explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2375: Worst Ladder

2020-10-22T12:34:21Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment

Their ladder is obviously placed somewhere where they all have to walk under it to get into the boardroom. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.247|162.158.158.247]] 00:59, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

I find it extremely pleasing that within 20 minutes the XKCD itself in on the front page of Google results [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.4|108.162.237.4]] 01:09, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Google searches gonna be skyrocketing for "Worst Ladder". --01:24, 22 October 2020‎ (UTC) 198.41.238.108 (Please sign your comments)
:Can definitely see when the comic was posted [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&q=worst%20ladder]. Maybe we should add a screenshot to the trivia section --[[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 07:16, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Can someone create a category for "business"-related comics? There are quite a few (some related to Beret Guy's businesses, but others just general). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.37|172.69.33.37]] 01:31, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Can someone confirm if this comic is related to Quibi's shutdown announcement? Because if it isn't, then it's one major coincidence. [[User:Aderon|Aderon]] ([[User talk:Aderon|talk]]) 01:50, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
:I'm not entirely sure of the parallels but I'd love them to be in the article--[[User:FrankHightower|FrankHightower]] ([[User talk:FrankHightower|talk]]) 02:07, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

I thought someone had added a practical screenshot of Google's "worst ladder" search, before realising it was one of the inline Google-powered ads, this one 'aptly' for a certain popular online auction site which illustrated various ladders apparently up for sale upon its platform.... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.82|141.101.107.82]] 01:55, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
:I tried doing it, but it says I'm not allowed--[[User:FrankHightower|FrankHightower]] ([[User talk:FrankHightower|talk]]) 02:07, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
:: I saw that link (yours?) too, and appreciated it. Now, being just an IP I'm fairly sure I'd not be allowed to upload media to the Explain wiki, but I know it's been possible for others. Like with created highlights of the XKCD Garden, IIRC. But maybe it isn't automatic to all usernames but time/authorisation-prompted, after a certain length of engagement. Maybe the answer lies in the Community Portal, or the question could be asked there if not. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 02:46, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

I've got a screenshot of "Worst Ladder" GIS results taken around 02:45 UTC. Would it be worth adding to the wiki, and is there a way to upload it here? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 02:49, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

I kept feeling like I was missing some more specific reference about what company could possibly find itself replaced by "worst ladder" searches. Like, it's so specific it doesn't feel like "welp, all media companies are SOL because everyone just likes ladders now", it feels like this company was somehow in a niche that was uniquely affected...but I can't imagine what that niche could be haha.[[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 03:31, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
:No, I think "worst ladder" is just a stand-in for any random (and absurd) internet hype. I mean, who would ever be interested in watching people randomly pouring buckets of ice water over their heads... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:56, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

I moved the Google Image Search part to the Trivia section. The actual results of such a searhc are imho not relevant for explaining the comic. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:14, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Also try "worst wheelchair ramps." [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 12:34, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2355: University COVID Model

2020-09-07T17:42:35Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Wait, people in college go to parties? Hm. Must be something people sent to High School for "socialization", participate in.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:04, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

I went to high school and didn't party once at college. So...I guess not? 23:06, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

:I don't remember any college party, but I must admit I might missed it while playing FPSs in computer laboratory. Or does that count as party? It is group activity, but there is usually no alcohol involved and social distance is preserved ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:34, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

::Well, some college students go to a lot of parites, but others don't. It's probably a lot less common among students who spend a lot of time on computers or who have majors in more difficult and mathematically rigorous scientific fields, and more common in certain other majors, people who are in frats, and those who are mainly in college to be on a sports team.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.61|162.158.74.61]] 05:36, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

This likely relates to https://xkcd.com/793/, do we want to mention that? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.44|172.69.42.44]] 21:47, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

: That would be great. Do you know where to put it? I was surprised the linked article said it was students who tested positive from the school's tests who actually hosted the parties. Interesting cultural share between the two kinds of personalities. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.105|162.158.62.105]] 01:06, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

"...and they had to shut down." Unrealistic, real universities send their president to join the party, 0/10. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.142|108.162.216.142]] 20:53, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

"stock-trading bots created by engineers were too good at making money on high-frequency stock markets, causing a flash-crash" The flash crash was caused by what I would describe as a computer bug (the theory is that multiple stock trading bots made by different people entered a loop where they would buy and sell the same shares from each other at increasing prices). If the stock trading bots were really "too good" then they wouldn't have this issue. Also, there were a good deal of finacially-trained bankers behind the creation of high frequency trading systems, with the actual "engineers" often not really understanding how the systems worked. The linked comic has nothing to do with high frequency trading. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 17:42, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2336: Campfire Habitable Zone

2020-07-23T06:25:08Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Amazingly how similar my aborted (edit-conflicted) edit matched what I found had gazumped me within the prior few minutes. Almost paragraph-for-paragraph on the same topic, with very similar details. Great minds think alike! (Fools never differ...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.100|162.158.159.100]] 01:58, 23 July 2020 (UTC)
:Same thing happened to me. This was my first time trying to submit the main explanation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 02:11, 23 July 2020 (UTC)
Since the marshmallow's axis of rotation (i.e. the stick) is parallel rather than perpendicular to its orbital plane, it cannot be tidally locked in terms of its rotation. However, for the same reason, one side of the marshmallow, that which is closest to the end of the stick, does always face the campfire. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.75|162.158.62.75]] 02:43, 23 July 2020 (UTC)

Take note of how Ponytail is toasting the Marshmallow above the fire with the stick nearly horizontal. In this orientation, the marshmallow typically becomes too gooey inside to maintain traction on a skewer or smooth stick. Rotating the skewer/stick becomes futile as the marshmallow spins relative to the skewer/stick but remains in the same direction relative to the fire, which will be with the heaviest part down due to the earth's gravity. In maintaining the analogy, the more massive side of the marshmallow is attracted to the fire... it has become tidally locked and cannot escape, preventing even toasting of the marshmallow. [[User:Dodgo|Dodgo]] ([[User talk:Dodgo|talk]]) 04:14, 23 July 2020 (UTC)
:you cannot toast marshmallows on a single tip skewer, you need to use a marshmallow fork (which for linguistic reasons that escape me is called a fork despite having only two prongs). Care still must be exercised that the insides don’t become so gooey that the marshmallow falls off, but with a fork you can rotate and brown all sides evenly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.128|162.158.78.128]] 04:20, 23 July 2020 (UTC)
How long a stick would we need to roast marshmallows with the sun? [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 06:25, 23 July 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2335: Photo Deposit

2020-07-22T06:11:09Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Depositing cash through a smartphone app was one of the silliest and most useful features in GTA V. Unfortunately, depositing money would not duplicate it. Presumably the characters in the game are very honest and trustworthy, destroying any cash instantly after scanning it in. This honesty is to be expected from thieving killers such as these.

You can also withdraw cash via the app. How that works is beyond me.

--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 23:38, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

A frequent joke in "The Goon Show" on 1950s British radio was the offer of a printed photograph of usually a small sum of money, treated as the photograph actually having value itself. Sometimes it's a phonograph disc. And sometimes the money represented turns out to be a forgery. In a less silly context, the photograph might be considered as an I.O.U., as evidence that the money exists and will be paid... which is what a banknote is, really. But in practice someone influencing you with pictures of money might be dishonest. Bank advertising for instance.

Wikipedia's article on "The Goon Show running jokes" (!) doesn't mention money photographs, although there is a reference to handing out pictures of Queen Victoria, especially in historical stories. Pictures of Queen Victoria may be on older money, but these ones don't seem to be.

Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.26|141.101.98.26]] 08:18, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
: Search for "photo"(graph) in http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e07_foiled_by_president_fred for the instant(s) that came straight to my mind, being recently broadcast. (I assume you're familiar with LSD?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 09:38, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

"Other nations ... have started introducing plastic banknotes" Lol. Australia had *finished* introducing plastic bank notes 30 years ago. [https://csiropedia.csiro.au/polymer-banknotes/] [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 01:43, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

Hmm. How much money would that be? Say each photo is 4MB and your upload speed is 25 or so Mb/s. Each upload would take about 1.3 secs. We'll round up to 1.5. To keep it simple, we'll say that they have a stack of bills, and are able to scan each new bill within those 1.5 seconds. Now, if the bank allows you to upload $100 bills, without any rate limiting, you'd be able to make $400/min (the same as the what if article, weird). Which means that in six hours, they could make $144,000 dollars! Of course, this is mostly guesswork, but it should be somewhere in the ballpark.
Could be a little more: Smaller photos, better network.
Or a lot less: Most people don't have $144,000 in cash ready at a moment's notice, and scanning could take more than 1.5 secs.
Of course, if this was a feature that was announced, and they had time to prepare....
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.102|108.162.245.102]] 04:11, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

The feature of depositing check is this new or old... Is it something from before or after the Corona outbreak? It is a smart feature to avoid visits to banks during the pandemic - also the money thing, which of course is not realistic irl. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:19, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
:depositing checks by smartphone is old, going back to 2018 if not earlier, and the depositing of currency could be realistic if bills used blockchain ledger entries instead of easily guessed serial numbers and everyone verified every currency transaction against the blockchain every time (this would end counterfeiting as a side effect). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:53, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
::Yes but that entirely defeats the purpose of cash, if you have to verify every transaction against a database. Also blockchain is entirely unnecessary. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 06:11, 22 July 2020 (UTC)
:The Chase app started allowing deposits ten years ago. See this article from ten years ago today: https://phys.org/news/2010-07-banking-deposit-smart-phone-photo.html [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:44, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Is it by the way illegal to even take a picture of banknote? I know printing one out is... Even if only one side and not very good quality. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:27, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
:if taking pictures of banknotes is illegal then bank security cameras (and security cameras in many retail establishments and casinos) are routinely breaking the law. Also, aren’t change machines taking a picture as part of their anti-counterfeiting circuits? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:58, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
::Even printing banknote is legal if you follow some rules. I read that you need to make it bigger than 150% or smaller than 75% of real size, although details may vary depending on country. Of course, doesn't change the fact that your graphics program might refuse to work with that image and your printer may refuse to print it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

I know it's acceptable in the 'colonial' idiom, but seeing "cheques" spelt as "checks" always confuses me for a micromoment. As well as imagining a test/verification being somehow a bartered service, I'm only just getting past it also being a bill-of-fare (in the UK we may pay a bill with a cheque, over there you can pay a check with a bill). But carry on carrying on! I'll get my coat. (If I can find the coat-check.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.100|162.158.159.100]] 10:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

Why is cryptocurrency in there, it seems tangential at best? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
:The more paranoid (or stand-offish for their own good reasons) Crypto users might not even connect bitwallets electronically but pass a transaction-code by other means (retyped from hardcopy, or rescan an on-screen generated QR, depending on requirements) and then rely upon the decentralised 'audit book' checking and authorising that transaction with minimal{{Citation needed}} risk of subsequent tracing-and-linking-together by The Man/whoever. I think it's both far too paranoid ''and'' not paranoid enough, in equal measure, if you're trying to keep your associations off-grid, but it seems there are those who seem to like doing it that way. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 20:35, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

The explanation seems excessive, given how obvious the joke is. [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 04:58, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2334: Slide Trombone

2020-07-18T05:05:13Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

I can't find any source saying that the CPS 2000 was discontinued ''because it was too powerful''. There's plenty of reasons why products get discontinued, and this product had various points of criticism apparently. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 21:09, 17 July 2020 (UTC)
: It's not verified but it appears likely. The nozzle of the CPS 2000 was 2.5x larger than advertised on the box and had a prominent safety warning affixed to it. It shot water with higher pressures than ever before. There was a hullabaloo around somebody losing an eye from it; there's no proof this happened but such hullabaloos are still bad for business. The model was discontinued and no water gun with comparable power has ever been mass produced for consumers since. It's notable that you can shoot water with as much pressure as you want to the point of cutting metal from a distance (see water cutter, found in well funded makerspaces as an improvement from the laser cutter, plasma cutter, cnc machine) and the metal of a brass instrument could be made to hold higher pressure than plastic. CPS 2000 information from https://nerfpedialegacy.fandom.com/wiki/CPS_2000 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.192|108.162.219.192]] 23:58, 17 July 2020 (UTC)
::Industrial water cutters use an abrasive (often garnet), as it is hard cut a material with something softer than that material. The water isn't doing the cutting, it is just there to provide pressure. In theory a high enough pressure pure water jet would cut metal, but it probably wouldn't be clean. To quote Randall, imagine throwing a ripe tomato into a cake. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 05:05, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

This should come standard with all spit valves. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.192|108.162.219.192]] 21:36, 17 July 2020 (UTC)

Maybe I'm too knowledgeable about musical instruments, but this doesn't seem funny even as a satire. And there are lots of musician jokes about trombonists. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 23:34, 17 July 2020 (UTC)
: Randal probably doesn't play these instruments. I don't either and don't yet understand why the joke is painful to you. It would be good for us to learn to respect musicians like you better. Is it because it's disrespectful of an expensive loved instrument that requires great dedication to own? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.192|108.162.219.192]] 23:58, 17 July 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2320: Millennium Problems

2020-06-16T04:05:00Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Fixed an error in my comment.

Ironically, Randall misspells Perelman as "Perlman" in the comic but spells it correctly in the alt-text.

[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.147|172.69.63.147]] 02:56, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Perhaps he meant Perlman the Perl-programming superhero? ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.145|162.158.123.145]] 03:33, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

There has been some controversy over the millennium prizes, given that in mathematics important results are often a product of the work of different mathematicians who are not necessarily close associates. Perelman reportedly believed that his work was a corollary to prior work by Richard S. Hamilton.

I think the idea of this comic is an extension to a question, which I've seen before in this discussion, "what if person A shows that 2 millennium problems are equivalent, and then person B proves one of them?" Should person B get both prizes, or should person A get one of them? It is easy to think of situations where it is hard to know who deserves the credit, and I think this comic takes that
to a logical exteme. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 03:59, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2320: Millennium Problems

2020-06-16T03:59:57Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Ironically, Randall misspells Perelman as "Perlman" in the comic but spells it correctly in the alt-text.

[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.147|172.69.63.147]] 02:56, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Perhaps he meant Perlman the Perl-programming superhero? ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.145|162.158.123.145]] 03:33, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

There has been some controversy over the millennium prizes, given that in mathematics important results are often a product of the work of different mathematicians who are not necessarily close associates. Perelman reportedly believed that his work was a "simple" corollary to prior work by Ricci.

I think the idea of this comic is an extension to a question, which I've seen before in this discussion, "what if person A shows that 2 millennium problems are equivalent, and then person B proves one of them?" Should person B get both prizes, or should person A get one of them? It is easy to think of situations where it is hard to know who deserves the credit, and I think this comic takes that
to a logical exteme. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 03:59, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2313: Wrong Times Table

2020-05-29T23:01:41Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment

Such an illogical table. Smaller numbers multiply to larger answers than larger numbers? Even numbers multiply to odd numbers?! How?!?! What sort of illiterate alien declared this to be the multiplication table?! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.101|108.162.221.101]] 20:54, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

This is easily one of the worst XKCD comics, period. Not funny, nor clever. Just seems like noise. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.183|172.69.68.183]] 20:57, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
:I suspect Randall may have just been feeling random, perhaps after several months of mostly Coronavirus-related comics. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:13, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
::That's fair, I'm being a bit harsh, but this just comes across as exceptionally meaningless and contrived, so much so that I felt the need to come here and comment immediately for the first time ever [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.56|172.69.71.56]] 21:18, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
:I relate to certain mathematical facts not sounding right, like how 54 intuitively feels like it's divisible by 4. Nonsensical, but makes sense anyway. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.233|162.158.62.233]] 21:42, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

This seems like the multiplication equivalent of looking at a word and thinking it is spelled incorrectly. Sometimes I look at a simple word like "fish" and think: "That can't be right." Sometimes multiplication can feel that way, particularly 7's because those were tricky for some reason. The alt text confirms fishiness with 7's [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.173|108.162.246.173]] 21:09, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
:Is it weird that I ''don't'' get this? I have this sense of "that is obviously wrong" when it comes to multiplication of small numbers like these, even with sevens and eights. If I read that 7 * 8 = 54, my brain screams "NOOOOOOOOO IT IS 56 YOU IDIOT!". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.101|108.162.221.101]] 21:14, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Well, 2,2 that's actually 2^3=8. 2,3 is addition instead of multiplication. 1,2 is division instead of multiplication. 1,1 is subtraction. 10,10 seems to be a visual gag, though most of the 10s row is either multiplication by 11 or 12... There's some logic to some of these, but it's different for each row, column, or cell. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.167|162.158.74.167]] 21:13, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
:Yeah, there is something going on. It looks like a lot of it is remembering the correct answer to a different problem. By my count 55 squares are the correct answer to a square next to it and 31 have a correct answer for somewhere else on the grid. Also, 2*2, 4*4 and 5*5 are double the correct answer.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.76|108.162.245.76]] 21:41, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

It's almost disappointing that he didn't hide one or two asymmetries in there just to throw us off! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.114|108.162.216.114]] 22:04, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

I get the idea that this is the sort of table you'd get if you tried to train an Adversarial AI from scratch to determine x*y purely by stocastic guessing and comparing to a co-evolving 'scorer' that also starts off naively but supports each answer according to the 'rightness' it thinks it has ''except'' for the real answer which is always hard-coded to be down-scored. (Also noting that DA reportedly came by his choice of 42 by asking people which numbers were 'funnier' than others, which can be said to be a similar kind of process but without the arrayed "original multiplication" element.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.179|162.158.158.179]] 22:13, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

As someone who often confuses 7*8 as 54, I found the alt text very humorous. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.118|172.69.34.118]] 22:29, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

I'm disappointed to see that 6*9 isn't equal to 42. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 23:01, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2301: Turtle Sandwich Standard Model

