https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.214.22&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T13:47:33ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2118:_Normal_Distribution&diff=170330Talk:2118: Normal Distribution2019-03-01T15:44:23Z<p>162.158.214.22: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Is there a statistician in the house? [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 15:32, 1 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Of course there is! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.22|162.158.214.22]] 15:44, 1 March 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2118:_Normal_Distribution&diff=170329Talk:2118: Normal Distribution2019-03-01T15:44:04Z<p>162.158.214.22: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Is there a statistician in the house? [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 15:32, 1 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
Of course there is! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.22|162.158.214.22]] 15:44, 1 March 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2118:_Normal_Distribution&diff=1703282118: Normal Distribution2019-03-01T15:42:50Z<p>162.158.214.22: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2118<br />
| date = March 1, 2019<br />
| title = Normal Distribution<br />
| image = normal_distribution.png<br />
| titletext = It's the NORMAL distribution, not the TANGENT distribution.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an ANNOYED STATISTICIAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In statistics, a distribution is calculated by finding how much of a sample falls into discrete bins. For example, an age distribution would often take bins of ten years (0-9, 10-19, etc.) From this a statistician often produces a bar chart, one bar for each bin, where the height of each bar represents a count of the portion of the sample matching that bin. It is common to mark standard deviations on a distribution, indicating what proportion of a sample falls into the bins between two points on the x-axis.<br />
<br />
Many statistical samplings form a pattern called a "normal distribution". A theoretically perfect normal distribution would have an infinite sample size and infinitely small bins. That would produce a bar chart matching the shape of the curve in the comic.<br />
<br />
The area between two vertical lines of the distribution represents the probability that the value is between the x-values of the lines, and the total area is 1. Randall finds the area between two horizontal lines instead, which, while correct, is not meaningful. The title text refers to the normal line, which is a related concept to the tangent line but not at all related to the normal distribution.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Normal Distribution<br />
<br />
Midpoint - 52.7%<br />
<br />
"Remember, 50% of<br />
the distribution<br />
falls between<br />
these two lines!"<br />
<br />
How to Annoy a Statistician<br />
<br />
Title text: It's the NORMAL distribution, not the TANGENT distribution.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2116:_.NORM_Normal_File_Format&diff=170146Talk:2116: .NORM Normal File Format2019-02-26T03:53:42Z<p>162.158.214.22: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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Oh man, I don’t know whether to laugh or passive aggressively link people this comic. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:55, 25 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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At the moment I'm seeing " https://twitter.com/openelex/status/853977391747801088 " as the title text [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.82|108.162.216.82]] 17:36, 25 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
:That’s because the comic is a link, and clicking on it will take you there. The title text is correct, though. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:40, 25 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Reminds me of [https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Web_0_0x2e_1 Web 0.1 at TheDailyWTF].[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.113|162.158.79.113]] 19:01, 25 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Why the bloody hell is everyone censoring me???[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.202|108.162.245.202]] 21:47, 25 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
:From the revision history, the only things that look like they could be interpreted as being censored are the "JEWISH SHILL" thing from the (no longer present) "incomplete" tag, which is hate speech and thus not covered under freedom of speech, and the "SOON THE TRUTH WILL BE REVEALED" thing that briefly replaced all of the actual content, which is vandalism and thus also considered unacceptable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.22|162.158.214.22]] 03:53, 26 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I'm on my phone but can someone please work this link into the explanation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_art thanks<br />
:Done. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.173|108.162.246.173]] 01:20, 26 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The "share" functionality on mobile systems may serve as a rather catch-all protocol. On PC not many apps have this in mind.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.148|172.68.141.148]] 02:43, 26 February 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1529:_Bracket&diff=1694391529: Bracket2019-02-11T17:04:08Z<p>162.158.214.22: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1529<br />
| date = May 25, 2015<br />
| title = Bracket<br />
| image = bracket.png<br />
| titletext = I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
A {{w|Bracket (tournament)|tournament bracket}} shows the planned series of matchups in a tournament. In this comic [[Randall]] has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various Internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} was soon to be released at the time the comic was made where the two eponymous {{w|superheroes}}, {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Superman}}, fight against each other.<br />
<br />
The individual starting pairings are generally based on common or similar given names or surnames. Some adjacent brackets are "segued" by someone like Jeff Daniels, who segues from a bracket of "Jeff"s into a bracket of "Daniels"es. The bracket itself is fairly arbitrary. Most initial matchups are pairs, although several are trios and there's a quadruplet in the Russels group, while a single entry, {{w|Beyoncé}}, is given a first- and second-round {{w|bye (sports)|bye}}. Most of the participants in the tournament are people, with a few exceptions. {{w|Shallots}} (small onions), {{w|scallops}} (bivalve mollusks), and {{w|scallions}} (green onions) are similar sounding foods, therefore may be confusing for some individuals (perhaps including [[Randall]]). The final grouping on the lower right of the bracket features a several retail stores and a film.<br />
<br />
The [[title text]] possibly refers to {{w|Dr. Dre}}, particularly as a reference to his 2001 song "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}". Alternatively, the title text could simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture personas that include the word "Doctor", such as {{w|Gregory House|Doctor House}}, {{w|Mehmet Oz|Dr. Oz}}, {{w|Phil McGraw|Dr. Phil}}, {{w|Dr. Watson}}, {{w|Emmett Brown|"Doc" Brown}}, {{w|Dr. Seuss}}, {{w|Dr Pepper}}, {{w|Doctor Doom}}, {{w|Zoidberg|Dr. Zoidberg}}, {{w|Dr. Horrible}}'s Sing-Along Blog and {{w|List of fictional doctors|many others}}. Another simpler explanation is that it would cause the reader to question "Doctor Who?" answering their own question, although this answer would be incorrect because The Doctor is already present.<br />
<br />
The incentive for the comic may have been the {{w|2015 French Open|French Open 2015}}, which started on the day of the publication.<br />
<br />
The comic inspired several groups to play out versions of the bracket. One user-voting based match-up on twitter, [https://twitter.com/xkcdbracket XKCD Bracket], was featured by Randall on the xkcd home page, with a link at at the top of the website, although the account was not created by Randall. (The link was part of a "news" flash, the other was regarding his book based on [[1133: Up Goer Five]]. See more on this news in that comics explanation). In the final match on July 29, Neil Armstrong defeated Mister Spock (see the [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLKJUpFWIAAlDnW.png:orig complete bracket]). The link was removed sometimes before Monday, 10 August 2015, within two weeks of the final result was revealed.<br />
<br />
===Table of the bracket===<br />
*The names and other entries in the bracket are given here below, sorted to explain why the individual entries have been grouped as they are.<br />
*The first-round match-ups are grouped by shading.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Grouping<br />
!Subgrouping<br />
!Person/Entry<br />
!Known as<br />
!Winning probability<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Armstrong<br />
|{{w|Louis Armstrong}}<br />
|Jazz-musician<br />
| rowspan="4" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Neil Armstrong}}<br />
|First human on the moon<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Lance Armstrong}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Cyclist<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Stretch Armstrong}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Action figure<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Jeff *<br />
|Jeff Gordan (Probably {{w|Jeff Gordon}})<br />
|Retired race car driver<br />
| rowspan="9" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Jeff Bridges}}<br />
|Actor in ''King Kong'', ''The Big Lebowski'', ''Iron Man'', ''Tron: Legacy''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jeff Daniels}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Dumb and Dumber''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J* Daniels<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Daniel's|Jack Daniels}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Alcoholic beverages<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>Well<nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|{{w|Orson Welles}}<br />
|Director of ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' and known for his {{w|The War of the Worlds (radio drama)|radio-play}} of {{w|H. G. Wells}}' ''{{w|The War of the Worlds}}''<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|H.G. Wells}}<br />
|Author, known for ''The War of the Worlds'' and ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|George Orwell}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author of ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' and ''{{w|Animal Farm}}''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Wells Fargo}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bank and stage coach company<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Russell *<br />
|{{w|Kurt Russell}}<br />
|Actor in ''John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.'', ''The Thing'', ''Big Trouble in Little China'', ''Fast & Furious 7''<br />
| rowspan="5" |1/128<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Russell Brand}}<br />
|Comedian<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Russell Crowe}}<br />
|Actor in ''Gladiator'', ''A Beautiful Mind'', ''Les Misérables'', ''Noah''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Russell Simmons}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Rapper<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Simmons<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Richard Simmons}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Host of exercise program<br />
