https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.68.70.34&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T13:27:06ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2261:_Worst_Thing_That_Could_Happen&diff=186816Talk:2261: Worst Thing That Could Happen2020-02-02T10:11:41Z<p>172.68.70.34: </p>
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What? No one mentioned Earth being hit by asteroid or one of close stars going supernova? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:43, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, this is just dealing with the worst scenarios. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:05, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film) , isn't it? Wouldn't it be more destructive than just ramming and pecking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.216|141.101.105.216]] 21:56, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I very recently saw a meme I had to think of (and want to share the funny part), where a badass-person was described. The last point was "the morals of a seagull." --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:10, 30 January 2020 (UTC) Edit: Just googled it. It was a reddit post about seals, and the conclusion was, they are like "if a cat weighed 300 kilos and had the intelligence of a toddler & the morals of a seagull". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:25, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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“Much of the computer networking technology used today has its roots in research into hardening nuclear command and control systems against an incoming first strike...”. This is false, at least as far as the early internet goes. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/#f5 — “5 It was from the RAND study that the false rumor started claiming that the ARPANET was somehow related to building a network resistant to nuclear war. This was never true of the ARPANET, only the unrelated RAND study on secure voice considered nuclear war. However, the later work on Internetting did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks.” Since the authors include Vint Cerf, I’m inclined to give it a lot of credibility. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.214}}<br />
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How does ''Ninja Warrior'' subject contestants to pain/humiliation on failure? The only humiliation factor is from failing in the first place, and the water is there to ''minimize'' pain (well, to minimize ''injuries'' anyway). There are plenty of ''much'' better examples of game shows that "punish" failure. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 16:12, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ninja Warrior is the 'painful' contest that I happen to have seen most recently, but on reflection I suppose MXC/Takeshi's Castle is a little more straightforward on the "humiliation" factor. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 02:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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CTRL-f for searching... I always imagined Randal as an Emacs user (Emacs standard binding for incremental search is ctrl-s) but I guess no one is perfect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.70|172.68.70.70]] 05:14, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ctrl-F works on almost anything nowadays, such as web browsers, which he probably uses more frequently than Emacs. Of course, Ctrl-F notably does NOT work in Microsoft Outlook. Thanks, Bill. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
::It says he's searching release notes, which would be located where the upgrade came from, which means the website it was downloaded from (so, reading in a web browser) or some App Store or another (I would think the notes are in the Store app itself or a plain text file). Since I've never used eMacs, it seems an unlikely format for something meant to be widely seen like release notes. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::in this comic Cueball and Megan are representing programmers not users, they would not be installing the latest release of an app from an App Store but rather applying a patch to, and then recompiling, source code. The release notes would be in a text file, most likely with a .txt extension, and would be readable with any software tool that would be used for displaying or editing .txt files. But setting that aside, to think that because you personally haven’t used of a particular tool has any bearing on its popularity is hubris of the highest order.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 10:11, 2 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Just added two new categories for this comic: [[:Category:Volcanoes]] and [[:Category:Nuclear weapons]]. They were long overdue with 22 and 25 comics respectively after I searched through for relevant words. This is the fourth with Supervolcanoes mentioned. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:58, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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There are presumably many more people than wells (citation needed). If everybody fell down a well, the people in any particular well would be piled on top of each other, and the ones at the top should be able to climb out. Then they can help the people below them. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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"Since Randall is just reading but not changing the patch notes, a web browser, PDF viewer, or word processing program such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word might have been used."... Uhhhh, just because he's not changing the release notes doesn't mean he isn't using something like Notepad, which to me seems the most likely unless it's an App Store, about just as likely that it's a web browser on the upgrade's website. Also, not to be pedantic (okay, to be pedantic, LOL!), Adobe ACROBAT Reader wouldn't be a "word processing program". I could see calling the writer program Adobe Acrobat that, but the more widespread READER is exactly that, just a reader, no processing. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2261:_Worst_Thing_That_Could_Happen&diff=186688Talk:2261: Worst Thing That Could Happen2020-01-30T16:12:36Z<p>172.68.70.34: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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What? Noone mentioned Earth being hit by asteroid or one of close stars going supernova? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:43, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, this is just dealing with the worst scenarios. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:05, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film) , isn't it? Wouldn't it be more destructive than just ramming and pecking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.216|141.101.105.216]] 21:56, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I very recently saw a meme I had to think of (and want to share the funny part), where a badass-person was described. The last point was "the morals of a seagull." --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:10, 30 January 2020 (UTC) Edit: Just googled it. It was a reddit post about seals, and the conclusion was, they are like "if a cat weighed 300 kilos and had the intelligence of a toddler & the morals of a seagull". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:25, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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“Much of the computer networking technology used today has its roots in research into hardening nuclear command and control systems against an incoming first strike...”. This is false, at least as far as the early internet goes. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/#f5 — “5 It was from the RAND study that the false rumor started claiming that the ARPANET was somehow related to building a network resistant to nuclear war. This was never true of the ARPANET, only the unrelated RAND study on secure voice considered nuclear war. However, the later work on Internetting did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks.” Since the authors include Vint Cerf, I’m inclined to give it a lot of credibility. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.214}}<br />
