https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.255.22&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T02:06:12ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2131:_Emojidome&diff=171987Talk:2131: Emojidome2019-04-02T04:12:39Z<p>162.158.255.22: added instructions on installing an emoji font</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 />
I've checked the network tab and console - nothing really seems to happen when you vote, which may be something we want to put on the explanation tomorrow - Myxoh<br />
<br />
I suspect the real april fools joke is going to come on Wednesday when xkdc posts an app showing us our psychological profiles that they are now selling to marketing companies after data-mining our emotional preferences to marketing firms - Nosajimiki<br />
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@Nosajimiki: psychological profiles of xkcd fans. That might be some interesting marketing. - 5Cincinatus<br />
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@Myxoh: I came here to see if anyone else had noticed this! But, I do also see a websocket connection to emojidome.xkcd.com, I bet it's counting votes that way.<br />
<br />
There is a websocket connection. A message is sent every time you vote. It looks like there are also status update messages every second (saying which emoji currently has exactly how many votes, i suspect this changes the amount of hearts that show up), and "bracket start" messages every so often. The bracket start message seems to contain hundreds of upcoming emoji pairs. Edit: a bracket start is sent at the start of every match (so every ~30 seconds). It also contains logs of which messages to show for previous matches, and which emoji are currently battling.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.138.10|172.69.138.10]] 16:30, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There seems to be nothing stopping me from clicking multiple times. Do you think it actually counts it all those times? Can I click-spam to say "this is much better"? [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 16:48, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Randall just confirmed that you can vote multiple times, although if you click too fasr you get rate limited. (*warning: generic ip address assigned to phone data.*) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.47|172.69.70.47]] 22:35, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Well this is fun. Look like there are 512 symbols, meaning 256 first-round contests. The first round would take (at 38 seconds / round) ~2.7 hours. The remaining rounds, from an estimate of geometric progression, would just under double this, meaning this comic will run for ~ 5 hours until we have our winner... ~alexandicity [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.177|172.69.226.177]] 16:51, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Did he just add a scroll bar to the previous matches? I didn't notice it earlier [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.148|162.158.255.148]] 18:17, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Nope, you were able to scroll before, too. At least about 2 hours ago. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 18:20, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
While some of the recaps of past battles are generic (taco vs sandwich: "One for the history books"), many seem to be specifically written for the battle (light bulb vs candle: "Some would argue that this one was settled in the 1800s"). I wonder if/how much this will continue into round 2.<br />
<br />
Round two has just begun, and the timeout has been bumped to 60 seconds. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 18:41, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
:If that trend continues, the full competition will take pretty close to 24 hours. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 18:45, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
:It looks like it's 1:14/round, which is double what the time was in round one. Will round three be 2:28? 1:51?<br />
::It's just over 1:15/round from the history JSON (plus some hundredths of a second, but it appears 1:15 is the intent)<br />
:::Hadn't looked there. Round one concluded at 18:39:20-ish, 9560 seconds from 16:00:00. At 256 battles, that's 37.34 seconds/battle. However, it looks like the first battle ended at 15:59:57, which would add about 40 seconds, 9600 seconds/256=37.5 seconds exactly. Doubling for round 2 gives 75 seconds.<br />
::2 minutes 30 seconds per battle now. Looks like each round will be 2 hours 40 minutes long.<br />
:: Well it is after 5:00 PST and round 4 just started - and this thing is at exactly 5 minutes a round - which means another 160 minutes for the round. Will see in 2 hours and 40 minutes if the times go up to minutes. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.65|172.69.33.65]] 00:25, 2 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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<br />
And while the match-ups winners are typically colored, and underlined, the losers are endgame grey.<br />
<br />
Has anyone determined if multiple-voting is actually counted? For me at least the vote button fades back to gray after I click it, which implies you can/should click it again, but that may not actually be processed. We might add a clarification about that to the explanation. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 19:01, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
: A reddit user on the r/xkcd thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/b84at1/xkcd_2131_emojidome_script_src2131comicjs/) claims to have attempted "vote stuffing via the console" with no noticeable change in vote totals. So it looks like it may be sending it client-side, but only counting the vote once server-side --l<br />
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::Just few minutes ago there was message in "fun facts" that you can click multiple times, although it's not counted if you click too many times (or something like that). I guess that vote stuffing was too much. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:34, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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It would appear that we are supposed to believe the commentary is live, and unscripted:<br />
" {"This one is a true test of the audience today.",<br />
"Just to stress this again. Live commentary, folks. Completely unscripted and coming in hot.} "--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.173|162.158.79.173]] 19:20, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
:It's clearly live because the result of a previous round is affecting the next round's commentary - and the combinatorial explosion would prohibit that from being remotely plausible. We're watching live comedy here! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 19:30, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
: On the dog vs. wolf, he said "Again, we are getting a lot of questions on this today. This is live commentary, folks." Proof I guess. HI RANDALL! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.241|172.68.189.241]] 19:31, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Is there really anything we can put for the transcript? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.241|172.68.189.241]] 19:25, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
: We can go into the socket data and pull out the commentary for each matchup. -- [[User:Bobson|Bobson]] ([[User talk:Bobson|talk]]) 04:05, 2 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Aby ideas on how the commentary is done? It seems to sort of match the emojis.<br />
[[User:Svízel přítula|Svízel přítula]] ([[User talk:Svízel přítula|talk]]) 19:31, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
: It seems that Randall is commetating this live, as he periodcally says it's live in the robot commentator text. See above. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.241|172.68.189.241]] 19:36, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Perhaps not "live" as each round 2 matchup was known 160 minutes before it was voted on. He could comment on the battle itself, and/or provide a comment if one or the other combatant won. I think he's a couple hours ahead of us.<br />
::: I dunno. Whenever a new battle starts, there is a default message, that is soon replaced by a more pertinent message. That seems to suggest that he's doing it on the fly. [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 20:03, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
::::If that's live, Randall, and if you see this, give us a shout-out as proof. -Brent<br />
This is a quick piece of python to see the json results (and commentary):<br />
<nowiki>import json, urllib.request<br />
d = json.loads(urllib.request.urlopen("https://emojidome.xkcd.com/2131/socket ").read().decode('utf-8'))<br />
for g in d['bracket']['played'][0]:<br />
c1, c2 = g['game']<br />
print(f"{c1['score']} {c1['competitor']}-{c2['competitor']} {c2['score']}")</nowiki><br />
[[User:Tammo80|Tammo80]] ([[User talk:Tammo80|talk]]) 19:42, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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: or if you want to see the vote count live in browser: https://emojidome.playcode.io/ -Andy 22:01, April 2019<br />
:: Awesome, thank you [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 20:23, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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There must be some kind of manipulation going on with the votes. There is NO WAY the poop emoji would lose to the skull emoji in round two. It was my guess for the winner >:( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.138|162.158.106.138]] 20:50, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
: And the 100 emoji just lost to the shiny heart. :(<br />
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The second round bracket was released, but is hidden behind the bottom nav buttons: https://xkcd.com/2131/emojidome_bracket_256.png --[[User:Thefallen138|Thefallen138]] ([[User talk:Thefallen138|talk]]) 20:56, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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And now the third round has begun. Strangely, the bracket is not visible yet: https://xkcd.com/2131/emojidome_bracket_128.png. The delay has been bump to something above two minutes as well. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 21:21, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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: It's here https://xkcd.com/2131/emojidome_bracket_round_3.png [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.79|162.158.107.79]] 21:41, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Both the Emojidome and counter were brought together in iframes https://ducakedhare.co.uk/emojidome.html [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.17|141.101.99.17]] 23:39, 1 April 2019 (UTC)taikedz<br />
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Anyone have an IRC room for Emojidome discussion? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.10|162.158.146.10]]<br />
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== "Emoji" or "emojis" as the plural? ==<br />
<br />
Due to the nature of the Japanese language, "emoji" is technically both the plural and the singular - however, the improper form "emojis" is used more as a plural frequently nowadays among English speakers. Which form should this explanation use? --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 22:27, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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The "friends in Australia" comment was made during the last round's wink vs upside down smile battle. This is probably a pun on how Australia is on the other side of the world from America; I don't think Randall was seriously saying he witnessed an influx of Australians inbound. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.82|108.162.219.82]] 00:47, 2 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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== Draws ==<br />
<br />
What would happen if any of the fights resulted in a draw? (same number of votes for both)<br />
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Given the # of matchups, it's not actually that unlikely.<br />
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We should try to test this. Gotta keep Randall on his feet!<br />
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Pretty sure one early on resulted in a tie.<br />
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: The very first round was 0-0. I guess no one refreshed at exactly the right minute to see it. --[[User:Bobson|Bobson]] ([[User talk:Bobson|talk]]) 04:05, 2 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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== Emoji Fonts ==<br />
Having an emoji font is required to see emoji displayed on sites such as http://srv-01.valo.media/ . If anybody else is looking for a way to display these, there's a good free emoji font available here:<br />
https://github.com/eosrei/twemoji-color-font<br />
It includes a script to replace the default Windows emoji fonts to get them to display properly on windows. Unfortunately it's only black-and-white in chrome. If anybody knows any better options, please let me know!</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2130:_Industry_Nicknames&diff=171793Talk:2130: Industry Nicknames2019-03-29T18:59:01Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
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While I understand the humor value of using "big" as part of each nickname, "Detroit" would be a more realistic choice instead of "Big Car" (or even "Big Auto") for the car companies. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 16:04, 29 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
:I’ve never heard that referred to as Detroit or big Detroit, thought you’re right about big auto. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:22, 29 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Real estate works too and rates pretty high: big house. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.210.16|172.69.210.16]] 17:24, 29 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I, for one, welcome our new big horse overlords [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 18:59, 29 March 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2123:_Meta_Collecting&diff=1711262123: Meta Collecting2019-03-13T17:16:19Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2123<br />
| date = March 13, 2019<br />
| title = Meta Collecting<br />
| image = meta_collecting.png<br />
| titletext = I'm trying to get the page locked because some jerk keeps adding "Yachts".<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a YACHT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is another comic in the "[[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]]" series.<br />
<br />
Many people's hobbies involve {{w|collecting}} many items of the same category - post stamps, collectible cards, painted dolls, wine, and so on. Just about anything can be collected, but for some reason, some things are collected much more often than others. Wikipedia has a page listing the most popular categories of such collectable items.<br />
<br />
In Randall's usual style of going meta with everything, he decided to start a meta-collection - a collection of examples of different things that people can collect. He uses the Wikipedia's list of {{w|collectable|collectables}} for reference. In the comic, Cueball is showing to his friend his collection of various items that have nothing in common except that they're all popular collectibles.<br />
<br />
In title text, Randall complains about a troll who keeps adding {{w|yacht}}s to the {{w|list of collectables}} - mostly because it would force him to buy a yacht if he ever wanted to complete his collection of collectables. Yachts are traditionally considered immensely expensive. Note that Randall does not specify how he is trying to get the page locked, and the comic itself might be a rather meta way of doing so: xkcd fans have a history of making lots of edits to Wikipedia articles Randall mentions, resulting in them being protected or locked.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[The comic depicts Cueball reading from a list to White Hat, standing next to a case filled with "collectables" such as a model ship or a vinyl record.]<br />
:Today we're looking for a lunchbox, a snow globe, a Maytag dryer, a Harley Davidson, and a stamp.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the frame:]<br />
:My hobby: Collecting one item from every category listed on Wikipedia's "List of collectables."<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:My Hobby]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2119:_Video_Orientation&diff=1705762119: Video Orientation2019-03-05T19:56:36Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2119<br />
| date = March 4, 2019<br />
| title = Video Orientation<br />
| image = video_orientation.png<br />
| titletext = CIRCULAR VIDEO - PROS: Solves aspect ratio problem. CONS: Never trust anyone who talks to you from inside a circle.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This was created by a TRUSTWORTHY CIRCULAR VIDEO. Need to make interpretation of circular text neutral, ideally by enumerating all the interpretations listed in the comments. Is the following relevant? Nothing about Bold and Dynamic. Better explanation on horizontal and vertical needed. DO NOT DELETE THIS TOO SOON (It already was once.)}}<br />
<br />
This comic compares selected pros and cons of 3 video "orientations" (also known as angling), one of which is entirely made-up. This comic could have been inspired {{Dubious}} by articles like https://mashable.com/2017/12/28/vertical-video-mainstream-year/#GEK.NgJ74mqR, and https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/video-looks-most-natural-horizontally-but-we-hold-our-phones-vertically/, which comment on how videos are now filmed vertically through smartphones.<br />
<br />
From Randall's comments on horizontal vs vertical, it seems that he is in favor of horizontal videos. However, he does love a good [[690|compromise]][[Category:Compromise]], so he suggests "Diagonal Orientation" as a third option to equally dissatisfy both types of user. The issue with this is that diagonal angling fails to fully capture the benefits of either horizontal or vertical angling.<br />
<br />
This is another comic claiming that an obviously bad idea keeps being done by accident "so we might as well just accept it", following on from [[2116: .NORM Normal File Format]] a week prior.<br />
<br />
'''Horizontal orientation'''<br />
# Good for people not used to phones, and has been used for centuries for capturing video.<br />
# Not the best at capturing a human's entire body, without also capturing much of their surroundings.<br />
# Potentially uncomfortable for the one making the recording to maintain over a long period of time, as most phones were designed for vertical holding.<br />
<br />
'''Vertical orientation'''<br />
# Supposedly the norm for most users capturing video on their smartphone (many users will avoid shooting this way despite potential discomfort)<br />
# Not ideal for capturing the background, as our world is mostly a "horizontal plane".<br />
<br />
'''Diagonal orientation'''<br />
# Not a standard format of video, thus "bold and dynamic". {{Citation needed}}<br />
# Equally annoying to all viewers.<br />
# Flawless, as in perfect in every way.{{Dubious}}<br />
<br />
<br />
Diagonal angling is commonly known as "oblique angle" or "{{w|Dutch angle}}" in cinema and is often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed.<br />
<br />
The title text quip about circular video could be a reference to having a demon trapped inside a summoning circle, or being spoken to by members of a select or secretive circle of people, hence not trusting anything what is said to you due to perhaps lacking evidence of their motivations, or HAL 9000 from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}}. It could also be a reference to Loki in The Avengers, who is the god of trickery and is held at one point in a circular cell. The title text quip may also be a reference to an advertising trope where a talking head in a circle is superimposed over images of the product being advertised, usually this is a the case in low budget productions for "as seen on TV" products.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[The image shows three columns by three rows with the following headers:]<br />
:'''Video Orientation'''<br />
:'''Pros'''<br />
:'''Cons'''<br />
<br />
:[First row:]<br />
:[A wide picture with a text above:]<br />
:Horizontal<br />
:[Pros are:]<br />
:*Looks normal to old people<br />
:*Format used by a century of cinema<br />
:[Cons are:]<br />
:*Humans are taller than are wide<br />
:*I'm not turning my phone sideways<br />
<br />
:[Second row:]<br />
:[A tall picture with a text above:]<br />
:Vertical<br />
:[Pros are:]<br />
:*How most normal people shoot and watch video now so we may as well accept it<br />
:[Cons are:]<br />
:*Human world is mostly a horizontal plane<br />
<br />
:[Third row:]<br />
:[A picture rotated by 45 degrees with a text above:]<br />
:Diagonal<br />
:[Pros are:]<br />
:*Bold and dynamic<br />
:*Equally annoying to all viewers<br />
:*Good compromise<br />
:[Cons are:]<br />
:*None<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Compromise]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2119:_Video_Orientation&diff=1705752119: Video Orientation2019-03-05T19:55:18Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2119<br />
| date = March 4, 2019<br />
| title = Video Orientation<br />
| image = video_orientation.png<br />
| titletext = CIRCULAR VIDEO - PROS: Solves aspect ratio problem. CONS: Never trust anyone who talks to you from inside a circle.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This was created by a TRUSTWORTHY CIRCULAR VIDEO. Need to make interpretation of circular text neutral, ideally by enumerating all the interpretations listed in the comments. Is the following relevant? Nothing about Bold and Dynamic. Better explanation on horizontal and vertical needed. DO NOT DELETE THIS TOO SOON (It already was once.)}}<br />
<br />
This comic compares selected pros and cons of 3 video "orientations" (also known as angling), one of which is entirely made-up. This comic could have been inspired {{Dubious}} by articles like https://mashable.com/2017/12/28/vertical-video-mainstream-year/#GEK.NgJ74mqR, and https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/video-looks-most-natural-horizontally-but-we-hold-our-phones-vertically/, which comment on how videos are now filmed vertically through smartphones.<br />
<br />
From Randall's comments on horizontal vs vertical, it seems that he is in favor of horizontal videos. However, he does love a good [[690|compromise]][[Category:Compromise]], so he suggests "Diagonal Orientation" as a third option to equally dissatisfy both types of user. The issue with this is that diagonal angling fails to fully capture the benefits of either horizontal or vertical angling.<br />
<br />
This is another comic claiming that an obviously bad idea keeps being done by accident "so we might as well just accept it", following on from [[2116: .NORM Normal File Format]] a week prior.<br />
<br />
'''Horizontal orientation'''<br />
# Good for people not used to phones, and has been used for centuries for capturing video.<br />
# Not the best at capturing a human's entire body, without also capturing much of their surroundings.<br />
# Potentially uncomfortable for the one making the recording to maintain over a long period of time, as most phones were designed for vertical holding.<br />
<br />
'''Vertical orientation'''<br />
# The norm for most users capturing video on their smartphone.<br />
# Not ideal for capturing the background, as our world is mostly a "horizontal plane".<br />
<br />
'''Diagonal orientation'''<br />
# Not a standard format of video, thus "bold and dynamic". {{Citation needed}}<br />
# Equally annoying to all viewers.<br />
# Flawless, as in perfect in every way.{{Dubious}}<br />
<br />
<br />
Diagonal angling is commonly known as "oblique angle" or "{{w|Dutch angle}}" in cinema and is often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed.<br />
<br />
The title text quip about circular video could be a reference to having a demon trapped inside a summoning circle, or being spoken to by members of a select or secretive circle of people, hence not trusting anything what is said to you due to perhaps lacking evidence of their motivations, or HAL 9000 from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}}. It could also be a reference to Loki in The Avengers, who is the god of trickery and is held at one point in a circular cell. The title text quip may also be a reference to an advertising trope where a talking head in a circle is superimposed over images of the product being advertised, usually this is a the case in low budget productions for "as seen on TV" products.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[The image shows three columns by three rows with the following headers:]<br />
:'''Video Orientation'''<br />
:'''Pros'''<br />
:'''Cons'''<br />
<br />
:[First row:]<br />
:[A wide picture with a text above:]<br />
:Horizontal<br />
:[Pros are:]<br />
:*Looks normal to old people<br />
:*Format used by a century of cinema<br />
:[Cons are:]<br />
:*Humans are taller than are wide<br />
:*I'm not turning my phone sideways<br />
<br />
:[Second row:]<br />
:[A tall picture with a text above:]<br />
:Vertical<br />
:[Pros are:]<br />
:*How most normal people shoot and watch video now so we may as well accept it<br />
:[Cons are:]<br />
:*Human world is mostly a horizontal plane<br />
<br />
:[Third row:]<br />
:[A picture rotated by 45 degrees with a text above:]<br />
:Diagonal<br />
:[Pros are:]<br />
:*Bold and dynamic<br />
:*Equally annoying to all viewers<br />
:*Good compromise<br />
:[Cons are:]<br />
:*None<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Compromise]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2107:_Launch_Risk&diff=1690602107: Launch Risk2019-02-04T19:04:42Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2107<br />
| date = February 4, 2019<br />
| title = Launch Risk<br />
| image = launch_risk.png<br />
| titletext = Don't worry--you're less likely to die from a space launch than from a shark attack. The survival rate is pretty high for both!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a FUCKING SHILL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic deals with statistics based on a large population, such as all Americans, when the people in question are in a smaller group with vastly different statistics, such as astronauts. <br />
<br />
In a capsule about to be launched into space, one astronaut asks another how they are feeling. The second one admits to feeling nervous. The first one offers the supposedly reassuring observation that they are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be selected as an astronaut. Such "more likely to be struck by lightning" comparisons are commonly used to illustrate that a particular risk is very remote, and thus should not be considered particularly frightening.<br />
<br />
The second one agrees with the first one for a moment, but then realizes that something is wrong with the argument. Presumably, they realize that the likelihood of being ''selected as an astronaut'' is a moot point -- they are there because they ''already have'' been selected as an astronaut. The relevant concern is the risk level faced by an astronaut, given that they already hold that position. Unfortunately, the historical record shows that this risk is somewhat high, certainly far above the minuscule risk of being struck by lightning.<br />
<br />
The lifetime odds of being struck by lightning are approximately 1 in 14,600. [https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds How Dangerous is Lightning?]. In contrast, 18 of the 557 people who who have been in Earth orbit have died, about 1 in 31 ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_accidents_and_incidents List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents], [https://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/stats.php Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics]).<br />
<br />
The title text refers to another common comparison, the risk of a shark attack. In addition to shark attacks being rather rare, they are also not as likely to kill the victim as is commonly assumed. Most people attacked by sharks, and most people launched into space, live through the experience; however, it remains true that both are considerably riskier than many if not most common activities.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
A tall rocket, such as depicted would be more likely to be struck by lightning than nearby structures. However launch controllers monitor weather carefully to reduce the chances of attempting to launch when lightning is likely.<br />
<br />
A space craft launch can trigger lightning, by creating a conductive path through charge bearing clouds, which would normally not produce lightning. Apollo 12 was struck by triggered lightning twice during launch phase, resulting in the entire operational platform shutting down from overload. Thankfully backup systems allowed the flight to proceed. For more information, see [https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/9-12/features/F_Lightning_and_Launches_9_12.html NASA: Lightning and Launches]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A rocket is about to launch.]<br />
:Astronaut 1: How you feeling?<br />
:Astronaut 2: Honestly, pretty nervous.<br />
:Astronaut 1: I know it seems dangerous, but just remember: you're more likely to be struck by lightning than to be selected to become an astronaut.<br />
:Astronaut 2: Oh that's a good-<br />
:Astronaut 2: ...Wait.<br />
:Countdown: T-Minus 20...19...<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2106:_Sharing_Options&diff=168954Talk:2106: Sharing Options2019-02-02T00:46:42Z<p>162.158.255.22: signed comment</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 />
Certainly true for Twitter where it's either public or private. (Nothing about 300, but the amount of requests one can accept over a lifetime is finite.) As for the "friends-of-friends" option, it's possible that Randall only has ~300 within that wider circle.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.113|162.158.79.113]] 17:17, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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:The 300 may be in reference to a widely reported average number of Facebook friends of 338 (although not sure where this number comes from). For Twitter it looks like the average number of followers is slightly lower [https://what-if.xkcd.com/65]. Both Twitter and Facebook have well over a billion users. 300 friends is also around the maximum number of close acquaintances that the human brain is thought to be able to cope with. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 20:27, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Randall screwed up the text, likely because he's a socialist who doesn't understand how capitalism works. The proper tooltip text should be "How about posts that are public, but every time a company accesses a bunch of them, they are charged $5/image for the privilege and $.05 per picture gets deposited into your online account?"[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 18:11, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Isn't that how it works already, except it goes into Facebook's accounts and we never see the money ourselves? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 21:54, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Pretty sure the title text is meant to have been spoken by "the screen" vs. Randall/Cueball. The screen is attempting to appease Cueball's privacy concerns by proposing that if a company such as Google, Amazon, eBay, etc. mines a large number of Cueball's social posts for their own agenda, instead of notification of that event, Cueball will instead receive a single "like" to one of his posts at random from the company's CEO. This practice would be deceptive and of little value. Cueball might easily miss the like, not know who the CEO of various companies are, may forget the significance of receiving such a like, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.46.16|172.69.46.16]] 19:42, 1 February 2019 (UTC)Pat<br />
: For me, I found the idea enticing because targeted advertising is so creepy, and it would show where it comes from. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 21:54, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Shouldn't this be categorised under "Comics featuring Megan," "Ponytail," "Hairy," and "White Hat" as well, even if they're just in the background? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 00:46, 2 February 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2106:_Sharing_Options&diff=168953Talk:2106: Sharing Options2019-02-02T00:39:45Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Certainly true for Twitter where it's either public or private. (Nothing about 300, but the amount of requests one can accept over a lifetime is finite.) As for the "friends-of-friends" option, it's possible that Randall only has ~300 within that wider circle.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.113|162.158.79.113]] 17:17, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The 300 may be in reference to a widely reported average number of Facebook friends of 338 (although not sure where this number comes from). For Twitter it looks like the average number of followers is slightly lower [https://what-if.xkcd.com/65]. Both Twitter and Facebook have well over a billion users. 300 friends is also around the maximum number of close acquaintances that the human brain is thought to be able to cope with. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 20:27, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Randall screwed up the text, likely because he's a socialist who doesn't understand how capitalism works. The proper tooltip text should be "How about posts that are public, but every time a company accesses a bunch of them, they are charged $5/image for the privilege and $.05 per picture gets deposited into your online account?"[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 18:11, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Isn't that how it works already, except it goes into Facebook's accounts and we never see the money ourselves? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 21:54, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Pretty sure the title text is meant to have been spoken by "the screen" vs. Randall/Cueball. The screen is attempting to appease Cueball's privacy concerns by proposing that if a company such as Google, Amazon, eBay, etc. mines a large number of Cueball's social posts for their own agenda, instead of notification of that event, Cueball will instead receive a single "like" to one of his posts at random from the company's CEO. This practice would be deceptive and of little value. Cueball might easily miss the like, not know who the CEO of various companies are, may forget the significance of receiving such a like, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.46.16|172.69.46.16]] 19:42, 1 February 2019 (UTC)Pat<br />
: For me, I found the idea enticing because targeted advertising is so creepy, and it would show where it comes from. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 21:54, 1 February 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Shouldn't this be categorised under "Comics featuring Megan," "Ponytail," "Hairy," and "White Hat" as well, even if they're just in the background?</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2105:_Modern_OSI_Model&diff=1688162105: Modern OSI Model2019-01-30T05:36:24Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2105<br />
| date = January 30, 2019<br />
| title = Modern OSI Model<br />
| image = modern_osi_model.png<br />
| titletext = In retrospect, I shouldn't have used each layer of the OSI model as one of my horcruxes.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a seven-layered BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2104:_Biff_Tannen&diff=168729Talk:2104: Biff Tannen2019-01-28T23:06:46Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
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<div>I thought Biff jumped from 2015 to 1955, not 1985...? Young Biff had the Almanac in his pocket at the High School dance and the tower he built was already in place in 1985.<br />
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<!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Collusion with a time traveler would bring a few things into focus. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.25|173.245.54.25]] 15:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
:You inspire ''one'' house painter to change careers & suddenly everyone blames you for everything. <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:23, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]] 15:39, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Do we keep the “cheat at sports betting” wording? I don’t know if this is cheating. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:22, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Cheating is generally heald to be using something unavailable to anyone else in the normal course of play to gain an advantage. I'd say using the almanac towards those ends definitely applies. [[User:Mjm87|Mjm87]] ([[User talk:Mjm87|talk]]) 19:07, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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If anyone questions the fact that newspapers in real life did attempt to assert that the rise of Trump was inevitable, various newspaper articles may easily be found as proof with a Google Search for [Donald Trump inevitable], preferably restricted to results before 2017, so as to remove results about things he did later. I don't know how best to incorporate such results as a source in the article, as the number of citations could easily be made too big, and also I don't know if anyone cares. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:30, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I am from Europe, and I do not understand the issue. If event X happens while you predicted Y, isn't researching and hypothising a good way to find out why, possibly learning new things in the process? Saying you don't want to debate the issue is like hating politics. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.131|141.101.104.131]] 18:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Many people who understand politics hate it. On behalf of my fellow continenteans, I apologize for 141.101.104.131, who apparently believes that politics overlaps with political science. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.40|162.158.114.40]] 18:51, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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:Note that ''Hillbilly Elegy'' could not have been intended to explain the Trump election, having been written before it. However, it was interpreted this way. I have attempted to make this clear in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.179|108.162.212.179]] 18:53, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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If I'm not mistaken, Biff is based off of Donald Trump, so the Donald Trump analogy may be more likely than not. I can't quite recall where I read this, but there are quite a few similarities between the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.138|162.158.186.138]] 19:14, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Added [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.156|162.158.122.156]] 19:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Why does this article go out of its way to avoid mentioning Hillary Clinton by name?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.19|162.158.107.19]] 20:25, 28 January 2019 (UTC)KingLeary<br />
