}
|Radio talk show host. Known for {{w|The Howard Stern Show}}.
|John Howard Howard Hunt
|First-Last First-First
|27
|-
|{{w|Howard Hunt}}
|Former CIA operative, convicted for Watergate burglary.
|Howard Stern Helen Hunt
|First-First Last-Last
|28
|-
|{{w|Chris Hughes}}
|American entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg.
|Chris Columbus Helen Hughes
|First-First Last-Last
|29
|-
|{{w|Naomi Watts}}
| Australian actress, born in Britain
|Naomi Klein James Watt (steam)
|First-First Last-Last (approximate)
|30
|-
|{{w|Naomi Klein}}
|Best known for the book "No Logo"
|Naomi Campbell Naomi Watts Kevin Kline
|First-First First-First Last-Last (approximate)
|31
|-
|{{w|Kevin Kline}}
|American actor
|Naomi Klein Kevin Bacon
|Last-Last (approximate) First-First
|32
|-
|{{w|Francis Bacon}}
|16th century English philosopher. Commonly credited with the phrase "knowledge is power".
|Francis Drake Kevin Bacon
|First-First Last-Last
|33
|-
|{{w|Francis Drake}}
|English privateer
|Frank Vincent Francis Bacon Frank Drake
|First-First (approximate) First-First First-First (approximate)
|34
|-
|{{w|Lyndon Johnson}}
|Former American president (1963-1969)
|Katherine Johnson
|Last-Last
|35
|-
|{{w|Oscar the Grouch}}
|A muppet who lives in a trash can from the children's TV show {{w|Sesame Street}}.
|The Rock Oscar Isaac
|Middle-First First-First
|36
|-
|{{w|Oscar Isaac}}
|Actor.
|Oscar the Grouch Isaac Hayes Oscar de la Hoya
|First-First Last-First First-First
|37
|-
|{{w|Isaac Hayes}}
|American singer-songwriter
|Oscar Isaac Isaac Newton Sean Hayes
|First-Last First-First Last-Last
|38
|-
|{{w|Isaac Newton}}
|Well-known 17th century physicist who discovered the three laws of motion.
|Chris Isaac James Newton Howard Isaac Hayes
|First-Last Last-Middle First-First
|39
|-
|{{w|Wayne Newton}}
|Musician.
|James Newton Howard John Wayne Wayne Knight
|Last-Middle First-Last First-First
|40
|-
|{{w|Wayne Knight}}
|American actor best known for playing Newman in the TV show {{w|Seinfeld}}.
|Wayne Newton Wayne Brady
|First-First First-First
|41
|-
|{{w|Helen Hunt}}
|American actress
|Howard Hunt Helen Hughes Helen Thomas
|Last-Last First-First First-First
|42
|-
|{{w|Helen Hughes (economist)|Helen Hughes}}
|Australian economist
|Chris Hughes Helen Hunt
|Last-Last First-First
|43
|-
|{{w|James Watt|James Watt (Steam)}}
|Scottish inventor who perfected on the earlier Newcomen steam engine with a design that made it practical for widespread use and is credited with helping to usher in the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. His name became the SI unit for power.
|Naomi Watts James Watt (Interior) Stephen James
|Last-Last (approximate) First-First and Last-Last First-Last
|44
|-
|{{w|James G. Watt|James Watt (Interior)}}
|U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1981-1983
|James Watt (Steam)
|First-First and Last-Last
|45
|-
|{{w|Kevin Costner}}
|Academy Award-winning American actor.
|Kevin Bacon Kevin Love
|First-First First-First
|46
|-
|{{w|Kevin Bacon}}
|American actor. Known for {{w|Footloose (1984 film)|Footloose}}, and for {{w|Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon}}.
|Kevin Kline Francis Bacon Kevin Costner
|First-First Last-Last First-First
|47
|-
|{{w|Kevin Love}}
|Relatively famous and accomplished professional basketball player who won an NBA championship with the much more famous and accomplished LeBron James in Cleveland.
|Kevin Costner Kevin Smith
|First-First First-First
|48
|-
|{{w|Lisa Frank}}
|American businesswoman who founded {{w|Lisa Frank Incorporated}}.
|Frank Drake
|Last-First
|49
|-
|{{w|Frank Drake}}
|American astronomer and astrophysicist.
|Francis Drake Lisa Frank Drake
|Last-Last First-Last Last-Only
|50
|-
|{{w|Drake (musician)|Drake}}
|Grammy Award-winning Canadian rapper.
|Frank Drake
|Only-Last
|51
|-
|{{w|Oscar de la Renta}}
|Fashion designer.
|Oscar de la Hoya
|First-First
|52
|-
|{{w|Oscar de la Hoya}}
|Professional boxer who won multiple titles in different weight classes as well as an Olympic gold medal before his retirement in 2009.
|Oscar Isaac Oscar de la Renta
|First-First First-First
|53
|-
|{{w|Sean Hayes (actor)|Sean Hayes}}
|Sean Hayes is an American actor, singer, comedian, and producer. He is best known for his role as Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace.
|Isaac Hayes Wallace Shawn
|Last-Last First-Last (approximate)
|54
|-
|{{w|Wallace Shawn}}
|American actor. Vizzini in The Princess Bride
|George Wallace Charles Wallace Sean Hayes
|First-Last First-Last Last-First (approximate)
|55
|-
|{{w|Wayne Howard}}
|African-American comic book artist. Best known for his work in the 1970s at Charlton Comics.
|James Newton Howard Wayne Brady
|Last-Last First-First
|56
|-
|{{w|Wayne Brady}}
|American comedian, known for {{w|Whose Line Is It Anyway? (U.S. TV series)|Whose Line Is It Anyway?}}
|Wayne Howard Wayne Knight James Brady Tom Brady
|First-First First-First Last-Last Last-Last
|57
|-
|{{w|James Brady}}
|White House Press Secretary for US President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) who was shot during an assassination attempt against Reagan in 1981. Subsequent gun control legislation known as the "Brady Bill" was named for him.
|Wayne Brady James Monroe
|Last-Last First-First
|58
|-
|{{w|Tom Brady}}
|Quarterback for the {{w|New England Patriots}}. Notable for winning 6 Super Bowls for the Patriots, and 1 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 7 Super Bowls, and NFL record. Regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, if not the greatest.
|James Brady Helen Thomas
|Last-Last First-Last (approximate)
|59
|-
|{{w|Helen Thomas}}
|American reporter and author best known for her longtime membership in the White House press corps—from the start of the Kennedy administration to the second year of the Obama administration.
|Helen Hunt Tom Brady Tom Hanks
|First-First Last-Last (approximate) Last-Last (approximate)
|60
|-
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Academy award winning actor. Known for {{w|Forrest Gump}}, {{w|Saving Private Ryan}}, {{w|Cast Away}}, and several other famous films.
|Helen Thomas Hank Aaron Hank Williams
|First-Last (approximate) Last-First (approximate) Last-First (approximate)
|61
|-
|{{w|Hank Aaron}}
|Former Major League Baseball player. Hit 755 career home runs, a record at the time.
|Tom Hanks Aaron Carter
|First-Last (approximate) Last-First
|62
|-
|{{w|Aaron Carter}}
|American singer.
|Hank Aaron
|First-Last
|63
|-
|{{w|Stephen James (model)|Stephen James}}
|British model and former footballer
|James Watt (Steam) Steve Harvey
|Last-First First-First (approximate)
|64
|-
|{{w|Will Smith}}
|American actor. Known for {{w|The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air}}
|Kevin Smith
|Last-Last
|65
|-
|{{w|Kevin Smith}}
|American writer and director of {{w|Clerks}} and other films who often also plays the character Silent Bob in his films.
|Will Smith Kevin Love Kevin James
|Last-Last First-First First-First
|66
|-
|{{w|Kevin James}}
|American actor. Known for {{w|Paul Blart: Mall Cop}}
|Kevin Smith James Saint James
|First-First Last-Last
|67
|-
|{{w|Garfield (character)|Garfield}}
|A fictional cat and the star of the eponymous ''{{w|Garfield}}'' comic by {{w|Jim Davis (cartoonist)|Jim Davis}}. Previously appeared in [[78: Garfield]].
|James Garfield
|Only-Last
|68
|-
|{{w|James Garfield}}
|20th President of the United States. Notably, he was assassinated after only 6 months.
|Garfield Etta James James Saint James
|Last-Only First-Last First-Last
|69
|-
|{{w|Warren Buffett}}
|Billionaire and CEO of {{w|Berkshire Hathaway}}.
|Jimmy Buffett Warren Beatty
|Last-Last First-First
|70
|-
|{{w|Jimmy Buffett}}
|American country musician.
|Etta James Warren Buffett Jim Jones
|First-Last (approximate) Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|71
|-
|{{w|Warren Beatty}}
|Actor.
|Warren Buffett Elizabeth Warren
|First-First First-Last
|72
|-
|{{w|Elizabeth Warren}}
|Massachusetts Senator since 2013. Known for her work as a consumer rights activist.
|Warren Beatty Earl Warren Elizabeth Kolbert
|Last-First Last-Last First-First
|73
|-
|{{w|Earl Warren}}
|Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. Presided over several landmark cases including ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'' (ruled segregation of public schools unconstitutional), ''Reynolds v. Sims'' (electoral districts for state legislature must be equal in population), and ''Miranda v. Arizona'' (suspects detained by police must be informed of their rights as an accused).
|Elizabeth Warren James Earl Jones
|Last-Last First-Middle
|74
|-
|{{w|Elizabeth Kolbert}}
|American journalist and author. Best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.
|Elizabeth Warren Stephen Colbert
|First-First Last-Last (approximate)
|75
|-
|{{w|Stephen Colbert}}
|American talk show host. Known for {{w|The Colbert Report}} and {{w|The Late Show with Stephen Colbert}}
|Elizabeth Kolbert
|Last-Last (approximate)
|76
|-
|{{w|George Wallace}}
|American politician, who initially supported, but later renounced racial segregation.
|Wallace Shawn
|Last-First
|77
|-
|{{w|Charles William Wallace|Charles Wallace}}
|American scholar and researcher. Famed for his discoveries in the field of English Renaissance theatre.
|Wallace Shawn Charles Manson
|Last-First First-First
|78
|-
|{{w|James Monroe}}
|Founding father and Fifth president of the USA
|James Brady Marilyn Monroe
|First-First Last-Last
|79
|-
|{{w|Marilyn Monroe}}
|American actress and pin-up model from the 50s. She was immensely famous during her time, and unexpectedly committed suicide at age 36.
|James Monroe Marilyn Manson
|Last-Last First-First
|80
|-
|{{w|Hank Williams}}
|Country singer
|Tom Hanks William C. Williams Robin Williams
|First-Last (approximate) Last-Last Last-Last
|81
|-
|{{w|William C. Williams}}
|American poet closely associated with modernism and imagism.
|Hank Williams Billy D. Williams
|Last-Last First-First (approximate) and Last-Last
|82
|-
|{{w|Steve Harvey}}
|Host of {{w|Family Feud}}.
|Stephen James Domino Harvey
|First-First (approximate) Last-Last
|83
|-
|{{w|Domino Harvey}}
|British bounty hunter in the United States. Her fame was increased posthumously by the 2005 release of the film Domino.
|Steve Harvey Harvey Milk Fats Domino
|Last-Last Last-First First-Last
|84
|-
|{{w|Harvey Milk}}
|American politician and gay rights activist.
|Domino Harvey
|First-Last
|85
|-
|{{w|James St. James|James Saint James}}
|television personality, author, celebutante, frequent collaborator with Mathu Andersen.
|Kevin James James Garfield Jimmy John
|Last-Last Last-First First-First (approximate)
|86
|-
|{{w|Etta James|Etta James (1)}}
|American Singer. Used again in 268.
|James Garfield Jimmy Buffett
|Last-First Last-First (approximate)
|87
|-
|{{w|Jim Jones}}
|Cult leader behind the 1978 {{w|Jonestown}} mass suicide in Guyana.
|Jimmy Buffett James Earl Jones Tom Jones
|First-First (approximate) Last-Last Last-Last
|88
|-
|{{w|James Earl Jones}}
|American actor. Voiced {{w|Darth Vader}} in the original Star Wars.
|Earl Warren Jim Jones Quincy Jones James Earl Ray
|Middle-First Last-Last Last-Last First-First
|89
|-
|{{w|Charlie Parker}}
|Jazz musician.
|Ray Parker Jr. Charles Manson
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|90
|-
|{{w|Ray Parker Jr.}}
|Singer and songwriter who wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film {{w|Ghostbusters}}.
