explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3137: Cursed Number

2025-09-11T06:58:28Z

Mouse: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3137
| date = September 3, 2025
| title = Cursed Number
| image = cursed_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 388x449px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Another group of mathematicians is working to put an upper bound on the number, although everyone keeps begging them to stop.
}}

==Explanation==

It is quite common on mathematics to not know the value (or existence) of a number but be able to put bounds on it. For example, we know the first counterexample to the Colatz conjecture is at least 10^21, if it exists. There are also constants where we have an upper bound.

In this case, there is apparently postulated to exist a number that extremely harmful to the human mind to read it without eye protection - an {{w|information hazard}}. Dangerous pieces of writing like this are a fairly common trope in speculative fiction, such as the {{w|Necronomicon}} in the {{w|Cthulhu Mythos}}, [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-033 cognitohazards] in the {{w|SCP Foundation}}, the Basilisk in {{w|BLIT_(short_story)|BLIT}} by David Langford, and {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|The Funniest Joke in the World|Funniest Joke in the World}}. It is also very similar to the concept of an {{w|illegal number}}, or the {{w|Number of the beast}}.

Saying that it is once ''again'' safe to view large random numbers without eye protection may imply that the cursed number used to not be cursed (as opposed to no one realizing that the cursed number existed). This might indicate an evolutionary change in human brain structure, or, [[2332: Cursed Chair|considering previous comics]], someone with magical powers literally placing a curse on it (but not telling humans which). In the latter case, the fact that mathematicians have been able to place a lower bound might suggest that the magic-wielder gave some sort of hint, such as a hashed or encrypted version or a mathematical puzzle/riddle. Alternatively it could be that after the existence of the cursed number was discovered, but before there was a lower bound on it, people were advised to wear eye protection when viewing any large number, because no one could be sure which large number was cursed. The mechanism by which the eye protection works is not explained; theoretically any eye protection which allowed someone to view the cursed number at all shouldn't work, as being able to see or read the number means you can perceive it.

Naturally, the mathematicians of this world are doing their best, in the interest of public safety, to keep this number away from as many human eyeballs as possible. Through some process they have figured out the number is at least 22 digits long. Numbers this large (greater than 1021, i.e. at least a {{w|Orders_of_magnitude_(numbers)#1021|'sextillion'}}) are extremely unlikely to be found in the day-to-day lives of non-mathematicians (and almost all mathematicians); even if a person spent their entire lives looking at random strings of 22 digit numbers flashing by every millisecond, for a 100 year lifetime, they would still only have about 3 in a (short) billion chance of seeing the number. Because of the low risk, public officials have deemed it safe for people to go about their daily lives reading numbers again without eye protection, which apparently protects you from the number.

Despite this, there are some instances of large numbers (more than 21 decimal digits) that may be encountered relatively frequently. IT professionals may encounter "{{w|Universally unique identifier}}s". These are 128 {{w|bit}} binary numbers requiring up to 39 decimal digits to display. However, with 2^28 possible possible numbers of that length, even if you look at UUIDs all day long you are extremely unlikely to see this "cursed number" if it exists.

In the title text another group of mathematicians are trying to narrow down the number's identity even further. The more attributes of the cursed number the mathematicians identify, the easier it is for someone with morbid curiosity or someone researching more attributes of the number to discover the number themselves and get their mind damaged. This includes the researchers themselves, as they are now willingly going above the lower safe limit, increasing their chances of encountering it accidentally. Furthermore, the cursed number may appear as part of another number; for example, 223 appears as part of 2237. Worse, if the number could be determined in some controllable way that didn't necessarily expose its discoverers, it {{w|BLIT (short story)|might be used as a weapon}}, and this might be easier with the upper bound discovered, if the method used to find the number is brute force. This echoes concerns about knowledge gained from research on nuclear forces having been used to create atomic weapons. This was also how the Funniest Joke in the World was used in Monty Python.

==Transcript==
:[A large screen with one equation in the middle is shown to the left of three people. The left part of the equation shows a black bar with a skull in the middle:]
: 💀 > 2.6 x 1021

:[Cueball is standing to the right of the screen and further right is Blondie. Blondie is standing behind a lectern with a label in front. Hairbun stands further and holds a paper up in front of her using both hands. The paper shows illegible text surrounding what is visibly the same equation as appears on the screen, with a skull, but not the black bar. None of the text can be read and the skull can only be made out as such, knowing what it is from the screen.]
:Lectern: Math Dept

:[Caption below the comic:]
:Good news: Mathematicians have put a new lower bound on the '''Cursed Number that destroys the minds of all who perceive it'''!
:It's at least 22 digits, which means it's unlikely to be seen by any human no matter how many random numbers they look at.
:They say it's once again safe to view large random numbers without eye protection.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]

3132: Coastline Similarity

2025-08-22T16:06:52Z

Mouse:

{{comic
| number = 3132
| date = August 22, 2025
| title = Coastline Similarity
| image = coastline_similarity_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x219px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hey! A bunch of the early Cretaceous fossils on each coast seem to have been plagiarized, too!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic insinuates that the east South America looks like it has a similar shape to the west coast of Africa due to plagiarism.

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3122: Bad Map Projection: Interrupted Spheres

2025-07-31T07:59:56Z

Mouse: We could debate endlessly about how many continents there are but this explanation does not seem to be the best place to do it.

{{comic
| number = 3122
| date = July 30, 2025
| title = Bad Map Projection: Interrupted Spheres
| image = bad_map_projection_interrupted_spheres_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x573px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = During the most recent glacial maximum, it's believed that land bridges extended from the surfaces and connected several of the spheres together.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an interrupted editor. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This is the ninth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #194: Interrupted Spheres. It follows [[2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia]], released nine and a half month ago.

There is no perfect way to draw a map of the world on a flat piece of paper. Each one will introduce a different type of distortion, and the best projection for a given situation is sometimes disputed. As was mentioned in [[977: Map Projections]], the smartass response to this dilemma is to use a globe - which maps the world onto a ''sphere'', thus minimizing distortion by using roughly the same shape as the world itself. This "map projection" goes a step past the smartass and proceeds straight into absurdity, by projecting ''each continent'' onto a sphere. This bends entirely too far in the other direction to the dilemma; whereas a typical map projection adds distortion by trying to show the (curved) planet on a flat surface, this "map projection" adds distortion by showing the (relatively flat) continents on a much more sharply-curved sphere than the planet they are actually part of.

The title text refers to {{w|land bridges}}, narrow bits of land between larger landmasses. When glaciers covered much of the Earth, the water locked up in the glaciers meant that sea levels were lower, and things like the {{w|Bering land bridge}} spanned areas between continents that are currently ocean. Randall suggests in the title text that these were represented in the Interrupted Spheres projection by land bridges connecting the spheres. This is absurd since the map was meant to be a "better" way to display Earths landmasses, not to indicate that Earths landmasses are actually on seven different spheres.

==Transcript==
:[This comic depicts seven circles each representing globes. Above these circles there is the following text:]
:Bad map projection #194:
:'''<big>Interrupted spheres</big>'''
:To avoid the distortion inherent to a single flat world map, each continent is projected onto its own globe.

:[Each of the seven globes has some part of the landmasses of Earth projected on to it, with a label of said areas name. The globes are arranged in position so their landmasses lies roughly where they would be on a standard map with North America in the upper left and Australia in the lower right part of the picture. That is except Antarctica which is placed beneath Asia close to but left of Australia. The labels on the seven spheres in the three columns they form from left to right are:]
:North America
:South America
:Europe
:Africa
:Asia
:Antarctica
:Australia

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-15T13:41:46Z

Mouse: Tin pest happens in cold weather

{{comic
| number = 3115
| date = July 14, 2025
| title = Unsolved Physics Problems
| image = unsolved_physics_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 699x422px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by A CURSED METAL FIGURE OF HAIRY. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is a sequel to comic [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems]], which follows the same format.

{{w|Quantum gravity}} is the problem of determining how {{w|gravity}} interacts with {{w|Quantum_mechanics|quantum physics}}. There are {{w|General_relativity#Relationship_with_quantum_theory|seeming contradictions}} between the two theories, as currently understood. Gravity operates at large scales and is described well by {{w|General_relativity|relativity theory}}, while quantum physics is easiest to observe at very small scales. This makes it hard to conduct an experiment that includes both phenomenon. This has led to a wide range of unifying theories which are difficult to experimentally confirm or refute.

The second phenomenon, the {{w|Soviet%E2%80%93American_Gallium_Experiment#Gallium_anomaly|Gallium Anomaly}}, is an example of a precise experiment to understand a specific phenomenon. The difference between the expectation and reality is small, but significant, and indicates our models of physics are inaccurate.

The third question concerns {{w|Whisker_(metallurgy)|zinc whiskers}} — a phenomenon, that sounds extremely strange at first sight, where a piece of metal (in this case zinc) can 'grow' hair-like filaments on its surface. Hair is usually thought of as an organic property, and spontaneous change in a block of metal would not be a typical problem most people would expect. Thus [[Randall]] considers this phenomenon [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_with_cursed_items cursed].

The title text mentions {{w|tin pest}} — a transformation which causes deterioration of moldable white tin into brittle powdery grey tin in cold weather. Randall considers this an understandable rebellion of the tin against being forced into shapes that we want it to take, whereas he cannot understand the motivation of zinc to grow hair. In reality, metallic elements do not have motivations and intentions.{{cn}}

All of these are real phenomena.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
: The Three Types of Unsolved Physics Problem

: Vague
: [A Feynman diagram of two particles interacting via the electromagnetic force is to the right of Cueball. The diagram is drawn on a curved surface]
: Cueball: What is the nature of time in quantum gravity? Is it a background parameter, a dynamic aspect of spacetime, or an emergent phenomenon?

