explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3136: Pull

2025-09-03T13:47:51Z

VonAether: katamari

Australia reference????? /s [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 05:41, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

I [[3135|recently learned]] that earth has weird gravity effects caused by a big moon orbiting near the surface. These are probably also barely measurable, except e.g., big bodies of water --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 11:23, 2 September 2025 (UTC)
:I take it you haven't heard of Earth tides? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_tide] --[[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 11:54, 2 September 2025 (UTC)
::Perhaps you should follow the link in the comment you replied to... [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 13:00, 2 September 2025 (UTC)
:::It's a real effect. It has been proven by neutron interferometry. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_interferometer)

Ya the hemispheres are kinda crazy《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:07, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

So I'm not qualified to critique this, but, I think the comic is referencing an unsolved problem - is gravity constant over time? I'm not a physicist and I'm not conversant with the literature, but I think there is some debate on the matter. The line 'give it another five minutes' definitely seems like a humorous reference to the idea that the gravitational constant might changes over age-of-the-universe timescales. Hence I suspect the description talking about earth's attraction specifically misses the point. --DW [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8FA9:E54A:5856:AACD:B913:6DD8|2607:FB90:8FA9:E54A:5856:AACD:B913:6DD8]] 13:44, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

Judging from the amount of rotation, the conversation takes place over a period of several hours. -[[Special:Contributions/2603:8080:2AF0:F1E0:39BF:23FC:411E:363B|2603:8080:2AF0:F1E0:39BF:23FC:411E:363B]] 18:58, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

Someting seams wrong with the number in the statement "The net effect of these is for Earth to lose about 520 tons in the 5-minute period".
I found that "Each day, around 90 tonnes of hydrogen and helium escape from Earth in the direction of space" https://www.snf.ch/en/2QLt6mvuU4hZj1yx/news/leaking-atmospheres-seal-the-fate-of-planets
[[User:Maofgf|Maofgf]] ([[User talk:Maofgf|talk]]) 19:10, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

It should be "centripetal", not "centrifugal". [[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 20:40, 2 September 2025 (UTC)
:Centrifugal force is correct here. Centripetal force is the force keeping an object on a circular trajectory (in a fixed reference frame), in this case it is gravity. In the rotating reference frame, the object is stationary, as centripetal and centrifugal force cancel each other out. As soon as gravity stops, there is no centripetal force anymore. In the rotating reference frame, the object accelerates outwards by the centrifugal force (on a curve due to the Coriolis force); on an fixed reference frame, there is no force and it travels in a straight line. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:1210:82E7:3100:37D6:4369:7925:6854|2A02:1210:82E7:3100:37D6:4369:7925:6854]] 22:01, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm completely failing to understand the stuff about "roughly three more minutes until they "fell" off-panel". What's that based on? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:57, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

This is disturbing[[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]]) 21:58, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

Is the centrifugal effect at the equator truly ''exactly'' 0.34% of the gravitational acceleration at the equator? That seems like an astonishing mathematical coincidence, to be a ratio that is an integer over a small power of ten! [[Special:Contributions/47.150.86.14|47.150.86.14]] 05:45, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Proof Earth is a Katamari. [[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 13:47, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-19T14:58:11Z

VonAether: /* Explanation */ Jaws was not released during the Victorian era.

{{comic
| number = 2922
| date = April 19, 2024
| title = Pub Trivia
| image = pub_trivia_2x.png
| imagesize = 422x666px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Bonus question: Where is London located? (a) The British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) The UK (d) Europe (or 'the EU') (e) Greater London
}}

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

The comic shows [[Cueball]] reading off bad trivia questions which are either confusing or don't have an answer.
The caption states that this is because he was paid to sabotage other bars that offer trivia so that people will want to go to the one that hired him.

1. Which member of {{w|BTS}} has a birthday this year?

: Problem: Multiple answers

: BTS is a {{w|K-Pop}} group. Every member would have a birthday each year. In fact, all humans have a birthday every year. (Unless you were born on leap day and trying to be pedantic.)

2. How many sides does a {{w|platonic solid}} have?

: Problem: Multiple answers

: There are five platonic solids, with 4, 6, 8, 12, or 20 faces (colloquially called sides) in {{w|Euclid|Euclidean}} {{w|Euclidean geometry|3-space}}.

