explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3227: Creation

2026-04-02T00:28:34Z

Orion205:

did anyone else wait for the screensaver to hit the corner? [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 20:13, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I can't work out what Modem mode is meant to do... on my machine it just freezes the whole page. [[Special:Contributions/78.213.151.110|78.213.151.110]] 20:22, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:It plays the sound of an old-style phone modem, and scrolls the comic into view slowly. It's supposed to represent the early days when downloading an image would take a long time. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:31, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:can confirm on android firefox it seems to render the page unresponsive to input - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 21:18, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:Same here on Desktop Firefox - under "Modem mode", the whole page freezes up and the browser prompts me to close it ("this page is slowing down Firefox", or words to that effect). I wonder if it's a Firefox thing - odd if so, because I imagine Randall of all people would test on browsers other than Chrom* - or some weird side-effect of my ad/popup/script/cookie-blockers. A shame because all the other modes seem to work - "Greyscale mode" is far too subtle, and I'm ashamed to admit I missed the change from "math" to "maths"! - but this is a great April Fools' comic. [[Special:Contributions/50.45.232.78|50.45.232.78]] 22:56, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:Firefoxer here, and ''without'' any particular add-ons that might interact badly with it... It does (seem to) lock up and it does (sometimes... didn't on at least one occasion) prompt Firefox to ask if I want to stop the page. But if I wait long enough it 'wipes off' the last seen comic image, starts to 'scanline' it back (note: not actually accurate to the real days of modems, as you'd probably be loading up images in interlaced mode) and ''then'' starts to give a modem-shriek.
:I wonder, without delving into the code used, if it's the method used to 'sleep' (could it be using busy-busy NOP-like code, rather than true sleep-interupts?), or just a slightly different asynchronous script-handling method that Firefox uses instead of other test-platforms. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 23:46, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I clicked darker mode and my screen is black and I cant undo it help
:I assume you mean Darkest Mode, since there's no darker mode. The screen turns black but if you look carefully you can still see the grey of the menu and you can click on it. Also, the menu border continues to appear after you select the choice (at least it does on my Mac). P.S. Don't forget to sign your comment with 4 ~ characters. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:31, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

Modem mode doesn’t work for me what does it do [[Special:Contributions/2A06:5906:1412:4100:352D:1A2:184:5F3|2A06:5906:1412:4100:352D:1A2:184:5F3]] 20:29, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:Modem mode makes the comic slowly print from above [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 20:34, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I see the mobile site m.xkcd.com was left out on this change😔 [[Special:Contributions/104.28.215.219|104.28.215.219]] 20:37, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I read “Modern mode” instead of Modem mode and I spent a while making wild theories about what it could be referencing. But I’m also quite sleepy. [[Special:Contributions/146.70.116.107|146.70.116.107]] 20:51, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I deminified the code if anyone wants it. There are no hidden options or anything like right-click has, but it would be extremely easy to add modes to it. [[Special:Contributions/2601:441:4B7E:7660:0:0:0:AC72|2601:441:4B7E:7660:0:0:0:AC72]] 20:59, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

"Modem mode" works for me in Chromium, but not Firefox. [[User:Robobun|Robobun]] ([[User talk:Robobun|talk]]) 21:06, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:For me it's just slow on Firefox. It takes about 5 seconds to clear the comic and start scrolling it back in, and the static doesn't start until it's almost all showing. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:11, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

applies across the whole website? i forsee a preservation effort in the near future to capture What This Was Like, when randall inevitably removes the menu and all its modes--there's no chance this is staying, is there? - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 21:24, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:It applies to older comics, but not other parts of the site. I'm also wondering if this might be just for April Fool's Day. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:27, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:: I know it's april the 1st, but could we keep the modes? Stainglass is fun when the background doesn't turn maroon (and makes the text hard to read). I also checked other pages of xkcd, the modes are on on the other comics.
::Of course it's the April Fools'/Fools' comic. Nice to see it being on time, this year, and I too wonder how long it'll stay. Might it permanently stay on this comic page, perhaps even stay if you jump off of it, but comic 3228 (or the 'default' latest-comic page) will probably be back to normal on Friday. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:14, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:Luckily, preservation is easy enough. I think you just need to save the main [https://xkcd.com/3227/5710add.js Javascript file] (which contains the CSS, and generates the necessary DOM on the fly) and the [https://xkcd.com/3227/imgs/nyoom_2x.png one image asset]. I think it should be easy enough to turn it into a UserScript if you turn the png into a data URI, or even a web extension if that's more your speed. [[User:Dratini0|Dratini0]] ([[User talk:Dratini0|talk]]) 00:12, 2 April 2026 (UTC)

Finally we have the Boat Mode from the footer! [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/@bforbrain youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 21:33, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

'''Attention admins''' I think there's an "oops" in this line:
<nowiki>To experience the interactivity, visit the {{xkcd|{comicNum}|original comic}}!</nowiki>
[[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 21:43, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:Yeah, looks like this is a regression in this corner case. I should have a fix for it soon. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 23:41, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

Has the full footer always been there? "xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing." --[[User:Chance2travel|Chance2travel]] ([[User talk:Chance2travel|talk]]) 22:30, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
:Yes, always has been. Learn more at the page for [[Footnote]]. [[Special:Contributions/104.28.215.219|104.28.215.219]] 23:17, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I think the Dorian Greyscale Mode takes 5 minutes to complete. I see this in the Javascript: <code>body.mode-dorian-greyscale {\n transition: filter 300s ease-out;</code> [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 22:36, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

Dorian Greyscale Mode seems like it ought to use only the white keys on a standard piano, and go DEGFCDBA, with adjacent notes differing in a single bit position. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:8084:2862:4F80:65B7:327D:E614:342F|2A02:8084:2862:4F80:65B7:327D:E614:342F]] 22:56, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I'd love to know if the modem mode's audio file decodes to anything if you try to decode it as a v.92 stream or something similar. [[Special:Contributions/2603:6011:4504:D100:3BD0:B617:9D7:1C80|2603:6011:4504:D100:3BD0:B617:9D7:1C80]] 23:24, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

Stained Glass Mode doesn't show title text? Might be a bug [[User:X|X]] ([[User talk:X|talk]]) 23:38, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

Not gonna lie, I got nerd-sniped hard here. I thought the noise in the modem mode might be real modem noises, and I tried to demodulate it. With Gnuradio, I got to the point of guessing that it's 4FSK at 2400 baud, with a center frequency of about 1700 Hz and a frequency deviation of about 300 Hz. I couldn't find the corresponding modem standard, so I started deminifying the source code that generates it. The good news is that I was correct. It's 4FSK, 2400 baud, center frequency 1710 Hz, frequency deviation 270 Hz. The bad news? The data is Math.random(). That feels bittersweet. I saw a puzzle where there was none. I want to post the relevant snippet of deminified code. Am I allowed to do that? Is the site itself also under CC-BY-NC, or just the comics? [[User:Dratini0|Dratini0]] ([[User talk:Dratini0|talk]]) 23:58, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

Honestly, I'd love a real dark mode for xkcd.com. But one where the comic isn't inverted. Sometimes I prefer to read the comic here on explainxkcd.com since I have mediawiki settings for dark mode, but those don't invert the comic. (I don't think I can make mediawiki settings for space opera mode...) [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 00:28, 2 April 2026 (UTC)

3227: Creation

2026-04-02T00:19:54Z

Orion205: added Category:Comics with custom header texts using HotCat

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic was created when modes were added to the xkcd website, on April Fool's Day, through a selectable drop-down list below the comic. This allows various different viewing options for the comic. Some are 'normal', like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things in further and/or more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The comic references one of the first lines of the bible, about God making light, but then a person on Earth asks to turn on {{w|dark mode}}, referencing the new options.

Unlike most comics, the title text isn't really a joke, it merely 'explains' the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin, Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===Table of Modes===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Mode
! Description
|-
| Light Mode
| The classic site appearance, with no actual changes to the appearance applied.
|-
| Lighter Mode
| The entire web page is overexposed, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.
|-
| Dark Mode
| A standard "white content on black background" dark mode.
|-
| Darkest Mode
| Everything on the webpage turns completely black, sans the drop down menu which is merely a dark gray.
|-
| Blurry Mode
| Blurs the entire webpage.
|-
| Grayscale Mode
| Applies a standard grayscale conversion filter to the entire webpage.
|-
| Greyscale Mode
| Like Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (as in British English).
|-
| Dorian Greyscale Mode
| Makes the webpage slowly turn grey. This refers to {{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}, in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome.
|-
| Space Opera Mode
| Turns the entire page into a ''Star Wars''-style opening scroll.
|-
| 3D Mode
| Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph_3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}.
|-
| Origami Mode
| Rotates various pieces of the webpage.
|-
| Ink Mode
| Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink.
|-
| Spring Mode
| Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate as the page is scrolled.
|-
| Antipodes Mode
| Turns the entire webpage upside down. An antipode is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also term used for Australia and New Zealand by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".
|-
| Hacker Mode
| Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical "green on black" hacker color scheme.
|-
| Screensaver Mode
| Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges.
|-
| Modem Mode
| Slowly reveals the comic top to bottom, as if slowly loading, accompanied with modem static audio playing.
|-
| Stained Glass Mode
| Colors each closed area of the comic in a separate color. The colors vary each time this mode is selected.
|-
| Airplane Mode
| Makes the comic fly around on the page, with a "NYOOM!" written next to it. This is unlike the usual use of "airplane mode" to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all RF) features of a mobile device.
|-
| Boat Mode
| Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water. (It has been previously used as a reference in the [[Footnote]], which says "Remove your device from airplane mode and set it to Boat Mode).
|}

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

[Panel 1. Black background with white caption boxes.]

Caption 1: And God said,

Caption 2: "Let there be light,"

[Panel 2. A bright explosion of light from a star in the center.]

Caption: And there was light.

[Panel 3. The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]

[Panel 4. The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]

Caption: God saw that the light was-

Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]][[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]

3218: Subduction Retrieval

2026-03-12T19:04:09Z

Orion205: added Category:Subduction using HotCat

{{comic
| number = 3218
| date = March 11, 2026
| title = Subduction Retrieval
| image = subduction_retrieval_2x.png
| imagesize = 502x347px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Aww, the oceanic crust and the continental crust are getting married!
}}

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

This comic is a {{w|public service announcement}} (PSA) telling the reader to stay out of the {{w|Pacific Ocean}} on the current day. The reason for this is explained to be that someone has lost their wedding ring in a {{w|subduction zone}}. This is a boundary where two {{w|tectonic plates}} in the Earth's crust collide, and one plate dives beneath the other into the {{w|Earth's mantle}}. The ring can be seen glimmering on the upper surface of the subducted oceanic plate, in the {{w|accretionary wedge}} below the continental plate. Given that the rate at which this occurs is of a few centimetres per year at most, and assuming that the characters shown are drawn to scale and are of average human stature, it can be estimated that the ring has been in the subduction zone for about 200 years. Possibly this time has been needed to localise it and then deploy the heavy engineering displayed.

As a result, the {{w|United States Geological Survey}} (USGS) is "pulling the plate back up" to retrieve the ring. This would be a ridiculous idea, since no man-made machine is capable of moving entire tectonic plates.{{cn}} Even if it were possible, it is unlikely that the USGS, a national organization, would invest the time and effort required for such an operation for the relatively trivial purpose of retrieving a wedding ring, particularly for people who are presumably long since dead. If they did, though, staying out of the ocean would be a good idea, as it would be liable to cause tsunami over a wide area, as well as other dangers.

The title text jokes that since the wedding ring lies on the lower (oceanic) plate, the oceanic crust and continental crust are "getting married". Of course, [[Beret Guy|most]] humans wouldn't be able to see the sight of the wedding ring, due to it being underground, and in the {{w|mantle}}, where no human could reach anyway — assuming that it hadn't already been mechanically deformed (crushed, mangled and/or broken apart) by the action of being sandwiched between two continental masses, and eventually melted.

==Transcript==

[A large structure resembling a bridge has been positioned over the intersection of two tectonic plates, one under the ocean and one forming a jagged, mountainous coast, with one "foot" on each plate. A winch is hanging from the center of the bridge, connected to a chain which is hooked into the oceanic crust. The winch is pulling up the crust, causing it to fold and wrinkle. Cueball and Ponytail are standing on one large fold next to where the chain is hooked to the crust, and another Cueball is standing on the continental crust. Oceanic Cueball has his arms up. On a portion of subducted oceanic crust, far below the ground, a small shining lump is visible.]

[Winch:] click click click

[Caption below panel:]
PSA: Please stay out of the Pacific Ocean today. Someone lost their wedding ring in a subduction zone and USGS is pulling the plate back up to retrieve it.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Subduction]]

3208: SNEWS

2026-02-17T01:14:47Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 3208
| date = February 16, 2026
| title = SNEWS
| image = snews_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x321px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People say setting of fireworks indoors is dangerous, but I looked at their energy release and it's like 10^-40 foe; totally negligible.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a Type Ia firework display that Ponytail set off. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Ponytail]] is showing [[Hairy]] her bedroom. Hairy asks about the large device on the ceiling, and Ponytail explains that it is part of the {{w|SNEWS}} (SuperNova Early Warning System). This detects {{w|neutrino|neutrinos}} (tiny particles that travel near the speed of light, rarely interacting with matter) to give pre-notice of supernovae, as neutrinos are produced in large quantities during the collapse of the star core, which occurs hours before the main photon production. She explains this gives astronomers warning, allowing them to observe the event with telescopes and other instruments.

Hairy then asks regarding the nature of the visible equipment mounted on the ceiling, which has several protruding barrels. His first assumption is that it is either detector as part of the SNEWS, or some kind of telescope to be used in the event the SNEWS goes off. Ponytail explains that the device it is in fact a fireworks launcher, for the purposes of waking her up so she can witness the supernova herself. This is a '''very''' bad idea for a multitude of reasons. Reckless usage of fireworks is already known for causing significant property damage and personal injury even when used outdoors; launching fireworks inside the house means causing an explosion in a controlled area, guaranteeing that it will hit the building, maximizing the opportunity for the conflagration to ignite something flammable on the structure, and containing and therefore amplifying the sound of the burst (which can already deafen people who are too close).

Some people don't easily wake up to a simple alarm clock, especially if it is in reach and has a "snooze" function where a button will silence the alarm for several minutes before it beeps again. Note the similar sounds of "snooze" and SNEWS may be part of the joke.

Understandably, Hairy {{tvtropes|ScrewThisImOuttaHere|leaves to sleep at his own house}}.

The title text is a play on the tremendous amount of energy released by a supernova. The {{w|Foe (unit)|foe}} is an unofficial unit of energy aplroximately equal to 10^44 Joule (but named directly from initials in from the original quantity of "ten to the fifty-one ergs", involving a {{w|Erg|pre-SI}} measurement of energy), which is on the order of the usual amount of energy released by a supernova. In comparison, human-scale amounts of energy — even relatively significant ones such as firework detonations — are negligible. This ignores the fact that energy releases that are "negligible in comparison to a supernova" can still be easily fatal to humans.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is walking into her room. The room has a bed, a set of drawers and a large sci-fi device mounted on the ceiling. Hairy is standing in the room, pointing up at the device.]
:Hairy: What's that device?
:Ponytail: Part of the supernova early warning system.
:Ponytail: There hasn't been a Milky Way supernova in over a century.
:Ponytail: Astronomers don't want to miss the next one.

:[Close up of Ponytail, now sitting on the end of the bed]
:Ponytail: 20 years ago, we set up a supernova alert system using neutrino detectors.
:Ponytail: It should give us a few hours' advance notice.

:[In a frame-less panel the view zooms back out, showing Ponytail and Hairy.]
:Ponytail: If it ever goes off, every astronomer on earth will scramble to point their equipment at the sky.
:Hairy: Oh, OK. So is that a detector? Or some kind of telescope?

:[The panel moves to the right, showing Hairy walking away. Ponytail is still on the end of the bed, raising a clenched fist for dramatic effect.]
:Ponytail: Fireworks launcher.
:Ponytail: I '''''refuse''''' to sleep through a supernova.
:Hairy: I think I'll spend the night at my place instead.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

3204: Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

2026-02-06T21:32:05Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 3204
| date = February 6, 2026
| title = Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs
| image = dinosaurs_and_non_dinosaurs_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x283px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Staplers are actually in Pseudosuchia, making them more closely related to crocodiles than to dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by something that doesn’t seem like a dinosaur. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic explores the seeming paradox that certain extinct prehistoric species which are popularly thought of as being "dinosaurs" are, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint, not. It also takes into account the fact that all bird species are descended from dinosaurs and thus - again, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint - are themselves dinosaurs as well (see [[1211]]). To illustrate this, Randall provides silhouettes of dinosaurs, of entities that are widely thought of as dinosaurs but are not, of entities that are ''not'' widely thought of as dinosaurs but ''are'' (i.e., birds), and, lastly, of entities that are neither dinosaurs nor thought of as dinosaurs (which is funny because it's so all-encompassing).

Clockwise from upper left in each quadrant of the image:
* Silhouettes in "seem like dinosaurs / are dinosaurs": stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, diplodocus, velociraptor
* Silhouettes in "seem like dinosaurs / are not dinosaurs": mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, pteranodon
* Silhouettes in "don't seem like dinosaurs / are not dinosaurs": squirrel, stapler, bicycle, Cueball, pineapple
* Silhouettes in "don't seem like dinosaurs / are dinosaurs": penguin, egret, falcon, pigeon, ostrich

The title text is a further joke about taxonomy, predicated on the assumption that staplers are biological organisms (which they are not){{citation needed}}, and can thus be sorted into taxa. ''{{w|Pseudosuchia}}'' is in fact the clade that encompasses all crocodilians, and staplers bear a certain resemblance to the open jaw of a crocodilian.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A 2x2 chart containing various animals and objects.]
* Left column: Are dinosaurs
* Right column: Are not dinosaurs
* Upper row: Seem like dinosaurs
* Lower row: Don't seem like dinosaurs

:[Top left (seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Top right (seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
:[Bottom left (don't seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Bottom right (don't seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]

3195: International Station

2026-01-18T05:45:23Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT APOSTROPHE S SPACE TRANSLATION SPACE ERROR PERIOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This joke makes fun of the parity between 'space', as in the invisible character between words, and 'space', as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is said that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the {{w|International Space Station}}, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International (space) Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as International Space Station, with the accidental name being accepted due to the resulting name being acceptably apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase, similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]. There were also multiple examples of strings, with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s. The full name of "International Space Station Exclamation Point" may also sound like it refers to a location in the International Space Station by the name of "Exclamation Point". In a similar vein, when customers order signboards, they sometime come with unintended quotation marks. The customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them.

The ISS made the news on 15 January 2026, the day prior to the release of this comic, due to the {{w|List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_International_Space_Station#2026|unprecedented evacuation of some crewmembers to Earth for medical reasons}}.

