explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1018: Good Cop, Dadaist Cop

2015-04-06T03:03:18Z

Myfanwy: Changing "Dadist" to "Dadaist"

{{comic
| number = 1018
| date = February 17, 2012
| title = Good Cop, Dadaist Cop
| image = good_cop_dadaist_cop.png
| titletext = NOW INVENT AN IMPOSSIBLE-TO-TRANSLATE LANGUAGE AND USE IT TO TELL US WHERE THE MONEY IS.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a play on the well known {{w|Good cop/bad cop|Good Cop/Bad Cop}} police interrogation strategy and the artistic movement {{w|Dadaism}}.

Dadaism is an artistic movement which by its definition is irrational. The movement embraces the free flow of unreasoned thought and prizes nonsense and rejection of established norms.

"Good Cop/Bad Cop" is a psychological tactic that may be employed during joint questioning or interrogation, whereby one interrogator acts in an aggressive, abusive and threatening manner (Bad Cop), and the other is compassionate, kind and reasonable in comparison (Good Cop). If successful, the suspect feels he can trust and co-operate with the good cop, or merely complies out of fear of the bad cop.

The comic starts with the "Good Cop", [[Cueball]], and the "Dadaist Cop", [[Ponytail]], working out their plan to interrogate the suspect, [[Hairy]]. After Cueball makes a few statements, intended to build trust with Hairy, and leaves to get coffee, [[Ponytail]] enters the interrogation and starts asking Hairy absurd questions. Hairy quickly becomes agitated, and questions what is wrong with Ponytail.

Good Cop/Bad Cop hinges on the suspect's fear and distrust of the intentions of the bad cop; Ponytail's "Dadaist Cop" seems to preserve this, if only because of her harsh, aggressive demeanor toward the suspect.

The title text builds on the joke as by asking a suspect to give the whereabouts of the money in a dadaist manner, which would be completely useless in finding it. Such a statement could be used as a confession though.

===Irrationality===
*See this? It's Mark Zuckerberg's Mortgage. So why is it written in CHURCH LATIN?
**{{w|Mark Zuckerberg}} (the co-founder of {{w|Facebook}}) was renting in 2011[//allfacebook.com/mark-zuckerberg-moves-into-another-rental-house_b29174] and therefore did not have a {{w|mortgage}}.
***Even if Mark Zuckerberg had bought a property, it is unlikely (given his financial status) that he would have take out a mortgage.
**Modern mortgage are typically written in the local vernacular; it would be very strange for one to be written in a dead language like {{w|Church Latin}}.
*“WHY ARE MY BONES SO SMALL?”, “What's wrong with ART?”
**These are {{w|Non_sequitur_(logic)|non sequiturs}} and therefore have no place in an investigation.
*The title text: NOW INVENT AN IMPOSSIBLE-TO-TRANSLATE LANGUAGE AND USE IT TO TELL US WHERE THE MONEY IS.
**The location of the money cannot be conveyed to Ponytail if the information were expressed in a newly-invented language that cannot be translated, and therefore would be useless to an investigation.

==Transcript==
:[Two cops look through a window into an interrogation chamber holding a handcuffed suspect.]
:Good Cop: All right, let's try good cop, dadaist cop

:[Good Cop is seated in front of the suspect.]
:Good Cop: Look, you're a good guy. We can work this out. Hey, lemme get us some coffee.

:[CHANGE PLACES.]

:[Dadaist Cop holds up a document of indeterminate contents and threatens the suspect with it.]
:Dadaist Cop: See this? It's Mark Zuckerberg's Mortgage. So why is it written in '''''CHURCH LATIN'''''?

:[Dadaist cop physically rattles the suspect.]
:Dadaist Cop: '''''WHY ARE MY BONES SO SMALL'''''?
:Suspect: What's ''WRONG'' with you!?
:Dadaist Cop: What's wrong with '''''ART'''''?
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

1499: Arbitrage

2015-03-17T02:06:31Z

Myfanwy: Changed 'Harry' to Hairy

{{comic
| number = 1499
| date = March 16, 2015
| title = Arbitrage
| image = arbitrage.png
| titletext = The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very long and tedious explanation. Can anyone with knowledge of Arbitrage make it more compact and easier to read for the lay man. For instance what does "even if reactionary server slow down, and a minimum paid order per unit time rule were ignored" even mean? At least some wiki links would be in order. I have added several. Also the part of the title text about not getting text back is not mentioned. Is it clear what he means?}}

In {{w|economics}} and {{w|finance}}, {{w|arbitrage}} is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets to make risk-free profit by buying in the market with a lower price and simultaneously selling in the market with the higher price.

In real-world {{w|Market liquidity|liquid financial markets}}, arbitrage ensures that there is only one price for a product. Arbitrageurs, by purchasing from a cheap market and selling in an expensive one, equalize the prices in those markets.

