https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.215.85&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T21:55:33ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2381:_The_True_Name_of_the_Bear&diff=222508Talk:2381: The True Name of the Bear2021-12-12T04:40:31Z<p>108.162.215.85: fix link</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
This one is ridiculously early. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.120|172.69.22.120]] 05:22, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Let’s try this again, hopefully won’t get stepped on this time... I know I’ve seen Gretchen on various YouTube channels but is she really “the world's foremost internet linguist” as Randal claims?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.87|162.158.79.87]] 05:29, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Probably as a linguist studying internet culture, which she is indeed one of the most famous in that area. Most popular linguist on the internet? It's everyone's guess. <br />
:From Randall Munroe to Tom Scott... how much more proof do you need? Or is it a conspiracy theory waiting to happen? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.143|162.158.74.143]] 16:34, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
Well, after being mentioned by Randall she totally might become the most known one.<br />
<br />
"Arth" is Welsh for bear.<br />
:Sounds rather close to the French "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ours#French ours]" (which derives from Latin and whose pronunciation has virtually nothing in common with the English word of the same spelling).--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.29|141.101.69.29]] 15:24, 6 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hence King Arthur [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.183|162.158.158.183]] 20:22, 6 November 2020 (UTC) <br />
<br />
Hmm... I find Ponytail's behaviour strange. At first she asks for explanation/verification of Megan's claim and when she recieves it she yells "NO!" as if she already knew it would be true... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 09:14, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:She gets confirmation that the name is lost in panel 3 (and assumes it also confirms the summoning part). So she indeed knew by panel 4.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.66|141.101.68.66]] 10:51, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: Why isn't the bear's name summoning it after its name being said out loud in panel 3, though? Or is the name only "true" in English (in which the name didn't exist until Gretchen reconstructed it)? Doesn't make sense. /edit: I know we are talking about myths and superstition here and thus it might be all somewhat hazy but this comic is imho not self-consistent. I'm not used to inconsistent comics on XKCD (unless it's done on purpose for humorous effect which in this case seems not to be true). Thus my irritation. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:13, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::They are clearly in England (or the Anglosphere in general, though English isn't the official language in the US, merely customary) and by the Rules Of Summoning an English/etc 'bear' ''must'' only respond to the locality-sanctioned word (said with intent, not a coincidentally homophonic collection of syllables, not saying the exact same word but in the sense of being actually quoting a different language that uses the same word).<br />
:::I theorise that the Welsh are saying ''their'' bear-name in slightly the wrong accent for being useful to summon a Welsh bear (maybe it should be more "Ardd"?) due to excessive Anglicisation. Or the Celtic way of not-saying-the-true-Celtic-word is to habitually say the Anglic one, which thus does not count. Or the Welsh bears are just confused by the current trend for dual-language signage and expect/require both. (Welsh then English in one half of the country, English followed by Welsh in the other part of the nation.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.208|141.101.98.208]] 12:55, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::If we're worried about consistency here, how is it that all the Romance language speakers (e.g. Orso for Italians, Oso for Spaniards, etc) get away without being constantly mauled? Perhaps it's only the *true* name of the bear, -rkto, that summons the animal. I suppose that would give an explanation of why we don't see any Indo-European speakers around nowadays... [[User:Gbisaga|Gbisaga]] ([[User talk:Gbisaga|talk]]) 13:37, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::*NOTE* I've added an explanation that attempts to summarize this consistency discussion. But somebody reverted it. Why? It doesn't seem out of line, compared to a lot of what I read on explainxkcd. [[User:Gbisaga|Gbisaga]] ([[User talk:Gbisaga|talk]]) 14:29, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: It need not be so complicated. Perhaps there is only 1 ur-bear (ha ha) that can teleport when it hears the magic word. If the magic word is said many times every day in Wales, that ur-bear would be exhausted by teleportation and only rarely does saying the name cause it to do so. Whereas in English, the first time in years it has been summoned is in this comic, so of course it comes. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 19:54, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Or simply the summoning only works when the true name is said in the currently spoken language (English), not as a foreign word. And consistency on how it works or doesn't work in other languages is really really overthinking, as this comics is not about other languages and says nothing on summoning technicalities.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.66|141.101.68.66]] 00:53, 6 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: How does the bear know which language is spoken, though... Besides, I'm not sure if this is overthinking if it's basically the first thought I had regarding this comic. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:34, 6 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Fascinating! In Russian, the word for bear is also euphemistic, pronounced as ''medved'', which roughly means "knowledgeable about honey". But until today, I thought that something like "ber" is in fact its true name. Turns out it's not even that. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.236|162.158.238.236]] 14:02, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Actually, ''medved'' is 'honey-eater', see these two links (in Russian) https://pikabu.ru/story/kto_krayniy_za_medvedem_fenomen_tabu_v_lingvistike_5812897 and https://pikabu.ru/story/kak_rabotaet_istoricheskaya_lingvistika2_v_berloge_yetimologa_5817400 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.205|162.158.183.205]] 16:14, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Accurate! [[User:Lettherebedarklight|aoijgpisbHtejsykl7ekderhtsjk6r64os4kys\\\&#91;&#93;jsrtjgdrghtvgwrhtejyku5dli6&#59;78t7l6rk5j4h&#124;&#124;&#124;&#124;&#124;#Rty-----WWWWWWfflfllfllfllfeogk0q9wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww4-cv&#59;c&#59;&#59;c&#59;c&#91;&#59;&#93;z\&#93;d&#59;v&#91;\&#93;????????OH GOD IT&#39;S CRASIHNG MY PC�����������������������������������������������]] ([[User talk:Lettherebedarklight|talk]]) 06:40, 6 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
::: Being Russian, I van tell that "med" part means honey, but "ved" part is arhaic word for "know" (compare to "vedma" - witch - "woman, who knows things"). And ''medved'' is a next generation of euphemism - in old slavic bear's name was "ber" (Russian "berloga" - bear's lair) and it is now considered "true name".<br />
:::: Roughly, the 'honey-eater' etymology has the 'v' originating from "medu" being an u-stem and probably "ed" 'eating' lacking the prothetic 'j'. This wouldn't be possible in newer words and is counter-intuitive to modern speakers of most/all Slavic languages, it should shows how old is the word formation. Not sure about the detailed arguments for this etymology, but [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/medv%C4%9Bd%D1%8C wiktionary] has some good links. Even as a folk-etymology 'knowledgeable about honey' shows a more spiritual than fearful relation to bears, but the line can be thin. "berloga" and cognates on the other hand seem to be pretty unclear. <br />
:I've just been down a Wikipedia rabbit-hole, because of this information, to try to work out why I don't remember it being reported that Medvedev had resigned and replaced by Mishustin. (Or replaced ''with'' him, wherever he emerged from, ''by'' Putin, to be strictly accurate.). Probably we were more concerned about the Constitutional changes, then 'other things' hit the headlines. Not comic-related, but thank you for enlightening me on both linguistic and (as a side-effect) political subjects. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.26|162.158.158.26]] 16:39, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: What were the linguistic speculations that the header mentioned? Even if there's no source, they shouldn't be removed.<br />
<br />
<br />
I thought the reconstruction was *rtkos, not *rktos? Wikipedia agrees: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂ŕ̥tḱos [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.205|162.158.183.205]] 16:14, 4 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
: You’re absolutely correct. Not only is the thorn cluster backwards according to the most commonly accepted reconstruction, it also has the wrong velar (should be *k̑, not *k), AND the laryngeal is missing. The syllabicity marker on the *r is also missing, though the nature of the right-to-left syllabification rule means that the *r would at least automatically be syllabified anyway. This was the main thing that really bothered me about this comic, along with the fact that the expected English form would absolutely not be ''**arth'', but ''*urth'' (or perhaps just ''*ur'' (OE ''*urh-'').<br />
: So yes, there’s an awful lot wrong with the actual linguistics in this one. Which is very disappointing. :-( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.40|162.158.134.40]] 09:40, 6 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I bet a dollar that the long-lost English word for "bear" was "Voldemort". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.242|108.162.215.242]] 01:03, 5 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Oh-oh. You said it. This is why you need to create an account - you don't want people randomly summoning you by your true name "Mr/Ms 108.162.215.242" !! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 17:48, 5 November 2020 (UTC) (Not my real name which is...oh wait...nearly got me there!)<br />
<br />
