explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3208: SNEWS

2026-02-16T23:28:54Z

Yaokuan ITB:

The title text SNEWS is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperNova_Early_Warning_System . 21:58, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

F1RST! also i posted this when there was no explanation. please fix this

Is this my mediocre non-native English, or should the title text read "setting off fireworks indoors"? (Trivia?) --[[Special:Contributions/2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0|2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0]] 23:06, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Yeah, 'setting of fireworks indoors, ...' would mean setting them up (i.e., placing them) and not 'setting off', lighting or detonating the fireworks. [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 23:22, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
It snew [[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 23:28, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3208: SNEWS

2026-02-16T23:28:22Z

Yaokuan ITB:

The title text SNEWS is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperNova_Early_Warning_System . 21:58, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

F1RST! also i posted this when there was no explanation. please fix this

Is this my mediocre non-native English, or should the title text read "setting off fireworks indoors"? (Trivia?) --[[Special:Contributions/2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0|2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0]] 23:06, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Yeah, 'setting of fireworks indoors, ...' would mean setting them up (i.e., placing them) and not 'setting off', lighting or detonating the fireworks. [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 23:22, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
It snew
[[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 23:28, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-15T18:09:58Z

Yaokuan ITB:

Woah, just reloaded it and new comic! Sick... I should probably read it now. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 20:02, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Explain first; read later! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:18, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Paint bucket fill tool strikes again. --[[User:Lycheefoxpup|Lycheefoxpup]] ([[User talk:Lycheefoxpup|talk]]) 20:18, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

TABLES! TABLES! TABLES! WOOOOOO!!!!!! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 20:21, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Table created. However, I am a teenager and do not work in construction, so the explanations may need some work. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 20:56, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
::Every item in this table is real. Ask me how I know. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 21:34, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:::How does the placebo work? Does it just kinda mind control you?--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 21:42, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Robert'); DROP TABLE Epoxy;--
:Did it work? [[Special:Contributions/2001:1998:3500:42C:0:0:0:534|2001:1998:3500:42C:0:0:0:534]] 23:27, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
Thought for placebo adhesive: Water between two microscope slides. It'll stick real good, but it's not really glue, more... fancy pressure physics. [[Special:Contributions/142.165.161.48|142.165.161.48]] 22:28, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

"Duck" tape, not "duct". Come on Randall, you know better than that. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 00:08, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:Both spellings are used. One is trademarked. [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 03:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:Read this: https://archive.is/Fq5Js [[User:Viliml|Viliml]] ([[User talk:Viliml|talk]]) 09:36, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
::But "duct" ''screams'' folk etymology. "Duck" sounded unlikely so people though it must be "duct"...but it's a huge leap to think that a tape that some people tended to use for a/c ducts would actually be ''named'' "duct tape". Both the tape and the word "duct" are too general purpose for that. Is it known as that? Yes? Does it make sense though? Not for a second. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:38, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:::To be fair, it is more commonly used for taping ducts than it is used for taping ducks [[Special:Contributions/2A01:CB1C:12EF:7900:953B:FFB2:21E3:47EC|2A01:CB1C:12EF:7900:953B:FFB2:21E3:47EC]] 12:43, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:::To add on to that point, the most popular use for pipe cleaners (other than elementary school craft projects) is to clean pipes, so it's not ''that'' much of a stretch. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]'''''

Now I'm wondering what the properties of a powdered bar magnet would even be, if each individual piece continued to be magnetic. [[Special:Contributions/2405:201:E010:1029:2C1E:1669:FA92:85DE|2405:201:E010:1029:2C1E:1669:FA92:85DE]] 00:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:A magnetic powder stops being diamagnetic. All the north poles clamp onto a south pole, so the magnetic fields essentially all cancel. You end up with "lump of magnetic powder", not "one big magnet" or "powder you can disperse in a liquid." [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:: But all the little pieces of magnets are still full magnets with a north and a south pole. Magnetic monopoles have, so far, not been observed in practice. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