|Charlie Parker Man Ray Rachael Ray
|Last-Last First-Last First-Last
|91
|-
|{{w|Ray Charles}}
|American blues musician. Blind from the age of 7.
|Charles Manson Rachael Ray Ray Allen
|Last-First First-Last First-First
|92
|-
|{{w|Charles Manson}}
|Cult leader of the {{w|Manson Family}}. Convicted of 7 murders; used Beatles songs as bases.
|Charles Wallace Charlie Parker Ray Charles Marilyn Manson
|First-First First-First (approximate) First-Last Last-Last
|93
|-
|{{w|Marilyn Manson}}
|American musician. Known for esoteric performances.
|Marilyn Monroe Charles Manson
|First-First Last-Last
|94
|-
|{{w|Robin Williams}}
|American stand up comedian. Voiced the Genie in {{w|Aladdin (1992 Disney film)|Aladdin}}.
|Hank Williams Billy D. Williams Robin Wright
|Last-Last Last-Last First-First
|95
|-
|{{w|Billy D. Williams}}
|American actor best known for playing {{w|Lando Calrissian}} in ''{{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}'' and ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''.
|William C. Williams Robin Williams Will Wright
|First-First (approximate) and Last-Last Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|96
|-
|{{w|Will Wright (game designer)|Will Wright}}
|American video game designer and co-founder of the former game development company Maxis.
|Billy D. Williams Robin Wright Wilber Wright
|First-First (approximate) Last-Last Last-Last
|97
|-
|{{w|Fats Domino}}
|Jazz musician.
|Domino Harvey Fatty Arbuckle
|Last-First First-First (approximate)
|98
|-
|{{w|Bill Clinton}}
|42nd president of the United States. His wife, {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, ran against [[Donald Trump]] in the 2016 presidential election and was Secretary of State.
|George Clinton
|Last-Last
|99
|-
|{{w|Jimmy John}}
|Founder of the sandwich shop chain Jimmy John's.
|James Saint James John Kerry
|First-First (approximate) Last-First
|100
|-
|{{w|Tom Jones}}
|Can refer to the Welsh Singer or to the fictional character from the book of the same name by Henry Fielding
|Jim Jones Tommy John Quincy Jones
|Last-Last First-First (approximate) Last-Last
|101
|-
|{{w|Tommy John}}
|Former baseball pitcher who had a surgical graft done to replace a blown ligament in his pitching elbow in 1974; the procedure is now called Tommy John surgery.
|Tom Jones John Irving John Quincy Adams
|First-First (approximate) Last-First Last-First
|102
|-
|{{w|Quincy Jones}}
|American Jazz musician
|James Earl Jones Tom Jones John Quincy Adams
|Last-Last Last-Last First-Middle
|103
|-
|{{w|James Earl Ray}}
|Killer of Martin Luther King Jr.
|James Earl Jones Man Ray
|First-First Last-Last
|104
|-
|{{w|Man Ray}}
|Photographer (Dada, Surrealism). Possibly referring to the SpongeBob villain.
|Ray Parker Jr. James Earl Ray Batman
|Last-First Last-Last First-Last
|105
|-
|{{w|Rachel Ray}}
|Celebrity chef.
|Ray Parker Jr. Ray Charles
|Last-First Last-First
|106
|-
|{{w|Ray Allen}}
|Professional basketball player who retired in 2013. Won two NBA championships with the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, making him the second teammate of {{w|LeBron James}} to appear on this list.
|Ray Charles Tim Allen
|First-First Last-Last
|107
|-
|{{w|Tim Allen}}
|American comedic actor. Created and starred in the long running sitcom "Home Improvement". Voiced Buzz Lightyear in {{w|Toy Story}}.
|Ray Allen Tim Cook Lily Allen
|Last-Last First-First Last-Last
|108
|-
|{{w|Tim Cook}}
|Current (as of the time of this comic) Chief Executive Officer of {{w|Apple, Inc.}}
|Tim Allen Tim Howard
|First-First First-First
|109
|-
|{{w|Tim Howard}}
|Former goalkeeper for the United States men's national soccer team. Holds the record for most saves made in a World Cup match (15 against Belgium in 2010).
|Tim Cook Ron Howard
|First-First Last-Last
|110
|-
|{{w|Robin Wright}}
|American actress, aka Robin Wright-Penn
|Robin Williams Will Wright
|First-First Last-Last
|111
|-
|{{w|Wilbur Wright}}
|One of the two Wright Brothers (the other was Orville) who made the world's first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903.
|Will Wright
|Last-Last
|112
|-
|{{w|Fatty Arbuckle}}
|Comedian.
|Fats Domino Fat Joe
|First-First (approximate) First-First (approximate)
|113
|-
|{{w|Fat Joe}}
|Real name Joseph Antonio Cartagena, rapper.
|Fatty Arbuckle Joe Kennedy
|First-First (approximate) Last-First
|114
|-
|{{w|George Clinton}}
|Could be either the {{w|George Clinton (vice president)|19th Century politician}} who served as Governor of New York and later as Vice President under {{w|Thomas Jefferson}} and {{w|James Madison}}, or the {{w|George Clinton (musician)|musician}} who rose to fame in the 1970's as one of the biggest acts in funk music and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
|Bill Clinton George Washington
|Last-Last First-First
|115
|-
|{{w|John Kerry}}
|Secretary of State under {{w|Barack Obama}}. Ran against {{w|George W. Bush}} in the 2004 presidential election.
|Jimmy John Kerry Washington John Irving
|First-Last Last-First First-First
|116
|-
|{{w|Kerry Washington}}
|Actress in the TV show Scandal.
|John Kerry George Washington Washington Irving
|First-Last Last-Last Last-First
|117
|-
|{{w|John Irving}}
|Author.
|Tommy John John Kerry Washington Irving
|First-Last First-First Last-Last
|118
|-
|{{w|John Quincy Adams}}
|Sixth president of the United States and son of John Adams.
|Tommy John Quincy Jones John Adams
|First-Last Middle-First Last-Last
|119
|-
|{{w|John Adams}}
|Second president of the United States and father of John Quincy Adams.
|John Quincy Adams Amy Adams Jack Ma
|First-First Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|120
|-
|{{w|Amy Adams}}
|American actress.
|John Adams Aimee Mann
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|121
|-
|{{w|Aimee Mann}}
|Singer and songwriter.
|Amy Adams Batman
|First-First (approximate) Last-Last (approximate)
|122
|-
|{{w|Superman}}
|Superhero owned by DC comics who can fly and has super strength/invincibility.
|Batman Super Grover
|Last-Last First-First
|123
|-
|{{w|Batman}}
|Superhero owned by DC comics.
|Man Ray Aimee Mann Superman
|Last-First Last-Last Last-Last
|124
|-
|{{w|Ayn Rand}}
|Russian political author, known for {{w|Atlas Shrugged}}. XKCD frequently makes fun of Rand's philosophy.
|Rand Paul
|Last-First
|125
|-
|{{w|Lily Allen}}
|British singer-songwriter, sometime actress.
|Tim Allen Paul Allen
|Last-Last Last-Last
|126
|-
|{{w|Paul Allen}}
|Co-founder of {{w|Microsoft}} along with Bill Gates and current owner of several professional sports teams in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers, part of Seattle Sounders FC).
|Lily Allen Rand Paul
|Last-Last First-Last
|127
|-
|{{w|Ron Howard}}
|Actor and director. Most famously acted in ''{{w|Happy Days}}''; later directed ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}''.
|Tim Howard Howard Hughes Ron Paul
|Last-Last Last-First First-First
|128
|-
|{{w|Howard Hughes}}
|American business tycoon
|Ron Howard John Hughes Langston Hughes
|First-Last Last-Last Last-Last
|129
|-
|{{w|Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.|Joe Kennedy}}
|US ambassador to the United Kingdom and father of [[John F. Kennedy]].
|Fat Joe John F. Kennedy
|First-Last Last-Last
|130
|-
|{{w|George Bush}}
|{{w|George H. W. Bush}} and {{w|George W. Bush}} (father and son, respectively), were both presidents of the United States.
|George Washington
|First-First
|131
|-
|{{w|George Washington}}
|First president of the United States, and general during the Revolutionary War.
|George Clinton Kerry Washington George Bush
|First-First Last-Last First-First
|132
|-
|{{w|Washington Irving}}
|Short story author who wrote "{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}" and "{{w|The Legend of Sleepy Hollow}}"
|Kerry Washington John Irving Martha Washington
|First-Last Last-Last First-Last
|133
|-
|{{w|Martha Washington}}
|Wife of George Washington.
|Washington Irving Martha Stewart
|Last-First First-First
|134
|-
|{{w|Ma Rainey}}
|Singer dubbed "Mother of the Blues"
|Jack Ma Yo-Yo Ma
|First-Last First-Last
|135
|-
|{{w|Jack Ma}}
|Prominent Chinese business tycoon. Co-founder and executive chairman of the {{w|Alibaba Group}}
|John Adams Ma Rainey Ma Bell
|First-First (approximate) Last-First Last-First
|136
|-
|{{w|Super Grover}}
|Superhero identity of the character Grover from {{w|Sesame Street}}
|Superman Grover Cleveland
|First-First Last-First
|137
|-
|{{w|Jack Black}}
|Singer and actor.
|Jack Ryan
|First-First
|138
|-
|{{w|Rand Paul}}
|Republican senator from Kentucky; member of the {{w|Tea Party movement}}. Ran in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.
|Ayn Rand Paul Allen Paul Ryan
|First-Last Last-First Last-First
|139
|-
|{{w|Paul Ryan}}
|Republican representative from Wisconsin. Served as Speaker of the House at the time this comic was published.
|Rand Paul Debby Ryan
|First-Last Last-Last
|140
|-
|{{w|Paul Simon}}
|Eponymous member of {{w|Simon & Garfunkel}}.
|Ron Paul Carly Simon
|First-Last Last-Last
|141
|-
|[[Ron Paul]]
|Libertarian politician. Known for running for president in many elections and mentioned often in xkcd.
|Ron Howard Paul Simon
|First-First Last-First
|142
|-
|{{w|John Hughes (filmmaker)|John Hughes}}
|Director famed for a series of 1980s coming of age movies including "Sixteen Candles", "The Breakfast Club", and "Pretty in Pink"
|Howard Hughes Charles Evans Hughes
|Last-Last Last-Last
|143
|-
|{{w|Langston Hughes}}
|American poet prominent during the {{w|Harlem Renaissance}}
|Howard Hughes
|Last-Last
|144
|-
|[[John F. Kennedy]]
|35th president of the United States. Known for his public assassination during a parade, now the subject of many conspiracy theories.
|Joe Kennedy John Williams
|Last-Last First-First
|145
|-
|{{w|Little Richard}}
|Early rock and roll singer known for his energetic and flamboyant style on songs such as "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally"
|Rich Little Little John
|First-Last and Last-First (approximate) First-First
|146
|-
|{{w|Rich Little}}
|American comedian known for his impressions of numerous celebrities and public figures
|Little Richard Stuart Little
|First-Last (approximate) and Last-First Last-Last
|147
|-
|{{w|Martha Stewart}}
|American TV personality. Convicted of insider trading in 2004.
|Martha Washington Kristen Stewart
|First-First Last-Last
|148
|-
|{{w|Yo-Yo Ma}}
|Chinese cellist. Known for winning 18 Grammys; considered a child prodigy.
|Ma Rainey Ma Bell
|Last-First Last-First
|149
|-
|{{w|Ma Bell}}
|AKA Bell System, the system of companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by AT&T, which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984.
|Jack Ma Yo-Yo Ma
|First-Last First-Last
|150
|-
|{{w|Grover Cleveland Alexander}}
|Pitcher named after the president; co-holds record for most wins by a pitcher in the National League (374).
|Grover Cleveland Alexander Graham Bell Lloyd Alexander
|First-First ''and'' Middle-Last Last-First LAst-Last
|151
|-
|{{w|Grover Cleveland}}
|22nd and 24th president of the United States. Notably the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.
|Super Grover Grover Cleveland Alexander
|First-Last First-First ''and'' Last-Middle
|152
|-
|{{w|Jack White}}
|American musician. Part of {{w|The White Stripes}}.
|Jack Ryan Meg White
|First-First Last-Last
|153
|-
|{{w|Jack Ryan (character)|Jack Ryan}}
|Fictional character in the novels by Tom Clancy. Portrayed in Movies by Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, and Ben Affleck.