In Finnish bear is karhu, which is also an euphemistic word meaning "the rough one". There are many other words for bear as well, such as kontio (one that walks slowly), nalle ("bear" in Swedish), mesikämmen (the nectar palm), metsän kuningas (the king of the forest), kouko/kouvo (some kind of ghost?), otava (this one would take way too long to explain) and finally oksi/ohto/otso, which likely is the true name. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.239|162.158.238.239]] 11:46, 5 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A safe name to avoid the name of something dangerous is known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noa-name noa-name] [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noa (further reference)]. You find it also for the wolf, devil, god, leprechauns etc. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.215|162.158.154.215]] 20:51, 5 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The etymological joke might be on the comic writer - hrtkos might be itself a euphemism, cognate with a word in Sanskrit that meant "destroyer" - possibly "hive destroyer." <br />
"''there is also a suggestion that the original PIE word for bear, *rkso- (or its variants) is itself descriptive, meaning "destroyer (perhaps of beehives)", because a cognate word in Sanskrit is "rakshas", meaning "harm, injury''""<br />
Who really knows? Same source identifies the name in Lithuanian as a different euphemism - "the shaggy one." And wonders about a German, a Slav, and a Balt arguing about the best circumlocution while being careful not to slip up and make themselves an xkcd punchline. Anyway, it's a fun read: [https://charlierussellbears.com/LinguisticArchaeology.html] [[User:Jd2718|Jd2718]] ([[User talk:Jd2718|talk]]) 22:52, 5 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder if the fact that the brown bear (aka grizzly) has been disappearing from most of North-America as the Germanic languages expanded there, could be cited as (weak) evidence that the euphemism actually prevents bears from appearing.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 13:12, 6 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This has mainly to do with what's called taboo in linguistics and often doesn't only mean the use of an euphemism for a word, but also the complete disappearance of any reletad worlds, or in some cases even worlds that sound vaguely similar. A commonly reported modern example is the presence of at least ten different terms to refer to the restroom in english, where there isn't really (as far as I know) a fear of summoning anything. On the other hand magical thinking was probably more common and bears where a real treath. The commonly given explanation for this phenomenon is inevitably simplicistic, and arguably less funny as it could be a comparable explanation about toilets. I find the slavic euphemism more funny, but germanic languages are considered the kentum languages most close to satem ones and the significance of this distinction is somewhat disputed, so this may actually have a great importance (I really hope some day the same could be said about water closets).<br />
<br />
It's worth mentioning that this is the same joke as the "Wake up sheeple!" one.<br />
<br />
In David Anthony - The Horse The Wheel and Language (2007) page 24 it's mentioned that speakers of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language probably avoided speaking the name of the bear for ritual reasons<br />
<br />
Some links marked with the padlock symbol have a hovertext saying, "Warning: TV Tropes. See comic 609." I've seen this in other pages here. It's not clear to me what our reaction is supposed to be to these. Is it telling us that the link is unsafe to click on? (If that were meant, why not just remove the link?) Or is it telling us to click on the link to see what the warning actually is? [[User:Koro Neil|Koro Neil]] ([[User talk:Koro Neil|talk]]) 03:51, 22 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:It is meant to warn that you might get stuck in a wiki walk and be distracted, if I remember correctly. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.211|172.70.130.211]] 17:39, 25 November 2021 (UTC)</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:249:_Chess_Photo&diff=121936Talk:249: Chess Photo2016-06-14T20:33:27Z<p>108.162.215.85: </p>
<hr />
<div>I've seen pictures of people doing this before I met xkcd, and I just read the confirmation at knowyourmeme.com that Randall started this. This is friggin' amazing.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.235|108.162.210.235]] 15:07, 17 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Comics Missing!--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.8|108.162.250.8]] 10:38, 5 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Could you compile these at the community portal? I'll see what I can do about this. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:16, 5 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
::It's 5 in the morning, and this fixed now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:03, 5 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The last sentence has always been upsetting me and never found the time to comment/correct: Blindfold chess doesn't require any actual blindfold, it's just called that way because the two players don't need a board and just communicate their moves. Therefore, the "blindfold" is not redundant, it is rather the simplest way to play chess on a roller coaster. --[[46.5.2.144]] 22:07, 16 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Updated. Anyone cares enough to check it?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.49|141.101.104.49]] 22:05, 1 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::It wasn't started by Randall though. It might have been popularised by him, but there are records on the net of people doing this as far back as 1994. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.3.36|162.158.3.36]] 01:21, 6 October 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
On the ascent of a roller coaster, I took out my small point and shoot camera to take an arm length selfie of us in the front row, and the ride stopped. A worker came walking up the service ramp, and asked for my camera so she could put it in the bag hold area, where I could pick it up when we were done. Luckily nobody else on the ride was pissed off since we had gone only like 50 feet. Anyone know what they would do if they caught you with a chessboard? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.85|108.162.215.85]] 20:33, 14 June 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1611:_Baking_Soda_and_Vinegar&diff=1159981611: Baking Soda and Vinegar2016-03-31T17:20:01Z<p>108.162.215.85: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1611<br />
| date = December 2, 2015<br />
| title = Baking Soda and Vinegar<br />
| image = baking_soda_and_vinegar.png<br />
| titletext = Sure, it may not meet science fair standards, but I want credit for getting my baking soda and vinegar mountain added to the Decade Volcanoes list.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In popular fiction (and maybe in part in fact) the "{{w|Sodium bicarbonate|Baking Soda}} and {{w|Vinegar}}" {{w|volcano}} is often a staple image of the science nerd at the science fair (see [https://sciencebob.com/the-erupting-volcano/ example here]), unless all the science nerds are doing ''real'' imaginative science and the student(s) with the volcano exhibit are dragging out the old hackneyed stereotype. It may also be age-dependent, this being something that is relatively advanced science for the lower grades but rather a childish experiment in the hands of older students.<br />
<br />
As [[Ponytail]] is probably about to point out, the 'volcano' exhibit doesn't (usually) actually demonstrate anything about volcanic activity, it is just simple chemistry - involving the reaction of acetic acid in vinegar and sodium bicarbonate in baking soda to give sodium acetate and bubbles of carbon dioxide - dressed up to look more impressive, often with dye or other additives to make the 'eruption' look more realistic, but it often fails to replicate important features of every volcanic eruption such as the flow of lava, associated seismic events or the collapse of part of the volcanic crater. In most soda volcano projects people don't even explain what's happening.<br />
<br />
The girl with hair bun has made a little more of her volcano, however, as it seems to go beyond simple chemistry. The model replicates many of the dangers (aside from the pure lava) of a volcano, and appears to have been given scaled-down vehicles (not visible in the comic) trying (and failing) to escape the dangers of the resultant mud-flows (a.k.a. {{w|lahar|lahars}} in professional terminology) being modeled. Ponytail contradicts her early reaction by also not liking the more realistic model, although it is the carnage she dislikes, not that it has more correct details of the eruption itself.<br />
<br />
Even more, this is not an isolated 'model volcano' but a vinegar-powered representation of a geological 'hot spot', such as with the islands of Hawaii, in which the spot moves with respect to the Earth's crust (or vice-versa) and generates a new volcano some way off. Despite this model being supported on a table, it appears that the 'project' extends some way beyond that and has somehow contrived further eruptions away from the table, the room and probably even the building.<br />
<br />
The 'project' seems to be turning into a very thorough model of a much larger geological process (a {{w|Supervolcano}} like {{w|Yellowstone Caldera|the one}} under {{w|Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone}}) and destined to produce a ''very real'' {{w|volcanic winter}}. Where a magma-powered volcano could produce vast clouds of dust, preventing the sun's energy from warming the Earth, in this case it's the airborne salt (probably sodium acetate) from the chemical reaction that appears to be in danger of causing crop failure. There's no mention of the corresponding environmental effects of the vast amounts of carbon dioxide (and/or aqueous carbonic acid) necessarily released in proportion to the ejected salt (presumably itself not left in solution).<br />
<br />
It is especially troubling that the child even mentions that her model volcano is an offshoot of a baking soda ''super''volcano. Supervolcanoes are massive volcanoes, far larger than even those on the list of {{w|Decade Volcanoes}} (mentioned in the title text), whose eruption would likely trigger species-level extinction events comparable to the dinosaur extinction. Humanity can only hope the child is exaggerating in her description, but the symptoms witnessed by the adult looking out the window suggest otherwise. {{w|Campi Flegrei}} is actually a real life example of her project.<br />
<br />
When someone (presumably the dark haired woman) says she wants to stop learning, the girl with the bun grimly states that "Soon, we all will", alluding to their impending doom.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] has mentioned supervolcanoes before in [[1053: Ten Thousand]] (title text) and [[1159: Countdown]], making it a recurring interest of his. The volcano [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6a/Entire_Volcano_zoom_out.png Mount Doom] was depicted to the far left in the game [[1608: Hoverboard]] released a week before this comic. It may not be a supervolcano, but quite potent anyway...<br />
