explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3155: Physics Paths

2025-10-16T00:29:40Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ Added some more reasoning to the healthy path and path of ruin

{{comic
| number = 3155
| date = October 15, 2025
| title = Physics Paths
| image = physics_paths_2x.png
| imagesize = 433x663px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If nothing else, that reasoning definitely overturns syllogisms.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT trying to prove its value. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] is reasoning to the viewer that Einstein proved his value by having a major insight that overturned physics. He attempts to do the same and when, after some time, he fails the comic presents two possible results, the "Healthy Path" and the "Path of Ruin".

The first path, the "Healthy Path" has Cueball muse that perhaps this was a poorly-thought-out test of his value. The healthy path establishes that Cueball doesn't need a physics-overturning insight to have value. On the other hand, the "Path of Ruin" has Cueball angrily yell that the establishment must be stopping his insight from overturning physics. The path of ruin has Cueball take the idea that to have value, you must have a critical insight as constant. Thus, since, he has value, he must have an insight that overturns physics, and thus the establishment must be suppressing it.

This is the second comic in a row where Cueball tries to replicate Einstein's major contributions to physics.

Einstein had more than one "major insight". His "{{w|annus mirabilis papers}}" covered the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and mass-energy equivalence, all published in 1905.

The path of ruin seems a nod to John Baez's classic [https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html Crackpot Index].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Panel 1, Cueball has one hand out]

Cueball: Einstein had an Insight that overturned physics,
thus proving his value.

:[Panel 2, Cueball has one hand on his chin]

Cueball: I hope I have value. Ill try to have an insight that overturns physics, to check.

:[arrow pointing down with the caption below in between]

Time passes

:[arrow pointing down to Panel 3, which has Cueball with both of his hands out and up]

Cueball: On no! My insight didn't overturn physics! But I don't think I'm worthless...

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the left labeled "Healthy path" points to a panel with Cueball with his hands on his chin:]

Cueball: Maybe this was not a well-thought-out test of my value.

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the right labeled "Path of ruin" points to a panel with Cueball with his finger out and pointing up:]

Cueball: The establishment must be '''''suppressing''''' my insight!

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

3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-15T06:33:10Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ Added explanations of the three problems

{{comic
| number = 3115
| date = July 14, 2025
| title = Unsolved Physics Problems
| image = unsolved_physics_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 699x422px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??
}}

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

This comic is a sequel to comic [[2529]], which follows the same format.

Someone who knows more about physics come explain the rest please

The first question is understanding different models of spacetime. Each possibility represents a different model: time being a background parameter is how we usually think of time, where time is always passing at a constant rate. Time being a dynamic aspect of spacetime refers to the consideration of spacetime being a four-dimensional space, where time can pass faster or slower for different observers. Time being an emergent phenomenon refers to a recent theory(I think), where time is actually just space being manipulated, like code being the functioning of physical hardware(I think, tbh I don't really understand this either)

The second question discusses a precise experiment to understand a specific phenomenon. Essentially, the problem is that how we understand the process gives an answer for how much germanium we expect, but what we see in real life doesn't match up with our calculations.

The third question discusses a phenomenon that sounds extremely strange at first sight: hair is usually thought of as an organic property, and spontaneous change in a block of metal would not be a typical problem one would expect.

All true – see https://dataspan.com/blog/what-are-zinc-whiskers-and-how-do-they-affect-data-centers/

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
: The Three Types of Unsolved Physics Problem

: Vague
: [A Feynman diagram of two particles interacting via the electromagnetic force is to the right of Cueball]
: Cueball: What is the nature of time in quantum gravity? Is it a background parameter, a dynamic aspect of spacetime, or an emergent phenomenon?

: Precise
: [A scientific instrument and a nuclear reaction equation of gallium-71 becoming germanium-71 are to Megan's left]
: Megan: Why does the ''S.A.G.E.'' Gallium Neutrino Capture Experiment produce only 75% as much germanium as predicted?

: Cursed
: [A rectangular block of zinc, with whiskers growing out of it, is visible to the right of White Hat]
: White Hat: Why does some metal randomly grow hairs?
: White Hat: It keeps causing short circuits and we have no idea what's going on.
: Voice from off-panel: Is this a joke?
: White Hat: No! Please help!

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3095: Archaea

2025-05-29T01:21:32Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ added a transcript

{{comic
| number = 3095
| date = May 28, 2025
| title = Archaea
| image = archaea_2x.png
| imagesize = 404x412px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Under the two-domain system, anyone who punches you is technically an Archaean pathogen.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an Archean pathogen. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[Cueball, Megan, and White Hat are standing in a lab in front of a root-like phylogeny diagram]

Cueball: It's weird how, despite being one of the main branches of the tree of life, no known Archaea species are known to cause disease in humans.

Megan: Personally, I think it's because those gross methane breathers are too weird and incompetent that they couldn't hurt us even if they wanted to.

Lab sample: Hey!
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3080: Tennis Balls

2025-04-23T23:57:31Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ fleshed out the transcript a little bit.

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

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

A {{w|scanning electron microscope}} produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. Since Megan and Cueball find electrons too small to work with, they are using tennis balls instead.

The tennis ball launcher uses a similar mechanism to a scanning electron microscope: it fires tennis balls, instead of electrons, over a wide range of heights to determine where raised portions(in this case a person) are. However, the joke is that this height measurement could probably have been completed with a visual assessment, and with far more accuracy than using tennis balls to approximate their height.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball fires eight tennis ball at varying heights using a tennis ball machine, making four "thunk" noises. Megan is standing behind him.]

:[Ten noises come from the right side of the panel. From top to bottom: "Bonk", "Bonk", "Bonk", "Bonk", "Bonk", "OW!", "Bonk", "OW!", "Bonk", "Bonk". Megan has her hand to her chin.]
:Megan: Ok, there's definitely a person over there. Let's do one more pass to try to measure their height.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Electrons are small and hard to work with, so some scientists have developed a scanning tennis ball microscope instead.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]

ibm hc 3

2025-02-12T20:38:11Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ added an explanation

<noinclude>{{DISPLAYTITLE:ibm_hc_3}}</noinclude>{{comic
| image = ibm_hc_3.png
| lappend = ibm/ibm_hc_3.png
| ldomain = imgs
| extra = yes
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|[[User:Novotvor]] has discovered 2 new comics, [[ibm hc 2]] and [[ibm hc 3]]. They do not have a title, so the filename is used instead. '''They have never been published.''' For more info, see [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]. To discuss and coordinate, only use [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]. Below is the text copied from [[Prescriptions]] to kickstart the page. Explain everything (both the joke and the discovery) and use all the information you can find (also add the missing categories).
*Learn more about the discovery: [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]
*Learn about the "A Smarter Planet" comic series: [[:Category:A Smarter Planet]]
*Learn about the two released comics: [[Conservation]] and [[Prescriptions]]
*Use the Wayback Machine if necessary ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://imgs.xkcd.com/ibm/ibm_hc_2.png Wayback: ibm hc 2]) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://imgs.xkcd.com/ibm/ibm_hc_3.png Wayback: ibm hc 3]). (see more wayback machine links at [[:Category: A Smarter Planet]].)}}

This comic was created by [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] after a special request from {{w|IBM}}'s [http://asmarterplanet.com A Smarter Planet blog] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20161119052748/http://asmarterplanet.com archive]). The website now redirects to IBM's Think blog's homepage. This and the other [[:Category:A Smarter Planet|A Smarter Planet]] comic, [[Conservation]], are not part of the regular numbered series of comics, but both of them used to be featured on [https://xkcd.com/asmarterplanet xkcd.com/asmarterplanet] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190102070937/https://xkcd.com/asmarterplanet/ archive]). Each comic on that page linked to their respective blog posts on IBM's site.

Megan(presumably) is ranting about how bureaucracy has slowed the introduction of computers to information transmission. She uses the metaphor of hiring Peter Jackson(producer of Lord of the Rings movie series) to answer phones. The other characters use similar metaphors, then realize the metaphor doesn't really apply.

==Transcript==

:Megan: We barely use computers. Red tape, paperwork, and bureaucracy should be vanishing, with information appearing where we need it, fast and secure.

:Megan: Instead we're emailing scans of forms. It's like hiring Peter Jackson to answer phones at your studio.

:Cueball: Or putting Tiger Woods on your Olympic swim team

:Ponytail: Or hiring a German porn star to do Hungarian ballet.

:Megan: Is it really like that?

:Cueball: Yeah, I don't think it is anything like that.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:A Smarter Planet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Unreleased comics]]

ibm hc 2

2025-02-12T20:30:58Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ added related comic

<noinclude>{{DISPLAYTITLE:ibm_hc_2}}</noinclude>{{comic
| image = ibm_hc_2.png
| lappend = ibm/ibm_hc_2.png
| ldomain = imgs
| extra = yes
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|[[User:Novotvor]] has discovered 2 new comics, [[ibm hc 2]] and [[ibm hc 3]]. They do not have a title, so the filename is used instead. '''They have never been published.''' For more info, see [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]. To discuss and coordinate, only use [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]. Below is the text copied from [[Prescriptions]] to kickstart the page. Explain everything (both the joke and the discovery) and use all the information you can find (also add the missing categories).
*Learn more about the discovery: [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]
*Learn about the "A Smarter Planet" comic series: [[:Category:A Smarter Planet]]
*Learn about the two released comics: [[Conservation]] and [[Prescriptions]]
*Use the Wayback Machine if necessary ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://imgs.xkcd.com/ibm/ibm_hc_2.png Wayback: ibm hc 2]) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://imgs.xkcd.com/ibm/ibm_hc_3.png Wayback: ibm hc 3]). (see more wayback machine links at [[:Category: A Smarter Planet]].)}}

This comic was created by [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] after a special request from {{w|IBM}}'s [http://asmarterplanet.com A Smarter Planet blog] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20161119052748/http://asmarterplanet.com archive]). The website now redirects to IBM's Think blog's homepage. This and the other [[:Category:A Smarter Planet|A Smarter Planet]] comic, [[Conservation]], are not part of the regular numbered series of comics, but both of them used to be featured on [https://xkcd.com/asmarterplanet xkcd.com/asmarterplanet] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190102070937/https://xkcd.com/asmarterplanet/ archive]). Each comic on that page linked to their respective blog posts on IBM's site.

This comic talks about someone who spent two years creating medical records databases. Clearly, the person being examined has modified the medical records database the doctor is using, making it say he was president for a full term(four years).

This idea crops up again in [[2756: Qualifications]]

==Transcript==
:[A bald doctor with a forehead mirror is holding a piece of paper in front of Cueball, who is sitting on a cushion.]
:Doctor: It says here you spent 2 years building medical records databases…
:Doctor: and then four years as President of the United States?
:Doctor: I’m sorry, Mr. President, I didn’t recognize you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:A Smarter Planet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Unreleased comics]]

ibm hc 2

2025-02-12T20:29:35Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ made a base

<noinclude>{{DISPLAYTITLE:ibm_hc_2}}</noinclude>{{comic
| image = ibm_hc_2.png
| lappend = ibm/ibm_hc_2.png
| ldomain = imgs
| extra = yes
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|[[User:Novotvor]] has discovered 2 new comics, [[ibm hc 2]] and [[ibm hc 3]]. They do not have a title, so the filename is used instead. '''They have never been published.''' For more info, see [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]. To discuss and coordinate, only use [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]. Below is the text copied from [[Prescriptions]] to kickstart the page. Explain everything (both the joke and the discovery) and use all the information you can find (also add the missing categories).
*Learn more about the discovery: [[Category talk: A Smarter Planet]]
*Learn about the "A Smarter Planet" comic series: [[:Category:A Smarter Planet]]
*Learn about the two released comics: [[Conservation]] and [[Prescriptions]]
*Use the Wayback Machine if necessary ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://imgs.xkcd.com/ibm/ibm_hc_2.png Wayback: ibm hc 2]) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://imgs.xkcd.com/ibm/ibm_hc_3.png Wayback: ibm hc 3]). (see more wayback machine links at [[:Category: A Smarter Planet]].)}}

This comic was created by [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] after a special request from {{w|IBM}}'s [http://asmarterplanet.com A Smarter Planet blog] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20161119052748/http://asmarterplanet.com archive]). The website now redirects to IBM's Think blog's homepage. This and the other [[:Category:A Smarter Planet|A Smarter Planet]] comic, [[Conservation]], are not part of the regular numbered series of comics, but both of them used to be featured on [https://xkcd.com/asmarterplanet xkcd.com/asmarterplanet] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190102070937/https://xkcd.com/asmarterplanet/ archive]). Each comic on that page linked to their respective blog posts on IBM's site.

