explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

997: Wait Wait

2025-10-18T02:13:39Z

Natedouglasmusic: Addded more detail to the transcript

{{comic
| number = 997
| date = December 30, 2011
| title = Wait Wait
| image = wait_wait.png
| titletext = You can't stab Carl Kasell. He sounds all slow and stentorian, but he moves like a snake.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|Provide a detailed explanation for all panels.}}

''{{w|Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me}}'' is an hour-long weekly radio news panel game show produced by {{w|Chicago Public Radio}} and {{w|National Public Radio}}. The show is hosted by {{w|playwright}} and actor {{w|Peter Sagal}}. Each episode ends with the panelists making up a potential future news story, usually with implausible "facts". This comic is making puns on the title of the show based on what Peter Sagal might have done that was newsworthy.

{{w|Carl Kasell}}, who also served as the news anchor on {{w|Morning Edition}}, was the show's official judge and scorekeeper until May 2014 (after this comic was published), when he retired and was replaced by Bill Kurtis.

The 1st row, 4th paper may refer to the {{w|Michael_Richards#2006_Laugh_Factory_incident| Laugh Factory Incident}} of 2006.

In the 3rd row, first paper, {{w|Lakshmi Singh}} is NPR's national midday newscaster. This paper leads to the second paper on the third row, in which Sagal's wife divorces him over his affair with Singh.

In the 3rd row, 3rd paper is a reference to a protest at {{w|UC Davis}} (on the campus of University of California, Davis) protests in early 2012 in which sitting, peaceful protesters were calmly pepper-sprayed in their faces by a police officer. That spawned an [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/casually-pepper-spray-everything-cop internet meme of epic proportions].

In the 4th row, 2nd paper is a reference to the movie, ''{{w|Ghostbusters}}''.

In the 4th row, 3rd paper is a reference to {{w|Granny Weatherwax}} of Terry Pratchett's ''{{w|Discworld}}'' novels; Granny Weatherwax is a witch who carries a sign saying "[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=i%20aten't%20ded I ATEN'T DED]"(sic) when having out-of-body experiences.

In the 5th row, 2nd paper is a reference to another internet meme in where someone leaves out the verb in the sentence. The implication is that the verb is something bad, but ''which'' bad thing is left as an exercise to stew in the reader's mind. See the [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-accidentally I Accidentally ___ meme] for more information.

In the 5th row, 3rd paper is a reference to stories and myths in which an entity can be summoned, awoken, or alerted to someone's presence when its name is spoken. A well-known example of this is the entity Cthulhu in the Lovecraft mythos.

Two years later another New Years comic, [[1311: 2014]], took a similar look at what could happen in 2014, just as this does for 2012. Interesting enough the title of that comic (just the year it was looking at) is more related to the title of the next comic after this one, which is also a New Year comic, and the title is also just the number of the year: [[998: 2012]].

==Transcript==
:Headlines

:Stockpiled in case Peter Sagal, host of NPR's ''Wait Wait Don't Tell Me'', does something newsworthy in 2012.

:[Series of above-the-fold newspapers follows; Each has a headline, picture in most of them, and an explanation.]

:[First row, first newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Shoot Me
:NPR's Sagal in Whole Foods hostage standoff.
:[A fierce Peter Sagal in a balaclava brandishes a gun in a supermarket.]

:[First row, second newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Vote For Me
:Peter Sagal quits race for GOP top spot
:[A sullen and defeated Peter Sagal surrounded by supporters admits defeat.]

:[First row, third newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Judge Me
:Sagal opens up about his Kermit fantasy.
:[Stock profile images of Peter Sagal and Kermit the Frog.]

:[First row, fourth newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Fire Me
:Peter Sagal let go after racist tirade.
:[Stock profile image of Peter Sagal.]

:[Second row, first newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Cancel Me
:NPR axing news quiz.
:[NPR spokesperson delivering announcement.]

:[Second row, second newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Interrupt Me
:Sagal stabs Carl Kasell in on-air dispute.
:[Peter Sagal mid-attack with a knife.]

:[Second row, third newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Look At Me
:Peter Sagal's Poison Ivy Ordeal
:[Peter Sagal with a skin condition.]
:Peter Sagal: "My 'Nam"

:[Second row, fourth newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Friend Me
:Peter Sagal deletes his Facebook account.
:[Person holding up a laptop with an "Facebook account not found" screen.]

:[Third row, first newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Seduce Me
:How Lakshmi Singh stole Sagal's Heart.
:[A wistful Lakshmi Singh being left by a sullen Peter Sagal.]

:[Third row, second newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Leave Me
:Sagal's wife out after affair
:[A wistful Peter Sagal being left by a furious Beth Sagal.]

