https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.158.105&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T16:52:31ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2498:_Forest_Walk&diff=216113Talk:2498: Forest Walk2021-08-05T12:53:28Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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Have just added a transcript. Hope I did good! :) -Lance ([[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.211|172.70.126.211]] 02:40, 5 August 2021 (UTC))<br />
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Wonder what Beret Guy would do if Cooper said, "I don't have it any more," since some of the money was discovered, badly deteriorated and partially buried, along the banks of the Columbia River back in 1980, as verified by serial numbers on the found currency. Given the absence of any other evidence, it was assumed that the hijacker had gotten separated from the money either during or right after the jump, the found currency had been deposited as flotsam at its discovery point through the actions of the river itself, and the rest of the money was still somewhere in the Pacific Northwest awaiting similar discovery, [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 04:23, 5 August 2021 (UTC)<br />
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If it can be considered that the comic is a reference to random walk (in a forest), can it also be considered a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_forest random forests] ? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.73|141.101.68.73]] 07:14, 5 August 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I don't get why the comic is supposed to be a reference to random walks or to random forests. Nothing points to that. Real forests exists, and people walk in them. The only peculiarity of this particular forest is that D.B. Cooper hangs in one of its trees. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.244|188.114.103.244]] 08:20, 5 August 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like there should be a D.B. Cooper category at this point. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.52|141.101.104.52]] 07:51, 5 August 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Hey there, I think the alt text is also a reference to https://xkcd.com/2390/ ? Kind regards :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 08:13, 5 August 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Typo: "he might have simply inherited it form his mom". --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.39|162.158.255.39]] 12:40, 5 August 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Done, now. I'd seen it, but apparently missed it, in preparing for my first big corrective edit of the day (little tyops, a lot less awful than ones ''I'' have previously left for others to correct). Or maybe I thought I should leave it suspended from the tree until some other issue had been resolved. :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 12:53, 5 August 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2489:_Bad_Map_Projection:_The_Greenland_Special&diff=2150542489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special2021-07-15T09:08:29Z<p>162.158.158.105: /* Explanation */ A lot of little changes. (I got an Edit Conflict warning, but apparently without the bit telling me what the differences were. Will force the submit and immediately review what I may need to 'restore'.)</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2489<br />
| date = July 14, 2021<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_the_greenland_special.png<br />
| titletext = The projection for those who think the Mercator projection gives people a distorted idea of how big Greenland is, but a very accurate idea of how big it SHOULD be.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a AFRICA SIZED NOT AFRICA SIZED ISLAND. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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Map projections are different methods of representing the curved surface of the Earth on a two-dimensional map. Because the Earth is not flat, any method of representing it will unavoidably contain some inaccuracies, but some projections are more noticeably inaccurate than others. Typically a projection can represent only distances, areas ''or'' angles correctly, or at best imperfectly compromise two of these. The map choice should reflect the purpose you need to put it to.<br />
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One such projection is the {{w|Mercator projection}}, which is designed such that all north-south lines of longitude are parallel to each other and all {{w|Rhumb line}}s are consistent, which is most important in the time of map-based navigation. In reality, these imaginary lines eventually meet at the poles and this also expands the apparent distance between lines of latitude at the more extreme latitudes. This means that Mercator maps will show geographic features with larger areas and distances than they should if they are near the poles, compared to those more equatorial. It is not possible to accurately compare the sizes of features across the globe using this projection, although the distortions do not significantly affect more local maps (other than ''very'' close to the poles, historically not an issue) or comparisons along or between similar latitudes away from the equator.<br />
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Greenland is a large island in the Arctic ocean and one of the nearest pieces of land to the north pole. The Mercator projection shows it to be significantly larger than it really is, compared to equator-straddling features such as Africa. It is therefore one of the most obvious inaccuracies of Mercator's map, if used (e.g.) in the classroom to teach physical geography (which perhaps would best use an equal-area representation) rather than navigation.<br />
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This comic's projection has retained this singular inaccuracy as a deliberate feature, though avoiding all other such inaccuracies of the Mercator projection by using a different projection elsewhere that is designed explicitly to avoid them. For example, a traditional Mercator map would show other polar areas such as Antarctica, southern South America, or even New Zealand as larger, but this map does not.<br />
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The title text suggests that this map was created by people who believe Greenland should be larger. Whether these people believe it should be physically increased in size in some manner or should simply receive a greater share of the attention is unclear. One method for increasing its size would be to increase the coverage of its ice cap, which is currently decreasing in size due to increases in temperature. However, increasing Greenland's ice coverage to the size it appears on a Mercator map would involve covering the entire island and surrounding ocean with ice, which would be very problematic for Greenland's population.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Bad Map Projection #299:<br><br />
'''The Greenland Special'''<br><br />
Equal-area map preserves size everywhere except Greenland, which uses the Mercator projection.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2486:_Board_Game_Party_Schedule&diff=214806Talk:2486: Board Game Party Schedule2021-07-09T03:10:54Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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I've done the best I can starting this out. Since it's been years since I did gatherings like this, if someone can suggest more modern examples of complicated tabletop simulation games than the ones I suggested (Squad Leader and SFB started in the late 1970s, for heaven's sake), please do so. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.236|108.162.245.236]] 00:27, 8 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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How about Seven Wonders? [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 04:59, 8 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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This is why we always decide the game before inviting people. Then people can already head home before 11pm. To be more serious, the most complicated game that we played with novices was Eclipse with several expansions in a 9 player setup. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.160|162.158.88.160]] 07:15, 8 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The classics for my home group with this are Kingmaker and Twilight Imperium. In fact to even suggest those we now have to plan a week or month ahead of time. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 13:51, 8 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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A "simpler" game, like Catan or Dominion...?<br />
Um. More like Scattergories, Scrabble, Sorry, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Uno, even Go Fish. Catan and Dominion might be relatively well known, but they are NOT simple. My experience is that the strategically-minded people who love immersive resource-allocation based games like Catan and Dominion are frequently open to learning new games, while the crowd that opts for "simpler" games typically just want to have fun without having to think too hard about stuff. (I say this as someone who loves immersive resource-allocation games, with a girlfriend who typically prefers the simpler stuff.)<br />
Also, feels like Scythe deserves a mention, as a game that might be pulled out of a cupboard for game night but ends up taking hours to set up and explain. Whereas Warhammer players typically seek out their own, rather than casually springing their hobby on the general public. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.84|108.162.221.84]] 17:05, 8 July 2021 (UTC) mezimm<br />
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Yeah, a not-a-COVID-19 comic. That said, just curious, why don't we include the title text as part of the transcript? Was a decision made some time ago to not include these, or have we just not been doing it for so long and no one questioned this until just now. [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|127.0.0.1]] 19:00, 8 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
:(Nice IP. *cough*) The transcript describes in text that which cannot already be read as text (without OCR, etc). The title-text is already in text form, reiteration would be redundantly repetitive. - Or so I've seen it explained several times before, and it makes perfect sense to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 03:10, 9 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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== that was fast ==<br />
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this was my first time looking up the most recent comic on here (though it wasn't 'cause [I'm] dumb'... for once), and can I just say you all work really fast at getting a basic explanation written out. Your work is much appreciated by this student software dev :-)--[[User:Twisted Code|Twisted Code]] ([[User talk:Twisted Code|talk]]) 18:56, 8 July 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2485:_Nightmare_Code&diff=214698Talk:2485: Nightmare Code2021-07-06T11:14:08Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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As I feared, I got into an Edit Conflict after doing (significantly more than I intended) editing of my own 'starter' explanation. '''Now resolved - thank you for your patience...''' <!-- ...and of course it's still visible in the Talk page history, if you're bothered. And this time I am remembering to sign. --> [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.124|141.101.98.124]] 20:24, 5 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Is the Alphabet gag in the Title Text related to Alphabet, the company that owns Google? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 17:32, 5 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
:It would be more expected that Alphabet would change their name if Alpha and Beta become associated with nightmare codes. OTOH, many thought that the Corona beer brand would suffer marketing problems during the pandemic, but it wasn't impacted very much. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:21, 5 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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@Kev Well, the speaker ''is'' wearing Google Glass. [[User:Lightcaller|Lightcaller]] ([[User talk:Lightcaller|talk]]) 20:22, 5 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The speaker specifically mentions "'''Earth''' Language" and wears something that might well be some kind of life support. I don't think they are addressing earth-based humans, but rather some more diverse audience that is mostly not from earth. Many of them obviously don't know old earth languages too well. But the usage of the nightmare code seems to have spread beyond earth. Therefore, there's no implication that (earth-based) humans have forgotten the Greek language, the speaker may simply be giving a talk about their culture. -> I think the first paragraph is making wrong assumptions. @Abd are you sure? [[User:Chichak|Chichak]] ([[User talk:Chichak|talk]]) 22:37, 5 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Wait, what? The ''future's'' character sets? ''Our'' character sets (or at least some of them) are known as alphabets! Or have we already forgotten the term "alphabet"?<br />
^[[unsigned]] <br />
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How far off is "the (far) future"? Based on the retro-future styled headwear & relatively minor language drift, I was picturing 20-to-60 years, tops. <br />
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Heck, which objects count as "drones" has already changed ''twice'' the last 20 years, & YouTube still thinks Steam® is related to an ironing press. If we're looking more than 60 years out, I have to assume that "nightmare" could be common parlance for 'great', "scary" means 'informative', "negative" means 'removing', & "die" means equalize. <br />
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It's a joke about language drift, featuring a floaty person referring to ancient "Earth" languages: Sounds like someone teaching a 1st-grade class at Luna L2 circa 2051, ten years after 'the Oopsie'. I really didn't get a feeling of "oh wow ''lots'' of time has passed". I got the impression we were supposed to recognize the elements of the scene so that the grammatic drift stated in the comic would be highlighted as hyperbolic change. <br />
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Hovering & silly headgear are kinda the ''bare minimum'' to represent "the future" unambiguously, these days. The presumption of extraterrestrial habitation is the most futuristic reference I see. I'd be a bit surprised if that took us more than another decade or two, if ever. <br />
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Is this comic really about the ''far'' future, or is part of the joke that language changes faster than our perceptions of what is futuristic? <br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 01:12, 6 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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@ unsigned comment above: This comic is set in an imagined future in which the use of the word "alphabet" to describe a character set has fallen out of favour due to the negative connotations of the Greek root. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.130|108.162.249.130]] 01:17, 6 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:Yeah, the imagining of "the (far) future", as argued against by someone I can't be bothered to check if they're one of several <unsigned>s or not, actually seems (fictionally) realistic to me. At least one full generation of Alphabet-gnostics has died out, by time passing as well as disaster, with very little seepage of "grandpa always used to say..." into this generation. If it's so soon after a terrestrial catastrophe, I'm surprised 'the old ways' have vanished as quickly as the Jetsons future has arrived. More likely like the montage behind Fry in Futurama's setup episode, happening to lead to a totally unironic retro-futuristic setting with much discontinuity of knowledge from the past. Even without the full-on Earthwide disaster, there could be the general Spacer-like ignorance (Asimov's pre-Foundation run-up series, long before Earth itself became mythical/lost/damaged in various phases) of our everyday cultural certainties - that even the surface-shunning mass of Earthers were showing signs of succumbing to ('Lije Bailey not knowing more than that text from the US Declaration Of Independence, IIRC, was "some old document", and used it casually without understanding how fanatically important its original context was).<br />
