explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3075: Anachronym Challenge

2025-04-13T05:59:49Z

LambdaWolf: /* Explanation */ Rearrange "sea sponges" entry to put the namesake first ("aka" -> "i.e.")

{{comic
| number = 3075
| date = April 11, 2025
| title = Anachronym Challenge
| image = anachronym_challenge_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x404px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I have to pay with paper money.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The table is incomplete.}}

[[Cueball]] is reading from a shopping list while shopping for groceries. The items on the list are all [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anachronym anachronyms]. The names of the items indicate their material, but they are no longer made from that material.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:0px"
|-
! Item !! Actually made with !! What the name says !! Explanation !! Original version still generally available?
|-
| {{w|Aluminium foil| Tin foil}} || Aluminum || {{w|Tin}} || Formerly "tin foil" was made of the metal tin, but aluminum supplanted tin in the early-to-mid 20th century, as aluminum is cheaper and more durable.|| No
|-
| {{w|Sponge (tool)| Sponges}}|| Polyester, polyurethane, cellulose || {{w|Sponge|Sea sponges}}, i.e., marine invertebrates in the phylum Porifera || An item commonly used in the kitchen to soak up water. Or bathrooms to wash yourself.||Yes
|-
| {{w|Cutlery | Silverware}} || Stainless steel || {{w|Silver}} || Common eating devices. Also often made of paper or plastic. Like tin foil, cutlery is traditionally made with sterling silver, but has been replaced by the cheaper stainless steel and now plastic.||Yes (though pure silver is rarely used, silverplating is common in high-end restaurants)
|-
| {{w|Linens}} || Cotton, hemp, polyester || {{w|Flax}} || Commonly in the form of sheets and blankets.||Yes
|-
| {{w|Clothes iron | Clothes iron}} || Aluminum, stainless steel & plastics || {{w|Iron}} || Used as a tool to remove wrinkles in clothing by heating it up. Modern irons are powered, but traditional irons needed to be heated.||No
|-
| {{w|Ironing board | Ironing board}} || Metal, fabric cover || Wooden board || Flat surface for ironing clothes. It could also refer to how ironing board is not made from iron.||??
|-
| {{w|Corrective_lens#Reading_glasses|Reading glasses}} || Optical plastics || {{w|Glass}} || Used to assist farsighted people with focusing on things up close. Also traditionally made with glass, but nowadays made with CR-39 plastic due to glass's danger of shattering and higher weight.||Yes
|-
| {{w|Iron (golf)#Short irons|9 iron}} || Cast {{w|stainless steel}}, {{w|carbon steel}} || Iron || A type of golf club.||No
|-
| {{w|Wood (golf)| 3 wood}} || Titanium, carbon fiber || Wood || A type of golf club.||No
|-
| {{w|Sidewalk chalk | Sidewalk chalk}} || Calcium sulfate ({{w|gypsum}}) || {{w|Calcite}} chalk || Used for making marks on pavement or rocks. (e.g., for entertainment, for temporary signs or indicators).||No
|-
| {{w|Rubber duck | Rubber duck}} || Vinyl plastics || {{w|Rubber}} || A children's bath toy. Also used in {{w|Friendly Floatees spill| science}} and {{w|Rubber duck debugging| programming}}.||
|-
| {{w|Paper money | Paper money}} (title text) || Cotton, linen fibers (U.S. note), polypropylene || Paper || Money can be exchanged for goods and services.||Yes, but usually {{w|cotton paper}}
|}

Many of the objects listed on Cueball's shopping list can still be made with the materials that they are named after. Silverware can be made of sterling silver, especially in the cutlery of high-end establishments{{acn}}, but, unlike steel, traditional pure silver requires continued polishing to retain its finish. Cleaning sponges made of sea sponges are expensive, but can be [https://tofinosoapcompany.com/products/natural-sea-sponge-sustainably-harvested purchased]. Linens made from flax are still common some people even consider [https://www.roughlinen.com/en-ca/blogs/newsletters/linen-vs-flax whether flax is the better material]. Some wood clubs are still made from wood, specifically {{w|persimmon}}. {{w|Banknotes of the Japanese yen}} are [https://www.npb.go.jp/en/products/intro/tokutyou.html still made] from wood fiber from ''E. chrysantha'' and abaca pulp. Most of the traditional items can be found in antique sales at least occasionally, and some people still use them such as in communities that have separated from modern industry.

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

:[Cueball is looking at a phone in his hand while holding his other hand on the handle of a shopping cart. Above the shopping cart, an underlined header and a bullet list are shown:]
:<u>Shopping List</u>
:* Tin Foil
:* Sponges
:* Silverware
:* Linens
:* Iron & Ironing Board
:* Reading Glasses
:* 9 Iron & 3 Wood
:* Sidewalk Chalk
:* Rubber Duck

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I'm trying to do a shopping trip where I only buy stuff that's no longer made from the material it's named after.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]

3066: Cosmic Distance Calibration

2025-03-22T01:34:17Z

LambdaWolf: Improve sentence about crosshairs

{{comic
| number = 3066
| date = March 21, 2025
| title = Cosmic Distance Calibration
| image = cosmic_distance_calibration_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This is the biggest breakthrough since astronomers noticed that the little crosshairs around red giant stars starting to burn helium are all the same size.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by AN ASTRONOMER BOT - MILKY WAY GALAXY - 0 LIGHT YEARS AWAY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic interprets the UI labels next to the stars as actual objects in space, which is absurd.{{cn}} If these labels were to become astrophysical objects in reality, it would quickly result in major changes to the universe. As each of these labels would need to be clearly visible from an observatory, they would require monstrous size, maybe even big enough to collapse into black holes when pointing to stars farther away. They would also create a sudden lack of need for themselves, as the stars would be gravitationally attracted to their respective labels and promptly destroyed.

The label on the billboard appears to be pointing to a star in the spiral Galaxy M106, located between 22 and 25 million light-years away from earth.

This comic was released the same week as cosmologists revealed [https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-dark-energy-getting-weaker-new-evidence-strengthens-the-case-20250319/ news] that dark energy appears to be weakening, a result based on measurements of distances to many galaxies across the universe. No mention of distance labels was made in the announcement.{{cn}}

The title text refers to {{w|Reticle|crosshairs}}, a pair of perpendicularly intersecting lines most commonly associated with telescopic sights for aiming firearms. This seems to be referring to the diffraction pattern caused by the arms holding the secondary mirror in most telescopes, causing a star to appear to have several "spikes" radially outward.

Of course these aren't physical objects next around the star, they are (as mentioned) created in the telescope.

The size of the diffraction spikes is correlated with the luminosity of the star being viewed. Red giant stars starting to burn helium have the same size diffraction spikes* because they are the same absolute brightness. They are "Tip of the Red Giant Branch" standard candles, the fact that they have the same absolute brightness makes them essential for cosmic distance measuring, since the observed luminosity is a simple inverse-distance-squared falloff from a known original value.

<nowiki>*:</nowiki> Randall is taking a little bit of license here, the spikes depend on luminosity, whereas the stars in question have the same brightness, which is not the same thing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is at a lectern, pointing at an image of intergalactic space. There is an image that shows a zoomed-in label beneath a star with 4 points. The zoomed-in label shows three lines of text, some of it partially cut off:]
:M106 0-06 [cut-off]
:Distance:
:23.6163 MLY

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Cosmology News: New telescopes are finally powerful enough to read the little labels next to stars showing how far away they are.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]

3009: Number Shortage

2024-11-09T13:19:16Z

LambdaWolf: /* Continuation */ Earlier termination condition

{{comic
| number = 3009
| date = November 8, 2024
| title = Number Shortage
| image = number_shortage_2x.png
| imagesize = 284x269px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "10 minutes ago we were down to only 2 0s!" "How many do we have now?" "I ... don't know!!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT NUMBER UNKNOWN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic presents a situation where the ability to use numbers is a limited resource. Even quantifying how many numbers are left uses up some of those numbers once the counting is finished.

The joke is that being able to write or say digits is not a limited resource.

The comic conflates numbers with decimal digits. So when [[Miss Lenhart]] says "15 2s and 12 3s", that uses up two 2s (one in "2s" and one in "12") and one 3 (in "3s"). She adjusts the counts as she's speaking, so when she says "13 2s", that uses up another 3, leaving only 10 3s when she's completing the sentence.

In the title text, she uses two 0s when saying that they had two 0s left, so now they have no more 0s. But she can't use the number 0 to describe this situation because they're out of them.

