explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3246: Speedrun

2026-05-18T01:35:45Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: A question.

F1RST! I actually found the comic before Theusafbot did. [[User:RadiantRainwing|K9Dragon23, or RainWingSquares (talk)]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:01, 16 May 2026 (UTC)
:I also did a crappy first draft explanation. [[User:RadiantRainwing|K9Dragon23, or RainWingSquares (talk)]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:03, 16 May 2026 (UTC)
:: There goes the speedrun records [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 01:38, 16 May 2026 (UTC)
L0l, my br0ther and father g0t me in0 t00l [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 02:59, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Published on the 25th Anniversary of the song release right?

wasn't there an olympic runner who requested a song to be played with his preferred beats per minute, only to be rejected out of a concern for an unfair advantage? [[Special:Contributions/84.225.125.43|84.225.125.43]] 07:10, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Wow! I needed this explanation. I knew nothing of speedruns, nor Tool. Usain Bolt I had heard of.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:79C8:645F:821A:1BA3|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:79C8:645F:821A:1BA3]] 08:37, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Cueball is such a tool. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:2C98:4FB4:B92F:33B4|2A02:2455:1960:4000:2C98:4FB4:B92F:33B4]] 10:07, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Shouldn't they remove Usain Bolt'd record as a TAS?--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.13|94.73.49.13]]
:No, he was the one that did the record, not a programmed computer. A robot that was programmed to perform a series of specific inputs that make it run really fast would be a TAS. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 15:26, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Funny, I use Pneuma as my coding focus music.... [[Special:Contributions/2A0A:EF40:2D3:201:A4CA:7332:48F3:6525|2A0A:EF40:2D3:201:A4CA:7332:48F3:6525]] 12:27, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Unfamiliar with Tool or their music portfolio, I assumed those were the usernames of other speedrunners Cueball had analyzed to develop his technique, which made the punchline seem very harsh. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 00:06, 17 May 2026 (UTC)

Just a sidenote, to someone else's page edit about allowable device uses in marathons, I'm most familiar with a branch of cycle sport where earphones/etc are banned (mainly, I believe) for safety reasons (reduces proper awareness of traffic, etc), but also no speakers. Unsure of the original intent, could be a mix of road-awareness, being a public nuisance, the pacing issue as most linked to the comic; also, only recently have something like mini bluetooth speakers been available, perhaps to fit in a spare bottle-cage... Though that's not to say that I haven't seen someone ride a hill-climb with a boom-box bungeed to the rear-carrier, as a novelty/performative challenge.
 You ''are'' allowed to have a mobile phone with you, if you so wish, but you shouldn't be using it hands-free and (while not strictly illegal, unlike for motor vehicle drivers) it would be impractical and unsafe to be using one 'hand-on' whilst actually competing, and the benefits of being 'remotely paced'/otherwise encouraged would be against the spirit (if not the letter) of the rules however you did it.
 For {{w|Road Records Association|yet another}} related sporting body, of my acquaintence, there are specific restrictions against 'live' on-the-move communications of any kind. (Not even allowed to do direct rolling support-vehicle assistance, like they aparently do in Road Racing.)
 That said, there's nothing against a 'Cateye'/’Garmin'-style cyclocomputer presenting data (road speed, pedal revs, heartrate, watts, estimated Vmax, etc) that can be used to try to sustain the optimal ride (rather than... well, just trying as hard as you feel you jeed to try, for the duration of the event, be that a minute or two up a short, steep hill or twenty-four hours of doing ~500 miles of roads across and around a large area). I couldn't rule out there being a flashing/blinking LED/LCD solution to providing metronomic assistance ''without'' being an otyerwise impermissable audible cue. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.107|82.132.238.107]] 13:19, 17 May 2026 (UTC)

Is this a [https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2026/05/09 Stephan Pastis] guest strip? [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:35, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3238: Soniferous Aether

2026-05-03T14:39:19Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Additional definition.

Dunno how, but I managed to get to an XKCD comic within the first like 5 minutes of it's upload. Went ahead and added a really bare bones explanation. People funnier and smarter than me can take it from there. [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 04:24, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

managed to get to the xkcd comic before this page was even made somehow so yeah. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:49, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

ah, i have a script which polls for the new comic pages on comic days and sends a webhook to alert me as well as sending a request to another program of mine to index the new page, so i fairly often find that the wiki page has been made by the bot but is completely empty when i get to it--or on rare occasions the webhook triggers before the xkcd.com/<number> url can embed, apparently; i guess the comic metadata JSON gets filled in before the image is, or something like that? (the webhook triggers sending a message to discord with the link, which embeds 99% of the time) - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 05:03, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
:You can also just subscribe to the xkcd.com RSS feed, which is what I do. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:36, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
::Reinventing RSS feeds from first-principles. [[Special:Contributions/94.108.4.77|94.108.4.77]] 15:00, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

"...however the Tu-144 and Concord'''é'''..." - why the rogue accent? Was the author's reasoning that, as a French word, it is ''de rigueur'' (see what I did there) for it to include accents? As errors go, it's acute one... [[Special:Contributions/50.45.232.78|50.45.232.78]] 05:21, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: The rogue accent has been removed with the speed of sound. But what about that supersonic DC-8. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:26, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: I could imagine a far more gȑàvè error... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:47, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

"Nowadays this property is explained by wave–particle duality, which says that light can act as both a particle and a wave. " Remove. The constancy of the speed of light has nothing to do with quantum mechanics. The observation that the speed of light is independent of the observer's motion was actually the basis on which the theory of relativity was built. Meaning that it's not "explained" by anything at all, it's just the universe we live in. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:1810:84A6:3000:F877:7D1:CD53:FE41|2A02:1810:84A6:3000:F877:7D1:CD53:FE41]] 10:45, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: I think that's somewhat my fault - I expanded the sentence in the middle of that paragraph to try to make the link to the comic content clearer, but in doing so made the last sentence more confusing. I think it was referring to light travelling through a vacuum (see first sentence), rather than to the speed of light. Have attempted to fix. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 11:08, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
:: OK - someone else has now changed the rest of the sentence so that it doesn't make any sense again. Going to just take it out, as that seems easier, and it's tangential to the explanation anyway. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:23, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

should someone make a category for reinventing things from first principles? I've seen that theme a lot, so it would make sense, right? --[[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]] ([[User talk:GSLikesCats307|talk]]) 13:16, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

The funniest bit is that physics problems often ignore air resistance, so physicists may have forgotten that it exists and therefore need to 'discover' it from other phenomenon such as sound propogation... [[Special:Contributions/73.229.34.32|73.229.34.32]] 13:04, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Wouldn't riding along side a sound wave mean moving at the speed of sound? Which is where the pressure is highest from overlapping sound waves (aka. the sound barrier), where moving just a slight bit faster would outrun the sound waves and relieve most of that pressure, although it would do nothing to stop the increased air resistance at higher speeds. {{unsigned ip|69.174.184.72|14:48, 28 April 2026 (UTC)}}

What do you think? Would it be possible to surf on top of sound waves? How about a new comic book character, Sound Wave Surfer? Not to be confused with Silver Surfer. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: There's a relatively obscure Marvel character, associated with the X-Men (briefly a member), named Banshee that can do something like that. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 18:51, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Soniferous aether is the first of five elemetary principles in Hindu mysticism. Will there be follow up panels dedicated to the other four principles- tangiferous, luminiferous, gustiferous and odoriferous? [[User:Borqhue del Sol|Borqhue del Sol]] ([[User talk:Borqhue del Sol|talk]]) 13:20, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
: There's also the medium of speech transmission - vociferous aether. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:51, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
:: And the medium through which things are constantly trying to travel but never ''quite'' managing to arrive - sisyphous aether. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:54, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
::: The medium through which asolutely no iron can pass: nonferrous aether... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:48, 29 April 2026 (UTC)
:::: Somniferous aether, also known as chloroform {{unsigned|Kelvin128|10:51, 29 April 2026}}
::::: The medium through which tree seeds travel: coniferous aether. [[Special:Contributions/174.53.211.85|174.53.211.85]] 14:16, 29 April 2026 (UTC)
:::::: The medium through which beauty and glory travel: splendiforous aether. [[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]]) 14:39, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

"spherically symmetrical cow is in a vacuum" ... wait, what? I had to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow google it]. Never heard that before. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:21, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3233: Make It Myself

2026-04-26T01:06:03Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Confessions

Almost did the same thing, but satisfied with results. Wanted to build a very shallow wide drawer for Ikea Ivar shelf that I use as computer station. Only one I saw that came close was $190. I probably spent $50-60, three hours planning and assembling, three trips to hardware stores and two reworked designs before I made what I wanted. Used a Cambro serving tray form Amazon, couple oak "project boards", couple DIY dowels and screws.
[[User:Fungible|Fungible]] ([[User talk:Fungible|talk]]) 22:23, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

...and a small aubergine.
[[User:Jgharston|Jgharston]] ([[User talk:Jgharston|talk]]) 23:03, 15 April 2026 (UTC)
:Goodness gracious me! [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:24, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Where did Dark Mode go??? I used to get it for free, and now I have to get an extension? [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 04:02, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
:It's still available on https://xkcd.com/3227/ [[User:Maofgf|Maofgf]] ([[User talk:Maofgf|talk]]) 07:52, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
Seems like today xkcd's website went back to normal, or as normal as can be when you don't have Dark Mode. [[User:SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] ([[User talk:SectorCorruptor|talk]]) 04:23, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Bill Sutton's song "Do it Yourself" is the large-scale version of this. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:2|2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:2]] 04:36, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

I suspect "weather building" is a typo. Homophone problem.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:801E:C71:4D35:EEB4|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:801E:C71:4D35:EEB4]] 07:50, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
: "They want $20k for this cloud seeding operation?!? I could do it myself with $5k worth of silver iodide, 45 hours of pilot training, plane hire, time to develop a dispersal system... [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:48, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

: There is a sort of typo in the alt-text too: “have have”. I hope it’s not intentional, ‘cause if it is I don’t get it. [[User:Jacobus-nl|Jacobus-nl]] ([[User talk:Jacobus-nl|talk]]) 11:27, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
: Aaand scratch that. This typo has been fixed. [[User:Jacobus-nl|Jacobus-nl]] ([[User talk:Jacobus-nl|talk]]) 17:44, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Given gas prices at the moment, depending on the mileage and distance to the hardware store - that remaining $20 is probably only like 100 miles. Not to mention how much time you'd spend - if Cueball's hardware store is 4 miles away and his time is worth $25/h then he is $110 in the red before even buying the second unit. He could do 1 trip to the store, $50 in parts and an hour of labor for less than $80 (or if it was only $10 in parts, 2.5 hours). [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 09:20, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Well, actually I dood it. I needed a new 6-fold outlet for my PC and the whole smeg that hangs on it. 6-fold WITH a main breaker+lamp indicator: double the price of a 6-fold without. So I bought the latter...plus a one-in, one-out breaker+lamp, in sum I saved 10€ or so, the effect is the same - I know it still works and can flip one switch to take everything off. {{unsigned ip|2a02:2455:1960:4000:8d1:cdfb:dad3:5cbc|10:09, 16 April 2026 (UTC)}}

I've been told that $500 for providing ponies for a birthday party is "way out of line". Well then, do it yourself, but remember the instructions for making a small fortune with horses: Start with a large fortune. PS: Folks, hire your local pony ride for all sorts of events. [[Special:Contributions/98.22.184.160|98.22.184.160]] 12:04, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
: Well, yeah - a pony ought to be £25. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 12:57, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Not factored in is the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes of doing something yourself, the way the homemade version has a special place in your heart where the storebought version is just seen as a generic and replaceable commodity, plus possibly the technical skills learned in the process of doing it yourself and newfound appreciation for the labor that goes into the things you find in the world around you. There are still plenty of good reasons to DIY, if you have the time and resources. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 15:36, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
: "...if you have the time and resources." <-- that's a key statement. Cueball is spending at least 5-6 hours on this project to save $80 (minus the cost of supplies). The question is, how valuable is a person's time? Yes, you can say that self-improvement and learning is valuable, that the sense of accomplishment is valuable. But everyone is going to assign value to those things differently. Would you spend 6 hours learning to do something that will save you $80 tomorrow? What if it takes 6 years to learn? What if it saves you $80 on a weekly basis? What if it's a skill that you value or can build a career out of? What if paying for the product instead of doing it yourself allows you to spend more time with your friends or family? There's so much more to the equation than just dollar amounts. There are certain things I will happily spend money on rather than do myself because I would rather spend my time on things that matter to me. I don't grind my own flour, but I cook my own bread. I don't change my car's oil, but I change my own brake pads. The cut-off point where we value convenience over money will change person to person, task to task, and day to day.

This is too true to be funny. [[Special:Contributions/96.61.125.76|96.61.125.76]] 15:41, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Do-it-yourself cost generally more than buying the off-the-shelf version in materials alone. It's only interesting for custom stuff you can't find off-the-shelf, kits requiring only simple assembly, or as a pass-time. Shirluban [[Special:Contributions/194.9.103.97|194.9.103.97]] 15:45, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Calling all computer geeks. Raise your hand if you built your own customized work station or gaming platform by purchasing your very own hand-picked collection of parts from Newegg.com. And tell us why you preferred what you built versus what you could get cheaper from Dell or any other vendor. {{unsigned|Rtanenbaum|00:59, 17 April 2026 (UTC)}}
: Never bought anything from newegg.com, but also never homebuilt components. I buy prebuilt components from established vendors (I haven't heard of Dell making those, except maybe server ones?) and use them. Though it would be a "fun" thing to do, I think building a computer from scratch is waaaaaay too expensive, difficult and time-consuming that regular DIY stuff. [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 01:54, 17 April 2026 (UTC)
: I wish I got the chance. But riiiight as I thought I would be able to do it, 16GB of DDR5 reached $1k.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 14:01, 17 April 2026 (UTC)
: Well, it was long before newegg.com, and I didn't actually buy ''everything'' as components, only a few things that I used to upgrade the first full system I then bought for myself. (Deciding to skip the more fiddly bits, that I'd done for others already.)
: But that got me a PC with a shopping ''40MB'' of RAM, plus ''two'' 1GB HDDs, which helped make my top-of-the-range P133 into a veritable ''powerhouse'' (also it could run two monitors, one 3D-accelerated and the other (eventually) could show live TV). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.33|82.132.236.33]] 15:35, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

I suspect that this comic is also targetting the SaaS-pocalypse vibe coders who build their own replacements for popular apps, and then spend inordinate amounts of GenAI compute or other hosting/related costs to keep it running [[Special:Contributions/165.225.124.227|165.225.124.227]] 15:06, 17 April 2026 (UTC)
: Seems a little bit of a stretch to me. For starters, the comic doesn't make any mention of ongoing maintenance costs (in fact, Cueball didn't bother - he gave up and bought the off-the-shelf one when his broke). Plus I'd say that's not mostly a question of balking at cost, but a problem of not bothering to research the existing market to find out that the thing you want already exists. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:56, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

This comic has me wondering where Randall has hidden all the cameras he has spying on my life. Yes, I have built my own PC from scratch several times. I have also spent weeks regularly going to thrift shops, hoping to snare specialized items for my collecting activities, or things to use as makeshift solutions. In my old age, my current PC is an out-of-the-box Lenovo that has been happily running unmodified (except for upgraded fans) for the last 5 years. And I have realized it is better to just buy the correct thing I need and be done with it. But I still love thrifting. :) [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:06, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3220: Rotational Gravity

2026-03-21T23:49:50Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: I'd try it if I could swim.

Beep, Boop! nothing else here yet ;) [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 03:06, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Counterpoint the the action park thing; i think its referencing [[2935]] [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:26, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
:For sure. It is a direct reference to that comic. I wonder if they should be seen as a two comics series? I think there is a bit too little for it. If there ever comes a third comic where Cueball is fired from a cruise line I would say there should be made a category for it though. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:44, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Is he saying that the ship is rolling? This would not give as much artificial G than pitch or yaw. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 04:53, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
:It all depends on the rotation speed. It is more likely the ship would survive being rotated along that axis. Of course there would then only be gravity away from the central line of the ship. And of course the ship would not survive such a rotation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:44, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
::I'm sure it could survive a few rotations. More than the people could. :) [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 14:34, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
:::What if it's a catamaran, rotating the main body of the ship like a barbecue spit? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:28, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm wondering if this has to do with the imminent premiere of a science-based movie, Project Hail Mary? [[Special:Contributions/2601:601:D47C:3090:B80E:E250:C231:507A|2601:601:D47C:3090:B80E:E250:C231:507A]] 04:08, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
The next number is prime! I wander if it will be a math one.

At this rate, around comic 3500 there will be enough about getting fired from cruise lines to maybe consider a category of its own [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 17:17, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Cueball's plan would seem to be quite easy to replicate. Swim to the stern of the ship, plant your feet firmly, and grasp the propeller(s), thereby stopping them. The engines will rotate the ship around the crankshaft centerline until they run out of fuel. [[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]]) 23:49, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3219: Planets and Bright Stars

2026-03-15T05:37:48Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Question.

There are sight color differences...[[Special:Contributions/209.240.116.218|209.240.116.218]] 19:55, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

I've created a version that brings out the color contrast, but I don't have permissions to upload it yet. How may I get those? [[User:Rumbling7145|Rumbling7145]] ([[User talk:Rumbling7145|talk]]) 20:04, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
:See [[Special:ListGroupRights]] for info about becoming autoconfirmed. In the meantime, you can upload the image onto an image hosting website such as Imgur or ImgBB and I can help you upload it! [[User:42.book.addict|tori :3]][[User talk:42.book.addict|talk to me!]] 20:20, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
:[Ninjaed... You got there just before me, just realised I ended up Edit Conflicted... :P Editing down to the bits that weren't said above.]
:[...] you've been here a while, but 'only' edited thirteen times, it looks like [...]
:[...and when someone else uploads it...] you can alwas add your own [claims to ownership], to the finished 'file page' [if the user concerned doesn't credit you already]. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:31, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
::Here you go! https://ibb.co/5gyVM59C [[User:Rumbling7145|Rumbling7145]] ([[User talk:Rumbling7145|talk]]) 15:19, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Anyone know where that </div> overlaying "Add Comment" at the bottom of the discussion is coming from? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:01, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
:Well, Tori's signature is a bit lopsided with its tags, by the time it gets to the browser (is one <code><nowiki></nowiki></code> short, and has one closing <code><nowiki></a></nowiki></code> before the closing <code><nowiki></nowiki></code> that should have been within it), but not sure how that might have tricked-out the rest so that some closing <code><nowiki></div></nowiki></code> is redundant, without going through the ''entire'' page source to track down any other accumulated discrepancies.
:I've seen that rogue close-div before, and I seem to recall that some precautionary extra close-tags (in either HTML or Wiki markup) have been added to 'make sure' some things don't run on. But it seems to vanish after some later edits (either main comic page or discussion one), and I would have imagined that the excess tag would just be 'ignored' under most circumstances. But it's difficult to tell easil tell what a combination of meta-tagging and actual tagging does.
:And there's all kinds of weirdness in the scripting part of the page, like the bit that says <code><nowiki>node.outerHTML="\u003Cdiv id=\"localNotice\" lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cdiv[... most of this statement removed ...]\n\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E";</nowiki></code> with ''escaped'' DIVs in it, that only apply when the script self-modifies the page-source. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:59, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
::In fact, the rogue DIV only appears when viewing the transcluded Talk page within the main article. Viewing the Talk page directly doesn't seem to show it (or have it in the same bit of the respective HTML source), which adds to my belief that it's a run-on tag (not?) being opened as part of the Comic page's definition. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:02, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

Jupiter, Venus, Mars (at its peak) and Sirius are noticeably brighter than the others. Mars, Antares and Betelgeuse are also quite red. Also if you look at planets through a telescope or good binoculars you can tell that they have a larger size (and some have moons). The others would be quite hard to tell apart without knowing their position.
<table>
<tr>
<th>Object</th><th>App. Mag</th><th>B-V (Colour)</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Venus</th><th>-4.98 to -2.98</th><th>0.82</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Mars</th><th>-2.94 to +1.86</th><th>1.33</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Jupiter</th><th>-2.94 to -1.66</th><th>0.83</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Saturn</th><th>-0.55 to +1.17</th><th>1.04</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Mercury</th><th>-2.48 to +7.25</th><th>0.97</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Sirius</th><th>-1.46</th><th>0</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Procyon</th><th>+0.34</th><th>0.42</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Antares</th><th>+0.6 to +1.6</th><th>1.83</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Altair</th><th>+0.76</th><th>0.22</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Betelgeuse</th><th>0 to +1.6</th><th>1.85</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Vega</th><th>0</th><th>0</th>
</tr><tr>
<th>Polaris</th><th>+1.86 to +2.13</th><th>0.6</th>
</tr>
</table>
It would be interesting to see if these characteristics are at all present in the comic (it does look like Mars, Betelgeuse and Antares are red and Saturn is a little yellow so maybe the colours are right), or what the comic should look like if they are not --22:50, 13 March 2026 (UTC)[[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]])

Created a nice image using the explanations on this page (using Gemini)

[https://ibb.co/k6wQF0Vd Chart fixed by explanations here] {{unsigned|2A09:BAC3:2FF0:28C:0:0:41:127}}

Do planets and stars both have the same "flickering" appearance? If they don't, that would aid in identification. [[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]]) 05:37, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

==Proper motion==
According to the Wikipedia page to proper motion, it is defined relative to the center of the solar system. So having a proper motion of zero makes the sun stand out indeed. [[Special:Contributions/84.115.169.154|84.115.169.154]] 04:50, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
:Err. {{w|proper motion}} is "relative to the center of mass of the Solar System," aka the {{w|barycenter}}, which is not the center of the Sun, but rather very close to it and sometimes outside of it. So, I think, (and I am definitely inexpert here), the [center of the] Sun is rather rapidly moving in an angular fashion about that point, far more so than any other object, whose angular movement around that point is much slower. Just like if you are one foot away from the north pole and wandering aimlessly, you can very quickly change your longitude from +90° to –90° in a step or two. So, I think, the Sun does indeed have "high proper motion," not "zero proper motion." But someone please correct me. Also, I (earlier) tried to explain proper motion in the last graf of the article and I suspect I did a poor job (possibly also inaccurate), so I'd appreciate someone with the, err, ''proper'' expertise fixing it up. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 05:00, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
:(Indeed...) The barycentre for the Sun-Jupiter pair, alone, sits (just!) outside of the mass of the Sun, and Jupiter is the main non-solar part of the mass. (That we know of, and that forms identifiable point-gravitational components. Even if they were more massive, the ring/shell nature of the Asteroid Belt, Kuiper Belt and Oort Clouds likely cancel themselves out.) Depending on where the rest of the planets are (next most influential would be Saturn, with everything else far smaller and/or further away), there's going to be funny a 'petal-like' track of the barycentre w.r.t. the Sun (or vice-versa), with seemingpy retrograde periods and inflections, but if you chose to sit it out 'at' the barycentre and track the Sun's position you'd expect 360° of 'heavenly motion' from Sol every 11.86 years (for a little over a third of the time you'd be ''within'' the Sun, due to the sufficient balancing out of masses around it, but you could still track the direction to its centre ...assuming you weren't bothered by being ''within the Sun'', like you aren't bothered by being right next to it for the rest of the time).
:Barnard's Star is (otherwise) the star with the current greatest proper motion, at 10.358 seconds of arc per year. Comparing the two (not that BS is going to complete any 'orbit', like that), it means that the Sun moves with Proper Motion (if I've not messed up toouch, on the back of this envelope) slightly above 175x greater than BS's current record rate. Though, instantaneously, the strict comparison would fluctuate over time due to the complex resonancing nature of the Sun's theoretical looping and de-looping w.r.t. the reference frame. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.245|82.132.238.245]] 17:36, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

The extremely high parallax of the Sun (324,000 arc seconds if I calculate correctly) swamps out any prer motion. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1001:B008:1230:9C83:B115:90B1:6038|2600:1001:B008:1230:9C83:B115:90B1:6038]] 12:12, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

:Err…''wutt?'' Again, I am not a domain expert or even really a domain user, but… 
:(a) A single object cannot have a "parallax." Parallax is a measure of error between two viewpoints (line segments), or perhaps between three points in space (the far object and two eye positions). Assuming the Sun is the far object, what are the other reference points or lines? If one is the Earth (a pretty big ''if'' ) then what is the other? 
:(b) 324,400 is 90 degrees, a right angle. "The Sun has a parallax of 90 degrees" is not a concept that makes sense to me. 
:Maybe I'm misunderstanding though? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 13:20, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
::Using usual definitions of stellar parallax, half the shift in angular position of the star when viewed from opposite "ends" of Earth's orbit. From, say December to June the Sun's position relative to the background stars shifts by 180 degrees. It's a bit of a joke, but this _is_ a comic we are discussing. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1001:B008:1230:9C83:B115:90B1:6038|2600:1001:B008:1230:9C83:B115:90B1:6038]] 15:12, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

@81.179.199.253, I do not think that writing «a simple "angle per time"» is more clear than «degrees/second» or «rad/sec.». Just like saying "linear distance" is more confusing to people than "feet" (or meters). One might even suggest if we have to label something "simple" that is evidence that it isn't. I think, also, the grammar of the sentence got even more complex. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 20:09, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
:With the "angle per time", I wanted to avoid the argument being had (astronomy tends to use "arc-seconds per year", rather than any radian-based measure, in my experience) and make it more neutral.
:As for how complicated it then went, I was ''tempted'' to just leave it to the wikilink, but tried to respond to the prior edit comments instead. I could cut it back again, though. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:18, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
::I think that's totally wrong and every edit seems to make it worse and worse. More neutral isn't easier-to-understand, and that's what we need. Using the wrong units is better than using no units. I lifted rad/s from the enwiki article, but I have no idea if it is correct (and I'm starting to suspect it's not). Degrees/second would be the most clear, because far more people know what a degree is than a radian. Happy pi day. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:12, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
:::Then you'll probably want to add a full-blooded combo-link such as "{{w|Minute and second of arc#Symbols and abbreviations|arcseconds}}/{{w|year}}" (or whatever your choice is... but rad/sec or even deg/sec will give you ''smaaaallll'' values even for the Sun), if it's not already good enough to help the currently unaware by linking to Proper Motion and Angular Speed/Velocity/Displacement/whatever. I'm not sure what else can be added to make it more understandable, nor what else to remove to tighten it up without losing something that someone might appreciate. But over to you, to edit it to your satisfaction. That's the beauty/price of a wiki. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:27, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

This is redundant: "The joke is that they are all nearly identical dots, making the chart almost useless. [...] The joke is that the pictures look almost identical to one another, and therefore the chart isn't helpful at all." But I don't know which of the two sentences to delete, so I'm just going to leave this note here, and let someone else tighten the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/2603:7000:6100:48CF:1D2B:3433:E765:8B8C|2603:7000:6100:48CF:1D2B:3433:E765:8B8C]] 02:37, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3218: Subduction Retrieval

2026-03-15T05:25:14Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Party pooper.

I win. {{unsigned ip|2603:7080:5240:fa00:f571:792f:a287:3b07|03:21, 12 March 2026 (UTC)}}
:I lost {{w|The Game (mind game)|The Game}}. [[Special:Contributions/2A04:4E41:320E:C27C:0:0:885F:A27C|2A04:4E41:320E:C27C:0:0:885F:A27C]] 04:47, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
:: @&$! [[Special:Contributions/47.146.30.92|47.146.30.92]] 05:33, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
: Nope - you are disqualified for not signing your post. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:14, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

By some coincidence this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy03jw0pwx1o was on the BBC news website Wed 11th March (UK)- the evening before (9pm local time) this was added [[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C7:B524:F801:4041:29F9:A548:6CDE|2A00:23C7:B524:F801:4041:29F9:A548:6CDE]] 06:08, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

I added my first explanation on this website! Please feel free to correct/improve it. [[Special:Contributions/2401:D002:8404:C900:E8CD:26D1:3D16:F675|2401:D002:8404:C900:E8CD:26D1:3D16:F675]] 06:33, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

A rough estimate of how fresh this news is would be 200 years: size of people allows to estimate ring has been carried down 12 m, and then I used 6 cm/year subduction rate. [[Special:Contributions/152.77.153.162|152.77.153.162]] 08:04, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
: This underestimates the time span IMO. Considering the folds in the crust below the crane, work obviously has been going on for quite some time already. The actual time of the ring going underground must be at least one order of magnitude higher, i.e., *ages* ago. Wait a minute ... the guy who claims to have lost the ring, does he go by the name of Sauron, by any chance? [[Special:Contributions/2.201.115.145|2.201.115.145]] 10:28, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
:: Can't be: the PSA is for today only, so maybe they've taken time to set up their stuff but they only started pulling a few hours ago. Now possibly they've actually already ripped out a length of the same order as the distance to the ring, but then it's not sure the ring has been dragged up very efficiently, since it looks like it is sticking out above the plate surface. So I'd stand with my 12m guess, but I expect they'll need to extract much more to get to the ring. [[Special:Contributions/152.77.153.162|152.77.153.162]] 14:29, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
:::"Wait a minute ... the guy who claims to have lost the ring, does he go by the name of Sauron, by any chance?" Came here for this. Actually, as a kid, the ring coming up in a volcano eruption ages later was always my favourite headcanon scenario for "The Lord of the Rings, Part II" --[[Special:Contributions/93.241.210.5|93.241.210.5]] 07:47, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
:: No, he says that his name is Annatar. {{unsigned ip|67.174.239.209|08:14, 13 March 2026 (UTC)}}

Chances are that the ring melted being down that far. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 08:58, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
:Depending upon the (unreliable, but article-assumed) scale, not really.
:Gold melts at ~1000°C (any diamond in it would melt at ~4000°C, though any solder/etc used in its construction would presumably do so at lower temperatures). At least before the effects of pressure modify that.
:At a subduction zone, the rock is relatively cool further down, as the 'surface' plate being subducted starts of cool and can soak up a lot of the heat from the 'hot cushion' it's being drawn down into. Even if we assume the humans aren't to scale, the junction should be no more than a few hundred degrees C (an additional 10C° per km of depth is one estimate, with some variation and a lot of unknowns that apply in an active subduction zone).
:Presuming the ring landed in oceanic silt that is 'immediately' inexorably dragged down under the lip of the overlying plate, the effects of temperature would be minimal compared to a mid-plate depth (where it gets uncomfortable for miners). In addition, the water in the sediment would eat up the heat energy, given its extremely high enthalpy of vaporisation, up until the pressure drives that higher than the mineral/metal melting points (if indeed it does), further keeping the ring's neighbourhood cooler than it should be.
:Pressure might be the big thing, depending on if the sediment layer that it lies in acts as a constant matrix to spread the load (i.e. not crush the ring), although you'd expect a mudstone-like process of compression (then metamorphic transition, once enough heat passed into it, probably before the gold suffered from pure temperature effects), so it might he distorted. But if it found itself being dragged through a thin enough faultline that the underlying and overlying bedrock were essentially rubbing together (the soft-stuff significantly squeezed out, but for some reason not the ring), then it'd be more like putting the ring between two millstones (but more so?), and it'd fragment and/or smear the gold ring. Any diamond might last longer before being shattered, however much it might gouge the passing rock away whenever it jammed, depending on how it was actually encased in other material. But various types of granite (as examples of the rock) melt at far less than half the temperature of diamond, lower still in the presence of water and pressure (possibly below gold, in those conditions?), so if a diamond (or even its ring) mechanically survives the process, it's probably going to still last a bit longer than the rock that's clearly still present and solid in the comic.
:But it probably needs the attention of a good jeweler/repairer, at the very least. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.116|82.132.238.116]] 13:11, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Given the vast forces at play here, standing on the section that's being drawn out seems... particularly inadvisable. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:59, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
:"I rode a Ferrari last night." "Oh yeah?" ''puts on black glasses'' {{unsigned ip|89.92.228.34|17:56, 12 March 2026}}

There's a wedding ring in this cOmment. All comments above are one tectonic plate. and all the ones below are in another. [[Special:Contributions/45.178.0.43|45.178.0.43]] 12:09, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

I thought throwing a ring in a geologically active high-pressure high-temperature structure was the only way to irreversibly lose it? [[Special:Contributions/89.233.195.138|89.233.195.138]]
We’re coming upon the April fools comic soon [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 16:30, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

yet another subduction comic [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 18:27, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

"Not safe for ever... There are many things in the deep waters and seasoned lands may change. And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season or for a few lives of men or for a passing age of the world." When he's right, he's right. {{unsigned ip|192.5.18.7|18:59, 12 March 2026 (UTC)}}

So how long until someone mining a piece of kimberlite from the mantle wonders why the diamond embedded in it looks like it's already been cut? I guess that must be the only way to tell one that's already been to the surface and back from one that's reaching it for the first time. [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]]) 06:28, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
:assuming it hasn't served as the core for a new diamond (with traces of gold). [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:14F6:12B4:F895:C53E|2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:14F6:12B4:F895:C53E]] 07:30, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

If the image is to scale and not distorted, I don't think this operation will work. The free length of the cable being used to raise the plate is shorter than the distance from the ring to the open water in the depression above it. At some point, the clamp is going to make contact with the pulley, Upward motion will stop, and the ring will remain buried. [[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]]) 05:25, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3200: Chemical Formula

2026-02-01T01:38:50Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Funnies!

I'm disappointed that it wasn't scrollable. [[Special:Contributions/2001:41D0:8:5062:0:0:0:1|2001:41D0:8:5062:0:0:0:1]] 20:20, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
:+1 And funny to think that the universe contains less than a few hundred mol of Americium. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC03:E100:8552:6543:7CF4:9AE7|2001:16B8:CC03:E100:8552:6543:7CF4:9AE7]] 20:57, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
::Time for a campaign to Make Americium Greater? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:32, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Some people don't understand sarcasm. Pleaze don't give them ideas. [[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 12:15, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
::::Don't give Americium ideas. Soon, it will want to invade other elements and create its own Periodic Table (of Peace). [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:38, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

If anyone's interested in an accessible resource for getting more data like this, may I suggest https://ptable.com/#Properties/Abundance/Universe (which I believe derives data from IUPAC sources) [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 20:37, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

surprised to see so much Astatine, he himself declared, that stuff doesnt want to exist so I expected yet a few powers of ten less {{unsigned ip|2a00:6020:479f:6c00:d587:ac2a:d1e2:26a9|21:08, 28 January 2026 (UTC)}}

This does make me curious: how would neutronium be represented in a chemical formula? Or would it be? My impression is it kind of exists 'outside' of chemistry... -Kalil [[Special:Contributions/147.81.60.76|147.81.60.76]] 21:12, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
:Neutron stars would be represented with '''n''' with various mass numbers. And there are no more than 1 mmol (6.02214076×1020) of neutron stars. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0|2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0]] 21:38, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

What about adding mass numbers? For example, most of the hydrogen is 1H, with small amounts of 2H and trace amounts of 3H. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0|2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0]] 21:38, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

Oh look, it's the 3200th comic! Yay I guess! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 22:46, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

An unregistered user (198.48.180.159) added a note that the chemical formula "C11H15NO2" (i.e. C11H15NO2) "has 302 registered isomers". I don't know the source for that number or where those isomers are registered. (It's the formula for MDMA, which is, as noted, "not good to eat".) Would that be the CAS registry? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:20, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
: Don't know if this works, but here's a site that does immediately return 302 compounds: https://pubchemlite.lcsb.uni.lu/compounds?query=C11H15NO2 [[Special:Contributions/8.17.60.225|8.17.60.225]] 04:19, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

10^26 atoms of americium is about 40 kg. But it looks like humans produced tons of americium: https://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/np_237_and_americium.pdf
. If there are other civilizations in the observable Universe, then the amount of americium in the Universe is even higher. So I guess the formula counts only naturally produced elements. But even then it seems underestimated. [[User:Alexei Kopylov|Alexei Kopylov]] ([[User talk:Alexei Kopylov|talk]]) 23:45, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
:In everything that I've checked (I expanded the "list of names" into a table), I could ''not'' discover any universal quantity of americium that was close to Randall's apparent source. Can't exclude the possibility that artificially nucleogenesis played a part in his figures (while mine are from how much was created 'naturally'), but I've just had to go along with it being a completely wrong figure (for the ultimate universal ranking). Much as boron might be given slightly mismagnituded.
:However, if anyone thinks they have the same source that led to the comic's values (and can reconfirm beryllium's estimated order of magnitude, which is the ''only'' reason I decided to start on compiling this amount of extended data, which is actually for all 118 humanly known elements), then you're welcome to correct anything that I left in an incorrect state. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:16, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

...but what if you had a mole of universes? {{unsigned ip|99.109.3.237|00:50, 29 January 2026 (UTC)}}

In the explanation, towards the end of the formula for the universe, it says U₁₀². Would that mean that there are only about 100 uranium atoms in the whole universe? That seems way too low. Did the explainer confuse the powers of 10 with rankings (in reverse)? --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 03:48, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:I'm not sure where the error came from, but about half the numbers are drastically too low. Remember, a mole is 6.02*10^23. [[Special:Contributions/174.94.104.215|174.94.104.215]] 05:34, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:Fixed. The powers were just in descending order, one by one. The current values reflect the actual amounts, give or take one or two orders of magnitude. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 06:04, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:ok, nvm, i just read that the abundance is according to mass, not actual number of atoms, so half of the numbers are probably wrong :( --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 04:38, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

In the first paragraph of the explanation it says that the number for helium would be about a third as the number for hydrogen. This seems to compare the total masses for both elements instead of the number of atoms. Hydrogen should account for aprox. 92% of the atoms while Helium is approx. 8%. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:810D:9B99:7800:DECB:CADA:B418:2F1A|2A02:810D:9B99:7800:DECB:CADA:B418:2F1A]] 05:58, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:A very good point. It seems that some sources just neglect to clearly specify whether they're giving abundance in mass fractions or mole fractions (or relative mass totals/mole totals/etc), so probably where errors crept in. But by looking at H and He, if they are roughly 74% vs 24% then it's probably by mass, and the figures probably need adjusting down by the (typical) Z of that element. (So, a third of the mass should be a twelfth of the number, and 12x8%=96%; not far off being 8% vs 92%, well within the casual rounding errors we have accumulated.) If/when I've time, I'll maybe do suitably adjusted values wherever they're needed, but can't do it immediately. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.10|82.132.239.10]] 15:02, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

Re "Other more complex atoms, up to atomic mass 56, formed later ... as a result of stellar nucleosynthesis". Not all of them; there is another way. Boron and Beryllium are produced by cosmic ray spallation, the splitting of heavier atoms by the impact of energetic particles. [[Special:Contributions/2A12:F43:141A:9F00:A0FA:9260:7BAF:8D57|2A12:F43:141A:9F00:A0FA:9260:7BAF:8D57]] 13:16, 29 January 2026 (UTC) dww-uk

How do we count the atoms that all rollled up into a singularity and otherwise vanished from the universe except to leave a big pinch in it that causes weird gravity effects. [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.47|130.76.187.47]] 13:37, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:I'd say that's a "hairy" problem. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.10|82.132.239.10]] 15:02, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
: Socks? {{unsigned ip|195.65.24.115|11:21, 30 January 2026 (UTC)}}

Off topic, but didn’t Xkcd used to be daily? [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 14:50, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:Not really.
:There have been 'special weeks', the latest being [[822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)]] to [[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]] (with previous all-weekday seqeucnes being "The Race", "Secretary", "1337", "Choices" and "Parody Week"), and a spottier schedule back in the double-digit comics that weren't so strictly (or necessarily restricted to) the M/W/F schedule, and April Fools might come out on the relevent day (although also often on whatever day they were eventually ready!), as per other seasonal comics or ones tied to book-releases/etc.
:Of course, every day ''is'' an xkcd day. As well as ''every day'' there's an xkcd (but of course its generally the same one as came out/should have come out on the prior Monday/Wednesday/Friday release scheduled), and [[1053: Ten Thousand|always something to learn]]... ;) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 18:58, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
::The standard text on xkcd at the top, the so called [[Header text]] has from the very start been:
:::xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
::And after a long time with promotion for what if? it has [[Header_text#2026-01-07_-_Back_to_standard_text|returned to the standard]] and it actually says this on {{xkcd}} at this very moment.
::Except for a few times with special series it has always only been 3 times a week. But also almost always 3 every week not just two. I think that has happened because of a complicated April Fool comic once. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:49, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

Synthesis of heavy nuclei occurs in kilonovas (neutron star mergers) as well as supernovas (or perhaps kilonovas are considered a form of supernova). [[Special:Contributions/87.75.45.69|87.75.45.69]] 10:42, 30 January 2026 (UTC)
:Actually I think most elements heavier than iron is now believed to have formed during neutron star mergers rather than in supernovas! It was hard to find a method that the bombardment of heavy elements in a super nova by neutrons would former stable heavier elements rather than some that just decayed almost instantly to lighter elements. Not something I know much about, but read it somewhere. But neutron star mergers has very likely been common in the early universe when huge stars burned out very fast and was often double star systems. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:52, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

Universes can hold the most information out of any molecules. As such, they make for a good computation substrate for god-life, fulfilling same role DNA and RNA has for humans. A single god-life being contains more Universes - as per '''''entire whole infinite Universes''''', not just their visible parts - than Universe has quarks inside of it. --[[User:User 8496351|User 8496351]] ([[User talk:User 8496351|talk]]) 13:20, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

The complete formula is wrong. 10^0 is equal to 1. The artificially produced elements either currently exists in larger quantities, or in case of Og in lower quantities, since not a single atom currently exists on earth. If some of these are created naturally, it is very unlikely they exists in exactly one single atom at a time. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:638:807:507:10D4:7A7B:DB7C:21FF|2001:638:807:507:10D4:7A7B:DB7C:21FF]] 13:41, 30 January 2026 (UTC)
:I believe the complete formula is only attempting to be in the ballpark of the correct number, using the technique (famous in what-if articles) of Fermi estimation to display an exponent which is plausible, even if the exact number is difficult to determine [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 14:24, 30 January 2026 (UTC)
:What we need is a Drake-Fermi equation... The estimate for the number of sufficiently advanced civilisations (as per Drake, more or less) ''currently'' using something approximating a Fermilab capable of creating various high-end atoms like Organesson, and also factoring in the time that they exist.
:In all likelihood, unless there's an absurdly low baseline Drake value, the Drake-Fermi estimate of "100" values will probably (summed universally) be an order or two too low. But acceptiply close (as the 'simultaneous' cross-cosmos count fluctuates even down to zero) and probably at least a magnitude in excess of the (similarly fleeting, but less likely per undirected event) entirely natural running total from barynucleosynthesis. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.133|82.132.236.133]] 16:25, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3195: International Station

2026-01-18T02:18:23Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: ~~~~?