: Precise
: [A scientific instrument and a nuclear reaction equation of gallium-71 becoming germanium-71 are to Megan's left]
: Megan: Why does the ''S.A.G.E.'' Gallium Neutrino Capture Experiment produce only 75% as much germanium as predicted?

: Cursed
: [A rectangular block of zinc, with whiskers growing out of it, is visible to the right of White Hat]
: White Hat: Why does some metal randomly grow hairs?
: White Hat: It keeps causing short circuits and we have no idea what's going on.
: Voice from off-panel: Is this a joke?
: White Hat: No! Please help!

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-15T09:25:49Z

Mouse: grammer

{{comic
| number = 3115
| date = July 14, 2025
| title = Unsolved Physics Problems
| image = unsolved_physics_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 699x422px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is a sequel to comic [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems]], which follows the same format.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_gravity Quantum Gravity] is the problem of determining how exactly gravity interacts with quantum physics. Gravity operates at large scales and is well described by relativity theory, while quantum physics is easiest to observe at very small scales. This makes it hard to conduct an experiment that includes both phenomenon, and has led to a wide range of theories which are difficult to experimentally confirm or refute.

The second phenomenon, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93American_Gallium_Experiment#Gallium_anomaly Gallium Anomaly], is an example of a precise experiment to understand a specific phenomenon. The difference between the expectation and reality is small but significant and indicates our models of physics are inaccurate.

The third question concerns [https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/reference/tech_papers/brusse2003-zinc-whisker-awareness.pdf Zinc Whiskers], a phenomenon that sounds extremely strange at first sight: hair is usually thought of as an organic property, and spontaneous change in a block of metal would not be a typical problem one would expect.

All of these are real phenomena.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
: The Three Types of Unsolved Physics Problem

: Vague
: [A Feynman diagram of two particles interacting via the electromagnetic force is to the right of Cueball. The diagram is drawn on a curved surface]
: Cueball: What is the nature of time in quantum gravity? Is it a background parameter, a dynamic aspect of spacetime, or an emergent phenomenon?

: Precise
: [A scientific instrument and a nuclear reaction equation of gallium-71 becoming germanium-71 are to Megan's left]
: Megan: Why does the ''S.A.G.E.'' Gallium Neutrino Capture Experiment produce only 75% as much germanium as predicted?

: Cursed
: [A rectangular block of zinc, with whiskers growing out of it, is visible to the right of White Hat]
: White Hat: Why does some metal randomly grow hairs?
: White Hat: It keeps causing short circuits and we have no idea what's going on.
: Voice from off-panel: Is this a joke?
: White Hat: No! Please help!

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-15T09:24:41Z

Mouse: Grammar

{{comic
| number = 3115
| date = July 14, 2025
| title = Unsolved Physics Problems
| image = unsolved_physics_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 699x422px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is a sequel to comic [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems]], which follows the same format.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_gravity Quantum Gravity] is the problem of determining how exactly gravity interacts with quantum physics. Gravity operates at large scales and is well described by relativity theory, while quantum physics is easiest to observe at very small scales. This makes it hard to conduct an experiment that includes both phenomenon, and has led to a wide range of theories which are difficult to experimentally confirm or refute.

The second phenomenon, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93American_Gallium_Experiment#Gallium_anomaly Gallium Anomaly], is an example of a precise experiment to understand a specific phenomenon. The difference between the expectation and reality is small but significant and indicates our models of physics are inaccurate.

The third question concerns [https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/reference/tech_papers/brusse2003-zinc-whisker-awareness.pdf Zinc Whisker Awareness], a phenomenon that sounds extremely strange at first sight: hair is usually thought of as an organic property, and spontaneous change in a block of metal would not be a typical problem one would expect.

All of these are real phenomena.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
: The Three Types of Unsolved Physics Problem

: Vague
: [A Feynman diagram of two particles interacting via the electromagnetic force is to the right of Cueball. The diagram is drawn on a curved surface]
: Cueball: What is the nature of time in quantum gravity? Is it a background parameter, a dynamic aspect of spacetime, or an emergent phenomenon?

: Precise
: [A scientific instrument and a nuclear reaction equation of gallium-71 becoming germanium-71 are to Megan's left]
: Megan: Why does the ''S.A.G.E.'' Gallium Neutrino Capture Experiment produce only 75% as much germanium as predicted?

: Cursed
: [A rectangular block of zinc, with whiskers growing out of it, is visible to the right of White Hat]
: White Hat: Why does some metal randomly grow hairs?
: White Hat: It keeps causing short circuits and we have no idea what's going on.
: Voice from off-panel: Is this a joke?
: White Hat: No! Please help!

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-15T09:14:05Z

Mouse: Links to everything

{{comic
| number = 3115
| date = July 14, 2025
| title = Unsolved Physics Problems
| image = unsolved_physics_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 699x422px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is a sequel to comic [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems]], which follows the same format.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_gravity Quantum Gravity] is the problem of determining how exactly gravity interacts with quantum physics. Gravity operates at large scales and is well described by relativity theory, while quantum physics is easiest to observe at very small scales. This makes it hard to conduct an experiment that includes both phenomenon, and has led to a wide range of theories which are difficult to experimentally confirm or refute.

The second phenomenon, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93American_Gallium_Experiment#Gallium_anomaly Gallium Anomaly], is an example of a precise experiment to understand a specific phenomenon. The difference between the expectation and reality is small but significant and indicates our models of physics are inaccurate.

The third question, the [https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/reference/tech_papers/brusse2003-zinc-whisker-awareness.pdf Zinc Whisker Awareness ] discusses a phenomenon that sounds extremely strange at first sight: hair is usually thought of as an organic property, and spontaneous change in a block of metal would not be a typical problem one would expect.

All of these are real phenomenon.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
: The Three Types of Unsolved Physics Problem

: Vague
: [A Feynman diagram of two particles interacting via the electromagnetic force is to the right of Cueball. The diagram is drawn on a curved surface]
: Cueball: What is the nature of time in quantum gravity? Is it a background parameter, a dynamic aspect of spacetime, or an emergent phenomenon?

: Precise
: [A scientific instrument and a nuclear reaction equation of gallium-71 becoming germanium-71 are to Megan's left]
: Megan: Why does the ''S.A.G.E.'' Gallium Neutrino Capture Experiment produce only 75% as much germanium as predicted?

: Cursed
: [A rectangular block of zinc, with whiskers growing out of it, is visible to the right of White Hat]
: White Hat: Why does some metal randomly grow hairs?
: White Hat: It keeps causing short circuits and we have no idea what's going on.
: Voice from off-panel: Is this a joke?
: White Hat: No! Please help!

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-15T09:05:34Z

Mouse: Remove duplicate heading

3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-15T09:04:56Z

Mouse: Better quantum gravity explanation

{{comic
| number = 3115
| date = July 14, 2025
| title = Unsolved Physics Problems
| image = unsolved_physics_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 699x422px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic is a sequel to comic [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems]], which follows the same format.

Quantum Gravity is the problem of determining how exactly gravity interacts with quantum physics. Gravity operates at large scales and is well described by relativity theory, while quantum physics is easiest to observe at very small scales. This makes it hard to conduct an experiment that includes both phenomenon, and has led to a wide range of theories which are difficult to experimentally confirm or refute.

The second question discusses a precise experiment to understand a specific phenomenon. The difference between the expectation and reality is small but significant and still indicates our models of physics are inaccurate.

The third question discusses a phenomenon that sounds extremely strange at first sight: hair is usually thought of as an organic property, and spontaneous change in a block of metal would not be a typical problem one would expect.

All true – see https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/reference/tech_papers/brusse2003-zinc-whisker-awareness.pdf

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
: The Three Types of Unsolved Physics Problem

: Vague
: [A Feynman diagram of two particles interacting via the electromagnetic force is to the right of Cueball. The diagram is drawn on a curved surface]
: Cueball: What is the nature of time in quantum gravity? Is it a background parameter, a dynamic aspect of spacetime, or an emergent phenomenon?

: Precise
: [A scientific instrument and a nuclear reaction equation of gallium-71 becoming germanium-71 are to Megan's left]
: Megan: Why does the ''S.A.G.E.'' Gallium Neutrino Capture Experiment produce only 75% as much germanium as predicted?

: Cursed
: [A rectangular block of zinc, with whiskers growing out of it, is visible to the right of White Hat]
: White Hat: Why does some metal randomly grow hairs?
: White Hat: It keeps causing short circuits and we have no idea what's going on.
: Voice from off-panel: Is this a joke?
: White Hat: No! Please help!