===Continuation===

A continuation of the pattern would go:

* "No, wait, 15 2s and 12 3s."
* "No, wait, 13 2s and 10 3s."
* "No, wait, 12 2s and 9 3s."
* "No, wait, 10 2s and 8 3s."
* "No, wait, 9 2s and 7 3s."
* "No, wait, 8 2s and 6 3s."
* "No, wait, 7 2s and 5 3s."
* "No, wait, 6 2s and 4 3s."
* "No, wait, 5 2s and 3 3s."
* "No, wait, 4 2s and 1 3."

At that point, Miss Lenhart would lack the necessary 3 to articulate that there are "3 2s."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Miss Lenhart is standing on the left, facing Cueball and Megan on the right.]
:Miss Lenhart: The Math Department number shortage is getting worse. We have only 15 2s and 12 3s left.
:Miss Lenhart: No, wait, 13 2s and 10 3s.
:Miss Lenhart: No, wait...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Math]]

3009: Number Shortage

2024-11-09T12:46:08Z

LambdaWolf: Add Continuation section

{{comic
| number = 3009
| date = November 8, 2024
| title = Number Shortage
| image = number_shortage_2x.png
| imagesize = 284x269px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "10 minutes ago we were down to only 2 0s!" "How many do we have now?" "I ... don't know!!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT NUMBER UNKNOWN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic presents a situation where the ability to use numbers is a limited resource. Even quantifying how many numbers are left uses up some of those numbers once the counting is finished.

The joke is that being able to write or say digits is not a limited resource.

The comic conflates numbers with decimal digits. So when [[Miss Lenhart]] says "15 2s and 12 3s", that uses up two 2s (one in "2s" and one in "12") and one 3 (in "3s"). She adjusts the counts as she's speaking, so when she says "13 2s", that uses up another 3, leaving only 10 3s when she's completing the sentence.

In the title text, she uses two 0s when saying that they had two 0s left, so now they have no more 0s. But she can't use the number 0 to describe this situation because they're out of them.

===Continuation===

A continuation of the pattern would go:

* "No, wait, 15 2s and 12 3s."
* "No, wait, 13 2s and 10 3s."
* "No, wait, 12 2s and 9 3s."
* "No, wait, 10 2s and 8 3s."
* "No, wait, 9 2s and 7 3s."
* "No, wait, 8 2s and 6 3s."
* "No, wait, 7 2s and 5 3s."
* "No, wait, 6 2s and 4 3s."
* "No, wait, 5 2s and 3 3s."
* "No, wait, 4 2s and 1 3."
* "No, wait, 3 2s."
* "No, wait, 2 2s."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Miss Lenhart is standing on the left, facing Cueball and Megan on the right.]
:Miss Lenhart: The Math Department number shortage is getting worse. We have only 15 2s and 12 3s left.
:Miss Lenhart: No, wait, 13 2s and 10 3s.
:Miss Lenhart: No, wait...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Math]]

2731: K-Means Clustering

2024-08-13T02:10:36Z

LambdaWolf: /* Explanation */ Clean up puncutation on example jokes; prefer colons over dashes to match original comic

{{comic
| number = 2731
| date = January 30, 2023
| title = K-Means Clustering
| image = k_means_clustering_2x.png
| imagesize = 320x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = According to my especially unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm, there are currently about 8 billion types of people in the world.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Ponytail]] is giving a talk about her research groups analysis of which different types of people there are in the world.

A popular class of wry observations use the {{wiktionary|snowclone}}, "There are two types of people in the world: those who do A, and those who do B." Here B will usually, though not always, be some antithesis of A. The most self-referent version is the joke, "There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into two types, and those who don't." Other well known versions include:
* "There are three types of people in the world: those who can count, and those who can't."
* "There are two types of people in the world: those who can extrapolate..."
* "There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

Ponytail uses {{w|K-means_clustering|''k''-means clustering}} with k=3. This is a method of categorizing data. To explain how it works, imagine a set of people of various heights and weights, that should be split into 3 groups (which gives k the value 3). One way to do this would be to plot the data onto a scatter chart; then pick three points at random for reference; then sort the people according to which point they are closest to, forming 3 initial groups. After forming 3 groups, the average of the data point of every item in each group is found; these average data points are used as new reference points to once again categorize all the data into 3 new groups. This process is repeated until the data converges; that is, the data points no longer change groups even after new reference points are picked.

The ''k''-means algorithm is quite simple, which lends to its popularity, but it has a major drawback: the analyst has to determine how many groups (or clusters) to split the data into (that is, what to set k equal to). A value of k that doesn't match the underlying structure of data can yield a partitioning that's hard to explain in terms of properties that distinguish each cluster (in other words, their qualitative interpretation is unclear).

Ponytail's determination that there are three clusters is unsurprising if she herself falls into the category of those who use k=3 as a fixed value, which will inevitably result in three data clusters. However, the joke is that while one group's trait is "uses K=3", this logically means all the data that isn't in the group does not use k=3... except that with two other groups, then that description applies to both, meaning what distinguishes the other two groups from each other is unclear.

In the title text Ponytail, or maybe it is [[Randall]], claims that: "According to my especially unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm, there are currently about 8 billion types of people in the world."

This seems to be Randall saying that every human is unique and cannot be meaningfully clustered together in groups. The {{w|Day of Eight Billion|human population passed 8 billion on 2022-11-15}} two and a half months before this comic came out.

The title text uses the K-means algorithm with an absurdly exaggerated variant of this problem. If the number of clusters is equal to the number of data points, each point will be assigned to a separate cluster for which there is an exact match; in other words, each member is the sole member of its own group. With such parameters, it makes it impossible to meaningfully comment on similarities between any two members. This is humorous because it would make the result useless for the purposes for which clustering algorithms are typically used, such as making insurance risk pools or targets of advertisement campaigns. In assessing whether ''k'' or ''k±1'' clusters are more useful to describe data, a weighting related to the number of clusters, or the numbers of points per cluster, might encourage identical clusters (for exactly coincident member points) to be merged, as it should for near-identical source data such that it sufficiently embraces clustering - yet Randall's unconstrained algorithm seems to have no such metric and stops at the 'perfect' initial assumption where ''k≡n''.

Interestingly, by including the entire human population, the algorithm should be immune to bias in creating its input data. However, if every human is unique as Randall's algorithm claims, the only way to have the clusters converge is to "throw out" some traits of humans as unimportant. This may be objectionable to humans who disagree with that assessment. In contrast, in a supervised algorithm, the training data is tagged with traits that the trainers seek. These traits could be applied in a manner that is socially unacceptable, and lead to AI behavior that reflects the biases of the trainers.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is standing on a podium pointing a stick towards a poster hanging behind her. The writings and figures on the poster are illegible. But there seems to be a large scatter plot at the top with a heading above it. Also a couple of tables beneath this. She addresses an unseen audience in front of the podium.]
:Ponytail: Our analysis shows that there are three kinds of people in the world:
:Ponytail: Those who use '''''k'''''-means clustering with k=3, and two other types whose qualitative interpretation is unclear.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

2731: K-Means Clustering

2024-08-13T02:08:53Z

LambdaWolf: /* Explanation */ Use bullet points for list of examples

{{comic
| number = 2731
| date = January 30, 2023
| title = K-Means Clustering
| image = k_means_clustering_2x.png
| imagesize = 320x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = According to my especially unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm, there are currently about 8 billion types of people in the world.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Ponytail]] is giving a talk about her research groups analysis of which different types of people there are in the world.

A popular class of wry observations use the {{wiktionary|snowclone}} "There are two types of people in the world... those who do A, and those who do B". Here B will usually, though not always, be some antithesis of A. The most self-referent version is the joke "There are two types of people in the world - those who divide people into two types, and those who don't". Other well known versions include:
* "There are three types of people in the world - those who can count, and those who can't."
* "There are two types of people in the world - those who can extrapolate..."
* "There are 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't."

Ponytail uses {{w|K-means_clustering|''k''-means clustering}} with k=3. This is a method of categorizing data. To explain how it works, imagine a set of people of various heights and weights, that should be split into 3 groups (which gives k the value 3). One way to do this would be to plot the data onto a scatter chart; then pick three points at random for reference; then sort the people according to which point they are closest to, forming 3 initial groups. After forming 3 groups, the average of the data point of every item in each group is found; these average data points are used as new reference points to once again categorize all the data into 3 new groups. This process is repeated until the data converges; that is, the data points no longer change groups even after new reference points are picked.

