explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

User talk:BunsenH

2025-07-17T03:47:02Z

TobyBartels: /* Net legends */

==High resolution links==
Please stop adding these [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Link_to_high-resolution_images.3F|links to high-resolution images]] to the explanation. They are not needed, and they have been there a long time. Those images would take up too much space on the page. And it is not easy to implement anyway. Best --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:59, 6 October 2020 (UTC)
:As ''links'' to the original images on xkcd, I'm not seeing why they would take up too much space. (I'm not suggesting that the high-res images themselves should be on this wiki.) Nor why they're not easy to implement. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:46, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

== Net legends ==

I just want to express my appreciation for [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3115:_Unsolved_Physics_Problems&diff=381349&oldid=381341 citing metallic elements' motivations and intentions] with a link to not only a Usenet post by Alexander Abian, but one responded to by James "Kibo" Parry. That took me back, and made my day. ―[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 03:47, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

2496: Mine Captcha

2021-07-30T15:40:39Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ : Probably not ''especially'' difficult for experienced players, since at least they have the background to figure it out, but still likely to trip them up since they're being asked to do what they usually don't.

{{comic
| number = 2496
| date = July 30, 2021
| title = Mine Captcha
| image = mine_captcha.png
| titletext = This data is actually going into improving our self-driving car project, so hurry up--it's almost at the minefield.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LIVE MINEFIELD. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic expects users click on the mines in a minesweeper puzzle to proceed with their task. Traditionally, the goal in minesweeper is to click on boxes where there are NOT mines, so the puzzle would be especially difficult for anyone used to playing minesweeper.

The comic shows a 4x4 grid with mostly grey squares, and a few tiles showing colored numbers. The setup and colors suggest a gaming board of the popular minesweeper game, with a few tiles uncovered. Numbers would then show the number of mines in adjacent squares. Given the current board configuration, one can deduce that there are four mines (in squares A2, B2, B3 and D3, where letters (numbers) mark columns (rows)). For example, there are two mines within the squares A2,B1,B2, as signified by the 2 in A1, but only one of those can be in B1 or B2 (because of the 1 in C1). Therefore, A2 has to be a mine. The title suggests this as a CAPTCHA, where proving to be human involves first recognizing this as a minesweeper simile, and then solving for those squares with mines.

Traditionally, the goal in minesweeper is to click on boxes where there are NOT mines, and solving the puzzle is usually (although not in this case) impossible without revealing the information in those squares, so the puzzle could easily trip up anyone used to playing minesweeper.

The title text is similar to [[1897: Self Driving]] where the CAPTCHA solver is asked to "answer quickly – [the] self-driving car is almost at the intersection".

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

[A "CAPTCHA" box.]

To proceed, click all the pictures of MINES

[A 4 by 4 ''Minesweeper'' field, with some cells revealed with numbers. Each number is drawn in a different font/style.]

<pre>
2 . 1 .
. . 3 .
3 . . .
. 1 . 1
</pre>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:CAPTCHA]]

Talk:2127: Panama Canal

2020-09-29T00:55:48Z

TobyBartels: Undo revision 171610 by Netherin5 (talk)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Talk:2365: Messaging Systems

2020-09-29T00:46:20Z

TobyBartels: MMS

I guess ordinary email should be in the same section as SMS as well. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.171|162.158.158.171]] 00:20, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

The comic should mention MMS, which is well integrated into SMS, so that it's supported by not quite as much as SMS but still by almost everybody, and counts as vaguely modern in that you can attach images and have no length limit. ―[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 00:46, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

2360: Common Star Types

2020-09-17T04:35:39Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ : More detail about what the hypothetical Wikipedia hatnote would imply. Also a play on words about Brad Bird.

{{comic
| number = 2360
| date = September 16, 2020
| title = Common Star Types
| image = common_star_types.png
| titletext = This article is about Eta Carinae, a luminous blue hypergiant with anomalous Fe[ii] emission spectra. For the 1998 Brad Bird film, see The Iron Giant (film).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an INDIGO BANSHEE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This 'infographic' chart purports to be a comparative guide to various star types, often described by a basic colour, which is something that even naked-eye astronomy has determined, and often qualified as 'dwarf' or 'giant' to describe relative sizes. An idea of the true size of a star has only really been possible since the development of modern instrumental astronomy, which can also determine the different conditions that make a red dwarf or a red giant 'red'.

In true xkcd tradition, this is taken beyond reality. The pantheon of stars illustrated extend the use of 'dwarf' and 'giant' as if describing mythical or fictional beings, pairing others from the fantasy ilk with hues and shades that may not be typically used, or encountered, by astronomers.

{| class="wikitable"
!Star !! Description
|-
| {{w|Yellow dwarf star|Yellow Dwarf}} || A real star type. This is the type of star that our sun is, with a lifespan measured in the billions of years. The title of "Dwarf" is an artifact, as the sun is larger than most stars, but was thought to be smaller due to the fact that larger stars were more visible than smaller stars.
|-
| {{w|Red giant|Red Giant}} || A real star type. When stars at about the sun's size begin to run out of fusion fuel, they expand to become red giants, and the outer shells expand and cool. When our sun enters this phase in a few billion years, it will consume the earth.
|-
| {{w|White dwarf|White Dwarf}} || Not a true star, but a real stellar object. These are formed when stars at about the sun's size finally die. They are superdense, and do not undergo nuclear fusion. They are responsible for type 1A supernova, a standard candle of astronomy.
|-
| {{w|Red dwarf|Red Dwarf}} || A real star type. The most common, smallest, and coolest type of true star in the universe (Brown Dwarfs are smaller and cooler, but do not undergo Hydrogen/Hydrogen fusion) These can live for trillions of years, the first red Dwarfs to form are still alive today.
|-
| Green Elf || An invention of Randall's, and a reference to Galadriel of {{w|Tolkien's legendarium}}. His elves are immortal, but slowly diminish over time, and leave Middle Earth (where ''The Lord of the Rings'' is set) as magic fades to the West, in the Undying lands; this is a reference to Galadriel’s most famous line, when she refuses the One Ring.
|-
| {{w|Blue giant|Blue Giant}} || A real star type. The largest class of star in the main sequence, they have life spans measured in the millions of years and are highly luminous.
|-
| Teal Sphynx || An invention of Randall's; likely a form of the Greek {{w|Sphinx#Riddle_of_the_Sphinx|sphinx}}, which puts riddles to hapless travellers. One can only imagine what stellar riddles would be like.
|-
| Gray Wizard || An invention of Randall's, and also a Reference to ''Lord of the Rings''. {{w|Gandalf the Grey}}, a wizard, is a protagonist and mentor figure in ''The Hobbit'' and the ''Lord of the Rings'', guiding and assisting the journeys within the books.
|-
| Indigo Banshee || An invention of Randall's, and a reference to {{w|Banshees}}, a type of spirit, or ghost, which can kill those who hear their wail.
|-
| Beige Gorgon. || An invention of Randall's, and a reference to {{w|Gorgons}} in {{w|Greek Mythology}}. "Dangerous to observe at optical wavelengths" refers to the property of Gorgons where any who gaze upon their faces will be turned to stone, however, seeing a Gorgon's refection was safe, so [[1791: Telescopes: Refractor vs Reflector | most astronomers should be fine. ]]
|}

The title text is in the style of a Wikipedia page's hatnote / reference note. A page might have a title that is too easily landed upon by a search term that might also be expected to lead to one under a quite different subject. In this case, it was written as if the page {{w|Iron Giant}} (or {{w|iron giant}}) was about (or redirected to) {{w|Eta Carinae}}, a large Luminous Blue Variable star which has a relatively high level of ferrous ions. In reality, these redirect to ''{{w|The Iron Giant}}'', the first movie directed by the incredible Brad Bird. This note [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eta_Carinae&oldid=978789727 was added] to Wikipedia, but quickly removed; nobody has messed with the redirects (yet).

==Transcript==
[A chart, with circles representing stars of different colours and sizes. At the top:]
:Common star types

[A small yellow star.]
:Yellow dwarf
:Warm, stable, slowly-growing

[An even smaller white star.]
:White dwarf
:Small, hot, dim

[A very large red-orange star squishing the previous two stars into the corners of the chart.]
:Red giant
:Huge, cool, luminous

[A small red star.]
:Red dwarf
:Small, cool, ancient, dim

[An olive green, medium-sized star.]
:Green elf
:Old, diminishes into the west

[A fairly large pale blue star.]
:Blue giant
:Large, hot, short-lived

[A blue-green, medium-sized star.]
:Teal sphynx
:Cryptic, eternal

[A small silver-coloured star.]
:Gray wizard
:Wise, powerful, mercurial

[A tiny blue star.]
:Indigo banshee
:Bright, portentous, extremely loud

[A beige, medium-sized star.]
:Beige gorgon
:Dangerous to observe at optical wavelengths.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2336: Campfire Habitable Zone

2020-07-23T06:20:23Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ How marshmallows become tidally locked.

{{comic
| number = 2336
| date = July 22, 2020
| title = Campfire Habitable Zone
| image = campfire_habitable_zone.png
| titletext = Oh no, my marshmallow became tidally locked!
}}

{{incomplete|Created by a FIRE-PROOF ORBITING SMORE-MAKING ROBOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Explanation==
This comic plays on the concept of the astronomic "habitable zone" applied at the scale of people sitting around a campfire.

The {{w|Circumstellar habitable zone|habitable zone}} for a star (also known as the "Goldilocks Zone") is the range of distances in which a planet might support liquid water, and hence life. Too close, and the amount of stellar radiation would be too great, causing water to boil. Too far, and the water would freeze. For liquid water to actually exist, the planet itself must also have the right mass (in order to maintain a life-compatible atmosphere) and meet other requirements. For our sun, the habitable zone is estimated to range from about 0.38 to 10 astronomical units, where 1.0 is the distance from the sun to the Earth.

{{w|Marshmallow#Toasted_marshmallows|Marshmallow toasting}} is a popular camping activity in which people place a marshmallow (a soft, sugary blob made of gelatin and covered in corn starch) on a stick near a fire. As it cooks, the middle becomes gooey while the outside becomes crispy and perhaps slightly charred, making it tastier.

In the context of the campfire, a similar "habitable zone" is posited to exist: close enough to the fire that the person can comfortably toast marshmallows, presumably on a stick of reasonable length - the ones shown seem to be about 1.5 times an arm's normal reach; yet far enough that the person is not uncomfortably hot, or even burnt by the flames.

In the comic, Ponytail is sitting in the left habitable zone (marked in green), and appears to be enjoyably toasting a marshmallow. Cueball is sitting half outside the right habitable zone, too close to the fire, and appears to be getting singed on his arm, which is too close to the fire. Megan is well outside the habitable zone on the right cool side. She is waving a marshmallow on a stick, but presumably it will not toast, as it is too far from the fire, even further from the fire than Cueball.

The title text introduces the concept of {{w|tidal locking}}. This is when one astronomical body synchronises its rotation with its orbit around another, such that one side always faces the other body. The joke here is that if a marshmallow became tidally locked to the fire, then one side would become more and more cooked, perhaps burnt, while the other side never became toasted at all. This happens in real life, as in the case of Earth's moon, which always presents the same face to the Earth; and also in the case of a marshmallow that has begun melting more than you realised and dripped down too far, so that it no longer responds when you rotate the roasting stick, and you'd better cut your losses and pull it out now before it drops into the fire pit.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The scene consists of 3 people sitting near a campfire with two green areas to the left and right of the fire. Ponytail is sitting to the left of the fire, with her body fully in the green habitable zone and is holding a stick with a marshmallow pointed at the fire. Cueball is sitting to the right of the fire, half sitting in the white area where the fire is and half in the green habitable zone. He is visibly sweating. Megan is crouching to the right of Cueball, outside the habitable zone with a marshmallow on a stick pointing into the green zone. Below the scene two arrows point to the two green areas marked with a label.]
:Label: Habitable zone

:[Caption below panel:]
:Astronomers define the Campfire Habitable Zone as the region where you're far enough not to be burned but close enough to roast marshmallows.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Food]]

2330: Acceptable Risk

2020-07-09T04:38:01Z

TobyBartels: Their screaming actually increases the risk of the interaction; this is why Japan recently banned screaming on amusement park rides (citing a WSJ article).

{{comic
| number = 2330
| date = July 9, 2020
| title = Acceptable Risk
| image = acceptable_risk.png
| titletext = Good thing I'm not already prone to overthinking everyday decisions!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT THAT IS PRONE TO OVERTHINKING. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows two people who are nervous to meet while in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic (which, for contamination prevention, it is highly recommended to stay away from people), they are worried that they are not sure it is worth "risking their lives" for the social interaction.

Their screaming actually increases the risk of the interaction; this is why [https://www.wsj.com/articles/reopened-theme-parks-ban-screaming-on-roller-coasters-riders-are-howling-11594222278 Japan recently banned screaming on amusement park rides].

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

[All of the panels depict the same two characters seen from a long distance, making them difficult to recognize. However, they appear to be Cueball (on the left) and Ponytail (on the right). They are each wearing a mask.]

:Cueball: Okay. Based on the local virus prevalence, our careful quarantines, and the steps we've taken to reduce transmission risk,
:Cueball: I ''think'' it's okay for us to hang out.
:Ponytail: I agree.

[Cueball and Ponytail get closer to each other.]

[Cueball and Ponytail get still closer.]

:Cueball: Hi.
:Ponytail: Hi.

:Cueball: ''Is this social interaction good enough that it's worth risking our lives and the lives of others?!''
:Ponytail: ''I don't know!''
:Cueball: ''AAAAA!''
:Ponytail: ''AAAAAA!''

[Cueball and Ponytail stand much farther apart.]
:Cueball: Healthy socializing was hard enough ''before'' the pandemic.
:Ponytail: Let's just try again in 2021.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2327: Oily House Index

2020-07-03T06:45:33Z

TobyBartels: Definition of division by zero, for the record.

Dangit Randall, this was my retirement plan & now everybody's gonna want to try it!
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 00:53, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Negative Equity (owing more than the house is worth) ''shouldn't'' be an immediate problem under most circumstances. If the householder isn't actually wanting to move and can still afford the asked-for repayments then it doesn't change the physical situation at all. The bank has no problems so long as the household has no problems, as they ride over (temporary) pricing crashes and emerge the other side. It's when banks get nervous that the home'owners' ''might'' default and thus put pressures on them (e.g. 'negotiating' for unsustainably greater repayments or 'immediate settlement' of the unforeseen temporary deficit) that they could tip their so-called customer over the edge. And an increase of defaulting further suppresses house-prices (general availability of sell-quick homes by owners/bank and/or the reduced neighbourhood value around abandoned properties not sold ''nor'' (officially) lived in) to draw more agreements into the self-creating danger-zone. Of course it aint as simple as all that. And permanently being underwater due to coastal flooding, ''probably'' won't sit well with the actuaries behind your continuing loan if your property isn't in Innsmouth... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 09:31, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

;Maths
Can someone figure out where I went wrong here? 
>The comic then applies dimensional analysis to this index: dividing $/sqft by $/bbl yields a result whose dimension is a linear measurement, which can be called length. 1 barrel is 5.6 cubic feet. The average price per square foot of a new single-family dwelling in the USA in 2019 was about 119 $/sqft, while the price of oil in mid 2019 was about $60/BBL or $337/cubic foot. Dividing gives 60/337 feet-1 or about 5.61 feet. (This doesn't match the value shown on the chart of around 15, so we have done something wrong here. :)) 
Thanks. [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 00:54, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
:Since barrels are in the denominator, you have to divide by 5.6 to get the price per cubic foot. [[User:LegionMammal978|LegionMammal978]] ([[User talk:LegionMammal978|talk]]) 01:00, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
($/area)/($/volume)=($/sq.ft)/($/cu.ft)=1/ft? Shouldn't the result be in ft?

;Units
Shouldn't area divided by volume be height, not length? It would also fit better with the graph. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.173|162.158.123.173]] 03:41, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
:For dimensional analysis, you don't care about the physical context of the units, just about the dimension they are associated with. Height is horizontal length, so it has the dimension of length. In the context of the comic this length can be interpreted as a height, but in another context, it could be a length in a different orientation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.78|162.158.88.78]] 04:16, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

;Category
Should we start a category of dimensional analysis comics: e.g. [[687]], [[1707]], [[2312]] --[[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 07:41, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

;Division Error?
You can't divide by zero; which means Randall made an error. Should we update the page to reflect this? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.67|173.245.52.67]] 10:25, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
:"OHI briefly became infinite as oil prices reached zero in 2020" could be read as approaching both infinity and zero; that fixes the problem [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.249|162.158.74.249]] 11:18, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
::Randall did not divide by zero. If the price went continually to zero the OHI would aproach infinity. Of course at the time the price hit zero (or negative), then the OHI breaks down, which is what infinite means. So he did not make any error. (Wrote this and had an edit conflict with the first reply.) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:20, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
:You can divide by zero, its just that those lazy mathematicians haven't defined it yet. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.155|162.158.123.155]] 04:04, 3 July 2020 (UTC)
:: We defined it; y'all just don't like what we came up with. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_theory [[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 06:45, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

The comic should not use the word "mortgage," because the calculations are based on sale price. The size of the mortgage depends on the down payment. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 11:40, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
:My understanding is that if you fully mortgage your house (so that you now have in your hands enough money to buy the house again) and convert the total amount of money that the house is worth into oil, you can then fill your house with X feet of oil. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.56|141.101.98.56]] 15:11, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
::Find me a mortgage that will give me 100% of the value of my house. Please! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.155|162.158.123.155]] 04:02, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

2327: Oily House Index

2020-07-03T06:20:41Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Where does the extra oil go when the house is filled?

{{comic
| number = 2327
| date = July 1, 2020
| title = Oily House Index
| image = oily_house_index.png
| titletext = We're underwater on our mortgage thanks to the low price of water.
}}

==Explanation==
In economics, an {{w|index (economics)|index}} is a statistical measure of change in a representative group of individual data points. Common indices include NASDAQ (a measure of a range of stock prices) and a consumer price index (a measure of retail prices)

This chart demonstrates an invented index, the "Oily House Index", which measures a ratio of oil price to average house prices, over time.

The numerator is the average price of a new home (presumably in the US), in USD per square foot ($/sqft). It does not specify what kind of home, or where. One available metric is the [https://www.statista.com/statistics/682549/average-price-per-square-foot-in-new-single-family-houses-usa/ average price per square foot of floor space in new single-family houses in the United States] which was $118.91 in 2019. The caption refers to converting the ''mortgage'' of the new house (that is, how much the purchaser borrowed, which could be zero), while the definition simply refers to the ''new home price'' (the total value). It is not clear which of these two is used in the chart.

The denominator is the price of oil in USD per {{w|barrel (unit)|barrel}} ($/BBL). This is also not well defined, although the chart's caption suggests that it is based on crude oil. There are many different indices for different blends of oil in different locations, such as [https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wti.asp West Texas Intermediate], which is a crude oil commonly used as a global oil benchmark. (Others include Brent and Dubai Crude). The WTI price fluctuated around $55-60 throughout 2019. A barrel is a standard unit of oil volume, defined as 42 U.S. gallons (roughly 5.615 cubic feet or 0.16 cubic metres).

The comic then applies {{w|dimensional analysis}} to this index: dividing $/sqft by $/bbl yields a result whose dimension is a linear measurement, which can be called length. 1 barrel is 42 gallons, a gallon is 231 cubic inches, and a cubic foot is 123=728 cubic inches, so a barrel is approximately 5.6146 cubic feet and a cubic foot is approximately 0.1781 barrel. The average price per square foot of a new single-family dwelling in the USA in 2019 was about $119/square foot, while the price of oil in mid 2019 was about $60/BBL or $10.7/cubic foot. Dividing $119/square foot by $10.7/cubic foot gives approximately 11.1 foot. This is slightly lower than the value shown on the chart of around 15.

The chart's caption then interprets that length as the depth that a new home could be filled with the crude oil that could be purchased with its price. For scale Cueball and Megan has been drawn, and the ceiling height of a typical house has been indicated, showing that only in time with deep crisis will the oil not fill the house. It's also not exactly clear where the extra oil should go after a multi-storey house has been filled; on the top floor, you could just take off the roof and let the oil pile up (perhaps after building some retaining walls), but on the lower floors, there's already oil above the ceiling.

The index is high when house prices are high and oil prices are low (such as during the 1999 oil glut), and low when house prices are low and oil prices are high (such as during the 1979 energy crisis). See details about the [[#Chart|chart]] below.

The title text, "We're underwater on our mortgage thanks to the low price of water", is a pun. A mortgage on a property is considered to be [https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/underwater-mortgage.asp "underwater"] when the value of the mortgage exceeds the value of the property. This is bad for both the owner (who owes more money than the property is worth) and the bank (who now have a loan which is not fully secured against a default: if the property owner defaults, the bank will lose money in selling the property).

The title text is hinting at an alternative index based on the ratio of house price to the price of water instead of oil. At the 2019 rate of $118.91/ft² and a rough [https://www.pvwc.com/story_of_water/html/costs.htm average water price of $0.0015/gallon], a house would have to be filled with water to a depth of 1060 ft for the house cost to match the water cost. If the price of water fell or the house cost per square foot rose, then the index would rise, causing the house to be even deeper in water (following the metaphor of the index as filling the house with physical water). This situation could arise even if the property value remained high, although Randall may be humorously suggesting that the increase in the index would literally flood the property with water, which would then damage it, obviously decreasing its value. (If the index continues to be computed on average house prices, then this single event would not materially impact the index as a whole.)

In {{what if|11|What If #11 "Droppings"}}, Randall commented that "unit cancellation is weird" after making a similar calculation about fuel efficiency -- the European convention of presenting fuel mileage as "liters per 100 kilometers" represents an area (volume/distance), which can be physically interpreted as the cross-sectional area of a tube of gasoline with the total volume of fuel burned stretched out over the length of the journey.