:And @108.162.249.130 below, yes, I also think that the great transhumance into space has removed or reworked away Greek as a living language, as well as Ancient Greek as a non-niche dead one. We're probably even hearing/reading this lecture through (historically-unaware) Translator Microbes if it's being conducted in Standard Galactic (except for the historic loanwords), or whatever hybrid spacefaring lingua franca has developed and put yet more linguistic space between the words we know well and the mere detritus of phonemes that reflect very little of their origin. (Again, reason to believe a gap of no less than a century, possibly several, to shift the popular mindsets.)<br />
:But that's just my impression. You ''could'' shoehorn a faster turnaround, with enough tweaks. e.g. Bezos retires to his moonbase to tinker up a load of new Amazon gadgetry (Musk does the same on Mars for a Tesla-esque offshoot), the world goes all retro-techno via consumer pressure, plus capable of initiating the Google Labs nanobot swarming that leaves the gadget-ridden off-worlders now disconnected and disinclined to further the blackened legacy of Alphabet Inc, and after a generation or two of off-world schooling (from what few educators and experts had found themselves able to expound their knowledge) there are... gaps and other somewhat more blurred bits in the near(ish)-future shared memory. Your choice! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 11:14, 6 July 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Does Cueball's "did you know" imply that the Greek language has died out entirely? At time of writing, the origin of the alpha/beta/gamma/etc. pseudo-numbering would already be referred to as "Ancient" Greek, but the same alphabet is still very much used to write modern Greek. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.130|108.162.249.130]] 01:17, 6 July 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2485:_Nightmare_Code&diff=2146872485: Nightmare Code2021-07-06T08:03:57Z<p>162.158.158.105: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2485<br />
| date = July 5, 2021<br />
| title = Nightmare Code<br />
| image = nightmare_code.png<br />
| titletext = Charsets even used to be known as 'alpha-bets' before that word's obvious negative associations caused it to die out.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SCARY ONGOING NANOBOT SWARM, for real human behaviors are so useful! Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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It is the (far) future and, due to the mists of time, humans seem to have generally forgotten the Greek language. Its writing system survives in the public consciousness only as a means of assigning names to nightmarish phenomena.<br />
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A person using futuristic technology is giving a presentation or lecture. The content of his projected screen includes the first four letters of the Greek alphabet, which he refers to as the Nightmare Code. The presenter expects that the list is familiar to his audience, but that it is novel information to them that it used to have a purpose other than providing arbitrary names to hurricanes, virus variants, and nanobot swarms.<br />
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Hurricanes and tropical storms are {{w|Tropical_cyclone_naming|named}} once they have sustained wind speeds of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) or more. The names for these storms come from pre-defined lists that have {{w|Tropical_cyclone_naming|21 names allocated each yearly period}}. When the 21 names are exhausted, Greek letters were once used to continue naming storms as needed, although the World Meteorological Organization decided not to use Greek letters when naming storms from 2021 onward. Perhaps in this vision of the future, the naming lists have given way to using the Greek alphabet exclusively.<br />
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Virus variants may also be {{w|Variants_of_SARS-CoV-2|given names}} once they are deemed sufficiently nightmarish. At the time of this writing, eleven variants of {{w|SARS-CoV-2}} have been labeled with Greek letters. Previously, variants were named informally for the region in which they were identified (as were many viruses themselves), but this practice has ceased due to risks of discrimination and the {{w|perverse incentive}} of countries to suppress health information for the sake of saving face. A place may become (in)famously known as the origin of a disease by such a name, even if it originated elsewhere; an example is {{w|Spanish flu}}, which was actually first observed in Kansas, USA. Nowadays vague names such as 'bird flu' or partly-informed geographic names tend to be better referenced by their {{w|hemagglutinin}} and {{w|neuraminidase}} subtypes, such as "H1N1" and "H9N2". The more technical coronavirus identification system uses a term such as "lineage B.1.617.2", whose awkwardness makes it unlikely to replace better-known names such as the "Kent variant" or "Indian variant".<br />
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Another set of historic nightmares the audience clearly knows about, which are still in our own future, are nanobot swarms, presumably nanoengineering failures and/or deliberate misuses of nanotechnology of the {{w|Gray goo}} type. Significant recurring or sequential events have seemingly earned the need to differentiate their outbreaks, and Greek letters have been used to do this. One may even be tempted to speculate that the futuristic figure and his presentation equipment float in space because the Earth had disintegrated as a result of one or more of said nanotechnology disasters.<br />
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The cultural forgetfulness about the neutral basis of the old letters, after perhaps who-knows-what nanobot disasters that may have scoured the Earth clean of all things Greek, has led to no other common use for them ''except'' for their use in identifying far too many crises. The words themselves thus are instantly associated to bad times for almost everyone.<br />
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The title text indicates that future people stopped using the term "alphabet" (which derives from the first two elements of the Greek alphabet) due to negative associations with the items named by the Nightmare Code - or so this (possibly) knowledgeable person asserts.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A person giving a presentation is wearing futuristic gear, including a visor with an antenna rising from it, a backpack-like appliance of some kind, and a futuristic pointer. The audience is not pictured. The presenter is floating rather than standing. The presentation is projected from a small device near the bottom of the frame, and the appearance of the presentation suggests it is a hologram. The content of the slide shows the names of the first four letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.]<br />
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:Presenter: We all know the '''''Nightmare Code''''', used to assign neutral names to scary ongoing lists, such as hurricanes, virus variants, and nanobot swarms. But did you know it actually originated as the letters of an ancient Earth language?<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category: Language]]<br />
[[Category: Artificial Intelligence]]<br />
[[Category: Hurricanes]]<br />
[[Category:Biology]]</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2481:_1991_and_2021&diff=214532Talk:2481: 1991 and 20212021-07-01T17:11:00Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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It's 7:12p and I'm on android at m.xkcd.com . There is no alt text, and the "see also" link directs back to the same page. The comic is fun though, people will be thinking about time travel as technology takes off. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.179|162.158.62.179]] 23:14, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:There is no title-text on firefox on PC either. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.59|162.158.79.59]] 23:16, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::The title text is botched. Instead the comic is wrapped in an <code>a</code> (hyperlink) element: <code><a href=""Oh, and our computers all have cameras now, which is nice during the pandemic lockdowns." "The WHAT.""></code>. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.152|141.101.98.152]] 23:24, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::I reckon the backend interface for posting a comic must have a field for the title text and a field for the "see also" link, and someone put the text in the wrong field. Easy mistake to make, hopefully fixed soon. -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 02:33, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Wasn't the federal no lasers pointed at airplanes law was in acted to prevent laser guided missile attacks against airlines? Not laser attacks in general? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.136|172.68.129.136]] 01:24, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Sure, someone may have suggested that, but the truth is that anyone who has access to guided missiles (IE state-level actors and military forces) isn't going to be bound by federal law anyway [[User:Defaultdotxbe|Defaultdotxbe]] ([[User talk:Defaultdotxbe|talk]]) 02:37, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::My thoughts too. At first I took it as White Hat thinking that there were military attacks with lasers capable of shooting down planes… but a federal law against that would, as you say, not be heeded by those doing such things. On reflection I decided that White Hat is envisioning that ordinary citizens have laser guns and have taken to shooting them at planes, the way road signs get shot at by ordinary guns in reality. -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 02:46, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:In short, '''no'''. 18 USC §39A, the federal law criminalizing the pointing of laser pointers at airplanes, was not enacted to prevent missile attacks against airlines. It was enacted to help combat kids (and others) causing real injury to airline personnel in what they thought were harmless pranks (they're not harmless). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 03:46, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Yeah, having and trying to use anti-aircraft guided missiles was already plenty illegal without there needing to be a new law about the laser guidance part. In any case, the other guy is misunderstanding the implications of the situation with how it's described, whether or not he thought through that whatever means are being used it should already be illegal to shoot down airplanes.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.2|172.70.126.2]] 23:43, 29 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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It's interesting that Mr. 2021 summarizes the entire Internet/World Wide Web with "it's really easy to send news stories to your friends". The Internet certainly existed in 1991, but the advancement in that area over 30 years is pretty significant. I'm not sure how I would sum that up to someone from 30 years ago in a single comic panel, but I think it would come out differently than what we see here. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:57, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I saw the ratio of advertisements with www.foo.com in it rise only at the end of the 90s which was when the Internet started to get mainstream adoption. Before Google, it was not so easy to find relevant content with Altavista and friends. [[User:Bmwiedemann|Bmwiedemann]] ([[User talk:Bmwiedemann|talk]]) 20:31, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Don't confuse the Internet with the Web, though. With searchable access to alt.your.fetish.or.hobby on a usenet feed, a curated FAQ (or general conversation) could make you aware of ftp.hobbyfetish.org.au, or whatever wherewithall you needed to telnet directly to the FetishHobbyBBS. Or vice-versa if you'd started on a FIDONet connection. (Then there was the AOL Keyword approach, where you had such an ISP with such a USP and an acceptably obvious hobby/fetish.) Before Tim Berners-Lee (and whoever did Gopher, etc), plus the time needed to get into your prefered era of AskVistaGoogleDuck, the connectivity was there - just a little less automated and only ''hugely'' beyond a single person actually knowing everything they could connect to, rather than totally mind-blowingly so... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 00:05, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::Also, Google never offered great improvement over the ease of search on AltaVista; Google's "improved" search rankings were a result of other user's click-thrus & promotion, notably ''not'' any enhancement of the existing search terms. As a result, Google made it easier to find the sites most commonly accessed through its search gateway, while pushing obscure resources toward the bottom of any search results. After establishing market dominance in web searches, Google then phased out adherence to strict search terms, making it noticeably ''harder'' to find any sites their algorithms do not promote. (They also bought YouTube & then removed a great deal of the independently produced videos which had made the site popular, when "content controls" & the first implementation of their overzealous automated filtering, were brought online.) Google has always been more about promotion than accurate search, & it's reflected in the way they've consistently absorbed new technologies only to shutter them in favor of newer, less functionally-complete projects, which superficially offer more appearance of novelty. Google is to telecommunication today, as General Motors was to transportation in the '00s: An industry giant hindering meaningful innovation by marketing old as new, new as exclusive, & restricted as improved. Rather similar to Apple & MS, actually? (The extent to which ''"free thing that worked fine if you knew how"'' becomes ''"more limited but monetized thing deprecated by another monetized thing until none of them offer what you came for anymore"'', is truly astounding to me. Feels like telecom was better in '05, for anyone who doesn't want to spend hundreds a month in '21.) '''Google deserves credit for innovating search in the same way Apple deserves credit for innovating smartphones: ''They don't.''''' Neither company is great at ''innovating''; they are great at ''marketing'' old as new. <br />