The ''k''-means algorithm is quite simple, which lends to its popularity, but it has a major drawback: the analyst has to determine how many groups (or clusters) to split the data into (that is, what to set k equal to). A value of k that doesn't match the underlying structure of data can yield a partitioning that's hard to explain in terms of properties that distinguish each cluster (in other words, their qualitative interpretation is unclear).

Ponytail's determination that there are three clusters is unsurprising if she herself falls into the category of those who use k=3 as a fixed value, which will inevitably result in three data clusters. However, the joke is that while one group's trait is "uses K=3", this logically means all the data that isn't in the group does not use k=3... except that with two other groups, then that description applies to both, meaning what distinguishes the other two groups from each other is unclear.

In the title text Ponytail, or maybe it is [[Randall]], claims that: "According to my especially unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm, there are currently about 8 billion types of people in the world."

This seems to be Randall saying that every human is unique and cannot be meaningfully clustered together in groups. The {{w|Day of Eight Billion|human population passed 8 billion on 2022-11-15}} two and a half months before this comic came out.

The title text uses the K-means algorithm with an absurdly exaggerated variant of this problem. If the number of clusters is equal to the number of data points, each point will be assigned to a separate cluster for which there is an exact match; in other words, each member is the sole member of its own group. With such parameters, it makes it impossible to meaningfully comment on similarities between any two members. This is humorous because it would make the result useless for the purposes for which clustering algorithms are typically used, such as making insurance risk pools or targets of advertisement campaigns. In assessing whether ''k'' or ''k±1'' clusters are more useful to describe data, a weighting related to the number of clusters, or the numbers of points per cluster, might encourage identical clusters (for exactly coincident member points) to be merged, as it should for near-identical source data such that it sufficiently embraces clustering - yet Randall's unconstrained algorithm seems to have no such metric and stops at the 'perfect' initial assumption where ''k≡n''.

Interestingly, by including the entire human population, the algorithm should be immune to bias in creating its input data. However, if every human is unique as Randall's algorithm claims, the only way to have the clusters converge is to "throw out" some traits of humans as unimportant. This may be objectionable to humans who disagree with that assessment. In contrast, in a supervised algorithm, the training data is tagged with traits that the trainers seek. These traits could be applied in a manner that is socially unacceptable, and lead to AI behavior that reflects the biases of the trainers.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is standing on a podium pointing a stick towards a poster hanging behind her. The writings and figures on the poster are illegible. But there seems to be a large scatter plot at the top with a heading above it. Also a couple of tables beneath this. She addresses an unseen audience in front of the podium.]
:Ponytail: Our analysis shows that there are three kinds of people in the world:
:Ponytail: Those who use '''''k'''''-means clustering with k=3, and two other types whose qualitative interpretation is unclear.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

2948: Electric vs Gas

2024-06-20T09:43:18Z

LambdaWolf: Spelling ("braking")

{{comic
| number = 2948
| date = June 19, 2024
| title = Electric vs Gas
| image = electric_vs_gas_2x.png
| imagesize = 284x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = An idling gas engine may be annoyingly loud, but that's the price you pay for having WAY less torque available at a standstill.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HYDROGEN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE RUNNING A GENERATOR. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Internal combustion engines (ICE) are the most common technology used to propel motor vehicles. In US vernacular, the most common motor fuel is known as "gasoline", or "gas" for short, leading to these engines being referred to as "gas engines". Gasoline is a product of petroleum refinement, leading to the name "petrol" being used in other dialects. (The word "gasoline" does not actually refer to any gaseous state, but derives from the brand-name fuel "Cazeline" or "Cazelline" sold by a man called John Cassell, and "Petrol" has also been a registered brand name for another business's motor-fuel product.)

Electric motors would seem the more obvious method for propelling a vehicle, and as early as 1885 were an actual form of motor car engine with which the fledgling internal combustion engine had to compete. Despite this early popularity, over most of the 20th century electric motors were sidelined in everyday car design, as supplying the electricity was considered to be impractical for most forms of transportation. Modern forms are rapidly rising in popularity, and now constitute 18% of all global vehicle sales. [[Randall]] has long been a strong proponent of electric vehicles.

In this strip, [[White Hat]] claims to be comparing the pros and cons of electric motors and gas engines. The joke is that every point he makes goes in favor of electric motors. Despite it being posed as a dilemma, it may be very clear which side of the debate White Hat is promoting. On the other hand, it may indicate that one of the things we might consider a pro in electric motors (the instantaneous power now available, exceeding that of many non-electric engines) he would consider a problem — perhaps more accurately, a problem with the ''drivers'' of such vehicles — recklessly using the enhanced capabilities to accelerate to high speeds at all opportunities, whether safe to do so or not.

The strip offers the following points in favor of electric motors:

* "Cleaner and more efficient". Internal combustion engines produce and vent harmful combustion products and toxic chemicals, while electric motors produce no emission byproducts at the point of use. The efficiency of both gas and electric motors vary, but the typical ICE vehicle in the US converts around 25% of available energy into motion, while the typical electric vehicle is in the neighborhood of 80%. It should be noted that all of this refers to the motors only, and ignores how the fuel and electricity are produced. Even when considering inefficiencies in the source production and transmission and storage and release of energy, battery-driven electric vehicles are generally more efficient than internal combustion propelled vehicles[https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribute-fewer-emissions-than-gasoline-powered-cars-over-their-lifetimes/].

* "More powerful". Electric motors are able to deliver a lot of power from a small motor '''if''' an ample energy supply is available, and can do so 'on demand', often far quicker than a fuel-powered engine that has to put its power through a gearbox in order to service a wide range of road velocities, from standstill to the eventual top speed. Due to battery limitations, short or partial runtime use cases, such as dragsters, hand tools, yard tools, toys, and electric scooters, net the most benefit from the small size of a high-powered electric motor.

* "Annoyingly loud". Internal combustion engines, by their nature, produce significant noise. Despite noise attenuation measures (such as mufflers), they contribute significantly to urban noise. Properly designed electric motors are nearly silent. In particular, turbo-charger blow-off valves make particular noises that are completely lacking in an all-electric vehicle being driven under a similar performance level. This might legitimately be considered a problem, though, when everyone is used to a rapidly approaching vehicle providing a very noisy warning of its approach. EV makers have sometimes added [https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-ev-fake-engine-sound-hyundai-dodge-toyota-2023-7 fake ICE noises] to appeal to older drivers and {{w|Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds|warning sounds}} for bystanders.

* "WAY less torque available at standstill". Internal combustion engines need to continually operate within a specific range of rotational speeds, which means that a complex system of transmission gearing is needed to convert this motion into the specific speeds needed at the wheels. When starting from a standstill, this means that torque must be applied to the wheels relatively gradually to avoid stalling the engine. Electric motors, by contrast, generally produce their peak torque when at a standstill. This results in electric vehicles having significantly better acceleration and engine responsiveness. Again, this could cause a legitimate problem with drivers changing from ICE to electric motors, because the new cars accelerate more than the driver is used to and provide different feedback. The audible clues of gear changes, whether from automatic or manual systems, are part and parcel of what many people have grown up with and come to rely on in anticipating what might need paying attention to.

It should be noted that White Hat is deliberately confining his arguments to electric vs gas ''motors'' rather than electric or gas-powered ''vehicles''. Doing so ignores the basic reason why internal combustion vehicles have long dominated transportation: hydrocarbon fuels are a very dense and fairly easy to handle form of energy ''storage''. Providing electrical power to a moving vehicle requires either that the vehicle remain in contact with a power line, like a train does, or a high-capacity battery and the ability to recharge that battery in a reasonable amount of time. More popular in the USA is a hybrid system, where a combustion engine provides at least some of the power to an electric motor, which was impractical until comparatively recently. Other methods, such as hydrogen fuel cells (a form of "combustion" that can be used more directly to form electricity), have been proposed, but remain niche, due to various barriers to adoption, or experimental.

A more comprehensive comparison would include the cons of electric vehicles, including:

* Higher cost of purchase (primarily due to the cost of batteries and, in the USA, now a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs), although partially offset by lower costs of operation
* Long charging times compared to refilling a gas tank (there are some approaches which mitigate this by operating a battery swap model, rather than charging in-car, but these are not widely adopted)
* Relatively limited range
* Shortened range in hot weather and significantly shortened range in cold weather (although ICE vehicles also have this problem)
* Limited charging infrastructure in some places (although ICE vehicles also have this problem)
* Higher vehicle weight, and resulting higher particulate emissions (from tires and while braking, although recuperation reduces the need for braking)
* Reliance on various mineral and metal extraction industries in the building of batteries
* Issues disposing of/recycling batteries at end of life
* Increased demand on electricity production

Advancing technologies may change how serious these cons are, but they currently remain genuine issues.