2020-05-10T05:13:40Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

This is the first time I have had a chance to see the comic early enough to make a meaningful contribution to the explanation, but this time I have no idea whatsoever what the comic is about! [[User:Moosenonny10|Moosenonny10]] ([[User talk:Moosenonny10|talk]]) 20:32, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Looks like it is referencing the standard model of elementary particles. The title text mentions four of the quarks(top,bottom,charm,strange) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.150|162.158.106.150]] 20:38, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Disagree with DgbrtBOT that this is primarily to do with genetics. I agree that it's about the standard model. Up, down, charmed and strange. It may 'because I'm dumb', but even I'm not that dumb.
:I agree that this is not about genetics. The usual Mendelian diagram has the same traits in both dimensions. Maybe he didn't make the particle physics connection because that has more than 4 boxes. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:52, 1 May 2020 (UTC)
:Agree with Barmar: This is not at all about genetics, but only about the particles standard model. Hence the name given by Randal, hence the dimensions not fitting Mendel, hence the lab reference and hence the biological absurd combinations. It does not fit genetics at all, but it perfectly fits a basic assumption of the standard particle modell: That every combination does exist. Labs all over the world have spend decades trying find/prove the existance of a particle predicted by lining up the dimensions of the particles standard model just as shown here and most seeming just as absurd. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.52|172.68.51.52]] 00:06, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

I added a bit about the physics part of it, but it can definitely use more information! [[User:ChunyangD|ChunyangD]] ([[User talk:ChunyangD|talk]]) 20:52, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Randall missed an obvious physics/turtle joke "turtles all the way down" reference here [[Glenn Strycker]] 4:56pm CDT 1 May 2020
: It was the first thing I thought, Randall can be sure his readers fill in such details... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.221|141.101.104.221]] 21:08, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

If this really is about genetics, which I question, it seems likely that most people who haven't studied genetics would find the use of genetics jargon to be less than helpful in an explanation.[[User:Darthpoppins|Darthpoppins]] ([[User talk:Darthpoppins|talk]]) 22:46, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

In my opinion, the ExplainXKCD community has been successfully trolled by the contributor of the explanation of this comic, and with humorous effect. The troll consists of an explanation couched entirely in terms used primarily by biologists but generally difficult for others to understand, contrary to this community's practice of trying to simplify. [[Wikipedia:genotype|Genotypes]], [[Wikipedia:phenotype|phenotypes]], [[Wikipedia:Punnett Square|Punnett Squares]], [[Wikipedia:heterozygous|heterozygous]], [[Wikipedia:homozygous|homozygous]], [[WIkipedia:ontogeny|ontogeny]]. That being said, the contributor is certainly correct that the comic is about [[Wikipedia:genetics|genetics]], in that the depicted two-by-two square is immediately suggestive of the visual tool used for predicting the results of cross-breeding experiments. And the comic is certainly also about [[Wikipedia:particle physics|particle physics]], in that the comic title refers to a "Standard Model" and then the title text alludes to particle names used in the [[Wikipedia:standard model|standard model of particle physics]]. So the comic's joke is about the unexpected juxtaposition of genetics with particle physics, and also is about turtle sandwiches which, as drawn, are intrinsically funny anyway. Yes, @Glen, all the way down. JohnB [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.116|162.158.75.116]] 00:25, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

This looks less like a Punnet Square than it does like one of those political alignment chart memes. Punnet squares use symbols next to each other to designate genotypes, not diagrams of the results. Not to mention that the individual labels along the sides are supposed to be alleles, not separate effing traits! That whole paragraph is completely wrong and should be removed. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 00:44, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Isn't this about supersymmetry? The missing pieces are the bosonic partners of the known fermions (matter particles), and the fermionic partners of the known bosons (force particles).... Joel K

For a second, I thought it said "Turkey Sandwich Standard Model"[[User:AllTheWayDown|AllTheWayDown]] ([[User talk:AllTheWayDown|talk]]) 01:31, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

This is clearly a use of the box method for factoring a trinomial in standard form (ax^2 + bx + c) which the coefficient of the first term (say ax^2) is not simply 1 (a<>1). Actually, the moment I saw it I knew exactly what it was, simply because I have been helping my high school son with his algebra the past few weeks. I laughed out loud! I never heard of this method as a math undergrad because it was brand new at the time, but now it's evidently fairly standard.

You create a 2x2 box, and write the first term of the trinomial (ax^2) in the top right corner and the last term (c) in the lower left. Then you have to figure out what factoring of a x c gives you two middle terms that when added will yield the middle term, bx. Let's call those b1x and b2x (where b1 x b2 = a x c, and b1 + b2 = b). You put those terms, b1x and b2x in the two empty boxes (in either order). Then you pull out common factors along each row and column until they multiply correctly to get the table. The terms you have pulled out then are your two binomial factors of the trinomial.

Randall has factored a turtle sandwich where the first term (ax^2) is a sandwich and the last term (c) is a turtle. These are the known terms (check marks). The unknown terms, through working the box method, turn out work if the bread is the common factor along the top row and the turtle shell on the bottom row. The sandwich filling is the common factor in the first column, and the shell-less turtle is the common factor on the second column.

I believe the alt-text is a play on the fact that, if I'm not mistaken, there are more ways to factor a trinomial if you allow imaginary numbers, because that allows square roots of negative numbers. Analogously, dividing shells differently suggests subatomic particles—thus, various quark flavors like charm and strange.
[[User:EternalLearner|EternalLearner]] ([[User talk:EternalLearner|talk]]) 01:52, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Apropos of nothing, and just for the comic relief of the commenters, I searched for 'turtle' 'sandwich' 'standard' 'model' and came across [https://www.globalxvehicles.com/turtle.html | this bad boy]. I couldn't resist sharing. Thanks for the knowledge. -- brad

Uhm,wut,mostly. Okay so the earth is on a turtle. What holds the turtle up? It's turtles, all the way down, I've heard but? "Turtle legs" is my answer. Why I'm here: didn't xkcd.com used to say it was updated Monday, w, f, ? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.182|162.158.78.182]] 04:55, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
:Obviously, the turtle doesn't need to be held up. It's a sea turtle, it swims. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:13, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Please refer to http://recipes-plus.com/recipe/turtle-sandwiches-kids-30062 for the top left sighting. [[User:Steven Nijhuis|Steven Nijhuis]] ([[User talk:Steven Nijhuis|talk]]) 05:35, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

LOL. This is the most random comments I have seen on one of these. This is 100% particle physics. Standard model of particle physics, up quarks, charmed quarks.. this is a commentary on how we know there is gravity, and we know there are electrons and we have a standard model which is still being filled in, in order to unify the theories.

--Adam Outler [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.131|108.162.238.131]] 06:03, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
----

I'm a bit confused by these comments. It seems like people are getting thrown off by the 2x2 table thinking that the comic must be related to where they've seen tables before (genetics / factoring quadratics / ...). This is wrong though, this comic is 100% particle physics.
In particle theoretical (particle) physics, the way forward has often been unification (combining forces of nature mathematically). We know the Standard Model is wrong, so physicists have been searching for ways to theoretically extend the known theory for decades. One of the most popular ways of doing this is looking for a larger symmetry group that encompasses the known symmetry groups of the equations governing the Standard Model. And the first time that physicists got REALLY close to a working theory was extending to E(5). When doing this mathematical extension of the Standard Model, you automatically get new messenger particles that are predicted (leptoquarks) that would theoretically make a transition between leptons and quarks possible (much like the weak interaction allows for transitions between quarks). The whole thing tends to get represented as a matrix visually, much like the turtle sandwich joke.
tl;dr: The joke makes perfect sense in theoretical particle physics. This type of diagram is common in extending the Standard Model (which is definitely incomplete) to a larger symmetry group like E(5).
Tom B
:I'm pretty sure the factoring comment is satirizing the people who think it is about genetics. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 05:13, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

Outside of anything scientific, I think it's also referring to the memetic "Is a BLANK a sandwich?" debate (normally a hotdog or a calzone) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.84|141.101.107.84]] 18:12, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
:The big debate, surely, is orientation. If I prepare (say) some chicken-breast in some sort of marinade, and then half-toast some bread (half-way ''towards'' toasting, not one-sidedly; I put the slices in the toaster but manually eject them when it makes a click which equates to roughly half way to the dialled-in toasting degree, at least on my old toaster) then lightly butter(/non-dairy spread) them and use them to sandwich the chicken, but with a slice of cheese atop the chicken, then it tastes nice. If, during consumption or just moving the construct to a plate, I end up inverting it so it's bread/chicken/cheese/bread from top to bottom (happens when passed from hand to hand, I think, between picking up and alighting anew) it tastes... still nice, but ''different''. Yes, the tongue is set only below the route the sandwich takes, but I'm not sure that accounts for it (experiments while inverting myself, with or without inverting the sandwich, are yet to be trialled without other factors going uncontrolled). However, it does mean that a sandwich cannot be assumed to have a reflective or rotational symmetry in the horizontal plane or any horizontal axis, which is the usual bar quoted against the smörgåsbord... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.142|162.158.159.142]] 01:35, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
::Yes, orientation plays a role in surprisingly bizzarre situations. Have you noticed that USB Type A plugs have 1/2 spin? You try to stick one in a socket - it doesn't fit. You turn it 180 degrees - it doesn't fit. You turn it further 180 degrees - now it fits! -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 14:45, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
: Try inverting your tongue and see what effect that has.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.206|108.162.215.206]] 06:36, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Anyone else mistakenly see the tomato slice/cheese/lettuce as a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_(chocolate) Turtle Chocolate] and a slice of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_pie Turtle Pie]?

Seeing the turtle without a shell between the two slices of bread in the grid reminds me of the other old question regarding turtles: If a turtle has lost its shell, is it homeless or naked? [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 05:03, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
: A turtle without its shell is spineless. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:46, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

I think the commentary is missing a main point. If you you hold a turtle in one hand and a sandwich in the other, you cannot help but notice the similar structure. In fact you can find two kinds of pictures of "Turtle Sandwich" on the internet. [http://recipes-plus.com/recipe/turtle-sandwiches-kids-30062 Sandwich made to look like a turtle.] or a [https://funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/203070/I/ turtle made to look like a sandwich.] So the question becomes, which of these is the "standard model". Which then opens us up to a pun on the "standard model" from quantum physics. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:46, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

The linked page on the [[wikipedia:Standard Model|Standard Model]] doesn't say anything about either turtles or sandwiches, so I think some more explanation on that part is welcome. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:54, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Perhaps we can find some clues at [[2251]]. (That's what this reminded me of, anyway.) —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 12:59, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

=== Size

Why is it big now? Is it just big for me? Anyone else seeing this? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.205|162.158.187.205]] 04:52, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

: I can see it too.

: Saved in Wayback Machine:

:https://web.archive.org/web/20200504044811/https://xkcd.com/2301/
https://web.archive.org/web/20200504044520/https://xkcd.com/ --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.4|162.158.238.4]] 04:56, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

:: The issue only affects the non-Retina/HiDPI version. On a high res screen, the 2x image is loaded with a width of 624px. On a normal res screen, the regular image is loaded with a width of 4682px. [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 10:42, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Meanwhile, C++ programmers are waiting to see where to position MockTurtle on the diagram (with no apologies whatsoever to Lewis Carroll)[[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 16:48, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2267: Blockchain

2020-02-13T01:23:05Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment

I wonder if this is inspired by Jimmy Wales mocking the idea that Wikipedia should use blockchain on Twitter the other day: [https://twitter.com/jimmy_wales/status/1226868636020805632] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.88|162.158.214.88]] 22:56, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
:It might also be related to a 2018 paper by the NIST which included a flowchart to explain why you didn't need a blockchain [https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2018/NIST.IR.8202.pdf] (Flowchart on page 42) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.134|162.158.126.134]] 00:42, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
:Wikipedia really has no need to secure data changes, that's the definition of a wiki. Is there ANY benefit AT ALL to changing that? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.166|172.68.211.166]] 01:00, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
::No, but according to blockchain enthusiasts, they have some sort of legal obligation to (in order to prevent piracy or illegal porn distribution, apparently). This is as ridiculous as it sounds. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 01:23, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2200: Unreachable State

2019-09-11T15:11:26Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

When I tried to go here originally, it was unreachable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.61|162.158.107.61]] 03:54, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:Yes that was really a funny coincidence, although it lasted a bit too long. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:37, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
::Any relation to the user database breach & DDOS attacks that hit some other xkcd community this week?[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:00, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Nothing about the comic suggests a website. it looks more like the error message of a program. also, i don't think CB is typing it, just reading. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.124|172.68.50.124]] 06:20, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:Im positive you are right, Cueball's hands are hovering over the keyboard while he reads this message. The caption is a note to programers not to leave this kind of message to users by writing them when tired. I will correct the explanation and the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:45, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

;"Can't happen"
This comic is not about "a problem that the programmers did not anticipate", but rather a situation that the programmer rules out as impossible, which is technically called "Can't happen" or "Impossible Error" in the hacker/programmer's jargon. See http://catb.org/jargon/html/C/can-t-happen.html

For example:
<source lang=php>
for ($i=1;$i<=5;++$i) {echo $i." - ";}
if ($i<10) {echo "Bye!";} else {echo "Can't happen!";}
</source>
[[User:ElfQrin|ElfQrin]] ([[User talk:ElfQrin|talk]]) 07:14, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Also it helps not to be too cute even with impossible error messages. A colleague left a message along the lines of <q>Application rubbish bin has broken.</q> once. Cue a somewhat perplexed user call several years later…
<blockquote>
“Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one.
But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.”

Who is genuinely surprised that Cueball managed to reach the unreachable error condition?

― Terry Pratchett, Mort
</blockquote>

--[[User:Kventin|Kventin]] ([[User talk:Kventin|talk]]) 07:51, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
: Do you mean "garbage collector"? Because that's not being cute, that's the actual technical term. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.30|162.158.122.30]] 13:24, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

The "anything can happen" may be reference to undefined behavior in some programming languages (most famous are C and C++) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_behavior. And the error message is rather about assertion failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assertion_(software_development) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.54|162.158.92.54]] 08:03, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

I rewrote the intro from a developer's perspective, since I'm pretty sure this is more about coding than about websites. Would be nice to add something about assertions there too. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:37, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

It's relatively common to include assertions for certain invariants because it can potentially allow compilers to make better optimizations, though this is usually a sign of premature optimization. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 15:11, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2193: Well-Ordering Principle

2019-08-25T03:17:49Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Still a "trap": POOF, you're now the worst McFly cosplayer; here's a mirror.
:She asked about people who 'tried' to dress as Marty McFly. So unless Megan has ever tried to dress as him, I don't think she can be the answer.[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:10, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

*Are* costumes well-ordered? Even leaving aside the subjectivity of any ranking, there are several different criteria which could be used, and many ways of combining them. (What if the costume which looked least like Marty wasn't the ugliest, nor the one showing least effort?) — Also, may be worth qualifying the explanation of Halloween by mentioning the USA; some other countries don't celebrate it, and of those that do, not all do trick-or-treating or dressing-up &c. [[User:Gidds|Gidds]] ([[User talk:Gidds|talk]]) 00:23, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

::Saying there are different criteria kind of overlaps with saying the ranking is subjective. But far worse, even individual preferences are preorders aka quasiorders, which absolutely does mean that there may not be a worst, or even a set of costumes tied for worst. However, the fact that you can always find someone (e.g. on Amazon Mechanical Turk, or off the street, or on a wiki somewhere) to give you another opinion means that well-foundedness can be rescued with their {{w|mean opinion score}}. I wonder if the genie is powerful enough to know the asymptotic MOS ranking right away, or if it will have to wait for enough Amazon Mechanical Turk HITs to be completed. Given that there must have been at least hundreds of thousands of consumes so far, that could take quite a long time to achieve p<0.05. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.248|172.69.22.248]] 04:00, 24 August 2019 (UTC)
::I've spent way too much time on this, but the more I do, the more I think Randall is trying to say something about the simulation hypothesis, related to the theme on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th5uJNB7VU8 ''Watch Room''] (warning: somewhat creepy but otherwise ok sci-fi short.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.134|172.69.22.134]] 12:32, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

I hope this Munroe lowkey challenging the internet, that we might actually celebrate our infamous king (or girl marty queen) of crappy costume. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.219|162.158.58.219]] 00:37, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

The "worst McFly" and "even" sounds like there should be a math pun in there somewhere, but I don't see it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.11|172.69.63.11]] 01:36, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

"It's been over 30 years since Back to the Future came out." That makes me feel old. Isn't that something that Munroe does regularly? Should that be mentioned in the explanation? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.88|162.158.214.88]] 10:42, 24 August 2019 (UTC)
:Yes, I am sure there have been at least two comics where the often surprising ages of things formed a central part of the theme, but I can't remember enough about them to find them. Anyone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.82|162.158.255.82]] 11:55, 24 August 2019 (UTC)
::Just see [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old]] :-). --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 12:29, 24 August 2019 (UTC)
:::Thanks {{done}} [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.134|172.69.22.134]] 12:38, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

"The real Worst McFly is probably lost to time" is also a pun regarding the fact that ''Back to the Future'' is a time-travel story.--[[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 17:20, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

I wonder if this could be trap from Megan - even unintended one: in some stories, the Genie could get into problems if he CANT fulfill the wish ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:07, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

Even if "preference" is a total order (i.e. connex and anti-symmetric, I think both of these are debatable) it isn't necessarily a well order, however, since the set of costumes is finite, there would still be a "worst" one. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 03:17, 25 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2192: Review

2019-08-23T03:57:44Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Earth : Terrible storyline, feel depressed afterward. Controls buggy.
: My advice would be to look at different storylines. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.44|172.69.22.44]] 14:24, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:: There's more than one? I wish I knew what the storyline was even supposed to be; it's not like the minigames where if you ask enough NPCs you can find one to clue you in on what to do next. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.172|162.158.34.172]] 10:29, 22 August 2019 (UTC)
: It is in our power to choose fear, frustration, and despair or the alternative story line of love, joy, and freedom. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 15:06, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

Mostly harmless - [[User:GreenWyvern|GreenWyvern]] ([[User talk:GreenWyvern|talk]]) 13:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
: thank you for that :D [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 16:26, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

New servers opening soon! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.124|172.68.51.124]] 13:42, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

He could discuss in greater detail at https://www.reddit.com/r/outside/ [[User:Poodlehat|Poodlehat]] ([[User talk:Poodlehat|talk]]) 13:43, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

I think the title text is alluding to controlling things like climate warming and the like, not learning to walk. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:56, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:"Huge World" would imply that the game type is first or third person, with the player taking control of a character in that world. In this sense, I think it's appropriate for the controls to be in reference to movement of the character. If the game type were management or simulation, I think you would be correct. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 14:03, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:"Huge World" so much to explore, could take more than a lifetime. Very few ever reach master level but general satisfaction is possible for every serious player, and the game Creator is accessible at any time. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 15:06, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:Game creator accessible? Seriously? When was the last time he fixed some bug? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:: The Earth is abandonware...