<br />
== Regarding politics ==<br />
<br />
Wow, all this Trump stuff feels like a real stretch... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.95|172.68.132.95]] 21:00, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Nah21:42, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Note there is a (joke?) conspiracy theory that Trump is a time traveler, using technology provided by his uncle John Trump...<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 23:06, 28 January 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2099:_Missal_of_Silos&diff=168282Talk:2099: Missal of Silos2019-01-18T01:51:20Z<p>162.158.255.22: </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 />
<br />
We need a citation to prove that residents of Cheyenne, Wyoming would rather not be targeted with nuclear weapons?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.59|172.68.58.59]] 19:06, 16 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
:As no residents have already requested otherwise, let's go ahead and nuke them now. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 19:49, 16 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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:Seriously, though, a sufficiently patriotic American living in Cheyenne, WY may potentially prefer that the relatively unimportant city of his or her residence be nuked instead of the more militarily important{{Citation needed}} Cheyenne Mountain Complex. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.220|162.158.78.220]] 20:37, 16 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Is the citation needed for the military importance or for the crazy patriotic guy? [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 20:40, 16 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
::I'm wondering, why would anyone want to target a site that is expressly built to withstand a nuklear strike? That's like fighting a barbarian princess and try to hit her on the bikini armor instead of the midriff [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 00:12, 18 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
::My understanding is that most military sites are only capable of withstanding near misses from nuclear weapons. This was adequate with early ICBMs because of accuracy problems, modern missiles however are supposed to be accurate enough to destroy hardened facilities. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 01:51, 18 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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:I did not laugh at the comic today. However, I startled people around me laughing at the placement of this [citation needed] in the description. Kudo's to whomever placed it. [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 21:32, 16 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Wouldn't it make more sense to create a seperate page to collect all the "xkcd-Wikipedia effect" cases? I'm kinda surprised there isn't one already. Model Rail isn't even the only time that happened. One other example being https://xkcd.com/1485/. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.177|162.158.58.177]] 11:23, 17 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Similar comics<br />
The format of this comic is highly similar to the recent comic [[2042: Rolle's Theorem]], with a title and ''From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia'' header, and the first few paragraphs in the article.<br />
The fact that the reference of this comic to fuzzy string matching matches [[1031: s/keyboard/leopard/]]'s reference to regex (comic 1031 also has a Wikipedia page format)<br />
Can we have kind of a 'Meme format' explanation and Randall's fascination with this format? {{unsigned ip|172.69.186.22}}<br />
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There have been several comics referencing nuclear weapons in one way of another. Have added link to [[1655: Doomsday Clock]] in the description because there is already a collection of comics about this there. But do we need a category, so that kind of explanation could go there? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:15, 17 January 2019 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1223:_Dwarf_Fortress&diff=1670651223: Dwarf Fortress2018-12-16T19:42:42Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */ less ambiguous plural of 'dwarf'</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1223<br />
| date = June 10, 2013<br />
| title = Dwarf Fortress<br />
| image = dwarf_fortress.png<br />
| titletext = I may be the kind of person who wastes a year implementing a Turing-complete computer in Dwarf Fortress, but that makes you the kind of person who wastes ten more getting that computer to run Minecraft.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a reaction to the recent reveal of a U.S. electronic telecom surveillance program called {{w|PRISM (surveillance program)|PRISM}}, run by the NSA. You can read a [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data Guardian article] about it. PRISM, leaked by a former NSA official, incited some controversy since it provides government access to private data (e-mails, videos, chats, file transfers, etc.). <!-- please expand/correct this ~Alpha --><br />
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''{{w|Dwarf Fortress}}'' is a freeware strategy game in which the player builds a civilization by giving orders to — as opposed to directly controlling — a group of dwarves. It is famous for having a very detailed simulation of its world and for allowing deep micro-management (as well as an incredibly steep learning curve).<br />
<br />
"Big Brother" means "a tyrannical government body that constantly monitors all its citizens." The term comes from the classic dystopian novel ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' by George Orwell, wherein propaganda videos are narrated by an actor with the stage name of Big Brother and the dystopia's surveillance system is said to be monitored by Big Brother himself.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] has a discussion with Big Brother ("corporate surveillance state"), in which he mocks Big Brother's interest in the inconsequential activity of playing a video game ("Dwarf Fortress" in particular) by drawing a parallel between Big Brother's omniscient surveillance of Cueball and Cueball's omniscient surveillance of the dwarves. Big Brother appears to be mortified when it realizes the accuracy of Cueball's comparison.<br />
<br />
Informally, a system exhibits ''Turing-completeness'' when it is theoretically capable of executing any algorithm. One of the simplest Turing-complete systems is the {{w|Turing machine}}, a device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules — it {{w|Church-Turing thesis|can be proven}} to have the same capabilities as any ordinary programming language. Other very simple systems include {{w|Rule 110}}, {{w|lambda calculus}}, {{w|Conway's game of life}}, and {{w|Brainfuck}}. The reason we don't work with these is because they're a real pain in the ass. Would you rather build a network of spaceships that collide with each other to simulate the successor function, or just write <tt>i := i + 1</tt>?<br />
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A common CS nerd challenge is to prove the Turing-completeness of a system that wasn't intended to be that way &mdash; games in particular. The usual way to do this is to construct a Turing machine simulator within the system. It has been done for [http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-8269 Dwarf Fortress], [http://web.mat.bham.ac.uk/R.W.Kaye/minesw/infmsw.pdf (infinite) Minesweeper] (pdf), [http://www.toothycat.net/~hologram/Turing/HowItWorks.html Magic the Gathering], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13GOFa1C4e4 Little Big Planet], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X21HQphy6I Minecraft] ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sNge0Ywz-M another Minecraft example]), [http://aurellem.org/vba-clojure/html/total-control.html Pokémon Yellow] (through the elaborate use of many in-game glitches) and [http://cp4space.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/3d-chess-is-turing-complete/ 3D chess] (but see the note below). These kinds of proofs often involve formulating ridiculously complex creations just to simulate a little machine writing symbols on a tape!<br />
<br />
<small>(Technically, a computer is not really Turing-complete. A Turing-complete system has to have unlimited space, and that's not possible for a memory-limited computer or any software running inside it. But even if we don't have access to Turing-completeness, we can build a theoretical machine and show how it can be extended indefinitely. In a few of the games, we prove Turing-completeness in infinite variants.)</small><br />
<br />
Finally, Randall makes a crack that users will try to nest their Turing-complete computers; after finishing his Turing-complete Dwarf Fortress computer, someone else will try to make the Dwarf Fortress computer run Minecraft (a highly inefficient process that would be a nightmare to co-ordinate, and would run incredibly slowly).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball sits at a desk with a computer, hands on the keyboard, talking to an unseen observer.]<br />
:Cueball: If the corporate surveillance state monitors and controls every aspect of my life...<br />
:Big Brother: We do.<br />
:Cueball: And I play Dwarf Fortress all day...<br />
:Big Brother: You do.<br />
:Cueball: Then you're effectively Dwarf Fortress players watching your dwarves play Dwarf Fortress.<br />
:Big Brother: ... Oh God.<br />
:Big Brother realizes he's trapped in the most tedious possible Hell.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:720:_Recipes&diff=167000Talk:720: Recipes2018-12-14T00:47:14Z<p>162.158.255.22: removed repeated comment (obviously accidentally inserted in the wrong place because dates)</p>
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<div>are you sure it's mepls? looks like the A and the L just overlap a bit... [[Special:Contributions/98.201.111.246|98.201.111.246]] 17:59, 3 February 2013 (UTC)mr<br />
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The title text seems to be a reference to "dazed and confused," which must mean something more significant than most simple conjunctions. I'll figure it out at some point. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 02:48, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Also, I believe the laptop (notice how he holds it by the top of the screen) may be a reference to comic 925's (Cell Phones) title text "He (Black hat guy) holds the laptop like that on purpose, to make you cringe"...this is an unlikely reference though. <br />
- androidtribbles {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.50}}<br />
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He's not holding it by the screen, it's being held by the keyboard right at the trackpad. It's still really cringe-inducing, but not quite as... fragile. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.76|108.162.216.76]] 08:49, 20 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
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It could also be a rugged laptop, those are a lot tougher and have a handle on them right below the keyboard; it could be the rectangle is not a trackpad, but the hole for the handle. While it's still not advisable to carry the laptop with the screen open like that, it's not nearly as cringe-worthy as the case and monitor hinges are made of thick metal. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 17:12, 27 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
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Made an edit to the explanation. It seemed no one picked up on the possible meaning of the title text... But it could just as easily have been Randall's typical pedanticism... {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.204}}<br />
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Dazed and Confused is also a song by Led Zeppelin. We know Randall listens to Zeppelin from comic 339: classic.<br />
By the way, the glasses also seem to contain very weird liquids...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.246|162.158.91.246]] 07:38, 14 September 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Weird liquids indeed! From left to right, I think they are: a lump of coal, a pair of lovebirds (very small ones) and a superfluid, probably liquid helium, doing its fountain thing. {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.83}}<br />
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By the way, the e-number of monosodium glutamate is e621. Y'know, like the Furry site? Good one, Randall. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.75|162.158.62.75]] 00:27, 17 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Cueball appears to be holding a plate of the braised and confused newt. Or at least, something lizard-like with a cherry on its head. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.70|172.68.34.70]] 16:58, 31 July 2018 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=347:_Brick_Archway&diff=166993347: Brick Archway2018-12-13T21:22:18Z<p>162.158.255.22: removed useless line at the bottom</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 347<br />
| date = November 21, 2007<br />
| title = Brick Archway<br />
| image = brick_archway.png<br />
| titletext = The TI-86 was bad enough. I don't know how I'd have gotten through high school if I'd had a laptop+wifi.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Breakout (video game)|Breakout}} is a game first created in 1976 and since which has gained much popularity and has been recreated in many different versions. In the game, the player controls a horizontal 'bat' at the bottom of the screen to make it move left or right. Above it are several layers of bricks which are destroyed when hit by the ball. The ball is not affected by gravity and will float around, bouncing off the walls, bricks and bat. The aim of the game is to keep the ball from touching the bottom of the screen (by deflecting it with the bat) long enough for the ball to hit and destroy all of the bricks.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]]'s approach to the game is to actually stand underneath a brick archway and throw a tennis ball at the structure above him in an attempt to destroy the bricks. Naturally, the physics in the game don't work in real life, and the aftermath of Cueball's actions is that one of the bricks in the archway comes loose and falls onto Cueball's head, causing possibly fatal damage.<br />
<br />
The sentence at the bottom of the comic points out the illogical nature of the game when compared to real life.<br />
<br />
The title text relates to a {{w|TI-86|programmable calculator}} from the late '90s which could have a Breakout-like game easily programmed into. This calculator and others like this were a requirement in many high schools in the United States after the early 1990s in spite of its $100+ price. [[Randall]] speculates that, given the amount of distraction this simple game provided him back then, he would not be able to focus on study at all with modern technical instruments like {{w|Laptop|laptops}} using {{w|Wi-Fi|wireless LANs}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[An inset panel to the left shows Cueball getting ready to throw a tennis ball upward.]<br />
:[Cueball lies on the ground, underneath the titular archway, next to two halves of a brick. A pool of blood is coming from his head. Dust falls from the place in the archway where the he knocked the brick from with the tennis ball. The ball, meanwhile, has rolled about a meter away.]<br />
:"Breakout" is a stupid game.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2083:_Laptop_Issues&diff=1668422083: Laptop Issues2018-12-10T17:02:18Z<p>162.158.255.22: Added explanation to the last line of the table that includes a possible reference to the scifi book series "The Three Body Problem".</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2083<br />
| date = December 10, 2018<br />
| title = Laptop Issues<br />
| image = laptop_issues.png<br />
| titletext = Hang on, we got a call from the feds. They say we can do whatever with him, but the EPA doesn't want that laptop in the ocean. They're sending a team.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT WITH INEXPLICABLE TECH PROBLEMS. Horribly incomplete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Cueball goes to tech support with his laptop, explaining all his arcane problems.<br />
<br />
{|class="wikitable"<br />
| ''My laptop's battery won't hold a charge.''<br />
| A common problem...<br />
|-<br />
| ''Tried that. Now the new ones won't either.''<br />
| This could be an issue with the laptop's battery management hardware.<br />
|-<br />
| ''Also, random files get corrupted on the first of every month. Factory reset didn't help either.''<br />
| Some devices may be scheduled to do a "disk cleanup" on the first of every month. Somehow, this task is corrupting files that should be kept.<br />
|-<br />
| ''When it's plugged in, I get static from my plumbing.''<br />
| TODO<br />
|-<br />
| ''And it reboots if someone uses an arc welder nearby''<br />
| TODO<br />
|-<br />
| ''Transition(R) lenses go dark when exposed to the screen''<br />
| The screen would have to emit UV rays<br />
|-<br />
| ''...and when I open too many tabs, it fogs any nearby photographic film.''<br />
| The screen would have to emitting X-rays that can pass through the film's container and expose the film. This may be a reference to the scifi book series The Three Body Problem, where one character finds that all of his pictures become blurred, no matter how they were taken. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is walking past a sign reading "Tech Support," with a right-pointing arrow and carrying a laptop.]<br />
:Off panel voice #1: Oh, No.<br />
:Off panel voice #2: What?<br />
:Off panel voice #1: This guy. He has the worst tech problems.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball at tech support desk with closed laptop on desk. Short-hair guy and Ponytail are there.]<br />
:Cueball: My laptop's battery won't hold a charge.<br />
:Short-hair guy: We can replace it.<br />
:Cueball: Tried that. Now the new ones won't either.<br />
<br />
:[Close-up of Cueball]<br />
:Cueball: Also, random files get corrupted on the first day of every month. Factory reset didn't help.<br />
:Off panel voice #2: You weren't kidding.<br />
<br />
:[Close-up of Cueball]<br />
:Cueball: When it's plugged in, I get static shocks from my plumbing.<br />
:Off panel voice: What the...<br />
:Cueball: And it reboots if someone uses an arc welder nearby.<br />
<br />
:[Same tableau as second panel except that the laptop is slightly open now.]<br />
:Cueball: Transitions® lenses go dark when exposed to the screen, and when I open too many tabs, it fogs nearby photographic film.<br />
:Short-hair guy: We don't usually do this, but I've gotten permission from my manager to have you and the laptop hurled into the ocean.<br />
:Cueball: That's probably for the best.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2079:_Alpha_Centauri&diff=1665162079: Alpha Centauri2018-11-30T18:18:47Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2079<br />
| date = November 30, 2018<br />
| title = Alpha Centauri<br />
| image = alpha_centauri.png<br />
| titletext = And let's be honest, it's more like two and a half stars. Proxima is barely a star and barely bound to the system.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an INTERGALACTIC YELPER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Alpha Centauri is the closest system to the Sun. The comic makes a joke on rating systems, by saying it only has 3 stars.<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2078:_Popper&diff=166479Talk:2078: Popper2018-11-29T16:26:09Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
I think this might have to do with the President's claims regarding climate change, there's no evidence that I'm not wrong [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 18:08, 28 November 2018 (UTC) <br />
:I don't think you're wrong. I've never seen any evidence that you're wrong. I've never met the guy (I've definitely met the guy). <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:49, 28 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have no evidence to prove that the comic's explanation is incorrect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.112|172.68.90.112]] 18:10, 28 November 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf<br />
<br />
: I haven't failed to find no evidence that doesn't prove that you're not incorrect. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 13:03, 29 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This comic is almost doubly self-referential. Has Randall done that before? Has anyone asked if somebody has done that before? What about asking that: has that been done before? <br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.64|172.68.174.64]] 18:39, 28 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So how about that? There's no evidence denying that this comic exists and has an explanation, and there's no evidence denying that the explanation is correct [[User:DiceGuy|~DiceGuy]] ([[User talk:DiceGuy|talk]]) 13:11, 29 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is the transcript really incomplete? It doesn't seem like it.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 16:26, 29 November 2018 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2078:_Popper&diff=1664782078: Popper2018-11-29T16:24:37Z<p>162.158.255.22: Couple of words</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2078<br />
| date = November 28, 2018<br />
| title = Popper<br />
| image = popper.png<br />
| titletext = At least, I don't think there's evidence. My claim that there's no evidence hasn't been falsified. At least, not that I know of.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|There is no evidence that this wasn’t created by a KARL POPPER HIMSELF. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In this comic, [[Miss Lenhart]] teaches to a class comprising of [[Hairy]], [[Megan]], and [[Science Girl]] about {{w|Karl Popper}}. Karl Popper was a philosopher of science who endorsed the idea that science is distinguished from non-science by treating its theories as falsifiable. This means that science does not treat any theory as definitive, because future research could show that it is false.<br />
<br />
A not uncommon reading of Popper assumes that instead of proving theories, scientists are disproving theories. This reading leads to technicalities like the ones stated in the comic: Instead of asserting that Popper was indeed born on July 28, 1902, and grew up in Vienna, a scientist can only assert that there is no evidence disproving these facts. <br />
<br />
The title text takes this reading a couple of steps further in a kind of meta-analysis. It points out that [[Miss Lenhart]]'s claim of no evidence has not been proven false, and also that we're dealing with only the knowledge of a single individual who may not be aware of evidence that might exist.<br />
<br />
Another reading of Popper points out that Popper’s philosophy discarded proofs altogether as a defining feature of science. Thus there is no such thing as definitive evidence in Popper’s notion of science: Even falsifying assertions themselves are seen as falsifiable.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a class of three students: Hairy, Ponytail, and Science Girl.]<br />
<br />
:Miss Lenhart: There's no evidence that Karl Popper wasn't born on July 28th, 1902.<br />
<br />
:Miss Lenhart: No one has proven that he didn't grow up in Vienna...<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2078:_Popper&diff=1664772078: Popper2018-11-29T16:22:23Z<p>162.158.255.22: added description of comic</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2078<br />
| date = November 28, 2018<br />
| title = Popper<br />
| image = popper.png<br />
| titletext = At least, I don't think there's evidence. My claim that there's no evidence hasn't been falsified. At least, not that I know of.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|There is no evidence that this wasn’t created by a KARL POPPER HIMSELF. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In this comic, [[Miss Lenhart]] teaches to a class comprising of [[Hairy]], [[Megan]], and [[Ponytail]].<br />
{{w|Karl Popper}} was a philosopher of science who endorsed the idea that science is distinguished from non-science by treating its theories as falsifiable. This means that science does not treat any theory as definitive, because future research could show that it is false.<br />
<br />
A not uncommon reading of Popper assumes that instead of proving theories, scientists are disproving theories. This reading leads to technicalities like the ones stated in the comic: Instead of asserting that Popper was indeed born on July 28, 1902, and grew up in Vienna, a scientist can only assert that there is no evidence disproving these facts. <br />
<br />
The title text takes this reading a couple of steps further in a kind of meta-analysis. It points out that [[Miss Lenhart]]'s claim of no evidence has not been proven false, and also that we're dealing with only the knowledge of a single individual who may not be aware of evidence that might exist.<br />
<br />
Another reading of Popper points out that Popper’s philosophy discarded proofs altogether as a defining feature of science. Thus there is no such thing as definitive evidence in Popper’s notion of science: Even falsifying assertions themselves are seen as falsifiable.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a class of three students: Hairy, Ponytail, and Science Girl.]<br />
<br />
:Miss Lenhart: There's no evidence that Karl Popper wasn't born on July 28th, 1902.<br />
<br />
:Miss Lenhart: No one has proven that he didn't grow up in Vienna...<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2077:_Heist&diff=1663612077: Heist2018-11-26T16:50:41Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2077<br />
| date = November 26, 2018<br />
| title = Heist<br />
| image = heist.png<br />
| titletext = But he has a hat AND a toolbox! Where could someone planning a heist get THOSE?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SUPPOSED REPAIRMAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In many movies, a heist or other crime is carried out by the criminal(s) posing as some type of repairman or similar. The criminal then gains access to their target through the disguise. Due to the prevalence of this trope, [[Cueball]] is concerned whenever somebody comes by to ask for access as he believes the person may be planning a crime, and making him a "minor character."<br />
<br />
The title text seems to be Cueball's internal monologue trying to calm himself down. He points out to himself that the repairman has both a hat (possibly with a company logo) and a toolbox full or tools, then sarcastically asks himself how a thief could possible get their hands on such a disguise.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A man in a hat with a toolbox is approaching Cueball]<br />
:Hat guy: Do you have the key to the server room? I'm from the building and I'm here to check the fire alarm.<br />
:Cueball thought: Oh no oh no<br />
:Caption: Thanks to movies, whenever anyone asks me to open any door, I immediately assume I'm a minor character in a heist.<br />
<!--Do NOT add a title-text here.--><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1047:_Approximations&diff=1662681047: Approximations2018-11-22T07:09:11Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1047<br />
| date = April 25, 2012<br />
| title = Approximations<br />
| image = approximations.png<br />
| titletext = Two tips: 1) 8675309 is not just prime, it's a twin prime, and 2) if you ever find yourself raising log(anything)^e or taking the pi-th root of anything, set down the marker and back away from the whiteboard; something has gone horribly wrong.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Both tables are bad}}<br />
This comic lists some approximations for numbers, most of them mathematical and physical constants, but some of them jokes and cultural references.<br />
<br />
Approximations like these are sometimes used as {{w|mnemonic}}s by mathematicians and physicists, though most of Randall's approximations are too convoluted to be useful as mnemonics. Perhaps the best known mnemonic approximation (though not used here by Randall) is that "π is approximately equal to 22/7". Randall does mention (and mock) the common mnemonic among physicists that the {{w|fine structure constant}} is approximately 1/137. Although Randall gives approximations for the number of seconds in a year, he does not mention the common physicists' mnemonic that it is "π × 10<sup>7</sup>", though he later added a statement to the top of the comic page addressing this point. <br />
<br />
At the bottom of the comic are expressions involving {{w|transcendental numbers}} (namely π and e) that are tantalizingly close to being exactly true but are not (indeed, they cannot be, due to the nature of transcendental numbers). Such near-equations were previously discussed in [[217: e to the pi Minus pi]]. One of the entries, though, is a "red herring" that is exactly true. <br />
<br />
Randall says he compiled this table through "a mix of trial-and-error, ''{{w|Mathematica}}'', and Robert Munafo's [http://mrob.com/pub/ries/ Ries] tool." "Ries" is a "{{w|Closed-form expression#Conversion from numerical forms|reverse calculator}}" that forms equations matching a given number.<br />
<br />
The {{w|world population}} estimate for 2017 is still accurate. The estimate is 7.4 billion, and the population listed at the website census.gov is roughly the same. The current value can be found here: [https://www.census.gov/popclock/ United States Census Bureau - U.S. and World Population Clock]. Nevertheless there are other numbers listed by different sources.<br />
<br />
The first part of the title text notes that "Jenny's constant," which is actually a telephone number referenced in Tommy Tutone's 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}, is not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime. Twin primes have always been a subject of interest, because they are comparatively rare, and because it is not yet known whether there are infinitely many of them. Twin primes were also referenced in [[1310: Goldbach Conjectures]]. <br />
<br />
The second part of the title text makes fun of the unusual mathematical operations contained in the comic. {{w|Pi|π}} is a useful number in many contexts, but it doesn't usually occur anywhere in an exponent. Even when it does, such as with complex numbers, taking the πth root is rarely helpful. Similarly, {{w|e (mathematical constant)|e}} typically appears in the basis of a power (forming the {{w|exponential function}}), not in the exponent. (This is later referenced in [http://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ Lethal Neutrinos]).<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Thing to be approximated:<br />
|align="center"|Formula proposed<br />
|align="center"|Resulting approximate value<br />
|align="center"|Correct value<br />
|align="center"|Discussion<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|One {{w|light year}} (meters)<br />
|align="center"|99<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center"|9,227,446,944,279,201<br />
|align="center"|9,460,730,472,580,800 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|Based on 365.25 days per year (see below). 99<sup>8</sup> and 69<sup>8</sup> are sexual references. <br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Earth's surface (m<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|69<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center"|513,798,374,428,641<br />
|align="center"|5.10072 × 10<sup>14</sup><br />
|align="left"|99<sup>8</sup> and 69<sup>8</sup> are sexual references.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Oceans' volume (m<sup>3</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|9<sup>19</sup><br />
|align="center"|1,350,851,717,672,992,089<br />
|align="center"|1.332 × 10<sup>18</sup><br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Seconds in a year<br />
|align="center"|75<sup>4</sup><br />
|align="center"|31,640,625<br />
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)<br />
|align="left"|After this comic was released [[Randall]] got many responses by viewers. So he did add this statement to the top of the comic page:<br />
"Lots of emails mention the physicist favorite, 1 year = pi × 10<sup>7</sup> seconds. 75<sup>4</sup> is a hair more accurate, but it's hard to top 3,141,592's elegance." π × 10<sup>7</sup> is nearly equal to 31,415,926.536, and 75<sup>4</sup> is exactly 31,640,625. Randall's elegance belongs to the number π, but it should be multiplied by the factor of ten.<br />
<br />
Using the traditional definitions that a second is 1/60 of a minute, a minute is 1/60 of an hour, and an hour is 1/24 of a day, a 365-day common year is exactly 31,536,000 seconds (the "''Rent'' method" approximation) and the 366-day leap year is 31,622,400 seconds. Until the calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory, there was one leap year in every four years, making the average year 365.25 days, or 31,557,600 seconds. On the current calendar system, there are only 97 leap years in every 400 years, making the average year 365.2425 days, or 31,556,952 seconds. In technical usage, a "second" is now defined based on physical constants, even though the length of a day varies inversely with the changing angular velocity of the earth. To keep the official time synchronized with the rotation of the earth, a "leap second" is occasionally added, resulting in a slightly longer year.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)<br />
|align="center"|525,600 × 60<br />
|align="center"|31,536,000<br />
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)<br />
|align="left"|"''Rent'' Method" refers to the song "{{w|Seasons of Love}}" from the musical ''{{w|Rent (musical)|Rent}}''. The song asks, "How do you measure a year?" One line says "525,600 minutes" while most of the rest of the song suggests the best way to measure a year is moments shared with a loved one.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Age of the universe (seconds)<br />
|align="center"|15<sup>15</sup><br />
|align="center"|437,893,890,380,859,375<br />
|align="center"|4.354 ± 0.012 × 10<sup>17</sup> (best estimate; exact value unknown)<br />
|align="left"|This one will slowly get more accurate as the universe ages.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Planck's constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {30^{\pi^e}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.6849901410 × 10<sup>−34</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.62606957 × 10<sup>−34</sup><br />
|align="left"|Informally, the {{w|Planck constant}} is the smallest action possible in quantum mechanics.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Fine structure constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{1}{140}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.00<span style="text-decoration: overline;">714285</span><br />
|align="center"|0.0072973525664 (accepted value as of 2014), close to 1/137<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|fine structure constant}} indicates the strength of electromagnetism. It is unitless and around 0.007297, close to 1/137. At one point it was believed to be exactly the reciprocal of 137, and many people have tried to find a simple formula explaining this (with a pinch of {{w|numerology}} thrown in at times), including the infamous {{w|Arthur Eddington|Sir Arthur Adding-One}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Fundamental charge<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {3} {14 \pi^{\pi^\pi}}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.59895121062716 × 10<sup>−19</sup><br />
|align="center"|1.602176565 × 10<sup>−19</sup><br />
|align="left"|This is the charge of the proton, symbolized ''e'' for electron (whose charge is actually −''e''. You can blame Benjamin Franklin [[567|for that]].)<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Telephone number for the {{w|White House}} switchboard<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {e^ {\sqrt[\pi] {1 + \sqrt[e-1] 8}} }</math><br />
|align="center"|0.2024561414<br />
|align="center"|202-456-1414<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Jenny's constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\left( 7^ {\frac{e}{1} - \frac{1}{e}} - 9 \right) \pi^2</math><br />
|align="center"|867.5309019<br />
|align="center"|867-5309<br />
|align="left"|A telephone number referenced in {{w|Tommy Tutone}}'s 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}. As mentioned in the title text, the number not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime. <br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|World population estimate (billions)<br />
|align="center"|Equivalent to <math>6 + \frac {\frac34 y + \frac14 (y \operatorname{mod} 4) - 1499} {10}</math><br />
|align="center"|2005 — 6.5<br><br />
2006 — 6.6<br><br />
2007 — 6.7<br><br />
2008 — 6.7<br><br />
2009 — 6.8<br><br />
2010 — 6.9<br><br />
2011 — 7.0<br><br />
2012 — 7.0<br><br />
2013 — 7.1<br><br />
2014 — 7.2<br><br />
2015 — 7.3<br><br />
2016 — 7.3<br><br />
2017 — 7.4<br><br />
2018 — 7.5<br><br />
2019 — 7.6<br><br />
2020 — 7.6<br><br />
2021 — 7.7<br><br />
2022 — 7.8<br><br />
2023 — 7.9<br><br />
2024 — 7.9<br><br />
2025 — 8.0<br><br />
2026 — 8.1<br><br />
2027 — 8.2<br><br />
2028 — 8.2<br><br />
2029 — 8.3<br><br />
2030 — 8.4<br><br />
2031 — 8.5<br><br />
|align="center"|<br />
|align="left"|Grows by 75 million every year on average.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|U.S. population estimate (millions)<br />
|align="center"|Equivalent to <math>310 + 3(y - 2010)</math><br />
|align="center"|2000 — 280<br><br />
2001 — 283<br><br />
2002 — 286<br><br />
2003 — 289<br><br />
2004 — 292<br><br />
2005 — 295<br><br />
2006 — 298<br><br />
2007 — 301<br><br />
2008 — 304<br><br />
2009 — 307<br><br />
2010 — 310<br><br />
2011 — 313<br><br />
2012 — 316<br><br />