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3106: Farads

2025-06-25T04:56:00Z

Mouse:

Unlike other units of measure where a single unit is non-extreme, "The capacitance of the Earth's ionosphere with respect to the ground is calculated to be about 1 F." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad] Most capacitors in practical use are measured in pico, nano, or micro farads. 03:04, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Please note that the pound, shown in panel 2, is not an SI unit. The corresponding SI unit is the kilogram; an item with a mass of one kilogram is still commonplace. [[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 03:11, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

When my father was a young engineer, the old guys would haze the new kids by asking them to fetch a "one farad capacitor". But everybody in the lab said "Sorry, I ran out, go ask Fred on the top floor", "Go ask Tom in the basement", "Try Peter's Parts on Vine St", etc--- give the kid a run-around. The joke was: at the time, 1F was likely large than a large garbage can and many hundred (non-SI) pounds. But the world changed, and in recent years you can easily buy 1F @ 16V, about the size of a soup can, to smooth car sound power feeds. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 03:27, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

This explanation would benefit from some elaboration on how and why supercapacitors are dangerous. [[Special:Contributions/195.252.226.234|195.252.226.234]] 04:41, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Funnily enough, the wikipedia page for "Farad" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad) currently has a 1 farad supercapacitator as the title image. It looks pretty unassuming. [[User:Mouse|Mouse]] 08:54, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2947: Pascal's Wager Triangle

2024-06-20T07:25:46Z

Mouse: Add a comment

Apparently, if two people are writing a first draft at the same time, the wiki appends one to the other. Welp. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 02:29, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:If you add another one it puts it beside the second, and you have Pascal's explanation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.102|172.70.85.102]] 08:33, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

Some religions (such as my own) prohibit polytheism, so that's an added wrench in the works. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 06:56, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
: I think MOST religions are quite strict about the idea that you are supposed to CHOOSE single religion, preferably the one in question, and not trying to cover all bases by believing in multiple ones. Which is the answer to Pascal's Wager: choosing wrong God is likely to result in worse punishment than choosing none, so better NOT believe. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:44, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:: Well, it might be considered a bad "memetic trait" to have "as well as believing in our thing, you can believe in anything else". (Much as a number of holy books include the instruction that you should not change anything when copying the book, and this would clearly be a "dominant meme" as soon as someone spontaneously thinks to add it to a previously mutable version of the text.) Although there's syncratic religions which are effectively a case of "{{w|Horizontal gene transfer|horizontal meme transfer}}", philoso-evolutionarily.
:: But polythesitic pantheons aren't unusual within a (structurally singular) religion. The three branches of abriamic religion ("There is no god but Jehovah", "There is no god but God (sic)", there is no god but Allah", at least unless you start going into the prevalence of trinitarianism and "praying to individual saints") and I ''think'' Sikhism is rather good at "everything is but an aspect of the one..." (even when it comes to considering other religions' own ideas, and thus nominally folding ). But multi-deity (and zero-deity) religions/beliefs/etc are quite widespread, so an exclusivity of "my god" might be considered rare. (Though, numbers-wise, Christianity (in all its flavours) and Islam (ditto) add up to just over half of the world's population, perhaps being generous with 'habitual followers' rather than just the most devout. So it would be fairly accurate to say that most ''people'' are living under a (theoretically) quite strict monotheistic situation. Not that they all agree with each other quite what 'the singly god' is (even within themselves, ask a Protestent what they think about what a Catholic thinks, as [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emo_Philips#Die,_heretic! the famous joke about this goes]; and that's definitely not solely a Christian trait), although that's not what we're counting. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.54|172.71.242.54]] 21:05, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
: This reminds me of a novel (I think it was Arthur C. Clarke's ''3001: The Final Odyssey'') where in the distant future, all religions ended up merging into two - one where there is ''at most'' one god and one where there is ''at least'' one god. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:15, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
: A surprisingly large number of religions actually don't care if you additionally are a member of another religion. Happens all the time in eastern Asia.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.173|162.158.212.173]] 21:05, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

What if there is a God, but they don't want you to believe in them?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.35|172.70.86.35]] 11:48, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:Or a God, but they have impostor syndrome? [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 12:34, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:Or a God, and he just wants to screw over us all (not in the Yivo sense, mind you)? (Under this condition, all three outcomes are possible: he wants us to believe, he wants to hide, he couldn't care less) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.174|198.41.242.174]] 08:05, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

How did the middle Cueball on line 3 not realize that both Gods he was being asked to believe in are the same God (since the ones on line 2 both got it from the same Cueball on line 1)? Is there also a game of Telephone going on? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:29, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:Tbf there's no clarification by the Line 2 guys that they're talking about the same God. It makes sense that he'd assume they're different. If two different religious people told you at the same time "My God is real" and you'd never really been exposed to religion or atheism, you would assume they were talking about two. Forgive me if I made any unfair assumptions here. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 15:34, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:Look at the schism in Islam and the huge number of divisions in Christianity. That it may be the same god and same basic religion doesn't mean that it isn't presented entirely differently. For example (what I'm familiar with), Roman Catholic versus Church of England. Similar, but also completely different. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.118|141.101.69.118]] 19:03, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
: Presumably each person interprets the diety slightly differently [[User:mouse|mouse]]

>>then there is minimal cost to drawing one anyway<< I argue that drawing a complete pascal's triangle will take infinite time and infinite resources. Which is slightly above "minimal cost"
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.61|108.162.221.61]] 05:34, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

2919: Sitting in a Tree

2024-04-15T14:29:01Z

Mouse: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2919
| date = April 12, 2024
| title = Sitting in a Tree
| image = sitting_in_a_tree_2x.png
| imagesize = 591x320px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = First comes blood / Then we perish / Then comes Death in his Eternity Carriage.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PAIR OF BOTS SITTING IN A TREE E-D-I-T-I-N-G - ♫First come comments, ♫Then these made neat, ♫But ONLY when it's accurate, then should you the tag delete!♫}}

“[Name] and [name], sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G” (or some other seven-letter verb spelled aloud, almost always ending in “ing”) is a common taunt among young children in the US, perhaps in the context of a {{w|counting-out game}}, in which they make fun of others' (alleged/suggested) playground romances (which are often seen as “gross” at that age). The children taunted are expected to respond that they don't like each other that way, which, of course, means the taunt bothers them and encourages the taunters to continue just to see their reaction every time.

This comic takes the variety of things which could be chanted to an unrealistic extreme, starting with relatively mundane ones such as “hugging” and “reading” and progressing through to increasingly atypical or disturbing concepts. For example, in the last frame, Cueball and Megan would be molting, also known as shedding, which, according to [[Randall]], would be "very alarming". Each frame has the last of its noted possibilities pictured – kissing, ironing and smiting, respectively.

Normal:
:{{w|Reading|'''Reading'''}}
:{{w|Singing|'''Singing'''}}
:{{w|Playing|'''Playing'''}}
:{{w|Sharing|'''Sharing'''}}
:{{w|Hugging|'''Hugging'''}}
:{{w|Kissing|'''Kissing'''}}

Slightly worrying:
:{{w|Sobbing|'''Sobbing'''}} is an act of crying or weeping, e.g. due to a setback in one's relationship.
:{{w|Itching|'''Itching'''}} is feeling a sensation on one's skin that makes one want to scratch or rub it, and may happen due to mosquito bites or other bugs.
:{{w|Pruning|'''Pruning'''}} is cutting off the branches of a tree, which is very dangerous if one is sitting on said branch.{{Citation needed}}
:{{w|Banking|'''Banking'''}} is conducting financial business with a bank.
:{{w|Post#Communications|'''Posting'''}} is to publish posts on social media, which is probably what most teens do when they're together nowadays.{{Citation needed}} This might also refer to {{w|Mail|mailing}} by using a postal service.
:{{w|Ironing|'''Ironing'''}} is smoothing their clothes with an iron and ironing board. This is the activity illustrated in the panel.

Very alarming:
:{{w|Molting|'''Molting'''}} is shedding one's skin.
:{{w|Whaling|'''Whaling'''}} is hunting whales, which has been outlawed since the 1980s. Whales aren't usually found in trees.[''{{w|List of cetaceans|cetacean needed}}'']
:{{w|E-filing|'''E-filing'''}}, not to be confused with defiling, is submitting one's tax returns online. This comic was published a few days before the US tax deadline. This could quite reasonably be done from a tree using a laptop or other portable computing device.
:{{w|Melting|'''Melting'''}} is turning from a solid state to a liquid state, which is usually fatal.{{Citation needed}}
:{{w|Radiography|'''X-raying'''}} is emitting or receiving {{w|X-ray}} radiation. With enough radiation, the X-rays could be fatal.
:[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smite#English '''Smiting'''] is striking down their enemies with the divine power called from a god. This is the activity illustrated in the panel.

The title text parodies a traditional {{w|Children's song#Game songs|continuation of the chant}}, which is normally something like
"...first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage" (which reflects the common social expectations that any kissers might follow the path of), but instead appears to be a more dark prophecy about death that therefore probably befits the last frame's focus. The last line may be an allusion to the Emily Dickinson poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death", which refers to Eternity as well as Death riding in a carriage.

==Transcript==
:[Three children are singing. A kid with a bowl cut and a young Hairy are pointing with their fingers, while Jill stands in the middle. A pair of connected eighth notes and a detached eighth note are shown.]
:Kid with a bowl cut, Jill and Hairy: [Name] and [Name], sitting in a tree...

