https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=SammyChipsexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-30T01:04:04ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3230:_Overton&diff=410201Talk:3230: Overton2026-04-13T22:05:54Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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4 January 1960 – 30 June 2003 {{unsigned ip|77.87.241.9|18:34, 8 April 2026}}<br />
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Someday this cartoon will be politically inappropriate. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 19:16, 8 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
: ^ Absolutely. [[Special:Contributions/66.154.219.123|66.154.219.123]] 21:16, 8 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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randall posting a politics-related comic? which could be construed as discontent with the current political landscape? inb4 somebody <s>bashes</s> complains at kynde again - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 22:15, 8 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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I think it's worth noting that the window keeps updating to the right. [[Special:Contributions/50.47.108.55|50.47.108.55]] 02:22, 9 April 2026 (UTC) Ale10ander<br />
: Only if you consider dates to go from left to right instead of any other direction. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:C7C:7344:4C00:BC19:A5A4:14E8:E888|2A02:C7C:7344:4C00:BC19:A5A4:14E8:E888]] 08:27, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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What's the next death date? 2027? (Just guessin) [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream S.L.]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]] / [[Special:Contributions/Cream_Starlight|contribs]]) 03:33, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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Does he keep dying because he's gone over a ton? (1 ton = 2000 lbs) {{unsigned ip|2607:fb91:bd8a:8e2f:858d:1e1b:f461:5f6e|04:35, 9 April 2026 (UTC)}}<br />
:Too heavy even the time is altered, i see [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream S.L.]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]] / [[Special:Contributions/Cream_Starlight|contribs]]) 05:53, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
:F.Y.I.: 1 ton = 2,000 ''or'' 2,204.6 ''or'' 2,240 pounds, at least.<br />
:Also it can be 40, 42 or 60 cubic feet (amongst others). Or 12,000 British Thermal Units-per-Hour. And, at least colloquially, I might use it to describe 100 ''miles per hour'' or GB£100. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.115|82.132.238.115]] 16:02, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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Reincarnation - Can someone suggest a suitable Buddhist or Hindu text as citation for them multiple lifes? [[Special:Contributions/87.129.222.20|87.129.222.20]] 06:39, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
:The windows are overlapping, so no this is not a reference to reincarnation. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 16:00, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
:: Are they French windows, or sash windows? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:00, 10 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
::I only read this in relation to the Dalai Lama so idk if it changes in other forms of Buddhism, but [https://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Emanation_before_the_passing_away_of_the_predecessor_(ma-dhey_tulku) You can have multiple reincarnations in overlapping windows] in certain cases, although I doubt those cases apply here [[User:Brontosaurus|Brontosaurus]] ([[User talk:Brontosaurus|talk]]) 22:24, 10 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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For what it's worth, though Wikipedia currently describes Overton as a "political scientist," that is likely to shift soon. (That is to say, unless someone makes a compelling case on the Talk page, I'm going to change his description to "political activist," which I think is more accurate to someone who never had a political science degree, never had academic employment, and worked as an electrical engineer before working at an activist think tank.) [[Special:Contributions/38.69.197.145|38.69.197.145]] 12:33, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
: Does that mean that the Overton Window Overton Window has moved? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:16, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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In case anyone wants to check: [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122681438/joseph_paul-overton/photo#view-photo=94839436 Here's a pic of his grave] {{unsigned ip|74.87.89.226|18:04, 9 April 2026 (UTC)}}<br />
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Just want to say that I think the title text is true. Randall will probably find that, in a few months time, the Sun will no longer be in his face, but the cycle will repeat on an annual basis. I have a similar window. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 19:18, 9 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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;Significance of the Dates<br />
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Many of the dates in listed correspond to major geopolitical events concerning US military and diplomatic policy. They may also correspond to milestone events in US domestic politics. This is an attempt to compile some of the key events that the comic may be referencing.<br />
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*1965:<br />
**The beginning of Operation Rolling Thunder, the US ground invasion of Vietnam. <br />
**President LBJ signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965<br />
*- 2011:<br />
**US special forces kill Osama Bin Laden<br />
**NATO forces without the US intervene in the Libyan Civil War leading to the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi.<br />
**More widely, protests spread accross the Middle East and North Africa, dubbed the Arab Spring<br />
**The last of the US combat forces stationed in Iraq are withdrawn. <br />
**The Occuppy Wall Street movement begins.<br />
*1973: <br />
**The United States signs the Paris Peace Accords, withdrawing from the Vietnam conflict and claiming the war was over<br />
**The United States Congress overrides a presidential veto to pass the War Powers Resolution, limiting the ability of future presidents to wage war without Congressional approval<br />
**The Watergate Scandal breaks.<br />
**Roe v Wade. <br />
*- 2018:<br />
**President Donald Trump unilaterally withdraws the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the Iran Nuclear Deal.<br />
**Congress reverses many of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's reporting and compliance requirements for all but the largest US banks. <br />
*1982: <br />
**Israel violates a 1981 U.S. Brokered ceasefire agreement and invades Lebanon. In response the United States spearheads the establishment of a peacekeeping force to protect Beirut, the Multinational Force in Lebanon.<br />
<wbr/>{{unsigned|In-Sanity|22:16, 8 April 2026}}<br />
:Unfortunately, I suspect that you could easily find such events for absolutely ''every'' year across that range... Unless you narrow down the choices to just something current (i.e. specifically the ones related to current Middle East events, I suppose), which are going to be less frequent but perhaps specifically in Randall's mind.<br />
:(Oh, and I slightly re-reformatted your amended contribution, presuming that you meant it to look a bit more like it is now.)<br />
:I was wondering if there was a mathematical pattern to the numbers, myself. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 23:00, 8 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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"sunlight is not generally influenced by social attitudes" - Please tell that to the people sitting by the windows and controlling the shades on the airplane and in my workplace. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 22:05, 13 April 2026 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3225:_Satellite_Pollution&diff=409470Talk:3225: Satellite Pollution2026-04-02T13:56:43Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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I'm surprised this isn't [[Black Hat]]'s operation [[User:RDiMartino|RDiMartino]] ([[User talk:RDiMartino|talk]]) 21:34, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:He created the company, Cueball is Marketing. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
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Space mirrors have been in the news lately. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3|2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3]] 03:50, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
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As explained in https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ this wouldn't work anyway since the banner would be moving at 7.8 km/s, or else it would need to be hung from a space-elevator-like counterweight located beyond GSO. If cueball accomplishes THAT kind of feat, I think the astronomers would be more impressed than annoyed. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974|2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974]] 21:42, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:Geo-stationary orbit would work though [[User:Tanner07|Tanner07]] ([[User talk:Tanner07|talk]]) 14:14, 29 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
::For reference, the quoted 100 miles width at GEO/GSO would roughly span the Moon"s radius (''not'' even its diameter, which is the usual rule of thumb for "how big all other things in the sky look"), so would seem to be on the lower edge of being useful for bringing 'better' views of the sky it obscures (with and without advertising) to the casual Mk-1 Eyeball observer of the universe. Thus it can only really be 'useful' to the astronomers that it's in reality inconveniencing.<br />
::Though if set at ISS level of orbit, 100 miles would be ~45 Moon-widths, slightly narrower than a paperback book held at arm's length (if I'm cross-converting my trigonometry correctly), which would conceivably have some public primary purpose, upon which the secondary purpose of making it look like the stars it is also obscuring (give or take its rapid journey across the starfield, and mis-parallaxing issues unless it has ''very'' sophisticated {{w|lenticular lens|'observer-adaptive' optics}} to directly counter this effect) might be a mitigation/sop to astronomers like the minor rejig of Starlinks was to reduce their flare-profiles. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.130|82.132.239.130]] 11:43, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:7.8 km/s isn't that fast though, when viewed from down here on the surface. I love going outside in the evening to watch the ISS go by: it doesn't zoom past in the blink of an eye, it takes a few minutes to pass overhead. That's plenty long enough for a banner to be in view and to get a good look at it. If there are a couple of hundred banners in LEO you'll have lots of opportunities to see them. The real issue is power: during most of the night the banners will be completely dark because they are in Earth's shadow. How will they be illuminated? If the goal is to show fake stars, the banner will need powerful floodlights installed as "stars", so what is powering the floodlights? [[User:Martin|Martin]] ([[User talk:Martin|talk]]) 22:23, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
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I do wonder if this is in reference to results in search engines, given the "sponsored galaxies", and the tendency to provide fake results at the top for many engines {{unsigned ip|2806:2a0:b2e:8322::edc|13:34, 30 March 2026}}<br />
<br />
I am reminded of an Arthur C. Clarke story, I think it was Watch This Space, part of a series set on the first moonbase. As scientific experiment involving a cloud of glowing atoms is sabotaged to produce an advertising slogan. Coca Cola is implied but never named.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A]] 08:05, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
: I'm reminded of the "Galaxy of Trash" scene from Fight club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhaVpD92w-A [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:49, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
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The explanation should include discussion of the {{w|Kessler syndrome}} implications of big space banners. [[Special:Contributions/2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4|2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4]] 08:46, 1 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
:Actually, there's an idea. We can have corporate entities send up huge nets to capture space debris, and allow them to use it for advertising, assuming it wouldn't then exacerbate the problem. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 13:56, 2 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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It seems like this sort of thing could be a plausible scenario in the future if we utilize commercial providers to connect to a shared {{w|Augmented Reality}} experience. It certainly could happen now, but it's probably not very widespread outside a few mobile games and some sports broadcasts. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:17, 1 April 2026 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3225:_Satellite_Pollution&diff=409294Talk:3225: Satellite Pollution2026-04-01T16:34:23Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
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I'm surprised this isn't [[Black Hat]]'s operation [[User:RDiMartino|RDiMartino]] ([[User talk:RDiMartino|talk]]) 21:34, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:He created the company, Cueball is Marketing. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Space mirrors have been in the news lately. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3|2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3]] 03:50, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As explained in https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ this wouldn't work anyway since the banner would be moving at 7.8 km/s, or else it would need to be hung from a space-elevator-like counterweight located beyond GSO. If cueball accomplishes THAT kind of feat, I think the astronomers would be more impressed than annoyed. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974|2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974]] 21:42, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:Geo-stationary orbit would work though [[User:Tanner07|Tanner07]] ([[User talk:Tanner07|talk]]) 14:14, 29 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
::For reference, the quoted 100 miles width at GEO/GSO would roughly span the Moon"s radius (''not'' even its diameter, which is the usual rule of thumb for "how big all other things in the sky look"), so would seem to be on the lower edge of being useful for bringing 'better' views of the sky it obscures (with and without advertising) to the casual Mk-1 Eyeball observer of the universe. Thus it can only really be 'useful' to the astronomers that it's in reality inconveniencing.<br />
::Though if set at ISS level of orbit, 100 miles would be ~45 Moon-widths, slightly narrower than a paperback book held at arm's length (if I'm cross-converting my trigonometry correctly), which would conceivably have some public primary purpose, upon which the secondary purpose of making it look like the stars it is also obscuring (give or take its rapid journey across the starfield, and mis-parallaxing issues unless it has ''very'' sophisticated {{w|lenticular lens|'observer-adaptive' optics}} to directly counter this effect) might be a mitigation/sop to astronomers like the minor rejig of Starlinks was to reduce their flare-profiles. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.130|82.132.239.130]] 11:43, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:7.8 km/s isn't that fast though, when viewed from down here on the surface. I love going outside in the evening to watch the ISS go by: it doesn't zoom past in the blink of an eye, it takes a few minutes to pass overhead. That's plenty long enough for a banner to be in view and to get a good look at it. If there are a couple of hundred banners in LEO you'll have lots of opportunities to see them. The real issue is power: during most of the night the banners will be completely dark because they are in Earth's shadow. How will they be illuminated? If the goal is to show fake stars, the banner will need powerful floodlights installed as "stars", so what is powering the floodlights? [[User:Martin|Martin]] ([[User talk:Martin|talk]]) 22:23, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I do wonder if this is in reference to results in search engines, given the "sponsored galaxies", and the tendency to provide fake results at the top for many engines {{unsigned ip|2806:2a0:b2e:8322::edc|13:34, 30 March 2026}}<br />
<br />
I am reminded of an Arthur C. Clarke story, I think it was Watch This Space, part of a series set on the first moonbase. As scientific experiment involving a cloud of glowing atoms is sabotaged to produce an advertising slogan. Coca Cola is implied but never named.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A]] 08:05, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
: I'm reminded of the "Galaxy of Trash" scene from Fight club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhaVpD92w-A [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:49, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The explanation should include discussion of the {{w|Kessler syndrome}} implications of big space banners. [[Special:Contributions/2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4|2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4]] 08:46, 1 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It seems like this sort of thing could be a plausible scenario in the future if we utilize commercial providers to connect to a shared {{w|Augmented Reality}} experience. It certainly could happen now, but it's probably not very widespread outside a few mobile games and some sports broadcasts. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:17, 1 April 2026 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3225:_Satellite_Pollution&diff=409293Talk:3225: Satellite Pollution2026-04-01T16:30:33Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
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I'm surprised this isn't [[Black Hat]]'s operation [[User:RDiMartino|RDiMartino]] ([[User talk:RDiMartino|talk]]) 21:34, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:He created the company, Cueball is Marketing. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Space mirrors have been in the news lately. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3|2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3]] 03:50, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As explained in https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ this wouldn't work anyway since the banner would be moving at 7.8 km/s, or else it would need to be hung from a space-elevator-like counterweight located beyond GSO. If cueball accomplishes THAT kind of feat, I think the astronomers would be more impressed than annoyed. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974|2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974]] 21:42, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:Geo-stationary orbit would work though [[User:Tanner07|Tanner07]] ([[User talk:Tanner07|talk]]) 14:14, 29 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
::For reference, the quoted 100 miles width at GEO/GSO would roughly span the Moon"s radius (''not'' even its diameter, which is the usual rule of thumb for "how big all other things in the sky look"), so would seem to be on the lower edge of being useful for bringing 'better' views of the sky it obscures (with and without advertising) to the casual Mk-1 Eyeball observer of the universe. Thus it can only really be 'useful' to the astronomers that it's in reality inconveniencing.<br />
::Though if set at ISS level of orbit, 100 miles would be ~45 Moon-widths, slightly narrower than a paperback book held at arm's length (if I'm cross-converting my trigonometry correctly), which would conceivably have some public primary purpose, upon which the secondary purpose of making it look like the stars it is also obscuring (give or take its rapid journey across the starfield, and mis-parallaxing issues unless it has ''very'' sophisticated {{w|lenticular lens|'observer-adaptive' optics}} to directly counter this effect) might be a mitigation/sop to astronomers like the minor rejig of Starlinks was to reduce their flare-profiles. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.130|82.132.239.130]] 11:43, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:7.8 km/s isn't that fast though, when viewed from down here on the surface. I love going outside in the evening to watch the ISS go by: it doesn't zoom past in the blink of an eye, it takes a few minutes to pass overhead. That's plenty long enough for a banner to be in view and to get a good look at it. If there are a couple of hundred banners in LEO you'll have lots of opportunities to see them. The real issue is power: during most of the night the banners will be completely dark because they are in Earth's shadow. How will they be illuminated? If the goal is to show fake stars, the banner will need powerful floodlights installed as "stars", so what is powering the floodlights? [[User:Martin|Martin]] ([[User talk:Martin|talk]]) 22:23, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I do wonder if this is in reference to results in search engines, given the "sponsored galaxies", and the tendency to provide fake results at the top for many engines {{unsigned ip|2806:2a0:b2e:8322::edc|13:34, 30 March 2026}}<br />
<br />
I am reminded of an Arthur C. Clarke story, I think it was Watch This Space, part of a series set on the first moonbase. As scientific experiment involving a cloud of glowing atoms is sabotaged to produce an advertising slogan. Coca Cola is implied but never named.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A]] 08:05, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
: I'm reminded of the "Galaxy of Trash" scene from Fight club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhaVpD92w-A [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:49, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The explanation should include discussion of the {{w|Kessler syndrome}} implications of big space banners. [[Special:Contributions/2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4|2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4]] 08:46, 1 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It seems like this sort of thing could be a plausible scenario in the future if we utilize commercial providers to connect to a shared {{w|Augmented Reality}} experience. It could certainly happen now, but it's probably not very widespread outside a few mobile games and some sports broadcasts. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:17, 1 April 2026 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3225:_Satellite_Pollution&diff=409292Talk:3225: Satellite Pollution2026-04-01T16:17:36Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
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I'm surprised this isn't [[Black Hat]]'s operation [[User:RDiMartino|RDiMartino]] ([[User talk:RDiMartino|talk]]) 21:34, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:He created the company, Cueball is Marketing. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Space mirrors have been in the news lately. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3|2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:3]] 03:50, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As explained in https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ this wouldn't work anyway since the banner would be moving at 7.8 km/s, or else it would need to be hung from a space-elevator-like counterweight located beyond GSO. If cueball accomplishes THAT kind of feat, I think the astronomers would be more impressed than annoyed. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974|2A02:590:121B:4001:9505:CE66:9EEB:2974]] 21:42, 28 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:Geo-stationary orbit would work though [[User:Tanner07|Tanner07]] ([[User talk:Tanner07|talk]]) 14:14, 29 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
::For reference, the quoted 100 miles width at GEO/GSO would roughly span the Moon"s radius (''not'' even its diameter, which is the usual rule of thumb for "how big all other things in the sky look"), so would seem to be on the lower edge of being useful for bringing 'better' views of the sky it obscures (with and without advertising) to the casual Mk-1 Eyeball observer of the universe. Thus it can only really be 'useful' to the astronomers that it's in reality inconveniencing.<br />
::Though if set at ISS level of orbit, 100 miles would be ~45 Moon-widths, slightly narrower than a paperback book held at arm's length (if I'm cross-converting my trigonometry correctly), which would conceivably have some public primary purpose, upon which the secondary purpose of making it look like the stars it is also obscuring (give or take its rapid journey across the starfield, and mis-parallaxing issues unless it has ''very'' sophisticated {{w|lenticular lens|'observer-adaptive' optics}} to directly counter this effect) might be a mitigation/sop to astronomers like the minor rejig of Starlinks was to reduce their flare-profiles. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.130|82.132.239.130]] 11:43, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
:7.8 km/s isn't that fast though, when viewed from down here on the surface. I love going outside in the evening to watch the ISS go by: it doesn't zoom past in the blink of an eye, it takes a few minutes to pass overhead. That's plenty long enough for a banner to be in view and to get a good look at it. If there are a couple of hundred banners in LEO you'll have lots of opportunities to see them. The real issue is power: during most of the night the banners will be completely dark because they are in Earth's shadow. How will they be illuminated? If the goal is to show fake stars, the banner will need powerful floodlights installed as "stars", so what is powering the floodlights? [[User:Martin|Martin]] ([[User talk:Martin|talk]]) 22:23, 30 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I do wonder if this is in reference to results in search engines, given the "sponsored galaxies", and the tendency to provide fake results at the top for many engines {{unsigned ip|2806:2a0:b2e:8322::edc|13:34, 30 March 2026}}<br />
<br />
I am reminded of an Arthur C. Clarke story, I think it was Watch This Space, part of a series set on the first moonbase. As scientific experiment involving a cloud of glowing atoms is sabotaged to produce an advertising slogan. Coca Cola is implied but never named.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:5D76:61B5:C315:E67A]] 08:05, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
: I'm reminded of the "Galaxy of Trash" scene from Fight club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhaVpD92w-A [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:49, 31 March 2026 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The explanation should include discussion of the {{w|Kessler syndrome}} implications of big space banners. [[Special:Contributions/2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4|2603:800C:1200:596A:E98B:D546:F067:DA4]] 08:46, 1 April 2026 (UTC)<br />
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This seems like this sort of thing could be a plausible scenario in the future if we utilize commercial providers to connect to a shared {{w|Augmented Reality}} experience. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:17, 1 April 2026 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401234Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-10T16:38:58Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:33, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The whole fuss could be eliminated by just choosing an 'altitude'/radius from Earth's barycentre and ignoring such localised variations (off-spheroid or even off-ellipsoid) in which particular contour line is applicable for the intersection of a 'spherically level' projection out from one board to another. Even with two separate (elipsoidally-dictated) offsets from perpendicular axis off of board (maybe even also with the diagonals), itnkay be possible to elevate/bury boards sufficiently (against local surface height) to make both(/all) round-the-world offsets an integer number of squares, to within the stated tolerances, for every vertical change in distance, ''v'', it would adjust the horizontal offset ''h'' by ''2.pi.v''<br />
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I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid is always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge {{citation needed}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:34, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Aside from raising/lowering source and (where necessary) target boards to be level ''and'' realign to be square-accurate (divide the current mismatch, beyond the minor tolerance allowance, by 2.pi and shift the board(s) up or down by that amount... Perhaps move further to invoke resonance of all axes of distance, especially if on an ellipsoid, by choosing overlapping resonances in their near-integer multiples of the respective distances), one need not have to conform to the geoidal multi-term hybrid elliposodal shape, but merely take radius-from-the-core as the (identical) altitude, irrespective of local Mean Sea Level or other gravitic isoline contouring. This may involve towers/blimps and mineshafts/submersibles to match up everything, despite actual local geodic variation, but if you're measuring round-the-world distances to micrometer-accuracy then it's just a matter of applying that same accuracy to the obvious solution. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.87|82.132.236.87]] 18:22, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Are we creating a {{w|Dyson swarm}} out of chess boards now? :D [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:38, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::One Problem I see with following a circular route against the gravitational isoclines is that if the boards are not tilted to be aligned with the gravitational gradient then hopefully there would be enough friction to keep the pieces from sliding off, and if they are tilted then the vertical misalignment might not be small enough to be within the tolerance. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 21:16, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::{{w|Chess set#Pocket and travel sets}}..? [[Special:Contributions/78.144.255.82|78.144.255.82]] 21:25, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::Good idea. And since they're usually a lot smaller and not held to the same standards of precision, we could probably get away with a lot more. I'm not sure why it needs micrometer precision anyway. It seems that even tournament boards aren't held to anywhere close to that level. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:38, 10 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Level doesn't mean "parallel to the surface of the Earth", it means perpendicular to the Earth's gravitational force.[[User:Dosbears|Dosbears]] ([[User talk:Dosbears|talk]])</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401182Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-09T21:16:58Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:33, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The whole fuss could be eliminated by just choosing an 'altitude'/radius from Earth's barycentre and ignoring such localised variations (off-spheroid or even off-ellipsoid) in which particular contour line is applicable for the intersection of a 'spherically level' projection out from one board to another. Even with two separate (elipsoidally-dictated) offsets from perpendicular axis off of board (maybe even also with the diagonals), itnkay be possible to elevate/bury boards sufficiently (against local surface height) to make both(/all) round-the-world offsets an integer number of squares, to within the stated tolerances, for every vertical change in distance, ''v'', it would adjust the horizontal offset ''h'' by ''2.pi.v''<br />