Perhaps this is a reference to the recent Public Policy Polling survey http://publicpolicypollling.blogspot.com/2011/07/evaluating-god.html whcih asked people about God's job performance. God received his highest rating on his "handling of creating the universe" with 71% in favor of the universe and 5% opposed.
:correct link is http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/07/evaluating-god.html (but it’s a rather boring 8 year old fluff piece, I very much doubt that Randall was even aware of its existence) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.22|162.158.78.22]] 01:55, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

Dan Loeb loeb@sig.com, 11:50, 21 August 2019 (ET)

"gun violence, sexual violence, poverty", etc, are really human's problems rather than Earth's problems.
: It really depends on your point of view. If you consider Earth as just a rock flying through space global warming isn't really an issue either. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 16:26, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:: Global warming is barely issue when you consider biosphere as a whole either. Neither insects nor bacteria care, and plants are looking forward to it. Now, pollution, that's different. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

To be honest I think this comic is a bit lazy for xkcd standards. The whole joke of "I went outside today, the graphics are amazing but controls suck" is years old and was never really good in my opinion. I've seen several comics where Randal reused old jokes and put a clever spin on them or extended them in a new fashion that I'm disappointed Randall essentially copy&pasted this one. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 16:26, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:Personally, I was hoping for something on the announcement of KSP 2 :P
:: It might come in the next few days. I don't think he'll ignore it. Or he'll mention once there is a confirmed release date. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 11:01, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

I'm reminded of [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-09-26 this comic] by the SMBC guy (better known as Emergency Backup Randall Munroe) which features a hypothetical site which can host such a review, and also two Black Hats. Some folks also made a subreddit that actually implements the idea. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.167|172.68.11.167]] 18:03, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

Multiplayer sucks. Needs to have a single-player mode. [unsigned]

Is this the first time that Randall has explicitly drawn himself in a comic? Does this make it official that Cueball is Randall (or Randall's alter-ego)? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 05:09, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

Is this serious: "Earth is a completely real object[citation needed]"? I never thought this could be fake news. :-)

The solar system as a whole is even bigger, but nearly completely empty. Only one star. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.18|108.162.229.18]] 14:10, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

Too many people play this just for the "game within a game" feature. The main game deserves more attention. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 03:57, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2189: Old Game Worlds

2019-08-15T03:42:07Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

;Older games
Quote from explanation: "Some readers might wonder why there's no mention of even older games like Space Invaders (1978) and Pac-Man (1980), but these games were so abstracted, so pixelated; that there's never an expectation that anything in them would age or deteriorate. Likewise with older text games like the Zork series (1977–79) or their predecessor, Colossal Cave (1976–77). So they are sadly ignored on the timeline of games."
*Nope, sorry, I completely disagree with this. Pacman always felt like a real world to me. Imagine a night club in the afternoon, cleaners mopping, a couple of ghosts sleeping in the corner, sick on a wall, another wall crumbled, muzak playing, the threadworn patterned carpet now visable, pellets scattered, a uniformed teen carefully placing new shiny pellets, another uniformed teen sneaking up on the sleeping ghosts with a net. Space Invaders: the aliens have gone, people have built house out of the ruins of the bunkers, the laser is crashed in a field missing vital parts, cows mill around eating the grass, a guy with an end-is-nigh sign babbles incessantly about aliens coming. Meanwhile Zork and Colossal Cave would also be perfect for this scenario - being text the only limit on then is the imagination of the author (and memory space etc, but shhh). Personally I feel the list just represents some of Randall's favourite games - he was born in 1984 so these games here are ''before his time'' and not really games he would gravitate towards when making a list of just '''13''' games. [[User:A74xhx|A74xhx]] ([[User talk:A74xhx|talk]]) 07:08, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
::Yes, it is easy, with a bit of imagination (and at time of publishing of the games, limiting alternative experiences in video games), to really dive in deeply. But it wouldn't make a good comic, to do these "modern" adaptions to the simple layout of the actual user interface of e.g. pacman. Nevertheless i am not sure if that actually belongs to the explanation, as it is only speculation about something that is NOT in the comic. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:27, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
:::Not to mention that the list might just be incomplete and continue on below the visible space. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.28|108.162.249.28]] 07:13, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
:::: Ok, removed the paragraph [[User:A74xhx|A74xhx]] ([[User talk:A74xhx|talk]]) 9:30, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
:::::I'm guessing whoever wrote that former paragraph never played '''Return To Zork'''. The very ''premise'' of that game is that hundreds of years have passed & the kingdom has fallen into a dystopic state of decay & darkness. Returning to a once-liberated land to find it changed or ravaged by time is a common theme far pre-dating high-detail videogame graphics, & is by no means limited to games with extravagantly detailed visuals. In fact I feel pity for anyone so lacking in imagination that they need advanced graphics just to feel immersed in the fictional settings presented... I guess they wouldn't enjoy books either?
:::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:21, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
:I disagree. Tunnels of Doom (TI 99/4A, 1982) literally had randomized worlds regenerated every time you went in- with a 3d maze several layers deep. Also Hunt the Wumpus and even nethack are older yet. Of course, Tunnels of Doom came pre-distressed, it was a dungeon crawl after all.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 11:38, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
::The first version of NetHack was released in 1987, so it's definitely not older than Tunnels of Doom.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.166|162.158.238.166]] 15:27, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

"Mario kart" is a series, not a game. Its first title "Super Mario Kart" was released in 1992, which would be older than the "very old game" "Escape Velocity (1996)". Maybe Randall referred to "Mario kart 64", which was released in North America 1997 in, rendering it newer than "Escape Velocity". Stefan 08:51, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
:Agree, that makes sense with both the title and the chronology. I will correct my own explanation.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:55, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Somebody should make a Videogames subcategory for Kerbal Space Program and assign it to comics 1106, 1244, 1350 and 1356. [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 10:09, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
:And if so this one. But is 4-5 comics enough for a new category...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Hey folks, a Swede here: given that the final frame is depicting a Panera and the whole comic is about contrasting how things used to be with how they are nowadays, I must ask: Are cinnamon rolls in vogue right now? Cinnamon rolls have been the standard pastry here since before I was born, but between this strip and a recent SMBC-comic(http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/cinnamon-buns) I wonder if cinnamon rolls is something of a trend in the US right now? Like how shawarma no doubt became trendy once The Avengers had a scene where the titular characters ate the dish, and fidget spinners were all the rage a few years ago.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.210|162.158.134.210]] 15:35, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
:I don't think it's a trend here, I think it's just the go-to bread when someone wants to refer to something extra sweet and extravagant. I think when they first published the calorie count of a Cinnabon, it was off the charts. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:21, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
::When I make cinnamon rolls, 8 rolls call for 2 sticks (1 cup or 227g) of butter. I tried asking Wolfram about the average cinnamon roll, but it says 3 calories which seems wrong. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 03:42, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

This belongs here: http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Episode_58_-_The_Ruin_of_Roib [[User:Keenmaster486|Keenmaster486]] ([[User talk:Keenmaster486|talk]]) 17:35, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Considering SimCity obviously don't progress in real time, the fact it's paused if you leave it, even for years, is not that surprising ... Civilization (not on list) would make it even more apparent (also, it's turn-based, so ...) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:11, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2186: Dark Matter

2019-08-11T05:17:35Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

If dark matter were squirrels, they ''wouldn't'' set off the bird feeders because dark matter can't interact with feeders at all! Especially since it's not to the squirrels' advantage to set them off. Unless, of course, the dark matter squirrels do exist and steal from our feeders freely, but we can't notice because dark matter is unobservable at this scale. In fact, it's entirely plausible that some squirrels evolved to be dark matter for this specific advantage, so I wouldn't rule that out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.244.174|172.68.244.174]] 12:12, 7 August
2019 (UTC)
:Well if they can't interact with the feeders, they won't be able to steal the food either.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.66|141.101.107.66]] 13:28, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
::Not with that attitude. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.4|162.158.126.4]] 14:10, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

I have never seen a spinning bird - can they turn peanuts into gold?
:Yes, but the gold would be radioactive. The much more impressive reaction is to turn gold into peanuts, other than by paying a farmer for peanuts using the gold. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 14:36, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
::Would I be allowed to pay a merchant for peanuts using the gold? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:38, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

I had to google what a spinning bird feeder is. I had never seen one of these before (I live in Germany). Maybe a link to one of these funny videos should be added. Frank [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.64|172.68.110.64]] 19:59, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
:{{done}} [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.32|172.69.22.32]] 01:25, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

Anyone else who read PBH as PHB, the pointy haired boss from Dilbert? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:06, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
:I always think "peanut butter and ham," from PBJ+BLT I guess. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.148|172.68.141.148]] 07:20, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
:I read it as "Pause Buffered Hitstun". [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 05:17, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

In the explanation, I think I missed a step of logic. Are Windows, Icons, Mice and Pointers made up of Dark Matter? It might explain a few lockups in Windows I've been having lately.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 11:47, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

How can Megan use the dark matter density across the whole solar system to calculate the density within the Earth? If dark matter interacts with gravity, shouldn't the distribution of dark matter within the Solar system be similar to the distribution of normal matter (i.e. much higher density near massive objects like the Earth)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.124|108.162.241.124]] 17:40, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
:It interacts with gravity, but in doing so it falls into and through ordinary matter and then just keeps going -- gravity isn't strong enough to slow it down enough to make it bunch up around normal matter. Only galaxies have discernible halos clumped. Most dark matter particles that fall into our solar system would just fall out the other side at the same speed, tossing them into the gravity of another star before they slow down enough to come back, in most cases. The linked density paper talks about the extent of that effect as the basis of their calculations. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.184|172.68.141.184]] 01:01, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

For comparison, it would be nice to have the average density of "regular" matter of the earth, the sun, interplanetary space, interstellar space, etc. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.246|141.101.105.246]] 18:59, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
:It's a little less than one fifth overall. However, you can't really have a local density of normal matter because it's clumped into stars and planets. Even at our scale, what's underneath is almost certainly far more dense than what's above you. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.184|172.68.141.184]] 01:01, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2184: Unpopular Opinions

2019-08-06T04:20:33Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

I wonder if it has to be below 50% with critic score, audience score, or both? [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 17:36, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:Genisys has an Audience Score of 53%, so I think it has to be critic score (Tomatometer). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.124|108.162.241.124]] 21:42, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
::Critics and audiences are really two distinct groups. So to be "apples to apples", I'd think it would have to be a movie with an Audience score below 50. Disagreeing with something critics hated isn't that rare among the general audience. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.18|162.158.106.18]] 04:46, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
::The whole idea of the challenge doesn't make sense if the movie is "only" hated by a handful of random critics. As Randall points out, it is easier to hate a movie that everyone loves, so that is also true for critics. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.46|172.69.55.46]] 18:41, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
::I have to agree that basing it on the critic reviews only doesn't make much sense. I can find dozens of movies I like that are rated rotten by the critics, but nearly all of them got good audience reviews (Bright, Constentine, Super Troopers, K-Pax, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, etc). I can only find one that I like that that scores under 50% with both groups, Southland Tales, and even I'll admit it has many flaws. I suspect Randal Monroe was looking at movies that were rated "Rotten" by both groups (green icon and <60%), vs "fresh" (red icon > 60%). But the rules were already a bit too lengthy to spell it out explicitly. [[user]][[User:Whereisspike|Whereisspike]] ([[User talk:Whereisspike|talk]]) 21:42, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/browse/dvd-streaming-all?minTomato=0&maxTomato=49&services=amazon;hbo_go;itunes;netflix_iw;vudu;amazon_prime;fandango_now&genres=1;2;4;5;6;8;9;10;11;13;18;14&sortBy=tomato Movies] on DVD or streaming, tomatometer 49% down to 0%.

Plenty of Twilight fans will raise their hands - it is rated 49% --[[User:Thomcat|Thomcat]] ([[User talk:Thomcat|talk]]) 18:09, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:Well, I'm around the typical age of (original) Twilight fans, and none of the movies in the saga came in my adult life. (But they're all below 50%)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.147|162.158.103.147]] 18:27, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

I mean, Shaft got a 30% on the Tomatometer and a 94 on the audience score, and I loved it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.22|108.162.241.22]] 18:57, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Do Waterworld, in spite of the fact that it only ticks two of the boxes, count? I really liked that one.
:I also liked Waterworld (44%, 1997) and The Postman (9%, 1995) (both with Kevin Kostner, and sort of the same story). Assuming the definition of adult is 18, they both qualify for the adult part, but not the after 2000 part. I also loved Star Wars Episode I, but sure enough, it's above 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 17:28, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

:If it didn't come out while you were an adult, then it doesn't count. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:16, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:My immediate search was also for Water World. Would it also not count when you didn't watch it until after 2000? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.46|172.69.55.46]] 18:35, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

I don't watch enough movies (or know Rotten Tomatoes well enough) to participate in this particular challenge, but it seems like every time I enjoy a video game, it turns out to have a sizeable and vocal hatedom. I seriously can't relate to the caption here. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.165|162.158.107.165]] 20:25, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Batman v. Superman is probably a good answer for a fair number of people-it has a reasonable number of fans (including myself) who liked it, despite its very poor rating (28%) [[User:SirEpp|SirEpp]] ([[User talk:SirEpp|talk]]) 21:05, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
: I went to that movie for finding the plausible reason why Batman who only fights criminal and Superman being too unreal for ever being angry for no reason might have a fight which each other. Got less than I expected, in this aspect. But Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Thor: Ragnarok and Iron Sky are objectively superb films the critics hated. Perhaps with the exception of the relationship between Valerian and Laureline, perhaps, though.[[User:Gunterkoenigsmann|Gunterkoenigsmann]] ([[User talk:Gunterkoenigsmann|talk]]) 17:37, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Not a movie, per se, but I thought season 8 of Game of Thrones was fantastic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.88|162.158.214.88]] 22:23, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Critically panned films that I like include: Crimes of Grindelwald, Passengers, and Warcraft.
:Oooh, ''Passengers'' is a good one, I'm stealing that. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 01:16, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

I second Crimes of Grindelwald (37 RT), and add Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (48 RT), which I also enjoyed and actually recommend to people. Now these movies aren't "classics" or "great movies", they aren't perfect, but they are effective entertainment, and ''not'' because they "are so bad their good". Grindelwald has many effective scenes and acting, and Valerian is a very effective effort at making a movie out of a comic book that ''feels like a comic book''-- a fact I appreciated. Of course 48 RT is also just under the 50 RT threshold.[[User:Careysub|Careysub]] ([[User talk:Careysub|talk]])

Critically acclaimed films that I do not like: Avatar and Life of Pi. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.213|173.245.48.213]] 22:47, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:It's almost like you totally misunderstood the point of the comic. [[User:A74xhx|A74xhx]] ([[User talk:A74xhx|talk]]) 09:00, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Not under 50%, but I'm shocked that "The Secret Life of Walter Smitty" has only 51%... National Treasure has only 46%... I like this game, it is a test in optimism.
:"The Secret Life of Walter '''Mitty'''" deserves a low rating, particularly when compared to the original with Danny Kaye. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.73|162.158.107.73]] 05:31, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Frankly it would be easier to list the movies I like that aren't below 50% on rotten tomatoes. [[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 00:23, 3 August 2019 (UTC)s

My experience with rotten tomatoes ratings in particular is that they have no clue and I find their ratings useless. The challenge from Randall in this comic is a case in point: the first movie I though to check, “Another Gay Movie” gets a 40% on the tomatometer yet is one of my favorites. Same thing with all the “Eating Out” movies: good comedies that I enjoy, yet Tomatometer scores of 16%, 44%, and 17% for the first three. (And why is “Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds” so much higher ranked than 1 or 3? It’s not that different...)
I think the criteria that Randal assumes (but doesn’t mention) is that the movie has to be a box office hit that appeals to mainstream audiences.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.73|162.158.107.73]] 03:55, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

I don't see why Suicide Squad got trashed. It was light, colourful, had an engaging story, and well made. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.209|172.68.253.209]] 04:04, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Sucker Punch. There, I said it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.77|141.101.99.77]] 07:36, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