2013 — 319<br><br />
2014 — 322<br><br />
2015 — 325<br><br />
2016 — 328<br><br />
2017 — 331<br><br />
2018 — 334<br><br />
2019 — 337<br><br />
2020 — 340<br><br />
2021 — 343<br><br />
2022 — 346<br><br />
2023 — 349<br><br />
2024 — 352<br><br />
2025 — 355<br><br />
2026 — 358<br><br />
2027 — 361<br><br />
2028 — 364<br><br />
2029 — 367<br><br />
2030 — 370<br><br />
2031 — 373<br><br />
2032 — 376<br />
|align="center"|<br />
|align="left"|Grows by 3 million each year.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Electron rest energy (joules)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {e} {7^{16}}</math><br />
|align="center"|8.17948276564429 × 10<sup>−14</sup><br />
|align="center"|8.18710438 × 10<sup>−14</sup><br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Light year (miles)<br />
|align="center"|2<sup>42.42</sup><br />
|align="center"|5,884,267,614,436.97<br />
|align="center"|5,878,625,373,183.61 = 9,460,730,472,580,800 (meters in a light-year, by definition) / 1609.344 (meters in a mile)<br />
|align="left"|{{w|42 (number)|42}} is, according to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'', the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sin\left(60^\circ\right) = \frac {\sqrt 3} {2}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{e}{\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.8652559794<br />
|align="center"|0.8660254038<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 3</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{2e}{\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.7305119589<br />
|align="center"|1.7320508076<br />
|align="left"|Same as the above<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ (Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {\sqrt 3}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5773502692<br />
|align="center"|0.5772156649<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Euler–Mascheroni constant}} (denoted γ) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Feet in a meter<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {5} {\sqrt[e]\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|3.2815481951<br />
|align="center"|3.280839895<br />
|align="left"|Exactly 1/0.3048, as the {{w|international foot}} is defined as 0.3048 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{2}{e} + \frac32</math><br />
|align="center"|2.2357588823<br />
|align="center"|2.2360679775<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Avogadro's number<br />
|align="center"|<math>69^{\pi^\sqrt{5}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.02191201246329 × 10<sup>23</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.02214129 × 10<sup>23</sup><br />
|align="left"|Also called a mole for shorthand, {{w|Avogadro's number}} is (roughly) the number of individual atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon. Used in basically every application of chemistry.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Gravitational constant ''G''<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {e ^ {(\pi-1)^{(\pi+1)}}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.6736110685 × 10<sup>−11</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.67385 × 10<sup>−11</sup><br />
|align="left"|The universal {{w|gravitational constant}} G is equal to ''Fr''<sup>2</sup>/''Mm'', where ''F'' is the gravitational force between two objects, ''r'' is the distance between them, and ''M'' and ''m'' are their masses.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|''R'' (gas constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>(e + 1) \sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|8.3143309279<br />
|align="center"|8.3144622<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|gas constant}} relates energy to temperature in physics, as well as a gas's volume, pressure, temperature and {{w|mole (unit)|molar amount}} (hence the name).<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton–electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|<math>6 \pi^5</math><br />
|align="center"|1836.1181087117<br />
|align="center"|1836.15267246<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Liters in a {{w|gallon}}<br />
|align="center"|<math>3 + \frac{\pi}{4}</math><br />
|align="center"|3.7853981634<br />
|align="center"|3.785411784 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|A U.S. liquid gallon is defined by law as 231 cubic inches<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|''g''<sub>0</sub> or ''g''<sub>n</sub><br />
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)<br />
|align="center"|9.8066624898<br />
|align="center"|9.80665<br />
|align="left"|Standard gravity, or standard acceleration due to free fall is the nominal gravitational acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. It is defined by standard as 9.80665&nbsp;m/s<sup>2</sup>, which is exactly 35.30394&nbsp;km/h/s (about 32.174&nbsp;ft/s<sup>2</sup>, or 21.937&nbsp;mph/s). This value was established by the 3rd CGPM (1901, CR 70) and used to define the standard weight of an object as the product of its mass and this nominal acceleration. The acceleration of a body near the surface of the Earth is due to the combined effects of gravity and centrifugal acceleration from rotation of the Earth (but which is small enough to be neglected for most purposes); the total (the apparent gravity) is about 0.5 percent greater at the poles than at the equator.<br />
<br />
Randall used a letter ''g'' without a suffix, which can also mean the local acceleration due to local gravity and centrifugal acceleration, which varies depending on one's position on Earth.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton–electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {e^8 - 10} {\phi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1836.1530151398<br />
|align="center"|1836.15267246<br />
|align="left"|φ is the {{w|golden ratio}}, or <math>\textstyle{ \frac{1+\sqrt 5}{2} }</math>. It has many interesting geometrical properties.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength (meters)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{1}{1200^2}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.9<span style="text-decoration: overline;">444</span> × 10<sup>−7</sup><br />
|align="center"|~6.943<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|ruby laser}} wavelength varies because "ruby" is not clearly defined.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Mean Earth radius (meters)<br />
|align="center"|<math>5^8 6e</math><br />
|align="center"|6,370,973.035<br />
|align="center"|6,371,008.7 (IUGG definition)<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Earth radius#mean radii|mean earth radius}} varies because there is not one single way to make a sphere out of the earth. Randall's value lies within the actual variation of Earth's radius. The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) defines the mean radius as 2/3 of the equatorial radius (6,378,137.0&nbsp;m) plus 1/3 of the polar radius (6,356,752.3&nbsp;m).<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 2</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac35 + \frac{\pi}{7-\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.4142200581<br />
|align="center"|1.4142135624<br />
|align="left"|There are recurring math jokes along the lines of, "<math>\textstyle{ \frac35 + \frac{\pi}{7-\pi} - \sqrt{2} = 0}</math>, but your calculator is probably not good enough to compute this correctly". See also [[217: e to the pi Minus pi]].<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac12</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5<br />
|align="center"|0.5 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|This is the exactly correct equation referred to in the note, "Pro tip – Not all of these are wrong", as shown below and also [http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/140388/how-can-one-prove-cos-pi-7-cos3-pi-7-cos5-pi-7-1-2 here]. If you're still confused, the functions use {{w|radians}}, not {{w|degrees (angle)|degrees}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ (Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{e}{3^4} + \frac{e}{5}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5772154006<br />
|align="center"|0.5772156649<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Euler–Mascheroni constant}} (denoted γ) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {13+4\pi} {24-4\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|2.2360678094<br />
|align="center"|2.2360679775<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^n}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\ln(3)^e</math><br />
|align="center"|1.2912987577<br />
|align="center"|1.2912859971<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Proof===<br />
<br />
One of the "approximations" actually is precisely correct: <math>\textstyle{ \cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} = \frac12 }</math>. Here is a proof:<br />
<br />
:<math>\cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7}</math><br />
<br />
Multiplying by 1 (or by a number divided by itself) leaves the equation unchanged: <br />
<br />
:<math>= \left( \cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} \right) \frac{2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}{2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}</math><br />
<br />
The <math>\textstyle{ 2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7} }</math> on the top of the fraction is multiplied through the original equation:<br />
<br />
:<math>= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7} + 2 \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7} + 2 \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}</math><br />
<br />
Use the trigonometric identity <math>\textstyle{ 2 \cos A \sin B = \sin (A+B) - \sin(A-B)}</math> on the second and third terms in the numerator:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin \frac{\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \left(\frac{3\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7}\right) - \sin \left(\frac{3\pi}{7} - \frac{\pi}{7}\right) \right] + \left[\sin \left(\frac{5\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7}\right) - \sin \left(\frac{5\pi}{7} - \frac{\pi}{7}\right) \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin \frac{\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
Use the trigonometric identity <math>\textstyle{ 2 \cos A \sin A = \sin 2A }</math> on the first term in the numerator:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{2\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{2\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} } {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
Noting that <math>\textstyle{\frac{6\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7} = \pi}</math> and that the sines of supplementary angles (angles that sum to π) are equal:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{\pi}{7} } {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac12 \quad \quad \quad \text{Q.E.D.}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|bad table}}<br />
:'''A table of slightly wrong equations and identities useful for approximations and/or trolling teachers.'''<br />
:(Found using a mix of trial-and-error, ''Mathematica'', and Robert Munafo's ''Ries'' tool.)<br />
: All units are SI MKS unless otherwise noted.<br />
<br />
:{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center" | Relation:<br />
|align="center" | Accurate to within:<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | One light-year(m)<br />
|align="center" | 99<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 40<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Earth Surface(m<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center" | 69<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 130<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Oceans' volume(m<sup>3</sup>)<br />
|align="center" | 9<sup>19</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 70<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Seconds in a year<br />
|align="center" | 75<sup>4</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 400<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)<br />
|align="center" | 525,600 x 60<br />
|align="center" | one part in 1400<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Age of the universe (seconds)<br />
|align="center" | 15<sup>15</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 70<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Planck's constant<br />
|align="center" | 1/(30<sup>π<sup>e</sup></sup>)<br />
|align="center" | one part in 110<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Fine structure constant<br />
|align="center" | 1/140<br />
|align="center" | [I've had enough of this 137 crap]<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Fundamental charge<br />
|align="center" | 3/(14 * π<sup>π<sup>π</sup></sup>)<br />
|align="center" | one part in 500<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|White House Switchboard<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|1/<br /><br />
<sup>π</sup>√(e<sup>(1 + <sup>(e-1)</sup>√8)</sup>)<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Jenny's Constant<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|(7<sup>(e/1 - 1/e)</sup> - 9) * π<sup>2</sup><br />
|-<br />
|colspan="3" align="center"|Intermission:<br /> World Population Estimate<br /> which should stay current<br /> for a decade or two:<br /><br />
Take the last two digits of the current year<br />
<br />
Example: 20[14] <br />
<br />
Subtract the number of leap years since hurricane Katrina<br />
<br />
Example: 14 (minus 2008 and 2012) is 12<br />
<br />
Add a decimal point<br />
<br />
Example: 1.2<br />
<br />
Add 6<br />
<br />
Example: 6 + 1.2<br />
<br />
7.2 = World population in billions.<br />
<br />
<br />
Version for US population:<br />
<br />
Example: 20[14]<br />
<br />
Subtract 10<br />
<br />
Example: 4<br />
<br />
Multiply by 3<br />
<br />
Example: 12<br />
<br />
Add 10<br />
<br />
Example: 3[22] million<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Electron rest energy<br />
|align="center"|e/7<sup>16</sup> J<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Light-year(miles)<br />
|align="center"|2<sup>(42.42)</sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|sin(60°) = √3/2 = e/π<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√3 = 2e/π<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|1/√3<br />
|align="center"|one part in 4000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Feet in a meter<br />
|align="center"|5/(<sup>e</sup>√π)<br />
|align="center"|one part in 4000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√5 = 2/e + 3/2<br />
|align="center"|one part in 7000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Avogadro's number<br />
|align="center"|69<sup>π<sup>√5</sup></sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 25,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Gravitational constant G<br />
|align="center"|1 / e<sup>(π - 1)<sup>(π + 1)</sup></sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 25,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|R (gas constant)<br />
|align="center"|(e+1) √5<br />
|align="center"|one part in 50,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|6*π<sup>5</sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 50,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Liters in a gallon<br />
|align="center"|3 + π/4<br />
|align="center"|one part in 500,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|g<br />
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)<br />
|align="center"|one part in 750,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|(e<sup>8</sup> - 10) / ϕ<br />
|align="center"|one part in 5,000,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength<br />
|align="center"|1 / (1200<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|[within actual variation]<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Mean Earth Radius<br />
|align="center"|(5<sup>8</sup>)*6e<br />
|align="center"|[within actual variation]<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="3" align="center"|Protip - not all of these are wrong:<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√2 = 3/5 + π/(7-π)<br />
|align="center"|cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7) = 1/2<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant) = e/3<sup>4</sup> + e/5<br />
|align="center"|√5 = (13 + 4π) / (24 - 4π)<br />
|align="center"|Σ 1/n<sup>n</sup> = ln(3)<sup>e</sup><br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Protip]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1047:_Approximations&diff=1662671047: Approximations2018-11-22T07:08:03Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */ table nono</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1047<br />
| date = April 25, 2012<br />
| title = Approximations<br />
| image = approximations.png<br />
| titletext = Two tips: 1) 8675309 is not just prime, it's a twin prime, and 2) if you ever find yourself raising log(anything)^e or taking the pi-th root of anything, set down the marker and back away from the whiteboard; something has gone horribly wrong.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Both tables are bad}}<br />
This comic lists some approximations for numbers, most of them mathematical and physical constants, but some of them jokes and cultural references.<br />
<br />
Approximations like these are sometimes used as {{w|mnemonic}}s by mathematicians and physicists, though most of Randall's approximations are too convoluted to be useful as mnemonics. Perhaps the best known mnemonic approximation (though not used here by Randall) is that "π is approximately equal to 22/7". Randall does mention (and mock) the common mnemonic among physicists that the {{w|fine structure constant}} is approximately 1/137. Although Randall gives approximations for the number of seconds in a year, he does not mention the common physicists' mnemonic that it is "π × 10<sup>7</sup>", though he later added a statement to the top of the comic page addressing this point. <br />
<br />
At the bottom of the comic are expressions involving {{w|transcendental numbers}} (namely π and e) that are tantalizingly close to being exactly true but are not (indeed, they cannot be, due to the nature of transcendental numbers). Such near-equations were previously discussed in [[217: e to the pi Minus pi]]. One of the entries, though, is a "red herring" that is exactly true. <br />
<br />
Randall says he compiled this table through "a mix of trial-and-error, ''{{w|Mathematica}}'', and Robert Munafo's [http://mrob.com/pub/ries/ Ries] tool." "Ries" is a "{{w|Closed-form expression#Conversion from numerical forms|reverse calculator}}" that forms equations matching a given number.<br />
<br />
The {{w|world population}} estimate for 2017 is still accurate. The estimate is 7.4 billion, and the population listed at the website census.gov is roughly the same. The current value can be found here: [https://www.census.gov/popclock/ United States Census Bureau - U.S. and World Population Clock]. Nevertheless there are other numbers listed by different sources.<br />
<br />
The first part of the title text notes that "Jenny's constant," which is actually a telephone number referenced in Tommy Tutone's 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}, is not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime. Twin primes have always been a subject of interest, because they are comparatively rare, and because it is not yet known whether there are infinitely many of them. Twin primes were also referenced in [[1310: Goldbach Conjectures]]. <br />
<br />
The second part of the title text makes fun of the unusual mathematical operations contained in the comic. {{w|Pi|π}} is a useful number in many contexts, but it doesn't usually occur anywhere in an exponent. Even when it does, such as with complex numbers, taking the πth root is rarely helpful. Similarly, {{w|e (mathematical constant)|e}} typically appears in the basis of a power (forming the {{w|exponential function}}), not in the exponent. (This is later referenced in [http://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ Lethal Neutrinos]).<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Thing to be approximated:<br />
|align="center"|Formula proposed<br />
|align="center"|Resulting approximate value<br />
|align="center"|Correct value<br />
|align="center"|Discussion<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|One {{w|light year}} (meters)<br />
|align="center"|99<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center"|9,227,446,944,279,201<br />
|align="center"|9,460,730,472,580,800 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|Based on 365.25 days per year (see below). 99<sup>8</sup> and 69<sup>8</sup> are sexual references. <br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Earth's surface (m<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|69<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center"|513,798,374,428,641<br />
|align="center"|5.10072 × 10<sup>14</sup><br />
|align="left"|99<sup>8</sup> and 69<sup>8</sup> are sexual references.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Oceans' volume (m<sup>3</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|9<sup>19</sup><br />
|align="center"|1,350,851,717,672,992,089<br />
|align="center"|1.332 × 10<sup>18</sup><br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Seconds in a year<br />
|align="center"|75<sup>4</sup><br />
|align="center"|31,640,625<br />
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)<br />
|align="left"|After this comic was released [[Randall]] got many responses by viewers. So he did add this statement to the top of the comic page:<br />
"Lots of emails mention the physicist favorite, 1 year = pi × 10<sup>7</sup> seconds. 75<sup>4</sup> is a hair more accurate, but it's hard to top 3,141,592's elegance." π × 10<sup>7</sup> is nearly equal to 31,415,926.536, and 75<sup>4</sup> is exactly 31,640,625. Randall's elegance belongs to the number π, but it should be multiplied by the factor of ten.<br />
<br />
Using the traditional definitions that a second is 1/60 of a minute, a minute is 1/60 of an hour, and an hour is 1/24 of a day, a 365-day common year is exactly 31,536,000 seconds (the "''Rent'' method" approximation) and the 366-day leap year is 31,622,400 seconds. Until the calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory, there was one leap year in every four years, making the average year 365.25 days, or 31,557,600 seconds. On the current calendar system, there are only 97 leap years in every 400 years, making the average year 365.2425 days, or 31,556,952 seconds. In technical usage, a "second" is now defined based on physical constants, even though the length of a day varies inversely with the changing angular velocity of the earth. To keep the official time synchronized with the rotation of the earth, a "leap second" is occasionally added, resulting in a slightly longer year.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)<br />
|align="center"|525,600 × 60<br />
|align="center"|31,536,000<br />
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)<br />
|align="left"|"''Rent'' Method" refers to the song "{{w|Seasons of Love}}" from the musical ''{{w|Rent (musical)|Rent}}''. The song asks, "How do you measure a year?" One line says "525,600 minutes" while most of the rest of the song suggests the best way to measure a year is moments shared with a loved one.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Age of the universe (seconds)<br />
|align="center"|15<sup>15</sup><br />
|align="center"|437,893,890,380,859,375<br />
|align="center"|4.354 ± 0.012 × 10<sup>17</sup> (best estimate; exact value unknown)<br />
|align="left"|This one will slowly get more accurate as the universe ages.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Planck's constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {30^{\pi^e}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.6849901410 × 10<sup>−34</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.62606957 × 10<sup>−34</sup><br />
|align="left"|Informally, the {{w|Planck constant}} is the smallest action possible in quantum mechanics.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Fine structure constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{1}{140}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.00<span style="text-decoration: overline;">714285</span><br />
|align="center"|0.0072973525664 (accepted value as of 2014), close to 1/137<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|fine structure constant}} indicates the strength of electromagnetism. It is unitless and around 0.007297, close to 1/137. At one point it was believed to be exactly the reciprocal of 137, and many people have tried to find a simple formula explaining this (with a pinch of {{w|numerology}} thrown in at times), including the infamous {{w|Arthur Eddington|Sir Arthur Adding-One}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Fundamental charge<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {3} {14 \pi^{\pi^\pi}}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.59895121062716 × 10<sup>−19</sup><br />
|align="center"|1.602176565 × 10<sup>−19</sup><br />
|align="left"|This is the charge of the proton, symbolized ''e'' for electron (whose charge is actually −''e''. You can blame Benjamin Franklin [[567|for that]].)<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Telephone number for the {{w|White House}} switchboard<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {e^ {\sqrt[\pi] {1 + \sqrt[e-1] 8}} }</math><br />
|align="center"|0.2024561414<br />
|align="center"|202-456-1414<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Jenny's constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\left( 7^ {\frac{e}{1} - \frac{1}{e}} - 9 \right) \pi^2</math><br />
|align="center"|867.5309019<br />
|align="center"|867-5309<br />
|align="left"|A telephone number referenced in {{w|Tommy Tutone}}'s 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}. As mentioned in the title text, the number not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime. <br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|World population estimate (billions)<br />
|align="center"|Equivalent to <math>6 + \frac {\frac34 y + \frac14 (y \operatorname{mod} 4) - 1499} {10}</math><br />
|align="center"|2005 — 6.5<br><br />
2006 — 6.6<br><br />
2007 — 6.7<br><br />
2008 — 6.7<br><br />
2009 — 6.8<br><br />
2010 — 6.9<br><br />
2011 — 7.0<br><br />
2012 — 7.0<br><br />
2013 — 7.1<br><br />
2014 — 7.2<br><br />
2015 — 7.3<br><br />
2016 — 7.3<br><br />
2017 — 7.4<br><br />
2018 — 7.5<br><br />
2019 — 7.6<br><br />
2020 — 7.6<br><br />
2021 — 7.7<br><br />
2022 — 7.8<br><br />
2023 — 7.9<br><br />
2024 — 7.9<br><br />
2025 — 8.0<br><br />
2026 — 8.1<br><br />
2027 — 8.2<br><br />
2028 — 8.2<br><br />
2029 — 8.3<br><br />
2030 — 8.4<br><br />
2031 — 8.5<br><br />
|align="center"|<br />
|align="left"|Grows by 75 million every year on average.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|U.S. population estimate (millions)<br />
|align="center"|Equivalent to <math>310 + 3(y - 2010)</math><br />
|align="center"|2000 — 280<br><br />
2001 — 283<br><br />
2002 — 286<br><br />
2003 — 289<br><br />
2004 — 292<br><br />
2005 — 295<br><br />
2006 — 298<br><br />
2007 — 301<br><br />
2008 — 304<br><br />
2009 — 307<br><br />
2010 — 310<br><br />
2011 — 313<br><br />
2012 — 316<br><br />
2013 — 319<br><br />
2014 — 322<br><br />
2015 — 325<br><br />
2016 — 328<br><br />
2017 — 331<br><br />
2018 — 334<br><br />
2019 — 337<br><br />
2020 — 340<br><br />
2021 — 343<br><br />
2022 — 346<br><br />
2023 — 349<br><br />
2024 — 352<br><br />
2025 — 355<br><br />
2026 — 358<br><br />
2027 — 361<br><br />
2028 — 364<br><br />
2029 — 367<br><br />
2030 — 370<br><br />
2031 — 373<br><br />
2032 — 376<br />
|align="center"|<br />
|align="left"|Grows by 3 million each year.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Electron rest energy (joules)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {e} {7^{16}}</math><br />
|align="center"|8.17948276564429 × 10<sup>−14</sup><br />
|align="center"|8.18710438 × 10<sup>−14</sup><br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Light year (miles)<br />
|align="center"|2<sup>42.42</sup><br />
|align="center"|5,884,267,614,436.97<br />
|align="center"|5,878,625,373,183.61 = 9,460,730,472,580,800 (meters in a light-year, by definition) / 1609.344 (meters in a mile)<br />
|align="left"|{{w|42 (number)|42}} is, according to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'', the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sin\left(60^\circ\right) = \frac {\sqrt 3} {2}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{e}{\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.8652559794<br />
|align="center"|0.8660254038<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 3</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{2e}{\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.7305119589<br />
|align="center"|1.7320508076<br />
|align="left"|Same as the above<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ (Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {\sqrt 3}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5773502692<br />
|align="center"|0.5772156649<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Euler–Mascheroni constant}} (denoted γ) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Feet in a meter<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {5} {\sqrt[e]\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|3.2815481951<br />
|align="center"|3.280839895<br />
|align="left"|Exactly 1/0.3048, as the {{w|international foot}} is defined as 0.3048 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{2}{e} + \frac32</math><br />
|align="center"|2.2357588823<br />
|align="center"|2.2360679775<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Avogadro's number<br />
|align="center"|<math>69^{\pi^\sqrt{5}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.02191201246329 × 10<sup>23</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.02214129 × 10<sup>23</sup><br />
|align="left"|Also called a mole for shorthand, {{w|Avogadro's number}} is (roughly) the number of individual atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon. Used in basically every application of chemistry.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Gravitational constant ''G''<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {e ^ {(\pi-1)^{(\pi+1)}}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.6736110685 × 10<sup>−11</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.67385 × 10<sup>−11</sup><br />
|align="left"|The universal {{w|gravitational constant}} G is equal to ''Fr''<sup>2</sup>/''Mm'', where ''F'' is the gravitational force between two objects, ''r'' is the distance between them, and ''M'' and ''m'' are their masses.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|''R'' (gas constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>(e + 1) \sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|8.3143309279<br />
|align="center"|8.3144622<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|gas constant}} relates energy to temperature in physics, as well as a gas's volume, pressure, temperature and {{w|mole (unit)|molar amount}} (hence the name).<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton–electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|<math>6 \pi^5</math><br />
|align="center"|1836.1181087117<br />
|align="center"|1836.15267246<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Liters in a {{w|gallon}}<br />
|align="center"|<math>3 + \frac{\pi}{4}</math><br />
|align="center"|3.7853981634<br />
|align="center"|3.785411784 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|A U.S. liquid gallon is defined by law as 231 cubic inches<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|''g''<sub>0</sub> or ''g''<sub>n</sub><br />
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)<br />
|align="center"|9.8066624898<br />
|align="center"|9.80665<br />
|align="left"|Standard gravity, or standard acceleration due to free fall is the nominal gravitational acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. It is defined by standard as 9.80665&nbsp;m/s<sup>2</sup>, which is exactly 35.30394&nbsp;km/h/s (about 32.174&nbsp;ft/s<sup>2</sup>, or 21.937&nbsp;mph/s). This value was established by the 3rd CGPM (1901, CR 70) and used to define the standard weight of an object as the product of its mass and this nominal acceleration. The acceleration of a body near the surface of the Earth is due to the combined effects of gravity and centrifugal acceleration from rotation of the Earth (but which is small enough to be neglected for most purposes); the total (the apparent gravity) is about 0.5 percent greater at the poles than at the equator.<br />
<br />
Randall used a letter ''g'' without a suffix, which can also mean the local acceleration due to local gravity and centrifugal acceleration, which varies depending on one's position on Earth.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton–electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {e^8 - 10} {\phi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1836.1530151398<br />
|align="center"|1836.15267246<br />
|align="left"|φ is the {{w|golden ratio}}, or <math>\textstyle{ \frac{1+\sqrt 5}{2} }</math>. It has many interesting geometrical properties.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength (meters)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{1}{1200^2}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.9<span style="text-decoration: overline;">444</span> × 10<sup>−7</sup><br />
|align="center"|~6.943<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|ruby laser}} wavelength varies because "ruby" is not clearly defined.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Mean Earth radius (meters)<br />
|align="center"|<math>5^8 6e</math><br />
|align="center"|6,370,973.035<br />
|align="center"|6,371,008.7 (IUGG definition)<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Earth radius#mean radii|mean earth radius}} varies because there is not one single way to make a sphere out of the earth. Randall's value lies within the actual variation of Earth's radius. The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) defines the mean radius as 2/3 of the equatorial radius (6,378,137.0&nbsp;m) plus 1/3 of the polar radius (6,356,752.3&nbsp;m).<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 2</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac35 + \frac{\pi}{7-\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.4142200581<br />
|align="center"|1.4142135624<br />
|align="left"|There are recurring math jokes along the lines of, "<math>\textstyle{ \frac35 + \frac{\pi}{7-\pi} - \sqrt{2} = 0}</math>, but your calculator is probably not good enough to compute this correctly". See also [[217: e to the pi Minus pi]].<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac12</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5<br />
|align="center"|0.5 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|This is the exactly correct equation referred to in the note, "Pro tip – Not all of these are wrong", as shown below and also [http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/140388/how-can-one-prove-cos-pi-7-cos3-pi-7-cos5-pi-7-1-2 here]. If you're still confused, the functions use {{w|radians}}, not {{w|degrees (angle)|degrees}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ (Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{e}{3^4} + \frac{e}{5}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5772154006<br />
|align="center"|0.5772156649<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Euler–Mascheroni constant}} (denoted γ) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {13+4\pi} {24-4\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|2.2360678094<br />
|align="center"|2.2360679775<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^n}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\ln(3)^e</math><br />
|align="center"|1.2912987577<br />
|align="center"|1.2912859971<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Proof===<br />
<br />
One of the "approximations" actually is precisely correct: <math>\textstyle{ \cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} = \frac12 }</math>. Here is a proof:<br />
<br />
:<math>\cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7}</math><br />
<br />
Multiplying by 1 (or by a number divided by itself) leaves the equation unchanged: <br />
<br />
:<math>= \left( \cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} \right) \frac{2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}{2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}</math><br />
<br />
The <math>\textstyle{ 2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7} }</math> on the top of the fraction is multiplied through the original equation:<br />
<br />
:<math>= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7} + 2 \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7} + 2 \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}</math><br />
<br />
Use the trigonometric identity <math>\textstyle{ 2 \cos A \sin B = \sin (A+B) - \sin(A-B)}</math> on the second and third terms in the numerator:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin \frac{\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \left(\frac{3\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7}\right) - \sin \left(\frac{3\pi}{7} - \frac{\pi}{7}\right) \right] + \left[\sin \left(\frac{5\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7}\right) - \sin \left(\frac{5\pi}{7} - \frac{\pi}{7}\right) \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin \frac{\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
Use the trigonometric identity <math>\textstyle{ 2 \cos A \sin A = \sin 2A }</math> on the first term in the numerator:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{2\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{2\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} } {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
Noting that <math>\textstyle{\frac{6\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7} = \pi}</math> and that the sines of supplementary angles (angles that sum to π) are equal:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{\pi}{7} } {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac12 \quad \quad \quad \text{Q.E.D.}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:'''A table of slightly wrong equations and identities useful for approximations and/or trolling teachers.'''<br />
:(Found using a mix of trial-and-error, ''Mathematica'', and Robert Munafo's ''Ries'' tool.)<br />
: All units are SI MKS unless otherwise noted.<br />
<br />
:{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center" | Relation:<br />
|align="center" | Accurate to within:<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | One light-year(m)<br />
|align="center" | 99<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 40<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Earth Surface(m<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center" | 69<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 130<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Oceans' volume(m<sup>3</sup>)<br />
