explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2129: 1921 Fact Checker

2019-03-28T22:40:11Z

Wwoods: _the_ Pilgrims

{{comic
| number = 2129
| date = March 27, 2019
| title = 1921 Fact Checker
| image = 1921_fact_checker.png
| titletext = POLITIFACT SAYS: MOSTLY WHATEVER
}}

==Explanation==

This comic shows a 1921 [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29977721/really_no_importance/ newspaper article] with information about {{w|Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony)|the Pilgrims}} coming to America. [[Randall]] has a 'grudging respect' for the author, who feels the information is so unimportant that no fact-checking has been done, and has enough integrity to inform the reader of this.

The [https://www.newspapers.com/title_9529/kansas_city_sun/ ''Kansas City Sun''] referenced by the comic was a newspaper in Kansas City, Kansas that ran from 1892 to 1924(?). (Interestingly, there was also a [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90061556/#tab=tab_newspapers ''Kansas City Sun''] in Kansas City, Missouri that ran from 1908 to 1924.)

{{w|PolitiFact}}, mentioned in the title text, is a fact-checking project which evaluates the truth or falsity of various statements made by politicians and other people involved in U.S. politics. The positions on its rating scale are "True", "Mostly True", "Half True", "Mostly False", "False", and "Pants on Fire", the last position being reserved for the most egregiously "false" claims. "Mostly Whatever", the rating identified in the title text, is presented by Randall as a rating that could apply to claims that have so little relevance or interest that they are not worth checking. See also [[1712: Politifact]].

==Transcript==
:[In a panel with light-gray background is a block of text:]
:An investigator claims to have discovered in some dusty archives that back in the days when the Pilgrims landed each person coming to America from England was required to bring with them eight bushels of corn meal, two bushels of oatmeal, two gallons of vinegar and a gallon each of oil and brandy.

:In view of the fact that nothing of importance hinges on the truth or falsity of this statement, not much time need be consumed to ascertain whether this is truth or fiction.
:::—Kansas City Sun
:::Friday, May 6th, 1921

:[Caption below the panel]
:I have a grudging respect for this 1921 newspaper fact-checker.

==Trivia==
*The exact newspaper [[Randall]] used is [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/477982773/ this].

{{comic discussion}}

2016: OEIS Submissions

2018-07-09T06:00:50Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ phone number?

{{comic
| number = 2016
| date = July 6, 2018
| title = OEIS Submissions
| image = oeis_submissions.png
| titletext = SUB[59]: The submission numbers for my accepted OEIS submissions in chronological order
}}

==Explanation==

The {{w|OEIS}} is the [https://oeis.org/ Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences], a listing of thousands of sequences of integers, generally of real mathematical interest, such as {{w|prime number}}s or [https://oeis.org/A005188 Armstrong numbers]. The OEIS normally expects submissions to be accompanied by references to scholarly articles about, or at least referencing, the sequence. They would not be interested in the personal or idiosyncratic sequences proposed by Randall, though they do have the [https://oeis.org/A000053 list of subway stops on the New York City Broadway line (IRT #1)], perhaps because a NY Times article mentioned that they don't.

Randall is trying to put his integer sequences on the OEIS website, including making OEIS reveal its password.
{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:10%"|Sub
!style="width:45%"|Requested Sequence
!style="width:45%"|Explanation
|-
|43
|All integers which do not appear in the example terms of another OEIS sequence
|Every OEIS sequence lists several example terms to demonstrate the content of said sequence. This request wants to list all integers which are ''not'' used as examples elsewhere. Any numbers used as example terms for this sequence are not counted, so this list is not self-disqualifying. It is well-defined at any given time. Like many other OEIS sequences, it has infinitely many terms (more precisely, it includes all integers except a finite number). However, it may change at any time, whenever a new sequence or a new example is added to the OEIS. If included, it would therefore have to be constantly updated.

Such integers are sometimes called "{{w|Interesting number paradox|uninteresting numbers}}" in mathematical terms, and attempts have been made to count them. The list changes, but [http://math.crg4.com/uninteresting.html#note4 in July 2009] it began 11630, 12067, 12407, 12887, 13258...
|-
|44
|Integers in increasing order of width when printed in Helvetica
| This sequence is not uniquely defined as it depends on the specific version of the {{w|Helvetica}} font used, its point size, the software used to render it (e.g. kerning algorithm), the handling of equal widths by the sorting algorithm and possibly other parameters. Also, all digits usually have the same width, with the exception of the sequence "11", which is a tiny bit narrower because a kerning pair exists in Helvetica. Without an additional tie-breaker for equal width numbers, the order is: 1 to 9 in no particular order, 11, 10 and 12 to 19 in no particular order and so on; for a particular choice of parameters the first 50 terms might be: 1, 9, 6, 2, 8, 5, 0, 7, 3, 4, 11, 61, 71, 91, 21, 51, 81, 41, 31, 19, 13, 18, 10, 12, 15, 16, 14, 17, 69, 63, 68, 79, 60, 62, 65, 73, 78, 99, 93, 98, 66, 70, 72, 75, 29, 90, 92, 95, 23, 28...
|-
|45
|The digits of Chris Hemsworth's cell phone number
| This request seems to be for actor {{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'s phone number — but the correct ordering of the digits isn't specified.
|-
|46
|All integers, in descending order
|There are an infinite number of integers. To list all integers in descending order, you would have to begin at the largest integer, and terminate only upon reaching the negative integer with the greatest absolute value, both of which are values that cannot be conceived. It is equally impossible to list all integers in ''ascending'' order, for that matter.
|-
|47
|The digits of the OEIS serial number for this sequence
|This sequence is only important tautologically.
|-
|48
|200 terabytes of nines
|This submission appears to be a joke on common video game limits for i.e. currency or ammunition, in which the maximum a player can carry is one less than a power of 10. This sequence would be entirely useless, as there is no mental effort required to conceive a list that consists only of a single repeated term, however arbitrarily large. Such a list is also incredibly wasteful; to give a comparison, [https://phys.org/news/2016-05-math-proof-largest-terabytes.html this very large math proof from 2016] is also 200 terabytes, and requires a supercomputer to hold in its entirety. 
200 terabytes is equal to 2 × 1014 bytes. In UTF-8 all ASCII characters, including control characters such as ␂ (start of text) and ␍ (carriage return), can be represented by a single byte. If the list is presumed to be formatted as "␂9␍9␍9 ... 9␍9␃", the first term would take up 3 bytes, and all other terms would take up 2 bytes. Assuming Randall wants the file size to be 200 terabytes ''minimum'', the resulting list would be a minimum of 1 × 1014, or 100 trillion, terms long.

Curiously, OEIS does in fact contain an entry that lists "[https://oeis.org/A010734 all nines]".
|-
|49
|The decimal representation of the bytes in the root password to the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences server
|This would give any user the password to OEIS. {{w|Internet troll|What happens next}} anyone can easily forecast.
|-
|59 (title text)
|The submission numbers for my accepted OEIS submissions in chronological order
|This would only be useful to Randall. If all of his submissions have been rejected, this would be an empty set. However, if this submission is accepted, the set would, by definition, include at least one number (except that this would not be known at the time of submission). Thus, as in the Russell Paradox, this set would out of date as soon as it was accepted, since the set of accepted submission numbers would change at that point.
|}

==Transcript==
:SUB[43]: All integers which do not appear in the example terms of another OEIS sequence
:SUB[44]: Integers in increasing order of width when printed in Helvetica
:SUB[45]: The digits of Chris Hemsworth's cell phone number
:SUB[46]: All integers, in descending order
:SUB[47]: The digits of the OEIS serial number for this sequence
:SUB[48]: 200 terabytes of nines
:SUB[49]: The decimal representation of the bytes in the root password to the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences server

:[Caption below the panel:]
:OEIS keeps rejecting my submissions

{{comic discussion}}

2009: Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

2018-06-20T22:30:09Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ wouldn't need *quite* that big a screen

{{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 start at about 30,000K and what is labeled on this diagram as 1033 watts—i.e. the upper-left corner, and extend down enough to include the "Brown Dwarfs". This diagram has been extended to 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 (both in terms of luminosity and temperature) and are thus positioned further towards the diagram's upper left 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.

{| 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
|
|
|
|-
|Earth
|
|
|
|-
|Mars
|
|
|
|-
|Moon
|
|
|
|-
|Nuclear Fireball
|
|
|
|-
|France
|
|
|
|-
|Europa
|
|
|
|-
|Lightning Bolt
|
|
|
|-
|Ivanpah Solar Plant Salt Tank
|
|
|
|-
|Medium-sized Lava Lake
|
|
|
|-
|Cruise Ship
|
|
|
|-
|Campfire
|
|
|
|-
|Blue Whale
|
|
|
|-
|Arc Lamp
|
|
|
|-
|Lightbulb
|
|
|
|-
|LED Bulb
|
|
|
|-
|Astronomer
|
|
|
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2009: Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

2018-06-20T17:29:10Z

Wwoods: Ivanpah

How the heck is a lava cake more luminous than a campfire? {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.28}}
:It's Lava Lake, as in a large puddle of lava.[[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 15:45, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

As it's a logarithmic scale, is it more correct to say the plot been expanded to 1 on both axes? [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 15:47, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

It seems Randall thinks an astronomer is about as bright as a lightbulb, probably due to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram itself! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:52, 20 June 2018 (UTC)
:A daily food consumption of average human is about 100W when spread out over 24 hours

While wattage is used as an informal proxy for bulb brightness, there is not a 1-to-1 relationship between power consumption and light output. Incandescent bulbs in the United States were commonly labeled with both watts consumed and lumens output to aid consumers in choosing efficient bulbs.

{{w|Ivanpah Solar Power Facility|Ivanpah}} doesn't have a salt tank. Presumably he meant the boiler, and/or was confusing it with {{w|Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project|Crescent Dunes}}.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 17:29, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

2009: Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

2018-06-20T16:49:04Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ title text

2009: Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

2018-06-20T16:00:06Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ log plots can't go to zero

Talk:1939: 2016 Election Map

2018-01-08T23:26:10Z

Wwoods: At a guess, the inspiration was the anniversary of Trump's inauguration.

;Why now?

So why are we getting this map now instead of a year ago? Has something significant to this area just happened in the U.S.A.? (I am a Canadian so might well have missed something.)
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.154|108.162.216.154]] 16:42, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I'm from the midwest in the US and I'm really confused as well... I also don't find anything particularly funny or poignant in this. So yeah, color me confused in the US. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.76|162.158.75.76]] 16:52, 8 January 2018 (UTC) Sam

: At a guess, because we're coming up on the anniversary of Trump's inauguration. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 23:26, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I think the idea is that this map, while interesting as an object, still sort of fails as a map - it doesn't provide the sort of easily digestible information that a map of this variety is supposed to show. Conceptually, I don't think it's that different than #1138 (Heatmap) - the map more or less shows population density and fails to easily communicate party alignment. As to why it's showing up in the first year of 2018, my best guess is that mid-term elections are this year...? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.238|172.69.69.238]]

My friend I showed the comic to thinks it could be a general political commentary on the uselessness of these kinds of maps. 1. the map is a year old: useless. 2. there are no numbers: useless. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.76|162.158.75.76]] 17:04, 8 January 2018 (UTC) Sam.

I'm wondering if it has to do with the fact that [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/us/politics/trump-voter-fraud-commission.html Trump just disbanded the commission on voter fraud]. I think I heard somewhere that this commission was to "prove why Trump should have won the popular vote". I think the map relates to the whole popular vote versus electoral college discussion.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 17:17, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I think it might be claiming Trump only won because very many people failed to vote? Either that, or as already mentioned, it's about how useless these maps can be. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 17:20, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

The point of the map is that the standard choropleth map for the 2016 election shows the vast majority of us area voting for Donald Trump. (shown on this link http://brilliantmaps.com/2016-county-election-map/) The comic is criticizing the visual accuracy of chloropleth maps in giving a strong understanding of election results (as the majority of voters voted for Hillary). ---- {{unsigned| Widea}}

If this map is really so correct (as stated in the caption) then it has been a huge job to collect the data so precisely and calculate how to split voters across borders when not fitting. This says to me that this is a very big issue for Randall. Of course he has made it clear many times that he is [[1756: I'm With Her|against Trumps election]] and more or less [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|anything he does]]... I believe there is a lot to learn from this map as opposed to those he mentions in the title text --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:33, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

If this map is correct, then there are 252 Trump guys on it and 263 Clinton guys on it, a difference of 11 guys. I don't know how many "other" guys are on it. Just in case someone would like to know. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.230.4|198.41.230.4]] 20:13, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

One thing that the map does clearly show is that voters of Clinton were clustered in heavily urbanized regions (New England to Delmarva, Miami region, Chicago region, Houston and Austin, and coastal California in particular). Those same Clinton clusters are also home to the most third-party voters. Meanwhile, Trump voters were spread out more evenly and in isolated pockets, and there are very few third-party voters living out in the boonies.
I think the takeaway is that Democratic voters are underrepresented because they are grouped so closely together, and those same populations are also prone to giving rise to anti-two-party sentiment. These two factors combined work against liberalist movements in the United States. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.225|162.158.74.225]] 20:23, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I never realized until now just how few people live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.46|108.162.241.46]] 20:25, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I also think Randal needs a lesson in rural/urban voting, as the placement of many of the red figures on this map are, well, a bit off.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 22:46, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

The claim about Trump being "obsessed" with how red the map appears seems to just be added to be inflammatory. As far as I know, he just gloated about the map a bit on Twitter on the days following his election. He definitely hasn't kept sharing red maps one year later like Randall, and I think we don't consider Randall obsessed. I'm removing it, and I'd rather this not be added back without a source that clearly shows such an obsession. [01000101] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.25.112|172.68.25.112]] 21:13, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I count 31 "Green" folks, in addition to whoever counted the red and blues. That means our total is 546 little stick figures. I'm not sure why he picked that number, but it could be the correct number of folks to stick one on the small states of Alaska, Hawiaii, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. He also took the unusual step of counting VOTES instead of population. It'd be fun to have a version with non-voters on it.

I think Randall has always been a map enthusiast. I read this as an alternative map. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.28|108.162.237.28]] 21:54, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

;136,669,237 votes in 2016
To all the guys who are counting the Cueballs in the map: 546 Cueballs multiplied by 250,000 is 136,500,000 votes.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:07, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1927: Tinder

2017-12-13T01:16:14Z

Wwoods: alternate possibility

This comic reminds me of [http://xkcd.com/582] (because of using an inappropriate form of communication in an emergency).

"Cueball is violating the law by using a cell phone that is not in "airplane mode" when on an airplane.", really? I don't think it's an actual "law" since the entire concept is based on garbage and bullshit (you'd have to be in the cockpit AND within about 2 feet of the equipment in question in order to interfere with it. For both airplanes and hospitals the rule is actually just to try to bully people into being considerate to the people around them). I believe it's just a rule set by the FAA or some other governing body. Also, I believe said rule is limited to during take off and landing, not the entire flight. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:31, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

*I also wondered about "Cueball is violating the law by using a cell phone that is not in "airplane mode" when on an airplane.", but for a different reason: How do we now that the phone is not in airplane mode, but which activated wifi? As some airlines (at least in Europe) offer wifi on board, it would be quite common (and allowed) to be able to use online services on a phone while flying (but not other wireless signals, e.g. phone calls). [[User:Scm|Scm]] ([[User talk:Scm|talk]]) 09:00, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

:: Actually, you're correct (at least in the US). However, some countries has actual laws that either explicitly do not allow phone usage on a plane (e.g. Japan) or do not allow it implicitly (In Russia, using licensed radio frequencies above a certain height is not allowed unless the regulator allows that use) - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.144.169|172.68.144.169]] 10:29, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

::: I understand the reason for turning off cellular connections is not for the safety of the aircraft but the safety of the cellular network. Having phones hopping between cells at 400 mph is out of spec for the technology and causes problems. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.143|141.101.104.143]] 17:59, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

:::: There are more legitimate (at least in the eyes of the government, for example Russia fears spys using weather baloons and radio to signal something) reasons than that it will interfere with the plane (unless that plane is seriously broken) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.40|162.158.165.40]] 23:23, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

:To suggest that there is a meaningful difference (in this context) between a rule and a law is silly; the FAA can (and has) fined individuals for using cell phones *during takeoff*. Does it matter if the fine was for breaking a rule or for breaking a law?
:More importantly, in the scenario shown Cueball has somehow found himself in the role of PIC (pilot in command) and in an emergency situation. Assuming he declares the emergency he can freely violate any and all FAA rules that he believes will help in resolving the emergency (that's the FAA's rule).

I'm not sure that the interpretation that he may be making up the emergency to gain matches really makes sense, given the title text - since the radio wouldn't really help him in that case.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 17:19, 12 December 2017 (UTC)
----
:"In either case, Cueball is violating the law by using a cell phone that is not in "airplane mode" (in some phones, flight mode or offline mode) when on an airplane."
Or maybe he's not actually ''on'' a plane, but simply wants to hook up with someone who's interested enough in planes to know how to fly one.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 01:16, 13 December 2017 (UTC)

1919: Interstellar Asteroid

2017-11-22T20:37:08Z

Wwoods: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1919
| date = November 22, 2017
| title = Interstellar Asteroid
| image = interstellar_asteroid.png
| titletext = Every time we detect an asteroid from outside the Solar System, we should immediately launch a mission to fling one of our asteroids back in the direction it came from.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Edited by a huge 🍆 - Please change this 🍆 when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|ʻOumuamua}} is the first detection of an [https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/faq/interstellar interstellar asteroid] passing through the Solar System originating from another solar system.

[[Megan]]'s list of objects with a similar shape ratio:
* 1:4:9 {{w|Monolith (Space Odyssey)|monolith}} from the sci-fi movie ''{{w|2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''
* {{w|Star Destroyer}}, a spaceship in the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe
* Huge eggplant emoji (🍆, U+1F346 Aubergine, commonly used to represent a penis).
* Statue of {{w|"Weird Al" Yankovic}}, an American singer and parodist
* iPhone XXXXX, likely making fun of Apple's {{w|iPhone X}} and larger in size
* [http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/Voltron_(Voltron_Force) Voltron], a giant robot from the animated series ''{{w|Voltron|Voltron: Defender of the Universe}}''
* A giant {{tvtropes|BurialInSpace|space coffin}} with someone inside.

As soon as Megan lists off the last item, she is about to start speculating within her own speculative scenario, before being interrupted by Cueball. Cueball attempts to bring Megan back down-to-earth by reminding her that she has too little data to work with, but Megan is far too excitable to listen to reason. The dangers of speculating irresponsibly, it would seem.
It could also be argued that Megan with this makes fun of many news outlets who speculated about the looks of the object from the first second on. Making fun on media covering science news is a reoccuring theme on xkcd.

It's possible that, as it reads "iPhone XXXX, Voltron" that this is implying that the iPhone XXXXX will *be* Voltron.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan walks towards Cueball while looking at her phone. Cueball sits in front of his laptop.]
:Megan: Hey, you know that asteroid that tumbled past from another star system? It's apparently really long and skinny.
:Megan: Like a ratio of 6:1 or 10:1.
:Cueball: Weird. Wonder what it's shaped like.

:Megan: Without more data, it would be irresponsible to speculate further.
:Cueball: So...you're going to?
:Megan: ''Absolutely.''

:Megan: Here are some objects with a similar shape ratio:
:Megan: The 1:4:9 monolith from ''2001: A Space Odyssey''.
:Megan: A star destroyer.
:Megan: A huge eggplant emoji.

:Megan: A statue of Weird Al. An iPhone XXXXX. Voltron.
:Megan: A giant space coffin. But who could be inside? We can only guess. I'll start:
:Cueball: This is all based on ''how'' many data points, again?
:Megan: One. But it's a ''perfect'' fit!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1902: State Borders

2017-10-13T20:37:53Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ panhandle

{{comic
| number = 1902
| date = October 13, 2017
| title = State Borders
| image = state_borders.png
| titletext = A schism between the pro-panhandle and anti-panhandle factions eventually led to war, but both sides spent too much time working on their flag designs to actually do much fighting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Add a table of all the proposed changes, explain title text... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, graphic designers take control of the United States, but the only thing they do is to change the state and national borders, as well as to some extent the coast line, using primarily esthetic criteria.

Despite the caption's rather blasé reaction to the graphic designers' master plan, the changes they propose could be rather tumultuous. Many U.S. residents will be made to live in new states, and thus be required to pay different taxes and obey different state laws. Some particularly unlucky U.S. residents living Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Minnesota will be required to file for citizenship in Mexico or Canada if they wish to continue living in their current homes.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Proposed change !! Explanation
|-
| Give to Canada || {{w|Minnesota}} has a small northern enclave (the {{w|Northwest Angle}}) which is accessible from the rest of the US only via the {{w| Lake of the Woods}} or by travelling through Canada. The new borders suggest giving this territory to Canada to simplify the state and national border.
|-
| This should be {{w|Wisconsin}} || {{w|Michigan}} is divided into two parts by {{w|Lake Michigan}}. The graphic designers suggest eliminating a boundary line by assigning the upper peninsula of Michigan to Wisconsin.
|-
| If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it? || {{w|Oklahoma}} has a "panhandle" to its west, which is a kind of {{w|Salient (geography)|Salient}}. The obvious fix would be to give it to Texas. In a twist, the graphic designers suggest extending it even further, across the northern parts of {{w|Arizona}} and {{w|New Mexico}}.
|-
| Let's be honest, this should be Canada too || {{w|Southeast Alaska}} should be given to {{w|Canada}}, presumably because it more neatly fits with {{w|British Columbia}}. This is slightly problematic, as the state capital, {{w|Juneau}}, is within this section.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Texas}}/{{w|Oklahoma}}/{{w|Arkansas}}/{{w|Louisiana}} || Square off {{w|Southwest Arkansas}}, and move {{w|Lousiana's}} northwest border to meet up, presumably because square corners are better.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Nevada}}/{{w|Arizona}} || Continue the line of Utah's western border and Arizona's far northwestern border south (replacing part of the {{w|Colorado River}} boundary), transferring part of Arizona's {{w|Mohave_County,_Arizona|Mohave county}} to Nevada.
|-
| Clean up (Arizona/New Mexico/Texas) || One of {{w|New Mexico}}'s borders should be extended into a single line. This results in ceding some land to Mexico, having {{w|El Paso}} split across New Mexico and Texas, and Highway 62 alternating between two states.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Kentucky}}/{{w|Virginia}} || Virginia's western border is shifted east to align it with the borders to the north and south, forming a continuous line along the {{w|Appalachian_Mountains|Appalachains}}.
|-
| Fix this thing || The border of {{w|Missouri}} cuts into {{w|Arkansas}}, in the so-called {{w|Missouri Bootheel}}. The Design Team has awarded that piece to {{w|Arkansas}}, straightening the border.
|-
| Align to Grid || Most of the Western states are variations on "Let's have a large box", but there's something a bit irregular about them. Never fear, the Design Team has fixed!
|-
| Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty. ||
The {{w|Florida Panhandle}} borders southern {{w|Alabama}} denying the state all but a sliver of coastline. Given that Florida already has an abundance of coast, the Graphic Designers consider the present arrangement unfair. Ceding the Florida counties west of the {{w|Apalachicola River}} have actually been {{w|Florida_Panhandle#Alabama_annexation_proposals|raised since the 19th century}}. This change would have the additional benfit of more neatly aligning Florida's western border with that of neighboring {{w|Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia}}.
|-
|Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware || {{w|Rhode Island}} and {{w|Delaware}}, the two {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area#Area_by_state.2Fterritory|smallest U.S. states by area}}, are often difficult to make out on a map of the United States. Expanding Delaware to occupy the entire {{w|Delmarva_Peninsula|Delmarva peninsula}} eliminates some boundary lines the designers apparently consider excessively fiddly; expanding Rhode Island eastward would reduce the number of land borders it has to too (one to its west with Connecticut and one to its north with Massachusetts) and make it easier to see on a map.
|-
| Clean Up (Arizona/New Mexico/Texas) || One of {{w|New Mexico}}'s borders should be extended into a single line. This results in ceding some land to Mexico, having {{w|El Paso}} split across New Mexico and Texas, and Highway 62 alternating between two states.
|-
| Move Long Island to NJ or CT, or make it its own state || {{w|Connecticut}} and {{w|New Jersey}} are very close to each other but don't actually border, separated only a few miles by {{w|New York State}}. {{w|Long Island}} is part of New York State, which visibly juts out into the Atlantic and apparently drives graphic designers crazy who see an association with New Jersey or Connecticut or even becoming its own state more logical than being a part of New York State. This would have some issues, not least of which is that Long Island contains two of {{w|New York City}}'s five boroughs ({{w|Brooklyn}} and {{w|Queens}}) and more than half the city's population.
|-
| Clean Up (Maryland/Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia) || Maryland's western panhandle and both of West Virginia's to the east and north would be smoothed out to have nice, straight, shorter lines.
|-
| Good Curve! Keep (Florida/Georgia/South Carolina) || The only thing the design team likes already about the shape of the US is the shape of the Atlantic coast in northern {{w|Florida}}, Georgia, and {{w|South Carolina}}, as it seems to bend into the US smoothly.
|-
| Straighten to fix survey errors (Tennessee) || {{w|Tenneesse}}'s southern border is supposed to be the 35th parallel north, but due to surveying errors made in the 19th Century the marked border is one mile south of that line. At many times since, Georgia has sought to fix this by various means (at least partly because doing so would net them some rights to the water from the Tennessee River) including bringing its case to the US Supreme Court - with the Design Team in charge, they wouldn't need those lawyers any more. Farther westward, Tennessee's actual southern border suddenly juts south at the Tennessee River between Alabama and Mississippi - again, the Design Team would rather see it smoothed out. Tenneesse's northern border with Kentucky has similar hitches that prevent it from being a straight line that the Design Team wants to address.
|}

In the title text, the graphic designers have a civil war between the ones that favor "panhandles" in the borders, such as the Oklahoma one which is enlarged in the map, the Florida one which is removed in the map, and maybe others such as the Texas region known as the "Texas panhandle". However, they get too caught up in making the flag designs for their faction to actually fight. Randall has shown interest for vexillology (the study of flags) in the past.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An outline map of the United States is shown, including state boundaries. The following edit marks are shown in red text:]
:[Minnesota's Northwest Angle is circled] Give to Canada
:[Border between Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula is crossed out] This should be Wisconsin
:[New York's Long Island is circled, with arrows and question marks pointing to New Jersey and Connecticut] Move Long Island to NJ or CT or make it its own state
:[New York's eastern border has been straightened]
:[Wyoming's western border is moved to align with that of Colorado. The Montana/Idaho and Idaho/Utah borders are extended to reach the new border. Similarly, Colorado's eastern border is moved to align with that of Wyoming, and the Nebraska/Kansas border has been extended] Align to grid
:[West Virginia's northern panhandle has been given to Ohio and part of its eastern panhandle has been given to Maryland. In return, Western Maryland has been given to West Virginia. The altogether effect is that West Virginia and Maryland have more compact shapes] Clean Up
:[Rhode Island has been enlarged to encompass southeastern Massachusetts, and Delaware now takes up the entire Delmarva Peninsula] Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware
:[The Oklahoma Panhandle has been extended west until it reaches Nevada, taking the northernmost parts of Arizona and New Mexico with it] If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it?
:[The Missouri Bootheel has been given to Arkansas] Fix this thing
:[The part of Virginia west of the Appalachian Mountains has been given to West Virginia]
:[The southwestern and eastern borders of Nevada have been extended into Arizona until they meet a point. A part of California is slightly extended to reach the revised border]
:[Parts of Arizona and New Mexico have been ceded to Mexico, and part of Texas has been given to New Mexico, so that the southern borders of Arizona and New Mexico and the northern border of the Trans-Pecos area of Texas collectively form a straight line] Clean Up
:[Parts of northeastern Texas have been given to Arkansas and Louisiana]
:[The northern and southern borders of Tennessee have been straightened] Straighten to fix survey errors
:[A line has been traced along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida] Good curve! Keep.
:[Alaska's southeastern panhandle has been circled] Let's be honest - this should be Canada, too.
:[The Alabama/Florida border has been erased, and Alabama's eastern border has been extended south until it meets the Gulf of Mexico] Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It was scary when graphic designers seized control of the country, but it turned out they just wanted to fix some things about the state borders that had always bothered them. 

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1902: State Borders

2017-10-13T20:18:57Z

Wwoods: 49th parallel

Let's be honest- it should ''all'' be Canada. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.123|162.158.74.123]] 12:24, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Could Arizona, New Mexico be a reference to Trump? Like, make the border straighter so it's easier to build a wall? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 12:35, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
:More likely the joke is that conceding territory to Mexico is about the last thing Trump would do [[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 13:04, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

My first thought is to wonder if it would be possible to arrange the map such that all internal borders are "straight lines" that span the entire country, to satisfy as many criteria as possible:
* The number of states remains unchanged
** …and they all get to keep their capitals (probably quite difficult)
*** …or (and?) each state manages to keep either its current population, land area, or coastline length
* Or all internal borders are parallels or meridians
* Or all states have the same land area
** …or population; or population density
* Or if you're allowing more (or fewer) states than the present layout, what's the greatest number of states possible such that they all contain at least one complete city?

