explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

790: Control

2026-07-10T02:21:30Z

Staca77:

{{comic
| number = 790
| date = September 8, 2010
| title = Control
| image = control.png
| titletext = Which, at one point, led to a study showing that LSD produces no more hallucinations than a placebo.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series]]. In a product experiment, two groups of people are given a certain pill or lotion. Some people are given the product to be tested, while others (the control group) are given a placebo; nobody is told which group they belong to. The control group acts as a norm for comparison against the others.

Randall has messed with this process by giving LSD ({{w|lysergic acid diethylamide}}) to the control group. LSD is a drug that causes hallucinations and distortions in the perception of time and space. [[Megan]], apparently a control, is experiencing spiders in her hallucinations. Since the control group is supposed to reflect what "normally" happens, this is indeed very confusing to the scientists.{{Citation needed}} While hallucinating in the comic, Megan is drawn as if she has six arms; This may indicate that she's waving her arms, though this also makes her look (together with her lower limbs) as if she has eight 'legs', in the manner of an actual spider.

The scientists are confused. This may mean that, in the light of the unusual adverse events, they have executed the option of unblinding the study. This implies that the trial has (or is being) ended, as not being double-blinded itself impacts the veracity of a continuing study. In a properly double-blinded study, the scientists would not know Cueball or [[Megan]] was the control and would only dutifully record their observations. However, it may be equally confusing even if they don't yet know which cohorts either participant are members of (for all they know, these two are from the same one), as the treatment may or may not be creating hallucinations even as the non-treatment may or may not seem to clear up rashes.

Depending upon how the flailing-limbed individual is interpretted, one or other 'treatment' may even have ''actually'' promoted the growth of additional body parts. Logically, this is more likely to arise from a trial drug intended to affect surface tissues (though still far from the usual expectations of any "anti-rash treatment") than a commonly used hallucinogen whose effects are generally understood to be on brain-chemistry and nervous function. Either outcome should worry ''any'' observer, even those not under the misconception that a placebo (also an unlikely cause, by definition) might be the provocative agent in this instance.

The title text suggests that, in a different study, this substitution was performed when the product being tested was itself LSD. This led to the conclusion that LSD is no more likely to cause hallucinations than the 'placebo', implying that LSD is not a significant hallucinogen. We can only hope they were able to redo the test, as in layman's terms "Nonsense MUST be wrong". Randall could also have only sneaked placebo in as the 'LSD' element of the study, to get the same comparative effect, though (if checked) the difference between the ''whole'' cohorts, from each modified type of study, would be striking.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the frame:]
:My Hobby:

:[Cueball looks down at his arm calmly, while next to him Megan is violently flailing around in terror, making it seem as if she has six arms. In the foreground a Cueball-like guy stands next to Ponytail who is holding a clipboard. They look on in puzzlement.]
:Cueball: My rash seems to have shrunk by about 20% today.
:Megan: OH GOD SPIDERS
:Cueball-like guy: ? ?
:Ponytail: ?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control group.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Spiders]]

3269: Airport Meeting

2026-07-10T02:11:31Z

Staca77:

{{comic
| number = 3269
| date = July 8, 2026
| title = Airport Meeting
| image = airport_meeting_2x.png
| imagesize = 694x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although it was a setback for physics, I'm glad the particle naming rights issue led to the cancelation of Pizza Hut's Superconducting Super Collider in the early 90s, so the Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Topping Quark ended up just being named 'top quark.'
}}

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

{{w|Michelin}} is a company that manufacture tires for cars and heavy machinery. However, they have also created the {{w|Michelin Guide}}, originally a guide for motorists in France that eventually branched out into dining and travel and spread across the world.

{{w|Red Bull GmbH|Red Bull}} is a company that manufactures {{w|Red Bull|the eponymous energy drink}}. However, they have also invested heavily in motorsport events, competing as a team in NASCAR and Formula One.

THis comic jokes that this is because two employees accidentally swapped briefcases at an airport, suggesting that originally one had information that Michelin was using in support of the motorsport business and other possessed information that Red Bull was meant to identify restaurants, which better fits with the companies' existing specialties. By leaving with each other's paperwork, perhaps even remaining unaware of the confusion, both companies found themselves with departments pursuing opportunities to pivot into the technically quite different fields more closely related to the other.

The title text introduces the concept of even stranger specialization-swapping between a fast-food franchise and particle physics. There are six types of quarks: up, down, left, right, top, and bottom. This makes a joke on the top quark, claiming that it was originally named the Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Extra Topping quark before being shortened to top quark.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing together and talking to each other. Cueball holds a black briefcase, while Ponytail has a grey briefcase next to her.]
:Cueball: I do restaurant analysis for a beverage company.
:Ponytail: Neat! I work in the automotive industry, developing parts for specialized vehicles.