This comic talks about someone who spent two years creating medical records databases. Clearly, the person being examined has modified the medical records database the doctor is using, making it say he was president for a full term(four years).

==Transcript==
:[A bald doctor with a forehead mirror is holding a piece of paper in front of Cueball, who is sitting on a cushion.]
:Doctor: It says here you spent 2 years building medical records databases…
:Doctor: and then four years as President of the United States?
:Doctor: I’m sorry, Mr. President, I didn’t recognize you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:A Smarter Planet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Unreleased comics]]

User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)

2025-01-19T22:43:33Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

how are you 11 and doing wiki stuff [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 14:03, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:the user page was created in 2021 and never edited again. <s>s</s>he’s probably 14 or 15 now. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:00, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::To be honest, I genuinely forgot I had a user page. Yeah, I haven't looked at this in years. Not as big a fan of tetris now. FYI, not a girl, pronouns he/him. Sarah's not my name, and never has been, if you were wondering. [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 22:32, 19 January 2025 (UTC)
:::oops, sorry. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:40, 19 January 2025 (UTC)
::::I mean, you had like literally no way to tell. It's a fairly common issue with my usernames, since I often use some variation of Sarah. Just wanted to put my pronouns out there. [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 22:43, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)

2025-01-19T22:33:21Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): changed user page

I'll make edits whenever I feel like it. My primary concern is unsigned comments. Pronouns he/him.

User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)

2025-01-19T22:32:13Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

3038: Uncanceled Units

2025-01-15T13:36:04Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ added a transcript

{{comic
| number = 3038
| date = January 15, 2025
| title = Uncanceled Units
| image = uncanceled_units_2x.png
| imagesize = 323x355px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Speed limit c arcminutes^2 per steradian
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 1440 BOT-MINUTES PER DAY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, [[White Hat]] is presenting a refridgerator to [[Cueball]], claiming it only uses 3 kWh per day. This is a commonly used, but uncancelled unit: kiloWatts x hour / day contains two units of time, which can be cancelled (24h = 1d), yielding 0.125 or 1/8 kW.
Cueball answers by asking whether the refridgerator would fit in his kitchen, since the ceiling is only 50 gallons per square foot high, which is also an uncancelled unit, as gallons can be transformed to cubic feet, which can be divided by the square feet, yielding a ceiling height of around 203.7 cm, or around 6 feet 8 inches.

White Hat is trying to sell a refrigerator to Cueball. In doing so, he touts the power draw of the unit as "three kilowatt-hours per day". But "day" and "hours" are both units of time. "Per" indicates division, so this could be written as (3 kW-h / d), or (3 kW-h / 24 h). Identical units in the numerator and denominator of a fraction cancel out, so it could also be written as (1/8 kW), or one-eighth of a kilowatt (or 175 watts), a typical power draw for a fridge running between 6 and 8 hours a day.

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

[White Hat and Cueball are standing to either side of a refrigerator. The fridge has two top compartments and one bottom compartment. The top left compartment has a tall handle on its right, the top right compartment has a tall handle on its left, and the bottom compartment has a long handle on its top. The top left compartment has a paper attached to it with unreadable text, possibly an advertisement]

White Hat: This fridge uses only 3 kWh per day!

Cueball: But will it fit in my kitchen? The ceiling there is only 50 gallons per square foot.

Title text: Speed limit c arcminutes^2 per steradian

{{comic discussion}}

3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T14:11:19Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ Made a basic explanation

{{comic
| number = 3003
| date = October 25, 2024
| title = Sandwich Helix
| image = sandwich_helix_2x.png
| imagesize = 257x376px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The number one rule of string manipulation is that youâ€™ve got to specify your encodings.
}}

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

This comic details an important issue in communication: even if the content of your message goes through, there might be important context that is necessary to correctly interpret it. In the case of strings, specifying the proper encoding is necessary to interpret the message correctly.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Cueball: Always remember the #1 rule of communication:
:Cueball: Sandwich Helix.
:Ponytail: What does that mean?
:Cueball: Unfortunately,the context has been lost.
:Cueball: But we have the message, and that's the important part.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:2956: Number Line Branch

2024-07-10T02:11:37Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

Is it significant that the branch point is close to the value of π? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:28, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
:I was thinking the same thing, but decided it was probably nothing worth mentioning - probably just an arbitrary starting point. *Possibly* referencing the strange appearance of π but I doubt it. Anything can be significant if you believe hard enough, anyway.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.60|162.158.158.60]] 20:30, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
How does adding a new branch to a railway line reduce congestion? Isn't this more like a highway? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.47|141.101.105.47]] 23:30, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
:Read about the 2nd avenue subway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.168|172.70.111.168]] 02:22, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

What is "thrembo"? [[User:AndroidTheLucario|Your favorite aura doggo]] ([[User talk:AndroidTheLucario|talk]]) 04:12, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
: I think the whole section can be removed. The point is to explain the comic, not to describe what is seen (unless it's relevant for the explanation, which, so far, seems not be the case). "Various symbols" should cover it. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:35, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

The symbols seem well chosen TBH, I can totally see how they substitute for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.32|162.158.146.32]] 14:42, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:Except that, according to the title text, they should be 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.159|172.71.242.159]] 15:59, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
::I think that the express train travels on the regular number line, so I think the second branch parallels the regular number line. Thus, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 02:11, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

Mathematicians been there, done that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-standard_model_of_arithmetic
Although a nonstandard model of the integers can't branch by Peano axioms. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.71|172.71.160.71]] 15:08, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

Personally I would have branched off between 9 and 10, and had single character symbols for 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 so that you could do base 16 without having to use letters. Randell just lacks vision. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 15:12, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:Letters are single character symbols! I think he should extend the number line with all the letters, getting to 36 (z) before needing any new symbols[[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 21:46, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

2945: Broken Model

2024-06-14T02:16:52Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ fixed a little

{{comic
| number = 2945
| date = June 12, 2024
| title = Broken Model
| image = broken_model_2x.png
| imagesize = 278x448px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In addition to eating foxes, rabbits can eat grass. The grass also eats foxes. Our equations chart the contours of Fox Hell.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a KILLER RABBIT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Otherwise, the KILLER RABBIT may come for you.}}
This comic shows [[Miss Lenhart]] explaining a mathematical model of a predator-prey relationship. The model has the terms swapped, showing that 400 rabbits are preying on 20 foxes. The teacher realizes this mistake and says "If this were an ecology class, I would have to fix that." Instead of fixing the model, though, she instead begins to calculate using this flawed model, and notes that this model implies that rabbits are carnivores.

The equations start with Nrabbits(0)=400 and Nfoxes(0)=20, the number of rabbits and foxes at time 0, followed by what looks like the {{w|Lotka–Volterra equations}}, a pair of first-order nonlinear differential equations, frequently used to describe the dynamics of biological systems in which two species interact. One of the pair of equations describes the number of prey over time, the other the number of predators over time, differing only by a negative sign (and coefficients). It is easy to mix up which equation describes which species, leading to the inverted predator-prey relation described.

If this was indeed the case the rabbits would soon render the foxes extinct. The reason this doesn't happen in reality for rabbits is that they outnumber the foxes (20 foxes vs 400 rabbits) and thus can survive being preyed upon. Often the predator takes the old and sick animals first, thus keeping the rest of the animals more healthy. But following the math of the wrong formula would soon lead to zero foxes. As per the title text, the rabbits could survive without the foxes to prey on, since they still eat grass. However, this reality is terrifying for the foxes, because they are rendered as prey

The title text extends the joke by looking at a even more flawed model. This model has grass as well, but instead of grass and foxes not interacting, grass eats foxes, creating a "Fox Hell."
In the real world, foxes actually do [https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/article/red-fox-diet-what-foxes-eat eat grass], although not as food, but for other health reasons.

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is holding a pointer to a whiteboard, indicating the last part of the last line of text.]
:Miss Lenhart: Hmm, looks like I accidentally swapped the predation terms.
:Miss Lenhart: If this were an ecology class, I would have to fix that.
:Miss Lenhart: Unfortunately for those 20 poor foxes, this is calculus, and the math says these 400 rabbits are hungry for meat.

:[There are three lines on the white board, where the '...' parts in the bottom line is illegible:]
:Nrabbits(0) = 400
:Nfoxes(0) = 20
:dN0/dt = ... dN.../... = ...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every broken mathematical model is just a glimpse into a terrifying alternate universe.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2945: Broken Model

2024-06-14T02:15:36Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ un-AId some

{{comic
| number = 2945
| date = June 12, 2024
| title = Broken Model
| image = broken_model_2x.png
| imagesize = 278x448px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In addition to eating foxes, rabbits can eat grass. The grass also eats foxes. Our equations chart the contours of Fox Hell.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a KILLER RABBIT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Otherwise, the KILLER RABBIT may come for you.}}
This comic shows [[Miss Lenhart]] explaining a mathematical model of a predator-prey relationship. The model has the terms swapped, showing that 400 rabbits are preying on 20 foxes. The teacher realizes this mistake and says "If this were an ecology class, I would have to fix that." Instead of fixing the model, though, she instead begins to calculate using this flawed model, and notes that this model implies that rabbits are carnivores.

The equations start with Nrabbits(0)=400 and Nfoxes(0)=20, the number of rabbits and foxes at time 0, followed by what looks like the {{w|Lotka–Volterra equations}}, a pair of first-order nonlinear differential equations, frequently used to describe the dynamics of biological systems in which two species interact. One of the pair of equations describes the number of prey over time, the other the number of predators over time, differing only by a negative sign (and coefficients). It is easy to mix up which equation describes which species, leading to the inverted predator-prey relation described.

If this was indeed the case the rabbits would soon render the foxes extinct. The reason this doesn't happen in reality for rabbits is that they outnumber the foxes (20 foxes vs 400 rabbits) and thus can survive being preyed upon. Often the predator takes the old and sick animals first, thus keeping the rest of the animals more healthy. But following the math of the wrong formula would soon lead to zero foxes. As per the title text, the rabbits could survive without the foxes to prey on, since they still eat grass. However, this reality

The title text extends the joke by looking at a even more flawed model. This model has grass as well, but instead of grass and foxes not interacting, grass eats foxes, creating a "Fox Hell."
In the real world, foxes actually do [https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/article/red-fox-diet-what-foxes-eat eat grass], although not as food, but for other health reasons.

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is holding a pointer to a whiteboard, indicating the last part of the last line of text.]
:Miss Lenhart: Hmm, looks like I accidentally swapped the predation terms.
:Miss Lenhart: If this were an ecology class, I would have to fix that.
:Miss Lenhart: Unfortunately for those 20 poor foxes, this is calculus, and the math says these 400 rabbits are hungry for meat.