The place where [[Cueball]] and [[Hairy]] are eating is giving away unlimited free {{w|tortilla chip}}s, effectively a market selling chips for $0. Hairy is taking advantage of this fact to turn a profit for himself by collecting the chips and attempting to resell them elsewhere. Any price higher than $0 would make him a profit. This is obviously much to the consternation of Cueball, who is (depending on how you interpret the simple art-style) holding his hands up in front of his mouth in shock, covering the lower half of his face in shame, covering his eyes out of denial, cradling his forehead in his hands to soothe the oncoming headache, sliding his palms down the front of his face in disgust, or eating chips. Possibly all six in sequence.

In the real world an attempt to employ this strategy would fail for several reasons; one wouldn't be allowed to carry large bags full of chips out of the restaurant, not many people would buy chips taken from a restaurant in this manner, the servers would not continue to deliver arbitrarily large amounts of chips to the table, and the restaurant would require some minimum purchase to be allowed to sit at the table which would eat into any potential profits from chip-reselling. In financial terms, the extremely poor {{w|liquidity}} of chips is what allows the obvious arbitrage opportunity to persist indefinitely.

Another related issue is the poor {{w|fungibility}} of chips. Chips that are factory-sealed in a bag or served in a restaurant are served in a context where cleanliness and {{w|food safety}} practices can be assumed to have been followed. Chips sold from an open bag by some random person do not have that expectation associated with them and would not command as high a price as they do in a restaurant transaction.

On the other hand, Hairy may be collecting chips for rebagging. Though ethically unsound, this is a cost-effective method of ensuring the perceived value of sanitary chips lasts long enough for them to be purchased. Rebagging also allows further profit by allowing Hairy to charge a similar, albeit lower, price compared to store-bought chips.

In the caption below the comic, [[Randall]] suggests that society only functions because we don't take people like Hairy "out to dinner", i.e., we generally have an aversion to dealing with people with such extreme self-interest, bordering on {{w|Psychopathy#Sociopathy|sociopathic}} behavior. Apart from the fact that he intends to sell the chips, we also see from Cueball's reaction, how appalled he is by what Hairy is doing right in front of the waiters in the restaurant.

A distinguishing feature of {{w|social animals}}, rather than animals simply sharing a {{w|habitat}}, is that they perform tasks that benefit their group. All such societies rely on some situations where the individual is not working purely on short term self interest. The payoff for this is generally that co-operation makes things better for the group as a whole. Most people would find Hairy's behavior embarrassing and shameful, and thus would not socialize with people who behave like that. By rejecting such individuals, society protects itself from such people.

The title text mentions the ''{{w|invisible hand}}''. In economics this is a metaphor used by {{w|Adam Smith}} to describe unintended social benefits resulting from the individual actions of self-interested parties. In the context of arbitrage, the "invisible hand" compels all of a given fungible substance to be sold for the same price, as a result of the actions of individuals like Hairy who are only seeking personal profit.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Hairy are sitting at a table with a bowl of chips in the middle. Hairy is taking chips from the bowl on the table with one hand, and his other hand is dropping chips into a large bag behind him. Cueball is double facepalming.]
:Hairy: ''They're'' the ones giving chips away!
:Hairy: If they don't see the arbitrage potential, sucks for them.
:On the bag is written: Chips

:[Below the main frame]: In a deep sense, society functions only because we generally avoid taking these people out to dinner.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

850: World According to Americans

2015-03-12T03:27:04Z

Myfanwy: corrected spelling of 'geography'.

{{comic
| number = 850
| date = January 21, 2011
| title = World According to Americans
| image = world according to americans.png
| titletext = It's not our fault we caught a group on their way home from a geography bee. And they taught us that Uzbekistan is one of the world's two doubly-landlocked countries!
}}

==Explanation==
''See a larger version at [http://xkcd.com/850_large/ http://xkcd.com/850_large/].''

There's a somewhat well-circulated image on the internet entitled "[http://google.com/search?q=the+world+according+to&tbm=isch The World According to Americans]" which plays on the stereotype of the ignorant American. In it, the entirety of Eastern Europe and most of Asia are entitled "commies" and the Middle-East as "evil-doers," and so on. Later, other people created similar maps to re-do the concept. It later spread to other cultures. This comic is an anti-joke playing on that idea. You expect to see something which plays on the stereotypes that exist in American culture of various parts of the world. However, instead, the map is remarkably well-informed. The title text expands on the joke.

A few notes about things written inside the map:

{| class="wikitable"
! Annotation
! Further details
|-
| Hey so what projection should we use? I’ll aim for “Robinson”.
| Any flat [[977|map projection]] of a sphere must have inaccuracies. {{w|Mercator projection}} displays shapes well at the expense of size. For example, Mercator's Greenland appears larger than South America, but is actually one eighth the size. {{w|Gall-Peters projection}} does the opposite, showing accurate surface area with distorted ("awful") shapes. {{w|Robinson projection}} compromises between shape & size for aesthetics; hence Greenland is "still too big".
|-
| Did you know Maine is actually the US state closest to Africa?
| The distance ist about 5076 km (~3754 mi). Measurement points are {{w|Sail Rock (disambiguation)|Sail Rock (Maine)}}, the most eastern point of the USA, and a point which seems to be the most southern (and as such western) point of el-Beddouza Beach, {{w|Morocco}}. It's not the most western point of Morocco (or Africa), though.
|-
| Do we have to label all the Virgin Islands?
| Which are {{w|Virgin_Islands#Larger_Islands|9 larger}} and about 100 {{w|List of Caribbean islands#British Virgin Islands|smaller}} {{w|List of Caribbean islands#United States Virgin Islands|islands}} - surely a lot of labels.
|-
| French, and I think Dutch and English
| The three separated areas are (from west to east) {{w|Guyana}} (former British colony), {{w|Suriname}} (former Dutch colony) and {{w|French Guiana}} (still officially part of France). The former two often switched between French, Dutch and British colonial rule. The latter was French most times except of a short Portuguese episode.
|-
| Brazil (Portugese-speaking)
Rest of South America (Spanish-speaking)
| Since the separation of the world by the {{w|Treaty of Tordesillas}} between the {{w|Portuguese Empire}} and the {{w|Spanish Empire}} in 1494 the region now considered as {{w|Brazil}} (at least its eastern part) was part of Portugal, while the rest was part of Spain. That's the main reason of why is spoken Portug'''u'''ese in Brazil and Spanish in the rest (besides of those three mentioned above).
|-
| Greenland (Still too big!)
Yeah, but the Peters map is awful
| Relating back to the choice of map projection, the apparent size of Greenland is one of the most commonly known projection based inaccuracies. The {{w|Gall-Peters projection}} shows accurate surface area, but with distorted ("awful") shapes.
|-
| British Isles
Ireland
| Although {{w|Ireland}} belongs to the {{w|British Isles}} geographically, it does not belong to the {{w|British Islands}} politically. That may be the reason why Ireland is labelled additionally - to show it's known that Ireland does not belong to the {{w|United Kingdom}}. {{w|Northern Ireland}} does, though.
|-
| Rainforest DRC
| The area shown is actually not completely the {{w|Democratic Republic of the Congo}} (DRC), but since Randall said he doesn't know the African map very well (see statement below), it's fairly accurate.
|-
| So this is one of those things where you point out our ignorance and stereotypes?
Yeah – I mean I freely admit I don’t know the African map very well, which speaks volumes in itself.
| The African portion of the map is perhaps the most poorly labelled, which lends weight to the stereotype of the 'Ignorant American'. Although it has to be mentioned, that the geography of Africa is in general not well known - at least within the Western world. So that's not really an American thing, here. The few countries which are labelled here mostly are well known because of their unstable political situation or because of their remarkable location. The labelled locations (and the presumably reasons of their "publicity") are west to east, north to south: {{w|Morocco}} ({{w|Arab Spring}}, location), {{w|Algeria}} (Arab Spring, {{w|Algerian Civil War|Civil War}}), {{w|Sahara|Sahara Desert}} (largest hot desert of the world), {{w|Sudan}} ({{w|Second Sudanese Civil War|Civil war}}, Arab Spring), {{w|West Africa}} ({{w|West Africa#Postcolonial era|Lots of Civil wars}} and thus bad humanitary situation, {{w|Blood diamond|Blood diamonds}}), {{w|Somalia}} ({{w|Somali Civil War|Civil war}}, {{w|Piracy in Somalia|pirates}}), {{w|Lake Victoria}} (largest lake of Africa, quite remarkable even at large scale maps (as here)), {{w|Mozambique}} ({{w|Mozambican Civil War|Civil war}}), {{w|Angola}} ({{w|Angolan Civil War|Civil War}}) and {{w|Madagascar}} (large island at the east coast - quite remarkable).
|-
| Cape Horn
| {{w|Cape Horn}} is the southern tip of ''South America'', not ''Africa''. The southern tip of Africa is called {{w|Cape of Good Hope}}.
|-
| Should we include Antarctica?
Let’s not – these guys are looking impatient
| This is probably a joke on the lack of labels that would be required for Antarctica. Drawing Antarctica and labelling it would probably take less time than having the discussion about whether to include it, and then writing that discussion on the map.
|-
| Aral Sea (Gone)
| Former one of the largest fresh-water lakes of the world, now actually not completely gone, but {{w|Aral Sea|almost}}.
|-
| Various former soviet states
| Which are (west to east) {{w|Kazakhstan}}, {{w|Turkmenistan}}, {{w|Uzbekistan}}, {{w|Tajikistan}} and {{w|Kyrgyzstan}}. The former {{w|Soviet Union|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics}} was dissolved in 1991 and thus the {{w|Cold War}} had ended.
|-
| Boxing Day quake
Wait, “Boxing day”? There’s no way you’re American.
I read BBC News, OK?
| On December 26, 2004, a {{w|2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami|huge earthquake}} struck off the coast of Indonesia, causing severe tsunamis. December 26, the day after {{w|Christmas Day}}, is celebrated as {{w|Boxing Day}} in the UK, Canada, Australia, and some other English-speaking countries, but not the US. As such, the earthquake became known as the Boxing Day Quake.
One of the group picks up on the use of 'Boxing Day' as something no American would say. Even an American reader of {{w|BBC News}} (part of the British Broadcasting Corporation) may start to use the phrase "Boxing Day."
|-
| India -> Mostly Muslim
India -> Mostly Hindu
| In general {{w|India}} is separated in {{w|Religion in India|two religious groups}}. Muslims in the north-west, Hindus in the rest.
|-
| Tibet (contested)
| The area was annexed by the {{w|People's Republic of China}} in the 1950's. Since then there are struggles to gain independence, again. The marked area is fairly inaccurate, though. The {{w|Tibet Autonomous Region}} is roughly the southern half of the marked area extended a bit to the south-east.
|-
| Kamchatka Peninsula, but I admit I only know this one from Risk
|''{{w|Risk (game)|Risk}}'' is a board game played on a map of the world, where players own territories and battle each other for world domination. The person in the comic admits to knowing {{w|Kamchatka Peninsula}} only from the territory "Kamchatka" in the game.
|-
| Koreas
| The two Koreas are the ''{{w|Democratic People's Republic of Korea}}'' (North Korea) and the ''{{w|Republic of Korea}}'' (South Korea).
|-
| Japan, duh.
| Well... {{w|Japan}}.
|-
| Taiwan (actually called “The Republic of China” – it’s complicated.
| This is a reference to the complicated political history of {{w|Taiwan}}. After WWII, the Nationalists fled China for Taiwan and set up a government in exile there, vowing to return. In the intervening 70 years or so, Taiwan eventually began to transform into a democracy, but hasn't shed the name, or the animosity with China. There is also a missing end-paren here, which is either a typo or a reference to [[859]]. The tag 'it's complicated' is one of the options for relationship statuses on Facebook, and denotes two people whose relationship defies the usual labels. In this case it is the relationship between the countries which is complicated.
|-
| Paupa New Guinea
| A typo of {{w|Papua New Guinea}}.
|-
| Phillipines
| A typo of the {{w|Philippines}}.
|}