:[Label above the panel:]
:Normal
:[Cueball and Megan are sitting on a tree branch holding hands and kissing, with a heart above them.]
:R-E-A-D-I-N-G
:S-I-N-G-I-N-G
:P-L-A-Y-I-N-G
:S-H-A-R-I-N-G
:H-U-G-G-I-N-G
:K-I-S-S-I-N-G

:[Label above the panel:]
:Slightly worrying
:[Cueball and Megan are sitting on a tree branch each ironing a cloth on an ironing board, with steam arising from the irons.]
:S-O-B-B-I-N-G
:I-T-C-H-I-N-G
:P-R-U-N-I-N-G
:B-A-N-K-I-N-G
:P-O-S-T-I-N-G
:I-R-O-N-I-N-G

:[Label above the panel:]
:Very alarming
:[Cueball and Megan, her hair being {{tvtropes|MadnessMakeover|uncharacteristically wild}}, sitting on a tree branch smiting with glowing hands, with two falling fireballs and fire below them. Cueball's hands are raised up, while Megan has her left hand up and her right hand pointing to her right.]
:M-O-L-T-I-N-G
:W-H-A-L-I-N-G
:E-F-I-L-I-N-G
:M-E-L-T-I-N-G
:X-R-A-Y-I-N-G
:S-M-I-T-I-N-G

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Kids]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Songs]]

2842: Inspiraling Roundabout

2023-10-17T11:31:02Z

Mouse: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2842
| date = October 16, 2023
| title = Inspiraling Roundabout
| image = inspiraling_roundabout.png
| titletext = Look, I just think we need to stop coddling those hedonistic roundabout hogs who get into the inner lane and circle for hours, wasting valuable capacity.
}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUNDABOUT HOG}}

A {{w|roundabout}}, also called a traffic circle or rotary, is a traffic control device that often serves as an alternative to stop signs, instead allowing for mere yields, as all traffic flows in the same direction around a central point. This comic shows a top down view of an "Inspiraling Roundabout", a roundabout that continually spirals inward, eventually leading every road directly into the center.

The caption states that it's [[Technically|technically]] navigable, since you can get anywhere on the roundabout without breaking highway laws, but that the Highway Department has rejected it, presumably due to being extremely impractical compared to a normal roundabout. The dotted lines mean that merging into adjacent lanes is allowed, which greatly reduces the time it takes to get to any other road because you no longer have to go all the way to the center to move to the left road from where you enter.

Unlike inspiraling roundabouts, outspiraling roundabouts are a real thing, very common across western Europe. They are often known as "Turbo Roundabouts".

Something of note is that the only way to start going clockwise is to go all the way to the center of the road, and you are actually required to go clockwise due to moving outward with the spirals. It is also impossible to leave the roundabout while going clockwise, since you must be going counterclockwise to get to the exits, and you cannot move back into the center to change the direction you are going.

The title text mentions how people have been "coddling those hedonistic roundabout hogs who get into the inner lane and circle for hours", since, in what are presumably normal roundabouts, people drive in circles in the inner lane for hours because they find it fun, despite how much time, fuel, and mental willpower would be wasted doing it, and these people are protected by others, despite this never happening in the real world. {{citation needed}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[A large roundabout with three entrances of two lanes, three exits, and three spirals (as is CLEARLY evidenced by the three inner termini and thre seperate starts) of dotted lines starting from the medians between entry lanes and exit lanes of the same road which terminate in the centre leaving a lane-sized median of plain asphalt.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Even though it '''''was''''' technically navigable, the highway department vetoed my inspiraling roundabout design.

{{comic discussion}}

2785: Marble Run

2023-06-06T06:32:24Z

Mouse: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2785
| date = June 5, 2023
| title = Marble Run
| image = marble_run_2x.png
| imagesize = 438x512px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I have so many plans. It would incorporate a Galton board, a Ranque-Hilsch marble vortex tube, and a compartment lined with pinball bouncers with a camera-and-servo Maxwell's Demon that separated the balls into fast and slow sides.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MAXWELL'S DEMON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT roll away this tag too soon.}}

There have long been fascinations with complex mechanical devices, both typically practical (e.g. typical clock mechanisms) or rather more contrived. A {{w|Rolling ball sculpture|'Marble Run'}} may make the otherwise simple act of allowing one or more marbles to roll and fall through gravity (or mostly so) into a vastly more complex process. A {{w|Rube Goldberg machine}} is a fancifully complicated real or fictional device which is made deliberately complex to an extended degree, part of the enjoyment of the viewer being to see how disparate and normally unrelated mechanisms (or, sometimes, living creatures as key 'components') interact to achieve a possibly trivial, and perhaps unnecessary, aim. Beyond the US, many other names are used for such devices, named for people such as {{w|W. Heath Robinson#In popular culture|Heath Robinson}} (UK) and {{w|Robert Storm Petersen#Drawings and paintings|Storm Peterson}} (Denmark) who developed similar themes of creativity.

Enticed by hearing the mere mention of such a thing, Cueball knows that he is going to end up building a cool marble run of his own, with a long and interesting path to get there. In the last panel, it plays off the fact that he is acting like one of the marbles in a cool marble run. He, like the marble, is going to take a long route, one that is interesting, to get to the place where he is inevitably going to get to (building cool marble runs).

A {{w|Galton board}} is a device that demonstrates the normal bell-curve distribution. It is the inspiration for pachinko-style games.

A Ranque-Hilsch {{w|Vortex tube}} is a device for separating compressed gas into hot and cold streams. It would not work directly on marbles, as it is dependent on the physics of gasses, but (together with the next item), perhaps it could form a 'non-marble' link or other influence over the actual fate of the marbles themselves.

{{w|Maxwell's Demon}} is a thought experiment by James Clerk Maxwell which would violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics. If implemented, it would, in fact, separate the balls into fast and slow streams. The original thought experiment involved a "demon" controlling a door between two chambers. The demon would only allow fast-moving molecules to move in one direction through the door and slow-moving molecules in the other direction, cause one chamber to warm and the other to cool, through no direct 'external' work, and would decrease the total entropy of the system (which is forbidden by the Second Law), thus proving information is itself a type of entropy and you can convert between the two types.

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

:[Megan is walking towards Cueball and showing her phone. Cueball holds a hand to his face and looks away.]
:Megan: Check out this cool video of a Rube Goldberg marble run.
:Cueball: No! Not yet.

:[Megan has lowered her phone. Cueball has his hand in a fist.]
:Cueball: I've always known I'm doomed to eventually become one of those people who builds elaborate marble runs in their garage.
:Cueball: I can feel the pull.
:Cueball: So satisfying.

:[Close-up on Cueball.]
:Cueball: I just want to do as many other things as I can before I give in and disappear into that world.

:[Megan and Cueball are walking.]
:Megan: So you know where you're going to end up, but you're trying to take a really interesting and circuitous path to get there.
:Cueball: Exactly. Bounce around, maybe go off a few jumps.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2669: Things You Should Not Do

2022-09-08T07:22:50Z

Mouse: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 2669
| date = September 7, 2022
| title = Things You Should Not Do
| image = things_you_should_not_do.png
| titletext = Now I'm tempted to start telling people that I secretly don't actually know how to do any physics calculations, and so all the answers in What If are based on me actually trying to do the thing and then reporting what happened, but phrased as if it's hypothetical.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SUNSCREEN BALL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic references various questions submitted to the what if? blog, and is a promotion for Randall's new book, ''What if? 2'' (to be released 6 days from the date of this comic publication). This comic has a list of things not to do, an extension of a previous list, and is purportedly things Randall discovered as he was doing research for his book. A visit to the [https://what-if.xkcd.com/archive/ What If? archive] shows the titles, publishing date, and a thumbnail for each article. Many of the acts described under the "new" section of the list are depicted in these thumbnails (see table below); others are references to examples or hypotheticals explored within the articles. Other entries do not seem to reference currently published ''What If?'' content and may therefore be found in the upcoming book, but this cannot be confirmed as of yet.

The title text says that Randall is tempted to tell people that all the things in the book were things that he actually tried to do, not that he calculated the solutions for their problems. Many of the questions/answers in his new book are impossible to attempt in real life.{{citation needed}}

===Table===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Number !! Entry !! Explanation
|-
! colspan="3" | From existing list
|-
|156,812
|Eat Tide Pods
|{{w|Consumption of Tide Pods|Tide Pod}}s are a brand of laundry detergent sold in small packets ("pods") of water-soluble gel. Many children have tried to eat them, thinking them to be candy, and have had to go to the hospital to treat poisoning. In 2017 and 2018, a satirical "challenge" originated around eating Tide Pods.
|-
|156,813
|Walk on stilts in a thunderstorm
|Taller objects are more likely to be struck by lightning, so walking on stilts outdoors would increase the risk of death by electrocution. It would also presumably risk falling and injuring oneself that way, since the ground becomes wet in a rainstorm.
|-
|156,814
|Set off fireworks at a gas station
|This has the risk of potentially an explosion in the gas station, from the sparks of the fireworks.
|-
|156,815
|Feed your cat treats that are the exact shape and texture of a human hand
|This seems to run the risk of the cat attempting to eat your hand, instead of a cat treat.
|-
! colspan="3" | New!
|-
|156,816
|Lean over a geyser vent and try to look down into it
|Geysers shoot steam and hot water upward. If a person were to lean over the geyser and look down during an eruption, they would be struck in the face by this hot liquid/gas mixture and severely injured or killed.
|-
|156,817
|Fly a hot-air balloon over a firing range
|A hot air balloon could present an irresistible target to the people firing their weapons at the range. The balloon could be shot and you could fall to your death. See image on [https://what-if.xkcd.com/81/ this entry].
|-
|156,818
|Peel away the earth's crust
|Reminiscent of [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/mercator this comic], though several *What If* blog posts also result in massive damage to the earth's crust, including what happened to Texas [https://what-if.xkcd.com/153/ here].
|-
|156,819
|Try to paint the Sahara Desert by hand
|This would be [https://what-if.xkcd.com/84/ difficult] and require more paint than humanity has ever produced[https://what-if.xkcd.com/84/].
|-
|156,820
|Remove someone's bones without asking
|Possibly a reference to ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', in which Professor Gilderoy Lockhart removes all the bones of Harry's arm (instead of merely fixing a broken bone).
|-
|156,821
|Spend 100% of your government's budget on mobile game in-app purchases
|A reference to one of the examples listed in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/108/ this post].
|-
|156,822
|Fill a lava lamp with actual lava
|A {{w|lava lamp}} is a glass lamp, which contains a wax mixture inside, and heats so that the wax rises and falls. Putting actual lava inside one of these lamps would most likely cause the lamp to melt and the glass to shatter, not to mention handling lava is very dangerous.{{citation needed}} See [https://what-if.xkcd.com/122/ this entry].
|-
|156,823
|Drink the blood of someone with a viral hemorraghic (''sic'') fever
|Drinking someone's blood is a bad idea,{{citation needed}} unless you are a vampire. If someone has a {{w|viral hemorrhagic fever}}, it is potentially much worse, as they have a potentially deadly disease, such as Ebola.
|-
|156,824
|Eat meat from rabid animals
|
|-
|156,825
|Perform your own laser eye surgery
|
|-
|156,826
|Tell California poultry regulators that your farm is selling Pokemon eggs
|
|-
|156,827
|Funnel the entire flow of Niagara Falls into the open window of a physics lab
|Likely an oblique reference to the image near the end of [https://what-if.xkcd.com/147/ this article].
|-
|156,828
|Pump ammonia into your abdomen
|
|-
|156,829
|Suspend yourself inside a 10-meter ball of sunscreen and fall into the Sun
|Despite it's name sunscreen only protects against some types of radiation from the sun. No amount is going to be adequate protection if you are right inside the sun. Also sunscreen being a gel would evaporate when exposed to vacuum.
|}

