explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:839: Explorers

2023-12-09T04:34:55Z

Szeth Pancakes:

How is that ship flying in the first place? Wouldn't the pieces fall off? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:59, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Inertia The pieces are moving at the same speed as the board. You would need energy to slow it down. Search it up. It's everywhere on the web. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.64|108.162.241.64]] 00:54, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Magnetic Chess :-) [[Special:Contributions/121.99.55.58|121.99.55.58]] 03:23, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

Is the mini board really floating? It looked to me like it was adrift in sea. I think I might make some edits.
:I think the board is actually rolling on casters. If you look closely you can see a small round circle by each corner. I've edited it a bit. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.63}}
::In the original transcript, it notes that it's mounted on rockets. [[WriterArtistCoder|WriterArtistCoder]] 02:06, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

This comic actually has a common error by non-chess players using chess positions: a1, and by extension a3 and c3, are dark squares. h1 is supposed to be the light-squared corner. [[Special:Contributions/18.215.1.155|18.215.1.155]] 06:50, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
:Unless, of course, the positions are relative to their small board, where al corners are white and hence numbering has to start on a white square [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.218|108.162.212.218]] 17:41, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

It looks like there are wheels in the corners. [[Special:Contributions/209.104.241.66|209.104.241.66]] 16:25, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

The loose 3x3 board is from a Classic Star Trek 3-D chess set. The little pegs on the corners are used to secure the board in different places around the game. [[Special:Contributions/74.98.181.175|74.98.181.175]] 02:03, 11 August 2013 (UTC)
: No, it's not. The Star Trek 3D chess consists of 3 stationary 4x4's and 4 mobile 2x2's. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.183|108.162.254.183]] 02:25, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Make of it what you will, but I just realized that the robber in Catan looks a lot like a black bishop....[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 14:27, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

There's a typo in the comic. It says "misson" instead of "mission". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 04:55, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
: and I just adjusted the transcript to reflect that [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 05:08, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

The black bishop and the "completing the mission alone" might be a reference to the robber from Catan, who looks very similar in the original edition. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.136|172.69.55.136]] 09:14, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

On a 3x3 board, in at most 2 moves any pawn would be promoted, almost certainly to queen. The bishop and knight may have deliberately approached Battleship in order to avoid being outranked. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 10:55, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

The bishop isn't any closer to capturing the knight than the knight is to capturing the bishop. Sure, the bishop can move away if the knight tries to capture it, but similarly the knight can move away if the bishop tries to capture it. So I think the explanation needs to be changed. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.152|172.71.178.152]] 21:57, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

Our intrepid explorers might be interested in this video: [https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=9f0cd8536e2d2af3JmltdHM9MTcwMTk5MzYwMCZpZ3VpZD0wZGY5NTUzNi0wMGI4LTZiOTktMGYzMi00NmZkMDEwMjZhMmQmaW5zaWQ9NTIxMw&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=0df95536-00b8-6b99-0f32-46fd01026a2d&psq=can+chess+with+hexagons&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_dj1iZ1IzeUVTQUVWRQ&ntb=1] [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 04:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

2793: Garden Path Sentence

2023-06-24T05:00:19Z

Szeth Pancakes: Added extra parsings of ambiguous part of sentence

{{comic
| number = 2793
| date = June 23, 2023
| title = Garden Path Sentence
| image = garden_path_sentence.png
| imagesize = 273x273px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Arboretum Owner Denied Standing in Garden Path Suit on Grounds Grounds Appealing Appealing
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE OLD WHO MAN THE BOAT.}}

A {{w|garden-path sentence}} is one in which the first or most obvious attempt at parsing the beginning of a sentence leads to the wrong meaning, causing confusion when the sentence is completed. A classic example of a garden path sentence is "The old man the boat.", leading to an initial incorrect parsing of "the old man" as a noun phrase, and therefore no verb before the noun "the boat". The actual way to parse this sentence is to treat "the old" as a noun and "man" as a verb, meaning "take one's place at" or "to work at, run, or operate" , so the sentence means "The old people are operating the boat."

Possible grammatically correct interpretations of the sentences in this comic are:

There was a court case regarding green walkways. The case was resolved with a sentence relating to an olive garden path. That sentence was vacated (cancelled) by a judge. That judge was flying an airplane. The airplane struck multiple birds. The plane overturned, but righted (turned right-side-up) and landed safely.

After (bird strikes)1, (judge)2, (who ordered)3 (olive garden-path sentence)4 in (case of green walkways)5 (vacated)3, (overturned but rights and lands safely.)2

# "[[wikipedia:bird strike|bird strike]]s": Airplane colliding with birds in flight
# "judge ... overturned but rights and lands safely": The judge (and presumably the plane they were in) flipped over but was able to get right-side up again and land safely
# "who [[wikipedia:Court order|ordered]] ... [[:wikipedia:Vacated judgment|vacated]]": Identifies the judge as one who issued a ruling cancelling an earlier ruling.
# "Olive Garden path [[wikipedia:Sentence (law)|sentence]]": The thing that was cancelled was a punishment related to either
## Paths at the restaurant [[wikipedia:Olive Garden|Olive Garden]],
## A path in a garden of olive trees, or
## An olive-colored path in a garden
# "[[wikipedia:Legal case|case]] of [[wikipedia:Green|green]] walkways": The punishment was in a court case about green-colored walkways (likely the same garden paths listed above, which may have supposed to have been an olive shade of that color)

Another way to break it down is, "After [the] bird strikes, [the] judge... [is] overturned, but [she] rights and lands safely." And she was "[the] judge who ordered [that the] olive garden-path sentence (the legal sentence concerning an olive-colored path) in (what is known as) [the] Case of [the] Green Walkways [be] vacated."

This comic also pokes fun at newspaper headlines, which typically do not have punctuation or articles, leading to such ambiguities.

For another valid parsing of the sentence, here are some explanatory notes that aid in understanding:
* A criminal court case occurred involving green-colored walkways.
* The sentence handed down in the case involved a specific walkway (a garden path) and a specific shade of green (olive).
* A certain judge had ordered that the sentence be vacated (a legal term meaning undone or expunged).
* That judge was recently piloting a plane which, due to being struck by birds, overturned.
* The judge righted the plane (turned it right-side-up) and landed safely.

Certain combinations of words in the sentence are particularly easy to parse incorrectly. For example:
* "bird strikes judge" can be interpreted to mean the a bird deliberately hit the judge with an appendage or weapon
* "Olive Garden" is the name of a restaurant chain, and "ordered Olive Garden" could mean "placed an order for food from Olive Garden"
* "Garden path sentence" is a type of (written language) sentence
* "in case of" can mean "in the event of" (e.g. "in case of emergency, break glass")
* "vacated" and "overturned" can both mean "undone" in a legal context, and "rights" can refer to legal or constitutional rights

The title text is also an example of a garden path sentence. The meaning is probably the following: Arboretum owner, [who was] denied [legal] standing in [the] garden-path [law]suit on grounds (the reason) [that the garden] grounds [are] appealing, [is] appealing [the ruling]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Newspaper, with a picture of a plane next a judge, and a picture of a map with the path of an airplane, with the following headline]
:After bird strikes judge who ordered olive garden path sentence in case of green walkways vacated overturned but rights and lands safely

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Aviation]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:2793: Garden Path Sentence

2023-06-23T18:31:17Z

Szeth Pancakes: Created page with "The bot didn't upload the most recent comic so I tried to do it myself, but I think I screwed it up :(~~~~"

The bot didn't upload the most recent comic so I tried to do it myself, but I think I screwed it up :([[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 18:31, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

2793: Garden Path Sentence

2023-06-23T18:26:13Z

Szeth Pancakes:

2793: Garden Path Sentence

2023-06-23T18:24:47Z

Szeth Pancakes:

2793: Garden Path Sentence

2023-06-23T18:17:24Z

Szeth Pancakes: Created page with "{{comic | number = 2793 | date = June 23, 2023 | title = Garden Path Sentence | image = garden_path_sentence.png | imagesize = 870x870px | noexpand = true | t..."

{{comic
| number = 2793
| date = June 23, 2023
| title = Garden Path Sentence
| image = garden_path_sentence.png
| imagesize = 870x870px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Arboretum Owner Denied Standing in Garden Path Suit on Grounds Grounds Appealing Appealing)
}}

==Explanation==

File:garden path sentence.png

2023-06-23T18:15:42Z

Szeth Pancakes:

== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file}}

2675: Pilot Priority List

2022-09-21T23:16:26Z

Szeth Pancakes: Transcript rough draft!

{{comic
| number = 2675
| date = September 21, 2022
| title = Pilot Priority List
| image = pilot_priority_list_2x.png
| imagesize = 369x548px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = CELEBRATE: Serve passengers tiered cakes shaped like the airspace class diagram
}}

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

The "ANC" Pilot Priority Checklist is a list of three guidelines, sorted by priority, that pilots should follow to prevent them from being distracted. Failing to follow it might make the plane crash or suffer other problems. As a {{w|mnemonic}} device, all the activities end in ''ate''.

Randall humorously "expands" this list with other ''ate'' things that pilots should do if they have nothing to aviate, navigate, or communicate. These extra tasks go from somewhat hilarious to physically impossible or dangerous. In real life these actions should not be taken as they would distract the pilot and prevent them from reaching the cabin in case of an emergency.

# Aviate means "Keeping the plane in control". If the pilot fails to do this the plane might crash. That is why this should be the highest priority for the pilot.
# Navigate means "Knowing where you are and where you're going". Failing to follow this might make the plane go into restricted airspace, for example, or make the journey take too long.
# Communicate means talking to air traffic control (ATC) through radio. In the standard list this is the lowest priority because talking through the radio might distract the pilot from other more important or urgent tasks.

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

:<big>Pilot Priority List</big>
:[In small font, bracketed by horizontal lines:]
:Standard Section
[A numbered list, with a single verb in large font and descriptors in small, light gray font:]
:1. Aviate
::Maintain control of the aircraft
:2. Navigate
::Figure out where you're going
:3. Communicate
::Stay in touch with ATC and others
:[In small font, bracketed by horizontal lines:]
:Extended Section
:[Continuation of the list:]
:4. Decorate
::Make the cockpit fancy
:5. Accelerate
::See how fast you can go
:6. Roller Skate
::Zoom down the aisle
:7. Exfoliate
::Scrub away dead skin
:8. Sublimate
::Turn directly into a vapor
:9. Pollinate
::Fly low to stir up pollen
:10. Congratulate
::You're doing a good job flying a plane!

{{comic discussion}}

2670: Interruption

2022-09-12T17:16:21Z

Szeth Pancakes: When a statement in parentheses is its own sentence, the period goes inside.

{{comic
| number = 2670
| date = September 9, 2022
| title = Interruption
| image = interruption.png
| titletext = It's been extra bad ever since my GPS got stuck on Phoebe Judge mode.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GPS VOICE SYNTHESIZER. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about listening to a {{w|podcast}} while driving with GPS navigation using {{w|speech synthesis}} for {{w|turn-by-turn navigation|turn-by-turn driving instructions}}. {{w|In-car entertainment|Car entertainment systems}} and {{w|Satellite navigation|SatNav}}-enabling devices (if connected to the car's audio feed) typically allow the SatNav to interrupt whatever else is being played, so that directions can be heard clearly. It's usually easy for the driver to recognise such instructions due to the sudden change in characteristics of the voice. And also the switch in contextual flow, even mid-word for the original sound-source.

However, if the synthetic voice is similar to the speech that was playing, it may be hard to distinguish between the two, especially if the navigation instructions seem to coincide with the interrupted speech. In cases like this, the listener might think that the driving instructions are part of their podcast.

[[Cueball]] is interviewing [[Ponytail]] for the podcast, and she tells a story about a woman who betrayed her. Just when she is about to tell what the betraying woman said to her before she left with the money, which might have revealed if it has been planned in advance, the GPS instructions interrupts and delivers a driving instruction blocking out the last part of a sentence.

The comic suggests [[Randall]] misinterpreted those driving instructions as part of the story being told in the podcast because the GPS voice sounds similar to Ponytail's voice. The comic illustrates the instructions as if they were part of the story from the podcast. Due to the mysterious nature of the story, it is conceivable that the woman in the podcast could have said the navigation instruction line as part of the podcast, leading to ambiguity between the two.

