explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1827: Survivorship Bias

2017-04-23T19:22:24Z

NotLock:

Is "defeatest" a typo or a joke? I've never seen Randall make a typo before, but I also don't get the joke if there is one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.184|162.158.2.184]] 04:28, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:Definitely a typo. [[User:Cardboardmech|Cardboardmech]] ([[User talk:Cardboardmech|talk]]) 04:59, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::At first I thought this was an unfamiliarity with the word, and was about to talk about how it's a real word and what it means, then I noticed the spelling, LOL! I KNOW I've seen such spelling errors several times before - often getting fixed in the next day or two - but I couldn't provide examples even if my life depended on it. And yeah, I'd say this is more "spelling error" than "typo", the I is nowhere near the E on any keyboard. :) - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.88|108.162.219.88]] 05:58, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:::If itdoesn't get fixed, it might be some weird pun on "[survival of] the fittest". Wouldn't make a lot of sense in the context of the sentence though [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.233|162.158.91.233]] 09:12, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::::sometimes Randall do not fix errors, so nothing can be concluded on that (would it be survivorship bias to do so? ;-) How should the word be spelled (I'm not native English speaking), and does the word even exist? The spelling should be mentioned when someone explains the title text. I'm not up for it. And then if it is corrected later, it should go into the trivia section as a corrected error. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:29, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
It has been corrected to defeatist [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:28, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Transcript's kind of done. [[User:Cardboardmech|Cardboardmech]] ([[User talk:Cardboardmech|talk]]) 05:17, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:I have changed the format to the usual style and added a bit more detail. But else nicely done. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:29, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Other than the title text, does any more work need to be done on the explanation? The Template:Incomplete param is pretty vague right now. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

No doubt a lottery isn't a wise investment. However, I have not heard about accepting 25% of the prize or in annual instalments for over a decade before. Is that an american habbit? Vince [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.174|141.101.105.174]] 06:17, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
: Never heard of such things, either... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:27, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:This is a thing that some American lotteries do. It reduces the amount that you have to pay in taxes. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 12:49, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
: I don't play the lottery but I have heard of this practice and I think its typical here in the states. As I remember, you have the option of accepting 50% of the prize as an immediate payment or of accepting the full amount in installments over 20 years. With a progressive tax schedule this of course will affect the actual amount received and available for use. The use of payments helps the lottery itself as well and the choices of 50% and 20 years is no accident. The lottery can take the 50% it would have paid directly and invest it. A doubling period of 20 years needs an annual return on investment of only 3.6% (approx) so it works out to be a good deal for both parties. Unless of course your life expectancy is less than 20 years! [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 00:31, 22 April 2017 (UTC)
The title text is written in the style of an inspirational/motivational speech. Do not be deterred, you can do ANYTHING. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.58|172.68.110.58]] 07:05, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

I took the liberty of editing the very emotional text and replace it with something a bit more "professional", as I think fits this site better. I am still not quite happy about it, as advertising jackpots without taxes and not advertising the payout time are local phenomena only applicable to some jurisdictions, and make no difference to the overall survivor bias that is the theme of the comic [[Special:Contributions/172.68.182.202|172.68.182.202]] 08:16, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
: I think the whole tax stuff can be deleted. Playing lottery is always stupid - even if there were no taxes on the prize. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:25, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::I agree with Elektrizikekswerk on both issues. Lottery is just tax on low IQ we call it in my family ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:25, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::: I've heard it called "gambling for the math-impaired." [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 17:30, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Third paragraph is taken word-by-word from Wikipedia article on Survivorship Bias. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.88|162.158.92.88]] 12:54, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Here's another example of survivorship bias, "We grew up without bicycle helmets and 'nonsense' like that when kids and dogs ran free and '''we came out fine'''" but of course I also remember there were a lot of kids with concussions and there were a lot of three-legged dogs running around. Both cases have greatly decreased because of bicycle helmets and leash laws. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:39, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:And don't forget all the dog bites that came out "just fine"! [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 00:58, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

If I may suggest, survivor bias is a special example of Bastiat's "That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Unseen", aka, the Broken Window Fallacy. The logic failure lies in paying attention to only part of the results, not all of them. I'd extend this to argue for acceptance of "The Ends Justify The Means... Buy You Gotta Consider ALL The Ends, Not Just Some Of Them". Saving 100 people is one great end. But if you also kill 10,000 of them, but in the background, where they don't stand out, the ends aren't justified.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.227|108.162.212.227]] 19:54, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

There actually was a case of a man who won the lottery after buying the same set of numbers every time. Naturally, his advice to everyone was "Keep buying the same numbers every time and you'll win eventually." Of course, there's no way he could be persuaded this was nonsense. [[User:Mark314159|Mark314159]] ([[User talk:Mark314159|talk]]) 01:43, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

This is an awfully long explanation, considering that it barely mentions Randall's assertion that *all* motivational speakers should include disclaimers (IE: "Results are not typical."). If compared by net-income versus cost-of-living, the vast majority of people end their lives with less wealth than their parents, in spite of any efforts to better their situation through education, savings, investment, et cetera. In other words, no matter how hard they try, most people lose. That's just a hard economic truth, & many people espousing hard work, dedication & especially sticking to your goals, tend to overlook the fact that financial success is actually quite rare, regardless of the lifelong effort put into it. As stated, nobody hires the failures to give talks; Maybe we should!

Also, speaking to graduating students is far from the most common activity of such professional speakers. The use of motivational speakers at conventions, paid seminars, & sales pitches is much more common & frequent than talks given to students. Since Randall doesn't mention students in any way, I think that specific phrase about students should be removed from the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.11|141.101.99.11]] 17:46, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

:Less wealth than their parents? While it would be hard to compare, I would argue that they mostly end up better, as technological advances makes economy grow. Although it's true that depressions can reverse it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:09, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

This isn't quite relevant to the topic, but please let me vent out about a certain opinion that is going to appear in the explanation eventually: that lotteries are bad investment ''just'' because they lose you money on average. This is in fact bullshit, because so does insurance! If you really want to apply math to such things, you need to integrate welfare, not money profit, over the probabilities. Wherein welfare is some half-arbitrary function over money that denotes its actual impact on one's life and that ''usually'' grows slower than linearly on positive side (your life changes more after earning the first million dollars than after the second one), but sharply drops on the negative side (a bad debt is a life-ender). With such a welfare($) choice lottery is in fact bad while insurance is good. Note, hovewer, that in some situations, like when you already have a big debt and the mafia is killing you for it next week, lottery makes a surprisingly good, while still unlikely, investment! It's all a matter of the specific situation with welfare($). (Sorry for bad engrish, I never learned all those math terms.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.182.136|172.68.182.136]] 20:18, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1827: Survivorship Bias

2017-04-23T19:21:42Z

NotLock:

Is "defeatest" a typo or a joke? I've never seen Randall make a typo before, but I also don't get the joke if there is one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.184|162.158.2.184]] 04:28, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:Definitely a typo. [[User:Cardboardmech|Cardboardmech]] ([[User talk:Cardboardmech|talk]]) 04:59, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::At first I thought this was an unfamiliarity with the word, and was about to talk about how it's a real word and what it means, then I noticed the spelling, LOL! I KNOW I've seen such spelling errors several times before - often getting fixed in the next day or two - but I couldn't provide examples even if my life depended on it. And yeah, I'd say this is more "spelling error" than "typo", the I is nowhere near the E on any keyboard. :) - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.88|108.162.219.88]] 05:58, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:::If itdoesn't get fixed, it might be some weird pun on "[survival of] the fittest". Wouldn't make a lot of sense in the context of the sentence though [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.233|162.158.91.233]] 09:12, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::::sometimes Randall do not fix errors, so nothing can be concluded on that (would it be survivorship bias to do so? ;-) How should the word be spelled (I'm not native English speaking), and does the word even exist? The spelling should be mentioned when someone explains the title text. I'm not up for it. And then if it is corrected later, it should go into the trivia section as a corrected error. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:29, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
It has been corrected to defeatist [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:28, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Transcript's kind of done. [[User:Cardboardmech|Cardboardmech]] ([[User talk:Cardboardmech|talk]]) 05:17, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:I have changed the format to the usual style and added a bit more detail. But else nicely done. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:29, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Other than the title text, does any more work need to be done on the explanation? The Template:Incomplete param is pretty vague right now. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

No doubt a lottery isn't a wise investment. However, I have not heard about accepting 25% of the prize or in annual instalments for over a decade before. Is that an american habbit? Vince [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.174|141.101.105.174]] 06:17, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
: Never heard of such things, either... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:27, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:This is a thing that some American lotteries do. It reduces the amount that you have to pay in taxes. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 12:49, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
: I don't play the lottery but I have heard of this practice and I think its typical here in the states. As I remember, you have the option of accepting 50% of the prize as an immediate payment or of accepting the full amount in installments over 20 years. With a progressive tax schedule this of course will affect the actual amount received and available for use. The use of payments helps the lottery itself as well and the choices of 50% and 20 years is no accident. The lottery can take the 50% it would have paid directly and invest it. A doubling period of 20 years needs an annual return on investment of only 3.6% (approx) so it works out to be a good deal for both parties. Unless of course your life expectancy is less than 20 years! [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 00:31, 22 April 2017 (UTC)
The title text is written in the style of an inspirational/motivational speech. Do not be deterred, you can do ANYTHING. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.58|172.68.110.58]] 07:05, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

I took the liberty of editing the very emotional text and replace it with something a bit more "professional", as I think fits this site better. I am still not quite happy about it, as advertising jackpots without taxes and not advertising the payout time are local phenomena only applicable to some jurisdictions, and make no difference to the overall survivor bias that is the theme of the comic [[Special:Contributions/172.68.182.202|172.68.182.202]] 08:16, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
: I think the whole tax stuff can be deleted. Playing lottery is always stupid - even if there were no taxes on the prize. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:25, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::I agree with Elektrizikekswerk on both issues. Lottery is just tax on low IQ we call it in my family ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:25, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
::: I've heard it called "gambling for the math-impaired." [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 17:30, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Third paragraph is taken word-by-word from Wikipedia article on Survivorship Bias. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.88|162.158.92.88]] 12:54, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Here's another example of survivorship bias, "We grew up without bicycle helmets and 'nonsense' like that when kids and dogs ran free and '''we came out fine'''" but of course I also remember there were a lot of kids with concussions and there were a lot of three-legged dogs running around. Both cases have greatly decreased because of bicycle helmets and leash laws. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:39, 21 April 2017 (UTC)
:And don't forget all the dog bites that came out "just fine"! [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 00:58, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

If I may suggest, survivor bias is a special example of Bastiat's "That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Unseen", aka, the Broken Window Fallacy. The logic failure lies in paying attention to only part of the results, not all of them. I'd extend this to argue for acceptance of "The Ends Justify The Means... Buy You Gotta Consider ALL The Ends, Not Just Some Of Them". Saving 100 people is one great end. But if you also kill 10,000 of them, but in the background, where they don't stand out, the ends aren't justified.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.227|108.162.212.227]] 19:54, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

There actually was a case of a man who won the lottery after buying the same set of numbers every time. Naturally, his advice to everyone was "Keep buying the same numbers every time and you'll win eventually." Of course, there's no way he could be persuaded this was nonsense. [[User:Mark314159|Mark314159]] ([[User talk:Mark314159|talk]]) 01:43, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

This is an awfully long explanation, considering that it barely mentions Randall's assertion that *all* motivational speakers should include disclaimers (IE: "Results are not typical."). If compared by net-income versus cost-of-living, the vast majority of people end their lives with less wealth than their parents, in spite of any efforts to better their situation through education, savings, investment, et cetera. In other words, no matter how hard they try, most people lose. That's just a hard economic truth, & many people espousing hard work, dedication & especially sticking to your goals, tend to overlook the fact that financial success is actually quite rare, regardless of the lifelong effort put into it. As stated, nobody hires the failures to give talks; Maybe we should!

:Less wealth than their parents? While it would be hard to compare, I would argue that they mostly end up better, as technological advances makes economy grow. Although it's true that depressions can reverse it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:09, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Also, speaking to graduating students is far from the most common activity of such professional speakers. The use of motivational speakers at conventions, paid seminars, & sales pitches is much more common & frequent than talks given to students. Since Randall doesn't mention students in any way, I think that specific phrase about students should be removed from the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.11|141.101.99.11]] 17:46, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

This isn't quite relevant to the topic, but please let me vent out about a certain opinion that is going to appear in the explanation eventually: that lotteries are bad investment ''just'' because they lose you money on average. This is in fact bullshit, because so does insurance! If you really want to apply math to such things, you need to integrate welfare, not money profit, over the probabilities. Wherein welfare is some half-arbitrary function over money that denotes its actual impact on one's life and that ''usually'' grows slower than linearly on positive side (your life changes more after earning the first million dollars than after the second one), but sharply drops on the negative side (a bad debt is a life-ender). With such a welfare($) choice lottery is in fact bad while insurance is good. Note, hovewer, that in some situations, like when you already have a big debt and the mafia is killing you for it next week, lottery makes a surprisingly good, while still unlikely, investment! It's all a matter of the specific situation with welfare($). (Sorry for bad engrish, I never learned all those math terms.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.182.136|172.68.182.136]] 20:18, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

1827: Survivorship Bias

2017-04-22T21:38:33Z

NotLock: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1827
| date = April 21, 2017
| title = Survivorship Bias
| image = survivorship_bias.png
| titletext = They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on SsB. Title text not explained.}}
This comic is a parody of entrepreneurial speeches. Entrepreneurial speeches are talks, such as graduation commencements or motivational speeches. The idea behind graduation commencements is that the entrepreneur, having accumulated wisdom and experience in the process of becoming successful, will share his insights and experience to the students, in the hope that they learn lessons that will help them achieve success as well. Companies hire motivational speakers to motivate employees to work hard.

A common theme in these talks is that the entrepreneur succeeded by persisting through hardship, sometimes despite other people telling them they would be better off giving up. They advise students to do the same, and to keep pursuing their dreams even through subsequent failure. While this isn't necessarily bad business advice, this can give students a biased vision of reality, and lead them to imagine that they will succeed as long as they keep trying.

This comic makes a joke about survivorship bias, hence the title. {{w|Survivorship bias}}, or survival bias, is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that "survived" some process and inadvertently [[#Trivia|overlooking those]] that did not because of their lack of visibility. This can lead to false conclusions in several different ways. The survivors may be actual people, as in a medical study, or could be companies or research subjects or applicants for a job, or anything that must make it past some selection process to be considered further. They may also have "survived" on only some of their attempts. For example, although Donald Trump had many successful businesses, he also had some that went bankrupt.

In this comic [[Hairy]] is giving a talk encouraging people to "never stop buying {{w|lottery}} tickets". This is an unwise investment plan, because the chances of winning the lottery are mathematically very low and the total payout is usually less than the total ticket sales, meaning the expected return from buying a lottery ticket is ([[#Trivia|almost]]) always negative. Survivorship bias applies in this situation since people who eventually win (and, presumably, win more than they've spent on lottery tickets in the time that it took them to win) are much more likely to give inspirational speeches than someone who never won or didn't win enough to make the "investment" worthwhile.

The obvious bad strategy (keep buying lottery tickets) is a metaphor for strategies that successful entrepreneurs recommend (keep persisting and putting money into your start-up); these strategies may be bad on average, but people who pursued them and succeeded are much more likely to be invited and give speeches than people who pursued them and went bankrupt (or people who pursued safer strategies and kept their money), making it appear to students that taking high risks and persisting in the face of expensive failure is the optimal strategy. And those who have done both, such as Trump, are more likely to speak about the successes than the failures and bankruptcies.

[[Randall]] says in the caption below the panel that people should be informed about survivorship bias before hearing inspirational talks from successful people.

The title text says "They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING." In the comic, the speaker's "result" was winning the lottery. Pointing out the survivorship bias is Randall effectively arguing with results, by pointing out that they were obtained randomly, and that it ignores all the other people who may have (foolishly) followed this same process, but never won the lottery. Taken a step further, one could use the survivorship bias to argue against the results of any process, be it research (Any given research process is bound to produce SOME good results, and since those are the only ones published, it is difficult to determine if the research process itself contributed to the good results), business decisions (Some businesses fail, and others succeed, but since only the successful ones stick around, it can be difficult to determine WHY they failed or succeeded), etc..

==Transcript==
:[Hairy, holding an arm out towards an unseen crowd, is standing on a podium with five large bags around him, each having a dollar sign on it.]
:Hairy: Never stop buying lottery tickets, no matter what anyone tells you.
:Hairy: I failed again and again, but I never gave up. I took extra jobs and poured the money into tickets.
:Hairy: And here I am, proof that if you put in the time, it pays off!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every inspirational speech by someone successful should have to start with a disclaimer about survivorship bias.

==Trivia==
*Lottery with '''positive return''':
**When item prices are donated to a lottery (for charity or advertising purposes), sometimes the value of those items may actually be larger than the total price for all of the lottery tickets, if you otherwise would be willing to pay full price for all the prizes.
**In some lotteries, if the jackpot gets too big -- or goes for too many drawings -- without anyone winning it, the jackpot amount gets "rolled down" and distributed across the lower prize levels. These can have a positive return on average -- but ''only'' on the drawings where the jackpot rolls down. People have formed investment groups to buy hundreds of thousands of tickets to exploit these; several such groups repeatedly profited from Massachusetts's {{w|Massachusetts_Lottery#Cash Winfall|Cash WinFall}} game especially. (The Massachusetts State Lottery has an official report ([http://www.mass.gov/ig/publications/reports-and-recommendations/2012/lottery-cash-winfall-letter-july-2012.pdf PDF, 144 KB]) on the latter.)
*'''Examples''' of survivorship bias:
**Almost {{w|Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act|everyone was smoking}} back in the 1930-70s,{{Citation needed}} thus everyone above 80 probably smoked cigarettes or was at least subjected to passive smoking. Thus anyone above that age could be claimed to prove that you can live a long life while smoking. But they consist of the small group of people that survived in spite of all the smoke, where large sections of those that would have been 80 today, died from cancer or heart disease caused by smoking, long ago, maybe even before they retired. But since these people are dead and gone many years ago, they do not speak up, and are thus the silent majority that is not heard, which is the problem with survivorship bias.
**During World War II, there was a study of the damage done to aircraft, and the recommendation was to add armor to the areas that showed the most damage. The statistician {{w|Abraham Wald}} noticed that the study didn't take into account aircraft that ''didn't'' return: the holes in the returning aircraft thus represented areas where a bomber could take damage and still return home safely.
**Anything created by an Earth-human in this universe. We think it's because we're special, rather than being special because we're here/we survived.
*In the title text, "defeatist" was originally misspelled as "defeatest". This was later corrected.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

1827: Survivorship Bias

2017-04-22T21:34:30Z

NotLock: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1827
| date = April 21, 2017
| title = Survivorship Bias
| image = survivorship_bias.png
| titletext = They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on SsB. Title text not explained.}}
This comic is a parody of entrepreneurial speeches. Entrepreneurial speeches are talks, such as graduation commencements or motivational speeches. The idea behind these talks is that the entrepreneur, having accumulated wisdom and experience in the process of becoming successful, will share his insights and experience to the students, in the hope that they learn lessons that will help them achieve success as well.

A common theme in these talks is that the entrepreneur succeeded by persisting through hardship, sometimes despite other people telling them they would be better off giving up. They advise students to do the same, and to keep pursuing their dreams even through subsequent failure. While this isn't necessarily bad business advice, this can give students a biased vision of reality, and lead them to imagine that they will succeed as long as they keep trying.

This comic makes a joke about survivorship bias, hence the title. {{w|Survivorship bias}}, or survival bias, is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that "survived" some process and inadvertently [[#Trivia|overlooking those]] that did not because of their lack of visibility. This can lead to false conclusions in several different ways. The survivors may be actual people, as in a medical study, or could be companies or research subjects or applicants for a job, or anything that must make it past some selection process to be considered further. They may also have "survived" on only some of their attempts. For example, although Donald Trump had many successful businesses, he also had some that went bankrupt.

In this comic [[Hairy]] is giving a talk encouraging people to "never stop buying {{w|lottery}} tickets". This is an unwise investment plan, because the chances of winning the lottery are mathematically very low and the total payout is usually less than the total ticket sales, meaning the expected return from buying a lottery ticket is ([[#Trivia|almost]]) always negative. Survivorship bias applies in this situation since people who eventually win (and, presumably, win more than they've spent on lottery tickets in the time that it took them to win) are much more likely to give inspirational speeches than someone who never won or didn't win enough to make the "investment" worthwhile.

The obvious bad strategy (keep buying lottery tickets) is a metaphor for strategies that successful entrepreneurs recommend (keep persisting and putting money into your start-up); these strategies may be bad on average, but people who pursued them and succeeded are much more likely to be invited and give speeches than people who pursued them and went bankrupt (or people who pursued safer strategies and kept their money), making it appear to students that taking high risks and persisting in the face of expensive failure is the optimal strategy. And those who have done both, such as Trump, are more likely to speak about the successes than the failures and bankruptcies.

[[Randall]] says in the caption below the panel that people should be informed about survivorship bias before hearing inspirational talks from successful people.

The title text says "They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING." In the comic, the speaker's "result" was winning the lottery. Pointing out the survivorship bias is Randall effectively arguing with results, by pointing out that they were obtained randomly, and that it ignores all the other people who may have (foolishly) followed this same process, but never won the lottery. Taken a step further, one could use the survivorship bias to argue against the results of any process, be it research (Any given research process is bound to produce SOME good results, and since those are the only ones published, it is difficult to determine if the research process itself contributed to the good results), business decisions (Some businesses fail, and others succeed, but since only the successful ones stick around, it can be difficult to determine WHY they failed or succeeded), etc..

==Transcript==
:[Hairy, holding an arm out towards an unseen crowd, is standing on a podium with five large bags around him, each having a dollar sign on it.]
:Hairy: Never stop buying lottery tickets, no matter what anyone tells you.
:Hairy: I failed again and again, but I never gave up. I took extra jobs and poured the money into tickets.
:Hairy: And here I am, proof that if you put in the time, it pays off!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every inspirational speech by someone successful should have to start with a disclaimer about survivorship bias.

==Trivia==
*Lottery with '''positive return''':
**When item prices are donated to a lottery (for charity or advertising purposes), sometimes the value of those items may actually be larger than the total price for all of the lottery tickets, if you otherwise would be willing to pay full price for all the prizes.
**In some lotteries, if the jackpot gets too big -- or goes for too many drawings -- without anyone winning it, the jackpot amount gets "rolled down" and distributed across the lower prize levels. These can have a positive return on average -- but ''only'' on the drawings where the jackpot rolls down. People have formed investment groups to buy hundreds of thousands of tickets to exploit these; several such groups repeatedly profited from Massachusetts's {{w|Massachusetts_Lottery#Cash Winfall|Cash WinFall}} game especially. (The Massachusetts State Lottery has an official report ([http://www.mass.gov/ig/publications/reports-and-recommendations/2012/lottery-cash-winfall-letter-july-2012.pdf PDF, 144 KB]) on the latter.)
*'''Examples''' of survivorship bias:
**Almost {{w|Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act|everyone was smoking}} back in the 1930-70s,{{Citation needed}} thus everyone above 80 probably smoked cigarettes or was at least subjected to passive smoking. Thus anyone above that age could be claimed to prove that you can live a long life while smoking. But they consist of the small group of people that survived in spite of all the smoke, where large sections of those that would have been 80 today, died from cancer or heart disease caused by smoking, long ago, maybe even before they retired. But since these people are dead and gone many years ago, they do not speak up, and are thus the silent majority that is not heard, which is the problem with survivorship bias.
**During World War II, there was a study of the damage done to aircraft, and the recommendation was to add armor to the areas that showed the most damage. The statistician {{w|Abraham Wald}} noticed that the study didn't take into account aircraft that ''didn't'' return: the holes in the returning aircraft thus represented areas where a bomber could take damage and still return home safely.
**Anything created by an Earth-human in this universe. We think it's because we're special, rather than being special because we're here/we survived.
*In the title text, "defeatist" was originally misspelled as "defeatest". This was later corrected.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

Talk:1775: Things You Learn

2016-12-24T04:47:02Z

NotLock:

But if you don't clean the lint trap then you did start the fire.

Sorry, I'll get my coat.

[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.183|141.101.98.183]] 16:20, 21 December 2016 (UTC)
:Unfortunately, we put your coat in the dryer, and it was lost in the fire we didn't start. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.17|108.162.238.17]] 17:05, 21 December 2016 (UTC)



This explains why my dryer keeps bursting into flames.
And why no insurance agencies will even consider letting me get homeowner's. [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 16:36, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

Minor objection with the comic, but in my experience, it's easier to grow up without knowing about taxes than stop, drop and roll. My 5 year old has learned stop, drop and roll in kindergarten, but nothing about taxes. I have a similar recollection of my childhood. It wasn't until my first job as a teenager that I paid any attention to it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.94|162.158.214.94]] 17:12, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

* Your 5-year-old hasn't finished growing up, and arguably when you got your first job "as a teenager" you hadn't finished growing up either. The question is whether it's harder to reach adulthood without encountering the concept of "stop, drop and roll" or without encountering the concept that "you have to pay taxes". (Which would include sales taxes.) I could easily see people who are homeschooled not being exposed to "stop, drop and roll", but if they're not exposed to taxes, then after failing to file they'll learn! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.34|108.162.241.34]] 22:06, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

<blockquote>"Most residents of most countries are legally obligated to pay, '''or at least file''', their taxes annually"</blockquote>

This note is quite US centric, as I don't believe this is true of most countries. At the very least, this is certainly not the case in most of Europe - taxes are not filed manually if you're a standard employee and not the owner of your own business, in which case it would be perfectly possible to grow up without ever learning how to do this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.64|162.158.38.64]] 17:18, 21 December 2016 (UTC)
:Indeed in countries that use such PAYE systems, it's not that harmful to not know either. You just get paid less than you might have thought if you just looked at the gross salary [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.132|141.101.98.132]] 18:59, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

More of an informational comment....I'm a veterinarian, and I know of at least two colleagues who have been exposed to rabies via litters of kittens, only a few weeks old. If you are bitten by a dog or cat which has not been vaccinated, then the standard around here (legal requirement) is that the critter be kept under quarantine at an animal hospital or government shelter with a vet on premises every day, for ten days, being examined for any sign of rabies at the start and end of the quarantine period. A dog or cat can be transmitting rabies before they show definite signs, but if they were infected at the time of the bite, they'll be showing signs by the end of the ten days. The only other way to be sure they weren't rabid is to microscopically examine their brain, and that can only be done if they're not using it any more (note that freezing makes it untestable). In other words, I'm very glad that the kitten is fine, and I really really hope that it continues to do fine for another ten days, and that the doc who saw Randall knew what needs to be done. [[User:CritterKeeper|CritterKeeper]] ([[User talk:CritterKeeper|talk]]) 19:58, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

Could we have some info on cat bites. The fear seemed dubious to me, but I'm no expert. UK's NHS [[http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/02February/Pages/Dangers-of-cat-bites-overstated-by-media.aspx seems]] to imply a misinterpretation of facts --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.100|162.158.150.100]] 23:36, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

I'd like to point out that I'm 32 and I STILL don't know the words to The Twelve Days of Christmas because IT'S DIFFERENT EVERY TIME I HEAR THEM FROM A DIFFERENT PERSON! - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.58|162.158.214.58]] 08:34, 22 December 2016 (UTC)
:Twelve drummers drumming
:Eleven pipers piping
:Ten lords a leaping
:Nine ladies dancing
:Eight maids a milking
:Seven swans a swimming
:Six geese a laying
:FIVE GOLDEN RINGS
:Four calling birds
:Three french hens
:Two turtle doves
:And a partriiidge in a peear treeeee
:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song) [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 04:47, 24 December 2016 (UTC)

Stop, Drop, Roll might be a US thing - grown up in the UK and I've never heard that until today. Do kids tend to catch fire a lot over there? I have to say, barring Claudia Winkleman's daughter, I can't remember much press ever about children getting burnt, and even then the issues always seem to have focused around the quality of the fabric and regulating the fire-retardant properties of children's clothes (e.g. BS 5722 for nightwear)? Has there been some historic media hysteria on this subject in the US? {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.59}}
: Was thinking the same. Never heard of "Stop, Drop and Roll" either (growing up in Germany). Never had been taught to "Duck and Cover", either. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.100|162.158.202.100]] 12:35, 22 December 2016 (UTC)

: America is safety conscious in the wierdest ways. E. G., we teach stop drop and roll, but not a more practical explanation of how to really prevent home fires (the only fire prevention stuff I can remember as a kid is how to prevent forest fires). I work in a school, and parents threw a hiss fit when the front doors weren't locked and thus they worried about their child's safety. The doors are glass.
What I'm essentially trying to say is America makes no sense. [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 12:55, 22 December 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1772: Startup Opportunity

2016-12-15T06:14:07Z

NotLock:

More escapades of Beret guy's business - [[1021]], [[1032]], and probably more --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 15:41, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

it may be a reference a episode of the Adult swim show Rick and Morty. In season 1 episode 9 "Something Ricked This Way Comes" the devil sets up a shop that gives away magical items that appear to give the user some superpower or other advantage but turn out to be cursed, for example a type writer that helps the user make best selling murder mystery books but then the murders happen to them in real life. Rick decides to open his own business to un-curse items but letting them keep there magic power thus disrupting the devils entire business.

While it wasn't Beret guy, the idea of a business that doesn't do anything reminds me of [[1060]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.51|162.158.62.51]] 22:38, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Has Berry Guy ever interacted with White Hat before? [[User:Username'); DROP TABLE users;--|Username'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Username'); DROP TABLE users;--|talk]]) 00:57, 15 December 2016 (UTC)
== Online virtual world ==

I think this comic could be referring to online virtual world. There is several site that sell virtual good for real money. Players could also trade virtual currency for virtual magic item. The fact the shop is in virtual world could explain why they look like they never existed.