:[There are three lines on the white board, where the '...' parts in the bottom line is illegible:]
:Nrabbits(0) = 400
:Nfoxes(0) = 20
:dN0/dt = ... dN.../... = ...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every broken mathematical model is just a glimpse into a terrifying alternate universe.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:929: Speculation

2024-06-12T16:42:03Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): fixed my signature being added

I love the comics like this that work on multiple levels. They really lend to the legitimacy of xkcd as a thinking man's webcomic, and they're great comics to link to when I'm trying to make a point. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:24, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

It's a bolt. Longbows fire arrows, crossbows fire bolts. 'K?
:That bolt looks maighte like an arrow to me... but let's not quarrel about this. --[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 23:35, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
::Crossbows do fire bolts, so the only reason you wouldn't want to quarrel about it is because you would be wrong.
::However, the word "arrow" comes from the official transcript, so YOU don't want to quarrel about it either, 'K? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 07:19, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

::Quarrel? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarrel]--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.9|141.101.99.9]] 12:57, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
::: Please check your adds on the preview before committing it here. Everything you do save here is viewable to everyone; that's just annoying. I just want to see your primary intention, because THAT'S IMPORTANT, if that doesn't work fix it at PREVIEW before we get a mess here. I'm just happy if I can understand what you are talking about. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:27, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

The explanation states that it is Black Hat speaking in the title text. It makes much more sense if it is Randall speaking, but just demonstrating a slightly black-hat tendency. In my opinion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 17:58, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, but in the original comic's title text, it uses the single-quotes--that wasn't just added by explainxkcd as a formatting thing. When Randall is supposed to be the one speaking, there are no quotation marks in the title text... that implies this one is a quote from Black Hat. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.171|108.162.216.171]] 04:27, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

There's another joke not mentioned in the explanation. Cueball said "You're not really the '''catch''' type, are you." since Black Hat shot the basketball instead of '''catching''' it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.246|108.162.219.246]] 21:32, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

There is a [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob|community portal discussion]] of what to call Cueball and what to do in case with more than one Cueball. I have added this comic to the Category:Multiple Cueballs. I switched which Cueball is called Cueball in the transcript so now the one named Cueball has all the interesting comments of this comic and also he is the one shooting at the hoop and passing to Black-Hat. Also made a note that the other guy also looks like Cueball. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:23, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

Where'd Black Hat get that crossbow? [[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 08:58, 19 November 2015 (UTC)
:From the all-you-can-eat crossbow store. We're regular customers. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 00:06, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
::Psst— answering six-year-old comments ain't cool. [[User:BlackHat|BlackHat]] ([[User talk:BlackHat|talk]] 20:44, 25 April 2021 (UTC
:::How else could I have answered? (And that was a month-old comment...) [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]])) 15:27, 26 April 2021 (UTC))
:::Why the fuck not? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.88|162.158.155.88]] (please sign your comments with four ~s)
But as OF NEARLY 2023, I can say with certainty that Facebook’s “meta” project has failed miserably. [[User:SilverTheTerribleMathematician|SilverTheTerribleMathematician]] ([[User talk:SilverTheTerribleMathematician|talk]]) 11:02, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Talk:929: Speculation

2024-06-12T16:38:27Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Signed an unsigned comment

I love the comics like this that work on multiple levels. They really lend to the legitimacy of xkcd as a thinking man's webcomic, and they're great comics to link to when I'm trying to make a point. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:24, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

It's a bolt. Longbows fire arrows, crossbows fire bolts. 'K?
:That bolt looks maighte like an arrow to me... but let's not quarrel about this. --[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 23:35, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
::Crossbows do fire bolts, so the only reason you wouldn't want to quarrel about it is because you would be wrong.
::However, the word "arrow" comes from the official transcript, so YOU don't want to quarrel about it either, 'K? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 07:19, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

::Quarrel? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarrel]--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.9|141.101.99.9]] 12:57, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
::: Please check your adds on the preview before committing it here. Everything you do save here is viewable to everyone; that's just annoying. I just want to see your primary intention, because THAT'S IMPORTANT, if that doesn't work fix it at PREVIEW before we get a mess here. I'm just happy if I can understand what you are talking about. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:27, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

The explanation states that it is Black Hat speaking in the title text. It makes much more sense if it is Randall speaking, but just demonstrating a slightly black-hat tendency. In my opinion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 17:58, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, but in the original comic's title text, it uses the single-quotes--that wasn't just added by explainxkcd as a formatting thing. When Randall is supposed to be the one speaking, there are no quotation marks in the title text... that implies this one is a quote from Black Hat. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.171|108.162.216.171]] 04:27, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

There's another joke not mentioned in the explanation. Cueball said "You're not really the '''catch''' type, are you." since Black Hat shot the basketball instead of '''catching''' it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.246|108.162.219.246]] 21:32, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

There is a [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob|community portal discussion]] of what to call Cueball and what to do in case with more than one Cueball. I have added this comic to the Category:Multiple Cueballs. I switched which Cueball is called Cueball in the transcript so now the one named Cueball has all the interesting comments of this comic and also he is the one shooting at the hoop and passing to Black-Hat. Also made a note that the other guy also looks like Cueball. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:23, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

Where'd Black Hat get that crossbow? [[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 08:58, 19 November 2015 (UTC)
:From the all-you-can-eat crossbow store. We're regular customers. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 00:06, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
::Psst— answering six-year-old comments ain't cool. [[User:BlackHat|BlackHat]] ([[User talk:BlackHat|talk]] 20:44, 25 April 2021 (UTC
:::How else could I have answered? (And that was a month-old comment...) [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]])) 15:27, 26 April 2021 (UTC))
:::Why the fuck not? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.88|162.158.155.88]] (please sign your comments with [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 16:38, 12 June 2024 (UTC))

But as OF NEARLY 2023, I can say with certainty that Facebook’s “meta” project has failed miserably. [[User:SilverTheTerribleMathematician|SilverTheTerribleMathematician]] ([[User talk:SilverTheTerribleMathematician|talk]]) 11:02, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

2934: Bloom Filter

2024-05-17T22:52:51Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ explained the title text

{{comic
| number = 2934
| date = May 17, 2024
| title = Bloom Filter
| image = bloom_filter_2x.png
| imagesize = 212x206px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sometimes, you can tell Bloom filters are the wrong tool for the job, but when they're the right one you can never be sure.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|PROBABLY CREATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is referring to a {{w|Bloom Filter}}, a data structure that is used for approximate membership queries and cardinality estimation using a bounded amount of memory. That is, after a series of objects are added to the bloom filter, given another object, the bloom filter can be queried to see if that object has already been added to it, with a chance of a false positive answer that depends on the size of the bloom filter. Or, the bloom filter can be queried for an approximate count of the objects that have been added to the bloom filter already.

A bloom filter uses a large bit array, and a number of hashing functions that produce indexes into this array. When a value is added to the set, it's hashed with each function, and the corresponding bits in the array are set to 1. To test if a value is in the set you hash it with all the functions, and check if all the bits are 1. If they are, the value may be in the set, but there can also be false positives because each hash collides with some other value in the set (assuming reasonable hash functions, a different element for each hash). But if any of the bits is 0, you know for sure the value is not in the set. The higher the ratio between the size of the bit array and the number of elements in the set, the smaller the false positive rate is (10 bits/element has about 1% false positives.

The joke in the comic is that [[Cueball]] has a 1-bit Bloom filter. When the set is empty, it accurately reports that any value is not in the set. But as soon as anything is added to the set, it has a very large false positive rate, since that single bit will be set and everything will hash to that index. Similarly the cardinality estimation is (correctly) 0 initially, but after the first addition the estimate will be "somewhere between 1 and infinity" which is not a terribly useful estimate.

There's also no point in having multiple hash functions for a 1-bit filter, since there's only one possible hash value.

The title text references how bloom filters are always accurate in saying that an element is not in the list(bloom filters are not correct), but you can never be sure if an element is actually in the list(bloom filters are actually correct), because of false positives.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail holds out her hand to Cueball, who is holding a paper with a 1 on it.]
:Ponytail: Does your set contai-
:Cueball: Yeah, probably.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:One-Bit Bloom Filter

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2933: Elementary Physics Paths

2024-05-16T18:29:06Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ editorializing

{{comic
| number = 2933
| date = May 15, 2024
| title = Elementary Physics Paths
| image = elementary_physics_paths_2x.png
| imagesize = 464x672px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = ==COSMOLOGY==> 'Uhhh ... how sure are we that everything is made of these?'
}}

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

This comic explores the complexities of understanding the fundamental building blocks of the universe.

The absurdity of understanding ''everything'' starting from just understanding basic particles is similar to the fallacy presented in [[1570: Engineer Syllogism]].

In the first panel, Cueball expresses the idea that if he understands the behavior of tiny particles, he'll understand everything. This reflects a common scientific pursuit, {{w|reductionism}}, to uncover the basic principles underlying all physical phenomena in order to understand them. For example, most chemical reactions can be explained as the recombinations of a few dozen common elements.

The comic then splits into two branches representing different fields of physics which refute Cueball's optimistic assumption: {{w|condensed matter physics}} and {{w|quantum field theory}}.

The concepts of {{w|antireductionism}} (or {{w|holism}}) is then demonstrated by following the left causal path using a 'traditional' physical approach.
In the Condensed Matter Physics branch, Cueball encounters a cloud of vibrating particles, which symbolizes the complexity that arises when simple particles combine to produce complex behaviors. The issue with reducing down to particles is that the number of different interactions between particles to understand makes the topic no longer simple. This highlights the challenge of predicting macroscopic properties from microscopic interactions, a central theme in condensed matter physics. This is shown in everyday life, from things like a baseball curving through the air, to how a mirror reflects light. [[1734: Reductionism]] also touches on the impracticality of gaining knowledge about a larger construct through understanding its constituent parts.

In the Quantum Field Theory branch, Cueball is faced with the issue that particles at the quantum level aren't simple. Quantum Field Theory deals with the fundamental particles and forces of nature, and it describes a complex world where particles can behave as both waves and particles simultaneously, among other strange phenomena.

The title text introduces a third branch: the field of {{w|cosmology}}, which deals with the large-scale structure and history of the universe. Cosmology suggests that even our catalog of the most fundamental particles might be inadequate - perhaps an allusion to theorized phenomena like dark matter and dark energy - raising questions about the nature of existence itself.

No matter how you study the universe, it's complicated.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball gestures at a particle, represented as a dot with motion lines around it.]
:Cueball: Everything is made of tiny particles. If I understand those, I'll understand everything!
:[The comic splits into two branches.]
:[Condensed Matter Physics branch]
:[Cueball is fretting over a cloud of particles.]
:Cueball: Oh no.
:Cueball: Simple particles can combine to produce complex behaviors.
:[Quantum Field Theory branch]
:[Cueball is fretting over the same particle as in the first panel.]
:Cueball: Oh no.
:Cueball: '''''These particles aren't simple!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]

2917: Types of Eclipse Photo

2024-04-09T19:46:52Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ fixed grammar

{{comic
| number = 2917
| date = April 8, 2024
| title = Types of Eclipse Photo
| image = types_of_eclipse_photo_2x.png
| imagesize = 594x460px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The most rare, top-tier eclipse photo would be the Solar Earth Eclipse, but the Apollo 12 crew's attempt to capture it was marred by camera shake. They said it looked spectacular, though.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AUSTRALIAN CLOUD FROM THE FUTURE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about the {{w|Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024|recent total solar eclipse}} visible in North America. The last photograph refers to one in 2028 that will cross the Australian continent.

'''The Standard:''' A photo of the solar eclipse during totality, a typical photo most people might hope to take.

'''The Partial:''' A photo of the eclipse in progress, likely approaching totality. Another typical photo most viewers take as the eclipse progresses, or the sum total image that could have been taken if not able to be at the [[2914: Eclipse Coolness|right time/place]] to properly observe totality.

'''The Reaction Shot:''' Some people will choose to take a photo of their reaction or their friends' and/or family's reaction. Typically, this style is chosen to document something more personal to the viewer, since a large number of photos of the eclipse already exist online,{{Citation Needed}} and a shot of the crowd is perhaps a more foresighted way of documenting their personal presence under the phenomenon.

'''The Fancy Lens:''' A photo of this type, that features conspicuous {{w|solar prominence}}s, will almost certainly require a lot more preparation and equipment (the 'fancy lens', a tripod or other mounting, etc).

