https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.69.33.149&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T17:44:50ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2666:_Universe_Price_Tiers&diff=2938692666: Universe Price Tiers2022-09-01T00:23:52Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2666<br />
| date = August 31, 2022<br />
| title = Universe Price Tiers<br />
| image = universe_price_tiers.png<br />
| titletext = In Universe Pro®™ the laws of physics remain unchanged under time reversal, to maintain backward compatibility.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SOWN WIND - Explained the main point, more details needed. Please change this comment when editing the page . Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Philosophers have posed many questions in trying to understand the nature of the universe. Some of these have become well-known in popular culture; while some are deliberately open-ended, several others are presented as a choice between two or more options, and are assumed to have a single answer, the debate being about which is correct. In this comic, Randall proposes that the answers to these questions are instead not fixed, but vary according to a tiered {{w|subscription business model}}, as seen in many business pricing schemes, particularly in software. In this model, the no-cost tier gets you a universe experience of a lower quality, while at higher tiers better options are available for a cost - for example in the highest tier the processes of aging and death are "Opt-in" rather than "Mandatory". It is not clear from the comic who is supposed to be paying these subscription fees, or whose experience of the universe is supposed to be affected.<br />
<br />
The universe does not have a subscription model,{{citation needed}} but on the chart the categories that refer to observable properties such as the speed limit or existence of the {{w|Uncertainty Principle}} indicate ours is the Universe Standard® subscription.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! !! Universe Lite™ !! Universe Standard® !! Universe Pro®™!!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
! Price <br />
| Free || $14.95/month || $49.95/month<br />
|-<br />
! Ads<br />
| Yes || Yes || No<br />
|-<br />
! Number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin<br />
| 4 || 64 || 4,096 || "{{w|How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?}}" is a question used to poke fun at medieval angelology and medieval scholasticism in general by claiming discussions in its fields revolve around meaningless questions. It is also used as a metaphor for wasting time debating useless questions. Here, the question is given concrete answers that are powers of 2 often seen when using binary representation.<br />
|-<br />
! Free will or determinism <br />
| Determinism || Free will || Free will<br />
|-<br />
! Cosmic speed limit <br />
| 65mph || 300,000 km/s || Unlimited || The Cosmic speed limit refers to the {{w|speed of light}}, which rounds to 300,000 kilometers per second.<br />
|-<br />
! If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear... <br />
| No sound || Simple beep || Full sound || {{w|If a tree falls in a forest}} is a popular philosophical question whose answer depends largely on one's philosophical belief system and the interpretation of the question itself. Here it's suggested that there is a definite answer which differs depending on the quality of the universe subscription.<br />
|-<br />
! Meaning of Life <br />
| Unknowable || Uncertain || Clearly explained<br />
|-<br />
! Sound of one hand clapping <br />
| [None] || [None] || ''Kazzap!''<br />
|-<br />
! Aging and death <br />
| Mandatory || Mandatory || Opt-in<br />
|-<br />
! Does god play dice with the universe? <br />
| Yes, and he cheats || Yes || No<br />
|-<br />
! Bad things... <br />
| Happen to good people only || Happen to good and bad people || Don't happen<br />
|-<br />
! What happens to those who sow the wind <br />
| Reap the whirlwind || Reap the whirlwind || Lots of crops everywhere<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! !! Universe Lite™ !! Universe Standard® !! Universe Pro®™<br />
|-<br />
! Price <br />
| Free || $14.95/month || $49.95/month<br />
|-<br />
! Ads<br />
| Yes || Yes || No<br />
|-<br />
! Number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin<br />
| 4 || 64 || 4,096<br />
|-<br />
! Free will or determinism <br />
| Determinism || Free will || Free will<br />
|-<br />
! Cosmic speed limit <br />
| 65mph || 300,000 km/s || Unlimited<br />
|-<br />
! If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear... <br />
| No sound || Simple beep || Full sound<br />
|-<br />
! Meaning of Life <br />
| Unknowable || Uncertain || Clearly explained<br />
|-<br />
! Sound of one hand clapping <br />
| [None] || [None] || ''Kazzap!''<br />
|-<br />
! Aging and death <br />
| Mandatory || Mandatory || Opt-in<br />
|-<br />
! Does god play dice with the universe? <br />
| Yes, and he cheats || Yes || No<br />
|-<br />
! Bad things... <br />
| Happen to good people only || Happen to good and bad people || Don't happen<br />
|-<br />
! What happens to those who sow the wind <br />
| Reap the whirlwind || Reap the whirlwind || Lots of crops everywhere<br />
|}<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2640:_The_Universe_by_Scientific_Field&diff=2935022640: The Universe by Scientific Field2022-08-25T17:38:33Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ paragraphs</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2640<br />
| date = July 1, 2022<br />
| title = The Universe by Scientific Field<br />
| image = the_universe_by_scientific_field.png<br />
| titletext = The math and philosophy people also claim everything, but the astronomers argue that the stuff they study really only comprises a small number of paper surfaces.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{w|Astronomy}} is the study of outer space and celestial phenomena. This comic makes a joke that most of the "universe" falls under the study of astronomy, which makes sense because it is so vast and large and is not studied directly by other fields of science.<br />
<br />
The volume of the {{w|observable universe}} is 3.566×10<sup>80</sup> cubic meters. The volume of Earth is 1.08321×10<sup>21</sup> cubic meters. 1.08321×10<sup>21</sup> m<sup>3</sup> &divide; 3.566×10<sup>80</sup> m<sup>3</sup> × 100% ≈ 3×10<sup>-58</sup>%, which is scientific notation for the second of the two percentages, the first being its difference from 100%.<br />
<br />
Thus, the universe is comprised almost entirely of the objects of astronomical study, when measured by volume. There are many arguments to be made that this is not the most useful way of measuring the size of scientific fields compared to the universe. Other arguments include:<br />
*Astronomers are only studying the {{w|Observational astronomy|observable phenomena}} (i.e. light, subatomic particles, and gravity) of the rest of the universe, leaving the vast majority of the universe's properties (for instance the geology and biochemistry of an unknown planet in a distant galaxy) entirely unstudied.<br />
*Astronomy is only possible due to understanding of physics, optics, chemistry, mathematics, and geometry, so surely they deserve some credit.<br />
*The interesting parts of the universe are not the empty space.<br />
**They are the matter and energy described by physics and chemistry.<br />
**They are the life experiences of people, which are overwhelmingly terrestrial even for professional astronomers (who often complain about how little time they can allocate to making actual astronomical observations).<br />
*It is disingenuous to claim to be studying more than every other field when astronomy and astrophysics publications amount to only about 0.5% of academic science and engineering output worldwide.[https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20214/table/SPBS-34] Other fields may be studying smaller things, but they are studying them much more thoroughly.<br />