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

:[Caption:]
:Updates to my "Things You Should Not Do" list, based on what I learned writing ''What If? 2''
:(out 9/13, xkcd.com/whatif2)

:[The rest of the text appears in a box.]

:<big>Things You Should Not Do</big> 
:(part 3647 of ????)

:[A numbered list, the first four items in a lighter grey]

:<nowiki>#156,812 Eat Tide pods</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,813 Walk on stilts in a thunderstorm</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,814 Set off fireworks at a gas station</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,815 Feed your cat treats that are the exact shape and texture of a human hand</nowiki>

:[A horizontal divider with the text "New!" in the middle in black. The remaining items on the list are also in black.]

:<nowiki>#156,816 Lean over a geyser vent and try to look down into it</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,817 Fly a hot air balloon over a firing range</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,818 Peel away the Earth's crust</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,819 Try to paint the Sahara Desert by hand</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,820 Remove someone's bones without asking</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,821 Spend 100% of your governments budget on mobile game in-app purchases</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,822 Fill a lava lamp with actual lava</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,823 Drink the blood of someone with a viral hemorraghic fever</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,824 Eat meat from rabid animals</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,825 Perform your own laser eye surgery</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,826 Tell California poultry regulators that your farm is selling Pokemon eggs</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,827 Funnel the entire flow of Niagara Falls into the open window of a physics lab</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,828 Pump ammonia into your abdomen</nowiki>
:<nowiki>#156,829 Suspend yourself inside a 10-meter ball of sunscreen and fall into the sun</nowiki>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Cats]]

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-22T08:36:01Z

Mouse: Add some notes

{{comic
| number = 2661
| date = August 19, 2022
| title = Age Milestone Privileges
| image = age_milestone_privileges.png
| titletext = If you reach 122, you get complete unrevertible editorial control over Jeanne Calment's Wikipedia article.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BABY GOD-EMPRESS MAKING THE PRESIDENT'S LETTER R-RATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is a list of "age milestones" in the United States. As usual for Randall, he has added many fictional entries to supplement some real life ones.

{| class="wikitable"
! Age || Privilege || Description
|-
| 16 || Drive || Legal driving age varies by state in the US. In Randall's state of Massachusetts, {{w|Driver%27s_licenses_in_the_United_States|and in 8 other states}}, 16 is the minimum age to apply for a learner's permit.
|-
| 17 || Attend R-Rated movies alone ||In the US, the Motion Picture Association assigns {{w|Motion_Picture_Association_film_rating_system|ratings}} to movies based on whether content in said movie is generally acceptable to present to minors. A rating of "R" is supposed to prohibit viewing by minors under 17 years of age unless a parent or guardian accompanies them.
|-
| 18 || Vote || The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents a minimum age of voting from being set above eighteen but does not preclude a minimum age below eighteen. Some states allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they must be allowed to vote in the general election, but Randall's state of Massachusetts is not one of them.
|-
| 21 || Buy Alcohol || In the US, the legal drinking age is 21 years, although other countries have a lower drinking age. For example, in Japan the legal age to drink is 20; whilst in the UK a person as young as 16 may have alcohol with a meal, although they are not allowed to buy it themselves.
|-
| 25 || Rent a car || Car rental companies charge higher rates for underage drivers; typically the minimum age is 25.
|-`e
| 30 || Run for Senate || This entry is slightly incorrect: According to {{w|Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution|Article 1, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution}}, one must be at least 30 years old in order to ''become'' Senator, not ''run'' for Senate. Joe Biden was 29 years old when he was first elected to Senate but turned 30 before being sworn in.
|-
| 32 || Rent a Senator's Car || This is the first joke entry in the table. For one thing, most Senators do not rent out their cars, which they probably need to use regularly themselves because they have jobs{{Citation needed}} to commute to, and it would be a security hazard to allow random strangers access to their vehicle.

This could also be a reference to the Ambassador, a now defunct car brand.
|-
| 35 || Run for president || In the United States, according to {{w|Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution|Article 2, clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution}}, a person must be at least 35 years old to be eligible to hold the Office of President.
|-
| 40 || Rent a flying car || A 25-year-old might be able to rent a non-flying car today, but not a flying car, because the technology is not mature enough to the point where they're available to rent. The joke is that by the time a 25-year-old reader becomes 40, the technology will exist and they'll be able to rent a flying car. Unlike the earlier lines, the limitation has nothing to do with their age, just technological development.
Alternatively, even once flying cars are developed, their usage will be more restricted. For example, young people are perceived to be more reckless and/or otherwise dangerous.

This whole issue may be virtually negated if the newly developed flying cars are introduced only as ''self-''flying cars (an off-shoot of self-driving technology but devoid of many of the dangers of navigating roads, i.e. person-controlled vehicles, pedestrians and other ground-based hazards), in which case the age (or even presence) of the renter may be very much more irrelevant than the nature of any route/destination the guidance computer is tasked to fulfill. The question would then be how much a potential passenger would trust pure electronics to avoid all the actual dangers for what is essentially a flying taxi, compared to a human controller who may be fallible but presumably at least has their own fully developed common sense and a degree of self-preservation as well as any requisite training.
|-
| 45 || Learn about the God-Empress || Obviously, the God-Empress does not actually exist because this comic is visible to people under 45 years old.{{Citation needed}} According to [[1413]], she will be public knowledge by 2040 anyway.
|-
| 50 || Join AARP || Full AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) membership is available to anyone age 50 and over. {{w|AARP}}
|-
| 50 || Get a shingles vaccine || At the time of the comic, the [https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingles/public/shingrix/index.html CDC recommended] that adults 50 years and older get the shingles vaccine called Shingrix (this line was not in the original version of the comic, corrected later)
|-
| 52 || Click to skip captchas || Older people might have more difficulty understanding captchas. Also, they could be more inconvenienced because some older people move more slowly, so it would take them longer to move the mouse, and people would care more about older people anyway. However, this would be impractical to implement because if the computer knew the person's age, it would know that the user is a person, not a bot, so there would be no point in a captcha anyway.
|-
| 55 || Vote for God-Empress || It appears that a person must have knowledge of the existence of the God-Empress for ten years before they are sufficiently qualified to elect a new one. Since the God-Empress is (presumably) in power for life, it is likely that most people would have to wait much longer than ten years.
|-
| 62 || $80 national parks lifetime pass || https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm
|-
| 65 || Eligible for Medicare || Medicare is a US government-run health insurance for older people.
|-
| 67 || Collect Social Security || U.S. individuals may collect reduced Social Security benefits starting at age 62, and they can collect increased Social Security benefits if they wait until age 70.
|-
| 68 || See "Skip ads" button on live tv || Some DVRs and streaming applications have a feature to skip over commercial breaks in recorded programs, but this could not be available in live TV, since it would require jumping forward in time. Time travel is currently impossible.{{citation needed}} ||
|-
| 70 || Run for God-Empress || The name suggests that this would also only be available to women.
|-
| 75 || Ride any animal in a national park || The National Parks Service probably could institute this relatively safely because most people over 75 would not be able to run fast enough to outrun/catch up to an animal and mount it{{Citation needed}} and would not have the rebellious/risk-taking/adventurous streak that would incline them to try.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| 80 || Eligible for Megacare || This is based off of becoming eligible for Medicare at age 65.
|-
| 85 || Click to toggle whether an ad is positive or negative about the product ||
|-
| 90 || Click to make any movie R-rated || It is unclear whether this would actually make the movie less appropriate or change the Motion Picture Association's rating to be erroneous. Also, what if the rating was previously NC-17?
|-
| 100 || Get a letter from the president || In the US (which other milestones, such as running for president starting at age 35, indicate is the country being referred to), you instead get congratulated by the weatherman on the {{w|Today Show}}. However, the United Kingdom is much closer. People there receive a card (formerly a telegram, later a TeleMessage) from the Queen on their 100th birthday. (This is not automatic, but must be applied for.)
|-
| 102 || (35+67) Collect a presidential pension || The idea behind this joke is that it is the minimum age of presidency plus the minimal age to collect Social Security. There are several reasons why this must be a joke. Two are that Social Security begins 67 years after the person was born, not 67 years after the person's job started, and that the United States government would not bother to set up such a system because the vast majority of people, including former presidents, do not live to 102 years old. In fact, as of 2022, no former United States president has ever lived to 102 years old.
|-
| 105 || Get a birthday card from the God-Empress || Being a God-Empress would be more important than being the leader of a single country. This would make the God-Empress's time more valuable, so she only has to send a birthday card to the few people who reach the age of 105. Contrariwise, the God-Empress is presumptively all-powerful and furthermore capable of delegation of ministerial tasks such as card transmission, so the utilitarian fact that the scarcity of 105-year-old people reduces workload is not a plausible justification.
|-
| 111 || Leave your own birthday party early by putting on a magic ring || This is a reference to the Lord of the Rings where Bilbo leaves his eleventy-first birthday party (the Bilbo Baggins Farewell Birthday Party) invisibly by using The One Ring.
|-
| 118 || Vote 100 times || Presumably a joke meaning the person can vote 100 times in each election. If there were one election at the same time each year, this would actually be the 101st vote the person is eligible to cast in their lifetime. If the sole election of each year were held at a different time of each year, someone who voted in every election might vote for the 100th time at either age 116, 117, or 118. However this milestone would happen earlier because there are often multiple elections per year, e.g., primaries, general elections, and possibly runoffs.
|-
| 120 || Collect the pensions of all elected officials ||
|-
| 125 || Drink alcohol in an R-rated movie while getting a shingles vaccine from the president || This entry references four earlier milestones (attending an R-rated movie, drinking alcohol, becoming President, and getting the shingles vaccine) whose corresponding ages (17, 21, 35, and 50) sum to 123. While not exactly 125, this may have contributed to the inspiration or age selection of this milestone.
|-
| 128 || Age rolls over, become a baby again || {{w|Integer overflow}} happens in computers when there are not enough bits (binary digits) to store the result of a calculation. For example, an unsigned 7-bit number can hold the values 0 to 127 (127 being 27 - 1) while a signed 8-bit number can hold values from -128 to 127. When calculating 127+1, a computer might store -128, corresponding to the binary value 10000000. This is also called rollover, and usually happens in computers at powers of two, such as 128.

