explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3212: Little Red Dots

2026-02-26T17:32:09Z

KelOfTheStars!: Fixed link typo

{{comic
| number = 3212
| date = February 25, 2026
| title = Little Red Dots
| image = little_red_dots_2x.png
| imagesize = 634x306px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After a lot of analysis, I've determined that they're actually big red dots; they're just very far away.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a LITTLE RED BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The {{w|Little red dot (astronomical object)|little red dot}}s that the comic refers to are something of an astronomical mystery, discovered by the JWST telescope. They may be powered by [https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/astronomers-detect-oldest-black-hole-ever-observed very, very old black holes] from 400-700 million years after the Big Bang, with the light from when they were young. The comic purports to give the responses of several different experts in unrelated fields when asked to identify them:
* According to the {{w|Entomology|entomologists}} (scientists who study insects and related arthropods), they are {{w|Clover mite | clover mites}} (''Bryobia praetiosa'') — very small [[Red Spiders|red arachnids]].
* According to the {{w|Computer_science|computer scientists}}, they are {{w|defective pixel|stuck pixels}} — pixels that do not work properly, and are stuck to one single color (red in this case). This is {{w|Hot pixel (telescopes)|a plausible concern}}, but presumably should already be handled through calibration processes.
* According to the {{w|Dermatology|dermatologists}} (doctors who specialize in skin disorders), they are {{w|Cherry angioma|cherry angiomas}} — harmless, non-cancerous skin growths made of clusters of dilated capillaries, appearing as bright red, smooth, or slightly raised spots.
* According to the {{w|Graphic_design|graphic designers}}, they are colors of type [https://www.colorhexa.com/d73b3e Jasper] (● #d73b3e) or [https://www.colorhexa.com/e34234 Vermillion] (● #e34234, sometimes called Cinnabar).

Quite obviously, all of these, if not completely incorrect, are fully unrelated to astronomy.

Part of the punchline is the shift in focus: instead of trying to identify the object, the designer is nitpicking the description of "red dot." Additionally, the graphic designer is also requesting [[Cueball]]'s {{w|Color_calibration|color settings}}, implying they believe the reason Cueball calls them "red" is due to poor display settings, and not due to using the common term for the color. There is a certain amount of insight here, as the JWST only observes orange to far-infrared light; this is to enable it to see very distant objects, whose blue and ultraviolet emissions have been {{w|redshift|redshifted}} into longer wavelengths. Converting observed wavelengths into rest-frame wavelengths is a process subject to error, and then {{w|false color|falsely-coloring}} the object so that it may be visualized by human eyes is another such.

In the title text, Randall claims to have analyzed the "little red dots" and determined that they are actually very large but distant objects. This is, however, an obvious deduction, since the JWST telescope is only ever used to look at very distant objects in space{{Citation needed}}, and these 'dots' must therefore be very large just to be visible at all (due to the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMiKyfd6hA0 phenomenon] of relative perceived size, where larger objects that are further away appear to be the same size as smaller ones that are closer to the viewer). The punchline here is that someone who has performed a lot of analysis would be expected to have a result that was not already obvious, but anyone looking at a telescope image of deep space would already be assuming that it depicts large objects very far away, not small objects close to the telescope. The theme of astronomers unsure of the size of objects spotted in a telescope was previously mentioned in [[2359: Evidence of Alien Life]].

The (possible) issue of a 'stuck pixel', except of a different hue, was previously visited in [[1246: Pale Blue Dot]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above all the panels:]
:Astronomers asking researchers from different departments to help them identify the "little red dots" in JWST images:

:[In each panel, Cueball stands at the left of an easel. The easel is shown each time as having a black image with three red dots on it. At the right of the easel in each panel is a different character looking at the image on the easel and commenting on it. At the top of each panel is a caption indicating the type of researcher commenting on the image.]

:Caption: Entomologists
:Megan: Clover mites.

:Caption: Computer scientists
:Knit Cap: Stuck pixels.

:Caption: Dermatologists
:Ponytail: Cherry angiomas.

:Caption: Graphic designers
:Hairy: No, those are vermillion, or maybe jasper.
:Hairy: Can I see your color settings?

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Graphic designers]]

3212: Little Red Dots

2026-02-26T17:31:08Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added reference to 2359

{{comic
| number = 3212
| date = February 25, 2026
| title = Little Red Dots
| image = little_red_dots_2x.png
| imagesize = 634x306px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After a lot of analysis, I've determined that they're actually big red dots; they're just very far away.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a LITTLE RED BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The {{w|Little red dot (astronomical object)|little red dot}}s that the comic refers to are something of an astronomical mystery, discovered by the JWST telescope. They may be powered by [https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/astronomers-detect-oldest-black-hole-ever-observed very, very old black holes] from 400-700 million years after the Big Bang, with the light from when they were young. The comic purports to give the responses of several different experts in unrelated fields when asked to identify them:
* According to the {{w|Entomology|entomologists}} (scientists who study insects and related arthropods), they are {{w|Clover mite | clover mites}} (''Bryobia praetiosa'') — very small [[Red Spiders|red arachnids]].
* According to the {{w|Computer_science|computer scientists}}, they are {{w|defective pixel|stuck pixels}} — pixels that do not work properly, and are stuck to one single color (red in this case). This is {{w|Hot pixel (telescopes)|a plausible concern}}, but presumably should already be handled through calibration processes.
* According to the {{w|Dermatology|dermatologists}} (doctors who specialize in skin disorders), they are {{w|Cherry angioma|cherry angiomas}} — harmless, non-cancerous skin growths made of clusters of dilated capillaries, appearing as bright red, smooth, or slightly raised spots.
* According to the {{w|Graphic_design|graphic designers}}, they are colors of type [https://www.colorhexa.com/d73b3e Jasper] (● #d73b3e) or [https://www.colorhexa.com/e34234 Vermillion] (● #e34234, sometimes called Cinnabar).

Quite obviously, all of these, if not completely incorrect, are fully unrelated to astronomy.

Part of the punchline is the shift in focus: instead of trying to identify the object, the designer is nitpicking the description of "red dot." Additionally, the graphic designer is also requesting [[Cueball]]'s {{w|Color_calibration|color settings}}, implying they believe the reason Cueball calls them "red" is due to poor display settings, and not due to using the common term for the color. There is a certain amount of insight here, as the JWST only observes orange to far-infrared light; this is to enable it to see very distant objects, whose blue and ultraviolet emissions have been {{w|redshift|redshifted}} into longer wavelengths. Converting observed wavelengths into rest-frame wavelengths is a process subject to error, and then {{w|false color|falsely-coloring}} the object so that it may be visualized by human eyes is another such.

In the title text, Randall claims to have analyzed the "little red dots" and determined that they are actually very large but distant objects. This is, however, an obvious deduction, since the JWST telescope is only ever used to look at very distant objects in space{{Citation needed}}, and these 'dots' must therefore be very large just to be visible at all (due to the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMiKyfd6hA0 phenomenon] of relative perceived size, where larger objects that are further away appear to be the same size as smaller ones that are closer to the viewer). The punchline here is that someone who has performed a lot of analysis would be expected to have a result that was not already obvious, but anyone looking at a telescope image of deep space would already be assuming that it depicts large objects very far away, not small objects close to the telescope. The theme of astronomers unsure of the size of objects spotted in a telescope was previously mentioned in [[2359: Evidence Of Alien Life]].

The (possible) issue of a 'stuck pixel', except of a different hue, was previously visited in [[1246: Pale Blue Dot]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above all the panels:]
:Astronomers asking researchers from different departments to help them identify the "little red dots" in JWST images:

:[In each panel, Cueball stands at the left of an easel. The easel is shown each time as having a black image with three red dots on it. At the right of the easel in each panel is a different character looking at the image on the easel and commenting on it. At the top of each panel is a caption indicating the type of researcher commenting on the image.]

:Caption: Entomologists
:Megan: Clover mites.

:Caption: Computer scientists
:Knit Cap: Stuck pixels.

:Caption: Dermatologists
:Ponytail: Cherry angiomas.

:Caption: Graphic designers
:Hairy: No, those are vermillion, or maybe jasper.
:Hairy: Can I see your color settings?

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Graphic designers]]

Talk:3187: High Altitude Cooking Instructions

2025-12-31T21:34:54Z

KelOfTheStars!: Transcript

Okay, but now I am imagining an inverse package labelling for ISS foodstuffs. [[Special:Contributions/209.52.88.130|209.52.88.130]] 01:17, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
:I think ISS qualifies as "sea level": the key is the atmospheric pressure, height per se does nothing to food [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 01:44, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
::The ISS maintains pretty much sea level atmosphere, and seems to also maintain similar composition, but there's definitely going to be complications with microgravity. Now I want to see what boiling water and steam look like in a zero g atmosphere [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 08:48, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
:::"...throughout the duration of cooking, hold cooker at arm's length and spin at roughly 30rpm, or as low as 5rpm if free-floating..." [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.242|82.132.244.242]] 13:13, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

You try cooking on the ISS the way you cook at sea level, you're gonna have several cups of boiling water in microgravity. [[Special:Contributions/207.195.86.104|207.195.86.104]] 04:55, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

I am editing the transcription and confused where the notes are attached. Now that the higher note reads ‘remove from heat [...] for 3 minutes before serving’, it may be food packaging, but the paint is too thin for it to be used for that purpose. And the space is seemingly inadequate for typical food labels (nutrition, ingredients, manufacturer, etc). [[User:物灵|物灵]] ([[User talk:物灵|talk]]) 05:10, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
:The higher note might just be the ‘sea level cooking instructions’, reading:
:;Sea level cooking instructions:
::[... ... ... ...]
::remove from heat [...]
::for 3 minutes before serving.
[[User:物灵|物灵]] ([[User talk:物灵|talk]]) 09:01, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
:It may be a box of pasta or similar, which can be shaped pretty thin - I have spaghetti boxes which are maybe an inch thick and quite large. The nutritional information, etc could be higher up on the board/box shown in the comic [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 09:53, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
:::I think it may say from heat, but I also think that is just good guessing. And it seems there is more further on. Could be something else like remove from what ever. I have removed it from the transcript after fro, as it is not clear on the drawing. Anything that needs an explanation do not belong in the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:46, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
::::I mean arguably, the o in fro could be a u, so that's not guaranteed... the f and r are both distinguishable, but the o isn't strictly speaking. Definitely pedantry, but might be worth changing the transcript as you said [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 19:02, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
:::::Then the R could also be a K ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:12, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
::::::It's ''clearly'' a line saying "REMÕ˅Ƚ ⸠ƦƱҐ ↑⸡ ¦ⱠH|͌̊̽͌", it's the ''only'' thing that makes sense! ;) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 19:48, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

I don't think Randall did it deliberately, but from a mere ''five km'' below his tidily rounded-by-feet "ask in the ISS" range (30km allocated, within which the ISS normally only uses 9 km, apogee to perigee) you'd find the Chinese space station (never more than 10 km below 1.3 Mft, and at least 21 km above the 1.2 Mft level, if you'll excuse my unusual mixing of units!). And they quite recently showcased the cooking skills with their new air-fryer, as many space-obsessives (like I might be) might recall... Perhaps that was at the back of his mind, but I can't actually imagine that he took conscious inspiration from that and then 'refused' to in any way acknowledge it (even in parody). At most, a totally forgotten bit of info that trickled into the spark for this. The core fact, of which, I've just made a note of in the explanation. But this is by way of an expanded note of how near he was to either having to acknowledge Tiangong or else have many pedants pointedly pointing out a potential inaccuracy/omission... ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.242|82.132.244.242]] 18:08, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

I suppose there is a way to calculate the original cooking time from the two high altitude variants… [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 21:32, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

The top line in full is clearly “Remove from heat,” but the last few letters aren’t fully visible, so I added them to the transcript in brackets. Not sure if there needs to be more of an indication that they’re only readable from inference. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 21:34, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

3187: High Altitude Cooking Instructions

2025-12-31T21:33:04Z

KelOfTheStars!: /* Transcript */ added the further characters from top line

{{comic
| number = 3187
| date = December 29, 2025
| title = High Altitude Cooking Instructions
| image = high_altitude_cooking_instructions_2x.png
| imagesize = 389x370px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 1,300,000-1,400,000 ft: Ask a crew member to show you how to use the ISS food warmer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a crew member using the ISS food warmer. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
At very low air pressures, typical of higher altitudes, cooking experiences extra complications. This was previously mentioned in [[2153: Effects of High Altitude]]. This comic imagines food preparation instructions with additional caveats specifically for high-altitude cooking.

As air pressure decreases, the boiling point of water also decreases. A decrease in pressure will occur due an increase of altitude, but the effect isn't usually significant (and also more so than weather-related variations, even in the exact same position, over time) except for locations that are particularly high up on mountains or mountainous plateaus. This has two major effects on food cooking. If the food is cooked by boiling in water, that will be happening at a lower temperature than usual. To fully cook the food, it will be necessary to cook it for longer than usual, for more time in water that isn't providing the usual rate of heat as it would at sea level, even as the water more quickly boils off. For foods that aren't being boiled, any moisture in the food will also evaporate more easily, which would leave the food relatively dried out unless it starts off more hydrated. In both cases, it will be necessary to add water (or more water than you'd normally be adding) to begin with, so that the amount of water is sufficient to complete the high-altitude cooking process safisfactorally.

A part of these instructions is thus labeled ''High Altitude Cooking Instructions'', upon the packet, probably on the back with the limited view we have of it not including any particular branding, ingredients or any other clue as to what this particular food is within if. Such additional instructions are relatively common in the real world for certain kinds of products, such as alternative times to prepare from ovens, fan-assisted ovens, cooking in a pan and microwaves of one or more ratings.

People who live at high altitudes and cook frequently are often aware of the kinds of adjustments to instructions that they need to make to have their cooking come out "right", but it's useful to have the adjustments given explicitly, especially with foods that may be supplied specifically to mountaineering expeditions that may wish to cook the same product at various points between the foothills and a summit top. This comes at a "cost" of giving non-high-altitude people more instructions to read, which can appear daunting at first glance, and occupying more space on the food's packaging, leaving less for pretty pictures or other inducements to buy the product. Or the instructions can be printed in a smaller font, making them harder to read for some users.

At the top there are a part of these instructions that can only partly be seen; presumably, these are the "sea level" instructions mentioned later. What can be seen for sure is "remove from" and "for 3 minutes before serving." A qualified guess is that it says "remove from heat and let stand for 3 minutes before serving," but as nothing above this is visible, it is impossible to tell what the meal is, and the original cook time and temperature can only be guessed at. Below follows the separate High Altitude version, which list instructions for three different heights above sea level.

While the first two sections are reasonable accommodations, given the lower boiling point of water under less pressure, for altitudes of 3,500-6,500 ft (1-2 km) and 6,500-9,500 ft (2-3 km), the instructions - as is typical for xkcd - soon veer into absurdity.

At an altitude of 250,000-450,000 ft (approximately 76-137 km), the instructions assume the user is partaking in some kind of controlled spaceflight. The "cooking instructions", therefore, are instead instructions for reentry; basically, telling the user "You can wait until you get home". Once back on the ground it tells you to use the sea level cooking instructions. These are most likely the one that is written on the top part of the comic.

In this range of altitudes, you are ''highly'' likely to actively be either on the way down or, perhaps, still on the way up to space; cooking shouldn't be your primary concern in either case. The air-launched {{w|North American X-15|X-15}}, as did the later {{w|SpaceShipOne}}, ultimately 'flew' at around 350,000 ft, though (as with rockets, re-entry capsules or {{w|Project HARP|projectiles}}) there is no real capability to loiter at these altitudes, being well above even the unmanned balloon-flight record or that of any {{w|AeroVironment Helios Prototype#Records|sustained level flight}}. And only in the latter might you even expect to be a passenger, not too busy to enjoy a light pre-prepared snack — already cooked, as necessary, at ground level.

The title text goes a step further and assumes that the user is in orbit - specifically, on the {{w|International Space Station}} at an altitude of 1,300,000-1,400,000 (396-426 km) (The ISS is between 413-422 km above Earth's surface). Anyone on an orbiting space station is presumably going to be on that space station for an extended period, so they cannot wait until after they return to Earth for a meal, so the "cooking instructions" simply direct the user to someone who can show them how to use the on-board facilities. Even if the pressure is one atmosphere, cooking with boiling water in a microgravity environment (as one might experience on a free-falling space station) is likely not the best of ideas, so better ask someone for directions.

Interestingly, ''just'' below the 1,300,000 feet limit, you may instead be able to ask a Taikonaut how to use their {{w|Tiangong space station#Food and personal hygiene|microwave or recently installed air-fryer}}.

In 2022, spaceman extraordinaire Scott Manley uploaded a rigorously scientific presentation titled [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwf0RWXx8BY Can You Cook a Turkey by Dropping It From Space?]. A similar question was discussed in the 2013 [[what if? (blog)|What if]] blog post, "{{What If|28|Steak Drop}}".

==Transcript==
:[Two notes, of black writing on white background, are printed upon an item of grey packaging that is shown in closeup, slightly inclined and rotated within the comic panel. Only the latter parts of the top note are visible — because of the slant, only the first few characters of the penultimate line, and the entire final line of text, can be read. The bottom note is fully visible, as the bottom of the board is all within view.]

:[The readable part of the top note's two lines:]
:Remove fro[m heat]
:for 3 minutes before serving.

:[The bottom note:]
:'''High altitude cooking instructions:'''
:'''3,500-6,500 ft''': Add ½ cup water, increase cook time to 12 minutes
:'''6,500-9,500 ft''': Add 1¼ cups water, increase cook time to 18 minutes
:'''250,000-450,000 ft''': Orient reentry vehicle for aerodynamic stability. Deploy parachutes at 10,000 ft. Descend, keeping crew capsule tightly covered, for 3-4 minutes. After splashdown, follow sea level cooking instructions

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Food]]
[[Category: Space]]

Talk:3185: Sauropods

2025-12-25T02:51:38Z

KelOfTheStars!: Title text

I was going to put in the first draft of an explanation, but that would have meant sticking my neck out... ;) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 01:24, 25 December 2025 (UTC)

I also wanted to try explaining, by it's scary, I feel spineless [[Special:Contributions/62.56.149.220|62.56.149.220]] 01:33, 25 December 2025 (UTC)

The title text is referencing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiders_Georg Spiders Georg]. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 01:37, 25 December 2025 (UTC)
: i came here to yell "spiders georg!" but i see you have beat me to it - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 01:40, 25 December 2025 (UTC)

The extremely short, punctuationless title text definitely evokes the spirit of early xkcd title texts like “disgusting” or “just thought you should know” [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 02:51, 25 December 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3181: Jumping Frog Radius

2025-12-17T21:00:30Z

KelOfTheStars!:

first [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 05:17, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

Question: Would a correct interpretation be "if a champion jumping frog were to be located just under 1.5 light-days from earth, and if there we're no other gravitational bodies nearby, and if said frog then performed its mightiest jump directly away from earth, then the frog would eventually be overcome by Earth's gravitational field and would eventually land on Earth's surface"? [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 06:26, 16 December 2025 (UTC)
:I guess that is exactly how it should be interpreted. Or more interesting if it was just outside this radius and somehow could gain exactly 4,5 m/s extra speed then it would escape Earth (if there was anything to push of against that was heavy enough to move basically only the frog forward, then that would change the mass behind the frog so... That was why I wrote gain exactly rather than jump). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:36, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

: or its mightiest jump in any direction (that doesn't cause it to crash through the Earth) since the escape speed is the same in all directions (relevant xkcd:https://what-if.xkcd.com/68/ ) --[[Special:Contributions/178.197.223.163|178.197.223.163]] 09:21, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

The only two variables are rjf and M, so plotting a 2 axis graph plotting the relationship between M and rjf should be possible. [[User:Zabadoh|Zabadoh]] ([[User talk:Zabadoh|talk]]) 08:20, 16 December 2025 (UTC) [''You sign '''after''' your contribution'']

As frogs usually collect on the surface of worlds {{cn}}, the *surface* escape velocity is most important. The crossover point for a planet with earth-like density (5515 kg/m³) is 2.6km, above that, the rjf falls below the surface, and the planet can accumulate frogs. Smaller bodies are, however, usually less dense; an interesting borderline candidate is Chicxulub, which had an rjf of 3-4km, and a radius of 5-6km so could have just about held onto its frogs, for a while at least. [[User:JeffUK|JeffUK]] ([[User talk:JeffUK|talk]]) 10:04, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

It would be interesting to look at the Rjf values ''of a frog'', to consider where new limits are put upon the frog for M-masses that aren't totally dominating the scenario of "frog leaves mass"... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.93|82.132.237.93]] 11:03, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

I interpreted it as a reference to the Mark Twain short story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. [[User:Gustaveeiffel314|Gustaveeiffel314]] ([[User talk: Gustaveeiffel314|talk]]) 12:25, 16 December

I also suspected an allusion to Twain's short story, but then I read it at archive.org/details/celebratedjumpin00twai and found no parallels. The earth's radius wasn't the problem, it was 5 pounds of quail shot. That frog didn't land with a "plop" but "as solid as a gob of mud." There is no mention of "champion" in the story. The 1865 population of Calaveras County (post Gold Rush) was down below 15,000. That is, the frog shown in #3181 probably came from somewhere else that really knows how to breed frogs with muscular legs, maybe France. Before I risk overthinking this, I'm going to conclude that #3181 is not a Twain reference. [[User:Bismuthfoot|Bismuthfoot]] ([[User talk:Bismuthfoot|talk]]) 14:37, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

What's with all that text in the incomplete explanation warning box? It seems like it belongs in the discussion. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:05, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

Erm, the current text has a statement that rjf < 4.5m/s for other planetary bodies. Seems like it is mixing measurements, a radius would be a distance, not a velocity. It might be trying to say that other planetary bodies have an ESCAPE VELOCITY of more than 4.5 m/s, so jumping frogs on the surface of those planetary bodies couldn't get out of that planet's gravity well. ~~{{unsigned ip|57.140.32.36|15:53, 16 December 2025}}
:Don't recognise your statement (until I check the current state of the main explanation), but a radius can be defined as a vector, as can a velocity. Pretty sure that's not what it says (or should be saying), but there is a possible interchangability if analysed in the 'right' way. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.93|82.132.237.93]] 17:00, 16 December 2025 (UTC)
:(ETA: Nope, can't see where "the current text has a statement that rjf < 4.5m/s for other planetary bodies" - Unless I'm missing some obscure reference to it that you're not!) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.93|82.132.237.93]] 17:04, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

It might be worth pointing out that frogs found on the surfaces of other planets in our solar system will have other reasons for not being able to jump to escape velocity (eg., they are no longer alive) [[Special:Contributions/2A09:BAC2:6188:123C:0:0:1D1:CF|2A09:BAC2:6188:123C:0:0:1D1:CF]] 01:20, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
:A frog does not have to be alive to jump, it could be a mechanical one. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 02:44, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
::A mechanical frog couldn't be a ''champion'' jumping frog though, because only biological frogs are allowed to compete. [[Special:Contributions/76.22.93.146|76.22.93.146]] 03:38, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
:::So perhaps not a champion frog, but rather a frog built by a champion frog builder? (Runners-up for champion frog builder include both of the champion frog’s parents.) [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 21:00, 17 December 2025 (UTC)

I disagree with the point about the flawed argument of frogs all being on earth. With a simple assumption that no aliens have transported a frog off world, basic taxonomy says that anything resembling a frog on another planet would infact not be a frog and would be a result of convergent evolution. I also think that aliens moving stuff around is not a common inclusion in physics formulas. So perhaps still falwed but not as strongly flawed as implied in the main text. [[Special:Contributions/2001:14BA:A086:FF00:39D0:B88:A6EF:5F9C|2001:14BA:A086:FF00:39D0:B88:A6EF:5F9C]] 08:28, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
: That doesn't negate the point that ''if'' a frog was loose in space, it could be trapped in the gravity well of another planet and end up there rather than Earth. The 'theory', in the way it is expressed, contains the hidden implication that frogs ''start off'' floating around freely - not on any planet. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:34, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
::There's always the theory of Pan''frogspawn''ia... ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.175|82.132.238.175]] 11:59, 17 December 2025 (UTC)

Hmm.. How about frogs taken to the ISS for experimental purposes? Surely there's one or two if those? [[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C8:253C:101:5BC5:789F:56FB:A042|2A00:23C8:253C:101:5BC5:789F:56FB:A042]] 08:42, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
:From a general relativity point of view the ISS is not really different from the surface of Earth. In fact if you factor in the Jumping Frog Radius you can redefine the surface of Earth as englobing the orbit of the ISS, as, basically, the "surface of the Earth" is just some stuff jumbled together by gravity, so this technically applies to the ISS as well. [[Special:Contributions/78.241.48.142|78.241.48.142]] 11:06, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
:The ISS isn't in a constant frame of reference to the Earth's surface. If you want to redefine the surface of the Earth as being the "spherical ISS-like sphere" then that's a different body (loosely akin to the differences between analysing static and rotating black holes, for schwarzschild radius purposes).
:In fact, you have to do most of the work to ''get to'' ISS's orbit (far more than 'merely' getting to its altitude), 9.4km/s (ish). You only need about ~1.7km/s more to escape Earth entirely.
:Not quite within Champion Frog reach, of course. Or not a ''single'' CJF, but by using a lot of them, and by careful configuration of a stack of those frogs using the <s>Rocket</s>Frog Equation, you could probably get at least one small frog to entirely leave Earth's gravitational influence. As you might from Earth, but you'd need a ''lot'' more frogs. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.175|82.132.238.175]] 11:59, 17 December 2025 (UTC)
::You also all forget that without boosts using fuel the ISS will end up back on the surface of the Earth with the frogs (burning up in the process but the relics would be on Earth again). And it is not said that any frogs could not be outside of Earth but they would be within the rjf radius, and thus be on their way back to this surface, as is the ISS. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:59, 17 December 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3180: Apples

2025-12-13T00:09:31Z

KelOfTheStars!:

As heretical as it is, I almost want to keep the explanation just like this [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 00:09, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3178: Hyperacute Interdynamics

2025-12-09T05:15:53Z

KelOfTheStars!: Reply

Explanatings!!! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 02:37, 9 December 2025 (UTC)
:E X P L A N A T E ! E X P L A N A T E ! E X P L A N A T E ! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 02:42, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

A black hole with the mass of the sun would have a Schwarzschild radius of 2.95 km. So it would take some significant revisions to theory to accommodate a grapefruit-sized object with that mass. Perhaps if it's digested by a squirrel, it gets smaller? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:32, 9 December 2025 (UTC)
:hopefully quite a bit smaller, given the size of the squirrel in this example. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 05:15, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

3178: Hyperacute Interdynamics

2025-12-09T05:12:10Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added centimeter reference for real squirrel height

{{comic
| number = 3178
| date = December 8, 2025
| title = Hyperacute Interdynamics
| image = hyperacute_interdynamics_2x.png
| imagesize = 696x265px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our models fall apart where the three theories overlap; we're unable to predict what happens when a nanometer-sized squirrel eats a grapefruit with the mass of the sun.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A STAR WITH THE MASS OF A SQUIRREL. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic depicts [[Miss Lenhart]] teaching a class, which has been a recent recurring theme on xkcd. She describes the three pillars of physics, those being {{w|General relativity}} concerning very large objects, {{w|Quantum mechanics}} concerning very small objects, and {{w|Thermodynamics}}. In the comic, Miss Lenhart replaces Thermodynamics with the fictional Hyperacute Interdynamics, which specifically covers objects 10-30cm (~4" - ~12") in size and 200-700g (0.44lb - 1.54lb) in mass. A student points out that the concept of Hyperacute Interdynamics is quite limited.