There's a certain type of movie that 'h8ers' will auto-trash before they even come out (especially "Gender-switched version of a classic", like that ''Ghostbusters'', and "Strong female type", like ''Wonder Woman'' - as easy examples of those that some people love to hate, regardless of actual merit). So I recon there'd be good mileage in keeping an eye on (for example) the double-whammy that is the upcoming Female Thor movie. If it doesn't ''actually'' turn out to be so bad that you personally don't like it, I predict that it'll be pre-release troll-sniped down below 50% in "popular" opinion and even if they're not at all right about their guess there'll be a window of opportunity before any counter-viewpoint from actual viewers ups the score again. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.66|141.101.107.66]] 10:21, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:No one hated Wonder Woman. It has 93%, and is arguably the best live action superhero movie that DC has released so far. Ghostbusters was a money grabbing remake that brought nothing new. It COULD have been great with almost no effort, by getting someone to write an original script that built on the things that came before that everyone loves, instead of trying to replace it with an inferior version. The only one to blame is the Hollywood studios that would rather throw money at something that already exists instead of taking a risk on an unknown. Then they add insult to injury and tell everyone that the reason they failed isn't because they made bad decisions, but because ''people don't like seeing women in leading roles'', which is not true in any form. No real people care if the lead is male or female. They care about a good story, good acting, and having a good time watching a movie they paid their money for. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 17:09, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

What the heck are all these Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller movies doing at sub-50%? I didn't know people supposedly hated Night at the Museum that much. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.67|172.68.189.67]] 17:13, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Thanks to the link I found two: Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I don't consider them like super-good, but I like them. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:09, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

Thanks to the link I found four: Hancock, Knowing, The Lovely Bones, The Book of Eli.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.28|162.158.150.28]] 11:06, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

Immediately: Venom (29%) I like to pretend I like it for the "so bad it's good", but here in anonymous interwebzland, I can admit I just enjoyed it (despite expecting to hate it for the retcon). Does it matter that the RT audience score is 81%? I often find that my enjoyment of a movie is inversely proportional to how much critics didn't, and it seems I'm not alone.[[User:Daemonik|Daemonik]] ([[User talk:Daemonik|talk]]) 09:43, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

I think the point here is that people feel more comfortable disliking something than liking it. It isn't that we don't all have movies that we like that other people hated, it's that many of us are afraid to say it. Also, t's not a movie, but I honestly enjoyed that one episode of ''Stranger Things''. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:20, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

== Post-2000? ==

Anyone have an idea why "post-2000" is a criteria? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 23:58, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:Maybe because Rotten Tomatoes was launched close to the end of the 1990s, so post-2000 movies are the only ones that have been reviewed as they came out? Or perhaps it's to limit the scope of "movies that came out in your adult life", since adult life could go back a long way for some people. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 01:16, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:I don't know for certain, but I feel incredibly confident that it's the timing of Rotten Tomatoes, that older movies that came out before the site existed won't be thoroughly / properly covered. Like if you look closely you'll see the 40% rating on this movie comes from only 1 vote. I suspect Randall feels that as of 2000, there was enough activity on the site to provide sufficient coverage. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:40, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:Pre-2000 films, being prior to RT, have the 'benefit'  of studied hindsight. Anybody who bothers to review [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003722_casino_royale the ''original'' Casino Royale], which would be my choice for this if I were allowed, just has far too much baggage to be thinking the same as with something just being appreciated in the context as a new-release. Including me, probably, across the many years since I first saw that film and fell in love with it, despite the obvious and total car-crash of its Development Hell! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.66|141.101.107.66]] 10:21, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:And there's a lot of selection bias in who reviews movies from pre-2000 as anyone who reviews a movie probably only went to that movies page and wrote a review, because they either really like the movie, or really really really hate it.[[User:Whereisspike|Whereisspike]] ([[User talk:Whereisspike|talk]]) 21:56, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

I KNOW that there are many, many movies I can apply to this challenge - I often find myself enjoying unpopular movies. Plus, critics suck, they seem to always forget that this is ENTERTAINMENT. A clever movie that is dull as dirt and makes you fall asleep should NOT receive high praise, it fails at the primary function - but I can't think of them in the moment. About a week ago on Facebook I had a memory, a list of facts about Eurotrip, where the article called it a flop, while I loved it, so probably that one. This comic triggered my first ever visit to Rotten Tomatoes, who lists Eurotrip as I think 46%, but much higher for Audience score, so I THINK it counts? What bumps me is that it seems like "Audience Score" would be popular opinion, making Eurotrip actually a Popular movie, which seems like then it wouldn't apply here. ???? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:40, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Hypothesis: People generally give more positive then negative reviews, and positive reviews also cause more people to watch. The number of watching for something bad is therefor lower, while a good movie is watched so often there is always a critic.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.190|172.69.55.190]] 10:19, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

What the hell is wrong with people who don't like Ghost Rider or Daredevil? — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 19:03, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

My favorite bad movies Wild Wild West, The One, Returner, Equilibrium, The Warrior's Way [[User:Houligan|Houligan]] ([[User talk:Houligan|talk]]) 15:59, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

I liked 50 First Dates. But for my really controversial opinion, I'm gonna say not only was Armageddon a terrific movie, but it got enough of the science right to earn our suspension of disbelief :D
--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.245|172.68.142.245]] 21:59, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2170: Coordinate Precision

2019-07-02T18:02:51Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Fixed a typo in my comment.

The coordinates seem to show a NASA building, so in the end you're still soing something space related. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.196|172.69.55.196]] 19:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)Some random European.
:The more precise coordinates are actually in the middle of the Rocket Garden at the Visitor's Center of the Kennedy Space Center complex. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:58, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The atom-level coordinates are obtained by appending digits of e and pi to the Rocket Garden coordinates. [[User:Ichoran|Ichoran]] ([[User talk:Ichoran|talk]]) 20:21, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

I always find it very funny to see all those decimals. Regular GPS devices have an uncertainty of 3 meters if there is no interference from trees, buildings or whatever. That puts you at about 4 to 5 decimals I guess. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:26, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:A Google Maps webpage URL includes coordinates to seven decimal places. [[User:EmuSam|EmuSam]] ([[User talk:EmuSam|talk]]) 20:48, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::Sure but out there with your handheld GPS or normal consumer device that includes a GPS receiver you won't get more precision than about 3 meters. And when your at the higher latitudes you're probably not getting that. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

So combining this comic with #2169, is Randal suggesting he'll be at the Rocket Garden on July 28th (much as he did in #240)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 20:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:It says ''June'' 28th. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.22|162.158.126.22]] 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::No, the date of that comic is June 28, but the title text says: [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:51, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:::Ah, that makes sense. For some reason my app only showed the first part of the tirle text --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.94|162.158.126.94]] 23:04, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::::The COMIC says "June 28th." The TITLE TEXT says "July 28th." Apparently the government computer predictive text was trained from different input. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 15:26, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Regrettably, there are two dimensions missing, Z and T. Without Z (elevation)+/- you could be in space or in a neutrino detector. T is only relevant for dynamic objects, but there again, the Americas are going West at a measurable rate! [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 21:30, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The seventh row is likely a reference to comic number 1358 where two stick figures try to find waldo via satellite. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.125|172.69.226.125]] 21:44, 1 July 2019 (UTC) kisara, 21:42, 1 July 2019 (utc)

10^-40 degrees on the surface of the earth translates to about 0.7 planck lengths. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.234|162.158.106.234]] 21:50, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

Do the coordinates 28.5234°N, 80.6830°W really correspond to the tip of the Delta rocket? I checked and it was pointing to a small patch of ground next to the rocket, not the tip of the rocket itself. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:20, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
:No, you need to go to five decimal places to get the rocket. In that respect, I think he might be off by one digit of precision in his descriptions. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 12:04, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

I would like to mention that neither number seems to fit into a standard double float value. I made a fiddle showing this. [https://dotnetfiddle.net/k7yK0Y#] [[User:Ansarya|Ansarya]] ([[User talk:Ansarya|talk]]) 01:48, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
:Floats are stored base 2, so representing them exactly as decimal often requires many more digits than is actually necessary (for complicated number theory reasons, a float can always be represented exactly as decimal, which would not be true if floats were stored in base 3). For this reason, programming languages that can format floats round them, usually to a number of digits where it will be possible to reconstruct the original float (though C# apparently takes off a couple extra digits, since those digits are almost never significant). To illustrate this, I used Rust to print many more digits of a float than would be shown normally [https://play.rust-lang.org/?version=stable&mode=debug&edition=2018&gist=6796c2459ceabea1a03d7113b676dd8f]. The latitude coordinate in the comic could be the result of printing a double precision float, but the longitude coordinate could not be. Also note that it takes almost 50 digits to reach an exact base 10 representation, even though only 14 or 15 of those digits are actually needed to reconstruct the original float. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 18:01, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

May be my pet peeve... ...but adding an additional error to every piece of input data [and maybe every intermediate result] in order to show that either the precision the original measurement ends here or that all further digits of the measurement read "0" often introduces an error that can add up surprisingly quickly => I personally prefer raw floats that indicate there probably was no error analysis to rounded data and won't get tired on telling people to explicitely state what precision they can expect.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.70|162.158.114.70]]

If the smallest subnormal 32 bit float is a Planck length, then the largest 32 bit float is 10 sextillion times the diameter of the observable universe. If the value 1.0 of a 64 bit float is a cubic Planck length, then the largest float is 100 sextillion ''googol'' times the volume of the observable universe. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 17:21, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2170: Coordinate Precision

2019-07-02T18:01:46Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

The coordinates seem to show a NASA building, so in the end you're still soing something space related. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.196|172.69.55.196]] 19:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)Some random European.
:The more precise coordinates are actually in the middle of the Rocket Garden at the Visitor's Center of the Kennedy Space Center complex. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:58, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The atom-level coordinates are obtained by appending digits of e and pi to the Rocket Garden coordinates. [[User:Ichoran|Ichoran]] ([[User talk:Ichoran|talk]]) 20:21, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

I always find it very funny to see all those decimals. Regular GPS devices have an uncertainty of 3 meters if there is no interference from trees, buildings or whatever. That puts you at about 4 to 5 decimals I guess. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:26, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:A Google Maps webpage URL includes coordinates to seven decimal places. [[User:EmuSam|EmuSam]] ([[User talk:EmuSam|talk]]) 20:48, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::Sure but out there with your handheld GPS or normal consumer device that includes a GPS receiver you won't get more precision than about 3 meters. And when your at the higher latitudes you're probably not getting that. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

So combining this comic with #2169, is Randal suggesting he'll be at the Rocket Garden on July 28th (much as he did in #240)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 20:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:It says ''June'' 28th. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.22|162.158.126.22]] 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::No, the date of that comic is June 28, but the title text says: [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:51, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:::Ah, that makes sense. For some reason my app only showed the first part of the tirle text --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.94|162.158.126.94]] 23:04, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::::The COMIC says "June 28th." The TITLE TEXT says "July 28th." Apparently the government computer predictive text was trained from different input. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 15:26, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Regrettably, there are two dimensions missing, Z and T. Without Z (elevation)+/- you could be in space or in a neutrino detector. T is only relevant for dynamic objects, but there again, the Americas are going West at a measurable rate! [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 21:30, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The seventh row is likely a reference to comic number 1358 where two stick figures try to find waldo via satellite. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.125|172.69.226.125]] 21:44, 1 July 2019 (UTC) kisara, 21:42, 1 July 2019 (utc)

10^-40 degrees on the surface of the earth translates to about 0.7 planck lengths. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.234|162.158.106.234]] 21:50, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

Do the coordinates 28.5234°N, 80.6830°W really correspond to the tip of the Delta rocket? I checked and it was pointing to a small patch of ground next to the rocket, not the tip of the rocket itself. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:20, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
:No, you need to go to five decimal places to get the rocket. In that respect, I think he might be off by one digit of precision in his descriptions. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 12:04, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

I would like to mention that neither number seems to fit into a standard double float value. I made a fiddle showing this. [https://dotnetfiddle.net/k7yK0Y#] [[User:Ansarya|Ansarya]] ([[User talk:Ansarya|talk]]) 01:48, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
:Floats are stored base 2, so representing them exactly as decimal often requires many more digits than is actually necessary (for complicated number theory reasons, a float can always be represented exactly as decimal, which would not be true if floats were stored in base 3). For this reason, programming languages that can format floats round them, usually to a number of digits where it will be possible to reconstruct the original float (though C# apparently takes off a couple extra digits, since those digits are almost never significant). To illustrate this, I used Rust to print many more digits of a float than would be shown normally [https://play.rust-lang.org/?version=stable&mode=debug&edition=2018&gist=6796c2459ceabea1a03d7113b676dd8f]. The latitude coordinate given could be the result of printing a double precision float, but the longitude coordinate could not be. Also note that it takes almost 50 digits to reach an exact base 10 representation, even though only 14 or 15 of those digits are needed to reconstruct the original float. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 18:01, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

May be my pet peeve... ...but adding an additional error to every piece of input data [and maybe every intermediate result] in order to show that either the precision the original measurement ends here or that all further digits of the measurement read "0" often introduces an error that can add up surprisingly quickly => I personally prefer raw floats that indicate there probably was no error analysis to rounded data and won't get tired on telling people to explicitely state what precision they can expect.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.70|162.158.114.70]]

If the smallest subnormal 32 bit float is a Planck length, then the largest 32 bit float is 10 sextillion times the diameter of the observable universe. If the value 1.0 of a 64 bit float is a cubic Planck length, then the largest float is 100 sextillion ''googol'' times the volume of the observable universe. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 17:21, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2170: Coordinate Precision

2019-07-02T17:21:57Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

The coordinates seem to show a NASA building, so in the end you're still soing something space related. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.196|172.69.55.196]] 19:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)Some random European.
:The more precise coordinates are actually in the middle of the Rocket Garden at the Visitor's Center of the Kennedy Space Center complex. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:58, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The atom-level coordinates are obtained by appending digits of e and pi to the Rocket Garden coordinates. [[User:Ichoran|Ichoran]] ([[User talk:Ichoran|talk]]) 20:21, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

I always find it very funny to see all those decimals. Regular GPS devices have an uncertainty of 3 meters if there is no interference from trees, buildings or whatever. That puts you at about 4 to 5 decimals I guess. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:26, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:A Google Maps webpage URL includes coordinates to seven decimal places. [[User:EmuSam|EmuSam]] ([[User talk:EmuSam|talk]]) 20:48, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::Sure but out there with your handheld GPS or normal consumer device that includes a GPS receiver you won't get more precision than about 3 meters. And when your at the higher latitudes you're probably not getting that. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

So combining this comic with #2169, is Randal suggesting he'll be at the Rocket Garden on July 28th (much as he did in #240)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 20:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:It says ''June'' 28th. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.22|162.158.126.22]] 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::No, the date of that comic is June 28, but the title text says: [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:51, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:::Ah, that makes sense. For some reason my app only showed the first part of the tirle text --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.94|162.158.126.94]] 23:04, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::::The COMIC says "June 28th." The TITLE TEXT says "July 28th." Apparently the government computer predictive text was trained from different input. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 15:26, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Regrettably, there are two dimensions missing, Z and T. Without Z (elevation)+/- you could be in space or in a neutrino detector. T is only relevant for dynamic objects, but there again, the Americas are going West at a measurable rate! [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 21:30, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The seventh row is likely a reference to comic number 1358 where two stick figures try to find waldo via satellite. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.125|172.69.226.125]] 21:44, 1 July 2019 (UTC) kisara, 21:42, 1 July 2019 (utc)

10^-40 degrees on the surface of the earth translates to about 0.7 planck lengths. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.234|162.158.106.234]] 21:50, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

Do the coordinates 28.5234°N, 80.6830°W really correspond to the tip of the Delta rocket? I checked and it was pointing to a small patch of ground next to the rocket, not the tip of the rocket itself. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:20, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
:No, you need to go to five decimal places to get the rocket. In that respect, I think he might be off by one digit of precision in his descriptions. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 12:04, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

I would like to mention that neither number seems to fit into a standard double float value. I made a fiddle showing this. [https://dotnetfiddle.net/k7yK0Y#] [[User:Ansarya|Ansarya]] ([[User talk:Ansarya|talk]]) 01:48, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

May be my pet peeve... ...but adding an additional error to every piece of input data [and maybe every intermediate result] in order to show that either the precision the original measurement ends here or that all further digits of the measurement read "0" often introduces an error that can add up surprisingly quickly => I personally prefer raw floats that indicate there probably was no error analysis to rounded data and won't get tired on telling people to explicitely state what precision they can expect.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.70|162.158.114.70]]

If the smallest subnormal 32 bit float is a Planck length, then the largest 32 bit float is 10 sextillion times the diameter of the observable universe. If the value 1.0 of a 64 bit float is a cubic Planck length, then the largest float is 100 sextillion ''googol'' times the volume of the observable universe. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 17:21, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2162: Literary Opinions

2019-06-16T04:06:57Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

let's see WS Burroughs = Tarzan, E.R. Burroughs = Naked Lunch.
CS Lewis Carol
Bruce Stirlling / SM Stirling

Is it just me, or was this comic released earlier than usual? Released just after midnight, EDT. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 08:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

:It's just you.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.100|162.158.214.100]] 10:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

::Yes, it's unusally early. It happened before, but most of the time the new comics arrived in the late afternoon (central european time). This one was already up when I turned on my computer ~8am. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 11:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
::: As a night-owl in Randall's own time zone, who used to often catch up on Tuesday and Thursday nights (i.e. Before Wednesday and Friday comics, respectively), I can tell you that yes, the comic is released at midnight EST/EDT sometimes. Not that rarely, but not that commonly either. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:50, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Is there any value in adding info about the authors mentioned? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

: I wanted to add "Elements of Style" to show T.H., er, E.B. (whichever ;-) was more than just a "children's book author". Probably not worth it.[[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])

I don't think this relates to the "Fregoli Delusion"(sp) - they think the same person is using more than one name. [[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])
: Yeah, this feels more like pseudonyms than Frengoli to me.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.22|172.68.206.22]] 18:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
:: IDK, is it different, really? Even if you accept a writing pseudonym as being different than actually using different names, this could be seen as their writer side is using multiple names. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:50, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Shouldn't we discuss authors with multiple pseudonyms? Like JK Rowling and Robert Galbraith, or Nora Roberts and JD Robb, etc... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.144|172.68.143.144]] 16:44, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Glad I'm not the only one who confuses former US vice president Gore Vidal with Vidal Sassoon the war poet. [[User:ColinHogben|ColinHogben]] ([[User talk:ColinHogben|talk]]) 16:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
: That's where I heard that name before! [[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])