What the betrayer was going to say to Ponytail is never revealed. But the driving instruction does not really fit into the story. It would have been a different matter if she had said, if YOU ever see me again. But she did say If I ever see you again. And that does not necessarily imply that Ponytail has seen her, and thus she could not turn left at the next light, if she did not know she had been seen.

The title text suggests this confusion worsened after Randall's navigation instructions voice got stuck emulating {{w|Phoebe Judge}}, known for the {{w|Criminal (podcast)|''Criminal''}} and {{w|This Is Love (podcast)|''This Is Love''}} podcasts, implying he often listens to her. The extent to which [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qB2NKadJ6U she may sound similar to voices of common navigation apps] is of course entirely subjective. In Randall's case, however, his GPS actually used Judge's voice for the GPS as well, and thus the confusion is very real and annoying.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail are facing each other from opposite sides of a table. They are sitting in office chairs and are both wearing headsets. They are speaking into microphones standing on the table in front of them.]
:Cueball: ...And that's when you knew she had betrayed you?
:Ponytail: Yeah.
:Ponytail: She picked up the money and walked out.

:[Close-up of Ponytail with the headset on seen from the waist up.]
:Ponytail: To this day, I don't know if she planned it all.
:Ponytail: But there was one moment that makes me think, maybe she did.

:[A frame-less section for Ponytail's voice-over is placed above the next panel. The panel, which it thus half the normal height, is mainly black with a white door opening from which white light is shining on to the floor. A silhouette of a Megan like woman stands in the doorway, holding a bag in one hand. Ponytail tells what she said and that part is written in white on the black part above the woman.]
:Ponytail (voice-over): Just before she disappeared, she paused at the door, looked back at me, and said,
:Ponytail (voice-over for the woman): Hey - if I ever see you again,

:[Close-up of the woman with the bag in silhouette in the white doorway. (Note that from the context of the caption it becomes clear that this was actually said by the GPS navigation system, but at this point of reading, it is taken as Ponytail's voice-over.)]
:Ponytail (voice-over for the woman): Turn left at the next light.

:[Caption below the panels:]
:It's so disorienting when a podcaster has a voice that's similar to my navigation app.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2670: Interruption

2022-09-11T17:27:44Z

Szeth Pancakes: Cleaned up transcript

User talk:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-31T06:20:17Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Some variation on the following, mayhap?
{| style="text-align: center; width: 1em; height: 1em;"
|  || | ||  || | || 
|-
| — || + || — || + || —
|-
|  || | ||  || | || 
|-
| — || + || — || + || —
|-
|  || | ||  || | || 
|}

Though you could apply something of style="border-right: ...; border-bottom: ..." to the cells of a straight 3x3 table (not using border-bottom for the third row, or border-right for the third cell in each row) without the ASCII-art aspect...

...Have a look in {{w|Help:Table#Border}} for inspiration? Though if there isn't a good old wikitemplate designed especially for this purpose (either usable or just source-copyable for direct use) I would be very surprised. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.211|172.69.79.211]] 00:03, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Hm, maybe. I was trying to have it look neat in the edit view too, though – perhaps a table is the best option. I’ll mess around with it some more when I’m at a computer :) [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 03:07, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

How about enforced fix-width ''plus'' non-collapsing whitespace?
| |
---+---+---
| X |
---+---+---
| |
...it's the lead space (including in front of other spaces) that does the job there. Does a better job even than messing with the <nowiki><tt>, <code> and tags </nowiki> (can make the same look, but only compounded horribly, per line, in the markup source) and looks very 'clean' in the raw. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 13:10, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
:Thanks! That could work. It's currently very late but when I have more brainpower, I'll give it a try. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 06:20, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Footnote

2022-08-31T06:13:08Z

Szeth Pancakes: Removed redundancy

{{xkcdmeta}}{{TOC}}
At the bottom of the [[xkcd]] comics beneath [[Randall|Randall's]] list of ''Comics I Enjoy'' there is a footnote written in a very tiny font, as to make it almost unreadable. There have been two footnotes displayed over the course of xkcd's history, with a gap of 22 days without any footnotes after the first footnote's removal.

See [[Design of xkcd.com]].

== Current footnote ==
A new footnote was added either on [https://web.archive.org/web/20161004143542/http://xkcd.com/ October 4th] or on [https://web.archive.org/web/20161005090723/http://xkcd.com/ October 5th], 2016.

As of October 2016 the footnote/tiny print at the bottom of xkcd.com pages reads:
:{{Quote|xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.|xkcd.com}}
It did not replace the [[#Original footnote|Original footnote]] as there had been a span of [[#Removal of original footnote|22 days without a footnote]] in between these two footnotes.

The text gives questionable advice on how to view xkcd.com. Using a discontinued browser on an Apple computer released in 1986 with a screen resolution one pixel tall would be extremely difficult.

;Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below
:It is normal to specify browser and minimum version, as all later versions typically retain needed features from previous versions. Instead, the footnote claims that older versions are better (perhaps due to reliance on a bug fixed after version 4.0). No version of Netscape Navigator is currently maintained.

;on a Pentium 3±1
:Pentium was a brand of processors made by Intel. Instead of specifying a minimum processor generation (as in software system requirements), both a minimum and maximum are given. This notation is often used for specifying tolerances, usually of a physical property (e.g. electrical resistance) - a tolerance range of "Pentium 3, plus or minus one" indicates anything older than Pentium 2 or newer than Pentium 4 is sub-optimal. It may also refer to the more mathematical usage of plus or minus, which would indicate it's best viewed on a Pentium 2, or a Pentium 4, but nothing else.

;emulated in Javascript
:Javascript is a programming language used on web pages. While it may be possible to write a Pentium emulator in Javascript, this would be a very strange choice.

;on an Apple IIGS
:The Apple IIGS was a computer made in the 1980's. Even the slowest Pentium computers are hundreds of times faster than the Apple IIGS. Combined with the inefficiencies of processor emulation, this would result in a painfully slow experience, if it worked at all.
:The Apple IIGS was made before Internet connections were common, and there was probably no web Javascript-compatible browser for it, if any browser at all. There are now Ethernet cards available for the IIGS.

;at a screen resolution of 1024x1.
:If the dimensions given are in pixels, as they usually are, then the recommended display setting would only show one horizontal line. 1024 pixels is wider than the maximum supported display width of the Apple IIGS.

;Please enable your ad blockers,
:Many sites ask users to disable ad blockers, either so the owner can get ad revenue, or because blockers sometimes inadvertently block other parts of the page. But here it is recommended to enable the blockers, even though there would be nothing to block since xkcd does not have advertisements.

;disable high-heat drying,
:This appears to be referring to clothes dryer heat settings, which are irrelevant to websites. Some clothing is damaged if dried with high heat.

;and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode.
:Many portable devices, especially cell phones and tablets, have an "Airplane Mode," which disables all radio-frequency transmissions (wifi, mobile/cellphone connectivity, etc) to avoid potential interference with an aircraft's own electronics while flying. "Boat Mode" is fictional. (Though it might be nice to have a boat mode that turns the phone off if dropped, to reduce water damage, although this wouldn't help much, as the phone would probably never be found.)

;For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.
:Having caps lock on would not improve security. It may reduce your security if it prevents you from using lower-case letters in passwords.

== Original footnote ==
Previously the footnote was (the earliest webarchive with it is from [https://web.archive.org/web/20070503171452/http://xkcd.com/ May 2007]):
:BTC 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey
:We did not invent the algorithm. The algorithm consistently finds Jesus. The algorithm killed Jeeves.
:The algorithm is banned in China. The algorithm is from Jersey. The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
:This is not the algorithm. This is close.

Relevant info/links:
*[[BTC]] means {{w|bitcoin}}. The string of alphanumeric characters is his bitcoin address.
**[https://blockchain.info/address/1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey]
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisnoessel/455335731/ The algorithm killed Jeeves].
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/omargutierrez/444552272/ The algorithm is banned in China].
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/19873723@N00/451996056/ The algorithm is from Jersey].
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejof/453596732/ The algorithm constantly finds Jesus].

It was added by Randall in April 2007, according to his [http://blog.xkcd.com/2007/04/19/billboards/ April 19th, 2007] [[Blag]] post as a response to [http://web.archive.org/web/20070601192105/http://valleywag.com/tech/mystery-billboards/asks-advertising-campaign-249274.php random billboards] appearing in the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. It turned out these were a viral marketing campaign by the ask(jeeves) search engine to drive publicity around their new search algorithm. The campaign is long over, but Randall kept the text there (apparently) as a self referential advertising campaign. Specifically, people who find the small text will use a search engine to see what it means and the search engine will likely lead them back to [[xkcd]] — where they saw the text initially.

=== Removal of original footnote ===
The entire old footnote was removed on September 12th, 2016 as was the [[xkcd warning]] above it. The [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912181546/https://xkcd.com/ last day these were on the page] was September 12th, 2016 when [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]] was released.

It was maybe due to the [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|popularity of the comic]] that this footnote
was removed along with the warning to not scare new fans away.

Four hours later that day the page [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/ looked like this] with no footnote or warning.

There was then a span from the 12th September until the 5th of October where there where no footnote, before the [[#Current footnote|Current footnote]] was added.

== No footnote ==
Before the [[#Original footnote|Original footnote]] was printed there was no footnote at least [https://web.archive.org/web/20070406183323/http://xkcd.com/# until April of 2007].

[[Category:Design of xkcd]]

Talk:2665: America Songs

2022-08-30T21:08:33Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Many of these rely on "ia"/"ie"/"io" serving as the 3rd and 4th syllables, so every song would be sung like "God Bless <s>Olimpiya</s> Algeriya". Virginia Beach appears to be the only one to escape this.--[[User:Magtei|Magtei]] ([[User talk:Magtei|talk]]) 19:39, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
:As a Washingtonian, I pronounce Olympia without the diphthong (so four syllables; the “a” being distinct). It’s probably a dialect thing, and some pronunciations are more common than others, but as long as one fairly-common pronunciation scans, I think it’s fine. [User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 03:37, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
::Alright, bad example. Skipping it is unheard of in areas further south. Do you (or a large part of the US) fully pronounce most dipthongs, [https://www.howmanysyllables.com/syllables/syria Syria with three syllables], etc.?--[[User:Magtei|Magtei]] ([[User talk:Magtei|talk]]) 07:02, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
:::I can't speak for the rest of the US, but in the case of places I usually pronounce the extra syllable. Virginia is the one exception I can think of right now. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:08, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
:There are also some locations with three-syllable names, such as Detroit Lakes or Fergus Falls (both located northwest of St. Cloud, Minnesota) which, although not listed by Randall, will also work and not use the noted syllables. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 02:35, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

This phrase, "scans to", has me confused. Can the explanation address what this is supposed to mean?
--anon 16:23, 29 August 2022
:You betcha [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 20:38, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
::What does scanning mean in relation to sung verse? Just syllables and their stress pattern, or is their more? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.28|172.69.34.28]] 23:11, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
:::I'm not familiar with the term, but I assume it's related to scansion. If I'm right, it's probably just syllables and stress pattern. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 06:52, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
::::- There was a young man from Japan
::::- Whose limericks never would scan.
::::- And when they asked why,
::::- He said "I do try!
::::- But when I get to the last line I try to fit in as many words as I can."
::::...though – and this is me talking, not the famous limerick – after making sure your poetry rhymes (if you want it to; and/or assonate, consonate, etc) and scans (some words are tricky, as mentioned, according to dialect/accent/etc) you also need to check the meter (does it obviously flow and split in patterns like the iambic one where "da-DUM da-DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da-DUM" might be how it works with word-boundries).
::::You might be wise to avoid words like "vehicle" with theoretically, two to four syllables and all kinds of stress-patterns and vowel-sounds (c.f. stereotypical Deep South, north British, Aussie, etc), at least as an early (establishing) element. Maybe you can set up its far more knowable rhyme/scan/metering partner first and rely upon the reader adopting the intended variation (give or take the relatively opposing strengths of writer/reader accents, etc) after being given the prior clue.
::::I would personally say the scan(sion) is mostly the simple syllable count, and may need some writing tricks ("learned" as in "I learned something" and "learn'ed" as in "a very learned person") to convey well during sight-reading or initial internalised read-through.
::::On that, I personally have some problems reading "-ya" syllables as singular (depending upon what the preceding symbol is, I would consider it a "-ee-ah"/"-ee-uh" (or mid-point) with a cut-down "-ee-"), while I have no problem with the "-lm" dipthong/whatever (c.f. Northern Irish tends to clearly enunciate as "fill-um" for 'film', whilst I might almost consider it a syllable/beat of its own). But I suspect the right voice (internal or external) could convince me of any of those examples as given, eventually... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.105|162.158.159.105]] 13:46, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Aussie here: we tend to say (and sing) "Australia" with three syllables. For example, see the [https://www.pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/government/australian-national-anthem-scores Australian national anthem]. Occasionally two syllables: Straya mate!! But saying it with four syllables is perhaps an American thing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.207|162.158.2.207]] 21:19, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
:Interesting! It probably is a dialect thing. As an American, I've always pronounced it with four. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:23, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

In the comic, Saskatchewan is spelled as Sasketchewan. Might be fixed later?