The teacher responds by stating that this is made up for by the fact that it is apparently very accurate and precise, and gives examples of how it is able to perfect squirrels and grapefruit, two objects which both fit the necessary size and weight specifications. She also states that there are hopes to unify this system with the other two.

The title text takes the joke further, giving reason to Miss Lenhart's remark about unification. She comments that, under the current system, measurements which require elements from all three pillars are impossible. The example she gives is equally absurd as the concept of Hyperacute Interdynamics itself, stating that it is unknown when a nanometer-sized squirrel (covering Quantum Mechanics and Hyperacute Interdynamics) eats a grapefruit with the mass of the sun (once again covering Hyperacute Interdynamics as well as General Relativity). This scenario would never occur in real life, so it is unknown why scientists would be willing to pursue it.

There is an inaccuracy in the comic: the Eastern Gray Squirrel, which is the most prevalent squirrel in Massachusetts (where Randall lives), measures 16-20 inches (approx. 40-50 centimeters) on average when fully grown, meaning that a fully-grown squirrel would be too big for Hyperacute Interdynamics to apply.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Miss Lenhart is teaching Cueball and Jill in a classroom. Both students are sitting at desks and Jill can be seen taking notes.]
:[Miss Lenhart is talking to her students]
:Miss Lenhart: Modern physics rests on three main pillars: 
:general relativity, which describes very massive objects,
:[A zoom on Miss Lenhart's face]
:Miss Lenhart: Quantum Mechanics, which describes very small objects,
:[The view zooms back out. Miss Lenhart can be seen in the center of the panel near the bottom.]
:Miss Lenhart: and Hyperacute Interdynamics, which describes objects 10-30cm in size and 200-700g in mass.
:[The panel zooms back into Miss Lenhart's head. She is in the bottom-right corner of the panel.]
:Student (off-panel): That last one seems kind of limited.
:Miss Lenhart:Yeah, but over it's domain it's '''''really''''' precise. Absolutely '''''nails''''' squirrels and grapefruit.
:Miss Lenhart:Someday we hope to unify it with the other two.
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]

Talk:3176: Inverted Catenaries

2025-12-04T21:37:35Z

KelOfTheStars!: Real or joke

Hoookay ... am I nutz, or shouldn't a physical object with the shape of an inverted catenary (2D or 3D) fall and land with the rounded side down? And shouldn't such a "catenary fall" (if 3D objects) produce a flat-ish, unstable surface that would be [ahem] very interesting to drive (or walk or yada) on, and on which square tires would be useless? [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:216D:5149:ACEB:AD1C|2605:59C8:160:DB08:216D:5149:ACEB:AD1C]] 03:42, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:Not necessarily. Depends on how catenary is weighted, it doesn't have to be of uniform density.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 04:23, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:If inverted catenaries flip, during their fall, then they become "inverted inverted catenaries", instead, which some ''might'' say are 'just catenaries' (or, indeed, be best observed as the catenary-chord, utmost). So, by ''definition'', they don't. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.140|82.132.239.140]] 13:03, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:The comic itself is 2D, so if this were a 3D scenario it might be that the inverted catenaries are actually extended, like a series of speed bumps aligned with roads. That may be likely since I'm pretty sure xkcd has more 3D cars than 2D throughout the comics [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 14:14, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

A caternary curve is that of a tethered chain hanging loose in gravity, so defined as one with the curve pointed downward. this requires its inversion to curve up. Semantics, but in this case important ones. {{unsigned ip|50.37.102.15|07:24, 4 December 2025 (UTC)}}

Coming from a snowy country, we don't use all-season tyres. We have summer tyres (useless on snow and ice, very well suited for dry and wet surfaces) and winter tyres. Winter tyres without studs can legally be used all year round, but are ill-suited for summer conditions. [[Special:Contributions/109.247.36.180|109.247.36.180]] 08:32, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:Well in Canada many people never use summer tires at all. They would drive all-season and then switch to winter tires. Cold snaps are sometimes so sudden in Canada, that many people don't want to risk driving on summer tires as it can come to bite you in Spring or Fall.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 15:31, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

Although square wheels on inverted catenaries have no practical use, non-circular wheels on non-smooth tracks are used in rack railways, which are an application of a rack-and-pinion mechanism. {{unsigned ip|85.228.125.118|11:41, 4 December 2025 (UTC)}}

Did Randall move to canada? [[Special:Contributions/206.193.5.5|206.193.5.5]] 16:40, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:: I reckon he's been tempted, like many of us. But if we tried it, all we'd be likely to find was Randy Bachman singing his new song "The Ghost of Stephen Harper". We have all been here before ... [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 20:20, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:Northern parts of USA get a lot of snow too. Some select cities in the North of US might even get more snow than southern Canadian cities.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 16:48, 4 December 2025
:Pretty sure Randall lives near Boston MA (https://xkcd.com/3081/), and we had a significant storm on Tuesday (the day before this was posted). Plenty of people here (myself included) switch to snow tires around this time. [[Special:Contributions/130.64.22.2|130.64.22.2]] 17:30, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:: I was referring to South Park featuring Canadian vehicles having square tires, not anything related to climate. [[Special:Contributions/206.193.5.5|206.193.5.5]] 20:38, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

Has there actually been any research into a wheel shape that’s the best on average over any given terrain pattern, or is that just Randall having a laugh? [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 21:37, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

3176: Inverted Catenaries

2025-12-04T02:07:10Z

KelOfTheStars!: First draft

{{comic
| number = 3176
| date = December 3, 2025
| title = Inverted Catenaries
| image = inverted_catenaries_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x317px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some tires are marketed as 'all-shape tires,' but if driven in a climate with both inverted catenary falls and triangle falls, they wear out really fast.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A TRAPEZOIDAL WHEEL. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

During the winter, in snowy areas, people need to replace their typical, all-season tires with snow tires made specifically for the slick environment. In this comic, instead of snow, rounded shapes called inverted catenaries fall from the skies. On a plane covered in inverted catenaries, square wheels are capable of rolling smoothly, contrary to how they would act on a normal road. Regular wheels would cause a significantly bumpier ride on this terrain, so Cueball plans to swap them out with square wheels to better suit the season.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3174: Bridge Clearance

2025-11-29T01:21:32Z

KelOfTheStars!: Space elevator sign

But when the moon is directly overhead they also have to edit the contents of the sign [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]])
:The Moon being overhead only applies to places in latitudes roughly between 28.5 degrees N and S, at its absolute most extreme inclinations. So, for the contiiguous US, that potentially affects only roads in some bits of Florida and Texas.
:Louisiana's most southern point is ''very'' close to that, such that the 'upper limb' of our satellite would 'overhead' an additional quarter of a degree of latitude, taking in this spot and a bit more. But that location is also an island. {{w|Port Fourchon, Louisiana}}, seems to be the most southerly stretch of regular (mainland) road in that state, and that's still just too far north to be affected. [[Special:Contributions/78.144.255.82|78.144.255.82]] 23:10, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

Note how the second sign extends off the panel, presumably with a warning further up for any vehicles under clearance. That’s quite the space elevator. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 01:21, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3172: Fifteen Years

2025-11-25T00:19:04Z

KelOfTheStars!: Quote

Part of a series:
* https://xkcd.com/1141/
* https://xkcd.com/1928/
* https://xkcd.com/2386/
--[[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 21:28, 24 November 2025 (UTC)
:[[:Category:X Years]]. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 22:03, 24 November 2025 (UTC)
"Growing old is a fabulous alternative to death." [[Special:Contributions/85.255.235.101|85.255.235.101]] 21:30, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO SWEET EEEEEEEEEE. So happy for you Randall! <3 '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:36, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Growing old ... '''together'''. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 21:59, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

The paragraph about the title text could use a reference to the series of comics of the form "Students graduating this year have never...". I'm not sure how to find them. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:11, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Just. The. Cutest. This is an ideal relationship.--[[User:Maxcodes|Maxcodes]] ([[User talk:Maxcodes|talk]]) 22:32, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

I love being reminded I’m (pretty dang sure I’m) going to die alone, yaaaaaay [[Special:Contributions/2600:4040:12A0:E200:D1D1:1F63:C1A:31F2|2600:4040:12A0:E200:D1D1:1F63:C1A:31F2]] 23:05, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

yay they have survived [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]])

As John Lennon once said, “Grow old along with me.” [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 00:19, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-24T19:23:25Z

KelOfTheStars!: Fixed link

F1R5T P0ST [[User:Slothscript|Slothscript]] ([[User talk:Slothscript|talk]]) 23:51, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

How do I add a category? It needs to be in the LOTR category. (Wow it’s hard to edit this thing on a phone) [[User:Kirinhatchi|Kirinhatchi]] ([[User talk:Kirinhatchi|talk]])

is netherrack a typo? {{unsigned ip|151.197.190.53|00:24, 22 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:No, it's an extremely weak, dark red rock from Minecraft. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 00:39, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

andalite is not a rock it's an alien from Animorphs which the author is a fan of. Maybe I'll add it to the Animorphs category page [[User:Whoservelt|Whoservelt]] ([[User talk:Whoservelt|talk]]) 00:28, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

They’re just normal rock types, so perhaps not, but I was wondering if the back-to-back references to granite and diorite is a secondary Minecraft reference, since they were added in the same update (which I always associate with them in general.) [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 01:23, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:I think it IS another Minecraft reference. Along with granite and diorite, there’s a third in that triad: andesite — which is spelled and pronounced similarly enough to “Andalite” that the two could quite possibly be conflated, especially by someone who is familiar with the latter and “always has to look up” the former. {{unsigned ip|2a04:4e41:3521:69d6::1d21:69d6|01:44, 22 November 2025 (UTC)}}
::Well, it's 'andalite' in the comic, not andesite. I think that's just a passing reference. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 02:29, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:It's been a long time since I Minecrafted, but I don't recall any (stock) inclusion of anything so realistic. Raw 'generic' stone (which became cobblestone once mined, unless it was an ore-holding version), sandstone, obsidian (which I'd usually cast) and the indestrutable bedrock - in the 'normal' world. Netherack (I keep wanting to type "nethack"!) in the Nether and maybe something else (other than the general igneous theme, fire and hostiles) ...glowstone? I know there are (were) 'real rock patches', as with many other mods, but I hadn't heard of this being put into vanilla editions (Bedrock, or whatever). Whether it's happened since the Ender got put in, I don't know. I was playing (solo-survival mode, mostly) when there were Endermen, but not yet their own domain for them/the dragon, and basically forgot about it before Microsoft took it on (then had too many other new time-sinks to even consider selling my soul to them)...
:But something like Dwarf Fortress ''does'' have plenty of rock-types (plain 'granite', but also diorite, gabbro, slate, limestone, mudstone, etc, etc, etc, even before getting to ores and gem clusters), for longer even than Minecraft had been around, and I linked into that where I thought appropriate. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.186|82.132.236.186]] 17:26, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:: You've not minecraft in a long time then friend, it's been over a decade since Endermen were added. Here are some more stone types in vanilla minecraft other than the ones you listed: Granite, Andesite, Diorite, Sandstone, Red Sandstone, Tuff, Deepslate, Calcite, Dripstone, Basalt, Blackstone, and End Stone. [[Special:Contributions/199.247.247.123|199.247.247.123]] 19:20, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
::: As another long-lapsed minecrafter, that's news to me. (Could I colour stone, back then, or was that just wool blocks and maybe some modded-in 'concrete'?) Also reminded me more of [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Stone DF stones], though, there being a lot of those, and MC looks like it's still not quite as complexity. I love being able to build entire castles in olivine, or cinnabar/[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Pitchblende whatever's plentiful enough] (and not ore/flux, or the limited amount best saved for other purposes like colour-coded magmasafe floodgates/levers), without 'cheating' by applying my own hues to them. Mind you, I also prefer pre-Steam ASCII-style (vanilla) DF, as well, easier to understand, sometimes, than trying to understand some of the artwork. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.77.121|2.98.77.121]] 20:08, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Concrete is now an actual thing in minecraft. It's color is basically solid, So it's great for building. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 00:12, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

Do we make this a table? This comic seems perfect for a table. Maybe 'layer', whether it's real or not, and explanation? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 01:36, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:I'll try to work on a a table (given that someone else doesn't beat me to the chase). Also-what happened to your sig? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 06:31, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
::I was pondering a ";term:definition" approach, and someone beat me to it (but without the definition-indent) and I ran my changes with it. I don't think a table would need more than two columns (excluding "Real?", being "Yes", "No" or "Technically Yes/No, '''but...'''"), so, with the predicted division of vertical space in a table, I think I'd stick with the '''header'''+explanation of the ";:" method. (Can always add a Real/Not Real {{template|Yes}}/{{template|No}}/{{template|Maybe}}-''like'' appending/prepending note to the term-header...) It's not really going to need sortable-table use, etc. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.186|82.132.236.186]] 17:26, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

Should reference somewhere that Balrogs having wings is controversial to begin with (see here)[https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Balrogs/Wings] [[Special:Contributions/2601:241:8002:3E0:89D3:137:DFC1:D5B4|2601:241:8002:3E0:89D3:137:DFC1:D5B4]] 04:41, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:Hadn't read this, when I puut my own thing about it in there. The actual "did they have wings?" bit, in the {{w|Balrog}} page I linked to a section of, is buried within a multiparagraph section, so ''maybe'' your link is better (or a better one in that part, straight-link Balrog on the first mention for the general wikipedia entry).
:Certainly, when I was young (long before Wikipedia, and indeed the Web... Not sure when alt.fan.tolkien started, but I didn't have usenet access before I had academic internet access, but it was already an FAQ when I finally got into that scene), the questions were:
:#So, did a (or 'the', or ''any'', depending on tye context) Balrog have actual wings?
:#If they did, why? Given they were subterranean denizens? (Probably not the exact words, maybe "...living underground".)
:#So how could it be made to fall like that? (Typical answer: "A wizard did it"... Namely Gandalf kept it falling/distracted. Because that was the point.)
:...I may check to see if the collected wisdom of the current ubiquitous fan-led website has any better answers than we would come up with, after our countless geek-hours of discussion after/before/during tabletop RPGing (even if it wasn't LOTR-based, someone could easily have mentioned the balrog, in the context of a viking attack over a narrow bridge, or whatever). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.186|82.132.236.186]] 17:26, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
::Balrogs are not naturally subterranean. They're Maiar, just like Sauron and Gandalf. They used to fight in wars and do other evil stuff on the surface. [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 15:33, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

Actually, coring previous drilling equipment ''can'' happen. The southern German town of [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebungsrisse_in_Staufen_im_Breisgau Staufen] suffered a geothermal drilling gone wrong (they inserted ground water into anhydrite, which swelled, causing the town to rise). During the investigations, the original drilling equipment was hit in the new core, showing the errors made in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:A875:DC00:3068:165E:B396:DE72|2001:16B8:A875:DC00:3068:165E:B396:DE72]] 07:33, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

Side comment on the header saying "typical": coming to the surface on land instead of water is [https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/aset1o/places_where_you_could_actually_make_an_earth/ extremely unlikely], as we were taught years ago by Ze Frank's "If The Earth Were a Sandwich" video series. Look it up. [[User:Jonesey|Jonesey]] ([[User talk:Jonesey|talk]]) 16:24, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

The explanation talks about how the Nether is essentially Minecraft hell - it might be worth mentioning how the comic might be referencing going so deep you find hell. That might also coincide with the Balrog wing (do they live in hell?), something something digging too deep, but I lack the requisite LOTR knowledge to make that connection for real [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 13:50, 24 November 2025 (UTC)
: Also, they've ended up coring another person's house, and as we all know, hell is other people...
: Oh, and there's a bit of water main in there, and the main is, of course, high water. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:30, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Probably the {{w|Kola Superdeep Borehole}} should be mentioned.[[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 16:44, 24 November 2025 (UTC)
: This also has a related comic [[1330: Kola Borehole]] --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 16:53, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Switched out the balrog reference in [[730: Circuit Diagram]] for the one in [[3141: Mantle Model]], since the former felt way too indirect of a reference to be relevant here, and the latter is a lot more directly tied to geology.[[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 19:22, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-24T19:22:47Z

KelOfTheStars!: Explained reference change

F1R5T P0ST [[User:Slothscript|Slothscript]] ([[User talk:Slothscript|talk]]) 23:51, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

How do I add a category? It needs to be in the LOTR category. (Wow it’s hard to edit this thing on a phone) [[User:Kirinhatchi|Kirinhatchi]] ([[User talk:Kirinhatchi|talk]])

is netherrack a typo? {{unsigned ip|151.197.190.53|00:24, 22 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:No, it's an extremely weak, dark red rock from Minecraft. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 00:39, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

andalite is not a rock it's an alien from Animorphs which the author is a fan of. Maybe I'll add it to the Animorphs category page [[User:Whoservelt|Whoservelt]] ([[User talk:Whoservelt|talk]]) 00:28, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

They’re just normal rock types, so perhaps not, but I was wondering if the back-to-back references to granite and diorite is a secondary Minecraft reference, since they were added in the same update (which I always associate with them in general.) [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 01:23, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:I think it IS another Minecraft reference. Along with granite and diorite, there’s a third in that triad: andesite — which is spelled and pronounced similarly enough to “Andalite” that the two could quite possibly be conflated, especially by someone who is familiar with the latter and “always has to look up” the former. {{unsigned ip|2a04:4e41:3521:69d6::1d21:69d6|01:44, 22 November 2025 (UTC)}}
::Well, it's 'andalite' in the comic, not andesite. I think that's just a passing reference. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 02:29, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:It's been a long time since I Minecrafted, but I don't recall any (stock) inclusion of anything so realistic. Raw 'generic' stone (which became cobblestone once mined, unless it was an ore-holding version), sandstone, obsidian (which I'd usually cast) and the indestrutable bedrock - in the 'normal' world. Netherack (I keep wanting to type "nethack"!) in the Nether and maybe something else (other than the general igneous theme, fire and hostiles) ...glowstone? I know there are (were) 'real rock patches', as with many other mods, but I hadn't heard of this being put into vanilla editions (Bedrock, or whatever). Whether it's happened since the Ender got put in, I don't know. I was playing (solo-survival mode, mostly) when there were Endermen, but not yet their own domain for them/the dragon, and basically forgot about it before Microsoft took it on (then had too many other new time-sinks to even consider selling my soul to them)...
:But something like Dwarf Fortress ''does'' have plenty of rock-types (plain 'granite', but also diorite, gabbro, slate, limestone, mudstone, etc, etc, etc, even before getting to ores and gem clusters), for longer even than Minecraft had been around, and I linked into that where I thought appropriate. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.186|82.132.236.186]] 17:26, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:: You've not minecraft in a long time then friend, it's been over a decade since Endermen were added. Here are some more stone types in vanilla minecraft other than the ones you listed: Granite, Andesite, Diorite, Sandstone, Red Sandstone, Tuff, Deepslate, Calcite, Dripstone, Basalt, Blackstone, and End Stone. [[Special:Contributions/199.247.247.123|199.247.247.123]] 19:20, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
::: As another long-lapsed minecrafter, that's news to me. (Could I colour stone, back then, or was that just wool blocks and maybe some modded-in 'concrete'?) Also reminded me more of [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Stone DF stones], though, there being a lot of those, and MC looks like it's still not quite as complexity. I love being able to build entire castles in olivine, or cinnabar/[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Pitchblende whatever's plentiful enough] (and not ore/flux, or the limited amount best saved for other purposes like colour-coded magmasafe floodgates/levers), without 'cheating' by applying my own hues to them. Mind you, I also prefer pre-Steam ASCII-style (vanilla) DF, as well, easier to understand, sometimes, than trying to understand some of the artwork. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.77.121|2.98.77.121]] 20:08, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Concrete is now an actual thing in minecraft. It's color is basically solid, So it's great for building. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 00:12, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

Do we make this a table? This comic seems perfect for a table. Maybe 'layer', whether it's real or not, and explanation? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 01:36, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:I'll try to work on a a table (given that someone else doesn't beat me to the chase). Also-what happened to your sig? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 06:31, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
::I was pondering a ";term:definition" approach, and someone beat me to it (but without the definition-indent) and I ran my changes with it. I don't think a table would need more than two columns (excluding "Real?", being "Yes", "No" or "Technically Yes/No, '''but...'''"), so, with the predicted division of vertical space in a table, I think I'd stick with the '''header'''+explanation of the ";:" method. (Can always add a Real/Not Real {{template|Yes}}/{{template|No}}/{{template|Maybe}}-''like'' appending/prepending note to the term-header...) It's not really going to need sortable-table use, etc. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.186|82.132.236.186]] 17:26, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

Should reference somewhere that Balrogs having wings is controversial to begin with (see here)[https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Balrogs/Wings] [[Special:Contributions/2601:241:8002:3E0:89D3:137:DFC1:D5B4|2601:241:8002:3E0:89D3:137:DFC1:D5B4]] 04:41, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
:Hadn't read this, when I puut my own thing about it in there. The actual "did they have wings?" bit, in the {{w|Balrog}} page I linked to a section of, is buried within a multiparagraph section, so ''maybe'' your link is better (or a better one in that part, straight-link Balrog on the first mention for the general wikipedia entry).
:Certainly, when I was young (long before Wikipedia, and indeed the Web... Not sure when alt.fan.tolkien started, but I didn't have usenet access before I had academic internet access, but it was already an FAQ when I finally got into that scene), the questions were:
:#So, did a (or 'the', or ''any'', depending on tye context) Balrog have actual wings?
:#If they did, why? Given they were subterranean denizens? (Probably not the exact words, maybe "...living underground".)
:#So how could it be made to fall like that? (Typical answer: "A wizard did it"... Namely Gandalf kept it falling/distracted. Because that was the point.)
:...I may check to see if the collected wisdom of the current ubiquitous fan-led website has any better answers than we would come up with, after our countless geek-hours of discussion after/before/during tabletop RPGing (even if it wasn't LOTR-based, someone could easily have mentioned the balrog, in the context of a viking attack over a narrow bridge, or whatever). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.186|82.132.236.186]] 17:26, 22 November 2025 (UTC)
::Balrogs are not naturally subterranean. They're Maiar, just like Sauron and Gandalf. They used to fight in wars and do other evil stuff on the surface. [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 15:33, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

Actually, coring previous drilling equipment ''can'' happen. The southern German town of [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebungsrisse_in_Staufen_im_Breisgau Staufen] suffered a geothermal drilling gone wrong (they inserted ground water into anhydrite, which swelled, causing the town to rise). During the investigations, the original drilling equipment was hit in the new core, showing the errors made in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:A875:DC00:3068:165E:B396:DE72|2001:16B8:A875:DC00:3068:165E:B396:DE72]] 07:33, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

Side comment on the header saying "typical": coming to the surface on land instead of water is [https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/aset1o/places_where_you_could_actually_make_an_earth/ extremely unlikely], as we were taught years ago by Ze Frank's "If The Earth Were a Sandwich" video series. Look it up. [[User:Jonesey|Jonesey]] ([[User talk:Jonesey|talk]]) 16:24, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

The explanation talks about how the Nether is essentially Minecraft hell - it might be worth mentioning how the comic might be referencing going so deep you find hell. That might also coincide with the Balrog wing (do they live in hell?), something something digging too deep, but I lack the requisite LOTR knowledge to make that connection for real [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 13:50, 24 November 2025 (UTC)
: Also, they've ended up coring another person's house, and as we all know, hell is other people...
: Oh, and there's a bit of water main in there, and the main is, of course, high water. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:30, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Probably the {{w|Kola Superdeep Borehole}} should be mentioned.[[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 16:44, 24 November 2025 (UTC)
: This also has a related comic [[1330: Kola Borehole]] --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 16:53, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Switched out the balrog reference in [[730: Circuit Diagram]] for the one in [[2141: Mantle Model]], since the former felt way too indirect of a reference to be relevant here, and the latter is a lot more directly tied to geology.[[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 19:22, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-24T19:18:37Z

KelOfTheStars!: More relevant balrog reference

{{comic
| number = 3171
| date = November 21, 2025
| title = Geologic Core Sample
| image = geologic_core_sample_2x.png
| imagesize = 493x790px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you drill at the right angle and time things perfectly, your core sample can include a section of a rival team's coring equipment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A GEOLOGIC RIBBIT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This image presents a core sample taken by a slightly overenthusiastic team of geologists.