Why would Megan pick those 4 authors to be the same person? What do they or their works have in common? It would be nice to cover that. (Not knowing anything about any of them, any theory I might advance would be about as valid as one of Megan's.)
Bit of a long-shot, but I wonder if the link has anything to do with Randall's book tour competition. (He invites people to Write the best story using nothing but book covers.)[https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/06/10/book-tour-announcement/] Any good story/sentence made up with works by those 4 authors? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.55|162.158.107.55]] 22:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
: Did a search on all those author names together. Seems Wallace, Thompson, and Burroughs wrote books that have been tagged as dealing with drugs. (Hardly a unique characteristic, but might suggest some common thead.)
: Literature map - searching for Hunter S Thompson, lists the other 3 in fairly close proximity. (i.e., people who indicated reading one of these are likely to have read works by others of these authors. For whatever reason.)
: Anybody writing here actually read these authors? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.144|162.158.106.144]] 18:01, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

How about the theory that Mary Pearson, Andre Norton, Andrew North, Allen Weston, and M. D. Herter are the same person. ;-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.144|162.158.106.144]] 22:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Should trivia link it to [[923: Strunk and White]] which also mentions E.B. white.? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:32, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
: Done! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 11:54, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
::Thanks :) I had to note this down somewhere to not forget it, when the though struck me, but didn't have time for a proper edit... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
:::I got your back, Jack...er, Lupo! ;-) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
:::I also back-linked from that comic to this one in a Trivia entry as well. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:43, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I think this has to be viewed from one step back, i.e., it is not necessarily about books or writers, but rather a take on people who form and voice opinions without proper knowledge of the facts, even if the facts are very easily researchable.
This happens A LOT in forum postings, e.g., when there is an article about some scientific dicovery on a popular news site, and then people start discussing (and fighting) about that discovery in the forums for this article. These discussions are more often than not based purely on speculation, without anyone bothering to check the original publication on which the article was based, or even without any specialist knowledge about the subject matter at hand. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.19|162.158.89.19]] 09:54, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

E.B. and T.H. are distinguishable as one wrote a children's book ("Chitty Chitty Bang Bang") and the other wrote James Bond novels. Oh wait, that was Ian Fleming. James Bond was the author of "Birds of the West Indies." I think the explanation of various audiences and subject matter does not disambiguate authors. See "Ambrose, Gardner and Doyle" by Raymond Smullyan.
[[http://www.linkedin.com/in/Comet Comet]] 06:00, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Similar ideas to comics 1970 and the title text on 1277. Should definitely be mentioned in the explanation. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:06, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2153: Effects of High Altitude

2019-05-23T14:46:36Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

I don’t even know where to begin. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:00, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:Is that because in the netherlands you do not have any experience with the effects of high altitude? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:10, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Can anyone verify if the baseballs and golf balls actually fly further? I'd assume it's due to lower air density and therefore resistance, not weaker gravity as someone else had written. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:13, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:Both parts (air resistance and gravity) play a role here. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.106|172.68.51.106]] 18:17, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
::At 1 mile altitude the acceleration due to gravity is only about 0.05% less than at sea level, so I don't think it's important relative to the lower air resistance. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:53, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:::The difference in gravity due to being 1 mile farther away from the center of the earth is negligible and due to having more mass(aka mountains) under them Denver actually has a slightly higher Local Gravitational Acceleration at 9.81112m/s^2 than say Los Angeles at 9.80636m/s^2. [https://www.wolframalpha.com/widgets/gallery/view.jsp?id=e856809e0d522d3153e2e7e8ec263bf2 wolfram alpha source] Decreased air resistance is the reason for flying further. [[User:Stickfigurefan|Stickfigurefan]] ([[User talk:Stickfigurefan|talk]]) 19:21, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:Note however that the spin-induced lift would be lower in the thinner air which would somewhat counteract the reduced gravity and air drag.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.4|108.162.241.4]] 12:40, 23 May 2019 (UTC)
:This is a fairly commonly recognized phenomenon. Many golf publications reference this. e.g. [https://www.titleist.com/teamtitleist/b/tourblog/posts/the-effect-of-altitude-golf-ball-aerodynamics Titleist post][[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 21:20, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:This is also commonly recognized in baseball. For example, [this paper[http://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/Denver.html] argues that after the spin-induced lift reduction ball will still fly 5% farther in Denver than in Boston due to altitude.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 14:08, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

I'd say the last frame is a reference to 5 o'clock time for drinks. On urban dictionary there's a reference to 4:20 being the time to 'smoke the reefer' [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 18:17, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:It's definitely about weed, not liquor. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture) Wikipedia article on 420]. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:36, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:The frame says it's about marijuana. How is this one in question? [[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 21:21, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Although the comic relates to nuclear war neither the original German text nor the English reworked text (it's definitely not a direct translation) refer to nuclear war. Both refer to unidentified objects however so I've adapted the explanation to that end. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 19:18, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
:There appears to be some debate around the UFOs. In my opinion the original German text should prevail (I'm Dutch, not German). The original lyrics state "hielt man für UFO's aus dem All"
which means "thought they were UFOs from space". The English lyrics are not that definite. Anyway - a large 99 (or is it 94 at altitude?) year war broke out just because of some hyper-tense generals. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 19:45, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
::The comic refers to "red" balloons, which which are only present in the English version. The original German text doesn't mention the color of the "Luftballons", so it's not so obvious that this version should prevail.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.240|141.101.107.240]] 13:47, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

The "420" mile marker on Interstate 70 in Colorado was replaced by a "419.99" marker because it kept getting stolen. [http://loweringthebar.net/2014/01/colorado-removes-420-mile-marker.html]. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 14:46, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2142: Dangerous Fields

2019-04-29T03:37:41Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Many more chemists have job related deaths than gets recorded. It sometimes takes years for the effects of on the job actions to show up. For example, washing your hands in benzene was common practice in the 1960's in Chemistry departments across the US. The result decades later was bone barrow cancer.

"In most modern societies, age-related diseases are by far the most common cause of death for both gerontologists and other people."
^ Can someone change this? In most modern societies, smoking kills significantly more people than old age.

Oncology, the study of cancer, should probably be in the diagram, probably not far behind gerontology. What's the name for the study of traffic accidents? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:08, 26 April 2019 (UTC)
:I don't know, but what about cardiology (heart disease)? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.144|172.68.59.144]] 19:58, 26 April 2019 (UTC)

:Technically, noone dies by old age itself. Most people die because of infection, injury or organ failure. Those deaths are often attributed to age because with age, immune system gets worse in fighting infection, regeneration gets slower and organs get weariness issues. I would argue that the profession most likely being related to your death is medical profession in general. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:11, 26 April 2019 (UTC)

:: You could say the either Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics kill 100% of people.

Reminds me of this comic: [[1895: Worrying Scientist Interviews]]. And also [[1904: Research Risks]]. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 23:06, 26 April 2019 (UTC)

There’s an important distinction between being killed ‘while’ studying something and being ‘killed by’ what you’re studying, and the current explanation has many examples of the former that do not belong here. Absentmindedly walking in front of a bus while thinking about mathematics does not constitute being killed by mathematics. A marine biologist killed by something biological in the water (such as bacteria, snails, or sharks) was killed by what he was studying, but one who was killed by drowning due to currents or by non-biological pollution was not. Someone who studies the aging process will eventually succumb to the aging process (regardless what the immediate cause of death is), unless he dies of something else first, like a doctor in his thirties catching something fatal from a geriatric patient, thereby not being killed by what he was studying. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.240|172.68.143.240]] 03:09, 27 April 2019 (UTC)
:Areed. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 03:37, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Mathematics absolutely killed Galois. Without the distraction of Galois theory, he could have focused on how to duel effectively, or at least gotten a good night's sleep beforehand. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.23|108.162.242.23]] 09:29, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

This might seem like a poor reason to avoid gerontology but actually it's hard to study it for long before you end up with creeping existential dread [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.58|162.158.75.58]] 22:12, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

It is a fine point whether there is any difference between Mathematics, as such, and doing mathematics. So, uniquely among the topics listed, death from actually doing mathematics (such as wandering into traffic the while) should count. Mathematics itself was consuming your brain, preventing vigilance.

Astronomy: https://www.quantamagazine.org/did-supernovas-kill-off-the-monster-shark-megalodon-20190115/ Magnetars are far more terrifying than supernovas.

Isn't everything really just applied mathematics (and wasn't there an XKCD comic on that a while back)? Chemical reactions, physics, economics, etc. -- all math in motion. So, broadly speaking, shouldn't mathematics be rather far to the right, up there with the study of aging/old age?
:Applying mathematics and studying mathematics are not the same thing. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:35, 28 April 2019 (UTC)

For the record, the comic is about the probability that the thing you're studying will kill you, not that it will kill you because you're studying it. I think that's an important distinction that might be confusing readers, loosely related to a previous comment about being killed "while" you're studying something. As an example, gerontologists would not be killed by old age because their studying it, but they are likely to die from old age just because that's how many people die, even if they're no longer studying it due to retirement. The comic is more about what kills you and less about how it kills you. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:51, 28 April 2019 (UTC)

The title text puts me in mind of the quotation, variously attributed to Talleyrand or to Metternich.
On hearing of the death of a Turkish ambassador, Talleyrand is supposed to have said: "I wonder what he meant by that?" More commonly, the quote is attributed to Metternich, the Austrian diplomat, upon Talleyrand's death in 1838. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/jan/01/jd-salinger Happy birthday Salinger by Xan Brooks ]

As requested by the explanation note, I measured the distances of the fields along the horizontal line of the chart. I used the unaltered original image from the page at the time of the edit. If anyone can put the data into a more pleasing form, you are welcome to do so. The measurements are +/- 1-2 pixels, due to there rarely being a pixel in the exact center of the dots marking the field placings. (Was the 666px overall measurement deliberate?) [[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]]) 01:12, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2140: Reinvent the Wheel

2019-04-23T13:35:45Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

I took a screenshot of google image search at 2:24 PM ET on 4/22/2019, and a bicycle wheel is indeed the first result. I'm trying to figure out how to get my image into the wiki ;p [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.82|162.158.78.82]] 18:25, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
: (same user) Man! I found an old account I made and logged in with it to upload a file, but it says I need special permission to do so! [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 18:33, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
: If somebody with permission could upload this, it would be great: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/Qmf1a9NFFAcgWRUe45Ueg4FggXTUAd9BHMgEqWp23izchU [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 18:43, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

: I get this (in the UK, using Google UK, and same result in a fresh Incognito session): https://www.makerlab-electronics.com/product/65mm-rubber-wheel-blue/ It looks like a decent wheel, albeit probably a bit small for most uses [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.11|141.101.99.11]] 22:41, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

I looked for a cheese wheel by searching wheel but couldn't find any. there was, however, a roulette wheel [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.72|172.68.47.72]] 20:41, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Looks like beret guy is working for an automotive startup, possibly one of the many software companies that are developing AI for self-driving cars? It is true that tires are made by outside suppliers (not by the auto companies) so in terms of software development tires could be called "external dependencies". However, tires are far from a semi-random selection as intimated here. A large amount of time and effort is spent developing special tires for each vehicle model to give the best possible compromise between many conflicting requirements such as: dry/wet/snow traction, noise, ride, wear, high speed durability (for high performance cars) and so on, the complete list has many more items.

If Randall is looking for new tires for his vehicle, I offer my standard recommendation: If you were fairly happy with the tires that came with the car, try and replace them with the closest possible equivalent to take advantage of the original development effort. This is not always possible, and of course if you are using the vehicle for a special purpose (mostly drive on dirt roads, use your car in weekend autocross competition, etc.), you may do better with something different.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.58|162.158.75.58]] 18:36, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

This comic could also be talking about coding, where reinventing the wheel is writing your own code from scratch, as there is other code which works perfectly well. This makes particular sense as the "external dependencies" could be in terms of code as well
[[User:Gollum|Gollum]] ([[User talk:Gollum|talk]]) 18:45, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

I think the point is that their company is having to reinvent their cars to fit each dependency wheel, rather than develop a wheel that will fit their preexisting car. For cars, wheels are for the most part interchangeable, but external dependencies in software are very much not so. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.100|108.162.229.100]]

I suspect this is a comment on JavaScript (JS) coding for the web, specifically the NPM node.js package manager. I'm not a front-end Web developer, but apparently lots of web pages use NPM to pull down dependencies, bits of code to accomplish some task, rather than write it new (thus, avoid 'reinventing the wheel'). The problem is there's poor control over what those dependencies do and how they might get modified on you unexpectedly. See the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_(software)#Notable_breakages Wikipedia article] on NPM for some history of bad breakages that have occurred.
: I second this comment as being the key to the explanation. Especially when your external dependencies are also hosted on sites that you don't control; any functionality that you depend on can be replaced at any time, analogous to swapping out a sedan's tire for a bicycle tire. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.202|108.162.215.202]] 20:03, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
: thirded. googling a solution to your coding problem and then implementing it (as a third-party library or as code directly) is very much as described in this comic. yay, randall! --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.241|162.158.154.241]] 09:39, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

The point of the comic is likely that the term "Reinvent the Wheel" is not typically used in a literal sense to refer to actual wheels, as it is in this comic. Instead, it usually refers to exerting effort on something that adds no value over re-using something that already exists, whether it's a product's design or something intangible like an idea or study. We could probably provide a link to the Wikipedia article on the topic to help readers who are unfamiliar with the phrase. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:38, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

I don't have a problem with the explanation mentioning that the comic might be making some statement about software developers carelessly using code off the Internet, but I'm not sure we can say with such certainty that this IS the point of the comic, as it currently states. I certainly don't get any indication that it's specifically about JavaScript. I think Randall just thought the phrase "Reinvent the Wheel" would be funny if he had a character using it literally, and anything deeper than that might just be our own personal issues. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:32, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

There is nothing in the comic that's specifically about JavaScript, although the issues with NPM are a good example of what can happen more generally in other environments. But the terms "external dependencies" and "reduced overhead", plus looking for wheels on Google and the title text mentioning reinventing the vehicle to fit the wheel, to me are a clear sign that this is an analogy for software development. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.195|172.69.226.195]] 02:28, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

"That one time a wheel of cheese got dangerously close to the front page" - Is this a reference to that time SpaceX launched a wheel of cheese into space as a demo payload? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.255.104|172.68.255.104]] 08:01, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

This seems like it could be a reference to some independent game development communities, where users tend to enjoy making things "from scratch", but are often encouraged (sometimes quite aggressively) to avoid reinventing the wheel (often those exact words). I don't know if Randall is aware or involved in these communities, but it seems to fit perfectly. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 13:35, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2087: Rocket Launch

2018-12-20T04:34:38Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Edited m comment.

I had to fight the urge to type Care Bare [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]])

This was published during the Arianespace launch livestream, between launch and satellite deployment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHJoo0h8GQ [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:11, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

Looks like it could be an Ariane5 in the comic, it is a 3 stage. Anyone know if Max-CB is a real thing (and before I get any wisecracks, I know there aren't any Care Bears in the clouds) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.214|162.158.63.214]] 20:27, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: A search for rocketry terminology reveals that Cb stands for Ballistic Coefficient, which is a measure of the ability to coast. It is related to both velocity and air density, which vary throughout a rocket launch, so it makes sense that there might be some point of maximum ballistic coefficient. (Note: I am not a rocket scientist, and this is clearly rocket science, so take this with a grain of salt!) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:13, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: Pontificating further, it is reasonable to conjecture that as a rocket accelerates to higher speeds, the drag from the atmosphere increases with increasing speed, but past a certain point the drag begins to decrease as the air gets thinner. This suggests there is some point somewhere during the launch sequence where aerodynamic drag reaches a maximum value - aka Max Cb. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:26, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: Finally one I can help with! Okay, I don't think this is ballistic coefficient for several reasons: 1. Ballistic Coefficient is typically noted by the greek letter Beta, not Cb. 2. Ballistic coefficient is mass divided by drag area (drag coefficient times reference area). Basically a shape parameter. So while the mass does change over the course of the flight (burning fuel), the drag area does not. Making this a somewhat useless parameter for a launch vehicle 3. Ballistic Coefficient is typically reported as a static parameter rather than a time-varying parameter, so "Max ballistic coefficient" is a rather unusual metric (and would occur on the launch pad in any case, when mass is highest). Finally, as an aside, objects with high ballistic coefficients tend to fly through the air easily and are not influenced very much by wind (such as rocks or bullets), whereas low-beta objects can by pushed and slowed down a lot by the wind (such as balloons). [[User:Tyanderson91|Tyanderson91]] ([[User talk:Tyanderson91|talk]]) 03:17, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

r/shittyspacexideas --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.139|173.245.52.139]] 19:53, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

If you trace the dotted lines, it seems that the Boosters are the winners[[User:CCCVVVA|CCCVVVA]] ([[User talk:CCCVVVA|talk]]) 03:02, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

This was posted on the day SpaceX was supposed to launch the GPS-III-2 satellite, which may be the reason for the mention of GPS [[User:Tyanderson91|Tyanderson91]] ([[User talk:Tyanderson91|talk]])

The max CB is clearly meant to spoof the real problem of rockets hitting birds. Since birds can't fly in the he upper part of the atmosphere, the point of highest likelihood of hitting a bird would presumably be below max-Q and not above it as in the comic. It is worth noting that there are no clouds at the altitude where max CB is shown in the comic, so it seems unlikely that any hypothetical cloud castle would be that high.