Just putting this here: https://www.quora.com/A-lot-of-place-names-in-the-USA-have-four-syllables-Minnesota-Chattanooga-Albuquerque-Tallahassee-Talladega-Massachusetts-Massapequa-Mississippi-Cincinnati-Sacramento-Indiana-Alabama-Oklahoma-etc-Is-there-a (with the understanding that "scanning" doesn't necessarily mean only the number of syllables, e.g. Al-BUH-ker-key has the wrong stress pattern.)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.49|172.70.210.49]] 21:51, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
:Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.211|172.69.79.211]] 22:03, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
::''AlBUquerque, AlBUquerque, God shed his grace on theee...!'' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 22:46, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Does anyone know how to craft a Wikidata query for all the place names with four syllables following the .'.. stress pattern? We should probably say how many there are. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.183|172.70.214.183]] 23:15, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Jurassic park, Jurassic park, how lovely are thy branches… [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 23:31, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

The pronunciation of Vidalia, Georgia, is "vi-DAIL-ya" -- three syllables, not four. It doesn't actually scan like "America". Seems like the comic is assuming the pronunciation is "vee-DAHL-ee-ah", which would scan.ing
:And the age old question of whether an optional schwa constitutes a syllable rears its head. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.161|172.69.134.161]] 05:14, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
::I came to say a similar thing about Montpelier. In Vermont, at least, it has three syllables. [[User:CeramicMug|CeramicMug]] ([[User talk:CeramicMug|talk]]) 10:42, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

I simply wish to note the similarity to "Thighs" (#321), which is one of my favorite xkcd comics and one that I find comes to mind surprisingly often.

For changing the tune of a song but not the lyrics (or the lyrics in entirety but not the tune), see the title text to 788: The Carriage [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.126|172.70.131.126]] 11:24, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Shirley [surely] there must be some overlap between XKCD and "Weird Al" Yankovic fans, but no one has yet mentioned that Randall missed the "American Idiot"/"Canadian Idiot" overlap, mentioning the former but not the latter? '''--BigMal''' // [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.87|172.70.114.87]] 14:12, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Needs a better explanation of "scans" (short for Scansion). Something something ''Syllables'', something something ''stress pattern'', something something ''rhythm''. I'd write it myself, but no one wants a 30 page thesis on the topic. PS to those complaining certain locations usually use a three syllable pronunciation... poetic license frequently stretches (usually middle or penultimate) syllables to cover two beats, even without changing vowel length (although it's more common to do so). At least, in English; some other languages are not as flexible in this regard. --- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.79|172.70.214.79]] 16:15, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Talk:what if

2022-08-30T20:36:21Z

Szeth Pancakes:

I moved the [[what if?]] page to here because I was unable to use the "move" ability as it kept showing "No input file specified". — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 06:44, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

I just noticed this: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/science/randall-munroe-question-popcorn.html It seems to be a continuation of what if in spirit but not in name, should we link to it from here?

Is the "it's" in the UK book description a typo by the article writer, or is it there in the actual book? I can't find it on the internets. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 20:36, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2665: America Songs

2022-08-30T03:37:03Z

Szeth Pancakes: I just like saying diphthong. Diphthong diphthong diphthong.

Many of these rely on "ia"/"ie"/"io" serving as the 3rd and 4th syllables, so every song would be sung like "God Bless Olimpiya". Virginia Beach appears to be the only one to escape this.--[[User:Magtei|Magtei]] ([[User talk:Magtei|talk]]) 19:39, 29 August 2022 (UTC)in M
:As a Washingtonian, I pronounce Olympia without the diphthong (so four syllables; the “a” being distinct). It’s probably a dialect thing, and some pronunciations are more common than others, but as long as one fairly-common pronunciation scans, I think it’s fine. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 03:37, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
:There are also some locations with three-syllable names, such as Detroit Lakes or Fergus Falls (both located northwest of St. Cloud, Minnesota) which, although not listed by Randall, will also work and not use the noted syllables. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 02:35, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

This phrase, "scans to", has me confused. Can the explanation address what this is supposed to mean?
--anon 16:23, 29 August 2022
:You betcha [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 20:38, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
::What does scanning mean in relation to sung verse? Just syllables and their stress pattern, or is their more? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.28|172.69.34.28]] 23:11, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Aussie here: we tend to say (and sing) "Australia" with three syllables. For example, see the [https://www.pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/government/australian-national-anthem-scores Australian national anthem]. Occasionally two syllables: Straya mate!! But saying it with four syllables is perhaps an American thing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.207|162.158.2.207]] 21:19, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
:Interesting! It probably is a dialect thing. As an American, I've always pronounced it with four. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:23, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

In the comic, Saskatchewan is spelled as Sasketchewan. Might be fixed later?

Just putting this here: https://www.quora.com/A-lot-of-place-names-in-the-USA-have-four-syllables-Minnesota-Chattanooga-Albuquerque-Tallahassee-Talladega-Massachusetts-Massapequa-Mississippi-Cincinnati-Sacramento-Indiana-Alabama-Oklahoma-etc-Is-there-a (with the understanding that "scanning" doesn't necessarily mean only the number of syllables, e.g. Al-BUH-ker-key has the wrong stress pattern.)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.49|172.70.210.49]] 21:51, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
:Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.211|172.69.79.211]] 22:03, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
::''AlBUquerque, AlBUquerque, God shed his grace on theee...!'' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 22:46, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Does anyone know how to craft a Wikidata query for all the place names with four syllables following the .'.. stress pattern? We should probably say how many there are. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.183|172.70.214.183]] 23:15, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Jurassic park, Jurassic park, how lovely are thy branches… [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 23:31, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

The pronunciation of Vidalia, Georgia, is "vi-DAIL-ya" -- three syllables, not four. It doesn't actually scan like "America". Seems like the comic is assuming the pronunciation is "vee-DAHL-ee-ah", which would scan.ing

2665: America Songs

2022-08-30T03:09:55Z

Szeth Pancakes: Removed redundancy

{{comic
| number = 2665
| date = August 29, 2022
| title = America Songs
| image = america_songs.png
| titletext = Juraaaassic Park, Juraaaassic Park, God shed his grace on theeeee
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a JURASSIC PARK SONGWRITER. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Many songs, particularly those written by Americans, contain the word "America."{{citation needed}} These songs usually either praise America for its perceived virtues or mock it for its perceived flaws. Regardless of the content of the song, you could (in principle) sing any such song while replacing each usage of the word "America" or "American" with another four-syllable word or phrase with emphasis on the second syllable, without disrupting the meter of the song. Words and phrases like this are said to "scan to" the word "America," which means to conform to its previously stated metrical pattern.

The comic provides a list of said names (most of which are locations). While some of these share virtues or flaws with America, whatever may be meant by that term, most would fit songs about America poorly, and few are prominent enough to justify writing a song praising or mocking them. Hence, the substitution is, in many cases, humorous.

Note that the adjective form of many of the places listed either does not exist or does not fit the same rhythmic structure as "American". (For instance, while "Antarctican Idiot" scans to "American Idiot," "St. Petersburgian Idiot" does not.) In these cases, it would be necessary to use the noun form of the name to preserve the song's meter.

The title text provides an example: substituting "{{w|Jurassic Park}}" for "America" in the song "{{w|America the Beautiful}}".

A similar comparison in "scanning" was made in [[1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]].

===Table of places/things===
{| class="wikitable"
! Name || Description
|-
! colspan="2" | Above the map
|-
| Sasketchewan || Spelled incorrectly, should be ''{{w|Saskatchewan}}''. A province in Canada, whose capital is {{w|Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina}} and largest city is {{w|Saskatoon}}.
|-
| {{w|Ontario}} || The largest Canadian province by population and 2nd largest by total area. Includes the capital of Canada, {{w|Ottawa}}, and its largest city, {{w|Toronto}}.
|-
! colspan="2" | Map
|-
| {{w|Olympia, Washington|Olympia}} || Capital of the state of {{w|Washington}}.
|-
| {{w|Yosemite}} || National park in the state of {{w|California}}. Pronounced "yoh-SEM-ih-tee".
|-
| {{w|Los Angeles}} || Largest city in the state of California, and 2nd largest city in the United States.
|-
| {{w|Lake Michigan}} || One of the five {{w|Great Lakes}} in the United States. Borders the states of {{w|Wisconsin}}, {{w|Illinois}}, {{w|Indiana}}, and {{w|Michigan}}.
|-
| {{w|Peoria, Illinois|Peoria}} || The county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, and the largest city on the Illinois River. The oldest permanent European settlement in Illinois, according to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey.
|-
| {{w|Columbia, Missouri|Columbia}} (MO) || Fourth largest city in the state of {{w|Missouri}}. One of {{w|Columbia#United_States|many cities}} in the US named after {{w|Columbia (personification)|Columbia}}.
|-
| {{w|Montpelier, Vermont|Montpelier}} || The capital of the state of {{w|Vermont}}.
|-
| {{w|Schenectady, New York|Schenectady}} || City in Schenectady County, {{w|New York}}. In the 19th century, nationally influential companies and industries developed in Schenectady, including {{w|General Electric}} and American Locomotive Company (ALCO).
|-
| {{w|Centralia, Pennsylvania|Centralia}} || Near-ghost town in central {{w|Pennsylvania}} due to a {{w|Centralia mine fire|long running mine fire}} burning beneath the town.
|-
| {{w|Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis}} || Capital city of the state of {{w|Maryland}} and home to the {{w|United States Naval Academy}}.
|-
| {{w|Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia}} (SC) || Capital of the state of {{w|South Carolina}}. One of {{w|Columbia#United_States|many cities}} in the US named after {{w|Columbia (personification)|Columbia}}.
|-
| {{w|Vidalia, Georgia|Vidalia}} || City in the state of {{w|Georgia}}, known for their {{w|Vidalia onion}}s. Vidalia may not actually scan to "America", as it is pronounced "vy-DALE-yuh", not "vy-DALE-ee-ah" or "vee-DAHL-ee-ah".
|-
| {{w|Acadia National Park|Acadia}} || National park in the state of {{w|Maine}}.
|-
| {{w|Connecticut}} || US State, whose capital is {{w|Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford}} and largest city is {{w|Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport}}.
|-
| {{w|LaGuardia Airport|LaGuardia}} || One of the three major airports in {{w|New York City}} metropolitan area, named after former mayor {{w|Fiorello La Guardia}}. Described by then-Vice President Joe Biden as being like a "third-world country."
|-
| {{w|Virginia Beach}} || Most populous city in the state of {{w|Virginia}}.
|-
| {{w|The Villages, Florida|The Villages}} || An unincorporated senior living community in the state of {{w|Florida}}. Notable for its local newspaper, {{w|The Villages Daily Sun}}, which was the only top 25 American newspaper (by circulation) to show growth in 2022.<ref>https://pressgazette.co.uk/us-newspaper-circulations-2022/</ref>
|-
| {{w|St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg}} || The fifth largest city in the state of Florida. Part of the {{w|Tampa Bay area|Tampa Bay metropolitan area}}.
|-
| {{w|Miami Beach, Florida|Miami Beach}} || A coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, across the bay from the city of {{w|Miami}}.
|-
! colspan="2" | Below the map
|-
| {{w|Algeria}} || A country in North Africa. The 9th largest country on the continent of Africa. Bordered to the northeast by Tunisia; to the east by Libya; to the southeast by Niger; to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and Western Sahara; to the west by Morocco; and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea.
|-
| {{w|Armenia}} || A landlocked country located in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region.
|-
| {{w|Monrovia}} || The capital city of the West African country of {{w|Liberia}}.
|-
| {{w|Brasília|Brasilia}} || The federal capital of the country of {{w|Brazil}} and Brazil's 3rd populous city. Actually spelled ''Brasília''.
|-
| {{w|Australia}} || A country which comprises the mainland of the continent of Australia. The world's sixth largest country by area.
|-
| {{w|Valencia}} || The 3rd most populous city in the country of {{w|Spain}}.
|-
| {{w|Byzantium}} || An ancient Greek city and capital of the {{w|Byzantine Empire}}. Its name was changed to New Rome in 324, Constantinople in 330, and finally Istanbul in 1930.
|-
| {{w|Assyria}} || An major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state and then a territorial state and eventually an empire. The Assyrian Empire fell to the Babylonians and Medes in the late 7th century BC.
|-
| {{w|Beringia}} || A prehistoric land mass and region in the {{w|Bering Sea}} region. It is the most popular site of the hypothesized "land bridge" that early humans used to migrate to the Americas.
|-
| {{w|Antarctica}} || The earth's southernmost and least-populated continent, mostly covered by ice.
|-
| {{w|Sokovia}} || A fictional country in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Described to be in eastern Europe between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Its capital city is destroyed during a battle between Ultron and the Avengers in the film ''{{w|Avengers: Age of Ultron}}'', leading to the ratification of the Sokovia Accords.
|-
| {{w|Andromeda}} || Several things: a {{w|Andromeda (constellation)|constellation in space}}, a {{w|Andromeda Galaxy|galaxy}} within that constellation, or the {{w|Andromeda (mythology)|Greek mythological character}} whom the constellation and galaxy are named after.
|-
| {{w|Lothlórien|Lothlorien}} || A realm of the elves in {{w|Middle-earth}} in the {{w|Tolkien's legendarium|works of J. R. R. Tolkien}}. Ruled by Galadriel and Celeborn. Actually spelled ''Lothlórien'' in the books.
|-
| {{w|Subnautica}} || Not a place, but an open-world survival action-adventure video game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment released in 2018.
|-
| {{w|Econo Lodge|EconoLodge}} || Actually spelled ''Econo Lodge'', though their wordmark doesn't help. An economy motel chain in the US and Canada.
|-
| {{w|Jurassic Park}} (title text) || Jurassic Park is a franchise of films centered on the creation of theme parks of cloned dinosaurs. Inevitably, the dinosaurs escape and attack humans.
|}