|Jack Black Jack White Debby Ryan Meg Ryan
|First-First First-First Last-Last Last-Last
|154
|-
|{{w|Debby Ryan}}
|American actress and singer. She starred as Bailey Pickett on The Suite Life on Deck
|Paul Ryan Jack Ryan Debbie Reynolds
|Last-Last Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|155
|-
|{{w|Carly Simon}}
|Singer. {{w|"You're So Vain"}} referenced on xkcd in [[1501: Mysteries]].
|Paul Simon Carly Hughes
|Last-Last First-First
|156
|-
|{{w|Carly Hughes}}
|Actress
|Carly Simon Charles Evans Hughes Carly Fiorina
|First-First Last-Last First-First
|157
|-
|{{w|Charles Evans Hughes}}
|Was an American statesman, Republican Party politician, and the 11th Chief Justice of the United States.
|John Hughes Carly Hughes
|Last-Last Last-Last
|158
|-
|{{w|John Williams}}
|American composer. Known for many famous movie soundtracks, including Star Wars and Harry Potter.
|John F. Kennedy Little John William Safire
|First-First First-Last Last-First (approximate)
|159
|-
|{{w|Little John}}
|Fictional character in the Robin Hood Legend. Known for great stature and strength.
|Little Richard John Williams Stuart Little
|First-First Last-First First-Last
|160
|-
|{{w|Stuart Little}}
|Fictional character by E. B. White, a boy with mouse-like appearance and stature.
|Rich Little Little John Potter Stuart Little Prince
|Last-Last Last-First First-Last Last-First
|161
|-
|{{w|Potter Stewart}}
|Was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1958 to 1981.
|Stuart Little Kristen Stewart Harry Potter
|Last-First (approximate) Last-Last First-Last
|162
|-
|{{w|Kristen Stewart}}
|American actress. Known for {{w|Twilight (2008 film)|Twilight}}.
|Martha Stewart Potter Stewart Kristen Bell
|Last-Last Last-Last First-First
|163
|-
|{{w|Kristen Bell}}
|American actress, known for various romantic comedies.
|Kristen Stewart Bell Hooks
|First-First Last-First
|164
|-
|{{w|Bell Hooks}}
|American author, professor, feminist, and social activist.
|Kristen Bell Alexander Graham Bell James Hook
|First-Last First-Last Last-Last (approximate)
|165
|-
|{{w|Alexander Graham Bell}}
|Scottish inventor, credited with inventing the telephone.
|Ma Bell Grover Cleveland Alexander Bell Hooks Franklin Graham
|Last-Last First-Last Last-First Middle-Last
|166
|-
|{{w|Franklin Graham}}
| Christian evangelist and missionary. He is currently president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and of Samaritan's Purse.
|Alexander Graham Bell Aretha Franklin
|Last-Middle First-Last
|167
|-
|{{w|Lloyd Alexander}}
|American author of more than forty books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults.
|Grover Cleveland Alexander Frank Lloyd Wright
|Last-Last First-Middle
|168
|-
|{{w|Meg White}}
|Drummer. The other half of The White Stripes.
|Jack White Meg Ryan Barry White
|Last-Last First-First Last-Last
|169
|-
|{{w|Meg Ryan}}
|American actress. Known for 'When Harry met Sally'
|Jack Ryan Meg White
|Last-Last First-First
|170
|-
|{{w|Debbie Reynolds}}
|American singer and actress.
|Debby Ryan John Reynolds
|First-First (approximate) Last-Last
|171
|-
|{{w|John Reynolds}}
|It is unclear which John Reynold Randall is refering to, Like one of the science-oriented ones.
|Debbie Reynolds John Kelly
|Last-Last First-First
|172
|-
|{{w|Carly Fiorina}}
|Former CEO of {{w|Hewlett-Packard}}. Ran for president in the 2016 Republican primaries.
|Carly Hughes
|First-First
|173
|-
|{{w|Grace Lee Boggs}}
|American author, social activist, philosopher and feminist.
|Wade Boggs Grace Lee Nancy Grace
|Last-Last First-First ''and'' Middle-Last First-Last
|174
|-
|{{w|Wade Boggs}}
|American baseball player. Played with the {{w|Boston Red Sox}}.
|Grace Lee Boggs
|Last-Last
|175
|-
|{{w|William Safire}}
|Writer and publicist.
|John Williams Prince William Garnet
|First-Last (approxiamte) First-Last Last-Only (as a Sapphire gem stone and fused together with Ruby to form Garnet.)
|176
|-
|{{w|Prince William}}
|Member of the British Royal Family. Second in line for succession to the throne.
|William Safire Little Prince Prince
|Last-First First-Last First-Only
|177
|-
|{{w|Little Prince}}
|One of the main characters of ''{{w|The Little Prince}}'', a novella by {{w|Antoine de Saint-Exupéry}}. The Little Prince has previously appeared in [[618: Asteroid]], as well as [http://what-if.xkcd.com/68 article 68] of ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]''.
|Stuart Little Prince William Prince Harry
|First-Last First-First First-First
|178
|-
|{{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter}}
|Fictional main character in the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
|Potter Stewart James Potter Prince Harry
|Last-First Last-Last First-Last
|179
|-
|{{w|James Potter (character)|James Potter}}
|Fictional character, father of Harry Potter.
|Harry Potter James Dean
|Last-Last First-First
|180
|-
|{{w|Captain Hook|James Hook}}
|Fictional character from 'Peter Pan'
|Bell Hooks James Dean
|Last-Last (approximate) First-First
|181
|-
|{{w|James Dean}}
|American actor and teen icon. Starred in the films "Rebel Without a Cause", "East of Eden" and "Giant" before his sudden death in a car accident
|James Potter James Hook John Dean
|First-First First-First Last-Last
|182
|-
|{{w|Aretha Franklin}}
|Soul singer, first woman to be inducted into the hall of fame and performer of Respect.
|Franklin Graham Frank Lloyd Wright Benjamin Franklin
|Last-First Last-First (approximate) Last-Last
|183
|-
|{{w|Frank Lloyd Wright}}
|American architect, known for his unconventional buildings such as Fallingwater and the Guggenheim.
|Lloyd Alexander Aretha Franklin Harold Lloyd
|Middle-First First-Last (approximate) Middle-Last
|184
|-
|{{w|Barry White}}
|American soul singer known for his deep, rich voice on songs such as "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe"
|Meg White Walter White
|Last-Last Last-Last
|185
|-
|{{w|Walter White (Breaking Bad)|Walter White}}
|Main character from the TV show {{w|Breaking Bad}}.
|Barry White Betty White
|Last-Last Last-Last
|186
|-
|{{w|Walt Whitman}}
|American poet. {{w|Walt Whitman Bridge|A bridge in Philadelphia}} was named after him.
|Walter White Meg Whitman
|First-First (approximate) Last-Last
|187
|-
|{{w|John Kelly|John Kelly(2)}}
|Likely a different John Kelly than appears at tile 20
|John Reynolds Megyn Kelly
|First-First Last-Last
|188
|-
|{{w|Grace Lee}}
|Korean television host and radio disc jockey
|Grace Lee Boggs Grace Kelly
|First-First ''and'' Last-Middle First-First
|189
|-
|{{w|Nancy Grace}}
|American legal commentator and television journalist.She was the host of Nancy Grace.
|Grace Lee Boggs
|Last-First
|190
|-
|{{w|Garnet_(Steven_Universe)|Garnet}}
|A {{w|garnet}} is a gem stone and the two names around here are {{w|William Safire}} (almost {{w|Sapphire}}) and {{w|Jack Ruby}} as in {{w|Ruby}}. But it is not just used because they are all {{w|gemstones}}. It is instead a reference to the character {{w|Garnet_(Steven_Universe)|Garnet}} in the cartoon {{w|Steven Universe}}. She is a "fusion" formed by two gems: Ruby and Sapphire, hence the legal connection in the Name Dominoes... Randall has previously made references to this universe in [[1608: Hoverboard]]. (See [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/39/1608_1031x1095y_Steven_Universe_family_and_ice_cream_prediction.png this] and [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fa/1608_1077x1109y_Darth_Vaders_talks_about_Steven_Universe_on_the_bridge_Megan_adjust_antenna.png this] image from that comic).
|{{w|William Safire}} {{w|Jack Ruby}}
|Last-Only (as a Sapphire gem stone) Last-Only (as a Ruby gem stone) Both used to fuse together to form Garnet.
|191
|-
|{{w|Prince (musician)|Prince}}
|American musician, part of the Rock and Roll hall of fame. He died two years prior to the release of this comic.
|Prince William Prince Harry
|Only-First Only-First
|192
|-
|{{w|Prince Fielder}}
|Professional baseball player who retired in 2016 after playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and Texas Rangers.
|Prince Harry Harry Fielder
|First-First Last-Last
|193
|-
|{{w|Prince Harry}}
|Member of the British royal family. Currently sixth in line for succession to the throne.
|Little Prince Harry Potter Prince Prince Fielder
|First-Last Last-First First-Only First-First
|194
|-
|{{w|Harry Styles}}
|Singer from One Direction.
|Harry Truman Harry Jon Benjamin
|First-First First-First
|195
|-
|{{w|John Dean}}
|former attorney who served as White House Counsel for United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973.
|James Dean Harry Jon Benjamin
|Last-Last First-Middle (approximate)
|196
|-
|{{w|Benjamin Franklin}}
|One of the founding fathers of the United States. Credited with "discovering" electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm.
|Aretha Franklin Benjamin Harrison
|Last-Last First-First
|197
|-
|{{w|Harold Lloyd}}
|American actor, comedian, director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer who is best known for his silent comedy films.
|Frank Lloyd Wright Harold Ford
|Last-Middle First-First
|198
|-
|{{w|Harold Ford}}
|American financial managing director, pundit, author, and former U.S. congressmen.
|Harold Lloyd Henry Ford
|First-First Last-Last
|199
|-
|{{w|Betty White}}
|American comedian. Known for {{w|The Golden Girls}}.
|Walter White Betty Friedan
|Last-Last First-First
|200
|-
|{{w|Meg Whitman}}
|American business executive, former CEO of eBay and Hewlett Packard, unsuccessful candidate for California governor in 2010
|Walt Whitman Christine Todd Whitman Megyn Kelly
|Last-Last Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|201
|-
|{{w|Christine Todd Whitman}}
|Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, then served as Director of the Environmental Protection Agency under {{w|George W. Bush}} from 2001 to 2003.
|Meg Whitman Chris Christie Chris Cooper
|Last-Last First-Last (approximate) First-First (approximate)
|202
|-
|{{w|Megyn Kelly}}
|American TV news anchor. Worked for Fox news until 2017, then switched to NBC.
|John Kelly Meg Whitman Grace Kelly
|Last-Last First-First (approximate) Last-Last
|203
|-
|{{w|Grace Kelly}}
|American actress and Princess of Monaco
|Grace Lee Megyn Kelly Grace Jones
|First-First Last-Last First-First
|204
|-
|{{w|Grace Jones}}
|Singer and actress.
|Grace Kelly Maggie Grace
|First-First First-Last
|205
|-
|{{w|Jack Nicholson}}
|Actor who has appeared in many films from ''{{w|The Shining (film)}}'' (as Jack Torrance) to ''{{w|Batman (1989 film)}}'' (as the Joker) to ''{{w|A Few Good Men}}'' (as Colonel Jessup).
|Jack Ruby
|First-First
|206
|-
|{{w|Jack Ruby}}
|Jack Ruby is known for shooting and killing {{w|Lee Harvey Oswald}} on national television. Oswald was the prime suspect in the {{w|assassination of John F. Kennedy}}. Ruby's involvement is the subject of many conspiracy theories.
|Garnet Jack Nicholson Jack Russell
|Only-Last (as a Ruby gem stone and fused together with Safire to form Garnet.) First-First First-First
|207
|-
|{{w|Jack Russell (musician)|Jack Russell}}
|American rock vocalist. Founding member of the American hard rock band Great White.
|Jack Ruby Russell Crowe Russ Smith
|First-First Last-First Last-First (approximate)
|208
|-
|{{w|Harry Fielder}}
|English actor and supporting artist who has worked extensively in British films and television since the 1960s.
|Prince Fielder Harry Truman
|Last-Last First-First
|209
|-
|{{w|Harry Truman}}