3. What is the smallest lake in the world?

: Problem: Arguable

: Unknowable as there are many small bodies of water in the world, and determining which is the smallest while still being large enough to count as a {{w|lake}} is a complicated question.

4. Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks? {{w|Jaws (movie)|Jaws (1975)}} or {{w|Lincoln (movie)|Lincoln (2012)}}

: Problem: Trivial

: Jaws, as Lincoln has a surprising lack of shark attacks.{{cn}}

5. How many planets were there originally?

: Problem: Ambiguous

: Question lacks context, since it doesn't define what originally means, and there is no way to know when humans first found out that the wandering stars were actually other worlds, or that Earth is a planet. And if this includes {{w|exoplanets}}, it's unknowable since we have no way of detecting these planets in ancient times.

: Or it could be trivially 0, if "originally" means when the universe first formed in the {{w|Big Bang}}.

6. What {{w|NFL}} player has scored the most points outside of a game?

: Problem: No answer

: As points are not usually scored outside of games, this is a nonsense question.

7. The {{w|Wright brothers}} built the first airplane. Who built the last one?

: Problem: Unknowable

: Since airplanes are built continuously, there is no way to know who built the last one. Alternatively, if 'the last one' means 'the last one ''ever''', then it probably hasn't been built yet.

8. Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?

: Problem: Unknowable

: This is {{w|Goldbach's conjecture|an open question}} in math.

9. Not counting {{w|Canberra}}, what city is the capital of {{w|Australia}}?

: Problem: No answer

: Nonsense question, since Australia has only one capital. Unless you count 'A'.

10. Who played the drums?

Problem: Ambiguous

Lots of people have played the drums{{cn}}, famous or not. This question needs context.

The alt-text bonus question: Where is {{w|London}} located? (a) The {{w|British Isles}} (b) {{w|Great Britain and Northern Ireland}} (c) The {{w|UK}} (d) {{w|Europe}} (or 'the {{w|EU}}') (e) Greater London

Problem: Multiple answers

All choices are technically correct as they are various geographical areas that include the city of London, England. (d) incorrectly conflates Europe, a geographical area that London is located in, with the EU, which the UK (and consequently London) has not been in since {{w|Brexit}} in 2020.


|}

This is apparently deliberate (at least on behalf of the organisers), perhaps to upset or otherwise impede groups of overconfident quizzers who would otherwise dominate any genuinely good quiz. -->

Many pubs have trivia nights, where patrons form teams and compete to best answer questions about a range of topics. Cueball has apparently been hired by one bar to infiltrate other bars' quiz nights and write particularly bad questions for them, which he has accomplished using different strategies. The idea is that by making the trivia nights at other pubs horrible, he will drive business to the pub that hired him.

1. Which member of BTS has a birthday this year?

Since everyone has a birthday every year (with the exception of those born on February 29), this question does not have unique answer. And since this comic was published in 2024, even the possible February 29 exception does not apply (and no BTS member was born on February 29).

2. How many sides does a Platonic solid have?

This question is ambiguous in at least two ways. First, a solid does not have "sides"; it has edges and faces. There are five Platonic solids, with 4, 6, 8, 12, and 20 faces, and 6, 12, 8, 30, and 30 edges.

3. What is the smallest lake in the world?

A lake is defined by Wikipedia as a "relatively large and fixed body of water." As there is no universal definition for how large and how fixed a body of water must be in order to qualify as a lake, this question is impossible to answer.

4. Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks - Jaws (1975) or Lincoln (2012)?

Jaws is a famous movie about a killer shark, and features at least five fatal shark attacks. Lincoln is a movie about the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and contains zero shark attacks. Unlike the previous unanswerable questions, this is a question that no reasonable person could get wrong.

5. How many planets were there originally?

The ancient Greeks named seven planets: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Eventually, it was decided that the Earth is also a planet, and that the Sun and the Moon were not. Uranus and Neptune were eventually discovered, followed by Ceres, Vesta, Juno, and Pallas, all of which were considered planets prior to the invention of the term "asteroid". Then Pluto was discovered, and the count of "planets" stabilized at 9 until 2006, when the discovery of Kuiper Belt objects larger than Pluto led to creation of the term "dwarf planet", leaving us with 8 known planets and 5 known dwarf planets. Today there are also thousands of known exoplanets (planets that orbit stars other than the sun).
The joke here is that "originally" is so poorly defined that it could mean anywhere from 0 (the number of planets prior to formation of the solar system) to infinity (number of planets in the universe if the universe is indeed infinite).