So, the 2-poly(etc) seems to me to suggest that instead of being "-vinyl-ethyl-vinyl-ethyly-" polimerisation, with the links between both 'ethyl-like' backbone subcomponents being from opposite ends of the respective subunit carbon-pairing, it'd more likely now be considered as a polymethyl-group with a methyl (or methylene) group as the now unused onward '1-'site, hanging free of the new polychain. I'd have to check the bond-geometries, though to see if it would even work. (Ignoring the obvious problem with the made up name.) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 01:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

I feel like the Polyethylvinylesteracetate is a joke about how polymer names are often long and gibberish-sounding. [[User:Potatocakethrow|Potatocakethrow]] ([[User talk:Potatocakethrow|talk]])

Rosin is also used soldering, which might be relevant to adhesives. Soldering is used to join pipes, among other things. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

:>"Rosin is also used soldering, ...to join pipes" Plumbing (pipes) soldering more often uses "acid flux" (Zinc Chloride and similar), not rosin which is used in electronics and jewelry. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 05:48, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

While it's less common in glues than other animal products (such as skin, bones, or cheese), blood-based glues are (or historically were) a thing. Citation: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue
Gorillas would not be a suitable source of this blood, though. {{unsigned ip|178.251.89.99|07:09, 15 January 2026}}

The traditional song "Rosin the Bow" may be less well known than "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", but rosin is in the title. [[Special:Contributions/87.75.47.93|87.75.47.93]] 10:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

How would you even squeeze that thing
[[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 18:09, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

The main page has been vandalized with pornography {{unsigned ip|65.35.147.191|15:13, 15 January 2026‎ (UTC)}}

1680: Black Hole

2026-01-09T23:50:01Z

Yaokuan ITB:

{{comic
| number = 1680
| date = May 13, 2016
| title = Black Hole
| image = black_hole.png
| titletext = It also brings all the boys, and everything else, to the yard.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is curious as to why [[Black Hat]] has a miniature {{w|black hole}} on his table; Black Hat responds that it "really brings the room together", making a pun on both the black hole aesthetically completing the look of the room as well as it literally "bringing the room together" through its gravitational pull. Evidently the black hole is massive enough to bring the room together optically into visible {{w|Einstein ring}}s by {{w|gravitational lensing}}.

The title text makes a cultural reference to a well-known song lyric from the 2003 song "{{w|Milkshake (song)|Milkshake}}" by {{w|Kelis}}, where the singer brags of her milkshake being so popular that it "brings all the boys to the yard" (what "milkshake" is a metaphor for has never been specified). But in this case, since {{w|gravity}} does not discriminate between which things it pulls,{{Citation needed}} it brings "the boys, and everything else" to Black Hat's yard - and unlike with the milkshake, not by choice. If it wasn't for the house walls (which somehow resist collapsing into the black hole), they wouldn't remain in the yard but would come into the room with the black hole, and then into the black hole itself.

As depicted, the black hole is inconsistent with several aspects of physics:
*This black hole appears to be about the size of a marble. A marble size is approximately Earth's {{w|Schwarzschild radius}}, suggesting this black hole to have Earth-like mass. (Since Cueball and Black Hat are able to stand upright, it suggests the gravitational pull is a fraction of Earth's, making the black hole's mass also a fraction of Earth's. The black hole may appear visibly larger due to having a visible accretion disc.) See link below.
*A large (and {{w|Earth|massive}}) black hole would bring the room together, in less time than Cueball could converse with Black Hat. The gravitational acceleration of an Earth mass black hole would be of the order of 1013 m/s^2, and the tidal forces (the difference between the gravity at two points) only an order of magnitude less than that. Cueball and Black Hat would be {{w|spaghettification|spaghettified}} and fall towards the Black hole in a few nanoseconds. For an observer at a safe distance from the room, {{w|time dilation}} would appear to prolong the duration that the room's contents formed a messy {{w|accretion disc}} slightly larger than the black hole. (See link below)
*A black hole with the mass of the Empire State Building would have gravitational acceleration of much less than 0.01 m/s^2, and consequently insignificant tidal forces. However, unlike the scenario in "Neutron Bullet", it would emit {{w|Hawking radiation}} powerful enough to tear the room apart.
*An uncharged black hole would fall through the coffee table and burrow to Earth's core. Again depending on the mass. If it was an Earth mass black hole Earth would move "up" to the black hole as much as the black hole would move "down" into Earth. See link below
*See [http://www.kickassfacts.com/what-if-a-black-hole-the-size-of-a-coin-suddenly-appears-on-earth/ What if a black hole the size of a coin suddenly appears on earth] for some explanation along the lines of the problems mentioned above.
**See this animation of the answer to that question here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nHBGFKLHZQ Kurzgesagt's video].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing near a coffee table as Black Hat approaches. They are presumably in Black Hat's living room. The coffee table has a miniature black hole on top of it, resting on a small pedestal.]
:Cueball: Why do you have a miniature black hole on your coffee table?
:Black Hat: It really brings the room together.

