explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:927: Standards

2016-08-03T02:10:14Z

International Space Station:

But this new video codec might just be the one that solves all our problems! You never know until you try it! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:19, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Is the mini-USB vs micro-USB standards rift a good representative example of what this comic is hinting at? [[User:Dexterous|Dexterous]] ([[User talk:Dexterous|talk]]) 10:19, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

:Yeah, it is. Though, basically, there were even more variants than that around. Before each maker basically had their own socket, most kept it through their phone models, mostly. But everyone basically just uses Micro-USB nowadays... Some still use Mini-USB, but those numbers are dwindling. What really fits to this comic is something that was just recently announced: USB 3.1. If you Google for the new USB 3.1 plugs, you see they're completely different but "cover all use cases"... Let's see how that goes. [[User:Sinni800|Sinni800]] ([[User talk:Sinni800|talk]]) 13:43, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

:: 3.1 type-c was meant to be fairly quickly adopted and designed to meet all use-cases for the foreseeable future. when the foreseeable future presents currently unforseeable use-cases a new standard will likely be rapidly developed and deployed. this is a functional model, different than the one that leads to competition amoungst hardware/software developers. Also, MKV is another example of a sustainable standard (container for media files). Googles VP9, and the coming VPx 18 month update cycle, seem to be the best current option for an open video codec standard.

This particular comic is widely cited in about four different SDO's that I participate in [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.9|108.162.216.9]] 08:10, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

This is more applicable to politics. It's so prevalent in the left and I frequently reference it on /r/socialism and stuff. Once in a while there will be a person posting saying that we need to form one major socialist party that appeals to als many tendencies as possible like Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, Trotskyism, with the parties like SAlt, SPUSA, etc. It's like. NO. YOU'LL JUST FURTHER SHATTER THE LEFT. Forget parties. We all have the common goal of class consciousness and worker ownership of the means of production. Let's first work on that and *later* argue about the specifics. Like seriously. For the organizing the left is known for, there seems to be less organizing and more arguing going on... [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 02:10, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1683: Digital Data

2016-05-20T04:58:28Z

International Space Station:

Ewww, Verizon? Fuck them and their utter bullshit and how they treat their workers. Fucking slave labor. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 04:58, 20 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:845: Modern History

2016-05-19T06:07:15Z

International Space Station: Created page with "When I first read this, I took Cueball's statement to also have a double meaning. "Will you /please/ stop?" As in stop fighting, stop the war, etc. ~~~~"

When I first read this, I took Cueball's statement to also have a double meaning. "Will you /please/ stop?" As in stop fighting, stop the war, etc. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 06:07, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1681: Laser Products

2016-05-19T05:53:28Z

International Space Station:

Laser jet surgery might be a reference to [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThisAintRocketSurgery rocket surgery]? {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.25}}

What is a laser eye printer and why is it eww ? {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.29}}

:It prints eyes... that should be self explanatory.{{unsigned ip|141.101.98.42}}

:Could also mean printing on the eye with a laser. Sounds possible but odd. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.28}}
::People buy colored and patterned contact lenses today, I think a laser eye printer would be used to print those patterns directly onto the eyeball. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 15:53, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

:Laser eye printer sounds like the type of thing edgy people want. Imagine printing a pentagram on your pupil or sclera {{unsigned ip|162.158.26.140}}

The first laser was fired 56 years ago, on 16 May 1960 by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Harold_Maiman Theodore Harold Maiman]. Maybe this comic is a reference? [[Special:Contributions/188.114.109.103|188.114.109.103]] 15:45, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

You don't need to describe how any of these work in detail, just provide a quick description and link them to wikipedia. [[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 16:50, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

Laserjet is a trademarked brand of printers from HP. Does it have any meaning beyond the trademark. I know "Inkjet" is a type of printer that sprays a jet of ink onto the paper, but normally one would just say "laser printer" if one isn't referring to an Epson model [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 19:15, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

"Laser-mounted jet aircraft"... surely you meant jet aircraft-mounted laser? I'll leave this how it is for a day or two in case I'm missing something. [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 19:58, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

I found this comic to be funnier than it was intended to be, especially "laser jet removal" because I'm an astronomy nerd and we (at least everyone I've stargazed with) always talk about how we shouldn't point the laser pointers at the bright, moving, blinking stars because that would be very bad and turn it into a shooting star.

On a side note, I wonder if Arctic Blues are powerful enough to be spotted by people on the ISS, and theoretically how much power and how focused a laser would have to be to blind someone in the cupola. Also how powerful it would need to be to burn a hole through its outside, assuming you had an ultra stable tracking mount. I need to know by Tuesday.

(Hi NSA, I know I'm on your watchlists for being the atheistic daughter of "Hassan" Muslim immigrants, a communist, and a tinkerer of really dangerous science, but this is xkcd and I am sure this is the least sketchy "what if" that has ever been asked on this site.)
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 10:30, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

:The first part of that question was tested in 2012. http://www.universetoday.com/93987/amateur-astronomers-flash-the-space-station/. The article mentions that the 800 million lumen (dubious) searchlights came in brighter than magnitude 0 but the 1 MW blue laser was "also visible". From the picture it looks to be about magnitude 2 or 3. To match the sun's brightness (for blinding purposes) you'd need to get that up to about -26.5. Making up a 29 magnitude difference means you'd need to make your laser about 400 billion times brighter, or about 400 petawatts. You can probably bring that power draw down significantly by focusing the beam more, but since the Earth's power consumption is only about 2.5 petawatts (per Randall), you're already pretty far outside the realm of possibility. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.220|108.162.237.220]] 13:41, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
When I say blind, I mean "blind" in the same sense of "I accidentally flashed my green laser pointer in my eye via my mirror." So that would be just 35mW at 20ft. Couldn't you develop an ultra-focused laser (atmospheric distortion aside) that was able to focus all that energy onto an astronaut's eye from the ground?
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 05:53, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

An inkjet printer is very definitely ''not'' xerographic printing, which refers to a dry printing process. A better term would be "raster" rather than "xerographic" although the former still does not imply converting the image to pixels, which appears to be the point the sentence is trying to make. At least "raster" means the image is converted to scan lines...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 02:31, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1681: Laser Products

2016-05-18T10:30:16Z

International Space Station:

Talk:199: Right-Hand Rule

2016-04-27T09:18:48Z

International Space Station:

There's also the right hand rule on urban dictionary, although it's applied slightly differently, and it only has one input parameter. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 03:44, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

I expanded the explanation to cover the erection joke. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 02:12, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Can anyone explain "Girls on Girls in Tightly Closed Nonorientable Spaces"? What is that, lesbians in a box? What is a nonorientable space? [[User:Swordsmith|Swordsmith]] ([[User talk:Swordsmith|talk]]) 02:14, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

A non orientable space is, IIRC, a shape like a Möbius strip, in which has a sort of topological " handedness." Or maybe that's an orientable space. I'm pretty sure it's non orientable.

As far as noneuclidean porn goes though, I have a fetish for fractals. Just pull up a sexy fractal zoom and we're good to go. But I'm cisfemale. No dick. X'D [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 09:18, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:652: More Accurate

2016-04-22T18:22:35Z

International Space Station:

MOST? You mean some aren't?

Our current level of artifical intelligence research is not really far and I doubt anyone would be trying to advance it inside armed machines. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:03, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

: Do you just not notice the high volume of news literature on the current state of drones? The Atlantic wrote a long feature about it recently. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 18:58, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

The current level of our artificial intelligence research is high enough for Google to be testing {{w|google driverless car|driverless cars}} on the streets of the Bay Area. Given that, I'm sure the military is at least testing autonomous drones. [[User:Dawfedora|Dawfedora]] ([[User talk:Dawfedora|talk]]) 16:38, 11 July 2013 (UTC)

: As far as I knew, we already have autonomous drones, but there's a law that requires that a human must pull the trigger. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.196|108.162.212.196]] 23:37, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

:: Autonomy is still pre-programmed, just like driverless cars. The Terminator was also just a pre-programmed drone, at least until it started to develop feelings. There are also automated strikes. The only thing that is required is human verification of intel (which is not that great). [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 13:19, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

At ''every'' moment of life we leave the present to enter the future...--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.44|108.162.229.44]] 18:38, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

And the joke is on everyone when the "drone" turns out to be Soundwave. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 06:26, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

I think Randall hit too closely to home on this one. Uncomfortably close. I will never understand humanity's morbid fetishization of war, destruction, and death. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 18:22, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1093: Forget

2016-04-22T15:41:35Z

International Space Station:

How far off the top of that list is the death of JFK? [[User:SteveBell|SteveB]] ([[User talk:SteveBell|talk]]) 10:55, 10 August 2012‎ (UTC)
: Looking at the time table, my guess would be around 2000. ~[[User:Jjhuddle|JJ]] ([[User talk:Jjhuddle|talk]]) 11:01, 10 August 2012‎ (UTC)
: Assuming that the median age growed monotonically in the past, that was around '98/'99. [[Special:Contributions/178.15.226.170|178.15.226.170]] 13:05, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Ah, the seventies. Bell Bottoms. The Bicentennial. The Munich Olympics. The original Star Wars movie. Except for Star Wars, I suppose much of that ''could'' be forgotten. Especially [[1072|Bell Bottoms]].-- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 13:50, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Lorena Bobbitt is misspelled in the comic. It should have two "t's." Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500185_162-4207517.html [Goingtotryscience, 10 Aug 2012] --[[User:Goingtotryscience|Goingtotryscience]] ([[User talk:Goingtotryscience|talk]]) 14:59, 10 August 2012 (UTC)
Uploaded corrected version. Both still available if you click on the image and view upload history.--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 15:46, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

The cold war was after World War II, not World War I. --[[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:18, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

: He didn't say the cold war was after World War I, he said the Soviet Union began after World War I and was the advesary of the United States during the cold war. --[[User:Enginesoul|Enginesoul]] ([[User talk:Enginesoul|talk]]) 18:10, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Let's not forget 2035 when the majority of people will not remember a world berift of XKCD! [[User:Loeb|Loeb]] ([[User talk:Loeb|talk]]) 17:17, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

When Coca-Cola change the formula to New Coke, they kept the name "Coca-Cola" for the reformulated beverage, and discontinued the old formula. Because of the backlash, they reintroduced the old formula as "Coca-Cola Classic" and kept the new formula as "Coca-Cola". After a while, with "Coca-Cola Classic" being by far the biggest seller, the new formula was rebranded "Coke II", and eventually discontinued (I believe). The can I have in front of me is marked simply "Coca-Cola", so I guess "Coca-Cola Classic" was eventually rebranded back to the original name. --[[User:Blaisepascal|Blaise Pascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 17:55, 10 August 2012 (UTC)
:Coke II was produced and distributed in some Midwestern markets as late as 2002. Supposedly it's still available in the Marshall Islands, or somewhere like that. [[User:Daniel Case|Daniel Case]] ([[User talk:Daniel Case|talk]]) 21:22, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Am I the only one who thinks that there are some other things needing explaining here? I have no idea what "Forgot About Dre" or "Baby Got Back" are about. (Well, not without a little googling.) And Pluto still exists, even if it's not currently classified as a planet (last I heard, they were considering classifying it and Charon as a twin planet system) so people are unlikely to forget about the name.--[[User:Joe Green|Joe Green]] ([[User talk:Joe Green|talk]]) 07:26, 11 August 2012 (UTC)
:Actually, Pluto is still a planet. To say Pluto is not a planet is the same thing as saying little people aren't people, which is incredibly bigoted against little people. Only a true sociopath would say that Pluto isn't a planet. "Dwarf planet" has planet right in the name. Of COURSE a dwarf planet is a planet.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 15:07, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
::By that logic, "candy corn" is still corn because it has the word corn right in the name. Call me a sociopath if you want to, but I say Pluto is not (and never was) a planet. There was a brief time in history when we mistakenly THOUGHT it was a planet, until we corrected our mistake. The same thing happened with Ceres. It was initially announced to be a planet, until further measurements showed it to be much smaller than we thought, so we reclassified it as an "asteroid". Nowadays, we correctly recognize that Ceres and Pluto belong in the same category as each other. Both of them are rocks floating in a band of other rocks, albeit unusually large examples of such rocks. This comic refers to the fact that we look back with nostalgia on the time when lists of "the planets" included Pluto. Now, the list does not include Pluto.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.121|199.27.133.121]] 15:42, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

Oh and if Chernobyl is considered worthy of explanation, surely so is Challenger? Columbine too. Jeff's initial selection seems a little arbitrary, and while he justifiably never claims to provide a comprehensive explanation, we usually fill in the gaps.--[[User:Joe Green|Joe Green]] ([[User talk:Joe Green|talk]]) 07:34, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

:Gaps: Filled. By the way, none of the explanation was actually Jeff's. It's the collaboration of multiple users (feel free to pitch in). For example, I made the {{diff|6133|first revision}} of the article, with a basic explanation, [[Special:Contributions/Jjhuddle|Jjhuddle]] {{diff|6157|added}} information about the title text (which I skipped over, as I wasn't sure about it), [[Special:Contributions/Jilkscom56|Jilkscom56]] {{diff|6190|added}} the bit about Eyjafjallajökull, [[Special:Contributions/IronyChef|IronyChef]] {{diff|6199|added}} eight more years, [[Special:Contributions/MrFlibble|MrFlibble]] {{diff|6218|fixed}} an error in one of the dates, [[Special:Contributions/AHT|AHT]] {{diff|6253|expanded}} the Berlin Wall section, and I {{diff|6256|filled in the rest of the blanks}}. {{User:Omega/sig}} 08:18, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

The Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany, not the USSR and it preceded the reunification of Germany. I've sort of fixed it, but it could do with more work. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 10:35, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
: Good. I was just writing a comment about exactly these two points. Although the role of the soviets is not entirely clear, it was the Eastern German (aka German Democratic Republic) Government that decided and (mostly) Eastern German soldiers who built the Wall. And while the "Fall of the Wall" usually refers to the day where suddenly after a very confusing press conference, people could cross the border from east to west, the November 9, 1989, the reunification was a political and formal act in 1990, almost a year later. [[Special:Contributions/178.15.226.170|178.15.226.170]] 10:51, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
: Also, the wall was technically not torn down by anyone and especially not from both sides. After a series of weekly demonstrations in Eastern Germany (by a lot of courageous people in different cities), the Government made a decision to lift the travel restrictions, effectively allowing travelling to the West. On November 9, 1989, they made this official in a press conference which did not even receive a lot of attention at first. In this conference, someone raised the question when these new regulation would take effect, and seemingly unprepared, the speaker said "as far as I can see, it's effective immediately". Although there were so many people up that night in both East and West, and although maybe the mass of people prevented a shooting by the unprepared soldiers at the checkpoint, the revolution was not a spontaneous tearing of the wall, it was the demonstrations in the preceeding weeks by the Eastern German People. [[Special:Contributions/178.15.226.170|178.15.226.170]] 11:30, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

It seems whoever wrote the explanation for 9/11 has already forgotten the other two planes that crashed that day: one into the Pentagon, and one in a field outside of Shanksville, PA (Presumably on its way to crashing into the Capitol Building)
:Well go change it then!

Actually I found the most crucial part, the math, was done poorly: Why do we have a 32 years gap today and a 35 years gap in the future, when the current median age is "around 35"?. I fixed it, but I'm not a native speaker, so I'd be happy if someone could go over the first paragraph (again). [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 13:40, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

"''He lost all popularity after he controversially boycotted the 1980 Olympics, in Moscow''" Well, this just proves the point of the comic. Anyone old enough to remember the Carter administration would not have written this. The Olympic boycott was actually supported by most of the American people at the time, albeit a little grudgingly. It was, in fact, one of the few things Carter did at that point that ''was'' popular.The explanation would be more accurate if it read "''He lost popularity due to continual high inflation during his administration, failure to resolve the {{w|Iran hostage crisis}}, a {{w|Malaise speech|speech that was interpreted as blaming the American people for his administration's failings}}, and a growing perception that he was in over his head.''" [[User:Daniel Case|Daniel Case]] ([[User talk:Daniel Case|talk]]) 21:19, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

:I've rewritten that section to include more information. Wikipedia does say that the Olympic boycott was controversial, and my memory concurs. The real error about the boycott was that it wasn't generally a cold-war issue, but rather a direct response to the Afghanistan invasion. Which is why it was so controversial, as such a boycott was purely political when the spirit of the games was intended to overcome such political differences. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 21:51, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

This comic makes me feel young. The first event I actually remember is 9/11, and I only remember it because it was my first day of kindergarten. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.7|108.162.219.7]] 04:21, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

I have extremely vague memories of 9/11 which happened when I was 4, mainly through a dream I had where I built two Lego towers and had them fall on me. I have a few memories of a time before facebook, but I do remember Katrina. I feel so young. Also like. Pokemon's TV show came out when I was born, and I unashamedly still watch it now and then. Literally can't get a show I've watched for a longer period of time than Pokemon haha xD so xkcd makes me feel old and young simultaneously. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 15:41, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:233: A New CAPTCHA Approach

2016-04-22T15:35:39Z

International Space Station:

Both of those fail against autistic people (and people who have diseases similar to autism, one example being FG syndrome). [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 17:49, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
:Or, y'know, people who haven't seen the movie/episode. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 21:09, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Not exactly, because kids with autistic-spectrum disorders can be more sensitive. The only pop-culture example I can think of is Sheldon Cooper's sadness when he learned of Professor Proton's passing. {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.240}}

A better example would be the dog in I Am Legend. Also, the text for the question and for the answers would both have to be distorted slightly. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.87|173.245.50.87]] 06:02, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

The obvious alusion is Deckard's empathy test on Leon in Blade Runner to determine whether he is human. {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.30}}

I don't remember crying to that scene when I was younger. I do- I mean, did cry when Optimus Prime died in the '87 Transformers movie though. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.225|108.162.249.225]] 04:25, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

The funniest thing is the Infosphere does use Fry's dog as a captcha like this. Hutc {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.193}}

This seems to be an allusion to the Voight-Kampff test in the movie Blade Runner. The test is used to distinguish humans from 'Replicas' (artificial humans) by asking questions designed to elicit an emotional response, and then monitoring biological metrics in the respondent. The idea being that replicas would be unable to maintain a convincing fakery against such a systematized methodology. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 01:55, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Am I the only one who didn't cry with that episode with Fry's dog? I mean it was sad but I didn't cry. On top of that one of the movies makes that scene a LOT less sad.