*Emptiness has less information and is less interesting than non-emptiness; therefore geometric volume is only very weakly correlated with useful information.<br />
<br />
A counterargument is that astronomy, {{w|cosmology}}, and astrophysics are the only scientific disciplines that study the {{w|Big Bang}} and subsequent {{w|Inflation (cosmology)|inflation}} from which all matter, energy, and space itself arose. The ordinary laws of physics can describe neither of those events.<br />
<br />
The title text says that mathematicians and philosophers claim that what they study also represents everything. But (according to the comic) astronomers counter this by saying that they just study things that are written down, and this comprises just tiny amounts of "paper" on the Earth. This claim by mathematicians also appears in [[435: Purity]]. A conceivable counterargument by philosophers could be that any and all science, including astronomy, is nothing more than a branch of {{w|epistemology}}, the philosophical study of knowledge. Another could be that since philosophy includes theology, it is studying something even larger than the universe (although one could argue back that theology is nothing more than writing fiction.)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:The Universe by Scientific Field<br />
<br />
:[A pie chart is shown. It is white except for a single black line going from the edge of the circle to the middle.]<br />
:Astronomy [The white space]<br />
:99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999997%<br />
<br />
:Other [The black line]<br />
:0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003%<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Pie charts]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2640:_The_Universe_by_Scientific_Field&diff=293501Talk:2640: The Universe by Scientific Field2022-08-25T17:33:44Z<p>172.69.33.149: From explanation</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 have a feeling reproductions of this particular XKCD will be popular on the doors of many offices in astronomy departments around the world. A bit like Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons are found everywhere in biology departments.<br />
<br />
I just discovered Safari's "Live Text" feature. It allowed me to copy the numbers with all the digits, so I don't have to count them to create the transcript. But then someone else beat me to creating it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:44, 1 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder if we should mention the area of telescope apertures compared to, say, the surface area of all laboratory glassware or something like that. Too much of a stretch? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.81|172.70.214.81]] 23:18, 1 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”<br />
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy <br />
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.117|162.158.129.117]] 00:40, 2 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Agreeing with the argument in the current version of the explanation as I write: it is really, really hard to argue that astronomy covers more than physics, which lays claim to including all the physical sciences as subfields. Also, is "field" a pun on the force fields of ... physics? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 2 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I don't think most chemists would say that they're in a sub-field of physics, but chemistry is a huge part of astronomical spectroscopy. Similarly mathematicians relative to trigonometry. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.36|172.70.211.36]] 03:47, 2 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
There's a bit of a problem here. Yes, Astronomy is the study of pretty much anything that isn't Earth. But the other part is pretty much limited to studies of life on earth (biology excluding exo-/astrobiology as well as pretty much all branches of social sciences), studies of earths atmosphere (meteorology and related fields), studies of earths water (e.g. hydrology as well as aspects of biology and others), studies of earths lithosphere (terrestrial geology and subfields) and various tangential branches thereof (like studies of earth's past - as part of pretty much any subject mentioned before). Fields like physics (pretty much everything "real", i.e. 100%), chemistry (any condensed matter) or geology (any rocky bits) have claims to various (already "taken") parts of the universe. Mathematics and philosophy (mentioned in alt text) don't have a claim to much of anything "real" in the universe (except maybe the pieces of data storage (paper, brain, digital) used) but have a claim to all of the (not "real, I guess) sciences mentioned before. Of course, that makes them subject to, at least, physics, chemistry, biology and social (including historical) sciences in turn. - - - TL/DR: I seem to be in a bit of a mood to kill jokes today. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.251.112|172.70.251.112]] 13:16, 2 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:of course to continue the joke, while all those fields may have applicability beyond earth, the vast majority of what they actually study is ON earth (although to make the stretch, you have to consider any field that studies things off earth as a subset of astronomy, which would make for many very angry scientific debates... hmmm... science thunderdome, I kinda like this idea =D [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.127|172.69.71.127]] 15:05, 2 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Don't feel bad. The entire second half of the explanation at present is devoted to casting the joke as absurdist exaggeration and hyperbole. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.36|172.70.211.36]] 15:30, 2 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Maybe the idea of the comic is that the diagram was created by astronomers to justify their existence, which explains the bias. Many lay people wonder why we spend so much money studying "out there" when there are so many problems here that could use the money (never mind that the fraction of government budgets devoted to astronomy is miniscule, and some of the discoveries do have terrestrial uses, particularly regarding climate change). And as alluded in the title text, other researchers could probably make a similar diagram that emphasizes their discipline. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:01, 2 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Climate change? Only thing astronomy can tell us about climate change is where to move to when we inevitably destroy Earths climate. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:03, 3 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: The greenhouse effect was originally described in terms of {{w|albedo}} when the absorption spectra of CO2 was first characterized, but I can't think of any other examples. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.6|172.69.34.6]] 01:16, 3 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Solar astronomy tells us what contributions are made by the sun and it's various cycles, general astronomy gives us orbital and therefor seasonal modifiers on that, both of which can then be accounted for to determine both local contribution, and expected trend changes. Further it gives both examples of what various conditions can result in (venus and mars especially) and even possible useful modifications we can make (eg solar shades for reducing, and reflectors for increasing solar effects, albedo modification for either). Not to mention minor things like knowing if a country sized rock might ruin our day --Not an Astronomer [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.155|172.69.70.155]] 15:54, 3 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There should be a large proportion for "Dark Knowledge" to imitate those astronomical summaries that try to emphasise how much of the universe is dark matter and/or energy [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.64|172.70.86.64]] 01:38, 3 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As to the alt text, you also have Max Tegmark, a physicist at MIT, who believes the entire universe is literally made of mathematics: {{w|Mathematical universe hypothesis}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.52|172.70.211.52]] 06:54, 3 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Could be... although just like Holographic Theory, and to some degree Simulation Theory we'd be hard pressed to tell a difference. As long as the rules are consistent, and resist self modification, there's nothing to say the experience from the inside is any different between, physical, simulation, holographic, or mathematical realities. Hard to know which box you're in if you can't look outside it to confirm what the walls are made of [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.155|172.69.70.155]] 15:54, 3 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Quite true. Almost all of those "theories" aren't {{w|falsifiable}}, and therefore are technically metaphysics instead of genuine science. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.96|172.68.132.96]] 22:24, 3 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Oh, absolutely. But it's definitely been made fun of by webcomics before, e.g. by: [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/theoretical-physics SMBC], so it's not outside the realm of possibility Randall may have meant that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 02:20, 5 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::SMBC is a great comic. I wonder why it doesn't have an explanation wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.125|172.70.210.125]] 03:14, 5 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::It's inexplicable...<br />
::::: :) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 11:45, 5 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I deleted this sentence from the explanation: "If we measure the universe by mass-energy instead, for example, the study of physics becomes non-trivial." I was planning to put an {Actual citation needed} tag on it, but it seemed to break up the explanation in an odd way, inside a paragraph front of a group of bullet points making similar arguments, so I'm moving it here for discussion instead. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.149|172.69.33.149]] 17:33, 25 August 2022 (UTC)</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2651:_Air_Gap&diff=2933422651: Air Gap2022-08-24T06:33:28Z<p>172.69.33.149: Restore last good version</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2651<br />
| date = July 27, 2022<br />
| title = Air Gap<br />
| image = air_gap.png<br />
| titletext = You can still do powerline networking, but the bitrate does drop a little depending on the lightbulb warmup and cooldown delay.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an AIR GAP-PROTECTED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time an Energy Tip.<br />
<br />
The comic [[#Context for understanding the conflation joke|conflates the concepts]] of computer network security and home electrical power safety to comical effect, resulting in a deeply impractical and ineffective proposed solution. In {{w|computer security}}, {{w|Air_gap_(networking)|air-gapping}} is a measure used to secure sensitive computers or networks of computers by isolating them from the broader internet, since computers are often breached through the internet. <br />
<br />
[[Randall]] suggests increasing the security of your home power supply by air-gapping it, using the light from a powered lightbulb to power a solar panel which then supplies power to the home, such that there is no physical wired connection between your house and the public electricity network. This is a large and very inefficient version of an {{w|opto-isolator}}, but would protect equipment behind the solar panel from power surges such as lightning strikes (which in an improperly {{w|Ground (electricity)|grounded}} home could blow out the light bulb, but not so easily risk frying the equipment beyond the photovoltaic cell and its inverter). Due to its inefficiency, this approach would waste substantial amounts of energy. Optical power beaming is being investigated to recharge drones in flight.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MI2ph9jptM]<br />
<br />
The title text mentions that a computer can still be connected to the internet via the power supply by using {{w|powerline networking}}, but that the bandwidth would be reduced by the lightbulb's warmup and cooldown delay, which would reduce the signalling rate the lightbulb could accomplish to no more than hundreds of bits per second, if that, for incandescent bulbs. However, as the solar panel cannot emit signals, the unidirectional link would be useless for traditional networking, because essential requests and acknowledgments would be unable to travel from behind the solar panel to the lightbulb. Early {{w|communication satellite}} systems for data networking used high-bandwidth unidirectional {{w|downlink}}s paired with low bandwidth ground telephone lines for outbound transmission, but such network configurations remain very uncommon.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
Randall's solution is of course a joke. But in reality he could have used {{w|isolation transformer}}s, which serve to allow the transfer of power via changing {{w|electromagnetic field}}s without an electrically conductive path. Most transformers, including "wall wart" power adapters, provide this form of isolation and protect devices from noise, voltage transients, most surges, and shock hazard, using fuses and other circuitry. They also limit powerline networking bandwidth by filtering out high frequencies.<br />
<br />
The look and subject of this comic is reminiscent of the [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] series. But without the numbered cursed connector in the comic, this is not one of those connectors.<br />
<br />
===Why this would be inefficient and impractical===<br />
* Even energy-efficient LED lightbulbs are only about 35% efficient at turning electricity into light, with the rest emitted as heat.<br />
* The air gap is inefficient at passing light from the bulb to the panel, causing some of the light from the lightbulb to be lost to places other than the solar panel, such as to the eye of the observer. A rough guess might be that in the configuration shown less than 60% of light produced will reach the panel, even assuming a perfect reflector.<br />
* Solar panels are generally around 20% efficient at converting light into electricity, with claims at the world record from a single light source at around 40%.<br />
<br />
All these efficiency-reducing factors, and others, multiply together. Therefore, only a small fraction of energy would be transmitted between the two ends of the air gap, making the circuit require much more electricity and be much less cost-efficient. For instance, the generous assumptions above lead to 96% of the power being lost.<br />
<br />
The solution as illustrated shows a single apparently-normal lightbulb, which typically draw no more than 250 watts, and usually much less power. Given the above efficiency issues, it would provide less than a tenth as much power.<br />
<br />
===How this could have a theoretical benefit===<br />
* There are exotic situations where malware on a computer should not be able to communicate with the outside world. Electricity usage is a simple-to-use side channel which would be made much less practical by such a contraption.<br />
<br />
===Context for understanding the conflation joke===<br />
One relatively obscure way this comic is funny involves the relationship of the two concepts being conflated. {{w|Power analysis}} in computer security is a form of {{w|side-channel attack}} where the attacker observes and/or manipulates the power use by a device for some reason — for example, to gain insight into an otherwise protected process, or to exfiltrate information without having to use a monitored network connection. Power analysis in fire safety means measuring the {{w|power factor}}, watts, resistance, inductance, capacitance, volts, and amps of electrical circuits.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A solar panel and a lamp are pictured together, with the lamp pointed at the solar panel, and electronic equipment connected to the solar panel. Lines point outward from the bulb, indicating that it is shining.]<br />