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I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid is always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge {{citation needed}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:34, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Aside from raising/lowering source and (where necessary) target boards to be level ''and'' realign to be square-accurate (divide the current mismatch, beyond the minor tolerance allowance, by 2.pi and shift the board(s) up or down by that amount... Perhaps move further to invoke resonance of all axes of distance, especially if on an ellipsoid, by choosing overlapping resonances in their near-integer multiples of the respective distances), one need not have to conform to the geoidal multi-term hybrid elliposodal shape, but merely take radius-from-the-core as the (identical) altitude, irrespective of local Mean Sea Level or other gravitic isoline contouring. This may involve towers/blimps and mineshafts/submersibles to match up everything, despite actual local geodic variation, but if you're measuring round-the-world distances to micrometer-accuracy then it's just a matter of applying that same accuracy to the obvious solution. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.87|82.132.236.87]] 18:22, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Are we creating a {{w|Dyson swarm}} out of chess boards now? :D [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:38, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::One Problem I see with following a circular route against the gravitational isoclines is that if the boards are not tilted to be aligned with the gravitational gradient then hopefully there would be enough friction to keep the pieces from sliding off, and if they are tilted then the vertical misalignment might not be small enough to be within the tolerance. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 21:16, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Level doesn't mean "parallel to the surface of the Earth", it means perpendicular to the Earth's gravitational force.[[User:Dosbears|Dosbears]] ([[User talk:Dosbears|talk]])</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401177Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-09T19:38:26Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:33, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The whole fuss could be eliminated by just choosing an 'altitude'/radius from Earth's barycentre and ignoring such localised variations (off-spheroid or even off-ellipsoid) in which particular contour line is applicable for the intersection of a 'spherically level' projection out from one board to another. Even with two separate (elipsoidally-dictated) offsets from perpendicular axis off of board (maybe even also with the diagonals), itnkay be possible to elevate/bury boards sufficiently (against local surface height) to make both(/all) round-the-world offsets an integer number of squares, to within the stated tolerances, for every vertical change in distance, ''v'', it would adjust the horizontal offset ''h'' by ''2.pi.v''<br />
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I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid is always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge {{citation needed}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:34, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Aside from raising/lowering source and (where necessary) target boards to be level ''and'' realign to be square-accurate (divide the current mismatch, beyond the minor tolerance allowance, by 2.pi and shift the board(s) up or down by that amount... Perhaps move further to invoke resonance of all axes of distance, especially if on an ellipsoid, by choosing overlapping resonances in their near-integer multiples of the respective distances), one need not have to conform to the geoidal multi-term hybrid elliposodal shape, but merely take radius-from-the-core as the (identical) altitude, irrespective of local Mean Sea Level or other gravitic isoline contouring. This may involve towers/blimps and mineshafts/submersibles to match up everything, despite actual local geodic variation, but if you're measuring round-the-world distances to micrometer-accuracy then it's just a matter of applying that same accuracy to the obvious solution. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.87|82.132.236.87]] 18:22, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Are we creating a {{w|Dyson swarm}} out of chess boards now? :D [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:38, 9 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401156Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-09T17:38:57Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:33, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid is always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge {{citation needed}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:34, 9 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401154Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-09T17:36:09Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:33, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid is always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:34, 9 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401153Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-09T17:34:56Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:33, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:34, 9 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401152Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-09T17:33:52Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Geodesics on an ellipsoid}} are a bit more complicated than those for a sphere (and Earth isn't really even purely ellipsoidal). The geodesics aren't actually great circles, nor even closed curves except for those tilted at specific angles. The curve could cover an extremely large distance before visiting a position within a specific displacement from its starting point. However, because the ellipsoid in always convex, even though the radius of curvature is different depending on location and direction, two geodesics that start parallel should always converge [citation needed]. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:33, 9 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401149Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-09T16:36:50Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. If one end of the boards are aligned along the same great circle, the opposite end of each would fall out of alignment with each other within 4 to 5 kilometers. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. Also, those distances would make sense only for lateral moves. Diagonal moves would require diagonal alignment between the boards, and the concept of alignment between diagonals of squares would be a bit more complicated and even more sensitive to interpretation, but a good argument could be made that it would be constrained by limits similar to those of the lateral case. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401021Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-08T18:07:08Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The text currently says, "A perfect line of chessboards placed end-to-end on the surface of an Earth-sized sphere ... would form a great circle", which isn't quite right because a line of chessboards has some width to it and therefore isn't a line. You could align chessboards to form a great circle out of their left edges, or their right edges, or any one inter-square line. Not sure how to fix this. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:04, 8 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401019Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-08T17:58:59Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I did a little calculating, and it seems that the convergence along a single rank (row) is only 1 micrometer over somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometers for standard sizes for the board and squares. That would give 4 to 5 kilometers maximum to retain alignment between arbitrary squares on each board, at least for the case of a single micrometer. Of course, the distance would be more if the tolerance was a greater number of micrometers. Please feel free to figure it out yourself and confirm. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:58, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3177:_Chessboard_Alignment&diff=401011Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment2025-12-08T16:14:34Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:ohhhhhh... <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#FF0000">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#00873E">Converse</span>]]</sup></span> 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I think a funnier title text would've been: Bfi8(!!!) [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators. <br />
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.<br />
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.<br />
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?<br />
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.<br />
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).<br />
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this. {{unsigned ip|2601:441:4b7c:580e::1003|01:53, 7 December 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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The comic says "square boundary lines follow great circles" not "chess boards follow great circles" it also shows phantom squares not a general diagonal path. Phantom square size would change as the square boundary lines propagated around the world. Assuming this is the largest chess board possible on these great circle square boundary lines then all the great circle lines would converge to a point 1/4 of the way around the earth then spread to an inverted arrangement at the antipod before invertong again and returning to the original board. Personally i do not think a chess piece could be moves through a square of 0 size. The change in phantom square size would put a limit on how far apart boards of the same size could be and still have micrometer alignment. Boards of different sizes could be much farther apart. [[Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198|2605:8D80:13E4:22E2:1334:F7C:C3AE:B198]] 17:06, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
:My take on it was that since the boundaries of each square converge over distance because of following great circles around the Earth, if you place another standard size chess board some larger distance away, the lines of one wouldn't align with the lines of the other to the required level of precision. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 8 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Ancient chess lore has it that there was a tournament where the players were sitting so tight that one castled with the rook of his neighbor... [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:99BF:C5C8:4018:D8A0]] 18:32, 7 December 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Player Elimination - How would this actually work? If White Player A has pieces on White Player B's board, and White Player A loses, does that mean his pieces on Player B's board all disappear? Or does any King getting checkmated eliminate both players? Or does Player A putting on Player B's board essentially 'donate' the piece to Player B? If it does, then it Player B plays King to Player A's board, does that eliminate Player B? If Player A (left) has cleared out Kingside pieces and his kingside rook, can he castle across boards? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:37, 8 December 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3087:_Pascal%27s_Law&diff=377600Talk:3087: Pascal's Law2025-05-12T16:17:04Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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I remember learning about this and thinking it was intuitive, but I didn't really think of these consequences. Maybe everybody is making powerful lifting machines for lifting cars and houses with your bare hands, rather than explaining the article, that there isn't one yet. Pascal's law basically says that if you make one end of a container of fluid X times larger, then any force exerted on the small end is multiplied by X on the large end, so you can make it near-infinite by making the small end very small. But you'll need a little more machinery added (like a gear system) if you want the distance actually moved to be higher. Actually I think that might undo the gains in force entirely. That might be how it happens, it might swap distance for force so the same work is performed.<br />
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Hey, remember that comic where Randall challenged people to fold a paper too small? This hand-makeable device could get farther on that!<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.110|172.70.111.110]] 21:46, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: yes, that's how it works; the total work is constant and the hydraulic system is converting a small force over a long distance to a large force over a small distance. if you additionally want the force to be over a larger distance, you need to put more energy into the system or else you could push this machine with its own output and get free energy from nothing. really though hydraulics are just smoother, backlashless, equivalents to a gear train in the first place so you generally wouldnt need to use both. - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 23:37, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: Small tube needs to be X times as long to get same displacement. Good for linear force rather than torque. Fluid's own pressure can be the force if tube is long enough. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.33|172.68.55.33]] 11:41, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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As someone old enough to remember the [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_effect slashdot effect], I wonder if XKCD comics generate a similar effect on search engines. Though I doubt they would buckle under the weight these days. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.148|172.69.60.148]] 22:00, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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To whoever wrote the initial transcript, remember that we don't include the title text. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:06, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I have to wonder whether he has the same disbelief of, say, levers... which allow one to move the Earth. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 23:34, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Although some laws of physics are absolute and lead to extreme consequences, others are taught in a simplified form that can lead to wrong conclusions. For example, "Light and heavy objects fall at the same rate" can be used to prove that objects fall at the same rate on the Earth and the Moon - which is far from correct. If the Moon were somehow dropped onto the Earth, it would fall at a certain rate. The Earth dropped on the Moon would necessarily fall at the same rate. So if the Moon falling on the Earth fell at the same rate as a bowling ball, then the bowling ball would have to fall at the same rate on the Moon. When I read Heinlein's _The Rolling Stones_ as a pre-teen, where he describes things falling slower on the Moon, I applied this reasoning and concluded that Heinlein must have made a mistake. The solution to this paradox is that something as big as the Moon will not only accelerate toward the Earth, it will significantly accelerate the Earth toward it, so the Moon does not actually fall at the same rate as a bowling ball. [[User:Cphoenix|Cphoenix]] ([[User talk:Cphoenix|talk]]) 01:01, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: I think if you stand at the shared center of mass of the Earth and Moon, that then you see the Moon falling toward the Earth according to its constant field of gravitational acceleration, as well as the Earth falling toward the Moon according to its constant field of acceleration. It was indeed confusing for me to realize this, involving visit to pages such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_acceleration . F=Gm1m2/r^2 so if m1 is taken out you get a constant F=m1 a2 and vice versa. But I think the page says this only holds if the masses are far enough from each other to be treatable as points. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.47|172.68.55.47]] 11:57, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Besides, isn't it better to just ''believe'' in Pascal's Law if it offers a reward of near-infinite force? <br />
[[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 04:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I'll wager that you're pleased with that reference... ;) (Whether or not you actually were!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.43|172.71.26.43]] 15:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Could this be referencing or inspired by this recent paper talking about the use of hydraulics to build pyramids? https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306690 [[Special:Contributions/172.68.234.169|172.68.234.169]] 08:52, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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It could be noted that simple machines can multiply forces more or less arbitrarily, but only up to what the machine itself can withstand. Many "why didn't the ancients do that?" can be answered with "bronze kind of sucks". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.149|172.69.246.149]] 14:19, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Right. Archimedes's "Give me a lever long enough..." assumes that the lever is made of a material that won't buckle or snap under the weight of the Earth. If there were a material like that it would make building long bridges much simpler. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:It is also quite difficult to efficiently contain a fluid under pressure in a moving system. All considerations of innovation-stiffling aside, the same problem hindered the use of the Stirling engine untill very recently. Force applied to a rigid mediom is much easier to predict / monitor (a solid either holds or doesn't, but it doesnt leak -not in a way that would have been hindering the use in everyday life by "the ancients" anyway). To a certain extent it is also the reason why most common bikes still use cable brakes : sure it't less efficient but it's much cheaper and you can repair them in no time with common garden-shed-grade equipment.{{unsigned ip|172.71.232.101|22:07, 11 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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;Donald Knuth?<br />
Is there a name for the teacher character (a cueball with tufts of hair on the sides of his head)? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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:The teacher appears to be Donald Knuth, though not sure why Randall has used him.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:14, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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::We should add the comic to [[:Category:Comics featuring Donald Knuth]] then. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:09, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Here's a reference that claims that water hammer, rather than just depth pressure, was the major effect used in ''ruina montium'': https://blog.ferrovial.com/en/2022/08/ruina-montium-use-water-for-digging-romans/ -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 00:04, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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A few years back I posted a question on Stack Exchange (https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/60189/which-mountain-collapsed-in-france-in-1820-21) about a report, in a 19th-century biblical commentary, of a mountain collapsing due to just this kind of thing - fluid pressure building up. First thought when I saw the reference to ''ruina montium'' in the comic was that maybe that's it - but no. So, just curious: anyone have any thoughts on what event is being referred to in that commentary? (The one suggestion that someone made there, about a glacier advancing, doesn't seem to fit.) Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.87|172.71.23.87]] 03:38, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:No idea, but I gotta say, that font or scan is unreadable. Some words are decipherable like הר גבוה and ובמקומו but damn, about half of it is just splotches. No idea how you could read that. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 05:12, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I hear. There's a transcript of it (though without the diagram) at https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%99%22%D7%9D_%D7%A2%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%99%D7%95%D7%91_%D7%9E%D7%91_%D7%99%D7%93. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.208|172.70.175.208]] 18:50, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Should there be a goofs section here, because the white board is drawn with perspective, but the picture on it is not. It will look odd, like the whole contraption is tilted, to the students[[User:Drkaii|Drkaii]] ([[User talk:Drkaii|talk]]) 09:10, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I don't know how to write it, but someone should probably write the actual *point* of the comic: Randall coming up with ridiculous scenarios to disprove the theory, only to be informed that those scenarios actually happened.{{unsigned ip|172.69.70.145|23:57, 11 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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Also don't forget that there was a Mythbusters episode to this effect (well, in reverse and with air, but same principle), it's possible to lift a car with a single household vacuum-cleaner just by splitting the hose into a few dozen rather large suction cups. More surface area = more force for the same pressure.{{unsigned ip|162.158.3.106|07:06, 12 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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I'm sure there must be a name for the belief of absurdity (or counterintuitiveness) due to ignorance or failure/refusal to understand the entirety of a circumstance, or overgeneralization of known outcomes that only partially match the circumstance in question. If there is, that should probably be mentioned in the explanation. Does anyone here know what that might be? [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:17, 12 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3086:_Globe_Safety&diff=377014Talk:3086: Globe Safety2025-05-09T18:15:34Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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== You are welcome to comment on the April Fools' Day talk page ==<br />
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Hey, I thought we could revamp the old [[April Fools' Day comics]] page. I proposed a table or a list, and it would be nice if you commented. It should be a small project. '''You are welcome to [[Talk:April Fools' Day comics#Restructuring as a table or a nice list|comment here]]'''. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:02, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Hello! First time i got to a comic first --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.176.76|172.69.176.76]] 06:17, 8 May 2025 (UTC){{unsigned ip|104.23.175.202}}<br />
:Well [[269: TCM|first of all]] remember to sign your comments :-). But congratz... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Sorry. I now realize that that was an extremely trollish thing to do. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.140|172.70.92.140]] 07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC) ٠ـ٠<br />
:: Also i MAY OR MAY NOT have permanently altered the editing process of this talk by including arabic numbers in an emoticon.{{unsigned ip|172.70.92.140|07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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I believe he indicates that a globe is made by making a copy of the Earth, and then compressing it until it fits on a desktop. Hence having the same mass and thus the same Schwarzschild radius as Earth. I have changed the explanation a bit because of this observation.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Gotta wonder what kind of a desk could support a desktop globe that weighs as much as the Earth --[[User:StumbleRunner|StumbleRunner]]<br />
:[...] desk? Convince me that such a globe wouldn't plunge straight through the Earth's crust and into the mantle. I sense a marketing problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 07:07, 8 May 2025 (UTC) <br />
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Radius. <s>Is there a typo in the comic where 7/10" should be 7/20", i.e., 0.35" as later written? Or would a 7/10" Earth collapse into a black hole nonetheless?</s>[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.129|172.71.154.129]] 06:40, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Nope… the Schwarzchild radius is 0.35", which is indeed 7/20", but the measurement shown on the globe is the diameter, not the radius, so 7/10" is correct. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.143|172.71.178.143]] 06:49, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Isn't there also a jab at the weird way USsians use power-of-two fractions for inch measurements? I've never seen something like 7/10" before, it would be approximated as 11/16".[[Special:Contributions/172.71.95.69|172.71.95.69]] 09:18, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: It isn't a weird USian thing - it's just the historical way that inches (being a non-metric unit) were divided. The same way that an inch is a 1/12 division of a foot, which is a 1/3 division of a yard, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 10:23, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I think we have a bigger problem: there are millions of globes on Earth! I haven't done the calculations, but that might be enough to turn Earth into a black hole already; if not, I expect at least it would turn it into a star. --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.34|104.23.190.34]] 11:44, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
BTW. what would be a 12-inch object with a mass of Earth? Neutron star? Neutron planet? Neutron meteoroid? -- 12:46, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Crunching the numbers (thanks to Copilot.microsoft.com): <br />
:* A sphere with a 30 cm radius has a volume of about 1.13×10<sup>-2</sup> m³. <br />
:* Compressing Earth's mass into that volume gives a density of roughly 5.3×10<sup>28</sup> g/cm³. <br />
: That is way way denser than a neutron star. It's doubtful that such a sphere would remain at that density; it would likely explode immediately, or if prevented from doing so, continue to shrink down past 9mm and become a black hole. {{unsigned ip|172.70.110.59|13:26, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
'''False precision: .889 cm?''' Could someone please check "0.35 inches (0.889 cm)"? I'm concerned that this is a matter of {{w|false precision}}, with two significant digits for the customary / imperial system precisely converting to three significant digits in SI (similar to the way people obsess over 98'''.6'''F, which is a precise conversion of the estimate of 37C.). Also, I'd suggest that millimeters are preferable to centimeters. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.170.118|104.23.170.118]] 14:11, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: 2 × 6.6738×10^−11 m^3⋅kg^−1⋅s^−2 × 5.972168×10^24 kg / (299792458 m⋅s^−1)2 = 0.00887 m , so the current 8.9mm looks good. [[User:Nosh|Nosh]] ([[User talk:Nosh|talk]]) 19:16, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why are globes over 12 inches safer than those less than 12 inches? The density calculation above seems to indicate that an earth mass object of 12 inch diameter is much denser than a neutron star. (Of course that calculation was done with an AI - so may not be right.) I did a little searching for things denser than neutron stars - didn't find much. So what is special about 12 inches that makes earth mass things of that size change in safety regime [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]]<br />
:I'm pretty sure there aren't any things denser than a neutron stars. (There are black holes, of course, but those are not really things and may not actually HAVE a meaningful density.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:07, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::')DROP TABLE Talk:3086: Globe Safety; {{unsigned ip|162.158.108.51|07:22, 9 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::So, I'm guessing you've never heard of the theoretical {{w|Quark star}} (a specific example of an {{w|Exotic star}}, which is hypothesized to exist between the two). [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 18:13, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think that's part of the joke. There's no safe cut-off at which globes made in this fashion would be OK - placing an Earth-sized Earth-mass object immediately adjacent to the Earth would be utterly catastrophic, never mind anything smaller.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.107|172.71.26.107]] 08:32, 9 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3086:_Globe_Safety&diff=377013Talk:3086: Globe Safety2025-05-09T18:14:37Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
== You are welcome to comment on the April Fools' Day talk page ==<br />
<br />
Hey, I thought we could revamp the old [[April Fools' Day comics]] page. I proposed a table or a list, and it would be nice if you commented. It should be a small project. '''You are welcome to [[Talk:April Fools' Day comics#Restructuring as a table or a nice list|comment here]]'''. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:02, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
Hello! First time i got to a comic first --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.176.76|172.69.176.76]] 06:17, 8 May 2025 (UTC){{unsigned ip|104.23.175.202}}<br />
:Well [[269: TCM|first of all]] remember to sign your comments :-). But congratz... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Sorry. I now realize that that was an extremely trollish thing to do. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.140|172.70.92.140]] 07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC) ٠ـ٠<br />
:: Also i MAY OR MAY NOT have permanently altered the editing process of this talk by including arabic numbers in an emoticon.{{unsigned ip|172.70.92.140|07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
I believe he indicates that a globe is made by making a copy of the Earth, and then compressing it until it fits on a desktop. Hence having the same mass and thus the same Schwarzschild radius as Earth. I have changed the explanation a bit because of this observation.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gotta wonder what kind of a desk could support a desktop globe that weighs as much as the Earth --[[User:StumbleRunner|StumbleRunner]]<br />
:[...] desk? Convince me that such a globe wouldn't plunge straight through the Earth's crust and into the mantle. I sense a marketing problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 07:07, 8 May 2025 (UTC) <br />
<br />
Radius. <s>Is there a typo in the comic where 7/10" should be 7/20", i.e., 0.35" as later written? Or would a 7/10" Earth collapse into a black hole nonetheless?</s>[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.129|172.71.154.129]] 06:40, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Nope… the Schwarzchild radius is 0.35", which is indeed 7/20", but the measurement shown on the globe is the diameter, not the radius, so 7/10" is correct. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.143|172.71.178.143]] 06:49, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't there also a jab at the weird way USsians use power-of-two fractions for inch measurements? I've never seen something like 7/10" before, it would be approximated as 11/16".[[Special:Contributions/172.71.95.69|172.71.95.69]] 09:18, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: It isn't a weird USian thing - it's just the historical way that inches (being a non-metric unit) were divided. The same way that an inch is a 1/12 division of a foot, which is a 1/3 division of a yard, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 10:23, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think we have a bigger problem: there are millions of globes on Earth! I haven't done the calculations, but that might be enough to turn Earth into a black hole already; if not, I expect at least it would turn it into a star. --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.34|104.23.190.34]] 11:44, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
BTW. what would be a 12-inch object with a mass of Earth? Neutron star? Neutron planet? Neutron meteoroid? -- 12:46, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Crunching the numbers (thanks to Copilot.microsoft.com): <br />
:* A sphere with a 30 cm radius has a volume of about 1.13×10<sup>-2</sup> m³. <br />
:* Compressing Earth's mass into that volume gives a density of roughly 5.3×10<sup>28</sup> g/cm³. <br />
: That is way way denser than a neutron star. It's doubtful that such a sphere would remain at that density; it would likely explode immediately, or if prevented from doing so, continue to shrink down past 9mm and become a black hole. {{unsigned ip|172.70.110.59|13:26, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
'''False precision: .889 cm?''' Could someone please check "0.35 inches (0.889 cm)"? I'm concerned that this is a matter of {{w|false precision}}, with two significant digits for the customary / imperial system precisely converting to three significant digits in SI (similar to the way people obsess over 98'''.6'''F, which is a precise conversion of the estimate of 37C.). Also, I'd suggest that millimeters are preferable to centimeters. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.170.118|104.23.170.118]] 14:11, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: 2 × 6.6738×10^−11 m^3⋅kg^−1⋅s^−2 × 5.972168×10^24 kg / (299792458 m⋅s^−1)2 = 0.00887 m , so the current 8.9mm looks good. [[User:Nosh|Nosh]] ([[User talk:Nosh|talk]]) 19:16, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why are globes over 12 inches safer than those less than 12 inches? The density calculation above seems to indicate that an earth mass object of 12 inch diameter is much denser than a neutron star. (Of course that calculation was done with an AI - so may not be right.) I did a little searching for things denser than neutron stars - didn't find much. So what is special about 12 inches that makes earth mass things of that size change in safety regime [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]]<br />