Which of those criteria would be the most interesting challenge? And which could you construct an algorithm to solve?
I really should refrain from trying to build those algorithms, because I'm supposed to be working --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:28, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

There are some great videos on YouTube about weird State boundaries. There are some REALLY weird oddities out there. Take for instance the "Give to Canada" piece - that's the Northwest Angle in Minnesota. It's really an accident that it ever ended up in the USA at all, and doesn't make any sense! [[User:Martini|Martini]] ([[User talk:Martini|talk]]) 13:40, 13 October 2017 (UTC)Martini
:I wouldn't call the NW Angle an accident as much as a slightly illogical solution in order to maintain the terms of the original border agreement in the face of the Mississippi River's inconveniently located headwaters. My recollection is that it said roughly: the border goes west of <this> point until reaching the Mississippi river [which all parties assumed continued that far north]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 14:13, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

I believe Randall's overall point is that though a large part of the individual United States have straight boundaries, especially in the West, or other features that are aesthetically pleasing, as in the S Carolina/Georgia/Florida coastline, there are a good number of internal inconsistencies. Many of these (most of the untagged "fixes") can be attributed to the concept that "Rivers make good logical boundaries", but even then, if you look closer, there are some really puzzling bits:
* The "Give To Canada" bit of Minnesota is almost all Indian Reservation land, so that kind of makes sense...
* The "Fix this thing" in Missouri is even stranger than it initially looks - while the notch in Arkansas is caused by the Mississippi River, there is a large bight of land in the middle of the Missouri-owned bit that is actually Kentucky (yes, there's an island of Kentucky that is separate from the main Kentucky state and entirely surrounded by Missouri)
* Not edited, but equally odd is the dip Florida cuts into Georgia near the east coast - there's no apparent town or natural features there to cause that irregularity

I don't happen to think the Arizona/New Mexico bits are political commentary, just "the entire rest of the state is a box, make this a straight line, too." cleanup. I mean yes, it would make wall-building easier, theoretically, but the Chinese showed the world centuries ago that straight lines are not needed to build a big fricking wall. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.131|108.162.238.131]] 14:23, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

- While I agree it probably isn't conscious political commentary, its interesting that there are not places the border increases; always concessions, never gains. May take into account its easier to give than take territory? --[[User:Jgt|Jgt]] ([[User talk:Jgt|talk]]) 19:32, 13 October 2017 (UTC)--[[User:Jgt|Jgt]] ([[User talk:Jgt|talk]]) 19:33, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

I'm surprised Randall didn't suggest cleaning up Point Roberts as well [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington]. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.174|141.101.107.174]] 14:33, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
: Presumably the graphic designers are okay with that, since it maintains the 49th Parallel as a nice, tidy border. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 20:18, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

I'm shocked he didn't support fixing the Idaho/Wisconsin/Montana/Oregon border. That top part should be either given to Montana, or split between Washington and Oregon... I wonder if he left out certain things in order to avoid offending certain groups of people. Like suggesting that Rhode Island and Connecticut should probably be one state, or that Vermont and New Hampshire should be as well. [[User:Kashim|Kashim]] ([[User talk:Kashim|talk]]) 17:03, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Some of the suggestions are ironic, for example Michigan's upper peninsula actually used to be part of the Wisconsin territory, but it was ceded to Michigan in exchange for the port of Toledo being ceded to Ohio. "why does Florida get Alabama's coastline" is actually because Alabama got part of Florida's coastline so it wouldn't be landlocked. The bit of Nevada that he wants to fix it so Nevada has territory along the Colorado River [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.250|162.158.75.250]] 17:18, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

1836: Okeanos

2017-05-12T16:43:26Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1836
| date = May 12, 2017
| title = Okeanos
| image = okeanos.png
| titletext = WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| First edit.}}
The {{w|NOAAS_Okeanos_Explorer_(R_337)|NOAAS Okeanos Explorer}}, named after the Greek (and Roman) personification of the sea {{w|Okeanos}}, is a vessel that is currently exploring the Central Pacific Basin. It livestreams the video feed [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html] of its deep sea exploration online.

This comic seems to be a representation of the livestream on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmVT36Axtn0]. The chat section for the actual livestream is disabled, but the comic adds some humoristic examples of what the chat section would look like.
Randall mentioned the ridiculousness of comments on YouTube before in [[202: YouTube]] and [[481: Listen to Yourself]].

Randall states that he likes to view the stream and commends them on disabling the chat section.

{| class="wikitable"
!Comment
!Explanation
|-
| Fake
| A very common YouTube comment expressing skepticism, for example saying that the content is edited or computer generated.
|-
| Who else is watching this in 2017?
| This type of comment appears frequently on videos, as a kind of community bonding over discovering or revisiting older content. It is not relevant here, as this is a live feed in 2017.
|-
| Is this prerendered or will these graphics be in the game?
| Commenter probably thinks this is a trailer for a game with hyperrealistic graphics.
|-
| That squid is neoliberal.
| Political commenter.
|-
| Why do the McElroy's never talk?
| A reference to The Adventure Zone, a ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' podcast hosted by the McElroy Brothers and their dad. In the world of The Adventure Zone, there is a creature called the Voidfish, which is generally interpreted to look like a jellyfish.
|-
| Stop messing around and eat the fish already.
| Possibly a gamer or food vlog watcher.
|-
| This is why Trump won.
| Another political commenter.
|-
| Why do you never craft anything?
| A comment referencing games such as ''{{w|Minecraft|Minecraft}}'', where a key aspect to survival is crafting materials.
|-
| This is just a distraction
| Commenter thinks people should be focused on other things which are more important. Possibly political comment. Possibly conspiracy theorist.
|-
| Something is wrong with that baby giraffe.
| A live video of a giraffe in labor and giving birth was viral in April 2017. This commenter is apparently confused about which video they're watching, and is concerned that the creature on screen (a jellyfish) looks unlike a healthy baby giraffe.
|}
The title text is a comment by someone who allegedly lost their phone in the ocean, which is not a small place{{Citation needed}} and wants to use Okeanos' resources to find it.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete|Please add onto what I have put so far.}}
[The comic takes place during a typical YouTube live-stream. The live-stream is from "OceanExplorerGov", using a submarine to explore the Central Pacific Basin. On the left hand side, the live video feed is playing, showing the ocean's depths. On the right hand side, the chat (typically shown in live-streams) is displayed]

User #1: Fake

User #2: Who else is watching this in 2017?

User #3: Is this pre-rendered or will this be in the game?

User #4: That squid is a neo-liberal

User #5: Why do the McElroys never talk

User #6: This is why Trump won

User #7: Why do you never craft anything

User #8: This is just a distraction

User #9: Something is wrong with that giraffe

Caption: I love watching the Okeanos Ocean Exploration live-stream, but it's probably for the best that they don't enable chat.

Title Text: WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT

{{comic discussion}}

1792: Bird/Plane/Superman

2017-02-06T16:53:37Z

Wwoods: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1792
| date = January 30, 2017
| title = Bird/Plane/Superman
| image = bird_plane_superman.png
| titletext = You can apply special translucent films to your windows to help keep birds/Superman from accidentally flying into them.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a logical comparison of observations to resolve the [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034247/quotes?item=qt0317455 classic Superman catchphrase] of comic book bystanders: "Look, up in the sky... It's a {{w|bird}}!... It's a {{w|Airplane|plane}}!... It's {{w|Superman}}!", hence the title. Superman, a character originally created for comic books in the 1930's, is an alien with superpowers, including the power of unaided flight; hence the catchphrase exclaiming peoples' amazement.

At the correct distance both birds, planes and the fictive Superman could be mistaken for each other. So this comic aims to help people identify the airborne object by listing on which properties they are alike and on which they are different. This problem was also mentioned in the title text of [[1633: Possible Undiscovered Planets]], putting Superman near the bird/plane boundary explaining why all this confusion has arisen.

The observations compared range from the mundane to the bizarre and they are listed and explained below in the [[#Table|table]]. Here some highlights are mentioned, but for all these there are much more detail below.

Some of the mundane observations are that birds don't fly around with people, while Superman can do it, and planes are meant for it; and that the latter two are new "inventions", whereas birds have flown around for millions of years.

Interestingly enough there are actually two observations that have check mark for all three; the first being that there are enthusiasts for all three different flying objects. And these will obsess over small color details in otherwise similar looking objects. The other common thing is that they all may have sex in midair. The possibility of that happening for the all three are discussed in the table.

Three observations only counts for birds, where all those that do not count for birds do count for both planes and superman. Two of these relates to the fact that birds are eaten by cats and humans, the last is that birds flap their wings to fly, the others have other means of flight. There are observations that rules out only planes or only superman, but none that rules out only one of them at the same time as birds are ruled out.

There are also three direct jokes towards the bottom. The first is that {{w|David Attenborough}} may also have observed Superman's mating habits just like he has with birds in the documentary series {{w|The Life of Birds}}. The second is that not only birds poop in flight, but that Superman could and would also do so. And the third (and also final observation) is that not only birds chase insects to eat them, but Superman also chases them... though only when he is bored. These last three observations have that in common that the planes are left out of all of them, and the joke is always on Superman. As it has been before in [[1384: Krypton]] and [[1394: Superm*n]] (released just ten comics apart).

The title text refers to black stickers (decals) in the shape of an easily recognizable predatory bird, like {{w|falcons}} to enhance the visibility of clear glass windows or doors and scare smaller birds away before they crash into the window. This may actually not work very well according to this article: [https://www.allaboutbirds.org/why-birds-hit-windows-and-how-you-can-help-prevent-it/ Why Birds Hit Windows], where a falcon decal is also shown. But they are meant to warn birds away and according to this comic they could also prevent Superman from flying through your window (and thus also stop him from possibly just continue through the building). They are not known to affect the risk of airplanes flying into the building.

===Table===
{| class="wikitable"
!style="width: style="width: 55%;"| !!style="width: style="width: 15%;"| Bird !!style="width: style="width: 15%;"| Plane !! Superman
|-
!colspan=4| Explanation
|-
! Carries people || || ✓ || ✓
|-
|colspan=4| Some birds are capable of flying off while carrying a small human away, but this happens extremely rarely (although hoax stories are often reported). Of course an {{w|Ostrich}} can easily carry a human; they have done so often in arranged {{w|Ostrich#Racing|races}}. But as they cannot fly (with or without humans on their back), and this comic is about recognizing objects in the air, this will not affect the check mark! Most planes are specifically designed to carry human passengers, although many are cargo planes with humans only acting as crew, and autonomous drones without humans also exist. Superman often carries other people with him, such as his {{w|Lois Lane|girlfriend}}, rescued victims or the various villains that people need to be rescued from.
|-
! Often flies in groups || ✓ || ✓ ||
|-
|colspan=4| Many types of birds fly in flocks, particularly during long-range {{w|Bird migration|migrations}}. Some birds often fly in the {{w|V formation}} which has also been {{w|V_formation#Military_flight_missions|copied by planes}}. This formation has been used at least twice in xkcd in [[1440: Geese]] and recently in [[1729: Migrating Geese]] (notice the similarity in number of that bird comic compared to the one for this comic). Planes sometimes fly in {{w|Formation flying|group formation}}, particularly when engaged in military operations where mutual support is tactically useful (or when conducting practice maneuvers for such operations). Though the people who would mistake those planes for birds will mainly see this at {{w|Air show|air shows}}. Superman is a unique person, and thus does not fly in groups of Supermen. While Superman occasionally operates alongside other flying superheroes, and in some stories is duplicated or split into multiple beings, Randall apparently considers these circumstances too unusual to meet the "often" qualifier.
|-
! Created in 20th century || || ✓ || ✓
|-
|colspan=4| Birds evolved from dinosaurs, appearing as early as the Late Jurassic period, roughly 150 million years ago. That birds evolved from dinosaur who also had wings with feathers before they evolved on to becoming birds has often been referenced by Randall in comics like [[1104: Feathers]], [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]] and the title texts of [[867: Herpetology]] and [[1527: Humans]] The {{w|Wright_Flyer#Flight_trials_at_Kitty_Hawk|first successful flight}} of a powered heavier-than-air craft took place on December 17, 1903 and was performed by the {{w|Wright brothers}}. There are several other claims for the first such flight, for instance {{w|Alberto_Santos-Dumont#Heavier-than-air_craft|Alberto Santos-Dumont}} from Brazil [https://youtu.be/N_qXm9HY9Ro?t=2156 was given a spot] at the {{w|2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony|opening ceremony}} of the {{w|2016 Summer Olympics|Rio 2016 Olympic Games}}. Superman first appeared in {{w|Action Comics 1|''Action Comics'' #1}}, published in June 1938.
|-
! Uses magnetic navigation || ✓ || ✓ ||
|-
|colspan=4| Some types of birds use {{w|magnetoreception}} to navigate using the earth's magnetic field as a guide. Artificial {{w|Compass#Magnetic_compass|magnetic compasses}}, along with other navigational equipment, are used by planes. Superman, while possessing a {{w|Powers and abilities of Superman|plethora of super-senses/powers}}, does not appear to be particularly sensitive to {{w|magnetism}}.
|-
! Enthusiast community obsesses over small coloration details || ✓ || ✓ || ✓
|-
|colspan=4| {{w|Birdwatching|Birdwatchers}} identify bird species by a range of characteristics, including small details in the bird's color pattern which identify one species apart from another. Similarly, airplane hobbyists and {{w|Aircraft spotting|plane spotters}} take note of the colors of a plane's paint job and insignia. Comics fans can similarly identify the artist and date of a depiction of Superman by the coloration and configuration of his costume and be obsessed with their favorite coloration being the canon.
|-
! Preyed on by cats || ✓ || ||
|-
|colspan=4| {{w|Cats}} kill several billion birds a year, often - but not always - eating them. There has never been a case of a cat successfully catching and eating a plane. As Superman is a fictional character the same goes for him, but also in the comics he has never been eaten by a cat, although he has been [http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/power-girl-22.jpg devoured by a dinosaur] although that (probably{{Citation needed}}) did not kill him...
|-
! Occasional mid-air sex || ✓ || ✓ || ✓
|-
|colspan=4| Almost no bird species have sex in flight. Hummingbirds, for example, engage in courting behavior which one might falsely identify as sex (explained in this article [http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/hummingbird-sex1.htm Do hummingbirds have sex in midair?]). This article [http://www.livescience.com/38379-animal-sex-bird-sex.html Animal Sex: How Birds Do It] explains how birds in general have sex. However, this article [http://www.commonswift.org/Aerial-mating.html Aerial mating] claims that the common swift (Apus Apus) sometimes engages in mid-air sex, an act presumably caught on video [https://vimeo.com/78453839 here]. {{w|Mile high club|Mid-air sex}} involving planes usually involves passengers (and potentially air crew), not the plane itself. However, this could also be a metaphorical reference to {{w|Aerial refueling|in-flight refueling}} (such as the depiction, set to romantic music, in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs7EikHQGlA the opening scene] of the movie ''{{w|Dr. Strangelove}}'', a movie Randall has referenced before for instance in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/21/1608_1020x1083y_Torpedoes_two_steps_above_Runner_with_Beret_Guy.png this scene] from [[1608: Hoverboard]]) It could also refer to [http://avstop.com/news/plantcity.html this incident] where one plane landed atop another in mid-air. As for Superman, there have been occasional moments in the comics which indicate or at least imply that he sometimes engages in mid-air sex.{{Citation needed}}
|-
! Eaten during seasonal feasts || ✓ || ||
|-
|colspan=4| {{w|Turkey (bird)|Turkeys}}, a type of bird, are eaten by Americans during {{w|Thanksgiving}}, a "seasonal feast" held on the fourth Thursday of November of each year. Britons eat Turkey or {{w|Goose}} at {{w|Christmas}}, in other countries it may be {{w|ducks}} instead. It is unlikely that normal humans would eat a plane, however it has been done by {{w|Michel Lotito}} who has digested an entire {{w|Cessna 150|Cessna}} aircraft. However he used two years to consume the plane, so although he may have eaten some parts during holidays, he did not do it because there was a seasonal feast. Superman is too strong and "made of steel" for him to let any human eat him. But as also mentioned above he has been [http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/power-girl-22.jpg devoured by a dinosaur] although that probably did not kill him... Referring back to the possible sex Superman has had in flight, it seems he is able to have sex with a human. Although the slang ''{{w|Cunnilingus|eat me}}'' (link NSFW), usually mean the man eating the woman,[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=eat%20me it can also be used] the other way around. In this case Superman could have had holiday-sex with his girlfriend, where she ate him.
|-
! Propelled by flapping || ✓ || ||
|-
|colspan=4| Birds fly by flapping their wings. Planes have fixed wings, and fly by maintaining forward velocity and exploiting the aerodynamic effects of air flowing over the upper and lower wing surfaces, which are shaped and angled to produce lift. Superman flies using superpowers which require neither wings nor flapping.
|-
! Sometimes loses ability to fly, needs to sunbathe to regain it || ✓ || || ✓
|-
|colspan=4| Birds can "lose" the ability to fly, if their wings are weighed down by water from swimming. One way for birds to dry out their wings is to [http://birding.about.com/od/birdbehavior/a/Bird-Sunning.htm sunbathe]. An airplane can lose its ability to fly, but no issues occurring in modern aircraft can be fixed by sunbathing, except in some {{w|Solar Impulse|experimental solar-powered aircraft}}. One of Superman's superhero abilities is the ability to fly. However, he may lose this ability with prolonged exposure to {{w|Kryptonite}}, which make him weak. Also the rays from the sun at his home planet {{w|Krypton (comics)|Krypton}} can {{w|Superman_II#Plot|remove his super powers}} as it happened in {{w|Superman II}}. Superman's ability to fly is a superpower caused by "electromagnetic radiation from the rays of a yellow sun", so he could regain his strength and superhuman abilities through sunbathing in the {{w|Sun|Sun's}} light here on Earth. Which was how he got his super powers in the first place.
|-
! Can take a punch || || ✓ || ✓
|-
|colspan=4| Many birds are small and fragile creatures, whose {{w|Bird_anatomy#Skeletal_system|bone structures}} are meant to be light in order to fly, and thus are not very durable. If a man punched, say, a {{w|pigeon}}, he could probably break/dislocate most of its bones, either killing it immediately or leaving it in a state from which it will probably never ever recover on its own. However, there are definitely some big, {{w|flightless birds}} that could take a punch from a human such as ostriches and {{w|emus}}, but since both are large creatures that would probably react by fighting back, it would not be wise to try. Also Randall is (again) plainly ignoring this type of birds as they cannot fly and this comic is about making mistakes regarding things flying through the air (typically far enough away from the observer to mistake a pigeon for a plane). Planes are usually massive, or at least big enough to carry a human, and have to be made of materials durable enough to withstand hurtling through the sky at hundreds of miles an hour reliably on a regular basis. You could definitely punch one safely. (Meaning safe for the plane, not your hand.) One of Superman's (the {{w|Man of Steel (film)|Man of Steel}}) trademark abilities is his near indestructibility; a punch from any regular human would not hurt him, but again hurt the hand.
|-
! Mating behavior often observed by a hidden David Attenborough || ✓ || || Not that we know of
|-
|colspan=4| {{w|David Attenborough}} is an English broadcaster and naturalist, who produced a documentary series ''{{w|The Life of Birds}}''. Included in the series is an episode entitled "Finding Partners", which discussed {{w|Bird#Breeding|mating rituals of birds}}. That these can be very strange has been mentioned in the title text of [[1747: Spider Paleontology]], of course in relation to Dinosaur behavior. Planes are dead inanimate objects with no mating behavior. However, referring back to the observations made under the ''Occasional mid-air sex'' explanation it could be discussed if this was mating behavior. Also there are movies like {{w|Planes (film)|Planes}} and it's {{w|Planes: Fire & Rescue|sequel}} has living planes, which could mate. But Randall may know for sure that Attenborough is not interested in those. The comic states that we don't know for sure if Attenborough has observed Superman's mating behavior. As Superman doesn't exist{{Citation needed}} Attenborough has not seen Superman in reality (which would lead to a "No" response), but maybe Attenborough has watched all the movies in which Superman courts {{w|Lois Lane}} just to observe Superman's (made up) mating behavior (which would lead to a "Yes" response). Since we do not know Attenborough's habits, this leads to Randall giving the "Not that we know of" response.
|-
! Capable of intentionally releasing poop mid-flight || ✓ || || ✓
|-
|colspan=4| Birds often poop during flight, often enough that people regularly get hit in the head by the poop, which has caused the unlucky people to come up with the [http://thepetwiki.com/wiki/Pets_and_Superstitions superstition] that it brings good luck. For birds it is just economical to shed excess mass when they are going to fly, and many birds poop just at take off. But on long flights it the best use of resources to not carry extra weight along, that increases their efficiency. Unlike {{w|mammals}} who pee {{w|urea}}, {{w|Bird#Excretory_system|bird poop}} is both pee and feces as birds only have one hole, a {{w|cloaca}}, and the black poop is surrounded by their pee which is the white stuff containing {{w|uric acid}}. Not peeing lots of water out reduces their water loss. Some planes may be able to intentionally purge their septic tanks mid-flight, depending on the design of the waste interlocks, especially assuming the controls are inside the cockpit or cabin. As the TV show ''MythBusters'' has shown, a leaky septic disposal system can unintentionally lose liquid waste and cause a "blue ice" sighting on the ground. This is, however, not the planes poop and also not the plane that released it intentionally, and planes are not supposed to do this. Superman, being more or less human, could be capable of pooping during flight, but this would generally result in unnecessary drycleaning bills. But he has probably never been shown to either take a leak or poop in any of the {{w|Canon (fiction)|canon}} comics, books or films{{Citation needed}}. So he may not even be able to poop! But Randall assumes he can.
|-
! Chases and eats bugs || ✓ || || Only when bored
|-
|colspan=4| Many bird species prey on insects and similar-sized animals. Planes often fly into and kill insects (as well as birds, and sometimes humans), but this is unintentional and doesn't provide them with nutritional value, and they certainly do not chase them around. Superman is not known for eating insects, but Randall implies that he does sometimes, but only when he's bored. This could be interpreted as if he then tries to avoid his boredom by chasing the bugs intensionally, but why also eat them then? So it would probably rather happen because if you fly around while bored you might yawn at the wrong time and {{w|There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly|swallow a fly}}, just like when riding on a bike or any other relatively fast but open vehicle.
|}

==Transcript==

{| class="wikitable"
! !! Bird !! Plane !! Superman
|-
| Carries people || || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Often flies in groups || ✓ || ✓ ||
|-
| Created in 20th century || || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Uses magnetic navigation || ✓ || ✓ ||
|-
| Enthusiast community obsesses over small coloration details || ✓ || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Preyed on by cats || ✓ || ||
|-
| Occasional mid-air sex || ✓ || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Eaten during seasonal feasts || ✓ || ||
|-
| Propelled by flapping || ✓ || ||
|-
| Sometimes loses ability to fly, needs to sunbathe to regain it || ✓ || || ✓
|-
| Can take a punch || || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Mating behaviour often observed by a hidden David Attenborough || ✓ || || Not that we know of
|-
| Capable of intentionally releasing poop mid-flight || ✓ || || ✓
|-
| Chases and eats bugs || ✓ || || Only when bored
|-
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Food]]

1752: Interplanetary Experience

2016-11-03T03:17:12Z

Wwoods: /* Table of celestial bodies */ because a narrow box of text is needlessly hard to read.

{{comic
| number = 1752
| date = October 28, 2016
| title = Interplanetary Experience
| image = interplanetary_experience.png
| titletext = But instead of hitting the ocean, you should land in an overheating hot tub on a sinking cruise ship, sending it crashing through the floor into the burning engine room as the ship goes under.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic lists ten {{w|celestial bodies}}: most other {{w|planets}}, the {{w|dwarf planet}} {{w|Pluto}} as well as two {{w|moons}}, the Earth's {{w|Moon}} and {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}, the largest moon of {{w|Saturn}}. It then asks what places on Earth people could go to for a real '''Interplanetary Experience''', as if they were explorers on these planets. It turns out that none of these ten other worlds are very nice to visit...

This is a parody on organizations that in preparation for future planetary exploration organize half-realistic experiments in human behavior on other planets, trying to emulate or mock-up - often on low budget - the conditions in which future explorers are to live and work. For this purpose, they build mock-up bases, habitats etc. in places that ''look like'' other planets or have the environmental conditions ''somewhat'' similar to other celestial bodies' surfaces. They seek out desolate places like deserts or polar regions for this purpose.

In this comic [[Randall]] tries to identify places on Earth that ''actually'' have environmental conditions as close to these other worlds' as can be possible on the surface of the Earth. Some of the places suggested by Randall are borderline-survivable for a human, but most will kill you extremely quickly without a lot of high-tech gear - whether through {{w|hypothermia#severe|severe hypothermia}} (freezing), {{w|conflagration}} (fire), crushing (high pressure), or from violent winds.

Basically, nowhere in the {{w|solar system}}, except Earth, is even close to survivable (and there is actually only a very limited amount off Earth's surface where humans can actually live permanently). There is no planet or moon with a breathable atmosphere, or where the temperature stays within the human -tolerable range of roughly −20°C to 40°C (−5°F to 105°F, 250-310 K). It is also only with really good clothing and a place to stay at night that humans can live in a place much colder than 10°C for longer periods. The only place humans have so far ventured off-Earth is the Moon, and only during lunar morning while wearing thick pressurized spacesuits.

Some celestial bodies, like {{w|Venus}} and {{w|Jupiter}}, may ''never'' be visitable by humans without either huge advances in {{w|material science}} or full-scale {{w|terraforming}} (for Venus). Some places, like the centers of any planet (for example, the {{w|gas giants}} or even Earth itself), will probably never be visited, even by robots. (The title text suggests what happens when falling towards the center of a gas giant).

Below is a [[#Table of celestial bodies|table]] going through the seven suggested places on Earth. Due to the low pressure and temperature on the top of {{w|Mount Everest}} it is mentioned no less than three times, but using different time of day to represent different celestial bodies. In the first entry it even takes care of three in one go. Two of those are the Moon and Mercury, but for both only on their night side facing away from the sun. They are thus each mentioned twice, as there is a huge difference in environmental conditions between the sunlit faces of these two and their night sides. On the other end of the temperature scale are mentions of {{w|lava}} and a {{w|blast furnace}}; also high pressure environments are suggested to simulate other planets. The last goes for the gas giants, which are all mentioned together in the last entry.

The two groupings explains why there are only seven places mentioned for ten celestial bodies. The reason that the Moon is mentioned is of course that it is the closest companion to Earth and that we have actually visited. That the only other moon mentioned is likely because it is the only really cold celestial body that actually has an atmosphere as well as a surface humans could stand on. But there are many other large moons that would be interesting to visit, like the {{w|Galilean moons}} especially {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}. But that could probably be compared to being on Pluto, except the sun is a bit larger. That Pluto is included as the only dwarf planet is probably because it was still a planet when Randall was a kid (see [[473: Still Raw]]) and is the most recent (new) celestial body visited by a space probe at the time of release of this comic. This was celebrated by Randall in [[1551: Pluto]].

The title text is just a continuation of the last entry about falling down through the atmosphere of a gas giant, and it is also explained in the table below. This was also explored in [[What If?]] {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}}.