|align="center" | 9<sup>19</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 70<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Seconds in a year<br />
|align="center" | 75<sup>4</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 400<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)<br />
|align="center" | 525,600 x 60<br />
|align="center" | one part in 1400<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Age of the universe (seconds)<br />
|align="center" | 15<sup>15</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 70<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Planck's constant<br />
|align="center" | 1/(30<sup>π<sup>e</sup></sup>)<br />
|align="center" | one part in 110<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Fine structure constant<br />
|align="center" | 1/140<br />
|align="center" | [I've had enough of this 137 crap]<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Fundamental charge<br />
|align="center" | 3/(14 * π<sup>π<sup>π</sup></sup>)<br />
|align="center" | one part in 500<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|White House Switchboard<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|1/<br /><br />
<sup>π</sup>√(e<sup>(1 + <sup>(e-1)</sup>√8)</sup>)<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Jenny's Constant<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|(7<sup>(e/1 - 1/e)</sup> - 9) * π<sup>2</sup><br />
|-<br />
|colspan="3" align="center"|Intermission:<br /> World Population Estimate<br /> which should stay current<br /> for a decade or two:<br /><br />
Take the last two digits of the current year<br />
<br />
Example: 20[14] <br />
<br />
Subtract the number of leap years since hurricane Katrina<br />
<br />
Example: 14 (minus 2008 and 2012) is 12<br />
<br />
Add a decimal point<br />
<br />
Example: 1.2<br />
<br />
Add 6<br />
<br />
Example: 6 + 1.2<br />
<br />
7.2 = World population in billions.<br />
<br />
<br />
Version for US population:<br />
<br />
Example: 20[14]<br />
<br />
Subtract 10<br />
<br />
Example: 4<br />
<br />
Multiply by 3<br />
<br />
Example: 12<br />
<br />
Add 10<br />
<br />
Example: 3[22] million<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Electron rest energy<br />
|align="center"|e/7<sup>16</sup> J<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Light-year(miles)<br />
|align="center"|2<sup>(42.42)</sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|sin(60°) = √3/2 = e/π<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√3 = 2e/π<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|1/√3<br />
|align="center"|one part in 4000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Feet in a meter<br />
|align="center"|5/(<sup>e</sup>√π)<br />
|align="center"|one part in 4000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√5 = 2/e + 3/2<br />
|align="center"|one part in 7000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Avogadro's number<br />
|align="center"|69<sup>π<sup>√5</sup></sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 25,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Gravitational constant G<br />
|align="center"|1 / e<sup>(π - 1)<sup>(π + 1)</sup></sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 25,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|R (gas constant)<br />
|align="center"|(e+1) √5<br />
|align="center"|one part in 50,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|6*π<sup>5</sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 50,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Liters in a gallon<br />
|align="center"|3 + π/4<br />
|align="center"|one part in 500,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|g<br />
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)<br />
|align="center"|one part in 750,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|(e<sup>8</sup> - 10) / ϕ<br />
|align="center"|one part in 5,000,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength<br />
|align="center"|1 / (1200<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|[within actual variation]<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Mean Earth Radius<br />
|align="center"|(5<sup>8</sup>)*6e<br />
|align="center"|[within actual variation]<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="3" align="center"|Protip - not all of these are wrong:<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√2 = 3/5 + π/(7-π)<br />
|align="center"|cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7) = 1/2<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant) = e/3<sup>4</sup> + e/5<br />
|align="center"|√5 = (13 + 4π) / (24 - 4π)<br />
|align="center"|Σ 1/n<sup>n</sup> = ln(3)<sup>e</sup><br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Protip]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1991:_Research_Areas_by_Size_and_Countedness&diff=1569711991: Research Areas by Size and Countedness2018-05-12T02:12:41Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Lower right quadrant */ aspen trees, life on moons not just planets, gods don't have to be big</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1991<br />
| date = May 9, 2018<br />
| title = Research Areas by Size and Countedness<br />
| image = research_areas_by_size_and_countedness.png<br />
| titletext = Mathematicians give a third answer on the vertical axis, "That question is poorly defined, but we have a sub-field devoted to every plausible version of it."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The tables needs to be filled in. And I think the title text has been explained already... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a [[:Category:Scatter plots|scatter plot]] that ranks different research fields according to the precision of the knowledge of the number of the studied object (vertical axis) vs. how large (the size of) the studied object is on the horizontal axis. <br />
<br />
For instance the number of United States presidents is well known, so the study of their history is at the top of the Y-axis. This study is placed close to the Y-axis as the size of a president is about midway in size between the two extremes of the X-axis, elementary particles to the left (small) and the entire cosmos (cosmology) to the right (big). <br />
<br />
On the X-axis Presidents are close to the middle. Both presidents and other larger life forms (as a research area) including extinct animals (paleontology) and exobiology are all close to the the same central position just right of the Y-axis, with smaller animals like birds and insects just to the left of the Y-axis. But where the number of presidents is well known, then the number of exoplanet life forms (exobiology) is completely unknown and thus it will be found at the very bottom of the Y-axis, since we have no idea if there are life elsewhere and if so how many places will it be and how varied.<br />
<br />
The 19 research areas are listed and explained in the [[#Tables of research areas|tables]] below.<br />
<br />
In the title text mathematicians may give a third answer that the concept of counting the things being studied is not reasonable, because the things are abstract or otherwise not discrete. There are many different types of math that blend into each other, and many have turned into separate sub-disciplines based on different interpretations of fundamental rules. As a specific example in geometry, different interpretations of how many lines you may draw parallel to another line through a given point has lead to hyperbolic (infinite parallel lines) and spherical (0 parallel lines) geometric systems that are just as valid (and valuable, in some contexts) as the more commonly known Cartesian (1 parallel line) geometry. As a specific example of the blending, number theory and set theory and topology all interrelate and it is difficult to concretely say whether many theorems belong to one branch of math or another.<br />
<br />
==Tables of research areas==<br />
*For a table with the coordinates given in percentage for each research field, see the [[#Table with coordinates|table]] in the trivia section<br />
<br />
===Upper left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size of the thing<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Elementary particle physics}}<br />
| The smallest subjects that we have actually detected are the {{w|elementary particles}}. In the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics, they are considered point masses (i.e. to have zero width). They may be made of smaller {{w|String theory|strings}} but if so these have still not been detected.<br />
| We think we have a fairly good estimate of how many elementary particles that are known. There could be some uncertainty though, so it is not at the very top.<br />
|Elementary particle physics is concerned with the study of subatomic particles (the smallest things that we know of), of which there are 17. Most notably, until recently it was uncertain whether the {{w|Higgs boson}} was one of the elementary particles, but scientists have a "pretty good estimate" because the mathematical models don't predict the existence of many other particles<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dentistry}}<br />
|Several mm to several centimeters<br />
|Most teeth are visible to the naked eye, and dentists have x-ray technology to see what's not visible, so counting them is pretty straightforward.<br />
|Dentistry is the study of teeth (pretty small, both in size as well as in quantity). Humans adults grow 32 teeth, which is a "pretty good estimate" since it is very rare for {{w|Hyperdontia|more than 32 teeth to grow}} and it is rather common for {{w|wisdom teeth}} to be surgically extracted or in some cases never to develop. Children may only have 20 teeth before they start falling out, but each tooth that falls out is because another tooth is growing underneath, so a child might have as many as 52 teeth, counting the child teeth that haven't fallen out yet plus the adult teeth that are starting to form. So while a dentist will usually have a good idea how many teeth will be in a patient's mouth, they won't know for sure until they look or consult dental records.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Shakespeare}} studies<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Shakespeare studies is concerned with the works of William Shakespeare (each book is pretty small). Generally, 36 plays are attributed to him, but between 1 and 3 additional plays are considered "lost" (i.e. at some point between being first published or performed and scholars seriously studying Shakespeare, all known copies, references, and fragments were destroyed, making it impossible to determine whether Shakespeare actually wrote them or whether they actually existed as separate plays), and {{w|Shakespeare apocrypha|some 20 more}} are believed to have been written by him, but not signed. To make matters worse, some plays that ''were'' published or performed under Shakespeare's name are believed to have been written as collaborations (not fully by him) or mis-attributed (we don't know who wrote them but, everyone says it was him).<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Ornithology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Ornithology studies birds (birds tend to be small; even the largest known flying bird, the {{w|Condor}}, stands smaller than the average human, with non-flying avians such as the {{w|ostrich}} being larger, but not that large). As with all animal classifications, we aren't really certain how many species there are, and are [https://www.amnh.org/about-the-museum/press-center/new-study-doubles-the-estimate-of-bird-species-in-the-world constantly revising the figure], but all estimates remain in the low thousands, so we do have a "pretty good estimate"<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient {{w|literature}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|While it is fairly straightforward to look up how many books [http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Books-in-Print.html are currently in print], or how many books [https://mashable.com/2010/08/05/number-of-books-in-the-world/ all currently printed information would fit into if bound into equal-length volumes], and then limiting those estimates to those that date before a specific year, counting how many books from the period of interest haven't survived to the present day (books that were "{{w|lost work|lost}}" either by deliberate discontinuation, or accidental destruction such as in the {{w|Destruction of the Library of Alexandria|Library of Alexandria}}) is a bit more difficult. However, because we know the work existed (it is mentioned by name in some other text), we have "pretty good estimate" that the number of lost works is "only" in the tens of thousands, as is the number of surviving works.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Upper right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Marine mammal|Marine}} {{w|Mammalogy|Mammology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Marine mammals are the largest extant animals. The US Government [http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/ recognizes] 119 marine mammals. However, what constitutes each species is [https://www.marinemammalscience.org/species-information/list-marine-mammal-species-subspecies/ constantly being revised], with new studies indicating either that what used to be considered a subspecies is actually a separate species, or that what used to be considered a separate species is actually a subspecies. As the depths of the ocean are further explored, species that were outright unknown are spotted and need to be classified. However, since marine mammals breathe air, they have to come to the surface where we can see them, so we're pretty sure that we've spotted all species. Note that RAndall has misspelled Mammalogy with o instead of a in the middle.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States|Presidential History}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Presidents are generally considered "big" men in history. Therefore, each one is fairly well known and documented. There is, however, some discussion on how many presidents there have been in the history of the United States, since prior to the {{w|Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|25th amendment}}, it was unspecified whether vice presidents counted as presidents during the President's absence. Most notably, this ambiguity is the reason {{w|David Rice Atchison}}'s tombstone is inscribed with the words "President of the United States for one day". <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Railway engineering}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A railway can span anywhere from a few hundred feet, to thousands of miles, so they're pretty big. The type of a railway is generally given by its {{w|track gauge}}, which are defined as "standard" (whatever you're currently using), "narrow" (rails closer together than whatever you're using) and "broad" (rails farther apart than whatever you're using). Since what is standard varies from country to country, and indeed from line to line, how many kinds of "narrow" gauge and "broad" gauge exist depend on who you ask.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Geology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Geology is generally considered the study of rocks (small rocks being considered fragments of mountain layers, so what counts as a "rock" for a geologist can be pretty big). There is no universally agreed upon number to how many {{w|List of rock types|types of rock}} there are, but all geologists agree they can be grouped into igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock. Alternatively, geology can be construed as the study of the planet Earth's composition ( *geo*- meaning "Earth" ), and geologists are confident that the planet Earth is big and there is only one of it.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Cosmology}}<br />
| As this encompasses (at least) all of the visible parts of the universe we live in, there can be no other "items" to study that would be larger.<br />
| There is only one visible universe, but there could be multiverses/parallel universes, and also an infinite universe beyond the borders of our own part of this universe's event horizon. So it depends on who you ask if they say there is one of and infinite number of universes to study, thus it is placed close to the middle of the two extremes,<br />
|Cosmology is the study of the universe. There is an asterisk with the note "Depends on who you ask", relating to the estimate of how many universes there are. While it might seem obvious that there is only one universe, some branches of physics believe that our universe is part of a {{w|multiverse}}, and this remains an open and contested subject in the field.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mycology}}<br />
| microscopic to a few miles<br />
|<br />
|Mycology is the study of fungi (since fungi tend to grow flat -- excepting for mushrooms, which are their sexual organs, and do not exceed a foot in height (see [http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5740/20130729/giant-fungus-china-mushroom-world-s-largest-size.htm World's Largest mushrooms] -- mushrooms are generally considered small). Many fungi are microscopic, but some get to be a few miles in diameter.[http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/the-worlds-largest-living-organism.aspx The World's largest living organism.] It is a lot harder to discern which species a fungus is, and therefore classify it, so we "have no idea" how many kinds of fungi there are. Studies [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21613136 vary wildly] between about 70,000 to over 5,000,000. There is a comic named after this study: [[1664: Mycology]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[1012: Wrong Superhero|Entymology]]<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|It is unclear whether [[Randall]] means {{w|entomology}} or {{w|etymology}} (probably neither; it's likely that this wasn't a mistake and it is possibly a direct reference to [[1012: Wrong Superhero]]). In either case, [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28938083 estimates for insects] (entomology) vary from less than 1,000,000 to 30,000,000; and [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language estimates for root words] (etymology) reaching hundreds of thousands. Entomology was mentioned in the title text of [[1610: Fire Ants]].<br />
|-<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Microbiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Microbiology studies microscopic (too small to see) organisms, of which some 1,400 are known and "estimates for the total number of microbial species vary wildly, from as low as 120,000 to tens of millions and higher", according to [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language Nature magazine]. <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Pharmacology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|The number of drugs (pharmaceuticals) discovered and synthesized is not tallied, according to [https://www.raps.org/regulatory-focus%E2%84%A2/news-articles/2014/10/how-many-drugs-has-fda-approved-in-its-entire-history-new-paper-explains recent studies], but an estimate can be obtained by seeing how many have passed through the {{w|Food and Drug Administration|U.S. FDA}} (1,453). Many home remedies, which might technically qualify as drugs, have not been approved because {{w|Novelty (patent)|"everybody knows that"}}, as well as many solely recreational drugs since regulation might result in outlawing. Because of this, "we have no idea" how many drugs truly exist. Since drugs are extremely powerful molecules that are only administered in choice amounts, they are generally perceived as small.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Botany}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Botany studies plants, which can reach {{w|List of superlative trees|hundreds of feet by any measure}}. Some {{w|Pando (tree)|clonal colonies of trees}} spread for miles. However, plant tend to clump together in forests and jungles, which makes it hard to get to them and document them. Every year, thousands of new plants are discovered, with the best estimate being that there are [https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/many-plants-world-scientists-may-now-answer/ nearly 400,000 vascular plants] and an additional [https://www.britannica.com/topic-browse/Plants/Nonvascular-Plants 12,000 non-vascular plants]. However, the rate of discovery doesn't appear to be slowing down significantly, so we truly "have no idea."<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Paleontology}}<br />
|Paleontologists study fossils, which range in size from very small to very large. When most people think of paleontologists though, they tend to think of them as studying large animals such as dinosaurs.<br />
|<br />
|Paleontology studies fossils, particularly those of extinct animals, which can reach {{w|Largest prehistoric animals|huge sizes}}. However, since fossils form under very special circumstances, if the animal did not die under those special circumstances, there will be no record of their existence. Therefore, the number of extinct animals can never truly be known, but we've found [http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2010/01/12/how-do-we-know-that-most-of-th/ around 250,000]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Black Hole}} {{w|Astronomy}}<br />
|Compared to most astronomical objects, black holes are fairly small. However, most of them (that we are able to detect) are still larger than the Earth, so they would still fall on the "big" end of this chart. Alternatively, Randall may be referring to their mass, which is on the scale of stars.<br />
|<br />
|"Most stellar black holes [...] are impossible to detect. Judging from the number of stars large enough to produce such black holes, however, scientists estimate that there are as many as ten million to a billion such black holes in the Milky Way alone." ([https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes NASA Black Hole information page])<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Exobiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Exobiology refers to the study of life outside Earth, which requires {{w|SETI|scanning the entire universe for life}}. Currently, exobiology seeks to find a planet or similar body with life (and, {{w|definition of planet|to qualify as a planet}}, bodies capable of sustaining life are big). The estimate of {{w|List of potentially habitable exoplanets|how many planets with life there are}} varies from 16 to 40,000,000,000. However, the number of bodies apart from Earth confirmed to have life is currently zero. This is known as the {{w|Fermi Paradox}}. For life, of the type we know, to exist outside of the Solar system there need to be planets around other stars. Such planets are called Exoplanets, and they have been a [[:Category:Exoplanets|recurrent subject]] on xkcd.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Theology}}<br />
|It is placed at a scale as large as the universe (cosmology) as it should encompass the entire creation. For those not believing in gods it could also be seen as studying something as small as the human brain that has created all the gods. But Randall has chosen to place it in the big section. <br />
|As no one really can know anything about theology as it is a study covering a wide range of beliefs from a wide range of religions.<br />
|Theology is concerned with the study of God(s), which, by some definitions, is a hypothetical being greater than the universe itself. In particular, theologists study the question of whether {{w|theism|a god could exist}} (there is &ge;1 god) {{w|astheism|or not}} (there are 0 gods) and, in the former case, whether there could be {{w|polytheism|multiple gods}} (there are ''n''>1 gods) or {{w|monotheism|just one}} (there is exactly 1 god) or indeed whether there is {{w|animism|one god for each living thing}} (''n''≫1 gods). I.e., the very definition of the field is the fact that "we have no idea" how many there are. This quantitative uncertainty is also mentioned in [[900: Religions]].<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[An X-Y scatter plot of research areas, written in gray font, where both axes have arrows in both ends. At the end of each arrow is a label. Above the left part of the X-axis there is a line which goes to a text about the meaning of the X-axis. Similarly there is a line to from the top of the Y-axis to a questions “asked” to those that study the given subject, their answers being somewhere between the two labels on the Y axis.] <br />
<br />
:[The X-axis from left to right, text first and then labels:]<br />
:Size of the thing you study<br />
:Small<br />
:Big<br />
<br />
:[The Y-axis from top to bottom, question first and then labels:]<br />
:"That thing you study - how many of them are there?"<br />
:"We have a pretty good estimate."<br />
:"We have no idea"<br />
<br />
:[The research areas names are listed here below by sorting them into the four quadrants from top left to bottom right. In each quadrant the areas are listed after most left first, and then top to bottom for those at the same x position.]<br />
<br />
:[Upper left quadrant (Small & count known):]<br />
:Elementary particle physics <br />
:Dentistry <br />
:Shakespeare studies<br />
:Ornithology<br />
:Ancient Literature<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count known):]<br />
:Presidential History <br />
:Marine Mammology <br />
:Railway Engineering <br />
:Geology <br />
:Cosmology*<br />
:<small>(*Depends who you ask)</small><br />
<br />
:[Lower left quadrant (Small & count unknown):]<br />
:Pharmacology<br />
:Microbiology<br />
:Entymology<br />
:Mycology<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count unknown):]<br />
:Botany <br />
:Paleontology <br />
:Exobiology <br />
:Black Hole Astronomy <br />
:Theology<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
===Table with coordinates===<br />
*Here is a sortable table with the coordinates in percentage given.<br />
**They have been taken from the discussion where "Zetfr" states that<br />
***I have determined the exact position of each science on both axes. <br />
***I computed the center of the smallest rectangle that encloses each name. <br />
***Here they are, expressed as percentages, assuming 0% and 100% correspond to the arrow tips on each axis.<br />
****It could be argued that cosmology size should be at 100% and Theology knowledge 0 %, etc. but that is just semantics. <br />
****The interesting here is what order Randall seems to have put the different fields and object sizes.<br />
**To begin with they are sorted after the size of the ting the research are studies, with the smallest first.<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Research area<br />
! Size (%)<br />
! Estimate (%)<br />
|-<br />
|Elementary Particle Physics ||7 ||72<br />
|-<br />
|Pharmacology ||12 ||6<br />
|-<br />
|Microbiology ||15 ||13<br />
|-<br />
|Dentistry ||21 ||84<br />
|-<br />
|Entymology ||24 ||25<br />
|-<br />
|Mycology ||29 ||38<br />
|-<br />
|Ornithology ||34 ||62<br />
|-<br />
|Shakespeare Studies ||37 ||88<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient Literature ||38 ||53<br />
|-<br />
|Botany ||60 ||40<br />
|-<br />
|Presidential History ||62 ||89<br />
|-<br />
|Marine Mammology ||66 ||68<br />
|-<br />
|Paleontology ||68 ||31<br />
|-<br />
|Exobiology ||68 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Railway Engineering ||79 ||81<br />
|-<br />
|Geology ||90 ||90<br />
|-<br />
|Theology ||91 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Black Hole Astronomy ||92 ||26<br />
|-<br />
|Cosmology ||94 ||62<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scatter plots]]<br />
[[Category:Rankings]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]] <!--Title text --><br />
[[Category:Fiction]] <!--Shakespeare/Theology --><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!--Theology --><br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!-- Several studies --><br />
[[Category:Exoplanets]] <!--Exo biology --><br />
[[Category:Politics]] <!--President --></div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1991:_Research_Areas_by_Size_and_Countedness&diff=1569701991: Research Areas by Size and Countedness2018-05-12T01:51:19Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Lower left quadrant */ mycology - size microscopic to a few miles, with reference</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1991<br />
| date = May 9, 2018<br />
| title = Research Areas by Size and Countedness<br />
| image = research_areas_by_size_and_countedness.png<br />
| titletext = Mathematicians give a third answer on the vertical axis, "That question is poorly defined, but we have a sub-field devoted to every plausible version of it."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The tables needs to be filled in. And I think the title text has been explained already... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a [[:Category:Scatter plots|scatter plot]] that ranks different research fields according to the precision of the knowledge of the number of the studied object (vertical axis) vs. how large (the size of) the studied object is on the horizontal axis. <br />
<br />
For instance the number of United States presidents is well known, so the study of their history is at the top of the Y-axis. This study is placed close to the Y-axis as the size of a president is about midway in size between the two extremes of the X-axis, elementary particles to the left (small) and the entire cosmos (cosmology) to the right (big). <br />
<br />
On the X-axis Presidents are close to the middle. Both presidents and other larger life forms (as a research area) including extinct animals (paleontology) and exobiology are all close to the the same central position just right of the Y-axis, with smaller animals like birds and insects just to the left of the Y-axis. But where the number of presidents is well known, then the number of exoplanet life forms (exobiology) is completely unknown and thus it will be found at the very bottom of the Y-axis, since we have no idea if there are life elsewhere and if so how many places will it be and how varied.<br />
<br />
The 19 research areas are listed and explained in the [[#Tables of research areas|tables]] below.<br />
<br />
In the title text mathematicians may give a third answer that the concept of counting the things being studied is not reasonable, because the things are abstract or otherwise not discrete. There are many different types of math that blend into each other, and many have turned into separate sub-disciplines based on different interpretations of fundamental rules. As a specific example in geometry, different interpretations of how many lines you may draw parallel to another line through a given point has lead to hyperbolic (infinite parallel lines) and spherical (0 parallel lines) geometric systems that are just as valid (and valuable, in some contexts) as the more commonly known Cartesian (1 parallel line) geometry. As a specific example of the blending, number theory and set theory and topology all interrelate and it is difficult to concretely say whether many theorems belong to one branch of math or another.<br />
<br />
==Tables of research areas==<br />
*For a table with the coordinates given in percentage for each research field, see the [[#Table with coordinates|table]] in the trivia section<br />
<br />
===Upper left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size of the thing<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Elementary particle physics}}<br />
| The smallest subjects that we have actually detected are the {{w|elementary particles}}. In the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics, they are considered point masses (i.e. to have zero width). They may be made of smaller {{w|String theory|strings}} but if so these have still not been detected.<br />
| We think we have a fairly good estimate of how many elementary particles that are known. There could be some uncertainty though, so it is not at the very top.<br />
|Elementary particle physics is concerned with the study of subatomic particles (the smallest things that we know of), of which there are 17. Most notably, until recently it was uncertain whether the {{w|Higgs boson}} was one of the elementary particles, but scientists have a "pretty good estimate" because the mathematical models don't predict the existence of many other particles<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dentistry}}<br />
|Several mm to several centimeters<br />
|Most teeth are visible to the naked eye, and dentists have x-ray technology to see what's not visible, so counting them is pretty straightforward.<br />
|Dentistry is the study of teeth (pretty small, both in size as well as in quantity). Humans adults grow 32 teeth, which is a "pretty good estimate" since it is very rare for {{w|Hyperdontia|more than 32 teeth to grow}} and it is rather common for {{w|wisdom teeth}} to be surgically extracted or in some cases never to develop. Children may only have 20 teeth before they start falling out, but each tooth that falls out is because another tooth is growing underneath, so a child might have as many as 52 teeth, counting the child teeth that haven't fallen out yet plus the adult teeth that are starting to form. So while a dentist will usually have a good idea how many teeth will be in a patient's mouth, they won't know for sure until they look or consult dental records.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Shakespeare}} studies<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Shakespeare studies is concerned with the works of William Shakespeare (each book is pretty small). Generally, 36 plays are attributed to him, but between 1 and 3 additional plays are considered "lost" (i.e. at some point between being first published or performed and scholars seriously studying Shakespeare, all known copies, references, and fragments were destroyed, making it impossible to determine whether Shakespeare actually wrote them or whether they actually existed as separate plays), and {{w|Shakespeare apocrypha|some 20 more}} are believed to have been written by him, but not signed. To make matters worse, some plays that ''were'' published or performed under Shakespeare's name are believed to have been written as collaborations (not fully by him) or mis-attributed (we don't know who wrote them but, everyone says it was him).<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Ornithology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Ornithology studies birds (birds tend to be small; even the largest known flying bird, the {{w|Condor}}, stands smaller than the average human, with non-flying avians such as the {{w|ostrich}} being larger, but not that large). As with all animal classifications, we aren't really certain how many species there are, and are [https://www.amnh.org/about-the-museum/press-center/new-study-doubles-the-estimate-of-bird-species-in-the-world constantly revising the figure], but all estimates remain in the low thousands, so we do have a "pretty good estimate"<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient {{w|literature}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|While it is fairly straightforward to look up how many books [http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Books-in-Print.html are currently in print], or how many books [https://mashable.com/2010/08/05/number-of-books-in-the-world/ all currently printed information would fit into if bound into equal-length volumes], and then limiting those estimates to those that date before a specific year, counting how many books from the period of interest haven't survived to the present day (books that were "{{w|lost work|lost}}" either by deliberate discontinuation, or accidental destruction such as in the {{w|Destruction of the Library of Alexandria|Library of Alexandria}}) is a bit more difficult. However, because we know the work existed (it is mentioned by name in some other text), we have "pretty good estimate" that the number of lost works is "only" in the tens of thousands, as is the number of surviving works.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Upper right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Marine mammal|Marine}} {{w|Mammalogy|Mammology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Marine mammals are the largest extant animals. The US Government [http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/ recognizes] 119 marine mammals. However, what constitutes each species is [https://www.marinemammalscience.org/species-information/list-marine-mammal-species-subspecies/ constantly being revised], with new studies indicating either that what used to be considered a subspecies is actually a separate species, or that what used to be considered a separate species is actually a subspecies. As the depths of the ocean are further explored, species that were outright unknown are spotted and need to be classified. However, since marine mammals breathe air, they have to come to the surface where we can see them, so we're pretty sure that we've spotted all species. Note that RAndall has misspelled Mammalogy with o instead of a in the middle.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States|Presidential History}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Presidents are generally considered "big" men in history. Therefore, each one is fairly well known and documented. There is, however, some discussion on how many presidents there have been in the history of the United States, since prior to the {{w|Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|25th amendment}}, it was unspecified whether vice presidents counted as presidents during the President's absence. Most notably, this ambiguity is the reason {{w|David Rice Atchison}}'s tombstone is inscribed with the words "President of the United States for one day". <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Railway engineering}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A railway can span anywhere from a few hundred feet, to thousands of miles, so they're pretty big. The type of a railway is generally given by its {{w|track gauge}}, which are defined as "standard" (whatever you're currently using), "narrow" (rails closer together than whatever you're using) and "broad" (rails farther apart than whatever you're using). Since what is standard varies from country to country, and indeed from line to line, how many kinds of "narrow" gauge and "broad" gauge exist depend on who you ask.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Geology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Geology is generally considered the study of rocks (small rocks being considered fragments of mountain layers, so what counts as a "rock" for a geologist can be pretty big). There is no universally agreed upon number to how many {{w|List of rock types|types of rock}} there are, but all geologists agree they can be grouped into igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock. Alternatively, geology can be construed as the study of the planet Earth's composition ( *geo*- meaning "Earth" ), and geologists are confident that the planet Earth is big and there is only one of it.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Cosmology}}<br />