:I'm pretty sure there aren't any things denser than a neutron stars. (There are black holes, of course, but those are not really things and may not actually HAVE a meaningful density.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:07, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::')DROP TABLE Talk:3086: Globe Safety; {{unsigned ip|162.158.108.51|07:22, 9 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::So, I'm guessing you've need heard of the theoretical {{w|Quark star}} (a specific example of an {{w|Exotic star}}, which is hypothesized to exist between the two). [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 18:13, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think that's part of the joke. There's no safe cut-off at which globes made in this fashion would be OK - placing an Earth-sized Earth-mass object immediately adjacent to the Earth would be utterly catastrophic, never mind anything smaller.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.107|172.71.26.107]] 08:32, 9 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3086:_Globe_Safety&diff=377012Talk:3086: Globe Safety2025-05-09T18:13:56Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
== You are welcome to comment on the April Fools' Day talk page ==<br />
<br />
Hey, I thought we could revamp the old [[April Fools' Day comics]] page. I proposed a table or a list, and it would be nice if you commented. It should be a small project. '''You are welcome to [[Talk:April Fools' Day comics#Restructuring as a table or a nice list|comment here]]'''. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:02, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
Hello! First time i got to a comic first --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.176.76|172.69.176.76]] 06:17, 8 May 2025 (UTC){{unsigned ip|104.23.175.202}}<br />
:Well [[269: TCM|first of all]] remember to sign your comments :-). But congratz... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Sorry. I now realize that that was an extremely trollish thing to do. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.140|172.70.92.140]] 07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC) ٠ـ٠<br />
:: Also i MAY OR MAY NOT have permanently altered the editing process of this talk by including arabic numbers in an emoticon.{{unsigned ip|172.70.92.140|07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
I believe he indicates that a globe is made by making a copy of the Earth, and then compressing it until it fits on a desktop. Hence having the same mass and thus the same Schwarzschild radius as Earth. I have changed the explanation a bit because of this observation.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gotta wonder what kind of a desk could support a desktop globe that weighs as much as the Earth --[[User:StumbleRunner|StumbleRunner]]<br />
:[...] desk? Convince me that such a globe wouldn't plunge straight through the Earth's crust and into the mantle. I sense a marketing problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 07:07, 8 May 2025 (UTC) <br />
<br />
Radius. <s>Is there a typo in the comic where 7/10" should be 7/20", i.e., 0.35" as later written? Or would a 7/10" Earth collapse into a black hole nonetheless?</s>[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.129|172.71.154.129]] 06:40, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Nope… the Schwarzchild radius is 0.35", which is indeed 7/20", but the measurement shown on the globe is the diameter, not the radius, so 7/10" is correct. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.143|172.71.178.143]] 06:49, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't there also a jab at the weird way USsians use power-of-two fractions for inch measurements? I've never seen something like 7/10" before, it would be approximated as 11/16".[[Special:Contributions/172.71.95.69|172.71.95.69]] 09:18, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: It isn't a weird USian thing - it's just the historical way that inches (being a non-metric unit) were divided. The same way that an inch is a 1/12 division of a foot, which is a 1/3 division of a yard, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 10:23, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think we have a bigger problem: there are millions of globes on Earth! I haven't done the calculations, but that might be enough to turn Earth into a black hole already; if not, I expect at least it would turn it into a star. --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.34|104.23.190.34]] 11:44, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
BTW. what would be a 12-inch object with a mass of Earth? Neutron star? Neutron planet? Neutron meteoroid? -- 12:46, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Crunching the numbers (thanks to Copilot.microsoft.com): <br />
:* A sphere with a 30 cm radius has a volume of about 1.13×10<sup>-2</sup> m³. <br />
:* Compressing Earth's mass into that volume gives a density of roughly 5.3×10<sup>28</sup> g/cm³. <br />
: That is way way denser than a neutron star. It's doubtful that such a sphere would remain at that density; it would likely explode immediately, or if prevented from doing so, continue to shrink down past 9mm and become a black hole. {{unsigned ip|172.70.110.59|13:26, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
'''False precision: .889 cm?''' Could someone please check "0.35 inches (0.889 cm)"? I'm concerned that this is a matter of {{w|false precision}}, with two significant digits for the customary / imperial system precisely converting to three significant digits in SI (similar to the way people obsess over 98'''.6'''F, which is a precise conversion of the estimate of 37C.). Also, I'd suggest that millimeters are preferable to centimeters. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.170.118|104.23.170.118]] 14:11, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: 2 × 6.6738×10^−11 m^3⋅kg^−1⋅s^−2 × 5.972168×10^24 kg / (299792458 m⋅s^−1)2 = 0.00887 m , so the current 8.9mm looks good. [[User:Nosh|Nosh]] ([[User talk:Nosh|talk]]) 19:16, 8 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why are globes over 12 inches safer than those less than 12 inches? The density calculation above seems to indicate that an earth mass object of 12 inch diameter is much denser than a neutron star. (Of course that calculation was done with an AI - so may not be right.) I did a little searching for things denser than neutron stars - didn't find much. So what is special about 12 inches that makes earth mass things of that size change in safety regime [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]]<br />
:I'm pretty sure there aren't any things denser than a neutron stars. (There are black holes, of course, but those are not really things and may not actually HAVE a meaningful density.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:07, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::')DROP TABLE Talk:3086: Globe Safety; {{unsigned ip|162.158.108.51|07:22, 9 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::So, I'm guessing you've need heard of the theoretical {{w|Quark star}} (a specific example of an {{w|Exotic_star}}, which is hypothesized to exist between the two). [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 18:13, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think that's part of the joke. There's no safe cut-off at which globes made in this fashion would be OK - placing an Earth-sized Earth-mass object immediately adjacent to the Earth would be utterly catastrophic, never mind anything smaller.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.107|172.71.26.107]] 08:32, 9 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3084:_Unstoppable_Force_and_Immovable_Object&diff=376536Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object2025-05-06T20:13:52Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
lol, i remember this explanation from a minutephysics video. however, the version of the problem i heard, which is actually paradoxical, is "what happens when an immovable object meets an '''irresistible''' force?" [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 00:03, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:That was also literally my first thought. [[169]], anyone? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:37, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::How do connect this comic with [[169: Words that End in GRY]]? I see no connection! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:43, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Communicating poorly and then acting smug. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 11:52, 5 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The MinutePhysics video: [https://nebula.tv/videos/minute-physics-immovable-object-vs-unstoppable-force-which-wins/ on Nebula] or [https://youtu.be/9eKc5kgPVrA on YouTube] --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 09:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Come on, it's just an arrow made of W- bosons, right? [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Is there no joke here? Is it just the solution? [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 06:52, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I remember an explanation by Isaac Asimov in one of his books which was like "by definition, an immovable object will not move at all under any force in the universe, and an unstoppable force will move all of the objects in this way" and then explained how the definitions conflicted each other and as such prevented both from being able to register for the hypothetical at the same time [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.161|172.64.236.161]] 06:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In the first MMO games, collision was a big problem. A player could block a doorway, and nobody else could go through. It was even worse if the player had "follower" characters or pets.<br />
One solution was to have characters automatically "push" stationary characters out of the way, but that caused other problems. Modern MMO's such as World of Warcraft simply allow characters to pass through each other, as depicted in this xkcd comic. Our eyes fool us into "seeing" that two characters somehow slid past each other. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.228.132|172.68.228.132]] 07:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Our eyes, or the programmers? I don't have that much experience with MMO's but they probably do render it in specific way to make that effect. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:59, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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When the two things pass through each other, at the instant where they both occupy exactly the same space, is there one object or two? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.159|162.158.216.159]] 08:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Given that force is not an object, one. Just like there was when they weren't colocated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.220|172.69.43.220]] 08:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::OK, but what about the 'unstoppable force carrying particles' in the title text? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 19:00, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I understand it as if a particle interacting with the object counts as 'stopping', in which case an unstoppable force-carrying particle wont have any effect. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.120.157|162.158.120.157]] 20:40, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Two, if you're counting particles as "objects". At the level of particle interactions, two particles aren't merely distinguished by their spatial extent, but also by all their other "quantum numbers" -- charge, flavor, and others. You can absolutely have two particles, even two fermions, that have exactly the same wavefunction in space, but are distinguished by differing in other ways. (And in practice, something like this would be a fermion and a boson anyway.) [[User:Linkhyrule5|Linkhyrule5]] ([[User talk:Linkhyrule5|talk]]) 06:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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The force could simply go around the object. The object hasn't moved, and the force wasn't stopped. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:17, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Redirecting would imply the force could be redirected, allowing us to trap it inside a closed loop, effectively stopping it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.57.132|172.70.57.132]] 15:38, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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This is like the Chinese saying the spear and the shield. Using this comic, I guess spear wins [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Gonna be honest, I think this is my least favorite comic of the last 500 or so. It's a solution already given by minutephysics, except with all the perspective about reference frames, and what people actually mean with these terms replaced by a caption with a superiority complex. I suppose it gets pretty hard 3000 comics in, but c'mon.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.83|172.68.35.83]] 19:18, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:''--Comment by [[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 22:07, 3 May 2025 (UTC) deleted--''<br />
:: Ok, as we're giving personal opinions, I can't let it stand. Some might not exactly be total belly-laughs, but I think they each still have something to them and I prefer a mix of tones (and a wider spatter of focuses and treatments) to them all being exactly the same aspect of 'high-humour'. Not that I'd care to rank them, anyway, but I'm nowhere near ready to go off and make disparaging comments as if this site was bitchaboutxkcd.com, or whatever.<br />
:: I won't try to tell you what to think, yourself, though maybe you should just roll with it. If you really don't like a comic, there'll be another along in two or three days. That might be even 'worse', as well as 'better', but then you can be even more unchill about ''that''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 22:45, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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All forces are irresistable. No objects are immovable. If any force acts on any object, the object moves (or deforms). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.84.145|172.68.84.145]] 22:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Can we not say that Dark Matter, if that's what we imagine it might be, entirely resists the electromagnetic force? (It's one of my possible interpretations of the comic, though without enough hint that it was intended to have me annotate the Explanation accordingly.)<br />
:That said, it's ''unstoppable'' force (and there's are no Cavorite-like forceproof barriers), and it's rather that ''immovable'' objects are awkward to imagine under Relativity and there being no actual preferable frame of reference in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 22:50, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I would say that, since a force is mass*acceleration, the force cannot yet be stated while passing through the immovable object, because the object have to accelerate to calculate the force. Therefore, the "force" is only potential or kinetic energy at this point.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.127.25|162.158.127.25]] 12:54, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I would say that nothing happens. If you think of Pressure and immoveable object: An infinite force would acting on an immoveable (think infinite mass) object would lead to no movement at all.<br />
Well, actually a black hole would be created, swallowing up the object and the force. Since the object's further behavior now cannot be seen from outside mass could be reduced anf the black hole could simply evaporate.<br />
Result: Force and objects actual mass would simply be converted into energy, representing a bomb. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.224|104.23.187.224]] 16:42, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Did someone pull out ChatGPT again for this explanation? The claim that the humor derives from the contrast between the casual meaning of "force" and its meaning in physics is ridiculous and patently false. A "force" in physics doesn't have a physical position to begin with and so it can't "pass through" anything. At this point I really feel like there should be some kind of policy on writing explanations using LLMs like ChatGPT because it almost never adds anything of value and it just complicates the explanation and makes the process of ''real'' people digging into the actual meaning and themes more difficult.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.223|172.71.102.223]] 18:45, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Looking at what it replaced, it was an improvement, if not described as well as I think it should be. I believe it means to talk of the flux from a point-originated field (e.g. the most common fields normally deplete by inverse-square rule, all the way to infinity, from the point(s) of origin, though nuclear forces are... different).<br />
:Given the depiction of the "unstoppable force" as actually 'moving', it has to be looked at as some kind of propagating pulse of 'forceness', albeit one that does not interact with the object seen as in its path (which would therefore neither react to the 'force' nor attenuate its potential effects). But that might need to be said in similarly short fashion (if my interpretation is even agreed with). Good luck! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.52|172.70.162.52]] 20:47, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Agree! The physical explanation of force is plainly wrong in the explanation text. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.207|172.68.110.207]] 23:18, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Could the objects be ''in front'' of each other instead of colliding? {{unsigned|Dardafus1|18:00, 5 May 2025}}<br />
:Not both at the same time... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.224.82|172.69.224.82]] 19:49, 5 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I contemplated this years ago while watching a {{w|Newton's cradle}}, and I came to the conclusion that the irresistible force would transform into an immovable object, and the immovable object would transform into an irresistible force. But honestly, a variation of what he proposes also makes sense, that the immovable object would conduct the irresistible force and retransmit it out the other side. The {{w|Black box}} view of the interaction would be the same either way. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:07, 6 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3084:_Unstoppable_Force_and_Immovable_Object&diff=376535Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object2025-05-06T20:11:19Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
lol, i remember this explanation from a minutephysics video. however, the version of the problem i heard, which is actually paradoxical, is "what happens when an immovable object meets an '''irresistible''' force?" [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 00:03, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:That was also literally my first thought. [[169]], anyone? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:37, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::How do connect this comic with [[169: Words that End in GRY]]? I see no connection! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:43, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Communicating poorly and then acting smug. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 11:52, 5 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The MinutePhysics video: [https://nebula.tv/videos/minute-physics-immovable-object-vs-unstoppable-force-which-wins/ on Nebula] or [https://youtu.be/9eKc5kgPVrA on YouTube] --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 09:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Come on, it's just an arrow made of W- bosons, right? [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is there no joke here? Is it just the solution? [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 06:52, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I remember an explanation by Isaac Asimov in one of his books which was like "by definition, an immovable object will not move at all under any force in the universe, and an unstoppable force will move all of the objects in this way" and then explained how the definitions conflicted each other and as such prevented both from being able to register for the hypothetical at the same time [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.161|172.64.236.161]] 06:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In the first MMO games, collision was a big problem. A player could block a doorway, and nobody else could go through. It was even worse if the player had "follower" characters or pets.<br />
One solution was to have characters automatically "push" stationary characters out of the way, but that caused other problems. Modern MMO's such as World of Warcraft simply allow characters to pass through each other, as depicted in this xkcd comic. Our eyes fool us into "seeing" that two characters somehow slid past each other. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.228.132|172.68.228.132]] 07:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Our eyes, or the programmers? I don't have that much experience with MMO's but they probably do render it in specific way to make that effect. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:59, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
When the two things pass through each other, at the instant where they both occupy exactly the same space, is there one object or two? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.159|162.158.216.159]] 08:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Given that force is not an object, one. Just like there was when they weren't colocated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.220|172.69.43.220]] 08:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::OK, but what about the 'unstoppable force carrying particles' in the title text? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 19:00, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I understand it as if a particle interacting with the object counts as 'stopping', in which case an unstoppable force-carrying particle wont have any effect. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.120.157|162.158.120.157]] 20:40, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Two, if you're counting particles as "objects". At the level of particle interactions, two particles aren't merely distinguished by their spatial extent, but also by all their other "quantum numbers" -- charge, flavor, and others. You can absolutely have two particles, even two fermions, that have exactly the same wavefunction in space, but are distinguished by differing in other ways. (And in practice, something like this would be a fermion and a boson anyway.) [[User:Linkhyrule5|Linkhyrule5]] ([[User talk:Linkhyrule5|talk]]) 06:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The force could simply go around the object. The object hasn't moved, and the force wasn't stopped. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:17, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Redirecting would imply the force could be redirected, allowing us to trap it inside a closed loop, effectively stopping it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.57.132|172.70.57.132]] 15:38, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is like the Chinese saying the spear and the shield. Using this comic, I guess spear wins [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna be honest, I think this is my least favorite comic of the last 500 or so. It's a solution already given by minutephysics, except with all the perspective about reference frames, and what people actually mean with these terms replaced by a caption with a superiority complex. I suppose it gets pretty hard 3000 comics in, but c'mon.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.83|172.68.35.83]] 19:18, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:''--Comment by [[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 22:07, 3 May 2025 (UTC) deleted--''<br />
:: Ok, as we're giving personal opinions, I can't let it stand. Some might not exactly be total belly-laughs, but I think they each still have something to them and I prefer a mix of tones (and a wider spatter of focuses and treatments) to them all being exactly the same aspect of 'high-humour'. Not that I'd care to rank them, anyway, but I'm nowhere near ready to go off and make disparaging comments as if this site was bitchaboutxkcd.com, or whatever.<br />
:: I won't try to tell you what to think, yourself, though maybe you should just roll with it. If you really don't like a comic, there'll be another along in two or three days. That might be even 'worse', as well as 'better', but then you can be even more unchill about ''that''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 22:45, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
All forces are irresistable. No objects are immovable. If any force acts on any object, the object moves (or deforms). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.84.145|172.68.84.145]] 22:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Can we not say that Dark Matter, if that's what we imagine it might be, entirely resists the electromagnetic force? (It's one of my possible interpretations of the comic, though without enough hint that it was intended to have me annotate the Explanation accordingly.)<br />
:That said, it's ''unstoppable'' force (and there's are no Cavorite-like forceproof barriers), and it's rather that ''immovable'' objects are awkward to imagine under Relativity and there being no actual preferable frame of reference in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 22:50, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I would say that, since a force is mass*acceleration, the force cannot yet be stated while passing through the immovable object, because the object have to accelerate to calculate the force. Therefore, the "force" is only potential or kinetic energy at this point.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.127.25|162.158.127.25]] 12:54, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I would say that nothing happens. If you think of Pressure and immoveable object: An infinite force would acting on an immoveable (think infinite mass) object would lead to no movement at all.<br />
Well, actually a black hole would be created, swallowing up the object and the force. Since the object's further behavior now cannot be seen from outside mass could be reduced anf the black hole could simply evaporate.<br />
Result: Force and objects actual mass would simply be converted into energy, representing a bomb. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.224|104.23.187.224]] 16:42, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did someone pull out ChatGPT again for this explanation? The claim that the humor derives from the contrast between the casual meaning of "force" and its meaning in physics is ridiculous and patently false. A "force" in physics doesn't have a physical position to begin with and so it can't "pass through" anything. At this point I really feel like there should be some kind of policy on writing explanations using LLMs like ChatGPT because it almost never adds anything of value and it just complicates the explanation and makes the process of ''real'' people digging into the actual meaning and themes more difficult.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.223|172.71.102.223]] 18:45, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Looking at what it replaced, it was an improvement, if not described as well as I think it should be. I believe it means to talk of the flux from a point-originated field (e.g. the most common fields normally deplete by inverse-square rule, all the way to infinity, from the point(s) of origin, though nuclear forces are... different).<br />
:Given the depiction of the "unstoppable force" as actually 'moving', it has to be looked at as some kind of propagating pulse of 'forceness', albeit one that does not interact with the object seen as in its path (which would therefore neither react to the 'force' nor attenuate its potential effects). But that might need to be said in similarly short fashion (if my interpretation is even agreed with). Good luck! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.52|172.70.162.52]] 20:47, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Agree! The physical explanation of force is plainly wrong in the explanation text. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.207|172.68.110.207]] 23:18, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could the objects be ''in front'' of each other instead of colliding? {{unsigned|Dardafus1|18:00, 5 May 2025}}<br />
:Not both at the same time... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.224.82|172.69.224.82]] 19:49, 5 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I contemplated this years ago while watching a {{w|Newton's cradle}}, and I came to the conclusion that the irresistible force would transform into an immovable object, and the immovable object would transform into an irresistible force. But honestly, a variation of what he proposes also makes sense, that the immovable object would conduct the irresistible force and retransmit it out the other side. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:07, 6 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3084:_Unstoppable_Force_and_Immovable_Object&diff=376534Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object2025-05-06T20:07:39Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
lol, i remember this explanation from a minutephysics video. however, the version of the problem i heard, which is actually paradoxical, is "what happens when an immovable object meets an '''irresistible''' force?" [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 00:03, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:That was also literally my first thought. [[169]], anyone? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:37, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::How do connect this comic with [[169: Words that End in GRY]]? I see no connection! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:43, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Communicating poorly and then acting smug. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 11:52, 5 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The MinutePhysics video: [https://nebula.tv/videos/minute-physics-immovable-object-vs-unstoppable-force-which-wins/ on Nebula] or [https://youtu.be/9eKc5kgPVrA on YouTube] --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 09:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Come on, it's just an arrow made of W- bosons, right? [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is there no joke here? Is it just the solution? [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 06:52, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I remember an explanation by Isaac Asimov in one of his books which was like "by definition, an immovable object will not move at all under any force in the universe, and an unstoppable force will move all of the objects in this way" and then explained how the definitions conflicted each other and as such prevented both from being able to register for the hypothetical at the same time [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.161|172.64.236.161]] 06:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In the first MMO games, collision was a big problem. A player could block a doorway, and nobody else could go through. It was even worse if the player had "follower" characters or pets.<br />
One solution was to have characters automatically "push" stationary characters out of the way, but that caused other problems. Modern MMO's such as World of Warcraft simply allow characters to pass through each other, as depicted in this xkcd comic. Our eyes fool us into "seeing" that two characters somehow slid past each other. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.228.132|172.68.228.132]] 07:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Our eyes, or the programmers? I don't have that much experience with MMO's but they probably do render it in specific way to make that effect. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:59, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