==Table of celestial bodies==
{|class="wikitable"
! Celestial bodies
! Place on Earth
|-
! colspan=2 | Explanation
|-
| {{w|Pluto}}, {{w|Moon}} (night) {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}} (night) || Mt. Everest at night
|-
| colspan=2 | The {{w|dwarf planet}} Pluto is a small icy rock so far away from the {{w|Sun}} that it practically makes no difference if it is day or night, the Sun is just the brightest star in the sky of Pluto's "day" side. But for both the {{w|Earth|Earth's}} Moon and Mercury (the innermost and smallest {{w|planet}} of the {{w|solar system}}) it makes a huge difference, which is why there is both a day and a night experience mentioned for these two celestial bodies (see below). Although they are very much closer to the Sun than Pluto, this makes no difference during their night time (when they face away from Sun). They are both relatively small, rocky bodies with practically no atmosphere and relatively slow rotation. Therefore their surfaces not illuminated by the Sun will cool down to very low temperatures (around -170 °C, -290 °F, 100 K), making their nighttime hemispheres desolate, dark and cold places. Randall proposes the summit of {{w|Mount Everest}} (the tallest mountain on Earth) as the place that will emulate the conditions most closely. It is a rocky, desolate and cold place. Even though it is not the coldest place on Earth, it is the highest point on land, therefore it has the lowest atmospheric pressure. It cannot be compared to the near-zero pressure and 100 Kelvins conditions on the aforementioned bodies, but it is as close as you can get on Earth. The top of Mt. Everest has an air pressure just 1/3 of what it is at sea level, and the oxygen levels are so low that they are barely survivable, although a few people have [http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/21/how-climbing-everest-without-oxygen-can-go-very-wrong/ reached the top without oxygen tanks], but others have died after losing their oxygen supply, making it as close as you can get on Earth to the near-vacuum found on these worlds.
|-
| colspan=2 |
|-
| {{w|Moon}} (day)|| Mt. Everest at noon under a tanning lamp
|-
| colspan=2 | As explained above, Mount Everest is as good an emulation of the Moon surface at night as you can get on Earth. During the Moon's day, its surface gets about as much solar radiation as Earth at noon, because both bodies' distance from the Sun is almost the same. The Earth's atmosphere, however, stops most of the Sun's {{w|ultraviolet radiation}}. A {{w|tanning lamp}} is a device emitting mostly ultraviolet radiation for the purpose of artificial {{w|tanning}}; here it is used to augment the filtered Sun's radiation in an attempt to emulate the Moon's daytime conditions better. Since the Moon does not have any atmosphere it is hard to discuss the temperature experienced on the Moon, but still the [http://planetfacts.org/temperature-on-the-moon/ surface of the Moon reaches temperatures] above water's boiling point (100°C or 212 °F) during the day with an average daytime temperature of the Moon at 107°C (224.6 °F). This effect will not be very well emulated on top of Mount Everest or even in the hottest (non-volcanic) place on Earth's surface that reaches 53.9°C (129°F) — see the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}''.
|-
| colspan=2 |
|-
| {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}} (day) || A lava flow at a volcano at noon
|-
| colspan=2 | Mercury's surface never quite reaches {{w|lava}} temperatures (if it did, it would be molten), but it gets close. At noon, Mercury's equator reaches 420°C (800°F, 700 K). Lava is a liquid usually at temperatures from 700 to 1,200 °C (1,300 to 2,200 °F, 970 K to 1470 K) but depending on what type of rock it's formed from, [http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2003/03_04_17.html lava can erupt] at temperatures as low as 500°C-600°C (930°F-1100°F, 770–870 K). Standing on a {{w|volcano}} on a partially solidified lava flow (which, it goes without saying, is incredibly dangerous) would expose you to similar temperatures. Near the poles, Mercury's surface temperature is always very low as the axial tilt is almost zero, meaning that the poles do not get much direct sunlight and their temperature is constantly below −93 °C (−136 °F, 180 K).
|-
| colspan=2 |
|-
| {{w|Venus}} || A heat-shrink wetsuit in a blast furnace
|-
| colspan=2 | The average surface temperature on Venus is around 470°C (870°F, 740 K) (enough to melt {{w|lead}} at 327 °C (620°F, 600 K), which is the {{w|Atmosphere_of_Venus#Troposphere|usual comparison}}), and the pressure is 92 bar (by comparison, pressure on earth is only about 1 bar). A {{w|blast furnace}} is a bit too hot — the blast itself is 900 °C to 1300 °C (1600 °F to 2300 °F, 1170 K to 1570 K), and they can reach 2000 °C — but either temperature is enough to kill you in seconds. As the blast furnace would emulate Venus' temperature but not pressure, Randall proposes that a daring volunteer wear a hypothetical heat-shrink wetsuit. A {{w|wetsuit}} is an elastic garment worn mostly over the whole body by swimmers, divers etc. {{w|Heat-shrink tubing}} is an elastic tube made of a material that shrinks when heated, used to provide extra insulation and mechanical or environmental protection in electrical and electronics work — you put a length of tubing over your wire, connector, or a joint and heat it with a hot air gun, making it shrink and crimp over your device. A hypothetical heat-shrink wetsuit worn while sitting in a blast furnace supposedly would shrink rapidly in the extreme temperature, exerting great pressure on your body, thus emulating Venus' surface atmospheric pressure. In other words, do not go to Venus!
|-
| colspan=2 |
|-
| {{w|Mars}} || Mt. Everest at sunset
|-
| colspan=2 | Again use Mount Everest's thin atmosphere and very cold temperatures to emulate the planet, but Mars' dusty, greenhouse-gas-containing atmosphere means it's not as cold as Mercury at night, nor as hot as the Moon during the day. Also the sun is much farther from Mars than from the Earth/Moon system, but much, much closer than Pluto, so it should be colder than the day side of the Moon. But the Sun still looks like a sun rather than a star from Mars, unlike on Pluto. The sunset will also make the sky reddish-purple, similar to [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA17944-MarsCuriosityRover-AfterCrossingDingoGapSanddune-20140209.jpg the way the Martian sky often looks].
|-
| colspan=2 |
|-
| {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} || Waist-deep in an outgassing Siberian swamp
|-
| colspan=2 | Titan, the largest of {{w|Saturn}} moons (and one of the largest moons in the solar system) is one of the promising worlds for life. Given that its surface temperature is −180°C (−290°F, 95 K), that says a lot about how inhospitable the rest of the solar system is. The chemistry of the planet is interesting — there are lots of nitrogen compounds and hydrocarbons and the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and methane. It has been confirmed that methane lakes exist on Titan's surface. It thus follows that there is likely also some precipitation of methane "snow", similarly to how water forms lakes and falls down as sleet on Earth. Similar compounds are produced by rotting material in {{w|swamps}}, hence the comparison to a cold {{w|Siberian}} swamp. Due to the global warming large area of the {{w|tundra}} in Siberia that used to be permanently locked in {{w|permafrost}} are now heating up enough to {{w|Arctic methane emissions|release these gases}}. It might thus be possible to end up waist deep in one of these "heated" swamp areas due to the resulting {{w|outgassing}}. Sadly for the global temperature this outgassing just increases the release of greenhouse gasses, making the global warming increase even faster. This may very well be the reason Randall chooses to mention it here, as another call back to recurring theme of [[:Category:Climate change|Climate change]] and to the recent comic [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. One key difference though is that on Earth, swamps are mostly water. On Titan — if they exist at all — they're liquid methane. Siberia also has some of the most extreme temperature differences on Earth, while Titan is just consistently cold. The coldest place in Siberia is the {{w|Pole of Cold}}, the coldest point in the {{w|Northern hemisphere}} having reached −71.2 °C (−96.2 °F, 202 K). Not quite Titan levels of cold, but certainly deadly enough. But in such cold places there would be no outgassing, so on Earth it is not possible to have both the cold and the outgassing.
|-
| colspan=2 |
|-
| {{w|Jupiter}}-{{w|Neptune}} || Jumping from a high-altitude balloon over an Antarctic Ocean winter storm
|-
| colspan=2 | Note that it is Jupiter to Neptune thus including also {{w|Saturn}} and {{w|Uranus}}. They are under one called {{w|gas giants}} for a reason. All the planets are very cold and have stormy weather (Uranus is the least active, and Neptune is the most active) and extreme temperature and pressure gradients. On the edge of the atmosphere, conditions aren't much different from space, but as you fall in, the temperature and pressure rapidly increase past the freezing point (allowing clouds of ice and water). This environment is simulated by jumping out of a {{w|high-altitude balloon}} (low pressure and cold) and falling down into an {{w|Antarctic Ocean}} winter storm, a very cold and violently windy place. The storms on the gas planets can be much more violent than any storm on Earth. On Neptune the storms can reach 2,100 km/h (580 m/s, 1,300 mph), whereas the {{w|Great Red Spot}} of Jupiter only reaches 430 km/h (120 m/s, 270 mph). The {{w|Wind_speed#Highest_speed|highest wind speed}} on Earth (outside {{w|tornadoes}}) has been measured at 408 km/h (113 m/s, 253 mph), and that was only the gusts. This last entry's description of the place on Earth continues in the title text, see below.
|-
| colspan=2 |
|-
| {{w|Jupiter}}-{{w|Neptune}} (continued from above in '''title text''') || But instead of hitting the ocean, you should land in an overheating hot tub on a sinking cruise ship, sending it crashing through the floor into the burning engine room as the ship goes under.
|-
| colspan=2 | The title text continues the last entry in the main comic, so this explanation is also a direct continuation of the above entry. The extreme temperature and pressure gradients mentioned do not stop when the atmospheric temperature and pressure increase beyond water's freezing point. Soon the temperature reaches past the boiling point, and on up to thousands of degrees and unimaginably high pressures, increasing further until reaching the central core. The cores of Neptune and Uranus most likely consist of rock (superheated silicates, iron and nickel) or in the case of Saturn and Jupiter of liquid {{w|metallic hydrogen}}, where the extreme high-pressure and temperature causes {{w|hydrogen}} to behave like a metal. This is only a hypothesis, as it is not something our technology is currently able to reproduce. The suggested simulation of this environment is to fall into a super hot bath tub that falls into the burning engine room of a ship that is sinking, and thus is about be crushed by the water pressure of the deep ocean. This is the closest representation of the pressure and temperature conditions of the inner parts of the gas giants that can be imagined on Earth, but of course the cores of these planets are far, far more inhospitable than the scenarios mentioned above. Descending into Jupiter was also explored in the [[what if?]] {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}}.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:<big>Where to go on Earth to get the Interplanetary Explorer Experience</big>

:[A chart with seven rows with celestial bodies on the left side of seven lines and a description on the right side. The first entry has three celestial bodies in two rows, the rest are in one row, although the last entry encompasses a list of planets. Four times the day/night side of the celestial bodies is mentioned in brackets.]
:{|class="wikitable"
|-
| Pluto, Moon (night)
|rowspan="2" | Mt. Everest at night
|-
| Mercury (night)
|-
| Moon (day) || Mt. Everest at noon under a tanning lamp
|-
| Mercury (day) || A lava flow on a volcano at noon
|-
| Venus || A heat-shrink wetsuit in a blast furnace
|-
| Mars || Mt. Everest at sunset
|-
| Titan || Waist-deep in an outgassing Siberian swamp
|-
| Jupiter-Neptune || Jumping from a high-altitude balloon over an Antarctic Ocean winter storm
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Space]]

1752: Interplanetary Experience

2016-10-31T17:41:43Z

Wwoods: /* Table of celestial bodies */

{{comic
| number = 1752
| date = October 28, 2016
| title = Interplanetary Experience
| image = interplanetary_experience.png
| titletext = But instead of hitting the ocean, you should land in an overheating hot tub on a sinking cruise ship, sending it crashing through the floor into the burning engine room as the ship goes under.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More details?}}
This comic lists ten {{w|celestial bodies}}: all the other seven {{w|planets}} (than {{w|Earth}}), the {{w|dwarf planet|(dwarf) planet}} {{w|Pluto}} and two {{w|moons}}, the Earth's {{w|Moon}} and {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}, the largest moon of {{w|Saturn}}. It then asks what places on Earth people could go to for a real '''Interplanetary Experience''', as if they were explorers on these planets. It turns out that none of these ten other worlds are very nice to visit...

This is a parody on organizations that in preparation for future planetary exploration organize half-realistic experiments in human behavior on other planets, trying to emulate or mock-up - often on low budget - the conditions in which future explorers are to live and work. For this purpose, they build mock-up bases, habitats etc. in places that ''look like'' other planets or have the environmental conditions ''somewhat'' similar to other celestial bodies' surfaces. They seek out desolate places like deserts or polar regions for this purpose.

In this comic [[Randall]] tries to identify places on Earth that ''actually'' have environmental conditions as close to these other worlds' as can be possible on the surface of the Earth. Some of the places suggested by Randall are borderline-survivable for a human, but most will kill you extremely quickly without a lot of high-tech gear - whether through {{w|hypothermia#severe|severe hypothermia}}, {{w|conflagration}}, crushing, or whiplash from violent winds.

Basically, nowhere in the {{w|solar system}} except Earth is even close to survivable. There is no planet or moon with a breathable atmosphere, or where the temperature stays within the human -tolerable range of roughly −20°C to 40°C (−5°F to 105°F, 250-310 K). The only place humans have so far ventured off-world is the Moon, and only during lunar morning while wearing thick pressurized spacesuits. Some celestial bodies, like {{w|Venus}} and {{w|Jupiter}}, may ''never'' be visitable by humans without either huge advances in {{w|material science}} or full-scale {{w|terraforming}}. Some places, like the centers of any planet (for example, the {{w|gas giants}} or even Earth itself), will probably never be visited, even by robots. (The title text suggests what happens when falling towards the center of a gas giant).

Below is a [[#Table of celestial bodies|table]] going through the seven suggested places on Earth. Due to the low pressure and temperature on the top of {{w|Mount Everest}} it is mentioned no less than three times, but using different time of day to represent different celestial bodies. In the first entry it even takes care of three in one go. Two of those are the Moon and Mercury, but for both only on their night side facing away from the sun. They are thus each mentioned twice, as there is a huge difference in environmental conditions between the sunlit faces of these two and their night sides. On the other end of the temperature scale are mentions of {{w|lava}} and a {{w|blast furnace}}; also high pressure environments are suggested to simulate other planets. The last goes for the gas giants, which are all mentioned together in the last entry.

The two groupings explains why there are only seven places mentioned for ten celestial bodies. The reason that the Moon is mentioned is of course that it is the closest companion to Earth and that we have actually visited. That the only other moon mentioned is likely because it is the only really cold celestial body that actually has an atmosphere as well as a surface humans could stand on. But there are many other large moons that would be interesting to visit, like the {{w|Galilean moons}} especially {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}. But that could probably be compared to being on Pluto, except the sun is a bit larger. That Pluto is included as the only dwarf planet is probably because it was still a planet when Randall was a kid (see [[473: Still Raw]]) and is the most recent (new) celestial body visited by a space probe at the time of release of this comic. This was celebrated by Randall in [[1551: Pluto]].

The title text is just a continuation of the last entry about falling down through the atmosphere of a gas giant, and it is also explained in the table below. This was also explored in the [[what if?]] {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}}.

==Table of celestial bodies==
* {{w|Pluto}}, {{w|Moon}} (night); {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}} (night) — Mt. Everest at night
:: The {{w|dwarf planet}} Pluto is a small icy rock so far away from the {{w|Sun}} that it practically makes no difference if it is day or night, the Sun is just the brightest star in the sky of Pluto's "day" side. But for both the {{w|Earth|Earth's}} Moon and Mercury (the innermost and smallest {{w|planet}} of the {{w|solar system}}) it makes a huge difference, which is why there is both a day and a night experience mentioned for these two celestial bodies (see below). Although they are very much closer to the Sun than Pluto, this makes no difference during their night time (when they face away from Sun). They are both relatively small, rocky bodies with practically no atmosphere and relatively slow rotation. Therefore their surfaces not illuminated by the Sun will cool down to very low temperatures (around –170 °C, –290 °F, 100 K), making their nighttime hemispheres desolate, dark and cold places. Randall proposes the summit of {{w|Mount Everest}} (the tallest mountain on Earth) as the place that will emulate the conditions most closely. It is a rocky, desolate and cold place. Even though it is not the coldest place on Earth, it is the highest point on land, therefore it has the lowest atmospheric pressure. It cannot be compared to the near-zero pressure and 100 Kelvins conditions on the aforementioned bodies, but it is as close as you can get on Earth. The top of Mt. Everest has an air pressure just 1/3 of what it is at sea level, and the oxygen levels are so low that they are barely survivable, although a few people have [http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/21/how-climbing-everest-without-oxygen-can-go-very-wrong/ reached the top without oxygen tanks], but others have died after losing their oxygen supply, making it as close as you can get on Earth to the near-vacuum found on these worlds.
* {{w|Moon}} (day) — Mt. Everest at noon under a tanning lamp
:: As explained above, Mount Everest is as good an emulation of the Moon surface at night as you can get on Earth. During the Moon's day, its surface gets about as much solar radiation as Earth at noon, because both bodies' distance from the Sun is almost the same. The Earth's atmosphere, however, stops most of the Sun's {{w|ultraviolet radiation}}. A {{w|tanning lamp}} is a device emitting mostly ultraviolet radiation for the purpose of artificial {{w|tanning}}; here it is used to augment the filtered Sun's radiation in an attempt to emulate the Moon's daytime conditions better. Since the Moon does not have any atmosphere it is hard to discuss the temperature experienced on the Moon, but still the [http://planetfacts.org/temperature-on-the-moon/ surface of the Moon reaches temperatures] above water's boiling point (100 °C or 212 °F) during the day with an average daytime temperature of the Moon at 107 °C (225 °F). This effect will not be very well emulated on top of Mount Everest or even in the hottest (non-volcanic) place on Earth's surface that reaches 53.9 °C (129 °F) — see the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}''.
* {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}} (day) — A lava flow at a volcano at noon
:: Mercury's surface never quite reaches {{w|lava}} temperatures (if it did, it would be molten), but it gets close. At noon, Mercury's equator reaches 420 °C (800 °F, 700 K). Lava is a liquid usually at temperatures from 700 to 1,200 °C (1,300 to 2,200 °F, 1000 K to 1500 K) but depending on what type of rock it's formed from, [http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2003/03_04_17.html lava can erupt] at temperatures as low as 500°C–600°C (930°F–1100 °F, 770–870 K). Standing on a {{w|volcano}} on a partially solidified lava flow (which, it goes without saying, is incredibly dangerous) would expose you to similar temperatures.
:: Near the poles, Mercury's surface temperature is always very low as the axial tilt is almost zero, meaning that the poles do not get much direct sunlight and their temperature is constantly below −93 °C (−136 °F, 180 K).
* {{w|Venus}} — A heat-shrink wetsuit in a blast furnace
:: The average surface temperature on Venus is around 470 °C (870 °F, 740 K) (enough to melt {{w|lead}} at 327 °C (620 °F, 600 K), which is the {{w|Atmosphere_of_Venus#Troposphere|usual comparison}}), and the pressure is 92 bar (by comparison, pressure on earth is only about 1 bar). A {{w|blast furnace}} is a bit too hot — the blast itself is 900 to 1300 °C (1600 °F to 2300 °F, 1170 K to 1570 K), and they can reach 2000 °C — but either temperature is enough to kill you in seconds. As the blast furnace would emulate Venus' temperature but not pressure, Randall proposes that a daring volunteer wear a hypothetical heat-shrink wetsuit. A {{w|wetsuit}} is an elastic garment worn mostly over the whole body by swimmers, divers etc. {{w|Heat-shrink tubing}} is an elastic tube made of a material that shrinks when heated, used to provide extra insulation and mechanical or environmental protection in electrical and electronics work — you put a length of tubing over your wire, connector, or a joint and heat it with a hot air gun, making it shrink and crimp over your device. A hypothetical heat-shrink wetsuit worn while sitting in a blast furnace supposedly would shrink rapidly in the extreme temperature, exerting great pressure on your body, thus emulating Venus' surface atmospheric pressure. In other words, do not go to Venus!
* {{w|Mars}} — Mt. Everest at sunset
:: Again use Mount Everest's thin atmosphere and very cold temperatures to emulate the planet, but Mars' dusty, greenhouse-gas-containing atmosphere means it's not as cold as Mercury at night, nor as hot as the Moon during the day. Also the sun is much farther from Mars than from the Earth/Moon system, but much, much closer than Pluto, so it should be colder than the day side of the Moon. But the Sun still looks like a sun rather than a star from Mars, unlike on Pluto. The sunset will also make the sky reddish-purple, similar to [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA17944-MarsCuriosityRover-AfterCrossingDingoGapSanddune-20140209.jpg the way the Martian sky often looks].
* {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} — Waist-deep in an outgassing Siberian swamp
:: Titan, the largest of {{w|Saturn}} moons (and one of the largest moons in the solar system) is one of the promising worlds for life. Given that its surface temperature is –180 °C (–290 °F, 95 K), that says a lot about how inhospitable the rest of the solar system is. The chemistry of the planet is interesting — there are lots of nitrogen compounds and hydrocarbons and the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and methane. It has been confirmed that methane lakes exist on Titan's surface. It thus follows that there is likely also some precipitation of methane "snow", similarly to how water forms lakes and falls down as sleet on Earth. Similar compounds are produced by rotting material in {{w|swamps}}, hence the comparison to a cold {{w|Siberian}} swamp. Due to the global warming large area of the {{w|tundra}} in Siberia that used to be permanently locked in {{w|permafrost}} are now heating up enough to {{w|Arctic methane emissions|release these gases}}. It might thus be possible to end up waist deep in one of these "heated" swamp areas due to the resulting {{w|outgassing}}. Sadly for the global temperature this outgassing just increases the release of greenhouse gasses, making the global warming increase even faster. This may very well be the reason Randall chooses to mention it here, as another call back to recurring theme of [[:Category:Climate change|Climate change]] and to the recent comic [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. One key difference though is that on Earth, swamps are mostly water. On Titan — if they exist at all — they're liquid methane. Siberia also has some of the most extreme temperature differences on Earth, while Titan is just consistently cold. The coldest place in Siberia is the {{w|Pole of Cold}}, the coldest point in the {{w|Northern hemisphere}} having reached –71.2 °C (–96.2 °F, 202 K). Not quite Titan levels of cold, but certainly deadly enough. But in such cold places there would be no outgassing, so on Earth it is not possible to have both the cold and the outgassing.
* {{w|Jupiter}}-{{w|Neptune}} — Jumping from a high-altitude balloon over an Antarctic Ocean winter storm
:: Note that it is Jupiter to Neptune thus including also {{w|Saturn}} and {{w|Uranus}}. They are under one called {{w|gas giants}} for a reason. All the planets are very cold and have stormy weather (Uranus is the least active, and Neptune is the most active) and extreme temperature and pressure gradients. On the edge of the atmosphere, conditions aren't much different from space, but as you fall in, the temperature and pressure rapidly increase past the freezing point (allowing clouds of ice and water). This environment is simulated by jumping out of a {{w|high-altitude balloon}} (low pressure and cold) and falling down into an {{w|Antarctic Ocean}} winter storm, a very cold and violently windy place. The storms on the gas planets can be much more violent than any storm on Earth. On Neptune the storms can reach 2,100 km/h (580 m/s, 1,300 mph), whereas the {{w|Great Red Spot}} of Jupiter only reaches 430 km/h (120 m/s, 268 mph). The {{w|Wind_speed#Highest_speed|highest wind speed}} on Earth (outside {{w|tornadoes}}) has been measured at 408 km/h (113 m/s, 253 mph), and that was only the gusts. This last entry's description of the place on Earth continues in the title text, see below.
* {{w|Jupiter}}-{{w|Neptune}} (continued from above in '''title text''') — Instead of hitting the ocean, you should land in an overheating hot tub on a sinking cruise ship, sending it crashing through the floor into the burning engine room as the ship goes under.
:: The title text continues the last entry in the main comic, so this explanation is also a direct continuation of the above entry. The extreme temperature and pressure gradients mentioned do not stop when the atmospheric temperature and pressure increase beyond water's freezing point. Soon the temperature reaches past the boiling point, and on up to thousands of degrees and unimaginably high pressures, increasing further until reaching the central core. The cores of Neptune and Uranus most likely consist of rock (superheated silicates, iron and nickel) or in the case of Saturn and Jupiter of liquid {{w|metallic hydrogen}}, where the extreme high-pressure and temperature causes {{w|hydrogen}} to behave like a metal. This is only a hypothesis, as it is not something our technology is currently able to reproduce. The suggested simulation of this environment is to fall into a super hot bath tub that falls into the burning engine room of a ship that is sinking, and thus is about be crushed by the water pressure of the deep ocean. This is the closest representation of the pressure and temperature conditions of the inner parts of the gas giants that can be imagined on Earth, but of course the cores of these planets are far, far more inhospitable than the scenarios mentioned above. Descending into Jupiter was also explored in the [[what if?]] {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}}.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:<big>Where to go on Earth to get the Interplanetary Explorer Experience</big>

:[A chart with seven rows with celestial bodies on the left side of seven lines and a description on the right side. The first entry has three celestial bodies in two rows, the rest are in one row, although the last entry encompasses a list of planets. Four times the day/night side of the celestial bodies is mentioned in brackets.]
:{|class="wikitable"
|-
| Pluto, Moon (night)
|rowspan="2" | Mt. Everest at night
|-
| Mercury (night)
|-
| Moon (day) || Mt. Everest at noon under a tanning lamp
|-
| Mercury (day) || A lava flow on a volcano at noon
|-
| Venus || A heat-shrink wetsuit in a blast furnace
|-
| Mars || Mt. Everest at sunset
|-
| Titan || Waist-deep in an outgassing Siberian swamp
|-
| Jupiter-Neptune || Jumping from a high-altitude balloon over an Antarctic Ocean winter storm
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Space]]

1751: Movie Folder

2016-10-26T23:18:10Z

Wwoods: copyedits

{{comic
| number = 1751
| date = October 26, 2016
| title = Movie Folder
| image = movie_folder.png
| titletext = That's actually the original Japanese version of A Million Random Digits, which is much better than the American remake the book was based on.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Are there more to some of the titles? Are there other similar situations with these two guys?}}

[[Cueball]] is looking through [[Black Hat|Black Hat's]] downloaded movies, which are all adaptations of non-literary works, improbable sequels, and/or crossovers between very disparate properties. Cueball reacts with increasing incredulity to Black Hat's collection, while Black Hat casually responds with equally unlikely (non-)explanations. Knowing Black Hat, his movie folder is deliberately weird just to provoke this kind of reaction.

In the real world, there are movies which can provoke similar shock. For example, many successful films get {{w|direct-to-video}} (or, now, {{w|direct-to-digital}}) sequels and spinoffs, often featuring none of the original cast and which get very little marketing. Therefore, someone might be surprised to know that there's an ''{{w|American Psycho 2}}'', a ''{{w|Starship Troopers 3: Marauder|Starship Troopers 3}}'', a ''{{w|Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief|Dr. Dolittle 4}}'', or a ''{{w|Bring It On: Fight to the Finish|Bring It On 5}}''. [[Randall]] previously made fun of the proliferation of direct-to-video sequels in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/65/ What If: Twitter Timeline Height], with at least 27 ''Land Before Time'' films (in reality, there were 14).

Another source of weird titles are {{w|mockbuster}}s. When a film uses a {{w|public domain}} property as its basis, or a title that is too generic to trademark, other studios will simply create their own films and pretend that they're a sequel to the more famous film. Examples include ''{{w|Titanic II (film)|Titanic II}}'', ''{{w|Troll 2}}'', ''{{w|Troll 3}}'', the ''other'' ''{{w|Quest for the Mighty Sword|Troll 3}}'', and ''{{w|War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave}}''.

Marketing wheezes have also produced some crossovers almost as unexpected as those in the comic — ''{{w|Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde}}'', ''{{w|Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery}}'' and ''{{w|Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter}}''.

A similar setting with Cueball and Black Hat also discussing movies was seen in [[493: Actuarial]]. Back then Black Hat was still reading newspapers.

Another type of comic where movie titles needs to be guessed from strange versions of the title was previously used in the [[:Category:Synonym Movies|Synonym Movies]] series.

=== Black Hat's downloaded movies ===
{|class="wikitable"
! Title
! Explanation
|-
| ''Lorem Ipsum: The Movie'' || ''{{w|Lorem Ipsum}}'' are the first two words of a common block of garbled Latin filler text used by typesetters to layout pages before real text is available. This title implies that this movie is entirely random filler with no meaningful content, although according to the Internet Movie Database, there is a 2011 movie titled [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2032487/ Lorem Ipsum].
|-
| ''Titanic XCVIII'' || The most famous film about the ship ''{{w|RMS Titanic|Titanic}}'' is {{w|James Cameron|James Cameron's}} {{w|Titanic (1997 movie)|''Titanic''}} from 1997. But there have been {{w|List of films about the RMS Titanic|several since then}} (at least five) some of which where probably trying to cash in on the name, especially the one called ''{{w|Titanic II (film)|Titanic II}}'', which is about a ship in 2012 called ''Titanic II''. But the producers probably hoped some people would buy the DVD believing it was a sequel to the 1997 movie, a real mockbuster, originally released directly for TV. Black Hat's dialogue implies the preceding films are about at least 97 different ''Titanic''s which all sank, creating an artificial reef, and this film is about the 98th (Roman numerals XCVIII = 98) hitting that reef (rather than an iceberg). As ''Titanic'' rests on the Atlantic sea floor at a depth of 3,784 m (12,415 feet), each of the previous ''Titanic''s would need to a) settle immediately on top of its predecessor and b) increase the height of the "reef" by about 40 m (128 feet) on average. The original ''Titanic'' was 53 m (175 feet) tall and (assuming a and b above), the keel of the 98th ship would sink to a depth of 20 m (65 feet). However, it would be impossible to stack only 97 ''Titanic'' replicas in a more than 3 km high pile in this location to reach this height.
|-
| ''Debbie Did 9/11'' || A combination of ''{{w|Debbie Does Dallas}}'', a 1970s porn film about a young woman trying for a cheerleader squad, and a {{w|9/11 conspiracy theory}}. Actual ''Debbie Does Dallas'' sequels include 5 numbered ones, two titled ''Debbie Does Dallas Again'', several with subtitles, and some parodies, unofficial sequels and spinoffs that — like the title quote here — change what Debbie does. IMDb lists, among others, ''Debbie Does Iowa'', ''Debbie Does Wall Street'', ''Debbie Does 'em All'' and ''Debbie Does Damnation''. But it is always Does and never Did... However, in this kind of movie when she does something it of course means to have sex, while {{w|September 11 attacks|9/11}} is a historical event.
|-
| ''Time Jam: A Connecticut Huskie on King Arthur's Court'' || A combination of the novel ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}'' by {{w|Mark Twain}} and the 1996 movie ''{{w|Space Jam}}''. Mark Twain's story is one of the first {{w|time travel}} stories, while ''Space Jam'' stars {{w|Michael Jordan}} and features the {{w|Looney Tunes}} cartoon characters playing basketball against aliens. The huskie is a reference to the University of Connecticut sports teams called the {{w|Connecticut Huskies}}, most notably their basketball team. So in this movie it is one of these Connecticut players who gets Time Jammed (rather than Space Jammed) back to the fictional {{w|King Arthur|King Arthur's}} {{w|Court (royal)|court}} in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. The use of court is likely also a reference to basketball courts.
|-
| ''Harold and Kumar Go to Howl's Moving Castle'' || A combination of ''{{w|Harold and Kumar go to White Castle}}'' — about the meandering and very adult adventures of {{w|Harold and Kumar}} (a pair of stoners) — and ''{{w|Howl's Moving Castle (film)|Howl's Moving Castle}}'' — a tender, often philosophical children's {{w|anime}} film by {{w|Hayao Miyazaki}}, based on a novel by {{w|Diana Wynne Jones}}.
|-
| ''A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates'' || This is actually {{w|A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates|a real book from 1955}} (also referenced in [[1210: I'm So Random]]) — back before scientists had access to computers that could easily generate random numbers, this book was very useful for statistics and for setting up scientific experiments. The book is {{w|File:Random digits.png|literally just a list of numbers}}, so there would be no movie in it except for flashing numbers on a screen. Black Hat comments that the movie came before the book, which was a {{w|novelization}} of the film. The '''title text''' says that the movie is an adaptation of Japanese version. But in the modern world 'Arabic' digits are nearly universal, so it is hard to understand how an adaptation would be different from the Japanese original, unless they used {{w|Japanese numerals}} (which are rarely used for mathematical purposes). It is very common that great/successful Japanese movies (and other countries' great movies) are made into (often mediocre) American remakes, like the famous horror movie ''{{w|Ring (film)|Ring}}'' from 1998, which was remade in America as ''{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|The Ring}}'' in 2002.
|-
| ''Michael Bay's The Vagina Monologues'' || ''{{w|The Vagina Monologues}}'' is a famous play by {{w|Eve Ensler}}. It consists entirely of a series of women talking frankly about their bodies, their sexuality and their lives. There's no place in it for explosions, but {{w|Michael Bay}} (who is known especially for the modern {{w|Transformers (film series)|Transformers movies}} as well as ''{{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}'' and ''{{w|Armageddon (1998 film)|Armageddon}}'', and is also known for his [http://www.thewrap.com/megan-fox-quit-transformers-over-michael-bays-abuse-17614/ rather unfeminist behavior] and excessive explosions in the movies he directs) found a way. Black Hat comments that he found it good despite all those {{w|Computer-generated imagery|CGI}} explosions.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is sitting in an armchair, with the right arm on the armrest and looking at his smartphone held in his left hand, when a voice from behind him (off-panel left) addresses him. It turns out in the next panels that it is Cueball.]
:Cueball (off-panel): Your movie folder is so ''weird''. Where do you find all this stuff?
:Black Hat: Dunno.
:Black Hat: Around.