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How does ''Ninja Warrior'' subject contestants to pain/humiliation on failure? The only humiliation factor is from failing in the first place, and the water is there to ''minimize'' pain (well, to minimize ''injuries'' anyway). There are plenty of ''much'' better examples of game shows that "punish" failure. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 16:12, 30 January 2020 (UTC)</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2260:_Reaction_Maps&diff=186574Talk:2260: Reaction Maps2020-01-28T14:23:22Z<p>172.68.70.34: </p>
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I can't find Jump, OH. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 23:19, 27 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I can't find a town named "A" in Clay County WV. Is there supposed to be one? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 23:35, 27 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Wiki sez: "Clay is a town in and the county seat of Clay County, West Virginia, United States.[6] The population was 491 at the 2010 census. It is the only incorporated town in Clay County." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 23:37, 27 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I looked for "A, Clay County, WV" and [https://goo.gl/maps/sUm6MtwEvpsBbfLX8 found this]. "B" and "C" also find places but "D" doesn't. It looks like Clay County is divided into A, B and C. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.53|141.101.99.53]] 08:11, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I completely missed this one! In my defence, here in southern England ‘Tudor’ sounds much less like ‘two-door’, and ‘compact’ is much less commonly applied to cars... [[User:Gidds|Gidds]] ([[User talk:Gidds|talk]]) 23:44, 27 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Tip if you are doing a European version, and want to avoid F-Bombs: You can [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Fucking,+%C3%96sterreich/Bad+Kissingen,+Deutschland/ replace "Fucking" by "bad Kissing"]. It is "only" a 430km reroute. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:47, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Does that pun actually work in US English? In UK English, Tudor and two-door have totally different vowel sounds. The former is more "tew-der". {{unsigned ip|162.158.158.179|09:58, 28 January 2020}}<br />
:It does work with my weird accent (German, officially learned british English in school, tought by a German teacher who lived a while in Australia, and refined with watching Hollywood productions, travelling Ireland (and other places, but mostly Ireland), and working with Indians, Americans and Brits in an American company...) Slight difference between how I would pronounce two and "tu" of tudor. (more or less as tju(?)) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 09:05, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, and in fact, Ford named several two-doored body styles in the interwar period "Tudor" (and, somewhat distressingly, dubbed the corresponding four-door styles "Fordor"). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.160|172.69.34.160]] 12:03, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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;H.ON.D.A.<br />
This reminds of when I worked in a place with a very slow Internet connection, but I found one solution (sort of) which required about 40 minutes to get connected, but was very fast once I was connected. I called it Hurry-ON Driving Access (HONDA). The way it worked was that I got in my Honda Civic, and drove to a place with a better Internet connection... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.20|172.69.34.20]] 03:14, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I named my Smart Fortwo "Eddie." Fortwo &gt; 42 &gt; Hitchhikers. And that engine was a pretty improbable size. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.236|108.162.216.236]] 13:54, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Anyone who can make a decent argument why this joke should be bad enough to end a friendship? Or could Randall just not find anything better. Did it need to be related to driving? I like the idea of answering like this, but cannot really understand why such a joke would necessitate such a fierce response...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:04, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It's kind of a cultural joke that puns are the one of the lowest forms of wit, and that especially bad or forced puns are so bad as to merit comical overreactions, such as flipping tables, throwing yourself out of a window, or expressing physical pain. It might be an internet thing, although I'm sure the sentiment pre-dates the internet. Cueball is not seriously suggesting ending their friendship - he's just suggesting that he ''should'', as penance for the terribleness of the pun. I believe the pun doesn't have to relate to driving - Randall has just found a clever way to express disapproval that happens to use driving directions. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 14:05, 28 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Possible reason: it's not that the pun itself is so bad, it's the "get it"--Ponytail (probably) knows the pun isn't very funny, *knows Cueball didn't think it was funny*, and is demanding that he acknowledge the pun. Once is nothing, but annoyance can build up. The fiftieth time someone interrupts a real conversation with a pun, and repeats the pun if nobody gives them the laugh or at least groan they want, it becomes something like "yeah, guy, we heard you. If it was funny someone would have laughed. Stop interrupting the conversation to get attention. It's not as clever as you think it is."</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=957:_Development&diff=186279957: Development2020-01-22T18:22:00Z<p>172.68.70.34: quotes</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 957<br />
| date = September 28, 2011<br />
| title = Development<br />
| image = development.png<br />
| titletext = Funding was quickly restored to the NHC and the APA was taken back off hurricane forecast duty.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is a [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]] reporting on a hurricane.<br />
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First, some definitions: NHC is the {{w|National Hurricane Center}} and the APA is the {{w|American Psychological Association}}.<br />