When the two things pass through each other, at the instant where they both occupy exactly the same space, is there one object or two? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.159|162.158.216.159]] 08:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Given that force is not an object, one. Just like there was when they weren't colocated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.220|172.69.43.220]] 08:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::OK, but what about the 'unstoppable force carrying particles' in the title text? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 19:00, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I understand it as if a particle interacting with the object counts as 'stopping', in which case an unstoppable force-carrying particle wont have any effect. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.120.157|162.158.120.157]] 20:40, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Two, if you're counting particles as "objects". At the level of particle interactions, two particles aren't merely distinguished by their spatial extent, but also by all their other "quantum numbers" -- charge, flavor, and others. You can absolutely have two particles, even two fermions, that have exactly the same wavefunction in space, but are distinguished by differing in other ways. (And in practice, something like this would be a fermion and a boson anyway.) [[User:Linkhyrule5|Linkhyrule5]] ([[User talk:Linkhyrule5|talk]]) 06:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The force could simply go around the object. The object hasn't moved, and the force wasn't stopped. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:17, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Redirecting would imply the force could be redirected, allowing us to trap it inside a closed loop, effectively stopping it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.57.132|172.70.57.132]] 15:38, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is like the Chinese saying the spear and the shield. Using this comic, I guess spear wins [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Gonna be honest, I think this is my least favorite comic of the last 500 or so. It's a solution already given by minutephysics, except with all the perspective about reference frames, and what people actually mean with these terms replaced by a caption with a superiority complex. I suppose it gets pretty hard 3000 comics in, but c'mon.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.83|172.68.35.83]] 19:18, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:''--Comment by [[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 22:07, 3 May 2025 (UTC) deleted--''<br />
:: Ok, as we're giving personal opinions, I can't let it stand. Some might not exactly be total belly-laughs, but I think they each still have something to them and I prefer a mix of tones (and a wider spatter of focuses and treatments) to them all being exactly the same aspect of 'high-humour'. Not that I'd care to rank them, anyway, but I'm nowhere near ready to go off and make disparaging comments as if this site was bitchaboutxkcd.com, or whatever.<br />
:: I won't try to tell you what to think, yourself, though maybe you should just roll with it. If you really don't like a comic, there'll be another along in two or three days. That might be even 'worse', as well as 'better', but then you can be even more unchill about ''that''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 22:45, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
All forces are irresistable. No objects are immovable. If any force acts on any object, the object moves (or deforms). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.84.145|172.68.84.145]] 22:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Can we not say that Dark Matter, if that's what we imagine it might be, entirely resists the electromagnetic force? (It's one of my possible interpretations of the comic, though without enough hint that it was intended to have me annotate the Explanation accordingly.)<br />
:That said, it's ''unstoppable'' force (and there's are no Cavorite-like forceproof barriers), and it's rather that ''immovable'' objects are awkward to imagine under Relativity and there being no actual preferable frame of reference in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 22:50, 3 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I would say that, since a force is mass*acceleration, the force cannot yet be stated while passing through the immovable object, because the object have to accelerate to calculate the force. Therefore, the "force" is only potential or kinetic energy at this point.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.127.25|162.158.127.25]] 12:54, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I would say that nothing happens. If you think of Pressure and immoveable object: An infinite force would acting on an immoveable (think infinite mass) object would lead to no movement at all.<br />
Well, actually a black hole would be created, swallowing up the object and the force. Since the object's further behavior now cannot be seen from outside mass could be reduced anf the black hole could simply evaporate.<br />
Result: Force and objects actual mass would simply be converted into energy, representing a bomb. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.224|104.23.187.224]] 16:42, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did someone pull out ChatGPT again for this explanation? The claim that the humor derives from the contrast between the casual meaning of "force" and its meaning in physics is ridiculous and patently false. A "force" in physics doesn't have a physical position to begin with and so it can't "pass through" anything. At this point I really feel like there should be some kind of policy on writing explanations using LLMs like ChatGPT because it almost never adds anything of value and it just complicates the explanation and makes the process of ''real'' people digging into the actual meaning and themes more difficult.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.223|172.71.102.223]] 18:45, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Looking at what it replaced, it was an improvement, if not described as well as I think it should be. I believe it means to talk of the flux from a point-originated field (e.g. the most common fields normally deplete by inverse-square rule, all the way to infinity, from the point(s) of origin, though nuclear forces are... different).<br />
:Given the depiction of the "unstoppable force" as actually 'moving', it has to be looked at as some kind of propagating pulse of 'forceness', albeit one that does not interact with the object seen as in its path (which would therefore neither react to the 'force' nor attenuate its potential effects). But that might need to be said in similarly short fashion (if my interpretation is even agreed with). Good luck! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.52|172.70.162.52]] 20:47, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Agree! The physical explanation of force is plainly wrong in the explanation text. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.207|172.68.110.207]] 23:18, 4 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could the objects be ''in front'' of each other instead of colliding? {{unsigned|Dardafus1|18:00, 5 May 2025}}<br />
:Not both at the same time... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.224.82|172.69.224.82]] 19:49, 5 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I contemplated this years ago while watching a {{w|Newton's cradle}}, and I came to the conclusion that the irresistible force would transform into an immovable object, and the immovable object would transform into an irresistible force. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:07, 6 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3083:_Jupiter_Core&diff=376093Talk:3083: Jupiter Core2025-05-02T14:30:07Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
NOOO RANDALL USED ‘DATA’ AS SINGULAR NOOOO I HOPE HE FIXES IT. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 15:17, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Used with an information science perspective as it is here, it is usually used as a singular (https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/data-is-or-data-are/). At least, that's what I found while clicking around with one of my computer mouses :P [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:39, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: From your source: "In academic and scientific writing, the word data is almost always treated as a plural word, as in ''The data collected by the research team suggest that the water supply has been contaminated''." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.144.179|172.71.144.179]] 18:49, 30 April 2025 (UTC) <br />
::: Umm... Isn't that that statement contradictory? If it was being treated as a plural, wouldn't that say, "The data ... ''have'' been contaminated"? [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 14:23, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::: Never mind. Bad parsing on my part... [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 14:30, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:English is not Latin. Latin words work differently in English than they do in Latin. In English, "data" is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun mass noun] (a.k.a., an uncountable noun). For almost as long as the English language has existed, folks have been trying to "correct" people into using Latin rules of grammar, but that's not correct and never has been. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:43, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Exactly. English doesn't say noun adjective either only a few things continued that aspect of Romance grammar i.e. fee simple and surgeon general (I'm surprised it's alloidial title not title alloidial!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.195.74|172.71.195.74]] 20:20, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::If "data" aren't countable, then they probably aren't data... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.20|172.68.205.20]] 00:35, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: ‘Data’ is not a mass noun. The singular of ‘data’ is ‘datum’. People treat it as a mass noun when it is not. Also, it directly comes from Latin, and is a Latin word, and should be treated as one. Same reason why the plural of octopus is octopi. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 07:02, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I suspect you're trolling, but if so you got me. Octopus is from Greek, not Latin. English has stolen and mangled words from many languages. "Data" is just one you happen to be familiar with. Your familiarity doesn't mean the usage should differ. [[User:DaBunny42|DaBunny42]] ([[User talk:DaBunny42|talk]]) 09:07, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Also, it's "octopodes". ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.179|172.69.195.179]] 09:47, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone fix the formatting for the table, it’s annoying on mobile and shrinks the page because its 1 row [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Nevermind, it wasn’t loading properly [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Sorry, that was on me. Just figuring out how to use tables. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 17:07, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think it contains nougat. Perhaps with further study of Jupiter, humanity will finally be able to learn what, exactly, nougat is. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jupiter_diagram.svg This image] has always given me the impression it's actually a delicious frozen cake. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:08, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Nonsense - it's obviously a toy/choking hazard.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.89|141.101.99.89]] 08:21, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Two things:<br />
<br />
1: It looks like Jupiter is made of avocado flesh in the avocado pit image.<br />
<br />
2: If jupiter were a giant avocado with the same mass, it would represent 95 quadrillion years' worth of global avocado production.<br />
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Sounds like a solution to the quacamole crisis since Trump's tariffs on Mexico. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:14, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:There's probably some pun to be made about a mole of guacamole, but you would actually need several thousand moles of avocados to equal the mass of jupiter. {{unsigned|Dextrous Fred|01:45, 2 May 2025}}<br />
<br />
Also, the baby Jupiter raises questions about it's sexuality. Also who the father is. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Jupiter's parents are Saturn and Opis. Seems as if Saturn is a single parent since Opis is nowhere to be found in the solar system. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.86|172.69.109.86]] 21:51, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: It looks to me like Velikovsky confused Aphrodite with Athena. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.150.94|172.69.150.94]] 17:58, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In an Arthur C. Clarke novel, I think ''2010: Odyssey Two'', it was postulated that the core of Jupiter is diamond. I have since seen articles from others with a similar theory. It is apparently plausible, given the extreme pressures and presence of carbon. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:40, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Who else didn't know the movies and thought 2010: Odyssey Two was a comic (probably just me) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.89|172.71.166.89]] 15:19, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Ignore the movies. They butchered the stories. Read the novels. And after 2010, there is ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. They get a bit weird, but great stories. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:09, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's up with the description "Hard ball from avocado" rather than "Avocado pit"? The only results from a Google search for "Hard ball from avocado" reference this XKCD, so it doesn't seem to be some commonly-used term for an avocado pit that I'd never heard. Did Randall just have a brain fart and forget the word "pit"? Seems unlikely. If not, if there some hidden meaning to "Hard ball from avocado"? [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:51, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Presumably it's because the joke rests on the fact that it's roughly spherical, so makes a decent analogy with a planetary core (and if you cut in to the avocado in the right way you could make it look sort of like one of those cutaway planetary layer diagrams). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.14|172.70.162.14]] 15:59, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Gemini [https://g.co/gemini/share/3341d4e56595 seems to have] a better understanding of humor than I do: "The phrase highlights the mundane, everyday nature of an avocado pit and the unsophisticated way it's described ("hard ball"), making its inclusion as a "leading theory" for the core of a gas giant planet ridiculous and therefore funny. It's unexpected and breaks the pattern of the more scientific-sounding labels, contributing to the overall แหย่ (yae - playful teasing) tone of the strip." [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:55, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Apparently, if Jupiter really were an avocado it would be about 1/4 less dense. Weirdly, googling the two gave me avocado density in kg/m^3, and Jupiter density in g/cm^3... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.13|172.70.162.13]] 16:06, 1 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3083:_Jupiter_Core&diff=376092Talk:3083: Jupiter Core2025-05-02T14:24:49Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
NOOO RANDALL USED ‘DATA’ AS SINGULAR NOOOO I HOPE HE FIXES IT. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 15:17, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Used with an information science perspective as it is here, it is usually used as a singular (https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/data-is-or-data-are/). At least, that's what I found while clicking around with one of my computer mouses :P [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:39, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: From your source: "In academic and scientific writing, the word data is almost always treated as a plural word, as in ''The data collected by the research team suggest that the water supply has been contaminated''." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.144.179|172.71.144.179]] 18:49, 30 April 2025 (UTC) <br />
::: Umm... Isn't that that statement contradictory? If it was being treated as a plural, wouldn't that say, "The data ... ''have'' been contaminated"? [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 14:23, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:English is not Latin. Latin words work differently in English than they do in Latin. In English, "data" is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun mass noun] (a.k.a., an uncountable noun). For almost as long as the English language has existed, folks have been trying to "correct" people into using Latin rules of grammar, but that's not correct and never has been. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:43, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Exactly. English doesn't say noun adjective either only a few things continued that aspect of Romance grammar i.e. fee simple and surgeon general (I'm surprised it's alloidial title not title alloidial!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.195.74|172.71.195.74]] 20:20, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::If "data" aren't countable, then they probably aren't data... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.20|172.68.205.20]] 00:35, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: ‘Data’ is not a mass noun. The singular of ‘data’ is ‘datum’. People treat it as a mass noun when it is not. Also, it directly comes from Latin, and is a Latin word, and should be treated as one. Same reason why the plural of octopus is octopi. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 07:02, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I suspect you're trolling, but if so you got me. Octopus is from Greek, not Latin. English has stolen and mangled words from many languages. "Data" is just one you happen to be familiar with. Your familiarity doesn't mean the usage should differ. [[User:DaBunny42|DaBunny42]] ([[User talk:DaBunny42|talk]]) 09:07, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Also, it's "octopodes". ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.179|172.69.195.179]] 09:47, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone fix the formatting for the table, it’s annoying on mobile and shrinks the page because its 1 row [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Nevermind, it wasn’t loading properly [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Sorry, that was on me. Just figuring out how to use tables. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 17:07, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think it contains nougat. Perhaps with further study of Jupiter, humanity will finally be able to learn what, exactly, nougat is. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jupiter_diagram.svg This image] has always given me the impression it's actually a delicious frozen cake. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:08, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Nonsense - it's obviously a toy/choking hazard.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.89|141.101.99.89]] 08:21, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Two things:<br />
<br />
1: It looks like Jupiter is made of avocado flesh in the avocado pit image.<br />
<br />
2: If jupiter were a giant avocado with the same mass, it would represent 95 quadrillion years' worth of global avocado production.<br />
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Sounds like a solution to the quacamole crisis since Trump's tariffs on Mexico. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:14, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:There's probably some pun to be made about a mole of guacamole, but you would actually need several thousand moles of avocados to equal the mass of jupiter. {{unsigned|Dextrous Fred|01:45, 2 May 2025}}<br />
<br />
Also, the baby Jupiter raises questions about it's sexuality. Also who the father is. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Jupiter's parents are Saturn and Opis. Seems as if Saturn is a single parent since Opis is nowhere to be found in the solar system. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.86|172.69.109.86]] 21:51, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: It looks to me like Velikovsky confused Aphrodite with Athena. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.150.94|172.69.150.94]] 17:58, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In an Arthur C. Clarke novel, I think ''2010: Odyssey Two'', it was postulated that the core of Jupiter is diamond. I have since seen articles from others with a similar theory. It is apparently plausible, given the extreme pressures and presence of carbon. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:40, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Who else didn't know the movies and thought 2010: Odyssey Two was a comic (probably just me) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.89|172.71.166.89]] 15:19, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Ignore the movies. They butchered the stories. Read the novels. And after 2010, there is ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. They get a bit weird, but great stories. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:09, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's up with the description "Hard ball from avocado" rather than "Avocado pit"? The only results from a Google search for "Hard ball from avocado" reference this XKCD, so it doesn't seem to be some commonly-used term for an avocado pit that I'd never heard. Did Randall just have a brain fart and forget the word "pit"? Seems unlikely. If not, if there some hidden meaning to "Hard ball from avocado"? [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:51, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Presumably it's because the joke rests on the fact that it's roughly spherical, so makes a decent analogy with a planetary core (and if you cut in to the avocado in the right way you could make it look sort of like one of those cutaway planetary layer diagrams). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.14|172.70.162.14]] 15:59, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Gemini [https://g.co/gemini/share/3341d4e56595 seems to have] a better understanding of humor than I do: "The phrase highlights the mundane, everyday nature of an avocado pit and the unsophisticated way it's described ("hard ball"), making its inclusion as a "leading theory" for the core of a gas giant planet ridiculous and therefore funny. It's unexpected and breaks the pattern of the more scientific-sounding labels, contributing to the overall แหย่ (yae - playful teasing) tone of the strip." [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:55, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Apparently, if Jupiter really were an avocado it would be about 1/4 less dense. Weirdly, googling the two gave me avocado density in kg/m^3, and Jupiter density in g/cm^3... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.13|172.70.162.13]] 16:06, 1 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3083:_Jupiter_Core&diff=376090Talk:3083: Jupiter Core2025-05-02T14:24:16Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
NOOO RANDALL USED ‘DATA’ AS SINGULAR NOOOO I HOPE HE FIXES IT. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 15:17, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Used with an information science perspective as it is here, it is usually used as a singular (https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/data-is-or-data-are/). At least, that's what I found while clicking around with one of my computer mouses :P [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:39, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: From your source: "In academic and scientific writing, the word data is almost always treated as a plural word, as in ''The data collected by the research team suggest that the water supply has been contaminated''." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.144.179|172.71.144.179]] 18:49, 30 April 2025 (UTC) <br />
::: Umm... Isn't that that statement contradictory? If it was being treated as a plural, wouldn't that say, "The data ... 'have' been contaminated"? [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 14:23, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:English is not Latin. Latin words work differently in English than they do in Latin. In English, "data" is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun mass noun] (a.k.a., an uncountable noun). For almost as long as the English language has existed, folks have been trying to "correct" people into using Latin rules of grammar, but that's not correct and never has been. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:43, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Exactly. English doesn't say noun adjective either only a few things continued that aspect of Romance grammar i.e. fee simple and surgeon general (I'm surprised it's alloidial title not title alloidial!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.195.74|172.71.195.74]] 20:20, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::If "data" aren't countable, then they probably aren't data... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.20|172.68.205.20]] 00:35, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: ‘Data’ is not a mass noun. The singular of ‘data’ is ‘datum’. People treat it as a mass noun when it is not. Also, it directly comes from Latin, and is a Latin word, and should be treated as one. Same reason why the plural of octopus is octopi. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 07:02, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I suspect you're trolling, but if so you got me. Octopus is from Greek, not Latin. English has stolen and mangled words from many languages. "Data" is just one you happen to be familiar with. Your familiarity doesn't mean the usage should differ. [[User:DaBunny42|DaBunny42]] ([[User talk:DaBunny42|talk]]) 09:07, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Also, it's "octopodes". ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.179|172.69.195.179]] 09:47, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone fix the formatting for the table, it’s annoying on mobile and shrinks the page because its 1 row [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Nevermind, it wasn’t loading properly [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Sorry, that was on me. Just figuring out how to use tables. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 17:07, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think it contains nougat. Perhaps with further study of Jupiter, humanity will finally be able to learn what, exactly, nougat is. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jupiter_diagram.svg This image] has always given me the impression it's actually a delicious frozen cake. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:08, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Nonsense - it's obviously a toy/choking hazard.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.89|141.101.99.89]] 08:21, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Two things:<br />
<br />
1: It looks like Jupiter is made of avocado flesh in the avocado pit image.<br />
<br />
2: If jupiter were a giant avocado with the same mass, it would represent 95 quadrillion years' worth of global avocado production.<br />
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Sounds like a solution to the quacamole crisis since Trump's tariffs on Mexico. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:14, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:There's probably some pun to be made about a mole of guacamole, but you would actually need several thousand moles of avocados to equal the mass of jupiter. {{unsigned|Dextrous Fred|01:45, 2 May 2025}}<br />
<br />
Also, the baby Jupiter raises questions about it's sexuality. Also who the father is. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Jupiter's parents are Saturn and Opis. Seems as if Saturn is a single parent since Opis is nowhere to be found in the solar system. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.86|172.69.109.86]] 21:51, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: It looks to me like Velikovsky confused Aphrodite with Athena. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.150.94|172.69.150.94]] 17:58, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In an Arthur C. Clarke novel, I think ''2010: Odyssey Two'', it was postulated that the core of Jupiter is diamond. I have since seen articles from others with a similar theory. It is apparently plausible, given the extreme pressures and presence of carbon. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:40, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Who else didn't know the movies and thought 2010: Odyssey Two was a comic (probably just me) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.89|172.71.166.89]] 15:19, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Ignore the movies. They butchered the stories. Read the novels. And after 2010, there is ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. They get a bit weird, but great stories. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:09, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's up with the description "Hard ball from avocado" rather than "Avocado pit"? The only results from a Google search for "Hard ball from avocado" reference this XKCD, so it doesn't seem to be some commonly-used term for an avocado pit that I'd never heard. Did Randall just have a brain fart and forget the word "pit"? Seems unlikely. If not, if there some hidden meaning to "Hard ball from avocado"? [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:51, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Presumably it's because the joke rests on the fact that it's roughly spherical, so makes a decent analogy with a planetary core (and if you cut in to the avocado in the right way you could make it look sort of like one of those cutaway planetary layer diagrams). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.14|172.70.162.14]] 15:59, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Gemini [https://g.co/gemini/share/3341d4e56595 seems to have] a better understanding of humor than I do: "The phrase highlights the mundane, everyday nature of an avocado pit and the unsophisticated way it's described ("hard ball"), making its inclusion as a "leading theory" for the core of a gas giant planet ridiculous and therefore funny. It's unexpected and breaks the pattern of the more scientific-sounding labels, contributing to the overall แหย่ (yae - playful teasing) tone of the strip." [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:55, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Apparently, if Jupiter really were an avocado it would be about 1/4 less dense. Weirdly, googling the two gave me avocado density in kg/m^3, and Jupiter density in g/cm^3... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.13|172.70.162.13]] 16:06, 1 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3083:_Jupiter_Core&diff=376089Talk:3083: Jupiter Core2025-05-02T14:23:11Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
NOOO RANDALL USED ‘DATA’ AS SINGULAR NOOOO I HOPE HE FIXES IT. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 15:17, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Used with an information science perspective as it is here, it is usually used as a singular (https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/data-is-or-data-are/). At least, that's what I found while clicking around with one of my computer mouses :P [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:39, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: From your source: "In academic and scientific writing, the word data is almost always treated as a plural word, as in ''The data collected by the research team suggest that the water supply has been contaminated''." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.144.179|172.71.144.179]] 18:49, 30 April 2025 (UTC) <br />