EDIT: ok, after checking the numbers it seems like it is technically possible to encounter birds and clouds at heights above max-Q for some rockets, but the position shown in the comic still seems too high. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:23, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2087: Rocket Launch

2018-12-20T04:23:02Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

I had to fight the urge to type Care Bare [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]])

This was published during the Arianespace launch livestream, between launch and satellite deployment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHJoo0h8GQ [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:11, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

Looks like it could be an Ariane5 in the comic, it is a 3 stage. Anyone know if Max-CB is a real thing (and before I get any wisecracks, I know there aren't any Care Bears in the clouds) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.214|162.158.63.214]] 20:27, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: A search for rocketry terminology reveals that Cb stands for Ballistic Coefficient, which is a measure of the ability to coast. It is related to both velocity and air density, which vary throughout a rocket launch, so it makes sense that there might be some point of maximum ballistic coefficient. (Note: I am not a rocket scientist, and this is clearly rocket science, so take this with a grain of salt!) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:13, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: Pontificating further, it is reasonable to conjecture that as a rocket accelerates to higher speeds, the drag from the atmosphere increases with increasing speed, but past a certain point the drag begins to decrease as the air gets thinner. This suggests there is some point somewhere during the launch sequence where aerodynamic drag reaches a maximum value - aka Max Cb. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:26, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: Finally one I can help with! Okay, I don't think this is ballistic coefficient for several reasons: 1. Ballistic Coefficient is typically noted by the greek letter Beta, not Cb. 2. Ballistic coefficient is mass divided by drag area (drag coefficient times reference area). Basically a shape parameter. So while the mass does change over the course of the flight (burning fuel), the drag area does not. Making this a somewhat useless parameter for a launch vehicle 3. Ballistic Coefficient is typically reported as a static parameter rather than a time-varying parameter, so "Max ballistic coefficient" is a rather unusual metric (and would occur on the launch pad in any case, when mass is highest). Finally, as an aside, objects with high ballistic coefficients tend to fly through the air easily and are not influenced very much by wind (such as rocks or bullets), whereas low-beta objects can by pushed and slowed down a lot by the wind (such as balloons). [[User:Tyanderson91|Tyanderson91]] ([[User talk:Tyanderson91|talk]]) 03:17, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

r/shittyspacexideas --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.139|173.245.52.139]] 19:53, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

If you trace the dotted lines, it seems that the Boosters are the winners[[User:CCCVVVA|CCCVVVA]] ([[User talk:CCCVVVA|talk]]) 03:02, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

This was posted on the day SpaceX was supposed to launch the GPS-III-2 satellite, which may be the reason for the mention of GPS [[User:Tyanderson91|Tyanderson91]] ([[User talk:Tyanderson91|talk]])

The max CB is clearly meant to spoof the real problem of rockets hitting birds. Since birds can't fly in the he upper part of the atmosphere, the point of highest likelihood of hitting a bird would presumably be below max-Q and not above it as in the comic. It is worth noting that there are no clouds at the altitude where max CB is shown in the comic, so it seems unlikely that any hypothetical cloud castle would be that high. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:23, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2070: Trig Identities

2018-11-11T21:36:07Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

I am confused by the insect line. This seems to be true only if s=t.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.209|141.101.96.209]] 19:03, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
:I added a note regarding how similar it sounds to 'sinsec'. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.154|172.68.51.154]] 01:47, 10 November 2018 (UTC)

:That one and the `cas` aren't making any sense to me. [[User:GreatBigDot|GreatBigDot]] ([[User talk:GreatBigDot|talk]]) 20:02, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
::Oh, the casinus is much important to... What was it? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:15, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
::cas is realtively easy... it is cos(theta)=a/c -> cs(theta)=ao/c -> cas(theta)=o/c; when you realise that the top one isn't zero but o it clicks [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.209|141.101.96.209]] 23:35, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
:::You made the same error Randall did: you divided by 'o' on the left and multiplied on the right. I think the theme of the page is expanding significantly upon common math errors that were already humorous, like the common proof of 5=3 by dividing and multiplying by zero. The error here is in line with the theme of casual beginner errors. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.154|172.68.51.154]]

:I think insect is.. a bug.. ;) [[User:Smerriman|Smerriman]] ([[User talk:Smerriman|talk]]) 20:18, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

Is Enchant at target a magic:the gathering reference? [[User:AncientSwordRage|AncientSwordRage]] ([[User talk:AncientSwordRage|talk]]) 20:55, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
:I think it is a Magic: The Gathering reference. Although it is phrased oddly. You'd think it would be "at target enchantment", rather than "target at enchantment". --[[User:Dryhamm|Dryhamm]] ([[User talk:Dryhamm|talk]]) 21:04, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
:: Likely, it refers to the bigbox retailer, Target.

:Voila - s=t.
::That was incredible! (assuming previous poster discovered the extrapolated proof in the description) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.154|172.68.51.154]] 01:47, 10 November 2018 (UTC)
::Combining <math>\cos\theta=\frac{a}{c}</math> and <math>\mathrm{cas}\ \theta=\frac{o}{c}</math> allows you to conclude <math>a^2 = o^2</math>, not <math>a=o</math>.

Somebody added a comment on puns, e.g. that "cin sucks". More explanation is needed. It looks like some kind of a meta-joke. If you ask why, and start interpreting, you see that "b/c" == "because". It might be the answer to why the puns line should be removed, though. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.154|172.68.51.154]]

For the Bot->Boat->Stoat line, this comes from the word game where you add/change letters to make a new word. Start with bot=a/c, multiply by a on both sides gets boat=a^2/c. Multiply by st on both sides and divide b on both sides gets Stoat=a^2/c*St/b.

Uh... people... THE NAME GAME? Hello?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_Game

Checking through the math, just working from the real trig identities, without considering Randall's at-first-glance questionable identities like cas theta = o/c, basically everything that does not have a factor of d or 2 in it is equal to 1, and d is equal to 1/2, which then establishes the more questionable identities as tautological, 1=1. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.100|162.158.142.100]] 04:09, 10 November 2018 (UTC)

<math>\sec\theta = sect \eta</math> [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.71|141.101.104.71]] 13:36, 10 November 2018 (UTC) AndreasH

Am I the only one who saw t²n²a⁴ as "tuna"? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.233|172.68.58.233]] 14:17, 10 November 2018 (UTC)
:Yes.

<math>\frac{d}{dx}\sec x=\sec x\tan x=</math> sex tanks. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 21:36, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

2067: Challengers

2018-11-05T17:58:20Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Noted the similarity between the attack ads comic and the fact that halloween candy often becomes cheaper on Nov 1.

{{comic
| number = 2067
| date = November 2, 2018
| title = Challengers
| image = challengers.png
| titletext = Use your mouse or fingers to pan + zoom. To edit the map, submit your ballot on November 6th.
}}
To see the full zoomable picture go to the [https://xkcd.com/2067/ original] comic page.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|We should figure out what source is behind all that 13,339 landmarks in gray, there are 2596 U.S. National Historic Landmarks, but Randall claims those other more than 10,000 are also from Wikipedia. So let's identify that sources. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[File:challengers_loading_screen.png|thumb|200px|Loading screen]]
This comic shows probably all challengers to the {{w|United States elections, 2018|midterm elections}} hold on November 6, 2018, which are candidates running against the current office-holder, as well as those running in open seats where a change of the major party from the previous election could occur.

[[Randall]] states on top that "The bigger the candidate's name is,"
*the higher the office is in command structure, and
*the better their chances of success as a challenger are
While an office can be subclassified by order from state down to county, the guesses on ''better chances to success'' can be only based on surveys before the elections.

All names provide an indirect link to the first {{w|Google Search}} result on that specific person and position. As common, {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic}} candidates are shown in blue text, {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican}} candidates in red, and independent candidates are in green.

The landmarks shown in gray are essentially links to Wikipedia pages containing coordinates pointing to the US in their body (both visible on the site and hidden in the wiki source) that point to places in the US. If they contain more than one coordinate then the first one is used, for example the {{w|List of the major 3000-meter summits of the United States}} page is shown in Alaska, and the {{w|xkcd}} page is linked near Boston, Massachusetts. This list seems to be auto-generated from a Wikipedia dump made possibly before 2017. There doesn't seem to be any other criteria as the list also contains orphaned wikipedia pages that only contain hidden coordinates in their sources pointing to the US, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yangjie_Li for example this one].

Since the map is large there's also a [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/challengers.png loading screen] present that can be seen while the map is loading.

There are a total of nine comics embedded into the map at various locations. They are showed when zooming into the map at the appropriate section.

===Attack Ads===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_abernathy_texas.png|thumb|200px|Attack Ads]]

Location: '''Lubbock, Texas'''
: [Black Hat and Cueball are talking.]
: Black Hat: Starting on November 7th, we're going to blanket the airwaves with attack ads.
: Cueball: Isn't the election on November 6th?
: Black Hat: Yeah, the advertising rates go way down after that.
{{w|Attack ads}} are campaign advertising that usually attack the opponents' campaign instead of promoting one's own. The comic also refers to the fact that media outlets usually spike their advertising prices during the campaign, and it becomes cheaper afterwards. However there's usually no point in advertising afterwards for a campaign as the polling has already taken place. This may also be a callback to [[1130: Poll Watching]]. Given the proximity to halloween, this may be a reference to the fact that halloween candy often becomes cheaper after October 31.

Lubbock was the place where some [https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/03/cruz-orourke-attack-ad-reelection-texas/ attack ads were shown] few months before the election. Texas is also notable as in 2008 during the Democratic Party primary Hillary Clinton [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/us/politics/01campaign.html started running attack ads] aimed at Barack Obama, who later became President, causing controversy.
 

===Ballot Measures===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_weed_california.png|thumb|350px|Ballot Measures]]

Location: '''Weed, California'''
: [Cueball is holding a piece of paper and talking to Megan.]
: Cueball: Question #1 voids all 2018 ballot measures except itself.
: Cueball: Question #2 retroactively lowers the threshold for passing ballot measures to 5%.
: Cueball: Question #3 requires a re-vote on all failed ballot measures a day later.
: Cueball: Question #4 requires a re-vote on all passed ballot measures a day later.
: Cueball: Question #5 bans those annoying phone scammers, but also says that if an odd number of ballot measures pass, Christmas is canceled.
: Cueball: Question #6 makes a "yes" count as a "no" on odd-numbered ballot measures.
: Cueball: Question #7 does nothing but counts as a ballot measure passing.
: Cueball: Question #8 says that-
: Megan: I'm leaving these all blank and voting against whoever approves ballot measures.

Ballot measures are proposed laws that are approved and rejected by voters. In California, apart from the elections to Congressional and state offices, there will be also be [https://ballotpedia.org/California_2018_ballot_propositions 12 extra propositions] for the voters in this election. Sometimes propositions also include changing how voting should be done in subsequent elections. [https://www.vox.com/2016/6/23/11979522/brexit-ballot There are people] who believe proposals on US ballots are asked in a very convoluted way, and could be made simpler.

In this comic a lot of the proposals sound complex and self-referential as well, therefore Megan just says that she doesn't wish to vote to any of them, and would actually like to ban people creating ballot papers like this. Not voting might also refer to the scenario where people believe none of the choices during an election are good, and instead vote to no-one or deface their ballot papers in protest.

The name of the town chosen, Weed, California, may be a pun on how marijuana is legal in California.
 

===Carlymandering===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_seattle_washington.png|thumb|200px|Carlymandering]]

Location: '''Bellingham, Washington'''
: [Cueball holds a presentation to a group of people including White Hat and Hairbun sitting at an office desk. The presentation shows a map of a district.]
: Cueball: Under my new Carlymandering plan, we'll create five red districts, five blue districts, and one district which contains only Carly Rae Jepsen.
: Hairbun: That seems fair.

This refers to {{w|gerrymandering}}, a tactic used to re-shape voting district boundaries to make sure one candidate prevails over the other. "Carlymandering" is a malamanteau which combines gerrymandering with {{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}, a Canadian singer, whose single "{{w|Party for One}}" was released the day before the comic's publication. Although the song is about partying (e.g. going out) alone,{{Citation needed}} the joke is that it could also mean a one-person political party, and she would have a full gerrymandered district to herself.

Jepsen lives in Vancouver, which is just on the other side of the US border in Canada. The comic is placed in Whatcom County, which is notable for {{w|Point Roberts}}, a peninsula which, although part of Washington state, is actually an exclave of the US, as it's surrounded by sea on three sides, and has its only land border with Vancouver to the north. The comic might refer to the fact that Jepsen could solely live in this exclave. However, since she is not a US citizen, she can neither vote nor be elected in US elections.
 

===House===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_washington_dc.png|thumb|200px|House]]

Location: '''Washington, DC'''
: [Cueball is standing in the middle of Washington, DC]
: Cueball: I can see my House from here!

Comic is probably referencing the {{w|White House}}, the residence of the President, located in Washington, DC. This could also refer to the {{w|United States Capitol|Capitol Building}}, the home of the {{w|United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives}}, also located in Washington, DC.
 

===Polls===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_primm_nevada.png|thumb|200px|Polls]]

Location: '''Primm, Nevada'''
: [A group of five people are standing]
: Blondie: Remember: The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day. And the ones that help campaigns allocate resources. And the ones that drive media coverage and the ones that inform us all about what our fellow members of the public believe. And the ones that...

During campaign there are usually polling done by survey companies to determine each candidate's chances of winning. This comic refers to the fact that usually the candidate that is behind in the polls usually tells their electorate that these polls don't matter, as they are just surveys and not the actual final result. This is usually to encourage their voter base that it's still worth voting for them. The joke here is that Blondie doesn't finish here but tells the electorate that other polls are actually also important.

Nevada is one of the states where there is [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/414083-poll-dems-hold-slim-leads-in-arizona-and-nevada-senate-races only a slim difference] between the candidates based on polls hence the need for each candidate to rally their supporters and make sure everyone is voting.
 

===Punish===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_chadron_nebraska.png|thumb|200px|Punish]]

Location: '''Chadron, Nebraska'''
: [Megan is standing at a podium with her arm raised]
: Megan: If elected, I vow to find and punish the voters responsible.

Often candidates make promises of things they will do when they are elected. Vowing to find and punishing people responsible for a certain action, oftentimes criminals, is also common. However, [https://imgur.com/r/misc/d4jbdEV certain performance artists aside,] these two things are generally not conflated, as they are here, to ludicrous effect.

Putting this comic into Nebraska might refer to the fact that in [https://ballotpedia.org/Nebraska_Death_Penalty_Repeal,_Referendum_426_(2016) 2016 Nebraska voted to repeal the death penalty ban], allowing the reinstatement of the death penalty, also called capital punishment, in the state.
 

===Scholten===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_storm_lake_iowa.png|thumb|300px|Scholten]]

Location: '''Storm Lake, Iowa'''
: Cueball: The midterms are so stressful.
: Megan: I just hope J.D. Scholten wins.
: Cueball: Why?
: Megan: Google Steve King.
: [Cueball looking at his phone]
: Cueball: Yikes.

J.D. Scholten is a Democratic candidate for Iowa's 4th Congressional District. {{w|Steve King}} is a Republican representative who has stirred controversy due his endorsement of candidates, in other countries, who were members of parties with white supremacist ties, and well as his explicitly and frequently stated concern with the American society being destroyed by [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/us/steve-king-white-nationalism-racism.html "other people's babies"].
 

===Spanberger===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_richmond_virginia.png|thumb|200px|Spanberger]]

Location: '''Richmond, Virginia'''
: [Cueball is holding a sign that says: Abigail Spanberger for Congress]

Abigail Spanberger is a candidate running for Congress in Virginia's 7th district, which includes Richmond. Based on polls she has a chance to beat her opponent, and could be the first Democrat in her district after 50 years of Republican control. Cueball probably tries to encourage people to vote for her on election day.
 

===St Louis===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_saint_louis_missouri.png|thumb|200px|St Louis]]

Location: '''Saint Louis, Missouri'''
: [Two people next to the Gateway Arch are talking]
: Cueball: Ah, Saint Louis. Home of America's largest... Whatever that thing is.

Saint Louis, Missouri is the location of the {{w|Gateway Arch}}, the largest arch in the United States. (It's also one of the most recognizable arches in Saint Louis, according to [[1368: One Of The]].) Since in this comic they are next to the side of the arch, it is possible its sheer size stops them from determining what it is, although they should probably know. An alternate interpretation is that they are baffled by the existence of a giant, seemingly-useless steel arch, and do not know what to refer to it as.

The area surrounding the Arch was known as Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until February 2018, when it was renamed to Gateway Arch National Park.
 

===Title text===
The title text shows the hint that the reader can zoom in and move over all 50 states to reveal details which can't be seen in the overall view. Furthermore [[Randall]] calls on Americans to vote: he requests that people take an active part in the elections to change that picture.

==Transcript==
:[A loading screen appears shortly before the large picture has rendered. We can see an American flag in an oval badge with the text:]
:I voted
:[And beneath a text saying:]
:Loading...

:2018 Midterm
:'''Challengers'''
:The bigger the candidate's name, the higher the office and the better their chances of success.

:[In a frame a zoomable map shows all US-States (Alaska and Hawaii are shown in the left lower corner.) The candidates are shown colored mainly in red and blue at different sizes. Each state has many landmarks shown in gray. There are also many comics embedded into the picture.]

:By Randall Monroe, Kelsey Harris, and Max Goodman

:Landmarks from Wikipedia. Success odds estimated from district voting history, special election
:results, and seat ratings. Thank you to Dailykos Elections for their spreadsheets, shapefiles, election
:ratings, and advice, and to @davidshor, @charlotteeffect, and @thedlcc for additional candidate data.