'''The Focus Issues:''' People new or unaware of the difficulties of astral photography typically experience challenges focusing their lenses on astral bodies, especially if they are trying to fight against a confused auto-focus. The eclipse is no exception to this, and this type of photo popped up more frequently during this event because more people were taking photos of the sky than usual.

'''The Traffic Jam:''' On the way to the zone of totality many people got stuck in traffic. About 20 million people lived in the path of totality and some 200 million people in travel range, so many hundreds of thousands commuted to view the eclipse. As such, many people got stuck in traffic. They took ironic or embittered photos of their common predicament.

'''The Astronaut:''' Astronauts on the ISS had a particularly unique view of the solar eclipse, seeing the Moon's shadow on the Earth's surface.

'''The "Frustratedly Looking up at the Cloud Situation in Australia for 2028":''' There were clouds over a large portion of the United States during the eclipse. Thus, a [[2915: Eclipse Clouds|frustrated onlooker]] would likely be researching if the {{w|Solar eclipse of July 22, 2028|2028 Australian eclipse}} will also be cloudy, giving them a second chance to see the eclipse in its full glory. Ironically, weather is difficult to predict 4 years in the future.

The title text refers to a [[:File:Apollo_12_view_of_Solar_Eclipse_(5052129615).jpg|photograph]] taken during the {{w|Apollo 12}} mission when the Earth came between the spacecraft and the Sun.

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

:<big>Types of Eclipse Photo</big>

:[Eclipse during totality]
:The standard

:[Partial eclipse with lighter sky]
:The partial

:[Two Cueballs and Ponytail looking and pointing at the sky]
:The reaction shot

:[Eclipse during totality with red "ribbons" around the Moon]
:The fancy lens

:[A blurry ring of light in the center]
:The focus issues

:[The rear of an SUV]
:The traffic jam

:[A dark circle on Earth's surface]
:The astronaut

:[A gray cover of clouds]
:The "frustratedly looking up the cloud situation in Australia for 2028"

==Trivia==
* The [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/types_of_eclipse_photo.png standard size] image was uploaded with a resolution/size of 8920 by 6909, larger than the supposed 2x version at 1189 by 921. This was likely an error.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Solar eclipses]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Photography]]

2724: Washing Machine Settings

2024-02-14T22:51:32Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ fixed grammar

{{comic
| number = 2724
| date = January 13, 2023
| title = Washing Machine Settings
| image = washing_machine_settings_2x.png
| imagesize = 308x524px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I guess the engineers who built my dishwasher MIGHT have some insight into how to load it, but instead of reading the booklet they gave me, it seems easier to experiment for years and then get in arguments so heated that I get banned from Quora.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic strip depicts Cueball (possibly [[Randall]]) standing in front of a washing machine, wondering which settings to use for his particular wash load. He ponders as to the intended meaning behind the word "Delicate" and decides to look up detailed information on what the settings do and when to use them. A thought then occurs to him that there should be a location where people could crowd-source data on what settings they have found work best for various clothing items, before realizing that that would likely have already been done by the manufacturers beforehand and the results put into the product manual.

Labels on appliances tend to be terse, often using single words that make the intended interpretation challenging. In this case Cueball likely is trying to wash something that is both "delicate" and has "colors", but is forced to choose between them, even though there would ideally be a washer setting that anticipates the need for both considerations at once. Due to the laconic vagueness in the choice of wording for the dial (or button/menu), the "(Light)" may refer to the setting being intended for lightly or pastel colored clothing, that the setting is meant for delicate fabric, or that it is a quick, surface-level wash (i.e. as opposed to deep cleaning), though a separate "half load"/”economy" button (or similar) often exists that abbreviates the appropriate phases of each main washing cycle accordingly.

The title text proposes deliberately ignoring the manual for a dishwasher and continuing to use the internet and other people for information on household devices. This might refer to the tendency for people to not read manuals and instead post their queries online awaiting answers, which sometimes gets disparaging comments to [[293: RTFM|read the manual]]. It also references [http://quora.com Quora], a website which allows users to publicly ask questions and answer the questions of others. The website is not typically known for its debates, although the situation in this comic could probably lead to one, as it is quite opinion-dependent with no true correct answer (even the suggested settings given in the manual, written by the makers themselves, could be prone to disagreement as users might find the settings to have adverse effects on their clothing, or discover an even better setting that the makers might not have had). Although Quora moderation is notably inconsistent, being inflammatory (as people tend to be in debates that progress too long) could lead to one's account being reported and banned, like on a typical social network or forum.

The same concept is present in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2834:_Book_Podcasts 2834: Book Podcasts].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is standing in front of a large combination washing machine/dryer, holding a coat, wondering.]
:Cueball: Okay, do I want "Colors (light)" or "Delicate"? Does delicate mean less agitation? Or a slower spin?
:Cueball: I should Google, I bet clothing experts have experimented with various settings/clothing combos.
:Cueball: Ooh, someone should make a tool that indexes people's results by washer model, so you can look up what settings to use for a given...

:[Caption below the panel]:
: Every now and then I forget that product manuals exist and spend a while reinventing them.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

2890: Relationship Advice

2024-02-09T18:57:35Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ deleted incomplete tag, looks plenty complete

{{comic
| number = 2890
| date = February 5, 2024
| title = Relationship Advice
| image = relationship_advice_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x241px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Good to be a little wary of advice that sounds too much like a self pep talk.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[White Hat]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] can be seen having a conversation about relationships. White Hat expresses the opinion that "relationships aren't easy". The others accept this advice, which is generally accepted as a reasonable view: two people are always going to have at least some difference in opinions, desires and needs that need to be communicated, negotiated and worked out. This requires mutual effort and some level of compromise in any healthy and successful relationship.

In the subsequent frames, however, White Hat continues to push the matter, describing relationships in increasingly unpleasant terms, starting with calling them "constant work" and ultimately calling it a "grueling ordeal". Cueball and Ponytail correspondingly agree with him less, and instead {{w|The lady doth protest too much, methinks|begin to worry about him}}.

White Hat's views on what is necessary and appropriate in relationships appear to go to unhealthy extremes. While his initial comments about relationships requiring efforts are reasonable, the notion that relationships consist of endless, overwhelming effort is not, for most people, though for some people who experience significant asociality this can be how most relationships feel. However, Cueball and Ponytail appear to suspect that White Hat may be describing a relationship that he's currently in or that has severed, and trying to rationalize an unhealthy situation by telling himself that "this is normal".

When someone is in an abusive relationship, they may struggle to see that the relationship is abusive, often confusing genuinely destructive behavior with normal relationship troubles. There are various reasons this may occur. Some people experience {{w|traumatic bonding}}, some have spent so much time in or around unhealthy relationships that they've come to seem 'normal', and some experience various forms of {{w|Codependency|codependence}}. For people in such situations, help from friends and/or professional counselors is often necessary to allow them to even identify the situation they're in, and particularly to separate themselves from the situation.

Seeing Randall’s often negative thoughts on [[223: Valentine's Day|Valentine’s Day]] and the [[1016: Valentine Dilemma|problems it produces]], it may not be a coincidence that this comic was released only nine days before the event.

The title text explains that advice which focuses on remaining upbeat in a bad situation (like a "pep talk"), should give others pause. There's a good chance that the person giving such advice is trying to {{w|Reaction formation|convince themselves that their situation is alright}}, rather than providing useful guidance for others. In this comic, this sentiment is seemingly applied to White Hat, whose "relationship advice" may be much more personal than such advice should reasonably be, and the reader is thus warned to take advice like this with a grain of salt. This is similar to [[449: Things Fall Apart]] where Cueball tells Megan "I love you" repeatedly and Megan points out he's only saying it to reassure ''himself'' rather than express it to her.

This comic's title is reminiscent of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]] comics. Here, though, there turns out to be no actual advice or tip, and thus not part of the tip category.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, Cueball and Ponytail are walking. White Hat has his palm out.]
:White Hat: What you have to remember is, relationships aren't easy.
:Ponytail: Yeah, fair.

:[Close-up of White Hat with his finger raised.]
:White Hat: They're hard. They require constant work.
:White Hat: A relationship is a job.
:Off-panel voice: I guess...

:[White Hat has stopped walking and is facing Cueball and Ponytail standing a bit further away.]
:White Hat: It's a challenge that feels overwhelming. It's a crushing burden.
:Cueball: Umm.

:[White Hat has his arms raised while still facing Cueball and Ponytail.]
:White Hat: A relationship is a grueling ordeal.
:Cueball: ...Who are you trying to convince, exactly?
:Ponytail: Yeah, are '''''you''''' okay?
:White Hat: I'm '''''fine!''''' This is '''''normal!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2890: Relationship Advice

2024-02-05T17:57:37Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ added to the explanation

1526: Placebo Blocker

2024-01-22T19:31:49Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Placebos */ changed joke citation needed to actual citation needed

{{comic
| number = 1526
| date = May 18, 2015
| title = Placebo Blocker
| image = placebo blocker.png
| titletext = They work even better if you take them with our experimental placebo booster, which I keep in the same bottle.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke about the difficulty of testing a drug that is supposed to block the {{w|placebo effect}}.

A placebo experiment is used for testing a drug candidate. It has two groups: one that gets a real drug candidate, and one that gets a fake. The placebo effect describes the observation that the group that gets the fake often show signs of having received a working drug - though commonly weaker than in the group that gets an effective real drug.

[[Cueball]] states to [[Hairbun]], with a citation from the real world, that his team created a Placebo Blocker, a drug designed to prevent the placebo effect. Cueball begins to design a test for this new drug. Following typical experimental design, patients would be split into two groups: a control group, and the group that receives the treatment.

Cueball knows that the treatment given to the control group is supposed to be designed so that it is not influenced by the variable trying to be isolated. As the placebo effect ''is'' the effect under investigation, a placebo can not be used as a control treatment as a comparison with a placebo blocker. Cueball tries to design around this. In his test, both groups would receive a placebo as a treatment for an unspecified condition (the ''Treatment Placebo''); in addition the test group would receive the Placebo Blocker drug, while the control group would get a placebo pill instead (the ''Placebo-Blocker Placebo''). If this works as expected, the ''Treatment Placebo'' would be blocked by the ''Placebo Blocker'' in the test group, while in the control group, the ''Placebo-Blocker Placebo'' may have a placebo effect in blocking the placebo effect of the ''Treatment Placebo'', and the difference between these effects can be measured to test the effectiveness of the ''Placebo Blocker''.

Cueball and Hairbun think about this trial until they both develop headache from frustration. Cueball then kindly offers Hairbun a sugar pill. While this might have helped cure the headache via the placebo effect had he told her it was a headache treatment, by revealing the pill as merely a sugar pill, it may reduce the effect (though it has been shown that placebos tend to work even if the subject is aware that they are placebos).

In the title text, Cueball mentions that his sugar pills against headache works even better together with the new experimental placebo ''boosters''. Incidentally, he indicates that he keeps those in the same bottle with his sugar pills. Assuming someone believes placebo ''boosters'' are in the jar this would allow them to take the sugar pills and receive a greater placebo effect, as the placebo effect is based upon faith in the treatment, regardless of whether there are placebo ''boosters'' in the jar.

It is possible but unlikely that:
* Cueball's sugar pills are, in fact, the Placebo Blockers themselves and that, seeing Hairbun has a headache, Cueball is inspired to somehow use the opportunity as an experiment to test the Blockers
* Cueball is suggesting Hairbun take a "placebo booster" which is really a "placebo blocker", thus testing the blocker he mentioned earlier in the comic.

Questionable neuroscience research is also discussed in [[1453: fMRI]].