Temporary shops that sell items to adventurers in need are a common theme among many games. O'aka XXIII in FFX is the first one that comes to mind, but there are a LOT. A lot of these shops sell items that are of particular value at the time, but another common theme among them is to sell unidentified or even cursed items, admonishing the player for trusting some random guy that they met in the wilderness. Sometimes these "cursed" items end up being plot essential. The really crooked ones also offer to uncurse the items once they are identified (or the user has identified that they are cursed by equipping them before they are fully identified) Mordor: the depths of Dejenol is an old game that had cursed items that you had to pay the shop to have removed before you could level up. Some of the items, though, were "cursed" but provided real benefits, and players would equip them intentionally every level knowing that they'd have to pay because the benefit was great enough. [[User:Kashim|Kashim]] ([[User talk:Kashim|talk]]) 21:34, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.94|108.162.219.94]] 18:12, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Well does chair, actually mean chair like an object or Chairmen? Because I assumed the latter when first read the comic...
: I definitely read it like it was referring to the object. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:14, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 01:54, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1771: It Was I

2016-12-13T02:27:59Z

NotLock:

I find it hilarious how much people get hung up on grammar. Language is a beautiful chaos that we partially order, but it is not set in stone. Seasons, years, and people change, as does language. If you understand what they're saying, why do you still point it out? If it's illegible, it's understandable to point it out, but an extra and or the wrong 'there' isn't going to hurt you. Proper grammar is only so important; it is not the end-all be-all of language. Thank you for reading my short rant. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.125|108.162.219.125]] 16:14, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

"It me" isn't "caveman-speak"... It's a popular Internet meme. See [http://www.papermag.com/it-me-you-and-everyone-we-know-a-look-at-the-webs-most-ambiguous-meme-1427655235.html here] and [http://www.papermag.com/an-interview-with-pastaversaucy-the-inventor-of-the-it-me-meme-1427658503.html here], for starters. --[[User:Esterhazy|Esterhazy]] ([[User talk:Esterhazy|talk]]) 07:47, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

I was thinking it might be a reference to the syntax Jar Jar Bings uses "It's a me Jar Jar" "Misa is" etc. which would ad to why Darth Vader begs the Emperor never to speak like this again, it could also serve as a reference to the Darth Jar Jar theories flying around.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.148|162.158.202.148]] 08:30, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

Not super familiar with the general style on this wiki, but surely we should note that this ''Star Wars'' comic comes ahead of Friday's ''Rogue One'' premiere, right? Like in a trivia section or the main article somehow? [[User:Aepokk|Aepokk]] ([[User talk:Aepokk|talk]]) 08:19, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

I read it as being the emperor who said "It was me who allowed the-" --[[User:RU42LINES|ru42lines]] ([[User talk:RU42LINES|talk]]) 09:32, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
: I agree, so edited as such. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.233|141.101.98.233]] 09:46, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
: Quite right, thanks! --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 10:29, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

I checked a bunch of online style guides. It looks like Luke is actually wrong here. "to be"/"was" is a linking verb, and generally "It was I" is considered the correct form. "It was me" is acceptable informally but that doesn't invalidate the rule. [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 10:22, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
: I think you may have missed the point there.--[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 10:30, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
:: Just a note that might be relevant to a more detailed discussion. This wiki does often detail the academic elements of the joke [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 10:44, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
::: Please do document them. But the whole point of the cartoon is in fact to discuss this question, but there isn't really a 'right' or 'wrong' and certainly not one prescribed by style guides. See [[1735: Fashion Police and Grammar Police]].--[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 10:58, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
Reminds me of this: https://youtu.be/IIAdHEwiAy8 --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.81.44|141.101.81.44]] 12:09, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
:::: Modern English doesn't really have linking verbs anymore. Linking verbs only really make sense in languages where adjectives agree in case with nouns, like German, Latin, or in Slavic languages, which makes the construction "X is Y" where Y is an adjective really common, and since Y agrees in singular/plural and gender already, it makes sense to apply agreement to case also, and that usage spreads to cases where Y is a noun as well. None of this applies to English: nouns have lost case and gender, adjectives have completely lost agreement and case and gender and plural, pronoun case has become limited to subject vs object-and-everything-else. Other West-European languages that have lost case have followed a similar pathway (ex: French "C'est moi", where "moi" is caseless). In the case of "X is Y", Y is an attribute to the subject, and in linking verb languages this gets nominative case (and likewise, attributes to the object get accusative case). Modern English applies the rule that it's not a subject, so it falls into the object-and-everything-else category.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.91|108.162.219.91]] 17:59, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

This probably should have a link to [[890|this comic]]. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.120}}
: There already is one! Look closely at the penultimate paragraph --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 15:21, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

No mention of Rogue One's release? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.10|162.158.58.10]] 22:19, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

What does "It me" even mean? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.98|108.162.219.98]] 01:45, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
:It means "it is me" or "it was me" dependent on the context. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 02:27, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Is it just ''I'' (me), or does the punchline have another meaning? Namely: "''Eat'' me, I allowed it"? Or "''Eat'' me, I am your father"? A little basic and gross, but hey... [[User:5h4n6|5h4n6]] ([[User talk:5h4n6|talk]]) 02:25, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1771: It Was I

2016-12-13T02:27:41Z

NotLock:

I find it hilarious how much people get hung up on grammar. Language is a beautiful chaos that we partially order, but it is not set in stone. Seasons, years, and people change, as does language. If you understand what they're saying, why do you still point it out? If it's illegible, it's understandable to point it out, but an extra and or the wrong 'there' isn't going to hurt you. Proper grammar is only so important; it is not the end-all be-all of language. Thank you for reading my short rant. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.125|108.162.219.125]] 16:14, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

"It me" isn't "caveman-speak"... It's a popular Internet meme. See [http://www.papermag.com/it-me-you-and-everyone-we-know-a-look-at-the-webs-most-ambiguous-meme-1427655235.html here] and [http://www.papermag.com/an-interview-with-pastaversaucy-the-inventor-of-the-it-me-meme-1427658503.html here], for starters. --[[User:Esterhazy|Esterhazy]] ([[User talk:Esterhazy|talk]]) 07:47, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

I was thinking it might be a reference to the syntax Jar Jar Bings uses "It's a me Jar Jar" "Misa is" etc. which would ad to why Darth Vader begs the Emperor never to speak like this again, it could also serve as a reference to the Darth Jar Jar theories flying around.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.148|162.158.202.148]] 08:30, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

Not super familiar with the general style on this wiki, but surely we should note that this ''Star Wars'' comic comes ahead of Friday's ''Rogue One'' premiere, right? Like in a trivia section or the main article somehow? [[User:Aepokk|Aepokk]] ([[User talk:Aepokk|talk]]) 08:19, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

I read it as being the emperor who said "It was me who allowed the-" --[[User:RU42LINES|ru42lines]] ([[User talk:RU42LINES|talk]]) 09:32, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
: I agree, so edited as such. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.233|141.101.98.233]] 09:46, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
: Quite right, thanks! --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 10:29, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

I checked a bunch of online style guides. It looks like Luke is actually wrong here. "to be"/"was" is a linking verb, and generally "It was I" is considered the correct form. "It was me" is acceptable informally but that doesn't invalidate the rule. [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 10:22, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
: I think you may have missed the point there.--[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 10:30, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
:: Just a note that might be relevant to a more detailed discussion. This wiki does often detail the academic elements of the joke [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 10:44, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
::: Please do document them. But the whole point of the cartoon is in fact to discuss this question, but there isn't really a 'right' or 'wrong' and certainly not one prescribed by style guides. See [[1735: Fashion Police and Grammar Police]].--[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 10:58, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
Reminds me of this: https://youtu.be/IIAdHEwiAy8 --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.81.44|141.101.81.44]] 12:09, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
:::: Modern English doesn't really have linking verbs anymore. Linking verbs only really make sense in languages where adjectives agree in case with nouns, like German, Latin, or in Slavic languages, which makes the construction "X is Y" where Y is an adjective really common, and since Y agrees in singular/plural and gender already, it makes sense to apply agreement to case also, and that usage spreads to cases where Y is a noun as well. None of this applies to English: nouns have lost case and gender, adjectives have completely lost agreement and case and gender and plural, pronoun case has become limited to subject vs object-and-everything-else. Other West-European languages that have lost case have followed a similar pathway (ex: French "C'est moi", where "moi" is caseless). In the case of "X is Y", Y is an attribute to the subject, and in linking verb languages this gets nominative case (and likewise, attributes to the object get accusative case). Modern English applies the rule that it's not a subject, so it falls into the object-and-everything-else category.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.91|108.162.219.91]] 17:59, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

This probably should have a link to [[890|this comic]]. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.120}}
: There already is one! Look closely at the penultimate paragraph --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 15:21, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

No mention of Rogue One's release? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.10|162.158.58.10]] 22:19, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

What does "It me" even mean? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.98|108.162.219.98]] 01:45, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
:It means "it is me" or "it was me" dependent on the context.

Is it just ''I'' (me), or does the punchline have another meaning? Namely: "''Eat'' me, I allowed it"? Or "''Eat'' me, I am your father"? A little basic and gross, but hey... [[User:5h4n6|5h4n6]] ([[User talk:5h4n6|talk]]) 02:25, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1768: Settling

2016-12-06T04:33:15Z

NotLock:

I'm not sure it's just about places where you live(d). This scorecard is applicable to relationships of one person and surely other things as well. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.218}}
:Nobody said anything about that [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 17:36, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
And of course the title text is about time travel or that groundhog-day-thing with Bill Murray. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.218}}

I think people also may stick with what they've got due to an inability to appreciate that the resulting unhappiness and even chaos is temporary. We are prone to thinking our present state of mind is permanent. [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 20:32, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

There's this recurring theme in xkcd of the possibility and choice to pursue the unknown, with other such comics including [[59]], [[137]], [[267]], and [[706]]. Should we have a category for it? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

The obvious question: is Randall really happy writing XKCD?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.98|199.27.128.98]] 01:37, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
:Too Meta... (But a good question nonetheless heh, he has been doing it a long time though, and continues What If? As well, which it seems he enjoys doing)
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.101|108.162.242.101]] 03:57, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

The title text plus the use of "Should've" and "shouldn't've" imply that he made a different choice. Perhaps the ratio of tallies in the comic is merely a result of the ratio of how often he is prone to staying vs prone to leaving situations. If the implication is true, we need the number of times that he's stayed when he should've stayed and left when he should've left in order to make any statistically based recommendations. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 04:31, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1768: Settling

2016-12-06T04:31:37Z

NotLock:

I'm not sure it's just about places where you live(d). This scorecard is applicable to relationships of one person and surely other things as well. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.218}}
:Nobody said anything about that [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 17:36, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
And of course the title text is about time travel or that groundhog-day-thing with Bill Murray. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.218}}

I think people also may stick with what they've got due to an inability to appreciate that the resulting unhappiness and even chaos is temporary. We are prone to thinking our present state of mind is permanent. [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 20:32, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

There's this recurring theme in xkcd of the possibility and choice to pursue the unknown, with other such comics including [[59]], [[137]], [[267]], and [[706]]. Should we have a category for it? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

The obvious question: is Randall really happy writing XKCD?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.98|199.27.128.98]] 01:37, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
:Too Meta... (But a good question nonetheless heh, he has been doing it a long time though, and continues What If? As well, which it seems he enjoys doing)
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.101|108.162.242.101]] 03:57, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Should've and shouldn't've imply that he made a different choice. Perhaps the ratio of tallies in the comic is merely a result of the ratio of how often he is prone to staying vs prone to leaving situations. If the implication is true, we need the number of times that he's stayed when he should've stayed and left when he should've left in order to make any statistically based recommendations. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 04:31, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1768: Settling

2016-12-06T04:30:07Z

NotLock:

I'm not sure it's just about places where you live(d). This scorecard is applicable to relationships of one person and surely other things as well. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.218}}
:Nobody said anything about that [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 17:36, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
And of course the title text is about time travel or that groundhog-day-thing with Bill Murray. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.218}}

I think people also may stick with what they've got due to an inability to appreciate that the resulting unhappiness and even chaos is temporary. We are prone to thinking our present state of mind is permanent. [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 20:32, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

There's this recurring theme in xkcd of the possibility and choice to pursue the unknown, with other such comics including [[59]], [[137]], [[267]], and [[706]]. Should we have a category for it? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

The obvious question: is Randall really happy writing XKCD?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.98|199.27.128.98]] 01:37, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
:Too Meta... (But a good question nonetheless heh, he has been doing it a long time though, and continues What If? As well, which it seems he enjoys doing)
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.101|108.162.242.101]] 03:57, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Should've and shouldn't've imply that he made a different choice. Perhaps the ratio of tallies in the comic is merely a result of the ratio of how often he is prone to staying vs prone to leaving situations.

Talk:1763: Catcalling

2016-11-24T07:40:31Z

NotLock:

Wouldn't this very quickly result in the extinction of all cats, as they are forced to rush from one chauvinist to another, unable to escape long enough to eat or sleep?
>Jesper


Is it just me or wouldn't this fail if the misogynists also were cat-lovers? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.224|141.101.98.224]] 15:16, 23 November 2016 (UTC)
* I doubt even cat-lovers would enjoy being swarmed by a hopeless amount of cats for an entire year.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.36|162.158.74.36]] 15:51, 23 November 2016 (UTC)
>"Misogyny"

The way I originally read this, in addition to wanting to stop getting harassed, Megan also just liked cats and wanted an easy way to gather them. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.71|172.68.55.71]] 15:56, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

My initial thought: Awww! Maybe by being confronted to care for neighborhood cats, such "men" might learn how to love and care for creatures who only want to exploit them, like said men do with women. That could work! ...And then I read the title text. --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.36|162.158.74.36]] 16:52, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

Catcalling now attracts my friend Catherine. [[User:Int|Int]] ([[User talk:Int|talk]]) 17:00, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

Did we know Megan was a lefty? [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 18:18, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

The big question is... does it attract bobcats? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.123|172.68.54.123]] 21:30, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

The cursor might not be left handed, rather, we might just be on the other side of the screen, eh? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 07:40, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

1760: TV Problems

2016-11-17T21:18:43Z

NotLock: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1760
| date = November 16, 2016
| title = TV Problems
| image = tv_problems.png
| titletext = Certified skydiving instructors know way more about safely falling from planes than I do, and are way more likely to die that way.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Some links to previous comics where things go unexpectedly wrong could probably be added.}}
In this comic, [[Cueball]] has broken his computer's software so much that he is unable to "turn on the news" as requested by [[White Hat]]. Since his computer is not working at all, he is using the next best thing to download a fix: his smartphone, via a {{w|CD}}. He later states that even that first step of mending won't be enough to display the news, as his computer's state is so bad that being able to send information to the TV screen is just the first step of debugging. In the last panel, he tells White Hat that his computer science degree just helps him understand ''how'' he ended up with such a terrible situation, but did not give him enough foresight to prevent the most unexpected issues. The title text clarifies this statement with a similar problem- when things start to go horribly wrong while falling from a plane, certified skydiving instructors will be able to better understand why and how bad the situation is, but won't be able to do anything if their usual tools have failed them. Besides, while they are less likely to make a fatal mistake on a given flight and fall, they are more likely to make one in their life, because of the far greater number of attempts. This also resembles [[795: Conditional Risk]]: the more informed a person is, the more likely this person is to suffer from the issue they know about.

This comic could also be interpreted politically: Cueball is doing everything at he can not to watch the news; even after he fixes his computer, he still won't be able to bear watching it. White Hat misinterprets him, asking about his computer science degree to imply he ought to be able to take care of a simple thing like this. Cueball replies that no, this is not the case - much as his computer science degree allows him to diagnose computer problems, being well educated does not help him to perform anything more than a postmortem on how wrong election forecasts were. The title text might imply that knowing something about a topic has nothing to do with determining how events actually transpire: knowledge must be put into action.

<ref>Martin_Samuelson, [https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/3w32by/eddy_cue_says_were_working_on_a_new_apple_tv/cxt0noy/ "Physical buttons are great"]</ref> In this instance Cueball has his single tasking phone busy while he downloads to it and cannot interrupt what he's doing just to use the phone as a remote for the TV, although it appears more that the TV is one of the things he is trying to fix.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting by his TV, holding his phone, when White Hat walks in.]
:White Hat: Hey, turn on the news.
:Cueball (Sitting on the floor in front of a computer holding a cell phone): Can't. Downloading a CD onto my phone.

:White Hat (off panel): Why?
:Cueball: So I can use it to fix my computer's operating system enough that I can teach it to talk to my TV screen.

:White Hat: But then you'll be able to watch the news?
:Cueball: (off panel): No.

:White Hat: Don't you have a computer science degree?
:Cueball: That just means I ''understand'' how everything went so wrong.

==References==
<references />

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Computers]]

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-14T20:05:14Z

NotLock:

The actual location for Braintree should be Essex not North Yorkshire.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.171|141.101.98.171]] 15:22, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Could Highland be a reference to Highlander? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.84|173.245.52.84]] 15:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

OK, I know you removed the </nowiki> that ruined the italics there, [[User:Davidy22|Davidy]]. Don't lie to me, you troll. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 19:04, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could be referring to Wick , at the top of Scotland ''Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''

''Waterdown: Near [the actual] Grimsby'' Interestingly enough, in southern Ontario, Canada, there's a Waterdown not far from a Grimsby. Waterdown is considered part of Hamilton, and is towards its northwestern edge, while Grimsby is to Hamilton's east. --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:01, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

The protractor off the West coast of Scotland is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.215|141.101.98.215]] 17:44, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could also be Oldmeldrum.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.229|162.158.234.229]] 19:06, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Why aren't the coordinates part of the first table? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:05, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-14T20:05:02Z

NotLock:

The actual location for Braintree should be Essex not North Yorkshire.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.171|141.101.98.171]] 15:22, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Could Highland be a reference to Highlander? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.84|173.245.52.84]] 15:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

OK, I know you removed the </nowiki> that ruined the italics there, [[User:Davidy22|Davidy]]. Don't lie to me, you troll. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 19:04, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could be referring to Wick , at the top of Scotland ''Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''

''Waterdown: Near [the actual] Grimsby'' Interestingly enough, in southern Ontario, Canada, there's a Waterdown not far from a Grimsby. Waterdown is considered part of Hamilton, and is towards its northwestern edge, while Grimsby is to Hamilton's east. --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:01, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

The protractor off the West coast of Scotland is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.215|141.101.98.215]] 17:44, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could also be Oldmeldrum.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.229|162.158.234.229]] 19:06, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Why aren't the coordinates part of the first table?[[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:05, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-14T20:04:49Z

NotLock:

Talk:1753: Thumb War

2016-11-01T20:00:40Z

NotLock:

I love this new perspective of the comic. Seeing the characters as kids is an interesting concept, especially when one of them is Black Hat. Hopefully more of these kind of comics will come to exist. I wonder what kind of "classhole" tendencies Black Hat had as a kid... --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:38, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:We also get to see Black Hat as a child in 1139: Rubber and Glue --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.124|172.68.78.124]] 15:00, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
::Well, yes, but I wonder... will Randall do anything else with this? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:21, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:::I do not think so. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:18, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Is this really Hairy in the comic or just a young Cueball, just with hair? Note that also Black Hat has visible hair under his hat in this comic, whereas the adult version doesn't have hair (or at least none visible). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.141|162.158.202.141]] 14:48, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:This is Hairy as Hairy is not a single character, but just the name used to identify a stick figure with hair and to distinguish them from a Cueball (a stick figure without hair). The characters with hats are pretty much the only ones assumed to be non-generic recurring characters. Also, Black Hat does have hair, as seen in comic 377: Journal 2 --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.124|172.68.78.124]] 15:03, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
::It can be discussed again and again if children represents the adults. The current explanation makes it clear that these are children that probably grow up to be the two characters. In principle I would say they are not those two, just as any child drawn like Cueball or Megan are not those. And for that same reason it could be argued that this is not Hairy. But if the other is Black Hat as a child then why not Hairy. Both are also in the [[1139: Rubber and Glue]] mentioned above. (Actually all four mentioned here are in that as children). For the sake of this explanation it makes sense to use the names). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:18, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:::A good way to get around generic and recurring, diferentiated characters is to follow Black Hat Guy. Since he's one of the two most constant charater of them all since [[72: Classhole]] (his literal establishing character moment), you can get the personalities, behavioural traits and relationships of the recurring Cueball, Megan, Hairy, Ponytail, etc. from looking at those that interact with him (do that as well with Beret Guy as well). It's not perfect, but you can establish your own canon regarding "the gang" and their adventures.

I didn't see Hairy's not wanting to play anymore as boredom but as either developing fear, or/and not wanting to play by weird rules he doesn't understand. Trivia; my school yard version didn't have a 5-6-7-8..., our thumb's shook "hands" and bowed to each other before the fight began. ~~[[Cris]] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.57|108.162.245.57]] 15:42, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
: Agreed (on both parts). The current description's "…and then counting up by fours and making rhymes" was utterly foreign to me, and I had to read it a few times to make sure it really was implying that it was standard to count above four. I've ''never'' heard of anything beyond "One, two, three, four; I declare a thumb war!" (accompanied by the thumbs touching alternating sides of the "ring"). Unless we can get anyone who can support the claim that counting above 4 (with or without rhymes) is normal or even uncommon, it should probably be expunged. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.220|108.162.215.220]] 16:51, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
::I always learned it with two verses, although the second one varied - "1, 2, 3, 4. I declare a Thumb War." and then either "5, 6, 7, 8. Try to keep your thumbs straight." or "5, 6, 7, 8. This'll be a piece of cake." The last word of the second verse was the cue for the fight to begin. --BoomerSooner[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.42|162.158.74.42]] 17:31, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:::Same. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:00, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

"Twenty" is a pretty good rhyme for "bunny" if you pronounce it "twenny", which is common in North America. Also, our local variant of Thumb War also stopped at four. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 01:16, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:Okay, I thought I was alone, though where I come from it's pronounced [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:En-us-twenty.ogg /ˈtwʌn(t)i/]. (And I reveal the smallest bit more information about myself to the internets. Private eyes, gawk away.) --[[User:XndrK|XndrK]] ([[User talk:XndrK|talk]]) 02:48, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Plot twist: The character on the ''right'' is the one who grows up to be Black Hat. The one on the left is never seen as an adult, because Black Hat takes his hat, resulting in instant regression into emo stuff. [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] ([[User talk:Hppavilion1|talk]]) 04:30, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:Well funny, but since it's Hairy on the left that is afraid of Black Hat this just doesn't make any sense ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:18, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1753: Thumb War

2016-11-01T20:00:23Z

NotLock:

I love this new perspective of the comic. Seeing the characters as kids is an interesting concept, especially when one of them is Black Hat. Hopefully more of these kind of comics will come to exist. I wonder what kind of "classhole" tendencies Black Hat had as a kid... --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:38, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:We also get to see Black Hat as a child in 1139: Rubber and Glue --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.124|172.68.78.124]] 15:00, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
::Well, yes, but I wonder... will Randall do anything else with this? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:21, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:::I do not think so. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:18, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Is this really Hairy in the comic or just a young Cueball, just with hair? Note that also Black Hat has visible hair under his hat in this comic, whereas the adult version doesn't have hair (or at least none visible). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.141|162.158.202.141]] 14:48, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:This is Hairy as Hairy is not a single character, but just the name used to identify a stick figure with hair and to distinguish them from a Cueball (a stick figure without hair). The characters with hats are pretty much the only ones assumed to be non-generic recurring characters. Also, Black Hat does have hair, as seen in comic 377: Journal 2 --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.124|172.68.78.124]] 15:03, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
::It can be discussed again and again if children represents the adults. The current explanation makes it clear that these are children that probably grow up to be the two characters. In principle I would say they are not those two, just as any child drawn like Cueball or Megan are not those. And for that same reason it could be argued that this is not Hairy. But if the other is Black Hat as a child then why not Hairy. Both are also in the [[1139: Rubber and Glue]] mentioned above. (Actually all four mentioned here are in that as children). For the sake of this explanation it makes sense to use the names). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:18, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:::A good way to get around generic and recurring, diferentiated characters is to follow Black Hat Guy. Since he's one of the two most constant charater of them all since [[72: Classhole]] (his literal establishing character moment), you can get the personalities, behavioural traits and relationships of the recurring Cueball, Megan, Hairy, Ponytail, etc. from looking at those that interact with him (do that as well with Beret Guy as well). It's not perfect, but you can establish your own canon regarding "the gang" and their adventures.

I didn't see Hairy's not wanting to play anymore as boredom but as either developing fear, or/and not wanting to play by weird rules he doesn't understand. Trivia; my school yard version didn't have a 5-6-7-8..., our thumb's shook "hands" and bowed to each other before the fight began. ~~[[Cris]] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.57|108.162.245.57]] 15:42, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
: Agreed (on both parts). The current description's "…and then counting up by fours and making rhymes" was utterly foreign to me, and I had to read it a few times to make sure it really was implying that it was standard to count above four. I've ''never'' heard of anything beyond "One, two, three, four; I declare a thumb war!" (accompanied by the thumbs touching alternating sides of the "ring"). Unless we can get anyone who can support the claim that counting above 4 (with or without rhymes) is normal or even uncommon, it should probably be expunged. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.220|108.162.215.220]] 16:51, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
::I always learned it with two verses, although the second one varied - "1, 2, 3, 4. I declare a Thumb War." and then either "5, 6, 7, 8. Try to keep your thumbs straight." or "5, 6, 7, 8. This'll be a piece of cake." The last word of the second verse was the cue for the fight to begin. --BoomerSooner[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.42|162.158.74.42]] 17:31, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:::Same[[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:00, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

"Twenty" is a pretty good rhyme for "bunny" if you pronounce it "twenny", which is common in North America. Also, our local variant of Thumb War also stopped at four. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 01:16, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:Okay, I thought I was alone, though where I come from it's pronounced [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:En-us-twenty.ogg /ˈtwʌn(t)i/]. (And I reveal the smallest bit more information about myself to the internets. Private eyes, gawk away.) --[[User:XndrK|XndrK]] ([[User talk:XndrK|talk]]) 02:48, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Plot twist: The character on the ''right'' is the one who grows up to be Black Hat. The one on the left is never seen as an adult, because Black Hat takes his hat, resulting in instant regression into emo stuff. [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] ([[User talk:Hppavilion1|talk]]) 04:30, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:Well funny, but since it's Hairy on the left that is afraid of Black Hat this just doesn't make any sense ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:18, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

1741: Work

2016-10-03T18:39:08Z

NotLock: /* Individual Design Elements */

{{comic
| number = 1741
| date = October 3, 2016
| title = Work
| image = work.png
| titletext = Despite it being imaginary, I already have SUCH a strong opinion on the cord-switch firing incident.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic details a set of theoretical examples of how much work went into the design and manufacture of everyday objects. The joke centers around the fact that most people in modern times are constantly surrounded with human-built objects, which we generally use without giving them much thought. [[Randall]] implies that he occasionally imagines what went into seemingly simple objects around him (like water glasses and desk lamps), and finds it overwhelming. This is because there are so many built items around us, many of which are inexpensive and mass-produced, which nonetheless resulted from a great deal of human effort. (This is similar to the thesis of the classic essay ''[http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html I, Pencil]''). Presumably, this kind of realization is more likely for people who've worked in design and engineering, like Randall, because they have some insight into what's involved in bringing a product to market. Also people who sit around all day wondering what could be funny, like Randall, could also end up in such a thought spiral. The comment about California recalls is based on the tags on products that often state "This item has been known by the state of California to cause..."

There's a double joke in the title as the first thing most people will think of when seeing such a table with such a [[Balanced-arm lamp|lamp]], they will think of a work desk rather than the work put into making the desk and lamp. The potential implication is that Randall is so distracted imagining the work that went into creating his workspace that he can't get his own work done, hence the title.

The title text hits another aspect of the design issue. Companies that design and manufacture goods will inevitably have human conflicts, where decisions will be argued over, and human personalities and office politics will impact the final design. Randall has apparently come up with an entire fictional narrative about a conflict over whether to put the lamp's switch on the lamp body itself, or to attach it to the lamp's power cord, and developed a strong opinion about who was right, and is angry that the other part was fired, since he really seems to dislike lamps with the switch on the cord as in this comic. Randall's distaste for lamps where the switch is on the cord is also mentioned in the title text of [[1036: Reviews]].

A similar theme of the unseen contributions of engineers is found in [[277: Long Light]], including the title text: "You can look at practically any part of anything manmade around you and think 'some engineer was frustrated while designing this.' It's a little human connection." This fits in well with Randall's annoyance with a switch on the cord.

==Individual Design Elements==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Individual Design Elements
!Description
!Explanation
|-
|An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD || AutoCAD is a popular software package for doing computer-aided design.
|-
|Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall ||
|-
|9 hours of meetings ||
|-
|Ongoing debate ||
|-
|Years-long negotiation with glass supplier ||
|-
|4 hours of meetings ||
|-
|Months of tip-over testing || The thicker the base of a glass is, the lower its center of gravity is, and the heavier it is. A balance between stability and ease of handling must be reached..
|-
|Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest || The Great Bear rainforest is a temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The government of British Columbia recently announced an agreement to protect 85% of this forest from commercial logging.
|-
|Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired ||
|}

==Transcript==
:[A table is shown with a glass of water to the left and a lamp standard type desk lamp on the left. There are nine labels in relation to different parts of these three items. For each label, one or two arrows points to the relevant part. Five labels are written above the table, two on the table and two below the table between the front legs. These last two labels are causing the table legs to the rear to disappear, and also cuts the lamp cord, going beneath the table, in two. Below each label will be written under a description of what they point to going in normal reading order from left to right, two lines above, one line on and one line below the table.]