A {{w|core sample}} is a cylindrical piece of something, in this case the rock of Earth's crust, obtained with special drills, taken in order to study the layers within. In typical xkcd fashion, the core sample depicted here contains a mix of real rocks found in core samples, and many humorous or fictional additions. It's shown that, on the way down, the coring drills have hit many, many obstacles they really shouldn't have, culminating in the punchline that the geologists have drilled straight through the Earth to the opposite hemisphere and out the other side — far deeper than any core sample could be taken in reality.

;Topsoil :{{w|Topsoil}} is the uppermost layer of the typical {{w|pedosphere}}, which often needs to be dug through before reaching actual rock. Whether the soil section of the core would actually be retained and counted is up to the nature of the study being made, but it will become clear that this core sample wasn't obtained with much thought of finesse.
;Till :{{w|Till}} is unsorted glacial sediment, which might underlie the soil layer and form the transition to the foundation rock below.
;Granite bedrock :{{w|Bedrock}} is solid rock, and there may normally be nothing but more bedrock beneath it until the Earth's {{w|Mantle_(geology)|mantle}}. {{w|Granite}} is a very common igneous rock that could normally form such bedrock.
:There are suggestions, from what is seen beneath it, that this particular layer of bedrock (though being a natural material, at source) has been placed here as a construction base, infilled over with the above layers in this particular spot.
;Bottomsoil :A fictional counterpart of topsoil. Topsoil is so named because it is generally found on top of other layers, and not to distinguish it from a separate 'bottomsoil' layer. Here, however, there are apparently two layers of soil somehow sandwiching the bedrock layer. Theoretically, the intervening granite could have been laid (as a slab) upon the lowest layers of an excavated area, later to be sampled by this corer ''as if'' a natural layer.
;Roof/Floor of subway car :These two layers are indications that the drill has broken into a subway tunnel (possibly from amongst those shown in [[1196: Subways]]), and through a subway train which will have been travelling through such a tunnel dug deep into the rock, or perhaps {{w|Tunnel#Cut-and-cover|cut'n'covered}} into the ground (hence, perhaps, the anomalous granite being added above; though the further tunnel lining/ceiling is not given a label, that would hold up the initial infill of soil). The drill has essentially compressed the 'void' that is the interior of the car and the rest of the tunnel, which may seem to be good luck (given a later layer), but this still doesn't bode well for the subway train that may have been trying to move when the drill started to pierce it.
;More granite :Granite ''is'' a very common igneous rock.
;Municipal water main:A pipe has been partly sliced through (enough to one side to not force the collapse of its void). Most water pipes of this size would not normally be forced through rock, only the loose material above it, relying upon pressure to carry water upwards, where necessary.
:However, {{w|combined sewer|drainage systems}} (that rely upon gravity for most of the route) may need at times to be dug deeper to maximize the natural flow. Some {{w|Thames Tideway Tunnel|particularly large projects}} may be excavated deeply through rock, even below some subway lines, though they'll be tunnels/pipes with a far larger bore than seen here, for both construction and capacity reasons.
;Slightly different granite:There are {{w|QAPF diagram|''many'' subtypes}} of granite, as well as being a lot of it.
;Piece of screaming spelunker's arm:Cave systems exist underground in many places, though more usually within rock-types more likely to dissolve than granite layers are. The main exception might be from {{w|Lava tube|volcanic tunnels}} left in {{w|basalt}}, but that's technically ''still'' not granite, meaning that any cave system here would need explaining.
:{{w|Spelunkers}} (also known as cavers) explore caves, and one must have been in the wrong place when the corer passed through, being inflicted a clear injury (possibly greater than any that the unknown (but not ''directly'' impacted) subway users might have already suffered). If the spelunker was not already screaming ''before'' the drill came through (perhaps for help, if they were stuck — the size of the cave is unknown, with the open space closed up, as with the subway), losing a chunk of arm will have definitely prompted screams.
;Cool crystals with no resale value:There are many geological processes that can concentrate elements and compounds in a way that form crystalline minerals. Some are useful as ores, others as just the crystals themselves (for aesthetic reasons or otherwise).
:Whatever these crystals are, as a small seam within the granitic layer just below the spelunker's location, they look nice (or are otherwise interesting), but either have little further application or are just so common that there's no point trying to make use of this deposit (even if they could perhaps be more 'easily' reached by any spelunker not put off by the threat of drillbits).
;Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:When coring rock, it's possible for the tip of the coring drill to encounter problems (like particularly dense and hard rock) that damage it, perhaps by bending its track too much and shearing off the head.
:This latest attempt, probably sent down slightly to the side of the prior one (unless it had managed to gouge out ''just'' the remains of the previous drillpipe, and retain the rock/subway/spelunker layers previously cored out) has encountered the tip of the prior attempt.
:If there's one thing guaranteed to be as tough as a drillbit, it's ''another'' drillbit, which must necessarily be hard enough to cut through the expected rock-types. So it's lucky that the first one was clearly damaged enough, by its prior encounter, that it didn't thwart this next attempt and (perhaps literally) grind it to a halt. Nor, apparently, was there a repeat of whatever issue left that first drill like this.
:Being in the middle of the core, it could be that these bits are meant to be from another attempt to drill the diameter of the Earth from a complete different location. Assuming absurd precision, all such drill holes would meet at the center of the Earth.
;Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:Diorite is a real type of igneous rock — an intermediate between actual granite and {{w|gabbro}} — but an [http://animorphs.fandom.com/wiki/Andalite Andalite] is an alien from the Animorphs book series, which Randall enjoys and has [[:Category:Animorphs|referenced before]]. Perhaps Randall is "misremembering" the name of {{w|andesite}}, another type of igneous rock, from his [[1223: Dwarf Fortress|knowledge of]] the complex set of reality-inspired rock types encountered in the game {{w|Dwarf Fortress}}. As the sample appears right before the Netherrack sample, it may also be referencing {{w|Minecraft}}, as granite, diorite, and andesite exist in-game as mineable stone types, but all three types are often infamous for clogging up inventories whilst mining, due to their exclusively decorative use.
;Netherrack:A dark red, and entirely fictional, stone appearing in Minecraft, with which Randall is [[861: Wisdom Teeth|also well acquainted]]. In Minecraft, Netherrack typically only appears naturally in The Nether, an alternate dimension resembling hell. In the overworld, where the core sample is presumably being taken, Netherrack only naturally forms in ruins of Nether Portals found on the surface, so for it to appear this deep in the sample, it would need to have been placed there by another person, likely while mining.
;Balrog wing:The balrog is a creature in {{w|Lord of the Rings}}, found deep beneath the world, awakened when the dwarves delved too deep and too greedily, and previously encountered in the title text of [[3141: Mantle Model]]. The {{w|Balrog#Characteristics|balrog's wings}} are often discussed, in the context of whether it had them, and therefore whether they could or should have helped it escape the fall that was forced upon it in the books. At least one balrog, however, now appears to have at least one less wing than those it previously had, without us knowing if there was also any screaming involved.

;{a symbol indicating a portion the core sample has been removed/skipped over/not depicted}

;Granite:This label is applied to rock that appears to cover both ends of a 'height' of rock-core that is simplified by a diagrammatic cut. From the context of later layers, this would include a very long length of drilled-material that passes into the {{w|Earth's mantle}}, and [[3145: Piercing|perhaps]] at least some of its core, before coming back up through the granite to be found somewhere on the other side of the planet.

; Topsoil:Beyond the indeterminate length of granite, the sample transitions back into the loose upper layers, indicating that the exploratory core is now being taken from ascending layers, albeit in a location lacking subways, etc, or just managing to miss everything seen in the preceding section.
;Cement:On emerging from the other side of the Earth, the geologists have drilled through the foundations of a building.
;Floorboards / Carpet:These two layers are typical of a reasonably well-equipped residential building — probably the ground floor, without any basement level. The core is coming up inside a furnished room.
;Possessions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere
:The core sample has tunneled up into somebody's house, probably while they are there, and has traveled through some of the furniture, fixtures and/or fittings, to their clear annoyance.

Apart from the less expected elements to the core that was cut and retrieved (and the sheer impossibility of drilling the necessary several thousand miles 'down' through the Earth, and then drawing that sample back out again), the comic heavily plays upon the fact that someone with the ability and equipment to take this sample is, nevertheless, not as sure about geology as they perhaps ought to be, with almost all rock just being considered 'granite', without any better (or more accurate) qualification.

The title text suggests that core sampling is a competitive pursuit, in which, with the correct drilling angle, dark arts can be employed to interfere with the coring experiment of a "rival team". This is, outside of cold war-type pettiness, not considered a constructive approach to science.{{Citation needed}}

Only about 15% of the Earth's land surface is directly antipodal to other land, which would make this sample less than "typical" if it was aimed directly down through the exact centre of the Earth and back up again (a distance of almost 8,000 miles, or more than 12,000 km). If one were to do this from a random spot of land, one would be much more likely to have the sample terminate in an ocean; the chances of ending up in a house would be even lower. However, considering that the title text mentions drilling at an angle, the 'other hemisphere' point might be not necessarily be at the antipodal point, and there also seems to be the capacity to aim at a more desirable target, in which case this is a "typical" core under ''deliberately'' chosen circumstances. The exact nature of reaching "the other hemisphere" is not expanded upon — it could be as simple as drilling (mostly sideways) a short distance across the {{w|equator}}, or {{w|prime meridian}}, or having to go at least a quarter of the way under the planet's surface (slightly over 1.4 times the Earth's radius, by the most direct route), in any direction, such that the two ends cannot be counted as being in any single arbitrary hemisphere.

This comic comes not long after [[3162: Heart Mountain]], which involved strange stratification, so may be part of the same thought process about the nature, and occasional oddities, of the geologic column.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Caption at the top of the panel:] Typical geologic core sample
:[Below this is a drawing of a cylindrical core sample with various labels, in order from the top of the panel toward the bottom.]
:[A short, dark section of core:] Topsoil
:[A more obviously granular shorter section with a diagonal transition:] Till
:[A light and lightly-marked phase:] Granite bedrock
:[Repeating the Topsoil appearance:] Bottomsoil
:[A short/squat and possibly squeezed 'lump':] Roof of subway car
:[A similar squeezed-out lump:] Floor of subway car
:[A longer length of the 'granite' texture, within which...:] More granite
:[Not quite half of a pipe-width, cut out as a gap perpendicular and not quite all the way across the core:] Municipal water main
:[Slightly more grainy version of the 'granite':] Slightly different granite
:[In a junction between 'granites', an squat, unidentifiable lump:] Piece of screaming spelunker's arm
:[Within a longer granite layer, a short stretch of spiky/crystalline features:] Cool crystals with no resale value
:[Within the same granite layer, an intrusion of mechanical-looking junk:] Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:[As per granite, but slightly more grainy:] Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:[Dark, cobbly textured stone:] Netherrack
:[Within a stretch of granite, a short, dark but otherwise unidentifiable lump:] Balrog wing
:[At this point, there is a discontinuity indicating that an arbitrary length has been omitted. The sample then resumes:]
:[Still 'granite':] Granite
:[Dark soil texture:] Topsoil
:[Light, fine and sparse 'grains':] Cement
:[Two very short cross-sections, each with contrasting wood-grain stripes:] Floorboards
:[Two very short sections with a textile-base plus piles appearance:] Carpet
:[A mish-mash of 'stuff', possibly including cloth, metal components, grainy wood and 'topped' at the lowest end by something equally puzzling at an angle:] Possesions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]
[[Category:Minecraft]]

3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-23T19:21:56Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added qualifier for Netherrack exceptions

{{comic
| number = 3171
| date = November 21, 2025
| title = Geologic Core Sample
| image = geologic_core_sample_2x.png
| imagesize = 493x789px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you drill at the right angle and time things perfectly, your core sample can include a section of a rival team's coring equipment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A RIVAL GEOLOGY TEAM. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This image presents a core sample taken by a slightly chaotic team of geologists.

A {{w|core sample}} is a cylindrical piece of something, in this case the rock of Earth's crust, obtained with special drills in order to see the layers within. In typical xkcd fashion, the core sample depicted here contains a mix of real rocks found in core samples alongside many humorous or fictional additives. In addition it's shown that the coring drills have hit many, many obstacles on the way down they really shouldn't have impacted, culminating in a punchline the geologists have drilled straight through the Earth to the opposite hemisphere, far deeper than any core sample could be taken in reality.

;Topsoil :{{w|Topsoil}} is the uppermost layer of the typical {{w|pedosphere}}, which often needs to be dug through before reaching actual rock. Whether the soil-core would actually be retained, and counted, is up to the nature of the study being made, but it will become clear that this core-sample wasn't obtained with much thought of finesse.
;Till :{{w|Till}} is unsorted glacial sediment, which might underlie the soil layer and form the transition to the foundation rock below.
;Granite bedrock :{{w|Bedrock}} is solid rock, and there may normally be nothing but more bedrock beneath it until the Earth's mantle. {{w|Granite}} is a very common igneous rock that could normally form such bedrock.
:There are suggestions, from what is seen beneath it, that this particular layer of bedrock (though being a natural material, at source) has been placed here as a construction base, infilled over with the above layers in this particular spot.
;Bottomsoil :This is a presumably fictional counterpart of topsoil, on the basis that they are both soil somehow sandwiching the bedrock layer. Theoretically, however, the above granite (as a slab) could have been laid upon the lowest layers of the excavated area, later to be sampled by this corer ''as if'' a natural layer.
;Roof/Floor of subway car :These two layers are indications that the drill has broken into a subway tunnel and through a subway train, possibly from amongst those shown in [[1196: Subways]], which will have been dug deep into the rock or perhaps {{w|Tunnel#Cut-and-cover|cut'n'covered}} into the ground (hence the anomalous granite added above later). The drill has essentially compressed the 'void' that is the interior of the car and the rest of the tunnel, which may seem to be good luck (given a later layer), but this still doesn't bode well for the subway train that may have been trying to move when the drill started to pierce it.
;More granite :{{w|Granite}} ''is'' a very common igneous rock.
;Municipal water main:A pipe has been partly sliced through (enough to one side to not force the collapse of its void). Most water pipes of this size would not normally be forced through rock, only the loose material above it, relying upon pressure to carry water upwards, where necessary.
:However, {{w|combined sewer|drainage systems}} (that rely upon gravity for most of the route) may need at times to be dug deeper to maximize the natural flow. Some {{w|Thames Tideway Tunnel|particularly large projects}} may be excavated deeply through rock, even below some subway lines, though they'll be tunnels/pipes with a far larger bore than seen here, for both construction and capacity reasons.
;Slightly different granite:There are potentially {{w|QAPF diagram|''many'' subtypes}} of granite, as well as being a lot of it.
;Piece of screaming spelunker's arm:Cave systems exist underground in many places, though more usually within rock-types more likely to dissolve than granite layers are. The main exception might be from {{w|Lava tube|volcanic tunnels}} left in {{w|basalt}}, but that's technically ''still'' not granite, meaning that any cave system here would need explaining.
:{{w|Spelunkers}} (also known as cavers) explore caves, and one must have been in the wrong place when the corer passed through, being inflicted a clear injury possibly greater than any that the unknown (but not ''directly'' impacted) subway users might have already suffered. If the spelunker was not already screaming ''before'' the drill came through (perhaps for help, if they were stuck, the size of the cave is unknown with the open space closed up as with the subway), losing a chunk of arm will have definitely prompted screams.
;Cool crystals with no resale value:There are many geological processes that can concentrate elements and compounds in a way that form crystalline minerals. Some are useful as ores, others as just the crystals themselves (for aesthetic reasons or otherwise).
:Whatever these crystals are, as a small seam within the granitic layer just below the spelunker's location, they look nice (or are otherwise interesting), but either have little further application or are just so common that there's no point trying to make use of this deposit. Even if they could perhaps be more 'easily' reached by any spelunker not put off by the threat of drillbits.
;Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:When coring rock, it's possible for the tip of the coring drill to encounter problems (like particularly dense and hard rock) that damage it, perhaps by bending its track too much and shearing off the head.
:This latest attempt, probably sent down slightly to the side of the prior one (unless it had managed to gouge out ''just'' the remains of the previous drillpipe, and retain the rock/subway/spelunker layers previously cored out) has encountered the tip of the prior attempt.
:If there's one thing guaranteed to be as tough as a drill-bit, it's ''another'' drill-bit, which must necessarily be hard enough to cut through the expected rock-types. So it's lucky that the first one was clearly damaged enough, by its prior encounter, that it didn't thwart this next attempt and (perhaps literally) grind it to a halt. Nor, apparently, was there a repeat of whatever issue left that first drill like this.
:These bits being in the middle of the core it could be they are meant to be from another attempt to drill the diameter of the Earth from a complete different location. Assuming absurd precision all such drill holes would meet at the center of the Earth.
;Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:Again, it's perhaps one of those granites. Diorite is a real type of igneous rock, an intermediate between actual granite and {{w|gabbro}}, but an [http://animorphs.fandom.com/wiki/Andalite Andalite] is an alien from the Animorphs book series, which Randall enjoys and has [[:Category:Animorphs|referenced before]]. Perhaps Randall is "misremembering" the name of {{w|andesite}}, another type of igneous rock, from his [[1223: Dwarf Fortress|knowledge of]] the complex set of reality-inspired rock-types encountered in the game {{w|Dwarf Fortress}}. As the sample appears right before the Netherrack sample, it may also be referencing {{w|Minecraft}} as well, as granite, diorite, and andesite exist in-game as a mineable stone type, but all three types are often infamous for clogging up inventories whilst mining, due to their exclusively decorative use.
;Netherrack:A dark red, and entirely fictional, stone appearing in Minecraft, with which Randall is [[861: Wisdom Teeth|also well acquainted]]. In Minecraft, Netherrack typically only appears naturally in The Nether, an alternate dimension resembling hell. In the overworld, where the core sample is presumably being taken, Netherrack only naturally forms in ruins of Nether Portals found on the surface, so for it to appear this deep in the sample, it would need to have been placed there by another person, likely while mining.
;Balrog wing:The balrog is a creature in {{w|Lord of the Rings}}, found deep beneath the world, awakened when the dwarves delved too deep and too greedily, and previously encountered in [[730: Circuit Diagram]]. The {{w|Balrog#Characteristics|balrog's wings}} are often discussed upon, in the context of whether it had them, therefore whether they could or should have helped it escape the fall that was forced upon it in the books. At least one balrog, however, now appears to have at least one less wing than those it previously had, without us knowing if there was also any screaming involved.

;Granite:This label is applied to rock that appears to cover both ends of a 'height' of rock-core that is simplified by a diagrammatic cut. From the context of later layers, this would include a very long length of drilled-material that passes into the {{w|Earth's mantle}}, and [[3145: Piercing|perhaps]] at least some of its core, before coming back up through the granite to be found somewhere on the other side of the planet.

; Topsoil:Beyond the indeterminate length of granite, it transitions back into the loose upper layers, indicating that it the exploratory core is now being taken from ascening layers, albeit in a location lacking subways, etc, or just managing to miss everything originally seen.
;Cement:This indicates and heralds the presence of a building, starting with its foundations.
;Floorboards
;Carpet:These two layers are typical of a reasonably well-equipped residential building, probably the ground floor without any basement level. The core is coming up inside a furnished room.
;Possessions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere
:The core sample has tunneled up into somebody's house, probably while they are there, and has traveled through some of the furniture, fixtures and/or fittings, to their clear unsettled annoyance.

Apart from the less expected elements to the core that was cut and retrieved (and the sheer impossibility of drilling the necessary several thousand miles 'down' through the Earth, and then drawing that sample back out again), the comic heavily plays upon the fact that someone with the ability and equipment to take this sample is yet not as sure about geology as they perhaps ought to be, with almost all rock just being considered 'granite', without any better (or more accurate) qualification.

The title text humorously refers to a "rival team" and their coring equipment — implying that (with the correct angle) you can meddle with their own coring experiment. This is, outside of cold war-type pettiness, not considered a constructive approach to science.{{Citation needed}}

Only about 15% of the earth's land surface is directly antipodal to other land, which would making this sample less than "typical" if it was aimed directly down through the exact centre of the Earth and back up again (a distance of almost 8,000 miles or more than 12,000 km). If one were to do this, from a random spot of land, one would be much more likely to have the sample terminate in an ocean and the chances of ending up in given house would be even lower. Though considering that the title text mentions drilling at an angle, the 'other hemisphere' point might be not necessarily be at the antipodal point, and there also seems to be the capacity to aim at a more desirable target. In which case, this is a "typical" core under ''deliberately'' chosen circumstances. The exact nature of reaching "the other hemisphere" is not expanded upon, it could be as simple as drilling (mostly sideways) a short distance across the {{w|equator}}, or {{w|prime meridian}}, or have to go at least a quarter of the way under the planet's surface (slightly over 1.4 times the Earth's radius, by the most direct route), in any direction, such that the two ends cannot be counted as being in any single arbitrary hemisphere.

This comic comes not long after [[3162: Heart Mountain]], which involved strange stratification, so may be part of the same thought process about the nature, and occasional oddities, of the geologic column.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[This shows a drill sample with various labels, in order from the top of the panel toward the bottom.]
:[Against a short section of core:] Topsoil
:[A more obviously granular shorter section with a diagonal transition:] Till
:[A light and lightly-marked phase:] Granite bedrock
:[Repeating the Topsoil appearance:] Bottomsoil
:[A short/squat and possibly squeezed 'lump':] Roof of subway car
:[A similar squeezed-out lump:] Floor of subway car
:[A longer length of the 'granite' texture, within which...:] More granite
:[Not quite half of a pipe-width, cut out as a gap perpendicular and not quite all the way across the core:] Municipal water main
:[Slightly more grainy version of the 'granite':] Slightly different granite
:[In a junction between 'granites', an squat, unidentifiable lump:] Piece of screaming spelunker's arm
:[Within a longer granite layer, a short stretch of spiky/crystalline features:] Cool crystals with no resale value
:[The same granite, an intrusion of mechanical-looking junk:] Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:[As per granite, but slightly more grainy:] Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:[Dark, cobbly textured stone:] Netherrack
:[Within a stretch of granite, a short, dark but otherwise unidentifiable lump:] Balrog wing
:[At this point, there is a discontinuity indicating that an arbitrary length has been omitted. The sample then resumes:]
:[Still 'granite': Granite
:[Dark soil texture:] Topsoil
:[Light, fine and sparse 'grains':] Cement
:[Two very short cross-sections, each with contrasting wood-grain stripes:] Floorboards
:[Two very short sections with a textile-base plus piles appearance:] Carpet
:[A mish-mash of 'stuff', possibly including cloth, metal components, grainy wood and 'topped' at the lowst end by something equally puzzling at an angle:] Possesions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]
[[Category:Minecraft]]

3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-23T19:13:23Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added context to Netherrack forming

{{comic
| number = 3171
| date = November 21, 2025
| title = Geologic Core Sample
| image = geologic_core_sample_2x.png
| imagesize = 493x789px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you drill at the right angle and time things perfectly, your core sample can include a section of a rival team's coring equipment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A RIVAL GEOLOGY TEAM. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This image presents a core sample taken by a slightly chaotic team of geologists.

A {{w|core sample}} is a cylindrical piece of something, in this case the rock of Earth's crust, obtained with special drills in order to see the layers within. In typical xkcd fashion, the core sample depicted here contains a mix of real rocks found in core samples alongside many humorous or fictional additives. In addition it's shown that the coring drills have hit many, many obstacles on the way down they really shouldn't have impacted, culminating in a punchline the geologists have drilled straight through the Earth to the opposite hemisphere, far deeper than any core sample could be taken in reality.

