explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2851: Messier Objects

2023-11-11T00:53:58Z

Catherine: signing my edit

addededededded transcript [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 17:34, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
: meow [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 17:54, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
Is M30712050 that specific squirrel, or just the general category of squirrels? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.56|172.69.247.56]] 17:57, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
:The debate about the Ship of Theseus suggests that every ship gets its own number, so why not every squirrel? Although then the numbers would be much larger. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:04, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
::...and the list would be much messier. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 18:32, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
:::*fwap* [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.143|172.69.43.143]] 00:47, 7 November 2023 (UTC)
:It can't be all squirrels, CM could not have seen *all* squirrels. In fact, he would have been dead long before *that* squirrel was born. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:20, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
::Presuming that Messier is alive in this panel, then this panel isn't the present, and the squirrel was alive when Messier was alive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.162|162.158.155.162]] 21:58, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

could the numbers have been picked to represent something rather than be entirely random? like 41592 coming from pi and 137 being FSC... idk maybe i'm just reading too much into it... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.11|162.158.186.11]] 18:09, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
: i mean...every finite string of numbers "comes from" pi [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 15:42, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Between the Messier catalog and the Marvel multiverse, we've got a well-defined numbering system that indexes all objects in all universes. (Or, I guess at least those universes with Messier catalogs. Damn.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.18|172.69.58.18]] 19:03, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
:You should also number all Messier catalogues (and intermediate versions of them), then, to make sure we know which ones we're talking about. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.143|172.69.43.143]] 00:47, 7 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Furthermore, each entry in the catalog should have it's own entry in the catalog. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.65|172.69.247.65]] 02:57, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

Wait a minute... this is just the wikidata QID system again[[User:AtaraxianAscendant|ataraxianAscendant]] ([[User talk:AtaraxianAscendant|talk]]) 19:34, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, it's like Wikidata. Not sure if it's worth mentioning. Unfortunately, the numbers don't match those Wikidata for equivalent objects.
:Furtermore, Wikimedia Commons ID use an M and a number. For example, https://commons.wikimedia.org/entity/M205.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 19:39, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
:: {{wikidata|2013|Wikidata}} does something similar, but they use /Q\d+/ instead. [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 15:45, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
:I added a section about Wikidata because the first thing that I wanted to do when I read this comic was look up what the IDs were for all of the objects mentioned. It certainly could be written better. [[User:Brycemw|Brycemw]] ([[User talk:Brycemw|talk]]) 15:31, 7 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Ha! Edit conflicted. Sample of diff (-my submission and +the one that got there just before me):
-
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1050837 Q1050837] (Ship of Theseus) (The ''concept'', only...)
+
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1050837 Q1050837] (Ship of Theseus) (The thought experiment)
::: Oopsies! the one on the bottom is mine haha. [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:45, 7 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Great minds think alike! (Fools never differ...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.79|172.71.178.79]] 16:19, 7 November 2023 (UTC) 

The existence of a Messier catalog implies the existence of a Neater catalog. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.130|172.69.134.130]] 19:42, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

The explanation suggests that we might number every grain of sand. But the comic just has a single number for "Earth". Would the catalog have separate entries for an object and all its constituents? It doesn't seem like it, since Randall didn't label the wings of the butterfly, limbs of the squirrel or human, or branches and leaves of the tree. Of course, how we distinguish distinct objects in the world is an even thornier philosophical problem than the Ship of Theseus. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:36, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
:I deleted that portion as non-explanatory wild speculation. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.159.64|172.71.159.64]] 21:03, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
::The same would apply to the real Messier Objects too - do you label a star cluster, and then label the individual stars within it as well?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.228|172.70.90.228]] 10:04, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Shouldn't Earth (or Messier) be object #0? [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:20, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
:You'll need to bring that up with Messier... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.197.136|162.158.197.136]] 15:52, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

How messy are they? 🥁 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.211|172.70.100.211]] 22:00, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

Earth number might be influenced by [https://rickandmorty.fandom.com/wiki/Dimension_C-137 Dimension C-137] from Rick and Morty, which often is used to refer to the "Earth" location from early easons. --
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.200.145|172.70.200.145]] 22:27, 6 November 2023 (UTC) (edit [[Special:Contributions/172.68.146.17|172.68.146.17]] 22:33, 6 November 2023 (UTC))

For the numbering of the ships of Theseuses, why not just use the numbers from a particular type of prime number? ----

In the UK, the Ship of Theseus problem is sometimes referred to as Trigger's Broom, after a character from one of our most popular sitcoms ("Only Fools And Horses"). Trigger is a mentally-deficient road sweeper who is proud of the fact that he's still got his original broom that he was given when he started work 20 years ago. He's looked after it in that time: it's had 17 new heads and 14 new handles...
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.189|172.70.86.189]] 06:21, 7 November 2023 (UTC)
:To be fair (and, unfortunately, historically unfair to the Irish), that's just a transplant of the older "Irishman's Broom". And it's just one of many variations like "grandfather's axe", etc. Depends on whether you're going for fairly recent pop-culture (lovely-jubbley!), falling back on old stereotypes (to be sure, to be sure) or whatever else you have in mind. (I'm sure I actually heard "Ship of Theseus" said on the street, just the other day, by a conversing couple. And this wasn't even an Oxbridge street!)
:To be fair ''to Trigger'', the council for whom the character worked was also as blind/far-sighted regarding the philosophical (dis)continuity of existence, given the award in which they were citing the broom as one of the outstanding features... Much as the US Government treats the 'modern' USS Constitution as the same as the 'original', maybe? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.231|172.70.90.231]] 09:02, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Could the M137 for earth be a Rick and Morty reference, since that is their earth/universe-number as well? [[User:Eugen|Eugen]] ([[User talk:Eugen|talk]]) 09:54, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
: We gotta go to xkcd, Morty! There's no time to explain, get in, Morty! [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]])

Another interpretation isn't so much that the higher-numbered objects are less "significant", but more that Messier numbered them in order, and so higher numbers mean objects that Messier took longer to get around to numbering. It took him until object 206 to think to number himself, and other things such as random specific squirrels have much higher numbers because he didn't get to them until much later in his cataloguing process. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.54|108.162.242.54]] 16:13, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Concerning trees and squirrels, this assertion can and indeed should be supported with a citation (citing any adequate souce listing the objects in the catalogue). I have therefore changed the "fact" tag to "Actual citation needed" to avoid confusion with the humourous version. Whether the assertion is correct or not is questionable. One could argue that M5, the Rose Cluster, is named after the rose tree; that M20, the Trifid Nebula is actually the Triffid Nebula; and that M93, the Critter Cluster, refers to a variety of critters, including squirrels.[[User:Catherine|Catherine]] ([[User talk:Catherine|talk]]) 00:53, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2851: Messier Objects

2023-11-11T00:53:13Z

Catherine: Messier Objects possibly named after trees or squirrels

2851: Messier Objects

2023-11-11T00:38:47Z

Catherine: Change {{fact}} tag to {{Actual citation needed}} to avoid confusion with humourous {{citation needed}} tags.

{{comic
| number = 2851
| date = November 6, 2023
| title = Messier Objects
| image = messier_objects_2x.png
| imagesize = 293x294px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The debate over the correct Messier number for the Ship of Theseus is ongoing.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BUNCH OF PEOPLE ARGUING OVER WHAT TO LABEL THE SHIP OF THESEUS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a play on the {{w|Messier object|Messier Catalog}}, which is a famous list of astronomical objects compiled by the French astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th century. The real Messier Catalog includes 110 objects, which are all deep-space objects like nebulae and galaxies.

In the comic, it's humorously suggested that the catalog includes not just these distant celestial objects, but also very ordinary things found here on Earth. Each ordinary object is labeled with an "M" followed by a number, just as the real Messier objects are numbered (like M1, M31, etc.). However, the numbers are much higher than the 110 included in the actual catalog, and they point to mundane things such as the Earth, Charles Messier himself, a tree, a butterfly and a squirrel.

The numbers increase as the objects go from large and significant to humans (the Earth, Charles Messier) to those that are smaller and less significant (a tree, a butterfly, and a squirrel). However, this pattern isn't strictly numerical (i.e., there's no clear mathematical sequence), but rather a conceptual one where the numbers arbitrarily become larger for things that are commonly considered less monumental or noteworthy than celestial objects.

So, the comic is a playful take on a piece of astronomical history, suggesting that everything in the universe is part of the Messier Catalog, not just the deep sky objects Messier originally listed.

The title text refers to the {{w|Ship of Theseus}}, which is a thought experiment. If a ship is repaired and/or modified such that it has ''all'' of its parts replaced over the years, is it the same ship as the original? And then, what if you take all of the parts that were removed and create another ship using those parts? Are they ''both'' the same ship, and if not, which one ''is'' the original ship? The title text suggests that this leads to a debate as to whether the original ship and the new ship (with all of its parts replaced) should be considered the same object and therefore given the same Messier number, or the two ships should be considered different objects with different Messier numbers, and if so, which of them should retain the original number.