===Chart===
;{{w|1979 oil crisis|1979 energy crisis}}
:In the wake of the {{w|Iranian Revolution}}, global oil supply reduced by only 4%, but caused widespread panic and a huge increase in oil price.
;{{w|Gulf War}}
:The {{w|Gulf War}} (August 1990 - Feb 1991) was the invasion of Iraq by the US, which decreased oil supplies and caused a spike in prices.
;1999 oil glut
:In early 1999, Iraq increased its oil production, while the Asian Financial Crisis reduced demand. Prices briefly fell to as low as $16.[https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/A-Recent-History-Of-Oil-Prices-History-About-To-Repeat-Itself.html]
;Ceiling height
:Reinforcing the connection with the metaphorical house filled with oil, "ceiling height" here is shown at somewhere just below 10 feet. The standard ceiling height in US homes is 9 feet for ground floor, and 8 feet on higher floors. [https://rethority.com/standard-ceiling-height/]
:Only twice has the height been below ceiling height, during the 1979 energy crisis, and in the beginning of the financial crisis of 2007-2008.
;Oil and housing crashes partly cancel out
:As a result of the {{w|financial crisis of 2007-2008}}, oil prices crashed from $147/BBL in July 2008 to $30 in December 2008. Meanwhile, {{w|United States housing bubble|falling house prices}}, which had partially triggered the financial crisis, continued to slump across the US, with the Case-Shiller home price index reporting its largest ever price drop in December 2008. Since both oil price and house prices were falling, the effect of dividing one by the other means that the index didn't change significantly, remaining around 8-15 feet.
;{{w|2010s oil glut}}
:In 2014-16 there was a serious surplus of {{w|crude oil}}, partially caused by increasing shale oil from the US and Canada, a slowdown in demand from China, and increasing fuel efficiency and use of renewable energy. Prices dropped from $125/BBL from 2012 to below $30 in January 2016. By October 2018, prices had recovered to $85/BBL. ]
;OHI briefly became infinite as oil prices reached zero in 2020
:In April 2020, the {{w|coronavirus pandemic}} dramatically reduced vehicle and air transport, crashing oil demand. [https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/25/scary-visceral-unprecedented-traders-describe-oils-wild-week-and-fall-to-negative-prices.html Oil futures actually went to zero], and even below, several times: oil producers paying consumers to take their oil, to avoid the costs of storing it. Dividing anything by zero officially has no defined result, but in many thought experiments yields infinity, hence the "infinite oily house index". The graph should actually wrap around to the negative axis at this point.

==Transcript==
:[A line graph is shown. Above it is a rectangular frame with formulas inside. Most of the top part of the frame is removed and instead a heading is written over the missing section of the frame. The formula is written in three parts, with the first two parts having a division line with text written above and below.]
:Dimensional economic analysis
:New home price ($/sqft) / Oil price ($/BBL) = $/area / $/volume = Length

:[The graph has a labeled Y-axis with four ticks, which have values, and also the origin has a value. The X.axis is a time-line without label. There are five labeled ticks.]
:X-axis: 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
:Y-axis label: OHI (feet)
:Y-axis: 40 30 20 10 0

:[Above the line graph there is a caption:]
:'''Oily House Index:''' How deep you could fill the average new home if you converted its mortgage to crude oil

:[The graph begins around 15 before 1980, then dips below 10, rises slowly until about 1988 when it rises sharply. It stays high but has several peaks, and one deep valley until 1999 when there is a very high peak, which then drops fast. A few more peaks, and then a decline to the lowest point in 2008, which is followed by a small peak, and then another drop. From there it stays low until 2015 when it rises quite fast and has one very high peak. It then drops of, until 2020 when there is a really sharp peak. Above the top of the peak is a dotted line extending to the top of the graph (i.e. the top of the Y-axis, not the top of the panel). Then it drops down but not very low as it reaches the present.]

:[There are six labels with arrows pointing from them to notable peaks and valleys along the graph. They are written both above and below the line. From left to right they are:]
:1979 energy crisis
:Gulf War
:1999 oil glut
:Oil and housing crashes partly cancel out
:2010s oil glut
:OHI briefly became infinite as oil prices reached zero in 2020

:[From 2005-2010 there is a dotted horizontal line that hits the valley at 2008. This is labeled with an arrow pointing to it:]
:Ceiling height

:[Below the line is a drawing of Cueball and Megan standing on the X-axis near 1990. Next to them is a label with an arrow pointing to them:]
:People (for scale)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2287: Pathogen Resistance

2020-04-01T14:46:37Z

TobyBartels: OK, I guess the singular was correct here.

{{comic
| number = 2287
| date = March 30, 2020
| title = Pathogen Resistance
| image = pathogen_resistance.png
| titletext = We're not trapped in here with the coronavirus. The coronavirus is trapped in here with us.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MACROPHAGE HUGGING A BACTERIOPHAGE. Should briefly summarize the immune system (esp. macrophages and antibodies) and why it is so terrifying to pathogens. Also maybe use [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170307142718.htm this link]. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is the 13th comic in a row in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}.

Rather than expressing humanity's fears and pessimism about the pandemic, this strip anthropomorphizes some of the pathogens which afflict humanity and presents ''their'' fears and pessimism about possibly going extinct. This serves as a roundabout way of expressing hope and wonder at the ingenuity and tenacity of humans in the face of diseases past (with water sanitation, mosquito netting, and condoms) and present (with the power of social distancing and {{w|Gloria Gaynor}}'s hit song ''{{w|I Will Survive}}''). Gaynor recorded [https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/entertainment/coronavirus-gloria-gaynor-i-will-survive-trnd/index.html a video of herself washing her hands] for 20 seconds (the recommended length of time to wash hands for optimal cleanliness) to the background of her hit song.

The three pathogens presented are a {{w|virus}} (a {{w|bacteriophage}}), a small colony of a {{w|coccus}}-shaped {{w|bacterium}} (such as ''{{w|Streptococcus}}''), and a {{w|protozoon}} (a caricature of a {{w|ciliate}}). Bacteriophages do not infect human cells (as the name suggests, they only infect bacteria), and have been studied for use as "{{w|phage therapy}}" ''for'' humans, especially in dealing with antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections (which is usually what people mean when they talk about "resistance" in the context of pathogens); however, they are iconic, instantly-recognizable viruses, and some have been found to [https://phys.org/news/2015-11-bacteria-bacteriophages-collude-formation-clinically.html collude with bacteria] in forming certain antibiotic-resistant {{w|biofilm}}s. {{w|Balantidiasis|Only one kind of ciliate}} is known to cause human disease; however, ciliates are iconic for protozoa just as bacteriophages are for viruses (see, for example, Gary Larson's now-venerable [https://www.thefarside.com ''The Far Side''] cartoons). The ciliate may be a 'stand-in' for protozoa that cause widespread and dangerous human diseases, such as {{w|malaria}}. The drawing is wildly out of scale; a protozoon is larger than a bacterium, which in turn is much larger than a virus.

"The scariest thing in the universe" to these microbes is the human immune system, represented in the second panel and later by antibodies (Y-shaped drawings) and anthropomorphized white blood cells. Specifically, the white blood cells shown are {{w|T cell}}s, the immune system's 'first responders'. As briefly described [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170307142718.htm here], if a T cell encounters an antigen that it is programmed to recognize (such as, for instance, a molecule of the viral protein coat), it 'hugs' the cell presenting the antigen as a precursor to summoning the immune system's heavy artillery. Hence the faux-Care Bears battle cry of the T cells, "Who wants a HUUUG?"

The comic humorously considers pasta as an essential part of humans' fight against coronavirus. Pasta is an example of a dried food that can last a long time, if the orders to stay indoors continue. However, not every culture consumes or likes pasta.

The colony of cocci protests that it shouldn't be possible for humans to evolve "pathogen resistance" in the short period of months since the breakout of COVID-19, when humans require over a decade to reach sexual maturity, and in modern times often wait at least two decades before having children. Bacteria and viruses, on the other hand, reproduce in a matter of minutes, so that there may be hundreds of generations per day (comparable to the number of generations that have passed for humanity since the beginnings of agriculture), each of which presents opportunities to evolve new antigens that are not recognized by any antibodies present in the body or to evolve resistance to whatever antibiotic drugs a human might be using. However, as the bacteriophage explains, humans generally do not become resistant against pathogens by genetic drift (although there are researchers who are seeking to identify genes that encode resistances to various diseases and then propagate them to other humans through gene editing, as in the {{w|He Jiankui affair}}). Instead, humans "evolve" pathogen resistance through behavioral changes. The behaviors presented in this comic strip include:

* Municipal water supplies, which are filtered and treated to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases, like cholera and dysentery.
* Mosquito netting over beds, and also anti-insect poisoning, to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases, like malaria.
* Condoms (described as plastic in the comic, but more commonly latex rubber in real life), to prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases, such as AIDS and syphilis.
* Social or physical distancing, hand-washing, storable food, and electronic communications, to prevent the spread of diseases through casual contact, like COVID-19.

These behaviors do not come from our genomes, passed along through reproduction, but from our brains, passed along by communication. Some of the language of epidemiology is also used in discussion of communication, most notably "going viral" -- in this case, information is going viral to prevent viruses from going viral.

The title text reverts to the point of view of humans and references a famous line from the graphic novel ''{{w|Watchmen}}'', where {{w|Rorschach (character)|Rorschach}}, whilst in prison and surrounded by enemies who want to kill him, proclaims: "I'm not locked up in here with YOU. You're locked up in here with ME." This presents an alternate perspective on quarantine and isolation that some may find more bearable: rather than passively hiding indoors in fear of the virus, we are taking action to fragment the virus population so that our immune systems (and medical intervention, in more serious cases) can {{w|defeat in detail|defeat it in detail}}.

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

:[A small colony of coccus bacteria, a bacteriophage, and a protozoon are floating together.]
:Bacteriophage: I'm worried about humans developing resistance to us.
:Bacteriophage: Using pasta.

:[Cutaway to macrophages and antibodies chasing three protozoa. One protozoon is already covered in antibodies.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): The human immune system is a nightmare.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): It's the worst.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): It's the scariest thing in the universe.
:Macrophage: ''Who wants a HUUGGG''
:Antibody-covered protozoon: ''Nooo!''

:[Close-up on bacteriophage]
:Bacteriophage: We can only survive by staying ahead of it. Keep jumping from person to person, keep mutating and evolving.
:Bacteriophage: But now humans are adapting too fast.

:[Water pipes. A mosquito net with a bed under it. An unopened condom package.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We spread through their water. They built pipes.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We used mosquitoes. They put out nets and poison everywhere.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We spread through sex, and suddenly they all had these plastic things.

:[Depictions of coronavirus with spikes. Hairbun and Cueball shaking hands, with droplets spraying from both their mouths.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): This time, we really thought we had them.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): One of us got good at transmission through everyday contact.

:[A row of 4 sets of human lungs, the first with several black dots, the second and third with increasing black parts, the fourth completely filled with black. A graph showing exponential growth.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): It was great. We were tearing through lungs, spreading like wildfire.
:Voice offscreen: Hooray!
:Voice 2 offscreen: I ''hate'' lungs.

:[Close-up of bacteriophage "head".]
:Bacteriophage: Then, all of a sudden, humans everywhere just...''stopped''. They stopped working, stopped seeing friends.

:[Megan is sitting on a couch, watching a flat screen. Cueball is at a sink with a mirror, washing his hands. They are facing away from each other.]
:Voice offscreen: What are they ''doing''?
:Voice 2 offscreen: Nothing!
:Voice 2 offscreen: They're just sitting there in their houses washing their hands.

:[A single human in a empty room, surrounded by fallen droplets. Among the droplets is a coronavirus.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): Suddenly humans became dead ends. We tried to jump from one to the next, but there's no one to jump to.
:Coronavirus: Help!
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We can't escape.

:[Coronaviruses, encroached on by macrophages and streams of antibodies.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We're trapped in there with those ghastly immune systems.
:Antibodies: ''IT'S HUUG TIIIIIME''
:Macrophage: Come here for a HUUUG
:Macrophage: HUUUUGS

:[Coronaviruses covered in antibodies and surrounded by macrophages. Some of the macrophages are devouring viruses. Others contain broken-down remnants.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): Even if we win a fight, there's nowhere to go.
:Macrophage: HUUUUUUUGGSS
:Macrophage: HUUUUGS
:Bacteriophage (narrating): By staying inside, humans have become resistant.

:[Back to the discussion between the coccus, the bacteriophage and the protozoon.]
:Coccus bacteria: How could they evolve that fast? Humans take decades to reproduce!
:Bacteriophage: It's not evolution. It's something with their brains.
:Protozoon: I ''wondered'' what those were for!

:[Bacteriophage pointing to: Cueball and Megan looking at their phones; Megan and Cueball walking to the right; Megan and Cueball at separate sinks washing their hands.]
:Bacteriophage: Humans started looking at their phones, talking, writing words, and making signs. A human named "Gloria Gaynor" filmed herself singing at her bathroom sink.
:Bacteriophage: And then they bought lots of pasta.
:Bacteriophage: Then, around the world, they all went home and started washing their hands.

:[Bacteriophage and protozoon.]
:Bacteriophage: They saw what we were doing and changed their behavior to stop us.
:Protozoon: Brains are the ''worst''.

:[Coccus, bacteriophage and protozoon.]
:Coccus bacteria: It's not over, right? They can't sustain this. They must be bored and tired.
:Coccus bacteria: Will they give up?
:Bacteriophage: I don't know. They seem determined to protect each other.

:[Coccus, bacteriophage and protozoon.]
:Bacteriophage: And
:Bacteriophage: They have a ''lot'' of pasta.

==Trivia==
* The title text originally contained a typo in the form of a double negative "We're not not trapped..." This has since been corrected.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2287: Pathogen Resistance

2020-04-01T14:45:54Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ The drawing is wildly out of scale; a protozoon is much larger than a bacterium, which in turn is much, much larger than a virus. (Also more links to Wikipedia.)

{{comic
| number = 2287
| date = March 30, 2020
| title = Pathogen Resistance
| image = pathogen_resistance.png
| titletext = We're not trapped in here with the coronavirus. The coronavirus is trapped in here with us.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MACROPHAGE HUGGING A BACTERIOPHAGE. Should briefly summarize the immune system (esp. macrophages and antibodies) and why it is so terrifying to pathogens. Also maybe use [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170307142718.htm this link]. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is the 13th comic in a row in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}.

Rather than expressing humanity's fears and pessimism about the pandemic, this strip anthropomorphizes some of the pathogens which afflict humanity and presents ''their'' fears and pessimism about possibly going extinct. This serves as a roundabout way of expressing hope and wonder at the ingenuity and tenacity of humans in the face of diseases past (with water sanitation, mosquito netting, and condoms) and present (with the power of social distancing and {{w|Gloria Gaynor}}'s hit song ''{{w|I Will Survive}}''). Gaynor recorded [https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/entertainment/coronavirus-gloria-gaynor-i-will-survive-trnd/index.html a video of herself washing her hands] for 20 seconds (the recommended length of time to wash hands for optimal cleanliness) to the background of her hit song.

The three pathogens presented are a {{w|virus}} (a {{w|bacteriophage}}), a small colony of a {{w|coccus}}-shaped {{w|bacteria}} (such as ''{{w|Streptococcus}}''), and a {{w|protozoon}} (a caricature of a {{w|ciliate}}). Bacteriophages do not infect human cells (as the name suggests, they only infect bacteria), and have been studied for use as "{{w|phage therapy}}" ''for'' humans, especially in dealing with antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections (which is usually what people mean when they talk about "resistance" in the context of pathogens); however, they are iconic, instantly-recognizable viruses, and some have been found to [https://phys.org/news/2015-11-bacteria-bacteriophages-collude-formation-clinically.html collude with bacteria] in forming certain antibiotic-resistant {{w|biofilm}}s. {{w|Balantidiasis|Only one kind of ciliate}} is known to cause human disease; however, ciliates are iconic for protozoa just as bacteriophages are for viruses (see, for example, Gary Larson's now-venerable [https://www.thefarside.com ''The Far Side''] cartoons). The ciliate may be a 'stand-in' for protozoa that cause widespread and dangerous human diseases, such as {{w|malaria}}. The drawing is wildly out of scale; a protozoon is larger than a bacterium, which in turn is much larger than a virus.

"The scariest thing in the universe" to these microbes is the human immune system, represented in the second panel and later by antibodies (Y-shaped drawings) and anthropomorphized white blood cells. Specifically, the white blood cells shown are {{w|T cell}}s, the immune system's 'first responders'. As briefly described [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170307142718.htm here], if a T cell encounters an antigen that it is programmed to recognize (such as, for instance, a molecule of the viral protein coat), it 'hugs' the cell presenting the antigen as a precursor to summoning the immune system's heavy artillery. Hence the faux-Care Bears battle cry of the T cells, "Who wants a HUUUG?"

The comic humorously considers pasta as an essential part of humans' fight against coronavirus. Pasta is an example of a dried food that can last a long time, if the orders to stay indoors continue. However, not every culture consumes or likes pasta.

The colony of cocci protests that it shouldn't be possible for humans to evolve "pathogen resistance" in the short period of months since the breakout of COVID-19, when humans require over a decade to reach sexual maturity, and in modern times often wait at least two decades before having children. Bacteria and viruses, on the other hand, reproduce in a matter of minutes, so that there may be hundreds of generations per day (comparable to the number of generations that have passed for humanity since the beginnings of agriculture), each of which presents opportunities to evolve new antigens that are not recognized by any antibodies present in the body or to evolve resistance to whatever antibiotic drugs a human might be using. However, as the bacteriophage explains, humans generally do not become resistant against pathogens by genetic drift (although there are researchers who are seeking to identify genes that encode resistances to various diseases and then propagate them to other humans through gene editing, as in the {{w|He Jiankui affair}}). Instead, humans "evolve" pathogen resistance through behavioral changes. The behaviors presented in this comic strip include:

* Municipal water supplies, which are filtered and treated to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases, like cholera and dysentery.
* Mosquito netting over beds, and also anti-insect poisoning, to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases, like malaria.
* Condoms (described as plastic in the comic, but more commonly latex rubber in real life), to prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases, such as AIDS and syphilis.
* Social or physical distancing, hand-washing, storable food, and electronic communications, to prevent the spread of diseases through casual contact, like COVID-19.

These behaviors do not come from our genomes, passed along through reproduction, but from our brains, passed along by communication. Some of the language of epidemiology is also used in discussion of communication, most notably "going viral" -- in this case, information is going viral to prevent viruses from going viral.

The title text reverts to the point of view of humans and references a famous line from the graphic novel ''{{w|Watchmen}}'', where {{w|Rorschach (character)|Rorschach}}, whilst in prison and surrounded by enemies who want to kill him, proclaims: "I'm not locked up in here with YOU. You're locked up in here with ME." This presents an alternate perspective on quarantine and isolation that some may find more bearable: rather than passively hiding indoors in fear of the virus, we are taking action to fragment the virus population so that our immune systems (and medical intervention, in more serious cases) can {{w|defeat in detail|defeat it in detail}}.

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

:[A small colony of coccus bacteria, a bacteriophage, and a protozoon are floating together.]
:Bacteriophage: I'm worried about humans developing resistance to us.
:Bacteriophage: Using pasta.

:[Cutaway to macrophages and antibodies chasing three protozoa. One protozoon is already covered in antibodies.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): The human immune system is a nightmare.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): It's the worst.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): It's the scariest thing in the universe.
:Macrophage: ''Who wants a HUUGGG''
:Antibody-covered protozoon: ''Nooo!''

:[Close-up on bacteriophage]
:Bacteriophage: We can only survive by staying ahead of it. Keep jumping from person to person, keep mutating and evolving.
:Bacteriophage: But now humans are adapting too fast.

:[Water pipes. A mosquito net with a bed under it. An unopened condom package.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We spread through their water. They built pipes.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We used mosquitoes. They put out nets and poison everywhere.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We spread through sex, and suddenly they all had these plastic things.

:[Depictions of coronavirus with spikes. Hairbun and Cueball shaking hands, with droplets spraying from both their mouths.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): This time, we really thought we had them.
:Bacteriophage (narrating): One of us got good at transmission through everyday contact.

:[A row of 4 sets of human lungs, the first with several black dots, the second and third with increasing black parts, the fourth completely filled with black. A graph showing exponential growth.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): It was great. We were tearing through lungs, spreading like wildfire.
:Voice offscreen: Hooray!
:Voice 2 offscreen: I ''hate'' lungs.

:[Close-up of bacteriophage "head".]
:Bacteriophage: Then, all of a sudden, humans everywhere just...''stopped''. They stopped working, stopped seeing friends.

:[Megan is sitting on a couch, watching a flat screen. Cueball is at a sink with a mirror, washing his hands. They are facing away from each other.]
:Voice offscreen: What are they ''doing''?
:Voice 2 offscreen: Nothing!
:Voice 2 offscreen: They're just sitting there in their houses washing their hands.

:[A single human in a empty room, surrounded by fallen droplets. Among the droplets is a coronavirus.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): Suddenly humans became dead ends. We tried to jump from one to the next, but there's no one to jump to.
:Coronavirus: Help!
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We can't escape.

:[Coronaviruses, encroached on by macrophages and streams of antibodies.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): We're trapped in there with those ghastly immune systems.
:Antibodies: ''IT'S HUUG TIIIIIME''
:Macrophage: Come here for a HUUUG
:Macrophage: HUUUUGS

:[Coronaviruses covered in antibodies and surrounded by macrophages. Some of the macrophages are devouring viruses. Others contain broken-down remnants.]
:Bacteriophage (narrating): Even if we win a fight, there's nowhere to go.
:Macrophage: HUUUUUUUGGSS
:Macrophage: HUUUUGS
:Bacteriophage (narrating): By staying inside, humans have become resistant.

:[Back to the discussion between the coccus, the bacteriophage and the protozoon.]
:Coccus bacteria: How could they evolve that fast? Humans take decades to reproduce!
:Bacteriophage: It's not evolution. It's something with their brains.
:Protozoon: I ''wondered'' what those were for!

:[Bacteriophage pointing to: Cueball and Megan looking at their phones; Megan and Cueball walking to the right; Megan and Cueball at separate sinks washing their hands.]
:Bacteriophage: Humans started looking at their phones, talking, writing words, and making signs. A human named "Gloria Gaynor" filmed herself singing at her bathroom sink.
:Bacteriophage: And then they bought lots of pasta.
:Bacteriophage: Then, around the world, they all went home and started washing their hands.

:[Bacteriophage and protozoon.]
:Bacteriophage: They saw what we were doing and changed their behavior to stop us.
:Protozoon: Brains are the ''worst''.

:[Coccus, bacteriophage and protozoon.]
:Coccus bacteria: It's not over, right? They can't sustain this. They must be bored and tired.
:Coccus bacteria: Will they give up?
:Bacteriophage: I don't know. They seem determined to protect each other.

:[Coccus, bacteriophage and protozoon.]
:Bacteriophage: And
:Bacteriophage: They have a ''lot'' of pasta.

==Trivia==
* The title text originally contained a typo in the form of a double negative "We're not not trapped..." This has since been corrected.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:2286: 6-Foot Zone

2020-03-29T00:47:31Z

TobyBartels: Thanks for that explanation! When I saw the title text, I was worried that WHO had increased the recommendation and I'd missed it.