I suppose I'm just a cold, heartless satellite. Fry's dog may work on spambots but not satellites. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 15:35, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:525: I Know You're Listening

2016-04-22T05:25:47Z

International Space Station:

Whether or not this is what the Citation request needs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager#Criticism would be helpful. Most people tend to go for the "What if it's the ''wrong'' god that you believe in?" counter to the wager. i.e. the parts of your religious observance that most please Zeus might well anger Odin greatly, or something similar for any two gods (pantheonic ''or'' sole Authority, this factor also being a major issue of choice) that you might care to compare between. This is mostly covered in the "Argument from inconsistent revelations" section of the above, it appears.

Personally my favoured counter-argument is that any sufficiently omniscient god worth his pillar-of-salt should ''know'' whether you are Wagering, and probably has a special area of Hell (or Tantarus) reserved for those that try to toady up to him by faking a belief (covered by the "Argument from inauthentic belief" section). I choose to believe that an honest non-believer might at least get a look-in at any middle-ground afterlife (regardless of their lack in belief of same), but I also don't have amy great reason to believe that this attitude is going to reward me, either.

(c.f. also the assumption that 'innocents', and people who have never been exposed to the Word Of GodTM are entitled to a free pass to some non-Hell level of afterlife, the punishment only applying after having been introduced to the whole Judeo-Christian system of post-death existence. On this basis, missionaries that go out and inform remote tribespeoples and oceanic islanders of the state of affairs are actually potentially making things a lot worse for their target audience than they ''would'' have been... Assuming that they're right in the first place.)

But note that, for every philosophical argument, there's an equal and opposite philosophical argument. I just plan on being good in the mortal world (where I know I will be rewarded, or at least regarded in a reasonably good light, if perhaps a bit of a doorstep) and if this doesn't help out when I hypothetically find myself at the Pearly Gates then I probably wouldn't have hit on the right form and combination of observances anyway so its not a wager that I could have reasonably 'won'.

This is, of course, way heavier an edit than I had intended, and I'm not suggesting that this is the best intepretation, just my own, and probably not worth a discussion over. [[Special:Contributions/31.111.87.233|31.111.87.233]] 09:28, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

(Forgot to say... non-deity eavesdroppers probably wouldn't have the omniscience, so go ahead and randomly profess your belief in them! [[Special:Contributions/31.111.87.233|31.111.87.233]] 09:30, 28 May 2013 (UTC))

:My best argument against pretending to believe something you doesn't is: do you really want to spend an ethernity with people whose belief you faked? For (extreme) example, if only Jehovah's witnesses go to heaven (and assuming you are not one), do you WANT to go there? Similarly, abstinents probably don't want to end in Valhalla. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:41, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

::This is a lot of unnecessary talk, even realized to be such by the one who wrote it. The explanation, as written, is fine without this extraneity. [[Special:Contributions/152.119.255.250|152.119.255.250]] 16:24, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
:::Since you did remove the incomplete tag I did add some more explains for Pascal's Wager. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:23, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

You get the record for longest expoundition of a title text.[[Special:Contributions/72.70.180.234|72.70.180.234]] 18:21, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

:Yes, check your e-mail. (Not you; him.)

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 19:36, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

There is a [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob|community portal discussion]] of what to call Cueball and what to do in case with more than one Cueball. I have added this comic to the new Category:Multiple Cueballs. Since there is only one Cueball that "talks" it is obvious to keep him listed as Cueball. Just made a note that the other guy also looks like Cueball. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:43, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

Cueball's calculation here is wrong. Yes, if there's nobody listening, he doesn't lose anything. But if there is, what happens when they think he's on to them could get unpleasant for him. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.64}}

I'd do this on the internet but there's a good chance they actually are listening. Though they can't arrest commies for being commies, they can still watchlist them and monitor them closely, especially those who admit to plotting revolution. So yes, I know the government is listening, and the government knows I know they're listening. My only wonder is what are the consequences going to be? And how much faster will it be because I know they're listening?

Perhaps Cueball shouldn't be so quick as to say such... [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 05:25, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:484: Flash Games

2016-04-22T05:20:23Z

International Space Station:

http://reddawn.net/quilt/games/QCon/QCon.html {{unsigned ip|‎173.245.55.222}}

The explanation needs to explain the title text. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.45|108.162.216.45]] 23:25, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
:Yes, you are right. No time for me so far, maybe this comic should be on top at the "Today's incomplete explanation of the day" for one day more... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:37, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
:Already got it for you guys [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 07:33, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Am I missing something or are you looking too hard for an explanation? To me, it seems as simple as what it says. There are amazing gaming systems, but a lot of flash games are way more addictive. So the character (Cueball I guess he's been called here) simply is telling himself that he'll only play for one more hour before playing with his new console. The joke being that in an hour, he will say the same thing again. And again. And so on. That's all there is to this. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.63.180|173.245.63.180]] 07:32, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
:Games are what happens to nerds while they are waiting for their lives.
:Comics are what happen to me when I am waiting to be right again.
:My most tiresome trait is my effort to be correct.
:One day I will run out of comics.

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 00:37, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Note the Wiimote blutacked to the television. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.222|162.158.2.222]] 02:26, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

This is as true today as it was in 2008. I spend more hours on little flash games than I do actual video games.
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 05:20, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:484: Flash Games

2016-04-22T05:20:01Z

International Space Station:

Talk:647: Scary

2016-04-22T05:16:18Z

International Space Station:

Not wishing to detract from the gravity of the 9/11 events (expounded at very great length), but the first thing we read, "...never found the ghosts head", is perhaps a lighter parody of the kind of endings that accompany "It was a dark and stormy night..." at the start. Usually in a ghost and/or a horror story (headless ghosts aside) it's usually a newly-found ''corpse'' whose head is missing. Hence there's strange imagery involved in the concept of a decapitated ghost (as opposed to a ghost of a decapitee). It ''could'' have been an interestingly compounded set of tropes, of course, but given its apparent lameness it probably wasn't. [[Special:Contributions/178.99.247.73|178.99.247.73]] 17:22, 21 May 2013 (UTC)
:They never found any traces of firemen in the ruins of the twin towers did they? No fireproof, extremely hardwearing clothing, nor axes, gas cylinders etc.? Horrific or what?
:And the layer at the top of the mounds should have contained some traces of human DNA. Right?
:That's more horrific. {{unsigned|Weatherlawyer}}

Using movies as a reference for making people feel old and scared about how fast time flies was used also in http://xkcd.com/891/ --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.31|108.162.229.31]] 12:03, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Children born after xkcd first came out are now old enough to have this conversation.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.183|173.245.56.183]] 19:12, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

I was born after 9/11, yet I am old enough to read this comic.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.30|141.101.104.30]]

Two years from now, people born after the turn of the millennium will start to graduate high school. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 05:16, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1330: Kola Borehole

2016-04-22T05:13:51Z

International Space Station:

Reminds me of the title text in #[[1218]]: Doors of Durin. [[User:Whimsye|Whimsye]] ([[User talk:Whimsye|talk]]) 06:21, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Surely this is a Dwarf Fortress reference. The Soviets breached the Happy Fun Stuff! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.5|108.162.250.5]] 06:42, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

:Well, DF ''has'' that connotation, but both the [[wikipedia:Kola_Superdeep_Borehole|real thing]] and the [[wikipedia:Well_to_Hell_hoax|hoax]] are older than Toady's game, so perhaps not so much a reference to DF (although Black Hat does propose a typically DF-player solution... I hope he's prepared for [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/FPS FPS Hell] from the flowing liquids). Randall ''[[1223|knows]]'' about DF, of course.
:(BTW, from that (first, factual event) page: "In 1983, the drill passed 12,000 m (39,000 ft), and drilling was stopped for about a year to celebrate the event." ...Russians!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.176|141.101.98.176]] 08:18, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Lakes and Oceans #[[1040]] also mentions the Kola Borehole.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.70|199.27.128.70]] 09:03, 14 February 2014 (UTC)Nix

If Hell would be a physical place, I don't think {{w|Lucifer}} would still be ruling there. In next war between Heaven and Hell, the winners will be anime and/or computer games nerds. Both Heaven and Hell will lose. :-) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:06, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

One may recall from the ''Divine Comedy'' that Dante's imagery of Hell is a negative-mountain-shaped abyss that starts widest at the surface of our allegorical planet and ends at a point far below the surface where Satan resides. The deeper you go, the narrower the abyss gets, like a cone, and the more heinous the sinners. On the other side of the planet there is a mountain made from all that earth God removed to dig the Inferno. The Saints (all those who are saved by faith from the other fate) progress up the mountain through Purgatory to reach Paradise. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:01, 14 February 2014 (UTC)''

I remember reading about this in Dial the Truth ministries: http://www.av1611.org/hell.html
Either way, in the war between Earth and Hell, I shall be in Heaven. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:51, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

In the game terraria it is actually possible to dig a tunnel from the ocean to hell. I tried this but not enough water came through the tunnel to flood it.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 21:52, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

In Dante's Inferno, Hell is depicted as being a cold place since it is far from the warmth of the Creator. The modern hot version of hell is a byproduct of the fire and brimstone of the reformation period. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.254|108.162.210.254]] 16:47, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

About the kola superdeep borehole being welded-shut - that seems to be actualy true. The wikipedia page on the borehole has a picture of it being welded shut, and the reference about the bore hole project being abandonded, an article in russian[http://www.rg.ru/2008/10/15/skvazhina.html], says that it was welded shut in 1995. Could someone update that? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.8|141.101.99.8]] 21:07, 14 February 2014 (UTC)
:Not only that, it was apparently capped with concrete as well [http://www.wired.com/2014/01/an-artist-records-the-mysterious-rumblings-of-middle-earth/] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 12:54, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

When he says that she probably won't be on his side, I took it to mean that he'll be on his own side during the war, fighting against both Hell and Earth. Since she's nice, she probably wouldn't join him. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 19:37, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

I took his comment in the final panel to mean that he is actually affiliated with hell and that somehow flooding Hell would release its contents rather than extinguish them. It was a very eerie thought that I'm sticking to. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.185|108.162.222.185]] 12:48, 18 March 2015 (UTC) 21:37, 18 March 2015 (KST)

If there's ever a war between heaven and hell, my soul will be too busy exploring space to give a shit about it.

On a side note, I'd expect such sounds might actually have been "heard" in the chamber. Or it is theoretically possible. The sound of escaping hot gases, especially in chorus, would sound awfully similar to tormented screaming. So in a way, the sounds would sound similar.

Although in thinking about this one more deeply, another comic comes to mind as I freak out about the fact the scary magma chambers are RIGHT BELOW ME. I could easily walk the lateral distance separating me and them in a few hours. Or could scale a mountain with that distance in a day or so. Or in a few seconds using a lot of rocket fuel. But to go down that distance takes a lot more effort... hm. Of course there are always volcanoes.

Too busy thinking about space to worry about a war between hell and heaven. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 05:13, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1571: Car Model Names

2016-04-22T04:35:54Z

International Space Station:

Suzuki Sexism kinda has a ring to it... [[User:Bbruzzo|Bbruzzo]] ([[User talk:Bbruzzo|talk]]) 14:39, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Worth noting that there actually was an engine manufacturer named "Coventry Climax", who produced a range of racing engines and specialty machinery like forklift trucks. Coventry Climax's engine works were eventually bought out by Jaguar Cars in the 1960s. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.154}}

Considering the existence of the Civic RX and the CR-V EX, Cervixxx should have been a Honda model. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:44, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

A simple Lua script I wrote to calculate these ratings: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/12259822/
Run it with your favorite Lua interpreter, and it should ask for a name. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.160|108.162.216.160]] 03:01, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

Interestingly, "xkcd" has a high score of 4.1. {{unsigned ip|199.27.129.59}}

:Could be a Jaguar, as homage to the XKS. --[[User:SaturNine|SaturNine]] ([[User talk:SaturNine|talk]]) 12:25, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

;Scores

Anyone know how the averages are calculated? I tried a couple but I don't arrive at the same numbers:

HONDA { -44 -80 -46 -21 -14 } Sum: -205 Avg: -41 
2CHAINZ { +6 +27 -44 -14 -21 -46 +83 } Sum: -9 Avg: -1.2857142857142857142857142857143 
Combined: (-205 -9) / (5 + 7) = -17.833333333333333333333333333333 

[[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 15:29, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

I think only the model should be considered. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 15:36, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

:2CHAINZ { +6 +27 -44 -14 -21 -46 +83 } Sum: -9 Avg: -1.29 Index: -0.13
:CLIMAX { +27 +12 -21 +19 -14 +126} Sum: 149 Avg: 24.83 Index: 2.48

Obvioulsy it's the average divided by 10. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 15:44, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Ah, it's so obvious now, thanks :) [[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 16:00, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

I worked it out to be average divided by 10 early on but why divided by 10? Is it because each category has 10 cars listed? This is the piece I've been stuck at. Understanding that part of the logic. --[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 16:05, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

The only thing I can think of is to make the numbers be below 10 as a lot of scoring is done in that scale, then again, that doesn't include numbers below 1 usually (On a scale from 1 - 10).
Oh, also the 3x3cutrix, the i is worth -21, not -45 (which is E), the x in 3x3 is treated as a normal x with score 126
:3X3CUTRIX { +55 -126 +55 +27 -68 -18 8 -21 +126 } Sum: 290 Avg: 32.222... Index: 3.22
[[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 16:17, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

OK, my mistake. Thanks. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 16:27, 31 August 2015 (UTC)
BTW: 3X3CUTRIX { +55 +126 +55 +27 -68 -18 +8 -21 +126 } Sum: 290

Yea, made a typo there originally, did edit-fix it ^^ Also SIXAXLE4x4 { +15 -21 +126 -14 +126 +12 -45 +35 +126 +35 } Sum: 395 Avg: 39.5 Index: 3.95 (which is the number next to it)

[[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 16:33, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Mercedes 3X-WIF3 scores a decent 3,33 [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.9|198.41.243.9]] 18:46, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Anyone want a Porsche 911? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 18:53, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

:The Saab Y. Worst possible car name. The Oldsmobile XXX. Best possible car name. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.4|173.245.54.4]] 19:33, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Seems worth mentioning somewhere that 3x3cutrix is semi leet/133+ for the English word executrix, the feminine form of executor, but I don't know quite where it belongs. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:49, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

"The letters F and B, with scores of 5 and -5, respectively, are about as common in English as in car models." Looked odd, at first reading. May need re-writing to point out that ±5 is as close to zero (parity between English and car-speak) as you get in this example. Perhaps "...scores of ''merely'' +5 and -5, respectively", or similar? But that also seems too brief. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 01:37, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
:Forgot to add what I meant to put here... Apostrophes. Very rare in car names (just the {{w|Kia_Cee%27d|Kia Cee'd}}), fairly often (over)used in standard English text. I wonder what its value is? (Not as easily 'assume it's a letter' as the x/times symbol.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 01:44, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

;Order of the scores
There are two possible explanations
;Score(x) = Frequency_in_cars(x) - Frequency_in_English(x)
I'm pretty sure it's a comparative scale between cars and English, not just a car-like/not-car-like scale.
:Randall uses positive numbers if a letter is more common in car models than in typical English (as X) which he then calls carlike. He used negative numbers if a letter's relative frequency in car models is lower than in typical English (as O) and he calls it English-like (more suitable for readable text). The letters F and B, with scores of 5 and -5, respectively, are about as common in English as in car models. With this nomenclature, the most English-like letter is Y because, while not the most common English letter, it is apparently extremely rare in car models.