6. What NFL player has scored the most points outside of a game?

American football has a somewhat complicated scoring system, and record keeping involves (for instance) crediting the 6 points for a touchdown to both the receiver and the passer in some situations. This question does not address any of this complexity, but adds a new level of ambiguity as the "points" a player can score outside of a game are undefined.

7. The Wright Brothers built the first airplane. Who built the last one?

It is exceedingly unlikely that the last airplane has been built, and because plane assembly is complicated, it is difficult to assess when a particular aircraft counts as complete, so this is another unanswerable question.

8. Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?

This is Goldbach's Conjecture. Mathematicians widely believe that it is true, and there is substantial numerical evidence to suggest that it is true, but there is as yet no accepted proof. The joke is that trivia questions should have clear and agreed on answers, and this question does not.

9. Not counting Canberra, what city is the capital of Australia?

Canberra is the capital of Australia. Sydney is larger and possibly more famous, so that asking the capital of Australia would be a good trivia question: people who know there capitals would respond with Canberra and less knowledgeable people would guess Sydney. Australia is divided into states
and territories, each with its own capital, but this would leave multiple equally valid answers to the question.

10. Who played the drums?

If this question asked who played the drums for a particular band or on a particular album, track, or performance, it would be an example of a good trivia question. As it is, it has many possible answers and no way to choose between them.

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

{{comic discussion}}

User talk:VonAether

2017-02-17T21:07:19Z

VonAether: reply

==Labeled time zones==
Regarding your comment on [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]]. You wrote:
:I created a map overlaid with more obvious time zone divisions, labelled with some of that zone's more popular abbreviations. Tried to keep 'em to Standard Time rather than Daylight. [http://i.imgur.com/L44ruPy.png Seen here.] --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:39, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
And I answered:
::Fantastic VonAether. I was just thinking of making such a map, but your looks much better than what I had in mind. Would it be OK to download your map to these pages and insert it in the explanation? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:57, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
Hope to hear from you by putting the comment also here. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:57, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

: Absolutely; that's why I made it. Go nuts. :) --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 21:07, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones

2017-02-15T17:39:45Z

VonAether: /* Labelled time zones */ new section

'''Notice''' The [[what if?]] {{what if|154|Coast-to-Coast Coasting}} came out February 8th, at the same time as [[1796]]. This was noted yesterday in the last comics discussion. For the first time in a year with less than two weeks between releases --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 15 February 2017 (UTC)



"Screw Hawaii and the rest of the Pacific!" [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 04:56, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

It is actually way less distorting than I expected [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.239|141.101.104.239]] 06:38, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Aahhhh, why are Suriname and French Guiana switched? They have the same timezone ... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.22|162.158.150.22]] 06:52, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Can anyone explain why Russia has all the hills and valleys? East-west distortion I understand, but what is the reason for the north-south distortion? [[User:Nonnal|Nonnal]] ([[User talk:Nonnal|talk]]) 07:06, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

:I actually know this one - Russia has 11 timezones, but some of these form "islands" in the South of the country. From West to East, the North has: (+2 Kaliningrad), +3, +5, +7,+9, +10, +11, +12. Going West to East through the South adds back in +4 (Samara), +6 (Omsk), and +8 (Irkutsk), each corresponding to one of the "dips" in the projection. [[User:Atmarsden95|Atmarsden95]] ([[User talk:Atmarsden95|talk]]) 07:15, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Why is Morocco labeled as U.S. and the Sahrawi Republic as Morocco? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.88|141.101.88.88]] 07:24, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:That actually says "W.S", for Western Sahara, but either way I can't see a good reason for the inversion. Both are on UTC+0, and Morocco is on UTC+1 in summer, while WS doesn't use DST, apparently... So even if that was being taken into account, the countries are STILL the wrong way around. Possibly, this is related to the French Guiana/Suriname inversion. [[User:Atmarsden95|Atmarsden95]] ([[User talk:Atmarsden95|talk]]) 07:55, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