==Trivia==
*The phrase that something "brings the room together" is also a famous line in the cult film {{w|The Big Lebowski}}, where the anti-hero, the Dude, laments the theft of a rug that "really brought the room together".
*[[Randall]] describes a similar scenario in the "Neutron Bullet" chapter of the ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book, and a black hole of similar dimensions in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|129|Black Hole Moon}}''.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:3182: Telescope Types

2025-12-18T02:33:56Z

Yaokuan ITB:

no vampire jokes 🥀 ([[1791]]) [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 00:08, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Got down some preliminary descriptions of each telescope type used [[Special:Contributions/185.132.133.218|185.132.133.218]] 01:44, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

insert that one mickey mouse meme with the caption "what a fucking narcissist"
[[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 02:33, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

3166: Big and Little Spoons

2025-11-11T06:09:19Z

Yaokuan ITB:

{{comic
| number = 3166
| date = November 10, 2025
| title = Big and Little Spoons
| image = big_and_little_spoons_2x.png
| imagesize = 662x259px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAME-SIZED SPOON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Spooning}} is the intimate (and sometimes, but not always, sexual) act of lying so that one's fore is directly up against the back of another person. A common colloquial term for people in this position is to refer to the two participants as "big spoon" (the one behind) and "little spoon" (the one in front). Cueball points out that the colloquialism does not have any basis in reality due to how spoons nest; spoons of the same size will form a uniform stack, while spoons of differing sizes will rest awkwardly due to the different curvature in their handles.

The last panel reveals that he is {{tvtropes|ExiledToTheCouch|sleeping on the couch}}, presumably because of his nitpickery regarding the colloquialism. From another room, someone else - presumably Megan - realizes that he is addressing the audience about this, and expresses annoyance that he hasn't let the matter go; Cueball merely insists that he's ''right'', indicating his refusal to let the matter slide.

Title text asks whether you are annoying spoon or sleepy spoon. Which in this context most likely means to ask whether you are like Cueball who is annoying or like his sleepy partner.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Close up shot of Cueball's head and neck. Cueball is facing the left and has his arm raised.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the big spoon.

:[Cueball's face and neck are still the only elements visible. Cueball is facing the right now and has lowered his hand.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the little spoon.

:[A big spoon sitting atop a little spoon and a little spoon sitting atop a big spoon are depicted.]
:And some brave truth-tellers point out that the metaphor makes no sense because different-sized spoons don't nest right ''either'' way. You nest ''same''-sized spoons.

:[Cueball is lying alone on a couch.]
:...and apparently ''we'' sleep on the couch.
:[Voice from outside the panel:]
:Voice: Why are you ''still'' going on about the spoon thing?
:Cueball: Because I'm ''right!''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]

3068: Rock Identification

2025-03-26T20:51:12Z

Yaokuan ITB:

{{comic
| number = 3068
| date = March 26, 2025
| title = Rock Identification
| image = rock_identification_2x.png
| imagesize = 430x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Is it worth anything?' 'I dunno, is the answer to that question worth another $5?'
}}

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

==Transcript==
[Cueball is holding rock]
Cueball: Can you identify this rock I found?

Ponytail: Not without knowing '''where''' you found. It's difficult to identify minerals by sight without the geological context.

[Cueball is holding five $5 bill rock]

Cueball: Can you identify this rock I found wrapped in a $5 bill?

Ponytail: Sure! Looks like garnets in a mica schist.

yaokuan was here

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

{{comic discussion}}