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The reference to {{w|Piaget's theory of cognitive development#Sensorimotor Stage|Piaget Stage 5}} in the comic is a reference to {{w|Jean Piaget|Piaget}}'s {{w|Piaget's theory of cognitive development|Stages of Development}} in which stage 5 is where (to quote Wikipedia and Gruber, H.E.; Voneche, J.J.. eds. ''The essential Piaget''.)<br />
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:"'Infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects and by the many things they can make happen to objects; they experiment with new behavior.' This stage is associated primarily with the discovery of new means to meet goals. Piaget describes the child at this juncture as the 'young scientist,' conducting pseudo-experiments to discover new methods of meeting challenges."<br />
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This is exactly what the comic is describing in sustained interest in objects and their properties and the handy "?"s around the picture behind the newscaster in this comic.<br />
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With that out of the way, this comic is a pun on the use of the word "development" to classify hurricanes which also uses categories from 1 to 5 as defined by the {{w|Saffir%E2%80%93Simpson_scale|Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale}} (Piaget's Stages go from 1-6). The comic is making a joke that if the APA were on hurricane forecast duty instead of the NHC, that the hurricanes would be classified with Piaget's stages instead of categories.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is a news anchor at desk reporting. Behind him to the left is a black screen showing a white icon of a hurricane moving over the black ocean towards a thin sliver of white land in the top left corner. There are three white question-marks around the hurricane.]<br />
:Cueball: Fear turned to confusion today as Hurricane Rina developed to Piaget stage 5, with sustained interests in objects and their properties.<br />
:Hurricane: ? ? ?<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:News anchor]]<br />
[[Category:Hurricanes]]<br />
[[Category:Puns]]</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1008:_Suckville&diff=184228Talk:1008: Suckville2019-12-06T00:01:07Z<p>172.68.70.34: Comment</p>
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<div>Wait, how did Megan's smack talk not work, as the explanation states? This is not accurate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.172|108.162.238.172]] 20:34, 1 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
: Cueball changed the statement from an insult to a statement of fact, implying that in the year 2000, he was literally the only resident of a real town called Suckville, but that the population has grown since then. [[User:Leafy Greens|Leafy Greens]] ([[User talk:Leafy Greens|talk]]) 01:05, 17 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
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In panel 3 what is going on with Megan's legs? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.85|141.101.99.85]] 15:12, 20 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I have no idea... Maybe she temporarily turned into a spider? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:42, 20 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
::I think she was just turning around. if you look closely you can see that in one position legs are in a position which would make sense while playing the game. Her other two legs are faced with a computer as if she was using it. Same with her arms. The reason there were three is because one arm stayed in the same position. {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.82}}<br />
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If Randall respected disposition of cards, it can't be magic the gathering {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.112}}<br />
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Adding a late comment to the discussion - it seems nobody caught the fact that Cueball has obviously looked up Suckville in the census data because he knew in which table it could be found. This indicates to me that he has received this insult before and looked it up in the census data in order to prepare a comeback for the ''next'' time! He was ready for Megan this time! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:54, 9 July 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Clearly Dominions or an inspired game. Megan is taking a card from a set of ten piles reminiscent of the ten piles of kingdom cards, and both players have what appears to be a deck and a discard pile.</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2217:_53_Cards&diff=181560Talk:2217: 53 Cards2019-10-22T03:38:28Z<p>172.68.70.34: </p>
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"This page was last edited [tomorrow]." Okay, good to know. Tomorrow starts three hours from now, my time. This comic reminded me of this article: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/10/corkscrewing-bouncy-ion-drive-would-provide-thrust-in-different-universe/ [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.88|172.68.38.88]] 00:44, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I can do this, but my flowchart would be different and involve secretly inserting a joker, using the shuffling as cover for the move. <br />
Collect a deck of 52 cards and have a spectator count the cards. - Secretly hide a joker from the deck in your off-hand (the one without the deck). - Shuffle the cards, letting the hidden card drop on top of the deck. - Keep shuffling, so the inserted joker is well mixed into the deck. - Have a spectator count the cards, looking only at the backs. - 53.<br />
[[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 04:56, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Actually this is also what encryption scientists have to face talking to not so few encryption enthusiasts who just invented their own encryption method[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.112|162.158.234.112]] 07:01, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Ohg V unir na haornnoyr pvcure! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.253|162.158.158.253]] 13:52, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