==Trivia==
*The comic [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header|header]] had changed to:
:''Find out where to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ Vote.org]''
:''See what's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]''
:This happened on the day this comic came out, as it up till [http://web.archive.org/web/20181101081612/https://xkcd.com/ the day before], had been a different reminder of the election only with the vote.org link.
*The interactive picture did not work in many browsers when using the link ''[https://www.xkcd.com www.xkcd.com]'', only the short ''[https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]'' worked properly because the page used an absolute link to a file ''[https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json]'' at the domain ''<nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki>'' which is not allowed from ''<nowiki>www.xkcd.com</nowiki>'' according to {{w|Cross-origin resource sharing}}. This was later fixed by using a relative link only working inside the called domain.
* The internal comics have a kind of "comic" inside the [https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json] file that contains all of the details shown on the map. All other locations, including politicians and landmarks inside the map-data.json have a kind of "label"
* There are a total of
** 9 subcomics
** 17,643 labels, including:
*** 13,339 landmarks (gray)
*** 2,845 Democratic candidates (blue)
*** 1,456 Republican candidates (red)
*** 3 independent candidates (green)
* The three independent candidates are:
** Alaska Congress candidate Alyse Galvin
** Texas State House District 101 candidate James Allen
** Alabama State Senate District 10 candidate Craig Ford
* The largest names on the map (based on font size) are:
** Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor candidate for New Mexico (7.187)
** Beto O'Rourke, Texan US Senate candidate (6.773)
** Matt Rosendale, Montanan US Senate candidate (6.773)
** Gretchen Whitmer, Governor candidate for Michigan (6.48)
* There's a landmark label called "xkcd" near Boston, Massachusetts
* Randall seems to have collected the Wikipedia links from an older copy of Wikipedia, as some links are to old article titles. For example, in Cupertino, California, "Apple Campus 2" is shown instead of "Apple Park", even though that article was moved to its current title in February 2017.
*An overview highlighting some parts:
:<imagemap>
Image:Challengers_Map.png|frame|left|Map of interesting features on the comic (Red X: comic strip, Green X: independent candidate, Blue X: xkcd landmark)
rect 179 176 138 129 [[#Carlymandering|Carlymandering]]
rect 95 279 133 325 [[#Ballot Measures|Ballot Measures]]
rect 171 421 208 467 [[#Polls|Polls]]
rect 392 307 430 352 [[#Punish|Punish]]
rect 403 488 441 533 [[#Attack_Ads|Attack Ads]]
rect 510 307 547 351 [[#Scholten|Scholten]]
rect 593 390 628 434 [[#St_Louis|St Louis]]
rect 803 355 839 394 [[#House|House]]
rect 837 436 799 395 [[#Spanberger|Spanberger]]
rect 877 262 915 309 [[#Trivia|Link to xkcd's wikipage]]
rect 141 597 177 644 [[#Trivia|Independent candidate]]
rect 472 527 511 576 [[#Trivia|Independent candidate]]
rect 672 478 710 525 [[#Trivia|Independent candidate]]
desc top-right
</imagemap>
 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:1131: Math

2018-09-23T13:58:27Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

I really like the term "dramatically equal." - Kieran

Sorry, I don't know how to upload the correct image. - Artod

:Picture downloaded from xkcd, uploaded to the wiki with the correct license and "xkcd" added to the filename as a prefix, then filename changed in page source to correct image. Hope this helps in the future! - [[User:Coombeseh|Coombeseh]] ([[User talk:Coombeseh|talk]]) 10:36, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:Can somebody please explain further? I guess the joke is about the forecast? thank you --[[Special:Contributions/89.144.192.97|89.144.192.97]] 14:17, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Randall's on the nose again. This is why I just turned off all media yesterday, especially toward the end of the evening. Unless you're up for contrived suspense, it's really just tediousness lived through: barely five minutes of "news" per hour, the remaining "empty" time filled with the drone of talking heads waxing obnoxious about irrelevancies. This morning, the results are in, and I'm no worse for not having endured the conjectural drivel... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 15:25, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

:As a note, the title text is referring to the consensus polls, including those at fivethirtyeight.com, which were referred to in the previous episode. Another interpretation of the "numbers" comment is that the predictions based on polling numbers and proper statistical analyses of those, rather than mere punditry and opinion, were always the best predictors of what was going to happen in this election. So not only could numbers retroactively tell us who won (based on actual votes) but numbers when used as individual data points with variance and sample sizes, and combined into an aggregate, were far more effective in telling us prospectively who was going to win. [[Special:Contributions/128.104.149.65|128.104.149.65]] 18:11, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Numbers continue <ins>to be best</ins> system for determining? {{unsigned|204.191.29.154}}
:Yes and no. In news stories (see newspaper headlines for an example), this is a typical format. You didn't notice the "To surprise of pundits" part that came first? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 00:57, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
:I believe the previous entry was addressing the missing article "the" in the caption. [[User:mwburden|mwburden]] 16:17, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
::So was the answer. The caption, like many news headlines, omits the articles. "To [the] surprise of pundits, numbers continue to be [the] best system..." [[Special:Contributions/72.169.224.103|72.169.224.103]] 15:45, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

[http://election.princeton.edu/2012/11/06/comment-thread-3-live-blogging/ For more critical relevance], he texted along these lines yesterday to one of the more prominent non-Nate Silver analysts, Prof. Sam Wang of the Princeton Election Consortium {{unsigned|70.167.158.178}}

I wish Randall had made the bar 538 pixels wide (it's only 400ish). - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:52, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

"Explain the title text." What's there to explain? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.109|173.245.52.109]] 22:18, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

I removed the tag, and expanded the title text explanation.

Polling data gave trump a 30% or so chance of winning. That is more than it gave Romney, and probably a better chance than a lot of democrats thought he had. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 13:58, 23 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2049: Unfulfilling Toys

2018-09-23T04:40:48Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Signed my comment.

The no string attached yo-yo exists and works rather well for those who know how to yo-yo {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.214}}
: Blinking heck, my Lord. I thought you meant one of those yo-yos with a loop at the end, but I've now seen people yo-ing into the air with detached strings and catching them again by whipping the spinning beast. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.158|162.158.155.158]] 16:55, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

Pondy contributed a video for: "This also exists, is rather functional, and is the only way to make fun Rubik's cube shapes such as 1x5x5. See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x6leUqKbqE this video] for a good example of this."

But this doesn't appear to be a good example at all. Those cubes are most definitely attached and you can see the presenter has to use quite a bit of force at some points to rotate. Can someone find a better example if it exists? [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:51, 21 September 2018 (UTC)
: The cubes are only attached magnetically. It takes a lot of force to break a lot of magnetic connections at once. Some of the cubes they actually take apart and you can see it’s just magnets. The video might be longer than ideal, but it does demonstrate the concept. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.94|172.68.141.94]] 11:17, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
: It is theoretically possible to build a cube with arbitrary dimensions without using magnets, though the mechanism required for certain shapes is much more complicated than a standard cube. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:40, 23 September 2018 (UTC)
Isn't a wingless sky dancer just an upside down beyblade? {{unsigned ip|172.69.55.166}}

'''Broken toys'''

Toys often don't have a long lifetime, in particular children tend to act not much carefully and sometimes they even destroy them deliberately as a part of their playing. Parents know what I'm talking about. It can be annoying how fast kids are able to destruct things. So literally Randall just sells toys in a state in which they always end up anyway. Worth for the explanation? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:59, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
:I'm sure I still have working toys somewhere that have survived my childhood. :) I think Randall just aims to deprive of the satisfaction of playing with them for children, thus the comic name "Unfulfilling Toys". -[[User:Asdf|Asdf]] ([[User talk:Asdf|talk]]) 14:47, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
::"toys ... have survived my childhood" emphases exactly that what I'm saying. Most of them didn't survive... And try to remember your own annoyance about all those broken ones, there's probably not much in your memory, you just threw them away. But your parents were annoyed about all that waste. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:33, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Wanna nerd-snipe the next commenters? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.130|162.158.78.130]] 20:41, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2049: Unfulfilling Toys

2018-09-23T04:39:57Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

The no string attached yo-yo exists and works rather well for those who know how to yo-yo {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.214}}
: Blinking heck, my Lord. I thought you meant one of those yo-yos with a loop at the end, but I've now seen people yo-ing into the air with detached strings and catching them again by whipping the spinning beast. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.158|162.158.155.158]] 16:55, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

Pondy contributed a video for: "This also exists, is rather functional, and is the only way to make fun Rubik's cube shapes such as 1x5x5. See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x6leUqKbqE this video] for a good example of this."

But this doesn't appear to be a good example at all. Those cubes are most definitely attached and you can see the presenter has to use quite a bit of force at some points to rotate. Can someone find a better example if it exists? [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:51, 21 September 2018 (UTC)
: The cubes are only attached magnetically. It takes a lot of force to break a lot of magnetic connections at once. Some of the cubes they actually take apart and you can see it’s just magnets. The video might be longer than ideal, but it does demonstrate the concept. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.94|172.68.141.94]] 11:17, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
: It is theoretically possible to build a cube with arbitrary dimensions without using magnets, though the mechanism required for certain shapes is much more complicated than a standard cube.
Isn't a wingless sky dancer just an upside down beyblade? {{unsigned ip|172.69.55.166}}

'''Broken toys'''

Toys often don't have a long lifetime, in particular children tend to act not much carefully and sometimes they even destroy them deliberately as a part of their playing. Parents know what I'm talking about. It can be annoying how fast kids are able to destruct things. So literally Randall just sells toys in a state in which they always end up anyway. Worth for the explanation? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:59, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
:I'm sure I still have working toys somewhere that have survived my childhood. :) I think Randall just aims to deprive of the satisfaction of playing with them for children, thus the comic name "Unfulfilling Toys". -[[User:Asdf|Asdf]] ([[User talk:Asdf|talk]]) 14:47, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
::"toys ... have survived my childhood" emphases exactly that what I'm saying. Most of them didn't survive... And try to remember your own annoyance about all those broken ones, there's probably not much in your memory, you just threw them away. But your parents were annoyed about all that waste. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:33, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Wanna nerd-snipe the next commenters? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.130|162.158.78.130]] 20:41, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2040: Sibling-in-Law

2018-08-31T18:56:58Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Unless you want to go completely nuts on this topic, avoid reading Jane Austen, where the the term "X-in-law" is used to mean, roughly, "someone to whom you are related for legal reasons". It can be used to refer to, for example, what we today might refer to as step/half-siblings, adopted siblings, etc. [[User:Arcanechili|Arcanechili]] ([[User talk:Arcanechili|talk]]) 15:51, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

> The title text refers to incestual relationships, which are generally frowned upon in Western culture.
How on earth this refers to incest if persons are only legally, not genetically related??? It's just that Randall doesn't know how to call new relatives but cannot stop their arrival. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.251}}

Yes, I also don't think it refers to incest. {{unsigned ip|172.68.94.40}}

:I'm not sure if that is right or not, but that was my interpretation of that text, based on the "a reason why these two should not be wed." Unless there is a different issue with this, also involving marriage? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.190|162.158.59.190]] 16:44, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

::I read the title text as... the reason he is objecting has nothing to do with the couple getting married, it's simply the selfish reason that Randall doesn't want the confusion of having to figure out what to call the new extended-family members. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:37, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

Somehow I don't have this problem whatsoever...as I'm a single child who married a single child. I have zero siblings-in-law. In fact, my future kids won't even have (regular) cousins... {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.231}}

Am I the only one that thinks there's an error in this comic? Shouldn't spouse's sibling be the sibling-in-law of Cueball's *sibling*? But then, maybe I'm also making Randall's point... [[User:Sspenser|Sspenser]] ([[User talk:Sspenser|talk]]) 18:28, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

The Russian language actually has different words for both "types" of brothers in-law (spouse's brother vs. sister's husband), also for parents and children in-law on either side: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Свойство_(родство) .
But all these in-law distinctions are based on the respective spouse's sex, so it would't work for same-sex marriages.

The way this is defined, you and your spouse both have the same set of siblings and siblings-in-law. In other words, if someone is your spouse's sibling or sibling in law then that person is your sibling in law if that person is not your sibling. The relationship chains across a maximum of one sibling relationship. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 18:56, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2026: Heat Index

2018-07-31T15:46:30Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Look at the formula, then at the table and try to tell with straight face that those tables were computed from the formulae and not the other way around. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:38, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
: The Wikipedia page explicitely says that the various formulaes try to approximate the table. Can't be more explicit. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.119|172.69.226.119]] 06:36, 31 July 2018 (UTC)
What confuses me is that even at 40% humidity the heat index is a lot hotter than the actual temperature. If 110 degrees at the lowest humidity that occurs commonly feels like 130 degrees, then what does it mean to feel like 110 degrees?[[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 15:46, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2009: Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

2018-06-21T03:09:01Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

How the heck is a lava cake more luminous than a campfire? {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.28}}
:It's Lava Lake, as in a large puddle of lava.[[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 15:45, 20 June 2018 (UTC)
:: Now the real question is, Why isn't lava cake included on the diagram?!?! [[User:Veleek|Veleek]] ([[User talk:Veleek|talk]]) 23:54, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

As it's a logarithmic scale, is it more correct to say the plot been expanded to 1 on both axes? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 15:47, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

It seems Randall thinks an astronomer is about as bright as a lightbulb, probably due to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram itself! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:52, 20 June 2018 (UTC)
:A daily food consumption of average human is about 100W when spread out over 24 hours
::It might actually be about that bright, but in the infrared spectrum. http://elte.prompt.hu/sites/default/files/tananyagok/InfraredAstronomy/ch01s04.html [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.89|108.162.246.89]] 20:54, 20 June 2018 (UTC)
:But they are no where near as hot!
::You seem to overestimate the attractiveness of most lightbulbs. I've only seen a few that I would consider really hot.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.198.10|172.69.198.10]] 20:57, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

While wattage is used as an informal proxy for bulb brightness, there is not a 1-to-1 relationship between power consumption and light output. Incandescent bulbs in the United States were commonly labeled with both watts consumed and lumens output to aid consumers in choosing efficient bulbs.

{{w|Ivanpah Solar Power Facility|Ivanpah}} doesn't have a salt tank. Presumably he meant the boiler, and/or was confusing it with {{w|Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project|Crescent Dunes}}.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 17:29, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

I understand the explanation, but what's the joke?

The title text says "The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is located in its own lower right corner, unless you're viewing it on an unusually big screen." But it's clearly on the top left corner... Am I missing something? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.106|108.162.219.106]] 18:47, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

:Why would it be at the top left...? The diagram itself is not particularly luminous, so would not be at the top, and its apparent temperature is quite low, so it would not be on the left.

Why is a blue whale considered more luminous than a campfire? Blue whales don't generate any light.

In one of the interesting parts of this diagram not that many mundane objects (or at least smaller than earth objects) are much hotter than most stars (surface temperature)... Not mentioned now.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:33, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

I think the current explanation is still taking some of the graph too literally, thereby missing some of the jokes. After all, Randall creates comics, sometimes using innuendo or subtlety to make a point. I still think some of the items on the graph are plotted using luminosity as a measure of "brightness" in the sense of smartness. No offense intended, but he must have had a reason for including France below the planets and the blue whale above the astronomer. Furthermore, the title text is likely talking about the actual HR diagram not being very "bright" in the same way the astronomer is in the lower-right corner of the graph, except when it is displayed on a jumbotron. If you're an atronomer, you might not like hearing this, but the meaning of the HR diagram is difficult to grasp correctly. To leave out any mention of smartness is likely missing the most significant jokes in the comic. Please feel free to disagree, but remember it's still just a comic! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 00:37, 21 June 2018 (UTC)

How come this diagram says an LED bulb is hotter than a lightbulb, and both are hotter than a campfire? That doesn't seem right. [[User:YM Industries|YM Industries]] ([[User talk:YM Industries|talk]]) 01:49, 21 June 2018 (UTC)
:The confusion is coming from the fact that the arrow at the top is pointing toward lower temperatures. I'm not sure if this is intentional, or if it is a mistake, but seems to be confusing a lot of people (including myself until I read the actual numbers)[[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 03:09, 21 June 2018 (UTC)

1998: GDPR

2018-05-26T05:04:19Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Explained the joke for the third amendment better. Wording could still be improved.

{{comic
| number = 1998
| date = May 25, 2018
| title = GDPR
| image = gdpr.png
| titletext = By clicking anywhere, scrolling, or closing this notification, you agree to be legally bound by the witch Sycorax within a cloven pine.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the EUROPEAN UNION - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was released on the date on which the {{w|General Data Protection Regulation|General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)}} law went into effect. Most people will have already seen a large number of updated privacy policies in the week or two leading up to this law going active. And while [[xkcd]] would likely be outside of the jurisdiction that the law can enforce, it technically does fall within the scope of the law (as certainly EU citizens visit xkcd).

There are several references made to this law, but also several jokes are included about the way people treat privacy policies specifically, and user agreements in general.

The comic is a joke privacy policy, with terms that no one would agree to under normal circumstances. In most cases, website users will use websites without reading the policies, potentially "agreeing" to something unexpected.

"purely out of the goodness of our hearts" is a phrase never expected to be found ever anywhere in any privacy policy. "and has nothing to do with ..." is a blatantly transparent lie - if this were a real privacy policy.

"governs your interactions" starts out as a plausibly valid statement including "the service" and "the website". But then balloons outward to include the entire Internet and Facebook. As this presumably is a privacy policy only for XKCD, this policy should not attempt to claim that it also represents Facebook or the entire Internet. The extension to Facebook may be a reference to reports that [https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/facebook-is-the-internet-for-many-people-in-south-east-asia-20180322-p4z5nu.html "for many people ... Facebook is the Internet."]

"Please don't send us your personal information" is also a phrase never expected to be found ever in a privacy policy. A privacy policy, by default, is a contract users agree to BECAUSE personal information is being stored. This is likely a reference to the previous comic [[1997: Business Update]]

The agreement claims that it does not "deny or disparage" any of the user's other rights, but then immediately denies the user the right not to quarter troops in there home, which is a constitutional right described by the {{w|Third Amendment to the United States Constitution}}. Refusing to quarter troops in one's home was previously referenced in [[496: Secretary: Part 3]]. Note that the Third Amendment only applies to Americans, and so this might not be a denial of a right for Europeans.

