explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-22T01:02:11Z

FPSCanarussia: Added preliminary explanation for Fahrenheit

{{comic
| number = 3001
| date = October 21, 2024
| title = Temperature Scales
| image = temperature_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x535px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.
}}

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

There are many different temperature scales. Most of the world uses [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius Celsius], as it is part of the metric system, which most of the world has adopted. However, the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar use the imperial system, where the unit to measure temperature is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit Fahrenheit]. There are also many more temperature scales, most notably [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin Kelvin]. This comic showcases these as well as a lot of mostly unused scales.

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Unit
! scope="col" | Water Freezing Point
! scope="col" | Water Boiling Point
! scope="col" | Notes
! scope="col" | Cursedness
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Celsius || 0 || 100 || Used in most of the world || 2/10 || All but 3 countries use degrees Celsius as their default measurement of temperature. Celsius is defined so that the freezing and boiling points of pure water at standard atmospheric pressure are 0 and 100 degrees respectively. This (along with Kelvin) is considered the least cursed temperature system, likely due to Randall's background. Notably it is still considered a 2/10, implying an inherent degree of cursedness for all systems.
|-
| Kelvin || 273.15 || 373.15 || 0K is absolute zero || 2/10 || Kelvin is a scientific unit of measure invented by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kelvin Lord Kelvin] that uses the same base metric as degrees Celsius, but zero is set to absolute zero. The numeric difference between Kelvins and degrees Celsius is 273.15.
|-
| Fahrenheit || 32 || 212 || Outdoors in most places is between 0-100 || 3/10 || Fahrenheit is a system officially used in only 3 countries in the world (Liberia, the USA, and Myanmar), and unofficially in several countries in the Pacific. It was originally defined with 0 degrees as the freezing point of a particular solution of brine (salt water) and 90 degrees being an (inaccurate) guess of standard human body temperature. Despite being in common use in Randall's home country, due to being defined by such arbitrary fixed points (and Randall's scientific education) it is ranked as slightly more cursed than Celsius.
|-
| Réaumur || 0 || 80 || Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100 || 3/8 || A historical French system used in some places until the early 20th century. In modern times mostly used in cheesemaking. The rating (3/8) is a joke on the boiling point of water in standard atmosphere being 80 instead of 100 as it is in Celsius.
|-
| Rømer || 7.5 || 60 || Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design || 4/10 ||
|-
| Rankine || 491.7 || 671.7 || Fahrenheit, but with 0F set to absolute zero || 6/10 ||
|-
| Newton || 0 || 33-ish || Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in" || 7-ish/10 || The rating (7-ish/10) is a joke about the vagueness of the scale's definition.
|-
| Wedgewood || -8 || -6.7 || Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about || 9/10 ||
|-
| Galen || -4? || 4?? || Runs from -4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?) || 4/-4 || The rating (4/-4) is a joke about the scale being defined between positive and negative 4.
|-
| ''Real'' Celsius || 100 || 0 || In Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it || 10/0 || As temperature can be indefinitely large but there exists an absolute minimum temperature, defining the scale in this way is indeed cursed, as nearly all possible temperatures will be negative. The rating (10/0) is a joke on the scale "flipping" the fixed points of modern Celsius.
|-
| Dalton || 0 || 100 || A nonlinear scale; 0C and 100C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50C is 53.9 Dalton || 53.9/50 || The Dalton is a unit of atomic mass. A nonlinear scale of temperature (which is typically measured linearly) is indeed very cursed. The rating (53.9/50) is a joke about the unit, as 53.9 Dalton would be 50 degrees Celsius - i.e. the cursedness is 50/50, or 10/10.
|}

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

[A table with five columns. The columns are labelled: Unit, water freezing point, water boiling point, notes, cursedness. There are eleven rows below the labels.]

Row 1: Celsius. 0. 100. Used in most of the world. 2/10.

Row 2: Kelvin. 273.15. 373.15. 0K is absolute zero. 2/10.

Row 3: Fahrenheit. 32. 212. Outdoors in most places is between 0-100. 3/10.

Row 4: Réaumur. 0. 80. Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100. 3/8.

Row 5: Rømer. 7.5. 60. Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design. 4/10.

Row 6: Rankine. 491.7. 671.7. Fahrenheit, but with 0F set to absolute zero. 6/10.

Row 7: Newton. 0. 33-ish. Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in". 7-ish/10.

Row 8: Wedgewood. -8. -6.7. Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about. 9/10.

Row 9: Galen. -4?. 4??. runs from -4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?). 4/-4.

Row 10: ''Real'' Celsius. 100. 0. in Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it. 10/0.

Row 11: Dalton. 0. 100. A nonlinear scale; 0C and 100C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50C is 53.9 Dalton. 53.9/50.

{{comic discussion}}

3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-22T00:53:23Z

FPSCanarussia: Added missing rows to table

{{comic
| number = 3001
| date = October 21, 2024
| title = Temperature Scales
| image = temperature_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x535px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.
}}

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

There are many different temperature scales. Most of the world uses [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius Celsius], as it is part of the metric system, which most of the world has adopted. However, the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar use the imperial system, where the unit to measure temperature is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit Fahrenheit]. There are also many more temperature scales, most notably [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin Kelvin]. This comic showcases these as well as a lot of mostly unused scales.

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Unit
! scope="col" | Water Freezing Point
! scope="col" | Water Boiling Point
! scope="col" | Notes
! scope="col" | Cursedness
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Celsius || 0 || 100 || Used in most of the world || 2/10 || All but 3 countries use degrees Celsius as their default measurement of temperature. Celsius is defined so that the freezing and boiling points of pure water at standard atmospheric pressure are 0 and 100 degrees respectively.
|-
| Kelvin || 273.15 || 373.15 || 0K is absolute zero || 2/10 || Kelvin is a scientific unit of measure invented by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kelvin Lord Kelvin] that uses the same base metric as degrees Celsius, but zero is set to absolute zero. The numeric difference between Kelvins and degrees Celsius is 273.15.
|-
| Fahrenheit || 32 || 212 || Outdoors in most places is between 0-100 || 3/10 ||
|-
| Réaumur || 0 || 80 || Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100 || 3/8 || A historical French system used in some places until the early 20th century. In modern times mostly used in cheesemaking. The rating (3/8) is a joke on the boiling point of water in standard atmosphere being 80 instead of 100 as it is in Celsius.
|-
| Rømer || 7.5 || 60 || Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design || 4/10 ||
|-
| Rankine || 491.7 || 671.7 || Fahrenheit, but with 0F set to absolute zero || 6/10 ||
|-
| Newton || 0 || 33-ish || Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in" || 7-ish/10 || The rating (7-ish/10) is a joke about the vagueness of the scale's definition.
|-
| Wedgewood || -8 || -6.7 || Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about || 9/10 ||
|-
| Galen || -4? || 4?? || Runs from -4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?) || 4/-4 || The rating (4/-4) is a joke about the scale being defined between positive and negative 4.
|-
| ''Real'' Celsius || 100 || 0 || In Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it || 10/0 || As temperature can be indefinitely large but there exists an absolute minimum temperature, defining the scale in this way is indeed cursed, as nearly all possible temperatures will be negative. The rating (10/0) is a joke on the scale "flipping" the fixed points of modern Celsius.
|-
| Dalton || 0 || 100 || A nonlinear scale; 0C and 100C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50C is 53.9 Dalton || 53.9/50 || The Dalton is a unit of atomic mass. A nonlinear scale of temperature (which is typically measured linearly) is indeed very cursed. The rating (53.9/50) is a joke about the unit, as 53.9 Dalton would be 50 degrees Celsius - i.e. the cursedness is 50/50, or 10/10.
|}

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

[A table with five columns. The columns are labelled: Unit, water freezing point, water boiling point, notes, cursedness. There are eleven rows below the labels.]

Row 1: Celsius. 0. 100. Used in most of the world. 2/10.

Row 2: Kelvin. 273.15. 373.15. 0K is absolute zero. 2/10.

Row 3: Fahrenheit. 32. 212. Outdoors in most places is between 0-100. 3/10.

Row 4: Réaumur. 0. 80. Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100. 3/8.

Row 5: Rømer. 7.5. 60. Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design. 4/10.

Row 6: Rankine. 491.7. 671.7. Fahrenheit, but with 0F set to absolute zero. 6/10.

Row 7: Newton. 0. 33-ish. Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in". 7-ish/10.

Row 8: Wedgewood. -8. -6.7. Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about. 9/10.

Row 9: Galen. -4?. 4??. runs from -4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?). 4/-4.

Row 10: ''Real'' Celsius. 100. 0. in Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it. 10/0.

Row 11: Dalton. 0. 100. A nonlinear scale; 0C and 100C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50C is 53.9 Dalton. 53.9/50.

{{comic discussion}}

3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-22T00:19:33Z

FPSCanarussia: Changed explanations of Celsius and Kelvin

2877: Fever

2024-01-05T22:16:11Z

FPSCanarussia: Added context for some values

{{comic
| number = 2877
| date = January 5, 2024
| title = Fever
| image = fever_2x.png
| imagesize = 514x587px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hypothermia of below 98.6 K should be treated by leaving the giant molecular cloud and moving to the vicinity of a star.
}}

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

The comic purports to be a chart on fever temperatures. It starts out reasonably and then progresses to very high, impossible to have — at least for meaningful periods of time — temperatures, a theme present in many xkcd comics.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Treating a Fever
|-
! Fever Temperature (Celsius) !! Equivalent Fahrenheit temperature !! Treatment !! Additional notes
|-
| 38-40 || 100-104 || Fluids, rest, normal doctor stuff || Normal fever temperatures.
|-
| 40-45 || 104-113 || Hospital, advanced doctor stuff || Point at which humans might start experiencing brain damage from fever.
|-
| 45-100 || 113-212 || Exit that steam cloud immediately || Only a few people could survive here.
|-
| 100-400 || 212-752 || Stop, drop, and roll || Someone is probably on fire. Stop, drop, and roll is the recommended method for putting out flames on your clothing.
|-
| 400-500 || 752-932 || Return to Earth from Venus ASAP || 464°C is Venusian atmosphere temperature.
|-
| 500-1,500 || 932-2,732 || Please climb out of that volcano || Magma is about 700°C. Therefore, if someone is at that temperature, they are probably in lava/magma.
|-
| 1,500-5,000 || 2,732-9,032 || Turn your tunneling machine around and come back up to the surface || 4,400-6,000°C is the estimate internal temperature of the Earth.
|-
| 5,000-6,000 || 9,032-10,832 || No, the surface of the '''''Earth''''', not the Sun || 5,600 is the approximate temperature of the surface of the Sun.
|-
| 6,000-50,000 || 10,832-90,032 || Wait, that's not the Sun. What star are you visiting? Come back right now. || Surface temperatures of main-sequence stars larger than the Sun can go up to 50,000 (Kelvin and degrees Celsius are indistinguishable at this point). Though some stars can be even hotter.
|-
| 50,000-20,000,000 || 90,032-90,032 || At least stay on the '''''surface''''' of the star instead of diving down to the core || Core temperatures of main-sequence stars like the Sun are usually around ten million kelvins, while larger and hotter stars can reach up to a hundred million.
|-
| 20,000,000-10,000,000,000 || 90,032-18,000,000,032 || You know, you could've picked a normal star instead of one that's exploding || Supernovae can reach temperatures of billions of degrees for brief periods, with type II supernovae even reaching hundreds of billions of degrees.
|-
| 10,000,000,000 or higher || 18,000,000,032 or higher || I hope you're enjoying your visit to the Big Bang but you should really come back home immediately || 10^32°C (or K) is the estimated temperature of the Big Bang
|}

The title text suggests that those with temperatures under 98.6 Kelvin (-173.55 Celsius or -280.39 Fahrenheit) are in a {{w|molecular cloud}} and that they should get near a star to warm them up. 98.6 ''Fahrenheit'' (=37°C) is the average human resting body temperature.

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

:Treating a Fever

:Fever   Treatment
:38°C-40°C (100°F-104°F): Fluids, rest, normal doctor stuff
:40°C-45°C: Hospital, advanced doctor stuff
:45°C-100°C: Exit that steam cloud immediately
:100°C-400°C: Stop, drop, and roll
:400°C-500°C: Return to Earth from Venus ASAP
:500°C-1,500°C: Please climb out of that volcano
:1,500°C-5,000°C: Turn your tunneling machine around and come back up to the surface
:5,000°C-6,000°C: No, the surface of the '''''Earth''''', not the Sun
:6,000°C-50,000°C: Wait, that's not the Sun. What star are you visiting? Come back right now.
:50,000°C-20,000,000°C: At least stay on the '''''surface''''' of the star instead of diving down to the core
:20,000,000°C-10,000,000,000°C: You know, you could've picked a normal star instead of one that's exploding
:10,000,000,000°C or higher: I hope you're enjoying your visit to the Big Bang but you should really come back home immediately

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Charts]]

2532: Censored Vaccine Card

2021-10-25T22:21:02Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 2532
| date = October 22, 2021
| title = Censored Vaccine Card
| image = censored_vaccine_card.png
| titletext = CVS's pharmacies are fine, but I much prefer their [censored]s.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a B[censored]T. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is another entry in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic|2020-21 pandemic}} of the {{w|SARS-CoV-2}} virus, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}, specifically regarding the [[:Category:COVID-19 vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine]].

The comic hinges on the sharing of vaccination card photos on social media as proof that the user has been vaccinated against COVID-19 (in this case, gotten a {{w|Booster dose|booster shot}}, a third dose of the vaccine). When people in the United States first started receiving their vaccine shots, a large number of them shared photos of the CDC vaccination proof cards that they received alongside the vaccines; it was enough of a trend that the {{w|Federal Trade Commission|FTC}} released an official statement warning vaccine recipients [https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2021/02/social-media-no-place-covid-19-vaccination-cards not to share photos], due to the cards containing {{w|Personal data|personal identification}} that probably should not be made public.

The irony here is that [[Randall]] has {{w|Sanitization (classified information)|"censored"}} some impersonal lines, such as the instructions that are identical on all vaccination cards, and many easy-to-guess lines, while not censoring any of said personal information.
The fourth line, labelled "other" is probably completely blank (as the third dose was on the day immediately prior to the publication one), but is completely blacked out.

The caption indicates that his intention is to "seem more mysterious". This is best exemplified by blanking most of the word "clinician" to leave the acronym "{{w|Central Intelligence Agency|CIA}}", referring to a US government agency known for its frequently "mysterious" (classified) activity, as well as its liberal use of redaction like that in the comic.

[[File:CDC_COVID-19_Vaccination_Record_Card.jpg|thumb|300px|A real and appropriately censored CDC vaccination record.]]

The "19" in COVID-19 is systematically censored in the comic. This is humorous because currently COVID-19 is the only thing that could be meant by "COVID-[anything]", and so the redaction is pointless. This may also be intended, in the interest of mystery, to imply some future outbreak of a similar disease (given an identifier based on the year of its inception).

The sentence at the top of the card, which appears once in English and once in Spanish, has equivalent portions redacted in both languages:
* "medical information" and "the vaccines you have received" in the English version, and
* "información médica" and "las vacunas que ha recibido" in the Spanish.
This is the first comic including a sentence (or, given the censorship, at least a good portion of one) in Spanish.

Randall's patient number is the 2nd to 9th digits of the fractional part of the decimal expansion of {{w|pi}} inclusively: 41592653

The lot numbers of the first and second doses allude to two numbers that appear frequently in Star Wars and other works related to George Lucas: 1138, and 2187. The lot number of the third dose is the {{w|1729 (number)|Ramanujan-Hardy number}}.