===Placebos===
The {{w|placebo}} effect refers to the phenomenon in which patients given an inactive treatment such as a sugar pill can still show improvement relative to an untreated patient. The placebo effect is thus very important to consider when testing new drugs, since even ineffective drugs can have a positive effect on the patients due to the placebo effect. Modern drug experiments are hence conducted as {{w|Blind experiment#Double-blind trials|double-blind trials}}, where the patients are randomly given either the treatment or a placebo without either they or the administering doctors knowing who receives the new drug and who received the placebo pill. (It is important that the doctor does not know, as if they did, it may affect the way they interact with the patient.)

Generally the patients need to believe that they are receiving an active treatment, but one [http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591 study] showed that the effect can occur even if the patients are told that they are receiving a placebo pill. The key factor seems to be that the patients must believe that a positive effect will occur. For example, (1) patients experience a greater effect if they believe that the treatment is expensive and (2) patients who know that they have not been given an active treatment will experience the effect if they are told that placebos can have a positive effect through the power of the mind. Furthermore, the placebo can increase the effectiveness of treatments which ''seem'' larger (this is why over-the-counter pain medication is often administered as two half-doses rather than just one full dose).

Several reasons for the placebo effect have been proposed, from study artifacts - such as under-reporting of negative outcomes by patients who think they are being treated, to neurological explanations for how mental state can translate into physical outcomes.

Placebo-blockers do actually already exist. A side-effect of the opiate antagonist {{w|Naloxone}} is that it [http://healthland.time.com/2009/08/26/a-neurological-explanation-for-the-placebo-effect/ blocks the placebo effect].

It should be noted that placebo does not actually improve the objective condition, only the patient's subjective perception of it (i.e. the patients do not get better more than they randomly would, but the placebo makes them think they do).{{Actual citation needed}}

===Mechanisms of the placebo effect===
The placebo effect is one of the greatest mysteries in modern medicine. It is typically found that the placebo effect is an effective treatment in itself in addition to the effectiveness of drugs and other treatments, and it has been found to cause small improvements to cancer outcomes. In other cases such as pain relief, the placebo effect is claimed to be comparable with the effectiveness of the drug itself - but this is a misunderstanding: this is not evidence of placebo working, but of the drug not working.

The comic refers to the recent study by Kathryn T. Hall, Joseph Loscalzo, and Ted J. Kaptchuk. (2015) ''[https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/J.MOLMED.2015.02.009 Genetics and the placebo effect: the placebome.]'' Trends in Mol Medicine. Volume 21, Issue 5, May 2015, Pages 285–294 - however, bear in mind that one has to treat studies very carefully ''[https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ted-kaptchuk-versus-placebo-effects-again/ Kaptchuk vs Placebo]''

It is possible to test the placebo blocker using three groups: a test group who receive a placebo and a placebo blocker, a control group who receive a placebo but no blocker, and a second control group who receive no treatment whatsoever, as a lack of treatment is the variable that an actual placebo is designed to control for. Still it might be hard to determine if the pills are having a negative effect or blocking the placebo effect, so multiple trials with multiple illnesses may have to be carried out.

==Transcript==
:[Hairbun is standing in front of Cueball who does all the talking. Below them is a footnote.]
:Cueball: Some researchers* are starting to figure out the mechanism behind the placebo effect.
:Cueball: We've used their work to create a new drug: A ''placebo effect blocker''.
:Footnote: * Hall et al, DOI: 10.1016/J.MOLMED.2015.02.009

:[Zoom in on Cueball who now holds his arms out.]
:Cueball: Now we just need to run a trial! We'll get two groups, give them both placebos, then give one the ''real'' placebo blocker, and the other a...
:Cueball: ...wait.

:[Hairbun holds her chin, while Cueball just stand there for a beat panel.]

:[Hairbun looks again at Cueball who begins to take the lid off of a medicine bottle.]
:Hairbun: ...My head hurts.
:Cueball: Mine too.
:Cueball: Here, want a sugar pill?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Footnotes]]

2777: Noise Filter

2023-05-18T01:45:48Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ made more words

{{comic
| number = 2777
| date = May 17, 2023
| title = Noise Filter
| image = noise_filter_2x.png
| imagesize = 298x345px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Party Mode also enables the feature, but reverses the slider.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 30-YEAR-OLD BOT WITH A NOISE LEVEL SEARCH - elaborate on search engines of the type demonstrated in the comic and offer examples of the noise levels shown. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic demonstrates a venue search engine, proposing that they should have a filter added to search venues by noise level "when you reach 30" (presumably referring to the user searching). The title text shows that Randall imagines a "Party Mode" which also includes this filter, but reversed, presumably so that a loud party won't disrupt a quiet restaurant.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2670: Interruption

2023-03-19T16:23:44Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

First. {{unsigned ip|172.70.90.175}}

Holy crap, I get that pages need to sound professional, but EVERY word doesn't need to come from thesaurus.com... [[User:JDraney3190|JDraney3190]] ([[User talk:JDraney3190|talk]]) 13:59, 11 September 2022 (UTC)
: FYI, new comments go at the bottom or under a comment being replied to. :) As you can see below, I was the second comment, I made that comment before you. And yes, I agree, no need to go overboard on the big words (though I haven't spotted what state it is in right now). This is an easily explained comic. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:04, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

Second, then, LOL! Now, I understand the comic, and there's no explanation or transcript as of yet (it's half-past midnight EST - same time zone as Randall - so it seems unusual for there STILL to be nothing), so I'm tempted to write them, but I'm unsure what to actually say other than describe things for the explanation. Since Cueball is in the comic, this would be Randall: [Cueball is interviewing Ponytail for a podcast as Ponytail tells her story. Randall is listening in his car when the podcast is interrupted by his GPS giving an instruction, which throws him off as Ponytail's voice sounds too much like the GPS voice.] But this seems insufficient for an explanation. (I know - KNOW - that in a week this'll be one of the longest explanations on here). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:42, 10 September 2022 (UTC)
:Someone did the transcript while I was writing the above, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:45, 10 September 2022 (UTC)

"Turn left" is a likely allusion to an episode from Season 4 of Doctor Who. The Doctor was played by David Tennant, who is also a notable voice actor. Maybe someone somewhere has figured out a way to use his voice for their GPS.
: I think it is just a direction given by a GPS, not really a reference to something [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.28|172.70.111.28]] 12:51, 10 September 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
: The junction in Turn Left did not have lights. And I'm sure they've used Ten(nant)'s voice for a SatNav. They managed it for [https://youtu.be/-JpKuYbJQK4 BRIAN BLESSED!] [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.171|172.69.79.171]] 18:01, 10 September 2022 (UTC)
:This sounds like extreme reaching to me. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:31, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

I just added the reference to the Bechdel test. Should there be a category for this? My understanding of overall explainxkcd wiki structure is not that high. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.243|172.70.210.243]] 21:13, 10 September 2022 (UTC)
: Er, why do we need to track that? I don't exactly follow the reasoning. If someone wants to accuse xkcd of a whole as being sexist, that would call for a separate page altogether-- which itself wouldn't belong on a wiki about explaining xkcd. Are there any other comic explanations that note Bechdel qualifications? --[[User:Jacky720|Jack]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|t]]|[[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|c]]) 23:12, 10 September 2022 (UTC)
:(The following reply Edit Conflicted by the above, which I think misses the point of the suggestion for a Bechdel Test category. Insofar as if one is needed, then it actually proves that xkcd is at least a fraction less sexist than most other things.)
:Is there enough demand for it?
:Your job, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to see if there are 'enough' (a flexible figure, but more than "barely a couple" and less than "loads!") of other example comics for a Category:Bechdel test to be added to. (As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.)
:And, if you take my suggestion seriously, I would look at compiling a list of "Comics that mention the Bechdel Test" (I right now cannot think of any) and "Comics that pass the Bechdel Test" (such as this one... and it'll be interesting to see how many actually do).
:''Explanations'' that mention the Bechdel Test (without explicit prompting by what's int he comic) aren't really useful. Quick check, and the first examples are ones where it effectively states that they have/involve/reference situations that ''don't'' pass the test, which... as is the pointedly pointed point of the Test... isn't that rare at all. Or (like the Entwives comic) it's regarding nested research of the influences that are considered to inspire/be mirrored by the comic.
:But it wouldn't be up to me, or you. I know a few named-users who might take a look at such a proposal and implement it, though. They'll be interested in seeing what you can justify. (i.e., just show your working-outs, and it might be implemented). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.171|172.69.79.171]] 23:17, 10 September 2022 (UTC)
:I see no mention of the Bechdel test, so I guess someone agrees with me that it's not relevant to this comic. Most characters don't have names (a significant aspect of the Bechdel test AFAIK), just the names we've given them, so just about every comic would fail the test - though since the guys don't have names either, that seems irrelevant anyway - meaning the only reason to mention the Bechdel test is if the comic is about it or things like it. A podcast and a GPS voice don't qualify, sorry. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:27, 11 September 2022 (UTC)
:Given that in West Side Story, Ponytail is male, I see zero reason to assume that the Bechdel test would apply to a comic of stick figures, and furthermore, applying the Bechdel test to everything has a tendency to prove the MGTOW theory that women are idiots who care about irrational and irrelevant things.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 12:54, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

Never listen to podcasts, never heard Phoebe Judge or heard OF her, but WOW she sounds like a GPS!! I see Randall's point, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:27, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

Struth. I couldn't listen to a podcast with the same voice as my Nav App; hell, I can barely stand to hear the directions. A podcast? "what DIDyou think her moTIVation was? have you everseenher AGain?" No chance. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 21:24, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

Is it just me, or does the last panel awfully look like a reference to the late Queen?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.119.30|172.68.119.30]] 02:05, 12 September 2022 (UTC)
:Just you, looks like Megan in silhouette, with a bag of money. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:24, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

Turn Left may be a reference to the Doctor Who episode, "Turn Left" in which a character is told repeatedly to "turn left" at the appropriate time (in order to save the universe). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.91|172.70.114.91]] 22:28, 13 September 2022 (UTC)
:Someone above already said that, and it appeared we as a community seem to agree that it sounds like you two are really stretching, unless there's something BESIDES the phrase which would make a reference more believable? It's too simple an instruction... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:22, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

It's nothing more than an easter egg, if anything at all. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.113|172.70.114.113]] 20:30, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

Why does the explanation say "It could fit the story" and then immediately say "It doesn't fit the story"?(not verbatim, obviously)[[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 16:23, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

2726: Methodology Trial

2023-01-19T03:46:47Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Made an explanation

{{comic
| number = 2726
| date = January 18, 2023
| title = Methodology Trial
| image = methodology_trial_2x.png
| imagesize = 339x459px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you think THAT'S unethical, you should see the stuff we approved via our Placebo IRB.
}}

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

A team of researchers appears to have studied some form of placebo, using a placebo controlled test. When they presented their findings, however, it is revealed that the treatment they were given was a placebo. Thus, that study was part of a placebo controlled test, since a different team studied the real treatment, so a placebo controlled test was conducted on their methodology. Thus, all of their findings were due to the placebo effect, instead of any real treatment merit, meaning that their research couldn't be used for any real world applications.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands in front of a poster holding a pointer. The poster shows a scatter plot with four points and error bars, with one data point labeled "Subgroup" is marked with an asterisk and is placed somewhat higher up than the other three points.]
:Cueball: However, we see clear evidence that the treatment is more effective than the placebo for some subgroups.
:Off-panel voice: Thank you.
:Off-panel voice: However, we can now reveal that the '''''London''''' team was studying the real treatment. Both groups in your study got a placebo.
:Cueball: Aw, '''''maaan...'''''
:[Caption below panel]
:Researchers hate it when you do placebo controlled trials of their methodology.

:[Cueball is presenting some data to people off-panel. He has a pointer raised to indicate a graph showing four subgroups, the rightmost of which is visibly raised in comparison to the others, its lower interval rising above the x-axis.]
:Cueball: However, we see clear evidence that the treatment is more effective than the placebo for some subgroups.
:Voice from off-panel: Thank you
:Voice from off-panel: However, we can now reveal that the ''London'' team was studying the real treatment. Both groups in your study got a placebo.
:Cueball: Aw, ''maaan...''