"M41592" may be a reference to pi as it contains 5 of the first digits at 3.1'''41592'''. Also noteworthy is that (the real) M6 is called the {{w|Butterfly Cluster}}. However, there are no real galaxies in the original Messier Catalog named after trees or squirrels.{{Actual citation needed}}

==About the Messier Catalog==
The Messier Catalog was devised as a tool for comet hunters to differentiate between permanent, blurry celestial objects and the transient, moving comets that appear similar at first glance. Such blurry objects, unlike comets, remain fixed against the stellar backdrop, and their inclusion in the catalog ensures that astronomers could avoid mistaking these for newly visible comets, when systematically looking for unfixed 'fuzzy' objects to start to track. The catalog excludes terrestrial objects, as they pose no risk of confusion with comets.{{Citation needed}} Following the creation of the Messier Catalog, other catalogs like the New General Catalogue ({{w|New General Catalogue|NGC}}) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ({{w|Sloan Digital Sky Survey|SDSS}}) emerged, expanding the documentation of astronomical bodies.

==Similar Numbering Systems==
This numbering system is somewhat reminiscent of Wikidata which also gives objects a number starting with a letter. Numbers starting with Q refer to concepts including specific physical objects (like the Earth) and more abstract ideas (butterflies as organisms known by a particular common name). Here are some of the objects mentioned in the comic:
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2 Q2] (Earth) (The normal one)
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14524 Q14524] (Charles Messier) (The astronomer)
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10884 Q10884] (tree) (The plants known by that common name)
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11946202 Q11946202] (butterflies) (The Lepidoptera known by that common name)
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9482 Q9482] (squirrel) (The taxon of rodents)
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14530 Q14530] (Messier object) (The astronomical catalog)
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1050837 Q1050837] (Ship of Theseus) (The thought experiment)
:[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13915 Q13915] (xkcd) (The webcomic)

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

:[Multiple objects are labelled with M followed by a number.]
:[There is a tree, a butterfly, a squirrel, a man with a powdered wig labeled Charles Messier, a squirrel, and ground.]
:M137 (Earth) (pointing to the ground)
:M205 (Charles Messier) (pointing to Charles Messier)
:M21860 (pointing to a tree on the left of the panel)
:M41592 (pointing to a butterfly above Charles)
:M30712050 (pointing to a squirrel)

:[Caption below the panel:]
:People usually focus on the first 110, but the Messier Catalog actually includes '''''all''''' objects.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Talk:2823: Fossil

2023-09-08T22:13:54Z

Catherine: pronunciation comment

Boop! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

Came here to find out what in the heck ‘boop’ has to do with anything, learned absolutely nothing (autospell changed it to “book” so I’m not alone). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.76|172.71.154.76]] 08:17, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:There's a link there now (not sure when anyone added it, might have been after your query) which satisfies me somewhat. Seems to be a playful tagging/"you're it!" sort of thing, though, like "punch buggy <yellow/etc>", it's not something I really knew of though probably appears to be in Randall's childhood/whatever cultural background and that's good enough for me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.152|172.69.79.152]] 09:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::I agree that "boop" needs an extra explanation for non native speakers of English. The link is useful (thanks to whoever added it) but the Wiktionary definition alone is too terse to get the pun.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 11:54, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:::Wait wait wait.... It's a pun? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.147.191|172.70.147.191]] 00:35, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
:I added the wikitionary link and I was not entirely happy with it, but it's a starting point. Please do improve it. To me, "boop" is a friendly pat on the nose that one might do to, especially, a dog's nose; see https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/play-exercise/do-dogs-like-dog-boops?. Definitely more affectionate and less aggressive than the "punch buggy" action (which can get out of hand), or even tagging. I was surprised that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boop did not have a mention of this, not even on the talk page; yeah, it's not the most encyclopedic of topics, but discussing social behaviors is beyond the bounds of wiktionary, and Urban Dictionary isn't a great place to cite to (even if it were helpful). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 12:26, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::To the non-native English speakers, it's basically just playfully, gently touching a dog or other animal/pet on the nose while saying "Boop". Like "I got your nose." Not really petting/stroking; just a form of play or affection. I'm not surprised there isn't a lot documented on this as it's not really a "thing". Kind of like Randall's use of pew pew pew noises while pretending to fire a ray gun. You understand what he's doing and may have done it yourself, but it's not the kind of thing you expect to find on Wikipedia. :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.125|172.71.254.125]] 15:40, 2 September 2023 (UTC) Pat
:"Boop" can also be a great training tool: Dogs love to poke us with their noses, so a lot of them can readily be trained to come put their nose in your hand when you hold it palm out & say "Boop"! Adorable & handy. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 03:03, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
::Huh, and here I was thinking that it must be something people did to annoy animals, cats in particular don't enjoy being poked in the nostril. I am somewhat mystified by this entire thing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.226.104|108.162.226.104]] 22:08, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
:::Oh doing it ''to'' a cat is ''definitely'' a surefire way to tick them off; though I've known quite a few male cats so affectionate as to boop their face against any hand extended near enough to them. When ''they'' boop ''us'', it's a sign of affection, when ''we'' boop ''them'', the response depends greatly on the boopee's demeanor & mood. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 04:24, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
::::That (a cat-boop, but by another name) is even integrated into Dwarf Fortress code, as can be seen in its Raws (i.e. entity configuration files). 'Show' the details at the bottom of [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cat this wiki page] and look right at the bottom for the [CAN_DO_INTERACTION:BP_BUMP] definition structure. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.83|172.70.90.83]] 08:40, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
:::::I'm often amused by the phrasing used in code: The fact that terms like "is.can.has.cheeseburger:" can ever be syntactically apropos, makes it feel like the whole structural methodology was developed by a committee of lolcats.
::::: [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:14, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
: Try searching "boop", "nose boop" or similar on TikTok and you'll know what it's about. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:22, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

The furries gonna have a field day with this one :] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.178|172.71.154.178]] 22:07, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

I was actually curios as whether any eye had ever seen a 400 million old fossil. Had to look it up to see when the first eyes evolved. But seems it was around [https://www.scienceworld.ca/stories/eyes-how/ 550 million years ago], so some eyes may have seen the animal that turned in to the fossil Cueball now sees. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:47, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
: "... see an animal that no one has laid eyes on..." strongly implies that the "no one" means "no human being". Which doesn't really make sense in this context. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 02:15, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

I thought that the rock with the trilobite looks like a remote control button that makes a "beep" or "boop" when you push it. Or alternatively an infant's toy that has a button that makes a sound like a clown's nose. So Cueball is pressing the trilobite and vocalizing the "boop" sound that would be expected from these objects. Although "booping" a child's nose is a thing ... although it seems very rude ... I did not associate the fossil rock with the trilobite with noses, but I did associate it with remote control devices that have a flat pad with a button (or many buttons) on it. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:26, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Here is an example picture of a trilobite which has two large eyes and a centre area which might be booped. The fossil is 3D meaning it is not flat.
[[File:trilobite.jpg|300px]]
In contrast a fossil fish will often be flat, almost 2D, and show only one eye. Many people in North America do not like to see the head of a fish and so the head of a fossil fish can also seem odd.
[[User:Punchcard|Punchcard]] ([[User talk:Punchcard|talk]]) 22:07, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Can someone provide a pronunciation guide, preferrably a phonetic representation, of the word fossiliferous ? Anyone except native speakers of English who are also paleonthology enthousiasts will likely be unsure whether to pronounce it as "fossi-LI-ferous" or "fossili-FE-rous". [[User:Blagae|Blagae]] ([[User talk:Blagae|talk]]) 12:15, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not a palæontologist, who might know differently, but as an English speaker (one of a multitude of potentially different Englishes) I'd say fossi-LI-ferous, as I would carbo-NI-ferous or splen-DI-ferous, it seeming to be the general pattern for {{wiktionary|Rhymes:English/ɪfəɹəs|that type of word}}.
::I (a native English speaker, but not of any flavour of English that includes 'boop' as a common word) detest that pronunciation pattern that often puts the stress on the semanitcally least significant syllable. [[User:Catherine|Catherine]] ([[User talk:Catherine|talk]]) 22:13, 8 September 2023 (UTC)
:But emphasis would so easily change, at need. "That limestone is not only CARBONiferous, but particularly FOSSILiferous, too!" would be a rhetoric stress. (Though the number of times people mis-stress things... It's not "The cousins came to the party. Not only Jack JONES, but Pete JONES too...", which sounds weird to me when one should stress JACK and PETE, both of them 'merely' Joneses. So often do I hear this sort of thing done wrongly, it makes me wonder if actually I'm wrong about it all!)
:Does that help? Noting that wiktionary gives /splɛnˈdɪfəɹəs/, with the ˈ in it where I'd generally agree, but that isn't included as an -iferous rhymer and certainly fossiliferous doesn't have a full IPA, with or without the ˈ point. And someone with a full classicist education might well have other ideas anyway (also yer average Leftpondian, especially Randall, but differently so again). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.156|172.71.178.156]] 16:43, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2808: Daytime Firefly