:The difference is that those "own excryption methods" usually work ... not well, but at least little. Now, the algorithms which claim to compress ANY input to smaller size, those tend to be suspicious ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:15, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Wait, isn't perpetual motion (w.r.t. a inertial reference frame) possible, at least according to Newtonian mechanics? Just launch something into space at high enough speed and "watch" it wander away forever. Extracting (an unbounded amount of) energy from that object is a totally different story... --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.94|162.158.234.94]] 10:11, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Not really, as even in vacuums particles randomly come into existence. Eventually enough would be in the path to slow it to a stop. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.151|162.158.62.151]] 17:37, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Not in Newtonian mechanics. Those random particles are result of quantum physics - and in quantum physics, EVERYTHING is possible, just unlikely (there is extremely small but nonzero probability that all particles in macroscopic object would exhibit tunneling effect moving them in same direction, for example). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:15, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Vacuum fluctuation (particles), i.e. quantum weirdness, cannot cause trouble. This is because all working QFT, where these vacuum fluctuations appear, take as assumption the strict local conservation of energy-momentum 4-vector, which is the generalisation of what our OP is asking about. This is a fundamental backbone of all modern physics, not just Newtonian mechanics, and the only known violation is in cosmology. Needless to say, when we talk about perpetual motion machines, we have to start by omitting this trivial class. That is, we do not call systems that achieve perpetual motion by exploiting the conservation of linear or angular momentum alone, as perpetual motion machines. Some machines of that form that convert the energy and momentum from one part to the other could be a perpetual motion machine, because in those cases it is possible for the efficiency of conversion to be imperfect, in which case it will always practically be imperfect, leading to the eventual failure. Luckily, on Earth and in practice, there is no need to be careful, because even the linear or angular momentum special case, would be interacting with air---the best vacuum we can get, are still not perfect; it is not perfect even in actual space outside Earth. It just doesn't exist anywhere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.118|162.158.165.118]] 20:49, 21 October 2019 (UTC) Uhhh, and what about ''Ptolemaic'' Mechanics? SOMETHING is keeping the spheres rotating. Seems Randall hasn't really thought this comic through. Someone should challenge him to prove that his comic is true in all idealistic conceptions of the real world.<br />
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Getting a 53 card deck from a 52 card deck is easy. First, cut the deck twice. Then, shuffle all parts together; be sure to suffer thoroughly. Finally, take off the top 5 cards, sneak in the Joker on the bottom while nobody's looking, and put the five cards at the "middle". Because of skewed philosophy, you will have gotten a 53 card deck![[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.186|162.158.122.186]]<br />
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“The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.” -Alberto Brandolini [[User:Menoshe|Menoshe]] ([[User talk:Menoshe|talk]]) 22:03, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Note that while it shouldn't be possible to obtain energy from nowhere, there ARE methods which makes hard to find where the energy comes from, and some may be useful (say, perhaps as a new kind of battery?). Also, anything involving not-completely-understood phenomena, like black hole for example, might actually generate energy from source we don't know about yet (parallel universe or something like that). Meanwhile, lot of theoretical designs of perpetual motion machines without working prototype only contain steps which can't possibly get energy anywhere and are completely useless ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:15, 19 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Black hole physics are one of the best understood. No part of understanding them requires parallel universes. The thing that is really a headache in General Theory of Relativity is that we still do not have a good, localised, way to express the energy stored in the gravitational field. Landau-Lifshitz pseudo-tensor is proved to be unique given the assumptions, but starts with a subtraction of the matter stress-energy tensor, and violates precisely this comic---it says that some gravitational wave situations don't carry away energy, when in fact we know those have to carry away energy. Better defined notions, like ADM energy, are global energy, not localised energy, so that we do not know what they mean, practically. However, even though we are still not fully understanding what mathematical quantity would correctly map to gravitational field energy in the theory, we still do know that it has to be gravitational field energy, and that it has nothing to do with parallel universes. Just to hammer down the singular mistake in your nice comment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.118|162.158.165.118]] 21:01, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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In the picture it seems that he cuts the cards into a pile of 21 cards and 38 cards (thus making 59 cards) I'm sure that helps his argument (or he can't count.<br />
: Yeah, I noticed that mismatch too!<br/>Actually, I interpreted the "cut" as referring to that one old trick where rectangular objects (usually banknotes) would be cut in half and then rearranged with small pieces missing, making one more object than there used to be. This of course would not be a case of "rearranging and shuffling".<br/>(If you're wondering why this doesn't work for ''actual'' banknotes, that's because the existence of serial numbers makes this trick far harder, and the ''repeated'' serial numbers on most modern notes make it effectively impossible. But back in the 19th century this actually used to be a problem.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.33|172.69.54.33]] 19:26, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Perpetual motion is so easy that we've already done it. The universe isn't going to stop expanding anytime soon, afterall. Also, Voyager (and some other space probes). Everything is perpetual motion in space at solar escape velocity until/unless it hits something. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.88|162.158.214.88]] 18:35, 20 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
: This case is by definition excluded from the discussion of perpetual motion. See above for my longer version on it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.118|162.158.165.118]] 21:03, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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You can always rearrange the matter making up the 52 cards, into 53 smaller cards. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.17|108.162.212.17]] 19:21, 20 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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It's easy to prove, using the Banach-Tarski theorem [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:39, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