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

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

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in a weightless environment, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-15T00:33:25Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 3194
| date = January 14, 2026
| title = 16 Part Epoxy
| image = 16_part_epoxy_2x.png
| imagesize = 511x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a bot covered in various types of glue. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|Epoxy|epoxy}}, a substance used for attaching other materials. Many types of epoxy are multi-part, where the components, such as resin and a hardener, are stored separately. They are mixed on use, so that the epoxy cures into a solid, binding to whatever surfaces on which it was applied. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on some can require special techniques or products. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g., {{w|Tetrachloroethylene|tetrachloroethylene}}, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side effects, while also not working as a glue as intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Resin
|{{Yes}}
|A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
|-
|Hardener
|{{Yes}}
|A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
|-
|Filler
|{{Yes}}
|An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.
|-
|Softener
|{{Yes}}
|A substance which is added to polymer to soften the polymer and increase its impact resistance.
|-
|Rosin
|{{Yes}}
|While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually an alternative to resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin is frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or fiddles to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "The Devil Flew Down to Georgia".
|-
|Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else
|{{No}}
|One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing it when it bonds to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it more useful for a practical joke. Some epoxies are specifically designed for gluing skin, usually for medical purposes, but none are known to bond to skin exclusively.{{acn}} The most common kinds are moisture-activated, which means they will not easily bond to fully dried surfaces, where often most non-skin surfaces are dry.
|-
|Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance
|{{No|Not effective as epoxy}}
|'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, and can be created by mixing paint and glue, but is not recommended if you want two surfaces to adhere, since most paint is made to be non-adherent in order to be durable {{acn}}.
|-
|Placebo
|{{No|Not in this field}}
|The {{w|placebo effect}} happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality there is no effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something as opposed to simply having a {{w|psychosomatic effect}}, but Randall is using this term to describe the type of polymer. This makes no sense, because the polymer would need to make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is highly unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (presumably causing better reviews).
|-
|Minced duct tape
|{{No}}
|Randall is pretending that having very small pieces of sticky {{w|duct tape}} would make a good adhesive. In fact, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it ''less'' effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not augur well for the adhesive.
|-
|Acetone fragrance
|{{No}}
|The fragrance of acetone is very similar to that of nail polish remover and comes from a natural solvent within it. Most people consider this scent incredibly unpleasant. This would also be worthless in an epoxy set, as the fragrance would have no effect on adhesiveness while making it smell worse.
|-
|Powdered bar magnets
|{{No}}
|While this would still work, as each tiny piece of magnet would still become a magnet in its own right, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet due to the random orientation of each piece.
|-
|Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{No}}
|This appears to be a reference to {{w|Polyvinyl_actate|polyvinyl acetate}}, otherwise known as wood glue, but with extra prefixes tacked on to make it seem more sophisticated. Polyvinyl acetate is a type of polyvinyl ester but having ester alongside acetate in the name is redundant. Additionally, polyvinyl acetate doesn't usually contain ethyl groups. The manufacturer of this product may have added a minute amount to make the product sound fancier without noticeably changing performance.
|-
|2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{No}}
|This would be exactly the same as the normal one.
|-
|Salt and pepper to taste
|{{No|Not in this field}}
|Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor. Using this would have no effect on the polymer.
|-
|Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas
|{{No}}
|{{w|Gorilla Glue}} is a popular brand of superglue which uses {{w|gorillas}} as its mascot. In this case, the blood of the gorillas would be extracted and placed in the polymer, which would have no effect because they're depicted as just regular gorillas that happen to carry glue everywhere.
|-
|Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours
|{{No}}
|Another common annoyance when using a polymer is that some types do not form an adhesive bond with certain materials. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, causing great distress.
|}

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

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin

Hardener

Filler

Softener

Rosin

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance

Placebo

Minced duct tape

Acetone Fragrance

Powdered bar magnets

Polyethylvinylesteracetate

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate

Salt and pepper to taste

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

3182: Telescope Types

2025-12-18T00:57:36Z

Orion205: typo

{{comic
| number = 3182
| date = December 17, 2025
| title = Telescope Types
| image = telescope_types_2x.png
| imagesize = 517x680px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I'm trying to buy a gravitational lens for my camera, but I can't tell if the manufacturers are listing comoving focal length or proper focal length.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently ACCORDING TO A TELESCOPE POINTING BACK IN TIME. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic shows diagrams of a number of different types of {{w|telescope}}, some real and others made up by Randall. It includes both refracting and reflecting designs; see [[1791: Telescopes: Refractor vs Reflector]] for the important differences between them.

{| class="wikitable"
! Type !! Real? !! Refractor/Reflector !! Description
|-
| Prime Focus || Yes || Reflector ||
|-
| {{w|Herschelian telescope|Herschelian}} || Yes || Reflector ||
|-
| {{w|Newtonian telescope|Newtonian}} || Yes || Reflector ||
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]

3172: Fifteen Years

2025-11-24T21:44:24Z

Orion205: added Category:Cancer using HotCat

{{comic
| number = 3172
| date = November 24, 2025
| title = Fifteen Years
| image = fifteen_years_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x2623px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Want to feel old?" "Yes."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Randall]]'s then-fiancée, now wife was diagnosed with cancer in late 2010. This is a matter he has discussed in the comic [[:Category:Cancer|multiple times before]], with Randall being depicted as Cueball and his wife as Megan. At this comic's release, it had been 15 years since her diagnosis and treatments.

This comic continues previous comics in the [[:Category:X Years|the series]] – [[1141: Two Years]], [[1928: Seven Years]], and [[2386: Ten Years]] – the initial parts of which are shown in the first 20 panels, which are grayed-out.

The first of the new panels shows Randall and his wife in bed, with Randall reading her a book. He wants to stop because they need to get to sleep, she convinces him to read one more chapter. It didn't take much arm-twisting, her argument was simply a grunt.

The next panel appears to depict the {{w|Covid-19 pandemic}}. [[Hairy]], Megan, Cueball, [[Ponytail]], and [[White Hat]] are all wearing masks and looking at cellphone graphs showing the progression of the virus.

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Cancer]]

3172: Fifteen Years

2025-11-24T21:42:49Z

Orion205: added Category:Comics with color using HotCat

{{comic
| number = 3172
| date = November 24, 2025
| title = Fifteen Years
| image = fifteen_years_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x2623px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Want to feel old?" "Yes."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Randall]]'s then-fiancée, now wife was diagnosed with cancer in late 2010. This is a matter he has discussed in the comic [[:Category:Cancer|multiple times before]], with Randall being depicted as Cueball and his wife as Megan. At this comic's release, it had been 15 years since her diagnosis and treatments.

This comic continues previous comics in the [[:Category:X Years|the series]] – [[1141: Two Years]], [[1928: Seven Years]], and [[2386: Ten Years]] – the initial parts of which are shown in the first 20 panels, which are grayed-out.

The first of the new panels shows Randall and his wife in bed, with Randall reading her a book. He wants to stop because they need to get to sleep, she convinces him to read one more chapter. It didn't take much arm-twisting, her argument was simply a grunt.

The next panel appears to depict the {{w|Covid-19 pandemic}}. [[Curly]], Megan, Cueball, [[Ponytail]], and [[White Hat]] are all wearing masks and looking at cellphone graphs showing the progression of the virus.

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-22T00:10:53Z

Orion205: removed duplicate transcript

{{comic
| number = 3171
| date = November 21, 2025
| title = Geologic Core Sample
| image = geologic_core_sample_2x.png
| imagesize = 493x789px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you drill at the right angle and time things perfectly, your core sample can include a section of a rival team's coring equipment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A RIVAL GEOLOGY TEAM. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This image presents a core sample taken by a slightly chaotic team of geologists. Contained within it are fairly normal ground matter such as "topsoil" and "granite" but also such things as "bottomsoil", which has no IRL parallel, parts of subway cars, arms of a spelunker most likely amputated by the sample, a "balrog" wing (referencing a fictional animal from Lord of the Rings which first made an appearance in xkcd in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/730:_Circuit_Diagram]) and after diving through the core of the earth, the home of someone else. It first starts with cement, the foundation, floorboards and carpet (either a carpeted floor or a decorated floor), and then the posessions

The title text humorously refers to a "rival team" and their coring equipment - implying that with the correct angle you can muddle with their own coring experiment, which, outside of cold war-type pettiness, is not considered a constructive approach to science.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[This shows a drill sample with various labels]

Topsoil

Till

Granite Bedrock

Bottomsoil

Roof of Subway Car

Floor of Subway Car

More Granite

Municipal water main

Slightly different granite

Piece of screaming spelunker's arm

Cool Crystals with no resale value

Mangled Fragments of drillbit from previous attempt

Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up

Netherrack

Balrog wig

Granite

Topsoil

Cement

Floorboards

Carpet

Possesions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]

3171: Geologic Core Sample

2025-11-22T00:10:22Z

Orion205: added Category:LOTR using HotCat

Talk:3147: Hiking

2025-09-29T21:41:35Z

Orion205:

But what if the drones run out of battery? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 18:54, 26 September 2025 (UTC)
: "''what if the drones run out of battery?''" What If the Amazon/UPS delivery truck with the [['''What If? 2''']] book you ordered runs out of gas/diesel/juice? Maybe they attempt repeat delivery. Maybe a refund is posted in 7 to 10 business days.

I was going to write a transcript, but I can't figure out how to describe how this is supposed to be a time series in a single panel. I'll let someone else do it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 26 September 2025 (UTC)
: "''how to describe how this is supposed to be a time series in a single panel''" It is three moments in time, superimposed. "Slide is delivered", "Hikers slide", "Slide is removed". [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:35, 26 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Four moments in time actually. You forgot "Hikers orders slide". [[Special:Contributions/2001:9B1:40D0:C300:102B:825:C539:3F33|2001:9B1:40D0:C300:102B:825:C539:3F33]] 01:06, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
::: Five - there is "Hikers walk off afterwards". [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:13, 29 September 2025 (UTC)
:::: Four - "Hikers walk off afterwards" and "Slide is removed" are happening at the same time ;) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 14:43, 29 September 2025 (UTC)
::::: {{cn}} [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:42, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

I'd also like an on-demand ski lift for upwards segments [[Special:Contributions/73.222.207.213|73.222.207.213]] 23:54, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

I feel like this comic deserves a parody of "Jack and Jill went up a hill". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:37, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

This is how I learnt there were waterslides. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.21|64.114.211.21]] 08:59, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
: #todayyearsold [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 15:53, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure this would improve the hiking experience for me; not because I have anything against waterslides, but because the downhills are a valuable rest period in between unpleasant ascents. If it were over in a moment I'd still be exhausted at the bottom of the next rise. [[Special:Contributions/79.77.240.136|79.77.240.136]] 19:18, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
:And probably thoroughly wet, to boot. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:05, 28 September 2025 (UTC)
::I prefer ascents, and having bad knees don't like descents. Last summer I did a 1400m ascent to a mountaintop, with only 250m of descent. Lovely! On-demnd slides (they may be dry ones) would make the experience even better for me! [[User:IIVQ|IIVQ]] ([[User talk:IIVQ|talk]]) 07:38, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

This raises the possibility of drone-delivered escalators for ascending Mount Everest. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 03:38, 28 September 2025 (UTC)
: The location you have selected is outside of the geofenced area. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:29, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

Othercomics like this have me missing the OTC/OTT more than most days. Would an on-demand-waterslide have helped in their journey? [[User:TimeLurker|TimeLurker]]
: Yeah, think of how fast they could have RUN down to meet the forty if they could slide most of the way! Seeing Cueball and Megan hiking this this make me think of Time as well. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 21:41, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

3144: Phase Changes

2025-09-19T21:45:36Z

Orion205: Added reference to older comic mention of ice spikes

{{comic
| number = 3144
| date = September 19, 2025
| title = Phase Changes
| image = phase_changes_2x.png
| imagesize = 409x341px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People looking for the gaps in our understanding where the meaning of consciousness or free will might hide often turn to quantum uncertainty or infinite cosmologies, as if we don't have breathtakingly complex emergent phenomena right there in our freezers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created in a Minecraft Ice Spikes Biome. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic illustrates the difference between the simplified idealised version of science that is often taught in the classroom, and the much weirder, more unexpected phenomena that can happen in reality.

In the first panel, [[Blondie]] is teaching the 'vanilla' version of the freezing of water, which is that it changes from a liquid to a solid at exactly 0°C. The expectation might be that the next panel will explain that it's rather more complicated than that, due to factors such as impurities and mixing of ice and liquid water, which mean that both solid and liquid water, or a mix of the two, can exist at temperatures above and below 0°C.

Instead, it illustrates a much more surprising effect — that of {{w|ice spike}}s. Normally, water freezes uniformly when still, and creates a relatively smooth, flat surface. However, very occasionally, all but a small portion of the surface freezes. Because water expands by ~9% as it freezes, and the water below the surface only has this hole to expand through, the ice juts out through the hole as it expands, creating a spike.

When remarking about the ice spike in the right panel, Blondie says that the water is "trying to give us a present." This may come from the fact that ice spikes are generally diagonal, making them look as if they are reaching out towards someone or something. It may also reference the fact that many people would experience surprised delight at finding such an odd formation.

The title text mocks people who turn to vague invocations of quantum mechanics to 'explain' the origins and definitions of free will and consciousness, implying that Blondie's dubious claims about the water having intention demonstrate that consciousness can be produced by the mere act of freezing water.

Ice spikes were also referenced in the title text of [[3025: Phase Change]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Blondie is standing to the right of a table, with her right hand gesturing toward a bowl of ice sitting on a table. There is a header above the comic.]
:Header: Phase change in theory
:Blondie: As you can see, when water is cooled to below 0°C, it changes from a liquid to a solid.

:[Blondie is standing in the same position, but the bowl now contains ice which has uneven structures growing out of it. To the left of the bowl, the ice is growing a trapezoid longer at the top than the bottom, and on the right side, the bowl is growing a large diagonal spike, the tip of which hangs over the edge of the bowl.]
:Header: Phase change in practice
:Blondie: When water freezes, it sometimes sends out long weird spikes.
:Blondie: Physics tell us the water is "trying to give us a present."

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category: Physics]]

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-18T21:40:12Z

Orion205:

Altoona-style is listed first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations but that's because the list is alphabetical. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I prefer +style pizza. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:16, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
: Not a fan of electrons as a topping then? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:37, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Imo, positron pizza is far better. Some people won’t appreciate it though, as it disintegrates [in] your mouth. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 15:28, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I’m pretty sure this comic is intended to be titled “<City>-Style Pizza”, as it is labeled in the HTML of xkcd.com (notably, xkcd.com itsel uses “-Style Pizza” for the <title> elements and the rss/atom feeds, but not for the visible title. (But there, the “<city>” gets swallowed by the browser)--[[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 21:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Altoona-style most literally looks like a sandwich except cheese instead of a top bun《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:54, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, a bunch of open-faced sandwiches side-by-side. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 22:07, 15 September 2025 (UTC)Pat
: It looks most like a heart attack in waiting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:42, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
Wildly accurate description《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:40, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: ">sandwich" not a dealbreaker ">too much cheese" well that can be balanced if ">american cheese" ruined [[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.43|158.91.163.43]] 19:59, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Isn't that similar to French bread pizza? It's just one half of a French bread bun with sauce, cheeze, and toppings on the top. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:40, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

On a related note, locally (hint: absolutely nowhere near the place mentioned), there's a business advertising "genuine New York-style bagels". The juxtaposition of the "genuine" claim and yet the acknowledgement that they are only of the given ''style'' always makes me wonder what worth the genuineness truly has, with an ocean's-width of distance between any physical manifestation of New Yorkification and what we have here. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought he was talking about Altoona Iowa (less than half the size of Altoona Pennsylvania). Look up “Altoona Iowa pizza” and one of the top hits will tell you it’s ranked one of the worst in the nation. You see, in Iowa, they lay out the dough, put on the ‘toppings’ (ahem) then dump on so much cheese that you can’t see any of the ‘toppings’ (ahem) anymore. When I came home from college in another state, I had to teach my mother how to make good pizza. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C|2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C]] 23:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

: Yes. It is truly amazing how many people eat pizza, but when making pizza themselves they put the cheese on top. My mom did this and i did this until my girlfriend (now wife) asked me "how many pizzas have you ever eaten at an italian restaurant where the cheese was on top and you could not see the toppings?" A question that left me baffled. And convinced me. But I remember vividly the night where us and a bunch of friends met to make pizza, and my wife and me got into heated arguments with our friends about where to put the cheese, until everybody did it their own way (of course, our pizza was better). --[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E|2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E]] 19:27, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: If I feel the need to ''add'' extra cheese to a pizza (c.f. the other day, some Blue Shropshire...yum!), I never put it on prior to cooking. Either entirely after or ''just'' before I've finished heating/reheating it. 'Base cheese' (the good stuff) and lesser 'cheese toppings' (usually less so) can get melted into oblivion and still do their job, but adding a little thinly slice Stilton (or even some generousy gloops of extra-creamy, and crawling-off-the-plate, Somerset Brie, which doesn't even ''need'' heating to be semiliquid) is best done after the fact. And still-chilled cheese atop hot pizza conveys its own particular culinary delights, just as with my prefered "bacon-and-brie" part-toasted smörgåsbord. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.186|82.132.246.186]] 15:36, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Well at least THIS one was about a kind of pi. I guess pi does round to 3.142. [[Special:Contributions/138.88.96.2|138.88.96.2]] 00:16, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Shame he missed out on Pittsburgh's 'specialty' with this... since they had the sheer audacity to call it 'Ohio Valley Pizza'... Which I hadn't even *heard* of, let alone actually seen, in 40 years of living in Cincinnati! -Edit: Turns out it originates from Steubenville, which had he named it 'Steubenville style pizza' would've put it way down on the bottom left somewhere. -Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7|2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7]] 01:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a way of displaying article titles that have non-standard characters in them. Could something similar be done here? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 04:05, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:they do, but it doesn't work. {{w|WP:DISPLAYTITLE|DISPLAYTITLE}} doesn't support <> symbols. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 13:29, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Not even with <nowiki><</nowiki>nowiki<nowiki>></nowiki> tags? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 09:52, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

The article is describing the Altoona style pizza, but Randall is calling on the viewer to look it up on Google images because the picture is likely more offensive than the description. I don't know what the wiki policy is but a picture in the article would do a much better job at explaining than anything Randall may or may not like about the ingredients. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 06:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Surely it's no coincidence that XKCD 3142 is about pie. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I hope it ''is'' a coincidence, because I'd like to think that Randall knows better than to call a pizza – a dish that isn't a pie – a "pie". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 12:53, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Says the person whose name is a pancake that calls itself a pudding. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding yorkshire pudding] is made similarly to a pancake, but it ends up more like a bun. And the British just call any dessert a "pudding", though I don't see how a yorkshire pudding could be a dessert... [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:22, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::: Not like anything that I would call a 'bun'. I would give you 'halfway between a pancake and a frittata'. 'Pudding' doesn't just mean dessert - it can refer to a thing more like a sausage that is boiled/steamed (black pudding, white pudding, etc.) which is the older meaning of the word. Even then, though, Yorkshire pudding is nothing like that either. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:28, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
:::: https://bubbablueandme.com/delicious-filling-ideas-sweet-yorkshire-pudding-recipes/
:::: ...just the first of many links found when looking for YPs being used as the base for a sweet dish. (Though I'm more of a traditionalist than that, myself.)
:::: And perhaps wander south a bit, into Derbyshire, and have a discussion about Bakewell and its famous pudding/tart/pie/flan thing(s)! ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.186|82.132.246.186]] 15:36, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Randall suggests that pizza quality correlates with city size. That means Brazilians were right all along, and the best pizza is from São Paulo. [[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 14:01, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No - it's completely outclassed by Chongqing Pizza. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