The title text jokes that in fact the only reason that the map is fairly well annotated is that the group of people labelling it were actually on the way back from a {{w|National Geographic Bee|geography bee (competition)}}. This would call into question that surely a competitor in a geography competition should be able to do better than the map shown, which would thus reinforce the 'Ignorant American' stereotype, as this is an American ''expert''.

A landlocked country is a country that does not border any major bodies of water. Furthering the concept, a doubly-landlocked country is a country that not only has no connection to water, but is only bordered by ''other'' landlocked countries. As the title text states, there are only two such countries in the world as of 2012: {{w|Uzbekistan}} and {{w|Liechtenstein}}. This is the type of fact that may be stereotypically expected of a geography bee competitor.

==Transcript==

:THE WORLD
:According to a Group of
:'''AMERICANS'''
:who turned out to be unexpectedly good at geography, derailing our attempt to illustrate their country's attitude toward the rest of the world.

:[Left to right, up to down.]

:[North of Canada.] Hey so what projection should we use?
:I'll aim for "Robinson."

:[North America.] Alaska; Canada; Hudson Bay; Québec; United States
:Did you know Maine is actually the US state closest to Africa?; Bermuda (British!)

:[Central America.] Baja California (Mexico); Mexico; Central America; Panama Canal; Gulf of Mexico; Cuba; Hispañola; POR.; Jamaica
:Do we have to label all the Virgin Islands?

:[South America.] Rest of South America (spanish-speaking); Brazil (portugese-speaking); French, and I think Dutch and English; Tierra del Fuego

:[Greenland.] Greenland (still too big!); Yeah but the Peters map is awful; Iceland

:[Europe.] British Isles; Ireland; Gibralter; Scandanavia; Western Europe; Eastern Europe; Black sea; Middle East

:[Africa.] Morocco; Algera; Sahara Desert; West Africa; Sudan; Rainforest DRC; Lake Victoria; Somalia; Angola; Mozambique; South Africa; Cape Horn; Madagascar

:[West of DRC.] So this is one of those things where you point out our ignorance and stereotypes?
:Yeah – I mean, I freely admit I don't know the African map very well, which speaks volumes in itself.

:[West Asia.] Russia; Aral sea (Gone); Various former Soviet states; Afghanistan & Pakistan; India; Mostly Muslim; Mostly Hindu

:[Indian Ocea.] Sri Lanka; Boxing Day Quake
:Wait, "Boxing day"? There's no way you're American.
:I read BBC News, OK?

:[East Asia.] Mongolia; Tibet (contested); China; Southeast Asia

:[Pacific Ocean.] Kamchatka Pennisula, but I admit I only know this one from Risk.
:Koreas; Japan, duh.; Taiwan (actually called "The Republic of China." – it's complicated.); Phillipines; Malaysia; Indonesia; Sulawest; Paupa New Guinea; Australia; Tasmania; New Zealand

:[South of Africa.] Should we include Antarctica?
:Let's not – these guys are looking impatient.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geography]]

482: Height

2015-02-06T05:40:12Z

Myfanwy:

{{comic
| number = 482
| date = September 29, 2008
| title = Height
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = height.png
| titletext = Interestingly, on a true vertical log plot, I think the Eiffel Tower's sides would really be straight lines.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a companion piece to [[485: Depth]]. Where ''Depth'' uses a {{w|logarithmic scale}} to depict the Earth at progressively greater magnification, from Earth's surface to the interior of a single proton, ''Height'' uses a logarithmic scale to depict the contents of the universe at progressively smaller distances, from the edge of the observable universe to the grass beneath our feet.