;Topsoil :{{w|Topsoil}} is the uppermost layer of the typical {{w|pedosphere}}, which often needs to be dug through before reaching actual rock. Whether the soil-core would actually be retained, and counted, is up to the nature of the study being made, but it will become clear that this core-sample wasn't obtained with much thought of finesse.
;Till :{{w|Till}} is unsorted glacial sediment, which might underlie the soil layer and form the transition to the foundation rock below.
;Granite bedrock :{{w|Bedrock}} is solid rock, and there may normally be nothing but more bedrock beneath it until the Earth's mantle. {{w|Granite}} is a very common igneous rock that could normally form such bedrock.
:There are suggestions, from what is seen beneath it, that this particular layer of bedrock (though being a natural material, at source) has been placed here as a construction base, infilled over with the above layers in this particular spot.
;Bottomsoil :This is a presumably fictional counterpart of topsoil, on the basis that they are both soil somehow sandwiching the bedrock layer. Theoretically, however, the above granite (as a slab) could have been laid upon the lowest layers of the excavated area, later to be sampled by this corer ''as if'' a natural layer.
;Roof/Floor of subway car :These two layers are indications that the drill has broken into a subway tunnel and through a subway train, possibly from amongst those shown in [[1196: Subways]], which will have been dug deep into the rock or perhaps {{w|Tunnel#Cut-and-cover|cut'n'covered}} into the ground (hence the anomalous granite added above later). The drill has essentially compressed the 'void' that is the interior of the car and the rest of the tunnel, which may seem to be good luck (given a later layer), but this still doesn't bode well for the subway train that may have been trying to move when the drill started to pierce it.
;More granite :{{w|Granite}} ''is'' a very common igneous rock.
;Municipal water main:A pipe has been partly sliced through (enough to one side to not force the collapse of its void). Most water pipes of this size would not normally be forced through rock, only the loose material above it, relying upon pressure to carry water upwards, where necessary.
:However, {{w|combined sewer|drainage systems}} (that rely upon gravity for most of the route) may need at times to be dug deeper to maximize the natural flow. Some {{w|Thames Tideway Tunnel|particularly large projects}} may be excavated deeply through rock, even below some subway lines, though they'll be tunnels/pipes with a far larger bore than seen here, for both construction and capacity reasons.
;Slightly different granite:There are potentially {{w|QAPF diagram|''many'' subtypes}} of granite, as well as being a lot of it.
;Piece of screaming spelunker's arm:Cave systems exist underground in many places, though more usually within rock-types more likely to dissolve than granite layers are. The main exception might be from {{w|Lava tube|volcanic tunnels}} left in {{w|basalt}}, but that's technically ''still'' not granite, meaning that any cave system here would need explaining.
:{{w|Spelunkers}} (also known as cavers) explore caves, and one must have been in the wrong place when the corer passed through, being inflicted a clear injury possibly greater than any that the unknown (but not ''directly'' impacted) subway users might have already suffered. If the spelunker was not already screaming ''before'' the drill came through (perhaps for help, if they were stuck, the size of the cave is unknown with the open space closed up as with the subway), losing a chunk of arm will have definitely prompted screams.
;Cool crystals with no resale value:There are many geological processes that can concentrate elements and compounds in a way that form crystalline minerals. Some are useful as ores, others as just the crystals themselves (for aesthetic reasons or otherwise).
:Whatever these crystals are, as a small seam within the granitic layer just below the spelunker's location, they look nice (or are otherwise interesting), but either have little further application or are just so common that there's no point trying to make use of this deposit. Even if they could perhaps be more 'easily' reached by any spelunker not put off by the threat of drillbits.
;Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:When coring rock, it's possible for the tip of the coring drill to encounter problems (like particularly dense and hard rock) that damage it, perhaps by bending its track too much and shearing off the head.
:This latest attempt, probably sent down slightly to the side of the prior one (unless it had managed to gouge out ''just'' the remains of the previous drillpipe, and retain the rock/subway/spelunker layers previously cored out) has encountered the tip of the prior attempt.
:If there's one thing guaranteed to be as tough as a drill-bit, it's ''another'' drill-bit, which must necessarily be hard enough to cut through the expected rock-types. So it's lucky that the first one was clearly damaged enough, by its prior encounter, that it didn't thwart this next attempt and (perhaps literally) grind it to a halt. Nor, apparently, was there a repeat of whatever issue left that first drill like this.
:These bits being in the middle of the core it could be they are meant to be from another attempt to drill the diameter of the Earth from a complete different location. Assuming absurd precision all such drill holes would meet at the center of the Earth.
;Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:Again, it's perhaps one of those granites. Diorite is a real type of igneous rock, an intermediate between actual granite and {{w|gabbro}}, but an [http://animorphs.fandom.com/wiki/Andalite Andalite] is an alien from the Animorphs book series, which Randall enjoys and has [[:Category:Animorphs|referenced before]]. Perhaps Randall is "misremembering" the name of {{w|andesite}}, another type of igneous rock, from his [[1223: Dwarf Fortress|knowledge of]] the complex set of reality-inspired rock-types encountered in the game {{w|Dwarf Fortress}}. As the sample appears right before the Netherrack sample, it may also be referencing {{w|Minecraft}} as well, as granite, diorite, and andesite exist in-game as a mineable stone type, but all three types are often infamous for clogging up inventories whilst mining, due to their exclusively decorative use.
;Netherrack:A dark red, and entirely fictional, stone appearing in Minecraft, with which Randall is [[861: Wisdom Teeth|also well acquainted]]. In Minecraft, Netherrack only appears naturally in The Nether, an alternate dimension resembling hell. In the overworld, where the core sample is presumably being taken, Netherrack only naturally forms in ruins of Nether Portals found on the surface, so for it to appear this deep in the sample, it would need to have been placed there by another person, likely while mining.
;Balrog wing:The balrog is a creature in {{w|Lord of the Rings}}, found deep beneath the world, awakened when the dwarves delved too deep and too greedily, and previously encountered in [[730: Circuit Diagram]]. The {{w|Balrog#Characteristics|balrog's wings}} are often discussed upon, in the context of whether it had them, therefore whether they could or should have helped it escape the fall that was forced upon it in the books. At least one balrog, however, now appears to have at least one less wing than those it previously had, without us knowing if there was also any screaming involved.

;Granite:This label is applied to rock that appears to cover both ends of a 'height' of rock-core that is simplified by a diagrammatic cut. From the context of later layers, this would include a very long length of drilled-material that passes into the {{w|Earth's mantle}}, and [[3145: Piercing|perhaps]] at least some of its core, before coming back up through the granite to be found somewhere on the other side of the planet.

; Topsoil:Beyond the indeterminate length of granite, it transitions back into the loose upper layers, indicating that it the exploratory core is now being taken from ascening layers, albeit in a location lacking subways, etc, or just managing to miss everything originally seen.
;Cement:This indicates and heralds the presence of a building, starting with its foundations.
;Floorboards
;Carpet:These two layers are typical of a reasonably well-equipped residential building, probably the ground floor without any basement level. The core is coming up inside a furnished room.
;Possessions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere
:The core sample has tunneled up into somebody's house, probably while they are there, and has traveled through some of the furniture, fixtures and/or fittings, to their clear unsettled annoyance.

Apart from the less expected elements to the core that was cut and retrieved (and the sheer impossibility of drilling the necessary several thousand miles 'down' through the Earth, and then drawing that sample back out again), the comic heavily plays upon the fact that someone with the ability and equipment to take this sample is yet not as sure about geology as they perhaps ought to be, with almost all rock just being considered 'granite', without any better (or more accurate) qualification.

The title text humorously refers to a "rival team" and their coring equipment — implying that (with the correct angle) you can meddle with their own coring experiment. This is, outside of cold war-type pettiness, not considered a constructive approach to science.{{Citation needed}}

Only about 15% of the earth's land surface is directly antipodal to other land, which would making this sample less than "typical" if it was aimed directly down through the exact centre of the Earth and back up again (a distance of almost 8,000 miles or more than 12,000 km). If one were to do this, from a random spot of land, one would be much more likely to have the sample terminate in an ocean and the chances of ending up in given house would be even lower. Though considering that the title text mentions drilling at an angle, the 'other hemisphere' point might be not necessarily be at the antipodal point, and there also seems to be the capacity to aim at a more desirable target. In which case, this is a "typical" core under ''deliberately'' chosen circumstances. The exact nature of reaching "the other hemisphere" is not expanded upon, it could be as simple as drilling (mostly sideways) a short distance across the {{w|equator}}, or {{w|prime meridian}}, or have to go at least a quarter of the way under the planet's surface (slightly over 1.4 times the Earth's radius, by the most direct route), in any direction, such that the two ends cannot be counted as being in any single arbitrary hemisphere.

This comic comes not long after [[3162: Heart Mountain]], which involved strange stratification, so may be part of the same thought process about the nature, and occasional oddities, of the geologic column.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[This shows a drill sample with various labels, in order from the top of the panel toward the bottom.]
:[Against a short section of core:] Topsoil
:[A more obviously granular shorter section with a diagonal transition:] Till
:[A light and lightly-marked phase:] Granite bedrock
:[Repeating the Topsoil appearance:] Bottomsoil
:[A short/squat and possibly squeezed 'lump':] Roof of subway car
:[A similar squeezed-out lump:] Floor of subway car
:[A longer length of the 'granite' texture, within which...:] More granite
:[Not quite half of a pipe-width, cut out as a gap perpendicular and not quite all the way across the core:] Municipal water main
:[Slightly more grainy version of the 'granite':] Slightly different granite
:[In a junction between 'granites', an squat, unidentifiable lump:] Piece of screaming spelunker's arm
:[Within a longer granite layer, a short stretch of spiky/crystalline features:] Cool crystals with no resale value
:[The same granite, an intrusion of mechanical-looking junk:] Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:[As per granite, but slightly more grainy:] Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:[Dark, cobbly textured stone:] Netherrack
:[Within a stretch of granite, a short, dark but otherwise unidentifiable lump:] Balrog wing
:[At this point, there is a discontinuity indicating that an arbitrary length has been omitted. The sample then resumes:]
:[Still 'granite': Granite
:[Dark soil texture:] Topsoil
:[Light, fine and sparse 'grains':] Cement
:[Two very short cross-sections, each with contrasting wood-grain stripes:] Floorboards
:[Two very short sections with a textile-base plus piles appearance:] Carpet
:[A mish-mash of 'stuff', possibly including cloth, metal components, grainy wood and 'topped' at the lowst end by something equally puzzling at an angle:] Possesions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]
[[Category:Minecraft]]

Talk:3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-22T01:23:31Z

KelOfTheStars!: Another Minecraft reference

3148: 100% All Achievements

2025-11-12T19:22:18Z

KelOfTheStars!: Grammar

{{comic
| number = 3148
| date = September 29, 2025
| title = 100% All Achievements
| image = 100_all_achievements_2x.png
| imagesize = 271x475px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I'm trying to share my footage of the full run to prove it's not tool-assisted, but the uploader has problems with video lengths of more than a decade.
}}

==Explanation==
100% All Achievements is a category of {{w|Speedrunning|video game speedruns}} where the goal is to do everything possible in the game, as fast as possible. Many games have a progress bar to track completion of the game, making the "100%" criterion officially defined. "Achievements," also known as "trophies" for games on Sony-branded consoles, are another way to track accomplishments, either tracked within the game itself or through the storefront used to purchase the game such as the Microsoft Store. In some cases (particularly if external achievements are also tracked within the game itself) a 100% speedrun requires the player to collect every achievement. Sometimes, however, achievements are tracked separately from in-game completion, and thus are irrelevant to a 100% run. Some games include external achievements for spending a given amount of time playing the game (eg. An achievement for playing the game for 100 hours) which, if required, would defeat the point of trying to complete the game quickly. The phrasing here implies that Cueball’s university is not one such example, and that any external achievements must be completed for Cueball to consider his run complete.

[[Cueball]] is attempting a 100% All Achievements run for his university, which is a ridiculous pursuit for several reasons. Even though 100% runs for video games can take very long (up to [https://www.speedrun.com/baten_kaitos_eternal_wings_and_the_lost_ocean?h=100&x=mke7v926 two weeks]), they don't even come close to the amount of time needed to complete a single university major, let alone every class. This would be prohibitively expensive for most people due to the high cost of university attendance. Moreover, "All Achievements" is vaguely defined in this scenario, and the "achievements" possible at a university will change as courses, academic tracks, and degrees offered change. In contrast, even if the possible achievements in a video game change as updates and downloadable content are released, it is possible to specify a particular version of the game used for the speedrun. In addition, the university seems upset with this choice of action, and are demanding he stop it and graduate. This may be because they doubt his ability to retain this information, perhaps because they simply cannot get as much tuition from one man, or possibly because they feel he is making a mockery of the institution.

“All achievements” could simply refer to completing all courses and degree programs, but achievements in video games often involve optional paths or accomplishments unrelated to the main game progress. The equivalent for a university speedrun may mean Cueball also must participate in extracurricular activities such as clubs and other university-associated events, even if they do not directly contribute to his eventual graduation requirements. Depending on how involved the university is, this may add significant challenge and time to the speedrun. If the speedrun requires Cueball to participate in, say, several university sporting leagues at once, the time and effort spent over the course of training, practice, recovery, and event matches (possibly requiring significant travel) may even outweigh his already Herculean academic efforts.

While this might sound ludicrous, "{{w|perpetual students}}" are people who spend long periods at a university. {{w|Michael Nicholson (academic)|Michael Nicholson}}, the world record holder, completed 30 majors between before 1964 and 2016.

Gen-ed, which Cueball says he had completed all of in 2010, refers to {{w|Curriculum#Core_curriculum|general education courses}}. This usually means either:
(1) a set of classes, or at least categories of classes (such as literature, history, science, foreign language, etc.), that must be taken by all students, regardless of major; or
(2) classes that have few prerequisites, intended to be taken by students in other disciplines or by people not in university programs at all, to broaden their education (for example, a course in general science for arts students). It is common for a university program to require a student to take several courses that are somewhat related to their nominal preferred specialty in their first year, to provide a foundation for later studies and to permit some flexibility if the student's interests change. In some countries, some gen-ed courses are also included in programs of study so that students get at least a bit of exposure to unrelated disciplines. Many students aim to get these courses out of the way within their first one or two years, though some universities have more specific or long-term requirements (eg: requiring all students to take at least one lower-division and at least one upper-division humanities course) to ensure breadth through a student's undergrad career.

Classes at a university typically receive a code that combines the name of the field/discipline being taught with a two- or three-digit number (e.g., a course in anthropology might be ANTH 209). The leading digit typically provides information about how advanced a class is: lower division work might receive a 0 or 1, while upper division and graduate courses will receive higher numbers. Although there is no standardization across universities for which specific numbers equate to which course levels, the generally accepted baseline education given in any specific subject is usually associated with the number {{w|101 (number)#In_education|101}}, while classes in the 400s are usually taken in the 4th year of undergrad at most universities, and may provide credit towards graduate-level degrees.

In traditional speedrunning, a {{w|tool-assisted speedrun}} (mentioned in the title text) is one done with software such as a {{w|video game console emulator|video game emulator}} to record and then play back incredibly precise movements. These are typically used to show the theoretical upper limit of how quickly a game can be completed, even if the required techniques are beyond human capabilities (i.e. performing a long chain of optimal actions, flawlessly, without the need to replay or restart any stage). Particularly exceptional speedruns may rouse suspicion that they weren’t truly performed by a human, which is what Cueball is trying to quell. It is unclear how such tools might be applied to the pursuit of education, but Cueball may have meant using artificial intelligence or similar "cheats" to illegitimately complete his work. Unassisted speedruns are typically reviewed in full by a moderator of the speedrunning community for that game to ensure there truly were no tools involved. There is no known community for university speedrunning,{{Citation needed}} so no moderators will be able to review the years of footage to determine whether the speedrun was legitimate.

Most video-sharing services limit the length of uploaded videos, either by size or length, for a variety of reasons. A decade-long video file is almost certainly too big for any service: an hour of 720p-resolution video is about one gigabyte [[https://www.overcasthq.com/blog/how-big-are-video-files/ Overcast]], so a decade would be about 100 terabytes. The longest video ever to be hosted on YouTube is just under 25 days [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12095652/trivia/ IMDB]], under 1% of what Cueball wants. Such a video would require significant infrastructure support by the service for it to be allowed, not to mention presenting challenges to recording and storing it in the first place. Also, the moderators would spend much of their time watching the video. Assuming they watch 8 hours every day and there are 10 moderators splitting the video, we can calculate the days needed assuming it is about a decade. (10*365*24)/8/10 =87,600/8/10 = 1095. So, they need 1095 days, or about 3 years.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, arms outstretched, is talking to White Hat.]
:Cueball: I finished all the gen-ed back in 2010, and I'm up to the 400-level courses in most departments.
:Cueball: But now one of my advisors is saying I "can't have more than 20 majors" and "need to graduate next year."
:Cueball: It's outrageous!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My university is making it really hard to finish a 100% all achievements speedrun.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Video games]]

Talk:3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-10T04:01:45Z

KelOfTheStars!: Several apocali in religion/mythology

Gettin pretty sick of the "citation needed" joke appearing in early drafts of our explanations. It's not clever to just say that at random. [citation needed] [[Special:Contributions/69.5.140.194|69.5.140.194]] 03:14, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

It turns out I suddenly find myself... needing to know the plural of apocalypse. -- Riley Finn, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ... [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:28, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

The return of the flowchart! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 03:57, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

As early as [https://doi.org/10.1785/BSSA0640051363 1974], there was substantial evidence that earthquakes at least in Southern California were unpredictable. To be more precise, the paper found that if you remove aftershocks, the distribution of earthquakes appeared to follow a Poisson distribution. This is the distribution expected from a "memoryless" process where each event is independent of any earlier event, and where earthquakes have a constant probability of occurring, making them completely impossible to predict.

It may be that not all earthquakes everywhere really work this way, but in the past 50 years, evidence has accumulated only to support this hypothesis. No progress whatsoever has been made in predicting earthquakes, only in reasons to believe they fundamentally cannot be predicted (at least without a lot of inaccessible information regarding strain deep within the earth). [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 05:16, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Any examples of people claiming to predict earthquakes? --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 05:25, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

:Ben Davidson of YouTube channel SpaceWeatherNews (formerly Suspicious0bservers) does, and links it to a bunch of other bizarre pseudoscience. [[Special:Contributions/184.75.151.213|184.75.151.213]] 08:25, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

There's actually quite a few regular earthquakes. The issue is that they're all small and isolated. Very few people care that some mountains abruptly shift a few dozen microns every month. Many more care about the big ones that are extremely difficult to predict. [[Special:Contributions/24.19.215.69|24.19.215.69]] 06:05, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

The point about predicting the apocalypse may be related to a thing earlier this year where a bunch of folks believed that the Rapture was going to happen. Sept 23. My friend was absolutely inundated with people saying it was going to happen. [[Special:Contributions/2601:40D:4282:5380:F806:A8F7:EAF2:A7A1|2601:40D:4282:5380:F806:A8F7:EAF2:A7A1]] 12:38, 8 November 2025 (UTC)
:Don't leave me hanging... It's bad enough that I didn't even get told that it was going to happen, in advance, but at least you could let me know if it ''did''! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 11:43, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

There ''is'' a perfect way of predicting future earthquakes to the exact second, but it requires a time machine. ("Past performance is no guarantee of future results." "That would be true if I were giving you information from ''our'' past." - Gunther Thurl and Kevyn Andreyasn, ''Schlock Mercenary'') [[Special:Contributions/207.253.24.188|207.253.24.188]] 16:00, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Does the {{w|July 2025 Japan megaquake prophecy}} needs any mention? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 16:37, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Religious apocali (apocalypses is probably fine, but doesn’t sound quite as cool) tend to only happen once, sure, but there’s also the whole “massive flood wiping out 99.99% of life” thing that happened in Christianity. It would be difficult to argue such an event wouldn’t be considered apocalyptic were it to happen today. Also, in some syncretic interpretations, the Norse Ragnarok happened prior to the events of Genesis (after the universe creation part, of course) which is about as apocalypse as it gets. Of course, there the question is less “why didn’t you predict that one” and more “another apocalypse? So what, we’ve already had 2 and it was fine.” [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 04:01, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3163: Repair Video

2025-11-04T04:19:44Z

KelOfTheStars!: Joke thread

Lol [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]])

I tried to check the explain page for this comic a little while ago and the page hadn’t been made yet :( [[User:Kirinhatchi|Kirinhatchi]] ([[User talk:Kirinhatch|talk]])

I think Randall speaks for a few billion people with this one. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 23:49, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

It feels like this comic is almost a "happy ending" version of https://xkcd.com/979/. [[Special:Contributions/2605:A601:AF4D:DE00:510E:86B:6FA2:356B|2605:A601:AF4D:DE00:510E:86B:6FA2:356B]] 00:27, 4 November 2025 (UTC)
:I agree, it seems like a spiritual continuation. I put that in the explanation though it could definitely be moved/fit into the content more cleanly. [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 00:55, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

> "but [[afterwards]] decide to create instructional videos" -- I see some how-to videos that don't seem to be '''afterward''', but intentional "''What can I post about to get some clicks/eyeballs?''" IAC, YouTube has become my go-to for many problems which should be easier to show than to talk about. But so many newbie videographers work in shadow, or block the key part with their shoulder, or rush the details. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 01:07, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

...Scott here! - [[Special:Contributions/24.177.125.170|24.177.125.170]] 03:45, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

:Before we all die, I have to know. Is it “hey all,” or “hey y’all?” [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 04:19, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3148: 100% All Achievements

2025-11-03T19:51:35Z

KelOfTheStars!: Responded to 100% vs all achievements discussion

... Bruh I wanted to see the explanation but there wasn't one lol [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:36, 30 September 2025 (UTC)
:I was going to make it, but by the time i finished, it said it couldn't be published - someone had made a better one while i was making it. who'd've thought. --[[Special:Contributions/2.50.0.22|2.50.0.22]] 05:32, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

Could someone explain what “gen-ed” is? [[Special:Contributions/2A02:586:D41D:9400:409C:F47E:C1DD:24B2|2A02:586:D41D:9400:409C:F47E:C1DD:24B2]] 07:09, 30 September 2025 (UTC)
:I guess it stands for "general education"? --[[Special:Contributions/194.57.216.9|194.57.216.9]] 09:14, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

Isn't this what grad school is for? [[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 11:41, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

Background? I do wonder if the idea for this came from Roger Zelazny's book "{{w|Doorways in the Sand}}"? [[User:Jmbryant|Jmbryant]] ([[User talk:Jmbryant|talk]]) 11:56, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

Someone should explain what "gen-ed" and 400 mean to non-US readers. --[[Special:Contributions/85.159.196.174|85.159.196.174]] 14:23, 30 September 2025 (UTC)
:"Gen-ed" is general education. It probably refers to classes that satisfy the "core requirements" that everyone graduating from the institution must pass, regardless of major. Typically these will include English composition (basically, how to write a paper), some first- and maybe second-year humanities classes, some first- and maybe second-year science or engineering classes, and some first- and maybe second-year math. These days, many US students graduate high school with college credit for some of these classes through dual-enrollment classes, Advanced Placement classes (and the required test), or similar programs (it's not unheard of to start university as a "third year student" - or "Junior" in US education lingo). "400" means 4th-year classes (individual classes will be numbered 401, 402, etc.), which are typically only available to students majoring in that topic or a related topic. Fun fact: In some graduate schools, students are allowed to take a limited number of "400" classes to meet their graduate degree requirements. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 19:02, 30 September 2025 (UTC)
::From a UK perspective, in this course scheme are we talking about "college" (Further Education, next level up from Secondary, variously known as Tertiary or "6th Form" in some cases) rather than "university" (Higher Education)?
::University 'academic careers', UKwise, are probably somewhat flexible (gap/sandwich years, leave of absence for personal reasons, etc), but I don't know of anyone who just 'kept reattending' to add more things. (I, myself, changed department, mid-way, but it was in context of which sub-part of the university was the primary focus of my already established multidiscaplinary Combined Science degree, and didn't change the effective year-group or classes I attended.) Also, I don't think we had "Underwater Basket-Weaving 101"-type optional/compulsary parallel prerequesit courses as 'minors', just automatically scheduled in sub-subject intro lectures for (e.g.) the specific applied-physics types of maths that the physics course used, to drag us up from the A-Level/HND/whatever proficiency that we'd previously gained to qualify us for our offered university place.
::College (Tertiary/6th Form/etc, optional followup to the compulsary Secondary-level education) was basically two years of whatever schedule you were willing and able to pack together from the offered courses... possibly could extend to three years (I had that option with a subject not taught at Secondary level... one-year of the Secondary course, then do the two-year Tertiary-level one starting in the second year of my other Tertiary-level subjects, but I abbreviated it) if it needed to be. Together with those completely resitting failed subjects, and those (mostly adult-education) signing up for a 'post-education education' as much as their time of life (and funding) allowed, no doubt there'd be opportunity to be nigh on an 'eternal student'. But you don't "Graduate" that level of education, in the UK. You might pass a course or two (or more, I personally had five separate qualifications on the go at the same time, though just the three 'main' ones) but it's not 'packaged' like undergrad university attendance.
::At least it wasn't for me. Maybe things have changed. They're apparently having end-of-year Proms all across the various school-year cohorts, these days, as an imported concept from the US. The most I ever had (not that I'm complaining, though I was never a good dancer) was the Christmas Disco. After the last School Assembly of the year (attendance awards and sporting triumphs may be noted and feted, but all prior to any actual exam results known) were a few days of "getting ready for Summer" with possibly a very much relaxed tailed-off 'curriculum' and being allowed to bring in board games on ''the'' last day of the school year (for those not bunking off entirely). Then... see you September! (Or not, if moving on to the "next school" or maybe that first proper full-time job as an adult.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.184.204|82.132.184.204]] 02:06, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

:::American here who went to college (university) in the US who has raised kids in the UK and just sent the last one off to university. We don't narrow down our studies in the States like in the UK. In most places (there are exceptions) all the way through to the end of high school (12th grade/year 13) we're still taking Math, English, some sort of History/Geography, and some science classes. Maybe even P.E. Then when you go to university, you don't necessarily have to declare a major. In the UK, you have already spent the last two years just focused on 3-4 subjects for A-levels (or B-tech?), (everyone across the country takes the same exams at the exact same time) and when you leave for uni it might be just one subject. I was shocked when I found out that my husband's degree in Math(s) meant that he only took classes related to that! Because we don't narrow things down, and because we don't have the same level of standardization in testing as the UK, the US approach of general studies fits with our overall education model. It does take most people 4 years to complete a degree as opposed to the UK's 3, but our GenEd courses at university aren't the equivalelent of UK college (which you can start at 16) or A-levels. [[Special:Contributions/2A0A:EF40:125:E901:9860:5F0C:6834:B46F|2A0A:EF40:125:E901:9860:5F0C:6834:B46F]] 11:35, 2 October 2025 (UTC)

I think "speedrun University" can also implies someone trying to finish university ahead time interval (4 years, usually). I know people who have enough AP credits and do enough over-loading and summer classes trying to finish university within 2 years (the minimum time required to get a degree for most university). On the other hand, I believe this comic hint the people trying to complete all major's requirement inside the University to get "100% achievement". Most of university do not allow anything above double-count (count one class for more then 2 major requirements). If the people in comic have complete more then 20 major requirement within 15 years, that translate to the people have take enough class to complete at least 10 major's class/graduation requirements under the no triple count rule. in average, complete 1 major per 1.5 years, which in some sense, is amazing, also count as "speed-run". --(Someone recently been bitten by University's major tracking sheets) [[Special:Contributions/130.215.10.247|130.215.10.247]] 14:41, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