:[Third row, third newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Spray Me
:Police Raid Sagal's Occupy NPR protest
:[Scummy policeman in riot gear spraying Peter Sagal in the face point blank.]

:[Third row, fourth newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Indict Me
:Sagal, five others named in cash-for-tote-bags scandal
:[Peter Sagal doing a perp walk.]

:[Fourth row, first newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Clone Me
:Peter Sagal 'Outraged' over DNA harvesting.
:[Fiery Peter Sagal, missing a small amount of DNA, at a lectern.]

:[Fourth row, second newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Bust Me
:Peter Sagal's ghost captured
:[Ghostbusters, careful not to cross the streams, capture the ghost of Peter Sagal.]

:[Fourth row, third newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Dissect Me
:Snoozing Sagal nearly snuffed in autopsy snafu
:[Peter Sagal running away from from a very surprised pathologist.]
:Peter Sagal: "I aten't dead"

:[Fourth row, fourth newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Objectify Me
:Peter Sagal is more than just a piece of meat
:[No image]

:[Fifth row, first newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Beatify Me
:Peter Sagal Rebukes Pope
:[Peter Sagal shakes his fist at a picture of the pope.]

:[Fifth row, second newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Me
:Peter Sagal Accidentally
:[Peter Sagal on a blank background upside-down.]

:[Fifth row, third newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Don't Speak Its Name
:Peter Sagal wakes Eldritch terror
:[A pair of eyes on a black background.]
:Peter Sagal:"AAAAAAAA"

:[Fifth row, fourth newspaper.]
:Title: Wait Wait Even For NPR This Is A Bit Much
:''This American Life'' to document the road to recovery for those who suffer the trauma of losing on Wait Wait
:[No image]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Ghostbusters]]
[[Category:Ghosts]]

3156: Planetary Rings

2025-10-18T01:00:11Z

Natedouglasmusic: Edited the word 'Planets' to 'Planet'

{{comic
| number = 3156
| date = October 17, 2025
| title = Planetary Rings
| image = planetary_rings_2x.png
| imagesize = 356x279px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you don't know where you are on Earth, the angle of satellite dishes can help constrain your latitude. If some of them are pointing straight up, you're probably near the Equator, right under the ring.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an off-axis satellite dish. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
A {{w|ring system|planetary ring}} is a disc of small objects and other material orbiting a planet. The most well known are the rings of {{w|Saturn}}, which were discovered by {{w|Galileo Galilei}}, but all the {{w|gas giant}} planets in the Solar System have rings, as do some minor planets and moons.

Earth does not have a natural ring system, although it's theorized that it [https://web.archive.org/web/20250401024532/https://time.com/7022440/earth-ring-like-saturn-study/ may have had one] in the distant past. However, since the 1950s (slightly over 68 years before this comic's publication), we have launched many artificial satellites into Earth orbit. The ones specifically in {{w|geostationary orbit}} (the {{w|Syncom|first}} of these being launched in 1964) are in the equatorial plane (as are some with different {{w|orbital period}}s), so they can be considered to constitute an artificial ring system. (Other satellites operate within various other {{w|orbital plane}}s, including {{w|geosynchronous orbit}}s that are not strictly geostationary, creating {{w|File:Starlink_SpaceX_1584_satellites_72_Planes_22each.png|various other}} halo-like clouds.)

{{w|Satellite dishes}} are used to communicate with most of these devices. If they are stationary that means they are pointed at a {{w|geostationary satellite}}. Not all dishes are pointed at the geostationary orbit, but in that case, if they are used for communicating with satellites in other orbits or with space probes, they must move continuously to track the satellite/probe.

(Note 1 - there are motorized dishes that can move between some number of pre-programmed positions to select which geostationary satellite to use at a given moment.
Note 2 - there are antennas which can "point" at different directions by {{w|Phased array|electronic means}}, without physically moving (eg, {{w|Starlink}} user terminals).)

In terms of mass, Earth's ring system is tiny compared to other planetary ring systems in the Solar System. In descending order of mass, these are Saturn (1019 kg [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat2965]), Uranus (1016 kg [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Uranus]), Jupiter (between 1011 and 1016 kg [https://pages.astro.umd.edu/~dphamil/research/preprints/BurSimSho03.pdf]), Neptune (1015 kg [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Neptune]). Assuming 580 satellites (active and inactive) in geostationary orbit [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_satellites_in_geosynchronous_orbit] and a typical mass of 1,000 kg, Earth's ring system has a mass of 580,000 kg.