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

:[A header is written above a map of the US mainland:]
:<big>Places whose names scan to "America," so they can be substituted into songs such as:</big>
:''America the Beautiful''
:''God Bless America''
:Neil Diamond – ''America''
:West Side Story – ''America''
:The Guess Who – ''American Woman''
:Green Day – ''American Idiot''
:[Above the map, towards the left:]
:Sasketchewan
:[Towards the right:]
:Ontario
:[A number of places are marked on the map. From top to bottom, left to right:]
:Olympia
:Yosemite
:Los Angeles

:Lake Michigan
:Peoria
:Columbia (in Missouri)

:Acadia
:Montpelier
:Schenectady
:Connecticut
:LaGuardia
:Centralia
:Annapolis
:Virginia Beach
:Columbia (in South Carolina)
:Vidalia
:The Villages
:St. Petersburg
:Miami Beach
:[Below the map, in columns:]
:Australia
:Armenia
:Monrovia
:Brasilia
:Australia
:Valencia

:Byzantium
:Assyria
:Beringia
:Antarctica

:Sokovia
:Andromenda

:Lothlorien
:Subnautica

:The Metaverse
:EconoLodge

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Songs]]

User talk:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-30T03:07:39Z

Szeth Pancakes:

User talk:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-29T21:54:34Z

Szeth Pancakes: not gonna work :<

User talk:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-29T21:49:26Z

Szeth Pancakes:

:<big>'''Tic Tac Toe with Szeth'''</big>

:How to play:
:Edit the page
:Choose a grid and sign below it
:Take your turn by replacing the center of a square with an "X"
:Alternatively, if someone has already done this, sign below their signature and play as "O"
:Play proceeds as normal.

:Example grid:
: ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎
: X | O | X
: ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎
:‾‾‾|‾‾‾|‾‾‾
: X | X | O
: ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎
:‾‾‾|‾‾‾|‾‾‾
: O | O | X
: ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎ | ‏‏‎ ‎

X: [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:45, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

O: [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:45, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

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User talk:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-29T21:45:40Z

Szeth Pancakes:

:<big>'''Tic Tac Toe with Szeth'''</big>

:How to play:
:Edit the page
:Choose a grid and sign below it
:Take your turn by replacing the center of a square with an "X"
:Alternatively, if someone has already done this, sign below their signature and play as "O"
:Play proceeds as normal.

:Example grid:
: | |
: X | O | X
: | |
:‾‾‾|‾‾‾|‾‾‾
: X | X | O
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:‾‾‾|‾‾‾|‾‾‾
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X: [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:45, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

O: [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:45, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

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User talk:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-29T21:45:04Z

Szeth Pancakes: Created page with ":<big>'''Tic Tac Toe with Szeth'''<big> :How to play: :Edit the page :Choose a grid and sign below it :Take your turn by replacing the center of a square with an "X" :Alterna..."

:<big>'''Tic Tac Toe with Szeth'''<big>

:How to play:
:Edit the page
:Choose a grid and sign below it
:Take your turn by replacing the center of a square with an "X"
:Alternatively, if someone has already done this, sign below their signature and play as "O"
:Play proceeds as normal.

:Example grid:
: | |
: X | O | X
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:‾‾‾|‾‾‾|‾‾‾
: X | X | O
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:‾‾‾|‾‾‾|‾‾‾
: O | O | X
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X: [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:45, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

O: [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:45, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

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Talk:2665: America Songs

2022-08-29T21:23:56Z

Szeth Pancakes:

2665: America Songs

2022-08-29T21:06:03Z

Szeth Pancakes: Formatting

2665: America Songs

2022-08-29T21:02:44Z

Szeth Pancakes: Transcript! (Rough draft)

User:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-29T20:39:17Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Grammar ninja, copy editor, and amateur crossword constructor

User:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-29T20:38:43Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Grammar ninja, copy editor of my school’s newspaper, and amateur crossword constructor

Talk:2665: America Songs

2022-08-29T20:38:02Z

Szeth Pancakes:

2665: America Songs

2022-08-29T20:37:29Z

Szeth Pancakes: Added a definition of "scan to" (& more cleanup)

2665: America Songs

2022-08-29T20:27:41Z

Szeth Pancakes: Title text & general cleanup

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-20T02:41:20Z

Szeth Pancakes:

{{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. (Edited by Cuvtixo) Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is a list of "age milestones" in the United States. As usual for Randall, he has added many fictional entries to supplement some real life ones.

{| class="wikitable"
! Age || Privilage || Desription
|-
| 16 || Drive || Legal driving age varies by state in the US, but 16 is the highest age to qualify for a learner's permit.
|-
| 17 || Attend R-Rated movies Alone ||
|-
| 18 || Vote ||
|-
| 21 || Buy Alcohol || In the US, the legal drinking age is 21 years, although other countries have a lower drinking age (Example: In Japan the legal age to drink is 20.).
|-
| 25 || Rent a car ||
|-`e
| 30 || Run for Senate || This entry is incorrect: one must be at least 30 years old in order to ''become'' Senator, not ''run'' for Senate. Joe Biden was 29 years old when he was elected to Senate but turned 30 before being sworn in.
|-
| 32 || Rent a Senator's Car || The first joke entry in the table.
|-
| 35 || Run for president ||
|-
| 40 || Rent a flying car ||
|-
| 45 || Learn about the God-empress ||
|-
| 50 || Join AARP || Full AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) membership is available to anyone age 50 and over. {{w|AARP}}
|-
| 52 || Click to skip captchas ||
|-
| 55 || Vote for God-empress ||
|-
| 62 || $80 national parks lifetime pass ||
|-
| 65 || Eligible for Medicare ||
|-
| 68 || See "Skip ads" button on live tv || 68 refers to a "Skip ads" button on live TV. Some DVRs and streaming applications have a feature to skip over commercial breaks in recorded programs, but this could not be available in live TV, since it would require jumping forward in time. Time travel is currently impossible.{{citation needed}} ||
|-
| 70 || Run for God-empress ||
|-
| 75 || Ride any animal in a national park ||
|-
| 80 || Eligible for Megacare ||
|-
| 85 || Click to toggle whether an 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 ||

|}

In the UK you get a telegram from the Queen on your 100th birthday. In the US you also get congratulated by the weatherman on the {{w|Today Show}}.

Bilbo Baggins Farewell Birthday Party took place on his eleventy-first (111th) birthday.

Obviously, the god-empress does not actually exist because this comic is visible to people under 45 years old.{{citation needed}}

128 is a reference to computers, though 128 would become either -128 or -0 (depending upon implementation) in signed 8-bit, which means you would have a weird experience of your next phase of life. For unsigned integers, the correct rollback number would be 256.

The title text mentions {{w|Jeanne Calment}}, who holds the record for the oldest person ever (there are biblical references to older people, such as {{w|Methuselah}}, who supposedly lived to 969, but their ages haven't been verified); she reportedly was age 122 when the died in 1997. Randall claims that if you match her age you get editorial control over her Wikipedia page. Not there's some controversy whether Calment actually claimed her mother's records (including birth certificate) as her own, and "editing wars" have been fought over her article.

Although if anyone managed to exceed her age, presumably they would get their own page (albeit that they should not be encouraged to {{w|Wikipedia:Editing Your Own Page|edit it}} themselves) and hers would cease to be as interesting, although that might depend on what use is made of the unparalleled editorial control now granted.

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

<big>Age Milestones</big> 
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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-20T01:55:49Z

Szeth Pancakes: Expanded table

{{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.}}

This is a list of "age milestones" in the United States. As usual for Randall, he has added many fictional entries to supplement some real life ones.

{| class="wikitable"
! Age || Privilage || Desription
|-
| 16 || Drive || Legal driving age varies by state in the US, but 16 is the highest age to qualify for a learner's permit.
|-
| 17 || Attend R-Rated movies Alone ||
|-
| 18 || Vote ||
|-
| 21 || Buy Alcohol || In the US, the legal drinking age is 21 years, although other countries have a lower drinking age (Example: In Japan the legal age to drink is 20.).
|-
| 25 || Rent a car ||
|-`e
| 30 || Run for Senate || This entry is incorrect: one must be at least 30 years old in order to ''become'' Senator, not ''run'' for Senate. Joe Biden was 29 years old when he was elected to Senate but turned 30 before being sworn in.
|-
| 32 || Rent a Senator's Car || The first joke entry in the table.
|-
| 35 || Run for president ||
|-
| 40 || Rent a flying car ||
|-
| 45 || Learn about the God-empress ||
|-
| 50 || Join AARP || Full AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) membership is available to anyone age 50 and over. {{w|AARP}}
|-
| 52 || Click to skip captchas ||
|-
| 55 || Vote for God-empress ||
|-
| 62 || $80 national parks lifetime pass ||
|-
| 65 || Eligible for Medicare ||
|-
| 68 || See "Skip ads" button on live tv || 68 refers to a "Skip ads" button on live TV. Some DVRs and streaming applications have a feature to skip over commercial breaks in recorded programs, but this could not be available in live TV, since it would require jumping forward in time. Time travel is currently impossible.{{citation needed
|-
| 70 || Run for God-empress ||
|-
| 75 || Ride any animal in a national park ||
|-
| 80 || Eligible for Megacare ||
|-
| 85 || Click to toggle whether an 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 ||

}}
|}

In the UK you get a telegram from the Queen on your 100th birthday. In the US you also get congratulated by the weatherman on the {{w|Today Show}}.