The MP4 format can contain a video of up to 2^32 time units. The normal timebase is 90,000 ticks per second, resulting in 13.25 hours. But if you used a timebase of 1 tick per second, you could record 136 years in one video.
The MKV format can support virtually unlimited duration. Of course, the title text here is talking about the video uploader's limitations, not the video container format. [[Special:Contributions/170.85.73.15|170.85.73.15]] 15:02, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

I went for the Bachelors of Science and % run. Didn't do too badly. [[Special:Contributions/2600:6C48:6D7F:DBD0:B921:39F0:E1FB:A74D|2600:6C48:6D7F:DBD0:B921:39F0:E1FB:A74D]] 19:49, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

This ''feels'' like a continuation of 1052. [[User:REwhite|REwhite]] ([[User talk:REwhite|talk]]) 21:46, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

:Heh, he realized there wasn't any one good major out there, so he tried to get them all instead? New headcannon right there. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 21:27, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

The "eternal student" was a thing when I went to college ("uni" for our UK friends) because tuition was nominal at most state affiliated universities. The optimal path if your parents weren't giving your money was to get a job as a Resident Advisor in one of the dormitories where most first year students lived as that would cover your room and board. Most school have responded to this by instituting some sort of cap on the number of courses and years you could take before they would force you to graduate. The dedicated eternal student would then apply to graduate school. {{unsigned ip|2600:1700:b39:3010:70ea:4d8d:1888:b6b8|18:17, 3 October 2025 (UTC)}}

I second Jmbryant's suggestion that this could be inspired by Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny. The comic immediately made me think of the central character.[[Special:Contributions/2601:600:837F:B130:D9D9:FE08:EC42:5A55|2601:600:837F:B130:D9D9:FE08:EC42:5A55]] 03:11, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

Is it true that, as asserted, most students finish the gen-ed courses in their first year or even first term? In my B.Sc. program, first-year students were expected to take 3 full-year credits of sciences, 2 half-credits in math (1 per term), and 1 full-year arts credit. A second credit of arts was required to complete the degree requirements, but that was generally taken in a later year. I did things a bit differently: 2 full credits in math in my first year along with the 3 science credits, and I did my arts requirements in my 3rd and 4th years. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 14:37, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, that claim was way off, at least for US universities. I edited it to be more accurate.
[[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 15:39, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

Maybe this is a nitpick, but I don't like how this explanation conflates 100% speedruns and getting all achievements. What "100%" means varies from game to game, but it's generally unrelated to external "achievement" trackers. It's quite common for achievements to be awarded for things the community considers irrelevant to finishing the game, such as failing under particularly silly circumstances or winning the game while deliberately avoiding certain mechanics; there might even be achievements which are incompatible and must be achieved in separate runs! "100%" != "all achievements," usually. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 12:27, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

:I wouldn’t call that a nitpick at all. In fact, I think it’s a good point that a 100% run and an all achievements run would likely be very different for a university. While you could say that completion of a university only necessitates academic achievements, there’s definitely a lot more that you COULD do at a university. Clubs, sports, events, etc. That optional content wouldn’t be optional if the speedrun was truly all-achievements. I’ve added a paragraph about the implications of a speedrun that requires EVERYTHING possible to achieve at the university. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 19:51, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

3148: 100% All Achievements

2025-11-03T19:46:33Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added further clarification of 100% vs all achievements, paragraph on implication of extracurriculars being necessary for completion

{{comic
| number = 3148
| date = September 29, 2025
| title = 100% All Achievements
| image = 100_all_achievements_2x.png
| imagesize = 271x475px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I'm trying to share my footage of the full run to prove it's not tool-assisted, but the uploader has problems with video lengths of more than a decade.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY AN ANY% RUNNER. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
100% All Achievements is a category of {{w|Speedrunning|video game speedruns}} where the goal is to do everything possible in the game, as fast as possible. Many games have a progress bar to track completion of the game, making the "100%" criterion officially defined. "Achievements," also known as "trophies" for games on Sony-branded consoles, are another way to track accomplishments, either tracked within the game itself or through the storefront used to purchase the game such as the Microsoft Store. In some cases (particularly if external achievements are also tracked within the game itself) a 100% speedrun requires the player to collect every achievement. Sometimes, however, achievements are tracked separately from in-game completion, and thus are irrelevant to a 100% run. Some games include external achievements for spending a given amount of time playing the game (eg. An achievement for playing the game for 100 hours) which, if required, would defeat the point of trying to complete the game quickly. The phrasing here implies that Cueball’s university is not one such example, and that any external achievements must be completed for Cueball to consider his run complete.

[[Cueball]] is attempting a 100% All Achievements run for his university, which is a ridiculous pursuit for several reasons. Even though 100% runs for video games can take very long (up to [https://www.speedrun.com/baten_kaitos_eternal_wings_and_the_lost_ocean?h=100&x=mke7v926 two weeks]), they don't even come close to the amount of time needed to complete a single university major, let alone every class. This would be prohibitively expensive for most people due to the high cost of university attendance. Moreover, "All Achievements" is vaguely defined in this scenario, and the "achievements" possible at a university will change as courses, academic tracks, and degrees offered change. In contrast, even if the possible achievements in a video game change as updates and downloadable content are released, it is possible to specify a particular version of the game used for the speedrun. In addition, the university seems upset with this choice of action, and are demanding he stop it and graduate. This may be because they doubt his ability to retain this information, perhaps because they simply cannot get as much tuition from one man, or possibly because they feel he is making a mockery of the institution.

“All achievements” could simply refer to completing all courses and degree programs, achievements in video games often involve optional paths or accomplishments unrelated to the main game progress. The equivalent for a university speedrun may mean Cueball also must participate in extracurricular activities such as clubs and other university-associated events, even if they do not directly contribute to his eventual graduation requirements. Depending on how involved the university is, this may add significant challenge and time to the speedrun. If the speedrun requires Cueball to participate in, say, several university sporting leagues at once, the time and effort spent over the course of training, practice, recovery, and event matches (possibly requiring significant travel) may even outweigh his already Herculean academic efforts.

While this might sound ludicrous, "{{w|perpetual students}}" are people who spend long periods at a university. {{w|Michael Nicholson (academic)|Michael Nicholson}}, the world record holder, completed 30 majors between before 1964 and 2016.

Gen-ed, which Cueball says he had completed all of in 2010, refers to {{w|Curriculum#Core_curriculum|general education courses}}. This usually means either:
(1) a set of classes, or at least categories of classes (such as literature, history, science, foreign language, etc.), that must be taken by all students, regardless of major; or
(2) classes that have few prerequisites, intended to be taken by students in other disciplines or by people not in university programs at all, to broaden their education (for example, a course in general science for arts students). It is common for a university program to require a student to take several courses that are somewhat related to their nominal preferred specialty in their first year, to provide a foundation for later studies and to permit some flexibility if the student's interests change. In some countries, some gen-ed courses are also included in programs of study so that students get at least a bit of exposure to unrelated disciplines. Many students aim to get these courses out of the way within their first one or two years, though some universities have more specific or long-term requirements (eg: requiring all students to take at least one lower-division and at least one upper-division humanities course) to ensure breadth through a student's undergrad career.

Classes at a university typically receive a code that combines the name of the field/discipline being taught with a two- or three-digit number (e.g., a course in anthropology might be ANTH 209). The leading digit typically provides information about how advanced a class is: lower division work might receive a 0 or 1, while upper division and graduate courses will receive higher numbers. Although there is no standardization across universities for which specific numbers equate to which course levels, the generally accepted baseline education given in any specific subject is usually associated with the number {{w|101 (number)#In_education|101}}, while classes in the 400s are usually taken in the 4th year of undergrad at most universities, and may provide credit towards graduate-level degrees.

In traditional speedrunning, a {{w|tool-assisted speedrun}} (mentioned in the title text) is one done with software such as a {{w|video game console emulator|video game emulator}} to record and then play back incredibly precise movements. These are typically used to show the theoretical upper limit of how quickly a game can be completed, even if the required techniques are beyond human capabilities (i.e. performing a long chain of optimal actions, flawlessly, without the need to replay or restart any stage). Particularly exceptional speedruns may rouse suspicion that they weren’t truly performed by a human, which is what Cueball is trying to quell. It is unclear how such tools might be applied to the pursuit of education, but Cueball may have meant using artificial intelligence or similar "cheats" to illegitimately complete his work. Unassisted speedruns are typically reviewed in full by a moderator of the speedrunning community for that game to ensure there truly were no tools involved. There is no known community for university speedrunning,{{Citation needed}} so no moderators will be able to review the years of footage to determine whether the speedrun was legitimate.

Most video-sharing services limit the length of uploaded videos, either by size or length, for a variety of reasons. A decade-long video file is almost certainly too big for any service: an hour of 720p-resolution video is about one gigabyte [[https://www.overcasthq.com/blog/how-big-are-video-files/ Overcast]], so a decade would be about 100 terabytes. The longest video ever to be hosted on YouTube is just under 25 days [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12095652/trivia/ IMDB]], under 1% of what Cueball wants. Such a video would require significant infrastructure support by the service for it to be allowed, not to mention presenting challenges to recording and storing it in the first place. Also, the moderators would spend much of their time watching the video. Assuming they watch 8 hours every day and there are 10 moderators splitting the video, we can calculate the days needed assuming it is about a decade. (10*365*24)/8/10 =87,600/8/10 = 1095. So, they need 1095 days, or about 3 years.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, arms outstretched, is talking to White Hat.]
:Cueball: I finished all the gen-ed back in 2010, and I'm up to the 400-level courses in most departments.
:Cueball: But now one of my advisors is saying I "can't have more than 20 majors" and "need to graduate next year."
:Cueball: It's outrageous!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My university is making it really hard to finish a 100% all achievements speedrun.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Video games]]

Talk:3160: Document Forgery

2025-10-28T14:40:56Z

KelOfTheStars!: Potential theme

Can someone please make a printable version of this, thank you! [[Special:Contributions/216.126.34.139|216.126.34.139]] 21:26, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

Reminds me of [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70650ely2eo the infamous fake certificate with "verify" spelt wrong]... [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 21:47, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

It seems like my summary got added on top of the other one somehow. I don't know if anyone wants to try to merge them... [[Special:Contributions/136.47.216.1|136.47.216.1]] 22:04, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

Here are some famous state university that do not have the state in their name: Kent State U., Adams State U., Athens State U., Jacksonville State U.. More on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_and_territorial_universities_in_the_United_States --[[Special:Contributions/2001:638:807:507:A761:A61B:43F:6CF1|2001:638:807:507:A761:A61B:43F:6CF1]] 07:59, 28 October 2025 (UTC)
:I'll add that in. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:09, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Feels like a similar theme to [[2756: Qualifications]]. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 14:40, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-25T22:52:04Z

KelOfTheStars!: Changed instances of “armour” to “armor” to reflect the spelling used in the comic

{{comic
| number = 3158
| date = October 22, 2025
| title = Shielding Chart
| image = shielding_chart_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x720px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sharks can occasionally travel short distances through air when pursuing prey, but their attenuation coefficient is pretty high.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SPACE-BASED SHARK DEFENSE BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is part of a series on [[:Category:Confusion matrices|confusion matrices]].

Various hazardous (or merely obnoxious) materials, objects, and effects can have their danger reduced with specialized protective equipment. The yellow squares are where the shield fails to protect against the object. The grey-yellow squares are where the shield is partially successful, but still presents some risk. The grey squares are where the shield succeeds.

The first five barriers are materials/conditions which may be used to block some things and not others, which makes for a relatively normal comparison matrix. The last five barriers are devices which are deliberately designed and manufactured to block the last five materials/effects. Comparing those with effects for which they aren't designed is presented for absurdity.

The first three hazards - Gamma Rays, Neutrons, and Alpha Particles - represent different types of radiation. Their associated "beep" and "click" sounds mirror real detection behavior: "beep" corresponds to ionizing radiation like gamma and alpha particles, detected by modern radiation detectors, while "click" refers to neutron detection, which uses a separate type of counter designed for neutral particles. {{w|Geiger counter|Geiger counters}}, an earlier form of radiation detector, also clicked.

All but two tiles feature [[Cueball]] trying to make use of that column's chosen 'protective shield', although in the case of some scenarios (involving vacuum or water) he may also be sufficiently equipped against the environment he finds himself in. Also present will be the row's specific 'effect', either in its own right (an object or creature that embodies the phenomenon automatically) or as conveyed by [[Megan]] (when not just present as onlooker) who may also have had the 'shield' primarily delegated to her. The two main exceptions are where Cueball himself emits the sound (from within 'protective' suits that turn out to be ineffectual sound-blockers), to apparently annoy Megan, and depictions of radio reception (which always shows Cueball's attempt to transmit, whether or not it shows a successful incoming message).

Some hazards, such as {{w|alpha particles}}, a form of radiation with particularly low penetrative power, can be easily deterred by common things; even a relatively short distance through air is enough to minimize their impact. Comparatively, more dangerous hazards, such as the far more penetrative {{w|gamma rays}}, are unaffected by all but the shielding methods actually intended for them. No effect is either all effective or all ineffective, against each form of 'shielding', and neither is any instance of shield consistent against all effects.

The title text notes that, while the shark hazard is shown on the chart to be entirely nullified by a sufficient air barrier, in reality sharks are capable of attacking prey even if it is a short distance out of the water. However, it claims a high "attenuation coefficient", which is an {{tvtropes|ExpospeakGag|overly scientific way of saying}} that you don't need a ''lot'' of air between you and the shark before it can't hurt you. Indeed, while sharks can jump out of the water to a certain height, there's a hard line between "vulnerable" and "out of reach", and a person can be within arm's reach of a shark's attack while they themselves are in no danger whatsoever. So long as they ''don't'' unwisely reach out to tempt fate.

===Table===
{| class="wikitable" | style="background:#E6C3C3;"
! Shielding Chart
! scope="col"| {{w|Air}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Lead}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Water}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Glass}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Vacuum}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Oven mitts}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Armor}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Hazmat suit|Bio-hazard suit}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Faraday cage}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Shark cage}}
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Gamma rays}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Gamma rays are not significantly shielded by air.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Lead is commonly used as {{w|Lead shielding|shielding}} against gamma rays. Lead works because of its density and high atomic number, scattering gamma rays.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Water can be used to shield against gamma rays, but you need at least 10 feet of water between you and the gamma rays for it to work.
|colspan=7; style="background:#FFF978;"|Gamma rays have the highest energy of any type of light and have no mass or charge, making them pass through most materials easily.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Neutrons}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Neutrons are not stopped by low density materials such as air.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Lead's high density means that neutrons will keep bumping into lead nuclei, losing their energy through inelastic scattering. However since lead nuclei are much heavier than neutrons, most of the energy will remain with the neutron; as a result, many collisions are needed to slow the neutrons. Some neutrons will also be absorbed by the nuclei, although the {{w|Cross section (physics)|cross section}} is rather low.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Since protons and neutrons have almost the same mass, a collision with a hydrogen atom in water will result in the neutron losing almost half of its energy, resulting in a very rapid attenuation. Moreover the cross section for the fusion of neutrons and protons is high, leading to most neutrons being captured to form deuterium.
|colspan=7; style="background:#FFF978;"|None of these materials are dense enough to slow or absorb neutrons in significant quantities.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Alpha particles}}
|colspan=4; style="background:#C4C5C7"|As alpha particles are almost completely unable to travel through most materials, any of these would effectively stop them. Even if they didn't, the intervening air and distance to Cueball would prevent them being detected in any case. In the third panel, Cueball questions if his equipment is working, as this is the only thing which isn't detected within the first four shields.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|While alpha particles are unable to travel through air, they can move freely in a vacuum. As such, alpha particles are able to reach Cueball in this scenario, activating his detector and allowing Cueball to know that his equipment is indeed working properly.
|colspan=3; style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As with the first four shields, any of these materials would block the particles, and in any case they would have a hard time travelling through air to reach Cueball regardless of the shield provided.
|colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|There are gaps in both the cages through which the particles could pass. In both cases, the emitter has been moved closer to the observer, because otherwise the effect would be masked by the intervening air.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Light}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Light passes easily through air; if it didn't, we would not be able to see.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As lead is a solid, opaque material, light is not able to pass through it.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Water is mostly transparent to visible light. It will attenuate over long distances, but won't be quickly blocked.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|As glass is a largely transparent substance, light is usually able to pass through it.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Because a lack of air does not impact the travel of light, it reaches Cueball without issue.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Cueball is able to use the opaque oven mitts to cover the light source, successfully preventing the light from reaching him.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|The helmet Cueball is wearing is opaque, blocking the light from reaching him. It also makes this a fairly useless set of armor.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As with the oven mitts, Hairy uses the helmet part of the biohazard suit to block the light source.
|colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|As both types of cages have holes in them, it is easy for the light to pass through the holes and reach Cueball.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Sound}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air is the most common medium through which we perceive sound. It would not serve as an effective barrier between a source of sound and someone's ears, unless it was over a very great distance.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Lead is very dense, and is in fact used for soundproofing due to its resistance to buffeting by airborne sound waves. But, as an extremely dense solid, it is a very fast conductor of vibration within itself (so long as the thickness of the material does not invoke the dampening softness and attenuate those vibrations). In this case, Megan is directly knocking upon the lead screen itself, which seems to be enough for the sound of the knocking to emerge at Cueball's side.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Sound travels significantly faster and further in water than in air, making it difficult to locate and understand, but certainly not doing any good when it comes to ''blocking'' sound. The image in this square is of a dolphin,[[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''cetacean needed'']]] detecting fish using sound waves, which it is very good at doing precisely ''because'' its sounds travel very well through water.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Glass, while useful for muffling sound, cannot block it entirely, as anyone whose neighbors mow the lawn at 6:00 can attest to.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|"In space, no one can hear you scream." In a vacuum (like space), there are no atoms or molecules to carry sound waves.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Oven mitts are thick enough that they block some of the sound if a person shouts into them, but it will not be enough to fully block out the sound.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|The two cases of whether sound can penetrate suits are the only two cases where Cueball is trying (successfully) to inflict the phenomenon on [[Megan]], who otherwise features only as the (attempted) instigator. Neither suit is able (or intended) to significantly block sound waves.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|The cages are open enough that their ability to block sound is negligible, and standing in one will do very little to block out sound.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Heat}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air can be a fairly effective thermal insulator when constrained, as in {{w|aerogels}} and many types of insulation. However, freely moving air as depicted in this panel flows as it heats up, transferring heat from the campfire to Cueball's marshmallow. Additionally, air does little to block thermal radiation from the heat source.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Lead conducts heat, allowing Cueball to toast a marshmallow on the surface of the shield. However, since lead is poisonous, he should not do this.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Heat will raise the temperature of water. If the temperature is raised high enough the water will start to boil; boiling has long been used by humanity to prepare food. Marshmallows however are not meant to be boiled.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Cueball appears to be holding a glass bottle over an open fire, into which he has presumably placed his marshmallows. Depending on the temperature, the type of glass and its thickness, it is possible to heat the contents of a glass container, but if the container is unsuitable this can be dangerous to the user. Also, it is unclear how he proposes to consume the sticky marshmallow mess this would create.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|The lack of matter in a vacuum completely blocks transmission by conduction and convection, the two main ways in which heat is spread. It still allows transmission by radiation, which is less efficient. For the specific example of the thermos shown in the image, the way they are constructed, completely blocks radiation, but there are enough residual air particles for a very slow convection. The fact that the shielding is made from one single (very thin) piece, and it has lips, also allows some conduction.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Cueball is holding a pan over an open fire while wearing oven mitts. Pans whose grip or handle is not made of a material that conducts less heat than the pan proper are dangerous to grab onto with one's bare hands: wearing oven mitts protects the user from heat. It should be noted that, depending on the weight of the pan and the time the pan needs to be held over a fire to prepare its contents, this can be quite tiring for the user.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A suit of armor is made of metal, which will conduct the heat and do little to protect one's hands against an open flame. The inside of the gloves will be made of some kind of cloth and/or leather, which, as well as giving little protection, might pose a fire hazard.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Bio-hazard suits are designed to help filter air and allow the user to handle dangerous chemicals. However, most bio-hazard suits are made out of fabrics with a laminate coating, both of which are prone to burning and allow heat to pass through.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|Both cages have a minimal effect on the heat from a fire. Depending on the intensity of the fire and the distance from the cage this can create a comfortably warm temperature to the person inside of the cage.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Swords}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air has a negligible force against objects and is unable to stop Megan's sword's thrust.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Lead is a heavy and dense metal, and as a result, it can stop blows from a sword.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|While water has a greater force than air against objects, it is still not enough to stop Megan's attack.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Glass is easily broken by sharp blows, especially if it isn't tempered, and as a result does not stop Megan's sword.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A vacuum has no resistance against objects and unsurprisingly is not able to stop Megan's attack.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are typically made of fabric, which would provide only limited protection. They also do not cover the full body.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|The metallic armor Cueball is wearing was probably designed to stop penetrating and slashing sword blows, with further layers beneath to dampen impacts.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Swords are sharp, and as such are able to break through the thin hazmat suit Cueball is wearing.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A Faraday cage can be a fine mesh, optimal to screen out various radio frequencies of EM radiation but not intended to stop anything else and comparatively delicate against any physical penetration.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A shark cage, while able to provide resistance against larger threats, has holes through which Megan's sword can go.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Particulate matter#Health problems|Toxic dust}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Dust can travel through air, hanging onto small currents. Air does nothing to protect Cueball.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|{{w|Lead poisoning|Lead is poisonous}}, so while a solid lead barrier would prevent toxic dust from passing through, any dust or metal fragments from the shield would still be dangerous.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Water actually can be {{w|Dust abatement|used to prevent the spread of dust}}. However, toxic dust that gets into drinking water will {{w|Water pollution#Groundwater pollution|contaminate it}}, and could cause health problems, just as airborne toxic dust can.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Dust cannot travel through glass, and being fully encased in a glass bell protects one from dust (though it would bring its own problems).
| style="background:#FFF978;"|With no air to slow it down, dust in space can move at dangerously high speeds, possibly fast enough to tear through Cueball's space suit.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are worn on the hands and do not normally interfere with one's breathing. However, if there is a notable amount of toxic dust in the air, holding an oven mitt over one's face is better than no protection.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A suit of armor still allows the wearer to breathe, and provides no particular protection from dust.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A biohazard suit is fully enclosed with its own internal oxygen supply, and so protects the wearer from airborne particles.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|Both cages are too open to provide any significant protection against dust.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Radio}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Radio waves are more than able to travel through air. This is what allows walkie-talkies to work.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Because of lead's high density, radio waves are unable to penetrate it, and would not work in Cueball's situation.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Radio waves from two-way radios, like the kind shown in the comic, {{w|Radio propagation#Direct modes (line-of-sight)|cannot penetrate deep water}}. There are {{w|Radio propagation#Surface modes (groundwave)|radio frequencies that ''can'' penetrate deep water}}, but these have a much lower frequency, require more powerful transmitters, and (in the case of {{w|Extremely low frequency#Difficulties of ELF communication|extremely low frequencies}}) cannot transmit audio.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|In a similar way that glass is transparent to visual light, it is also transparent to radio waves, allowing them to pass through.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|As there is nothing getting in the way of radio waves in a vacuum, radios work very well in space. This allows ground control to communicate with astronauts in space.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts, typically being made of fabric, have no effect on radio waves.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A metal suit of armor blocks radio waves. This is because metals are very good electrical conductors, which block the radio waves.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Biohazard suits do not block radio waves, and someone wearing such a suit can send and receive radio transmissions without issue.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A {{w|Faraday cage}} is specifically designed to block electromagnetic fields such as radio waves. In fact, this is the ''only'' 'hazard' here that it blocks.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|The openings in a shark cage are too wide for the cage to experience the properties of a Faraday cage.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Sharks}}
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Sharks cannot travel very far on land or in the air.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Shielding yourself with lead plates will effectively protect you against sharks.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Sharks live in water, so water is not an effective shield against sharks.{{cn}}
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Glass will effectively protect you against sharks, provided that it is thick enough. In fact, sharks are commonly (and safely) shown to the public in aquariums.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|In the vacuum of space, Cueball is very far from sharks' ocean habitat (though he may be at risk of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xcvAoKojo dolphins]).
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are not very effective at stopping sharks.{{cn}}
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Depending on the design of the armor, a shark might be able to permanently deform it enough that it causes injury, though the more flexible {{w|Chain_mail#Practical_uses|chain mail}} ''is'' successfully used to prevent actual piercing damage from bites.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A biohazard suit is weak enough that a shark can rip through it.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A Faraday cage is weak enough that a shark can rip through it.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A shark cage is specifically designed to protect against sharks. In fact, this is the ''only'' hazard here that it blocks.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[The whole comic is in one panel]
:[A 10x10 matrix sits in the middle with rows labelled as follows:]
:Gamma Rays
:Neutrons
:Alpha Particles
:Light
:Sound
:Heat
:Swords
:Toxic Dust
:Radio
:Sharks
:[The columns are
:Air
:Lead
:Water
:Glass
:Vacuum
:Oven Mitts
:Armor
:Bio-Hazard Suit
:Faraday Cage
:Shark Cage


:[In all of the Gamma Ray boxes, Cueball stands next to a gamma ray emitter with a smattering of dots a short distance away from it, which is perched on a table as necessary, a geiger counter held in his hand or worn.]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[Just standing a few feet from the emitter. The geiger counter Cueball wears beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep!

:[Gamma Rays vs. Lead - gray tile]
:[The gamma ray emitter and the table have a lead enclosure covering them. The geiger counter, held towards everything else in Cueball's hand, does not beep.]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Water - grayish-yellow tile]
:[The gamma ray emitter and table are placed in a large, nearly full, glass of water. Cueball's outstretched geiger counter beeps once:] Beep!

:[Gamma Rays vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[A glass 'bell-jar' covers the gamma ray emitter, atop the table, the geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep!