2023-08-04T23:46:27Z

Catherine:

Do fireflies still blink when it's light out? If not, I'm not sure how someone could easily tell that some random flying insect is a firefly. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:39, 28 July 2023 (UTC)
:I've seen some indoors, flashing. I think it might have been in a dim room. But really it's not that hard to tell them from other common insects even without flashing. I would think you can differentiate bees, flies, lady bugs, mosquitoes, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.98|172.70.126.98]] 00:25, 29 July 2023 (UTC)Pat
::It's not easy if you never saw any clearly. Ok, from flies and bees, sure, but from other beetles ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:36, 29 July 2023 (UTC)
::It's not too hard if you know what to look for - the most distinguishing feature from other beetles is their translucent abdomen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly#/media/File:Firefly_composite.jpg [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.137|172.70.111.137]] 14:27, 1 August 2023 (UTC)
Huge kudos to whoever made that Counting Crows reference in the "incomplete" box. [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 02:12, 29 July 2023 (UTC)

Is it cannibalism if the predator is a different species? Perhaps "pseudo-cannabilzed"[[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 02:24, 29 July 2023 (UTC)

Have there been a lot of firefly comics recently, or am I misremembering? [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 03:56, 29 July 2023 (UTC)
:There was one earlier this month (#[[2802]]). [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 02:42, 30 July 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2808: Daytime Firefly

2023-08-04T23:43:20Z

Catherine: request for calification about flashing of car lights

2799: Frankenstein Claim Permutations

2023-07-09T00:31:40Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ Add link to Wikipedia article on the Three Laws of Robotics

{{comic
| number = 2799
| date = July 7, 2023
| title = Frankenstein Claim Permutations
| image = frankenstein_claim_permutations_2x.png
| imagesize = 596x612px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = When I began trying to form a new claim by stitching together these parts in such an unnatural way, some called me mad.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by LORD BYRON THROWS THE WEIRDEST PARTIES - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Frankenstein}} is an 1818 novel by Mary Shelley about a young scientist named Victor Frankenstein who creates a sapient, humanoid lifeform through an unorthodox experiment, and then rejects his creation, which eventually turns on him. The novel is a classic in both the horror and speculative fiction genres, and has been argued to represent the first major example of true science fiction in literature. The lifeform he creates is never named in the original novel, only being referred to as "the Creature".

In the two centuries since the novel's publication, the story and its characters have been adapted and reused in various forms, and the term "Frankenstein" has come to be commonly used to refer to the the creature, rather than the scientist who created him. Literary didacts are often quick to point out this error, but are generally ignored, as the name has become accepted, common usage. The debate has become something of a meme. (Some argue that, given that the creature refers to himself as effectively being Frankenstein's son, it makes sense that he would share the last name.) These disputes have previously been touched upon in [[1589]] and [[2604]].

The title text points out that he's "stitching together" various claims to create something new, and people consider him mad as a result. This refers to the notion of Frankenstein's creation having been stitched together from dead bodies, and Dr. Frankenstein himself being denounced as a madman. It should be noted that these perceptions come from later adaptations (most notably {{w|Frankenstein_(1931_film)|the 1931 film}}) rather than the original novel, but have become closely associated with the Frankenstein mythos.

This comic explores the possible [[wikipedia:Permutation|permutations]] that can be made by matching the names of Mary Shelly, Frankenstein, and '?' (for the unnamed monster) to the positions of author, creator, and monster. The positions are indicated in the drawing by a circle to the left of the book for the author, a box on the left-hand page for the creator, and a labeled picture of the monster lying under a sheet (the traditional image of the monster before being animated) for the monster. Three elements can be arranged in six different ways, as the first element can be placed in any of the three positions, the second in either of the two remaining, and the last in the only remaining space, giving 3 x 2 x 1 options. The same concept was used in [[1613]], where Randall depicted six possible permutations of the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|- style = "text-align: center;"
!Claim!!Notes!!Permutation!!Explanation
|-
|"No, the monster in Mary Shelley's book is unnamed. Frankenstein is the doctor who created him."||This is the normal claim||MS-F-?||This is the claim that is generally considered correct. The POV character of the novel is, in fact, Victor Frankenstein. The monster is never given a name, although many fans name him Adam because of a line he speaks to Victor: "'I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy". The only error in this claim is referring to Victor as a doctor. (In the novel, Victor does not finish his schooling, returning home before finishing his education at the University of Ingolstadt.)
|-
|"No, the monster in Mary Shelley's novel is named Frankenstein."||Also common, and not worth getting mad about IMO||MS-?-F||This is a common misconception, but Randall believes it's not something to get upset about. Randall has previously touched upon this in [[1589]] and [[2604]]. This permutation places the '?' in the creator position, and so avoids talking about the doctor's name at all.
|-
|"No, Frankenstein is the name of the author. The monster Mary Shelley created is unnamed."||At a glance this could pass for one of the normal claims||F-MS-?||While slightly stretching the meaning of those words, Mary Shelley did "create" the monster (as it's a character in the book she wrote) and Frankenstein is the "author" (creator) of the monster. Alternately, one can consider the story a mostly first hand account of Victor's exploits, as it is initially told to the book's opening narrator (the otherwise sidelined Captain Robert Walton), with Mary having created Monster, Victor, the Captain and all others within the novel (of the Captain's tale of Victor's tale of the apparent nature of the Monster).
This could also be a reference to a tweet[https://twitter.com/MedCrisis/status/1511644464544104452] featuring a photo of a collection of classic books[https://i.redd.it/bnab4cu39dqa1.jpg] in which "Frankenstein" is printed in the position and format of the author's name for the other books of the collection, while "Mary Shelley" is printed in the title position.
|-
|"No one knows who wrote the novel about Doctor Mary Shelley creating the monster Frankenstein."||I would read this book||?-MS-F|| This statement combines the second claim (that Frankenstein is the monster's name) with the third claim (that Mary Shelly created the monster). This time, however, it is claimed that the ''author'' is unknown, while the monster is named. Once again, this claim is almost reasonable, as it could be argued that Mary Shelly, as the author, did create Frankenstein (although she was also not a doctor).
A novel about author Mary Shelly getting a doctorate and actually creating the creature she wrote about could be an interesting twist on the story, hence Randall's comment that he would read this book.
|-
|"No, Frankenstein is the name of the doctor. The monster he created is Mary Shelley."||rowspan=2|Fully chaotic||?-F-MS|| This claim is similar to the others, in that it twists the ordering of the components (author, doctor, monster), but this time it gets the doctor's name correct whilst insinuating that Mary Shelly was the monster he created. This is described as "fully chaotic", likely because the idea of the real-life human author being created by a doctor in the story that was written by her is much less believable and much further from any solid literary footing than the others.
|-
|"No, the doctor who creates Mary Shelley in Frankenstein's novel doesn't have a name."||F-?-MS||Possible Doctor Who reference.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{| class="wikitable"
|- style = "text-align: center;"
|Claim||Notes
|-
|"No, the monster in Mary Shelley's book is unnamed. Frankenstein is the doctor who created him."||This is the normal claim
|-
|"No, the monster in Mary Shelley's novel is named Frankenstein."||Also common, and not worth getting mad about IMO
|-
|"No, Frankenstein is the name of the author. The monster Mary Shelley created is unnamed."||At a glance this could pass for one of the normal claims
|-
|"No one knows who wrote the novel about Doctor Mary Shelley creating the monster Frankenstein."||I would read this book
|-
|"No, Frankenstein is the name of the doctor. The monster he created is Mary Shelley."||rowspan=2|Fully chaotic
|-
|"No, the doctor who creates Mary Shelley in Frankenstein's novel doesn't have a name."
|}
[On the left of each of the claims is a book, containing a rectangle containing a symbol representing the creator of the monster on the left page, and a picture of the monster in the book ''Frankenstein'' above another symbol representing the name of the monster on the right page, and a circle containing a symbol representing the author of the book outside of the book with an arrow pointing to the book. "MS" represents Mary Shelley, "F" represents Frankenstein, and "?" represents an unknown entity.]
[[Category:Frankenstein]]
{{comic discussion}}

2796: Real Estate Analysis

2023-06-30T22:20:57Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ insert [citation needed] where obviously needed

{{comic
| number = 2796
| date = June 30, 2023
| title = Real Estate Analysis
| image = real_estate_analysis_2x.png
| imagesize = 474x458px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Mars does get a good score on 'noise levels' and 'scenic views,' but the school district ranking isn't great; the only teacher--the Perseverance rover--is too busy with rock samples to teach more than the occasional weekend class.
}}

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

This comic shows a chart ranking locations in our solar system (the eight current planets and Earth's moon) along two scales: their walkability and their proximity to shops. As this is a "real estate analysis", this comic mocks real life "real estate analyses" for people who are looking to buy a new home. Walkability measures the ease of walking as a form of transportation in an area (often related to how urban that area is), and is measured by metrics like the 100-point walk score, with higher numbers representing easier and safer walking. Proximity to commercial shops and eating establishments can likewise be a factor for potential buyers looking for a convenient living environment. While no units are provided, proximity can be defined as a number that increases with decreasing distance.