What about moving this page to [[3142: (City)-Style Pizza]] or similar? --[[User:Birdlover32767|Birdlover32767]] ([[User talk:Birdlover32767|talk]]) 16:25, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I agree that [[3142:(City)-Style Pizza]] would be appropriate. I don't have an exact analogy from Wikipedia, which also can't include < or > symbols in an article title, but they would use a similar substitution in a similar situation. See {{w|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)#Forbidden characters}}. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 15:52, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
:I was tempted to go ahead and do this move, but I'm not sure what might break. Will previous and next navigation break, or the link in the "All comics" page? Or would those recover after a short time, like an hour? I guess one way to find out is to just do it... [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 21:40, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

I had never heard of pizza styles "being named after a city" when I was living in Europe or South America. Is that just a USA thing? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:31, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No, several regions in Italy also have pizza styles named after them (e.g. Naples, Sicily & Rome) --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:07, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Some examples of the more popular 'City'-Style pizza types I know of in the US:
::;New York Style : Huge, round, thin, floppy crust cut into a small number of huge slices. Pretty much have to fold the pieces lengthwise in order to get enough rigidity to eat them.
::;Chicago Style : Aka 'deep dish'. Thick, round crust. Almost like an actual pie, but open top.
::;Detroit Style : Rectangular rather than round, cut into squares. Medium Crust.
::;St. Louis style : Round, thin, firm-to-crisp crust. Cut into squares... Ish(it's round!) Toppings go nearly to the edge, and the outer crust is approximately the same thickness as it is under the toppings.
::-Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F|2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F]] 19:44, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Feel the need to add here an Australian translation/interpretation, having been to two of those cities so far. New York Style Pizza is a huge wheel of pita bread with grease spots on it they call "cheese" and circles of cardboard they call "sausage", everything flat as a tack and tasteless as well as floppy. Chicago Style Pizza, on the other hand, is tomato soup in a bread crust, and quite tasty. And all the American pizzas rarely have more than two toppings, which is a bit weird, but it's what they do... Sort of like their hamburgers, I guess. [[Special:Contributions/124.150.67.115|124.150.67.115]] 05:16, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Currently the explanation describes the "<City>" glitch as an encoding error, and that doesn't strike me as quite correct. The problem is that it's not supposed to be "encoded" at all, but because it appears to be an HTML tag, it's being ''treated'' as encoded. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:30, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:Changed it to "invokes" the error, unless you can think of a better word. Also added a few extra bits. And ''also'' also moved it over into Trivia, for not being an explanation to the comic; only the way the comic page may have been inadvertently presented to us. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.247.226|82.132.247.226]] 16:44, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Please don't take it badly, but you should start calling it something else. Because it's not, well, _pizza_. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC2E:B600:ECF3:65DF:9AC4:63E6|2001:16B8:CC2E:B600:ECF3:65DF:9AC4:63E6]] 20:30, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-15T23:12:11Z

Orion205: Corrected title

{{comic
| number = 3142
| date = September 15, 2025
| title = <City>-Style Pizza
| image = city_style_pizza_2x.png
| imagesize = 480x314px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you want to see true audacity, do an image search for 'Altoona-style pizza.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT WITH SAUSAGE AND ANCHOVIES. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
Many varieties of {{w|pizza}} are named after a city, usually where the style originated or was popularized; for instance, {{w|New York–style pizza}} and Chicago-style pizzas. According to [[Randall]], {{w|New York-style pizza}} is near the top of the tastiness axis. New York happens to be the largest city in the US. It's also where pizza was first brought to the US by Italian immigrants. A New York-style pizza is characterized by a thin, but not hard, crust. Another famous pizza is the {{w|Chicago-style pizza}}, or Chicago deep-dish pizza, which is known for being notoriously thick.

This comic contains a chart that compares the tastiness of pizza styles with the size of the city in the name. They generally span a broad range, but poor-tasting styles are mostly found only in small cities. The suggested reason is that these are due to restaurant owners in small towns who are bored and make up strange styles of pizza as a prank on visitors.

The title text mentions an {{w|Altoona-style pizza}}. Created in the Altoona hotel in Altoona, Pennsylvania, it contains American Cheese on Sicilian crust, as well as bell peppers and salami. The “true audacity” of this style may include that people may not consider it pizza, and some may even narrow it down to something similar to a sandwich. Also, American cheese and Sicilian crust are very different, and probably aren't compatible.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A graph is shown. The x-axis is marked:]
:City size
:[They y-axis is marked:]
:Tastiness of "<city>-style pizza"
:[A shaded region is shown, initially covering nearly the whole y-axis at the lowest x-values. At the last x-values, the y-values are medium-medium high. Arrows point around to various locations in this shaded region, indicating an otherwise-unmarked subregion.]
:Label: Various controversial regional specialties
:[An arrow points to a medium-high y-value at the absolute leftmost x-axis.]
:Label: New York up here somewhere
:[An arrow points to a low x- and y-value.]
:Label: Towns with bored restaurant owners who have come up with a fun prank to play on visitors

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Food]]
[[Category: Charts]]

3098: Trojan Horse

2025-06-05T05:07:59Z

Orion205: wiki link

{{comic
| number = 3098
| date = June 4, 2025
| title = Trojan Horse
| image = trojan_horse_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x196px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Ultimately, history would imperfectly record the story of the Foal of Troy.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BABY BOT INSIDE A BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic is a parody of the {{w|Trojan Horse}} story. However, instead of an entire army coming out of the horse, it's just a baby horse (called a foal) coming out. The Troys incorrectly assume the foal being hungry is an attack on the food supply because it wants to eat oats, but in reality, babies of any form need nourishment in order to grow.{{citation needed}} This indicates that the foal has been alive for long enough for its teeth to develop, so it will gradually wean itself off of its mother's milk, which is indicated by the fact that the foal has only ''begun'' to ''show an interest'' in Troy's oats. It is unclear why the people in the comic would only be suspicious of ''the foal'''s hunger, considering that its dam (mother) would also need to eat, just not as much, and they do not seem to be concerned with this. Also, it should be noted that some people are willing to spend money to buy horses even though they are aware that the horses need to eat.{{citation needed}} It is also unclear how Troy is unaware that this is normal thing for mares to do, considering that horses were common in much of Asia by this time,{{citation needed}} especially cities with militaries because cavaries were widespread at one point,{{citation needed}} and this is how all horses (and, for that matter, all members of most mammal species) are created.{{citation needed}} The people of Troy might just not know much about horses, considering that they also consider the foal to be a ''secret'' payload even though pregnant mares show externally visible signs of pregnancy (such as abdominal drooping) five months before foaling (giving birth) on average. However, as mentioned before, this raises the question of why Troy either does not use horses for things such as cavalry and plow-pulling or why its people do not know how horses are formed in spite of this.

The title text suggests that the "Fall of Troy," i.e. the Greeks defeating the Trojans in the Trojan War, is actually a misunderstanding for the Foal of Troy, perhaps because Fall and Foal are spelled similarly. However, this is unlikely because the words (πτώση and πουλάρι) are not spelled similarly in Greek. (They start with the same letter, but they do not end with the same letter or share any internal letters (beyond sharing the same accent mark over different letters).) Also, it is unclear how and why a foal that hadn't even been born yet when its dam was given to Troy would have opened the gates of Troy or otherwise accounted for other aspects of the story of the Fall of Troy.

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3087: Pascal's Law

2025-05-09T23:30:41Z

Orion205: italics

{{comic
| number = 3087
| date = May 9, 2025
| title = Pascal's Law
| image = pascals_law_2x.png
| imagesize = 400x459px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Reductio ad absurdum fails when reality is absurd.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by PASCAL’S HYDRAULIC PRESS. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Pascal's law}} is a principle of fluid mechanics that states that when a change in pressure occurs in confined incompressible fluid, it is transmitted throughout the fluid and the same change occurs everywhere. It was discovered by mathematician {{w|Blaise Pascal}} in 1653 and published a decade later. This is the principle underlying {{w|hydraulics}}, and the diagram shows a hydraulic lift that allows a heavy weight to be lifted (on the right) by pressing on a small amount of fluid in the vessel on the left.

''{{w|Ruina montium}}'' ("wrecking of mountains" in Latin) was an ancient Roman mining technique in which small tunnels would be dug into the side of a mountain. When the tunnels were filled with high-pressure water, the rock adjacent to the tunnels would fracture, making it significantly easier to remove.

''{{w|Reductio ad absurdum}}'' ("reduction to absurdity" in Latin) in the title text is a form of argument in which something is assumed to be true and then shown to lead to absurdity or falsehood, so it can't be true after all. In mathematics it's called {{w|proof by contradiction}}.

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

[At the left, a teacher is holding a pointer, pointing at a picture on the screen.]

[The picture shows a hydraulic lift, with a small fluid vessel on the left connected to a tube at the bottom, which connects to a large vessel on the right. On top of the large vessel is a weight labeled 1000 and a Cueball. The fluid in the large vessel is labeled with an upward arrow. Megan's hand is over the small vessel, with a downward arrow indicating that she's pressing on it.]

[Cueball, Hairbun, and Blondie are sitting at school desks going right to left.]

Cueball: No, that can't be right.

Cueball: If hydrostatic pressure worked that way, then you could use it to make machines that exert near-infinite force.

Cueball: And ancient people could have demolished entire mountains just by drilling small tunnels and filling them with water.

[Caption below comic:]

When I first learned about Pascal's law, I tried to disprove it by showing that it would lead to absurd consequences, but it turns out hydraulic presses and ''ruina montium'' are both real things.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]

3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

2025-05-05T23:05:43Z

Orion205: Undo revision 376428 by 172.68.242.61 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 3084
| date = May 2, 2025
| title = Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object
| image = unstoppable_force_and_immovable_object_2x.png
| imagesize = 297x379px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Unstoppable force-carrying particles can't interact with immovable matter by definition.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an UNSTOPPABLE OBJECT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
An "{{w|Irresistible force paradox|unstoppable force meeting an immovable object}}" is a common expression when two things with mutually exclusive properties are forced to interact. In the comic, this is depicted with three drawings, first showing an arrow representing an unstoppable force moving toward an object that is immovable. In the next drawing they meet and the force arrow enters the object. In the final drawing the force arrow is moving past the object that has, of course, not been moved. But the force has also not been stopped. In the caption below the comic, [[Randall]] states that he cannot understand why people find this scenario to be tricky.

Most of the time, the expression is just that, an expression, one that is meant to convey there will be a lot of destruction when the two things meet. Sometimes it is a euphemism for more complex things such as people or ideologies (who have contradictory goals and are unwilling or unable to compromise), other times it's an exaggeration for large and powerful forces that are not literally unstoppable but still cause massive damage when they run into each other. Randall proposes a solution to the paradox: the unstoppable force will not actually interact with the immovable object; the unstoppable force is not stopped, and the immovable object is not moved. An example explanation of this situation is described in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eKc5kgPVrA video] by {{w|Minute Physics}}. This comic could actually be said to show what is shown in the video.

The comic plays on the word "force", which has different interpretations depending on context. In casual language, an object can be a "force" if it carries enough energy, while to a physicist like Randall it describes a fundamental influence between particles of matter, and not all forces interact with all types of matter, nor ''can'' they be stopped (only depleted, by interaction and dispersion over their effective distance). The humor derives from the differences between the lay-impressions of the scenario and a more technical interpretation, in line with [[123: Centrifugal Force|prior informative comics]] of this ilk.

In the title text, Randall makes it clear that the force-carrying particles cannot interact with the matter by definition. Thus each of these "impossible" concepts can exist, but since they can never interact, the problem of what will happen when they do, is thus not relevant. In quantum physics, all forces are mediated by force-carrying particles, but this is not usually something that is relevant to consider, when macroscopic objects interact.

==Transcript==
:[In one panel there are three drawings representing the same scenario at three different times. The first drawing shows a right-pointing arrow at the left, and a rounded trapezium-like object set slightly to the right of center. They are each labeled with a line going from a label above down to the respective shape:]
:Unstoppable Force
:Immovable Object

:[In the second drawing the arrow is shown in the process of moving through the trapezoid, the part of the arrow within the trapezoid is drawn in gray lines.]

:[In the third drawing the arrow has moved a similar distance, now being to the right of the trapezoid.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't see why people find this scenario to be tricky.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]

3080: Tennis Balls

2025-04-23T23:38:39Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 3080
| date = April 23, 2025
| title = Tennis Balls
| image = tennis_balls_2x.png
| imagesize = 411x574px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After initial tests created a series of large holes in the wall of the lab, the higher-power Scanning Tunneling Tennis Ball Microscope project was quickly shut down.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SCANNING WIKI BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:3073: Tariffs

2025-04-09T00:55:00Z

Orion205: fixed trolls link

{{notice|This comic and explanation is about present-day politics and {{w|Donald Trump|Donald Trump, the current President of the United States}}. Please {{w|WP:DFTT|don’t feed the trolls}}, meaning that you don’t give recognition or respond to trolls or vandals. If you find vandalism, revert and move on. If the vandal is a registered user, {{w|WP:RBI|revert, block (send a message to [[User:Kynde]] or [[User:Theusaf]]) and ignore}}. As with these contentious topics, please do not edit if you believe you have a conflict of interest or might be writing in a biased and slanted manner (in regards to both major American political parties). Be {{w|WP:BOLD|bold}}, but not reckless. Always be considerate of the other side and don’t {{w|WP:CIVIL|attack people}}. Thanks, '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 00:23, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}
Uh, still no April fools [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 23:50, 7 April 2025 (UTC)
:The April fools is the president the U.S. Elected. (note: I am Usanian)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.232|172.70.214.232]] 12:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
I felt like using all caps is a good idea for explanations, since the comic itself is all caps [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 00:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
: Please don't. If you did that, then all of the other explanations and transcripts would have to be edited to all-caps, which makes it harder to read. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 01:07, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:Doesn't just about ''every'' xkcd comic use all-caps? That would make pretty much the entire wiki unreadable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.35|172.71.155.35]] 04:15, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

What's wrong with the explanation? It's showing this weird string of letters: expDia thud enzo Isla idiosyncrasies talk 3totheaudienceandtheotherswhoareyouheresoearlyinthedayafterMittenslefttodois sign up for both ofuscan'twaitforthemostparttobeabrightandwarmwelcomeandIhopethatyouwillfindapenthatwillOrbitz pap [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23 7 April 2025 EST
: Vandals --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 00:32, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
::I'm getting a few Cloudflare messages that the server isn't responding. I'm used to explainxkcd giving straight 503s, etc, but this is the kind of thing (code 522, in at least one case) that you get only when an active pressure (crap-spamming, etc) is being applied. I'm wondering if there's some pushback from the pro-tariff (or at least 'pro-Donald') online community. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 11:12, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Hopefully, just HOPEFULLY, we can prevent the comment section from devolving into insults like https://xkcd.com/1756/: I'm With Her. [[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 01:51, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:I concur, though I want to stress that I think it's very important that we try to make this comic explanation as neutral as possible. Is it possible to not show a bias towards either side of the issue? Randall's comic obviously has a point of view, but perhaps the explanation on this site can be a little bit more neutral. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 11:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:You stink! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.181|172.70.91.181]] 13:09, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Comic [[2566]] was supposed to be a joke... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.175.87|172.68.175.87]] 03:58, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

"venmo" needs explaining. Apparently it's some sort of USAian proprietary payment system? And I think Ponytail's company is providing a service (which the USA exports of lot of), rather than selling equipment - services usually not being captured by simple trade figures for goods. And in order to post here I have to identify features of foreign street scenes in order to train a monopolist's proprietary image recognition system. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.115|162.158.216.115]] 13:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:Ah, didn't read this first, but I ''just'' put a link in for that (slightly awkwardly, but best I could - expecting a later editor to better phrase/place it). Hadn't heard of it, myself. Presumably Leftpondians know about it a lot more, perhaps most do, given how much business it gets/facilitates ''only'' in the US. Anyway, consider me one of those that learnt something new today! (Not that I can, or would, use it, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.71|172.70.163.71]] 13:19, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

I added this comic as an answer to a Politics.SE question. https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/60191/does-it-make-sense-to-treat-trade-deficit-as-tariffs/60229#60229 [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

This is unironically the best explanation of Trump's tariffs I've seen
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.171|162.158.212.171]] 14:49, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:I had a Facebook friend post almost the exact same analogy the day before this comic was released. So it is an idea that is out there. But since Trump do not care for the people who elected him, it is not his problem that everything gets more expensive in the US --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:56, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Midwit take from Randall that fundamentally misunderstands that the goal is to bring back manufacturing capability to the USA. Warren Buffett proposed these exact tariff measures 20 years ago and is only now saying they're bad because Orange Man Bad Amirite. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/growing.pdf {{unsigned ip|172.68.12.75|16:43, 8 April 2025}}
:I've just read the paper you linked, which suggests issuing tradable / saleable import certificates to create a liquid market incentivizing a trade balance, one which is not country or industry directed at all and has, basically, nothing to do with Trump's "plan." They are not "the exact same" at all, and I'm not surprised that someone using "orange man bad" language is engaging in deception. {{unsigned ip|172.69.214.221|17:24, 8 April 2025}}

There should be a "don't feed the trolls" banner at the top of the discussion. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:There's already a "Don't be a jerk!" rule noted at the bottom. Could just move it to the top, I suppose. (Or better, just move it to the top only for topics that are likely to lure people into acting like jerks. Good way to tell whether a given strip is going to upset a lot of people...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.96|172.70.42.96]] 22:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
::made a notice about it up top '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 00:14, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