Other pros of electric vehicles aren't mentioned
* Lower costs of operation (partially offset by higher costs of purchase)
* Higher reliability
* Lower maintenance and repair costs
* Lower carbon footprint

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, with his palm raised, is talking to Cueball.]
:White Hat: Electric motors and gas engines each have their pros and cons.
:White Hat: On one hand, electric motors are cleaner and more efficient. On the other hand, electric motors are more powerful.
:White Hat: So it's hard to say which is better overall.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Climate change]]

587: Crime Scene

2024-06-08T00:00:12Z

LambdaWolf: /* Explanation */ Wikipedia link to Square_One_Television

{{comic
| number = 587
| date = May 22, 2009
| title = Crime Scene
| image = crime_scene.png
| titletext = I think I see a Mandelbrot set! No, that's just blood spatters. Golly.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Mathnet}} was a segment on the children's television show ''{{w|Square One Television}}'', where police mathematicians solved crimes and other mysteries by math. It parodies the {{w|Dragnet (1951 TV series)|''Dragnet'' TV show}} (and {{w|Dragnet (radio series)|earlier radio drama}}) about the {{w|Los Angeles Police Department}} (LAPD). This comic plays on that by implying that Mathnet was a real department of the LAPD, and that when the show was cancelled and the department was shut down its mathematicians were forced to become regular detectives.

Here, George Frankly, one of the two lead detectives on the show (a parody of ''Dragnet'' character Frank Smith), observes a murder scene along with another officer. His fellow officer, knowing him, tries to tell him off by saying that it is just '''two''' dead bodies. As a mathematician, George is constantly looking for potential patterns in the data. However, in this instance there are no obvious mathematical patterns, yet George nonetheless tries to look for one and observes that "two" is the third {{w|Fibonacci number}}. Since several small numbers are in the Fibonacci sequence, the fact that the number of bodies is one of these numbers is not the least interesting. The other officer tries to shut him down, discouraging this unhelpful line of thought.

The title text shows that this may not have helped since George now thinks he can see a {{w|Mandelbrot set}}, but he does quickly realizes that it was just blood splatters. The Mandelbrot set is a formula used to create certain kinds of fractals that you might imagine seeing in the something like blood spatters. The last word ''[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/golly Golly]'' is in response to George realizing he is seeing blood spatters - something he probably never did before on the children show.

The second comic [[586: Mission to Culture|in a row]] (and [[572: Together|third]] in 16 comics) where a man is drawn with hair only on the sides of his head.

==Transcript==
:[A crime scene is surrounded by tape wound around several pins four of which are inside this panel. A large black pool is on the ground, with splashes around it, and a hammer lying in one of these splashes. Two people are standing outside the tape; a police officer with a peaked cap with a white emblem is standing closest and to his left is a man with male pattern baldness, who we learn is called George.]
:Policeman: Looks like a murder-suicide.
:George: Any interesting mathematical patterns?
:Policeman: No, George, just two dead bodies and a lot of blood.
:George: Two... That's the third Fibonacci number!
:Policeman: Not now, George.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:When Mathnet shut down, the officers had trouble reintegrating into the regular L.A.P.D.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

2850: Doctor's Office

2024-03-05T04:31:16Z

LambdaWolf: /* Explanation */ More about linguistic awkwardness of "Welcome to the doctor!"

{{comic
| number = 2850
| date = November 3, 2023
| title = Doctor's Office
| image = doctors_office_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x291px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "The police told me I can't be a doctor, but whenever they show up I just go into the Google Maps settings page I found and change the house to 'Police Headquarters' and then they have to do what I say."
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Beret Guy]] has discovered how to add public labels to locations on {{w|Google Maps}}. He has used the tool to label his house as a physician's office, and then proceeded to put on a white lab coat and impersonate a physician, making this another comic with one of his special [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|businesses]].

As Cueball arrives for a medical consultation, Beret Guy proceeds to do what he does best -- try to sound like a professional through absurdist, oddball dialogue:

{|class = "wikitable"
! Beret Guy !! Normal Phrasing !! Notes
|-
| "Welcome to the doctor!" || "Welcome to my clinic." || Most real outpatient clinics in the US have desk staff that welcome patients, not the physicians themselves. Doctors don't sit behind a desk waiting for patients to arrive. The phrase "the doctor" is often used in English as {{w|synecdoche}} for a doctor's office, commonly in the expression "to go to the doctor," but sounds unnatural in this context, especially when spoken by the doctor himself.
|-
| "We're like librarians, but for your bones and blood." || A real doctor wouldn't proactively define their profession to a new patient. If they did so, they might say: "We are trained medical professionals who diagnose and treat illness, provide healthcare advice, and help maintain overall health in our patients." || "Bones and blood" is just one focus of medical education, covering topics like their anatomy and physiology, pathology of related diseases, principles of hematology and orthopedics, clinical diagnosis, and treatment strategies. "Librarian" is not an apt analogy for this knowledge.
|-
| "Uh-oh! This beeper says you're too hot." || "It seems your temperature is elevated according to this thermometer."
|-
| "You should eat some of these little snacks that make you colder." || "I recommend you take some of these fever-reducing medications." || Beret Guy has the medicine already in his hand, suggesting he has only one remedy for whatever condition the patient presents with. Also, in US outpatient care settings it's usually nurses who administer medicine, not doctors, and in either case an order would usually have to be written first. This depends on the medication; in some cases the doctor will have been provided with free samples by the manufacturer, for example.
|-
| "We can make holes in you, but you have to fill out this form first." || "We need to perform a procedure that requires an incision, or use a syringe and needle to either give you an injection or take a blood sample. But before we proceed, you'll need to provide consent by filling out this form." || An incision for a febrile (high temp) patient is not unheard of; it might be needed to address conditions such as abscess drainage, acute appendicitis, an infected wound or gallbladder, or other infections requiring surgical intervention. Injections of antibiotics might also be appropriate to treat a bacterial infection causing a fever, and an injection of an anti-inflammatory could relieve a fever. Taking a blood sample to investigate the cause of an illness is common. However, it would be unusual and clinically suspect to proceed immediately to any of these based solely on a high temperature reading, without any further diagnostics -- even such simple diagnostics as talking with the patient.
|-
|}

In the third panel, Beret Guy then hands Cueball what's supposed to be a medical consent form, but is in fact a ''New York Times'' crossword puzzle for a Monday on a clipboard. Monday NYT crosswords are the easiest of the week; ''New York Times'' crosswords get more challenging over the week, with Saturday being hardest (Sunday's grid is larger, but has about the same difficulty as Thursday). Beret Guy amusingly misinterprets Cueball's hesitance as being about the difficulty of the crossword.

In the fourth panel, Cueball finally questions whether Beret Guy's claim is accurate, and the facts of the situation are revealed - while Beret Guy wheels in a device labeled "MRI" (for "{{w|magnetic resonance imaging}}"). He wonders aloud what the MRI is for and excitedly predicts that it is loud.

* Most MRI machines are huge and cannot be wheeled in by one person on a dolly. They're typically housed within dedicated rooms and require specialized infrastructure to support their weight, shield their powerful magnetic fields, and maintain their functionality. So either:
** this is just one piece of an MRI machine
** it's mislabeled
** it's a small MRI of the kind used to scan only one part of the body at a time, e.g. an ankle or knee; this is called a "bedside low-field MRI" and has a weak magnetic field
** "MRI" stands for something else in this case.
** Beret Guy is [[Starlight|exercising]] [[Subduction License|one]] [[Tuesdays|of]] [[Job Interview|his]] [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers]].
* And MRI machines are indeed very loud, known for producing banging sounds and other noises, often reaching up to 100 decibels, due to the rapid switching of their magnetic field gradients during scans. To protect their hearing and reduce discomfort, patients are typically provided with earplugs or headphones.

In the '''title text''', Beret Guy acknowledges that the police ''repeatedly'' turn up to look into his 'clinic', but each time he heads off their investigations by returning to Google Maps and relabelling his house "Police Headquarters", thus (by implication) making himself Chief of Police to whose authority the officers must submit - which he may also believe removes evidence for any charges of "impersonating a physician". If this works as claimed, it's another of the [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers of Beret Guy]]. But this strategy is unlikely to work in real life; suggesting a Google Maps edit can can take several days to be approved by Google Maps editors, and "Police Headquarters" is not a category selection open to everyday users.

A physician imposter was also featured in [[699: Trimester]], while possibly authentic physicians behaving badly appear in [[938: T-Cells]], [[1471: Gut Fauna]], and [[1839: Doctor Visit]].