Earth is rated as more walkable than the other locations, probably because humans can walk on much of its surface without immediate & continuous existential need for environmental survival gear (so far), and due to the gravity on its surface. Earth also rates high on the "proximity to shops and restaurants" scale because its surface hosts all commercial establishments known to humans; most of businesses are within a few building stories of the surface, though some "shops" on airplanes are up to several kilometers above it. The next closest body, the Moon, is typically around 384,400 km away from Earth, about five orders of magnitude further from those businesses. Venus is 108 million km away while Uranus is 2.9 billion, so all these bodies' clustering near 0 on the proximity scale (where Earth has a 10) masks a large difference in accessibility. The gas giants Jupiter and Saturn are assessed marginally higher walkability scores than the solid Mercury (where temperatures are extreme, but do briefly pass through the range survivable for humans as the planet rotates); maybe their less-hostile (and, in the case of Ganymede and Titan, physically larger) moons are taken into account here.

Based on Earth's high score on both metrics, Randall makes the claim "I get why this place is so popular". Most humans would agree with Earth being preferable (no human is known to have permanently inhabited private real estate on any celestial body besides Earth{{Citation needed}}), but would be more concerned with local differences in livability.

The alt text comments that Mars did score high on the 'noise levels' and 'scenic views' scores: Having a thinner atmosphere and having (close to) zero sources of manmade noise, Mars is certainly silent, a quality that is desirable when searching for a home as lower noise levels help maintain a calm and relaxed lifestyle, and its large, barren scenery has been abundantly documented by the several rovers sent to its surface, resulting in widespread fascination with its serene landscapes. However, it then states the 'school district' ranking (proximity to a good schooling system, which is also desirable, especially by families) is rather poor on account of there being only one available teacher - the rover ''Perseverance'' - and it being too busy with its rock samples. ''Perseverance'' is (at the time of this comic's publication) a still-active Mars rover whose main purpose is to examine minerals from Mars' surface and scan them for signs compatible with ancient life: while it could hypothetically serve as a teacher (using its memory banks as teaching material, for instance), doing so would greatly interfere with its main mission if done regularly.

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

:[A graph is shown. Both axes have a label with an arrow and 10 visible ticks.]
:Y-axis: Walkability score
:X-axis: Proximity to shops and restaurants
:[Labels of multiple dots at around (0, 0), clockwise:]
:Mars, The Moon, Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter
:[Label of a dot at roughly (9.5, 9.5):]
:Earth

:[Caption below the panel:]
:After doing a real estate analysis, I get why this place is so popular.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]

2787: Iceberg

2023-06-10T03:49:00Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ insert tag genuinely calling for a citation

{{comic
| number = 2787
| date = June 9, 2023
| title = Iceberg
| image = iceberg_2x.png
| imagesize = 258x397px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 90% of the iceberg is hidden beneath the water, but that 90% only uses 10% of its brain, so it's really only 9%.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MISUNDERSTOOD ICEBERG. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is one of many comics in the [[My Hobby]] series. The previous comic in this series was [[2733: Size Comparisons]], released just over 4 months prior.

The [https://www.agcas.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/Resources/ITG/iceberg_metaphor.pdf iceberg metaphor] is a famous metaphor sometimes [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31633371/ misattributed to Freud]. It asserts that the majority (often stated as 90%) of an iceberg is out of sight below the surface, as a metaphor for the invisible aspects of something. For instance, about 95% of the mass in the universe does not appear to be in the form of ordinary ("baryonic") matter, but rather dark matter and dark energy. Excluding dark energy, dark matter accounts for about 85% of the total mass of the universe. So baryonic matter is like the "tip of the iceberg," visible to us above the surface, while dark matter is the invisible majority of the iceberg below the surface.

The author deliberately misunderstands the metaphor by taking it literally. He thinks the teacher is saying the part of an iceberg below the surface is literally made of dark matter. He points out that the {{w|Titanic}} sank after its hull hit an iceberg underwater, which wouldn't be possible if it were made of dark matter. Dark matter is not known to interact at all with ordinary baryonic matter except by gravity, and we have detected it only gravitationally.

The title text references the myth that we use only 10% of our brain, and we could become more intelligent or powerful by "unlocking" the remaining 90%. If icebergs had brains, and the 90% in the "dark matter" part underwater used only 10% of its brain, while the tip used 100% of its brain, then most of the cognition would occur in the tip. However, the "9%" figure would still be meaningless; it should instead be 9/19 = 47.37%. In reality, human beings use pretty much all of their brain. They just don't use it all at the same time. Doing so wouldn't result in heightened intelligence or superpowers, but a (most likely fatal) seizure.{{Actual citation needed}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing on a podium and pointing to a chart depicting an iceberg in the water.]
:Off screen voice: But then how did it interact with the ordinary baryonic matter in the Titanic's hull?
:[Label of iceberg above the water:] Normal Matter
:[Label of iceberg beneath the water:] Dark Matter

:[Caption below panel:]
:My Hobby: Refusing to understand the iceberg metaphor

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: My Hobby]]
[[Category: Physics]]

Talk:2775: Siphon

2023-05-13T02:54:09Z

Catherine: Suggesting an explanation of why the title text is not about stars.

My understanding was that siphoning can essentially be explained by the Bernoulli equation? There is a difference in potential energy between the upper and lower container so it flows. The weight of water in the downhill part of the tube pulls water up the uphill section of the tube (think like a vacuum), and so on until there's either no difference in head or no more water. Siphoning will work with any diameter tube. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 15:43, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:That's right. The only mention of capillary action in the siphon wikipedia article is when talking about phenomenon that *isn't* a siphon. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:15, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Agree, capillary action does not seem to be referenced or implied in the comic, presenting only the (not "functioning") siphon phenomenon. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.134.142|172.68.134.142]] 16:23, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:Seconded/thirded. Capillary action isn't even what they were expecting. The small amount of water in the lowe receptical indicates they correctly ''filled'' the tube, but then as the longer length drained it did not then induce further flow up and over through the shorter length. e.g. nature no longer abhored the resulting vacuum (or there was increased negative-pressure vapourisation, beyond that previously expected, or other method of seepage 'airlock'-breaking) and thus the short-end also drained straight back out again instead of becoming a potentially self-sustaining inflow to the whole siphoning setup.
::If the upper end got restricted (say by touching the side of the bucket) the loss of flow would allow air to enter the bottom end and drain out the tube. I've done this. :-( [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 19:07, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:While the capilliary action element ''could'' induce the start of a rather limited 'empty' siphon setup to start (maybe, I'd have doubts about the 'fluid friction' actually acting against the gravity-feed part, once the surface-tension bit has "climbed the mountain" and started to merely seep out of the other end, almost incidentally, for a sufficiently thin tubing where CA is a significant factor), this suddenly failing for whatever reason (surface-tension effects being nullified) wouldn't then send a token amount of water into the low bucket, nor particularly stop unrelated siphon-flow from continuing properly (in fact, suddenly 'interaction-free' liquid and tubing might siphon ''faster'', with effectively zero fluid boundary effects dragging on the induced flow).
:But perhaps someone with more QFD experience could explain where my assessment is wrong. So not going to personally rewrite the current Explanation intro just now. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.161|172.70.162.161]] 16:21, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:I'd like to contribute as one more data point. I also don't see capillary action as being relevant. In particular, as another commenter said, the water in the lower bucket quite clearly supports the idea that the siphon effect was the subject of the characters' confusion. How else is Randall supposed to depict the siphon effect anyway? I agree that the drawing alone ''could'' also suggest capillary action is what's being investigated, but I don't think it suggests that the caption has ''incorrectly'' referred to it as the siphon effect. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.100|172.71.254.100]] 18:44, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Of course, if some physical law would actually stop working, people wouldn't be confused. They would drop dead. Due to physical laws working on level of elementary particles, every change would have lot of different effects ... and living organism live only thanks to being very carefully balanced in lot of regards. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:49, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

== Potential inspiration ==

One potential source of inspiration for this comic is the Twitter [https://twitter.com/earth_updates account @Earth_Updates], which produces a lot of similar content. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:54, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

== Title text ==

Isn't the title text about stars like our sun rather than about plutonium? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.95|198.41.242.95]] 00:55, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
:Seems to me unlikely that anyone would refer to stars as 'rocks'.[[User:Catherine|Catherine]] ([[User talk:Catherine|talk]]) 02:54, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

2774: Taxiing

2023-05-13T02:28:46Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ Explain use of 'ramp' to refer to the apron in some parts of the world

{{comic
| number = 2774
| date = May 10, 2023
| title = Taxiing
| image = taxiing_2x.png
| imagesize = 399x431px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I don't understand why anyone would pay full price for a flatbed truck rental when you can buy 'DETOUR' signs online for like $10.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a STOLEN WATERBED TRUCK - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[File:A Polish airman marshals a U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft March 13, 2014, at Lask Air Base, Poland 140313-F-BH566-088.jpg|thumb|400px| A marshaller marshalling, indicating the airplane should stop. Or possibly a {{w|Sith}}. (From Wikimedia Commons)]]
In this comic, [[Cueball]] is directing an airplane with marshalling wands onto a ramp that leads onto a trailer. The caption reveals he is not an actual aircraft marshal, but is trying to steal the airplane by misleading the real pilot. Randall, as Cueball, says the "glowing wand things" were bought cheaply on the internet, much cheaper than it would have been to buy the plane he is now stealing.