3024: METAR

2024-12-16T06:25:54Z

Orion205: Fixed temperature decoding in trivia section

{{comic
| number = 3024
| date = December 13, 2024
| title = METAR
| image = metar_2x.png
| imagesize = 640x360px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In the aviation world, they don't use AM/PM times. Instead, all times are assumed to be AM unless they're labeled NOTAM.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT WITH NO SIGNIFICANT OTHER :( (OTHER THAN AN A380). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In aviation, the {{w|METAR}} (Meteorological Aerodrome Report) is used to give pilots a brief overview of the current meteorological conditions at the airport. The METAR follows a specific structure and makes heavy usage of abbreviations, which makes it hard to read for anyone not familiar with it. The comic makes fun of that by assuming meaning of the words based on what non-aviation people might think the different elements of the METAR report may represent. The METAR in the comic is fairly alarming, describing dangerously fast winds, a possible tornado, freezing volcanic ash (in New York!), lightning, and impossibly high atmospheric pressure.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Code !! Real Meaning !! According to the comic
|-
| METAR
| Type: Meteorological Aerodrome Report
| The comic assumes that this is just a spelling error and it should be "meter"
|-
| KNYC
| Station ID: 4 character identifier; for an airport, this would be the {{w|ICAO airport code|ICAO code}}. In this instance the identifier represents the automated weather station at Belvedere Castle in Central Park, NYC. Airport, weather, and radio station call signs share a common heritage.
| "Station ID", which is actually correct, although people unfamiliar with METAR-reporting stations could presume that this is an AM radio broadcaster's name.
Among AM radio stations, KNYC is not a current call-sign (though {{w|WNYC}} is, and indeed serves New York City), but (among the 'western' subset of US stations) currently {{w|KNCY (AM)|KNCY}} serves the area around Omaha, Nebraska (being based in Nebraska City), and {{w|KYCN}} covers Wheatland, Wyoming.
|-
| 251600Z
| Time of observation: 25th day of the month at 4 PM UTC. Z is not part of the time, but simply global shorthand for {{w|Military time zone|"Zulu" time}}, i.e. {{w|Coordinated Universal Time|UTC}}. Normally most stations would report at a particular time every hour, in this particular case either 15:51 or 16:51 would apply, but more frequent reports are made during unusual and rapidly changing weather events (as may be the situation, in this case).
| Misreading the "Z" as a 2, resulting in a nonsensical time. Hours greater than 24 are sometimes used to indicate a time after midnight, e.g., in Japan 17~25h means from 5 P.M. to 1 A.M. the following day. A normal METAR does not use more than 24 hours, instead incrementing the day, so 25 hours further adds to the nonsensical nature of the interpretation.
|-
| 18035G45KT
| Wind direction and speed: Wind direction 180° (directly from the south, degrees based on 0°=magnetic north), speed 35 knots, gusting to 45 knots. This is quite stormy weather.
| Instead of interpreting the first 5 digits as direction and speed, it is assumed that it is one big number and the G45 stands for the time span in which this was observed with "G" standing for "good". 18,035 knots is an unrealistically high wind speed, faster than orbital velocity; the {{w|jet stream}} typically contains the highest winds on Earth, and may reach about 250 knots.
|-
| 6SM
| In weather reports related to aviation, "6SM" stands for 6 statute miles of visibility, meaning that objects can be seen clearly up to 6 miles away.<ref>https://weather.cod.edu/notes/metar.html#:~:text=6SM%2DVisibility,SM)%20up%20to%2010%20SM.</ref> This indicates clear enough weather to fly without instruments; the value has a max range of 10SM.
| The comic interprets "6SM" to humorously mean a "Size '''6 Sm'''all".
|-
| VCFCFZVA
| In the vicinity (VC): funnel cloud (FC) and freezing (FZ) volcanic ash (VA). This sounds somewhat unusual for New York City.{{Citation needed}}
| A riff on the repeated letters which give off the impression the string is constructed by random keypresses on the keyboard, as exemplified by a [[1689: My Friend Catherine|cat on the keyboard]]. There is a long history of this problem, as well as [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ attempted solutions].
This string may or may not actually look like the pattern of characters that a walking cat could produce (and be reliably detected). All the letters are in a cluster at the lower left of the (QWERTY) keyboard, with some adjacently paired characters perhaps indicative of stepping on multiple keys and other neighbouring keys having been stepped over, not uncommon of an oblivious feline wandering across your desk. But the repeated cluster of "CFCF", and other implied paw-press events, seem less likely to emerge even from a rapid quadrupedal gait. A more casual stroll would likely also create single-character duplications, unless the keyboard repeat delay was set unnaturally high.
|-
| +BLUP
| Heavy (+) blowing (BL) unknown precipitation (UP)
| Riffing on the fact that it looks like an onomatopoetic word
|-
| NOSIG
| No significant change is expected to the reported conditions within the next 2 hours
| The comic assumes that the transmitter of the METAR report wants the receivers to know that they do not have a significant other, which the comic finds sad. The observer could be trying to abuse the METAR report as a dating platform.
|-
| LTG OHD
| Lightning overhead
| OHD is interpreted as "overheard" instead of "overhead", indicating that they did not observe it themselves and instead just overheard people talking about it.
|-
| A3808
| Altimeter setting: (calculated) air pressure at {{w|Mean_sea_level|mean sea level}} at the airport is 38.08. The value of 38.08 inHg is extremely high. The standard atmospheric pressure used in aviation is 29.92 inHg; the highest recorded surface pressure on Earth was 32.01 {{w|Inch_of_mercury|inches of mercury (inHg)}}<ref>https://learn.weatherstem.com/modules/learn/lessons/125/18.html</ref> ("A" for inHg, used primarily in USA, Canada and Japan; "Q" would indicate a value in hPa). This is used to adjust the altimeter in the aircraft to the local air pressure, instead of using the standard setting used in higher air spaces.
| The comic says that the observer saw an {{w|Airbus_A380|Airbus A380-800}}, a very large passenger plane. Note: The {{w|List_of_ICAO_aircraft_type_designators|ICAO aircraft type code}} for the Airbus A380-800 is A388 and not A3808.
|-
| RMK
| Beginning of the section with remarks
| Remarkable. A comment about the A380.
|-
| AO2
| The weather station is automated (A) and has a precipitation discriminator (O2), which can tell the difference between liquid and frozen precipitation.
| A reference to the {{w|fan fiction|fanfic}} site [https://archiveofourown.org/ Archive of Our Own], often abbreviated as AO3 ('''A'''rchive '''o'''f '''O'''ur '''O'''wn, or AOOO). It's nonsensical to describe this site as having a precipitation discriminator.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| SLP130=
| {{w|Sea_level_pressure|Sea-level pressure}} is 1013.0 hPa (approx. 29.91 inHg). The equal sign signifies the end of the METAR.
| "SLP" interpreted as abbreviation for sleepy, the numbers as a time, and the = sign as "around" (maybe confused with ≈)
|-
|
|
|-
| NOTAM (title text)
| Not part of a METAR report, but instead another aviation abbreviation. It stands for {{w|NOTAM|Notice to Air Missions}} (previously Notice to Airmen).
| Parsed as "not A.M.", indicating that a given time is to be interpreted as P.M. While AM and PM are indeed not used in aviation, as the comic says, they use a 24-hour clock system, not an "A.M.-by-default" 12-hour clock system.
|}

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

:Decoding a METAR report:

:[A METAR report is shown with annotations. The report is:]

:<code>METAR KNYC 251600Z 18035G45KT 6SM VCFCFZVA +BLUP NOSIG LTG OHD A3808 RMK A02 SPL130=</code>

:[The annotations are:]

:* <code>METAR</code> "METER" (Usually misspelled)
:* <code>KNYC</code> Station ID
:* <code>251600Z</code> Time (25:16:002)
:* <code>18035G45KT</code> Wind speed has been 18,035 knots for a good 45 minutes now
:* <code>6SM</code> Observer is a size 6 small
:* <code>VCFCFZVA</code> Sorry, the station cat walked on the keyboard
:* <code>+BLUP</code> Weird noise the sky made earlier
:* <code>NOSIG</code> Observer has no significant other :(
:* <code>LTG OHD</code> We overheard someone saying there was lightning
:* <code>A3808</code> Hey look, an Airbus A380-800!
:* <code>RMK</code> Remarkable!
:* <code>A02</code> Fanfic Archive equipped with a precipitation sensor
:* <code>SLP130=</code> Observer got sleepy around 1:30

==Trivia==
The actual last three KNYC METAR strings, that were generated at about the actual time of publication, were:
KNYC 131651Z AUTO VRB03KT 10SM CLR M01/M14 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP374 T10061144 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 16:51 UTC (11:51am local time) : Fully Automated Report : Variable wind, no more than 3 knots : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : −1 °C (about 30 °F), dew point at −14 °C (about 7 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.4 hPa (30.63 inHg) : Temperature -0.6 °C (conversion from exactly 31 °F) , dew point -14.4 °C (from exactly 6 °F) : Maintenance check required (indicated by dollar sign)''
KNYC 131751Z AUTO 10SM CLR 00/M16 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP374 T00001156 10000 21028 56006 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 17:51 UTC (12:51pm local time) : Fully Automated Report : (no wind measured) : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : 0 °C (about 32 °F), dew point at −16 °C (about 3 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.4 hPa (30.63inHg) : Temperature ±0.00 °C (from exactly 32 °F), dew point -15.6 °C (from exactly 4 °F) : 6 hour maximum 0.00 °C (32 °F) : 6 hour minimum -10.28 °C (from 13.5 °F) : 3 hour pressure tendency, falling by 0.6 millibars (0.018 inHg) : Maintenance check required''
KNYC 131851Z AUTO 10SM CLR 00/M16 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP377 T00001156 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 18:51 UTC (1:51pm local time) : Fully Automated Report : (no wind measured) : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : 0 °C (about 32 °F), dew point at −14 °C (about 7 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.7 hPa (30.64 inHg) : Temperature -0.6 °C (from exactly 31 °F), dew point -15.6 °C (from exactly 4 °F) : Maintenance check required ''







==References==
{{reflist}}
[https://e6bx.com/metar-decoder/ ''Actual'' Metar Decoder]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Aviation]]
[[Category:Emoji]]

3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-22T19:06:44Z

Orion205: Undo revision 353693 by Orion205 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 3001
| date = October 21, 2024
| title = Temperature Scales
| image = temperature_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x535px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXPONENTIAL TEMPERATURE SYSTEM. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Since the invention of the thermometer, a number of different temperature scales have been proposed. In modern times, most of the world uses {{w|Celsius}} for everyday temperature measurements, as it is part of the {{w|metric system}} that has been widely adopted for official uses. A small number of countries (namely Liberia, the USA and its three associated free states in the Pacific) retain the US customary (or 'imperial') system, which uses the ''slightly'' older {{w|Fahrenheit}} scale (°F was initially defined in 1724, the general current form of °C was created in 1743). The other widely used temperature scale is {{w|Kelvin}}, which uses the same scale as Celsius, but is rooted at {{w|absolute zero}}, making it both useful in scientific calculations and easy to convert to and from Celsius. Even in countries that use Fahrenheit regularly, scientific measurements are typically done in Celsius and/or Kelvin.

The strip proceeds to compare these scales, and a number of others, on a scaled of "cursed"-ness. The joke is highlighting how strange and generally difficult to use many older proposed systems were. All of the listed scales are real, but may be considered obsolete to varying degrees (though some, such as Rankine, are still sometimes used in legacy applications).

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Unit
! scope="col" | Water Freezes
! scope="col" | Water Boils
! scope="col" | Notes
! scope="col" | Cursedness
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| {{w|Celsius}} || 0 || 100 || Used in most of the world || 2/10 || Celsius is defined (indirectly, these days, by way of comparison to Kelvin) so that the freezing and boiling points of pure water at standard atmospheric pressure are 0 and 100 degrees respectively. This (along with Kelvin) is considered the least cursed temperature system (at least from those where the ranking values make any sense), likely due to Randall's background. Notably it is still considered a 2/10, implying an inherent degree of cursedness for all systems.
|-
| {{w|Kelvin}} || 273.15 || 373.15 || 0K is absolute zero || 2/10 || Kelvin is a scientific unit of measure invented by {{w|Lord Kelvin}} that intends to use the same scale as degrees Celsius, but is offset by 273.15, in order to set the zero point at absolute zero (by way of using the {{w|Boltzmann constant}}, as of 2019). Kelvin and Celsius are, by far, the most common units used in scientific measurements and calculations. Their utility and inherent logic is likely what makes them the least "cursed".
|-
| {{w|Fahrenheit}} || 32 || 212 || Outdoors in most places is between 0–100 || 3/10 || Fahrenheit is officially used in several countries across the globe, and unofficially in several others. It was derived in an era where powers of six were more popular in science than powers of ten, so water freezing and water boiling were calibrated to be 180° apart. In addition, Daniel Fahrenheit believed that pure water freezing was not worthy of the 0° benchmark and resolved to set 0° to the coldest possible temperature he could create: the freezing point of ammonium chloride brine. While modern scholars find these benchmarks arbitrary and outdated, it gained usage, primarily in Anglophone countries, likely due to the scale being considered intuitively useful for some common functions (the range roughly matches the typical span of weather conditions, for various ranges of climate, and the 100 point is quite near normal human body temperature, even though 90 was initially presumed to be this). While it was largely displaced by the Celsius scale, the US (Randall's home country) continues to typically use it. It is ranked as slightly more cursed than Celsius.
|-
| {{w|Réaumur scale|Réaumur}} || 0 || 80 || Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100 || 3/8 || A historical French system used in some places until the early 20th century. In modern times mostly used in cheesemaking. The rating (3/8) is a joke on the boiling point of water in standard atmosphere being 80 instead of 100 as it is in Celsius; converting this to an out-of-ten scale would give 3.75/10, labelling it as more cursed than Fahrenheit but less so than Rømer.
|-
| {{w|Rømer scale|Rømer}} || 7.5 || 60 || Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design || 4/10 || Created by the Danish astronomer Ole Christensen Rømer in around 1702, while the Fahrenheit scale was proposed in 1724.
|-
| {{w|Rankine scale|Rankine}} || 491.7 || 671.7 || An absolute scale, with 0°R set to absolute zero, but using the Fahrenheit scale. || 6/10 || Randall has shown disdain for this before, like in [[2292: Thermometer]]. The scale is mostly obsolete, but is still occasionally used in legacy industrial operations where absolute temperature scales are required.
|-
| {{w|Newton scale|Newton}} || 0 || 33-ish || Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in" || 7-ish/10 || Created by Isaac Newton, measuring "degrees of heat". The rating (7-ish/10) is a joke about the vagueness of the scale's definition.
|-
| {{w|Wedgwood scale|Wedgwood}} || –8 || –6.7 || Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about || 9/10 || Created by potter Josiah Wedgwood in the 18th century. The measurement was based on the shrinking of clay when heated above red heat, but was found to be very inaccurate. Randall has a typo, as the scale is called Wedgwood (''without the e'').
|-
| Galen || –4? || 4?? || Runs from –4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?) || 4/–4 || Galen, in his medical writings, is said{{fact}} to have proposed a standard "neutral" temperature made up of equal quantities of boiling water and ice; on either side of this temperature were four degrees of heat and four degrees of cold, respectively. The rating (4/–4) is a joke about the scale being defined between positive and negative 4, and could be interpreted as –100% cursedness.
|-
| {{w|Celsius#History|''Real'' Celsius}} || 100 || 0 || In Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it || 10/0 || As most scales' temperatures can be indefinitely large but there exists an absolute minimum temperature, defining the scale in this way (giving an absolute maximum but allowing indefinitely negative values) is indeed cursed, as nearly all possible temperatures will be negative. The rating (10/0) is a joke on the scale "flipping" the fixed points of modern Celsius. This might be interpreted as "infinitely cursed", or else just {{w|NaN|Not a Number}}.
The original logic was that zero could be easily calibrated to the height of a column of mercury at the temperature of boiling water, and further measurements then made of the amount it ''reduced'' in height under cooler conditions. This direction 'survives' in the historic {{w|Delisle scale}}, which predates (and arguably helped greatly inspire, though with a different factor) the classic version of °C. The version originally used by Anders was only 'corrected' posthumously, but nobody seemed bothered enough to do the same with Delisle's scale.
|-
| [https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/459851/john-daltons-temperature-scale#459863 Dalton] || 0 || 100 || A nonlinear scale; 0°C and 100°C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50°C is 53.9 Dalton || 53.9/50 || {{w|John Dalton}} proposed a logarithmic temperature scale. The scale is defined so that absolute zero is at negative infinity, with the exponent chosen to match Celsius at 0 and 100. While Dalton temperature is defined for all positive and negative numbers, the nonlinear scale is difficult to work with since the amount of heat represented by a change of one degree Dalton is not constant. Degrees Dalton differs from Celsius by as much as 3.9 degrees between 0 and 100, but diverges much more for more extreme temperatures.

The rating (53.9/50) is a joke about the unit, as 53.9 Dalton would be 50 degrees Celsius — i.e. the cursedness could be understood as 50/50 (or 10/10, entirely cursed), but perhaps instead as 107.8% (even more than entirely cursed).
|-
| °X ([[Randall]]'s new temperature scale as defined in the title text) || 41.9 || 154.4 || Title text: "In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed." || ∞ (estimated) || Usually temperature records are measured 1 m above ground as surface temperatures can be much higher. It is uncertain if Randall actually meant surface or just normal temperature records as the ones mentioned here.

The record lowest temperature on Earth is –89.2°C (–128.6°F), recorded at the {{w|Vostok Station|Vostok Research Station}} in Antarctica on July 21, 1983. This would then be set to 0°X unless it is surface temperature instead. This would be adjusted if a new lowest temperature were recorded.

The 50°X point would be set to the "global average", but it's unspecified what timespan this average is taken over. Since adjustments are made yearly, most likely the yearly average is meant; the most recent yearly average temperature, for 2023, was 14.98°C, which happened to be the highest ever by some margin.[https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-climate-highlights-2023]

The {{w|Highest temperature recorded on Earth|record highest temperature}} is 56.7°C (134.1°F), recorded on July 10, 1913 at {{w|Furnace Creek, California|Furnace Creek Ranch}} in Death Valley, California. This record is disputed, however, and a more reasonable record is 54°C (129.2°F), which has been recorded more than once in recent years. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/] The X scale would set this temperature to 100° (unless the X scale uses surface temperature instead; surface temperatures on the ground of 94°C (201°F) have been recorded at Furnace Creek). The 100°X point would also be adjusted if a new highest temperature were measured.

{{cot|Derivation}}
To break the scale into two linear parts (below and above 17.16°C), we define two separate equations for each range:

1. Below 17.16°C (from –89.2°C to 17.16°C):
* 0 °X corresponds to –89.2°C
* 50 °X corresponds to 17.16°C

We calculate the slope m₁:

<center>m₁ = (50 – 0) / (17.16 – (–89.2)) = 50 / (17.16 + 89.2) = 50 / 106.36 ≈ 0.47</center>

Now, using the point (17.16°C, 50 °X), we calculate the intercept b₁:

<center>50 = 0.47 × 17.16 + b₁</center>

<center>50 = 8.06 + b₁</center>

<center>b₁ = 50 – 8.06 = 41.94</center>

Thus, the equation for temperatures '''below 17.16°C''' is:

<center>'''X = 0.47 × C + 41.94'''</center>

2. Above 17.16°C (from 17.16°C to 56.7°C):
* 50 °X corresponds to 17.16°C
* 100 °X corresponds to 56.7°C

We calculate the slope m₂:

<center>m₂ = (100 – 50) / (56.7 – 17.16) = 50 / 39.54 ≈ 1.26</center>

Now, using the point (17.16°C, 50 °X), we calculate the intercept b₂:

<center>50 = 1.26 × 17.16 + b₂</center>

<center>50 = 21.63 + b₂</center>

<center>b₂ = 50 – 21.63 = 28.37</center>

Thus, the equation for temperatures '''above 17.16°C''' is:

<center>'''X = 1.26 × C + 28.37'''</center>

;Freezing and Boiling Points

Freezing point of water (0°C): Since 0°C is below 17.16°C, we use the equation X = 0.47 × C + 41.94:

<center>X = 0.47 × 0 + 41.94 = 41.94</center>

So, the freezing point is 41.9 °X.

Boiling point of water (100°C): Since 100°C is above 17.16°C, we use the equation X = 1.26 × C + 28.37:

<center>X = 1.26 × 100 + 28.37 = 126 + 28.37 = 154.37</center>

So, the boiling point is 154.4 °X.
{{cob}}
See also [[2701: Change in Slope]].

Since extreme temperature records are being broken frequently due to {{w|climate change}}, this scale will need to be recalibrated regularly. Because it's not consistent over time, this makes it infinitely cursed.
|}

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

:Temperature Scales

:[A table with five columns, labelled: Unit, water freezing point, water boiling point, notes, cursedness. There are eleven rows below the labels.]