:If you show me how to dissolve the cards into subatomar theoretical dots by shuffling, I agree. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:36, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Sigh... I really don't like having to keep challenging Kynde, who I believe is a well-intentioned contributor... but as soon as I saw the rewritten explanation with confusing phrasing and broken English, I knew that it was him who did it, and honestly... it just makes the article worse. It's harder to read and comprehend, contains irrelevancies, and swings between explanatory points incoherently. It was, honestly, okay as it was (specifically [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2217:_53_Cards&oldid=181494 this version]). I don't really know what to do about it. I'm of the "be bold in making edits" school of wiki-ing, but I don't want to just flush away other people's well-meant contributions. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 15:01, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Unfortunately, plenty of physicists make the same mistake, losing sight of the fact that math is only a model that must conform to reality, a-la Zeno's Paradox. That's how you end up with silly claims of "if you can [go faster than light] [travel through a wormhole between two distant points in an expanding universe] you'll go backward in time". Or how about the pseudoscience of explaining failed models by assuming that there must be "dark" matter or energy, instead of acknowledging that the model, itself, must be fundamentally wrong the way an actual scientist would. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 16:53, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
: What are the chances that the global scientific community, who are setup to attack each other to win funding, would require outsiders to tell them that dark matter and dark energy are indications that their models are "fundamentally wrong"? It just goes to show how rarely you talk to scientists. Cosmologists are always apologising for not knowing what dark energy is, treating them only as the cosmological constant (other alternatives are always explored, but none offer significant improvements upon cosmological constant simplicity). But the dark matter situation already merit a few observational wins, and are starting to look more and more like postulating neutrinos, which is a winning precedent. For two examples, firstly, we have observed localised dark matter causing gravitational lensing. Secondly, we see some galaxy collisions that have dark matter in the wrong place due to the collisions. These evidences are enough to convince most astrophysicists that the basic picture seems correct. Other than this, you should also work on understanding more about how theory and experiment interact in physics, before commenting more upon the matter. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.118|162.158.165.118]] 21:17, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
::You fail to understand: Even if something eventually turned up that they could claim is the equivalent of dark energy or matter, it would be an accident, and change nothing about how anti-scientific they had been. The methodology they use is not only wrong, but essentially identical to that used by advocates of the geocentric model when prosecuting Galileo. Dark matter and energy are epicycles and deferents, ridiculous tweaks to models that fail to naturally match observation. Any model that can't hold up to the simplest, barely-scientific benchmark of simply matching observation naturally is a failure. Any adjustments made are a departure from its fundamental premises. At that point it might as well be astrologers tweaking star sign analyses. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 01:26, 22 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Well, since it's a non-closed system that is receiving energy... and matter is just solidified energy... :) I'm going to say that Cueball is right so long as his flowchart also contains a StarTrek replicator somewhere. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.64|172.68.90.64]] 20:08, 21 October 2019 (UTC)SiliconWolf<br />
<br />
Where's the Banach–Tarski reference! There should totally be an earth-shattering Banach–Tarski reference. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.219|162.158.58.219]] 21:36, 21 October 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Agreed: There should totally be some sort of Axiom of Choice joke here as well.</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2206:_Mavis_Beacon&diff=1813132206: Mavis Beacon2019-10-16T14:26:20Z<p>172.68.70.34: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2206<br />
| date = September 23, 2019<br />
| title = Mavis Beacon<br />
| image = mavis_beacon.png<br />
| titletext = There are actually lowercase-like 'oldstyle' forms of normal numbers with more pronounced ascenders and descenders, which is why some numbers like '5' in books sometimes dangle below the line. But the true capital numbers remain the domain of number maven Mavis Beacon.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is being congratulated by the game he plays, ''Mavis Beacon'', on his computer, because he has beaten the end boss and unlocked a new ability - the ability to type capital numbers...<br />
<br />
''{{w|Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing}}'' is a computer game first released in 1987, with the goal of teaching touch-typing and improving typing speed on a computer keyboard. Unlike many video games, ''Mavis Beacon'' contains no combat and therefore does not feature any "{{w|Boss_(video_gaming)#Final_boss|end boss}}" (a very powerful enemy encountered as the final challenge of the game). In many video games, defeating major opponents "unlocks" special features, such as improved weapons. Also, playing ''Mavis Beacon'', although it may improve typing skill, has no effect on how typing works on one's computer{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
In the caption, however, [[Randall]] asserts that after 30 years of playing ''Mavis Beacon'', he encountered and defeated such a boss. Playing the same game for 30 years is rare{{Citation needed}}. Regardless, Randall claims that defeating this "end boss" unlocked an ability to type esoteric "capital numbers," which Randall depicts as more extravagant versions of the familiar numerals. Although modern {{w|Latin letters}} have different {{w|letter case}} (i.e. capital or upper case and small or lower-case), {{w|Arabic numerals}} - the conventional numerals 0-9 used in the Western world - do not. <br />
<br />
Stating that the game is old enough that it could have been played for 30 years, could be another attempt at making people, who actually did play the game in the early days, [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|feel old]]. But this doesn't seem to be the main point of the comic.<br />
<br />
Typing such numerals is said to require pressing the Alt, tilde (~), Scroll Lock, and numeral keys at the same time. Some keyboard layouts do not have a scroll lock key or a separate tilde key (such that pressing ~ actually requires pressing a shift/{{w|Modifier key|modifier}} key along with the ~ key), and in any event pressing four or five keys at once would be quite difficult. Needless to say, pressing all those keys simultaneously does not, in fact, do anything like what the comics describes in any known computer system, though some smaller subset of those keys together (i.e. "Alt ~" or "Alt numeral-key") might activate other operating system or user-defined shortcuts.<br />
<br />
Keyboards vary in how many simultaneous key presses they can process ({{w|Rollover (key)|rollover}}). Computer keyboards for English may be limited to as few as 3 simultaneous keys, whereas other languages or higher quality keyboards may be able to handle an unlimited number of keys at once. (A musical keyboard might need to handle 10 or more simultaneous keys, likewise gaming or braille keyboards may need to handle many simultaneous keys.)<br />
<br />