|33rd president of the United States. Known for authorizing the use of atomic weapons against Japan at the end of World War 2.
|Harry Styles Harry Fielder
|First-First First-First
|210
|-
|{{w|Harry Jon Benjamin}}
|American actor, voice actor and comedian best known for voicing characters, such as Sterling Archer in Archer and Carl in Family Guy.
|Harry Styles John Dean John Edward Benjamin Harrison
|First-First Middle-First (approximate) Middle-First (approximate) First-Last (approximate)
|211
|-
|{{w|John Edward}}
|American television personality, author and purported psychic medium.
|Harry Jon Benjamin John Bel Edwards
|First-Middle (approximate) First-First
|212
|-
|{{w|Benjamin Harrison}}
|23rd president of the United States
|Benjamin Franklin Harry Jon Benjamin Harrison Ford
|First-First First-Last ''and'' Last-First (approximate) Last-First
|213
|-
|{{w|Harrison Ford}}
|American actor. Known for playing Han Solo in the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' films and the titular character in the ''{{w|Indiana Jones}}'' films.
|Benjamin Harrison Henry Ford
|First-Last Last-Last
|214
|-
|{{w|Henry Ford}}
|Founder of the {{w|Ford Motor Company}}. Credited with inventing the assembly line.
|Harold Ford Harrison Ford Betty Ford John Henry
|Last-Last Last-Last Last-Last First-Last
|215
|-
|{{w|Betty Ford}}
|Wife of Gerald Ford, 38th president of the United States.
|Henry Ford Betty Friedan
|Last-Last First-First
|216
|-
|{{w|Betty Friedan}}
|American feminist writer and activist. Her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism.
|Betty White Betty Ford
|First-First First-First
|217
|-
|{{w|Chris Christie}}
|Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Ran for president in the Republican primaries in 2016.
|Christine Todd Whitman Chris Cooper Chris Hemsworth
|Last-First (approximate) First-First First-First
|218
|-
|{{w|Chris Pratt}}
|American actor. Known for {{w|Parks and Recreation}}
|Chris Hemsworth Topher Grace
|First-First First-First (approximate)
|219
|-
|{{w|Maggie Grace}}
|American actress and model. Known for playing Shannon Rutherford on Lost and Kim Mills in the Taken trilogy.
|Grace Jones Grace Hopper
|Last-First Last-First
|220
|-
|{{w|Grace Hopper}}
|American computer scientist. Helped develop the {{w|COBOL}} programming language.
|Maggie Grace Topher Grace
|First-Last First-Last
|221
|-
|{{w|Russell Crowe}}
|Australian actor.
|Jack Russell Sheryl Crow Cameron Crowe
|First-Last Last-Last (approximate) Last-Last
|222
|-
|{{w|Russ Smith (basketball)|Russ Smith}}
|American professional basketball player for Fujian Sturgeons of the Chinese Basketball Associatio.
|Jack Russell John Smith
|First-Last (approximate) Last-Last
|223
|-
|{{w|John Smith}}
|John Smith is the most common name in the United States. {{w|John Smith|See Wikipedia}} for a list of people this may refer to.
|Russ Smith Long John Silver
|Last-Last First-Middle
|224
|-
|{{w|Justin Long}}
|American actor, comedian and humorist known for roles in such films as Alvin and the Chipmunks and Live Free or Die Hard.
|Huey Long
|Last-Last
|225
|-
|{{w|John Bel Edwards}}
|American politician and lawyer serving as the 56th Governor of Louisiana since 2016.
|John Edward John Candy John Edwards
|First-First First-First First-First
|226
|-
|{{w|John Candy}}
|Canadian comedian and actor. Known for {{w|Spaceballs}}.
|John Bel Edwards John Henry Candy Crowley
|First-First First-First Last-First
|227
|-
|{{w|John Henry (folklore)|John Henry}}
|American folk hero
|Henry Ford John Candy Henry James
|Last-First First-First Last-First
|228
|-
|{{w|Henry James}}
|American author known for works including "The Turn of the Screw" and "The Portrait of a Lady"
|John Henry Bill James
|First-Last Last-Last
|229
|-
|{{w|Bill James}}
|American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential.
|Henry James James Fenimore Cooper
|Last-Last Last-First
|230
|-
|{{w|Chris Cooper}}
|American film actor. Portrayed Sheriff July Johnson in Lonesome Dove and supervillain Norman Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
|Christine Todd Whitman Chris Christie James Fenimore Cooper
|First-First (approximate) First-First Last-Last
|231
|-
|{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}
|Actor.
|Chris Christie Chris Pratt
|First-First First-First
|232
|-
|{{w|Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans}}
|American actor. Best known for his role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|Topher Grace Evan Taylor Jones
|First-First (approximate) Last-First (approximate)
|233
|-
|{{w|Topher Grace}}
|American actor. Best known for playing Eric Forman in That '70s Show and Eddie Brock / Venom in Spider-Man 3.
|Chris Pratt Grace Hopper Chris Evans
|First-First (approximate) Last-First First-First (approximate)
|234
|-
|{{w|Van Morrison}}
|Irish singer best known for the song "Brown Eyed Girl"
|Van Jones
|First-First
|235
|-
|{{w|Sheryl Crow}}
|American singer and session musician
|Russell Crowe Sheryl Sandberg
|Last-Last (approximate) First-First
|236
|-
|{{w|Sheryl Sandberg}}
|American technology executive, activist, author, and billionaire. Chief operating officer (COO) of Facebook.
|Sheryl Crow
|First-First
|237
|-
|{{w|Cameron Crowe}}
|American director, producer, screenwriter, journalist, author, and actor. Was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine.
|Russell Crowe James Cameron Cam Newton
|Last-Last First-Last First-First (approximate)
|238
|-
|{{w|Long John Silver}}
|Fictional antagonist from {{w|Treasure Island}}.
|John Smith Olivia Newton John Huey Long
|Middle-First Middle-Last first-Last
|239
|-
|{{w|Olivia Newton John}}
|American actress. Known for ''Grease''
|Long John Silver Cam Newton Huey Newton John Oliver
|Last-Middle Middle-Last Middle-Last First-Last (approximate) ''and'' Last-First
|240
|-
|{{w|Huey Long}}
|Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932, and US Senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. Known for his "Share Our Wealth" proposal to address the hard economic conditions of the Great Depression.
|Justin Long Long John Silver Huey Newton
|Last-Last Last-First First-First
|241
|-
|{{w|John Edwards}}
|American politician. Democratic candidate for presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.
|John Bel Edwards John Lewis
|First-First First-First
|242
|-
|{{w|Candy Crowley}}
|American news anchor. Was employed as CNN's chief political correspondent.
|John Candy Aleister Crowley
|First-Last Last-Last
|243
|-
|{{w|Alesteir Crowley}}
|English occultist and author
|Candy Crowley Alistiar Cooke
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|244
|-
|{{w|James Fenimore Cooper}}
|Author of ''{{w|The Last of the Mohicans}}''.
|Bill James Chris Cooper James Cook
|First-Last Last-Last First-First
|245
|-
|{{w|James Cook}}
|18th century British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy.
|Alistair Cooke Cokie Roberts Alistair Cookie James Fenimore Cooper
|Last-Last (approximate) Last-First (approximate) Last-Last (approximate) First-First
|246
|-
|{{w|Robert Frost}}
|19th century American poet, named Poet Laureate of Vermont in 1922 by the Vermont State League of Women's Clubs, and in 1961 by the Vermont State legislature
|Cokie Roberts John Roberts
|First-Last (approximate) First-Last (approximate)
|247
|-
|{{w|Robert Evans|Bob Evans}}
|American film producer and former studio executive, best known for The Godfather.
|Evan Taylor Jones Robert E.Lee
|Last-First (approximate) Last-Middle (approximate)
|248
|-
|{{w|Evan Taylor Jones}}
|Musical artist
|Chris Evans Bob Evans Van Jones Tommy Lee Jones
|First-Last (approximate) First-Last (approximate) Last-Last Last-Last
|249
|-
|{{w|Van Jones}}
|American news commentator, author, and non-practicing attorney.
|Van Morrison Evan Taylor Jones
|First-First Last-Last
|250
|-
|{{w|James Cameron}}
|American director. Known for {{w|Terminator}} and {{w|Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic}}.
|Cameron Crowe Cameron Diaz Etta James
|Last-First Last-First First-Last
|251
|-
|{{w|Cam Newton}}
|Quarterback for the {{w|Carolina Panthers}}.
|Cameron Crowe Olivia Newton John Cameron Diaz
|First-First (approximate) Last-Middle First-First (approximate)
|252
|-
|{{w|Cameron Diaz}}
|American actress. Voiced Fiona in {{w|Shrek}}.
|James Cameron Cam Newton
|First-Last First-First (approximate)
|253
|-
|{{w|Huey Newton}}
|Co-founder of the Black Panthers.
|Olivia Newton John Huey Long
|Last-Middle First-First
|254
|-
|{{w|Huey Lewis}}
|Lead singer for the band Huey Lewis and the News.
|Huey Newton John Lewis
|First-First Last-Last
|255
|-
|{{w|John Lewis}}
|American politician and civil rights leader. U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, serving in his 17th term (since 1987).
|John Edwards Huey Lewis Jenny Lewis
|First-First Last-Last Last-Last
|256
|-
|{{w|Jenny Lewis}}
|American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. Best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley.
|John Lewis Ryan Lewis
|Last-Last Last-Last
|257
|-
|{{w|Ryan Lewis}}
|American DJ, musician, videographer, photographer, graphic designer, rapper and songwriter.
|Jenny Lewis Ryan Reynolds
|Last-Last First-First
|258
|-
|{{w|Burt Reynolds}}
|American actor. Known for a wide variety of western and/or action films.
|Ryan Reynolds Alastair Reynolds
|Last-Last Last-Last
|259
|-
|{{w|Alistair Cooke}}
|Name misspelled Alistiar Cooke in the comic.
|Alestier Crowley James Cook
|First-First (approximate) Last-Last (approximate)
|260
|-
|{{w|Monsterpiece_Theater#Alistair_Cookie|Alistair Cookie}}
|A parody of Alistair Cooke "played" by Cookie Monster in the Sesame Street sketch "Monsterpiece Theatre" in the 1980s, a parody of the PBS series "Masterpiece Theatre".
|James Cook Alastair Reynolds
|Last-Last (approximate) First-First (approximate)
|261
|-
|{{w|Cokie Roberts}}
|National Public Radio (NPR) political correspondent known for her recurring segment "Ask Cokie" in which she answers listener submitted questions.
|James Cook Robert Frost
|First-Last (approximate) Last-First (approximate)
|262
|-
|{{w|John Roberts}}
|Current Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court at the time of the comic's publication.
|Robert Frost Robert Johnson
|Last-First (approximate) First-Last (approximate) ''and'' Last-First (approximate)
|263
|-
|{{w|Robert Johnson}}
|Delta blues guitar legend.
|John Roberts Robert E.Lee
|First-Last (approximate) ''and'' Last-First (approximate) First-First
|264
|-
|{{w|Robert E. Lee}}
|Confederate general during the {{w|American Civil War}}.
|Bob Evans Robert Johnson Tommy Lee
|Middle-Last (approximate) First-First Last-Last
|265
|-
|{{w|Tommy Lee}}
|Drummer for the rock band Mötley Crüe
|Robert E. Lee Tommy Lee Jones
|Last-Last First-First ''and'' Middle-Middle
|266
|-
|{{w|Tommy Lee Jones}}
|American actor known for 'The Fugitive'
|Evan Taylor Jones Tommy Lee
|Last-Last First-First ''and'' Middle-Middle
|267
|-
|{{w|Etta James|Etta James (2)}}
|Used first time in 87
|James Cameron
|Last-First
|268
|-
|{{w|John Oliver}}
|American talk show host. Known for {{w|Last Week Tonight}}.
|Olivia Newton John
|First-Last ''and'' Last-First (approximate)
|269
|-
|{{w|Ryan Reynolds}}
|Canadian actor. Known for several romantic comedies, and {{w|Deadpool (film)|Deadpool}}.
|Ryan Lewis Burt Reynolds
|First-First Last-Last
|270
|-
|{{w|Alastair Reynolds}}
|SF writer.
|Burt Reynolds Alistair Cookie
|Last-Last First-First (approximate)
|271
|}