Holy refresh pull exclamation mark! tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 14:55, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

Should the "not-earth" "space" be changed to something like "the void between astronomical bodies"? I'm not sure if, say, the surface of the Moon or Mars or {{w|A Taste of Armageddon|Eminiar VII}} count as being "in space". [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:27, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I initially interpreted the cartoon as showing the people and objects floating within something gloopy, and the wrench as a bone, and that the joke was about an "internal space station". Here we are, inside a gelatinous cube, or possibly a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immunity_Syndrome_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series) gigantic space amoeba]... [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:43, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

'''New Category: Weightless''' There are a few strips that take place demonstrating micro-gravity, right? Is that worthy of a category? The 'space' tag could be used for comics ''about'' space or comics ''in'' space (or, I guess, comics on planets?). [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.82|191.101.157.82]] 17:08, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I think the ISS was originally called start quote Alpha end quote period tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/134.173.108.120|134.173.108.120]] 18:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm early! [[Special:Contributions/2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327|2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327]] 18:24, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

It took me a moment to get it, but when I did this xkcd made me capitals LOL which doesn't happen often [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8|2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8]] 21:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:You forgot tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 21:31, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

At least it's not the International Ampersand En Bee Ess Pee Semicolon Station ellipsis tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/174.142.148.226|174.142.148.226]] 21:42, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
::Speaking of Ampersand Aa Em Pee Semicolon, that's a real life example of this effect actually happening. It was at the end of the alphabet where they would say "X, Y, Z, and, per sé, 'and'". Tilde tilde tilde tilde. Not sure if that is relevant enough to the comic though. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 02:26, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Dear Bot, don't get this Irishperson started on apostrophes. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 22:57, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

From John Littlewood's "A Mathematician's Miscellany": A minute I wrote (about 1917) for the Ballistic Office ended with the sentence 'Thus a should be made as small as possible'. This did not appear in the printed minute. But P. J. Grigg said, 'what is that?' A speck in a blank space at the end proved to be the tiniest a I have ever seen (the printers must have scoured London for it).[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 03:59, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

International Space Space Space Station? [[User:Inexplicable|Inexplicable]] ([[User talk:Inexplicable|talk]]) 07:17, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

These comments make me want to see if you could have "tildetildetildetilde"(the actual characters) as your account name. [[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]]) 02:18, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3192: Planetary Alignment

2026-01-11T23:41:59Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Obscure enough?

Remember to buckle your seatbelts! [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 05:20, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

I hope they remember to restart the calculations when we get it back. [[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]]) 23:41, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

== Inferior loaner items ==

I have personally been the victim of a much-inferior mobile phone as a loaner. I owned a Nokia phone (probably a [[:wikipedia:List of Nokia products|Nokia 239]]) that was on the United States AMPS analog network around 1997, and broke the LCD display. I brought it in for service, and while they worked on it, they issued me a [[:wikipedia:MicroTAC|Motorola MicroTAC]] type phone, which was only slightly better than the original "brick phone" design. Due to delays in repair and distance from the shop itself, I probably used the loaner phone for longer than the phone which I had nominally purchased. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 06:10, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Not necessarily "inferior", but the last time I had a car in the shop I got a car very different from what I'm used to. I normally drive a sedan (Camrys and Accords for several decades), but the loaner was an SUV, which took some getting used to (I'm a short person, getting into the driver's seat felt like climbing into a truck). [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:21, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

== Relevant XKCD ==

Seems related to [[3059]], same clipboard and everything. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.116|64.114.211.116]] 08:46, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Also related to [[3037]]. These three comics seem to form an arc.

:these would fit into a "Planetary Inspector" category --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 16:06, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

I wonder if “Planetary Alignment” refers to the astrological notion of “the planets are in alignment…”?
:It's not just astrological, astronomers also call a group of planets close together in the sky an alignment, although the more technical term is syzygy. That's what I expected the comic to be a pun on. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:21, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

“Which ocean basin do you like the least?” is also reminiscent of Hank Scorpio asking Homer Simpson whether his least favorite country is France or Italy, with the least favorite one being the target of the death ray. {{unsigned ip|96.250.83.179|16:01, 10 January 2026}}
:I believe that the premier nerd canon parallel here would be Princess Leia giving up "[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Dantooine#Galactic_Civil_War Dantooine]" as the location of the Rebel Base in a vain effort to save her home planet, while the Imperial officials paid no real attention to her desperate lie. They probably knew she wouldn't give a real answer, but if she had to think of someplace expendable that she "liked the least", it certainly would be Dantooine. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 04:17, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

[[3037]] and [[3059]] also have the same characters as this comic - Ponytail as inspector, Cueball as homeowner. I added a sentence to the main explanation linking to these related comics. --[[Special:Contributions/2600:4040:99D4:8B00:F922:E24E:C61E:3AB6|2600:4040:99D4:8B00:F922:E24E:C61E:3AB6]] 19:20, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3188: Anyone Else Here

2026-01-06T04:01:42Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For:

Anyone here in 2050? [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 22:20, 31 December 2050 (UTC)
:No, I read this in 2025 and 2026 CE but 2050 CE is future many feel pass soon. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 14:11, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
oh that's what that type of comment's about [[User:Treeplate|Treeplate]] ([[User talk:Treeplate|talk]])

Anybody reading this in 2525? Is man still alive? Did woman survive?[[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 22:28, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
: Did they fall in love? --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 22:46, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
::What did they find?[[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 02:03, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
:::They found 2526 books about string theory and 2929 about evolution, most of which were from the 21st century. They may also have found possible garden path sentences like the previous one. They also found that evolution is much slower than depicted there. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 13:56, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
::: That is what I wonder for more than 20 years, now.--[[Special:Contributions/95.117.6.0|95.117.6.0]] 15:46, 1 January 2026 (UTC):Also, nobody has read this then (or even in 2100). It is 2026. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 14:02, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
Any read this 1000000 BC? Do Kroog make fire? --[[User:User 8496351|User 8496351]] ([[User talk:User 8496351|talk]]) 22:46, 31 December 1000001 BC (UTC)
:No. Even 1 BC (also known as BCE) is long before the Internet. In fact, the same is true for 1900 AD (also known as CE). [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 14:02, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
::I don't have a reddit account, but this is definitely an r/wooooosh moment. Same with all your other comments.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 18:54, 5 January 2026 (UTC)
I'm here from exactly two years in your future. Well, perhaps not ''your'' future because... ah... best not say, just in case. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] {{#time:H:i, j F Y|+2 years}} (UTC)

Why does the end of the explanation appear to have been written by AI? Am I going crazy or does that look like how ChatGPT would describe xkcd? [[User:CreatorOfWorlds|CreatorOfWorlds]] ([[User talk:CreatorOfWorlds|talk]]) 22:52, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

No, it's not.[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 20:39, 2 January 2026 (UTC)
I wonder is that the comments never appear in chronological order is part of this joke.--[[Special:Contributions/95.117.6.0|95.117.6.0]] 15:46, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

'''"Anyone else here?" vs. "Anyone else now?"'''. It's always fun overanalyzing why *this* point in space-time is a here or now, while *that* point in space-time is a there or then. [[Special:Contributions/84.233.216.138|84.233.216.138]] 00:31, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

I’m surprised there’s no “Anyone here in 2026?” yet [[Special:Contributions/50.239.67.6|50.239.67.6]] 05:58, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

I've travelled [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/630:_Time_Travel] all the way from the year 2025 to say: happy new year! [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 02:31, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Anybody else get a wave of Déjà vu from this? [[Special:Contributions/134.231.105.61|134.231.105.61]] 05:36, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

I think the explanation discounting it as a "trick" is disingenuous. It would be like calling a forum user creating a new topic "engagement farming". [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.52|64.114.211.52]] 06:41, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Anyone else here on [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)|September 3]][[1: Barrel - Part 1|0th, 2005?]] [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 17:14, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

;Time travel
I don’t actually understand how this benefits time travelers. Why are they seeking others? What messages do they exchange and how? {{unsigned ip|204.110.58.52|14:37, 1 January 2026}}
:They could be trapped in an era, and looking to hitch-hike out of that time courtesy of someone whose temporal-travel-taxi ''isn't'' broken.
:(Although usually they leave a message to be discovered by their future compatriots (or even selves!) at the appropriate meta-time Or else arrange for it to be delivered, by a trusted holding party that they know will be around and who will obligingly obey interesting instructions to "wait until this date, then deliver to this address (which may not even have been built yet)", or just "wait until this date, then open the package" to find the improbably specific currently relevent delivery details.)
:Or bragging rights. The first to arrive in a given year (at least until someone 'later' arrives earlier in year... Might depend upon how the temporal mechanics works. And anyone arriving the year before and then taking the 'slow path' to the next one might be considered cheating. (Dedicated enough to stick with unaugmented chronology, if not forced to by becoming stranded, but might get around a certain type of metatemporal paradox.)
:Or just want to strike up a sensible conversation with someone actually ''knows'' how a future sporting event/TV series/world-changing-paradigm-shift turn(s/ed) out, rather than having to always be very careful never to mention anything (even incomprehensible and retro-decontextualised memes... "Hey, it's like New Tokyo never even happened." "Dude... Too soon!" "I know. But those poor horses.")
:Though the likelihood is that any time-travellers leaving "I'm here, and I'm now!" clues are going to just leave obscure messages that don't say anything about time and are meaningless (and just unusually ordinary to the local-yokels living through the time normally) unless you ''know'' the future popular references involved.
:Or, you use ''completely'' asynchronous communucations. Anything you want to say to other time-travellers (known or unknown) is just saved until some point in the remote future when any (paradoxical) responses are similarly aggregated, then the two strands of conversation are sent back to the counterpart participants before they even left for the deeper-past, encoded so that they only become 'currently available' at the suitable point of conversation by that person's perspective (they need not be contemporaneous, or even 'simultaneous' by any Classical/Relativity interpretation of 'nowness').
:You ''know'' that your device is storing and (will be) passing on your messages, because if it hadn't/won't[*either and/or both!] then there'd be no reply already sent back-to-the-past-from-the-future in order to be revealed to you as having happened/is happening/will happen[*ditto] in response. You wouldn't even have to know who you want to talk to, because you (or those who handle the future-end) ''eventually'' will, even if it's through a self-booting paradox. ;)
:But nothing stops you using YouTube comments, leaving them as casual-looking breadcrumbs (or even the necessary deparoxifying conversation-release keys?) outside of the core conceit... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.45|82.132.237.45]] 17:39, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

: Did/will you make it to {{w|Hawking's time traveller party}}? Sometimes, people on vacation like to meet up with fellow travellers to share experiences. [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.82|191.101.157.82]] 17:30, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Anyone here in 44 BC? ... Oh, hi, Brutus! You brought some folks with you? ... [[User:Gaius Julius Caesar|Gaius Julius Caesar]] ([[User talk:Gaius Julius Caesar|talk]]), 11:30, 15 March 44 BC (MEZ)

Is this supposed to be like a [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]], since it mentions the year 2025 on New Years Eve? Not very New year. He did make one last year, even though he skipped x-mas, but it seems unlikely that todays comic on 2nd January is more likely to be the new year than the one on New Years Day... Sad he skips celebrating these days in the comics :-( --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:36, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Anybody reading this in 5786? 1447? 2570? 1993?[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 20:39, 2 January 2026 (UTC)
: 5786 = Jewish Anno Mundi, 1447 = Islamic Anno Hegirae, 2570 = Buddhist Era, 1993 = ???? [[Special:Contributions/2600:1001:B009:AED:B591:5D8B:A6F9:A6C3|2600:1001:B009:AED:B591:5D8B:A6F9:A6C3]] 10:12, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
: Is 1993 counting from the crucification of Jesus? (consensus seems to be April 3rd 33 CE Julian) [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 10:21, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
:: Numerically, I think March would have been better. 3/3/33 in UK date format (so 3/3/33 you people who need it in US format!) would have been much neater. And, given that it's an ineffible divine plan, I'm sure that could have been arranged. ;) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 19:37, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Heya, anyone reading this in 2352? (Looking at you, Citra Terranova & Rowan Damisch.) Good luck! Also, Citra, remember to "accidentally" punch Rowan during Winter Conclave. --[[Special:Contributions/138.75.75.220|138.75.75.220]] 12:18, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm going to remove the incomplete transcript tag, feel free to revert it if you feel that the transcript is still incomplete [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 21:31, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

;1954 - Back to the Future

I believe that the year 1954 in the title refers to Back to the Future, as Randall did on a few occasions. Within the time-travel story of Back the Future, the year 1954 has a recurring special importance. {{unsigned ip|86.84.76.180|10:10, 5 January 2026}}

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN PEOPLE STOP USING HUNDREDS OF GALLONS OF WATER TO ARTIFICIALLY GENERATE A SHITTY EXPLANATION TO A WEBCOMIC? PLEASE? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 18:52, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

:We will when people stop wasting bandwidth to apply custom fonts, colors, and text to their forum handles.[[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]]) 03:58, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3188: Anyone Else Here

2026-01-06T03:58:48Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Snarking a snarker.

Anyone here in 2050? [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 22:20, 31 December 2050 (UTC)
:No, I read this in 2025 and 2026 CE but 2050 CE is future many feel pass soon. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 14:11, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
oh that's what that type of comment's about [[User:Treeplate|Treeplate]] ([[User talk:Treeplate|talk]])

Anybody reading this in 2525? Is man still alive? Did woman survive?[[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 22:28, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
: Did they fall in love? --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 22:46, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
::What did they find?[[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 02:03, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
:::They found 2526 books about string theory and 2929 about evolution, most of which were from the 21st century. They may also have found possible garden path sentences like the previous one. They also found that evolution is much slower than depicted there. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 13:56, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
::: That is what I wonder for more than 20 years, now.--[[Special:Contributions/95.117.6.0|95.117.6.0]] 15:46, 1 January 2026 (UTC):Also, nobody has read this then (or even in 2100). It is 2026. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 14:02, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
Any read this 1000000 BC? Do Kroog make fire? --[[User:User 8496351|User 8496351]] ([[User talk:User 8496351|talk]]) 22:46, 31 December 1000001 BC (UTC)
:No. Even 1 BC (also known as BCE) is long before the Internet. In fact, the same is true for 1900 AD (also known as CE). [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70|2001:4C4E:1C04:B100:A502:D45A:628D:1A70]] 14:02, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
::I don't have a reddit account, but this is definitely an r/wooooosh moment. Same with all your other comments.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 18:54, 5 January 2026 (UTC)
I'm here from exactly two years in your future. Well, perhaps not ''your'' future because... ah... best not say, just in case. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] {{#time:H:i, j F Y|+2 years}} (UTC)

Why does the end of the explanation appear to have been written by AI? Am I going crazy or does that look like how ChatGPT would describe xkcd? [[User:CreatorOfWorlds|CreatorOfWorlds]] ([[User talk:CreatorOfWorlds|talk]]) 22:52, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

No, it's not.[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 20:39, 2 January 2026 (UTC)
I wonder is that the comments never appear in chronological order is part of this joke.--[[Special:Contributions/95.117.6.0|95.117.6.0]] 15:46, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

'''"Anyone else here?" vs. "Anyone else now?"'''. It's always fun overanalyzing why *this* point in space-time is a here or now, while *that* point in space-time is a there or then. [[Special:Contributions/84.233.216.138|84.233.216.138]] 00:31, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

I’m surprised there’s no “Anyone here in 2026?” yet [[Special:Contributions/50.239.67.6|50.239.67.6]] 05:58, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

I've travelled [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/630:_Time_Travel] all the way from the year 2025 to say: happy new year! [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 02:31, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Anybody else get a wave of Déjà vu from this? [[Special:Contributions/134.231.105.61|134.231.105.61]] 05:36, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

I think the explanation discounting it as a "trick" is disingenuous. It would be like calling a forum user creating a new topic "engagement farming". [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.52|64.114.211.52]] 06:41, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Anyone else here on [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)|September 3]][[1: Barrel - Part 1|0th, 2005?]] [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 17:14, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

;Time travel
I don’t actually understand how this benefits time travelers. Why are they seeking others? What messages do they exchange and how? {{unsigned ip|204.110.58.52|14:37, 1 January 2026}}
:They could be trapped in an era, and looking to hitch-hike out of that time courtesy of someone whose temporal-travel-taxi ''isn't'' broken.
:(Although usually they leave a message to be discovered by their future compatriots (or even selves!) at the appropriate meta-time Or else arrange for it to be delivered, by a trusted holding party that they know will be around and who will obligingly obey interesting instructions to "wait until this date, then deliver to this address (which may not even have been built yet)", or just "wait until this date, then open the package" to find the improbably specific currently relevent delivery details.)
:Or bragging rights. The first to arrive in a given year (at least until someone 'later' arrives earlier in year... Might depend upon how the temporal mechanics works. And anyone arriving the year before and then taking the 'slow path' to the next one might be considered cheating. (Dedicated enough to stick with unaugmented chronology, if not forced to by becoming stranded, but might get around a certain type of metatemporal paradox.)
:Or just want to strike up a sensible conversation with someone actually ''knows'' how a future sporting event/TV series/world-changing-paradigm-shift turn(s/ed) out, rather than having to always be very careful never to mention anything (even incomprehensible and retro-decontextualised memes... "Hey, it's like New Tokyo never even happened." "Dude... Too soon!" "I know. But those poor horses.")
:Though the likelihood is that any time-travellers leaving "I'm here, and I'm now!" clues are going to just leave obscure messages that don't say anything about time and are meaningless (and just unusually ordinary to the local-yokels living through the time normally) unless you ''know'' the future popular references involved.
:Or, you use ''completely'' asynchronous communucations. Anything you want to say to other time-travellers (known or unknown) is just saved until some point in the remote future when any (paradoxical) responses are similarly aggregated, then the two strands of conversation are sent back to the counterpart participants before they even left for the deeper-past, encoded so that they only become 'currently available' at the suitable point of conversation by that person's perspective (they need not be contemporaneous, or even 'simultaneous' by any Classical/Relativity interpretation of 'nowness').
:You ''know'' that your device is storing and (will be) passing on your messages, because if it hadn't/won't[*either and/or both!] then there'd be no reply already sent back-to-the-past-from-the-future in order to be revealed to you as having happened/is happening/will happen[*ditto] in response. You wouldn't even have to know who you want to talk to, because you (or those who handle the future-end) ''eventually'' will, even if it's through a self-booting paradox. ;)
:But nothing stops you using YouTube comments, leaving them as casual-looking breadcrumbs (or even the necessary deparoxifying conversation-release keys?) outside of the core conceit... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.45|82.132.237.45]] 17:39, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

: Did/will you make it to {{w|Hawking's time traveller party}}? Sometimes, people on vacation like to meet up with fellow travellers to share experiences. [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.82|191.101.157.82]] 17:30, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Anyone here in 44 BC? ... Oh, hi, Brutus! You brought some folks with you? ... [[User:Gaius Julius Caesar|Gaius Julius Caesar]] ([[User talk:Gaius Julius Caesar|talk]]), 11:30, 15 March 44 BC (MEZ)

Is this supposed to be like a [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]], since it mentions the year 2025 on New Years Eve? Not very New year. He did make one last year, even though he skipped x-mas, but it seems unlikely that todays comic on 2nd January is more likely to be the new year than the one on New Years Day... Sad he skips celebrating these days in the comics :-( --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:36, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Anybody reading this in 5786? 1447? 2570? 1993?[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 20:39, 2 January 2026 (UTC)
: 5786 = Jewish Anno Mundi, 1447 = Islamic Anno Hegirae, 2570 = Buddhist Era, 1993 = ???? [[Special:Contributions/2600:1001:B009:AED:B591:5D8B:A6F9:A6C3|2600:1001:B009:AED:B591:5D8B:A6F9:A6C3]] 10:12, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
: Is 1993 counting from the crucification of Jesus? (consensus seems to be April 3rd 33 CE Julian) [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 10:21, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
:: Numerically, I think March would have been better. 3/3/33 in UK date format (so 3/3/33 you people who need it in US format!) would have been much neater. And, given that it's an ineffible divine plan, I'm sure that could have been arranged. ;) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 19:37, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Heya, anyone reading this in 2352? (Looking at you, Citra Terranova & Rowan Damisch.) Good luck! Also, Citra, remember to "accidentally" punch Rowan during Winter Conclave. --[[Special:Contributions/138.75.75.220|138.75.75.220]] 12:18, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm going to remove the incomplete transcript tag, feel free to revert it if you feel that the transcript is still incomplete [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 21:31, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

;1954 - Back to the Future

I believe that the year 1954 in the title refers to Back to the Future, as Randall did on a few occasions. Within the time-travel story of Back the Future, the year 1954 has a recurring special importance. {{unsigned ip|86.84.76.180|10:10, 5 January 2026}}

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN PEOPLE STOP USING HUNDREDS OF GALLONS OF WATER TO ARTIFICIALLY GENERATE A SHITTY EXPLANATION TO A WEBCOMIC? PLEASE? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 18:52, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

:We will when people stop wasting bandwidth to apply custom fonts and colors to their forum handles.[[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]]) 03:58, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:853: Consecutive Vowels

2025-12-21T04:25:22Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Question.

Present tense, or {{w|gerund}}? -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:52, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

I always thought the voyeur reference was to the statistical voyeurism is http://xkcd.com/563/

I don't think '''y''' is a vowel in that word. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 05:17, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

:Y is ''always'' a vowel.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 15:21, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
::No --[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 05:33, 18 July 2013 (UTC)
:From the grammatical point of view, “y” is a vowel. If you would look at the pronunciation point of view then even “queue” is read /kjuː/ and therefore has only one vowel. [[User:Sten|'''STEN''']] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 19:53, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
:Depends on barely audiable differences in pronunciation (vowel in voy-eur and consonant in vo-yeur). Would have to be voy-e-yor for every writen vow to be pronounced distinct from the others, though. Equally kyu-e-oo-ee. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.111|108.162.210.111]] 17:52, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Can't you think of some way to find out? [[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 18:17, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Y has to be a vowel here or it's not funny ~JFreund

I don't know if it's related, but 'queue' is the french word for 'tail', and it's slang for dick. Queueing sounds like 'queuter', which is slang for 'to fuck'. [[User:Bonob|Bonob]] ([[User talk:Bonob|talk]]) 14:30, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
:So ''THAT'''s why the French are lovers, not fighters! Anonymous 04:30, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

Seems to me the explanation does a pretty good job explaining. as the incomplete did not include a specific reason, I deleted it. Anonymous 06:51, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

Isn't it related to the kind of long scream containing long string of vowels during climax ? {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.138}}

I'm slightly worried that Cueball has a (huge) database containing data on sexual arousal and consecutive vowels, such that they can be plotted against each other.... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:39, 9 October 2014 (UTC)

I don't think Megan is shouting here, considering how close the two are. While I can see that the italics may imply shouting, I would instead interpret the dialogue to be whispered with intensity, so as to establish a mood. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.5|141.101.99.5]] 18:39, 11 March 2015 (UTC)Now That I'm Signing Right, I Guess I'll Go Make An Account

the axes aren't labeled #http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/833:_Convincing {{unsigned ip|173.245.49.129}}

Even if it's acting as a consonant, it should count as half a vowel: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/semivowel [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.160|108.162.237.160]] 23:22, 20 August 2017 (UTC)

Has anyone else noticed that the scatter plot has waaaaay too many different x-values to have "queueing" and "voyeur" be near the top of the curve? (you can't have half a vowel in a sentence, so each different x-value should represent one additional vowel...) [[User:Qwerty Dvorak|Qwerty Dvorak]] ([[User talk:Qwerty Dvorak|talk]]) 11:08, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

What about Euouae? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euouae Euouae]--[[User:Catnerd8695|Catnerd8695]] ([[User talk:Catnerd8695|talk]]) 18:38, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Relevant xkcd: 552 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 17:21, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

I always assumed that Cueball getting aroused by potential voyeurism was nothing to do with vowels - he's just a sexual exhibitionist.

"Catchphrase" is the opposite: the most consonants in a row. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.196|162.158.90.196]] 18:28, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

Are there enough comics for a "profanity" category? Or does "Language" encompass it already? [[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]]) 04:25, 21 December 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3156: Planetary Rings

2025-10-20T00:32:16Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Fixed signature

Is my draft right? It's hard to understand a comic that hasn't yet got an explanation! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 16:21, 17 October 2025 (UTC)
:I came here to say this is one of those xkcds that really doesn't need explaining. I do like the bit about "although it's theorized that [Earth] may have had [a natural planetary ring system] in the past," it's additional information I wouldn't think about just reading the panel. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 17:48, 17 October 2025 (UTC)
:I think you did a good job, you gave depth to the terms used, added related facts, and included comparisons netween the listed rings. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.102|64.114.211.102]] 18:17, 17 October 2025 (UTC)
Can't wait until our ring evolves via kessler syndrome. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.102|64.114.211.102]] 18:17, 17 October 2025 (UTC)
: I can't wait for the stage after that: [[2314|Carcinization]]. [[Special:Contributions/149.22.90.216|149.22.90.216]] 23:10, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

I added two notes, but I don't have time now to learn the syntax to make proper notes, so they are just in the middle of the text. I will try to do it later, if someone else doesn't do it. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 18:33, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

Earth's historical rings: {{w|Rings of Earth}} [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.126|191.101.157.126]] 19:20, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

Mars also has a ring, although it consists of just 2 very large objects. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:43, 17 October 2025 (UTC)
: Nope. Mars has TWO rings. Deimos orbits at three times the distance and four times the period of Phobos. Two rings with one large object each. And if you are taking an areocentric perspective, there's a much more massive ring 1.5 AU away. [[Special:Contributions/181.214.218.33|181.214.218.33]] 22:46, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

Regarding the title text: One of those bits of information that aids navigation has long been where on a tree the moss grows (should you be in an area with trees, obviously, and otherwise be without a compass or can see the Sun to do the watch-dial trick (with an analogue watch, or a bit of imagination)). Back in the '90s, I noted that I could augment that, in an urban environment, from the rise in houses having satellite dishes (BSB 'squarials' and Sky dishes, originally, here in the UK) all pointing pretty much directly south. (With enough local knowledge, you might even be able to compare them to TV aerials and possibly triangulate to where you were within a larger urban area - assuming you were 'somewhat lost, but not ''totally'' lost'.) And, even today, I find them a reassuring extra bit of info when I'm skirting through the suburbs of cities, knowing that I'm not being twisted too far awa from my chosen direction (working with my in-head memory of the map I'd planned with, which can occasionally get nudged off from reality by an inconvenient twist and turn of road). 
Though I must say, I've never ever considered latitude-enumeration as an additional factor. Apart from anything else, the design of the dish normally has the 'receiver arm' sitting at an off-axis focal point, so you need to project out at the complimentary 'up-angle' from the exact angle the dish itself ''points''. But, anyway, I'm not sure I ever could have distinguished 55°N from 60°N, by eye, even sighting upon a centre-axis dish's direction. And yet I'd surely already know if I was as far south as Edinburgh or actually somewhere as far north as Lerwick, before checking out the local dishes... ;) [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 21:48, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

I don't understand why it says "If some of them are pointing straight up, you're probably near the Equator". Surely, if you're on Earth, they're pointing straight down. {{unsigned ip|86.20.197.254|18:12, 18 October 2025}}
: Well, the satellite dishes need to point up to get signal from up there in the sky. [[User:MinersHavenM43|MinersHavenM43]] ([[User talk:MinersHavenM43|talk]]) 18:17, 18 October 2025 (UTC)
: Sounds like 86...254 thinks "satellite dishes" are the transmitting/transceiving dishes ''upon'' the satellites, not the receiving/transceiving dishes aimed ''at'' them. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 18:40, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

Sidenote: I visited my local thrift store and found three nearly new copies of "what if?" on the Humor bookshelves. I bought one (Sorry you won't get paid twice.) and moved one to the Reference bookshelves. [[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]]) 00:32, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3155: Physics Paths

2025-10-20T00:29:29Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: My creed.

I made a Major contribution that overturns physics by making the first comment [[Special:Contributions/115.70.50.107|115.70.50.107]] 20:31, 15 October 2025 (UTC)

I cant make the first comment explainxkcd must be supressing me {{unsigned ip|202.150.104.50|20:41, 15 October 2025}} 

I cant make the first comment explainxkcd must be supressing me {{unsigned ip|202.150.104.50|20:40, 15 October 2025‎}}
:Not only did you fail to make the first comment, you also didn't sign it properly and you posted twice. Cancel! [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:59, 15 October 2025 (UTC)

The global scientific community will RUE THE DAY it dismissed my insights! Go ahead! Start rueing!
[[Special:Contributions/2601:601:C85:EDD0:F0F1:ACFC:F3E5:6BAE|2601:601:C85:EDD0:F0F1:ACFC:F3E5:6BAE]] 22:08, 15 October 2025 (UTC)
: You could have talked about syllogisms to overturn physics even more! --[[Special:Contributions/81.96.108.67|81.96.108.67]] 02:05, 16 October 2025 (UTC)
:: Now you're just being sylly. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:12, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

The description of the special theory of relativity as showing that gravity is the result of curving spacetime is incorrect; that was the later general theory. The special theory only deals with the fact that measurements of space and time will be different for differently moving observers, and specifically excludes gravity. {{unsigned ip|206.204.218.11|05:04, 16 October 2025 (UTC)}}

Is it only me thinking that the unhealthy path already starts in the trial to „prove“ one‘s value? {{unsigned ip|62.93.15.96|05:58, 16 October 2025 (UTC)}}

Has Randall watched Dr. Angela Collier's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miJbW3i9qQc recent video]? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:38, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

The whole “ Einstein had more than one major insight” paragraph is interesting, but irrelevant to the comic. It should be moved into a trivia section. [[Special:Contributions/172.83.161.157|172.83.161.157]] 11:04, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

I’m thinking that part of the joke in the title text is that the term “overturn” is used to literally mean “turn upside down” in that the logic of the syllogism is reversed in an “any scientist that overturns physics is valuable, therefore anyone with value has overturned physics” fashion. I don’t think the current paragraph gets that across very well, and I’ve tried a handful of times to rephrase it, but haven’t been able to get something I’m happy with. If anyone else has any ideas to communicate it better, it would be greatly appreciated. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 18:34, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

While [Einstein] did have many insights, I think it's fair to say that his theories of relativity are the ones that caused major paradigm shifts. They others were just normal scientific progress. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:42, 19 October 2025 (UTC) 

Anyone who invokes the old "the Establishment is suppressing this invention/discovery" trope gets an immediate hard pass from me. Sorry, all you college students who solved the energy crisis with a paper cup filled with Coke. [[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]]) 00:29, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3156: Planetary Rings

2025-10-19T20:21:32Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Personal note. Delete if inappropriate.

Talk:3150: Ping

2025-10-05T01:04:43Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: A tale of personal failure.

Should we include links to the other impractical internet protocol comics? (like the one where he has to rebuild civilization for every ping, or the one where they're using neutrinos to send messages?)[[Special:Contributions/2602:FF4D:128:D56:B3E5:923E:8846:D13|2602:FF4D:128:D56:B3E5:923E:8846:D13]] 17:24, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
:Or create a category for networking protocols? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:27, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
::I second that. [[User:Agf|Agf]] ([[User talk:Agf|talk]]) 19:15, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
::Here are those that I've found that would match this category ("weird communication mediums" - the neutrinos router doesn't fit the "impractical internet protocols"): [[3017]], [[1789]] (unsure), [[454]], [[190]], [[1142]] (unsure), [[2949]], [[269]], [[1254]] (Edit: all those without (unsure) have been added.) [[User:Agf|Agf]] ([[User talk:Agf|talk]]) 20:04, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
:::Ok, so I didn't see this before I saw the first redlink category added and unadded it with a suggestion to talk about it.
:::But it needs more discussion than this. And I'd advise thinking a lot more (as a group) about the actual name of the category. Barmar seems to have a slightly different idea as a name, for example. And could it be "weird" or "unorthodox" or "impractical" or ... YGTI. Get some sort of wider consensus, please. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.195.93|81.179.195.93]] 21:26, 3 October 2025 (UTC)

Little did the shipwrecked sailor know, but the headers were forged and he was duped into participating in the slowest forged-ping-based DDOS ever. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:11:0:0:0:2|2603:8081:9700:11:0:0:0:2]] 17:32, 3 October 2025 (UTC)

Minor variation of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers#Real-life_implementation 1990-04-01 RFC1149 classic]. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:A62:598:F01:500E:58A5:4DF9:A701|2001:A62:598:F01:500E:58A5:4DF9:A701]] 17:44, 3 October 2025 (UTC)

You could argue that the [https://weather.com/news/news/worlds-oldest-message-in-a-bottle-found-germany-marine-biological-association-guinness oldest ever found message in a bottle] was part of a very slow PING-experiment. Because the finders were asked to mail the included postcard. But replying by throwing the bottle back into the ocean would defy the whole experiment. {{unsigned|Semon|11:25, 4 October 2025}}

I have been conducting 'message-in-a-bottle' experiments for decades, with zero success to this point. I'm beginning to suspect that flushing them down the toilet might not reach my intended audience. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:04, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3147: Hiking

2025-09-28T03:38:24Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: A crazy, but possible idea.

But what if the drones run out of battery? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 18:54, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

:: "''what if the drones run out of battery?''" What If the Amazon/UPS delivery truck with the [['''What If? 2''']] book you ordered runs out of gas/diesel/juice? Maybe they attempt repeat delivery. Maybe a refund is posted in 7 to 10 business days.

I was going to write a transcript, but I can't figure out how to describe how this is supposed to be a time series in a single panel. I'll let someone else do it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

:: "''how to describe how this is supposed to be a time series in a single panel''" It is three moments in time, superimposed. "Slide is delivered", "Hikers slide", "Slide is removed". [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:35, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

::: Four moments in time actually. You forgot "Hikers orders slide". [[Special:Contributions/2001:9B1:40D0:C300:102B:825:C539:3F33|2001:9B1:40D0:C300:102B:825:C539:3F33]] 01:06, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

I'd also like an on-demand ski lift for upwards segments [[Special:Contributions/73.222.207.213|73.222.207.213]] 23:54, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

I feel like this comic deserves a parody of "Jack and Jill went up a hill". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:37, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

This is how I learnt there were waterslides. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.21|64.114.211.21]] 08:59, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
: #todayyearsold [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 15:53, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure this would improve the hiking experience for me; not because I have anything against waterslides, but because the downhills are a valuable rest period in between unpleasant ascents. If it were over in a moment I'd still be exhausted at the bottom of the next rise. [[Special:Contributions/79.77.240.136|79.77.240.136]] 19:18, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
:And probably thoroughly wet, to boot. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:05, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

This raises the possibility of drone-delivered escalators for ascending Mount Everest. [[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]]) 03:38, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3141: Mantle Model

2025-09-14T01:13:14Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: A funny?