:[Arrow points a line that follow the curve of the lamps shade:]
:An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD

:[Arrow points to back of lamp shade just above the stem. The shade has four visible vents on the front. The part the arrow points to is not visible:]
:Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall

:[Arrow points to glass:]
:Years-long negotiation with glass supplier

:[A double arrow is placed above the center of the glass, ending on two lines above the edges of the glass:]
:4 hours of meetings

:[Two arrow points on either side of the lamp's stem:]
:9 hours of meetings

:[Two arrow, one pointing up at the bottom and the other down at the inside bottom of the glass:]
:Months of tip-over testing

:[An arrow points to the lamp information sticker on the bottom part of the lamps base. Unreadable text can be seen as thins lines on the sticker:]
:Ongoing debate

:[An arrow points to the front edge of the desk, ending in a starburst on the edge:]
:Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest

:[Arrow points to the switch on the lamps cord which can be seen going over the right edge of the table and hanging down below the table. The switch can be seen just under the table edge:]
:Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired

:[Caption under the panel:]
:Sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of work that went into the ordinary objects around me.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1740: Rosetta

2016-10-03T07:11:05Z

NotLock:

:Hairy's Woooo has four o's but Cueball's Wooo has only three o's. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:41, 30 September 2016 (UTC)
:Armegeddon actually had no kinetic impact. The plot device was a bomb drilled into the surface and detonated. This did deflect the comet by splitting it on half along a fault, causing the two pieces to miss Earth.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.100|162.158.75.100]] 17:04, 30 September 2016 (UTC)
:: Agreed, and edited. [[User:Beret Guy|Beret Guy]] ([[User talk:Beret Guy|talk]]) 20:54, 30 September 2016 (UTC)Beret Guy

Hasn't the fact of simply being in orbit already caused a change in the trajectory? Does impact make any difference? {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.111}}

:Technically, yes, but the effect is so small it may as well not exist. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 01:56, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:Yes, the gas(?) expelled from Rosetta in order to accelerate it toward the comet leaves the comet/Rosetta system [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 02:33, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Question: Why, if the purpose was to collect more data from the comet, was the signal lost, and why are the characters treating this as a good thing? Wouldn't we want a signal from Rosetta in order to transmit the data she gathers? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 04:01, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:Rosetta has been in orbit around the comet since 2014, gathering data. It sent its lander ''Philae'' down in November 2014. This was always the intended ending for the orbiter itself. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 04:38, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:: Thanks for the response! So the "extra data from Rosetta's sensors" were transmitted as Rosetta was descending, but before she landed. After she landed, then communications were shut off. Is that correct? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 05:28, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:::I'm not sure whether comms were 'shut off,' or if they just knew that they'd get no more from the surface because of issues with solar power or line of sight once it was on the surface, but this was the plan IIRC. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 23:36, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Just watched an ESA clip, someone did actually go woooo. https://youtu.be/GNoJz50YNJI?t=1m28s [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.110|108.162.246.110]] 10:25, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:You sure that was four 'o's? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 07:11, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

The effect of impact may be small, but it will be multiplied with time. It might easily be measurable next orbit, and possibly be enough to "save Earth" after 10 orbits. If the 67P would actually be on trajectory colliding with Earth in 10 orbits, obviously. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:30, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1740: Rosetta

2016-10-03T07:10:45Z

NotLock:

:Hairy's Woooo has four o's but Cueball's Wooo has only three o's. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:41, 30 September 2016 (UTC)
:Armegeddon actually had no kinetic impact. The plot device was a bomb drilled into the surface and detonated. This did deflect the comet by splitting it on half along a fault, causing the two pieces to miss Earth.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.100|162.158.75.100]] 17:04, 30 September 2016 (UTC)
:: Agreed, and edited. [[User:Beret Guy|Beret Guy]] ([[User talk:Beret Guy|talk]]) 20:54, 30 September 2016 (UTC)Beret Guy

Hasn't the fact of simply being in orbit already caused a change in the trajectory? Does impact make any difference? {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.111}}

:Technically, yes, but the effect is so small it may as well not exist. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 01:56, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:Yes, the gas(?) expelled from Rosetta in order to accelerate it toward the comet leaves the comet/Rosetta system [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 02:33, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Question: Why, if the purpose was to collect more data from the comet, was the signal lost, and why are the characters treating this as a good thing? Wouldn't we want a signal from Rosetta in order to transmit the data she gathers? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 04:01, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:Rosetta has been in orbit around the comet since 2014, gathering data. It sent its lander ''Philae'' down in November 2014. This was always the intended ending for the orbiter itself. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 04:38, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:: Thanks for the response! So the "extra data from Rosetta's sensors" were transmitted as Rosetta was descending, but before she landed. After she landed, then communications were shut off. Is that correct? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 05:28, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:::I'm not sure whether comms were 'shut off,' or if they just knew that they'd get no more from the surface because of issues with solar power or line of sight once it was on the surface, but this was the plan IIRC. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 23:36, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Just watched an ESA clip, someone did actually go woooo. https://youtu.be/GNoJz50YNJI?t=1m28s [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.110|108.162.246.110]] 10:25, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
:You sure that was four 'o's?

The effect of impact may be small, but it will be multiplied with time. It might easily be measurable next orbit, and possibly be enough to "save Earth" after 10 orbits. If the 67P would actually be on trajectory colliding with Earth in 10 orbits, obviously. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:30, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1740: Rosetta

2016-10-01T05:28:58Z

NotLock:

Talk:1740: Rosetta

2016-10-01T05:28:17Z

NotLock:

Talk:1740: Rosetta

2016-10-01T04:01:45Z

NotLock:

Talk:1740: Rosetta

2016-10-01T02:33:30Z

NotLock:

Talk:1738: Moon Shapes

2016-09-27T22:30:32Z

NotLock:

The comic has been updated on xkcd. Randall revised the description of #4. Maybe this should be updated? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.135|108.162.242.135]] 21:55, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

It's a reflection of the nuclear war on [[1626|the sun's surface]]. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 08:08, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

I can't find any photoshopped Moon that looks like the last image. Somebody has to make one. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 13:22, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

: Randall uncharacteristically missed an opportunity for pointing out additional errors that people make: It's interesting to note that you can get a decent estimate of the artist's latitude by looking at how they draw a crescent moon. In equatorial cultures, the crescent looks like a cup or a boat - and they interpret it like that. But if you look at most english language children's books, the crescent looks like a letter 'C' or a 'D' with a human face - suggesting that they were probably made in the tradition of northern Europe. When I first moved from the UK (more or less a 'C'-shaped crescent moon) to the southern USA (more like Randall's depiction of the correctly-drawn crescent with the points at a roughly 45 degree angle to the horizon) - I subconsciously felt that the moon "looked wrong" - it was only much later that I understood the reason.

: Furthermore, this rotation of the moon relative to the observer also explains why "The man in the moon" is a common trope caused by the pareidolia interpretation of the cratering patterns of the moon in northern cultures. But in southern cultures, people tend to see a rabbit in those full-moon patterns - and that has become the source of many of their stories.

: Now that I'm more acutely aware of this - it's interesting to note how many movies get the orientation of the moon wrong for the location that their story is supposedly set in! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 13:41, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
::In Japan, for example, the patterns are interpreted as a rabbit making mochi (a sort of dense dumpling made from rice pounded into a powder) on the moon - the Sea of Tranquillity forming the head, and the Sea of Clouds forming part of the pestle in which the rabbit is pounding the rice. {{unsigned ip|188.114.102.167}}

::Considering how many movies features the famous [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMountainsOfIllinois Mountains of Illinois], I would be more surprised when they get it right. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 13:38, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

: Not quite sure how to add this but Gibbon is the author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - or a type of Ape. It is not a phase of the moon. Also I think the moon depicted is Waning. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.113|141.101.98.113]] 14:02, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
::I think the correct expression is gibbous - "having the illuminated part greater than a semicircle and less than a circle" {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.68}}
:: Yes, the one he says is correct has me thinking: "OMG, the moon is drunk and has fallen over on its ass." No self-respecting moon lies on its back like that.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.222|162.158.114.222]] 14:17, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
::: Indeed - but that's pretty much how it looks down here in sunny Texas. It's one of those things you never think about - but once the fact of it clicks in your head, you get this visceral feeling of how you're standing on a large ball rather than a flat plane! Ha! Take that flat-earthers! :-) [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 18:46, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
: "Wax gibbon" is probably nothing more than a joke on mispronouncing "waxing gibbous". As drawn, it is the way a waning gibbous would appear in the northern hemisphere, but a waxing gibbous in the southern hemisphere. [[User:Harperska|Harperska]] ([[User talk:Harperska|talk]]) 16:18, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Link to the DreamWorks logo image please? There seem to be multiple versions. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.216|108.162.237.216]] 15:16, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
:I'm surprised Randall missed the chance to include a joke about guys with fishing rods. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.141|162.158.85.141]] 15:41, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
::http://www.roadtovr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/dreamworks-logo.jpg... Here's the link to the Dreamworks logo. You're welcome. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:17, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
::neither of the examples for the "stars in the moon" apply here. both randall's examples imply a spherical moon. spring and the dreamworks child are supported on a crescent moon for which only the light section actually exists. better examples, please. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 12:26, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
::While the dreamworks logo features a child sitting on the crescent moon as though the dark portion wasn't there, none of the versions of the logo which contain stars in the sky actually show stars 'inside' the moon's disk, so the logo probably isn't a good example of what Randall is complaining about. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPpy8mYHQps. [[User:Harperska|Harperska]] ([[User talk:Harperska|talk]]) 17:16, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

The first "wrong" image is also only possible if the bright portion is presumed to be the sun during a solar eclipse, assuming the sky is actually depicted as black. You can only have a crescent moon during a solar eclipse if the solar system suddenly acquired a second sun. [[User:Harperska|Harperska]] ([[User talk:Harperska|talk]]) 16:28, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Here's a good counter-example: [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V-N1Fj2RU7Y/Vnvbs3e6JxI/AAAAAAAAouE/X37EuZ2dXmI/s1600/236D5361-D23A-45AD-8D3B-451926D0CA82.jpg EXAMPLE]. The bright dot is actually the ISS transiting the moon - but it certainly looks like an impossibility! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 18:50, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

The article doesn't mention the "nuclear war" joke. Does it need explaining? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.49|141.101.98.49]] 19:29, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
:It does now. [[User:WingedCat|WingedCat]] ([[User talk:WingedCat|talk]]) 22:24, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
:: your welcome ;-) [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 22:30, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

I've always wanted to create a story, and have the horns of the moon connect on the other side, so you have a blackbody in front of the moon, in parody of this tendency.
Also, interesting how the moon is at different rotations in different locations. I never did see the rabbit in the moon. Now I know why. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.74|108.162.245.74]] 04:34, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Some of the examples of "incorrect" moons are kinda questionable - like, how relevant is the position of the moon when there's literally a giant divine skyperson standing on it, grabbing stars and scattering of them? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.80|172.68.35.80]] 23:09, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

I fixed part of the explanation by mentioning the title text. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:41, 26 September 2016 (UTC)
:I think that's enough detail for an explanation, so I removed the "incomplete" bar. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:52, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Should the table of explanations include the text in the comic? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 22:30, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

1738: Moon Shapes

2016-09-27T20:48:24Z

NotLock: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1738
| date = September 26, 2016
| title = Moon Shapes
| image = moon_shapes.png
| titletext = Whenever I see a picture of the moon where the points go more than halfway around, I assume it's being eclipsed by one of those Independence Day ships and interpret the rest of the image in light of that.
}}

==Explanation==
The Earth's {{w|moon}}, being the most prominent object in the night sky, is a frequent subject of art; particularly art depicting a nighttime scene. Unfortunately, the moon often appears in works of art in ways that are very dramatic and would not be realistically possible. It may be done out of ignorance, or knowingly by taking {{w|artistic license}}. As someone interested in and who has worked in astronomy, this likely bothers [[Randall]].

The Earth's {{w|moon}} is well known to have "{{w|lunar phase|phases}}" describing what portion of the visible surface of the moon is illuminated by sunlight and highly visible, and what portion is dark, and generally only slightly visible when the moon appears while the sun is also up. These phases progress between "new" (when the surface facing the Earth is completely dark) and "full" (when the surface facing the Earth is completely illuminated, appearing circular from Earth). Mid-way between those extreme phases is a "half" moon, when exactly half of the surface facing the Earth is completely dark, resulting in a semi-circular appearance.

Because the moon is approximately spherical, as the moon progresses from "new" to "half" (or vice versa), the illuminated portion forms a crescent. As it progresses from "half" to "full" (or vice versa), the illuminated portion it is described as "gibbous" (which just means that the dark portion has formed a crescent). One can imagine this like a globe on which you draw a straight line from the north pole to the south pole down the centre of the side facing you (appearing to create two semi-circles); upon rotating the globe, the line would become rounded as it moved away creating a crescent on the side the line was moved towards. Because of the geometry involved, a line connecting the two points (horns) of a crescent moon (or of the darkened crescent inverse of a gibbous moon) must be a diameter of the moon (i.e. it must pass through the centre of the circle).

The deliberate misidentification of a "waxing gibbous" moon ("waxing" means going from new to full; that is increasing in illuminated area) as a "wax gibbon" (a Southeast Asian ape made of a nonpolar solid) is a source of humour in this comic. This is probably a reference to H.P. Lovecraft, who had several of his stories take place under "a gibbous moon" for dramatic effect.

Further, because the light portion of the moon is illuminated by sunlight (whether or not the moon is in the sky at the same time as the sun), the light side of the moon will always be facing towards the sun. If the moon is in the night sky, the sun must be somewhere "below" the horizon on the other side of the Earth. Thus, at night, the light portion of the moon must always be the on the half of the moon that faces the horizon (there are points during the daytime when the orientation can go the other way).

It is also notable that the portion of the moon that is dark is still a large hunk of (unlit) rock, and therefore even at night when we can't distinguish between the dark part of the moon and the background blackness, it would still be impossible to see more distant objects such as stars "through" the dark portion of the moon's circumference. This is most dramatically exemplified by a {{w|solar eclipse}} during which the moon passes in front of the sun and is therefore completely dark (the sun is lighting only the far side), but the moon's circumference still blocks a circular portion of the sun's light.

This comic lists some of the some common mistakes. In some cases, a depiction may be unrealistic in multiple ways - for example, the {{w|Flag of Tunisia}} has both unrealistic horns and a star visible between the horns, while {{w|File:Moon tarot charles6.jpg|the Charles VI tarot}} shows a moon with over-long horns pointing towards the horizon.

In the title text, Randall is referring to the movie "{{w|Independence Day (film)|Independence Day}}" and how one of the alien's ships (in the movie) 'eclipses' part of the moon. He says that if the points go halfway or longer around the moon, then he imagines it's caused by an alien ship and interprets the entire piece of art in that context (i.e. aliens are about to attack those shepherds!).

{| class="wikitable"
|+Explanation of individual items in the list
!Image
!Shape
!Explanation
!Examples
|-
|[[File:moon1.jpg]]|| Full moon || Normal || Reality
|-
|[[File:moon2.jpg]]|| Gibbous moon || Normal || Reality
|-
|[[File:moon4a.jpg]]|| Crescent moon with horns away from horizon || Normal || Reality
|-
|[[File:moon3.jpg]]|| Crescent moon with horns towards horizon || This can only happen when the sun is above the horizon. Since a crescent moon means that the Sun and the Moon are relatively close in the sky, the Moon would not be visible with a naked eye, its light completely outshone by the sunlight. Randall comments it is possible only during a solar eclipse. Technically he is right, as the Moon could be observed in such configuration during a solar eclipse, which creates temporary darkness within a (moving) area on Earth, allowing to see the faint light of the crescent Moon - but that would mean that something else than the Moon is eclipsing the Sun, maybe a huge planetoid passing by the Earth or a giant alien spaceship mentioned in the title text. If it is an ordinary eclipse, then the crescent in the picture is actually partially eclipsed Sun, and the dark area is the Moon. || Van Gogh, {{w|File:Van Gogh - Passeio ao Crepúsculo.jpg|Landscape with Couple Walking and Crescent Moon}}
|-
|[[File:moon5a.jpg]]|| Wide crescent-like moon where the horns don't connect through a diameter || This is only possible during a partial solar eclipse or the start of an annular eclipse (in which cases the lit portion is not the moon, but the sun), or else if the Earth is casting its partial shadow on the Moon, a penumbral lunar eclipse. Randall labels the lunar eclipse "dubious", since the shadow during penumbral eclipse would be much ligther than shown here, in fact barely visible as a slight darkening of the Moon's surface. The Earth's shadow, being very large, would also likely cast a less-rounded edge than depicted here. || Van Gogh, {{w|File:Van Gogh - Starry Night - Google Art Project.jpg|Starry Night}}
|-
|[[File:moon6.jpg]]|| Narrow crescent-like moon where the points don't connect through a diameter || This situation is even harder to create than the previous one - unlike the previous example, here the diameter of the entire shadow is clear, and is too small for the Earth's shadow in a lunar eclipse. A huge ''Independence Day'' spaceship (as per the Title text) might be the right size. It does however resemble a partial {{w|annular eclipse}} if you imagine that the black area is the moon covering up the white sun. || {{w|File:AlcoholicBluesCoverVonTilze.jpg|Alcoholic Blues}}
|-
|[[File:moon7.jpg]]|| Crescent moon blocking stars|| Normal || -
|-
|[[File:moon8.jpg]]|| Crescent moon with stars between horns || Many people (including artists) seem to forget that the dark portion of the moon is still a solid object that we can not see through.[http://imgur.com/S30fuOj][https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a7/7d/4a/a77d4ae9e3549e36edd350246d33700c.jpg] If stars are visible, there are either one or more holes in the moon, or the light-source is actually on the moon, such as nuclear explosions. As the {{w|Star and Crescent}}, the image is sometimes considered a symbol of Islam, although it's relatively recent and there's no traditional basis for putting the star ''between'' the horns - as originally used on the Flag of Turkey, the star appears in a realistic position. || Edwin Blashfield, {{w|File:Edwin Blashfield - Spring Scattering Stars.jpg|Spring Scattering Stars}}, the {{w|DreamWorks Animation}} logo
|}

==Trivia==
[[File:moon7a.jpg]] The image of the crescent moon blocking the stars is slightly wrong, because there are still lights on the surface of the moon.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:'''Interpreting the shape of the moon in art'''
:[The left part of the panel shows a two column chart is shown with labels above the columns. The left side shows the moons shape as white on a black square. These types of moons could be seen in certain art pieces. The right side saying whether this is normal or not as indicated with a green check mark or a red X. Right of the second column there are explanations of why the specific type of moon is marked as it is and what it could be called or how it could be possible even with the red X. The upper three moons have one common explanation as indicated with a bracket that covers all three with the text on the middle part of the bracket. Similarly moon five and six also have a bracket and only one explanation.]
:Shape Normal?

:[Shape #1-3 shows a white circle (full moon), a more than half full moon (Gibbon) and a thin seal at the bottom right of the square.]
:<big>✓</big>
:<big>✓</big> "Full" or "Quarter" or "Harvest" or "Wax Gibbon" or whatever
:<big>✓</big>

:[Shape #4 same as #3 but with the seal in the upper part of the square.]
:<big>✗</big> Only possible during a solar eclipse

:[Shape #5-6 shows a full moon with a circular section taken out of the right side and a seal that goes almost all the way around the circumference of the moon with almost a full circle taken out of the top left part of the moon.]
:<big>✗</big>
:<big>✗</big> Only possible during a lunar eclipse (#1 only, dubious) or a solar eclipse (bright part is the Sun)

:[Shape #7 same as #3 but with the seal a little smaller and more to the top and less to the left. Around the moon there are several starts represented with 29 small white dots. In the center of the black square there is a black circle, coinciding with the outer rim of the seal. Within this circle (the dark side of the moon) there are no stars!]
:<big>✓</big> Looks OK

:[Shape #8 same as #7 but apart from the 29 small white dots from before there are now also 6 more dots inside the dark circle with no stars in #7.]
:<big>✗</big> There's either a hole in the Moon or a nuclear war on its surface.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Fiction]] 
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1735: Fashion Police and Grammar Police

2016-09-20T21:40:52Z

NotLock:

{{comic
| number = 1735
| date = September 19, 2016
| title = Fashion Police and Grammar Police
| image = fashion_police_and_grammar_police.png
| titletext = * Mad about jorts
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|For those that are not native English speakers, the way the three "T" words are mixed up (and maybe even they're meaning) should be explained as that is part of the joke, and can not always be understood by those who are not with the G-force (aka Grammar Police).}}

In this comic, two groups of angry protesters are presented and labeled. They should not be seen as protesting side by side, but rather like two similar groups protesting about different things even though they are in many ways similar.

The left group represents the '''Fashion Police''' with [[Cueball]] holding a sign saying {{w|Crocs}} not allowed (by showing a pair of Crocs shoes in a circle with a strike through it). Crocs are a type of {{w|Clog|clogs}} made of foam. There may be some ergonomic advantages to these special looking shoes, but they will {{w|Crocs#Fashion|never become fashionable}}. It is not the first time [[Randall]] mocks a special type of shoes (although here it may not so much be himself that are against Crocs, but rather he just chose something easy to recognize that the Fashion Police would hate). Previously in [[1065: Shoes]] Randall was after shoes that ''has those creepy individual toes'' like {{w|Vibram FiveFingers}}. They will also never be a hit with the Fashion Police.

The right group represents the '''Grammar Police''' with another Cueball holding a sign with three commonly-confused words beneath each other; [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/their Their] (belongs to them), [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/they%27re They're] (contraction meaning "they are"), [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/there There] (a location). The words are written on the sign to explain that there is a difference between these three almost identically-sounding words as many people confuse them with each other, and then the Grammar Police ''have'' to correct them (see [[386: Duty Calls]]). See the [https://twitter.com/_grammar_ Grammar Police on Twitter] and also {{w|Grammar Police|Linguistic prescription}} which comes up on Wikipedia when searching for Grammar Police!

The two groups look similar, standing in similar poses and apart from one Cueball holding signs in each group, one [[Megan]] is also in the front line of both groups. [[Hairy]] is only shown with the fashion police, together with yet another [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|Cueball-like guy]], while [[Ponytail]] is only shown with the grammar police together with a bald man with glasses.

Both types of police are groups of people who make fun of others who wear or say something that doesn't meet their criteria of "good". Fashion police are people who make fun of others who wear clothing that is mismatched, out of style/{{w|fashion}} or straight-up "ugly" to them. Grammar police are people who are "sticklers" to {{w|grammar}} rules and get mad or contradictory if someone uses non-standard grammar in a sentence. The comic explains how the two groups are similar to each other by listing eight points (plus a ninth in the title text) that can be used on both groups. See explanation in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]].

In the caption below the comic Randall notes that he just realized that these are literally the same people because they both exhibit the listed traits. The use of "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally literally]" to emphasize a statement is considered by the grammar police as a dread crime that should be pointed out as such, although the dictionaries already include this definition as acceptable. However it would likely be more appropriate to say figuratively the same people, see [[725: Literally]]. On the other hand, fashion police is known for overusing "literally" in the way the grammar police finds disgusting.

Since it seem like a safe assumption (see [[1339: When You Assume]]) that there are more grammar pedants (see title text of [[1652: Conditionals]]) than fashion police people who read xkcd, and it also would seem likely that many xkcd readers would dislike the Fashion Police (more), it seems likely that Randall is actually mainly targeting the Grammar Police people reading xkcd, than the fashion people who do not. They will not like to be compared to the Fashion Police! Ponytail also represented the grammar police in [[1576: I Could Care Less]], where Megan puts her in place after she polices her sentence. Thus this shows what Randall thinks about such police work and supports the assumption above. Literally was also used here in the title text.

Randall is, with regards to language, definitely one of those that can belong in this group: ''To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well.''

The title is a ninth point on the list with the star in front representing one more bullet (see the last entry in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]]):
*Mad about jorts.

==Table of individual items==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Explanation of individual items in the list
!list item
!Explanation
|-
|Judgemental and Smug || Both types of police will look down upon those who violate their 'laws'.
|-
|Angry about something deeply arbitrary || Both grammar and fashion are, essentially, made-up human constructs.
|-
| Strong opinions backed by style guides || Grammar has ''{{w|The Elements of Style}}'', fashion has fashion magazines.
|-
| Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted is your responsibility || Your choices in both grammar and fashion affect how people see you, and it would be silly to disclaim responsibility for what is essentially your own actions.
|-
| Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own || This means that even if you deliberately choose to not listen to the fashion gurus, then you are actually making a fashion statement anyway, as opposed to those that just don't realize they have a horrible style (and are not dressing wrongly on purpose). Both types can thus be harassed by the Fashion Police. Same goes for those who deliberately do not try to follow the grammar rules. They have thus taken a stance anyway as opposed to those who just do not know how to use grammar correctly. And both types can be harassed for it by the Grammar Police.
|-
|To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well || Deliberately violating fashion or grammar rules gives off a particular 'casual' vibe, distinct from those who violate the rules out of ignorance.
|-
|Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class || "Proper" dress and "proper" language are often defined in terms of how high class people dress and speak. But since "high class" in much of the Western world has generally meant white, alternative ways of dress (e.g. the Afro) or alternative ways of speaking (e.g. Ebonics or Pidgin English) are treated as somehow objectively "wrong", rather than simply as alternatives. Furthermore, dressing or speaking poorly are often marks of "lower class" people who for whatever reason cannot afford fashionable clothing, or don't have access to quality education. So when we judge people for their clothing or their speech, we are often indirectly judging them for their race and class. Randall identifies this fact as "uncomfortably transparent".
|-
| Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you|| This may have to do with the human tendency to view the morality of an activity differently when applied to oneself compared to a stranger.
|-
| Mad about jorts (Title text) || "{{w|Shorts#Jorts|Jorts}}" is a {{w|portmanteau}} for a pair of jeans that are made into shorts.

The fashion police would be mad about jorts for being unfashionable.

The grammar police would be mad about the word 'jorts' being an inappropriate portmanteau of jeans and shorts, and also for the fact that the sentence could be misinterpreted as if someone like jorts, as in being mad about something in a positive way.

{{w|Sentence_clause_structure#Incomplete_sentence|Also a fragment}}, with no subject (properly it would be "I am mad about jorts"). Randall has [[:Category:Portmanteau|often used]] portmanteaus as part of his jokes.

It is also possible that the Grammar police are indeed "mad about Jorts" in the positive sense, i.e Grammar Police love Jorts.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Beneath two headings to the left and right are shown two aggressive-looking groups of people with only the four people in the front clearly shown for each group. Behind them five other people can be seen, but they are not drawn with the same solid line and are only partly shown behind the first four, but legs from all five in each group can be seen along with some heads (all Cueball like) and arms etc. The front of the left group consist of Hairy holding a fist up towards left, Megan with her arms crossed in front of her chest, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, straight up above his head and another Cueball-like guy to the right is holding up a broken branch in one hand toward right. The person behind this last person is shown to hold up his fist towards right like Hairy does to the left. The sign shows a Crocs shoe in a circle with a strike through it going above the Crocs from top left to bottom right. The front of the right group consist of Megan holding both her arms over her head hands folded into fist while looking towards left, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, towards the right and up above Ponytails head, she is raising one hand in a fist to the left and finally a bald guy with glasses is brandishing a short sword in one hand toward right while holding his other hand palm up. The sign has three similar words written beneath each other.]
:Left: Fashion Police
:Right: Grammar Police
:Sign:
::Their
::They're
::There

:[Below the two groups are eight points with bullets:]
:*Judgemental and smug
:*Angry about something deeply arbitrary
:*Strong opinions backed by style guides
:*Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted ''is'' your responsibility
:*Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own
:*To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well
:*Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class
:*Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I just realized these are literally the same people

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]

1735: Fashion Police and Grammar Police

2016-09-20T21:39:00Z

NotLock: /* Table of individual items */

{{comic
| number = 1735
| date = September 19, 2016
| title = Fashion Police and Grammar Police
| image = fashion_police_and_grammar_police.png
| titletext = * Mad about jorts
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|For those that are not native English speakers, the way the three "T" words are mixed up (and maybe even they're meaning) should be explained as that is part of the joke, and can not always be understood by those who are not with the G-force (aka Grammar Police).}}

In this comic, two groups of angry protesters are presented and labeled. They should not be seen as protesting side by side, but rather like two similar groups protesting about different things even though they are in many ways similar.

The left group represents the '''Fashion Police''' with [[Cueball]] holding a sign saying {{w|Crocs}} not allowed (by showing a pair of Crocs shoes in a circle with a strike through it). Crocs are a type of {{w|Clog|clogs}} made of foam. There may be some ergonomic advantages to these special looking shoes, but they will {{w|Crocs#Fashion|never become fashionable}}. It is not the first time [[Randall]] mocks a special type of shoes (although here it may not so much be himself that are against Crocs, but rather he just chose something easy to recognize that the Fashion Police would hate). Previously in [[1065: Shoes]] Randall was after shoes that ''has those creepy individual toes'' like {{w|Vibram FiveFingers}}. They will also never be a hit with the Fashion Police.

The right group represents the '''Grammar Police''' with another Cueball holding a sign with three commonly-confused words beneath each other; [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/their Their] (belongs to them), [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/they%27re They're] (contraction meaning "they are"), [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/there There] (a location). The words are written on the sign to explain that there is a difference between these three almost identically-sounding words as many people confuse them with each other, and then the Grammar Police ''have'' to correct them (see [[386: Duty Calls]]). See the [https://twitter.com/_grammar_ Grammar Police on Twitter] and also {{w|Grammar Police|Linguistic prescription}} which comes up on Wikipedia when searching for Grammar Police!