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is sitting at a desk, wearing a lab coat. Cueball is walking in from the right as Beret Guy stretches an arm out towards him in greeting.]
:Beret Guy: Welcome to the doctor!
:Beret Guy: We're like librarians, but for your bones and blood.

:[In a frame-less panel Beret Guy is standing in front of Cueball while holding a device in his hand, which are attached with a coiling wire to a thermometer in Cueball's mouth. He reads something of the device while holding a pill bottle in the other hand.]
:Beret Guy: Uh-oh! This beeper says you're too hot.
:Beret Guy: You should eat some of these little snacks that make you colder.

:[Zoom in on the two persons where Beret Guy is holding a pen up towards Cueball who is holding a clipboard with a newspaper page stuck to it. Cueball is looking down at the page, which has a black picture in the top left corner and lots of unreadable lines across the rest of the page.]
:Beret Guy: We can make holes in you, but you have to fill out this form first.
:Cueball: This is a New York Times crossword.
:Beret Guy: Don't worry, it's a Monday, so it's not too hard.

:[Cueball is watching as Beret Guy drags in a machine labeled "MRI" on a dolly.]
:Cueball: This '''''is''''' a doctor's office, right?
:Beret Guy: Yeah! It used to be my house, but I found the setting on Google Maps to change it.
:Beret Guy: Hey, wanna help find out what this box does? I bet it's loud!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Medicine]]

381: Mobius Battle

2024-03-02T00:53:29Z

LambdaWolf: /* Explanation */ Change punctuation for sentence flow

{{comic
| number = 381
| date = February 8, 2008
| title = Mobius Battle
| image = mobius battle.png
| titletext = Films need to do this more, if only to piss off the people who have to feed it into the projector.
}}

==Explanation==
[[File:mobius battle.gif|right|frame|The Möbius comic strip as an animated GIF.]]
A {{w|Möbius strip}} (the comic's spelling Mobius strip is also acceptable) is an object with only one surface and one edge. It can be created by taking a strip of paper and twisting it 180 degrees before taping both ends together.

The idea of the Möbius strip has been used here to create a comic strip that could potentially loop forever. In it, [[Cueball]] is standing in front of a ball. Then another Cueball runs in and kicks the ball, which hits first Cueball in the head, due to which he falls out of the panel. The second Cueball then turns away, retaining the first Cueball's original position, only flipped horizontally. Because of the nature of the Möbius strip, if the comic strip were to be printed out in such a way that the comic could be seen on both sides of the paper—such on tracing paper, or on one "side" of a strip of clear plastic or film—the comic would repeat, so that the second Cueball would become the first Cueball, and someone else, potentially the original first person, would push them out of the comic becoming himself the first Cueball. This means that neither person ever really "wins," and the comic could thus be conveying an anti-violence message in this respect. See also the title text of [[1890: What to Bring]].

The comic's viability as a Möbius strip preserved the use of symmetrical letters in a palindromic word to denote laughing ("HAHAHAH") as well as using symmetrical punctuation for the other character's [[wikt:grawlix#English|grawlixes]]. A similar use of a Möbius strip in story-telling can be seen in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mdEsouIXGM Wind and Mr. Ug] by Vi Hart.

Finally, at the title text, [[Randall]] jokes that he would like to see actual films do this solely as a joke on projectionists, who would have a difficult time feeding a Möbius strip film reel properly into a normal projector due to the twist.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing next to a ball. A flash appears on the left side of the panel.]
:[Another Cueball comes in from the left, preparing to kick the ball.]
:[The other Cueball kicks the ball into the first Cueball's head.]
:[The first Cueball is lying outside of the frame. Second Cueball points and laughs.]
:Second Cueball: HAHAHAH
:First Cueball: <nowiki>!#^*!*</nowiki>
:[Second Cueball is now standing next to the ball.]
:[To the right, the strip above is looped around like a film strip, but a one-half-turn is put into the loop to make it a Möbius strip.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

2850: Doctor's Office

2023-11-05T08:56:20Z

LambdaWolf: Elaborate on meaning of second panel

{{comic
| number = 2850
| date = November 3, 2023
| title = Doctor's Office
| image = doctors_office_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x291px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "The police told me I can't be a doctor, but whenever they show up I just go into the Google Maps settings page I found and change the house to 'Police Headquarters' and then they have to do what I say."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, [[Beret Guy]] has discovered how to add public labels to locations on {{w|Google Maps}}. He has used the tool to label his house as a physician's office, and then proceeded to impersonate a physician, making this another comic with one of his special [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|businesses]].

It seems that Cueball has seen and trusted the label, and has arrived for a medical consultation. He apparently is a walk-in (that is, he does not have appointment), an unheard-of situation for a physician's office in contemporary United States of America that is not an urgent-care facility (for which Beret Guy makes no claim). Thus, Cueball has bought into Beret Guy's bizarre vision, as is typical for Beret Guy comics.

It is soon apparent that Beret Guy has no medical credentials. His "librarian for bones and blood" line in the first panel is nonsensical. The terms he uses while taking Cueball's temperature (second panel) are simplistic. The "little snacks that make you colder" are presumably a medicine to reduce fever, described farcically. In the third panel, he hands Cueball what's supposed to be a medical consent form, but is in fact a ''New York Times'' crossword puzzle. The ''New York Times'' crosswords are designed to get progressively more challenging over the course of each week, but the week starts on Monday. Beret Guy's claim on this subject, at least, is accurate.

In the fourth panel, Cueball finally questions whether Beret Guy's claim is accurate, and the facts of the situation are revealed - while Beret Guy wheels in a (section of a) {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging}} (MRI) device (usually a feature of a hospital or medical laboratory, not an individual physician's office, and, assembled, far larger/heavier than one person can manage on a dolly) and wonders aloud what it is for. He also comments that he bets it is loud, implying that he does not yet know and that this will be the first time he uses it. It should indeed be loud. Typically many loud noises are made, by both the actuators and from the hardware that controls and produces the magnetic fields, especially from the perspective of one laid inside the device.

In the title text, the police cite Beret Guy for impersonating a physician, but Beret Guy returns to Google Maps and relabels his house "Police Headquarters", thus (by implication) making himself Chief of Police to whose authority the officers must submit - by withdrawing the "impersonating a physician" charge. If this works as claimed, it's another of the [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers of Beret Guy]], and a substantial one. However, we have only Beret Guy's word that it does. Declaring oneself a physician, in an office of one, is different from declaring oneself the appointed/elected leader of an armed force. If it does work, maybe Beret Guy's next house label is the White House. The implications are nontrivial.

Beret Guy's comment that "It's a Monday, so [the crossword]'s not too hard" refers to the observation that
{{w|New York Times crossword puzzles}} increase in difficulty through the week, with the easiest on Monday and hardest on Saturday (there's also a larger Sunday puzzle, but it's in {{w|The New York Times Magazine}} rather than the newspaper, and is designed to be about as hard as a Thursday puzzle).

A physician imposter was also featured in [[699: Trimester]], while possibly authentic physicians behaving badly appear in [[938: T-Cells]], [[1471: Gut Fauna]], and [[1839: Doctor Visit]]. One can only hope that [[Randall]] doesn't have real-life models for these situations.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is sitting at a desk, wearing a lab coat. Cueball is walking in from the right as Beret Guy stretches an arm out towards him in greeting.]
:Beret Guy: Welcome to the doctor!
:Beret Guy: We're like librarians, but for your bones and blood.

:[In a frame-less panel Beret Guy is standing in front of Cueball while holding a device in his hand, which are attached with a coiling wire to a thermometer in Cueball's mouth. He reads something of the device while holding a pill bottle in the other hand.]
:Beret Guy: Uh-oh! This beeper says you're too hot.
:Beret Guy: You should eat some of these little snacks that make you colder.

:[Zoom in on the two persons where Beret Guy is holding a pen up towards Cueball who is holding a clipboard with a newspaper page stuck to it. Cueball is looking down at the page, which has a black picture in the top left corner and lots of unreadable lines across the rest of the page.]
:Beret Guy: We can make holes in you, but you have to fill out this form first.
:Cueball: This is a New York Times crossword.
:Beret Guy: Don't worry, it's a Monday, so it's not too hard.