Ok... 34 feet, in total, but how many hands? (All of which you should wash!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 23:34, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

: Love it. Given the extra 1.7 feet for the person, a radius of 20.53 hands. If it were just 6 feet, 18 hands -- brad --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.122|108.162.216.122]] 00:55, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

So Randall is figuring about 1.7 feet diameter for the person. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.70|172.68.174.70]] 00:40, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

The 190,000 people / mile^2 assumes (I'm guessing) flat ground. Skyscrapers make a difference [citation needed] -- brad --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.122|108.162.216.122]] 00:55, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

Interesting that the population density he gives ignores circle packing. Population should be 174,000. -- coyne -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.156|162.158.122.156]] 04:06, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
: Circle packing is unimportant since he's just giving the population of this one circle. He's taking a radius of 6 foot ''around'' that person without specifying what he considers to be the radius of the person, but it can be inferred from the numbers: from area: <math>\sqrt{145/\pi} \approx 6.8</math>, from circumference: <math>43/(2\pi) \approx 6.8</math>, from population density: <math>\sqrt{1/190000/\pi} \cdot 5280 \approx 6.8</math>, so apparently he considers a person to have a radius of 0.8 ft, or about 0.5 m diameter, which seems reasonable. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 05:11, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
: Note that even if you want to know the population of optimally packed people, your number is still wrong since the circles overlap: your circle is supposed to exclude other people, it doesn't exclude other people's circles. Optimally you'd have a triangular lattice of people with a lattice distance of 7.6 ft (assuming we want 6 ft between people and we consider people to be circles of radius 0.8 ft). This yields a population density of 1 person per <math>\tfrac{1}{4}\sqrt{3} \cdot 7.6^2 \text{ ft}^2</math>, which is about 1.1 million people per square mile. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 05:24, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

Much as I love thinking about circle packing density in the plane, I think the above explanation is slightly overthinking the issue. The population density figure appears to be using the idea that one person's zone contains one person; 1 person / (145 ft^2) does indeed equal 192,000 people/square mile. So, he's not saying that 'given these constraints, we can pack people at this maximum density'. He's saying 'given this area, and counting it as a tiny sovereignty, we can calculate its population density to be this'. For this reason, I don't think you should say that the 'population density' figure has an error, only that it is calculated in a different sense than you were thinking about. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 18:58, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
:I agree. My first instinct on what the population density figure means was the same as one used in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.163|162.158.103.163]] 22:29, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

Possibly a play on the fact that horses are measured in hands? --orbitalbuzzsaw--

Page 207 of [https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf07232816/pdf07232816dpi72pt10.pdf US Forest Service Equestrian Design Guidebook for Trails, Trailheads, and Campgrounds] says minimum corral size is 12x12 feet. I didn't find a more likely sounding Forest Service publication. So I assume the ''handbook'' in the comic is a fictional publication. [[User:Hamjudo|Hamjudo]] ([[User talk:Hamjudo|talk]]) 13:15, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

:Don't look for corrals. Look for how are you supposed to pack the horses for traveling eg. in train or truck/trailer. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:22, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Always knew cities were bad for humanity. As are airplanes. Need them both to create a pandemic. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 18:32, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for that explanation! When I saw the title text, I was worried that WHO had increased the recommendation and I'd missed it. [[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 00:47, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2284: Sabotage

2020-03-23T14:43:34Z

TobyBartels: Fixed now.

I don't entirely understand this comic (else I wouldn't be here), but I don't think that the current explanation is on the right track. It doesn't fit with the title, Sabotage. My reading is that some people are planning to get together IRL, and Cueball is threatening to sabotage their event with Baby Shark and skunks, presumably hoping that they'll call it off. [Edit: Fixed now.] [[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 05:19, 23 March 2020 (UTC)
: +1! [[User:John.Adriaan|John.Adriaan]] ([[User talk:John.Adriaan|talk]]) 05:48, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

::My Impression is that upon observing some group of people ignoring the social distancing stuff, he's attempting to scare them off actually having their gathering by piling up a long list of things you wouldn't want to be around. Doing an especially-annoying spoken word version of an especially-annoying song for long periods of time(Possible); Bringing a large number of wild skunks (unlikely); claiming to have just come from a cruise ship after several recent cases of mass-infections on cruise ships, making him seem like a high risk person to be around(probably lying); further claiming to have come from an event involving close, physical contact with a large group of random people, again making him seem like he's highly likely to be infected (almost certainly lying).

::In other words, trying to sabotage their gathering so that nobody shows up... in order to keep their stupidity/ignorance/arrogance from potentially spreading the virus to everyone present. -Graptor [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.78|162.158.186.78]] 05:54, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Shouldn't this comic be about BHG? Seems more up his alley. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:26, 23 March 2020 (UTC)
:Who or what is "BHG"? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.222.124|172.68.222.124]] 12:30, 23 March 2020 (UTC)
::I guess [[Black hat]] guy. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:31, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2284: Sabotage

2020-03-23T05:19:08Z

TobyBartels: I don't entirely understand this comic (else I wouldn't be here), but I don't think that the current explanation is on the right track.

2284: Sabotage

2020-03-23T05:15:40Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Explain what's bad about Baby Shark.

{{comic
| number = 2284
| date = March 23, 2020
| title = Sabotage
| image = sabotage.png
| titletext = So excited to see everyone after my luxury cruise home from the World Handshake Championships!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WILD SKUNK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic, once again, returns to the subject of the Coronavirus.

In the wake of the virus, many public places have shut down. In this comic, [[Cueball]] has organized substitutes with his friends, including a skunk petting zoo, which would most likely produce a foul odor, and karaoke featuring the song Baby Shark, which is a song for small children that is generally considered annoying to adults.

The title text presents a situation where there is a "World Handshake Championships". Presumably, this would involve shaking hands with as many people as possible; this would facilitate the spread of diseases such as Coronavirus. [[Cueball]] has apparently just come from a cruise ship, which is a topic of interest to many due to many being stranded at sea because of Coronavirus outbreaks on them.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2233: Aurora Meaning

2019-12-05T13:00:45Z

TobyBartels: Missing location.

Hey guys. As you can tell by the edit logs, I'm removing a spam comment that was made in bad faith. I'm new here so please let me know what the actual procedure is for, ya know, spam deletion and logging.
Have an outstanding day, --[[User:OtterlyAmazin|OtterlyAmazin]] ([[User talk:OtterlyAmazin|talk]]) 03:46, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
:Great you removed [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk%3A2233%3A_Aurora_Meaning&type=revision&diff=183613&oldid=183612 this text]. I guess if this account keeps doing such things it should be banned. Sadly we seem to have lost all contact to any admin of the page...? So I'm not sure how we could do anything. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:01, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Nobody talks about the visible shadow of the two lower texts? You can clearly see a layer of grey letters, not identical to the topmost layer, benath. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.52|172.68.141.52]] 05:57, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
:I have no idea what you are talking about. I see no shadows on neither xkcd or the image uploaded here? Maybe it is your device that is making the shadows... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:01, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
::On the words Satelite and Exciting in the southern hemisphere it is most visible (but also on others) that there are greyish letters right next to the black ones, kinda like shadows. Maybe Randall copy pasted and changed it. Similar things of remains of erased parts have been visible before. (If someone thinks it is important, I can try to look it up, but I am not exactly sure where it was) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:38, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
::: You're right. It's most visible on the right side of the loop in the 'S' at the end of 'Satellites' in the southern hemisphere, but you can also see it on the lower tip of 'C' and the upper tip of 'G' in 'Exciting'. However, I downloaded the image and used an image editor to up the contrast, and it turns out the grey letters are the exact same as the black ones, just in slightly different places and shapes. Presumably Randal didn't like his first attempt at lettering the comic and erased it and rewrote it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.136|162.158.126.136]] 05:58, 27 November 2019 (UTC)

That is known as "mustard". This term originated in the OTT, of course[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.191|172.69.63.191]] 16:34, 27 November 2019 (UTC)
:What does this comment even mean? I have no idea what "OTT" means and what the term "mustard" refers to in either the comic or any previous comments! Can the OP or anyone else shed some light on it? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:48, 27 November 2019 (UTC)
::The OTT (short for the One True Thread) is the unofficial nickname for the xkcd fora thread for Time (also known over there as the One True Comic (OTT for short). Mustard arose when some mistakes in colouration were made during Time's run that appeared as outlines is a faintly mustard-like colour. Hope that's of any help. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.118|162.158.150.118]] 15:41, 28 November 2019 (UTC)

Do we have any indication how much energy we're talking to see the aurora at the equator? or how that would physically work? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.38|162.158.159.38]] 08:17, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

There has been an equatorial aurora exactly once in human history. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime Starfish Prime] was an orbital nuclear detonation that, among other things, disabled multiple satellites and created a temporary artificial aurora 16° north. That is also likely what the sub-tropical band is referring to. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.88|162.158.150.88]] 09:12, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

What should "Subpolar latitudes" include for the southern hemisphere? Southern Africa? Southern Australia? Since I'm in the northern hemisphere, I don't know what's appropriate for the other half of the world. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:46, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
:Most of the subpolar latitudes of the southern hemisphere are ocean. Southern Australia is still subtropical. The southernmost parts of Chile and Argentina (Terra del Fuego) would qualify.
::umm, it is actually possible to see the aurora australis from the southern parts of Australia. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-14/aurora-australia-watching-and-photographing-the-southern-lights/11197868 and the southern parts of Australia, whilst capable of getting very warm in summer, are definitely not subtropical[[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 10:32, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

In Principal Skinner's kitchen: You are about to enjoy delicious steamed hams. ―[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 13:00, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

== Saturn's out of place H3+ Aurorae and Ring Decay ==

Wondering if this might have been inspired by James O’Donoghue discovery of decay of Saturn's rings.
“I thought it could be some new band of aurora which had never been seen before or something entirely new. Those were the two options now, and both were amazing.”
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/saturns-rings-are-slowly-disappearing-180972856/#dL7Me0SVImIcFSRq.99

2236: Is it Christmas?

2019-12-05T12:50:46Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ : Using the time setting on the client's computer is a feature, not a bug.

{{comic
| number = 2236
| date = December 2, 2019
| title = Is it Christmas?
| image = is_it_christmas.png
| titletext = We've tested it on 30 different days and it hasn't gotten one wrong yet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Should probably wait for Christmas to see if the comic changes or not}}
https://isitchristmas.com/ is a popular simplistic website that informs the visitor whether or not it's {{w|Christmas}} as celebrated by Western Christian churches. Christmas is a holiday observed in the US (and some other countries, mostly those in the Americas, western Europe, and Africa) on December 25 of each year. At the top on the tab of the site in the browser it says "Is it Christmas?" with a large '''NO''' printed if it is not December 25, and a '''YES''' if it is December 25. This website does a check on the computer's current date, and updates accordingly if it is indeed Christmas. In addition, isitchristmas.com gives the answer in the language of your region (i.e. for a visitor from Canada, the site gives the answer in English and French to account for Canada's bilingularity, and in most other countries just their word for No will be shown). Since the page uses the computer's time setting, it is possible to easily check that the page works by changing the date on the computer used to access the page to see the text change to Yes (or No if you are reading it on December 25). This also means that the page is only as correct as the time setting on the computer used to view the page (so in case of connection problems, you may check your computer's calendar instead).

Here [[Randall]] spoofs the website. He claims to have made a competitor to isitchristmas.com which nearly always correctly tells if it is Christmas. The joke is, that the comic will always display a static image reading '''NO''', even on Christmas Day, and that the rare incorrect answer is rare enough to not cause any concern.

Randall lists a rounded calculation of 99.73% for the precision of his prediction of whether or not it is Christmas. This number is accurate with or without including leap year. An average year is 365.25 days, meaning that he is only wrong 1 out of 365.25 days. So only 1/365.25 = 0.2737% of the days would the prediction be wrong, resulting in a correct reply rate of 99.726%, which he has rounded to 99.73%. Using or not using the leap year will give the same result to three decimal places.

Although Randall's claim on {{w|Accuracy and precision#In binary classification|accuracy}} is true, accuracy alone doesn't make a predictive device useful. In this case, the page {{w|False positives and false_negatives#false negative rate|miss rate}} or false negative rate, that is, the percent of positive condition days (it's Christmas) that are predicted by the comic not to be Christmas, is 100%. In other words, it misses all actual events of Christmas.

When building a model for rare events, a common mistake is to ignore the implicit cost function built into the standard prediction accuracy validity statistic for binary events. Prediction accuracy (# correct guesses/total guesses) assumes that false positives and false negatives are equally bad. Given the implicit cost function of this performance statistic, the best-performing model is commonly a persistence forecast model--ie, the optimal prediction model returns the most common value whatever the model inputs are. It's probably a better choice to optimize a model using a performance statistic which relies on a cost function that penalizes missing correct prediction of rare events more than it penalizes missing correct prediction of common events.

In fact, in most settings where a single outcome is a lot more common than any other one, predicting always that most common outcome would yield very high accuracy without any usefulness. It isn't hard to find examples even more accurate than Randall's:

* A useless test for AIDS giving always negative results would have an accuracy about 99.95% when applied to a random human, and even more if used in countries with low prevalence of AIDS.
* A website saying "You are not the cartoonist Randall Munroe" would be right for 99.9999999857% of humans.
* [https://knowyourphrase.com/even-a-broken-clock-is-right-twice A stopped watch is accurate twice a day] while a running watch is almost never accurate (and oddly, is more frequently correct the faster/slower it runs).

The title text is a "proof" that his service works. He claims to have tested this on 30 different days and confirmed that NO is the correct result. Any date except Christmas would result in a correct result, and the comic was the first to be released in December 2019, so unless the test had run for almost a year, he would not even have had a chance to test this on Christmas Day. Since this is a joke, the comic will of course not change to Yes on Christmas Day, because then it would be 100% accurate, as is the page the comic mocks.

Being right on most days, but not the one that mattered was also the subject of [[937: TornadoGuard]].

==Transcript==
:[A large square white panel with one large word in the middle, plus a footnote:]
:'''<big><big><big>No*</big></big></big>'''
:<nowiki>*</nowiki>99.73% accurate

:[Caption below the panel:]
:xkcd.com presents a new "Is It Christmas" service to compete with isitchristmas.com

==Trivia==
*Randall usually makes [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comics]] around Christmas Day, but this year he has made two comics mentioning Christmas already by the 2nd of December 2019.
**The first came two comics before this with [[2234: How To Deliver Christmas Presents]].
**Only two times before has there been released any Christmas related comics so close to Christmas without being released in the few days around Christmas Day (22-26 of December). See the explanation for Christmas comics.
*The calendar used by most of the world for civil purposes is the Gregorian calendar, instituted by Pope Gregory XIII of the Roman Catholic Church in 1582. However, most Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the Julian calendar for the purpose of their holidays; December 25th in the Julian calendar is January 7th in the Gregorian calendar for years between 1900 and 2100, so that is the civil date when those countries observe Christmas. The author of isitchristmas.com is [https://github.com/isitchristmas/web/issues/67#issuecomment-29585160 aware that this is the case], but has chosen to recognize a single date (December 25th in the Gregorian calendar) as Christmas for the sake of simplicity.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]

Talk:2198: Throw

2019-09-03T22:44:46Z

TobyBartels: Undo revision 179098 by DgbrtBOT (talk) (The bot finally created this page by overwriting everybody's comments.)

I created this page as it seem DgbrtBOT fails because it is interactive. So far it still won't shown on the front page or with a button to it from the previous comic or the "newest" comic button. Maybe it just takes some time? It is now in the [[List_of_all_comics]] but still no luck getting it to work... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:58, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Maybe it is because it was published on a tuesday? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:16, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::No it is not unusual that a comic does not come out on MWF. For instance the Sunday comic recently. Here is the list of Tuesday comics: [[:Category:Tuesday_comics]]--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:29, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Also it doesn't display my comment below the explanation. Something is very broken here...--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:25, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:It appears now. [[User:PkmnQ|PkmnQ]] ([[User talk:PkmnQ|talk]]) 08:53, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
How did he get an estimate for Carly Rae Jepson, anyway? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.34|162.158.255.34]] 09:52, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgwAywJlo1M [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.221|172.68.142.221]] 09:55, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::Alternatively he could have worked together with her, as with Serena Williams. I will look it up in the afternoon, when I have my preordered book :) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:22, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

By the transitive property of Worthiness, if Capt America can throw Thor's Hammer, surely George Washington is Worthy!{{unsigned ip|172.69.68.141}}

I got this data from the code:
{| class="wikitable"
! id
! name
! canThrow
! canBeThrown
! length
! diameter
! mass
! dragC
! throwPower
|-
| microwave
| A microwave oven
| false
| true
| 0.406
| 0.406
| 10.591
| 0.8
|
|-
| basketball
| a basketball
| false
| true
| 0.243
| 0.243
| 0.624
| 0.3
|
|-
| blender
| a blender
| false
| true
| 0.203
| 0.203
| 5.216
| 0.8
|
|-
| gold_bar
| a gold bar
| false
| true
| 0.0535
| 0.0535
| 12.4
| 0.8
|
|-
| cake
| a wedding cake
| false
| true
| 0.51
| 0.51
| 13
| 0.8
|
|-
| pingpong
| a ping pong ball
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.04
| 0.003
| 0.5
|
|-
| quarterback
| an NFL quarterback
| true
| false
| 1.905
| 0.584
| 102.058
| 0.6
| 20
|-
| acorn
| an acorn
| false
| true
| 0.0191
| 0.0191
| 0.0045
| 0.3
|
|-
| hammer
| thor's hammer
| false
| true
| 0.5
| 0.15
| 2000
| 0.4
|
|-
| javelin
| a javelin
| false
| true
| 1.8
| 0.0254
| 0.8
| 0.1
|
|-
| george
| George Washington
| true
| true
| 1.829
| 0.562
| 90.718
| 0.6
| 15
|-
| pikachu
| Pikachu
| true
| true
| 0.4
| 0.3
| 5.9874
| 0.4
| 10
|-
| car
| A car
| false
| true
| 4.5
| 2.134
| 1179.34
| 0.25
|
|-
| silver_spin
| a silver dollar (spinning)
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.011
| 0.027
| 0.5
|
|-
| silver_tumble
| a silver dollar (tumbling)
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.04
| 0.027
| 0.66
|
|-
| carly
| Carly Rae Jepsen
| true
| false
| 1.575
| 0.46
| 49.895
| 0.6
| 10
|-
| thor
| thor, god of thunder
| true
| false
| 1.91
| 0.59
| 91
| 0.6
| 10000
|-
| chris hemsworth
| chris hemsworth
| true
| false
| 1.91
| 0.59
| 91
| 0.6
| 10
|-
| squirrel
| A squirrel
| true
| true
| 0.203
| 0.096
| 0.454
| 0.6
| 10
|}
(Sorry if this table messes the talk page.)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.136|162.158.78.136]] 13:51, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Nah its great. Not sure how to use it in the explanation yet, but guess it will go in there somehow later.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:28, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

The comic looks different on my screen, not displaying multiple possible selections next to each other, but all below each other. Quite dynamic... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:26, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:If I zoom out I can make it shown only one item each line, but if I zoom in two is maximum. But it should go in the explanation when we get there.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:28, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

The suggestion to litteraly throw a party in the air could be a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy in which there is a flying building with a party in it, and there's even Thor partying in it when the protagonists are coming there. --Roger 15:12, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Any reason why George Washington has 50% more throw power than Christ Hemsworth? Some reference? ~TK

Interesting, there appears to be additional units of measurement in the source code that were not used in the comic: "wiffles" and "light-nanoseconds" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 16:52, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Does it seem... excessive to anyone else that the NFL quarterback can throw a silver dollar almost two football fields?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.161|172.68.142.161]] 17:08, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

The explanation for Manhattan block conversion appears to be wrong. They mention that their calculation for how large one block is was made with 4 numbers ignoring George Washington as an outlier. However there are 6 total examples of Manhattan block to use and George Washington's is not an outlier. I calculated the mean with all of the data to be 79.9142 meters.--[[User:Szeth|Szeth]] ([[User talk:Szeth|talk]]) 17:12, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

We need a table with a brief description of each thrower. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 17:14, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

How do we know how old George Washington was when he throws a squirrel? Speaking of age, this format kind of reminds me of the Magnus comic: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1628:_Magnus [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 17:41, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

I think we need to add something about the myth that George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.40|108.162.241.40]] 19:42, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Pretty sure that the ping-pong ball distances are severely overestimated due to air resistance slowing them very rapidly. Someone with lab facilities might want to check... --[[User:Marcus Rowland|Marcus Rowland]] ([[User talk:Marcus Rowland|talk]]) 19:49, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Sorry, never mind, I think I saw a very early version of the actual page that had the distances much greater - seems reasonable now. --[[User:Marcus Rowland|Marcus Rowland]] ([[User talk:Marcus Rowland|talk]]) 19:53, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
The buttons look to be failing simply because [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]] hasn't been updated with the lastest comic number - the page is protected so needs someone with higher powers than I. [[User:Dresken|Dresken]] ([[User talk:Dresken|talk]]) 19:59, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
'Worthiness' was only a thing in the comics. In the myths Thor had a belt of strength and a couple other things. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.125|172.69.33.125]] 21:35, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Talk:Disappearing Sunday Update

2019-08-05T08:59:39Z

TobyBartels: unixkcd works now, and there is now a list of explanations of the unusual methods

This comic isn't a numbered comic. The ephemeral ghost comic has broken explainxkcd! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.64|162.158.34.64]] 22:23, 4 August 2019 (UTC)
: Fair point. Probably the page should be renamed to 2184.5 or something. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.12|172.68.133.12]] 08:52, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Well, it broke the xkcd client I use. (Easy xkcd, Android) Just crashes on start. I hope it will fix itself when the normal one comes out. I also hope that this comic will remain here when it is taken down. [[User:Fghsgh|Fghsgh]] ([[User talk:Fghsgh|talk]]) 22:43, 4 August 2019 (UTC) fghsgh

Previous then Next on xkcd.com 404's... Trivia! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.83|141.101.104.83]] 22:59, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

It's not rendering for me on the uni.xkcd.com portal, could anyone else verify? I'm excited in seeing what else this comic will break. [[User:Kirdneh|Kirdneh]] ([[User talk:Kirdneh|talk]]) 23:11, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

: This works for me now. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 08:59, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

I wonder what will happen tomorrow! Oh the antici- pation!
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.153|172.69.68.153]] 00:01, 5 August 2019 (UTC) Sam

Others had the same idea I did, this comic has been archived to https://web.archive.org/web/20190805000153/https://xkcd.com/ For posterity(?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.57|162.158.74.57]] 02:52, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

I only noticed this on Monday morning, so was surprised to find that there isn't more detail about the various things the comic mentions possibly breaking. It got me wondering how many people on the site (especially the younger ones) aren't even aware of IP over Avian Carriers, Gopherspace, or lynx. This is one of those comics that could easily be a forest of links to interesting things you might never have thought to look for. -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 07:47, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

: I added a list; you should add more explanation to it. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 08:59, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Has the comic been changed since it was posted, to stop breaking things? Because it's appearing as #2185 for me and the link to that number from #2184 works. (Also, I love that--Internet Archive notwithstanding--we're almost certainly going to keep a well-explained copy of this comic alive for posterity. What will we number it, though? Has Randall broken explain xkcd too?) -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 08:52, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Disappearing Sunday Update

2019-08-05T08:55:07Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ : Report that next button is fixed; add list of methods for people to explain

{{comic
| number = 2185
| date = August 4, 2019
| title = Disappearing Sunday Update
| image = disappearing_sunday_update.png
| titletext = This comic won't exist in the archives. NOTHING IS REAL.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by UNUSUAL MEANS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic claims to be a special Disappearing comic that will disappear Monday August 5th, and is an advertisement for the upcoming book "How To".
This includes a drawing of the cover, on set of pages, and a sampling of the table of contents of the book.
The second part of the comic apologizes for various bots that automatically catalog xkcd comics that might break because of this special comic.
This website is one example assigning the comic a number of 2185 despite the comic not having a designated number. The comic even broke the xkcd site itself as the previous comic (2184) has a next button that links to comic 2185 (which does not exist) and displays a [http://http.cat/404 404] error (but this was later fixed).
One of the bot methods mentioned may be in reference to [http://www.xkcd.com/2180 2180 : Spreadsheets] where Cueball debates making a real program to do a task, or to use a spreadsheet instead.