:[In an frame-less panel Cueball is seen sitting in an office chair at a desk facing left. He is looking at Black Hat's computer while typing on the keyboard which is on a shelve lower than the regular desk surface. Black Hat replies to his queries from behind him off-panel right.]
:Cueball: ''Lorem Ipsum: The Movie?''
:Cueball: ''Titanic XCVIII?''
:Black Hat (off-panel): That series gets good when they start hitting the reef created by all the previous wrecks.

:[Cueball leans in closer to the screen.]
:Cueball: ''Debbie Did 9/11?''
:Cueball: ''Time Jam: A Connecticut Huskie on King Arthur's Court?''
:Black Hat (off-panel): Really underrated ''Space Jam'' sequel.

:[Zoom in on the scene so nothing beneath the keyboard is visible. The screen and Cueballs head almost spans the width of the panel.]
:Cueball: ''Harold and Kumar Go to Howl's Moving Castle?''
:Cueball: ''A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates?''
:Black Hat (off-panel): That's the original-the book was a novelization.

:[Back to Black Hat sitting in the chair as in the first panel, but leaning a bit further back and the arm on the armrest has been moved closer to him.]
:Cueball (off-panel): ''Michael Bay's The Vagina Monologues!?''
:Black Hat: It's pretty good, despite all the CGI explosions.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

Talk:1732: Earth Temperature Timeline

2016-09-15T01:16:44Z

Wwoods:

Well, never mind then. Oh well. -- [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 1:02, 12 September 2016
:I acknowledge that the picture is WAY too long, so I added a "skip to explanation" bar, to speed things up. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:32, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Is it just me or does the picture not render all the way down in full resolution on firefox? I found it worked on Chrome and explorer... And Wauw, just after I had created the new [[:Category:Climate change]]... Was also just watched a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxEGHW6Lbu8 QandA program] yesterday where [[1644: Stargazing|Brian Cox]] tried to convince some Australian politician about global warming, but the other one just cried conspiracy... Will take some time to make this one complete I guess? Great ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:53, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:That's the thing with this kind of stuff. It takes a LONG time to make it just right. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 19:08, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Please delete the ridiculous trivia
*The colors used to represent temperature vary from blue (the perceived hue of a black body at 20000K) to pale red (perceived at 2200K).
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.139|108.162.221.139]] 19:44, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Of course you can pretty much ignore the part of the diagram that is in dotted line, you can't rely on that data. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 20:40, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:Note that even if we ignore the extrapolated future, the warming in the past century is already a vastly more abrupt climate shift than anything that happened in the preceding 219 centuries. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:15, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
::Actually we don't know what the shifts were on that scale in the past. The dotted line before modern measurement is a very limited estimate. We have no idea what the year to year changes were in the past, at best we can work out an average. I am reminded of a house mouse(life span of about 1 year) looking at the leaves fall from the tress and saying "Surely this is the end of the world". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 14:44, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::Randall explicitly addresses your specious complaint at 15900 BCE. Year-to-year fluctuations are not the same as the current century-long surge. Either show scientific evidence or go away, Mr Troll from Seattle Cloudflare. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:11, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::::I should have known better to enter into a religious debate on the internet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 00:17, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::No it is not that which is the problem, but that you try to disqualify the data without even bothering to look through them. Aa mentioned Randall tries to let us know that such a high fluctuation as we have in these last 100 years would not be hidden in the old data. As mentioned by Fankie this is explained between 16000 and 15500 BCE... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:Have you read the referenced papers? Well you fit well with the people he refers to between the two lines at the top. ;-) We are heading for troublesome times :-( [[164: Playing Devil's Advocate to Win]]... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:22, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

*the use unqualified of the words "still many people" is exactly the kind of weasely nonsense that this comic is designed to refute. there are "still many people" who claim the earth is flat, that they have been abducted by aliens, or that the MMR jab made their children autistic. those people are deluded or insincere. the difference with deniers of climate change is that there are in their ranks scientists who are clear-sighted but who have decided that funding at any price is better than none. this site should be better than that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]]
::You're absolutely right, the ranks of climate deniers do indeed include a few scientists willing to sell their voices to the highest bidder (e.g. http://www.polluterwatch.com/heartland-institute ). But is that what you meant to say? - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:50, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::that the wording be changed to reflect that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:59, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

For a large post like this, it's a wonder that we can all keep up and edit something like this all at once. Wow. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:56, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:Also, anyone else notice that this was a top trending post on Facebook last night? I don't know if I could call it a milestone but it's still pretty cool. And '''WE''' edited it! :D --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:06, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::Very interesting, so it was explain xkcd and not xkcd that where the top trending post? Could you post a link to where you found this out? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::I can see you are right from the fact that Randall has chosen to postpone his next comic in order to keep this one on the front page for all the new visitors as has now been noted in the explanation and in the trivia section. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Maybe someone should add the fact that the transcript may be a reference to oxidation?[[User:Transuranium|Transuranium]] ([[User talk:Transuranium|talk]]) 19:21, 13 September 2016 (UTC)Transuranium
:I think you mean the "title text" not the transcript? And that you refer to the recent comic [[1693: Oxidation]] which is indeed referened in the title text, then that has been written at the bottom of the main explanation and has been there already since the 12th edit less than 1½ hour after the comic came out... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Is nobody else having a problem seeing the comic? Both here and on XKCD I get an "Image not found" icon, a blue question mark. I thought maybe this was an interactive comic that doesn't work on my iPad (like that garden thing, though that did nothing on my computer either). If I tap it on XKCD nothing happens, here it leads to the picture's Wiki page - also with the question mark - which says it's a PNG, which I know this iPad can show. It's 11pm EST, maybe night maintenance on XKCD? Or the file got renamed without updating the sites? - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.227|162.158.126.227]] 03:12, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:I had trouble seeing it on my own PC using Firefox but not the other browsers I have. See my early comment above. I guess the file is too big for your iPad as it is a very huge file. I tried to download it but it failed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::It's weird that I got what is clearly an "Image not found" icon, though. Maybe my 1st Gen iPad's Safari saw the file, decided "No way I'm loading that!"(or "that size can't be right", LOL!) and chose to show the error icon instead. When I force the issue, by going directly to the image URL listed on XKCD, the first time Safari crashed rather than load the image (but it crashes on a regular basis, so that didn't deter me), the second time it crashed, the third time it actually loaded, and I was able to see it. After seeing mentions here of spelling errors (though I have to disagree on "Pokemon", generally only people connected to the show bother with the accent. Like how I'm the only one who spells Hallowe'en correctly, with the apostrophe), I thought maybe the comic was taken down to correct it, but guess not. LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 20:54, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

I feel that the missing bottom axis is a usability problem, so I fixed it. [http://info.org.il/data/earth_temperature_timeline_bottom_axis.png See it here.] [[User:Hananc|Hananc]] ([[User talk:Hananc|talk]]) 10:42, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:Nice but I'm sure it was on purpose to indicate that time continues down,as well as a possible even worse temperature change. As shown in the previous global warming comic [[1379]] Earth has been 8 degree hotter than now... And apart from the last small segment (albeit a very important one) you either remember that white is normal and bluer is colder redder is warmer or else you cannot use the chart in between the top and bottom, and since this is the longest xkcd comic so far it would be a shame. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Okay, now that I've managed to SEE the damn thing, I have a question. There's no mention of why this is using "BCE" and "CE" instead of the standard "BC" and "AD", never mind what these stand for (thinking and thinking about it, my guess is "Before Christ Era" and "Christ Era"). This is the kind of thing that should be mentioned on ExplainXKCD, LOL! Fun fact: when I searched this page for "BCE", to confirm it wasn't explained, I got "Over 100 matches". :) Anyway, I figure maybe those are currently accepted scientific terminology, especially since "AD" is Latin, unlike "BC", but the average person still uses BC and AD. In fact, I think this is the first time I've ever seen BCE and CE (unless it's been on XKCD before and I just dismissed it as a typo or something. This time there are WAY too many for it to be a mistake every time, including here in the explanation!) - NiceGuy1[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 21:20, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:It's "Before Common Era" and "Common Era", an alternative to BC/AD. Pretty common alternative, though I don't know why off-hand - probably to remove the religious connotations of "Christ" and "Year of our Lord". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.236|108.162.215.236]] 23:23, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::Because they're the standards in the scientific community. The guy above assumed his way is standard, but that's inaccurate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.92|108.162.212.92]] 00:26, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:: For the convenience of archeologists working in the Middle East. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 01:16, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

1724: Proofs

2016-08-25T00:42:53Z

Wwoods: italics

{{comic
| number = 1724
| date = August 24, 2016
| title = Proofs
| image = proofs.png
| titletext = Next, let's assume the decision of whether to take the Axiom of Choice is made by a deterministic process ...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on the match, especially the title text.}}
[[Miss Lenhart]] is back teaching a math class. She begins a proof when one of her students ([[Cueball]]) interrupts her asking if this is one of those {{w|Magic_(programming)#Variants|Dark Magic}} proofs. She says no, but it soon turns out that it is; Cueball exclaims that he just knew it would be.

If this actually refers to the proof being magical, or just to the fact that many students often feel like the resulting proof just appeared without any reason, i.e. either the teacher did not do it clearly, or the student is not up to the task of understanding proofs of that complexity, is not clear.

The proof she starts setting up resembles a {{w|proof by contradiction}}. These often involve making an assumption that there exists some formula or figure that fulfills the requirements given and plucking that answer out of abstract mathematics, much like summoning of demons is associated with black magic. This is usually done by relying on knowledge of the constraints of the form (for example, having the square root of 2 be ''a/b'' where ''a'' and ''b'' are both integers and have no common factors when proving that the square root of 2 is irrational). This common usage is then shown to be not the case in the comic as the proof then goes to claim that the answer will be written in a specific place (though this could be taken as indicating that the result is finite or has a simple algorithm for continuing it).

In the title text the decision of whether to take the {{w|axiom of choice}} is made by a deterministic process. The {{w|axiom of determinacy}} is {{w|Axiom_of_determinacy#Incompatibility_of_the_axiom_of_determinacy_with_the_axiom_of_choice|incompatible}} with the {{w|axiom of choice}}, which is the continuation of the joke of these dark magic proofs. The axiom of choice was mentioned earlier in [[804: Pumpkin Carving]].

Although Miss Lenhart did retire a year ago after [[1519: Venus]], she seems to have returned here for a math course at university level, but continues the trend she finished with in the her undergraduate class...

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is standing facing left in front of a whiteboard writing on it. Eleven left aligned lines of writing is shown as unreadable scribbles. A voice interrupts her from off-panel right.]
:Miss Lenhart: ... Let's assume there exists some function ''F''(''a,b,c''...) which produces the correct answer-
:Cueball (off-panel): Hang on.

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball is sitting on a chair at a desk with a pen in his hand taking notes.]
:Cueball: This is going to be one of those weird, dark magic proofs, isn't it? I can tell.

:[Miss Lenhart has turned right towards Cueball, who is again speaking off-panel. The white board is also off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: What? No, no, it's a perfectly sensible chain of reasoning.
:Cueball (off-panel): All right...

:[Miss Lenhart is facing the whiteboard again writing more scribbles behind some of the lines from before (the first line has disappeared). The lines that have more text added are now number three and five (four and six before). Cueball again speaks off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: Now, let's assume that the correct answer will eventually be written on the board at the coordinates (''x, y''). If we—
:Cueball (off-panel): I ''knew'' it!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]

1717: Pyramid Honey

2016-08-08T16:12:43Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ Eye of Providence

{{comic
| number = 1717
| date = August 8, 2016
| title = Pyramid Honey
| image = pyramid_honey.png
| titletext = They CLAIM honey was found in the chambers under the pyramids, but this conspiracy goes all the way to the TOP, where the GIANT EYE is!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}
[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-behind-honeys-eternal-shelf-life-1218690/ Smithsonian Magazine link]

Cueball tells Megan about an article on ''Smithsonian Magazine'' that claims that honey has an infinite shelf life. Megan thinks the sources of the article are wrong and wants to refute it.

Bee honey does have an impressive shelf life, long enough to be practically infinite for an average consumer due to the honey's natural antimicrobial properties. However, truly "infinite" is a very boastful claim.

Then Black Hat shows up, who upon hearing Megan wanting to refute it, immediately runs to his computer and starts posting on the Internet that smithsonianmag is wrong and starts calling himself a pyramid honey truther, even though he hasn't listened to the arguments of Megan and has no evidence to backup his claim that smithsonianmag is wrong.

The word ''truther'' is often used for people rejecting established facts, like people who claim the moon landing never happened or people who believe the US government is behind the 9/11 attacks. This puts Megan unwillingly into the same camp as conspiracy theorists.

The alt-text refers to the {{w|Eye of Providence}}, a symbol of an eye at the top of a pyramid, found on US currency.

This comic is likely a satire of the stereotypical internet mindset.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are talking]
:Cuball: Apparently honey has an infinite shelf life. They just found jars of it in the pyramids, still good.
:Megan: You know, I've heard that, and I don't think its true.

:[Black hat enters]
:Cueball: Really? Smithsonian magazine confirmed it.
:Megan: Believe it or not, I think their source is wrong.
:Black Hat: '''''I believe you.'''''

:Megan: See I read about the archeologists who-
:Black Hat: I'm convinced. Gonna go to tell the internet.

:Megan: Wait, are you sure? Let me explain why-
:Black Hat: Don't need it. I've heard enough.

:Black Hat: I've been looking for a weird hill to die on, and all the real ones are to far from my house. So this is mine. I'm now a pyramid honey truther.

:Black hat: Time to start a Facebook group and post a bunch of all-caps comments everywhere.
:Cueball: This could have gone better.
:Megan: Oh well.

:Alt-text: They CLAIM honey was found in the chambers under the pyramids, but this conspiracy goes all the way to the TOP, where the GIANT EYE is!

{{comic discussion}}

1648: Famous Duos

2016-02-26T23:21:34Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1648
| date = February 26, 2016
| title = Famous Duos
| image = famous_duos.png
| titletext = The Romeo and Butt-Head film actually got two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs to be expanded; Needs more for the main explanation and more info on what the combos would mean to people compared to the originals. It would be great if the cycles below was updated to fit with the table, so Thelma and Louise was 1 in both (and all the other numbers in the cycles thus also increased by one.) More wiki link in the first table.}}

In popular culture (the term is loosely used in this case) there are many '''famous duos''', such as {{w|Calvin & Hobbes}} (six years old boy and his toy tiger, from the cartoon strip with the same name) or {{w|David & Goliath}} (future King of Israel and giant, from the Book of Samuel, Old Testament). In this table, [[Randall]] describes a fictional parallel universe where the same names are used in different combinations -- instead of Calvin, it is now Thelma (from the movie ''{{w|Thelma & Louise}}'') who is paired up with Hobbes, and Calvin is instead paired of with the King, from ''{{w|Anna and the King}}''. In all cases the one mentioned first on the list, is also mentioned first in our universe, so it is always of the form Calvin and the King, never Calvin and Anna. There are 24 duos, and all 48 partners are mentioned (they go through four [[#Cycles|cycles]]).

The humor of this comic comes from the ridiculousness of the pairings, and the readers imagination of the stories that are created with the pairs. See the whole [[#List of real duos|list of real duos]] as well as the [[#List of alternative duos|list of alternative duos]] below.

In the title text alternative movie ''Romeo and Butt-Head'' is mentioned, the fifth entry on the list. This is a combination of the famous {{w|Shakespeare}} play "{{w|Romeo and Juliet}}", which has not been made into a big picture since ''{{w|Romeo + Juliet}}'' in 1996 with {{w|Leonardo DiCaprio}} and {{w|Claire Danes}} in the leading roles. {{w|Butt-Head}} is the less-stupid in the duo from the animated TV series ''{{w|Beavis and Butt-Head}}'' (and a {{w|Beavis and Butt-Head Do America|film}}). As Romeo and Juliette is one of the best known love stories and Butt-Head is one of the most disgusting teens ever depicted on the big screen, the combination could create disturbing pictures in peoples head (especially of teenage girls).

In the alternative universe this movie has just been released, and here it gets the best possible review of two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates. {{w|Gene Siskel}} is usually always paired with {{w|Roger Ebert}}, when they reviewed movies as the famous duo {{w|Siskel and Ebert}}. They were widely known for the "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries, so much that their best review ''Two Thumbs Up'' are by many though to be the title of their their show ''{{w|At the Movies (U.S. TV series)|At the Movies}}'', (and their combined names also links to this show).

In the alternative universe Siskel still gives the film a thumbs up (although it would be almost impossible to believe that a movie with such a title would get this in our universe, this is definitely possible in an alternative.) But Ebert has been replaced with Oates, who also approves of the film. This is most likely a reference to {{w|Hall & Oates}} an American musical duo from Philadelphia. It is for instance the only duo with the name ''Oates'' mentioned in this list of almost [http://www.ranker.com/list/best-duos-of-all-time/ariel-kana?page=6 top 300 of famous duos].

Another instance, however, where a duo is using the name Oates is called {{w|Garfunkel and Oates}}. This group has deliberately made their name by combining both the last name from Hall & Oates and the last name from {{w|Simon and Garfunkel}} (who are both mentioned in the main comic). Although their exact combo, would not be possible in this version, with only first and last names combined, there may definitely be a deliberate reference to this group as well which has taken the parallel universe idea into our universe.

===List of real duos===
*See the list of [[#List of alternative duos|alternative duos]] below.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+ Famous duos in this universe
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | pairing
! scope="col" | Partner
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | From
! scope="col" | Name index
! scope="col" | Partner index
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Thelma
| and
| Louise
| {{w|Thelma_%26_Louise|road trip film}}
| 1
| 3
|
|-
| When Harry
| Met
| Sally
| {{w|When_Harry_Met_Sally...|romantic comedy film}}
| 2
| 16
|
|-
| Batman
| and
| Robin
| {{w|Batman|comic book characters}}
| 3
| 4
|
|-
| Antony
| and
| Cleopatra
| historical figures
| 4
| 12
|
|-
| Romeo
| and
| Juliet
| {{w|Romeo_and_Juliet|Shakespeare characters}}
| 5
| 24
|
|-
| Bonnie
| and
| Clyde
| {{w|Bonnie_and_Clyde|historical figures}}
| 6
| 7
|
|-
| Pinky
| and
| the Brain
| {{w|Pinky_and_the_Brain|TV show}}
| 7
| 20
|
|-
| Simon
| and
| Garfunkel
| {{w|Simon_%26_Garfunkel|musical duo}}
| 8
| 22
|
|-
| Beauty
| and
| the Beast
| {{w|Beauty_and_the_Beast|fairy tale characters}}
| 9
| 10
|
|-
| Beavis
| and
| Butthead
| {{w|Beavis_and_Butt-Head|TV show}}
| 10
| 5
|
|-
| Rocky
| and
| Bullwinkle
| {{w|The_Rocky_and_Bullwinkle_Show|TV show}}
| 11
| 2
|
|-
| Abbott
| and
| Costello
| {{w|Abbott_and_Costello|comedy duo}}
| 12
| 17
|
|-
| Dr. Jekyll
| and
| Mr. Hyde
| {{w|Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde|book}}
| 13
| 15
|
|-
| Samson
| and
| Delilah
| {{w|Samson_and_Delilah|Biblical characters}}
| 14
| 11
|
|-
| Butch Cassidy
| and
| the Sundance Kid
| historical characters and famous movie
| 15
| 23
|
|-
| Bill
| and
| Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey
| movie series
| 16
| 6
|
|-
| David
| and
| Goliath
| Biblical characters
| 17
| 8
|
|-
| Sherlock Holmes
| and
| Dr. Watson
| {{w|Sherlock_Holmes|Arthur Conan Doyle characters}}
| 18
| 19
|
|-
| Jay
| and
| Silent Bob
| {{w|Jay_and_Silent_Bob|View Askewniverse characters (Clerks movies)}}
| 19
| 18
|
|-
| Anna
| and
| the King
| {{w|Anna_and_the_King|movie}}, based on Anna and the King of Siam
| 20
| 21
|
|-
| Calvin
| and
| Hobbes
| {{w|Calvin_and_Hobbes|comic series}}
| 21
| 1
|
|-
| Timon
| and
| Pumbaa
| {{w|Timon_and_Pumbaa|characters from the Lion King film series}}
| 22
| 14
|
|-
| Mary Kate
| and
| Ashley Olsen
| {{w|Mary-Kate_and_Ashley_Olsen|twin actresses}}
| 23
| 13
|
|-
| Mario
| and
| Luigi
| {{w|Mario_Bros.|video game characters}}
| 24
| 9
|
|}

===List of alternative duos===
*See the list of [[#List of real duos|real duos]] above.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+ Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe
|-
! scope="col" | Duo name
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Thelma and Hobbes
|
|-
| When Harry met Bullwinkle
|
|-
| Batman and Louise
|
|-
| Antony and Robin
|
|-
| Romeo and Butthead
|
|-
| Bonnie and Ted's excellent adventure
|
|-
| Pinky and Clyde
|
|-
| Simon and Goliath
|
|-
| Beauty and Luigi
|
|-
| Beavis and the Beast
|
|-
| Rocky and Delilah
|
|-
| Abbot and Cleopatra
|
|-
| Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen
|
|-
| Samson and Pumbaa
|
|-
| Butch Cassidy and Mr. Hyde
|
|-
| Bill and Sally's Bogus Journey
|
|-
| David and Costello
|
|-
| Sherlock Holmes and Silent Bob
|
|-
| Jay and Dr. Watson
|
|-
| Anna and the Brain
|
|-
| Calvin and the King
|
|-
| Timon and Garfunkel
| Timon is put together with Garfunkel, which makes it a close match to Simon and Garfunkel.
|-
| Mary-Kate and the Sundance Kid
|
|-
| Mario and Juliet
|}

===Cycles===
There are four cycles. The longest starts with "Thelma" and ends with "Louise" as follows:

* First cycle: length 15
Thelma & Louise
Calvin & Hobbes
Anna & the King
Pinky & the Brain
Bonnie & Clyde
Bill & Ted
Harry & Sally
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Samson & Delilah
Timon & Pumbaa
Simon & Garfunkel
David & Goliath
Abbot & Costello
Antony & Cleopatra
Batman & Robin

This means, it starts with "Thelma", paired with "Hobbes" diagonally down, from "Hobbes" to "Calvin", who is paired with "the King" and so on, until "Batman" is paired with "Louise", completing the cycle.

* Second cycle: length 4
Romeo & Juliet
Beavis & Butthead
Beauty & the Beast
Mario & Luigi

* Third cycle: length 3
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

* Fourth cycle: length 2
Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson
Jay & Silent Bob

Assigning an index starting with 0 (= Thelma & Louise) to 23 (= Mario & Luigi), they can be written as:

(0, 20, 19, 6, 5, 15, 1, 10, 13, 21, 7, 16, 11, 3, 2)
(4, 9, 8, 23)
(12, 22, 14)
(17, 18)

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe

:[A list with 24 duos with a gray “and" between the two names (in one case it is a “met") and three times there is a gray word before (once) or after (twice) the names. The list is centered with the “and" in the middle disregarding the length of the names on each side:]
:{|
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Thelma
| and
| Hobbes
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | When Harry
| met
| Bullwinkle
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Batman
| and
| Louise
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Antony
| and
| Robin
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Romeo
| and
| Butthead
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Bonnie
| and
| Ted's excellent adventure
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Pinky
| and
| Clyde
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Simon
| and
| Goliath
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Beauty
| and
| Luigi
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Beavis
| and
| the Beast
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Rocky
| and
| Delilah
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Abbot
| and
| Cleopatra
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Dr. Jekyll
| and
| Ashley Olsen
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Samson
| and
| Pumbaa
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Butch Cassidy
| and
| Mr. Hyde
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Bill
| and
| Sally's Bogus Journey
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | David
| and
| Costello
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Sherlock Holmes
| and
| Silent Bob
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Jay
| and
| Dr. Watson
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Anna
| and
| the Brain
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Calvin
| and
| the King
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Timon
| and
| Garfunkel
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Mary-Kate
| and
| the Sundance Kid
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Mario
| and
| Juliet
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Charts]]

Talk:1590: The Source

2015-10-14T14:58:16Z

Wwoods:

As soon as I finished this comic, I started to hear it. Please, make it stop. It's not on the basement, nor the attic. It's getting louder. Driving me crazy. Please. Maybe this gun would help me to shut the noise down. Now, where should I aim it?
:Very dark humour there from anonymous... I guess it will be to late to help him now. But if he misses he will have even more ringing noises in his ears than after reading this comic. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:13, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
:Just shoot wherever. If you're lucky, you'll be partly deaf and not hear the hum anymore. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.146|141.101.104.146]] 13:49, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
::No, hearing damage (for instance as a result of loud noise) is what very often ''causes'' tinnitus. [[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 14:44, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

The background noise created by appliances like refrigerators and washing machines is typically generated by their electric motors/pumps which operate at 60 Hz; a frequency I would not consider "high pitched". The only devices I can think of off the top of my head that generate what I would consider high-pitched noise are TVs (both CRT and flat-screen). [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 13:13, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

It's 50Hz over here in Germany

I can think of only one potentially high pitched hum generator that would look something like that, and I didn't know Cueball lived with a lesbian who uses a symbian. Let alone such a person leaving their rather high wattage sex toy plugged in. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:55, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

I suspect the title text may be a reference to “why do we even ‘'have’’ that lever?” from The Emperor’s New Groove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw2B9knw58U [[User:ZevEisenberg|ZevEisenberg]] ([[User talk:ZevEisenberg|talk]]) 14:00, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
:I suspect the title text to be the most common wording for this kind of question, so it could not be a reference to whatever in any way. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.66.23|141.101.66.23]] 14:33, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
: That was my first thought too. My second was "I guess they're going to find out." See [https://www.chesterton.org/taking-a-fence-down/ Chesterton's fence]. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 14:58, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

1563: Synonym Movies

2015-08-12T15:47:39Z

Wwoods: /* Table of the titles */

{{comic
| number = 1563
| date = August 12, 2015
| title = Synonym Movies
| image = synonym_movies.png
| titletext = Fans eagerly await 2015's 'Space Fights: Power Gets Up', although most think 1999's 'Space Fights: The Scary Ghost' didn't live up to the hype.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows several "Synonym Movies". It takes several well known movies, but change the titles using words that are different, but mean essentially the same thing. So ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' has turned into ''Space Fights'', ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|The Lord of the Rings}}'' into ''The Jewelry God'' and ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' into ''Space Trip''. All these movies series have the same heading, and then a subtitle. There are ten of them in the comic, and two more in the title text.

The use of synonyms makes all these movies look ridiculous, for example, "The Sword Wizard Is Back" is a laughable sounding movie{{Citation needed}}, whereas "{{w|The Return of the Jedi}}" sound perfectly reasonable to us. [[Randall]] may be poking fun at movies that have ridiculous titles already, for instance some people think this applies to a title like "{{w|Terminator: Genisys}}".

The title text refers to the new Star Wars movie coming up later this year (2015-12-18), after {{w|The Walt Disney Company|Disney}} acquired the movie rights. The movie is called {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} and has now turned into ''The Power Gets Up''. As usual, with any Star Wars related material, there is a huge fan base that eagerly awaits the new movie. But then again many people fear that it will not live up to their expectations, as was the case with the fourth movie, first of the three movies in the second installment of Star Wars, {{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}. As mentioned in the title text, that movie did not live up the hype. Of course in this comic it has been dubbed ''The Scary Ghost''.