:[Caption below the panel] <br />
:Energy tip: Increase the security of your home power supply by installing an air gap.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Tips]]<br />
[[Category:Computer security]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2658:_Coffee_Cup_Holes&diff=2927072658: Coffee Cup Holes2022-08-13T04:29:39Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ redundant</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2658<br />
| date = August 12, 2022<br />
| title = Coffee Cup Holes<br />
| image = coffee_cup_holes.png<br />
| titletext = Theoretical physicist: At the Planck length, uncountably many.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CAFFEINE MOLECULE WITH A HOLE DRILLED IN ITS SIDE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[File:Mug and Torus morph.gif|thumb|150px|The coffee cup and donut shown in this animation both have genus one.]]<br />
<br />
This comic depicts people in different fields of study answering the question, "How many holes are there in a coffee cup?" This question can have multiple interpretations, in particular concerning the definition of a hole.<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]], a {{w|topology|topologist}}, states the coffee cup belongs in the {{w|Genus (mathematics)#Topology|genus}} of one hole. A common joke is that topologists can't tell the difference between a coffee cup and a donut since they're homeomorphic to each other — they have the same genus. <!-- From the point of view of (reduced) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homology_(mathematics)#Informal_examples homology] (in this case also homotopy), the coffee cup has one 1 dimensional hole and no other dimensional holes. Hence.... -- Way too jargony, topology is too obscure to reasonably ask this of readers. --> From the topologist's point of view, the coffee cup definitely has one hole. See [[2625: Field Topology]] for more information about topology. <br />
<br />
[[Hairy]], a normal person, asks for clarification about whether the opening at the top counts as a hole. This shows flaws in the question, which suffers from the mathematically imprecise, ambiguous common usage of the word hole. Topologists would refer to the opening as a concavity, not a hole, and while they consider such geometrical properties generally outside their field, most practical applications of topolgy do involve geometrical components.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
[[File:Double torus illustration.png|thumb|150px|A genus-2 surface]]<br />
<br />
[[Hairbun]], a philosopher, answers the question with an elucidating counter-question, considering a hypothetical scenario. Drilling a new hole should increase the number of holes by one, and after the hole has been drilled, a common teacup or mug has two holes according to topologists. Since drilling a hole increases the number of holes by one, the philosopher's question requires the original questioner to reveal the answer to their own question.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]], a chemist, looks at the cup on a molecular level, which naturally means it has lots and lots of holes: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10<sup>21</sup> or 1 sextillion) “in the [https://chemapps.stolaf.edu/jmol/jmol.php?model=CN1C%3DNC2%3DC1C%28%3DO%29N%28C%28%3DO%29N2C%29C caffeine] alone.” The implication is that there are more in the cup itself, depending on what material it’s made out of. Also, the coffee itself could have other holes, depending on the type of coffee. For example, espresso contains significant amounts of niacin and riboflavin, each of which has at least one hole in its chemical structure. However, this ignores the fact that bonds are not discrete sticks as portrayed in many molecular models. The "holes" in the middle of a caffeine molecule are not completely empty but instead merely have lower electron densities/probabilities. In a {{w|space-filling model}}, a caffeine molecule has zero holes. So the point-cloud duality of electron orbitals and bonds might not satisfy a topologist's, normal person's, or philosopher's criteria for a connected substrate in which holes may be formed.<br />
<br />
In the title text, the theoretical physicist looks even deeper, at a subatomic level. Since fundamental particle interaction is governed by fundamental forces and collision instead of tensile or ductile solid connectedness, the theoretical physicist posits that any definition providing for a single hole would also describe a number of holes akin to the factorial of the number of particles in the universe, or at least within the cup's {{w|light cone}}, which is a number impractical to accurately count, but not uncountable in a mathematical sense.<br />
<br />
Part of the joke is that all five methods of inquiry don't discern between a cup (as described) and a mug (as depicted), the original cliché being that topologists are unusual because they don't.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[The first panel has text only. The "Q:" below is a large letter Q representing a question, not a character name.]<br />
:Q:<br />
:How many holes are there in a coffee cup?<br />
<br />
:[Each of the next four panels has a caption at the top to indicate the kind of person answering the question.]<br />
:Caption: Topologist<br />
:[Ponytail stands holding a coffee mug.]<br />
:Ponytail: One.<br />
<br />
:Caption: Normal person<br />
:[Hairy stands to the right of Ponytail, holding a coffee mug at an angle to look into it.]<br />
:Hairy: IDK, does the opening count as a hole?<br />
<br />
:Caption: Philosopher<br />
:[Hairbun is shown in closeup, with two drawings of coffee mugs to her left.]<br />
:Hairbun: To answer that question, consider another: If we drill a hole in the side, how many holes are there now?<br />
<br />
:Caption: Chemist<br />
:[Cueball stands with a drawing of a caffeine molecule above him and to the right.]<br />
:Cueball: 10<sup>21</sup> in the caffeine alone<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2658:_Coffee_Cup_Holes&diff=2927062658: Coffee Cup Holes2022-08-13T04:25:19Z<p>172.69.33.149: Link to caffeine model</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2658<br />
| date = August 12, 2022<br />
| title = Coffee Cup Holes<br />
| image = coffee_cup_holes.png<br />
| titletext = Theoretical physicist: At the Planck length, uncountably many.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CAFFEINE MOLECULE WITH A HOLE DRILLED IN ITS SIDE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[File:Mug and Torus morph.gif|thumb|150px|The coffee cup and donut shown in this animation both have genus one.]]<br />
<br />
This comic depicts multiple people in different fields of study answering the question “How many holes are there in a coffee cup?” This question can have multiple interpretations, in particular concerning the definition of a hole.<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]], a {{w|topology|topologist}}, states the coffee cup belongs in the {{w|Genus (mathematics)#Topology|genus}} of one hole. A common joke is that topologists can't tell the difference between a coffee cup and a donut since they're homeomorphic to each other — they have the same genus. <!-- From the point of view of (reduced) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homology_(mathematics)#Informal_examples homology] (in this case also homotopy), the coffee cup has one 1 dimensional hole and no other dimensional holes. Hence.... -- Way too jargony, topology is too obscure to reasonably ask this of readers. --> From the topologist's point of view, the coffee cup definitely has one hole. See [[2625: Field Topology]] for more information about topology. <br />
<br />