Starting from the top, as one often does when reading comics, we begin with the top of the observable universe, described as being 46 billion {{w|light years}} out from the Earth. This is the longest distance that a ray of light has ever traveled to reach Earth. To the right of the text, [[Black Hat]] stands atop the comic, having just dropped a cat off the edge; he may be testing if cats always land on their feet, or may just be being a jerk, per his usual character. As one scrolls down, the depicted distances become less compressed, until arriving at the surface of Earth, all the while approaching a 1:1 scale with real-life distances. As shown in [[1162: Log Scale]], if Randall didn't do this, the comic would be much, MUCH longer.

In this comic, most objects that are grounded on Earth are scaled logarithmically on the vertical axes and linearly on the horizontal axes (some are scaled linearly on both axes). Displaying objects in this manner noticeably distorts their shape; the Great Pyramid, for instance, looks not like a pyramid but like a bullet. In the title text, Randall muses on how the inwardly-curved sides of the Eiffel Tower might actually become perfectly straightened when subjected to this logarithmic distortion (although it is shown to bulge in the comic proper, meaning Randall probably doesn't fully believe his own musings).

Outside of the Earth's atmosphere, the objects are placed at their actual distances from Earth on the log scale, but their shapes are not subjected to the logarithmic scaling of Earth objects, instead appearing as they would be seen (otherwise, round objects like the sun would appear more egg shaped, with the flatter side facing upward). However, objects are still much larger or much smaller than they would be in real life, in order to allow them to be properly seen.