Bilbo Baggins Farewell Birthday Party took place on his eleventy-first (111th) birthday.

Obviously, the god-empress does not actually exist because this comic is visible to people under 45 years old.{{citation needed}}

128 is a reference to computers, though 128 would become either -128 or -0 (depending upon implementation) in signed 8-bit, which means you would have a weird experience of your next phase of life. For unsigned integers, the correct rollback number would be 256.

The title text mentions {{w|Jeanne Calment}}, who holds the record for the oldest person ever (there are biblical references to older people, such as {{w|Methuselah}}, who supposedly lived to 969, but their ages haven't been verified); she was age 122 when the died in 1997. Randall claims that if you match her age you get editorial control over her Wipedia page. Although if anyone managed to exceed her age, presumably they would get their own page (albeit that they should not be encouraged to {{w|Wikipedia:Editing Your Own Page|edit it}} themselves) and hers would cease to be as interesting, although that might depend on what use is made of the unparalleled editorial control now granted.

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

<big>Age Milestones</big> 
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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Talk:2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-20T01:39:37Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Who is God empress?{{unsigned ip|172.68.50.207|23:05, 19 August 2022}}
:I reminds me of the God-empress of Missouri from an earlier comic about nested WWII speculation.{{unsigned ip|172.69.69.207|23:17, 19 August 2022}}
: The age to learn about Her Majesty, the God-empress is accurate, you kids will just think he's joking before you turn 45 and hear Her voice in your head.{{unsigned ip|162.158.62.167|23:56, 19 August 2022}}

The age must be stored in a 7 bit number because it wraps back to zero when 128 is reached. - Brian K {{unsigned ip|172.70.174.159|23:52, 19 August 2022}}
:''(Hey, you eager lot, you've all forgotten to (''properly'', if at all) sign your discussion contributions...)''
:...if it were 8-bit signed, unchecked bitwise rollover could be awkward. Especially in 1's Compliment. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.5|172.70.85.5]] 00:23, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

Make sure the explanations you’re putting in the table are explanations, not reviews of the comic! I agree with the fact that the comic is “America-centric,” but things like that should be stripped of opinion before being put into the article. A better way to put that might be (before the table) “Since Randall lives in America, many of the entries in this comic are specific to the U.S.” [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 01:39, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-20T01:33:00Z

Szeth Pancakes: Cleaned up 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.}}

This is a list of "age milestones" in the United States. As usual for Randall, he has added many fictional entries to supplement some real life ones.

{| class="wikitable"
! Age || Privilage || Desription
|-
| 16 || Drive || Legal driving age varies by state in the US, but 16 is the highest age to qualify for a learner's permit.
|-
| 17 || Attend R-Rated movies Alone ||
|-
| 18 || Vote ||
|-
| 21 || Buy Alcohol || In the US, the legal drinking age is 21 years, although other countries have a lower drinking age - Japan in particular wants even younger people to drink.
|-
| 25 || Rent a car ||
|-
| 30 || Run for Senate || This entry is incorrect: one must be at least 30 years old in order to ''become'' Senator, not ''run'' for Senate. Joe Biden was 29 years old when he was elected to Senate but turned 30 before being sworn in.
|-
| 32 || Rent a Senator's Car || The first joke entry in the table.
|-
| 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 ||
|-
| 68 || See "Skip ads" button on live tv || 68 refers to a "Skip ads" button on live TV. Some DVRs and streaming applications have a feature to skip over commercial breaks in recorded programs, but this could not be available in live TV, since it would require jumping forward in time. Time travel is currently impossible.{{citation needed}}
|}

In the UK you get a telegram from the Queen on your 100th birthday. In the US you also get congratulated by the weatherman on the {{w|Today Show}}.

Bilbo Baggins Farewell Birthday Party took place on his eleventy-first (111th) birthday.

Obviously, the god-empress does not actually exist because this comic is visible to people under 45 years old.{{citation needed}}

128 is a reference to computers, though 128 would become either -128 or -0 (depending upon implementation) in signed 8-bit, which means you would have a weird experience of your next phase of life. For unsigned integers, the correct rollback number would be 256.

The title text mentions {{w|Jeanne Calment}}, who holds the record for the oldest person ever (there are biblical references to older people, such as {{w|Methuselah}}, who supposedly lived to 969, but their ages haven't been verified); she was age 122 when the died in 1997. Randall claims that if you match her age you get editorial control over her Wipedia page. Although if anyone managed to exceed her age, presumably they would get their own page (albeit that they should not be encouraged to {{w|Wikipedia:Editing Your Own Page|edit it}} themselves) and hers would cease to be as interesting, although that might depend on what use is made of the unparalleled editorial control now granted.

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

<big>Age Milestones</big> 
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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

2659: Unreliable Connection

2022-08-17T02:30:04Z

Szeth Pancakes: “Temporarily” isn’t very descriptive of the process depicted

{{comic
| number = 2659
| date = August 15, 2022
| title = Unreliable Connection
| image = unreliable_connection.png
| titletext = NEGATIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet. POSITIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by ROUND TRIP LATENCY BACKOFF. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In today's world, the Internet, pervasive mobile technology and the COVID pandemic have all caused an implicit expectation for many employees to be available all hours of the day, even when on vacation. One of these expectations of such employees is to be required to attend virtual meetings. In this comic, [[Randall]] addresses the issue with a deliberately suboptimal internet device that drops Internet connectivity intermittently and at unpredictable intervals, thereby causing activities that require a constant, uninterrupted connection to be unusable. The device appears to be an internet {{w|modem}} connected to an automated version of a {{w|Galton board}} or {{w|Jin Akiyama}}'s mathematical {{w|pachinko}} machine[https://arxiv.org/pdf/1601.05706.pdf] with a series of eleven "on" and one "off" switches at the bottom to be pressed by falling balls. This solves the social problem of demands for {{w|synchronous conferencing|synchronous teleconferencing}} causing {{w|Asynchronous communication|asynchronous}} methods of communication to be relatively more reliable and efficient for personal use.

This is funny because such a device could likely much more easily be implemented in the {{w|firmware}} of the internet or WiFi modem or {{w|Router (computing)|router}}s. (See [[1785: Wifi]] for an explanation of firmware.) It's not clear whether the switches merely interrupt the connection momentarily or control power to the modem, which would involve a much longer booting sequence. The "unreliable" connection provides an excuse to be unavailable for work or social calls, and thus free to enjoy one's vacation. However the device also allows the user to have a fast internet connection most of the time, enabling them to use it for leisure purposes, such as downloading movies for entertainment, or to connect with others on one's own terms. It thus retains most of the benefit of a good connection.

The probability of a ball hitting the "off" switch is 165/2048, or about 8%, assuming the machine is ordinary,[https://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2018/8817/pdf/LIPIcs-FUN-2018-26.pdf] because it's in the ninth position. We don't know the frequency with which new balls are dropped, so we can't estimate the frequency at which the device is likely to trigger {{w|Session Initiation Protocol}}, {{w|Transmission Control Protocol}}, or similar {{w|Timeout (computing)|timeout}} conditions that would likely close synchronous {{w|VOIP}}, video conferencing, and e.g. {{w|VRChat}} connections. Even if such connections were to survive the induced service interruptions, the {{w|application layer}} call or teleconference quality would suffer during them. The device may cause interruptions rarely enough that the connection is usable for casual purposes, but the user can still reasonably claim that it's unreliable to get out of online obligations.

The title text reflects on today's increasingly always-connected world, where emphasis may be changing from finding rare vacation spots that have reliable internet, to now finding somewhere worthwhile to go that still doesn't have it. It could also be a comment on the mild paradox that a nominally unreliable internet connection has advantages for those whose communication schedule, volume, or style preferences make synchronous teleconferencing less practical, desirable, or both. The reviews for the new vacation spot indicate that disconnections are found to be both desirable and undesirable, possibly even by the same person.

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

:[There are twelve switches under an automated Galton board or pachinko machine, eleven of which are linked to a large item marked "on" but the ninth of which is linked to one marked "off", apparently controlling the operation of a modem connected to a gigabit data-cable and also connected onwards to a WiFi router. There is a supply of balls in a hopper above the board, with the triangular configuration of pins directing the balls chaotically to one or other of the switches, as shown by a single released ball and a motion path partially showing how it had rebounded from around half-way down until after hitting and rebounding away off a bottom-layer "on" switch.]

:[Caption below the panel]:
:My new vacation spot has very fast internet that turns off randomly every now and then, just so you can tell people you'll be staying somewhere without a reliable connection.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2659: Unreliable Connection

2022-08-16T19:14:03Z

Szeth Pancakes:

{{comic
| number = 2659
| date = August 15, 2022
| title = Unreliable Connection
| image = unreliable_connection.png
| titletext = NEGATIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet. POSITIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by ROUND TRIP LATENCY BACKOFF. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In today's world, the Internet, pervasive mobile technology and the COVID pandemic have all caused an implicit expectation for many employees to be available all hours of the day, even when on vacation. One of these expectations of such employees is to be required to attend virtual meetings. In this comic, [[Randall]] addresses the issue with a deliberately suboptimal internet device that drops Internet connectivity temporarily, thereby causing activities that require a constant, uninterrupted connection to be unusable. The device appears to be an internet {{w|modem}} connected to an automated version of a {{w|Galton board}} or {{w|Jin Akiyama}}'s mathematical {{w|pachinko}} machine[https://arxiv.org/pdf/1601.05706.pdf] with a series of eleven "on" and one "off" switches at the bottom to be pressed by falling balls. This solves the social problem of demands for {{w|synchronous conferencing|synchronous teleconferencing}} causing {{w|Asynchronous communication|asynchronous}} methods of communication to be relatively more reliable and efficient for personal use.

This is funny because such a device could likely much more easily be implemented in the {{w|firmware}} of the internet or WiFi modem or {{w|Router (computing)|router}}s. (See [[1785: Wifi]] for an explanation of firmware.) It's not clear whether the switches merely interrupt the connection momentarily or control power to the modem, which would involve a much longer booting sequence. The "unreliable" connection provides an excuse to be unavailable for work or social calls, and thus free to enjoy one's vacation. However the device also allows the user to have a fast internet connection most of the time, enabling them to use it for leisure purposes, such as downloading movies for entertainment, or to connect with others on one's own terms. It thus retains most of the benefit of a good connection.

The probability of a ball hitting the "off" switch is 165/2048, or about 8%, assuming the machine is ordinary,[https://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2018/8817/pdf/LIPIcs-FUN-2018-26.pdf] because it's in the ninth position. We don't know the frequency with which new balls are dropped, so we can't estimate the frequency with which the device is likely to trigger {{w|Session Initiation Protocol}}, {{w|Transmission Control Protocol}}, or similar {{w|Timeout (computing)|timeout}} conditions that would likely close synchronous {{w|VOIP}}, video conferencing, and e.g. {{w|VRChat}} connections. Even if such connections were to survive the induced service interruptions, the {{w|application layer}} call or teleconference quality would suffer during them. The device may cause interruptions rarely enough that the connection is usable for casual purposes, but the user can still reasonably claim that it's unreliable to get out of online obligations.

The title text reflects on today's increasingly always-connected world, where emphasis may be changing from finding rare vacation spots that have reliable internet, to now finding somewhere worthwhile to go that still doesn't have it. It could also be a comment on the mild paradox that a nominally unreliable internet connection has advantages for those whose communication schedule, volume, or style preferences make synchronous teleconferencing less practical, desirable, or both. The reviews for the new vacation spot indicate that disconnections are found to be both desirable and undesirable, possibly even by the same person.

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

:[There are twelve switches under an automated Galton board or pachinko machine, eleven of which are linked to a large item marked "on" but the ninth of which is linked to one marked "off", apparently controlling the operation of a modem connected to a gigabit data-cable and also connected onwards to a WiFi router. There is a supply of balls in a hopper above the board, with the triangular configuration of pins directing the balls chaotically to one or other of the switches, as shown by a single released ball and a motion path partially showing how it had rebounded from around half-way down until after hitting and rebounding away off a bottom-layer switch.]