| rowspan="3" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Simmons}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Musician, known from ''KISS''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Gene <nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Hackman}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor<br />
|rowspan="5" |1/96<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ckman<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Hugh Jackman}}<br />
|Actor in the ''{{w|X-Men}}'' franchise as {{w|Wolverine (character)|Wolverine}}<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Alan Rickman}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Die Hard'', ''Harry Potter'' franchise, ''The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|Alan <nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|Alan Par*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Parsons}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Musician<br />
|rowspan="7" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Partridge}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Fictional radio character<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> McCarthy<br />
|{{w|Jenny McCarthy}}<br />
|Anti-vaccination activist<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Joseph McCarthy}}<br />
|American Senator known for anti-communist policies.<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Senator and Presidential candidate<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>gene<nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|rowspan="2"|Eugene <nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Eugene V. Debs}}<br />
|Labor leader<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wilde*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Gene Wilder}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Young Frankenstein'', ''Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory''<br />
| rowspan="4" |1/96<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Olivia Wilde}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Tron: Legacy'', ''Her'', ''House M.D.''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar Wilde}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Writer<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar *<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar De La Renta}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Fashion Designer<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar De La *<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Oscar De La Hoya}}<br />
|Boxer<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Jack Nic*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Nicklaus}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Golf player<br />
| rowspan="9" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jack Nicholson}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'', ''The Shining'', ''The Bucketlist''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ichol* / *ickel* / *ickle*<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Phil Mickelson}}<br />
|Golf player<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Nicholas Nickleby}}<br />
|Charles Dickens protagonist in the novel by the same name<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ryan Adams<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ryan Adams}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bryan Adams}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Singers with Stage Names Referencing Weight/Games<br />
|{{w|Chubby Checker}}<br />
|Singer famous for "The Twist"<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Fats Domino}}<br />
|Rock and Roll Singer<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Colin F*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Colin Firth}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Pride and Prejudice'', ''Love Actually''<br />
| rowspan="5" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Colin Farrell}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Daredevil'', ''In Bruges'', ''Total Recall''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|F*rell*<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Will Ferrell}}<br />
|Comic actor, ''Anchorman'' and ''The Other Guys''<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|The Farrelly Brothers}}<br />
|Comedy film-makers<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J<nowiki>*</nowiki> * *evitt/*ewitt (three names)<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Joseph Gordon-Levitt}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Third Rock from the Sun'', ''Dark Knight Rises''<br />
| rowspan="2" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jennifer Love Hewitt}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Garfield: The Movie'' <!-- Nothing else really --><br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|D* Glover<br />
|{{w|Danny Glover}} <br />
|Actor, ''Lethal Weapon'' series<br />
| rowspan="7" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Donald Glover}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor, ''Community'', also a rapper, aka ''Childish Gambino''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Don*<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Donnie Wahlberg}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Singer, ''{{w|New Kids on the Block}}'', actor, ''Blue Bloods''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wahlberg<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Mark Wahlberg}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''The Departed'', ''The Other Guys'', and former hip-hop singer for ''Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Mark *<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mark Ruffalo}}<br />
|Actor, known for his role as {{w|Hulk (comics)|the Hulk}} in the film ''{{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers}}''<br />
| rowspan="2" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mark Shuttleworth}}<br />
|Entrepreneur, founder of {{w|Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu}}<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Pullman<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Philip Pullman}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author, ''Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ''<br />
|rowspan="4"|1/48<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Pullman}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Spaceballs'', and ''Independence Day''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Bill *<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bill Paxton}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Apollo 13'', ''Aliens''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Murray}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''Groundhog Day''<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Ghostbusters/SNL alumni<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dan Aykroyd}}<br />
|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''The Blues Brothers''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Rogers<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ginger Rogers}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress known for dancing with {{w|Fred Astaire}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Confusing reference to {{w|Fred Rogers}} (host of children's show, popularly known as "Mister Rogers") and to {{w|Fred Astaire}} (Dancer, actor, and singer)<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Spock<br />
|{{w|Mister Spock}}<br />
|Character on ''Star Trek'' portrayed by {{w|Leonard Nimoy}}<br />
|rowspan="10"|1/96<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Doctor Spock}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Author of book on childcare<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="8"|Doctors<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Doctor Octopus}}<br />
|Villain in Spider-Man comic books<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Manhattan}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in Alan Moore's Watchmen<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strangelove}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in a movie about nuclear war by {{w|Stanley Kubrick}}<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strange}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Sorceror Supreme in Marvel Comics<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Julius No|Dr. No}}<br />
|Main villain in the {{w|Dr. No (film)|first James Bond movie}}<br />
|-<br />
|The Doctor<br />
|Ambiguous reference to either the {{w|The Doctor (Doctor Who)|main protagonist}} of the science fiction series ''{{w|Doctor Who}}'' or the {{w|Doctor (Star Trek: Voyager)|emergency medical hologram}} in ''{{w|Star Trek: Voyager}}''. <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Cory Doctorow}}<br />
|Real person - [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow| who has been in a number of xkcd comics]]<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|J* Lewis<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lee Lewis}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Rock and Roll singer<br />
|rowspan="9"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lewis}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Comedian and former chairman of charitable organization<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Jenny Lewis}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Indie singer-songwriter<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Sounds like *"enny"<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Xeni Jardin}}<br />
|Digital commentator, Boing Boing co-editor<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4"|Chris *<br />
|rowspan="2"|Chris * (Avengers actors)<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Captain America''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Thor''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|Chris P*<br />
|{{w|Chris Pine}}<br />
|Actor, ''Star Trek''<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Chris Pratt}}<br />
|Actor, ''Guardians of the Galaxy''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|S*all*o*s Foods<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Shallots}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Small onions<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/96<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallops}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bivalve mollusks<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallions}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Green onions<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Suz* (Similar phonetics)<br />
|{{w|Siouxie Sioux}}<br />
|Rock singer<br />
|rowspan="2"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Suzanne Vega}}<br />
|Folk rock singer-songwriter<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Arnold *<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Tom Arnold (actor)|Tom Arnold}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor; ex-husband of {{w|Roseanne Barr}}<br />
|rowspan="4"|1/48<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Arnold Palmer}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Golf player<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|A* Palmer<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Amanda Palmer}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer/songwriter<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Wes *<br />
|{{w|Wes Craven}}<br />
|Film maker<br />