:[Cueball is watching as Beret Guy walks past him rolling a machine labeled "MRI" on a dolly.]
:Cueball: This '''''is''''' a doctor's office, right?
:Beret Guy: Yeah! It used to be my house, but I found the setting on Google Maps to change it.
:Beret Guy: Hey, wanna help find out what this box does? I bet it's loud!
:Label: MRI

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Medicine]]

188: Reload

2023-10-22T09:56:35Z

LambdaWolf: Gender-neutral "his" to "their"

{{comic
| number = 188
| date = November 24, 2006
| title = Reload
| image = reload.png
| titletext = And watch out for that guy from comic #53.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic refers to the common method for reloading your ammunition in arcade game type shooters, also known as "rail shooters." The player is typically given a {{w|Light gun}}, and the player characters typically have unlimited magazines of ammunition; to load a new magazine, the player would aim their light gun away from the screen and pull the trigger. Obviously this method of reloading would not work in real life.{{citation needed}}

The title text tells you to watch out for the guy from comic [[53: Hobby]], which shows a man who randomly pops up to the police when they are performing a drug raid. This refers to the random figures that pop out at many games; if they are not a valid target and you shoot them, you will lose points.

==Transcript==
:[Four soldiers are preparing to enter a battlefield; their leader addresses them.]
:Leader: Okay men, we're going in. Stay low, keep behind cover, and if you run out of ammunition, shoot outside the battlefield to reload.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Video games]]

2046: Trum-

2023-09-28T21:58:05Z

LambdaWolf: Place explanation of punchline in its own paragraph

{{comic
| number = 2046
| date = September 14, 2018
| title = Trum-
| image = trum.png
| titletext = Excited to vote for future presidents Bill Eisenhamper, Amy Forb, Ethan Obample, and Abigail Washingtoast.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|President of the United States}}, at the time when this comic was published, was [[Donald Trump]] and he shares the first letters of his surname with {{w|Harry S. Truman}}, who was US President between 1945 and 1953. [[Megan]] notes that both of these presidents' last names start with "T-R-U-M", but she also states that they are not related.

There were several presidents of the US who even have the exact same last name. For example, {{w|John Adams}} and his son {{w|John Quincy Adams}}, and the more recent father and son {{w|George H. W. Bush}} and {{w|George W. Bush}}. Similarly {{w|Theodore Roosevelt}} and {{w|Franklin Delano Roosevelt}} are 5th cousins. Grandfather and grandson {{w|William Henry Harrison}} and {{w|Benjamin Harrison}} also share a last name. And there are the two [https://www.geni.com/path/Lyndon-B-Johnson-36th-President-of-the-United-States+is+related+to+Andrew-Johnson-17th-President-of-the-USA?from=6000000002045454764&to=361204095530004567| most distantly related] presidents with the same surname, both {{w|Andrew Johnson}} and {{w|Lyndon B. Johnson}} have the last name of Johnson (7 letters), although the shared last name is coincidental, given they do not share any relatives with the name Johnson.

Besides T-R-U-M- and the cases of identical names, the longest common surname prefix is H-A-R (3 letters), shared by William Henry (or Benjamin) H-A-R-rison and Warren Gamaliel H-A-R-ding. (The next longest common surname prefixes are B-U-, shared by James B-U-chanan and George (H.) W. Bush; and C-L-, shared by Grover Cleveland and Bill Clinton.). The longest common suffix (not counting identical names) is also 4 for I-S-O-N for {{w|James Madison}} and the two Harrison presidents. Interestingly, the name HARRISON contains both the second-longest common prefix and the longest common suffix among non-identical president surnames.

The joke is that the matching of those few letters is the least weird thing. Trump's presidency is commonly considered weird in ways too varied to concisely list in this article. Both Megan and Cueball seem to agree on this.

The title text lists "absurd" last names that could start with the same letters as other presidents: Bill Eisenhamper, Amy Forb, Ethan Obample, and Abigail Washingtoast. These would refer to {{w|Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight D. '''Eisenh'''ower}}, {{w|Gerald Ford|Gerald '''For'''d}}, {{w|Barack Obama|Barack '''Obam'''a}}, and {{w|George Washington|George '''Washingto'''n}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan walking together while talking.]
:Megan: It's pretty weird that we've had two totally unrelated presidents whose last names start with '''''"T-R-U-M-"'''''.
:Cueball: Oh, sure, that's ''definitely'' the weirdest thing about the presidency right now.
:Megan: It's less weird than '''''every other fact'''''. But still weird.
:Cueball: True.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Politics]]

826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)

2023-09-07T03:05:33Z

LambdaWolf: /* Hall of Misunderstood Science */ More detailed explanation of "anti" pun

{{comic
| number = 826
| date = November 26, 2010
| title = Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)
| image = guest week zach weiner smbc.png
| titletext = Guest comic by Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. When I was stressed out, Zach gave me a talk that was really encouraging and somehow involved nanobots.
}}
{{TOC}}
*To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|826|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
This comic is drawn by a guest webcomic artist, Zach Weiner (now Weinersmith), following the theme of "Guest Week". Zach is the author of the webcomic [http://www.smbc-comics.com/ Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]. The [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ original comic] is interactive. It will show images of the exhibits (see below) by clicking on them.

The entire comic is a hypothetical "{{w|Smithsonian Museum}} of Dad-Trolling, an entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement." It is a common occurrence that curious children will ask simple questions about science to their parents, such as, "Daddy, why is the sky blue?" and a parent could respond, "Well Susie, the sky is blue to match your dress."

''Guest Week'' was a series of five comics written by five other comic authors. They were released over five consecutive days (Monday-Friday); not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.<br>
The five comics are:
*[[822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)]]
*[[823: Guest Week: David Troupes (Buttercup Festival)]]
*[[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]]
*[[825: Guest Week: Jeffrey Rowland (Overcompensating)]]
*[[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]]

===Hall of Misunderstood Science===
Each exhibit is a display set up to reinforce the false, sarcastic, or exaggerated answers to typical questions that children may ask their parents about scientific topics. The answers given involve just enough information that the child may be satisfied with the answer and repeat it to others while maintaining the irony for adults that the answers are obviously misleading or false. These explanations may be given because the parent does not know how to explain the topic.

<gallery widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_27.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that basilisks exist, and that they live under your bed. The {{w|basilisk}} is a mythological reptilian monster that was described as having the ability to kill other living things with its gaze. This story might be believed by children because children often imagine that a monster or a dangerous creature is hiding under the bed at night, and verifying that the basilisk is under the bed and might kill the child would likely terrify the child.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_26.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that "In my day" molecules did not exist, and everything was just atoms. Molecules are chains of atoms, and therefore more complex than atoms. This story might be believed by children because old people often tell unbelievable and questionably credible "In my day" stories about how different, or in this case less complicated, things when they where younger. This story may sound no less credible than these stories to a child. Like most "In my day" stories there is at least a grain of truth. The word atom has changed its meaning over time; at one time all discovered molecules were called {{w|atomism|atoms}}, as when they were modified their properties change. Also, according to the {{w|Big Bang}} theory, there was a period billions of years ago when the universe contained no molecules, yet still contained atoms.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_25.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that magnets are only attracted to each other when they are teenagers. This is an inside joke that the child is not in on about how there is a loss of sexual desire in adults. This story might be believed because magnets are seen as mysterious and possibly magical by children.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_24.png|In this exhibit the plaque on the statue of Jesus claims that {{w|snow}} is composed of Jesus' {{w|dandruff}}. This story might be believed because some children take the expression that {{w|rain}} is "God's tears", and this would be a logical extension.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_20.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that the reason that there are only four components of {{w|DNA}} is because there where only four letters back then. The following letters describe the {{w|nucleotides}} that make up DNA chains: "G" {{w|guanine}}, "A" {{w|adenine}}, "T" {{w|thymine}}, and "C" {{w|cytosine}}. This story might be believed by children as DNA can be thought as an instruction set to build life. Instructions contain words, and therefore the letters G, A, T, and C can be thought of as the letters that the words in the instructions are made from.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_23.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that you are more vulnerable to the {{w|Bogeyman|boogie man}} when you are sleeping. "The Boogie Man" is a common legend used to scare young kids; he typically hides in closets and underneath beds, and attacks sleeping children. This story might be believed by children as some believe in the boogie man.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_22.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that water increases its size to frighten {{w|predator|predators}}. {{w|Ice}} is less dense than liquid {{w|water}}. This is an unusual property as most materials are more dense in solid form. This might be believed by a child because many animals appear to increase their size to frighten away other threatening animals. A {{w|rhinoceros}}, although not traditionally a predator, would be a predator of water.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_21.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|antimatter|anti-matter}} is composed of half {{w|ant}} and half matter. The prefix ''{{Wiktionary|anti-}}'' means "the opposite of", but also can sound like ''ant-y''. The suffix ''{{Wiktionary|-y}}'' would make ''anty'' a neologism meaning "having the quality of or involving ants". Children might believe that matter involving ants could in fact be composed of both ants and matter. Antimatter is also referenced in [[683: Science Montage]], [[1621: Fixion]] and [[1731: Wrong]] as well as being the subject of the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' ''{{what if|114|Antimatter}}''. It was also mentioned in another ''what if?'': ''{{what if|79|Lake Tea}}''.
</gallery>

===Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience===
This section holds falsehoods that a dad might use to frighten his children. Fear is often used to discourage children from disobeying their parents. It is an interactive experience, so visitors can try something for themselves, then learn the frightening fact it indicates.