:[Caption below the panel]:
:My new vacation spot has very fast internet that turns off randomly every now and then, just so you can tell people you'll be staying somewhere without a reliable connection.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-16T19:09:30Z

Szeth Pancakes:

{{comic
| number = 2658
| date = August 12, 2022
| title = Coffee Cup Holes
| image = coffee_cup_holes.png
| titletext = Theoretical physicist: At the Planck length, uncountably many.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CAFFEINE MOLECULE WITH A HOLE DRILLED IN ITS SIDE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts people in different fields of study answering the question, "How many holes are there in a coffee cup?" and also compares this to what a normal person would say.

This question has different interpretations, entirely dependent upon the definition of a hole. The type of {{w|coffee cup}} shown in the comic is with a handle (like a {{w|mug}}), but [[Randall]] calls it a cup and there are also cups with handles on the Wikipedia page for coffee cups. Most people would recognize that there is a hole through the handle.

The comic explores the answer to the question through several peoples’ avenues of thought:

===Topologist===
[[File:Mug and Torus morph.gif|thumb|200px|The coffee mug and donut shown in this animation both have topological genus one.]]
[[Ponytail]], a {{w|topology|topologist}}, states the coffee cup belongs in the {{w|Genus (mathematics)#Topology|genus}} of one hole. From the topologist's point of view, the coffee cup definitely has one hole, which corresponds to the opening created by the cup handle. A cup without a handle would have zero holes, as it is equivalent to a dinner plate, just an indentation in the surface. See [[2625: Field Topology]] for more information about topology.

The panel as a whole references an academic joke wherein topologists can't tell the difference between a coffee cup (with handle) and a {{w|doughnut}} since they're {{w|Homeomorphism|homeomorphic}} to each other — meaning they have the same genus (i.e one hole).

===“Normal” person===
[[Hairy]], representing a "normal person," is not sure (the acronym "IDK" stands for "I don't know") and asks for clarification about whether the opening at the top counts as a hole. This shows flaws in the question, which suffers from the mathematically imprecise, ambiguous common usage of the word "hole." Topologists would refer to the opening as a concavity, not a hole, and while they consider such geometrical properties generally outside their field, most practical applications of topology do involve geometric components. By contrast, in everyday usage many concavities are called holes, such as a hole dug into dirt with a shovel. Hairy would say one for the handle, and two if the opening counts as a hole, which he is not certain the one asking the question thinks.

===Philosopher===
[[Hairbun]], a philosopher, answers the question with an elucidating counter-question, considering a hypothetical scenario. One might expect that drilling a new hole would also increase the number of holes by one. However, as illustrated, some people would consider that the new arrangement has three holes (in addition to the handle, there is a hole at the top where coffee can be poured in, and one at the bottom where it can run out), while others would consider it to have only two (the new hole forming a continuous hole with the original opening at the top, through which coffee can run). In this way she requires her interlocutor to confront the ambiguities and consider what they mean by the word 'hole' in different contexts.

[[Image:Point cloud torus.gif|thumb|left|200px|A point cloud of a genus one surface]]

===Chemist===
[[Cueball]], a chemist, looks at the coffee in the cup on a molecular level. He envisions a {{w|ball-and-stick model}} of the {{w|caffeine}} molecules in the coffee, and estimates a total number of holes of all the coffee molecules. He comes up with a truly massive number: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1021 or 1 sextillion) “in the [https://chemapps.stolaf.edu/jmol/jmol.php?model=CN1C%3DNC2%3DC1C%28%3DO%29N%28C%28%3DO%29N2C%29C caffeine] alone.” One molecule of caffeine has two rings of bonds with holes in them, multiplied by 500 quintillion molecules, or 0.00083 {{w|mole (unit)|moles}}. As the molecular mass of caffeine is about 194 grams per mole, [[Randall]] must think that the mass of caffeine in a typical cup of coffee is 161 milligrams. The coffee could have other holes, depending on the type of coffee; for example, espresso contains significant amounts of niacin and riboflavin, which have one and three rings in their chemical structure, respectively.

This estimation depends on taking the ball-and-stick model of molecules somewhat literally. However, real molecular bonds are not solid sticks, but shared electron clouds between atoms. The "holes" in the middle of a molecule's rings are not completely empty but instead merely have lower electron probability density through the middle than other parts of the bonds. So the point-cloud duality of {{w|Bonding molecular orbital|electron orbitals and bonds}} might not satisfy a topologist's, normal person's, or philosopher's criteria for a connected substrate in which holes may be formed.

===Theoretical physicist===
[[Image:World lines and world sheet.svg|thumb|200px|{{w|String theory}} describes the {{w|worldline}}s of point-like particles as {{w|worldsheet}}s of "closed strings," forming topological holes; shown here as a genus two surface.]]
In the title text, a theoretical physicist looks even deeper, at the subatomic scale of {{w|Planck units}}. Since fundamental particle interaction is governed by fundamental forces and collision (per the {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}}) instead of tensile or ductile solid connectedness, the theoretical physicist posits that any definition providing for a single hole would also describe a number of holes akin to the factorial of the number of particles in the universe,[https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02341882/document] or at least within the cup's {{w|light cone}}, which is a number impractical to accurately count, but not uncountable in a mathematical sense.

=== Practical considerations ===
The main joke is that the number of holes depends on both the scale and perspective from which you are looking at the world. From a topological standpoint, when someone digs into the ground it should go all the way through (or easier, down and up again another place) before it is considered a hole, since a hole is something that some other thing should be able to pass through. But from a common usage perspective, if people dig in the ground the result is called a hole, because functionally it creates a discontinuity in to which, for example, things can be placed or fall. Similarly, the opening in a coffee cup (without a handle) or a bottle of beer is called a hole, even though they are topologically equivalent to a dinner plate, which normal people would never say had a hole.

A cavity in a surface could also be considered a physical barrier, preventing movement along the surface in certain scenarios (e.g. a {{w|sinkhole}} opening up in the middle of a road) even though it may topologically 'flat' in the most general way, and so is very open to context, and such a hole might be considered more a 'thing' than the surface that has been removed to create it. And the 'hole' in a vessel that is functionally useful to hold liquid (or the drilled one that removes that ability) is of a different nature to the holes in various of the molecules that ''are'' the liquid but are neither required nor counter-productive in the general liquid-holding capabilities of the container, as are not the holes in the planck-length model, except insofar as the general physical laws of reality. Conversely, this conceptual confusion over what a hole is or actually means can be seen in the idea of the {{w|portable hole}}, which tends to obey ({{w|Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner|or defy}}!) the owner's particular preconceptions or needs.

The topological discussion here regarding cups and doughnuts is related to the question of how many holes there are in a human, which is excellently answered in Vsauce's video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egEraZP9yXQ How Many Holes Does a Human Have?]. This also takes a god look at the topological difference between a paper cup and a mug with handle.

==Transcript==
:[The first panel has text only and is phrasing a question:]
:<big>Q:</big>
:How many holes are there in a coffee cup?

:[Each of the next four panels has a caption at the top to indicate the kind of person answering the question. In the first of these Ponytail stands holding a coffee cup in its handle.]
:Caption: Topologist
:Ponytail: One.

:[In the next panel Hairy stands to the right of Ponytail, holding the coffee cup in its handle at an angle so he can to look into it.]
:Caption: Normal person
:Hairy: IDK, does the opening count as a hole?

:[In the next panel Hairbun is shown in closeup, holding her hand out palm up to indicate two drawings of coffee cups with handles to her left. The top drawing is larger and shows the cup with coffee inside, and a hole drilled at the bottom part of the side away from the handle. Coffee pours out of this hole. Beneath and further left is a smaller version of the same cup, but now without coffee. Instead two curved arrows goes from above to below through the hole of the handle and the hole now drilled in the bottom part of the cup. Each arrow is labeled with a question-mark.]
:Caption: Philosopher
:Hairbun: To answer that question, consider another: If we drill a hole in the side, how many holes are there now?
:?
:?

:[Cueball, without any cup, stands with a drawing of a caffeine molecule above and to the right of him. It has two "rings" with 5 and 6 atoms. Those rings are connected along one side. There are 9 "edges" on this, three of those has one atom attached to it and 3 others have four atoms attached to them (one atom with three others attached). The two that are at the end of the edge that belongs to both rings have no atoms attached, and the final of the 9 also has no atom.]
:Caption: Chemist
:Cueball: 1021 in the caffeine alone

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-13T01:25:15Z

Szeth Pancakes:

I was confused for a moment. That's a coffee ''mug''. And the correct answer is either one (the handle) or none (because below the macroscopic level (and above the theoretical sub-Planck scale of string-theory loops) it's increasingly not even mostly holes but very, very barely anything 'solid' jostling about in empty space giving no real impediment to any theoretical quantum-scale cheesewire without even being cut through). A coffee ''cup'' has no holes (regardless) if you don't count any form of sippy-lid it might have. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.13|172.70.85.13]] 22:25, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
:Actually, the mug has two at the macro level (the hole that makes up the handle and the hole on the top). There could conceivably be more shallow holes inside the mug where the handle connects to the cup. At a plank-length level, the atoms could be viewed as holes in the vacuum bending space time around it.
::You're not a topologist, certainly. And a ''hydrogen-nucleus'' is approximately 10^20 times the planck-length. The whole atom on the order of 10,000 times larger, and the constiuent quarks 'only' 1,000th, or so, smaller, with the differences being the space betweenn that anything that cares isn't going to consider much of an obstruction. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 23:43, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
:There is no "hole" at the top - at best it count as an indention in the surface {{unsigned ip|172.70.211.134|23:38, 12 August 2022}}
::Hole has multiple meanings. A hole in the ground doesn't have to go all the way through the Earth. The point of panel three is that we don't know what definition the question is using, which makes it impossible to answer correctly.[[User:Zzyzx|Zzyzx]] ([[User talk:Zzyzx|talk]]) 00:47, 13 August 2022 (UTC)

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Mug_and_Torus_morph.gif] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.179.4|172.70.179.4]] 23:54, 12 August 2022 (UTC)

For something to be a hole, you need to consider what is capable of passing through the hole. For instance, a mesh screen might have no holes that my fingers can pass through, but it is full of holes for water or air to pass through. And while atoms might be mostly space, other atoms can't usually just pass through that space, although high-energy particles may. Also, the space can be considered filled with forces, which may act as barriers to certain things. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.171|172.70.130.171]] 00:36, 13 August 2022 (UTC)
:Sure, for one definition of “hole.” That’s the whole point of the comic: there are multiple definitions, and no single definition is correct. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 01:01, 13 August 2022 (UTC)

Is “cup” or “mug” better for the explanation? “Mug” is a better descriptor, but it’s described as “cup” in the comic, so that would be more faithful to what Randall intended. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 01:25, 13 August 2022 (UTC)

2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-13T01:17:12Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Talk:2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-13T01:01:25Z

Szeth Pancakes:

2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-13T00:58:06Z

Szeth Pancakes:

User:Szeth Pancakes

2022-08-12T03:50:15Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Grammar ninja, copy editor of my school’s newspaper, and… yeah

Talk:2657: Complex Vowels

2022-08-11T05:13:24Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Spoken symbol bears resemblance to 🜏, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%9F%9C%8F
:Not really, it's closer to 'əG.' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.25|172.69.33.25]] 01:15, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

sscchhwwaa is easy, say it like the x in "fire" and the silent p in "bath"[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.13|172.70.85.13]] 21:42, 10 August 2022 (UTC)
:What? There is no 'x' in "fire." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.25|172.69.33.25]] 01:17, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

Ideas: bellows-, reed-, and lucite-based voiced phone production tracts typical in science museums; {{w|diphone}}s as an alternative to phomemes (a diphone is the second half of one phoneme followed by the first half of the next -- NOT two adjacent phomemes as the Wikipedia article claims. Two adjacent phomemes are a biphone, not a diphone); the relationship of the position of the tongue in two dimensional place × closedeness space to the fundamental and second {{w|formant}} frequencies of speech audio; {{w|diphthong}}s; {{w|Mel-frequency cepstrum|cepstral}} representation such as {{w|MFCC|mel-frequency ceptstral coefficients}}; and {{w|Zalgo text}} IPA. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 22:41, 10 August 2022 (UTC)
: Roger. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.149|172.69.33.149]] 03:25, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