==Transcript==
:[This comic a large grid, 27 units wide and 35 units high, with 271 black "domino" tiles. On each tile there is a name written with white text. The grid is arranged so that each touching side corresponds with the first or last name of another person. Some of the domino tiles are rotated 90, 180 or 270 degrees so the text is either to be read down, up-side down or up. The names on the tiles are listed here below in approximate reading order starting at top left.]
:Christian Campbell, Neve Campbell, Joe McCarthy, Eugene McCarthy, Gene Vincent, Gene Kelly, Kate Hudson, Rock Hudson, Gordon Brown, James Brown, Jon Brown, John Howard, Columbo, Chris Columbus, Christopher Columbus, Naomi Campbell, Joseph Campbell, Joseph Smith, Frank Vincent, John Kelly, Katherine Johnson, The Rock, Chris Rock, Chris Isaac, James Newton Howard, John Wayne, Howard Stern, Howard Hunt, Chris Hughes, Naomi Watts, Naomi Klein, Kevin Kline, Francis Bacon, Francis Drake, Lyndon Johnson, Oscar the Grouch, Oscar Isaac, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Newton, Wayne Newton, Wayne Knight, Helen Hunt, Helen Hughes, James Watt (Steam), James Watt (Interior), Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Love, Lisa Frank, Frank Drake, Drake, Oscar de la Renta, Oscar de la Hoya, Sean Hayes, Wallace Shawn, Wayne Howard, Wayne Brady, James Brady, Tom Brady, Helen Thomas, Tom Hanks, Hank Aaron, Aaron Carter, Stephen James, Will Smith, Kevin Smith, Kein James, Garfield, James Garfield, Warren Buffett, Jimmy Buffett, Warren Beatty, Elizabeth Warren, Earl Warren, Eliabeth Kolbert, Stephen Colbert, George Wallace, Charles Wallace, James Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, Hank Williams, William C. Williams, Steve Harvey, Domino Harvey, Harvey Milk, James Saint James, Etta James, Jim Jones, James Earl Jones, Charlie Parker, Ray Parker Jr., Ray Charles, Charles Manson, Marilyn Manson, Robin Williams, Billy D. Williams, Will Wright, Fats Domino, Bill Clinton, Jimmy John, Tom Jones, Tommy John, Quincy Jones, James Earl Ray, Man Ray, Rachel Ray, Ray Allen, Tim Allen, Tim Cook, Tim Howard, Robin Wright, Wilbur Wright, Fatty Arbuckle, Fat Joe, George Clinton, John Kerry, Kerry Washington, John Irving, John Quincy Adams, John Adams, Amy Adams, Aimee Mann, Superman, Batman, Ayn Rand, Lily Allen, Paul Allen, Ron Howard, Howard Hughes, Joe Kennedy, George Bush, George Washington, Washington Irving, Martha Washington, Ma Rainey, Jack Ma, Super Grover, Jack Black, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Paul Simon, Ron Paul, John Hughes, Langston Hughes, John F. Kennedy, Little Richard, Rich Little, Martha Stewart, Yo Yo Ma, Ma Bell, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Grover Cleveland, Jack White, Jack Ryan, Debby Ryan, Carly Simon, Carly Hughes, Charles Evans Hughes, John Williams, Little John, Stuart Little, Potter Stewart, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Bell, Kristen Hooks, Alexander Graham Bell, Franklin Graham, Lloyd Alexander, Meg White, Meg Ryan, Debbie Reynolds, John Reynolds, Carly Fiorina, Grace Lee Boggs, Wade Boggs, William Safire, Prince William, Little Prince, Harry Potter, James Potter, James Hook, James Dean, Aretha Franklin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Barry White, Walter White, Walt Whitman, John Kelly, Grace Lee, Nancy Grace, Garnet, Prince, Prince Fielder, Prince Harry, Harry Styles, John Dean, Benjamin Franklin, Harrold Lloyd, Harrold Ford, Betty White, Meg Whitman, Christine Todd Whitman, Megyn Kelly, Grace Kelly, Grace Jones, Jack Nicholson, Jack Ruby, Jack Russel, Harry Fielder, Harry Trueman, Harry Jon Benjamin, John Edward, Benjamin Harrison, Harrison Ford, Henry Ford, Betty Ford, Betty Friedan, Chris Christie, Chris Pratt, Maggie Grace, Grace Hopper, Russel Crowe, Russ Smith, John Smith, Justin Long, John Bel Edwards, John Candy, John Henry, Henry James, Bill James, Chirs Cooper, Chirs Hemsworth, Chirs Evans, Topher Grace, Van Morrison, Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Sandberg, Cameron Crow, Long John Silver, Olivia Newton John, Huey long, John Edwards, Candy Crowley, Alestier Crowley, James Fenimore Cooper, James Cook, Robert Frost, Bob Evans, Evan Tayler Jones, Van Jones, James Cameron, Cam Newton, Cameron Diaz, Huey Newton, Huey Lewis, John Lewis, Jenny Lewis, Ryan Lewis, Burt Reynolds, Alistiar Cooke, Alistair Cookie, Cokie Roberts, John Roberts, Robert Johnson, Robert E. Lee, Tommy Lee, Tommy Lee Jones, Etta James, John Oliver, Ryan Reynolds, Alastair Reynolds