7-bit numbers are uncommon in today's computers. 8-bit numbers are more common. In signed 8-bit, the value 128 would become either -128 or -0 (depending upon implementation), which means you could have a weird experience of your next phase of life. For unsigned integers of one byte, the correct rollover number would be 256.

However, maybe the system uses just 7 bits (the 8th bit often used to be reserved for parity, or other flagging purposes, and otherwise stripped/ignored) if it has never before needed an eighth bit and this had once seemed like a sufficient form of data-packing with no expectation that this limit would be reached. Computers using such systems would have a Y2K-analogous bug once someone actually reached 128 years old, where anomalous processing might indicate the person to be a baby (or fail in other ways). But that would not have happened yet.

|}

The title text mentions {{w|Jeanne Calment}}, who holds the record for the oldest person ever (there are biblical references to older people, such as {{w|Methuselah}}, who supposedly lived to 969, but their ages haven't been verified). She reportedly was age 122 when she died in 1997. There's some controversy whether Calment actually claimed her mother's records, including birth certificate, as her own. "Editing wars" have been fought over her Wikipedia page. Randall claims that if you match her age you get sole editorial control over that article. However, if anyone managed to exceed her achieved age, presumably they would get their own page (albeit that they should not be encouraged to {{w|Wikipedia:Editing Your Own Page|edit it}} themselves) and hers would cease to be as interesting - although that might depend on what use is made of the unparalleled editorial control now granted.

==Transcript==

<big>Age Milestones</big> 
and associated privileges

16  Drive 
17  Attend R-rated movies alone 
18  Vote 
21  Buy alcohol 
25  Rent a car 
32  Run for senate 
35  Run for president 
40  Rent a flying car 
45  Learn about the God-Empress 
50  Join AARP 
50  Get a shingles vaccine 
52  Click to skip captchas 
55  Vote for God-Empress 
62  $80 National parks lifetime pass 
65  Eligible for Medicare 
67  Collect Social Security 
68  See "Skip Ads" button on live TV 
70  Run for God-Empress 
75  Ride any animal in a national park 
80  Eligible for MegaCare 
85  Click to toggle whether any ad is positive or negative about the product 
90  Click to make any movie R-rated 
100  Get a letter from the president 
102  (35+67) Collect a presidential pension 
105  Get a birthday card from the God-Empress 
111  Leave your own birthday party early by putting on a magic ring 
118  Vote 100 times 
120  Collect the pensions of all elected officials 
125  Drink alcohol in an R-rated movie while getting a shingles vaccine from the president 
128  Age rolls over, become a baby again

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Talk:2653: Omnitaur

2022-08-02T06:28:22Z

Mouse:

Do people thing Omnitaur meant to be a anagram? It would make more sense to me suffix taken from minotaur and centaur etc. with the prefix omni meaning all.
[[User:Mouse|Mouse]] ([[User talk:Mouse|talk]]) Mousetail

1468: Worrying

2022-07-20T19:01:47Z

Mouse: Delete troll

{{comic
| number = 1468
| date = January 2, 2015
| title = Worrying
| image = worrying.png
| titletext = If the breaking news is about an event at a hospital or a lab, move it all the way over to the right.
}}

==Explanation==
This chart is a visual representation of how worried people should be by various events in real life compared to the same events in movies, based on the likelihood of the event causing serious harm. In effect, it's poking fun at various cliches and the emphasis on dramatic flair, regardless of realism. The chart's Y-axis indicates how worrying an event is in real life (from "not very worried" to "very worried"), while its X-axis shows how worrying the event is in movies. Nine events are shown in the chart, all of them cliches in the medium of film:

*'''Spilling a drink on your shirt''': In both real life and in movies, this just causes a stain and maybe a little embarrassment.
*'''Nosebleed''': Nosebleeds are common in real life, as they can result from even a mild impact to the face, or even dried out sinuses. There are some conditions where nosebleeds can indicate something more serious (such as a stroke, or radiation poisoning), but those are vastly outnumbered by bleeds that are relatively harmless. Unless there's a reason to believe that a nosebleed is connected to something else, they rarely even require medical attention. {{tvtropes|DeadlyNosebleed|Nosebleeds in movies}} are almost always a sign that something ''is'' seriously wrong - the common, mundane nosebleeds almost never come up.
*'''Breaking news''': People in real life commonly don't pay much attention to the news at all, so many breaking stories go unnoticed until much later. Most breaking news stories are also about non-threatening events (e.g. presidential addresses) or events that are far removed from the viewer. However, in movies, "breaking news" broadcasts are almost always a means to introduce a significant plot element which directly impact the protagonists, and are usually very serious events. XKCD has referenced [[1387|news reports as foreshadowing before]].
*'''Parking ticket''': Tickets in movies are almost always ignored, but in real life, they are moderately worrying because they cost money and can tarnish your driving record.
*'''Persistent cough''': In real life, coughing fits can be a sign of serious illness, and are worth having checked out, but the large majority of them indicate only minor and common illnesses. In movies, just like with nosebleeds, a {{tvtropes|IncurableCoughOfDeath|persistent cough}} almost always indicates a potentially deadly disease.
*'''"We need to talk."''': This phrase is a common, stereotypical lead-in to a serious conversation, usually about a couple's relationship status. In real life, as in the movies, prefacing a conversation with that phrase indicate that something serious, and possibly very upsetting, is about to be discussed. such conversations are rarely deadly, but are often upsetting.
*'''Getting knocked out by a punch''': In movies, a character who is {{tvtropes|TapOnTheHead|knocked out by a punch}} always wakes up sometime later with no lasting effects, making it less cause for concern than a spilled drink. In real life, being rendered unconscious by a physical impact is extremely serious, it can result in a variety of permanent impacts, up to and including brain damage and even death.
*'''Chest wounds''': The chart mentions wounds on both your right and left sides. In real life, a chest wound to either side is extremely worrying. But in movies, getting wounded on the right side of the chest will rarely deal lasting damage to the hero or primary villain, to show how badass they are. Wounds on the ''left'' side of the chest generally signify swift death. This is likely due to the common misconception that the heart is on the left side of the chest - it is actually in the center, with a slight tendency to the left. However, even left-side chest wounds in movies are apparently still less worrisome than coughs and nosebleeds. It must also be noted that the term "chest wound" is broader than what the author of the comic appears to mean. More narrow terms of "thoracic gunshot wound", "gunshot chest wound", "thoracic ballistic trauma" or "penetrating chest wound" (the latter is slightly broader and includes the damage inflicted by blades and other impaled objects) would be more appropriate because just a "chest wound" includes such insignificant events as minor skin cuts in the chest area.

The title text expands on the aforementioned breaking news reports. While already overly worrying whenever they occur in movies compared to real life, should the movie's news report cover an event at a hospital (usually an outbreak of some major disease) or a laboratory (a monster escaping, a toxic gas released, an explosion, etc.), these events are universally much more worrisome than any other type of news story since they are guaranteed to be important for the protagonists in short order. In real life, breaking news from such locations may be more likely to be serious, but are still very unlikely to impact the viewer directly.

==Table==
The comic shows an X-Y plot of events, showing how worried you should be ''in real life'' on the vertical axis and ''in movies'' on the horizontal axis. The axis goes from "not very worried" to "very worried".