| As this encompasses (at least) all of the visible parts of the universe we live in, there can be no other "items" to study that would be larger.<br />
| There is only one visible universe, but there could be multiverses/parallel universes, and also an infinite universe beyond the borders of our own part of this universe's event horizon. So it depends on who you ask if they say there is one of and infinite number of universes to study, thus it is placed close to the middle of the two extremes,<br />
|Cosmology is the study of the universe. There is an asterisk with the note "Depends on who you ask", relating to the estimate of how many universes there are. While it might seem obvious that there is only one universe, some branches of physics believe that our universe is part of a {{w|multiverse}}, and this remains an open and contested subject in the field.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mycology}}<br />
| microscopic to a few miles<br />
|<br />
|Mycology is the study of fungi (since fungi tend to grow flat -- excepting for mushrooms, which are their sexual organs, and do not exceed a foot in height (see [http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5740/20130729/giant-fungus-china-mushroom-world-s-largest-size.htm World's Largest mushrooms] -- mushrooms are generally considered small). Many fungi are microscopic, but some get to be a few miles in diameter.[http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/the-worlds-largest-living-organism.aspx The World's largest living organism.] It is a lot harder to discern which species a fungus is, and therefore classify it, so we "have no idea" how many kinds of fungi there are. Studies [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21613136 vary wildly] between about 70,000 to over 5,000,000. There is a comic named after this study: [[1664: Mycology]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[1012: Wrong Superhero|Entymology]]<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|It is unclear whether [[Randall]] means {{w|entomology}} or {{w|etymology}} (probably neither; it's likely that this wasn't a mistake and it is possibly a direct reference to [[1012: Wrong Superhero]]). In either case, [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28938083 estimates for insects] (entomology) vary from less than 1,000,000 to 30,000,000; and [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language estimates for root words] (etymology) reaching hundreds of thousands. Entomology was mentioned in the title text of [[1610: Fire Ants]].<br />
|-<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Microbiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Microbiology studies microscopic (too small to see) organisms, of which some 1,400 are known and "estimates for the total number of microbial species vary wildly, from as low as 120,000 to tens of millions and higher", according to [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language Nature magazine]. <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Pharmacology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|The number of drugs (pharmaceuticals) discovered and synthesized is not tallied, according to [https://www.raps.org/regulatory-focus%E2%84%A2/news-articles/2014/10/how-many-drugs-has-fda-approved-in-its-entire-history-new-paper-explains recent studies], but an estimate can be obtained by seeing how many have passed through the {{w|Food and Drug Administration|U.S. FDA}} (1,453). Many home remedies, which might technically qualify as drugs, have not been approved because {{w|Novelty (patent)|"everybody knows that"}}, as well as many solely recreational drugs since regulation might result in outlawing. Because of this, "we have no idea" how many drugs truly exist. Since drugs are extremely powerful molecules that are only administered in choice amounts, they are generally perceived as small.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Botany}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Botany studies plants, which can reach {{w|List of superlative trees|hundreds of feet by any measure}}. However, plant tend to clump together in forests and jungles, which makes it hard to get to them and document them. Every year, thousands of new plants are discovered, with the best estimate being that there are [https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/many-plants-world-scientists-may-now-answer/ nearly 400,000 vascular plants] and an additional [https://www.britannica.com/topic-browse/Plants/Nonvascular-Plants 12,000 non-vascular plants]. However, the rate of discovery doesn't appear to be slowing down significantly, so we truly "have no idea."<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Paleontology}}<br />
|Paleontologists study fossils, which range in size from very small to very large. When most people think of paleontologists though, they tend to think of them as studying large animals such as dinosaurs.<br />
|<br />
|Paleontology studies fossils, particularly those of extinct animals, which can reach {{w|Largest prehistoric animals|huge sizes}}. However, since fossils form under very special circumstances, if the animal did not die under those special circumstances, there will be no record of their existence. Therefore, the number of extinct animals can never truly be known, but we've found [http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2010/01/12/how-do-we-know-that-most-of-th/ around 250,000]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Black Hole}} {{w|Astronomy}}<br />
|Compared to most astronomical objects, black holes are fairly small. However, most of them (that we are able to detect) are still larger than the Earth, so they would still fall on the "big" end of this chart. Alternatively, Randall may be referring to their mass, which is on the scale of stars.<br />
|<br />
|"Most stellar black holes [...] are impossible to detect. Judging from the number of stars large enough to produce such black holes, however, scientists estimate that there are as many as ten million to a billion such black holes in the Milky Way alone." ([https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes NASA Black Hole information page])<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Exobiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Exobiology refers to the study of life outside Earth, which requires {{w|SETI|scanning the entire universe for life}}. Currently, exobiology seeks to find a planet with life (and, {{w|definition of planet|to qualify as a planet}}, it has to be big). The estimate of {{w|List of potentially habitable exoplanets|how many planets with life there are}} varies from 16 to 40,000,000,000. However, the number of planets apart from Earth confirmed to have life is currently zero. This is known as the {{w|Fermi Paradox}}. For life, of the type we know, to exist outside of the Solar system there need to be planets around other stars. Such planets are called Exoplanets, and they have been a [[:Category:Exoplanets|recurrent subject]] on xkcd.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Theology}}<br />
|It is placed at a scale as large as the universe (cosmology) as it should encompass the entire creation. For those not believing in gods it could also be seen as studying something as small as the human brain that has created all the gods in our image. But Randall has chosen to place it in the big section. <br />
|As no one really can know anything about theology as it is a study covering a wide range of beliefs from a wide range of religions.<br />
|Theology is concerned with the study of God, which, by definition, is a hypothetical being greater than the universe itself. In particular, theologists study the question of whether {{w|theism|a god could exist}} (there is &ge;1 god) {{w|astheism|or not}} (there are 0 gods) and, in the former case, whether there could be {{w|polytheism|multiple gods}} (there are ''n''>1 gods) or {{w|monotheism|just one}} (there is exactly 1 god) or indeed whether there is {{w|animism|one god for each living thing}} (''n''≫1 gods). I.e., the very definition of the field is the fact that "we have no idea" how many there are. This quantitative uncertainty is also mentioned in [[900: Religions]].<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[An X-Y scatter plot of research areas, written in gray font, where both axes have arrows in both ends. At the end of each arrow is a label. Above the left part of the X-axis there is a line which goes to a text about the meaning of the X-axis. Similarly there is a line to from the top of the Y-axis to a questions “asked” to those that study the given subject, their answers being somewhere between the two labels on the Y axis.] <br />
<br />
:[The X-axis from left to right, text first and then labels:]<br />
:Size of the thing you study<br />
:Small<br />
:Big<br />
<br />
:[The Y-axis from top to bottom, question first and then labels:]<br />
:"That thing you study - how many of them are there?"<br />
:"We have a pretty good estimate."<br />
:"We have no idea"<br />
<br />
:[The research areas names are listed here below by sorting them into the four quadrants from top left to bottom right. In each quadrant the areas are listed after most left first, and then top to bottom for those at the same x position.]<br />
<br />
:[Upper left quadrant (Small & count known):]<br />
:Elementary particle physics <br />
:Dentistry <br />
:Shakespeare studies<br />
:Ornithology<br />
:Ancient Literature<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count known):]<br />
:Presidential History <br />
:Marine Mammology <br />
:Railway Engineering <br />
:Geology <br />
:Cosmology*<br />
:<small>(*Depends who you ask)</small><br />
<br />
:[Lower left quadrant (Small & count unknown):]<br />
:Pharmacology<br />
:Microbiology<br />
:Entymology<br />
:Mycology<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count unknown):]<br />
:Botany <br />
:Paleontology <br />
:Exobiology <br />
:Black Hole Astronomy <br />
:Theology<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
===Table with coordinates===<br />
*Here is a sortable table with the coordinates in percentage given.<br />
**They have been taken from the discussion where "Zetfr" states that<br />
***I have determined the exact position of each science on both axes. <br />
***I computed the center of the smallest rectangle that encloses each name. <br />
***Here they are, expressed as percentages, assuming 0% and 100% correspond to the arrow tips on each axis.<br />
****It could be argued that cosmology size should be at 100% and Theology knowledge 0 %, etc. but that is just semantics. <br />
****The interesting here is what order Randall seems to have put the different fields and object sizes.<br />
**To begin with they are sorted after the size of the ting the research are studies, with the smallest first.<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Research area<br />
! Size (%)<br />
! Estimate (%)<br />
|-<br />
|Elementary Particle Physics ||7 ||72<br />
|-<br />
|Pharmacology ||12 ||6<br />
|-<br />
|Microbiology ||15 ||13<br />
|-<br />
|Dentistry ||21 ||84<br />
|-<br />
|Entymology ||24 ||25<br />
|-<br />
|Mycology ||29 ||38<br />
|-<br />
|Ornithology ||34 ||62<br />
|-<br />
|Shakespeare Studies ||37 ||88<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient Literature ||38 ||53<br />
|-<br />
|Botany ||60 ||40<br />
|-<br />
|Presidential History ||62 ||89<br />
|-<br />
|Marine Mammology ||66 ||68<br />
|-<br />
|Paleontology ||68 ||31<br />
|-<br />
|Exobiology ||68 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Railway Engineering ||79 ||81<br />
|-<br />
|Geology ||90 ||90<br />
|-<br />
|Theology ||91 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Black Hole Astronomy ||92 ||26<br />
|-<br />
|Cosmology ||94 ||62<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scatter plots]]<br />
[[Category:Rankings]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]] <!--Title text --><br />
[[Category:Fiction]] <!--Shakespeare/Theology --><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!--Theology --><br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!-- Several studies --><br />
[[Category:Exoplanets]] <!--Exo biology --><br />
[[Category:Politics]] <!--President --></div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1991:_Research_Areas_by_Size_and_Countedness&diff=1569681991: Research Areas by Size and Countedness2018-05-12T01:33:40Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Upper left quadrant */ tooth sizes - gets larger if consider animals</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1991<br />
| date = May 9, 2018<br />
| title = Research Areas by Size and Countedness<br />
| image = research_areas_by_size_and_countedness.png<br />
| titletext = Mathematicians give a third answer on the vertical axis, "That question is poorly defined, but we have a sub-field devoted to every plausible version of it."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The tables needs to be filled in. And I think the title text has been explained already... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a [[:Category:Scatter plots|scatter plot]] that ranks different research fields according to the precision of the knowledge of the number of the studied object (vertical axis) vs. how large (the size of) the studied object is on the horizontal axis. <br />
<br />
For instance the number of United States presidents is well known, so the study of their history is at the top of the Y-axis. This study is placed close to the Y-axis as the size of a president is about midway in size between the two extremes of the X-axis, elementary particles to the left (small) and the entire cosmos (cosmology) to the right (big). <br />
<br />
On the X-axis Presidents are close to the middle. Both presidents and other larger life forms (as a research area) including extinct animals (paleontology) and exobiology are all close to the the same central position just right of the Y-axis, with smaller animals like birds and insects just to the left of the Y-axis. But where the number of presidents is well known, then the number of exoplanet life forms (exobiology) is completely unknown and thus it will be found at the very bottom of the Y-axis, since we have no idea if there are life elsewhere and if so how many places will it be and how varied.<br />
<br />
The 19 research areas are listed and explained in the [[#Tables of research areas|tables]] below.<br />
<br />
In the title text mathematicians may give a third answer that the concept of counting the things being studied is not reasonable, because the things are abstract or otherwise not discrete. There are many different types of math that blend into each other, and many have turned into separate sub-disciplines based on different interpretations of fundamental rules. As a specific example in geometry, different interpretations of how many lines you may draw parallel to another line through a given point has lead to hyperbolic (infinite parallel lines) and spherical (0 parallel lines) geometric systems that are just as valid (and valuable, in some contexts) as the more commonly known Cartesian (1 parallel line) geometry. As a specific example of the blending, number theory and set theory and topology all interrelate and it is difficult to concretely say whether many theorems belong to one branch of math or another.<br />
<br />
==Tables of research areas==<br />
*For a table with the coordinates given in percentage for each research field, see the [[#Table with coordinates|table]] in the trivia section<br />
<br />
===Upper left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size of the thing<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Elementary particle physics}}<br />
| The smallest subjects that we have actually detected are the {{w|elementary particles}}. In the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics, they are considered point masses (i.e. to have zero width). They may be made of smaller {{w|String theory|strings}} but if so these have still not been detected.<br />
| We think we have a fairly good estimate of how many elementary particles that are known. There could be some uncertainty though, so it is not at the very top.<br />
|Elementary particle physics is concerned with the study of subatomic particles (the smallest things that we know of), of which there are 17. Most notably, until recently it was uncertain whether the {{w|Higgs boson}} was one of the elementary particles, but scientists have a "pretty good estimate" because the mathematical models don't predict the existence of many other particles<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dentistry}}<br />
|Several mm to several centimeters<br />
|Most teeth are visible to the naked eye, and dentists have x-ray technology to see what's not visible, so counting them is pretty straightforward.<br />
|Dentistry is the study of teeth (pretty small, both in size as well as in quantity). Humans adults grow 32 teeth, which is a "pretty good estimate" since it is very rare for {{w|Hyperdontia|more than 32 teeth to grow}} and it is rather common for {{w|wisdom teeth}} to be surgically extracted or in some cases never to develop. Children may only have 20 teeth before they start falling out, but each tooth that falls out is because another tooth is growing underneath, so a child might have as many as 52 teeth, counting the child teeth that haven't fallen out yet plus the adult teeth that are starting to form. So while a dentist will usually have a good idea how many teeth will be in a patient's mouth, they won't know for sure until they look or consult dental records.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Shakespeare}} studies<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Shakespeare studies is concerned with the works of William Shakespeare (each book is pretty small). Generally, 36 plays are attributed to him, but between 1 and 3 additional plays are considered "lost" (i.e. at some point between being first published or performed and scholars seriously studying Shakespeare, all known copies, references, and fragments were destroyed, making it impossible to determine whether Shakespeare actually wrote them or whether they actually existed as separate plays), and {{w|Shakespeare apocrypha|some 20 more}} are believed to have been written by him, but not signed. To make matters worse, some plays that ''were'' published or performed under Shakespeare's name are believed to have been written as collaborations (not fully by him) or mis-attributed (we don't know who wrote them but, everyone says it was him).<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Ornithology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Ornithology studies birds (birds tend to be small; even the largest known flying bird, the {{w|Condor}}, stands smaller than the average human, with non-flying avians such as the {{w|ostrich}} being larger, but not that large). As with all animal classifications, we aren't really certain how many species there are, and are [https://www.amnh.org/about-the-museum/press-center/new-study-doubles-the-estimate-of-bird-species-in-the-world constantly revising the figure], but all estimates remain in the low thousands, so we do have a "pretty good estimate"<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient {{w|literature}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|While it is fairly straightforward to look up how many books [http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Books-in-Print.html are currently in print], or how many books [https://mashable.com/2010/08/05/number-of-books-in-the-world/ all currently printed information would fit into if bound into equal-length volumes], and then limiting those estimates to those that date before a specific year, counting how many books from the period of interest haven't survived to the present day (books that were "{{w|lost work|lost}}" either by deliberate discontinuation, or accidental destruction such as in the {{w|Destruction of the Library of Alexandria|Library of Alexandria}}) is a bit more difficult. However, because we know the work existed (it is mentioned by name in some other text), we have "pretty good estimate" that the number of lost works is "only" in the tens of thousands, as is the number of surviving works.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Upper right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Marine mammal|Marine}} {{w|Mammalogy|Mammology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Marine mammals are the largest extant animals. The US Government [http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/ recognizes] 119 marine mammals. However, what constitutes each species is [https://www.marinemammalscience.org/species-information/list-marine-mammal-species-subspecies/ constantly being revised], with new studies indicating either that what used to be considered a subspecies is actually a separate species, or that what used to be considered a separate species is actually a subspecies. As the depths of the ocean are further explored, species that were outright unknown are spotted and need to be classified. However, since marine mammals breathe air, they have to come to the surface where we can see them, so we're pretty sure that we've spotted all species. Note that RAndall has misspelled Mammalogy with o instead of a in the middle.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States|Presidential History}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Presidents are generally considered "big" men in history. Therefore, each one is fairly well known and documented. There is, however, some discussion on how many presidents there have been in the history of the United States, since prior to the {{w|Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|25th amendment}}, it was unspecified whether vice presidents counted as presidents during the President's absence. Most notably, this ambiguity is the reason {{w|David Rice Atchison}}'s tombstone is inscribed with the words "President of the United States for one day". <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Railway engineering}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A railway can span anywhere from a few hundred feet, to thousands of miles, so they're pretty big. The type of a railway is generally given by its {{w|track gauge}}, which are defined as "standard" (whatever you're currently using), "narrow" (rails closer together than whatever you're using) and "broad" (rails farther apart than whatever you're using). Since what is standard varies from country to country, and indeed from line to line, how many kinds of "narrow" gauge and "broad" gauge exist depend on who you ask.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Geology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Geology is generally considered the study of rocks (small rocks being considered fragments of mountain layers, so what counts as a "rock" for a geologist can be pretty big). There is no universally agreed upon number to how many {{w|List of rock types|types of rock}} there are, but all geologists agree they can be grouped into igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock. Alternatively, geology can be construed as the study of the planet Earth's composition ( *geo*- meaning "Earth" ), and geologists are confident that the planet Earth is big and there is only one of it.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Cosmology}}<br />
| As this encompasses (at least) all of the visible parts of the universe we live in, there can be no other "items" to study that would be larger.<br />
| There is only one visible universe, but there could be multiverses/parallel universes, and also an infinite universe beyond the borders of our own part of this universe's event horizon. So it depends on who you ask if they say there is one of and infinite number of universes to study, thus it is placed close to the middle of the two extremes,<br />
|Cosmology is the study of the universe. There is an asterisk with the note "Depends on who you ask", relating to the estimate of how many universes there are. While it might seem obvious that there is only one universe, some branches of physics believe that our universe is part of a {{w|multiverse}}, and this remains an open and contested subject in the field.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mycology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Mycology is the study of fungi (since fungi tend to grow flat -- excepting for mushrooms, which are their sexual organs, and do not exceed a foot in height (see [http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5740/20130729/giant-fungus-china-mushroom-world-s-largest-size.htm World's Largest mushrooms] -- mushrooms are generally considered small). It is a lot harder to discern which species a fungus is, and therefore classify it, so we "have no idea" how many kinds of fungi there are. Studies [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21613136 vary wildly] between about 70,000 to over 5,000,000. There is a comic named after this study: [[1664: Mycology]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[1012: Wrong Superhero|Entymology]]<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|It is unclear whether [[Randall]] means {{w|entomology}} or {{w|etymology}} (probably neither; it's likely that this wasn't a mistake and it is possibly a direct reference to [[1012: Wrong Superhero]]). In either case, [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28938083 estimates for insects] (entomology) vary from less than 1,000,000 to 30,000,000; and [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language estimates for root words] (etymology) reaching hundreds of thousands. Entomology was mentioned in the title text of [[1610: Fire Ants]].<br />
|-<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Microbiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Microbiology studies microscopic (too small to see) organisms, of which some 1,400 are known and "estimates for the total number of microbial species vary wildly, from as low as 120,000 to tens of millions and higher", according to [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language Nature magazine]. <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Pharmacology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|The number of drugs (pharmaceuticals) discovered and synthesized is not tallied, according to [https://www.raps.org/regulatory-focus%E2%84%A2/news-articles/2014/10/how-many-drugs-has-fda-approved-in-its-entire-history-new-paper-explains recent studies], but an estimate can be obtained by seeing how many have passed through the {{w|Food and Drug Administration|U.S. FDA}} (1,453). Many home remedies, which might technically qualify as drugs, have not been approved because {{w|Novelty (patent)|"everybody knows that"}}, as well as many solely recreational drugs since regulation might result in outlawing. Because of this, "we have no idea" how many drugs truly exist. Since drugs are extremely powerful molecules that are only administered in choice amounts, they are generally perceived as small.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Botany}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Botany studies plants, which can reach {{w|List of superlative trees|hundreds of feet by any measure}}. However, plant tend to clump together in forests and jungles, which makes it hard to get to them and document them. Every year, thousands of new plants are discovered, with the best estimate being that there are [https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/many-plants-world-scientists-may-now-answer/ nearly 400,000 vascular plants] and an additional [https://www.britannica.com/topic-browse/Plants/Nonvascular-Plants 12,000 non-vascular plants]. However, the rate of discovery doesn't appear to be slowing down significantly, so we truly "have no idea."<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Paleontology}}<br />
|Paleontologists study fossils, which range in size from very small to very large. When most people think of paleontologists though, they tend to think of them as studying large animals such as dinosaurs.<br />
|<br />
|Paleontology studies fossils, particularly those of extinct animals, which can reach {{w|Largest prehistoric animals|huge sizes}}. However, since fossils form under very special circumstances, if the animal did not die under those special circumstances, there will be no record of their existence. Therefore, the number of extinct animals can never truly be known, but we've found [http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2010/01/12/how-do-we-know-that-most-of-th/ around 250,000]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Black Hole}} {{w|Astronomy}}<br />
|Compared to most astronomical objects, black holes are fairly small. However, most of them (that we are able to detect) are still larger than the Earth, so they would still fall on the "big" end of this chart. Alternatively, Randall may be referring to their mass, which is on the scale of stars.<br />
|<br />
|"Most stellar black holes [...] are impossible to detect. Judging from the number of stars large enough to produce such black holes, however, scientists estimate that there are as many as ten million to a billion such black holes in the Milky Way alone." ([https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes NASA Black Hole information page])<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Exobiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Exobiology refers to the study of life outside Earth, which requires {{w|SETI|scanning the entire universe for life}}. Currently, exobiology seeks to find a planet with life (and, {{w|definition of planet|to qualify as a planet}}, it has to be big). The estimate of {{w|List of potentially habitable exoplanets|how many planets with life there are}} varies from 16 to 40,000,000,000. However, the number of planets apart from Earth confirmed to have life is currently zero. This is known as the {{w|Fermi Paradox}}. For life, of the type we know, to exist outside of the Solar system there need to be planets around other stars. Such planets are called Exoplanets, and they have been a [[:Category:Exoplanets|recurrent subject]] on xkcd.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Theology}}<br />
|It is placed at a scale as large as the universe (cosmology) as it should encompass the entire creation. For those not believing in gods it could also be seen as studying something as small as the human brain that has created all the gods in our image. But Randall has chosen to place it in the big section. <br />
|As no one really can know anything about theology as it is a study covering a wide range of beliefs from a wide range of religions.<br />
|Theology is concerned with the study of God, which, by definition, is a hypothetical being greater than the universe itself. In particular, theologists study the question of whether {{w|theism|a god could exist}} (there is &ge;1 god) {{w|astheism|or not}} (there are 0 gods) and, in the former case, whether there could be {{w|polytheism|multiple gods}} (there are ''n''>1 gods) or {{w|monotheism|just one}} (there is exactly 1 god) or indeed whether there is {{w|animism|one god for each living thing}} (''n''≫1 gods). I.e., the very definition of the field is the fact that "we have no idea" how many there are. This quantitative uncertainty is also mentioned in [[900: Religions]].<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[An X-Y scatter plot of research areas, written in gray font, where both axes have arrows in both ends. At the end of each arrow is a label. Above the left part of the X-axis there is a line which goes to a text about the meaning of the X-axis. Similarly there is a line to from the top of the Y-axis to a questions “asked” to those that study the given subject, their answers being somewhere between the two labels on the Y axis.] <br />
<br />
:[The X-axis from left to right, text first and then labels:]<br />
:Size of the thing you study<br />
:Small<br />
:Big<br />
<br />
:[The Y-axis from top to bottom, question first and then labels:]<br />
:"That thing you study - how many of them are there?"<br />
:"We have a pretty good estimate."<br />
:"We have no idea"<br />
<br />
:[The research areas names are listed here below by sorting them into the four quadrants from top left to bottom right. In each quadrant the areas are listed after most left first, and then top to bottom for those at the same x position.]<br />
<br />
:[Upper left quadrant (Small & count known):]<br />
:Elementary particle physics <br />
:Dentistry <br />
:Shakespeare studies<br />
:Ornithology<br />
:Ancient Literature<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count known):]<br />
:Presidential History <br />
:Marine Mammology <br />
:Railway Engineering <br />
:Geology <br />
:Cosmology*<br />
:<small>(*Depends who you ask)</small><br />
<br />
:[Lower left quadrant (Small & count unknown):]<br />
:Pharmacology<br />
:Microbiology<br />
:Entymology<br />
:Mycology<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count unknown):]<br />
:Botany <br />
:Paleontology <br />
:Exobiology <br />
:Black Hole Astronomy <br />
:Theology<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
===Table with coordinates===<br />
*Here is a sortable table with the coordinates in percentage given.<br />
**They have been taken from the discussion where "Zetfr" states that<br />
***I have determined the exact position of each science on both axes. <br />
***I computed the center of the smallest rectangle that encloses each name. <br />
***Here they are, expressed as percentages, assuming 0% and 100% correspond to the arrow tips on each axis.<br />
****It could be argued that cosmology size should be at 100% and Theology knowledge 0 %, etc. but that is just semantics. <br />
****The interesting here is what order Randall seems to have put the different fields and object sizes.<br />
**To begin with they are sorted after the size of the ting the research are studies, with the smallest first.<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Research area<br />
! Size (%)<br />
! Estimate (%)<br />
|-<br />
|Elementary Particle Physics ||7 ||72<br />
|-<br />
|Pharmacology ||12 ||6<br />
|-<br />
|Microbiology ||15 ||13<br />
|-<br />
|Dentistry ||21 ||84<br />
|-<br />
|Entymology ||24 ||25<br />
|-<br />
|Mycology ||29 ||38<br />
|-<br />
|Ornithology ||34 ||62<br />
|-<br />
|Shakespeare Studies ||37 ||88<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient Literature ||38 ||53<br />
|-<br />
|Botany ||60 ||40<br />
|-<br />
|Presidential History ||62 ||89<br />
|-<br />
|Marine Mammology ||66 ||68<br />
|-<br />
|Paleontology ||68 ||31<br />
|-<br />
|Exobiology ||68 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Railway Engineering ||79 ||81<br />
|-<br />
|Geology ||90 ||90<br />
|-<br />
|Theology ||91 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Black Hole Astronomy ||92 ||26<br />
|-<br />
|Cosmology ||94 ||62<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scatter plots]]<br />
[[Category:Rankings]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]] <!--Title text --><br />
[[Category:Fiction]] <!--Shakespeare/Theology --><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!--Theology --><br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!-- Several studies --><br />
[[Category:Exoplanets]] <!--Exo biology --><br />
[[Category:Politics]] <!--President --></div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1991:_Research_Areas_by_Size_and_Countedness&diff=1569671991: Research Areas by Size and Countedness2018-05-12T01:27:32Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */ presidents - US, becomes more complicated if consider all presidents (United States in Congress Assembled, other countries, NGO, etc.))</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1991<br />
| date = May 9, 2018<br />
| title = Research Areas by Size and Countedness<br />
| image = research_areas_by_size_and_countedness.png<br />
| titletext = Mathematicians give a third answer on the vertical axis, "That question is poorly defined, but we have a sub-field devoted to every plausible version of it."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The tables needs to be filled in. And I think the title text has been explained already... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a [[:Category:Scatter plots|scatter plot]] that ranks different research fields according to the precision of the knowledge of the number of the studied object (vertical axis) vs. how large (the size of) the studied object is on the horizontal axis. <br />
<br />
For instance the number of United States presidents is well known, so the study of their history is at the top of the Y-axis. This study is placed close to the Y-axis as the size of a president is about midway in size between the two extremes of the X-axis, elementary particles to the left (small) and the entire cosmos (cosmology) to the right (big). <br />
<br />
On the X-axis Presidents are close to the middle. Both presidents and other larger life forms (as a research area) including extinct animals (paleontology) and exobiology are all close to the the same central position just right of the Y-axis, with smaller animals like birds and insects just to the left of the Y-axis. But where the number of presidents is well known, then the number of exoplanet life forms (exobiology) is completely unknown and thus it will be found at the very bottom of the Y-axis, since we have no idea if there are life elsewhere and if so how many places will it be and how varied.<br />
<br />
The 19 research areas are listed and explained in the [[#Tables of research areas|tables]] below.<br />
<br />
In the title text mathematicians may give a third answer that the concept of counting the things being studied is not reasonable, because the things are abstract or otherwise not discrete. There are many different types of math that blend into each other, and many have turned into separate sub-disciplines based on different interpretations of fundamental rules. As a specific example in geometry, different interpretations of how many lines you may draw parallel to another line through a given point has lead to hyperbolic (infinite parallel lines) and spherical (0 parallel lines) geometric systems that are just as valid (and valuable, in some contexts) as the more commonly known Cartesian (1 parallel line) geometry. As a specific example of the blending, number theory and set theory and topology all interrelate and it is difficult to concretely say whether many theorems belong to one branch of math or another.<br />
<br />
==Tables of research areas==<br />
*For a table with the coordinates given in percentage for each research field, see the [[#Table with coordinates|table]] in the trivia section<br />
<br />
===Upper left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size of the thing<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Elementary particle physics}}<br />
| The smallest subjects that we have actually detected are the {{w|elementary particles}}. In the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics, they are considered point masses (i.e. to have zero width). They may be made of smaller {{w|String theory|strings}} but if so these have still not been detected.<br />
| We have a fairly good estimate of how many elementary particles there are. There could be some uncertainty though, so it is not at the very top.<br />