===Objects===
All objects are sorted from bottom to top by their maximum distance from earth for objects in a solar orbit, and their current distance for others.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Distance
! Object
! Description
|-
| 435 ×1024m
| Black Hat and cat
| Black Hat kicking a cat off the top of the comic, presumably to determine whether it will land on its feet.
|-
| 435 ×1024m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | Top of observable universe
|-
| 11.3 ×1024m
| {{w|Hubble Deep Field}} objects
| Objects of extremely distant galaxies found in a long-exposure photograph by of the Hubble telescope, 12 billion light-years away.
|-
| 9.46 ×1024m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One billion light years
|-
| 2.36 ×1024m
| {{w|Great Attractor}}
| An unusual concentration of intergalactic mass.
|-
| 425 ×1021m
| {{w|Antennae Galaxies}} (colliding)
| A pair of colliding galaxies.
|-
| 23.6 ×1021m
| {{w|Andromeda Galaxy}}
| A sibling to our Milky Way. It is the nearest spiral galaxy to ours.
|-
| 9.46 ×1021m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One million light years
|-
| 2.38 ×1021m
| [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cat-on-a-keyboard-in-space Cat on a keyboard in space]
| An internet meme featuring a picture of a cat sitting on a musical keyboard, superimposed on an image of space.
|-
| 1.56 ×1021m
| {{w|Magellanic Clouds}}
| These clouds are a pair of nearby dwarf galaxies.
|-
| 263 ×1018m
| Edge of Galaxy
| The edge of the {{w|Milky Way}} galaxy, the galaxy in which we reside.
|-
| 245 ×1018m
| {{w|Galactic Center}}
| The center of the Milky Way galaxy.
|-
| 61.5 ×1018m
| {{w|Crab Nebula}}
| Nebula are supernova remnants
|-
| 14.2 ×1018m
| {{w|Horsehead Nebula}}
| A dark nebula that is part of the Orion Constellation.
|-
| 12.7 ×1018m
| {{w|Orion Nebula}}
| A nebula that is part of the Orion Constellation, just south of Orion's Belt.
|-
| 8.14 ×1018m
| {{w|Rigel}}
| The brightest star in the Orion Constellation it is actually a triple star system known alternatively as Beta Orionis
|-
| 6.08 ×1018m
| {{w|Betelgeuse}}
| The star Betelgeuse is displayed along with the location of {{w|Ford_Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect}} on his home planet which orbits Betelgeuse. Ford Prefect is a fictional character from the science fiction parody {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}.
|-
| 4.20 ×1018m
| {{w|Pleiades}}
| The Pleiades also have a derogatory remark, as per [[66: Abusive Astronomy]]
|-
| 2.90 ×1018m
| The [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Romulan_Neutral_Zone Romulan Neutral Zone]
| This marks the edge of the {{w|Star Trek}} Federation.
|-
| 931 ×1015m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | The first radio broadcast was in January 1910. Since radio waves travel at the speed of light, and this was published in September of 2008 this the radio waves traveled about 98.5 light years. See {{w|Contact (1997 film)}} for a depiction of this. This is also referenced in [[1212: Interstellar Memes]].
|-
| 350 ×1015m
| {{w|Arcturus}}
| An orange giant star that is part of the Boötes constellation.
|-
| 320 ×1015m
| {{w|Pollux}}
| One of the most distinct stars in the Gemini Constellation it is large Orange Giant with an apparent visual magnitude of 1.1
|-
| 242 ×1015m
| The edge of {{w|Federation Sector 0-0-1}}
| The sector of space assigned to Earth in {{w|Star Trek}}.
|-
| 224 ×1015m
| {{w|Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|"missing WMDs"}}
| A reference to the alleged weapons of mass destruction that were used as a pretence to mobilize the world population against Iraq, and start the Iraq war.
|-
| 81.3 ×1015m
| {{w|Sirius}}
|Also known as Alpha Canis Majoris, the Dog Star, or the North Star it is actually a binary system of Stars consisting of a main sequence white star and a small white dwarf.
|-
| 56.6 ×1015m
| {{w|Barnard's Star}}
| Barnards star is a very small red giant that is of great interest to astronomers as an achievement in the SIM (Space Interforometry Mission) to find a celestial object out of solar system that is a s small as 3 earth masses
|-
| 41.3 ×1015m
| {{w|Alpha Centauri}}
| Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to our planet.
|-
| 30.9 ×1015m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One parsec.
|-
| 9.46 ×1015m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One light-year.
|-
| 15.0 ×1015m
| {{w|Oort cloud}}
| A halo of ice balls surrounding our solar system, but missing the {{w|Kupier belt}} between Neptune and the Oort cloud.
|-
| 350 ×1012m
| {{w|Bupkis}}
| Yiddish for "nothing". Only a handful of objects are known to orbit between the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud.
|-
| 55.0 ×1012m
| A comet which will destroy earth in late 2063
| To coincide with the latest biblicaly based prophesy for the [http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p971105.htm end of the world].
|-
| 19.5 ×1012m
| {{w|Voyager 1}}
| An early space probe. Distance correct as of 20th Nov 2014, click [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/ here] to see NASA's live distance counter.
|-
| 16.7 ×1012m
| {{w|Pioneer 10}}
| Listed distance is an estimate based on {{w|Pioneer_10#Current_status|this information}}.
|-
| 17.7 ×1012m
| {{w|Pioneer 11}}
| By the similarity in appearance to Pioneer 10 this unlabeled probe must be Pioneer 11. Listed distance is an estimate based on {{w|Pioneer_11#Current_status|this information}}.
|-
| 14.5 ×1012m
| {{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}}
| One of a pair of {{w|Trans-Neptunian object}}s now classified as {{w|dwarf planet}}s. The "All hail Discordia!" after Eris is a reference to {{w|Discordianism}}, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek religion based around the goddess Eris. The distance is the maximum distance from earth.
|-
| 7.50 ×1012m
| {{w|Pluto}}
| One of a pair of {{w|Trans-Neptunian object}}s now classified as {{w|dwarf planet}}s. Pluto was originally classified as the 9th planet of the Solar system. Many people was appalled when it was suddenly degraded to dwarf planet. Obviously Randall does not think much of these people thus the comment: ''Not a planet. Neener neener''. The distance is the maximum distance of Pluto from Earth.
|-
| 4.70 ×1012m
| {{w|Neptune}}
| Neptune is displayed here with its moons. Neptune is the eighth and final planet in our solar system.
|-
| 3.20 ×1012m
| {{w|Uranus}}
| Uranus is dispayed here with its moons. Uranus is the seventh planet in our solar system.
|-
| 1.67 ×1012m
| {{w|Saturn}}
| Saturn is displayed along with its moons. One of Saturn's moons, most likely Titan, is labeled as a potential location to find life. Titan is the only known moon to have an atmosphere and oceans. The oceans cannot be filled with liquid water, as it is far too cold, but are instead filled with liquid methane and ethane. Some hypothisize that life could have formed in such oceans.
|-
| 928 ×109m
| {{w|Jupiter}}
| Jupiter is displayed along with its moons. One of Jupiter's moons, most likely Europa, is labeled as a potential location to find life. Europa may be covered by a deep ocean of water found under a layer of ice many kilometers thick. Some hypothisize that life could have formed in such oceans.
|-
| 222 ×109m
| Asteroids
| The {{w|Asteroid|Asteroid belt}} contains a spaceship from {{w|Asteroids (video game)}}
|-
| 133 ×109m
| {{w|Mars}}
| Note the path, reflecting the fact that their distances from Earth vary as the planets move in their orbits with a maximum distance of 261 million km and a minimum of 54.6 million km.
|-