==Trivia==
The names Etta James and John Kelly are used twice, but the latter likely refers to different {{w|John Kelly}}s.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]

2407: Depth and Breadth

2024-10-30T02:02:44Z

CategoryGeneral: I guess someone else will temporarily take over the categorization task

{{comic
| number = 2407
| date = January 4, 2021
| title = Depth and Breadth
| image = depth_and_breadth_2x.png
| imagesize = 375px
| titletext = A death-first search is when you lose your keys and travel to the depths of hell to find them, and then if they're not there you start checking your coat pockets.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Tree (data structure)|Tree structure}}s are one of the most common data structures used in computer science. The common ways of enumerating items arranged in a tree is either {{w|Depth-first search|depth-first}}, or {{w|Breadth-first search|breadth-first}}, which are depicted accurately in the comic. Randall humorously combines the words, to produce "brepth-first", "deadth-first", "bread-first", and "death-first" search algorithms.

Depth-first search explores down a full branch of the tree before working back to a higher level. This type of tree structure was already discussed as inefficient for human needs in [[761: DFS]]. The "opposite" of this is breadth-first search, which explores each level of the tree at a time.

In the "brepth-first" algorithm, a depth-first and a breadth-first search are hybridized where the left-most node is visited more frequently than the right node, but the right node is still visited. This might be good for exploring data that is loosely but not strictly weighted to the left, or where data in deeper nodes needs some time to be loaded before it can be used. As implied by [[761: DFS]], this might be the best algorithm for a human to employ, where one can explore several topics briefly before deciding which one to explore more deeply, rather than blindly following the first rabbit hole to an absurd conclusion. Informed search algorithms like {{w|A* search algorithm|A* search}}, {{w|Beam search}}, and other {{w|Best-first search}} algorithms show this type of behavior by expanding the most ''promising'' node in the current set (under some appropriate metrics).

The nature of the "deadth-first" algorithm is unclear and inefficient, since it searches the same nodes multiple times before moving to an entirely different region of the tree. It might be useful in a context where examining nodes has some probability of returning a noisy or incorrect result, such as searching for small objects that may be overlooked.

It may also be how people with OCD search, but this would be very stereotypical.

The bread-first search is taken literally. Bread is searched for first. Since the computer user now has already met their want to find bread, the computer has no reason to explore the tree at all.{{Citation needed}}

The title text introduces a "death-first" search, in which the user explores what it is like to be dead, before considering anything else. Specifically, the title text refers to hell, which calls to mind the adventures of Dante Alighieri in {{w|Inferno (Dante)| his ''Inferno''}}, and is a less likely place for keys to be left than one's coat pockets {{Citation needed}}. In 2021 (the year this comic was published) there are commemorations for the 700th anniversary of Dante's Death. These are expected to take place among the living only, and not in Hell.{{Citation needed}} A much more pleasant death-first algorithm might be to skip hell and purgatory and search heaven first, perhaps multiple times (which in itself would be a use of the deadth-first approach).