Methods suggested (many still need explanations):

; Apps
: The Android app easyxkcd was broken by this comic, as reported here.
; Custom screen-scraping systems
: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_scraping#Screen_scraping
; Google Reader clones
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Reader Google Reader] was an RSS/Atom aggregator that Google discontinued in 2013
; Twitter bots
: Automated posting to [https://twitter.com/ Twitter]
; BASH scripts
: A popular Un*x shell; one might, say, write a script in it to run on one's personal Un*x machine, checking for a new xkcd comic and displaying it somewhere
; Gopher portals
: [https://www.minnpost.com/business/2016/08/rise-and-fall-gopher-protocol/ Gopher] was a method of surfing the Internet that predated the Web (by about five months) and was vastly more popular (for about three years)
; Lynx-based ASCII art browsers
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_%28web_browser%29 Lynx] is a text-based Web browser. It can launch external programs to view images, but Randall is suggesting that instead a Lynx variant might convert images to [https://www.asciiart.eu/ ASCII art], which renders images using the 94 visible ASCII keyboard characters
; Third-party Second Life feeds
: [https://secondlife.com/ Second Life] is a virtual world that is apparently still a thing
; RFC 2549
: An RFC is a proposal for how to run the Internet. [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549 This one] is about transmitting data using carrier pigeons.
; Massive Google docs sheets
: See #[[2180]].

Another unusual method is [http://uni.xkcd.com/ UNIXkcd], which was reported here to have broken, but was later working.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
~SPECIAL DISAPPEARING SUNDAY COMIC~

I'm posting this ephemeral sunday update to let you know that I wrote a book! It's a guide to solving everyday problems in terrible ways using science.

It comes out next month, and it's available for preorder now.

[Arrow to image of book] The cover looks like this

[Arrow to image of sample pages of the book] and the inside looks like this.

Chapters include:
How to charge your phone
How to throw a pool party
How to move
How to build a lava moat
How to ski

[Another image of sample pages]

You can learn more and preorder it at xkcd.com/how-to

and read an excerpt at blog.xkcd.com

If you read xkcd through unusual means, including apps, custom screen-scraping systems, google reader clones, twitter bots, bash scripts, gopher portals, lynx-based ascii art browsers, third-party sceond life feeds, rfc 2549, or massive google docs sheets full of =IMPORTHTML() and =IMAGE() formulas, I hope this ephemeral ghost comic doesn't break them too badly.

It will disappear with the normal monday update.

(At least, I think it will. I've never tried this before. So I'm honestly not sure what the server will do.)
{{comic discussion}}

2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T16:38:15Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Update hatnote.

{{comic
| number = 2132
| date = April 3, 2019
| title = Percentage Styles
| image = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Classicist and a Mathematician. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic lists ways in which you can write out phrases which phonetically are the same as "65%" listed from best to worst. They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to the odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" which nobody would ever actually use. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent." (ending in a period even in the middle of a sentence); this shows the origin as an abbreviation for "65 per centum", which is Latin for "65 for [each] hundred".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Percentage styles in order of acceptability
(a long, vertical line connects through the entire comic)
Best

65%
(short distance)
65 percent
(a much longer distance)
65 per cent
(a distance roughly twice the previous)
Sixty-five%
(an exceedingly long distance)
65 per¢

Worst

{{comic discussion}}

2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T16:33:22Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Explain 65 per cent and the etymology.

{{comic
| number = 2132
| date = April 3, 2019
| title = Percentage Styles
| image = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Classicist. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic lists ways in which you can write out phrases which phonetically are the same as "65%" listed from best to worst. They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to the odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" which nobody would ever actually use. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent." (ending in a period even in the middle of a sentence); this shows the origin as an abbreviation for "65 per centum", which is Latin for "65 for [each] hundred".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Percentage styles in order of acceptability
(a long, vertical line connects through the entire comic)
Best

65%
(short distance)
65 percent
(a much longer distance)
65 per cent
(a distance roughly twice the previous)
Sixty-five%
(an exceedingly long distance)
65 per¢

Worst

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2127: Panama Canal

2019-03-25T11:25:47Z

TobyBartels: Fix wrong name

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

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

My proposal for the Suez Canal was for it to run from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Dezhnev via Nepal and Tibet... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.152|162.158.155.152]] 21:17, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
: Would you opt for tunnel through Himalayas? Note that Himalayas are still rising by more than 1 cm per year, so you would need to compensate in your maintenance plans. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:51, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
: Would it connect to the proposed bridge to Alaska?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Talk:2127: Panama Canal

2019-03-23T02:57:20Z

TobyBartels: Fun fact

Talk:2127: Panama Canal

2019-03-22T19:58:36Z

TobyBartels: Fun fact

2070: Trig Identities

2018-11-09T22:11:23Z

TobyBartels: Restore last unmangled version

{{comic
| number = 2070
| date = November 9, 2018
| title = Trig Identities
| image = trig_identities.png
| titletext = ARCTANGENT THETA = ENCHANT AT TARGET
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please only mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows several real and fictitious trigonometric identities. Most of the identities past the second line are "derived" by applying algebraic methods to the letters in the trig functions, which violates the rules of math, since the trig functions are operators and not variables.

The first line are well known trigonometric functions. The second line contains the lesser known reciprocals of the trigonometric functions in the first line.

The following identities are made up and are increasing in absurdity. The comic reflects on the confusion one gets when working more intensely with these identities, since there are a lot of hidden dependencies between them.

The third line is made by replacing a letter from the trigonometric function with one of the variables. e.g. sin = b/c -> cin = b/s (this could also be a reference to the C++ cin).

The fourth line is made by treating the trigonometric function as a product of variables rather than a function and then using the above identities to create words.

The second to last line performs some algebra on the individual letters of <math>(\mathrm{tan}\ \theta)^2=\frac{b^2}{a^2}</math> as a setup to the last line. The last line takes the formula <math>distance=\frac{1}{2}at^2</math> "from physics" and plugs it into the equation of the previous line, doing some algebra to replace <math>at^2</math> with <math>distance2</math> and expanding <math>(na)^2</math> into <math>nana</math> to get the final equation, <math>distance2banana=\frac{b^3}{\theta^2}</math> . Using the rules already established in this comic, this is valid algebra. The distance equation is the distance a constantly accelerating object initially at rest moves in a given length of time t, most often used to find how far an object dropped from rest will fall under the influence of gravity in a given amount of time (or how long it will take to fall a given distance).

There seem to be (at least) two errors in the formulars:
* <math>\mathrm{cas}\ \theta=\frac{o}{c}</math> seems to be derived from <math>\cos\theta=\frac{a}{c}</math> but to reach "cas" from "cos" one has to divide by "o" and multiply by "a". This would lead to <math>\frac{a^2}{co}</math> on the right hand side.
* In the indentity <math>\sin\theta\sec\theta=\mathrm{insect}\theta^2</math> one of the "s"s has turned into a "t".

The title-text is an anagram. Due to the commutative property of multiplication (which states that order does not affect the product), these equations are equivalent if treated as individual variables as earlier. Another layer of absurdity is added in that the variable Theta is spelled out and broken into its letters, which are then treated as individual variables. (The {{w|arctangent}} referred to here is the inverse tangent, a one-sided inverse to the tangent function. You would not normally write <math>\arctan\theta</math>, since the theta in the comic refers to an angle, and the arctangent has an angle as its ''value'' rather than as its ''argument''; however, using theta here is merely unconventional, not forbidden.)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Inside a single frame comic a right-angled triangle is shown. The short edges are labeled "a" and "b" respectively and the long edge has a "c". All angles are marked, the right angle by a square and the both others by an arc. One arc is labeled by the Greek symbol theta.]

:[Trigonometric functions on the marked angle theta in relation to "a", "b", and many more not depicted other variables are shown:]

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Key trigonometric identities

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]

2070: Trig Identities

2018-11-09T21:52:26Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ More on arctangent theta.

{{comic
| number = 2070
| date = November 9, 2018
| title = Trig Identities
| image = trig_identities.png
| titletext = ARCTANGENT THETA = ENCHANT AT TARGET
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please only mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows several real and fictitious trigonometric identities. Most of the identities past the second line are "derived" by applying algebraic methods to the letters in the trig functions, which violates the rules of math, since the trig functions are operators and not variables.

The first line are well known trigonometric functions. The second line contains the lesser known reciprocals of the trigonometric functions in the first line.

The following identities are made up and are increasing in absurdity. The comic reflects on the confusion one gets when working more intensely with these identities, since there are a lot of hidden dependencies between them.

The third line is made by replacing a letter from the trigonometric function with one of the variables. e.g. sin = b/c -> cin = b/s (this could also be a reference to the C++ cin).

The fourth line is made by treating the trigonometric function as a product of variables rather than a function and then using the above identities to create words.

There seem to be (at least) two errors in the formulars:
* <math>\mathrm{cas}\ \theta=\frac{o}{c}</math> seems to be derived from <math>\cos\theta=\frac{a}{c}</math> but to reach "cas" from "cos" one has to divide by "o" and multiply by "a". This would lead to <math>\frac{a^2}{co}</math> on the right hand side.
* In the indentity <math>\sin\theta\sec\theta=\mathrm{insect}\theta^2</math> one of the "s"s has turned into a "t".

The title-text is an anagram. Due to the commutative property of multiplication (which states that order does not affect the product), these equations are equivalent if treated as individual variables as earlier. Another layer of absurdity is added in that the variable Theta is spelled out and broken into its letters, which are then treated as individual variables. (The {{w|arctangent}} referred to here is the inverse tangent, a one-sided inverse to the tangent function. You would not normally write <math>\arctan\theta</math>, since the theta in the comic refers to an angle, and the arctangent has an angle as its ''value'' rather than as its ''argument''; however, using theta here is merely unconventional, not forbidden.)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Inside a single frame comic a right-angled triangle is shown. The short edges are labeled "a" and "b" respectively and the long edge has a "c". All angles are marked, the right angle by a square and the both others by an arc. One arc is labeled by the Greek symbol theta.]

:[Trigonometric functions on the marked angle theta in relation to "a", "b", and many more not depicted other variables are shown:]

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Key trigonometric identities

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]

2059: Modified Bayes' Theorem

2018-10-16T13:20:07Z

TobyBartels: Everything's better with transfinite ordinal numbers!

{{comic
| number = 2059
| date = October 15, 2018
| title = Modified Bayes' Theorem
| image = modified_bayes_theorem.png
| titletext = Don't forget to add another term for "probability that the Modified Bayes' Theorem is correct."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|When using the Math-syntax please also care for a proper layout. Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Bayes' Theorem}} is an equation in statistics that gives the probability of a given hypothesis accounting not only for a single experiment or observation but also for your existing knowledge about the hypothesis, i.e. its prior probability. Randall's modified form of the equation also purports to account for the probability that you are indeed applying Bayes' Theorem itself correctly by including that as a term in the equation.

Bayes' theorem is:

<math>P(H \mid X) = \frac{P(X \mid H) \, P(H)}{P(X)}</math>,
where
*<math>P(H \mid X)</math> is the probability that <math>H</math>, the hypothesis, is true given observation <math>X</math>. This is called the ''posterior probability''.
*<math>P(X \mid H)</math> is the probability that observation <math>X</math> will appear given the truth of hypothesis <math>H</math>. This term is often called the ''likelihood''.
*<math>P(H)</math> is the probability that hypothesis <math>H</math> is true before any observations. This is called the ''prior'', or ''belief''.
*<math>P(X)</math> is the probability of the observation <math>X</math> regardless of any hypothesis might have produced it. This term is called the ''marginal likelihood''.

The purpose of Bayesian inference is to discover something we want to know (how likely is it that our explanation is correct given the evidence we've seen) by mathematically expressing it in terms of things we can find out: how likely are our observations, how likely is our hypothesis ''a priori'', and how likely are we to see the observations we've seen assuming our hypothesis is true. A Bayesian learning system will iterate over available observations, each time using the likelihood of new observations to update its priors (beliefs) with the hope that, after seeing enough data points, the prior and posterior will converge to a single model.

If <math>P(C)=1</math> the modified theorem reverts to the original Bayes' theorem (which makes sense, as a probability one would mean certainty that you are using Bayes' theorem correctly).

If <math>P(C)=0</math> the modified theorem becomes <math>P(H \mid X) = P(H)</math>, which says that the belief in your hypothesis is not affected by the result of the observation (which makes sense because you're certain you're misapplying the theorem so the outcome of the calculation shouldn't affect your belief.)

This happens because the modified theorem can be rewritten as: <math>P(H \mid X) = (1-P(C))\,P(H) + P(C)\,\frac{P(X \mid H)\,P(H)}{P(X)}</math>. This is the {{w|Linear interpolation|linear-interpolated}} weighted average of the belief you had before the calculation and the belief you would have if you applied the theorem correctly. This goes smoothly from not believing your calculation at all (keeping the same belief as before) if <math>P(C)=0</math> to changing your belief exactly as Bayes' theorem suggests if <math>P(C)=1</math>. (Note that <math>1-P(C)</math> is the probability that you are using the theorem incorrectly.)

The title text suggests that an additional term should be added for the probability that the Modified Bayes Theorem is correct. But that's ''this'' equation, so it would make the formula self-referential, unless we call the result the Modified Modified Bayes Theorem (or Modified2). It could also result in an infinite regress -- we'd need another term for the probability that the version with the probability added is correct, and another term for that version, and so on. If the modifications have a limit, then we can make that the Modifiedω Bayes Theorem, but then we need another term for whether we did ''that'' correctly, leading to the Modifiedω+1 Bayes Theorem, and so on through every {{w|ordinal number}}. It's also unclear what the point of using an equation we're not sure of is (although sometimes we can: {{w|Newton's Laws}} are not as correct as Einstein's {{w|Theory of Relativity}} but they're a reasonable approximation in most circumstances. Alternatively, ask any student taking a difficult exam with a formula sheet.).

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

:Modified Bayes' theorem:

:P(H|X) = P(H) × (1 + P(C) × ( P(X|H)/P(X) - 1 ))

:H: Hypothesis
:X: Observation
:P(H): Prior probability that H is true
:P(X): Prior probability of observing X
:P(C): Probability that you're using Bayesian statistics correctly

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Statistics]]

2059: Modified Bayes' Theorem

2018-10-16T13:16:33Z

TobyBartels: Express directly what it's interpolating between, removing need to apply the unmodified theorem to produce the modified theorem, thereby removing the problematic self-referential aspects.

{{comic
| number = 2059
| date = October 15, 2018
| title = Modified Bayes' Theorem
| image = modified_bayes_theorem.png
| titletext = Don't forget to add another term for "probability that the Modified Bayes' Theorem is correct."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|When using the Math-syntax please also care for a proper layout. Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Bayes' Theorem}} is an equation in statistics that gives the probability of a given hypothesis accounting not only for a single experiment or observation but also for your existing knowledge about the hypothesis, i.e. its prior probability. Randall's modified form of the equation also purports to account for the probability that you are indeed applying Bayes' Theorem itself correctly by including that as a term in the equation.

Bayes' theorem is:

<math>P(H \mid X) = \frac{P(X \mid H) \, P(H)}{P(X)}</math>,
where
*<math>P(H \mid X)</math> is the probability that <math>H</math>, the hypothesis, is true given observation <math>X</math>. This is called the ''posterior probability''.
*<math>P(X \mid H)</math> is the probability that observation <math>X</math> will appear given the truth of hypothesis <math>H</math>. This term is often called the ''likelihood''.
*<math>P(H)</math> is the probability that hypothesis <math>H</math> is true before any observations. This is called the ''prior'', or ''belief''.
*<math>P(X)</math> is the probability of the observation <math>X</math> regardless of any hypothesis might have produced it. This term is called the ''marginal likelihood''.

The purpose of Bayesian inference is to discover something we want to know (how likely is it that our explanation is correct given the evidence we've seen) by mathematically expressing it in terms of things we can find out: how likely are our observations, how likely is our hypothesis ''a priori'', and how likely are we to see the observations we've seen assuming our hypothesis is true. A Bayesian learning system will iterate over available observations, each time using the likelihood of new observations to update its priors (beliefs) with the hope that, after seeing enough data points, the prior and posterior will converge to a single model.

If <math>P(C)=1</math> the modified theorem reverts to the original Bayes' theorem (which makes sense, as a probability one would mean certainty that you are using Bayes' theorem correctly).

If <math>P(C)=0</math> the modified theorem becomes <math>P(H \mid X) = P(H)</math>, which says that the belief in your hypothesis is not affected by the result of the observation (which makes sense because you're certain you're misapplying the theorem so the outcome of the calculation shouldn't affect your belief.)

This happens because the modified theorem can be rewritten as: <math>P(H \mid X) = (1-P(C))\,P(H) + P(C)\,\frac{P(X \mid H)\,P(H)}{P(X)}</math>. This is the {{w|Linear interpolation|linear-interpolated}} weighted average of the belief you had before the calculation and the belief you would have if you applied the theorem correctly. This goes smoothly from not believing your calculation at all (keeping the same belief as before) if <math>P(C)=0</math> to changing your belief exactly as Bayes' theorem suggests if <math>P(C)=1</math>. (Note that <math>1-P(C)</math> is the probability that you are using the theorem incorrectly.)

The title text suggests that an additional term should be added for the probability that the Modified Bayes Theorem is correct. But that's *this* equation, so it would make the formula self-referential, unless we call the result the Modified Modified Bayes Theorem. It could also result in an infinite regress -- we'd need another term for the probability that the version with the probability added is correct, and another term for that version, and so on. It's also unclear what the point of using an equation we're not sure of is (although sometimes we can: {{w|Newton's Laws}} are not as correct as Einstein's {{w|Theory of Relativity}} but they're a reasonable approximation in most circumstances. Alternatively, ask any student taking a difficult exam with a formula sheet.).

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

:Modified Bayes' theorem:

:P(H|X) = P(H) × (1 + P(C) × ( P(X|H)/P(X) - 1 ))

:H: Hypothesis
:X: Observation
:P(H): Prior probability that H is true
:P(X): Prior probability of observing X
:P(C): Probability that you're using Bayesian statistics correctly

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Statistics]]

Talk:2059: Modified Bayes' Theorem

2018-10-16T13:03:58Z

TobyBartels: Removed paragraph that makes no sense.

Right now the layout is awful:
:"If <math>P(C)=1</math> the..."
:should look like this:
:"If ''P(C)=1'' the..."
But there is more wrong right now. Look at a typical Wikipedia article, the Math-extension should be used for formulas but not in the floating text. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 15 October 2018 (UTC)
: Credit for a good explanation though. It made perfect sense to me, even though I didn't understand it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.42|162.158.167.42]] 04:14, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

I removed this, because it makes no sense:

: As an equation, the rewritten form makes no sense. <math>P(H \mid X) = P(H)(1-P(C)) + P(H \mid X)P(C)</math> is strangely self-referential and reduces to the piecewise equation <math>\begin{cases}P(H \mid X) = P(H) & P(C) \neq 1 \\ 0 = 0 & P(C) = 1 \end{cases}</math>. However, the Modified Bayes Theorem includes an extra variable not listed in the conditioning, so a person with an AI background might understand that Randal was trying to write an expression for updating <math>P(H \mid X)</math> with knowledge of <math>C</math> i.e. <math>P(H \mid X,C)</math>, the belief in the hypothesis given the observation <math>X</math> and the confidence that you were applying Bayes' theorem correctly <math>C</math>, for which the expression <math>P(H \mid X,C) = P(H)(1-P(C)) + P(H \mid X)P(C)</math> makes some intuitive sense.

Between removing it and posting here, I think that I've figured out what it's saying. But it comes down to criticizing a mistake made in an earlier edit by the same editor, so I'll just fix that mistake instead.

—[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 13:03, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

2059: Modified Bayes' Theorem

2018-10-16T12:54:15Z

TobyBartels: Remove paragraph that makes no sense (preserved on Talk).

{{comic
| number = 2059
| date = October 15, 2018
| title = Modified Bayes' Theorem
| image = modified_bayes_theorem.png
| titletext = Don't forget to add another term for "probability that the Modified Bayes' Theorem is correct."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|When using the Math-syntax please also care for a proper layout. Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Bayes' Theorem}} is an equation in statistics that gives the probability of a given hypothesis accounting not only for a single experiment or observation but also for your existing knowledge about the hypothesis, i.e. its prior probability. Randall's modified form of the equation also purports to account for the probability that you are indeed applying Bayes' Theorem itself correctly by including that as a term in the equation.

Bayes' theorem is:

<math>P(H \mid X) = \frac{P(X \mid H) \, P(H)}{P(X)}</math>,
where
*<math>P(H \mid X)</math> is the probability that <math>H</math>, the hypothesis, is true given observation <math>X</math>. This is called the ''posterior probability''.
*<math>P(X \mid H)</math> is the probability that observation <math>X</math> will appear given the truth of hypothesis <math>H</math>. This term is often called the ''likelihood''.
*<math>P(H)</math> is the probability that hypothesis <math>H</math> is true before any observations. This is called the ''prior'', or ''belief''.
*<math>P(X)</math> is the probability of the observation <math>X</math> regardless of any hypothesis might have produced it. This term is called the ''marginal likelihood''.

The purpose of Bayesian inference is to discover something we want to know (how likely is it that our explanation is correct given the evidence we've seen) by mathematically expressing it in terms of things we can find out: how likely are our observations, how likely is our hypothesis ''a priori'', and how likely are we to see the observations we've seen assuming our hypothesis is true. A Bayesian learning system will iterate over available observations, each time using the likelihood of new observations to update its priors (beliefs) with the hope that, after seeing enough data points, the prior and posterior will converge to a single model.