Below is a table listing the coordinates for each event according to how worrying it is. The coordinates have been found by measuring each dot to the two axises and then assuming that the extremes are at 100%.
*Note that this gives two possible ways to interpret the Y-axis "In real life" coordinate.
**Either chest wound is at 100% - this is the first Y-axis coordinate given below under "In real life".
**But alternatively it could be the most worrisome event overall that should be set to 100% including also the most worrisome event on the X-axis for "In movies". In this case, the nosebleed event sets the 100% bar higher, thus lowering the percentage for the "In real life" events. Either way could be argued, and thus this other coordinate is given as In Real Life vs. Nose Bleed ('''IRL vs. NB''').
*For the "In movies" coordinate nosebleed is at 100%. However, since nosebleed is located past the end of the x-axis arrow it could be argued that it is this event that is off the chart in the movies. But this table will assume this as the 100% mark either overall or at least for the X-axis for "In Movies".

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! In real life !! IRL vs. NB !! In movies !! Event
|-
| 100% || 73% || 30% || Chest wound on your right side
|-
| 100% || 73% || 80% || Chest wound on your left side
|-
| 81% || 59% || 9% || Getting knocked out by a punch
|-
| 75% || 55% || 62% || "We need to talk."
|-
| 51% || 37% || 90% || Persistent cough
|-
| 28% || 20% || 8% || Parking ticket
|-
| 24% || 18% || 74% || Breaking news
|-
| 12% || 8% || 11% || Spilling a drink on your shirt
|-
| 11% || 8% || 100% || Nosebleed
|}

==Transcript==
:'''How worried should you be when various things happen to you:'''
:[A chart with a scatter plot on which 9 dots are labeled. Each axis has a title and a scale. Reading from the top to the bottom and then left to right along the axis are:]
:Very worried
:'''...In Real Life'''
:Not very worried

:Not very worried
:'''...In Movies'''
:Very worried

:[The labels in the chart from the top:]
:[This first entry is standing in the middle of a square bracket that points to the two next entires both of which are at the same level:]
:Chest wound
:...on your right side
:...on your left side
:Getting knocked out by a punch
:"We need to talk."
:Persistent cough
:Parking ticket
:Breaking news
:Spilling a drink on your shirt
:Nosebleed

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

1960: Code Golf

2022-07-04T07:10:01Z

Mouse: Code bowling is a actual thing

{{comic
| number = 1960
| date = February 26, 2018
| title = Code Golf
| image = code_golf.png
| titletext = I also enjoy Reverse Regular Golf. I've been playing for years all across the country and I'm still on the first hole.
}}

==Explanation==
This was the first comic in the ''[[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]]'' series in over a year. It directly followed the second ''[[:Category:Fun fact|Fun fact]]'' comic in the same month, [[1959: The Simpsons]], after more than two years break from that series. It seems that [[Randall]] returned to his [[#Revitalizing_old_themes|old themes]] this month.

{{w|Code golf}} is the attempt to use as few characters as possible to write a computer program with a certain function, analogously to {{w|golf|regular golf's}} goal of getting the ball into the hole with as few strokes as possible. Reverse code golf would be to write a given program, probably to achieve a trivial outcome, using as many characters as possible. Randall's approach to this in the code example shown in the comic is to create overly long function names, using [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moby-Dick_(1851)_US_edition/Chapter_1 the beginning lines] of {{w|Herman Melville}}'s notoriously long-winded whaling novel ''{{w|Moby-Dick}}''. Regular code golf also results in names of functions and variables that have nothing to do with their purpose in the program, but would minimise their length.

Using "as many characters as possible" to produce code is known as "Code Bowling" in the code golf space. Code bowling challenges usually come the requirement of being "pristine" meaning every substring of the code is necessary, and also often have restrictions on whitespace and identifier length. Without these restrictions it would be a trivial task to make any given program longer by inserting useless code or comments. Furthermore, some programming languages place no limit on function names, so these could simply be made longer. The program listed here would not meet the requirements of most challenges. The code is written in a programming language that looks similar to {{w|Python (programming language)|Python}}, but with the keyword “define” instead of “def” to define functions. Python has no limit for function name length, and was previously featured in comic [[353: Python]].

The first two functions defined implement “zero” and “successor”, the two basic operations of {{w|Peano axioms|Peano arithmetic}}. Presumably, the programmer will next implement natural number addition, then integers, then whichever branches of mathematics the original problem needs, all from scratch. Generally, you would use built-in functions to perform mathematical operations, so it is redundant to implement them yourself from scratch.

The title text suggests that Randall has also invented a reverse version of regular golf, where the aim is to take as many strokes as possible to get the ball in the hole. Similarly to ''Reverse Code Golf'', the only challenge here would be the player's own boredom threshold, since they could always add more strokes by tapping the ball in a direction other than that of the hole.
Alternatively, he actually plays golf in reverse, starting from the hole (or pin) and hitting the ball towards the tee (he may or may not also be playing in the opposite direction of the hole layout established by the organisation which manages the course). This would however, be a flagrant violation of the Laws and Customs of Golf, as it interferes with other players' games and some aspects are impossible or unpractical (if Randall takes the view that the ball should start in the hole, the rules prohibit using any clubs to remove it in that it would damage the hole, and he would have to putt off the green).

The comment that he has "been playing for years all across the country and <nowiki>[</nowiki>is] still on the first hole" is ambiguous. Normally, when a golfer says they have been playing all across the country they mean that they have played rounds at many different courses. Randall could be implying the same, but that he's never finished the first hole (which, as noted above, would hardly be surprising), and so still counts it as playing one continuous first hole. Alternatively, he may literally mean that he has been playing the ball continuously across the whole country. Under normal golf rules this would result in his shots going "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_bounds#Golf Out of Bounds]" when it went beyond the boundaries of the original course. In one way, this would help him, as he would incur a penalty stroke. However, he would then have to play his next shot from the same spot as the last one, which would hamper him from continuing to play across the country. Since Randall has invented the sport, though, he may have chosen not to include Out of Bounds rules.

Interestingly, the comic ends with an unmatched left parenthesis (something which might be intended to [[859|create unresolved tension]].

==Transcript==
:[There is code written as colored text in a black box (all black text here below is white in the comic):]
:define callMeIshmaelSomeYearsAgoNeverMindHowLongPrecisely():
::return 0
:define havingLittleOrNoMoneyInMyPurseAndNothingParticular(toInterestMeOnShoreIThoughtIWouldSail):
::return 1+toInterestMeOnShoreIThoughtIWouldSail
:define aLittleAndSeeTheWateryPartOfTheWorld(

:[Caption under the black box:]
:My hobby:
:Reverse Code Golf

==Trivia==
===Revitalizing old themes===
*Is Randall revitalizing old themes?
**This was the first comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series for over a year.
***The previous one, [[1795: All You Can Eat]], was released early in February 2017, and this one at the end of February 2018.
***This is by far the longest span between My Hobby comics, since the first, [[37: Hyphen]], came out in comic 37 back in 2005.
**It also followed directly after the second [[:Category:Fun fact|Fun fact]] comic in the same month, [[1959: The Simpsons]], after more than two years break from that series.
***That Fun Fact comic was also in the [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|Comics to make one feel old]] category, a subject he had not returned to since October last year (so not that long, but still a return to a well known theme).
***The first of the two Fun Fact comics was [[1950: Chicken Pox and Name Statistics]].
**Finally in the very next comic he returned to his problems with [[Small Talk]] and social interactions in general in [[1961: Interaction]], something he last dealt with in three comics released for about two years ago, the last being [[1650: Baby]].
**This comic also refers to another recurring theme [[:Category:Programming|Programming]], but there has been no break from this as this was the third of those already in 2018.
===Reverse golf===
* "Reverse code golf" has been mentioned on [http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/code-bowling Code Golf Stack Exchange].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Programming]]

2529: Unsolved Math Problems

2021-10-17T07:59:30Z

Mouse: Clarified first paragraph

{{comic
| number = 2529
| date = October 15, 2021
| title = Unsolved Math Problems
| image = unsolved_math_problems.png
| titletext = After decades of studying the curve and the procedure that generates it, the consensus explanation is "it's just like that."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a EULER FIELD GÖDEL-ESCHER-KURT-HALSEY STRANGE "CURVE" WALKING RANDOMLY ON A HYPERDIMENSIONAL FOUR-SIDED QUANTUM KLEIN MANIFOLD. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Math has many problems that remain "unsolved." This is not simply a matter of finding the correct numbers on both sides of an equal sign, but usually require proving or finding a counterexample to some conjecture, or explaining some property of some mathematical object. Somtimes this might involve extending a existing proof to a wider range of numbers like reals, complex numbers, or matrices.

A concrete problem is one that is very obviously connected to a real world process, while an abstract problem is one which seems unconnected to actual problems. In modern math, many problems tend to be very abstract, requiring complicated notation to adequately state the problem in the first place, like many of the {{w|millennium problems}}. On the other hand, many unsolved problems are very concrete; for example, there are very many problems related to packing objects into spaces that are very difficult to solve although quite easy to state, such as the {{w|Collatz conjecture}}. Finally, Randall describes a third category of "cursed problems," that have strange, seemingly random behavior, such as the behavior of turbulence or the distribution of prime numbers.