==Table of the titles==
*All cases of Star has turned into Space
*Wars has turned into Fight
*Lord to God
*Rings has been turned into {{w|Jewelry}} — which also include, amongst others, rings.
*Trek has been turned into Trip.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!width=12em| Synonym
!width=12em| Real Title
! Comment
|-
| ''Space Fights: Sudden Optimism''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''
| If you suddenly feel optimistic, you could say that you have gained a new hope.
|-
| ''Space Fights: The Government Wins This One''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back}}''
| In the second Star Wars movie the Empire comes out on top — as opposed to the first and third where a Death Star is destroyed at the end of each of the movies. So the government = the Empire, wins that movie.
|-
| ''Space Fights: The Sword Wizard Is Back''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: Return of the Jedi|Star Wars: Return of the Jedi}}''
| A {{w|jedi}} is a kind of wizard, wielding {{w|The Force (Star Wars)|the Force}} (like magic) and the {{w|lightsaber}} (a kind of sword).
|-
|colspan=3|
|-
| ''The Jewelry God: The Jewelry Team''
| ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring}}''
| The fellowship has become a team in the synonym version.
|-
| ''The Jewelry God: Double Houses''
| ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers|The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers}}''
| Two towers may not be so close to double houses... But at least there are two in either case.
|-
| ''The Jewelry God: We Have a Czar Again''
| ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King}}''
| Czar is a title for Slavic monarchs, but generally regarded as equivalent to king.
|-
|colspan=3|
|-
| ''Space Trip: The Movie''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}}''
| Today we would say ""The Movie" rather than "The Motion Picture".
|-
| ''Space Trip: That Guy is Angry''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan}}''
| {{w|Khan Noonien Singh|Khan}} (a fictional villain in the series) is now just ''That Guy'', and wrath has been turned down to merely angry.
|-
| ''Space Trip: Where is the Vulcan''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Search for Spock|Star Trek: The Search for Spock}}''
| {{w|Spock}} is of the alien race {{w|Vulcan (Star Trek)|Vulcan}}, and the search has turned into the question ''where is he?''
|-
| ''Space Trip: Let's Go Back''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Voyage Home|Star Trek: The Voyage Home}}''
| When you decide to travel home you could also say let's go back.
|-
|colspan=3|
|-
| ''Space Fights: Power Gets Up''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''
| From the title text. When you awake, you typically get up (from the bed). Force and power are similar in common vocabulary, but in Star Wars terminology, the Force is never referred to as just "power".
|-
| ''Space Fights: The Scary Ghost''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}''
| From the title text. Ghost = Phantom. A menacing phantom would be quite scary.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Ten DVDs on a shelf. The first three stand together to the left, the two to the right leaning on the first. The next three are standing straight in the middle and then the next four are standing straight to the right. The movie titles are written on the back of the DVD cases, in white on the gray DVD cases. The text is written, so it is supposed to be read when the DVD is lying down.]
:Space Fights: Sudden Optimism
:Space Fights: The Government Wins This One
:Space Fights: The Sword Wizard Is Back

:The Jewelry God: The Jewelry Team
:The Jewelry God: Double Houses
:The Jewelry God: We Have a Czar Again

:Space Trip: The Movie
:Space Trip: That Guy is Angry
:Space Trip: Where is the Vulcan
:Space Trip: Let's Go Back

:[Caption below the frame:]
:'''Synonym Movies'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:LOTR]]

1563: Synonym Movies

2015-08-12T15:36:23Z

Wwoods: /* Table of the titles */

{{comic
| number = 1563
| date = August 12, 2015
| title = Synonym Movies
| image = synonym_movies.png
| titletext = Fans eagerly await 2015's 'Space Fights: Power Gets Up', although most think 1999's 'Space Fights: The Scary Ghost' didn't live up to the hype.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows several "Synonym Movies". It takes several well known movies, but change the titles using words that are different, but mean essentially the same thing. So ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' has turned into ''Space Fights'', ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|The Lord of the Rings}}'' into ''The Jewelry God'' and ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' into ''Space Trip''. All these movies series have the same heading, and then a subtitle. There are ten of them in the comic, and two more in the title text.

The use of synonyms makes all these movies look ridiculous, for example, "The Sword Wizard Is Back" is a laughable sounding movie{{Citation needed}}, whereas "{{w|The Return of the Jedi}}" sound perfectly reasonable to us. [[Randall]] may be poking fun at movies that have ridiculous titles already, for instance some people think this applies to a title like "{{w|Terminator: Genisys}}".

The title text refers to the new Star Wars movie coming up later this year (2015-12-18), after {{w|The Walt Disney Company|Disney}} acquired the movie rights. The movie is called {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} and has now turned into ''The Power Gets Up''. As usual, with any Star Wars related material, there is a huge fan base that eagerly awaits the new movie. But then again many people fear that it will not live up to their expectations, as was the case with the fourth movie, first of the three movies in the second installment of Star Wars, {{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}. As mentioned in the title text, that movie did not live up the hype. Of course in this comic it has been dubbed ''The Scary Ghost''.

==Table of the titles==
*All cases of Star has turned into Space
*Wars has turned into Fight
*Lord to God
*Rings has been turned into {{w|Jewelry}} - which also include, amongst others, rings.
*Trek has been turned into Trip.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Synonym
! Real Title
! Comment
|-
| ''Space Fights: Sudden Optimism''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''
| If you suddenly feel optimistic, you could say that you have gained a new hope.
|-
| ''Space Fights: The Government Wins This One''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back}}''
| In the second Star Wars movie the Empire comes out on top — as opposed to the first and third where a Death Star is destroyed at the end of each of the movies. So the government = the Empire, wins that movie.
|-
| ''Space Fights: The Sword Wizard Is Back''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: Return of the Jedi}}''
| A {{w|jedi}} is a kind of wizard, wielding {{w|The Force (Star Wars)|the Force}} (like magic) and the {{w|lightsaber}} (a kind of sword).
|-
|colspan=3|
|-
| ''The Jewelry God: The Jewelry Team''
| ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring}}''
| The fellowship has become a team in the synonym version.
|-
| ''The Jewelry God: Double Houses''
| ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers}}''
| Two towers may not be so close to double houses... But at least there are two in either case.
|-
| ''The Jewelry God: We Have a Czar Again''
| ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King}}''
| Czar is a title for Slavic monarchs, but generally regarded as equivalent to king.
|-
|colspan=3|
|-
| ''Space Trip: The Movie''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}}''
| Today we would say ""The Movie" rather than "The Motion Picture".
|-
| ''Space Trip: That Guy is Angry''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan}}''
| {{w|Khan Noonien Singh|Khan}} (a fictional villain in the series) is now just ''That Guy'', and wrath has been turned down to merely angry.
|-
| ''Space Trip: Where is the Vulcan''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Search for Spock}}''
| {{w|Spock}} is of the alien race {{w|Vulcan (Star Trek)|Vulcan}}, and the search has turned into the question ''where is he?''
|-
| ''Space Trip: Let's Go Back''
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Voyage Home}}''
| When you decide to travel home you could also say let's go back.
|-
|colspan=3|
|-
| ''Space Fights: Power Gets Up''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''
| From the title text. When you awake, you typically get up (from the bed). Force and power are similar in common vocabulary, but in Star Wars terminology, the Force is never referred to as just "power".
|-
| ''Space Fights: The Scary Ghost''
| ''{{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}''
| From the title text. Ghost = Phantom. A menacing phantom, would be quite scary.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Ten DVDs on a shelf. The first three stand together to the left, the two to the right leaning on the first. The next three are standing straight in the middle and then the next four are standing straight to the right. The movie titles are written on the back of the DVD cases, in white on the gray DVD cases. The text is written, so it is supposed to be read when the DVD is lying down.]
:Space Fights: Sudden Optimism
:Space Fights: The Government Wins This One
:Space Fights: The Sword Wizard Is Back

:The Jewelry God: The Jewelry Team
:The Jewelry God: Double Houses
:The Jewelry God: We Have a Czar Again

:Space Trip: The Movie
:Space Trip: That Guy is Angry
:Space Trip: Where is the Vulcan
:Space Trip: Let's Go Back

:[Caption below the frame:]
:'''Synonym Movies'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:LOTR]]

1543: Team Effort

2015-06-27T19:01:31Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ Seriously? To the microliter?

{{comic
| number = 1543
| date = June 26, 2015
| title = Team Effort
| image = team_effort.png
| titletext = Given the role they play in every process in my body, really, they deserve this award more than me. Just gotta figure out how to give it to them. Maybe I can cut it into pieces to make it easier to swallow ...
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] has won an award at a ceremony (presumably movie-related and possibly an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awards Academy Award], as she mentions her director). Traditionally, when a person receives a major award, they give an acceptance speech which traditionally begins with the recipient thanking people who have helped them achieve the honour. Sometimes when a number of people are mentioned, the recipient will say that it was a team effort - a comment which elevates the "helpers" to virtually the same level as the recipient.

Megan's acceptance speech takes things a step further; she thanks not only her director, family, and friends, but also the bacteria that populate her gastrointestinal tract. As she states correctly, the number of bacterial cells inside a human body outnumber the number of human cells by as much as a factor of 10. While the bacteria in the gut make digestion possible, the ecosystem formed by bacteria in the urogenital tract and on the skin also protect human health. In short, without them Megan would die — and not be able to win the award. To thank her bacteria is comparable to thanking her parents: they did not really contribute to the movie, but without them there would not have been a Megan, and no award.

In the title text, Megan contemplates ''how'' to thank her microorganisms and considers to eat the trophy after having it cut in pieces. (This is an extremely bad idea, because it might kill both her and the microorganisms.)

A {{w|pint}} is a volume of about half a liter.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is on a stage receiving an award from Ponytail, the latter of whom is standing behind a lectern.]

:Megan:
:I'd like to thank my director,
:my friends and family, and–
:of course–the writhing mass
:of gut bacteria inside me.

:I mean, there's like one or
:two pints of them in here;
:their cells outnumber mine!

:Anyway, this was a real team effort.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1512: Horoscopes

2015-04-17T08:47:21Z

Wwoods: /* Table of Astrological signs */

{{comic
| number = 1512
| date = April 15, 2015
| title = Horoscopes
| image = horoscopes.png
| titletext = If you live in the Northern hemisphere, anyway. In the southern hemisphere, due to the coriolis effect, babies are born nine months BEFORE they're conceived.
}}
==Explanation==
{{w|Horoscopes}} purport to predict someone's personality or future, based on the position of planets and stars at the time of their birth and at present. Horoscopes commonly group people into twelve groups based on {{w|zodiac signs}}. The Zodiac signs are based on twelve constellations that are the backdrop for the path of the sun, moon and planets through the night sky. One's zodiac sign is determined by the position of the sun on their birthday, with each sign representing a specific 30.4 day period.

Modern science has found {{w|Astrology and science|no basis for horoscopes}}, which is why the comic jokes about the fact that its horoscopes at least ''may'' be true. Actual horoscopes are typically so vague that they could be true for almost anyone regardless of their sign. Note that this horoscope mainly makes sense for people living in the {{w|northern hemisphere}} (as mentioned in the title text) and it is especially tailored for an audience in the {{w|United States}}, as most cultural references are centered on "Western" or even specific "American" culture, i.e. several won't even work in Europe, for example. However, with the principle understood, it is easy to apply local traditions for more accuracy in non-Western cultures.

The 12 category zodiac signs in horoscopes are based on birth dates. The average length of pregnancy, culturally considered to be nine months, is actually given as the 40 weeks (9.2 months) after the last menstrual period. However, what is relevant here is that it is only '''38 weeks after {{w|Fertilisation|conception}}''' (8.75 month). The first two weeks of the 40 week period is before {{w|Ovulation#Ovulation_in_humans|Ovulation}}, and the conception cannot occur before that.

Based on this knowledge [[Randall]] can do some informed guessing about the context of someone's conception (apart from the {{w|Sexual intercourse|obvious}}), depending on the sign. For example, people of the sign {{w|Virgo (astrology)|Virgo}} have been born between August 23 and September 22. This makes it most likely that they are conceived during December the year before. Given contemporary holiday music preferences, Christmas songs were likely to be playing the day they were conceived. This leads to the guess "You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played". See detailed description of all the signs and explanation of the horoscopes in the [[#Table of Astrological signs|table]] below.

Randall phrases his "predictions" as possibilities ("you may have") rather than declarations, acknowledging that it is a guess, and that it, unlike actual horoscopes, doesn't necessarily apply to everyone.

The title text refers to the {{w|Coriolis effect}} which applies to a body that is moving relative to an object that is spinning. Since the Earth is rotating, a force (the Coriolis force) causes moving objects to be deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the {{w|southern hemisphere}}. This effect is the reason that {{w|Coriolis_effect#Meteorology|weather systems}} (most clearly seen for {{w|hurricanes}}) spiral in one direction in the northern hemisphere and in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere.

There is also a common {{w|Coriolis_effect#Draining_in_bathtubs_and_toilets|misconception}} that the Coriolis force in respect of the Earth affects objects on a much smaller scale, such as the direction water will spiral down a drain in the two hemispheres (see also [[843: Misconceptions]]). In reality, the relative rotational speed of the Earth (one rotation per day) is insufficient to effect anything but large-scale, relatively slow movement, such as {{w|prevailing winds}} and {{w|Ocean current|ocean currents}}.

Randall plays on this type of misconception to make a joke involving reversing the flow of time. So whereas babies are born nine months '''after''' conception in the northern hemisphere (clockwise) the Coriolis effect is the reason why babies are being born nine months '''before''' in the southern hemisphere (counterclockwise). Note that unlike these horoscopes, which are declared to have an "actual basis in fact", it makes no sense for the conception of a baby to happen after its birth, not even in Australia...

==Table of Astrological signs==
Here below is a table with data and explanation of the individual horoscopes:
{| class="wikitable"
!{{w|Astrological sign|Astrological sign}} (English name)
!{{w|Birthday}} range
!Expected {{w|Fertilisation|conception}}
!Horoscope prediction
!Explanation
|-
|♈ {{w|Aries (astrology)|Aries}} (The Ram)
|March 21 – April 21
|June 28 – July 28
|You may have been conceived after a 4th of July fireworks show
|In the US the {{w|Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day}} is celebrated on the 4th of July, and this is customarily celebrated with huge fireworks. Fireworks are a common metaphor for the culmination of sex (i.e. the orgasm), and offer a convenient opportunity for social gatherings that might lead to conception.
|-
|♉ {{w|Taurus (astrology)|Taurus}} (The Bull)
|April 20 – May 20
|July 27 – August 27
|You may have been conceived on a hot August day
|In most of the northern hemisphere there are many hot days in {{w|August}}. Hot days can lead to less clothing and more lust.
|-
|♊ {{w|Gemini (astrology)|Gemini}} (The Twins)
|May 21 – June 21
|August 28 – September 28
|You may have been conceived as the leaves began to change
|In the northern part of the northern hemisphere the {{w|autumn}} starts at the end of this time period, so the leaves will begin to change color.
|-
|♋ {{w|Cancer (astrology)|Cancer}} (The Crab)
|June 21 – July 21
|September 28 – October 28
|You may have been conceived by people trying on costumes
|This period ends a few weeks before {{w|Halloween}}, so it is not unlikely that the people who conceived you (mom and dad) tried on their new costumes when they made you. Roleplay, enhanced with costumes, can be a way to spice up a relationship and can lead to sex and procreation.
|-
|♌ {{w|Leo (astrology)|Leo}} (The Lion)
|July 22 – August 23
|October 29 – November 30
|You may have been conceived during Thanksgiving
|{{w|Thanksgiving}} is celebrated in the US on the fourth Thursday of November.
|-
|♍ {{w|Virgo (astrology)|Virgo}} (The Maiden)
|August 23 – September 22
|November 30 – December 29
|You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played
|It is very common for {{w|Christmas}} songs to be played in the month of December.
|-
|♎ {{w|Libra (astrology)|Libra}} (The Scales)
|September 22 – October 23
|December 29 – January 30
|You may have been conceived after a New Year's Eve party
|Since {{w|New Year's Eve}} always falls on December 31, and since the party goes on into the new year this fits with Libra. As it is very likely that people are together in a way that may lead to conception at this type of parties, there may even be rather more than a 30th part of the people that are Libra that are conceived at such a party.
|-
|♏ {{w|Scorpio (astrology)|Scorpio}} (The Scorpion)
|October 23 – November 22
|January 30 – February 29
|You may have been conceived by people stuck inside after a long winter
|This period is during the coolest part and towards the end of the {{w|winter}} in the northern hemisphere. People may even be forced to stay at home due to snow. When people have nothing else to do [https://www.google.dk/search?q=babies+9+month+after+snowstorm&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=qzkuVcjAE4qsswGevoC4CQ many babies are born 9 months later].
|-
|♐ {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}} (The Archer)
|November 22 – December 21
|February 29 – March 28
|You may have been conceived during March Madness
|Originally {{w|European_hare#Mating_and_reproduction|March madness}} referred to the early part of the mating season for the {{w|European Hare}}, in which females fight off male suitors. Today, in a US context, this is an {{w|NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|American college Basketball tournament}} that started in 1939 and is mainly held in March. It is even covered on TV under the name {{w|NCAA March Madness (CBS/Turner)|NCAA March Madness}}.
|-
|♑ {{w|Capricorn (astrology)|Capricorn}} (The Goat)
|December 22 – January 19
|March 29 – April 28
|You may have been conceived during a sexy Easter Egg hunt
|{{w|Easter}} falls between {{w|List_of_dates_for_Easter#Earliest_Easter|March 22}} and {{w|List_of_dates_for_Easter#Latest_Easter|April 25}} so most {{w|Egg hunt|Easter Egg hunts}}, sexy or not, will fall in the most likely period to conceive Capricorn children. The goal of an Easter egg hunt can be to find as many eggs in a given time, or find a sequence of eggs, each containing a clue to the next. It is not difficult to think of adult variations on these themes. Most Egg hunts do not involve people who should make them sexy! On the other hand the egg itself, as an Easter symbol, is a symbol of fertility and after the little ones have gone to bed the adults may want to produce more little ones.
|-
|♒ {{w|Aquarius (astrology)|Aquarius}} (The Water Carrier)
|January 20 – February 18
|April 27 – May 25
|You may have been conceived on Mother's Day
|{{w|Mother's Day}} in the USA,and some other countries, is on the second Sunday in May, between the 8th and 14th of May. The husband of a Mother being celebrated may wish to show his appreciation for her by paying her special private attention, potentially leading to sex and conception.
|-
|♓ {{w|Pisces (astrology)|Pisces}} (The Fish)
|February 19 – March 20
|May 25 – June 27
|You may have been conceived at someone's wedding
|It may have been your own parent's wedding, as the traditional wedding honeymoon typically includes sex (potentially lots of it). However, it is also not uncommon that people meet at weddings, and may even go so far as to risk conceiving a child at someone's {{w|wedding}}. June is widely reported as the [http://www.statista.com/statistics/241231/percentage-of-us-weddings-by-month/ most popular month for weddings in the United States]. The tradition of a June Bride (late spring and beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere) may be an old one and hence explains the reference for Pisces which lies mainly in June. [https://open.abc.net.au/explore/22074 ABC claim] that in the 15th and 16th century, May would have been the month for an "annual bath", and moreover {{w|June}} is named for {{w|Juno (mythology)|Juno}}, goddess of marriage and childbirth.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Above the frame:]
:'''Horoscopes'''
:With an actual basis in fact
:[A list with the name of each astrological sign in the first column (in gray) and a horoscope for each sign in the second column. Here given in table form]
:{| class="wikitable"
! Aries •
| You may have been conceived after a 4th of July fireworks show
|-
! Taurus •
| You may have been conceived on a hot August day
|-
! Gemini •
| You may have been conceived as the leaves began to change
|-
! Cancer •
| You may have been conceived by people trying on costumes
|-
! Leo •
| You may have been conceived during Thanksgiving
|-
! Virgo •
| You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played
|-
! Libra •
| You may have been conceived after a New Year’s Eve party
|-
! Scorpio •
| You may have been conceived by people stuck inside after a long winter
|-
! Sagittarius •
| You may have been conceived during March Madness
|-
! Capricorn •
| You may have been conceived during a sexy Easter egg hunt
|-
! Aquarius •
| You may have been conceived on Mother's day
|-
! Pisces •
| You may have been conceived at someone's wedding
|}

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Chart]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Christmas]]

1512: Horoscopes

2015-04-17T08:34:44Z

Wwoods: /* Table of Astrological signs */

{{comic
| number = 1512
| date = April 15, 2015
| title = Horoscopes
| image = horoscopes.png
| titletext = If you live in the Northern hemisphere, anyway. In the southern hemisphere, due to the coriolis effect, babies are born nine months BEFORE they're conceived.
}}
==Explanation==
{{w|Horoscopes}} purport to predict someone's personality or future, based on the position of planets and stars at the time of their birth and at present. Horoscopes commonly group people into twelve groups based on {{w|zodiac signs}}. The Zodiac signs are based on twelve constellations that are the backdrop for the path of the sun, moon and planets through the night sky. One's zodiac sign is determined by the position of the sun on their birthday, with each sign representing a specific 30.4 day period.

Modern science has found {{w|Astrology and science|no basis for horoscopes}}, which is why the comic jokes about the fact that its horoscopes at least ''may'' be true. Actual horoscopes are typically so vague that they could be true for almost anyone regardless of their sign. Note that this horoscope mainly makes sense for people living in the {{w|northern hemisphere}} (as mentioned in the title text) and it is especially tailored for an audience in the {{w|United States}}, as most cultural references are centered on "Western" or even specific "American" culture, i.e. several won't even work in Europe, for example. However, with the principle understood, it is easy to apply local traditions for more accuracy in non-Western cultures.

The 12 category zodiac signs in horoscopes are based on birth dates. The average length of pregnancy, culturally considered to be nine months, is actually given as the 40 weeks (9.2 months) after the last menstrual period. However, what is relevant here is that it is only '''38 weeks after {{w|Fertilisation|conception}}''' (8.75 month). The first two weeks of the 40 week period is before {{w|Ovulation#Ovulation_in_humans|Ovulation}}, and the conception cannot occur before that.

Based on this knowledge [[Randall]] can do some informed guessing about the context of someone's conception (apart from the {{w|Sexual intercourse|obvious}}), depending on the sign. For example, people of the sign {{w|Virgo (astrology)|Virgo}} have been born between August 23 and September 22. This makes it most likely that they are conceived during December the year before. Given contemporary holiday music preferences, Christmas songs were likely to be playing the day they were conceived. This leads to the guess "You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played". See detailed description of all the signs and explanation of the horoscopes in the [[#Table of Astrological signs|table]] below.

Randall phrases his "predictions" as possibilities ("you may have") rather than declarations, acknowledging that it is a guess, and that it, unlike actual horoscopes, doesn't necessarily apply to everyone.

The title text refers to the {{w|Coriolis effect}} which applies to a body that is moving relative to an object that is spinning. Since the Earth is rotating, a force (the Coriolis force) causes moving objects to be deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the {{w|southern hemisphere}}. This effect is the reason that {{w|Coriolis_effect#Meteorology|weather systems}} (most clearly seen for {{w|hurricanes}}) spiral in one direction in the northern hemisphere and in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere.

There is also a common {{w|Coriolis_effect#Draining_in_bathtubs_and_toilets|misconception}} that the Coriolis force in respect of the Earth affects objects on a much smaller scale, such as the direction water will spiral down a drain in the two hemispheres (see also [[843: Misconceptions]]). In reality, the relative rotational speed of the Earth (one rotation per day) is insufficient to effect anything but large-scale, relatively slow movement, such as {{w|prevailing winds}} and {{w|Ocean current|ocean currents}}.

Randall plays on this type of misconception to make a joke involving reversing the flow of time. So whereas babies are born nine months '''after''' conception in the northern hemisphere (clockwise) the Coriolis effect is the reason why babies are being born nine months '''before''' in the southern hemisphere (counterclockwise). Note that unlike these horoscopes, which are declared to have an "actual basis in fact", it makes no sense for the conception of a baby to happen after its birth, not even in Australia...

==Table of Astrological signs==
Here below is a table with data and explanation of the individual horoscopes:
{| class="wikitable"
!{{w|Astrological sign|Astrological sign}} (English name)
!{{w|Birthday}} range
!Expected {{w|Fertilisation|conception}}
!Horoscope prediction
!Explanation
|-
|♈ {{w|Aries (astrology)|Aries}} (The Ram)
|March 21 – April 21
|June 28 – July 28
|You may have been conceived after a 4th of July fireworks show
|In the US the {{w|Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day}} is celebrated on the 4th of July, and this is customarily celebrated with huge fireworks. Fireworks are a common metaphor for the culmination of sex (i.e. the orgasm), and offer a convenient opportunity for social gatherings that might lead to conception.
|-
|♉ {{w|Taurus (astrology)|Taurus}} (The Bull)
|April 20 – May 20
|July 27 – August 27
|You may have been conceived on a hot August day
|In most of the northern hemisphere there are many hot days in {{w|August}}. Hot days can lead to less clothing and more lust.
|-
|♊ {{w|Gemini (astrology)|Gemini}} (The Twins)
|May 21 – June 21
|August 28 – September 28
|You may have been conceived as the leaves began to change
|In the northern part of the northern hemisphere the {{w|autumn}} starts at the end of this time period, so the leaves will begin to change color.
|-
|♋ {{w|Cancer (astrology)|Cancer}} (The Crab)
|June 21 – July 21
|September 28 – October 28
|You may have been conceived by people trying on costumes
|This period ends a few weeks before {{w|Halloween}}, so it is not unlikely that the people who conceived you (mom and dad) tried on their new costumes when they made you. Roleplay, enhanced with costumes, can be a way to spice up a relationship and can lead to sex and procreation.
|-
|♌ {{w|Leo (astrology)|Leo}} (The Lion)
|July 22 – August 23
|October 29 – November 30
|You may have been conceived during thanksgiving
|{{w|Thanksgiving}} is celebrated in the US on the fourth Thursday of November.
|-
|♍ {{w|Virgo (astrology)|Virgo}} (The Maiden)
|August 23 – September 22
|November 30 – December 29
|You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played
|It is very common for {{w|Christmas}} songs to be played in the month of December.
|-
|♎ {{w|Libra (astrology)|Libra}} (The Scales)
|September 22 – October 23
|December 29 – January 30
|You may have been conceived after a new year's eve party
|Since {{w|New Year's Eve}} always falls on December 31, and since the party goes on into the new year this fits with Libra. As it is very likely that people are together in a way that may lead to conception at this type of parties, there may even be rather more than a 30th part of the people that are Libra that are conceived at such a party.
|-
|♏ {{w|Scorpio (astrology)|Scorpio}} (The Scorpion)
|October 23 – November 22
|January 30 – February 29
|You may have been conceived by people stuck inside after a long winter
|This period is during the coolest part and towards the end of the {{w|winter}} in the northern hemisphere. People may even be forced to stay at home due to snow. When people have nothing else to do [https://www.google.dk/search?q=babies+9+month+after+snowstorm&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=qzkuVcjAE4qsswGevoC4CQ many babies are born 9 months later].
|-
|♐ {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}} (The Archer)
|November 22 – December 21
|February 29 – March 28
|You may have been conceived during March madness
|Originally {{w|European_hare#Mating_and_reproduction|March madness}} referred to the early part of the mating season for the {{w|European Hare}}, in which females fight off male suitors. Today, in a US context, this is an {{w|NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|American college Basketball tournament}} that started in 1939 and is mainly held in March. It is even covered on TV under the name {{w|NCAA March Madness (CBS/Turner)|NCAA March Madness}}.
|-
|♑ {{w|Capricorn (astrology)|Capricorn}} (The Goat)
|December 22 – January 19
|March 29 – April 28
|You may have been conceived during a sexy Easter Egg hunt
|{{w|Easter}} falls between {{w|List_of_dates_for_Easter#Earliest_Easter|March 22}} and {{w|List_of_dates_for_Easter#Latest_Easter|April 25}} so most {{w|Egg hunt|Easter Egg hunts}}, sexy or not, will fall in the most likely period to conceive Capricorn children. The goal of an Easter egg hunt can be to find as many eggs in a given time, or find a sequence of eggs, each containing a clue to the next. It is not difficult to think of adult variations on these themes. Most Egg hunts do not involve people who should make them sexy! On the other hand the egg itself, as an Easter symbol, is a symbol of fertility and after the little ones have gone to bed the adults may want to produce more little ones.
|-
|♒ {{w|Aquarius (astrology)|Aquarius}} (The Water Carrier)
|January 20 – February 18
|April 27 – May 25
|You may have been conceived on Mother's day
|{{w|Mother's Day}} in the USA,and some other countries, is on the second Sunday in May, between the 8th and 14th of May. The husband of a Mother being celebrated may wish to show his appreciation for her by paying her special private attention, potentially leading to sex and conception.
|-
|♓ {{w|Pisces (astrology)|Pisces}} (The Fish)
|February 19 – March 20
|May 25 – June 27
|You may have been conceived at someone's wedding
|It may have been your own parent's wedding, as the traditional wedding honeymoon typically includes sex (potentially lots of it). However, it is also not uncommon that people meet at weddings, and may even go so far as to risk conceiving a child at someone's {{w|wedding}}. June is widely reported as the [http://www.statista.com/statistics/241231/percentage-of-us-weddings-by-month/ most popular month for weddings in the United States]. The tradition of a June Bride (late spring and beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere) may be an old one and hence explains the reference for Pisces which lies mainly in June. [https://open.abc.net.au/explore/22074 ABC claim] that in the 15th and 16th century, May would have been the month for an "annual bath", and moreover {{w|June}} is named for {{w|Juno (mythology)|Juno}}, goddess of marriage and childbirth.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Above the frame:]
:'''Horoscopes'''
:With an actual basis in fact
:[A list with the name of each astrological sign in the first column (in gray) and a horoscope for each sign in the second column. Here given in table form]
:{| class="wikitable"
! Aries •
| You may have been conceived after a 4th of July fireworks show
|-
! Taurus •
| You may have been conceived on a hot August day
|-
! Gemini •
| You may have been conceived as the leaves began to change
|-
! Cancer •
| You may have been conceived by people trying on costumes
|-
! Leo •
| You may have been conceived during Thanksgiving
|-
! Virgo •
| You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played
|-
! Libra •
| You may have been conceived after a New Year’s Eve party
|-
! Scorpio •
| You may have been conceived by people stuck inside after a long winter
|-
! Sagittarius •
| You may have been conceived during March Madness
|-
! Capricorn •
| You may have been conceived during a sexy Easter egg hunt
|-
! Aquarius •
| You may have been conceived on Mother's day
|-
! Pisces •
| You may have been conceived at someone's wedding
|}

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Chart]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Christmas]]

Talk:1445: Efficiency

2014-11-12T00:50:59Z

Wwoods: Yogi Berra

I would add references to procrastination and add that especially for some type of people the third item is the intellectually most interesting and satisfying one. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.90|108.162.254.90]] 08:19, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

A great 18th century quote by Dr. Samuel Johnson, saying much the same thing: 
:We talked of the education of children; and I asked him what he thought was best to teach them first. 
:JOHNSON. 'Sir, it is no matter what you teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. Sir, you may stand disputing which leg is best to put in first, but in the mean time your bottom is bare. Sir, while you are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, another boy has learnt them both.' - Boswell's Life of Johnson [[User:GreenWyvern|GreenWyvern]] ([[User talk:GreenWyvern|talk]]) 09:54, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

QWERTY isn't "universally accepted" (worldwide). I's variants like QWERTZ and AZERTY are also somewhat common. Look at this map for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY . Maybe change the text to universally accepted *in english language* or something like *QWERTY and its variants*? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.253.162|108.162.253.162]] 10:14, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

:We have FGĞIOD in Turkey which can compete against Dvorak's. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.105|173.245.53.105]]

When I started seriously considering Dvorak I spent very little time deciding to go with it, but about a month getting used to it. It's been sweet since then. I love it. Typing has never been so enjoyable! [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.195|103.22.201.195]] 10:28, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

"" Typing has never been so enjoyable!"" Does this addiction have a name in psychiatry?