::: Umm... Isn't that that statement contradictory? If it was being treated as a plural, wouldn't that say, "The data ... have been contaminated"? [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 14:23, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:English is not Latin. Latin words work differently in English than they do in Latin. In English, "data" is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun mass noun] (a.k.a., an uncountable noun). For almost as long as the English language has existed, folks have been trying to "correct" people into using Latin rules of grammar, but that's not correct and never has been. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:43, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Exactly. English doesn't say noun adjective either only a few things continued that aspect of Romance grammar i.e. fee simple and surgeon general (I'm surprised it's alloidial title not title alloidial!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.195.74|172.71.195.74]] 20:20, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::If "data" aren't countable, then they probably aren't data... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.20|172.68.205.20]] 00:35, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: ‘Data’ is not a mass noun. The singular of ‘data’ is ‘datum’. People treat it as a mass noun when it is not. Also, it directly comes from Latin, and is a Latin word, and should be treated as one. Same reason why the plural of octopus is octopi. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 07:02, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I suspect you're trolling, but if so you got me. Octopus is from Greek, not Latin. English has stolen and mangled words from many languages. "Data" is just one you happen to be familiar with. Your familiarity doesn't mean the usage should differ. [[User:DaBunny42|DaBunny42]] ([[User talk:DaBunny42|talk]]) 09:07, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Also, it's "octopodes". ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.179|172.69.195.179]] 09:47, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone fix the formatting for the table, it’s annoying on mobile and shrinks the page because its 1 row [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Nevermind, it wasn’t loading properly [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Sorry, that was on me. Just figuring out how to use tables. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 17:07, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think it contains nougat. Perhaps with further study of Jupiter, humanity will finally be able to learn what, exactly, nougat is. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 16:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jupiter_diagram.svg This image] has always given me the impression it's actually a delicious frozen cake. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:08, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Nonsense - it's obviously a toy/choking hazard.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.89|141.101.99.89]] 08:21, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Two things:<br />
<br />
1: It looks like Jupiter is made of avocado flesh in the avocado pit image.<br />
<br />
2: If jupiter were a giant avocado with the same mass, it would represent 95 quadrillion years' worth of global avocado production.<br />
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Sounds like a solution to the quacamole crisis since Trump's tariffs on Mexico. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:14, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:There's probably some pun to be made about a mole of guacamole, but you would actually need several thousand moles of avocados to equal the mass of jupiter. {{unsigned|Dextrous Fred|01:45, 2 May 2025}}<br />
<br />
Also, the baby Jupiter raises questions about it's sexuality. Also who the father is. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |<span style="font-family:Atomic Age;font-size:16pt;color:red;">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']]</sup>[[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 19:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Jupiter's parents are Saturn and Opis. Seems as if Saturn is a single parent since Opis is nowhere to be found in the solar system. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.86|172.69.109.86]] 21:51, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: It looks to me like Velikovsky confused Aphrodite with Athena. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.150.94|172.69.150.94]] 17:58, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In an Arthur C. Clarke novel, I think ''2010: Odyssey Two'', it was postulated that the core of Jupiter is diamond. I have since seen articles from others with a similar theory. It is apparently plausible, given the extreme pressures and presence of carbon. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:40, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Who else didn't know the movies and thought 2010: Odyssey Two was a comic (probably just me) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.89|172.71.166.89]] 15:19, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Ignore the movies. They butchered the stories. Read the novels. And after 2010, there is ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. They get a bit weird, but great stories. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:09, 2 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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What's up with the description "Hard ball from avocado" rather than "Avocado pit"? The only results from a Google search for "Hard ball from avocado" reference this XKCD, so it doesn't seem to be some commonly-used term for an avocado pit that I'd never heard. Did Randall just have a brain fart and forget the word "pit"? Seems unlikely. If not, if there some hidden meaning to "Hard ball from avocado"? [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:51, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Presumably it's because the joke rests on the fact that it's roughly spherical, so makes a decent analogy with a planetary core (and if you cut in to the avocado in the right way you could make it look sort of like one of those cutaway planetary layer diagrams). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.14|172.70.162.14]] 15:59, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Gemini [https://g.co/gemini/share/3341d4e56595 seems to have] a better understanding of humor than I do: "The phrase highlights the mundane, everyday nature of an avocado pit and the unsophisticated way it's described ("hard ball"), making its inclusion as a "leading theory" for the core of a gas giant planet ridiculous and therefore funny. It's unexpected and breaks the pattern of the more scientific-sounding labels, contributing to the overall แหย่ (yae - playful teasing) tone of the strip." [[User:SethML|SethML]] ([[User talk:SethML|talk]]) 15:55, 1 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Apparently, if Jupiter really were an avocado it would be about 1/4 less dense. Weirdly, googling the two gave me avocado density in kg/m^3, and Jupiter density in g/cm^3... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.13|172.70.162.13]] 16:06, 1 May 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3083:_Jupiter_Core&diff=375782Talk:3083: Jupiter Core2025-04-30T15:39:18Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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NOOO RANDALL USED ‘DATA’ AS SINGULAR NOOOO I HOPE HE FIXES IT. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 15:17, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Used with an information science perspective as it is here, it is usually used as a singular (https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/data-is-or-data-are/). At least, that's what I found while clicking around with one of my computer mouses :P [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:39, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
Can someone fix the formatting for the table, it’s annoying on mobile and shrinks the page because its 1 row [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Nevermind, it wasn’t loading properly [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3083:_Jupiter_Core&diff=375781Talk:3083: Jupiter Core2025-04-30T15:38:42Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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NOOO RANDALL USED ‘DATA’ AS SINGULAR NOOOO I HOPE HE FIXES IT. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 15:17, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Used with an information science perspective as it is here, it is usually used as a singular (https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/data-is-or-data-are/). At least, that's what I found while clicking around with one of my computer mouses :P [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:38, 30 April 2025 (UTC)Can someone fix the formatting for the table, it’s annoying on mobile and shrinks the page because its 1 row [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:35, 30 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Nevermind, it wasn’t loading properly [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 15:37, 30 April 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3073:_Tariffs&diff=372032Talk:3073: Tariffs2025-04-10T00:08:14Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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{{notice|This comic and explanation is about present-day politics and {{w|Donald Trump|Donald Trump, the current President of the United States}}. Additionally, the comic is about a political policy point that has disparate viewpoints which are both backed by extensive study and rarely implemented well. Please {{w|WP:DFTT|don’t feed the trolls}}, meaning that you don’t give recognition or respond to trolls or vandals. If you find vandalism, revert and move on. If the vandal is a registered user, {{w|WP:RBI|revert, block and ignore}}. If you are not an admin and need assistance in blocking someone, send a message to [[User:Kynde]] or [[User:Theusaf]]. As with these contentious topics, please do not edit if you believe you have a conflict of interest or might be writing in a biased and slanted manner (in regards to both major American political parties). Be {{w|WP:BOLD|bold}}, but not reckless. Always be considerate of the other side, don’t {{w|WP:CIVIL|attack people}}, and always {{w|WP:AGF|assume good faith}}. Thanks, '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:pink">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#B1E4E3">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 00:23, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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Uh, still no April fools [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 23:50, 7 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The April fools is the president the U.S. Elected. (note: I am Usanian)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.232|172.70.214.232]] 12:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I have good news [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 20:14, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
I felt like using all caps is a good idea for explanations, since the comic itself is all caps [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 00:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Please don't. If you did that, then all of the other explanations and transcripts would have to be edited to all-caps, which makes it harder to read. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 01:07, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Doesn't just about ''every'' xkcd comic use all-caps? That would make pretty much the entire wiki unreadable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.35|172.71.155.35]] 04:15, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Plus, there are very few uses of lowercase letters. It just doesn't make sense. [[User:Whoa|Whoa]] ([[User talk:Whoa|talk]]) 21:01, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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What's wrong with the explanation? It's showing this weird string of letters: expDia thud enzo Isla idiosyncrasies talk 3totheaudienceandtheotherswhoareyouheresoearlyinthedayafterMittenslefttodois sign up for both ofuscan'twaitforthemostparttobeabrightandwarmwelcomeandIhopethatyouwillfindapenthatwillOrbitz pap [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23 7 April 2025 EST<br />
: Vandals --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 00:32, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I'm getting a few Cloudflare messages that the server isn't responding. I'm used to explainxkcd giving straight 503s, etc, but this is the kind of thing (code 522, in at least one case) that you get only when an active pressure (crap-spamming, etc) is being applied. I'm wondering if there's some pushback from the pro-tariff (or at least 'pro-Donald') online community. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 11:12, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Hopefully, just HOPEFULLY, we can prevent the comment section from devolving into insults like https://xkcd.com/1756/: I'm With Her. [[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 01:51, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I concur, though I want to stress that I think it's very important that we try to make this comic explanation as neutral as possible. Is it possible to not show a bias towards either side of the issue? Randall's comic obviously has a point of view, but perhaps the explanation on this site can be a little bit more neutral. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 11:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:You stink! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.181|172.70.91.181]] 13:09, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Comic [[2566]] was supposed to be a joke... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.175.87|172.68.175.87]] 03:58, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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"venmo" needs explaining. Apparently it's some sort of USAian proprietary payment system? And I think Ponytail's company is providing a service (which the USA exports of lot of), rather than selling equipment - services usually not being captured by simple trade figures for goods. And in order to post here I have to identify features of foreign street scenes in order to train a monopolist's proprietary image recognition system. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.115|162.158.216.115]] 13:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Ah, didn't read this first, but I ''just'' put a link in for that (slightly awkwardly, but best I could - expecting a later editor to better phrase/place it). Hadn't heard of it, myself. Presumably Leftpondians know about it a lot more, perhaps most do, given how much business it gets/facilitates ''only'' in the US. Anyway, consider me one of those that learnt something new today! (Not that I can, or would, use it, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.71|172.70.163.71]] 13:19, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I added this comic as an answer to a Politics.SE question. https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/60191/does-it-make-sense-to-treat-trade-deficit-as-tariffs/60229#60229 [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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This is unironically the best explanation of Trump's tariffs I've seen<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.171|162.158.212.171]] 14:49, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I had a Facebook friend post almost the exact same analogy the day before this comic was released. So it is an idea that is out there. But since Trump do not care for the people who elected him, it is not his problem that everything gets more expensive in the US --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:56, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Midwit take from Randall that fundamentally misunderstands that the goal is to bring back manufacturing capability to the USA. Warren Buffett proposed these exact tariff measures 20 years ago and is only now saying they're bad because Orange Man Bad Amirite. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/growing.pdf {{unsigned ip|172.68.12.75|16:43, 8 April 2025}}<br />
:I've just read the paper you linked, which suggests issuing tradable / saleable import certificates to create a liquid market incentivizing a trade balance, one which is not country or industry directed at all and has, basically, nothing to do with Trump's "plan." They are not "the exact same" at all, and I'm not surprised that someone using "orange man bad" language is engaging in deception. {{unsigned ip|172.69.214.221|17:24, 8 April 2025}}<br />
:Are you even sure you *want* to bring back manufacturing of all kinds to the USA? Do you understand what that entails? Every single sane economist on earth has been telling Trump from the start that this is an astonishingly bad idea, but he refuses to listen. Then again, every single sane climate scientist has been doing the same thing, and nobody listens to them either. All fitting, then.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.243.136|172.70.243.136]] 06:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:And what exactly is wrong with domestic manufacturing? Don't get me wrong, I don't consider (R) good, but the concept of "they're all just stupid" doesn't explain anything in the real world. {{unsigned ip|162.158.103.81|10:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::Well. It makes as much sense for the USA to manufacture iPhones domestically as it does for you to grow your own wheat and sunflowers and gather rock salt and process all that to bake bread. The world economy works by distributing work and relying on specialization. Doing everything on your own is grossly inefficient and it's simply impossible to keep up your standard of living that way.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.172.178|172.71.172.178]] 10:10, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Another response is that if you're determined to prove that your country doesn't need to trade with the rest of the world (at an extreme, what NK is trying to do, though majorly propped up by China despite this), the rest of the world might decide that it doesn't need to trade with you.<br />
::The US has been (successfully) pursuading much of the world that it is a vital part of the world economy for a long time, and benefited more from it than cold, hard balance sheets could ever show. (Even in 'not friendly' nations, there has been cultural soft-power arise from the value of american denim jeans or records or even just the idea that there are more ways to do things than their current despotic ruler would openly admit to.) You could always find places to spend black-market dollars in Moscow, Havana or any place in any "Democratic Republic" (that's neither democratic nor strictly a republic) you could mention, and to the overall net benefit of the US. As well as being friendly to friendly countries, it has been insidious to those less than amicable (at a governing level).<br />
::There's probably something to be said for not ''entirely'' relying upon third party countries (or at least not entirely upon ''singular'' third party countries, or entire political blocks/'blocs') that could suddenly put you under pressure regarding vital resources and components. Look at the hoops that Russia had to jump through, dependant upon China (and even NK!) for resources it was suddenly in need of. But the US was already in the position to be trading with any and all parts of the world (that it chose to), the ''cost'' was that maybe it couldn't sell quite as much worth in the form of cadillacs to a small group of islands that provided it with a given value of fish, but the value is that they'll ''keep on'' preferentially selling fish (that obviously the US can make use of).<br />
::Now... Well, such fish that may be caught might go elsewhere, the world markets shuffle about, perhaps China gets more fish (perhaps NK does?) if it has demands for them, or perhaps it no longer seems worthwhile fishing so much from those islands. If there's nothing else for fishermen to do, maybe they'll go elsewhere to find something, but don't expect them to immigrate to the US and fish there, 'internally'. Not with the recent policies on immigration. So, the US probably has fewer fish, China has more soft-power (and probably hard-power, too) and the world adjusts to a state where in trying to win 'trade wars' against the whole world, the US has surrendered most of its trading power to the kind of countries that were previously trying hard to become its equals (and now become its superiors).<br />
::If the current guy was ''really'' serious about "Gina" being his trading opponent, he'd work specifically against their influence, not actually make it more likely to increase. And that doesn't fit well with trying to split China and Russia again (even if he's making Russia and the US comrades in arms, again, in a separate deal).<br />
::Before anyone points at the ungainly notice about bias/slanted opinion, I'm just outlining an interpretation here that shows contradictions in the scheme of the ultimate "re-on-shoring of ''everything''" drive being nothing but good. There's probably a better balance. Possibly not a guaranteed win:win, but at worst a lose-least:lose-least one. But such a Prisoner's Dilemma situation can't happen when one of the prisoners seems to only believe in win:lose results, so that they always aim (however wrongly) only for a maximised return on their side, resulting in an unsatisfactory lose:lose (or even lose:gain, to their own disadvantage) outcome. Also, I'm not 'Merkin myself. I'd ''rather'' a stronger US than various other nations getting stronger, actually, and that's why I'm worried that the world may pivot in ways that (openly, at least) the current US Administration don't actually want.<br />
::But global trade is hard. "Who would have though it to be so hard..." Who knows where this will lead (especially if it strays out of the purely financial sphere, which of course it is already doing). Simply restoring manufacturing to the US is not the simple panacea that some might suggest. Aluminium (yeah, I know, but that's my spelling) can be made far cheaper in Canada than in the US and that's not going to change within four years (maybe not fourteen, could take more than forty!) and this and all the other supply-ripples won't happen fast enough (especially with far too much stick and practically no carrot) to fulfil the aspirations being espoused. So you absolutely can't take the current plans at face value. I'd be surprised if most of the ones touting them even believe them, and there must actually be more ulterior motives behind the wrecking-ball that's being unleashed, to which they're in more of a position to benefit from. (Time will tell, maybe. Perhaps it'll all work like a charm, but I'd heavily bet against it if I actually had the resources to significantly benefit out of the future failure, and yet couldn't do anything to reverse it.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.110|172.71.241.110]] 11:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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There should be a "don't feed the trolls" banner at the top of the discussion. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:There's already a "Don't be a jerk!" rule noted at the bottom. Could just move it to the top, I suppose. (Or better, just move it to the top only for topics that are likely to lure people into acting like jerks. Good way to tell whether a given strip is going to upset a lot of people...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.96|172.70.42.96]] 22:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::made a notice about it up top '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 00:14, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::TORI! YOU'RE BACK! [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:23, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I'm from Germany, with the opposite issue. I never understood why having an export surplus should be a good thing. Let's make a bilance. OUT: Cars, machines, chemicals,... IN: Little printed paper snips (or little bytes if paid more modern). Sounds like a bad swap to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.186|162.158.112.186]] 07:48, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Former Financial Times and World Bank economist Tim Harford's "Undercover Economist" pop-econ books explain this quite well. (I don't think I can do Harford's explanation justice here but I shall try; any mistakes are my own) Germany wants to trade (for example) oil with OPEC, but all it has to trade are (for example) BMWs and OPEC doesn't want enough BMWs relative to how much oil Germany wants. So, Germany sells the extra BMWs to America in return for US dollars (the international currency for oil trading) and uses the US dollars to buy the oil. Economically, a BMW factory is basically a machine that converts steel into petrol via a really roundabout process. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 18:40, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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It looks like Randall saw the most recent video from StandUpMaths. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.161|16:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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I'm not sure if it was actually intended, but it seems that everyone missed the potential second meaning in the last frame. It's possible that Ponytail was referring to lidar diodes as a heat source used to cook the pizza, and Cueball either mistakenly or sardonically responded as if the mentioned diodes was instead suggested as a topping. That might also be a jab at political discussion, which is often full of spirited rebuttals based on misinterpretations of the opposing side's comments. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Is there a way to lock comment sections? I feel like it would be especially helpful in comics like these. And while Reddit is usually not a good example for anything them locking the comments for contentious content (hehe) is actually a really good idea. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.12.75|172.68.12.75]] 17:03, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The talk page ''could'' be semi-protected (to various degrees: admin-only editing, autoconfirmed-only editing) by an admin (your best bet would be to ask [[User:Kynde]]). I would recommend against such drastic moves for the moment, as the vandalism and trolling isn’t that bad (''yet''). If it does get worse, I’ll make sure to send a message to Kynde. '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:pink">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#B1E4E3">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 17:08, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Fair enough, haste never gets anyone anywhere and it'd appear unjustified to do something that severe if it isn't that bad enough. But if it gets to the level of the I'm With Her comment section and nobody has asked for it to be locked, I'll ask Kynde like you asked. In any case, I'll wait. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.147|172.71.223.147]] 17:26, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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In my opinion, explainxkcd has gone off the cliff, and not just on this particular article, but repeatedly, and it’s getting worse and worse. I'm not going to edit it myself, but might I suggest a rule of thumb? If it isn’t necessary to help some understand the COMIC, then don’t put it in there in the first place! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.176|172.69.23.176]] 20:02, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::"Repeatedly"? By what criteria? Obviously in your opinion, anyway, and I'm not going to tell you what to think (or try to guess what you're thinking), but I believe you're being subjective. Nice to hear from you, though. Please do come by again some time. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.226|141.101.98.226]] 20:51, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Seconded. This really should be the policy. I have strong political opinions like just about everyone (and like everyone, I certainly think that my views are logically derived from cold hard objective facts), but I have refrained from editing this page because I am VERY aware that it would do absolutely nothing to help anyone, and detract from the purpose of this website. "Explain xkcd" is for explaining xkcd, it's not a a platform to persuade the internet to adopt your political opinions. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 20:42, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I really don't know what you guys are talking about, at least regarding the explanation for this specific comic. I believe the contributors have done a pretty good job keeping the explanation pretty close to neutral, except maybe it might be just a little opinionated in one paragraph. Most of the "extra" explanation in there provides some necessary background that may not be quite as obvious to future readers. Any leaning toward one opinion or another is mostly an explanation of the leaning attributed to the characters by the author himself. If you have a specific rebuke against a portion that seems more opinionated or subjective, either tag it in the explanation without changing the explanation itself, or bring up the specifics in this discussion. Please try not to bash this whole site and the contributors because of your own opinions. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 00:08, 10 April 2025 (UTC) <br />
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I'm not 100% sure how best to integrate it into the explanation, but I think https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations should be cited somewhere in the article, and I think it should be stated in more explicit terms that Trump's reciprocal tariffs are based on what is effectively a calculation of the United States' trade deficits with other countries. I think the article would benefit from more explicit descriptions and coverage of the tariff announcement for posterity, as I can imagine someone being really confused about this 10 years from now. I think reactions and backlash should be mentioned to provide context, but the article shouldn't get too detailed with any justifications for said reactions, so as not to take a side. Right now I feel that the article is a bit too in-the-weeds with explaining exactly what tariffs are and what a trade deficit is without providing context for why the comic is politically relevant, which I think is necessary to understand the comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.166|162.158.62.166]] 21:46, 9 April 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3073:_Tariffs&diff=371900Talk:3073: Tariffs2025-04-09T17:08:17Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
{{notice|This comic and explanation is about present-day politics and {{w|Donald Trump|Donald Trump, the current President of the United States}}. Please {{w|WP:DFTT|don’t feed the trolls}}, meaning that you don’t give recognition or respond to trolls or vandals. If you find vandalism, revert and move on. If the vandal is a registered user, {{w|WP:RBI|revert, block and ignore}}. If you are not an admin and need assistance in blocking someone, send a message to [[User:Kynde]] or [[User:Theusaf]]. As with these contentious topics, please do not edit if you believe you have a conflict of interest or might be writing in a biased and slanted manner (in regards to both major American political parties). Be {{w|WP:BOLD|bold}}, but not reckless. Always be considerate of the other side and don’t {{w|WP:CIVIL|attack people}}. Thanks, '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:pink">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#B1E4E3">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 00:23, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
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Uh, still no April fools [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 23:50, 7 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The April fools is the president the U.S. Elected. (note: I am Usanian)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.232|172.70.214.232]] 12:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
I felt like using all caps is a good idea for explanations, since the comic itself is all caps [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 00:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Please don't. If you did that, then all of the other explanations and transcripts would have to be edited to all-caps, which makes it harder to read. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 01:07, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Doesn't just about ''every'' xkcd comic use all-caps? That would make pretty much the entire wiki unreadable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.35|172.71.155.35]] 04:15, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's wrong with the explanation? It's showing this weird string of letters: expDia thud enzo Isla idiosyncrasies talk 3totheaudienceandtheotherswhoareyouheresoearlyinthedayafterMittenslefttodois sign up for both ofuscan'twaitforthemostparttobeabrightandwarmwelcomeandIhopethatyouwillfindapenthatwillOrbitz pap [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23 7 April 2025 EST<br />