:[Row 1:] Celsius, 0, 100, Used in most of the world, 2/10
:[Row 2:] Kelvin, 273.15, 373.15, 0K is absolute zero, 2/10
:[Row 3:] Fahrenheit, 32, 212, Outdoors in most places is between 0–100, 3/10
:[Row 4:] Réaumur, 0, 80, Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100, 3/8
:[Row 5:] Rømer, 7.5, 60, Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design, 4/10,
:[Row 6:] Rankine, 491.7, 671.7, Fahrenheit, but with 0°F set to absolute zero, 6/10
:[Row 7:] Newton, 0, 33-ish, Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in", 7-ish/10
:[Row 8:] Wedgewood, –8, –6.7, Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about, 9/10
:[Row 9:] Galen, –4?, 4??, Runs from –4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?), 4/–4
:[Row 10:] ''Real'' Celsius, 100, 0, In Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it, 10/0
:[Row 11:] Dalton, 0, 100, A nonlinear scale; 0°C and 100°C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50°C is 53.9 Dalton, 53.9/50

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Science]]

3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-22T19:06:02Z

Orion205: Rankine precision to match Kelvin

{{comic
| number = 3001
| date = October 21, 2024
| title = Temperature Scales
| image = temperature_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x535px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXPONENTIAL TEMPERATURE SYSTEM. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Since the invention of the thermometer, a number of different temperature scales have been proposed. In modern times, most of the world uses {{w|Celsius}} for everyday temperature measurements, as it is part of the {{w|metric system}} that has been widely adopted for official uses. A small number of countries (namely Liberia, the USA and its three associated free states in the Pacific) retain the US customary (or 'imperial') system, which uses the ''slightly'' older {{w|Fahrenheit}} scale (°F was initially defined in 1724, the general current form of °C was created in 1743). The other widely used temperature scale is {{w|Kelvin}}, which uses the same scale as Celsius, but is rooted at {{w|absolute zero}}, making it both useful in scientific calculations and easy to convert to and from Celsius. Even in countries that use Fahrenheit regularly, scientific measurements are typically done in Celsius and/or Kelvin.

The strip proceeds to compare these scales, and a number of others, on a scaled of "cursed"-ness. The joke is highlighting how strange and generally difficult to use many older proposed systems were. All of the listed scales are real, but may be considered obsolete to varying degrees (though some, such as Rankine, are still sometimes used in legacy applications).

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Unit
! scope="col" | Water Freezes
! scope="col" | Water Boils
! scope="col" | Notes
! scope="col" | Cursedness
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| {{w|Celsius}} || 0 || 100 || Used in most of the world || 2/10 || Celsius is defined (indirectly, these days, by way of comparison to Kelvin) so that the freezing and boiling points of pure water at standard atmospheric pressure are 0 and 100 degrees respectively. This (along with Kelvin) is considered the least cursed temperature system (at least from those where the ranking values make any sense), likely due to Randall's background. Notably it is still considered a 2/10, implying an inherent degree of cursedness for all systems.
|-
| {{w|Kelvin}} || 273.15 || 373.15 || 0K is absolute zero || 2/10 || Kelvin is a scientific unit of measure invented by {{w|Lord Kelvin}} that intends to use the same scale as degrees Celsius, but is offset by 273.15, in order to set the zero point at absolute zero (by way of using the {{w|Boltzmann constant}}, as of 2019). Kelvin and Celsius are, by far, the most common units used in scientific measurements and calculations. Their utility and inherent logic is likely what makes them the least "cursed".
|-
| {{w|Fahrenheit}} || 32 || 212 || Outdoors in most places is between 0–100 || 3/10 || Fahrenheit is officially used in several countries across the globe, and unofficially in several others. It was derived in an era where powers of six were more popular in science than powers of ten, so water freezing and water boiling were calibrated to be 180° apart. In addition, Daniel Fahrenheit believed that pure water freezing was not worthy of the 0° benchmark and resolved to set 0° to the coldest possible temperature he could create: the freezing point of ammonium chloride brine. While modern scholars find these benchmarks arbitrary and outdated, it gained usage, primarily in Anglophone countries, likely due to the scale being considered intuitively useful for some common functions (the range roughly matches the typical span of weather conditions, for various ranges of climate, and the 100 point is quite near normal human body temperature, even though 90 was initially presumed to be this). While it was largely displaced by the Celsius scale, the US (Randall's home country) continues to typically use it. It is ranked as slightly more cursed than Celsius.
|-
| {{w|Réaumur scale|Réaumur}} || 0 || 80 || Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100 || 3/8 || A historical French system used in some places until the early 20th century. In modern times mostly used in cheesemaking. The rating (3/8) is a joke on the boiling point of water in standard atmosphere being 80 instead of 100 as it is in Celsius; converting this to an out-of-ten scale would give 3.75/10, labelling it as more cursed than Fahrenheit but less so than Rømer.
|-
| {{w|Rømer scale|Rømer}} || 7.5 || 60 || Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design || 4/10 || Created by the Danish astronomer Ole Christensen Rømer in around 1702, while the Fahrenheit scale was proposed in 1724.
|-
| {{w|Rankine scale|Rankine}} || 491.67 || 671.67 || An absolute scale, with 0°R set to absolute zero, but using the Fahrenheit scale. || 6/10 || Randall has shown disdain for this before, like in [[2292: Thermometer]]. The scale is mostly obsolete, but is still occasionally used in legacy industrial operations where absolute temperature scales are required.
|-
| {{w|Newton scale|Newton}} || 0 || 33-ish || Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in" || 7-ish/10 || Created by Isaac Newton, measuring "degrees of heat". The rating (7-ish/10) is a joke about the vagueness of the scale's definition.
|-
| {{w|Wedgwood scale|Wedgwood}} || –8 || –6.7 || Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about || 9/10 || Created by potter Josiah Wedgwood in the 18th century. The measurement was based on the shrinking of clay when heated above red heat, but was found to be very inaccurate. Randall has a typo, as the scale is called Wedgwood (''without the e'').
|-
| Galen || –4? || 4?? || Runs from –4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?) || 4/–4 || Galen, in his medical writings, is said{{fact}} to have proposed a standard "neutral" temperature made up of equal quantities of boiling water and ice; on either side of this temperature were four degrees of heat and four degrees of cold, respectively. The rating (4/–4) is a joke about the scale being defined between positive and negative 4, and could be interpreted as –100% cursedness.
|-
| {{w|Celsius#History|''Real'' Celsius}} || 100 || 0 || In Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it || 10/0 || As most scales' temperatures can be indefinitely large but there exists an absolute minimum temperature, defining the scale in this way (giving an absolute maximum but allowing indefinitely negative values) is indeed cursed, as nearly all possible temperatures will be negative. The rating (10/0) is a joke on the scale "flipping" the fixed points of modern Celsius. This might be interpreted as "infinitely cursed", or else just {{w|NaN|Not a Number}}.
The original logic was that zero could be easily calibrated to the height of a column of mercury at the temperature of boiling water, and further measurements then made of the amount it ''reduced'' in height under cooler conditions. This direction 'survives' in the historic {{w|Delisle scale}}, which predates (and arguably helped greatly inspire, though with a different factor) the classic version of °C. The version originally used by Anders was only 'corrected' posthumously, but nobody seemed bothered enough to do the same with Delisle's scale.
|-
| [https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/459851/john-daltons-temperature-scale#459863 Dalton] || 0 || 100 || A nonlinear scale; 0°C and 100°C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50°C is 53.9 Dalton || 53.9/50 || {{w|John Dalton}} proposed a logarithmic temperature scale. The scale is defined so that absolute zero is at negative infinity, with the exponent chosen to match Celsius at 0 and 100. While Dalton temperature is defined for all positive and negative numbers, the nonlinear scale is difficult to work with since the amount of heat represented by a change of one degree Dalton is not constant. Degrees Dalton differs from Celsius by as much as 3.9 degrees between 0 and 100, but diverges much more for more extreme temperatures.

The rating (53.9/50) is a joke about the unit, as 53.9 Dalton would be 50 degrees Celsius — i.e. the cursedness could be understood as 50/50 (or 10/10, entirely cursed), but perhaps instead as 107.8% (even more than entirely cursed).
|-
| °X ([[Randall]]'s new temperature scale as defined in the title text) || 41.9 || 154.4 || Title text: "In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed." || ∞ (estimated) || Usually temperature records are measured 1 m above ground as surface temperatures can be much higher. It is uncertain if Randall actually meant surface or just normal temperature records as the ones mentioned here.

The record lowest temperature on Earth is –89.2°C (–128.6°F), recorded at the {{w|Vostok Station|Vostok Research Station}} in Antarctica on July 21, 1983. This would then be set to 0°X unless it is surface temperature instead. This would be adjusted if a new lowest temperature were recorded.

The 50°X point would be set to the "global average", but it's unspecified what timespan this average is taken over. Since adjustments are made yearly, most likely the yearly average is meant; the most recent yearly average temperature, for 2023, was 14.98°C, which happened to be the highest ever by some margin.[https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-climate-highlights-2023]

The {{w|Highest temperature recorded on Earth|record highest temperature}} is 56.7°C (134.1°F), recorded on July 10, 1913 at {{w|Furnace Creek, California|Furnace Creek Ranch}} in Death Valley, California. This record is disputed, however, and a more reasonable record is 54°C (129.2°F), which has been recorded more than once in recent years. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/] The X scale would set this temperature to 100° (unless the X scale uses surface temperature instead; surface temperatures on the ground of 94°C (201°F) have been recorded at Furnace Creek). The 100°X point would also be adjusted if a new highest temperature were measured.

{{cot|Derivation}}
To break the scale into two linear parts (below and above 17.16°C), we define two separate equations for each range:

1. Below 17.16°C (from –89.2°C to 17.16°C):
* 0 °X corresponds to –89.2°C
* 50 °X corresponds to 17.16°C

We calculate the slope m₁:

<center>m₁ = (50 – 0) / (17.16 – (–89.2)) = 50 / (17.16 + 89.2) = 50 / 106.36 ≈ 0.47</center>

Now, using the point (17.16°C, 50 °X), we calculate the intercept b₁:

<center>50 = 0.47 × 17.16 + b₁</center>

<center>50 = 8.06 + b₁</center>

<center>b₁ = 50 – 8.06 = 41.94</center>

Thus, the equation for temperatures '''below 17.16°C''' is:

<center>'''X = 0.47 × C + 41.94'''</center>

2. Above 17.16°C (from 17.16°C to 56.7°C):
* 50 °X corresponds to 17.16°C
* 100 °X corresponds to 56.7°C

We calculate the slope m₂:

<center>m₂ = (100 – 50) / (56.7 – 17.16) = 50 / 39.54 ≈ 1.26</center>

Now, using the point (17.16°C, 50 °X), we calculate the intercept b₂:

<center>50 = 1.26 × 17.16 + b₂</center>

<center>50 = 21.63 + b₂</center>

<center>b₂ = 50 – 21.63 = 28.37</center>

Thus, the equation for temperatures '''above 17.16°C''' is:

<center>'''X = 1.26 × C + 28.37'''</center>

;Freezing and Boiling Points

Freezing point of water (0°C): Since 0°C is below 17.16°C, we use the equation X = 0.47 × C + 41.94:

<center>X = 0.47 × 0 + 41.94 = 41.94</center>

So, the freezing point is 41.9 °X.

Boiling point of water (100°C): Since 100°C is above 17.16°C, we use the equation X = 1.26 × C + 28.37:

<center>X = 1.26 × 100 + 28.37 = 126 + 28.37 = 154.37</center>

So, the boiling point is 154.4 °X.
{{cob}}
See also [[2701: Change in Slope]].

Since extreme temperature records are being broken frequently due to {{w|climate change}}, this scale will need to be recalibrated regularly. Because it's not consistent over time, this makes it infinitely cursed.
|}

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

:Temperature Scales

:[A table with five columns, labelled: Unit, water freezing point, water boiling point, notes, cursedness. There are eleven rows below the labels.]

:[Row 1:] Celsius, 0, 100, Used in most of the world, 2/10
:[Row 2:] Kelvin, 273.15, 373.15, 0K is absolute zero, 2/10
:[Row 3:] Fahrenheit, 32, 212, Outdoors in most places is between 0–100, 3/10
:[Row 4:] Réaumur, 0, 80, Like Celsius, but with 80 instead of 100, 3/8
:[Row 5:] Rømer, 7.5, 60, Fahrenheit precursor with similarly random design, 4/10,
:[Row 6:] Rankine, 491.7, 671.7, Fahrenheit, but with 0°F set to absolute zero, 6/10
:[Row 7:] Newton, 0, 33-ish, Poorly defined, with reference points like "the hottest water you can hold your hand in", 7-ish/10
:[Row 8:] Wedgewood, –8, –6.7, Intended for comparing the melting points of metals, all of which it was very wrong about, 9/10
:[Row 9:] Galen, –4?, 4??, Runs from –4 (cold) to 4 (hot). 0 is "normal"(?), 4/–4
:[Row 10:] ''Real'' Celsius, 100, 0, In Anders Celsius's original specification, bigger numbers are ''colder''; others later flipped it, 10/0
:[Row 11:] Dalton, 0, 100, A nonlinear scale; 0°C and 100°C are 0 and 100 Dalton, but 50°C is 53.9 Dalton, 53.9/50

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Science]]

2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia

2024-10-17T01:04:28Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 2999
| date = October 16, 2024
| title = Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia
| image = bad_map_projection_the_united_stralia_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x651px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This projection distorts both area and direction, but preserves Melbourne.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GIANT AUSTRALICAN SPIDERIGATOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the eighth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #102: The United Stralia. It follows [[2951|#45: Exterior Kansas]], released about three and a half months earlier. In this addition to the Bad Map Projections series, Randall has blended two different countries-- the United States of America and Australia-- into one. The primary joke is the naming of this conglomeration as a "map projection;" it does not quite fit the definition properly, and, additionally, describes a fanciful place which does not actually exist, and thus would be nearly-worthless for navigating either Australia or the USA.{{cn}}

The blending was done by roughly combining the shapes of the two countries, with American states becoming subdivisions of Australian states. Cities from both countries are present on the map, e.g. Perth, AU and Los Angeles, USA. Alaska and Hawaii aren't included, likely because the 48 contiguous US states better match the shape and size of Australia.

The Australian states are labeled with their full names, but the American states are only labeled with their postal abbreviations. Thus WA refers to Washington instead of Western Australia. And Idaho is not labeled at all.

The title text makes a joke that this map does not preserve area or direction (typically, a map projection sacrifices one to preserve the other), but does preserve the city of Melbourne as a feature located on the map, near the actual location of {{w|Melbourne, Florida}}. There are other city names shared between the US and Australia, but they're not located at similar geographic locations; e.g the location of Brisbane in the comic is based on the instance in Queensland, not California.

On the map, the [[wikipedia:States and territories of Australia|states and territories of Australia]] are depicted with black lines, while the [[wikipedia:States of the United States|U.S. states]] and cities of both nations are marked with gray.

From west to east, the Australian states and territories contain the following U.S. States; the positions of Australian cities on the map are also listed:

[[wikipedia:Western Australia|Western Australia]] contains the following U.S. states:
*Arizona
*California
** [[wikipedia:Perth, Australia|Perth]] appears on the California coast, about halfway between [[wikipedia:Los Angeles|Los Angeles]] and [[wikipedia:San Francisco|San Francisco]].
* Colorado
* Idaho
* Montana
* Nevada
* New Mexico
* Oregon
* Utah
* Washington
* Wyoming

[[wikipedia:Northern Territory|Northern Territory]] contains the following U.S. states:

* Illinois
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Michigan ([[wikipedia:Upper Peninsula|Upper Peninsula]])
* Minnesota
** [[wikipedia:Darwin (Australia)|Darwin]] is positioned in northwestern Minnesota.
* Missouri
* Nebraska
* North Dakota
* South Dakota

[[wikipedia:South Australia|South Australia]] contains the following U.S. states:

* Arkansas
* Louisiana
** [[wikipedia:Adelaide, Australia|Adelaide]] is located in the [[wikipedia:Mississippi River delta|Mississippi River delta]] region of Louisiana.
* Oklahoma
* Texas

[[wikipedia:Queensland|Queensland]] contains the following U.S. states and territories:

* Connecticut
* Delaware
* District of Columbia
* Indiana
* Kentucky
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan ([[wikipedia:Lower Peninsula|Lower Peninsula]])
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New York
* North Carolina
** [[wikipedia:Brisbane|Brisbane]] is located on the coast in southeast North Carolina.
* Ohio
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* Tennessee
* Vermont
* Virginia
* West Virginia

[[wikipedia:NSW|New South Wales]] contains the following U.S. states:

* Alabama
* Georgia
** [[wikipedia:Canberra|Canberra]], and presumably the rest of the [[wikipedia:Australian Capital Territory|Australian Capital Territory]], is located in southeastern Georgia.
* Mississippi (with the incorrect MI abbreviation instead of MS)
* South Carolina
** [[wikipedia:Sydney, Australia|Sydney]] is located along the coast of South Carolina, near the location of [[wikipedia:Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]].

[[wikipedia:Victoria, Australia|Victoria]] and [[wikipedia:Tasmania|Tasmania]] combine to make up the U.S. state of Florida, which is now divided into two non-contiguous parts. As a result Tasmania, which has a [[wikipedia:Omission of Tasmania from maps of Australia|history of being omitted from maps of Australia]], is displayed but not named. [[wikipedia:Melbourne|Melbourne]] is located in the southeast corner of Victorian Florida. Alaska and Hawaii, the two non-[[wikipedia:Contiguous United States|contiguous states]] of the United States, do not appear in the projection. Other major geographic distortions include:
* The U.S. now has two [[wikipedia:Quadripoint|quadripoints]], with the intersection of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico joining the existing [[wikipedia:Four Corners|Four Corners]].
* Indiana has a border with Arkansas.
* Alabama and Mississippi have lost Gulf Coast access, as Florida has a border with Louisiana.
* Missouri has a north-south border with Oklahoma.
* [[wikipedia:Miami, Florida|Miami]] is separated from the lower 48 states, as it is now located in the non-contiguous Tasmanian Florida.