This is also a problem when I am looking at the religions :|--[[User:JZZdd|JZZdd]] ([[User talk:JZZdd|talk]]) 04:05, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

One is reminded of {{w|Yogi Berra}}'s line, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 00:50, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

1429: Data

2014-10-04T16:44:31Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1429
| date = October 3, 2014
| title = Data
| image = data.png
| titletext = If you want to have more fun at the expense of language pedants, try developing an hypercorrection habit.
}}

==Explanation==

"Kirk vs. Picard" is a debate that many ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' fans engage in — specifically which was a better captain of the {{w|Starship Enterprise|starship ''Enterprise''}} on the TV show. Captain {{w|James T. Kirk}} and {{w|Jean-Luc Picard}} each were captains of the ship in different periods (Kirk was captain of USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701) in {{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series}}, while Picard was captain of USS ''Enterprise''-D (NCC-1701-D) in ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation}}''), but fans argue over who was the "best". Most third-place candidates are pretty distant, resulting in a more multi-faceted debate. Cueball seems to be looking at results of polling for this ''third'' most popular character.

The humor in this comic stems from the fact that the Latin word "data" is a plural form of the word "datum". Due to very few uses for the singular form and general lack of knowledge of Latin among modern population, many people do not think about it and assume "data" to be singular. Under the overwhelming dominance of this misconception, referring to data as singular is becoming increasingly (but not universally) accepted as grammatically correct — the ''Wall Street Journal'', for instance, recently announced that it is moving away from saying data "are," while the ''New York Times''' manual of style allows for both variants depending on usage scenario, and ''USA Today'' is consistently using "data" as a plural ("data are"). Naturally, the purists insist on the form that is correct from the Latin grammar point of view and see "data is" as an example of a subject-verb agreement error. This type of error is present in the beginning of the sentence that Cueball is citing ("According to this polling data," while grammatically correct variant would be "According to these polling data").

The second error in the same sentence is due to the fact that ''{{w|Data (Star Trek)|Data}}'' is a character from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Since it is a character's name, when used to refer to the character, "Data" should be treated as singular.

By reversing the verb agreement in both cases, Cueball is basically going out of his way to annoy grammatically obsessed people.

The title text suggests the mocking of language pedants/amateur {{w|Grammar Nazi|grammar Nazis}} by {{w|Hypercorrection|hyper-correcting}} one's use of language. The sentence itself is an example of this: the general rule is that words starting with a consonant should be preceded by "a", while words starting with a vowel should be preceeded by "an". However, the letter h is a special case, since in words like "honour" (/ˈɒnəɹ/) and "hour" (/ˈaʊəɹ/) the "h" is silent so the words actually start with a vowel sound, thus leading to the use of "an." The word "hyper-correction" (/ˌhaɪ.pəɹ.kəˈɹɛk.ʃən/), on the other hand starts with a standard consonant "h" sound and so must be preceded with "a," not "an."

This comic complements [[326: Effect an Effect]] (which discusses the trolling of amateur grammar Nazis) and also [[1405: Meteor]] (which mocks pedantry).

This comic also appears to be an example of {{w|Self-irony|self-irony}} as the author himself has previously exhibited certain inclination to insist on grammatically strict mode of usage of words loaned from Latin. One such example is the fact that [http://fora.xkcd.com/ xkcd's online discussion forums] are called ''fora'' (which is a correct plural nominative form of ''forum'' in Latin).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball reading off a smart phone to someone off the panel]
:Cueball: According to this polling data, after Kirk and Picard, the most popular Star Trek character are Data.
:Off-panel character: Augh!
:Annoy grammar pedants on all sides by making "data" singular except when referring to the android.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]

1426: Reduce Your Payments

2014-09-26T23:03:21Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1426
| date = September 26, 2014
| title = Reduce Your Payments
| image = reduce_your_payments.png
| titletext = I tried oxidizing them, but your bank uses some really weird paper and it wouldn't light.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] walks into a room where [[Cueball]] sits in an armchair. Black Hat says to Cueball that he can reduce his mortgage payments, while holding a docket of paper, presumably Cueball's payment check. Black Hat uses the same formulation many Internet advertisements use: "Discover this (strange/new/amazing...) trick to (lose weight/reduce your mortgage payments/meet amazing women)" known as {{w|clickbait}}. Cueball wants to know how and Black Hat responds by mentioning {{w|Sodium_borohydride|sodium borohydride (NaBH4)}}. Since Cueball fell for Black Hats bait he exclaims, "I hate you."

Sodium borohydride is a strong {{w|Reducing_agent|reducing agent}}, meaning in a chemical reaction it will "{{w|redox|reduce}}" another substance. It is in fact used during the [http://www.borax.com/library/articles/news-and-events/news-release/paper's-tiger manufacture of paper], in order to bleach the pulp and improve the resulting paper's properties.

This comic is a typical switcharound pun. Cueball expects the value (on a bill) paid to be reduced, while Black Hat uses the chemical meaning of reducing.

The complementary chemical reaction to reduction is oxidation, which is what happens if the paper mortgage payment is burned, as referred to in the title text. They go together in {{w|redox}} reactions, which generally involve electron transfer from the {{w|chemical species}} which is oxidized to the one which is reduced.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits on a sofa and Blackhat walks into the frame from behind.]
:Blackhat: I discovered this weird trick for reducing your mortgage payments!
:Cueball: What?
:Blackhat: Sodium borohydride.
:Cueball: ...I hate you.

{{comic discussion}}

1389: Surface Area

2014-07-02T21:28:41Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ numerical sort keys

{{comic
| number = 1389
| date = July 2, 2014
| title = Surface Area
| image = surface_area.png
| titletext = This isn't an informational illustration; this is a thing I think we should do. First, we'll need a gigantic spool of thread. Next, we'll need some kind of ... hmm, time to head to Seattle.
}}

A [http://xkcd.com/1389/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd - which can be reached easily from here as always, by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|asteroids by radius or diameter?}}
This ''map'' shows the total surface areas of all {{w|Terrestrial_planet|terrestrial planets}}, {{w|natural satellite}}s, {{w|asteroid}}s, {{w|minor planet|etc.}} with a diameter larger than 100 m in the {{w|Solar System}}, represented as regions of a single massive landmass - a {{w|supercontinent}} like {{w|Pangaea}} - which is clearly surrounded by an ''ocean''.

On the area that signifies Earth the continents are drawn using a {{w|Map projection}} that keeps the scale of the continents correct. (This is something that [[Randall]] cares about as can be seen in [[977: Map Projections]]). The part of the surface of the Earth that are covered in oceans are also included in the surface area of the Earth, as even a layer of 3-4 km of water seems insignificant when comparing to the Earth's diameter of 12,000 km.

Relatively small objects like asteroids, comets, and so on are grouped into two regions at the northeast and southwest corners, while tiny objects like space dust are excluded altogether (probably because their total surface area is impossible to estimate accurately, and also because any estimate would likely be too large to fit easily into the map). He has likely used this Wikipedia list: {{w|List of Solar System objects by size}}.

The earth's undersea surface is included, but the {{w|gas giant}}s Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are not included, presumably because they do not have any "solid surfaces"; even if they had a solid core (which is itself not clear), that would not comprise any "surface". The gas giants are believed to lack any well-defined surface at all, with the gases that make them up simply becoming thinner and thinner with increasing distance from the planets' centers, eventually becoming indistinguishable from the interplanetary medium. If they were included via some sort of surface definition, this part of the map would be a tiny speck among the gas giants. Similarly the {{w|Sun}} also is not considered a solid but hot {{w|Plasma_(physics)|plasma}}; if it was included it would reduce both the original map and the gas giants to a tiny speck.

Between Earth and Titan is a tiny speck noted "''all human skin''", which is an interesting sort of solid surface and could conceivably be a reference to the novel ''{{w|The_Silence_of_the_Lambs_(novel)|The Silence of the Lambs}}''.

The title text explains that this comic is not actually for information, it is something he thinks we should really do - that is, to stitch all the solar system's land areas together, as the comic title says. To do this, we would obviously need a giant spool of thread and a {{w|Space Needle|Space Needle}} like the tower in Seattle. Of course, since the land areas are on the surfaces of spheres, this would involve lots of deformation and be particularly challenging ... not to mention gruesome when collecting the human skin together.

The map is drawn in a similar style to the two maps of the Internet that Randall has created in the past:
*[[256: Online Communities]]
*[[802: Online Communities 2]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Surface area of mentioned objects
!Object
!Type
!Surface area
|-
|{{w|Io (moon)|Io}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="41910000"| 4.191×107 km2 (0.082 Earths)
|-
|{{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="73000000"| 7.30×107 km2 (0.143 Earths)
|-
|{{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="30900000"| 3.09×107 km2 (0.061 Earths)
|-
|{{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="87000000"| 8.70×107 km2 (0.171 Earths)
|-
|{{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="2850000"| 2.85×106 km2
|-
|{{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}}||Asteroid||data-sort-value="800000"| 8×105 km2
|-
|Asteroids 1 km+||Asteroid||???
|-
|Asteroids 100 m+||Asteroid||???
|-
|{{w|Triton (moon)|Triton}}||Moon of Neptune||data-sort-value="23018000"| 2.3018×107 km2
|-
|{{w|Ariel (moon)|Ariel}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="4211300"| 4.2113×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Miranda (moon)|Miranda}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="700000"| 7×105 km2
|-
|{{w|Umbriel (moon)|Umbriel}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="4296000"| 4.296×106 km2 (0.008 Earths)
|-
|{{w|Oberon (moon)|Oberon}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="7285000"| 7.285×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Titania (moon)|Titania}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="7820000"| 7.82×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Tethys (moon)|Tethys}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="3610000"| 3.61×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Dione (moon)|Dione}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="3960000"| 3.96×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Enceladus|Enceladus}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="800000"| 8×105 km2
|-
|{{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="6700000"| 6.7×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="83000000"| 8.3×107 km2
|-
|{{w|Rhea (moon)|Rhea}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="7337000"| 7.337×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Earth|Earth}}||Planet||data-sort-value="510072000"| 5.10072×108 km2
|-
|{{w|Moon|The Moon}}||Moon of Earth||data-sort-value="37930000"| 3.793×107 km2
|-
|All human skin|| ||data-sort-value="7000"| 7.2 billion × 1m2 ≈ 7000 km2
|-
|{{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}}||Planet||data-sort-value="74800000"| 7.48×107 km2 (0.147 Earths)
|-
|{{w|Mars|Mars}}||Planet||data-sort-value="144800000"| 1.448×108 km2 (0.284 Earths)
|-
|Various small moons, comets, etc.||||???
|-
|{{w|Haumea (dwarf planet)|Haumea}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="6800000"| 6.8×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Makemake (dwarf planet)|Makemake}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="6900000"| 6.9×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="17000000"| 1.7×107 km2
|-
|{{w|Pluto|Pluto}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="16650000"| 1.665×107 km2 (0.033 Earths)
|-
|{{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}||Moon of Pluto||data-sort-value="4580000"| 4.58×106 km2
|-
|{{w|Venus|Venus}}||Planet||data-sort-value="460000000"| 4.60×108 km2 (0.902 Earths)
|}

Larger than Ceres but not included: Quaoar, Sedna, ??.

==Transcript==
:[At the top of a map is a heading, with two sub headings and a note in brackets:]
:'''Space'''
:Without the space
:The Solar System’s solid surfaces stitched together
:(Excluding dust and small rocks)
:[Below the headings there is a map with several distinct areas. Each area is labelled with a name or a description. This label is noted inside the area, except for areas that are too small; here the label is written outside and a line indicates which area the label belongs to. Only exception is the largest area, on which the contours of the Earth’s continents are drawn. Surrounding the map is wavy lines to indicate that this is either an island or one big super-continent placed in an even larger ocean.]
:[Here below are the labels given as they appear in “normal” reading order in as read from left to right in the three main rows as will be indicated:]
:[Row one, above the line defined by the general top of the Earth area:]
:Io
:Callisto
:Europa
:Ganymede
:Ceres
:Vesta
:Asteroids (1 km+)
:[Here – above the Asteroids area before the Triton area - is a small unlabelled area (the only other except Earth)]
:Triton
:Asteroids (100 m+)
:Oberon
:Miranda
:Ariel
:Umbriel
:Titania
:[Row two, the unlabelled Earth area's row, but here only given those that are directly written to the right of this area:]
:Tethys
:Enceladus
:Dione
:Iapetus
:All human skin
:Rhea
:Titan
:[Row three, all the remaining items that are mainly below the Earth area:]
:Mercury
:The Moon
:Various small moons, comets, etc
:Mars
:Makemake
:Haumea
:Eris
:Pluto
:Charon
:Venus

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1389: Surface Area

2014-07-02T21:07:29Z

Wwoods: latest What-If

FYI to whoever writes this: the Seattle reference is the Space Needle. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.65|108.162.221.65]] 05:03, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Uranus is larger than all of these combined. Of course, it isn't on this map because it is full of gas. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.62.62|173.245.62.62]] 05:50, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
: Just wondering... Does that mean, a spaceship could just fly trough Uranus? (No pun intended.) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.20|141.101.75.20]] 07:16, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
::It'd probably hurt. As an ice-giant, the interior of Uranus is mainly composed of ices and rock. Jupiter and Saturn have cores of liquid metallic hydrogen. Also, the rock/ice isn't considered the surface of Uranus, because most of the planet's mass lies outside the solid inner layers.) [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 09:28, 2 July 2014 (UTC) P.S. Even if it was only gas, a spaceship would probably find it hard to handle the temperature and pressure at the center of Uranus.
:If the spaceship has not braked enough down it would burn up in the atmosphere. If it has it would get stuck in the core of the planet, where it would eventually get crushed, as the pressure would be brutal way before reaching any rock or metallic hydrogen. Although I did like the first comment :-p [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

And of course the earth is not correctly displayed: we have water which - in most cases - is not solid. -- jesterchen [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.19|141.101.75.19]] 07:23, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
: Water still has surface area. Edit: oh, I see what you mean now, from the title in the comic. I guess you have a point, but it's mainly there for comparison so it's not necessarily a mistake. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 06:14, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:: Under the water there is solid bottom --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:01, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
::: But then it is not "surface" anymore... but you two have a point. I focused mainly on the title, not the image text... So forget my comment :) -- jesterchen [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.19|141.101.75.19]] 09:12, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:::: Water indeed has a surface, while gas doesn't. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.47|141.101.104.47]] 11:13, 2 July 2014 (UTC)Martin
:See the current explain - just remove the water from earth, and the earth's surface area would still be almost as big. It is only 3-4 km (on both sides) out of 12,000 km in the diameter. There are also fluids on some of the rocky moons (Ice and then water beneath on Europe, Methane lakes on Titan etc.)[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

There is also small section named "''All human skin''" (between Earth and Titan)... if you think about thread and needle... ugh... --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:01, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:This is exactly the same as seen from the planets perspective. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

This seems to be an island floating on something, maybe it's floating on the sun's plasma? --[[User:BelgianAtheist|BelgianAtheist]] ([[User talk:BelgianAtheist|talk]]) 08:24, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:Or a supercontinent with an ocean around (so not floating). As the whole thing is just 3-4 times larger than earth, it would not need a very big planet to support it - a surface area 9 times as big as the earth would be plenty of big enough to contain the entire map (including all the ocean in the square). So the radius would only need to be like 3 times as big as the Earth's. No need to use the Sun for this... ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

So, what's the area surrounding Earth's landmass? It's not named, or am I blind? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.218|141.101.99.218]] 09:46, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:It is the rest of the Earth - that part which is covered by the Ocean [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Don't think it is strictly accurate to say that earth is included 'for scale' -- surely it is included because it qualifies to be on the map. Otherwise it's a bit like saying that Belgium is included in maps of Europe 'for scale' (as 'the size of Belgium' is a well-known unit of land area as in 'Amazonian rainforest the size of Belgium is cut down every week') -- Devonian Earache
: The size of Belium is also famous for its reference in the Doctor Who mini-episode "Time Crash" (see http://www.chakoteya.net/doctorwho/CIN2007.htm) {{unsigned|Esp666}}

The map of Earth doesn't look like the Waterman Butterfly projection. If it did, the continents would be angled in toward each other, and Australia would be up in the corner. The only thing that is even similar is that Antarctica is shown in "normal" proportions rather than stretched across the bottom. [[User:Prometheusmmiv|Prometheusmmiv]] ([[User talk:Prometheusmmiv|talk]]) 11:41, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:But the map projection reference is very relevant as it is indeed as the Waterman keeping the relative sizes of the continents. And Randall is very in to this obvious from the comic. Thus included again [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

What's the area on the coast between Asteroids (1km+) and Triton? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.50|108.162.222.50]] 11:44, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:Good question. Did he forget it or...? It is way to big to be his own asteroid Asteroid 4942 Munroe ;) And much smaller even than Vesta [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

(My first contribution here!) About the Earth/water surface issue, I think Randall is talking about planets' surface, and then it counts both earth and water (like if it were a sphere) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.173|173.245.52.173]] 12:31, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

I changed the explanation of the title text. The previous explanation, "all the matter in the solar system converted to a string" cannot be correct. First, he said "first we'll need a gigantic spool of thread". The title text obviously refers back to the title itself, about "stitching" the solar system's solid surfaces together. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.79|108.162.221.79]] 13:17, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Regarding the table, perhaps it would be better to make a separate "Surface area relative to Earth" column? Or may be just a numeric order according to size? The scientific notation of areas does not sort by ascending/descending order very well. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.62.62|173.245.62.62]] 14:09, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
Also, the average adult skin is around 1.73 square meters. For a newborn, it is 0.25.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_surface_area]. Very roughly estimating 1 sq. meter as the mean BSA, we get 7 billion sq. meters, or 7000 sq. km of human skin. That would be slightly larger than the area of either Palestine or Delaware.{{unsigned ip|173.245.62.62}}

Should there not be a pixel (or perhaps a slightly grey pixel) for Asteroid 4942 Monroe - area of about 1-3×102 Km2?? [[User:Esp666|Esp666]] ([[User talk:Esp666|talk]]) 16:34, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:It would be included in the asteroids larger than 1 km as it is about 6-10 km [http://blog.xkcd.com/2013/09/30/asteroid-4942-munroe/ according to Randall]. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

;Sedna and Quaoar

Why are Sedna and Quaoar not included? I mean, Sedna is so fantastically far away that I can sort of understand not including it. But Quaoar is only 10% further from the sun than Pluto or Haumea, and it's actualy closer than Makemake! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.165|108.162.238.165]] 13:33, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
:Probably because we do not yet know if they have a stable surface. They would thus be included in the Various or asteroids sections. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:00, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

;Sorting
The numerical column needs to be rewritten (preferably as two columns) in order for sorting to be useful. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 14:27, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

----

Well the "blank" spot around the earth continents is obviously all the other "solid" stuff we know earth is made up of, the continents are all above sea level are displayed as we see them from space - the rest of the "blank" area is solid mass under the ocean we don't see from up above but know is there through the sciences! {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.181}}
: Perhaps this is the Earth's surface after all the bodies of water vanish? http://what-if.xkcd.com/103/
:[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 21:07, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

980: Money

2014-06-11T18:28:12Z

Wwoods: wrong word

{{comic
| number = 980
| date = November 21, 2011
| title = Money
| image = money.png
| titletext = There, I showed you it.
}}
As usual, click the date above the comic to go to the XKCD page, and by clicking on the image on XKCD there is a link to an [http://xkcd.com/980/huge/ interactive] and '''much''' larger image. From there the [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/money_huge.png full image] can be found via a link (it is a PNG of considerable size: 12528x8352 pixels).

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Incomplete. The transcript also has to be fixed.}}
This is another [[:Category:Charts|chart]] comic - a type of comic that [[Randall]] does from time to time. He has for instance done [[Online Communities|maps of the Internet]] ([[Online Communities 2|twice]]!) and other huge visualizations like this chart for [http://xkcd.com/radiation/ radiation] with a similar structure as this chart where money is the subject.

In the chart there are five boxes with items on different scales of monetary value. Each scale of dollar increments are different colors. One dollar increments are green - naturally, because American paper money is green. Thousands are Orange/Red. Millions are gray. Billions are yellow. Trillions are blue. This comic uses {{w|Long and short scales|the short scale}} for naming large numbers (so a billion = 1000 millions = 10^9 rather than a million millions = 10^12 as in continental Europe).

In the Billions box there is a vague term called the "Economic Vortex" as well as arrows that flow between different blocks of this box. This is to show where the money goes. Where it is collected from, and where it is distributed to.

The title text is a reference to the phrase "Show me the money!" which originates from the film ''{{w|Jerry Maguire}}''.

;Dollars
*Middle-left: Pet Ownership. The {{w|ASPCA}} is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
*Bottom-right: Four boxes indicate that the CEO pay has skyrocketed from $490.31 (hourly) to $5,419.97 (hourly) in the same time period in which the average worker's salary has skyrocketed 10 cents.

;Thousands
*Top-right: Hogwarts degree: a reference to {{w|Hogwarts|Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy}} from the popular book series by {{w|J.K. Rowling}} about {{w|Harry Potter}}. One box is the estimated yearly tuition for the school and the next is how much seven years at the school would cost. To get a degree at the school, it takes 7 years (starting at age 11, ending at age 18).
*Bottom: A reference to the song by {{w|Bare Naked Ladies}} entitled "{{w|If I Had $1000000}}" and all the things referenced in the song to buy the love of another person.
*Bottom: A few items on the marriage of {{w|Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton|Kate Middleton and Prince William}}, the major royal wedding of 2011, including:
**a {{w|Wedding dress of Kate Middleton|wedding dress with its own Wikipedia page}} of 3 times the annual per capita income of the average UK person,
**an 8-tier [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1381944/Royal-Wedding-cake-Kate-Middleton-requested-8-tiers-decorated-900-flowers.html wedding cake],
**and the flowers for the wedding. These re-appear in the Millions section of the graph, where they also list the costs for the security around the event ($20 million).

;Millions
*Middle-right: another reference to JK Rowling, in this case it is {{w|MC Front-A-Lot}} (The creator of the subgenre of {{w|hip-hop}} known as "{{w|Nerd Core}}") who estimated her net worth at $1 billion. But, that raises the question, why do the boxes only add up to $82,000?

;Billions
*Top-Left: Billionaires section: Fictional Billionaires sub-section:
**{{w|Carlisle Cullen}} is from the {{w|Twilight (series)|Twilight Series}} of books and movies. He is a vampire and adoptive father of {{w|Edward Cullen|Edward}}, {{w|Emmett Cullen|Emmett}} and {{w|Alice Cullen (Twilight)|Alice Cullen}}, as well as {{w|Rosalie Hale|Rosalie}} and {{w|Jasper Hale}}. He was born in the 1640s and amassed his wealth through many years of compound interest and investments.
**{{w|Scrooge McDuck}} is a cartoon character from many {{w|Disney}} properties including the afternoon cartoon, {{w|Duck Tales}}. Scrooge McDuck has a "money bin" full of coins and other sorts of collectibles that he routinely [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMU2NwaaXEA goes swimming in].
**{{w|Bruce Wayne}} is {{w|Batman}}. {{w|Batman}} is {{w|Bruce Wayne}}. He is portrayed in many comic books, graphic novels, TV shows and movies by many different actors.
**{{w|Artemis Fowl II|Artemis Fowl}} is an Irish child prodigy and a ruthless master criminal from the {{w|Artemis Fowl (series)|eponymous book series}}. He uses his intelligence to build his family fortune through crime.

;Trillions
As Randall already indicated in the transcript, this is the block for world, continent and nation finances. The numbers are really huge.
There are no jokes in here (apart from the fact that Randall tried to make the shapes of the GDP look like the continent), likely because financial values this large aren't funny to start with.
*GDP is {{w|Gross domestic product}}, the market value of all goods and services produced in a nation.
**The major chart in the center shows the development of the GDP in the world since the 1940s. So far the US GDP has always grown, except for a small reduction in the early 1980s, a flat line around the 1991 global recession and a flat line in the second half of the naughts. The world-wide GDP is growing more rapidly, but is also much more volatile.
*In the middle of the box, it shows the worth of all gold ever mined in 2011 prices. This is important because of the concept of the {{w|Gold standard}}, a concept where monetary values are linked to the value of gold. As indicated in the top-right of the box, both the EU and the USA have more debt than the total value of all gold in the world.
*{{w|Derivatives}} are a complex financial instrument where one is not trading in something tangible, but in derived values - like options. Derivatives thus are dangerous as one trades in concepts instead of values. Critics claim that derivatives are at the base of the 'economic bubble'.
**The growth of the derivatives market size is incredible - more than doubling every four years. The derivatives market thus is much larger than the GDP of the entire world.
*We get a reference to [http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127 a proposed project to power the world] by erecting massive solar farms out in the deserts. The area of Texas alone would be enough to match almost all of our modern power costs (though the people who live in Texas wouldn't enjoy being displaced).

===Money===
[Title panel at the top left]
:A chart of almost all of it, where it is, and what it can do

[There are 5 large panels below the title panel, each with a series of plots, comparing the values of various things. Each large panel is covered in colored squares, and each single square represents a power of ten (10^(3*n) for n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4), be it single dollars, thousands of dollars, or even trillions of dollars.]

===Dollars===
Finished 2014-06-07
[This section is right below the title panel at the top left - it covers the price of a single coffees up to the hourly salaries of CEOs.]