==Transcript==
:[Five panels, each containing identical copies of a rooted tree graph, grayed out in the background. The tree has a height of 3 and 15 nodes.]
:[In all five panels, a black twisty arrow in the foreground indicates the order in which nodes are traversed. The arrow does not complete the entire traversal but cuts off at some point. Backtracking is indicated with a dotted line.]
:[In the descriptions below, node 1 is the root, nodes 2 and 3 are its child nodes, nodes 4 and 5 are 2's child nodes, nodes 6 and 7 are 3's child nodes, nodes 8 and 9 are 4's child nodes, and so on up to node 15.]
:[Backtracking is omitted from the descriptions below, as they increased confusion when read.]

:Depth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 5, 10, 11.]

:Breadth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7[''sic''], 6, 8.]

:Brepth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 3, 6, 10, 11.]

:Deadth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 3, 6, 12, 13, 12.]

:Bread-first search
:[The arrow starts at node 1, then immediately leaves the tree off to the right to point to a small loaf labeled "Bread".]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Portmanteau]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Food]]

User talk:TheusafBOT

2024-10-27T12:44:13Z

CategoryGeneral: Remove

== Bot ==

{{notice|Know that thou art a bot most splendid.}}

{{User talk:DgbrtBOT}}

== Hi ==

Hi

== I thought it might autorevert 'wrongly' again. ==

See the sequence encompassed by [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=404:_Not_Found&curid=3587&diff=336235&oldid=322800 this current situation]. IMO, it reverted back past a valid rewrite (I can imagine why, though seemingly it was happy with the pre-vandalism rewrite until the vandalism occured). FYI, ready for perhaps your manual fixing. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.101|141.101.99.101]] 02:05, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, it's definitely acting up. It also removed the Soviet flags that I contributed. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.160|172.71.150.160]] 02:19, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
::THATS BECAUSE YOURE NOT SUPPOSED TO ADD SOVIET FLAGS EVERYWHERE THATS VANDALISM, DUMBASS [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:37, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::This is a wiki, which means anyone can edit it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.79|172.71.147.79]] 00:49, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::ON THE GODDAMN MAIN PAGE, IT SAYS THAT YOU SHOULDNT BE A JERK-I THINK THIS CONSTITUTES AS BREAKING THAT RULE [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:50, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::::There are fools out there (above IP being one), and there are rational ones (me, you, many others). To paraphrase the old saying, idiots will prevail only if the sensible do nothing. And we're not only dealing with such idiocracy (disrupters, dishonest actors, etc), but also keep on improving and adding things as we'd do anyway. Which is a net success, however you look at it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.46|141.101.99.46]] 15:21, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::Bruh. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.200|172.69.33.200]] 23:16, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
:I'll look into allowing that change. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 04:44, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

==User/Discussion Pages==
Hi Theusaf(BOT), I have found a problem with your bot. If someone deletes everything on a user/discussion page and substitutes it with text, then auto-revert doesn’t work. Is there anyway to fix this? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:20, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
:Not wishing to pre-empt Theusaf but, if you're asking about what I think you are, probably it's not working because it hasn't been triggered to work, in those examples. This is down to what the 'bot is told to monitor (and consider needs reverting), and it's not intelligent enough to work that all out on its own.
:The question probably is whether theusaf can be asked to add a handler for the current issue (maybe a bit more general, without generating overreach that reverts genuine changes). Similar things have been done (are probably still active against what was happening then), but it'll need some hands-on work to add/extend this.
:But only responding in case Theusaf can't get back to you with a more precise answer (and/or solution?) fairly quickly. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.14|172.69.194.14]] 15:42, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

== Thank you ==

User:ConscriptGlossary

2024-10-27T11:52:06Z

CategoryGeneral:

This user page is no longer available. To view the original version of this page, see [http://neography.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:Glossary this page.]

The link above is no longer available.

[[Roman Numerals|CDIV]]

[http://google.com/search?q=Mayan%20numerals . θ ⡇]

If the other CG's and I managed to have children, our family "tree" wouldn't be a tree, but a ''non-planar'' graph. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 01:46, 27 September 2024 *

User talk:CalibansCreations

2024-10-27T09:38:02Z

CategoryGeneral:

Please chat with me below.
----

== 1946?? Yes, at one point. ==

The change made [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Car_wash&diff=prev&oldid=1212096331&diffonly=1 here] marks the point where the valid header/anchor of "1946" was removed. These things happen, especially cross-wiki. Just so you know (I was intruigued myself, so did a couple of minutes digging). Nice catch, though! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.139|172.70.85.139]] 10:46, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
:oh, my first talk page message, thx. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:44, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

==Politics intrudes==
randall still supports zionist harris... :'( [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:49, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
: Do you really think Trump would be better? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.135|172.68.205.135]] 09:18, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::i mean, both of them suck tbh [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 09:35, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::so whats your alternative suggestion? Voting/Endorsing for a third party and then get trump into office? Great strategy --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:46, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::::that ain't how it works. if we all vote for the third party, the third party will win. simple as that. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:30, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::''Which'' third-party? Vermine Supreme? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 12:04, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::Who exactly is "we all"?
:::::Nobody outside of your little internet bubble is voting third-party, because doing so without mass coordination is just throwing your vote away (meanwhile MAGA are all fully coordinated in voting for Trump).
:::::The risk of a Trump second term is bad enough even with everyone who is anti-Trump voting for Harris, and you think the average person over the age of 20 is going to risk that even further by voting for a third party?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.106|172.69.195.106]] 12:25, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
: I think you err if you think that "supports Israel against attackers" totally equates to "supports Israel's uncompromising attacks on others". And "Zionist" is such a loaded term, with {{w|Zionist antisemitism|various complications}}, with Kamala being no more this than is her primary opponent.
: Being consistently critical of one candidate by using a single word (e.g.. "fascist", for the other one) does not bode well for your appreciation of the many subtleties that make up anyone other than a cartoon hero/villain. Not that even the reality of the State Of Israel is simple (there are plenty of its citizen residents who decry their government's actions since/before last October, are they ''anti-''Zionist?), and even that is just a single relatively small mess in the much bigger mess that is the wider morass of foreign (and domestic) policy. By picking just one dogwhistle term (arguably in a very incorrect context) isn't helping whatever argument you're trying to make. All I get from this conversation is that you hate every candidate with any chance of winning (and most of those without, based upon their stated positions), without knowing what you are for. Employment? Social safety-nets? Smaller goverment? ''Better'' (define 'better'!) government? Who would you prefer to 'deal with' the issue of Ukraine, Taiwan, North Korea or countless other worldside issues out there?
: You also elsewhere announced yourself as a Brit (as am I), so you don't have a vote and precious little actual influence. Even if you or I had any useful analysis to say about this issue, it seems that most people are already polarised in opinion and you or I (or, indeed, Randall) can do little but be performative about our current views. It is unlikely we could swing even one notable vote, although we might just push some of the partially polarised fully over (whichever way) into their pre-chosen preferences, excited or annoyed by such a single-issue outburst that they find themself vehemently agreeing or disagreeing with. (As a Brit, I'm frankly embarrassed by those who put up "this house is supporting the LibDem/Labour/Tory/SNP/whoever candidate" signs in their windows. I'd put up OMRLP ones, maybe, but I've never been able to vote that way, anyway, so can certainly say that I've actually never voted for them. Even if they sometimes seem the better choice.)
: Furthermore, it has absolutely nothing to do with this comic (US geography, yes, US politics, no). I would heavily advise you to take this whole section out and place it all somewhere else. Perhaps your User Talk: area, so that you can wear your heartfelt antizionist (and perhaps no more) opinions on your sleeve without distracting from more relevent discussion, such as "Why is Idaho unlabeled" or "Why does everyone mississremember Mississippi's postostostal code?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 12:04, 17 October 2024 (UTC) Postscript: *I* have moved this. <-that IP
:Quick question, CalibansCreations. Are you the same IP troll who said that Randall supports Zionism? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:16, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::yes, I only wanted an account so I could change the skin of this website when viewing it [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 15:39, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

== Name ==

Hey CalibansCreations, thanks for reverting my talk page. My name’s Victoria, as shown on the edit leaderboard. The “Charlie Spring” name was just a pseudonym back then. :) [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:15, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:Oh, pleasure to meet you Victoria! You can just call me Caliban or Cal. (That's my own pseudonym.) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 19:27, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

==Barnstar==
{| style="border: 1px solid {{{border|gray}}}; background-color: {{{color|#fdffe7}}};"
|rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;" | {{{{{|safesubst:}}}#ifeq:{{{2}}}|alt|[[File:Barnstar of Reversion Hires.png|100px]]|[[File:Barnstar_of_Reversion2.png|100px]]}}
|rowspan="2" |
|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar'''
|-
|style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | <div style="font-family: Cormorant Garamond"> For your help in reverting vandalism on my talk page, [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']], I hereby award thee a Barnstar. Feel free to display it on your user page. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:13, 24 October 2024 (UTC) 
</noinclude>
:oh wow tysm --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:42, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3002: RNAWorld

2024-10-27T09:37:13Z

CategoryGeneral: Undo revision 354852 by 172.68.210.124 (talk)