If <math>P(C)=1</math> the modified theorem reverts to the original Bayes' theorem (which makes sense, as a probability one would mean certainty that you are using Bayes' theorem correctly).

If <math>P(C)=0</math> the modified theorem becomes <math>P(H \mid X) = P(H)</math>, which says that the belief in your hypothesis is not affected by the result of the observation (which makes sense because you're certain you're misapplying the theorem so the outcome of the calculation shouldn't affect your belief.)

This happens because, if you apply the original theorem, the modified theorem can be rewritten as: <math>P(H \mid X) = P(H)(1-P(C)) + P(H \mid X)P(C)</math>. This is the {{w|Linear interpolation|linear-interpolated}} weighted average of the belief you had before the calculation and the belief you would have if you applied the theorem correctly. This goes smoothly from the not believing your calculation at all, keeping the same belief as before if <math>P(C)=0</math> to changing your belief exactly as Bayes' theorem suggests when <math>P(C)=1</math>.

<math>1-P(C)</math> is the probability that you are using the theorem incorrectly.

The title text suggests that an additional term should be added for the probability that the Modified Bayes Theorem is correct. But that's *this* equation, so it would make the formula self-referential. It could also result in an infinite regress -- we'd need another term for the probability that the version with the probability added is correct, and another term for that version, and so on. It's also unclear what the point of using an equation we're not sure of is (although sometimes we can: {{w|Newton's Laws}} are not as correct as Einstein's {{w|Theory of Relativity}} but they're a reasonable approximation in most circumstances. Alternatively, ask any student taking a difficult exam with a formula sheet.).

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

:Modified Bayes' theorem:

:P(H|X) = P(H) × (1 + P(C) × ( P(X|H)/P(X) - 1 ))

:H: Hypothesis
:X: Observation
:P(H): Prior probability that H is true
:P(X): Prior probability of observing X
:P(C): Probability that you're using Bayesian statistics correctly

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Statistics]]

Miss Lenhart

2018-08-04T21:50:24Z

TobyBartels: remove spurious line break

{{Infobox character
| image = Miss_lenhart.png
| caption = Miss Lenhart from comic [[499: Scantron]], the first named appearance.
| first_appearance = [[135: Substitute]] (mentioned only)
}}

'''Miss Lenhart''' is the go-to character when [[Randall]] needs a teacher. She has white hair of shoulder length, and is thus a named version of [[Blondie]], like [[Rob]] is a named version of [[Cueball]]. She may or may not represent the same character from comic to comic.

==Characteristics==
Miss Lenhart has only been named two times where she actually appears. The first time she is both drawn and mentioned by name is in [[499: Scantron]], and the only other time (so far by comic 1731) is in [[1050: Forgot Algebra]]. But her name was used before for a not-shown teacher in [[135: Substitute]], which is why it makes sense to call the math teacher in [[263: Certainty]] Miss Lenhart. That would thus make it the first time she appeared as a character in a comic.

Her family name is again the only thing used in [[416: Zealous Autoconfig]], although there it does not directly say that she is a teacher. While school is mentioned, it is for her children. Thus the name is first connected directly to the blonde teacher in her fifth "appearance" after she was also drawn in [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]].

Later, her name is used again without her being present, except on the phone in [[704: Principle of Explosion]]. Here, she is Mrs. Lenhart. It is possible that this character is the mother of Miss Lenhart. Or, because she here obviously has a son, she may have been married after she was originally named Miss. This is the second time she has been mentioned to be a mother. Both Blondie and one of the other named Blondie-like characters [[Mrs. Roberts]] are shown to be mothers.

Her name is mentioned in total five times. So the other comics with Miss Lenhart refer to a teacher with her appearance, just like [[Megan]] only has been named a few times, but is still used to describe the general dark-haired woman. However, Miss Lenhart must have long blonde hair, so a teacher with her hair in a ponytail, like in [[982: Set Theory]], is not Miss Lenhart but [[Ponytail]], even though the teaching method reminds of the one in [[1724: Proofs]] with Miss Lenhart.

===Math teacher===
There are several cases where Miss Lenhart is described as a math teacher. Her name is used in this context in her first comic [[135: Substitute]], and she is both named and drawn in [[1050: Forgot Algebra]] as a math teacher. She is also teaching mathematics in [[263: Certainty]], [[622: Haiku Proof]], and [[1724: Proofs]].

She is also depicted teaching subjects not clearly mathematics, as in [[1519: Venus]], where she teaches bogus, or in [[803: Airfoil]], where it looks like a physics class.

But mainly it seems that she is teaching undergraduate classes. It is therefore not clear if any mathematician looking like Blondie is also a representation of Miss Lenhart. But if that were the case, these comics may also reference Miss Lenhart:
:[[435: Purity]]
:[[599: Apocalypse]].
But so far they have not been included, as Miss Lenhart as Blondie is not clearly depicted as a teacher (or with name) in these comics.

{{navbox-characters}}

2015: New Phone Thread

2018-07-05T12:46:17Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Another more natural original word, suggested by an anon in the comments.

{{comic
| number = 2015
| date = July 4, 2018
| title = New Phone Thread
| image = new_phone_thread.png
| titletext = I'm going to tell the manufacturer that their business practices are ADMIRABLE and ETHICAL and their developers are ATTRACTIVE and I'm going to report them to the FCC for their IMPECCABLE VIRTUE.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a YOU SHOULD DONATE TO EXPLAINXKCD - The transcript may be interesting, but as part of the explanation. In the transcript there should be no explanation but only the text and info about how it is written! Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows the posts on an online forum by a person whose new phone is apparently programmed to autocorrect every complaint about the phone to a plaudit, à la Orwell. The phone goes so far as to change a certain complaint to a scripted customer testimonial, complete with a hyperlink to an ordering site. This is of course a highly undesirable feature. This is continued in the title text, which presumably contains several unflattering epithets about the developers and the company. "It's taking the words I type and leaving them exactly the same" is not something one would normally say.

The original posts may have read something like this:

----

Whoa, weird

I'm looking at my timeline on my friends phone, and some of my posts look '''strange'''

What the hell?

I mean the words are '''wrong'''

That's '''not''' what I typed!'

?????????

I think this new phone is '''broken'''

No, it's doing it again

Those '''aren't''' my words!

Help!

How do I explain?

It's taking the words I type and '''changing them'''

Forget it, I give up

I'll '''just''' get a new phone. This one is '''broken'''.

What?!?

Listen, if you're thinking about buying the new Mobile Pro 3, '''better change your mind'''. It's the '''worst''' phone on the market '''and wastes your money. DON'T BUY IT!''' {or this entire paragraph may be an ad inserted by the phone with no prompting}

AAAAA HELPPP

I '''hate''' my new phone!!!!

I'm going to tell the manufacturer that their business practices are '''HORRIBLE''' and '''UNETHICAL''' and their developers are '''EVIL''' and I'm going to report them to the FCC for their '''UTTER CRIME'''.
----

The comic may have been inspired by a [https://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-messages-app-randomly-sending-pictures-some-users bug in Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note 8], discovered a few days earlier – the phone sometimes sent random photos to contacts without leaving any sort of evidence.

==Transcript==

:[A thread of posts by the same user is shown with a default user profile, and square and heart-shaped buttons.]

:Whoa, weird

:I'm looking at my timeline on my friends phone, and some of my posts look normal

:What the hell?

:I mean the words are correct

:That's exactly what I typed!

:?????????

:I think this new phone is working really well

:No, it's doing it again

:Those are my words!

:Help!

:How do I explain?

:It's taking the words I type and leaving them exactly the same

:Forget it, I give up

:I'll never get a new phone. This one is perfect.

:What?!?

:Listen, if you're thinking about buying the new Mobile Pro 3, you should. It's the best phone on the market at an incredible price. [ORDER NOW button]

:AAAAA HELPPP

:I love my new phone!!!!

{{comic discussion}}

2015: New Phone Thread

2018-07-05T12:41:02Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ A couple of the adjectives in the possible original title text seem unnatural; replacing with alternatives.

{{comic
| number = 2015
| date = July 4, 2018
| title = New Phone Thread
| image = new_phone_thread.png
| titletext = I'm going to tell the manufacturer that their business practices are ADMIRABLE and ETHICAL and their developers are ATTRACTIVE and I'm going to report them to the FCC for their IMPECCABLE VIRTUE.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a YOU SHOULD DONATE TO EXPLAINXKCD - The transcript may be interesting, but as part of the explanation. In the transcript there should be no explanation but only the text and info about how it is written! Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows the posts on an online forum by a person whose new phone is apparently programmed to autocorrect every complaint about the phone to a plaudit, à la Orwell. The phone goes so far as to change a certain complaint to a scripted customer testimonial, complete with a hyperlink to an ordering site. This is of course a highly undesirable feature. This is continued in the title text, which presumably contains several unflattering epithets about the developers and the company. "It's taking the words I type and leaving them exactly the same" is not something one would normally say.

The original posts may have read something like this:

----

Whoa, weird

I'm looking at my timeline on my friends phone, and some of my posts look '''strange'''

What the hell?

I mean the words are '''wrong'''

That's '''not''' what I typed!'

?????????

I think this new phone is '''broken'''

No, it's doing it again

Those '''aren't''' my words!

Help!

How do I explain?

It's taking the words I type and '''changing them'''

Forget it, I give up

I'll '''immediately''' get a new phone. This one is '''broken'''.

What?!?

Listen, if you're thinking about buying the new Mobile Pro 3, '''better change your mind'''. It's the '''worst''' phone on the market '''and wastes your money. DON'T BUY IT!''' {or this entire paragraph may be an ad inserted by the phone with no prompting}

AAAAA HELPPP

I '''hate''' my new phone!!!!

I'm going to tell the manufacturer that their business practices are '''HORRIBLE''' and '''UNETHICAL''' and their developers are '''EVIL''' and I'm going to report them to the FCC for their '''UTTER CRIME'''.
----

The comic may have been inspired by a [https://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-messages-app-randomly-sending-pictures-some-users bug in Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note 8], discovered a few days earlier – the phone sometimes sent random photos to contacts without leaving any sort of evidence.

==Transcript==

:[A thread of posts by the same user is shown with a default user profile, and square and heart-shaped buttons.]

:Whoa, weird

:I'm looking at my timeline on my friends phone, and some of my posts look normal

:What the hell?

:I mean the words are correct

:That's exactly what I typed!

:?????????

:I think this new phone is working really well

:No, it's doing it again

:Those are my words!

:Help!

:How do I explain?

:It's taking the words I type and leaving them exactly the same

:Forget it, I give up

:I'll never get a new phone. This one is perfect.

:What?!?

:Listen, if you're thinking about buying the new Mobile Pro 3, you should. It's the best phone on the market at an incredible price. [ORDER NOW button]

:AAAAA HELPPP

:I love my new phone!!!!

{{comic discussion}}

2015: New Phone Thread

2018-07-05T12:39:55Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Ad paragraph pnly once, still with both possibilities.

{{comic
| number = 2015
| date = July 4, 2018
| title = New Phone Thread
| image = new_phone_thread.png
| titletext = I'm going to tell the manufacturer that their business practices are ADMIRABLE and ETHICAL and their developers are ATTRACTIVE and I'm going to report them to the FCC for their IMPECCABLE VIRTUE.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a YOU SHOULD DONATE TO EXPLAINXKCD - The transcript may be interesting, but as part of the explanation. In the transcript there should be no explanation but only the text and info about how it is written! Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows the posts on an online forum by a person whose new phone is apparently programmed to autocorrect every complaint about the phone to a plaudit, à la Orwell. The phone goes so far as to change a certain complaint to a scripted customer testimonial, complete with a hyperlink to an ordering site. This is of course a highly undesirable feature. This is continued in the title text, which presumably contains several unflattering epithets about the developers and the company. "It's taking the words I type and leaving them exactly the same" is not something one would normally say.

The original posts may have read something like this:

----

Whoa, weird

I'm looking at my timeline on my friends phone, and some of my posts look '''strange'''

What the hell?

I mean the words are '''wrong'''

That's '''not''' what I typed!'

?????????

I think this new phone is '''broken'''

No, it's doing it again

Those '''aren't''' my words!

Help!

How do I explain?

It's taking the words I type and '''changing them'''

Forget it, I give up

I'll '''immediately''' get a new phone. This one is '''broken'''.

What?!?

Listen, if you're thinking about buying the new Mobile Pro 3, '''better change your mind'''. It's the '''worst''' phone on the market '''and wastes your money. DON'T BUY IT!''' {or this entire paragraph may be an ad inserted by the phone with no prompting}

AAAAA HELPPP

I '''hate''' my new phone!!!!

I'm going to tell the manufacturer that their business practices are '''INADMIRABLE''' and '''UNETHICAL''' and their developers are '''DOOMED''' and I'm going to report them to the FCC for their '''UTTER CRIME'''.
----

The comic may have been inspired by a [https://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-messages-app-randomly-sending-pictures-some-users bug in Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note 8], discovered a few days earlier – the phone sometimes sent random photos to contacts without leaving any sort of evidence.

==Transcript==

:[A thread of posts by the same user is shown with a default user profile, and square and heart-shaped buttons.]

:Whoa, weird

:I'm looking at my timeline on my friends phone, and some of my posts look normal

:What the hell?

:I mean the words are correct

:That's exactly what I typed!

:?????????

:I think this new phone is working really well

:No, it's doing it again

:Those are my words!

:Help!

:How do I explain?

:It's taking the words I type and leaving them exactly the same

:Forget it, I give up

:I'll never get a new phone. This one is perfect.

:What?!?

:Listen, if you're thinking about buying the new Mobile Pro 3, you should. It's the best phone on the market at an incredible price. [ORDER NOW button]

:AAAAA HELPPP

:I love my new phone!!!!

{{comic discussion}}

2009: Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

2018-06-21T04:50:22Z

TobyBartels: /* Table */ Commentary on France and Europa.

{{comic
| number = 2009
| date = June 20, 2018
| title = Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
| image = hertzsprung_russell_diagram.png
| titletext = The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is located in its own lower right corner, unless you're viewing it on an unusually big screen.
}}

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

The {{w|Hertzsprung–Russell diagram}} is a scatterplot showing absolute luminosities of stars against its effective temperature or color. It's generally used to understand a star's age.

The axes are labeled in {{w|Kelvin}} (degrees {{w|Celsius}} above {{w|absolute zero}}) for {{w|effective temperature}} and, in a unlike many Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams, {{w|Watts}} for {{w|luminosity}}. While most Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams are labelled in units of {{w|solar luminosity}} or {{w|absolute magnitude}}, all three are perfectly valid measures of {{w|luminosity}}, which refers to the total power emitted by the star (or other body). {{w|Effective temperature}} refers to temperature of a blackbody with the same surface area and luminosity. This is meant to provide an estimate of the surface temperature of the object.

Regular Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams cover ranges of about 1,000K to 30,000K, and what is labeled on this diagram as 1021 to 1033 watts—i.e. the upper-left corner. Extended diagrams increase the luminosity range only to include the "Brown Dwarfs". This diagram has been extended to much lower magnitudes on both axes. The joke comes from the absurdity of a diagram meant for stars including much smaller objects, such as planets ... and astronomers.

Though not included in the diagram, the title text notes that the screen displaying the diagram would probably be plotted somewhere in the lower right corner due to its (relatively) low brightness and heat output. Bigger screens have a higher power output (in terms of luminosity) and are thus positioned further towards the diagram's top corner. An "unusually big screen" would have to be something like a JumboTron for its luminosity to put it outside of the lower right corner.
==Table==

{| class="wikitable"
!Item
!Effective Temperature
!Luminosity
!Explanation
|-
|Betelgeuse
|3000 k
|1031 W
|
|-
|Vega
|10,000 K
|1027 W
|
|-
|Sun
|6000 K
|~1026 W
|
|-
|Proxima Centauri
|
|
|
|-
|HD 189733b
|
|
|
|-
|Interior of a hydrogen bomb during detonation
|~108 K
|
|
|-
|Jupiter
|
|
|
|-
|Venus
|
|
|It appears that this might have been misplaced on the temperature axis, being far too closely placed to France and to Earth. Infact Venus is at 735K where Earth has a mean of 287K.
|-
|Earth
|
|
|
|-
|Mars
|
|
|
|-
|Moon
|
|
|
|-
|Nuclear Fireball
|
|
|
|-
|France
|
|
|This is part of Earth (and more precisely a part of Europe), the same temperature as Earth, but less luminous in proportion to its surface area. Including this may be a joke referencing the two possible meanings of ‘Europa’ (see the next entry).
|-
|Europa
|
|
|While this term could refer to Europe (a part of Earth, of which France (the previous entry) is a further part), the temperature and luminosity are both too small for that, so it must refer to the moon of Jupiter instead.
|-
|Lightning Bolt
|
|
|
|-
|Ivanpah Solar Plant Salt Tank
|
|
|
|-
|Medium-sized Lava Lake
|
|
|
|-
|Cruise Ship
|
|
|
|-
|Campfire
|
|
|
|-
|Blue Whale
|
|
|
|-
|Arc Lamp
|
|
|
|-
|Lightbulb
|
|
|
|-
|LED Bulb
|
|
|
|-
|Astronomer
| 310K
|
| The body temperature of a human (astronomer or otherwise) is about 310K (37°C)
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A scatter plot is shown, with the x-axis labeled Effective Temperature (in degrees Kelvin, and the y-axis Luminosity (watts).]

{{comic discussion}}

2007: Brookhaven RHIC

2018-06-17T09:46:41Z

TobyBartels: Must be Suite D, since surrounded on either side by Ste C and Ste E.

{{comic
| number = 2007
| date = June 15, 2018
| title = Brookhaven RHIC
| image = brookhaven_rhic.png
| titletext = "Buddy, you trying to pull something? I can't buy this gold--all the electrons are missing. I could face serious charges!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Someone could probably calculate the revenue of this proposed project... And I think we need to mention a few other comics involving absurd research proposals. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider}} is a particle accelerator designed to collide gold ions together at incredibly high speeds. This is normally done to study particle physics - the high-energy collisions allow us to learn more about how subatomic particles behave.

[[Randall]] proposes that, instead of using the beam of gold ions for particle collisions, it should be diverted and sold at cash-for-gold stores to make money. He proposed damaging part of the circular particle accelerator to add a diverter, so he can direct the gold ion beam to the three stores. It is unclear, however, how he would manage to transport the gold to the stores, as once it leaves the circular particle accelerator, parts of the beam are not in an enclosed space, and would likely collide with something. It would also cause problems once it reached the stores.

The joke is that because they are traveling at relativistic speeds, the mass of the particles being sold will be much more than the mass of the ions being supplied to the collider's input. However, it would be very difficult to sell a beam of charged particles{{Citation needed}}, and the amount of gold involved is below microscopic scales. That, and the fact that he is trying to misuse the particle accelerator for his own profit, is the reason why Brookhaven rejected Randall's proposal. Also, the energy used by the particle accelerator would cost more than the revenue from selling the gold.

Randall has done many comics describing impractical research proposals in the past.

The title text imagines the owner of the stores complaining about the sale, not because of impracticality, but because Randall tries to sell gold ions with the entire positively-charged nucleus of the gold atom with all 79 electrons stripped from it instead of normal, electrically neutral gold atoms. This is also a pun on the word "charges", which could refer to {{w|electric charge}} or to {{w|criminal charge|criminal charges}}.

This is an actual map of the area around {{w|Brookhaven National Laboratory}}, with west at the top. The cash for gold stores depicted in the comic are, from left to right:

* New York Gold Center, 451 Glen Dr Ste D, Shirley NY 11967-1100
* Cash for Gold, 969 Montauk Hwy, Shirley NY 11967-2111
* Enrico's Jewelry Exchange, 442 William Floyd Pkwy, Shirley NY 11967-3454

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

:[A single panel contains a simplified overhead map view of the Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and some of the surrounding area. The map is rotated 90°; north is to the left. The collider is located on the left hand side of the image as a yellow beam (representing the Gold ions) outlined in black. Parts of the collider are are labeled and there are light gray arrows indicating the direction of travel for the ions. At the bottom of the main accelerator ring there is a diverter that splits the ion beam and directs it towards a set of three Cash for Gold stores, passing through a more diverters along the way. Each Cash for Gold store is represented with a yellow burst and is marked with a Google maps style "store" locator pin. The following labels are written on the map.]

:Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
:Gold Ion Source
:Accelerator Ring
:Diverter
:Gold Ion Beam

:[There are arrows coming from this label pointing at each store]
:Cash for Gold Stores

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Sadly, Brookhaven rejected my proposed experiment

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2007: Brookhaven RHIC

2018-06-17T09:38:25Z

TobyBartels: This is an actual map of the area around {{w|Brookhaven National Laboratory}}, with west at the top. Also zip codes and fix name of Glen Dr store (which need a suite letter).

{{comic
| number = 2007
| date = June 15, 2018
| title = Brookhaven RHIC
| image = brookhaven_rhic.png
| titletext = "Buddy, you trying to pull something? I can't buy this gold--all the electrons are missing. I could face serious charges!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Someone could probably calculate the revenue of this proposed project... And I think we need to mention a few other comics involving absurd research proposals. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider}} is a particle accelerator designed to collide gold ions together at incredibly high speeds. This is normally done to study particle physics - the high-energy collisions allow us to learn more about how subatomic particles behave.

[[Randall]] proposes that, instead of using the beam of gold ions for particle collisions, it should be diverted and sold at cash-for-gold stores to make money. He proposed damaging part of the circular particle accelerator to add a diverter, so he can direct the gold ion beam to the three stores. It is unclear, however, how he would manage to transport the gold to the stores, as once it leaves the circular particle accelerator, parts of the beam are not in an enclosed space, and would likely collide with something. It would also cause problems once it reached the stores.

The joke is that because they are traveling at relativistic speeds, the mass of the particles being sold will be much more than the mass of the ions being supplied to the collider's input. However, it would be very difficult to sell a beam of charged particles{{Citation needed}}, and the amount of gold involved is below microscopic scales. That, and the fact that he is trying to misuse the particle accelerator for his own profit, is the reason why Brookhaven rejected Randall's proposal. Also, the energy used by the particle accelerator would cost more than the revenue from selling the gold.

Randall has done many comics describing impractical research proposals in the past.

The title text imagines the owner of the stores complaining about the sale, not because of impracticality, but because Randall tries to sell gold ions with the entire positively-charged nucleus of the gold atom with all 79 electrons stripped from it instead of normal, electrically neutral gold atoms. This is also a pun on the word "charges", which could refer to {{w|electric charge}} or to {{w|criminal charge|criminal charges}}.