<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_19.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that helium makes your voice higher because you are about to explode. Helium makes your voice high-pitched, because sound travels faster in helium than in air (79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen), and it does not explode because it is a noble gas; although it could rupture containers in accordance with the {{w|combined gas law}}, which governs the relationship between pressure, temperature and volume: i.e. if a balloon is over-inflated or exposed to heat, it will burst. This story might be used by parents to discourage children from inhaling helium. This story might regrettably convince a child that they are dying after they inhale helium. On the other hand, it can be dangerous to inhale helium from a gas container if the pressure is too high. So maybe better scared than dead.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_18.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that if your middle finger is longer than all the others, you are an alien half-breed. For almost all people the middle finger is longer than all the others. This story might be used by parents to tease their children. This story might regrettably convince a child that one of their parents is an alien, and therefore not to be trusted. Another possibility is that everyone is an alien half-breed, and therefore, their progeny are also alien half-breeds.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_16.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that one of the cups of {{w|Jell-O|Jello}} had a rabbit brain instead of a cherry. Cherries are a common ingredient in gelatin based deserts. One cup is missing and in the hands of the child, possibly eaten. This story might be used by parents to tease their children, or discourage them from eating more dessert. This story might regrettably convince a child that they ate the brain of a small cute fluffy animal.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_17.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that monsters will eat you if you do not make your bed. In some stories monsters specifically prey on children. This story might be used by parents to encourage children to make their beds. This story might regrettably convince a child that there are monsters under their beds and frighten them so they can not sleep.
</gallery>

===Concessions===
This area holds concession stands, which sell food. There are misleading names on each stand. The pop-outs in this section are based on jokes parents tell their children to frighten them about food.

<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_15.png|In this exhibit the marquee announces the name of the concession stand as KFP. The parent claims that the "P" stands for phoenix, and the operator adds "also ponies". KFP is a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken ({{w|KFC}}), a popular fast food chain which specializes in fried chicken. A phoenix is a mythical bird that throws it self into a fire and later rises from the ashes. This story might be believed by children because phoenixes are birds and a fried one may look similar to a chicken.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_14.png|In this exhibit the marquee announces that the concession stand sells {{w|ground beef}} and further explains that ground beef is beef that is found on the ground. The word "ground" here refers to the floor or dirt, but can also be the past tense of the word "grind". This story might be believed by children because the words are spelled and pronounced the same.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_13.png|In this exhibit the marquee announces that the concession stand sells {{w|ice cream}} and claims that ice cream is really spelled eyes cream, and always composed of eyeballs. This story might be believed by children because the words "eyes cream" sounds similar to "ice cream".
</gallery>

===Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History===
Each exhibit is a display set up to reinforce the false, sarcastic, or exaggerated answers to typical questions that children may ask their parents about history. The answers given involve just enough information that the child may be satisfied with the answer and repeat it to others while maintaining the irony for adults that the answers are obviously misleading or false. These explanations may be given because the parent does not know how to explain the topic.

<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_11.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|Genghis Khan}} achieved his victories by using dragons. Genghis Khan was a Mongolian conqueror who conquered almost all of Asia and much of Europe founding the {{w|Mongol Empire}}, and creating the largest continuous land empire in history. This story might be believed by children because some children associate magical and other fantastic elements with the past instead of fantasy.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_12.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that the {{w|Crimean War}} was a war on crime. The Crimean War is an often forgotten Eastern European conflict between Russia and a European coalition (including France, which the comic also pretends doesn't exist) with aims to stop Russia's expansion. This story might be believed by children because adding an "a" to a people group sometimes is used to create a country name, making Crimea sounds similar to a nation of criminals. Also worth noting is that the criminal depicted in the mural appears to be the {{w|Hamburgler}}, a McDonald's mascot.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_10.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that wizards were in control during {{w|The Renaissance}}. The Renaissance is a cultural movement in Europe that took place after the Dark Ages. This story might be believed by children because some children associate magical and other fantastic elements with the past instead of fantasy.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_3.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|Star Wars}} is actual history. Star Wars is a fantastical science fiction movie. This story might be believed by children because the movie begins "a long time ago in a galaxy far away", and some children associate magical and other fantastic elements with the past instead of fantasy. The "veteran" presented here appears to be wearing a fake beard as part of his costume.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_9.png|In this exhibit the poster claims that {{w|France}} does not exist. The adult in the comic continues to attempt to convince the children that France does not exist. This is supposed to be funny because the knowledge of France as a country is common. This may be parodying the global warming debate, a common theme in both XKCD and SMBC. It may also be a reference to the {{w|Bielefeld Conspiracy}}.
</gallery>

===Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics===
Each exhibit is a display set up to explain uncomfortable topics that children may ask their parents about. The answers given so that the children do not ask further questions.

<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_8.png|In this exhibit the sign on the box covering up a couple in bed claims that naked wrestling is perfectly normal, but kids should never engage in it. "Naked wrestling" is a euphemism for sex. A parent may give this explanation if a child walks in on their parents having sex and they have to come up with an explanation on the spot, or they feel that the children are too young to know about sex.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_7.png|In this exhibit the sign over the stand claims your parents drink alcohol to prevent you from drinking it as alcohol is a poison. This is technically true, as alcohol is a toxin. A parent may give this explanation to a child who asks their parents why they drink alcohol if it is bad for you, and did not want to explain the pleasurable experience of alcohol because it might encourage children to drink.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_5.png|In this exhibit the banner claims that mommies have big tummies because storks like chubby girls. According to some childhood stories storks deliver babies. Also, there are men who prefer heavy women; these men are often called chubby chasers. A parent may give this explanation to a child who asks why, if a stork delivers babies, their mother is changing while she is pregnant, and the parent continues to try to avoid the topic of sex.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_6.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that grandma did not die, but is going back to Saturn. The choice of Saturn as grandma's destination is appropriate because the god Saturn was associated with aging, as in "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age" from ''{{w|The Planets}}''. Some parents tell their children that their loved ones have gone away instead of telling them the truth, that their loved ones are dead. Going to Saturn "for revenge" is added for comic value. A parent may give this explanation to avoid causing their child pain.
</gallery>

===Miscellaneous===
<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_4.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|dinosaur|dinosaurs}} are made of bones only. The fossil record includes the imprints of the other tissues of dinosaurs including skin, nails, teeth, and feathers. This story might be believed by children because the majority of all displays of dinosaurs in museums only include bones.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_2.png|The restrooms have 3 doors. Clicking reveals that there the two standard gendered restrooms found in the majority of public buildings, and another one for "Korgmen & Spangs" which does not correspond to any known human trait. This could be a reference to the Marvel alien species {{w|Korg_(comics)|the Korg}}.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_1.png|In this exhibit the sign (which the children can not see) explains that the "{{w|Magic Eye}} poster" contains no hidden images. Magic Eye is a company that sells {{w|autostereogram}}s in books. Autostereograms contain a "hidden" three-dimensional image that can only be seen by converging one's eyes towards a point other than upon the poster itself. This takes time and many people find it difficult or impossible to do.
</gallery>

==Transcript==
:In the spirit of xkcd I present a proposal for a new Smithsonian museum:
:The Smithsonian Museum Of Dad-Trolling
:An entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement

:(Click to view exhibits!)

:The top left room is 'The Hall of Misunderstood Science'. It contains six exhibits.

:Exhibit: A giant basilisk looms over children.
:Exhibit label: BASILISKS: Real, deadly, under your bed.

:Exhibit: Four magnets hang from a square arch. A child is touching two of them together.
:Text on the arch: Magnets only leap at each other when they're teenagers. Later, they lose interest.

:Exhibit: A child on his dad's shoulders looks up at a looming statue of Jesus behind a lectern. There are flakes falling from Jesus onto them both.
:Exhibit label: Snow is Jesus' dandruff. His scalp gets dry when it's cold.

:Exhibit: A child lies asleep, while hands and a scary face reach up around the bed toward him.
:Exhibit label: Sleep: Now you're vulnerable to the boogie man!