<br />
In the title text the student expects extra credit for getting her model volcano added to the Decade Volcanoes list, a list maintained by {{w|International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior}} of the world's most dangerous volcanoes (currently 16). It is either an absurd notion or a very troubling achievement that a science fair project could achieve the threat level posed by the likes of {{w|Mount Vesuvius}} (which destroyed ancient Pompeii in Italy, and threatens modern-day Naples in the same manner), {{w|Mount Rainier}} (whose lahars could potentially destroy parts of Seattle) or {{w|Mauna Loa}} (which could create a massive landslide, triggering a major tsunami that would threaten all of Hawaii). But if the volcano erupting outside is scaled down to match the scale of her original model volcano, at least that means that it was only a "local" volcano event and not a supervolcano event that she created, so it would only doom the local area.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail is standing behind a small girl with a hair bun who has one hand up. They are looking at a table with a model volcano.]<br />
:Girl: My science project is a baking soda and vinegar volcano!<br />
<br />
:[A larger frame that includes Megan who stands to the right. Ponytail is a little further back and the girl has taken her hand down. The baking soda volcano erupts in a small upwards explosion.]<br />
:Ponytail: Why do people make these? It isn't really even a science project. It doesn't teach anything about-<br />
:Volcano: '''''Foom!'''''<br />
<br />
:[Smaller frame again. Ponytail has moved closer to the table, the girl moves around the table to the right, pointing at the volcano while Megan walks closer. The "lava" flows down the volcano on both sides.]<br />
:Girl: See how the baking soda and vinegar mix with mud and ice to form deadly flowing lahars?<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on the girls head close to the stream of lava going down the lower part of the volcano's right slope.]<br />
:Girl: You can see the tiny cars trying to flee.<br />
:Girl: Whoops! Too slow.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Ponytail.]<br />
:Ponytail: Um. This is a bit grim.<br />
:Girl (off panel): Learning!<br />
<br />
:[The girls stand to the right of the table looking at the now still volcano. Shaky lines surround a sound effect written over the top of this slim frame:]<br />
:Sound effect: ''Rumble''<br />
<br />
:[Back to showing all three as before. The girl looks at something in her hand (a stopwatch maybe?)]<br />
:Girl: And now we're learning that this volcano is an offshoot of a vinegar hotspot rising from deep within the earth.<br />
:Girl: ''Annnd...''<br />
<br />
:[The girls turns away from the table looking right as a loud noise can be heard off-panel, depicted in white text on a wavy black bubble:]<br />
:''Boooom''<br />
<br />
:[Megan has walked over to a window to the right. It has the blinds drawn down. She opens a hole in the blinds by pulling down in the middle. It is dark outside. The other two are outside the frame to the left.]<br />
:Girl (off panel): The baking soda supervolcano erupts, injecting clouds of salt into the stratosphere.<br />
:Megan: Why is it getting dark outside?<br />
:Girl (off panel): Learning is fun!<br />
<br />
:[We see the girl standing close to the table, of which only the right leg can be seen. She holds up a tablet with a graph showing a rising trend. The other two are both out of the frame.]<br />
:Girl: Sunlight dims. The earth cools. Summer frosts form. Crops die. We check the markets. Grain prices are rising.<br />
:Megan (off panel): I want to stop learning now.<br />
:Girl: Soon, we all will.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=940:_Oversight&diff=94724940: Oversight2015-06-03T02:02:16Z<p>108.162.215.85: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 940<br />
| date = August 19, 2011<br />
| title = Oversight<br />
| image = oversight.png<br />
| titletext = I felt so clever when I found a way to game the Fitocracy system by incorporating a set of easy but high-scoring activities into my regular schedule. Took me a bit to realize I'd been tricked into setting up a daily exercise routine.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Fitocracy}} is a web site that turns workouts into a social game by awarding points, badges, levels and all sorts of other {{w|Gamification|gamification}}. [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]], by their judgement, have spent approximately two hours engaged in sexual activity. However, according to this cartoon, Fitocracy does not consider sex to be an activity acceptable for its site, despite the vigorous nature of Cueball and Megan's sexual workout.<br />
<br />
The title text explains how sites like Fitocracy are so successful. Because human brains, especially the cynical ones, like to game the system whenever they can, they will find easy things to do that also score high. In the case of Fitocracy, these are simple exercises that add up a lot when applied daily. But the creators of Fitocracy (and other such successful sites, like Weight Watchers or Lumosity) know this, and, as {{w|Russian reversal|"in Soviet Russia" joke}}, the system games you shown.adopting an exercise regimen, or losing weight, or getting smarter, or whatever else there is.<br />
<br />
Sex does raise your breathing rate and heartbeat, but as sparkpeople (a similar site to fitocracy) [http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=you_asked_does_sex_count_as_cardio_how_many_calories_does_it_burn notes], it is not as effective as a session at a gym, as it does not typically use the main muscle groups in their full range of motion, and doesn't sustain a raised heartbeat for a sufficient length of time. They consider sex to be less effective as cardio than brisk walking, as it burns only about 100-200 kcal per hour, which is little raised above a typical resting rate of about 60 kcal per hour.<br />
<br />
Please note, that on the xkcd browser for Android, instead of the correct comic, the following unpublished 'Five Minute Comics' is shown:<br />
<br />
[[File:overshight_android.png]]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan and Cueball have sex up against a wall.]<br />
<br />
:[Megan and Cueball have sex standing in an armchair.]<br />
<br />
:[Megan and Cueball have sex in a swing, swaying above a table with a flower vase on it.]<br />
<br />
:[Fitocracy. The search phrase is "sex" and the site returned "activity not found."]<br />
<br />
:[Megan and Cueball stand in front of the computer, Megan is at the keyboard, Cueball stands back wearing a towel tied around his waist.]<br />
:Megan: Come on! That was like two hours of cardio!<br />
:Cueball: Hmm, let's see... The part on the dresser was ''kind'' of like skiing...<br />
<references/><br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1357:_Free_Speech&diff=65896Talk:1357: Free Speech2014-04-23T02:06:34Z<p>108.162.215.85: XKCD gives a pass on the Catholic church and doesn't realize it</p>
<hr />
<div>It would be nice to mention how this applies only to the Federal government; discussions of how it is enforced on the states may be beyond the scope of this wiki. In addition, it might be amusing to note that freedom of association and other freedoms specified in the Bill of Rights have the same scope. That is, there are very few enumerated powers given to the Federal government, the Bill of Rights specifies some limitations on the Congress - but in general, the restriction on Congress was to the enumerated powers, a concept that made the Bill of Rights redundant - and the Bill of Rights does not apply (as written) to anyone but the Federal government. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.40|173.245.54.40]] 20:08, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: The First Amendment also applies to the various State governments (including their subsidiaries, such as local governments) through the {{w|Incorporation Doctrine}}, which is based on the Fourteenth Amendment (which is about the States). To be sure, the text of the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't spell out this doctrine, so the whole thing is a bit of a stretch, but it's how the courts interpret it now. This (along with the courts' broad interpretation of the enumerated powers) makes the Bill of Rights far from redundant (and I for one am happy to have it applied as broadly as possible). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 23:55, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've clarified the sentence about the Constitution being a legal document. Legal documents are not necessarily limited to government activity (for example, an apartment lease is a legal document but says nothing about what the government can or cannot do). I added the phrase "that defines the structure and powers of the government" to the end of the sentence. [[User:Elsbree|Elsbree]] ([[User talk:Elsbree|talk]]) 04:55, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Another recent event (within the past couple of weeks) was a campaign against Stephen Colbert for an out-of-context quote taken from a bit on his show. It was hash-tagged under "CancelColbert". Interestingly, people from Fox News that had supported the Duck Dynasty guy were completely against Colbert. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 05:09, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
That door in the last frame is a backdoor to fascism. --[[User:Mus|Mus]] ([[User talk:Mus|talk]]) 06:27, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
: Are you [http://gawker.com/5951080/vp-debate-attendee-tells-chris-matthews-obama-is-a-communist-but-cant-explain-what-a-communist-is related to this woman?] LOL. <br />
: Nevertheless, I agree the comic would be stronger and more accurate if it didn't have that last panel. Disagreeing with someone's speech doesn't mean you get to throw them out. Places of public accommodation, such as most businesses, are required to be non-discriminatory. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:59, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: Reading-comprehension fail. Read the '''entire''' bottom row; it is a complete sentence. Removing the last clause negates the first. &mdash; [[User:Fluffy Buzzard|Fluffy Buzzard]] ([[User talk:Fluffy Buzzard|talk]]) 14:38, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Businesses are allowed to throw people out for almost any reason. The non-discriminatory clause has nothing to do with what people say, and isn't even tangential to the First Amendment. And yes. Disagreeing with someone in your domain <i>does</i> mean you get to throw them out. In fact, you can throw them out if you do agree with them. Or don't know them. Or if they're your brother. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 21:25, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone add something saying that other countries also have similar laws on free speech? I would do it myself, but I'm new to editing the wiki and I wouldn't know how to word it. [[User:Cheeselord99|Cheeselord99]] ([[User talk:Cheeselord99|talk]]) 07:19, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:I would if there was some sort of summary of them available. Though there's the {{w|Universal Declaration of Human Rights}} from the UN, I don't think it specifically requires any entity (such as a government body) to do (or not do) anything, just like I understand most anything U.N. related to be. I believe it's a guide/declaration/definition/resolution/statement of belief, and it would then be up to any soverienty to actually enforce or comply with it. [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:08, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