:[Caption below the panel]:
Researchers hate it when you do placebo controlled trials of their methodology.

{{comic discussion}}

2725: Sunspot Cycle

2023-01-17T02:49:51Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ added explanation

{{comic
| number = 2725
| date = January 16, 2023
| title = Sunspot Cycle
| image = sunspot_cycle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x503px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Who can forget the early 2010s memes? 'You know you're a 90s kid if you remember the feeling of warm sunlight on your face.' 'Only 90s kids remember the dawn.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NINETIES KID WHO FELT SUN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic seems to be set in an alternative reality where the sun's brightness rises and falls within an 11 year cycle, causing there to be complete darkness for around 10 years.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
(Caption above the comic):Ever wonder why the sun disappears for about 10 years every other decade? This terrifying period of worldwide darkness is a consequence of the 11-year sunspot cycle.

There is a graph with "Sunspot number" and "Time".
Left to right:
Dark sunspots appear.
Sunspot number rises.
Numbers fall as sunspots merge.
Sunspots envelop sun, earth enters years of darkness.
Bright sunspots appear, cycle reverses.

History:
(A graph goes back and forth from "Sun is light" and "Sun is dark".
{{comic discussion}}

2724: Washing Machine Settings

2023-01-13T16:51:16Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a little explanation :D

2720: Biology vs Robotics

2023-01-05T01:03:55Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): fixed some grammer

{{comic
| number = 2720
| date = January 4, 2023
| title = Biology vs Robotics
| image = biology_vs_robotics_2x.png
| imagesize = 546x260px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sorry, I've just always had these random things I don't like--like olives, or robots drilling holes in me without warning.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROBOT WITH A HOLE IN IT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, [[Cueball]] is walking along next to an apparently-{{w|Sentience|sentient}}/[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sapience sapient] robot, complaining to said robot about the problems of biology. Cueball, being a biological entity, has experience, while the robot, an abiological entity ([https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/robotic-future/0/steps/26359 some] [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrainInAJar exceptions] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorobotics apply]) does not have as much experience.

While walking, Cueball complains to the robot that biology (And presumably being biological) is annoying/bad, stating "Biology sucks" and "Bodies have all these problems". This is to some extent true. The human body has many flaws, ranging from {{w|Recurrent laryngeal nerve|mildly inneficient}} to {{w|Stroke|lethal-without-warning}}. The robot counters that the human body, and bodies in general, have many advantages. One such advantage is that human bodies heal while metal robots don't.

This puts Cueball's problems into perspective, humbling him, as he realises that the human body still has a lot of strengths. Possibly a little offended, he replies that it only works "Sometimes", and is often painful. Holes can be different sizes,{{Citation needed}} so it is hardly surprising that their outcomes will vary. For example, a small hole made for an earring would be easy to close, whereas one carved by {{w|List of the largest cannon by caliber|an 91.4cm mortar shell}} would be less easy to heal. Survivablility is also a key factor is whether or not someone survives a hole, as dying greatly impacts someone's ability to heal. There is also ambiguity in what counts as a hole (Is a cut a "Hole"? Is surgery? etc.). This variability is likely why Cueball says "Sometimes".

He also states that "It" is "not exactly fun". This is an {{w|understatement}}, as {{w|Gunshot wound|some holes}} can really hurt. "It" is implied to be the holes themselves, as while the healing process can hurt, the formation of the hole (Such as being shot) is often a LOT more painful.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is walking alongside a medium-sized, boxy robot with small wheels.]
:Cueball: Ugh, Biology is the worst. Bodies have all these random problems.

:Robot: Is it true that if someone makes a hole in you, it just closes up on its own?

:Cueball: Only '''''sometimes'''''. And it's not exactly '''''fun'''''.
:Robot: Noted. I'll try to avoid perforating your surface.
:Cueball: Thanks! It's kind of a pet peeve.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T00:58:05Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

What was going on with this page? [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 00:58, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

2688: Bubble Universes

2022-10-21T15:46:15Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ Expanded on recursion

{{comic
| number = 2688
| date = October 21, 2022
| title = Bubble Universes
| image = bubble_universes_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x188px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The theory finally unifies cosmic inflation and regular inflation.
}}

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

The comic seems to be recursive, where one Cueball's bubble universe contains another Cueball doing the same thing, blowing bubbles, seeming to contain the whole scene within one of the bubbles in the original scene.

"Finally unifies cosmic inflation and regular inflation" where "regular inflation" refers to the inflation of bubbles.

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

[Cueball blowing expanding bubbles. In the largest one is a whole new universe with another Cueball blowing similar bubbles]

Title text: This theory finally unifies cosmic inflation and regular inflation

{{comic discussion}}

2688: Bubble Universes

2022-10-21T15:44:21Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): added the title text to the transcript

{{comic
| number = 2688
| date = October 21, 2022
| title = Bubble Universes
| image = bubble_universes_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x188px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The theory finally unifies cosmic inflation and regular inflation.
}}

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

recursion

"Finally unifies cosmic inflation and regular inflation" where "regular inflation" refers to the inflation of bubbles.

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

[Cueball blowing expanding bubbles. In the largest one is a whole new universe with another Cueball blowing similar bubbles]

Title text: This theory finally unifies cosmic inflation and regular inflation

{{comic discussion}}

User talk:JayRulesXKCD

2022-10-20T00:41:32Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Random Chat */ hi

Anyone want to talk? Here's the place to do it. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]]

:Things are quiet around here. Too quiet.
::Too too quiet.
:::2Quiet2Furious.
Why don't we fix that?

==Announcements==

Months later, and this statement held true for about a week. I did make a game, and it did end up getting released, but not for long. Oh well. Live and learn. Have a happy new year, because given my track record, it'll be most likely 2019 before I end up coming back again. Stuff has really been getting crazy. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 20:23, 29 December 2018 (UTC)
:Aaaand it's been 4 months since then. Whaddya know? I was right. I really need to start doing more things around here. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 11:03, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

==Important Information==
(This part is for serious talks or other important information that is NOT related to the wiki. Feel free to delete this line in parenthesis if you want to post something serious here.)

==Random Chat==
Hello! --[[User:Sensorfire|Sensorfire]] ([[User talk:Sensorfire|talk]]) 19:24, 31 August 2018 (UTC)
:Hey! What's new? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 11:10, 2 September 2018 (UTC)
Hi [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 00:41, 20 October 2022 (UTC)

==Serious Business==
(This part is for serious business with the wiki and whatnot.)

==Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls==
Where are the duplicate arguments? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 10:52, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
:1 month later, I come back to your profile page via a comment you made and fixed that. You're welcome. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 11:14, 17 May 2021 (UTC)
::Sorry about that, didn't even get the notification for any of your messages. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 16:55, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

2680: Battery Life

2022-10-04T03:56:30Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ made a transcript

{{comic
| number = 2680
| date = October 3, 2022
| title = Battery Life
| image = battery_life_2x.png
| imagesize = 264x251px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's okay, I'm at 10%, so I'm good for another month or two.
}}

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

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

A Cueball carrying a gigantic battery with a phone in it in three different positions in frame

Caption: Plugging in my phone is a pain, so I got one with a 100LB battery, and when it runs out of charge every few years I just upgrade.

Title text: It's okay, I'm at 10%, so I'm good for another month or two.

{{comic discussion}}

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-19T22:51:56Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ reverted the previous change

{{comic
| number = 2661
| date = August 19, 2022
| title = Age Milestone Privileges
| image = age_milestone_privileges.png
| titletext = If you reach 122, you get complete unrevertible editorial control over Jeanne Calment's Wikipedia article.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BABY GOD-EMPRESS MAKING THE PRESIDENT'S LETTER R-RATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

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

Title: Age Milestones

Subtitle: and associated privileges

16: Drive

17: Attend R-rated movies alone

18: Vote

21: Buy alcohol

25: Rent a car

32: Run for senate

35: Run for president

40: Rent a flying car

45: Learn about the God-Empress

50: Join AARP

52: Click to skip captchas

55: Vote for God-Empress

62: $80 National parks lifetime pass

65: Eligible for Medicare

67: Collect Social Security

68: See "Skip Ads" button on live TV

70: Run for God-Empress

75: Ride any animal in a national park

80: Eligible for MegaCare

85: Click to toggle whether any ad is positive or negative about the product

90: Click to make any movie R-rated

100: Get a letter from the president

102: (35+67) Collect a presidential pension

105: Get a birthday card from the God-Empress

111: Leave your own birthday party early by putting on a magic ring

118: Vote 100 times

120: Collect the pensions of all elected officials

125: Drink alcohol in an R-rated movie while getting a shingles vaccine from the president

128: Age rolls over, become a baby again

Title text: If you reach 122, you get complete unrevertible editorial control over Jeanne Calment's Wikipedia article
{{comic discussion}}

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-19T22:49:30Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ compressed it a little

{{comic
| number = 2661
| date = August 19, 2022
| title = Age Milestone Privileges
| image = age_milestone_privileges.png
| titletext = If you reach 122, you get complete unrevertible editorial control over Jeanne Calment's Wikipedia article.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BABY GOD-EMPRESS MAKING THE PRESIDENT'S LETTER R-RATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

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

Title: Age Milestones
Subtitle: and associated privileges
16: Drive
17: Attend R-rated movies alone

18: Vote

21: Buy alcohol

25: Rent a car

32: Run for senate

35: Run for president

40: Rent a flying car

45: Learn about the God-Empress

50: Join AARP

52: Click to skip captchas

55: Vote for God-Empress

62: $80 National parks lifetime pass

65: Eligible for Medicare

67: Collect Social Security

68: See "Skip Ads" button on live TV

70: Run for God-Empress

75: Ride any animal in a national park

80: Eligible for MegaCare

85: Click to toggle whether any ad is positive or negative about the product

90: Click to make any movie R-rated

100: Get a letter from the president

102: (35+67) Collect a presidential pension

105: Get a birthday card from the God-Empress

111: Leave your own birthday party early by putting on a magic ring

118: Vote 100 times

120: Collect the pensions of all elected officials

125: Drink alcohol in an R-rated movie while getting a shingles vaccine from the president

128: Age rolls over, become a baby again

Title text: If you reach 122, you get complete unrevertible editorial control over Jeanne Calment's Wikipedia article
{{comic discussion}}

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-19T22:45:24Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ made a transcript

2657: Complex Vowels

2022-08-10T22:16:31Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ made a transcript

{{comic
| number = 2657
| date = August 10, 2022
| title = Complex Vowels
| image = complex_vowels.png
| titletext = Pronouncing [ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ] is easy; you just say it like the 'x' in 'fire'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In mathematics, complex numbers are numbers including both real numbers and imaginary numbers. A complex number can be expressed as "''a'' + ''b''i" where ''a'' is a real number and i, the imaginary part, is the square root of negative one. When expanding the one-dimensional number line with an imaginary axis, it becomes two-dimensional.

[[File:Ipa-chart-vowels.png|thumb|200px|The IPA vowel chart]]
In phonetics, the vowelspace is represented as two-dimensional. This is non-abstract: the y axis represents vowel height (i.e. how close or far the tongue is from the top of the mouth) and the x axis represents frontness/backness (i.e. how close or far the tongue is from the teeth). In an analogy to the addition of a new dimension in mathematics, two-dimensional vowelspace becomes '''three'''-dimensional with a new axis.

In linguistics ə is the schwa symbol, the most common vowel sound in English polysyllabic words (the a in comma or the e in letter). The schwa symbol looks like a reversed e symbol (the base of natural logarithms).

This comic conflates complex numbers in mathematics with "complex vowels" in linguistics. This creates a series of sounds which cannot be properly processed by the human brain. This is similar to the cliche of "black speech" in Lovecraftian horror, a language created by alien beings with different vocal patterns than humans.