The vowelspace is depicted in two dimensions for convenience, but it has at least three dimensions. Look at the IPA vowel diagram (already added to this page). The third dimension is roundedness.
:Yes, of the lips; apart from the two dimensions (out: place, and up: closedeness) of the tongue. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.95|172.70.206.95]] 22:59, 10 August 2022 (UTC)
::Does roundedness also involve the tongue and cheeks to any extent? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.199|172.69.33.199]] 23:36, 10 August 2022 (UTC)

This linguist character has appeared 3 times now. Will there be a new character page dedicated to Gretchen or "The Linguist"? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.225|172.69.33.225]] 00:21, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

Can someone please create and paste in a zalgostring for the fancy 'əG' ligature shown twice in the comic? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 01:10, 11 August 2022 (UTC)
:Is this another example of Randall trolling Explainxkcd as in [[2619: Crêpe]]? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.37|172.69.33.37]] 01:45, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

Someone please remind me how to Zalgo a top horizontal bar over √-1. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 02:34, 11 August 2022 (UTC)
: Slow way = Windows Character Map --> Group by: unicode subrange... Group By: Combining Diacritical Marks. 6th character from the top left (U+0305:Overline) yields √-̅1̅.
:Fast way = HTML character entities, ''{character it combines with}&#{character number code};'' (773:Overline) yields √-̅1̅
:Ignore other codes as they are either non-combining or have height relative to combining character (ie Macron) -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.201|172.69.70.201]] 04:35, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

I don’t think what Randall is trying to do is provide a “roundness” dimension, but that’s how the explanation reads to me right now (“such” a dimension, e.g.) [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 05:13, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

2652: Proxy Variable

2022-07-30T02:10:49Z

Szeth Pancakes:

{{comic
| number = 2652
| date = July 29, 2022
| title = Proxy Variable
| image = proxy_variable.png
| titletext = Our work has produced great answers. Now someone just needs to figure out which questions they go with.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PROXY BOT IN NO WAY CORRELATED WITH THE ORIGINAL 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.}}

{{comic discussion}}

2652: Proxy Variable

2022-07-30T02:10:09Z

Szeth Pancakes:

{{comic
| number = 2652
| date = July 29, 2022
| title = Proxy Variable
| image = proxy_variable.png
| titletext = Our work has produced great answers. Now someone just needs to figure out which questions they go with.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PROXY BOT IN NO WAY CONNECTED TO THE ORIGINAL 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.}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2433: Mars Rovers

2022-03-12T15:31:52Z

Szeth Pancakes:

I just realised something: We should totally establish the terms "Mars rover" and "Mars hover" to distinguish these two categories of "stuff we put on Mars". [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 10:58, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
:But to rove is to wander/roam (aimlessly, or at least without much advanced certainty), and doesn't require wheeled movement - or even legged, which the existing rovers strictly aren't unless the wheels ''totally'' jam. To hove is to linger/wait and generally intend to stay put or halt ("Hove to, ye landlubbers! Arrrr!" - a 'suggestion' that might be made by a piratical "Sea Rover")... I think I'd rather Ingy be classed as a Rover than merely a Hover. :-p [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.60|141.101.98.60]] 15:06, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

This implies that Randall will be modifying his Roomba to look/act like Soujouner.
On first reading, I thought maybe Randall figured that mentioning "roomba sojourner mod" in title text would make it so that the *next* time he searches for that phrase, he will no longer be sorely disappointed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.60|108.162.216.60]] 17:44, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

Which comic was it that Randall said he wanted a pet sojourner rover?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:21, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

I find the Fuck Grapefruit reference true but irrelevant (Especially as the explanation of why these are related is long and basically goes "There are connected/similar... blah, blah... they are acually not _that_ similar..."). Should be Trivia at most or even completely deleted. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:10, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Themain thing, which is not mentionned in the explanation, is that for Randall cute = small (eg rabbits) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 08:36, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

So given what Randall mentioning a subject tends to do, what's the over/under on seeing Sojourner Roombas within the month? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.252|172.69.22.252]] 16:20, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

sojourner is not very capable its just a solar powered camera of wheels but it is very small and cute.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.152|108.162.219.152]] 20:08, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

:What, nobody else remembers that Sojouner carried a Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer? It would kiss rocks, making the 80's tee-shirt have a different meaning. And it used Plutonium!
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.27|172.68.174.27]] 22:10, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

I'm disappointed there's no mention of Beagle 2. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.90|162.158.75.90]] 23:58, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
:"Rover by name", you mean? (Unfortunately not rover by nature even if it hadn't failed on the final unfurling, apparently having successfully done all the hard parts to the journey. Maybe the first person to drop by could prise it open and help get it charged up as a consolation prize?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.128|162.158.159.128]] 14:06, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

EDIT: Comment was deleted due to spamming-ish-ness.

I feel like this is complete, except that we could maybe link to (in the explanation or in trivia) other xkcds about rovers? Especially ones personifying the rovers (similar to how this one gives them
'cuteness scores'), such as https://xkcd.com/695/ ~ A person

Somebody has to have made a roomba sojourner mod by now. That has to be a thing. If xkcd says anything, that thing must be done. I googled it, but all I found was a Reddit robotics page (on which someone had posted the comic and another person had replied “gfhggfh”) and this page. If someone else is willing to do more research than just looking at the top two Google results, I’m curious… :P[[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 15:31, 12 March 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2127: Panama Canal

2022-03-03T21:08:48Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Can any English majors verify if 'we would had to modify it' in the Title text is grammatically ok or not? It sounds like it should be 'we would have had to modify it' or 'we would've had to...', but I could be wrong or maybe it was intentional? [[User:Stickfigurefan|Stickfigurefan]] ([[User talk:Stickfigurefan|talk]]) 18:45, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
:Pretty sure it is just a missing word and yes I think "have" is the missing word so ''we would have had to modify it'' was the intention. Maybe it will be corrected, the comic has only been up 20 minutes now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:53, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
:But as written, you can split the title text exactly in half (at the the space after "would", and including the final period). "Have" doesn't work--the two halves aren't even--"halve" works...but then you have to split it as "ha|lve". [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])
:Hm, there also appears to be another missing word: "...would ['ve/of/have] had to modify it [to] include...". I was hoping there was a joke in the shorter cut--representing the standard Panama palindrome--crossing the longer title text (represented in the vertical canal, leaving an improperly-cut "have", either as 've or "of") but two missing words doesn't seem to fit that hope. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])
:The title text reads as if Randall was sleepy, drunk, or distracted. The missing words are common typos. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.114|172.68.65.114]] 02:13, 23 March 2019 (UTC)
:Should it be fixed, to help it make more sense to non-native English speakers? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:58, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

Fun fact: The portion of the Arctic–Antarctic Canal that passes through central Panamá actually runs from south to north (or at least southwest to northeast), rather than from north to south! —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 19:58, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
:The actual Panama Canal runs West to East from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Both are due to the fact that Panama is a bit of an S shape. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 00:17, 23 March 2019 (UTC)
:: Right, that's the ''real'' fun fact. Mine is a fun fact in the alternate universe where Cueball's canal proposal was accepted. But I'm pleased that both of these can be seen on Randall's maps, if you look closely. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 02:57, 23 March 2019 (UTC)
:: Not permanently. The Pacific plate is rotating counterclockwise, so Baja will someday be off the coast of California instead of off the coast of Mexico (the boundary between the Pacific plate and North American plates runs through the Gulf of California and the San Andreas fault). This motion may straighten Panama... or tear it apart into two disconnected pieces (making a canal unnecessary).[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.95|172.69.33.95]] 18:49, 23 March 2019 (UTC)

My proposal for the Suez Canal was for it to run from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Dezhnev via Nepal and Tibet... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.152|162.158.155.152]] 21:17, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
: Would you opt for tunnel through Himalayas? Note that Himalayas are still rising by more than 1 cm per year, so you would need to compensate in your maintenance plans. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:51, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
: Would it connect to the proposed bridge to Alaska?
::Yes! Aqueduct over the Bering Strait, then straight across Alaska to connect to Cueball's canal. And I was thinking of using multiple {{w|canal inclined plane}}s and {{w|boat lifts}} to get over the Himalayas. The {{w|Everest base camps}} need a canal to bring in supplies from South America (there would be a tunnel under Everest, obviously). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 14:08, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

It's interesting to me how palindromic the Panama cut is...compared to the other one. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

Wot no Palindromes [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 00:53, 23 March 2019 (UTC)

I propose a canal between Tierra del Fuego and The Cape of Good Hope. US$1.000.000.000 and I keep the difference if the project is completed under-budget. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 06:03, 23 March 2019 (UTC)

There is also the issue that the proposed canal would go though at least a dozen countries. Political problems in any of the countries would probably result in it closing. Remember that the United States was so afraid of losing access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi that they paid for the Louisiana purchase. 02:58, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

Quick note: The Falkirk Wheel is not a canal crossing a canal, it is a boat lift which replaced a series of locks. It is part of the Union canal, near its junction with the Forth & Clyde canal, but there is no canal crossing. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.124|141.101.98.124]] 09:08, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

I vote we burn up the remainder of our fossil fuels ASAP, so the greenhouse effect will ensure that the artic ice melts and the alternative canal becomes viable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.109|162.158.111.109]] 09:32, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

If we change the path a little we can use the Mississippi River for a while.

Why does the title text say "...modify it include an aqueduct..."? I don't think "it include" is grammatically correct.
:It’s not. I just noticed that too.[[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:08, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

1470: Kix

2022-02-27T03:31:19Z

Szeth Pancakes:

{{comic
| number = 1470
| date = January 7, 2015
| title = Kix
| image = kix.png
| titletext = My parents sent me to several years of intensive Kix test prep.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic may be a commentary about the uselessness of brainstorming sessions or the bad ideas that come out of them, as they are often started with the phrase “there are no bad ideas”. As the brainstorming session continues the original meaning of the slogan is lost, much like a game of telephone, and the session becomes less productive.

{{w|Kix (cereal)|Kix}} is an American brand of cold breakfast cereal made of extruded and expanded cornmeal. Its slogan, "Kid tested, Mother approved," is well known in the United States, and is meant to suggest that children generally enjoy the cereal and their mothers, who are naturally concerned about the health of their children, approve of its ingredients. However, in this brainstorming session, the word "Approved" has apparently not yet been considered. A number of possible words and phrases for the ending have been presented and {{w|Strikethrough|stricken out}}, indicating that they were rejected; each one causes the slogan to be subject to increasingly absurd and comedic interpretations:

#'''Selected''': This word may have been chosen as a {{w|slant rhyme}} of "Tested". This word shares a definition with "Approved", and states that mothers specifically choose this cereal over others. This phrase could also suggest that one mother ''herself'' had been chosen for some unstated purpose.
#'''Perfected''': It's likely that the previous word inspired someone in the brainstorming session to find a similarly positive word that rhymes with "Selected". It states that one or more mothers were directly involved in developing and refining the cereal's composition to a high degree. Much like with "Selected", this could also suggest that the mother was somehow improved to perfection during the test.
#'''Not Notified''': Relates to the world of experimental research and clinical trials. This phrase suggests that the children who tested the cereal did not obtain the required consent, which would generally involve notifying and getting permission from both parents.
#'''Watching Helplessly''': Again we can see that in a brainstorming session such the previous option may trigger this one as it is related to the dangers of testing. This phrase suggests that mothers were forced to watch their children test the cereal, and that the cereal or the test is unhealthy or dangerous.
#'''Infected''': This may be intended to show the group dynamic of the brainstorming session as it is inspired by option one and two, as infected rhymes with both selected and perfected, and by the third option as both relate to dangerous testing. This slogan states that an infectious agent was passed to the mother as a result of the test. This could also be interpreted as the mother having introduced the infectious agent into the cereal or testing environment.
# '''Consumed''': Continuing the trend of dark slogans this slogan says that the mothers were ''themselves'' consumed, perhaps by their children (by virtue of the mother being an ingredient in the cereal), the cereal itself, or something otherwise related to the test. Another possible interpretation is that the mother ate the cereal after the kid tested it, possibly because the kid did not enjoy the taste.
#'''Fucker''': This expletive is often paired with "Mother" to form the compound word "Motherfucker". In this case, the slogan changes to {{w|vocative case}}: "[This cereal has been] Kid Tested, Motherfucker!". This appears to be an "elephant" - a ponderous ending of a joke that contrasts sharply with the refined and mild humor of the previous options. The phrase itself basically only states that a child tested the cereal and implies that nothing else matters. Using a swear word on packaging of a food designed for kids is usually not a good idea. {{Citation needed}}

The title text conflates the phrase "Kid tested" with college entrance exams such as the {{w|Standardized Aptitude Test}} (SAT) or the {{w|ACT (test)|ACT}}. Instead of stating that a child tasted the cereal and gave their opinion on its quality, the cereal itself is an academic subject on which the child was tested. Randall, referring to how some parents enroll their children in special {{w|Test prep|classes or schools}} to prepare them to score well in this type of test, states that his parents extensively prepared him for a college entrance exam about Kix cereal.