;Score(x) = Frequency_in_cars(x)
English has no relationship with the score
:It seems that Randall arbitrarily used positive and negative numbers: if a letter is very common in car models (as X) he calls it carlike. If a letter is very uncommon in car models (as O) he calls it English-like. With this nomenclature the most English-like letter is Y, but actually Y is the least carlike letter. The most common letter in ordinary English is E. Y on the other hand is just in the middle (place 13), which can't be called English-like.
[[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 12:56, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
::"Y (...) can't be called English-like". Well, it can be, as it's not uncommon. And on the relative scale, it's much more indicative of being English than it is of being a car. And I'm going to give the explanation a further tweak, I think, hopefully small and agreeable. Also don't think the reversion helped (without checking the edit-changes), it was almost right. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 13:24, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
Now I understood your idea. I think I tweaked it to be more understandable. X is a letter that supports your claim. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 13:41, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

I'd like to suggest a third possibility, I figured it was a ratio: Score(x) = 100*(Frecuency_in_cars(x) / Frequency_in_English(x) - 1). This allows numbers to be negative or positive and would explain the questions raised above. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:53, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Well, my "little tweak" became a big overhaul, then edit-conflicted. For the record, it became the following monstrosity:
Scores for letters and numbers are presumably taken from their frequency in car models. [[Randall]] doubtless analysed a car-name database, in a manner similar to that used to derive the {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency#Relative_frequencies_of_letters_in_the_English_language|letter frequency statistics for written English}} against which the former seems to have been compared. From these, letters that appeared equally commonly in both lists (either rare or frequent, but consistently between the two) would have been given a hypothetical value of zero, whilst ones that were almost exclusively in one medium would have a high-magnitude score; positive for more car-like and negative for more English-like.
Without the raw car-letter frequency data it's hard to derive the exact formula used, but taking the mathematical {{w|Logarithm|log value}} of a ratio would give us zero for 1:1 (equally car-like and English-like) and high positive/negative values for comparisons more skewed more towards the former/latter.
The closest letters to zero in the comic are F at +5 and B at -5 and may hover somewhere around the same ratios in car-names as in English (around 2.2% and 1.4% of total usage in the above link), with just a slight car/English dominance. The most 'car-like' letter is X, that seems to be quite common in cars whilst very rare (<1% of usage) in English.
The most 'English-like' letter in the comic is Y with a score of -90. Y is not common in English (~2%), but presumably even more disproportionately uncommon in car names. The next most 'English-like' letter, O, with a given score of -80. It is significantly more frequent in English (~7.5%, and perhaps the fourth most encountered individual letter), and so is likely also more frequent in the raw car-name data, alone, albeit similarly much less than 'expected' from its English occurances.
It makes some sense that rarer English letters are over-chosen (for the novelty and stand-out effect) for car names, at the general expense of several commoner English letters without particular bias, thus the highest positive peak is greater in magnitude than the lowest negative trough. Although you could also point out that 'x' (used for 'times') is also a more useful car-name 'letter', whilst the letter O might be surpressed in alphanumeric sequences so as not to be confused with a zero.
When looking at the numbers in the table, Randall's analysis may have dealt with the decimal digits entirely seperately, based upon something like {{w|Benford%27s_law|Benford's Law}} for the natural occurance of numbers in common data, rather than from their disproportionately rare occurance within largely alphabetic English. It is thus not unexpected that the 1 that is most common in data is underepresented within numbers in car-names, whilst sub-avearge 5 becomes a 'power number' in the world of cars, and the third most car-like character in the comic.
There are 19 positive scores and 17 negative scores. They each add up to a score of 735 and -722, respectively, with the grand total being +13, suggesting that without rounding errors the whole system could have a neutral score. The numbers alone give a total offset of -0, the letters alone thus account for a not particularly unreasonable +0.5 'error' per character, and may also support the idea of separate analyses of these two sets.
...there was no easy way to resolve the differences, so the above is FYI. ('''TLDR: perhaps it's a Log function?''') In editing it down, I'd also had another bit:
The letters I and T may appear in non-word model-name strings to represent "Injection" and "Turbo", respectively, but with their overwhelming commonality already in English text they still appear ''more'' more in English than in cars.
...which was looked less useful and too wordy even for me, but might also be a useful fragment to consider. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 15:09, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

;Typo or Deliberate?

Randall gave REV-4 as an example car name. Did he accidentally misspell the (Toyota) RAV4, or was this a deliberate reference to chapter 4 of Revelations?--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.26|173.245.54.26]] 02:31, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

;Old Goths

49 is a reasonable age for those who grew up Goth in the 80s, just sayin'.
--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.123|141.101.99.123]] 08:47, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

I thought this too. It could be a joke on a youth sub-culture growing up (old).
-- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.157|108.162.229.157]] 11:28, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

;'Quick' and Dirty Car Data
Examining {{w|List_of_automobile_sales_by_model|this page}}, which has notable exceptions (I specifically looked for the Toyota '''Y'''aris and the Kia Cee'd, neither of which were there), using a quick script to isolate the car names, a lengthy ''manual'' process of sanitising all the exceptions the quick script couldn't handle and then another script to analyse letter frequencies of the model names (''not'' the make/marque part), I came up with the following undefinitive data, that is almost certainly flawed but may yet be useful:
<spaces> = 85 (but this count of whitespace may not be accurate and is superfluous...
& = 1 (...as are these first four items of punctuation, given their absence from Randall's chart)
- = 23
. = 3
/ = 10
0 = 104
1 = 73
2 = 54
3 = 43
4 = 35
5 = 54
6 = 35
7 = 18
8 = 26
9 = 17
A = 231 (includes à)
B = 30
C = 95
D = 54
E = 210 (includes é and ë)
F = 46
G = 52
H = 18
I = 122
J = 12
K = 13
L = 113
M = 83
N = 99
O = 145 (includes ó)
P = 80
Q = 4
R = 202
S = 127 (includes Š)
T = 166
U = 45
V = 38
W = 19
X = 25
Y = 33
Z = 14
Comparing just B and F (natural frequency 1.4% and 2.2%, above 30 to 46, both instances being approximately 1:1.5 when comparing the two letters within the same source), this matches the similarly close-to-zero scores given to them by Randall. O vs. Y is 4.4:1, above, real life is 3.8:1 and adjusting for O being 1/9th 'more carlike' we get a similar value. But Z vs J is 7:6, real life it's 1:2 and I can't reconcile that with the 1.3:1 on Randall's chart. Probably indicates something non-linear (e.g. a log function) along the way, if O:Y wasn't so easy to distinguish. Might, of course, be a differently biased dataset and thus GIGO. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 00:35, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

I thought that R would be used quite frequently.. (i.e Audi RS5). {{unsigned|Thomas 633}}

Surprised nobody mentioned before now the irony of Lincoln, the late 20th C. status symbol luxury vehicle, being paired with Marxism.--[[User:SaturNine|SaturNine]] ([[User talk:SaturNine|talk]]) 12:36, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Marx wouldn't be happy having his name associated with corporate scum. Then again, the Lincoln part of it makes sense since Marx and Lincoln wrote to each other a lot. I hate corporatism, but there isn't really an "open" car like there are open softwares or hardwares for laptops and desktops. Stuck buying corporate boojie trash for now. If this so-called "Lincoln Marxism" was an electric or hybrid, I'd consider it because of its name. IFL Marx haha :P I'd think "Bolshevik" would also score high... Lenin, maybe? CHOICeS x'D [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 04:35, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:180: Canada

2016-04-19T18:59:50Z

International Space Station:

Actually I suspect this comic may be referring to the propensity for video games in which you can create teams of characters which can be generally be respawned or come back to consciousness/life after levels/battles to have areas or levels where if someone is killed they die "for real"- that is they don't come back and you lose them for good. [[Special:Contributions/184.21.189.153|184.21.189.153]] 10:58, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

Couldn't this be a Matrix reference? 06:11, 1 December 2013 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.52}}

From the explanation: "Canada is arguably part of reality already." I would love to have that argument with someone. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.202}}
:Canadians don't have arguments. They would either apologize for confusing you by existing, or smack you in the head with a hockey stick. Americans tend to forget the second possibility. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.69|162.158.255.69]] 14:08, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

I feel like adding some "dubious-discuss" after the first sentence of the explanation[[User:Meneldal|Meneldal]] ([[User talk:Meneldal|talk]]) 06:54, 11 March 2015 (UTC)meneldal

Sorry for Ninja-editing/commenting, but I take it as a direct reference to the works of Philip K. Dick, especially Ubik (iirc, that is it could also be one of his other VR-related stories), where a scene that could be summarized with 'if you die in canada, you die in real life' actually takes place (in canada). Then again, this could be lucky coincidence, and xkcd might not be familiar with PKD at all. {{unsigned ip|141.101.92.37}}

Addendum to the above (↑) it most certainly is a PKD reference, also taking his biography into account. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.58|141.101.92.58]] 05:24, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

We might also want to mention that making fun of Canada is basically a national pasttime in the U.S. [[User:Bbruzzo|Bbruzzo]] ([[User talk:Bbruzzo|talk]]) 14:36, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

My take: "I'll move to Canada," threat has the sub-text of implying that I'm a contributing member of society (at least in my own mind) and thus the country will lose if I, and others like me, were to depart (a fitting punishment to all those wrong-headed voters on the other side who sought to harness my contributions while forcing me to play by their rules). The second panel, however, comically establishes that the complainer is, basically, a loser: no money, no job, couldn't even finish his college degrees, and choose Art for a major -- the stereotypical major for those who put personal fulfillment above financial prudence. The third panel nails it in harder by implying the complainer is a video games addict -- not clearly delineating real and virtual lives -- further accentuating that he is *not* a productive member of society. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 17:32, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

It is actually quite common for students to be somewhat divorced from reality. This tends to be more exaggerated for students of more abstract majors, i.e. art. (the reason partially being that young poeple with good understanding of the world tend to choose majors that lead to material waelth, which is the socially more accepted form of progression). The second panel implies that clueless is actually still a student.
The first panel also implies that clueless has difficulties finishing his degree. In some countries, with cheap or free education, the "eternal student" is actually somewhat of an epidemic. (in Japan for example Ronin refers to students that have difficulties getting through the entry exams, sometimes for several years)
It is also "known" that Students actually spend less time learning and more time playing computer games or consoles.
I feel strongly that the whole scenario refers to the eternal student, without understanding of the real world, playing computer games all day long, making "strong" statements.
It is near impossible to explain this as it requires extensive real world context. The closest approximation to a proper response, that can be understood by such people, is then indeed "you die in real life". {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.248}}

My favourite example of this kind of comment was during Obama's 2012 re-election, with someone stating that if Obama won they'd move to Australia "because their president is a Christian and actually supports what he says". Australia's Prime Minister at the time was a woman, an atheist, and often attacked for attempting to implement a "carbon tax" despite the fact that she said she wouldn't (shouldn't have made the promise in the first place, but whatever). So that's fun. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 02:54, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

I always find it funny how Trumptards say they'll move to Australia, or Canada, or something like that, if Bernie wins. And then you wonder if those brainless Nazis realize that in trying to "escape socialism" they're thinking of moving to even more socialistic countries. Also, like... "socialism." In other words, Scandanavian Capitalism. I love Bernie so much, don't get me wrong. But he's just barely a social democrat, not a democratic socialist (redundant term is redundant--socialism is inherently democratic). He's making people on all sides have the wrong idea of socialism. And real socialists and communists are like... we wish he's an actual socialist. Maybe then some real change will occur, haha. In any case, if Bernie loses, I'm transferring to a foreign school. I love Russia and while their economy may be somewhat trash now thanks to Putin, they do have some of the best colleges in the world. I'll beg to transfer on the basis of political refuge from that Nazi trying to become president. Honestly I probably won't "actually move" if Hillary wins, even though I hate her guts. But Trump and Cruz are the most batshit crazy candidates this country has seen in a LONG time. Cruz is scarier than Trump, but Trump's stupider and just oh god either of them will incite WWIII. I do NOT want to be here when the bombs fly. Literally. And as much as I will miss my home, and as much as I'll have to abandon my dream of being a CalTech professor, I do not want to come back. Ever. If Bernie loses, I'm certainly moving after my undergrad is over. If both Bernie and Hillary lose, I'm transferring immediately. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 18:59, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1373: Screenshot

2016-04-19T17:27:00Z

International Space Station:

Guys I feel so strange right now, I woke up thinking "My battery is low, I need a charger but wait ... A new xkcd comic!" I have uploaded my screenshot : http://imgur.com/kjK1S1B
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.54|108.162.219.54]] 09:45, 26 May 2014 (UTC)bluelightzero
:I plugged in my phone but it's not charging??! http://imgur.com/xCaPvxX --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.65|108.162.215.65]] 22:00, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
Because I can:
http://i.imgur.com/2ezU88G.png
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 17:26, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

That subreddit made me feel dirty. And all this after seeing some long "friendzone" rants on Imgur. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 10:10, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

For completeness: http://imgur.com/YLNKqlC
15:53, 26 May 2014 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.12}}

Although I personally prefer Android phones for their OS flexibility, I don't think the "Android has longer battery life than iPhone" comment is needed in the explanation. It feels very opinionated, out of place and dubious (battery life essentially depends on usage.) That comment distracts from the main point of the comics. The comment the screenshot is of an iPhone and the phone itself is an Android is quite relevant since both status bars are vastly different (something that a casual reader might not realize), yet the phone owner is still confused by the screenshot's battery icon. If someone wants to reword that in the description better than I could do, please help yourself. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:56, 26 May 2014 (UTC)
:The iPhone vs Android jab in the explanation was totally trolling, lame. Android phones as a rule have much inferior battery life to iPhone over the span of the day - and the reason for that are design decisions in making of iOS vs Android. For example iOS is total nazi in not allowing background processes to run (spare ones actively playing music or GPS, plus limited time downloads). On Android OTOH, apps relish attaching themselves to the many system hooks, to be launched/notified on changes - so as practical matter you always have Maps, Play store, Google Play Services and user apps leeching on the battery. Android has advantages over iOS (there are many thing you can do that are verboten in iOS) - but battery life, as well as privacy control are not one of them. Please let the explanation be w/o getting into platform war - it is about being OCD, not mobile OSes. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.167}}

I don't think that's what "photobomb" means. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.107|108.162.218.107]] 20:14, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

:I disagree. I found the usage quite ingenious. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 04:20, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

My read on this is he's distracted from the call for help, "Help, my battery won't charge! See!", because the attached image shows a low battery, killing his respect for the sender. Maybe that's just me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.51|108.162.221.51]] 23:13, 26 May 2014 (UTC)
:I agree; I interpreted the title text as the message that someone is trying to send to Randall. [[User:Diszy|Diszy]] ([[User talk:Diszy|talk]]) 05:27, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Some of the reason for this is the android sdk is used to create these screenshots.
The sdk contains some virtual machines and these have the battery detect as being low.
This seems to be done on purpose as you could query the charge of your phone in an app and having this set to in the middle makes it easier to test your app.
It is much easier to take a photo with the sdk than to use real hardware as phones will be different and you will have other applications running that you don't want to be included in the screen shot.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.224|108.162.249.224]] 03:38, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
: …except it isn’t! iPhones don’t get to use the Android SDK, and they have screenshot functionality since day one. Modern Android phones also have that capability. And no, making screenshots on the VMs is not easier: the SDK requires proficiency with Android, computers in general and much more; you can’t have the texts that you want to have a screenshot of on the VM; it’s generally slow and worthless. Such screenshots are created with physical phones, of people too lazy to charge their phones. —Chris Warrick/[[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.216|141.101.88.216]] 15:43, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Why is this still incomplete? [[User:MrGameZone|0100011101100001011011010110010101011010011011110110111001100101]] ([[User talk:MrGameZone|talk page]]) 08:38, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
:The "First draft" reason is removed. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1464: Santa

2016-04-19T17:14:16Z

International Space Station:

Merry Christmas! --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 06:29, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

I think I have done the transcript... [[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 06:38, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

And I did the explanation and put everything in there, I think. Looks like we're already pretty much done! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.174|173.245.56.174]] 06:44, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

I am not sure the word Puportedly fits here: "the omniscience he purportedly possesses". I think Purportedly means the character/caricature is carrying on the idea that.... {{unsigned|Weatherlawyer}}

It should maybe be mentioned that this comic is a turn of the screw on the many "The physics of Santa" joke articles - The usual chain e-mail or satire web page calculations that take it seriously the logistical calculations for Santa and end up concluding that he should beat the speed of light to deliver the presents. Randall doesn't settle on calculating the logistics for reindeer performance or route planning, he goes a step further and makes the calculations for the refuse. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.106|173.245.49.106]] 08:31, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

Well maybe all those calories are what allows him to move at the insane relativistic speeds needed to visit every house on Christmas eve. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.56|108.162.216.56]] 08:47, 24 December 2014 (UTC)
: Exactly. And even if it wasn't, there'd still be a Mr Fusion for the poop. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.214|108.162.250.214]] 22:18, 24 December 2014 (UTC)
:There's no need to move at relativistic or trans-light speeds when you can appear in multiple places simultaneously [https://comicdomwrecks.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/countdown-to-fables-100-jiminy-christmas/]. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.117|199.27.128.117]] 17:41, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