:[Gamma Rays vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[The gamma ray emitter appears to be held within an open hatch of a satellite. The satellite, together with a space-suited Cueball, can be seen to be in orbit around the Earth. His chest-mounted geiger counter is transmitting three beeps:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile]
:[Megan stands to the left of the gamma ray emitter, wearing oven mitts and covering the emitter with one hand. Cueball’s body-mounted geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Armor - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands to the right of the gamma ray emitter wearing a suit of plate armor. From inside the armor, his Geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands to the right of the gamma ray emitter wearing a bio-hazard suit. From inside the suit, his Geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is surrounded by a mesh cage. His geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[Gamma Rays vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Cueball is within a barred cage. His geiger counter beeps three times:] Beep Beep Beep

:[In all of the Neutron boxes, Cueball stands next to a neutron emitter, that looks like two half-sphere shells that are angled slightly open in Cueball's direction, in similar scenarios to the above but with a heftier pedestal in place of the table. No visible effects emit from the emitter. Cueball holds the top handle of the same large detector in each scenario.]

:[Neutrons vs. Air - yellow tile]
:[The detector emits two clicks:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Lead - grayish-yellow tile]
:[The emitter and pedestal are within their lead enclosure. The detector clicks once:] Click

:[Neutrons vs. Water - gray tile]
:[The emitter and pedestal are in the large glass of water. The detector makes no noise.]

:[Neutrons vs. Glass - yellow tile]
:[The glass bell-jar covers the pedestalled emitter. The detector clicks twice:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Vacuum - yellow tile]
:[The emitter sits in the satellite's open hatch. Spacesuited Cueball's hand-held detector transmits two clicks:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Oven Mitts - yellow tile]
:[Megan wears oven gloves and covers the emitter, on its pedestal, with both hands. Cueball's detector clicks twice:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Armor - yellow tile]
:[Cueball has removed his armor’s helmet and placed it over the emitter. His detector clicks twice:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow tile]
:[Cueball stands as normal, having draped his unworn biohazard suit over the emitter, leaving the hood on the floor. His detector sounds two clicks:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Faraday Cage - yellow tile]
:[Within his mesh cage, two clicks come from Cueball's detector:] Click Click

:[Neutrons vs. Shark Cage - yellow tile]
:[Within a barred cage, the detector Cueball holds clicks twice:] Click Click



:[In all of the Alpha Particle boxes, it is a small spherical mass or flask with 'fizzy' strands or dashes, set in the same base scenarios as previously.]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Air - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Lead - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Water - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Glass - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Vacuum - yellow]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Oven Mitts - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Armor - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Faraday Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Shark Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Megan points a brightly lit battery torch towards Cueball, in an attempt to inflict the effects of Light upon him.]

:[Light vs. Air - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Lead - gray]
:[]

:[Light vs. Water - grayish-yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Glass - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Vacuum - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Oven Mitts - gray]
:[]

:[Light vs. Armor - grey]
:[]

:[Light vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - grey]
:[]

:[Light vs. Faraday Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Shark Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[In most cases, Megan appears to be screaming in Cueball's direction, to depict the incidence of Sound.]

:[Sound vs. Air -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Water -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Armor -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[The row depicting Fire tends to show a small campfire, or other more expansive flames. In all but one case, Cueball is present. In most of these instances, he is holding a marshmallow, sometimes at the end of a long stick.]

:[Heat vs. Air -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Water -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Armor -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Megan is thrusting a Sword rightwards, towards/into Cueball, in this row. Cueball also holds a sword, in all but one case, but lowered and not in a defensive manner.]

:[Swords vs. Air -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Water -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Armor -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Clouds, and further particulate specks, illustrate the Toxic Dust row, in several cases apparently being discharged by a burning brazier. All tiles have Cueball in the scene.]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Air -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Water -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Armor -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Cueball tends to carry a two-way radio handset, in the Radio row, except where the transceiver appears to be part of the various protective suits that he is wearing.]

:[Radio vs. Air -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Water -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Armor -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Each tile in the Shark row depicts a shark, except when only the shark's fin is seen emerging from a body of water. Cueball is somehow present in each case.]

:[Sharks vs. Air -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Water -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Armor -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-25T17:12:07Z

KelOfTheStars!: /* Transcript */ transcribed a few more panels, spelling correction

{{comic
| number = 3158
| date = October 22, 2025
| title = Shielding Chart
| image = shielding_chart_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x720px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sharks can occasionally travel short distances through air when pursuing prey, but their attenuation coefficient is pretty high.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SPACE-BASED SHARK DEFENSE BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is part of a series on [[:Category:Confusion matrices|confusion matrices]].

Various hazardous (or merely obnoxious) materials, objects, and effects can have their danger reduced with specialized protective equipment. The yellow squares are where the shield fails to protect against the object. The grey-yellow squares are where the shield is partially successful, but still presents some risk. The grey squares are where the shield succeeds.

The first five barriers are materials/conditions which may be used to block some things and not others, which makes for a relatively normal comparison matrix. The last five barriers are devices which are deliberately designed and manufactured to block the last five materials/effects. Comparing those with effects for which they aren't designed is presented for absurdity.

The first three hazards - Gamma Rays, Neutrons, and Alpha Particles - represent different types of radiation. Their associated "beep" and "click" sounds mirror real detection behavior: "beep" corresponds to ionizing radiation like gamma and alpha particles, detected by modern radiation detectors, while "click" refers to neutron detection, which uses a separate type of counter designed for neutral particles. {{w|Geiger counter|Geiger counters}}, an earlier form of radiation detector, also clicked.

All but two tiles feature [[Cueball]] trying to make use of that column's chosen 'protective shield', although in the case of some scenarios (involving vacuum or water) he may also be sufficiently equipped against the environment he finds himself in. Also present will be the row's specific 'effect', either in its own right (an object or creature that embodies the phenomenon automatically) or as conveyed by [[Megan]] (when not just present as onlooker) who may also have had the 'shield' primarily delegated to her. The two main exceptions are where Cueball himself emits the sound (from within 'protective' suits that turn out to be ineffectual sound-blockers), to apparently annoy Megan, and depictions of radio reception (which always shows Cueball's attempt to transmit, whether or not it shows a successful incoming message).

Some hazards, such as {{w|alpha particles}}, a form of radiation with particularly low penetrative power, can be easily deterred by common things; even a relatively short distance through air is enough to minimize their impact. Comparatively, more dangerous hazards, such as the far more penetrative {{w|gamma rays}}, are unaffected by all but the shielding methods actually intended for them. No effect is either all effective or all ineffective, against each form of 'shielding', and neither is any instance of shield consistent against all effects.

The title text notes that, while the shark hazard is shown on the chart to be entirely nullified by a sufficient air barrier, in reality sharks are capable of attacking prey even if it is a short distance out of the water. However, it claims a high "attenuation coefficient", which is an {{tvtropes|ExpospeakGag|overly scientific way of saying}} that you don't need a ''lot'' of air between you and the shark before it can't hurt you. Indeed, while sharks can jump out of the water to a certain height, there's a hard line between "vulnerable" and "out of reach", and a person can be within arm's reach of a shark's attack while they themselves are in no danger whatsoever. So long as they ''don't'' unwisely reach out to tempt fate.

===Table===
{| class="wikitable" | style="background:#E6C3C3;"
! Shielding Chart
! scope="col"| {{w|Air}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Lead}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Water}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Glass}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Vacuum}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Oven mitts}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Armor}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Hazmat suit|Bio-hazard suit}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Faraday cage}}
! scope="col"| {{w|Shark cage}}
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Gamma rays}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Gamma rays are not significantly shielded by air.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Lead is commonly used as {{w|Lead shielding|shielding}} against gamma rays. Lead works because of its density and high atomic number, scattering gamma rays.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Water can be used to shield against gamma rays, but you need at least 10 feet of water between you and the gamma rays for it to work.
|colspan=7; style="background:#FFF978;"|Gamma rays have the highest energy of any type of light and have no mass or charge, making them pass through most materials easily.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Neutrons}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Neutrons are not stopped by low density materials such as air.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Lead's high density means that neutrons will keep bumping into lead nuclei, losing their energy through inelastic scattering. However since lead nuclei are much heavier than neutrons, most of the energy will remain with the neutron; as a result, many collisions are needed to slow the neutrons. Some neutrons will also be absorbed by the nuclei, although the {{w|Cross section (physics)|cross section}} is rather low.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Since protons and neutrons have almost the same mass, a collision with a hydrogen atom in water will result in the neutron losing almost half of its energy, resulting in a very rapid attenuation. Moreover the cross section for the fusion of neutrons and protons is high, leading to most neutrons being captured to form deuterium.
|colspan=7; style="background:#FFF978;"|None of these materials are dense enough to slow or absorb neutrons in significant quantities.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Alpha particles}}
|colspan=4; style="background:#C4C5C7"|As alpha particles are almost completely unable to travel through most materials, any of these would effectively stop them. Even if they didn't, the intervening air and distance to Cueball would prevent them being detected in any case. In the third panel, Cueball questions if his equipment is working, as this is the only thing which isn't detected within the first four shields.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|While alpha particles are unable to travel through air, they can move freely in a vacuum. As such, alpha particles are able to reach Cueball in this scenario, activating his detector and allowing Cueball to know that his equipment is indeed working properly.
|colspan=3; style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As with the first four shields, any of these materials would block the particles, and in any case they would have a hard time travelling through air to reach Cueball regardless of the shield provided.
|colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|There are gaps in both the cages through which the particles could pass. In both cases, the emitter has been moved closer to the observer, because otherwise the effect would be masked by the intervening air.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Light}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Light passes easily through air; if it didn't, we would not be able to see.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As lead is a solid, opaque material, light is not able to pass through it.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Water is mostly transparent to visible light. It will attenuate over long distances, but won't be quickly blocked.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|As glass is a largely transparent substance, light is usually able to pass through it.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Because a lack of air does not impact the travel of light, it reaches Cueball without issue.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Cueball is able to use the opaque oven mitts to cover the light source, successfully preventing the light from reaching him.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|The helmet Cueball is wearing is opaque, blocking the light from reaching him. It also makes this a fairly useless set of armor.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|As with the oven mitts, Hairy uses the helmet part of the biohazard suit to block the light source.
|colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|As both types of cages have holes in them, it is easy for the light to pass through the holes and reach Cueball.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Sound}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air is the most common medium through which we perceive sound. It would not serve as an effective barrier between a source of sound and someone's ears, unless it was over a very great distance.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Lead is very dense, and is in fact used for soundproofing due to its resistance to buffeting by airborne sound waves. But, as an extremely dense solid, it is a very fast conductor of vibration within itself (so long as the thickness of the material does not invoke the dampening softness and attenuate those vibrations). In this case, Megan is directly knocking upon the lead screen itself, which seems to be enough for the sound of the knocking to emerge at Cueball's side.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Sound travels significantly faster and further in water than in air, making it difficult to locate and understand, but certainly not doing any good when it comes to ''blocking'' sound. The image in this square is of a dolphin,[[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''cetacean needed'']]] detecting fish using sound waves, which it is very good at doing precisely ''because'' its sounds travel very well through water.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Glass, while useful for muffling sound, cannot block it entirely, as anyone whose neighbors mow the lawn at 6:00 can attest to.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|"In space, no one can hear you scream." In a vacuum (like space), there are no atoms or molecules to carry sound waves.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Oven mitts are thick enough that they block some of the sound if a person shouts into them, but it will not be enough to fully block out the sound.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|The two cases of whether sound can penetrate suits are the only two cases where Cueball is trying (successfully) to inflict the phenomenon on [[Megan]], who otherwise features only as the (attempted) instigator. Neither suit is able (or intended) to significantly block sound waves.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|The cages are open enough that their ability to block sound is negligible, and standing in one will do very little to block out sound.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Heat}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air can be a fairly effective thermal insulator when constrained, as in {{w|aerogels}} and many types of insulation. However, freely moving air as depicted in this panel flows as it heats up, transferring heat from the campfire to Cueball's marshmallow. Additionally, air does little to block thermal radiation from the heat source.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Lead conducts heat, allowing Cueball to toast a marshmallow on the surface of the shield. However, since lead is poisonous, he should not do this.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Heat will raise the temperature of water. If the temperature is raised high enough the water will start to boil; boiling has long been used by humanity to prepare food. Marshmallows however are not meant to be boiled.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Cueball appears to be holding a glass bottle over an open fire, into which he has presumably placed his marshmallows. Depending on the temperature, the type of glass and its thickness, it is possible to heat the contents of a glass container, but if the container is unsuitable this can be dangerous to the user. Also, it is unclear how he proposes to consume the sticky marshmallow mess this would create.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|The lack of matter in a vacuum completely blocks transmission by conduction and convection, the two main ways in which heat is spread. It still allows transmission by radiation, which is less efficient. For the specific example of the thermos shown in the image, the way they are constructed, completely blocks radiation, but there are enough residual air particles for a very slow convection. The fact that the shielding is made from one single (very thin) piece, and it has lips, also allows some conduction.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Cueball is holding a pan over an open fire while wearing oven mitts. Pans whose grip or handle is not made of a material that conducts less heat than the pan proper are dangerous to grab onto with one's bare hands: wearing oven mitts protects the user from heat. It should be noted that, depending on the weight of the pan and the time the pan needs to be held over a fire to prepare its contents, this can be quite tiring for the user.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A suit of armor is made of metal, which will conduct the heat and do little to protect one's hands against an open flame. The inside of the gloves will be made of some kind of cloth and/or leather, which, as well as giving little protection, might pose a fire hazard.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Bio-hazard suits are designed to help filter air and allow the user to handle dangerous chemicals. However, most bio-hazard suits are made out of fabrics with a laminate coating, both of which are prone to burning and allow heat to pass through.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|Both cages have a minimal effect on the heat from a fire. Depending on the intensity of the fire and the distance from the cage this can create a comfortably warm temperature to the person inside of the cage.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Swords}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Air has a negligible force against objects and is unable to stop Megan's sword's thrust.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Lead is a heavy and dense metal, and as a result, it can stop blows from a sword.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|While water has a greater force than air against objects, it is still not enough to stop Megan's attack.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Glass is easily broken by sharp blows, especially if it isn't tempered, and as a result does not stop Megan's sword.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A vacuum has no resistance against objects and unsurprisingly is not able to stop Megan's attack.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are typically made of fabric, which would provide only limited protection. They also do not cover the full body.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|The metallic armor Cueball is wearing was probably designed to stop penetrating and slashing sword blows, with further layers beneath to dampen impacts.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Swords are sharp, and as such are able to break through the thin hazmat suit Cueball is wearing.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A Faraday cage can be a fine mesh, optimal to screen out various radio frequencies of EM radiation but not intended to stop anything else and comparatively delicate against any physical penetration.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A shark cage, while able to provide resistance against larger threats, has holes through which Megan's sword can go.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Particulate matter#Health problems|Toxic dust}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Dust can travel through air, hanging onto small currents. Air does nothing to protect Cueball.
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|{{w|Lead poisoning|Lead is poisonous}}, so while a solid lead barrier would prevent toxic dust from passing through, any dust or metal fragments from the shield would still be dangerous.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Water actually can be {{w|Dust abatement|used to prevent the spread of dust}}. However, toxic dust that gets into drinking water will {{w|Water pollution#Groundwater pollution|contaminate it}}, and could cause health problems, just as airborne toxic dust can.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Dust cannot travel through glass, and being fully encased in a glass bell protects one from dust (though it would bring its own problems).
| style="background:#FFF978;"|With no air to slow it down, dust in space can move at dangerously high speeds, possibly fast enough to tear through Cueball's space suit.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are worn on the hands and do not normally interfere with one's breathing. However, if there is a notable amount of toxic dust in the air, holding an oven mitt over one's face is better than no protection.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A suit of armor still allows the wearer to breathe, and provides no particular protection from dust.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A biohazard suit is fully enclosed with its own internal oxygen supply, and so protects the wearer from airborne particles.
| colspan=2; style="background:#FFF978;"|Both cages are too open to provide any significant protection against dust.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Radio}}
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Radio waves are more than able to travel through air. This is what allows walkie-talkies to work.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Because of lead's high density, radio waves are unable to penetrate it, and would not work in Cueball's situation.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Radio waves from two-way radios, like the kind shown in the comic, {{w|Radio propagation#Direct modes (line-of-sight)|cannot penetrate deep water}}. There are {{w|Radio propagation#Surface modes (groundwave)|radio frequencies that ''can'' penetrate deep water}}, but these have a much lower frequency, require more powerful transmitters, and (in the case of {{w|Extremely low frequency#Difficulties of ELF communication|extremely low frequencies}}) cannot transmit audio.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|In a similar way that glass is transparent to visual light, it is also transparent to radio waves, allowing them to pass through.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|As there is nothing getting in the way of radio waves in a vacuum, radios work very well in space. This allows ground control to communicate with astronauts in space.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts, typically being made of fabric, have no effect on radio waves.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A metal suit of armor blocks radio waves. This is because metals are very good electrical conductors, which block the radio waves.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Biohazard suits do not block radio waves, and someone wearing such a suit can send and receive radio transmissions without issue.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A {{w|Faraday cage}} is specifically designed to block electromagnetic fields such as radio waves. In fact, this is the ''only'' 'hazard' here that it blocks.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|The openings in a shark cage are too wide for the cage to experience the properties of a Faraday cage.

|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Sharks}}
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Sharks cannot travel very far on land or in the air.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Shielding yourself with lead plates will effectively protect you against sharks.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Sharks live in water, so water is not an effective shield against sharks.{{cn}}
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|Glass will effectively protect you against sharks, provided that it is thick enough. In fact, sharks are commonly (and safely) shown to the public in aquariums.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|In the vacuum of space, Cueball is very far from sharks' ocean habitat (though he may be at risk of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xcvAoKojo dolphins]).
| style="background:#FFF978;"|Oven mitts are not very effective at stopping sharks.{{cn}}
| style="background:#DDDCB2;"|Depending on the design of the armor, a shark might be able to permanently deform it enough that it causes injury, though the more flexible {{w|Chain_mail#Practical_uses|chain mail}} ''is'' successfully used to prevent actual piercing damage from bites.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A biohazard suit is weak enough that a shark can rip through it.
| style="background:#FFF978;"|A Faraday cage is weak enough that a shark can rip through it.
| style="background:#C4C5C7;"|A shark cage is specifically designed to protect against sharks. In fact, this is the ''only'' hazard here that it blocks.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[The whole comic is in one panel]
:[A 10x10 matrix sits in the middle with rows labelled as follows:]
:Gamma Rays
:Neutrons
:Alpha Particles
:Light
:Sound
:Heat
:Swords
:Toxic Dust
:Radio
:Sharks
:[The columns are
:Air
:Lead
:Water
:Glass
:Vacuum
:Oven Mitts
:Armour
:Bio-Hazard Suit
:Faraday Cage
:Shark Cage


:[In all of the Gamma ray boxes, cuball stands next to a table with a gamma ray emitter on it and a geiger counter on his arm]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Air tile - yellow]
:[The geiger counter on his arm beeps 3 times.]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Lead - gray]
:[The gamma ray emitter and the table are encased in lead - the geiger counter does not beep.]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Water - grayish-yellow]
:[The gamma ray emitter and table are in a large glass of water, the geiger counter beeps once]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Glass - yellow]
:[Only the gamma ray emitter is inside a glass dome, the geiger counter beeps 3 times]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Vacuum - yellow
:[the table is replaced by a box- containing the gamma ray emitter, Cueball is floating in space with part of earth behind him, his geiger counter beeps 3 times]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Oven Mitts - yellow]
:[Megan stands to the left of the gamma ray emitter wearing oven mitts and covering the emitter with one hand. Cueball’s geiger counter beeps 3 times.]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Armour - yellow]
:[Cueball stands to the right of the gamma ray emitter wearing a suit of plate armor. His Geiger counter beeps 3 times from inside the armor.]



:[Gamma Rays vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow]
:[]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Faraday Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Gamma Rays vs. Shark Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons general row-theme description

:[Neutrons vs. Air - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Lead - grayish-yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Water - gray]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Glass - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Vacuum - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Oven Mitts - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Armour - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Faraday Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Neutrons vs. Shark Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles general row theme description

:[Alpha Particles vs. Air - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Lead - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Water - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Glass - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Vacuum - yellow]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Oven Mitts - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Armour - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - gray]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Faraday Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Alpha Particles vs. Shark Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Light general row theme description

:[Light vs. Air - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Lead - gray]
:[]

:[Light vs. Water - grayish-yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Glass - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Vacuum - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Oven Mitts - gray]
:[]

:[Light vs. Armour - grey]
:[]

:[Light vs. Bio-Hazard Suit - grey]
:[]

:[Light vs. Faraday Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Light vs. Shark Cage - yellow]
:[]

:[Sound general row theme description

:[Sound vs. Air -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Water -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Armour -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Sound vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Heat general row theme description

:[Heat vs. Air -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Water -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Armour -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Heat vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Swords general row theme description

:[Swords vs. Air -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Water -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Armour -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Swords vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust general row theme description

:[Toxic Dust vs. Air -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Water -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Armour -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Toxic Dust vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Radio general row theme description

:[Radio vs. Air -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Water -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Armour -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Radio vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

:[Sharks general row theme description

:[Sharks vs. Air -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Lead -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Water -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Glass -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Vacuum -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Oven Mitts -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Armour -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Bio-Hazard Suit -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Faraday Cage -
:[]

:[Sharks vs. Shark Cage -
:[]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-24T00:36:55Z

KelOfTheStars!: Grammar fix

Talk:3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-24T00:33:12Z

KelOfTheStars!: Discussion reply

Brb, going out to buy some lead. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 01:49, 23 October 2025 (UTC)
:If you buy some oven mitts, too, you can get rid of the only two remaining penetrating substances (sound and heat) [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 21:16, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

My new expansion to Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock is coming along nicely. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 02:25, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

Ah yes, you can make sound in a vacuum! [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 02:41, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

:Well, there's air in her helmet, presumably... [[Special:Contributions/160.39.41.199|160.39.41.199]] 05:05, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

We're not gonna have a good time filling out this table, are we? [[Special:Contributions/47.141.47.226|47.141.47.226]] 05:14, 23 October 2025 (UTC)
:i bet randall is laughing at those silly explainxkcd editors who now have to elaborate on every single square. if i were conspiratorial i'd say he wrote this just to spite us. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 08:46, 23 October 2025 (UTC)
::Nah, I'm good at filling out tables :) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:07, 23 October 2025 (UTC)
:::Is your name perhaps Bobby Tables? [[user:Seshan S.]] 10:25, 23 October 2025

A bit surprised there's nothing about keeping Mr. Faraday away. --[[Special:Contributions/130.233.188.214|130.233.188.214]] 06:50, 23 October 2025 (UTC)
: He was a doctor, so apples would do the job for that. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:21, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

This came out a couple of weeks after the 50th anniversary of Jaws, so it's disappointing that "a bigger boat" isn't one of the protections. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:24, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

"Air," "Lead," "Water," and "Glass," and a near-perfect "Vacuum" actually vary by thickness. I guess Oven mitts, armor, bio-hazard suits, faraday cages, and shark cages do too but those usually come in human-scale sizes. A meter of air won't give you significant protection against gamma rays, but if you are anywhere near sea level, the air above your head does. A near-perfect vacuum too wide for a shark to get to you before it dies will protect you, one only a few nanometers thick probably won't. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 18:20, 23 October 2025 (UTC)
: The best shield of all is distance. You just need enough of it. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 00:33, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-24T00:29:39Z

KelOfTheStars!: Explained the water/alpha particles interaction

Talk:3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-23T02:25:18Z

KelOfTheStars!: Joke comment

Brb, going out to buy some lead. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 01:49, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

My new expansion to Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock is coming along nicely. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 02:25, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-23T02:15:21Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added incomplete notice joke

3158: Shielding Chart

2025-10-23T02:12:38Z

KelOfTheStars!: First draft

3157: Emperor Palpatine

2025-10-21T20:09:38Z

KelOfTheStars!: Transcript - Made description of ROS age marker more specific

{{comic
| number = 3157
| date = October 20, 2025
| title = Emperor Palpatine
| image = emperor_palpatine_2x.png
| imagesize = 538x531px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Many things about Star Wars were not well planned out, but having a 37-year-old in old-age makeup play the Emperor in Return of the Jedi was such an incredible call.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by A BOT OF UNCERTAIN AGE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic about {{w|extrapolation}} tracks the age of the {{w|Star Wars}} character {{w|Palpatine}} against the age of the actor who played him.

The primary film series of the Star Wars franchise consists of three trilogies: the original trilogy (1977-1983), the prequel trilogy (1999-2005), and the sequel trilogy (2015-2019). Palpatine is played by {{w|Ian McDiarmid}} in at least one film from each trilogy (and all three films of the prequel trilogy).

The character of Emperor Palpatine was briefly mentioned in the first {{w|Star Wars}} movie and appears briefly in {{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}, but doesn't have significant screen time until {{w|Return of the Jedi}} in 1983, which is when McDiarmid took on the role. He was presented as an elderly, withered, and physically decaying man, despite being played by an actor in his 30s. The character is killed near the end of the film.

The prequels portray Palpatine's rise from Senator to Chancellor to Emperor. He was 55 when the first of the prequels was made, and used no obvious aging (or de-aging) makeup or other effects, implying that the Palpatine of this era was approximately the same age as the actor (which fits nicely with the timeline of the universe).

{{w|The Rise of Skywalker}} was the third film of the sequel trilogy. Infamously, this film reveals that "somehow, Palpatine returned". This is somewhat vaguely explained by references to "dark signs, cloning, secrets only the Sith knew". McDiarmid, now in his 70's, played the role once again. While he appears at least as aged as the actor (and far more physically corrupted) the joke is that, if he was cloned, his new body had an "undefined age", but was was presumably younger than Palpatine had been in previous appearances.