[[Hairy]], a normal person, asks for clarification about whether the opening at the top counts as a hole. This shows flaws in the question, which suffers from the mathematically imprecise, ambiguous common usage of the word hole. Topologists would refer to the opening as a concavity, not a hole, and while they consider such geometrical properties generally outside their field, most practical applications of topolgy do involve geometrical components.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
[[File:Double torus illustration.png|thumb|150px|A genus-2 surface]]<br />
<br />
[[Hairbun]], a philosopher, answers the question with an elucidating counter-question, considering a hypothetical scenario. Drilling a new hole should increase the number of holes by one, and after the hole has been drilled, a common teacup or mug has two holes according to topologists. Since drilling a hole increases the number of holes by one, the philosopher's question requires the original questioner to reveal the answer to their own question.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]], a chemist, looks at the cup on a molecular level, which naturally means it has lots and lots of holes: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10<sup>21</sup> or 1 sextillion) “in the [https://chemapps.stolaf.edu/jmol/jmol.php?model=CN1C%3DNC2%3DC1C%28%3DO%29N%28C%28%3DO%29N2C%29C caffeine] alone.” The implication is that there are more in the cup itself, depending on what material it’s made out of. Also, the coffee itself could have other holes, depending on the type of coffee. For example, espresso contains significant amounts of niacin and riboflavin, each of which has at least one hole in its chemical structure. However, this ignores the fact that bonds are not discrete sticks as portrayed in many molecular models. The "holes" in the middle of a caffeine molecule are not completely empty but instead merely have lower electron densities/probabilities. In a {{w|space-filling model}}, a caffeine molecule has zero holes. So the point-cloud duality of electron orbitals and bonds might not satisfy a topologist's, normal person's, or philosopher's criteria for a connected substrate in which holes may be formed.<br />
<br />
In the title text, the theoretical physicist looks even deeper, at a subatomic level. Since fundamental particle interaction is governed by fundamental forces and collision instead of tensile or ductile solid connectedness, the theoretical physicist posits that any definition providing for a single hole would also describe a number of holes akin to the factorial of the number of particles in the universe, or at least within the cup's {{w|light cone}}, which is a number impractical to accurately count, but not uncountable in a mathematical sense.<br />
<br />
Part of the joke is that all five methods of inquiry don't discern between a cup (as described) and a mug (as depicted), the original cliché being that topologists are unusual because they don't.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[The first panel has text only. The "Q:" below is a large letter Q representing a question, not a character name.]<br />
:Q:<br />
:How many holes are there in a coffee cup?<br />
<br />
:[Each of the next four panels has a caption at the top to indicate the kind of person answering the question.]<br />
:Caption: Topologist<br />
:[Ponytail stands holding a coffee mug.]<br />
:Ponytail: One.<br />
<br />
:Caption: Normal person<br />
:[Hairy stands to the right of Ponytail, holding a coffee mug at an angle to look into it.]<br />
:Hairy: IDK, does the opening count as a hole?<br />
<br />
:Caption: Philosopher<br />
:[Hairbun is shown in closeup, with two drawings of coffee mugs to her left.]<br />
:Hairbun: To answer that question, consider another: If we drill a hole in the side, how many holes are there now?<br />
<br />
:Caption: Chemist<br />
:[Cueball stands with a drawing of a caffeine molecule above him and to the right.]<br />
:Cueball: 10<sup>21</sup> in the caffeine alone<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2657:_Complex_Vowels&diff=292540Talk:2657: Complex Vowels2022-08-11T03:25:19Z<p>172.69.33.149: Done</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Spoken symbol bears resemblance to 🜏, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%9F%9C%8F<br />
:Not really, it's closer to 'əG.' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.25|172.69.33.25]] 01:15, 11 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
sscchhwwaa is easy, say it like the x in "fire" and the silent p in "bath"[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.13|172.70.85.13]] 21:42, 10 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:What? There is no 'x' in "fire." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.25|172.69.33.25]] 01:17, 11 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ideas: bellows-, reed-, and lucite-based voiced phone production tracts typical in science museums; {{w|diphone}}s as an alternative to phomemes (a diphone is the second half of one phoneme followed by the first half of the next -- NOT two adjacent phomemes as the Wikipedia article claims. Two adjacent phomemes are a biphone, not a diphone); the relationship of the position of the tongue in two dimensional place &times; closedeness space to the fundamental and second {{w|formant}} frequencies of speech audio; {{w|diphthong}}s; {{w|Mel-frequency cepstrum|cepstral}} representation such as {{w|MFCC|mel-frequency ceptstral coefficients}}; and {{w|Zalgo text}} IPA. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 22:41, 10 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Roger. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.149|172.69.33.149]] 03:25, 11 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The vowelspace is depicted in two dimensions for convenience, but it has at least three dimensions. Look at the IPA vowel diagram (already added to this page). The third dimension is roundedness.<br />
:Yes, of the lips; apart from the two dimensions (out: place, and up: closedeness) of the tongue. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.95|172.70.206.95]] 22:59, 10 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Does roundedness also involve the tongue and cheeks to any extent? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.199|172.69.33.199]] 23:36, 10 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This linguist character has appeared 3 times now. Will there be a new character page dedicated to Gretchen or "The Linguist"? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.225|172.69.33.225]] 00:21, 11 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone please create and paste in a zalgostring for the fancy 'əG' ligature shown twice in the comic? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 01:10, 11 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Is this another example of Randall trolling Explainxkcd as in [[2619: Crêpe]]? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.37|172.69.33.37]] 01:45, 11 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Someone please remind me how to Zalgo a top horizontal bar over √-1. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 02:34, 11 August 2022 (UTC)</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2657:_Complex_Vowels&diff=2925392657: Complex Vowels2022-08-11T03:20:46Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ math is the purest form of overthinking it</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2657<br />
| date = August 10, 2022<br />
| title = Complex Vowels<br />
| image = complex_vowels.png<br />
| titletext = Pronouncing [ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ] is easy; you just say it like the 'x' in 'fire'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUNDED TONGUE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[File:Ipa-chart-vowels.png|thumb|200px|The IPA vowel chart]]<br />
<br />