| 114 ×109m
| {{w|Venus}}
| Note the path, reflecting the fact that their distances from Earth vary as the planets move in their orbits with a maximum distance of 401 million km and a minimum of 37.7 million km.
|-
| 138 ×109m
| {{w|Mercury}}
| Mercury is the first planet in out solar system. The distance shown is the maximum distance from Earth.
|-
| 149 ×109m
| {{w|Sun}}
| The Sun is the star at the center of our solar system, around which the Earth orbits.
|-
| 16.3 ×109m
| {{w|Discovery One}}
| The Discovery One from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}}, referring to the quote "open the pod bay door, HAL." Also may be a reference to [[375: Pod Bay Doors]].
|-
| 9.43 ×109m
| Planet Express
| The spaceplane is most likely the Planet Express from {{w|Futurama}}, where Fry once discussed "a big heaping bowl of salt."
|-
| 400 ×106m
| Human Altitude Record
| Achieved by the team of {{w|Apollo 13}} approximately 100km higher than the remaining Apollo missions.
|-
| 384 ×106m
| {{w|Moon}}
| The Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite.
|-
| 90.4 ×106m
| {{w|Snoop Dogg}}
| A tongue-in-cheek reference to a rapper notorious for smoking marijuana, shown as having the second-highest altitude record. Someone who is taking drugs is said to be getting high.
|-
| 60.5 ×106m
| {{w|Space elevator}}
| A proposed method of transporting cargo or people into orbit, consisting of a large mass beyond geosynchronous orbit, a station at the geosynchronous point, a cable connecting it to the Earth, and a climber that can scale the cable. Space elevators are also seen in [[697: Tensile vs. Shear Strength]] and [[536: Space Elevators]].
|-
| 42.1 ×106m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | {{w|Geosynchronous orbit|Geosynchronous Orbit}}
|-
| 20.2 ×106m
| {{w|GPS (satellite)|GPS Satellites}}
| GPS satellites are used for global positioning.
|-
| 3.94 ×106m
| {{w|Lunar Lander}}
| The quote is a reference to {{w|Contact (1997 film)}} where the main character Ellie Arroway after witnessing a celestial light show up close says "Poetry! They should've sent a poet.".
|-
| 800 ×103m
| {{w|Space debris|Space Junk}}
| There is a large quantity of defunct objects in orbit around the earth. Amongst other things, this includes old satellites, rocket stages and fragments from collisions or disintegration. Space junk is also referenced in [[1242: Scary Names]] under the title {{w|Kessler syndrome}}
|-
| 422.5 ×103m
| {{w|International Space Station}}
| The ISS (International Space Station) is a multinational effort to put a research vessel in space. It is currently the largest artifical object in Earth's orbit, as well as the location of the longest continuous human presence in space.
|-
| 100 ×103m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | The {{w|Edge of space|official edge of space}} as defined by the {{w|Kármán line}}
|-
| 76.0 ×103m
| {{w|Meteors}}
| Meteors are chunks of rock (usually asteroids) that burn up in the atmosphere, producing the bright light associated with them. If the are large enough to hit the ground, they become meterorites, which is why Munroe labeled them only in the upper atmosphere.
|-
| 25.0 ×103m
| {{w|High-altitude balloon|High-altitude balloons}}
| Unmanned balloons, typically filled with helium or hydrogen. The current altitude record was set in 2002 by a balloon named BU60-1 which reached 53,000m.
|-
| 16.1 ×103m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 1/10 ATM = 0.1 {{w|Atmospheric pressure|atmosphere of pressure}}
|-
| 12.0 ×103m
| {{w|Airliner|Airliners}}
| This is a typical cruising altitude of jet aircraft, equating to roughly 40,000 feet. (Aircraft altitude tends to be specified in feet rather than metres (yay!) )
|-
| 8.84 ×103m
| {{w|Mount Everest}}
| The Earths highest mountain, located in the {{w|Himalayas|Himalayan mountain range}} in South Asia.
|-
| 8.00 ×103m
| {{w|Cory Doctorow}}
| Cory Doctorow in a balloon, a reference to comic [[239: Blagofaire]].
|-
| 6.34 ×103m
| {{w|Space Shuttle Columbia disaster}}
| The {{w|Space Shuttle Columbia}} and its seven crew were lost when it disintegrated at [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6v16AgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA7&ots=LDKQ3nsNHs&dq=shuttle%20columbia%20altitude&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q=shuttle%20columbia%20altitude&f=false approximately 63,400m] in 2003. This number is inconsistent with the height of the graph by a factor of 10 probably a mistype by Randall.
|-
| 6.00 ×103m
| {{w|Helicopter}}
| Though the record for helicopter altitude (without payload) is 12,442m, normal flying is usually performed much lower. In the US, 6000m is into {{w|Class A airspace}}, which is restricted and requires flight under {{w|Instrument Flight Rules}}.
|-
| 6.00 ×103m
| {{w|Cloud}}
| Though not actually labelled there are a couple of clouds shown. While different cloud types vary in height, 6000m is roughly in the middle of the height range for clouds in temperate regions [http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/node/21]
|-
| 5.49 ×103m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 1/2 ATM = 0.5 {{w|Atmospheric pressure|atmosphere of pressure}}
|-
| 1.78 ×103m
| [[Cueball]]
| Apparently still using Python as shown in comic [[353: Python]].
|-
| 800 ×100m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 800 meters
|-
| 800 ×100m
| {{w|Burj Khalifa|Burj Dubai}}
| Now known as the Burj Khalifa, is the tallest building in the world.
|-
| 500 ×100m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 500 meters
|-
| 400 ×100m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 400 meters
|-
| 325 ×100m
| {{w|Eiffel Tower}}
| A famous landmark in Paris, France.
|-
| 300 ×100m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 300 meters
|-
| 200 ×100m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 200 meters
|-
| 150 ×100m
| Kite
| Kite string is commonly sold in large spools; a nice thick spool will probably hold 150 meters.
|-
| 140 ×100m
| {{w|Great Pyramid of Giza}}
| One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is located in Egypt.
|-
| 120 ×100m
| {{w|Baseball|Pop Fly}}
| In Baseball a 'Pop Fly' is when the batter mis-hits the baseball, which then follows a tall arc deep into the infield where it's easy picking for the other team to catch on its way down. The highest recorded pop fly, not including those that landed in foul territory, was 172 meters.
|-
| 115 ×100m
| {{w|Redwood Tree|Redwood trees}}
| The tallest trees in the world. At 115.61m (379.3ft) {{w|Hyperion (tree)|Hyperion}}, a Coast Redwood, holds the record for the tallest tree in the world.
|-
| 100 ×100m
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 100 meters
|-
| 20.0 ×100m
| {{w|Oak}}
| While oaks may grow to be in excess of 40m in height, heights of around 20m are more typical. The person in the tree saying, "Hey, squirrels!" is a reference to [[167: Nihilism]].
|-
| 16.4 ×100m
| Tallest stilts
| The tallest {{w|stilts}} recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records (as of November 2006) were 16.4 meters, or nearly 54 feet.
|-
| 13.0 ×100m
| {{w|Brachiosaurus|Brachiosaur}}
| A large genus of dinosaur.
|-
| 8.00 ×100m
| {{w|Giraffe}}
| The the tallest living terrestrial animal, with fully grown adults reaching in excess of 5m. While labelled 8m in the comic, the [http://www.big-animals.com/the-giraffe-the-worlds-tallest-animal/ record] for height is reported at 5.8m.
|-
| 1.70 ×100m
| {{w|Human height|Folks}}
| Determining an average height of the world population is fraught with complications, but as a ballpark figure 1.7m is fairly accurate.
|}