The linguist in the comic appears to be {{w|Gretchen McCulloch}}, as previously depicted in [[2421: Tower of Babel]] and [[2381: The True Name of the Bear]].

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

The comic shows the creation of a cursed vowel by adding 1/2 i to the normal vowel a, thus creating a very odd looking symbol.

A linguist appears to be saying said cursed vowel, causing two people nearby to put their hands to their heads

==Comic Discussion==
Because vowelspace is often represented in books, on screens, etc., it '''is''' often represented as two-dimensional, but this is actually insufficient. Vowels can also be rounded (i.e. the lips are round to pronounce them), although in English and other languages, roundedness correlates mostly (but not fully) with backness. (This means the back vowels [u, o] are also the round ones, but [a], as in "Say 'ah'," is back but unrounded.) French and German, though, have front and back round vowels (as well as unrounded front ones) and languages like Turkish have the full paradigm: eight vowels—one for each combination of high/low, back/front, round/unrounded—that can easily be represented on the vertices of a cube. Some vowel harmony processes in Turkic languages even only operate along one dimension. Roundedness will thus spread from one vowel to another, so the existence of a front round high vowel will trigger the round version of another nearby vowel.

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-20T20:10:31Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ moved it to the correct place

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG MOLECULE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, Cueball mentions that you can find the chemical formulas for chemicals online, and that they spend a lot on fancy chemicals.

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

Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?

Cueball: Yeah?

Megan[holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online. We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!

Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.

Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

Title text: It's hard to believe, but most kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.

{{comic discussion}}

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-20T20:09:20Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ made a transcript

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG MOLECULE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, Cueball mentions that you can find the chemical formulas for chemicals online, and that they spend a lot on fancy chemicals.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?

Cueball: Yeah?

Megan[holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online. We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!

Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.

Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

Title text: It's hard to believe, but most kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.

Talk:2594: Consensus Time

2022-03-16T17:20:53Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

What if there's, like, a group of trolls that all press the button at like 9:00 pm? [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 17:20, 16 March 2022 (UTC)

2589: Outlet Denier

2022-03-04T21:45:23Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ Added the title text

{{comic
| number = 2589
| date = March 4, 2022
| title = Outlet Denier
| image = outlet_denier.png
| titletext = There are regularly placed bumps on the undersde just the right size to press the rocker switch on the power strip.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an OUTLET IN DENIAL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cursed Connectors #78

Drawing of a power strip with a rocker switch and an unusually shaped connector.

The outlet denier

Title text: There are regularly placed bumps on the underside just the right size to press the rocker switch on the power strip.
{{comic discussion}}

1517: Spectroscopy

2022-02-24T18:28:08Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ added a comma

{{comic
| number = 1517
| date = April 27, 2015
| title = Spectroscopy
| image = spectroscopy.png
| titletext = Although right now I'm more excited about ESPRESSO's radial velocity measurements, so I'm listening to This Kiss, her song about measuring "centrifugal motion" on "a rooftop under the sky".
}}

==Explanation==
This comic mixes the method of using ''{{w|spectroscopy}}'' to detect {{w|oxygen}} on {{w|exoplanets}} (planets outside our {{w|Solar system}}) with [http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/faithhill/breathe.html the lyrics] for the {{w|Faith Hill}} song "{{w|Breathe (Faith Hill song)|Breathe}}" (listen to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCmsZUN4r_s "Breathe" on YouTube]).

From the lyrics:
:''I watch the sunlight''
:''dance across your face''
:''I can '''feel''' you breathe''
In the comic the word "feel" has been changed to "see". The two first panels are one line in the song. The last line is from the chorus and is repeated five times during the song, although not right after the first two lines.

In the first and second panel the singer examines the spectra of a remote planet by ''watching the sunlight'' during the {{w|Transit (astronomy)|transit}} of the planet as this sunlight ''dances across the planet's face''. Finally we determine that breathable oxygen exists. Since we cannot (as Faith can) ''feel'' the planet we have to ''see'' it. And by doing this ''I can see you breathe''.

Measuring the light output of stars (spectra) we are able to determine a number of details of the star, including rotation, relative radial velocity, chemical composition, temperature, and to some degree, distance and size. When a planet, as pictured, moves between the star and the observer, then by looking at the spectrum received, the viewer is able to determine the contents of the planet's atmosphere from the specific wavelengths of light that are {{w|Absorption spectroscopy|absorbed}} in this. If it turns out that the atmosphere absorbs the lines corresponding to molecular oxygen (O2) this is a clear indication that the planet has large quantities of breathable oxygen (but {{w|Exoplanet#Abiotic_oxygen|not necessarily life}}). However, there must be oxygen in large amounts in the atmosphere to sustain most of the life forms that we know of here on Earth (though {{w|Anaerobic_organism|not all}}). It is thus clear why [[Randall]] would be interested in exoplanets with oxygen.

This comic came out four days after this article about [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/23/nasa-nexss-search-for-life_n_7123788.html NASA's New NExSS Initiative]. {{w|NASA}} will search for signs of life on other planets, for instance by using "the light passing through the atmospheres of these exoplanets". And they "will study chemicals that have been detected on other worlds, such as oxygen and methane, to see if they were produced by biology".

The title text refers to determining {{w|radial velocity}} in the {{w|ESPRESSO}} program (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet- and Stable Spectroscopic Observations). By noting that the radial velocity of the star changes slightly as the planet that orbits it moves around the star (centrifugal acceleration), the ESPRESSO program should be able to detect the masses of planets as they are moving towards the Earth in their orbit around their distant stars. The ESPRESSO program is so precise that it should be able to detect {{w|Terrestrial planet|planets as small as Earth}} and the other of the Solar system's inner planets.

Randall is now even more excited about ESPRESSO than he is about the oxygen levels, because it is now possible to detect these "very" small planets. So he is no longer listening to "Breathe", but to another Faith Hill song: "{{w|This Kiss (Faith Hill song)|This Kiss}}" (listen to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dls_cBmUt7Q "This Kiss" on YouTube]).

From the [http://www.sweetslyrics.com/59372.Faith%20Hill%20-%20This%20Kiss.html lyrics]:
:''It's '''centripetal''' motion''
:''On '''the''' rooftop under the sky''
The first line is part of the chorus and it is repeated four times, but Randall has changed the main word to "centrifugal". There is, however, [http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/faithhill/thiskiss.html disagreement] on-line whether it is centripetal or centrifugal.

The second line is not sung in connection with the chorus, and it is only changed a bit, so "the" is changed to "a". Also the "on" which is part of his line here is not part of the quoted line in the title text.

The song is not about measuring but, of course, about "The Kiss". Since the ESPRESSO is part of the {{w|Very Large Telescope}}, it is located on the {{w|Cerro Paranal}} mountain in the {{w|Atacama desert}} in {{w|Chile}} at an elevation of 2,635 meters (8,645 ft.) above sea level. So it could be said that it is measuring on a rooftop under the sky. Although it is radial velocity it measures, not {{w|Centrifugal force|centrifugal motion}}, the object it does measure will all be experiencing this {{w|fictitious force}} (also see [[123: Centrifugal Force]]), as the planets are in orbit around a star.

Randall has previously made [[:Category:Exoplanets|several references to exoplanets]] in his comics, most notable are the two comics with the same name: [[786: Exoplanets]] and [[1071: Exoplanets]]. The latter comic came out when there were exactly 786 exoplanets found. Today more than 1900 have been discovered (1915 as of Wikipedia on the release day of this comic), much more than twice that amount. And now they can find even smaller planets, and detect the atmosphere. Much have happened since the first exoplanet comic came out in 2010. Five comics later in [[1522: Astronomy]] he mentions {{w|astrobiology}} in the title text, closely relating it to this comic.

==Transcript==
:[A dark panel with a bright star in the center. To the left a planet (drawn as a new moon) approaches the star. Text is written above in white with two musical notes, one on each side of the text.]
:I watch the sunlight

:[Same image but now the planet transits the star. Small lines around the planet indicate the atmosphere, as seen from the light from the star passing through it. Text is again written above in white with two different musical notes, one on each side of the text.]
:Dance across your face

:[A white frame with a black line. It Is the spectrum of the planets atmosphere. Two distinct absorption peaks are visible. The first one is labeled with an arrow. Text is again written above, now in black, with two, again, different musical notes, one on each side of the text.]
:I can see you breathe
:Label: O2

:[Below the panels is the following caption:]
:Faith Hill on exoplanet spectroscopy

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]

2585: Rounding

2022-02-23T22:28:03Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ Added a barebones explanation. Please make better!

{{comic
| number = 2585
| date = February 23, 2022
| title = Rounding
| image = rounding.png
| titletext = I've developed a novel propulsion system powered by loss of precision in unit conversion.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT moving at 7 PB/s (rounded) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Normally, when you say you can ride a bike at 45 mph if you round, you mean that you can ride at a speed between 44.5 and 45.5, but the joke is that he actually means if you go through a extremely long chain of rounding imprecisely, starting at 17 mph. The title text furthers the joke of rounding imprecisely.

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

:[Cueball, wearing a bike helmet and standing next to a bike, is speaking to Megan.]

:Cueball: I can ride my bike at 45 MPH.
:Cueball: If you round.

:[To their right and proceeding down the rest of the comic, arrows show conversions from one measure into another unit.]

:17 MPH
:8 meters/sec
:16 knots
:5 fathoms/sec
:3 furlongs/min
:6 fathoms/sec
:40 KPH
:22 knots
:41 KPH
:204 furlongs/hr
:26 MPH
:12 M/S
:4 furlongs/min
:15 yards/sec
:8 fathoms/sec
:15 M/S
:34 MPH
:5 furlongs/min
:33 knots
:19 yards/sec
:10 fathoms/sec
:36 knots
:6 furlongs/min
:45 MPH

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:217: e to the pi Minus pi

2022-02-22T21:09:02Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

Asserting that the programmers' algorithms truncated to three decimal digits is an unsupported and unnecessary extrapolation. Most floating-point implementations use binary, not decimal, and 19.999099979 ''looks'' very much like a rounding error in binary floating-point that has accumulated over several operations. [[User:Daddy|Daddy]] ([[User talk:Daddy|talk]]) 12:39, 29 April 2013 (UTC)
:Fixed. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 22:57, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

The "not good at math" might be too harsh, if they've (tried to) read the floating point spec. Depending on precision and rounding regime and order of operations, I could easily imagine the "equation" to be true ... and therefore a test that you were rounding "properly", even when it wasn't intuitive.

The third bullet-point above needs changing... (9^2+(19^2/22))=97.4090909091 which is close to pi to the fourth power, so it should be (as noted in the text) (9^2+(19^2/22))^1/4 [[User:Squirreltape|Squirreltape]] ([[User talk:Squirreltape|talk]]) 19:27, 25 February 2014 (UTC)
:Actually, in-case you didn't notice, it says "∜(9² + 19²/22)", not just the sum on its own. I checked the sum on my calculator, and it is equal to what the page is saying. "∜(9² + 19²/22)" means "4th root of (9^2+19^2/22)" (What the title text is saying), or on Windows Calculator, "(9^2+19^2/22) yroot(4)" (Basically what the sum is saying). So, the 3rd bullet point is correct. --[[User:Katavschi|Katavschi]] ([[User talk:Katavschi|talk]]) 22:48, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

It says above that (π + 20)^i ≈ -i, but this should be (π + 20)^i ≈ -1. Proof: π + 20 ≈ e^π => (π + 20)^i ≈ (e^π)^i = e^(πi) = -1.