Given the reasonable assumption{{citation needed}} that the partially censored year relates to the twentieth century, the date of birth on the card corresponds to that given in the acknowledged [[Randall_Munroe#Timeline|timeline]] for Randall. The censorship of that specific part of his date of birth might be related to the fact that the number "19" has been systematically redacted on the card. Another interpretation is that Randall is implying he is either over one hundred years old or a time traveler, although neither is likely to be true.{{citation needed}}

{{w|CVS Pharmacy}} is a pharmacy chain in the US which provides COVID-19 vaccinations. CVS #05309 is in Pineville, LA, while Randall lives in Massachusetts; it is not clear why he would have received his first vaccine dose in Louisiana.

The title text comments on the "Provider or clinic site" of the second dose on the card. Where the word "pharmacy" appears in the previous row (and would be on a real card), it is censored in the comic. The most reasonable assumption is that the word is still "pharmacy" and that Randall has simply chosen to redact that instance for some reason, but the title text humorously implies that it was in fact some ''other'' CVS-related venture where he got his second dose, for instance a "CVS Parking lot" or perhaps an {{w|anti-submarine warfare carrier}}.

CVS's parent company, {{w|CVS Health}}, does have other enterprises with compatible names: {{w|CVS Caremark}} and {{w|CVS Health#CVS Specialty|CVS Specialty}}. However, neither of these provide COVID-19 vaccinations.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Profile picture of a Cueball's head and shoulders, with unreadable lines of text to the right.]
:Check it out, I just got my booster!

:[Picture of the U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card attached on a media post. The card includes pre-printed information in black and handwritten information in blue, the latter indicated here by bold text. Some of the text has been blacked out, indicated here by "[censored]".]

:COVID-[censored] Vaccination record card
:[At the upper right of the card appears the logo of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a stylized eagle surrounded by the words "Department of Health & Human Services USA", although those words are not legible in this drawing. Next to that appears the logo of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a shaded box with the letters "CDC" and the words "Centers for Disease Control and [censored]" below it.]

:Please keep this record card, which includes [censored]
:about [censored]
:Por favor, guarde esta tarjeta de registro, que incluye [censored]
:[censored] sobre [censored]

:'''Munroe''' '''Randall'''
----
:Last Name First Name

:'''10-17-[censored]84''' '''41592653'''
----
:Date of birth Patient number

:[A table fills the remainder of the card. It has four columns and five rows. The first row gives the column names:]
:Vaccine. Manufacturer lot number. Date. Provider or clinic site.
:[The rest of the rows have been filled out. Each "date" cell also includes pre-printed "MM DD YY" below the line where the date is written.]
:1st dose COVID-[censored]. '''Pfizer ER1138'''. '''04'''/'''01'''/'''21'''. '''CVS Pharmacy Clinician #5309'''.
:2nd dose COVID-[censored]. '''Pfizer ES2187'''. '''04'''/'''22'''/'''21'''. '''CVS''' [censored] [censored].
:Other. '''3rd dose''' [censored] '''FH1729'''. '''10'''/'''21'''/'''21'''. [censored] [censored] [censored]'''CIA'''[censored].
:Other. [censored]. [censored]/[censored]/[censored]. [censored].

:[Caption below panel:]
:Security tip: To seem more mysterious, try censoring only ''non''-identifying information.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:COVID-19 vaccine]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]

2307: Alive Or Not

2021-10-06T04:47:42Z

FPSCanarussia: /* Explanation */ speling fiks

{{comic
| number = 2307
| date = May 15, 2020
| title = Alive Or Not
| image = alive_or_not.png
| titletext = Computer viruses currently fall somewhere between prions and fire.
}}

==Explanation==
There is no universally-accepted definition of "{{w|life}}"; {{w|Life#Definitions|all definitions}} thus far proposed have either excluded some things commonly understood to be alive or included some things commonly understood to not be alive. Take reproduction, a trait commonly assumed to be essential and unique to life; by this definition, anything which cannot reproduce (including {{w|mules}}, {{w|worker bees}}, and postmenopausal women) would be considered nonliving, while anything which can duplicate itself (including {{w|computer viruses}}, {{w|3D printers|advanced 3D printers}}, and {{w|fire}}—see below) would be considered alive.

Many more elaborate definitions of life have been attempted over the decades. Some common additional factors include:

* {{w|Homeostasis}}, the ability to control an internal environment to maintain a constant state;
* {{w|Metabolism}}, converting nutrients into energy and building blocks for growth, reproduction, and so on;
* {{w|Adaptation}} through heredity and natural selection; and
* Responding to the environment.

Despite all of this, the only definite definition of "life" is "something everyone agrees is alive". This comic attempts to rank several types of things by how likely people are to perceive them as "alive". As there is a debate as to whether viruses are alive or not, [[Randall]] has taken a side, and may spark debate, by putting viruses above the alive line.

Given that this comic was released during the early days of the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] pandemic, viruses are for sure on Randall's mind, given that most comics more than a month before this one was about COVID-19. And this comic is most likely inspired by this, and the previous comic [[2306: Common Cold]], where the cold viruses are definitely alive, and afraid.

=== Things ranked as alive ===

* '''Animals (normal)'''
* '''Animals (weird ones like jellyfish and coral)''': Randall's categorization of animals as "normal" or "weird" is a simplified version of the {{w|Great chain of being}}, a philosophical framework in which humans are seen as the most "advanced" form of life, followed by a divine or otherwise justified hierarchy of progressively lesser life-forms (mammals, birds, fish, lizards, insects, and so on). Categorizing weird animals was already done in [[1587: Food Rule]]. Alternatively, corals can be considered as lying between animals and fungi because corals, like, fungi and plants, are {{w|Sessility (motility)|sessile}}, i.e., they "grow" in one place. Jellyfish are not sessile, but {{w|Cnidaria#Basic_body_forms|many jellyfish are the same species as corals}} in different generations.
* '''{{w|Fungi}}''': Fungi represent a unique lineage of eukaryotic, mostly multicellular organisms. Although historically studied by botanists specializing in the sub-discipline "mycology", modern scholarship places fungi in the "opisthokont" lineage, which contains both the animals and the fungi. Fungi, like animals, cannot make complex organic molecules from carbon dioxide, and must consume organic molecules as food to survive. Like plants, fungi are typically unable to move on their own. The various types of fungi include mushrooms, yeasts, rusts, smuts, and molds. Fungi evolution is also referenced in [[1749: Mushrooms]].
* '''{{w|Plant}}s''': Those often green, often leafy things outside your current isolation dwelling, sometimes inside, next to the window. They are primarily distinguished from other eukaryotes by being able to use photosynthesis to convert water, carbon dioxide and energy from light into sugar and free oxygen.
* '''{{w|Slime mold}}s''': Slime molds are eukaryotic single-celled organisms (so "more advanced" than bacteria). In the "plasmodial" slime molds, the "single cell" may expand to spread across several feet of territory, and weigh several pounds, while the "cellular" slime molds are most notable for their occasional congregation into macro-sized colonies which can appear to move as a single creature. It's interesting that Randall ranks them as "less alive" than fungi (which they were once thought to be), especially given some of their curious behaviors (e.g. [https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/18/slime-mould-rail-road-transport-routes optimizing transportation networks] when presented with a collection of food flakes and obstacles).
* '''{{w|Bacteria}}''': Bacteria are one of two groups of prokaryotes, meaning cells that do not contain a nucleus and rarely harbour membrane-bound organelles. A small portion of Bacteria are pathogenic, but most are actually harmless. Bacteria's ability to convert raw materials into nutrients available for other living things makes them essential to other living things.
* '''{{w|Archaea}}''': Archaea (misspelled as ''Archea'' by Randall) is a {{w|domain (biology)|domain}} of organisms, which do not fall under eukaryotes or bacteria. They are single-celled organisms that lack a nucleus, and were initially thought to be ancient lineages of bacteria (i.e. ''archaeobacteria'') found in extreme environments similar to the early Earth, which is probably why Randall ranks them as "less alive" than bacteria. However, it is now known that they live pretty much everywhere that regular bacteria do, and that they have very distinct biochemistry from bacteria; they are actually more closely related to eukaryotes (i.e. slime molds and up) than bacteria are.
* '''{{w|Virus}}es''': Viruses are infectious agents consisting of a genome surrounded by a protein or lipid shell. When a virus contacts a cell, it delivers its genome inside the cell which causes the cells' reproductive machinery to create more viruses. Since viruses are incapable of reproducing without the aid of larger cells, [https://www.google.com/search?q=are+viruses+alive it is often debated] whether or not they are actually alive. Randall has ranked viruses as "alive" but on the lowest possible rung of such; indeed, many biologists say [https://askabiologist.asu.edu/questions/are-viruses-alive viruses fall in a gray area], or that [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848616300103 the question is arbitrary and non-scientific]. By another criterion life on Earth is defined by the presence of extremely long molecules that can be replicated (copied). Every organism above viruses contains both DNA and RNA. Viruses only contain either RNA or DNA. Nothing below here contains any (biologically active) DNA or RNA. This comic came out the day after [[2306: Common Cold]], where cold virus was anthropomorphized and was asking humans to stop with all their hand washing when the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] pandemic is over. Thus those viruses where definitely alive. Maybe that comic inspired this one.

===Things ranked as not alive===
* '''{{w|Prions}}''': Prions are misfolded proteins that cause other proteins to misfold. They are most famously the cause of various brain diseases such as "{{w|mad cow disease}}", and may be involved in Alzheimer's disease. Similarly to viruses, prions require something else to replicate, but unlike viruses, they do not possess a nucleic-acid genome or any other means of carrying heritable information, and they do not alter the cell's production machinery, but rather interact with proteins which are already made. In that sense, they're more like a particularly tricky kind of metabolic waste product or pollution.
* (from title text) '''{{w|Computer virus}}es''': A piece of code which hijacks computer systems to replicate itself, named by analogy to biological viruses. Strictly speaking, they're just a particular encoding of information, usually stored in electromagnetic media (although there's no reason one couldn't be stored on punch cards). Randall ranks them as "''currently''" more alive than fire, because they do carry "genetic" information (which anti-virus programs can be programmed to look for, analogous to vaccination) and some are capable of modifying themselves to adapt to new environments, but less alive than prions because they only operate within information systems. However, if a virus were able to e.g. hijack an electronics factory to start making flash drives and memory cards that carry the virus's code, then perhaps it might move up in the hierarchy.
* '''{{w|Fire}}''': Fire is a common example of something which meets many common definitions for life; it grows, reproduces by spreading seeds (sparks), and consumes energy and excretes waste (ashes and smoke) by the same net chemical process as respiration. However, while fire can be a necessary part of the life cycle of other organisms (e.g. redwood trees), it does not maintain a constant environment within itself, nor does it perform {{w|anabolism}}, the construction of larger molecules from smaller ones. Respirating life-forms use helper molecules to moderate the oxidation reaction into small steps to produce useful units of energy, rather than letting it all happen at once to produce heat.
* '''{{w|Clouds}}''': Random shapes taken by clouds may resemble animals and other objects, but arguably they are not alive in any sense. Things like tornadoes and hurricanes, on the other hand, can meet some definitions of life: they maintain homeostasis, actively seek and consume energy, and occasionally reproduce. Cf. ''Fire'' above.
* '''{{w|Fossils}}''': Fossils are the petrified remains of once-living organisms, so in that sense they are more connected to life than "regular rocks", and some may hold DNA that could theoretically be used to clone the fossilized life-form.
* '''{{w|Rocks}} shaped like faces''': Humans have an extremely advanced capability for seeing patterns, and one of the most powerful patterns we seek is {{w|Face perception|faces}}, so much so that we see faces even where they don't exist (a common form of {{w|pareidolia}}). Humans instinctively anthropomorphize any object which vaguely resembles a face as having a sense of attention and mood, and so a rock shaped like a face would likely be treated differently than a rock not shaped like a face. Randall does not distinguish between rocks intentionally carved to look like faces (such as the famous {{w|Moai}} sculptures) or rocks that happen to look vaguely like faces under the right lighting conditions (such as the famous {{w|Face on Mars}}.)
* '''Regular {{w|rocks}}''': Modern taxonomy originates from Carl Linnaeus, who categorized all objects on Earth as animals, plants (often stated as "''vegetable''" in quiz games like Twenty Questions), or minerals. Minerals are most obviously not alive, although some cultures and works of fiction have creatures that turn to stone and will return later to life, and some people keep {{w|Pet Rock|rocks as "pets"}}.

Interestingly, the vertical line linking the categories extends beyond both the most-alive and least-alive things, making one wonder what Randall might think is more alive than "normal animals" or less alive than "regular rocks". In the latter direction an explanation might be that shortly before this comic the scientific press wrote about heat-resistant bacteria that live in the desert and slowly eat regular rocks generating their own water in this process making even the sand in the desert partially alive.

==Transcript==
:[A chart consisting of vertical line, with 14 dots and a horizontal dashed dividing line drawn across the list a bit below the middle. Each dot has a label to the right of the line with a line pointing to the dot they belong to. Above and below the dividing line is a label with a broad arrow pointing up above and down below.]
:Up arrow: Alive
:Down arrow: Not alive

:[Dot labels from top to bottom above the dashed line:]
:Animals (Normal)
:Animals (Weird ones like jellyfish and coral)
:Fungi
:Plants
:Slime molds
:Bacteria
:Archea
:Viruses

:[Dot labels from top to bottom below the dashed line:]
:Prions
:Fire
:Clouds
:Fossils
:Rocks shaped like faces
:Regular rocks

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Geology]]

Talk:2520: Symbols

2021-09-25T03:34:39Z

FPSCanarussia:

Great work by whomever did this, but is it possible R_e is something else? I agree that the numerical aspect makes it seem like a fluid mechanics problem, but I've never seen the Reynolds number with a subscripted e... only a regular size e, such that it is Re, not R_e. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.93|108.162.237.93]] 20:36, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
: R sub e (not Re) is Effective Reproduction Number. This is related to infection rates. I'm pretty sure it's R sub e, not Re given that infection rates are very much on his mind right now.
:: It would be out of place relative to all the other entries, though, which are all physics related. IMO it's more likely this was an error.
: Earth's radius is abbreviated "R sub e" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.4|162.158.107.4]] 21:30, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

T to the fourth power looks like blackbody radiation, any ideas what specifically that formula represents? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.22|162.158.203.22]] 20:40, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
:There's an equation for what reflects off a spherical object that is a quartic equation (although I'd expect concave reflectors, not convex ones, to risk skin-burn. Or, more likely something to do with UV (non-)absorbtion or generation, but I imagine someone knows ''exactly'' what it is, without someone like me just guessing wildly. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.82|141.101.99.82]] 21:05, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
This wiki does not seem to have a consistent formatting structure for lists

The ''NA'' could also soon become NAN (not a number) thus being only a step away from the dangerous arthmeric error. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.43|162.158.88.43]] 21:38, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

'''Bold Title'''
:Content starting with a tab

*'''Bold title''' content continues on same line

*Regular title
Content on a new line, but not starting with a tab

As well as tables and mixes of these formats. Maybe someone should pick one and apply it to all the explanations. I just noticed it because of the inconsistencies as people are quickly throwing something together for this new comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.4|162.158.107.4]] 21:02, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

I read the penultimate line as "Mg" and was trying to imagine a meaning for "megagrams per kilogram". Sloppy Greek letter there, Randall. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:17, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

Why are partial derivatives considered graduate-level? They're typically covered in first level undergraduate science courses, along with gradients and such. [[User:FPSCanarussia|FPSCanarussia]] ([[User talk:FPSCanarussia|talk]]) 03:34, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

2478: Alien Visitors 2

2021-06-19T02:06:47Z

FPSCanarussia: correction

{{comic
| number = 2478
| date = June 18, 2021
| title = Alien Visitors 2
| image = alien_visitors_2.png
| titletext = "Although fresh juice DOES sound--" "NO! For humanity to survive we must learn from the mistakes of the past."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 1920s ELIXIR. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In the return of the aliens from the [[2477: Alien Visitors|previous comic]], they show more "advanced" inventions that are less efficient or more harmful than their current forms, and most have been invented by humans and replaced.