|Elementary particle physics is concerned with the study of subatomic particles (the smallest things that can exist), of which there are 17. Most notably, until recently it was uncertain whether the {{w|Higgs boson}} was one of the elementary particles, but scientists have a "pretty good estimate" because the mathematical models don't predict the existence of many other particles<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dentistry}}<br />
|Several mm<br />
|Most teeth are visible to the naked eye, and dentists have x-ray technology to see what's not visible, so counting them is pretty straightforward.<br />
|Dentistry is the study of teeth (pretty small, both in size as well as in quantity). Humans adults grow 32 teeth, which is a "pretty good estimate" since it is very rare for {{w|Hyperdontia|more than 32 teeth to grow}} and it is rather common for {{w|wisdom teeth}} to be surgically extracted or in some cases never to develop. Children may only have 20 teeth before they start falling out, but each tooth that falls out is because another tooth is growing underneath, so a child might have as many as 52 teeth, counting the child teeth that haven't fallen out yet plus the adult teeth that are starting to form. So while a dentist will usually have a good idea how many teeth will be in a patient's mouth, they won't know for sure until they look or consult dental records.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Shakespeare}} studies<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Shakespeare studies is concerned with the works of William Shakespeare (each book is pretty small). Generally, 36 plays are attributed to him, but between 1 and 3 additional plays are considered "lost" (i.e. at some point between being first published or performed and scholars seriously studying Shakespeare, all known copies, references, and fragments were destroyed, making it impossible to determine whether Shakespeare actually wrote them or whether they actually existed as separate plays), and {{w|Shakespeare apocrypha|some 20 more}} are believed to have been written by him, but not signed. To make matters worse, some plays that ''were'' published or performed under Shakespeare's name are believed to have been written as collaborations (not fully by him) or mis-attributed (we don't know who wrote them but, everyone says it was him).<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Ornithology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Ornithology studies birds (birds tend to be small; even the largest known flying bird, the {{w|Condor}}, stands smaller than the average human, with non-flying avians such as the {{w|ostrich}} being larger, but not that large). As with all animal classifications, we aren't really certain how many species there are, and are [https://www.amnh.org/about-the-museum/press-center/new-study-doubles-the-estimate-of-bird-species-in-the-world constantly revising the figure], but all estimates remain in the low thousands, so we do have a "pretty good estimate"<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient {{w|literature}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|While it is fairly straightforward to look up how many books [http://www.proquest.com/products-services/Books-in-Print.html are currently in print], or how many books [https://mashable.com/2010/08/05/number-of-books-in-the-world/ all currently printed information would fit into if bound into equal-length volumes], and then limiting those estimates to those that date before a specific year, counting how many books from the period of interest haven't survived to the present day (books that were "{{w|lost work|lost}}" either by deliberate discontinuation, or accidental destruction such as in the {{w|Destruction of the Library of Alexandria|Library of Alexandria}}) is a bit more difficult. However, because we know the work existed (it is mentioned by name in some other text), we have "pretty good estimate" that the number of lost works is "only" in the tens of thousands, as is the number of surviving works.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Upper right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count known.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Marine mammal|Marine}} {{w|Mammalogy|Mammology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Marine mammals are the largest extant animals. The US Government [http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/ recognizes] 119 marine mammals. However, what constitutes each species is [https://www.marinemammalscience.org/species-information/list-marine-mammal-species-subspecies/ constantly being revised], with new studies indicating either that what used to be considered a subspecies is actually a separate species, or that what used to be considered a separate species is actually a subspecies. As the depths of the ocean are further explored, species that were outright unknown are spotted and need to be classified. However, since marine mammals breathe air, they have to come to the surface where we can see them, so we're pretty sure that we've spotted all species. Note that RAndall has misspelled Mammalogy with o instead of a in the middle.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States|Presidential History}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Presidents are generally considered "big" men in history. Therefore, each one is fairly well known and documented. There is, however, some discussion on how many presidents there have been in the history of the United States, since prior to the {{w|Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|25th amendment}}, it was unspecified whether vice presidents counted as presidents during the President's absence. Most notably, this ambiguity is the reason {{w|David Rice Atchison}}'s tombstone is inscribed with the words "President of the United States for one day". <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Railway engineering}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A railway can span anywhere from a few hundred feet, to thousands of miles, so they're pretty big. The type of a railway is generally given by its {{w|track gauge}}, which are defined as "standard" (whatever you're currently using), "narrow" (rails closer together than whatever you're using) and "broad" (rails farther apart than whatever you're using). Since what is standard varies from country to country, and indeed from line to line, how many kinds of "narrow" gauge and "broad" gauge exist depend on who you ask.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Geology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Geology is generally considered the study of rocks (small rocks being considered fragments of mountain layers, so what counts as a "rock" for a geologist can be pretty big). There is no universally agreed upon number to how many {{w|List of rock types|types of rock}} there are, but all geologists agree they can be grouped into igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock. Alternatively, geology can be construed as the study of the planet Earth's composition ( *geo*- meaning "Earth" ), and geologists are confident that the planet Earth is big and there is only one of it.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Cosmology}}<br />
| As this encompasses (at least) all of the visible parts of the universe we live in, there can be no other "items" to study that would be larger.<br />
| There is only one visible universe, but there could be multiverses/parallel universes, and also an infinite universe beyond the borders of our own part of this universe's event horizon. So it depends on who you ask if they say there is one of and infinite number of universes to study, thus it is placed close to the middle of the two extremes,<br />
|Cosmology is the study of the universe. There is an asterisk with the note "Depends on who you ask", relating to the estimate of how many universes there are. While it might seem obvious that there is only one universe, some branches of physics believe that our universe is part of a {{w|multiverse}}, and this remains an open and contested subject in the field.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower left quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the small items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mycology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Mycology is the study of fungi (since fungi tend to grow flat -- excepting for mushrooms, which are their sexual organs, and do not exceed a foot in height (see [http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5740/20130729/giant-fungus-china-mushroom-world-s-largest-size.htm World's Largest mushrooms] -- mushrooms are generally considered small). It is a lot harder to discern which species a fungus is, and therefore classify it, so we "have no idea" how many kinds of fungi there are. Studies [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21613136 vary wildly] between about 70,000 to over 5,000,000. There is a comic named after this study: [[1664: Mycology]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[1012: Wrong Superhero|Entymology]]<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|It is unclear whether [[Randall]] means {{w|entomology}} or {{w|etymology}} (probably neither; it's likely that this wasn't a mistake and it is possibly a direct reference to [[1012: Wrong Superhero]]). In either case, [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28938083 estimates for insects] (entomology) vary from less than 1,000,000 to 30,000,000; and [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language estimates for root words] (etymology) reaching hundreds of thousands. Entomology was mentioned in the title text of [[1610: Fire Ants]].<br />
|-<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Microbiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Microbiology studies microscopic (too small to see) organisms, of which some 1,400 are known and "estimates for the total number of microbial species vary wildly, from as low as 120,000 to tens of millions and higher", according to [https://www.quora.com/How-many-root-words-are-there-in-the-English-language Nature magazine]. <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Pharmacology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|The number of drugs (pharmaceuticals) discovered and synthesized is not tallied, according to [https://www.raps.org/regulatory-focus%E2%84%A2/news-articles/2014/10/how-many-drugs-has-fda-approved-in-its-entire-history-new-paper-explains recent studies], but an estimate can be obtained by seeing how many have passed through the {{w|Food and Drug Administration|U.S. FDA}} (1,453). Many home remedies, which might technically qualify as drugs, have not been approved because {{w|Novelty (patent)|"everybody knows that"}}, as well as many solely recreational drugs since regulation might result in outlawing. Because of this, "we have no idea" how many drugs truly exist. Since drugs are extremely powerful molecules that are only administered in choice amounts, they are generally perceived as small.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Lower right quadrant===<br />
*This is the section with the big items with count unknown.<br />
<br />
{| class = "wikitable"<br />
! Research field<br />
! Size<br />
! Knowledge of #<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Botany}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Botany studies plants, which can reach {{w|List of superlative trees|hundreds of feet by any measure}}. However, plant tend to clump together in forests and jungles, which makes it hard to get to them and document them. Every year, thousands of new plants are discovered, with the best estimate being that there are [https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/many-plants-world-scientists-may-now-answer/ nearly 400,000 vascular plants] and an additional [https://www.britannica.com/topic-browse/Plants/Nonvascular-Plants 12,000 non-vascular plants]. However, the rate of discovery doesn't appear to be slowing down significantly, so we truly "have no idea."<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Paleontology}}<br />
|Paleontologists study fossils, which range in size from very small to very large. When most people think of paleontologists though, they tend to think of them as studying large animals such as dinosaurs.<br />
|<br />
|Paleontology studies fossils, particularly those of extinct animals, which can reach {{w|Largest prehistoric animals|huge sizes}}. However, since fossils form under very special circumstances, if the animal did not die under those special circumstances, there will be no record of their existence. Therefore, the number of extinct animals can never truly be known, but we've found [http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2010/01/12/how-do-we-know-that-most-of-th/ around 250,000]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Black Hole}} {{w|Astronomy}}<br />
|Compared to most astronomical objects, black holes are fairly small. However, most of them (that we are able to detect) are still larger than the Earth, so they would still fall on the "big" end of this chart. Alternatively, Randall may be referring to their mass, which is on the scale of stars.<br />
|<br />
|"Most stellar black holes [...] are impossible to detect. Judging from the number of stars large enough to produce such black holes, however, scientists estimate that there are as many as ten million to a billion such black holes in the Milky Way alone." ([https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes NASA Black Hole information page])<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Exobiology}}<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Exobiology refers to the study of life outside Earth, which requires {{w|SETI|scanning the entire universe for life}}. Currently, exobiology seeks to find a planet with life (and, {{w|definition of planet|to qualify as a planet}}, it has to be big). The estimate of {{w|List of potentially habitable exoplanets|how many planets with life there are}} varies from 16 to 40,000,000,000. However, the number of planets apart from Earth confirmed to have life is currently zero. This is known as the {{w|Fermi Paradox}}. For life, of the type we know, to exist outside of the Solar system there need to be planets around other stars. Such planets are called Exoplanets, and they have been a [[:Category:Exoplanets|recurrent subject]] on xkcd.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Theology}}<br />
|It is placed at a scale as large as the universe (cosmology) as it should encompass the entire creation. For those not believing in gods it could also be seen as studying something as small as the human brain that has created all the gods in our image. But Randall has chosen to place it in the big section. <br />
|As no one really can know anything about theology as it is a study covering a wide range of beliefs from a wide range of religions.<br />
|Theology is concerned with the study of God, which, by definition, is a hypothetical being greater than the universe itself. In particular, theologists study the question of whether {{w|theism|a god could exist}} (there is &ge;1 god) {{w|astheism|or not}} (there are 0 gods) and, in the former case, whether there could be {{w|polytheism|multiple gods}} (there are ''n''>1 gods) or {{w|monotheism|just one}} (there is exactly 1 god) or indeed whether there is {{w|animism|one god for each living thing}} (''n''≫1 gods). I.e., the very definition of the field is the fact that "we have no idea" how many there are. This quantitative uncertainty is also mentioned in [[900: Religions]].<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[An X-Y scatter plot of research areas, written in gray font, where both axes have arrows in both ends. At the end of each arrow is a label. Above the left part of the X-axis there is a line which goes to a text about the meaning of the X-axis. Similarly there is a line to from the top of the Y-axis to a questions “asked” to those that study the given subject, their answers being somewhere between the two labels on the Y axis.] <br />
<br />
:[The X-axis from left to right, text first and then labels:]<br />
:Size of the thing you study<br />
:Small<br />
:Big<br />
<br />
:[The Y-axis from top to bottom, question first and then labels:]<br />
:"That thing you study - how many of them are there?"<br />
:"We have a pretty good estimate."<br />
:"We have no idea"<br />
<br />
:[The research areas names are listed here below by sorting them into the four quadrants from top left to bottom right. In each quadrant the areas are listed after most left first, and then top to bottom for those at the same x position.]<br />
<br />
:[Upper left quadrant (Small & count known):]<br />
:Elementary particle physics <br />
:Dentistry <br />
:Shakespeare studies<br />
:Ornithology<br />
:Ancient Literature<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count known):]<br />
:Presidential History <br />
:Marine Mammology <br />
:Railway Engineering <br />
:Geology <br />
:Cosmology*<br />
:<small>(*Depends who you ask)</small><br />
<br />
:[Lower left quadrant (Small & count unknown):]<br />
:Pharmacology<br />
:Microbiology<br />
:Entymology<br />
:Mycology<br />
<br />
:[Upper right quadrant (Big & count unknown):]<br />
:Botany <br />
:Paleontology <br />
:Exobiology <br />
:Black Hole Astronomy <br />
:Theology<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
===Table with coordinates===<br />
*Here is a sortable table with the coordinates in percentage given.<br />
**They have been taken from the discussion where "Zetfr" states that<br />
***I have determined the exact position of each science on both axes. <br />
***I computed the center of the smallest rectangle that encloses each name. <br />
***Here they are, expressed as percentages, assuming 0% and 100% correspond to the arrow tips on each axis.<br />
****It could be argued that cosmology size should be at 100% and Theology knowledge 0 %, etc. but that is just semantics. <br />
****The interesting here is what order Randall seems to have put the different fields and object sizes.<br />
**To begin with they are sorted after the size of the ting the research are studies, with the smallest first.<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Research area<br />
! Size (%)<br />
! Estimate (%)<br />
|-<br />
|Elementary Particle Physics ||7 ||72<br />
|-<br />
|Pharmacology ||12 ||6<br />
|-<br />
|Microbiology ||15 ||13<br />
|-<br />
|Dentistry ||21 ||84<br />
|-<br />
|Entymology ||24 ||25<br />
|-<br />
|Mycology ||29 ||38<br />
|-<br />
|Ornithology ||34 ||62<br />
|-<br />
|Shakespeare Studies ||37 ||88<br />
|-<br />
|Ancient Literature ||38 ||53<br />
|-<br />
|Botany ||60 ||40<br />
|-<br />
|Presidential History ||62 ||89<br />
|-<br />
|Marine Mammology ||66 ||68<br />
|-<br />
|Paleontology ||68 ||31<br />
|-<br />
|Exobiology ||68 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Railway Engineering ||79 ||81<br />
|-<br />
|Geology ||90 ||90<br />
|-<br />
|Theology ||91 ||5<br />
|-<br />
|Black Hole Astronomy ||92 ||26<br />
|-<br />
|Cosmology ||94 ||62<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scatter plots]]<br />
[[Category:Rankings]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]] <!--Title text --><br />
[[Category:Fiction]] <!--Shakespeare/Theology --><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!--Theology --><br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!-- Several studies --><br />
[[Category:Exoplanets]] <!--Exo biology --><br />
[[Category:Politics]] <!--President --></div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1992:_SafetySat&diff=156966Talk:1992: SafetySat2018-05-12T01:22:40Z<p>162.158.255.22: Wet sand - what would happen if sent it into space?</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
I was excited that I might be the first to give an explanation (because the comic was so late in being posted), but when it finally arrived, I had no way to interpret it. It was just a gigantic Γ shape (though with a rounded corner).<br />
Now that the real comic{{Citation needed}} has been posted, I find that I'm ''still'' not very qualified to explain it. (I can guess at some of the references, but not the important ones.)<br />
<br />
I guess my only constructive comment here is encouragement to have a section (trivia?) talking about the initial failed comic image. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.104|172.69.22.104]] 19:38, 11 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
:There was a broken image a xkcd and uploaded by the BOT. It's now fixed at xkcd and here too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:48, 11 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Someone should point out how much damage the "extends spikes in all directions" safety measure could do. And I note SpaceX scrubbed a satellite launch with 1 minute to go yesterday because of some anomaly. Maybe the impetus for this cartoon? [[User:Yngvadottir|Yngvadottir]] ([[User talk:Yngvadottir|talk]]) 20:23, 11 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I figured today's comic was in reference to this picosat launch from India, which was denied launch in the US for being below minimum size ("too hard to track if they go offline") & thus in violation of the requisite cubesat specs: <br />
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/fcc-accuses-stealthy-startup-of-launching-rogue-satellites <br />
Personally I'm in favor of these sub-cubesat launches; My concern is with liability, not safety, per-se.<br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:47, 11 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I would be concerned with safety as well, if not for the radar reflector ... seriously, this looks more like FCC wanting to destroy the company for being innovative than trying to ensure the visibility. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:01, 11 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Considering that it says the solar panel was "found", I think that implies that perhaps it was stolen? Or just literally found on the side of the road. Either way, it seems kinda shady. [[User:Carrera|Carrera]] ([[User talk:Carrera|talk]]) 22:20, 11 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are there any rules regarding solar panels on spacecraft? Seeing that Randall "found" it, I'm wondering if this would be a violation of any rules. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 23:41, 11 May 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What would happen to wet sand if put in a cubesat and then released? Water released into space boils and then desublimates into a cloud of ice crystals. But what would the temperature and pressure be as the cubesat was launched? Starting from wet sand at one atmosphere and whatever ambient temperature, would it cool down fast enough for the water to freeze before it was dispensed? (Release a gritty snowball.) If the dispenser is not kept at atmospheric pressure, would the water boil as the satellite was ascending to orbit? I wish Randall was still doing what-if. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 01:22, 12 May 2018 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1992:_SafetySat&diff=1569651992: SafetySat2018-05-12T01:01:18Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */ SDR - briefly what it is and why could cause problem</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1992<br />
| date = May 11, 2018<br />
| title = SafetySat<br />
| image = safetysat.png<br />
| titletext = During launch, in the event of an unexpected sensor reading, SafetySat will extend prongs in all directions to secure itself and any other cubesats safely in the launch vehicle until the source of the problem can be determined.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CubeSat so dangerous, I corrupted the image file and crashed the server (the first image upload was corrupt)- Maybe expand it a little? Some of the individual items need more explaining. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{w|Cubesat}} is a standard format for small satellites that can fit in a 10&times;10&times;10&nbsp;cm format with a mass of less than 1.3&nbsp;kg. They have been widely used by academics for research satellites, and by both small and large companies.<br />
<br />
Cubesats are normally launched as a secondary payload often beside a deployment to the international space station. There are multiple safety rules to ensure that the cubesat cannot damage the primary payload. However, the joke in this comic is that [[Randall]]'s design seeks to break as many rules as possible.<br />
<br />
(from bottom left)<br />
<br />
;Americium corners: {{w|Americium}} is a very dense, highly radioactive substance. Depending on the amount of Americium involved, this alone could shoot the mass over the 1.3 kg mass limit.<br />
;Gun cotton: A form of nitrocellulose; it is explosive.<br />
;Crude Oil: {{w|Exxon Valdez oil spill}}, {{w|Deepwater Horizon explosion}}... need we say more? Of course the leakable volume would not be near those levels, but plenty dangerous nonetheless if it were to leak though a faulty seal... And this is not helped by the fact that it is in orbit or if it leaks during launch...<br />
;Volatile Epoxy Seal: When this goes, everything gets coated in flammable crude oil.<br />
;Celebratory Firework: Explosive Fire Source that can hit other satellites in the vicinity.<br />
;CFCs/Ozone-depleting CFC Spritzer: {{w|Chlorofluorocarbons}} ({{w|CFCs}}) are fully halogenated paraffin hydrocarbons that contain only carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as volatile derivative of methane, ethane, and propane. {{w|Freon}} is a common example of a CFC, and the use of CFCs has been linked to a depletion of the Earth's {{w|ozone layer}} leading many countries to ban their use. So spritzing CFCs in an area closer to the Ozone layer sounds like a good idea?<br />
;Laser Pointer (Hubble-Seeking): Aiming a red laser at a visible light telescope is really bad for the telescope in question and its optics.<br />
;Laser Pointers (Fixed): Theses three laser points will effectively point in 3 different random directions, which is not safe for other around this Cubesat.<br />
;SDR/{{w|Software-Defined Radio}} (Code Editable via Public Wiki): Radio which can be programmed to broadcast and receive in a range of frequencies, and formats. Since anyone could change the radio's instructions, the radio could interfere with other satellites, or with the launch vehicle. This counts as a huge security risk, as ''anyone'' could edit it.<br />
;BIC Mini-Lighter: Fire source, resting on the can of crude oil. The pressurized butane could also make the lighter burst, allowing the sparkplug to ignite the volatile butane gas.<br />
;Rare Earth Magnets: Very powerful magnets that have a high likelihood of messing up the electronics on nearby electronics, like other Cubesats. Might also stick to other satellites.<br />
;Wet Sand Dispenser: possibly a reference to the {{w|Kessler syndrome}}.<br />
;Batteries (eBay): The quality of batteries bought on the auction site can vary widely, and certain batteries exposed to conditions outside their design specifications can {{w|Battery_(electricity)#Explosion|explode or leak corrosive acids}}. These batteries might also be connected to the adjacent spark plug.<br />
;Solar Panel (Found): The quality of the solar panel and the power it produces would have to be investigated thoroughly before being cleared for space flight.<br />
;Spark Plug: Fire Source, if it was connected to electricity. Excess mass if not.<br />
;Prongs: Prongs that extend in the event of an unexpected sensor reading at launch could damage the rocket and/or nearby cubsats/payloads. Along with this, it is not unlikely that this cubesat might be the source of any internal problem that might arise; in such a situation, having such a dangerous cubesat further secure itself would be counterproductive.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[A prototype for a small cube-shaped "CubeSat"satellite, with labels on various components.]<br />
<br />
<br />
[Labelled on top:]<br />
<br />
Rare-Earth Magnets<br />
<br />
Bic Mini Lighter<br />
<br />
Software-Defined Radio (code editable via a public wiki)<br />
<br />
<br />
[Labelled on right:]<br />
<br />
Laser Pointers (fixed)<br />
<br />
Laser Pointer (Hubble-seeking)<br />
<br />
Ozone-Depleting CFC Spritzer<br />
<br />
<br />
[Labelled on bottom:]<br />
<br />
Celebratory Firework<br />
<br />
Volatile Epoxy Seal<br />
<br />
Filler (Guncotton)<br />
<br />
<br />
[Labelled on left:]<br />
<br />
Americium Corners<br />
<br />
Spark Plug<br />
<br />
Solar Panel (found)<br />
<br />
Batteries (eBay)<br />
<br />
Wet Sand Dispenser<br />
<br />
<br />
[Labelled from within drawing in white text on top of a black rectangle:] <br />
<br />
Crude Oil<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1976:_Friendly_Questions&diff=1553181976: Friendly Questions2018-04-04T16:22:14Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1976<br />
| date = April 4, 2018<br />
| title = Friendly Questions<br />
| image = friendly_questions.png<br />
| titletext = Just tell me everything you're thinking about in order from most important to last, and then we'll be friends and we can eat apples together.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a NORMAL HUMAN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Many people have trouble with normal social interaction and small talk.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:Cueball: Hey!<br />
:Hairy: Oh, hi!<br />
<br />
:[Cueball looks down at a sticky note in his hand]<br />
<br />
:[The sticky note reads: Normal Human Conversation | 1. Ask them about themselves]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: How many...apples...have you eaten?<br />
:Hairy: ...Like, in my life?<br />
:Cueball: Yes.<br />
:Hairy: ...<br />
:Cueball: ...I should go.<br />
:Hairy: OK.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Social interactions]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1871:_Bun_Alert&diff=143791Talk:1871: Bun Alert2017-08-08T02:01:14Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and not delete this comment.--><br />
<br />
I think it's about Ponytail realizing she's opened a can of worms in that she was the one who taught these people about the bun, and now everyone's infatuated with them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.52|108.162.249.52]] 00:53, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't think it's the same Ponytail from 1682. She is one of the characters who doesn't play the same person every time.<br />
<br />
This is basically the title text from 1682. Is it just me, or has Randall been running out of ideas lately? [[User:Jaalenja|Jaalenja]] ([[User talk:Jaalenja|talk]]) 13:31, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:In all fairness, Randall has been known to play the long game. There might be a thread to pull here. {{unsigned ip|172.68.143.186|13:44, 2 August 2017 (UTC)}}<br />
::Yea, Randall has built on earlier ideas before. E.g. 1818 being built on an idea from What-If 141. It's non-indicative of a lack of ideas. But the notion that ideas are a finite resource is silly anyways. Watch the talk he gave at Google in 2007, it's on YouTube, and there's a bit in there where he talks about how he comes up with his comics. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.35|108.162.238.35]] 13:49, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
No idea why he's picked bunnies specifically, maybe that will become apparent in a future strip. Considering just this standalone comic, it seems to be a parody of apps that increasingly swamp the user with notifications about pointless things that one might imagine nobody would ever care about. In this instance, it might be imagined that few people would care about notifications for bunny sightings, but in the last pane it appears that someone truly does. This might compare with notifications for rare pokemon sightings in Pokémon Go (not provided in-app but there are groups on facebook etc. that alert users to rare pokemon / legendary raids) - with the difference that bunnies are extremely common. Also, is it significant that he specifically uses the word "buns" instead of "bunnies"? There may be a connection with the observation that they are just like little hopping loaves of bread.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.208|141.101.98.208]] 14:45, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I mean, that's pretty much what twitter is for.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.190|162.158.134.190]] 15:11, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Cf. memes such as "anatomy of the bun". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.35|108.162.238.35]] 19:37, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Agree with the idea that it may be reference to people overreacting to trivial things and using technology to alert others about it e.g. Starbucks unicorn locations, PokemonGo, etc. No idea about the title text though, he is basically saying people may be alerted at night? Maybe some recent trend that focuses on night gatherings? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.72|172.68.47.72]] 20:58, 2 August 2017 (UTC) <br />
<br />
I think this may just be an extended example of dadaism. If he carries on with the theme I think it is as likely to make less sense as it is to make more sense. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.189|162.158.58.189]] 15:12, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:+1 Dada hypothesis. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.178.147|162.158.178.147]] 06:33, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Beret Guy's comment about investors and building the alert system could be a reference to [[1493: Meeting]]. Is the "loaves of bread that hop" line just a pun on the word "bun"? Is "Night Buns" a reference to something? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.41|172.68.46.41]] 20:13, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
WARNING: your captchas aren't working well at all. In firefox your captcha gets crushed somehow underneath the formatting tools bar where you can do text entry when editing. I was only able to pass the captcha and get this comment posted by viewing the html source of the webpage and tracking what link the captcha was supposed to go to. I suggest you try setting up some sort of formatting on the webpage to place the captcha elsewhere on the page one sees after editing a comment-box/wiki-like page. Thanks[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.91|162.158.154.91]] 23:25, 2 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:They also disappear entirely if you try to log in with HTTPS (and Firefox rightfully shows a warning when you use regular HTTP). [[User:Honnza|Honnza]] ([[User talk:Honnza|talk]]) 02:40, 7 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just checked out that captcha problem since I never noticed it at work where I cant log in and now here at home the captcha is showing fine nothing hidden or combined with the format bar or the comment box this on Firefox 54.0.1 (64-Bit) current window size 1279x929 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.28|108.162.219.28]] 01:20, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I believe with each new comic I am getting lazier and lazier with editing (any editing, old or new comics). Thank God for [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] and the rest of you. --[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 13:12, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Thanks for removing this NOT FUNNY ANYMORE ''Citation needed'' templates. And please do not thank God for my few edits, I don't belief in those creatures. My first edit on this comic was more than 24 hours after release and my focus is more about standards. E.g. there is no need to add categories like ''Comics from 2017''... and the trivia is below the transcript.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:30, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::Maybe the more sporadic customary userbase of this site is a bit less jaded than the top editors. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.25.28|172.68.25.28]] 20:22, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::I adore the Citation needed joke, where appropriate, it must refer to a blatantly obvious phenomenon which does not need a citation. Such as, "The sky is blue" or "squirrels way less than a moose," and that statement should flow naturally and not be obviously put in there just to set up the joke. The joke comes from What If? and this seems to be how Randal uses it. --[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 22:08, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::: I must concur, I love the silly "Citation needed" jokes, they're one of my favourite parts of reading this site! :) Sorry, it's permanently funny. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:37, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::My problem with the "joke" is that it always links to the protest comic. In the What-ifs, Randall links to something that looks or sounds vaguely like "citation". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.227|108.162.212.227]] 11:55, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::I just realized i spelt "weigh" as "way"--[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 12:15, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:It's a common colloquialism where I'm from, said without religious intentions. I was more commenting on your work on the site rather than this particular comic, though I can see why that may have been confusing. Next time I will reserve praise for your talk page. --[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 19:55, 3 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:: I was raised without religion, only going to churches and whatnot for weddings and such. I firmly consider myself as not having a religion. I feel we'd all be better off without religion (though I recognize people have a right to their religion). But even I have been known to say "thank god". It has become a saying, and it doesn't really have a non-religious equivalent ("thankfully" isn't used the same way, "thankfully for" is grammatically incorrect, "I'm thankful for" feels more wordy and formal). Ignore the religious aspect. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:37, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Massachusetts has an informal "French Toast Alert" system for grading winter storms. I wonder if the allusion to alerts about "loaves of bread that hop" could be related to that. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 00:07, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
: Other people know better than I where Randall lives, but I don't think it's Massachusetts, and this French Toast Alert System (why french toast?) sounds like one of those things only locals know. I think it's just conflating their silly use of "bun" with the normal use of the word. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:41, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it possible that the line about investors is a dig at startups focused entirely on creating a single app that nobody even needs? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.210|141.101.105.210]] 12:57, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A little grammar Nazi thing I picked up, in the first panel Ponytail says, "to who" instead of "to whom." [[User:ChromoTec|ChromoTec]] ([[User talk:ChromoTec|talk]]) 15:24, 4 August 2017 (UTC)ChromoTec<br />