The wiki lives! 🥹 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 21:04, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

:So it wasn't just my computer that wouldn't show explain xkcd? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::Also: what went wrong and how did they fix it? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
:::And: do we have a plan in case it happens again? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::::It was clearly a server-side issue. (Well, more server-side than Cloudflare, which still covers a lot of ground.( There are a number of different things that could have been wrong, from the server rack-space no longer being paid for (a potentially more permanent death than the domain not being paid for - which we know has been, anyway) to someone having been messing about with the site and caused fatally excessive parsing errors (there's no sign of that, in the page-edit history that we see, although there's always a potential for the person who got the server working 'sensibly' again to have purged the evidence along with the problem).
::::Could also have just been a temporary power-outage/blown-fuse in the apartment of the person who currently lets the server hum away in the background (if that's the server's physical location, which I doubt) ''or'' that person was moving it from one residence to another and so obviously had to unplug it, transport it and plug it back in again to power and network connection (again, from what I know, I doubt that... but it's not an impossible scenario).
::::Unless we get to hear from whoever fixed the problem, we can just keep on guessing.
::::Assuming that any actual person ''did'' fix the problem rather than (for yet another theory...) it being a connectivity issue further along the chain that just happened to catch our server in that, and was just sorted out as a more general restorating of service.
::::I had several 'likely' ideas during the downtime... Well, ''obvious'' they couldn't all be actually likely, as they were mutually exclusive to each other, but a larger share of the divided percentages than some of the more out-there ones... but very little proof of any of them, now we're up and running again. Not ruled out, but without the basic fingerprints that I'd have expected to support their realities. And some of my imagined solutions to the outage were situations where I would not actually have expected the site to return at all, too, and these have obviously been defied/subverted given that we're now talking here about this.
::::The good news (with reservations, at least) is that, the way we've been returned to 'normality', this raises the chances of this issue not being a recurring one. With a side-line chance of ''if'' whatever-it-was recurs, it'll be solved far quicker next time. Whoever/whatever we have to thank for it.
::::The bad news is that I don't think anyone 'active' has anything to do with it (please do let us know, if you did!). Either no direct hands-on fix at all, as described, or someone who ''really'' doesn't want to bother talking to us users and only steps/stepped in for a bit of quiet background fixing that nobody'll properly appreciate. (My kind of person, that, actually. I rather like it when I fix issues so that nobody besides my more immediate colleagues knows they've been fixed... although ideally I'd be doing so before anyone even knew they ''needed'' fixing. And this wasn't my work, of course. With so little access, or even familiarity with the basic setup, you'd have to look elsewhere for any mysterious house-elf who sorted this one out.)
::::TL;DR; - I don't know how to answer your question. I get the idea that nobody will answer your question as long as [[1305: Undocumented Feature|anyone who knows doesn't want to]]. I don't eventhink there's any possible plan that we can devise to deal with it. Even with an 'off-wiki' forum to talk amongst ourselves about things, the next time this happens again. Even if we could [[1810: Chat Systems|agree on where to go]], it'd just end up being a legacy chatroom (like the Euphoria one) once the inevitable day comes when something means that this site goes dark and never lights up again. ''C'est la vie'', etc...
[[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:28, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

::::: TLDR indeed. >"''the apartment of the person who currently lets the server hum away in the background (if that's the server's physical location, which I doubt)''" Elsewhere this year we learned of a forum which actually sat in the admin's garage. He had a health issue, weeks in hospital then months recovering at a relative's house. Forum went down. His #2 said he got some better and the forum came to life, but went down again. Life is like that. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:48, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
:I had noticed this issue too. I was actually drafting up an email to [[User:Davidy22]] when I came back on here to get a screenshot and Cloudflare started working again! I had suspected that we were getting DDoSed, since Explain XKCD had some issues with that before and the server was clearly down across multiple devices and networks. Recent Changes also shows a 36+ hour gap between editing, confirming that the server was down across the board. I suggest that we coordinate some other form of communication so that we can share messages with each other and still have points of contact if this goes down. Jeff has proven himself to be flaky and unreliable, and I'm now treating everyday on here like it's my last. Check [[explain xkcd: Community portal/Proposals#Explain XKCD Discord.2FSocial Media Server.3F|the proposals board]] for more info. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 06:02, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
::This seems to be a recurring feature of many sites at the moment, whether behind Cloudflare or not. My suspicion is that scraping for AI is out of control, acting as a particularly stupid (vibe-coded) and well-funded DDoS. --[[Special:Contributions/81.96.108.67|81.96.108.67]] 06:58, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
La plume de la Terre est sous le bureau de mon oncle. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 21:33, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm truly shocked that this comic (#3141) didn't have anything (obvious) to do with pi. [[Special:Contributions/2603:3003:BCC:6200:FC4E:5757:BC86:E656|2603:3003:BCC:6200:FC4E:5757:BC86:E656]] 02:03, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
: Off by 0.001 error. Or maybe Randall's sworn off [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2023/03/14/amoebas-lorica-14-march-icymi/ pi/pee jokes]. Perhaps we'll see when comic 3142 is released to the wild. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:925:A1C6:D2C8:428B|2605:59C8:160:DB08:925:A1C6:D2C8:428B]] 11:51, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
::Only off by 0.001 if we're aware of the additional digits. I choose ignorance. [[Special:Contributions/2603:3003:BCC:6200:98AA:C11E:AA31:F089|2603:3003:BCC:6200:98AA:C11E:AA31:F089]] 15:56, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

I assume those that manage this great resource for those of us that REALLY NEED xckd explained know comic 3139 got missed in the kerfuffle... [[Special:Contributions/209.240.124.28|209.240.124.28]] 02:09, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

Using the {{Citation needed}} tag '''FOUR''' times in a single explanation is not funny. {{Citation needed}} [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:13, 14 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3138: Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure

2025-09-14T00:17:47Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: A funny?

I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere. (Separate and apart from so-called "shrink rules" used by patternmakers who create patterns for metal castings). No? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 00:36, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

https://www.inchcalculator.com/actual-size-of-dimensional-lumber/ for reference --- MEL

: Wikipedia has {{w|Lumber#Dimensional_lumber|a similar table}}. Interestingly, if the values on this table are correct, the xkcd measure fails for the 8 x 8 board. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:988B:772A:4E5:B209|2605:59C8:160:DB08:988B:772A:4E5:B209]] 02:18, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

:: >''the xkcd measure fails for the 8 x 8 board'' Studs and joists are routine repetitive structure and should be the same as their neighbors. 8x8 are non-routine; even in say a heavy mill building 8x8s are costly enough for the carpenter to measure or trim every column. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 17:10, 8 September 2025 (UTC)
:: My house has near full-size 2x4s and 2x6. Very-dry trees were sawn on site, the saw set for 2.0" centers. Band saw has very narrow kerf. About 1.9". A profitable saw-mill would use a coarser blade and push the size down as much as customers would accept (and even a junior carpenter can tell an undersize stud by feel). But here they were clearing land as much as saving money. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 17:10, 8 September 2025 (UTC)

:"I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere" - if doesn't exist now, it soon will. [[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 03:59, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

Thinking that there might be a typo in the comic - It says : A "1x8" IS "3/4 BY 7 1/8", yet it should be "3/4 BY 7 1/4".

I no longer want to be a lumberjack! [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:748F:2291:F005:1989|2A02:2455:1960:4000:748F:2291:F005:1989]] 06:57, 6 September 2025 (UTC)
:I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK. I sleep all night and I work all day! ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:31, 8 September 2025 (UTC)

This reminds me of when I changed my friend’s text replacements to be slightly misspelled whenever she tried to type a common word in college. She was getting a degree in linguistics and it was SO FUNNY 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:29, 6 September 2025 (UTC)
:She should have claimed that she was undertaking "applied linguistics" and investigating how to create a deliberate {{w|language change}}! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:23, 6 September 2025 (UTC)
:I once set a stoned friend's keyboard to French. 90% of the letters and 20% of the special characters are the same, so he spent multiple minutes getting frustrated why he kept "missing" the correct keys. :D [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 07:26, 9 September 2025 (UTC)

I was told (and maybe this is wrong), that the dimensions are intended to represent the final thickness of a wall when drywall (usually 0.5" thick) is attached to the studs. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 20:58, 6 September 2025 (UTC)
:I think that's just a convenient side effect. Of course, if the drywall is 1/2 thick, a wall with 2x4 studs will be 4.5 inch thick. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 22:22, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

:That would be pretty ahistorical, so I think it is indeed wrong. Drywall is a relatively modern invention, and I think the standardization of 2x4s as 1.5″ thick predates it (need to check that…but even if it didn't, then it would be worse). Wood lath and plaster walls are more like 5/8″ from the stud face, if not more. And, of course, in modern American multifamily residential construction 5/8″ walls are more common, or even double-5/8″ walls (making 1 1/4″) in fire-rated assemblies. So it does not even end up being "convenient," not that a 4" wall assembly is particulary more "convenient" than a 4.5″ or a 4.125″ or a 4.75″ wall assembly…very little turns on the thickness of the stud plus wallboard, but a lot turns on the thickness of the stud cavity (insulation, space for utilities, &c.) or the thickness of the drywall (spacing of electrical outlets, mudrings, etc.). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 04:20, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
Once again, the UK wins on ridiculousness. I bought some fencing materials yesterday. The panels were 1.83m x 1.22m, so they could be metric but nevertheless 6' x 4'. I got some presawn posts that were 2400mm long (so kind of 8', or close enough), and they were sold as 75mm x 75mm, so they were 3x3, but they fit perfectly into the 70mm x 70mm post supports I got to go with them. Using metric to sidestep the need for traditional-measurement nonsense...but just keeping the nonsense and throwing new numbers at it. Actually, that should rendered into Latin and put on a scroll as part of a national coat of arms. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 09:49, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

Since the tape measure uses variable length inches, the watch (provided by the cartoonist) might be similar to Vetinari's clock. (Where individual ticks are of random duration.) I looked to see if xkcd had covered such a clock before (for possible link), but didn't find one. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:90|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:90]] 19:16, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

As an aside, I am always bemused about Americans being so stuck on imperial measurements when metric is so much easier. Oh except money...Americans are happy with metric money :o). [[Special:Contributions/59.101.181.77|59.101.181.77]] 20:42, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
:Oh, undoubtedly. It's literally just counting. The system we all use for enumerating everything (including feet and inches, or furlongs and chains, or drachms and scruples, or whatever else) is base 10. So just use base 10 and give names to 1,10,100,1000, etc. of length/capacity/mass/etc. units, and nobody needs to know anything beyond counting to deal with absolutely everything. Anybody who says pounds and ounces, or yards and miles (or whatever) is superior is objectively wrong.

:But.

:People get used to things.

:So you get the mess I mentioned above.

:Adopt the metric system, but then sell milk in 568ml bottles, because that's a pint, and milk inherently belongs in pints, so people have to have that much milk as a unit. Sell syrup and treacle in 454g and 907g cans, so 1lb and 2lb cans of sugary stuff can still exist. Nobody would be able to cope with 400g, 450g, 500g, 900g or 1kg! Keep selling beer and cider in pints, but change spirits to 25ml or 35ml (which you choose is up to you as a licensed bar) from 1/6 of a gill (or 1/5 of a gill in Scotland). Sell fuel in litres, but advertise vehicle fuel consumption in miles per gallon. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:59, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
:I know, obviously not {{wiktionary|the full shilling}}! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:16, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
:I was amused to see, watching the women's rugby world cup at the weekend that distances were given in metres.--[[Special:Contributions/86.163.160.215|86.163.160.215]] 08:56, 9 September 2025 (UTC)

::I will venture the hypothesis that folk in this conversation are not cooks. It's in the kitchen that the difficulties with the metric system are most frequently encountered. Many Imperial measures are factors of two; it's easy and intuitive to double something or halve something and have the result make sense, as several kitchen veterans have told me over the years, with varying degrees of irritation. A pound (16 ounces), half a pound (8), a quarter pound (4), yada. Too many halvings in the metric system, and you're into fussy decimals. Moreover, if the recipe calls for a pound of butter, and you feed it half a kilogram, thinking that's the metric equivalent and close enough, the biscuits/cookies ain't gonna come out the same, and folk are gonna come after you. I learned years ago to check the cup measure carefully to see if it was graded in ounces or milliliters, and whether the recipe it was supposed to be serving came from Yankeeland or Godzone. Or else. The metric system may be logically superior, but may not be practically superior in all contexts. It might be well to seek reasons, other than the usual dismissive ones, for why, for example, {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada#Metrication_stalled|Canada took 15 years to fail to fully convert to the metric system}}.[[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:F102:9332:DCBD:89C6|2605:59C8:160:DB08:F102:9332:DCBD:89C6]] 03:10, 8 September 2025 (UTC)
:::I very much ''am'' a cook, and that is, I'm afraid, nonsense. Cooking is the perfect example of why metric is better! A recipe written in imperial, or the almost-identical US Customary Units, doesn't work if you substitute a round number of grams in for it, no. Obviously. But that presupposes that recipes naturally occur in imperial, with conversion being necessary if grams are used. Plenty of recipes exist natively in metric though, and are a clumsy mess if performed in avoirdupois.

:::And "fussy" decimals aren't a problem. If you need to halve 325ml (for example), no recipe will be affected by your using 163ml instead of 162.5 – much as fluid ounce measurements aren't accurate to the half millilitre, millilitres don't need to be either. Being a Brit, I learned to bake bread in imperial because we're across two systems here, and were even more so when I was young, but I forced myself to change, because metric is, inarguably, vastly superior. Working with percentages of hydration when you're in fluid ounces of water and pounds of flour (or the entirely nonsensical volumetric cup system) is utterly ridiculous when you could just use numbers that are exactly equivalent to each other. 1kg of flour, at a 66% hydration ratio? Why, that'll be 660ml of water, which can simply be weighed into the bowl at 660g. Can pounds, ounces, pints, fluid ounces and cups do that? Very much no.

:::And your halveable measures are all well and good...if you're halving those particular numbers. Anyone can think of numbers that are easily halved though. But what if it's a 2 egg recipe with 3oz of flour, and you want to make 3 eggs' worth? Well, then you need 4.5oz of flour. A bit...fussy, no? Imperial and US-measure recipes feel like examples of pounds working neatly, because they've been constructed around easy-to-use quantities in that system. But metric recipes behave just as neatly, and are far more readily scalable, because the numbers are all just base 10, which everybody uses for everything all the time.

:::I know both. I can use both. I started out with imperial. But I choose to use metric, because metric is so very obviously superior. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 15:17, 8 September 2025 (UTC)

:::Of course, American recipes get round this problem by measuring things by volume, using a standard cup size.--[[Special:Contributions/86.163.160.215|86.163.160.215]] 11:15, 9 September 2025 (UTC)

::::See Technology Connection's latest video where he goes through a ridiculous series of imperial conversions to get from 192g of water to "about 0.2L". {{unsigned ip|80.189.2.17|23:49, 8 September 2025}}
:::::This is, of course, already covered by [[2585: Rounding]] and [[3065: Square Units]], in which a value of [exactly?] X <unitOne>s is described as [roughly?] Y <unitTwo>s ''then'' the premise becomes that it's [exactly!] Y <unitTwo>s or [roughly?] Z <unitThree>s, etc (including immediately/eventually back to X′ <unitOne>s, where X′≠X, and it may even be doubtful if X′≈X to a useful degree).
:::::Conversely, where the conversion ratio is exact and rational (especially ''decimally'' rational, yet may have {{w|International yard and pound|a number of significant digits}} actual precision may get lost by there being an unknown/unstated/misstated exactitude (and the inverse of any rational number is often (decimally!-)irrational/even more unweildy).
:::::This is not to say that 192g of water (especially if overprecise, for the circumstances) cannot be usefully summarised as "about 0.2L", even without transitioning through non-metric scales or convolutions. (How many pounds weight? ...that means a given amount of pounds force, in a given situation. ...that could be expressed as newtons. Which, in a particular setup conveys a given pressure as of <blah> atmospheres... The number of moles of a gaseous substance that would apply that same degree of pressure at a given temperature is... and ''eventually'' that's then related back again to a volume of water under STP.) But you really need to know where (and how much of) the fuzziness crept in along the way.
:::::The usual culprit is when information is translated between audiences. A scientific paper mentions a phenomenon as a large number of kilogrammes (SI), ''maybe already with an 'errorbar'/rounding to that''. Some more public article relates that as "N [thousand/million/etc, additionally rounded?] kg" but also in (rounded) tons. Long or short tons, maybe. Perhaps tonnes, for the least problematic conversion! That, though, then gets taken up and reprinted elsewhere again, intermediate journalist/subeditor now reporting the ton(ne)s, but explaining how many pounds-weight that is (or numbers of elephants/jumbo-jets/Sydney Harbour Bridges that is, by some look-up value that might itself be a vague average or estimate), more or less. Picked up by someone who likes the latter value, but feels the need to state (their own calculation of) what the SI-compatible units would be... YGTI.
:::::That was, of course, the whole point of 2585 and 3065, only relevant to this comic's side-conversation about units. To which I'd add, maybe you can more easily read ⅛th-inches from an 'imperial' measuring tape, than the equivant not-exactly-3-centimetres from a metric one, but ⅕th-cm is easier than whatever that is in inches (2½-sixteenths, so five-thirty-twoths? ...just cross-comparing on my own measuring tape, which is top-half (feet-and-)inches with sixteenths, bottom half centimetres with tenths, in the British style). So it largely depends upon what scale works best/good enough for your use, and that you're used to. I, personally, still think of my ''own'' bodyweight in 'stone(s)', but am no longer quick enough to do the factor-14 conversion to relate that to what's often stated in US-lbs (rather than st+lbs, or "Xn''and a half'' stone"-ish, how we use them here) in common US usage. Nor have I ever really dwelt upon my weight in kg. So, unlike my height in feet-and-inches also being known in its reasonable dqyivalent of centimetres(/metres-point-two-decimals, give or take how unruly/untrimmed my hair currently is), I'd have to always do/accept a conversion (or just read off what the scales tell me, though I rarely bother to find out for my own 'fun'). Yet I usually bake/etc in grammes (or kilogrammes, as necessary), or ''perhaps'' ounces (three ounces of chocolate chips in one of my otherwise gramme-measured recipies, with perhaps 250g of this and 175g of that, for the rest of the mixture) just out of long-standing habit and the divisions being handier (ok, so basically that's basically 85g, but aiming for a 1 oz division (and slightly going over, if ''strictly necessary'' ;) ) is better than aiming half way between two 10nbsp;g ones on a scale that only otherwise has 25 g 'intersticial' graduations.
:::::Additionally: has anyone else appreciated that the 'hook head' of a metal tape-measure is ''loosely'' riveted to the steel tape, such that when measuring the external distance (the hook 'hooking' over one end of the long item, or the edge of a windowsill/frame/etc, in tension) it makes an accurate internal measure of the tape-end, but when measuring an internal distance (pushed up against the internal corner of the wall, or whatever, in slight compression) the end pushes into the tape so your 'zero' is the external limit of the hook-bend? Not precisely equivalent, especial on cheap and/or worn retracting tapes where the hook has lateral wobble/angling to it, but clearly intentional to lessen the worry about the hook-metal's thickness (16th″? Half-mil? Where's my micrometer, so that I may measure my measuring tape's actual dimensions?!), even if it's usually barely significant a distinction when used over (in my current case) a 9′+ tape (at least 2.80 m, but I feel its spring complaining, so not trying for the full three metres, or possibly ten feet or more, just for fun!). And the tape-body is marked with graduations, too ("METRICmeters"{{asic}} on one side, "Non-METRICinches"(!) on the other) so I can add to the 'visible tape' the correct suplementary length of 'unexposed' tape still within the casing. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.27|82.132.238.27]] 11:58, 9 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::Re "''Additionally: has anyone else appreciated…,"'' people on the (notional) tape measure forums '''can't stop talking about this'''! With stories about the children or apprentices who "fix" the problem leading to non-stopped cursing by the storyteller, &c, &c. Was that supposed to be a rhetorical question? Not sure why this is topical here, though. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 13:09, 9 September 2025 (UTC)

More notes on nominal wood sizing - The nominal lengths of framing lumber are not adjusted, so a nominal 2"x4"x8' board is actually 1.5"x3.5"x8'. In fact they are often slightly oversize to allow for cutting to exact length. However, the nominal length and width for sheet goods like plywood are normally accurate although thickness may or may not be, with softwood sheet goods usually being around 1/4" thinner than stated and hardwood typically being accurate. {{unsigned ip|2600:1700:b39:3010:30e0:301c:3150:8abf|18:17, 9 September 2025}}

I tried to pay for some gasoline with dimensional currency, and the Secret Service has just pulled me over. :( [[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]]) 00:17, 14 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3132: Coastline Similarity

2025-08-24T02:18:31Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Formatting and pointing out the obvious

Lol what [[User:SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] ([[User talk:SectorCorruptor|talk]]) 16:20, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
:Lol what --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 17:30, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
::Lol what [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 18:13, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Lol what [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 18:52, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
::::Lol what [[Special:Contributions/24.54.131.250|24.54.131.250]] 19:24, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::Lol what [[Special:Contributions/2001:67C:2564:A301:C26:D05F:D5AA:CA02|2001:67C:2564:A301:C26:D05F:D5AA:CA02]] 21:46, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

^^^Plagerism at work^^^ [[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]]) 02:18, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

npcs [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 14:29, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

Plagiarism might refer to the designer of one of the coastlinescopying the design of the other one (a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy).
[[Special:Contributions/147.234.73.125|147.234.73.125]] 22:56, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

I'm the comic "Coastline similarity" is likely a roof on "Cosine Similarity" which is used in software industry to measure how close two images are. This method is also used to detect plagiarism. {{unsigned ip|108.76.190.132|23:00, 22 August 2025}}

F***ing vandals. Best of luck, I'm gonna bunker down until this blows over. [[Special:Contributions/207.195.86.18|207.195.86.18]] 01:47, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3131: Cesium

2025-08-24T02:10:26Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Politics, man.

I think that's called a recipe for disaster. NOTE: I am also 104.225.172.143. [[Special:Contributions/138.43.101.123|138.43.101.123]] 14:36, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: No, ''I'' am 104.225.172.143! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:09, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I'm 104.225.172.143, and so's my wife! [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 20:42, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:::I also chose this guy's wife. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1014:B130:F85B:54C8:CB88:DB33:11D0|2600:1014:B130:F85B:54C8:CB88:DB33:11D0]]

My best recipe comes with a Notice to Mariners [[User:Hcs|Hcs]] ([[User talk:Hcs|talk]]) 14:45, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcript. Hopefully it's okay. [[Special:Contributions/104.225.172.143|104.225.172.143]] 14:54, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

A gram of gold runs on the order of ~$100 USD as of writing; a gram of cs-137 looks to be in the millions~billions range. --[[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.9|158.91.163.9]] 14:55, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

: Nope. [https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2024/mcs2024-cesium.pdf It's 99 dollars]. [[Special:Contributions/191.57.16.100|191.57.16.100]] 20:40, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I think you're quoting the price for Caesium metal in general, which is probably almost entirely Caesium 133; Caesium 137 is a synthetic isotope which could easily be a million times more expensive than the natural stuff, gram for gram. [[Special:Contributions/80.41.70.128|80.41.70.128]] 22:37, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
::: You're right, my bad. I couldn't find a quote for Cs137, but considering it's produced from uranium, it probably is very expensive. As for the shrimp thing, I doubt anything close to a gram of Cesium ended up in the shipment. It's probably a component from a measuring device. [[Special:Contributions/177.12.48.45|177.12.48.45]] 09:57, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:Caesium contamination usually is caused by nuclear accidents (or atmospheric nuclear weapon tests) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137#Environmental_contamination. It is unlikely that someone acquired pure Cs-137 and then "accidentally" contaminated the shrimp with that. --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 15:31, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: Cs137 can be found for approximately 20 USD per µCi, which equals 0.0000000115g. That means 1g would cost 1,739,130,435 USD. The good news is that same gram would be worth 20 USD in another 795.7 years. Although it wouldn't be all Cs-137 anymore, nor exactly a gram. [[Special:Contributions/77.173.137.243|77.173.137.243]] 21:19, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
::So, what you're saying is... not a good investment for the future, with a 99.99999885ish% depreciation (''before'' any effects of monetary inflation), on top of me also having to become somewhere roughly around 8.5 centuries old. I suppose the latter ''might'' be a plus, if you can guarantee it, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for your scheme. ;) [[Special:Contributions/84.43.20.118|84.43.20.118]] 22:04, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

Bothering the NSA shouldn't be hard, just write some of their secrets on a cake (with frosting is optional) and post it online. [[Special:Contributions/212.101.26.209|212.101.26.209]] 14:57, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: I feel like the writing on the cake is not part of its recipe. I think a more fitting way to get their attention would be "accidentally" poisoning the president with your cooking. --
[[Special:Contributions/128.31.34.92|128.31.34.92]] 22:09, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:If it gets worse, simply expressing disagreement with a certain person could get the NSA on your case. [[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]]) 02:10, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

What would IMO do, revoke your math license? [[Special:Contributions/216.73.162.10|216.73.162.10]] 15:22, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: They have numerous penalties at their disposal. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:27, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: I imagined the reason the IMO would get involved would be because the recipe created some interesting mathematical problem that could be used for the next competition. For example, something like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct3lCfgJV_A this video], where a grocery order taken too literally creates a seemingly harmless Diophantine equation whose smallest positive solutions are on the order of 10^80. [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 15:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: A cook on Air Force 1 "accidentally" contaminates Trump's fast food with cesium. The assassination attempt fails and US retaliates by invading Canada/Panama/Greenland (roll 1d3). IMO bans the US team, like they banned Russia in 2022. Thus a single cooking "accident" can get the attention of IAEA, IATA, IMO, and NSA. --[[Special:Contributions/128.31.34.92|128.31.34.92]] 22:21, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Maybe The IATA could get involved if your ruined recipe caused food poisoning on a commercial airliner that then resulted in an in-air emergency (whole flight deck passed out). {{unsigned ip|170.85.70.249|17:32, 20 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:Or if you create a column of dense toxic fumes that spreads over a wide area (on the level of a volcano eruption). On the other hand, I wonder what could bring the attention of the IMO when Terryology seemingly couldn't.--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.52.245|94.73.52.245]] 18:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

The criticality accident in 1999 at the Tokaimura nuclear facility seems like a good example of messing up a recipe in a way that draws considerable attention. {{w|Tokaimura nuclear accidents}} [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B]] 19:11, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

1. Randall creates a new way to cook airplane food that is either cheap enough or expensive enough to significantly affect airline ticket pricing. 2. Randall's recipe poisons a Math Olympiad team. 3. The coach of the team turns out to be an undercover spy. [[Special:Contributions/24.53.184.90|24.53.184.90]] 23:47, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

{{w|IATA}} is an international trade association for airlines. It's not particularly involved in air safety, except as a sideline; the {{w|International Civil Aviation Organization}} is much more involved that way. However, IATA used to be directly concerned with recipes. In the 1950s, the IATA airlines agreed on international standards for meals, under which economy class passengers would only be provided with sandwiches. However, airlines such as SAS and Swissair provided their passengers with more and better sandwiches than U.S. airlines such as Pan Am and TWA were willing to provide. Eventually IATA issued a rule that sandwiches were to be cold, simple, unadorned, and inexpensive, feature “a substantial and visible” chunk of bread, and could not include materials normally regarded as expensive or luxurious, such as smoked salmon, oysters, caviar, lobster, game, asparagus, or pate de foie gras. Providing better sandwiches than those IATA allowed could result in a fine. (The rule was later revoked to allow economy class passengers to receive hot meals.) So at one point, it was possible to mess up a sandwich recipe by adding expensive ingredients that would incur the wrath of IATA. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 00:43, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

The explanation "... if the recipe is used in major airports, and the recipe is contaminated with a drug, the pilots that eat could experience vision loss or other problems, and if this recipe is widely used and normal people won't notice much besides minor side effects, then this could attract the attention of of the IATA" does not make sense. If a recipe caused vision loss when pilots ate the food, it would also cause vision loss for non-pilots. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 00:49, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

The phrase "messing up a recipe" means whatever Randall intended it to mean. The fact that some people may use the phrase to mean to make something at home does not mean that such a definition was intended by Randall. I don't think I have ever heard "messing up a recipe" mean anything other than ruining the preparation of the food. [[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 02:55, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:Someone who ''creates'' recipes could make a mistake, publish a bad recipe, and cause problems. If a recipe left food unsafe, for example: not cooked enough to kill bacteria, left at room temperature for an unsafe time, etc. Tell people to find wild mushrooms, and that the red mushrooms with white spots are extra tasty. :-) [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:37, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

Is it possible this comic was inspired by the [https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-public-not-eat-sell-or-serve-certain-imported-frozen-shrimp-indonesian-firm recent FDA recall on certain Indonesian frozen shrimp]? [[Special:Contributions/174.21.93.112|174.21.93.112]] 03:33, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:That's noted, with that specific link, in the second sentence of the Explanation here. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:41, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
::Ack, apologies. I may be a little stupid. [[Special:Contributions/174.21.93.112|174.21.93.112]]

68 Bq/kg of Cs-137 is about 93 billions Cs-137 atoms in 1 kg of shrimp, that is about 1,5 picomole or 213 picograms. On the other hand one BED (banana equivalent dose) is ~15 Bq per piece, so eating a half pound package of this shrimp will irradiate you in the same amount as eating one banana, in terms of number of decays, but much less in terms of biological dose: potassium-40 in bananas emit beta radiation which is much more harmful when coming from ingested material than beta and gamma, roughly equally emitted by Cs-137. So this recall is on the level of emptying a reservoir after two guys pissed into it. Security theater. -- [[Special:Contributions/2620:1F7:2C04:7C44:0:0:31:3A|2620:1F7:2C04:7C44:0:0:31:3A]] 14:12, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
: Or the Dutch boy at the [deleted] dike. With the assault by Our ([https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2025/08/06/amoebas-lorica-meme-ories-68-introducing-humility/ USNA]) Government on such business-insensitive excesses as food safety, we should be grateful that the FDA is, at least for now, still capable of functioning at this level. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:5C9D:407E:3E50:C822|2605:59C8:160:DB08:5C9D:407E:3E50:C822]] 15:08, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:The advisory does say that the danger is very low. I think this is one of those "abundance of caution" things. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:35, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I mean, you can't assume each individual shrimp was mixed with the same amount of cesium. Maybe some of it got a super dose and is actually harmful. Since the general public doesn't carry around geiger counters to restaurants, I say the recall is warranted.
::: Reminds me of the tale of [https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/n3sfi6/til_in_1911_physicist_george_de_hevesy_suspected/ George de Hevesy] who effectively ''did'' take a geiger counter to the (boarding house) dining table... But, then, he was suspecting that something would be found. Different times! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.60|82.132.236.60]] 15:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I think the fact that there is any cs137 in the shrimp at all is concerning. Where is it coming from? Did someone dump spent nuclear fuel near a fishery? How much and for how long? [[Special:Contributions/177.12.48.45|177.12.48.45]] 14:45, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
::: Not read the incident report, maybe it says there. But it's quite possible that some stage of processing uses a radiation source to scan the load of shrimp for unwanted debris (pass it under the emitter, if any significant bits of metal/dirt is in the supply, it'll cause a notable fluctuation in the detector beneath), ''or'' perhaps to asses the mass distribution (if the water content is enough to moderate the source-to-detector signal in a relatable manner, it could accurately estimate the quantity of shrimp passing by continuously, where weighing is less practical/accurate given the volume and continuous movement; ''or'' it might even track the average ''size'' of shrimp, for grading purposes). They do use small amounts of isotopes for that kind of thing. Amerecium is famouspy used in smoke-detectors/alarms, and other radionuclides (chosen for their particular mix of alpha/beta/gamma radiation, availability and sufficient half-life to match the product use-span.
::: Now imagine what if, perhaps ironically, the emitter capsule vibrated loose (or was dropped, in the midst of a swap-out of an 'old' one, and for some reason the person wldoing it didn't feel the need to emergency-stop the line) and got into the supply chain, either fragmenting or leaching out (as heat and cold, and perhaps mechanical pressures, further prepared the shrimp-load, now with added debris). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.60|82.132.236.60]] 15:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

Mooseberry fudge cake batter could very easily get the attention of the International Air Transport Association and possibly the NSA. As well as the Pottsylvania espionage community. [[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 06:27, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3122: Bad Map Projection: Interrupted Spheres

2025-08-03T01:57:52Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Global question.

Where's Greenland? [[User:SubtrEM|SubtrEM]] ([[User talk:SubtrEM|talk]]) 20:00, 30 July 2025 (UTC)
:It is on the backside of North America globe of course. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:49, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

My first edit! Hope it's ok! [[User:Jkusa.jr| Jkusa.jr]] 08:12, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Wait, maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like there's actually a good map idea here? If you made proper globes centered on each continent.... Does this exist? [[Special:Contributions/2601:241:8002:3E0:CE5:D9D:CF64:76FD|2601:241:8002:3E0:CE5:D9D:CF64:76FD]] 21:36, 30 July 2025 (UTC)
:Well... that is what a globe is. You just turn it until it is on the continent you wish and look from the right angel ;-) Drawing a globe on a paper does nothing to remove the distortion from normal flat maps. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:49, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

Not sure what the joke is! Another dis of the concept of continents? [[Special:Contributions/2A09:BAC3:9C1B:1955:0:0:286:B1|2A09:BAC3:9C1B:1955:0:0:286:B1]] 22:01, 30 July 2025 (UTC)
:It is a bad map projection. That is a joke in it self. Another way to badly draw a map, that is the ongoing joke. Of course there is also the silly joke in the title text like the Earth is actually spread over 7 spheres. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:50, 31 July 2025 (UTC)
::The thing is, attempts to translate a full sphere to a flat map requires various compromises (e.g. points that are close in real life may appear far apart on the map). Translating subsets of a full sphere out onto their own complete spheres technically requires the ''opposite'' type of compromises (e.g. points that are far apart in real life are now very close...). And add to that inevitable choice of angular and area distortions. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.235|82.132.244.235]] 10:12, 31 July 2025 (UTC)
:::It sometimes ''does'' feel as if a lot of people around the world were living on different planets, so we might as well go all out with the concept. Makes sense to me. [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 11:59, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

Yet another map that ignores/erases New Zeeland. {{unsigned|ProfKrueger|01:28, 31 July 2025}}
:No it doesn't ignore it. Just like Greenland is on the other side of the globe in North America so is NZ on the other side of Australias globe. You cannot either see Sydney or Tasmania or LA or other Western states in the US. In Europe you cannot see most of Scandinavia (although the important part is there ... Denmark ;-) and Madagascar is also left our near Africa as is the entire middle east and most of Russia. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:49, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

Thought Randall was becoming political leaving out N.Korea, Middle east, and Russia; then noticed the colossal China...--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:42, 31 July 2025 (UTC)
:He also shows, the soon to be dictator ruled country, US, so he is not having any problems showing those kind of countries :-p --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:49, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

What are those islands that I see in the center of the Antarctica globe? [[Special:Contributions/67.82.132.47|67.82.132.47]] 13:15, 31 July 2025 (UTC)
:The largest is {{w|Berkner Island}}. Mostly trapped in the RF-Ice Shelf, under normal viewing conditions and even many maps, but here represented with the whole of the Weddel Sea as if 'open' all the way through it, and not just featureless ice-sheet over both 'land' and watee. Over on the other side of Palmer's Land, as another notable feature (the characteristic long peninsula), is Alexander Island, and other semi-ilsand masses; up-of-centre on the left, as we see the Antarctic-Globe view. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.41|82.132.245.41]] 14:12, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

I love this! Bad Map Projection returns, now with all 7 continents on 7 globes. Still better than the Gall-Peters Projection! [[User:Strontium|Strontium]] ([[User talk:Strontium|talk]]) 19:45, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

It seems as if the continents aren't centered on their individual globes. Should they be? [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:57, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3120: Geologic Periods

2025-07-30T03:00:32Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Removed a comment as a result of others' edits.

Discovered this explanation fresh off the griddle. The transcript doesn't even exist yet wow. Also, hi! This is my first time commenting! Did I do it right? [[User:Giraffequeries|Giraffequeries]] ([[User talk:Giraffequeries|talk]]) 22:54, 25 July 2025 (UTC)
:(Yes, looks like you did.)
:A couple of hours on, and nobody's attempted the Transcript yet. If you're still around right now-ish and you've got more time than everyone elses seems to have (including me, sorry), that could be your next thing.
:Check prior Transcripts for the right kind of way (and a few wrongs, but hey?), and imagine the words+'markup' being read through the hypothetical screen-readers. That might not know how to 'audible' a table, may at best shout/stress '''bold-strong'''/''italics-emphasis'', but perhaps not correctly.
:But just getting the words down helps the next soul with a few more minutes at hand. Any normal weekend, I'd be happy to do it right now, but I've got to be up in five hours, and I mildly regret just checking right now to see if I might have missed the latest comic popping up when it was a bit earlier and I was prepping my weekend bags. :) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:49, 26 July 2025 (UTC)
:Darn, forgot to say my intended actual personal comment I was just going to add. i.e.: Looks like Randall hasn't forgotten about Raptors! Anyway, goodnight/early-morning (my time).... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:53, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

I've done my part. Also, Raptors [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 02:20, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Did anyone else google "The Great Dying"? How about "Manicouagan"? How about "Picture of a dinosaur eating a burrito" (just to prove Randall wrong)?
: Ask and you shall receive (shitty AI pic made in five seconds): https://imgur.com/a/4lVKoqD [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3|2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3]] 18:30, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Who wrote this? Tanystropheus wasn't a dinosaur!
[[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 03:28, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Given that this wiki doesn't really like tables, and this one is formatted rather simply, maybe we should just transfer its content to the transcript and retain only explanations in the main part, as separate paragraphs? [[User:Cock|The Rooster]] ([[User talk:Cock|talk]]) 08:41, 26 July 2025 (UTC)
:What are you talking about. This wiki loves tables! And it is used extensively. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:07, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Yeah I'm not sure what to do for transcript, comic 2627 is in similar style but not sure if we necessarily want it like that.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:18, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Just a small explanation to the Quarternary/Tertiary naming issue because this has become rather obscure and is seldomly spelled out in newer geology textbooks: When the first geologists came up with a table of geologic epochs it consisted of four parts: "Primary", "Secondary", "Tertiary" and "Quarternary". Only the last two names have survived into our time, because the first two parts became split up into the systems that we still use today rather quickly. This is also the main reason that most stratigraphers want to get rid of the terms Tertiary and Quarternary and why Paleogene/Neogene were invented instead. [[Special:Contributions/2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286|2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286]] 14:46, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Burrito? Surely not, everyone knows its "soft toilet tissue"
[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B|2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B]] 10:08, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

I don't know why he doesn't like the Zanclean flood. It would have been a spectacular sight had anyone been around to see it.[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528|2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528]] 16:44, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

Should the explanation of the Zanclean flood have some sort of reference to [[1190: Time]]? [[User:Morgan Wick|Morgan Wick]] ([[User talk:Morgan Wick|talk]]) 00:38, 28 July 2025 (UTC)
:That would be obvious and could explain his dislike mentioned above. Lots of animals would have died during this event. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:07, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I have deleted my previous comment, as it was in response to text in the Explanation that no longer exists. [[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]]) 03:00, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Randall is wrong - parisitoid wasps are ''very'' cool. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:14, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

The Quaternary is obviously so called because it's the period of Quatermass. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:46, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

If y'all disagree with my docutainment interpretation, feel free to erase it again of course, but the common denominator in Randall's table here really ''is'' each period's entertainment value as a focal point. Also, I'd like to add that it's not a bad thing at all for a documentary to be entertaining; quite the opposite. For example, I might never have studied geography if it wasn't for films about interesting foreign places and cool-looking books about volcanoes and dinosaurs and weather, all of which I devoured in my childhood. [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 20:54, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

: Whatever the inspiration, Randall has been using the table as a comic device for a powerful long time, see the category Charts on this wiki, and i.a. the comics 181: Interblag (20061108) and 394: Kilobyte (20080310). [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:8552:7338:3C0A:5AFC|2605:59C8:160:DB08:8552:7338:3C0A:5AFC]] 06:34, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3120: Geologic Periods

2025-07-28T03:31:24Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Fixed awkward wording.