We have video proof of how Santa handles this! http://youtu.be/b9TTz3R5SmI --[[User:Elipongo|Elipongo]] ([[User talk:Elipongo|talk]]) 09:03, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

No Christmas cat.? [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 12:12, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

Santa's metabolic system is perfectly efficient at converting cookies to CO2 hang H2O which is exhaled. He needs to be efficient at converting cookie energy if he plans on being so active. He is also the main source of global warming. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.185|173.245.56.185]] 13:11, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

As a third option, what if Santa doesn't eat the cookies at all, but just redistributes them to other hungry children? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.131|108.162.217.131]] 18:41, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

What part of the tradition(s) force an entity to eat more than he requires or wants?
Since there is generally supposed to be a chimney involved in his manifestations, why would he have to eat them rather than deal with them in the more traditional way of dealing with things that get sacrificed. Or any other way he chooses. If he has just made romm in his sack, he could easily store a few offerings in it. Why has nobody considered the children?[[User:Weatherlawyer|Weatherlawyer]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 18:13, 5 January 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps understandably, I first read the line in the explanation as " ... butt off the side of his sleigh." [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 22:27, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

As a native English speaker, I'd like to say that "few" is relative, and defies any hard limits. A "few" transistors, for me, might mean dozens (as opposed to hundreds or more). A "few"lightyears might be 10 or so. The use of the word "few" can't be analyzed with such hard limits as 2 to 5. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.169|108.162.221.169]] 17:47, 25 December 2014 (UTC)

There are only a few countries where kids leave cookies for Santa (I'm guessing North America and some European countries). That would mean fewer than 100 million kids. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.195|103.22.200.195]] 05:36, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

: 32% of the world population are christians, and even some non-christians celebrate Christmas. [[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 09:56, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

:: Yes, but leaving cookies for Santa is not integral part of christian Christmas celebration, not speaking about non-christian. There are more children who believe Santa is bringing them gifts than children who are leaving cookies for Santa. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 13:53, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

::: Some children may be leaving cookies "for Santa", but suspect that their parents (or older siblings) are actually consuming them. It may be possible that Santa is not consuming as many cookies as this comic estimates. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.186}}

:::: Maybe, but he's gotta be eating most of them. There's no way parents can eat all those cookies in one night! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.169|108.162.221.169]] 07:24, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

::: Cookies aren't (traditionally) left in the UK. Even with the usual translation of "cookie" as "biscuit". A glass of sherry and a mince pie is our variant (at least locally to me), and of course a carrot for Rudolph. Or one or other of whichever of the on-duty reindeer is next due a nibble, which would somewhat mitigate the problem of "carrot throughput" similar to the cookie one, although ultimately mid-air ejection is probably the answer in their case anyway. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.191|141.101.98.191]] 20:42, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

And despite the chill of the upper atmosphere where Santa would be flying, no one has yet made the joke that, even in this post-Cold War era, there's still reason to be concerned about Icy BMs. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.88}}

Santa, instead of eating and flushing the cookie excrement, he could just flush the cookies down the toilet. Why do all of the cookies have to go through santa's digestive system? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.159|173.245.56.159]] 06:03, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

What if Santa just converted the mass of the cookies to energy to power his sleigh? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.89|108.162.215.89]] 02:33, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Obviously he either goes to the bathroom in their houses. Or his stomach is four dimensional and the mass of the cookies is stored elsewhere. Or he has a magic device on his sleigh that provides the extra lift needed to hoist the two billion presents in the air. It's shit powered.

Also isn't "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one" a Marx quote, of which Spock was referencing because Star Trek = Space Commies? (Also that brings me to a thought I had when I was 14... ignoring the technical realities aside of how only boojie children get boojie presents, a real Santa would give to all children equally based on how good they have been... Is the "real" Santa a commie? Let's just slap the hammer and sickle on that red suit of his, shall we, haha)

Easy solution. Santa stuffs the cookies in a box in his magic bag, and eats them over the course of the next year. Or he sells them off to get money to outweigh the materials cost of the presents.[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 17:14, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1464: Santa

2016-04-19T17:13:33Z

International Space Station:

Talk:1049: Bookshelf

2016-04-17T15:56:38Z

International Space Station:

Rig this up to the entire twilight section. Problem solved. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:57, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Does ''Atlas Shrugged'' have any particular relevance to the strip? [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 02:14, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
::Ayn Rand is pretty controversial, and a lot of people dismiss her books outright. Some of them are an interesting read, though. {{unsigned|217.28.5.48}}

There is a factual inaccuracy in the explanation here — her philosophy is libertarian, not conservative. Please fix that. [[Special:Contributions/46.150.103.149|46.150.103.149]] 14:47, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

"far-right" ??? This very subjective and insulting. But I guess it's the aim of such assertion. [[Special:Contributions/109.255.215.93|109.255.215.93]] 07:47, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
Another inaccuracy: Rand herself found the Libertarians, like any political party, to be counterintuitive to her philosophy of Objectivism. Though I think "libertarian" should be changed to "objectivism," I'll leave it and just make a side-note, because one could say that Atlas Shrugged is to Libertarians as the Bible is to Christians. [[User:Jinx|Jinx]] 20:55, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

I have to agree, Objectivism is a philosophy, Libertarianism is a political movement. Although the two have a few overlaps, they are very different things. Rand was adamantly opposed the Libertarian Party and and wrote quite a bit about her objections. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.175|173.245.54.175]] 23:36, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

Does Libertarianism have anything to do with this strip? Why is it included [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.156|173.245.50.156]] 21:24, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

As a communist, I love this one :D[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 15:56, 17 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1658: Estimating Time

2016-03-21T17:48:54Z

International Space Station:

Nice to see [[Danish]] so clearly back in action. It was also way too long since there have been any clear references to self reference although it of course doesn't reach the level of [[688: Self-Description]]. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Makes me wonder if Randall is working on another big comic, and how long those take him. - Dan - [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.77|198.41.235.77]] 13:25, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Why is this talking about adding doubling imaginary numbers? Time estimates are usually non-negative real numbers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.165|162.158.91.165]] 15:01, 21 March 2016 (UTC)
: I was thinking the exact same thing until I realized that in this context, "imaginary" refers to "non-existent": The numbers being doubled only exist in Ponytail's head. I was very confused until I realized that he wasn't referring to complex numbers with a real component of zero. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.35|173.245.54.35]] 16:14, 21 March 2016 (UTC)
: lolol "Yes, yes, you're very smart. Now shut up." [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 16:21, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

This may be a reference to the rule of thumb that you double your estimate and raise to the next higher unit. E.g.if you think it will take two days, give an estimate of four weeks. There are of course amny similar rules out there.
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.144|162.158.133.144]] 15:58, 21 March 2016 (UTC)
This is only too real.[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 17:48, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1641: Hot Dogs

2016-02-13T09:11:28Z

International Space Station:

a friend of mine told a story once of a girl in his high school that used a hot dog as a toy once. supposedly it broke off inside and she had to go to the ER to have it removed. Is it unreasonable to theorize, since condoms are used primarily for sexual activities, and hot dogs are shaped similar to sexual objects, whether anatomical or otherwise, that the person off screen is using the hot dogs in condoms possibly for sexual activity, or maybe (https://explainxkcd.com/330/).
I really don't know, but if someone else thinks there is possibly validity in this theory, i don't know how to incorporate it into the explanation --[[User:Beardmcbeardson|Beardmcbeardson]] ([[User talk:Beardmcbeardson|talk]]) 07:46, 10 February 2016 (UTC)
: That's actually an [http://www.snopes.com/college/risque/hotdog.asp old urban legend]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.148|162.158.142.148]] 08:24, 10 February 2016 (UTC)
:: Just buy a dildo, for cryin' out loud! On an note more related to the comic, the original reason might have been some combination of factors like "bakers hate this" or "Meat packers do that", but I suspect the reason it has been perpetuated is to encourage the "I have buns, should get hot dogs/I have hot dogs, should get buns" loop, so people spend more. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 23:03, 10 February 2016 (UTC)
::: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Delicious Like this?] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.35|173.245.54.35]] 18:50, 11 February 2016 (UTC)
:: [http://cdn.meme.am/instances/63268320.jpg Here's Family Guy's take on the whole thing.][[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.133|108.162.241.133]]
:: I know the question from {{w|Bulletproof Monk}} ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245803/quotes]) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 15:14, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

In point of fact, hot dogs come in packages of seven. At least the ones I like do [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 09:35, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I always buy condoms in packs of one hundred. The fun / expense ratio is much better, than in small packs. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.142|162.158.203.142]] 10:45, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

This is a very simple problem: Hot dogs go back to German tradition, where
a sausage is held within a German "Weck" but a real one, not one of those American
buns. (See Wikipedia)
The American style buns were an invention of American bakers, so the reason for those
numbers is obvious:
The Hot Dogs stuck with the German tradition (decimal system), whereas the buns
are in packages of eight for easy break down in halves, quarters, eights. (Witworth)
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.215|162.158.91.215]] 15:21, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Should a reference to [[305: Rule 34]] be added for the pizza? [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 17:00, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps the off-panel person is making some sort of reference to sheep intestines?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.10|108.162.216.10]] 18:16, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I just bought hot dogs yesterday for the first time in over a year because I have chili and wanted something different to go with it. So this was an interesting comic to wake up to. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.76|108.162.238.76]] 19:19, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I find that hot dogs and buns are usually sold in multiples of 6. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.23|141.101.106.23]] 19:24, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Well, instead of "he realizes his friend is putting hot dogs in condoms" I was initially thinking of (what is apparently called) [http://www.bunrab.com/dailyfeed/dailyfeed_images_jan-07/df07_01-29_hotdog.jpg french hot dog buns], which means... well, I guess you can figure it out. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.194|162.158.91.194]] 17:17, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

The reason I heard for why hot dogs and buns come in uneven counts was because the manufacturers of each came to a mutual arrangement. The logic was that consumers with leftover hot dog buns would buy extra hot dogs, and vice versa. As such, hot dog makers and bun makers both profit. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.55|108.162.216.55]] 17:04, 10 February 2016 (UTC)
: I always figured it was the opposite -- that hot dog makes and bun makers ''didn't'' coordinate their efforts, and instead sold hot dogs and buns packed in whatever amounts made the most sense for ''themselves'' at the price they thought was best. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 19:35, 10 February 2016 (UTC)
:That would be an unstable equilibrium. Each individual bun manufacturer would have an incentive to change the bun count, making their product more attractive to consumers buying hot dogs. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.64|173.245.54.64]] 23:38, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I've seen hot dogs packaged in 4, 6, 8 and 10 and buns in the same varying sizes. Though 4 is rare in both cases. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 22:48, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Seriously: WTF IS WRONG WITH COSMOPOLITAN. I never read it but I know its fame of giving questionable sex tips. But as an Italian, the idea of involving pizza into sex is horrifying to me. And it would never work with an Italian man/woman. Really. You wouldn't ruin pizza with sex. You would eat pizza and then have sex. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.222|162.158.150.222]] 06:03, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I've never had to buy a condom. My college sort of dumps them on us. They're like HERE TAKE THEM. TAKE THEM ALL. FUCK ALL YOU WANT. WE ENCOURAGE IT. JUST BE PROTECTED. I have probably 50 in my room because of this. Unfortunately there's no way to grab them discreetly. Also has anyone personally actually used food as a sex toy here? I know there's that whole food fetish thing, but I mean anyone on the explainxkcd wiki. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 09:11, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1638: Backslashes

2016-02-03T08:26:04Z

International Space Station:

It should be noted that this also occurs in almost every programming language where "\" is the escape character. i.e.
print("Hello")
> Hello
print("\"Hello\"")
> "Hello"
print("\\Hello\\")
> \Hello\
Oh, and by the way, isn't this the third comic to mention "Ba'al, the Soul Eater"? Maybe we should start a category. (Others are [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1246:_Pale_Blue_Dot 1246] (title text) and [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1419:_On_the_Phone 1419].)
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.29|173.245.54.29]] 06:14, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

;I don't think the regex is invalid

According to <tt>man grep</tt> you need to specify the <tt>-E</tt> option to use extended regex; without it unescaped parentheses are not interpreted, so they don't need to match.

My - very wild - guess is that it was the command he used to find the line with the most special characters, but I am not confident enough to edit the article (if someone can confirm?). {{unsigned ip|141.101.66.83}}

If it was supposed to do that, it doesn't work. Running it on my bash history matches no lines, and I have lots of special characters in there [[Special:Contributions/197.234.242.243|197.234.242.243]] 07:12, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Explain it to me like I'm dumb. What is this comic going on about? I think the explanation needs more examples like that hello, above, because that's almost understandable. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.231|198.41.238.231]] 07:47, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

This is the third time Randall has mentioned Ba'al the Soul Eater xD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 08:26, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1429: Data

2016-02-01T02:35:07Z

International Space Station:

What should "off-screen" be called in the transcript? I just put that since I didn't know what else to say. Also, someone needs to a) explain the Kirk/Picard situation and b) explain the title text. Sorry for not doing it myself, but I'm editing on my phone so there are probably errors that people need to fix and other people know far more about it anyway. [[User:Athang|Athang]] ([[User talk:Athang|talk]]) 04:42, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

:Based on looking through some other transcripts, it looks like the convention is "off-screen". Also, fixed some typos in your comment. [[User:Cheeselover724|Cheeselover724]] ([[User talk:Cheeselover724|talk]]) 06:06, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

The comic refers tp "pedants '''on all sides'''", which implies there is some kind of debate/dispute about the issue in the grammatical world. If someone who is aware of this dispute were to explain the details of it and/or provide links to sites that discuss it, I think the explanation would be greatly improved. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.180}}

::There seems to be an ongoing dispute of whether to rigidly stick to the latin form (datum singular, data plural), or adjust to the way it is far more commonly used. There appears to be divided opinion amongst grammar pedants, hence the 'on all sides'. [http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jul/16/data-plural-singular Data are or data is? - Guardian Newspaper], [http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/07/05/is-data-is-or-is-data-aint-a-plural/ Is Data Is, or Is Data Ain’t, a Plural? - WSJ]{{unsigned|Pudder}}

I always thought the noun data was non-quantifiable like "gasoline" which you'd need a unit to pluralize. "This piece of data suggests more than those gallons of gasoline"... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.79|173.245.48.79]] 05:03, 3 October 2014 (UTC)BLuDgeons

I added some info on Kirk vs. Picard, but I'm not sure how useful or understandable it is. Sorry in advance. [[User:Cheeselover724|Cheeselover724]] ([[User talk:Cheeselover724|talk]]) 06:01, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

As someone pretending (for purposes of this comment) to speak with a classic British Cockney, what's the matter with "an hypercorrection habit"? [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:34, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

:Agreed. The consonant 'h' sound is not always preceded by "a". Is it quite common for other words starting with consonant 'h' to be preceded by "an". One is example is "An historic occasion". [[User:MrBigDog2U|MrBigDog2U]] ([[User talk:MrBigDog2U|talk]]) 14:28, 3 October 2014 (UTC)
::"Hotel" (yes, with the French connection) is the classic test, IME, for dropped or kept haiches (or 'aiches), with the middle-classes tending towards using "a hotel" whilst both the lower ''and'' upper classes gravitate towards "an 'otel" (for different reasons, with different empheses). Of course, if the person has an affectation (or "haffectation") "an hotel" (or, more like, "ane hotel") or even "han 'otel" can arise, to frankly ridiculous degrees. But this is just personal observation, and may not survive even inter-regional train travel, never mind transatlantic relocation... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 16:11, 3 October 2014 (UTC)
::: An hero. Just sayin. [[User:Diszy|Diszy]] ([[User talk:Diszy|talk]]) 17:49, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

I always took "fora" to be tongue-in-cheek mockery of pedantry rather than a frank insistence on proper grammar [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:22, 4 October 2014 (UTC)
:You were lucky that accusative and nominative in second declension neuter have matching endings, otherwise pedants would prey on "I always took fora" part of your comment :) Either way, please consider giving forīs a benefit of the doubt. Without forōrum and their memorable name, xkcd wouldn't be the same :) [[User:Nyq|Nyq]] ([[User talk:Nyq|talk]]) 14:12, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

Would it be worthwhile emphasizing that "hypercorrection" is a specialist term, employed by those studying language, grammar, and its development over time/history. Some might think that the term is merely descriptive, something along the lines of "hyper/taking-to-the-max tendencies to do stuff correctly". Rather, a definition would be something like "a non-standard usage that results from over application of a perceived grammatical rule" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.218|108.162.250.218]] 08:12, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Another thing to annoy grammar pedants is that it should always be "character is" or "characters are": consider a clearly plural character: "..., the most popular ''Star Trek'' characters are The Tribbles" versus "..., the most popular ''Star Trek'' character is The Tribbles" and cf the equivalent to the comic: "..., the most popular ''Star Trek'' character are The Tribbles". IMHO each of my quoted examples are more likely to be viewed correct than the next. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 01:07, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Yet nobody complains about "everybody/everyone is" [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 02:35, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:710: Collatz Conjecture