[There is a box with a note next to the title:]
;Important notes:
:This chart is entirely in 2011 dollars.
:Every value associated with a year before 2011 was adjusted for inflation using the consumer Price Index.
:Nearly every amount has a cited source - when possible,
:a scholarly work or government publication. A list of
:sources is available at http://xkcd.com/980/sources/

[The rest of this panel shows how much the individual items values compare to a single dollar. Next to each price in dollar will be drawn a number of green squares equal to this amount - so for the 1 dollar bill there is 1 square, and for the 1000 dollar bill 1000 squares. Many of the items have been grouped in small or large groups. Below all these groups are listed from top left to bottom right, and within the groups the individual items are listed similarly but also in columns. If there is a heading for a group this will be highlighted - else it will be the first item in the group that is highlighted - after the first line in a group the rest of the items are indented.]
;$1 bill
:$10 bill
:Apples (one dozen) $5.68
:Dollar Menu item $1.00
:Daily interest on average credit card debt ($9,840) $5.63
:Starbucks Coffee $2.00
;Average single US restaurant meal $35.65
:Average meal at the 20 costliest San Francisco restaurants $85.27
;Game consoles
:PS3 $250
:Xbox 360 $200
:Wii $150
;Dinner for four
:(Lighter blocks show value of time required using median US wage of $16.27/hour)
:Homemade rice and pinto beans $9.26 (With time cost of two hours of shopping, travel, prep and cleanup: $41.80)
:Homemade chicken dinner $13.78 (With time cost of two hours of shopping, travel, prep and cleanup: $46.32)
:McDonals $27.89 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $36.03)
:Arby’s $34.00 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $42.13)
:Chili’s $69.64 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $77.78)
:Outback Steakhouse $109.82 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $117.96)
;Loose change value per pound $12.80
:Loose change with no quarters $5.40
:Annual value of pennies received in change (at one daily cash purchase) $7.30
:Loose change with no pennies $17.40
;Median household daily income $136.28
:Taxes $32.16
:After-tax $104.12
;$1000 bill (Grover Cleveland, discontinued)
:$500 bill (William McKinley, discontinued)
;Paperback book $6.80
:Hardcover book $32.27
:Audio book $50.42
:Kindle $79.00
:New video game $49.99
:Traditional cell phone average monthly fee $77.36
:Smartphone average monthly fee $110.30
:Kindle keyboard + 3G $139
;One-gallon jug of loose change $270
;Pet ownership
:ASPCA estiamtes
:Annual cost of rabbit ownership $730
:Annual cost of dog ownership $695
:Annual cost of cat ownership $670
:Annual cost of fish ownership $35
:Annual cost of bird ownership $200
:Annual cost of small mammal ownership $300
;Kindle Fire $199
:Men’s suit $400
:Low-end bicycle $190
:Basic iPad $499
:iPad+3G+ a year of data $869
:Basic Macbook Air $999
:Netbook $249.99
:iPod Nano $129
:Mac Mini $599
:Comcast cable internet for a year ($59.99/month) $719.88
;Traditional cell phone average annual bill $928.30
:Smartphone average annual bill $1,320
;Worker/CEO comparison
:1965 production worker average hourly wage $19.61
:2007 production worker average hourly wage $19.71
:Typical 1965 CEO pay for the same period $490.31
:Typical 2007 CEO pay for the same period $5419.97

===Thousands===
[This section discusses values from around $1000 to $1,000,000, including a dissection of the song ''If I had $1000000.''] 
[The Dollars section is zoomed down so the area is only 1/1000 of the size and is shown at the top of the Thousands section with lines indicating this zoom] 
[The rest of this panel shows how much the individual items values compare to thousand dollars. Next to each price in dollar will be drawn a number of orange squares equal to the number of thousand dollars in the amount - so for a 1000 dollar item there will be one square and for a small house at a price of 100,000$ there will be 100 squares. Many of the items have been grouped in small or large groups. Below all these groups are listed from top left to bottom right, and within the groups the individual items are listed similarly but also in columns. If there is a heading for a group this will be highlighted - else it will be the first item in the group that is highlighted - after the first line in a group the rest of the items are indented.]
;Typical household net worth by head of household’s age
:…in 1984 …in 2009
:$11,680 <35 years $3,710
:$72,090 35-44 years $40,140
:$115,060 45-54 years $103,040
:$149,240 55-64 years $164,270
:$122,100 >65 years $172,820
[Inside a frame there are a block of 1000 thousand green squares set to equal (=) one orange square to indicate the size of an orange square]
;One thousand dollars $1,000
[The title of this next item is below the block – the indications are shown from top to bottom, with lines indicating low and mid income, and the squares between low and high are in a lighter color]
;Raising a child to age 17
:Upper income $302,860
:Middle income $206,920
:Lower income $206,920
;Vacation package from New England
:[The title above is below the next line of text which is also below the blocks – there is a bracket between the title and this other line:]
::All-inclusive one-week trip for two to St. Lucia resort (incl. flights) $3,204
:Twenty week-long Hawaiian vacations $136,020
:Typical trip from US west coast
:[The title above is below these next lines of text – these are again below each of the two sets of blocks – there is a bracket between the title and the other text]
::Typical week-long Hawaii trip for two (incl. flights) $6,801
::Typical weekend Hawaii trip for two (incl. flights) $2,863
;Cancer treatment including chemo $117,260
:Estimated one-year Hogwarts cost (incl. tuition) $43,000
:Seven-year Hogwarts degree $301,000
:Average community college tuition $10,340 One year $2,580
:Average in-state university tuition $28,920 One year $7,230
;Golden Opulence ice cream sundae $1,000
:Average smartphone annual cost $1.320
:Average used car $8,910
:Average new car $27,230
:High-end bicycle $1,500
:One Starbucks latte per day $1.820
;United States 2005 per capita income $32,360
:Switzerland 2005 per capita income $29,910
:Germany 2005 per capita income $27,550
:UK 2005 per capita income $23,240
:France 2005 per capita income $16,400
:China 2005 per capita income $3,540
:Brazil 2005 per capita income $5,540
;Small rural house $100,000
:Typical new home $224,910
:Daily sales of Minecraft $193,500
;Average individual health insurance annual premium $5,430
:[The five blocks of this item are divided with the top four in lighter color and brackets indicate each group and are named]
::Employer
::Employee
:Typing F-U-N-D-S $10,000
:A daily pack of cigarettes for a year (NJ) $3,050
:Waist deep half-room ball pit $2,400
:All 30 bestselling game consoles (refurb, eBay) $2,640
;Annual cost of car ownership $3,650
:Typical annual household spending $5,650
:[The blocks of this item is divided in two, with the last two block in a lighter color. Lines go from each part to the following text]
::Home
::Restaurants
:Average household CC debt $9,960
:Annual cost to carry that debt $2,090
;Typical annual housing cost for various cities
:based on military's Basic Allowance for Housing for an E1 servicemember with no dependents
:NYC $25,416
:San Francisco $21,888
:Boston $18,216
:Los Angeles $17,640
:DC $16,380
:Chicago $13,664
:Worcester $12,456
:Houston $11,888
:Minneapolis $10,908
:Detroit $10,080
:Salt Lake City $9,108
:Scranton $8,60
;Initial seat on Virgin Galactic suborbital flight $200,000
:Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding cake $78,000
:Kate Middleton’s wedding dress $350,000
:Flower cost for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding $800,000

===Millions===
:[This section focuses on $1,000,000 to $1,000,000,000, with a large section on campaign contributions of American political presidential campaigns, values of expensive works of art, and J. K. Rowling.]

===Billions===
:[This section gets into larger scale finances, profits of various sectors, costs of natural disasters, and net worth of the richest people on the planet. Also, Donald Trump.]

===Trillions===
:[Global financial status is described here. It discusses derivatives, liquid assets, public debt by nation and GDP by continent, culminating with the total economic production of the human race to date.]

==Transcript==
:'''Money'''
:'''A chart of'''
:almost
:'''all of it,'''
:where it is, and what it can do.

:This transcription is only reproducing text visible on the front page comic.
:There are 5 large panels, each with a series of plots, comparing the values of various things.

:Dollars (This section covers single coffees up to the hourly salaries of CEOs)

:Thousands (This section discusses values from around $1000 to $1000000, including a dissection of the song 'If I had $1000000')

:Millions (This section focuses on $1000,000 to $1000,000,000, with a large section on campaign contributions of American political presidential campaigns, values of expensive works of art, and J. K. Rowling.)

:Billions (This section gets into larger scale finances, profits of various sectors, costs of natural disasters, and net worths of the richest people on the planet. Also, Donald Trump.)

:Trillions (Global financial status is described here. It discusses derivatives, liquid assets, public debt by nation and GDP by continent, culminating with the total economic production of the human race to date.)

==Trivia==
*xkcd comics are usually posted at, or around, midnight Eastern time the day of the comic (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). This one was posted at about noon on Monday
*Each amount has a source at http://xkcd.com/980/sources/ In the dollars section there is a statement that at every possible opportunity Randall used a scholarly work or government publication.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:1341: Types of Editors

2014-03-12T19:18:33Z

Wwoods: "The Horse is a Noble Animal"

Title text and last frame are a reference to the book [http://machineofdeath.net/ "Machine of Death"], a collection of short stories in which a machine can tell a person a word, that is in some way related to how they will die. {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.198}}

Incidentally, Munroe himself wrote a story in that anthology. Apparently, it was titled "?" Has anyone read it?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.108|199.27.128.108]] 08:14, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

SPOILER ALERT In the machine of death story from Randal the protagonist struggles with the fact the machine can predict death, it does not fit his world picture. He decides the only way to win is not to play so he never reads his slip of paper and goes to work starting fires to form an huge question mark. In the end he decides to stay in one place to ether die there from hunger and thirst or any other way. He hopes the slip of paper says "murder" instead of anything else as in the machine murdered him. /SPOILER ALERT
{{unsigned ip|62.177.168.231}}

There are also {{w|WYSIWYM}} editors: "what you see is what you mean", where editor marks the content according to its meaning (e.g. section title), but not necessarily exactly as it would appear in presentation. The main advantage of this system is the total separation of presentation and content. Examples include LyX, FrameMaker, WYMeditor, CodeMirror. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 08:44, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

And let's not forget WYGIWYG (wiggywig), "What you get is what you get" A joking reference to the imperfection of certain well-known word processors. At this moment, someone out there is writing a machineofdeath-mode for Emacs. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 16:07, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Anyone know that "horse" reference? It sounds familiar but I can't place it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.9|108.162.216.9]] 16:34, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
: I don't know if it's relevant, but there's a sculpture titled "The Horse is a Noble Animal". [http://www.marciafarquhar.com/the-horse-is-a-noble-animal-tatton-park/][http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/8605076.stm] [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 19:18, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

What about Death Note? Sounds a bit like WYSIHYD is a nerfed version of the Death Note. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.8|108.162.215.8]] 17:12, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
:It's just a correlation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 17:16, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

I think this needs an incomplete flag. It doesn't make a clear distinction between the comic and the real-world context, and the latter isn't sufficiently explained. --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 18:15, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1040: Lakes and Oceans

2014-02-14T18:17:41Z

Wwoods: Elevations above sea level mostly aren't shown. For instance, Crater Lake's surface is at 1883 m.

I see this comic as a reminder of two things, first that we know less about the oceans then the moon and second is that what there is always more wonderful things to learn even about something that doesn't effect your daily life. - e-inspired
[[Special:Contributions/98.211.199.84|98.211.199.84]] 14:54, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

To me, the Marianas door seemed somewhat more akin to the whole Cthulhu mythos than Hogwarts, and I'm surprised no-one's already put that forward. (But then while I'm encyclopaedic about Pratchett's works (for example, even more so than Lovecraft) I can't actually recall enough of Rowling's oevre to even ''remember'' the underwater egg thing, even though I did eventually read the whole bally lot, so perhaps it's just me.) [[Special:Contributions/178.105.185.160|178.105.185.160]] 13:28, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

^It's not just you. I know next to nothing about Lovecraft and am a diehard Harry Potter fan, and it's still obvious to me that that's more of a reference to Cthulhu than to Harry Potter. {{unsigned ip|65.246.210.161}}

:I fully disagree, this comic contains only REAL things. This is NO horror fiction. The door at the Mariana Trench is just a simple joke. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

;Title text
In the title text {{w|James Cameron}} is excusing about a song. Is it {{w|Celine Dion}}, or {{w|Enya}}, or what does it mean? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:20, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

Elevations above sea level mostly aren't shown. For instance, Crater Lake's surface is at 1883 m. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 18:17, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

1040: Lakes and Oceans

2014-02-14T18:15:09Z

Wwoods: /* Transcript */ italics

{{comic
| number = 1040
| date = April 9, 2012
| title = Lakes and Oceans
| image = lakes and oceans.png
| titletext = James Cameron has said that he didn't know its song would be so beautiful. He didn't close the door in time. He's sorry.
}}

==Explanation==
[http://xkcd.com/1040/large Full size image (2.5MB - 2592×1728)]

This comic is a scale representation of our lakes and oceans, with an emphasis on how little we know about our oceans. It shows the depths and lengths to in relative scale. The ''{{w|Edmund Fitzgerald}}'' was a {{w|Great Lakes}} freighter which sank in 1975. The {{w|Russian submarine Kursk (K-141)|''Kursk'' (K-141)}} was a {{w|Russian}} nuclear submarine which sank in 2000 after an explosion. The {{w|RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania''}} was a {{w|British}} ocean liner which was famously sunk in 1915, eventually prompting the {{w|United States}} to enter {{w|World War I}}. All three of these ships were sunk in water that was shallower than they were long. The shortest was the ''Kursk'', which was 154 metres long, and sunk in water only 100 metres deep.

Also on the diagram is the {{w|RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic''}}, which famously sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, and the ''{{w|Seawise Giant}}'', which is the largest ship ever built, at 485 metres. It was scrapped in 2010. The {{w|Deepwater Horizon}} is an offshore oil well which made headlines after an explosion in 2010 caused the {{w|Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill|world's largest oil spill}}. The skyscraper the {{w|Burj Khalifa}} is also shown. The Burj Khalifa is the world tallest manmade structure, and is located in the city of {{w|Dubai}}, in the {{w|United Arab Emirates}}. The {{w|Chilean}} mine showed on the far right is the {{w|San José Mine}}, which suffered a {{w|2010 Copiapó mining accident|collapse}} in 2010, trapping 33 men 700 metres underground for 69 days. The {{w|Kola Superdeep Borehole}} also shown on the right was a {{w|Soviet}} (and later Russian) research project attempting to drill as deep into the {{w|earth's crust}} as possible. It was abandoned in 2005, after reaching a record of 12,262 metres deep.

Also shown are several notable bodies of water. There are the Great Lakes: {{w|Lake Superior}}, {{w|Lake Michigan}}, {{w|Lake Huron}}, {{w|Lake Erie}}, and {{w|Lake Ontario}}. {{w|Death Valley}} is a large, desert valley in {{w|California}}, named because the deadly climate and dry environment support very few life forms. {{w|Great Slave Lake}} is the deepest lake in {{w|North America}}, and is located in the {{w|North West Territories}}, in {{w|Canada}}. {{w|Crater Lake}} is located in {{w|Oregon}}, and is the deepest lake in the United States. {{w|Loch Ness}} is the {{w|Scotland|Scottish}} lake which is the location of the alleged "{{w|Loch Ness Monster}}". {{w|Lake Baikal}} is located in {{w|Russia}} and {{w|Mongolia}}, and is the world's deepest lake. On the far right side of the image is the {{w|Dead Sea}}, a lake near {{w|Jordon}} and {{w|Israel}} which is characterized for having such high salt levels that the waters cannot sustain life (and thus, it's literally a "dead" sea).

In the water, the ''{{w|Andrea Gail}}'' was a ship that sunk in a {{w|1991 Perfect Storm|storm}} in 1991, and was later eulogized with a {{w|The_Perfect_Storm_(book)|book}} and {{w|The_Perfect_Storm_(film)|film}}. Several depth limits are shown, including the {{w|free-diving}} record (273 metres), the {{w|scuba diving}} record (330 metres), the depth bike tires go flat (approximately 100 metres), the depth at which water rushes in instead of air rushing out (approximately 2000 metres), the pressure that would push a cork into a bottle (approximately 250 metres), the depth that would push water up a faucet (approximately 75 metres), the depth an {{w|emperor penguin}} can dive (535 metres), the depth limit of an {{w|Ohio-class submarine|''Ohio''-class submarine}} (240 metres), the depth limit of a {{w|Typhoon-class submarine|''Typhoon''-class submarine}} (400 metres), the depth limit of a {{w|blue whale}} (500 metres), and the depth a {{w|leatherback sea turtle}} can dive (1280 metres).

The comic also illustrates how {{w|sperm whales}} can dive as deep as 3000 metres (though don't frequently go deeper than 400 metres). It is presumed that they dive so deep to feed on {{w|giant squid}}, which can be found as deep as 3000 metres (but, to our knowledge, are more commonly found in depths of 300 to 1000 metres). The fact that sperm whales can dive so deep and come up battered emphasizes Randall's point that we know so little about our oceans. Also shown are the depth limit of the {{w|DSV Alvin|DSV ''Alvin''}}, a deep-sea vessel, the {{w|mid-ocean ridge}}, an underwater mountain range which could be considered to be the largest mountain range in the world, the {{w|Puerto Rico Trench}} (and the included {{w|Milwaukee Deep}}), which is the deepest part of the {{w|Atlantic Ocean}}, at 8648 metres, and the {{w|Mariana Trench|Marianas Trench}}, the deepest point of the {{w|Pacific Ocean}} at 10,944 metres. At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, pressure is as high as 1086 {{w|bar (unit)|bars}} and {{w|Xenophyophore|life forms}} have been found at depths as low as 10,641 metres.

The marked {{w|abyssal plains}} are a deep-sea plain believed to hold a very diverse array of life forms, but are largely unexplored. The stick figures of {{w|David Bowie}} and {{w|Freddie Mercury}} are a reference to Bowie's and Queen's songs "{{w|Under Pressure}}". The label "the abyss" with its sublabel of "it's rude to stare" is a reference to the {{w|Friedrich Nietzsche}} quote, "when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back".

The door at the bottom of the {{w|Marianas Trench}} is a reference to {{w|James Cameron}}'s attempt to reach the bottom of the trench in his ''{{w|Deepsea Challenger}}'' vessel, which he filmed with 3D cameras in 2012.

The title text's allusion of music playing when Cameron opened this door may or may not be referencing anything. However, possibilities include:
*The door positioned as a hatch could reference the hatch in the ''{{w|Lost (TV series)|Lost}}'' television series, which characters spent several seasons trying to get into, and reaching it ultimately led to many deaths and calamities.
*It also could be a reference to {{w|H. P. Lovecraft}}: his stories often contain things locked away that shouldn't be released, such as {{w|Cthulhu}} and {{w|Azathoth}}, the latter of these is connected to music, but not to oceans, and the former of which to oceans, but not music.

==Transcript==
:[Map of lakes and oceans showing the depths of various lakes and ocean attributes.]

:Lakes and Oceans
:Depths and animal/ship/boat lengths are to scale; horizontal distance is not

:Fun Fact: The ''Edmund Fitzgerald'', the ''Kursk'', and the ''Lusitania'' all sank in water shallower than they were long.

:''Edmund Fitzgerald''
:Lake Superior
:Lake Michigan
:Lake Huron
:Lake Erie
:Lake Ontario
:Death Valley
:Great Slave Lake
:Crater Lake
:Loch Ness
:Lake Baikal
:Burj Khalifa
:''Kursk''
:''Lusitania''
:Aircraft carrier
:''Titanic''
:''Seawise Giant'' (largest ship ever)
:Free-diving depth record
:''Andrea Gail'' (probably)
:Scuba record
:Bike tires go flat
:Pressure at this deapth would force water up a household faucet
:Emperor penguin
:''Ohio''-class nuclear sub depth limit
:''Typhoon''-class nuclear sub depth limit
:Blue whale
:Leahterback turtle
:Deepwater Horizion
:Dead Sea
:Kola borehole: Soviet project to try to drill through the Earth's crust to the mantle just to see what would happen. Russians are awesome.
:Chilean mine ''collapse''' miner refuge
:Sperm whales dive this deep (they come up covered in wounds and sucker marks, so presumably there are big squid down here? ... man, we know nothing about the ocean.)
:Mid-ocean ridge
:''Titanic'' (sunk bow & stern)
:Abyssal plain
:Alvin depth limit
:David Bowie & Freddie Mercury
:Puerto Rico Trench
:Milwaukee Deep
:Marianas Trench
:Challenger Deep
:Mysterious door which James Cameron built his sub to reach and open. He will not say what he found within.
:Mauna Kea, Hawaii (accurate horizontal scale)
:Marianas trench
:OIL

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]

1040: Lakes and Oceans

2014-02-14T18:01:17Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ italics

{{comic
| number = 1040
| date = April 9, 2012
| title = Lakes and Oceans
| image = lakes and oceans.png
| titletext = James Cameron has said that he didn't know its song would be so beautiful. He didn't close the door in time. He's sorry.
}}

==Explanation==
[http://xkcd.com/1040/large Full size image (2.5MB - 2592×1728)]

This comic is a scale representation of our lakes and oceans, with an emphasis on how little we know about our oceans. It shows the depths and lengths to in relative scale. The ''{{w|Edmund Fitzgerald}}'' was a {{w|Great Lakes}} freighter which sank in 1975. The {{w|Russian submarine Kursk (K-141)|''Kursk'' (K-141)}} was a {{w|Russian}} nuclear submarine which sank in 2000 after an explosion. The {{w|RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania''}} was a {{w|British}} ocean liner which was famously sunk in 1915, eventually prompting the {{w|United States}} to enter {{w|World War I}}. All three of these ships were sunk in water that was shallower than they were long. The shortest was the ''Kursk'', which was 154 metres long, and sunk in water only 100 metres deep.

Also on the diagram is the {{w|RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic''}}, which famously sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, and the ''{{w|Seawise Giant}}'', which is the largest ship ever built, at 485 metres. It was scrapped in 2010. The {{w|Deepwater Horizon}} is an offshore oil well which made headlines after an explosion in 2010 caused the {{w|Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill|world's largest oil spill}}. The skyscraper the {{w|Burj Khalifa}} is also shown. The Burj Khalifa is the world tallest manmade structure, and is located in the city of {{w|Dubai}}, in the {{w|United Arab Emirates}}. The {{w|Chilean}} mine showed on the far right is the {{w|San José Mine}}, which suffered a {{w|2010 Copiapó mining accident|collapse}} in 2010, trapping 33 men 700 metres underground for 69 days. The {{w|Kola Superdeep Borehole}} also shown on the right was a {{w|Soviet}} (and later Russian) research project attempting to drill as deep into the {{w|earth's crust}} as possible. It was abandoned in 2005, after reaching a record of 12,262 metres deep.

Also shown are several notable bodies of water. There are the Great Lakes: {{w|Lake Superior}}, {{w|Lake Michigan}}, {{w|Lake Huron}}, {{w|Lake Erie}}, and {{w|Lake Ontario}}. {{w|Death Valley}} is a large, desert valley in {{w|California}}, named because the deadly climate and dry environment support very few life forms. {{w|Great Slave Lake}} is the deepest lake in {{w|North America}}, and is located in the {{w|North West Territories}}, in {{w|Canada}}. {{w|Crater Lake}} is located in {{w|Oregon}}, and is the deepest lake in the United States. {{w|Loch Ness}} is the {{w|Scotland|Scottish}} lake which is the location of the alleged "{{w|Loch Ness Monster}}". {{w|Lake Baikal}} is located in {{w|Russia}} and {{w|Mongolia}}, and is the world's deepest lake. On the far right side of the image is the {{w|Dead Sea}}, a lake near {{w|Jordon}} and {{w|Israel}} which is characterized for having such high salt levels that the waters cannot sustain life (and thus, it's literally a "dead" sea).

In the water, the ''{{w|Andrea Gail}}'' was a ship that sunk in a {{w|1991 Perfect Storm|storm}} in 1991, and was later eulogized with a {{w|The_Perfect_Storm_(book)|book}} and {{w|The_Perfect_Storm_(film)|film}}. Several depth limits are shown, including the {{w|free-diving}} record (273 metres), the {{w|scuba diving}} record (330 metres), the depth bike tires go flat (approximately 100 metres), the depth at which water rushes in instead of air rushing out (approximately 2000 metres), the pressure that would push a cork into a bottle (approximately 250 metres), the depth that would push water up a faucet (approximately 75 metres), the depth an {{w|emperor penguin}} can dive (535 metres), the depth limit of an {{w|Ohio-class submarine|''Ohio''-class submarine}} (240 metres), the depth limit of a {{w|Typhoon-class submarine|''Typhoon''-class submarine}} (400 metres), the depth limit of a {{w|blue whale}} (500 metres), and the depth a {{w|leatherback sea turtle}} can dive (1280 metres).

The comic also illustrates how {{w|sperm whales}} can dive as deep as 3000 metres (though don't frequently go deeper than 400 metres). It is presumed that they dive so deep to feed on {{w|giant squid}}, which can be found as deep as 3000 metres (but, to our knowledge, are more commonly found in depths of 300 to 1000 metres). The fact that sperm whales can dive so deep and come up battered emphasizes Randall's point that we know so little about our oceans. Also shown are the depth limit of the {{w|DSV Alvin|DSV ''Alvin''}}, a deep-sea vessel, the {{w|mid-ocean ridge}}, an underwater mountain range which could be considered to be the largest mountain range in the world, the {{w|Puerto Rico Trench}} (and the included {{w|Milwaukee Deep}}), which is the deepest part of the {{w|Atlantic Ocean}}, at 8648 metres, and the {{w|Mariana Trench|Marianas Trench}}, the deepest point of the {{w|Pacific Ocean}} at 10,944 metres. At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, pressure is as high as 1086 {{w|bar (unit)|bars}} and {{w|Xenophyophore|life forms}} have been found at depths as low as 10,641 metres.

The marked {{w|abyssal plains}} are a deep-sea plain believed to hold a very diverse array of life forms, but are largely unexplored. The stick figures of {{w|David Bowie}} and {{w|Freddie Mercury}} are a reference to Bowie's and Queen's songs "{{w|Under Pressure}}". The label "the abyss" with its sublabel of "it's rude to stare" is a reference to the {{w|Friedrich Nietzsche}} quote, "when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back".

The door at the bottom of the {{w|Marianas Trench}} is a reference to {{w|James Cameron}}'s attempt to reach the bottom of the trench in his ''{{w|Deepsea Challenger}}'' vessel, which he filmed with 3D cameras in 2012.

The title text's allusion of music playing when Cameron opened this door may or may not be referencing anything. However, possibilities include:
*The door positioned as a hatch could reference the hatch in the ''{{w|Lost (TV series)|Lost}}'' television series, which characters spent several seasons trying to get into, and reaching it ultimately led to many deaths and calamities.
*It also could be a reference to {{w|H. P. Lovecraft}}: his stories often contain things locked away that shouldn't be released, such as {{w|Cthulhu}} and {{w|Azathoth}}, the latter of these is connected to music, but not to oceans, and the former of which to oceans, but not music.

==Transcript==
:[Map of lakes and oceans showing the depths of various lakes and ocean attributes.]

:Lakes and Oceans
:Depths and animal/ship/boat lengths are to scale; horizontal distance is not

:Fun Fact: The Edmund Fitzgerald, The Kursk, and The Lusitania all sank in water shallower than they were long.

:Edmund Fitzgerald
:Lake Superior
:Lake Michigan
:Lake Huron
:Lake Erie
:Lake Ontario
:Death Valley
:Great Slave Lake
:Crater Lake
:Loch Ness
:Lake Baikal
:Burj Khalifa
:Kursk
:Lusitania
:Aircraft carrier
:Titanic
:Seawise Giant (largest ship ever)
:Free-diving depth record
:Andrea Gail (probably)
:Scuba record
:Bike tires go flat
:Pressure at this deapth would force water up a household faucet
:Emperor penguin
:Ohio-class nuclear sub depth limit
:Typhoon-class nuclear sub depth limit
:Blue whale
:Leahterback turtle
:Deepwater horizion
:Dead sea
:Kola borehole: Soviet project to try to drill through the Earth's crust to the mantle just to see what would happen. Russians are awesome.
:Chilean mine ''collapse''' miner refuge
:Sperm whales dive this deep (they come up covered in wounds and sucker marks, so presumably there are big squid down here? ... man, we know nothing about the ocean.)
:Mid-ocean ridge
:Titanic (sunk bow & stern)
:Abyssal plain
:Alvin depth limit
:David Bowie & Freddie Mercury
:Puerto Rico Trench
:Milwaukee Deep
:Marianas Trench
:Challenger Deep
:Mysterious door which James Cameron built his sub to reach and open. He will not say what he found within.
:Mauna Kea, Hawaii (accurate horizontal scale)
:Marianas trench
:OIL

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]

1330: Kola Borehole

2014-02-14T17:35:46Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1330
| date = February 14, 2014
| title = Kola Borehole
| image = kola_borehole.png
| titletext = Tonight's top story: Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, died in his home this morning at the age of [unintelligible rune]. Due to the large number of sharks inhabiting his former kingdom, no body could be recovered.
}}

==Explanation==

The {{w|Kola Superdeep Borehole}} is the result of a scientific drilling project by the Soviet Union in what is now north-western Russia that began in 1970 and continued through 1992 . It was an attempt to drill as far into the Earth as possible. The deepest hole reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft).

[[Megan]] mentions a hoax/rumour that the drilling hit a super-hot cavern from which screams emanated [http://www.snopes.com/religion/wellhell.asp]. Although super-hot temperature was the reason the project was abandoned, there is no evidence of any chamber or voices being discovered. As Megan notes, the hoax plays on the popular notion that {{w|Hell}} is literally a physical place below us (therefore by definition, towards the centre of the Earth), whereas Heaven is above us; often depicted in the clouds.

Megan suggests that the miners therefore sealed the hole to “seal in” Hell; there is no mention in the Wikipedia article about the hole being sealed, and given potential future scientific data, the 22 years spent drilling and the cost of sealing the hole, it seems likely that when it was abandoned, the hole was left intact.

[[Black Hat]] suggests that if the Hoax were true and the miners did believe they’d drilled into Hell, a better alternative to sealing the hole would have been to dig a canal to the ocean, thereby allowing water to flow into the hole and into Hell. Given the common depiction of a subterranean hell is characterized by fire and brimstone and extreme heat, filling hell with water would both drastically alter the landscape, and presumably shortly thereafter, entirely flood Hell.

Megan never though of that possibility and compliments Black Hat’s ingenuity by suggesting that if there were ever a real conflict with Hell, she would want to be “on his side”, given his clever suggestion on how to destroy Hell. He responds by suggesting that Megan is “nice” and therefore probably won’t be on his side. This suggests Black Hat considers himself evil and thinks he would be fighting for Hell (or maybe on behalf of those  consigned there), rather than against it.

The title text parodies a non-descript news report of a person’s death. In this case it is about {{w|Lucifer}} being killed by Black Hat carrying out his plan to flood Hell. However, the report is written in a non-descript way that ignores the presumed sensationalism of the story (i.e. that Hell exists and has been flooded). It is notable that “Lucifer” is often used in modern times to refer to {{w|Satan}} and both are used to refer to the “leader” or “keeper” of Hell, although they are not biblically the same entity, and are not tied directly to hell. Much of the modern image of Hell is derived from Dante’s “{{w| Inferno (Dante) |Inferno}}” along with a variety of additional details which have been added and changed throughout the years.

==See also==
[[1040: Lakes and Oceans]], [http://xkcd.com/1040/large/ 1040 large], on the right hand side.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Black Hat are sitting in front of their laptops.]
:Megan: Ever hear of the Kola Borehole?
:Black Hat: No -- what's that?
:Megan: A Soviet project to drill deep into the Earth's crust.

:Megan: There's a hoax report claiming that their drill broke through into a superhot cavern, and when they lowered a microphone into the hole, they heard tormented screaming. People say that's why the miners sealed the well and abandoned the project.

:Black Hat: Why would anyone ''believe'' that story?
:Megan: I guess some people think Hell is literally an underground place.

:Black Hat: No -- I mean, why would the miners seal the opening? Why not just dig a canal connecting it to the ocean? Unless they '''''like''''' Hell.

:Megan: ...If there's ever a war between Earth and Hell, I hope I'm on '''''your''''' side.
:Black Hat: You seem nice; you probably won't be.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Religion]]

1126: Epsilon and Zeta

2014-02-11T20:50:02Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1126
| date = October 26, 2012
| title = Epsilon and Zeta
| image = epsilon and zeta.png
| titletext = The average error in the NHC forecasted position of a hurricane three days in the future has shrunk to a third of what it was in 1990--a staggering accomplishment. However, as you may have gathered, forecasts of future storm *strength* have proved more difficult to improve.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Incomplete because no proper explain is given. The links have to be removed from the transcript and should belong to the explain.}}
The {{w|Atlantic hurricane season}} ''normally'' runs from June to November. [[Randall]] is imagining the situation in the {{w|National Hurricane Center}} when the {{w|2005 Atlantic hurricane season|2005 season}} was extended more than a month by the appearance of {{w|Hurricane Epsilon}} and {{w|Tropical Storm Zeta}}. The monospaced text in most of the panels is material taken from actual NHC reports [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.026.shtml][http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.027.shtml][http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.028.shtml] from that season. The commentary has been edited to fit the comic's format, but it's otherwise faithful to the actual reports. While the only change to Forecaster 1 is when he's celebrating New Year's Eve, Forecaster 2 is visibly losing it after the appearance of Zeta in late December, with unkempt hair and an unshaven beard.