:::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:43, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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It's not so much the range of cordless phones that is of significant change, but the computing power inside the phone that made the most advancement since 1991. Phones at that time could only make phone calls! Texting didn't become available until 1992 and games and everything else we do on them was later. To me "range" means the connection range which improved a lot, but is still not as signficant as "range of use" [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:17, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Does "cordless phones" refer to cellphones? That's the "wireless" industry. Cordless phones are landline phone handsets that don't have a cord connecting them to the wall, and he's talking about the distance they can be from the base station. Mentioning these is a joke because so many people have cut the cord entirely, abandoning their landlines in favor of just using cellphones. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 12:59, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:That's what I wondered too. I would assume the comic is referring to cordless phones in the sense of landline phone handsets, not cellphones, if just because the coverage range of these phones '''has''' increased, whereas the opposite is true for cellphones. With 2G, you can get coverage up to 35km from the base station, whereas with 4G this is reduced to about 16km. There is effectively more cellphone coverage nowadays because there are more base stations, not because the coverage works at longer range. [[User:Zoid42|Zoid42]] ([[User talk:Zoid42|talk]]) 02:28, 27 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::I agree, & the assertion that ''cellphones'' have increased in range since '91 would be amusing, if it weren't so incorrect as to represent harmful disinformation. (Ironic, given the topic...) I have edited the explanation to make the situation clearer, but that paragraph is now overly long & contains several run-on sentences: The explanation would read better if split into coherent sections for each of the four changes Cueball described. <br />
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:56, 27 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:The computing power inside the phone would definitely sound significant in 1992 ; I suspect it would be comparable to top supercomputers of that time. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:10, 27 June 2021 (UTC) <br />
::It indeed seems that we're seeing 100s of GigaFLOPS in both those supercomputers and these smartphones. Possibly more, as I couldn't easily find mobiles from the last half decade referenced in those terms of measure. And, when it does, it refers to the ''GPU'', which makes for a very highly specialised architecture to render (e.g.) game environments via 3D elements, unlike supercomputers that... hmmm, often had a very highly specialised architecture to process (e.g.) weather predictions via 3D elements. ;)<br />
::Still hard to compare (is it easier to efficiently re-task arbitrary GPUs for things like, say, cryptofarming than it would for a weather-service machine to be re-applied to non-weather computing?) and of course other metrics such as data storage have been Moore's Lawed as well, by a combination of higher quantity, lower cost and increased availability (never mind pocket-portability) even before we start to get to near infinite swappable tape-storage now being approximated by virtually unlimited remote cloud storage (which could ultimately and opaquely still be as crude as tape-storage, but probably is disc-farms).<br />
::It would be interesting to go beyond the few brief glances I made at the details and actually with the various conversion factors that relate what we had in the early '90s (when something like a 486 DX2 66Mhz was the height of personal computing power, for me, at least until DX4 100s became available - and a HD 3.5" FDD wasn't always a given...) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.103|141.101.99.103]] <br />
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This is the second time Cueball travels from within the Covid-19 pandemic to visit White Hat [[2280]]. Is there any comic where White Hat interacts with pangolins, bats, or China? Even though Cueball is vaccinated by now, he might be a carrier [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 22:46, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:That field around Cueball might mean he's not physically here ; maybe it's not possible to transfer matter into past, just information. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:10, 27 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Black Hat: "Here wear this shirt when you project back." <br />
::Cueball: 'Why? What does it say above that big block of code?' <br />
::Black Hat: "'Reproduce this RNA sequence for a cool surprise!'" <br />
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:56, 27 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I disagree with the assertion added by [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.193|172.69.35.193]] ([[User_talk:172.69.35.193|talk]]):<br />
:'A moment of thought would make it clear that the "laser attack" is unlikely to damage the plane directly, because if it did, no new law would be needed.'<br />
Something being criminal under an existing law does ''not'' mean no new law is needed or will be passed. Maybe the existing penalty wasn't deemed sufficient. Maybe the law had loopholes not foreseen until the new technology appeared. Or maybe Congress just wanted to be seen to be doing something. There are many reasons why new laws can and have been passed to combat (the comic's word) something that's already not legal. Does anyone have thoughts to add? -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 10:45, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I agree, that addition should be removed. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:03, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I'd like to add that the law Cueball references is only supposed to "combat" laser attacks, not necessarily outlaw them. I interpret this in the same way that one might outlaw firearms in order to "combat" mass shootings, or legislating TSA checks to "combat" bombings - both of which are already very illegal. So in Whitehats imagination, a law passed to "combat laser attacks on airliners" might be something like background checks on lasgun owners (deemed necessary because of frequent attacks). This law would be (arguagbly) "needed", even though the attacks themselves are already illegal. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.15|162.158.203.15]] 12:25, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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<message deleted; sorry about that>[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.2|172.70.126.2]] 15:27, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I really think Randall should've made some kind of remark about Sonic getting a fully orchestrated symphony. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.103|141.101.99.103]] 16:20, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I hope Randall won't be backsliding into another prolonged serious of COVID-19 comics ad nauseum. Just saying.<br />
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: Too late!<br />
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:Yeah, describing the difference as being the "range on cordless phones" is way off any way you think about it. The first cell phones on the market were in the early 70's, though the first ones were big and heavy, like a suitcase, so people would keep them in a car (thus the term "car phones"), and the first handheld ones were in the 80's. By the time of this, things like this had been on the market for a couple of years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_MicroTAC In fact, 1991 was when the first 2G cell network was introduced, and SMS text messaging started the following year. Thus though a much larger portion of the population didn't own one at the time, cell phones were already a thing for this past guy's known technology, so the differences were all in the many things they could now do besides simple phone calls, not the range (though I guess a much smaller portion of places are now outside coverage of cell networks, but that's not the important part here.)--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.2|172.70.126.2]] 23:43, 29 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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When I first read "The robot fighting TV shows mentioned include BattleBots, Robot Wars, and MegaBots, the earliest of which started in 1998", the other day, I was surprised. 1998 seemed a little late. But the wikilinks said 1998 for Robot Wars, so... ...however, I've ''just'' found (without looking for it, or even knowing I still had it to find!) a VHS tape in the back of a cupboard labelled "American Robot Wars Final 1996 [Highlights - Approx. 8 Minutes]", which seems to be a highlight video I will have received as a member of the Robot Wars club (here in the UK) with an order form to buy the full-length video (£12.99, +65p P&Pfor club members), which definitely tallies more with my memories of watching RW (and joining their club) a handful of years earlier.. Now.. ..where do I have a working VHS player? Anyway, FYI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 17:11, 1 July 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2481:_1991_and_2021&diff=214312Talk:2481: 1991 and 20212021-06-28T00:05:00Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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It's 7:12p and I'm on android at m.xkcd.com . There is no alt text, and the "see also" link directs back to the same page. The comic is fun though, people will be thinking about time travel as technology takes off. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.179|162.158.62.179]] 23:14, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:There is no title-text on firefox on PC either. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.59|162.158.79.59]] 23:16, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::The title text is botched. Instead the comic is wrapped in an <code>a</code> (hyperlink) element: <code><a href=""Oh, and our computers all have cameras now, which is nice during the pandemic lockdowns." "The WHAT.""></code>. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.152|141.101.98.152]] 23:24, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::I reckon the backend interface for posting a comic must have a field for the title text and a field for the "see also" link, and someone put the text in the wrong field. Easy mistake to make, hopefully fixed soon. -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 02:33, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Wasn't the federal no lasers pointed at airplanes law was in acted to prevent laser guided missile attacks against airlines? Not laser attacks in general? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.136|172.68.129.136]] 01:24, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Sure, someone may have suggested that, but the truth is that anyone who has access to guided missiles (IE state-level actors and military forces) isn't going to be bound by federal law anyway [[User:Defaultdotxbe|Defaultdotxbe]] ([[User talk:Defaultdotxbe|talk]]) 02:37, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::My thoughts too. At first I took it as White Hat thinking that there were military attacks with lasers capable of shooting down planes… but a federal law against that would, as you say, not be heeded by those doing such things. On reflection I decided that White Hat is envisioning that ordinary citizens have laser guns and have taken to shooting them at planes, the way road signs get shot at by ordinary guns in reality. -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 02:46, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:In short, '''no'''. 18 USC §39A, the federal law criminalizing the pointing of laser pointers at airplanes, was not enacted to prevent missile attacks against airlines. It was enacted to help combat kids (and others) causing real injury to airline personnel in what they thought were harmless pranks (they're not harmless). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 03:46, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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It's interesting that Mr. 2021 summarizes the entire Internet/World Wide Web with "it's really easy to send news stories to your friends". The Internet certainly existed in 1991, but the advancement in that area over 30 years is pretty significant. I'm not sure how I would sum that up to someone from 30 years ago in a single comic panel, but I think it would come out differently than what we see here. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:57, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I saw the ratio of advertisements with www.foo.com in it rise only at the end of the 90s which was when the Internet started to get mainstream adoption. Before Google, it was not so easy to find relevant content with Altavista and friends. [[User:Bmwiedemann|Bmwiedemann]] ([[User talk:Bmwiedemann|talk]]) 20:31, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Don't confuse the Internet with the Web, though. With searchable access to alt.your.fetish.or.hobby on a usenet feed, a curated FAQ (or general conversation) could make you aware of ftp.hobbyfetish.org.au, or whatever wherewithall you needed to telnet directly to the FetishHobbyBBS. Or vice-versa if you'd started on a FIDONet connection. (Then there was the AOL Keyword approach, where you had such an ISP with such a USP and an acceptably obvious hobby/fetish.) Before Tim Berners-Lee (and whoever did Gopher, etc), plus the time needed to get into your prefered era of AskVistaGoogleDuck, the connectivity was there - just a little less automated and only ''hugely'' beyond a single person actually knowing everything they could connect to, rather than totally mind-blowingly so... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 00:05, 28 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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It's not so much the range of cordless phones that is of significant change, but the computing power inside the phone that made the most advancement since 1991. Phones at that time could only make phone calls! Texting didn't become available until 1992 and games and everything else we do on them was later. To me "range" means the connection range which improved a lot, but is still not as signficant as "range of use" [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:17, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Does "cordless phones" refer to cellphones? That's the "wireless" industry. Cordless phones are landline phone handsets that don't have a cord connecting them to the wall, and he's talking about the distance they can be from the base station. Mentioning these is a joke because so many people have cut the cord entirely, abandoning their landlines in favor of just using cellphones. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 12:59, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:That's what I wondered too. I would assume the comic is referring to cordless phones in the sense of landline phone handsets, not cellphones, if just because the coverage range of these phones '''has''' increased, whereas the opposite is true for cellphones. With 2G, you can get coverage up to 35km from the base station, whereas with 4G this is reduced to about 16km. There is effectively more cellphone coverage nowadays because there are more base stations, not because the coverage works at longer range. [[User:Zoid42|Zoid42]] ([[User talk:Zoid42|talk]]) 02:28, 27 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::I agree, & the assertion that ''cellphones'' have increased in range since '91 would be amusing, if it weren't so incorrect as to represent harmful disinformation. (Ironic, given the topic...) I have edited the explanation to make the situation clearer, but that paragraph is now overly long & contains several run-on sentences: The explanation would read better if split into coherent sections for each of the four changes Cueball described. <br />
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:56, 27 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:The computing power inside the phone would definitely sound significant in 1992 ; I suspect it would be comparable to top supercomputers of that time. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:10, 27 June 2021 (UTC) <br />
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<br />