|rowspan="10"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Wes Anderson}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Movie Director<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|* Anderson<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Paul Thomas Anderson}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Film maker<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|P*ul Anderson<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Poul Anderson}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Science fiction author<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|Sirs<br />
|rowspan="2"|Sir Walter *<br />
|{{w|Sir Walter Scott}}<br />
|Scottish poet and writer<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Sir Walter Raleigh}}<br />
|British explorer of Virginia<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|rowspan="2"|F* Drake<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Sir Francis Drake}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|British explorer, 2nd to circumnavigate the Earth<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Frank Drake}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Astrophysicist, SETI pioneer<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="5"|"Van"<br />
|rowspan="3"|Van *<br />
|{{w|Van Halen}}<br />
|Rock band<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/96<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Van Morrison}}<br />
|Singer/songwriter<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Van Wilder}}<br />
|Comedy film<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|rowspan="2"|R* Van Winkle<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Robert Van Winkle}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|AKA Vanilla Ice, rapper<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Fictional character<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Rip/Torn<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Rip Torn}}<br />
|Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, actor on ''Cross Creek'', ''Larry Sanders Show''<br />
|rowspan="2"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Natalie Imbruglia}}<br />
|Singer of "Torn"<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Body" in their name<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|The Body Shop}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Shop<br />
|rowspan="6"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bath and Body Works}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Shop<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Bath" in their name<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bed Bath and Beyond}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Shop<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Beyon*<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Beyond Thunderdome}}<br />
|Motion picture<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Beyoncé}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer<br />
|1/16<br />
<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
The "Chris" group (Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, Chris Pratt) was later referenced in Chris Pine's opening monologue for SNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGurtL83zhY<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A tournament bracket. With the names listed in groups on the left-hand side and right-hand side as shown below. Within individual groups the names are ordered in match-ups, two, three or even four in the first match. The last name on the right, Beyoncé, is not even matched for first round. The winners goes on to the next match, but there are many that skips some of the matches up until the quarterfinals, so some need to win 5 matches to reach the quarterfinals, others only need to win 4 of 3, and Beyoncé only 2. After the first level, the match-ups are always between two names. The two sides join up in a final in the middle, where the winner of the left side has a place for the name below and the winner of the right a place for the name above a central rectangular frame with place for the winners name. Below the pairing in the first round matches are mentioned above each of the clear groupings of the bracket.]<br />
:{| class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;border:none;width:100%;"<br />
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Louis Armstrong<br />
<br/>Neil Armstrong<br />
<br/>Lance Armstrong<br />
<br/>Stretch Armstrong<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Jeff Gordan<br />
<br/>Jeff Bridges<br />
<br/>Jeff Daniels<br />
<br/>Jack Daniels<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Orson Welles<br />
<br/>H.G. Wells<br />
<br/>George Orwell<br />
<br/>Wells Fargo<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first four, two, three and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Kurt Russell<br />
<br/>Russell Brand<br />
<br/>Russell Crowe<br />
<br/>Russell Simmons<br />
<br/>Richard Simmons<br />
<br/>Gene Simmons<br />
<br/>Gene Hackman<br />
<br/>Hugh Jackman<br />
<br/>Alan Rickman<br />
<br/>Alan Parsons<br />
<br/>Alan Partridge<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first four, three and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Jenny McCarthy<br />
<br/>Joseph McCarthy<br />
<br/>Eugene McCarthy<br />
<br/>Eugene V. Debs<br />
<br/>Gene Wilder<br />
<br/>Olivia Wilde<br />
<br/>Oscar Wilde<br />
<br/>Oscar De La Renta<br />
<br/>Oscar De La Hoya<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Jack Nicklaus<br />
<br/>Jack Nicholson<br />
<br/>Phil Mickelson<br />
<br/>Nicholas Nickelby<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Ryan Adams<br />
<br/>Bryan Adams<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Chubby Checker<br />
<br/>Fats Domino<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Colin Firth<br />
<br/>Colin Farrell<br />
<br/>Will Ferrell<br />
<br/>The Farrelly Brothers<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Joseph Gordon-Levitt<br />
<br/>Jennifer Love Hewitt<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Danny Glover<br />
<br/>Donald Glover<br />
<br/>Donnie Wahlberg<br />
<br/>Mark Wahlberg<br />
<br/>Mark Ruffalo<br />
<br/>Mark Shuttleworth<br />
<br />
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|<br />
<br/>[The first three and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Philip Pullman<br />
<br/>Bill Pullman<br />
<br/>Bill Paxton<br />
<br/>Bill Murray<br />
<br/>Dan Aykroyd<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first two, and then three times three are paired.]<br />
<br/>Ginger Rogers<br />
<br/>Fred Rogers|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers<br />
<br/>Mister Spock<br />
<br/>Doctor Spock<br />
<br/>Doctor Octopus<br />
<br/>Doctor Manhattan<br />
<br/>Doctor Strangelove<br />
<br/>Doctor Strange<br />
<br/>Dr. No<br />
<br/>The Doctor<br />
<br/>Cory Doctorow<br />
<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Jerry Lee Lewis<br />
<br/>Jerry Lewis<br />
<br/>Jenny Lewis<br />
<br/>Xeni Jardin<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Chris Evans<br />
<br/>Chris Hemsworth<br />
<br/>Chris Pine<br />
<br/>Chris Pratt<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Shallots<br />
<br/>Scallops<br />
<br/>Scallions<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Siouxie Sioux<br />
<br/>Suzanne Vega<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Tom Arnold<br />
<br/>Arnold Palmer<br />
<br/>Amanda Palmer<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Wes Craven<br />
<br/>Wes Anderson<br />
<br/>Paul Thomas Anderson<br />
<br/>Poul Anderson<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Sir Walter Scott<br />
<br/>Sir Walter Raleigh<br />
<br/>Sir Francis Drake<br />
<br/>Frank Drake<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first three, two and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Van Halen<br />
<br/>Van Morrison<br />
<br/>Van Wilder<br />
<br/>Robert Van Winkle<br />
<br/>Rip Van Winkle<br />
<br/>Rip Torn<br />
<br/>Natalie Imbruglia<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first four are paired two and two the last is the only one not paired.]<br />
<br/>The Body Shop<br />
<br/>Bath and Body Works<br />
<br/>Bed Bath and Beyond<br />
<br/>Beyond Thunderdome<br />
<br/>Beyoncé<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Doctor Who]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1529:_Bracket&diff=1694381529: Bracket2019-02-11T17:01:11Z<p>162.158.214.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1529<br />
| date = May 25, 2015<br />
| title = Bracket<br />
| image = bracket.png<br />
| titletext = I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
A {{w|Bracket (tournament)|tournament bracket}} shows the planned series of matchups in a tournament. In this comic [[Randall]] has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various Internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} was soon to be released at the time the comic was made where the two eponymous {{w|superheroes}}, {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Superman}}, fight against each other.<br />
<br />
The individual starting pairings are generally based on common or similar given names or surnames. Some adjacent brackets are "segued" by someone like Jeff Daniels, who segues from a bracket of "Jeff"s into a bracket of "Daniels"es. The bracket itself is fairly arbitrary. Most initial matchups are pairs, although several are trios and there's a quadruplet in the Russels group, while a single entry, {{w|Beyoncé}}, is given a first- and second-round {{w|bye (sports)|bye}}. Most of the participants in the tournament are people, with a few exceptions. {{w|Shallots}} (small onions), {{w|scallops}} (bivalve mollusks), and {{w|scallions}} (green onions) are similar sounding foods, therefore may be confusing for some individuals (perhaps including [[Randall]]). The final grouping on the lower right of the bracket features a several retail stores and a film.<br />
<br />
The [[title text]] possibly refers to {{w|Dr. Dre}}, particularly as a reference to his 2001 song "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}". Alternatively, the title text could simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture personas that include the word "Doctor", such as {{w|Gregory House|Doctor House}}, {{w|Mehmet Oz|Dr. Oz}}, {{w|Phil McGraw|Dr. Phil}}, {{w|Dr. Watson}}, {{w|Emmett Brown|"Doc" Brown}}, {{w|Dr. Seuss}}, {{w|Dr Pepper}}, {{w|Doctor Doom}}, {{w|Zoidberg|Dr. Zoidberg}}, {{w|Dr. Horrible}}'s Sing-Along Blog and {{w|List of fictional doctors|many others}}. Another simpler explanation is that it would cause the reader to question "Doctor Who?" answering their own question.<br />
<br />
The incentive for the comic may have been the {{w|2015 French Open|French Open 2015}}, which started on the day of the publication.<br />
<br />
The comic inspired several groups to play out versions of the bracket. One user-voting based match-up on twitter, [https://twitter.com/xkcdbracket XKCD Bracket], was featured by Randall on the xkcd home page, with a link at at the top of the website, although the account was not created by Randall. (The link was part of a "news" flash, the other was regarding his book based on [[1133: Up Goer Five]]. See more on this news in that comics explanation). In the final match on July 29, Neil Armstrong defeated Mister Spock (see the [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLKJUpFWIAAlDnW.png:orig complete bracket]). The link was removed sometimes before Monday, 10 August 2015, within two weeks of the final result was revealed.<br />
<br />
===Table of the bracket===<br />
*The names and other entries in the bracket are given here below, sorted to explain why the individual entries have been grouped as they are.<br />
*The first-round match-ups are grouped by shading.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Grouping<br />
!Subgrouping<br />
!Person/Entry<br />
!Known as<br />
!Winning probability<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Armstrong<br />
|{{w|Louis Armstrong}}<br />
|Jazz-musician<br />