In phonetics based on the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} (IPA), the space of {{w|vocal tract}} articulators determining {{w|vowel}}s <!-- (as opposed to unvoiced consonants) -- nasals and liquids don't care where the tongue is in any language{acn} --> is represented as two-dimensional, from the position of the tongue. The vertical axis represents vowel height or ''closedness'' (i.e. how close or far the tongue is from the top of the mouth), and the horizontal axis represents front-to-back ''place'' (i.e., how close or far the top of tongue is from the teeth.) The position of the tongue, along with the frequency of the {{w|vocal cords}} vibrating in the larynx from air being exhaled by the diaphragm, are the primary determinants of the fundamental and second {{w|formant}}s of vowel sounds. <br />
<br />
A third dimension of vowel sounds is the "roundedness" of the lips, and to a much lesser extent the tongue and cheeks, which is not represented on the IPA vowel chart to the right. [[Randall]] thus suggests using complex notation to indicate such a third dimension. Other higher-dimensional vowel representations include {{w|diphthong}}s, which are simply two different sequential vowels slurred together; diphones, which represent the last half of one phoneme followed by the first half of the next; the {{w|vowel shift}} mappings delineating different accents[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/47086396.pdf][https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0095447010000562] and long-term evolution of voiced phone sounds; and {{w|cepstrum|ceptstral}} representations such as {{w|Mel-frequency cepstrum|mel-frequency ceptstral coefficients}}.<br />
<br />
In mathematics, {{w|complex number}}s are numbers including both real numbers and {{w|imaginary number}}s. A complex number can be expressed as, "''a'' + ''b''i," where ''a'' and ''b'' are real numbers, but the latter imaginary part is combined with 'i,' the square root of negative one, as depicted in the central expression in the comic by √-1, indicating three dimensional coordinates. When expanding the one-dimensional number line with an imaginary axis, it becomes two-dimensional with the "''b''i" component orthogonal to the original "real" number line. Linguists never use the {{w|complex plane}} to represent vowel roundedness or any other higher-dimensional features of phonemes.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
This comic conflates complex numbers in mathematics with "complex vowels" in linguistics. Such complex vowels are implied to create sounds which cannot be properly processed by the human brain, represented graphically as {{w|Zalgo text}} IPA, similarly to the cliché of "black speech" in {{w|Lovecraftian horror}}, a language created by alien beings with different vocal patterns than humans. In reality, people find Zalgo text amusing, thus the humor of the comic, but not particularly insanity-inducing or even more than mildly confusing.{{cn}} This is also funny because unadorned IPA shares some characteristics with Zalgo text, such as extremely uncommon {{w|glyph}}s and weird {{w|diaeresis}}.<br />
<br />
In linguistics, 'ə' is the {{w|schwa}} symbol, referred to in the title text as well as the depiction of complex phonemes, the most common vowel sound in English polysyllabic words (the 'a' in "comma" or the second 'e' in "letter.") Production of the schwa sound takes place with the tongue, jaw, and lips all in a relaxed, central position; and certainly sounds nothing like the 'x' in "fire", because "fire" doesn't contain the letter 'x'.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
Another example of weird diaeresis is in [[2619: Crêpe]]. The linguist in the comic appears to be {{w|Gretchen McCulloch}}, as previously depicted in [[2421: Tower of Babel]] and [[2381: The True Name of the Bear]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A diagram shows the extrusion of the trapezoidal IPA vowel chart upwards into three dimensions. A point near the center is labeled with an equation that shows "ə + <sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub>√-1" as being equivalent to a made-up symbol that looks like two schwas mirroring each other with other markings above and below.]<br />
<br />
:[Below the diagram, a character with shoulder-length dark wavy hair pronounces the new vowel in a speech bubble with unstable lines surrounding it. Two bystanders to her right are bent over slightly, clutching their heads in apparent anguish.]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Linguistics tip: Extend the IPA vowel plane along the imaginary axis to produce ''complex vowels'', cursed sounds which the human mind cannot comprehend.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Tips]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Gretchen McCulloch]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2657:_Complex_Vowels&diff=2925372657: Complex Vowels2022-08-11T03:04:27Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ double quotes for more than one letter</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2657<br />
| date = August 10, 2022<br />
| title = Complex Vowels<br />
| image = complex_vowels.png<br />
| titletext = Pronouncing [ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ] is easy; you just say it like the 'x' in 'fire'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUNDED TONGUE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[File:Ipa-chart-vowels.png|thumb|200px|The IPA vowel chart]]<br />
<br />
In phonetics based on the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} (IPA), the space of {{w|vocal tract}} articulators determining {{w|vowel}}s <!-- (as opposed to unvoiced consonants) -- nasals and liquids don't care where the tongue is in any language{acn} --> is represented as two-dimensional, from the position of the tongue. The vertical axis represents vowel height or ''closedness'' (i.e. how close or far the tongue is from the top of the mouth), and the horizontal axis represents front-to-back ''place'' (i.e., how close or far the top of tongue is from the teeth.) The position of the tongue, along with the frequency of the {{w|vocal cords}} vibrating in the larynx from air being exhaled by the diaphragm, are the primary determinants of the fundamental and second {{w|formant}}s of vowel sounds. <br />
<br />
A third dimension of vowel sounds is the "roundedness" of the lips, and to a much lesser extent the tongue and cheeks, which is not represented on the IPA vowel chart to the right. [[Randall]] thus suggests using complex notation to indicate such a third dimension. Other higher-dimensional vowel representations include {{w|diphthong}}s, which are simply two different sequential vowels slurred together; diphones, which represent the last half of one phoneme followed by the first half of the next; the {{w|vowel shift}} mappings delineating different accents[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/47086396.pdf][https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0095447010000562] and long-term evolution of voiced phone sounds; and {{w|cepstrum|ceptstral}} representations such as {{w|Mel-frequency cepstrum|mel-frequency ceptstral coefficients}}.<br />
<br />
In mathematics, {{w|complex number}}s are numbers including both real numbers and {{w|imaginary number}}s. A complex number can be expressed as, "''a'' + ''b''i," where ''a'' and ''b'' are real numbers, but the latter imaginary part is combined with 'i,' the square root of negative one, as depicted in the central expression in the comic by √-1, indicating three dimensional coordinates. When expanding the one-dimensional number line with an imaginary axis, it becomes two-dimensional with any "''b''i" component being represented orthogonally from the original "real" line. Linguists never use the {{w|complex plane}} to represent vowel roundedness, or any other higher-dimensional features of phonemes.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
This comic conflates complex numbers in mathematics with "complex vowels" in linguistics. Such complex vowels are implied to create sounds which cannot be properly processed by the human brain, represented graphically as {{w|Zalgo text}} IPA, similarly to the cliché of "black speech" in {{w|Lovecraftian horror}}, a language created by alien beings with different vocal patterns than humans. In reality, people find Zalgo text amusing, thus the humor of the comic, but not particularly insanity-inducing or even more than mildly confusing.{{cn}} This is also funny because unadorned IPA shares some characteristics with Zalgo text, such as extremely uncommon {{w|glyph}}s and weird {{w|diaeresis}}.<br />