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

:[On the left side of the single panel, a table with words and checkboxes:]
: Planet Ring?
: Mercury ☐
: Venus ☐
: Earth [[☑]]
: Mars ☐
: Jupiter ☑
: Saturn ☑
: Uranus ☑
: Neptune ☑

:[On the right side of the single panel, a drawing of the Earth from space, with Africa in view. Many dots represent the satellites, and most of them are in an ellipse. An arrow points to it:]
:Geostationary satellite belt

:[Caption below the panel:]
: Astronomy fact: a century ago, Earth didn't have rings, but we have one now! It's where all the satellite dishes are pointed.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Facts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with red annotations]]

Talk:1254: Preferred Chat System

2023-10-14T20:55:02Z

Natedouglasmusic: comment

It seems like an owl to me, a Harry Potter reference maybe.{{unsigned ip|186.56.198.178}}
:Please sign your posts with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. But you are right, it's an owl.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:12, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
::I'd like to suggest this could also be a reference to IP over Avian Carriers: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149 --[[User:Erkurita|Erkurita]] ([[User talk:Erkurita|talk]]) 08:24, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
:I don't know, the person might just be Black Hat. This seems like something he would do. {{unsigned ip}}

Clearly that owl is a reference to the owl who carries written messages in the Harry Potter series.

Google voice bills itself as a number that is "tied to you [the user]" instead of a device [like a phone]. Cueball is operating under the assumption that like begets like; that is, if I phone you, you are on a phone. Google voice negates this because it allows the user to control how messages reach the receipient. The comic takes this a step further and applies it to any method of communication [[User:Zim|Zim]] ([[User talk:Zim|talk]]) 12:32, 21 August 2013 (UTC)zim

[[Special:Contributions/24.91.233.200|24.91.233.200]] 12:01, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Can I coin the term "e-synaesthesia"? [[Special:Contributions/178.104.103.140|178.104.103.140]] 13:50, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
:If that were a Facebook post, I would *like* it. [[Special:Contributions/138.162.8.57|138.162.8.57]] 14:11, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Should we have a chat or instant messaging category? --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 22:52, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

;Pricing

Cueball's friend might just be avoiding expensive mediums. Because of how cellular carriers price their services in some countries, some plans charge far more for voice or SMS than for low-bandwidth data such as IRC or VoIP. Wired ISPs in many countries even offered unmetered data or close to it (Comcast's quarter TB per month). --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 14:43, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

It is quite common that my mobile phone is off and reloading in another room, while I am actively engaged on my PC and receiving email immediately. So I kind of relate to the comic. With today's notification possibilities (SMS, Email, ...) and interconnected services (e.g. receive Facebook chat messages with a personalized facebook email address and be notified to another email of yours), this gets kind of confusing what is the individual's preferred way of communication. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.45.117|178.26.45.117]] 17:19, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

When he said the email woke him up it reminded me [http://dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=99 emails from an a**hole] maybe he is a reader. [[User:Prussell84|Prussell84]] ([[User talk:Prussell84|talk]]) 20:04, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Frame 4, amazing future tech: They know where cue ball is, then remote control the owl's brain to deliver the message. Indistinguishable from magic indeed. [[User:MarcoLinux|MarcoLinux]] ([[User talk:MarcoLinux|talk]]) 21:17, 21 August 2013 (UTC)MarcoLinux

:Nah, they simply trained the owl to go to this place. It's not like their time was limited, they already send the owl in a way it appeared just after the voicemail was sent, which suggest they send it BEFORE the voicemail started as owls are not really able to move at speed comparable to wireless signal. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 07:51, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

;Audible email

On the contrary, standard unix behaviour is to make a noise when email arrives. Only it's a single short beep of ctrl+G and computer must be running for it to be played, so it's not really probable it would wake up someone ... at least not if they are sleeping at bed. It may wake up someone dozing off while sitting at the computer. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 07:55, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

The iPhone (and I imagine any smartphone) sounds an audible tone when an email comes in, and many of us sleep with the phone very near the bed. [[User:Gardnertoo|Gardnertoo]] ([[User talk:Gardnertoo|talk]]) 16:02, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
:Yeah, most Android phones do that, too, by default, so unless you change the settings or put your phone silent in the night, getting woken up by email is actually not that unusual. (Luckily we have good spam filters today, otherwise sleeping near a smartphone would be a real problem.) -- [[Special:Contributions/79.235.250.118|79.235.250.118]] 09:23, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

;Communication

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George Bernard Shaw [[Special:Contributions/200.70.22.74|200.70.22.74]] 12:47, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

I removed the incomplete tag, as the explanation was more thorough than many complete ones. The only thing it needs is a link to the (3-5?) other comics that mentioned RFC. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 21:38, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it's 9+ years later, but ... did nobody wince? Cueball has an owl gripping his scalp with its powerful talons! [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 13:23, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

What wasn't mentioned here was the fact that this comic uses lowercase text ._. [[User:Natedouglasmusic|Natedouglasmusic]] ([[User talk:Natedouglasmusic|talk]]) 20:55, 14 October 2023 (UTC)