This is the second time Cueball travels from within the Covid-19 pandemic to visit White Hat [[2280]]. Is there any comic where White Hat interacts with pangolins, bats, or China? Even though Cueball is vaccinated by now, he might be a carrier [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 22:46, 26 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:That field around Cueball might mean he's not physically here ; maybe it's not possible to transfer matter into past, just information. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:10, 27 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Black Hat: "Here wear this shirt when you project back." <br />
Cueball: 'Why? What does it say above that big block of code?' <br />
Black Hat: "'Reproduce this RNA sequence for a cool surprise!'" <br />
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:56, 27 June 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2480:_No,_The_Other_One&diff=214217Talk:2480: No, The Other One2021-06-25T22:10:06Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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We might want a table for this comic, with three columns: one for the name of the town, one for which state the copycat is in, and one for the original. We could also add a column for "why the original is well known," but that might be a bit much. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.124|108.162.245.124]] 20:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I agree, this feels like a very table-able comic. Especially to get all the cities and not make readers try to see "hey, did I miss one?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.117.158|172.70.117.158]] 20:49, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:: I think the term copy-cat should not be used here, since Lincoln, IL, for instance is older and carries the name longer than Lincoln, NE.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 21:05, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::: Although the people in Lincoln, UK (also Boston, Washington, Richmond, Plymouth, Newhaven...) might have prior claims - Richmond is an even more interesting case, in fact. And of course I also recognise Lisbon and others. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:26, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::: May I suggest merging the first two columns and just listing [City, State] under "Place name in comic"? [[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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In the map there are (at least) three Lincoln, two Jamestown, five Houston... [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 20:52, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: There is a Jamestown in NY and PA also. I would expect to find a Jamestown in at least half of the states. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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There seems to be an extra dot in the northeast corner of Colorado - It looks like it might correspond with the Atlanta label, but there is no Atlanta in Colorado. Based on the position of the dot I'm guessing it may correspond to Akron or Yuma.--[[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:56, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Google Maps says there's an Atlanta, Colorado, but it is in the south-east corner of the state, not where the dot is. It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere outside of Springfield. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 00:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC) <br />
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Jersey Shore PA - I just drove from New Jersey across the state of Pennsylvania, and saw the sign for Jersey Shore in the mountains in the middle of PA. What the? Turns out there was a town founded by two brothers from New Jersey called Waynesburg. When a neighboring town wanted to insult them by calling them "Jersey Shore" they went ahead and officially made Jersey Shore the name of the town. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania]. I wonder how many people turn off the highway in the middle of PA wanting to go to the Jersey Shore hundreds of miles away. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Why no Hollywood, Florida? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida]<br />
: Same reason there's no Richmond, Dublin, or Pittsburg (admittedly, a different spelling), California, just to name some of the closest ones to me. The map would be solid black if it labeled every "other one." [[User:Borglord|Borglord]] ([[User talk:Borglord|talk]]) 01:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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..''No'' Springfields? Really? There's gotta be 30+ of them! [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 02:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:The comic doesn't seem to include the duplicates that are fairly well known, like Hollywood, FL. And the prevalence of Springfield is well known due to "The Simpsons". I think Groening chose that name ''because'' it wouldn't be associated with any particular state. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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`The most frequently occurring community name varies through the years. In a past year, it was "Midway" with 212 occurrences and "Fairview" in second with 202. More recently, "Fairview" counted 288 and "Midway" 256. The name "Springfield" is often thought to be the only community name appearing in each of the 50 States, but at last count it was in only 34 states.` https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-most-common-citytown-name-united-states [[User:Steve|Steve]] ([[User talk:Steve|talk]]) 02:48, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The comic has been updated to remove Charlestown and move Salem, CT. The extra dot in Colorado remains, however. The image attachment has been updated, but I think I'm still seeing the cached version. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:47, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: While we're on the subject, I thought it was more likely referencing {{w|Charles Town, West Virginia|Charles Town, WV}}. There are quite a lot of {{w|Charlestown}} locations and I don't think any of them are particularly famous. Which is probably why it was removed. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:54, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Since so many of the names are duplicated multiple times, shouldn't the title be "No, ''An'' Other One"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I'm surprised he missed Minneapolis, Kansas (about 75 miles west of Manhattan). Though maybe it would've made Kansas too crowded. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]])<br />
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:I'm surprised he missed Duluth, GA too, but we can't have everything we want. ( --Don from Rochester . . . but not from New York ;^) Oh yeah; there's also a Buffalo in MN too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.190|172.70.34.190]] 11:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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::In Indiana, there's also another Nashville, another Columbus, a Kokomo... even a Mexico. If every fairly well-known place name were included, wherever it was duplicated, it would need one of those scrollable mega-maps, just to fit it all. -- Just visiting from Indiana, 12:53 UTC 24 June 2021<br />
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I'd like to see a map of all these. Lines linking each of the dots to the location of the more famous town. Possibly with lines in different colours connecting to the oldest and largest other ones, where they're not the same as the most famous one. (I suspect a significant number of the "oldest" lines would point off the right edge of the image) [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 08:37, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:There's also a Bowling Green, Missouri. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 13:12, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I wish Lansing Illinois (just south of Chicago off I-80) had made the list. When I was traveling there for work, our hotel reservations were frequently messed up, because the central booking office had us in Michigan. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.144|172.70.130.144]] 13:17, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Reminds me of the time a "Microsoft tech support" scammer called and claimed to be calling from Lansing despite obviously being in a call center in India. When we asked what state Lansing was in, he claimed to be calling from "Lansing, Miami." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.121|172.69.63.121]] 13:41, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like there is an opportunity for adding "Other examples not in comic" such as Brooklyn, Iowa or the absurd number of Mount Pleasants [[User:OddOod|OddOod]] ([[User talk:OddOod|talk]])<br />
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: At first, I thought about suggesting this, as well. But, it would be an enormous list (orders of magnitude longer than the ones that _are_ in the comic), and therefore not really tenable. For example, I sometimes describe the place I live as being on the line from Jamaica to Florida, adjacent to Jacksonville and just off Halifax. That's Florida, MA and the rest in southern Vermont. That's four just within 20 miles of where I sit. Also, I grew up in Bristol (RI, not England), but there are about 40 places in the US with that name. And, on a different tack the nearby "city" actually promotes itself in being the _only_ place named Brattleboro. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 22:27, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I can't believe they missed Dublin and/or Albany in the SF bay area in California!<br />
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I actually have a place in Bangor,NY it confuses people all the time [[User:Mr.Do|Mr.Do]]<br />
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Is the {{w|Washington_(state)|State of Washington}} not considered more significant than a mere district? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.149|172.69.35.149]] 18:14, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I mean, Washington DC is the capital of the entire country, so both are very significant. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.97|172.69.33.97]] 20:08, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Ontario, CA - I have gotten packages that originated in Ontario, CA and wondered why they were shipping from Canada, until I realized that they were coming from Ontario, California. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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How did Lebanon come to be such a popular name (sixth most common according to the Wikipedia list)? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.182|162.158.92.182]] 09:04, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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How about entries for what the lesser-known city is known for? I can start: Austin MN is home of Hormel, maker of Spam, and features the Spam Museum. Who is next? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.58|172.70.126.58]] 10:29, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Richmond, VT is home of a person (also apparently given the job of "Weigher Of Coal") who helped to establish the name of Spam (as in unwanted advertising)... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 11:14, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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So, anyway, the Transcript is both empty and marked incomplete. Really, it would at best be a Transcriptised non-tabular list of the named places, grouped to their 'other one' states. I can't see much more that can be done, save for "line-drawn state lines and dots" being mentioned. It's very much an inferior copy of the table itself, but definitely should be there to fulfil the general needs of the Transcript. I'll do it myself if nobody else has (or otherwise resolved) by the time the next comic goes up. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 11:14, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Agree that there should be a transcript. It should mention what type of map and that all states have their abbreviation in gray text. Then proceed approximately in reading order giving each states abbreviation and then the cities mentioned in each state. That would be great. Do not have the time the next week, else this was something I often have done with large transcripts. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:54, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::I prepped a version that satisfies almost all your demands, already, except that it's arranged alphabetical to state ID, because that seemed more logical to dive into than to try a 'reading order' of any kind. I also took a couple of other small liberties with the usual Transcript notation to improve understanding, not having found a prior example that has done this in a 'better' way. I'll pop it in right now and then leave it to the multitudinous Gods Of Wikiediting to correct it, 'correct' it, improve it and 'improve' it as they see fit. Fill yer boots! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.124|141.101.98.124]] 21:42, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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here is a challenge: find a regex that matches all the cities in this map in the top half of the US, but not the ones in the bottom half. have fun and dont use the auto-regex-golf thing, thats just no fun. :) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.7|172.69.63.7]] 16:40, 25 June 2021 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:Unless I misunderstand you, it's probably impossible. Houston in Ohio is in the top half of the map (however you define that line) while the Houston in the usual Alaska map-discontinuity is in the bottom half of the map. And I bet that a moment's search will find others amongst the shared names. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.104|141.101.99.104]] 17:35, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Bowling Green (OH and FL) splits even on true latitude, at well within each band of top/bottom value ranges. Assuming you don't add the home-state code (which could be the only thing needed to even try to regex, if you do), there's no wedge you can apply. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 22:10, 25 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Bloomington MN is an odd one — it is both larger by area and by population than Bloomington IN! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 20:31, 25 June 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2476:_Base_Rate&diff=213512Talk:2476: Base Rate2021-06-16T18:11:49Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