:[Same as first panel, but Cueball has put down his briefcase next to Ponytail's and pulled out his boarding card]
:Cueball: Oh, my flight is boarding. It was nice to meet you!
:Ponytail: You too!

:[Ponytail and Cueball walk off in opposite directions, carrying each other's original briefcase]

:Header: Years Later:
:[A book with a star on it that reads:]
:Michelin Tire Company
:Star Restaurant Guide
:[A fancy sports car, facing to the right. On the body of the car, it says:]
:Red Bull Supercar
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy

2026-07-02T17:15:00Z

Staca77:

[[Beret Guy]] is a very strange character. Sometimes he takes these strange tendencies into the supernatural.

'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
<br>
==Explanation==
In the early comics, Beret guy was mainly just a strange and naive character. His strange abilities begin to appear fairly early on, but that power could also be attributed to [[Cueball]] (at least as a shared power) in [[248]].

From comic [[1088]], Beret Guy begins to appear frequently with these strange powers, typically unrelated to one another, except that he has some issues with electrical sockets and power cords as seen in [[1293]] and [[1395]]. (See also [[509: Induced Current]] and the title text of [[614: Woodpecker]], regarding power cords, but not these specific powers.) He is also capable of waiting for very long time as seen both in [[1088]], [[1617]] and [[2987]].

Many of these apparent powers manifest as objects behaving strangely around him. It is unclear whether these are in fact powers inherent to Beret Guy or whether the objects are simply cursed; as indicated in [[1772]], most of his possessions were acquired from shops specializing in cursed items.

Here is a list of the comics where Beret Guy displays strange powers that are beyond the realm of possibility.

===List of abilities===
#[[248]]: Creates hypothetical situations which trap him and others around him. These situations are spaces, formed with thin, flexible walls that can be torn open with a knife.
#[[1032]]: Is able to photocopy 3d objects to create clones of said object
#[[1088]]: Capable of waiting in the same place for highly extended periods of time, presumably without sustenance
#[[1099]]: He has the ability to grow wings at will, which can extend infinitely if he chooses to do so.
#[[1135]]: He can persuade spiders to spin their silk in such a way that it forms a wearable shirt.
#[[1158]]: He can use his imagination to manifest physical objects.
#[[1293]]: His office has an outlet which can dispense soup when needed. It is unclear if he modified the cord to function differently, or if the cord was simply found as-is.
#[[1388]]: He can subduct himself through the floor to form mountains in his room.
#[[1395]]: He is able to inflate a laptop by blowing into a power cord, implying that 1) he can exhale helium at will and 2) he can change the properties of any object at will.
#[[1422]]: His phone has the same properties as a dying star, expanding and exploding as it runs out of power.
#[[1486]]: He is able to harness the energy of a vacuum cleaner and fly using it.
#[[1490]]: He can see individual atoms and distinguish elements apart, but he cannot discern what these atoms make up (he cannot distinguish a human from a dog).
#[[1522]]: By standing on a stepladder and looking through a magnifying glass, he can examine life on exoplanets in detail.
#[[1614]]: Another example of changing the properties of objects at will.
#[[1617]]: He can survive without oxygen for many years. He is also able to gain all necessary nutrients via eating newspaper.
#[[1922]]: Yet another example of changing the properties of objects. He is also apparently able to make dogs follow his exact commands.
#[[2310]]: He has higher dimensional bones, leading to a much greater than normal attraction to the {{w|Great attractor}}. This allows him to sleep and rest on walls and ceilings.
#[[2325]]: Nearby flowing water flows towards him rather than towards the nearest drainage basin. It appears that he is not capable of controlling this.
#[[2376]]: He has the knowledge of a cursed amulet that attracts malicious ghosts. He claims that he can do battle with ghosts, although it is unknown whether this is an ability of his or just him being odd as normal.
#[[2446]]: He had the ability to create very large clumps of {{w|Spike proteins}} after receiving the COVID vaccine, although it is unknown as to whether he is still able to do this.
#[[2534]]: He can construct an object which can stretch and flex to at least 254 miles in length.
#[[2498]]: He kept D.B. Cooper stuck in a tree on his property for 40 years, likely with no food or water.
#[[2695]]: He created volcano seeds which, when planted, create a tiny volcano.
#[[2710]]: He created a hydroelectric dam that produces more water than passed into it.
#[[2805]]: He has infinite arm strength, as he is able to hold on to a balloon using one arm for at least 1500 years. He experiences no adverse affects during this time.
#[[2850]]: He is able to influence human thoughts at will by changing the status of his house on Google Maps.
#[[2987]]: He stands still for an entire 20 years, presumably without any food or water, to tectonic surf; although he only moved about a meter in that time.
#[[3046]]: He is able to utilize an anomalous ancestry site to figure out that he is related to long-extinct Stromatolites.
#[[3179]]: He is able to estimate the weight of any object that gets hooked onto a fishing rod he is holding.
#[[3240]]: He is able to sail in a life-sized ship in a bottle, making the bottle stay stable and also sail along as if using a sail. Plus he sailed inside the bottle as a kid, when he (and the boat) fit through the bottle neck. Also he survived inside a closed bottle.
#[[3261]]: He can manage stretching because of gravitational waves as a side effect of a medication and not feel any pain or discomfort.
</div>
<br>