{{w|Biplane}}s are planes with two sets of wings, which have more drag than a {{w|monoplane}}. Biplanes have been obsolete for most purposes since the 1930s, though they remain in use for agriculture and aerial sports.

A {{w|blimp}} is a lighter than air aircraft with no internal structure. The point raised about hydrogen would be because it is highly flammable and dangerous. The {{w|Hindenburg disaster}} was a famous explosion of a hydrogen airship (although zeppelin airships are not blimps because they have an internal structural framework and they're called rigid airships in contrast to blimps, that just rely on the internal pressure of their lifting gas to maintain their shape). Blimps are still used today, but use helium, and are typically used for advertising or for aerial photography/videography.

{{w|Tetraethyllead}} ((CH3 CH2)4Pb) is a chemical added to gasoline (mostly from the 1920s to the 1990s — although some countries [https://web.archive.org/web/20171115235249/http://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/17542/MapWorldLead_March2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y still use it to this day]) to prevent {{w|engine knocking}}, until it was revealed to have highly toxic effects. The aliens seem unaware of these toxic effects (it is unclear whether the chemical hurts aliens as well, or whether it doesn't hurt them but they don't realize the toxic effects on humans), and indeed quite concerned by them, implying they might be using leaded gasoline themselves.

{{w|Juicero}} was a juicer known for its absurd inefficiency and greedy business model: {{Citation needed}} the machine would only work on the company's proprietary branded single-serving bags of pulped fruit sold for $7-10 each, and more juice could be extracted from the bags by hand than by the press. Basically, they were selling $10 bags of chopped fruit and a $700 machine to squeeze them into a cup for you.

After the latest showing of unimpressive "inventions", the humans start questioning how "advanced" the aliens really are, asking if they built the flying saucer themselves and suggesting that it might be wise to avoid standing directly beneath it in case it suddenly crashes to earth.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A flying saucer is hovering high above Ponytail, White Hat, Cueball and Megan, drawn very small standing on the ground beneath it. The aliens inside speak to them from inside their saucer, indicated with zigzag lines between it and the text. Ponytail approaches the others on the ground from the left.]
:Aliens: Greetings, humans. We have returned.
:Aliens: Since you already have pyramids, we've brought you more advanced wonders.

:[Zoom in on the flying saucer which has two beams below it, the left showing an outline of a biplane and the right is showing an outline of a blimp. Cueball replies off-panel.]
:Aliens: These machines will let you conquer the sky!
:(off-panel voice 1): A biplane?
:(off-panel voice 1): Aren't monoplanes more efficient?
:(off-panel voice 2): Does that blimp use hydrogen?

:[Zoom in on the 4 humans looking up, the Aliens reply from above the panel. There is a chemical formula in an outline from the alien flying saucer:]
:Aliens: (CH3 CH2)4 Pb
:Aliens (off-panel): Add this elixir of lead to your gasoline and your engines will run smooth.
:White Hat: Lead? Isn't that stuff toxic?
:Aliens: Is it?
:Aliens: Oh no.

:[Zoom back out, as in first panel. The flying saucer has a beam showing an outline of a juice machine]
:Aliens: Okay, uh.
:Aliens: This device's electric press can squeeze fresh fruit juice from bags of pulp!
:Ponytail: ...Just curious, did you build that saucer?
:Cueball: Maybe we shouldn't stand right under it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Alien Visitors]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Alien Visitors 2]]

2417: 1/1,000th Scale World

2021-01-27T21:29:41Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 2417
| date = January 27, 2021
| title = 1/1,000th Scale World
| image = 1_1000th_scale_world.png
| titletext = We're worried that a regular whale will get into a 30-foot-deep ocean trench section and filter-feed on all the tiny whales.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a STATUE OF LIBERTY MINIFIG. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a follow up to a previous two, [[2412: 1/100,000th Scale World]] and [[2411: 1/10,000th Scale World]], with a smaller scale and thus a larger world. As in the previous comics, [[Randall]] has another seemingly complete copy of Earth, this time at a 1:1000 scale, with various features and warnings labeled. Again, real-world features and phenomena are replicated at scale. As before, the model is very extensive, with several underground neutrino detectors/observatories being replicated.

Several of the warnings point out humorous consequences of the scale, such as goldfish eating blue whales.

===Table===
{| class="wikitable"
!Rule
!Reason
!Notes
|-
| Keep hot objects off the ice sheet over the south pole neutrino observatory
| Hot objects may emit Cherenkov radiation, which would result in the observatory detecting false positives of neutrino observations.
|
|-
| Be patient: Niagara falls will take a few minutes to fill your water glass
| The flow rate is scaled down with the size. According to https://what-if.xkcd.com/147/, the Niagara Falls flow is regulated to 100.000 cubic feet per second on the tourist season and to 50.000 cubic feet per second offseason and at night. Once scaled to 1/1000, that flow would be 2.83 or 1.41ml per second. If a standard glass of water is 250ml, it would take 1-2 minutes for the waterfall to fill it.

However, a 1/1000th replica of scale Niagra falls would be over a meter wide, so without some kind of system to divert the whole flow into one spot, it would not be possible to fill a glass this quickly. Also, the height of the scaled-down Niagra falls would be 5cm, with another 5cm between the water level and the riverbed, so it might be difficult to fill a glass depending on its height.
| This item is likely to be a reference to the famous Arthur C. Clarke quote: "Getting information from the internet is like getting a glass of water from the Niagara Falls."
|-
| Watch for small planes
| Taking the popular Cessna 172 as an example, 1/1000th scale small planes would be about 8mm in length, and cruise at speeds of about 6cm/s, much slower than comparable flying insects. A Cessna of that size traveling at that speed would probably cause much more damage to itself than a person if it crashed into one, so the warning is probably there to protect the models rather than the guests.
|
|-
| Warning! Choking hazard! Keep small children away from ascending/descending airliners
| Airplanes are apparently small enough for children to fit into their mouths but large enough to potentially make them choke.
| In the US, small parts are defined by [https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Small-Parts-for-Toys-and-Childrens-Products 16 C.F.R. Part 1501.2] as fitting in a cylindrical test fixture of 1.25 inches diameter that approximates the size of the fully expanded throat of a child under three years old. Once scaled, any object smaller than 31.75 meters would fit in that cylinder. A lot of medium-sized and small airplanes would qualify. Furthermore, since pieces that break off during testing that simulates use or abuse by children could also pose a choking hazard, even large airliners are also a choking hazard because stripped wings and parts of the fuselage would fit in the required size.
|-
| Do not remove safety caps
| This is a reference to the warning, "Be careful not to step on cities with especially pointy towers, like Toronto, Seattle, and Dubai" from [[2411: 1/10,000th Scale World]]. It's possible that many visitors to that scaled world did not heed the warnings and complained to the scaled world's creators, causing them to cover pointy towers with safety caps for this scaled world. However, now there are [[Black Hat|people who apparently want to cause harm to others]], or at least don't care about not causing harm to others, by removing these safety caps.
The tip of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the scale world - appears to be about a meter and a half wide, or 1.5mm at 1/1000th scale.
|
|-
| No open flames in Zeppelin area
| Zeppelins are filled with hydrogen due to their very low density, which allows them to float. However, it is also very flammable and prone to explosions. The most famous of these Zeppelin disasters was when the {{w|Hindenburg disaster|Hindenburg exploded}} in 1937.
|-
| Do not bother the meteor crater ducks
| Meteor Crater in Arizona is over a kilometer wide, so at 1/1000 scale it could be a small duck pond of 1.186m diameter, and 17cm deep at its deepest point. This is (barely) enough space for a duck to swim in if filled to the brim with water.
| Meteor Crater is not filled with water in real life.
|-
| Trip hazard: The Gateway Arch
| The {{w|Gateway Arch}} is a monument in Saint Louis, Missouri. Being a 192 m high arch, once scaled it would be 19.2 cm high, ideal for tripping.
|
|-
| Drone altitude limit
| The FAA drone altitude limit is 400ft above the ground, which would be about 12cm in 1/1000th scale. This appears to be the number Randall is using, as the limit in the comic is about the same height as the pyramids, which are also around 400ft tall in the real world.
|
|-
| Do not mix up the USS Enterprises
|
The ship is presumably a model of the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the longest naval vessel ever built, which would be 34cm long in 1/1000th scale.
The spaceship is the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) from the Star Trek franchise.
It's unclear whether mixing up the models is prohibited because it would damage them, or simply because that's not where they are supposed to be.
The Starship Enterprise might be corroded by seawater, or unable to handle external pressure (spacecraft are designed for the exact opposite pressures in a vacuum). If lifted into the air, the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise would probably fall back down because it can't fly (and be damaged or even destroyed upon hitting the ground or water surface), but then again, it's unclear how the model Enterprise is able to fly or hover.
The Enterprise from the JJ Abrams films has been seen to hide underwater and take off again without significant problems. However, it is unclear whether other versions of the Enterprise also possess this ability, nor which version is represented in the comic.
|
|-
| No connecting the Dead Sea to the ocean
| If there are models of Israeli and Jordanian cities next to the Dead Sea, they could get damaged by the water. Also, the model world would be less accurate because the Dead Sea is not connected to the ocean in real life.
|
|-
| Do not let ants into the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
| Getting them out of the tunnel network would probably be difficult.
|
|-
| Only one person on the Golden Gate Tightrope at a time
| The {{w|Golden Gate Bridge}} is a suspension bridge in San Francisco, of width 27m. Scaled-down, it would be 2.7cm wide and it would be tempting to use it as a tightrope.
| In 1987, approximately 300,000 people [https://www.sfgate.com/local-donotuse/article/Golden-Gate-bridge-walk-1987-anniversary-disaster-13896571.php walked across the Golden Gate Bridge], which could be the largest weight it has supported: 80kg * 300,000 = 2.4*10^7kg. A visitor to the scaled world would expect to weigh (1000^3) times as much as a standard human: 8*(10^10), above the [https://www.vibrationdata.com/golden.htm total mass of the bridge]: 3.8*(10^8)
|-
| Do not remove Statue of Liberty LEGO minifig
| Whoever has made this model has decided to use a small LEGO minifigure rather than a more accurately sculpted replica of the Statue of Liberty. The person would likely not want it to be removed because it would then have to be replaced.
| LEGO has released a [https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/magnet-statue-of-liberty-2016-853600 Statue of Liberty minifigure] which is 5.3cm tall. The real Statue of Liberty, from head to toe, is 46 meters tall. At 1/1000 scale this would be a 4.6cm figurine, so the LEGO minifigure would indeed be an appropriate representation at that scale.
|-
| Please stop releasing goldfish into the ocean. They eat all of the blue whales.
| Blue whales usually grow to about 20m long in real life, meaning that at 1/1000th scale they would be only 2cm long, meaning that they could easily be consumed by a goldfish.
Goldfish are omnivores, so if they would eat tiny blue whales if they could.
| However, this begs the question of where one would get such tiny blue whales. In the mouseover text, Randall mentions that if real blue whales were to be released into the 1/00th scale ocean they would filter-feed on the miniature versions. Blue whales usually eat minuscule krill, however, the tiny whales would provide a similarly-sized substitute.
|
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Illustrations of scale]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Scale World]]

2415: Allow Captcha

2021-01-23T05:51:51Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 2415
| date = January 23, 2021
| title = Allow Captcha
| image = allow_captcha.png
| titletext = To prove you're human, please click all the number pairs that appear together in your Social Security number.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a malicious design practice that already exists out there. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Captcha is designed to prevent spambots from being able to post on websites by posing challenges that humans can easily solve but that spambots and other automated programs cannot solve. The original version (used in [[632: Suspicion]]) asked users to identify text that was rotated, warped, or otherwise modified in order to make it more difficult for automated programs to solve. Once automated programs got good at that, new captchas were put out that exploited the fact that computers tend to be bad at image recognition, e.g. asking the user to select only images that contain cats from a grid of images of cats, dogs, and other objects. This captcha appears to combine the two methods—with the additional hurdle that in order to pass the captcha, users must be able to not only read but also understand (i.e. know the definitions of words). However, if the goal is to allow humans but not computers to pass (although, as the next paragraph will describe, it is not), this is not a good method of differentiating between the two. Some of the words, such as allot, appear to be fragments of other non-verb words (like ballot), and other words are non-verbs that could be confused with verbs. The English language has no distinction between nouns and verbs by spelling, only grammatical usage, and many words in English are both nouns and verbs. On the other hand, any computer program that can accurately read text (and there are now many programs that can do so) would not get confused between ale and ail or between skew and askew and would be able to look up the definitions (including parts of speech) online, so this would not be effective as a captcha.

In reality, however, the window is merely disguised as a captcha in order to trick human visitors into allowing the website to install "a helper tool", which may be malware, on their computer. The fact that the top uses a similar shade of blue to the current version of reCAPTCHA (currently the most common brand of captcha), the top includes the phrase "to prove you're human", and the grid is similar to the grid used by reCAPTCHA—albiet 4×4 instead of 3×3. However, positioned to appear to humans as two reCAPTCHA boxes is a window asking viewers whether they want to allow or deny the website's request to install "a helper tool", which may be malware, on their computer. The idea is that because allow is a verb beginning with the letter A, human visitors would click on what they think is the box with the word allow in it but actually allow the website to install potential malware on their computer. The window attempts to disguise this by formatting many of the words in boxes as buttons and including other text in smaller font on other boxes as well. In addition, the captcha may be intentionally difficult so that users will be too distracted by wondering whether ail or ale is a verb and the like.
It should be noted that simply tricking humans would not necessarily be enough to install malware on their computer. First of all, while a person can select any part of a grid box in order to select that box, only clicking on the actual button that says allow will allow malware unto the computer. If a person clicks on another part of the supposed box, nothing will happen, so the person will likely take a closer look in order to see why the window is not being selected and then possibly realize that this is a trick as a result. In addition, in order for the user to install software, a second window may pop up requiring the user to type in an administrator password, which will likely startle the user. Also, the user's computer may have an anti-virus software that will prevent the computer from executing malicious code downloaded by the website.

Shady websites often use similar tactics to trick you into allowing notifications, including saying "[https://www.bleepstatic.com/swr-guides/c/click-allow-to-verify-that-your-are-not-a-robot/notification-subscription-page.jpg Please allow notifications to confirm you are not a robot]". This comic combines that with a traditional recaptcha to try and trick savvier users too.

Title text is a similar recaptcha thing trying to also do identity fraud at coords 3,3 and 4,3.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2408: Egg Strategies

2021-01-07T04:54:30Z

FPSCanarussia: /* Eggsplanation */ Added table

{{comic
| number = 2408
| date = January 6, 2021
| title = Egg Strategies
| image = egg_strategies.png
| titletext = Neutral Evil is for people who like keeping the weight nicely centered in the carton, but also hate everyone else who wants that.
}}

==Eggsplanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EGG LISTENING ANXIOUSLY TO THE RADIO. Please mention here why this eggsplanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows nine egg cartons, each of which contains between five and eight eggs. The cartons are presented in the format of a ''{{W|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment chart}}. Originally created as a way of categorizing game characters' motivations, the chart has three possibilities on each axis: lawful/neutral/chaotic on the X axis and good/neutral/evil on the Y axis. Used outside its original purpose, the chart has become a meme used for categorizing things it has no real applicability to. This comic is such a meme.

A standard egg carton has 12 cups for 12 eggs, but the egg owner is unlikely to consume all 12 eggs at once. Because of that, the carton will be emptied gradually according to the owners' preference. This comic depicts various possible storage schemes for the unused eggs and assigns them D&D alignments. The final carton, "chaotic evil," shows what appears to be six eggs (counting the yolks) smashed inside the carton.