| rowspan="4" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Neil Armstrong}}<br />
|First human on the moon<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Lance Armstrong}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Cyclist<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Stretch Armstrong}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Action figure<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Jeff *<br />
|Jeff Gordan (Probably {{w|Jeff Gordon}})<br />
|Retired race car driver<br />
| rowspan="9" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Jeff Bridges}}<br />
|Actor in ''King Kong'', ''The Big Lebowski'', ''Iron Man'', ''Tron: Legacy''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jeff Daniels}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Dumb and Dumber''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J* Daniels<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Daniel's|Jack Daniels}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Alcoholic beverages<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>Well<nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|{{w|Orson Welles}}<br />
|Director of ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' and known for his {{w|The War of the Worlds (radio drama)|radio-play}} of {{w|H. G. Wells}}' ''{{w|The War of the Worlds}}''<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|H.G. Wells}}<br />
|Author, known for ''The War of the Worlds'' and ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|George Orwell}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author of ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' and ''{{w|Animal Farm}}''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Wells Fargo}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bank and stage coach company<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Russell *<br />
|{{w|Kurt Russell}}<br />
|Actor in ''John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.'', ''The Thing'', ''Big Trouble in Little China'', ''Fast & Furious 7''<br />
| rowspan="5" |1/128<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Russell Brand}}<br />
|Comedian<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Russell Crowe}}<br />
|Actor in ''Gladiator'', ''A Beautiful Mind'', ''Les Misérables'', ''Noah''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Russell Simmons}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Rapper<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Simmons<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Richard Simmons}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Host of exercise program<br />
| rowspan="3" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Simmons}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Musician, known from ''KISS''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Gene <nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Hackman}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor<br />
|rowspan="5" |1/96<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ckman<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Hugh Jackman}}<br />
|Actor in the ''{{w|X-Men}}'' franchise as {{w|Wolverine (character)|Wolverine}}<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Alan Rickman}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Die Hard'', ''Harry Potter'' franchise, ''The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|Alan <nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|Alan Par*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Parsons}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Musician<br />
|rowspan="7" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Partridge}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Fictional radio character<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> McCarthy<br />
|{{w|Jenny McCarthy}}<br />
|Anti-vaccination activist<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Joseph McCarthy}}<br />
|American Senator known for anti-communist policies.<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Senator and Presidential candidate<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>gene<nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|rowspan="2"|Eugene <nowiki>*</nowiki><br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Eugene V. Debs}}<br />
|Labor leader<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wilde*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Gene Wilder}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Young Frankenstein'', ''Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory''<br />
| rowspan="4" |1/96<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Olivia Wilde}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Tron: Legacy'', ''Her'', ''House M.D.''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar Wilde}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Writer<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar *<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar De La Renta}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Fashion Designer<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar De La *<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Oscar De La Hoya}}<br />
|Boxer<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Jack Nic*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Nicklaus}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Golf player<br />
| rowspan="9" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jack Nicholson}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'', ''The Shining'', ''The Bucketlist''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ichol* / *ickel* / *ickle*<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Phil Mickelson}}<br />
|Golf player<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Nicholas Nickleby}}<br />
|Charles Dickens protagonist in the novel by the same name<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ryan Adams<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ryan Adams}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bryan Adams}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Singers with Stage Names Referencing Weight/Games<br />
|{{w|Chubby Checker}}<br />
|Singer famous for "The Twist"<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Fats Domino}}<br />
|Rock and Roll Singer<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Colin F*<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Colin Firth}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Pride and Prejudice'', ''Love Actually''<br />
| rowspan="5" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Colin Farrell}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Daredevil'', ''In Bruges'', ''Total Recall''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|F*rell*<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Will Ferrell}}<br />
|Comic actor, ''Anchorman'' and ''The Other Guys''<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|The Farrelly Brothers}}<br />
|Comedy film-makers<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J<nowiki>*</nowiki> * *evitt/*ewitt (three names)<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Joseph Gordon-Levitt}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Third Rock from the Sun'', ''Dark Knight Rises''<br />
| rowspan="2" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jennifer Love Hewitt}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Garfield: The Movie'' <!-- Nothing else really --><br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|D* Glover<br />
|{{w|Danny Glover}} <br />
|Actor, ''Lethal Weapon'' series<br />
| rowspan="7" |1/64<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Donald Glover}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor, ''Community'', also a rapper, aka ''Childish Gambino''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Don*<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Donnie Wahlberg}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Singer, ''{{w|New Kids on the Block}}'', actor, ''Blue Bloods''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wahlberg<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Mark Wahlberg}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''The Departed'', ''The Other Guys'', and former hip-hop singer for ''Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Mark *<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mark Ruffalo}}<br />
|Actor, known for his role as {{w|Hulk (comics)|the Hulk}} in the film ''{{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers}}''<br />
| rowspan="2" |1/32<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mark Shuttleworth}}<br />
|Entrepreneur, founder of {{w|Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu}}<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Pullman<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Philip Pullman}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author, ''Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ''<br />
|rowspan="4"|1/48<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Pullman}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Spaceballs'', and ''Independence Day''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Bill *<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bill Paxton}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Apollo 13'', ''Aliens''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Murray}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''Groundhog Day''<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Ghostbusters/SNL alumni<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dan Aykroyd}}<br />
|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''The Blues Brothers''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Rogers<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ginger Rogers}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress known for dancing with {{w|Fred Astaire}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Confusing reference to {{w|Fred Rogers}} (host of children's show, popularly known as "Mister Rogers") and to {{w|Fred Astaire}} (Dancer, actor, and singer)<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Spock<br />
|{{w|Mister Spock}}<br />
|Character on ''Star Trek'' portrayed by {{w|Leonard Nimoy}}<br />
|rowspan="10"|1/96<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Doctor Spock}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Author of book on childcare<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="8"|Doctors<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Doctor Octopus}}<br />
|Villain in Spider-Man comic books<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Manhattan}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in Alan Moore's Watchmen<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strangelove}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in a movie about nuclear war by {{w|Stanley Kubrick}}<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strange}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Sorceror Supreme in Marvel Comics<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Julius No|Dr. No}}<br />
|Main villain in the {{w|Dr. No (film)|first James Bond movie}}<br />
|-<br />
|The Doctor<br />
|Ambiguous reference to either the {{w|The Doctor (Doctor Who)|main protagonist}} of the science fiction series ''{{w|Doctor Who}}'' or the {{w|Doctor (Star Trek: Voyager)|emergency medical hologram}} in ''{{w|Star Trek: Voyager}}''. <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Cory Doctorow}}<br />
|Real person - [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow| who has been in a number of xkcd comics]]<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|J* Lewis<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lee Lewis}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Rock and Roll singer<br />