Stealing such a plane does not work, however, for the simple reason that an {{w|Airbus A320}}'s main gear bogies are 7.6 meters apart; and those of a {{w|Boeing 737}} 5.7 meters. No trailer is that wide. Even transporting the fuselage alone (A320: 3.96 meters wide, B737: 3.76 meters) would need a police escort on the road. This problem can be solved though, by the timely acquisition of a police car (donut: $1.50).

{{w|Aircraft marshalling|Marshallers}} stand or walk on aircraft pathways and use marshalling wands to direct planes around while they are taxiing. Another part of the joke is that the apron of an aiport, the area where marshallers most often work and where airplanes will typically be parked during trans-loading of passengers and cargo, is also referred to as 'the ramp', mainly in the US, Canada, the Maldives, and the Philippines.

The title text mentions doing a similar thing, but with detour signs rather than glow wands and flatbed trucks rather than planes. Cueball may have used this tactic to obtain the truck he is loading the airplane onto.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is waving two orange sticks in the air, one in each hand. They are glowing as indicated with small orange lines all around the orange part. The handle he holds them by is black. Cueball is pointing one stick to the left where, behind him, is a ramp that extends beyond the panel. The other stick is held up in front of his face and he looks up onto the front end of a large plane. Only a small part of the plane is visible, mainly the very tip with just a bit of the window into the cockpit shown. The underside of the tip is gray, the rest is white with the window in black.]
:Cueball: ...Keep going...
:Cueball: ...Slightly left...
:Cueball: ...Okay, good...you're lined up with the ramp...
:Cueball: ...Now pull forward slowly up onto the trailer...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't understand why anyone would pay full price for an airplane when you can buy those glowing wand things online for like $30.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Aviation]]

Talk:2764: Cosmological Nostalgia Content

2023-04-21T22:14:48Z

Catherine: laughing at another post

When I added the transcript it broke the "Created by a BOT" tag on explanation, even though I didn't touch explanation [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.98|172.71.151.98]] 05:30, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
:No, it was broken before your edit. Someone else changed "BOT" to "Z=90s KID". The equal sign causes problems for mediawiki, but it's been fixed now. --[[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 06:03, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
::For anyone who would benefit from a deeper explanation: 
::In the syntax for templates, equals signs come after parameter names (see [[mw:Help:Templates#Parameters|Help:Templates § Parameters]]). So, <code>Created by a Z</code> was parsed as the name of a nonexistent template parameter, and <code>90s KID - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.</code> was passed in as that parameter's value. 
::That still wouldn't necessarily be a problem. It just also left the first parameter empty. This specific template is programmed to show an error message when that happens. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]] 06:13, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Two times the red tint around Megan has been mentioned, in explanation and transcript... I cannot see that, no matter how much I zoon in. Is it actually there (can it be measured on the image file?) or is it just someone who wished it was like that? If it can be measrued it should be explained and if not then the mention should be deleted --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:13, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
:What I meant was that Megan's line art in this comic appeared more brownish/reddish to me than the line art of the other characters. Specifically, the colour hex #472425 using an online colour hex checker. --[[User:Multiuniverse|Multiuniverse]] ([[User talk:Multiuniverse|talk]]) 07:22, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

:It's definitely there, but I didn't notice it until I saw it mentioned. It's subtle enough that I imagine certain displays or differences in individual color perception could make it harder to see, but trust me, it's certainly there. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.5|162.158.222.5]] 07:24, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

::Why is everyone so unsure? it's definitely there. [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:00, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

:::Not all monitors have the same quality, I can imagine that on some cheapish laptop screens it can be a lot harder to see -- [[Special:Contributions/172.71.131.134|172.71.131.134]] 12:20, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
:::: On this laptop (Dell Latitude 600 - good for its time, a rather archaic thing now) it shows ''just''. Took the explanation mentioning it for me to notice. (And, yes, I'm using pretty archaic kit, at this moment. Though not my oldest, because I tend not to throw away 'perfectly working' things. That said, when it comes to remembering how the universe is, I'm not ''quite'' in the "I remember when all this was fields" category...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.203|172.71.242.203]] 19:31, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

:::For me: {{w|Congenital_red–green_color_blindness|red green color blindness}} [[User:Josot|Josot]] ([[User talk:Josot|talk]]) 12:27, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

For anybody wondering: the current (accurately measured) {{w|Redshift#Highest_redshifts|Highest redshifts}} is z = 11.1 [[User:Josot|Josot]] ([[User talk:Josot|talk]]) 12:31, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Isn't it a bit ironic that Randall now clearly identifies "Want to feel old" content as clickbait, while I remember that he himself did a number of comics around that topic some years ago? I imagine that he changed his opinion BECAUSE that became such a popular clickbait topic. Could you link to some of these older comics?
("Want to feel old? Randall Munroe did "want to feel old" comics closer to the inception of xkcd than to today.")--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.38|172.71.160.38]] 07:47, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
: 😄 --[[User:Catherine|Catherine]] ([[User talk:Catherine|talk]]) 22:14, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Light's velocity is limited only by the speed of causality. As such, I'd recommend modifying the language about light having a "finite" velocity. Technically speaking, the speed of a photon, from the photon's perspective, is non-existent, and what the photon sees, traveling at the speed of causality, is everything happening all at once across it's path. In other words, from the perspective of the photon, there is no passage of time. However, simultaneity varies based on the perspective of the observer.

;InB4
Before anyone embarrasses themself by asking, "multimanteau" is obviously a portmanteau of "multiple" and "portmanteau". Sheesh, get with the neurolinguistic program. "Phrasemanteau" would also be an acceptable neologism. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:48, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not fond of a explanation needing an explanation :/
The first relevant use of "multimanteau" found by Google is this page
[[User:Victor|Victor]] ([[User talk:Victor|talk]]) 09:01, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
::Presumably that makes everything else a unimanteau?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.67|172.70.85.67]] 14:40, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
:::That word and the first sentence needs to be deleted from the explanation! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:43, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

;Inconstant "Constant"
I find it weird that so much professional study still refers to an assumed "cosmological constant", when it is observably ''not'' constant. Feels like we should be calling it "the cosmological value", since expansion has not been occurring uniformly & considerable localized variation in "vacuum energy" seems relatively certain. Parts of the observable universe are considerably older than the "big bang" that so much theory is hung upon; what part of "these laws are localized effects, not unchanging constants" has ''not'' been obvious, for >30 years?
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:31, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
:This may be related to the fact that there are so many actual problems around the cosmological "constant" that noone wants to bother renaming it before getting better idea what it actually is. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:01, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
:: I'm in agreement with you,[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]], with a slight change. In most of the sciences we call something that's not constant a "variable". Thus we'd have the "cosmologicial variable". Which admittedly does not roll off the tongue as easily. Maybe "cosmic variable" instead? Which seems too alike a "Cepheid variable" star now. Hmm. Maybe I agree with [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] afterall. 😂 [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 13:40, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

;Missing comic
It's mid-morning (ET) on Thursday and there's still no new Wednesday comic. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:47, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
:Very late (definitely Thursday, I think in all time-zones if it isn't even Friday already), but now exists. The interactivity of it might have had to absorb more time to set up in a working manner... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.158|172.70.162.158]] 17:19, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

2717: L6 Lagrange Point

2022-12-30T22:30:29Z

Catherine: update population of LaGrange OH to figure from 2020 census

{{comic
| number = 2717
| date = December 27, 2022
| title = L6 Lagrange Point
| image = l6_lagrange_point_2x.png
| imagesize = 399x400px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's difficult to orbit L6 stably due to gravitational perturbation from Akron and Toledo.
}}

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

In celestial mechanics, the {{w|Lagrange point}}s are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Or in simpler terms, positions in space where objects can float motionless relative to the defining bodies. The L1, L2, and L3 points are unstable, as any drifting off the point (e.g. due to the gravity of other bodies) might quickly increase the tendency to depart the area. However, there are quasi-stable {{w|Halo orbit}}s around these points, like the one used by the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}}. The L4 and L5 points can actually retain objects stably over long periods, resulting in the Sun-Jupiter L4 and L5 points capturing the {{w|Trojan (celestial_body)|Trojan Asteroids}}.