Discovered this explanation fresh off the griddle. The transcript doesn't even exist yet wow. Also, hi! This is my first time commenting! Did I do it right? [[User:Giraffequeries|Giraffequeries]] ([[User talk:Giraffequeries|talk]]) 22:54, 25 July 2025 (UTC)
:(Yes, looks like you did.)
:A couple of hours on, and nobody's attempted the Transcript yet. If you're still around right now-ish and you've got more time than everyone elses seems to have (including me, sorry), that could be your next thing.
:Check prior Transcripts for the right kind of way (and a few wrongs, but hey?), and imagine the words+'markup' being read through the hypothetical screen-readers. That might not know how to 'audible' a table, may at best shout/stress '''bold-strong'''/''italics-emphasis'', but perhaps not correctly.
:But just getting the words down helps the next soul with a few more minutes at hand. Any normal weekend, I'd be happy to do it right now, but I've got to be up in five hours, and I mildly regret just checking right now to see if I might have missed the latest comic popping up when it was a bit earlier and I was prepping my weekend bags. :) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:49, 26 July 2025 (UTC)
:Darn, forgot to say my intended actual personal comment I was just going to add. i.e.: Looks like Randall hasn't forgotten about Raptors! Anyway, goodnight/early-morning (my time).... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:53, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

I've done my part. Also, Raptors [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 02:20, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Did anyone else google "The Great Dying"? How about "Manicouagan"? How about "Picture of a dinosaur eating a burrito" (just to prove Randall wrong)?
: Ask and you shall receive (shitty AI pic made in five seconds): https://imgur.com/a/4lVKoqD [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3|2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3]] 18:30, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Who wrote this? Tanystropheus wasn't a dinosaur!
[[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 03:28, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Given that this wiki doesn't really like tables, and this one is formatted rather simply, maybe we should just transfer its content to the transcript and retain only explanations in the main part, as separate paragraphs? [[User:Cock|The Rooster]] ([[User talk:Cock|talk]]) 08:41, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Yeah I'm not sure what to do for transcript, comic 2627 is in similar style but not sure if we necessarily want it like that.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:18, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Just a small explanation to the Quarternary/Tertiary naming issue because this has become rather obscure and is seldomly spelled out in newer geology textbooks: When the first geologists came up with a table of geologic epochs it consisted of four parts: "Primary", "Secondary", "Tertiary" and "Quarternary". Only the last two names have survived into our time, because the first two parts became split up into the systems that we still use today rather quickly. This is also the main reason that most stratigraphers want to get rid of the terms Tertiary and Quarternary and why Paleogene/Neogene were invented instead. [[Special:Contributions/2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286|2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286]] 14:46, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Burrito? Surely not, everyone knows its "soft toilet tissue"
[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B|2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B]] 10:08, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

I don't know why he doesn't like the Zanclean flood. It would have been a spectacular sight had anyone been around to see it.[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528|2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528]] 16:44, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

Should the explanation of the Zanclean flood have some sort of reference to [[1190: Time]]? [[User:Morgan Wick|Morgan Wick]] ([[User talk:Morgan Wick|talk]]) 00:38, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I have never before contemplated the possibility of trilobites having riz! :) However, young women cosplaying as My Little Pony characters on social media? Definite riz. [[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]]) 03:20, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3120: Geologic Periods

2025-07-28T03:27:29Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Spelling correction

Discovered this explanation fresh off the griddle. The transcript doesn't even exist yet wow. Also, hi! This is my first time commenting! Did I do it right? [[User:Giraffequeries|Giraffequeries]] ([[User talk:Giraffequeries|talk]]) 22:54, 25 July 2025 (UTC)
:(Yes, looks like you did.)
:A couple of hours on, and nobody's attempted the Transcript yet. If you're still around right now-ish and you've got more time than everyone elses seems to have (including me, sorry), that could be your next thing.
:Check prior Transcripts for the right kind of way (and a few wrongs, but hey?), and imagine the words+'markup' being read through the hypothetical screen-readers. That might not know how to 'audible' a table, may at best shout/stress '''bold-strong'''/''italics-emphasis'', but perhaps not correctly.
:But just getting the words down helps the next soul with a few more minutes at hand. Any normal weekend, I'd be happy to do it right now, but I've got to be up in five hours, and I mildly regret just checking right now to see if I might have missed the latest comic popping up when it was a bit earlier and I was prepping my weekend bags. :) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:49, 26 July 2025 (UTC)
:Darn, forgot to say my intended actual personal comment I was just going to add. i.e.: Looks like Randall hasn't forgotten about Raptors! Anyway, goodnight/early-morning (my time).... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:53, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

I've done my part. Also, Raptors [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 02:20, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Did anyone else google "The Great Dying"? How about "Manicouagan"? How about "Picture of a dinosaur eating a burrito" (just to prove Randall wrong)?
: Ask and you shall receive (shitty AI pic made in five seconds): https://imgur.com/a/4lVKoqD [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3|2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3]] 18:30, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Who wrote this? Tanystropheus wasn't a dinosaur!
[[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 03:28, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Given that this wiki doesn't really like tables, and this one is formatted rather simply, maybe we should just transfer its content to the transcript and retain only explanations in the main part, as separate paragraphs? [[User:Cock|The Rooster]] ([[User talk:Cock|talk]]) 08:41, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Yeah I'm not sure what to do for transcript, comic 2627 is in similar style but not sure if we necessarily want it like that.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:18, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Just a small explanation to the Quarternary/Tertiary naming issue because this has become rather obscure and is seldomly spelled out in newer geology textbooks: When the first geologists came up with a table of geologic epochs it consisted of four parts: "Primary", "Secondary", "Tertiary" and "Quarternary". Only the last two names have survived into our time, because the first two parts became split up into the systems that we still use today rather quickly. This is also the main reason that most stratigraphers want to get rid of the terms Tertiary and Quarternary and why Paleogene/Neogene were invented instead. [[Special:Contributions/2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286|2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286]] 14:46, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Burrito? Surely not, everyone knows its "soft toilet tissue"
[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B|2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B]] 10:08, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

I don't know why he doesn't like the Zanclean flood. It would have been a spectacular sight had anyone been around to see it.[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528|2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528]] 16:44, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

Should the explanation of the Zanclean flood have some sort of reference to [[1190: Time]]? [[User:Morgan Wick|Morgan Wick]] ([[User talk:Morgan Wick|talk]]) 00:38, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I have never before contemplated the possibility of trilobites having riz! :) However, young ladies cosplaying as My Little Pony characters on social media? Definite riz. [[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]]) 03:20, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3120: Geologic Periods

2025-07-28T03:20:36Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Unexpected riz.

Discovered this explanation fresh off the griddle. The transcript doesn't even exist yet wow. Also, hi! This is my first time commenting! Did I do it right? [[User:Giraffequeries|Giraffequeries]] ([[User talk:Giraffequeries|talk]]) 22:54, 25 July 2025 (UTC)
:(Yes, looks like you did.)
:A couple of hours on, and nobody's attempted the Transcript yet. If you're still around right now-ish and you've got more time than everyone elses seems to have (including me, sorry), that could be your next thing.
:Check prior Transcripts for the right kind of way (and a few wrongs, but hey?), and imagine the words+'markup' being read through the hypothetical screen-readers. That might not know how to 'audible' a table, may at best shout/stress '''bold-strong'''/''italics-emphasis'', but perhaps not correctly.
:But just getting the words down helps the next soul with a few more minutes at hand. Any normal weekend, I'd be happy to do it right now, but I've got to be up in five hours, and I mildly regret just checking right now to see if I might have missed the latest comic popping up when it was a bit earlier and I was prepping my weekend bags. :) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:49, 26 July 2025 (UTC)
:Darn, forgot to say my intended actual personal comment I was just going to add. i.e.: Looks like Randall hasn't forgotten about Raptors! Anyway, goodnight/early-morning (my time).... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.123|82.132.236.123]] 01:53, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

I've done my part. Also, Raptors [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 02:20, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Did anyone else google "The Great Dying"? How about "Manicouagan"? How about "Picture of a dinosaur eating a burrito" (just to prove Randall wrong)?
: Ask and you shall receive (shitty AI pic made in five seconds): https://imgur.com/a/4lVKoqD [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3|2A02:2455:1960:4000:1972:32FB:7958:52D3]] 18:30, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Who wrote this? Tanystropheus wasn't a dinosaur!
[[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 03:28, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Given that this wiki doesn't really like tables, and this one is formatted rather simply, maybe we should just transfer its content to the transcript and retain only explanations in the main part, as separate paragraphs? [[User:Cock|The Rooster]] ([[User talk:Cock|talk]]) 08:41, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Yeah I'm not sure what to do for transcript, comic 2627 is in similar style but not sure if we necessarily want it like that.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:18, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Just a small explanation to the Quarternary/Tertiary naming issue because this has become rather obscure and is seldomly spelled out in newer geology textbooks: When the first geologists came up with a table of geologic epochs it consisted of four parts: "Primary", "Secondary", "Tertiary" and "Quarternary". Only the last two names have survived into our time, because the first two parts became split up into the systems that we still use today rather quickly. This is also the main reason that most stratigraphers want to get rid of the terms Tertiary and Quarternary and why Paleogene/Neogene were invented instead. [[Special:Contributions/2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286|2003:DD:472A:5500:35F8:1CD8:D274:E286]] 14:46, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Burrito? Surely not, everyone knows its "soft toilet tissue"
[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B|2A00:23C8:252D:A301:B573:A9F2:E80C:711B]] 10:08, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

I don't know why he doesn't like the Zanclean flood. It would have been a spectacular sight had anyone been around to see it.[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528|2A02:8388:1701:E100:60D1:5BC3:D420:5528]] 16:44, 27 July 2025 (UTC)

Should the explanation of the Zanclean flood have some sort of reference to [[1190: Time]]? [[User:Morgan Wick|Morgan Wick]] ([[User talk:Morgan Wick|talk]]) 00:38, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I have never before contemplated the possibility of trilobites having riz! :) However, young ladies cosplaying as My Little Pony characters on social media? Definate riz. [[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]]) 03:20, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3093: Drafting

2025-05-25T16:35:05Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: More info and a suggestion

The efficiency loss is presuamably because the exhaust from the lead rocket is pushing back on the following rocket. It's also really hot, so the follower may be destroyed. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:27, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Anyone else getting lots of "site is experiencing difficulties" errors [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:28, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
:Yes. It must be drafting behind another, more powerful rocket-themed web page and was experiencing some of that "99% inefficiency." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.136|172.68.26.136]] 15:56, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
: " getting lots of "site is experiencing difficulties" errors " Yes. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 16:22, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
:Yes. From the experience of another forum I'm in, it's probably a sudden uptick on (possibly AI-feeding?) site-scraping. On that site, the number of viewers suddenly increased from a few hundred people online, maximum, at any given time, to tens of thousands. The owner of the site put an additional "are you human" check in the way (after about a week of it), and it fell back to less than a hundred simultaneous connections (not that far off the actual observable user-traffic, with a couple of handfuls of Guest lurkers at any given time, rather than the pre-slowdown peaks of three or four times the provably genuine users).
:That site didn't have Cloudflare, unlike here, and didn't use that as a solution. I would have ''hoped'' that this would have mitigated it here, though. Possibly, however, things could have already been hundreds of times worse without it as it is, hard to know for sure.
:And though my reasoning of the cause is just a guess, I'm sure others have noticed that the amount of 503/Connection Issue responses we're getting has substantially reduced the spam-level numbers of "goes nowhere, does nothing" new accounts that this site tends to get (its other anti-spam protections having long since prevented most of those from doing anything, while still seemingly allowing genuine users to interact). Hard to fully qualify that as a positive, but I suspect that genuinely driven 'honest editors' are more likely to persevere and get past the current bottlenecks, so it might (in certain, rather limited, terms) ''improve'' the editing experience. (The other site started to be ''really'' hammered (to then prompt calls for its subsequent changes) on 11/May, which seems to me to coincide very closely with the drop in new spam-style account names on here, which seems to corroborate it being the same global issue causing both sites problems.)
:Not that I wouldn't appreciate less of the 503s/etc. It definitely is a direct annoyance. Which I can't see being solved any time soon (if Cloudflare doesn't blanket add to its proxying protections, itself). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.49|172.68.229.49]] 16:34, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
::Also here. Had to reload the page three times before I could begin writing. And will likely have to reload or try again several times before this is posted --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:06, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Added notes on difference between friction and expellant propulsion [[Special:Contributions/172.69.212.151|172.69.212.151]] 16:14, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Just a comment about drafting and cycle-sport. It might be used in peletons and certain velodrome events (i.e. not "pursuit" ones). But in my own part of the sport, time-trialling, it is actually ''not allowed'' (excepting in team time-trials), as competitors that have just been passed by a faster rider are not supposed to hang on (figuratively, of course) to their wheel. Nor should you try to catch your minute-man just so that you can stick behind them. Also, the rules on the amount of traffic allowed on the roads during an event, as well as being a direct safety aspect on the busiest of roads, are meant to remove any excessive advantage from passing traffic (especially lorries) pushing/pulling the competitors along. This doesn't mean that the occasional ride won't get some assistance. A fast tractor may be too slow for a fast rider to stay behind, who would really need to pass it when safe to do so, but could be going just fast enough for a slower one to benefit (but at the risk of being spotted doing so and the issue addressed appropriately). But competitor-on-competitor co-pacing (or accompanied riding of any other unofficial kind) is ''definitely a no-no''. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.49|172.68.229.49]] 16:34, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

This comic made me think of this video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yuMcAS_wRRQ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.212.145|172.69.212.145]] 17:45, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

The exhaust of the lead rocket might increase the density of the gas around the following rocket, thus affecting the efficiency of the following rocket's engine. (Giving the effect of being at a lower altitude if in atmospheric flight.) Rockets generally are less efficient in higher density atmosphere, and are designed for a particular density.
If the following rocket was close enough, it might alter the efficiency of the lead rocket by increasing density near the lead rockets engine, or by providing something similar to ground effect for the lead rocket. (The extent of such effects would also depend on any atmosphere.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.19|108.162.245.19]] 19:12, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Since rockets often travel at supersonic speeds, it seems like the costs and benefits of drafting might be altered, compared to land vehicles drafting at subsonic speeds. (Would both rockets have shock waves in front, would the shockwave from the trailing rocket interact with the first rocket, ...) Seems like it would be worth mentioning, but I couldn't find much about supersonic slipstreaming. Since I am not a rocket scientist, I wouldn't hazard a guess what might happen. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.115|162.158.41.115]] 19:35, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

I am aware that bicycle races exist and except for occasional articles about cheating (the most interesting method was extracting one's red blood cells, storing up quite a lot, and putting them back in right before the race) don't care. Geese. Drafting is why I see a vee of geese where the leader peels back and becomes a follower accompanied by a bunch of geese that are just a flock. I think that fighter planes can use drafting. I've noticed the effect when a semi blows past me.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.202|172.71.222.202]] 06:26, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

Ironically, Elon Musk has just announced that when the Starship hot-stages from the Super Heavy (meaning one rocket closely following another, both with engines firing, much like the picture), some of the vent ports at the top of the Super Heavy will be blocked so that the thrust from Starship will come out directionally and push the Super Heavy in a predictable direction... thus increasing its efficiency! [[User:Cphoenix|Cphoenix]] ([[User talk:Cphoenix|talk]]) 06:43, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

Also people seem to be ignoring a comically enormous flaw with this method (no matter how well the exhaust of the leading rocket would provide a slipstream -- or obstacle -- for the trailing rocket): it requires TWO rockets. For example, let's assume drafting works perfectly with cars and such, to the point that the trailing car uses no fuel at all, which would be an incredible efficiency increase. It is not a reasonable idea to suggest improving your car efficiency like that by buying a second (bigger) car and having it somehow drive in front of yours, since it would cost you the second car and the fuel for the second car. With cars, it isn't unreasonable to expect maybe a second vehicle will be going the same path and create that slipstream for you, but rockets aren't as widespread, so at most this would only be applicable (with dubious results as the other commenters point out) if mission planners grouped various launches together at the same time so the launch of one mission would benefit from the launch of another mission (with the starting launch always having to pay the full price for their launch). {{unsigned ip|162.158.122.196|07:07, 24 May 2025}}
:If 'rocket drafting' worked like vehicle drafting, but the {{w|Tsiolkovsky rocket equation|Rocket Equation}} ''also'' applied, then conceivably (especially if you get towards 100% efficiency for the dragged vehicle) you'd be able to deliver a whole lot more mass (either unspent fuel or extra cargo with less fuel) to the point at which the guide-rocket has to peel off. It might be considered similar to adding extra disposable lower-stages to the rearwards rocket, instead of giving it a forwards one, but without the need for ''those'' stages to effectively have the payload capacity to carry a (significantly) passive assisted rocket on ''their'' nose.
:(In fact, because a drafting vehicle can smooth the turbulent drag behind the lead vehicle, improving ''both'' their effective efficiencies, if tucked in just right behind the right kind of vehicle, sending two rockets up in tandem would (with such mythical 'drafting' in operation) potentially get both loads up further (and/or with more liftable mass) than either alone. So be sending a rocket up to LEO and trailing it with one that you want to go to GEO, the conceipt would be that you can do the both better. Or just get two up to LEO/GEO/wherever but with less fuel than two missions. And, indeed, we see that the front rocket is probably a 2+2b configuration, and the rear one is probably just a 2-stage (give or take any 'orbital bus' stage, within each faring), so the expectations may be that a normally insufficient unboosted lower rocket is achieving an orbit (or even eventually escape from Earth to lunar/inter-planatery transfer) that normally it would ''absolutely'' require its own additional boosters/third-stages+ for.)
:Of course, rocket drafting as paridied here is bunkum (not helpful, and probably counterproductive). At best, the following rocket could be used to nudge (physically, or by bringing in its supersonic shockwave in close enough behind the lead to lend impetous to the front rocket's rearward thrust) and act as an additional 'loose booster' to add to the initial rocket's eventual travel. But the engineering, and coordination, behind that is very much less ...useful... than just designing the first rocket configuration to have ''extra'' extra boosters (like the Energia base stage, rather than the reduced Energia-M version, say), or creating extra stages for the stack (effectively like converting a Saturn-IB into a Saturn-V, though that did involve far more change than pushing a new Stage-1 onto the bottom of the original two). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.226|141.101.98.226]] 09:53, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

When cyclists start having afterburner set up, the same problem will occur on TourDeFrance. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.252|172.71.122.252]] 15:32, 24 May 2025 (UTC)
:When geese get afterburners, will hunters bring home pre-cooked birds? Obligatory note to hunters: Some geese are legally protected in some countries. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.88|172.71.167.88]] 18:43, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

Biggest advantage: You can toast marshmallows on the way up as well as down. [[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 17:19, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

Only cycling and geese have been mentioned in regards to real-world drafting, but it is immensely important to most forms of auto racing. Drafting is the reason you see packs of 20 or so cars driving nose to tail during NASCAR oval track races. For more: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70s1Zycr_x0 Drag & Drafting | NASCAR Science of Speed (National Science Foundation News)] [[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]]) 16:35, 25 May 2025 (UTC)

Suggestion to move the comments regarding the site difficulties down to the bottom of the page under the topic '''"Temporary Site Difficulties Coincidental to This Page"'''. Once they are over there is Zero reason for them to remain, and should be removed to avoid confusion. [[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]]) 16:35, 25 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3092: Baker's Units

2025-05-25T02:05:29Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Ignore Dad. :)

Why did he go with only 9/13ths of a Baker's List? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.8|172.69.65.8]] 23:48, 21 May 2025 (UTC)
:This suggests that the "expected" length of a list is 12. [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 07:24, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

A ruler for a "baker's foot" is, apparently, similar to a metal casting patternmaker's {{w|shrink rule}}, although in practice those top out at 2.5%, versus 13/12ths or 8.{3}%. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 23:59, 21 May 2025 (UTC)

It appears to me like g marked by the g-clef is on the second space making the notes b and c which wound be 13 semitones apart. Two compensating errors or just a bit more cleverness for lagniappe?[[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 01:07, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

There's also baker's percentages. All the ingredients are defined as a percentage of the weight of the flour. So if you have 1kg (1000gr) of flour and 600ml (gr) of water then the water is said to be 60% hydration.

<blockquote>"which are not Platonic solids and cannot be used as dice due to having multiple face types, rendering dice-based games unbalanced"</blockquote>
Being a platonic solid is sufficient, but not necessary, for a fair die. The simplest shape for a fair 13-sided die that I can think of off the top of my head is two 6-sided pyramids joined at the base, with one of them truncated for the 13th side. To make it fair, the lengths of the pyramids and the truncation would have to be fine-tuned, but that's certainly possible. Where's John von Neumann when you need him? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 10:45, 22 May 2025 (UTC)
:I'd imagined two 6SPs joined by a ''barrel'' (maybe a smooth ring, maybe a set of squares/triangles for either a primsatic or anti-prismatic hexagonal-faced centre-section, but all the way round counting for the same 'roll', either way.) Too short, the chances of landing on the 'edge' is greatly lowered, too long a mid-section, it'll be almost impossible to land anywhere ''but'' on it (imagine a pencil, sharpened at both ends).
:Thus there's a point where a symmetrical (lengthwise, as well as by rotations) shape has ''just enough'' 'middle band' to have equal chances of landing with that as with any other single 'point ends' face (landed on; with it being prismatic, an obvious and readable 'face-up' also presenting itself).
:But it'd be a tight specification, perhaps need emperical testing. The angle between adjacent 'pointy end' triangles with each other would be different from the angle between any of them and the 'barrel', so sharper or rounder edges between faces (not an issue with platonics, as the rolling-resistance is equal by all edge-/corner-intersections being exactly as equal as the faces are) could decrease or increase the probability of mid-roll tumbling. As could deliberately rolling along the prismatic axis to either try to stay on 'that face' or to make it more likely thst the random-walk of tumbles sends it off it (I'd have to run a few simulations; either bias, ''or both'', might be easiest to manipulate by a bit of practiced handling).
:I do rather envisage it being 'numbered' as having +1..+6 and -1 to -6 on the pyramidal ends (by tradition, every +n is on the opposite triangle of the opposite pyramid to its -n counterpart, but you can alternate +s and -s between adjacent pyramid faces), and 0 on the mid-section, so that it'll give symmetrical chance distribution across the good/bad range, which might make the "natural zero" midpoint a not quite so vital number to ensure is as strictly equally likely as all the others. Alternatively, 1..12 (similarly distributed to add up to 13 when taking sat-upon and face-up together) leaves either 13 (beyond-lucky) or 0 (the ''most'' critical of fails) on the ring which is ''deliberately'' mad less-likely to get.
:For even better game-symmetry, supply ''two'' "D12±" dice, design your system on rolling them in pairs. Rolling ''either'' the 0 on the 0..12 ''or'' 13 on the 1..13 gives you the critical [failure|success] on top of the sum-of-the-dice result. Rolling ''both'' 0 and 13 invokes a "critical funny" result (or a "fortunate fail"/"pyrrhic success"), in whatever way suits the game style, current encounter or even the scenario/plot's ultimate challenge. (To contrast a Toons-type game from a Paranoia one, or a straight-up Dungeon-Dive where extreme peril/hilarity needs to be more tightly modulated by the GM.)
:Of course, I'm generally working on the assumption that "12 (or 13) is good, 1 (or 0) is bad", but there's nothing to say the D13 rolls are ''for the players'', and a D13 with a ''higher''-than-normal chance of a 13 would be just the thing for a Horror-themed RPG, invoking the latest plot-stage of whatever cthuluesque escalation is lurking and awaiting the (un?)wary players. I've played all kinds of dice-led games (favourite variation, amongst them is "Babylon 5 dice" - roll two D6, one red, one green... ''lowest'' pips counts, dice-colour dictates if it's positive or negative (upon the baseline for the task attempted), equal dice is zero-offset ''except'' for double-6/double-1 which are critical success/failure ...all nicely symmetrical, as a modified version of a 2D6 distribution 'around' the result of 7), and a 'cursed dice' would not even be amongst the strangest treatments I've seen. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.224.82|172.69.224.82]] 13:35, 22 May 2025 (UTC)
Is “baker’s noon” a distant jab at Daylight Saving Time? [[User:HaruruChanDesu|HaruruChanDesu]] ([[User talk:HaruruChanDesu|talk]]) 08:52, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

The clef in the Baker's Octave seems to mark the *gap* between 2nd and 3rd line from the bottom. A normal treble clef has a "ring" part spanning two line gaps, with the "dot" pinning the G to the middle line. This one is closer to a one-gap ring with the dot in the gap. That might be a layman's excusable sloppiness ... or it could well be intentional. In the latter case, the notes shown would indeed be B3 and C5, making the interval a 13-semitone minor 9th. [[User:Sesc|Sesc]] ([[User talk:Sesc|talk]]) 09:46, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Couldn't you also get a Baker's Octave by spacing your notes at root13(2) instead of the traditional semitone at root12(2) apart?

My main objection to the possibility of giving out not-quite-a-dozen loaves (whether 'rectangular tin' type or round 'farmhouse loaves', whatever the style of loaf a contemporary baker would have produced in that era) is that it is ''very'' easy to visually confirm a dozen regularly-sized items, because a dozen is so much easier to visualise: A 3x4 array (square or skewed) is ''very'' easy to compare to one with one item missing (even if you have difficulty with 2x5 stretching out too far to stay unragged and even, when you can't even count as far as the fingers on one hand). Even piled up, 2x2x3 (whichever way the '3' lies) works well. (Put in a square pyramid, for the ''really'' fancy, three layers gives 14, so removing the pinacle for a 3x3 with only 2x2 on top could give 13, but why not take off/leave one more? Triangularly pyramid-stacked, say for round-loaves, three stable layers is 10, so add a couple more. Four stacks of 2-and-1 or two stacks of 3-2-and-1 'vertical wedge's would give you 12 without exceeding any easy counting. Of course, the disnumerate would have to learn "the patterns", all of which would be less obvious than a flat or stacked purely square-based array.) But who are these bakers who are baking in bulk (presumably with a ''degree'' of consistency between their loaves/other-baked-products) and frequently ''selling in bulk'' (as opposed to a farthing or ha'penny loaf, or two, per average household per day, so probably a sufficiently large ''landed'' household with staff/servants, yet not large enough to have a dedicated in-house baker/cooking-staff doing their own on-demand baking) that they're regularly and rapidly passing over handfulls of larye, loose baked-product over the counter and yet aren't taking just enough extra effort to ensure that they're not diddling the customer (or, more of immediate concern, diddling themselves through sheer carelessness!). And not in a manner that even only the partially-numerate (both sides of of the purchase?) can easily and correctly judge by eye (to consistently bake decent loaves, you're probably going to get ''very'' good at judging relative volumes/weights of even powders!). - And, here's a practical excercise: get a bucket of tennis balls (or anything large enough for one to occupy a hand) and manually transfer them from that bucket to another. I bet most people will dive in with both hands and grab two at a time in synchrony (or stocato left-right/left-right/..., or vice-versa). Very hard to do that ''almost'' six times and end up with an off by one error. Do it enough times, perhaps you even tend to grab two balls, use them to support a third between them to transfer ''three'' in each transfer... Hup, hup, hup, hup! That's your dozen, and bread can be handled in the same manner (careful not to damage the crust...). Small enough balls(/pastries), or big enough hands, to fit two in each hand? "Hup, hup, hup" will do your dozen, and you'll ''already'' know if your grabs failed to hold two of them (whether by overgrab, side-grab, scooping up, etc). ...I'm far more convinced that the (or, at least, ''a'') true source of the Baker's Dozen was just as a "Loss Leader". For those who ''could'' buy such items (one of the few daily essentials that could be "mass produced", in a way) a dozen at a time, they were given an extra item for being a good customer. A little extra goodwill, with a loss of potential profit on that single transaction (8⅓% of gross) less than a typical tythe (⅒th, 10%). (Not that tythes worked that way, exactly.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.166|172.70.163.166]] 12:07, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
: It is actually easy to count to 12 on one hand, just use the thumb to count the bones in the other fingers. It even leaves the other hand free to transfer whatever you're counting. (Western culture simply sucks at counting on fingers.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.164.102|172.71.164.102]] 06:20, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

My understanding of it was that it was to avoid shorting the customer by weight, not by count. There can be non-negligible variance in the weight of baked loaves/rolls even if the dough weight was identical, and there's also plenty of potential for error in the dough weight. But it's extremely unlikely that the weights will be off by enough that a 13th item won't make up the possible shortfall. Looking it up, this seems to be the leading theory, but there's no definite confirmation from historical sources. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.42.117|162.158.42.117]] 23:00, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

My nana told me the 13th loaf in a bakers dozen was to make up for any shortfall in the weight of the loaves. I never heard that a baker would be penalized if he charged for 12 but gave you 11. If the buyer does not count the loaves, nana would say that is the buyer's fault. Nana was from the old country. {{unsigned ip|162.158.167.191|04:31, 24 May 2025}}

''Title text: 169 is a baker's gross.'' I thought a Baker's gross described a disqusting pastry. [[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]]) 02:05, 25 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3086: Globe Safety

2025-05-11T00:58:22Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: GlOW (Globes of Unusual Weight.

== You are welcome to comment on the April Fools' Day talk page ==

Hey, I thought we could revamp the old [[April Fools' Day comics]] page. I proposed a table or a list, and it would be nice if you commented. It should be a small project. '''You are welcome to [[Talk:April Fools' Day comics#Restructuring as a table or a nice list|comment here]]'''. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:02, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

----

Hello! First time i got to a comic first --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.176.76|172.69.176.76]] 06:17, 8 May 2025 (UTC){{unsigned ip|104.23.175.202}}
:Well [[269: TCM|first of all]] remember to sign your comments :-). But congratz... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
::Sorry. I now realize that that was an extremely trollish thing to do. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.140|172.70.92.140]] 07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC) ٠ـ٠
:: Also i MAY OR MAY NOT have permanently altered the editing process of this talk by including arabic numbers in an emoticon.{{unsigned ip|172.70.92.140|07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}

I believe he indicates that a globe is made by making a copy of the Earth, and then compressing it until it fits on a desktop. Hence having the same mass and thus the same Schwarzschild radius as Earth. I have changed the explanation a bit because of this observation.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Gotta wonder what kind of a desk could support a desktop globe that weighs as much as the Earth --[[User:StumbleRunner|StumbleRunner]]
:[...] desk? Convince me that such a globe wouldn't plunge straight through the Earth's crust and into the mantle. I sense a marketing problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 07:07, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Radius. <s>Is there a typo in the comic where 7/10" should be 7/20", i.e., 0.35" as later written? Or would a 7/10" Earth collapse into a black hole nonetheless?</s>[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.129|172.71.154.129]] 06:40, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
:Nope… the Schwarzchild radius is 0.35", which is indeed 7/20", but the measurement shown on the globe is the diameter, not the radius, so 7/10" is correct. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.143|172.71.178.143]] 06:49, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Isn't there also a jab at the weird way USsians use power-of-two fractions for inch measurements? I've never seen something like 7/10" before, it would be approximated as 11/16".[[Special:Contributions/172.71.95.69|172.71.95.69]] 09:18, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
: It isn't a weird USian thing - it's just the historical way that inches (being a non-metric unit) were divided. The same way that an inch is a 1/12 division of a foot, which is a 1/3 division of a yard, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 10:23, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

I think we have a bigger problem: there are millions of globes on Earth! I haven't done the calculations, but that might be enough to turn Earth into a black hole already; if not, I expect at least it would turn it into a star. --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.34|104.23.190.34]] 11:44, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

BTW. what would be a 12-inch object with a mass of Earth? Neutron star? Neutron planet? Neutron meteoroid? -- 12:46, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
: Crunching the numbers (thanks to Copilot.microsoft.com):
:* A sphere with a 30 cm radius has a volume of about 1.13×10-2 m³.
:* Compressing Earth's mass into that volume gives a density of roughly 5.3×1028 g/cm³.
: That is way way denser than a neutron star. It's doubtful that such a sphere would remain at that density; it would likely explode immediately, or if prevented from doing so, continue to shrink down past 9mm and become a black hole. {{unsigned ip|172.70.110.59|13:26, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}

'''False precision: .889 cm?''' Could someone please check "0.35 inches (0.889 cm)"? I'm concerned that this is a matter of {{w|false precision}}, with two significant digits for the customary / imperial system precisely converting to three significant digits in SI (similar to the way people obsess over 98'''.6'''F, which is a precise conversion of the estimate of 37C.). Also, I'd suggest that millimeters are preferable to centimeters. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.170.118|104.23.170.118]] 14:11, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
: 2 × 6.6738×10^−11 m^3⋅kg^−1⋅s^−2 × 5.972168×10^24 kg / (299792458 m⋅s^−1)2 = 0.00887 m , so the current 8.9mm looks good. [[User:Nosh|Nosh]] ([[User talk:Nosh|talk]]) 19:16, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Why are globes over 12 inches safer than those less than 12 inches? The density calculation above seems to indicate that an earth mass object of 12 inch diameter is much denser than a neutron star. (Of course that calculation was done with an AI - so may not be right.) I did a little searching for things denser than neutron stars - didn't find much. So what is special about 12 inches that makes earth mass things of that size change in safety regime [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]]
:I'm pretty sure there aren't any things denser than a neutron stars. (There are black holes, of course, but those are not really things and may not actually HAVE a meaningful density.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:07, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
::')DROP TABLE Talk:3086: Globe Safety; {{unsigned ip|162.158.108.51|07:22, 9 May 2025 (UTC)}}
::So, I'm guessing you've never heard of the theoretical {{w|Quark star}} (a specific example of an {{w|Exotic star}}, which is hypothesized to exist between the two). [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 18:13, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
:I think that's part of the joke. There's no safe cut-off at which globes made in this fashion would be OK - placing an Earth-sized Earth-mass object immediately adjacent to the Earth would be utterly catastrophic, never mind anything smaller.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.107|172.71.26.107]] 08:32, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
I'd just like to point out the the Schwarzchild radius of one Planck mass is two Planck lengths (obvious from the standard formula). Since the mass unit is an incredibly huge 22 micrograms, this makes me nervous about all those bacteria for some reason. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.209.191|104.23.209.191]] 17:43, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

I have three globes in my home office. I wondered why they were so heavy. [[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]]) 00:58, 11 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3081: PhD Timeline

2025-04-26T23:32:54Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Added some necessarily political comments.

<noinclude>{{notice|This comic is about present-day politics and the {{w|Second presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration}}. Additionally, the comic is about a controversial immigration-related action taken by said administration. Please {{w|WP:DFTT|don’t feed the trolls}}: don’t give recognition or respond to trolls or vandals. If you find vandalism, revert and move on. If the vandal is a registered user, {{w|WP:RBI|revert, block, and ignore}}. As with these contentious topics, please don't write in a biased and slanted manner. Always be considerate of the other side, don’t {{w|WP:CIVIL|attack people}}, and always {{w|WP:AGF|assume good faith}}. (In case you need assistance in blocking a vandal, message [[User talk:Kynde|Kynde]].)}}</noinclude>

What an age we live in... --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 15:48, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:[https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/politics/fbi-director-wisconsin-judge-arrested/index.html It only gets rougher... ] It's enough to radicalize a person. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.187|172.69.65.187]] 16:09, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:When even Randall starts freaking out, it usually indicates the most entertaining timeline. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.161|162.158.245.161]] 00:58, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:: I will only grant this only if we have a happy outcome for all the people already damaged by your current government. I look forward to Nazis getting punched and the Ark of the Covenant being opened [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 14:17, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
::: Pretty sure this ''is'' a happy outcome for everyone who voted for this. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.159.201|172.68.159.201]] 21:29, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Events like this are scary, and they're even scarier if you have a personal or geographic connection to them like Randall does. I can understand why he would feel frustrated about his inability to do something concrete, and if this comic raises awareness for the situation then it has done a good thing. Not sure why I thought this comment was necessary; maybe it's just a way of processing the emotions that the comic made me feel. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 15:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
: Agree, those of us that are non-US look to the US to uphold human rights. Very sad. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 14:17, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

I dont want to start an argument, but I am glad Randall Munroe is making a specific, reasonable point. A lot of times I see people saying either "there is no antisemitism on campus, nobody should ever get deported, ACTUAL terrorists should get green cards", and others say "EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME SHOULD GET DEPORTED, EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME IS A TERRORIST." I think both of them are extreme points obviously, and I am glad Randall is just taking the side, for now, of "this specific person did not violate their green card visa."