:Please enter new comments at the bottom. And as a German I don't like the phrase ''grammar Nazi'' because {{w|Nazi}} means fascism, I'm sure that's not your intention. But you're right, and even not a pedant, because "to whom" sounds much better. Maybe the picture will be updated in the future. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:42, 4 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
::I think that "to who" is pretty much standard, especially in spoken English - e.g. see the "usage" section here [https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/who]. I can't imagine anyone saying "to whom" in normal speech unless they were making a joke, being overly formal. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.172|162.158.92.172]] 16:09, 7 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::Thanks, I didn't know that (oxforddictionaries): "The normal practice in modern English is to use who instead of whom...". And the English I've learned in Germany was called ''Oxford English''. LOL... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:13, 7 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Am I the only dirty old man that thinks that this has to to do with taking pictures of people's behinds - as in "buns of steel" kind of buns? and on alerting friends on social media regarding some particularly picturesque, ahem, tight, small, buns?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.216|173.245.50.216]] 02:40, 5 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
:You are surely not the ''only dirty old man'' but gladly Randall is a little bit younger. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 5 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
::I totally missed the bread thing until I read the explanation here. Figured the cartoon was supposed to be some play on callipygian. [Thanks [http://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2003/06/04 Frazz] for adding that word to my vocabulary.] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.100|172.68.141.100]] 06:24, 7 August 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1866:_Russell%27s_Teapot&diff=143049Talk:1866: Russell's Teapot2017-07-21T17:11:35Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div>In this case, nesting the teapot in a catapult/cannon which is launched by another catapult/cannon might perhaps be sufficient to get past NASA regulations. (Catapults/cannons only launching the payload and not themselves...) <sub>--[[User:Nialpxe|<span style="color: #000; text-decoration: none;">Nialpxe</span>]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|<span style="color: #000; text-decoration: none;">(Arguments welcome)</span>]]</sub><br />
:But make sure it is a moblie cannon, otherwise it would not quilify as a launch '''vehicle'''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.19|162.158.89.19]] 11:32, 21 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
::I immediately thought "railgun". And the payload can still be a rocket; once it's not touching the ground it's accelerating, not launching. (Also Russell failed to account for female barbers. Honestly, people!) {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.4}}<br />
Only if you assume that females who are barbers don't shave their legs, armpits, or their various lady parts. This only further confuses the paradox. {{unsigned|Mjm87}}<br />
<br />
When I first saw this comic I immediately thought of the Utah Teapot, it's a model used in computer graphics because it's simple and has both convex and concave surfaces. Both teapots, I would assume, (I've only just heard of Russel's Teapot so I could be wrong) are well known to different parts of the nerd community?</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1866:_Russell%27s_Teapot&diff=143048Talk:1866: Russell's Teapot2017-07-21T17:10:11Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div>In this case, nesting the teapot in a catapult/cannon which is launched by another catapult/cannon might perhaps be sufficient to get past NASA regulations. (Catapults/cannons only launching the payload and not themselves...) <sub>--[[User:Nialpxe|<span style="color: #000; text-decoration: none;">Nialpxe</span>]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|<span style="color: #000; text-decoration: none;">(Arguments welcome)</span>]]</sub><br />
:But make sure it is a moblie cannon, otherwise it would not quilify as a launch '''vehicle'''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.19|162.158.89.19]] 11:32, 21 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
::I immediately thought "railgun". And the payload can still be a rocket; once it's not touching the ground it's accelerating, not launching. (Also Russell failed to account for female barbers. Honestly, people!) {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.4}}<br />
Only if you assume that females who are barbers don't shave their legs, armpits, or their various lady parts. This only further confuses the paradox. {{unsigned|Mjm87}}<br />
When I first saw this comic I immediately thought of the Utah Teapot, it's a model used in computer graphics because it's simple and has both convex and concave surfaces. Both teapots, I would assume, (I've only just heard of Russel's Teapot so I could be wrong) are well known to different parts of the nerd community?</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1767:_US_State_Names&diff=1410831767: US State Names2017-06-09T16:22:29Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1767<br />
| date = December 2, 2016<br />
| title = US State Names<br />
| image = us_state_names.png<br />
| titletext = Technically DC isn't a state, but no one is too pedantic about it because they don't want to disturb the snakes.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Randall]] has taken a {{w|map}} of {{w|the United States of America}} labeled "Geography Challenge: Name all 50 States" and filled in the states with words that sound similar to the states' names. The joke is that Randall is apparently terrible at remembering states by heart, or else that he interpreted "name" as "give a name to" and is giving each state a name similar to but different from its previous name. A similar joke is also seen in [[1554: Spice Girls]]. Songs such as the [https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fifty+nifty+united+states+song 50 Nifty United States] make these issues seem rarer, thus making it funnier. Below is the table.<br />
<br />
This also may be a play on the ambiguity of the phrase "Name all 50 states". When you are asked to "name" something, it can be a request to supply its given name or to come up with a new name for it. Randall has apparently taken the latter interpretation. He also may be playing with the distinction between an object's identity and its label, e.g., "The state of Texas (identity) is named Hexxus (label)", though you can argue that "Texas" is also a label.<br />
<br />
This comic is similar to [[1759: British Map]]. Also note that the text at the top of the comic is not in all caps.<br />
<br />
===Table of States===<br />
{{incomplete|Some states unfinished. Make wikipedia links.}}<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
|-<br />
! Fictional State<br />
! Actual State<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| Wilwheaton<br />
| {{w|Washington_State|Washington}}<br />
| {{w|Wil Wheaton}} is an actor and writer, famous for his role as {{w|Wesley Crusher}} on {{w|Star Trek}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Organs<br />
| {{w|Oregon}}<br />
| Could refer to either {{w|Organ (anatomy)|body parts}} that perform vital functions, or large {{w|Organ (music)|musical instruments}} having rows of tuned pipes. Also a possible reference to {{w|Organ Trail}}, a retro survival video game that parodies {{w|The Oregon Trail (video game)|The Oregon Trail}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Cafeteria<br />
| {{w|California}}<br />
| A {{w|cafeteria}} is both a kind of restaurant and a name for a lunch room that serves food. California is large and diverse, offering a wide variety of choices. California also grows a large proportion of common vegetables available in the US ([http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2013/07/california_grows_all_of_our_fruits_and_vegetables_what_would_we_eat_without.html Source]), making it a 'Cafeteria' for the country.<br />
|-<br />
| Fallout New Vegas<br />
| {{w|Nevada}}<br />
| {{w|Fallout New Vegas}} is a video game set in post-apocalyptic Nevada.<br />
|-<br />
| Idolatry<br />
| {{w|Idaho}}<br />
| {{w|Idolatry}} is the worship of a physical object as a god, forbidden in the Abrahamic religions.<br />
|-<br />
| mount -a<br />
| {{w|Montana}}<br />
| A command to {{w|Mount (computing)|mount}} all disk volumes in fstab (except for ones with the noauto flag).<br />
|-<br />
| Wysiwyg<br />
| {{w|Wyoming}}<br />
| Acronym for "{{w|WYSIWYG|what you see is what you get}}". A reference to [[Types of Editors]].<br />
|-<br />
| Uhaul<br />
| {{w|Utah}}<br />
| {{w|U-Haul}} is a company that rents moving vans which are frequently decorated with scenes from places that most people have never visited.<br />
|-<br />
| Verizona<br />
| {{w|Arizona}}<br />
| {{w|Verizon}}, a telecommunications company, has the shared text "Rizon" with Arizona (Ve''rizon'', A''rizon''a).<br />
|-<br />
| Namaste<br />
| {{w|New Mexico}}<br />
| {{w|Namaste}} is a Hindu greeting.<br />
|-<br />
| Hexxus<br />
| {{w|Texas}}<br />
| The antagonist of Ferngully. {{w|FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest|FernGully}} is said to be the model for the later film {{w|Avatar_(2009_film)|Avatar}}. This is the second time Hexxus was mentioned in xkcd, the first occurrence being in [[1750: Life Goals]]. May allude to the Texas oil industry and the state's general reputation for a lack of environmental protection.<br />
|-<br />
| Okay<br />
| {{w|Oklahoma}}<br />
| OK is the {{w|List_of_U.S._state_abbreviations|state's abbreviation}}. Okay is a spelling of another abbreviation O.K., which means "yes" or "good", and has {{w|OK#Proposed etymologies|quite a few possible origins}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Candice<br />
| {{w|Kansas}}<br />
| {{w|Candice}} is an alternate spelling of the girl's name "{{w|Candace_(given name)|Candace}}", which comes from the Latinized version of "{{w|kandake}}," a title used in the {{w|Kingdom of Kush}} (an ancient African monarchy) for a reigning queen, queen consort, or queen mother; possibly used for female members of the royal family in general.<br />
|-<br />
| Colocated<br />
| {{w|Colorado}}<br />
| May refer to computer servers located in a {{w|colocation centre}}, or to {{w|collocation}}, a linguistics term for words or terms that appear together with a frequency greater than chance.<br />
|-<br />
| Nebrunswick<br />
| {{w|Nebraska}}<br />
| {{w|New Brunswick}}, a Canadian province. New Brunswick is abbreviated "NB" in the {{w|Canadian_postal_abbreviations_for_provinces_and_territories|Canadian postal system}}, and "NB" was also as the postal abbreviation for Nebraska until 1969. It was then changed to "NE" specifically to avoid the confusion between the two. Nevertheless, people sometimes still use "NB" to refer to Nebraska.<br />
|-<br />
| Dakota<br />
| {{w|South Dakota}}<br />
| Randall seems to have forgotten his directions, so he drops the normal "South" and "North". He may also be teasing that this doesn't matter.<br />
|-<br />
| More Dakota<br />
| {{w|North Dakota}}<br />
| Probably a reference to the fact that there are two Dakotas, but mishearing/misrepresenting "North" as "More" (leaving South Dakota as just "Dakota"). This also might be saying that Randall considers North Dakota to be less important than South Dakota. Might be a reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/more-dakka "More Dakka"], a catchphrase by Orks from the {{w|Warhammer_40,000|Warhammer 40000}} universe, though WH40K isn't a usual XKCD touchstone. <br />
|-<br />
| Minestrone<br />
| {{w|Minnesota}}<br />
| {{w|Minestrone}} is a thick vegetable soup, originating in Italy.<br />
|-<br />
| Wainscot<br />
| {{w|Wisconsin}}<br />
| {{w|Panelling#Wainscot_panelling|Wainscot}} is a type of wood {{w|panelling}} covering only the lower half of a wall.<br />
|-<br />
| Iota<br />
| {{w|Iowa}}<br />
| {{w|Iota}} is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iota ninth letter of the Greek alphabet]. In English, the word [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iota#English iota] may also mean "an inconsiderable amount". <br />
|-<br />
| Sk8rbois<br />
| {{w|Illinois}}<br />
| "Skater Boys" or just "Skater Boy" if the '-ois' is pronounced the same as it is in "Illinois". {{w|Sk8er Boi}} is a song by {{w|Avril Lavigne}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Mossouri<br />
| {{w|Missouri}}<br />
| The single different letter represents probably a typo (O is adjacent to I in a keyboard). This typo has about 22,000 results on Google. Alternatively, this could be an attempt to "correct" the spelling of the state name to match its non-intuitive {{w|List_of_U.S._state_abbreviations|postal abbreviation}}, MO, which is sometimes used as a pronounceable acronym. Or it could be a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Moussouris Katie Mossouris].<br />
|-<br />
| Arkanoids<br />
| {{w|Arkansas}}<br />
| {{w|Arkanoid}} is an arcade game, developed by Taito in 1986. <br />
|-<br />
| Louisa<br />
| {{w|Louisiana}}<br />
| Louisa, feminine of Louis, is an Old German name meaning "famous warrior". Louisiana was named after King Louis XIV when it was founded as a French colony.<br />
|-<br />
| Misstate<br />
| {{w|Mississippi}} <br />
| The word "misstate" means to state improperly. "Mis-" is also a prefix meaning "wrong," "incorrect," or simply negating. "Misstate" could be a non-state. {{w|Mississipi State University|Miss State}} is a university in Mississippi. This may also be a joke on the fact that Mississippi is one of the most commonly misspelled state names.<br />
|-<br />
| Bandana<br />
| {{w|Alabama}}<br />
| A {{w|Kerchief|bandana}} is a large handkerchief cloth, worn either around the head or neck. Often used in Westerns.<br />
|-<br />
| Thennessy<br />
| {{w|Tennessee}}<br />
| {{w|Hennessy}} is a brand of cognac.<br />
|-<br />
| Kennedy<br />
| {{w|Kentucky}}<br />
| {{w|Kennedy Fried Chicken}} is New York City–based fast food brand that shares its initials with KFC, which was formerly (and still conventionally) Kentucky Fried Chicken. "Kennedy" is also the name of a former US president ({{w|John_F._Kennedy|John}}) and two former US senators ({{w|Robert_F._Kennedy|Robert}} and {{w|Ted_Kennedy|Ted}}). <br />
|-<br />
| That Other One<br />
| {{w|Indiana}}<br />
| 'That Other One' is something someone might say if they were trying to name all the states from memory, and knew where a state was but not what it was called. Appropriate for Indiana, due to being a state with relatively few distinguishing features.<br />
|-<br />
| Mishy<br />
| {{w|Michigan}}<br />
| According to the Urban Dictionary, "mishy" means "[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mishy mushy and horny at the same time]". Or it could just be a nickname, the way a lot of people's names, often children, get shortened with a trailing y (Bobby, Becky, Johnny, Suzy, Davey, Jimmy, etc.).<br />
|-<br />
| Oh Hi<br />
| {{w|Ohio}}<br />
| Oh (expression of surprise), Hi (greeting). A common utterance upon meeting an acquaintance unexpectedly.<br />
|-<br />
| Pencilmania<br />
| {{w|Pennsylvania}}<br />
| [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151935/ Pencil Mania] is a 1932 Tom and Jerry cartoon in which they pull out a pencil and proceed to draw figures in the air. Probably joking about how the first part of Pennsylvania sounds like the word "pencil".<br />
|-<br />
| Newark<br />
| {{w|New York}}<br />
| The city of {{w|Newark,_New_Jersey|Newark}} is a suburb of New York City, and many people who live in Newark commute the 14 miles to work in New York City, however it is actually located in the state of New Jersey rather than New York. Other references: {{w|Newark_Liberty_International_Airport|Newark Liberty International Airport}} is a major flight hub serving the New York metropolitan area, the village of Newark, New York (near Lake Ontario), and {{w|Newark_element14|Newark element14}} (or simply "Newark"), the official distributor of Raspberry Pi. Possible reference to William Gibson's works. A mispronunciation of New York. <br />
|-<br />
| Vermouth<br />
| {{w|Vermont}}<br />
| {{w|Vermouth}} is an Italian alcoholic beverage.<br />
|-<br />
| New Hamper<br />
| {{w|New Hampshire}}<br />
| A {{w|hamper}} is a large basket, often with lid, used for laundry. Also another name for a picnic basket.<br />
|-<br />
| Spanish Maine<br />
| {{w|Maine}}<br />
| The {{w|Spanish Main}} was the mainland Spanish colonial possessions around the Gulf of Mexico. Also refers to the surrounding sea, as in the opening of the (children's?) song, "Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main, ...". May also refer to the {{w|USS Maine (ACR-1)}}, which, upon sinking, started the Spanish-American war.<br />
|-<br />
| Masseuses<br />
| {{w|Massachusetts}}<br />
| Women who give {{w|massage}}s professionally. A contentious term in the therapeutic massage industry due to its appropriation by prostitutes. Randall might be making fun about how difficult he thinks it is to spell Massachusetts. <br />
|-<br />
| Roald Dahl<br />
| {{w|Rhode Island}}<br />
| A {{w|Roald Dahl|British writer}}, famous for child novels such as {{w|Charlie and the Chocolate Factory}}. This name does not actually rhyme well with Rhode Island. Dahl used the Norwegian pronunciation of his name (roo-ahl dahl, rather than ro-ahld dahl), as he had Norwegian parents. Because of how the pronunciation of the name has not been wildly known by readers, Randall may not have been aware of this.<br />
|-<br />
| Connectfour<br />
| {{w|Connecticut}}<br />
| {{w|Connect Four}} is a two-player game, in which the objective is to connect four of your checkers in a row while preventing your opponent from doing the same. It has already been mentioned in [[1002: Game AIs]].<br />
|-<br />
| Nude Juggalos<br />
| {{w|New Jersey}}<br />
| {{w|Juggalo}} is a name given to fans of the group Insane Clown Posse or any other Psychopathic Records hip hop group. Also shares the same initials as New Jersey.<br />
|-<br />
| Delorean<br />
| {{w|Delaware}}<br />
| The {{w|DeLorean_DMC-12|DeLorean DMC-12}} is a car, made famous as the {{w|DeLorean_time_machine|time machine}} in the {{w|Back to the Future}} movies.<br />
|-<br />
| Maybelline<br />
| {{w|Maryland}}<br />
| {{w|Maybelline}} is a make-up brand.<br />
|-<br />
| District of Colubrids<br />
| {{w|District of Columbia}}<br />
| The {{w|Colubridae}} are the biggest family of snakes, accounting for about two thirds of the world's species. As the title text mentions, the District of Columbia, although not part of any state, is technically not a state itself, but is usually labeled on the maps like the 50 others for practical reasons. Here, Randall humorously explains the reason as people not wanting to upset the aforementioned snakes by dismissing their district for this pedantic reason.<br />
|-<br />
| Wyvern<br />
| {{w|West Virginia}}<br />
| A {{w|Wyvern}} is a mythical creature.<br />
|-<br />
| Virjayjay<br />
| {{w|Virginia}}<br />
| Virginia is similar to {{w|vagina}}. Vajayjay is slang for vagina.<br />
|-<br />
| Sweet Caroline<br />
| {{w|North Carolina}}<br />
| A {{w|Sweet_Caroline|song}} by Neil Diamond.<br />
|-<br />
| South Caroline<br />
| {{w|South Carolina}}<br />
| A further reference to {{w|Sweet_Caroline|song 'Sweet Caroline'}} by Neil Diamond, similar to 'Dakota' and 'More Dakota.' Plays on similarity between the names 'Caroline' and 'Carolina'.<br />
|-<br />
| George<br />
| {{w|Georgia}}<br />
| Georgia was named for {{w|George II of Great Britain}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Fyoridor<br />
| {{w|Florida}}<br />
| Possibly derived from the Russian name Fyodor, as in {{w|Fyodor Dostoyevsky}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Alberta<br />
| {{w|Alaska}}<br />
| {{w|Alberta}} is a Canadian province.<br />
|-<br />
| Kawaii<br />
| {{w|Hawaii}}<br />
| A {{w|Kawaii|Japanese term}} for cute, commonly romanized similar to Hawaii. Not to be confused with {{w|Kauai}}, a Hawaiian island.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[A map of the United States, with incorrect state names in red text color. A title:]<br />
<br />
Geography challenge:<br />
<br />
'''Name all 50 states'''<br />
<br />
| Alabama => Bandana | <br />
<br />
| Alaska => Alberta |<br />
<br />
| Arizona => Verizona |<br />
<br />
| Arkansas => Arkanoids |<br />
<br />
| California => Cafeteria |<br />
<br />
| Colorado => Colocated |<br />
<br />
| Connecticut => Connect Four |<br />
<br />
| Delaware => Delorean |<br />
<br />
| District of Columbia => District of Colubrids |<br />
<br />
| Florida => Fyoridor |<br />
<br />
| Georgia => George |<br />
<br />
| Hawaii => Kawaii |<br />
<br />
| Idaho => Idolatry |<br />
<br />
| Illinois => SK8RBOIS |<br />
<br />
| Indiana => That Other One |<br />
<br />
| Iowa => Iota |<br />
<br />
| Kansas => Candice |<br />
<br />
| Kentucky => Kennedy |<br />
<br />
| Louisiana => Loisa |<br />
<br />
| Maine => Spanish Maine |<br />
<br />
| Maryland => Maybelline |<br />
<br />
| Massachusetts => Masseuses |<br />
<br />
| Michigan => Mishy |<br />
<br />
| Minnesota => Minestrone |<br />
<br />
| Mississippi => Misstate |<br />
<br />
| Missouri => Mossouri |<br />
<br />
| Montana => mount -a |<br />
<br />
| Nebraska => Nebrunswick |<br />
<br />
| Nevada => Fallout New Vegas |<br />
<br />
| New Hampshire => New Hamper |<br />
<br />
| New Jersey => Nude Juggalos |<br />
<br />
| New Mexico => Namaste |<br />
<br />
| New York => Newark |<br />
<br />
| North Carolina => Sweet Caroline |<br />
<br />
| South Carolina => South Caroline |<br />
<br />
| Ohio => Oh Hi |<br />
<br />
| Oklahoma => Okay |<br />
<br />
| Oregon => Organs |<br />
<br />
| Pennsylvania => Pencilmania |<br />
<br />
| Rhode Island => Roald Dahl |<br />
<br />
| South Dakota => Dakota |<br />
<br />
| North Dakota => More Dakota |<br />
<br />
| Tennessee => Thennessy |<br />
<br />
| Texas => Hexxus |<br />
<br />
| Utah => Uhaul |<br />
<br />
| Vermont => Vermouth |<br />
<br />
| Virginia => Virjayjay |<br />
<br />
| Washington => Willwheaton |<br />
<br />
| West Virginia => Wyvern |<br />
<br />
| Wisconsin => Wainscot |<br />
<br />
| Wyoming => WYSIWYG |<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Geography]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1836:_Okeanos&diff=1410811836: Okeanos2017-06-09T16:19:09Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1836<br />
| date = May 12, 2017<br />
| title = Okeanos<br />
| image = okeanos.png<br />
| titletext = WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Chat comments still need more explanation.}}<br />
The {{w|NOAAS_Okeanos_Explorer_(R_337)|NOAAS Okeanos Explorer}}, named after the Greek (and Roman) personification of the sea {{w|Okeanos}}, is a vessel that is currently exploring the Central Pacific Basin. It livestreams the video feed [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html] of its deep sea exploration online. <br />
<br />
This comic seems to be a representation of the livestream on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmVT36Axtn0]; see the [[#Table of comments|table]] below for details. <br />
<br />
The chat section for the actual livestream is disabled, but the comic adds some humorous examples of what the chat section would look like. Several of the examples are the product of commenters falsely believing the livestream is that of a game, probably since most livestreams on YouTube are of people playing games; [[Randall]] is joking about the viewers of said streams in particular not being able to tell the difference, as well as YouTube commenters in general. Randall has mentioned the ridiculousness of comments on YouTube before in both [[202: YouTube]] and [[481: Listen to Yourself]]. One of the comments seems to refer to Minecraft, since one of the comments asks why nothing is being crafted (crafting is an action in Minecraft used to make items).<br />
<br />
In the caption below Randall states that he likes to view the stream and commends them on disabling the chat section, for the reasons given in the comic above.<br />
<br />
The title text is yet another comment by someone who dropped their phone in the ocean from a boat, and now wants to use Okeanos' resources to find it, which is of course impossible, as the phone will by now be hidden in the silt on the bottom. And even if not, the chance of finding anything dropped in the {{w|Pacific Ocean}}, the largest Ocean on the Earth, is all but zero. Also, the Central Pacific Basin, where Okeanos was at the time of this comic's release, is 6500 meters deep; at that depth the water pressure is approximately 4454.863 kilopascals, or roughly 646 PSI. This is probably enough to irrevocably damage something as breakable as a cell phone. Even if the phone were of the so-called "waterproof" variety, that rating is usually only applicable to a few meters of depth rather than thousands of meters. Needless to say, retrieving one's phone from the bottom of the Central Pacific Basin would be a challenging and pointless endeavor.<br />
<br />
==Table of comments==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Comment<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| Fake<br />
| A very common YouTube comment expressing skepticism, for example saying that the content is edited or computer generated.<br />
|-<br />
| Who else is watching this in 2017?<br />
| This type of comment appears frequently on videos, as a kind of community bonding over discovering or revisiting older content. It is not relevant here, as this is a live feed in 2017.<br />
|-<br />
| Is this {{w|Pre-rendering|prerendered}} or will these graphics be in the game?<br />
| Previews for video games often use a mix of pre-rendered computer graphics and in-game footage, generally because in-game footage is not always visually impressive, interesting to watch, or easy to fit into the narrative of a preview advertisement. This practice can easily mislead people into believing that the pre-rendered graphics represent the actual game graphics, leading to disappointment when they purchase the game and find out that this isn't the case. The commenter, who has mistaken the marine footage for a game trailer, is trying to determine if what he's seeing is pre-rendered or not, since it looks photorealistic to the point that he can't believe these are in-game graphics.<br />
|-<br />
| That squid is a {{w|Neoliberalism|neoliberal}}<br />
| Likely an attempt at trolling; anyone with even a passing knowledge of marine life will be annoyed that the commenter confused the onscreen jellyfish with a squid, and everyone else will be annoyed by the politically-charged accusation in a place where such conversation clearly does not belong. Judging by the following comments, they have successfully baited at least one other person in the chat.<br />
|-<br />
| Why do the McElroys never talk<br />
| A reference to The Adventure Zone, a ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' podcast hosted by the McElroy Brothers and their father. In the world of The Adventure Zone, there is a creature called the Voidfish, which is generally interpreted to look like a jellyfish. Its abilities include censoring forbidden knowledge spoken by initiated to the uninitiated, so the commenter can't hear anything the McElroys are saying.<br />
|-<br />
| Stop messing around and eat the fish already<br />
| Possibly a gamer or food vlog watcher. It could also be that the commenter believes that the footage is from the perspective of a marine predator.<br />
|-<br />
| This is why {{w|Donald Trump|Trump}} won<br />
| Another unwelcome injection of politics. This is likely targeted at the 'squid is a neoliberal' commenter, claiming that Trump's election was a reaction to the unwelcome injection of politics into culture.<br />
|-<br />
| Why do u never craft anything<br />
| A comment referencing games such as ''{{w|Subnautica}}'' and ''{{w|Minecraft}}'', where a key aspect to survival is crafting materials. Not crafting items in these games is often taken as a sign of ignorance or inexperience, which may be a source of mockery for commenters watching a gaming stream.<br />
|-<br />
| This is just a distraction<br />
| Commenter thinks people should be focused on other things which are more important. Possibly political comment. Possibly conspiracy theorist.<br />
|-<br />
| Something is wrong with that baby giraffe<br />
| A live video of a giraffe in labor and giving birth was viral in April 2017. This commenter is either confused about which video they're watching, and is concerned that the creature on screen (a jellyfish) looks unlike a healthy baby giraffe, or is feigning this confusion as a joke.<br />
|-<br />
| [title text]<br />
WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT<br />
| Someone in chat is asking the Explorer to look for a phone they dropped in the ocean. The Explorer doesn't have retrieving lost articles as part of it's stated duties, and the impossibility of finding such a small item in such a huge ocean means this request will likely be ignored.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The comic takes place during a typical YouTube livestream. The livestream video titled "Camera 1: Exploring the Central Pacific Basin" is provided by the channel "OceanExplorerGov" and recorded from Okeanos Explorer exploratory vessel. On the left hand side, the live video feed is playing, showing a jellyfish in the ocean's depths. On the right hand side, the live chat is displayed.]<br />
<br />
:User #1: Fake<br />
:User #2: Who else is watching this in 2017?<br />
:User #3: Is this prerendered or will this be in the game?<br />
:User #4: That squid is a neoliberal<br />
:User #5: Why do the McElroys never talk<br />
:User #6: Stop messing around and eat the fish already<br />
:User #7: This is why Trump won<br />
:User #8: Why do u never craft anything<br />
:User #9: This is just a distraction<br />
:User #10: Something is wrong with that baby giraffe<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:I love watching the Okeanos Ocean Exploration livestream, but it's probably for the best that they don't enable chat.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:YouTube]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=345:_1337:_Part_5&diff=141080345: 1337: Part 52017-06-09T16:08:15Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 345<br />
| date = November 16, 2007<br />
| title = 1337: Part 5<br />
| image = 1337_part_5.png<br />
| titletext = This digital music thing will probably reach its endgame sometime in the next decade or so. These are very exciting times.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Missing great explanation of Stallman proposal to join GNU and what about his encourage sharing in the public mind? Defacing websites? Title text explanation?}} <br />
This is the fifth and last part of five in the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series. The title 1337 is "L-eet", or "elite", using the {{w|Leet}} alphabet.<br />
<br />
All comics in the series:<br />
*[[341: 1337: Part 1]]<br />
*[[342: 1337: Part 2]]<br />
*[[343: 1337: Part 3]]<br />
*[[344: 1337: Part 4]]<br />
*[[345: 1337: Part 5]]<br />
This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.<br />
The comic is narrated by [[Cueball]] as seen in part 2 comic, but that Cueball is not shown here, but still he is part of this comic series, and thus also this comic, as he narrates the epilogue.<br />
<br />
{{w|Richard Stallman}} is the ardent defender of freedom and believer in {{w|copyleft}}, he also founded the {{w|GNU Project}}. (He is not really a sword fighter but is always depicted with swords when [[:Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman|featured in xkcd]], which is in this series and in [[225: Open Source]]).<br />
<br />
In the previous part he came to the rescue of [[Mrs. Roberts]] and her Daughter [[Elaine Roberts]]. Stallman and Elaine quickly overpower the two enemies with black bowler hats that represent the {{w|Motion Picture Association of America}}, (MPAA) and the {{w|Recording Industry Association of America}} (RIAA) use the {{w|Digital Millenium Copyright Act}} who had found out about the Roberts hacking.<br />
<br />
Just when the two men have been defeated Elaine asks how Stallman knew they where in trouble and he tells it was his friend that told him about it. The friend enters by climbing down a rope from the sky with red cape and goggles. It turns out it is {{w|Cory Doctorow}}, a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the weblog {{w|Boing Boing}}. He is an activist in favor of liberalizing copyright laws and a proponent of the {{w|Creative Commons}} organization. He does not really travel around in a balloon or (usually) wear a red cape, but [[Randall]] introduced this idea in [[239: Blagofaire]] and has continued it in later [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow|comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]. So he in climbing down from his balloon. <br />
<br />
He uses the balloon to construct the {{w|Blogosphere}}, which is a name used to refer to all blogs on the Internet, many of which frequently link to and refer to other blogs. Here, the Stallman character talks about it as though Cory Doctorow actually constructs it and Cory Doctorow talks about it as if it were a portion of the atmosphere 20 km up over the tag clouds... <br />
<br />
Blogs often label posts with keywords, known as tags. A {{w|tag cloud}} is a way of displaying the tags on a site where the more common tags appear in larger type than less-common ones. It has no relationship to actual water vapor clouds in the sky, but in the comic, the Doctorow character suggests that tag clouds are actually in the air, below the new blogosphere.<br />
<br />
At this point we see that Mrs. Roberts is still programming while this fight and discussion takes place. Her son [[Little Bobby Tables]] comes and tells her he is hungry, but she tells him that she does not have time when she is coding, and that he ate yesterday. It seems that he is still a kid, even though it must have been some years since the young Elaine left and grew up. However, she may still be a very young adult, in which case her little brother could still be shorter than his mom (we see in Part 2 that, from age 11, she studied with Donald Knuth for four years, making her 15 when she left. However, it is not clear how long she was away from home after that).<br />
<br />
Stallman gives Elaine a proposal to join {{w|GNU}} as a coder. GNU is supposed to be the pinnacle of open source; an operating system with no restriction, allowing the user to modify and customize anything they want about the computer. Stallman likely wants Elaine for her coding abilities, similar devotion to open source and freeware, and use her reputation as a hacker and open source pioneer to spread the word and further his project. But she is not ready yet as she wished to take down the industry of MPPA and RIAA as ''Music doesn't need these assholes.'' In the meantime Cory Doctorow throws the bowler hat guys out and asks them never to "darken our comment threads again".<br />
<br />
Stallman is against her idea of going for straight war with the industry, and suggest she helps encourage sharing in the public mind. And then Doctorow chimes in with a suggestion that she has the ability to build a better {{w|P2P}} systems. To which she asks if they mean straight up piracy? And this leads up to the punch line of the pun, when Doctorow says she would make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts!<br />
<br />
Peer-to-peer (often abbreviated P2P) system is a network system where tasks are partitioned between participants with equal privileges, in contrast with the client-server model, where the client makes requests and the server provides service. A common example of a peer-to-peer system is the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, which is often (mis)used for distribution of pirated software and media.<br />
<br />
The {{w|Dread Pirate Roberts}} is a fictional character from the book and movie {{w|The Princess Bride}}. Roberts is the most feared pirate on the seas. But, "Dread Pirate Roberts" is merely a title that has been passed down as previous "Roberts" have gained enough money (from piracy) to retire comfortably. Westley, one of the main characters from The Princess Bride, becomes the Dread Pirate after being taken prisoner by the preceding Pirate Roberts. It is anyone's guess whether the entire 5-comic story, starting from the choice of Mrs. Roberts' name, began as just a lead-up to this one joke. At the end of the movie, Inigo Montoya has won the vengeance he has sought all his life, and expresses to Westley that he doesn't know what to do next. Westley suggests Montoya succeed him as Roberts, saying, "Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts." Cory Doctorow's line in the comic therefore mimics that line from the movie.<br />
<br />
{{w|Silk Road (marketplace)|Silk Road}} was an online black market designed to allow criminals to trade in drugs, guns and other illegal items, run by a person also using the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts. However, this black market did not exist until four years after this comic was published.<br />
<br />
In the epilogue several items of interest is revealed about the Roberts later life. <br />
<br />
Elaine shared her ideas with {{w|Bram Cohen}} who went on from that to found {{w|BitTorrent}}, a distributed method of downloading files. People can and do use BitTorrent both for lawful file downloads and also for sharing media files unlawfully. Its distributed nature, where someone does not download a file from just one other computer but rather in many pieces from many other computers with the same file, makes it more difficult for record and movie industry groups to police, and therefore a person with Elaine's motivations might be interested in helping design such a system.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Roberts developed for {{w|Ubuntu}} which is probably the most well known distribution of GNU/{{w|Linux}}. A GNU/Linux distribution (often referred to simply as "Linux") is any operating system that is based on GNU software and the Linux {{w|kernel}}.<br />
<br />
She also went after any website (defacing them) that made {{w|Your Mom|''Your'' mom}} jokes about her daughter. To deface a website is like putting up graffiti or tearing down signs; she likely replaces the url's content from the original site to another image, text box, or other message as revenge. This is a [[:Category:Your Mom|recurring theme]] on xkcd.<br />
<br />
Finally a bit more info is given on how Elaine continues her fight, joins communities, help with codes etc. And then sometimes she streams her music live on a IP address, and if you happen to find one of these with a streaming audio player you can hear her rock out (a reference to her music career mentioned at the end of the third part).<br />