::"Can someone add something saying that other countries also have similar laws on free speech?" Are you implying that you think ALL other countries have similar laws, or SOME other countries have similaar laws? Saying that the local dictator sucks, or that the local religion is bullshit is certainly not protected free speech in many, many countries. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 23:07, 21 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is going to be one of those XKCDs everyone is linking to, to make a point.[[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 08:27, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Though, I will say, I'm a bit concerned that the point people may be making is that "Argumentum ad Populum" is totally legit, as there is a suggestion one could infer that if a bunch of people are mad at you for something you say you deserve to be shown the door. And I'm not sure that's the intended message, and even if it is, I'm not sure it's a good one. Speaking an uncomfortable or undesired truth to a community (Which will almost certainly anger them, and make them think you're an asshole, let's say) doesn't mean the door is an appropriate response. On the other hand, when speaking such truths, one probably has a better justification than "Because Free Speech," just hopefully the disgruntled masses will actually listen to it.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.46|108.162.216.46]] 10:49, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
: That's the point, if your only defense is "Free Speech" - you should be shown the door. --[[User:Jeff|<b><font color="orange">Jeff</font></b>]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:05, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Both Jeff and 108.162.216.46 are accurate. 108.162.216.46's example of an uncomfortable or undesired truth causing anger is possible. It's up the the messenger to make sure that they frame the point properly and use appropriate supporting materials to justify their claims. A messenger with bad news won't say "free speech," they will say "this is the evidence" if they want to avoid being shown the door. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.85}}<br />
: The issue, of course, is that a lot of people aren't willing to listen to evidence when told things they don't want to hear. Say, I dunno, if you're hanging out on a particularly conservative forum where people are taking turns bashing "Obamacare," even if you have a perfectly rational, backed up by numbers, etc. reason to say it may not be all bad, or may even be good, there's a decent chance that you could get shown the door simply because that's an unpopular opinion no matter how good your reasons are. And it's the sort of person who wants to punish someone simply for saying something unpopular on a forum, simply because it's unpopular (Or, in the case of some admins/mods, something they just don't personally like), who I'm concerned about using this comic as rhetorical backup. For the message of this comic to work, the community/etc. has to be willing to listen to rational evidence and they frequently aren't. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.46|108.162.216.46]] 22:55, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just happened to see this today, thought it was relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJMqYcRgf-A&t=51s [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.60|173.245.54.60]] 16:56, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This comic has it <s>completely</s> backwards! There are people who say "You're violating the First Amendment." when they're being censored by somebody who's not the government; they are mistaken, and this comic would be absolutely correct if it were addressing them. But it's not. In fact, it doesn't talk about the First Amendment (or similar provisions in other constitutions or other laws) at all; it talks only about freedom of speech. [ETA April 19: Whoops, that's wrong! The first panel has it backwards, but the third panel is perfectly correct. So my complaint is that the comic ''conflates'' freedom of speech and the First Amendment, not that it addresses ''only'' freedom of speech.] And if you're being censored on Facebook, or in the privately-owned shopping mall, or wherever, then yes, your freedom of speech is being violated.<br />
<br />
It's not illegal, and it may not even be wrong (why should my blog have to display your speech, after all?), but it's still a limitation on your freedom to speak. And if you want to argue that Facebook or the shopping mall (or even my blog) should not do that, then that's a perfectly legitimate position to take. As long as you say nothing about the First Amendment or the like, but instead complain about freedom of speech, then my only response (if I want to respond) is to explain why you shouldn't have free speech on that forum, not some irrelevant blather about the government. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 23:41, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: The comic does not address the concept of free speech itself; it addresses the *right* to free speech. Sure, your speech might be restricted on certain forums or in certain communities, but you generally have no actual *right* to free speech there. It's simply that the forum or community does not want to support your ideas. --[[User:V2Blast|V2Blast]] ([[User talk:V2Blast|talk]]) 02:37, 19 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Who decides whether that is a right or not? {{unsigned ip|108.162.217.47}}<br />
<br />
:: Rights aren't just for governments. Any entity can grant you rights and then uphold or violate them. (Facebook actually calls its terms of service a "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities", which it is, even though it's primarily their rights and our responsibilities.) So one might argue that Facebook (as a public forum intended for everybody and everything) ought to grant freedom of speech (which it kind of does, with a few exceptions, but only implicitly), while a personal blog should not (and then there are also forums that should maybe grant freedom of on-topic speech or something like that). People also consider natural rights (which is how the Declaration of Independence treats them, although free speech is not on its list), but personally I think that it's clearer to discuss what rights ''should'' be rather than what natural rights ''are''. So if somebody claims that FB (eg) is violating their right to free speech, then at best you have them on a technicality (because that is not a natural right and also not a right explicitly granted by FB), but their real point is that FB is violating their freedom of speech (which FB sometimes really does, including in ways that its terms of service does not authorize, hence various complaints from time to time like [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/18/breastfeeding-photos-facebook-respect-the-breast_n_1285264.html this one]). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 17:30, 19 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I see 2 ironies:<br />
1. Those from the BGLT+ side tend to use the 'Free Speech' argument, too.<br />
2. This was posted in Good Friday.<br />
[[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 23:52, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: On the first irony, I think this article rather misrepresents the uproar around the Duck Dynasty incident (which is mentioned in the article explanation). It wasn't just that people felt the guy's rights were violated (the merits of which argument I am not commenting on), but that A&E essentially ambushed him after he gave an opinion, in an interview, that no one should expect he didn't have. It's essentially the same issue with the Chik-fil-a incident, where people became extremely angry over an open Christian donating money to anti-gay groups, even though he was doing so for several years previously. It's not just the first amendment rights, it's that A&E, a company who is so prideful about being open minded and tolerant with the BGLT community, would drop the hammer so hard on someone who was already well-known for having opposite opinions. The point is, while A&E does technically have the right to show the Duck Dynasty guy the door, they cannot seriously do so without seriously undermining their own reasons for firing him. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 18:49, 19 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've had the situation where I express disagreement with someone and they accuse me of violating their right of free speech. A possible response to this, which I wouldn't actually use, is "I absolutely defend your First Amendment right to behave like a jerk." [[User:Mark314159|Mark314159]] ([[User talk:Mark314159|talk]]) 15:14, 19 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Well, while it is correct to say that the kind of actions talked about in this comic don't violate the ''First Amendment'', it's not at all beside the point to point out that there are problems with the ''free speech'' involved. Basically, Randall Munroe is repeating a popular line of argument these days, and one that unfortunately sidesteps the entire issue of whether non-state entities can be censors. If you think the issue through for more than two seconds, it's pretty clear that they can be. Take for example some group of armed thugs physically threatening a journalist. (Hardly a hypothetical - there's a lot of that going on in the world today.) If they don't represent a government, according to a strict interpretation of the argument just made in the above ''xkcd'', they're just providing consequences and "showing the door" to someone who's speech they don't like. So, obviously, there are very clearly non-state actions that amount to censorship.<br />
<br />