:''"...EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME IS A TERRORIST."'' That are literally the words that a Trump official was reported to have said. If you protest the actions they take against anyone they label as a terrorit, YOU will be treated as a supporter of terrorism. [[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]]) 23:32, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

:Hi, expert-on-the-Öztürk-case but not-an-immigration-expert-really here. For clarity, Öztürk held an F-1 student visa but was not a lawful permanent resident (LPR) (green card holder), unlike the similar case of Mahmoud Khalil (Columbia university) who was a green card holder. And "green card visa" is not a thing, there's a "green card," which you cannot "violate" (although you could commit crimes that might have consequences for your LPR status), and you generally don't hear "violate their visa" although it's true that a visa is related to and may restrict that work you can do in the country. Regardless, no allegations have been made that Öztürk violated anything laws or rules or did anything other than lend her name to speech in a newspaper. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 22:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

as always, based randall, at least for now. [[User:Tzelofachad|Tzelofachad]] ([[User talk:Tzelofachad|talk]]) 16:04, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Did you mean "biased"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Did you mean "biased towards due process?" [[User:CharlesT|Nyrrix]] ([[User talk:CharlesT|talk]]) 16:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::It's probably "based", as that's a term that can either be used in support or mockery of a philosophical position (because of Poe's Law, hard to know which in most cases, including here). It's more usually used in 4chan-like responses (and I doubt Randall would be considered "based" in those other places) than hereabouts, so perhaps it needs some clarification for those not (or not enough) in that sort of crame of mind. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.94|141.101.99.94]] 17:06, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Yes, Randall Munroe clearly only cares about this one incident because he does not at all care about politics. He's definitely not using this as an illustrative case on the countless other identical incidents happening under the Trump administration. /s /s /s /s /s. [[User:DrMeepster|'''Dr.'''Meepster]]
(<[[User_talk:DrMeepster|chat]]> •
<[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} reply]>) 16:53, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

I really hope this is one of those comics that does NOT stand the test of time. In other words, I hope the next generation of graduate students sees this and thinks "oh, that must've been written in 2025, we don't have to worry about those kinds of things anymore." Perhaps "hope" isn't the right word, it implies I have hope. Maybe "pray fervently" is the right phrase. Sigh. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.227.72|198.41.227.72]] 16:30, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Sure ... "Oh, that was before third world war, we don't have to worry about those kinds of things anymore." -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:08, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:We can go back to considering how the Ph.D. became a participation trophy for the financial benefit of the awarding institution - and, in the sciences, a source of slave labor. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.61|172.71.146.61]] 01:51, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

How do we edit the Categories? This should have category Politics. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Usually, once at least one other category (not created from templates like {{template|comic}}) you can edit the page and see the other cat(s) at the bottom, beyond the comic-discussion template. Or edit the Transcript section (or any Trivia one, whatever's the last one) as that'll also have the tail-end of the page. So long as you know there's a category "Foo", you should be able to work out how to add "Category:Foo".
:But don't add Foo if it doesn't exist, hoping that someone will tire of the redlink that's created. You may be wrong about it needing to exist, or miss the ''actual'' "Category:comics featuring Foo", and unless someone is feeling generous it's possible that your edit just gets reverted as not properly researched, or checked... I ''think'' there actually is a Politics category, by that name, but I'm trying to answer the general question, not yet going out there to look it up for certain (at which point, I may have just added it myself, making it useless to have explained how you could 'easily' do it... At least in this instance).
:'''TL;DR;''', though, look at the source (wiki-edit) of another comic that is about Politics and is so categorised. Go all the way to bottom, and you'll see which 'tag' you might want to put at the bottom of this one. Should be obvious. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.94|141.101.99.94]] 17:06, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
I think I've added that category now [[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.60|104.23.190.60]] 19:33, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

I'm so tired of this administration :( [[User:CharlesT|Nyrrix]] ([[User talk:CharlesT|talk]]) 16:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Are you a citizen of the USA? If so, are you dead? In exile? In jail? Have your assets been seized? No to these? Then this is your administration and mine. Own it, or act. "Tired" doesn't cut it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.21|172.71.147.21]] 02:02, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
::Your point being...? [[User:GammaRaul|GammaRaul]] ([[User talk:GammaRaul|talk]]) 14:49, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

The comic on mobile has the title text has a youtube video URL, and if you click on the comic on desktop version, it links to the youtube video of the arrest. This isn't reflected in the description currently. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.121|172.70.126.121]] 16:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

The video URL is '''https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyypeEEOklM''' and appears to be "'''CBS Boston [282K subscribers]'''" so probably legit?
I will try to add the URL. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 17:08, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:For the sake of consistency, I copy-pasted the "note" from [[1723]] into this comic. '''I also think we should have a category and perhaps a template to make adding notes like this easier and more uniform.''' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.22|172.69.67.22]] 21:11, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::''"I copy-pasted...."'' Thank you! --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 03:56, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
::Well, you can create it right now if you want! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:08, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Is this the first with an out of site link? {{unsigned}}
:No this happens often. For instance this comic {{xkcd|1723}}. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:09, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Again, let's keep the explanation as neutral as possible. Facts only. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 18:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Dunlap's Laws. 1. Fact is solidified opinion. 2. Facts may weaken under extreme heat and pressure. 3. Truth is elastic. (Arthur Block's "Murphy's Laws", 1977.) - "Facts are elite, facts are fungible, facts are false. And once nothing is true, anything can be true." Alan Burdick, ''Trump vs Science'', New York ''Times'' Newsletter, 25 April 2025. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.41|172.68.22.41]] 02:10, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
: the problem is facts have a heavy anti trump bias. You CAN NOT state basic facts and not be against this regime [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.187|162.158.112.187]] 00:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:: I think it's important to emphasize that neutrality is simply a bias towards the truth rather than towards anything else. On a technical level, being unbiased precludes being neutral and being neutral precludes being unbiased, even if people mostly use the word "unbiased" in the same way as "neutral". In other words, bias isn't inherently a bad thing.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.219|172.71.102.219]] 00:48, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:::"A bias towards the truth" is a bias towards what my homies and I declare to be correct - since 'absolute truth' does not exist, all 'truth' is relative, is what 'my homies and I declare to be correct'. This bias is not trivial, as you point out. Explanations on xkcd have striven to cover the "what, when, where, who, how" of the associated comic, and have striven to omit "what do we think about all this" except as is necessary to describe "what, when, where, who, how". The goal is laudable, but [''ahem''] difficult to manage when the topic is a lit match on a powder keg. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.143|108.162.245.143]] 02:34, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:::: This "no absolute truth" false neutrality nonsense is a bad faith argument rooted in pop philosophy and obfuscating rhetoric intended to discredit the existence of inconvenient facts. There's a famous, if apocryphal, parable about the philosopher who tried to argue this sort of hogwash to the oncoming train that hit him. Gravity exists, the Earth is not flat, and the current administration is run by a bunch of idiotic narcissists actively harming people for personal profit. [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 04:23, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:::::"To be properly neutral, you have to give all sides equal time and credence!" This turns out not to be the case. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 18:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
Of course, the bit I was correcting (with bad grammar, and lack of facts) got totally changed about before I tried to post it. "''For instance citizens usually {{w|Deportation of Americans from the United States|cannot be deported for any reason}} (only extradited, although the US typically refuses to comply with requests even from countries that freely extradite to it), and would instead be subject only to local legal penalties, but relatively minor allegations have resulted in visitors' extraditions.''" was what I wrote. Now, I ''think'' that was neutral enough, but it doesn't fit there now anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.113|172.70.58.113]] 22:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

:Ack, I think I'm the one who changed it before you could. My bad. Anyway, seconded. Opinion on the conflict in Gaza itself is not needed in this explanation; the edit that suggested that the student could be materially linked to Hamas by providing a link to an opinion poll of how Palestinians feel about the Oct 7 attacks is, in my opinion, very disingenuous, especially considering Ozturk is not Palestinian but Turkish, making the cited data even more blatantly irrelevant than it already would have been. [[User:Psycherprince|Psycherprince]] ([[User talk:Psycherprince|talk]]) 23:05, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

This article could potentially be a reasonable place to try to establish a norm of separately including opposing sides of political topics (rather than the usual edit conflicts). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.176|172.70.110.176]] 00:35, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Step 6: Try not to lose your visa when traveling or studying abroad by being a nuisance, since visas (in any country) can be denied or revoked for virtually any reason. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.168|162.158.112.168]] 01:06, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:Pray the leopards never eat your face.
::I'll bring decoy meat and try not to insult the cheetahs while visiting. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.186|162.158.112.186]] 01:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:Do nothing whatsoever controversial, because you don't know who will be running things within a few years? Or what liberties they may take with due process or law? Certainly one wouldn't want to run afoul of officials who are, say, flat-Earthers, Biblical literalists, or holders of unusual views regarding medical practise. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
::There is no inalienable right to travel or study abroad, so doing anything "controversial" as a visitor definitely puts you at risk of "being shown the door", as Randall likes to put it. The van full of thugs was added just for drama, but underneath it's no different than being denied a visa for some social media post, which has been happening at least since Obama. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.159.201|172.68.159.201]] 21:29, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

::"...within a few years"? We have that today. [[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]]) 23:32, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

== Reason for detention ==

As it is now, the reason given for Özturk's detention is a half-truth. She was not detained because her visa was revoked. That would only prevent her from re-entering the US, if she left it. In contrast, Özturk's visa was revoked in secret, and she did not know about this until after she had been grabbed off the street and treated like a terrorist, or like a dissident in a South American regime.
https://oiss.washu.edu/visa-status-stamps/ says: "The visa stamp is solely for entering the U.S. You will need it again only when you leave the U.S. and intend to re-enter using that visa. It’s sometimes called an “entry visa,” which is different from “status,” a concept explained below. The visa stamp can expire at any time after your entry to the U.S. without affecting your non-immigrant status. If you leave the U.S. and your visa has expired, you will need to apply for a new visa in order to re-enter the U.S." — "Non-immigrant status (also referred to as “status” or “immigration status”) is a non-physical legal condition, granted by an official of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) when you are admitted into the U.S. at a port of entry. Once you obtain non-immigrant status, you must maintain that status throughout your stay in the U.S. unless you legally change to another status."
ExplainXKCD leaves unexplained whether Özturk's immigration status changed, and on what charges she was detained, or whether she was detained without a charge. It is unclear how her visa revocation is related to her arrest, as a visa revocation would not normally lead to an arrest (or does it?). If the ExplainXkCD's failure to explain the reason for Özturk's arrest is related to the US government's failure to explain the reason, then that should be made clear.
Or simply say, "we're not explaining it because politics, go read Wikipedia and educate yourself", but then explainxkcd should not suggest that the reason is the visa revocation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.159|162.158.95.159]] 04:25, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
:I've added a brief note that ordinarily, visa revocation is not, in itself, grounds for detention. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 18:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Linked the Tufts Daily article she co-authored (which has been claimed to be related to her detention), but it would go better in the References section. Someone, please amend this? I'm too exhausted to do it properly right now. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.6.3|162.158.6.3]] 21:52, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3060: Omniroll

2025-03-09T02:39:17Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Added related video. Corrected some comment nesting.

I wonder what the filling would be... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.20.143|172.69.20.143]] 02:35, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

At some point, this explanation will be complete. Then we can say "that's a wrap!"... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 02:36, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

The ''real'' fun would come if this became popular enough to gain its own Wikipedia page. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 03:13, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

People keep vandalizing it to add "Uranium Roll" and make the whole thing inedible. Not like it was getting eaten before, but still. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.159.66|172.71.159.66]] 03:20, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

This is reminiscent of the 2005 SNL skit [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evUWersr7pc Taco Town]. "''A crunchy all beef taco smothered in nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, and special Southwestern sauce; wrapped in a soft flour tortilla with a layer of re-fried beans in between; wrapped in a savory corn tortilla with a middle layer of Monterrey jack cheese; wrapped in a deep fried gordita shell smeared with a layer of special 'guacomolito' sauce; wrapped in a corn husk filled with pico de gallo; wrapped in an authentic Parisian crepe filled with egg, gruyere, sausage and portobello mushrooms; wrapped in a Chicago-style, deep-dish, meat lover's pizza; rolled up in a blueberry pancake; dipped in batter and deep fried until it's golden brown; and served in a commemorative tote bag filled with spicy vegetarian chili.''" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.176|172.68.210.176]] 03:35, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you, I came here to add a comment about Taco Town and am glad to see that someone beat me to it. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.188|104.23.187.188]] 23:40, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

:Here is a video of someone recreating and eating the Taco Town monstrosity: [https://youtu.be/UvIkojfQDxA?t=272 Binging with Babish 1 Million Subscriber Special: Taco Town & Behind the Scenes] [[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]]) 02:39, 9 March 2025 (UTC)

I was thinking more along the lines of the everything bagel in ''Everything Everywhere All at Once''. [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 04:32, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

I'd instead sell "Fruit by the Foot" by the meter to get to a synthesis. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.78|172.70.174.78]] 09:07, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

What would happen if omniroll were added to that Wikipedia page? Would we have a "set of all sets that contain themself" nonsense? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.49|162.158.155.49]] 14:51, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

:Aaaand "Omniroll" has already been added to the Wikipedia list. Good job, everyone! [[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.119|104.23.190.119]] 17:40, 8 March 2025 (UTC)
:: Oh dang, it's already been taken down. Sadge. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.173|104.23.187.173]] 17:47, 8 March 2025 (UTC)
::: The removal was tagged "The omniroll is not a real food, just an xkcd joke". Not with that attitude it isn't! I give us two days, and if no-one has done one in a week then I'll do it. [User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 21:02, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

Might be worth a <nowiki>[[Category:Omni]]</nowiki>, or similar. [[2653: Omnitaur]] and [[2738: Omniknot]], at least, then this. Maybe other ones might be recalled, but not right now by me. (An actual vague search seems to have the search-site really want to bring to note {{what if|12}}, as using "omnidirectional", but doesn't really count for at least three reasons.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.5|172.70.58.5]] 17:43, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3043: Muons

2025-02-02T21:06:31Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Comment on a comment on a comment.

Article needs improvement by somebody with a clear understanding of special relativity, and somebody with a clear understanding of muons.
Are there actually two classes of muons or is it a joke? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.81|172.68.55.81]] 22:19, 27 January 2025 (UTC)

:No, not two classes; [https://web.mit.edu/lululiu/Public/8.13/Muons/muons.pdf see Figure 5 on p. 3 here]. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.243|172.70.206.243]] 01:43, 28 January 2025 (UTC)
::It sounds possibly like the article and comic together are saying that the muons we measure on earth are those that were going so fast that their time and distance are stretched so that they do not decay before reaching us. That non-relativistic muons decayed in the upper atmosphere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.84|162.158.63.84]] 03:13, 28 January 2025 (UTC)
::Correct, even if their velocities are not bimodal, you can absolutely divide them into two classes based on whether they decay before reaching the surface. I am pretty sure that's what's intended here. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.136|172.68.23.136]] 03:42, 28 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I websearched around and found an old video from COSMUS showing an air shower with differently colored particles flying off. It looks like the COSMUS site is broken nowadays, but in archive.org I found it mentioned that the muons were red in the video. I saw some red particles decaying quickly like the behavior of smoke or fire or steam, and others firing toward the ground. I added a first paragraph with what I learned exploring. I'm sad the COSMUS site from the university of chicago seems down for years. They publicly modeled so many air showers and more. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.189|162.158.159.189]] 04:26, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

: The Doppler Effect will sound like the Sega logo sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dIXw0OEtk4

;AI

Fed the comic image into two AIs: Gemini and Claude. These are their explanations; please tell me which is better:

Gemini:

:This xkcd comic (#2885) is a humorous take on the concept of time dilation from Einstein's theory of special relativity, specifically as it applies to muons.

:Here's a breakdown:

:The Setup: The comic explains that muons, subatomic particles created in the upper atmosphere, have very short lifespans. Normally, they would decay before reaching the Earth's surface. However, because they travel at speeds close to the speed of light, time dilation occurs.

:Time Dilation: According to special relativity, time passes slower for objects moving at high speeds relative to a stationary observer. This means that from our perspective on Earth, the muons' internal clocks tick slower, allowing them to travel further before decaying.

:The Joke: The comic takes this scientific concept and applies it to pronunciation. The presenter is shown drawing out the word "muons" ("MUUUUUUOOOONS") to emphasize the elongated time experienced by the fast-moving particles.

:The Punchline: The caption "PHYSICS TIP: REMEMBER TO ADJUST YOUR PRONUNCIATIONS TO ACCOUNT FOR TIME DILATION" is the punchline. It's a humorous exaggeration, suggesting that we should literally pronounce words differently depending on the relative speed of the objects they describe.

:In essence, the comic is a clever play on words that combines a complex physics concept with a mundane everyday activity (pronunciation). It highlights the counterintuitive nature of special relativity in a lighthearted way.

:Here's why this might be tricky to explain on explainxkcd:

:It's concise: The joke is very compact and doesn't require a lot of background information beyond a basic understanding of time dilation.
:It's visual: The drawn-out "MUUUUUUOOOONS" is crucial to the humor, and it's difficult to fully capture that in a purely textual explanation.
:It's somewhat self-explanatory: The comic itself does a good job of setting up the joke and delivering the punchline.

Dunno why it thinks this is comic 2885.

Claude:

:The comic is explaining how muons (subatomic particles) created in the upper atmosphere are able to reach Earth's surface despite their short half-lives.
:The humor comes from the way "muons" is written with stretched-out letters ("MUUUUUOOOOONS"), which is a play on time dilation in special relativity.
:Time dilation is a real physics phenomenon where time moves slower for objects moving at very high speeds relative to a stationary observer. This is why fast-moving muons can survive longer than their normal half-life would suggest - from their perspective, due to time dilation, less time has passed.
:The comic suggests, as a "physics tip," that you should stretch out your pronunciation of words to account for time dilation - as if the word itself experiences the same relativistic effects as the particle it describes.

:It's a particularly nerdy physics joke because it combines accurate physics (muons really do reach the surface due to time dilation) with a playful misapplication of the concept to human speech. The stick figure appears to be teaching or presenting this concept, complete with what looks like equations on a board, making it feel like a legitimate physics lesson with a humorous twist.
:This is characteristic of xkcd's style of humor, which often combines accurate scientific concepts with absurdist interpretations. {{unsigned|AK24Ammit|23:35, 27 January 2025}}

:Claude's is better, by far. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.54|172.70.215.54]] 01:49, 28 January 2025 (UTC)
::I think they're both surprisingly good. But wouldn't it be more timely to ask DeepSeek, the new Chinese AI that's tanking US tech stocks? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:17, 28 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I tried, but...
::::<code>As of my knowledge cutoff in October 2023, I cannot provide specific details about XKCD comic #3043, as it does not exist yet. XKCD comics are released incrementally, and the latest comic I am aware of is #2817 ("Nighttime Stories"). If #3043 has been released after October 2023, I recommend checking the official XKCD website (https://xkcd.com) or its explainer site (https://www.explainxkcd.com) for details. If you have a specific question about muons or XKCD's style of humor, feel free to ask, and I’ll do my best to help!</code>
:::''Yeah.'' [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:47, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Both obviously AIs (without being told), with AI tells. Gemini 'hallucinating' that it was perhaps refering to [[2885: Spelling]] is nothing like the very different equivalent human errors, for example.
::Very good efforts, if they effectively OCRed and image-processed almost everything (before wandering off to thei caucus of webscraped material, from which to esoterically form their response), can't deny that. But must have been prompted by something along the lines of "The comic <url> doesn't have a good explainxkcd explanation, please discuss", from the obvious referencing that would be meta in an actual article context by ourselves.
::Whatever the circumstance, I predict that either attempt would have been heavily touched up (if not entirely rewritten), if put in the main page. (I mean, practically all human input does, too, but for different reasons...) Gemini would probably tend to be cut down, Claude added to, but a mix of both for each. Maybe they don't have the pride in being original author, like a human, but one always has to learn that any you do have will inevitably be shattered. (I take it as a compliment if I provide enough of a surviving skeletal structure to see my initial idea of a narrative flow preserved in largely remixed wordings until the point at which it generally settles down.)
::Yes, impressive(ish). But not yet [[810: Constructive|Mission Accomplished]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.144|172.71.241.144]] 16:38, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

The point is that we observe muons that have time slowed down coming from the sky. Cueball is differentiating normal muons from muons that appear to have time slowed down for them, by slowing down his speech when referring to the slowed muons. It's a strange idea, refering to something that has time slowed for it. It's not something one often does outside fantasy. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.168|162.158.158.168]] 04:41, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

Patrick Blackett won the Nobel Prize in 1948 by making the first observation of the creation of a nortcele. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.137|172.69.59.137]] 20:27, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
: What is this comment about, please? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.72|162.158.63.72]] 15:16, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::The only notable reference online to the word "nortcele" is the name of an Indian tech company. From the Nobel site: Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett. Nobel Prize in Physics 1948. Prize motivation: “for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation.” I would recommend deleting [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.137|172.69.59.137]]'s comment if they fail to return in a timely manner to explain or defend it. [[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]]) 21:06, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3025: Phase Change

2024-12-23T02:30:49Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For:

Baba is First. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 17:02, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:what [[User:Rustykid52|Rustykid52]] ([[User talk:Rustykid52|talk]]) 16:26, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::Rustykid is you [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.133|162.158.202.133]] 18:48, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::I believe Psychoticpotato is referencing a phenomena wherein "baba" is generally easier for a baby to say, than either "dada" or even "mama" & it also happens to sound a bit like "bottle"; ergo, it's often one's 'first word'.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:55, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::: {{w|Baba is You}} [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:42, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks Randall, I hate it. 😊 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 18:07, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

Oi, why was my transcript deleted? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.64|172.69.134.64]] 21:52, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:It’s been restored. Maybe pop a message to Apollo11 if you want an explanation from him? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:01, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
::I am so sorry. My phone glitched and "resent the form", which told the wiki page that my previous edit (from a couple hours prior) was the most current edit. I didn't notice. I apologize [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:38, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
The comic may have been inspired by the Ologies podcast episode on mnemologie part one posted on December the fourth. There Dr. Michael Yassa exblains the effect. {{unsigned ip|162.158.111.86|00:57, 17 December 2024}}

For water vapour we use fushu. From r/linguisticshumor {{unsigned ip|172.69.165.2|01:01, 17 December 2024}}

About the phrase 'as can the sound of the word "water" itself [being "soft and round"]' - "Water" is a mix, the beginning and end are "soft/round" but the middle is quite "hard/sharp." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.109|172.71.170.109]] 15:01, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:Depends. It's only fairly sharp in my accent, and virtually gone in other dialectical variations. And even at its 'hardest', it can be likened to the pitter-pat of rain on a surface (hard surface, yes, but much 'softer' rain). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.182|172.69.43.182]] 17:59, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

I think that this also relates to a nonsense shape theory (ex, the bouba kiki theory, to be exact) but I'm not entirely sure... [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:16, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:I don't know if you trying to say exactly what (part of) the article already says, or something different that I don't understand. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.182|172.69.43.182]] 17:59, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::I have no idea what I'm saying either 🫠 [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 21:22, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Does Bouba also have a delivery service?
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:55, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Hey, uhh... so I've just gone down a very very very long and dark and also very sad XKCD rabbit hole at midnight even though tomorrow I've got like 4 tests, so I'm just gonna hurry this up.
Number of frames in "Time" (comic 1190): 3094.
Number of comics today: 3025.
I wonder what will happen for comic 3094. Maybe he's been saving his special comic for 3094. I don't know. But maybe, just maybe, something waits there. Sorry, I just had to get this thing off my chest. Also, yes, I know it's unlikely. But the number is so close. Wait for it... [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 05:20, 18 December 2024 (UTC)

How does bo'o'oh'wa'er measure in this scale?
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.94|172.70.47.94]] 12:58, 22 December 2024 (UTC)

A kiki is also something a Scissor Sister would like to have. [[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]]) 02:30, 23 December 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2399: 2020 Election Map

2024-12-06T19:55:17Z

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r/PeopleLiveInCities[[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.18|162.158.49.18]] 12:27, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

I see a political comic... sure hope this doesn't spiral out of control. [[User:ChessCake|ChessCake]] ([[User talk:ChessCake|talk]]) 22:21, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
: How dare you accuse me of spiraling things out of control, you so-and-so! This kind of baseless backwards logic is exactly the problem with people who share your particular political opinions! --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 22:38, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
:: You're being sarcastic, right? Just want to be clear so we don't fuel the [potential] flames to come. [[User:ChessCake|ChessCake]] ([[User talk:ChessCake|talk]]) 22:51, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
::: I took "so-and-so" as proof that neatnit was joking. Angry people on the internet use harsher words. SDT [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.38|162.158.75.38]] 22:57, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
:::: Definitely. Call someone a "blankety-blank" and you are inviting bloody revenge. [[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]]) 04:58, 20 December 2020 (UTC)
::: Definitely. The "so-and-so" instead of an insult, and the deliberately vague grouping of "people who share your particular political opinions" were a clear giveaway. :) --[[User:V2Blast|V2Blast]] ([[User talk:V2Blast|talk]]) 22:59, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
:::: explainexplainxkcdcomments.com [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.154|172.68.65.154]] 00:54, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
It seems to me that one of the main messages in this comic is that voters for both Trump and Biden are pretty well distributed around the country. Looking at the typical choropleth maps with states colored red or blue, it can seem that the political division in the country is also a geographical division. This map, and the title text, emphasize that, at the scale of the whole country, that really isn't the case. The urban/suburban/rural breakdown isn't all that evident at this scale. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 07:06, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
: ''The urban/suburban/rural breakdown isn't all that evident at this scale'': au contraire, it's quite clear that the denser the area, the more Biden voters there are, even in red states. See Texas for instance, where around big cities you have more blue dots than red.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.160|141.101.107.160]] 10:51, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
:: And this map proves that many large areas of the country are still dangerously underpopulated to prevent democracy from becoming tyranny[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]])
::: I don't think more population would suffice for US to get reasonable number of political parties. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:55, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

I found [https://engaging-data.com/county-electoral-map-land-vs-population/ this map] a few weeks ago and I love it, it kind of requires interactivity but it can be set to display the difference between population and land area in on of the best ways I've seen. Especially because you can set the population indicators to avoid overlapping, so you can get a land-area-like feel for their size. [[User:Kjmitch|Kjmitch]] ([[User talk:Kjmitch|talk]]) 18:27, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

Where does the .5 in the table for NY and CT come from? I can see that two markers sit across the border for the two states, but it personally seems to me that the numbers can be more accurate with some editing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.220|108.162.229.220]] 03:02, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
:Well, I added the 0.5s for CT because I could see the markers sitting across the border. But since the full table wasn't available yet at that time, I didn't know whether it was split on purpose or just lack of space. If it's more accurate to assign the markers to either state, then feel to do that. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.18|162.158.159.18]] 10:13, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

I have no memory of this XKCD getting published, even though I was following the comic well before 2020. Dang. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.208|173.245.52.208]] 04:17, 16 March 2022 (UTC)

After the 2016 election, I took an informal look at the ZIP codes where Trump owned properties. In the few I checked, he was almost always defeated by Hillary. This lead me to believe he was looked down on as a neighbor, employer, and/or (non?)-tax payer. It would be interesting to see if that changed in 2024. [[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]]) 19:55, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

;As seen on CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/politics/donald-trump-joe-biden-2020-election/index.html {{unsigned ip|172.68.142.123|04:52, 18 December 2020 (UTC)}}

Talk:3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-27T03:07:13Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For:

Sandwich presumably refers to {{w|compliment sandwich}}, but I don’t know what the helix is. --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:03, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
:I think sandwich refers to the context itself, as in, the context of something is both what is before that and what is after. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.236|172.71.222.236]] 15:19, 26 October 2024 (UTC)
: Maybe {{w|Models of communication#Dance}}? --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:12, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

:The word "Helix" may be a reference to the previous comic. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 14:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

:The moral of this story is "People will try to find meaning in anything, even things that are directly stated to be meaningless."[[Special:Contributions/172.70.176.43|172.70.176.43]] 23:01, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

That title text makes me reasonably upset. What nitwit decided "smart quotes" AND incompatible default encodings was a good idea? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.203|172.70.174.203]] 16:45, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

It seems that something like this could happen over time naturally if it's a saying that "everyone knows" so that real meaning stops being said, and then eventually that bit of information disappears. For instance KISS "Keep it simple, stupid" has a negative connotation, but the idea is very sound. So people keep saying the abbreviation but stop saying the full version, and new people hearing it the first time might get the basic idea without knowing why. Eventually even the meaning could be lost, and it could just become something that people say without knowing why. Maybe the assume the ancient designers and engineers liked to make out when they saw complex things. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 17:58, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Frums - Options [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.14|162.158.91.14]] 04:18, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

''KISS Keep it simple, stupid'' was originally ''keep it stupid simple''. An emphasis, not an insult. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 05:12, 26 October 2024 (UTC)
: "Keep it stupid, simple" still sounds like an insult. [[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]]) 03:07, 27 October 2024 (UTC)

==Grammar==
Minor grammatical point; please feel free to skip this. I just tweaked "a communication technique [...] which meaning has not been lost." to "a communication technique [...] whose meaning has not been lost.". "''Of'' which ''the'' meaning" or "whose meaning" both work, but the latter is less contrived. People keep forgetting that "whose" can refer to objects, as well as to people. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whose#Determiner>

The first rule of communication is "Always talk about communication." [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 15:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Helix==

I don't think the "helix" refers to software development. It could be about the helical model of communication, which conveys communication as a non-linear process.

This is perhaps a joke with these simplistic "rules" of communication (like the compliment sandwich), which portray communication as something much simpler.

If we assume that communication is complex and non-linear (as the helical model of communication portrays), we might conclude that there is no such thing as "#1 rule of communication"; something that could be observed by the misuse of the "compliment sandwich". {{unsigned ip|172.70.47.87|15:38+, 25 October 2024}} (Assuming all the above is the same IP editor, tweaking their comment.)

:Ah, thank you. I added the Spiral (for development) because I couldn't find the Helix one (for communication), and I thought this was the best linkable item out there. Now I know it's ''Helical'', I've found it and I can put a link on your addendum and perhaps remove my original 'placeholder'. That's collaborative communication! ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.77|172.70.91.77]] 15:56, 25 October 2024 (UTC) (PS, please sign Talk contributions, and wikilinks are a good idea if you can add them. ;p )

I took the opposite point from that in the explanation so far, especially with the title text: Even if the encoding is wrongly specified, it's possible to figure out what was meant by some sequence of bytes. I imagine the teacher using a different nonce every time to make the point about the #1 rule of communication: Words don't have inherent meaning, it is acquired through use. (Though if I'm the only one with this interpretation it kind of sinks my idea I guess). [[User:Hcs|Hcs]] ([[User talk:Hcs|talk]]) 10:18, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

Is it not true that Cueball could basically be demonstrating the #1 rule, i.e. context is important, and that sometimes language is self-repairing? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.109|172.69.214.109]] 14:42, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia

2024-10-20T03:03:41Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Observations.

He forgot the Idaho abbreviation. [[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]])
hello[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.64|172.68.54.64]] 19:49, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: And Mississippi has stolen Michigan's abbreviation! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.240|172.70.206.240]] 23:18, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

5 likes and I will make this a reality [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:10, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

Probably this is because I'm more familiar with the map of Australia than of the US, but Melbourne seems to have moved quite a bit to the east and is now presumably in Gippsland? Oddly that's the most jarring change for me... [[User:Zoid42|Zoid42]] ([[User talk:Zoid42|talk]]) 20:26, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: Yep. {{w|Melbourne Florida}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.10|172.70.47.10]] 21:56, 16 October 2024 (UTC)
::: Yes, I guess that explains the location -- though I'd not heard of the Melbourne in Florida previously. The other jarring thing is (on the east coast at least) the climates don't match up. Florida is closer to Queensland in terms of climate (and maybe culturally), Tasmania is colder and I guess probably closer to the north-eastern US states. Plus I can't really see Adelaide as being that much like New Orleans... {{unsigned|Zoid42|21:58, 17 October 2024}}

An eight-legged gator with fangs the size of your arm, six eyes, and the ability to spin webs is truly a horrifying thought. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 21:07, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: At that point most of the NT would become to dangerous for people to live. [[User:SomeRandomNerd|SomeRandomNerd]] ([[User talk:SomeRandomNerd|talk]]) 23:21, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

If find it weird how tasmania is florida, as while they are in the same place, they are the least alike 2 places you could think of. [[User:SomeRandomNerd|SomeRandomNerd]] ([[User talk:SomeRandomNerd|talk]]) 22:35, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: Agreed. If cartoons and television have taught me anything, one is home to a bunch of snarling, slobbering, ravenous beasts, moving across the landscape as whirlwinds of wanton destruction. And the other is Tasmania. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.130|172.64.238.130]] 04:59, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

Part of the joke is that the contiguous 48 States plus DC have nearly the same area as Australia, though the US has a larger total area. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.166|141.101.109.166]] 01:00, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

As an Australian citizen, this map hurts my soul. This is amazingly painful and I kinda love it. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 01:36, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

:: I apparently now live in Adelaide/Louisiana (or New Orleans/South Australia). [[User:FourW|FourW]] ([[User talk:FourW|talk]]) 06:32, 17 October 2024 (UTC)FourW

Environmentalists will be upset with Randal for finally finishing the {{w|Cross Florida Barge Canal}}. And just in time for the centennial!--[[User:The Mess|The Mess]] ([[User talk:The Mess|talk]]) 07:33, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:I was wondering if it was a sidelong comment upon the effects of {{w|Hurricane Milton}}... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.188|172.70.160.188]]

:: No, no, no. It's the Gap Chasm.[https://xanth.fandom.com/wiki/Gap_Chasm] {{unsigned ip|172.71.183.173|17:26, 17 October 2024}}

The distortion of Washington State, where I live, is painful, but funny. Can't wait for comic 3000! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.58|172.71.146.58]] 16:00, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

:I know, it's probably going to be sometime on monday- i saw a website who said they would rank all 3000 comics then! [[User:SomeRandomNerd|SomeRandomNerd]] ([[User talk:SomeRandomNerd|talk]]) 09:44, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

Being about to shift to the right at an election next weekend, it is very prescient (and scary) that SE Queensland, where I live, is in North Carolina. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.212|172.68.64.212]] 18:53, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

That's great! As a Sydney resident this cartoon gave me an earworm. I'll be singing it all day; "South Carolina On My Mind". [[User:Ozhamada|Ozhamada]] ([[User talk:Ozhamada|talk]]) 22:18, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

Stralia might not have anything directly equivalent to Hawaii and Alaska (significantly distant non-contiguous states), but it does have an island state (Tasmania) as well as several non-state island territories, and a mahoosive chunk of Antarctica that might have done in place of Alaska.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.35|172.70.90.35]] 09:05, 18 October 2024 (UTC)
:Well, Tasmsnia's already there, you'll note, which is there for that broken-Florida-like bit. Torres Straight islands and wider-afield territories/semi-adopted aren't really as handy replacements for the non-contiguous bits of the US, though. I can see why it was only taken as far as it was, for parody purposes. Diminishing returns on anything further. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.11|172.69.194.11]] 15:18, 18 October 2024 (UTC)
Hmmm. Not convinced that the description's assertion that "Florida would be cold" if its weather were analogous to the south of Australia was written be someone who has been to Australia. Granted, the red centre will cook you alive, and the cold water comes out of the taps hot in NT...but still. SA is hardly "cold". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:32, 19 October 2024 (UTC)

Someone has edited (changed from the original) the paragraph about Australia's north being closer to the equator than its south in a way which makes no sense. The climate of Australia is created by a number of factors, many of them which would still be true even if the land formations of the USA replaced the land formations which exist in reality in the USA. Anything closer to the equator is going to be hotter than those things closer to the antarctic. The ocean currents would also remain the same. It is true that the land formations of the USA do affect its climate and these would have some affect if those formations replaced Australia's but the path of the Sun over that part of the globe and the ocean currents would affect the climate in a way different from what is suggested by the edited content. --00:51, 20 October 2024 (UTC)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.254.172|172.70.254.172]]

==Request: Map Merge/Morph==
Could someone please post a simple map outline of the contiguous US and of Australia, and then try to merge / morph the two maps together? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.88|172.70.47.88]] 17:24, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:could you please elaborate on how you want to merge these two maps? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:22, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
: Aren't you just asking us to do exactly what Randall did this week? But if you want to see the two outlines ''without'' morphing, then you might want to try [https://www.thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!OTc1MjU4Mw.MzU2MjU4Mg*MTY4MjQ1Mg(MjA5NTY4NjY~!AU*MA.MTgwMDAwMDA)Ng~!CONTIGUOUS_US*MTUzNTQwOTE.ODM0ODczOA(MTk0)Nw this superposition of Australia and US48 from thetruesize.com]. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 04:15, 19 October 2024 (UTC)

Anyone else see a *very* similar map on social media recently? I think it might've been one of those "bad maps" X accounts that posted one that's almost identical but with different labeling a couple days ago, clearly the inspiration for Randall. Probably worth mentioning that in the explanation somewhere.
[[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 22:03, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

I have been referencing this map for years, to try to explain how isolated Perth is. I say: imagine San Francisco is the only city on the west coast, and the edge of the state runs south from the Montana/Dakotas border. And the next nearest city is Houston. Although I guess I need to change that to SLO and New Orleans.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.0.190|172.68.0.190]] 01:06, 18 October 2024 (UTC)
: Or, to put it another way, Perth is closer to the capital cities of Indonesia and Timor Leste than it is to its own national capital, and only barely closer to Brisbane, Queensland than it is to Singapore (whole different continent). [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 04:26, 19 October 2024 (UTC)

As a Canberrian I am a little offeneded ACT didn't deserve it's own area on the map. It doesn't deserve a state, because it isn't one. We are important though! We have an airport! Oh and something something parliament. Urban ACT is weirdly small and I challenge anyone to live there and never cross into NSW by accident. Oh and no label for Tassie. {{unsigned ip|172.68.126.134|22:02, 19 October 2024}}
:The same holds true for Maryland and Washington DC (Although DC's airports are in Virginia) [[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]]) 03:03, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

Do the same mountain ranges, rivers, and bodies of water that define USA state boundaries exist in The United Stralia? If not, a hell of a lot of surveyors were blind, stinking drunk when they were working. [[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]]) 03:03, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2992: UK Coal

2024-10-07T00:13:08Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: I can't wait a billion years for an answer.

nuclear power is better in all aspects anyway [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 19:40, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
: Not true - the rabbits can't get into the radiation suits.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.62|172.70.85.62]] 14:11, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

Here before the explanation :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.9|172.71.154.9]] 20:12, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:Ew. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:13, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I made an initial explanation, but it needs a lot of work still; hopefully someone with more experience editing on this wiki can improve it (this is my first explanation) [[User:MathEnthusiast|MathEnthusiast]] ([[User talk:MathEnthusiast|talk]]) 20:27, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

"the sole rabbit-run coal plant was shut down in the 1990s."
Just checking, but this isn't referencing some particularly egregious, badly managed coal power plant in the U.K., is it? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 20:43, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:I don’t think so; I believe it’s simply that Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant is the last UK coal plant to be shut down.
::The 1990 comment in particular. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.36.171|172.68.36.171]] 15:07, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

Randall uses SI units in the formula, as every person with the tiniest bit of tech/science education would, but then gives the result in inches (3.15) instead of centimeters (8.0). Americans are weird. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.110.162|162.158.110.162]] 20:56, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:^^ This! {{unsigned ip|172.70.90.109}}
:Because metric units make more sense for calculating, but common sense units are what people can actually visualize. [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 23:59, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
::Define "common sense"... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.206|172.70.162.206]] 06:50, 2 October 2024 (UTC)
:::About 0.3937 centimeters [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 04:19, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
::"Because metric units make more sense for calculating, but *[American-only] units are what *[his American primary target audience] can actually visualize", there, fixed that for you. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:21, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

One should not forget that the 3 inches are very unevenly distributed. Some areas on top of coal mines have sunken in much further creating new flooding risks that require continued future interventions.
--[[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.34|172.64.236.34]] 21:08, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:Indeed, I used to line in the north of England and road signs would say, "Road liable to subsidence." I also wonder about the year 1853. Mining was going on long before that. The industrial revolution started in the mid-eighteenth century.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 07:46, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
::Presumably, that's just the earliest that UK DESNZ has data for.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.209|172.71.23.209]] 18:34, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I understand that Watership Down is sometimes categorized as "children's literature", but it always catches me off guard. The Wikipedia page for it calls it an "adventure novel" and it's in the adult fiction section at my library. I'm just wondering if perhaps the explanation here should be a little less specific in its categorization of the book.[[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 21:35, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:I don't think it's ever '''''categorized''''' as children's literature (I'm surprised at no mention of the more well-known and more likely reference of the movie), they're often '''''MISTAKEN''''' (or mis-categorized, if you will) as being for children, considering the fluffy bunnies and animated feature. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:21, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