The center of gravity of the different arrangements shifts as well, contributing to the "goodness" and "lawfulness" of the solutions.

{| class="wikitable"
!Alignment
!Description
!Explanation
|-
|Lawful Good
|Eggs are picked from the edges, with the eggs in the center remaining
|Taking eggs away from the edges of the carton first keeps the center of gravity of the carton in the middle. According to Randall, this is considered good.
|-
|Neutral Good
|Eggs are picked from the center of the carton, leaving the eggs on the edges.
|
|-
|Chaotic Good
|Eggs are picked randomly
|Randomly choosing eggs keeps them roughly equally distributed across the carton, while also being chaotic.
|-
|Lawful Neutral
|Eggs are picked from the top row first, then the bottom, starting on one side.
|This is a very organised method of picking eggs from a carton, but the center of mass shifts to one side.
|-
|True Neutral
|Eggs are picked from one side, with both rows being roughly equal.
|
|-
|Chaotic Neutral
|Eggs are picked in a chessboard pattern.
|The center of mass is kept central, but this is a very unusual way of picking eggs from a carton.
|-
|Lawful Evil
|Eggs are kept in the middle of the carton, stacked atop each other in a pyramid shape.
|This keeps the weight nicely centered, but makes it impossible to close the lid of the carton.
|-
|Neutral Evil
|Eggs are stacked in the exact middle of the open carton, in the top row and on the open lid.
|This keeps the weight centered in the carton only when the lid is open. Since the lid is not rigid, someone picking up the carton would have to hold the lid and carton separately so that the eggs don't fall off.
|-
|Chaotic Evil
|Eggs are smashed in the center of the carton.
|The weight is centered but the eggs are broken. They cannot be easily transferred from the carton, and will likely spoil quickly.
|}

An alignment chart was also featured in [[2251: Alignment Chart Alignment Chart]], which was published exactly one year earlier.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[3x3 grid of egg cartons, each containing between 5-8 eggs in an arrangement matching a description of lawful/neutral/chaotic paired with good/neutral/evil]

[each egg carton is depicted from a top-down view, with the lid open and the eggs and their places visible]

'''Top Left - Lawful Good'''

[6 eggs centered

3 in the top row, shifted to the right

3 in the bottom row, shifted to the left]

'''Top Center - Neutral Good'''

[7 eggs

4 in the left side

3 in the right side, with one in the top row and two in the bottom row]

'''Top Right - Chaotic Good'''

[6 eggs spread randomly]

'''Middle Left - Lawful Neutral'''

[5 eggs all on the bottom row, starting on the left side]

'''Middle Center - True Neutral'''

[7 eggs all to the left side

4 in the top row

3 in the bottom row]

'''Middle Right - Chaotic Neutral'''

[6 eggs staggered in every other space so that each egg is diagonal from the two nearest

no two eggs are directly next to each other side-to-side or up-and-down

3 in the top row, starting in the left most position

3 in the bottom row; starting position second from the left side]

'''Bottom Left - Lawful Evil'''

[8 eggs

6 in the egg carton, centered but offset one place to the left; 3 eggs each on the top and bottom

2 eggs are on top of the 6 that are placed in the carton]

'''Bottom Center - Neutral Evil'''

[8 eggs

3 on the bottom edge of the lid

2 in the top center positions in the egg carton

3 centered on the edge and on top of/between the eggs on the lid and the eggs in the proper positions]

'''Bottom Right - Chaotic Evil'''

[broken eggs in the center of the carton and spilling/splattering over the rest of the carton and onto the lid

6 or 7 yellow-orange yolks are visible

the spilled egg whites are colored light yellow-greenish

several pieces of egg shells, varying in size from approximately one-half to very small chips are mixed in with the yolks and whites]

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

2351: Standard Model Changes

2020-10-02T02:57:20Z

FPSCanarussia: Removed unnecessary comment

{{comic
| number = 2351
| date = August 26, 2020
| title = Standard Model Changes
| image = standard_model_changes.png
| titletext = Bugs are spin 1/2 particles, unless it's particularly windy.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic strip, Randall is proposing some changes to the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics. The currently accepted particle table has 17 slots: 12 fermions (first 3 columns of the table - six quarks [top two rows] and six leptons [bottom two rows]) and five bosons (last two columns of the table - four gauge bosons [left hand column] and one scalar boson [right hand column]).

[[File:1024px-Standard Model of Elementary Particles.svg.png|500px]]

This comic consists of a normal version of the particle table to which Randall has made substantial alternations and additions, which are drawn in red over the black and white table.

While the Standard Model's predictions are very well supported by experiments, the physics community has identified several flaws in it (e.g. it lacks any particles to convey gravity), and so lots of research is committed to searching for "{{w|Physics beyond the Standard Model}}". Some of Randall's changes are sort of intended to fill some of those gaps, but for the most part they are nonsensical (although not quite as much as the [[2301: Turtle Sandwich Standard Model|Turtle Sandwich Standard Model]] or [[1621: Fixion|Fixion]]).

=== Quarks ===

Randall's proposed changes to the quarks are relatively restrained -- he proposes only that the "strange" and "charm" names should be moved to bosons, while the strange quark should be renamed the "right quark" and the charm quark should be renamed the "left quark", so that all quarks will have "ordinary" directional names. Also, "left quark" sounds like "{{w|Super_Bowl_XLIX_halftime_show#Left_Shark|left shark}}".

In reality, the original quark model proposed by Murray Gell-Mann included only three quarks, with the "strange" quark so named because the particles that contained them were ''strangely'' long-lived relative to their masses. The "charm" quark was so named when it was proposed because it brought a "charming" symmetry to the weak interaction, which we now understand is because it completes the second generation of quarks, along with the strange quark. When a third generation of quarks was proposed, they were called top and bottom by analogy to the up and down quarks (which are so named because of the spin they carry), though the names 'truth' and 'beauty' were briefly in competition, and colliders working with B quarks are sometimes even now called "{{w|B-factory|Beauty Factories}}".

Randall likely applied "left" to "strange" and "right" to "charm" simply due to the placement of the particles in the table: In the American English vernacular, the phrase "left and right" is more common than "right and left", in the same way that "top and bottom" is more common than "bottom and top", and "up and down" is more common than "down and up". So he placed "left" above "right" to match the ordering of the other quark generations.

=== Leptons ===
While Randall leaves two leptons, the electron and the muon, untouched, he has opted to discard the tau lepton entirely. Each of these three leptons has an associated neutrino; Randall has decided to discard all but the electron neutrino, as he has decided that three are too many neutrino types. He has also replaced the standard symbol for the neutrino, the Greek letter ν (nu), with a capital N, in order to avoid confusion between ν and v, the two letters appearing similar, though this might further be confused with nucleon (particle physicists commonly use N to denote "proton or neutron", and excited states of nucleons are given the symbol N, followed by the mass in parenthesis<ref>https://pdglive.lbl.gov/ParticleGroup.action?init=0&node=BXXX005</ref>) or possibly even with the symbol for Nitrogen (the atomic nucleus with 7 protons and a similar number of neutrons, encountered more in radiology/chemistry as an N, 7N, 14N, N+, N2 and other variations).

In place of one of the neutrinos, Randall has introduced a new elementary particle that supposedly explains the existence of dark matter. The nature of dark matter is one of the most famous mysteries in physics: galaxies seem to have much higher gravity than their detectable matter would account for, yet this mysterious form of matter does not seem to interact with other matter in any other detectable way. Neutrinos are known for rarely interacting with other matter, due to their lack of charge, which could justify Randall's decision, but even the little interaction that neutrinos have with the weak force rules them out as candidates for dark matter. Hypothetical {{w|sterile neutrino}}s could be the source of dark matter, and also for the small but nonzero masses of the familiar neutrinos, but no such particles have yet been identified. Together with the arrow, the only one in the comic that points at the particle's ''box'' rather than the symbol, the triumphant exclamation "We found it!" probably means that the new "dark matter" entry in the table ''is'' the dark matter particle.

=== Bosons ===

Randall proposes several new names for existing particles. First, that the {{w|W and Z bosons}} should be renamed to the charm and strange bosons, respectively (taking the names from the quarks), and second, that the {{w|Higgs boson}} should be named the {{w|Vin Diesel}} boson, as he considers {{w|Peter Higgs}}'s name to be too boring to be given to a particle. The Higgs boson is known in the popular press (to the chagrin of many physicists, including Higgs) as "{{w|The God Particle (book)|The God Particle}}", which is certainly a flashy name, but which itself was changed by the editors of the book of the same name from its authors' originally-intended title: The ''Goddamn'' Particle.

Randall inserts the graviton, a purely theoretical particle, noting that its inclusion is "probably fine". While the graviton has never been observed, it is occasionally included in diagrams of the standard model to show its hypothetical place, which likely convinced Randall to do the same. Here it is shown below the Higgs boson, implying to be a scalar boson, though it is theoretically a 2nd-order tensor boson (with a spin of 2) and is usually given its own column.

Randall also proposes that a false decoy "Magic" particle should be added to the Standard Model, to trip up promoters of {{w|quantum mysticism}}. Presumably, anyone who invokes this particle to support their claims will expose themselves as a fraud, much as cartographers will print {{w|trap street}}s on their maps to catch plagiarism.

The title text references {{w|Spin (physics)|quantum spin number}}, a property of particles in physics that bears similarities to actual spinning. Although the "cool bugs" particle is put in the {{w|scalar boson}} group with spin 0, Randall states that it instead has spin 1/2, like a fermion. In fact, all known fermions have spin 1/2. It is thus not clear whether the "cool bugs" particle obeys the {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}} or not. The joke comes from Randall treating quantum spin as actual spin and introduces wind blowing the "cool bugs" particle around as if they were made of actual bugs, which they are not{{Citation needed}}.

{| class="wikitable"
! Particle !! Symbol !! Actual particle !! Actual symbol !! Explanation
|-
| Up quark || u || {{w|Up quark}} || u || No change.
|-
| Left quark || l || {{w|Charm quark}} || c || Randall is continuing the pattern of naming quarks after directions. This wouldn't work well with [[474: Turn-On]] unfortunately. The charm quark was named due to bringing a "charming symmetry" to the weak interaction, completing the second generation of quarks.
|-
| Top quark || t || {{w|Top quark}} || t || No change.
|-
| Gluon || g || {{w|Gluon}} || g || No change.
|-
| Vin Diesel boson || V || {{w|Higgs boson}} || H || {{w|Peter Higgs}} is a British theoretical physicist who predicted the existence of scalar bosons, particles with spin 0. Randall suggests that the Higgs boson needs a flashier name and proposes to rechristen it the "Vin Diesel boson", named after American actor {{w|Vin Diesel|Mark Sinclair}}, who has nothing to do with physics.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Down quark || d || {{w|Down quark}} || d || No change.
|-
| Right quark || r || {{w|Strange quark}} || s || Randall is suggesting this name to match the charm (now left) quark. Particles containing this quark were considered "strangely long-lived".
|-
| Bottom quark || b || {{w|Bottom quark}} || b || No change.
|-
| Photon || γ || {{w|Photon}} || γ || No change.
|-
| {{w|Graviton}} || G || {{w|Graviton}} (Hypothetical) || G || The graviton is a hypothetical particle which mediates the force of {{w|gravity}}. Randall is taking a very breezy point of view, stating that it would probably be fine to include it, even though its existence has not been confirmed yet. It is not recommended to act this way, though many do.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Electron || e || {{w|Electron}} || e || No change.
|-
| Muon || µ || {{w|Muon}} || µ || No change.
|-
| (none) || (none) || {{w|Tau (particle)|Tau lepton}} || τ || The tau lepton is a lepton with average lifetime much shorter than the electron or the muon. Randall apparently considers this particle redundant and states "No one needs tau leptons".
|-
| Strange boson || s || {{w|Z boson}} || Z || The Z boson is one of two particles (three, counting the W boson's different charges) that mediate the {{w|weak force}}, named for having '''z'''ero charge. Randall suggests the strange quark's name would be better suited for this particle.
|-
| Magic || M || (none) || (none) || Randall apparently considers magic to exist and be a particle, both of which are blatantly false.{{Citation needed}} He suggests this particle as a decoy to trip up {{w|quantum mysticism}} promoters, possibly because [[1528: Vodka|he has been possessed]] by [[Black Hat]] and is [[356: Nerd Sniping|trying to run them over with a truck]].
|-
| Electron neutrino || Ne || {{w|Electron neutrino}} || νe || Randall is annoyed by the similarity of the Greek lowercase nu (ν) and the lowercase V (v). Interestingly Randall leaves the "electron" part of its name in even though he has eliminated the other neutrinos.
|-
| (none) || (none) || {{w|Muon neutrino}} || νµ || Randall thinks one neutrino is enough, and to be honest, who can argue with him?
|-
| {{w|Dark matter}} || D || {{w|Tau neutrino}} || ντ || Dark matter is thought to make up most of the universe's matter. Randall claims to have found it; replacing the tau neutrino with it. This could easily be the most abundant particle in the universe.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Charm boson || c || {{w|W boson}} || W || The other mediator of the '''w'''eak force. Randall is suggesting that it would suit the charm name more than the charm quark.
|-
| Cool bugs || 🐞 || (none) || (none) || Randall has decreed that extremely small bugs are fundamental particles. Bugs in reality are several orders of magnitude larger than any of the other known particles.{{Citation needed}} They would not make a good elementary particle{{Citation needed}} for a number of extremely obvious reasons{{Citation needed}} and would make physics pretty frightening to some people.{{Citation needed}} Randall uses the insect emoji as the symbol of the cool bugs particle.
|}

==Transcript==
[A chart of the Standard Model of particle physics with red marks all over the chart.] 
Changes I would make to the Standard Model

[In reading order:] 
u up, connected to the down quark below. 
c charm, connected to the strange quark below, in faded gray with a red l left written over it. Above is a red note with an arrow pointing to the charm quark. The note reads, 
Consistent quark names (use "strange" and "charm" for bosons) 
t top, connected to the bottom quark below. 
g gluon 
H Higgs, in faded gray with a red V Vin Diesel writted over it. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the Higgs boson, which reads, 
With all respect to Peter H, the Higgs boson needs a flashier name 

d down, connected to the up quark above. 
s strange, connected to the charm quark above, in faded gray with a red r right written over it. 
b bottom, connected to the top quark above. 
γ photon 
G graviton, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the graviton, which reads, 
Let's just include it, it's probably fine 

e electron, connected to the electron neutrino below. 
µ muon, connected in faded gray to the muon neutrino below, with red rounded corners cutting it off. 
τ tau, connected to the tau neutrino below, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the tau lepton is a red note which reads, 
No one needs tau leptons 
Z Z boson, with the Z symbol and the Z in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red s written over it and the Z in the name is scribbled out in red. The word strange is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
M magic, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the magic particle, which reads, 
Decoy particle for people making nonsense claims about "quantum" philosophy stuff 

v e electron neutrino, with the e as a subscript of the v, connected to the electron above. The v is in faded gray and a red N with a circle around it is written on it. Below is a red note with an arrow pointing to the electron neutrino, which reads, 
Fix neutrino symbol so I stop mixing up ν and v 
v μ muon neutrino, with the µ as a subscript of the v, connected to the muon above, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the muon neutrino is a red note which reads, 
Too many neutrinos 
v τ tau neutrino, with the τ as a subscript of the v, connected to the tau lepton above, in faded gray. Written over it is a D dark matter in red with a red border. Below the tau neutrino is a red note with an arrow pointing to it, which reads, 
We found it! 
W W boson, with the W symbol and the W in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red c written over it and the W in the name is scribbled out in red. The word charm is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
🐞 cool bugs, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to cool bugs, which reads, 
Very small bugs are fundamental particles now

 
 
Title text: Bugs are spin 1/2 particles, unless it's particularly windy.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2358: Gravitational Wave Pulsars

2020-09-12T11:44:00Z

FPSCanarussia: Specified

{{comic
| number = 2358
| date = September 11, 2020
| title = Gravitational Wave Pulsars
| image = gravitational_wave_pulsars.png
| titletext = The most important attributes of a vector in 3-space are {Location, Location, Location}
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created WITH EXQUISITE TIMING. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Radio astronomers use pulsars to try to detect gravitational waves. They do this by tracking the rotation of an array of pulsars, super precisely over long periods of time, and fitting for a whole bunch of effects. The process is called "pulsar timing", or just "timing" for short.