This is an actual map of the area around {{w|Brookhaven National Laboratory}}, with west at the top. The cash for gold stores depicted in the comic are, from left to right:

* New York Gold Center, 451 Glen Dr (Ste ?), Shirley NY 11967-1100
* Cash for Gold, 969 Montauk Hwy, Shirley NY 11967-2111
* Enrico's Jewelry Exchange, 442 William Floyd Pkwy, Shirley NY 11967-3454

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

:[A single panel contains a simplified overhead map view of the Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and some of the surrounding area. The map is rotated 90°; north is to the left. The collider is located on the left hand side of the image as a yellow beam (representing the Gold ions) outlined in black. Parts of the collider are are labeled and there are light gray arrows indicating the direction of travel for the ions. At the bottom of the main accelerator ring there is a diverter that splits the ion beam and directs it towards a set of three Cash for Gold stores, passing through a more diverters along the way. Each Cash for Gold store is represented with a yellow burst and is marked with a Google maps style "store" locator pin. The following labels are written on the map.]

:Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
:Gold Ion Source
:Accelerator Ring
:Diverter
:Gold Ion Beam

:[There are arrows coming from this label pointing at each store]
:Cash for Gold Stores

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Sadly, Brookhaven rejected my proposed experiment

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:2003: Presidential Succession

2018-06-06T20:56:48Z

TobyBartels: All of this talk about ''where'' people were born is very misleading. The general opinion is that you have to have been a citizen from birth, not born in the U.S. (or a U.S. territory or whatever).

Aw, but what about Morgan Freeman? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.11|108.162.221.11]] 04:43, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
:And Kiefer -designated survivor- Sutherland?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.83|141.101.104.83]] 08:24, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
:Morgan Freeman> "I do solemnly swear / that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States..." [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 12:39, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Academy awards have been won by actors playing kings / queens - of England, the United Kingdom and Siam - Princes - of Denmark - and Prime Ministers of Great Britain and even the President of the Uniter States / Member of the house of Representatives, but I do not believe it has been won by an actor playing a state govenor. Mind you it is not clear if an actor playing a prison govenor, would count. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 11:30, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
: Broderick Crawford, actually. I've added him. To the best of my ability to determine, the opposite group (Governors Award recipients who have played characters named Oscar) appears to be an empty set. I'll note that I don't have a really comprehensive filmography for {{w|Jean-Claude Carrière}}, but I consider it fairly unlikely that he ever played a character by that name. [[User:Squeamish Ossifrage|Squeamish Ossifrage]] ([[User talk:Squeamish Ossifrage|talk]]) 16:08, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Bill Pullman's eldest daughter Maesa is a film composer with an IMDB page in her own right. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 11:30, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Top 5 US astronauts? I only count three. Who are the other two? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.76|172.68.150.76]] 12:15, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

As of September 3, 2017, the 5 US astronauts with the most total time in space are Peggy Whitson (665 days), Jeff Williams (534), Scott Kelly (520), Mike Fincke (382), and Mike Foale (374), according to https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders. Michael Lopez-Alegria has the second-most time in space for a single spaceflight (215 days, compared to Scott Kelly, 340). [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 12:59, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Mike Foale was born in Louth - so ineligible. Michael Lopez-Alegria was born in Spain ditto [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 15:26, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

The non-US-citizen-being-in-line-for-the-Presidency thing has already been cleared up IRL - several Presidential cabinets have had non-natural-born-US citizens on them (current Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao was born in Taiwan; in the past Madeline Albright was born in the then-Czechoslovakia). All the serious succession lists I've ever seen just list them and skip over them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.51|162.158.62.51]] 13:19, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

How do we decide who gets a bye in the jousting tournament? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.147|162.158.74.147]] 13:30, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
:Random draw, probably. There's no jousting rankings AFAIK to enable any kind of seeding like in tennis. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.51|162.158.62.51]] 15:16, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Anyone with a jousting ranking would not need a bye. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 15:26, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Anyone else think it's interesting that Kate gets a "if available" but Tom Hanks doesn't? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.184|172.69.62.184]] 16:23, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

I assume, but am too lazy to do all the maths, that the person born closest to Europa would be the one closest in time to the point Sun Earth and Jupiter are in line.
I found a table of opposition distances here: http://www.ianridpath.com/jupiter.htm
[[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 18:26, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

All of this talk about ''where'' people were born is very misleading. The general opinion is that you have to have been a citizen from birth, not born in the U.S. (or a U.S. territory or whatever). Ted Cruz was born in Canada, but he would have been eligible had he won the nomination and the election. See http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/mar/26/ted-cruz-born-canada-eligible-run-president-update/ for discussion. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:56, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

2003: Presidential Succession

2018-06-06T20:42:21Z

TobyBartels: More on the commission's recommendation, and some more minor changes.

{{comic
| number = 2003
| date = June 6, 2018
| title = Presidential Succession
| image = presidential_succession.png
| titletext = Ties are broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born.
}}

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

The {{w|United States presidential line of succession}} is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office.

The {{w|Presidential_Succession_Act#Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947|Presidential Succession Act of 1947}} was an act by the U.S. Congress that revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, it is unclear whether members of Congress can be designated in the line of succession. Secondly, the act allows for a cabinet officer to be "replaced" as acting President by a new Speaker of the House or a new President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

An additional concern regarding the Act is that after the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the line of succession list the members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established with the oldest departments first, irrespective of the Secretary's personal fitness or appropriateness of the office. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003) the Secretary of Homeland Security is all the way at the bottom of the current Presidential line of succession at 18th, behind other Secretaries such as that of Agriculture (9th) and Education (16th).

The full text of the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission can be found here: <https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_continuity_of_government.pdf>. A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is here: <https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-continuity-of-the-presidency-the-second-report-of-the-continuity-of-government-commission/>. The first 6 members of the commission's list are included in the current line of succession, after which they specificy that 5 new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of succeeding the presidency if needed. Randall's list begins with these 11 people (stuffing all 5 of the new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list continues with more politicians, actors who have played Presidents, athletes, and others.

Randall's list omits the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, as well as many other cabinet positions. He is probably simply following the commission's report in this. But perhaps he does not find those people qualified to become President of the United States, or is concerned about the constitutionality of lawmakers becoming President. However, he does not seem to be concerned about constitutionality, because he included the entire line of succession to the British throne, most of whom are do not meet the requirement to be a natural-born citizen of the United States.{{Citation needed}}

Randall's list includes several other people who also might not be eligible to become President either because they are not natural-born U.S. citizens (e.g., as of the time of the comic's publication, {{w|Serena Williams}} had withdrawn from her last match in the {{w|French Open}} to {{w|Maria Sharapova}}, who is Russian) or they are under 35 years of age ({{w|Russell Westbrook}}, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player at the time of the comic's publication, was only 29 years old). These would mainly be athletes due to the relatively global reach of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and the fact that 35 is quite old for a professional athlete, let alone one who is good enough to win the league MVP. Presumably, those who wouldn't qualify for the office of President would be skipped over like in real life -- at the comic's publication, {{w|Elaine Chao}} was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.

This is another comic in the continuing line of comics about American politics, especially after the election of Donald Trump as President in 2016.

==Order of succession==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!#
!Randall's order
!Current order by the 1947 Act
!Notes
|-
|1
|President
|President
|Not generally considered part of the line of succession, as incumbents cannot "succeed" to their own post. (This should really be item 0 on the list.)
|-
|2
|Vice president
|Vice president
|No change
|-
|3
|Secretary of State
|Speaker of the House of Representatives
|Moved up from 5th position. This is likely a serious suggestion. Existing rules of succession hand Executive power to the leaders of the Legislative branch if the President and Vice-President are both killed or removed from power. This is troubling for a number of reasons. One is that the Executive and Legislative branches are supposed to act as independent checks on one another's power, and so are supposed to be kept separate. Another issue is that the Executive and Legislative branches are frequently controlled by political rivals from different political parties. In such a case, assassins could effectively reverse the results of Presidential elections if they managed to kill the President and Vice-President in a short period of time (which is used as part of the twist ending in {{w|White House Down}}). Additionally, leaders of the House and Senate aren't as deeply connected to the military and diplomatic missions of the country, and so would have a hard time maintaining continuity, particularly if an attack or disaster killed multiple national leaders at once. These problems could all be addressed by keeping the initial Line of Succession confined to the Executive branch of government.
|-
|4
|Secretary of Defense
|President pro tempore of the Senate
|Moved up from 7th position
|-
|5
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|Secretary of State
|Moved up from 19th position, possibly to highlight the Attorney General's place in the current order
|-
|6
|Attorney General
|Secretary of the Treasury
|Moved up from 8th position
|-
|7
|Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate
|Secretary of Defense
|{{w|Washington, D.C.}} is the capital of the United States, and is where the {{w|White House}}, the President's residence, is located. Presumably this provision covers the case where much of the government, including positions 1–6 here, are killed by a natural disaster or attack in Washington, D.C.

This suggestion establishes no qualifications for these people, but the fact that they'd need to be confirmed by the Senate suggests that they would be chosen to be competent for the role. It is also unclear if an order is determined among these 5 or if they take up a joint presidency. This suggestion is taken from the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission as a potential mechanism to ensure members of succession are not in Washington DC during a catastrophic attack.
|-
|8
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Attorney General
|Academy Award-winning American actor. This is the first unambiguously unserious suggestion.{{Citation needed}} Tom Hanks is very popular and considered exceptionally likeable by many Americans, but has never served in public office or displayed any particular affinity for politics. The implication is that Mr. Hanks would be easily accepted as a leader, based solely on his personal charm.
|-
|9
|State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
|Secretary of the Interior
|Also taken from Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission. At the time of publication, the last {{w|United States Census}} was the 2010 Census. As California is the most populous state, Gov {{w|Jerry Brown}} would be first in line.

See also the {{w|2010_United_States_Census#State_rankings|state population rankings}} and the {{w|list of current United States governors}}. As worded, this criterion would exclude territorial governors (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.).
|-
|10
|Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
|Secretary of Agriculture
|Oscars, or {{w|Academy Awards}}, are annual film awards awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of publication, the only Oscar awarded for playing a governor was {{w|Broderick Crawford}}'s 1949 Best Actor award for the fictional Willie Stark in ''{{w|All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men}}'' (a character based on {{w|Huey Long}}). However, Crawford died in 1986, so would be unable to serve as President.

May be a reference to the {{w|Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger}}: a highly-lauded actor who became governor of California, but did not win an Oscar or play a governor before being elected. (As a naturalized citizen, he is also ineligible for the Presidency.)
|-
|11
|Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
|Secretary of Commerce
|The {{w|Governors Awards}} are an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to present lifetime achievement awards within the film industry. As this award is a lifetime achievement award, it does not seem possible that an actor could win this award for simply playing someone named Oscar. Notwithstanding the nature of the award, at the time of publication, no recipient of a Governors Award has played a character named Oscar.

Obviously, the joke is that changing the order of the words from the previous proposal produces something that could actually exist.
|-
|12
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}, if available
|Secretary of Labor
|Comedic actress famous for being a cast member on {{w|Saturday Night Live}}. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She has recently done impersonations of members of the Trump administration including Spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. She also played Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign and presumably would have played her when she was President had she won; but since Clinton lost, McKinnon has not actually played a President.
|-
|13
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
|Secretary of Health and Human Services
|The {{w|Billboard Hot 100}} is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. The weekly data is aggregated into a cumulative {{w|Billboard Year-End}} (based on a "year" that ends the third week of November, in order to meet December publication deadlines). At the time of publication, the most recent such list was the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017}}.

Based on that list, the artists considered for the presidential succession would be: {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Luis Fonsi}}, {{w|Bruno Mars}}, {{w|Kendrick Lamar}}, Alex Pall (of {{w|The Chainsmokers}}), {{w|Quavo|Quavoius Keyate Marshall}} (of {{w|Migos}}), {{w|Sam Hunt}}, {{w|Dan Reynolds}} (of {{w|Imagine Dragons}}, and {{w|Post Malone}}. There are only nine names instead of ten because The Chainsmokers had two of the top 10 singles in 2017. Of these, only Luis Fonsi (40 years old, and born in Puerto Rico) is legally eligible for the office; Sheeran was born in the UK, and the other seven are too young.
|-
|14
|The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
|Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
|Astronauts are highly respected and rigorously selected, but most have little involvement in politics. According to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders NASA], the top 5 US astronauts by cumulative space time are: {{w|Peggy Whitson}}, {{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}, {{W|Scott Kelly (astronaut)|Scott Kelly}}, {{w|Mike Fincke}}, and {{w|Mike Foale}}. However, Foale is British-born and would not be eligible for the position.
|-
|15
|{{w|Serena Williams}} (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
|Secretary of Transportation
|As of the time of publication, Serena Williams was the top female tennis player (though not the world #1 ranking, because she took time off for pregnancy). She is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all-time, winning 39 {{w|Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam}} titles, including 23 women's singles titles. At the time of publication Serena Williams did win her most recent match (third round French Open 2018 on June 2nd), although she withdrew from her next match against Maria Sharapova (which perhaps should count as a loss, especially if she withdrew in order to preserve her place in the line of succession and led the terrorist attack that killed everybody in place ahead of her).

If her most recent defeat was to a non-US player, it is unclear whether that person would still qualify for President (the current succession list skips over anyone who would not normally qualify for not being a natural-born US citizen).
|-
|16
|The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
|Secretary of Energy
|MVP stands for {{w|Most Valuable Player}}. The 4 listed leagues are the major sports leagues in the United States, the {{w|National Basketball Association}} (NBA), the {{w|National Football League}} (NFL), {{w|Major League Baseball}} (MLB), and the {{w|National Hockey League}} (NHL).

As of the time of publication, the most recent MVPs for the listed sports are {{w|Russell Westbrook}} (NBA), {{w|Tom Brady}} (NFL), {{w|José Altuve}} and {{w|Giancarlo Stanton}} (MLB has two, one for the American League and one for the National League), and {{w|Connor McDavid}} (NHL). Of these, only Brady would qualify for the list - Altuve and McDavid are not US citizens (the former is from Venezuela and the latter from Canada), and Westbrook (29) and Stanton (28) are too young.
|-
|17
|{{w|Bill Pullman}} and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
|Secretary of Education
|American actor, known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1996 film ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}''.

Absolute primogeniture is a form of succession where the oldest direct descendant regardless of gender receives the title. This is contrasted to {{w|Male-preference primogeniture}}, in which males come before females in the order of the throne, whether the males were born first or not. This may be a reference to the British law {{w|Succession to the Crown Act 2013}}, which changed the order of the throne from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This act allows {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Princess Charlotte}} to retain her place in line before {{w|Prince Louis of Cambridge|Prince Louis}}.

As of the present, Pullman's immediate descendants consist of three children, with Maesa Pullman being the oldest at age 29, so all are currently too young for the presidency.
|-
|18
|The entire line of succession to the British throne
|Secretary of Veterans Affairs
|According to the Constitution, only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President, which means that at least most of the line of succession to the British throne is ineligible. However, it is possible that someone in the line of succession to the British throne either is a dual citizen (especially one who is a U.S. citizen based on place of birth and a British citizen based on having a parent who was a British citizen descended from Sofia of Hanover) or is not British (a person from outside of Britain can become King; for example, some, including George the First, were from what is now Germany).

The first 57 names on the list are {{w|Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession|here}}, as of the time of publication. [https://lineofsuccession.co.uk/?date=2018-06-06 British Line of Succession on 6 June 2018] shows the list as it was at the comic's publication. American citizens [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-11/news/vw-42233_1_royal-house have, at times] been on the list, but no natural-born Americans are currently in the top 100. In theory, however, the full British succession list includes several thousand people (living descendants of {{w|Sophia of Hanover}} who are not Roman Catholic or otherwise disqualified), and it is possible that one or more such people would also be eligible to be President of the United States.

The humor here derives from the fact that the United States was established by declaring independence from the United Kingdom, with rejection of the British monarchy being a basic founding principle, and a core principle of US governance. To appoint the British monarchy to the American presidency would contradict the basic goals of American independence. Alternatively, it may reference the recent wedding of {{w|Prince Harry}} to {{w|Meghan Markle}}, although she is not in the order of succession to the British throne (and she is planning to give up her U.S. citizenship in favour of British citizenship, so her children (who would come immediately after Harry in the British line of succession) would not be born U.S. citizens either). A similar sequence of events was the plotline of the comedy film ''{{w|King Ralph}}, which saw an American become the British monarch after the death of the royal family.
|-
|19
|The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|The {{w|Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest}} is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition sponsored by {{w|Nathan's Famous}} held on July 4th. As of the time of publication, the most recent men's winner is {{w|Joey Chestnut}} and the women's winner is {{w|Miki Sudo}}. Neither is currently old enough to assume the office.
|-
|20
|All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament
|''None''
|Effective for a population up to 536,870,912 individuals (2^29) which would be enough to cover the entire US population (estimated at around 325 million at time of publication), although additional rounds can be added should the population grow further.

This is probably a reference to the Matter of Britain (e.g., {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)}}), where, after the death of Uther Pendragon, with no known successor to the throne of England for years, it is decided that the winner of a jousting tournament shall be crowned. However, Arthur, the Wart, pulls the Sword from the Stone.
|}

The title text mentions whoever was closest to the surface of {{w|Europa}} when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter, so most people would be very far from its surface when they were born. However, depending on the relative positions of Earth and Jupiter when you were born, you could easily have been tens of millions of kilometers closer. Alternatively, Randall could be playing on how Europa sounds like Europe.

===List of specific individuals===
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, as of the date the comic was published:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Order
!Name
!Reason
!Notes
|-
|1
|{{w|Donald Trump}}
|{{w|President of the United States}}
|
|-
|2
|{{w|Mike Pence}}
|{{w|Vice President of the United States}}
|
|-
|3
|{{w|Mike Pompeo}}
|{{w|United States Secretary of State}}
|
|-
|4
|{{w|Jim Mattis}}
|{{w|United States Secretary of Defense}}
|
|-
|5
|{{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}}
|{{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}}
|
|-
|6
|{{w|Jeff Sessions}}
|{{w|United States Attorney General}}
|
|-
|7
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Tom Hanks
|As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Sessions.
|-
|8
|{{w|Jerry Brown}}
|Governor of California
|
|-
|9
|{{w|Greg Abbott}}
|Governor of Texas
|
|-
|10
|{{w|Andrew Cuomo}}
|Governor of New York
|
|-
|11
|{{w|Rick Scott}}
|Governor of Florida
|
|-
|12
|{{w|Bruce Rauner}}
|Governor of Illinois
|
|-
|13
|{{w|Tom Wolf}}
|Governor of Pennsylvania
|
|-
|14
|{{w|John Kasich}}
|Governor of Ohio
|
|-
|15
|{{w|Rick Snyder}}
|Governor of Michigan
|
|-
|16
|{{w|Nathan Deal}}
|Governor of Georgia
|
|-
|17
|{{w|Roy Cooper}}
|Governor of North Carolina
|
|-
|18
|{{w|Phil Murphy}}
|Governor of New Jersey
|
|-
|19
|{{w|Ralph Northam}}
|Governor of Virginia
|
|-
|20
|{{w|Jay Inslee}}
|Governor of Washington
|
|-
|21
|{{w|Charlie Baker}}
|Governor of Massachusetts
|
|-
|22
|{{w|Eric Holcomb}}
|Governor of Indiana
|
|-
|23
|{{w|Doug Ducey}}
|Governor of Arizona
|
|-
|24
|{{w|Bill Haslam}}
|Governor of Tennessee
|
|-
|25
|{{w|Mike Parson}}
|Governor of Missouri
|
|-
|26
|{{w|Larry Hogan}}
|Governor of Maryland
|
|-
|27
|{{w|Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker}}
|Governor of Wisconsin
|
|-
|28
|{{w|Mark Dayton}}
|Governor of Minnesota
|
|-
|29
|{{w|John Hickenlooper}}
|Governor of Colorado
|
|-
|30
|{{w|Kay Ivey}}
|Governor of Alabama
|
|-
|31
|{{w|Henry McMaster}}
|Governor of South Carolina
|
|-
|32
|{{w|John Bel Edwards}}
|Governor of Louisiana
|
|-
|33
|{{w|Matt Bevin}}
|Governor of Kentucky
|
|-
|34
|{{w|Mary Fallin}}
|Governor of Oklahoma
|The governor of Oregon would normally fall between Kentucky and Oklahoma. However, {{w|Kate Brown}} was born in Spain and so is not eligible.
|-
|35
|{{w|Dannel Malloy}}
|Governor of Connecticut
|
|-
|36
|{{w|Kim Reynolds}}
|Governor of Iowa
|
|-
|37
|{{w|Phil Bryant}}
|Governor of Mississippi
|
|-
|38
|{{w|Asa Hutchinson}}
|Governor of Arkansas
|
|-
|39
|{{w|Jeff Colyer}}
|Governor of Kansas
|
|-
|40
|{{w|Gary Herbert}}
|Governor of Utah
|
|-
|41
|{{w|Brian Sandoval}}
|Governor of Nevada
|
|-
|42
|{{w|Susana Martinez}}
|Governor of New Mexico
|
|-
|43
|{{w|Jim Justice}}
|Governor of West Virginia
|
|-
|44
|{{w|Pete Ricketts}}
|Governor of Nebraska
|
|-
|45
|{{w|Butch Otter}}
|Governor of Idaho
|
|-
|46
|{{w|David Ige}}
|Governor of Hawaii
|
|-
|47
|{{w|Paul LePage}}
|Governor of Maine
|
|-
|48
|{{w|Chris Sununu}}
|Governor of New Hampshire
|
|-
|49
|{{w|Gina Raimondo}}
|Governor of Rhode Island
|
|-
|50
|{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}}
|Governor of Montana
|
|-
|51
|{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}}
|Governor of Delaware
|
|-
|52
|{{w|Dennis Daugaard}}
|Governor of South Dakota
|
|-
|53
|{{w|Bill Walker (U.S. politician)|Bill Walker}}
|Governor of Alaska
|
|-
|54
|{{w|Doug Burgum}}
|Governor of North Dakota
|
|-
|55
|{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}}
|Governor of Vermont
|
|-
|56
|{{w|Matt Mead}}
|Governor of Wyoming
|
|-
|57
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}
|Kate MicKinnon
|If she is available. Entries #10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible members.
|
|-
|58
|{{w|Luis Fonsi}}
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017, #2 artist
|Fonsi is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion.
|-
|59
|{{w|Peggy Whitson}}
|Astronaut, 665 days in space
|
|-
|60
|{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}
|Astronaut, 534 days in space
|
|-
|61
|{{w|Scott Kelly}}
|Astronaut, 520 days in space
|
|-
|62
|{{w|Mike Fincke}}
|Astronaut, 382 days in space
|
|-
|63
|{{w|Serena Williams}}
|Serena Williams
|The fifth astronaut is not American-born. Serena's place on this list assumes that you do not count her withdrawal against Maria Sharapova as a ''loss''; if that counts as a loss, then subsequent entries move up one position (as Sharapova is ineligible).
|-
|64
|{{w|Tom Brady}}
|{{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}
|The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office.
|-
|65
|{{w|Bill Pullman}}
|Bill Pullman
|None of his children are old enough to become President at this time.
|-
|66
|''TBD''
|Jousting tournament
|Assuming that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions are too young to hold the office.
|}

==Transcript==
: A proposal for a new presidential line of succession
: Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well.
: (For more, see the surprisingly gripping ''Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission'', June 2009.)
: Proposed line of succession:
:# President
:# Vice president
:# Secretary of State
:# Secretary of Defense
:# Secretary of Homeland Security
:# Attorney General
:# Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate
:# Tom Hanks
:# State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
:# Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
:# Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
:# Kate McKinnon, if available
:# Billboard year-end hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
:# The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
:# Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
:# The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
:# Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
:# The entire line of succession to the British throne
:# The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
:# All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Politics]]

1990: Driving Cars

2018-05-08T19:36:50Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Maybe this is nitpicking language use, but a crash isn't NECESSARILY an accident. Also ‘car crash’ is pithier than ‘car accident’ (although I retained ‘automotive accident’ below).