OK, what about non-violent actions? That still can run into a lot of grey areas. Most certainly, nobody owes anybody else the use of their venue or platform for someone else to make their point - *that* would be a violation of free speech rights to be compelled to do so. And certainly, boycotts of those who's views one disagrees with in order to influence public opinion have a solid history in democratic societies. What is problematic, however, and crosses the line into a kind of privatized censorship is the kind of "no platform" activism that seems to be in fashion these days, that seeks to deny *any* venue to those who are deemed to have unacceptable views or are practicing "hate speech" - slippery and ever-expanding concepts, it seems to me. Who is it that should have the power to "show the door" into outright silencing? BTW, a recent blog post raises these concerns in response to the above cartoon [http://blog.erratasec.com/2014/04/xkcd-is-wrong-about-free-speech.html here], and I blogged about this at length last year [http://www.skepticink.com/skepticallyleft/2013/04/07/sunday-sinner-guest-post-iamcuriousblue/ here] in regards to some of the more censorious actions of Ada Initiative. [[User:Iamcuriousblue|Iamcuriousblue]] ([[User talk:Iamcuriousblue|talk]]) 04:17, 20 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In fact, there are (admittedly rare) situations in which the "right to free speech" can require a private entity to host a speaker. Marsh v. Alabama involved a Jehovah's Witness handing out literature in a company town completely owned by a corporation. The Supreme Court held that because the admittedly private spaces in a company town were akin to public spaces, the company could not enforce a trespassing law against the Jehovah's Witness without violating the First Amendment. So long as one is talking about the "right to free speech" (which goes beyond the First Amendment), the Pruneyard Shopping Center case, in which a mall owner was forced to allow participation by a speaker due to a California law expanding free speech rights in commercial areas, serves as another example of where a private entity can be forced to accommodate another's speech. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.13|173.245.54.13]] 10:25, 21 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''TL;DR''' --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:52, 21 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A very recent article that pretty much shreds this comic. XKCD is usually on point, but this one goes a bit too far. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/04/22/freedom_to_marry_freedom_to_dissent_why_we_must_have_both_122376.html<br />
<br />
I find it very disturbing that one of the most popular science-themed comics on the Internet gives a free pass to the Catholic church like this. The Catholic church is not a government, it is an international cultural institution, therefore, if the Catholic church bans people, ideas, speech, and behavior from all domains of its organizational influence, this comic clearly supports such a move. (I doubt the author needs a primer on that part of history.) The stated position that free speech only means that government can't come after you, but cultural institutions can and you just need to be quiet and leave if you disagree with that.</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=89:_Gravitational_Mass&diff=6152389: Gravitational Mass2014-03-02T20:01:57Z<p>108.162.215.85: /* Explanation */ added reference to 681:_Gravity_Wells#Cut_outs</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 89<br />
| date = April 14, 2006<br />
| title = Gravitational Mass<br />
| image = gravitational_mass.jpg<br />
| titletext = She's so fat the attraction goes up as the CUBE of the distance instead of the square<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This comic is so Einstein – Yo' momma is just a funny additional joke here. See "Principle of relativity" by Einstein. Furthermore some language issues have to be solved.}}<br />
<br />
A well known joke format goes: "Yo' momma's so fat, when she X, she Y." For example: "Yo' momma's so fat, when she sits around the house, she sits ''around'' the house! Variations play with the format, for example: "Yo' momma's so fat, she fell in the grand Canyon and got stuck!" A "Yo Mama" joke also appears in comic [[681:_Gravity_Wells#Cut_outs|681: Gravity Wells]] to the right of Jupiter.<br />
<br />
[[Black Hat]] launches into a long description about the relativity of gravity and inertia that presumably will eventually lead to a Yo' Momma joke along the lines of "she's fat and not that attractive", but then gets bored or loses momentum and cuts to the chase.<br />
<br />
The title text is a play on the law of gravitational attraction, which diminishes as the square of the distance. So if the distance between two objects doubles, the attraction is reduced to a quarter. And if the distance is halved, the attraction quadruples. Black Hat is saying that the attraction goes up as the cube, so if the distance is halved, the attraction increases eight-fold. This implies that "your momma is so fat, she can warp space-time". However, everyone, no matter how thin, can warp space time; contrary to Black Hat's explanation, the reason that objects have equal gravitational and inertial mass is that anything with mass causes a warping of space time that causes all other objects (as well as things without any rest mass, such as photons) to experience the same gravitational acceleration.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Black Hat: Gravitational mass is identical to inertial mass. That is, the amount of inertia something has and the amount of gravity it has are effectively the same. What's interesting is that there doesn't seem to be any reason this should be true. One could imagine an extremely large object with lots of resistance to force and no gravity (or vice versa), but this is never observed.<br />
:Black Hat: You know what? I'm just gonna skip the rest of the buildup and say it: Yo mama's fat.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=681:_Gravity_Wells&diff=61522681: Gravity Wells2014-03-02T19:59:06Z<p>108.162.215.85: /* Cut outs */ changed _ character to space</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 681<br />
| date = December 28, 2009<br />
| title = Gravity Wells<br />
| image = gravity_wells.png<br />
| titletext = This doesn't take into account the energy imparted by orbital motion (or gravity assists or the Oberth effect), all of which can make it easier to reach outer planets.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
The xkcd page links to [http://xkcd.com/681_large/ a much larger version].<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Fix Grammar}}<br />
<br />
The comic shows the solar system gravity field of each planet and some of their satellites, in a simplified form. Each well is scaled such that rising out of a physical well of that depth in constant Earth surface gravity would take the same energy as escaping from that planet's gravity in reality. Each planet is shown cut in half at the bottom of its well, with the depth of the well measured down to the planet's flat surface.<br />
<br />
This is a simplified method of comparing the escape velocities of the various planets and satellites: since, in reality, the strength of gravity decreases the further you get from the planet, it's harder to do a direct comparison when seen in a more realistic format. <br />
<br />
Besides the eight planets, several moons are also included: Earth's moon is included; Mars' tiny moons Phobos and Deimos are shown in an inset panel (at the appropriate distance up Mars' gravity well for their orbits). Jupiter's moons Ganymede, Io, and Europa are included, as well as Saturn's moon Titan. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Sun}} gravity well is not shown in it entirety, but is just indicated on the far left as ''"Very very far down"'' -- had it been shown in its full extent it would have made the rest of the drawing so small in comparison that it would have been unreadable.<br />
<br />
==== Inner Planets ====<br />
<br />
* Mercury -- no facts listed<br />
<br />
* Venus -- no facts listed<br />
<br />
* Earth & Moon -- listed with the depth of the gravity well of 5,478 km for Earth and 288 km for the Moon. Calculations of depth is explained in the Saturn insert.<br />
<br />
* Mars -- listed with the depth of gravity well of 1286 km<br />
<br />
==== Cut outs ====<br />
<br />
* The Mars cutout shows how small mars moons really are, specifically in terms of gravity -- {{w|Deimos_(moon)|Deimos}} is so small that a bike jump would be sufficient to escape and on {{w|Phobos_(moon)|Phobos}} you could launch a baseball into space simply by throwing...<br />
<br />
* The drawing next to Jupiter is playing on the classic "Yo Mama" joke, combining the aspects of your mom being very fat (having a huge gravitational pull) and very slutty (having sex with the entire football team), represented by them being attracted to, and falling into, her gravity well. A "Yo Mama" joke also appears in comic [[89:_Gravitational_Mass|89: Gravitational Mass]].<br />
<br />
* The Earth/Moon cutout shows the significant difference in the {{w|gravity well}} between the two and explain why the moon landing needed such a {{w|Apollo_Lunar_Module|small vehicle}} to return to earth. The drawing shows that most space explanation like the {{w|International_Space_Station|space shuttle}}, {{w|GPS_satellite|GPS satellites}} and {{w|Geostationary_orbit|geo-stationary satellites}} are in fact still within the {{w|Gravity_well|gravity well}} of earth and has not really escaped.<br />
<br />
==== Outer Planets ====<br />
<br />
The fascinating fact about {{w|Jupiter}}'s mass is that it is border line in mass to have ignited as a {{w|Brown dwarf}} which is the smallest kind of star. Saturn, while similar in size, is composed of much lighter gas material and hence the mass is much smaller and the gravitational pull is smaller. Large gravity is a significant factor in igniting fusion, as the gravity pull the matter together to increase the pressure and temperature to the degree where the {{w|Nuclear_fusion|nuclear reactions}} can start. Had that happen at the creation of our solar system, i.e. had a few more Saturns dropped into Jupiter, then we would had two {{w|Sun}}'s and our solar system would have been a {{w|Binary star}}.<br />
<br />
The figures on {{w|Titan_(moon)|Titan}} are sirens, a reference to Kurt Vonnegut's ''{{w|The Sirens of Titan}}''.<br />
<br />
The "Rings" in {{w|Saturn}}'s gravity well are Saturn's rings: The farther you get from a planet, the weaker the effect of its gravity on you, so, at some point, when climbing out of Saturn's gravity well, you've reached the point equivalent to starting your climb from the rings of Saturn, or, in fact, from specific rings of Saturn: Saturn's rings start fairly near the planet and extend out fairly far, hence why there's several stripes.. <br />
<br />
{{w|Uranus}} -- notably absent is any "your-anus" jokes.<br />
<br />
{{w|Neptune}} -- Megan's quote is a paraphrase of {{w|Carl_Sagan|Carl Sagan}}'s quote, "...but from a planet orbiting a star in a distant globular cluster, a still more glorious dawn awaits, not a sun-rise, but a galaxy rise." [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc Video here]]<br />
<br />
==== How to interpret gravity wells ====<br />
<br />
To escape a planet or satellite's orbit, you need merely climb to the highest of the two peaks to ''either''the left or right of the object. So, for example, to escape Venus, you need merely reach the peak left of it, the slope right of it is part of the Sun's gravity well, and shows how much further you'd need to climb out of the Sun's gravity well to get from Venus to Earth. Likewise, the peak left of Jupiter is slightly lower than the one to the right; this is because the rightmost peak includes the difficulty of moving away from the sun to get to Saturn, the next planet along.<br />