"''Aaaand we're back!''"<br>[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:01, 15 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: What happened? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:02, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::I missed you! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 19:18, 15 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::There is this : [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#So_what_happened_to_the_site.3F post], but it does not help much yet... But great to be back live as long as it stays like this --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:08, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I can't tell if cueball is holding the pointer in his left or right hand [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.122|141.101.98.122]] 21:30, 15 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:If he's facing the audience, it's in his right hand. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:32, 15 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Typically cueball has a slightly noticeable 'chin' that indicates the direction he is looking (ex: #2471, #2468, #2460(cell 2 he looks at Megan and cell 3 looks away from her) ). So in this case I'd say he is looking to the right with his body facing the audience. --[[User:TallJason|TallJason]] ([[User talk:TallJason|talk]]) 15:52, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder if we can expect a comic soon about fan sites going offline. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:32, 15 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I really don't think Randall keeps an eye on this page... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I removed the claim that Cueball was left-handed; I don't think we can tell whether he is or isn't. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.82|172.70.130.82]] 22:36, 15 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:There's now a claim that he's ''right''-handed, and I don't think that's reliable either. Yes, the "proper" way to do a presentation is to be facing away from the screen, but I've seen a lot of not-very-good presenters. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 04:30, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::I’ll bet that about 90% of the not-very-good presenters you’ve seen were right-handed, therefore if Cueball is not very good, he’s probably right-handed.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 04:53, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
Wouldn't cueball be technically correct, despite his logical error? Given a set of people who make base-rate errors, with no other qualifications, and given that 90 percent are right handed, wouldn't that make 90 percent of the people who make base rate errors right handed? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.180|172.69.71.180]] 13:21, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone explain here in the comments how, in the explanation, we go from that example of 1% / 5% false-positive rate to a 17% / 83%? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 17:14, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Take a population of 10,000 tests. From the premise: 1% (100) are true positives and 99% (9,900) are true negatives, regardless of testing. 5% of those TNs (9900*5% = 495) register positive, falsely. We aren't given a false-negative rate, so assuming all 100 TPs register as positive, correctly. 595+100=595 people showing as positive, but only the 100 were actually truly were, which is slightly ''less'' than 17% (100/595 = 16.8ish%) who have an accurate positive test, slightly more than 83% who were wrongly identified as positive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 18:11, 16 June 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Robert%27);_DROP_TABLE_Students;--&diff=213216Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--2021-06-07T10:57:59Z<p>162.158.158.105: /* Real Life occurrence */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox character<br />
| image = Little Bobby Tables.PNG<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| caption = First drawn drawing in [[342: 1337: Part 2]].<br />
| first_appearance = [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''<code>Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--</code>''', nicknamed '''Little Bobby Tables''', is the youngest son of elite hacker [[Mrs. Roberts]]. His elder sister is [[Elaine Roberts|Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts]]. His "full" name is known to cause problems with some computers. When he was first enrolled in school ([[327: Exploits of a Mom]]), it exploited a vulnerability in the parsing of students' names into the school's student database resulting in the school losing all the student records for the year.<br />
<br />
In {{w|SQL}}, commands are terminated by semicolons '''<code>;</code>''' and data is often quoted using single quotes '''<code>'</code>'''. Commands may also be enclosed in parentheses '''<code>(</code>''' and '''<code>)</code>'''. Data is stored in tables of similar items (e.g. '''<code>students</code>''') and individual entries are "rows" in the table. To delete an entire table (and every row of data in that table), you use the command '''<code>DROP</code>''' (e.g. '''<code>DROP TABLE students</code>'''). The '''<code>--</code>''' represents the start of a {{w|Comment_(computer_programming)#SQL|SQL comment}} which ensures that the rest of the command is ignored so an error will not occur.<br />
<br />
The exploited vulnerability is that the single quote in the name input was not properly "escaped" by the software. Thus, when the name is embedded into some SQL statement, the quote is erroneously parsed as a closing quote inside that statement, rather than being parsed as part of the name. Lack of such escaping is a common SQL vulnerability; this type of exploit is referred to as {{w|SQL injection}}.<br />
<br />
The name Bobby Tables inspired a website, [http://bobby-tables.com/ bobby-tables.com], a guide for beginning programmers to learn the right way to avoid SQL injection in their code. A similarly named character, Mister Rogers, appears in [[884: Rogers St.]], with the same code injection in his middle name. It appears in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]] as one of the suggested planet names.<br />
<br />
== Appearances ==<br />
In the five comics he is referenced he is only drawn three times. The first two is in the [[:Category:1337|1337 series]] where he is drawn as a Cueball-like kid. See picture above. But then he also appears as a young man with long curly hair, looking very much like a woman in [[884: Rogers St.]] Here it is only the title text that reveals that this is Bobby, that and the fact that [[Randall]] in the official transcript does not mention the gender, but only that it is a person. <br />
<br />
Here is how he looks in that comic:<br><br />
[[File:Adult Bobby Tables.PNG]]<br />
<br />
There have been suggestions that the Robert in the table in [[596: Latitude]] was Bobby, but given that [[Black Hat]] has never had any relation to him in the other comics, and that [[Rob]] has, it seems more likely that the Robert is Rob.<br />
<br />
== Example of SQL injection ==<br />
<br />
A typical, unsecured SQL command vulnerable to SQL injection would be something like:<br />
<br />
database.execute("INSERT INTO students (name) VALUES ('" + name + "');");<br />
<br />
where <code>name</code> is a variable which is filled with the name to be inserted into the database. With a regular name, this would result in the following SQL command to be sent to the database system:<br />
<br />
INSERT INTO students (name) VALUES ('Elaine');<br />
<br />
However, with Little Bobby Tables's full name, the SQL command would be:<br />
<br />
INSERT INTO students (name) VALUES ('Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--');<br />
<br />
Or, if split after each <code>;</code>:<br />
<br />
INSERT INTO students (name) VALUES ('Robert');<br />
DROP TABLE students;<br />
--');<br />
<br />
The first commands inserts the name <code>Robert</code> into the database as in the first example. The second command however completely deletes the table <code>students</code>. The remainder is a comment to prevent syntax errors with the apostrophe and the closing parenthesis.<br />
<br />
== Real Life occurrence ==<br />
<br />
In French-speaking countries, apostrophes are a common character in street names. More often than not, French speakers unwittingly trigger SQL injection bugs when trying to order something from a US shop. In Italy, they are often part of town names, too (e.g. {{w|L'Aquila}}). Apostrophes are also found in a great many Irish surnames, often resulting in similar problems and/or data validation errors.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
*[[:Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables|Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]<br />
<br />
{{navbox-characters}}<br />
[[Category:Characters]]</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2344:_26-Second_Pulse&diff=1958932344: 26-Second Pulse2020-08-11T07:11:36Z<p>162.158.158.105: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2344<br />
| date = August 10, 2020<br />
| title = 26-Second Pulse<br />
| image = 26_second_pulse.png<br />
| titletext = There are some papers arguing that there's a volcanic component, but I personally think they're just feeling guilty and trying to cover the trail.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
In this comic strip, [[Science Girl]] is teaching a class on geology, and explaining some of the non-earthquake signals that seismometers detect. She describes [https://phys.org/news/2011-01-seismometer-noise-south-atlantic-storms.html a mysterious signal that repeats with a 26-second period], and initially provides a plausible explanation (some kind of natural wave pattern on the coastline of the {{w|Gulf of Guinea}}).<br />
<br />
However, she quickly takes a turn for the dramatic when she claims that it might be a giant, murdered by seismologists, whose heart still beats. This is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's short story ''{{w|The Tell-Tale Heart}}'', in which the main character murders his landlord and hides him beneath the floorboards, and then hears (or believes he hears) his victim's heart continuing to beat; the noise eventually drives the man to confess his guilt to visiting police officers. (The narrator of ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' never uses that phrase in the story; he calls it a ''hideous'' heart.) "The Tell-Tale Heart" was previously referenced in [[740: The Tell-Tale Beat]].<br />
<br />
Normal human hearts beat much more rapidly than once every 26 seconds, but [https://www.answers.com/Q/What_animal_has_slowest_heart_rate large animals and hibernating animals] may have much slower heart rates (which would include a giant at the bottom of the ocean).<br />
<br />
The title text gives an alternate explanation for the seismic activity: [https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/194/1/362/2006108 volcanic activity], but Science Girl continues to believe in the giant story.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Science Girl is standing in the front of a whiteboard with a pointer. Ponytail, Hairy, and Megan are sitting at desks.]<br />
:Science Girl: When everything is still, seismometers pick up faint tremors we call seismic noise.<br />
:Science Girl: Most of it is from ocean waves, cars, etc. But there's also a mysterious 26-second pulse.<br />
<br />
:[Close up on Science Girl, pointing to a map of the world. Africa is in view, and a star is drawn within the country of Ghana.]<br />
:Science Girl: We've triangulated the source to somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea.<br />
:Science Girl: It comes and goes with the seasons, but it's been there since at least the 1980s. It's so regular we use it to sync up seismometers.<br />
<br />
:[Science Girl is shown in profile, with the board behind her.]<br />
:Off-panel voice: What causes it?<br />
:Science Girl: Not sure. The most popular theory is that storm-driven waves set up some kind of resonance with the coast.<br />
<br />
:[Science Girl has leaned her stick on the board's tray. She has raised her clenched fists.]<br />
:Science Girl: Another theory is that long ago, seismologists murdered a giant and buried the body at sea.<br />
:Science Girl: Now we are haunted by the beating of its telltale heart!<br />
:Science Girl: Could be either.<br />
:Science Girl: Further research is needed.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Geology]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2343:_Mathematical_Symbol_Fight&diff=1958022343: Mathematical Symbol Fight2020-08-09T16:39:44Z<p>162.158.158.105: Longer fraction bar, to match comic better</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2343<br />
| date = August 7, 2020<br />
| title = Mathematical Symbol Fight<br />
| image = mathematical_symbol_fight.png<br />
| titletext = Oh no, a musician just burst in through the door confidently twirling a treble clef.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SQUARE ROOT SCYTHE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This panel imagines which {{w|List of mathematical symbols|mathematical symbols}} would be good in a fight if they were made corporeal in two (or three) dimensions. Generally, objects with longer reach and pointier ends wind up on the right ("more useful") side of the scale, and symbols with less reach and more curves tend towards the left ("less useful") side. <br />
<br />
The comic invokes [[wikipedia:surreal humour|surreal humour]] by suggesting that mathematical symbols could be handled as physical objects in the real world. Another component of the humor is the implication that it is useful to prepare to use mathematical symbols in a fight, even though mathematicians, who use mathematical symbols, usually do not conduct their debates violently {{Citation needed}} (though some stories suggest that {{w|Hippasus}} was killed by his fellow Pythagoreans for his proof that irrational numbers exist), and even if they did, they wouldn't use large reproductions of their symbols as weapons.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Symbol<br />
! Meaning<br />
! Notes on using in a fight<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ℝ</span><br />
|The set of [[wikipedia:real number|real number]]s<br />
|Megan seems to be struggling with a giant version of this symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> θ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Theta#Mathematics_and_science|Theta]]<br />
|This symbol is not very sharp, and [[White Hat]] is unable to use it in combat. It would not work as a good shield due to the hole in the symbol, but it possibly could be thrown. (The later version of Xena's chakram had a bar in the middle.)<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∅</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Empty set|Empty set]]<br />
|Similarly shaped to theta, but identified as being slightly more useful, presumably because the parts of the bar that extend beyond the circle can be used as thrusting weapons.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∞</span><br />
|infinity<br />
|Could be gripped between the rings and used as a blunt instrument.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ></span><br />
|Greater than<br />
|Could be used to thrust with the point, but lacks a grip by which to do so.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∝</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Proportionality_(mathematics)#Direct_proportionality|Direct Proportionality]]<br />
|Could be brandished by the ring and used to thrust with the prongs, but the two prongs extending at 90-degree angles make thrusting motions awkard.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∪</span><br />
|{{w|union (set theory)}}<br />
|Could be used as a boomerang, which is {{tvtropes|PrecisionGuidedBoomerang|notoriously less practical in real life than in fiction}}<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∈/ϵ</span><br />
|{{w|Element (mathematics)|member of}} (set theory) or the "lunate" lowercase {{w|Epsilon#Symbol|epsilon}}<br />
|Cueball is holding this in the manner of a Klingon "{{w|Bat'leth}}" from the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The Bat'leth is [https://youtu.be/VsElSDXPgSA infamous] among swordfighters for being rather impractical, and that the Klingon warrior race would have been better suited using swords like humans. It seems Randall agrees, as the ∈ is quite far on the left of the chart.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> π</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Pi|pi]]<br />
|Could be used as a hammer, but the two handles (or a single board-like grip) would make doing so impractical.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∀</span><br />
|"{{w|Universal quantification|for all}}"<br />
|Could be held by the crossbar clenched in a fist, and then used as a {{w|push dagger}}, with the legs acting as a guard. Or could be held by the legs.<br />