In the title text, Randall notes that [https://www.bamagazine.com/Text-type-typeface-s/105.htm certain typefaces] feature {{w|text figures}}, numerals that have ascenders and descenders, much as lower-case letters do, rather than all standing at the full X-height like capital letters. He then goes on to joke that, conversely, there are true "capital numerals," but they are a guarded secret of Mavis Beacon. {{w|Mavis Beacon (character)|Mavis Beacon}} was the character created as the typing instructor for the ''Mavis Beacon'' game, and is fictional, not a real person. Additionally, as a typing instructor, this person (even if she actually existed) would not be able to change typographical standards. Randall's description of Mavis Beacon as a "number {{w|maven}}" (that is, expert or connoisseur) contrasts with her supposed field of expertise in typing, which involves letters and punctuation more than numbers.<br />
<br />
The comic itself hotlinks to this article: [https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/numbers/oldstyle-figures Oldstyle Figures]. It is about oldstyle/text figures.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at his desk in front of his computer reading a message that is shown coming from the screen with a zigzag line, going to the text above him. The two upper lines (of five) are separated from the lines below, but connected with a small zigzag line. The computer short cut is written in three boxes. The last line is the numbers from 1 to 9 and 0, in a highly stylized format but recognizable in this context. The digits are shown below in their standard appearance since the stylized versions cannot be reproduced in this transcript.]<br />
:Congratulations.<br />
:Use this power wisely.<br />
<br />
:Key Code (secret!!): <br />
:<span style="border: 1px solid black"><kbd>Alt</kbd></span> + <span style="border: 1px solid black"><kbd>Tilde</kbd></span> + <span style="border: 1px solid black"><kbd>Scroll Lock</kbd></span> + Number<br />
:1234567890<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:After 30 years, I finally beat the end boss of ''Mavis Beacon'' and unlocked the ability to type capital numbers.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2198:_Throw&diff=1791432198: Throw2019-09-04T12:42:37Z<p>172.68.70.34: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2198<br />
| date = September 3, 2019<br />
| title = Throw<br />
| image = throw.png<br />
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.<br />
}}<br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by Thor, God of Thunder. Table for all combinations should be made, maybe with clear marking of those that cannot be thrown. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book. <br />
<br />
As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day and probably replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], with [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]] a part of them.<br />
<br />
In this comic the viewer can select a person/{{w|Pikachu}}/god/squirrel as the thrower and an object (including a person, Pikachu, or squirrel) to be thrown, and get an animation of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in SI units and in other very arbitrary units; see [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include ones in which the thrower is smaller than the thrown object. The formula/guideline is apparently based on a chapter from the book. One special case to the calculations is Thor's hammer, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), and self-created characters who are well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}) are shown to actually be able to throw it. Also Thor is the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances.<br />
<br />
There are 7 throwers + 1 open option and 15 + 1 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations for the static elements; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below plus those for the open option. The open option can be defined by height, weight and a 1-4 scale of atleticism. But only Thor (or an unrealistically tall and heavy custom character) can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, hammer, and car) unthrowable by any of the other premade characters. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 100. Still there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for some. An object with negative weight (you probably) flies backwards.<br />
<br />
The athleticism scale does not define the character used for the animation.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switching to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.<br />
<br />
==Throwers and throw items==<br />
George Washington, Pikachu, and a squirrel are both throwers and throw items.<br />
<br />
* '''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}''' is the average American's perception of a highly athletic individual; gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision.<br />
* '''{{w|George Washington}}''' was the first president of the United States of America. Although seen as a capable leader, there is nothing {{Citation needed}} to indicate that he was an exceptional thrower. He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile.<br />
* '''{{w|Pikachu}}''' is a species of Pokémon, and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing it's held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed.<br />
** According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.<br />
* '''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}''' is a Canadian music artist.<br />
* '''{{w|Thor}}''' is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}}, and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].<br />
* '''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}''' is an Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
* '''A {{w|squirrel}}''' is a small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd, and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.<br />
* '''You''' (the viewer) may also choose to create a custom thrower, inputting name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.<br />
* '''A {{w|microwave oven}}''' is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.<br />
* '''A basketball''' is an inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.<br />
* '''A {{w|blender}}''' is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into a slush for consumption or baking.<br />
* '''A {{w|gold bar}}''' is the form in which gold is cast for storage.<br />
* '''A {{w|wedding cake}}''' is traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.<br />
* '''A {{w|ping pong ball}}''' is a small sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong".<br />
* '''An acorn''' is a small nut which serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.<br />
* '''Thor's hammer''' refers to {{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Mjolnir}}, an enchanted hammer in Marvel comics which can only be lifted, much less thrown, by those deemed worthy. In this case it appears to simply be incredibly heavy, though this is more to allow the custom thrower to make use of it instead of any sort of commentary on canonicity.<br />
* '''A javelin''' is an aerodynamic polearm thrown in Olympic sport.<br />
* '''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}}''' is a silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus, and '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision.<br />
* '''A car''' is the most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.<br />
<br />
==Table of throw distances==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Item&nbsp;/&nbsp;Thrower<br />
!NFL&nbsp;Quarterback<br />