|rowspan="9"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lewis}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Comedian and former chairman of charitable organization<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Jenny Lewis}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Indie singer-songwriter<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Sounds like *"enny"<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Xeni Jardin}}<br />
|Digital commentator, Boing Boing co-editor<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4"|Chris *<br />
|rowspan="2"|Chris * (Avengers actors)<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Captain America''<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Thor''<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|Chris P*<br />
|{{w|Chris Pine}}<br />
|Actor, ''Star Trek''<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Chris Pratt}}<br />
|Actor, ''Guardians of the Galaxy''<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|S*all*o*s Foods<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Shallots}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Small onions<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/96<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallops}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bivalve mollusks<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallions}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Green onions<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Suz* (Similar phonetics)<br />
|{{w|Siouxie Sioux}}<br />
|Rock singer<br />
|rowspan="2"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Suzanne Vega}}<br />
|Folk rock singer-songwriter<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Arnold *<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Tom Arnold (actor)|Tom Arnold}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor; ex-husband of {{w|Roseanne Barr}}<br />
|rowspan="4"|1/48<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Arnold Palmer}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Golf player<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|A* Palmer<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Amanda Palmer}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer/songwriter<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Wes *<br />
|{{w|Wes Craven}}<br />
|Film maker<br />
|rowspan="10"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Wes Anderson}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Movie Director<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|* Anderson<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Paul Thomas Anderson}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Film maker<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|P*ul Anderson<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Poul Anderson}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Science fiction author<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3"|Sirs<br />
|rowspan="2"|Sir Walter *<br />
|{{w|Sir Walter Scott}}<br />
|Scottish poet and writer<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Sir Walter Raleigh}}<br />
|British explorer of Virginia<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|rowspan="2"|F* Drake<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Sir Francis Drake}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|British explorer, 2nd to circumnavigate the Earth<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Frank Drake}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Astrophysicist, SETI pioneer<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="5"|"Van"<br />
|rowspan="3"|Van *<br />
|{{w|Van Halen}}<br />
|Rock band<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/96<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Van Morrison}}<br />
|Singer/songwriter<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Van Wilder}}<br />
|Comedy film<br />
|-<br />
<br />
|rowspan="2"|R* Van Winkle<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Robert Van Winkle}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|AKA Vanilla Ice, rapper<br />
|rowspan="3"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Fictional character<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Rip/Torn<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Rip Torn}}<br />
|Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, actor on ''Cross Creek'', ''Larry Sanders Show''<br />
|rowspan="2"|1/32<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Natalie Imbruglia}}<br />
|Singer of "Torn"<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Body" in their name<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|The Body Shop}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Shop<br />
|rowspan="6"|1/64<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bath and Body Works}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Shop<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Bath" in their name<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bed Bath and Beyond}}<br />
|rowspan="2"|Shop<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Beyon*<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Beyond Thunderdome}}<br />
|Motion picture<br />
|-<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Beyoncé}}<br />
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer<br />
|1/16<br />
<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
The "Chris" group (Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, Chris Pratt) was later referenced in Chris Pine's opening monologue for SNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGurtL83zhY<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A tournament bracket. With the names listed in groups on the left-hand side and right-hand side as shown below. Within individual groups the names are ordered in match-ups, two, three or even four in the first match. The last name on the right, Beyoncé, is not even matched for first round. The winners goes on to the next match, but there are many that skips some of the matches up until the quarterfinals, so some need to win 5 matches to reach the quarterfinals, others only need to win 4 of 3, and Beyoncé only 2. After the first level, the match-ups are always between two names. The two sides join up in a final in the middle, where the winner of the left side has a place for the name below and the winner of the right a place for the name above a central rectangular frame with place for the winners name. Below the pairing in the first round matches are mentioned above each of the clear groupings of the bracket.]<br />
:{| class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;border:none;width:100%;"<br />
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Louis Armstrong<br />
<br/>Neil Armstrong<br />
<br/>Lance Armstrong<br />
<br/>Stretch Armstrong<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Jeff Gordan<br />
<br/>Jeff Bridges<br />
<br/>Jeff Daniels<br />
<br/>Jack Daniels<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Orson Welles<br />
<br/>H.G. Wells<br />
<br/>George Orwell<br />
<br/>Wells Fargo<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first four, two, three and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Kurt Russell<br />
<br/>Russell Brand<br />
<br/>Russell Crowe<br />
<br/>Russell Simmons<br />
<br/>Richard Simmons<br />
<br/>Gene Simmons<br />
<br/>Gene Hackman<br />
<br/>Hugh Jackman<br />
<br/>Alan Rickman<br />
<br/>Alan Parsons<br />
<br/>Alan Partridge<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first four, three and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Jenny McCarthy<br />
<br/>Joseph McCarthy<br />
<br/>Eugene McCarthy<br />
<br/>Eugene V. Debs<br />
<br/>Gene Wilder<br />
<br/>Olivia Wilde<br />
<br/>Oscar Wilde<br />
<br/>Oscar De La Renta<br />
<br/>Oscar De La Hoya<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Jack Nicklaus<br />
<br/>Jack Nicholson<br />
<br/>Phil Mickelson<br />
<br/>Nicholas Nickelby<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Ryan Adams<br />
<br/>Bryan Adams<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Chubby Checker<br />
<br/>Fats Domino<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Colin Firth<br />
<br/>Colin Farrell<br />
<br/>Will Ferrell<br />
<br/>The Farrelly Brothers<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Joseph Gordon-Levitt<br />
<br/>Jennifer Love Hewitt<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Danny Glover<br />
<br/>Donald Glover<br />
<br/>Donnie Wahlberg<br />
<br/>Mark Wahlberg<br />
<br/>Mark Ruffalo<br />
<br/>Mark Shuttleworth<br />
<br />
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|<br />
<br/>[The first three and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Philip Pullman<br />
<br/>Bill Pullman<br />
<br/>Bill Paxton<br />
<br/>Bill Murray<br />
<br/>Dan Aykroyd<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first two, and then three times three are paired.]<br />
<br/>Ginger Rogers<br />
<br/>Fred Rogers|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers<br />
<br/>Mister Spock<br />
<br/>Doctor Spock<br />
<br/>Doctor Octopus<br />
<br/>Doctor Manhattan<br />
<br/>Doctor Strangelove<br />
<br/>Doctor Strange<br />
<br/>Dr. No<br />
<br/>The Doctor<br />
<br/>Cory Doctorow<br />
<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Jerry Lee Lewis<br />
<br/>Jerry Lewis<br />
<br/>Jenny Lewis<br />
<br/>Xeni Jardin<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Chris Evans<br />
<br/>Chris Hemsworth<br />
<br/>Chris Pine<br />
<br/>Chris Pratt<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Shallots<br />
<br/>Scallops<br />
<br/>Scallions<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Siouxie Sioux<br />
<br/>Suzanne Vega<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired.]<br />
<br/>Tom Arnold<br />
<br/>Arnold Palmer<br />
<br/>Amanda Palmer<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Wes Craven<br />
<br/>Wes Anderson<br />
<br/>Paul Thomas Anderson<br />
<br/>Poul Anderson<br />
<br />
<br/>[These are paired two and two.]<br />
<br/>Sir Walter Scott<br />
<br/>Sir Walter Raleigh<br />
<br/>Sir Francis Drake<br />
<br/>Frank Drake<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first three, two and two are paired.]<br />
<br/>Van Halen<br />
<br/>Van Morrison<br />
<br/>Van Wilder<br />
<br/>Robert Van Winkle<br />
<br/>Rip Van Winkle<br />
<br/>Rip Torn<br />
<br/>Natalie Imbruglia<br />
<br />
<br/>[The first four are paired two and two the last is the only one not paired.]<br />
<br/>The Body Shop<br />
<br/>Bath and Body Works<br />
<br/>Bed Bath and Beyond<br />
<br/>Beyond Thunderdome<br />
<br/>Beyoncé<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Doctor Who]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=893:_65_Years&diff=168476893: 65 Years2019-01-22T13:15:54Z<p>162.158.214.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 893<br />
| date = May 2, 2011<br />
| title = 65 Years<br />
| image = 65 years.png<br />
| titletext = The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Randall]] is showing the number of still living humans who have walked on another world for the 65-year period that begins in 1969 (when a human first walked on the moon). Up to 2011 (when the comic was drawn), he has drawn a single line for the actual figures.<br />
<br />
For the subsequent years, he has drawn three lines using {{w|actuarial table}}s or life tables (such tables show, for each age, the probability that a certain person will die within the next year).<br />
<br />
The line marked "5TH PERCENTILE" indicates that there is a 95% probability that the number alive in a given year will be above that line and a 5% probability that the number alive will be below that line. For example, this line indicates a 5% chance that all Apollo moon walkers will be dead by 2023, and a 95% chance that at least one will still be alive by that year.<br />