The two groups look similar, standing in similar poses and apart from one Cueball holding signs in each group, one [[Megan]] is also in the front line of both groups. [[Hairy]] is only shown with the fashion police, together with yet another [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|Cueball-like guy]], while [[Ponytail]] is only shown with the grammar police together with a bald man with glasses.

Both types of police are groups of people who make fun of others who wear or say something that doesn't meet their criteria of "good". Fashion police are people who make fun of others who wear clothing that is mismatched, out of style/{{w|fashion}} or straight-up "ugly" to them. Grammar police are people who are "sticklers" to {{w|grammar}} rules and get mad or contradictory if someone uses non-standard grammar in a sentence. The comic explains how the two groups are similar to each other by listing eight points (plus a ninth in the title text) that can be used on both groups. See explanation in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]].

In the caption below the comic Randall notes that he just realized that these are literally the same people because they both exhibit the listed traits. The use of "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally literally]" to emphasize a statement is considered by the grammar police as a dread crime that should be pointed out as such, although the dictionaries already include this definition as acceptable. However it would likely be more appropriate to say figuratively the same people, see [[725: Literally]]. On the other hand, fashion police is known for overusing "literally" in the way the grammar police finds disgusting.

Since it seem like a safe assumption (see [[1339: When You Assume]]) that there are more grammar pedants (see title text of [[1652: Conditionals]]) than fashion police people who read xkcd, and it also would seem likely that many xkcd readers would dislike the Fashion Police (more), it seems likely that Randall is actually mainly targeting the Grammar Police people reading xkcd, than the fashion people who do not. They will not like to be compared to the Fashion Police! Ponytail also represented the grammar police in [[1576: I Could Care Less]], where Megan puts her in place after she polices her sentence. Thus this shows what Randall thinks about such police work and supports the assumption above. Literally was also used here in the title text.

Randall is, with regards to language, definitely one of those that can belong in this group: ''To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well.''

The title is a ninth point on the list with the star in front representing one more bullet (see the last entry in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]]):
*Mad about jorts.

==Table of individual items==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Explanation of individual items in the list
!list item
!Explanation
|-
|Judgemental and Smug || Both types of police will look down upon those who violate their 'laws'.
|-
|Angry about something deeply arbitrary || Both grammar and fashion are, essentially, made-up human constructs.
|-
| Strong opinions backed by style guides || Grammar has ''{{w|The Elements of Style}}'', fashion has fashion magazines.
|-
| Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted is your responsibility || Your choices in both grammar and fashion affect how people see you, and it would be silly to disclaim responsibility for what is essentially your own actions.
|-
| Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own || This means that even if you deliberately choose to not listen to the fashion gurus, then you are actually making a fashion statement anyway, as opposed to those that just don't realize they have a horrible style (and are not dressing wrongly on purpose). Both types can thus be harassed by the Fashion Police. Same goes for those who deliberately do not try to follow the grammar rules. They have thus taken a stance anyway as opposed to those who just do not know how to use grammar correctly. And both types can be harassed for it by the Grammar Police.
|-
|To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well || Deliberately violating fashion or grammar rules gives off a particular 'casual' vibe, distinct from those who violate the rules out of ignorance.
|-
|Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class || "Proper" dress and "proper" language are often defined in terms of how high class people dress and speak. But since "high class" in much of the Western world has generally meant white, alternative ways of dress (e.g. the Afro) or alternative ways of speaking (e.g. Ebonics or Pidgin English) are treated as somehow objectively "wrong", rather than simply as alternatives. Furthermore, dressing or speaking poorly are often marks of "lower class" people who for whatever reason cannot afford fashionable clothing, or don't have access to quality education. So when we judge people for their clothing or their speech, we are often indirectly judging them for their race and class. Randall identifies this fact as "uncomfortably transparent".
|-
| Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you|| This may have to do with the human tendency to view the morality of an activity differently when applied to oneself compared to a stranger.
|-
| Mad about jorts (Title text) || "{{w|Shorts#Jorts|Jorts}}" is a {{w|portmanteau}} for a pair of jeans that are made into shorts.

The fashion police would be mad about jorts for being unfashionable.

The grammar police would be mad about the word 'jorts' being an inappropriate portmanteau of jeans and shorts, and also for the fact that the sentence could be misinterpreted as if someone like jorts, as in being mad about something in a positive way.

{{w|Sentence_clause_structure#Incomplete_sentence|Also a fragment}}, with no subject (properly it would be "I am mad about jorts"). Randall has [[:Category:Portmanteau|often used]] portmanteaus as part of his jokes.

It is also possible that the Grammar police are indeed "mad about Jorts" in the positive sense, i.e Grammar Police love Jorts.
}

==Transcript==
:[Beneath two headings to the left and right are shown two aggressive-looking groups of people with only the four people in the front clearly shown for each group. Behind them five other people can be seen, but they are not drawn with the same solid line and are only partly shown behind the first four, but legs from all five in each group can be seen along with some heads (all Cueball like) and arms etc. The front of the left group consist of Hairy holding a fist up towards left, Megan with her arms crossed in front of her chest, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, straight up above his head and another Cueball-like guy to the right is holding up a broken branch in one hand toward right. The person behind this last person is shown to hold up his fist towards right like Hairy does to the left. The sign shows a Crocs shoe in a circle with a strike through it going above the Crocs from top left to bottom right. The front of the right group consist of Megan holding both her arms over her head hands folded into fist while looking towards left, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, towards the right and up above Ponytails head, she is raising one hand in a fist to the left and finally a bald guy with glasses is brandishing a short sword in one hand toward right while holding his other hand palm up. The sign has three similar words written beneath each other.]
:Left: Fashion Police
:Right: Grammar Police
:Sign:
::Their
::They're
::There

:[Below the two groups are eight points with bullets:]
:*Judgemental and smug
:*Angry about something deeply arbitrary
:*Strong opinions backed by style guides
:*Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted ''is'' your responsibility
:*Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own
:*To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well
:*Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class
:*Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I just realized these are literally the same people

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]

User talk:NotLock

2016-09-20T02:54:21Z

NotLock:

Hi NotLock! :) --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:43, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
:Hello! I see I made the Active Users list over the last seven days! It's most likely because I was fiddling with the spectrum picture on 1733. I couldn't figure out how to resize it. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 02:54, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1733: Solar Spectrum

2016-09-19T08:14:22Z

NotLock:

Sun in sunglasses is also in whatif "Into the sun" and I'm 99% sure this is not the only xkcd appearance of that... --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.119|162.158.86.119]] 11:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Why is Randall using JPEG for the second time in a row? Gosh, the comics look horrifying when zoomed in. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.244.67|108.162.244.67]] 12:35, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:It looks like a .PNG to me, maybe the .jpg was temporary for an upload deadline? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.127|108.162.241.127]] 12:54, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
::The one on this page has always been a png file (see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1733:_Solar_Spectrum&oldid=127003 the first revision]). This also means that whoever wrote the complaint must have had access to [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:solar_spectrum.png this same file], which has not been updated here since. Of course Randall may have had another version up first, but that seems highly unlikely... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Are the spectral lines actually accurate apart from the sunglasses? Wouldn't surprise me to much... (Meh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_lines, believably close). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.10|141.101.105.10]] 12:51, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Yes very accurate also the sunglasses lines are there in the real spectrum. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:43, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

I feel we need an explanation of the concept of spectral lines for those readers not familiar with absorption spectra [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.91|141.101.70.91]] 13:21, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy#Absorption_spectrum According to Wikipedia], absorption lines occur because solar radiation within the sun’s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Photosphere photosphere] is absorbed at frequencies that match the energy difference between two quantum mechanical states of electrons bound to atoms or molecules. The absorption that occurs due to the transition between these two states is referred to as an absorption line and a spectrum is typically composed of many lines. These lines are dark because the light at those frequencies has been absorbed. In the case of an atom, absorption typically occurs when an electron is boosted from a less energetic inner orbital to a more energetic outer orbital in the process of absorbing a photon of light. Emission spectra are due to the opposite process.

:Please consider the possibility that the title text mention of Transitions may hinge on the absorption process's quantum state transitions. [[User:Run, you clever boy|Run, you clever boy]] ([[User talk:Run, you clever boy|talk]]) 18:37, 17 September 2016 (UTC)

I think he's referring to the spectral lines of transition metals - not pictures of the sun wear glasses. The transition lenses reference is a play on words.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.154|108.162.218.154]] 13:27, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Can we figure out what sunglasses he is referring to by comparing the spectral absorption of different brands? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 14:06, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Any good links to "permanent" images of a sun with sunglasses? Guess there is none of Wikipedia? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:I agree this refers to "Transitions" light-reacting prescription sunglasses / regular reading glasses. However, Google won't give me a sun wearing sunglasses picture unless I type in "sun" and "sunglasses". Not for Transitions or Reactolite, not for weather forecasts, not for emojis. With eyes yes, big smile too, but not shades. I suppose because it actually is a stupid thing for the sun to have. Otherwise, nearest I get: http://www.essilor.com/en/BrandsAndProducts/Lenses/Photochromics/Pages/CrizalTransitions.aspx :-) "30% faster" (than what? taking off the glasses?) Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.90|141.101.98.90]] 15:11, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

See: http://imgur.com/a/35RDC [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.147|162.158.203.147]] 14:18, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Is there a category for comics without characters? Are there enough comics to need a new category? [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 14:27, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:There are many many comics without characters, so it would be a huge job to make such a category and they do not necessarily have anything in common like two comics with [[Blondie]] for instance does. So I would say no. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:"Charts" looks right, seems implicitly to cover "infographics" (btw I agree with worrying about readers who don't know what spectral lines actually are although clearly everyone writing here does, or thinks so). Another possible edition for other cases is "Landscapes" but those in fact tend to have people in (or Mars rovers or such), also landscape in the sense of vista may be covered by "Large drawings" unless that specifically means "Image is larger than the pane on screen", since there also isn't a Scroll it" category. Alternatively... "Spectacles". Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.90|141.101.98.90]] 15:23, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Ya'll should keep in mind the large number of multivitamins that use rainbows as part of their branding and often some form of spectra/spectrum as part of the brand name. Here's a relevant image: http://centrum.com/sites/default/files/wheel_silver_adults_0.png [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.65|173.245.48.65]] 17:59, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Except Centrum is the only brand I've seen that does that. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.61|141.101.70.61]] 08:03, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

There's another image of a Sun with sunglasses (and a giant banana) at http://what-if.xkcd.com/129/ [[User:Jojonete|Jojonete]] ([[User talk:Jojonete|talk]]) 22:59, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Great thanks adding this --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:43, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

And perhaps we should acknowledge John Finnemore's terrific sketch about J M W Turner painting sunglasses on the sun (transcribed here: http://j-f-s-p.livejournal.com/5403.html). {{unsigned ip|141.101.70.49}}

Given that all the lines for the sunglasses are in the red-orange spectrum I took it as a joke about glasses <a href=https://www.google.com/search?q=orange+wraparound&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=orange+wrap+around+glasses>similar to these.</a> Sorry I can't find the exact model I've seen in ads from the early 90s of wraparound over regular glasses that were orangish (old style Blue Blockers.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.128|108.162.216.128]] 14:22, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

The idea of the sun wearing transitions lenses became even more silly when I did a little research and found that the silver chloride that they often make transitions lenses with actually has a lower melting point (455°C) than glass itself typically has (1400°C to 1600°C.) I'm not sure that this has any relevance, but I was trying to find a plausible connection between the fabrication of transitions lenses as opposed to standard lenses and the use a sun (a sentient sun) might have for them. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.83|173.245.50.83]] 15:37, 16 September 2016 (UTC) Sam

Hey, the example image of the sun's spectral lines in the description is just a tetch too big. I can't see it all at once, but if I set my zoom to 90%, I can see all of it just fine. I tried to resize it, but I'm not sure it worked. Feel free to revert it or fix it if you know how. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 05:55, 18 September 2016 (UTC)
:I have loaded a smaller version of the image from Wikipedia. Hope this workd, because with you edit the image did not show at all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:43, 18 September 2016 (UTC)
::Thanks! I think I tried to do a similar thing 6ish months ago, and it worked, but the image took time to render to a different size if I recall correctly (which I might not be doing at all). I googled "Wikipedia markup, and tried to follow the instructions there, but evidently it didn't work. Thanks for taking the time to fix this!

Talk:1733: Solar Spectrum

2016-09-18T05:55:25Z

NotLock:

Sun in sunglasses is also in whatif "Into the sun" and I'm 99% sure this is not the only xkcd appearance of that... --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.119|162.158.86.119]] 11:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Why is Randall using JPEG for the second time in a row? Gosh, the comics look horrifying when zoomed in. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.244.67|108.162.244.67]] 12:35, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:It looks like a .PNG to me, maybe the .jpg was temporary for an upload deadline? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.127|108.162.241.127]] 12:54, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
::The one on this page has always been a png file (see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1733:_Solar_Spectrum&oldid=127003 the first revision]). This also means that whoever wrote the complaint must have had access to [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:solar_spectrum.png this same file], which has not been updated here since. Of course Randall may have had another version up first, but that seems highly unlikely... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Are the spectral lines actually accurate apart from the sunglasses? Wouldn't surprise me to much... (Meh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_lines, believably close). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.10|141.101.105.10]] 12:51, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

I feel we need an explanation of the concept of spectral lines for those readers not familiar with absorption spectra [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.91|141.101.70.91]] 13:21, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy#Absorption_spectrum According to Wikipedia], absorption lines occur because solar radiation within the sun’s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Photosphere photosphere] is absorbed at frequencies that match the energy difference between two quantum mechanical states of electrons bound to atoms or molecules. The absorption that occurs due to the transition between these two states is referred to as an absorption line and a spectrum is typically composed of many lines. These lines are dark because the light at those frequencies has been absorbed. In the case of an atom, absorption typically occurs when an electron is boosted from a less energetic inner orbital to a more energetic outer orbital in the process of absorbing a photon of light. Emission spectra are due to the opposite process.

:Please consider the possibility that the title text mention of Transitions may hinge on the absorption process's quantum state transitions. [[User:Run, you clever boy|Run, you clever boy]] ([[User talk:Run, you clever boy|talk]]) 18:37, 17 September 2016 (UTC)

I think he's referring to the spectral lines of transition metals - not pictures of the sun wear glasses. The transition lenses reference is a play on words.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.154|108.162.218.154]] 13:27, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Can we figure out what sunglasses he is referring to by comparing the spectral absorption of different brands? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 14:06, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Any good links to "permanent" images of a sun with sunglasses? Guess there is none of Wikipedia? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:I agree this refers to "Transitions" light-reacting prescription sunglasses / regular reading glasses. However, Google won't give me a sun wearing sunglasses picture unless I type in "sun" and "sunglasses". Not for Transitions or Reactolite, not for weather forecasts, not for emojis. With eyes yes, big smile too, but not shades. I suppose because it actually is a stupid thing for the sun to have. Otherwise, nearest I get: http://www.essilor.com/en/BrandsAndProducts/Lenses/Photochromics/Pages/CrizalTransitions.aspx :-) "30% faster" (than what? taking off the glasses?) Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.90|141.101.98.90]] 15:11, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

See: http://imgur.com/a/35RDC [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.147|162.158.203.147]] 14:18, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Is there a category for comics without characters? Are there enough comics to need a new category? [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 14:27, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:There are many many comics without characters, so it would be a huge job to make such a category and they do not necessarily have anything in common like two comics with [[Blondie]] for instance does. So I would say no. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:"Charts" looks right, seems implicitly to cover "infographics" (btw I agree with worrying about readers who don't know what spectral lines actually are although clearly everyone writing here does, or thinks so). Another possible edition for other cases is "Landscapes" but those in fact tend to have people in (or Mars rovers or such), also landscape in the sense of vista may be covered by "Large drawings" unless that specifically means "Image is larger than the pane on screen", since there also isn't a Scroll it" category. Alternatively... "Spectacles". Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.90|141.101.98.90]] 15:23, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Ya'll should keep in mind the large number of multivitamins that use rainbows as part of their branding and often some form of spectra/spectrum as part of the brand name. Here's a relevant image: http://centrum.com/sites/default/files/wheel_silver_adults_0.png [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.65|173.245.48.65]] 17:59, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Except Centrum is the only brand I've seen that does that. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.61|141.101.70.61]] 08:03, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

There's another image of a Sun with sunglasses (and a giant banana) at http://what-if.xkcd.com/129/ [[User:Jojonete|Jojonete]] ([[User talk:Jojonete|talk]]) 22:59, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

And perhaps we should acknowledge John Finnemore's terrific sketch about J M W Turner painting sunglasses on the sun (transcribed here: http://j-f-s-p.livejournal.com/5403.html). {{unsigned ip|141.101.70.49}}

Given that all the lines for the sunglasses are in the red-orange spectrum I took it as a joke about glasses <a href=https://www.google.com/search?q=orange+wraparound&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=orange+wrap+around+glasses>similar to these.</a> Sorry I can't find the exact model I've seen in ads from the early 90s of wraparound over regular glasses that were orangish (old style Blue Blockers.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.128|108.162.216.128]] 14:22, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

The idea of the sun wearing transitions lenses became even more silly when I did a little research and found that the silver chloride that they often make transitions lenses with actually has a lower melting point (455°C) than glass itself typically has (1400°C to 1600°C.) I'm not sure that this has any relevance, but I was trying to find a plausible connection between the fabrication of transitions lenses as opposed to standard lenses and the use a sun (a sentient sun) might have for them. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.83|173.245.50.83]] 15:37, 16 September 2016 (UTC) Sam

Hey, the example image of the sun's spectral lines in the description is just a tetch too big. I can't see it all at once, but if I set my zoom to 90%, I can see all of it just fine. I tried to resize it, but I'm not sure it worked. Feel free to revert it or fix it if you know how. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 05:55, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

1733: Solar Spectrum

2016-09-18T05:54:45Z

NotLock: /* Table of spectrum */

{{comic
| number = 1733
| date = September 15, 2016
| title = Solar Spectrum
| image = solar_spectrum.png
| titletext = I still don't understand why the Sun paid the extra money for Transitions lenses.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Someone knowing more about the Fraunhofer lines could maybe improve the [[#Table of spectrum|table]] (mainly the comments).}}
This comic's release day was postponed from the scheduled Wednesday release to a [[:Category:Thursday comics|Thursday release]] because [[Randall]]] noticed the extreme popularity of the previous comic on Monday: [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. Randall even explained this in the header text, see [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|this trivia item]] from the previous comic.

This comic depicts the {{w|Fraunhofer lines}}, i.e. the {{w|spectral lines}} seen when sunlight is split in a {{w|spectrometer}}. These appear as black gaps in the rainbow of light, caused by light being absorbed by {{w|Chemical element|elements}} in the {{w|Sun}}. The frequencies of light that an atom absorbs depend on the exact arrangement of electron orbitals around it - because each element has a different pattern of orbitals, each one has a distinctive pattern in the absorption spectrum. The chart shows most of the main lines in the visible spectrum and identifies the elements linked to them.

The image of the Fraunhofer lines from Wikipedia is shown below in the section with a [[#Table of spectrum|table]] of these lines. Here it can be seen that all the lines that are labeled with elements are correctly labeled. Also all lines shown in the part of the spectrum included in the comic are included. Ten of the lines included are not labeled in the picture on Wikipedia (at least not with an element, two of the three "h" labels are not in the table on Wikipedia). Six of these also have no label in the comic. But the other four line's label ''Those giant sunglasses'' constitute the joke of the comic. There seem to be only one clear error in the comic and that is the fifth line labeled Sunglasses, the middle of the lines, which is actually a Hydrogen line (C in the picture below). But the line next to it to the right is one of those not labeled in either pictures and it seems likely that it was this line Randall meant to be a Sunglass line...

All ten extra lines (including both the labeled and unlabeled ones) seem to correspond to the [http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/~koppen/discharge/silicon.jpg spectrum of silicon], and '''the joke then refers to the {{w|silicon dioxide}} (aka glass)''' used in the lenses of the Sun's sunglasses. Of course, this means that the glasses have been ionized and turned into plasma by the heat of the sun.

The idea of a sun with sunglasses is a reference to pictures/clipart of the sun wearing sunglasses, often used to denote good weather. But Randall has specifically used this picture in his [[what if?]] ''{{what if|115|Into the Sun}}'' in the fourth image. The title text of that image even references the fact that those sunglasses will block the light to Earth:
:A partial solar eclipse is when the Earth moves across the part of the Sun blocked by its sunglasses.
So this comic is a direct callback to this what if? post.

There is another joke in drawing a sun with sunglasses because sunglasses are meant to protect your eyes from the sun, so what should they protect the Sun's eye from, Star light...? Also, any glasses worn by the sun, would they not become sun glasses?

{{w|Transitions Optical|Transitions}}® is a brand of {{w|Photochromic lens|photochromic lenses}}; however, photochromic lenses are often referred to as "transition lenses", so the title text does not necessarily refer to the brand. Photochromic lenses are a type of plastic lens used in prescription spectacles that allow the lens to turn dark when exposed to UV light such as that found in sunlight. The sun choosing to get transition lens would prove a waste of money as the lenses would be permanently transitioned to be dark, so a pair of ordinary sunglasses would likely have proved more cost effective. (Always assuming they do not turn into plasma when getting close to the sun...)

===Table of spectrum===
:This is the official image for {{w|Fraunhofer lines}} (solar spectrum) on Wikipedia:
:[[File:Fraunhofer_lines_From_Wikipedia.png|frameless|upright=.9]]
:The graph is a typical spectral lines chart, with a long rainbow band (from {{w|ultraviolet}} to the left to {{w|infrared}} on the right both colors appearing black as they are not visible.) The black lines in it, indicating the traces of different elements. Noe that the comic only covers the visible part of this spectrum.

*In the table below are the official labels from the picture above. If there are no label this is noted with ''none''.
**'''Note that they are labeled from right to left!'''
*Then the element causing the line is mentioned. ''Unlabeled'' is used if the line is not mentioned in the table from Wikipedia.
*Then follows the wavelength. It is given with decimals if it is noted in the table from Wikipedia. Else it has been read off manually from the picture above.
*Then follows the label given in this comic, with unlabeled meaning that it is not labeled in the comic but still shown.
**If the line is not even included in the xkcd comic "N/A" will be used.
**A number will be given after the xkcd label listing which number line on xkcd that has used this label. (Note going from left to right in the numbering).
*Finally a comment can be made on this.
**If the two labels fit, then ''agreement'' is noted.
{| class="wikitable"
!Designation
!Element
!Wavelength ({{w|nanometer|nm}})
!xkcd label
!Comment
|-
|A
|{{w|Oxygen|O}}
|759.370
|N/A
|This line is outside comics range. So are the two unlabeled lines shown in the spectrum in the picture above around 720 and 730 nm. There are also even more oxygen lines further out in the infrared part of the spectrum which is not even included in the picture above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|690
|Those giant sunglasses 5
|This is the fifth of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually
|-
|B
|O
|686.719
|Oxygen 2
|Agreement
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|577
|Those giant sunglasses 4
|This is the fourth of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|660
|Unlabeled
|This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually. It seems like this one was supposed to be one of the sunglasses lines, and then by mistake the arrow points to the labeled line C below.
|-
|C
|{{w|hydrogen|H}}
|656.281
|Those giant sunglasses 3
|This is the third of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This is actually the {{w|Hα}} line belonging to the {{w|hydrogen}} {{w|Balmer series}}. Seems like a mistake, and more likely it was meant for the arrow to point to the unlabeled line mentioned here above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|645
|Those giant sunglasses 2
|This is the second of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|a
|O
|627.661
|Oxygen 1
|Agreement
|-
|D1
|{{w|Sodium|Na}}
|589.592
|Sodium 2
|Agreement. There are only one label (Sodium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|D2
|Na
|588.995
|Sodium 1
|Agreement. There are only one label (Sodium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|D3 or d
|{{w|Helium|He}}
|587.5618
|N/A
|This line is so close to the nearest sodium line that only one line is visible, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|577
|Those giant sunglasses 1
|This is the first of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|554
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|549
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|537
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|E2
|{{w|Iron|Fe}}
|527.039
|Iron 5
|Agreement.
|-
|b1
|{{w|Magnesium|Mg}}
|518.362
|Magnesium 2
|Agreement. See b below. There are only one label (Magnesium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|b2
|Mg
|517.270
|N/A
|These two magnesium lines are so close that only one is visible in the spectrum, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above.
|-
|b3
|Fe
|516.891
|N/A
|This iron line and the next magnesium line are so close that only one is visible in the spectrum, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above. There is only one label for both visible lines showing them to be magnesium, even though there are four lines one of which (this one is Iron).
|-
|b4
|Mg
|516.733
|Magnesium 1
|Agreement. See b above. There are only one label (Magnesium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|c
|Fe
|495.761
|Iron 4
|Agreement.
|-
|F
|H
|486.134
|Hydrogen 3
|Agreement with {{w|Hβ}}.
|-
|h
|Unlabeled
|476
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is also unlabeled in the table on Wikipedia. "h" is used between H and g below. The wavelength is manually read off from the image.
|-
|d
|Fe
|466.814
|Iron 3
|Agreement.
|-
|e
|Fe
|438.355
|Iron 2
|Agreement.
|-
|f
|H
|434.047
|Hydrogen 2
|Agreement with {{w|Hγ}}.
|-
|G
|Fe
|430.790
|Iron 1
|Agreement.
|-
|g
|{{w|Calcium|Ca}}
|430.774
|Calcium 3
|Agreement.
|-
|h
|H
|410.175
|Hydrogen 1
|Agreement with {{w|Hδ}}.
|-
|H
|Ca
|396.847
|Calcium 2
|Agreement.
|-
|K
|Ca
|393.366
|Calcium 1
|Agreement.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|389
|N/A
|This is the last line in the picture above. It is not included in the comic. There are even more lines outside the visible spectrum deeper into the ultraviolet which are not even shown in the picture above.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A chart shows the visible colored spectrum of the sun from deep violet to deep red. Along the spectrum are shown 28 black spectral lines of different thickness. Above the chart is a caption:]
:The Sun's spectral lines

:[Above the chart there are four and below the chart there are two labels, each label has one or more arrows pointing to different black lines. The two that has only one arrow points to two close lines marking them both. Only 22 lines are labeled like this, the other 6 are not labeled. The labels in reading order, with the number of arrows noted behind in square brackets:]
:Calcium [3] Iron [5] Sodium [1] Oxygen [2]
:Hydrogen [3] Magnesium [1] Those giant sunglasses [5]

==Trivia==
*Even though this comic was released on a Thursday, the scheduled Friday comic [[1734: Reductionism]] was still released as planned.
**This was also the first time this occurred on xkcd - see [[1734:_Reductionism#Trivia|this trivia item]] from the next comic.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1733: Solar Spectrum

2016-09-18T05:50:08Z

NotLock: /* Table of spectrum */

{{comic
| number = 1733
| date = September 15, 2016
| title = Solar Spectrum
| image = solar_spectrum.png
| titletext = I still don't understand why the Sun paid the extra money for Transitions lenses.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Someone knowing more about the Fraunhofer lines could maybe improve the [[#Table of spectrum|table]] (mainly the comments).}}
This comic's release day was postponed from the scheduled Wednesday release to a [[:Category:Thursday comics|Thursday release]] because [[Randall]]] noticed the extreme popularity of the previous comic on Monday: [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. Randall even explained this in the header text, see [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|this trivia item]] from the previous comic.

This comic depicts the {{w|Fraunhofer lines}}, i.e. the {{w|spectral lines}} seen when sunlight is split in a {{w|spectrometer}}. These appear as black gaps in the rainbow of light, caused by light being absorbed by {{w|Chemical element|elements}} in the {{w|Sun}}. The frequencies of light that an atom absorbs depend on the exact arrangement of electron orbitals around it - because each element has a different pattern of orbitals, each one has a distinctive pattern in the absorption spectrum. The chart shows most of the main lines in the visible spectrum and identifies the elements linked to them.

The image of the Fraunhofer lines from Wikipedia is shown below in the section with a [[#Table of spectrum|table]] of these lines. Here it can be seen that all the lines that are labeled with elements are correctly labeled. Also all lines shown in the part of the spectrum included in the comic are included. Ten of the lines included are not labeled in the picture on Wikipedia (at least not with an element, two of the three "h" labels are not in the table on Wikipedia). Six of these also have no label in the comic. But the other four line's label ''Those giant sunglasses'' constitute the joke of the comic. There seem to be only one clear error in the comic and that is the fifth line labeled Sunglasses, the middle of the lines, which is actually a Hydrogen line (C in the picture below). But the line next to it to the right is one of those not labeled in either pictures and it seems likely that it was this line Randall meant to be a Sunglass line...

All ten extra lines (including both the labeled and unlabeled ones) seem to correspond to the [http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/~koppen/discharge/silicon.jpg spectrum of silicon], and '''the joke then refers to the {{w|silicon dioxide}} (aka glass)''' used in the lenses of the Sun's sunglasses. Of course, this means that the glasses have been ionized and turned into plasma by the heat of the sun.

The idea of a sun with sunglasses is a reference to pictures/clipart of the sun wearing sunglasses, often used to denote good weather. But Randall has specifically used this picture in his [[what if?]] ''{{what if|115|Into the Sun}}'' in the fourth image. The title text of that image even references the fact that those sunglasses will block the light to Earth:
:A partial solar eclipse is when the Earth moves across the part of the Sun blocked by its sunglasses.
So this comic is a direct callback to this what if? post.