!George&nbsp;Washington<br />
!Pikachu<br />
!Carly&nbsp;Rae&nbsp;Jepsen<br />
!Thor<br />
!Chris&nbsp;Hemsworth<br />
!Squirrel<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''<br />
|10.32 m<br />
|7.76 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.67 m<br />
|181.57 m<br />
|6.15 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|33.85 feet<br />
|25.46 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|82.65 rack units<br />
|1.99 football fields<br />
|138.40 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''<br />
|40.18 m<br />
|33.22 m<br />
|2.34 m<br />
|19.11 m<br />
|113.67 m<br />
|27.99 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|16.74 horses<br />
|19.54 smoots<br />
|75.90 attoparsecs<br />
|11.24 smoots<br />
|1.42 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''<br />
|16.58 m<br />
|12.45 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.89 m<br />
|333.25 m<br />
|9.86 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|9.75 smoots<br />
|40.85 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|132.51 rack units<br />
|1.66 furlongs<br />
|32.34 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''<br />
|9.73 m<br />
|7.23 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.36 m<br />
|549.28 m<br />
|5.69 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|31.93 feet<br />
|23.73 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|75.65 rack units<br />
|2.73 furlongs<br />
|128.11 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''<br />
|8.96 m<br />
|6.75 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.2 m<br />
|146.25 m<br />
|5.35 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|29.40 feet<br />
|22.14 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|72.00 rack units<br />
|1.60 football fields<br />
|120.45 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''<br />
|11.8 m<br />
|11.63 m<br />
|9.28 m<br />
|11.25 m<br />
|12.53 m<br />
|11.41 m<br />
|4.95 m<br />
|-<br />
|38.72 feet<br />
|38.17 feet<br />
|30.46 feet<br />
|36.92 feet<br />
|41.10 feet<br />
|37.44 feet<br />
|111.37 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''<br />
|83.00 m<br />
|75.84 m<br />
|28.16 m<br />
|62.85 m<br />
|135.98 m<br />
|67.91 m<br />
|6.53 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.04 Manhattan blocks<br />
|0.95 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.57 smoots<br />
|26.19 horses<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|28.30 horses<br />
|146.85 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|19.32 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.36 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''<br />
|56.10 m<br />
|42.04 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|20.12 m<br />
|3028.75 m<br />
|33.09 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|23.37 horses<br />
|17.51 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.84 smoots<br />
|15.06 furlongs<br />
|19.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|136.65 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''<br />
|15.22 m<br />
|11.41<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.39 m<br />
|332.52 m<br />
|9.03 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|49.94 feet<br />
|37.45 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|121.18 rack units<br />
|1.65 furlongs<br />
|29.63 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|27.22 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|16.01 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''<br />
|177.09 m<br />
|143.96 m<br />
|16.91<br />
|92.63 m<br />
|1331.21 m<br />
|115.89 m<br />
|2.20 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.94 football fields<br />
|1.57 football fields<br />
|9.95 smoots<br />
|1.16 Manhattan blocks<br />
|6.53 furlongs<br />
|1.45 Manhattan blocks<br />
|71.41 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''<br />
|58.17 m<br />
|53.77 m<br />
|13.92 m<br />
|44.08 m<br />
|84.82 m<br />
|49.03 m<br />
|2.14 m<br />
|-<br />
|24.24 horses<br />
|22.41 horses<br />
|45.67 feet<br />
|18.37 horses<br />
|1.06 Manhattan blocks<br />
|20.43 horses<br />
|69.42 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''<br />
|58.64 m<br />
|46.92 m<br />
|2.92 m<br />
|25.44 m<br />
|256.54 m<br />
|38.50 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|24.43 horses<br />
|19.55 horses<br />
|65.71 rack units<br />
|14.97 smoots<br />
|1.28 furlongs<br />
|16.04 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Table of distance units==<br />
*Table of other distance-units and their length in meters:<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Unit name<br />
!Length in comic<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}<br />
|0.3048 m<br />
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meter. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. <br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Rack units}}<br />
|0.4445 m<br />
|A rack unit (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|American football field|Football fields}}<br />
|91.44 m<br />
|An American Football field is 100 yards or 91.44 m long.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Horses}}<br />
|2.4 m<br />
|The length of a horse varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m).<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Smoots}}<br />
|1.7000 m<br />
|The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Furlongs}}<br />
|201.168 m<br />
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one eighth of a mile. It should thus give that one furlong is 201.168 metres. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Manhattan}}-{{w|City block|blocks}}<br />
|80.0 m<br />
|The numbered streets in Manhattan run east-west, and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and block adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). When driving in a grid like city the {{w|Manhattan distance}} between two points is a concept, although it is also called {{w|Taxicab geometry}}. It seems like it is indeed the combined street and block distance. Also there is an error. The number has been found by taking four numbers not three, but then leaving out George Washington's distance which would give a block length of only 72,05 m.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Atto-}}{{w|parsecs}}<br />
|0.03086 m<br />
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×10<sup>12</sup> km) or 19 trillion miles (19×10<sup>12</sup> mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10<sup>−18</sup> or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×10<sup>18</sup>cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes only the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]<br />
<br />
:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]<br />
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big><br />
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.<br />
<br />
:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?<br />
<br />
:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 7 different possible selections in the left window and 15 in the right window. There are two selections on each line, leaving one alone at the bottom left of each list as there are uneven numbers in both lists. Here below each windows' content is given under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]<br />
:Select a thrower<br />
<br />
:*You<br />