Compared to the similar Δ (delta) the point is sharper, the grip is closer to the point so it would be easier control (keep the weapon from twisting). Unclear why it is listed as much less effective than the delta. Perhaps the guard legs are too long?<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∂</span><br />
|{{w|∂}} ([[wikipedia:Partial derivative|partial derivative]] or [[wikipedia:Boundary_(topology)|boundary operator]])<br />
|It's not clear why Randall ranks this symbol as so much less effective than the similarly-shaped 𝜌, but the curl in the "tail" of the ∂ would give it a shorter lever arm when swung and would disrupt the balance.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> +</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Plus_and_minus_signs#Plus_sign|Plus]]<br />
|Maybe thrown like a {{w|shuriken}}?<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Ψ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Psi#Mathematics|Psi]]<br />
|It could be used as a slightly-less-functional trident or pitchfork, with a shorter handle. More particularly, it resembles a {{w|Sai (weapon)|sai}} (which, funnily enough, is how "Psi" is pronounced).<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ≠</span><br />
|not equal sign<br />
|Could be gripped by the crossbar, using the lengths to puncture. Notably, the equal sign (=) is absent from the chart, likely because the lengths are separate and would not be used as a single entity.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ~</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Tilde#Mathematics|tilde]], meaning "approximately", equivalent, or several transforms of a function<br />
|A potentially dangerous throwing weapon. Could also be similar to a wavy bladed dagger ({{w|Kris}}) or a sword ({{w|Flame-bladed sword}}).<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> #</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Cardinality|Cardinality]], [[wikipedia:Connected_sum|connected sum]] (knot theory), or [[wikipedia:Primorial|primorial]].<br />
|Blondie uses this symbol, gripping it by two of the prongs on one side. The other three prongs could thus be swung at opponents, but being sharp on all sides would pose a threat to the user as well as the opponent.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Δ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Delta_(letter)|Delta]]<br />
|Could be held with one bar clenched in a fist, and then used as a {{w|push dagger}}. Unclear why listed as much more effective than ∀. Also, delta could be thrown like a star.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⇒</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Material_conditional|Material consequence]] or [[wikipedia:Logical_consequence|Logical consequence]], meaning "implies"<br />
|The point is nice, but having two poles (or one board-like thick handle) would be difficult to wield. A collection of them might make a nice defensive pike line.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⋅</span><br />
|multiplication sign<br />
|Functionally a ball, and could therefore be thrown as a projectile weapon, or scattered on the ground as a trip hazard.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ζ</span><br />
|{{w|Zeta#Mathematics_and_science|Zeta}}<br />
|Could be sharpened into a scythe or curved saber, depending on the curvature and length of the 'tail' at the bottom.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ℵ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Aleph_number|Aleph number]]<br />
|The irregular shape of the symbol leads to edges and points on all sides; thus it could be brandished or thrown in the manner of a shuriken.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Γ</span><br />
|uppercase Greek letter {{w|Gamma#Uppercase|Gamma}}<br />
|If this letter is formed with {{w|serif}}s, it could be used as an axe or hook, and if it is made {{w|sans-serif}}, it would make a powerful pick or war hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> √</span><br />
|{{w|square root}} sign<br />
|Randall has drawn this sign with a long overbar, which makes it useful like a {{w|Pole weapon|pole arm}}. Black Hat has chosen this symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ''ρ''</span><br />
|{{w|Prime_constant|italic rho}}<br />
|Ponytail is brandishing this symbol against Danish, apparently using it like a club or hammer and striking with the curve.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∮</span><br />
|{{w|contour integral}}<br />
|This symbol is drawn with a very tight center, giving it an almost identical figure to the regular integral symbol. Presumably, the added bulk for marginal additional use earns it a rating of 'less effective'.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∫</span><br />
|{{w|integral}}<br />
|Could be used in the manner of a shepherd's crook, or as a {{w|Bill (weapon)|billhook}}. Could be used as a {{w|spear thrower}}, combined with ⋅ or ⇀.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> →</span><br />
|Implies; X→Y means that if X is true, then Y is also true<br />
|Danish is brandishing this symbol against Ponytail, apparently using it like a spear or other polearm.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⊥</span><br />
|{{w|up tack}} or falsum, indicating a false proposition in logic or the bottom element in a partial order<br />
|Used as a {{w|war hammer}} (held by the long stem), the opponent would be struck with either leg of the top of the T. Held by the short legs (like a wishbone), could be used as a two handed sword.<br />
(If tipped with a knapped stone head, it could become a {{w|Folsom point|falsum point}}.)<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⇀</span><br />
|{{w|Vector notation}}<br />
|Could be used as a single-barbed spear. It is unclear why this is listed as less useful than the 'implies' arrow.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ––</span><br />
|{{w|Fraction#Vocabulary|Fraction bar}} (division) or {{w|Overline#Math_and_science|overline}} (complex conjugate or mean).<br />
|Hairy is brandishing this symbol against Black Hat. The single shaft would allow it to be used in the manner of a {{w|quarterstaff}}, {{w|bō}}, or other {{w|stick-fighting}} weapon. Of the symbols shown in the comic, Randall considers this one the most useful in a fight, presumably because of its greater reach than the vector arrow and its simplicity compared to the square root symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:200%"> 𝄞</span><br />
|{{w|Treble clef}}<br />
|Mentioned in the title text; this is not a mathematical symbol, but a musical symbol. The treble clef is a much more complicated symbol than those used in mathematics, hence the musician's "confidence" in his weapon. The curve at the bottom could be used as a hook, the upper curl could be used as a blunt weapon, and the tight curl of the center would serve as a better defensive shield than theta.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
A straight line is farthest to the "more dangerous" side, which could possibly be a reference to the dangers posed by lines in "Flatland", because their infinitely-sharp endpoints could be difficult to see (particularly their rear end, which does not contain a gleaming eye as their front end does) and would fatally pierce whoever they chose to stab. However, taking a more literal view of the drawings, the straight line does not appear to be any thicker or thinner, or pointier, than any of the other lines. <br />
<br />
The title text refers to a {{w|Treble clef}}, which is not a mathematical symbol but rather a {{w|List of musical symbols|musical symbol}}. The note of concern in the text suggests musical symbols may be viewed in such fights as exotic or especially dangerous.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[Heading]<br />
<br />
Mathematical Symbols<br />
<br />
[Subheading]<br />
<br />
by how useful they would be in a fight<br />
<br />
<br />
more useful<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%">⟶</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%"> ℝ ∅ > ∝ π + Ψ ~ ⇒ ⋅ Γ √ ∮ ∫ ⇀</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%"> θ ∞ ∪ ∈ ∀ ∂ ≠ # Δ ζ ℵ ''ρ'' → ⊥ ––</span><br />
<br />
[Below the (number?) line, eight characters fight each other, using some of the symbols mentioned above as weapons.]<br />
<br />
[The characters hold more "useful" weapons from left to right, correlating with the chart.]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[Megan is awkwardly handling a giant "ℝ".]<br />
<br />
[White Hat is holding a "θ" with both hands, as a shield.]<br />
<br />
[Cueball is holding an "∈" in both hands, with its "tines" pointed towards Blondie, who is swatting at him with a "#".]<br />
<br />
[Ponytail is leaping at Danish, swinging a "''ρ''" like an axe, while Danish is leaning back and thrusting a "→" back at her.]<br />
<br />
[Black Hat is swinging a long "√" like a polearm at Hairy, who is holding a long "⎯" defensively.]<br />
<br />
<br />
-<br />
List of symbols from left to right (by rightmost edge): <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%"> ℝ θ ∅ ∞ > ∪ ∝ ∈ ∀ π ∂ + ≠ Ψ # ~ △ ζ ⇒ ⋅ ℵ Γ ''ρ'' √ → ∮ ∫ ⊥ ⇀ ––</span><br />
<br />
<br />
Note: Where two symbols had similar right-most edges, the overlay grid on an ASUS pro-art display was used to decide which one went further right. <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2343:_Mathematical_Symbol_Fight&diff=1958012343: Mathematical Symbol Fight2020-08-09T16:36:05Z<p>162.158.158.105: /* Transcript */ Enlarged symbols for legibility</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2343<br />
| date = August 7, 2020<br />
| title = Mathematical Symbol Fight<br />
| image = mathematical_symbol_fight.png<br />
| titletext = Oh no, a musician just burst in through the door confidently twirling a treble clef.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SQUARE ROOT SCYTHE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This panel imagines which {{w|List of mathematical symbols|mathematical symbols}} would be good in a fight if they were made corporeal in two (or three) dimensions. Generally, objects with longer reach and pointier ends wind up on the right ("more useful") side of the scale, and symbols with less reach and more curves tend towards the left ("less useful") side. <br />
<br />
The comic invokes [[wikipedia:surreal humour|surreal humour]] by suggesting that mathematical symbols could be handled as physical objects in the real world. Another component of the humor is the implication that it is useful to prepare to use mathematical symbols in a fight, even though mathematicians, who use mathematical symbols, usually do not conduct their debates violently {{Citation needed}} (though some stories suggest that {{w|Hippasus}} was killed by his fellow Pythagoreans for his proof that irrational numbers exist), and even if they did, they wouldn't use large reproductions of their symbols as weapons.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Symbol<br />
! Meaning<br />
! Notes on using in a fight<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ℝ</span><br />
|The set of [[wikipedia:real number|real number]]s<br />
|Megan seems to be struggling with a giant version of this symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> θ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Theta#Mathematics_and_science|Theta]]<br />
|This symbol is not very sharp, and [[White Hat]] is unable to use it in combat. It would not work as a good shield due to the hole in the symbol, but it possibly could be thrown. (The later version of Xena's chakram had a bar in the middle.)<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∅</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Empty set|Empty set]]<br />
|Similarly shaped to theta, but identified as being slightly more useful, presumably because the parts of the bar that extend beyond the circle can be used as thrusting weapons.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∞</span><br />
|infinity<br />
|Could be gripped between the rings and used as a blunt instrument.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ></span><br />
|Greater than<br />
|Could be used to thrust with the point, but lacks a grip by which to do so.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∝</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Proportionality_(mathematics)#Direct_proportionality|Direct Proportionality]]<br />
|Could be brandished by the ring and used to thrust with the prongs, but the two prongs extending at 90-degree angles make thrusting motions awkard.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∪</span><br />
|{{w|union (set theory)}}<br />
|Could be used as a boomerang, which is {{tvtropes|PrecisionGuidedBoomerang|notoriously less practical in real life than in fiction}}<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∈/ϵ</span><br />
|{{w|Element (mathematics)|member of}} (set theory) or the "lunate" lowercase {{w|Epsilon#Symbol|epsilon}}<br />
|Cueball is holding this in the manner of a Klingon "{{w|Bat'leth}}" from the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The Bat'leth is [https://youtu.be/VsElSDXPgSA infamous] among swordfighters for being rather impractical, and that the Klingon warrior race would have been better suited using swords like humans. It seems Randall agrees, as the ∈ is quite far on the left of the chart.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> π</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Pi|pi]]<br />
|Could be used as a hammer, but the two handles (or a single board-like grip) would make doing so impractical.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∀</span><br />
|"{{w|Universal quantification|for all}}"<br />
|Could be held by the crossbar clenched in a fist, and then used as a {{w|push dagger}}, with the legs acting as a guard. Or could be held by the legs.<br />
Compared to the similar Δ (delta) the point is sharper, the grip is closer to the point so it would be easier control (keep the weapon from twisting). Unclear why it is listed as much less effective than the delta. Perhaps the guard legs are too long?<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∂</span><br />
|{{w|∂}} ([[wikipedia:Partial derivative|partial derivative]] or [[wikipedia:Boundary_(topology)|boundary operator]])<br />
|It's not clear why Randall ranks this symbol as so much less effective than the similarly-shaped 𝜌, but the curl in the "tail" of the ∂ would give it a shorter lever arm when swung and would disrupt the balance.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> +</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Plus_and_minus_signs#Plus_sign|Plus]]<br />
|Maybe thrown like a {{w|shuriken}}?<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Ψ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Psi#Mathematics|Psi]]<br />
|It could be used as a slightly-less-functional trident or pitchfork, with a shorter handle. More particularly, it resembles a {{w|Sai (weapon)|sai}} (which, funnily enough, is how "Psi" is pronounced).<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ≠</span><br />
|not equal sign<br />
|Could be gripped by the crossbar, using the lengths to puncture. Notably, the equal sign (=) is absent from the chart, likely because the lengths are separate and would not be used as a single entity.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ~</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Tilde#Mathematics|tilde]], meaning "approximately", equivalent, or several transforms of a function<br />
|A potentially dangerous throwing weapon. Could also be similar to a wavy bladed dagger ({{w|Kris}}) or a sword ({{w|Flame-bladed sword}}).<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> #</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Cardinality|Cardinality]], [[wikipedia:Connected_sum|connected sum]] (knot theory), or [[wikipedia:Primorial|primorial]].<br />
|Blondie uses this symbol, gripping it by two of the prongs on one side. The other three prongs could thus be swung at opponents, but being sharp on all sides would pose a threat to the user as well as the opponent.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Δ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Delta_(letter)|Delta]]<br />