2016-01-25T09:36:05Z

International Space Station:

Technically, the 1 should lead to the four, causeing a loop. Because (1*3)+1=4, 4/2=2, 2/2=1 xD {{unsigned|‎87.242.215.66}}
:I'm pretty sure (follow the Wiki link, perhaps, although I haven't yet) there's an implicit "...eventually lead to one, then you can stop" for this process.
:And (again without checking the Wiki link), I suppose the conjecture could fail in one of two cases. Firstly if multiplying by three and adding one would take us to another odd number. Which cannot happen, because (odd*3) will be odd, so (odd*3)+1 is even. Which leads us to the possibility that the even number leads back to a prior odd number, to circle around again. There's no trivial case of (n*3)+1 => m, (m/2) => n, although there is the case of (n*3)+1 => m, (m/2) => o, (o/2) => n, for n=1. How, though, could we evaluate f1|2(xi) => xi+1 for all countably finite limits to i, given the rules of which f() function to use, to ensure that xi never equals x0. Now, ''that's'' a question and a half. Which I suspect has already been asked. And a half. [[Special:Contributions/31.111.50.225|31.111.50.225]] 21:36, 7 May 2013 (UTC)
:: Wonderful! "Without checking the wiki link"... The guy from [[675: Revolutionary]] in real life![[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 15:14, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

:: It seems way too general to be much more than "asked," and I am sure that it has been addressed in its simpler forms. In any case, there is enough amateur, recreational, and serious mathematical literature on it to find out that there are indeed two failure cases: a starting Collatz number results in an infinitely increasing sequence, or a loop exists apart from the 4-2-1 loop. (Curiously enough, some loops exist when negative numbers are allowed.) Stuff like this and Goldbach made me realize just how hard simple things can get. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 03:04, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Just for fun, here's 710's Collatz Trajectory.
0: 710
1: 355
2: 1066
3: 533
4: 1600
5: 800
6: 400
7: 200
8: 100
9: 50
10: 25
11: 76
12: 38
13: 19
14: 58
15: 29
16: 88
17: 44
18: 22
19: 11
20: 34
21: 17
22: 52
23: 26
24: 13
25: 40
26: 20
27: 10
28: 5
29: 16
30: 8
31: 4
32: 2
33: 1
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 09:36, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1039: RuBisCO

2016-01-23T08:36:38Z

International Space Station:

I'd laugh if a sex product called rubisco was made shortly after this comic was released. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:37, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

<pre>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

PLEASE STOP!!!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJSFaN3AAoJEO1Ft1MdkRYu9oIH/1Ro2R42bjzz1gEkJiDsTAjl
6R+/iWGr9Jg+PESJnWATgz3EuONIqfeJx3DMZRkcUHP/hCNnXbZmRPEDxJmxclxL
YoOVXrEfZ+9xJEKbUuU+N33bSGrt+uX5GrGg6tWMJN50Ymuv8rRjE885Xop88W8s
5frOFdxaS2WmIkp+wnujGPtdyWeVyveN+DqtN7Tkds7R1NW5lnn3R6yzM+1WJmrg
ai1CYcq0O884PGS13THxm9SL4J3VHGCShY5p6wRsRBxyCaybmjNepPrWwNePTkS2
TGUXPqBf42mNeWjmsenRrZKW+Nl5rs9gPSe4r5bsCdfujmwByHdZt1ziFA3LarQ=
=qr0R
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</pre>
{{unsigned ip|184.66.160.91}}

I didn't sign my post because it was PGP signed. ;) [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 18:52, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
:Do I miss the joke or just the PGP key to understand???--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:08, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
:[[1181:_PGP]] This explains it. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 14:15, 1 June 2014 (UTC) Mulan15262

I'm planning on having really rough kinky BDSM sex tomorrow, as the sub. Told my partner "no means yes, rubisco means no." Need to tell him "rubisco" means slow down and "ribulosebiphosphatecarboxyloxygenase" means stop. I have waited two years to do this. When I first saw this, my first thought was "That's gonna be my safe word." XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 08:36, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1629: Tools

2016-01-13T07:57:02Z

International Space Station: Created page with "Will X be used for porn? >Yes Problem solved. It WILL be used for porn. ~~~~"

Will X be used for porn?
>Yes

Problem solved. It WILL be used for porn.
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 07:57, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:553: Pirate Bay

2016-01-12T21:11:00Z

International Space Station:

"Just some stats..."... here are some reasons why TPB is down sometimes - and how long it usually takes to fix: "Tiamo gets *very* drunk and then something crashes: 4 days "Anakata gets a really bad cold and noone is around: 7 days "The US and Swedish gov. forces the police to steal our servers: 3 days".. yawn."

The piratebay IS...

:

I would consider unremovable Hungarian subtitles to be an [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Unishment Unishment]; even if I can not ignore the subtitles, I would end up learning Hungarian! I like learning languages! [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 17:20, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

The transcript says that Cueball is the one standing, staring at the fence. However, it also lists Cueball as talking. Error or do I just have bad eyesight? {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.128}}
:It says that one of the Cueballs is standing, it doesn't specify which one is talking. Also logically it's not a fence, it's cell bars. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 01:22, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Someone translate every sentence in the Explain to Hungarian and put it after every English sentence. It must be checked frequently to make sure nobody removes the Hungarian.[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 21:11, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:443: Know Your Vines

2016-01-07T22:05:54Z

International Space Station:

But the vines were still needed for bondage! [[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 02:18, 15 May 2013 (UTC)
:IRIA the unavailable alternative being tent guy-ropes retasked towards... fun purposes... Not that vines were in any way needed for canvas support/tensioning. Of course, for the duration of such entertainment, the tent may be at most partially supported so probably only a fair weather activity. [[Special:Contributions/178.107.249.215|178.107.249.215]] 14:01, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

Am I the only one who sees this comic's structure paralleling the MasterCard Priceless commercials?[[Special:Contributions/68.15.128.10|68.15.128.10]] 05:28, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Randall is SO right in that poison ivy and Virginia creeper like to grow near each other. But I don't know what type of creeper he has growing around his house, but in the mid-Atlantic states Virginia creeper the vine itself has a burred or jagged surface that not only gives it a high level of resistance in trying to pull it out of overgrowth but that surface secretes something that leaves the skin with a mild burn and/or itching sensation for a few hours after. So, more appropriate for moderate bondage, I would imagine…--[[Special:Contributions/108.22.204.203|108.22.204.203]] 18:11, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

As I understand it, the leaves are what cause the allergic reaction. Wouldn't Cueball, in stripping the leaves from the vine, suffer the reaction first? If so, then proceeding on and transmitting the poison to Megan's skin is a nasty thing to do. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.237|108.162.249.237]] 02:48, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:On the wiki page it states that it can take up to a week before the rash develops, and also that 15-30% do not shown any reaction to the leaves. So if Cueball rushes out to grab some vines and rush back to tie Megan up they would be done long before the rash sets in. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:30, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Given the nature of BDSM, there would be people who'd be into the sadomasochistic aspect of the poison ivy. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 22:05, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1625: Substitutions 2

2016-01-04T15:11:47Z

International Space Station:

See previous discussion for browser plugins, scripts, bookmarklets etc. at [[1288:_Substitutions]] [sven]

Can someone update the plugin for Chrome that does the word swaps? :3 Also swap it for upgoerfive-nouns[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 15:11, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1619: Watson Medical Algorithm

2015-12-21T05:53:30Z

International Space Station:

Build environment is still insane since comic #371.

(Above poster please sign comments with four tildes)

I'm trying to picture Baymax using this algorithm.

Talk:765: Dilution

2015-12-18T23:26:21Z

International Space Station:

Technically, however, homeopathy states that diluted semen should act as a contraceptive. To get pregnant, they would have to dilute a birth-control pill or something.{{unsigned ip|134.94.171.148}}
:I remember someone complaining that homeopathic medicines are labeled similarly to the real thing on drug store shelves. Wouldn't this mean that, at least in some interpretations, it's the medicine which can be diluted into a cure?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.135|173.245.52.135]] 17:47, 13 April 2014 (UTC)
::No, the previous user is correct. The "theory" of homeopathy is that to cure a symptom you provide something that would cause that symptom diluted into some ridiculously small dose. Any products that are marketed with the label "homeopathy" but are primarily an active ingredient that would have a detectable effect are using the label incorrectly. For example, there are two kinds of zinc in Zicam, both diluted at 2x, which means they're 1% of their original solution strength. The label doesn't indicate the original solution strength and doesn't indicate how much zinc is actually present in the medicine. Zinc is known to improve the immune system, so taking a diluted zinc supplement to stop a cold would, if homeopathy were true, would be the opposite of what you'd want to do. Contrast this with the homeopathic remedy Belladonna, prepared at 30X concentrations (preparation is 1x10^-30 of original concentration) supposedly cures the circulatory system, because in normal concentrations Belladonna causes tachycardia, among other things. [[User:Ioldanach|Ioldanach]] ([[User talk:Ioldanach|talk]]) 14:16, 17 September 2014 (UTC)
:::Any marks for realising why scientists can't replicate homeopathy's results? :))
::::Maybe Cueball is Sterile?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.89|108.162.215.89]] 00:07, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 21:40, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Can we conclude that the woman is Megan? [[Special:Contributions/67.188.195.182|67.188.195.182]] 21:32, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
:The woman is in fact Megan, I did edit the transcript.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:38, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

I found this explanation of the wording helped: "Traits that cause greater reproductive success of an organism are said to be selected for, whereas those that reduce success are selected against." (From http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection) --[[User:Insomniac|Insomniac]] ([[User talk:Insomniac|talk]]) 05:59, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I find it more likely that the female is [[Danish]], as she has longer hair.--{{User:17jiangz1/signature|09:41, 25 August 2015}}

I wrote out 1 nonillion, because #1162 also applies to quitters who don't have enough text space to make their point properly. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 23:26, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

765: Dilution

2015-12-18T23:24:19Z

International Space Station: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 765
| date = July 12, 2010
| title = Dilution
| image = dilution.png
| titletext = Dear editors of Homeopathy Monthly: I have two small corrections for your July issue. One, it's spelled "echinacea", and two, homeopathic medicines are no better than placebos and your entire magazine is a sham.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Homeopathy}} is the belief that poisons, bacteria, and other harmful substances can actually cure the diseases they normally cause, if they are administered in sufficiently dilute form. The normal procedure is to prepare a solution, then successively dilute it with water or alcohol by multiple factors of 10. (There's also a "succussion" step between rounds, which basically consists of shaking or striking the mixture, but no serious mechanism for how this would affect anything has been provided.) In the medical world, it's widely believed to be total bunk, with countless scientific studies repeatedly showing it to have no more effectiveness than a {{w|placebo}}.

Here we find [[Cueball]], a firm believer in homeopathy, applying the idea to fertility by diluting his semen. 30X means that the semen has been diluted with water at a 1:10 ratio 30 times, so the solution contains 1 part semen to one-nonillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) parts water. Since the average ejaculation contains 200 to 500 million sperm cells, this means the solution Cueball is holding has a 3.5x10-20% chance of containing even a single sperm cell. Clearly, [[Megan]] will not be getting pregnant from this, so she and Cueball will not be passing on their genes, which is why the comic states that the belief in homeopathy is not selected for.

{{w|Echinacea}} is a genus of flowers commonly used in herbal remedies to stimulate the immune system. Scientific studies have not shown that such an effect exists. The title text is intended to represent a letter to the editors of fictitious journal 'Homeopathy Monthly', starting with a minor complaint that they seem unable to perform the basic proof-reading and fact-checking necessary to correctly spell one of the most well-known herbal remedies. This is followed up by a complete dismissal of homeopathy as a whole and the magazine in particular.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands at a desk with a beaker in one hand and a turkey baster in the other. Danish lies in a bed in the same room.]

:Cueball: Okay, this time I've diluted the semen 30x.
:Danish: We'll be ''sure'' to get pregnant now!

:Belief in homeopathy is not, evolutionarily, selected for.

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

Talk:1616: Lunch

2015-12-14T13:51:33Z

International Space Station:

... I don't think pizza is that bad. Those are sort of things people could really eat ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 13:36, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

That's not that gross, IMO. Tomato sauce is pretty much thought of as thick tomato juice. White bread. Salt. Normal things. And this seems to be assuming I wouldn't want to eat a brick of cheese. I do this regularly-ish with brie. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 13:51, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1615: Red Car

2015-12-11T10:56:39Z

International Space Station:

Penises: They're about ''this'' red. Now can we please, as a culture, move on? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.206|108.162.210.206]] 08:40, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

Is this the first time, color is used in the comics? --[[User:Widescape|Robert]] ([[User talk:Widescape|talk]]) 09:43, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
:No, there are a lot more [[:Category:Comics with color|comics with color]] {{User:17jiangz1/signature|09:56, 11 December 2015}}

I think the joke is that red has a longer wavelength than cyan (nanometers of difference). Not anything to do with colour theory. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.96|162.158.133.96]] 10:06, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

The mouse over text makes it fairly clear that it's a joke about opposites. If anything could be added to the explanation as it stands, I might clarify that red and cyan are specifically colors of light. When shone on a single area (and therefor mixed) these two colors will create white light. When these colors of light are represented on a color wheel, they are placed opposite each other. So cyan and red in this sense fit as opposites, like big and small, alkaline and acidic.

For some reason, this made me laugh extremely hard. I've been up all night and maybe it's sleep deprivation, as it makes me do weird things, like bingewatch on several ISS videos simultaneously. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 10:56, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1610: Fire Ants

2015-12-08T20:15:20Z

International Space Station:

misinterpreting a question as an invitation to talk about one's pet obsession is symptomatic of autistic spectrum disorder. although not necessarily so. as, i suppose, is wanting to do science in academe. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.223|108.162.210.223]] 13:12, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

i don't think she was misinterpreting the question,she probably is so obsessed about ants that she tries to talk about them every chance she gets. {{unsigned ip|173.245.62.29}}

:ok, so "misinterpreting" was a poor choice. try "interpreting, wrongly". and only autists feel like that. to a neuro-typical this isn't even an issue. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.233|141.101.106.233]] 12:57, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Theoretically, there's a hidden analogy in that a colony of rather simplistic and specialist individuals can ensure their own survival in the face of adverse environmental conditions by keeping themselves all in one location so that they can continue to perpetuate themselves in the future. And as it is with those heading off to Grad School, so it may also be with ants. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.185|141.101.75.185]] 13:29, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

I've just joined, so please forgive the new boy. Perhaps the joke is really to do with biblical references and metaphors, as I have suggested in my contribution to the main article. (User:Paw 42)

There is absolutely no reason to junk up this explanation with biblical references. Please correct, or I will do so. --[[User:BobTheMad|BobTheMad]] ([[User talk:BobTheMad|talk]]) 14:41, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:Ooh, scary threat. The biblical reference is completely justified. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 22:59, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
::Hey jerk, it wasn't a threat. When I made the comment, around 2/3 of the article was about biblical references. It has since been resolved because most people agreed with me. But thanks for playing anyway. --[[User:BobTheMad|BobTheMad]] ([[User talk:BobTheMad|talk]]) 14:28, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

Really?? Life of Brian is the most popular? Sorry, that's either crazy inaccurate or needs a citation. I'm pretty confident the Biblical reference was more accurate as a phase origin, though I can't say I feel it adds much to the explanation. Google likes "Consider the lobster" and "Consider the source" better than either when I search for it. When I search for it adding the keyword "phrase," it gives the Biblical reference, but still not as a first result. The Life of Brian doesn't show up in any front page results. [[User:Ancientt|Ancientt]] ([[User talk:Ancientt|talk]]) 15:13, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