This is the second comic in October 2024 in which Tasmania appears, the first being [[2996: CIDABM]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Above the map, in 3 paragraphs:
:Bad map projection #102:
:[In larger letters than the first or the third paragraph]: The United Stralia
:A 50/50 US/Australia blend

[A map whose left side looks like that of Australia and whose right side looks like that of the United States, with Tasmania swapped out for a supposed island that looks like South Florida. The modified subdivisions of Australia are bordered with black with their names also black, while those of the United States are bordered with the same grey the city names are written with, with the US state abbreviations being a brighter one]:

==Trivia==
On the day this comic was released, the xkcd homepage changed to show a [[:File:xkcd_homepage_strip_harris_for_president.png|strip]] showing [[Cueball]] installing a "Harris For President" sign in some grass, presumably on his lawn. This relates to the upcoming 2024 US presidential election.
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]
[[Category:US maps]]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2926: Doppler Effect

2024-04-30T01:20:23Z

Orion205:

Honestly, this is one of my favorite ones yet, [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 18:21, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
:I'm not always a big fan of Miss Lenhart comics, but I agree this one is good. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:39, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
I think there might be some confusion in the explanation. It suggests that red shift occurs because of space expansion, not because of relative motion between the light source and observer. My understanding is that there IS relative motion between the light source and observer BECAUSE of expanding space. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.151|172.68.22.151]] 19:54, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
:Edit - There appears to be a "just" in there that I missed, changing the meaning of the sentence somewhat. Never mind. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.151|172.68.22.151]] 19:58, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
::My understanding is that there is relative motion between the galaxies, but there is also redshift caused by the expansion of space while the light was traveling, which would occur even if the galaxies were at rest. And IIUC for most galaxies this is the dominant effect -- the Doppler shift caused by the motion of galaxies when the light was emitted is small, but the cosmological redshift caused by the light traveling for a long time is large. [[User:Vyzen|Vyzen]] ([[User talk:Vyzen|talk]]) 21:54, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
The bit about the Doppler effect being similar to a bullet fired from a moving car is simply incorrect. That's vector addition of velocities. Sound traveling from a source is going to travel at the speed of sound in the medium, and the only addition of velocities would be to the extent that the car is moving the air around it. Also, the Doppler effect doesn't make sounds louder, that's simply a function of the distance between you and the source changing, independent of velocity. Edited the text accordingly. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.213|172.70.42.213]] 20:00, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
:Although firing an automatic firearm from a moving car can make a pretty decent analogy, as the bullets will pass a person the car is moving toward more frequently or a person the car is moving away from less frequently. Though I think drive-by shootings are probably not the ideal metaphor to use in classrooms. Perhaps a nerf gun? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.148|172.69.246.148]] 20:38, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
This comic seems to be poor nerd sniping for explainxkcd to get into a long explanation why galaxies are red ... --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.247.172|172.70.247.172]] 20:08, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

In the UK, the primary emergency-vehicle (police, ambulance/paramedic, fire, coastguard, anything else {{w|Emergency vehicle equipment in the United Kingdom|similarly official}}; for road/off-road/air/water vehicles of all kinds) flashing light tends to be blue. There may be alternating reds too, according to vintage, but currently blue lights are the main feature (and 'battenburgs', on marked vehicles, according to the nature of the service involved). Non-emergency vehicles' 'beacons' would be amber, on anything underspeed/stopped/extraordinary on the carriageway (road-sweepers, flatbed car-recovery, exceptional load carriers/escorts) and I think green and red flashers are common for construction site traffic. Interestingly, the other day I saw a police car ''and'' an unmarked response car (going to the same incident, both flashing their blues), three ambulances (none obviously going to same incident, and only two with blues) and a fire-engine (not flashing, probably going back to base). Only one of them (an ambulance) was blaring its respective siren, though. I believe emergency drivers are required to use them sparingly/judiciously, rather than just put the blues'n'twos on and barge through. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.172|172.70.90.172]] 21:06, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

It appears to be sheer coincidence that sirens were relevant to the discussion, as Miss Lenhart does not actually seem to know that the same phenomenon is at work. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.129|172.70.211.129]] 22:04, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

I’m an EMT and can explain the button that makes it go PEW PEW! The siren has quite a few different settings with different noise patterns. The noise patterns are chosen based on the surroundings. The default is a T1, the least obtrusive. You use that one on long straight roads. Coming up to an intersection, you would switch to T2, which is more noticeable and lets them know you’re close to the intersection before they can see you. Once you’re crossing the intersection, you switch to T3, the loudest and most irritating patterns, so the chance of someone not noticing you and causing an accident is lowest. There are a couple different patterns for each tier. The sirens are controlled by either dials or buttons (and some touchscreens that I hate) and there’s also a button to make the siren go off at a set tone or pattern for as long as you hold it down. [[User:Lathgaertha|Lathgaertha]] ([[User talk:Lathgaertha|talk]]) 22:50, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

: The three tiers are described in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=salqpgFuOZA. And the sounds can be heard on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFj0q37uvxo. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:20, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2909: Moon Landing Mission Profiles

2024-03-21T01:09:56Z

Orion205:

Direct assent was a common method in many sci-fi movies. Including the classic {{w|From the Earth to the Moon (film)|From the Earth to the Moon}} [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:18, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

It feels like it needs an addition of more detail from the planned Artemis mission. In several ways it's going to be a "multiple rockets, assembled in orbit" plan (if not Earth orbit, then Lunar), with SLS and Orion scheduled to be cooperating with the Lunar-Starship launch (later, maybe, other independently craft)... which is itself almost a "one big rocket" solution, sticky-taped onto the plan. That's with or without the addition of the dedicated and semi-manned Lunar Gateway moon-orbiting element. I mean, most of the prototypical Apollo-era plans (DA, EOR, LSR and LOR) had their own crazy bits to them, and the full Artemis premise definitely seems crazy as well, if only because the LOR version got chosen for Apollo and pretty much got proven to work. (Or worked enough to even get 13 back home safely!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.254|172.70.85.254]] 21:04, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

I see Lunar Earth Rendezvous will be bad for Earth's climate, tides, stock markets and ecosystems. Has anyone considered the impact this will have on the trout population? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.48|172.70.111.48]] 00:02, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

The choice of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous wasn't easy for the Apollo planners. Thanks to John Houbolt, the "voice in the wilderness" as he called himself, NASA finally adopted LOR rather than Direct Ascent or Earth Orbit Rendezvous they were planning in the early 60's. [https://www.popsci.com/blog-network/vintage-space/remembering-john-houbolt-nasas-voice-wilderness/ Remembering John Houbolt, NASA’s Voice in the Wilderness] [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:09, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

2906: Earth

2024-03-14T02:25:30Z

Orion205: added Category:Comics featuring real people using HotCat

{{comic
| number = 2906
| date = March 13, 2024
| title = Earth
| image = earth_2x.png
| imagesize = 364x472px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Just think of all the countless petty squabbles and misunderstandings, of all the fervent hatreds, over so insignificant a thing as the direction and duration of a rocket engine firing.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MEANINGLESS ROCK FLOATING IN SPACE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Carl Sagan standing in front of an image of Earth from far away with his right hand pointed toward the image.]
:Carl Sagan: Look again at that dot. That's home. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives...
:Carl Sagan: On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
:Off-panel voice: We '''know,''' Carl.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Carl Sagan was '''''not''''' making us feel better about how badly he'd messed up the Low Earth Orbit reentry burn.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:1437: Higgs Boson

2024-02-29T06:10:52Z

Orion205:

They can lose the DATA about Higgs Boson. To help prevent such possibility, I would like to mention that the found Higgs Boson energy is between 125 and 126 GeV/c^2 [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:18, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

:It may be nitpicking because of the 'equivalancy of mass and energy', but isn't the term ''GeV/c2'' usually used to describe a particle's mass while ''GeV'' is used to describe its energy?--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:29, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

:: You are right with the terms. However, when speaking about mass the "/c^2" term is implicit. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.125|108.162.217.125]] 03:46, 24 October 2014 (UTC)BK201

Sorry, felt it better to change "play 'hide and seek' with" to "know the current location of", because it read too as too anthropomorphic for the tone of the explanation. Like I don't play hide-and-seek with my house-keys, when they're temporarily unlocated. (Unless the world is weirder than I'm aware of, and the voices in my head are right after all!) Apologies if the hyperbole was the intent, and feel free to revert. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 14:53, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

The 4th paragraph begins with "Meagan's mention that "The death isn't even very serious"...". Shouldn't it be Ponytail, not Meagan? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.111|108.162.216.111]] 16:28, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

:Or Cueball. Changing to "The comment..." [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.195|173.245.54.195]] 17:36, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Though of course this is a comic and not an actual transcript of a news conference or proceedings determining actual grant money, is there something significant missing or unanswered about the Higgs Boson that would require significantly more money (for e.g. a BIGGER COLLIDER!!!!!!!!)? Or is this rather a play at the "Find/Found" difference, and Randall just used the Higgs to make the point? I believe last I heard they found something that must be it, but I suppose further study was required to confirm it (or something)... [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 20:37, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

I am like 99% sure that "the death isn't even that serious is a reference to one of the hitchhiker's guide books. {{unsigned ip| 173.245.48.135}}

Maybe they just precisely determined it's momentum? {{unsigned|Craignelson7007}}

I don't read the "just one" reference as being just one death - "... to build a death ray.' 'Just one, though.'" certainly sounds like they built just one death ray. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.62.74|173.245.62.74]] 03:11, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

:In the phrase "the death isn't even very serious", "the death" is singular. I read this to mean "we didn't even kill someone important." It is likely ambiguous intentionally. It could also mean "the death ray doesn't cause very serious death." as though you could cause a mild death. "Don't worry he's only dead. He won't mind." [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.79|173.245.48.79]] 04:31, 24 October 2014 (UTC)BLuDgeons

In the explination they mention that they caused the eventual death of a helicopter. It hasn't been proven (as of yet) that helicopter cancer caused the helicopter's early death. There are plenty of human cancers that that can smolder on for years. Prostate cancer comes to mind.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.198|173.245.56.198]] 14:36, 24 October 2014 (UTC)
:"Prostate cancer comes to mind" - ouch. Brain tumors are pretty lethal.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.228.179|108.162.228.179]] 14:34, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Hey at least now they know its momentum! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.85|162.158.166.85]] 04:17, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

I think it would be good to mention the unusual use of "The" in "the Higgs boson" as opposed to "Higgs bosons" or "a Higgs boson". This allows the comic to suggest that the Higgs boson is a singular entity which the LHC was meant to find (and perhaps capture).
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.175|199.27.128.175]] 02:26, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

I was going to find the image on Wikimedia Commons, but no amount of research could allow me to find that image. So I just deleted the 'image' and removed the incomplete bar. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:38, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

The last sentence previously said "cause the eventual death of a helicopter". I changed it to "give a helicopter cancer."[[User:R3TRI8UTI0N|R3TRI8UTI0N]] ([[User talk:R3TRI8UTI0N|talk]]) 03:52, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
== The thing is WHAT? (reopened)==
Don't make a self-referential joke like in the last version of this section. EVER. Or else your comment will be deleted.
This is a topic about the cliffhanger at panel 3. Don't unsign this. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.63|108.162.237.63]] 04:07, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

:It's not a cliffhanger. In panel 4 when they say "Don't tell us you lost it already'", that's what Cueball was going to say. They lost the Higgs Boson and need a grant to go find it again. You can imagine panel 3 ending with "See, the thing is... we kinda lost it." [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 06:10, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:1437: Higgs Boson

2024-02-29T06:10:38Z

Orion205:

2897: Light Leap Years

2024-02-23T23:30:19Z

Orion205: restored font color description to transcript

{{comic
| number = 2897
| date = February 21, 2024
| title = Light Leap Years
| image = light_leap_years_2x.png
| imagesize = 288x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = When Pope Gregory XIII briefly shortened the light-year in 1582, it led to navigational chaos and the loss of several Papal starships.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A FLEET OF PAPAL STARSHIPS FROM ANNO DOMINI MDLXXXII - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic portrays [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] updating astronomical distances in some sort of database, noting how long and unpleasant the process is; the caption reveals that the reason is that {{w|leap year}}s "make light-years 0.27% longer" (366/365 = 1.0027397...). This makes the distance to Alpha Centauri "0.27% shorter". 2024 is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, and leap day (February 29) was just over one week away when this comic was released.

The joke of this strip is based on the fact that "one year" isn't a precise unit of measurement: there have been different definitions, evolving over time, of what constitutes a year. The {{w|Gregorian calendar}} (the one most commonly used in modern times) includes a system of leap years in which an additional day is added every fourth year (with some exceptions) to make up for incompatibilities between day and year cycles. This temporarily changes the length of a year from 365 to 366 days.

A {{w|light year}} is a unit of distance, commonly used in astronomy, equal to the distance light travels in a vacuum in one year; the year used is the {{w|Julian year (astronomy)|Julian year}}, or 365.25 days. This results in a light year which is standardized at 9,460,730,472,580.8 km, no matter how long the calendar year may be. However, in this comic, a light year has been defined based on the length of the ''current'' year, and consequently becomes longer during leap years, meaning databases with astronomical distances have to be adjusted. Thankfully, most systems of measurement do not change continually, and even those that do (eg. DST) usually are setup to automatically update when necessary.

The title text jokes that {{w|Pope Gregory XIII}}, the originator of the Gregorian calendar, "briefly shortened the light-year in 1582." What really occurred in 1582 was that the Pope decided to advance the previously Julian calendar by 10 days to make up for an accumulated excess of past leap days and bring the subsequent Gregorian one more into line with astronomical measurements. Not all places went with the change, at that time. Some of the later adopters had to {{w|List of adoption dates of the Gregorian calendar by country|skip yet other days once they did}}, while others continue to use a calendar with an offset factor. In the world of the comic, this change led to "navigational chaos and the loss of several Papal starships". This is of course ludicrous since there have not (yet) been any (known earthly) starships, nor any church-funded space programs that might create a "Papal starship",{{Citation Needed}} still less in the 16th century. (There have been vehicles named {{w|SpaceX_Starship|'Starship'}}, but these do not meet the common definition of large craft that can travel between star systems.) Furthermore, the light-year wasn't developed as a unit of measurement until 1838. Indeed, it wasn't known that the speed of light is finite until {{w|Rømer's determination of the speed of light}} in 1676. Navigational chaos ''has'' been a cause of shipwrecks, notably the {{w|Scilly naval disaster of 1707}} in which 4 ships were lost and over 1,400 sailors died.

The joke is that the evolving and somewhat loose and changing definitions of early calendars had significant impacts on the units of measurement we still use today. Such changes did serve to catalyze political and religious conflicts in some instances, and raised temporary issues around matters such as taxes, rents, etc., but as technology has advanced and become increasingly reliant on precise and consistent measurements, they could be significantly more disastrous.

The values given for Proxima Centauri's distance from the Sun, 4.2377 light-leap-years and 4.2493 light-nonleap-years, are consistent with a distance of 4.2464 actual light-years as described by the {{w|International Astronomical Union}}, which is only minutely different from 4.2465 light-years, the value given by {{w|Gaia catalogues|Gaia Data Release 3}} in 2020. Though tiny on an interstellar scale, the difference between 4.2377 and 4.2493 light-years, 0.0116 light years, equals 109.7 billion km (68.2 billion miles), about 730 times the average distance between the Earth and the sun (150 million km or 93 million miles).

Ironically, this kind of change would not actually bother astronomers in the slightest. Astronomical distances on scales larger than the solar system are universally (or rather, globally: we do not know how things are done in other parts of the universe) measured with the {{w|parsec}} (one of these being approximately 3.24 light years; founded upon anthropogenic ideas of scale and angle, but lacking reliance to our time conventions) or multiples thereof (kpc, Mpc, or Gpc). While light years are common in science popularizations, they are essentially not used at all in astronomy and astrophysics research.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop on it and leaning to the back of his office chair, while having his other hand on the laptop. He is looking at Ponytail standing behind him. The text from the laptop screen is shown above it, indicated with a zigzag line.]
:Cueball: It took until February, but I finally got all the distances updated!
:Ponytail: I really wish we didn't have to do this.
:[Laptop screen:]
:Proxima Centauri
:Distance: [in red, crossed out] <s>4.2493 ly</s>
:[in green] 4.2377 ly

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Astronomers hate leap years because they make light-years 0.27% longer.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Calendar]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2897: Light Leap Years

2024-02-21T18:33:16Z

Orion205: Added wiki link for leap years

2884: Log Alignment

2024-01-23T13:25:14Z

Orion205: Fixed wiki link

{{comic
| number = 2884
| date = January 22, 2024
| title = Log Alignment
| image = log_alignment_2x.png
| imagesize = 351x312px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = A video can have a log scale that's misaligned with both the time AND space axes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NTH-DIMENSIONAL BENDY LOG - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic jokes about how there isn't a rule in math that requires you to align log scale and graph axes. Therefore, the person who drew the graph in the comic decided to make it distorted. According to that person, this graph is still valid. Whilst a plot ''can'' be made according to measures not consistent with the graph axes, especially where [https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Curvature-introduced-by-pen-type-recording-system-Comparison-of-a-raw-seismogram-showing_fig5_364100386 other factors dictate the plotting], it is more usual to make use of {{w|Graph paper#Examples|variant grid systems}} that are directly suited to your intended purpose (and stick to them).

The comic shows a background distribution of straight and parallel (but notably off-orthogonal) lines, such as might normally define the log-magnitude on a log-log or semi-log graph. But there are no perpendicular gradations ''and'' the bar graph drawn upon it appears to have no relation with the background, drawn distorted in an almost {{w|Salvador Dalí|Dalíesque}} manner as if a projection of one twisted in 3d space, both its bars and the base/vertical axes seem to have no relation to to the supposed underlying log-scale. However, with the slight exception of the bar tops crossing the log lines at an angle, and the curved vertical axis having {{w|graduation (scale)|graduation ticks}} that bear no linear ''or'' log relation with the intersecting background, the distorted bars only travel unidirectionally across the underlying parallels and ''could'' feasibly be read as indicating a definitive magnitude (or range) of some kind. Or at least could with number-labels to give an idea of what values to associate with each log-line. That two bars appear from outside the frame of the comic (the base axis having fallen off the bottom) might not even matter, so long as we can work out what quality or sample each of the bars represents (being similarly unlabeled).

Skewed log charts are real and occur in fields of science with useful applications. For example, a diagram called a "Skew-T Log-P" chart depicts the relationship between temperature and pressure of a parcel of air in the atmosphere. On this chart, the x-axis is skewed with relation to the rest of the graph, and its isotherms, or lines of equal temperature, slant diagonally upwards and to the right of the diagram. The y-axis is normal and represents temperature on a log scale. A more detailed explanation can be found [https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/upperair/skew-t-log-p-diagrams here].

The title text further reinforces the concept of misalignment by stating that the time axis represented by the progressive changing of a moving image can be misaligned against (by the other elements of the data within the video itself, including any log scale element), adding at least one further dimension through which to twist and skew axial and non-axial components of such a dynamic graph. It's possible this may be a reference to cutting between scenes in TV shows.