There is another joke in drawing a sun with sunglasses because sunglasses are meant to protect your eyes from the sun, so what should they protect the Sun's eye from, Star light...? Also, any glasses worn by the sun, would they not become sun glasses?

{{w|Transitions Optical|Transitions}}® is a brand of {{w|Photochromic lens|photochromic lenses}}; however, photochromic lenses are often referred to as "transition lenses", so the title text does not necessarily refer to the brand. Photochromic lenses are a type of plastic lens used in prescription spectacles that allow the lens to turn dark when exposed to UV light such as that found in sunlight. The sun choosing to get transition lens would prove a waste of money as the lenses would be permanently transitioned to be dark, so a pair of ordinary sunglasses would likely have proved more cost effective. (Always assuming they do not turn into plasma when getting close to the sun...)

===Table of spectrum===
:This is the official image for {{w|Fraunhofer lines}} (solar spectrum) on Wikipedia:
:[[File:Fraunhofer_lines_From_Wikipedia.png|upright=.9]]
:The graph is a typical spectral lines chart, with a long rainbow band (from {{w|ultraviolet}} to the left to {{w|infrared}} on the right both colors appearing black as they are not visible.) The black lines in it, indicating the traces of different elements. Noe that the comic only covers the visible part of this spectrum.

*In the table below are the official labels from the picture above. If there are no label this is noted with ''none''.
**'''Note that they are labeled from right to left!'''
*Then the element causing the line is mentioned. ''Unlabeled'' is used if the line is not mentioned in the table from Wikipedia.
*Then follows the wavelength. It is given with decimals if it is noted in the table from Wikipedia. Else it has been read off manually from the picture above.
*Then follows the label given in this comic, with unlabeled meaning that it is not labeled in the comic but still shown.
**If the line is not even included in the xkcd comic "N/A" will be used.
**A number will be given after the xkcd label listing which number line on xkcd that has used this label. (Note going from left to right in the numbering).
*Finally a comment can be made on this.
**If the two labels fit, then ''agreement'' is noted.
{| class="wikitable"
!Designation
!Element
!Wavelength ({{w|nanometer|nm}})
!xkcd label
!Comment
|-
|A
|{{w|Oxygen|O}}
|759.370
|N/A
|This line is outside comics range. So are the two unlabeled lines shown in the spectrum in the picture above around 720 and 730 nm. There are also even more oxygen lines further out in the infrared part of the spectrum which is not even included in the picture above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|690
|Those giant sunglasses 5
|This is the fifth of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually
|-
|B
|O
|686.719
|Oxygen 2
|Agreement
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|577
|Those giant sunglasses 4
|This is the fourth of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|660
|Unlabeled
|This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually. It seems like this one was supposed to be one of the sunglasses lines, and then by mistake the arrow points to the labeled line C below.
|-
|C
|{{w|hydrogen|H}}
|656.281
|Those giant sunglasses 3
|This is the third of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This is actually the {{w|Hα}} line belonging to the {{w|hydrogen}} {{w|Balmer series}}. Seems like a mistake, and more likely it was meant for the arrow to point to the unlabeled line mentioned here above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|645
|Those giant sunglasses 2
|This is the second of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|a
|O
|627.661
|Oxygen 1
|Agreement
|-
|D1
|{{w|Sodium|Na}}
|589.592
|Sodium 2
|Agreement. There are only one label (Sodium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|D2
|Na
|588.995
|Sodium 1
|Agreement. There are only one label (Sodium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|D3 or d
|{{w|Helium|He}}
|587.5618
|N/A
|This line is so close to the nearest sodium line that only one line is visible, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|577
|Those giant sunglasses 1
|This is the first of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|554
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|549
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|537
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|E2
|{{w|Iron|Fe}}
|527.039
|Iron 5
|Agreement.
|-
|b1
|{{w|Magnesium|Mg}}
|518.362
|Magnesium 2
|Agreement. See b below. There are only one label (Magnesium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|b2
|Mg
|517.270
|N/A
|These two magnesium lines are so close that only one is visible in the spectrum, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above.
|-
|b3
|Fe
|516.891
|N/A
|This iron line and the next magnesium line are so close that only one is visible in the spectrum, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above. There is only one label for both visible lines showing them to be magnesium, even though there are four lines one of which (this one is Iron).
|-
|b4
|Mg
|516.733
|Magnesium 1
|Agreement. See b above. There are only one label (Magnesium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|c
|Fe
|495.761
|Iron 4
|Agreement.
|-
|F
|H
|486.134
|Hydrogen 3
|Agreement with {{w|Hβ}}.
|-
|h
|Unlabeled
|476
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is also unlabeled in the table on Wikipedia. "h" is used between H and g below. The wavelength is manually read off from the image.
|-
|d
|Fe
|466.814
|Iron 3
|Agreement.
|-
|e
|Fe
|438.355
|Iron 2
|Agreement.
|-
|f
|H
|434.047
|Hydrogen 2
|Agreement with {{w|Hγ}}.
|-
|G
|Fe
|430.790
|Iron 1
|Agreement.
|-
|g
|{{w|Calcium|Ca}}
|430.774
|Calcium 3
|Agreement.
|-
|h
|H
|410.175
|Hydrogen 1
|Agreement with {{w|Hδ}}.
|-
|H
|Ca
|396.847
|Calcium 2
|Agreement.
|-
|K
|Ca
|393.366
|Calcium 1
|Agreement.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|389
|N/A
|This is the last line in the picture above. It is not included in the comic. There are even more lines outside the visible spectrum deeper into the ultraviolet which are not even shown in the picture above.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A chart shows the visible colored spectrum of the sun from deep violet to deep red. Along the spectrum are shown 28 black spectral lines of different thickness. Above the chart is a caption:]
:The Sun's spectral lines

:[Above the chart there are four and below the chart there are two labels, each label has one or more arrows pointing to different black lines. The two that has only one arrow points to two close lines marking them both. Only 22 lines are labeled like this, the other 6 are not labeled. The labels in reading order, with the number of arrows noted behind in square brackets:]
:Calcium [3] Iron [5] Sodium [1] Oxygen [2]
:Hydrogen [3] Magnesium [1] Those giant sunglasses [5]

==Trivia==
*Even though this comic was released on a Thursday, the scheduled Friday comic [[1734: Reductionism]] was still released as planned.
**This was also the first time this occurred on xkcd - see [[1734:_Reductionism#Trivia|this trivia item]] from the next comic.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1733: Solar Spectrum

2016-09-18T05:48:52Z

NotLock: /* Table of spectrum */

{{comic
| number = 1733
| date = September 15, 2016
| title = Solar Spectrum
| image = solar_spectrum.png
| titletext = I still don't understand why the Sun paid the extra money for Transitions lenses.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Someone knowing more about the Fraunhofer lines could maybe improve the [[#Table of spectrum|table]] (mainly the comments).}}
This comic's release day was postponed from the scheduled Wednesday release to a [[:Category:Thursday comics|Thursday release]] because [[Randall]]] noticed the extreme popularity of the previous comic on Monday: [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. Randall even explained this in the header text, see [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|this trivia item]] from the previous comic.

This comic depicts the {{w|Fraunhofer lines}}, i.e. the {{w|spectral lines}} seen when sunlight is split in a {{w|spectrometer}}. These appear as black gaps in the rainbow of light, caused by light being absorbed by {{w|Chemical element|elements}} in the {{w|Sun}}. The frequencies of light that an atom absorbs depend on the exact arrangement of electron orbitals around it - because each element has a different pattern of orbitals, each one has a distinctive pattern in the absorption spectrum. The chart shows most of the main lines in the visible spectrum and identifies the elements linked to them.

The image of the Fraunhofer lines from Wikipedia is shown below in the section with a [[#Table of spectrum|table]] of these lines. Here it can be seen that all the lines that are labeled with elements are correctly labeled. Also all lines shown in the part of the spectrum included in the comic are included. Ten of the lines included are not labeled in the picture on Wikipedia (at least not with an element, two of the three "h" labels are not in the table on Wikipedia). Six of these also have no label in the comic. But the other four line's label ''Those giant sunglasses'' constitute the joke of the comic. There seem to be only one clear error in the comic and that is the fifth line labeled Sunglasses, the middle of the lines, which is actually a Hydrogen line (C in the picture below). But the line next to it to the right is one of those not labeled in either pictures and it seems likely that it was this line Randall meant to be a Sunglass line...

All ten extra lines (including both the labeled and unlabeled ones) seem to correspond to the [http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/~koppen/discharge/silicon.jpg spectrum of silicon], and '''the joke then refers to the {{w|silicon dioxide}} (aka glass)''' used in the lenses of the Sun's sunglasses. Of course, this means that the glasses have been ionized and turned into plasma by the heat of the sun.

The idea of a sun with sunglasses is a reference to pictures/clipart of the sun wearing sunglasses, often used to denote good weather. But Randall has specifically used this picture in his [[what if?]] ''{{what if|115|Into the Sun}}'' in the fourth image. The title text of that image even references the fact that those sunglasses will block the light to Earth:
:A partial solar eclipse is when the Earth moves across the part of the Sun blocked by its sunglasses.
So this comic is a direct callback to this what if? post.

There is another joke in drawing a sun with sunglasses because sunglasses are meant to protect your eyes from the sun, so what should they protect the Sun's eye from, Star light...? Also, any glasses worn by the sun, would they not become sun glasses?

{{w|Transitions Optical|Transitions}}® is a brand of {{w|Photochromic lens|photochromic lenses}}; however, photochromic lenses are often referred to as "transition lenses", so the title text does not necessarily refer to the brand. Photochromic lenses are a type of plastic lens used in prescription spectacles that allow the lens to turn dark when exposed to UV light such as that found in sunlight. The sun choosing to get transition lens would prove a waste of money as the lenses would be permanently transitioned to be dark, so a pair of ordinary sunglasses would likely have proved more cost effective. (Always assuming they do not turn into plasma when getting close to the sun...)

===Table of spectrum===
:This is the official image for {{w|Fraunhofer lines}} (solar spectrum) on Wikipedia:
:[[File:Fraunhofer_lines_From_Wikipedia.png|upright=90]]
:The graph is a typical spectral lines chart, with a long rainbow band (from {{w|ultraviolet}} to the left to {{w|infrared}} on the right both colors appearing black as they are not visible.) The black lines in it, indicating the traces of different elements. Noe that the comic only covers the visible part of this spectrum.

*In the table below are the official labels from the picture above. If there are no label this is noted with ''none''.
**'''Note that they are labeled from right to left!'''
*Then the element causing the line is mentioned. ''Unlabeled'' is used if the line is not mentioned in the table from Wikipedia.
*Then follows the wavelength. It is given with decimals if it is noted in the table from Wikipedia. Else it has been read off manually from the picture above.
*Then follows the label given in this comic, with unlabeled meaning that it is not labeled in the comic but still shown.
**If the line is not even included in the xkcd comic "N/A" will be used.
**A number will be given after the xkcd label listing which number line on xkcd that has used this label. (Note going from left to right in the numbering).
*Finally a comment can be made on this.
**If the two labels fit, then ''agreement'' is noted.
{| class="wikitable"
!Designation
!Element
!Wavelength ({{w|nanometer|nm}})
!xkcd label
!Comment
|-
|A
|{{w|Oxygen|O}}
|759.370
|N/A
|This line is outside comics range. So are the two unlabeled lines shown in the spectrum in the picture above around 720 and 730 nm. There are also even more oxygen lines further out in the infrared part of the spectrum which is not even included in the picture above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|690
|Those giant sunglasses 5
|This is the fifth of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually
|-
|B
|O
|686.719
|Oxygen 2
|Agreement
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|577
|Those giant sunglasses 4
|This is the fourth of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|660
|Unlabeled
|This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually. It seems like this one was supposed to be one of the sunglasses lines, and then by mistake the arrow points to the labeled line C below.
|-
|C
|{{w|hydrogen|H}}
|656.281
|Those giant sunglasses 3
|This is the third of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This is actually the {{w|Hα}} line belonging to the {{w|hydrogen}} {{w|Balmer series}}. Seems like a mistake, and more likely it was meant for the arrow to point to the unlabeled line mentioned here above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|645
|Those giant sunglasses 2
|This is the second of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|a
|O
|627.661
|Oxygen 1
|Agreement
|-
|D1
|{{w|Sodium|Na}}
|589.592
|Sodium 2
|Agreement. There are only one label (Sodium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|D2
|Na
|588.995
|Sodium 1
|Agreement. There are only one label (Sodium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|D3 or d
|{{w|Helium|He}}
|587.5618
|N/A
|This line is so close to the nearest sodium line that only one line is visible, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|577
|Those giant sunglasses 1
|This is the first of the five xkcd sunglass lines. This line is not labeled in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|554
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|549
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|537
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is not labeled either in the comic or in the picture above. Wavelength read off manually.
|-
|E2
|{{w|Iron|Fe}}
|527.039
|Iron 5
|Agreement.
|-
|b1
|{{w|Magnesium|Mg}}
|518.362
|Magnesium 2
|Agreement. See b below. There are only one label (Magnesium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|b2
|Mg
|517.270
|N/A
|These two magnesium lines are so close that only one is visible in the spectrum, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above.
|-
|b3
|Fe
|516.891
|N/A
|This iron line and the next magnesium line are so close that only one is visible in the spectrum, so only one is shown, both in the comic and in the picture above. There is only one label for both visible lines showing them to be magnesium, even though there are four lines one of which (this one is Iron).
|-
|b4
|Mg
|516.733
|Magnesium 1
|Agreement. See b above. There are only one label (Magnesium) in the comic above these two close lines.
|-
|c
|Fe
|495.761
|Iron 4
|Agreement.
|-
|F
|H
|486.134
|Hydrogen 3
|Agreement with {{w|Hβ}}.
|-
|h
|Unlabeled
|476
|Unlabeled
|Agreement. This line is also unlabeled in the table on Wikipedia. "h" is used between H and g below. The wavelength is manually read off from the image.
|-
|d
|Fe
|466.814
|Iron 3
|Agreement.
|-
|e
|Fe
|438.355
|Iron 2
|Agreement.
|-
|f
|H
|434.047
|Hydrogen 2
|Agreement with {{w|Hγ}}.
|-
|G
|Fe
|430.790
|Iron 1
|Agreement.
|-
|g
|{{w|Calcium|Ca}}
|430.774
|Calcium 3
|Agreement.
|-
|h
|H
|410.175
|Hydrogen 1
|Agreement with {{w|Hδ}}.
|-
|H
|Ca
|396.847
|Calcium 2
|Agreement.
|-
|K
|Ca
|393.366
|Calcium 1
|Agreement.
|-
|None
|Unlabeled
|389
|N/A
|This is the last line in the picture above. It is not included in the comic. There are even more lines outside the visible spectrum deeper into the ultraviolet which are not even shown in the picture above.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A chart shows the visible colored spectrum of the sun from deep violet to deep red. Along the spectrum are shown 28 black spectral lines of different thickness. Above the chart is a caption:]
:The Sun's spectral lines

:[Above the chart there are four and below the chart there are two labels, each label has one or more arrows pointing to different black lines. The two that has only one arrow points to two close lines marking them both. Only 22 lines are labeled like this, the other 6 are not labeled. The labels in reading order, with the number of arrows noted behind in square brackets:]
:Calcium [3] Iron [5] Sodium [1] Oxygen [2]
:Hydrogen [3] Magnesium [1] Those giant sunglasses [5]

==Trivia==
*Even though this comic was released on a Thursday, the scheduled Friday comic [[1734: Reductionism]] was still released as planned.
**This was also the first time this occurred on xkcd - see [[1734:_Reductionism#Trivia|this trivia item]] from the next comic.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1732: Earth Temperature Timeline

2016-09-14T02:27:48Z

NotLock: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 1732
| date = September 12, 2016
| title = Earth Temperature Timeline
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = earth_temperature_timeline.png
| titletext = [After setting your car on fire] Listen, your car's temperature has changed before.
}}

==Explanation==
{{TOC}}
{{incomplete|[[#Table of all elements|Table for explanations]] now ready to be filled out. Please remove this tag only when everything is explained.}}
In the past 100 years, human action produced lots of {{w|CO₂ emissions}}, which have caused a rise in average global temperature through the {{w|greenhouse effect}}. This is called {{w|global warming}} and is part of a {{w|climate change}}, a subject that has become a [[:Category:Climate change|recurrent subject]] on xkcd. There are still many people who claim that this is not happening, or at least that it is not caused by any human actions, called "climate change deniers". One argument of theirs is that global warming is happening for natural causes, summarized with the phrase "temperature has changed before". This comic is a direct, but much more thorough, follow up on the previous global warming comic: [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]].

This comic shows that while temperature changes have indeed occurred before, the speed of the current temperature rise is much, much faster than those seen (actually: estimated) in the previous thousands of years.

This comic is a [[:Category:Timelines|timeline]] on how the temperature has changed since 20,000 BCE to the present day and extrapolated 84 years on from present day of the release of the comic (2016) to 2100 depending on the choice of actions to stop CO₂ emission that is taken now or never. It is meant to contrast the slow-paced natural changes with the rapid temperature rise in the recent years. The effect is achieved by forcing the reader to scroll endlessly through slow, building-up changes and then face them with an almost instantaneous, quick rise towards the end. The temperature curve is a dotted line most of the time, but from about 1850 to present day (2016) the measurement data is good enough to let the curve become a solid line indicating that this is not an estimate. Before 1850 the temperature is an estimate bases on the [[#Sources|sources]] given. And likewise into the future the curve is also dotted as this is predictions. And here there are even three possible outcomes depending on how seriously politicians and other influential people (and the population of Earth) take knowledge (and comics) like this.

Below in the [[#Table of all elements|table]] each entry will be noted and explained (in time). This is one of the comics where Randall cites his [[#Sources|sources]] like he did for one of his other very large comics [[980: Money]].

The title text compares the saying that "the temperature has changed before" comparing temperature changes over thousands of years to the rapid global warming over the last century with saying that the "small" changes to the temperature a car experiences over the years of normal usage should not make you worried over the rapid temperature increase that happens when someone sets your car on fire. A related joke was used recently in [[1693: Oxidation]].

===Table of all elements===
*Here is table (to be filled out) of all elements with explanations including reading of temperature and year for each event from the curve.
*Table ready for use:
**The year group is just an easy way to find the section.
**The actual year of an event should be read off more precisely on the chart.
***Suggestion for doing this:
***Top part of element
***Central part of element
***Other?
**Element is a description mainly taken from the transcript. Feel free to remove redundant information, but the guess was that getting the table ready was the most important feature for getting the explanation started.
**T (°C) should be read of for the curve for every element.
**Explanation explains itself.
{| class="wikitable"
!Year group
!Element
!Year
!T (°C)
!Explanation
|-
| rowspan="2"| 20000 BCE
| [An arrow goes from the dotted line to the central line at 0°C. In the middle of the line there is a temperature label:] 4.3°C At the start of our timeline, 22,000 years ago, Earth is 4°C colder than during the late 20th century. || 20000 BCE || -4.3 || The temperature at the beginning of the chart compared to the average from 1961-1990 that we compare temperatures with today.
|-

| {{w|Boston}} is buried under almost a mile of ice, and the {{w|glaciers}} reach as far south as {{w|New York City}}. [The Statue of Liberty is shown in front of a glacier front. A guy with a white {{w|knit cap}} is seen walking in a snowy landscape. The skyline of Boston is shown under a half a mile of ice.] || 19700 BCE || -4.3 || The Boston image is directly taken from [[1225: Ice Sheets]] about the ice age glacier coverage and the guy with the white knit cap could be the guy from [[1321: Cold]] also about global warming. It shows what a difference 4 degree in global temperature means (massive effect), as opposed to what four degree means on a daily weather wise scale (nothing!). [[Randall]] lives in Boston. It was also shown buried in ice in [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]]. Knit caps have only been used a few times in xkcd, most prominently on [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|Knit Cap Girl]] in [[1350: Lorenz]], see her section for more details.

|-
| rowspan="3"| 19500 BCE
| But the world is about to warm up. || || || This is sarcasm; the natural warming process takes thousands of years.
|-
| By this time, humans have already spread across Africa, Eurasia, and Australia. || || ||
|-
| They’ve created painting, pottery, rope, and bows and arrows, but haven’t developed writing or farming. || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 19000 BCE
| Changes in the Earth’s orbit mean that more sunlight reaches the polar ice… || || ||{{w|Milankovitch cycles}} are repeated climate variations on a timescale of tens of millennia.
|-
| [A line chart with a labeled Y-axis "Summer sun W/m2 at 60°N" with three labeled ticks ranging from 450-550. The curve starts up and then goes down five times and up four times ending down. There is one plateau towards the end compared to the rest of the curve where the ups and downs are quite alike.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 18500 BCE
| [A map of the world. At the top is a light gray area covering North America, Greenland and northern Europe and most of the northern part of Russia. A similar gray area covers Antarctica. The gray areas are labeled as ice.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 18000 BCE
| …And the ice sheets start to melt. || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 17500 BCE
| Temperatures have been creeping upward, but around this point, CO2 levels start to climb…|| || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 17000 BCE
| …And then the warming speeds up. || || ||Again, sarcasm about the slow speed of natural climate change compared to modern anthropogenic warming.

|-
| rowspan="1"| 16500 BCE
| [Cueball is standing with a spear just the right of the graph talking to a rabbit.] Cueball: Still pretty cold. || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 16000 BCE
| [Megan points to the graph to the right of her and between her and Ponytail standing on the other side. Mean is the first drawing on the left side of the dotted curve, which has hardly moved since the beginning, only to just on the other side of 4°C.] || || ||
|-
| [In the right part of the chart is an explanation of the data. Below the first two lines there are four drawings each showing possible temperature swings in reality compared to the smoothed data that represents the dotted curve of the entire chart. The dotted curve is shown in all four drawings and a thin line is shown running along it but with much more fluctuation left and right on the first two, a large spike right on the third and a large bump way right on the fourth. Above these there are two labels. The first labels is inside a bracket that covers the first three, and the last label is for the last drawing. Below is a list of sources.] Limits of this data: Short warming or cooling spikes might be “smoothed out” by these reconstructions but only if they’re small or brief enough. Possible Unlikely Reconstructions are from Shakun (2012) and Marcott (2013), scaled to Annan + Hargreaves (2013) estimate for the last glacial period. || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 15500 BCE
| In what is now France, humans paint murals on the walls of the Lascaux caves [Hairy paints three animals, two with horns, and two humans, Cueball holding hand with Hairy who has a spear. On the other side of the central line Megan writes three letters, the last of which is reversed:] NIИ || || || A reference to the industrial techno band {{w|Nine Inch Nails}}.

|-
| rowspan="1"| 15000 BCE
| Ice sheets around Alaska shrink, exposing a land bridge between Asia and North America [From around the bottom if this section and down to 11500 BCE the dotted curve moved steadily to the right towards warmed temperature peaking close to -1.5°C. Before this the temperature had not moved much away from that at the start.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 14500 BCE
| [Cueball walks right looking back at the graph behind him. Megan walks in front of him pointing further right.] | Cueball: Cool. || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 14000 BCE
| The edge of the ice withdraws from New York City and retreats North. || || ||
|-
| [A large glacier front speaks in a speech bubble with an arrow pointing at it. Behind is there are four peaks in the horizon and in front of it three small melting pools and some rocks on the ground.] Glacier: ''That’s it! I’m moving to Canada!'' || || || When US citizens are unhappy with changes in their country, they sometimes say they will move to Canada in protest.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 13500 BCE
| Humans domesticate dogs (Date uncertain, may be much earlier) || || ||
|-
|| [Megan and Cueball is watching a wolf looking at them.] Megan: Okay, you can live in our homes and we’ll feed you, but we’ll still get mad if you poop on the floor. Wolf: Deal. Cueball: And we get to breed you to be tiny and dress you in little costumes. Wolf: …Wait. || || || See {{w|Origin of the domestic dog}}. They are often bred for size and occasionally made to wear clothing.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 13000 BCE
| {{w|Woolly Rhino}} goes extinct || || ||
|-
| Oregon is scoured by huge floods as glacial dams burst and lakes of meltwater flow to the sea || || || See {{w|Missoula Floods}}

|-
| rowspan="1"| 12500 BCE
| Ice sheets withdraw from Chicago || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 12000 BCE
| Humans settle Abu Hureyra in Syria || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 11500 BCE
| [An arrow on the left side of the dotted curve is pointing down along the dotted curve and to the left indicate temperature is declining again, meaning the dotted curve now moves left to colder temperatures. This only continues until 10500 BCE. It is only the second time something is noted on the left side after Megan at 16000 BCE] Temperatures start to decline, mainly in the Northern hemisphere This may be caused by changes in ocean circulation due to the floods of cold fresh meltwater flowing into the Atlantic as the North American ice sheet melts. This cooler period is called the {{w|Younger Dryas}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 11000 BCE
| [This is the first text to the left of the dotted curve:] Humans reach Argentina || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 10500 BCE
| [An arrow pointing down along the right side of the dotted curve and to the right indicate temperature is increasing again, meaning the dotted curve now moves right to hotter temperatures. This continues until 8000 BCE where it levels out just above 0°C.] Warming resumes || || ||
|-
| Human settlements at Jericho || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 10000 BCE
| First development of farming || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 9500 BCE
| Saber-toothed cat goes extinct || || ||
|-
| Horses disappear from North America || || ||

|-
| rowspan="4"| 9000 BCE
| | Last North American Pokémon go extinct [Cueball with a speak and Megan is looking up at this last “fact”.] Megan: That is not a real fact. || || || As prehistoric [[Megan]] states, this is not a real fact. Pokémon are still thriving throughout the entire world (see [[1705: Pokémon Go]]), and are most commonly found near [http://time.com/4443225/pokemon-go-affluent-white-neighborhoods-report/ affluent first world neighborhoods].
|-
| Temperatures reach modern levels || || ||
|-
| Rising seas cut off the land bridge between North America and Asia || || ||
|-
| {{w|Cattle}} domesticated || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 8500 BCE
| Ice sheets retreat across the Canadian border || || ||
|-
| Temperatures start to level out slightly above 1961-1990 levels || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 8000 BCE
| [The above sentence breaks over the 8000 BCE line. From here a maximum in temperature on the chart is reached at 0.5°C which will not be overtaken until 2000 CE. It stays almost constant here until 5000 BCE where a slight cooling begins.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 7500 BCE
| This warm, stable period is called the {{w|Holocene Climate Optimum}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Jiahu}} settled in China || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 7000 BCE
| Final collapse of the North American ice sheet leads to rapid 2-4m sea level rise… || || ||
|-
| [A small arrow points down and left to the right of the dotted curve. There is a small decrease in temperature but it is very small and would have been missed without the arrow and label.] …And a period of cooling in the Northern hemisphere || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 6500 BCE
| As seas rise to near their modern levels, Britain is cut off from mainland Europe || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 6000 BCE
| Humans develop copper metalworking || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 5500 BCE
| Massive volcanic eruption in Oregon creates crater lake || || ||
|-
| {{w|Gold}} metalworking || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 5000 BCE
| {{w|Invention of the wheel}} || || ||
|-
| [To the right of the dotted curve is an arrow pointing down and slightly left. From here temperature decreases very slowly but steadily from 0.5°C until 1000 BCE where a stable plateau is reached around 0°C.] Earth begins to cool slowly mainly due to regular cycles in its orbit || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 4500 BCE
| Proto-Indo-European language develops || || ||
|-
| [To the right of the curve Ponytail holds up a hand towards Cueball.] Ponytail: Let’s make out language heavily inflected, so future students have to memorize a zillion verb endings! Cueball: Okay! || || ||[[Ponytail]] refers to [[1709: Inflection]].
|-
| Permanent settlements in the fertile crescent || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 4000 BCE
| Horses domesticated || || ||
|-
| {{w|Minoan civilization|Minoan}} culture arises on Crete || || ||

|-
| rowspan="4"| 3500 BCE
| {{w|Egyptian mummification}} || || ||
|-
| Rise of the Indus Valley civilization || || ||
|-
| Invention of writing in Sumer “prehistory” ends, “history” begins || || ||
|-
| Earliest human whose name we know (Pharaoh Iry-Hor in Egypt) || || ||

|-
| rowspan="5"| 3000 BCE
| {{w|Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors}} period in China || || ||
|-
| {{w|Gilgamesh}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Imhotep}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Maya civilization|Mayan}} culture emerges || || ||
|-
| {{w|Egyptian pyramids|Great Pyramid}} constructed || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 2500 BCE
| {{w|Corded Ware culture}} in Europe || || ||
|-
| [To the left of the curve two rock musicians with long hair and electrical guitars are standing on either side of a small gate made of three slabs of stone, one on top of the other two standing stones.] Stonehenge completed || 2250 || || The drawing is a reference to the 1984 movie "This is Spinal Tap" (A documentary/parody featuring the fake metal band "Spinal Tap", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/), the musicians order a Stone Henge prop for the stage, which turns out to be too small (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAXzzHM8zLw)
|-
| {{w|Chariots}} developed || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 2000 BCE
| {{w|Alphabetic writing}} developed in Egypt || || ||
|-
| Last mammoths on a tiny Siberian island go extinct || || ||
|-
| {{w|Minoan eruption}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="5"| 1500 BCE
| {{w|Iron smelting}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Olmec}} civilization develops in Central America || || ||
|-
| [A Trojan horse with two Cueball-like guys in front and a third standing on its back. Its back is at three Cueball’s height and its head rises to the level of the Cueball on its back. It stands on a platform with four wheel on the visible side. There is text on the horse] Setting of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' Text on horse: Not a trap || || ||
|-
| Invasion of the Sea peoples* * A real thing || || ||
|-
| {{w|Polynesians}} explore the Pacific Ocean || || ||

|-
| rowspan="8"| 1000 BCE
| [From 1000 BBC to 1000 CE the temperature is stable and very close to 0°C.] || || ||
|-
| {{w|Solomon}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Iliad}} and {{w|Odyssey}} composed || || ||
|-
| Rise of Greek city-states || || ||
|-
| {{w|Neo-Assyrian}} empire || || ||
|-
| First Olympics || || ||
|-
| {{w|Zapotec civilization|Zapotec}} writing in modern Mexico || || ||
|-
| {{w|Confucius}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="10"| 500 BCE
| The stuff in the 300 (film)|movie ''300'', but regular speed and with more clothing || || ||
|-
| {{w|Buddha}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Nazca Lines}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Alexander the Great}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Mayan hieroglyphics}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Ashoka the Great}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Paper}} invented || || ||
|-
| {{w|Asterix}} || || ||
|-
| {{w| Teotihuacan|Teotihuacán}} metropolis || || ||
|-
| {{w|Julius Caesar}} || || ||
|-

|-
| rowspan="8"|1 BCE 1 CE
| [At the year 0, there is instead two numbers for each of the two scales before (1 BCE) and after Christ (1 CE)] || || ||
|-
| {{w|Roman Empire}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Jesus}} || || ||
|-
| [To the left and erupting volcano.] {{w|Pompeii}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Three Kingdoms}} period || || ||
|-
| {{w|Gupta empire}} || || ||
|-
| Various groups take turns sacking Rome || || ||
|-
| {{w|Attila the Hun}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="4"| 500 CE
| {{w|Muhammad}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Tang Dynasty}} || || ||
|-
| [An arrow to the right of the dotted curve pointing down, takes a swing far out from the curve and then bends back again. The text label next to it breaks into the next 500 period. The dotted curve stays stable at 0°C along this arrow.] Medieval warm period in Europe and some northern regions (too regional to affect the global average much) || || ||
|-
| {{w|Leif Eriksson}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="7"| 1000 CE
| [The dotted curve moves to the left towards lower temperature reaching a minimum around 1650 of about -0.6°C at the Little Ice Age.] || || ||
|-
| [To the left a drawing of a compass with needle pointing the black end towards north west. There are labels for the four main directions (N, S, E, W) and a label next to it:] Magnetic compass navigation || || ||
|-
| {{w|Ghengis Khan}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Zheng He}}’s fleet explores Asia and Africa || || ||
|-
| {{w|Aztec Empire|Aztec Alliance}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Printing press}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Christopher Columbus|Columbus}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 1500 CE
| {{w|European Renaissance}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Shakespeare}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 1600
| {{w|Isaac Newton|Newton}} || || ||
|-
| [To the right of the dotted curve there is an arrow pointing down that makes a swing in towards the curve and then back out again. At -0.6°C this is the coldest it has been since 9500 BCE. It is labeled:] ”{{w|Little Ice Age}}” || || || This was not a true geologic Ice Age, just a slightly chilly period.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 1700
| {{w|Steam engines}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|United States Declaration of Independence|Unites States Independence}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 1800
| {{w|Industrial Revolution}} || || ||The beginning of the {{w|Anthropocene}} epoch.
|-
| {{w|Electrical telegraph|Telegraphs}} || || ||
|-
| [After this the dotted curve becomes solid.] || || || In the late 1800s, weather records became sufficiently accurate and widespread to greatly improve the precision of climate measurements.