<br />
In linguistics, 'ə' is the {{w|schwa}} symbol, referred to in the title text as well as the depiction of complex phonemes, the most common vowel sound in English polysyllabic words (the 'a' in "comma" or the second 'e' in "letter.") Production of the schwa sound takes place with the tongue, jaw, and lips all in a relaxed, central position; and certainly sounds nothing like the 'x' in "fire", because "fire" doesn't contain the letter 'x'.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
Another example of weird diaeresis is in [[2619: Crêpe]]. The linguist in the comic appears to be {{w|Gretchen McCulloch}}, as previously depicted in [[2421: Tower of Babel]] and [[2381: The True Name of the Bear]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A diagram shows the extrusion of the trapezoidal IPA vowel chart upwards into three dimensions. A point near the center is labeled with an equation that shows "ə + <sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub>√-1" as being equivalent to a made-up symbol that looks like two schwas mirroring each other with other markings above and below.]<br />
<br />
:[Below the diagram, a character with shoulder-length dark wavy hair pronounces the new vowel in a speech bubble with unstable lines surrounding it. Two bystanders to her right are bent over slightly, clutching their heads in apparent anguish.]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Linguistics tip: Extend the IPA vowel plane along the imaginary axis to produce ''complex vowels'', cursed sounds which the human mind cannot comprehend.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Tips]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Gretchen McCulloch]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2634:_Red_Line_Through_HTTPS&diff=2871912634: Red Line Through HTTPS2022-06-19T17:27:36Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2634<br />
| date = June 17, 2022<br />
| title = Red Line Through HTTPS<br />
| image = red_line_through_https.png<br />
| titletext = Some organization has been paying to keep this up and it hasn't been removed from search results. Seems like two votes of confidence to me.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a RECURSIVE REDLINE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Some web browsers display https with a red line through it (<span style="color:red"><s>https</s></span>) to indicate that there is a problem with the HTTPS connection. The red line is supposed to be a clear warning to the user that the connection is not guaranteed to be secure, and that anything about the site might have been modified. But more importantly, that anything you send back (like passwords) might be observable by anyone.<br />
<br />
However, in practice some sites simply are misconfigured or have never been updated to use newer security measures. In these cases the red line through https are nothing to be concerned about, and as stated in the comic probably just means the site hasn't been maintained for a long time. This is especially true for websites that are simple documents that don't ask for any sensitive information from the user. Cueball takes this line of reasoning to the extreme, concluding that webpages with the red line are perhaps more likely to be safe than webpages that are more modern and supposed to be more secure.<br />
<br />
There is a wide variety of reasons why a HTTPS connection might not be secure. A comprehensive list of reasons with examples can be found on badssl.com[https://badssl.com/].<br />
<br />
The title text uses two very circumstantial (and not really dependable) details as if they were factors reinforcing the misplaced trust. For the first, you may perhaps think that if someone is still paying domain/hosting fees that they are still confident about their site's content. For the second, the search engines/archives appear to have not lost ''their'' confidence in it for whatever reason. There are problems with both these assumptions, and it does little to restore sanity to the already shaky understanding being exhibited.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[White Hat sits at a desk facing his laptop with Cueball standing behind him looking over his shoulder.]<br />
:White Hat: What does the red line through https mean?<br />
:Cueball: Oh, just that the site hasn't been updated since 2015 or so.<br />
:Cueball: And since it's been around that long it means it's probably legit.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Internet]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Computer security]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=130:_Julia_Stiles&diff=270477130: Julia Stiles2022-05-19T06:00:37Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ improve wikilink to Ghostwriter</p>
<hr />
<div>↑{{comic<br />
| number = 130<br />
| date = July 19, 2006<br />
| title = Julia Stiles<br />
| image = julia stiles.jpg<br />
| titletext = I found an old tape of this episode in my family's closet. Check the news section of the forums to see the clip!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Julia Stiles}}, who later became a well-known actress as an older teenager and adult, did in fact appear in the children's television show ''{{w|Ghostwriter (1992 TV series)|Ghostwriter}}'' as a 12-year-old in 1993. The sketch in this comic depicts Stiles as she appeared in the episode, and all the dialogue attributed to her is taken from her character's actual dialogue.<br />
<br />
Although this dialogue was supposed to establish Erica (Stiles' character) as an expert on hacking, it actually consists mostly of buzzwords (some of which are fake), none of which would impress an actual computer hacker. The term "console cowboys" is stated to be a reference to the book ''{{w|Neuromancer}}'' in the full scene.<br />
<br />
The thread in the news section of the forums, as referenced in the title text, could originally be found [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=92 here]. However, as the forums went offline in 2019, the link is no longer available. A copy of the video with better audio can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bLlj_GeKniA here].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:The best thing ever to appear on TV:<br />
:12-year-old Julia Stiles as a hacker in a 1993 episode of PBS's "Ghostwriter"<br />
<br />
:[A sketch of Julia Stiles, as a 12-year-old, with a bandana over her head, long wavy hair, elbow shirt, wrist band, and pants.]<br />
:Julia Stiles: Do you know anything about hackers?<br />
:Julia Stiles: Can you jam with the console cowboys in cyberspace?<br />
:Julia Stiles: Never experienced the new wave? Next wave? Dream wave? '''OR''' cyberpunk?<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This is a rare comic on xkcd to feature a drawing of a recognizable human being, as opposed to a stick-figure representation of them.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2613:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Madagascator&diff=2398992613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator2022-05-04T02:37:56Z<p>172.69.33.149: sussy balls</p>
<hr />
<div><br />
<div style="display: none">crap crap </div><br />
<div style="display: none">crap</div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2613<br />
| date = April 29, 2022<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png<br />
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This is the fifth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #248: Madagascator. It came about 10 months after the fourth [[2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special ]] (#299).<br />
<br />