==Transcript==
:'''Top of observable universe'''
:[Black Hat is standing on top, throwing a black kitty down.]
:Black Cat: Mrowl!
:[Map of the universe from observable universe to Earth. Each area of item is labeled. Labels left to right, up to down:]
:(46 billion light years up)
::Hubble Deep Field Objects
:-One billion light years-
::Great Attractor
::Antennae Galaxies (colliding)
::Andromeda
::Holy crap lots of space
:-One million light years-
::Magellanic Clouds
::Edge of galaxy
::Galactic center
::Crab Nebula
::Orion Nebula
::Horsehead Nebula
::Romulan neutral zone
::The Pleiades, duh!
::Rigel
::Betelgeuse
::Ford Prefect
:[Three arrows are pointing up above three lines with the following label:]
:-Expanding shell of radio transmissions-
::[Above a dotted line:]
::Edge of federation sector 0-0-1
::Pollux
::Arcturus
::Missing WMDs
::Sirius
::Barnard's Star
::Alpha Centauri
:-One parsec-
:-One light year-
::Oort Cloud (?)
::Bupkis
::Comet which will destroy Earth in late 2063
::Pioneer 10
::Voyager I
::Eris (All hail Discordia!)
::Pluto (Not a planet. Neener neener.)
::Neptune
::Uranus
::Saturn
::[Two arrows point to two moons, one next to each of the planets aboe and below.]
::<-- Life -->
::Jupiter
::Asteroids
::Mars
::Venus
::Sun
::Mercury
::Spaceship Planet Express: Hey, a heaping bowl of salt!
::Spaceship Discovery One: Open the fridge door, Hal.
::Moon
::Human altitude record (Apollo 13)
::2nd place: Snoop Dogg
::Space elevator - One of these days, promise!
::Geosynchronous Orbit
::GPS satellites
::Lunar lander: In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet. I have no idea how to land.
::International Space Station
::Space junk
:-Official edge of space (100 km)-
::Meteors
:-1/10 ATM-
::High altitude balloons
::Airliners
::Shuttle Columbia lost
:-1/2 ATM-
::Cory Doctrow
::Everest
::Helicopters (6000 m)
::Cueball: Woo Python!
::[A vertical scale is drawn along the right side of the picture, starting at 1 km and getting progressivly smaller and smaller.]
:1 km
:-800 m-
::Burj Dubai (~800 m)
:500
:400
::Eiffel Tower (325 m)
:200
::Kites
::Great Pyramid (140 m)
::Pop fly
::Redwood (115 m)
:100m
::Oak (20 m)
::A person in the oak: Hey squirrels!
::Tallest stilts
::Brachiosaur (13 m)
::Giraffe (8 m)
::[Megan and Cueball holding the kite are labeled:]
::Folks
:'''The observable universe, from top to bottom''''
::~On a log scale~
::Sizes are not to scale, but heights above the Earth's surface are accurate on a log scale (that is, each step up is double the height.)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]