The title text suggests that the makers of Star Wars had planned this out from the beginning, and so deliberately chose a 37-year-old actor to play an elderly character, specifically so that he could continue to play the part throughout the entire film series. In fact, the long-term direction of the films were never well-planned, and the notion that the films would be made over the course of more than 4 decades was probably not ever predicted. The idea that casting was made on that assumption is unlikely in the extreme. The fact that the same actor was able to reprise his role over such a long period of time was almost certainly just a matter of luck.

Putting all this together, [[Randall]] comes up with chart comparing the actor's age to that of the character, and concludes that they have an inverse relationship. Extrapolating this forward, he proposes that McDiarmid (81 years old, as of the publication of this strip) be brought back to play the Emperor as a toddler.

The joke, of course, is that this kind of extrapolation is ridiculous. In addition to the silliness of the subject matter, the data isn't used properly. Considering that there are only four good data points (plus a fifth where one of the dimensions is unclear, so should be excluded), there is not really sufficient data to make a proper extrapolation from here. Furthermore, three of the data points are clustered closely together, reducing their usefulness as independent markers.

This comic continues a long theme of applying graphing and extrapolation poorly, and in situations where they're not appropriate, to show the kinds of ridiculous conclusions it can lead to. [[:Category:Extrapolation|See here for other examples]]
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[:A scatter chart with the y scale from 0 to 120 and x scale from 30 to 90]

[:X axis is labeled "Emperor Palpatine character age" and Y axis is labeled "Ian McDiarmid age during filming"]

[:Point labeled return of the Jedi] x value = ~39 y value = ~87

[:Point labeled The phantom menace] x value = ~50 y value = ~52

[:Point labeled Attack of the clones] x value = ~52 y value = 61

[:Point labeled Revenge of the Sith] x value = ~60 y value = ~62

[:Large unfilled circle labeled Now] x value = ~81 y value = ~4

[:Vertical Line with gradient labeled Rise of Skywalker (cloned body, undefined age). The gradient is darkest around the y values from 40 to 50, and becomes lighter towards either extreme of the y axis.] x value = ~75

[:A two large arrows trending downwards with some spots being near some points, and one arrow is ends at ~x=52 and the other one starts at ~x=54]
[:caption beneath panel]

To continue the trend, they should make a star wars movie
Where 81-year-old Ian Mcdiarmid plays the emperor as a toddler.

==Trivia==
Not depicted upon the graph are Palpatine's prior ''actors'' from the original release of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, when Palpatine would have been 88. {{w|Marjorie Eaton}} (79) visually played the character (although some sources disagree, and have Elaine Baker, at the time 27 and married to the film's makeup designer, in the role), with similarly heavy prosthetics to McDiarmid, whilst Clive Revill (50) provided the voice. For the 2004 DVD release, the scene was reshot with McDiarmid, who was 60 at the time.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Extrapolation]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Scatter plots]]

3155: Physics Paths

2025-10-17T18:42:48Z

KelOfTheStars!: Made the explanation of the wordplay with “overturn” more explicit

{{comic
| number = 3155
| date = October 15, 2025
| title = Physics Paths
| image = physics_paths_2x.png
| imagesize = 433x663px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If nothing else, that reasoning definitely overturns syllogisms.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT trying to prove its value. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] wishes to prove his value as a person. To do this, he turns to {{w|Albert Einstein}} as a role model, and attempts to replicate his success by making a revolutionary scientific discovery. After an indeterminate amount of time passes, Cueball laments that he has failed. At this point, the comic diverges into two timelines: one in which Cueball takes a healthy outlook on his failure, and one in which he falls into a self-destructive mode of thinking.

The first path (the "healthy path") has Cueball muse that perhaps this was a poorly-thought-out test of his value. The healthy path establishes that Cueball doesn't need a physics-overturning insight to have value. On the other hand, the "path of ruin" has Cueball angrily yell that the establishment must be stopping his insight from overturning physics. The path of ruin has Cueball take the idea that to have value, you must have a critical insight as constant. Thus, since he has value, he must have an insight that overturns physics, and thus the establishment must be suppressing it.

The title text mentions {{w|syllogisms}}, logical deductions from two propositions. An example of a syllogism is "All scientists that overturn physics are valuable. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, Einstein was a person of value." Since Cueball, invalidly, gets it the other way around ("Einstein was a person of value. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, all people with value overturn physics."), one could say he quite literally overturned the syllogism by inverting the logical path.

This comic continues with a theme from the prior comic, [[3154: Physics Insight]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Panel 1, Cueball has one hand out]

:Cueball: Einstein had an insight that overturned physics, thus proving his value.

:[Panel 2, Cueball has one hand on his chin]

:Cueball: I hope '''''I''''' have value. I'll try to have an insight that overturns physics, to check.

:[arrow pointing down with the caption below in between]

:Time passes

:[arrow pointing down to Panel 3, which has Cueball with both of his hands out and up]

:Cueball: On no! My insight didn't overturn physics! But I don't think I'm worthless...

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the left labeled "Healthy path" points to a panel with Cueball with his hands on his chin:]

:Cueball: Maybe this was not a well-thought-out test of my value.

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the right labeled "Path of ruin" points to a panel with Cueball with his finger out and pointing up:]

:Cueball: The establishment must be '''''suppressing''''' my insight!

==Trivia==
Einstein had more than one major insight. His "{{w|Annus mirabilis papers|''annus mirabilis'' papers}}", all published in 1905, covered the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and mass-energy equivalence. The fourth of these is a consequence of the third (though still a major development in its own right), but the first three are about essentially-unrelated areas of physics, and represent significant new understanding of them. The photoelectric effect, the only discovery mentioned in Einstein's Nobel Prize citation, was a foundational concept of what was later called quantum mechanics. The third, titled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", is the one that can be said to have 'overturned' physics as it introduced the concept of {{w|special relativity}}. Special relativity made unnecessary the concept of {{w|luminiferous aether}} for the propagation of light, a substance which had been disproven by the {{w|Michelson–Morley experiment}} but which had left the previous system of classical physics unable to explain why light behaved as it did. The theory of special relativity was also one of the great {{w|unification of theories in physics}}. The first unification was by Isaac Newton, whose law of universal gravitation unified physics (gravity as observed on Earth) with astronomy (the motion of planets) at a time when the two subjects were considered different fields. The second unification was by James Clerk Maxwell, who produced equations unifying the behavior of electricity and magnetism. With the paper on special relativity, Einstein unified space and time, showing that gravity was actually a result of spacetime bending, and not a force solely dependent on the mass of two objects, as classical physics assumed. Incredibly, less than two months after publishing the third great unification, Einstein's fourth paper, titled "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", produced the fourth great unification, when it introduced the equation ''E''=''mc''2 and unified mass and energy. Einstein later (1915) discovered {{w|general relativity}}, another revolutionary physical concept. This unparalleled achievement of several fundamental breakthroughs in physics is why Einstein is held in such high regard to this day, to the point that his last name as a {{w|mononym}} is synonymous with intelligence, insight, and greatness. Indeed Einstein's papers remain a large part of the foundation of modern physics.

The path of ruin seems a nod to John Baez's classic [https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html Crackpot Index]. xkcd has mocked the idea of the physics community suppressing new ideas before, such as in [[675: Revolutionary]], [[2113: Physics Suppression]], or the "science thought police" in [[955: Neutrinos]]. This is also the second consecutive comic about Einstein in some way after [[3154: Physics Insight]].

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Albert Einstein]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

Talk:3155: Physics Paths

2025-10-16T18:34:01Z

KelOfTheStars!: Struggling to accurately explain the title text

I made a Major contribution that overturns physics by making the first comment [[Special:Contributions/115.70.50.107|115.70.50.107]] 20:31, 15 October 2025 (UTC)

I cant make the first comment explainxkcd must be supressing me {{unsigned ip|202.150.104.50|20:41, 15 October 2025}} 

I cant make the first comment explainxkcd must be supressing me {{unsigned ip|202.150.104.50|20:40, 15 October 2025‎}}
:Not only did you fail to make the first comment, you also didn't sign it properly and you posted twice. Cancel! [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:59, 15 October 2025 (UTC)

The global scientific community will RUE THE DAY it dismissed my insights! Go ahead! Start rueing!
[[Special:Contributions/2601:601:C85:EDD0:F0F1:ACFC:F3E5:6BAE|2601:601:C85:EDD0:F0F1:ACFC:F3E5:6BAE]] 22:08, 15 October 2025 (UTC)
: You could have talked about syllogisms to overturn physics even more! --[[Special:Contributions/81.96.108.67|81.96.108.67]] 02:05, 16 October 2025 (UTC)
:: Now you're just being sylly. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:12, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

The description of the special theory of relativity as showing that gravity is the result of curving spacetime is incorrect; that was the later general theory. The special theory only deals with the fact that measurements of space and time will be different for differently moving observers, and specifically excludes gravity. {{unsigned ip|206.204.218.11|05:04, 16 October 2025 (UTC)}}

Is it only me thinking that the unhealthy path already starts in the trial to „prove“ one‘s value? {{unsigned ip|62.93.15.96|05:58, 16 October 2025 (UTC)}}

Has Randall watched Dr. Angela Collier's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miJbW3i9qQc recent video]? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:38, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

The whole “ Einstein had more than one major insight” paragraph is interesting, but irrelevant to the comic. It should be moved into a trivia section. [[Special:Contributions/172.83.161.157|172.83.161.157]] 11:04, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

I’m thinking that part of the joke in the title text is that the term “overturn” is used to literally mean “turn upside down” in that the logic of the syllogism is reversed in an “any scientist that overturns physics is valuable, therefore anyone with value has overturned physics” fashion. I don’t think the current paragraph gets that across very well, and I’ve tried a handful of times to rephrase it, but haven’t been able to get something I’m happy with. If anyone else has any ideas to communicate it better, it would be greatly appreciated. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 18:34, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

3131: Cesium

2025-10-12T21:40:11Z

KelOfTheStars!: Fixed a bit of odd grammar and context

{{comic
| number = 3131
| date = August 20, 2025
| title = Cesium
| image = cesium_2x.png
| imagesize = 588x298px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Someday I hope to find a way to mess up a recipe so badly that it draws the attention of the International Air Transport Association, the International Mathematical Olympiad, or the NSA.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Cesium-137}}, or Cs-137, is a radioactive {{w|isotope}} of {{w|Caesium|cesium}} (officially spelled 'caesium', internationally). This comic was posted the day after the {{w|FDA}} posted an [https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-public-not-eat-sell-or-serve-certain-imported-frozen-shrimp-indonesian-firm advisory] about frozen shrimp sourced from an Indonesian firm because the shrimp were near materials contaminated with Cs-137 during shipment. A sample of breaded shrimp was [https://archive.ph/ri4tv confirmed to have been contaminated.]

Rather than being concerned about the potential health impacts, [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are curious about the technical details that led to this contamination. Cs-137 is normally a by-product of nuclear reactors and is occasionally used in {{w|Food_irradiation|food irradiation}}, along with other more common uses. Cueball and Megan cannot fathom how one could unintentionally contaminate shrimp with radioactive material, let alone with just one specific isotope. Cueball then comments that his biggest culinary screw-up attracted the attention of only his local fire department, likely because he set something on fire while cooking. A real-life example of seemingly-random contamination by Cs-137 was the {{w|Goiânia accident}} in Brazil.

The title text says that one of Cueball's (or possibly [[Randall]]'s) ambitions is to draw the attention of various organizations (the {{w|International Air Transport Association}} (IATA), {{w|International Mathematical Olympiad}} (IMO), or {{w|National Security Agency}} (NSA)) with a recipe he has butchered, either by accident or, more likely in his case, on purpose. Possessing and accidentally or intentionally releasing a radiation source like Cs-137 could get the attention of the NSA. Needless to say, it is difficult to imagine a cooking error that could be in any way brought to the attention of IATA or IMO.

A "[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recipe recipe]" means a set of instructions for making something, typically from various ingredients. (Such as a prescription for a pharmacist, a chemical formula, or step by step instructions to perform a procedure.) Cooking recipes are a very common example of chemical processing instructions. To "mess up a recipe", in the sense of cooking it for oneself or a small group of others, would be unlikely to create a problem on a scale that an international agency would take note of. A recipe that was published for others to use could cause more significant problems if it led to harm to many people. This might involve ingredients that were poisonous, or preparation methods that were unsafe.

A particularly ill-considered thing is sometimes referred to as "a recipe for disaster". A number of these might be of interest to security agencies.

===How to attract attention===
====Attracting the attention of the IATA====
If the recipe is used in major airports and the recipe is contaminated with a drug, the pilots that consume it could experience vision loss or other problems, and if this recipe is widely used and normal people won't notice much besides minor side effects or negative effect was widespread enough where it affected very many flights, then this could attract the attention of the IATA in its primary role of a trade organisation. As a similar example, some airlines have mandated that the captain and first officer eat meals prepared in different kitchens in order to decrease the likelihood that they would both develop food poisoning severe enough to prevent either of them from being able to fly and land the plane. Not all airlines have these mandates, but a food poisoning incident like in ''{{w|Zero Hour!}}'' would likely prompt IATA to institute this policy for all of its members, especially if it ended in a fatal crash. Variations of this concept could even fall under its guidances for how to transport hazardous goods.

Another possibility would be to cook a soufflé so high and fluffy that it reaches airspace (like weather balloons sometimes do), or to sauté something that is very smoky, such as chili peppers, so that the smoke interferes with airspace (like the eruption of the volcano {{w|Eyjafjallajökull}}), or rig up a pressure cooker to shoot pasta sauce out of its release valve. or use the jet engine to pluck chickens. Rather than IATA, though, some of these may first and foremost be issues primarily investigated by the {{w|Federal Aviation Administration}}, instead, at least if occurring within the environs of the United States.

====Attracting the attention of the NSA====
There could be a secret code hidden in the ingredients of a recipe, and if the code affects the whole nation, this could attract the attention of the NSA. However, a much harder way is to have a similar incident with the shrimp, but at a much larger scale and possibly affecting a lot of different foods, if this threat is big enough, the NSA will investigate if there are people purposely doing this.

====Attracting the attention of the International Mathematical Olympiad====
A recipe to attract the attention of the IMO is much harder to imagine. Randall's best chance might be to cause an incident with some mathematically interesting property that inspires a math puzzle to be written about it. Another possibility is some person is trying to give answers to a person in the Olympiad by giving the person a recipe with the answers as a secret code inside, thus attracting the attention of the IMO. Causing food poisoning at a math Olympiad would likely attract the attention of the IMO, though that would require working for the IMO as a caterer or at some restaurant near the location where the Olympiad is held. However, these are most probably all on purpose or would be not allowed to be served for reasons unrelated to IMO and it would be very unusual to accidentally make these recipes. About a week prior to the publication of this comic, [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/math-question-viral-elementary-school-bobby-seagull-b2807395.html a botched "math exercise" about baking that lacked an actual question] went viral and was reported on by traditional media, but it happened at an elementary school, completely unrelated to the IMO.

Alternatively, in the process of preparing the recipe, Randall might find a way to develop a new form of geometry, topography, etc. which overturns long-held beliefs in mathematics. Accidentally doing something like that (say, proving [[2939: Complexity Analysis|P=NP]], like when [[704: Principle of Explosion|Cueball derived his friend's mom's phone number]]) is common in XKCD.

====Attracting the attention of all of the above====
To attract the attention of IATA, NSA, and the IMO, it would be very difficult. You could make a meal that is fed to IMO participants, airline pilots, and has a secret national level code inside, that is slightly contaminated (to not raise suspicion beforehand). This would be very hard but possible and will attract the attention of all 3.

A pharmacy or chemical supplier messing up a chemical recipe and dispensing the wrong medication could affect people from the NSA, IATA and IMO, and thus attract attention from all three.

==Transcript==
:[Megan looks at a news story on her phone while talking with Cueball. Cueball is looking at Megan]
:Megan: There's a recall of frozen shrimp contaminated with cesium-137.
:Cueball: With ''what?''
:Megan: I know, right?
:Cueball: ''How!?''

:[Megan has put her phone away and she shrugs with her arms held out palm up, looking at Cueball.]
:Megan: No idea, but I bet it involved some expensive equipment. Those cesium sources aren't cheap.
:Cueball: Man.

:[Megan stands normally while Cueball holds a hand to his chin, looking down.]
:Megan: It's honestly a little inspiring to realize that it's always possible to screw up in a totally new way.
:Cueball: Yeah, the biggest agency whose attention '''''I've''''' drawn by messing up a recipe is the local fire department.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

3153: Hot Water Balloon

2025-10-11T01:50:02Z

KelOfTheStars!: Grammar fix

{{comic
| number = 3153
| date = October 10, 2025
| title = Hot Water Balloon
| image = hot_water_balloon_2x.png
| imagesize = 484x232px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Despite a reputation for safety, the temperatures and surprisingly high pressures make them even more dangerous than the air kind, but the NTSB refuses to investigate accidents because they insist there is no 'transportation' involved.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created during a romantic water balloon ride. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

Hot air balloons are an [[2940|inconvenient and dangerous]] form of novelty transport in which riders float into the sky in a basket suspended from a large balloon filled with hot air. Considering that the majority of passenger-carrying balloons use hot air, the specificity of the term “air balloon” implies that there is another variant that uses something other than air, as with helium-filled balloons (which float) and water balloons (which don't). Water balloons are typically relatively small, sealed (unlike hot air balloons, which are open at the base), full of cold water, and intended to be thrown in a water balloon fight, a common way to have fun and cool down during hot weather. This comic combines the hot air balloon and the water balloon to create a “vehicle” consisting of a basket attached to a large balloon of heated water. Since hot water, unlike hot air, produces no lift, the vehicle is entirely useless.

The title text clarifies that the hot water balloon is not just useless, but actually dangerous, as it has a large container full of hot, pressurized water, naturally leading to accidents. However, the {{w|National Transportation Safety Board}} (NTSB) doesn’t consider the stationary hot water balloon to be a form of transportation since it doesn't move, and thus they claim any hot water balloon accidents should not fall under their purview.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[A large water balloon is sitting on the ground, with cords connected to a basket nearby with Cueball and Megan inside. The water balloon's color patterns are like a hot air balloon's. Ponytail pokes the balloon with a finger, and a squirrel is on the ground looking at the basket.]

[There are squiggly heat lines ({{w|The_Lexicon_of_Comicana#Examples|indotherms}}) emanating from the balloon, as well as movement lines ({{w|The_Lexicon_of_Comicana#Examples|agitrons}}) above the balloon. Above them it says:]

bloop bloop

[Text below panel]
Hot water balloon rides turn out to be significantly less romantic than the air kind.
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3153: Hot Water Balloon

2025-10-10T21:01:01Z

KelOfTheStars!: First draft comment

First time making the first draft, so hopefully I did a decent job. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 21:01, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

3153: Hot Water Balloon

2025-10-10T21:00:08Z

KelOfTheStars!: First explanation draft

Talk:3152: Skateboard

2025-10-09T01:55:17Z

KelOfTheStars!: Trope reference

Maybe Randall took inspiration for this comic from the recent Red Bull stunt with Brazilian skater Sandro Dias, who dropped from the side of a building from a height of 70 meters (that's little over 229 ft) on 25 September 2025. [[Special:Contributions/2804:214:4102:575A:D862:C9B6:9505:D740|2804:214:4102:575A:D862:C9B6:9505:D740]] 01:25, 9 October 2025 (UTC)vinnycordeiro

Perhaps the “wrong parachute pack” thing is just a common trope, but I was immediately reminded of the example in the Henry Stickmin Collection, where Henry survives the initial fall without a parachute just fine, but is immediately killed by the contents of the backpack falling out and onto his head. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 01:55, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

3148: 100% All Achievements

2025-10-01T20:40:29Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added detail to better explain why tool-assisted speedruns exist, and why cueball would want to prove his isn’t one.

{{comic
| number = 3148
| date = September 29, 2025
| title = 100% All Achievements
| image = 100_all_achievements_2x.png
| imagesize = 271x475px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I'm trying to share my footage of the full run to prove it's not tool-assisted, but the uploader has problems with video lengths of more than a decade.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY AN ANY% RUNNER. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
100% All Achievements is a category of {{w|Speedrunning|video game speedruns}} where the goal is to do everything possible in the game, as fast as possible. Many games have a progress bar to track completion of the game, making the "100%" criterion officially defined. "Achievements," also known as "trophies" for games on Sony-branded consoles, are another way to track accomplishments, either tracked within the game itself or through the storefront used to purchase the game such as the Microsoft Store.

[[Cueball]] is attempting a 100% All Achievements run for his university, which is a ridiculous pursuit for several reasons. Even though 100% runs for video games can take very long (up to [https://www.speedrun.com/baten_kaitos_eternal_wings_and_the_lost_ocean?h=100&x=mke7v926 two weeks]), they don't even come close to the amount of time needed to complete a single university major, let alone every class. This would be prohibitively expensive for most people due to the high cost of university attendance. Moreover, "All Achievements" is vaguely defined in this scenario, since the "achievements" possible at a university will change over the period of time involved, as courses are updated, revalidated, added and removed every year in a typical institution. In contrast, even if the possible achievements in a video game change as updates and downloadable content are released, it is possible to specify a particular version of the game used for the speedrun.

In addition, the university seems upset with this choice of action, perhaps because they doubt his ability to retain this information, perhaps because they simply cannot get as much tuition from one man. Thus, they are demanding he stop this course of action and graduate.

Gen-ed, which Cueball says he had completed all of in 2010, refers to {{w|Curriculum#Core_curriculum|general education courses}}. This usually means either:
(1) a set of classes, or at least categories of classes (such as literature, history, science, foreign language, etc.), that must be taken by all students, regardless of major; or
(2) classes that have few prerequisites, intended to be taken by students in other disciplines or by people not in university programs at all, to broaden their education (for example, a course in general science for arts students). It is common for a university program to require a student to take several courses that are somewhat related to their nominal preferred specialty in their first year, to provide a foundation for later studies and to permit some flexibility if the student's interests change. In the USA, some gen-ed courses are also included in programs of study so students get at least a bit of exposure to unrelated disciplines. Most students typically finish these within their first year, if not their first term.

Classes at a university typically receive a code that combines the name of the field/discipline being taught with a two- or three-digit number (e.g., a course in anthropology might be ANTH 209). The leading digit typically provides information about how advanced a class is: lower division work might receive a 0 or 1, while upper division and graduate courses will receive higher numbers. Although there is no standardization across universities for which specific numbers equate to which course levels, the generally accepted baseline education given in any specific subject is usually associated with the number {{w|101 (number)#In_education|101}}, while classes in the 400s would be graduate-level courses at most universities.

In traditional speedrunning, a {{w|tool-assisted speedrun}} (mentioned in the title text) is one done with software such as a {{w|video game console emulator|video game emulator}} to record and then play back incredibly precise movements. These are typically used to show the theoretical upper limit of how quickly a game can be completed, even if the required techniques are beyond human capabilities. Particularly exceptional speedruns may rouse suspicion that they weren’t truly performed by a human, which is what Cueball is trying to quell. Such tools generally do not exist for real-life pursuits such as education,{{cn}} so Cueball may have meant using artificial intelligence or similar "cheats" to illegitimately complete his work. Unassisted speedruns are typically reviewed in full by a moderator of the speedrunning community for that game to ensure there truly were no tools involved. There is no known community for university speedrunning,{{Citation needed}} so no moderators will be able to review the years of footage to determine whether the speedrun was legitimate.

Most video-sharing services limit the length of uploaded videos, either by size or length, for a variety of reasons. A decade-long video file is almost certainly too big for any service: an hour of 720p-resolution video is about one gigabyte [[https://www.overcasthq.com/blog/how-big-are-video-files/ Overcast]], so a decade would be about 100 terabytes. Currently the longest video on YouTube is just under 25 days [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12095652/trivia/ IMDB]], under 1% of what Cueball wants. Such a video would require significant infrastructure support by the service for it to be allowed, not to mention presenting challenges to recording and storing it in the first place.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Cueball, arms outstretched, is talking to White Hat.]
:Cueball: I finished all the gen-ed back in 2010, and I'm up to the 400-level courses in most departments.
:Cueball: But now one of my advisors is saying I "can't have more than 20 majors" and "need to graduate next year."
:Cueball: It's outrageous!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My university is making it really hard to finish a 100% all achievements speedrun.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Video games]]

3148: 100% All Achievements

2025-09-30T14:48:17Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added incomplete banner joke

1933: Santa Facts

2025-09-30T00:49:31Z

KelOfTheStars!: Fixed inconsistency with Brooke Rollins’ name

{{comic
| number = 1933
| date = December 25, 2017
| title = Santa Facts
| image = santa_facts.png
| titletext = We've gotten him up to 20% milk and cookies through an aggressive public campaign, but that seems to be his dietary limit. Anything above that and he starts developing nutritional deficiencies.
}}

==Explanation==
This was the second [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] in a row after [[1932: The True Meaning of Christmas]]. It was released on Christmas Day in 2017

The comic provides some dubious "Facts" and "Figures" of the creature known as "Santa". We can see from the drawing that this is obviously meant to be either {{w|Santa Claus}} or a parody of Santa Claus. It is the third comic using [[:Category:Facts|Facts]] in the title. Another fact comic was released six years later as the Christmas Day comic of 2023: [[2872: Hydrothermal Vents]]. Here it was an Ocean fact about the demise of Santa Clauses...

This comic is reminiscent of the [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phones series]].

'''Type: Flying/Psychic'''
:A reference to {{w|Pokémon}}. The {{w|Gameplay_of_Pokémon#Pok%C3%A9mon_types|type}} of a Pokémon describes and determines its abilities (including attacks), affinities, and general nature. In most stories Santa Claus rides a sled pulled by flying reindeer (all other [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Flying_(type) Flying-type] Pokémon fly under their own power) and some kind of magical power. Psychic possibly refers to his ability to know a child's activities and behavior, including when they are {{w|Santa_Claus_Is_Comin%27_to_Town| sleeping or awake}}, implying a psychic ability to read minds. There is a Pokémon based on Santa, [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Delibird_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Delibird], although it is Ice/Flying instead of Flying/Psychic.