Cereal advertising has previously been referenced in [[38: Apple Jacks]].

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, Megan, and Cueball are standing around a whiteboard on an easel; Ponytail and Cueball are holding red markers. The whiteboard reads:]
:[in Large] '''Kix'''
:[Underlined] Slogan ideas
:Kid Tested, Mother...

[following lines all in red and each crossed out]
:<s>Selected</s>
:<s>Perfected</s>
:<s>Not notified</s>
:<s>Watching helplessly</s>
:<s>Infected</s>
:<s>Consumed</s>
:<s>Fucker</s>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Food]]

User:Szeth Pancakes

2022-02-25T06:34:29Z

Szeth Pancakes:

;HI!

How’re ya doing?
You might know me from the 17th Shard. If you don’t, you should go read Brandon Sanderson’s books. If you have, you should join the 17th Shard.

That’s all.

Also: don’t trust anything I do after 10:30 PM PST. That’s when *dramatic music* midnight!Szeth comes out. :)

Talk:1107: Sports Cheat Sheet

2022-02-25T06:33:13Z

Szeth Pancakes:

Thanks to whoever added the hockey mention ("no love" in the comic, for sure). Maybe the comic needs another column for Canada, where hockey can be argued about year-round. (Yes, it's an exaggeration for comic effect.) As for the rest of the world, or at least ex-Commonwealth and neighboring countries (e.g. Australia, India, New Zealand), what about rugby and cricket? --'''BigMal27''' (no account) / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.177|192.136.15.177]] 15:29, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

It would probably be either "Hockey" or "Hockey and ..." -- '''No_Account''' (no account)

What point in the season do hockey sticks get bandages?
I used to think at about the half way point they started using them as repairs but now I am wondering if they start off the season with bandages as padding until the players get seasoned.[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 19:25, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

:Forgot to mention that these sports don't have to be professional in nature. I know of plenty US collegiate arguments in both football (e.g. Michigan vs. Notre Dame or Michigan State or Ohio State) and basketball (everyone vs. everyone during the NCAA tournament a.k.a. "March Madness" (TM)). --'''BigMal27''' / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.177|192.136.15.177]] 17:33, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
::I'm with you on cricket, though I was always under the impression that rugby was pretty much isolated to ''dahwn undah.'' Nonetheless, I took a slightly different read of the comic, possibly biased by this quip a friend shared: during the SuperBowl, if a team scores, the US reacts. During the cricket world cup, if a team scores, the commonwealth reacts. But if, during the football (aka soccer) world cup, a team scores, the ''world'' reacts. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 13:39, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:::Irony, you're thinking of Australian Football. Rugby is a different game and much more widespread. It's arguably the national sport of New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Wales. It's a major sport in South Africa, Britain, Ireland, France, Italy and Australia. Argentina are rapidly improving and now compete every year in the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship with Australia, NZ and South Africa. -- [[User:Concrete Gannet|Concrete Gannet]] ([[User talk:Concrete Gannet|talk]]) 14:05, 17 September 2012 (UTC)
:::For us Aussies it this comic would be would be "Cricket + Football + Football + Football + Football" all year round with "Tennis" added in 1-2 weeks, four times a year (the Majors tournaments, aka the Grand Slam tournaments). The four Football codes played professional in Australia are: Australian Rules (major sporting body is the AFL), Rugby League (NRL), Rugby Union (ARU) and Association Football/Soccer (FFA). Unfortunately, Cricket, Football, Football, Football and Football tend to dominate the Australian sporting media so there isn't much opportunity for people to argue about other sports. [Apologies if I've stuffed up any formatting/broken any rules, this is my first time posting] -- '''Grantwhy'''[[Special:Contributions/115.64.240.30|115.64.240.30]] 15:32, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::::...Mate, you left out the Sydney to Hobart, once a year... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.6.182|162.158.6.182]] 20:34, 29 December 2020 (UTC)

Cricket is a south Wales sport. It is only as popular in north Wales as it is in England. Cricket was once a gentleman's game as it was more akin to watching people shooting at target ...in a game related to chess.

But now that cheating is widespread in Asia and even the British are getting caught at it, nobody watches it these days. People still interested in cricket go to their local clubs and have a pint with friends while reality goes on in the back-ground.

I get the impression that nobody is interested in American Rugby because they all wear padding and the rules are either too complex to follow or too stupid to believe. Probably both. Basketball looks interesting but hard work. Why not just play a longer game outside, with your feet? (Nobody is going to watch men play rounders, [REMOVED A HOMOPHOBIC SLUR].)[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 19:25, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

The problem with the suggestion in the mouse over text is that everyone would have the same opinion on the same day! A better idea would be to have an App which selects from two or more oposing opinions and feed you a random one each day. (Personally being 'European' I'd prefer it to be more like the US! Sooo fed up with football discussions.) Steve B
:Then you run into the problem of two people who rely in that app falling into a sports discussion with each other rather than something else. If I were to find someone expressing the same canned opinion that I have from the twitter feed, at least I can say "who cares about sports, let's talk about something important: vi or emacs?". The twitter feed is best for someone who wants to fake sports knowledge to fit in. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 16:12, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:The idea behind the twitter feed is to give people who really isn't interested in sport (aka. nerds) the opportunity to interact with so called normal people. It is just a variation on the http://bluffball.co.uk/ site refered to by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKHyqjHqQLU#t=32s an The IT Crowd episode]. Two users of the twitter feed would have more important subjects to discuss (like for example vi vs. emacs) [[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 18:12, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:: I would suggest that after two or three days having the same (tweeted) opinion, two people in that situation would begin to suspect they are soulmates, and fall in love - I mean recognize the strange similarities and figure out a way to indicate their source subtly and then agree they don't have to be posers -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:15, 30 January 2015 (UTC)
What is with the sports bent that Randall is on? Two sports comics in three weeks? Has this happened before? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 15:36, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:He was on a Wikipedia kick about a year ago . . . 4 comics in about 5 weeks or so.--[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 22:07, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Would that opinion even fit into a Twitter post? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 20:55, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:You are right. The sample tweet in the title text is 164 characters long. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:18, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

::It would fit if the parenthetical explanations were removed though. [[Special:Contributions/76.127.162.20|76.127.162.20]] 12:03, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:::Kind of need those if you don't understand the sport to begin with. They provide necessary context. For example, disambiguation between teams: I could mention "Minnesota" and without context it could mean either the Twins (MLB), Vikings (NFL), Timberwolves (NBA), Wild (NHL), Lynx (WNBA), other various professional teams ("lesser" sports, womens teams, minor leagues), or any of the University of Minnesota (NCAA Div. I) teams: football, basketball (mens & womens), hockey (mens & womens), baseball & softball, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming & diving, golf... --'''BigMal27''' / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.149|192.136.15.149]] 12:18, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

Here's a comment I was thinking about integrating into the explanation, but decided it was probably too picky.
:Arguably, Randall cut this off too early; over years, the Major Leagues have added additional rounds of playoffs, so that the championship round, the World Series, sometimes now spills over into November, rather than ending in mid October as the graph would suggest. (It varies because the {{w|Major League Baseball postseason}} consists of one single elimination round, one best of five round, and two best of seven rounds.) It may be a meta-joke: the guy who needs the cheat sheet to keep track of sports seasons lacked the info to compile the cheat sheet.
I do have a slight tendency to overthink things. Anyone who thinks it adds to the explanation is welcome to insert it. [[User:DCB4W|DCB4W]] ([[User talk:DCB4W|talk]]) 19:25, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

It's entirely missing a third category named "South Korea", whose entire column should be Starcraft 2.[[User:Chaoslux|Chaoslux]] ([[User talk:Chaoslux|talk]]) 20:53, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Here's an actual Twitter feed inspired by this comic: https://twitter.com/XKCDSports
:This Twitter feed is now defunct. :( --[[User:Ricketybridge|Ricketybridge]] ([[User talk:Ricketybridge|talk]]) 16:53, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

The opinion here between "US" and "Non-US" is a caricature of US-centric view. First it dismisses all other countries, as the world would be cut between the US and another country "Non-US". The consequence is to ignore Canada. Then it confuses single sport to argue about and common topic of understanding, maybe as a frustration of not sharing this topic. {{unsigned|Eric957}}
:I'm not sure if it was your intent, but it is funny that you say the consequence of this sort of US centric view is to just "ignore Canada"... -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 01:26, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
::I suspect that was intentional. After all, Canada is just America Jr.

:I think the joke probably only works from an American perspective, where it may seem like the rest of the world only plays football. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.39.211|162.158.39.211]] 17:27, 6 November 2016 (UTC) Davy

I deleted a very nice wiki markup version of the comic, useless fror the blind, and copied the official transcript from the source code of the comic <div id="transcript" style="display: none">. This [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1107:_Sports_Cheat_Sheet&diff=next&oldid=52922] was apparently useful, but in fact was detrimental to the function of a transcript [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.149|173.245.50.149]] 20:39, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

With all the “Autometalogolex” tshirts and heck going around, I’ll be damned if someone hasn’t created the twitter feed mentioned in the title text. I mean. Has anyone looked into this? [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 06:33, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

2585: Rounding

2022-02-23T23:39:12Z

Szeth Pancakes: Nope.

{{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.}}

This comic is about the follies of unit conversion. Normally, when you say you can ride a bike at 45 {{w|Miles per hour|mph}} if you round, you mean that you can ride at a speed between 44.5 and 45.5, something most people are incapable of doing. The joke is that he actually means if you go through a extremely long chain of rounding imprecisely, starting at 17 mph (which is not an improbable speed for an ordinary road-bike and a reasonably fit rider), you can get to the value of 45. The title text furthers the joke by taking the imprecise rounding literally, implying that this increase could actually be used/abused as a method of propulsion.

#17 mph = 7.59968 {{w|Metre per second|m/s}}
#8 m/s = 15.5508 {{w|Knot (unit)|knots}}
#16 knots = 4.50083 {{w|fathom}}s/sec
#5 fathoms/sec = 2.72727 {{w|furlong}}s/min
#3 furlongs/min = 5.50001 fathoms/sec
#6 fathoms/sec = 39.5021 {{w|Kilometres per hour|km/h}}
#40 km/h = 21.5983 knots
#22 knots = 40.744 km/h
#41 km/h = 203.809 furlongs/hour
#204 furlongs/hour = 25.5001 mph
#26 mph = 11.623 m/s
#12 m/s = 3.57909 furlongs/min
#4 furlongs/minute = 14.6667 {{w|yard}}s/sec
#15 yards/sec = 7.5 fathoms/sec
#8 fathoms/sec = 14.6304 m/s
#15 m/s = 33.554 mph
#34 mph = 4.53332 furlongs/min
#5 furlongs/min = 32.5867 knots
#33 knots = 18.5659 yards/sec
#19 yards/sec = 9.5 fathoms/sec
#10 fathoms/sec = 35.549 knots
#36 knots = 5.52373 furlongs/min
#6 furlongs/min = 45.0001 mph

The title text claims that this 'idea' has been developed into a novel form of propulsion, but it isn't clarified for what type of vehicle. It could be an engine for ground or air travel, but contains the implication that it is trying to 'trick physics' similar to the {{w|Alcubierre drive|theoretical 'warp drive'}} conceived to propel interstellar spacecraft at otherwise impossible speeds.

==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}}