<br />
The line marked "95TH PERCENTILE" indicates that there is a 5% probability that the number alive in a given year will be above that line and a 95% probability that the number alive will be below that line. For example, this line indicates a 95% chance that all Apollo moon walkers will be dead by 2035, and a 5% chance that at least one will still be alive by that year.<br />
<br />
The middle line is not identified, but is probably the "50TH PERCENTILE" (see [http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/07/12/a-morbid-python-script/ these tables]). If so, it indicates that there is a 50% probability that the number alive in a given year will be above that line and a 50% probability that the number alive will be below that line. For example, this line indicates a 50% chance that all Apollo moon walkers will be dead by 2028 (see previous link), and a 50% chance that at least one will still be alive by that year.<br />
<br />
Although the term ''other world'' would include all other worlds on which humans have walked, there is currently only one other world on which humans have walked, which is the moon. The humans that have walked there are the 12 {{w|List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon|Apollo astronauts}} who landed on the Moon between 1969 and 1972.<br />
<br />
In particular, {{w|Neil Armstrong}} and {{w|Buzz Aldrin}} landed in July 1969. {{w|Pete Conrad}} and {{w|Alan Bean}} landed in November. {{w|Alan Shepard}} and {{w|Edgar Mitchell}}: February 1971. {{w|David Scott}} and {{w|James Irwin}}: July 1971. {{w|John Young (astronaut)|John Young}} and {{w|Charles Duke}}: April 1972. {{w|Eugene Cernan}} and {{w|Harrison Schmitt}}: December 1972.<br />
<br />
Irwin died in 1991. Shepard and Conrad died in 1998 and 1999 respectively, making the total 9 as of the date this comic was published. Since then Armstrong died in 2012, Mitchell in 2016, Cernan in 2017, Young on January 6th 2018 and Bean on May 26th, 2018. The current (May 2018) number is 4, which lies to the left of the middle line (the supposed 50TH PERCENTILE). The oldest living person to have landed on the moon is Aldrin, 89. There is one 89-year-old, one 85s and two 82s.<br />
<br />
The chart assumes that no other humans will go to walk on another world within the time-frame plotted and the title text implies that this is primarily an economically determined decision. While noting that not exploring space is a justifiable and sensible decision which may also be made by many hypothetical cultures on other worlds, the text implies a grandness to a civilization that would be given the opportunity to discover, study and memorialize the 'one-world graves' of other civilizations by choosing to explore space despite the economic difficulty. This also implies that the likely consequence of not exploring space is that a civilisation which chooses to do this is doomed to go extinct fairly rapidly while those which do explore and colonise may last long enough to be safely established on multiple worlds and discover the remains of civilisations which acted on a purely economic basis and hence ensured their own collapse. High five for exoplanet archaeology.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A graph titled 'Number of Living Humans Who Have Walked on Another World' - its y-axis is numbered 5, 10, 15, its x-axis increments every ten years from 1960-2040. The line of the graph has a bracket above it that says '65 Years', starting at 1969, ending in 2034.<br />
:The line starts at 1969 and increases steeply to 12 by 1972. It then plateaus until the early nineties declines gradually to 9 between 1991-1999, and then plateaus again.<br />
:From 2011-2035, which is labeled 'Projected Actuarial Tables', the line branches into three and begins to decline more steeply to zero. The area between the first and second branch is shaded and labeled '5th percentile' and the area between the second and third branch is shaded and labeled '95th percentile.']<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The theme of actuarial projections was explored earlier in [[493: Actuarial]]; Randall's morbid python script for both was given in [http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/07/12/a-morbid-python-script/ the blag].<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|+Table of men who walked the moon<br />
|- style="background:#ccc;"<br />
| style="width:20px;"|<br />
| '''Name'''<br />
| '''Born'''<br />
| '''Died'''<br />
| '''Age at<br>first step'''<br />
| '''Mission'''<br />
| '''Lunar dates'''<br />
| '''Service'''<br />
| '''Alma Mater'''<br />
|- style="background:#def;"<br />
| 1. || {{w|Neil Armstrong}}|| 1930-08-05 || 2012-08-25 || 38y&nbsp;11m&nbsp;15d<br />
|rowspan="2"| {{w|Apollo&nbsp;11}} ||rowspan="2"| July&nbsp;21,&nbsp;1969 || {{w|NASA}} || {{w|Purdue University}}, {{w|University of Southern California}}<br />
|- style="background:#def;"<br />
| 2. || {{w|Buzz Aldrin}}|| 1930-01-20 || || 39y 6m 0d || {{w|United States Air Force|Air Force}} || {{w|United States Military Academy}}, {{w|MIT}}<br />
|- style="background:#ffe8e8;"<br />
| 3. || {{w|Pete Conrad}} || 1930-06-02 || 1999-07-08 || 39y 5m 17d<br />
|rowspan="2"| {{w|Apollo 12}} ||rowspan="2"| November&nbsp;19–20,&nbsp;1969 || {{w|United States Navy|Navy}} || {{w|Princeton University}}<br />
|- style="background:#ffe8e8;"<br />
| 4. || {{w|Alan Bean}}|| 1932-03-15 || 2018-05-26 || 37y 8m 4d || {{w|United States Navy|Navy}} || {{w|University of Texas, Austin}}<br />
|- style="background:#def;"<br />
| 5. || {{w|Alan Shepard}} || 1923-11-18 || 1998-07-21 || 47y 2m 18d<br />
|rowspan="2"| {{w|Apollo 14}} ||rowspan="2"| February 5–6, 1971 || {{w|United States Navy|Navy}} || {{w|United States Naval Academy}}<br />
|- style="background:#def;"<br />
| 6. || {{w|Edgar Mitchell}}|| 1930-09-07 || 2016-02-04 || 40y 4m 19d || {{w|United States Navy|Navy}} || {{w|Carnegie Mellon University}}, {{w|Naval Postgraduate School}}, {{w|MIT}}<br />
|- style="background:#ffe8e8;"<br />
| 7. || {{w|David Scott}} || 1932-06-06 || || 39y 1m 25d<br />
|rowspan="2"| {{w|Apollo 15}} ||rowspan="2"| July&nbsp;31&nbsp;-&nbsp;August&nbsp;2,&nbsp;1971 || {{w|United States Air Force|Air Force}} || {{w|University of Michigan}} (freshman year, and later, an honorary doctorate), {{w|United States Military Academy}}, {{w|MIT}}<br />
|- style="background:#ffe8e8;"<br />
| 8. || {{w|James Irwin}} || 1930-03-17 || 1991-08-08 || 41y 4m 14d || {{w|United States Air Force|Air Force}} || {{w|United States Naval Academy}}, {{w|University of Michigan}}<br />
|- style="background:#def;"<br />
| 9. || {{w|John Young (astronaut)|John W. Young}}|| 1930-09-24 || 2018-01-06 || 41y 6m 28d<br />
|rowspan="2"| {{w|Apollo 16}} ||rowspan="2"| April 21–23, 1972 || {{w|United States Navy|Navy}} || {{w|Georgia Institute of Technology}}<br />
|- style="background:#def;"<br />
| 10. || {{w|Charles Duke}} || 1935-10-03 || || 36y 6m 18d || {{w|United States Air Force|Air Force}} || {{w|United States Naval Academy}}, {{w|MIT}}<br />
|- style="background:#ffe8e8;"<br />
| 11. || {{w|Eugene Cernan}} || 1934-03-14 || 2017-01-16 || 38y 9m 7d<br />
|rowspan="2"| {{w|Apollo 17}} ||rowspan="2"| December 11–14, 1972 || {{w|United States Navy|Navy}} || {{w|Purdue University}}, {{w|Naval Postgraduate School}}<br />
|- style="background:#ffe8e8;"<br />
| 12. || {{w|Harrison Schmitt}} || 1935-07-03 || || 37y 5m 8d || {{w|NASA}} || {{w|Caltech}}, {{w|University of Oslo}} (exchange), {{w|Harvard University}}<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Line graphs]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Statistics]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2030:_Voting_Software&diff=1624912030: Voting Software2018-09-08T06:19:00Z<p>162.158.214.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2030<br />
| date = August 8, 2018<br />
| title = Voting Software<br />
| image = voting_software.png<br />
| titletext = There are lots of very smart people doing fascinating work on cryptographic voting protocols. We should be funding and encouraging them, and doing all our elections with paper ballots until everyone currently working in that field has retired.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The first two panels of this comic involve a reporter talking to professionals of a given field regarding the given safety of the products/solutions that each of their fields help to produce, or are at least partially involved in said production (Airplanes from aircraft designers in Panel 1, Elevators from building engineers in Panel 2). While the two inventions selected are relatively new when compared to how long humans have existed, the two fields mentioned have existed for multiple human generations, giving enough time to find flaws in their products/solutions and solve said flaws to the point that they can be considered safe for the general public to use.<br />
<br />
The comic from Panel 3 onwards contrasts this with [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] both agreeing that their given field (computer science / software development / software engineering) does not have the overall consistent competency that other fields have or, at the very least, appear to have. This is true (at least anecdotally) since there are very few ethical and security restrictions for what developers can/cannot do, and relatively minor consequences when catastrophes arise from poor decisions. <br />
<br />
<br />
The main joke of the comic is that when other engineers say something is safe, people don't believe them: People are scared of flying and elevators even though they are, statistically, very safe. However, the opposite is true for software engineers: When software engineers say something is dangerous, people don't believe them.<br />
<br />
Computer systems, operating primarily in a digital domain, fail differently from most traditional areas of engineering, which operate in analog (or continuous) domains. A small error in an analog part often gives a result which is close to the desired properties (it almost fits, it works most of the time). By contrast, a small error in a digital system (just one bit being changed) can easily make the system function in radically different ways. So not only is software engineering younger than other areas of engineering, but the domain is much less forgiving. Even small errors/variations are likely to produce radically different behavior.<br />
<br />
The title text confirms the comic's stance by implicitly saying that any digital voting systems that are produced are to not be used under any circumstances. It may also highlight that anyone working in the field is vulnerable to corruption, or at least that the field is far from maturity.<br />
<br />
This is a result of a fundamental difference between computer security and other types of safety measures -- in cryptography, there is ''always'' somebody trying to undo what you've built. Not only that, but new advances in cryptography tend to point out vulnerabilities with previous versions, making them not only obsolete, but dangerously so. For these reasons, it is especially important to make sure that whoever is selling you the security method is both competent and non-malicious, but because crypto software is highly technical and often confidential/proprietary, it can be hard to verify this if you're not an expert in the field (which you won't be, if you're buying it).<br />
<br />
These issues are especially pertinent to {{w|voting machine}}s, which store incredibly sensitive information but are often catastrophically outdated due to lack of funding. There are also major issues with electronic voting in general; for example, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_0x6oaDmI this video from Computerphile] raises issues of malware infections, transferring the votes to the election authorities without having them intercepted, and needing to trust both the machine's software and central counting system to present an accurate account of the votes. Furthermore, the people purchasing them, the politicians, are generally not known for their technical understanding -- or their impartiality.<br />