{{comic
| number = 1990
| date = May 7, 2018
| title = Driving Cars
| image = driving_cars.png
| titletext = It's probably just me. If driving were as dangerous as it seems, hundreds of people would be dying every day!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More examples of similar/related comics needed- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about how dangerous cars are. [[Cueball]] observes that it is a giant machine, and that he is able to drive it simply because he once took a brief driving test. Note that the length and complexity of a driving test varies greatly per country. 20 minutes would be fairly normal for the USA, but much shorter than what is required on most other Western countries. This is similar to other comics, such as [[1075: Warning]] and [[722: Computer Problems]], where Randall comments on how some of our routine, everyday tasks are quite unusual when viewed from a reductionist perspective.

The joke is that driving ''is'' in fact one of the top five most common causes of death, yet many (most?) people do not think of driving as an especially "scary" activity.

This subject has been covered in the many [[:Category:Self-driving cars|comics about Self-driving cars]]. Although this comic is not directly about such cars, the reference to Cueball steering with his hands could be seen as being in contrast with letting a computer drive (which is [http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/21/technology/self-driving-car-safety/index.html much safer]).

The rest of the joke is in the title text, "It's probably just me. If driving were as dangerous as it seems, hundreds of people would be dying every day!" This could be considered sarcasm, because many people ([http://asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics over 3,000 per day] world-wide, about 100 per day in the USA) do in fact die in car crashes. These statistics indicate that driving ''is'' as dangerous as Cueball thinks it seems; it is not just him perceiving it that way.

In most regions of the US, automotive accidents are the leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 35.

Furthermore, an unknown and difficult to estimate number of people die prematurely as a consequence of pollution caused by cars. Many people would, however, argue that this human sacrifice is acceptable in view of the real and perceived advantages of being able to drive giant machines from A to B; people who do not drive but are nonetheless forced to share the consequences of automotive pollution may disagree.

A faded Cueball is visible overlapping and to the left of Cueball in the comic picture. This may be a previous draft that Randall drew on top of.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands in front of a car holding his hands together in front of him.]
:Cueball: Time to accelerate this giant machine up to terrifying speeds and steer it using my hands, which I am allowed to do because I took a 20-minute test in high school!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Driving freaks me out.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1990: Driving Cars

2018-05-08T19:34:44Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ It's not simply above, it's also below, and overall to the left.

{{comic
| number = 1990
| date = May 7, 2018
| title = Driving Cars
| image = driving_cars.png
| titletext = It's probably just me. If driving were as dangerous as it seems, hundreds of people would be dying every day!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More examples of similar/related comics needed- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about how dangerous cars are. [[Cueball]] observes that it is a giant machine, and that he is able to drive it simply because he once took a brief driving test. Note that the length and complexity of a driving test varies greatly per country. 20 minutes would be fairly normal for the USA, but much shorter than what is required on most other Western countries. This is similar to other comics, such as [[1075: Warning]] and [[722: Computer Problems]], where Randall comments on how some of our routine, everyday tasks are quite unusual when viewed from a reductionist perspective.

The joke is that driving ''is'' in fact one of the top five most common causes of death, yet many (most?) people do not think of driving as an especially "scary" activity.

This subject has been covered in the many [[:Category:Self-driving cars|comics about Self-driving cars]]. Although this comic is not directly about such cars, the reference to Cueball steering with his hands could be seen as being in contrast with letting a computer drive (which is [http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/21/technology/self-driving-car-safety/index.html much safer]).

The rest of the joke is in the title text, "It's probably just me. If driving were as dangerous as it seems, hundreds of people would be dying every day!" This could be considered sarcasm, because many people ([http://asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics over 3,000 per day] world-wide, about 100 per day in the USA) do in fact die in car accidents. These statistics indicate that driving ''is'' as dangerous as Cueball thinks it seems; it is not just him perceiving it that way.

In most regions of the US, automotive accidents are the leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 35.

Furthermore, an unknown and difficult to estimate number of people die prematurely as a consequence of pollution caused by cars. Many people would, however, argue that this human sacrifice is acceptable in view of the real and perceived advantages of being able to drive giant machines from A to B; people who do not drive but are nonetheless forced to share the consequences of automotive pollution may disagree.

A faded Cueball is visible overlapping and to the left of Cueball in the comic picture. This may be a previous draft that Randall drew on top of.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands in front of a car holding his hands together in front of him.]
:Cueball: Time to accelerate this giant machine up to terrifying speeds and steer it using my hands, which I am allowed to do because I took a 20-minute test in high school!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Driving freaks me out.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1988: Containers

2018-05-03T10:38:50Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ hopefully the one that it does well

{{comic
| number = 1988
| date = May 2, 2018
| title = Containers
| image = containers.png
| titletext = All services are microservices if you ignore most of their features.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOME GLUED TOGETHER SERVERS and updated by a DOCKER AFICIONADO. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Docker (software)|Docker}} is a computer program that performs operating-system-level virtualization also known as containerization. It is developed by Docker, Inc.

White Hat was complaining about how everyone was using Docker. With the implied statement that he did not understand what all the fuss was about.

Cueball explains the fundamental idea behind Docker. He complains about how difficult it can be to combine two programs and having them work together as one. This is something all programmers can relate to. His specific example is to get two separate programs to display side by side on a tablet.

The main joke is that Cueball's solution is a surprising twist to solving the problem. Instead of writing a lot of complicated code, he sidesteps the problem elegantly by using two separate devices and literally gluing them together.

Another joke is that he uses literal glue and literally purchases two separate computers. Docker uses the same general idea but the "glue" and the "multiple computers" are done in software.

Cueball states that he has achieved enlightenment when he solved the problem by sidestepping it.

White hat at first does not seem to understand the enlightenment since Cueball did not actually learn anything about the programs he was working on. When White hat after a pause says "Ok, fair" this suggests that White hat has now understood what Cueball means. A good programmer doesn't necessarily need to be able to write programs or even understand how they work, provided that he has the skills needed to combine existing programs to solve his tasks.

The title text makes a joke about developers writing code for use in a Docker environment. The ideal is to only write "microservices" which are modules that do just one thing and does that well. The joke here is that even when a module does many different things, you can pretend it is a "microservice" by just ignoring all its features but one (hopefully the one that it does well).

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is sitting at a laptop. Cueball is standing behind him.]
:White Hat: Man, Docker is being used for everything.
:White Hat: I don't know how I feel about it.
:Cueball: Story time!

:[Cueball is standing by himself.]
:Cueball: Once, long ago, I wanted to use an old tablet as a wall display.

:[A picture of Cueball's imagined tablet with two applications open side by side. The app on the left is "LiveCam".]
:Cueball: I had an app and a calendar webpage that I wanted to show side by side, but the OS didn't have split-screen support.
:Cueball: So I decided to build my own app.

:[White Hat and Cueball as before, but White Hat has turned to face Cueball.]
:Cueball: I downloaded the SDK and the IDE, registered as a developer, and started reading the language's docs.

:[A picture of two smartphones glued together side by side, held on a backing board. The same two applications shown earlier are open on different phones.]
:Cueball: ...Then I realized it would be '''way''' easier to get two smaller phones on eBay and glue them together.
:Cueball: On that day, I achieved software enlightenment.

:[White Hat and Cueball still facing each other, with White Hat's arm resting on the back of the chair.]
:White Hat: But you never learned to write software.
:Cueball: No, I just learned how to glue together stuff that I don't understand.
:White Hat: I...OK, fair.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:1985: Meteorologist

2018-04-25T20:52:17Z

TobyBartels: Explaining the process

I’ve wondered about this (from both the math and software development perspectives anyway, not the linguist), so I look forward to seeing some actual answers as the explanation gets filled in :) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 16:36, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
: The weather service has a [https://www.weather.gov/ffc/pop nice explanation] of this. After reading it you come away understanding that the percentage chance is... still almost impossible to discern :) {{unsigned ip|172.68.189.205}}

I really liked this one. I don't know why though. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 17:35, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

: Yep - all three of the 'experts' express problems that I have with every single weather forecast. It gets worse though. Our local TV station uses a rotating 3D graphic of downtown Austin where the shadows of the buildings flicker violently as it rotates - they've been doing this for YEARS. I'm a 3D computer graphics professional and I know PRECISELY why that is happening (they are rendering the back-faces of the building polygons in the shadow rendering pass instead of the front-faces...trust me on this one!)...I could fix the bug with ONE LINE OF CODE - and I bet I could find and fix it within 20 minutes if left alone with the source code. But when I call them and BEG to be allowed t...'''SECURITY!!!''' [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 17:36, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

; Randall
: wonders about something and puts it in an xkcd comic.
; Explainxkcd participants
: answer Randall's questions for him (and all of his readers).
—[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:52, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

1972: Autogyros

2018-03-27T18:13:25Z

TobyBartels: /* Transcript */ You need to say how many sentences are in each section for the transcript, because you can't assume that people can see it.

{{comic
| number = 1972
| date = March 26, 2018
| title = Autogyros
| image = autogyros.png
| titletext = I understand modern autogyros are much more stable, so I've probably angered the autogyro people by impugning their safety. Once they finish building the autogyros they've been working on in their garages for 10 years, they'll come after me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Have created sections for explaining each of the statements, but they need to be expanded. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Randall]] has been looking at the facts about [[wikipedia:autogyro|autogyro]]s, hence the title of the comic. He has drawn [[Megan]] flying in such a vehicle with several statements of the facts he has unveiled.

Randall states that an autogyro is nothing like a [[wikipedia:helicopter|helicopter]] (which it looks like), nothing like a [[wikipedia:airplane|plane]] (but flies like one) and works like a powered [[wikipedia:parachute|parachute]] (without anything looking remotely as such). He continues to make a total of 12 [[#Statements|statements]] which will be explained individually below.

The final statement at the bottom right is the punch line of how strange these flying machines are, because they are safe, as long as you do not do what a pilot instinctively would do in a plane in case of a stall, because if you do so the autogyros will crash immediately... See the [[#Extremely safe|explanation below]]. That sentence is almost rendered unnecessary by the one above it that states that autogyros [[#Never stalls|never stalls]]!

Randall's conclusion is clear: Autogyros are '''''weird'''''.

In the title text Randall continues on the last statement by saying that today autogyros are much more stable. Which must refer to that this was not always the case. And this new stability probably means that a [[#Never stalls|stall situation]] is much less likely and the last statement is then not so relevant anymore.

Randall then goes on to suggest that ''the autogyro people'' will be angered by this comic, which [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/impugn#English impugns] (i.e. attacks) the safety of their beloved machines. But he keeps on mocking them. In fact, he states that they will come after him, once they have finished building the autogyros they have been working on in their garage for the last 10 years. By this, he implies that the people who work on them do this as a home garage project so they will never get them finished and able to fly. Thus, they will probably never come after him.

==Statements==
*Below each of the statements in the comic are explained
**The optimal reading order is to read them in the four columns they are arranged in:
**The left with four, the two single in the middle and the six on the right.

===Nothing like a helicopter===
''Looks like a helicopter, but is nothing like a helicopter''

It is like a helicopter in the sense that a horizontally spinning fan provides the lift. It is unlike a helicoper because A) the fan is not powered, B) the fan does not provide forward propulsion, C) it is incapable of hovering, or moving in any other direction than forward.

===Nothing like a plane===
''Flies like a plane but is nothing like a plane''

Its flight pattern resembles a plane in that it can only move forward, turns by banking, and needs to maintain forward velocity in order to create lift. However, unlike a plane it has no wings to generate that lift.

===Powered parachute===
''Sort of like a powered parachute''

===Rare in the US===
''Rare in the US, usually homemade. Common in Europe. ''

===Big blade on top===
''Big blade on top is not powered and spins freely''

===Flown without a license===
''Can often be flown without a license''

===Cheap===
Helicopters are notorious for being extremely expensive to operate. At a typical general aviation service in the US, a two-seat aircraft may rent for under $100/hr, while a helicopter runs over $200/hr. Similarly, a small used helicopter may cost almost $200,000 while a small new autogyro may cost under $25,000. Since many people home-build their autogyros, it would often be even cheaper.

===Needs a runway to take off===
''Needs a runway to take off, but not a long one''

===Can land vertically===
An autogyro can land vertically: for that matter, so can any airplane. What matters isn't ground speed but airspeed, and as long as there's as much headwind as the landing airspeed of the aircraft, it will land vertically. Now, with fixed wing airplanes the landing speed is at least 40-50 mph, and you don't often find headwinds like that. The much lower landing airspeed of an autogyro makes vertical landings feasible.

===Cannot hover===
True hovering would require the rotor to be powered. However, an autogyro must be moving forward in order for the rotor to generate lift.

===Never stalls===
Most conditions that would cause a stall in a fixed wing airplane such as low speeds, high-G maneuvers, and gusty winds don't apply to autogyros.
The rotor in an autogyro is in equilibrium, the inner, slower part is stalled, the middle part makes it spin and the outer, faster part slows down the rotor and provides lift. As the angle of attack increases, a fixed wing aircraft would stall, however, on an autogyro, it will just make the lift-generating area smaller, causing the rotor to automatically spin faster and the equilibrium is restored.

This is not entirely correct however. If you reduce the forward speed of an autogyro, the rotor slows down, reducing lift so the autogyro will descend. Under most circumstances, this would lead to a controlled landing. However, if it happens at high altitude, you can run out of lift completely while still high above the ground causing a stall. This is more likely to happen if there is a strong tailwind.

===Extremely safe===
''Extremely safe, unless you do the one thing you instinctively do to escape a stall in a normal airplane, in which case it will crash immediately''

Autogyros are considered safe due to their slow landing speed, which is important in emergency landings, their forgiving behavior in windy conditions and the fact they are almost impossible to stall. This is thanks to the freely spinning rotor. Unfortunately, as soon as the rotor stops spinning, the whole aircraft falls like a brick and the rotor may be impossible to restart in flight. This is a situation that should be avoided at all costs.

Normally it is not a problem since the weight of the aircraft keeps the rotor spinning. However, if the weight becomes too low or even negative, the angle of attack will become negative, and the rotor will slow down and eventually stop. It can happen when the pilot "pushes on the stick" and dives.

Unfortunately, "pushing on the stick" is also how you escape a stall in a fixed wing (normal) airplane as it is a way to regain airspeed. This is actually a counter-intuitive maneuver but because a stall is an emergency, pilots are trained to do it instinctively. It can trick a pilot trained in fixed wing aircraft into doing the one thing that shouldn't be done on a gyro.

==Transcript==

:[A picture of Megan wearing aviator goggles, sitting in an autogyro and holding the control stick. The autogyro is surrounded by sentence fragments, explaining characteristics of it. The one above the blade that concerns the blade has an arrow pointing from the text to the blade. The sentences in columns from the left (i.e. first four sentences to the left, then two above the autogyro's body, and finally six sentences to the right):]
:Looks like a helicopter, but is nothing like a helicopter
:Flies like a plane but is nothing like a plane
:Sort of like a powered parachute
:Rare in the US, usually homemade. Common in Europe.
:Big blade on top is not powered and spins freely
:Can often be flown without a license
:Cheap
:Needs a runway to take off, but not a long one
:Can land vertically
:Cannot hover
:Never stalls
:Extremely safe, unless you do the '''''one''''' thing you instinctively do to escape a stall in a normal airplane, in which case it will crash immediately.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Autogyros are '''''weird'''''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1953: The History of Unicode

2018-02-10T20:18:03Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Not clear that it's international, since Maine and New Hampshire are currently both within the USA. But clearly something has changed!

{{comic
| number = 1953
| date = February 9, 2018
| title = The History of Unicode
| image = the_history_of_unicode.png
| titletext = 2048: "Great news for Maine—we're once again an independent state!!! Thanks, @unicode, for ruling in our favor and sending troops to end New Hampshire's annexation. 🙏🚁🎖️"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|I removed some unnecessary lines of text and added a real explanation about the comic, but I feel more can be added to it / changed. Please add onto it if you see something that needs to be changed.}}

An {{w|character encoding|encoding of a character set}} is a mapping from characters to numbers. For example, the letter "A" might be represented by the value 65.
{{w|Unicode}} was planned as a way of representing the various characters used in the world's languages in a single encoding. Prior to Unicode, each script had its own character set. Different characters would be represented by the same value. Some languages, such as Japanese, had several inconsistent character encodings, so before people could send text, they would have to have agreed which character set to use. Unicode attempts to solve this by providing for a single character encoding for all the worlds languages. Unicode is run by {{w|Unicode Consortium|a consortium}} of major technology companies and stakeholders. The founders of Unicode include {{w|Joe Becker (Unicode)|Joe Becker}}, who worked for Xerox in the 1980s. He wears a beard and may be the character featured in the first and third panels.

New characters have continued to be added, and recently many "{{w|emoji}}" (picture characters) have been added to Unicode. One recently added emoji is the "[https://emojipedia.org/lobster/ Lobster emoji]". It was approved as part of Unicode 11, for release in 2018.

The webcomic shows the creator of Unicode talking about how it would change the way we thought about managing text, which could help with incompatible binary text encoding. This seems to have derailed over the next 30 years, as a tweet from the junior Senator of Maine (which is real, by the way: https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/961331752718557184) is shown, talking about how excited he is over the system getting a new lobster emoji, showing that now the unicode system is used for more frivolous reasons.

The title text imagines that Unicode will gain other unexpected roles in the next 30 years. In particular it acts as an armed force, capable of intervening in military disputes, such as an annexation of Maine by its neighbor, New Hampshire. The title text ends with three Unicode emoji, "🙏" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "🚁" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "🎖" code point 1F396 "MILITARY MEDAL", suggesting that they are thanking them for their effort in the war, sending helicopters and soldiers to aid them against New Hampshire.

==Transcript==
:[1988:]
:[A bearded man holds a document labeled "Unicode".]
:Bearded man: My "Unicode" standard should help reduce problems caused by incompatible binary text encodings.

:[2018:]
:[A tweet from Twitter is shown. To the left of Senator Angus King's name is his avatar (a face with a mustache) and to the right is the blue checkmark used by Twitter to signify a verified user.]
:Senator Angus King‏
:@SenAngusKing
:Great news for Maine - we're getting a lobster emoji!!! Thanks to @unicode for recognizing the impact of this critical crustacean, in Maine and across the country.
:Yours truly,
:Senator 🐮👑
:2/7/18 3:12 PM

:[Cueball and the bearded man (the latter grey-haired) are looking at a wall with the Unicode standard, labeled "1988", and Senator King's tweet, labeled "2018", posted on it.]
:Cueball: What... what happened in those thirty years?
:Bearded man: ''Things got a little weird, okay?''

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Emoji]]
[[Category:Unicode]]

==Trivia==
*Initial version of the comic had "1998" in panel 3 instead of "1988" as shown in panel 1. This was fixed later.

*Ironically, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&oldid=152168 the first version of this article] (automatically generated by a bot) had problems with emoji encoding.

*The scenario in the title text isn't ''quite'' as far-fetched as it sounds. Maine and New Hampshire were for many years involved in border disputes, primarily over [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_v._Maine fishing rights] and whether [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seavey%27s_Island Seavey Island,] located in the middle of the river that forms the border of the two states, was part of Maine or New Hampshire. The latter issue [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscataqua_River_border_dispute was not settled until 2002]. Neither dispute ever quite rose to the level of a full-on shooting war but [http://nhpr.org/post/legacy-nh-maine-lobster-war-and-why-it-may-wage#stream/0 they got surprisingly close].

{{comic discussion}}

1953: The History of Unicode

2018-02-10T20:15:52Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ There are two Senators from =each State, but you can still use ‘the’ if you include ‘junior’ (or ‘senior’) by seniority in the position.

{{comic
| number = 1953
| date = February 9, 2018
| title = The History of Unicode
| image = the_history_of_unicode.png
| titletext = 2048: "Great news for Maine—we're once again an independent state!!! Thanks, @unicode, for ruling in our favor and sending troops to end New Hampshire's annexation. 🙏🚁🎖️"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|I removed some unnecessary lines of text and added a real explanation about the comic, but I feel more can be added to it / changed. Please add onto it if you see something that needs to be changed.}}

An {{w|character encoding|encoding of a character set}} is a mapping from characters to numbers. For example, the letter "A" might be represented by the value 65.
{{w|Unicode}} was planned as a way of representing the various characters used in the world's languages in a single encoding. Prior to Unicode, each script had its own character set. Different characters would be represented by the same value. Some languages, such as Japanese, had several inconsistent character encodings, so before people could send text, they would have to have agreed which character set to use. Unicode attempts to solve this by providing for a single character encoding for all the worlds languages. Unicode is run by {{w|Unicode Consortium|a consortium}} of major technology companies and stakeholders. The founders of Unicode include {{w|Joe Becker (Unicode)|Joe Becker}}, who worked for Xerox in the 1980s. He wears a beard and may be the character featured in the first and third panels.

New characters have continued to be added, and recently many "{{w|emoji}}" (picture characters) have been added to Unicode. One recently added emoji is the "[https://emojipedia.org/lobster/ Lobster emoji]". It was approved as part of Unicode 11, for release in 2018.

The webcomic shows the creator of Unicode talking about how it would change the way we thought about managing text, which could help with incompatible binary text encoding. This seems to have derailed over the next 30 years, as a tweet from the junior Senator of Maine (which is real, by the way: https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/961331752718557184) is shown, talking about how excited he is over the system getting a new lobster emoji, showing that now the unicode system is used for more frivolous reasons.