<br />
The text explains that the depth of the well is mass-of-planet over radius-of-planet with newtons constant and 9.81 m/s&#178; as constants, where 9.81 m/s&#178; is the {{w|Gravity_of_Earth|acceleration of a free falling body at earths gravity}}.<br />
<br />
The calculation for a gravity well is:<br />
:depth = (G * Planet-mass ) / (9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup> * Planet-radius)<br />
::where G is {{w|Isaac_Newton|Newton}}'s {{w|Gravitational_constant|gravitational constant}}, and<br />
::9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup> is the {{w|Acceleration|acceleration}} rate of a {{w|Gravity_of_Earth|free falling body on earth}} at sea level (g).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:'''Main Text'''<br />
:Gravity Wells scaled to Earth surface gravity<br />
:This chart shows the "depth" of various solar system gravity wells.<br />
:Each well is scaled such that rising out of a physical well of that depth — in constant Earth <u>surface</u> gravity — would take the same energy as escaping from that planet's gravity in reality.<br />
:Each planet is shown cut in half at the bottom of its well, with the depth of the well measured down to the planet's ''flat'' surface.<br />
:The planet sizes are to the same scale as the wells. Interplanetary distances are not to scale.<br />
:Depth = (G × PlanetMass) / (g × PlanetRadius)<br />
:G = Newton's constant<br />
:g = 9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup><br />
<br />
<br />
:'''Planetary Descriptions'''<br />
:To Sun, very very far down<br />
:Mercury<br />
:Venus<br />
:Earth - 5,478 km<br />
:Moon - 288 km<br />
:Mars - 1,286 km<br />
:Ganymede<br />
:Io<br />
:Jupiter<br />
::[A drawing of a "very deep" gravity well, "Your mom" at the bottom, several member of "local football team" falling down towards her.]<br />
::Jupiter is not much larger than Saturn, but much more massive. At its size, adding more mass just makes it denser due to the extra squeezing of gravity.<br />
::If you dropped a few dozen more Jupiters into it, the pressure would ignite fusion and make it a star.<br />
:Europa<br />
:Titan<br />
::Two figures: Weeoooeeoooeeooo<br />
:Saturn<br />
::Rings<br />
:Uranus<br />
:Neptune<br />
::Megan: An even more glorious dawn awaits!<br />
<br />
<br />
:'''Mars Inset'''<br />
:[Mars gravity well, the Pathfinder probe on its surface, with its moons Deimos and Phobos as smaller gravity wells.]<br />
<br />
:[Figure of a man (to scale) in Deimos's gravity well.]<br />
:You could escape Deimos with a bike and a ramp.<br />
<br />
:[Figure of a man (to scale) in Phobos's gravity well.]<br />
:A thrown baseball could escape Phobos.<br />
<br />
<br />
:'''Earth Inset'''<br />
:[Zoomed-in view of Earth/moon gravity well, featuring the relative locations of the atmosphere, Low Earth Orbit, the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, GPS satellites, and satellites in geosynchronous orbit.]<br />
:Cueball: This is why it took a huge rocket to get to the moon but only a small one to get back.<br />
<br />
:It takes the same amount of energy to launch something on an escape trajectory away from Earth as it would to launch it 6,000 km upward under constant 9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup> Earth gravity.<br />
<br />
:Hence, Earth's well is 6,000 km deep.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=681:_Gravity_Wells&diff=61521681: Gravity Wells2014-03-02T19:58:06Z<p>108.162.215.85: /* Cut outs */ added : A "Yo Mama" joke also appears in comic 89:_Gravitational_Mass.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 681<br />
| date = December 28, 2009<br />
| title = Gravity Wells<br />
| image = gravity_wells.png<br />
| titletext = This doesn't take into account the energy imparted by orbital motion (or gravity assists or the Oberth effect), all of which can make it easier to reach outer planets.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
The xkcd page links to [http://xkcd.com/681_large/ a much larger version].<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Fix Grammar}}<br />
<br />
The comic shows the solar system gravity field of each planet and some of their satellites, in a simplified form. Each well is scaled such that rising out of a physical well of that depth in constant Earth surface gravity would take the same energy as escaping from that planet's gravity in reality. Each planet is shown cut in half at the bottom of its well, with the depth of the well measured down to the planet's flat surface.<br />
<br />
This is a simplified method of comparing the escape velocities of the various planets and satellites: since, in reality, the strength of gravity decreases the further you get from the planet, it's harder to do a direct comparison when seen in a more realistic format. <br />
<br />
Besides the eight planets, several moons are also included: Earth's moon is included; Mars' tiny moons Phobos and Deimos are shown in an inset panel (at the appropriate distance up Mars' gravity well for their orbits). Jupiter's moons Ganymede, Io, and Europa are included, as well as Saturn's moon Titan. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Sun}} gravity well is not shown in it entirety, but is just indicated on the far left as ''"Very very far down"'' -- had it been shown in its full extent it would have made the rest of the drawing so small in comparison that it would have been unreadable.<br />
<br />
==== Inner Planets ====<br />
<br />
* Mercury -- no facts listed<br />
<br />
* Venus -- no facts listed<br />
<br />
* Earth & Moon -- listed with the depth of the gravity well of 5,478 km for Earth and 288 km for the Moon. Calculations of depth is explained in the Saturn insert.<br />
<br />
* Mars -- listed with the depth of gravity well of 1286 km<br />
<br />
==== Cut outs ====<br />
<br />
* The Mars cutout shows how small mars moons really are, specifically in terms of gravity -- {{w|Deimos_(moon)|Deimos}} is so small that a bike jump would be sufficient to escape and on {{w|Phobos_(moon)|Phobos}} you could launch a baseball into space simply by throwing...<br />
<br />
* The drawing next to Jupiter is playing on the classic "Yo Mama" joke, combining the aspects of your mom being very fat (having a huge gravitational pull) and very slutty (having sex with the entire football team), represented by them being attracted to, and falling into, her gravity well. A "Yo Mama" joke also appears in comic [[89:_Gravitational_Mass]].<br />
<br />
* The Earth/Moon cutout shows the significant difference in the {{w|gravity well}} between the two and explain why the moon landing needed such a {{w|Apollo_Lunar_Module|small vehicle}} to return to earth. The drawing shows that most space explanation like the {{w|International_Space_Station|space shuttle}}, {{w|GPS_satellite|GPS satellites}} and {{w|Geostationary_orbit|geo-stationary satellites}} are in fact still within the {{w|Gravity_well|gravity well}} of earth and has not really escaped.<br />
<br />
==== Outer Planets ====<br />
<br />
The fascinating fact about {{w|Jupiter}}'s mass is that it is border line in mass to have ignited as a {{w|Brown dwarf}} which is the smallest kind of star. Saturn, while similar in size, is composed of much lighter gas material and hence the mass is much smaller and the gravitational pull is smaller. Large gravity is a significant factor in igniting fusion, as the gravity pull the matter together to increase the pressure and temperature to the degree where the {{w|Nuclear_fusion|nuclear reactions}} can start. Had that happen at the creation of our solar system, i.e. had a few more Saturns dropped into Jupiter, then we would had two {{w|Sun}}'s and our solar system would have been a {{w|Binary star}}.<br />
<br />
The figures on {{w|Titan_(moon)|Titan}} are sirens, a reference to Kurt Vonnegut's ''{{w|The Sirens of Titan}}''.<br />
<br />
The "Rings" in {{w|Saturn}}'s gravity well are Saturn's rings: The farther you get from a planet, the weaker the effect of its gravity on you, so, at some point, when climbing out of Saturn's gravity well, you've reached the point equivalent to starting your climb from the rings of Saturn, or, in fact, from specific rings of Saturn: Saturn's rings start fairly near the planet and extend out fairly far, hence why there's several stripes.. <br />
<br />
{{w|Uranus}} -- notably absent is any "your-anus" jokes.<br />
<br />
{{w|Neptune}} -- Megan's quote is a paraphrase of {{w|Carl_Sagan|Carl Sagan}}'s quote, "...but from a planet orbiting a star in a distant globular cluster, a still more glorious dawn awaits, not a sun-rise, but a galaxy rise." [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc Video here]]<br />
<br />
==== How to interpret gravity wells ====<br />
<br />
To escape a planet or satellite's orbit, you need merely climb to the highest of the two peaks to ''either''the left or right of the object. So, for example, to escape Venus, you need merely reach the peak left of it, the slope right of it is part of the Sun's gravity well, and shows how much further you'd need to climb out of the Sun's gravity well to get from Venus to Earth. Likewise, the peak left of Jupiter is slightly lower than the one to the right; this is because the rightmost peak includes the difficulty of moving away from the sun to get to Saturn, the next planet along.<br />
<br />
The text explains that the depth of the well is mass-of-planet over radius-of-planet with newtons constant and 9.81 m/s&#178; as constants, where 9.81 m/s&#178; is the {{w|Gravity_of_Earth|acceleration of a free falling body at earths gravity}}.<br />
<br />
The calculation for a gravity well is:<br />
:depth = (G * Planet-mass ) / (9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup> * Planet-radius)<br />
::where G is {{w|Isaac_Newton|Newton}}'s {{w|Gravitational_constant|gravitational constant}}, and<br />
::9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup> is the {{w|Acceleration|acceleration}} rate of a {{w|Gravity_of_Earth|free falling body on earth}} at sea level (g).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:'''Main Text'''<br />
:Gravity Wells scaled to Earth surface gravity<br />
:This chart shows the "depth" of various solar system gravity wells.<br />
:Each well is scaled such that rising out of a physical well of that depth — in constant Earth <u>surface</u> gravity — would take the same energy as escaping from that planet's gravity in reality.<br />
:Each planet is shown cut in half at the bottom of its well, with the depth of the well measured down to the planet's ''flat'' surface.<br />
:The planet sizes are to the same scale as the wells. Interplanetary distances are not to scale.<br />
:Depth = (G × PlanetMass) / (g × PlanetRadius)<br />
:G = Newton's constant<br />
:g = 9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup><br />
<br />
<br />
:'''Planetary Descriptions'''<br />
:To Sun, very very far down<br />
:Mercury<br />
:Venus<br />
:Earth - 5,478 km<br />
:Moon - 288 km<br />