: Vandals --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 00:32, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I'm getting a few Cloudflare messages that the server isn't responding. I'm used to explainxkcd giving straight 503s, etc, but this is the kind of thing (code 522, in at least one case) that you get only when an active pressure (crap-spamming, etc) is being applied. I'm wondering if there's some pushback from the pro-tariff (or at least 'pro-Donald') online community. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 11:12, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hopefully, just HOPEFULLY, we can prevent the comment section from devolving into insults like https://xkcd.com/1756/: I'm With Her. [[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 01:51, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I concur, though I want to stress that I think it's very important that we try to make this comic explanation as neutral as possible. Is it possible to not show a bias towards either side of the issue? Randall's comic obviously has a point of view, but perhaps the explanation on this site can be a little bit more neutral. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 11:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:You stink! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.181|172.70.91.181]] 13:09, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Comic [[2566]] was supposed to be a joke... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.175.87|172.68.175.87]] 03:58, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"venmo" needs explaining. Apparently it's some sort of USAian proprietary payment system? And I think Ponytail's company is providing a service (which the USA exports of lot of), rather than selling equipment - services usually not being captured by simple trade figures for goods. And in order to post here I have to identify features of foreign street scenes in order to train a monopolist's proprietary image recognition system. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.115|162.158.216.115]] 13:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Ah, didn't read this first, but I ''just'' put a link in for that (slightly awkwardly, but best I could - expecting a later editor to better phrase/place it). Hadn't heard of it, myself. Presumably Leftpondians know about it a lot more, perhaps most do, given how much business it gets/facilitates ''only'' in the US. Anyway, consider me one of those that learnt something new today! (Not that I can, or would, use it, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.71|172.70.163.71]] 13:19, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I added this comic as an answer to a Politics.SE question. https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/60191/does-it-make-sense-to-treat-trade-deficit-as-tariffs/60229#60229 [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is unironically the best explanation of Trump's tariffs I've seen<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.171|162.158.212.171]] 14:49, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I had a Facebook friend post almost the exact same analogy the day before this comic was released. So it is an idea that is out there. But since Trump do not care for the people who elected him, it is not his problem that everything gets more expensive in the US --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:56, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Midwit take from Randall that fundamentally misunderstands that the goal is to bring back manufacturing capability to the USA. Warren Buffett proposed these exact tariff measures 20 years ago and is only now saying they're bad because Orange Man Bad Amirite. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/growing.pdf {{unsigned ip|172.68.12.75|16:43, 8 April 2025}}<br />
:I've just read the paper you linked, which suggests issuing tradable / saleable import certificates to create a liquid market incentivizing a trade balance, one which is not country or industry directed at all and has, basically, nothing to do with Trump's "plan." They are not "the exact same" at all, and I'm not surprised that someone using "orange man bad" language is engaging in deception. {{unsigned ip|172.69.214.221|17:24, 8 April 2025}}<br />
:Are you even sure you *want* to bring back manufacturing of all kinds to the USA? Do you understand what that entails? Every single sane economist on earth has been telling Trump from the start that this is an astonishingly bad idea, but he refuses to listen. Then again, every single sane climate scientist has been doing the same thing, and nobody listens to them either. All fitting, then.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.243.136|172.70.243.136]] 06:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:And what exactly is wrong with domestic manufacturing? Don't get me wrong, I don't consider (R) good, but the concept of "they're all just stupid" doesn't explain anything in the real world. {{unsigned ip|162.158.103.81|10:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::Well. It makes as much sense for the USA to manufacture iPhones domestically as it does for you to grow your own wheat and sunflowers and gather rock salt and process all that to bake bread. The world economy works by distributing work and relying on specialization. Doing everything on your own is grossly inefficient and it's simply impossible to keep up your standard of living that way.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.172.178|172.71.172.178]] 10:10, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Another response is that if you're determined to prove that your country doesn't need to trade with the rest of the world (at an extreme, what NK is trying to do, though majorly propped up by China despite this), the rest of the world might decide that it doesn't need to trade with you.<br />
::The US has been (successfully) pursuading much of the world that it is a vital part of the world economy for a long time, and benefited more from it than cold, hard balance sheets could ever show. (Even in 'not friendly' nations, there has been cultural soft-power arise from the value of american denim jeans or records or even just the idea that there are more ways to do things than their current despotic ruler would openly admit to.) You could always find places to spend black-market dollars in Moscow, Havana or any place in any "Democratic Republic" (that's neither democratic nor strictly a republic) you could mention, and to the overall net benefit of the US. As well as being friendly to friendly countries, it has been insidious to those less than amicable (at a governing level).<br />
::There's probably something to be said for not ''entirely'' relying upon third party countries (or at least not entirely upon ''singular'' third party countries, or entire political blocks/'blocs') that could suddenly put you under pressure regarding vital resources and components. Look at the hoops that Russia had to jump through, dependant upon China (and even NK!) for resources it was suddenly in need of. But the US was already in the position to be trading with any and all parts of the world (that it chose to), the ''cost'' was that maybe it couldn't sell quite as much worth in the form of cadillacs to a small group of islands that provided it with a given value of fish, but the value is that they'll ''keep on'' preferentially selling fish (that obviously the US can make use of).<br />
::Now... Well, such fish that may be caught might go elsewhere, the world markets shuffle about, perhaps China gets more fish (perhaps NK does?) if it has demands for them, or perhaps it no longer seems worthwhile fishing so much from those islands. If there's nothing else for fishermen to do, maybe they'll go elsewhere to find something, but don't expect them to immigrate to the US and fish there, 'internally'. Not with the recent policies on immigration. So, the US probably has fewer fish, China has more soft-power (and probably hard-power, too) and the world adjusts to a state where in trying to win 'trade wars' against the whole world, the US has surrendered most of its trading power to the kind of countries that were previously trying hard to become its equals (and now become its superiors).<br />
::If the current guy was ''really'' serious about "Gina" being his trading opponent, he'd work specifically against their influence, not actually make it more likely to increase. And that doesn't fit well with trying to split China and Russia again (even if he's making Russia and the US comrades in arms, again, in a separate deal).<br />
::Before anyone points at the ungainly notice about bias/slanted opinion, I'm just outlining an interpretation here that shows contradictions in the scheme of the ultimate "re-on-shoring of ''everything''" drive being nothing but good. There's probably a better balance. Possibly not a guaranteed win:win, but at worst a lose-least:lose-least one. But such a Prisoner's Dilemma situation can't happen when one of the prisoners seems to only believe in win:lose results, so that they always aim (however wrongly) only for a maximised return on their side, resulting in an unsatisfactory lose:lose (or even lose:gain, to their own disadvantage) outcome. Also, I'm not 'Merkin myself. I'd ''rather'' a stronger US than various other nations getting stronger, actually, and that's why I'm worried that the world may pivot in ways that (openly, at least) the current US Administration don't actually want.<br />
::But global trade is hard. "Who would have though it to be so hard..." Who knows where this will lead (especially if it strays out of the purely financial sphere, which of course it is already doing). Simply restoring manufacturing to the US is not the simple panacea that some might suggest. Aluminium (yeah, I know, but that's my spelling) can be made far cheaper in Canada than in the US and that's not going to change within four years (maybe not fourteen, could take more than forty!) and this and all the other supply-ripples won't happen fast enough (especially with far too much stick and practically no carrot) to fulfil the aspirations being espoused. So you absolutely can't take the current plans at face value. I'd be surprised if most of the ones touting them even believe them, and there must actually be more ulterior motives behind the wrecking-ball that's being unleashed, to which they're in more of a position to benefit from. (Time will tell, maybe. Perhaps it'll all work like a charm, but I'd heavily bet against it if I actually had the resources to significantly benefit out of the future failure, and yet couldn't do anything to reverse it.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.110|172.71.241.110]] 11:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There should be a "don't feed the trolls" banner at the top of the discussion. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:There's already a "Don't be a jerk!" rule noted at the bottom. Could just move it to the top, I suppose. (Or better, just move it to the top only for topics that are likely to lure people into acting like jerks. Good way to tell whether a given strip is going to upset a lot of people...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.96|172.70.42.96]] 22:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::made a notice about it up top '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 00:14, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::TORI! YOU'RE BACK! [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:23, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm from Germany, with the opposite issue. I never understood why having an export surplus should be a good thing. Let's make a bilance. OUT: Cars, machines, chemicals,... IN: Little printed paper snips (or little bytes if paid more modern). Sounds like a bad swap to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.186|162.158.112.186]] 07:48, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It looks like Randall saw the most recent video from StandUpMaths. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.161|16:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
I'm not sure if it was actually intended, but it seems that everyone missed the potential second meaning in the last frame. It's possible that Ponytail was referring to lidar diodes as a heat source used to cook the pizza, and Cueball either mistakenly or sardonically responded as if the mentioned diodes was instead suggested as a topping. That might also be a jab at political discussion, which is often full of spirited rebuttals based on misinterpretations of the opposing side's comments. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is there a way to lock comment sections? I feel like it would be especially helpful in comics like these. And while Reddit is usually not a good example for anything them locking the comments for contentious content (hehe) is actually a really good idea. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.12.75|172.68.12.75]] 17:03, 9 April 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3073:_Tariffs&diff=371898Talk:3073: Tariffs2025-04-09T17:00:30Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
{{notice|This comic and explanation is about present-day politics and {{w|Donald Trump|Donald Trump, the current President of the United States}}. Please {{w|WP:DFTT|don’t feed the trolls}}, meaning that you don’t give recognition or respond to trolls or vandals. If you find vandalism, revert and move on. If the vandal is a registered user, {{w|WP:RBI|revert, block and ignore}}. If you are not an admin and need assistance in blocking someone, send a message to [[User:Kynde]] or [[User:Theusaf]]. As with these contentious topics, please do not edit if you believe you have a conflict of interest or might be writing in a biased and slanted manner (in regards to both major American political parties). Be {{w|WP:BOLD|bold}}, but not reckless. Always be considerate of the other side and don’t {{w|WP:CIVIL|attack people}}. Thanks, '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:pink">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#B1E4E3">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 00:23, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
Uh, still no April fools [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 23:50, 7 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The April fools is the president the U.S. Elected. (note: I am Usanian)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.232|172.70.214.232]] 12:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
I felt like using all caps is a good idea for explanations, since the comic itself is all caps [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 00:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Please don't. If you did that, then all of the other explanations and transcripts would have to be edited to all-caps, which makes it harder to read. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 01:07, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Doesn't just about ''every'' xkcd comic use all-caps? That would make pretty much the entire wiki unreadable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.35|172.71.155.35]] 04:15, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's wrong with the explanation? It's showing this weird string of letters: expDia thud enzo Isla idiosyncrasies talk 3totheaudienceandtheotherswhoareyouheresoearlyinthedayafterMittenslefttodois sign up for both ofuscan'twaitforthemostparttobeabrightandwarmwelcomeandIhopethatyouwillfindapenthatwillOrbitz pap [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23 7 April 2025 EST<br />
: Vandals --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 00:32, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I'm getting a few Cloudflare messages that the server isn't responding. I'm used to explainxkcd giving straight 503s, etc, but this is the kind of thing (code 522, in at least one case) that you get only when an active pressure (crap-spamming, etc) is being applied. I'm wondering if there's some pushback from the pro-tariff (or at least 'pro-Donald') online community. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 11:12, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hopefully, just HOPEFULLY, we can prevent the comment section from devolving into insults like https://xkcd.com/1756/: I'm With Her. [[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 01:51, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I concur, though I want to stress that I think it's very important that we try to make this comic explanation as neutral as possible. Is it possible to not show a bias towards either side of the issue? Randall's comic obviously has a point of view, but perhaps the explanation on this site can be a little bit more neutral. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 11:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:You stink! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.181|172.70.91.181]] 13:09, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Comic [[2566]] was supposed to be a joke... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.175.87|172.68.175.87]] 03:58, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"venmo" needs explaining. Apparently it's some sort of USAian proprietary payment system? And I think Ponytail's company is providing a service (which the USA exports of lot of), rather than selling equipment - services usually not being captured by simple trade figures for goods. And in order to post here I have to identify features of foreign street scenes in order to train a monopolist's proprietary image recognition system. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.115|162.158.216.115]] 13:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Ah, didn't read this first, but I ''just'' put a link in for that (slightly awkwardly, but best I could - expecting a later editor to better phrase/place it). Hadn't heard of it, myself. Presumably Leftpondians know about it a lot more, perhaps most do, given how much business it gets/facilitates ''only'' in the US. Anyway, consider me one of those that learnt something new today! (Not that I can, or would, use it, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.71|172.70.163.71]] 13:19, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I added this comic as an answer to a Politics.SE question. https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/60191/does-it-make-sense-to-treat-trade-deficit-as-tariffs/60229#60229 [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is unironically the best explanation of Trump's tariffs I've seen<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.171|162.158.212.171]] 14:49, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I had a Facebook friend post almost the exact same analogy the day before this comic was released. So it is an idea that is out there. But since Trump do not care for the people who elected him, it is not his problem that everything gets more expensive in the US --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:56, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Midwit take from Randall that fundamentally misunderstands that the goal is to bring back manufacturing capability to the USA. Warren Buffett proposed these exact tariff measures 20 years ago and is only now saying they're bad because Orange Man Bad Amirite. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/growing.pdf {{unsigned ip|172.68.12.75|16:43, 8 April 2025}}<br />
:I've just read the paper you linked, which suggests issuing tradable / saleable import certificates to create a liquid market incentivizing a trade balance, one which is not country or industry directed at all and has, basically, nothing to do with Trump's "plan." They are not "the exact same" at all, and I'm not surprised that someone using "orange man bad" language is engaging in deception. {{unsigned ip|172.69.214.221|17:24, 8 April 2025}}<br />
:Are you even sure you *want* to bring back manufacturing of all kinds to the USA? Do you understand what that entails? Every single sane economist on earth has been telling Trump from the start that this is an astonishingly bad idea, but he refuses to listen. Then again, every single sane climate scientist has been doing the same thing, and nobody listens to them either. All fitting, then.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.243.136|172.70.243.136]] 06:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:And what exactly is wrong with domestic manufacturing? Don't get me wrong, I don't consider (R) good, but the concept of "they're all just stupid" doesn't explain anything in the real world. {{unsigned ip|162.158.103.81|10:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::Well. It makes as much sense for the USA to manufacture iPhones domestically as it does for you to grow your own wheat and sunflowers and gather rock salt and process all that to bake bread. The world economy works by distributing work and relying on specialization. Doing everything on your own is grossly inefficient and it's simply impossible to keep up your standard of living that way.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.172.178|172.71.172.178]] 10:10, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Another response is that if you're determined to prove that your country doesn't need to trade with the rest of the world (at an extreme, what NK is trying to do, though majorly propped up by China despite this), the rest of the world might decide that it doesn't need to trade with you.<br />
::The US has been (successfully) pursuading much of the world that it is a vital part of the world economy for a long time, and benefited more from it than cold, hard balance sheets could ever show. (Even in 'not friendly' nations, there has been cultural soft-power arise from the value of american denim jeans or records or even just the idea that there are more ways to do things than their current despotic ruler would openly admit to.) You could always find places to spend black-market dollars in Moscow, Havana or any place in any "Democratic Republic" (that's neither democratic nor strictly a republic) you could mention, and to the overall net benefit of the US. As well as being friendly to friendly countries, it has been insidious to those less than amicable (at a governing level).<br />
::There's probably something to be said for not ''entirely'' relying upon third party countries (or at least not entirely upon ''singular'' third party countries, or entire political blocks/'blocs') that could suddenly put you under pressure regarding vital resources and components. Look at the hoops that Russia had to jump through, dependant upon China (and even NK!) for resources it was suddenly in need of. But the US was already in the position to be trading with any and all parts of the world (that it chose to), the ''cost'' was that maybe it couldn't sell quite as much worth in the form of cadillacs to a small group of islands that provided it with a given value of fish, but the value is that they'll ''keep on'' preferentially selling fish (that obviously the US can make use of).<br />
::Now... Well, such fish that may be caught might go elsewhere, the world markets shuffle about, perhaps China gets more fish (perhaps NK does?) if it has demands for them, or perhaps it no longer seems worthwhile fishing so much from those islands. If there's nothing else for fishermen to do, maybe they'll go elsewhere to find something, but don't expect them to immigrate to the US and fish there, 'internally'. Not with the recent policies on immigration. So, the US probably has fewer fish, China has more soft-power (and probably hard-power, too) and the world adjusts to a state where in trying to win 'trade wars' against the whole world, the US has surrendered most of its trading power to the kind of countries that were previously trying hard to become its equals (and now become its superiors).<br />
::If the current guy was ''really'' serious about "Gina" being his trading opponent, he'd work specifically against their influence, not actually make it more likely to increase. And that doesn't fit well with trying to split China and Russia again (even if he's making Russia and the US comrades in arms, again, in a separate deal).<br />
::Before anyone points at the ungainly notice about bias/slanted opinion, I'm just outlining an interpretation here that shows contradictions in the scheme of the ultimate "re-on-shoring of ''everything''" drive being nothing but good. There's probably a better balance. Possibly not a guaranteed win:win, but at worst a lose-least:lose-least one. But such a Prisoner's Dilemma situation can't happen when one of the prisoners seems to only believe in win:lose results, so that they always aim (however wrongly) only for a maximised return on their side, resulting in an unsatisfactory lose:lose (or even lose:gain, to their own disadvantage) outcome. Also, I'm not 'Merkin myself. I'd ''rather'' a stronger US than various other nations getting stronger, actually, and that's why I'm worried that the world may pivot in ways that (openly, at least) the current US Administration don't actually want.<br />
::But global trade is hard. "Who would have though it to be so hard..." Who knows where this will lead (especially if it strays out of the purely financial sphere, which of course it is already doing). Simply restoring manufacturing to the US is not the simple panacea that some might suggest. Aluminium (yeah, I know, but that's my spelling) can be made far cheaper in Canada than in the US and that's not going to change within four years (maybe not fourteen, could take more than forty!) and this and all the other supply-ripples won't happen fast enough (especially with far too much stick and practically no carrot) to fulfil the aspirations being espoused. So you absolutely can't take the current plans at face value. I'd be surprised if most of the ones touting them even believe them, and there must actually be more ulterior motives behind the wrecking-ball that's being unleashed, to which they're in more of a position to benefit from. (Time will tell, maybe. Perhaps it'll all work like a charm, but I'd heavily bet against it if I actually had the resources to significantly benefit out of the future failure, and yet couldn't do anything to reverse it.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.110|172.71.241.110]] 11:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There should be a "don't feed the trolls" banner at the top of the discussion. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:There's already a "Don't be a jerk!" rule noted at the bottom. Could just move it to the top, I suppose. (Or better, just move it to the top only for topics that are likely to lure people into acting like jerks. Good way to tell whether a given strip is going to upset a lot of people...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.96|172.70.42.96]] 22:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::made a notice about it up top '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 00:14, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::TORI! YOU'RE BACK! [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:23, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm from Germany, with the opposite issue. I never understood why having an export surplus should be a good thing. Let's make a bilance. OUT: Cars, machines, chemicals,... IN: Little printed paper snips (or little bytes if paid more modern). Sounds like a bad swap to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.186|162.158.112.186]] 07:48, 9 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It looks like Randall saw the most recent video from StandUpMaths. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.161|16:32, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
I'm not sure if it was actually intended, but it seems that everyone missed the potential second meaning in the last frame. It's possible that Ponytail was referring to lidar diodes as a heat source used to cook the pizza, and Cueball either mistakenly or sardonically responded as if the mentioned diodes was instead suggested as a topping. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3071:_Decay_Chain&diff=371642Talk:3071: Decay Chain2025-04-07T22:39:30Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
... should have gone down to the 5S. That was really rock bottom... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.36|172.70.114.36]] 01:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: My old SE was a real workhorse. Small enough to comfortably use in one hand, power button on the top so I don't have to worry about turning it off when gripping it, headphone jack, black background on the reboot screen, and twice as much storage as my current iphone 7. It kept working until the screen cracked and glass was peeling out of the screen, and several months beyond that, when the screen just went blank and refused to turn on. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 05:10, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
No april fools' comic? Sad. [[User:Onestay|Onestay]] ([[User talk:Onestay|talk]]) 01:58, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Takes some time. Might still be one.--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 02:18, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Yeah, escape speed was late for 18 days, maybe the new interactive comic will be the same [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 05:06, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Yes we could still hope for a treat. However, last time the election did not go as he wished he did not make any [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comics]] as he was quite [[Sad]] at the time, it was in 2017 see this [[1818:_Rayleigh_Scattering#No_April_Fools.27_Day_comic_in_2017|trivia]]... It might be even worse this time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:50, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::As anyone with liberal political views (which includes me), I think this is the worst it could've possibly gone. Might not get an april fools comic for the next four years. [[User:DollarStoreBa&#39;al|DollarStoreBa&#39;al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa&#39;al|talk]]) 13:03, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::::I SERIOUSLY hope there is one.My opinion is that there is [[2871: Definitely|defineatly]] one.--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 13:55, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::::Probably will be one 2017 is a long time ago(relatively) [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:24, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::::Just because the last absence was eight years ago, under a similar political climate, I can't see that being a prime factor behind not doing an April Fool. If the circumstances alone makes him not think up anything funny, he'd be drying up in the realm of normal comics. (And, please, before anyone says that this is happening, I shall pre-emptively disagree; business as usual, IMO, by which I mean it's all still good.)<br />
::::::If it's a large-scale flight of imagination that's not happened, that doesn't even need joyous thoughts every day. In fact, a degree of depression could well drive some of the development as a coping mechanism.<br />
::::::On the whole, though, I'd say that any reason why (if it happens/doesn't happen) there's nothing this year is the sheer amount of effort required. Conceptualising, planning, coding and drawing seem to be the main units of work. All but the latter can be helped by a team, but certainly the core of the latter really needs to be kept personal, even if some flood-filling or careful recompositing can be farmed out to others he trusts to not spoil his style.<br />
::::::There was a tradition in the UK for the {{w|Morecambe and Wise}} Christmas Show to be ''the'' thing to watch (as an example), and it was probably the most stressful show for the writers and stars because it got to the stage that it had such a reputation for being entertaining (by the standards of the era - but repeats, even decades later, still are enjoyed...) that it ''had'' to be good.<br />
::::::I can quite imagine that Randall is in a similar position of only just getting one April Fool over with, and wondering whatever he's going to do to follow it (never mind any other non-Fool specials he's also working towards). Even while feeding us our regular three comics a week, like an insatiable chick in a nest demanding more and more food from its parents.<br />
::::::I even have had a few ideas of my own, that I'd happily contribute (and could even help with, having satisfied myself with proofs of concept), but I respect him too much to bother him with unsolicited advice from someone he doesn't know. Plus, I'd rather get pleasingly surprised by the true Randall spirit (or none at all) than feel like I forced him into doing ''my'' thing. (Or, worse, being to close to his own ideas, and deciding that he can't do that any more, lest it look like he took my concept and ''pretended'' it was already in his mind.)<br />
::::::I actually don't know how he set about prior works (solo or collaboration), but I'd have to already be far closer to him (socially, or perhaps with prior professional outreaches, neith of which are on the horizon) to have a proper idea. With everything he may have on his plate (''What If? 3'' and/or other books, more YouTubed conversions, some decidedly non-Fool future specials that he might have plans for, the continuing thrice-weekly comics...) maybe there just wasn't a way to give us want we're waiting for this year (maybe that was 2017's basic issue?). Or maybe he's ''almost there'', just not yet.<br />
::::::He won't read this (that's ok, I don't read his Twitter - though that's mostly because it's been made too awkward to read things there without an account on the now-X, and I'm well past the point that I might have ever considered signing up) so this is not for his benefit, but for those who seem to think it's a cut'n'dried contract that he ''will'' entertain you. When he will only as much as he feels he can. With the caveat of "horses for courses", as he'll never please everybody, however much he might try.<br />