The title text imagines that Unicode will gain other unexpected roles in the next 30 years. In particular it acts as an international armed force, capable of intervening in military disputes, such as an annexation of Maine by its neighbor, New Hampshire. The title text ends with three Unicode emoji, "🙏" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "🚁" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "🎖" code point 1F396 "MILITARY MEDAL", suggesting that they are thanking them for their effort in the war, sending helicopters and soldiers to aid them against New Hampshire.

==Transcript==
:[1988:]
:[A bearded man holds a document labeled "Unicode".]
:Bearded man: My "Unicode" standard should help reduce problems caused by incompatible binary text encodings.

:[2018:]
:[A tweet from Twitter is shown. To the left of Senator Angus King's name is his avatar (a face with a mustache) and to the right is the blue checkmark used by Twitter to signify a verified user.]
:Senator Angus King‏
:@SenAngusKing
:Great news for Maine - we're getting a lobster emoji!!! Thanks to @unicode for recognizing the impact of this critical crustacean, in Maine and across the country.
:Yours truly,
:Senator 🐮👑
:2/7/18 3:12 PM

:[Cueball and the bearded man (the latter grey-haired) are looking at a wall with the Unicode standard, labeled "1988", and Senator King's tweet, labeled "2018", posted on it.]
:Cueball: What... what happened in those thirty years?
:Bearded man: ''Things got a little weird, okay?''

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Emoji]]
[[Category:Unicode]]

==Trivia==
*Initial version of the comic had "1998" in panel 3 instead of "1988" as shown in panel 1. This was fixed later.

*Ironically, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&oldid=152168 the first version of this article] (automatically generated by a bot) had problems with emoji encoding.

*The scenario in the title text isn't ''quite'' as far-fetched as it sounds. Maine and New Hampshire were for many years involved in border disputes, primarily over [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_v._Maine fishing rights] and whether [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seavey%27s_Island Seavey Island,] located in the middle of the river that forms the border of the two states, was part of Maine or New Hampshire. The latter issue [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscataqua_River_border_dispute was not settled until 2002]. Neither dispute ever quite rose to the level of a full-on shooting war but [http://nhpr.org/post/legacy-nh-maine-lobster-war-and-why-it-may-wage#stream/0 they got surprisingly close].

{{comic discussion}}

1948: Campaign Fundraising Emails

2018-01-30T23:12:56Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Clickbait for clickbait.

{{comic
| number = 1948
| date = January 29, 2018
| title = Campaign Fundraising Emails
| image = campaign_fundraising_emails.png
| titletext = The establishment doesn't take us seriously. You know who else they didn't take seriously? Hitler. I'll be like him, but a GOOD guy instead of...
}}

==Explanation==

Many politicians and organizations in the United States have taken to using aggressive fundraising campaigns by email to seek campaign contributions.

This comic shows a caricature of many people's email inboxes right now. Signing a petition or expressing interest in a cause can lead to being added to a myriad of mailing lists for similar groups, all looking for support. It seems Randall has a history of donating to questionable candidates with poorly thought out campaigns, and that's gotten him onto some interesting email lists. The emails get more and more absurd as the list goes on. For example, the last one combines a request for campaign contributions with the infamous Nigerian Prince phishing scheme.

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! E-mail Body !! Explanation
|-
|'''Donate now.''' It's crunch time, and we're low on cash. If you chip in just $5 by midnight, we...
|This is the classic formula, and may be a real example. It is always "crunch time" during a campaign (at least between filing for candidacy and election day), and campaigns are always "low" on cash relative to the unlimited funding they would prefer. The ends of financial reporting periods, often at midnight, are conflated with "deadlines" of significant consequence. Further, the donation requested is less about the actual money - even if $5 each from several thousand voters can add up - but to get a donor to have their money placed on a candidate, making it more likely that donor will vote for the candidate (via encouraging [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy the "sunk cost" fallacy]).
|-
|'''Donate $35.57 now!''' Our data team has determined that we should ask you for $35.57 to optimize the...
|While fundraisers will try and work out how to gain as much money as possible, they would never explain this to their supporters. Such a precise amount would come about as a result of running the numbers through a computer simulation, and the obvious lack of humanity behind the calculated dollar amount would probably be offputting to a lot of would-be supporters. This may also be an exaggeration of Senator Sanders' presidential campaign, which sent e-mails asking for $27 because it was the average amount of their contributions up to that point.
|-
|'''Help.''' Our campaign made some mistakes and we need a lot of money ASAP. Any kind, but cash is...
|This email is honest about the campaign's incompetence, but is not likely to get much sympathy except from those already sympathetic to the candidate. Any campaign reduced to this level has probably already lost, though. The reference to "cash" lacks sufficient context to be clear; if the full message requests that recipients send cash that would raise several red flags (suggesting that the campaign's finances are in such disarray that it cannot process checks, credit cards, etc in a timely manner, and raising concerns that cash could be stolen or otherwise diverted more readily than other forms of payment).
|-
|'''Washington is broken.''' When I win, I'll look those other senators in the eye and tell them: "Jobs." Then I...
|This may be another real example. This appeal to emotion promises specific action that is unlikely to accomplish much, and is probably unlikely to happen even if the candidate wins, while suggesting the candidate vaguely cares about issues of importance to most voters, as measured by the polls, but may not be genuine or fulfilled. The mere statement of "jobs" as a meaningful political point is patently ridiculous, especially since no context or intent is provided with it.
|-
|'''Hopeless.''' It's bad. Really bad. If you don't chip in now, the darkness spreading across the land will...
|This is a favorite of moral campaigns, on both sides of a debate. Grand statements about evil and corruption taking over the country if the campaign does not get enough support are common, but they are extremely biased and dramatic.
|-
|As the first woman to fly a fighter jet through our state's formerly all-male university, I learned...
|Normally one would be the first ''from'' a university to do something, not the first to achieve something involving the university itself. Flying a plane through a university is risky at the very least, and depending on the definition of "through" here, could imply destruction of buildings or the plane itself, which might paint the candidate in an irresponsible light
|-
|'''We're broke.''' No paid staff. No ads. And the cafe has told us to stop using their wifi to send fundraising...
| This campaign tactic attempts to appeal to the reader's sympathy by describing financial struggles and poverty, but said tactics may instead make the movement look pathetic and poorly-organized, especially because the group is apparently so poor, they can't continue sending emails to ask for funding.
|-
|When Amy decided to run for Congress, I was like "Huh?" but I checked Wikipedia, and apparently it's a branch of...
|The reader would expect that the writer expressed surprise because they weren't expecting Amy to run for Congress, but the actual reason is because they didn't know what Congress was. If the aim is indeed fundraising, as the comic's title would imply, this message is very likely to give very poor results. While the familiar tone could be a communication strategy (although you might want to look serious and professional when asking for money), the author openly states not knowing what the campaign was about until recently, which would make potential donors doubt that their money would be put to good use.
|-
|-
|'''Are you familiar''' with the Dutch painter Hieronymous Bosch? His work illustrates my opponent's plan for...
|The works of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Hieronymus Bosch], which are famous for depictions of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell Hell] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo Limbo] as brutal places of highly imaginative torments, which the sender implies would be similar to the country under the opponent's plan.
|-
|Being a single mom running a small business while going to law school while being deployed to Iraq taught me...
|Each of these are typical "inspiring" stories for someone to bring up once they reach success, to show how they have persevered and come out on top, but it is extremely unlikely that all of these responsibilities and hardships would be burdening one person at the same time, and said person surviving all of these is even less likely.
|-
|-
|'''I will lead the fight''' against the big banks, special interests, the Earth's climate, and our children. I...
|A promise that goes from more universally relatable issues, but then moves to the controversial topic of climate change (with the implication that damaging the climate is the goal), and the universally ridiculous idea that children are an issue that needs to be contained. The fight "against our children" may be a reference to a popular [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushism Bushism].
|-
|'''Wow.''' Have you seen this video of the squirrel obstacle course? Incredible! Anyway, I'm running because I...
|A typical form of {{w|clickbait}}. (Don't read another table entry until you've followed that link! Reference #10 will shock you.)
|-
|'''Outrageous.''' Granted, this was a few years ago, but did you hear what President Ford said about...
|When a politician makes an offensive comment, it's common for the politician's opponents to send out fundraising emails pointing out the politician's offensiveness as a reason to give money to an opponent. Here, the sender's reaction and e-mail fundraising effort appears to be unusually delayed, as it refers to an alleged comment by {{w|Gerald Ford}}, whose term as President of the United States ended in 1977 and who died in 2006.
|-
|'''Whoops.''' Due to a typo, we spent months running attack ads against Tom Hanks. Now, we need to make up for...
|The email apologises for running months of attack ads against American actor {{w|Tom Hanks}}. Hanks is generally a popular and uncontroversial figure,{{Citation needed}} making him an unusual target for attack ads. This implies that the sender does not even know who their opponent is, and has mistakenly targeted the wrong person, demonstrating some significant ignorance and incompetence.
|-
|'''They say we can't win-''' that we're "underdogs" with "no money" who "lost the election last week." But they don't...
|May refer to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Moore#U.S._Senate_special_election_campaign Roy Moore's attempts to overturn his loss in the December 2017 election for one of Alabama's US Senate seats], which came about a month before this comic and made national headlines. After the initial election count had him losing, he demanded a recount. That initial count said he had lost by a large enough margin that Alabama law required him to pay up front for a recount, and his campaign did not have enough funds available.
|-
|'''Our campaign's only chance''' is to seduce Jennifer ActBlue, heir to the ActBlue fortune. For that, we need a fancy...
|This e-mail alludes to [https://secure.actblue.com/ ActBlue], a political action committee that collects donations online for Democratic candidates. In reality, there is no ActBlue family nor any "Jennifer ActBlue" who is the heir to its fortune; the name ActBlue comes from the words "act" and "blue", referring to the {{w|Red states and blue states|color currently associated with the Democratic Party}}.
|-
|'''Doom.''' Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed, like rain on...
|This is an excerpt from {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien's}} poem ''[http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Lament_for_the_Rohirrim Lament of the Rohirrim,]'' appearing in ''{{w|The Two Towers}}'': 
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? 
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? 
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? 
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? 
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; 
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. 
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning, 
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?
|-
|'''Warmest greetings.''' I am the crown prince of Nigeria. I am running for Congress because I believe that...
|The opening line is designed to sound like spam for an {{W | Advance-fee scam}}. These scams typically involve impersonating someone rich, often a Nigerian prince, who claims to be in trouble and promises to share a large sum of money if the victim helps him by sending a small fee in advance electronically. However, the second sentence of this email switches to sounding like a political fundraising email instead of an outright scam. This is either to establish a degrading comparison between flagrant scams and fundraising emails, or just to create a bait-and-switch joke.
|-
|The establishment doesn't take us seriously. You know who else they didn't take seriously? Hitler. I'll be like him, but a GOOD guy instead of...
|A candidate who compares himself to {{w|Hitler}}, even when promising to be GOOD instead, will probably not get many votes. The title text does however conform to {{w|Godwin's law}}.
|}

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

[An e-mail inbox window is displayed. On each line appears an illegible e-mail address and a checkbox.]

'''Donate now.''' It's crunch time, and we're low on cash. If you chip in just $5 by midnight, we... 
'''Donate $35.57 now!''' Our data team has determined that we should ask you for $35.57 to optimize the... 
'''Help.''' Our campaign made some mistakes and we need a lot of money ASAP. Any kind, but cash is... 
'''Washington is broken.''' When I win, I'll look those other senators in the eye and tell them: "Jobs." Then I... 
'''Hopeless.''' It's bad. Really bad. If you don't chip in now, the darkness spreading across the land will... 
As the first woman to fly a fighter jet through our state's formerly all-male university, I learned... 
'''We're broke.''' No paid staff. No ads. And the cafe has told us to stop using their wifi to send fundraising... 
When Amy decided to run for Congress, I was like "Huh?" but I checked Wikipedia, and apparently it's a branch of... 
'''Are you familiar''' with the dutch painter Hieronymous Bosch? His work illustrates my opponent's plan for... 
Being a single mom running a small business while going to law school while being deployed to Iraq taught me... 
'''I will lead the fight''' against the big banks, special interests, the Earth's climate, and our children. I... 
'''Wow.''' Have you seen this video of the squirrel obstacle course? Incredible! Anyway, I'm running because I... 
'''Outrageous.''' Granted, this was a few years ago, but did you hear what President Ford said about... 
'''Whoops.''' Due to a typo, we spent months running attack ads against Tom Hanks. Now, we need to make up for... 
'''They say we can't win-''' that we're "underdogs" with "no money" who "lost the election last week." But they don't... 
'''Our campaign's only chance''' is to seduce Jennifer ActBlue, heir to the ActBlue fortune. For that, we need a fancy... 
'''Doom.''' Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed, like rain on... 
'''Warmest greetings.''' I am the crown prince of Nigeria. I am running for Congress because I believe that...

{{comic discussion}}

1934: Phone Security

2017-12-27T21:15:52Z

TobyBartels: /* Explanation */ Note that all of these security measures, except for the remote detonation, could theoretically be done by a security app on a phone, although the fake factory reset and most of what follows would probably be rather difficult.

{{comic
| number = 1934
| date = December 27, 2017
| title = Phone Security
| image = phone_security.png
| titletext = ...wait until they type in payment information, then use it to order yourself a replacement phone.
}}

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

This comic pokes fun at various phone security measures. At first, it covers some real measures, and then continues on to measures that are clearly somewhat overzealous or otherwise humorous. It is worth noting that all of the options are turned ON in the screen shown, so apparently the owner must be very afraid that their phone is going to be stolen, or just wants to see what will happen.
These may be options that would appear on the [[:Category:xkcd Phones|XKCD Phone]], but that is not mentioned specifically, and this comic does not appear to be directly linked.

The first two options: Set '''Passcode to Unlock''', and '''Erase phone after 10 failed unlock attempts''' are both real security measures found on most phones.
The additional options:

If phone is stolen it may be:
* '''Tracked''': This would be reasonable, as it would allow the police to catch the perpetrator and return your phone.
* '''Erased''': This would also be reasonable, as it would prevent any sensitive data from being taken by a thief.
* '''Detonated''': This would be less reasonable, as it would likely harm the thief, possibly severely depending on how the phone was detonated.

'''If the phone is stolen, play an earsplitting siren until the battery dies or is removed''': This would be to draw attention to the thief, and discourage them from stealing future phones.

'''If the phone is stolen, do a fake factory reset. Then, in the background...''' :This series of options is all humorous, indicating that the phone would allow the thief to think that it had factory reset, but the phone would, in fact, not do so, and would instead foil the thief by doing various horrible things to them.

* '''Constantly Request Dozens of Simultaneous Rideshares to the Phone's Location''': This would cause tons of "rides" to show up at the stolen phone, leaving a lot of annoyed ridesharers, and possibly alerting the police to the thief's location.
* '''Automatically order food to the Phone's location from every delivery place within 20 miles''': This would be similar to the ridesharing issue, except it would be implied that the thief would be on the hook to pay for all of that delivered food. This could also lead the police to the thief.
* '''If the thief logs into Facebook, send hostile messages to all their family members''': This has now deviated from things that could even possibly be useful, and is now just getting revenge on the thief, or potentially the person that the thief sells the phone to.
* '''Automatically direct self driving car to drive toward the phone's location at 5mph''': This would cause a self driving car to slowly follow the thief. This could absolutely catch the thief, but would also just be really, really creepy. This is similar to the plot of the movie "{{w|It Follows}}".
* '''Take photos of random objects at the thief's address and post them as "Free" on Craigslist or NextDoor''': Craigslist and NextDoor are sites that allow people to post advertisements for various things. Posting a large number of things for free would cause a lot of people to show up at the thief's residence (though it is not noted how the phone would know where the thief resides) requesting the free things, or, more humorously, if the thief was not home, people may just come by and take things, causing them to steal from the thief. This would be a humorous form of poetic justice.

The title text extends the last category with: Wait until they type in payment information, then use it to order yourself a new phone. This would be the ultimate in poetic justice, as it would basically say that the user does not care if their phone gets stolen, because the thief will end up unintentionally buying them a new one. If the thief were to complain about this, they would have to admit that they had stolen the first phone in order to do so, which they would be disinclined to do.

Note that all of these security measures, except for the remote detonation, could theoretically be done by a security app on a typical smartphone, although the fake factory reset and most (if not all) of what follows would probably be rather difficult to program.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|We need green switches. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The content of a configuration screen on a smartphone is shown. All items listed are activated as indicated by green switches.]
:Security Options
:* Passcode to unlock (Set Code)
:* Erase phone after ten failed unlock attempts

:If stolen, phone can be remotely
:* Tracked
:* Erased
:* Detonated

:* If phone is stolen, erase data and play an earsplitting siren until the battery dies or is removed

:If phone is stolen, do a fake factory reset. Then, in the background...

:* ...constantly request dozens of simultaneous rideshares to the phone's location
:* ...automatically order food to phone's location from every delivery place within 20 miles
:* ...if thief logs in to Facebook, send hostile messages to all their family members
:* ...automatically direct self-driving car to drive toward phone's location at 5 mph
:* ...take photos of random objects at the thief's address and post them as "free" on Craigslist and Nextdoor

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

1923: Felsius

2017-12-04T11:25:03Z

TobyBartels: /* Table of Given Conversions & Additional */ Saturated salt water freezes at less than 0°F (and always has)

{{comic
| number = 1923
| date = December 1, 2017
| title = Felsius
| image = felsius.png
| titletext = The symbol for degrees Felsius is an average of the Euro symbol (€) and the Greek lunate epsilon (ϵ).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Is there anything to add?}}

Just like in [[1292: Pi vs. Tau]], [[Randall]] tries to unify two measurement systems by averaging both values, assumably with little success.

There are several {{w|Scale_of_temperature|temperature scales}} actively used in different parts of the world of for different purposes, including {{w|Celsius}} and {{w|Fahrenheit}}, but e.g. also {{w|Kelvin}} and {{w|Rankine_scale|Rankine}}.

The debate on whether to use Fahrenheit or Celsius is, just like the one between {{w|Imperial_units|imperial}} and {{w|Metric system|metric}} units, one that is mostly restricted to the US. While Fahrenheit is a widely used temperature scale in the US, most other countries have already switched from Fahrenheit to Celsius or have always used Celsius. In scientific circles, even in the US, only Celsius (and Kelvin) are used.

The conversion factors between Celsius and Fahrenheit are:
:°C = (°F − 32) × 5 / 9
:°F = °C × 9 / 5 + 32

which indeed make the average value of °C and °F:
:°⋲ = °C × 7 / 5 + 16 = (°F × 7 - 80) / 9

[[Randall]] choose to name his new unit of temperature Felsius (a {{w|portmanteau}} of Fahrenheit and Celsius).

Comically enough, the Felsius scale discards the main advantages of either temperature scale. The Celsius scale is based around 0 °C as the melting point of water and 100 °C as the boiling point, which Felsius does not preserve. Fahrenheit is often argued to be a convenient temperature measure for human comfort, as 0 °F is very cold and 100 °F is very hot. Many places on earth which humans inhabit fall reasonably well within these extremes the majority of the time, but Felsius does not preserve this advantage of the Fahrenheit scale either.

The title text states that the symbol he chose to represent this unit also is the average of two other symbols. Visually, it is assumed to be a combination of Celsius and Fahrenheit (a C with a crossbar), but it is actually the unrelated symbols for the {{w|Euro sign|euro}} (€) and the Greek lunate {{w|epsilon}} (ϵ). Randall's symbol has a single crossbar, like the Greek lunate epsilon, but the crossbar continues to the left, like the Euro symbol. (In this explanation and the transcript, we have used the mathematical symbol [http://graphemica.com/%E2%8B%B2 U+22F2], which may appear too large or too small depending on the font.)

{|class="wikitable"
!Symbol!!Number of crossbars!!Length of crossbar(s)
|-
||Euro||2||Long
|-
||Epsilon||1||Short
|-
||Felsius||1||Long
|-
||[not used]||2||Short
|}

In doing all this, Randall has fallen into the trap of creating a new temperature scale/standard: see [[927|927: Standards]].

Randall has also compared Celsius and Fahrenheit scales earlier in [[1643: Degrees]].

This is an example of {{w|Argument_to_moderation|Argument to Moderation}}, also known as the false middle point fallacy. A famous use of this fallacy is in the Bible, the {{w|Judgment_of_Solomon|Judgment of Solomon}}. The true mother of a disputed baby is discovered by proposing the "compromise" of cutting the baby in half. Perhaps Randall has a similar strategy in proposing Felsius, an absurd compromise, in order to discover the "true" temperature scale.

=== Table of Given Conversions & Additional ===
{| class="wikitable"
!°⋲!!°C!!°F!!Note
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |156.0
| style="text-align:right;" |100.0
| style="text-align:right;" |212.0
||Water boils at sea level (1 atmosphere)
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |91.6
| style="text-align:right;" |54.0
| style="text-align:right;" |129.2
||World heat record (per [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest_temperature_recorded_on_Earth Wikipedia])
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |67.8
| style="text-align:right;" |37.0
| style="text-align:right;" |98.6
||Body temperature (accepted average)
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |46.8
| style="text-align:right;" |22.0
| style="text-align:right;" |71.6
||Room temperature (maximum per [https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=room+temperature American Heritage Dictionary])
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |16.0
| style="text-align:right;" |0.0
| style="text-align:right;" |32.0
||Pure water freezes at sea level (1 atmosphere); 0°C reference
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |0.0
| style="text-align:right;" |−11.4
| style="text-align:right;" |11.4
||0°⋲ reference
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |−8.9
| style="text-align:right;" |−17.8
| style="text-align:right;" |0.0
||0°F reference
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |−13.5
| style="text-align:right;" |−21.1
| style="text-align:right;" |−6.0
||Saturated salt water freezes at sea level (1 atmosphere)[https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1722]
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |−40.0
| style="text-align:right;" |−40.0
| style="text-align:right;" |−40.0
||Equivalence point (exactly −40°)
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |−366.4
| style="text-align:right;" |−273.2
| style="text-align:right;" |−459.7
||Absolute zero (exactly −273.15°C or −459.67°F)
|}

==Transcript==
:[A thermometer is shown where the temperature is indicated, with a red column of liquid, to be just above room temperature. This can be seen from the five labels belonging to five lines pointing at the scale. None of these coincide with the 14 ticks on the actual scale for the thermometer. Below the last label is the formula for calculating the temperature on this scale.]
:92°⋲ world heat record
:68°⋲ body temperature
:47°⋲ room temperature
:16°⋲ water freezes
:–9°⋲ 0°F
:°⋲=7×°C/5+16=(7×°F–80)/9

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Since the Celsius vs Fahrenheit debate has proven surprisingly hard to resolve, as a compromise I've started using Felsius (°⋲), the average of the two.

==Implementations==
An implementation of Felsius is available at [http://www.weatherinfelsius.us Weather In Felsius], using a location based on user's IP address and accepting US ZIP codes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Compromise]]