|Could be held with one bar clenched in a fist, and then used as a {{w|push dagger}}. Unclear why listed as much more effective than ∀. Also, delta could be thrown like a star.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⇒</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Material_conditional|Material consequence]] or [[wikipedia:Logical_consequence|Logical consequence]], meaning "implies"<br />
|The point is nice, but having two poles (or one board-like thick handle) would be difficult to wield. A collection of them might make a nice defensive pike line.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⋅</span><br />
|multiplication sign<br />
|Functionally a ball, and could therefore be thrown as a projectile weapon, or scattered on the ground as a trip hazard.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ζ</span><br />
|{{w|Zeta#Mathematics_and_science|Zeta}}<br />
|Could be sharpened into a scythe or curved saber, depending on the curvature and length of the 'tail' at the bottom.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ℵ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Aleph_number|Aleph number]]<br />
|The irregular shape of the symbol leads to edges and points on all sides; thus it could be brandished or thrown in the manner of a shuriken.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Γ</span><br />
|uppercase Greek letter {{w|Gamma#Uppercase|Gamma}}<br />
|If this letter is formed with {{w|serif}}s, it could be used as an axe or hook, and if it is made {{w|sans-serif}}, it would make a powerful pick or war hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> √</span><br />
|{{w|square root}} sign<br />
|Randall has drawn this sign with a long overbar, which makes it useful like a {{w|Pole weapon|pole arm}}. Black Hat has chosen this symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ''ρ''</span><br />
|{{w|Prime_constant|italic rho}}<br />
|Ponytail is brandishing this symbol against Danish, apparently using it like a club or hammer and striking with the curve.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∮</span><br />
|{{w|contour integral}}<br />
|This symbol is drawn with a very tight center, giving it an almost identical figure to the regular integral symbol. Presumably, the added bulk for marginal additional use earns it a rating of 'less effective'.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∫</span><br />
|{{w|integral}}<br />
|Could be used in the manner of a shepherd's crook, or as a {{w|Bill (weapon)|billhook}}. Could be used as a {{w|spear thrower}}, combined with ⋅ or ⇀.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> →</span><br />
|Implies; X→Y means that if X is true, then Y is also true<br />
|Danish is brandishing this symbol against Ponytail, apparently using it like a spear or other polearm.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⊥</span><br />
|{{w|up tack}} or falsum, indicating a false proposition in logic or the bottom element in a partial order<br />
|Used as a {{w|war hammer}} (held by the long stem), the opponent would be struck with either leg of the top of the T. Held by the short legs (like a wishbone), could be used as a two handed sword.<br />
(If tipped with a knapped stone head, it could become a {{w|Folsom point|falsum point}}.)<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⇀</span><br />
|{{w|Vector notation}}<br />
|Could be used as a single-barbed spear. It is unclear why this is listed as less useful than the 'implies' arrow.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> —</span><br />
|{{w|Fraction#Vocabulary|Fraction bar}} (division) or {{w|Overline#Math_and_science|overline}} (complex conjugate or mean).<br />
|Hairy is brandishing this symbol against Black Hat. The single shaft would allow it to be used in the manner of a {{w|quarterstaff}}, {{w|bō}}, or other {{w|stick-fighting}} weapon. Of the symbols shown in the comic, Randall considers this one the most useful in a fight, presumably because of its greater reach than the vector arrow and its simplicity compared to the square root symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:200%"> 𝄞</span><br />
|{{w|Treble clef}}<br />
|Mentioned in the title text; this is not a mathematical symbol, but a musical symbol. The treble clef is a much more complicated symbol than those used in mathematics, hence the musician's "confidence" in his weapon. The curve at the bottom could be used as a hook, the upper curl could be used as a blunt weapon, and the tight curl of the center would serve as a better defensive shield than theta.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
A straight line is farthest to the "more dangerous" side, which could possibly be a reference to the dangers posed by lines in "Flatland", because their infinitely-sharp endpoints could be difficult to see (particularly their rear end, which does not contain a gleaming eye as their front end does) and would fatally pierce whoever they chose to stab. However, taking a more literal view of the drawings, the straight line does not appear to be any thicker or thinner, or pointier, than any of the other lines. <br />
<br />
The title text refers to a {{w|Treble clef}}, which is not a mathematical symbol but rather a {{w|List of musical symbols|musical symbol}}. The note of concern in the text suggests musical symbols may be viewed in such fights as exotic or especially dangerous.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[Heading]<br />
<br />
Mathematical Symbols<br />
<br />
[Subheading]<br />
<br />
by how useful they would be in a fight<br />
<br />
<br />
more useful<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%">⟶</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%"> ℝ ∅ > ∝ π + Ψ ~ ⇒ ⋅ Γ √ ∮ ∫ ⇀</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%"> θ ∞ ∪ ∈ ∀ ∂ ≠ # Δ ζ ℵ ''ρ'' → ⊥ –</span><br />
<br />
[Below the (number?) line, eight characters fight each other, using some of the symbols mentioned above as weapons.]<br />
<br />
[The characters hold more "useful" weapons from left to right, correlating with the chart.]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[Megan is awkwardly handling a giant "ℝ".]<br />
<br />
[White Hat is holding a "θ" with both hands, as a shield.]<br />
<br />
[Cueball is holding an "∈" in both hands, with its "tines" pointed towards Blondie, who is swatting at him with a "#".]<br />
<br />
[Ponytail is leaping at Danish, swinging a "''ρ''" like an axe, while Danish is leaning back and thrusting a "→" back at her.]<br />
<br />
[Black Hat is swinging a long "√" like a polearm at Hairy, who is holding a long "⎯" defensively.]<br />
<br />
<br />
-<br />
List of symbols from left to right (by rightmost edge): <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:150%"> ℝ θ ∅ ∞ > ∪ ∝ ∈ ∀ π ∂ + ≠ Ψ # ~ △ ζ ⇒ ⋅ ℵ Γ ''ρ'' √ → ∮ ∫ ⊥ ⇀ —</span><br />
<br />
<br />
Note: Where two symbols had similar right-most edges, the overlay grid on an ASUS pro-art display was used to decide which one went further right. <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2343:_Mathematical_Symbol_Fight&diff=1958002343: Mathematical Symbol Fight2020-08-09T16:27:21Z<p>162.158.158.105: /* Explanation */ Enlarged symbols for legibility</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2343<br />
| date = August 7, 2020<br />
| title = Mathematical Symbol Fight<br />
| image = mathematical_symbol_fight.png<br />
| titletext = Oh no, a musician just burst in through the door confidently twirling a treble clef.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SQUARE ROOT SCYTHE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This panel imagines which {{w|List of mathematical symbols|mathematical symbols}} would be good in a fight if they were made corporeal in two (or three) dimensions. Generally, objects with longer reach and pointier ends wind up on the right ("more useful") side of the scale, and symbols with less reach and more curves tend towards the left ("less useful") side. <br />
<br />
The comic invokes [[wikipedia:surreal humour|surreal humour]] by suggesting that mathematical symbols could be handled as physical objects in the real world. Another component of the humor is the implication that it is useful to prepare to use mathematical symbols in a fight, even though mathematicians, who use mathematical symbols, usually do not conduct their debates violently {{Citation needed}} (though some stories suggest that {{w|Hippasus}} was killed by his fellow Pythagoreans for his proof that irrational numbers exist), and even if they did, they wouldn't use large reproductions of their symbols as weapons.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Symbol<br />
! Meaning<br />
! Notes on using in a fight<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ℝ</span><br />
|The set of [[wikipedia:real number|real number]]s<br />
|Megan seems to be struggling with a giant version of this symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> θ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Theta#Mathematics_and_science|Theta]]<br />
|This symbol is not very sharp, and [[White Hat]] is unable to use it in combat. It would not work as a good shield due to the hole in the symbol, but it possibly could be thrown. (The later version of Xena's chakram had a bar in the middle.)<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∅</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Empty set|Empty set]]<br />
|Similarly shaped to theta, but identified as being slightly more useful, presumably because the parts of the bar that extend beyond the circle can be used as thrusting weapons.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∞</span><br />
|infinity<br />
|Could be gripped between the rings and used as a blunt instrument.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ></span><br />
|Greater than<br />
|Could be used to thrust with the point, but lacks a grip by which to do so.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∝</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Proportionality_(mathematics)#Direct_proportionality|Direct Proportionality]]<br />
|Could be brandished by the ring and used to thrust with the prongs, but the two prongs extending at 90-degree angles make thrusting motions awkard.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∪</span><br />
|{{w|union (set theory)}}<br />
|Could be used as a boomerang, which is {{tvtropes|PrecisionGuidedBoomerang|notoriously less practical in real life than in fiction}}<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∈/ϵ</span><br />
|{{w|Element (mathematics)|member of}} (set theory) or the "lunate" lowercase {{w|Epsilon#Symbol|epsilon}}<br />
|Cueball is holding this in the manner of a Klingon "{{w|Bat'leth}}" from the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The Bat'leth is [https://youtu.be/VsElSDXPgSA infamous] among swordfighters for being rather impractical, and that the Klingon warrior race would have been better suited using swords like humans. It seems Randall agrees, as the ∈ is quite far on the left of the chart.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> π</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Pi|pi]]<br />
|Could be used as a hammer, but the two handles (or a single board-like grip) would make doing so impractical.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∀</span><br />
|"{{w|Universal quantification|for all}}"<br />
|Could be held by the crossbar clenched in a fist, and then used as a {{w|push dagger}}, with the legs acting as a guard. Or could be held by the legs.<br />
Compared to the similar Δ (delta) the point is sharper, the grip is closer to the point so it would be easier control (keep the weapon from twisting). Unclear why it is listed as much less effective than the delta. Perhaps the guard legs are too long?<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∂</span><br />
|{{w|∂}} ([[wikipedia:Partial derivative|partial derivative]] or [[wikipedia:Boundary_(topology)|boundary operator]])<br />
|It's not clear why Randall ranks this symbol as so much less effective than the similarly-shaped 𝜌, but the curl in the "tail" of the ∂ would give it a shorter lever arm when swung and would disrupt the balance.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> +</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Plus_and_minus_signs#Plus_sign|Plus]]<br />
|Maybe thrown like a {{w|shuriken}}?<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Ψ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Psi#Mathematics|Psi]]<br />
|It could be used as a slightly-less-functional trident or pitchfork, with a shorter handle. More particularly, it resembles a {{w|Sai (weapon)|sai}} (which, funnily enough, is how "Psi" is pronounced).<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ≠</span><br />
|not equal sign<br />
|Could be gripped by the crossbar, using the lengths to puncture. Notably, the equal sign (=) is absent from the chart, likely because the lengths are separate and would not be used as a single entity.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ~</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Tilde#Mathematics|tilde]], meaning "approximately", equivalent, or several transforms of a function<br />
|A potentially dangerous throwing weapon. Could also be similar to a wavy bladed dagger ({{w|Kris}}) or a sword ({{w|Flame-bladed sword}}).<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> #</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Cardinality|Cardinality]], [[wikipedia:Connected_sum|connected sum]] (knot theory), or [[wikipedia:Primorial|primorial]].<br />
|Blondie uses this symbol, gripping it by two of the prongs on one side. The other three prongs could thus be swung at opponents, but being sharp on all sides would pose a threat to the user as well as the opponent.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Δ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Delta_(letter)|Delta]]<br />
|Could be held with one bar clenched in a fist, and then used as a {{w|push dagger}}. Unclear why listed as much more effective than ∀. Also, delta could be thrown like a star.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⇒</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Material_conditional|Material consequence]] or [[wikipedia:Logical_consequence|Logical consequence]], meaning "implies"<br />
|The point is nice, but having two poles (or one board-like thick handle) would be difficult to wield. A collection of them might make a nice defensive pike line.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⋅</span><br />
|multiplication sign<br />
|Functionally a ball, and could therefore be thrown as a projectile weapon, or scattered on the ground as a trip hazard.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ζ</span><br />
|{{w|Zeta#Mathematics_and_science|Zeta}}<br />
|Could be sharpened into a scythe or curved saber, depending on the curvature and length of the 'tail' at the bottom.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ℵ</span><br />
|[[wikipedia:Aleph_number|Aleph number]]<br />
|The irregular shape of the symbol leads to edges and points on all sides; thus it could be brandished or thrown in the manner of a shuriken.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> Γ</span><br />
|uppercase Greek letter {{w|Gamma#Uppercase|Gamma}}<br />
|If this letter is formed with {{w|serif}}s, it could be used as an axe or hook, and if it is made {{w|sans-serif}}, it would make a powerful pick or war hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> √</span><br />
|{{w|square root}} sign<br />
|Randall has drawn this sign with a long overbar, which makes it useful like a {{w|Pole weapon|pole arm}}. Black Hat has chosen this symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ''ρ''</span><br />
|{{w|Prime_constant|italic rho}}<br />
|Ponytail is brandishing this symbol against Danish, apparently using it like a club or hammer and striking with the curve.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∮</span><br />
|{{w|contour integral}}<br />
|This symbol is drawn with a very tight center, giving it an almost identical figure to the regular integral symbol. Presumably, the added bulk for marginal additional use earns it a rating of 'less effective'.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ∫</span><br />