::::::Be calm, fellow xkcd community members. ''Maybe'' we're due a truly humdingery ''Summertime'' special release (or Halloween, or Christmas, or next April (twice as good as a normal year!), or just at some random time that may or may not coincide with a book launch, or... If we already knew about it, would it be as nice a surprise..? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.59|172.71.178.59]] 16:44, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::::::I thought it obvious that this presidency ''was'' the joke? Did not everyone get the joke? I mean, maybe it's in bad taste, but the irony is ''right there''. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:42, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A quick search for "newest iPhone" gave me that 16 (various models) is the newest. That is, if it's newer than 15. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.15.141|172.68.15.141]] 04:39, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Most stars only produce Bell rotary phones, perhaps producing touch tone or even cordless phones briefly as they move off the main sequence. Massive stars can produce up to Nokia phones, but that's the final stage that stars can produce in their normal lifespan. All smartphones are produced in supernova. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.149|172.69.246.149]] 05:32, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: I thought they were produced in a Movistar. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.167|172.70.163.167]] 09:01, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: The iPhone 13 mini is not listed because it's a rare isotope that only forms within highly compact spacetime conditions that no longer exist in our region of the universe. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:22, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini decay into the standard iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models, respectively, via the less common beta+ emission mechanism. Neither is part of the displayed decay chain without external excitation into non-standard models. It is also theoretically possible for the iPhone 13 mini to spontaneously transition into the lower energy state 3rd generation iPhone SE, and then follow a parallel decay chain beyond the iPhone 7, but it is so rare that it has not yet been observed during the current lifetime of the universe. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 18:39, 7 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I miss an explanation of the iPhone models. Are these the only ones there are? In which order were they released? (Of course, I could google iPhone, but that would defeat the purpose of this page, wouldn’t it?) It feels strange that there is an iPhone 7, but no 8 and 9, then X (assuming X means 10), 11, 12 only with the addition “pro max” and so on. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.67|172.70.43.67]] 06:26, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think there is an 8 {{unsigned ip|172.70.162.195|09:18, 3 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
:There are more phones theorised to exist in nature, but they're mostly only found in high-energy colliders. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.179|172.68.205.179]] 07:12, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Note that the comic shows a {{w|decay chain}} not a {{w|table of nuclides}}, i.e. it only shows iPhones which occur during the decay of an iPhone 16 pro max. I also wonder why iPhone X apparently has Z=9, but according to {{w|List of iPhone models}} apparently no iPhone 9 was ever observed. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.89|172.69.109.89]] 09:57, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Before iPhone 11, Apple tended to bump the major number only every second year. They released the iPhones 8 and X the same year, then XS and XR the next year. So: ... 6, 6S, 7, (8 and X), (XS and XR), (11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max), ... {{unsigned ip|172.68.0.151|10:20, 3 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
Maybe this references how especially for iPhones, new models are constantly made and old ones traded in or discarded? As if the new phones are actually the same and current phones are just getting worse? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.10|162.158.167.10]] 07:18, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is this like how Randall's TI-85 decayed into a TI-83? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.17.144|172.69.17.144]] 11:04, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think that's a corollary worth noting in the description! [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:36, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So, is there a {{w|neutronium}} analogue, in the "iPhone <no number> expert super plus pro max elite extra master genius limited edition"? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.29|172.71.178.29]] 12:14, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder if there's a real element that has a similar decay chain. [[User:Bigyihsuan|Bigyihsuan]] ([[User talk:Bigyihsuan|talk]]) 13:08, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder what the actual weights are of the phones and if that does track... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.69|172.68.54.69]] 13:59, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Presumably it ends with the 7 because that's currently the earliest iPhone still receiving security updates [[Special:Contributions/172.69.114.83|172.69.114.83]] 17:16, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: I think this needs to be mentioned in the official explanation, that's the only sensible explanation for why "stable" ends at 7 (assuming it is true that 7 is the last supported model for OS updates, I did not double check.{{unsigned ip|162.158.103.187|23:13, 3 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::I agree that 7 being the earliest with updates, should be mentioned. (It's the first reason I thought of as well, for it being the final decay state.) [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:38, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Side note: the SIM part could also be related to the fact that, since the iPhone first came out, the standard size of SIMs has changed twice (by shrinking). In a curious twist of things, different phones have different compatibilities with each standard SIM size: some accept SIMs one size bigger if trimmed to size, some accept SIMs one size smaller if surrounded by extra material (cardboard or plastic) to bring them to size, some accept both and some accept one; I'm not sure about compatibility two sizes away. (TL;DR: the phone may be ejectng the incompatible SIM)--[[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.38|172.64.236.38]] 22:22, 3 April 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3071:_Decay_Chain&diff=371640Talk:3071: Decay Chain2025-04-07T18:39:24Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
... should have gone down to the 5S. That was really rock bottom... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.36|172.70.114.36]] 01:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: My old SE was a real workhorse. Small enough to comfortably use in one hand, power button on the top so I don't have to worry about turning it off when gripping it, headphone jack, black background on the reboot screen, and twice as much storage as my current iphone 7. It kept working until the screen cracked and glass was peeling out of the screen, and several months beyond that, when the screen just went blank and refused to turn on. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 05:10, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
No april fools' comic? Sad. [[User:Onestay|Onestay]] ([[User talk:Onestay|talk]]) 01:58, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Takes some time. Might still be one.--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 02:18, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Yeah, escape speed was late for 18 days, maybe the new interactive comic will be the same [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 05:06, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Yes we could still hope for a treat. However, last time the election did not go as he wished he did not make any [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comics]] as he was quite [[Sad]] at the time, it was in 2017 see this [[1818:_Rayleigh_Scattering#No_April_Fools.27_Day_comic_in_2017|trivia]]... It might be even worse this time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:50, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::As anyone with liberal political views (which includes me), I think this is the worst it could've possibly gone. Might not get an april fools comic for the next four years. [[User:DollarStoreBa&#39;al|DollarStoreBa&#39;al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa&#39;al|talk]]) 13:03, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::::I SERIOUSLY hope there is one.My opinion is that there is [[2871: Definitely|defineatly]] one.--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 13:55, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::::Probably will be one 2017 is a long time ago(relatively) [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:24, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::::Just because the last absence was eight years ago, under a similar political climate, I can't see that being a prime factor behind not doing an April Fool. If the circumstances alone makes him not think up anything funny, he'd be drying up in the realm of normal comics. (And, please, before anyone says that this is happening, I shall pre-emptively disagree; business as usual, IMO, by which I mean it's all still good.)<br />
::::::If it's a large-scale flight of imagination that's not happened, that doesn't even need joyous thoughts every day. In fact, a degree of depression could well drive some of the development as a coping mechanism.<br />
::::::On the whole, though, I'd say that any reason why (if it happens/doesn't happen) there's nothing this year is the sheer amount of effort required. Conceptualising, planning, coding and drawing seem to be the main units of work. All but the latter can be helped by a team, but certainly the core of the latter really needs to be kept personal, even if some flood-filling or careful recompositing can be farmed out to others he trusts to not spoil his style.<br />
::::::There was a tradition in the UK for the {{w|Morecambe and Wise}} Christmas Show to be ''the'' thing to watch (as an example), and it was probably the most stressful show for the writers and stars because it got to the stage that it had such a reputation for being entertaining (by the standards of the era - but repeats, even decades later, still are enjoyed...) that it ''had'' to be good.<br />
::::::I can quite imagine that Randall is in a similar position of only just getting one April Fool over with, and wondering whatever he's going to do to follow it (never mind any other non-Fool specials he's also working towards). Even while feeding us our regular three comics a week, like an insatiable chick in a nest demanding more and more food from its parents.<br />
::::::I even have had a few ideas of my own, that I'd happily contribute (and could even help with, having satisfied myself with proofs of concept), but I respect him too much to bother him with unsolicited advice from someone he doesn't know. Plus, I'd rather get pleasingly surprised by the true Randall spirit (or none at all) than feel like I forced him into doing ''my'' thing. (Or, worse, being to close to his own ideas, and deciding that he can't do that any more, lest it look like he took my concept and ''pretended'' it was already in his mind.)<br />
::::::I actually don't know how he set about prior works (solo or collaboration), but I'd have to already be far closer to him (socially, or perhaps with prior professional outreaches, neith of which are on the horizon) to have a proper idea. With everything he may have on his plate (''What If? 3'' and/or other books, more YouTubed conversions, some decidedly non-Fool future specials that he might have plans for, the continuing thrice-weekly comics...) maybe there just wasn't a way to give us want we're waiting for this year (maybe that was 2017's basic issue?). Or maybe he's ''almost there'', just not yet.<br />
::::::He won't read this (that's ok, I don't read his Twitter - though that's mostly because it's been made too awkward to read things there without an account on the now-X, and I'm well past the point that I might have ever considered signing up) so this is not for his benefit, but for those who seem to think it's a cut'n'dried contract that he ''will'' entertain you. When he will only as much as he feels he can. With the caveat of "horses for courses", as he'll never please everybody, however much he might try.<br />
::::::Be calm, fellow xkcd community members. ''Maybe'' we're due a truly humdingery ''Summertime'' special release (or Halloween, or Christmas, or next April (twice as good as a normal year!), or just at some random time that may or may not coincide with a book launch, or... If we already knew about it, would it be as nice a surprise..? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.59|172.71.178.59]] 16:44, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::::::I thought it obvious that this presidency ''was'' the joke? Did not everyone get the joke? I mean, maybe it's in bad taste, but the irony is ''right there''. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:42, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A quick search for "newest iPhone" gave me that 16 (various models) is the newest. That is, if it's newer than 15. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.15.141|172.68.15.141]] 04:39, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Most stars only produce Bell rotary phones, perhaps producing touch tone or even cordless phones briefly as they move off the main sequence. Massive stars can produce up to Nokia phones, but that's the final stage that stars can produce in their normal lifespan. All smartphones are produced in supernova. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.149|172.69.246.149]] 05:32, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: I thought they were produced in a Movistar. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.167|172.70.163.167]] 09:01, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: The iPhone 13 mini is not listed because it's a rare isotope that only forms within highly compact spacetime conditions that no longer exist in our region of the universe. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:22, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini decay into the standard iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models, respectively, via the less common beta+ emission mechanism. Neither is part of the displayed decay chain without external excitation into non-standard models [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 18:39, 7 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I miss an explanation of the iPhone models. Are these the only ones there are? In which order were they released? (Of course, I could google iPhone, but that would defeat the purpose of this page, wouldn’t it?) It feels strange that there is an iPhone 7, but no 8 and 9, then X (assuming X means 10), 11, 12 only with the addition “pro max” and so on. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.67|172.70.43.67]] 06:26, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think there is an 8 {{unsigned ip|172.70.162.195|09:18, 3 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
:There are more phones theorised to exist in nature, but they're mostly only found in high-energy colliders. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.179|172.68.205.179]] 07:12, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Note that the comic shows a {{w|decay chain}} not a {{w|table of nuclides}}, i.e. it only shows iPhones which occur during the decay of an iPhone 16 pro max. I also wonder why iPhone X apparently has Z=9, but according to {{w|List of iPhone models}} apparently no iPhone 9 was ever observed. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.89|172.69.109.89]] 09:57, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Before iPhone 11, Apple tended to bump the major number only every second year. They released the iPhones 8 and X the same year, then XS and XR the next year. So: ... 6, 6S, 7, (8 and X), (XS and XR), (11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max), ... {{unsigned ip|172.68.0.151|10:20, 3 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
Maybe this references how especially for iPhones, new models are constantly made and old ones traded in or discarded? As if the new phones are actually the same and current phones are just getting worse? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.10|162.158.167.10]] 07:18, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is this like how Randall's TI-85 decayed into a TI-83? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.17.144|172.69.17.144]] 11:04, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I think that's a corollary worth noting in the description! [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:36, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So, is there a {{w|neutronium}} analogue, in the "iPhone <no number> expert super plus pro max elite extra master genius limited edition"? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.29|172.71.178.29]] 12:14, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder if there's a real element that has a similar decay chain. [[User:Bigyihsuan|Bigyihsuan]] ([[User talk:Bigyihsuan|talk]]) 13:08, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder what the actual weights are of the phones and if that does track... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.69|172.68.54.69]] 13:59, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Presumably it ends with the 7 because that's currently the earliest iPhone still receiving security updates [[Special:Contributions/172.69.114.83|172.69.114.83]] 17:16, 3 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: I think this needs to be mentioned in the official explanation, that's the only sensible explanation for why "stable" ends at 7 (assuming it is true that 7 is the last supported model for OS updates, I did not double check.{{unsigned ip|162.158.103.187|23:13, 3 April 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
::I agree that 7 being the earliest with updates, should be mentioned. (It's the first reason I thought of as well, for it being the final decay state.) [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:38, 4 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Side note: the SIM part could also be related to the fact that, since the iPhone first came out, the standard size of SIMs has changed twice (by shrinking). In a curious twist of things, different phones have different compatibilities with each standard SIM size: some accept SIMs one size bigger if trimmed to size, some accept SIMs one size smaller if surrounded by extra material (cardboard or plastic) to bring them to size, some accept both and some accept one; I'm not sure about compatibility two sizes away. (TL;DR: the phone may be ejectng the incompatible SIM)--[[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.38|172.64.236.38]] 22:22, 3 April 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3063:_Planet_Definitions&diff=368951Talk:3063: Planet Definitions2025-03-14T19:41:15Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
The one currently posted has Pluto highlighted in the second box and not highlighted in the first box. Too hard to tell if it's trolling or a genuine mistake. :-D <br />
<br />
And the first one also has a moon hilighted instead I think?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.5|162.158.126.5]] 15:59, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Was about to write the same. The coloring in the first two lines arund Pluto seem wrong (or mistankingly switched). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.246|172.71.222.246]] 16:17, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
the coloring of Pluto does look inverted in the two first lines, they probably got switched by mistake--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.90.43|172.71.90.43]] 17:28, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This, this is the hill I will die on. I was radicalised by this paper: [https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.15285 Moons Are Planets: "Scientific Usefulness Versus Cultural Teleology in the Taxonomy of Planetary Science"]<br />
In short; planets are what planetary scientists study. Round things with the *good stuff*: atmospheres, oceans, volcanoes (of lava or water ice) (see diagram page 53).<br />
Pluto, Titan, Ceres, Io and Europa are all in the sweet spot where you're not so small you're just a lump of rocks who happen to be stuck together into a lump, and not so large you're just a mostly undifferentiated mass of fusing hydrogen/helium plasma.<br />
And it's consistent with our pre-20th Century understanding of what a planet is, whereas the IAU definition is trying to preserve 19th Century astrology. An amazing read and a strong recommend for anyone who cares about this subject. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.138|172.69.79.138]] 16:45, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Does this sort of count as pi-related for pi day? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 17:04, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
:he doesn't do themed comics anymore 😔 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:12, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was somewhat disappointed to get to the end of the table without seeing either an astrology or Sailor Moon joke. -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:12, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it possible that Uranus is marked under "Empiricist" because of the "Randall has seen Uranus" joke? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.178|172.70.42.178]] 18:38, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The "{{w|Classical planet|Classical Planets}}" should be 7, including the Sun and the Moon.<br />
:The average distance of the orbit of the Moon around the Earth must be slightly farther away than the orbit of the Sun around the Earth, since the Moon lags behind the Sun a little more each day, but the orbits must cross or we would never have a solar eclipse :P [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:41, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Wouldn't the Regolithic one depend on the exact definitions of "dirt", "ice", and "covered"? It seems that an argument could be made that the giant planets also count there but have a much thicker atmosphere on the outside, and disqualifying because of the atmosphere could exclude others like Earth depending on the exact threshold used. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:08, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Has Randall not seen the sun before?<br />
:I'm impressed that he has seen Uranus (unless that actually is a joke), especially if he saw it unaided (apparently it actually can be barely seen with the naked eye if the conditions are incredibly good). [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:36, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Technically, spacecraft have landed on Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn. Just not in a survivable manner. [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 19:37, 14 March 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3063:_Planet_Definitions&diff=368949Talk:3063: Planet Definitions2025-03-14T19:36:25Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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The one currently posted has Pluto highlighted in the second box and not highlighted in the first box. Too hard to tell if it's trolling or a genuine mistake. :-D <br />
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And the first one also has a moon hilighted instead I think?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.5|162.158.126.5]] 15:59, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
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:Was about to write the same. The coloring in the first two lines arund Pluto seem wrong (or mistankingly switched). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.246|172.71.222.246]] 16:17, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
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the coloring of Pluto does look inverted in the two first lines, they probably got switched by mistake--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.90.43|172.71.90.43]] 17:28, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
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This, this is the hill I will die on. I was radicalised by this paper: [https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.15285 Moons Are Planets: "Scientific Usefulness Versus Cultural Teleology in the Taxonomy of Planetary Science"]<br />
In short; planets are what planetary scientists study. Round things with the *good stuff*: atmospheres, oceans, volcanoes (of lava or water ice) (see diagram page 53).<br />
Pluto, Titan, Ceres, Io and Europa are all in the sweet spot where you're not so small you're just a lump of rocks who happen to be stuck together into a lump, and not so large you're just a mostly undifferentiated mass of fusing hydrogen/helium plasma.<br />
And it's consistent with our pre-20th Century understanding of what a planet is, whereas the IAU definition is trying to preserve 19th Century astrology. An amazing read and a strong recommend for anyone who cares about this subject. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.138|172.69.79.138]] 16:45, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Does this sort of count as pi-related for pi day? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 17:04, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
:he doesn't do themed comics anymore 😔 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:12, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was somewhat disappointed to get to the end of the table without seeing either an astrology or Sailor Moon joke. -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:12, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Is it possible that Uranus is marked under "Empiricist" because of the "Randall has seen Uranus" joke? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.178|172.70.42.178]] 18:38, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The "{{w|Classical planet|Classical Planets}}" should be 7, including the Sun and the Moon.<br />
<br />
Wouldn't the Regolithic one depend on the exact definitions of "dirt", "ice", and "covered"? It seems that an argument could be made that the giant planets also count there but have a much thicker atmosphere on the outside, and disqualifying because of the atmosphere could exclude others like Earth depending on the exact threshold used. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:08, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Has Randall not seen the sun before?<br />
:I'm impressed that he has seen Uranus (unless that actually is a joke), especially if he saw it unaided (apparently it actually can be barely seen with the naked eye if the conditions are incredibly good). [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:36, 14 March 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3063:_Planet_Definitions&diff=368947Talk:3063: Planet Definitions2025-03-14T19:08:32Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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The one currently posted has Pluto highlighted in the second box and not highlighted in the first box. Too hard to tell if it's trolling or a genuine mistake. :-D <br />
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And the first one also has a moon hilighted instead I think?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.5|162.158.126.5]] 15:59, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Was about to write the same. The coloring in the first two lines arund Pluto seem wrong (or mistankingly switched). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.246|172.71.222.246]] 16:17, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
the coloring of Pluto does look inverted in the two first lines, they probably got switched by mistake--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.90.43|172.71.90.43]] 17:28, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This, this is the hill I will die on. I was radicalised by this paper: [https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.15285 Moons Are Planets: "Scientific Usefulness Versus Cultural Teleology in the Taxonomy of Planetary Science"]<br />
In short; planets are what planetary scientists study. Round things with the *good stuff*: atmospheres, oceans, volcanoes (of lava or water ice) (see diagram page 53).<br />
Pluto, Titan, Ceres, Io and Europa are all in the sweet spot where you're not so small you're just a lump of rocks who happen to be stuck together into a lump, and not so large you're just a mostly undifferentiated mass of fusing hydrogen/helium plasma.<br />
And it's consistent with our pre-20th Century understanding of what a planet is, whereas the IAU definition is trying to preserve 19th Century astrology. An amazing read and a strong recommend for anyone who cares about this subject. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.138|172.69.79.138]] 16:45, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Does this sort of count as pi-related for pi day? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 17:04, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
:he doesn't do themed comics anymore 😔 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:12, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was somewhat disappointed to get to the end of the table without seeing either an astrology or Sailor Moon joke. -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:12, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it possible that Uranus is marked under "Empiricist" because of the "Randall has seen Uranus" joke? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.178|172.70.42.178]] 18:38, 14 March 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The "{{w|Classical planet|Classical Planets}}" should be 7, including the Sun and the Moon.<br />
<br />
Wouldn't the Regolithic one depend on the exact definitions of "dirt", "ice", and "covered"? It seems that an argument could be made that the giant planets also count there but have a much thicker atmosphere on the outside, and disqualifying because of the atmosphere could exclude others like Earth depending on the exact threshold used. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 19:08, 14 March 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3050:_Atom&diff=366066Talk:3050: Atom2025-02-19T00:19:17Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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Hey, just wanted to let you all know we've recently discovered 2 comics that have never been published! They don't even have a name, so we used the filenames: [[ibm_hc_2]] and [[ibm_hc_3]]. You can read more about the discovery and what to do [[Category talk:A Smarter Planet|here]]. I had added them to the incomplete comics a while back, but I think not many people noticed them. The explanations are still empty, if you'd like to help! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:55, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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----<br />
<br />
...admittedly very barebones but at least it isn't blank. Someone smarter than me can expand it. Anyways, the Higgs boson feels like fuzzy dice you can't convince me otherwise [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.143|172.69.71.143]] 13:51, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Well, if they want to test that theory, they're going to have to find it [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1437:_Higgs_Boson again] [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 14:46, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I just added a little about wetness. I don't have time to look into this more, but perhaps the idea is the outer electrons have a low enough energy level they pull heat from the skin, and that sensation of coldness along with the little bumps the electrons would do against your skin would lead your brain to think they're wet. That's all I got for now. [[User:Gbisaga|Gbisaga]] ([[User talk:Gbisaga|talk]]) 15:11, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
: i always thought that the electron cloud feels like a water wiggler... {{unsigned ip|162.158.28.161|18:57, 14 February 2025}}<br />
:It's possible that the wetness might be a reference to the {{w|Nuclear drip line}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 00:19, 19 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I want fanart of the muons on my talk page by tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?! /j --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 14:58, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
:meowons. ~~(^_^)~~ [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.7|172.68.150.7]] 03:24, 13 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Sir, this is an internets. Someone has likely already made it. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:38, 13 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