:Mars - 1,286 km<br />
:Ganymede<br />
:Io<br />
:Jupiter<br />
::[A drawing of a "very deep" gravity well, "Your mom" at the bottom, several member of "local football team" falling down towards her.]<br />
::Jupiter is not much larger than Saturn, but much more massive. At its size, adding more mass just makes it denser due to the extra squeezing of gravity.<br />
::If you dropped a few dozen more Jupiters into it, the pressure would ignite fusion and make it a star.<br />
:Europa<br />
:Titan<br />
::Two figures: Weeoooeeoooeeooo<br />
:Saturn<br />
::Rings<br />
:Uranus<br />
:Neptune<br />
::Megan: An even more glorious dawn awaits!<br />
<br />
<br />
:'''Mars Inset'''<br />
:[Mars gravity well, the Pathfinder probe on its surface, with its moons Deimos and Phobos as smaller gravity wells.]<br />
<br />
:[Figure of a man (to scale) in Deimos's gravity well.]<br />
:You could escape Deimos with a bike and a ramp.<br />
<br />
:[Figure of a man (to scale) in Phobos's gravity well.]<br />
:A thrown baseball could escape Phobos.<br />
<br />
<br />
:'''Earth Inset'''<br />
:[Zoomed-in view of Earth/moon gravity well, featuring the relative locations of the atmosphere, Low Earth Orbit, the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, GPS satellites, and satellites in geosynchronous orbit.]<br />
:Cueball: This is why it took a huge rocket to get to the moon but only a small one to get back.<br />
<br />
:It takes the same amount of energy to launch something on an escape trajectory away from Earth as it would to launch it 6,000 km upward under constant 9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup> Earth gravity.<br />
<br />
:Hence, Earth's well is 6,000 km deep.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=442:_xkcd_Loves_the_Discovery_Channel&diff=61519442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel2014-03-02T19:52:30Z<p>108.162.215.85: /* Explanation */ 161 / 162</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 442<br />
| date = June 27, 2008<br />
| title = xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel<br />
| image = xkcd_loves_the_discovery_channel.png<br />
| titletext = I love the title-text!<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Entangled sheets is '''not''' ''only'' a sexual position, that's the whole joke. I think we can explain "I put on my robe and wizard hat"; everything could probably be explained a little more besides just linking.}}<br />
This comic is a parody of the {{w|Discovery Channel}} commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 'Boom De Yada']. The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip. In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial."<br />
<br />
The campaign from the {{w|Discovery Channel}} was not called "Boom De Yada", but {{w|I Love The World}}. The title "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel" is in reference to this.<br />
<br />
Most of the panels are references to previous xkcd strips, but some are not.<br />
<br />
;Panel 1 ''I love momentum.'' <br />
:A reference to [[162|comic 162]], where Megan spins in a circle to "rob the planet of angular momentum."<br />
;Panel 2 ''I love to engineer.'' <br />
:A reference to [[413|comic 413]], where Megan and Cueball turn an EEE PC into a household pet.<br />
;Panel 3 ''I love this bakery!'' <br />
:A reference to [[434|comic 434]], where Beret Guy shows his liking for bakeries in first panel.<br />
;Panel 4 ''I love the blogosphere!'' <br />
:A reference to [[239|comic 239]], where someone from the far future believes many people blogged while flying and wearing red capes and goggles.<br />
;Panel 5 ''I love the whole world.'' (Cueball running in large hamster ball.) <br />
:Likely a reference to [[152|comic 152]], though there are multiple comics featuring human-sized hamster balls.<br />
;Panel 6 ''And all its messed-up folks.'' <br />
:A reference to the /b/ ("Random") forum on {{w|4chan}}, which is in fact home to plenty of "messed-up folks".<br />
;Panel 7 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Cueball and Megan immersed in playpen balls.) <br />
:A reference to [[150|comic 150]], where Megan decides that she has the ability to, and wants to, turn her house into a giant playpen.<br />
;Panel 8 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (''I put on my robe and wizard hat'') <br />
:A reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/robe-and-wizard-hat this (nsfw)].<br />
;Panel 9 ''I love your suffering.'' <br />
:[[Black Hat]] is just being his usual self, as in [[72: Classhole]].<br />
;Panel 10 ''I love cryptography.'' <br />
:This is a subject that comes up often in the comic. Notably, in comics [[153]] and [[177]] before this one. <br />
;Panel 11 ''I love entangled sheets.'' <br />
:Sexual reference. Also brought up in comic [[230]]. <br />
;Panel 12 ''And kite photography.''<br />
:A reference to Randall Munroe's own hobby of [http://xkcd.com/kite/ kite photography] as well as [[235|comic 235]].<br />
;Panel 13 ''I love the whole world'' (Map of the internet.)<br />
:A reference to [[256|comic 256]], featuring a map of online communities at the time. There is, more directly, a pun on "internet", namely "outernet". <br />
;Panel 14 ''And all its mysteries.''<br />
:A reference to a series of comics on "red spiders:" [[8|8: Red Spiders]], [[43|43: Red Spiders 2]], [[47|47: Counter-Red Spiders]], [[126|126: Red Spiders Cometh]], and [[427|427: Bad Timing]]. <br />
;Panel 15 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Two people sword-fighting on rolling office chairs.)<br />
:A reference to [[303|comic 303]], where two coders battle with fake swords at work, with the excuse that their code is compiling.<br />
;Panel 16 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.)<br />
:Nothing too special, but it does embrace the "everybody joins in" theme behind the commercials. Mrs. Lenhart first properly appeared in [[263|comic 263]] but may have made an appearance in #[[59]].<br />
;Panel 17 ''I love elections'' (''Barack me Obamadeus!'')<br />
:A pun on the song {{w|Rock Me Amadeus}} and US president {{w|Barack Obama}}.<br />
;Panel 18 ''I love transistors.'' <br />
:This panel has Cueball's crotch replaced with the (similar-looking) icon used for a {{w|transistor}} in a circuit diagram.<br />
;Panel 19 ''I love weird pillow talk.'' (''There ''must'' be Taft slash fiction.'')<br />
:"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pillow+talk Pillow talk]" means intimate conversations between lovers, "{{w|slash fiction}}" is fan fiction with characters of the same sex, and "Taft" is {{w|William Howard Taft}}, a US President mostly remembered for his severe obesity. It appears they are invoking {{w|rule 34 of the internet}}. Weird pillow talk is also the subject of comic [[69]], while the Taft reference comes from [[214: The Problem with Wikipedia]].<br />
;Panel 20 ''I love your sister.''<br />
:A reference to xkcd's recurring joke of dating the female character's sister, which spans several comics including [[49|comic 49]], [[279|comic 279]], [[317|comic 317]], and [[408|comic 408]].<br />
;Panel 21 ''I love the whole world'' (Roller coaster with Cueball holding chess board)<br />
:A reference to [[249|comic 249]] which inspired an internet meme.<br />
;Panel 22 ''The future's pretty cool!'' (Beret Guy in a forest.)<br />
:Possible reference to [[167|comic 167]], where Cueball and Beret Guy make observations about the future while climbing a tree.<br />
;Panel 23 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Megan doing the MC Hammer slide towards Cueball.)<br />
:A reference to [[108|comic 108]], where Hairy falls in love with "a girl whose only mode of transportation is the M.C. Hammer Slide." <br />
;Panel 24 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Cueball and Megan on an electric skateboard.)<br />
:A reference to [[409|comic 409]], where Megan and Cueball go on an electric skateboard ride.<br />
<br />
The title text just continues the song.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The comic is in parody of the Discovery Channel commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line "Boom De Yada."]<br />
:[The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip.]<br />
:[In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial.]<br />
<br />
:Panel 1: (Reference Comic 162)<br />
:[Megan spinning around.]<br />
:I love momentum.<br />
<br />
:Panel 2: (Reference Comic 413)<br />
:[Megan laying on floor tinkering with EEE PC hamster ball robot.]<br />
:I love to engineer.<br />
<br />
:Panel 3: (Reference Comic 434)<br />
:[Beret Guy standing in bakery holding a loaf of bread in each hand, sign with "PIE!" in background.]<br />
:I love this bakery!<br />
<br />
:Panel 4: (Reference Comic 239)<br />
:[Cory Doctorow in goggles and red cape flying superman-style.]<br />
:I love the blogosphere!<br />
<br />
:Panel 5: (Reference Comic 152)<br />
:[Cueball running in large hamster ball.]<br />
:I love the whole world<br />
<br />
:Panel 6:<br />
:[Depiction of internet sludge (4chan b-Random)]<br />
:And all its messed-up folks.<br />
<br />
:Panel 7: (Reference Comic 150)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan immersed in playpen balls.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 8:<br />
:[Mass of playpen balls with speech "I put on my robe and wizard hat" originating from it.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 9: (Reference Comic 72)<br />
:[Black Hat taking gift away from kid with party hat.]<br />
:I love your suffering.<br />
<br />
:Panel 10: (Reference Comic 153)<br />
:[Diagram showing RSA fingerprint authentication between two people.]<br />
:I love cryptography.<br />
<br />
:Panel 11: (Reference Comic 230)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan in bed covered by red sheet.]<br />
:I love entangled sheets.<br />
<br />
:Panel 12: (Blag)<br />
:[Cueball hanging from kite string holding camera.]<br />
:And kite photography.<br />
<br />
:Panel 13: (Reference Comic 256)<br />
:[Map of the internet.]<br />
:I love the whole world<br />
<br />
:Panel 14: (Reference Comic 8)<br />
:[Cube with red spider on top.]<br />
:And all its mysteries.<br />
<br />
:Panel 15: (Reference Comic 303)<br />
:[Two people sword-fighting on rolling office chairs.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 16: (Reference Comic 263)<br />
:[Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 17:<br />
:[Cueball saying "Barack me Obamadeus!" to another man speaking energetically at a podium.]<br />
:I love elections.<br />
<br />
:Panel 18:<br />
:[Cueball holding schematic diagram of a transistor in front of his crotch.]<br />
:I love transistors.<br />
<br />
:Panel 19: (Reference Comic 69)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan in bed, Cueball saying "There ''must'' be taft slash fiction."]<br />
:I love weird pillow talk.<br />
<br />
:Panel 20: (Reference Comic 49, 279, 317)<br />
:[Cueball speaking to Megan.]<br />
:I love your sister.<br />
<br />
:Panel 21: (Reference Comic 249)<br />
:[Roller coaster with Cueball in front car holding chess board and thinking about a move.]<br />
:I love the whole world.<br />
<br />