:And Western Sahara is the name used for the disputed area south of Marocco by the United Nations. The Sahrawi Republic have only limited recognition and does not control all of the disputed area. [[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 07:59, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::The switch is just a mistake, maybe caused by a map not depicting Western Sahara.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 09:06, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

It would be cool to see countries moving in and out of Daylight saving time. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.69|141.101.69.69]] 07:56, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
: I'd like that, too. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:42, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Why did he use 6 colors? And do the colors code for something? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.58|162.158.202.58]] 08:06, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
: I think it's just for easier depiction without any further meaning. It's like in 850, I think... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:42, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Should we replace the comic image with a bigger version? I've already uploaded the image: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:bad_map_projection_time_zones_2x.png [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:02, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Should we compile a table of oddities in the map?--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 09:07, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
: I think yes. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 09:12, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

So am I getting this correct? The map is made to be divided into timezones with perfect vertical borders and the countries are then distorted to fit perfectly within their timezones? Shouldn't Greenland then be "split" since it spreads from UTC-3 to UTC but is not actually using UTC-2? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.118|162.158.92.118]] 10:41, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
: Yes. But actually there should be connections since these parrts of Greenland are no separate landmasses. But the connections should be infinitesimally thin (but not of thickness 0) to be accurate. However the style these connection are made imply that they're just connection and no actual landmasses, I think... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:59, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:: I have added Greenland to the table, please feel free to provide a more coherent wording if necessary, english is not my native language :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.118|162.158.92.118]] 12:42, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Only for understanding to the image sizes: The image tag uses the ''srcset'' feature and the browser decides if ''bad_map_projection_time_zones.png'' or ''bad_map_projection_time_zones_2x.png'' is shown. At this comic there is also a link to the large version. But the ''srcset'' feature is not new at this comic. Look at the source:
<pre>
<a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bad_map_projection_time_zones_2x.png">
<img src="//imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bad_map_projection_time_zones.png"
title="This is probably the first projection in cartographic history that can be criticized for its disproportionate focus on Finland, Mongolia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo."
alt="Bad Map Projection: Time Zones"
srcset="//imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bad_map_projection_time_zones_2x.png 2x"/>
</a>
</pre>
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:21, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks for explaining that. So this is just the first time that the large version is linked from the normal sized version. Is that then the explanation for the 2x images appearing in [[Garden]]? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::The comic Garden is one of those rare dynamic comics. Each of them are different and in this case a javascript file called "linden.js" creates the picture. But the next one (https://xkcd.com/1664/) is like this one I wrote about. Go to that comic and use rigth-click -> view image (or whatever your browser says). If your display has a large resolution you will see the large picture, if not you will see the standard. But I don't know when this ''scrset'' feature was implemented for the first time. Early comics don't support this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:55, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

The people from [[850]] should have a fun time with this.[[User:XFez|XFez]] ([[User talk:XFez|talk]]) 13:30, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

== Transcript TLDR; ==
I have started a discussion on this topic here: [[User_talk:Kynde#Transcript_TLDR.3B]]. I think I'm not the only one who wants the transcript to be short and only describing the essentials. Maybe we can define a Transcript-Guide.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:55, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks for letting me know about the comment in the previous comics discussion Dgbrt. I still disagree with you that we should not write down every word written in the comic even if it is not spoken. As else this comic would have none. But also the labels for the countries should be written down. But if that is as the end of the transcript, it would not trouble the reader! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

== Labelled time zones ==

I created a map overlaid with more obvious time zone divisions, labelled with some of that zone's more popular abbreviations. Tried to keep 'em to Standard Time rather than Daylight. [http://i.imgur.com/L44ruPy.png Seen here.] --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:39, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-14T17:01:07Z

VonAether: waterdown

The actual location for Braintree should be Essex not North Yorkshire.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.171|141.101.98.171]] 15:22, 14 November 2016 (UTC)<nowiki>Insert non-formatted text here</nowiki>

Could Highland be a reference to Highlander? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.84|173.245.52.84]] 15:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could be referring to Wick , at the top of Scotland ''Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''

''Waterdown: Near [the actual] Grimsby'' Interestingly enough, in southern Ontario, Canada, there's a Waterdown not far from a Grimsby. Waterdown is considered part of Hamilton, and is towards its northwestern edge, while Grimsby is to Hamilton's east. --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:01, 14 November 2016 (UTC)