:*An NFL Quarterback<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
:*Thor, God of Thunder<br />
:*Chris Hemsworth<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:Select an object to be thrown<br />
:*You<br />
:*A microwave oven<br />
:*A basketball<br />
:*A blender<br />
:*A gold bar<br />
:*A wedding cake<br />
:*A ping-pong ball<br />
:*An acorn<br />
:*Thor's Hammer<br />
:*A javelin<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*A car<br />
:*A silver dollar (spinning)<br />
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]<br />
<br />
:[In the pre-selected version George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]<br />
:7.76 meters<br />
:(25.46 feet)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.<br />
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.<br />
**Technically, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].<br />
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- Different throws --><br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] <br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]] <!-- model of throw distance --><br />
[[Category:American football]] <!-- NFL quaterback --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] <!-- George Washington --><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Carly Rae Jepsen, George Washington and Chris Hemsworth--><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!-- Thor, questionable though as it is obviously the Marvel character --><br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Food]] <!-- Microwave oven Blender, cake --><br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- ping pong, javelin --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]</div>172.68.70.34https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2194:_How_to_Send_a_File&diff=179011Talk:2194: How to Send a File2019-09-03T13:46:11Z<p>172.68.70.34: Added Suggestion</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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Anyone else find it annoying to have the regular comic co-opted for advertising a book? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:30, 26 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:There probably are, but I'll excuse Randal because he provides* such entertaining comic for free. <br />
:''*usually and arguably'' [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 21:00, 26 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:I don't mind. If it was a frequent occurrence perhaps, but this is, what, twice in over a dozen years? And he includes humor in the ads, so it's not like we completely miss out. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:08, 26 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Me, to an extent... It's his prerogative, of course. It's more disappointment at not getting a real comic (the remaining joke being "meh" at best, because the majority is either in the linked page or/and the book). I feel certain this is at least the third comic "preempted" for this particular book, though I can only remember the Serena Williams Drones one for sure. Though my mind might be counting the temporary comic - which by definition WASN'T a preempting but rather shortening the Friday comic's "air time".[[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:07, 31 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Pedantry section: If you have a dockable tablet computer - I do - then the files are in the screen part, and the keyboard and trackpad probably can't contain files. Also, you don't need scissors to separate them, there's usually a button to press or magnets or something. And technically you probably could mail the tablet... but I usually wouldn't. rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 21:54, 26 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:If you start being pedantric... Google the meaning of the word "usually". Let's talk again afterwards. Also you do not need to (but I guess you are allowed to) put your email as a signature. If you want to be reachable/track your comments/etc. You can just easily register to this wiki, and then have your profile added instead of that random IP. I personally never recieved spam, etc. from this site. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:18, 27 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I annually have to send several terabytes of data to a co-worker who needs to analyze and then retain it for some months. We snail mail SS hard drives around since we own them, and the data is originally accumulated on them. Short of switching to SD cards I am not sure there is a better way even in 2019.... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.22|108.162.241.22]] 02:20, 27 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Depending on how the data is accumulated, ongoing data synchronization is often how it's done in 2019, at least for businesses. Every time data changes at point A, those changes are automatically (either immediately, or possibly nightly) sent (over an Internet connection, usually encrypted) to point B, so Point B is always close to being a clone of Point A (and the converse is also possible). That way over a long period of time, terabytes worth of data can be transferred, because you are not trying to do it all over a short period of time, and only what's changed is transferred. The initial transfer might still be done using a hard drive mailing, though, and this requires special software running on both sides, something the average user probably doesn't have. On the other hand, rsync is free, as is ssh with encrypted tunneling. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 14:51, 27 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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It is important to know which part of the computer your files are in. Mine are usually in the little rectangular prism stuck in the side. No need to cut up the computer, as I can just pull out the rectangular prism after telling the operating system I am going to do that. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 04:49, 27 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:If you read the linked chapter, he does show an example of just handing someone a thumb drive. For the comic he chose to show a more amusing method.[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:07, 27 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Missed the obvious chance to make a pun: butterfiles. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.54|162.158.92.54]] 13:32, 27 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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The linked chapter ends with sending the butterflies with pouches of DNA. That's not optimal. If you instead put your data inside butterflies DNA, they will take care of redundancy and error recovery as well. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:27, 27 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:A cell contains a few picograms of DNA. Relying on reproduction limits a butterflies capacity to a fraction of one cells DNA. Using the pouch of DNA increases capacity by at least a billion. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.88|172.68.206.88]] 06:55, 28 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Try the python script specifically designed to do this easily[[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 13:46, 3 September 2019 (UTC)</div>172.68.70.34