:The muon fanart has been delivered to your talkpage. Please do enjoy. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.172|162.158.122.172]] 12:08, 13 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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atom [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 15:18, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Might be worth mentioning the popculture idea of expanding a subatomic particle found in "Three Body Problem" where they unfold the '11 dimensions' of a proton to make it, apparently, a planet-sized sheet and etch microcircuitry on it. (Programming question: how many bugs can dance on the tip of a proton? but I digress.) The most annoying part of quantum expansion would be how the particle gets entangled with _everything_ [[User:Bilkie|Bilkie]] ([[User talk:Bilkie|talk]]) 15:31, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Such a weird story. I always felt like I was missing some cultural context. I still enjoyed it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.47|172.71.155.47]] 15:52, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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So, ummm... What happens if they accidentally expanded an unstable atom to that size and it decayed? How earth shattering or otherwise is the kaboom? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.176|172.69.23.176]] 20:42, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Ballpark, that atom is probably max of 1 kg, based on how Cueball is holding it. If it's U235, which has a mass of about 0.4e-24 kg, then it's scaled up by a factor of 2.5e24. U235 has a decay energy of 4.7 MeV, which is 0.75e-12 joules, so scaled up that would be about 2e12 joules, about 450 tons of TNT. That's about 1/3 of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Not "big" as these things go, but certainly big enough. On the other hand, U235 has a half life of 700 million years, so the odds are low. {{unsigned ip|172.70.115.100|21:29, 12 February 2025}}<br />
::We also don't know how the Quantum Expander affects ''all'' its physical properties. Does its mass increase to have the density of its size as if filled with 'normal' copies of it, or is it the original atom-mass (technically, that'd be like a {{w|vacuum balloon}}), or something between (mostly the mass of the nucleons scaled up to some degree, but still even more 'empty'). The resulting gravitational interaction might or might not match its inertial mass (which would be very interesting!), and parts of it that are normally point-phenomena are now probably(?) macroscopic in size, but may retain the same field-profiles (charge, etc, on top of the already considered gravitation). And how does the scale of time change, now that the speed of light (assuming ''that'' isn't increased across the interior of the Expanded quantum-realm) means that relative timings across the width of the atom must run slower for any propogated effects. (On the one hand, a 700 million year half-life may be ''vastly'' extended; on the other, when any single atom fissions, it fissions in its entirety, and who knows what 'poking and prodding' it will do, and if it works like the arrival of prompt or delayed neutrons from one fission event that might promote a neighbouring one.) We really need to know more about the <abbr title="Quantum Expanded Device">QED</abbr>, including about how it influences <abbr title="Quantum Electrodynamics">QED</abbr>, before we can declare it completely <abbr title="quod erat demonstrandum">Q.E.D.</abbr> [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.37|172.71.26.37]] 22:43, 12 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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My first thoughts upon seeing the words "Atom" and "Electron" was "is thing going to be about text editors"? Anyway, upping my caffeine levels now. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 07:30, 13 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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This reminded me of a college friend who wanted to be a veterinarian, then quit the program. When asked why, he said the decision came when he and his classmates were supposed to put their hand up a cow's butt. I think he was joking(mostly?) but I was reminded by "I don't want to do physics anymore". The "sensation of coldness along with the little bumps" tracks, often things much colder than their immediate environment can seem wet. Although if giant electrons still acted as electrons, wouldn't racing around at such high speeds make the atom super hot? Sorry, I'm a bit rambly. [[User:Cuvtixo|Cuvtixo]] ([[User talk:Cuvtixo|talk]]) 21:15, 13 February 2025 (UTC)<br />
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This is currently a terrible explanation, both in its absurd length and that it's almost entirely avoiding actual explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.83|172.70.211.83]] 07:06, 17 February 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3042:_T._Rex_Evolution&diff=363645Talk:3042: T. Rex Evolution2025-01-27T17:44:02Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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too soon bro 😭😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:49, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The next stage in T-Rex would be a massive lizard with incredible bite force and barely any limbs... an Alligator [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.198|172.70.115.198]] 13:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Well, we do have large, legless animals with big mouths and teeth ... they're called 'snakes'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.44|172.70.178.44]] 15:25, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:two enter keys to form a new line [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:33, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So that explains the loch ness monster?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.195|172.70.250.195]] 14:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Probably not. T. Rex lived in America. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 14:50, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Since when has obvious contradictory facts gotten in the way of cryptids? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.104|108.162.238.104]] 15:04, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Not another CG account ''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:02, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::alright, calm down, it's just the person(s?) who tried to start a conscript ARG on this wiki IIRC [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:14, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I guess you’re right. I should probably follow {{w|WP:GOODFAITH}} more when it comes to matters like this '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 17:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: This tyrannosaurus wouldn't be the last american to come to Scotland and terrorise the locals. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 09:47, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::: My account name is randomly generated 🤷♂️ --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 08:07, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
So this is where snakes come from! {{unsigned|Petercordia|17:01, 24 January 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
Looks like this is how the {{w|tsuchinoko}} came to be... [[User:TheGoomba98|TheGoomba98]] ([[User talk:TheGoomba98|talk]]) 17:12, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do we have any figures on just how strong the bite force would be? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.223|172.68.22.223]] 17:15, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Strangely, those studying this have never returned any results.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.126|172.70.162.126]] 09:34, 27 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It seems like many here say that the T-Rex would become a snake, but it would have to simultaneously evolve to be able to move via the scales on its stomach, so I don't think it's guaranteed [[User:Sophon|Sophon]] ([[User talk:Sophon|talk]]) 18:45, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:You're right. It'll become a huge slug. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 20:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't this how whales evolved? Of course, they lost their hind limbs first, while T Rex was losing its forelimbs.[[User:Vfp15|Vfp15]] ([[User talk:Vfp15|talk]]) 23:21, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Dolphins too? I remember finding a snake once with tiny non-functional legs. Surely there are some cool pics on Commons for this explanation, anyone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.48|162.158.91.48]] 02:24, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) evolved from an anccestral land species whose modern descendants include deer, cattle, hippos, and giraffes. Hippos are thought to be the closest relatives. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:05, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I was pretty sure that because of the bone structure, it was thought that that the rear legs merged into the flipper, and that's why it's horizontal, versus vertical like in a fish. At least that's what I thought I read once. Looking at it now, it seems it does have some semblance of a vestigial hip / rear limbs and the fluke is just cartilage. Although seals and walruses do seem to have developed in the way I thought. As for the T. Rex, it actually turned into a {{w|Drinking bird}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:15, 27 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3042:_T._Rex_Evolution&diff=363644Talk:3042: T. Rex Evolution2025-01-27T17:34:35Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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too soon bro 😭😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:49, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The next stage in T-Rex would be a massive lizard with incredible bite force and barely any limbs... an Alligator [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.198|172.70.115.198]] 13:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Well, we do have large, legless animals with big mouths and teeth ... they're called 'snakes'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.44|172.70.178.44]] 15:25, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:two enter keys to form a new line [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:33, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So that explains the loch ness monster?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.195|172.70.250.195]] 14:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Probably not. T. Rex lived in America. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 14:50, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Since when has obvious contradictory facts gotten in the way of cryptids? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.104|108.162.238.104]] 15:04, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Not another CG account ''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:02, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::alright, calm down, it's just the person(s?) who tried to start a conscript ARG on this wiki IIRC [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:14, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I guess you’re right. I should probably follow {{w|WP:GOODFAITH}} more when it comes to matters like this '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 17:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: This tyrannosaurus wouldn't be the last american to come to Scotland and terrorise the locals. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 09:47, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::: My account name is randomly generated 🤷♂️ --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 08:07, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
So this is where snakes come from! {{unsigned|Petercordia|17:01, 24 January 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
Looks like this is how the {{w|tsuchinoko}} came to be... [[User:TheGoomba98|TheGoomba98]] ([[User talk:TheGoomba98|talk]]) 17:12, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do we have any figures on just how strong the bite force would be? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.223|172.68.22.223]] 17:15, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Strangely, those studying this have never returned any results.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.126|172.70.162.126]] 09:34, 27 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It seems like many here say that the T-Rex would become a snake, but it would have to simultaneously evolve to be able to move via the scales on its stomach, so I don't think it's guaranteed [[User:Sophon|Sophon]] ([[User talk:Sophon|talk]]) 18:45, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:You're right. It'll become a huge slug. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 20:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't this how whales evolved? Of course, they lost their hind limbs first, while T Rex was losing its forelimbs.[[User:Vfp15|Vfp15]] ([[User talk:Vfp15|talk]]) 23:21, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Dolphins too? I remember finding a snake once with tiny non-functional legs. Surely there are some cool pics on Commons for this explanation, anyone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.48|162.158.91.48]] 02:24, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) evolved from an anccestral land species whose modern descendants include deer, cattle, hippos, and giraffes. Hippos are thought to be the closest relatives. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:05, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I'm pretty sure that because of the bone structure, it is thought that that the rear legs merged into the flipper, and that's why it's horizontal, versus vertical like in a fish. At least that's what I thought I read once. Looking at it now, it seems it does have some semblance of a vestigial hip / rear limbs and the fluke is just cartilage. As for the T. Rex, it actually turned into a {{w|Drinking bird}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:15, 27 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3042:_T._Rex_Evolution&diff=363643Talk:3042: T. Rex Evolution2025-01-27T17:16:33Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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too soon bro 😭😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:49, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The next stage in T-Rex would be a massive lizard with incredible bite force and barely any limbs... an Alligator [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.198|172.70.115.198]] 13:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Well, we do have large, legless animals with big mouths and teeth ... they're called 'snakes'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.44|172.70.178.44]] 15:25, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:two enter keys to form a new line [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:33, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So that explains the loch ness monster?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.195|172.70.250.195]] 14:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Probably not. T. Rex lived in America. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 14:50, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Since when has obvious contradictory facts gotten in the way of cryptids? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.104|108.162.238.104]] 15:04, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Not another CG account ''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:02, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::alright, calm down, it's just the person(s?) who tried to start a conscript ARG on this wiki IIRC [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:14, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I guess you’re right. I should probably follow {{w|WP:GOODFAITH}} more when it comes to matters like this '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 17:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: This tyrannosaurus wouldn't be the last american to come to Scotland and terrorise the locals. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 09:47, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::: My account name is randomly generated 🤷♂️ --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 08:07, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
So this is where snakes come from! {{unsigned|Petercordia|17:01, 24 January 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
Looks like this is how the {{w|tsuchinoko}} came to be... [[User:TheGoomba98|TheGoomba98]] ([[User talk:TheGoomba98|talk]]) 17:12, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do we have any figures on just how strong the bite force would be? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.223|172.68.22.223]] 17:15, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Strangely, those studying this have never returned any results.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.126|172.70.162.126]] 09:34, 27 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It seems like many here say that the T-Rex would become a snake, but it would have to simultaneously evolve to be able to move via the scales on its stomach, so I don't think it's guaranteed [[User:Sophon|Sophon]] ([[User talk:Sophon|talk]]) 18:45, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:You're right. It'll become a huge slug. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 20:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't this how whales evolved? Of course, they lost their hind limbs first, while T Rex was losing its forelimbs.[[User:Vfp15|Vfp15]] ([[User talk:Vfp15|talk]]) 23:21, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Dolphins too? I remember finding a snake once with tiny non-functional legs. Surely there are some cool pics on Commons for this explanation, anyone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.48|162.158.91.48]] 02:24, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) evolved from an anccestral land species whose modern descendants include deer, cattle, hippos, and giraffes. Hippos are thought to be the closest relatives. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:05, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I'm pretty sure that because of the bone structure, it is thought that that the rear legs merged into the flipper, and that's why it's horizontal, versus vertical like in a fish. As for the T. Rex, it actually turned into a {{w|Drinking bird}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:15, 27 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3042:_T._Rex_Evolution&diff=363642Talk:3042: T. Rex Evolution2025-01-27T17:15:40Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
too soon bro 😭😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:49, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The next stage in T-Rex would be a massive lizard with incredible bite force and barely any limbs... an Alligator [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.198|172.70.115.198]] 13:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Well, we do have large, legless animals with big mouths and teeth ... they're called 'snakes'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.44|172.70.178.44]] 15:25, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:two enter keys to form a new line [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:33, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So that explains the loch ness monster?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.195|172.70.250.195]] 14:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Probably not. T. Rex lived in America. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 14:50, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Since when has obvious contradictory facts gotten in the way of cryptids? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.104|108.162.238.104]] 15:04, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Not another CG account ''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:02, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::alright, calm down, it's just the person(s?) who tried to start a conscript ARG on this wiki IIRC [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:14, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I guess you’re right. I should probably follow {{w|WP:GOODFAITH}} more when it comes to matters like this '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 17:47, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: This tyrannosaurus wouldn't be the last american to come to Scotland and terrorise the locals. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 09:47, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::: My account name is randomly generated 🤷♂️ --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 08:07, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
So this is where snakes come from! {{unsigned|Petercordia|17:01, 24 January 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
Looks like this is how the {{w|tsuchinoko}} came to be... [[User:TheGoomba98|TheGoomba98]] ([[User talk:TheGoomba98|talk]]) 17:12, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do we have any figures on just how strong the bite force would be? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.223|172.68.22.223]] 17:15, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Strangely, those studying this have never returned any results.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.126|172.70.162.126]] 09:34, 27 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It seems like many here say that the T-Rex would become a snake, but it would have to simultaneously evolve to be able to move via the scales on its stomach, so I don't think it's guaranteed [[User:Sophon|Sophon]] ([[User talk:Sophon|talk]]) 18:45, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:You're right. It'll become a huge slug. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 20:31, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't this how whales evolved? Of course, they lost their hind limbs first, while T Rex was losing its forelimbs.[[User:Vfp15|Vfp15]] ([[User talk:Vfp15|talk]]) 23:21, 24 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Dolphins too? I remember finding a snake once with tiny non-functional legs. Surely there are some cool pics on Commons for this explanation, anyone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.48|162.158.91.48]] 02:24, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) evolved from an anccestral land species whose modern descendants include deer, cattle, hippos, and giraffes. Hippos are thought to be the closest relatives. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:05, 25 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I'm pretty sure that because of the bone structure, it is thought that that the rear legs merged into the flipper, and that's why it's horizontal, versus vertical like in a fish. As for the T. Rex, it actually turned into a {{w|Drinking_bird}}. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 17:15, 27 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363375Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T20:30:04Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with [[3038|unit cancelation]] and [[3040|making up personal scientific jargon]], I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: You Americans will use anything but the metric system![[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 16:30, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::parallax giga-seconds?[[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 19:20, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I’ve watched that video before-it’s really cool and it’s one of my favorite videos ever '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Watch out you don't make that unit circle too big, or the square's vertices might {{w|Ideal_triangle|stretch out to infinity}} and [[809|ignite the atmosphere]]! [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The unit circle has a diameter of 2 units by definition, as a circle's diameter is twice its radius. In this comic, the diameter of the circle is 89 pixels, measured from the center of the outline on one side to the center of the outline on the other side. This implies that at the scale of this scene, the "unit" is 44.5 pixels. Cueball is 201 pixels tall, making him 4.5 "units" tall. Are characters' relative heights consistent enough in ''xkcd'' for this to be meaningful? --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 18:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The only true unit of length is ~1.616*10^(-35) meters. Whether you want that to be the circle's radius or diameter would be a matter of convention, although it might help to point out that the Schwarzchild "radius" of a unit mass is two length units, which makes me think of a diameter instead. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.206|172.68.245.206]] 20:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363365Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T18:28:37Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with [[3038|unit cancelation]] and [[3040|making up personal scientific jargon]], I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: You Americans will use anything but the metric system![[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 16:30, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I’ve watched that video before-it’s really cool and it’s one of my favorite videos ever '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Watch out you don't make that unit circle too big, or the square's vertices might {{w|Ideal_triangle|stretch out to infinity}} and ignite the atmosphere! [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The unit circle has a diameter of 2 units by definition, as a circle's diameter is twice its radius. In this comic, the diameter of the circle is 89 pixels, measured from the center of the outline on one side to the center of the outline on the other side. This implies that at the scale of this scene, the "unit" is 44.5 pixels. Cueball is 201 pixels tall, making him 4.5 "units" tall. Are characters' relative heights consistent enough in ''xkcd'' for this to be meaningful? --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 18:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363363Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T17:34:53Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with [[3038|unit cancelation]] and [[3040|making up personal scientific jargon]], I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: You Americans will use anything but the metric system![[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 16:30, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I’ve watched that video before-it’s really cool and it’s one of my favorite videos ever '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Watch out you don't make that unit circle too big, or the square's vertices might stretch out to infinity and ignite the atmosphere! ({{w|Ideal_triangle|Ideal_square}}) [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363361Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T17:33:53Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with [[3038|unit cancelation] and [[3040|making up personal scientific jargon], I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: You Americans will use anything but the metric system![[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 16:30, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I’ve watched that video before-it’s really cool and it’s one of my favorite videos ever '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Watch out you don't make that unit circle too big, or the square's vertices might stretch out to infinity and ignite the atmosphere! ({{w|Ideal_triangle|Ideal_square}}) [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363347Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T16:42:34Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with unit cancelation and making up personal scientific jargon, I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::: You Americans will use anything but the metric system![[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 16:30, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I’ve watched that video before-it’s really cool and it’s one of my favorite videos ever '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Watch out you don't make that unit circle too big, or the square's vertices might stretch out to infinity and ignite the atmosphere! ({{w|Ideal_triangle|Ideal_square}}) [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363343Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T16:15:21Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with unit cancelation and making up personal scientific jargon, I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I’ve watched that video before-it’s really cool and it’s one of my favorite videos ever '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Watch out you don't make that unit circle too big, or the square's vertices might stretch out to infinity and ignite the atmosphere! [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363342Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T16:14:24Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
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This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with unit cancelation and making up personal scientific jargon, I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I’ve watched that video before-it’s really cool and it’s one of my favorite videos ever '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 16:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Watch out you don't make that unit circle too big, or the square's vertices might stretch out to infinity and ignite the atmosphere! [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 16:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChipshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3041:_Unit_Circle&diff=363340Talk:3041: Unit Circle2025-01-23T15:57:45Z<p>SammyChips: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I don’t like having things defined as “x” and like to have exact measurements. The diagram just looks cleaner to me that way '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 23:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::There's nothing stopping you from considering non-dimensional lengths to be whatever unit you want. If you just write in, for example, "cm" after any linear dimensions, and corresponding units for areas and volumes, that's fine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.169|162.158.158.169]] 14:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer units of light-nanoseconds or the metric version parnsecs (don't think about it too hard :P) {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 23:58, 22 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I like [[3038|square acrminutes per steradian]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 02:38, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::Please sign off with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, or change your signature to include a link to either your talk page or user page. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:#A9C6CA">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#516874">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 01:25, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I did sign with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>, but the option for treating my signature as plain text was enabled. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::SammyChips, if that is supposed to be Parallax nano-seconds, you should understand that that is probably more like a Giga-Parsec. The parsec is the distance at which an object appears to move one second of arc when the Earth moves halfway around its orbit. (though I'm not sure which orientation.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:34, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
::::I told you not to think too hard for that very reason :P It's actually parsec-nanosecond per year, but in a nod to the recent comics dealing with unit cancelation and making up personal scientific jargon, I collapsed it into its own unit. For those who didn't get it, a light-nanosecond is pretty close to a foot, and the "parnsec" is pretty close to a meter. SammyChips 15:50, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::My Millennium Falcon gets 14 parsecs to the Kessel Run, and that’s the way I likes it! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.34|172.68.186.34]] 06:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm going to take all these desires for weird units with a barn-megaparsec of nackle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.160|172.69.195.160]] 07:00, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
:yo Tori, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJWE6cpqw0 ''this''] might help you with geometry too ;) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Are "they" also searching for {{w|Doubling the cube|Apollo's doubled altar}}? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:22, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess the correct wording is that $\pi$ is a trancendent number. Some irrational numbers e.g. $\sqrt{2}$ can be constructed by compass and ruler. {{unsigned ip|172.68.185.165|07:12, 23 January 2025}}<br />
:To be more precise, constructable irrational numbers are those that can be obtained through taking square roots, even repeatedly. Transcendental numbers are out, but so are things like cube roots. Note also that the fact that there are no "absolute units" of length is a quirk of Euclidean geometry -- in, say, hyperbolic world, a unit circle like this could actually work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.213.153|172.68.213.153]] 09:10, 23 January 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Didn't the unit kilogram lose some of it's mass? It may be working if something similar happened to this unit circle. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.117|172.69.214.117]] 15:43, 23 January 2025 (UTC)</div>SammyChips