[[Category:Comics by topic]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

3266: Holes

2026-07-02T14:33:17Z

Staca77: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3266
| date = July 1, 2026
| title = Holes
| image = holes_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x731px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you're thinking 'Wait, a giant crystal cave in Mexico? What's that?' then I'm SO excited for the image search you're about to do.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently, using the power of New Mexican crystals, and found in a hole. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Feature
! Type
! Approx. elevation/depth
! Notes
! More information
|-
| {{w|Bingham Canyon Mine}}
| Open-pit copper mine
| ~+2 km
| Utah, USA
| One of the world's largest human-made excavations, over 1 km deep and several kilometers across.
|-
| {{w|Veryovkina Cave}}
| Cave
| ~−2.2 km
| Georgia (Abkhazia)
| Currently the deepest known cave on Earth, explored to more than 2.2 km below its entrance.
|-
| {{w|Mponeng Gold Mine}}
| Gold mine
| ~−4 km
| South Africa
| Among the deepest operating mines ever built, reaching nearly 4 km below the surface.
|-
| {{w|Sanford Underground Research Facility|Sanford Laboratory}}
| Underground laboratory
| ~−1.5 km
| South Dakota, USA
| Former Homestake Gold Mine, now used for experiments in particle physics, neutrinos, and dark matter.
|-
| {{w|Cave of the Crystals|Giant Crystal Cave}}
| Cave
| ~+1 km
| Naica Mine, Mexico
| Famous for enormous gypsum crystals, some over 10 m (33 ft) long, formed in hot mineral-rich groundwater.
|-
| {{w|Derinkuyu Underground City}}
| Underground city
| ~+1.5 km
| Turkey
| Ancient underground city capable of sheltering tens of thousands of people and their livestock.
|-
| {{w|Waste Isolation Pilot Plant|WIPP}}
| Nuclear waste repository
| ~+0.6 km
| New Mexico, USA
| The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant stores long-lived radioactive waste in a stable underground salt formation.
|-
| {{w|Retsof,_New_York#Retsof_Salt_Mine|Restof [Retsof] Salt Mine}}
| Salt mine
| ~−0.6 km
| New York, USA
| Once the largest salt mine in the United States before major flooding in the 1990s.
|-
| {{w|China Jinping Underground Laboratory|Jinping Laboratory}}
| Underground laboratory
| ~+1.6 km
| Sichuan, China
| Built beneath Jinping Mountain and protected by over 2 km of rock, making it one of the world's deepest underground laboratories.
|-
| {{w|San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth|San Andreas Fault Observatory Borehole}}
| Geological scientific borehole
| ~+0.6 km
| California, USA
| Aimed at collecting geological data about the San Andreas Fault for the purpose of predicting and analyzing future earthquakes.
|-
| {{w|CFB North Bay}}
| Military bunker
| ~+0.3 km
| Ontario, Canada
| Cold War command center carved into solid rock for North American air defense.
|-
| {{w|Woodingdean Water Well}}
| Well
| ~−0.4 km
| England, United Kingdom
| Hand-dug in the 19th century and still the deepest hand-excavated well ever completed.
|-
| {{w|Diefenbunker}}
| Military bunker
| Near sea level
| Ontario, Canada
| Massive four-story underground bunker built to house the Canadian government after a nuclear attack.
|-
| {{w|Deep Underground Command Center}}
| Proposed military bunker
| ~−1 km
| Nevada, USA
| A proposed U.S. command facility that was never constructed after extensive planning.
|-
| {{w|Lake Peigneur}}
| Lake
| ~−0.2 km
| Louisiana, USA
| Famous for a 1980 drilling accident that transformed a shallow freshwater lake into a much deeper saltwater lake.
|-
| {{w|Sydney Opera House|Sydney Opera House}} Parking
| Parking garage
| Slightly below sea level
| New South Wales, Australia
| Deep underground parking beneath one of Australia's most recognizable landmarks.
|-
| {{w|Onkalo Spent Nuclear Fuel Repository}}
| Nuclear waste repository
| ~−0.4 km
| Satakunta, Finland
| Designed for permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel for over 100,000 years.
|-
| {{w|Raven Rock Mountain Complex|Raven Rock}}
| Military bunker
| Near surface
| Pennsylvania, USA