:Exhibit: An ice block sits on a stand in front of pictures of a wolf and rhinoceros looking frightened.
:Exhibit label: Freezing water: Expands to frighten predators.

:Exhibit: An insect on a stick is orbited by a small sphere.
:Exhibit label: Anti-matter: Matter that is more than 50% ants.

:Exhibit: A DNA strand with the letters T, A, C, and G hanging around it.
:Exhibit label: DNA only has four letters because the alphabet was smaller back then.
:Dad, to child: Told you so.

:Exhibit: A bunch of molecules hang from the ceiling.
:Exhibit label: Molecules? In my day, we only had atoms!

:The top right room is 'Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience'. There are four exhibits.

:Exhibit: Five balloons float tethered to a table. A child is holding a sixth balloon. The Dad looks alarmed.
:Sign on exhibit: If this helium makes your voice go higher, it's because you're ten seconds from exploding.

:Exhibit: An alien face is shown above an outline of several hands next to a ruler. A child holds his hand up to it.
:Sign on exhibit: Measure your middle finger. If it's longer than the others, you're an alien halfbreed.

:Exhibit: Three cups are on a table. A child is walking away with a fourth cup, the dad's arm around the child's shoulder.
:Exhibit label: Has anyone seen my rabbit brain? It looks like a cherry, and I dropped it in a Jello cup.

:Exhibit: A monstrous set of jaws open upward around a bed.
:Sign on exhibit: Make your bed or monsters will know a kid lives there.

:The center right room is 'Concessions'. There are three booths.

:Booth: A concession stand is labeled 'KFP', and displays a KFC-style bucket. A dad and child are eating.
:Dad: The "P" is for "phoenix".

:Booth: A concession stand.
:Sign on stand: Ground beef: Beef we found on the ground.
:Dad, to child: Told you.

:Booth: A stand shaped like a giant eye.
:Booth label: EYES CREAM
:Subtitle: How did you think it was spelled?
:Sign on booth: Now with more of the goo in your eyes. Same as every other creamery.

:The lower left room is 'Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History'. There are five exhibits.

:Exhibit: A man is riding a dragon.
:Exhibit label: Genghis Khan: victory through dragons.

:Exhibit: A criminal in front of some windows.
:Exhibit label: The Crimean War: The first war against crime.

:Exhibit: A castle with flags hanging on it.
:Exhibit label: The Renaissance
:Subtitle: Long story short, the wizards were in control.

:Exhibit:A man in Jedi-style robes with a fake beard.
:Exhibit label: Star Wars is a documentary. No, seriously.
:Dad, to children: Kids, this man is a veteran.

:The lower right room is 'Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics'. There are five exhibits.

:Exhibit: A wrestling ring, with a man and woman mostly obscured by the exhibit label.
:Exhibit label: Naked wrestling: perfectly normal. NEVER DO IT.

:Exhibit: a figure sits at a booth in front of a bowl of food. The dad is holding a bottle.
:Exhibit label: Alcohol is poison. I drink to save you from it.
:Dad: You're welcome.

:Exhibit: A large bird.
:Exhibit label: Mommies get big tummies before babies come because the stork likes chubby girls.

:Exhibit: A rocket ship.
:Sign on exhibit: Grandma's not dead. She just returned to Saturn. For REVENGE.

:In the areas outside the rooms, there are two more exhibits and restrooms, all clickable.

:Exhibit: A dinosaur skeleton.
:Exhibit label: That's right. Dinosaurs were made entirely of BONES.
:Dad, to kid: If you think about it, it makes sense.

:Exhibit: A large image hangs on the wall. It is a dense squiggly jumble of lines.
:Dad, to kids: You gotta squint juuust right.
:Sign on exhibit: Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work.

:Restrooms: There are three doors, each with a sign.
:First door (male logo): Men & Boys
:Second door (female logo): Women & Girls
:Third door (unrecognizable logo): Korgmen & Spangs

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Ferrets]]
[[Category:Guest Week]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Kids]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]

2817: Electron Holes

2023-08-19T22:46:37Z

LambdaWolf: Avoid implying the off-screen character's gender

{{comic
| number = 2817
| date = August 18, 2023
| title = Electron Holes
| image = electron_holes_2x.png
| imagesize = 295x331px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They tried to report me to the authorities, but because I had the device they couldn't charge me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BEAM OF EXCITONS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
An {{w|electron hole}} is a quasiparticle denoting a ''lack'' of an electron. Creating a beam that is made out of a lack of a thing is not possible{{citation needed}}, otherwise we'd have "dark beams".

Here, the electron hole gun might refer to the {{w|anode ray}} tubes.

In this cartoon, the physicist is upset that the idea of the electron hole beam doesn't "make sense", yet the beam is still working to destroy her belongings (or at least create dramatic visual effects) and eventually she resorts to exclaiming simply "Stop it!"

The caption below the comic states that physicist''s'', plural, were angry about this device, implying that this is not the first physicist whose lab he has interfered with. It also implies that the off-screen character—likely [[Beret Guy]], considering his history of seemingly impossible feats and powers—is not a physicist, notably separating them from {{w|Randall Munroe}}, who is. The physicists are also likely angry that they themselves could not come up with such a device, as well as that something as groundbreaking and innovative (as well as seemingly impossible) is being used solely for the purpose of creating chaos.

The title text plays on a double meaning of "charge". When the word is used with "authorities", it's an accusation. However it can also refer to an electric charge. The implication is that the authorities are trying to charge him with electrons (which carry a negative electric charge), but due to the device he can {{w|Carrier generation and recombination|recombine}} the electrons with his electron holes, thus making the authorities unable to "charge" him.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail, who has her fists clenched and a squiggle above her head, is standing in front of a desk, a beam of electron holes is being fired at a printer on the desk; the beam is shown reacting to the printer, dispersing lightning bolts and 'particles' but causing no obvious damage. There are little '+' signs distributed along the beam and in the circles around the printer, though they're much easier to see in the higher-resolution version of the strip that's displayed if one zooms in on the original comic page.]
:Ponytail: This doesn't even make sense! They're quasiparticles, not real-
:Off-panel voice: ''Pew pew pew''
:Ponytail: ''Stop it!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Physicists got ''really'' mad about my device that fires a beam of electron holes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2817: Electron Holes

2023-08-19T22:45:14Z

LambdaWolf: Em dashes to set off the clause about Beret Guy

{{comic
| number = 2817
| date = August 18, 2023
| title = Electron Holes
| image = electron_holes_2x.png
| imagesize = 295x331px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They tried to report me to the authorities, but because I had the device they couldn't charge me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BEAM OF EXCITONS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
An {{w|electron hole}} is a quasiparticle denoting a ''lack'' of an electron. Creating a beam that is made out of a lack of a thing is not possible{{citation needed}}, otherwise we'd have "dark beams".

Here, the electron hole gun might refer to the {{w|anode ray}} tubes.

In this cartoon, the physicist is upset that the idea of the electron hole beam doesn't "make sense", yet the beam is still working to destroy her belongings (or at least create dramatic visual effects) and eventually she resorts to exclaiming simply "Stop it!"

The caption below the comic states that physicist''s'', plural, were angry about this device, implying that this is not the first physicist whose lab he has interfered with. It also implies that the off-screen character—likely [[Beret Guy]], considering his history of seemingly impossible feats and powers—is not a physicist himself, notably separating him from {{w|Randall Munroe}}, who is. They are also likely angry that they themselves could not come up with such a device, as well as that something as groundbreaking and innovative (as well as seemingly impossible) is being used solely for the purpose of creating chaos.

The title text plays on a double meaning of "charge". When the word is used with "authorities", it's an accusation. However it can also refer to an electric charge. The implication is that the authorities are trying to charge him with electrons (which carry a negative electric charge), but due to the device he can {{w|Carrier generation and recombination|recombine}} the electrons with his electron holes, thus making the authorities unable to "charge" him.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail, who has her fists clenched and a squiggle above her head, is standing in front of a desk, a beam of electron holes is being fired at a printer on the desk; the beam is shown reacting to the printer, dispersing lightning bolts and 'particles' but causing no obvious damage. There are little '+' signs distributed along the beam and in the circles around the printer, though they're much easier to see in the higher-resolution version of the strip that's displayed if one zooms in on the original comic page.]
:Ponytail: This doesn't even make sense! They're quasiparticles, not real-
:Off-panel voice: ''Pew pew pew''
:Ponytail: ''Stop it!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Physicists got ''really'' mad about my device that fires a beam of electron holes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]