From the perspective of someone who lived through the 1980s Miner's Strike (not directly affected, my father worked at a steel-works, not at a pit like my friends' fathers) and then the decline of the steel manufacturing industry (which ''did'' affect my father, obviously), I have rather naturally kept a general eye on the extraction and use of coal. There still are working coal-mines (though there isn't going to be that new one, in Cumbria), and there are still uses for UK coal (enough to import to add to tht which we dig out). It's really a bit early to say that the layer of total coal dug out ''won't'' deepen slightly (very, very slightly) in the future. And coal that is dug is only loosely associated with coal which is turned into electricity, so the last coal-generator stopping seems like an oddly off-topic detail for Randall to leap into the amortised accumulation of extracted volume. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.165|172.68.205.165]] 22:01, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

Full conversion to US Customary Units (AKA US Bullshit Units):

(25e9 Tonnes / (1.3 kg/L * 2.4e5 km^2)) * (1000 kg / 1 Tonne) * (1 km^2 / (1000 m)^2 ) * (1 m^3 / 1000 L) * (39.37 in / 1 m ) ~= 3"

--[[User:JayTeeEll|JayTeeEll]] ([[User talk:JayTeeEll|talk]]) 22:57, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:"US Bullshit units", but I still see a lot of kilo this and that metric, :) "Full"? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:21, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

He has not added the amount of "flotation" that results from the removal of all that material from the islands. Have the islands risen more than 3 inches in the crust, due to the removal? [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 23:37, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:Scotland's still going up (after the last Ice-Age melt) and the south of Britain is still going down, IIRC. Which'll confuse matters. But I don't see how the component contributions to raising level (due to the digging out) could outpace the removal (due to that digging), by any significant amount. Rebound takes a while, and the effects should roughly equal out (so long as we haven't been digging too deep). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.151|172.68.205.151]] 23:41, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
: He doesn't mention anything about the surface height at all, though. He says that an average 3" has been dug up and burnt, but not that the country is 3" lower as a result.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.204|172.70.86.204]] 13:45, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
:: Between the diagram and the text (including title-text), it looks as if he is indeed lowering the surface' from what it might have been without the extraction. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.35|172.70.86.35]] 16:49, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I have a nagging feeling that although rabbit-run coal plants aren't (known to be) a thing, there must be Victorian children's books (e.g. Beatrix Potter) in which bunnies use coal scuttles or coal fires. "When Horace Hedgehog arrived, it was tea-time, so Mr Hoppy put some more coal on the fire..." [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:36, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

:Funnily enough, ''Peter Rabbit'', by Beatrix Potter was published in 1901, the same year as Queen Victoria’s passing, which marked the end of the Victorian Era. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:39, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
:I felt confident that there was probably a place named Rabbit Run, with a coal-based facility nearby, but all I found was [https://rabbitrun.wales a rather pedestrian footrace].
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:21, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

UK DESNZ refers to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is a ministerial department of the UK government. So basically that text is citing the source for the data.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 03:33, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

To help balance this out, should someone import coal into the formerly coal producing areas to fill in the now empty veins, or would that be selling coal to Newcastle? [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 05:35, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

From the miner's strike onwards, a lot of coal was imported (particularly from (Poland) to run the coal-fired power stations since it was much cheaper, so wasn't dug out the ground in the UK. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 07:51, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

The formula doesn't take into account that the UK has ...changed land area over that period. Land area of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ireland) was 315000 km² until 1922.
This changes the reading in SI units from 8 cm to 7 cm, but the rounded value in inches is unchanged, 3 in. Which explains why you call those units of his glorious majesty Imperial, I guess. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.172.180|172.71.172.180]] 08:34, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
: I checked the source and it doesn't say wether production data for 1853-1922 is for the CURRENT territory of UK or includes production in the territory now belonging to Eire. Maybe we should inquire. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.89|162.158.111.89]] 11:03, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
:Coal production in the territory now known as the Republic of Ireland (not Éire, that is just the Irish language name for the island) was historically quite low compared to Britain, with [https://irelandenergy2050.ie/past/coal/#:~:text=In%20Ireland%20there%20were%20four,Coalfield%20reportedly%20started%20in%201638. somewhere around 50,000 tons per year] before independence, so it can largely be discounted [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.34|162.158.111.89]] 14:28, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

I don't like the punctuation spatter in "The UK shut down their last coal power plant today, which means that over the course of the industrial revolution, they dug up and burned an average of 3 inches of their country." And the place I'd put a new comma might confuse others' sensibilities. Perhaps "..., which means that (over the ... revolution) they dug ...". Or just get rid of the one after revolution and accept a rather long run-on clause. Not that it's changable here, being Transcript of what's there but it's strangely off in grammatical meter and span from how I would try to say/write the same words. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.101|172.70.85.101]] 10:06, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I feel like I missed the joke somewhere with this: "The volume of earth described, 0.1 nm × 240,000 km2, is equal to 24 m3. This is a humorous play on depictions of anthropomorphic rabbits in children's literature." Are these two separate statements that happened to be placed in a misleading way, or is something funny about 24 cubic meters having to do with anthropomorphic rabbits? {{unsigned ip|162.158.111.237}}

i hear that stoats are getting into nuclear now, tho. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.215|172.69.58.215]] 20:29, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
:Reminds me of [https://www.ferret-school.co.uk/working-ferrets/cable-laying ferrets], and the "Nuclear Ferret" section in particular. (Yes, "microscopic steel particles called mesons" makes me glad they seem far more expert in muscalid matters than with physics. And web-page design.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.206|172.70.162.206]] 06:50, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

finally made my own account, can someone help create my user and talk pages??? [[User:CalibansCreations|CalibansCreations]] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:22, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

There may have never been a coal plant run by rabbits, but there's been at least one spontaneously-forming nuclear power plant. And coal seams can of course light on fire. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.59|162.158.91.59]] 08:04, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

;(Inexplicably was in Community Portal/Miscelaneous) I'm getting a factor of 10 difference in the calculation

in today's comic (#2992 (September 30, 2024)

We see the depth of the UK coal industry. The calculation is presented as

25 Billion Tonnes
------------------------- ~= 3 inches.
1.3Kg/L x 240,000 Km^2

I reduced the units and got:

CoalProduction_Tonne = 25e9;

CoalProduction_Kg = CoalProduction_Tonne * 1000; % 1000Kg/tonne

VolumePerLiter_MCubed = .001; % cubic meters

AreaOfUk_KmSquared = 24e3; % Km^2

AreaOfUk_MSquared = AreaOfUk_KmSquared * 1e6; % 1e6m^2 in 1Km^2

DepthOfCoal_M = CoalProduction_Kg/(1.3/VolumePerLiter_MCubed * AreaOfUk_MSquared);

DepthOfCoal_mm = 1000 * DepthOfCoal_M

DepthOfCoal_mm = 801.28,approx. 32 inches.

Where is this wrong? {{unsigned ip|172.71.23.209|20:52, 1 October 2024}}

:The original comic (#[[2992]]) sets the UK land area as 240,000 km^2, which is equal to 24 * 10^4 km^2 (or 2.4 * 10^5 km^2, or 240 * 10^3 km^2, or 2.4 * 10^5 * (10^3)^2 m^2 = 2.4 * 10^11 m^2), exactly one order of magnitude different from your numbers. I ran my own calculations (before really looking deeply at yours) and got 3.2 inches (rounded off to two sig figs). [[User:Coolclawcat|Coolclawcat]] ([[User talk:Coolclawcat|talk]]) 00:59, 2 October 2024 (UTC)
::In other words:
AreaOfUk_KmSquared = 240e3; % Km^2
[[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 02:40, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

That was it: DepthOfCoal_in = 3.1547 {{unsigned ip|172.71.31.55|13:07, 2 October 2024}}

As a Brit, I just want to say: wooohoooo!! Finally! As an environmentalist, I'll also add: Sorry about all the anti-nuclear power stuff. Many of my predecessors got it very badly wrong. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.35|172.70.86.35]] 08:44, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

I'm quite amused at the "citation needed" on "There's no documented evidence of a rabbit-run plant". Yes, provide documentation on how there's no documentation. :) I like that one. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:21, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal Coal] is of organic origin and there are still quite a lot of organics running around the planet today. Perhaps Randal, or someone here, could calculate the time needed for the extracted coal to be naturally replenished? [[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]]) 00:13, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2981: Slingshots

2024-09-08T03:31:38Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Dragging down the comments. :)

We don't put tables in the transcript, which is supposed to be screen-readable. Tables are not screen-readable. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:25, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:I now see the hidden "Tables are bad?" content in the incomplete transcript notice! Cute! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:33, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
::anybody want to change the transcript? not too confident on how to write it. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:06, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:::Given it a go. Could add "regular column" and "gravitational column" pre-descriptors to each subsequent pair of row elements, or go the other way and remove the [Row N] bit. Also chose to use the [label]s of [Tick] and [Cross] in place of the 'fancy' characters; could have gone with [Ticked], [Marked with a tick], [Affirmed], etc, but this seemed sensible. Obviously still open for editing.
:::If I'd have started from scratch, I would have used the (previously identical) table-markup version in the Explanation but have put the "Yay/Nay/freetext" explanation in there with it. But that's not to say that it doesn't look fairly ok (if not better?) in the paragraph-by-paragraph treatment as it currently is, with the table there as visual repeat only.
:::YMMV on all aspects of my choice/complicit acceptance, naturally. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.143|172.69.194.143]] 18:20, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
::::Looks great! Thanks. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:03, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

We should clarify that it's the American Dennis and not the British one. There are differences, which I learned the hard way :( [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.184|172.69.43.184]] 06:48, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:I expanded (and moved to a Trivia section) the interesting facts of this coincidence. (And I didn't add [https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2010/10/18/the-odd-case-of-dennis-the-menace/ this link there], but maybe it's of "not even Trivia" interest, so you can have it here instead.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.37|172.70.86.37]] 10:53, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:This case is pretty clearly the US one; there is no "Mr Wilson" in the UK comic... though I'm going to go out on a limb and assert that ''if there was'', he would assuredly be terrorised by Dennis. And Gnasher. (The US is really missing out on Gnasher!) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.48|162.158.74.48]] 09:02, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

I'm really surprised that "regular slingshot" is "no" for spacecraft instead of something like "not yet". [[User:SystemParadox|SystemParadox]] ([[User talk:SystemParadox|talk]]) 09:46, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:There's definitely spring-type "delivery systems" (analogues of the elastic slingshots, arguably) which hasten the detatchment of items on a multi-launch 'racked' delivery system. There's also the (proposed, SFAIK not yet tried in anger) rotating-tether release system, akin to biblical sling(shot)s, that would actually be what the gravitational slingshot is most similar to by pure analogy.
:If we ever get a space-elevator and 'drop' things off from the counterweight station, then that would effectively be a biblical slingshot on a planetary scale. (If we time the drop right, or very wrong, with a heavy enough load or even most of the counterweight itself, such that it ends up eventually impacting Earth or any other inhabited lump of rock, it could well also be a matter of a ''planetary'' slingshot with effects on a ''biblical'' scale!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.37|172.70.86.37]] 10:53, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Gravitational slingshot & Used for Sport shooting would also be a "not yet".
Imagine a couple of millenia from now, where gravitational slingshoting is a sport, and is called shooting for one of many reasons.
ok, fair. It's a stretch. But I felt I had to mention it.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.142|162.158.222.142]] 12:45, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
: In Futurama they use Gravitational slingshot for [https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Leo_Wong%27s_%22Miniature%22_Golf_Course "Miniature" golf]

This comic comes the same week as the release of a movie called Slingshot about the gravitational kind.

Isn't David supposed to be using a sling in his fight with Goliath, not a slingshot? That is, a long bit of material that you can use to throw a projectile with higher velocity? There seems to be similar confusion in describing a slingshot as using "mechanical advantage and rotation". A slingshot doesn't really involve rotation, nor does it involve mechanical advantage, really. Mechanical advantage is force amplification, right? And most slingshots don't amplify force, they simply are better than human bodies at delivering that force while moving quickly - that is, they amplify power. Maybe that's splitting hairs. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.102|172.68.71.102]] 14:52, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
: I see now that the text has been edited, distinguishing a sling as "an earlier form" of the slingshot. I still don't think that's accurate. They both accelerate a projectile, but they're not at all the same mechanism. Slingshots store deformation energy, and slings store kinetic energy. If we're talking ancient weapons that a slingshot is comparable to, it's far more like a bow than it is a sling. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.58|172.71.22.58]] 15:16, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:: Indeed, the [https://www.etymonline.com/word/slingshot etymologists] tell us that "hand-held implement for throwing stones" is the original meaning of the word "sling", and it dates to 1300. Whereas "slingshot", with "hand catapult" given as a synonym (implying the cleft-stick version), dates only from 1849. The etymologists also tell us that, by the 14th century, "sling" had acquired the additional meaning of "loop for carrying heavy objects", and, by the 18th century, "cloth for suspending an injured arm". These meanings, I argue, gained prominence, while the sling (weapon) fell out of favor, in armies and in language. I daresay that a person with deir arm in a sling would shudder at the prospect of that arm being hurled at an oncoming foe. It appears to me that, at least in the USA where I reside, "slingshot" is now applied to both the "hand catapult" and the "sling (weapon)" to avoid confusion with the sling (object carrier). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.190|172.68.23.190]] 15:42, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
::: I'm also in the US, but slingshot to me specifically evokes something where you store and release elastic energy. People often *hear* sling and think it's referring to a slingshot, because they're unfamiliar with an actual sling (weapon). Although slingshot and sling are certainly etymologically related, they are not technologically related. You might argue that a "gravitational slingshot" is a misnomer, in that its arc around a body is more akin to a sling than to a slingshot, I suppose. But a sling is not an earlier form of the "regular slingshot" in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.46|172.71.31.46]] 16:56, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:::: See the excellent comment below. Instances of this sort of thing abound, porque Inglés es loco. Even in the sciences. A cylindrical, motile structure responsible for motion of, or circulation of water currents around, eukaryotic cells is termed a "flagellum" if it's moving sperm, or a "cilium" if it's moving phlegm on the surface of the trachea. There is no structural or functional difference between the "flagellum" and the "cilium" of these cells, but there are plenty between the "flagellum" of sperm cells and the "flagellum" found on some bacterial cells. However, an attempt to use a common term ({{w|Undulipodium|undulipodium}}) for the common structure was shouted down. The preference was to retain imprecise terms that were understood by some of the people some of the time, rather than trying to adopt a precise term that was understood by nobody. Vox populi, vox Dei. Even if it's illogical. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.181|162.158.41.181]] 19:32, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
::::: We're not here explaining all the nuances of regional linguistic differences (and, to be clear, I enjoy those linguistic differences and have found the discussion here interesting). We're explaining what this particular comic means. Randall is from the US. Particularly given the reference to Dennis the Menace, who is frequently portrayed with an elastic band slingshot (which, interestingly enough, is common to both the US and British cartoon characters), and rarely if ever with a sling, it's clear that the former is the subject of this comic. And if, in fact, Randall intended to refer to a sling, it would be quite strange to refer to "an earlier form", because slings today are still basically the same as they were in ancient times. The explanation posits a link which does not exist between slings and slingshots. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.98|162.158.154.98]] 14:14, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
:::::: When I 'arrived', it did not posit a link, it just downright said that Dennis was using what might be called a Shepherd's Sling (which is an ancient weapon), and it needed rewording to restate it as the far more recent Hand Catapult. Arguably, as a modern solution to the idea of throwing stones with great force, it might be said to be a ''spiritual'' improvement on the old design (whether or not there are still reasons to keep up the 'old type', including still vastly greater chucking-velocities (at the expense of accuracy issues by those who haven't practiced a ''lot''!) and the ability to use much more available 'chord').
:::::: You know, like the info about the UK version of Dennis, it might be a candidate for moving to Trivia (auxilliary facts not directly tied in with the comic but might be linked to it in some minds). I might try that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.146|172.70.86.146]] 14:44, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
:::::::: (Follow-up, having been 172.70.86.146, immediately above...) Well, I did it! And edited out errors/edited in more slight changes. Let the Wiki Gods assess the results and, through their incarnations through such vessels as other editors, do what more (or less) they consider worthy of their worship and sacrifice! (i.e., over to every other random editor here... At least until I get more/different inspiration of my own. :p ) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 15:44, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
::::::: FWIW, a websearch on strings such as "David Goliath slingshot" returns many hits. Some of these do indeed distinguish between the sling (weapon) and the slingshot, but others don't. I like the "Trivia" idea, in conjunction with the (currently) extant text.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.113|172.71.150.113]] 15:36, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
:: I come from where the Y-Stick-with-rubber-'bowstring' is termed a catapult, and always associated "slingshot" as being the "shot" (projectile) that was slung (either in a David/Golith 'swung sling' or a Dennise The Menace 'pulled elastic' version), where actually deliberately manufactured/harvested beforehand (typically cast lead, as per muskets, or else specific riverbed pebbles) for consistency of mass and convenience of size rather than just relying upon randomly available rocks and stones grabbed from the ground-clutter as and when needed.
:: But when I went looking for references, it seems there's a general merging of terms (apparently also "pea-shooter", among others, although I'd say ''that'' was a short blowpipe/thick straw that a dried pea or pea-sized wad of mashed up paper can be quickly expelled from just by lung-power). And while some 'catapults' might also be the slung type, with the neolithic-era "stout cords and cradle" design, generally the comic-book type (rather than full blown onagers, mangonels or trebuchets) match what both UK and US alternatives of Dennis tend to use, so clearly that's what Randall is talking about. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.27|172.70.91.27]] 17:23, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

I vote we use gravitational slingshots to hunt stray probes. Anyone wanna try taking down Voyager I? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.237|172.69.90.237]] 14:57, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:If we fire at Voyager I (or II, especially) and perhaps ''miss'', we then likely set a new record for fastest/furthest object sent out into the universe by man. Win-Win! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.27|172.70.91.27]] 17:23, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

"...such slingshots, which ''may be called "wrist rockets"''." Not without consent from Saunders. ''Saunders introduced the world’s [https://sausa.com/product-category/wrist-rocket-sling-shots/wrist-rockets/ first wrist-braced slingshot in 1954, the Wrist-Rocket®].'' But I am not sure it needs to be mentioned: the Saunders device is only one of many, and not specifically called for in the cartoon. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:07, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
: "In New York, for example, slingshots with a wrist-brace are illegal under § 265.01 of the New York Penal Code. Possession this style slingshot (often referred to as a “wrist-rocket”) is a misdemeanor, regardless of its intended use." On this evidence, "wrist rocket" has entered the 'lower-case domain', Saunders notwithstanding ... as have nouns like "kleenex" or verbs like "to google".[[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.216|172.71.150.216]] 05:35, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

If we're being honest, everything has an online enthusiast community. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 01:09, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
: Perhaps not. There used to be an "everything" subreddit, but it was flagged "mature content" (why are we not surprised) and then banned for particularly unsavory TOS violations (ditto). [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2023/02/16/ai-the-hero-of-the-hour/ Humans can't have nice things], I guess. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.129|172.71.150.129]] 19:47, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

I'm a fan of drag racing, so I know another usage for the word "slingshot". It's the name for a specific configuration of front engine dragster. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_engine_dragster The driver sits at the very rear of the vehicle, behind the engine, transmission and drive wheels.] [[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]]) 03:31, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2974: Storage Tanks

2024-08-26T03:17:06Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Tanks for the memories.

The symmetry of the truss intrigues me. Struts that are diagonal across the faces of the cuboids is normal, but is it a real thing to also use the body diagonal? Never seen that IRL, not sure if it makes sense from the statics. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.247.82|172.70.247.82]] 22:16, 19 August 2024 (UTC)
: Struts as shown provide some left-right stability, but not as effectively as struts across the face would. They also provide some redundant front-back stability with the struts running along the faces. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.90|172.68.71.90]] 14:47, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
: I mentally modeled the flexibility modes, and it very much depends upon whether the verticals are solid (with their resistence to bending playing a big part alongside the incident horizontals'/diagonals' exactvmethod of attachment) or are just sections of rod between a suitable receiver-'node' at each junction.
: in particular, the strength of any one of the three 'boxes' (each level between adjacent horizontal cross-sectional perimeters) is somewhat less secure, as a single level can 'fold' sideways over each side's vertical-diagonal strut (along with the respective front/back horizontals, held 'square' by the internal cross-brscing). Only the continuation and linking with the other 'boxes' really guarantees any innate stability, and if each node is free-twisting then the likely first result of any failure is that the tower topples forwards and/or backwards as it folds up due to the unbraced facing and hindside quadrilaterals.
: But it does depend a lot upon the exact nature of the linkages (which can only be guessed at), and other failure-modes could involve node-slippage if they merely grip the cross-braces to the entirely top-to-bottom poles and there's potential for sliding there instead of primarily rotation (or over-stressed failure in any given length of rod).
: The support (or additional pressure) provided by the access staircase is also probably a factor. It could even be the most important bit in holding it up! ...if firmly anchored at the other end and robust enough in itself.
: I'd definitely add other diagonals (including opposite-type body-diagonals, perhaps tied to the existing one as they pass right across each other), just to be sure. The more the better, of course, but there's probably a limit through diminishing concerns. And too many diagonals primarily in a helical pattern could concentrate forces into a particular type of rotational failure if you also add too much brace-weight in doing so. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 15:07, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

Seems like a pretty menial job for the "head of security". I think he would delegate this to a security guard. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:47, 20 August 2024 (UTC)
: They may be head of a department of one.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.139|172.70.85.139]] 08:50, 20 August 2024 (UTC)
:: That's part of the joke, that the #1 concern of the Head of Security is calculus teachers wielding power drills for class demonstrations. [[User:Laser813|Laser813]] ([[User talk:Laser813|talk]]) 17:33, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

The explanation mentions there might be more complex calculus examples where the shape might not be a cylinder. I think some further explanation could be added that this does not change the pressure (hydrostatic paradox) but indeed change the rate of emptying the object. If differing cross sections are relevant at all. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.103|108.162.221.103]] 05:40, 20 August 2024 (UTC)
: Non-prismatic geometries are I think the ones being alluded to here, i.e a frustrum with the pointy end down will have a greater reduction in pressure for a given volume of flow towards the end than at the start, which may offset the reduction in absolute pressure. I've also seen examples where the flow rate is considered constant and the problem is to work out the fluid depth as a function of time, e.g. filling a pyramidal pool from a hose. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.4|172.70.58.4]] 16:44, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

Its the most difficult job in history, even the best workers couldn't stand 1 day as head of security.[[User:I HAVE NO NAME|I HAVE NO NAME]] ([[User talk:I HAVE NO NAME|talk]]) 05:55, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

I have to admit, I thought I knew calc as I had two semesters of it, but I had to look up what he meant by this. Ouch [[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.55|172.70.242.55]] 13:01, 20 August 2024 (UTC)student

If anyone could suggest something I can do for my class now that I can no longer drill holes in tanks, I'd appreciate the advice, thanks. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 16:18, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

Someone should do the math on the calculus problem as presented, as well as the algebra version. [[User:Laser813|Laser813]] ([[User talk:Laser813|talk]]) 17:33, 20 August 2024 (UTC)
: Randall, like all good mathematics textbook authors, left the problem as an exercise for the reader. Does this happen often enough to warrant a tag? [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 05:57, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:: Yes... [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 10:10, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

Is there anyone else who thought the calculus teacher was abusing the tank as a model for the complex plane, demonstrating how to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removable_singularity remove a singularity] from a holomorphic function by puncturing the plane? I wasn't confronted with that particular tank-emptying problem in high school, so my first encounter with "holes" in maths was in complex analysis. The title text was a mystery. [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 10:10, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

As a mathematician, I'm surprised I didn't know about this idea. (It's definitely not my field!) I actually thought the flow would be constant, an algebraic problem. Oh, I'm sure I saw these types of problems in Calculus (and I remember problems like this in Differential Equations), but I thought those were just to make the math more complicated, not based in reality... So is it the weight of the liquid remaining above the hole that is the source of the pressure (i.e., would it be the same if the top of the tank were open), or is it the air pressure in the tank as the volume of liquid decreases and volume of air increases? [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 11:08, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:A sealed-top would change the dynamics (like trying to pour the contents of a 2 litre (or whatever the US equivalent is) pop/soda bottle, it will tend to 'glug glug glug' intermittently unless you: a) incline the bottle to allow an optimum amount lf free akr back into the emltying bottle or, b) initialise the up-ended emptying with a spin sufficient to create a 'waterspout' effect up through which the replacement air can (more) freely pass.
:Though there are other possible factors, in that example, including the potential pressure of any self-releasing carbonation pressure (e.g. giving the bottle a shake, or a foreign body, before releasing the 'pour') and/or squeezing/'milking' the soft plastic container strategically to create another form of pressurised expulsion.
:For the 'classical' problem, one should probably assume sufficient inward venting (either an open/part-open top or a second hole drilled near the top to effect this purpose) as well as a reasonably unexotic liquid (neither molasses, cornstarch-mixture, anything that is actually a very fine dry powder, anything that reacts significantly with/upon air, any liquid very close to its vapour-point nor ''specifically'' supercooled helium) or any additional elements (stirrers, baffles, spongey inners, inner membranes or the contents being a layered combination of imiscable liquids of different densities that may or may not react slightly all across the interface plane). Most things that aren't actually exotic (and even a few that are, and might warrant a warning /¡\) are close enough to water to treat as if just that, at least under the further assumption that we're working at or around Standard Temperature and Pressure. But a slightly different density, viscosity and surface tension (plus the nature of the container, e.g. extreme hydrophilic or hydrophobic inner coatings where water is involved) ''could'' (in combination) drastically change the actual outcome given enough of the right kind of simultaneous differences imparted. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.37|172.70.86.37]] 14:28, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
::We have these at my work: https://shop.snydernet.com/images/snyder-6370721n95402.pdf The viscosity is a huge deal, unless you can afford to waste a bunch of supply. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.248|162.158.186.248]] 08:29, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

In order to remove calculus from the scenario one needs a pressurization system that keeps Pair + Pliquid, constant at the hole. This requires sensing the height of the liquid surface and increasing the air pressure as the surface drops, the relationship depending on the density of the liquid. [[User:Mjackson|Mjackson]] ([[User talk:Mjackson|talk]]) 22:02, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

I wish my maths teachers back in the day had come up with any examples like this and I might have got a notion that calculus can be good for something after all, that there is an actual justification of learning it. I still might have failed in grasping it, mind you, but at least I'd have the decency to feel just a tiny little bit bad about it. I realise this is probably making me the odd one out here, but I felt I should mention it because it's linked to a fundamental problem of teaching - teaching anything at all, not just maths: most of the time you need to sell to your students the notion that knowledge and skills outside of your fields of interests, those that certainly don't relate to any career you have in mind for yourself, are valuable enough to justify the pain of learning them. You see, generations of "dumb", "lazy" students like I used to be myself have got it right on instinct: anything complex and abstract is literally painful to learn. Thinking hard in fact generally hurts, even if you pretend to yourself you like it (as I do, too, but what we really like are the results we come up with when we're done). Psychologists recently hammered this fact home in a large meta study [https://www.ru.nl/en/research/research-news/thinking-hard-hurts] [https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fbul0000443]). So with something as complex and abstract as calculus, you'll have to sell to them it's worth learning anyway, even despite a very real prospect of being able to live a perfectly happy and successful life without it, and if it's only of the weak basis of "it may still turn out to come in handy at some point". I'm a teacher myself, in case you're wondering, and if I taught maths and calculus and suchlike, transferring to it the same "signature" hands-on approach I'm somewhat known for using in geography, it'd be quite possible you'd see me drill an actual hole into an actual barrel (and likely make a show of installing a tap to make it reusable, too). [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 10:21, 24 August 2024 (UTC)

If the tank were sufficiently pressurized, they might end up having to mop up careless calculus teachers. The Hydraulic Press Channel has a series of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjS9HAtvBv0 videos showing the results of fittings popping off of over-pressurized tanks]. It did not bode well for any ballistic gel dummy heads that got in the way. [[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]]) 03:17, 26 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2972: Helium Synthesis

2024-08-26T01:34:54Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Qs and corrections.

I had imagined that, rather than destroying the entire universe, they just somehow made a big bang INSIDE THE MACHINE that they could somehow obtain helium from safely. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.166|141.101.109.166]] 07:34, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:I get the impression that, like an abbreviated version of the cyclical {{w|Big Bounce}} hypothesis, they did indeed recreate the conditions for a (sufficiently similar) universe.
:The question as to whether they obliterated their current one (in a short-sighted and {{w|Instrumental convergence#Paperclip maximizer|paperclip-maximiser}}-like effort that disregards the safety of their current existence) or create a new instance of universe-within-the-universe (like [[2688: Bubble Universes]], presumably with some way of [[248: Hypotheticals|bringing the stuff out]]) is left open.
:If the latter, it could be that the ''reason'' why each universe's helium-users are chronically short of helium is that their universe ''has'' been used as a source for the next-universe-out's helium by the equivalent outwards recursion of the very same people. (The former would imply a kind of {{w|The Last Question}} situation, only not with the same timing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 08:25, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that you probably couldn't create a big bang in the lab capable of replaying the events of the current universe exactly without obliterating at least, as the explanation says, all the closest galaxies. If new inflation pushes the existing universe apart, it's still smeared quite thinly outside the new expanding edge.
:::You think in such three-dimensional terms - and I don't mean it as a praise, just like the Borg Queen. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:07, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
::But I really like the idea, it's kind of like Rick's car battery in ''Rick and Morty'', one of my favorite episodes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.4|172.70.210.4]] 08:34, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:::What if inflation doesn't disturb the matter and space around it, it just shrinks the apparent size of the matter inside it to create the expanded space relative to observers inside, by curving the interior spacetime and distorting the gravitational field to block it from its surroundings? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.45|172.70.206.45]] 10:04, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::::Black hole universe, anyone? https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.11608 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eUes30gwc [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.192|172.71.147.192]] 18:16, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:::[https://wiki.lspace.org/Roundworld Universe within a (continuing) universe] isn't exactly hard to imagine. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.216|162.158.33.216]] 13:07, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Could this comic maybe be a reference to a certain popular space video game? Sadly, in what I call a reverse spoiler, I cannot tell you which game I mean without massively spoiling that game. I hope some people know which one I mean and can reply basic on that guess. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:30, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:If it's [https://www.mobiusdigitalgames.com/outer-wilds.html Outer Wilds], there's nothing here that's a gameplay spoiler, is there? Just for a pretty small part of the story, right? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.55|162.158.187.55]] 10:08, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::[not OP] It's a pretty big story spoiler and it could be considered a gameplay spoiler indirectly, or it could if there was more specifity. It's fine to discuss it here. Most xkcd fans would love that game even if they can only watch play-throughs, I reckon. So I consider the discussion here a net positive, really, and I suspect most of the authors would too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.36|162.158.91.36]] 17:19, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

This is also a bit reminiscent of the classic Perry Bible Fellowship comic "[https://pbfcomics.com/comics/reset/ Reset]". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.144.140|172.68.144.140]] 03:29, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

I wonder whether the cyclicity in the comic is an intentional play a cyclic universe theory. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.210.47|162.158.210.47]] 11:46, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:It's certainly a recurring (NPI!) theme in Randall's works, in various forms (as noted all over this article/Talk-page), so I'd be absolutely amazed if it really isn't anything at all to do with it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.54|172.70.91.54]] 12:15, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

I think I've read too much [[Wikipedia:Casey and Andy|Casey and Andy]] but I thought that machine should be called a Big-Bang-Nucleosynthesis-O-Mat. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 14:55, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:I have never heard of C&A before. Thank you so much - I should be sleeping now - guess what I'm doing instead? [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]])

THE REASON U HAVE A LACK OF HELIUM IS STARZ JUST EXTRACT IT FROM STARZ (but leave red giants alone, they only have hydrogen left.)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.71|172.69.130.71]] 06:45, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

agreed. just extract helium from stars[[User:I HAVE NO NAME|I HAVE NO NAME]] ([[User talk:I HAVE NO NAME|talk]]) 06:51, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

i spent 90 percent of my vpn on looking at xkcd. I should really take a break.[[User:Pizzalord3k|Pizzalord3k]] ([[User talk:Pizzalord3k|talk]]) 10:44, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:It's hard to know why you would need to use a personal VPN to check here (specifically), but it seems like you're binge-browsing. You may well be 'caught up' soon and perhaps before hitting any quota/recharging limit.
:And can we take it that all contributions from [[User:I HAVE NO NAME]] (and [[User:I HAVE NO NAME2]]) are now part of the above username's history? I hope things settle down for you (and us) shortly. Please do enjoy making useful edits, by whatever name you do. All helpful contributions are <s>tautological</s> helpful... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.248|172.70.160.248]] 11:06, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
::The reason i use vpn is because I'm travelling right now. Here's a hint about the country I'm going to. CLUE: they have a very strict firewall.[[User:I HAVE NO NAME|I HAVE NO NAME]] ([[User talk:I HAVE NO NAME|talk]]) 07:18, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
:::You know, that always confuses me. Any nation (there's one very obvious one, another that I suspect doesn't so much as firewall as restrict all connections from the ground up, yet another possible candidate with a mix of self-isolation and partly imposed disconnection, probably a smattering of "I'd have to check on the map" territories) that would go so far as to make it impossible to directly connect to an obscure webcomic wiki yet even ''allows'' encrypted traffic in and out between basically any part of the wider internet (including all those places that they are ''really'' concerned with anyone sending things to or receiving them from) has more than a few problems with priorities and how to make them effective.
:::I mean, they now can't even tell the difference between someone who is uploading a video review of the latest Taylor Swift song and one who is exporting vital military secrets.
:::Ok, they do still have an idea of ''who'' is tunnelling out, electronically speaking, but (without subverting the whole concept of a VPN, at source, which is always a remote possibility) they can't really sieve those results any more meaningfully (e.g. to work out who is coordinating a ''physical'' attempt to 'tunnel out').
:::Which makes me think that it's either not very well thought out (content to just restrict 'normal' citizens, and left to keep track of the relative few exceptions to this policy to then surveil/monitor in other less convenient ways) or ''exceedingly'' well thought out ('They' actually have wide-open backdoors into all common VPN solutions, and They are cleverly allowing anyone with anything to hide to think they're lost in amongst all the masses of relative drivel, and perhaps the targets might even drop their guard further and accidentally use http: instead of https: when connecting to the CIA webmail system, etc... ;) ).
:::...but we digress. Well, certainly I do. Ignore me. (Enjoy your trip, whoever you are. But why are you spending so much time on here, when you probably have so much more to do and see!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.77|172.70.91.77]] 12:54, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

Transcript: "Hairy's hair is subtly different from the first frame" Hairy's hair is subtly different in ALL THREE frames. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:34, 26 August 2024 (UTC)

Any speculation as to who/what maintains financial records for 14 billion years from a dead universe? Maybe God is the ultimate accountant? [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:34, 26 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2971: Celestial Event

2024-08-26T01:09:28Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Quiz.

Unfortunately, this calculation doesn't account for the eventual end of total solar eclipses due to the tidal recession of the moon. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.142|172.69.246.142]] 05:31, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

:This is a great comment! Very much like something Randall would have written for title text. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.49|172.71.146.49]] 05:58, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
:: Agreed! Also, it seems like the article should have a footnote or separate section going full Randall, "Based only on the data given in this cartoon, what is the possible range of Randall Munroe's home location?" --[[User:AnnapolisKen|AnnapolisKen]] ([[User talk:AnnapolisKen|talk]]) 18:21, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
::: Speculating about people's addresses online is generally frowned upon, in court if nowhere else. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.14.183|172.68.14.183]] 00:50, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
:::: As in the original post, the humor in it is that the quest would be effectively useless, right? I mean probably the best data point would be that it's in an area where 17-year cicadas brood. I'm not sure any other data could narrow it down beyond that. --[[User:AnnapolisKen|AnnapolisKen]] ([[User talk:AnnapolisKen|talk]]) 14:05, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Are all of these events really statistically independent or are e.g. active northern lights and cicada mergence more or less likely to happen at the same time of the year? {{unsigned ip|172.68.194.201|06:15, 13 August 2024}}

: Ooh, great question. It turns out cicadas only emerge in warm weather, particularly in summer, and <s>you can only see the northern lights in winter</s>. That's bad news for us, our superevent might never happen. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.3|172.69.90.3]] 01:03, 14 August 2024 (UTC) — edit: oops, I got it wrong. It turns out you can see them all year round. They're actually happening right now in some parts of the US.