During an initial read through I assumed that he was speaking to a career adviser. Thus, the "consider the fire ant" statement was a take off from the Biblical "consider the ant" statement found in Proverbs 6:6-8. For those who don't know, that particular Proverb is a reprimand to lazy people to consider the diligence and foresight of ants who prepare for the future without being told to do so. Where, lazy people typically have to be micro-managed to get any results from them. So, you assume that hair bun girl is calling cueball lazy because he is rethinking grad school (in this view he is sacrificing diligence and future planning for the now). However, she takes the statement in such a radical direction it loses this meaning - it becomes a rant about how cool fire ants are. Which seems odd until you read the title text and you discover he is in the entomology department (study of insects). Unless cueball regularly visits the entomology department for career advice you can assume that his grad school is about the study of insects. Thus in conclusion, her weird rant about ants really IS meant as a parallel to Proverbs; however, instead of contrasting his behavior to that of ants she is encouraging him to continue his study of insects because of how cool they are. Thus, the joke of using the statement "consider the ant" as a means to get someone to live more responsibly is still being used exactly for that purpose. That's my understanding of it.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 17:06, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:I like this explanation much better. And even if you use Life of Brian this is still a reference to the bible (as the whole film spoofs Jesus). Hope someone will change to incorporate these bible verses. I do not know them so will stay out of this ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:17, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
::I added the above explanation as alternate because I wasn't sure how to mix in elements of the existing explanation. The quotes from the book of Matthew referenced by Life of Brian may have used the same "consider the" format but it is clear to me by Randall's use of fire ants and the situational context of the joke that he was referencing Proverbs. So I didn't find the Life of Brian reference to have any meaning to the explanation.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 18:00, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
::It's just a really, really minor point (and not germane to anything - but I do feel quite strongly about it) The Life of Brian does not "spoof Jesus" it spoofs the attitudes and behaviours of the people surrounding Jesus.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.147|162.158.34.147]] 09:06, 2 December 2015 (UTC)
:::Thank you to whoever helped by merging the explanations. I moved the Life of Brian fact to the end because it breaks up the explanation and because it is not found in the same area. The wording is similar but meaning is entirely different.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 21:30, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Here's my interpretation. I don't think hair bun girl is making an analogy whatsoever. She is simply expressing her obsession/love of ants. By doing so in response to cue ball's plea for advice, she illustrates (knowingly or unknowingly) why she herself attended grad school (I'm assuming she is a professor of entomology - which I think is reasonable given her comment and the title text). She is so obsessed with ants that she attended grad school (a very large undertaking) in order to study them further. Then she proceeded to pursue a career in Academia to continue to study ants. To her, the very idea of having second thoughts of pursuing graduate school to further her studies is probably ridiculous. She probably never had them. Hence she demonstrates all that she needed to know to pursue graduate school - she is big on ants. A little background on me since it informs my interpretation: I spent a lot of time trying to answer this question for myself: "Should I pursue graduate school?" I saw a common thread amongst my professors, leading graduate students, etc. They all wanted nothing more than to learn more about their field of study. The very fact that I was having doubts ended up being a sign to myself that I did not really want to go to graduate school to study, I wanted to go for other reasons that would have made grad school unfulfilling. [[User:Supersixfour|Supersixfour]] ([[User talk:Supersixfour|talk]]) 20:27, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:I tried to incorporate your thoughts into the alternate explanation as her reason for launching into the cool fact about fire ants. That is to persuade him that the study of insects is really cool and worthwhile. We never learn Cueball's motivation and whether her enthusiasm won him over or made him realize he wasn't committed enough to that field or level of study. The joke seems to have little to actually do with grad school and more to do with how we give advice or attempt to motivate others through difficult tasks.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 18:00, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Maybe Cueball meant to go to the Etymology Dept, not the Entomology Dept. {{unsigned|Ren0901}}
:I'm not sure he would find any more answers to his question in the etymology department than he did in entomology. It would make for a different twist on the same joke though! Probably have less cool information about fire ants though.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 18:00, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

As someone who has been fascinated by ants my entire life (60+ years) I totally get Hair Bun Girl's enthusiasm. My family treats me the same way when I get on my favorite topic (as I often do and they they always have). Ants are super cool - they've the unofficial mascot for the ALife community, and arguably the most studied insect in most entomology departments. Ed Wilson is one of my heroes (he was the first to form the hypothesis that ants communicate using chemical signals), not only for his work on ants but his impact on all of natural science, and his sincere concern for the future of our world and all the creatures in it. I was excited and happy to see xkcd referring to ants in both the Hoverboard game and the 11/30/15 comic (as well as [https://xkcd.com/638 #638 The Search]). From the perspective of a life-long myrmecophile I don't think there's anything complex behind HBG's responses except one I heartily endorse: "Because ANTS!" (maybe I'm on the spectrum, too.) As for the biblical reference, I don't specifically think of it as a "biblical" reference except in as much as it seems to refer to an oft-quoted phrase in the book. Most entomologists and myrmecologists know it well: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise..." (probably referring to a species of Harvester ants that gathers and stores grain). One reason they love it is that it correctly identifies the ones doing the work as female. Personally I think the bible is hilarious (full disclosure - not a believer). I love pointing out (especially to Christians) that there are not 10 but 600 to 1,000 commandments in the bible (depending on your version, affiliation, definition, etc.) including a prohibition against eating hoopoes (a colorful woodpecker-like bird in Afro-Eurasia that eats ants). Finally I would say that there are a large number of more interesting facts about ants that might be used. These could include suicide bombers who blow themselves up to harm enemies, turtle ants with plug-shaped heads to seal nest entrances, honey-pot ants who gorge on food and become living storage vessels to feed the colony - nearly endless fascinating adaptations (see some [http://bogleech.com/bio-ants.html here]). I also take exception to the comment that the queen controls all the other ants. In reality, ants perform different functions depending on caste, age, etc. The queen produces eggs and receives food and chemical feedback about the colony's health and requirements, and adjusts her production of quantity and type of eggs (castes, etc.) as a result of this feedback. She's basically an egg-laying machine enslaved by the colony. And now I'm at risk of someone saying, "Wait, what lesson am I supposed to take from that?" So go to the [http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Welcome_to_AntWiki AntWiki] thou sluggard; consider its ways and be wise. [[User:Usagi|Usagi]] ([[User talk:Usagi|talk]]) 19:56, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
:Fascinating. You are correct about the larger number of commandments in the Bible (greater than ten); however, they can all be understood with just two. Full disclosure, I am a believer. If you want to talk about it (friendly-like) you can always give me a chat. :) --[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 21:30, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Could the lesson be "if you're struggling, ask your classmates for help"? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.125|162.158.152.125]] 15:40, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

At my university, the adviser assigned to me is in the physics department. My friend is in information sciences, and his adviser is in the computer science department. Is this uncommon? The explanation currently seems to suggest that the person Cueball is speaking to wouldn't be an adviser by virtue of what department they are in. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.206|108.162.210.206]] 01:05, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

Replace the adviser's dialogue with this:

Consider the supernova. One strong enough to create a black hole momentarily creates so much energy, only the Big Bang was more powerful.

SPACE IS SO COOL.

Here in the astronomy department, 1) we're big on space, and 2) We don't remember your question because we were thinking about space.

Then you have me. XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 20:15, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1610: Fire Ants

2015-12-08T20:14:47Z

International Space Station:

misinterpreting a question as an invitation to talk about one's pet obsession is symptomatic of autistic spectrum disorder. although not necessarily so. as, i suppose, is wanting to do science in academe. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.223|108.162.210.223]] 13:12, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

i don't think she was misinterpreting the question,she probably is so obsessed about ants that she tries to talk about them every chance she gets. {{unsigned ip|173.245.62.29}}

:ok, so "misinterpreting" was a poor choice. try "interpreting, wrongly". and only autists feel like that. to a neuro-typical this isn't even an issue. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.233|141.101.106.233]] 12:57, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Theoretically, there's a hidden analogy in that a colony of rather simplistic and specialist individuals can ensure their own survival in the face of adverse environmental conditions by keeping themselves all in one location so that they can continue to perpetuate themselves in the future. And as it is with those heading off to Grad School, so it may also be with ants. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.185|141.101.75.185]] 13:29, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

I've just joined, so please forgive the new boy. Perhaps the joke is really to do with biblical references and metaphors, as I have suggested in my contribution to the main article. (User:Paw 42)

There is absolutely no reason to junk up this explanation with biblical references. Please correct, or I will do so. --[[User:BobTheMad|BobTheMad]] ([[User talk:BobTheMad|talk]]) 14:41, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:Ooh, scary threat. The biblical reference is completely justified. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 22:59, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
::Hey jerk, it wasn't a threat. When I made the comment, around 2/3 of the article was about biblical references. It has since been resolved because most people agreed with me. But thanks for playing anyway. --[[User:BobTheMad|BobTheMad]] ([[User talk:BobTheMad|talk]]) 14:28, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

Really?? Life of Brian is the most popular? Sorry, that's either crazy inaccurate or needs a citation. I'm pretty confident the Biblical reference was more accurate as a phase origin, though I can't say I feel it adds much to the explanation. Google likes "Consider the lobster" and "Consider the source" better than either when I search for it. When I search for it adding the keyword "phrase," it gives the Biblical reference, but still not as a first result. The Life of Brian doesn't show up in any front page results. [[User:Ancientt|Ancientt]] ([[User talk:Ancientt|talk]]) 15:13, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

During an initial read through I assumed that he was speaking to a career adviser. Thus, the "consider the fire ant" statement was a take off from the Biblical "consider the ant" statement found in Proverbs 6:6-8. For those who don't know, that particular Proverb is a reprimand to lazy people to consider the diligence and foresight of ants who prepare for the future without being told to do so. Where, lazy people typically have to be micro-managed to get any results from them. So, you assume that hair bun girl is calling cueball lazy because he is rethinking grad school (in this view he is sacrificing diligence and future planning for the now). However, she takes the statement in such a radical direction it loses this meaning - it becomes a rant about how cool fire ants are. Which seems odd until you read the title text and you discover he is in the entomology department (study of insects). Unless cueball regularly visits the entomology department for career advice you can assume that his grad school is about the study of insects. Thus in conclusion, her weird rant about ants really IS meant as a parallel to Proverbs; however, instead of contrasting his behavior to that of ants she is encouraging him to continue his study of insects because of how cool they are. Thus, the joke of using the statement "consider the ant" as a means to get someone to live more responsibly is still being used exactly for that purpose. That's my understanding of it.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 17:06, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:I like this explanation much better. And even if you use Life of Brian this is still a reference to the bible (as the whole film spoofs Jesus). Hope someone will change to incorporate these bible verses. I do not know them so will stay out of this ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:17, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
::I added the above explanation as alternate because I wasn't sure how to mix in elements of the existing explanation. The quotes from the book of Matthew referenced by Life of Brian may have used the same "consider the" format but it is clear to me by Randall's use of fire ants and the situational context of the joke that he was referencing Proverbs. So I didn't find the Life of Brian reference to have any meaning to the explanation.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 18:00, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
::It's just a really, really minor point (and not germane to anything - but I do feel quite strongly about it) The Life of Brian does not "spoof Jesus" it spoofs the attitudes and behaviours of the people surrounding Jesus.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.147|162.158.34.147]] 09:06, 2 December 2015 (UTC)
:::Thank you to whoever helped by merging the explanations. I moved the Life of Brian fact to the end because it breaks up the explanation and because it is not found in the same area. The wording is similar but meaning is entirely different.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 21:30, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Here's my interpretation. I don't think hair bun girl is making an analogy whatsoever. She is simply expressing her obsession/love of ants. By doing so in response to cue ball's plea for advice, she illustrates (knowingly or unknowingly) why she herself attended grad school (I'm assuming she is a professor of entomology - which I think is reasonable given her comment and the title text). She is so obsessed with ants that she attended grad school (a very large undertaking) in order to study them further. Then she proceeded to pursue a career in Academia to continue to study ants. To her, the very idea of having second thoughts of pursuing graduate school to further her studies is probably ridiculous. She probably never had them. Hence she demonstrates all that she needed to know to pursue graduate school - she is big on ants. A little background on me since it informs my interpretation: I spent a lot of time trying to answer this question for myself: "Should I pursue graduate school?" I saw a common thread amongst my professors, leading graduate students, etc. They all wanted nothing more than to learn more about their field of study. The very fact that I was having doubts ended up being a sign to myself that I did not really want to go to graduate school to study, I wanted to go for other reasons that would have made grad school unfulfilling. [[User:Supersixfour|Supersixfour]] ([[User talk:Supersixfour|talk]]) 20:27, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:I tried to incorporate your thoughts into the alternate explanation as her reason for launching into the cool fact about fire ants. That is to persuade him that the study of insects is really cool and worthwhile. We never learn Cueball's motivation and whether her enthusiasm won him over or made him realize he wasn't committed enough to that field or level of study. The joke seems to have little to actually do with grad school and more to do with how we give advice or attempt to motivate others through difficult tasks.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 18:00, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Maybe Cueball meant to go to the Etymology Dept, not the Entomology Dept. {{unsigned|Ren0901}}
:I'm not sure he would find any more answers to his question in the etymology department than he did in entomology. It would make for a different twist on the same joke though! Probably have less cool information about fire ants though.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 18:00, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

As someone who has been fascinated by ants my entire life (60+ years) I totally get Hair Bun Girl's enthusiasm. My family treats me the same way when I get on my favorite topic (as I often do and they they always have). Ants are super cool - they've the unofficial mascot for the ALife community, and arguably the most studied insect in most entomology departments. Ed Wilson is one of my heroes (he was the first to form the hypothesis that ants communicate using chemical signals), not only for his work on ants but his impact on all of natural science, and his sincere concern for the future of our world and all the creatures in it. I was excited and happy to see xkcd referring to ants in both the Hoverboard game and the 11/30/15 comic (as well as [https://xkcd.com/638 #638 The Search]). From the perspective of a life-long myrmecophile I don't think there's anything complex behind HBG's responses except one I heartily endorse: "Because ANTS!" (maybe I'm on the spectrum, too.) As for the biblical reference, I don't specifically think of it as a "biblical" reference except in as much as it seems to refer to an oft-quoted phrase in the book. Most entomologists and myrmecologists know it well: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise..." (probably referring to a species of Harvester ants that gathers and stores grain). One reason they love it is that it correctly identifies the ones doing the work as female. Personally I think the bible is hilarious (full disclosure - not a believer). I love pointing out (especially to Christians) that there are not 10 but 600 to 1,000 commandments in the bible (depending on your version, affiliation, definition, etc.) including a prohibition against eating hoopoes (a colorful woodpecker-like bird in Afro-Eurasia that eats ants). Finally I would say that there are a large number of more interesting facts about ants that might be used. These could include suicide bombers who blow themselves up to harm enemies, turtle ants with plug-shaped heads to seal nest entrances, honey-pot ants who gorge on food and become living storage vessels to feed the colony - nearly endless fascinating adaptations (see some [http://bogleech.com/bio-ants.html here]). I also take exception to the comment that the queen controls all the other ants. In reality, ants perform different functions depending on caste, age, etc. The queen produces eggs and receives food and chemical feedback about the colony's health and requirements, and adjusts her production of quantity and type of eggs (castes, etc.) as a result of this feedback. She's basically an egg-laying machine enslaved by the colony. And now I'm at risk of someone saying, "Wait, what lesson am I supposed to take from that?" So go to the [http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Welcome_to_AntWiki AntWiki] thou sluggard; consider its ways and be wise. [[User:Usagi|Usagi]] ([[User talk:Usagi|talk]]) 19:56, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
:Fascinating. You are correct about the larger number of commandments in the Bible (greater than ten); however, they can all be understood with just two. Full disclosure, I am a believer. If you want to talk about it (friendly-like) you can always give me a chat. :) --[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 21:30, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Could the lesson be "if you're struggling, ask your classmates for help"? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.125|162.158.152.125]] 15:40, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

At my university, the adviser assigned to me is in the physics department. My friend is in information sciences, and his adviser is in the computer science department. Is this uncommon? The explanation currently seems to suggest that the person Cueball is speaking to wouldn't be an adviser by virtue of what department they are in. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.206|108.162.210.206]] 01:05, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

Replace the adviser's dialogue with this:

Consider the supernova. One strong enough to create a black hole momentarily creates so much energy, only the Big Bang was more powerful.

SPACE IS SO COOL.

Here in the astronomy department, 1) we're big on space, and 2) We don't remember your question because we were thinking about space. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 20:14, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1610: Fire Ants

2015-12-08T20:14:18Z

International Space Station:

Talk:1613: The Three Laws of Robotics

2015-12-07T09:37:07Z

International Space Station:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PKx3kS7f4A Relevant Computerphile]

I think the second one would also create the "best" robots i.e. ones that have the same level of "free will" as humans do, but won't end up with the robot uprising. X3[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 09:37, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:107: Snakes on a Plane! 2

2015-12-07T04:17:56Z

International Space Station:

I think he's also implying that it was a bad film and the sequel will be much worse

[[User:OmiWan|OmiWan]] ([[User talk:OmiWan|talk]]) 23:06, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

I like proposing the parody of "Snakes On The ISS" because one, everything is cooler in space, two, I'm obsessed with the ISS, three, we can imagine the snakes destroy the Soyuz docked and now we have snakes flailing around unthreateningly in microg. XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 04:17, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1490: Atoms

2015-11-24T13:23:47Z

International Space Station:

"My dad FORM the dog"? Typo in the actual comic or just the wiki?
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.240|199.27.128.240]] 05:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)Anonymous
: The actual comment, the wiki just grabs what the website has listed.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.24|108.162.216.24]] 05:56, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:: Generally in cases like this, it's customary to add ''[sic]'' to indicate any typoes ''[sic]'' or grammarization ''[sic]'' mistakes in the original techs. ''[sic]''. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 19:55, 23 February 2015 (UTC) ''[sic]''
plutonium = radiation exposure, or pacemaker?
: Radiation exposure wouldn't give you plutonium, maybe the byproducts of its fission. I'm thinking that, whatever it is, it mutated Beret Guy in the womb, hence why he has this strange superpower.--[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 06:52, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
: Referencing Pink Floyd's 1970 album 'Atom Heart Mother' I think.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.122|108.162.225.122]] 07:25, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
this guy sees by which elements are contained, not by which visible light?
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.172|199.27.128.172]] 06:14, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Are the elements actually representing their atomic symbols? Be, O, S, Z? Not sure what the metal-in-the-face comment is about.