'''Plural: "Santa"'''
:The plural form of 'Santa' conveniently parallels that of 'reindeer' (as well as those of all species of Pokémon and the term "Pokémon" itself). In real life, "santa" means "saint" in most {{w|Romance languages}}. However "santa" is not plural in any of these languages (for example, in Portuguese the proper plural would be "santos"). Under the most common English approach for making a plural noun, Santa would have a plural of "Santas". Taking "Santa Claus" as a separate noun, the plural would be "Santa Clauses". (Or, possibly, "Santas Claus".)

'''Active warrants: 5'''
:There is an active warrant for Santa's arrest in 5 jurisdictions, presumably for breaking and entering or for operating a flying sleigh without the proper licensing, while drunk, or over the speed limit.

'''Lubricated for easy passage down chimneys'''
:The diagram indicates that Santa's attire is lubricated to ease his traditional method of ingress and egress. This explanation is incomplete, however, as a great many chimneys have cross-sectional area substantially smaller than that of a normal human body, let alone a portly one, as commonly described. The common presence of chimney caps, fireplace dampers, and the like would also impede Santa's passage down a great many chimneys. That said, if we take the classic poem "{{w|A Visit from St. Nicholas}}" into account, the statement is technically true, just "lubricated" with magic rather than physical lubrication. A less classic example of Santa going down the chimney with help of magic can be seen in The Santa Clause [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBaQwGTHCL8]. "Lubricated" is also a reference to lubricated condoms - see "Ribbed" below.

'''Vertical Leap: 14 Miles'''
:For a non-magical being or object, a vertical leap of 14 miles (~23 km), ''ignoring air resistance'' would require an initial launch velocity of slightly more than 2180 feet per second (665 m/s), somewhat over twice the speed of sound. Achieving this velocity by means of bending then straightening the legs would require an acceleration of roughly 25,000 G, placing extraordinarily high demands on the strength and durability of the legs. As Santa does not have a particularly aerodynamic shape, air resistance would increase the launch velocity and launch acceleration requirements substantially. Santa may be able to overcome these problems due to his magical nature; however, there is clearly still a limit to what this can achieve, as there is a maximum to his leaping ability.

'''Sleigh Flag of Convenience: Panama'''
:The {{w|Flag_of_convenience|Flag of Convenience}} identifies the country in which an ocean-going vessel has its registration information. Panama maintains one of the top three open registries. Owners of a vessel may choose to use an open registry to avoid labor or safety regulations of the owner's country. They may also choose such a registry to help obscure ownership of the vessel. Which concern applies in the case of Santa's sleigh is not stated, or (more likely) not known. It may also be the only type of registration available, since the north pole is not in any country, so there is no "owner's country".

:However, a ship's flag state exercises regulatory control over the vessel and is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ship's equipment and crew, and issue safety and pollution prevention documents. One suspects that this does '''not''', in fact, happen regularly with Santa's sleigh. Also, as a ''flying'' sleigh, the registry for ''ocean-going'' vessels is not applicable. Instead, it would be registered as an aircraft, with the FAA (in the U.S.), EASA (in Europe), or the equivalent in another country. Civilian aircraft have their registration number painted on their tails, but are not required to display a "flag". (However, U.S. Airways used a stylized version of a U.S. flag as a corporate logo prior to its merger with American Airlines.)

:The country being Panama may be a reference to the {{w|Panama Papers}}.

'''9th in Presidential Line of Succession'''
:The {{w|United_States_presidential_line_of_succession|Presidential Line of Succession}} specifies the order in which persons may become or act as {{w|President of the United States}} if the incumbent President becomes incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office. Having Santa as the 9th in that order would place him above the {{w|United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture}}. An alternative interpretation would hold that Santa '''is''' the present Secretary of Agriculture, {{w|Brooke Rollins}}.

:Assuming Brooke Rollins is not Santa Claus, Santa is likely ineligible for the Presidency, as most origin stories of Santa have him a natural-born citizen of a European country (or of Turkey) rather than the United States. Alternately, Santa might be old enough to qualify under the "citizen at the time of the adoption of this constitution" clause, although in light of the information that Santa is actually an arthropod and/or a vampire (see below), his status as an American citizen is dubious.

:Alternatively, Santa Clause is in North Pole Presidential Line of Succession - indicating, that there's at least 9 people more high-ranking in New Year hierarchy than Santa Claus himself. As such, it's likely that there are many Santa Clauses - though it's unclear if people in succession line are other Santas, or are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#Related_figures regional equivalents of Santa (e.g. Ded Moroz, Father Christmas, Joulupukki, Sinterklaas, etc)]. This is likely reason why "Plural" is explicitly written in.

'''Not technically an insect — actually an arthropod'''
:This "fact" uses an absurd misconception to correct a relatively common misconception. Absurdly, Randall has mistaken Santa for a lobster, given his bright red coloration and the surname Claus (which is pronounced the same as a lobster's "claws"). This may be an homage to the film the Nightmare Before Christmas, where Jack Skellington believes Christmas Town is led by "Sandy Claws" who is "like a lobster, huge and red".

:There is a relatively common misconception that lobsters are insects. In fact, lobsters are crustaceans, but there is a kernel of truth to the misconception, as crustaceans and insects are related (both are arthropods). Thus, the "fact" states that Lobster-Santa is not technically an insect; he is actually an arthropod.

'''Only known vampire able to enter house without being invited'''
:In traditional vampire folklore, a vampire {{tvtropes|MustBeInvited|cannot enter an abode without an invitation from the owner of the same}}. Santa, however, seems to be able to enter houses even without explicit invitation (although plenty of children do welcome him, either via written notes or by their general sentiments), so if he is a vampire he is the exception to that rule. This juxtaposes interestingly with the previous point about his arthropod nature.

:His being a vampire is perhaps related to his dressing all in red, and alleged immortality.

'''Works with Alexa'''
:May have any of several meanings, including that Alexa (Amazon's virtual assistant) is Santa's colleague, that Santa uses Alexa in his work, that Santa is somehow functionally compatible with Alexa, or a reference to various Santa-themed 'skills' that Alexa can be associated with. A common advertisement states that a product is compatible with Amazon's smart device, Alexa. But it could also be a play on the idea or fear that Alexa may be used to spy on people from the privacy of their own homes, much like what is claimed of Santa ("he sees you when you're sleeping, [...]"). Finally, several skills designed to entertain users of Alexa are themed around Santa Claus, including asking Alexa where Santa is on Christmas Eve, whether or not you've been naughty or nice, or even leaving the jolly old elf a voicemail.

'''Ribbed'''
:A reference to condoms, which have ridges or ribbing in order to promote pleasurable stimulation during coitus (see "Lubricated" above). This also puns on the fact that, as a humanoid, Santa presumably has a rib cage. (This might directly contradict the claims about his being an arthropod.)

'''IUCN Red List: Critically endangered'''
:The [https://www.iucn.org/about International Union for Conservation of Nature] (IUCN) monitors the size and viability of populations of organisms; 'critically endangered' marks a population as being highly susceptible to extinction. Santa, being one (or possibly two, if we include his wife) of a kind and lacking any offspring (and, indeed, likely being incapable of effectively producing any), will most likely be the last member of his population; thus extinction will arrive with his or his wife's death. Note, however, that the presence on the Red List implies that "Santa" is a biological species, not a fantasy, robot, or other non-biological entity. This is consistent with Santa being an arthropod and/or vampire, but would suggest that there are many specimens of Santa, while other 'Facts' (such as having a definite ranking in the Presidential Line of Succession) suggest Santa to be a single individual.

'''Diet: 80% Reindeer'''
:A mocking allusion to Santa Claus's sleigh, usually pulled by reindeer. Usual folklore depict Santa Claus being extremely fond of his reindeer, thus making it a humorous contrast to suggest he'd be ''eating'' reindeer meat on a daily basis.

'''Liability Insurance: None'''
:As a result of his diet (see above), alleged criminal activity (ditto), species ambiguity, and occupation, Santa would find the cost of liability insurance quite high. He instead chooses to 'go bare' and operate without any.

The title text states that as a result of intervention Santa's diet is now 20% milk & cookies, implying that previously it was 100% Reindeer. It is a tradition to leave out milk and cookies as a "gift" for Santa. If he is indeed a vampire, it is odd that Santa could survive on a diet of reindeer, milk, and cookies, since vampires supposedly need human blood to survive. Of course, his entering without being invited already shows Santa to be a highly unusual vampire. Additionally, it is possible that he consumes ''reindeer'' blood as part of his reindeer diet (vampires living off animal blood is not unheard of in modern fantasy). Related to that may be the observation that he seems to develop "nutritional deficiencies" when going below 80% reindeer meat, as that would logically result in him consuming less blood and thus starvation due to his vampiric nature.

==Transcript==
:[An annotated picture of Santa is shown.]
:'''Santa'''
:Facts and Figures

:Type: Flying/Psychic
:Plural: "Santa"
:Active Warrants: 5
:Lubricated for easy passage down chimneys
:Vertical leap: 14 Miles
:Sleigh flag of convenience: Panama
:9th in presidential line of succession
:Not technically an insect—actually an arthropod
:Only known vampire able to enter house without being invited
:Works with Alexa
:Ribbed
:IUCN red list: Critically endangered
:Diet: 80% Reindeer
:Liability Insurance: None

==Trivia==
*If the proposed line of succession from [[2003: Presidential Succession]] is used in place of the real one, Santa's place in the line would correspond to either a person who does not live in Washington, D.C, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate, if the five people have an order of succession between themselves, or the governor whose state is the most populous at the most recent census, if they take up a joint presidency.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Facts]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

1676: Full-Width Justification

2025-09-23T21:17:03Z

KelOfTheStars!: Removed extra carriage return

{{comic
| number = 1676
| date = May 4, 2016
| title = Full-Width Justification
| image = full_width_justification.png
| titletext = Gonna start bugging the Unicode consortium to add snake segment characters that can be combined into an arbitrary-length non-breaking snake.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic refers to an irritating problem in laying out text to fit from margin to margin, the problem of {{w|justification (typesetting)|justification}}, where you want multiple-line text to line up on the left side (common), the right side (less common), or both sides, which is commonly called full justification. This strip is dealing with how to make text fit such that it lines up on both sides while still looking good. Sometimes, as with a shorter word between two long words like "relationship between [[:wikt:deindustrialization|deindustrialization]]," there's no universal good way to make the typography work. It is a difficult problem to make text look good and be easily legible especially in a narrow space, with the biggest issue being how to handle words that are too long to fit nicely.

The comic shows several solutions to this problem, some realistic and others less so, but each partly or wholly unsatisfying.

"'''Giving up'''" essentially means not attempting full justification for a particular line, which means it will not fit with the rest of the layout.

"'''Letter spacing'''" involves an conspicuously large amount of whitespace between letters, sometimes suggesting a reading where each letter is a word until the reader recognizes what is intended. This method is in somewhat common use in newspaper and magazine layout, where it is generally known by the name "tracking" (distance between all letters) and "kerning" (distance between particular pairs of letters that fit together easily). However, letter spacing is unavailable for justification purposes in some languages (such as German), in which it is used for emphasis, as italics are in English.

"'''Hyphenation'''" can be confusing because it requires suspended recognition of the full word, confusing the eye into seeing, in the given case, the non-words "deindus" and "trialization". This creates difficulty in both pronouncing and parsing the word. Moreover, the decision of when and where to hyphenate is non-trivial, particularly for automated text layout; for example, breaking a word and leaving only two "orphaned" letters on the following line is generally considered an illegal hyphenation. Nevertheless, hyphenation is a very common means of handling extreme cases. The hyphenation option is most compact, yielding the extra word "ecological".

"'''Stretching'''", in which individual letters are displayed as wider than usual so that a word will take up more space, appears visually unnatural and unfamiliar, and may present technical difficulties in rendering.

Adding "'''filler'''" words is generally undesirable: in the worst case, the meaning may be unintentionally altered, or the tone might be rendered too informal, as in the given example, and even in the best case, the text becomes less concise and potentially more difficult to read. Automation is also difficult. However, filler words added by a human, especially the original author of the text, are the least visually conspicuous, and may be the most practical solution in some scenarios.

Finally, adding a decorative image like "'''snakes'''" (but not necessarily snakes in particular) to fill the extra space is a justification practice of significant historical interest (it was particularly common for illuminated manuscripts in the medieval era and remained prominent until the invention of the printing press) but little modern relevance. There may be a particular absurdity to using a snake as it can be read as a word, such as "the relationship between snake deindustrialization" as would be done similar to a {{w|rebus}}.

In modern text layout programs, some combination of the above strategies may be used to achieve the most visually consistent effect. For example, in one case, hyphenation might be the best option to split a very long word, while another line might be too long by only one or two letters, in which case the program could apply a very slight degree of extra letter spacing, too small for the average reader to notice.

The title text suggests that in order to facilitate the "snakes" method of "solving" the problem, the {{w|Unicode Consortium}}, the organization in charge of the common text standard {{w|Unicode}}, should add "snake-building characters" (similar in concept to the existing {{w|Box Drawing}} block), to allow variable-length snake images to be used as filling. Currently, there are at least six snake characters in Unicode, not including at least ten more Egyptian hieroglyphs that represent specific snakes, some in specific combination with other hieroglyphs: [http://unicode-search.net/unicode-namesearch.pl?term=SNAKE]
*[https://codepoints.net/U+1DC2 U+1DC2]   <big>᷂</big>   <big>[S᷂]</big>
**A diacritical {{w|combining character}} used in Americanist phonetic notation to indicate lenis (weak) articulation.
*[https://codepoints.net/U+2E92 U+2E92]   <big>⺒</big>
**A {{w|CJK character}} which might be interpreted as "snake".
*[https://codepoints.net/U+8675 U+8675]   <big>虵</big>
**Another CJK character meaning "snake".
*[https://codepoints.net/U+86C7 U+86C7]   <big>蛇</big>
**Another CJK character meaning "snake".
*[https://codepoints.net/U+1D9DC U+1D9DC]   <big>𝧜</big>
**One of the poorly-supported characters in the {{w|signWriting|signwriting block}}.
*[https://codepoints.net/U+1F40D U+1F40D]   <big>🐍</big>
**An {{w|emoji}} snake.

One of the hieroglyphs ([https://codepoints.net/U+13192 U+13192 EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH I009A]) is described in [https://mjn.host.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/egyptian/unicode/tablemain.html source documents] as HORNED VIPER CRAWLING OUT OF ENCLOSURE, so it is literally a snake-building character. 𓆒 This is the character in question.

"Non-breaking" in the title text refers to a similar process as zero-width joiners and no-break HTML and CSS; the whole snake would shift down if it were too wide to fit on a given line. This suggestion would likely be rejected; the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added,{{Citation needed}} and always require a good reason{{Citation needed}} before adding a character or set of characters to the standard. Strange decisions by the consortium have previously been referenced in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], [[1513: Code Quality]], and [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].

Within an hour or two of this comic being published, a thread on the subject started on the Unicode Consortium’s official Unicode Mailing List. As of two days later, it’s still running.

==Transcript==
Strategies for full-width justification

[Below the caption is a column with six boxes, each showing a different "strategy" for justification which is annotated beside it. Here the annotation is written at the top and the text below. The top and bottom of the text is cut of in the middle, but as it can be "read" this is written anyway. Only for hyphenation does an extra word appear at the end. In the last with snakes, a snake is drawn to cover the entire space from the end of between to the right border.]

<dl>
<dt>Giving up</dt>
<dd style="text-align:justify!important;text-justify:inter-word!important;width:10.5em">their famous paper
on the relationship
between
deindustrialization
and the growth of</dd>

<dt>Letter spacing</dt>
<dd style="text-align:justify!important;text-justify:inter-word!important;width:10.5em">their famous paper
on the relationship
b e t w e e n
deindustrialization
and the growth of</dd>

<dt>Hyphenation</dt>
<dd style="text-align:justify!important;text-justify:inter-word!important;width:10.5em">their famous paper
on the relationship
between deindus-
trialization and the growth of ecological</dd>

<dt>Stretching</dt>
<dd style="text-align:justify!important;text-justify:inter-word!important;width:10.5em">their famous paper
on the relationship
between
deindustrialization
and the growth of</dd>

<dt>Filler</dt>
<dd style="text-align:justify!important;text-justify:inter-word!important;width:10.5em">their famous paper
on the relationship
between crap like
deindustrialization
and the growth of</dd>

<dt>Snakes</dt>
<dd>their famous paper 
on the relationship 
between 🐍 [a snake filling the gap] 
deindustrialization 
and the growth of</dd>

</dl>

==Trivia==
*The full text (with alternate changes) reads:
::''...their famous paper on the relationship between [crap like]/[ 🐍 ] deindustrialization and the growth of [ecological]...''
*An approach not depicted is to treat justification as part of a spherical typesetting strategy which allows words to move between lines even where this is not locally optimal. Its net effect in a case like this is to pull words from the previous line for use as filler. This approach is used by {{w|TeX}}.
*In Arabic, it is common to stretch the lines connecting letters as a relatively elegant and satisfying resolution to this problem. This trick is called "{{w|kashida}}" (كشيدة). There does in fact exist a Unicode character, U+0640: (ـ), to help with this: using it to extend "كشيدة" would result in something like "كـــــشـــيـــدة" (which, incidentally, looks a lot like a snake).
*Jim Chapman, developer of Windows 10 e-reader app Freda, has implemented snake-justification in the app, now available on the [https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9wzdncrfj43b Windows Store]. For best results, use the 'settings' screen to switch 'hyphenation' to 'no', 'use snakes' to 'yes', and choose a large font size (33 or so). Then pick a book with long words and justified text, and read it in a narrow window.
*The comic has been discussed on the [http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2016-m05/0004.html Unicode Mailing List].
*The typesetting system [http://www.sile-typesetter.org/ SILE] implemented snake justification on the same day the comic was published.
*"Line Fillers" depicting animals (including snakes) were widely used in [http://www.medievalcodes.ca/2016/04/line-fillers.html medieval book art].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Unicode]]

3143: Question Mark

2025-09-19T03:33:05Z

KelOfTheStars!: Fixed quote of comic

{{comic
| number = 3143
| date = September 17, 2025
| title = Question Mark
| image = question_mark_2x.png
| imagesize = 380x463px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...
}}

==Explanation==
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|'''''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|{{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} incomplete explanations]] colon:''''' ''Please help by [{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} editing it] exclamation mark!
}}
|{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}|Category|
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In colloquial English, the phrase "{{wiktionary|question_mark#Particle|question mark}}" is sometimes{{acn}} added to the end of an interrogative sentence to emphasize its uncertainty, as if the question mark in a written representation of the utterance should be spoken aloud instead of remaining implicit in the {{w|Intonation (linguistics)#English|rising intonation}}, perhaps to reinforce true questions in dialects that exhibit a {{w|high rising terminal}} even for normal statements, or, as in this case, to signal that a sentence is meant to be interrogative despite not following the typical structure of a question. (The phrase “[it is] maybe even the greatest movie of all time” is structured like a standard declaration of fact, and so verbalizing the question mark helps clarify that the statement is uncertain and that further discussion is required.) However, when [[Hairy]] does this, [[Cueball]] feels compelled to respond by doing the same with other punctuation marks; and even other matters of formatting, such as typographical emphasis and whitespace, which is strange. However, sometimes the word "period" is said at the end of a sentence, before a period, to declare that there can be no dispute about what is being stated. An example might be: "That's the end of the matter, we're leaving Friday, period."

Cueball mentions the film ''{{w|Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle}},'' illustrating the common use of italics to indicate titles of films (as well as other works, e.g. books, albums and series, depending on the stylebook used) and colons to separate subtitles from titles. From the context, Hairy and Cueball had differently polarised opinions about the merits of this film.

The title text reads: "Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot..." Randall uses, and {{tvtropes|ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud|vocalises}}, three different whitespace characters in this statement. Specifically, the three-per-em space (U+2004), the medium mathematical space (U+205F) and the hair space (U+200A). Normally they'd be used for typesetting mathematical formulae and in {{w|microtypography}}, without any expected audible distinction or meaning beyond text-placement and alignment in printed media.

Translated, it looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Characters in title text
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my   speech..."
|-
! Ordinary whitespace
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my speech..."
|}

Pronouncing punctuation used to be a staple of {{w|Dictation (exercise)|dictation}}, especially in the 20th century, when secretaries taking dictation to type letters were more commonplace. The expression "…, {{wiktionary|period#Interjection|period}}" or "…, {{wiktionary|full stop#Interjection|full stop}}", taken to mean "…and that's final", originates from this usage.{{acn}} Since Cueball is pronouncing all other punctuation marks as well, his final "period" denotes only the mark and not the common expression, especially since the latter would usually require mention of the comma before and then an ''additional'' spoken "period" after.

The Kooblen, in Phil Foglio's Buck Godot setting, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205448/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070125 speak in this way] to express punctuation.

==Transcript==
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:[Hairy and Cueball are both walking to the right.]
:Hairy: That movie was so good. Maybe even the greatest movie of all time question mark?
:Cueball: Yeah comma, but you said that about italics ''Charlie's Angels Colon: Full Throttle'' period. Paragraph break.
:Cueball: I question your judgment period.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:When people say "question mark" out loud as a rhetorical device, it always makes me want to say my other punctuation and formatting too.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Movies]]

3143: Question Mark

2025-09-19T00:45:29Z

KelOfTheStars!: Added context to paragraph 1: tldr, the phrase question mark helps to signal that a sentence structured declaratively is actually a question.

{{comic
| number = 3143
| date = September 17, 2025
| title = Question Mark
| image = question_mark_2x.png
| imagesize = 380x463px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...
}}

==Explanation==
{{#ifeq:{{PAGENAME}}|Main Page||{{notice|bcolor=0d5bb3|image=Ambox warning blue construction.svg|{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}| |
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In colloquial English, the phrase "{{wiktionary|question_mark#Particle|question mark}}" is sometimes{{acn}} added to the end of an interrogative sentence to emphasize its uncertainty, as if the question mark in a written representation of the utterance should be spoken aloud instead of remaining implicit in the {{w|Intonation (linguistics)#English|rising intonation}}, perhaps to reinforce true questions in dialects that exhibit a {{w|high rising terminal}} even for normal statements, or, as in this case, to signal that a sentence is meant to be interrogative despite not following the typical structure of a question. (The phrase “[it is] maybe the greatest movie of all time” is structured like a standard declaration of fact, and so verbalizing the question mark helps clarify that the statement is uncertain and that further discussion is required.) However, when [[Hairy]] does this, [[Cueball]] feels compelled to respond by doing the same with other punctuation marks; and even other matters of formatting, such as typographical emphasis and whitespace, which is strange. However, sometimes the word "period" is said at the end of a sentence, before a period, to declare that there can be no dispute about what is being stated. An example might be: "That's the end of the matter, we're leaving Friday, period."

Cueball mentions the film ''{{w|Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle}},'' illustrating the common use of italics to indicate titles of films (as well as other works, e.g. books, albums and series, depending on the stylebook used) and colons to separate subtitles from titles. From the context, Hairy and Cueball had differently polarised opinions about the merits of this film.

The title text reads: "Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot..." Randall uses, and {{tvtropes|ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud|vocalises}}, three different whitespace characters in this statement. Specifically, the three-per-em space (U+2004), the medium mathematical space (U+205F) and the hair space (U+200A). Normally they'd be used for typesetting mathematical formulae and in {{w|microtypography}}, without any expected audible distinction or meaning beyond text-placement and alignment in printed media.

Translated, it looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Characters in title text
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my   speech..."
|-
! Ordinary whitespace
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my speech..."
|}

Pronouncing punctuation used to be a staple of {{w|Dictation (exercise)|dictation}}, especially in the 20th century, when secretaries taking dictation to type letters were more commonplace. The expression "…, {{wiktionary|period#Interjection|period}}" or "…, {{wiktionary|full stop#Interjection|full stop}}", taken to mean "…and that's final", originates from this usage.{{acn}} Since Cueball is pronouncing all other punctuation marks as well, his final "period" denotes only the mark and not the common expression, especially since the latter would usually require mention of the comma before and then an ''additional'' spoken "period" after.

The Kooblen, in Phil Foglio's Buck Godot setting, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205448/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070125 speak in this way] to express punctuation.

==Transcript==
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:[Hairy and Cueball are both walking to the right.]
:Hairy: That movie was so good. Maybe even the greatest movie of all time question mark?
:Cueball: Yeah comma, but you said that about italics ''Charlie's Angels Colon: Full Throttle'' period. Paragraph break.
:Cueball: I question your judgment period.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:When people say "question mark" out loud as a rhetorical device, it always makes me want to say my other punctuation and formatting too.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Movies]]

Talk:3143: Question Mark

2025-09-18T02:30:20Z

KelOfTheStars!: Half joke, half obvservation

Surely it should read CharlieApostraphe’s Angels, right? [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 02:30, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3140: Biology Department

2025-09-10T18:33:52Z

KelOfTheStars!: Joke comment

I agree that the biology dept is probably talking about arthropods, not pathogens, BUT it could conceivably be referencing BOTH. Any microbiologists around here who want to weigh in with horror stories of some of the "bugs" they know about or work with? I also think that we might want to divvy this article up into an explanation first, THEN a list of fun examples. (I recently learned about honeypot ants and added it as an example... it would be creepy stuff if we took their defining behavioral characteristic and applied it to humans. Seems like it would be well at home in a horror movie.) [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 16:45, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Sign Maintenance Dept: It has been [ ] days since someone forgot where the 0 panel is kept. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 18:33, 10 September 2025 (UTC)