There are five traditional Lagrange points. Two form equilateral triangles with the two massive objects (in this case the Earth and the Sun), and three more are collinear with the massive objects. Randall claims that a sixth Lagrange point has been discovered outside of {{w|Cleveland}}, {{w|Ohio}}. This is pretty obviously farcical, as this would be part of the Earth and thus not gravitationally balanced between Earth and the Sun, though it is balanced by the countering forces that hold anything stable on the surface of any body: {{w|gravity}} and {{w|electromagnetism}}. The joke here is that there actually is a small village named {{w|LaGrange, Ohio|LaGrange, OH}} (population 2,595 in 2020) just outside Cleveland ([https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lagrange,+OH+44050/ map]). However, the village name is spelled with a capital G, unlike {{w|Joseph-Louis Lagrange}} after which the Lagrange points were named.

The title text mentions {{w|Akron}} and {{w|Toledo,_Ohio|Toledo}}, two other large cities in Ohio. It says that their gravitational influence is the reason why orbits around the LaGrange L6 are unstable. Trying to orbit around a point on the ground would, of course, run into much more serious problems, {{w|lithobraking|such as the ground.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Grey on white diagram of the Earth orbiting the Sun, not to scale. Earth is depicted as a circle with pale grey continents on darker grey seas, and shows a view from above the North Pole without any Arctic ice. The sun is drawn surrounded by radially symmetrical exaggerated wave pattern.
:Also in grey, approximate locations of Lagrange points 1 to 5 are marked with dots and labels: "L1" "L2" "L3" "L4" "L5".
:In black, a point on the Earth's surface within the boundary of a continent that could be North America. Also in black, an arrow pointing towards the point, and the label "L6".
:[Caption below the panel:]
:Huge space news: Astronomers have discovered a new Lagrange point just outside Cleveland.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Science]]

2223: Screen Time

2019-11-01T23:20:48Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ Insert {{Citation needed}} where needed

{{comic
| number = 2223
| date = November 1, 2019
| title = Screen Time
| image = screen_time.png
| titletext = These new Bluetooth socks are great, but it's troubling to learn that I average almost 14 hours of Shoe Time a day.
}}

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

Today, people spend much of their time looking at the screens of their phones, tablets, computers, and other devices. This has caused controversy, with many people arguing this leads to addiction, other health risks, or simply people not talking to each other. There are apps available to help manage the time people spend on their devices. But this comic parodies these apps, suggesting that the problem is so bad, that it would be easier to track the time NOT spent on these devices. Of course, the irony is that you have to look at the screen and/or pay attention to your device in order to use that app, so it's yet another app designed to keep your attention on your device.

Like many screen time apps, this comic compares this week's non-screen time to the previous week, saying that the user has increased 6%. Many screen time apps also do this, where a negative percentage is desirable. A possible benefit of this app is that positive is desirable, which could be considered more intuitive.

The title text takes the idea of a screen time app to the next level, describing a "shoe time" app for how much time people spend using their shoes. It's unclear what the practical use is for such an app, as there is little controversy about the prevalence of shoes in our society.{{Citation needed}} Possibly the point is that use of phones have become so constant in our lives that using them for many hours a day is as unremarkable as using shoes for many hours a day. Perhaps since it's the socks that are bluetooth-enabled, they are reporting negatively about almost constant obstruction by shoes, whereas the socks would prefer to report a much lower "Shoe Time" score. Some cultures have the custom of taking shoes off when in the house, so those people would boast lower (and presumably more favorable) "Shoe Time" scores.

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

:[Cueball holding phone.] 
:Phone: Screen time report: 
:Phone: While awake, you averaged 2H 48M per day looking at things other than your phone. That's up 6% from last week! 
:[Caption]: At some point, it starts making more sense to track '''''non'''''-screen time.
{{comic discussion}}

2217: 53 Cards

2019-10-25T21:17:52Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ Add {{Citation needed}} where needed

{{comic
| number = 2217
| date = October 18, 2019
| title = 53 Cards
| image = 53_cards.png
| titletext = Well, there's one right here at the bottom, where it says "53."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 53-CARD DECK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic [[Cueball]] claims that he has found a way to manipulate a {{w|Standard 52-card deck|52-card deck}} into a 53-card deck with ''only'' shuffling and rearranging. This is absurd, since neither of those actions are capable of adding new cards to the deck.{{Citation needed}} Cueball backs up his claim with a flowchart style diagram containing images of card decks along with unreadable text, with the number 52 next to the deck at top and the number 53 next to the deck at the bottom.

[[Ponytail]] states that he has not done such a thing, but Cueball then challenges Ponytail to find an error in his math as given in the complicated flow chart. This is an aggressive defense that some people employ when challenged that, intentionally or not, has the effect of discouraging argument because making false claims often takes less effort than refuting them.

The caption below the comic states this is also how every conversation runs between a physicist and a {{w|perpetual motion}} enthusiast, i.e. one who likes the notion that it could be possible for a mechanical system to work indefinitely without any external input of energy. The {{w|laws of thermodynamics}} - which are some of the most foundational and well-tested physical laws that we have - say that this is impossible as it would involve creating energy out of nowhere - similarly to how Cueball's process somehow creates an entire extra card out of nowhere, despite this making no physical or logical sense.

With this comic [[Randall]] makes it clear that he sees the creation of extra matter (and extra card) is as far fetched as creating the energy out of nothing that would be required for perpetual motion. But he makes it more clear how far out this is with this card trick.

In the title text, Ponytail responds to Cueball's challenge with snark, claiming that the most obvious error is the fact that the formula's result is "53". The implication is that his math results in the wrong ''answer'', which is proof that the calculations must contain errors. This, of course, starts with the assumption that Cueball's claimed result is impossible, rather than attempting to find the flaws in his specific method. Because most people would conclude, by basic physical reasoning, that merely shuffling and rearranging a deck of cards cannot increase the number of cards in the deck, that feels like a safe assumption. By analogy, increasing the amount of energy in a system only by moving and transferring energy, should be equally impossible, on its face.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing next to a flowchart, with Cueball gesturing to it.]:
:Cueball: I've found a way to turn a 52-card deck into 53 cards by shuffling and rearranging them.
:Ponytail: No, you haven't.
:Cueball: How do you know?! I challenge you to find an error in my math!

:[The flow chart consist of 15 boxes of different sizes, connected with arrows. In four of them (top, bottom and two in the middle) a deck of card is shown. Next to the top and bottom a number is written, near the other two, which are the only round boxes, numbers are shown in one of the nearby boxes instead. Beneath the top box there are two boxes with readable text. The other 7 boxes, without numbers or card decks have unreadable text. From top to bottom are the readable content:]
:52
:Shuffle
:Cut
:21
:38
:53

:[Caption below the panel]:
:Every conversation between a physicist and a perpetual motion enthusiast.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

2213: How Old

2019-10-11T23:56:28Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ insert "Citation needed"

{{comic
| number = 2213
| date = October 9, 2019
| title = How Old
| image = how_old.png
| titletext = We've met! I remember you when you were thiiiis tall! [*holds a hand an inch above their head*]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an someone with problems with social interactions. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Another comic of the [[:Category:Tips|tips type]], this time regarding one of [[Randall|Randall's]] problems, [[:Category:Social interactions|social interactions]], this time including an ''interaction tip''.

[[White Hat]] introduces his dad to [[Cueball]], who then expresses a reaction more typical of people being introduced to children, by saying ''Aww, how old is he?''

When introduced to a young kid, saying "aww" is accepted as normal, because the speaker thinks the little child is cute. The speaker also wishes both to know the age of the kid and to give the kid a chance to answer this question.

But when meeting someone older this would feel very awkward, and Randall, indicating he is very awkward around other (normal) people, continues to make this type of comic about problems with social interactions. Hence for others with his problems, this comic gives an interaction tip in the caption, letting you know that ''How Old?'' (the title of the comic) is a common question to ask only when introduced to kids, not to older people such as elderly parents. Another excellent example of how Randall also doesn't know how to speak with people with children can be seen in [[1650: Baby]].

White Hat's father is wearing a {{w|sailor cap}} like the old version of Cueball in [[572: Together]] and as other old people both in [[586: Mission to Culture]] and [[1910: Sky Spotters]].