The [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.030.shtml last report of the 2005 season] was issued on January 6, 2006.

A full analysis of the 2005 hurricane season can be found [http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/lib1/nhclib/mwreviews/2005.pdf here].

Randall [[453|has discussed]] the seemingly erratic nature of hurricanes before. This may, however, have been a response to the recent {{w|Hurricane Sandy}}.

==Transcript==
:Narrator: The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season saw devastating storms like Katrina and Rita. But less well-remembered is just how ''strange'' the season got toward the end. The forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are the best of the best. Their predictions are masterpieces of professional analysis. But in November 2005, out in the center of the Atlantic -- far from any land -- the atmosphere stopped making sense. And the forecasters -- who'd expected the season to be long over by now -- started to get a little ... unhinged. This is their story, as seen through the actual 2005 NHC advisories:

:Report: [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.001.shtml? Tuesday, November 29th, 2005:] Tropical storm Epsilon... The 26th named storm of apparently never ending 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.007.shtml? 10 PM Wed:] The window of opportunity for strengthening should close in 12-24 hr.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.010.shtml? 4 PM Thu:] Slow but steady weakening is expected to begin in 12-24 hours.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.012.shtml? 4 AM Fri:] Epsilon does not appear weaker.
:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.013.shtml? 10 AM Fri:] Epsilon has been upgraded to a 65-kt hurricane.
:[Forcaster 2: ??]

:Report: [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.018.shtml? 4 PM Sat:] Epsilon has continued to strengthen against all odds ... [but] can not maintain the current intensity much longer since the environment is becoming increasingly unfavorable.
:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.019.shtml? 10 PM Sat:] Epsilon might or might not still be a hurricane ... but in any case it likely will not be one on Sunday.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.020.shtml? 4 AM Sun:] Epsilon is downgraded to a tropical storm.
:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.021.shtml? 10 AM Sun:] Morning satellite images indicate that Epsilon has restrengthened.
:There are no clear reasons ... and I am not going to make one up ... to explain the recent strengthening of Epsilon and I am just describing the facts.
:However ... I still have to make an intensity forecast and the best bet at this time is to predict weakening ... Epsilon will likely become a remnant low.
:I heard that before about Epsilon ... haven't you?

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.026.shtml? 4 PM Mon:] The cloud pattern continues to be a remarkably well-organized for a hurricane at such high latitude in December.
:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.027.shtml? 10 PM Mon:] We have said this before ... but Epsilon really does not appear as strong this evening as it did this afternoon.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.028.shtml? 4 AM Tue:] I have run out of things to say.
:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.032.shtml? 10 PM Tue:] The end is in sight. It really really is. But in the meantime ... Epsilon continues to maintain hurricane status.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.031.shtml? 4 AM Wed:] The end is in sight ... yes ... but not quite yet. I thought I was going to find a weakening system and instead I found that Epsilon is still a hurricane.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al292005.discus.037.shtml? 10 AM Thu:] Convection has vanished and Epsilon is now a tight swirl of low clouds.
:I hope this is the end of the long lasting 2005 hurricane season.

:Narrator: Nope.

:ENTER TROPICAL STORM ZETA
:Report: [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.001.shtml? Friday, December 30th, 2005:] An elongated area of low pressure ... which had its origins in an old frontal trough ... began developing organized convection overnight. Advisories are initiated on the 27th tropical storm of 2005.

:Narrator: ANY NEW STORMS WOULD BE IN THE 2006 SEASON
:Report: [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.002.shtml? 4 PM Fri:] Although the atmosphere seems to want to develop tropical storms ad nauseam ... the calendar will shortly put an end to the use of the Greek alphabet to name them.

:Narrator: BUT 2005's WOULDN'T END UNTIL ZETA DID.
:Report: [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.007.shtml? 10 PM Sat:] Zeta appeared on the verge of losing all of its deep convection a few hours ago... but since about 21z the convection has been on somewhat of an increase again.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.011.shtml? 10 PM Sun:] This is like Epsilon all over again. most of the conventional guidance suggested that Zeta should have been dissipated by now...well it is not indeed...and Zeta is pretty much alive at this time. ... I have no choice but to forecast weakening again and again.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.014.shtml? 4 AM Mon:] By 24-36 hours... a significant increase in westerly winds... should act to shear away most of the associated convection... and finally bring the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season to a merciful ending.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.014.shtml? 4 PM Mon:] It is hard to conceive that a tropical cyclone will be able to survive for very long in such a hostile environment. Therefore I have not backed off on the forecast of weakening. (of course...Zeta may have other ideas.)

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.015.shtml? 10 PM Mon:] Zeta is stronger than yesterday.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.021.shtml? 10 AM Wed:] As you can see...I ran out of things to say.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.024.shtml? 4 AM Thu:] Satellite intensity estimates have decreased ... Zeta is downgraded to a 30 kt tropical depression.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.025.shtml? 10 AM Thu:] Shortly after the previous advisory had been issued ... regretfully...the intensity increased to 35 kt and Zeta is a tropical storm once again.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.027.shtml? 10 PM Thu:] Although it seems as if Zeta will never die...the forecast continues to show weakening.

:[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al302005.discus.030.shtml? 4 PM, Friday, January 6, 2006:] Zeta no longer meets the criteria of a tropical cyclone... which means that both it and the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season have ended. ... this is the National Hurricane Center signing off for 2005.

:[Forecaster 2 leaves]

:Forecaster 1: Actually, Zeta's cloud pattern is...
:Forecaster 2 (offscreen): '''''NO.'''''
:Forecaster 1: Ok.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]

Talk:1328: Update

2014-02-11T20:17:19Z

Wwoods:

Note that 1.) web browsers usually can remember opened tabs (and even scroll position) and reopen them automatically on start, and/or ask if reopen those tabs if browser was not closed cleanly 2.) MS Windows tries to reopen apps closed during "upgrade reboot" --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:48, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
:Yes, browsers can remember the last tabs you have open, but may require the user to enable that option as it's off by default (with Chrome anyway - as was my experience). I usually leave it off because I don't necessarily want the last 5 tabs I had open to open automatically the next time I want to start my browser to do something completely different. If (my) Chrome browser crashes however (or otherwise does not close cleanly), it will ask me if I want to restore my previous session, which may include multiple tabs and browsing positions. =8o) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:12, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
:Windows does not reopen apps that it closed before an upgrade (at best it has an option to reopen Explorer windows in the same state if the user enables it.) As for Chrome saving tabs, it can be often flaky especially when using multiple windows combined with multiple profiles. This is moot since in Real Life™ users generally don't trust these features, when they are even aware of them. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:19, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
: While browsers remember opened tabs, it's flakey. Some browsers in the "now remembering tabs" era were sometimes inconsistent on whether they should remember tabs (Chrome), some didn't give an option to manually exit with/without remembering tabs (Firefox/Chrome), some didn't preserve form input (Opera), etc. It behaves more like a screwed-on hack rather than a fully functional feature. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.240.6|108.162.240.6]] 14:36, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

@Jakub, thanks for bringing it up. I knew about it, but for the sake of brevity decided to leave it out. Hooray for my first explanation btw! --[[User:Akha|Akha]] ([[User talk:Akha|talk]]) 08:33, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

While one interpretation is that users would push back even a critical update, the cynical me read it the other way around: that most updates labelled as critical and notified with "!"s and yellow triangles are actually not that urgent and naturally the user desensibilizes. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.201|173.245.53.201]] 11:16, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

:Note also that browsers are ones of VERY FEW application who can reopen exactly what you had open before restart, and even them usually fail to preserve form content. Also, physical problem is not likely to occur just after the patch was created: only problem which would really need immediate patching would be security problem related to virus just spreading, in which case it would probably be too late when the window appear anyway. So, in all cases, pressing "remind me later" and finishing your work as soon as possible is the most logical course of action regarding critical update. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:18, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

It's a sad day when non-kernel updates require a reboot. [[User:Chrisp6825|Chrisp6825]] ([[User talk:Chrisp6825|talk]]) 13:13, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

I think the comic has less to do with the time a reboot takes, and more to do with losing the user's current state [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.46|173.245.54.46]] 16:27, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

I agree with the last comment. It's not about the time it takes to reboot. It's about the current state of things. If you have a bunch of apps running in different virtual desktops, then a lot of these won't be configured exactly as they were before rebooting. By the way, updates for OS X are exactly the same, with the exception that they're not downloaded automatically. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.57}}

My initial interpretation was that Cueball doesn't want to reboot his laptop because rebooting increases the risk of a random electrical fire. --[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 21:58, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
:Well that's why we have this twiki.... 'cause you're dumb. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.74|108.162.229.74]] 02:18, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
:Actually, that's a pretty smart explanation. I couldn't have put it to better words. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.59|108.162.219.59]] 14:23, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

If I was faced with such an update notification, I would probably have it download and install itself, but not reboot until tonight when I'm going to shut down anyway. I find it really annoying when Windoze does things like complain about updates and run virus scans right after booting up, which just makes loading up whatever software I want to use (i.e. web browsers) take even longer. I would much rather have it use my CPU time while I was, say, Web browsing or maybe programming (but not compiling... hmm...), or, better yet, asleep. Also, Linux. --[[User:Someone Else 37|Someone Else 37]] ([[User talk:Someone Else 37|talk]]) 04:23, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

"Laptop fire" reminds me of that silly but popular phenomenon in space operas: in case the own ship is hit by some enemies "rays",
inevitably fire will spark from keybords and monitors in the command room. Georg [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.171|173.245.53.171]] 09:59, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExplosiveInstrumentation [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 20:17, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

Talk:430: Every Damn Morning

2014-02-05T18:27:48Z

Wwoods: The "some people interacting" all seem to be Cueball & Megan, doing various things.

Reminds me a bit of, The Dark is Rising, the alt text does. Not sure why. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.206}}

The "some people interacting" all seem to be Cueball & Megan, doing various things.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 18:27, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1300: Galilean Moons

2013-12-06T19:42:24Z

Wwoods: /* Animation is incorrect */

"most likely Callisto, the outermost of the four" - seems that it's definitely Callisto, since its drawn with little craters - no?

Hmmm. The animation just added agrees with another animation I've seen, in that the three innermost moons never line up all on one side of Jupiter at the same time. So if "Hi" (Io) and "What's your name" (Europa) conjoin on the right side as we're looking, then "What's your name" and "MOOOON!" (Ganymede) should conjoin on the left side. Not that I'm being critical of course...

[[User:Just some guy|Just some guy]] ([[User talk:Just some guy|talk]]) 05:39, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Some javascript application available on the net to see the 4 moons orbits around [http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript/jupiter jupiter]

[[User:HmmmHmmm|HmmmHmmm]] ([[User talk:HmmmHmmm|talk]]) 06:48, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

If the inner moons are tidally locked with Jupiter, can you ostensibly state that they're mooning the outer moons, whenever two such moons line up? lol [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.209|108.162.222.209]] 08:57, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Even with the resonance, "MOOOOOON!" appears still not to have been able to escape with that effect alone until Cueball's own close approach to Megan brought his own gravity well close enough to hers to give rise to a viable transfer orbit. And appears to be now retrograde, relative to its last orbit. Or possibly on a free-return path, unless Cueball steps back before the return transfer happens or makes an appropriate sideways move to quash the orbital potential. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 09:34, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
:Hang on... "MOOOOOON!" isn't the "Ugh/So annoying/Almost/Yes!" one. Forgot to note the hint of shading. Still, the above applies to the disgusted/elated moon, clearly not liking either of the Valley Girls ''or'' the loudmouth Jock. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 09:38, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me or does "MOOOOOON!" have a subtle [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/moon-moon "MOON MOON"] undertone? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.4|141.101.96.4]] 12:26, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Am I the only one thinking that the "MOOOOOON!" is a reference to the "SPAAAAACE!" module from portal 2?
No
*I saw a possible reference to [http://www.wondermark.com/302 "Wondermark"]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.5|173.245.54.5]] 15:14, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Maybe moons converse with Cueball, not between them itself?
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.180|173.245.53.180]] 13:14, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Or with Megan, when opposite to her face?
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.180|173.245.53.180]] 13:39, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

:I think the moons are clearly conversing with Cueball. Remember that Io executes a full orbit between every panel. --[[User:BlueMoonlet|BlueMoonlet]] ([[User talk:BlueMoonlet|talk]]) 17:27, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

== Animation is incorrect ==

The current animation has the wrong speed of the outermost moon, which is currently orbiting at a 5:1 ratio to the innermost. They should all line up along a vertical line once every four rotations. In fact the current animation never lines up all three moons at the same time (at least, not on the same side of the planet). -Greg
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.10|108.162.215.10]] 16:06, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
:The animation is correct. If you look closely at only Europa and Ganymede, you'll see that they are also in a 2:1 resonance, with conjunctions always taking place at the "6 o'clock" position. Io and Ganymede are in a 4:1 resonance, with conjunctions taking place at 12 o'clock, 4 o'clock, and 8 o'clock. The comic is incorrect in having all three moons on the same side of Jupiter at the same time. That never happens in the actual system, though I don't mind it in the name of artistic license. --[[User:BlueMoonlet|BlueMoonlet]] ([[User talk:BlueMoonlet|talk]]) 17:27, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
::The innermost orbit completes 5 rotations for each 1 of the outermost. How is that a 4:1?
::[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.10|108.162.215.10]] 18:16, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
:::I think you need to count more carefully. Start when both moons are at "12 o'clock". In the time it takes for Ganymede to get back to that position, I see Io go around 4 times. --[[User:BlueMoonlet|BlueMoonlet]] ([[User talk:BlueMoonlet|talk]]) 18:19, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
::: You're probably counting from 1 to 5, instead of from 0 to 4. I.e. When they're lined up to start, you could call that conjunction #1, but they've done 0 orbits. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 19:42, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1298: Exoplanet Neighborhood

2013-12-03T17:04:41Z

Wwoods:

Why the big empty circle around Earth??{{unsigned ip|108.162.231.42}}
:Because they're all far away and he wants to make the reader feel lonely. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.30|108.162.216.30]] 13:42, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
So all these other planets are close to each other, but Earth is far from them? Or does the distance between circles have no meaning besides the empty space around Earth's circle?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.29|108.162.216.29]] 15:16, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
: Most of these planets are hypothetical (last I checked, we knew of five such planets), and the nearest to us are in Tau Ceti, only 12 ly away. I'd say the space around Earth is metaphorical. We're kind of like Samwise as he and Frodo leave the Shire; those first few miles seem like an enormous distance. [[User:Fryhole|Fryhole]] ([[User talk:Fryhole|talk]]) 18:50, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Why New-New-America? And why not New-New-Netherlands? [[User:Quoti|Quoti]] ([[User talk:Quoti|talk]]) 15:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Changed it to New-New-World, as that makes a lot more sense than New-New-America. The Americas were commonly referred to as the 'New World', and the reference alludes to 'Sailing for the new world'. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 15:49, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

After staring at this graph for a while, I got a sudden urge to play Osmos... [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 16:03, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

The title seems to have changed to "Exoplanet Neighborhood" and the mouseover text to what used to be the title... [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 16:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

[http://xkcd.com/1071/ This] is very similar. It was of June 2012, so quite a bit has been discovered since then. By [http://kepler.nasa.gov/ Kepler], I think? --[[User:Irino.|Irino.]] ([[User talk:Irino.|talk]]) 17:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

It may just be me, but this looks like one of those colour-blindness tests (I'm r-g colour blind). I was half-looking for some hidden message or number or sumfink in the pattern of dos, but of course I'm the one that usually misses out on those things :D Can colour-typical viewers see anything odd or unexpected in the pattern of dots? Oh, also, in the explanation of the comic here, it talks about the "reddish tone" and "grey" disks ... they all look grey to me, although some are darker than others :D Note that http://xkcd.com/1071/ does NOT remind me of a colour blindness test, except in the most superficial way - a circle of dots. I think this one, 1298, does because Randall has used pastel tones. Cheers, Jon. --[[User:Jon.|Jon.]] ([[User talk:Jon.|talk]]) 16:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
: Nothing odd or unexpected in the pattern of dots, Jon. No hidden "color blind test"-like message. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.89|199.27.128.89]] 18:53, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Anyone else feel like perhaps we're still missing something here? Maybe I've simply become spoiled, but this straightforward graphic info, with no real puzzle nor pun nor humor (much less layers of these), seems ... incomplete and/or improbable. Also, what/where is the "New-New-America" or "New-New-World" discussed by Quoti above? Maybe I'm missing something major, somehow. BTW, 1K apologies for highly-likely noob errata in this, my 1st attempt at commenting here. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 22:52, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

:Comics at xkcd do not always contain a joke. Look here: [[4: Landscape (sketch)]]. Maybe we do need a category for this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:04, 3 December 2013 (UTC)

[The potty 1] I'm deeply suspicious of this infographic. For a start the resemblance to a color blindness test is obvious. Second the circle around earth must have some meaning. If it was what he says it is he would probably have labelled at least the larger planets? {{unsigned|The Potty 1}}

Has anyone noticed the different typography? Any Idea why it’s set in Futura and not in his own handwriting? [[User:Quoti|Quoti]] ([[User talk:Quoti|talk]]) 10:08, 3 December 2013 (UTC)
: Presumably because it's available as a poster. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 17:04, 3 December 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1295: New Study

2013-11-25T21:32:20Z

Wwoods:

There was a joke in Czech Republic a few years ago: American scientists discovered, that 80% Europeans believe in everything that starts with: "American scientists discovered". {{unsigned|‎Jiří Dobrý}}

The main reason why the Browser Usage hoax was so successful is that it's very plausible. Especially regarding the old versions of Internet Explorer. How can people still be using crap like IE 6.0?
:Because 86% of people just use computers as a tool that comes as-is, without wanting to understand how it works and/or could be modified.[[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:11, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
:"''How can people still be using crap like IE 6.0?''" That's like asking how people could still be using crap like a single-flux nonwidget carburetor. Don't they realize that's so out of date? Answer, of course not. To the VAST majority of people aren't, and don't need to be, aware of what version of a browser they use any more than teh vast majority of people don't know (or need to) what components are under the hood of their car. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.89|199.27.128.89]] 17:37, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Note that I find hard to believe this was created due to something happening in 2011. While related, I would assume there was some other, more recent study this reacts to. [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131003-bohannon-science-spoof-open-access-peer-review-cancer/] ? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:01, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

New to editing. Trying to add this line and it isn't showing up. I believe this is the event he's referring to. <nowiki>* [http://eldeforma.com/2012/08/27/samsung-paga-multa-de-1-billon-de-dolares-a-apple-en-monedas-de-5-centavos/#axzz2lfjwKjjt Samsung pays $1bn USD fine to Apple with 20 billion 5 cent coins]: widely reported on news networks in November 2013</nowiki> [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 15:47, 25 November 2013 (UTC)Eastwood
:But that story has nothing to do with a "new study" (or any "study," for that matter). [[User:Elsbree|Elsbree]] ([[User talk:Elsbree|talk]]) 19:47, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Nevermind... figured it out. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 15:49, 25 November 2013 (UTC)Eastwood

----
The TV reporter seems to have an impressive head of hair. Is it supposed to be a toupee? [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 21:32, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs

2013-11-20T18:02:21Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 445
| date = July 4, 2008
| title = I Am Not Good with Boomerangs
| image = i_am_not_good_with_boomerangs.png
| titletext = Bonus strip: just read the rightmost panels straight down.
}}

==Explanation==
The strip shows [[Cueball]] throwing a boomerang four times, each time finding a difficulty in catching it.

The first time, it merely hits him in the head.

The second time, about six boomerangs come after him.

The third time, a shark somehow returns to him.

The fourth and final time, his girlfriend [[Megan]] appears, stating "I'm leaving you."

The title text refers to a bonus strip — if one reads the rightmost panels straight down, you get a strip that suggests that Megan threw multiple things at him out of anger before breaking up with him. This seems to mirror the plot of the 2006 comedy film ''{{w|My Super Ex-Girlfriend}}'', in which the eponymous character throws multiple things at the protagonist (including a shark) prior to breaking up with him.

Boomerang returns in [[475: Further Boomerang Difficulties]]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball throws a boomerang, but it hits him in the head when it returns.]

:[Cueball throws the boomerang again, but this time several boomerangs chase after him.]

:[Cueball throws the boomerang once more, and this time a shark inexplicably appears.]

:[Cueball throws the boomerang a final time, and Megan appears, hovering.]
:Megan: I'm leaving you.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Boomerangs]]

628: Psychic

2013-11-11T21:02:22Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 628
| date = August 26, 2009
| title = Psychic
| image = psychic.png
| titletext = You can do a lot better than 1% if you start keeping track of the patterns in what numbers people pick.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|psychic}} is a person who claims to be able to access information that is beyond normal sensory perception through {{w|extrasensory perception.}} This information may vary widely in scope and value, ranging from archaeological to the ability to read minds. [[Cueball]] describes himself as such a person, to which [[Megan]] responds with disbelief because it is a bold and unsupported claim. To prove his abilities, Cueball has Megan think of a random number from 1 to 100, which he then guesses correctly to demonstrate his ability to read minds. Megan is amazed that Cueball was correct, but he simply dismisses her disbelief and wants to go back to pretending to lead a normal life.

The four panels are actually a setup to the real joke in this comic: the final sentence spoken by a narrator. It reveals that Cueball has simply played a trick on Megan and that anyone can repeat it. The joke is that, theoretically, a person can guess a random number from 1 to 100 once in one hundred tries, or 1% of the time, according to the {{w|law of large numbers}}. By playing this trick enough times on enough friends, the trickster is statistically likely to get a number right eventually. Assuming the person whose number he guesses is not familiar with the trick, it will appear as if the trickster is actually psychic. Should this happen, the trickster can then play the joke out as he wants, hence the "it's totally worth it" at the end.

The title text appeals again to statistics. People are poor random-number generators,[http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/02/05/is-17-the-most-random-number/] — e.g. being less likely to pick numbers at the extremes or exactly in the middle. Knowing this, the 'psychic' could restrict his guesses accordingly, improving his odds of guessing correctly.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: I'm psychic, you know.
:Megan: There's no such thing.

:Cueball: Okay, think of a number from one to one hundred.
:Megan: Okay.
:Cueball: 43.
:Megan: Holy shit!

:Cueball: I try not to let it affect my life too much.
:Megan: Wait, I can't believe this.

:Cueball: Don't worry about it. Forget I said anything.
:Megan: But-
:Cueball: Let's get to the movie.
:Megan: I, uh... Ok, sure.
:This trick may only work 1% of the time, but when it does, it's totally worth it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Psychology]]

User talk:Wwoods

2013-11-07T21:26:39Z

Wwoods: get rid of red link

Talk:519: 11th Grade

2013-11-07T21:25:46Z

Wwoods: Created page with "There's no claim in the title text about gaining "social skills and new perspectives". I suspect it's more about the chance that "that strange kid" might turn out to be the ne..."

There's no claim in the title text about gaining "social skills and new perspectives". I suspect it's more about the chance that "that strange kid" might turn out to be the next {{w|Mark Zuckerberg}}, or some such.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 21:25, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1283: Headlines

2013-10-28T07:47:45Z

Wwoods:

"1912 is, of course, the year of the the sinking of the RMS Titanic."
I don't think this is such a given fact that people know when the Titanic sank. I'm removing the "of course". And someone should add an explanation for how these titles are supposed to get more clicks, and what "getting more clicks" even means or worth.
I'd do it myself, but I'm on my phone... on second thought, let me boot my laptop... [[Special:Contributions/95.35.58.162|95.35.58.162]] 06:31, 28 October 2013 (UTC)
: Okay, I added a short explanation for now. Someone should fix it, add mentions to NSFW photo articles and list articles (5 easy ways to add 10 years to your life expectancy!). I'm out. [[Special:Contributions/95.35.58.162|95.35.58.162]] 07:10, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

Don’t you think the 1916 headline is a reference to the fatness of someone’s mom? [[User:Quoti|Quoti]] ([[User talk:Quoti|talk]]) 07:28, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

Surely "1916 :'PHYSICIST DAD' TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO GRAVITY" is a second reference to Einstein?[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity:_The_Special_and_the_General_Theory]
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 07:47, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

1255: Columbus

2013-08-24T17:42:07Z

Wwoods: /* Explanation */ italics

{{comic
| number = 1255
| date = August 23, 2013
| title = Columbus
| image = columbus.png
| titletext = And thus was smallpox introduced into the previously Undying Lands.
}}

==Explanation==
[[White Hat]] tells two children that Christopher Columbus knew the world was round, but that others believed it to be flat. However, this is a false narrative known as the {{w|Myth of the Flat Earth}}. Educated people in Columbus's time knew the world was round, and knew the approximate radius of the Earth. Columbus claimed that the distance to sail west from Europe to Asia was drastically lower than others believed, but {{w|Christopher Columbus#Geographical_considerations|he was wrong about this}}. If another continent and the "{{w|West Indies}}" had not been fortuitously in the right place, Columbus and his crew probably would have died at sea.

As White Hat begins his explanation, Megan objects, though not explaining why. White Hat continues, so Megan interrupts, saying that Columbus went in a straight line as the world curved away, ending up in {{w|Valinor}} and the {{w|Undying Lands}}. Megan's story is an allusion to ''{{w|The Silmarillion}}'', by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}, set in the same world as ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'' and ''{{w|The Hobbit}}''. Specifically, she references {{w|Eärendil|Eärendil the Mariner}}, the only mortal sailor to reach the Undying Lands, home of the Valar, with one of the {{w|Silmaril}}s. With this silmaril on his brow he might look like an Indian man wearing a [[:File:Maharaja_Sir_Sri_Krishnaraja_Wodiyar_1906_by_1906_K_Keshavayya.jpg|turban]]. In Megan's telling, Columbus ends up as the morning star, which is actually the planet {{w|Venus}} (the same fate as Eärendil in Tolkien's mythology).

Megan also references the {{w|Akallabêth}}, where (some 3300 years after Eärendil) Ilúvatar remakes the previously flat world, breaking away Valinor and transforming the rest to a globe. Ever since then, human sailors can only sail around the spherical world. Only the elves can still sail in a straight line and reach Valinor, like Columbus does in Megan's story.

The joke is that when White Hat tells her to stop making up the story, Megan pointedly replies "You first", indicating that she originally complained about White Hat's retelling of the Columbus story because his account didn't really happen, and so he was also "making things up". Megan's fantasy tale was then delivered to make a point.

The title text refers to the {{w|Smallpox#Human_history|transfer of small pox}} to North America by Europeans.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat talks to children.]
:White Hat: Everyone said the world was flat, but Columbus knew it was round.
:Megan: *Sigh* No, no, no.

:White Hat: So he took his ships and sailed west -
:Megan: - in a line tangent to the surface. The sea fell away, and he landed in ''Valinor''.

:Megan: A silmaril on his brow, he wanders the heavens as the morning star, still believing he reached India.
:White Hat: Stop making stuff up.
:Megan: You first.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:LOTR]]

Talk:1245: 10-Day Forecast

2013-07-31T15:09:19Z

Wwoods:

Any possible significance of people seeming having longer legs that usuall on "monday" frame? Also, why should that "tuesday" figure be {{w|antichrist}}? Looks more like {{w|Loki_(comics)|Loki}} to me (although if it SHOULD be Loki he would probably look even more similar). And "sunday" frame looks more like {{w|Bee}}s that {{w|Locust}}, but it's true I never heard of plague of bees :-). (On the other hand, if {{w|Plagues of Egypt|Plague of locusts}} would be referenced, one would expect the other plagues as well.) Also note that if that should reference {{w|Book of Revelation|Christian Apocalypse}}, it should include more horses. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:16, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:I think the "legs" thing is indicating they're floating up due to the {{w|Rapture}}. --[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 10:26, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Also, WHY negative zip codes? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:53, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:It may be a reference to [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MinusWorld Minus Worlds], implying that the ZIP codes are levels in a video game and the negative ones are glitches, although that's a stretch. [[Special:Contributions/38.108.195.69|38.108.195.69]] 13:41, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

The person in the tuesday picture reminded me of the Rabbit "Frank" from Donnie Darko / S. Darko. --[[Special:Contributions/95.33.125.63|95.33.125.63]] 10:33, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:If he is, it may mean that negative zip codes are located in a [http://www.donniedarko.org.uk/explanation/ Tangent Universe] --[[User:Danroa|Danroa]] ([[User talk:Danroa|talk]]) 11:02, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

I think that it's actually Megan that says the title text, and not Cueball, mainly because the title text is agreeing with what Cueball said ("Oh, definitely not"). If Cueball were to confirm his own sentence, it wouldn't make sense. {{User:Grep/signature|11:20, 31 July 2013}}

Isn't Sunday a plague of flies? And, judging by the curvature of the earth (I assume) on Tuesday One, wouldn't the character be the size of Galactus? With horns like Galactus? I think it makes sense that it's Galactus. And Monday is just a weird day, just like in my zip code. [[Special:Contributions/67.60.145.86|67.60.145.86]] 13:36, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

What's a zip code? [[Special:Contributions/80.2.179.200|80.2.179.200]] 14:15, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
: Seriously? See {{w|ZIP code}}. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 15:09, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Doesn't the Monday guy sort of look like ''{{w|The Scream}}''?
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 15:09, 31 July 2013 (UTC)