[[Ponytail]] presents this to [[Cueball]] as a joke. Specifically, a joke about comedy. One of the most important aspects of comedy is revealing the punchline with correct timing. Ponytail sets Cueball up for this joke: "Ask me why I'm so funny." / "Why are you--" / "Timing!" In this format, the punchline ("Timing!") deliberately comes too soon, which makes it funny because the timing is bad. Ponytail also replaces the secret to comedy with the secret to detecting pulsars, to set up the joke about the word "timing".

The title text references a well-known real estate saying that the three most important parts are "location, location, location." In Euclidean 3D space, the three Cartesian coordinates (X, Y, Z) all refer to locations along an axis.

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

Ponytail: Ask me what the secret to detecting gravitational waves using pulsars is.

Cueball: What's the secret to detecting grav--

Ponytail: '''''Timing!'''''

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

2351: Standard Model Changes

2020-08-27T12:55:07Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 2351
| date = August 26, 2020
| title = Standard Model Changes
| image = standard_model_changes.png
| titletext = Bugs are spin 1/2 particles, unless it's particularly windy.
}}

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

In this comic strip, Randall is proposing some changes to the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics. The currently accepted particle table has 17 slots - 12 fermions (six quarks and six leptons) and five bosons (four gauge bosons and one scalar boson, the Higgs). This comic consists of a normal version of the particle table to which Randall has made substantial alternations and additions, which are drawn in red over the black and white table.

While the Standard Model's predictions are very well supported by experiments, the physics community has identified several flaws in it (e.g. it lacks any particles to convey gravity), and so lots of research is committed to searching for "{{w|Physics beyond the Standard Model}}". Some of Randall's changes are sort of intended to fill some of those gaps, but for the most part they are nonsensical.

=== Quarks ===

Randall's proposed changes to the quarks are relatively restrained -- he proposes only that the "strange" and "charm" names should be moved to bosons, while the strange quark should be renamed the "right quark" and the charm quark should be renamed the "left quark", so that all quarks will have "ordinary" directional names.

In reality, the original quark model proposed by Murray Gell-Mann included only three quarks, with the "strange" quark so named because the particles that contained them were ''strangely'' long-lived relative to their masses. The "charm" quark was so named when it was proposed because it brought a "charming" symmetry to the weak interaction, which we now understand is because it completes the second generation of quarks, along with the strange quark. When a third generation of quarks was proposed, they were called top and bottom by analogy to the up and down quarks (which are so named because of the spin they carry, though the names 'truth' and 'beauty' were briefly in competition, and colliders working with B quarks are sometimes even now called '{{w|B-factory|Beauty Factories}}').

=== Leptons ===
While Randall leaves two leptons, the electron and the muon, untouched, he has opted to discard the tau lepton entirely. Each of these three leptons has an associated neutrino; Randall has decided to discard all but the electron neutrino, as he has decided that three are too many neutrino types. He has also replaced the standard symbol for the neutrino, the Greek letter ν (nu), with a capital N, in order to avoid confusion between ν and v, the two letters appearing similar. In place of one of the neutrinos, Randall has introduced a new elementary particle that supposedly explains the existence of dark matter. The nature of dark matter is one of the most famous mysteries in physics: galaxies seem to have much higher gravity than their detectable matter would account for, yet this mysterious form of matter does not seem to interact with other matter in any detectable way. Neutrinos are known for rarely interacting with other matter, due to their lack of charge, which could justify Randall's decision.

=== Bosons ===

Randall proposes several new names for existing particles. First, that the {{w|W and Z bosons}} should be renamed to the charm and strange bosons, respectively (taking the names from the quarks), and second, that the {{w|Higgs boson}} should be named the {{w|Vin Diesel}} boson, as he considers {{w|Peter Higgs}}'s name to be too boring to be given to a particle. The Higgs boson is known in the popular press (to the chagrin of many physicists, including Higgs) as "{{w|The God Particle (book)|The God Particle}}", which is certainly a flashy name, but which itself was changed by the editors of the book of the same name from its authors' originally-intended title: The ''Goddamn'' Particle.

Randall inserts the graviton, a purely theoretical particle, noting that its inclusion is "probably fine". While the graviton has never been observed, it is occasionally included in diagrams of the standard model to show its hypothetical place, which likely convinced Randall to do the same. Here it is shown below the Higgs boson, implying to be a scalar boson, though it is theoretically a 2nd-order tensor boson (with a spin of 2) and is usually given its own column.

Randall also proposes that a false decoy "Magic" particle should be added to the Standard Model, to trip up promoters of {{w|quantum mysticism}}.

The title text references {{w|Spin (physics)|quantum spin number}}, a property of particles in physics that bears similarities to actual spinning. Although the "cool bugs" particle is put in the {{w|scalar boson}} group with spin 0, Randall states that it instead has spin 1/2, like a fermion. In fact, all known fermions have spin 1/2. It is thus not clear whether the "cool bugs" particle obeys the {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}} or not. The joke comes from Randall treating quantum spin as actual spin and introduces wind blowing the "cool bugs" particle around as if they were made of actual bugs, which they are not{{Citation needed}}.

{| class="wikitable"
! Particle !! Symbol !! Actual particle !! Actual symbol !! Explanation
|-
| Up quark || u || {{w|Up quark}} || u || No change.
|-
| Left quark || l || {{w|Charm quark}} || c || Randall is continuing the pattern of naming quarks after directions. This wouldn't work well with [[474: Turn-On]] unfortunately. The charm quark was named due to bringing a "charming symmetry" to the weak interaction, completing the second generation of quarks.
|-
| Top quark || t || {{w|Top quark}} || t || No change.
|-
| Gluon || g || {{w|Gluon}} || g || No change.
|-
| Vin Diesel boson || V || {{w|Higgs boson}} || H || {{w|Peter Higgs}} is a British theoretical physicist who predicted the existence of scalar bosons, particles with spin 0. Randall suggests that the Higgs boson needs a flashier name and proposes to rechristen it the "Vin Diesel boson", named after American actor {{w|Vin Diesel|Mark Sinclair}}, who has nothing to do with physics.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Down quark || d || {{w|Down quark}} || d || No change.
|-
| Right quark || r || {{w|Strange quark}} || s || Randall is suggesting this name to match the charm (now left) quark. Particles containing this quark were considered "strangely long-lived". What's strange is how Randall assigns the charm quark the left and the strange quark the right, when so many languages have it the other way around. But since when has Randall cared?
|-
| Bottom quark || b || {{w|Bottom quark}} || b || No change.
|-
| Photon || γ || {{w|Photon}} || γ || No change.
|-
| {{w|Graviton}} || G || {{w|Graviton}}(Theoretical) || G || The graviton is a hypothetical particle which mediates the force of {{w|gravity}}. Randall is taking a very breezy point of view, stating that it would probably be fine to include it even though its existence has not been confirmed yet. It is not recommended to act this way, though many do.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Electron || e || {{w|Electron}} || e || No change.
|-
| Muon || µ || {{w|Muon}} || µ || No change.
|-
| (none) || (none) || {{w|Tau (particle)|Tau lepton}} || τ || The tau lepton is a lepton with average lifetime much shorter than the electron or the muon. Randall apparently considers this particle redundant and states "No one needs tau leptons".
|-
| Strange boson || s || {{w|Z boson}} || Z || The Z boson is one of two particles (three, counting the W boson's different charges) that mediate the {{w|weak force}}, named for having '''z'''ero charge. Randall suggests the strange quark's name would be better suited for this particle.
|-
| Magic || M || (none) || (none) || Randall apparently considers magic to exist and be a particle, both of which are blatantly false.{{Citation needed}} He suggests this particle as a decoy to trip up {{w|quantum mysticism}} promoters, possibly because [[1528: Vodka|he has been possessed]] by [[Black Hat]] and is [[356: Nerd Sniping|trying to run them over with a truck]].
|-
| Electron neutrino || Ne || {{w|Electron neutrino}} || νe || Randall is annoyed by the similarity of the Greek lowercase nu (ν) and the lowercase V (v). Interestingly Randall leaves the "electron" part of its name in even though he has done away with the other neutrinos.
|-
| (none) || (none) || {{w|Muon neutrino}} || νµ || Randall thinks one neutrino is enough, and to be honest, who can argue with him?
|-
| {{w|Dark matter}} || D || {{w|Tau neutrino}} || ντ || Dark matter is a form of matter thought to account for most of the universe's mass. Randall claims to have found it by replacing the tau neutrino with it. This would easily be the most abundant particle in the universe.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Charm boson || c || {{w|W boson}} || W || The other mediator of the '''w'''eak force. Randall is suggesting that it would suit the charm name more than the charm quark.
|-
| Cool bugs || 🐞 || (none) || (none) || Randall has decreed that extremely small bugs are fundamental particles. Bugs in reality are several orders of magnitude larger than any of the other particles{{Citation needed}} and would not make a good elementary particle{{Citation needed}} for a number of extremely obvious reasons{{Citation needed}} and would make physics pretty frightening to some people.{{Citation needed}} Randall pencils down the insect emoji as the symbol of the cool bugs particle.
|}

==Transcript==
[A chart of the Standard Model of particle physics with red marks all over the chart.] 
Changes I would make to the Standard Model

[In reading order:] 
u up, connected to the down quark below. 
c charm, connected to the strange quark below, in faded gray with a red l left written over it. Above is a red note with an arrow pointing to the charm quark. The note reads, 
Consistent quark names (use "strange" and "charm" for bosons) 
t top, connected to the bottom quark below. 
g gluon 
H Higgs, in faded gray with a red V Vin Diesel writted over it. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the Higgs boson, which reads, 
With all respect to Peter H, the Higgs boson needs a flashier name 

d down, connected to the up quark above. 
s strange, connected to the charm quark above, in faded gray with a red r right written over it. 
b bottom, connected to the top quark above. 
γ photon 
G graviton, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the graviton, which reads, 
Let's just include it, it's probably fine 

e electron, connected to the electron neutrino below. 
µ muon, connected in faded gray to the muon neutrino below, with red rounded corners cutting it off. 
τ tau, connected to the tau neutrino below, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the tau lepton is a red note which reads, 
No one needs tau leptons 
Z Z boson, with the Z symbol and the Z in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red s written over it and the Z in the name is scribbled out in red. The word strange is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
M magic, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the magic particle, which reads, 
Decoy particle for people making nonsense claims about "quantum" philosophy stuff 

v e electron neutrino, with the e as a subscript of the v, connected to the electron above. The v is in faded gray and a red N with a circle around it is written on it. Below is a red note with an arrow pointing to the electron neutrino, which reads, 
Fix neutrino symbol so I stop mixing up ν and v 
v μ muon neutrino, with the µ as a subscript of the v, connected to the muon above, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the muon neutrino is a red note which reads, 
Too many neutrinos 
v τ tau neutrino, with the τ as a subscript of the v, connected to the tau lepton above, in faded gray. Written over it is a D dark matter in red with a red border. Below the tau neutrino is a red note with an arrow pointing to it, which reads, 
We found it! 
W W boson, with the W symbol and the W in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red c written over it and the W in the name is scribbled out in red. The word charm is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
🐞 cool bugs, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to cool bugs, which reads, 
Very small bugs are fundamental particles now

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2351: Standard Model Changes

2020-08-27T12:53:38Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 2351
| date = August 26, 2020
| title = Standard Model Changes
| image = standard_model_changes.png
| titletext = Bugs are spin 1/2 particles, unless it's particularly windy.
}}

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

In this comic strip, Randall is proposing some changes to the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics. The currently accepted particle table has 17 slots - 12 fermions (six quarks and six leptons) and five bosons (four gauge bosons and one scalar boson, the Higgs). This comic consists of a normal version of the particle table to which Randall has made substantial alternations and additions, which are drawn in red over the black and white table.

While the Standard Model's predictions are very well supported by experiments, the physics community has identified several flaws in it (e.g. it lacks any particles to convey gravity), and so lots of research is committed to searching for "{{w|Physics beyond the Standard Model}}". Some of Randall's changes are sort of intended to fill some of those gaps, but for the most part they are nonsensical.

=== Quarks ===

Randall's proposed changes to the quarks are relatively restrained -- he proposes only that the "strange" and "charm" names should be moved to bosons, while the strange quark should be renamed the "right quark" and the charm quark should be renamed the "left quark", so that all quarks will have "ordinary" directional names.

In reality, the original quark model proposed by Murray Gell-Mann included only three quarks, with the "strange" quark so named because the particles that contained them were ''strangely'' long-lived relative to their masses. The "charm" quark was so named when it was proposed because it brought a "charming" symmetry to the weak interaction, which we now understand is because it completes the second generation of quarks, along with the strange quark. When a third generation of quarks was proposed, they were called top and bottom by analogy to the up and down quarks (which are so named because of the spin they carry, though the names 'truth' and 'beauty' were briefly in competition, and colliders working with B quarks are sometimes even now called '{{w|B-factory|Beauty Factories}}').

=== Leptons ===
While Randall leaves two leptons, the electron and the muon, untouched, he has opted to discard the tau lepton entirely. Each of these three leptons has an associated neutrino; Randall has decided to discard all but the electron neutrino, as he has decided that three are too many neutrino types. He has also replaced the standard symbol for the neutrino, the Greek letter ν (nu), with a capital N, in order to avoid confusion between ν and v, the two letters appearing similar. In place of one of the neutrinos, Randall has introduced a new elementary particle that supposedly explains the existence of dark matter. The nature of dark matter is one of the most famous mysteries in physics: galaxies seem to have much higher gravity than their detectable matter would account for, yet this mysterious form of matter does not seem to interact with other matter in any detectable way. Neutrinos are known for rarely interacting with other matter, due to their lack of charge, which could justify Randall's decision.

=== Bosons ===

Randall proposes several new names for existing particles. First, that the {{w|W and Z bosons}} should be renamed to the charm and strange bosons, respectively (taking the names from the quarks), and second, that the {{w|Higgs boson}} should be named the {{w|Vin Diesel}} boson, as he considers {{w|Peter Higgs}}'s name to be too boring to be given to a particle. The Higgs boson is known in the popular press (to the chagrin of many physicists, including Higgs) as "{{w|The God Particle (book)|The God Particle}}", which is certainly a flashy name, but which itself was changed by the editors of the book of the same name from its authors' originally-intended title: The ''Goddamn'' Particle.

Randall inserts the graviton, a purely theoretical particle, noting that its inclusion is "probably fine". While the graviton has never been observed, it is occasionally included in diagrams of the standard model to show its hypothetical place, which likely convinced Randall to do the same. Here it is shown below the Higgs boson, implying to be a scalar boson, though it is theoretically a 2nd-order tensor boson (with a spin of 2) and is usually given its own column.

Randall also proposes that a false decoy "Magic" particle should be added to the Standard Model, to trip up promoters of {{w|quantum mysticism}}.