<br />
The final phrase "Happy Hacking" often accompanies an autograph from Richard Stallman.<br />
<br />
The title text is likely referring to the argument over {{w|Digital Rights Management}}, or DRM-locked content. These so-called 'DRM wars' are concerned about how DRM restricts the freedoms of people who buy them legitmately, and how it restricts creativity and innovation on the internet. A large part of the debate is digital music, or music you would buy and download on the internet through sites like Amazon or iTunes. The tittle text states that the DRM wars will end in the next decade or so and we are living through very exiting times as we can see these wars unfold and eventually end.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The two men in black bowler hats (RIAA and MPAA agents as known from the previous comic) with their katana swords are attacked by Elaine Robert with her folding knife and Richard Stallman with his own two katana swords. Elaine kicks the RIAA man to the left in the back of his leg, while Stallman jumps over the MPAA man to the right, flying high over him from right to left in a flying maneuver hitting his sword while hanging parallel to the ground above the man.]<br />
:Elaine: Thanks, Stallman!<br />
:Richard Stallman: 'Tis my pleasure.<br />
<br />
:[Elaine stands to the left with her knife in one hand having folded it down again. Richard Stallman stands between the two men with bowler hats who are now lying on the floor on either side of him each with one of Stallman's sword pointing at their throat. Stallman has both arms fulle stretched towards them as he looks straight out of the panel. The left (RIAA) man lies flat on his back his hat and katana sword lying behind him. The right (MPAA) man is sitting on his knee leaning as far back as he can, since the sword is almost touching his skin on his throat. He wears his hat, but the sword lies behind him, out of reach, even though he is leaning back on one hand close to it. To the far right a rope comes down from the top of the panel falling down on the ground so a section of it stretches even farther right in the picture. Down this rope comes a man with googles and a red cape, which is black on the inside. This is Cory Doctorow. He holds on to the rope with two hands one over one just under his head.]<br />
:Elaine: So, wait - how did you know we were in trouble?<br />
:Richard Stallman: My friend here was tracking these thugs from his balloon. <br />
:Richard Stallman: He called me and I thought I'd stop by<br />
:Cory Doctorow: -Hi! <br />
:Cory Doctorow: -Cory Doctorow - It's a pleasure to meet you.<br />
<br />
:[Elaine has shifted the knife to the other hand. Richard Stallman has moved to the left of the RIAA man, so both bowler hat men are between him and Cory Doctorow. Stallman still points his sword in their direction, but they are lowered. The RIAA man closest to him, has picked up his hat in one hand and reaches for his sword with the other hand. The MPAA man now lies on his back, one arm up leaning on the other. His sword is gone. It does not seem like Doctorow could have taken it. Behind him Doctorow has reached the ground, the rope hangs behind him. He points left.]<br />
:Elaine: Balloon?<br />
:Richard Stallman: Aye. They're up there constructing something called a "Blogosphere."<br />
:Cory Doctorow: Yup! It's twenty kilometers up, just above the tag clouds.<br />
<br />
:[The scene is contracted, so to the left Mrs. Roberts at her desk with her chair and laptop becomes visible (from the previous comic). This witout the other people have moved closer. She still types as her son Lille Bobby Tables enters and lifts a hand in his mothers direction. He is drawn as a child version of Cueball. Elaine has put the knife away, and looks at Richard Stallman who now stand straight looking at her, with the swords crossed in front of his legs. Behind him just right of the rope hanging down, Cory Doctorow lift one of the bowler hat guys up by the throat while looking right and talking to him. The other bowler hat guy has left the panel. The one he holds has his hat but no sword.]<br />
:Little Bobby Tables: Mom, I'm hungry.<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: Hush! I'm coding. You ate yesterday.<br />
:Richard Stallman: You know, Roberts, GNU could use a good coder like you. Ever thought of joining us?<br />
:Elaine: Maybe someday. Right now I've got an industry to take down. <br />
:Elaine: Music doesn't need these assholes.<br />
:Cory Doctorow: Begone! And never darken our comment threads again!<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Elaine, Richard Stallman and Cory Doctorow. She stand straight looking at Stallman who faces towards her swords now on his back crossed. Doctorow is also facing her and holds out both arms towards her. The rope is now outside the panel as are both bowler hat men.]<br />
:Richard Stallman: Well, you won't fix the industry with random exploits. You need to encourage sharing in the public mind.<br />
:Doctorow: Hey; With your music and coding backgrounds, you should get into building better P2P systems.<br />
<br />
:[The final panel is only a third of the length of the previous panel. The three are still in the panel but they have moved and are also drawn somewhat smaller. Elaine still faces them right, but now Cory Doctorow is in front of Richard Stallman swords as before. All have their arms down.]<br />
:Elaine: What? Straight-up piracy?<br />
:Cory Doctorow: Sure- have you ever considered it? You'd make a wonderful dread pirate, Roberts<br />
<br />
:[To the right of the final panel is a two column epilogue narrated by Cueball as seen in part 2. It is split in three paragraphs and a "signature". The caption above is centered over the two columns]<br />
:<big><u>Epilogue</u></big><br />
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine shared her ideas with Bram Cohen, who went on to develop BitTorrent.<br />
:Cueball (narrating): Mrs. Roberts spends her time developing for Ubuntu, and defacing the websites of people who make "your mom" jokes to her daughter. <br />
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine still stalks the net. She joins communities, contributes code or comments, and moves on. And if, late at night, you point a streaming audio player at the right IP at the right time - you can hear her rock out.<br />
:Cueball (narrating): ~Happy Hacking.~<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:1337|05]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|1337]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] <!--Not the kid, that is bobby, but the narrator as per. part 2 who tells the epilogue is Cueball ans thus he is in this comic--><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Your Mom]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=345:_1337:_Part_5&diff=141079345: 1337: Part 52017-06-09T16:01:33Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 345<br />
| date = November 16, 2007<br />
| title = 1337: Part 5<br />
| image = 1337_part_5.png<br />
| titletext = This digital music thing will probably reach its endgame sometime in the next decade or so. These are very exciting times.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Missing great explanation of Stallman proposal to join GNU and what about his encourage sharing in the public mind? Defacing websites? Title text explanation?}} <br />
This is the fifth and last part of five in the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series. The title 1337 is "L-eet", or "elite", using the {{w|Leet}} alphabet.<br />
<br />
All comics in the series:<br />
*[[341: 1337: Part 1]]<br />
*[[342: 1337: Part 2]]<br />
*[[343: 1337: Part 3]]<br />
*[[344: 1337: Part 4]]<br />
*[[345: 1337: Part 5]]<br />
This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.<br />
The comic is narrated by [[Cueball]] as seen in part 2 comic, but that Cueball is not shown here, but still he is part of this comic series, and thus also this comic, as he narrates the epilogue.<br />
<br />
{{w|Richard Stallman}} is the ardent defender of freedom and believer in {{w|copyleft}}, he also founded the {{w|GNU Project}}. (He is not really a sword fighter but is always depicted with swords when [[:Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman|featured in xkcd]], which is in this series and in [[225: Open Source]]).<br />
<br />
In the previous part he came to the rescue of [[Mrs. Roberts]] and her Daughter [[Elaine Roberts]]. Stallman and Elaine quickly overpower the two enemies with black bowler hats that represent the {{w|Motion Picture Association of America}}, (MPAA) and the {{w|Recording Industry Association of America}} (RIAA) use the {{w|Digital Millenium Copyright Act}} who had found out about the Roberts hacking.<br />
<br />
Just when the two men have been defeated Elaine asks how Stallman knew they where in trouble and he tells it was his friend that told him about it. The friend enters by climbing down a rope from the sky with red cape and goggles. It turns out it is {{w|Cory Doctorow}}, a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the weblog {{w|Boing Boing}}. He is an activist in favor of liberalizing copyright laws and a proponent of the {{w|Creative Commons}} organization. He does not really travel around in a balloon or (usually) wear a red cape, but [[Randall]] introduced this idea in [[239: Blagofaire]] and has continued it in later [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow|comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]. So he in climbing down from his balloon. <br />
<br />
He uses the balloon to construct the {{w|Blogosphere}}, which is a name used to refer to all blogs on the Internet, many of which frequently link to and refer to other blogs. Here, the Stallman character talks about it as though Cory Doctorow actually constructs it and Cory Doctorow talks about it as if it were a portion of the atmosphere 20 km up over the tag clouds... <br />
<br />
Blogs often label posts with keywords, known as tags. A {{w|tag cloud}} is a way of displaying the tags on a site where the more common tags appear in larger type than less-common ones. It has no relationship to actual water vapor clouds in the sky, but in the comic, the Doctorow character suggests that tag clouds are actually in the air, below the new blogosphere.<br />
<br />
At this point we see that Mrs. Roberts is still programming while this fight and discussion takes place. Her son [[Little Bobby Tables]] comes and tells her he is hungry, but she tells him that she does not have time when she is coding, and that he ate yesterday. It seems that he is still a kid, even though it must have been some years since the young Elaine left and grew up. However, she may still be a very young adult, in which case her little brother could still be shorter than his mom.<br />
<br />
Stallman gives Elaine a proposal to join {{w|GNU}} as a coder. GNU is supposed to be the pinnacle of open source; an operating system with no restriction, allowing the user to modify and customize anything they want about the computer. Stallman likely wants Elaine for her coding abilities, similar devotion to open source and freeware, and use her reputation as a hacker and open source pioneer to spread the word and further his project. But she is not ready yet as she wished to take down the industry of MPPA and RIAA as ''Music doesn't need these assholes.'' In the meantime Cory Doctorow throws the bowler hat guys out and asks them never to "darken our comment threads again".<br />
<br />
Stallman is against her idea of going for straight war with the industry, and suggest she helps encourage sharing in the public mind. And then Doctorow chimes in with a suggestion that she has the ability to build a better {{w|P2P}} systems. To which she asks if they mean straight up piracy? And this leads up to the punch line of the pun, when Doctorow says she would make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts!<br />
<br />
Peer-to-peer (often abbreviated P2P) system is a network system where tasks are partitioned between participants with equal privileges, in contrast with the client-server model, where the client makes requests and the server provides service. A common example of a peer-to-peer system is the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, which is often (mis)used for distribution of pirated software and media.<br />
<br />
The {{w|Dread Pirate Roberts}} is a fictional character from the book and movie {{w|The Princess Bride}}. Roberts is the most feared pirate on the seas. But, "Dread Pirate Roberts" is merely a title that has been passed down as previous "Roberts" have gained enough money (from piracy) to retire comfortably. Westley, one of the main characters from The Princess Bride, becomes the Dread Pirate after being taken prisoner by the preceding Pirate Roberts. It is anyone's guess whether the entire 5-comic story, starting from the choice of Mrs. Roberts' name, began as just a lead-up to this one joke. At the end of the movie, Inigo Montoya has won the vengeance he has sought all his life, and expresses to Westley that he doesn't know what to do next. Westley suggests Montoya succeed him as Roberts, saying, "Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts." Cory Doctorow's line in the comic therefore mimics that line from the movie.<br />
<br />
{{w|Silk Road (marketplace)|Silk Road}} was an online black market designed to allow criminals to trade in drugs, guns and other illegal items, run by a person also using the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts. However, this black market did not exist until four years after this comic was published.<br />
<br />
In the epilogue several items of interest is revealed about the Roberts later life. <br />
<br />
Elaine shared her ideas with {{w|Bram Cohen}} who went on from that to found {{w|BitTorrent}}, a distributed method of downloading files. People can and do use BitTorrent both for lawful file downloads and also for sharing media files unlawfully. Its distributed nature, where someone does not download a file from just one other computer but rather in many pieces from many other computers with the same file, makes it more difficult for record and movie industry groups to police, and therefore a person with Elaine's motivations might be interested in helping design such a system.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Roberts developed for {{w|Ubuntu}} which is probably the most well known distribution of GNU/{{w|Linux}}. A GNU/Linux distribution (often referred to simply as "Linux") is any operating system that is based on GNU software and the Linux {{w|kernel}}.<br />
<br />
She also went after any website (defacing them) that made {{w|Your Mom|''Your'' mom}} jokes about her daughter. To deface a website is like putting up graffiti or tearing down signs; she likely replaces the url's content from the original site to another image, text box, or other message as revenge. This is a [[:Category:Your Mom|recurring theme]] on xkcd.<br />
<br />
Finally a bit more info is given on how Elaine continues her fight, joins communities, help with codes etc. And then sometimes she streams her music live on a IP address, and if you happen to find one of these with a streaming audio player you can hear her rock out (a reference to her music career mentioned at the end of the third part).<br />
<br />
The final phrase "Happy Hacking" often accompanies an autograph from Richard Stallman.<br />
<br />
The title text is likely referring to the argument over {{w|Digital Rights Management}}, or DRM-locked content. These so-called 'DRM wars' are concerned about how DRM restricts the freedoms of people who buy them legitmately, and how it restricts creativity and innovation on the internet. A large part of the debate is digital music, or music you would buy and download on the internet through sites like Amazon or iTunes. The tittle text states that the DRM wars will end in the next decade or so and we are living through very exiting times as we can see these wars unfold and eventually end.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The two men in black bowler hats (RIAA and MPAA agents as known from the previous comic) with their katana swords are attacked by Elaine Robert with her folding knife and Richard Stallman with his own two katana swords. Elaine kicks the RIAA man to the left in the back of his leg, while Stallman jumps over the MPAA man to the right, flying high over him from right to left in a flying maneuver hitting his sword while hanging parallel to the ground above the man.]<br />
:Elaine: Thanks, Stallman!<br />
:Richard Stallman: 'Tis my pleasure.<br />
<br />
:[Elaine stands to the left with her knife in one hand having folded it down again. Richard Stallman stands between the two men with bowler hats who are now lying on the floor on either side of him each with one of Stallman's sword pointing at their throat. Stallman has both arms fulle stretched towards them as he looks straight out of the panel. The left (RIAA) man lies flat on his back his hat and katana sword lying behind him. The right (MPAA) man is sitting on his knee leaning as far back as he can, since the sword is almost touching his skin on his throat. He wears his hat, but the sword lies behind him, out of reach, even though he is leaning back on one hand close to it. To the far right a rope comes down from the top of the panel falling down on the ground so a section of it stretches even farther right in the picture. Down this rope comes a man with googles and a red cape, which is black on the inside. This is Cory Doctorow. He holds on to the rope with two hands one over one just under his head.]<br />
:Elaine: So, wait - how did you know we were in trouble?<br />
:Richard Stallman: My friend here was tracking these thugs from his balloon. <br />
:Richard Stallman: He called me and I thought I'd stop by<br />
:Cory Doctorow: -Hi! <br />
:Cory Doctorow: -Cory Doctorow - It's a pleasure to meet you.<br />
<br />
:[Elaine has shifted the knife to the other hand. Richard Stallman has moved to the left of the RIAA man, so both bowler hat men are between him and Cory Doctorow. Stallman still points his sword in their direction, but they are lowered. The RIAA man closest to him, has picked up his hat in one hand and reaches for his sword with the other hand. The MPAA man now lies on his back, one arm up leaning on the other. His sword is gone. It does not seem like Doctorow could have taken it. Behind him Doctorow has reached the ground, the rope hangs behind him. He points left.]<br />
:Elaine: Balloon?<br />
:Richard Stallman: Aye. They're up there constructing something called a "Blogosphere."<br />
:Cory Doctorow: Yup! It's twenty kilometers up, just above the tag clouds.<br />
<br />
:[The scene is contracted, so to the left Mrs. Roberts at her desk with her chair and laptop becomes visible (from the previous comic). This witout the other people have moved closer. She still types as her son Lille Bobby Tables enters and lifts a hand in his mothers direction. He is drawn as a child version of Cueball. Elaine has put the knife away, and looks at Richard Stallman who now stand straight looking at her, with the swords crossed in front of his legs. Behind him just right of the rope hanging down, Cory Doctorow lift one of the bowler hat guys up by the throat while looking right and talking to him. The other bowler hat guy has left the panel. The one he holds has his hat but no sword.]<br />
:Little Bobby Tables: Mom, I'm hungry.<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: Hush! I'm coding. You ate yesterday.<br />
:Richard Stallman: You know, Roberts, GNU could use a good coder like you. Ever thought of joining us?<br />
:Elaine: Maybe someday. Right now I've got an industry to take down. <br />
:Elaine: Music doesn't need these assholes.<br />
:Cory Doctorow: Begone! And never darken our comment threads again!<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Elaine, Richard Stallman and Cory Doctorow. She stand straight looking at Stallman who faces towards her swords now on his back crossed. Doctorow is also facing her and holds out both arms towards her. The rope is now outside the panel as are both bowler hat men.]<br />
:Richard Stallman: Well, you won't fix the industry with random exploits. You need to encourage sharing in the public mind.<br />
:Doctorow: Hey; With your music and coding backgrounds, you should get into building better P2P systems.<br />
<br />
:[The final panel is only a third of the length of the previous panel. The three are still in the panel but they have moved and are also drawn somewhat smaller. Elaine still faces them right, but now Cory Doctorow is in front of Richard Stallman swords as before. All have their arms down.]<br />
:Elaine: What? Straight-up piracy?<br />
:Cory Doctorow: Sure- have you ever considered it? You'd make a wonderful dread pirate, Roberts<br />
<br />
:[To the right of the final panel is a two column epilogue narrated by Cueball as seen in part 2. It is split in three paragraphs and a "signature". The caption above is centered over the two columns]<br />
:<big><u>Epilogue</u></big><br />
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine shared her ideas with Bram Cohen, who went on to develop BitTorrent.<br />
:Cueball (narrating): Mrs. Roberts spends her time developing for Ubuntu, and defacing the websites of people who make "your mom" jokes to her daughter. <br />
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine still stalks the net. She joins communities, contributes code or comments, and moves on. And if, late at night, you point a streaming audio player at the right IP at the right time - you can hear her rock out.<br />
:Cueball (narrating): ~Happy Hacking.~<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:1337|05]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|1337]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] <!--Not the kid, that is bobby, but the narrator as per. part 2 who tells the epilogue is Cueball ans thus he is in this comic--><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Your Mom]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1825:_7_Eleven&diff=139208Talk:1825: 7 Eleven2017-04-25T00:29:52Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I don't think the title-text references leap seconds, as it says that "many" are wrong, not "all". It seems more likely it refers to stores that claim to be open 365 days per year, and are hence wrong in leap years.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.42|141.101.105.42]] 20:12, 17 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I agree that it would be closed for 39 (and a bit) minutes a day if it was open for exactly 24 hours. I think Randall made a mistake. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.40|198.41.238.40]] 21:30, 17 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The parts in the description that talk about mixing "Earth and Mars time units" and "Mars-hours" don't make sense; I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a Mars-hour. Despite the classical definition of an hour (which has since been replaced), an hour is defined as a number of seconds, and seconds are an SI unit based on the characteristics of Caesium-133 atoms...NOT defined as being a fixed fraction of a day. Even the unit "day" is often used to refer to a fixed unit of time nowadays (defined by the SI to be 86 400 s)...I believe this is one of the reasons why the solar day on Mars is referred to as a "sol" instead of a "day". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.192|172.68.133.192]] 22:15, 17 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Nitpicking a bit, but the day is usually only 86400 seconds long (see [[1481]]).<br />
::That's what I meant to say, SI defines it to be 86 400 s; I have no idea why I typed 86 401 s. It is fixed now.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.5|162.158.79.5]] 15:39, 18 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:NASA's Mars Mission do divide the "sol" into 24 "Hours". I thought about adding this as a clarification the the Mars-Hours but that made the sentence somewhat unwieldy.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.216|141.101.107.216]] 09:27, 18 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Fun fact that might be interesting to add to the note about Arizona and DST. As stated already, the Navajo reservation observes DST, since it extends into Utah and New Mexico. However, the Hopi reservation, which is entirely enclosed by the Navajo reservation, does NOT follow DST. So in the one state in the Mountain Time Zone that does not observe DST, there is a region that follows DST, and inside that is another region that does not follow DST. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.185|162.158.79.185]] 01:28, 18 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:And looking at a [http://cronkitenewsonline.com/2012/03/what-time-is-it-in-arizona-it-depends-on-where-youre-standing/ DST map of Arizona], it appears there is at least one small area contained within that inner-most non-observing region that does observe DST... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.63|162.158.69.63]] 08:11, 18 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
::Yes, it is a smaller Navajo area fully contained within the Hopi reservation, which is fully contained within the Navajo reservation, which is mostly contained within Arizona. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.40|198.41.238.40]] 02:19, 21 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_the_United_States Up through 2006], some of Indiana didn't observe DST. That really screwed with my college career, being from Virginia. Some of the time I'm on DST, others I'm not.<br />
<br />
Another fun fact: Warning: can't unsee. Randall's representation of the 7-11 logo is inaccurate, as the 'n' in the real logo is always lowercase. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 00:29, 25 April 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=452:_Mission&diff=121529452: Mission2016-06-07T17:54:19Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */ added comment on ridiculousness of "1 in 6" assertion.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 452<br />
| date = July 21, 2008<br />
| title = Mission<br />
| image = mission.png<br />
| titletext = Don't you know? The chances of a random object being a scone are about one in six.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] and [[Beret Guy]] are on a mission, intending to destroy whatever machine they are in. Except that Beret Guy tends to be a bit surreal and brought a bag for holding pastries instead of explosive charges.<br />
<br />
This is not the first time he's made such a bakery mistake; see [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport]].<br />
<br />
He then attempts to eat what Cueball identifies as {{w|Lug nut}}s, believing them to be scones. <br />
<br />
The title text further emphasizes Beret Guy's obsession with bakery goods, by stating that if you pick up six random objects it is highly likely that one of these will be a scone, which explains his behaviour with the Lug nuts. This is of course a ridiculous assertion, as if it were true more than 16% of all things in the universe would have to be scones, a hypothesis easily disprovable by looking around any room which isn't a bakery.<br />
<br />
Beret guy and scones are also referenced in the title text of both [[677: Asshole]] and [[1030: Keyed]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Beret Guy and Cueball are rappelling down separate ropes into the interior workings of a large machine.]<br />
:Cueball: Okay, we're in the belly of the machine. You got the charges?<br />
:Beret Guy: The what?<br />
<br />
:[The two are standing next to some large pieces of machinery.]<br />
:Cueball [gesturing]: The explosive charges!<br />
:Beret Guy [pulling out a bag]: I just brought this bag for pastries.<br />
:Cueball: The hell? We're on a mission here!<br />
<br />
:Beret Guy [looking around]: This isn't a bakery?<br />
:Cueball [head in hand]: Oh, Christ, not this shit again.<br />
<br />
:Beret Guy [crouching by some lug nuts lying on a piece of machinery]: What about these scones?<br />
:Cueball: Those are lug nuts.<br />
:Beret Guy [stuffing them in his mouth]: ...Maybe SOME of them aren't. ''crunch'' Ow! ''crunch''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1556:_The_Sky&diff=1212761556: The Sky2016-06-02T17:27:07Z<p>162.158.255.22: /* Explanation */ added incomplete tag AGAIN thanks to terrible, nonsensical writing.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1556<br />
| date = July 27, 2015<br />
| title = The Sky<br />
| image = the_sky.png<br />
| titletext = The other half has some cool shipwrecks, rocks, and snakes, but if you move those out of the way, it also has more sky.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This explanation seems to constantly be in a state of incompleteness. Previous versions were too wordy, but evidently someone decided to just scrap everything and write their own, poorly written, misspelled version that doesn't actually make any sense.}}<br />
[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are enjoying a beautiful evening, and looking up at the sky, [[Cueball]] says "I like the sky". With this, Megan replies that the sky is "one of her favorite halves". This is funny because there are only two "halves", (the ground/ocean and the sky) which means that if it is ''one'' of her favorite halves, that she does not have stronger feelings for the sky than say, as the title text suggests, a cool snake on this "half". The Title-text says that "if you take these things away, there's more sky." This baisically means that if you took the whole {{w|Earth}} away, you would leave just the atmosphere, so there would be sky in all directions, thus there would be "more sky".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan are standing looking upward with in a small frame a light blue background.]<br />
:Cueball: I like the sky.<br />
:Megan: Yeah.<br />
<br />
:[Zooms out to show a blue evening sky, the sun must be setting to the left and a streak of yellow and orange clouds goes from top left to bottom right. The sky/clouds get darker further to the right and several stars are visible behind the clouds on the indigo blue sky in the top right corner. There are also some gray clouds low over the horizon. Cueball and Megan standing to the far left Below them and the sky from the horizon and down there is a thick a black slab taking up about a sixth of the frame height.]<br />
:Megan: It's one of my favorite halves.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>162.158.255.22https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1679:_Substitutions_3&diff=1199001679: Substitutions 32016-05-11T17:39:27Z<p>162.158.255.22: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1679<br />
| date = May 11, 2016<br />
| title = Substitutions 3<br />
| image = substitutions_3.png<br />
| titletext = BREAKING: Channing Tatum and his friends explore haunted city<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|just a stub. More examples from real life. Title text...}}<br />
This is the third time [[Randall]] has suggested substitutions that will make reading the news more fun. This time it will be '''even''' more fun. It began with [[1288: Substitutions]] which was followed more recently by [[1625: Substitutions 2]].<br />
<br />
The title text in original form would be "Scientists explore ancient city", which most would consider a fairly bland headline. The day before this comic came out, there was news that a new, ancient city had been found by a 15 year old scientist, which may be what Randall was referencing. Imagining Channing Tatum and his "friends", and pretending that the city is haunted, provides a much more dramatic setting mirroring many episodes (and later films) of ''Scooby Doo'' featuring a gang of friends (Mysteries, Inc.).<br />
<br />
<br />
Real life examples:<br />
*Remains to be seen ➜ Will never be known<br />
**[http://english.cri.cn/12394/2016/04/30/4203s926079.htm Japan's Sincerity in Improving Bilateral Ties Will Never Be Known]<br />
*Cautiously optimistic ➜ Delusional<br />
**[http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14455:london-jews-cautiously-optimistic-about-first-ever-muslim-mayor&catid=106:international&Itemid=289 London Jews Delusional About First-Ever Muslim Mayor]<br />
*Silver Bullet ➜ Way to Kill Werewolves<br />
**[http://moneymorning.com/2016/05/10/why-no-silver-bullet-will-ever-kill-crude-oil/ Why no Way to Kill Werewolves will Kill Crude Oil]<br />
* Tension ➜ Sexual Tension; Meeting ➜ Ménage à Trois<br />
**[http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2016/05/09/2016-race-roundup-tension-between-trumpryan-ahead-of-thursday-meeting-n2160407 Sexual Tension Between Trump-Ryan Ahead of Thursday Ménage à Trois]<br />
*Gaffe ➜ Magic Spell<br />
**[http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2016/may/11/david-cameron-corruption-remark-gaffe Was David Cameron's corruption remark really a magic spell?]<br />
*Ancient ➜ Haunted<br />
**[http://gizmodo.com/teen-discovers-lost-maya-city-using-ancient-star-maps-1775735999 Teen Discovers Lost Maya City Using Haunted Star Maps]<br />
*Star-Studded ➜ Blood-Soaked<br />
**[http://ewn.co.za/2016/05/11/Woody-Allen-tops-bill-at-star-studded-Cannes-festival Woody Allen tops bill at blood-soaked Cannes Festival]<br />
*Subway system ➜ Tunnels I found<br />
**[http://pix11.com/2016/05/09/dhs-releasing-harmless-gas-in-nyc-subway-system-to-test-bioterror-airflow/ DHS releasing harmless gas in NYC tunnels I found to prepare for possible attack]<br />
*Surprising ➜ Surprising (but not to me)<br />
**[http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/11/476198119/a-surprising-japanese-presence-in-central-ohio A Surprising (But Not to Me) Japanese Presence In Central Ohio]<br />
*War of Words ➜ Interplanetary War<br />
**[http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/road-caves-in-leading-to-war-of-words-between-aiadmk-and-dmk/article8577830.ece Road caves in leading to interplanetary war between AIADMK and DMK]<br />
*Tension ➜ Sexual Tension<br />
**[http://allafrica.com/stories/201605111244.html Uganda: Use Swearing-in to Ease Sexual Tension]<br />
*Doctor Who ➜ The Big Bang Theory<br />
**[http://www.themarysue.com/doctor-who-trans-identity/ On The Big Bang Theory and My Struggle With My Trans Identity]<br />
*Win votes ➜ Find Pokémon<br />
**[http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14479510.Jeremy_Corbyn_must_urgently_develop_strategy_to_win_votes__warns_failed_leadership_candidate_Yvette_Cooper/ Labour's Jeremy Corbyn must urgently develop strategy to find Pokémon, warns failed leadership candidate Yvette Cooper]<br />
*Behind the headlines ➜ Beyond the grave<br />
**[http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/411443/behind-the-headlines-the-erev-pesach-story-we-all-should-be-talking-about.html Beyond the Grave: The Erev Pesach Story We All Should Be Talking About]<br />
*Email / Facebook Post / Tweet ➜ Poem<br />
**[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/wtae-anchor-and-reporter-wendy-bell-apologizes-for-facebook-post-that-could-be-viewed-as-racist/ TV anchor admits poem about fatal shooting "could be viewed as racist"]<br />
*Facebook CEO ➜ This guy<br />
**[http://hotair.com/archives/2016/05/10/senator-thune-demands-answers-from-facebook-about-news-bias/ Senator Thune demands answers from this guy about news bias]<br />
*Latest ➜ Final<br />
**[http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/11/garmin-forerunner-735xt-running-watch/ Garmin's final running watch tracks your suffering]<br />
*Disrupt ➜ Destroy<br />
**[https://news.fastcompany.com/amazon-thinks-it-can-disrupt-youtube-4006719 Amazon thinks it can destroy YouTube]<br />
*Scientists ➜ Channing Tatum and his friends<br />
**[http://www.futurity.org/memory-acetylcholine-ptsd-1159862-2/ Channing Tatum and his friends test a way to erase scary memories]<br />
*You won't believe ➜ I'm really sad about<br />
**[http://www.komando.com/happening-now/357958/iphone-7-rumor-you-wont-believe-what-it-looks-like iPhone 7 rumor: I'm really sad about what it looks like]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the panel:]<br />
:Even More <br />
:<big>'''Substitutions'''</big><br />
:That make reading the news more fun<br />
<br />
:[A table of words/sentences on the left that change in to those on the left. Between each set of words there is an arrow pointing from right.]<br />
:{|<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Gaffe<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Magic spell<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Ancient<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Haunted<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Star-Studded<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Blood-soaked<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Remains to be seen<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Will never be known<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Silver bullet<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Way to kill werewolves<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Subway system<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Tunnels I found<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Surprising<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Surprising (but not to me)<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | War of words<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Interplanetary war<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Tension<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Sexual tension<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Cautiously optimistic<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Delusional<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Doctor Who<br />
| ➜ <br />
| The Big Bang Theory<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Win votes<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Find Pokémon<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Behind the headlines<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Beyond the grave<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Email \<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Facebook Post <br />
| ➜ <br />
| Poem<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Tweet /<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Facebook CEO<br />
| ➜ <br />
| This guy<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Latest<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Final<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Disrupt<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Destroy<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Meeting<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Ménage à trois<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | Scientists<br />
| ➜ <br />
| Channing Tatum<br> and his friends<br />
|-<br />
| style="text-align:right;" | You won't believe<br />
| ➜ <br />
| I'm really sad about<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Substitutions]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Substitutions]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!--Channing Tatum--><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]</div>162.158.255.22