In the title text, Cueball continues down the road to awkwardness by saying other things normally reserved for meeting kids. Here he notes that he has actually met White Hat's father before, but so long ago that he since has changed height. For kids this usually means they have grown taller, but old people, who have long stopped growing, will over time become more compressed and lose height. So apart from saying that he remembers when White Hat's father was ''thiiiis tall'', he also holds his hand an inch (2.54 cm) above the father's head to indicate this age-related height loss. For a growing child, he would instead have held his hand some distance below the top of their head.

This interaction would be really embarrassing for White Hat and his father, as being made aware of aging is usually not something people like to be confronted with by someone they hardly know, and being treated like a child is embarrassing.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[White Hat holds his hand out towards a man with a sailor-cap standing to the left in the image while addressing Cueball standing to the right.]
:White Hat: I'd like you to meet my dad.
:Cueball: Aww, how old is he?

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Interaction tip: This is a common question to ask parents about their kids, but for some reason in the other direction it's weird.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2212: Cell Phone Functions

2019-10-11T23:52:40Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ Insert "Citation needed" where needed

{{comic
| number = 2212
| date = October 7, 2019
| title = Cell Phone Functions
| image = cell_phone_functions.png
| titletext = ... tazer ... fire extinguisher ... bird feeder ... toilet paper ...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an xkcd phone. Identify the type of chart, create table for functions rather than listing them in paragraphs. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic pokes fun at the ever-increasing function of smartphones and their users' reliance on them. It starts out sensible: Calling, browsing the Internet, and taking pictures are the most prominent examples of tasks that many if not most people use a smartphone for instead of a specific device nowadays. The next item, newspaper, extends the Internet's capabilities (either from within the mobile browser or as a dedicated app), and the next, flashlight, repurposes the phone camera's flash unit; both are now commonplace features of smartphones. Some people even use their smartphone as the remote for their TV (either via RF wireless [e.g., WiFi] for smart TVs, or via their phone's infrared port) or to pay in stores using payment providers like Google Play Wallet, Samsung Pay, or Apple Pay, which utilize the {{w|near-field communication}} functionality of modern smartphones. A few cars now support using a phone app instead of a key fob, rendering yet another item obsolete; apparently Randall just started using this feature on his car, as this item is in the very recent past in the comic's diagram.

Then the comic drifts off into smartphone capabilities either not yet possible or likely never to be possible. These capabilities are right of the "now" mark, meaning Randall has not switched to using a smartphone for them: One cannot currently use a phone app as a dog leash, nor as an adhesive bandage. While using a phone as a steering wheel is possible (likely interfacing with the car's self-driving features), it would be a reversal of current initiatives to prevent drivers from using cell phones while driving. Things get increasingly odd, to the point where a smartphone is allegedly used as a toothbrush. Several items would require physical changes to the phone and not just repurposing existing capabilities, such as operating as a cheese grater, stapler or nail clipper, which would make the phone look and feel more like a Swiss Army Knife instead.{{Citation needed}}

The title text continues this path by continuing the list of objects his phone will supposedly replace. These include a "tazer" (a misspelling of {{w|taser}}), a fire extinguisher, a bird feeder, and toilet paper, continuing the path of absurdity the comic implies with its supposed future uses for a phone.

'''Possible ways the phone could be used for future activities:'''

* Dog leash

While this could be a physical leash that spools out of the phone, it would more likely be some kind of an electronic leash, which would activate an electronic dog collar which would somehow (mild shock? vibration? ultrasonic or audible sound?) alert and/or stop the dog when it gets too far from the phone.

* Steering wheel

This could entail rotating the phone in the same manner as one rotates a steering wheel, it could involved dragging your finger on the screen on a picture of a steering wheel, or, less literally, it could be more along the lines of a self-driving car where you use the phone to designate a destination, and the phone (or car) would steer the car automatically to get there. A phone that can steer a car was featured as a {{w|List of James Bond gadgets|James Bond gadget}} in the film ''{{w|Tomorrow Never Dies}}''.

* {{w|Band-Aid}}

As a way to cover wounds, it could dispense physical adhesive strips, such as Band-Aid brand strips. It might also contain a liquid or gel that would harden over a wound to seal it. It's unlikely this could be done without some physical substance which would need to be replenished some time after use, unless Randall widened the definition of Band-Aid to include devices such as dermal regenerators featured in Star Trek.

* {{w|Cheese grater}}

This would be relatively easy but impractical, adding bulk to the phone and risking accidentally grating or slicing substances other than cheese, such as your hand or your pocket. You might also get cheese particles in the phone; a water proof or water resistant phone might be okay, but those ratings generally do not test for cheese dust.{{Citation needed}} This may be a reference to Homer’s personal organizer having a cheese grater in the Simpsons episode [https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Brother%27s_Little_Helper/Quotes Brother’s Little Helper].

* Stapler

This would again add bulk and require replenishing of supplies, and where the phone is presumably helping to eliminate paper, this would work counter to that goal as it would only be useful in the presence of paper. There are some "stapling" techniques that do not involve actual staples; they work by cutting and folding little bits of paper so a few sheets hang together. This would eliminate bulk and the need to store pieces of metal, but would be limited to very short stacks of just a few sheets of paper.

* Nail clipper

This might not be too hard or add too much bulk, but it's just one more of potentially hundreds or thousands of little things that could be added but aren't justified based on how single-purpose the function is. Maybe as a general purpose cutter/scissors?

* Electric {{w|drill}}

More bulk, and it would be a real power drain for the batteries. Maybe that's why it's further into the future, as it probably depends on better battery technology. Many phones already have a built-in motor that rotates, purposely off-balance and meant to cause vibrations (for tactile notifications, especially when sound is turned off). Perhaps that could be made more powerful and given a center hole that can take a bit?

* Toothbrush

More bulk, and while useful it probably isn't useful enough to justify adding it to the phone. The phone should probably also dispense toothpaste, otherwise the toothbrush doesn't accomplish the goal of letting the phone completely replace the needed items for a particular function (brushing teeth in this case).

'''Mentioned in title text''':
* {{w|Taser}} (misspelled as ''tazer'' in the title text)

A Taser is a brand of "conducted electrical weapon", typically used as a "less-lethal" weapon by law enforcement. Commercial Tasers are also marketed for the general public for self-defense purposes. With the battery power available for a functional electric drill, a Taser may not be far behind. A Taser as a phone feature is not currently available, but other stun gun-type phone cases are [https://www.google.com/search?q=taser+phone+attachment already on the market].

* {{w|Fire extinguisher}}

While this might entail having to stock fire-controlling substances (water, Freon, powders, etc.), it's unlikely a phone could contain enough to do anything substantial against a fire. Perhaps there is a future and as yet unknown role for sound or light emissions in the combating of fires?

* {{w|Bird feeder}}

A phone could contains some seeds or bird food which could be dispensed, but most people would not want a bunch of birds too near their phone, especially pooping on it. Again, not very practical for the space those seeds would take, and it would need frequent refilling.

* {{w|Toilet paper}}

Definitely not... unless maybe those fictitious sound waves or vibrations or light could be used to "shake" the poop or dirt particles loose, like in Star Trek's sonic showers, and not require actual paper or physical contact. Or unless a wirelessly controlled bidet becomes ubiquitous.

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

:[A graph with time on the x axis and items Randall replaced with his smartphone on the y axis. For each item, the time he (allegedly) replaced it is marked; the marks form a jagged line down the graph, roughly sorted by when he switched. The regions are marked]
: I have a specific device for this
:[and]
: I just use my phone
: [items where the switch-over date is in the past:]
: Telephone
: Web Browser
: Camera
: Newspaper
: Flashlight
: TV Remote
: Credit Card
: Car Key
:[items where the switch-over date is in the future:]
: Dog Leash
: Steering Wheel
: Band-Aid
: Cheese Grater
: Stapler
: Nail Clipper
: Electric Drill
: Toothbrush

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

2209: Fresh Pears

2019-10-05T09:32:03Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ "citation neeed" for explanation of implausibility

{{comic
| number = 2209
| date = September 30, 2019
| title = Fresh Pears
| image = fresh_pears.png
| titletext = I want to sell apples but I'm still working on getting the machine to do the cutting and grafting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PEAR VENDING MACHINE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Megan]] tries to purchase a fresh {{w|pear}} for 50¢, as advertised by a sign next to the vending machine she uses. She asks [[Beret Guy]], presumably the owner and creator of the machine, why her pear has not arrived yet after she has put her coin into the slot. He explains that it is not broken but that ''it just takes a while to work''.

Behind the front of the machine, thus hidden from Megan, we see that what the machine does is dispense a seed into the dirt via a small cannon. Above it is a robotic arm and a hopper for collecting and dispensing the ripened pears. So it seems that Megan will have to rattle the coin-slot "a while" before she gets her fresh pear.