<br />
{{w|Blockchain}} is a relatively new technology that is intended to solve some computer security issues by making it difficult to doctor old data. However, in the process of solving the old computer security issues, it has introduced new computer security issues that have not yet been ironed out. It also doesn't solve input fraud issues, only data-doctoring fraud, so if a program caused the voting machine to record a vote for candidate B whenever a vote for candidate A was cast (such a program could be uploaded to the voting machines through USB, or through the internet which the voting machine must be connected to for blockchain), blockchain would not prevent it. Blockchain has also had a large number of high-profile scams, thefts, and implementations with critical security holes. Thus, [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] may not trust this blockchain solution because of this history.<br />
<br />
Most computer security specialists are more worried about programs that randomly deliberately misrecord a vote, than people changing the votes after they're already recorded, so blockchain would solve an issue that most computer security specialists are less worried about, while causing new issues (the perpetual internet connection among them).<br />
<br />
Also, the security issues that Blockchain solves could also be solved via write-once memory, which would be more secure and more difficult to doctor.<br />
<br />
The topic of voting machines has been covered before in [[463: Voting Machines]], where the use of anti-virus software on the machines has been discussed.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, this comic was posted a day before DEF CON 2018, and it was shown there that the voting systems that will be used across America for the mid-term vote in November are, in many cases, extremely insecure.<br />
<br />
The way Blockchain works is that several computers have data being inputted into them. With each tick, they all share their current states with each other, and encrypt and hash it. That state then becomes a 'block' in the chain. They then share states, including that block as part of the state, then hash and encrypt it, and then it becomes a 'block' in the chain. Each 'block' is included in the cryptographic hash of all following blocks, so if a change is made to any given block, all blocks after that block must be changed.<br />
<br />
Due to the distributed nature, if changes are made to any chain, it can be compared against the other chains, and so long as the majority say that the changes didn't happen, it's reverted and removed.<br />
<br />
This is really great at preventing post-facto data changes. With blockchain you can somewhat guarantee that no one comes in after the election and changes the votes on the machines. (Unless they're handling the blockchain in a stupid fashion, for example without the distribution) What you cannot do is prevent someone from installing a program on the machine that makes it think that there's a voter when it's idle, and makes it start registering the correct sequence of actions to signify a vote while idle.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:Asking aircraft designers about airplane safety:<br />
:Hairbun: Nothing is ever foolproof, but modern airliners are incredibly resilient. Flying is the safest way to travel.<br />
<br />
:Asking building engineers about elevator safety:<br />
:Cueball: Elevators are protected by multiple tried-and-tested failsafe mechanisms. They're nearly incapable of falling.<br />
<br />
:Asking software engineers about computerized voting:<br />
:Megan: That's ''terrifying''.<br />
<br />
:Ponytail: Wait, really?<br />
:Megan: Don't trust voting software and don't listen to anyone who tells you it's safe.<br />
:Ponytail: Why?<br />
:Megan: I don't quite know how to put this, but our entire field is bad at what we do, and if you rely on us, everyone will die.<br />
<br />
:Ponytail: They say they've fixed it with something called "blockchain."<br />
:Megan: AAAAA!!!<br />
:Cueball: Whatever they sold you, don't touch it.<br />
:Megan: Bury it in the desert.<br />
:Cueball: Wear gloves.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1112:_Think_Logically&diff=157809Talk:1112: Think Logically2018-05-28T16:47:03Z<p>162.158.214.22: First two paragraphs are useless</p>
<hr />
<div>Cueball is clearly a chess novice as demonstrated by the comic (at the very least he knows what the goal of the game is and how the pieces move), however he lacks higher knowledge of the game (which is gained through education) and is very inexperienced (experience is obviously gained by playing the game regularly). Given his non-expert position he attempts to deliver well-meaning advice as best he can (in this case through "thinking logically"), however the player receiving the advise (a clearly more knowledgeable and experienced player) immediately realises how utterly useless that advise is.<br />
Cueball approached the situation by "thinking logically", but his logic was flawed, possibly due to his lack of knowledge. Just because the goal of chess is to deliver checkmate does not necessarily mean that every move must be pushing a piece closer to the opponent's king. The best thing to do would be to first research and study the abundance of chess knowledge out there, practice it and then one can come up with tactics and strategies for every possible position (even if those aren't perfect). Chess is so complex that even if we wished to arrive at the absolute logical move for every position, this would be beyond us most of the time, it is just too complex. Not even computers know the perfect move for every position, although they do come up with great moves through the use of complex algorithms.<br />
Note: I thought the explanation given in the "Explanation" section above had some merit (it also explains some things I didn't include), and that is why I did not modify it and instead chose to provide mine here. Let me know what you thought, together we can explain everything.--[[User:DelendaEst|DelendaEst]] ([[User talk:DelendaEst|talk]]) 13:01, 24 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Feel free to add your explanation to the actual page if you think it's lacking in information. Wikis are meritocracies, and anyone is welcome to voice their opinions. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 13:21, 24 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:A good explanation. My takeaway was more about Dunning Kruger, and chess just happened to be a convenient backdrop. The expert proceeds to {{w|pwn}} the {{w|know-it-all}}... and even having been pwned, the braggart can't find the lesson in the defeat. But as with Randall's work, YMMV. (Or to paraphrase {{w|Euell Gibbons}}: "ever analyze an xkcd? Many interpretations are possible.") -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:52, 24 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I think your explanation is the best one, you managed to find the essence of the situation. I can very easily see what you explained happening in the comic.--[[User:DelendaEst|DelendaEst]] ([[User talk:DelendaEst|talk]]) 00:18, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just a quick point on the explanation. Chess is not a perfectly balanced game due to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-move_advantage_in_chess first move advantage] enjoyed by white. This advantage is very small, however, and the pieces themselves are well balanced. [[User:Heyart|Heyart]] ([[User talk:Heyart|talk]]) 13:53, 24 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Please note that experts are not in universal agreement about the supposed first move advantage held by white, and it's unwise to state it in such absolute terms as "Chess is not a perfectly balanced game" [[Special:Contributions/216.99.210.8|216.99.210.8]] 03:54, 29 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I found Cueball's demeanor in this comic to be very remeniscent of {{w|Sheldon Cooper}} of ''The Big Bang Theory'' in that he thinks he knows better than everyone even though chess has been around forever. Also, there was a specific episode of ''TBBT'' in which Cooper invents three-player chess including several new pieces. Cooper does not, however, do so considering the traditional rules of chess to be flawed (other than not allowed a third player). The characters do consider chess to be too easy, however, and often play ''Star Trek'''s three-dimensional chess. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 16:27, 24 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I see this comic, as so many comics before it, to be a description of nerd-dominance. The author seeks to entice the reader into inquiring about his own ill-thought out rules for chess. Do not inquire.<br />
<br />
<br />
Is the first character really wearing a "hat"? To me, it looks like a headband, similar to the one worn by {{w|Spock}} in the movie {{w|Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home}}. This would give another meaning to "Think logically"... --[[Special:Contributions/85.159.196.16|85.159.196.16]] 11:27, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Nope, not a headband -- there's hair below the brim but not above it. What you are seeing is a subtle clue that the chess expert is a Canadian, in that he is wearing what we call a toque, known in America as a stocking cap. https://www.google.ca/search?q=toque&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=JNV&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=MaFhUKmkEObRyAH9xoCACg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=960&bih=544 [[User:Noni Mausa|Noni Mausa]] ([[User talk:Noni Mausa|talk]]) 12:19, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Your point about the hair is interesting; however, a Vulcan is much better at explaining logic than any earthling... Canadians included!<br />
:--[[Special:Contributions/85.159.196.16|85.159.196.16]] 13:52, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I don't want to make a huge generalization, but in America they're known as beanies, stocking caps extend out from the head and end with pointed tips (or those silly poof balls). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:02, 28 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