The title text references {{w|Spin (physics)|quantum spin number}}, a property of particles in physics that bears similarities to actual spinning. Although the "cool bugs" particle is put in the {{w|scalar boson}} group with spin 0, Randall states that it instead has spin 1/2, like a fermion. In fact, all known fermions have spin 1/2. It is thus not clear whether the "cool bugs" particle obeys the {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}} or not. The joke comes from Randall treating quantum spin as actual spin and introduces wind blowing the "cool bugs" particle around as if they were made of actual bugs, which they are not{{Citation needed}}.

{| class="wikitable"
! Particle !! Symbol !! Actual particle !! Actual symbol !! Explanation
|-
| Up quark || u || {{w|Up quark}} || u || No change.
|-
| Left quark || l || {{w|Charm quark}} || c || Randall is continuing the pattern of naming quarks after directions. This wouldn't work well with [[474: Turn-On]] unfortunately. The charm quark was named due to bringing a "charming symmetry" to the weak interaction, completing the second generation of quarks.
|-
| Top quark || t || {{w|Top quark}} || t || No change.
|-
| Gluon || g || {{w|Gluon}} || g || No change.
|-
| Vin Diesel boson || V || {{w|Higgs boson}} || H || {{w|Peter Higgs}} is a British theoretical physicist who predicted the existence of scalar bosons, particles with spin 0. Randall suggests that the Higgs boson needs a flashier name and proposes to rechristen it the "Vin Diesel boson", named after American actor {{w|Vin Diesel|Mark Sinclair}}, who has nothing to do with physics.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Down quark || d || {{w|Down quark}} || d || No change.
|-
| Right quark || r || {{w|Strange quark}} || s || Randall is suggesting this name to match the charm (now left) quark. Particles containing this quark were considered "strangely long-lived". What's strange is how Randall assigns the charm quark the left and the strange quark the right, when so many languages have it the other way around. But since when has Randall cared?
|-
| Bottom quark || b || {{w|Bottom quark}} || b || No change.
|-
| Photon || γ || {{w|Photon}} || γ || No change.
|-
| {{w|Graviton}} || G || (none) || (none) || The graviton is a hypothetical particle which mediates the force of {{w|gravity}}. Randall is taking a very breezy point of view, stating that it would probably be fine to include it even though its existence has not been confirmed yet. It is not recommended to act this way, though many do.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Electron || e || {{w|Electron}} || e || No change.
|-
| Muon || µ || {{w|Muon}} || µ || No change.
|-
| (none) || (none) || {{w|Tau (particle)|Tau lepton}} || τ || The tau lepton is a lepton with average lifetime much shorter than the electron or the muon. Randall apparently considers this particle redundant and states "No one needs tau leptons".
|-
| Strange boson || s || {{w|Z boson}} || Z || The Z boson is one of two particles (three, counting the W boson's different charges) that mediate the {{w|weak force}}, named for having '''z'''ero charge. Randall suggests the strange quark's name would be better suited for this particle.
|-
| Magic || M || (none) || (none) || Randall apparently considers magic to exist and be a particle, both of which are blatantly false.{{Citation needed}} He suggests this particle as a decoy to trip up {{w|quantum mysticism}} promoters, possibly because [[1528: Vodka|he has been possessed]] by [[Black Hat]] and is [[356: Nerd Sniping|trying to run them over with a truck]].
|-
| Electron neutrino || Ne || {{w|Electron neutrino}} || νe || Randall is annoyed by the similarity of the Greek lowercase nu (ν) and the lowercase V (v). Interestingly Randall leaves the "electron" part of its name in even though he has done away with the other neutrinos.
|-
| (none) || (none) || {{w|Muon neutrino}} || νµ || Randall thinks one neutrino is enough, and to be honest, who can argue with him?
|-
| {{w|Dark matter}} || D || {{w|Tau neutrino}} || ντ || Dark matter is a form of matter thought to account for most of the universe's mass. Randall claims to have found it by replacing the tau neutrino with it. This would easily be the most abundant particle in the universe.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Charm boson || c || {{w|W boson}} || W || The other mediator of the '''w'''eak force. Randall is suggesting that it would suit the charm name more than the charm quark.
|-
| Cool bugs || 🐞 || (none) || (none) || Randall has decreed that extremely small bugs are fundamental particles. Bugs in reality are several orders of magnitude larger than any of the other particles{{Citation needed}} and would not make a good elementary particle{{Citation needed}} for a number of extremely obvious reasons{{Citation needed}} and would make physics pretty frightening to some people.{{Citation needed}} Randall pencils down the insect emoji as the symbol of the cool bugs particle.
|}

==Transcript==
[A chart of the Standard Model of particle physics with red marks all over the chart.] 
Changes I would make to the Standard Model

[In reading order:] 
u up, connected to the down quark below. 
c charm, connected to the strange quark below, in faded gray with a red l left written over it. Above is a red note with an arrow pointing to the charm quark. The note reads, 
Consistent quark names (use "strange" and "charm" for bosons) 
t top, connected to the bottom quark below. 
g gluon 
H Higgs, in faded gray with a red V Vin Diesel writted over it. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the Higgs boson, which reads, 
With all respect to Peter H, the Higgs boson needs a flashier name 

d down, connected to the up quark above. 
s strange, connected to the charm quark above, in faded gray with a red r right written over it. 
b bottom, connected to the top quark above. 
γ photon 
G graviton, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the graviton, which reads, 
Let's just include it, it's probably fine 

e electron, connected to the electron neutrino below. 
µ muon, connected in faded gray to the muon neutrino below, with red rounded corners cutting it off. 
τ tau, connected to the tau neutrino below, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the tau lepton is a red note which reads, 
No one needs tau leptons 
Z Z boson, with the Z symbol and the Z in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red s written over it and the Z in the name is scribbled out in red. The word strange is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
M magic, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the magic particle, which reads, 
Decoy particle for people making nonsense claims about "quantum" philosophy stuff 

v e electron neutrino, with the e as a subscript of the v, connected to the electron above. The v is in faded gray and a red N with a circle around it is written on it. Below is a red note with an arrow pointing to the electron neutrino, which reads, 
Fix neutrino symbol so I stop mixing up ν and v 
v μ muon neutrino, with the µ as a subscript of the v, connected to the muon above, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the muon neutrino is a red note which reads, 
Too many neutrinos 
v τ tau neutrino, with the τ as a subscript of the v, connected to the tau lepton above, in faded gray. Written over it is a D dark matter in red with a red border. Below the tau neutrino is a red note with an arrow pointing to it, which reads, 
We found it! 
W W boson, with the W symbol and the W in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red c written over it and the W in the name is scribbled out in red. The word charm is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
🐞 cool bugs, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to cool bugs, which reads, 
Very small bugs are fundamental particles now

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2276: Self-Isolate

2020-03-16T02:41:08Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 2276
| date = March 4, 2020
| title = Self-Isolate
| image = self_isolate.png
| titletext = Turns out I've been "practicing social distancing" for years without even realizing it was a thing!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SELF-ISOLATED BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is the second comic in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] (with at least six in a row) about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is watching television and hears a suggestion that people may need to "self-isolate." This refers to the practice of {{w|isolation (health care)|isolating}} infected individuals, to keep the virus from spreading. If the outbreak grows more severe, going out in large crowds could also be discouraged, to avoid being infected by those around you.

According to the [https://www.hhs.gov/answers/public-health-and-safety/what-is-the-difference-between-isolation-and-quarantine/index.html HHS], both quarantine and isolation help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but they are different. Quarantine is for well people who might have been exposed to see if they become sick. Isolation is for sick people to keep them from infecting healthy people. So the suggestion for self-isolation means that sick people should stay away from healthy people.

Cueball's response to this advice is that he's "been practicing for this moment [his] whole life". xkcd frequently refers to social awkwardness, introversion, and difficulty with interpersonal interactions. Cueball (likely representing Randall himself) appears to find spending time in public and with large groups trying. It's implied that he prefers to spend time alone (or possibly with small groups of family and close friends) rather than going out. The joke is that this tendency is often seen as unhealthy and alienating, but in the case of a pandemic, actually becomes quite valuable. Cueball seems to take an odd sort of pride in the fact that he's skilled at remaining alone and uninfected, while more social people would be in danger.

The comic image is a link to [https://web.archive.org/web/20200305015204/https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1235319133585248259 one tweet] in a thread of tweets about COVID-19 by [https://twitter.com/kakape @kakape], a science journalist according to their Twitter bio, which says "Social distancing may mean staying further apart from each other physically in coming weeks. We should compensate by caring even more about each other than usually, because we are, of course, all in this together." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200305015137/https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1235312559324114951 beginning of thread]).

In the title text, Cueball continues to be proud of his introversion, claiming that he has been "practicing social distancing" for much of his life.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in an armchair watching television. A zigzag line from the TV indicates that the text is a voice from the TV.]
:Voice from television: Experts are saying people may need to "self-isolate" to combat the virus.

:[A slim beat panel with Cueball sitting silent in the armchair.]

:[Zoomed in on Cueball in the armchair. A starburst on the right border indicates the voice from an off-panel person.]
:Cueball: ... I've been practicing for this moment my whole life.
:Off-panel voice: I don't think that's—
:Cueball: ''Quick, make plans and watch how fast I cancel!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

[[Category:COVID-19]]

2212: Cell Phone Functions

2019-10-07T15:31:40Z

FPSCanarussia: Using phones a steering wheels is completely feasible, but likely unsafe outside of videogames.

{{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. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. 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 instead of a specific device for nowadays. The next two items, Newspaper and Flash Light, extend the Internet capabilities (either from within the mobile browser or as dedicated Apps) or repurpose the phone camera's flash and are commonplace as well. Some people even use their smartphone as the remote for their TV (either via RF wireless for smart TVs, or more universally 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 NFC functionality of modern smartphones. A few high-end cars even support using a phone app instead of the key fob, rendering yet another item obsolete.

Then, the comic drifts off into the either not-yet-possible, or likely-never-possible spectrum (these items are also right of the "now" mark, meaning Randall has not switched to using a phone app 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. The Title text continues this path by implying Randall is soon expecting to clean his buttocks using a feature of his phone.

==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 swich-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}}

2199: Cryptic Wifi Networks

2019-09-06T23:40:39Z

FPSCanarussia: Alternate source of mysterious networks

{{comic
| number = 2199
| date = September 6, 2019
| title = Cryptic Wifi Networks
| image = cryptic_wifi_networks.png
| titletext = They actually showed up on the first scan by the first WiFi-capable device.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

There are in many places cryptic WiFi networks that pop up in strange places and often seem to come out of nowhere. In this comic, [[Randall]] is joking that those networks are an unexplained natural phenomenon (as opposed the more probable explanation that they come from strangely placed servers or wireless printers).

In the picture, a character with a beanie is pictured at the top of a high mountain. Checking his phone, he sees a network that can be connected to even in this remote area; the implication is that this is a natural phenomenon.

The name of the network is Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ. {{w|Toshiba}} is a multinational conglomerate specializing in electronics; the implication here may be that Toshiba is taking credit for these networks or that it is the cause of them.

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

:[A human with a beanie and a backpack is checking his phone at the highest mountain in a mountainous landscape.]

:Phone: Available WiFi Networks
:Phone: Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ
:Phone: [in gray] Join other network

:Text under comic: Tech Trivia: No one actually knows what devices produce those cryptic WiFi networks. They just appear at random across the Earth's surface.

{{comic discussion}}

2155: Swimming

2019-05-27T20:56:46Z

FPSCanarussia: Incorrect identification.

{{comic
| number = 2155
| date = May 27, 2019
| title = Swimming
| image = swimming.png
| titletext = "You don't know how high above you the sky goes, but you're not freaking out about that." "Well, NOW I am!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CONTINENTAL SHELF. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about an irrational fear about the depth of water beneath oneself. Whenever you don't explicitly know how deep the water is, and cannot see the bottom, there is nothing preventing the sea/lake/riverbed from being exceptionally far away. This phenomenon is actually quite common with many bodies of water having a relatively shallow shelf extending a short ways out from land. These typically end with little to no warning, giving rise to the fear that is depicted here.

It is an '''irrational''' fear because if one is swimming, the depth of the water underneath is not important to safety. If one is wading, presumably one would feel the bottom drop away.

===Related comics===
Randall provided the depths of various bodies of water without mentioning any specific fears in [[1040: Lakes and Oceans]].
The title text may be a reference to [[1115: Sky]], where [[Megan]] similarly starts freaking out about the depth of the sky.

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

Comic is a single panel - 6-7 times higher than it is wide.

Megan - neck deep in water - standing near an extreme drop off. (Continental shelf?) This part of the comic is the very top, and the characters are drawn much smaller than usual.

"It's OK, I can still touch bottom here."

As you scroll down the tall image there are some deep water fish, a jellyfish, and an octopus, a bottom ledge with a beach umbrella on it, and another drop off.

Caption:
I love swimming, but occasionally I realize I don't know how deep the water under me is and it freaks me out.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings‏‎]]

2143: Disk Usage

2019-04-29T23:59:23Z

FPSCanarussia: Hypothesis on "Encrypt disk usage report". Please clean up if necessary

{{comic
| number = 2143
| date = April 29, 2019
| title = Disk Usage
| image = disk_usage.png
| titletext = Menu -> Manage -> [Optimize space usage, Encrypt disk usage report, Convert photos to text-only, Delete temporary files, Delete permanent files, Delete all files currently in use, Optimize menu options, Download cloud, Optimize cloud , Upload unused space to cloud]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a monstrosity of a powerpoint presentation. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Computers save their data on memory; traditionally this was known as the hard disk drive, though it is increasingly common that it is not a literal disc and may be made of flash memory (this is traditional in computers such as smartphones). Users can ask the system for a breakdown of the usage of their hard disk, which is usually displayed as a pie chart such as this comic. As with everything else in Randall's computers in the comics, his hard disk usage is... strange.

"Photos" and "Documents" are both common things to see in a disc usage report. Randall has marked a distinction between "photos" and "good photos". The ratio between these two suggests that there is an alarming number of "bad" photos on the computer.

The fact that almost a tenth of the storage is taken up by a single Powerpoint presentation made five years ago. While it may be ridiculously long or detailed, or both, to use so much storage, [http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00062_Why_are_my_PowerPoint_files_so_big-_What_can_I_do_about_it-.htm Powerpoint converts compressed graphics to full-resolution bitmaps as a historical cross-platform compatibility strategy] (especially when conversion from PDF files is involved) so Powerpoint decks much larger than the sum of their component files are still very common.

"System" is another common thing to see in the graph. This contains files the user is not using but the computer needs to run, such as the operating system. Randall has put quotation marks around the word to highlight how nebulous the term actually is and how he has no idea what the system files actually are.

One more possible explanation is that folder names like "Other", "Cache", "System" refer to storing porn while trying to hide this fact by using unsuspicious folder names. Hence the quotes.

The title text references the management UI of a hypothetical disk cleaning utility. The following options are mentioned in its menu:
;Optimize space usage
:A common non-descript phrase often found in such tools.
;Encrypt disk usage report
:Often, one might want to encrypt data on the disk, not reports about said data. This may suggest that the unusual disk usage is embarrassing enough that the user may want to encrypt the usage report, preventing other people from reading it.
;Convert photos to text-only
:Plain-text documents take less space than pictures. Scanned documents can be automatically transcribed (OCR). However, applying such an algorithm to photos will result in garbage.
;Delete temporary files
:Another real option. Temporary files are often not deleted automatically, so deleting them can safe a significant amount of disk space.
;Delete permanent files
:A made-up term, that might refer to the user's documents, pictures, etc. You would not want to delete them.
;Delete all files currently in use
:Deleting files that are in use might result in data loss or program crashes.
;Optimize menu options
:Those options could really do with some optimization. (a reference to the first entry?)
;Download cloud, Optimize cloud
:Here, the cloud probably refers to cloud storage (online storage). Cloud storage would be too large by many orders of magnitude to fit, let alone download onto a desktop computer.
:"Optimize cloud" might again be a reference to "optimize disk usage".
;Upload unused space to cloud
:"Uploading empty space" is a) impossible and b) would result in less space being available, which is the opposite of what a disk cleaner utility is supposed to do.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[This comic shows a pie chart with 10 slices, each with a label and a line pointing to these ten different sized slices. There is a caption above the chart:]
:Disk Space Usage Report

:[The labels on each slice is given in clockwise order starting from the top middle. The percentages are estimated from the image and are noted in the square brackets before the transcript:]

:[8%]: Why are there two full backups of my phone from 2015 deep in a settings folder?
:[23%]: "Other"
:[9%]: "Cache"
:[2%]: Unused
:[21%]: "System"
:[9%]: A single five-year-old PowerPoint presentation
:[6%]: Everything you've streamed since 2017
:[3%]: Documents
:[1%] Good Photos
:[18%] Photos

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Pie charts]]

1906: Making Progress

2017-10-23T15:51:07Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 1906
| date = October 23, 2017
| title = Making Progress
| image = making_progress.png
| titletext = I started off with countless problems. But now I know, thanks to COUNT(), that I have "#REF! ERROR: Circular dependency detected" problems.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Megan has made progress. While she started the day with lots of problems, she has sorted those problems out in a spreadsheet. This will allow her to sort out all her problems and fix them quicker.

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

{{comic discussion}}

1889: xkcd Phone 6

2017-09-13T22:52:54Z

FPSCanarussia: NASA developed fonts

{{comic
| number = 1889
| date = September 13, 2017
| title = xkcd Phone 6
| image = xkcd_phone_6.png
| titletext = We understand your privacy concerns; be assured that our phones will never store or transmit images of your face.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|All features need an explanation, the version number war and title text as well. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the sixth entry in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], released the day after Apple announced their new {{w|iPhone 8}} and the higher-end {{w|iPhone X}} with facial recognition features.

===List of features (clockwise from center/top)===

; Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
: Front camera is a common feature of smartphones. The camera lens is located on the same side of the phone's case as the main screen and therefore it is possible to capture the image of the user's face looking at the screen and display the interlocutor's face on the screen simultaneously, enabling video chat. However, as the camera is usually located above the screen, a user looking at the displayed image of the other person directs his or her eyes at the center of the screen and not at the camera's lens. This is very visible on the other end of the chat as if the person talking was looking down and not in the interlocutor's face which is an uncomfortable situation for most people. For this reason, professionals involved in movie or TV-making, like actors or reporters, are trained to look straight into the camera's lens while talking, which creates impression of looking straight at the viewer's face. During a video chat, however, looking into the lens of an above-screen camera does not allow one to see the interlocutor's face clearly because it is then in the peripheral field of vision.

: To solve this conundrum, Randall proposes locating the camera lens right in the middle of the screen. Therefore the user looking at the screen to see the other person's face would be also looking at the lens, creating an impression of a straight look on the other end of the chat. This is absurd since the lens would then take place of some of the center pixels of the screen, not allowing the display the center part of the captured image of the other person's face (like eyes and/or lips) which is most important for nonverbal communication. Such location of the camera lens would also likely interfere with touch-screen function. It will make other applications on the phone difficult to use, since virtually no user interface is designed to accommodate for a blind spot in the center{{Citation needed}}.

; Full-width rear camera
: Phone cameras tend to have lenses which are quite small and round or square -- same width as height. Full-width makes it sound like the camera lens is really wide, as in a long oval or rectangle shape. This generally would not accomplish anything worthwhile, unless it allowed you to take one-shot panorama photos.

; CDC partnership - phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year
: U.S. {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}} is a government agency tasked with addressing public health concerns such as infectious diseases, including seasonal flu. A common way of limiting spread of an infectious disease is {{w|Vaccine|vaccination}}, which most often involves administering a specially prepared medicine via an {{w|intramuscular injection}}. This features implies that the phone would automatically perform such an injection once a year, by shooting a needle out of a small aperture while the user is holding the phone to his or her cheek during a call.

; 12-function
: Most smartphones can be used for more than 12 different things{{Citation needed}}. However, this may refer to the 12 basic functions of calculus (identity, squaring, cubing, square root, logarithm, exponential, reciprocal, sine, cosine, greatest integer, absolute value, and logistic), or the twelve function keys on a modern keyboard (more than the ten on the original IBM PC keyboard).

; Dishwasher safe
: Usually a feature of plastic containers or fancy dishes. Unlikely to appear on a smartphone, though potentially useful if you need to clean your screen.

; GPS transmitter
: Many smartphones have a receiver for the Global Positioning System, which allows a phone to compute its position based on signals from the constellation of GPS satellites. However, a device with a "GPS transmitter" would broadcast signals that would interfere with the GPS receivers of all devices nearby.

; 3-G acceleration
: Usually, a phone is 3g compatible if it uses a certain standard ("third generation") for data transmission. However, 3-G acceleration implies the phone can accelerate at a rate or 3 times the acceleration of gravity, or approximately 30 m/s².

; Portable, solar-heated
: Portability is pretty much the entire point of using a ''mobile'' phone, so advertising portability is rather pointless. Solar ''power'' charging could be a very useful feature on a phone, but solar ''heating'' usually applies to plumbing, where a water tank is heated by the sun and used to supply hot water to taps. Technically, as the sun heats up everything on Earth, the phone is in fact solar heated.

;Pore-cleaning strip
: Something sticky on that location would be very annoying for people trying to use their beards to make a call. See also [[777: Pore Strips]]

; Maximum strength
:Medicines are often sold a "Maximum strength", as in the highest dose allowed by law or allowed without a prescription. For phones, there are sometimes "hardened" or "ruggedized" versions which are designed to survive harsher environmental conditions such as surviving drops and collisions, excessive water and dust, etc. So Maximum strength could indicate a "ruggedized" phone, though a screen that extended past the edges would likely have the opposite effect.

; Never needs sharpening
: Phones do not need to be sharpened in the first place{{Citation needed}}. This is a feature more likely to be found in a knife advertisement (especially for a knife that cannot be sharpened, like a serrated or ceramic blade).

; Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
: This is a play on the common IP-rating of water resistance, which is typically rated for submersion to a rated depth for 30 minutes. A phone which could only be used or carried for 30 minutes and then needed to be immersed in water would be rather inconvenient.

; Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight
: {{w|National Audubon Society}} is a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation of nature, mainly of birds, also organizing open {{w|birdwatching}} events. An app that identifies bird species, as for example from a photo of a bird made by the smartphone itself, would be cool. An app allowing you to control the bird's flight would be way cooler, but it is not possible at the current state of technology{{Citation needed}} - and it would fly in the face of the Audubon Society core activity. This is a reference to {{w|Unmanned_aerial_vehicle|drones}} (artificial "birds") which are often controlled by a smartphone app. This may also be a reference to [[1425: Tasks]], in which an app that can recognize if a bird is on camera is proposed.

; Extra screen
:Because of the center camera, an additional section of screen was added. This is similar to the new iPhone, which also has a few extra pixels up there.

; Wireless charging port
:Wireless charging has no wires, and needs no port.

; Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older
:Usually an item is deemed safe for a particular age or older, or (in the case of toys) is recommended for a particular age range. This is unusual in that it's a hodge-podge of age ranges with no apparent reason why some ages are safe and others are not. It may be a parody of drug commercials that list several age ranges for which the drug had to be separately approved.

; Screen goes past the edge
:A parody of the trend of "edge to edge" displays in recent generations of smartphones

; High thread count CPU
:A CPU thread is a task the CPU performs. Several threads may share memory making them a process. A operating system distributes the CPU's time over all active threads. CPU's don't generally have a limit on the number of threads (some operating systems do), however with a certain number the amount of cycles per thread becomes too low to be of much practical use. This seems to be a joke about bedding, where high thread count is actually a reasonably advertizable statistic.

; Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock
:The {{w|Shroud of Turin}} is claimed to display an image of the face of {{w|Jesus Christ}}, appearing as if it was transferred to the cloth. Presumably, to unlock this phone, the user must press their face against it. This is likely a reference to the iPhone X's FaceId unlock, which uses a ''photograph'' of your face to unlock it and which had attracted [https://www.wired.com/story/iphone-x-faceid-security/ significant criticism] immediately before this comic came out.

; Fonts developed by NASA
: Between 1975 and 1992 NASA used the {{w|NASA insignia|"worm" logotype}} in it's insignia. It was a special font omitting the horizontal bar in the capitalized letter A. May be a reference to many advertisements that claim their product uses technology developed by NASA. This seems impressive, as NASA technology does tend to be quite strong and advanced, due to their tech having to survive outer space{{Citation needed}}. NASA-developed fonts, however, would not be as impressive due to fonts having very little to do with NASA's core operations.

; Includes applicator
: What tampon packages often say.

; Burns clean coal
: There is a push for clean energy production as a result of increased awareness of global warming. While it may be useful for a phone to be able to produce its own energy, coal is by definition not a clean energy source because it produces carbon dioxide. The phone is not stated to have a vent for the CO2 to escape, which would technically make the coal "clean" as it is not entering the atmosphere. However, the gas is instead trapped inside the phone, which will quickly ruin it through a combination of heat and pressure.

; Pre-seasoned
:Pre-seasoned typically refers to cast iron cookware which is ready to use out of the box, as opposed to needing to season it with oil and heat. It can also refer to packaged meats which are ready to cook without needing to be seasoned with herbs and spices.

; Broad-spectrum SPF 30
:The xkcd phone somehow gives an SPF 30 level of skin protection from the sun.

; College-ruled
:College-ruled is a style of notebook paper having narrower lines in order to fit more text per page.

; Sterile packaging
:Useful for medical supplies, less so in a phone.

; Radium backlight
:The discovery of the phosphorescent element radium sparked a brief fad in which some watch makers painted watch faces or hands with the substance so the time could be read at night. However, it was eventually realized that regular exposure to radium could result in radiation poisoning, particularly for the workers assembling and painting the watches. A radium-based backlight would therefore be both potentially dangerous (especially for an object carried on one's person much of the time) but also largely useless, as the phosphorescence of radium is rather dim compared to conventional phone back lights.

; 4K pixels (50×80)
:This refers to having 4,000 pixels in the screen in total, rather than a screen width of ~4000 pixels. TV's advertised as "4K" are typically up to 4096 × 2160 pixels, or 8.8 million pixels. That would be outstanding for a cell phone whereas 4,000 pixels total would be horrendous. As a comparison, the old Commodore VIC-20 with a resolution of 176 × 184 would have over 8 times the pixels of this phone. It is however quite close to the screen resolution of the sturdy Nokia 3310, boasting a total of 4032 pixels positioned 84 × 48.

In the caption below the phone [[Randall]] presents many different version numbers:
*The number 6 is in correct order of all the xkcd phones
*The {{w|Roman numerals|roman number}} VIII refers to the newly announced {{w|iPhone 8}} and jokes about the roman number X below
*Version number 10 is the current version of Microsoft Windows after omitting the number 9
*The {{w|iPhone X}} is a phablet announced together with the iPhone 8 by Apple on September 12, 2017, a day before this comic was released
*The number 26 refers to...
*In the year 1876 {{w|Alexander Graham Bell}} received the U.S. Patent No. 174465 for the {{w|invention of the telephone}}, but there is still a {{w|Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy|controversy}} whether {{w|Elisha Gray}} was the first who presented a working telephone.
Below of this numbers Randall states that xkcd isn't responsible for this ''nonconsecutive version number war'', but, as it can be seen here above, he attempts to win. And by counting parallel version numbers xkcd defeated Apple 6:2. The symbols at the end are ™ for trademark, ® for registered trademark, and © for a copyright protection. The degree symbol ° after the letter C could be a play with degree Celsius.

In the title text Randall attributes privacy concerns about the facial recognition feature. A picture of a face will only be used for this new feature but never stored on the device nor transmitted to internet. A ''small'' side effect may be that the famous selfie pictures aren't possible anymore.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A smartphone is shown, the screen is slightly wider than the case, in the middle is a photo lens, and at the right bottom a small extra part is added to the screen.]
:[On top a bracket ranges nearly over the entire width of the case. The text reads:]
:Full-width rear camera
:[The label at the photo lens is:]
:Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
:[The label on the extra part says:]
:Extra screen
:[At the bottom below the case a label reads:]
:Wireless charging port

:[The labels left to the phone are:]
:4k pixels (50x80)
:Radium backlight
:Sterile packaging
:College-ruled
:Broad spectrum SPF 30
:Pre-seasoned
:Burns clean coal
:Includes applicator
:Fonts developed by NASA
:Shroud of turn-style facial transfer unlock
:High thread count CPU
:Screen goes past the edge
:Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older

:[The labels right to the phone are:]
:CDC partnership: Phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year
:12-function
:Dishwasher safe
:GPS transmitter
:3-G acceleration
:Portable, solar-heated
:Pore-cleaning strip
:Maximum strength
:Never needs sharpening
:Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
:Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight

:[Text below the phone:]
:Introducing
:'''The XKCD PHONE 6, VIII, 10, X, 26, and 1876'''
:We didn't start this nonconsecutive version number war, but we will not lose it.™®©°
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:xkcd Phones]]

1877: Eclipse Science

2017-08-18T12:45:05Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 1877
| date = August 16, 2017
| title = Eclipse Science
| image = eclipse_science.png
| titletext = I was thinking of observing stars to verify Einstein's theory of relativity again, but I gotta say, that thing is looking pretty solid at this point.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on eclipses (links). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The second solar eclipse related comic in a row, the previous being [[1876: Eclipse Searches]]. Released only five days before the {{w|Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017|August 21, 2017}} eclipse in the United States.

This comic reflects on various reasons scientists have for being interested in a total solar eclipse. An eclipse is an astronomical event, which most laypeople associate with science and thus might assume would be of interest to scientists. However, when the reporter probes Megan on scientific interest on the eclipse, Megan gives short and sarcastic answers, downplaying any experimental significance of the phenomenon and indicating that her only interest is in spectacle rather than science. She also makes the point that science is no more involved in an eclipse than any other spectator event, and does not work to observe phenomenon without any interest in discovery. Eclipses are well-understood events and there is no lack of models for explaining the physics behind them; the alignment of bodies in space is a result of orbital mechanics which are present at all times, making the whole event only significant to the observer.

While some astronomers might be testing elaborate hypotheses during an eclipse, for other scientists (eg. organic chemists and paleontologists) it is just a once in a long time (maybe even once in a lifetime) event which is visually interesting. Some biologists may, however, be collecting data on the behaviour of animals during an eclipse, which is poorly understood due to its rarity.

Megan's point is that in 2017 (and for several decades/centuries previous) eclipses are thoroughly understood. Wikipedia has a listing of {{w|List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century|every eclipse that will occur in the 21st Century}}, to include the coordinates and time of greatest eclipse. While eclipses offer a unique opportunity for ground based observation of the Sun's outer layers the majority of the study of the sun is done by satellites that do not require an eclipse to take readings.

The title text refers to a {{w|Tests_of_general_relativity#Deflection_of_light_by_the_Sun|1919 experiment during an eclipse}} to observe gravitational deflection of light waves. The 1919 experiment was the first strong experimental confirmation of Einstein's then-new theory. One century later, general relativity {{w|Tests_of_general_relativity|has been tested and confirmed in so many different ways}} that 'pretty solid' is a vast understatement.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy is speaking into a microphone while interviewing Megan.]
:Hairy: Tell us, are you scientists excited for the eclipse?
:Megan: Sure, lots of people are!

:[Zoom in on Megans head.]
:Hairy (off-panel): Is this a big moment for science?
:Megan: It's a big moment for the sky.