The ACM competitions are famous for being under tight time pressure. Making your own team waste time would absolutely get you kicked out (and make enemies) [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 04:40, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

;"If they thought about the mathematics"

hm, are you saying it is obvious that e^ pi - pi is not 20? How would you know without approximating it? The sum of two irrationals is not necessarily irrational. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.194|162.158.34.194]] 01:58, 26 October 2015 (UTC)
:approximate e^pi using slightly bigger numbers than e and pi (say e: 2.7183 and pi: 3.1416) and subtract a value that is slightly smaller than pi (say 3.1415). The result is less than 20 and a upper limit for e^pi - pi [[Special:Contributions/141.101.93.49|141.101.93.49]] 19:59, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

the [title](https://myighack.com/) text was close; the real identity is e^(π - 2) = π [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.165|173.245.52.165]] 05:39, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

The approximation in the title text(the first quantity) is an approximation provided by Ramanujan. [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 21:09, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2575: What If? 2

2022-01-31T16:37:23Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Me adding a very enthusiastic comment

Yay! \o/ [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:09, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Note that there is actually a term for the 13th month of the year, and it's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undecimber Undecimber].
[[User:Svízel přítula|Svízel přítula]] ([[User talk:Svízel přítula|talk]]) 15:12, 31 January 2022 (UTC)
:And the Jewish calendar has a 13th month every 2-3 years, since it's a lunar calendar. But rather than a completely different month name, the month Adar is doubled to Adar I and Adar II. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:12, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

This is awesome! I really hope one of the answers is about cotton candy breaking one's fall, since it was foreshadowed in book one. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.23|172.69.90.23]] 15:21, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT YAYAYAYAYYAY!!!! [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 16:37, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

1717: Pyramid Honey

2022-01-10T17:18:57Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Explanation */ added a comma

{{comic
| number = 1717
| date = August 8, 2016
| title = Pyramid Honey
| image = pyramid_honey.png
| titletext = They CLAIM honey was found in the chambers under the pyramids, but this conspiracy goes all the way to the TOP, where the GIANT EYE is!
}}

==Explanation==
Bee {{w|honey}} is a food item with natural antimicrobial properties. It can remain unspoiled for a person's entire lifetime, making it practically nonperishable for ordinary consumers. It is frequently claimed that archaeologists have found jars of honey that have been well-preserved for thousands of years in ancient tombs, often those found in {{w|Egyptian pyramids}}, hence the title ''Pyramid Honey''. The claims are generally assertions which may point to other similar assertions as supporting evidence but do not provide specific details, such as the identity of the actual tombs where such jars have been found, or the names of the archaeologists who have affirmed finding such jars. Repeated encounters with the assertion lead some people to claim that honey's shelf life is "infinite", which is a much stronger claim which would not necessarily be supported by the assertion even assuming it is true.

In the comic, [[Cueball]] tells [[Megan]] about an article in ''{{w|Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian Magazine}}'' (presumably [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-behind-honeys-eternal-shelf-life-1218690/ this one]) that claims honey has an infinite shelf life. The article links to a book which makes the assertion of such findings but does not provide factual support of the findings. Megan thinks the sources of the article are wrong and wants to refute it. She tells Cueball ''Believe it or not'' which [[Black Hat]] hears and he immediately states that he believes her, and is convinced without hearing any arguments from Megan. He then decides to begin a Facebook page so he can ''tell the Internet'' without giving Megan a chance to explain any further.

"A hill to die on" is a phrase from {{w|Ernest Hemingway|Ernest Hemingway's}} 1940 novel "{{w|For Whom the Bell Tolls}}", about an American who volunteers in the 1936-1939 {{w|Spanish Civil War}} to fight {{w|fascism}}, who ends up wounded and alone, about to ambush the enemy to give his comrades a chance to escape; "a weird hill to die on" would thus mean a weird cause, if not a just one, to fight for to the bitter end. This expression is also the subject of [[2247: Weird Hill]]. Black Hat asserts that he needs such a cause because the "real" weird hills are too far from his house, humorously implying he would be equally satisfied with a literal weird hill.

Black Hat's actions are clearly premature, since he has not heard any evidence to back up the claim and does not understand the nuances of Megan's position. Cueball states that it could have gone better, whereas Megan seems to be resigned to it, perhaps as it notionally supports her (aborted) argument and it's at least a short-term 'win' that she won't fuss over the details of.

Presumably, the best Black Hat can do would be to parrot what he has heard from Megan, without any understanding or critical thinking on his part. Due to his lack of understanding, he may even interject his own ideas (ones Megan never believed nor stated) into his posts. These are all consistent with him calling himself "pyramid honey truther". The word ''truther'' refers to people who reject established facts and instead choose to believe in conspiracies, like people who claim {{w|Moon landing conspiracy theories|the moon landings never happened}}, or {{w|9/11 Truth movement|believe the US government is behind}} the {{w|9/11 attacks}}. While a few conspiracy theories turn out to be true, most are easily proved to be fake, but this does not stop people from believing in them anyway, just like the two mentioned here, which are not easily dismissed by believers. This turns Megan, who likely has a reasonable and well-justified position, unwillingly into the source of conspiracy theories.

Alternatively he only does this to troll Megan (and Cueball), and everyone else that reads his Facebook page, just because he knows they will get annoyed. And also to state that this is an unimportant subject (a weird hill to die on) to make such a fuss over. No one would wish to eat that old honey anyway, or wish to keep it for that long, so he may see this as a completely uninteresting subject and thus makes fun of Megan with his statements. This would also be more in line with his usual behavior.

It is also possible that Black Hat is simply mocking conspiracy theorists' obsessions with factually incorrect ideas, comparably to what may be the case in [[Secretary: Part 3]].

The title text refers to the {{w|Eye of Providence}}, a symbol of an eye at the top of a pyramid, found on US currency and often associated with conspiracy theories of the {{w|Illuminati}}. Black Hat again refers to the pyramid honey found under the pyramids and calls it a ''conspiracy that goes all the way to the top''. This usually means that the politicians (or the government agencies) ruling the country know about it, but keep it a secret from the public. But in this case he mixes up terms and says it goes to the top of the pyramid (from the bottom), to where the giant eye is. As promised he also writes four words in all capital letters, shouting out the TRUTH!

This comic is likely a satire of the stereotypical internet mindset, and plays up the frequent confusion between legitimate scientific skepticism, where unsupported claims are rejected, and conspiracy-theory faux-skepticism, where legitimate evidence is rejected because it does not support a specific viewpoint.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are talking.]
:Cueball: Apparently honey has an infinite shelf life. They just found jars of it in the pyramids, still good.
:Megan: You know, I've heard that, and I don't think its true.

:[Black hat enters.]
:Cueball: Really? Smithsonian magazine confirmed it.
:Megan: Believe it or not, I think their source is wrong.
:Black Hat: '''''I believe you.'''''

:[Megan has turned to Black Hat raising her hands.]
:Megan: See I read about the archaeologists who-
:Black Hat: I'm convinced. Gonna go to tell the internet.

:[Black Hat moved closer to Megan and Cueball.]
:Megan: Wait, are you sure? Let me explain why I-
:Black Hat: Don't need it. I've heard enough.

:[Zoom-in on Black Hat's head.]
:Black Hat: I've been looking for a weird hill to die on, and all the real ones are too far from my house.
:Black Hat: So this is mine. I'm now a pyramid honey truther.

:[Zoom back out. Black Hat starts walking left, pointing a finger up. Cueball and Megan turns to look after him.]
:Black Hat: Time to start a Facebook group and post a bunch of all-caps comments everywhere.
:Cueball: This could have gone better.
:Megan: Oh well.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Science]]

Talk:1083: Writing Styles

2021-12-21T22:50:55Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): Added a comment

Politicians don't seem to be doing this too much nowadays. Don't know about the other runners, but Obama's tweets are mostly coherent, with just a pile of gibberish hashtags appended on the end. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 10:30, 6 October 2012 (UTC)
:I would love to know your opinion now after four years of Trump, lol! [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 13:32, 5 September 2021 (UTC)
:Additionally politicians may be tempted to use SMS abbreviations in order to come across as younger and aware of youth culture, while their target audience actually doesn't use these abbreviations at all. [[Special:Contributions/83.84.33.170|83.84.33.170]] 23:23, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

There's also a bit of political commentary here, which has so far been skirted over, suggesting that much of the cheerleading for (the highly libertarian) Ron Paul comes from youthful and, by implication, politically naive commentators. 14:15, 15 March 2013 (UTC)Chris C
:But how is that much different from the 2008 election of our current president which had a very youthful and as you said "naive" [[Special:Contributions/63.149.29.1|63.149.29.1]] 21:44, 11 October 2013 (UTC)Robert
::You seem to be missing a noun and a question mark at the end of your comment. I'm guessing your point is "hey meanie, don't just mock Ron Paul supporters (of which you are presumably one) Obama-ites deserve a kicking too as he is a LIAR". Sure. Consider that Obama heavily implied and at other times outright promised a focus on civil rights prior to election and in the early months of his tenure. For usonian voters of all ages who wanted to do the rest of the world a favor and get the west back on track after eight years of Bush's neoconservatism, Obama was the only realistic choice. The fact that he hasn't fully delivered, especially on Guantanamo, is beside the point. Ron Paul would be facing even more opposition, given that he is starkly unwilling to compromise -- but that unemergent forthrightness is part of his appeal to right libertarians. {{unsigned|Cockhorse}}

I tried to fix the issues with the explanation, but would love someone to look over my edits. If I might say, this explanation was a mess before. It might still be, for all I know. Due to this uncertainty, I'm leaving the incomplete tag. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.84|162.158.255.84]] 05:50, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

I reviewed the explanation and it looks great! I removed the incomplete tag. As an additional suggestion, we may want to add references to xkcds 1414 and 1045, both of which are about how sms and twitter actuwlly produce better writers/writing. I wasn't sure how to do it so I thought I'd leave a note.[[User:Bbruzzo|Bbruzzo]] ([[User talk:Bbruzzo|talk]]) 02:46, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

I think someone keeps trying to slip an ad into this explanation, can someone (other than user JackHirschfeld) either prove me wrong or do something about that? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.151|141.101.105.151]] 07:01, 27 October 2021 (UTC)

This reminds me of abbreviating during a game like people just typing "wall" instead of "a wall is coming". Anyone else reminded of that?

2553: Incident Report

2021-12-10T22:33:54Z

Sarah the Pie(yes, the food): /* Transcript */ Added a transcript. Please improve!

{{comic
| number = 2553
| date = December 10, 2021
| title = Incident Report
| image = incident_report.png
| titletext = Increasing-precision timestamps are the Jaws theme of incident reports.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TEMPORAL SHARK - Title-text still pending, and particularly bare-bones explanation for first draft. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

An incident report describes the events that happen before something goes wrong; this usually involves describing what time related events happen at. In this comic, a report starts with particularly vague timestamps (that a package of fireworks arrived "roughly 18 hours prior" to it), then uses false minute-level precision ("14:00" and "14:20", which could reasonably be five minutes off in either direction), then actual minute-level precision ("14:28"), then second-level precision ("14:29:22" and "14:29:26").

This suggests that the ''clock'' time is really a proxy for the ''amount'' of time before one specific moment where everything falls apart, and when seconds start appearing, it implies that the recollection is within a few minutes of the disaster.

Although the comic refers to juggling "pins," jugglers commonly refer call those props "clubs."
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is a report
Facility: East Valley Nuclear Plant

Date: 12/10/2021

Report ID: 9603120071

Event description: Roughly 18 hours prior to the incident, an Amazon package containing fireworks was mistakenly delivered to the reactor control room and left under the console.

The next day, at approximately 14:00, technician A arrived at the facility with a bag containing four juggling pins. At 14:20, technician A entered the control room, and joined technician B at the console.

At 14:28, technician C exited the elevator and approached the control room holding a birthday cake intended for technician B.

At 14:29:22, technician A said "Hey [technician B], check out this cool trick I learned" while taking out the juggling pins. Technician B turned to look just as, at 14:29:26, technician C entered holding the cake.

Caption: You know things are about to get bad when the incident report starts including seconds in the timestamps.

Title text: Increasing-precision timestamps are the Jaws theme of incident reports
{{comic discussion}}