Is any of this specific to Disneyland or could it be Disney World, which would be more fitting for the title? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.93|172.70.43.93]] 18:43, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
:Yes, Ariel is from The Little Mermaid, which is a Disney film, Ratatouille is another Disney film, and Elsa is from Frozen and Frozen II, both of which are Disney films. I believe that RNAWorld is a play on Disneyworld. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:04, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
::I'm sure .43.93, above, understands that they are definitely Disney characters that are equally relevent to either Disney World or Disneyland (or Eurodisney, or...). It's the "World" bit that was important (and now is correctly referenced, so far as I can see). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.10|172.69.194.10]] 19:48, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
:::Pfft. "Euro Disney" is 'so' 1994. It reminds me of the arguments I had with people ~20 years ago who honestly thought the currency in much of Europe was officialy the "Eurodollar". Sure, Joachimsthal is in Europe... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.172|172.71.103.172]] 21:11, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
::::Depends what they meant by {{w|Eurodollar|'officially'}}, and when. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.107|172.68.186.107]] 22:08, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

the rat's name is Remy [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:06, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

What should we call the girl with the Mickey/Minnie ears? Or is a physical description good enough? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 01:08, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:Is he not a boy? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 02:59, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
::can't tell tbh [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 06:31, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:::'He' has short hair and no ponytail, so probability 79% a XY mutant (all men are{{Dubious}} ;-) )' so for symmetry, how about Jack? [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:16, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:::: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1662:_Jack_and_Jill --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.252|162.158.134.252]] 09:07, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

Okay so some guy removed literally everything, I undid that. But just for good measure, I also got rid of the guy saying there isn't abiogenesis. I didn't think a comic about RNAWorld would get as much controversy as the COVID comics but I guess I was wrong. Thanks guys for proving my theory that most people are just stupid [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.84|172.69.71.84]] 11:46, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Recommend locking the page because the same guy keeps doing it. Stupid human being. I hope he steps on some hot Legos. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.84|172.69.71.84]] 11:58, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Hi! I would like to inform you that you guys need some better work on citing your sources{{Citation needed}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.85|172.70.130.85]] 13:09, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
== Someone keeps wiping my user pages ==

First it was Victoria, now me too. What is happening? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:14, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

:Please post your complaint [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests|here]]. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 12:33, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

::Like I said, elsewhere, the idiot will find new places (and, it turns out, new ways) to be idiotic with. But already I said the rest of what I wanted to say. It's a pain, but we'll handle it. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.104|172.68.186.104]] 14:41, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

User:ConscriptGlossary

2024-10-27T09:36:09Z

CategoryGeneral:

User talk:ConscriptGlossary

2024-10-27T09:35:24Z

CategoryGeneral:

== Suggestions been made to block C___G___ accounts! ==
Hi. I'm an admin here and there has been a request to [[User_talk:Kynde#Blocking_ColorfulGalaxy|block ColorfulGalaxy]] and other accounts that are of the form C___G___ like yours, because you all seem to interact and maybe use each others accounts or being one guy with multiple accounts. Specifically [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:ColorfulGalaxy&oldid=320641 the dead links] on [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxys]] page (that has at the moment been removed, hence link to old version) was an offence point. Seems you have ben trying to use this wiki for a project called neology, which does not belong here. Please stop what ever you are doing, and remove any thing related to this or I will be forced to ban all of these accounts. If you stop and begin editing only relevant stuff I will not ban you! Best regads --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:01, 29 September 2024 (UTC)

The neography project has already been moved. It's been moved several times in fact. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 12:07, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

== Li Jiayi ==

You added a trivia section in [[461: Google Maps]] about Li Jiayi. I’ve never heard of this person, could you please drop a link to wherever you found this so that I can add the Chinese characters? I have Chinese keyboards on my device. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:09, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

== Barnstar ==

{| style="border: 1px solid {{{border|gray}}}; background-color: {{{color|#fdffe7}}};"
|rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;" | {{{{{|safesubst:}}}#ifeq:{{{2}}}|alt|[[File:Barnstar of Reversion Hires.png|100px]]|[[File:Barnstar_of_Reversion2.png|100px]]}}
|rowspan="2" |
|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar'''
|-
|style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | <div style="font-family: Cormorant Garamond"> For your help in reverting vandalism on my talk pages, [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]], I hereby award thee a Barnstar. Feel free to display it on your user page. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:14, 24 October 2024 (UTC) 
</noinclude>

Talk:2691: Encryption

2024-10-27T09:34:56Z

CategoryGeneral:

More generally, when the explanation of the encryption algorithm needs example people, it picks names going sequentially through the alphabet. Alice and Bob are the canonical first two, names starting with C and D would be next. Eve, the eavesdropper, is next. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:01, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
:...though it depends upon {{w|Alice and Bob#Cast of characters|what other protagonists/required roles}} are to be featured in the scenario as to which initials get given to the 'normal' example correspondants. And I'm sure you could come up with other punny names for other novel roles, if you're in the position to require something special, only Alice and Bob being (normally!) inviolable as to both role and initialism. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.58|172.70.91.58]] 09:43, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Is this comic a subtle reference to Signal announcing the discontinuing of SMS/MMS support, thus vastly lowering the number of people that Signal users can send messages to? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.205|172.70.114.205]] 09:10, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
:... Maybe add some text explaining what Signal is? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.7|172.71.158.7]] 18:33, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

I'd reckon you're also banned from the app if your name is Mallory, which might be inconvenient if you're James Bond's boss. Then again, that's Voldemort... [[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:36, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

This was hilarious. And it's the only app you should be able to install on the [[2377:_xkcd_Phone_12|XKCD Phone]], for obvious security reasons. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:18, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Reminds me of a notorious movie from 1969, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, a plot point of which is knowledge shared incompletely between the four. I believe the names are coincidental but, not knowing when Alice, Bob, Charles and Diana were first used, it may not be. [[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]]) 18:16, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
:... The naming convention appears to have started with the creators of the RSA algorithm.[[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]])
:::Part of the reason for the genders are to make it easier to talk about it. If they're Alice and Bob, you can say "When she sends the message to him" and it's less ambiguous than if everyone was men or everyone was women. Making Eve non-binary would help this further. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.21|172.70.178.21]] 07:30, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Since we know without question the name of the female character in this comic, does she join the list of other named characters for every other time we see someone with a similar hairstyle? [[User:Trimeta|Trimeta]] ([[User talk:Trimeta|talk]]) 02:58, 30 October 2022 (UTC)
:Not just yet. Unless we can definitively backdate her hairstyled appearance, but consider it upon reappearance. Three options to do it, though:
:* If there's not enough to split her from Megan (though I think there is), do as we <s>do</s> ''did''  with Rob for Cueball (incidentally mentioned here, but I think there's no category to cover that, just a mention within Megan that there's a not-Megan-but-nearly)...
:* Go for a full new character in her own right if she gets (or has previously gotten, without our realising until now) another distinct appearance or two...
:* If Randall repeats Alice/others in a further series of Alice And Bob 'tales' (plenty of scope for the actual appearance of Eve, or Mallory/Mike or whoever – ''if'' the whim takes him) group her and the 'gang under an "Alice and Bob" entry (e.g. if a clear Ivan appears even just the once, he gets tidily filed under his own subheader there)...
:..definitely some consideration to be had. Anyone could review hairstyles carefully (or dialogue?), both forward and back in time, and propose (or enact?) the solution that you think best applies. It's not up to me with no ability to create (or banish) new pages, but that's my immediate thoughts. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 09:34, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Does this lend new information about named character Rob? The girl has a friend Robert, and this cueball has a brother, which seem to be separate people, both of whom could be called Bob. I don't see a particular connection, but I see there is investigation to who the girl is, and that may lead to something. FWIW I think she looks like Science Girl; based on age alone that could connect her to Bobby Tables. How does time pass in xkcd, do we expect child characters to grow up or remain the same age across comics? We should look across previous Rob comics and see if they're consistent with him being brother to this Cueball. [[User:Robm|Robm]] ([[User talk:Robm|talk]]) 16:36, 30 October 2022 (UTC)robm
:Considering the fact that Rob's computer username is robm, and m is Randall's last initial, I believe that Rob is a depiction of Randall's brother, though I obviously could be wrong. [[User:Yaygya|Yaygya]] ([[User talk:Yaygya|talk]]) 18:45, 20 December 2022 (UTC)

The proposed relationship with Twitter seems unlikely since both Twitter itself and Elon's announced prospect on the platform as of now have nothing to do with secured messaging app.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.223.68|172.70.223.68]] 16:13, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

User:CalibansCreations

2024-10-27T09:34:18Z

CategoryGeneral:

{{Infobox character
| image = BlackHat_head.png
| imagesize = 42px
| caption = :)
| first_appearance = inside your home
}}
still a wip lol

==The Barnstar Award==
{| style="border: 1px solid {{{border|gray}}}; background-color: {{{color|#fdffe7}}};"
|rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;" | {{{{{|safesubst:}}}#ifeq:{{{2}}}|alt|[[File:Barnstar of Reversion Hires.png|100px]]|[[File:Barnstar_of_Reversion2.png|100px]]}}
|rowspan="2" |
|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar'''
|-
|style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | <div style="font-family: Cormorant Garamond"> For your help in reverting vandalism on my talk page, [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']], I hereby award thee a Barnstar. Feel free to display it on your user page. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:13, 24 October 2024 (UTC) 
</noinclude>

User talk:CalibansCreations

2024-10-27T09:33:38Z

CategoryGeneral:

Talk:3002: RNAWorld

2024-10-27T09:33:17Z

CategoryGeneral:

User:ConscriptGlossary

2024-10-27T09:32:58Z

CategoryGeneral:

User talk:ConscriptGlossary

2024-10-27T09:32:26Z

CategoryGeneral: