explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2783: Ruling Out

2025-07-16T16:17:34Z

Grabadora304:

{{comic
| number = 2783
| date = May 31, 2023
| title = Ruling Out
| image = ruling_out_2x.png
| imagesize = 295x396px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We were able to replicate and confirm prior authors' detection of a moon orbiting the Earth with high confidence.
}}

==Explanation==
Most science studies are intended to discover new knowledge. In astronomy, the goal is often to find different types of objects in space, or learn how astronomical objects are formed and behave. But often from studying things that exist, we also learn about limits of the kinds of things that ''can'' exist; when this happens, we say that we've "ruled out" the excluded phenomena.

[[Cueball]] lists five obviously{{Citation needed}} impossible objects.

* "Earthlike stars": A play on "Earth-like planets" which scientists are very interested in finding. The [https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/overview/ Earth] is ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3063:_Planet_Definitions probably]) not a {{w|star}}, hence stars cannot be Earthlike.
: Searches for both {{w|List of potentially habitable exoplanets|Earth-like planets}} and {{w|Solar analog|Sun-like stars}} go unabated, with various near matches found.

* "Exoplanets in our solar system": {{w|Exoplanet}}s are by definition not in our solar system.
: Planets in our solar system (even {{w|Planets beyond Neptune|undiscovered ones}}) are unaffected, as is the {{w|List of exoplanet search projects|search for exoplanets}} around other stars, with conclusive evidence of both.

* "Habitable-zone quasars": {{w|Quasar}}s in the {{w|habitable zone}}s of stars are only theoretically feasible for relatively small {{w|black hole}}s with active {{w|accretion disk}}s in a star's habitable zone, visible from the Earth and brighter than the Sun, because of the technical criteria for classifying them in terms of their {{w|apparent magnitude}} relative to that of their galaxy.[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/728/1/26] None such have ever been observed.{{fact}} While typical galaxies usually have only one quasar in their center, merging galaxies often have two far apart. Perhaps in 4-5 billion years, when the {{w|Andromeda Galaxy}} merges with our {{w|Milky Way}}, its [https://www.sci.news/astronomy/article00779.html microquasar] might qualify, but that is extremely unlikely.
:While not certain, habitable zones around some quasars have not been ruled out.[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab1b2f/meta][https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2364/1/012057/meta]

* "Stars with subsurface oceans": Because the temperatures inside stars are higher than that which can support the existence of liquids as we understand them, stars cannot have subsurface oceans. After many billions of years, a {{w|white dwarf}} will cool to the point where it no longer emits significant heat or light, becoming a {{w|black dwarf}}, eventually cooling to the point where it might develop subsurface liquids.{{acn}} However, the universe is not old enough for any black dwarfs to exist yet,[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/375341/pdf] and sufficiently cool black dwarfs might not even be considered stars, but rather {{w|rogue planet}}s.
: The possibility of subsurface oceans within various planets and moons is an {{w|Extraterrestrial liquid water|active subject of study}}, and was previously mentioned 10 comics ago in [[2773: Planetary Scientist]].

* "Tectonically active black holes": Black holes do not have {{w|tectonic plate}}s, so they cannot be tectonically active.
: There are theories that neutron stars can exhibit {{w|Quake (natural phenomenon)#Starquake|tectonic-like movements}} (as some of the more typical rocky bodies certainly do), but the physics of the 'inside' of a black hole are thought to involve {{w|Black hole#Singularity|strange physics}} incompatible with any form of geology, and cannot be observed anyway – it is believed that the only externally-observable properties of black holes are mass, electric charge, and angular momentum, poetically called the '{{w|no-hair theorem}}'.

The joke is that you don't actually have to study anything to come to these almost patently obvious conclusions. The counter-proposals would need far more effort to even justify them as valid theories, by common understanding, and greater still to try to observe any supporting proof.

Some studies are also done to confirm the results of previous studies, to ensure that the conclusions were not mistaken or a fluke. The title text describes a study that was done to confirm the existence of a moon orbiting Earth, even though any sighted person can walk outside and see the Moon, the existence of the Moon has been known for at least as long as humanity has existed, and the fact that it orbits the Earth has been assumed or known for upwards of 3,000 years. The ancient Greeks and Babylonians, for example, thought that the Moon orbited the Earth, though they lacked a detailed physical understanding of the system (they also believed, erroneously, that {{w|Geocentric model|everything else in the universe orbited the Earth too}}). {{w|Anaxagoras}} (c. 500–428 BC) is credited with the correct explanation of lunar eclipses, and reportedly was the first to explain that the Moon shines due to reflected light from the Sun. However, it was not until the work of {{w|Nicolaus Copernicus}} in the 16th century that a detailed and accurate model of the Moon's orbit around the Earth was developed. Regardless, at this stage, a study to confirm the validity of Copernican orbits would contribute nothing to the scientific process, much less a study confirming the mere existence of the Moon.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is talking to Megan.]
:Cueball: So far our astronomy group has published studies ruling out the existence of Earthlike stars, exoplanets in our solar system, habitable-zone quasars, stars with subsurface oceans, and tectonically active black holes.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Science got way easier when we realized you were allowed to do studies just to rule stuff out.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

3038: Uncanceled Units

2025-06-08T01:43:36Z

Grabadora304:

{{comic
| number = 3038
| date = January 15, 2025
| title = Uncanceled Units
| image = uncanceled_units_2x.png
| imagesize = 323x355px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Speed limit c arcminutes^2 per steradian
}}

==Explanation==
Another of [[Randall]]'s [[:Category:Pet Peeves|pet peeves]], this comic expresses disapproval of units that could be mathematically simplified (in other words, the 'uncanceled' of the title refers to mathematical cancellation, not cancellation by a body, like how SI supplanted the CGS system with MKS).

[[White Hat]] is presenting a refrigerator to [[Cueball]], saying it uses 3 kWh per day. This is a common and useful way to report power usage. But mathematically, the units can be simplified because there are two time units that cancel each other:

: 3 kWh per day = 3 kW * 1 hour / 1 day = 3 kW * (1 hour / 24 hours) = 0.125 kW = 125 W

This gives the (average) power usage in {{w|watts}} (a unit for the rate of energy transfer, equal to 1 {{w|joule}} per second).

The reason people would use "kWh / day" without simplifying the unit is that kWh is a commonly used unit for energy, and it's often viewed as a base unit even though it's composite (1 kWh is the amount of energy consumed by one kilowatt of power usage over one hour, and is equal to 1 kJ/s * 1 h = 3600 kJ). It's the unit in which energy consumption is typically reported and in which bills are calculated, so it's more familiar to the average consumer, and giving the power usage in kWh / day makes it easier for the consumer to understand how much money it will cost them to run per day. Also, "per day" makes it clear that this is the ''average'' power usage rather than the maximum power usage (they are different because refrigerators cycle on and off throughout the day). But mathematically, "kWh / day" is inelegant, because it uses power (which is already a measure of energy per time) multiplied by a time unit then divided by another time unit.

Cueball (probably representing Randall) sardonically wonders whether the refrigerator would fit in his kitchen, since the ceiling is only 50 gallons per square foot high. This is clearly an abnormal and unhelpful way of reporting height. This unit turns a normal measurement of height (feet and inches in the US; meters and centimeters most other places) into a weird collection of uncancelled units. Gallons can be transformed to cubic feet (1 US gal = 231 in3), which can be divided by the square feet, yielding a ceiling height of around 6 feet 8 inches, or 203.7 cm. (Using imperial gallons [1 UK gal ≈ 277.42 in3], the height is roughly 8 feet, or approximately 244.7 cm.) This is intended to lampoon the use of both non-metric and uncancelled units by showing how odd things become if they're generally used.

The exact ceiling height in feet, assuming the US gallon is used, can be calculated as:

: 50 gallons per square foot = 50 gal * 231 in3/gal * (1/12 ft/in)3 / 1 ft2 = 6.68 ft = 6 ft 8 in

This can be understood as "the height such that every square foot of ceiling has 50 gallons under it." The ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|11|Droppings}}'' also covers strange instances of unit cancellation, including a measure of volume per distance converted to area; similar to Cueball's measure of volume per area representing a distance (the height of his ceiling). In [[2327: Oily House Index]], volume is also divided by area to get house height.

A common source of unit drama occurs between lay people who are looking for everyday practicality and science/engineering types who are inclined towards formalized mathematical operations. For example U.S. customary units which support many divisibility rules (1 foot = 12 inches; 1 inch = 72 points = 1440 twips; 3 feet = 1 yard; 2 yards = 1 fathom; 22 yards = 1 chain; 10 chains = 1 furlong; 1 mile = 5280 feet; 1 league = 3 miles) versus metric units which prioritize base 10 scales. In this case, telling the average customer the energy use in joules per day or average consumption in watts would require them to perform more complicated conversions to get to the figure they actually care about — the actual cost per day. White Hat could just give this cost figure directly, but does not know what every customer pays for electricity (an explicit yearly cost estimate would be included on the government-required energy efficiency label).

In the title text, a speed limit is given as c arcminutes2 per steradian, where c is presumably the speed of light in a vacuum — 2.998×108 m/s (meters per second) or 186282 mi/s (miles per second). A steradian (sr) is the SI unit for solid angle, subtended by a section of a sphere (like a radian is a unit of angle subtended by a section of a circle). A square arcminute is also a unit of solid angle, equivalent to a section of a sphere of 1/60 of a degree by 1/60 of a degree. There are ((1/60)*(π/180))2 = 8.462×10-8 sr in a square arcminute. Then multiplying by c gives a speed of 56.75 mph (probably 55 mph, based upon the {{w|National Maximum Speed Law|'traditional' US speed limit}}, before rounding errors in the reverse direction), or 91.33 km/h, showing that you can combine an outrageously high speed with two unnecessary units that cancel each other to form a normal road speed.

It is worth noting that, although some of these examples are ridiculous, there are cases where uncancelled units can be helpful to understanding the concept. For example, while the {{w|Hubble's law|Hubble Parameter}} can be expressed as 2.17132212 × 10-18 {{w|Hz}}, expressing it as 67 km/s/Mpc directly relates the quantity to how it is measured and its natural interpretation. Another example would be fuel efficiency in cars, where mi/gal and km/l technically simplify to 1/area, but expressing it in volume and distance allows easy estimations of range and travel cost, while mm-2 or in-2 would require significant unit conversions. Another example might be the units of the gravitational constant G, ~6.674 × 10-11 m3/(kg×s2), which might be written as (m/s2)/(kg/m2), although this only involves unjumbling rather than uncancelling units.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are standing to either side of a refrigerator. White Hat is lifting one hand up to touch the side of the fridge. The fridge has two compartments, with two doors that open to the top compartment and one bottom compartment, a drawer. The top left compartment has a tall handle on its right, the top right compartment has a tall handle on its left, and the bottom compartment has a long handle on its top. The top left compartment has an oval shape on the top and a paper attached, both with unreadable text. There is also a small square note in the top right corner and an oval shape on the side of the fridge above White Hat. These also have unreadable text.]
:White Hat: This fridge uses only 3 kWh per day!
:Cueball: But will it fit in my kitchen? The ceiling there is only 50 gallons per square foot.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pet peeve: Uncanceled units

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Pet Peeves]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]

1448: Question

2024-09-14T23:00:25Z

Grabadora304:

{{comic
| number = 1448
| date = November 17, 2014
| title = Question
| image = question.png
| titletext = The universe long dead, IsaAC surveyed the formless chaos. At last, he had arrived at an answer. 'I like you,' he declared to the void, 'but I don't LIKE like you.'
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a reference to a short story by Isaac Asimov "{{w|The Last Question}}", where humans kept asking successively more complex computers whether {{w|entropy}} can be reversed, thereby preventing the {{w|heat death of the universe}}. The computers always answered "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER". In the end, the final computer figured out the answer, but there were no humans left to give the answer to.

The comic depicts a note to “Isaac”, a clear reference to Asimov's name, but possibly depicts what life would have been like for him as a child. The note asks Isaac to identify whether he likes the note-writer by choosing either “yes” or “no”. Isaac is supposed to check an answer and hand the note back, but Isaac (whose pen is red) has written and selected a third answer, "there is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer", mirroring the way his computers in the short story responded. Notes of this form are stereotypically written by young schoolchildren to gauge or incite romantic interest. This allows impatient children to get an answer during a class, and timid children to get an answer without having to ask the person face to face.

Title text is a reference to the ending in “The Last Question”. The unique capitalization of "IsaAC" in this text implies that IsaAC is an acronym for a type of supercomputer named with a similar convention to the computers in "The Last Question". Instead of the computer climactically coming up with the solution on how to save the universe from entropy when all humanity is gone, like in the “The Last Question", IsaAC comes up with the anticlimactic excuse of an answer 'I like you, but I don't LIKE like you'. “LIKE like” is a childish euphemism for romantic interest. In "The Last Question", a character considers a thought that perhaps AC stands for "analog computer", but in reality this was never the case; for example, ENIAC stands for "Electronic Numerical Integrator ''And Computer''" and UNIVAC stands for "UNIVersal ''Automatic Computer''". This title text may also be meant to imply that Isaac Asimov was a supercomputer.

The original story can be read [https://archive.is/AaLxP here].

Comic [[1737: Datacenter Scale]] also references the short-story in the title text.

==Transcript==
:[A post-it note which reads:]
:Dear Isaac
:Do you like me?
:□ Yes
:□ No
:[Below handwritten in red ink with a checked box:]
:☒ there is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Question]]

2033: Repair or Replace

2024-06-11T19:58:15Z

Grabadora304:

{{comic
| number = 2033
| date = August 15, 2018
| title = Repair or Replace
| image = repair_or_replace.png
| titletext = Just make sure all your friends and family are out of the car, or that you've made backup friends and family at home.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic compares the repair of cars with that of computers or other similar electronic devices. The question ''Repair or Replace?'' comes up more frequently with electronics than with cars, hence the title of the comic, and the humor derived.

[[Cueball]] is in his car. He says that there is a weird sound and asks if the car mechanic [[Hairy]] will take a look. Hairy asks him to open the car's {{w|Hood (car)|hood}}, exposing the engine, to further identify the cause of the problem. Cueball then says that his hood latch, the lever used to open the hood, is also broken. The solution, according to Hairy, is then to discard the car, and "replace" it with a new car.

In reality, fixing the latch on the hood is a simple task for a skilled mechanic and would not justify writing-off the car. When a car is malfunctioning, the usual response is to attempt to repair it. A car is designed so that many of the parts can be replaced or adjusted. By contrast, when a computer or electronic device is malfunctioning, it is often judged to be more expensive to repair than to replace, and the usual action is to purchase a new device. It is generally possible to replace each part of a desktop or laptop computer, but harder to do so for more integrated devices such as tablets, and almost impossible to repair individual components with faulty or damaged integrated circuits. Thus, Randall notes in this comic that while it does make sense for electronic devices, the "solution" of replacing an object instead of attempting to repair seems absurd for many other expensive items.

The title text refers to data stored on a computer or electronic device. Before replacing the device, it is recommended {{w|backup}} all your personal files, so that you have future access to them, and to remove them for security. Randall likens this to having your friends and family exit the vehicle, or making backup friends and family before the vehicle is thrown away.

This comic is similar to [[1737: Datacenter Scale]], which is also about discarding servers instead of fixing them.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in a car parked to the left of Hairy, who thus stands in front of it while pointing behind him towards a big black hole.]
:Cueball: My engine's making a weird noise. Can you take a look?
:Hairy: Sure, just pop the hood.
:Cueball: Oh, the hood latch is also broken.
:Hairy: OK, just pull up to that big pit and push the car in. We'll go get a new one.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:I'm sure the economics make sense, but it still freaks me out how quick companies are to replace computing devices instead of trying to fix them.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1737: Datacenter Scale

2024-06-11T19:57:51Z

Grabadora304:

{{comic
| number = 1737
| date = September 23, 2016
| title = Datacenter Scale
| image = datacenter_scale.png
| titletext = Asimov's Cosmic AC was created by linking all datacenters through hyperspace, which explains a lot. It didn't reverse entropy--it just discarded the universe when it reached end-of-life and ordered a new one.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic expands, to the limit, the strategy that it's a net cost saving to allow cheap hardware to fail and simply replace it than to have robust but much more expensive systems to start with. The technique was made famous by [https://books.google.com/books?id=zdlZ2rrcZWEC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false Google circa 1999,] when its successful cost-effective server designs were actually using sub-consumer, nearly junk, hardware.

{{w|RAID}} ("redundant array of independent disks") is a technology that splits data across several hard drives as if they were one. RAID comes in several levels (varieties) which have different applications, but one of the big applications of RAID is creating mirrored hard disks that back each other up. If one disk drive in such a RAID fails, no data is lost.

However, RAID is complicated to configure, so you don't want to be constantly setting it up. An alternative technique for data centers is, therefore, to simply send the data to several servers at once. This makes maintenance easier, but without RAID, one hard disk crash basically breaks the server. However, this is what [[Hairbun]] is doing since their scale is so large that fixing individual servers actually more expensive than simply buying a new one for replacement, and instead of fixing the drive they throw away the machine. (More about this approach will be explained later on)

From here, the comic starts to exaggerate. Nowadays, servers can be made extremely small ("{{w|Blade server}}s") and dozens of servers can be attached to one {{w|19-inch rack}} in a data center. Rather than going to the effort of unplugging and unscrewing one blade from the rack, when a blade fails at [[Cueball]]'s data center they just throw away the rack, and [[Ponytail]] agrees and mildly mocks Hairbun for replacing one server.

[[Hairy]]'s data center goes one step further - they have so many servers that they would constantly have to be throwing away and replacing racks, so instead they just build a new room when one rack fails. This would be currently possible with small modular data centers that are built in shipping containers for easy transport and can be linked together to expand capacity. Here the cargo-container "room" with the failure would be quickly swapped with a fresh one. Cueball adds "like Google!" - [[Randall]] previously mentioned {{w|Google}}'s approach to hard drive failures in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|63|Google's Datacenters on Punch Cards}}''. Back in [http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/de//archive/disk_failures.pdf 2007] they had one failure every few minutes, which might have increased hugely since then.

Finally [[Megan]] appears and her company, of course, breaks the scale of silliness in exaggeration. She says that they don't have any fire extinguishers (neither {{w|Fire sprinkler system|regular sprinklers}} nor the systems that deploy gasses like FM-200 which alter the room air's ability to sustain a fire). Rather, they just rope the center off, thus letting the data center burn down. Then they simply move a town over and build a new one. This may indicate they are so big that the entire town will burn down if their center catches fire, or else they did not have to skip town. Alternatively, they just leave the center burning and this may cause problems in that town, so they simply flee the premises.

Most big internet companies do have multiple redundant data centers around the world, in order to increase speeds for users in different countries, but Megan's idea would be very expensive, result in increased {{w|Latency (engineering)|latency}}, possibly kill people (either in their company, or other people in the town, since they do not try to put out the fire), and cause severe destruction of properties in addition to their own. These last two items would result in additional litigation and fines, and potentially jail sentences for the people charged with implementing the policy. They may also result in other towns being unwilling to take their business, out of fear they will wind up burning too.

Hairy still thinks that it makes sense, while Cueball wonders what difference the roping off does. This could again be a reference to the fact that they just let the buildings burn without bothering about the local consequences, and the next step is just one more step towards the extreme of the title text. Or, he's contemplating that they're just wasting more time by roping it off.

This comic references how, as data requirements expand, the cost of time eventually outweighs the cost of hardware at ever increasing scales (drive, rack, room, building). While this comic takes this to the extreme, with whole buildings being destroyed for simple flaws, the concept is not as far-fetched as it seems if "thrown out" is taken to include being sold to equipment refurbishers. It could indeed be cost effective for a large data services provider to resell racks or even whole data center modules at some significant fraction of their "as new" price as opposed expending the time and effort to attempt a repair. The equipment refurbisher would then rely on a {{w|competitive advantage|cost advantage}} like cheaper labor to repair the flaw and sell it back to Google or another company with less demanding requirements. Equipment rental firms already operate on this model and with the added incentive customers preferring to rent newer models, this means that the equipment is often ''preemptively'' replaced before failures even occur.

The title text refers to {{w|Isaac Asimov}}'s science-fiction short story ''{{w|The Last Question}}'' ([http://imgur.com/gallery/9KWrH comic version]), where humanity asks, at different stages of its spacial and technological development, the same question to increasingly advanced computers: "How can the net amount of {{w|entropy}} of the universe be massively decreased?". At each point, the computer's answer is that it does not yet have sufficient data for a meaningful answer. Ultimately, the computers are all linked through hyperspace, outside the physical boundaries of the universe, and make up a single computing entity named AC which keeps pondering the question even as the {{w|heat death of the universe}} occurs and time and space cease to exist. When AC finally discovers the answer, since there is nobody left to report it to, it decides to demonstrate it and says "{{w|Let there be light|LET THERE BE LIGHT!}}", which are the first words said by God during the Creation, according to the {{w|Book of Genesis}}. Here, the title text implies that, as the universe died, AC no longer had a use for it as a physical support and, taking the comic's logic to the next extreme, chose to discard it and get a brand-new one instead of bothering to "fix" it by reversing its entropy. This short story was also referenced in [[1448: Question]].

This comic's concept of taking a real-world phenomenon and exaggerating it to levels currently considered implausible for comic effect closely mimics an earlier comic which describes progressively more "hardcore" programmers in [[378: Real Programmers]]. This comic might be related to [[1567: Kitchen Tips]] which suggests not throwing away your dishes but washing them, and [[2033: Repair or Replace]], which is also about discarding servers instead of fixing them.

==Transcript==
:[Zoom in on Hairbun holding her hand palm up in front of her taking to people off-panel right.]
:Hairbun: RAID controllers don't make sense at our scale; everything is redundant at higher levels. When a drive fails, we just throw away the whole machine.

:[In this frame-less panel it is revealed that Hairbun talked to Cueball and Ponytail who is looking her way.]
:Cueball: Machine? We throw away whole racks at a time.
:Ponytail: Yeah, who replaces ''one server''?

:[Hairy has appeared from the left and holds one hand palm up towards the other three where also Hairbun has turned towards him.]
:Hairy: We just replace whole rooms at once. At our scale, messing with racks isn't economical.
:Hairbun: Wow.
:Cueball: Like Google!

:[Megan walks in from the left, and everyone including Hairy now looks towards her. Cueball has taken a hand up to his chin. The replies to Megan are written with clearly smaller font.]
:Megan: We don't have sprinklers or inert gas systems. When a datacenter catches fire, we just rope it off and rebuild one town over.
:Hairy: Makes sense.
:Cueball: I wonder if the rope is really necessary.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2319: Large Number Formats

2020-06-12T23:16:09Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2319
| date = June 13, 2020
| title = Large Number Formats
| image = large_number_formats.png
| titletext = 10^13.4024: A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows how to express large numbers.

'''25,259,974,097,204'''
The first normal person writes out the number in its entirety, but puts commas to indicate powers of 1000.

'''25 trillion'''
The second normal person says the number in English, but approximates it to 2 significant figures so it won't be too long.

'''25 billion'''
In most English, an n-illion means 10^(3n+3), so a trillion means 10^12. However, in older British English, an n-illion means 10^(6n), so a billion means 10^12.

'''2.526*10^13'''

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Number
! Type of person
! Notes
|-
| 25,259,974,097,204
| Normal Person
| This is the full number, written out in the normal fashion.
|-
| 25 Trillion
| Normal Person
| This is the number, rounded to trillions in the normal fashion.
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1488: Flowcharts

2018-09-09T21:19:34Z

Grabadora304:

A little bit more of 730? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.108|141.101.80.108]] 06:53, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:More along the lines of 94, 210, 518, 627, 844, 845, and 1195, though I see similarities with 730. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 07:09, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
How should we do the transcript? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 07:09, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

You could do the transcript as a number list formatted like: "[Title of item] IF YES(GOTO X), IF NO(GOTO Y)" (where "X" and "Y" are the numbers on the list for the corresponding next option). Derek [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.107|108.162.216.107]] 13:25, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

I would just like to say that I find some of the linked spiral-images ''very'' disturbing. Although for some they'd be the same even ''without'' the spirals, admitedly. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.188|141.101.98.188]] 09:47, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

I believe this will end up being one of the most challenging explanations yet (of those that are completely explicable) - got quite a task up ahead... -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 10:35, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Normally (for a flowchart) the Start symbol should not have an input. The electrical circuit is not a rectifier! Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.103|108.162.254.103]] 10:59, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:In the newly corrected version, it is. [[User:Knob creek|Knob creek]] ([[User talk:Knob creek|talk]]) 16:58, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
::But it doesn't need to be, since the rectification is done by the flow chart. Two of the diodes will never be used. (Is it still a rectifier if it's not rectifying?) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.182|108.162.249.182]] 21:49, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:::Yes it's still a rectifier. It just appears to be out of a job, that's all. Anyone else notice that the bridge rectifier IS a flowchart? The two decision trees feeding it are completely unnecessary. Getting rid of them gives the rectifier back it's job! Also, to give Randall a break, the original diagram of the bridge is actually a ring modulator. It's been decades since I've been in RF so I had to track it down and confirm.[[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 23:24, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
OCD comment: There appear to be two lines missing, 1) from scatter plots to data or axis, 2) from the bottom of positive or negative DC terminal to the negative terminal of the battery. Also, I would be happier if the two left hand diodes of the full wave rectifier were reversed. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.95}}

:Scatter plots don't have lines, that's the joke. {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.71}}
::It wasn't a joke; in the corrected version the lines are there. I suspect Randall uploaded a work-in-progress version of the comic by mistake. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.245}}

Either I was really tired this morning, or the spiral was not actually present in the first version of this comic.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 13:00, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

It seems like the options for the "Do you like flowcharts?" box should be reversed (only putting someone through the flowchart if they say they like flowcharts). I think it makes less sense to have the first option "annoy" someone with a flowchart option until they say they don't like flowcharts, then put them through a flowchart. Derek [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.107|108.162.216.107]] 13:31, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

I see no evidence that the "time or your happiness" box is asking you to "choose whichever you value more". The graph shows your happiness as a function of time, not "your time" (it's not as if you were asked to choose between, say, more happiness or more spare time for yourself). I think it is just asking you to choose which axis of the graph you want to follow. The flowchart for the line graph and the scatter plot are similar; since "X or Y" is not interpreted as a question about value, why should "time or your happiness" be?
Zetfr 14:00, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

The comment on the Fibonacci and Golden Spirals being the same is not correct. According to Wikipedia{{w|Golden_Spiral|[1]}}{{w|Fibonacci_number|[2]}}: "A Fibonacci spiral '''approximates''' the golden spiral using quarter-circle arcs inscribed in squares of integer Fibonacci-number side." - [[User:Prometheusmmiv|Prometheusmmiv]] ([[User talk:Prometheusmmiv|talk]]) 14:55, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:The title text says "if you overlay a Fibonacci spiral on a golden spiral it matches up '''almost''' perfectly."

Randall has uploaded a new version, it fixes some missing lines: The scatter graph is now connected, as is the DC terminal, and the battery is now in a circuit. Some of the explaination above needs updating [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.47|141.101.99.47]] 15:32, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Clicking on the image takes you to http://xkcd.com/spiral/ {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.149}}
:Good catch about http://xkcd.com/spiral/ ! --[[User:Guest|Guest]] ([[User talk:Guest|talk]]) 17:46, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

'''NOTE''' this comic has been changed, oddly. http://xkcd.com/1488/ [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 18:21, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

How do we change this wiki to have the updated image? The XKCD site is updated, but this page still shows the old image. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:59, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:I have uploaded the correct version now. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:30, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:: The image is still out of date as it lacks the Yes / Never! markings on the Path of Least Resistance decision box. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.174|173.245.54.174]] 21:00, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Is it a coincidence that a Fibonacci sequence has a link to the golden ratio? I think not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTWKKvlZB08 [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 21:08, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Wow - I tried the random button once and got to this comic: [[1359: Phone Alarm]]. For a second I thought he had rigged it - but that is was not the case. But that was not getting to something else ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:19, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

:I got [[518]] and started laughing all over again. He really should rig the random button on this page to point to only flowchart comics. He has enough of them: [[94]], [[210]], [[518]], [[844]], [[851]], [[854]], [[1066]], [[1195]], [[1359]]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.98|108.162.216.98]] 15:20, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks, you found one that wasn't in Category:Flowcharts. Fixed it. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 21:31, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
:I only got [[1100: Vows]]. The comic was posted yesterday, though. Is it possible that he rigged it, but only for yesterday? [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 21:36, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

There is a new corrected version. The current one has a "Line or Axis" diamond in the topmost line, instead of "Data or Axis". {{unsigned ip|141.101.102.217}}

Why Randall use form “are you A/C or D/C”, not “It [battery] is” or maybe “are you on A/C or D/C”? This refer to the typical (not-so-intellectual) quiz/flowcharts propagated in the Internet? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.195|141.101.105.195]] 10:57, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

:I took it as a reference to "Are you a Mac or a PC?" (not sure if this is a thing...). [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 04:07, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

I think the "yes" path of "Do you like flowcharts?" is a recursive reference to the flowchart itself (just like other "Do you like ~"? nodes which refer to the respective graphs when the reader follows the "yes" path), not (just) for annoying the readers following it. --[[User:Luke1337|Luke1337]] ([[User talk:Luke1337|talk]]) 01:55, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

1991: Research Areas by Size and Countedness

2018-05-09T15:22:16Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1991
| date = May 9, 2018
| title = Research Areas by Size and Countedness
| image = research_areas_by_size_and_countedness.png
| titletext = Mathematicians give a third answer on the vertical axis, "That question is poorly defined, but we have a sub-field devoted to every plausible version of it."
}}

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

This is one of those 2-dimensional charts that Randall makes time to time. This chart is about studying different things. The vertical axis is the accuracy of how many of the studied object there are, and the horizontal axis is how large the studied object is.

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

{{comic discussion}}

User talk:Grabadora304

2018-05-09T11:48:49Z

Grabadora304:

Please sign your posts with [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 18:05, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

??? Oh, and if you're trying to remind people to sign with the ~ ~ ~ ~ (I had to space it because it would have shown my signature), there's a banner at the top to remind people when you're adding comments, so it's alright. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:02, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
:I know, I was just trying to create my talk page.

Talk:1989: IMHO

2018-05-07T18:09:23Z

Grabadora304:

I mean, the dress is b&w if you have one of the forms of colorblindness. Although, what colors ''is'' it? [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:33, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
: The gold/black part is 61522F hex and the white/blue part is 8190B2 hex. So it's brown and blue. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 16:55, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::So that explains the colors represented by the photo; what about the colors of the dress itself? I'd guess black & gold, based purely upon the discussions I've heard. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::The dress was blue with black lace. And I've added the fact that Randall had made a comic because of the dress ([[1492: Dress Color]]). [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 01:04, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Currently adding transcript. [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:38, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Did top row. Feel free to format it differently. [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:42, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::''Screams in edit conflicts.'' [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Okay, I've normalized the formatting to what seems to be the standard: uniform indent with ":".[[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:57, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::: What about using tabs? ;D
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

AFAIK In normal (British) usage the phrase is "In my humble opinion" and I have heard it said, when someone prefaces their contribution with IMHO it is rarely humble but is definitely an opinion. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 16:47, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:The weirdos reading/using it as "honest" _might_ have a problem with the relatively common "IMNSHO." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.41|172.68.58.41]] 14:34, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

No lie, I had a manager who used to refer to the database language as Squeal. As in a high-pitched animal sound. We had an in-house database tool called PiggySQL. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:26, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:I've always preferred that pronunciation too. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Dammit. Now my brain will always translate "OMG" to "oh, my genitals".[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.167|172.68.58.167]] 17:45, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Pat
:Actually I will keep this in mind. If someone OMGs me in a "discussion" on the web my response will be: Just scratch... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.10|172.68.51.10]] 18:08, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

The single space convention became the standard [[wikipedia:History_of_sentence_spacing#Movement_to_single_sentence_spacing|waaay before HTML]]. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:13, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Standard, but less readable. For printed documents (especially stories with a lot of lengthy paragraphs) I'd still strongly recommend using double spaces because it's easier for the reader to discern sentence breaks. Incidentally, I had points deducted from English papers lacking that extra space as late as 1998.
:(By the way, that link you gave is broken:
:"Trouble Encountered ~ can't fetch document")
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: If you print documents with monospace font, using just single space is NOT the main reason it's hard to read. You should use proportional font and tool actually designed to handle printing, which include having better option than using two spaces. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
:Using extra-wide space between sentences (not necessarily two spaces) goes back to the earliest days of printing, long before the invention of typewriters.     As a matter of fact, the practice of double-spacing sentences with typewriters got started by trying to mimic the printing practices of the time.     It was only in the mid-20th century (with the 1949 edition of the Chicago Manual of Style) that the recommendation became "one space", in 1969 when they stopped mentioning the earlier customs, and in the 21st century where they explicitly prohibit any alternative.     There's a [https://web.archive.org/web/20171207185025/http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324 great article about this] that explains the history in great detail.     (Sadly, that blog no longer exists, but the Wayback Machine has preserved the content).     [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 15:44, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Tabs vs Spaces might also be a reference to the programmer's war on how to indent code correctly. [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 19:25, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agreed. I prefer " " (U+2003, A.K.A. &emsp;)
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: Did you ever manage to RUN some of those programs? :) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Maybe I'm reading too much in this, but there is a popular product called "cramp tabs" for use during and right after a period [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]])

I hate to be that guy, but I pronounce Giantess and Gift the same way.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 11:06, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

== SQL Pronunciation ==

For Microsoft's ''SQL Server'', "SQL" should be pronounced "sequel" because it's Microsoft's product, and that's how they pronounce it. I notice young I.T. people tend to try to make abbreviations into pronounceable words (acronyms) rather than go letter-by-letter (initialisms). Many older I.T. people I've met prefer initialism pronunciation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.10|172.68.150.10]] 17:36, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

The term "SQL" existed long before Microsoft started playing; they do not get to change the pronunciation. I do not think that it is necessarily young IT people who prefer pronouncable words. "SCSI" being pronounced "scuzzy" has a long tradition. For myself, I usually say "S-Q-L" but have also used "squeal". I am 57. Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 01:06, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
:I'm aware SQL existed long before Microsoft got into the act. It started as SEQUEL for "Structured English Query Language". Nor did I intend to say that Microsoft dictated the pronunciation for all SQL. In the first sentence, I was only referring to their product. I use "sequel" for Microsoft's product, but mostly "ess-kew-el" for others. For some reason, my remarks as typed came out shorter than as thought. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.76|172.68.150.76]] 14:39, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

Is it possible the last panel is punning on menstruation?

ANOTHER one where talking about a debate invents the debate for me! For decades GIF was pronounced "jif" by literally everyone since they were invented, until Big Bang Theory taught me some people (including them) pronounce it wrong. Then SQL, which everyone I've ever met - including in SQL class - pronounced it as S.Q.L., by letters (my favourite was when I learned of this debate, someone saying they used another word with the letters in the right places that was odd, I think "Squeal", which I resolved to use myself, but forgot since it never comes up for me). Now IMHO? This comic is literally the first I hear of this. Another one with a clear answer and no reason for debate: It's an acronym applied to an ages old phrase, which predates all this texting / internet stuff. The saying is "In My Humble Opinion", therefore so is the acronym. That's it. Mixing it up with TBH doesn't make it correct, just like "Should of / would of" isn't correct, nor is "for all intensive purposes", or "ect", or many, many others.

== Typing Spaces ==
As for the spaces-after-period thing, I was taught 2 in several typing courses, but quickly dropped it to one as a waste of space (I don't mean I think there's a limit to how many times we can use the space bar, I mean to keep things compact, LOL!) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:31, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

I, too, was taught to type two spaces after a full stop. I think it had something to do with the font most typewriters used. On a web page, the HTML processor seems to remove extra spaces. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.76|172.68.150.76]] 14:39, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
:Yes, HTML collapses all whitespace.    Runs of whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, newlines) are all collapsed and rendered as a single space.    But there are workarounds.    One of the easiest is to use non-breaking-space characters (<TT>&nbsp;</TT>), which are not collapsed.    You can see the effect of using them in this comment.    [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:43, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

User talk:Grabadora304

2018-05-07T18:05:24Z

Grabadora304: Created page with "Please sign your posts with ~~~~"

Please sign your posts with [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 18:05, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1990: Driving Cars

2018-05-07T18:01:39Z

Grabadora304:

Am I seeing things or is there a slight shadow figure behind cueball? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 17:51, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:You're not seeing things. It's a bigger Cueball, and its colors are colors like F9F9F9 and F8F8F8. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 18:01, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

1990: Driving Cars

2018-05-07T17:34:03Z

Grabadora304: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1990
| date = May 7, 2018
| title = Driving Cars
| image = driving_cars.png
| titletext = It's probably just me. If driving were as dangerous as it seems, hundreds of people would be dying every day!
}}

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

This comic is a joke about how dangerous cars are. It says how it is a giant machine, and Cueball is only able to drive it because he took a driving test. The joke is in the hover text, "It's probably just me. If driving were as dangerous as it seems, hundreds of people would be dying every day!" Of course, hundreds of people do die every day in cars, but this amount is minuscule compared to the population of the United States.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Cueball: Time to accelerate this giant machine up to terrifying speeds and steer it using my hands, which I am allowed to do[incomplete]

1990: Driving Cars

2018-05-07T17:32:51Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

User:Grabadora304

2018-05-04T16:58:09Z

Grabadora304: Created page with "Hi, I'm a fan of xkcd. I made this account after discovering explainxkcd."

Hi, I'm a fan of xkcd. I made this account after discovering explainxkcd.

Talk:1989: IMHO

2018-05-04T16:55:52Z

Grabadora304:

1989: IMHO

2018-05-04T16:51:16Z

Grabadora304: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1989
| date = May 4, 2018
| title = IMHO
| image = imho.png
| titletext = "Ugh, TMI." "Yeah, that's some tantalizing meat info."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The conversation begins with a reference to the controversy between whether the H in IMHO (In my honest/humble opinion) stands for "honest" or "humble". Some older internet users, including Cueball, use it to mean "humble", which Cueball references as being the norm in the 1990s. However, many younger internet users, including, apparently, Ponytail, use it to mean "honest", which became the norm after another SMS abbreviation, TBH (To be honest) became popular c. 2011. However, the joke veers into absurdity with Ponytail sharing her unusual opinions on other internet controversies, including:

Believing the G in GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is silent, as opposed to the two main camps claiming it should be a hard or a soft G.

Believing a viral picture of a dress that appears black and blue to some people and white and gold to others is actually black and white.

Using tabs after periods, instead of the two main opposing camps of using either one or two s, referring to both the common programmingargument whether to indent with 4 s or a tab, and the 2 s or 1 after the period argument.

In the title text, another incorrect belief Ponytail has is believing TMI to be "Tantalizing Meat Info," as opposed to Too Much Information.

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

[Cueball, Megan, and Ponytail standing together]
:Cueball: I thought the "H" in "IMHO" was "Humble," but Buzzfeed ran a and "Honest" won.
:Megan: That can't be true. Their readers are messing with us.

[Cueball and Megan look towards Ponytail]
:Ponytail: Are you sure? I always used it to mean "Honest."
:Megan: ...What?

[Cueball looks at his phone]
:Cueball: It was definitely "Humble" in the 1990s. Maybe people who picked it up after the rise of "TBH" in 2011 interpreted it as "Honest" and used it that way.

:Megan: I can't get over this. What other wrong opinions do you have? The "G" in GIF?
:Ponytail: Silent.

:Megan: The "S" in "SMDH"?
:Ponytail: "Swallowing".
:Megan: The "G" in "OMG"?
:Ponytail: "Giantess" or "Genitals".

:Megan: The dress?
:Ponytail: Black and white.
:Megan: Is the database language "sequel" or "ess cue ell"?
:Ponytail: I've always said "squill".

{{comic discussion}}

1989: IMHO

2018-05-04T16:48:58Z

Grabadora304: /* Transcript */

1989: IMHO

2018-05-04T16:45:57Z

Grabadora304: /* Transcript */

1988: Containers

2018-05-02T17:05:25Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1988
| date = May 2, 2018
| title = Containers
| image = containers.png
| titletext = All services are microservices if you ignore most of their features.
}}

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

Docker is a computer program that performs operating-system-level virtualization also known as containerization. It is developed by Docker, Inc. White Hat was complaining about how everyone was using Docker, and then Cueball went on about how he wanted to use a tablet as a wall display. He went on about how he tried programming it, but he eventually gave up and glued two smartphones together. The joke is that he achieved software enlightenment, even though he didn't code any software.

External links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_(software)

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

{{comic discussion}}

1988: Containers

2018-05-02T17:04:17Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1988
| date = May 2, 2018
| title = Containers
| image = containers.png
| titletext = All services are microservices if you ignore most of their features.
}}

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

Docker is a computer program that performs operating-system-level virtualization also known as containerization. It is developed by Docker, Inc. White Hat was complaining about how everyone was using Docker, and then Cueball went on about how he wanted to use a tablet as a wall display. He went on about how he tried programming it, but he eventually gave up and glued two smartphones together. The joke is that he achieved software enlightenment, even though he didn't code any software.

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

{{comic discussion}}

1988: Containers

2018-05-02T16:59:14Z

Grabadora304: /* Transcript */

1988: Containers

2018-05-02T16:58:56Z

Grabadora304:

Talk:1986: River Border

2018-04-27T17:35:38Z

Grabadora304:

The title text doesn't have a typo.
[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:06, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

"It then occurred to Megan that she could break Nebraska state laws and the police couldn't catch her (because the river was in the way)."
:I ''think'' it might actually be because Megan is under the mistaken impression that it's neither Nebraskan nor Missourian territory, so neither set of cops actually have jurisdiction (similar to that thing where apparently there's an area of [https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinandrews/2017/11/26/icymi-you-can-get-away-with-murder-in-part-of-yellowstone-national-park/ Yellowstone] where no one has jurisdiction).
:I'd edit it myself, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm right. Thought I'd bring up the possibility so others could decide. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.24|172.68.47.24]] 16:33, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

::I fixed it. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]])

This isn’t the only place in the US, or even in Nebraska, where this has happened. The town of Carter Lake, Iowa is only accessible by car by driving through Omaha.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.84|172.68.143.84]] 17:08, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1986: River Border

2018-04-27T17:34:45Z

Grabadora304:

The title text doesn't have a typo.
[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:06, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

"It then occurred to Megan that she could break Nebraska state laws and the police couldn't catch her (because the river was in the way)."
:I ''think'' it might actually be because Megan is under the mistaken impression that it's neither Nebraskan nor Missourian territory, so neither set of cops actually have jurisdiction (similar to that thing where apparently there's an area of [https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinandrews/2017/11/26/icymi-you-can-get-away-with-murder-in-part-of-yellowstone-national-park/ Yellowstone] where no one has jurisdiction).
:I fixed it. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]])

:I'd edit it myself, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm right. Thought I'd bring up the possibility so others could decide. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.24|172.68.47.24]] 16:33, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

This isn’t the only place in the US, or even in Nebraska, where this has happened. The town of Carter Lake, Iowa is only accessible by car by driving through Omaha.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.84|172.68.143.84]] 17:08, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

1986: River Border

2018-04-27T17:32:20Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1986
| date = April 27, 2018
| title = River Border
| image = river_border.png
| titletext = I'm not a lawyer, but I believe zones like this are technically considered the high seas, so if you cut a pizza into a spiral there you could be charged with pieracy under marinaritime law.
}}

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

[[Ponytail]] explains to [[Megan]] that the Missouri-Nebraska state line is based off the river. She then explains that the river once changed course abruptly, and that the state line didn't move with it. That meant that they were on the Missouri side of the river, but in Nebraska. It then occurred to Megan that she could break Nebraska state laws and the police couldn't catch her because the river was in the way (It could also be because [[Megan]] is under the mistaken impression that it's neither Nebraskan nor Missourian territory, so neither set of cops actually have jurisdiction). The final panel shows Megan going to cut a pizza into a spiral. The joke is that Megan thinks it's illegal because nobody does it.

The title text claims the region Ponytail and Megan are in is considered the high seas. It sets up a pizza pun about piracy under maritime law: "Pieracy" combines ''pie'' another name for a pizza and "piracy". Marinara sauce is frequently served with pizza, so "Maritime" law is rendered "Marinaritime"

==External Links==
[https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5270132,-95.6954944,10627m/data=!3m1!1e3 Google map of the region suggested by the comic]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail and Megan are standing next to a river.]
:Ponytail: This is a cool spot.
:Ponytail: The Missouri-Nebraska state line follows this river. If the river's path changes gradually, the border moves with it.

:[A map is shown.]
:Ponytail: But when it ''abruptly'' changes course, the border stays behind.
:Ponytail: This is a spot where that happened. We're on the Missouri side, but we're in Nebraska.

:[Cuts back to Ponytail and Megan standing.]
:Megan: Wow.
:Megan: So...
:Megan: We can commit all the crimes we want here and the cops can't do a thing!

:[Megan points her finger up.]
:Ponytail: What? No. Why would you even think that?
:Megan: I'm going to cut a pizza into a ''spiral!''
:Ponytail: That's not even illegal!
:Megan: ''Crimes!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1986: River Border

2018-04-27T16:26:50Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1986
| date = April 27, 2018
| title = River Border
| image = river_border.png
| titletext = I'm not a lawyer, but I believe zones like this are technically considered the high seas, so if you cut a pizza into a spiral there you could be charged with pieracy under marinaritime law.
}}

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

[[Ponytail]] explains to [[Megan]] that the Missouri-Nebraska state line is based off the river. She then explains that the river once changed course abruptly, and that the state line didn't move with it. That meant that they were on the Missouri side of the river, but in Nebraska. It then occurred to [[Megan]] that she could break Nebraska state laws and the police couldn't catch her (because the river was in the way). The final panel shows [[Megan]] going to cut a pizza into a spiral. The joke is that [[Megan]] thinks it's illegal because nobody does it.

The title text claims the region [[Ponytail]] and [[Megan]] are in is considered the high seas. It sets up a pizza pun about piracy under maritime law: "Pieracy" combines ''pie'' another name for a pizza and "piracy". Marinara sauce is frequently served with pizza, so "Maritime" law is rendered "Marinaritime"

==External Links==
[https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5270132,-95.6954944,10627m/data=!3m1!1e3 Google map of the region suggested by the comic]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail and Megan are standing next to a river.]
:Ponytail: This is a cool spot.
:Ponytail: The Missouri-Nebraska state line follows this river. If the river's path changes gradually, the border moves with it.
:[A map is shown.]
:Ponytail: But when it ''abruptly'' changes course, the border stays behind.
:Ponytail: This is a spot where that happened. We're on the Missouri side, but we're in Nebraska.
:[Cuts back to Ponytail and Megan standing.]
:Megan: Wow.
:Megan: So...
:Megan: We can commit all the crimes we want here and the cops can't do a thing!
:[Megan points her finger up.]
:Ponytail: What? No. Why would you even think that?
:Megan: I'm going to cut a pizza into a ''spiral!''
:Ponytail: That's not even illegal!
:Megan: ''Crimes!''
{{comic discussion}}

1986: River Border

2018-04-27T15:58:36Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1986
| date = April 27, 2018
| title = River Border
| image = river_border.png
| titletext = I'm not a lawyer, but I believe zones like this are technically considered the high seas, so if you cut a pizza into a spiral there you could be charged with pieracy under marinaritime law.
}}

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

Ponytail explains to Megan that the Missouri-Nebraska state line is based off the river. She then explains that the river once changed course abruptly, and that the state line didn't move with it. That meant that they were on the Missouri side of the river, but in Nebraska. It then occurred to Megan that she could break Nebraska state laws and the police couldn't catch her (because the river was in the way). The final panel shows Megan going to cut a pizza into a spiral. The joke is that Megan thinks it's illegal because nobody does it.

==External Links==
[https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5270132,-95.6954944,10627m/data=!3m1!1e3 Google map of the region suggested by the comic]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail and Megan are standing next to a river.]
:Ponytail: This is a cool spot.
:Ponytail: The Missouri-Nebraska state line follows this river. If the river's path changes gradually, the border moves with it.
:[A map is shown.]
:Ponytail: But when it ''abruptly'' changes course, the border stays behind.
:Ponytail: This is a spot where that happened. We're on the Missouri side, but we're in Nebraska.
:[Cuts back to Ponytail and Megan standing.]
:Megan: Wow.
:Megan: So...
:Megan: We can commit all the crimes we want here and the cops can't do a thing!
:[Megan points her finger up.]
:Ponytail: What? No. Why would you even think that?
:Megan: I'm going to cut a pizza into a ''spiral!''
:Ponytail: That's not even illegal!
:Megan: ''Crimes!''
{{comic discussion}}

1986: River Border

2018-04-27T15:57:35Z

Grabadora304: /* External Links */

1986: River Border

2018-04-27T15:56:45Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1986
| date = April 27, 2018
| title = River Border
| image = river_border.png
| titletext = I'm not a lawyer, but I believe zones like this are technically considered the high seas, so if you cut a pizza into a spiral there you could be charged with pieracy under marinaritime law.
}}

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

==External Links==
[https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5270132,-95.6954944,10627m/data=!3m1!1e3 Google map of the region suggested by the comic]

Ponytail explains to Megan that the Missouri-Nebraska state line is based off the river. She then explains that the river once changed course abruptly, and that the state line didn't move with it. That meant that they were on the Missouri side of the river, but in Nebraska. It then occurred to Megan that she could break Nebraska state laws and the police couldn't catch her (because the river was in the way). The final panel shows Megan [incomplete, grabadora304 will come back.]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail and Megan are standing next to a river.]
:Ponytail: This is a cool spot.
:Ponytail: The Missouri-Nebraska state line follows this river. If the river's path changes gradually, the border moves with it.
:[A map is shown.]
:Ponytail: But when it ''abruptly'' changes course, the border stays behind.
:Ponytail: This is a spot where that happened. We're on the Missouri side, but we're in Nebraska.
:[Cuts back to Ponytail and Megan standing.]
:Megan: Wow.
:Megan: So...
:Megan: We can commit all the crimes we want here and the cops can't do a thing!
:[Megan points her finger up.]
:Ponytail: What? No. Why would you even think that?
:Megan: I'm going to cut a pizza into a ''spiral!''
:Ponytail: That's not even illegal!
:Megan: ''Crimes!''
{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates

2018-04-25T19:34:33Z

Grabadora304:

Seeing how the (northern hemisphere) summer months are bolder than the winter ones, I remember that someone said that "historical things" like wars and battles used to occur during the good weather months. Same for e.g. romance novels - people date and love on those dates. {{unsigned|‎81.34.231.6}}
: I don't think historical wars happened as much during the summer as during the spring and fall. Winter was obviously out for any place that had snow, but do you really want to be marching around in the heavy uniforms or armor that armies used to wear? Additionally, I don't know where I heard about it (maybe in some Discovery video), but there was a study that showed that winter is better for romance. It makes sense, with "holiday magic" and people more likely to snuggle together.{{unsigned ip|108.162.216.190}}

If the search included Spanish dates in English texts, May 5th would be larger. {{unsigned|214.4.253.121}}

I wonder if he took into account the month/day swap between the US and UK dating system (among other countries). [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 14:22, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
:That's a good question. I entered [http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=July+4%2CNovember+5%2C4+July%2C5+November%2CJuly+4th%2CNovember+5th%2C+4th+July%2C+5th+November&year_start=2000&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share= July 4 and November 5 (Guy Fawkes Day) into Google Ngram], and the difference reflected in the calendar is only apparent when you put the month before the date.--[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 01:11, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, [there's [http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=November+5%2C+November+5th%2C5th+of+November%2CFifth+of+November%2Cfifth+of+November&year_start=1500&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3 a lot of difference]] in the spelling. --[[Special:Contributions/84.181.107.38|84.181.107.38]] 17:58, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Interesting about the 11ths -- perhaps that correlates with low passenger loads on airplanes as well, and thus why the 11th was chosen for the attack (the month of September having been chosen for some other reason).[[Special:Contributions/50.0.38.245|50.0.38.245]] 15:33, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

:I want to point out that Randall doesn't know either, and I think he would have thought about the plane correlation, so I don't think that's the reason. I'm going to investigate this. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 02:53, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

::September 11 (1973) is also the date of the coup d'etat in Chile. I suppose that might (partially) explain why this specific 11th has been mentioned more frequently even before 2001...
:::I changed the page to show what I thought were the most important events (that I knew without looking up).[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.171|173.245.56.171]] 21:53, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

:: 9/11 is also an important date in both the American Revolutionary War and the War in Europe half of World War 2. [[Special:Contributions/169.233.101.195|169.233.101.195]] 21:19, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

:The reason for the low appearance of the 11ths is due to an error in Google's book scanning algorithm as explained by David R. Hagen in his blog post [http://drhagen.com/blog/the-missing-11th-of-the-month/ The Missing 11th of the Month]. --[[User:Phoenix616|Phoenix616]] ([[User talk:Phoenix616|talk]]) 01:50, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

I second the Spanish language date in English texts. May 5th is routinely routinely called Cinco De Mayo in English. Has Randall weighed in on how this was handled? [[User:Donglebaker|Donglebaker]] ([[User talk:Donglebaker|talk]]) 18:16, 28 November 2012 (UTC) JC

I also wonder about the difference between the 4th of July (Big 4) and November the 5th (small 5) as being the two "firework" days in US and UK! 4th of July peaks at 0.00003 July the 4th 0.0000001 November the 5th peaks at 0.0000006 and 5th of November peaks at 0.00001 so there are big differences and also whether you pick anything but English 2009. Reader in Invisible Writings --[[Special:Contributions/90.208.142.152|90.208.142.152]] 19:42, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

:No one forget that November 5th is also the day the Flux Capacitor was invented by Dr. Emmitt Brown using little more than a toilet seat and a minor concussion. I believe that is worth a mention.--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 16:08, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

The transcript reads "[A regular Gregorian calendar laid out in a grid, with some numbers larger than others.]" In fact, there is no way to tell if this is a Gregorian or a Julian calendar; they both have the same months and days. The Gregorian calendar only differs from the Julian in its leap year rule (it has 3 fewer every 400 years).--[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 01:17, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
:This was surely meant to distinguish it from other calendar systems such as the Islamic and Hindu calendar, not the Julian calendar. Since it is consistent with both, the current phrasing is not inaccurate. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 14:45, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Certain days of the week tend to get their dates mentioned more than others. Since the sample data were from a small number of years, this may be relevant to the results (unless it was controlled for). For example, in the US, elections are always held on a Tuesday, and Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday (and the Friday and Saturday right after it also get mentioned a lot), but these would not be the same numeric dates every year. — [[User:Jonadab||Jonadab the Unsightly One]], 2012-Nov-28 9:45pm EST (GMT+0500)
:The title only says that the books were published since 2000. The events in the book may have taken place many years before. --[[User:Jasqm|Jasqm]] ([[User talk:Jasqm|talk]]) 09:37, 29 November 2012 (UTC)jasqm

The last few US Presidential elections were 11/6/2012, 11/4/2008, 11/2/2004, 11/7/2000, 11/5/1996, 11/3/1992. November 1 is writ large, but that seems typical of the first day of all months. November 4 and 5 seem next largest. They correspond to the elections of 2008 (McCain-Obama) and 1996 (Dole-Clinton-Perot).

It seems like some of the dates in the explanation were of minimal importance to the comic - March 15th doesn't seem as large as the 21st or 31st of the month, and Halloween and Kristallnacht aren't that large, either. Sure, it's nice to know, but then there'd have to be explanations for several dozen more days. [[User:Bobidou23|Bobidou23]] ([[User talk:Bobidou23|talk]]) 21:46, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

It is missing 4/20. [[Special:Contributions/70.49.173.75|70.49.173.75]] 23:30, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:If you'll notice April, third row, second column from the right. That must be some good stuff you've got if you missed that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 01:45, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

I think the language category should include only comics whose joke or topic is ''about'' language. Surely, almost all comics and every chart ''employs'' language. --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:59, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

I was curious about August 15th, that is quite larger then its surrounding numbers, so I checked out: only a few noticeable references (to me) in history:
- Macbeth's death (1057)
- Napoleon's birthday (1769)
- WWII Japan Surrender (1945) and, consequently, Korea's Independence Day
- India's Independence Day (1947)
- and, of course, Woodstock opening (1969)
But besides Mary's Assumption (Catholic Feast) I found no significant events since year 2000. Anyone?

Paulo Sedrez [[Special:Contributions/139.82.111.111|139.82.111.111]] 18:33, 7 January 2013 (UTC)
: The 15th is also a reasonably common "deadline" day, being treated as the halfway point of the month. [[Special:Contributions/70.116.137.237|70.116.137.237]] 01:12, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

: Not sure if it's relevant for this chart because it's restricted to English books, but August 15th is a holiday in many European countries and it marks the peak of summer holidays: it's the day when most people take leave from work. [[User:Dargor17|Dargor17]] ([[User talk:Dargor17|talk]]) 19:13, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Sept. 11th, is also 9/11, which is very similar to 911. Not sure if there's a correlation there. –{{unsigned|24.49.68.40}}
:How do you mean?–[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 21:34, 17 February 2013 (UTC)
:Well, there is such a thing as Emergency Number Day, in case you are referring to that, though I doubt that ever got very big in literature... Interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11#Holidays_and_observances --[[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 20:06, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

I was surprised by April 1st's relatively small size, and Christmas is much smaller than I expected. {{unsigned|‎75.69.96.225}}
: About Christmas, it's probably because it's often mentioned by name and not as "the 25th of December" [[User:Dargor17|Dargor17]] ([[User talk:Dargor17|talk]]) 19:13, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

I was surprised with the lack of remembrance remembrance for November 5th. {{unsigned ip|Gigahertz}}

Why are some of the last 10 days of January so small compared to the others? [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 01:20, 19 January 2018 (UTC)

1985: Meteorologist

2018-04-25T19:15:03Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1985
| date = April 25, 2018
| title = Meteorologist
| image = meteorologist.png
| titletext = Hi, I'm your new meteorologist and a former software developer. Hey, when we say 12pm, does that mean the hour from 12pm to 1pm, or the hour centered on 12pm? Or is it a snapshot at 12:00 exactly? Because our 24-hour forecast has midnight at both ends, and I'm worried we have an off-by-one error.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an OVERLY ANALYTICAL METEOROLOGIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Although we’re constantly exposed to them, many (most?) people don’t understand the details of how to properly interpret weather forecasts. This comic takes this to the ridiculous extreme of the weather reporters themselves not understanding, and asking questions about it while on-air. It shows questions asked by three different people with different backgrounds: mathematics, linguistics, and (in the alt-text) software development.

The meteorologist with a background in math ([[Cueball]]) had a background in probability. This is shown when he asks if each hour is independent or correlated. If each hour were independent, there would have been a 67.232% chance to rain at least once. However, if the hours had been correlated, the chance would be less, since if it didn't rain in the first hour, it would decrease the chance of rain in the next hours. However, it would make it more likely of raining in all 5 hours, as it would be a .032% chance if it wasn't correlated. But if it was correlated, rain in the first hour would make it more likely to rain in the subsequent hours.

Questioning this on air, however, is wholly useless, and more than likely confuses the watcher more than helps them.
The technical difficulty panel further cements this, stating that it was an error, most likely due to not knowing the background of said person before allowing them to be on television: a poor decision. {{Citation needed}}

A new meteorologist, [[Blondie]], steps in, stating that she has a linguistics degree. A person off-panel confirms with her that she is not a mathematician, wanting to prevent the error made earlier. However, this proves to be in vain, as Blondie goes into a tangent once more but from a linguistics standpoint, rather than a mathematical one, detailing the true meaning of the word "it" as referring to the weather.

In the alt-text, the news station has appeared to make a similar error, but this time with a software developer, stating concerns about the feasibility of the time system used to correlate to the weather patterns. This, however, is of no concern; the information being conveyed is to people, who would probably be able to interpret it easily.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is presenting a weather forecast while seated with his arms resting on a table. The graphic to the left of Cueball shows five hours from 12pm to 4pm, each with a rainy cloud icon and the figure 20%. The "News 4 Weather" logo is shown on the bottom left.]
:Cueball: Our forecast says there's a 20% chance of rain for each of the next five hours.
:Cueball: How likely is it to rain this afternoon? It's a simple question, but I don't know the answer. Is each hour independent? Correlated? Or is rain guaranteed and we're just unsure of the timing?

:Cueball: It says "scattered showers." Is this the chance of rain '''''somewhere''''' in your area? How big is your area? What if you have two locations you're worried about?
:Cueball: I've asked management, but they've stopped answering my emails, so—hang on, the security guy is coming over.

:[A black screen is shown with white text:]
:''Technical Difficulties''
:—
:''We apologize for hiring a meteorologist with a pure math background.''
:—
:''We'll be back on the air shortly.''
:
:News 4

:[Cueball is replaced with Blondie.]
:Blondie: Sorry about that. Hi, I'm your new meteorologist.
:Off-panel voice: And you're not a mathematician, right?
:Blondie: No. I do have a linguistics degree.
:Off-panel voice: That's fine.

:Blondie: It might rain this afternoon.
:Blondie: But what is "it" here? Is it a true dummy pronoun, as in the phrase "It's too bad?" Or is the weather an entity?
:Blondie: Also, what if I say, "It's hot out, and getting bigger?"
:Off-panel voice: Security!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]

1985: Meteorologist

2018-04-25T18:13:58Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1985
| date = April 25, 2018
| title = Meteorologist
| image = meteorologist.png
| titletext = Hi, I'm your new meteorologist and a former software developer. Hey, when we say 12pm, does that mean the hour from 12pm to 1pm, or the hour centered on 12pm? Or is it a snapshot at 12:00 exactly? Because our 24-hour forecast has midnight at both ends, and I'm worried we have an off-by-one error.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an OVERLY ANALYTICAL METEOROLOGIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Although we’re constantly exposed to them, many (most?) people don’t understand the details of how to properly interpret weather forecasts. This comic takes this to the ridiculous extreme of the weather reporters themselves not understanding, and asking questions about it while on-air. It shows questions asked by three different people with different backgrounds: mathematics, linguistics, and software development.

[Incomplete] The meteorologist with a background in math had a background in probability. This is shown when he asks if each hour is independent or correlated. If each hour were independent, there would have been a 67.232% chance to rain at least once. However, if the hours had been correlated, the chance would be less, since if it didn't rain in the first hour, it would decrease the chance of rain in the next hours. However, it would make it more likely of raining in all 5 hours, as it would be a .032% chance if it wasn't correlated. But if it was correlated, rain in the first hour would make it more likely to rain in the subsequent hours.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is presenting a weather forecast while seated with his arms resting on a table. The graphic to the left of Cueball shows five hours from 12pm to 4pm, each with a rainy cloud icon and the figure 20%. The "News 4 Weather" logo is shown on the bottom left.]
:Cueball: Our forecast says there's a 20% chance of rain for each of the next five hours.
:Cueball: How likely is it to rain this afternoon? It's a simple question, but I don't know the answer. Is each hour independent? Correlated? Or is rain guaranteed and we're just unsure of the timing?

:Cueball: It says "scattered showers." Is this the chance of rain '''''somewhere''''' in your area? How big is your area? What if you have two locations you're worried about?
:Cueball: I've asked management, but they've stopped answering my emails, so—hang on, the security guy is coming over.

:[A black screen is shown with white text:]
:''Technical Difficulties''
:—
:''We apologize for hiring a meteorologist with a pure math background.''
:—
:''We'll be back on the air shortly.''
:
:News 4

:[Cueball is replaced with Blondie.]
:Blondie: Sorry about that. Hi, I'm your new meteorologist.
:Off-panel voice: And you're not a mathematician, right?
:Blondie: No. I do have a linguistics degree.
:Off-panel voice: That's fine.

:Blondie: It might rain this afternoon.
:Blondie: But what is "it" here? Is it a true dummy pronoun, as in the phrase "It's too bad?" Or is the weather an entity?
:Blondie: Also, what if I say, "It's hot out, and getting bigger?"
:Off-panel voice: Security!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]

1985: Meteorologist

2018-04-25T18:09:08Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1985
| date = April 25, 2018
| title = Meteorologist
| image = meteorologist.png
| titletext = Hi, I'm your new meteorologist and a former software developer. Hey, when we say 12pm, does that mean the hour from 12pm to 1pm, or the hour centered on 12pm? Or is it a snapshot at 12:00 exactly? Because our 24-hour forecast has midnight at both ends, and I'm worried we have an off-by-one error.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an OVERLY ANALYTICAL METEOROLOGIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Although we’re constantly exposed to them, many (most?) people don’t understand the details of how to properly interpret weather forecasts. This comic takes this to the ridiculous extreme of the weather reporters themselves not understanding, and asking questions about it while on-air. It shows questions asked by three different people with different backgrounds: mathematics, linguistics, and software development.

[Incomplete] The meteorologist with a background in math had a background in probability. This is shown when he asks if each hour is independent or correlated. If each hour were independent, there would have been a 0.67232 chance to rain at least once. However, if the hours had been correlated, the chance would be less, since if it didn't rain in the first hour, it would decrease the chance of rain in the next hours. However, it would make it more likely of raining in all 5 hours, as it would be a .032% chance if it wasn't correlated. But if it was correlated, rain in the first hour would make it more likely to rain in the subsequent hours.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is presenting a weather forecast while seated with his arms resting on a table. The graphic to the left of Cueball shows five hours from 12pm to 4pm, each with a rainy cloud icon and the figure 20%. The "News 4 Weather" logo is shown on the bottom left.]
:Cueball: Our forecast says there's a 20% chance of rain for each of the next five hours.
:Cueball: How likely is it to rain this afternoon? It's a simple question, but I don't know the answer. Is each hour independent? Correlated? Or is rain guaranteed and we're just unsure of the timing?

:Cueball: It says "scattered showers." Is this the chance of rain '''''somewhere''''' in your area? How big is your area? What if you have two locations you're worried about?
:Cueball: I've asked management, but they've stopped answering my emails, so—hang on, the security guy is coming over.

:[A black screen is shown with white text:]
:''Technical Difficulties''
:—
:''We apologize for hiring a meteorologist with a pure math background.''
:—
:''We'll be back on the air shortly.''
:
:News 4

:[Cueball is replaced with Blondie.]
:Blondie: Sorry about that. Hi, I'm your new meteorologist.
:Off-panel voice: And you're not a mathematician, right?
:Blondie: No. I do have a linguistics degree.
:Off-panel voice: That's fine.

:Blondie: It might rain this afternoon.
:Blondie: But what is "it" here? Is it a true dummy pronoun, as in the phrase "It's too bad?" Or is the weather an entity?
:Blondie: Also, what if I say, "It's hot out, and getting bigger?"
:Off-panel voice: Security!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]

1985: Meteorologist

2018-04-25T18:02:00Z

Grabadora304: /* Explanation */

Talk:1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates

2018-04-25T15:29:20Z

Grabadora304:

Seeing how the (northern hemisphere) summer months are bolder than the winter ones, I remember that someone said that "historical things" like wars and battles used to occur during the good weather months. Same for e.g. romance novels - people date and love on those dates. {{unsigned|‎81.34.231.6}}
: I don't think historical wars happened as much during the summer as during the spring and fall. Winter was obviously out for any place that had snow, but do you really want to be marching around in the heavy uniforms or armor that armies used to wear? Additionally, I don't know where I heard about it (maybe in some Discovery video), but there was a study that showed that winter is better for romance. It makes sense, with "holiday magic" and people more likely to snuggle together.{{unsigned ip|108.162.216.190}}

If the search included Spanish dates in English texts, May 5th would be larger. {{unsigned|214.4.253.121}}

I wonder if he took into account the month/day swap between the US and UK dating system (among other countries). [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 14:22, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
:That's a good question. I entered [http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=July+4%2CNovember+5%2C4+July%2C5+November%2CJuly+4th%2CNovember+5th%2C+4th+July%2C+5th+November&year_start=2000&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share= July 4 and November 5 (Guy Fawkes Day) into Google Ngram], and the difference reflected in the calendar is only apparent when you put the month before the date.--[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 01:11, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, [there's [http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=November+5%2C+November+5th%2C5th+of+November%2CFifth+of+November%2Cfifth+of+November&year_start=1500&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3 a lot of difference]] in the spelling. --[[Special:Contributions/84.181.107.38|84.181.107.38]] 17:58, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Interesting about the 11ths -- perhaps that correlates with low passenger loads on airplanes as well, and thus why the 11th was chosen for the attack (the month of September having been chosen for some other reason).[[Special:Contributions/50.0.38.245|50.0.38.245]] 15:33, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

:I want to point out that Randall doesn't know either, and I think he would have thought about the plane correlation, so I don't think that's the reason. I'm going to investigate this. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 02:53, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

::September 11 (1973) is also the date of the coup d'etat in Chile. I suppose that might (partially) explain why this specific 11th has been mentioned more frequently even before 2001...
:::I changed the page to show what I thought were the most important events (that I knew without looking up).[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.171|173.245.56.171]] 21:53, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

:: 9/11 is also an important date in both the American Revolutionary War and the War in Europe half of World War 2. [[Special:Contributions/169.233.101.195|169.233.101.195]] 21:19, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

:The reason for the low appearance of the 11ths is due to an error in Google's book scanning algorithm as explained by David R. Hagen in his blog post [http://drhagen.com/blog/the-missing-11th-of-the-month/ The Missing 11th of the Month]. --[[User:Phoenix616|Phoenix616]] ([[User talk:Phoenix616|talk]]) 01:50, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

I second the Spanish language date in English texts. May 5th is routinely routinely called Cinco De Mayo in English. Has Randall weighed in on how this was handled? [[User:Donglebaker|Donglebaker]] ([[User talk:Donglebaker|talk]]) 18:16, 28 November 2012 (UTC) JC

I also wonder about the difference between the 4th of July (Big 4) and November the 5th (small 5) as being the two "firework" days in US and UK! 4th of July peaks at 0.00003 July the 4th 0.0000001 November the 5th peaks at 0.0000006 and 5th of November peaks at 0.00001 so there are big differences and also whether you pick anything but English 2009. Reader in Invisible Writings --[[Special:Contributions/90.208.142.152|90.208.142.152]] 19:42, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

:No one forget that November 5th is also the day the Flux Capacitor was invented by Dr. Emmitt Brown using little more than a toilet seat and a minor concussion. I believe that is worth a mention.--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 16:08, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

The transcript reads "[A regular Gregorian calendar laid out in a grid, with some numbers larger than others.]" In fact, there is no way to tell if this is a Gregorian or a Julian calendar; they both have the same months and days. The Gregorian calendar only differs from the Julian in its leap year rule (it has 3 fewer every 400 years).--[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 01:17, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
:This was surely meant to distinguish it from other calendar systems such as the Islamic and Hindu calendar, not the Julian calendar. Since it is consistent with both, the current phrasing is not inaccurate. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 14:45, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Certain days of the week tend to get their dates mentioned more than others. Since the sample data were from a small number of years, this may be relevant to the results (unless it was controlled for). For example, in the US, elections are always held on a Tuesday, and Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday (and the Friday and Saturday right after it also get mentioned a lot), but these would not be the same numeric dates every year. — [[User:Jonadab||Jonadab the Unsightly One]], 2012-Nov-28 9:45pm EST (GMT+0500)
:The title only says that the books were published since 2000. The events in the book may have taken place many years before. --[[User:Jasqm|Jasqm]] ([[User talk:Jasqm|talk]]) 09:37, 29 November 2012 (UTC)jasqm

The last few US Presidential elections were 11/6/2012, 11/4/2008, 11/2/2004, 11/7/2000, 11/5/1996, 11/3/1992. November 1 is writ large, but that seems typical of the first day of all months. November 4 and 5 seem next largest. They correspond to the elections of 2008 (McCain-Obama) and 1996 (Dole-Clinton-Perot).

It seems like some of the dates in the explanation were of minimal importance to the comic - March 15th doesn't seem as large as the 21st or 31st of the month, and Halloween and Kristallnacht aren't that large, either. Sure, it's nice to know, but then there'd have to be explanations for several dozen more days. [[User:Bobidou23|Bobidou23]] ([[User talk:Bobidou23|talk]]) 21:46, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

It is missing 4/20. [[Special:Contributions/70.49.173.75|70.49.173.75]] 23:30, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:If you'll notice April, third row, second column from the right. That must be some good stuff you've got if you missed that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 01:45, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

I think the language category should include only comics whose joke or topic is ''about'' language. Surely, almost all comics and every chart ''employs'' language. --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:59, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

I was curious about August 15th, that is quite larger then its surrounding numbers, so I checked out: only a few noticeable references (to me) in history:
- Macbeth's death (1057)
- Napoleon's birthday (1769)
- WWII Japan Surrender (1945) and, consequently, Korea's Independence Day
- India's Independence Day (1947)
- and, of course, Woodstock opening (1969)
But besides Mary's Assumption (Catholic Feast) I found no significant events since year 2000. Anyone?

Paulo Sedrez [[Special:Contributions/139.82.111.111|139.82.111.111]] 18:33, 7 January 2013 (UTC)
: The 15th is also a reasonably common "deadline" day, being treated as the halfway point of the month. [[Special:Contributions/70.116.137.237|70.116.137.237]] 01:12, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

: Not sure if it's relevant for this chart because it's restricted to English books, but August 15th is a holiday in many European countries and it marks the peak of summer holidays: it's the day when most people take leave from work. [[User:Dargor17|Dargor17]] ([[User talk:Dargor17|talk]]) 19:13, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Sept. 11th, is also 9/11, which is very similar to 911. Not sure if there's a correlation there. –{{unsigned|24.49.68.40}}
:How do you mean?–[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 21:34, 17 February 2013 (UTC)
:Well, there is such a thing as Emergency Number Day, in case you are referring to that, though I doubt that ever got very big in literature... Interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11#Holidays_and_observances --[[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 20:06, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

I was surprised by April 1st's relatively small size, and Christmas is much smaller than I expected. {{unsigned|‎75.69.96.225}}
: About Christmas, it's probably because it's often mentioned by name and not as "the 25th of December" [[User:Dargor17|Dargor17]] ([[User talk:Dargor17|talk]]) 19:13, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

I was surprised with the lack of remembrance remembrance for November 5th. {{unsigned ip|Gigahertz}}

I was surprised with the lack of remembrance for 4/20. {{unsigned ip|Grabadora304}}

Why are some of the last 10 days of January so small compared to the others? [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 01:20, 19 January 2018 (UTC)