"If you tell us your name" is presumably something that Randall does in real life and is not part of a privacy policy.

"This website places pixels" is something websites are designed to do and has nothing to do with privacy policies. Websites are more often employing "callback pixels" from companies such as Facebook and Twitter, which is an image file that is hosted on an external server that allows cross-platform and cross-session tracking for targeted advertisements. This is a controversial topic, as many people are against this kind of targeted advertising.

"We use cookies to enhance your performance." apparently says that Randall is giving out actual cookies that can be eaten. Privacy policies normally deal with electronic cookies that track user activity and store personal information.

"may use local storage" is threatening to turn the user's device into cloud storage should Randall run out of space on his drive.

The [http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Warning_beacons_of_Gondor Warning beacons of Gondor] were a system to call for aid used by {{w|Gondor}} in ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}''. They were used before the [http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Siege_of_Gondor Battle of the Pelennor Fields] to request the aid of the {{w|Rohan (Middle-earth)|Rohirrim}}. The use of the Beacons has previously been mentioned in [[921: Delivery Notification]].

{{w|3rd Party}} was a three-member dance-pop group that released one album in 1997, "Alive". In software, "third-party extensions" are small programs that plug into a larger program to modify its behavior, and are created neither by the maker of the larger program nor the user.

"requesting permission" can be construed in several frightening ways. 1. We will ask you after you die if you are willing to donate your organs. 2. We were not asking permission before, but now we have to ask. 3. We will ask you, but your answer doesn't actually matter. 4. We've switched from an organ donation program (legal) to an organ harvesting program (wildly illegal). 5. Anyone ''not'' in the EU will have (or, possibly, ''continue'' to have) their organs harvested without permission. Besides these frightening scenarios, there is also the question of how a website (and not a doctor) is going to perform the harvesting.

"supersedes" is an apparently valid statement. It's inclusiveness is quite extreme, but appears to be a technically valid statement.

"unenforceable" claims to have higher jurisdiction than any court and can somehow maintain legality even if a court disagrees. A typical policy would read that an unenforceable provision would not invalidate the rest of the policy.

"not liable" and "shall not be construed" are blanket statements that are supposed to have limiters. For example, a restaurant could have a policy stating "not liable for burns received from our hot coffee." A statement made to a court could say "The defendant's statement of giving the prostitute money shall not be construed as an admission of committing a crime." This makes little sense when claiming the website “is not liable” for anything, and “shall not be construed” to have any meaning whatsoever.

The Food and Drug Administration has nothing to do with privacy policies. As such, this is an accurate statement. Silly, but accurate.

"cure and treat any disease" is claiming to be a medical panacea. Panacea do not exist. It is also mocking the label on many food and health supplements, which are legally required to say they are “not intended to cure or treat any disease.”

The title text is a reference to Shakespeare's "{{w|The Tempest}}", in which the witch {{w|Sycorax}} imprisoned the sprite Ariel in a cloven pine prior to Ariel's rescue by Prospero.

==Transcript==
:[The picture shows a long text:]
:'''Privacy policy'''
:We've updated our privacy policy. This is purely out of the goodness of our hearts, and has nothing to do with any hypothetical unions on any particular continents. Please read every part of this policy carefully, and don't just skip ahead looking for sex scenes.
:This policy governs your interactions with this website, herein referred to as "The Service", "The Website", "The Internet", or "Facebook", and with all other websites and organizations of any kind. The enumeration in this policy, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the users. By using this service, you opt in to quartering troops in your home.

:'''Your personal information'''
:Please don't send us your personal information. We do not want your personal information. We have a hard enough time keeping track of our ''own'' personal information, let alone yours.
:If you tell us your name, or any identifying information, we will forget it immediately. The next time we see you, we'll struggle to remember who you are, and try desperately to get through the conversation so we can go online and hopefully figure it out.

:'''Tracking pixels, cookies, and beacons'''
:This website places pixels on your screen in order to form text and images, some of which may remain in your memory after you close the page. We use cookies to enhance your performance. Our website may use local storage on your device if we run low on space on our end. We may use beacons to call Rohan for aid.

:'''3rd party extension'''
:This service may utilize 3rd party extensions in order to play the song '''''Can U Feel It''''' from their debut album '''''Alive'''''.

:'''Permission'''
:For users who are citizens of the European Union, we will now be requesting permission before initiating organ harvesting.

:'''Scope and limitations'''
:This policy supersedes any application federal, state, and local laws, regulations and ordinances, international treaties, and legal agreements that would otherwise apply. If any provision of this policy is found by a court to be unenforceable, it nevertheless remains in force.
:This organization is not liable and this agreement shall not be construed. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This website is intended to treat, cure and prevent any disease.
:If you know anyone in Europe, please tell them we're cool.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1990: Driving Cars

2018-05-08T15:18:58Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment

Am I seeing things or is there a slight shadow figure behind cueball? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 17:51, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:You're not seeing things. It's a bigger Cueball, and its colors are colors like F9F9F9 and F8F8F8. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 18:01, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
::That's very odd, someone mentioned this may have been from a draft. Have we seen anything like this before? Does anyone know Randall's actual drawing process? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 19:24, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:I saw nothing on my iPad, until I brightened the display to maximum AND zoomed in. Then I saw this faded Cueball to the left of him (not above like the description says, or bigger like Grabadora said here, but the exact same size and exact same pose. If he were in the comic drawn in black, he'd be described as directly behind Cueball). Before I saw it I wondered if Randall draws these on paper then scans them, in which case this could be bleed through from another page behind. But of course it's more likely he draws on a computer. Now that I've seen it... Same size, same pose suggests to me Randall Cut & Pasted Cueball, but his background drawing colour wasn't QUITE white when he did this, so this not-quite-white replaced Cueball where he was, leaving a "ghost" Cueball. EDIT: Okay, checking again, from his ankles to his upper arms, he's the same size, but shoulders and up he's bigger, his neck ending higher and his head bigger. Maybe Randall felt he made the head too big, to put it next to the speech bubble line, so he moved Cueball closer to make the head the right size. I also note the head's circle is more casual, with the ends not meeting, like most people would draw a circle. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:48, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

This comic may also be an indirect commentary on the concern some people have about the safety of self-driving cars, which may in fact be more capable of safe driving than someone who took a 20-minute test in high school. Maybe their concern about safety is misplaced! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:19, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

:We have 10-12 90-minute evening lectures, a 40-minute multiple-choice test, plus 10 mandatory hours of training behind the wheel and a half-hour practical examination, but I'm really not sure to which side ''I'' want to lean with autonomous cars ... ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.248|141.101.77.248]] 20:08, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
::While it varies dramatically by state, I think Randall is generally referencing the licensing practices in the US, which are definitely lax compared to Europe/Australia but probably more stringent than less-developed nations. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 20:38, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:::In the state of Colorado, USA, I took a ~5 minute multiple-choice test & a ~12 minute driving test, with no other requirement except possession of a learner's-permit. No driver's education classes, no formal training at all. Just pay the fee, fill the form, take a perfunctory test (drive around the block) & drive away with a license. This was around 1998, if I recall correctly. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 00:22, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
::::Back in 1993, here in Canada, my requirements were a bit more slack than they are now, but stricter than that. I feel like we had to do about 20-30 minutes on the multiple choice theory exam, and the practical felt longer (though the stress might have made it feel long and it only WAS 12 minutes). I know the practical test was rather strict, I failed a couple of times for silly reasons - I remember once the examiner felt the need to show me where my blind spots were, I later realized that I had accidentally developed the habit of using my peripheral vision to check them, to maximize how much I keep my eyes on the road, so when he was watching he missed when I checked them. I know the rules are stricter because they changed them BEFORE I got my license, I was allowed to slip past the new rules because I had my learner's permit before - I know one rule I skipped was that new drivers got probationary licenses for 2 years or until turning 25, whichever came first. I know driving school is mandatory now (you have to register for the driver's test through your school), while I optionally took it, and I took an advanced, extra-safe school called Young Drivers Of Canada. It was something like 10 classroom sessions of I think an hour each, and something like 10 practical lessons in a car of an hour each. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:48, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
::::In Colorado these days you need to drive with a licensed adult in the car for 50 hours and wait a year once you get the permit before you can take the test, at least if you are under 21 or something. If you want to get the permit before you are 17, I think you need to take a class. These rules are actually really complicated and have like 6 different age groups that all have different requirements. Still not that hard to get a license, you can even fake the 50 hours if you want to. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:00, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
:I'm looking forward to legally using my cellphone while driving, but not to major security vulnerabilities becoming public in my car's firmware. I worry what a distant hacker could find funny. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.142|172.68.54.142]] 01:13, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
::Some cars can already be turned off on the road or can even have brakes applied. You can hack your car and set the root password to something other than the default, though that doesn't help if the guy in front of you gets hacked. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:00, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

Is the transcript still "incomplete"? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 20:04, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:I've removed the tag. But maybe he "rubs his hands"? Any thoughts? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:26, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

Anyone know the brand of car? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.65|172.69.33.65]] 20:10, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:Looks kind of like a Prius? (Source: absolutely not a car guy in any sense of the term) [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 20:36, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
::Definitely looks like a Prius to me. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 00:22, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
:::IDK, I feel like I usually see Priuses depicted shorter, perhaps even two-door (my main reference being Brian's car in Family Guy) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:48, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
::Look at the triangular window near the front windshield. Some prius's have that, but it is usually smaller or filled in with plastic. I know that some Honda Fits have a window that looks a lot like it, but the back of those cars is flatter than the one in the picture. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 15:18, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

While cars are significant source of pollution, it would IMHO be hard to identify anyone dying prematurely just due to them (especially if you want to take JUST cars and not trucks); most likely, it's the total amount of pollution being bigger than your ability to deal with it killing you, not any specific pollution. So I'm pretty sure the joke is in amount of people dying in car accidents.

And BTW, the reason people generally don't see driving is scary is because 90% of drivers thinks they are in the 10% of best drivers and that accidents only happen to bad drivers, which is both obviously incorrect. Nevertheless, yes, if "having cars" and "not having cars" would be only options, it would be worth it. In reality, we COULD make driving safer by skipping unnecessary trips and by lot of other measures ...

... which reminds me, those big patriotic american cars are actually SAFER than small cars. They consume more oil, but they protect driver better in crash. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 06:42, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
:Which is just unfair for those who cannot afford it, but either dye when run into by these or from their extra pollution... :) See [[677: Asshole]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:42, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1990: Driving Cars

2018-05-08T04:00:23Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a couple of comments.

Am I seeing things or is there a slight shadow figure behind cueball? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 17:51, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:You're not seeing things. It's a bigger Cueball, and its colors are colors like F9F9F9 and F8F8F8. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 18:01, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
::That's very odd, someone mentioned this may have been from a draft. Have we seen anything like this before? Does anyone know Randall's actual drawing process? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 19:24, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:I saw nothing on my iPad, until I brightened the display to maximum AND zoomed in. Then I saw this faded Cueball to the left of him (not above like the description says, or bigger like Grabadora said here, but the exact same size and exact same pose. If he were in the comic drawn in black, he'd be described as directly behind Cueball). Before I saw it I wondered if Randall draws these on paper then scans them, in which case this could be bleed through from another page behind. But of course it's more likely he draws on a computer. Now that I've seen it... Same size, same pose suggests to me Randall Cut & Pasted Cueball, but his background drawing colour wasn't QUITE white when he did this, so this not-quite-white replaced Cueball where he was, leaving a "ghost" Cueball. EDIT: Okay, checking again, from his feet to his upper arms, he's the same size, but shoulders and up he's bigger, his neck ending higher and his head bigger. Maybe Randall felt he made the head too big, to put it next to the speech bubble line, so he moved Cueball closer to make the head the right size. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:48, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

This comic may also be an indirect commentary on the concern some people have about the safety of self-driving cars, which may in fact be more capable of safe driving than someone who took a 20-minute test in high school. Maybe their concern about safety is misplaced! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:19, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

:We have 10-12 90-minute evening lectures, a 40-minute multiple-choice test, plus 10 mandatory hours of training behind the wheel and a half-hour practical examination, but I'm really not sure to which side ''I'' want to lean with autonomous cars ... ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.248|141.101.77.248]] 20:08, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
::While it varies dramatically by state, I think Randall is generally referencing the licensing practices in the US, which are definitely lax compared to Europe/Australia but probably more stringent than less-developed nations. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 20:38, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:::In the state of Colorado, USA, I took a ~5 minute multiple-choice test & a ~12 minute driving test, with no other requirement except possession of a learner's-permit. No driver's education classes, no formal training at all. Just pay the fee, fill the form, take a perfunctory test (drive around the block) & drive away with a license. This was around 1998, if I recall correctly. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 00:22, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
::::Back in 1993, here in Canada, my requirements were a bit more slack than they are now, but stricter than that. I feel like we had to do about 20-30 minutes on the multiple choice theory exam, and the practical felt longer (though the stress might have made it feel long and it only WAS 12 minutes). I know the test was rather strict, I failed a couple of times for silly reasons - I remember once the examiner felt the need to show me where my blind spots were, I later realized that I had accidentally developed the habit of using my peripheral vision to check them, to maximize how much I keep my eyes on the road, so when he was watching he missed when I checked them. I know the rules are stricter because they changed them BEFORE I got my license, I was allowed to slip past the new rules because I had my learner's permit before - I know one rule I skipped was that new drivers got probationary licenses for 2 years or until turning 25, whichever came first. I know driving school is mandatory now (you have to register for the driver's test through your school), while I optionally took it, and I took an advanced, extra-safe school called Young Drivers Of Canada. It was something like 10 classroom sessions of I think an hour each, and something like 10 practical lessons in a car of an hour each. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:48, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
::::In Colorado these days you need to drive with a licensed adult in the car for 50 hours and wait a year once you get the permit before you can take the test, at least if you are under 21 or something. If you want to get the permit before you are 17, I think you need to take a class. These rules are actually really complicated and have like 6 different age groups that all have different requirements. Still not that hard to get a license, you can even fake the 50 hours if you want to. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:00, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
:I'm looking forward to legally using my cellphone while driving, but not to major security vulnerabilities becoming public in my car's firmware. I worry what a distant hacker could find funny. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.142|172.68.54.142]] 01:13, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
::Some cars can already be turned off on the road or can even have brakes applied. You can hack your car and set the root password to something other than the default, though that doesn't help if the guy in front of you gets hacked. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:00, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

Is the transcript still "incomplete"? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 20:04, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:I've removed the tag. But maybe he "rubs his hands"? Any thoughts? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:26, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

Anyone know the brand of car? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.65|172.69.33.65]] 20:10, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
:Looks kind of like a Prius? (Source: absolutely not a car guy in any sense of the term) [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 20:36, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
::Definitely looks like a Prius to me. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 00:22, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
:::IDK, I feel like I usually see Priuses depicted shorter, perhaps even two-door (my main reference being Brian's car in Family Guy) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:48, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1988: Containers

2018-05-03T23:13:33Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Added a comment.

Pretty much a description of my social interactions ... [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 17:51, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
:Pretty much a description of all my "useful" programs. {{unsigned|Linker}}

I feel the thrust of this comic is partly “people use docker because they don’t know how to do things properly”; notably such people get tasks done easier and faster, but their work involves wasting a lot of computing reaources to do small tasks inside entire emulated systems. Agree? Disagree? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.153|162.158.62.153]] 18:59, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agree. --[[User:Joshupetersen|Joshupetersen]] ([[User talk:Joshupetersen|talk]]) 15:55, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agree! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.184|108.162.237.184]] 17:08, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

I don't know if its just docker, almost any time I've gone to build mobile anything the API needs new libraries, their "secure" connecting functions must be used, or some other blackbox MUST be /glued/ to my work. If I don't stay on top of every platform, this in and of itself is a head ache I can't imagine what it'd be like if I had to learn and comply with the content of these libraries. {{unsigned ip|172.69.90.40}}

When did any tablet with a browser not support <tt><nowiki><frame></nowiki></tt>s and <tt><nowiki><iframe></nowiki></tt>s? And for that matter why are docker containers with kubernetes better than server images with a load balancer? I asked one large-shop sysadmin who had transitioned to the former from the latter, and he said, "There really aren't many differences but I feel like I'm ready for microservices." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.52|172.68.34.52]] 22:50, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
:The issue as I see it is to get the two apps to both run simultaneously and appear side by side, which probably involves either writing code to control the window manager or getting the existing apps to output to an image that can be drawn on screen. I'm not a mobile developer, but my guess is that this would be quite difficult for a novice programmer.[[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 23:13, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

For some reason, this really, really, REALLY feels like it's a continuation of 1987. Agree? Disagree? Also, the 'wasting a lot of computing resources to do small tasks inside entire emulated systems' does not feel like valid criticism, since they are just walled-in processes sharing the same kernel (and everything below). Firing up full-blown separate VMs for things that could just as well run in containers is the real wasteful choice IMHO. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.70|162.158.238.70]] 07:29, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
:The (en)light(ening)est (co)processes are started with fork() and exec(). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.52|172.68.34.52]] 22:20, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

Is it worth adding that "achieved enlightenment" is probably a reference to http://www.thecodelesscode.com/?

1988: Containers

2018-05-02T17:32:16Z

Probably not Douglas Hofstadter: Corrected the bot message.

{{comic
| number = 1988
| date = May 2, 2018
| title = Containers
| image = containers.png
| titletext = All services are microservices if you ignore most of their features.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOME GLUED TOGETHER SERVERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Docker is a computer program that performs operating-system-level virtualization also known as containerization. It is developed by Docker, Inc. White Hat was complaining about how everyone was using Docker, and then Cueball went on about how he wanted to use a tablet as a wall display. He went on about how he tried programming it, but he eventually gave up and glued two smartphones together. The joke is that he achieved software enlightenment, even though he didn't code any software.

External links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_(software)

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

{{comic discussion}}