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

:[Distorted bar graph on top of gray log scale lines in the background that are slightly tilted, with the lower ends on the left]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:There's actually no rule in math that says your log scales have to be aligned with your graph axes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Bar charts]]

Talk:2881: Bug Thread

2024-01-16T22:07:32Z

Orion205:

No idea what to put in the explanation box, so I just did the incomplete tag.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.185|172.69.33.185]] 05:36, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:I was writing an initial Explanation even as you did that. (I had an almost identical BOT-replacing idea. Which I continued to use as I hit the edit-conflict on yours.)
:Not entirely happy with my narrative structure. Tried (too hard?) to not re-use phrasing. Either in there or in the Transcript (tbough currently leaving for someone else), I thought I might remark that ''either'' the Cueball-like beach-booker ''or'' the WhiteHat-like years-noter ''could'' be the half-seen uppermost post's contributor, based upon the visible portrait. But it seemed a bit hard to nicely shoehorn in, especially as it could be neither. Though any of those seen could also easily be up above the scroll-windowing, anyway, nearer where the unstated (to us) issue is actually described. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.29|172.70.90.29]] 06:18, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

I hate when I have a problem with something, and when I google it either the solution is behind a paywall, too outdated to work, or has no responses. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.173|108.162.216.173]] 06:43, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Me, too. Want to rent a beach house and whine about it together? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 07:45, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Now that we've become firmly entrenched in the era of software-as-a-service & upgrade cycles that don't fix old bugs (looking at you, Raspberry Pi 2b-4b issues), I'm more likely to find a 15 year old post with workarounds that don't work anymore, than any page with an actual fix, when searching about an issue I'm seeing these days. Most of the time, I find stackexchange discourse detailing exactly what's wrong & everything that's been tried, with the most recent posts noting that prior workarounds are now deprecated by updates that haven't in any way addressed the issue. I don't even remember the last time I had an issue I didn't know how to fix & then found an answer online... The "answer" today is usually that 'that thing you could previously do ''(often something that was an almost innate or arguably essential feature)'' is no longer doable with modern service-based software, have you tried coding an entire software stack from scratch to recover this one thing you originally started using the software for? Everyone today just pays for several services, to do what home hardware could do 20 years ago, & don't even question why this accessibility feature went away.'
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:You really believe that if you got through that paywall there would be solution there? Sweet summer child. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:42, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Do you think DenverCoder9 made it to the meet-up? --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 07:53, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Gone. Reduced to ashes.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.68|162.158.74.68]] 08:06, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:If, like me, you didn't remember who [[979: Wisdom of the Ancients|DenverCoder9]] was, here is the link. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 12:51, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:The first time I read the one about "What did you see!?" it felt ''very'' biographical... Posting from Denver, here.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:I've added a link to that comic to the explanation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::There already was one (but feel free to remove one/make the other double-duty). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 18:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Feels like there's something missing here about the fact that often these threads are actually an aggregation of people with similar-but-different issues, hence some of the 'I've tried all the fixes but they don't work!' responses. Currently beyond my wit to work this nicely in to the explanation though.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.37|172.69.194.37]] 16:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Often there are minor differences, or the user doesn't really apply the fixes correctly. Or the software may have changed so that the old solutions don't work any more. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::Or maybe this thread is only about one bug but those three fixes he linked were about different bug. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:42, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::The most obvious thing is that there appears to have been no attempt to resolve (or lock as not relevent to the 'current version') the thread by anyone official. Whether we see as far back as five years (in which case a whole lotta nothing was done) or several comparatively recent editions (which means a lot of current interest in a solution), there's nothing with the look of a dev/helpdesk/expert-3rd-party. Anyone of that kind has posted before the 'half cueball' one.
::Whether it's effectively abandonware or more like an (officially) abandoned forum, there's nothing odd about those few(?) who are still hurt by the problem to have read up whether it's even a valid problem to have (by the software publisher's standards), have read ''all'' the accumulated wisdom on what might need doing, trying these things (the "link, link and link" guy did, or so I imagine, with three different walk-throughs that seem to be relevent; the "same" and "+1" ones also might have, but didn't feel the need to say exactly what, especially if those links pointed at higher-up "full instruction posts" that they can be assumed to have read), come up with the continuing problem and registering their interest on somebody (who has their hands on the source/server/whatever that needs fixing) to go ahead and fix it. Without necessarily saying "I tried all the usual methods to prevent one of t'cross-beams going out of skew on't treadle" and providing logs that contain no more (or less) information than some of the opening (above-the-cut) reports alrewdy gave.
::Yes, there's probably someone there who hasn't downloaded the latest version/equivalent, but I can't say that this is the level of error everyone is encountering. If anything, I see a high likelyhood that we've got posters here who have actually used the last-version-but-one to check when certain feature defaults changed, have looked at the logfiles in depth, have added (then removed, then re-added from a different source) more up-to-date .dlls, etc. But without any feedback from those who might be able to at least create a workaround (officially or otherwise). It's the kind of thread where bugs don't come to die, they just get preserved in amber. Still staring out at all their victims, old and new. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 18:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

This comic brought another one to mind. I spent a while trying to remember the details, then search this site with various keywords hoping I could find it. Eventually, I found it! It's comic 1305. I came back here intending to link to 1305 in the description. And when I looked at this page to think about how to describe the conneciton, I found someone else had just added the link! It's just nice that someone else thought of the same connection. (Wanna rent a beach house now?) [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:07, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

2877: Fever

2024-01-06T05:28:56Z

Orion205: Typo

{{comic
| number = 2877
| date = January 5, 2024
| title = Fever
| image = fever_2x.png
| imagesize = 514x587px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hypothermia of below 98.6 K should be treated by leaving the giant molecular cloud and moving to the vicinity of a star.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an SATURDAY NIGHT HYPER-FEVER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This chart on {{w|fever}} temperatures begins with the normal body temperature range of a febrile (fever-having) patient and progresses to specify treatment for increasingly large temperature ranges, culminating with the most extreme temperature range ever achieved in the universe.

Taking an everyday situation to its logical exteme is a standard humor trope that XKCD uses often.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Treating a Fever
|-
! Fever Temperature (Celsius) !! Equivalent Fahrenheit temperature !! Treatment !! Additional notes
|-
| 38-40 || 100-104 || Fluids, rest, normal doctor stuff || Normal fever temperatures.

"Normal doctor stuff" refers to routine medical consultation at an outpatient clinic or through telemedicine.
|-
| 40-45 || 104-113 || Hospital, advanced doctor stuff || A severe fever level at which humans might start experiencing brain damage from fever.

"Advanced doctor stuff" referes to hospital care, likely in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
|-
| 45-100 || 113-212 || Exit that steam cloud immediately || A temperature range that is uncomforable and injurious. (Imagine keeping your hand right above the spout of a steaming kettle.) For the rest of the table, the prescribed treatments presume that the fever temperature is due to one's environment.

Note that this range maximum is 100 degrees Celsius, the temperature at which water boils. After this point, the water in the body would soon boil, causing quick and painful death.
|-
| 100-400 || 212-750 || Stop, drop, and roll || Someone is probably on fire. Stop, drop, and roll is a recommended method for putting out flames on your clothing.
|-
| 400-500 || 750-930 || Return to Earth from Venus ASAP || 464°C (867°F) is {{w|Venus}}ian atmosphere temperature.
|-
| 500-1,500 || 930-2,700 || Please climb out of that volcano || {{w|Magma}} is about 700°C (1,292°F). Therefore, if someone is at that temperature, they are probably in lava/magma.
|-
| 1,500-5,000 || 2,700-9,000 || Turn your tunneling machine around and come back up to the surface || 4,400-6,000°C (7,952-10,832°F) is the estimate internal temperature of the {{w|Earth}}.

This note references the 2003 movie ''{{w|The Core}}'' (widely considered a contender for "{{w|The Core#Reception|all-time-worst 'science in a movie' winner}}"), at least the 6th comic to do so. Others include: [[673: The Sun]], [[2011: Newton's Trajectories]], [[2074: Airplanes and Spaceships]], [[2765: Escape Speed]], [[2858: Thanksgiving Arguments]].
|-
| 5,000-6,000 || 9,000-10,800 || No, the surface of the '''''Earth''''', not the Sun || 5,500°C (9,932°F) is the approximate temperature of the surface of the {{w|Sun}}. The Sun's {{w|photosphere}} has a temperature between 4,400 and 6,600 K (4,130 and 6,330 °C) (with an effective temperature of 5,772 K (5,499 °C)).
|-
| 6,000-50,000 || 10,800-90,000 || Wait, that's not the Sun. What star are you visiting? Come back right now. || Surface temperatures of {{w|main sequence|main-sequence}} stars larger than the Sun can go up to 50,000 (Kelvin and degrees Celsius are indistinguishable at this point). Though some stars can be even hotter.
|-
| 50,000-20,000,000 || 90,000-36,000,000 || At least stay on the '''''surface''''' of the star instead of diving down to the core || Core temperatures of main-sequence stars like the Sun are usually around ten million kelvins, while larger and hotter stars can reach up to a hundred million.
|-
| 20,000,000-10,000,000,000 || 36,000,000-18,000,000,000 || You know, you could've picked a normal star instead of one that's exploding || {{w|Supernova}}e can reach temperatures of billions of degrees for brief periods, with type II supernovae even reaching hundreds of billions of degrees.
|-
| 10,000,000,000 or higher || 18,000,000,000 or higher || I hope you're enjoying your visit to the Big Bang but you should really come back home immediately || 1032 °C (or K), the highest physically meaningful temperature, is the estimated temperature at the Planck epoch (10-43 s) after the {{w|Big Bang}}
|}

The title text suggests that those with temperatures under 98.6 Kelvin (-173.55 Celsius or -280.39 Fahrenheit) are in a {{w|molecular cloud}} and that they should get near a star to warm them up. 98.6 Kelvin is very cold, and of course 98.6 ''Fahrenheit'' (=37°C) is the average human resting body temperature.

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

[Heading above table:]

Treating a Fever

[There is a table with 12 rows and 2 columns. The columns are titled "Fever" and "Treatment", respectively.]

'''38°C-40°C (100°F-104°F) '''
:Fluids, rest, normal doctor stuff

'''40°C-45°C'''
:Hospital, advanced doctor stuff

'''45°C-100°C'''
:Exit that steam cloud immediately

'''100°C-400°C'''
:Stop, drop, and roll

'''400°C-500°C'''
:Return to Earth from Venus ASAP

'''500°C-1,500°C'''
:Please climb out of that volcano

'''1,500°C-5,000°C'''
:Turn your tunneling machine around and come back up to the surface

'''5,000°C-6,000°C'''
:No, the surface of the '''''Earth''''', not the Sun

'''6,000°C-50,000°C'''
:Wait, that's not the Sun. What star are you visiting? Come back right now.

'''50,000°C-20,000,000°C'''
:At least stay on the '''''surface''''' of the star instead of diving down to the core

'''20,000,000°C-10,000,000,000°C'''
:You know, you could've picked a normal star instead of one that's exploding

'''10,000,000,000°C or higher'''
:I hope you're enjoying your visit to the Big Bang but you should really come back home immediately

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Medicine]]

2864: Compact Graphs

2023-12-11T06:16:32Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 2864
| date = December 6, 2023
| title = Compact Graphs
| image = compact_graphs_2x.png
| imagesize = 373x306px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People may complain about readability, but even with jpeg compression, extracting the data points is usually computationally feasible if there aren't too many of them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by HUGH LABEL, PROTECTOR OF THE COLOR REALM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is another one of [[:Category:Tips|Randall's Tips]]. In it, he tells graphic designers they can be more space-efficient by using ''hue'' (an element of color) and the data point's ''label'' in their graphs to represent the first two quantitative dimensions of a dataset rather than what's traditional: using x and y axes and then using hue and label to represent additional dimensions (such as hue for the z-axis, or the label for qualitative info).

In this comic's hue-label graph, the x-axis dimension is (mostly) translated into corresponding hue values, and the y-axis dimension is translated into text labels; that is, the mass of colorful lines in the comic is actually [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/4a/compact_graphs_2x.png several numbers written in the same spot]. Each number is one of the y-coordinates of a point in the left graph, and its color (usually) corresponds to its x-coordinate using the Hue, Saturation, Value (HSV) model. In other words, the labels' colors are not arbitrary; each color represents a numerical dimension of the data point as a Hue value from 0 to some maximum. Typically this is up to 360° in the wraparound continuum of the HSV or HSL color models, where Red is zero/360, but other numeric relations and subsets can be chosen to avoid unnecessarily confusing the lowest-value hues from the highest (of a non-cyclic scale) and/or to align more meaningful colours (e.g. blue for cool and red for hot, avoiding the magenta segment as much as practical from either direction).

[[File:color wheel.png|thumb|Color wheel]]

In the HSV color model, the hue component represents the color type and is expressed as an angle on the color wheel, where 0 degrees is red. The hue values are given in degrees, ranging from 0 to 360. Each value corresponds to a position on the color wheel, defining a specific color. An obvious limitation of this approach is that when used like this to represent specific quantities, the Hue dimension can only handle values from 0 to 360, and values within a narrow range (e.g., height of a basketball team's players as measured in inches) would all appear to be similar shades of a single color (e.g., yellow-ish green).

This Hue-Label graph contains the five data points as an orangish-red '''62''', a yellow '''159''', a green '''205''', a turquoise '''187''' and a blue '''230'''.

# The red '''62''' corresponds to an x-value of approx. 17, a hue value corresponding to a shade of warm red.
# The yellow '''159''' corresponds to an x-value of approx. 36, in the range that typically represents warm yellow.
# The green '''205''' corresponds to an x-value of approx. 67, a hue value for yellowish green.
# The turquoise '''187''': 187 is near the hue value for turquoise, between green and blue in the color wheel. (This data point's x-axis value of 85 would be yellowish green.)
# The blue '''230''': 230 is the hue value for a clear, distinct blue. (This data point's x-axis value of 100 would be warm green.)

Interestingly, the first three data points have hue colors representing their ''x-axis values'', while the last two data points' colors correspond to their ''y-axis values''. Mixing up x and y values for these last two is an apparent error. All 5 should have colors representing ''x-axis value'', and y-axis values should be used only for the ''data labels''. If this were a math assignment, Randall would earn partial credit.

This inconsistency may be an accidental mistake on Randall's part, or it may be intentional.

Randall's intent may have been to both (1) keep the x-axis values of his illustration between 0 and 100 (perhaps they represent real-world percentages) while (2) having a range of colors across the rainbow for the Hue-Label graph. But if a full color range was his motivation for the mixup, it's not clear why he didn't simply make the dataset's x-values range from 0 to 360 to cover the full range of potential hue values. Either way, the inconsistency satirically reinforces how limited this type of graph style actually is; a "hue-label" graph is so unhelpful that even the author (perhaps) didn't notice he was graphing his values incorrectly.

An hypothetical example of a potential topic for these 5 datapoints is '''Exercise Duration vs. Calorie Burn'''. In this scenario, on the x-axis, the duration of exercise in minutes (0 to 100) would be plotted, and the y-axis would show the calories burned (0 to 250). The longer the exercise duration, the more calories are burned, but the graph shows it's not a perfect correlation. Many other scenarios are possible. The true scenario may be related to whatever ''What If?'' video script Randall is currently writing; at the time of this comic, he had just published his first two What If? videos to YouTube and said he was working on more of them.

The title text mentions that people may complain about readability, as is evident from the jumbled mess of seemingly meaningless lines in the hue and label graph in the comic. It says that discerning the data points is "computationally feasible, as long as there aren't too many of them". The decryption of information being labelled as "computationally feasible" implies that it is so difficult to discern, that the best thing that can be said about it is that it is not completely impossible.

A color scale graph was previously the source of a joke in [[2537: Painbow Award]].

Trivia: Hue is commonly used to represent a proportional dimension in geospatial analytics, such as relative rainfall on meteorological maps or relative height on topographical maps ({{w|hypsometric tints}}), usually with a key. This is quite different than using hue to directly represent a numerical value from 0 to 360.
[[file:WeatherBow.png|thumb|center|550px|alt=TV weather forecast color scale]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Left: graph of points plotted along two axes, headered by:]
:Variable 1: X Axis
:Variable 2: Y Axis

:[An arrow pointing to the right.]

:[Right: various semi-transparent numbers in different colors stacked on top of each other, headered by:]
:Variable 1: Hue
:Variable 2: Label

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Design tip: You can make your graphs more space-efficient by using hue and label for the first two variables, instead of only turning to them once you’ve used up the X and Y axes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Tips]]

Talk:2861: X Value

2023-12-01T06:19:00Z

Orion205:

transcript and short explanation added [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:47, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Is there an easter egg here? Is 4.1083 a significant constant in some field?
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.91|172.71.154.91]] 19:00, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:Dunno...but when I Googled it, it came up with a picture of a motorcycle I used to own - same vintage, same colour, same non-original aftermarket panniers - which was a little strange. Anybody else return any results centred around long-since-departed vehicles?

:Or not? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:31, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Googling for it showed me... a picture of this very xkcd. It's recursive? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 20:46, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Nothing interesting on Wolfram Alpha either https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=4.1083 [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 16:26, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

:I noted a proximity of "4.108(3)" to "42" and wondered if there was a connection ("how close can I get to 'the answer' without getting hammered for plagiarism or infringement?"). The comment below suggesting a link to the November 2023 "value" (= market capitalization) of X/Twitter is brilliant, but given that the market cap figure seems to have been posted on the day this comic was released, plus the evidence from comic 899, "coincidence" is probably the best explanation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.118|162.158.186.118]] 18:27, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

https://www.der-postillon.com/2012/08/mathemuffel-erleichtert-wert-von-x-ein.html [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.148|172.68.110.148]] 20:42, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
: This is in german, could you maybe give a translation at least? [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 20:45, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Basically the same joke, x being set to 5 in this case. The website is a satirical online newspaper. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:12, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

The "narrowing down" of n might be a reference to a combinatorics problem Ron Graham was solving, managing to narrow down the dimensions of the hypercube with a certain property to be more than 6 and less than... Well, Graham's Number.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.209|172.71.122.209]] 22:12, 29 November 2023 (UTC)jamieth

:Even that is accomplishment. Really, narrowing number down from infinite set to finite one is the biggest narrowing you can do. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

"In string theory the number of flux vacua is commonly thought to be roughly '''10^500''',[4] but could be 10^272,000[5] or higher." -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory_landscape#Compactified_Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifolds String theory landscape#Compactified Calabi–Yau manifolds] [[User:Abclop99|Abclop99]] ([[User talk:Abclop99|talk]]) 22:23, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

As of today, the value of Twitter (which some may call X for unknown reasons) is of 41.09 Billion USD. This might be the joke?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.16|162.158.129.16]] 22:50, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

The variable 'n' is often used in computer programs to be a counter for some activity that is repeated 'n' times. 'n' may be user input or it might be a calculated value like the number of items in a list. So the code would be something like, for the integer 'i' starting at 1 and iterating up to 'n' number of times in whatever computer language is being used. In this case, 'n' would be limited to the maximum value of the specific integer type in that computer language on that machine. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 03:34, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

A result that the math community has been waiting for for a long long time! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.135|172.71.103.135]] 08:16, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

What is wrong with comic 899? I can access other pages, but 899 gives error. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 16:50, 30 November 2023 (UTC)
: ...that comic works for me. By all means I can think of, but especially through either [[899: Number Line]], [[899]] or [[Number Line]] (the latter two being redirect-pages to the first, of course).
: Now ''occasionally'' (more frequently than I'd like), the server comes back with a message that it can't (currently, in that instance) give you the page, for reasons of its own. More rarely (but not unknown), Cloudflare with tell you that the whole site just isn't responding. But (wait and) try again and it usually works. (Unless you've just filled in a CAPTCHA, in submitting a page edit, in which case it's likely to tell you that the CAPTCHA is wrong/not ticked/completed it, so you get told off and have to try again.)
: If it's not such a transient problem, for you, could you let us know in what context you're trying to get there and failing?
: PS. "New comments should be added at the bottom." Answer: Because it's confusing. Question: Why ''shouldn't'' we put new things in front of old things? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.199|172.71.178.199]] 19:22, 30 November 2023 (UTC)
: Make sure that you have your Math module settings to PNG, not MathML. This creates an error in pages with Math modules as mentioned in the FAQ [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 19:45, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

: I've been having the same problem for the last 2 days: comic 899 won't load from any link or even a navigation button from an adjacent comic. I can access the talk page, but trying to get to comic 899 gives this result:
<nowiki>MediaWiki internal error.

Original exception: [ZWloWSNSV_QR0qrq5MDPrwAAABA] 2023-12-01 05:00:09: Fatal exception of type "MWException"

Exception caught inside exception handler.

Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.</nowiki>
:I'm logged in with my math preference set to MathML. Ah, I just changed to PNG and the page loads fine. Thank you. (I guess it's time to review the FAQ and see what else I'm doing wrong!) [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 05:07, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2861: X Value

2023-12-01T05:07:11Z

Orion205:

transcript and short explanation added [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:47, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Is there an easter egg here? Is 4.1083 a significant constant in some field?
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.91|172.71.154.91]] 19:00, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:Dunno...but when I Googled it, it came up with a picture of a motorcycle I used to own - same vintage, same colour, same non-original aftermarket panniers - which was a little strange. Anybody else return any results centred around long-since-departed vehicles?

:Or not? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:31, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Googling for it showed me... a picture of this very xkcd. It's recursive? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 20:46, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Nothing interesting on Wolfram Alpha either https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=4.1083 [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 16:26, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

:I noted a proximity of "4.108(3)" to "42" and wondered if there was a connection ("how close can I get to 'the answer' without getting hammered for plagiarism or infringement?"). The comment below suggesting a link to the November 2023 "value" (= market capitalization) of X/Twitter is brilliant, but given that the market cap figure seems to have been posted on the day this comic was released, plus the evidence from comic 899, "coincidence" is probably the best explanation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.118|162.158.186.118]] 18:27, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

https://www.der-postillon.com/2012/08/mathemuffel-erleichtert-wert-von-x-ein.html [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.148|172.68.110.148]] 20:42, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
: This is in german, could you maybe give a translation at least? [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 20:45, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Basically the same joke, x being set to 5 in this case. The website is a satirical online newspaper. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:12, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

The "narrowing down" of n might be a reference to a combinatorics problem Ron Graham was solving, managing to narrow down the dimensions of the hypercube with a certain property to be more than 6 and less than... Well, Graham's Number.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.209|172.71.122.209]] 22:12, 29 November 2023 (UTC)jamieth

:Even that is accomplishment. Really, narrowing number down from infinite set to finite one is the biggest narrowing you can do. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

"In string theory the number of flux vacua is commonly thought to be roughly '''10^500''',[4] but could be 10^272,000[5] or higher." -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory_landscape#Compactified_Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifolds String theory landscape#Compactified Calabi–Yau manifolds] [[User:Abclop99|Abclop99]] ([[User talk:Abclop99|talk]]) 22:23, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

As of today, the value of Twitter (which some may call X for unknown reasons) is of 41.09 Billion USD. This might be the joke?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.16|162.158.129.16]] 22:50, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

The variable 'n' is often used in computer programs to be a counter for some activity that is repeated 'n' times. 'n' may be user input or it might be a calculated value like the number of items in a list. So the code would be something like, for the integer 'i' starting at 1 and iterating up to 'n' number of times in whatever computer language is being used. In this case, 'n' would be limited to the maximum value of the specific integer type in that computer language on that machine. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 03:34, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

A result that the math community has been waiting for for a long long time! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.135|172.71.103.135]] 08:16, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

What is wrong with comic 899? I can access other pages, but 899 gives error. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 16:50, 30 November 2023 (UTC)
: ...that comic works for me. By all means I can think of, but especially through either [[899: Number Line]], [[899]] or [[Number Line]] (the latter two being redirect-pages to the first, of course).
: Now ''occasionally'' (more frequently than I'd like), the server comes back with a message that it can't (currently, in that instance) give you the page, for reasons of its own. More rarely (but not unknown), Cloudflare with tell you that the whole site just isn't responding. But (wait and) try again and it usually works. (Unless you've just filled in a CAPTCHA, in submitting a page edit, in which case it's likely to tell you that the CAPTCHA is wrong/not ticked/completed it, so you get told off and have to try again.)
: If it's not such a transient problem, for you, could you let us know in what context you're trying to get there and failing?
: PS. "New comments should be added at the bottom." Answer: Because it's confusing. Question: Why ''shouldn't'' we put new things in front of old things? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.199|172.71.178.199]] 19:22, 30 November 2023 (UTC)
: Make sure that you have your Math module settings to PNG, not MathML. This creates an error in pages with Math modules as mentioned in the FAQ [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 19:45, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

: I've been having the same problem for the last 2 days: comic 899 won't load from any link or even a navigation button from an adjacent comic. I can access the talk page, but trying to get to comic 899 gives this result:
<nowiki>MediaWiki internal error.

Original exception: [ZWloWSNSV_QR0qrq5MDPrwAAABA] 2023-12-01 05:00:09: Fatal exception of type "MWException"

Exception caught inside exception handler.

Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.</nowiki>
I'm logged in with my math preference set to MathML. Ah, I just changed to PNG and the page loads fine. Thank you. (I guess it's time to review the FAQ and see what else I'm doing wrong!) [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 05:07, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2858: Thanksgiving Arguments

2023-11-28T01:50:09Z

Orion205:

I know it isn't important but im dying to know whether the titletext is from Cueball's or Randall's perspective - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 22:11, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

: Right, was Randall's mom mad at him for making fun of The Core in [[673: The Sun]]? [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:22, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
: I think title text is often considered to be Randall's own viewpoint, unless it's an obvious continuation of the comic. And since Cueball has already indicated that Rise of Skywalker is his family's point of contention, I think this is Randall's mother. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:34, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
:: We should just make a category for The Core (2003) at this point?--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.182|172.69.79.182]] 07:59, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

: This being at least the 5th comic with a reference to The Core (2003), it indeed looks like someone in Randall's life keeps bringing that movie up. We have: [[673: The Sun]], [[2011: Newton's Trajectories]], [[2074: Airplanes and Spaceships]], and earlier this year, [[2765: Escape Speed]] where you can find "a DVD of The Core (2003)". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.136|172.70.174.136]] 23:19, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

I have my doubts about the referenced Huffington Post article- in my experience it is readers of the Huffington Post who are both most likely to bring up politics at family get togethers AND most likely to deny it, thus leading to skewed statistics.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 00:06, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

: I would not be surprised if that is part of the joke. ;) also merry turkey day. SDT[[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.95|172.70.114.95]] 02:48, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
:: ermmm acktuuallyyy it's "happy thanksgiving" 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓 [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 03:47, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

The best way to win an argument about The Rise of Skywalker is to fervently insist the Star Wars franchise ceased operations after 2013 and reject any evidence to the contrary. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.237|162.158.62.237]] 09:51, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
:Well, as there was nothing after the 1980 sequel, I don't know why you say the above... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.213|172.71.242.213]] 11:54, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
::Touché, good sir. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.237|162.158.62.237]] 04:29, 25 November 2023 (UTC)
:Or just point out that the whole thing was little more than a series of B-movies, and therefore not worth debating.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.231|172.70.90.231]] 09:19, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Allow me a moment to retrieve the visual aids for my TED talk about the value of "low art" genres as a means of artistic expression and subversive commentary. [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 18:03, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
:That approach seemed to work for [[566: Matrix Revisited|The Matrix]]. Too bad they never made any sequels. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:50, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2858: Thanksgiving Arguments

2023-11-22T22:22:42Z

Orion205:

Talk:2854: Date Line

2023-11-14T00:26:28Z

Orion205:

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so a Trivia section has been automatically generated, and an imagesize parameter has been added (at half size) to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. --[[User:TheusafBOT|TheusafBOT]] ([[User talk:TheusafBOT|talk]]) 22:56, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

Is it just me or are these size errors becoming more common? What going wrong in the infra?
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.90|172.69.62.90]] 22:57, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

:Yeah, and this one came in HUGE. The image size upon loading the comic at xkcd.com was 6642x7838. At first, I thought it was a special comic or an interactive one. But just huge. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 00:25, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

added an explanation [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.61|172.70.174.61]] 23:49, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2854: Date Line

2023-11-14T00:25:27Z

Orion205:

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so a Trivia section has been automatically generated, and an imagesize parameter has been added (at half size) to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. --[[User:TheusafBOT|TheusafBOT]] ([[User talk:TheusafBOT|talk]]) 22:56, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

Is it just me or are these size errors becoming more common? What going wrong in the infra?
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.90|172.69.62.90]] 22:57, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

:Yeah, and this one came in HUGE. The image size upon loading the comic at xkcd.com was 6642x7838. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 00:25, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

added an explanation [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.61|172.70.174.61]] 23:49, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

2839: Language Acquisition

2023-10-10T05:24:17Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 2839
| date = October 9, 2023
| title = Language Acquisition
| image = language_acquisition_2x.png
| imagesize = 193x239px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My first words were 'These were my first words; what were yours?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THESE WERE MY FIRST WORDS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Language acquisition}} is the process by which humans, generally infants, learn a language.

There are many theories as to how this process works, but Randall takes this phrase literally, saying that infants learn languages one new word at a time. This may be true when learning a second language, but is typically not true for infants learning their native language (mother tongue). It is a common milestone to celebrate a child's "[https://www.parents.com/baby/development/talking/baby-talk-a-month-by-month-timeline1/ first word]", but typically these would be simple words, such as "mama" or "dada".

The child's sentence is twelve words, all unique. This implies these are the only words known so far.

Interestingly if this sentence is true, the child has learned the word for 12 before learning the words for any other numbers.

[[2567: Language Development]] has had a similarly obscure take on language acquisition.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A child, drawn as a smaller Hairy, stands next to some blocks. Megan and Cueball stand to the right of him.]
:Child: Vocabulary update: I learned another word today, bringing my total to twelve.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with babies]]

Talk:2786: UFO Evidence

2023-06-08T17:52:45Z

Orion205:

This must be about https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/lawmakers-react-to-whistleblowers-ufo-claims/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.152|172.69.22.152]] 18:09, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

For reference: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/04/cats-butthole-cut-vfx-editor [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.145|172.69.34.145]] 18:24, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

That Wikipedia article doesn't say that Cats is the worst film ever, just that it's one of them; one of the reviewers said it could be the worst film of the decade. It's probably near the top of worst films by a major studio, but it can't possibly be as bad as Ed Wood's films. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:34, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

I thought I'd heard that the cat-butts were printed on the costumes & that CGI was used to remove them from recordings; even assuming the prints were painted over, the remaining evidence of them on costumes should have been enough to confirm if they were ever present. I'd not heard the idea that the cat-butts were ''inserted'' AND removed via CGI, before. That seems more unlikely, to me. Accurate butts on a costume wouldn't really surprise me at all. Spending money to create them seems like a stretch.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:01, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

This was my reaction to COVID conspiracy theories as well. If anything about COVID was set up in advance in some massive poisoning scheme, it wouldn't be secret for long, and serious evidence would have spread very fast. That is because developing and spreading such a secret biological weapon requires so many people to cooperate for so long that the chance of an accidental or intentional leak approaches 1. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.47|172.71.182.47]] 21:23, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

: similarly 9/11 theories?

The explanation says "an entire afternoon" but the comic says "a whole day". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.114|162.158.155.114]] 23:43, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

We might like to think that scientists would drop everything to investigate 'compelling evidence' of extra-terrestrial life, but they might not actually be allowed to, particularly in the US, where 'Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs', often referred to as "the Brookings Report", is I believe still part of official policy. This was a 1960 report commissioned by NASA, created by the Brookings Institution in collaboration with NASA's Committee on Long-Range Studies, and submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics of the United States House of Representatives in the 87th United States Congress on April 18, 1961. The report looks into historical instances of human cultures being destroyed by contact with a 'more advanced' culture, and recommended that it is in the public interest that any and all evidence of alien life be actively suppressed, in order to prevent the possible destabilisation and destruction of human society.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.136|172.70.85.136]] 04:52, 8 June 2023 (UTC)
:Given how willing provable kooks and nuts are to raise their heads above the parapet, I'm not sure (especially these days, with so many online opportunities, outwith the control of at least the US government and possibly any other) that any credible evidence is going to very quickly escape the ægis of the above ''recommendation''. Given the number of things that aren't true that they seem unable or unwilling to debunk, despite them being extremely relevent to the stability of the country, we should by now be drowning in copious WOW signals, undismissable photos of obvious alien craft or even yer actual selfies with yer actual LGMs...
:The authorities just aren't that good at this sort of thing, and can't install any form of covering-up Groupthink. (Some regimes might, but it's hard to tell how much they really have made people think as they should, or just talk as if they think as they should on pain of pain... But there remain voices in those wildernesses, too.) And the biggest draw for a scientist (which is why some people might go off the rails, with fringe theories that have no hint of being justified, ignoring clear evidence that they aren't) is the opportunity to overturn current thinking and making their name. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.88|172.70.91.88]] 08:44, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

I thought UAP stood for Unidentified Areal Phenomenon, not Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon. [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|Help, I'm trapped in a factory factory]] 16:15, 8 June (UTC)
: It did, but sometime recently most agencies seem to be defining UAP with "Anomalous" now. The change surprised me, and I don't know the reasoning behind it. See {{w|Unidentified_flying_object#Terminology}} --[[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 17:52, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

2771: College Knowledge

2023-05-04T05:55:19Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 2771
| date = May 3, 2023
| title = College Knowledge
| image = college_knowledge_2x.png
| imagesize = 649x266px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Your chitin armor is no match for our iron-tipped stingers! Better go hide in your jars!' --common playground taunt
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT GOING TO IO - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Starting out with a common playground rhyme, our beloved characters explore parts of the solar system that become increasingly less likely to feature in actual playground rhymes, while their justifications for each visit become increasingly tenuous. So they give up.

In [[1202: Girls and Boys]], boys and girls both go to college ''and'' to Jupiter.

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

[Cueball, ponytail and hairbun are playing jump-rope while singing a common playground song.]

Hairbun:

Girls go to college to get more knowledge

Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider

Cueball:

Girls go to Ceres to get more theories

Boys go to Mars to get more jars

Ponytail:

Girls go to Eris to get more ferrous

Boys go to Triton to get more Chitin

Hairbun:

Girls go to...Mercury..to...meet Tim Berners-Lee

Boys go to... ...Betelgeuse...to get more... ...pamplemousse

Cueball: I think we're done.
{{comic discussion}}

2771: College Knowledge

2023-05-04T05:41:53Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 2771
| date = May 3, 2023
| title = College Knowledge
| image = college_knowledge_2x.png
| imagesize = 649x266px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Your chitin armor is no match for our iron-tipped stingers! Better go hide in your jars!' --common playground taunt
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT GOING TO IO - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Starting out with a common playground rhyme, our beloved characters explore parts of the solar system that become increasingly less likely to feature in actual playground rhymes, while their justifications for each visit become increasingly tenuous. So they give up.

In [[1202: Girls and Boys]], boys and girls both go to college ''and'' to Jupiter.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Girls go to college to get more knowledge

Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider

Cueball:

Girls go to Ceres to get more theories

Boys go to Mars to get more jars

Ponytail:

Girls go to Eris to get more ferrous

Boys go to Triton to get more Chitin

Girls go to...Mercury..to...meet Tim Berners-Lee

Boys go to... ...Betelgeuse...to get more... ...pamplemousse

Cueball: I think we're done.
{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2764: Cosmological Nostalgia Content

2023-04-18T06:03:30Z

Orion205:

When I added the transcript it broke the "Created by a BOT" tag on explanation, even though I didn't touch explanation [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.98|172.71.151.98]] 05:30, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

:No, it was broken before your edit. Someone else changed "BOT" to "Z=90s KID". The equal sign causes problems for mediawiki, but it's been fixed now. --[[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 06:03, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2764: Cosmological Nostalgia Content

2023-04-18T06:03:00Z

Orion205:

When I added the transcript it broke the "Created by a BOT" tag on explanation, even though I didn't touch explanation [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.98|172.71.151.98]] 05:30, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

:No, it was broken before your edit. Another edit added changed "BOT" to "Z=90s KID". The equal sign causes problems, but it's been fixed now. --[[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 06:03, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

2761: 1-to-1 Scale

2023-04-11T08:04:21Z

Orion205:

{{comic
| number = 2761
| date = April 10, 2023
| title = 1-to-1 Scale
| image = 1_to_1_scale_2x.png
| imagesize = 444x281px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = There's a version that shows the planets with no cropping, but it's hard to find a display that supports it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT AT 1-TO-1 SCALE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic supposedly shows what each planet would look like at 1:1 scale, which would mean at real size. However, because a miniscule portion of each planet is visible on the page at that scale, it becomes comically useless at distinguishing the size or relative size of each planet, and each planet is just a differently textured straight line.

The title text remarks that it is hard to find a display that supports a version of the image without cropping. This is because a true 1:1 scale image showing each of the planets would be ridiculously large[https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1164/how-big-is-the-solar-system/], larger than any monitor or display currently available on Earth (since it would be much larger than Earth).

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

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The solar system's planets at 1:1 scale

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Space]]
[[Category:Comics_with_inverted_brightness]]

Talk:2755: Effect Size

2023-03-29T17:16:52Z

Orion205:

Wow, it looks like I'm first![[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.40|162.158.146.40]] 16:40, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

;Wasn't something like this actually done?
Robert Sapolsky mentions an obscure paper that actually did something like this. They did a meta-analysis of the average reported error throughout various disciplines in order of the physical size of the objects being studied (e.g., from cells to organs to etc.), and found no correlation between them. The conclusion was that this was evidence that philosophical reductionism was flawed. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 22:45, 27 March 2023 (UTC)
: Did you manage to find it? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.57.203|172.70.57.203]] 08:49, 28 March 2023 (UTC)
:: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_njf8jwEGRo Here] is the talk. He talks about the paper around 1:26:00. The figure is 1:26:50. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 13:18, 29 March 2023 (UTC)
:: Maybe [https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/401203/summary LINK] Titled "Reductionism and Variability in Data: A Meta-Analysis" Sapolsky, R.; Balt S.; Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 39(2), 1996[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 16:21, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

But does the meta-analysis include itself? Technically, it too is part of Science...
Artinum [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 13:06, 28 March 2023 (UTC)
: It's SCIENCE all the way Down! [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:39, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

scroll box location is ~25.5% down track: scroll box is 10px high, scrollbar is 290px high, 54px above box, 226px below = center of scrollbox is 59/231 = 25.541..% = ~209,815 pages of total studies. Adjusted to 210,000 to account for rounding errors. (Plus the scroll box might not even move a pixel for a number of pages).[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.41|162.158.146.41]]
: Wait, if the scrollbar is 290px high, then shouldn't the position be 59/290 = 20.345%? It looks a lot more like 1/5th down than 1/4th down to my eyes. --[[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 17:16, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

Did anyone notice the asterisk next to one of the graph elements? There's got to be a lot of those... Not all scientific studies (I would say very few) can be boiled down to a single numerical output.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.41|162.158.146.41]]

Unless I misunderstand this, there's also an aspect of this that's due to sign - because some studies of some outcomes expect negative results, and some expect positive, mixing even results that are overall statistically significant may cause the effects to cancel out.
[[User:Mattwigway|Mattwigway]] ([[User talk:Mattwigway|talk]]) 15:32, 28 March 2023 (UTC)
:I think that could be squared[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 17:03, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

meta-analyses are also referenced in [[1477: Meta-Analysis]] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.104|172.71.26.104]] 16:18, 28 March 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
: 1477 Is [[1477|Star Wars]]? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:39, 28 March 2023 (UTC)
:: sorry, I meant [[1447: Meta-Analysis]] :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.248|172.71.166.248]] 13:04, 29 March 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
:Would this meta-analysis of all science satisfy Life Goal #28 (assuming it's rejected, as it probably should be)? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:29, 29 March 2023 (UTC)