This comic was published the same night that saw both the Perseids meteor shower and an unusually strong northern lights. Strangely, the omission of meteor showers in Randall's account of Celestial Events suggests that this is a coincidence. [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 11:43, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

One eclipse every 350 years is not "1/350" - that would imply the eclipse lasted the whole year. The numerator unit should be a minute or so, vastly changing the result. {{unsigned ip|172.70.39.114|13:16, 13 August 2024}}
: Actually, thanks to unit cancelation, Randall's math checks out. I really really feel that it shouldn't, but it does. It's 1/350 years because what you're calculating is "once every X years". It doesn't actually matter how long an eclipse lasts, so long as it's a sufficiently small amount of time so as to be treated as a single point in time. "When that point in time happens, how frequently will those other things be happening?". You can give that answer in days, years, or whatever other unit of time you prefer. Since we're giving it in years, the number we need is "how often (am eclipse occurs) each year" - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.14.185|172.68.14.185]] 23:32, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
:: Yes, I came back to correct myself on this after more reflection. The implied unit is Event and this is the only such non-dimentionless factor. {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.186|23:40, 13 August 2024}}
: Tru dat, as are the comments regarding changes over time in eclipse parameters and the effects of time approximations. However, if we let "4 minutes" be the mean time of totality for an eclipse, and insert that term (for the record, 7.6E-06) for "1" in "1/350", the equation's solution becomes 4E+14, orders of magnitude greater than the age of the universe and, IIRC, well into its projected "heat death". The joke appears to reside in the proximity of Randall's solution to the commonly-accepted age of the Earth, making the solution "just possible". More "accurate" solutions would not be funny, and we would not have seen this comic.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.227|162.158.41.227]] 17:11, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
::In the "1/350years", I took it to mean that the unitless "1" represented a day (within which an eclipse occurs, and across this period would also extend the various other conditions). By treating all other unit-laden values as correctly converted to the number in the term of days (and back-converted to the 'more convenient' billions of years for the result), it probably ...not that I did the mathematics to check this... comes out as Randall suggests.
::If, indeed, the length of an (average, as of Earth's current configuration) eclipse, and all other values were understood as proxies for the "number of eclipse-lengths" (except for the uncloudy sky fraction, which is always a unitless half through cancelling out) then you might end up with a result that's different. But the way to check this is to accept the answer (in billions of years) and all the others with time-lengths (respectively) and work out the rough united-length of the "1" by to identify what unit would best fit that. But I leave that to whoever ''really'' wants to dive that deep into it, as the next logical step beyond mere attempted pedantry. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.164|172.68.205.164]] 20:22, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
: Every other 2 billion years, on days when it's cloudy or raining, the neighborhood ''doesn't'' get to see the spectacular show. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.98|162.158.154.98]] 19:19, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
::So just like the olympic games: They happen every 4 years, while also every 4 years, but offset by 2, there are the olympic winter games... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:43, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

There are competing factors with regard to the eclipse. Obviously total eclipses don't last for an entire year {{cn}}, but in the distant past when the Moon was significantly closer, they occurred much more frequently than once every 350 years. Far enough back, the moon was significantly larger in the sky and orbited much more rapidly making total solar eclipses a much more common event (even if nobody with eyes was around to see). Using constants for probabilities when things have significant variation is tricky. [[User:Galeindfal|Galeindfal]] ([[User talk:Galeindfal|talk]]) 14:26, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
:I just added (without having seen the above comment) something that deals with that. Actually, that and the way that the 'beat frequency' may ''just'' fail to create an all-effect maximum due to it not being a strictly repeating frequency (if you have an eclipse on one date, with a "1 event in 350 years" calculation for your location/latitude, it doesn't preclude more than one per 350 years or two separated by vastly more than 350 years - though still likely to get "N+1" eclipses over any given 350xN year period for higher Ns).
:If it's a combinatorial experience of fully periodic frquencies (such as with [[1331: Frequency]] then you can be precise over the beat-frequency, but any statistical perturbation can make a 'full hit' into a 'not-fully hit' event quite easily. At its simplest, though the chances of any given day (or useful fraction of a day) of being clear-skied may be 50%, it's not as simple to say "yesterday was cloudy, tomorrow will be clear", or vice-versa. Perhaps slightly more useful to say that than "the year just gone had no clouds, so this year will be full of them" or imagining that every second you could glance up and see "clouds...", "no clouds...", "clouds...", "no clouds...". The meteorological 'calculations' would never be anywhere near as simple as even the (future-trends modified) far-future predictability of the astronomical effects. The biologist might be able to be reasonably sure that the season-locked emergence of a given cicada brood will actually continue to satisfy ''their'' contribution to the calculation for much longer than the weatherman might (though they'd have to admit to the high probability that an ecological upset would flat out end any chances before any of the other forecasts become too hazy to rely upon).
:So the changing of frequencies over the time of the 9calculated) meta-beat's recurrance will make for an compoundedly-chaotic 'actual' meta-beat (assuming it ever completes). This includes the possibility that it actually re-meshes its individual occurances into an actually far more frequent coincidence (two consecutive cicada emergences could end up ''both'' being accompanied by all the other requirements). Depends how much you take at face-value, rather than as a rough and ready 'approximation' for fun-and-non-profit... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.164|172.68.205.164]] 20:22, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

The adjustment due to leap years is far dwarfed by the approximate nature of "20 days" and "2 months" in some of the events. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:06, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

Don't know how it could be calculated in, but there's a fundamental conflict between the solar eclipse and aurora borealis. Solar eclipses are only visible during the day {{cn}}, but the aurorae aren't symmetrical around the poles and drag further equator-ward on the night side of the planet. So the occurrences of Northern lights that would reach to Boston latitudes on the *day side* of the planet so as to be visible during a solar eclipse would be much, much rarer (closer to Carrington-event rarity, currently pitched at once every 100 to 1000 years instead of the 11 Randall used, but even then it'd have to be a particularly strong event). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.142|172.70.230.142]] 13:34, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

If he had included all these events happening on a Tuesday or a Thursday then we're getting close to 1 every 14 billion years. A time which everyone's neighbourhoods had a really big show. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 02:36, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Someone has to say it. The explanation is so long and convoluted that it serves substantially more to confuse than to explain. Someone please edit it mercilessly. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.62|172.69.33.62]] 05:14, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:I bit the bullet. I'm sure I left some important stuff out, but more sure I deleted more unimportant stuff. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.211|172.71.146.211]] 06:24, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

But the question is, will the superevent coincide with the release of an [https://xkcd.com/ xkcd comic]? {{unsigned|RadiantRainwing|23:01, 16 August 2024}}
:a blue supermoon could be seen on monday, which is an xkcd upload day, and that happens every 10 years… [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 23:58, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

I may be nitpicking, but the event happening each 50 years and one happening each 350 years are mutually paraller, as in either they happen both every 350 years, or they never happen together at all. You can and possibly should argue that it's not true due to "imprecision with which the periods are recorded", but the proper way to count how often do ALL events occur, is not to count the independent chance over time, but the event offsets from one another, with easiest math if we start from the rarest one.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.172.188|162.158.172.188]] 23:52, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
:I think you're talking of applying the Least Common Multiple (the lowest value that is an integer multiple of all individual integer values). Though the answer to that (for all element pairs that don't already have a 1:n relation) can rely upon the base unit involved. Something that's every four months with something every seven months coincides every twenty-eight months. But every year will have (at least one of) each happening. And, as you point out, the situation may ''never'' coincide at the day level (the first happens every first week of the given month, the second happens on the third of its own months, or one only happens on the nearest Tuesday and the other on the Wednesday).
:What we have here is the combined product, which can be divided by the Highest Common Factor to give the LCM, but only once we agree into what we're factoring (by year, day, hour, the length of a typical eclipse, the second...), and then deal with issues of mutually-missing pairs of 'matchable but offset' cycles. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.46|172.71.26.46]] 04:31, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

Now calculate the odds that a science fiction story will be published that places such an occurrence in our current timeframe. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:09, 26 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2962: President Venn Diagram

2024-07-29T01:55:17Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Sorry for the politics, but I haven't named names.

<noinclude>{{notice|This site is intended to explain the technical details and inspirations (perhaps humorous) behind the comics. This particular page is for Discussion/Talk about the particular comic in question, which ''will'' involve some personal overviews and meta-discussion. But it is not the ideal place to reproduce the wi(l)der issue of public opinion, which the actual political process will eventually establish, and many other public forums and outlets exist in which you can convey your own current leanings/observations on the whole election-related happenings. Please be <s>sensible</s> ''typically geeky in your wit'', and try to keep all the ideological heat and partisan arguments out of this as much as possible.|image=warning!!.png|}}</noinclude>

Another really timely comic. Biden just dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris yesterday. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Forget Biden, Hillary and Obama. This is the endorsement that counts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.199|172.68.23.199]] 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I suppose no one is allowed to say that the upper right circle is mislabeled. It was supposed to say incompetent, dishonest and despicable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.25|162.158.90.25]] 02:07, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You're allowed to say it, but then we're allowed to suggest (with rather more emperical proof) that her presumptive opponent better fits your rewording. How about we all just don't try to re-run the old arguments (or pre-run the upcoming election) in that sort of tone, eh?
:(To be clear, Randall has made positive comments to his favoured candidate, rather than stooping to arbitrarily attacking their opponent. If you can't at least be as positive in your own convictions then it's really not going to help your cause.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.6|172.69.195.6]] 04:10, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
::First, Harris has more than one opponent, not just within her own party, but in the general election to follow if she’s nominated. Second, the many good qualities of my favo[u]red candidate are irrelevant to this comic, so I didn’t mention ''her''. Third, I didn’t start this political discussion; Randall did, by making a refutable claim in his comic. Lastly, there’s nothing arbitrary about a resident of California pointing out [https://truthout.org/articles/kamala-harris-has-a-distinguished-career-of-serving-injustice/ facts about the former attorney general of California] that people in other states, such as Massachusetts, might be completely ignorant of. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.253|162.158.186.253]] 05:45, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Ugh, those abuses from the supposed party of police accountability. Politics in this country are so performative. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.75|108.162.216.75]] 13:58, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
: You could say it, but then the box which says 'Kamala Harris' is mislabeled and 'Donald Trump' should be placed in the box above the middle one. [[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]]) 07:19, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
::Also by saying the first circle is mislabeled you also say Randall is all those things. And if you feel that way, then remember you are free to NOT read his comics... I'm always on Randall's side in politics it seems, but I'm from another country, so I wont vote for any presidential candidates even if Randall was on the ballot ;-) I won't say more here now... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:22, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Note the difference between “upper right” and “upper left.” [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.198|172.70.207.198]] 21:11, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Well Kamala, you had a good run. Randall has the touch of death when it comes to picking political candidates. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.39|162.158.154.39]] 03:02, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You mean that no candidate endorsed by XKCD has ever won? ;) https://xkcd.com/2383/ [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Randall was smart enough to not make a comic endorsing Joe *before* he got elected like he did with Hilldawg and (now) Kamala.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 11:36, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
: Not so; Randall endorsed [https://blog.xkcd.com/2008/01/28/obama/ Obama in 2008]. [[User:-insert valid name here-|-insert valid name here-]] ([[User talk:-insert valid name here-|talk]]) 15:09, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
::So, the criterion could be adjusted either way. "No woman endorsed by XKCD has won" and "No white person endorsed by XKCD has won" are both true, but the first prevents a Harris win, while the second does not. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.192|172.68.174.192]] 01:01, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe Randall secretly wants Kamala to lose and is doing 5D chess. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.122|172.69.130.122]] 16:04, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall angling for VP? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 02:59, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I think Randall would be good president. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:52, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Meh, he seems to at least not be good at public speaking. And from what he says about himself, he would be distracted way too easily. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:I, as an Epsilon Eridani native, think he would be a spectacular president, but his research priorities would swiftly result in [https://www.space.com/universe-end-false-vacuum-decay false vacuum decay], so please, for the sake of the universe, please do not elect him. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.218|172.70.214.218]] 20:55, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:: Is this a reference to some particular sci fi story, or do you coincidentally have the same favorite star name I do?

The layout of this Venn diagram reminds me of https://xkcd.com/112/ {{unsigned ip|162.158.166.234|03:04, 23 July 2024}}

I think I would probably swap the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.23|162.158.174.23]] 04:03, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I would be very interested in which non-Politicians Randall would put into the top middle section. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:People eligible to be president who would make a good president but aren't politicians? I would be much more interested in who he would list in the right middle section, that is, people who would make good presidents and love Venn diagrams, but are ineligible. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.133|172.69.6.133]] 03:42, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

I guess Munroe has no issues with questions about ongoing U.S. backed genocides shrugged off with "shrimp and grits!"? {{unsigned|Markifi|05:39, 23 July 2024}}

What really strikes me is that the USA have a (de facto) 2-Party system and still go so much into personal attacks and endorsements, etc. which in my mind could be the decision-making bit between 2 similiar parties in a multi-party system, or 2 equally sympathic parties to me. But in my mind a 2-party system should at least have the upside of actually discussing policy, and voters deciding based on that... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:30, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

If Randall was in charge he could stop supplying weapons to Israel probably [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.63|172.69.195.63]] 10:16, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

:Randall sempai- we are targeted too. {{unsigned ip|172.70.131.52|15:37, 23 July 2024}}

Re: the mouseover text: "[[1062:_Budget_News|I am more of a deficit sugar glider]]" ought to be in the running. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.157|172.69.58.157]] 12:42, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

personally I'd put most candidates either the top left [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.24|172.69.58.24]] 17:34, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Neat. A Euler diagram (and no, Venn cannot just have this one). {{unsigned ip|172.71.158.226|18:18, 23 July 2024}}
:Quite! Venn called his diagrams "{{w|Euler diagram|Euler circles}}." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.137|172.71.151.137]] 22:09, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

I think the 'eligible' topic is related to a campaign against Harris saying she isn't eligible because she's not american enough. This (fake) news was reposted in France by french Trump's fans. {{unsigned ip|172.69.225.223|20:36, 23 July 2024}}
:No, the topic of Constitutional eligibility, it is more nuanced than each said is represented to state it. Kamala Harris was undisputedly (I believe) born in the US. This makes her a native-born citizen. The Constitution calls for a natural-born citizen but doesn't define that. From writings at the time (I don't remember which) natural-born means born to two citizen parents. Apparently, neither of her parents were US citizens at the time of her birth, so once again (as with Obama, Ted Cruz, others) there are fair questions by thinking people. [[User:ProfDigory|ProfDigory]] ([[User talk:ProfDigory|talk]]) 23:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

_sigh_ I was about to come in here and suggest that we don't do the obvious political battle here but then I realized I'd be up all night because someone was WRONG on the internet [[386: Duty Calls]]! [[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 21:21, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I, too, have rather strong political opinions that absolutely nobody here cares about. But I also wanted to extend a heartfelt thank-you to the person who put the cautionary banner to not make the main article into a debate platform. I hope its presence becomes a staple of articles on all forthcoming controversial comics, as we commence our quadrennial plunge into the bubbling muck of American election season. -MeZimm [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.59|172.68.34.59]] 21:41, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Would it be a good idea to include a link to the actual United States Constitution in regard to the Presidential eligibility section? In other words, I'm wondering if it would be preferable to link directly to a primary source of information as opposed to a tertiary source like Wikipedia? Either way, I have a [https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-2/#article-2-section-1-clause-5 link to the document on the Congress.gov website] for those who may want to have a read. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 00:13, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Does anyone have a longer version of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWR2uTfrh-k&ab_channel=GOPWarRoom ? I want to see the diagram props! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.19|172.71.147.19]] 21:08, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:"So many memes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=XOjRsJiBTF0&ab_channel=FoxNews [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.129|172.70.214.129]] 22:00, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:I see you are a netizen of exquisite taste. Might I suggest https://www.c-span.org/search/basic/?query=kamala+venn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.29|108.162.245.29]] 22:43, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
::Oh my God, infinite anonymous clipping! https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5125621/user-clip-venn-diagram [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.3|172.71.150.3]] 23:03, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:::[https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5125622/user-clip-circle-venn-diagram A fourth Eulerian circle emerges!] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.5|162.158.186.5]] 23:23, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

It has been decided. As per the [https://x.com/yashar/status/1815476912355205212 edict of the National Republican Senatorial Committee,] the problems with Kamala Harris are: (1) Her laugh is weird. And, (2) she loves Venn diagrams. Let the games begin! We shall [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI_lxFv203I&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive focus on the two issues Americans do care about: swine flue and fracking.] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.200|172.68.23.200]] 22:18, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:For anyone who didn't click on the link provided above, "habit of laughing at inappropriate moments" (NOT "laugh is weird") and "loves Venn diagrams" were two bullet points out of seventeen, both of them listed under the final section labeled "Weird" after many more obviously concerning policy positions. So, this discussion entry is yet another example of dishonest misrepresentation from the Left. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.61|172.68.34.61]] 15:13, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
::And dishonest misrepresentation is definitely not something that you get from the Right, right?</sarcasm> "Crime Of The Century", I ''don't'' think...
::This is why I instantly and instinctively thought it a bad idea for Randall to make his opinion known, in this comic. Not because I have reason to diagree with his (singular boiled-down to minimal description) assessment, but because everyone not ''totally'' on the same hymnsheet is likely to start complaining that only ''their'' boiled-down assessment (usually an objection) has any veracity... And sparks an ideogical tit-for-tat with far more heat than light. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.166|172.69.43.166]] 16:46, 26 July 2024 (UTC)

This is a really sad comic. Harris is a top cop and a corrupt one. America deserves better than either party is offering, and the supposed party of police accountability should not be running Harris. It's sad that Randall is telling himself otherwise. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.91|172.70.178.91]] 13:22, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:I was not aware that Harris was ever in the police, herself, and cannot find any reference to it in a quick search. I know she advocated police bodycams, which only corrupt cops need to properly fear/avoid using, though obviously one can always be corrupt "in your spare time", or if you're not a uniformed officer/just sat at a desk. Anyway, you have an opinion, and feel free to make your own webcomic if you have better names, wish to add other names and/or want to change the basis upon which Harris's name is judged. It might well be that (of all likely candidates, as well as the unlikely one that is "me") Randall honestly sees Kamala as (one of) the better individual(s) for the role. If everyone agreed, there'd be no need to ask everybody and try to distil the resulting popularity contest into a close-fought result that maybe half the country won't like (but who ''would'' like a result that the other half(ish) of the country wouldn't like), give or take various statistical anomalies. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.103|172.70.85.103]] 15:15, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:: RE: [https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-call-Kamala-Harris-a-cop Why do people call Kamala Harris a cop?] - Top answer: "Because she was a prosecutor, both for San Francisco and as Attorney General of California. Many people conflate cops and prosecutors as they work closely. Harris had a reputation as a tough prosecutor, but also refused to seek the death penalty against the killer of a San Francisco police officer, and started a rehabilitation program that let some offenders clear their records. So her record was mixed." {{unsigned ip|172.68.3.2|15:23, 26 July 2024}}
::: Right. That's an odd definition of a cop. You could almost call a fireman a cop (or a cop a fireman), or a donut-store owner.
::: And opinions about the efficacy of the Death Penalty varies (it stops reoffending, as well as any possible full exoneration in the event of a miscarriage of justice; the jury (figuratively and otherwise) is out whether it prevents further crimes by other people, especially those who are already subject to the pressures of 'street justice' with nonjudicial killing a constant threat anyway). Rehabilitation of ''receptive and truly repentent'' criminals is also surely better than letting everyone rot, regardless; or, if/when released, giving them no hope but to be more prolific criminals; and perhaps even relying upon being housed and fed by the penal system again as the only option, so caused more upset to force the courts' hands.
::: It's not really a mixed record, but a mixable interpretation. And "hang 'em all" people will have different perspectives from the "always be forgiving of mistakes" crowd, with the ideal 'truth' likely being somewhere between, and reality always going to err in both directions. So you can disagree about specific judgements and decisions, but be careful of either lauding or lambasting a wider policy shift. Hard cases make bad laws, and bad laws make individual cases hard to deal with.
::: Imagine that you're Glynn Simmons, or Sandra Hemme, or one of those eventually exonerated only ''after'' their exocutions (not necessarily all nice people, but doubts or actual disprooving facts about their parts in any particular Capital crime, or the social goalposts shifted away from discriminatory and heavy-handed policies, is a not an unusual event).
::: All I'm saying is that there's going to be nuance. And every person will have "mixed" approval ratings, even per a given individual's own personal assessment if they know enough to get at least a 2D viewpoint, and ideally at least 3D. And I don't know how anyone without an extreme view on the world would equate a general policy of enhanced rehabilitation with corruptness (when corruption can equally involve framing and improperly prosecuting innocent people, whilst letting the truly irredeemable go free). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.166|172.69.43.166]] 16:46, 26 July 2024 (UTC)

What do you call a diagram with more than three circles? I feel we should add ones for "Held ANY public office prior to Presidential bid.", "Served ANY employer, other than one's self, prior to Presidential bid.", "Pledges to abide by the Constitution and the laws of the United States.", and "Pledges to abide by the results of the Presidential election of the United States." It will be easy, as Randal can just copy and paste existing name. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:55, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2959: Beam of Light

2024-07-20T19:29:59Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Welcome back, Einstein

hi {{unsigned ip|172.68.174.143|04:37, 16 July 2024}}
:Hello, could you please sign your post? [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 04:47, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
::@[[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]]: I have signed the post for them. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 04:58, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
:::megan detected 🤩🤩🤩 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 07:14, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
::::It's just a thematic name. If you keep overreacting to it, we can do [[322: Pix Plz|this]]. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 07:49, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
:::::aw hell yeah, melt the school computers i use to edit this wiki [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.110|141.101.98.110]] 08:10, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

I totally thought it said Epstein at first, and I was trying to make sense of a seemingly dark, oblique, and dated joke.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.141|172.70.210.141]] 05:00, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

:randall would never [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 07:14, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

::"Up your nose with a relativistic rubber hose" - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Back,_Kotter Vinnie Barbarino] [[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]]) 19:29, 20 July 2024 (UTC)

I thought the "didn't have any particular" was a pun, because at the time light was not recognized as a particle but a wave. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.167|141.101.109.167]] 08:34, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

thats me whenever im on a sled downhill [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 10:55, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
:calvin? is that you? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.196|172.71.150.196]] 20:07, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

If Einstein is traveling at the speed of light then he is not experiencing time so he would not be able to have any insights. [[User:KingPenguin|KingPenguin]] ([[User talk:KingPenguin|talk]]) 04:55, 17 July 2024 (UTC)
:This is a gedanken experiment, and thus he could have them while contemplating going at that speed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:49, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

Though nowhere is it made explicit, and it probably doesn't warrant either Explanation or Transcript notes to this effect, I have a strong feeling that Albert is seated at his Patent Office desk, taking a break from reviewing patent applications (the paperwork directly in front of him). Just a thought, as it would be presumptuous to put this in as a main article edit... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.96|172.70.91.96]] 12:20, 17 July 2024 (UTC)
:I think it could be relevant to mention. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:49, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

I have just created the pages [[Albert Einstein]] and the [[:Category:Comics featuring Albert Einstein]] as there are now three comics where Randall has drawn Albert. I have added those three. Maybe there could be more? Maybe we should also add any comic where Einstein is directly mentioned or referenced (like with the swizz patent office like in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].) Not sure though about the latter. But as said just above the patent office is a know reference. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:49, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:1206: Einstein

2024-07-20T17:41:51Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Hungry SF reader.

I think left Cueball was just trolling. [[Special:Contributions/81.23.24.48|81.23.24.48]] 05:00, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

"Disproving Einstein" is usually thought to be disproving special or general relativity theory --[[Special:Contributions/83.20.253.13|83.20.253.13]] 05:46, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

: I am pretty sure the joke is that disproving anything Einstein said is "disproving Einstein". [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 09:04, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

:Wasn't the "disproving special or general relativity theory" already sort of done with quantum physics? Or do we only suspect that but lack the actual proof until we have confirmed {{w|Quantum_gravity|Quantum gravity}}? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:34, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

::In physics an experimentally likely theory is disproved by making an experiment that gives different results than the theory predicts. As none of the theories of relativity say anything about the statistical properties of electrons and photons, quantum experiments do not really disprove relativity. If you could measure gravitation on atomic scales you might, but there are no guarantees, as it might behave as relativity predicts, which would mean that some part of quantum field theory is either wrong, or not yet discovered (interestingly nine fold SUSY with local invariance might still reproduce general relativity at large scales, the theorists are still calculating). Generally, one wants to modify quantum theory, and keep relativity as it is (in a way what string theory does) and not the other way around.[[Special:Contributions/85.164.251.29|85.164.251.29]] 08:16, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me or did Cueball travel back in time to 1947? That would certainly be a bigger way to disprove Einstein than to go after his opinion of sandwich shoppes. -- [[User:Sturmovik|Sturmovik]]
:<code><nowiki>{{Like}}</nowiki></code> [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 19:58, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

;LOL, wrong patent
:''Moved from [[Talk:Main Page#LOL, wrong patent|Talk:Main Page]] -- [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 04:30, 2 May 2013 (UTC) ''
I googled patent number 39561 and got [http://www.google.com/patents?id=EA0AAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false this], which is a patent for carriage wheels, not a gravel sorter. I'm like, "You bet Einstein was wrong if he called that a gravel sorter!" Then I realized that he wasn't a patent clerk in the US patent office, but rather the Swiss. --[[Special:Contributions/138.67.184.240|138.67.184.240]] 03:23, 2 May 2013 (UTC)
:I googled "patent 39561 gravel sorter". [https://www.diigo.com/item/image/3edhj/qcu0 Screenshot]. Notice that first 9 links are about this comic xD --[[User:DiEvAl|DiEvAl]] ([[User talk:DiEvAl|talk]]) 22:24, 2 May 2013 (UTC)
:The Swiss Patent Office has a FAQ page, which also includes a link to [https://www.ige.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Institut/d/i109401.pdf Patent 39561 Gravel Sorter] Full FAQ: [https://www.ige.ch/en/about-us/einstein/frequently-asked-questions.html Swiss Patent Office]--[[User:Philster|Philster]] ([[User talk:Philster|talk]]) 12:10, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Has terminology changed since Einstein was an examiner. Provisional patents are not reviewed for patentability {{unsigned ip|96.248.90.153}}

I think part of the joke is that by "I am currently...", Cueball is describing what he is doing right now in the diner, i.e. eating a sandwich. [[Special:Contributions/94.101.35.45|94.101.35.45]] 11:23, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Maybe it's because of changing tastes and whatnot. In the mid-20th century, sandwiches were either homemade or available from delicatessens. Now we have places like Subway and Jimmy John's.{{unsigned ip|108.162.250.223}}

:or Potbelly, or Panera, or Pret, or Blimpie, or au Bon Pain... the possibilities are virtually limitless! [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 05:26, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

::National chain delicatessens? In Einstein's time, fantasies like that would have been confined to publications such as 'Thrilling Wonder Stories'. [[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]]) 17:41, 20 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2952: Routine Maintenance

2024-07-02T02:15:14Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Movie link.

Ooooh, if this were only true... All the "Nobody tells me what to do" stubborn people would have died out years ago, and Covid would have been a LOT shorter! :) Added an initial explanation, all I found here was a basic transcript.

The vent off of Alaska is poking out, is there a volcano around there? Feels a little north to be Mount Fuji, but I have a suspicion most if not all are supposed to be actually volcanos... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:12, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
:Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula (the long "teardrop" hanging below the Siberian Peninsula) is very volcanically active. The others look like reasonable places to expect volcanoes - I've added a couple of lines. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.207|172.68.64.207]] 05:25, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

Is the image SUPPOSED to be that tiny? It's not even 800 pixels! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.166|141.101.109.166]] 05:46, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

Should the direction of up/down actually being away/towards the planet due to gravity and not the panel's up/down direction be addressed in the explanation? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.150|172.71.31.150]] 13:34, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

The current explanation says that cans of compressed air are pressurized with a propellant gas. This seems unlikely to me, but it's not ''impossible''... it's just that I'd expect a can of compressed air to be only that, without needing a propellant. What I'm seeing in a quick search on-line supports that. Do cans of air/propellant exist? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 16:09, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
:It would be impractical to have ''just normal air, compressed''. A typical spray can cannot hold the pressures needed to have significant (i.e. useful) amounts of compressed 'normal air' (still gas, but a ''lot'' of it... think, basically, of a cylinder of Nitrogen gas, because air is mostly that anyway). And 'typical air' doesn't readily liquify (the way of concentrating it without ''necessarily'' extreme pressure), not without applying/maintaining extremely low temperatures.
:On the whole, regular mostly nitrogen plus significant oxygen plus some CO2 and a host of trace gases would never practically fit in a handy spray can such as you could hold (and, probably, afford to use) as an alternative to any pumped compressed (or fan-blown) air in 'trivial' tasks such as just blowing a tiny bit of dust off of a mobo.
:What the 'air' is, in such cans, is probably (mostly) whatever handy liquid-adjacent gas is usable as an actual propellant. As you only need the 'general gas', you might as well just put propellant in the thing (one that works well) and ''nothing else''. (Unlike things like air-fresheners/bug-spray, which need the 'freshener'/insecticide as well. There's no advantage to reducing the propellant to fit 'air' in, which would soon be so diluted by gasified propellant that you'd basically have no 'air' left).
:The listed possible gases in a {{w|gas duster}} are the likes of butane, propane, 1,1-difluoroethane, 1,1,1-trifluoroethane or 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane, with the first two being flammable (so would be problematic in some circumstances) and the rest being more inert but still not being 'safe' if improperly used. Or abused.
:I don't actually have a can, at hand, or I'd check its stated ingredients (and warnings). I probably am more likely to (carefully) blow dust away with my own breath, or get the vacuum cleaner out with a suitable attachment. In fact, I've used very few, ever, though I probably first did back in the early '80s (which means it ''might'' even have been basically an example (or mix) of a CFC gas, before the problems with that became 'a thing'), as part of a cleaning kit sold to service my BBC Micro. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.35|172.70.86.35]] 17:44, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
:The popular 'can dusters' are '''NOT''' compressed ''air'' (oxygen/nitrogen mix) despite the label -- air cannot stay liquid at room temperature, it is high above the critical points of both nitrogen and oxygen. Many of such dusters don't display ingredients, but have a prominent '''FLAMMABLE''' warning sign! It is a propane/butane mix most of the time, maybe some CFCs in old ones. You could make a flame torch out of them! so be careful, turn off your device and provide very good ventilation. Best use it outdoors or on a patio, etc. -- [[Special:Contributions/172.68.159.20|172.68.159.20]] 18:04, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
::I was looking at [https://www.amazon.ca/EMPACK-EMP47020-Duster-500-295-74-Moisture-Free/dp/B007Z7OK3Y this] product, which claims to be VOC-free. But when I dug into [https://emzone.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/p7-047020___________emzone_air_duster_-_284_g_en.pdf its SDS], I saw that it's based on 1,1-difluoroethane. "Non-flammable product. However, content in liquid form is flammable." [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 22:38, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

The image looks SO much like a first-draft storyboard for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceballs 'Spaceballs']. [[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]]) 02:15, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2936: Exponential Growth

2024-05-27T02:39:02Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For:

If that's done by each of your moves being to add one (more) grain to the board, the game would last quite a while. Even with reduced time-limits on the game-clock. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.154|172.70.91.154]] 21:27, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Hmmm. Interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.203|172.69.58.203]] 21:31, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

First transcript! Hope it's good.[[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]]) 21:36, 22 May 2024‎ (you only <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>ed, it looks like...)

Total of 2^64 - 1 ≈ 1.8 x 10^19 grains of rice. If a grain of rice averages 30 mg, then that's 5.5 x 10^14 kg of rice. That's around the mass of Lake Erie. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.56|172.71.223.56]] 21:38, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

The legend about the chess board and doubling the grain placed on each square is researched here:
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/5992/what-is-the-origin-of-the-wheat-and-chessboard-legend [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.113|172.71.150.113]] 21:50, 22 May 2024 (UTC)~

The rice is on the side or the board is turned wrong. {{unsigned ip|172.70.115.17|23:13, 22 May 2024}}
:...not sure what you mean here. (Also, do sign your contributions.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.186|172.70.162.186]]
::The white square always goes on your right corner so this border is sideways (assuming we're looking at it head on, which seems likely) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:35, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
::a1 is a dark square, so wherever the one grain of rice is, it can't be a1. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.35|172.71.102.35]] 08:41, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:::Either a8 or h1, which is SO annoying (most likley a mistake on Randall's part tho)[[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:35, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
With all those zeros in the values given for row eight i assume we are looking at the limitations of someones calculation skills/calculator... last I checked 5 was not a factor of any 2^n value? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.80.246|172.70.80.246]] 00:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think we don't need this part at all. If we really want to illustrate the numbers we could simply use the illustration from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem#Second_half_of_the_chessboard [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:15, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

That doesn't look like Hairy in the final panel. Is it a Kasparov caricature? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:12, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I agree it is not the standard Hairy. Since this is Kasparovs gambit and Karpov tried to counter it, then it should be Karpov that walks out! Even though it is not Kasparaov but Black Hat that used the gambit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe it's the same Cueball from the first panel, but he's had to wait so long while Black Hat fetched all the rice that his hair grew out.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 13:32, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

I have to wonder if this comic is related to the Casablanca Chess Tournament that took place this past week, where 4 top-ranked players competed by playing a series of real historical games starting from the middle of each game. Magnus Carlsen won the tournament, which also included Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand, and Bassem Amin. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:38, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Russia pulling out of Black Sea agreement has been labelled "grain gambit" --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.131.158|172.71.131.158]] 06:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Trivia: 1. e2–e4 c7–c5 2. Sg1–f3 e7–e6 3. d2–d4 c5xd4 4. Sf3xd4 Sb8–c6 5. Sd4–b5 d7–d6 6. c2–c4 Sg8–f6 7. Sb1–c3 a7–a6 8. Sb5–a3 d6-d5!? is the Kasparov Gambit, see Wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.30|172.71.160.30]] 08:56, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

This is a completely normal amount of rice. I eat this much grain daily. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:21, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Counter with Tree countergambit. plant tree(1) seeds in the first square and tree(2) on the next square then tree(3) in the next square. Nobody has found out what happens afterwards. {{unsigned ip|172.70.131.212|14:25, 23 May 2024}}

So, out of curiosity, how many grains of rice can you actually fit on an average chess board square? Or maybe, how big would a chessboard have to be in order for the rice to fit on top of every square without overflowing? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.91.144|172.69.91.144]] 22:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Assuming that its a standard size and it can stack up around 10 cubic inches upwards about 4117267200 grains [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 03:08, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

:Judging by [https://www.instructables.com/Chess-Board-Full-of-Rice-Exponential-Growth/ this], I reckon if you were really, really patient you might just about corral the 2048 on square 12 to stay within the bounds without additional housing, but you'd have no hope with the 13th.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.98|172.70.90.98]] 14:25, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

::This is super cool. And helpful. I got the density of rice from this and tried to calculate the size of a chess board that could contain the nine quintillion grains of rice on the last square. Assuming the rice forms a cone with a 30° slope, one would need a chess board roughly the size of Colombia (1073296km² for the whole board). Can anyone confirm?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.91.165|172.69.91.165]] 10:56, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
:::I covered Columbia in rice, and can confirm your hypothesis. Though a small amount spilled onto the streets of Tulcan, Ecuador. [[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]]) 02:48, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
::::That's a neat trick. Especially as there are few {{w|Columbia#Places|Columbia}}s that are {{w|Colombia|adjacent to Ecuador}}... Probably why it hasn't made the news, with the geopolitical confusion as to what happened where. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.31|172.70.85.31]] 08:59, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
::::: If you are willing to trust Google Maps, you can confirm that [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Tulcan,+Ecuador/0.8140754,-77.6638233/@0.8185374,-77.7005492,14.25z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x8e2968bae7d5eb4d:0x2d2e73b19f33388d!2m2!1d-77.7165925!2d0.8150687!1m0!3e0?entry=ttu Tulcan, Ecuador is less than 10km from the border of Columbia]. [[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]]) 02:39, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Also, I noticed everyone here seems to have an ip in the 172.69.0.0 to 172.71.255.255 range, but I just checked and that's not even my ip address at the moment. What's that about? Does the wiki mask our actual ip addresses? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.110|172.69.90.110]] 22:29, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Not the wiki, but the gateways to the wiki that help with load-balancing and related connection issues. And you'll also see some IPs in the 141.x.y.z range, and others. I ''usually'' am in 171.[69-71].y.z range, but between one contribution another I might be anywhere.
:It's a known thing, for better or worse. Ultimately, there are behind-the-scenes details that would know the 'true' origin of everyone (give or take what load-balancing your own ISP also does at ''your'' side of the connection), but it's left obscured from our more plebian eyes.
:Getting a username will also remove the wider and more general geographic potshots someone can make a out your origin (the gateways seen to be used are likely to reveal ''at least'' your continent, if anyone's bothered), but I never saw the need.
:...now. I wonder under what range will the following put me..? => [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.96|172.69.194.96]] 23:34, 23 May 2024 (UTC) 8) Postscript: I first quickly used Preview, and I actually got the 141.range, then posted for real and got the 172s. About ten seconds between the two 'postings'. Hah! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.129|141.101.98.129]] 23:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

"If exponential growth is unrestricted, it will eventually grow beyond the constraints of anything that could plausibly be built to contain it." - Given that the increase in rice grains is, itself, not plausible, I see no reason why the growth in size of rice cookers needs to be plausible either.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 09:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:I was tempted to add something about square/cube-law (not quite applicable, as there'll be a smidgen of cubing as you raise the square-area of container material, etc, but along tbose lines), but that of course makes the implausibility threshold of the cookers higher than the same threshold of rice (everything else being equal). So then you're on to the heat-penetration abilities (after a while, the outer rice is overcooked, when the innermost rice has barely felt the heat). And that leads me to believe that something like a {{w|rotary kiln}} design might be best adopted (external heat, internalised water delivery, properly tuned, and could even be effectively pressurised with the right cycling addons to either end) to just accept rice in at a constant rate and produce perfectly cooked rice at the commensurate output rate. Of course, exponential increase in feed would then require exponential increase in parallel rotary-cookers to handle it, but starting at an already more efficient/controllable mass-cooking process than merely upscaling a traditional pot-style cooker. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.220|172.71.242.220]] 11:09, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

This is easily defeated. Simply counter by placing one {{w|Fox_games#Fox_and_Geese|goose}} on the 64th square, two geese on the 63rd, and so on. They'll quickly deal with the rice situation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 13:39, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:But then you need to add an increasing number of foxes starting at the first square to deal with the geese.[[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 19:27, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
::And good luck taking the whole setup across a river with just a small boat! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.165|172.69.79.165]] 22:43, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but assuming that the chess board is 20 inches square, the rice being stacked into a pyrimid 15 inches high, then it only works out to [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=5.5+x+10%5E14+kg%2F%2820inches*20inches*15+inches*1%2F3%29 1.7x10^16 kg/m^3], which, according to Wolfram, is dwarfed by the density of a Neutron Star, much less a black hole. So is there some other reason the explanation claims it will become a black hole? Or was it just wrong [[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 04:17, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2935: Ocean Loop

2024-05-26T19:38:48Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For:

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so a Trivia section has been automatically generated, and an imagesize parameter has been added (at half size) to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. --[[User:TheusafBOT|TheusafBOT]] ([[User talk:TheusafBOT|talk]]) 20:47, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
:We're still calling 4760 x 4295 "massive" in a time when many tvs and monitors are 4k? I mean I guess it's technically massive compared to the website's default, a downright ''embarrassing'' 635 x 573 -[[Special:Contributions/172.71.255.7|172.71.255.7]] 19:37, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
::[[1475: Technically]] 20 million pixels are technically massless, not massive. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.46|172.71.98.46]] 19:49, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:Bad bot EDIT: Oops, wording threw me off, it did the RIGHT thing this time! Bravo! "Standard size" made me think it had generated/found a regular sized image and saved THAT again! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:14, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Is there anyway to get notifications when a new comic comes out? I'm always late to these 21:27, 20 May 2024 (UTC)Jush
:I believe that there may be a Twitter (or X, or Xwitter, whatever we're calling it out) announcement direct from Randall's account, but I don't use that myself. And, like me, you were here ''right as it came out'', more or less, so so don't worry too much. You ''could'' write your own BOT-like poller (various ways, but do at least considerately throttle it back to checking perbaps no more frequently than every 15 minutes, 'cos too many people doing that would be 'problematical'), if you can't find a push-notifying service that does most of the hard work for you (and a whole host of other subscribers). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.241|172.70.85.241]] 22:23, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
:You can use the RSS feed: https://xkcd.com/rss.xml [[User:Val|Val]] ([[User talk:Val|talk]]) 04:07, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Happy Victoria day to anyone else in Canada! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.235|162.158.146.235]] 21:39, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Due to not being told about any Edit Conflict, I managed to co-edit the initial explanatuon with A.N.Other (sorry, haven't checked who, probably the first major editor in the page-history). I've put the most useful bit (IMO) of their article into mine, but some of it seemed wrong. Or at least not right.
*"because of the size and speed of a cruise ship, the ship likely wouldn't make it around the loop without falling off" - well, given the mass of water nicely holding itself to the loop, a ship floating around in it at the same speed would be holding itself to the loop quite nicely (moreso, perhaps, with its CoG taking a tighter loop than the fluid-loop).
**Of course, it could be slower, but that would mean fighting the current. Whatever huge velocity the water is going, you'd have to be capable of going full-reverse at ''significant'' speed to overcome that,
***Well, you could be ''just'' less than the ''just'' more than fast-enough water, but it's probably significantly faster than loop-speed, or a lot of edge-surface water would shed out of the topmost loop-trough due to fluidic friction against the trough itself.
***And there's the acceleration needed to match the fluid flow-rate, but that causes problems before 'falling off' is an issue. Imagine suddenly finding yourself going hundreds (thousands?) of knots sternwards in still water. Probably what it'd feel like, before even getting to the tilt (by which time, any ship that had survived is probably now close to water-speed).
*"Second even if they managed to make it through without falling, many of the passangers would abtain extreme injuries and/or likely fall off the ship all together (unlike {{w|rollercoasters}} the passengers aren't strapped down)" - If you experience negative Gs in a rollercoaster, it's not a true loop (just an awkward inversion). You should normally always stay at positive Gs, albeit at somewhere within 0<Gs<1 (which ''feels'' like negative, but is just short of weightlessness). Being strapped in is still important, but mostly for forces lateral to "local down" for where you are on the ride.
**...or, of course, if the ride malfunctions and leaves you stationary and inverted. Which happens, but that's not at all intended in most situations. There'd be no way an 'otherwise normal' flume-loop would do that, though refering back to the need of your ship to experience initial acceleration before it even hits the loop (and final deceleration once it exits it).
*"Third, because of the way the loop's designed, several hundreds (if not thousands) of tons of water is being launched onto the top of the cruise ship at a high speed. Needless to say, this would not only likely capsize the ship, but would also flatten any passenger on the deck." - The sudden undersea current is going to be a problem, but it's not going to be directed over the ship (save ''completely'' over the ship, in the loop far above).
**What you'll have is the turbulent local sea conditions. There'd be a 'standing wave-trough' in front of the point the jet of water is shown to emerge, itself probably a catastrophic problem for a ship, even an ocean-going one built in expectation of occasionally meeting {{w|rogue waves}}) and all the problems involved in traversing such rough seas. If your vessel can survive that (without spinning sideways and hitting the flume-trough, or breaking its back due to the extremely uneven and changing buoyancy along its length) then it's probably going to survive the much smaller amount of water that splashes 'over' its upper superstructure, compared to whatever relative mastrom of flow there will be passing under/against its (nominally) below-waterline hull.
I don't know how much 'reality' Randall has invested in this premise (I presume little, given the lack of pressure-trough in the 'still' water just short of the jet-emergence, nor any distortion in the sea surface wherever the jet originally sucked its water in from), but a lot of the issues of the looping-the-loop "What if" train will be the prime factors, plus maintaining general control (in river navigation, going downstream, between bridge piers, you really have to power your vessel forward, faster than the river itself, or risk losing yaw discipline on your craft). All the rest is icing on the cake of improbability. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.241|172.70.85.241]] 22:23, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
:It's a comic drawing after all, it's meant to illustrate the concept but leave the actual reality to our imagination. Conceptually it seems obvious to me that if the ship actually makes it through the loop, it exits fairly smoothly (class 2 or class 3 white water rafting).[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.52|162.158.146.52]]
:"...wherever the jet originally sucked its water in from..." - from the mains, obviously.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 11:05, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

The current paragraph on the title text seems off-base. It seems pretty clear to me that Randall had the idea, managed to get the loop constructed, persuaded the ship to sail to the vicinity (unless it was constructed on a previously planned route), and was attempting to persuade them to enter it ''before'' anyone realised it was a bad idea and objected. He then tried toorganise the passenger poll, and they shut that down too, and fired him. The suggestion that someone else randomly built the thing, separately from him trying to persuade them to use it, doesn't really make any sense.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.48|172.70.90.48]] 11:24, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

As a ballpark, spherical cow, estimate: To complete the loop, the centripetal force at the top of the loop has to equal the gravitational force of the ship. Centripetal force is mv^2/r, and gravitational force is mg, so we have v_top^2/r = g, v_top = sqrt(gr). At the top of the loop, the height is 2r, which means you have potential energy 2mgr, and kinetic energy 1/2 mv_top^2 = 1/2 mgr. Thus, at the bottom of the loop, you need kinetic energy 2mgr + 1/2 mgr = 5/2 mgr. This gives us the velocity at the bottom of the loop, 1/2 mv_bot^2 = 5/2 mgr, v_bot = sqrt(5gr). Call the cruise ship 300 m long, the diameter of the loop appears to be about 3 ship lengths, so r = 450 m. So the ship has to enter the loop at 150 m/s, 540 km/h, 335 mph. That's about Mach 0.45, which is probably the first time a cruise ship speed has ever been described with a Mach number. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.75|172.70.135.75]] 13:03, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:Hopefully, they will also have handed out machs to all the passengers...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.131|172.69.43.131]] 15:12, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:The speed is probably much easier to achieve than it sounds, though, as the water will already by at a very high speed and the ship will only need to accelerate the difference between it's final speed and the water's. So we'd also need to find out the speed of the water to know what kind of engine the ship would need to achieve this. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.17|172.70.162.17]] 10:41, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
::We're probably not talking about ship-engine power at all (except to drift it into the jetstream effect). The best way might be to remodel the ship's stern into a giant 'pusher' plate (or deploy a huge, and tough, drag-chute from the bow) and rely upon the (from above) 0.45mach-speed water most effectively drag the ship up to (almost) its speed quickly enough to make the journey. This jet of water ''will'' already be dragging the water around it up to significant amounts of the speed (you'd probably want to msybe double the stream-speed to average it out at above looping speed for both jet and jet-adjacent water dragged into the system).
::The ship will already by floating in an unnaturally heavy current at the point we picture it, probably unable to even reverse out of it, and the best use of engines would be to merge 'nicely' into the full stream, and doing the equivalent of decelerating from some techmagically-indiced demi-supersonic rearward motion through stationary waters. Ship sterns aren't really designed to cut through water as much as bows are (and, even for the latter, often not anything like as fast) but exactly how it behaves would be complicated by many engineering and fluid-dynamics issues that the average ship would never be expected to encounter (or not more than any unlucky once!), so when this loop-the-loop is designed and built (for the ship company?) it'll probably require a simultaneous refit of some kind of other for the intended vessel(s). Though if the first has been done (without ''anyone'' noticing/caring), maybe the second also was (with the owners at least complicitly indifferent to the extensive dry-dock work). ...or so says my fanon on this issue. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.164|141.101.98.164]] 12:51, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

There are human scaled water slide loopings, but they start by having the human drop vertically and then "only" loop up with ~45° inclination: {{w|AquaLoop}}. This probably would not easily scale to cruise ship sizes. Also starting the looping horizontally and going upwards may be a challenge to implement. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.32|172.71.160.32]] 14:29, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to Cannonball Loop, the infamous looping waterslide that used to be at New Jersey's notorious Action Park (aka Traction Park or Class Action Park). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.74|172.70.175.74]] 15:11, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:Glad I wasn't the only person who thought this, thank you! Have added a bit about it, not sure if it's that well-worded or in the right place but felt like it needed to be there, not least to introduce people to the astonishing horror show that was (Class) Action Park...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 15:22, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Isn't this a giant https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclonic_separation - device, where the ship will be smashed onto the bottom of the "track"? {{unsigned ip|172.71.160.30|05:05, 22 May 2024}}
:Not how I think you envisage it. The ship is (by definition) no more massive than the water it displaces, so centripetal forces won't send it 'outwards' to hit the track-bottom. If it was a floating ball, it would remain on the curving surface, and never sink through thee stream. Cyclonic selarators merely exagerate the differences in density, and the simplified buoyancy equations do not give the ship any reason to 'sink' if it starts off floating. (This may channge if significant induced bubbles/cavitation in the water-jet itself reduced the density of the water, like a gas discharge beneath a ship can cause it to sink on otherwise calm seas.)
:But, depending upon various rotational momentum issues, the rapid change of water-engle might not be matched by the 'localised relevelling' of the ship that makes it effectively nose-dive into the water (like the depictions of the Titanic, but faster) and then have the bow strike the chute-structure (although the flow of water might still be enough to directly counteract the angle and force it back). Whether this is survivable is another issue. And, if it doesn't happen, you've got a water piling up on(/over?) the stern so long as the relative waterspeed and shipspeed have it effectively steaming backwards at high velocity (and with a geometrically 'dipped' stern). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.164|141.101.98.164]] 12:51, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Its all fine and dandy if you want to "pretend" to die. (See the above video links.) In fact, the experiences are advertised as "fun". Yet the moment someone wants to try out the real thing, almost everyone throws a hissy fit. :( [[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]]) 02:36, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
:Apropos of ''what'' links, may I ask? I must have missed that particular context. (Also hoping this isn't from personal experience, as this isn't really a good place or method to seek help or considerate recognition. Best we could ever do is point out better places and trust they work.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 08:50, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
::Explanation, Paragraph three, Line two, "This video, among other potentially dangerous water slides, shows 2 such loop-de-loop water slides (1 and 2)." And no, not from personal experience of any kind. [[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]]) 19:38, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2929: Good and Bad Ideas

2024-05-26T19:24:10Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For: Fixed signature for my comment.

Lots of bread/food in the "good" quadrant; I think Randall is hungry. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.73|162.158.154.73]] 05:33, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:FYI bread -- all bread -- is actually toxic and harmful to us.... Currently, there are three ways this occurs:
- USDA organic standards permit the application of Round-Up (glyphosphate, an herbicide/weedkiller)
to 'organic' wheat -- after it has been harvested. Reason is so they can harvest while it is still green (rather than mature dried-out golden)... Then apply the weedkiller in order to kill & desiccate it... Which lets them faster turn-over, shorter crop cycles, more production per time.
. Unsurprisingly, things designed to kill life are bad for us. (causes cancer and nerve damage)

- secondly the manner of harvesting wheat and turning it into bread changed since the industrial revolution... I do not recall the specific detail but it is more inflammatory now.

- Third, alas heating a number of various foods above the boiling point of water leads to more drastic biochemical changes in the molecules...
... This includes nuts/seeds, meat, & grains.
see california p65 re: bread.
.
causes cancer.
.
trivia:
anthropologists & medical doctors several hundred years ago visiting the americas found that nomadic forager/gatherer tribes were usually in better health, lived longer, & had fewer incidents of tumors (post-mortem autopsies, even in those days) compared to nations or tribes with a history (even pre-euro-contact) of sedentary/agrarian/farming communities.
guess this is due to less diversity in diet, incl greens, less exercise, but also the rise in cultivated grains or cereals like maize.
still better than the hellhole we are in today...
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.96|172.71.151.96]] 20:10, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

Soup always seems like a very good idea to me. I guess I like soup. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.182|172.69.79.182]] 07:15, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

I remember something like this in what if. [[Special:Contributions/SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] 07:21, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:The title immediately reminded me on the Animaniacs shorts "Good Idea / Bad Idea" [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:33, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Does anybody know why solar cars and transitions lenses are actually a bad idea? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.173|172.70.160.173]] 09:11, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:Transitions lenses are misplaced. The only caveat is that if you like outdoor photography (landscapes, wildlife, etc.) you should get grey lenses rather than brown ones, because the brown ones make a blue sky seem overcast. [[User:Pjt33|Pjt33]] ([[User talk:Pjt33|talk]]) 09:22, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
::The precise opposite is true. Grey lenses make ''all'' things - blue sky included - look greyer, as is perhaps unsurprising. Brown tints involve a degree of orange, which means the overall impression is of a "warmer" colour pallette, rather than simply a duller one. There is a reason that "grey skies" and "overcast" mean ''exactly'' the same thing - an overcast sky ''is'' a grey tinted filter. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 09:48, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:::But perceived colour isn't the same as the actual colour hitting the retina: the brain corrects it. A blue sky filtered through a grey lens is still perceived as blue, but I find that a blue sky filtered through a brown lens appears grey. This is from personal experience: I switched from grey Transitions to brown ones because the frame that I liked was a brassy colour, and I regretted it when I next went out for bird photography. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.152|188.114.111.152]] 09:22, 8 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think the Transition lens issue is primarily that the bright light that can turn them dark need not be heading into the eye. With the Sun (say) off at an angle, it could be 'reacting' your lenses to dark needlesly, and reducing your ability to discern the things in front of you (which may be in shadow), working against the basic ability of the eye to adjust itself as per observed illumination.
:Conversely, a small bright light would not sufficiently darken the lenses but be still damaging to the spot(s) it falls upon in your retina (or do the "whole lens go dark" thing and ''still'' be too bright even as you can't see anything else beyond it). This might also be combined with the general secondary problem of potentially all regular sunglasses/goggles, that aren't industrial-grade or specific solar-specs, in that it might make it ''look'' safe to stare at bright things/skies through them but you cannot tell how much UV/etc is also being filtered out (some brands do have notable UV protection, but you really have to trust their claims/certifications – unless you have your own testing kit and knowledge of how much is good/bad anyway).
:I'd add that, but it needs a sharper explanation than I just gave. I'd like to make what's already there snappier, before that, plus correct the numerous typos and funny formatting (and lack of useful wikilinks), but will probably leave that to others with the time. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.204|172.71.242.204]] 10:08, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Just as a note while we're here: "fecal transplant" is one of the most spectacular branding failures in the history of medical science, in my opinion. I mean, don't put the word "fecal" in anything you want people to feel positively about. And "microbiome transplant" is sitting right there, ready to serve.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.37|108.162.242.37]] 10:44, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Double plug cords are VERY MUCH a bad idea. Used mostly to plug generators into an outlet to power a house, it tends to harm people working on the power lines who were not expecting them to be charged when the power was out. The statement about them being hard to use, is quite the understatement. OSHA, written in blood. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.103|172.70.115.103]]

How can soup be bland? There are bland soups, spicy soups, sweet soups, savory soups ... you can't call an entire very broad category of food "bland" like that. It makes no sense.[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:46, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think they may have meant bland as in boring, not tasteless. I'll tweak it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:20, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Citation format needed. (heelies) {{unsigned ip|172.70.178.103|12:57, 7 May 2024}}
:''Summary: (I don't know how to format correctly.)'' - no, you don't...
:For a link to an external URL, writting <code>[the_url]</code> will give you a "linked number", but a better format is using <code>[the_url text to replace]</code> (with a space betwixt the URL and the text that will link to it. e.g. [https://google.com a link to google] from <code><nowiki>[https://google.com a link to google]</nowiki></code>.
:There are full on citation/reference methods, but mostly I wouldn't bother with <nowiki><cite> and <ref> tags</nowiki> at all.
:Internal links, with [[]]s, and template-based ones, with {{}}s (e.g. the nicely-linking shortcut to wikipedia pages), use a pipe (the "|") between the sections. But you should be able to work that out by looking at what is already in the edit-source.
:If in doubt, Preview your intended change and see if it looks right. I'll let you correct your contribution. Or whoever else wants to shake up the whole article, as it has multiple problems from spelling mistakes to inconsistent style to repeating information and it needs a lot of rationalising that I can't even think of doing right now. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 14:09, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
::I didn't realize we actually have no citation templates. Quite a few pages have the actual citation needed template but not many of them ever get those citations. I think a lot of citations get put in just as external links. I probably should've done that but I was like oh I know how to do this from my small amount of Wikipedia editing, I'll just use the cite web template... oh we don't have that. So rather than just do an ad-hoc link I created the citation in my Wikipedia sandbox then manually recreated the formatting. But now it feels weird and out of character for this wiki so maybe someone should just change it to a link. idk, maybe being inconstant is exactly what is in-character for this wiki. [[User:Brycemw|Brycemw]] ([[User talk:Brycemw|talk]]) 15:10, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:::I changed it to a link. I've seen the occasional citations section in this wiki, iirc, but we general just do links :) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:02, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

As a Columbus native, I am HIGHLY offended by this anti–rectangular pizza slice speech. Rectangular pizza is by far the BEST shape that a pizza can be. (I'm not really offended, but I really do think rectangular pizza is superior.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.229|108.162.216.229]] 14:04, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:Sicilian pizza should be square and cut into square slices, Neapolitan pizza should be round and cut into sectors. The extra thickness of Sicilian means you don't eat it by holding the crust and folding, so the shape of the slices is less critical. But this does mean that the middle slices have no crust around the edges. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:25, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
::[[1986|Crimes!]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.11|162.158.95.11]] 21:19, 8 May 2024 (UTC)
:The pizzas at the Maryland USA-based [https://order.ledopizza.com/menu/ledo-pizza-colesville Ledo Pizza chain] are all square or rectangular, and cut into a grid of smaller squares. There is plenty of demand for non-round pizza to support their 125 locations in nine states and DC. [[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]]) 19:24, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

Leaded gasoline isn't to reduce *noise*. The noise is a symptom of detonation (aka knock), which is the real problem. Knock is caused by pressures and temperatures high enough and for long enough to detonate the fuel/air mixture (as opposed to the deflagration initiated by the spark plug at a set time), and can result in engine damage. Leaded gasoline (through complicated chemistry) increases the pressure/temperature required to get that detonation, and thus allows the engine to be designed to run at higher temperatures and compression ratios, which is where the efficiency improvements come from. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.41|172.70.39.41]] 14:38, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe, cross-reference "Sliced bread" to [[1065:_Shoes]] and [[1885:_Ensemble_Model]] (with sliced bread in both comic and title-text).

I think that the phrase "best thing since a sliced bread" refers to sliced bread in general (as opposed to eating the bread directly or tearing pieces of it) and not specifically bread pre-sliced before buying.

Also, heat pumps, whole not DESIGNED to heat by itself, actually have a limit for how big difference in temperature they can operate in. Outside this limit, they work quite badly and only by heating by itself.

Finally, soup is GREAT idea. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:49, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, why ''is'' soup in the middle? [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 20:45, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Did some grammar editing. Nothing too drastic, just fixing some too-lengthy phrases and misspelled words. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 20:59, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Extension cords with prongs at both ends are actually a even worse than what's currently on this wiki. There's a list of other issues [https://www.consumerreports.org/home-garden/generators/why-suicide-extension-cords-are-so-dangerous-a1189731437/ here], which I'm not sure how well I can sum up within a reasonable amount of space. Stuff like feeding power back into the electrical grid putting electricians working on the grid at risk, or dealing with the exhaust from the household generators the cables usually come with. There's all sorts of reasons why major stores refused to manufacture or sell these, but for some reason they've become shockingly common. [[User:NickNackGus|NickNackGus]] ([[User talk:NickNackGus|talk]]) 02:09, 8 May 2024 (UTC)
:"...they've become shockingly common." Good pun. ''OR'' That would have been a good pun, had it been intended. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.166|172.70.160.166]] 10:50, 8 May 2024 (UTC)
::[[No Pun Intended]] (does that hotlink?) Edit: cool, it does. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 12:37, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

Photochromic lenses are also bad for night vision: “...the optical transmission of the lenses was no more than 80% efficient and, taking into account all of the other known factors, was probably less at the time of the accident. This compares to 94.7% and 99.4% optical transmittance of ordinary uncoated and coated lenses, respectively.” – At least that was the [https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/sinking-of-sailing-yacht-ouzo-after-encounter-with-ro-ro-passenger-ferry-pride-of-bilbao-off-isle-of-wight-england-with-loss-of-3-lives conclusion] of UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch for a particular set of glasses worn by the bridge lookout.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.9|162.158.95.9]] 12:52, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

You cannot get a fungal infection from mold. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 13:59, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

Project Orion is also the production codename for an upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. For a moment there I was thinking "Randall really didn't like that game, huh?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.54.21|172.70.54.21]] 16:11, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

most other charts like this have each one labelled with percentages, not with this weird +- thing. I think that would be MUCH better [[Special:Contributions/172.69.64.147|172.69.64.147]] 23:14, 8 May 2024 (UTC)Bumpf
:When I would have the time, I had been planning to make it "wikitable sortable" (adding a reasonable numeric sort key in cell-meta, at least, which needs the work; and that is hard to do properly before I get back to desktop browsing myself), but not sure if that would be appreciated or not by the original table-compiler/editors. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.172|172.70.160.172]] 04:29, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:meh... I have preferred the previous version with +/- over percentages. It's (imo) much harder to parse (for a human) now. It also makes implications about the scale of the chart. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:02, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
::As the "percentages for sorting purposes" editor, above and who then did that, I actually somewhat agree.
:*I used percentages just as an output for my positional calculation, really doesn't 'read' well.
:*I could have used raw pixel-distances, I suppose. There was also no reason to round to 5% bounds except that it was a choice similar to "how many decimal places to use" that I might otherwise have chosen.
:*The editor who took my sort-value percentages and put them in the cell itself could have just removed the sort-value 'meta' to the cell (as it was, they made at least one transcription error, now corrected), and saved "override the sort of this percentage-themed text by this separate percentage value".
:**They maybe should have kept the explicit plus, as well as the minus. Although "X% (good/bad) would have been better.
:*They give the midpoint of sometimes tall 'label boxes' and often wide ones, so huge error-bars (noting the ±5%ish ones where they probably are intended as centrally placed), so – though good for background sorting – I don't think they're really explanatory enough.
:*If I'd have known they'd be used visually, I'd have rescaled to not have 105%, which is an artefact of the graph, and my choice to use the axial arrow-tips as 'standard' for 100% (because it was pretty consistent, pixels left/right and up/down from the crossing origin).
:I could just convert the calculated values back into strings of +s/-s (or 0, neutral), more correct than what was originally there. But I'm wondering if maybe wording as "(Somewhat / / Very / Extremely) (Good / Bad)", plus some term for "Neutral" would be best. Loose and vague terms, but they're probably loosely and vaguely positioned. More for aesthetics than any hard and fast positioning, with no hint that they might (or should) overlap like subsets of 'true data' might. Keeping the sort-data meta-tagged, of course, because the 'proper' sorting is still a useful property (though I may give that the raw pixel offsets I must still have saved somewhere, chuck away the 'artificial' percentages altogether). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 14:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

I personally would put "toasted sandwiches" WAY higher, way into the "bad idea" sector. I like SOFT bread, not scratch-my-mouth-up bread, :) But that's a matter of personal taste. Similar with soup, MUCH higher, I find as a liquid it completely fails as food, not satisfying hunger at all. Like if I have enough of it I might run out of room for more liquid, but be just as hungry. I always find it a waste of eating effort. :) And WHY is there an "actual citation needed" on club sandwiches needing diagonal cuts??? That can only be a gag "citation needed"! I've never even had a club sandwich (they seem to always have tomatoes and the blandest looking chicken I've ever seen, and I hate tomatoes), and I'm no chef, and even '''''I''''' know how you plate a club sandwich! Where would anyone even FIND a citation for this? It's just a part of how to make them! And funny, only other place I heard of "fecal transplant" was when I Googled an issue I was diagnosed with and found that was an actual treatment if my issue was way more severe! Sounded creepy, harvesting shit from one person then having a stranger's shit put inside me, LOL! But that was a virus going around the hospital where I was staying, nothing about bad eating habits. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:31, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
: I removed the club sandwich from that part of the table. The "actual citation needed" was for the "required as it's needed because" part. A club sandwich is a club sandwich regardless of how it's cut. Note that "soup" also includes stews, which can be really filling. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:11, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

WRT Solar cars, There is also a power density problem. Solar radiation is about 1000 W/sq-meter, and "good" solar cells are about 20% efficient. That means that a typical car at about 4m*2m, covered with solar cells, would develop a maximum of about 1600W of power. Electric cars average about 320Wh per mile, so sitting 6H in full (ideal) sun would allow you to drive about 30 miles. (A typical home charger is about 7200W) {{w|172.71.158.19|06:32, 11 May 2024}}

On Diverging Diamond Interchanges, I read a paper recently comparing the crash cost statistics of DDIs against roundabouts. The latter was identified to be better by 41%, showing roundabouts are more economical and suggesting that they are a safer junction type. This may be why DDIs are only + and not ++.
I can't find the article as I'm on my phone right now, but hopefully I've included enough detail that someone with access to a [[Research Account]] can find and include if deemed appropriate. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.94|172.71.178.94]] 18:16, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

Other than the obvious shock hazard, double-plug cords also give the ability to plug into two outlets that are not on the same phase/leg of the power supply (in North American 240V split-phase supply or any location supplied with 3-phase power), causing a short from phase to phase.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.80.77|172.70.80.77]] 15:52, 17 May 2024 (UTC)

Morbid fact: You can see some trend between leaded gasoline and crime on google trends, although it'll get better in a few years.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.12|162.158.159.12]] 21:20, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2936: Exponential Growth

2024-05-26T02:50:17Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For:

If that's done by each of your moves being to add one (more) grain to the board, the game would last quite a while. Even with reduced time-limits on the game-clock. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.154|172.70.91.154]] 21:27, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Hmmm. Interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.203|172.69.58.203]] 21:31, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

First transcript! Hope it's good.[[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]]) 21:36, 22 May 2024‎ (you only <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>ed, it looks like...)

Total of 2^64 - 1 ≈ 1.8 x 10^19 grains of rice. If a grain of rice averages 30 mg, then that's 5.5 x 10^14 kg of rice. That's around the mass of Lake Erie. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.56|172.71.223.56]] 21:38, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

The legend about the chess board and doubling the grain placed on each square is researched here:
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/5992/what-is-the-origin-of-the-wheat-and-chessboard-legend [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.113|172.71.150.113]] 21:50, 22 May 2024 (UTC)~

The rice is on the side or the board is turned wrong. {{unsigned ip|172.70.115.17|23:13, 22 May 2024}}
:...not sure what you mean here. (Also, do sign your contributions.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.186|172.70.162.186]]
::The white square always goes on your right corner so this border is sideways (assuming we're looking at it head on, which seems likely) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:35, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
::a1 is a dark square, so wherever the one grain of rice is, it can't be a1. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.35|172.71.102.35]] 08:41, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:::Either a8 or h1, which is SO annoying (most likley a mistake on Randall's part tho)[[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:35, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
With all those zeros in the values given for row eight i assume we are looking at the limitations of someones calculation skills/calculator... last I checked 5 was not a factor of any 2^n value? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.80.246|172.70.80.246]] 00:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think we don't need this part at all. If we really want to illustrate the numbers we could simply use the illustration from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem#Second_half_of_the_chessboard [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:15, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

That doesn't look like Hairy in the final panel. Is it a Kasparov caricature? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:12, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I agree it is not the standard Hairy. Since this is Kasparovs gambit and Karpov tried to counter it, then it should be Karpov that walks out! Even though it is not Kasparaov but Black Hat that used the gambit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe it's the same Cueball from the first panel, but he's had to wait so long while Black Hat fetched all the rice that his hair grew out.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 13:32, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

I have to wonder if this comic is related to the Casablanca Chess Tournament that took place this past week, where 4 top-ranked players competed by playing a series of real historical games starting from the middle of each game. Magnus Carlsen won the tournament, which also included Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand, and Bassem Amin. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:38, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Russia pulling out of Black Sea agreement has been labelled "grain gambit" --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.131.158|172.71.131.158]] 06:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Trivia: 1. e2–e4 c7–c5 2. Sg1–f3 e7–e6 3. d2–d4 c5xd4 4. Sf3xd4 Sb8–c6 5. Sd4–b5 d7–d6 6. c2–c4 Sg8–f6 7. Sb1–c3 a7–a6 8. Sb5–a3 d6-d5!? is the Kasparov Gambit, see Wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.30|172.71.160.30]] 08:56, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

This is a completely normal amount of rice. I eat this much grain daily. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:21, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Counter with Tree countergambit. plant tree(1) seeds in the first square and tree(2) on the next square then tree(3) in the next square. Nobody has found out what happens afterwards. {{unsigned ip|172.70.131.212|14:25, 23 May 2024}}

So, out of curiosity, how many grains of rice can you actually fit on an average chess board square? Or maybe, how big would a chessboard have to be in order for the rice to fit on top of every square without overflowing? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.91.144|172.69.91.144]] 22:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Assuming that its a standard size and it can stack up around 10 cubic inches upwards about 4117267200 grains [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 03:08, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

:Judging by [https://www.instructables.com/Chess-Board-Full-of-Rice-Exponential-Growth/ this], I reckon if you were really, really patient you might just about corral the 2048 on square 12 to stay within the bounds without additional housing, but you'd have no hope with the 13th.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.98|172.70.90.98]] 14:25, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

::This is super cool. And helpful. I got the density of rice from this and tried to calculate the size of a chess board that could contain the nine quintillion grains of rice on the last square. Assuming the rice forms a cone with a 30° slope, one would need a chess board roughly the size of Colombia (1073296km² for the whole board). Can anyone confirm?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.91.165|172.69.91.165]] 10:56, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
:::I covered Columbia in rice, and can confirm your hypothesis. Though a small amount spilled onto the streets of Tulcan, Ecuador. [[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]]) 02:48, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

Also, I noticed everyone here seems to have an ip in the 172.69.0.0 to 172.71.255.255 range, but I just checked and that's not even my ip address at the moment. What's that about? Does the wiki mask our actual ip addresses? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.110|172.69.90.110]] 22:29, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Not the wiki, but the gateways to the wiki that help with load-balancing and related connection issues. And you'll also see some IPs in the 141.x.y.z range, and others. I ''usually'' am in 171.[69-71].y.z range, but between one contribution another I might be anywhere.
:It's a known thing, for better or worse. Ultimately, there are behind-the-scenes details that would know the 'true' origin of everyone (give or take what load-balancing your own ISP also does at ''your'' side of the connection), but it's left obscured from our more plebian eyes.
:Getting a username will also remove the wider and more general geographic potshots someone can make a out your origin (the gateways seen to be used are likely to reveal ''at least'' your continent, if anyone's bothered), but I never saw the need.
:...now. I wonder under what range will the following put me..? => [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.96|172.69.194.96]] 23:34, 23 May 2024 (UTC) 8) Postscript: I first quickly used Preview, and I actually got the 141.range, then posted for real and got the 172s. About ten seconds between the two 'postings'. Hah! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.129|141.101.98.129]] 23:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

"If exponential growth is unrestricted, it will eventually grow beyond the constraints of anything that could plausibly be built to contain it." - Given that the increase in rice grains is, itself, not plausible, I see no reason why the growth in size of rice cookers needs to be plausible either.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 09:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:I was tempted to add something about square/cube-law (not quite applicable, as there'll be a smidgen of cubing as you raise the square-area of container material, etc, but along tbose lines), but that of course makes the implausibility threshold of the cookers higher than the same threshold of rice (everything else being equal). So then you're on to the heat-penetration abilities (after a while, the outer rice is overcooked, when the innermost rice has barely felt the heat). And that leads me to believe that something like a {{w|rotary kiln}} design might be best adopted (external heat, internalised water delivery, properly tuned, and could even be effectively pressurised with the right cycling addons to either end) to just accept rice in at a constant rate and produce perfectly cooked rice at the commensurate output rate. Of course, exponential increase in feed would then require exponential increase in parallel rotary-cookers to handle it, but starting at an already more efficient/controllable mass-cooking process than merely upscaling a traditional pot-style cooker. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.220|172.71.242.220]] 11:09, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

This is easily defeated. Simply counter by placing one {{w|Fox_games#Fox_and_Geese|goose}} on the 64th square, two geese on the 63rd, and so on. They'll quickly deal with the rice situation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 13:39, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:But then you need to add an increasing number of foxes starting at the first square to deal with the geese.[[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 19:27, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
::And good luck taking the whole setup across a river with just a small boat! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.165|172.69.79.165]] 22:43, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but assuming that the chess board is 20 inches square, the rice being stacked into a pyrimid 15 inches high, then it only works out to [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=5.5+x+10%5E14+kg%2F%2820inches*20inches*15+inches*1%2F3%29 1.7x10^16 kg/m^3], which, according to Wolfram, is dwarfed by the density of a Neutron Star, much less a black hole. So is there some other reason the explanation claims it will become a black hole? Or was it just wrong [[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 04:17, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2936: Exponential Growth

2024-05-26T02:48:30Z

These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For:

If that's done by each of your moves being to add one (more) grain to the board, the game would last quite a while. Even with reduced time-limits on the game-clock. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.154|172.70.91.154]] 21:27, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Hmmm. Interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.203|172.69.58.203]] 21:31, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

First transcript! Hope it's good.[[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]]) 21:36, 22 May 2024‎ (you only <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>ed, it looks like...)

Total of 2^64 - 1 ≈ 1.8 x 10^19 grains of rice. If a grain of rice averages 30 mg, then that's 5.5 x 10^14 kg of rice. That's around the mass of Lake Erie. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.56|172.71.223.56]] 21:38, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

The legend about the chess board and doubling the grain placed on each square is researched here:
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/5992/what-is-the-origin-of-the-wheat-and-chessboard-legend [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.113|172.71.150.113]] 21:50, 22 May 2024 (UTC)~

The rice is on the side or the board is turned wrong. {{unsigned ip|172.70.115.17|23:13, 22 May 2024}}
:...not sure what you mean here. (Also, do sign your contributions.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.186|172.70.162.186]]
::The white square always goes on your right corner so this border is sideways (assuming we're looking at it head on, which seems likely) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:35, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
::a1 is a dark square, so wherever the one grain of rice is, it can't be a1. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.35|172.71.102.35]] 08:41, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:::Either a8 or h1, which is SO annoying (most likley a mistake on Randall's part tho)[[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:35, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
With all those zeros in the values given for row eight i assume we are looking at the limitations of someones calculation skills/calculator... last I checked 5 was not a factor of any 2^n value? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.80.246|172.70.80.246]] 00:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think we don't need this part at all. If we really want to illustrate the numbers we could simply use the illustration from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem#Second_half_of_the_chessboard [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:15, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

That doesn't look like Hairy in the final panel. Is it a Kasparov caricature? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:12, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I agree it is not the standard Hairy. Since this is Kasparovs gambit and Karpov tried to counter it, then it should be Karpov that walks out! Even though it is not Kasparaov but Black Hat that used the gambit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe it's the same Cueball from the first panel, but he's had to wait so long while Black Hat fetched all the rice that his hair grew out.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 13:32, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

I have to wonder if this comic is related to the Casablanca Chess Tournament that took place this past week, where 4 top-ranked players competed by playing a series of real historical games starting from the middle of each game. Magnus Carlsen won the tournament, which also included Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand, and Bassem Amin. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:38, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Russia pulling out of Black Sea agreement has been labelled "grain gambit" --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.131.158|172.71.131.158]] 06:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Trivia: 1. e2–e4 c7–c5 2. Sg1–f3 e7–e6 3. d2–d4 c5xd4 4. Sf3xd4 Sb8–c6 5. Sd4–b5 d7–d6 6. c2–c4 Sg8–f6 7. Sb1–c3 a7–a6 8. Sb5–a3 d6-d5!? is the Kasparov Gambit, see Wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.30|172.71.160.30]] 08:56, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

This is a completely normal amount of rice. I eat this much grain daily. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:21, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Counter with Tree countergambit. plant tree(1) seeds in the first square and tree(2) on the next square then tree(3) in the next square. Nobody has found out what happens afterwards. {{unsigned ip|172.70.131.212|14:25, 23 May 2024}}

So, out of curiosity, how many grains of rice can you actually fit on an average chess board square? Or maybe, how big would a chessboard have to be in order for the rice to fit on top of every square without overflowing? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.91.144|172.69.91.144]] 22:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Assuming that its a standard size and it can stack up around 10 cubic inches upwards about 4117267200 grains [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 03:08, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

:Judging by [https://www.instructables.com/Chess-Board-Full-of-Rice-Exponential-Growth/ this], I reckon if you were really, really patient you might just about corral the 2048 on square 12 to stay within the bounds without additional housing, but you'd have no hope with the 13th.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.98|172.70.90.98]] 14:25, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

::This is super cool. And helpful. I got the density of rice from this and tried to calculate the size of a chess board that could contain the nine quintillion grains of rice on the last square. Assuming the rice forms a cone with a 30° slope, one would need a chess board roughly the size of Colombia (1073296km² for the whole board). Can anyone confirm?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.91.165|172.69.91.165]] 10:56, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
:I covered Columbia in rice, and can confirm your hypothesis. Though a small amount spilled onto the streets of Tulcan, Ecuador. [[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]]) 02:48, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

Also, I noticed everyone here seems to have an ip in the 172.69.0.0 to 172.71.255.255 range, but I just checked and that's not even my ip address at the moment. What's that about? Does the wiki mask our actual ip addresses? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.110|172.69.90.110]] 22:29, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Not the wiki, but the gateways to the wiki that help with load-balancing and related connection issues. And you'll also see some IPs in the 141.x.y.z range, and others. I ''usually'' am in 171.[69-71].y.z range, but between one contribution another I might be anywhere.
:It's a known thing, for better or worse. Ultimately, there are behind-the-scenes details that would know the 'true' origin of everyone (give or take what load-balancing your own ISP also does at ''your'' side of the connection), but it's left obscured from our more plebian eyes.
:Getting a username will also remove the wider and more general geographic potshots someone can make a out your origin (the gateways seen to be used are likely to reveal ''at least'' your continent, if anyone's bothered), but I never saw the need.
:...now. I wonder under what range will the following put me..? => [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.96|172.69.194.96]] 23:34, 23 May 2024 (UTC) 8) Postscript: I first quickly used Preview, and I actually got the 141.range, then posted for real and got the 172s. About ten seconds between the two 'postings'. Hah! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.129|141.101.98.129]] 23:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

"If exponential growth is unrestricted, it will eventually grow beyond the constraints of anything that could plausibly be built to contain it." - Given that the increase in rice grains is, itself, not plausible, I see no reason why the growth in size of rice cookers needs to be plausible either.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 09:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:I was tempted to add something about square/cube-law (not quite applicable, as there'll be a smidgen of cubing as you raise the square-area of container material, etc, but along tbose lines), but that of course makes the implausibility threshold of the cookers higher than the same threshold of rice (everything else being equal). So then you're on to the heat-penetration abilities (after a while, the outer rice is overcooked, when the innermost rice has barely felt the heat). And that leads me to believe that something like a {{w|rotary kiln}} design might be best adopted (external heat, internalised water delivery, properly tuned, and could even be effectively pressurised with the right cycling addons to either end) to just accept rice in at a constant rate and produce perfectly cooked rice at the commensurate output rate. Of course, exponential increase in feed would then require exponential increase in parallel rotary-cookers to handle it, but starting at an already more efficient/controllable mass-cooking process than merely upscaling a traditional pot-style cooker. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.220|172.71.242.220]] 11:09, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

This is easily defeated. Simply counter by placing one {{w|Fox_games#Fox_and_Geese|goose}} on the 64th square, two geese on the 63rd, and so on. They'll quickly deal with the rice situation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 13:39, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:But then you need to add an increasing number of foxes starting at the first square to deal with the geese.[[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 19:27, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
::And good luck taking the whole setup across a river with just a small boat! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.165|172.69.79.165]] 22:43, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but assuming that the chess board is 20 inches square, the rice being stacked into a pyrimid 15 inches high, then it only works out to [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=5.5+x+10%5E14+kg%2F%2820inches*20inches*15+inches*1%2F3%29 1.7x10^16 kg/m^3], which, according to Wolfram, is dwarfed by the density of a Neutron Star, much less a black hole. So is there some other reason the explanation claims it will become a black hole? Or was it just wrong [[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 04:17, 25 May 2024 (UTC)