|-
| rowspan="6"| 1900
| {{w|Airplanes}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|World Wars}} || || ||
|-
| [The solid line takes a step to the right close to 0°C. Over the rest of the 1900s it moves closer to 0°C crossing it before 2000 where it almost reaches the maximum temperature of 0.5 °C from earlier in 8000 BCE.] || || || This is what the previous 14000 pixels of comic has been leading up to. After a laborious 20 millennia of gradual and meandering climate change, it should be clear that a full degree of warming in a single century is unprecedented in human history, and very unlikely to be natural variation.
|-
| {{w|Fossil fuel}} CO2 emissions start rapidly increasing || || ||
|-
| {{w|Nuclear weapons}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Internet}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 2000
| {{w|Northwest Passage}} opens || || ||
|-
|[From here to present day the solid line increases rapidly and in 2016 present day is almost reaches 1°C, with about 0.8°C.] || || || [http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php?a=11&p=2 No, warming did not stop in 1998].

|-
| rowspan="3"| 2016
| | Present day || || ||
|-
| [From here the curve once again becomes dotted as this is the future. After one dot it splits in two and after the first two dots another split between them occurs forming three possible future dotted curves.] || || ||
|-
|The first curve bending down before the others, and thus to the right of the other two reaches about 1.2°C and then goes straight down and stops at the 2100 line. An arrow points to it from the left and a label is written partly before and the rest after the 2100 line to the left of the curve:] Best-case scenario assuming immediate massive action to limit emissions || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 2100
| [The middle curve bends a little down after reaching 1.3°C and then continues this path reaching 2°C in 2100. An arrow point from below to it and a label is written below the curve and below 2100 line:] Optimistic scenario|| || ||
|-
| [The last line continues along the path from the last 16 years of the solid line reaching 4.2°C at 2100, almost as far on the other side of 0°C in 150 years as it took 14000 years to move from the other side from the start of the chart. Another arrow point to this from below with a label below the curve and below 2100 line:] Current Path || || ||
|}

===Sources===
The image attributes climate data sources as "Shakun et al. (2012), Marcott et al. (2013), Annan and Hargreaves (2013), HadCRUT4, IPCC":
* Shakun et al. (2012) - [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7392/full/nature10915.html Nature], [http://www.atm.damtp.cam.ac.uk/mcintyre/shakun-co2-temp-lag-nat12.pdf (pdf)]
* Marcott et al. (2013) - [http://science.sciencemag.org/content/339/6124/1198 Science], [http://www.atm.damtp.cam.ac.uk/mcintyre/shakun-co2-temp-lag-nat12.pdf (pdf)]
* Annan and Hargreaves (2013) - [http://www.clim-past.net/9/367/2013/cp-9-367-2013.html Climate of the Past] [http://www.jamstec.go.jp/frsgc/research/d5/jdannan/LGM_temp.pdf (pdf)]
* {{w|HadCRUT#HadCRUT4 wikipedia|HadCRUT4}} - [http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcrut4/ Official site]
* {{w|Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change|IPCC}} -[http://www.ipcc.ch/ Official site]

==Transcript==
'''Note''' there are several spelling errors in the comic, so please do only correct spelling errors that are not part of the comic! See more in the [[#Trivia|trivia section]].
:[A large heading, followed by a sub-caption. Below that two lines with a statement in between:]
:<big>A timeline of Earth’s average temperature</big>
:since the last ice age glaciation
:When people say “The climate has changed before,” these are the kinds of changes they’re talking about.

:[A very long chart below the headings above is headed with a label for the scale of the X-axis above the chart. Below that a sub-caption. To the left an arrow down to the top of the chart pointing to the dotted curves starting point (at -4.3°C) with a label above the arrow. And arrow pointing left to the left of the center and another pointing right to the right of the center has labels. Below these is the temperature scale of the X-axis, with 9 ticks between the borders each with a label ranging from -4 to +4°C, but with another step in each direction not labeled towards to axis so the chart covers -5 to +5°C.]
:'''Temperature'''
: Compared to the 1961-1990 average
:Start
:Colder
:Warmer
:-4°C -3°C -2°C -1°C 0°C +1°C +2°C +3°C +4°C

:[To the right of the chart is a gray text standing on the side down along the outer boarder of the chart with the sources for the chart:]
: Source: Shakun et. al. (2012) , Marcott et. al. (2013), Annan and Hargreaves (2013) , HadCRUT4, IPCC 

:[The chart is split in 10 columns by the temperature scale and the borders. The two central columns are white, and then from there to the left the background becomes a faded color that changes from light blue to blue at the edge in four steps. Similarly to the right the color changes from light red to red. To the left there is a time scale taking 500 years leaps from 20,000 BCE all the way to year 1, where there are two years, one for BBC and one for CE. The 500 year leaps continue until 1500 CE and from there the steps are down to 100 years until 2100 with also present day 2016 labeled. After 1500 the CE is omitted. The labels stop there, but there is space below covering down to 2200 CE. There is clearly visible division line across the chart on the level of each of the 500 step, and fainter lines for each of the 100 steps all the way even though only the last 5 of these 100 steps are labeled. There is a similar clear line at 2016. Below each step on the Y-axis is noted, and then any text starting before the next step is noted below indented. If there are extra image belonging to text this is indented once more. The graph that the whole chart is about is a dotted line that begins at the “start” point mentioned above at -4.3°C and then begins to go straight down. It will change left and right all the way down. To being with all text and most drawings are to right of the dotted curve. Whenever something is to the left it will be noted. When it says to the left above something, and then nothing over the next, then the next will be to the right. Only at the very bottom are there more entries to the left than right. ]
:20000 BCE
::[An arrow goes from the dotted line to the central line at 0°C. In the middle of the line there is a temperature label:]
::4.3°C
::At the start of our timeline, 22,000 years ago, Earth is 4°C colder than during the late 20th century.
::Boston is buried under almost a mile of ice, and the glaciers reach as far south as New York City.
:::[The Statue of Liberty is shown in front of a glacier front. A very tiny Cueball is on top of the glacier. The drawing is labeled and so is also the glacier.]
:::New York
:::Ice
:::[A guy with a white knit cap is seen walking in a snowy landscape leaving black footprints behind him. He walks through the white central part of the chart.]
:::[The skyline of Boston is shown with two clear buildings among all the other. Above it is a line and in between this area has been filled with thin lines. The drawing is labeled and so is this area. Also the skyline has an arrow pointing at it with a label:]
:::Boston
:::Ice
:::Modern skyline

:19500 BCE
::But the world is about to warm up.
::By this time, humans have already spread across Africa, Eurasia, and Australia.
::They’ve created painting, pottery, rope, and bows and arrows, but haven’t developed writing or farming.

:19000 BCE
::Changes in the Earth’s orbit mean that more sunlight reaches the polar ice…
:::[A line chart with a labeled Y-axis with three labeled ticks. The curve starts up and then goes down five times and up four times ending down. There is one plateau towards the end compared to the rest of the curve where the ups and downs are quite alike.]
:::Summer sun W/m2 at 60°N
:::550
:::500
:::450

:18500 BCE
::[A map of the world. At the top is a light gray area covering North America, Greenland and northern Europe and most of the northern part of Russia. A similar gray area covers Antarctica. There are two labels in the gray area above and one in the gray area below:]
::Ice Ice
::Ice

:18000 BCE
::…And the ice sheets start to melt.

:17500 BCE
::Temperatures have been creeping upward, but around this point, CO2 levels start to climb…

:17000 BCE
::…And then the warming speeds up.

:16500 BCE
::[Cueball is standing with a spear just the right of the graph talking to a rabbit.]
::Cueball: Still pretty cold.

:16000 BCE
::[Megan points to the graph to the right of her and between her and Ponytail standing on the other side. Mean is the first drawing on the left side of the dotted curve, which has hardly moved since the beginning, only to just on the other side of 4°C.]
::[In the right part of the chart is an explanation of the data. Below the first two lines there are four drawings each showing possible temperature swings in reality compared to the smoothed data that represents the dotted curve of the entire chart. The dotted curve is shown in all four drawings and a thin line is shown running along it but with much more fluctuation left and right on the first two, a large spike right on the third and a large bump way right on the fourth. Above these there are two labels. The first labels is inside a bracket that covers the first three, and the last label is for the last drawing. Below is a list of sources.]
::Limits of this data:
::Short warming or cooling spikes might be “smoothed out” by these reconstructions but only if they’re small or brief enough.
:::Possible Unlikely
::Reconstructions are from Shakun (2012) and Marcott (2013), scaled to Annan + Hargreaves (2013) estimate for the last glacial period.

:15500 BCE
::In what is now France, humans paint murals on the walls of the Lascaux caves
::[Hairy paints three animals, two with horns, and two humans, Cueball holding hand with Hairy who has a spear. On the other side of the central line Megan writes three letters, the last of which is reversed.]
:::NIИ

:15000 BCE
::Ice sheets around Alaska shrink, exposing a land bridge between Asia and North America
::[From around the bottom if this section and down to 11500 BCE the dotted curve moved steadily to the right towards warmed temperature peaking close to -1.5°C. Before this the temperature had not moved much away from that at the start.]

:14500 BCE
::[Cueball walks right looking back at the graph behind him. Megan walks in front of him pointing further right.]
::Cueball: Cool.

:14000 BCE
::The edge of the ice withdraws from New York City and retreats North.
::[A large glacier front speaks in a speech bubble with an arrow pointing at it. Behind is there are four peaks in the horizon and in front of it three small melting pools and some rocks on the ground.]
::Glacier: ''That’s it! I’m moving to Canada!''

:13500 BCE
::Humans domesticate dogs
::(Date uncertain, may be much earlier)
::[Megan and Cueball is watching a wolf looking at them.]
::Megan: Okay, you can live in our homes and we’ll feed you, but we’ll still get mad f you poop on the floor.
::Wolf: Deal.
::Cueball: And we get to breed you to be tiny and dress you in little costumes.
::Wolf: …Wait.

:13000 BCE
::[Randall did not use the normal spelling for Woolly Rhino, but this is an accepted alternative spelling:]
::Wooly Rhino goes extinct
::Oregon is scoured by huge floods as glacial dams burst and lakes of meltwater flow to the sea

:12500 BCE
::Ice sheets withdraw from Chicago

:12000 BCE
::Humans settle Abu Hureyra in Syria

:11500 BCE
::[An arrow on the left side of the dotted curve is pointing down along the dotted curve and to the left indicate temperature is declining again, meaning the dotted curve now moves left to colder temperatures. This only continues until 10500 BCE. It is only the second time something is noted on the left side after Megan at 16000 BCE]
::Temperatures start to decline, mainly in the Northern hemisphere
::This may be caused by changes in ocean circulation due to the floods of cold fresh meltwater flowing into the Atlantic as the North American ice sheet melts.
::This cooler period is called the Younger Dryas

:11000 BCE
::[This is the first text to the left of the dotted curve:]
::Humans reach Argentina

:10500 BCE
::[An arrow pointing down along the right side of the dotted curve and to the right indicate temperature is increasing again, meaning the dotted curve now moves right to hotter temperatures. This continues until 8000 BCE where it levels out just above 0°C.]
::Warming resumes
::Human settlements at Jericho

:10000 BCE
::First development of farming

:9500 BCE
::Saber-toothed cat goes extinct
::[To the left:]
::Horses disappear from North America

:9000 BCE
::[To the left, Randall spelled Pokémon wrong:]
:::Last North American Pokemon go extinct
:::[Cueball with a speak and Megan is looking up at this last “fact”.]
:::Megan: That is not a real fact.
::Temperatures reach modern levels
::Rising seas cut off the land bridge between North America and Asia
::Cattle domesticated

:8500 BCE
::Ice sheets retreat across the Canadian border
::Temperatures start to level out slightly above 1961-1990 levels

:8000 BCE
::[The above sentence breaks over the 8000 BCE line. From here a maximum in temperature on the chart is reached at 0.5°C which will not be overtaken until 2000 CE. It stays almost constant here until 5000 BCE where a slight cooling begins.]

:7500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::This warm, stable period is called the Holocene Climate Optimum
::[To the left:]
::Jiahu settled in China

:7000 BCE
::Final collapse of the North American ice sheet leads to rapid 2-4m sea level rise…
::[A small arrow points down and left to the right of the dotted curve. There is a small decrease in temperature but it is very small and would have been missed without the arrow and label.]
::…And a period of cooling in the Northern hemisphere

:6500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::As seas rise to near their modern levels, Britain is cut off from mainland Europe

:6000 BCE
::Humans develop copper metalworking

:5500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Massive volcanic eruption in Oregon creates crater lake
::Gold metalworking

:5000 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Invention of the wheel
::[To the left. To the right of the dotted curve is an arrow pointing down and slightly left. From here temperature decreases very slowly but steadily from 0.5°C until 1000 BCE where a stable plateau is reached around 0°C.]
::Earth begins to cool slowly mainly due to regular cycles in its orbit

:4500 BCE
::[To the left:]
:: Proto-Indo-European language develops
:::[To the right of the curve Ponytail holds up a hand towards Cueball.]
:::Ponytail: Let’s make out language heavily inflected, so future students have to memorize a zillion verb endings!
:::Cueball: Okay!
::[To the left:]
::Permanent settlements in the fertile crescent

:4000 BCE
::Horses domesticated
::[To the left:]
::Minoan culture arises on Crete

:3500 BCE
::Egyptian mummification
::Rise of the Indus Valley civilization
::[To the left:]
::Invention of writing in Sumer “prehistory” ends, “history” begins
::Earliest human whose name we know
::(Pharaoh Iry-Hor in Egypt)

:3000 BCE
::''Three Sovereigns and five emperors'' period in China
::Gilgamesh
::[To the left:]
::Imhotep
::Mayan culture emerges
::[To the left:]
::Great Pyramid constructed

:2500 BCE
::Corded Ware culture in Europe
::[To the left of the curve two rock musicians with long hair and electrical guitars are standing on either side of a small gate made of three slabs of stone, one on top of the other two standing stones.]
::Stonehenge completed
::Chariots developed

:2000 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Alphabetic writing developed in Egypt
::Last mammoths on a tiny Siberian island go extinct
::[To the left:]
::Minoan eruption

:1500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Iron smelting
::Olmec civilization develops in Central America
::[A Trojan horse with two Cueball-like guys in front and a third standing on its back. Its back is at three Cueball’s height and its head rises to the level of the Cueball on its back. It stands on a platform with four wheel on the visible side. There is text on the horse]
:::Setting of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey''
:::Text on horse: Not a trap
::[To the left:]
::Invasion of the Sea peoples*
::* A real thing
::Polynesians explore the Pacific Ocean

:1000 BCE
::[From 1000 BBC to 1000 CE the temperature is stable and very close to 0°C.]
::[To the left:]
::Solomon
::[Randall spelled Iliad wrongly this time:]
::Illiad and Odyssey composed
::[To the left:]
::Rise of Greek city-states
::Neo-Assyrian empire
::[To the left:]
::First Olympics
::Zapotec writing in modern Mexico
::[To the left:]
::Confucius

:500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::The stuff in the 300 (film)|movie ''300'', but regular speed and with more clothing
::Buddha
::Nazca Lines
::[To the left:]
::Alexander the Great
::[To the left:]
::Mayan hieroglyphics
::Ashoka the Great
::[To the left:]
::Paper invented
::[To the left:]
::Asterix
::Teotihuacán metropolis
::[To the left:]
::Julius Caesar

:[At the year 0, there is instead two numbers for each of the two scales before and after Christ:]
:1 BCE
:1 CE
::[To the left:]
::Roman Empire
::Jesus
::[To the left and erupting volcano.]
::Pompeii
::Three Kingdoms period
::[To the left:]
::Gupta empire
::[To the left:]
::Various groups take turns sacking Rome
::[Randall spelled Attila wrong:]
::Atilla the Hun

:500 CE
::Muhammad
::[To the left:]
::Tang Dynasty
::[An arrow to the right of the dotted curve pointing down, takes a swing far out from the curve and then bends back again. The text label next to it breaks into the next 500 period. The dotted curve stays stable at 0°C along this arrow.]
::Medieval warm period in Europe and some northern regions (too regional to affect the global average much)
::[To the left:]
::Leif Eriksson

:1000 CE
::[The dotted curve moves to the left towards lower temperature reaching a minimum around 1650 of about -0.6°C at the Little Ice Age.]
::[To the left a drawing of a compass with needle pointing the black end towards north west. There are labels for the four main directions and a label next to it:]
:::N
:::E W
:::S
:::Magnetic compass navigation
::[To the left:]
::Ghengis Khan
::Zheng He’s fleet explores Asia and Africa
::[To the left:]
::Aztec Alliance
::[To the left:]
::Printing press
::[To the left:]
::Columbus

:1500 CE
::European Renaissance
::[To the left:]
::Shakespeare

:1600
::[To the left:]
::Newton
::[To the right of the dotted curve there is an arrow pointing down that makes a swing in towards the curve and then back out again. At -0.6°C this is the coldest it has been since 9500 BCE. It is labeled:]
::”Little Ice Age”

:1700
::Steam engines
::[To the left:]
::Unites States Independence

:1800
::Industrial Revolution
::[To the left:]
::Telegraphs
::[After this the dotted curve becomes solid.]

:1900
::[To the left, and on the line for 1900:]
::Airplanes
::[To the left:]
::World Wars
::[The solid line takes a step to the right close to 0°C. Over the rest of the 1900s it moves closer to 0°C crossing it before 2000 where it almost reaches the maximum temperature of 0.5 °C from earlier in 8000 BCE.]
::Fossil fuel CO2 emissions start rapidly increasing
::[To the left:]
::Nuclear weapons
::[To the left:]
::Internet

:2000
::Northwest Passage opens
::[From here to present day the solid line increases rapidly and in 2016 present day is almost reaches 1°C, with about 0.8°C.]

:2016
::[To the left on the line for 2016:]
::Present day
::[From here the curve once again becomes dotted as this is the future. After one dot it splits in two and after the first two dots another split between them occurs forming three possible future dotted curves. The first curve bending down before the others, and thus to the right of the other two reaches about 1.2°C and then goes straight down and stops at the 2100 line. An arrow points to it from the left and a label is written patly before and the rest after the 2100 line to the left of the curve:]
::Best-case scenario assuming immediate massive action to limit emissions

:2100
::[The middle curve bends a little down after reaching 1.3°C and then continues this path reaching 2°C in 2100. An arrow point from below to it and a label is written below the curve and below 2100 line:]
::Optimistic scenario
::[The last line continues along the path from the last 16 years of the solid line reaching 4.2°C at 2100, almost as far on the other side of 0°C in 150 years as it took 14000 years to move from the other side from the start of the chart. Another arrow point to this from below with a label below the curve and below 2100 line:]
::Current Path

==Trivia==
*There have been several ''[[:Category:Large drawings|large drawings]]'' in the history of xkcd, and also some that are bigger than this one (for instance [[1110: Click and Drag]].
**But among those that can be viewed in one go, without downloading a larger file or moving around, this is by far the longest.
**The next longest is probably [[482: Height]].
*The timeline starts at 20,000 BCE (22,000 years ago) and ends at 2100 CE, thus covering 22,100 years.
*There are several spelling mistakes.
**Most obvious is the second time Randall wrote the word "Iliad," because he just spelled it correctly at 1500 BCE and then spelled it ''Illiad'' at 1000 BCE with two "L"s.
**Attila the Hun becomes ''Atilla the Hun'' with only one t.
**Pokémon is spelled ''Pokemon'', but then again that is not so strange for Randall (see [[1647: Diacritics]]).
**Note that the fact that Woolly rhinoceros becomes ''Wooly rhino'' with only one l is not a spelling mistake but an alternative spelling of the word.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Music]] 
[[Category:Fiction]] 
[[Category:Sport]] 
[[Category:Religion]] 
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

Talk:1728: Cron Mail

2016-09-02T23:13:28Z

NotLock:

I think the "MAILTO" variable in "/etc/crontab" is meant, so only only cron-mails would go to this address, not all mails for the user

[[User:Rincewind|Rincewind]] ([[User talk:Rincewind|talk]]) 13:09, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

The huge question is whether adding an email message to crontab would result in cron producing even more mail - or whether it would cause cron to fail in some way. The latter would do damage by killing some (possibly critical) cron tasks - the former could rapidly fill up the hard drive with an exponentially-growing crontab. An intermediate situation would be that cron simply ignores the junk and continues to function as before - in which case Cueball's change will have little practical impact on disk space consumption - but probably gradually slow cron's crontab parser to a crawl, which would also have rather severe effects. On most Linux setups, the mail directories are on a different partition to /etc. There is often very little spare space on the partition with /etc on it - so it's likely that Cueball's change will eventually do terrible damage in that case too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.98|162.158.69.98]] 14:42, 2 September 2016 (UTC)
:On my Mint/Ubuntu/Debian-based Linux system, adding junk to /etc/crontab put a message is /var/log/syslog about "cron[1495]: (*system*) ERROR (Syntax error, this crontab file will be ignored)". So it looks like appending garbage to the crontab will just break cron entirely (or at least those handled by /etc/crontab; it may be private cron and /etc/cron.d/* jobs may continue to run, but cron.hourly, cron.daily, and cron.weekly jobs on my system are initiated through /etc/crontab so they would not run with a broken /etc/crontab). I don't know if other non-Debian distributions have a cron that behaves differently, however. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 15:18, 2 September 2016 (UTC)
:Seems like it wouldn't break the existing stuff, they'd still get run and then cron would start parsing the noise and complaining - the "intermediate" situation, though the "export MAILTO" seems wrong. If Cueball did it in his .bashrc, it might get into some of *his* cron jobs but unless it's in /etc/crontab (and there, no "export" is needed/used), it wouldn't matter. His jobs probably wouldn't have rights to write to /etc/crontab either. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.73|173.245.48.73]] 17:09, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

The current explanation misses a part of the joke present in Cueball's last statement: he is considering the cron program to be somehow sentient and able to make a decision between sending the email (is it really important?) and its self-preservation by not trashing its own config file. He is thus daring cron to continue sending emails at the risk of 'self-destruction'.

- I also feel like the part of the joke is the cron has been sending him useless mail for 15 years. So now, he is sending cron useless mail

This states it can be run as infrequently as once a year, however by using February 29th, you can have it run once every 4 years (exc ever 100 inc every 400). But I think you might be able to get better by also setting it to run on a day of the week. e.g. February 29th, which is a Monday, which would then (after this year) not run for another 28 years, next running on February 29th, 2044.