|{{w|integral}}<br />
|Could be used in the manner of a shepherd's crook, or as a {{w|Bill (weapon)|billhook}}. Could be used as a {{w|spear thrower}}, combined with ⋅ or ⇀.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> →</span><br />
|Implies; X→Y means that if X is true, then Y is also true<br />
|Danish is brandishing this symbol against Ponytail, apparently using it like a spear or other polearm.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⊥</span><br />
|{{w|up tack}} or falsum, indicating a false proposition in logic or the bottom element in a partial order<br />
|Used as a {{w|war hammer}} (held by the long stem), the opponent would be struck with either leg of the top of the T. Held by the short legs (like a wishbone), could be used as a two handed sword.<br />
(If tipped with a knapped stone head, it could become a {{w|Folsom point|falsum point}}.)<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> ⇀</span><br />
|{{w|Vector notation}}<br />
|Could be used as a single-barbed spear. It is unclear why this is listed as less useful than the 'implies' arrow.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:150%"> —</span><br />
|{{w|Fraction#Vocabulary|Fraction bar}} (division) or {{w|Overline#Math_and_science|overline}} (complex conjugate or mean).<br />
|Hairy is brandishing this symbol against Black Hat. The single shaft would allow it to be used in the manner of a {{w|quarterstaff}}, {{w|bō}}, or other {{w|stick-fighting}} weapon. Of the symbols shown in the comic, Randall considers this one the most useful in a fight, presumably because of its greater reach than the vector arrow and its simplicity compared to the square root symbol.<br />
|-<br />
|<span style="font-size:200%"> 𝄞</span><br />
|{{w|Treble clef}}<br />
|Mentioned in the title text; this is not a mathematical symbol, but a musical symbol. The treble clef is a much more complicated symbol than those used in mathematics, hence the musician's "confidence" in his weapon. The curve at the bottom could be used as a hook, the upper curl could be used as a blunt weapon, and the tight curl of the center would serve as a better defensive shield than theta.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
A straight line is farthest to the "more dangerous" side, which could possibly be a reference to the dangers posed by lines in "Flatland", because their infinitely-sharp endpoints could be difficult to see (particularly their rear end, which does not contain a gleaming eye as their front end does) and would fatally pierce whoever they chose to stab. However, taking a more literal view of the drawings, the straight line does not appear to be any thicker or thinner, or pointier, than any of the other lines. <br />
<br />
The title text refers to a {{w|Treble clef}}, which is not a mathematical symbol but rather a {{w|List of musical symbols|musical symbol}}. The note of concern in the text suggests musical symbols may be viewed in such fights as exotic or especially dangerous.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[Heading]<br />
<br />
Mathematical Symbols<br />
<br />
[Subheading]<br />
<br />
by how useful they would be in a fight<br />
<br />
<br />
more useful<br />
<br />
⟶<br />
<br />
ℝ ∅ > ∝ π + Ψ ~ ⇒ ⋅ Γ √ ∮ ∫ ⇀<br />
θ ∞ ∪ ∈ ∀ ∂ ≠ # Δ ζ ℵ ''ρ'' → ⊥ ⎯<br />
<br />
[Below the (number?) line, eight characters fight each other, using some of the symbols mentioned above as weapons.]<br />
<br />
[The characters hold more "useful" weapons from left to right, correlating with the chart.]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[Megan is awkwardly handling a giant "ℝ".]<br />
<br />
[White Hat is holding a "θ" with both hands, as a shield.]<br />
<br />
[Cueball is holding an "∈" in both hands, with its "tines" pointed towards Blondie, who is swatting at him with a "#".]<br />
<br />
[Ponytail is leaping at Danish, swinging a "''ρ''" like an axe, while Danish is leaning back and thrusting a "→" back at her.]<br />
<br />
[Black Hat is swinging a long "√" like a polearm at Hairy, who is holding a long "⎯" defensively.]<br />
<br />
<br />
-<br />
List of symbols from left to right (by rightmost edge): <br />
<br />
ℝ θ ∅ ∞ > ∪ ∝ ∈ ∀ π ∂ + ≠ Ψ # ~ △ ζ ⇒ ⋅ ℵ Γ ''ρ'' √ → ∮ ∫ ⊥ ⇀ ⎯<br />
<br />
<br />
Note: Where two symbols had similar right-most edges, the overlay grid on an ASUS pro-art display was used to decide which one went further right. <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2339:_Pods_vs_Bubbles&diff=195481Talk:2339: Pods vs Bubbles2020-08-03T21:51:10Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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What's a "pod"? Incoherent comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.173|172.69.63.173]] 15:31, 29 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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: A pea pod? It's a protected family unit of peas. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.50|162.158.167.50]] 01:07, 31 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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According to [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/parenting/coronavirus-pod-family.html this New York Times article], it has to do with families forming groups during quarantine.<br />
"One idea that some families are considering — and that infectious disease epidemiologists think might be a smart way to balance mental health needs with physical safety — is to create quarantine “pods” or “bubbles,” in which two or three families agree to socialize with one another but no one else. In a pod, families hang out together, often without regard to social distancing — but outside of the pod, they follow recommended social distancing rules." --[[User:Borgendorf|Borgendorf]] ([[User talk:Borgendorf|talk]]) 16:01, 29 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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From context, especially the reference to Canada, I take it that Pod is the US term (more predominantly) for the situation that Canada may (and UK does) mostly call a Bubble. It may be a good sign that the person who wants to Bubble/Pod comes from the place where the situation is worse (US v Canada, at least). In the UK we used (and still do) the term Key Workers for what others may call Essential Workers (asked to continue to work, even in lock-down, and ideally take more care outside of work to prevent forcing them into deeper isolation), which was especially funny when applied to a locksmith on contract with the health service... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.131|162.158.154.131]] 16:22, 29 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think this is a US-Canada thing. I'm an American (Californian more specifically) and I've heard both terms commonly. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.99|172.68.142.99]] 19:50, 29 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I think we should start a category of comics in which Randall/Cueball interacts with (or imagines interacting with) his past self or someone from the past -- some of them are literally [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]] comics (e.g. [[2280: 2010 and 2020]] and [[2220: Imagine Going Back in Time]]), but others are not, at least not directly (like this one, or [[2302: 2020 Google Trends]]). Some ideas for the category name: "Retrospectives", "Comics featuring perspectives from the past", "Comics imagining what the past might think of the present"...I'm not wild about any of these; does anyone else have other suggestions? --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 18:15, 29 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I swear I thought this was about Tide Pods or such. I just figured that Canada products called them "bubbles". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.162|108.162.210.162]] 05:20, 30 July 2020 (UTC) They're like a pod of peas: You're protected and secluded inside a pea or bean pod. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.50|162.158.167.50]] 01:07, 31 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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When the second wave hit Victoria (Australia), and a border closure with NSW was being considered/announced, there were jokes that (as a [[wikipedia:Shibboleth|shibboleth]]) travellers will be asked to identify a food item and denied entry if they call it a "potato cake" (the food is called "potato scallop" or just "scallop" in most of NSW). [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 08:06, 30 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Here in France, there's a surge of cases in the département (county/district) of Mayenne. Typically French licence plates have an F on the extreme left, and the département logo/number on the extreme right. However there is no actual law that states that the number on the licence plate must be the same as the one the car is from, only that it is illegal to modify plates in any way (such as covering the département number with the BZH (Brittany) flag or other such regional things. It's a clever little ruse that a number of people living in Mayenne have changed their licence plates to pretty much anything that isn't 53, so when they drive around outside of the département, people aren't like "oh my god, plague!". Given this, and the sheer number of little winding back roads and farm tracks only suitable for tractors and 2CVs, it'll be interesting should they decide to lock down Mayenne. I live near the border (on the outside) so I'll go grab a face mask and a bag of popcorn... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.185|141.101.69.185]] 15:18, 30 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I've also heard "cohort" or "cohorting" to be used as well. I wonder what Randall would think of that? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.111|162.158.74.111]] 06:45, 31 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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That feeling when "the opinion" is incoherent for me even now. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.238.56|172.68.238.56]] 07:32, 31 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
Never - hitherto - encountered "pod" in this context...however, given that I'd already been commenting on how twatty "bubble" sounded, I'm going to start forcibly introducing it as aggressively as I can possibly manage. I've no real justification for this.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 21:51, 3 August 2020 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2329:_Universal_Rating_Scale&diff=194405Talk:2329: Universal Rating Scale2020-07-07T15:46:34Z<p>162.158.158.105: </p>
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There are several things that UNC might stand for, but to me none of them suggests a rating scale. Open to suggestions, of course. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 00:10, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: I think the most likely candidate from {{w|UNC|w:UNC}} is the numismatic code for an {{w|uncirculated coin}}. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 00:49, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Unified National Coarse is the name of a scale (not a rating on it) for thread sizes (for screws, nuts, bolts, etc.)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.187|172.69.68.187]] 02:12, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I don’t think A/AA/AAA are battery sizes, but rather [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating credit rating]. That is also consistent with their positions in the upper half of the scale.--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.235.142|172.69.235.142]] 00:37, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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A+ reminded me of {{w|European Union energy label}} ratings - but it is also in the credit rating list -- [[User:Bmwiedemann|Bmwiedemann]] ([[User talk:Bmwiedemann|talk]]) 01:31, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Does anyone know what "S" is a rating for? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.206|172.69.34.206]] 01:35, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Satisfactory, top marks on USA elementary school report cards (or at least it was in the 1980s) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.124|162.158.63.124]] 02:40, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I think the faces are supposed to correspond to a face-based pain scale, which is supported by the fact that they occur at similar places to the pain scale and that the frowny face looks more like the frowny face from one of these charts than any traditional sad face emoji. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.44|172.69.250.44]] 02:45, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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This listed F as standing for Fine under the coin grading scale. However, the coin grading scale runs from 0-70, and ordered Poor (P, or About Good, AG, depending on personal preference), Good (G), Very Good (VG), Fine (F), Very Fine (VF), Etremely Fine (XF), About Uncirculated (AU), and Uncirculated (UNC or MS, for Mint State, depending on personal preference). Because Fine is better than Good and Very Good on the coin grading scale, but F is worse than G and VG on Randall's Universal Rating Scale, F probably refers to the letter grade for schoolwork, rather than the coin grade of Fine. The G might also stand for a movie rating, but whether it is a movie rating or a coin grade, it's position would remain the same, so it's a moot point which it is. [[User:NErDysprosium|NErDysprosium]] ([[User talk:NErDysprosium|talk]]) 05:48, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I know some video games and fantasy stories contain things that have a letter rating, typically starting a few letters into the alphabet and increasing as it gets closer to A, often with an S above that, but sometimes another rating above S labeled "EX" for "extra". These scales sometimes have additional ratings with a + or - attached, or increasing by repeating the letter 2 or 3 times in a row before going up to the next letter. Thus the same system might have both "AAA" and "S", but normally unlike this chart the S would be higher. In some cases it might end up topping out with something like "SSS+". This sort of thing is particularly common in stories originating in Japan which involve some sort of other world that contain some sort of features similar to a video game with some sort of "Adventurer's Guild" which would often have such a system. In particular there are quite a lot of Japanese novels that are like this, many of which containing strange or unique twists on otherwise common formulaic settings. Some of these both have official English translations or were later adapted into manga or anime, or oddly enough in quite a few cases were a self published thing posted online as a hobbyist before later being picked up by a publisher and being somewhat changed and re-written as a proper book. Many also have people making and posting online fan translations of them.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.35|162.158.74.35]] 06:40, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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9 was possibly omitted, because 7 8 9 (seven ate nine) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.11|162.158.111.11]] 08:11, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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: I'd say you are making up your own jokes - however - :-) Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.71|162.158.154.71]] 14:06, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Some comics seems like Randall makes them purely for this website, or in general to make people guess what each of the things mean. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:27, 7 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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When I saw "Category 5" I thought he meant {{w|Category_5_cable}}... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 15:46, 7 July 2020 (UTC)</div>162.158.158.105