--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 07:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: A deliberate BeOS reference? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: Metal in the face might be a comment on braces, and how uncomfortable people are about having noticable ones. --
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.41|141.101.104.41]] 08:37, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
::Are there braces that aren't very noticeable? I can see adults being a little uncomfortable, but they're ocmmon enough on kids that kids aren't going to be uncomfortable with them. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}
: (Dental) fillings are explicitly mentioned as a possible source of metal. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.75|188.114.102.75]] 09:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: Makeup and powers may contain a variety of metals and rare earths [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:16, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps the plutonium is coming from his mother smoking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.102|141.101.99.102]] 08:51, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Possibly a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood Silkwood]?
[[User:DaveHowe|DaveHowe]] ([[User talk:DaveHowe|talk]]) 20:36, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

:: I like the Karen Silkwood explanation i.e. she worked at an enrichment plant. The other read I had was that of The Stepford Wives -- I.e. she is a plutonium powered robot. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:27, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
:: Yes, I thought of Karen Silkwood too. It could also explain Beret Guy's supernatural powers. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.185|141.101.98.185]] 12:08, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#Plutonium_experiments [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 09:02, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

I read it as both his mother and him beeing a robot or cyborg, which she never told him. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.77|141.101.75.77]] 09:30, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: Yes, I rather thought it might be a Terminator 2 reference (based on the scene in which the T-1000 replaces John Connor's mother.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

:: The first thing I thought was Terminator, but in looking at their wiki there's no plutonium reference for their fuel cells, as far as I can tell (http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Fuel_cell). {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}

: I also assumed it was a reference to some kind of nuclear powered cyborg. Being partially composed of electronic parts could also account for his unusually high levels of Zinc and could explain why he sees people as a list of their constituent particles. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.29}}

-- did the radiation give him those superpowers? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.204|108.162.222.204]] 11:05, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

He can't distinguish Dad and Dog, so he wasn't a genious back then. So what if the Plutonium wasn't a super complex mysterium, just one of the most important things for an infant, her breasts (in this case maby big ons).
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.108|141.101.92.108]] 11:44, 23 February 2015 (UTC) Pietro
:Seen as purely clumps of chemicals (which it appears that White Hat has been restricted to, at least whilst growing up) mammals (if not animals in general or even wider!) look pretty much the same. A whole lot of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, phospohorous, some iron, [http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/chem.life.intro.html etc], and if WH sees predominately in "amounts of chemicals", it won't just be fine facial features that might get lost in amongst all this irregular information but ''species'' as well. The dog could about the same mass as the father and mother (if that was ever a distinguishing factor, rather than just ratios), and it took a while to learn a method other than that of the 'obvious' presence of plutonium in the mother to differentiate his father from all other humans/creatures/hogroasts... (I suspect he's learnt the trick of differentiating individuals, since then, but his abnormal primary sense of 'elements' could very well be the source of some of his other otherworldy 'powers', how he has become rich, why he has somehow found it necessary to contrive a 'soup-dispensing socket', etc. Kind of like a Dr Manhattan like omniscience and unusual understanding of everyday physics. Maybe or maybe not in the various other ways, though.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

I agree with 141.101.80.53. Beret Guy is answering Megan's question about what is wrong with him, not being arrogant. Arrogant would be out of character for Beret Guy, but giving an unusual answer to a rhetorical question would be true to character. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 12:42, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps too oddball a theory, but maybe his mom was actually a spacecraft powered by plutonium (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Galileo (spacecraft)#Electrical_power | Galileo(spacecraft)]]), making his father a planet and the dog a moon.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.182|173.245.56.182]] 12:43, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:Wouldn't the dog need to be a dwarf planet? :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 12:54, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:What would that make him? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
::Pluto! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 13:57, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

When I read the alt text the first time around, I read it as platinum and figured Randall meant an IUD... perhaps that was a typo on his part as well (much like the "form" typo mentioned above)? Can't figured out another reasonable plutonium explanation. --[[User:Canned Soul|Canned Soul]] ([[User talk:Canned Soul|talk]]) 14:28, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
: If you Google "plutonium in IUDs" you get some interesting results. Perhaps early copper IUDs contained a small amount of incidental plutonium?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.191|108.162.216.191]] 19:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

I like the plutonium experiments reverence, but are strongly against the suggestion in the explanation that Pu is not found in nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Occurrence Do NOT diss Oklo! Oklo is badass! [[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 15:23, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Putting in my own two bits, my first thought reading the title text was that she had a pacemaker. The fact that there were plutoniu pacemakers and the fact he mentioned that they were "in her middle" make me think "pacemaker". But I digress. As far as the "too much zinc", ??? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.186|199.27.128.186]] 02:20, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Not sure if it's an inspiration, but this is an example of people not knowing what common human experiences they are missing (see: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/). Also, "or she was the victim of unethical medical experimentation. Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." is ridiculous - no amount of medical experimentation will cause this. The probable reason for his abnormality is magic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.17|108.162.241.17]] 15:35, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:Agree: I removed "Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.217}}

I believe that the "Too Much Zinc?" - is an answer to what might be wrong with him, not a retort to Megan's tone. In fact, zinc is linked to eyesight, see for instance https://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/101201 and other sources, and this "zinc overdose" might be believed by white beret guy to relate to his "super-human" eyesight? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.53|141.101.80.53]]
: Can this be added to the explanation? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:58, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
:: Edit: the link is an outdated study that warns at the top should not be considered scientifically accurate. Better to leave a link between zinc and eyesight out of the explanation (unless a better source is available). [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:45, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

The link to the UPPU club (You Pee Pu) appears to be broken. EDIT: fixed now, thanks whoever fixed it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.181}}

Did anyone else notice that this is the second comic in a row about elementary particles? I suspect a series coming up. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:Guess I was wrong [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 17:16, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Pacemakers are usually implanted round the clavicle, so I'm not satisfied with the theory that the plutonium is from a pacemaker. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.46|141.101.104.46]] 08:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The "form"/"from" mistake was corrected in the original strip, I applied the changes to the article. -- [[User:guest|guest]] ([[User talk:guest|talk]]) 17:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Can someone elaborate on this: "The presence of plutonium in his mother may be an explanation or source of his own differences."? How does plutonium in the mother explain him having elemental eyesight (or vacuum energy harnessing or soup-from-an-outlet, etc.) abilities? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 22:01, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
:I would say, quite simply, that radiation or radioactive chemistry is typically offered as a means of activating/creating abnormal powers (Hulk, Spiderman, Daredevil, etc, etc) in the appropriate fictional genres. And whilst it might have inexplicably failed to create any obvious illness in either mother or child (as would normally happen outside of comic-book franchises) it could have "activated his X-gene" or whatever was required to produce this particularly strange person. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

I read bits of a book my mother has, written by a woman who worked for a few years at a plutonium enrichment plant near Denver. It seems the safety and containment systems were faulty, and she has "smokers patches" in her lungs, caused by minute specks of plutonium she inhaled while there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Plant
A little late, I know, but I really figured someone else would mention this before the day was up.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.29|173.245.55.29]] 14:32, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Just found an article on wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plutonium_Files) about pregnant women who were given "radioactive mixtures" for research. Maybe his mother was one of them and he developed this ability because of it? "In Nashville, pregnant women were given radioactive mixtures." {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.254}}

>RTG-powered pacemaker (actually a thing)

My only thought is WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT THAT THST WAS A GOOD IDEA I mean I know itnwad before the age of Li-Ion batteries and they had to use something. But when I think RTG, all I can think of is "let's leave these to spacecraft and keep them as far from humans as possible." But no we were sticking them *in* humans. Like what o.o
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 13:23, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:519: 11th Grade

2015-11-22T06:31:58Z

International Space Station:

There's no claim in the title text about gaining "social skills and new perspectives". I suspect it's more about the chance that "that strange kid" might turn out to be the next {{w|Mark Zuckerberg}}, or some such.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 21:25, 7 November 2013 (UTC)
:Or Eric Harris / Dylan Klebold. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 20:44, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Yep. Or that he knows a guy who can find you your first job. Or he's the one who tells you about his interest in x topic and sparks your interest in it as well, and maybe it turns into your future career. It could happen.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 01:50, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

I thought the comment about "that strange kid" was about Randall himself. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.36|108.162.212.36]] 07:18, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

Usually I'm that person people treat as "that strange kid." Really hoping to kick some serious ass in the future. Mostly the asses of all the rudefucks that bullied me all throughout grade school. In space. XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 06:31, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1604: Snakes

2015-11-17T12:32:30Z

International Space Station:

i don't know how to add the omega sign for the units of the resistor in the transcript. i'll leave that to someone more skilled than myself [[User:Beardmcbeardson|Beardmcbeardson]] ([[User talk:Beardmcbeardson|talk]]) 05:26, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

Just copy-and-paste! -N00b {{unsigned ip|108.162.214.77}}

Or find the 'omega' symbol in Windows Character Map. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 08:37, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

To be exact, a 24Ω resistor would be red, yellow, black; 240Ω would be red, yellow, brown, and so on, along a well-defined sequence. Red, yellow on its own would be missing the final "scaling" colour. [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 08:54, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:We don't need the scaling colour here, the snake is scaly enough as is. [[User:Matega|Matega]] ([[User talk:Matega|talk]]) 18:58, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_color_code， a "black red black red black" resistor shoud be 2kΩ, not 24Ω ... -- Oicebot [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.119|162.158.252.119]] 09:30, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

The fourth band on a resister is usually the multiplier (the value gets multiplied by 10 to a power according to the colour); it's the fifth that indicates tolerance [[User:sbutler87|sbutler87]]
:The resisteors that I have at hand are coloured the way I remember, Three bands of 'spectrum' colours (including black at zero, brown for 1, leading through the spectrum red to violet until grey at 8 and white at 9), the first two are literal, the third the power of magnitude to adjust up, and a fourth band (metalic silver/gold, to aid identification of the direction to read) as tolerance.
:I know there's variations, and zero ohm (or effectively so) links are a single black band, but that's all I've ever needed to know, in my time. (When I don't put something across mulimeter probes, just to make sure...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.221|162.158.152.221]] 11:57, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
::The last band is tolerance, and there can be as many bands before that as the manufacturer needs. It's always the last band, no matter how many come before. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 18:18, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

FWIW: raw image: [[File:snake-pixelated.png]] and with added math: [[File:snake-interpolated.png]]. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 12:28, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

Does this mean a 200ohm snake is safe? (Red black yellow) [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:51, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:That would be 20*10^4 ohm = 240.000 ohm if I get it right? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:13, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
::Red black yellow would be 200000 ohms, or 200kΩ (200 kilohms). Red-black is 20, and yellow is basically adding 4 zeroes to that. [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 17:56, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:::Ups, I put in the 4 from the comic, 20*10^4 ohm = 200.000 (not 240.000 as I wrote at first). Thanks for correcting ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:48, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:As far as I can see, it's <code>black yellow red yellow</code>, repeated, and red does not touch black... {{User:Grep/signature|20:57, 16 November 2015}}

Do they still use color bands? Do they still teach them to technicians? Should parts of this explanation be rewritten in the past tense mentioning that Randal is getting old? I though the bands were relegated to the dead languages section, right next to linear B, once surface mounted components came along. I certainly haven't used them since around 1990, and would not expect my younger technicians to understand them.
--[[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.101|198.41.235.101]] 19:58, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:I garuntee that they still do.--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.47|199.27.133.47]] 23:21, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:Being one who is actively learning electronics I can say firsthand that they still do teach color bands, and almost all the resistors we use in class are color banded. [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 23:27, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:That's just the thing, though; surface mount components aren't used everywhere. Hobbyists and classroom environments still use through-hole resistors and DIP TTL ICs and the like because they're easier to breadboard and reuse, and therefore cheaper. SMT, CMOS, and other things have advantages for most commercial applications but not for everything else.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.36|108.162.221.36]] 05:07, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

I fucking lost it when I read this. Easily one of the funniest xkcds in my opinion haha [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 12:32, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:423: Finish Line

2015-11-13T20:40:10Z

International Space Station:

Is the "rat pulling a lever" phrase a reference to studies with rats where they will self administer opiates and ignore food until death? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward#Addiction [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.46|108.162.219.46]] 23:39, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

"Rat pulling a lever" studies are done to test a wide variety of hypotheses about behavior, not just how they respond to opiates. Rats are one of the favorite animals used in psychological studies, especially among doctoral candidates working on their dissertations. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.165|108.162.219.165]] 09:13, 1 October 2015 (UTC)

His Luigi looks like the Weegee meme version of Luigi xD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 20:40, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:474: Turn-On

2015-11-04T01:25:01Z

International Space Station:

All six flavors of quark are mentioned in the last panel [[Special:Contributions/140.247.0.14|140.247.0.14]] 22:30, 16 December 2012 (UTC)AMP

I thought that I got this one, turns out I didn't have a clue. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 00:27, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

I suspect the title text is a reference to the Futurama episode {{w|That's Lobstertainment!}}, in which Humorbot 5.0 tells a similar supercollider joke. [[User:Pelosujamo|Pelosujamo]] ([[User talk:Pelosujamo|talk]]) 17:45, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
:This doesn't explain the comic itself, but this could belong to a trivia section. Let me know if you do need help on this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:35, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

The title "Turn-On" also seems to be a pun. Turning on the LHC (as mentioned in the first panel) and Megan getting turned on by the mentioning of the quark flavors --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 14:05, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

Would havenneen even funnier had he mentioned some squarks. He first says sup, heh. "I didn't tell you to stop" and things like that. I guess you can also say they lepton the bed, and Cueball had a huge hadron. Also particle physicists don't use strap ons. They use gluons! Oh and I'm sure Cueball will send a shower of particles in a burst of energy. But lol I'm pretty sure the joke here is unambiguously that she's "turned on" by the LHC turn on. Heck had I been my current age at that time, I certainly would be. Science is fucking sexy. Oh come on, I can't be the only one that gets off to pure science? XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 01:25, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:357: Flies

2015-10-28T07:04:43Z

International Space Station:

Actually, the saying was originally “A watched pot never boils ''over''.” This means that you should watch a pot to make sure the water doesn't spill out.[[Special:Contributions/68.195.76.173|68.195.76.173]] 17:57, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Pretty sure that '''A watched pot never boils''' is an expression unto its own. If you sat and watched a pot long enough it would still boil over, on the macro scale there is no effect on observing something. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 09:10, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I thought that this expression meant that the water boiling process have a Murphy law like property in it: that the pot tends to boil over when you turn away from it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.196|108.162.212.196]] 21:59, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

CLEARLY the idea is that you are waiting for the pot to boil so that you can add something to it. You are not waiting for it to boil over; you are waiting for it to boil. The point is that many things that you want in life take longer to eventuate than you think, and sitting there fixating on them doesn't actually help and is a waste of time. Do something else useful in the meantime; the pot will boil when it's ready. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 19:48, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Honey has a much higher sugar content than Balsamic vinegar. My hypothesis for this is that the real draw fro the flies is related to fragrance [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.52|108.162.219.52]] 19:18, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
: I agree on this and updated the explanation. [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 14:10, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Could this be a metaphor for trolling?
[[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 00:24, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

I was actually waiting for the day I'd be able to use the knowledge this strip has bestowed onto me. Unfortunately I'm such a slob that there are just WAY too many. But it *certainly* seems to be working so far! I also did some research and found out the flies I'm having are called vinegar flies. What's funny is that when I searched for Florida [insert insect name here], it turns out my college (UF) has pretty much the entire field of Florida entomology covered, and I doubt it's because I'm using the school network.

But I've been living in a dumpster-quality environment for weeks and haven't gotten remotely sick. My immune system is *crazy* good, haha! But there comes a point where it's just plain disgusting and the flies get annoying, so I am in the process of cleaning up, not so much because of the health hazard as much as it is just the smell and how I'm tired of getting hundreds of flies in my face. Also a few of them bite, and they're starting to spread throughout the rest of the dorms so... yeah. If UF's Lakeside building 3 dorm ends up getting fumigated... it's my fault entirely.

STILL I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW CRAZY MY IMMUNE SYSTEM IS.