::And thus it is a {{w|Knit cap}} as taken from the wikipedia article: ''This article is about the knit cap also known as a "beanie" or "tuque"'' (or as the Canadian guyy wrote toque). Of course somewhere they do call it {{w|Beanie (seamed cap)|Beanie}}, but even here they refer to knit cap. As a knit cap is for cold weather and the same drawing is used to protect hairless heads when lost the hair to chemotherapy or in cold conditions, and since a similar character was called [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|Knit Cap Girl]] in the extensive comic [[1350: Lorenz]], I have changed (what had become {{w|Skullcap}}?) to ''knit cap'' in the explanation. Here it is a guy though as the [http://xkcd.com/1112/info.0.json official transcript] calls him Knit hat guy, thus also making it clear that this is a knit cap.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:07, 31 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Another point I want to bring up is that it's generally not really a good idea to share your own strategy with your opponents (or potential opponents). I once participated in a Chess tournament, and before it began I encountered this guy who was bragging about his strategy, how he likes to move only his pawns at the beginning and form a sort of wall into which his opponents will invariably run their pieces and, in his words, "kill themselves." Of course, it just so happened that the first game I played in was against this same guy. And so I knew what he was trying to do, and I ended up destroying him. Granted, Cueball's "strategy" in this comic has very little to do with actual established Chess practices, but it's a similar idea. [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 18:53, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:As an avid chess player, I'd have to agree that we should keep our strategy to ourselves (unless we are planning to use deception). Also, I'd like to point out that your opponent's strategy to only move pawns in the opening is a very poor choice (unless the opening in question is a variation by Alekhine, which is considered to be sound). In the opening we are advised to mainly move pieces and only a few pawns and there are very good reasons for this, which I cannot go into here. Moreover, he plans to build a pawn wall for your pieces to destroy themselves? Typical novice threats, doesn't he realise you have an equally matched army and that you wouldn't purposefully endanger your pieces with his pawn wall? (Your pawns can neutralise his). His reasoning is laughable. If you'd like to learn lots about chess in a fun and painless way, I recommend the Chessmaster game. Anyway, good on you for beating that opponent!--[[User:DelendaEst|DelendaEst]] ([[User talk:DelendaEst|talk]]) 12:27, 28 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Yes, indeed, he was clearly very inexperienced, and while I'm not exactly a seasoned expert, I did spend the weeks leading up to this tournament studying openings and playing Chessmaster (and other Chess games on my mobile phone while not at my computer), and to my surprise I ended up in second place. Of course, this wasn't an official tournament, but rather one organized by the business and economics club at the community college in the area. So really I prefer to attribute my ultimate loss not to my lack of skill but to being more tired than my final opponent (final game was played at Denny's around midnight). More to the point, I was going to say that Kasparov had moved only pawns for something like the first eight moves for one of the games he won against Deep Blue, but after looking again at those games, that doesn't appear to be true. So what am I thinking of? I could have sworn I saw this from Kasparov somewhere... [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 04:13, 29 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was reminded of the scene from ''A Beautiful Mind'' when John Nash criticized a game (Go, I think) because he played flawlessly and yet still lost because he didn't go first. So he invented his own game, called Hex. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_(board_game)[[Special:Contributions/163.120.70.10|163.120.70.10]] 17:31, 11 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Does anybody else think the chess player could be Randall's wife? You see her depicted with a beanie and short black hair in the biopsy versary comic {{[[Special:Contributions/24.110.27.83|24.110.27.83]] 18:56, 19 December 2012 (UTC)|24.110.27.83}}<br />
:The transcript calls the chess player "hat '''guy'''," so I doubt such.<br />
:Also, sudo sign your discussion comments by entering four tildes in the end. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 11:20, 13 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
::Yes not his wife as it is a guy according to [http://xkcd.com/1112/info.0.json official transcript] which calls him ''Knit hat guy'', thus also making it clear that this is a {{w|knit cap}}. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:07, 31 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I've always thought of this comic as being one of those nerdy 13 year olds that are chess geniuses (I call them geniuses because I can't play chess, it's too complicated for me, my cat beats me), and for some reason, these brilliant kids are almost always portrayed as beanie toting. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:47, 13 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just to add a comment as a chess player, "thinking logically" does not always work in chess. Sometimes, one must go with their 'intuition', or gut feeling. Of course, these gut feelings are usually backed by subconscious logical reasoning, but sometimes, a chess player plays a move because it FEELS right. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.166}}<br />
:I understand this as meaning "there's only so much logic power I can spend on the next move before I run out of time" - even if there's no chess clock in play, there are social and biological factors like needing to eat and sleep eventually or a desire not to bore the other player. At some point, the amount of time and energy one needs to better evaluate which of two or three or four plausible moves is the best one is just not worth it at the margins. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.87|162.158.62.87]] 16:32, 24 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I tend to feel that people who use the phrase "think logically" actually mean "think the same thing I think, because I am *obviously* without bias, am incapable of flawed reasoning, and I am above petty things like history or context, so I'm right and shut up". They are usually wrong, by the way. And an asshole. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 03:40, 11 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The first two paragraphs are useless. Nobody doesn’t know what chess is! And if they don’t, they don’t have to learn about it here.</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1848:_Glacial_Erratic&diff=141168Talk:1848: Glacial Erratic2017-06-12T12:05:05Z<p>162.158.214.22: 2D rocks and 1D muscles.</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Can 'Fuck glaciers' be a comment on the US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.106|162.158.222.106]] 06:57, 9 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
Agreed!<br />
<br />
Nooooooo, just some of US. The rest of us are trying to figure out how to withdraw from the US...Maybe a peaceful annexation by Canada for northern tier states<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 14:58, 10 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think Megan just hates the glacier for littering, not for abandoning a child. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.155|141.101.104.155]] 08:42, 9 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Agree and removed the abandoning explanation. It makes no sense, as it is not a child of the glacier. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:25, 9 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Lane Louis Lane] was still alive and conducting when Superman: The Movie came out in 1978. That should probably be fixed.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.250|108.162.216.250]] 12:29, 9 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The fault-sealing scene is before Louis "dies" and thus before Superman turns back time. In the scene, he flies in the fault, pushing up the land to fill the crevice created by the splitting of the land.[[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]]) 00:27, 10 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Assuming rock is 2000 kg per cubic meter and the one drawn is one meter high, then that boulder weighs 1000 kg, and we can see it moves, which goes to show that stick people are VERY strong! [[User:Rotan|Rotan]] ([[User talk:Rotan|talk]]) 09:35, 10 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Like stick people, the rock is two-dimensional. Since mass only increases with the square of the linear dimension in 2D, the rock might still be movable by a single person. That said, the force generated by what must clearly be one-dimensional muscles is harder to predict. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.22|162.158.214.22]] 12:05, 12 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
In addition to Paris agreement, glaciars are also quite topical because a crack in the Larsen C ice shelf is weeks away from breaking off a huge piece of Antarctica. See: Patel, Jugal K. ''A Crack in an Antarctic Ice Shelf Is 8 Miles From Creating an Iceberg the Size of Delaware''. The New York Times. [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/09/climate/antarctica-rift-update.html nyti.ms/2s5jZ5V]. June 9, 2017. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 05:23, 12 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Who cares if this is the first comic since xyz including swear words? If such a thing is considered trivia then it would be equally important to note that this is first comic since abc having 5 pictures. I removed that part. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:19, 12 June 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.214.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1848:_Glacial_Erratic&diff=1411671848: Glacial Erratic2017-06-12T11:59:19Z<p>162.158.214.22: /* Explanation */ Added quotation marks</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1848<br />
| date = June 9, 2017<br />
| title = Glacial Erratic<br />
| image = glacial_erratic.png<br />
| titletext = "This will take a while, which sucks, because I'm already so busy chiseling out igneous intrusions from rock formations and watching Youtube loops of the Superman fault-sealing scene over and over."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Ponytail]] and [[Megan]] are walking along when they come across an {{w|Glacial_erratic|erratic rock}} (which differs from the surrounding geology and is brought there by {{w|Glacier|glacial action}}). {{tvtropes|CrazyAwesome|Not wishing to bow down to the forces of nature}}, Megan tries to take it back to its rightful place, obviously in vain.<br />
<br />
Megan is annoyed with the glacier for just {{w|Litter|littering}} the place up with rocks. She wishes to put it back in place, just like picking up a piece of litter and putting it in the trash bin where it belongs.<br />
<br />
The title text furthers the absurdity by suggesting that Megan is extra annoyed with having to clean up after the glacier, because it will take a long time (and as she put it "Fuck Glaciers"). The problem for Megan is that she is already using her time {{w|Chisel|chiselling}} out {{w|Intrusive_rock|igneous intrusions}} which is another type of rock formation caused by solidification of {{w|magma}}, which Megan also plans to undo. To soothe her mind she keeps watching [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjgsnWtBQm0 the scene] from the {{w|Superman (1978 film)|Superman film}} where {{w|Superman}} turns back time to prevent an earthquake and thus also create a fault-sealing by reversing the creation of the fault in the first place. He also prevents the destruction of the {{w|Hoover Dam}} and the death of {{w|Lois Lane}}, but it seems like this is not important to Megan. She is only interested in undoing what nature has already done, and if the Superman scene could be made real it would solve her problems.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail and Megan walks up to a large rock, Ponytail points at it.]<br />
:Ponytail: That rock is a glacial erratic-A glacier broke it off from those hills and placed it here.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel they stand and watch the rock.]<br />
:Megan: What? And just ''left'' it here? <br />
:Megan: And everybody's ''okay'' with this?<br />
<br />
:[Megan tries to lift the rock with two hands.] <br />
<br />
:[Megan turns her back to the rock and tries to push it with all her might.]<br />
:Megan: Get...<br />
:Megan: ...back...<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail looks on as Megan again has turned around and tries to roll the boulder using both hands.]<br />
:Ponytail: Why ... Why are you doing that?<br />
:Megan: ''Because fuck glaciers!''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Geography]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]] <!--Superman-></div>162.158.214.22