:[Same setting as first panel in a wider panel.]
:Hairy: Are people really excited enough about science to travel to see it?
:Megan: Honestly, it's not that scientific. I mean, it's cool if you're into astronomy, but it's also cool if you're, like, aware of the sun.

:[Same setting.]
:Hairy: But there's lots of science involved.
:Megan: I guess? There's lots of science involved in the Olympics, but you don't need to be a scientist to watch.

:[Megan holds a hand out towards Hairy.]
:Megan: It's not like the concept is all that arcane or mathematical. It's a thing going in front of another thing.

:[Zoom in on Megan holding both arms out.]
:Hairy (off-panel): Then why are you so excited?
:Megan: I'm excited because it's a nearly once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch the sun go dark, hear birds freak out, and see a glowing ring appear in the sky with a sunset on every horizon.

:[Back to same setting as in the first panel.]
:Hairy : Will you be making any scientific observations?
:Megan: I will be like, "Holy shit, look at the sky."
:Megan: Maybe also "This is so cool."
:Megan: We'll see!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Physics]]

1864: City Nicknames

2017-07-18T13:56:48Z

FPSCanarussia:

{{comic
| number = 1864
| date = July 17, 2017
| title = City Nicknames
| image = city_nicknames.png
| titletext = This place has so many demonyms. Northlanders. Fair Folk. Honey Barons. Lake Dwellers. Treasurers. Swamp Watchers. Dream Farmers. Wellfolk. Rockeaters. Forgotten Royals. Remote Clients. Barrow-Clerks. The People of Land and Sky.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|stub}}

Cities often have official or unofficial nicknames. For instance, {{w|St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri}}, is known as "Gateway to the West" among several other nicknames. The nicknames typically invoke some historical or geographic feature of the city, but can sometime be opaque to those not familiar with the city. [https://www.into-asia.com/bangkok/introduction/fullname.php The full, formal name of Bangkok] includes a long list of superlatives translating as "The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn."

[[Black Hat]] appears to believe they are near {{w|New York City}}, despite the skyline being clearly recognizable as St. Louis due to the {{w|Gateway Arch}}. However, the nickname he gives is neither a common New York nickname (such as "{{w|List of nicknames of New York City|The Big Apple}}") nor a St. Louis nickname. [[Megan]] tries to correct him, but it becomes clear that Black Hat is making up nicknames. Many of his suggestions are puns for real nicknames of other places.

The title text contains made up {{w|demonym}}s in the same pattern. A demonym is a word for the people who live in a particular place. They are typically derived from the name of the place (e.g. "St. Louisan" for people from St. Louis), but some regions have an {{w|Demonym#Informal|informal demonym}} that can be used colloquially by those familiar with the place to refer to its residents.

===Nicknames and Demonyms===

{| class=wikitable
! City nickname in comic
! Reference
! Explanation

|-
| The Hot Tamale
| {{w|Hot Tamales}}
| Possibly a reference to the term [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=big%20enchilada big enchilada] (something of great importance). In the movie [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(1996_film) Independence Day], the phrase "Big Tamale" is used in a similar manner as "Big Enchilada" to describe the alien fighter held at Area 51.

|-
| The Winged City
| The Windy City
| Chicago. Possibly also [http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/incheon-international-airport/ Incheon International Airport (ICA/RKSI), South Korea]

|-
| The Gold Trombone
|
| Possibly a reference to the gold standard.

|-
| Castleopolis
| {{w|Cassopolis}}, or possibly Dictionopolis.
| Literally "Castle city." {{w|Polis}} (from the Greek πόλις for city) is commonly used as a suffix for city names, like {{w|Minneapolis}} or {{w|Alexandroupolis}}; {{w|Metropolis}} can either be a type of city, or one of the real or fictional cities bearing the name. Possibly a reference to The Phantom Tollbooth, which has both castles and cities named Dictionopolis and Digitopolis.

|-
| The Kissing Kingdom
| {{w|United Kingdom}}
| This would make a ''Very'' United Kingdom

|-
| Sandland
|
| {{w|Sandland}} is a village in northern Norway, most likely coincidentally.

|-
| The High Place
| {{w|Denver}}
|Denver is known as the Mile High City. Also, in English translations of the Old Testament, the Hebrew term במה (bamah, plural במות bamot) is rendered as "{{w|high place}}," and denotes a place of worship. In modern Jewish synagogues, the "High Place" (bimah) is the elevated platform from which the Torah is read. In Gene Wolfe's ''Free Live Free'', one character claims to come from the "High Place". The others consider this a metaphor, or simply a lie. Eventually this is discovered not to be the case.

|-
| Ol' Ironhook
| {{w|Old Ironsides}}
| Old Ironsides is a nickname for the USS Constitution (docked in Charlestown, MA). Ol' Ironhook may be a conflation of Old Ironsides (also a nickname for English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell) with Old Hookey (a nickname for Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, English general and PM) or Old Kinderhook (a nickname for US President Martin Van Buren).
|-
| The Thousand Spires || The City of a Hundred Spires / City of Dreaming Spires|| Prague / Oxford
|-
| The Graveyard of Kings || The Graveyard of Champions || Court 2 at Wimbledon, where former champions are often defeated (the playing environment is very different from Centre Court and Court One, which are larger and where games involving highly-ranked players are preferentially located). The comic was released one day after the 2017 Wimbledon Championships were finished.
|-
| Bloomtown || [[wikipedia: Boomtown|Boomtown]] || Generic term for a town undergoing rapid growth. Used in the 2002 TV series of the same name as a nickname for Los Angeles. Might also be referring to [[wikipedia:Bloom County|Bloom County]], a comic by [[wikipedia:Berkeley Breathed|Berkeley Breathed]], or Dublin, as the setting for Ulysses by James Joyce.
|-
| Lantern City USA || {{w|Tree City USA}} || A designation supporting municipalities that showcase urban forestry, in connection with Arbor Day. Lantern city is a fictional, steam-punk serial.
|-
| The City of Many Daughters || ||
|-
| Big Mauve || [[wikipedia: Big_Red_(drink)|Big Red Soda]] || Big Red Soda. The Cornell teams are known as the [[wikipedia:Cornell Big Red|Big Red]]. The Dartmouth football team is the Big Green.
|-
| The Glass Cradle || [[wikipedia:The Glass Menagerie|The Glass Menagerie]] || A play by Tennessee Williams
|-
| The Road Source ||{{w|Rome}} || From the saying that {{w|All Roads Lead to Rome}}
|-
| London Prime || London || In the DC comics, to incorporate multiple continuties, there were multiple universes. London Prime would be "real London" on Earth Prime. Various cities named {{w|New London}} in the United States and elsewhere are imagined as London in alternate continuities. Alternatively in mathematics, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_(symbol)#Use_in_mathematics.2C_statistics.2C_and_science prime mark], x' can be the next iteration of variable x.
|-
| Hamtown || {{w|Boston}}, {{w|Hamburg}}, {{w|Toronto}} || Boston is known as [[wikipedia:Boston nicknames|beantown]], pork and beans are commonly cooked together (as in {{w|Boston baked beans}}), and ham is a form of pork. The German word ''Burg'' means castle or fort and is often used as suffix for town names. The origin of the prefix ''Ham'' is uncertain, but the food {{w|Hamburger}} derives from this city and ''Hamburger'' in German is the demonym of Hamburg. Toronto sometimes nicknamed Hogtown.
|-
| The Salad Bowl || || A theory of cultural integration in the US, one that stands in contrast to the older 'Melting Pot' theory. Could also refer to the [[wikipedia: Dust Bowl|Dust Bowl]]
|-
| God's Boudoir || God's Waiting Room || State of {{w|Florida}}, where many elderly retire then expire.
|-
| The Glittering Swamp || [[wikipedia:Great Dismal Swamp|The Great Dismal Swamp ]] || A large swamp in Virginia and North Carolina. Also, the city of {{w|Washington, D.C.}} has often been referred to as a "swamp," owing partly to its past as a [http://networks.h-net.org/node/28441/pages/36129/swamps-and-city-washington malarial swamp].
|-
| The Steel Forest || The Concrete Jungle || The Concrete Jungle is a name often given to New York's Manhattan area. There was also a book and movie titled ''The Petrified Forest''.
|-
| The Mobius Strip || The Strip || The Strip is a shortened and commonly used name for the Las Vegas Strip, the main area of hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. A {{w|Mobius strip}} is a one-sided piece of paper created by rotating the short edge of the strip 180 degrees and attaching it to the other short edge. The Vegas strip has more or less only one side as well.
|-
| The Land of Trains and Fog || || Britain was home to early developments in railroading, and some portions are known for fog and mists.
In the webcomic [[wikipedia:Homestuck | Homestuck]] many events take place on various planets named in the format "The Land of X and Y", e.g. "The Land of Light and Rain". The novel by George R.R. Martin, which was made into ''Game of Thrones'', was called ''A Song of Ice and Fire''.
|-
| The Meeting Place || ||
|-
| The Dark Star || || ''Dark Star'' is a 1974 science fiction comedy film.
|-
| The Walled Garden || {{w|Walled garden (technology)}} || A walled garden is a virtual environment where the user can only view content that is published or permitted by the proprietor, e.g. AOL or Facebook. This could also be a reference to walled cities, e.g. from the Middle Ages, or the {{w|Kowloon Walled City}} in the modern era. ''The Secret Garden'' is a book by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
|-
| Skin City || [[wikipedia:Sin City (description)|Sin City]] || Generic term for a city well known for gambling, drugs, or other vices. Also Las Vegas.
|-
| The Horse Rotary || ||
|-
| Turkeytown || Turkeytown || A town in Lincoln County, Kentucky
|-
| The Naked Towers || || ''The Naked City'' was a television series. ''The Two Towers'' is a book by Tolkien, and ''Naked Lunch'' is a book by Burroughs
|-
| The Meta-City || Metacity || A term for a heterogenous, sprawling urban center with multiple dense centers, such as Tokyo or New York City. Metacity was also the window manager in the Linux GNOME 2 desktop.
|-
| The Urban Orb || || The screen name of a Let's Player on Youtube and Twitch. - Also maybe once more: Rome and the Rest of the world, as in the popes adress to the urbi (city: meaning rome ) and orbi (circle: meaning the world)
|-
| The City of Angles || City of Angels || Los Angeles. Also, the titular City of Angles in the web novel [http://stefangagne.com/cityofangles/ City of Angles].
|-
| The Big Wheel || [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041179/ The Big Wheel] || A 1949 movie about a race car driver. Alternatively, a child's plastic tricycle with an oversized front wheel.
|-
| Bird City USA || || A program started by the Audubon Society.
|-
| The City of Seven Crowns || City of Seven Hills || Rome. Also occasinally refers to Moscow. The next nickname is likely a reference to the 'wrong' part of this nickname.
|-
| Hilltopia ||The Hilltop || May be reference to The Hilltop in AMC's The Walking Dead
|-
| Bug City || || A nickname for the bug-infested Chicago in the roleplaying game Shadowrun. Also, a sourcebook for the game.
|-
| The Bottomless Cup || || There are many mentions of Bottomless Pits in stories. Additionally, restaurants offering unlimited refills on drinks may refer to this offer by terms like "Bottomless Soda."
|-
| Lorde's Fen || Lord's Fen || [[wikipedia:Lorde| Lorde]] is a musical artist from Herne Bay, New Zealand - an area near Waitemata Harbour. A [[wikipedia:Fen| fen]] is a type of wetland, which could loosely connect to Herne Bay.
|-
| The Last Town || || The third book in the Wayward Pines series.
|-
| The Empty Set || || The concert hall in the video game Transistor. In mathematics, the {{w|empty set}} refers to an unique set with no elements, often notated as "{}" or "∅".
|-
| Ghost Harbor || || The name for a brewing company in North Carolina.
|}

{| class=wikitable
! Demonym in comic
! Reference
! Explanation
|-
| Northlanders || {{w|Norsemen}} || Norsemen, literally men from the north, people from Scandinavia. Could also be a reference to highlanders, the people of the {{w|Scottish Highlands}}, with a similar demonym. The "High" in "Highlands" is a reference to the mountainous landscape, not the geographical position.
|-
| Fair Folk || {{w|Fairy}} || The fair folk is a name for fairies in folklore. The elves in ''The Lord of the Rings'' are referred to as the 'fair folk'.
|-
| Honey Barons || [[wikipedia: Robber_baron_(industrialist) | Robber Barons]], [[wikipedia: Honey_badger | Honey Badgers]], [[wikipedia: Honey bear| honey bear]] || Possibly a play on The Robber Barons, a group of powerful industrialists in the late 1800's known for questionable business ethics, and honey badgers, animals known for their tough skin, bad tempers, and tenacity. Honey bear is a name for a few types of bear, as well as kinkajous.
|-
| Lake Dwellers || ||
|-
| Treasurers || || A {{w|treasurer}} is a person in charge of running the treasury of an organization, for example a governmental department. The Auditors were characters in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books who did the book-keeping for reality, and wanted to simplify the universe by destroying life.
|-
| Swamp Watchers || ||
|-
| Dream Farmers || The Dream Factory || Hollywood, California, in its role as the center of the American film industry.
|-
| Wellfolk || Werefolk || The were folk were people who could change into animals: e.g. werewolves.
|-
| Rockeaters || [[Wikipedia:List_of_The_Neverending_Story_characters#Pyornkrachzark_and_the_other_messengers| Rockbiter]] || In the ''Never Ending Story'', Pyornkrachzark, more commonly known as "Rock Biter" is a large creature made completely of stone, named due to their diet of rocks.
May also refer to {{w|Lotus-eaters}}; while these mythical people slept in narcotic apathy, rockeaters might have a tougher time.
|-
| Forgotten Royals || [[wikipedia:Forgotten Realms | Forgotten Realms]] || Royalty from Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) campaign setting
|-
| Remote Clients || [[wikipedia:Remote_computer|Remote client]] || In computing, a remote client is a program used to access a computer or service over a network.
|-
| Barrow-Clerks || [http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Barrow-wights Barrow-wights] || Wraith like creatures in ''The Lord of the Rings''. The hobbits come across them in the [http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Barrow-downs Barrow-downs].
Those who keep records of items deposited in a grave mound or barrow.
|-
| The People of Land and Sky || [[wikipedia:Sea_Peoples|Sea Peoples]] ||
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Black Hat, Megan, and Ponytail are standing on a hill overlooking a city. The Gateway Arch is visible, as well as a number of skyscrapers in the skyline.]
:Black Hat: Ah, New York. The Hot Tamale.
:Megan: This is St. Louis. Also, that's not–
:Black Hat: The Winged City. The Gold Trombone. Castleopolis.
:Megan: It's none of those.

:[Close-up of Black Hat]
:Black Hat: The Kissing Kingdom. Sandland. The High Place. Ol' Ironhook.
:Megan (off-panel): Still wrong.
:Black Hat: The Thousand Spires. The Graveyard of Kings. Bloomtown. Lantern City USA.
:Megan (off-panel): Please stop.

:[Black Hat, Megan, and Ponytail are walking]
:Black Hat: The City of Many Daughters. Big Mauve. The Glass Cradle. The Road Source. London Prime. Hamtown. The Salad Bowl. God's Boudoir. The Glittering Swamp. The Steel Forest. The Mobius Strip. The Land of Trains and Fog. The Meeting Place. The Dark Star. The Walled Garden. Skin City. The Horse Rotary. Turkeytown. The Naked Towers. The Meta-City. The Urban Orb. The City of Angles. The Big Wheel. Bird City USA. The City of Seven Crowns. Hilltopia. Bug City. The Bottomless Cup. [Text size getting smaller] Lorde's Fen. The Last Town. The Empty Set. Ghost Harbor.
:Megan: How long does this last?
:Ponytail: No city has ever let him stay long enough to find out.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]