Also I don't want to wake up to find my bed crawling with maggots. IDK where they laid eggs and the RA is forbidding me to use Raid. IDK why they'd sell it in the PODs (UF's convenience store) if we're not allowed to use them. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 07:04, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

Talk:226: Swingset

2015-10-27T09:21:17Z

International Space Station:

A glass with water can be momentarily inverted at this moment and the water will not leave the glass!--DrMath 08:56, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

Isn't the point about illustrating that you do in fact have weight even in instences that are written off as weightless? In space you just happen to be falling at the same velocity of your surroundings, maintaining orbit simply by moving fast enough to miss the Earth. On top of which, in a low enough orbit g is still close to 9.8 m/s^2 if only because altitude is insignificant compared to the radius of the Earth.--Passing Stranger 14:10 August 2014 (UTC)

No, you don't have weight in some instances. Weight is dependent upon gravity, so in deep space with no planets or stars close enough to matter you would be weightless. Mass, on the other hand... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 01:46, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

The woman appears to be his mother. {{unsigned|173.245.52.173}}

Weight is actually a description of reaction force; if you're in free fall, and therefore not being pushed on by the floor or pulled on by a rope, you are weightless. If you are being swung on a rope, the direction of your "weight" is constantly changing. This might seem arbitrary, but it avoids things like everyone on a rotating space station being considered "weightless" due to the lack of gravity; a closed physical system can't tell the difference between gravity and uniform acceleration. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.159|108.162.238.159]] 08:51, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

When I'm alone in elevators, I'll sometimes jump right before the elevator stars to descend. Because I have to fall a longer distance than I jumped, it tricks my brain into feeling a moment of weightlessness more than what I feel at my apogee. I also sometimes like to float underwater for long periods of time, pretending I'm on the ISS. Unfortunately I'm fucking terrified of deep water, and due to my lack of water-based activity, I've quite declined in my ability to hold my breath underwater. I used to be able to do it for at least a minute to a minute and a half when I was 12. I used to either pretend I was Neo, or pretend I was on the ISS or generically in space. Never both, though. Now I can hardly do 20 seconds. Now that I really want to start swimming again, I can't. I grew up with a pool I hardly used, and now I'm in college, and all of our pools are lap-based. i.e. I can't hog 25sqft of space to just be all floaty in. I'd have to take up an entire lane, which I don't want to do. So the only way I'd really be able to experience this is if I scuba dived. Maybe I should do that again. It's the closest, for now, I'll ever get to feeling like I'm in space. Maybe later I can afford a Zero G flight. Maybe later I can do some space tourism stuff. Maybe later I'll be an actual astronaut. Only I'm two inches too short, for now, apparently -3- [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 09:21, 27 October 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1244: Six Words

2015-10-09T02:09:30Z

International Space Station:

I believe the "Oberth Kuiper Manuver" refers not to the exploitation of the Kuiper belt, but to its the maneuver's usefulness for crossing the belt efficiently. There are multiple various points supporting this conclusion:

1. The size and positioning of the circles strongly indicates that they represent Venus, Earth, and Jupiter (or Eve, Kerbin, and Jool).
2. Reaching the Kuiper belt (which begins at Neptune) requires a great deal of delta-v. Even if you were to slingshot around gas giants (which, in the current explanation, is not shown in the diagram), the trip would consume the majority of a spacecraft's propellant, making the extreme exploitation of the Oberth effect largely ineffective.
3. Kuiper belt objects are very small and therefore would not effectively serve to redirect or slingshot the spacecraft.

[[Special:Contributions/66.159.155.170|66.159.155.170]] 10:11, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

:''"This makes no sense, as it it is vastly more expensive in terms of fuel to get to a Kuiper belt object (which is at least 10 billion km from earth) than it is to get to the sun."''
:This is incorrect. To go directly to the Sun takes a delta-''v'' about equal to Earth's orbital speed (30 km/s). Escape speed is √2 * ''v_c'' = 42 km/s; since you start with ''v_c'', you need a delta-''v'' of 12 km/s to get out to the Kuiper Belt. Once you're far from the Sun, a very small delta-''v'' will put you on an orbit passing near (or into) the Sun.[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 16:47, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

::Okay, that's true. But I have another objection to the interpretation: how ''long'' would it take to get a probe to the Kuiper belt? And of course there's the problem of actually ''finding'' a Kuiper belt object to slingshot around, especially when you've got much better candidates, e.g. Jupiter, Saturn, etc. available for the maneuver. {{unsigned|Emurphy}}
:::The term "Oberth Kuiper Maneuver" does not exist, but Randall did add the word "Kuiper" to the well known "Oberth Maneuver". So he means a Kuiper Belt object. Wwoods' statement is absolutely correct. The trip will just take a long time.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:25, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
::::I have to agree with the IP address. You're not correct about the Delta_v benefit of going to the Kuiper belt, because Jupiter provides a gravity assist. The probe fires the thrusters at the closest approach to Jupiter in the direction opposite of motion, and this causes it to take a sharper turn, requiring lower Delta_v. This is not possible with the Kuiper belt objects because they are significantly less massive than Jupiter. Yes your speed will be less, but not by enough. The closest approach potential is greater for Jupiter by a factor much greater than the velocity difference. You could do the equations, and I'm sure Jupiter will be more propellant-efficient, in addition to taking less time. [[User:AlanSE|AlanSE]] ([[User talk:AlanSE|talk]]) 21:40, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::Why the hell you all do TWO spaces after a sentence? Like "IP address.__You're not". But back to the discussion, as more far you are of the massive sun, the the energy for changing the speed direction is reduced, you go back to the sun at HIGH speed.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:57, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
::::::Because that's how you do in on a typewriter. Do you remember typewriters? --[[User:Thnidu|Thnidu]] ([[User talk:Thnidu|talk]]) 23:07, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::::You do not leave Jupiter with zero speed. That's the only way that your argument makes sense. It's not true, so your argument is not true. I am saying that if you sent two of these probes, one doing the incorrect Kuiper object assist, and one just doing a Jupiter assist, the Jupiter-assisted probe would be faster even as the Pluto-assisted was passing Jupiter. That is because the Jupiter-assisted probe does not grid to a screeching halt as it passes the planet like you seem to argue that it does. [[User:AlanSE|AlanSE]] ([[User talk:AlanSE|talk]]) 15:55, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
::::::::Sure, Jupiter would maybe a good option, but Randall mentions the Kuiper Belt. He definitively talks not about Jupiter. The voyage would take more than a decade but the delta-v you need is much smaller than at Jupiter. Randall is just joking about this long lasting mission.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:47, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::The idea is difficult in practice because of the proximity to the sun combined with the volatility of propellants, and is entertained seriously by NASA: [http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/library/meetings/misc/trieste_may02_mtg/McNutt_Ralph.pdf]. We have an sufficient explanation for the use of the word Kuiper. A more troubling detail of your theory is how it would work in Kerbal Space Program. Jool is the Jupiter analog. There is no Pluto analog. The "icy" planet in KSP is [http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Eeloo Eeloo], and it is in a resonance with Jool. In other words, it is no further than Jool. The comic makes no sense with your theory, because it would have been impossible to do that maneuver in KSP, and one of the few things we know about the maneuver is that it was done in KSP. [[User:AlanSE|AlanSE]] ([[User talk:AlanSE|talk]]) 20:59, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
::::::::::Your second links tells me this: "The physical characteristics of Eeloo are most likely an analogue of the ice moon Enceladus, and its orbit is similar to that of Pluto...". So we have the Kuiper Belt at this program. The first link refers to the {{w|NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts}}, but they are not talking about a Kuiper Belt object as an bad option. And because of their time line they should consider this. And, why Randall should rename the "Oberth Maneuver" to an non existing "Oberth Kuiper Maneuver"?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:59, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::::I see where you get the Pluto thing, and I can see where the developers were going with that. The idea is that Pluto hasn't cleared its own orbit. But Pluto crosses Neptune, whereas Eeloo crosses Jool. That's a big difference in terms of distance from the sun. The NASA study's diagrams did use Jupiter in the diagrams, but you're right in that they didn't dismiss the use of other objects. [[User:AlanSE|AlanSE]] ([[User talk:AlanSE|talk]]) 23:18, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
::::::::::::I find the Jupiter explanation more plausible. Not only it is more consistent with the diagram (as far as body sizes and configuration, but also orbit shape, which would be a much narrower ellipse with periapsis near Venus and apoapsis in the Kuiper Belt), but also flyby around a Kuiper Belt body would be quite pointless: its low mass would make it a particularly lousy target for both gravity assist and Oberth maneuver - and yes, you only need a small velocity change at such distances to head for the Sun, but you could just as well do a deep space maneuver in empty space without any Kuiper Belt object nearby; its presence or non-presence would make little difference. - More importantly though, the whole travel so far outwards would be completely unnecessary, because Jupiter's gravity is already sufficient to send a spacecraft on a close Sun flyby trajectory (or even straight into the Sun, if desired) with a ''single unpowered flyby'', no engine burn needed at all. Saving lots of time and/or fuel (as the unnecessary detour via Kuiper Belt would take more fuel/flybys than a simple trip to Jupiter, not even mentioning the roundtrip duration). The reference to Kuiper Belt is explained just as easily with that being the intended mission target (also following from the word order, Oberth-Kuiper, more logical for Kuiper Belt visit after the Oberth maneuver, rather than before). --[[Special:Contributions/78.102.107.37|78.102.107.37]] 12:12, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::::::I think the idea is actually to use gravity assist from a Kuiper Belt object, Pluto or Eris. Of course this will be ridiculously ineffective, but ''that's part of the joke!'' Using gravity assist from Pluto for a destination that could be reached using gravity assist from Jupiter is an insane idea that could work in theory, but there are too many risks in real life. Only in Kerbal would you use this trajectory. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.67|108.162.254.67]] 10:30, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
;strictly an orbiter shop
According to this [http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57495117-93/mars-curiosity-rover-team-prefers-macs-to-pcs/] that is not true. [[Special:Contributions/212.90.151.90|212.90.151.90]] 11:59, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
:Indeed - thanks! I added that in. Now, is there any evidence that they play Orbiter?? [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 16:55, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

;edits

I just [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1244%3A_Six_Words&diff=45338&oldid=45318 made a few] for sense (''undergo'' → ''implement''), punctuation (possessive ''it's'' → ''its''), grammar (''and'' → comma before "eventually leaving"), and logic (inserting ''if it succeeded,'').

--[[User:Thnidu|Thnidu]] ([[User talk:Thnidu|talk]]) 23:16, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

a.k.a. Dr. Whom: Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoëpist, and Philological Busybody

;Transcript
Randall adds the transcripts sometimes later. We now know the planets are Earth and Jupiter and at the center is, of course, the sun.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:21, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

Slightly off-topic, but I just wanted to add this. You know how the ESA hosts their little Moon Mission competition and stuff? A theoretical mission to the moon whereby one researches and proposes a Moon Mission and writes out the mission details, although it won't actually happen, as far as I know. My college (well really, only me and one other girl) is collaborating with some other colleges in the US and some others from other countries (in total, 11 of us on one team) is participating in it. Part of the mission requirement is that we must be able to simulate the mission. Of course I read the details... and I absolutely died laughing when I read that Kerbal Space Program is officially a viable simulator for the "mission." I immediately thought of this comic, haha! I suppose you don't say it at NASA, but it's OK at ESA, I suppose! [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 02:09, 9 October 2015 (UTC)

Talk:471: Aversion Fads

2015-10-09T02:02:44Z

International Space Station:

The inclusion of a Fox is notable, within the Furry community foxes are the most populous species [Citation: https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/home ] and subjected to a degree of derision from other furs.

[[Special:Contributions/78.40.152.129|78.40.152.129]] 10:45, 12 January 2013 (UTC) Feefers (A Furry)

:Your mention of fox-morphism reminds me of {{w|Lady into Fox}}, from the 1920s... Probably not relevent, but perhaps interesting as a pre-Internet example that is not itself an ancient fable, legend or allegory. (No Rule 34ing, though, that I recall). [[Special:Contributions/178.107.249.215|178.107.249.215]] 22:22, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
::At that novel a lady suddenly turns into a real fox, this is not true for this comic. It's just the Furry community.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:02, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone know if this is Randall's actual opinion of furries? I've wondered that ever since I first read this comic. [[User:Leafy Greens|Leafy Greens]] ([[User talk:Leafy Greens|talk]]) 15:37, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

It's possible that the "Hey, kid" line is a reference to the "Hey, kid, wanna yiff?" meme (possibly based on another, "hey kid, wanna see a dead body") which was made 4 months -1 day prior to this strip release, apparently for a furry pick-up line contest on FurAffinity [got this from knowyourmeme]. Also, the title " Aversion Fad" might be suggesting that the anti-Furry attitude/meme/whatever is just a fad or meme. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 19:27, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

It should be noted that Randall has particularly picked up on the furry stereotype than what furries actually are. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 01:45, 9 October 2015 (UTC)

I've been wanting to fix this for over a year. This comic is written about furries, so I only think it's fair that the explain is written by someone who actually knows about the furry fandom--you know, an *actual* furry who, you know, isn't into the sexual stuff, i.e. me. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 02:02, 9 October 2015 (UTC)

471: Aversion Fads

2015-10-09T02:01:24Z

International Space Station: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 471
| date = September 3, 2008
| title = Aversion Fads
| image = aversion_fads.png
| titletext = Hey, are you friends with any hamsters? This kite needs a passenger.
}}

==Explanation==
To start, {{w|furry|furries}} are people who create an animal persona (fursona) version of themselves. Typically these are depicted as anthropomorphic cartoon or anime animals, but could also be real (i.e. feral) animals. And so, furries often create "fursuits" (costume versions of their character) and roleplay and cosplay their character while wearing their fursuits. Sometimes they will wear partial fursuits, which can consist of any part of the fursuit, such as ears and tails. Contrary to popular belief, furries are not bestial, and there is a distinction between the furry fandom and the furry sexuality. Unfortunately, it appears that Randall has bought into the media's stereotype of furries, assuming furries are all entirely sexual. It should be noted that while less than 1% of furries are bestial, around 90% of the furry fandom does partake in the more sexual aspect of the fandom, directing their fetishism primarily towards cartoon anthropomorphic animals, often incorporating far weirder fetishes into the sexuality (such as paw fetishism, coprophilia, vore, and macro/micro). This isn't to say the furry fandom is entirely comprised of the furry fetish. Many fursuiters who publicly fursuit are doing it moreso to show off the cuteness of their character, and to cuddle with other furries, rather than be an exhibitionist of their fetish. It should be noted, however, that at furry conventions, there are individuals who do wear fursuits with zippers at the crotch (known as murrsuits) for the obvious use. Said people rarely wear their murrsuits in public, and if they do so, their character usually wears clothing. If you see a fursuiter in public, kindly do not react as the people in this comic have reacted, nor react how [[Megan]] reacts assuming they're partaking in their fetish and that any mention of animals will turn them on. It is no different than publicly cosplaying, and while a bit childish, is almost every time, not a sexual thing for the furry, who even if a sexual furry, will typically keep their fetish to themselves, other furries, and furcons. Instead, try asking them for a picture, or completely ignoring them. Unfortunately, the media often misrepresents and misunderstands things [citation needed], and have done so with the furry fandom, too.

Here, we see [[Cueball]] and his Cueball-like friend, who are grossed out that there is a furry (noted by the kid's fox ears and tail) near them. These people most likely have bought into the stereotype of furries, and as such, are showing their disgust towards what they perceive the fandom to (wrongly) be. [[Megan]] then calls for the furry to help her with her kite. The way this turns out, she also thinks that furries are "weird as hell", but she is also irritated by the fact that a lot of people on the Internet are involved with a lot of weird things that may gross out or otherwise offend the general population, yet the Internet in general frequently mocks furries for engaging in essentially the same things. This hypocrisy bothers her, so she takes whatever opportunity she has to defend furries, who are, after all, people of the Internet.

Hearing this, the furry brings up {{w|The Lion and the Mouse|the fable of the lion and the mouse}} (from {{w|Aesop}}). This fable talks about a lion who spares a mouse from being eaten, since the mouse's promise that he would repay the lion gave the lion a good laugh. In the story, the lion later gets caught in a trap and the mouse chews through the cords, freeing the lion. The furry now has a debt to repay Megan, but before we can get to that Megan curtails the simile. She assumes that the furry will perceive the story to be about animal bondage relationships, and be aroused by such, although it should be noted that this will very likely NOT arouse the furry.

In the title text, Megan realizes that her kite needs a passenger. So, she asks the furry if he has any hamster friends. Being a furry, this could be either real hamsters (which could be tied to the kite), or people with hamster fursonas (who would probably be too large to be tied to the kite and remain buoyant). This may be a reference to [[20: Ferret]].

==Transcript==
:[Two Cueball-like guys stand together as a young guy dressed up with small ears and a tail approaches.]
:Cueball: Oh God, a furry. Don't let it touch you.

:[The furry hears someone call out to him.]
:Off-screen: Hey, kid.

:[Megan is seen preparing a kite to be flown.]
:Megan: Forget those assholes. Come help me.

:[The furry begins to help Megan set up the kite.]
:Furry: Thanks. So you're cool with furries?

:[The two are now standing far appart the furry with the kite and the line going over to Megan.]
:Megan: Well, I think your fetish is weird as hell. It just bothers me how you're this designated Internet punching bag among people who are otherwise down with weird fetishes. So I stick up for you when I can.

:[The kite now successfully up in the air and Megan pulls the line with both hands moving backwards.]
:Furry: Well, thanks. I owe you one.
:Megan: It's no big deal.

:[Megan stops some distance from the fury holding the line with one hhand. The fury lift one hand up apologising.]
:Furry: No, this is like the lion and the mouse.
:Megan: ...Listen, can we pick a comparison less likely to turn you on?
:Furry: Sorry.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Furries]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]