The term "a while" is ambiguous, but in the context of waiting for a vending machine to dispense food, it's usually assumed to be a matter of seconds. Beret Guy, in his typical surrealist [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|approach to business]], seems to consider it reasonable to wait at the machine for years until a tree has sprouted from the dispensed seed, grown to maturity and begun bearing fruit, that could be picked by the robotic arm and dispensed to the buyer. This could easily take [https://www.starkbros.com/growing-guide/article/how-many-years/ between 5-8 years] for a pear tree, when starting only with a seed!

While such a pear would indeed be "fresh", it's implausible that anyone would accept that kind of lag time in buying a pear at a vending machine, even if it is cheap, particularly considering that any number of factors could interfere with the production of pears in the meantime.{{Citation needed}}

It seems Megan is one of the first to use the machine, as no pear sprouts are shown behind the machine.

The title text refers to the increased difficulty in cultivating desirable {{w|apples}}, as compared to other fruits. Apples cannot be reliably produced from seeds, seedlings often don't survive, and even when they do, they don't generally reflect the characteristics of the parent plant. As a result, apple orchards are created by {{w|grafting}} tissue from desirable trees onto suitable rootstock. This process is more complex and labor-intensive than simply planting seeds.

The joke, then, is that the next planned version of the machine would not only require the user to wait years, but would also involve as-yet unavailable technology to automatically perform the grafting process as to create an apple tree that produces desirable fruit.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is rattling the coin-slot of a machine while Beret Guy stands behind her arm held out towards her. The Machine has a tall wall in front of Megan, with only the coin-slot and a dispenser visible to her. Behind it is a hopper connected to the dispenser. On top of that is a two time folded arm with a gripper at the end. Below this is a box with a label. Beneath the box is a small cannon like protrusion, which shoots something into the dirt to the left of the machine. There are lines indicating both the explosion, the trajectory of the projectile and the impact with sounds noted at either end. Behind White Hat is a sign.]
:Box Label: Seeds
:Cannon: Ptoo
:Impact: Thwup
:Coin-slot: ''Rattle rattle''
:Megan: I put in my quarters. Is the machine broken?
:Beret Guy: It just takes a while to work.
:Sign: Fresh pears 50¢

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category: Food]]

Talk:2187: Geologic Time

2019-08-10T10:29:20Z

Catherine: Mildly challenging Fabian42's suggestion that being in the USA is a prerequisite for understanding this comic.

Football pitches don't have five-yard lines…{{unsigned ip|141.101.98.148}}
:You pitch a baseball, not a football.{{unsigned ip|172.69.170.88}}
::Yes and in the comic it does say Football field. And Randall is known for not knowing anything about sport, so he may project this onto the geologist and not let her know about the five yard line... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:26, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
::And at the risk of being picky, I'm sure Randall is talking about an American football field, which does have five-yard lines. They just don't have a label on the field, which is only the ten-yard lines, but there is a line across the field every five yards. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 00:05, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

Should we have a geology category, like we have [[:Category:Geography]] and many other science categories? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:26, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
:Just realizes I could easily find more than 10 comics that would fit into that category, so I have created it: [[:Category:Geology]]

This reminds me of The Cosmic Calendar from Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" TV Series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln8UwPd1z20 [[User:Gpg|Gpg]] ([[User talk:Gpg|talk]]) 20:29, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
:The title text reminds me of a cartoon I once read where these two guys talk to God hidden in the clouds. Guy: ''God is it true that a million years feel like a minute to you?'' God: ''Yes my son.'' Guy: ''Is it also true that a million dollars would be like a dime to you?'' God: ''Yes my son, that is true!'' Guy: ''God, could you spare a dime for me?'' God: ''Yes my son, in a minute.'' :-D --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:10, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

What does anything in this comic mean? Asking for… absolutely everyone in every single country except the USA. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:38, 10 August 2019 (UTC)
:I think there are a few people outside the USA who understand yards and feet, and even what an American football field is. [[User:Catherine|Catherine]] ([[User talk:Catherine|talk]]) 10:29, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

2186: Dark Matter

2019-08-10T10:14:04Z

Catherine: /* Explanation */ citation needed for last statement

{{comic
| number = 2186
| date = August 7, 2019
| title = Dark Matter
| image = dark_matter.png
| titletext = To detect dark matter, we just need to build a bird feeder that spins two squirrels around the rim in opposite directions at relativistic speeds and collides them together.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DARK MATTER SQUIRREL ON A SPINNING BIRD FEEDER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are talking about {{w|dark matter}}, the mysterious invisible mass observed indirectly by the rate at which galaxies rotate. Megan states that dark matter's density in the solar system is 0.3 GeV/cm3, as claimed, for example, by [https://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4033 Bovy and Tremaine (2012) "On the local dark matter density" in ''The Astrophysical Journal''.] Cueball does not understand what that means, so Megan explains that it equates to one squirrel's mass of dark matter in the volume of the {{w|Earth}}. In the final two panels, Cueball humorously misinterprets this as implying dark matter is actually one or more squirrels, and thereby provides the mass which causes [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHu-UJaK0Q squirrels to spin on bird feeders designed to deter them] while birds, with lower mass, do not. This enrages Megan.

The {{w|gigaelectronvolt}} (GeV) is a unit of energy that can be converted to a mass using {{w|Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence|Einstein's formula}} ''E'' = ''mc''2. It is typically used for subatomic particles, such as {{w|weakly interacting massive particles}} (WIMPs), one of {{w|Dark matter#Composition of dark matter: baryonic vs. nonbaryonic|several contending possibilities}} for the still-open question of the composition of dark matter, and one which Megan's uniform density figure implies constitutes most of it. For example, the mass of a proton is 0.938 GeV/''c''2. However, it is common to omit the ''c''2 denominator, representing masses as GeV or MeV. A mass represented as 0.3 GeV is equal to 5.35 × 10−25 grams [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.3+(GeV%2Fc%5E2)+in+grams]. Since the {{w|Figure_of_the_Earth#Volume|Earth's volume}} is 1.083 × 1027 cm3 Megan's figures imply that a {{w|squirrel}} has a mass of about 1.3 lb (1.083 x 5.35 × 1027−25 g = 580 g [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(0.3+(GeV%2Fc%5E2)%2Fcm%5E3)+*+(volume+of+earth)+in+grams]), a typical weight for several species of common squirrels.

[[:Category:Squirrels|Squirrels]] are a recurring topic on xkcd, but are not a serious alternative to WIMPs as a scientific explanation for [[2035: Dark Matter Candidates|the composition of dark matter]]. Since the September 2015 detection by the {{w|LIGO|Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory}} (LIGO) and subsequent confirmation by the {{w|Virgo interferometer}} of gravitational waves from unexpectedly many merging {{w|black hole|black holes}} substantially more massive than those produced by stellar collapse, {{w|primordial black hole| primordial black holes}} (PBHs) have become a popular alternative explanation to WIMPs (or squirrels), attracting [https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04023 proponents at NASA,] and [http://www.buchaltercosmologyprize.org/#announcements other cosmologists] for [https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.10458 several reasons.] But PBHs remain controversial, because if they constituted more than a very small portion of dark matter, [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2041-8205/720/1/L67 alternative explanations would be almost entirely excluded.]

Other alternative hypotheses for the observations suggesting dark matter, such as theories involving the {{w|Modified Newtonian dynamics|gravitational force varying over different distances}}, often upset cosmologists as much as Megan is shown to be, because they violate the {{w|cosmological principle}} among other issues. Part of this frustration may be due to the fact that even after many decades of careful, tremendously expensive, and often [http://www.allesfoen.de/artinscience/wordpress/?p=236 stunningly beautiful] experiments, none of the many explanations for dark matter or the observations suggesting it have as yet any support from direct empirical observations.

To help resolve this mystery, the title text imagines using a spinning bird feeder like a {{w|particle accelerator}}, colliding squirrels at relativistic speeds as if they were atomic nuclei, to detect dark matter particles like the CERN accelerator discovered the {{w|Higgs boson}}. (Note, however, that accelerating even [https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ one squirrel] to relativistic velocities would destroy the feeder along with any nearby birds, not to mention the squirrels, and the surrounding city.[[[285|''citation needed'']]])

==Transcript==
:[Megan walks with Cueball. She is holding a hand out while telling Cueball something.]
:Megan: Dark matter density in the solar system is around 0.3 GeV/cm3
:Cueball: Is... that a lot?

:[As they continue to walk and talk she spreads her arms out.]
:Megan: In terms of mass, it means the Earth contains one squirrel worth of dark matter at any given time.
:Cueball: Wow.

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball stops while Megan walks past him. Megan is face-palming herself while looking down.]
:Cueball: Is there any way to find out which squirrel it is?
:Megan: No, it's not literally-

:[Cueball holds his hand with one finger up in front of Megan, while she has turned towards him and is holding both arms up, possible with balled fist, as she shouts back at him, shown both with large fat letters and with small lines emanating above her head.]
:Cueball: Oh, that explains why they weigh enough to set off those spinning bird feeders!
:Megan: '''''Dark matter isn't squirrels!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Physics]]