In the first panel, Ponytail describes a weird abstract problem. Her description seems to be a meaningless jumble of terms that are either mathematical or just ''sound'' mathematical. And the mathematical terms are from disparate branches of mathematics: group theory, topology, and calculus. It's full of what seem to be [[Malamanteau|malamanteaus]]: "quasimonoid" combines the prefix "quasi" (meaning "partially" or "seemingly") and "monoid" (an object from group theory) and is probably meant to evoke the character {{w|Quasimodo}} from ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (although quasimonoids are a type of algebraic object, namely a non-associative {{w|monoid}}); "Gödel-Klein" combines {{w|Kurt Gödel}}, a 20th-century mathematician who studied logic and philosophy (he's most well known for {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems}}) and {{w|Felix Klein}}, a 19th century mathematician who studied group theory and geometry, who probably never collaborated; "Sondheim Calculus" refers to {{w|Stephen Sondheim}}, one of the most successful composers and lyricists of American musical theatre -- the producer of his musical "Into the Woods" once [[https://www.indiewire.com/2015/01/watch-singing-sondheim-is-like-calculus-in-into-the-woods-behind-the-scenes-video-exclusive-189507/ remarked]] that "Singing Stephen Sondheim is like calculus for singers and actors."; and "conjection" may combine conjecture and conjunction, or be a joke on pros and cons plus projection. "ϵ<0" is a joke about how in analysis, ϵ is usually defined to be an arbitrarily small ''positive'' number. Finally she asks whether the problem statement is ill-formed; considering that it's mostly gibberish, this may be true.

Many real unsolved math problems appear similarly abstract. One example is the {{w|Hodge Conjecture}}, a {{w|Millennium Prize Problems|Millenium Prize}} problem. It states "Let X be a non-singular complex projective manifold. Then every Hodge class on X is a linear combination with rational coefficients of the cohomology classes of complex subvarieties of X." These words may appear nonsensical to a layman.

In the second panel, Cueball describes a concrete {{w|random walk}} problem, and then mentions that this somehow has applications in three unrelated fields. This is actually not uncommon. The Wikipedia article says that "random walks have applications to engineering and many scientific fields including ecology, psychology, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and sociology. Walking randomly on a grid never visiting any square twice is known as a {{w|self-avoiding walk}}." This panel may have been inspired by some of the tricky unsolved problems about self-avoiding walks. Many of these problems have to do with rigorously proving properties of random walks that have been guessed by physics intuition, so these problems are connected to physics. The part about the maximum number of points in a line is reminiscent of problems in combinatorial geometry, which often involve counting points lying on different lines.

In the final panel, Megan is looking at a strange curve that seems to have no consistent pattern. At the bottom it's mostly straight, with a few little wobbles. In the middle it looks like a wild, high-frequency wave that suddenly bursts and then dies down. And the top is a spiral that looks like a question mark or a Western-style {{w|Crosier}}. She wonders if this could even be mathematical. Considering the weird shapes that come from plotting some mathematical processes (e.g. the {{w|Mandelbrot set}}), it could well be.

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

The Three Types Of Unsolved Math Problem

:First: Weirdly Abstract
:[Ponytail stands in front of an equation]
:Is the Euler Field Manifold Hypergroup Isomorphic to a Gödel-Klein Meta-Algebreic ε<0 Quasimonoid Conjection under Sondheim Calculus?
:Or is the question ill-formed?
:⬙ℝंℤ/Eℵ₅ The Z is raised and underneath it is a double-ended arrow bent at a right angle. One points toward the R the other toward the Z. The ₅ is double-struck like the ℝ and ℤ

:Second: Weirdly Concrete
:[Cueball stands in front of a grid with 6 columns and 7 rows]
:If I walk randomly on a grid, never visiting any square twice, placing a marble every ''N'' steps, on average how many marbles will be in the longest line after N*K steps?
:Somehow the answer is important in like three unrelated fields.
:[The path starts in the 3rd row and 3rd column, a small circle indicates the start. It takes the path: North, East, North, East (a black dot representing the 1st marble is placed here, so N=4), South, East, South, South (2nd marble), West, South, West, North (3rd marble), West, South, South, South (4th Marble), West, North, West, West (this goes offgrid to the West. There is no visible line or marble outside the grid). The 1st, 3rd, and 4th marbles are colinear and there is a dotted line connecting them. The line's slope is 3.]

:Third: Cursed
:[A Megan with unkempt hair stands next to a curve]
:What in god's name is going on with this curve?
:Is it even math?
:[The curve starts at the bottom of the screen, rises straight upward, begins to wobble left and right a little. It lists to the left and the left-right motion increases, then decreases. It begins a large counter-clockwise arc, spiraling inwards twice, then ends]

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

2529: Unsolved Math Problems

2021-10-16T17:52:58Z

Mouse: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2529
| date = October 15, 2021
| title = Unsolved Math Problems
| image = unsolved_math_problems.png
| titletext = After decades of studying the curve and the procedure that generates it, the consensus explanation is "it's just like that."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an Euler Field Gödel-Escher-Kurt-Halsey Strange "Curve" Walking Pseudo-Randomly On a Toroid. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Math has many problems that remain unsolved. Some problems are easy to understand, but difficult to form a proof for, such as the {{w|Collatz conjecture}}. Others are unsolved because they require an extremely high level of knowledge just to recognize the parts, so there are few people who can work on them and even they have trouble.

In mathematics, a concrete problem is one that is very obviously connected to a real world process while an abstract problem is one which seems unconnected to actual problems. In modern math many problems tend to be very abstract requiring complicated notation to adequately state the problem in the first place like many of the {{w|millennium problems}}. On the other hand many unsolved problems are very concrete, for example there are very many problems related to packing objects into spaces which are very difficult to solve, although quite easy to state. Finally cursed problems are problems that have strange, seemingly random behavior such as, for example the collatz conjecture or the distribution of primes.

In the first panel, Ponytail describes a weird abstract problem. Her description seems to be a meaningless jumble of terms that are either mathematical or just ''sound'' mathematical. And the mathematical terms are from disparate branches of mathematics: group theory, topology, calculus. It's full of what seem to be [[Malamanteau|malamanteaus]]: "quasimonoid" combines the prefix "quasi" (meaning "partially" or "seemingly") and "monoid" (an object from category theory) and is probably meant to evoke the character {{w|Quasimodo}} from ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame''; "Gödel-Klein" combines {{w|Kurt Gödel}}, a 20th-century mathematician who studied logic and philosophy (he's most well known for {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems}}) and {{w|Felix Klein}}, a 19th century mathematician who studied group theory and geometry, who probably never collaborated; "sondheim calculus" refers to {{w|Stephen Sondheim}}, one of the most successful composers and lyricists of American musical theatre -- the producer of his musical "Into the Woods" once [[https://www.indiewire.com/2015/01/watch-singing-sondheim-is-like-calculus-in-into-the-woods-behind-the-scenes-video-exclusive-189507/ remarked]] that “Singing Stephen Sondheim is like calculus for singers and actors.”; and "conjection" may combine conjecture and conjunction, or be a joke on pros and cons plus projection. Finally she asks whether the problem statement is ill-formed; considering that it's mostly gibberish, this may be true.

Many real unsolved math problems appear similarly abstract. One example is the Hodge Conjecture, a Millenium Prize problem. It states "Let X be a non-singular complex projective manifold. Then every Hodge class on X is a linear combination with rational coefficients of the cohomology classes of complex subvarieties of X." These words may appear nonsensical to a layman.

In the second panel, Cueball describes a concrete {{w|random walk}} problem, and then mentions that this somehow has applications in three unrelated fields. This is actually not uncommon. The Wikipedia article says "random walks have applications to engineering and many scientific fields including ecology, psychology, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and sociology."

In the final panel, Megan is looking at a strange curve that seems to have no consistent pattern. At the bottom it's mostly straight, with a few little wobbles. In the middle it looks like a wild, high-frequency wave that suddenly bursts and then dies down. And the top is a spiral that looks like a question mark or a Western-style {{w|Crosier}}. She wonders if this could even be mathematical. Considering the weird shapes that come from plotting some mathematical processes (e.g. the {{w|Mandelbrot set}}), it could well be.

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

The Three Types Of Unsolved Math Problem

:First: Weirdly Abstract
:[Ponytail stands in front of an equation]
:Is the Euler Field Manifold Hypergroup Isomorphic to a Gödel-Klein Meta-Algebreic ε<0 Quasimonoid Conjection under Sondheim Calculus?
:Or is the question ill-formed?
:⬙ℝंℤ/Eℵ₅ The Z is raised and underneath it is a double-ended arrow bent at a right angle. One points toward the R the other toward the Z. The ₅ is double-struck like the ℝ and ℤ

:Second: Weirdly Concrete
:[Cueball stands in front of a grid with 6 columns and 7 rows]
:If I walk randomly on a grid, never visiting any square twice, placing a marble every ''N'' steps, on average how many marbles will be in the longest line after N*K steps?
:Somehow the answer is important in like three unrelated fields.
:[The path starts in the 3rd row and 3rd column, a small circle indicates the start. It takes the path: North, East, North, East (a black dot representing the 1st marble is placed here, so N=4), South, East, South, South (2nd marble), West, South, West, North (3rd marble), West, South, South, South (4th Marble), West, North, West, West (this goes offgrid to the West. There is no visible line or marble outside the grid). The 1st, 3rd, and 4th marbles are colinear and there is a dotted line connecting them. The line's slope is 3.]

:Third: Cursed
:[A Megan with unkempt hair stands next to a curve]
:What in god's name is going on with this curve?
:Is it even math?
:[The curve starts at the bottom of the screen, rises straight upward, begins to wobble left and right a little. It lists to the left and the left-right motion increases, then decreases. It begins a large counter-clockwise arc, spiraling inwards twice, then ends]

{{comic discussion}}
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[[Category: Math]]