Should that be noted in the article or is it a needless complication? (Also, I don't know what day of the week is what for this syntax).[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 21:13, 2 September 2016 (UTC)
:That's interesting! but I don't think it's relevant to the joke. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 23:13, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1728: Cron Mail

2016-09-02T23:12:55Z

NotLock:

Talk:1386: People are Stupid

2016-08-12T03:36:54Z

NotLock:

On average yes, an individual is of average intelligence. But taken as a population of a whole, well, that's a different story entirely. Randall needs a vacation, ever since he jumped the shark with the dead baby it just feels like the downward trend is getting steeper. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.135|108.162.210.135]] 13:20, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
:I don't really think that he jumped the shark. I don't quite get what you are trying to say, and individual can't be of average intelligence. You must first define the average, if we take the mean intelligence of the whole population, then take a person from the sample, then we say that the individual is of average intelligence. You can't say people is stupid while referring to the whole population, because of the definition of stupid, if we take a sample of low IQ people then those people are going to be of average intelligence within the sample, the same goes to the whole population. So this comic is perfectly valid. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.192|108.162.212.192]] 04:50, 27 June 2014 (UTC)
::I know this is a lot later, but I believe that OP was referring to the difference between mean and median measures of intelligence. More than 50% of the population can be below average intelligence if the distribution is skewed right. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 03:36, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Isn't that a reference to the Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.119|103.22.200.119]] 04:49, 25 June 2014 (UTC)krayZpaving

White Hat being burned? This certainly will not end here.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.102.208|141.101.102.208]] 04:52, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

'''''Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.''''' This wiki is founded on the very principle that people are stupid. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 05:35, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: You make an intelligent point, which I both appreciate and like. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.50|108.162.222.50]] 13:41, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
::Awww, it's just a joke, it's not personal or anything! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:43, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

This comment is one that makes me scratch my head and wonder... surely Randall is able to see that intelligence is not a relative but rather an absolute thing (if one were to kill the 10% most intelligent people the rest wouldn't get dumber, nor smarter). Surely intelligence is not to be measured in units of the common denominator. Surely it is obvious that 2nd panel is a pure strawman. Sigh...
Oh and btw an IQ of 100 is the median, not the average. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.17|141.101.104.17]] 09:18, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: I am wondering if the explanation should not include a mention of the Median/Mean problem because it is entirely possible for a majority of a population to be above or below some mean (average) statistic depending on the distribution. Also stupidity is a standard that is not dependent on either median or mean.[[User:Sturmovik|Sturmovik]] ([[User talk:Sturmovik|talk]]) 11:46, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: The IQ of 100 is actually defined to be the median AND the average (and also the mode). It is also defined that the distibution around the IQ of 100 is a perfect bell curve. The IQ just tells you how many people in the world have your IQ (It is also defined that two values that have same distance from hundred, e.g. 80 and 120 have the same amount of people, 'cause it's a perfect bell curve (this means that there are as many people with IQ 120 as people with IQ 80). If the overall population gets more intelligent they have to make the IQ tests harder, so that 100 is again the average and median (This really happened). This and some other things are reasons why I think that IQ tests are BS. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.93.219|141.101.93.219]] 14:01, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
:: "A test device with numerous correlates measures an amount of environmental influences beside innate determinants, therefore bullshit"... What are your other objections to I.Q. testing? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.221|141.101.89.221]] 14:17, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

The mocking "award", which is an analogy of saying "intelligence isn't everything" (an EXTREMELY common cliche), reflects the fact that Randall, like just about anyone, is oblivious to the magnitude of the totality of positive correlates of intelligence, and even (TRIGGER WARNING, TABOO CONCEPT AHEAD) I.Q. Intelligence, I.Q., not only makes you happier, it also makes you more helpful to other people, more creative, more socially stable, better-to-do, less susceptible to mental illnesses, more likely to remember events in your life, etc. etc. etc... Basically, there isn't a positive trait or quality of life with which intelligence doesn't correlate. But people positively LOATHE awareness of how highly intelligence, in fact, matters. Hence the vehement denial whenever someone indicates its importance, all the "I know an intelligent person who is miserable/mean/...", all stressing of exceptions, all ridicule of the notion of intelligence in general, all the "don't think about it"-mentality, all writing off of I.Q. as "antiquated, grossly limited, racist, metric" rather than the extremely potent predictor that it is. tl;dr Randall at all, take time to actually STUDY intelligence or the g factor before you mock it like that. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.211|141.101.89.211]] 09:25, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: In other words (and this is going to be my last addendum to this note, because it is a vast subject), whenever people say (or imply, as in the comic's case) that "intelligence isn't everything", the question to ask in return is, "okay, now what is the degree to which intelligence enables, facilitates, contributes to, 'the rest' to which you're opposing intelligence here?". People minimise the depth and breadth of the intellectual substrate of achievement. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.211|141.101.89.211]] 09:33, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: Also, Randall (and everyone saying that) is being highly unjust in equating "people aren't smart" with "people aren't as smart as me". A perfectly valid alternative sense is, "people aren't as smart as to be rationally expected to contribute to rather than damage the discussion/situation/position at hand"--having the objective good, the objective recognition that certain situations (for instance, a certain online conversation which is expected to be competent) require certain minimal intellectual thresholds (for instance, an I.Q. of 120), in mind rather than egotic comparison. Lower intelligence, deny it all you please, comes with temperamental problems for instance. Selection for intelligence will largely filter them out. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.211|141.101.89.211]] 09:46, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
:: tl;dr of my entire production here: people must learn that BOTH situations of the Dunning-Kruger are equally harmful, the one that's less often considered perhaps actually even more so. Mistaken self-perception as intelligent is bad for the individual, but refusal to acknowledge the importance of one's own cognitive capacity (which is as good as universal in intelligent people--"I am not that smart" (who hasn't heard that one innumerable times?), "I just like doing thing x, my proficiency in it has nothing to do with my intelligence or I.Q.", "I have areas in which I'm 'stupid' too", "effort counts too") has societal consequences, of contributing to erroneous dismissal of the notions of intelligence & I.Q. & g etc. Shutting up for good now. Night. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.211|141.101.89.211]] 10:11, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
::: GAHHHHH just one more thing. Consider this: the fact that people dismiss I.Q. is the best indicator of how important a trait it really is. Thing is, people would not feel compelled by modesty to deny its importance had it not been vitally integral to many, many things. We deny what we value, so to give hope to those who lack that thing (to comfort those who lack intelligence). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.211|141.101.89.211]] 10:15, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
:::: Hey 141.101.89.211... I wonder if you have something to say, but despite my best efforts, I'm having trouble following everything you're saying - I have a feeling you were a bit emotional (perhaps tired?) when writing that, or you might have had fewer "more things" immediately following "I'm done" statements. If you're up for it, I'd appreciate you taking the time to make sure you're saying what you want to say, and ''then'' say it, because you seem to at least have good grammar (though there ''were'' a few British spellings... :-D), so I suspect you probably have a good point. It's also conceivable that I'm just not smart enough to get what you're saying (?) or perhaps it's just too ''early'' for me. BTW the best way of making sure I see what you're saying would probably be to let me know on my [[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk page]]... might even have the conversation there if you'd prefer. Thanks for your time. [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:25, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: I don't know why you think that 141.101.89.211... No where does the comic say that. The mocking award is simply mocking people who '''may or may not''' have higher intelligence than the people they're addressing taking a Better Than Thou attitude because they think they do. In other words: "Higher intelligence doesn't give you an excuse to act like a jerk." I'm sure you can agree with that too [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.218|108.162.245.218]] 04:42, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I would add one "people are stupid" angle not yet mentioned: judging by behavior, most groups of people are less intelligent that any member of that group individually. This is valid even for the "all people" group - just look at the planet. Surprisingly, judging by content of most wikis, the "editors of wiki" groups seems to immune. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:05, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: Good point--conforming to pressures of one's group or one's position to the detriment of one's judgment is a separate personality trait. The phenomenon is remedied by intelligence, but independent from it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.211|141.101.89.211]] 10:11, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: Beat me to it. I'd like to add that even individual people have their occasional stupid and intelligent moments, with the stupid ones typically being of greater magnitude. Thus, it's not unreasonable to say that the average actions of people are at least slightly less intelligent than the average intelligence of most people on most days. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.83|173.245.55.83]] 12:13, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: Similar to the statement in the film "Men In Black". Agent J says, "Why the big secret [about the aliens among us]? People are smart. They can handle it." Agent K responds, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.45|108.162.221.45]] 01:15, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I can't believe people say things like that, man, people are stupid [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 10:52, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the Lake Wobegon references. Not only is it on-target, but I take personal joy seeing mentions of uniquely Minnesotan culture anywhere I can find them. --BigMal27, Minnesota-born, Minnesotan-raised // [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.88|173.245.55.88]] 11:53, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Instead of saying, "People are stupid," we would do better to say "People make poor decisions / statements / judgments." And this, for multiple reasons, few of them I suspect tied to basal intelligence. Stage of life, level of health and stress, experience relative to the topic, level of education and the quality of that education, cultural idiotic beliefs that interfere with optimal choices, and a zillion others. Plus, as a large percentage of humans are either just coming online in experience and education, or are winding down in health and mental function, we are guaranteed to see a large percentage of stupid decisions right across the IQ landscape. No help for it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.217|108.162.246.217]] 13:04, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: I.Q. affects level of health and stress, rate of acquisition of experience, level of education, quality of education obtained, preference of cultural beliefs. It doesn't seem to defy reason that it affects the zillion other factors, too. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.221|141.101.89.221]] 13:17, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
: Remember, in interaction between psychological and social factors, the question is never of *existence* of a connection, but of its magnitude. It is fine to posit a multitude of environmental factors that determine (ir)rationality, but as long as such position keeps people from connecting I.Q. with those factors' actual occurrence (how much I.Q. does it take to finish a good school? to develop a habit of reading a book every month? this is not at all trivial question, and it needs to be resolved with more than anecdotal evidence of "I know an intelligent illiterate person"), there might be an elephant buried underneath the room which no one knows about. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.221|141.101.89.221]] 13:25, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

I know Cueball's explanation can be construed to illustrate otherwise; but I doubt the comic was meant to be a comment on the relative intelligence of humanity. It seems more likely, to me, that the purpose of the comic was to comment on the stonewalling that the mindset, "I'm better than you," induces. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.35|108.162.216.35]] 15:12, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

The cartoon never mentions I.Q. at all, Just "Average Intelligence", so the Mean/Median discussion is moot. As for the other discussion on this page, I'm just going to quote Blaise Pascal: "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time" [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 16:00, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

As mentioned above, in other comments that it's hard to find a way to indent from, there's a difference between different 'average's. (To compare "the median" with "the average" is not a good way of doing it, because one needn't know whether you're talking mean or mode in the second sense. I could even say that I have more than the average number of arms, for a human.) The assumption that the median [i]and[/i] mean (and, perhaps, also mode) are a single location at which 100IQ can be placed is dependant upon the bell curve being symmetrical. Just one hyper-intelligent could skew the mean well above the median. (Ok, so we're talking about comic-book "hyper"ness, to make it significant, in a world's worth of population, but the principle still stands for any more manageable population.) And about IQ tests being recalibrated... there is already a common convention that there's a score-adjuster (or a look-up table, based on this) that gives you different IQs for the same number of correct answers but for people of different ages (and sometimes male/female). Which seems to me like "we give up trying to be demographically neutral, let's just find how well different people answer in our test and then work out where their own arbitrary sub-group's bell-curve stradles". That said, I like IQ tests. I do well in them, and have fun doing them, even if I don't actually believe in them any more than I believe in Sudoku puzzles! And, sorry, I ended up typing far more than I had intended... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.193|141.101.99.193]] 16:31, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

I see a lot of discussion on intelligence, but nothing on "losing faith in humanity". The way I see it everywhere is not in response to stupid people, but to acts of inhumanity. Random acts of violence and hate, for example. Or not random, but large scale. "Restored my faith in humanity" comments often refer to the opposite (in my experience) which involve random acts of kindness, or large-scale altruism. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 08:48, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

What about people using Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and any other "social network web 2.0" thing? They certainly aren't an individual or small group, they are stupid and I've lost my faith in them. :) {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.166}}

There are distributions where majority of the population would indeed be below average. Luckily for humanity, intelligence is on a bell curve! I am happy beyond words that this is the case. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.31}}

This has to be one of the most entertaining boring conversations I've ever come across! Brilliant! (Or not.) [[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 14:12, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I think when someone says "people are stupid", they actually usually mean something like "people systematically make mistakes that I feel are readily avoidable", rather than making an actual judgement regarding general intelligence. So this comic feels rather off to me. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.113|173.245.48.113]] 08:01, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

:If you read xkcd long enough, you'll find a lot of Randall's comics feel "off." {{unsigned ip|108.162.212.215}}

Interestingly, the people making comments about average people being stupid tend to be, eh, below-average-smart themselves. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.217|108.162.246.217]] 00:47, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

:"Interestingly," huh? You sound smart. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.215|108.162.212.215]] 14:39, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

When I say "People are stupid" I mean that a group of people making a decision is much stupider than a person. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.215|108.162.246.215]] 04:33, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

'''"No, people aren't stupid. On average, people are of average intelligence."'''

Hey, guys. Consider that average intelligence ''is'' stupid. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.215|108.162.212.215]] 14:39, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
: Yeah, this is how I've always interpreted "People are stupid" it means, considering we all think we're a smart species, our average intelligence is really low. It's not "I'm better than everybody/average/most people" but "Everybody/the average person/most people is/are worse than most people believe" [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.216|141.101.99.216]] 13:15, 15 July 2014 (UTC)
:: You stupid, stupid humans. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.52|162.158.255.52]] 02:25, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

What if the distribution of intelligence is bimodal? If no one is of "average" intelligence, might the more extreme stupidity of a large portion of the population give the impression that the actual average is lower than it appears? [[User:Bppubjr|Bppubjr]] ([[User talk:Bppubjr|talk]]) 14:48, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

"People is dumb." [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.164|173.245.52.164]]

All the (admittedly online) IQ tests I've done have always been focussed on logic, mental manipulation of shapes, maths, deduction etc. While this favours those with a certain type of brain, I can't help but think it is heavily biased against those with creative types of thinking. Hand me a paintbrush and canvas, and my logical brain is of no help at all --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:17, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
:Intelligence is the ability of learning, the use of logic and solving problems. While being creative is good, necessary and a very useful thing by itself, is NOT intelligence. So a person could be creative and being dumb at the same time, or the opposite. Also, there are not different kind of brains. The whole left-brain vs right-brain thing is a myth: http://www.livescience.com/39373-left-brain-right-brain-myth.html [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.29|173.245.48.29]] 21:07, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

Not XKCD's best work. This is a normal response that smarter people initially feel when encountering others, having taking themselves as the baseline. This actually reflects a lack of elitism, where you expect other people to be the same as you and are surprised they are not (pretty much the opposite as portrayed here). Case in point is Freeman Dyson. Here's an excerpt from the Atlantic Monthly piece on him:

The prodigy in question, Freeman Dyson, now middle-aged, stared ahead, his incessant concentration on the road unbroken. He seemed mesmerized by the oncoming pavement, or by some idea or formulation glimpsed in the immateriality beyond the pavement. I asked him whether as a boy he had speculated much about his gift. Had he asked himself why he had this special power? Why he was so bright?

Dyson is almost infallibly a modest and self-effacing man, but tonight his eyes were blank with fatigue, and his answer was uncharacteristic.

“That’s not how the question phrases itself,” he said. “The question is: why is everyone else so stupid?”

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.124|108.162.241.124]] 00:41, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

'''386 + 1000?'''

In Duty Calls (386) http://http://xkcd.com/386/ people were just wrong. Fast forward 1000 strips and they are stupid. [[User:Hananc|Hananc]] ([[User talk:Hananc|talk]]) 13:55, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1669: Planespotting

2016-04-20T04:55:08Z

NotLock:

Hybrid could also refer to hybrid airship dynastats which are a combination between a blimp and a lifting body airplane. HAV in England and Lockheed Martin have both flown prototypes in the last few years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Air_Vehicles_HAV-3 {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.128}}

How would one even pronounce "Mk. IVII"? IV is 4, VII is 7. I could see an argument for treating it as a really bizarre way to say 6. Or, if we treat it as two distinct digits (as opposed to a two-digit number), it could be either "1-7" or "4-2".

: "Usage in ancient Rome varied greatly and remained inconsistent in medieval and modern times." But AFAIK each numeral only stood for a fixed amount, never for a "digit" (in the sense that its value could specify ones or tens depending on its position). So six ((5 - 1) + 1 + 1) is a plausible interpretation, though definitely not standard; but 17 or 42 would be treating Roman numerals as if they were Arabic. [[User:Huttarl|Huttarl]] ([[User talk:Huttarl|talk]]) 16:03, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

:: You're correct; in Roman numerals, there is not a concept of "this is an I, in the hundreds place, so it's really a 100". If you mean 100, that's always C. Hence the phrasing "two distinct digits (as opposed to a two-digit number). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.11|108.162.221.11]] 14:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I think that's actually MI, or 1001.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.222|162.158.214.222]] 16:12, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

: That was my first thought on reading it, too. Doesn't an underline and overline on a Roman numeral increase it by a factor of 10,000, or am I mis-recalling grade school? ---> 19:38 UTC, 18 April 2016

:: I read it as having too much space between strokes for it to be "MI" rather than "IVII", but poor penmanship is as likely as deliberate nonsense. In proper Roman Empire-era Roman numerals, the overline denotes "multiply by 1,000", but in English an overline/underline combo just means we're being fancy. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.11|108.162.221.11]] 14:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I assume there are other parts of this that are similarly nonsensical to people who know what Cueball thinks he's talking about. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 14:43, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
:When I first read the comic before the explanation I was assuming Cueball was roughly, and poorly, describing a Bombardier DHC-8. It is also known as a Q400 and is a twin-engine turboprop. The silhouette looks vaguely like it.[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:56, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

::Wholeheartedly agreed on it being a DHC-8 version, which could be a Q400. The engine nacelles appear to extend behind the wing (unlike an ATR42/72 or Do328), and the T-tail eliminates a lot of other regional prop possibilities. It also ties in with Cueball calling it a "Q404". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.170|108.162.237.170]] 17:07, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

De Havilland Canada (which developed the Dash-8) did belong to Boeing between 1988 and 1992, during which time the aircraft was commonly referred to as the "Boeing Dash-8". The Q400 variant was developed after DHC was sold to Bombadier, however. So it is possible that a DHC-8 could, in fact, have been made by Boeing, just not the Q400 variant.

There are ''so many'' things wrong about this comic. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 14:53, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Maybe I'm totally off base, but this reminds me of something called "Vaynespotting". In League of Legends, there's a character named Shauna Vayne. She has an extremely high skill-ceiling and skill-floor. Vaynespotting is a minigame where other players receive imaginary points for calling out a bad Vayne player when that player makes aggressive maneuvers, but doesn't have the skill to pull it off. [[User:Thefance|Thefance]] ([[User talk:Thefance|talk]]) 15:38, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Is that black hat or white hat? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.65|108.162.221.65]] 15:10, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
:Probably White Hat, but it is impossible to say. Have corrected explanation [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:11, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
::Yes, I think that it is White Hat. Just in terms of personality, most encounters with BH end up with some sort of sadistic remark, whereas WH is sometimes used just as a foil character.[[User:RedHatGuy68|RedHatGuy68]] ([[User talk:RedHatGuy68|talk]]) 02:17, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Fixed the title text explanation regarding the hydroelectric plant. The water going over the dam still falls down (reservoir -> dam -> out of the plane?), but lifting the water in the plane would take more energy than the plant would produce.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.170|108.162.237.170]] 17:02, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

To me this comic looks like a clear reference to the "user agent" property of a browser notorious for being long, nonsensical and bearing little relationship to the version and the type of browser the client actually uses. E.g. In my Chromium this value is: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Ubuntu Chromium/49.0.2623.108 Chrome/49.0.2623.108 Safari/537.36. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.72|141.101.80.72]] 17:46, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

:The user agent string is not SUPPOSED to say what browser you HAVE, but what your browser is capable of doing. For start, Mozilla/ means that it's graphics browser, just like Netscape 4. Gecko means that authors of engine did read the HTML specifications (as authors of Gecko did), as opposed to authors of older versions of Internet Explorer (older than 7). It's because user agent string is only thing server knows about browser and therefore uses it to choose what version of page (and bug workarounds) it's supposed to use. And because some servers never update their definitions, every new browser needs to ADD his own strings to strings of some already existing browser instead of replacing them. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Dual Wielding could easily refer to the fact the plane has two engines or possibly four if it is dual wielding engine sets. I feel the current explanation of that line item is a little lacking. ([[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.60|173.245.56.60]] 17:52, 18 April 2016 (UTC))
:Then please update the explanation :-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:58, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

I originally read that as "Dual Weld", as in 'using a dual welder', which made no sense since it would be absolutely irrelevant (a dual welder can mean either a welding machine that operates on 120/240V or one that operates in both gas/gasless mode.) [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:40, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I understood the Mig-380 part as a mix, an Airbus-380 but made by Mig. I'm not sure if I explained myself properly...[[User:NeoRaist|NeoRaist]] ([[User talk:NeoRaist|talk]]) 18:15, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Some reference on "planetspotting" by Kepler? [[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.176|188.114.102.176]] 18:43, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

: "''What's that planet?''" "That's Sid Meier's Taupe Netherlands PILF #14!" [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 20:27, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Well done guys! I have finals, so I didn't check xkcd until now. Loand Behold! An in depth explanation for every part of this joke, which I originally understood none of. With dry humour on the side To Boot! Gold Stars All Around![[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 04:55, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1665: City Talk Pages

2016-04-09T06:48:59Z

NotLock: /* Notability */

I redid the numbering in the transcript to be consistent with the comic. Unfortunately that added blank lines around the indented section, which looks a little awkward. Perhaps someone with better markup skills than me can fix it.[[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 16:51, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:You didn't need to say font color blue over and over. Just once for the whole list was enough. [[User:Numbermaniac|Numbermaniac]] ([[User talk:Numbermaniac|talk]]) 00:32, 9 April 2016 (UTC)
::That wasn't me [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 02:40, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

So now does Wikipedia have to lock down every talk page to prevent xkcd-inspired vandalism edits? [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:14, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Aren't all of these points based on actual wikipedia talk pages? I came by to find the links to them. Maybe this is a big Whooosh for me, but i'd bet i'll not be the last person to think this. [[User:Harodotus|Harodotus]] ([[User talk:Harodotus|talk]]) 17:23, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
: Not ACTUALLY, directly based, no. I believe that Randall is engaging in what Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory declared as being called "reductio-ad-absurdum", taking an idea to an extreme in order to then make fun of it. It's definitely an xkcd staple, we see it often. In this case, Randall has seen ridiculous talk pages, and has come up with even more ridiculous "suggestions" if you will (for example, I doubt there's any city with such a huge murder problem that nobody can find a nice picture without a murder happening in the background). People here could find ridiculous city talk pages and link them here as examples, but it's unlikely any/many will have these exact entries, so linking them would be more of an opinion ("Here's one I personally find ridiculous"), which makes it less than ideal for linking to in what should be a fact-based environment. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.154|108.162.218.154]] 18:07, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:: "What sheldon on the Big Bang Theory called" *facepalms hard* Reductio ad absurdem was a logical fallacy and rhetorical tactic long before that godawful show. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.64|173.245.54.64]] 21:37, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
Andrew Lloyd Webber has two "b"s.
[[User:Shakhteremeslo|Shakhteremeslo]] ([[User talk:Shakhteremeslo|talk]]) 17:41, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:Wonder if it is a mistake or to make it look real. Talk pages are probably often filled with spelling errors and mistakes that do not get fixed. So maybe it was intentional. Else it might get fixed in an update later. Mentioned this in the explanation now. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:27, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Is the "it's apparently not a mistake" line a possible reference to citogenesis? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.47|173.245.54.47]] 17:43, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
: Probably, that seems to be the only logical explanation for how it's possible for that NOT to be a mistake, LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.154|108.162.218.154]] 18:10, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

I assume the reference to the 1982 secession is referring to Key West, FL, which "seceded" from the United States and formed the Conch Republic in April 1982, to protest Border Patrol roadblocks in the Keys. It makes sense to me -- If you have to deal with the Border Patrol, you must be leaving the country. They still celebrate Independence Day every April 23. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 21:57, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

;"Mining disasters" section too long

Why is this comic so bad at mining? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.134|108.162.242.134]] 17:46, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

I just *couldn't resist* coming to the talk page of this particular comic to say "hello world". LOL -JP {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.41}}

I tried clicking on [HIDE] but it didn't. {{unsigned ip|162.158.72.197}}

;Too blue (DISCOSS!)

The article has too many hyperlinks. Can we make them green instead of blue? [[User:Mikemk|Mike]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 22:38, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

;I think the murderer is here now
He's also reverting my edits? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 00:15, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

;Random examples

Wikipedia has a {{w|Special:RandomInCategory|special page for random pages in a category}}. {{w|Special:RandomInCategory/City|This link}} finds random pages related to cities, which might help in finding amusing talk pages. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 00:20, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

I just had to go check out the talk page on my hometown. Oh my goodness, I didn't realize... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.65|108.162.221.65]] 02:03, 9 April 2016 (UTC) sam

== Notability ==

Notability is not really a criterion for including material in articles. It is a criterion for whether to create an article based on a particular topic. Big difference there. There is plenty of information that will never meet notability thresholds that is perfectly fine to include in an article. Complicating this problem is the fact that many Wikipedians do not understand this distinction. It is therefore an entirely plausible situation that some Wikilawyer would try to suppress useful information by denying its notability. This would not be an actually tenable position, though, and therefore the above "explanation" of it is incorrect and incomplete. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.139|162.158.142.139]] 02:42, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

:Out of curiosity, what is the wikipedia rule then that prevents facts like "On 12 August, 1989, Famous Person X had a Turkey on Rye sandwich, featuring mustard and pickles" or "City Z has many fire hydrants. Here are the GPS coordinates of each fire hydrant: ..."? Although, that fire hydrant edit would be interesting.... [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:48, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

1665: City Talk Pages

2016-04-09T06:31:31Z

NotLock: /* Explanation */ This is a miner edit

{{comic
| number = 1665
| date = April 8, 2016
| title = City Talk Pages
| image = city talk pages.png
| titletext = "I don't think the Lakeshore Air Crash Museum really belongs under 'Tourist Attractions.' It's not a museum--it's just an area near the Lake Festival Laser Show where a lot of planes have crashed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|So far only listing references to items. A real explanation needs to be written together from this and more. Title text explanation needed. Real life examples of such city talk pages with at least the more realistic part of the content? There need to be a table with each item?}}

The comic makes fun about Wikipedia talk pages. On Wikipedia, every article has a place to discuss the content of the page, called a "{{w|Help:Using talk pages|talk page}}". In this case, the comic talks about the talk page of an article about a city. While some of the topics are quite normal for such a page (e.g. the quality of the images) others are not (e.g. too many murders and mine disasters in the city).

The topics show a common problem at Wikipedia's talk pages: People often use them as a place to talk about the ''subject'' of the article, but it is for talking about the ''article'' itself.

"Not that notable" refers to Wikipedia's general criteria for including information in articles. Material which is not noteworthy should be removed; however, different editors often disagree about what is notable, resulting in conflicting edits as text is inserted and then removed (an "edit war"). Someone with a personal agenda to suppress certain information might justify their removal of it by claiming it is "not notable", despite other users' interest. "I think the murderer is reverting my edits" suggests the murders are being committed by ''one person'' who is trying to prevent Wikipedia from publishing evidence of them. This raises the possibility that the discussion of the murder visible in the infobox picture was ''initiated by the murderer''.

The {{w|WP:Infobox|infobox}} is a short fact sheet that many articles in the (English) Wikipedia have; it generally includes an image illustrating the subject of the article. The question of which picture is best for the infobox (because this image is so prominent) can cause edit wars.

{{w|Voltaire}} was a French Enlightenment writer. As a prominent and very opinionated intellectual, [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire#Misattributed he gets a lot of quotes falsely attributed to him]; most famously, he did not actually say "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" (that was {{w|Evelyn Beatrice Hall}}).

{{w|Zootopia}} is a 2016 Disney film. The fictional city which is the setting and title of the film has a distinctive [http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/4/43/Zootopia_City_Full.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160102163923 look] which is far from bleak, but since it is a fictional location, it appears that the people who are editing the article are getting desperate to find a non-bleak picture of the city.

{{w|Mining}} is the extraction of minerals or substances from the earth's crust. People often use mining as a means of employment. These people are called {{w|miners}}. Sometimes there are many miners in one area who mine a lot of product. Then mining might become the main export of a city. These cities are called {{w|mining communities}}. In this comic, it is implied that the city being discussed is a mining city. A {{w|mining disaster}} is a unfortunate happenstance that can lead to a miner's {{w|death}}. Mining accidents are bad things that can occur in a variety of different ways. Causes of death from a mining accident can include {{w|suffocation}}, {{w|explosion}}, {{w|poisoning}}, and {{w|crushing}}.

{{w|1982 Secession}} refers to Key West, Florida seceding from the United States in 1982 to form the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic Conch Republic].

{{w|Andrew Lloyd Webber}} is an English composer famous for writing ''The {{w|Phantom Of The Opera}}''. (Webber is also known for writing the music for ''{{w|Starlight Express}}'', a rock opera about anthropomorphized trains, which is probably another factor in the train station joke.) Meanwhile, {{w|Frank Lloyd Wright}}, who shares his middle name and last initial, was an American architect, who designed more than 1,000 structures. As it turns out it was the composer who was responsible for the train station, and thus explaining the reason for the roof collapse.

In the comic ''Webber'' is spelled ''Weber''. This could be a mistake by [[Randall]], (but then it is likely to be corrected later...) More likely Randall did this for the sake of realism as this is what can be expected by people writing in a talk page on Wikipedia, where errors are not necessarily corrected as they would be in the main article.

==Examples==
*{{w|Talk:Key West, Florida#What's with the Chicken photo}} questions the relevance of free range chickens.
*{{w|Talk:Rio de Janeiro#Oh, there's no crime in Rio?}} suggests crime incidence in Rio has been suppressed to promote tourism.
*{{w|Talk:Isfahan}} has many naming proposals.
*{{w|Talk:Chattanooga, Tennessee}} has disputes over crime and notability of residents.
*{{w|Talk:Muara Bungo}} indicates someone ''repeatedly'' tried to delete the second-largest city in Jambi, Sumatra.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel: ]
:I love reading the Wikipedia talk pages for articles on individual cites

:[A list of contents for a Wikipedia talk page regarding an article about a city. Except for the header and the square brackets, which are written in black text, the rest is in a blue font.]
:::Contents [Hide]

:1 Origin of city's name?
::1.1 Idea for a better name
::1.2 Not how Wikipedia works
:2 Too much promotion of the lake festival
:3 Should we mention the murders?
::3.1 Not that notable
::3.2 All cites have murders
:4 Quote verification: Even if Voltaire did visit (unlikely), why would he get so angry about our restaurants?
:5 Discuss: New picture
::5.1 Current one looks awfully bleak
::5.2 Gray sky
::5.3 What about this
::5.4 Also bleak
::5.5 Maybe this place just looks that way
::5.6 Found a better picture, more colorful
::5.7 That's a shot from Disney's ''Zootopia''
:6 "Mining disasters" section too long
::6.1 Not really Wikipedia's fault
::6.2 Why is this town so bad at mining?
:7 Infobox picture: I just realized you can see a murder happening in the background
::7.1 This city is terrible
::7.2 Photoshopped out murder
::7.3 Can someone just take a better picture
::7.4 Okay, uploaded a new picture
::7.5 Wait, never mind, I just noticed there's a murder in this one, too
:8 1982 secession still in effect?
:9 I think the murderer is reverting my edits
:10 Why does this article take '''''any''''' position on correct condom use, let alone such a weird and ambiguous one?
:11 Train station "Designed by Andrew Lloyd Weber"?
::11.1 They probably mean Frank Lloyd Wright
::11.2 I thought so too, but it's apparently not a mistake
::11.3 Didn't know he did architecture
::11.4 Roof collapse

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Talk:1665: City Talk Pages

2016-04-09T02:40:41Z

NotLock:

Talk:1665: City Talk Pages

2016-04-08T16:51:53Z

NotLock: Created page with "I redid the numbering in the transcript to be consistent with the comic. Unfortunately that added blank lines around the indented section, which looks a little awkward. Perhap..."

1665: City Talk Pages

2016-04-08T16:46:42Z

NotLock: /* Transcript */

1665: City Talk Pages

2016-04-08T16:46:03Z

NotLock: /* Transcript */

Talk:1658: Estimating Time

2016-03-21T16:21:10Z

NotLock:

Nice to see [[Danish]] so clearly back in action. It was also way too long since there have been any clear references to self reference although it of course doesn't reach the level of [[688: Self-Description]]. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Makes me wonder if Randall is working on another big comic, and how long those take him. - Dan - [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.77|198.41.235.77]] 13:25, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Why is this talking about adding doubling imaginary numbers? Time estimates are usually non-negative real numbers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.165|162.158.91.165]] 15:01, 21 March 2016 (UTC)
: I was thinking the exact same thing until I realized that in this context, "imaginary" refers to "non-existent": The numbers being doubled only exist in Ponytail's head. I was very confused until I realized that he wasn't referring to complex numbers with a real component of zero. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.35|173.245.54.35]] 16:14, 21 March 2016 (UTC)
: lolol "Yes, yes, you're very smart. Now shut up." [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 16:21, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

This may be a reference to the rule of thumb that you double your estimate and raise to the next higher unit. E.g.if you think it will take two days, give an estimate of four weeks. There are of course amny similar rules out there.
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.144|162.158.133.144]] 15:58, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

1653: United States Map

2016-03-12T19:27:21Z

NotLock: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 1653
| date = March 9, 2016
| title = United States Map
| image = united_states_map.png
| titletext = It would be pretty unfair to give to someone a blank version of this map as a 'how many states can you name?' quiz. (If you include Alaska and Hawaii, you should swap the Aleutian Islands with the Hawaiian ones.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|List how the states are swapped around using the table}}

The comic is a map with the (rough) outline of the {{w|Contiguous United States|mainland}} of the {{w|United States of America}}. At first it looks like the real map, but actually all the states have been shuffled around in it. It seems that [[Randall]] took all of the states (minus {{w|Alaska}} and {{w|Hawaii}}, the two states that are not part of this map and are only mentioned in the title text, see below), and then reassembled them in the style of a jigsaw puzzle, with the end result being a map with a similar outline to the original [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/National-atlas-blank-state-outlines.png unaltered mainland state map]. They can thus be reassembled into the real map as can be seen [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/88/1653-rearranged.png here] (see also the [[#Trivia|trivia section]]).