| Alternate U.S. military command center, sometimes called the "Underground Pentagon."
|-
| {{w|Delaware Aqueduct}}
| Water tunnel
| ~−0.3 km
| New York, USA
| The world's longest water tunnel, supplying drinking water to New York City.
|-
| {{w|Wieliczka Salt Mine|Wieliczka}} and {{w|Bochnia Salt Mine|Bochnia}} Salt Mines
| Salt mines
| ~−0.3 km
| Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
| Historic medieval mines famous for underground chapels, sculptures, and vast chambers carved from salt.
|-
| {{w|Atchison Storage Facility}}
| Underground storage
| Near surface
| Kansas, USA
| A former limestone mine converted into climate-controlled storage for records, film, and valuables.
|-
| {{w|SNOLAB}}
| Underground laboratory
| ~−2 km
| Ontario, Canada
| Located inside an active mine and used for dark matter, neutrino, and astroparticle physics experiments.
|-
| {{w|Detroit Salt Mine}}
| Salt mine
| ~−0.35 km
| Michigan, USA
| Extensive salt mine directly beneath downtown Detroit and the Detroit River.
|-
| {{w|Hongyancun station|Hongyancun Subway Station}}
| Subway station
| Near surface
| Chongqing, China
| One of the deepest metro stations in the world due to the city's steep mountainous terrain.
|-
| {{w|Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site|Nuclear Test Shafts}}
| Test tunnels
| ~+1 km
| North Korea
| Underground tunnels used for nuclear weapons testing beneath Mount Mantap.
|-
| {{w|Super-Kamiokande}}
| Neutrino detector
| ~−1 km
| Gifu Prefecture, Japan
| Giant underground tank containing 50,000 tonnes of ultra-pure water used to detect neutrinos.
|-
| {{w|Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso|Gran Sasso Laboratory}}
| Underground laboratory
| ~+0.7 km
| Italy
| The world's largest underground research laboratory by volume.
|-
| {{w|Modane Underground Laboratory|Modane Laboratory}}
| Underground laboratory
| ~+1.5 km
| France
| Built beneath the Alps to shield sensitive physics experiments from cosmic rays.
|-
| {{w|Gotthard Tunnel}}
| Railway tunnel
| ~+0.6 km
| Switzerland
| The world's longest railway tunnel, stretching 57 km through the Alps.
|-
| {{w|Cheyenne Mountain Complex|Cheyenne Mountain Bunker}}
| Military bunker
| ~+1.5 km
| Colorado, USA
| Hardened military complex built inside a granite mountain to survive nuclear attack.
|-
| {{w|Kola Superdeep Borehole}}
| Scientific borehole
| ~-12 km
| Murmansk Oblast, Russia
|
|-
| {{w|Lake Baikal}}
| Lake
| ~−1.6 km
| Russia
| The world's deepest and oldest freshwater lake, containing roughly 20% of Earth's unfrozen surface freshwater.
|-
| Sediments under Lake Baikal
|
| ~
| Russia
|
|-
| {{w|Iceland Deep Drilling Project|IDDP}}-2 Borehole
|
| ~
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dead Sea}}
| Salt lake
| ~−0.4 km
| Israel/Palestine/Jordan
| Earth's lowest exposed land surface, famous for extremely salty water that allows people to float easily.
|-
| {{w|Ryfylke Tunnel}}
| Road tunnel
| ~−0.3 km
| Norway
| One of the world's deepest subsea road tunnels.
|-
| {{w|Pantai Remis}} Mine
| Tin mine
| Near sea level
| Malaysia
| A flooded open-pit tin mine that eventually became a lake after its {{w|Pantai_Remis_landslide|seawall collapsed}}.
|-
| {{w|Great Blue Hole}}
| Marine sinkhole
| ~−0.1 km
| Belize
| A giant circular marine sinkhole popular with scuba divers and marine researchers.
|-
| {{w|JOIDES Resolution}} Expedition 307
| Scientific ocean borehole
| ~−6 km
| Atlantic Ocean
| Ocean drilling expedition that cored deep into the seafloor to study Earth's geology and climate history.
|-
| {{w|Deepwater Horizon}} Borehole
|
| ~
|
|
|-
| {{w|Glomar Challenger}} hole 504B
|
| ~
|
|
|-
| {{w|Project Mohole|Mohole}}
|
| ~
|
|
|-
| JOIDES Resolution Expedition 329
| Scientific ocean borehole
| ~
| Atlantic Ocean
| Ocean drilling expedition that cored deep into the seafloor to study Earth's geology and climate history.
|-
| {{w|Mariana Trench}}
| Oceanic trench
| ~-10 km
| Pacific Ocean
| The deepest oceanic trench on Earth. At the bottom, the pressure exerted by the kilometers of water above is about 15000 psi.
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>