:Panel 22: (Reference Comic 167)<br />
:[Beret Guy standing in the midst of leafless trees.]<br />
:The future's pretty cool!<br />
<br />
:Panel 23: (Reference Comic 108)<br />
:[Megan doing the MC Hammer slide towards Cueball.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 24: (Reference Comic 409)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan on an electric skateboard.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This comic was enacted by Olga Nunes and various famous people as [http://www.olganunes.com/xkcd ''We Love xkcd''].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Playpen balls]]<br />
[[Category:Red Spiders]]<br />
[[Category:Songs]]<br />
[[Category:Electric skateboard]]<br />
[[Category:Cryptography]]<br />
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]</div>108.162.215.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1311:_2014&diff=615171311: 20142014-03-02T19:43:45Z<p>108.162.215.85: /* Explanation */ added part about the UN (relates to number of languages in New York)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1311<br />
| date = January 1, 2014<br />
| title = 2014<br />
| image = 2014.png<br />
| titletext = Some future reader, who may see the term, without knowing the history of it, may imagine that it had reference to some antiquated bridge of the immortal Poet, thrown across the silver Avon, to facilitate his escape after some marauding excursion in a neighbouring park; and in some Gentleman&#39;s Magazine of the next century, it is not impossible, but that future antiquaries may occupy page after page in discussing so interesting a matter. We think it right, therefore, to put it on record in the Oriental Herald that the &#39;Shakesperian Rope Bridges&#39; are of much less classic origin; that Mr Colin Shakespear, who, besides his dignity as Postmaster, now signs himself &#39;Superintendent General of Shakesperian Rope Bridges&#39;, is a person of much less genius than the Bard of Avon. --The Oriental Herald, 1825<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Needs information on how much has come true, also information in general. This is also the longest title text?|1311: 2014}}<br />
The comic includes many predictions from the 1800s and early 1900s. Many of them are for the twenty-first century in general, and only three specifically mention 2014 (two of them as in "a century from now").<br />
<br />
*It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence.<br />
:A good idea. Now, with Google Books, this can be done in an easier manner.<br />
<br />
*I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth''' (1863)<br />
:Notably, there is a common joke nowadays that Canadians are always calm, mellow, polite peoples, even when insulting others.<br />
:The rest of the quote goes as follows: ''all that was good in the Celt, the Saxon, the Gaul and other races, combining to form neither English, Irish, nor Welsh, but Canadians, who would take their place among the churches of Christendom and the nations of the earth.<br />
:This religious prediction probably wasn't believed even by its author. It's only a harangue.''<br />
<br />
*In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''<br />
:Concentrates, which are gelatine like, form a large part of our food sources. <br />
:Absurd if taken literally, but if he's talking about processed foods in general then he's not too far from the mark.<br />
<br />
*The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''<br />
:Probably an exaggeration even in its time<br />
:But still valid to some degree, as many electronics are used in rearing children today. From incubators, warming blankets, walkie-talkies, etc to the TV.<br />
:On the same coin, however, these are merely tools of assistance; the process of child-''rearing'' is still a human task by and large.<br />
:Of course, with Viagra, Cialis, vibrators, and other kinkier toys, we don't even have to make love unaided.<br />
<br />
*To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.''' (1907)<br />
:False. The number of languages spoken in New York City is believed to be greater than 100; some estimate as many as 800 languages are spoken there. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in the greater New York metropolitan area, almost 7 million people speak a language other than English at home, including over 3.5 million who speak Spanish, 2 million who speak other Indo-European languages, 1 million who speak Asian or Pacific Island languages, and 300,000 who speak other languages. Also, New York City is the location of the headquarters of the United Nations, with diplomats from nearly every country in the world, and several official languages.<br />
<br />
*I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.''' (William Carey Jones, 1908)<br />
:Referring to {{w|World War I}}. In 1908, {{w|Bosnian crisis|Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina}}. This led to the {{w|Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria|Sarajevo Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria}} in 1914 that is considered the starting event of the World War.<br />
<br />
*China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now. (1914)<br />
:While it is true in 2013/14, the context behind it was false, as the premise originally was that the business in the western world could export shoes to China, when currently, most of the shoes are actually manufactured in China itself and exported to western world.<br />
:Ironically though, the profits from the shoe selling go to overseas companies.<br />
<br />
*'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.''' (1914, on abortion)<br />
:True - it is still heavily debated.<br />
<br />
*By the twenty-first century '''we shall all be telepaths.''' ''(A character in Aldous Huxley's novel "Antic Hay")''<br />
:Since the quote talks about natural telepathy (like the one apparently birds have) this prediction has not been fulfilled. For example the Wikipedia article on {{w|Telepathy}} states: ''Scientific consensus does not view telepathy as a real phenomenon.''<br />
:More context for this prediction [http://books.google.com/books?id=pdXj2SZ1mT8C&pg=PA205]:<br />
:“And it’s my firm belief,” said Gumbril Senior, adding notes to his epic, “that they [the birds] make use of some sort of telepathy, some kind of direct mind-to-mind communication between themselves. You can’t watch them without coming to that conclusion.” [...] “It’s a faculty,” Gumbril Senior went on, “we all possess, I believe. All we animals.” [...] “By the twenty-first century, I believe, we shall all be telepaths. Meanwhile, these delightful birds have forestalled us.”<br />
<br />
*The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term “lunatic” has become offensive to us.'''<br />
:While the word "lunatic" isn't considered offensive anymore, but merely derogatory, it would never be used in a clinical sense. At the time this was written, more specific terms such as "schizophrenic" were preferred, but now the noun use of that term (i.e., referring to the patient as "a schizophrenic") is itself deprecated in favor of more humanizing terms like "a patient with schizophrenia."<br />
:He correctly predicts the trajectory of terms like "{{w|mentally retarded}}", itself adopted by his day to replace earlier terms for the intellectually disabled, such as "moron" and "imbecile", which had become pejorative. Soon enough the word "retard" joined them in that regard, and it now has largely been abandoned as a medical term.<br />
<br />
*Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''<br />
:While media still encourages such images, colleges start to be much more career oriented. Also, due to incidents involving sex-themed frosh weeks, there was actually a greater emphasis to condemn sexual activities among college students<br />
<br />
*'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war - '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''<br />
:July 28, 2014 marks 100 years since the beginning of {{w|World War I}} (popularly called "The Great War" at the time), thus journalists will definitely write articles of this war. More than 9&nbsp;million combatants were killed. However, unfortunately, there was a greater war, {{w|World War II}}, which killed around 25 million soldiers and an even greater number of civilians. Due to the larger scope, easily identifiable heroes and villains, and other factors, the second war occupies a much greater place in our collective memory.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to a certain British officer, Mr. Colin Shakespeare, who experimented and promoted the use of rope suspension bridges in India, apparently for the ease of colonization and military operations.[http://books.google.com/books?id=aZRPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA367] The reference to "River Avon" is about the river of {{w|River Avon (Warwickshire)|Avon in Warwickshire}}, Stratford upon Avon being the town where Shakespeare (the playwright) was born and where he lived until his early twenties. The author is aware of the potential confusion that might result after decades or centuries have washed away the context, a topic xkcd has previously covered in [[771: Period Speech]]. As such, the author makes a point separate the two Shakespeares.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:(This is a series of quotes from various people of various timeframes. Each quote is followed by the author, the document of publication if applicable, and the year.)<br />
:'''Notes from the past'''<br />
:It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence.<br />
::Christopher Baldwin<br />
:::1834<br />
<br />
:I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''<br />
::Rev. John Bredin<br />
:::1863<br />
<br />
:In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''<br />
::''The Booklover''<br />
:::1903<br />
<br />
:The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''<br />
::Mrs. John Lane, ''The fortnightly''<br />
:::1905<br />
<br />
:To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''<br />
::''The American Historical Magazine''<br />
:::1907<br />
<br />
:I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''<br />
::Willian Carey Jones<br />
:::1908<br />
<br />
:China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now.<br />
::''Boot and Shoe Recorder''<br />
:::1914<br />
<br />
:'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''<br />
::Dr. Barton C. Hirst on the subject of '''abortion'''<br />
:::1914<br />
<br />
:By the twenty-first century I believe '''we shall all be telepaths.'''<br />
::Gumbriel, character in ''Antic Hay''<br />
:::1923<br />
<br />
:The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term “lunatic” has become offensive to us.'''<br />
::Dr. C. Macfie Campbell<br />
:::1924<br />
<br />
:Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''<br />
::Mary Eileen Ahern, ''Library Bureau''<br />
:::1926<br />
<br />
:'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war - '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''<br />
::F.J.M, ''The Journalist''<br />
:::1934<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]</div>108.162.215.85