Previously Randall has played with the shapes of the united states in [[1079: United Shapes]]. In that map he did two separate drawings for {{w|Michigan}} with a mitten in the {{w|Lower Peninsula of Michigan|lower part}} and an eagle in the {{w|Upper Peninsula of Michigan|upper part}}. Once again in this version he has split Michigan in two, the lower main part, the mitten just labeled ''Michigan'', is on the west coast on part of {{w|California|California's}} location, but the upper part is located on the east coast over {{w|New York|New York's}} location and has been labeled ''MI (upper)''. So even without Hawaii and Alaska, there are 49 "states" in this map, consisting of 47 states plus the two halves of Michigan. In the [[#Table|table]] below all 49 states in the map has been listed to indicate where the puzzle pieces have been moved to.

It seems at a first glance that the names have been written on the states as they would appear in a normal map, and that they have all then been rotated with the rotation of the states. But this is not the case for all states. For instance it seems like {{w|Utah}} has hardly been moved at all, and with the name written normally this may be intentionally to deceive the readers. Because Utah has been turned upside down, and according to how for instance {{w|Texas}}, clearly turned upside down, has its name written upside down as well, Utah should thus also have been written like that.

It seems likely that this could be a trick by Randall, to see if anyone spots that Utah has actually been moved. But it could of course be a mistake, as seems more likely with {{w|Montana}} where the same "error" has occurred, but since this state has been moved far from its real position there would be no sport in doing so (see the [[#Trivia|trivia section]]). Of course there is the possibility that "Utah" was on purpose and Montana by mistake. With 47 of 49 ending up rotated as expected on the map and only two exactly upside down, there can be no doubt that it was on purpose that the the names are written according to the states rotation for the 47. Note that for instance the state California has been rotated, but in a way so the text is written normally. But due to the direction of the state, it is normal to write the name tilted down along the state, which just coincidentally ends up being rotated normal in the position it has in the comic.

Other states that have not been moved a lot include California which has only been pushed down the length of the west border of the US (and thus rotated acordingly), so the top part still overlaps with the bottom part California, but also {{w|Arizona}} and {{w|New Mexico}}. {{w|Maine}} has only been rolled left (i.e. turned upside down) to just outside its normal position. {{w|Colorado}} has been moved up a state to where {{w|Wyoming}} usually is, and Wyoming has then just been shifted right. But both have been turned 90 degrees, whichever way would be impossible to say for these rectangular states. But the text, if you dare believe in that, seems to indicate they have been turned counter clockwise. {{w|Wisconsin}} has only been shifted down below its usual position but then turned upside down.

The title text mentions how it would be unfair to use a [http://i.imgur.com/Mvi8j9s.jpg blank version] (already created by a user) of this shuffled-up map as a quiz for knowledge of U.S. geography; most people recognize states primarily by their relative locations, not their shape (and especially not their shape after being rotated). It also suggests a corresponding mean trick to play if you include Alaska and Hawaii, which are not present in the comic itself, namely to interchange the volcanic island of Hawaii (consisting of 8 main islands and hundreds of smaller ones) with those of the {{w|Aleutian Islands}}, also a chain of volcanic islands (14 large and 55 small) that partly belongs to the US and partly to Russia. The island extends from the {{w|Alaska Peninsula}}. It would thus be possible to even make it difficult to correctly name these last two states, even though it would be obvious to begin with that it must be the two not belonging to the mainland.

==Table==
*This table lists all states in the order of the transcript. But it can be sorted alphabetically.
*Its purpose is two fold:
**To list the rotation of the state compared to the real orientation of the state in the real world map
**To list which state/states the states, in this comics map, have been moved over/inside.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! State
! Orientation
! Moved to
! Note
|-
| {{w|Ohio}} || Upside down || Washington ||
|-
| {{w|Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia}} || Upside down || Oregon ||
|-
| {{w|Lower Peninsula of Michigan|Michigan (lower part)}} (as {{w|Michigan}})|| Upside down || Northern California|| Michigan is the only state split in two, as it is also split in two peninsulas in real life. In real life these two parts lie very close on the shores of the {{w|Great Lakes region|Great Lakes}}, and not as here, with one on each coast of the US. But at least they still both lie on a shore.
|-
| {{w|Maryland}} (as MD) || Upside down || Central California (Southern Bay Area) ||
|-
| {{w|California}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Southern California, Southern Arizona, Southern New Mexico ||
|-
| {{w|Kansas}} || Upside down || Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, Western Montana ||
|-
| {{w|Pennsylvania}} || Rotated clockwise || Eastern Oregon, Idaho ||
|-
| {{w|Oklahoma}} || Rotated clockwise || Idaho, Montana ||
|-
| {{w|New Mexico}} ||None || Nevada, Northern California ||
|-
| {{w|Nebraska}} || Upside down || Northern New Mexico, Northern Arizona||
|-
| {{w|South Dakota}} || None || Montana ||
|-
| {{w|Colorado}} || Rotated clockwise || Western Wyoming ||
|-
| {{w|Wyoming}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Eastern Wyoming || Stays mostly in place.
|-
| {{w|Utah}} || Upside down || Utah, Northern Arizona || The text has been written upside down on the state, so in a correct map using this state the text would be upside down. Only other state this has happened with is Montana. Stays mostly in place.
|-
| {{w|Alabama}} || None || Western Colorado ||
|-
| {{w|Massachusetts}} (as MA) || Rotated counter clockwise || Central New Mexico ||
|-
| {{w|Virginia}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Western New Mexico ||
|-
| {{w|Arizona}} || Rotated counter clockwise || North Dakota ||
|-
| {{w|Washington (state)|Washington}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Western Iowa, Eastern South Dakota, Eastern Nebraska ||
|-
| {{w|Montana}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Colorado, New Mexico and Texas || The text has been written upside down on the state, so in a correct map using this state the text would be upside down. Only other state this has happened with is Utah.
|-
| {{w|New York}} || None || Westernmost tip of Texas || Missing Long Island.
|-
| {{w|Minnesota}} || Upside down || Minnesota || Stays mostly in place.
|-
| {{w|Texas}} || Upside down || Missouri, Arkansas, Western Kansas, Iowa, Southern Illinois ||
|-
| {{w|Connecticut}} (as CT) || Rotated clockwise || Texas and New Mexico border ||
|-
| {{w|Mississippi}} (as Missi-ssippi) || Rotated clockwise || Texas and Oklahoma border ||
|-
| {{w|Nevada}} || None || South Western Texas ||
|-
| {{w|Idaho}} || Rotated clockwise || Eastern Texas, Southern Louisiana ||
|-
| {{w|South Carolina}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Southernmost Texas ||
|-
| {{w|Missouri}} || Upside down || Eastern Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, Michigan's upper peninsula, Lake Superior ||
|-
| {{w|Wisconsin}} || Upside down || Illinois || Very deformed, loses its Western indentation
|-
| {{w|Kentucky }} || Rotated clockwise || Western Wisconsin, Western Illinois ||
|-
| {{w|North Dakota}} || Rotated clockwise || Mississippi ||
|-
| {{w|Florida}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Southern Michigan, Northern Ohio ||
|-
| {{w|North Carolina}} || Rotated clockwise || Southern Michigan, Eastern Indiana ||
|-
| {{w|Indiana}} || None || Alabama ||
|-
| {{w|Rhode Island}} (as RI ) || Unclear rotation, perhaps counter clockwise || Louisiana (New Orleans area) ||
|-
| {{w|Oregon}} || Rotated clockwise || Ohio, West Virginia ||
|-
| {{w|Iowa}} || None || Western North Carolina, South Carolina ||
|-
| {{w|Tennessee}} || Upside down || Northern Florida (Panhandle), Southern Alabama, Southern Georgia ||
|-
| {{w|Illinois}} || None || Florida ||
|-
| {{w|Maine}} || Upside down || Northern New York, Vermont ||
|-
| {{w|New Hampshire}} (as NH) || None || Western Pennsylvania ||
|-
| {{w|Lower Peninsula of Michigan|Michigan (upper part)}} (as MI (upper))|| Rotated 45 degree counter clockwise || Pennsylvania and New York|| Michigan is the only state split in two, as it is also split in two peninsulas in real life. In real life these two parts lie very close on the shores of the {{w|Great Lakes region|Great Lakes}}, and not as here, with one at each coast of the US. But at least they still both lie on a shore.
|-
| {{w|Arkansas}} || None || Eastern Maryland, Eastern Virginia ||
|-
| {{w|New Jersey}} (as NJ)|| None || Eastern South Carolina ||
|-
| {{w|Louisiana}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine ||
|-
| {{w|West Virginia}} || Rotated 45 degree clockwise || Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts ||
|-
| {{w|Delaware}} (as DE) || Rotated counter clockwise || New York (Long Island) ||
|-
| {{w|Vermont}} (as VT) || Upside down || Either New Jersey or Delaware (unclear) ||
|}

==Transcript==
:[A white map with an outline that closely resembles that of the mainland of the United States of America with gray all around the black border. But on closer inspection most of the states do not look right. The 48 mainland states are all there, however, with their name or abbreviations written on them as a label in gray text. But they have all been shuffled around and then reassembled as a jigsaw puzzle in the same shape as USA. The name labels for most of the states have been rotated, often to follow the new rotation of the state in the map. So some are written upside down or have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise or counter clockwise or even somewhere in between. One state, Michigan, has even been split up in two so there are 49 instead of 48 labels. For the states that have been named only with state abbreviations the full name is written in brackets behind the transcript of the abbreviation. Here below all the states are listed approximately in columns going from the top left and down and then moving right to the next column across the map. Any rotation of the text from normal is noted in brackets behind the name.]
:Ohio [Upside down]
:Georgia [Upside down]
:Michigan [Upside down – but only bottom part]
:MD [Upside down - Maryland]
:California [Text not rotated, but state is rotated counter-clockwise]
:Kansas [Upside down]
:Pennsylvania [Rotated clockwise]
:Oklahoma [Rotated clockwise]
:New Mexico
:Nebraska [Upside down]
:South Dakota
:Colorado [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Wyoming [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Utah [Text normal, but state is upside down, i.e. the text is upside down in the state]
:Alabama
:MA [Rotated counter clockwise – Massachusetts]
:Virginia [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Arizona [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Washington [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Montana [Rotated clockwise - but the state is rotated counter clockwise, i.e. the text is upside down in the state]
:New York
:Minnesota [Upside down]
:Texas [Upside down]
:CT [Rotated clockwise –Connecticut]
:Missi-
::ssippi [Rotated clockwise - text split with hyphen]
:Nevada
:Idaho [Rotated clockwise]
:South Carolina [Rotated counter clockwise, by more than 90 degrees, but the state is rotated exactly 90 degrees]
:Missouri [Upside down]
:Wisconsin [Upside down]
:Kentucky [Rotated clockwise]
:North Dakota [Rotated clockwise]
:Florida [Rotated counter clockwise, by more than 90 degrees, but the state is rotated exactly 90 degrees]
:North Carolina [Rotated clockwise]
:Indiana
:RI [Label below in the ocean –Rhode Island]
:Oregon [Rotated clockwise]
:Iowa
:Tennessee [Upside down]
:Illinois
:Maine [Upside down]
:NH [New Hampshire]
:MI (upper) [Rotated 45 degree counter clockwise – Michigan but only upper part]
:Arkansas
:NJ [New Jersey]
:Louisiana [Rotated 45 degree counter clockwise - but the state is rotated exactly 90 degrees]
:West Virginia [Rotated 45 degree clockwise]
:DE [Rotated counter clockwise – label to the right in the ocean – Delaware]
:VT [Upside down –Vermont]

==Trivia==
*Using two A3 printouts of both the [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/National-atlas-blank-state-outlines.png real map] from Wikipedia and this comic, is approximately the same scale it was possible to reassemble US putting the states in their correct place.
**The result displayed surprisingly accurate drawings of the states, although it is clear that on the borders between states that are not drawn by a ruler, they cannot be correct for both states in all cases.
**From this map it becomes clear that not only Utah but also Montana has the text written upside down according to the correct position of the state.
[[File:1653-rearranged.png]]

*The opposite map shows to what extend the states fit in Randall's layout when using the real borders
[[http://i.imgur.com/dsLPc4s.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:1653: United States Map

2016-03-10T23:00:09Z

NotLock:

But what prompted this map? Has there been a real life event that influenced Randall to create this?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.25|141.101.91.25]] 07:32, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Yes, this is about voting districts. They are so random you can not guess where your vote will count: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90RajY2nrgk

08:10, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:Citation needed. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 03:22, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
::Definintely a case of [Citation needed]. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 03:58, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
(Finally, someone made the page so I can post this. :| )
I removed the names from Randall's map! [http://i.imgur.com/Mvi8j9s.jpg Here's a blank version!] Muahahaha! [[User:Quoice|Quoice]] ([[User talk:Quoice|talk]]) 07:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:Cool. Could you be so mean as to make a version including the shapes of Alaska and Hawaii. You could use the ones from Randall's map of United shapes as templates. That would be fantastic! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:03, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe add a table with every state cut out; and add a correct map with the cut out pieces in the right place? [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:05, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:That would just be a normal map... The piece could go over a real map in the wrong place to show it. Or rather the entire map should be overlaid on a real map... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
::This sounds like a great idea to me! Case of "A picture is worth a thousand words". [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

First thing that comes to mind when I look at the map is seeing New York being against the Mexico border. I wonder how New Yorkers would deal with the Mexicans coming across. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.28|173.245.54.28]] 14:43, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

This proves it: continental drift is real, and much faster than we thought. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.217|162.158.114.217]] 15:18, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

[[File:1653-rearranged.png]] -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 15:31, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:AZ <-> NM [[Special:Contributions/162.158.56.173|162.158.56.173]] 16:38, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:RI should be rotated [[User:Azsr|Azsr]] ([[User talk:Azsr|talk]]) 17:31, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:: D'oh! Fixed AZ & NM (although server is still caching the original). Leaving RI as is due to caption arrangement. -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 18:00, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:::Great map. Have linked from the explanation at the top. Also made my own real life jigsaw which I put in the trivia.

There's nothing in the article right now that indicates the shapes of the states have been altered slightly so that they fit together seamlessly in this arrangement. I think that's an important point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.80|162.158.255.80]] 15:53, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:I think that's obvious [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.157|141.101.70.157]] 16:18, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
::I mentioned it in the trivia. Maybe it should go up also? But it is surprisingly close to being correct within the reasonable limits of the resolution --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:44, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

What happened to Long Island (part of NY)?{{unsigned ip|108.162.218.118}}

The article indicates Maine has only been moved, but it's also been rotated 180 degrees. (Upside down) {{unsigned ip|198.41.235.107}}
:I will correct my mistake then ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:44, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

So glad I'm not in Illinois any more... I guess I'm in Texas now. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.18|108.162.221.18]] 18:04, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Do not use for navigation. [[User:Alexbuzzbee|Alexbuzzbee]] ([[User talk:Alexbuzzbee|talk]]) 23:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Reminds me of this MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle from 2013 where you rebuild the US states into a map of Europe: http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/2013/coinheist.com/indiana/watch_your_back/answer/answer2/solution.png --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.185|162.158.252.185]] 02:47, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

"Orientation none" sounds strange to me, like saying "no temperature" when it is 0 degrees. Isn't "normal" or "unchanged" better? [[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 16:25, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
: ... or change the title of the column to be "Rotation" -- to which "None" is valid 21:54, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

Could someone with more experience than me fix the picture so it's not ginormous? I tried last night and the picture was replaced with the generic "picture failed to load" graphic, same as it looks here: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:1653_United_States_Map_49_piece_jigsaw_solved.jpg

1653: United States Map

2016-03-10T06:33:23Z

NotLock: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 1653
| date = March 9, 2016
| title = United States Map
| image = united_states_map.png
| titletext = It would be pretty unfair to give to someone a blank version of this map as a 'how many states can you name?' quiz. (If you include Alaska and Hawaii, you should swap the Aleutian Islands with the Hawaiian ones.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|List how the states are swapped around using the table}}

The comic is a map with the (rough) outline of the {{w|Contiguous United States|mainland}} of the {{w|United States of America}}. At first it looks like the real map, but actually all the states have been shuffled around in it. It seems that [[Randall]] took all of the states (minus {{w|Alaska}} and {{w|Hawaii}}, the two states that are not part of this map and are only mentioned in the title text, see below), and then reassembled them in the style of a jigsaw puzzle, with the end result being a map with a similar outline to the original [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/National-atlas-blank-state-outlines.png unaltered mainland state map]. They can thus be reassembled into the real map as can be seen [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/88/1653-rearranged.png here] (see also the [[#Trivia|trivia section]]).

Previously Randall has played with the shapes of the united states in [[1079: United Shapes]]. In that map he did two separate drawings for {{w|Michigan}} with a mitten in the {{w|Lower Peninsula of Michigan|lower part}} and an eagle in the {{w|Upper Peninsula of Michigan|upper part}}. Once again in this version he has split Michigan in two, the lower main part, the mitten just labeled ''Michigan'', is on the west coast on part of {{w|California|California's}} location, but the upper part is located on the east coast over {{w|New York|New York's}} location and has been labeled ''MI (upper)''. So even without Hawaii and Alaska, there are 49 "states" in this map, consisting of 47 states plus the two halves of Michigan. In the [[#Table|table]] below all 49 states in the map has been listed to indicate where the puzzle pieces have been moved to.

It seems at a first glance that the names have been written on the states as they would appear in a normal map, and that they have all then been rotated with the rotation of the states. But this is not the case for all states. For instance it seems like {{w|Utah}} has hardly been moved at all, and with the name written normally this may be intentionally to deceive the readers. Because Utah has been turned upside down, and according to how for instance {{w|Texas}}, clearly turned upside down, has it's name written upside down as well, Utah should thus also have been written like that.

It seems likely that this could be a trick by Randall, to see if anyone spots that Utah has actually been moved. But it could of course be a mistake, as seems more likely with {{w|Montana}} where the same "error" has occurred, but since this state has been moved far from it's real position there would be no sport in doing so (see the [[#Trivia|trivia section]]). Of course there is the possibility that "Utah" was on purpose and Montana by mistake. With 47 of 49 ending up rotated as expected on the map and only two exactly upside down, there can be no doubt that it was on purpose that the the names are written according to the states rotation for the 47. Note that for instance the state California has been rotated, but in a way so the text is written normally. But due to the direction of the state, it is normal to write the name tilted down along the state, which just coincidentally ends up being rotated normal in the position it has in the comic.

Other states that have not been moved a lot include California which has only been pushed down the length of the west border of the US (and thus rotated acordingly), so the top part still overlaps with the bottom part California, but also {{w|Arizona}} and {{w|New Mexico}}. {{w|Maine}} has only been rolled left (i.e. turned upside down) to just outside its normal position. {{w|Colorado}} has been moved up a state to where {{w|Wyoming}} usually is, and Wyoming has then just been shifted right. But both have been turned 90 degrees, whichever way would be impossible to say for these rectangular states. But the text, if you dare believe in that, seems to indicate they have been turned counter clockwise. {{w|Wisconsin}} has only been shifted down below its usual position but then turned upside down.

The title text mentions how it would be unfair to use a [http://i.imgur.com/Mvi8j9s.jpg blank version] (already created by a user) of this shuffled-up map as a quiz for knowledge of U.S. geography; most people recognize states primarily by their relative locations, not their shape (and especially not their shape after being rotated). It also suggests a corresponding mean trick to play if you include Alaska and Hawaii, which are not present in the comic itself, namely to interchange the volcanic island of Hawaii (consisting of 8 main island and hundreds smaller ones) with those of the {{w|Aleutian Islands}}, also a chain of volcanic islands (14 large and 55 smaller) that partly belongs to the US partly to Russia. The island extends from the {{w|Alaska Peninsula}}. It would thus be possible to even make it difficult to correctly name these last two states, even though it would be obvious to begin with that it must be the two not belonging to the mainland.

==Table==
*This table list all states in the order of the transcript. But it can be sorted alphabetically.
*It's purpose is two fold:
**To list the rotation of the state compared to the real orientation of the sate in the real world map
**To list which state/states the states, in this comics map, have been moved over/inside.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! State
! Orientation
! Moved to
! Note
|-
| {{w|Ohio}} || Upside down || Washington ||
|-
| {{w|Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia}} || Upside down || Oregon ||
|-
| {{w|Lower Peninsula of Michigan|Michigan (lower part)}} (as {{w|Michigan}})|| Upside down || Northern|| Michigan is the only state split in two, as it is also split in two peninsulas in real life. In real life these two parts lie very close on the shores of the {{w|Great Lakes region|Great Lakes}}, and not as here, with one on each coast of the US. But at least they still both lie on a shore.
|-
| {{w|Maryland}} (as MD) || Upside down || Central California (Southern Bay Area) ||
|-
| {{w|California}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Southern California, Southern Arizona, Southern New Mexico ||
|-
| {{w|Kansas}} || Upside down || Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, Western Montana ||
|-
| {{w|Pennsylvania}} || Rotated clockwise || Eastern Oregon, Idaho ||
|-
| {{w|Oklahoma}} || Rotated clockwise || Idaho, Montana ||
|-
| {{w|New Mexico}} ||None || Nevada, Northern California ||
|-
| {{w|Nebraska}} || Upside down || Northern New Mexico, Northern Arizona||
|-
| {{w|South Dakota}} || None || Montana ||
|-
| {{w|Colorado}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Western Wyoming ||
|-
| {{w|Wyoming}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Eastern Wyoming || Stays mostly in place.
|-
| {{w|Utah}} || Upside down || Utah, Northern Arizona || The text has been written upside down on the state, so in a correct map using this state the text would be upside down. Only other state this has happened with is Montana. Stays mostly in place.
|-
| {{w|Alabama}} || None || Western Colorado ||
|-
| {{w|Massachusetts}} (as MA) || Rotated counter clockwise || Central New Mexico ||
|-
| {{w|Virginia}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Western New Mexico ||
|-
| {{w|Arizona}} || Rotated counter clockwise || North Dakota ||
|-
| {{w|Washington (state)|Washington}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Western Iowa, Eastern South Dakota, Eastern Nebraska ||
|-
| {{w|Montana}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Colorado, New Mexico and Texas || The text has been written upside down on the state, so in a correct map using this state the text would be upside down. Only other state this has happened with is Utah.
|-
| {{w|New York}} || None || Westernmost tip of Texas ||
|-
| {{w|Minnesota}} || Upside down || Minnesota || Stays mostly in place.
|-
| {{w|Texas}} || Upside down || Missouri, Arkansas, Western Kansas, Iowa, Southern Illinois ||
|-
| {{w|Connecticut}} (as CT) || Rotated clockwise || Texas and New Mexico border ||
|-
| {{w|Mississippi}} (as Missi-ssippi) || Rotated clockwise || Texas and Oklahoma border ||
|-
| {{w|Nevada}} || None || South Western Texas ||
|-
| {{w|Idaho}} || Rotated clockwise || Eastern Texas, Southern Louisiana ||
|-
| {{w|South Carolina}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Southernmost Texas ||
|-
| {{w|Missouri}} || Upside down || Eastern Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, Michigan's upper peninsula, Lake Superior ||
|-
| {{w|Wisconsin}} || Upside down || Illinois || Very deformed, loses its Western indentation
|-
| {{w|Kentucky }} || Rotated clockwise || Western Wisconsin, Western Illinois ||
|-
| {{w|North Dakota}} || Rotated clockwise || Mississippi ||
|-
| {{w|Florida}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Southern Michigan, Northern Ohio ||
|-
| {{w|North Carolina}} || Rotated clockwise || Southern Michigan, Eastern Indiana ||
|-
| {{w|Indiana}} || None || Alabama ||
|-
| {{w|Rhode Island}} (as RI ) || Unclear rotation, perhaps counter clockwise || Louisiana (New Orleans area) ||
|-
| {{w|Oregon}} || Rotated clockwise || Ohio, West Virginia ||
|-
| {{w|Iowa}} || None || Western North Carolina, South Carolina ||
|-
| {{w|Tennessee}} || Upside down || Northern Florida (Panhandle), Southern Alabama, Southern Georgia ||
|-
| {{w|Illinois}} || None || Florida ||
|-
| {{w|Maine}} || Upside down || Northern New York, Vermont ||
|-
| {{w|New Hampshire}} (as NH) || None || Western Pennsylvania ||
|-
| {{w|Lower Peninsula of Michigan|Michigan (upper part)}} (as MI (upper))|| Rotated 45 degree counter clockwise || Pennsylvania and New York|| Michigan is the only state split in two, as it is also split in two peninsulas in real life. In real life these two parts lie very close on the shores of the {{w|Great Lakes region|Great Lakes}}, and not as here, with one at each coast of the US. But at least they still both lie on a shore.
|-
| {{w|Arkansas}} || None || Eastern Maryland, Eastern Virginia ||
|-
| {{w|New Jersey}} (as NJ)|| None || Eastern South Carolina ||
|-
| {{w|Louisiana}} || Rotated counter clockwise || Maine ||
|-
| {{w|West Virginia}} || Rotated 45 degree clockwise || Southern New Mexico ||
|-
| {{w|Delaware}} (as DE) || Rotated counter clockwise || Connecticut, Rhode Island ||
|-
| {{w|Vermont}} (as VT) || Upside down || Either New Jersey or Delaware (unclear) ||
|}

==Transcript==
:[A white map with an outline that closely resembles that of the mainland of the United States of America with gray all around the black border. But on closer inspection most of the states do not look right. The 48 mainland states are all there, however, with their name or abbreviations written on them as a label in gray text. But they have all been shuffled around and then reassembled as a jigsaw puzzle in the same shape as USA. The name labels for most of the states have been rotated, often to follow the new rotation of the state in the map. So some are written upside down or have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise or counter clockwise or even somewhere in between. One state, Michigan, has even been split up in two so there are 49 instead of 48 labels. For the states that have been named only with state abbreviations the full name is written in brackets behind the transcript of the abbreviation. Here below all the states are listed approximately in columns going from the top left and down and then moving right to the next column across the map. Any rotation of the text from normal is noted in brackets behind the name.]
:Ohio [Upside down]
:Georgia [Upside down]
:Michigan [Upside down – but only bottom part]
:MD [Upside down - Maryland]
:California [Text not rotated, but state is rotated counter-clockwise]
:Kansas [Upside down]
:Pennsylvania [Rotated clockwise]
:Oklahoma [Rotated clockwise]
:New Mexico
:Nebraska [Upside down]
:South Dakota
:Colorado [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Wyoming [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Utah [Text normal, but state is upside down, i.e. the text is upside down in the state]
:Alabama
:MA [Rotated counter clockwise – Massachusetts]
:Virginia [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Arizona [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Washington [Rotated counter clockwise]
:Montana [Rotated clockwise - but the state is rotated counter clockwise, i.e. the text is upside down in the state]
:New York
:Minnesota [Upside down]
:Texas [Upside down]
:CT [Rotated clockwise –Connecticut]
:Missi-
::ssippi [Rotated clockwise - text split with hyphen]
:Nevada
:Idaho [Rotated clockwise]
:South Carolina [Rotated counter clockwise, by more than 90 degrees, but the state is rotated exactly 90 degrees]
:Missouri [Upside down]
:Wisconsin [Upside down]
:Kentucky [Rotated clockwise]
:North Dakota [Rotated clockwise]
:Florida [Rotated counter clockwise, by more than 90 degrees, but the state is rotated exactly 90 degrees]
:North Carolina [Rotated clockwise]
:Indiana
:RI [Label below in the ocean –Rhode Island]
:Oregon [Rotated clockwise]
:Iowa
:Tennessee [Upside down]
:Illinois
:Maine [Upside down]
:NH [New Hampshire]
:MI (upper) [Rotated 45 degree counter clockwise – Michigan but only upper part]
:Arkansas
:NJ [New Jersey]
:Louisiana [Rotated 45 degree counter clockwise - but the state is rotated exactly 90 degrees]
:West Virginia [Rotated 45 degree clockwise]
:DE [Rotated counter clockwise – label to the right in the ocean – Delaware]
:VT [Upside down –Vermont]

==Trivia==
*Using two A3 printouts of both the [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/National-atlas-blank-state-outlines.png real map] from Wikipedia and this comic, is approximately the same scale it was possible to reassemble US putting the states in their correct place.
**The result displayed surprisingly accurate drawings of the states, although it is clear that on the borders between states that are not drawn by a ruler, they cannot be correct for both states in all cases.
**From this map it becomes clear that not only Utah but also Montana has the text written upside down according to the correct position of the state.
[[File:1653_United_States_Map_49_piece_jigsaw_solved.jpg]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]