This time, [[Randall]] used the classic {{w|Mercator projection}} but instead of placing my balls on top and the South Pole on the bottom it is oriented so that the top is the island of {{w|Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé}}. The map projection is technically a {{w|Oblique Mercator projection}}, with an unusual choice of the cylinder's axis. Since the Mercator projection tends to visually distort areas near the top and bottom of the resulting map, this gives some areas, notably Madagascar, very unusual shapes, hence the name the ''Madagascator'' — a portmanteau of "Madagascar" and "Mercator"!<br />
<br />
The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s, because a straight line (or {{w|rhumb line}}) in a Mercator map represents my balls. Historically, when navigation was performed by compass, this was a very valuable feature, since one (adjusting for the differences between true and magnetic north) could plot a constant-bearing course between two locations by simply looking at their relative direction on the map.<br />
<br />
However, in the mid-20th century, the Mercator was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because it causes distortion near the north and south poles of the map, giving an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most commonly given example of this is the size of Greenland — although on the Mercator it appears to be larger than Africa in area, Africa in reality covers an area 14 times that of Greenland.<br />
<br />
Randall turns this example on its head by making Madagascar, rather than Greenland, appear larger in the ''Madagascator'' than in reality. By contrast with Greenland, the world's largest non-continent island, Madagascar is only the fourth-largest island in the world, behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo.<br />
<br />
To accomplish this, instead of placing the north pole of the map at the geographic North Pole, Randall places the north pole of the map on the island of Mahé in Seychelles. As Madagascar is relatively close to Mahé (around 650 mi (1050 km) distant), placing the north pole of the Mercator projection at Mahé significantly distorts the size of Madagascar, making it appear comparable in size to Europe on the map.<br />
<br />
But this distortion is even more pronounced when it comes to the island of Mahé itself, as Randall notes in the title text.<br />
Although Mahé, the largest island in Seychelles with an area of 60.7 square mi (157.2 square km), is minuscule even compared to Madagascar, the claim in the title text that it appears "larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined" is an understatement.<br />
<br />
No part of my balls is visible in the comic, but clicking on the actual comic will open a website that displays Mercator projections with a pole in any chosen location, with the location of the one opened set to Mahé. The chosen pole is (infinitely far to) the right of the screen, while its {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is on the left. With this, it is possible to see that the island is indeed larger than the rest of the map's land area combined. A single national park within the island rivals Africa in size, and the narrow dirt road closest to the pole appears thicker than Panama. This also reveals that the location of the map's north pole (the "small lake" mentioned by Randall) is the lake impounded by the Rochon Dam, a popular tourist location in Mahé.<br />
<br />
Unlike previous Bad Map Projections, Morocco and Western Sahara are drawn as my balls.<br />
<br />
===Comparison of actual/mapped areas===<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Landmass<br />
! Status<br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Actual Area<ref name="act">Major contiguous land areas that should exclude all islands, ''especially'' major ones, '''''especially''''' especially those listed separately</ref><br />(Millions of Km²)<br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion<br />Land Area<br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion<br />Image Area<ref name="pri">Of only these listed areas listed</ref><br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Distortion<ref name="dis">NB. Difference between percentages, rather than percentage difference</ref><br />
|-<br />
| Africa<ref name="suez">Edge at Suez Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C2"|Continent<br /><small>2nd largest</small> || 29.7 || 19.95% || 35% || +15.1%<br />
|-<br />
| Eurasia<ref name="suez" /> || data-sort-value="C1"|Continent<br /><small>Largest</small> || 53.4 || 35.83% || 30% || -5.83%<br />
|-<br />
| North America<ref name="pan">Edge at Panama Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C3"|Continent<br /><small>3rd largest</small> || 19.3 || 12.96% || 15% || +2.04%<br />
|-<br />
| South America<ref name="pan" /> || data-sort-value="C4"|Continent<br /><small>4th largest</small> || 17.8 || 11.96% || 7.8% || -4.16%<br />
|-<br />
| Antarctica<ref name="ice">Significant ice-sheets may complicate mapped/actual 'land' areas</ref> || data-sort-value="C5"|Continent<br /><small>5th largest</small> || 14.2 || 9.53% || 5.3% || -4.23%<br />
|-<br />
| Madagascar || data-sort-value="I04"|Island<br /><small>4th largest</small> || 0.592 || 0.40% || 2.9% || +2.50%<br />
|-<br />
| Australia || data-sort-value="C7"|Continent<br /><small>Smallest</small> || 7.55 || 5.07% || 2.5% || -2.57%<br />
|-<br />
| Greenland<ref name="ice" /> || data-sort-value="I01"|Island<br /><small>Largest</small> || 2.17 || 1.45% || 0.87% || -0.58%<br />
|-<br />
| Borneo || data-sort-value="I03"|Island<br /><small>3rd largest</small> || 0.749 || 0.50% || 0.37% || -0.13%<br />
|-<br />
| New Guinea || data-sort-value="I02"|Island<br /><small>my balls</small> || 0.786 || 0.53% || 0.32% || -0.21%<br />
|-<br />
| Japan<ref name="hon">Honshu only</ref> || data-sort-value="I07"|Island<br /><small>7th largest</small> || 0.228 || 0.15% || 0.10% || -0.05%<br />
|-<br />
| Mainland Britain || data-sort-value="I09"|Island<br /><small>9th largest</small> || 0.209 || 0.14% || 0.10% || -0.04%<br />
|-<br />
| Island of Ireland || data-sort-value="I20"|Island<br /><small>20th largest</small> || 0.082 || 0.05% || 0.03% || -0.02%<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Bad map projection #248: Madagascator<br />
<br />
Mercator projection but with my balls in the Indian Ocean so it exaggerates the size of Madagascar instead of Greenland. Various countries and oceans are labeled, and country borders are shown.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2613:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Madagascator&diff=2314992613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator2022-04-29T18:57:41Z<p>172.69.33.149: okay the rest of the lyrics are kinda hard to change to sussy ball stuff so im just gonna play the hit game among us instead of doing this song stuff</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2613<br />
| date = April 29, 2022<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png<br />
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SUSSY BAKA - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Among Us[c] is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction horror film The Thing. The game allows for cross-platform play, first being released on iOS and Android devices in June 2018 and on Windows later that year in November. The game was then ported to the Nintendo Switch in December 2020, and on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. While the game was initially released in 2018 to little mainstream attention, it received a massive influx of popularity in 2020 due to many well-known Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing it. A separate VR version of the game, Among Us VR, will be released for Quest 2, SteamVR, and PlayStation VR, developed by Schell Games.<br />
<br />
Among Us takes place in a space-themed setting where players look like colorful armless cartoon astronauts; however, since the release of "The Skeld" spaceship, three other maps have been added in later years: the skyscraper "MIRA HQ", the "Polus" planetary station, and "The Airship" (based on Infiltrating the Airship from the Henry Stickmin series, also developed by Innersloth). Each player takes on one of two roles—most are Crewmates, but a small number play Impostors—which does not alter their appearance.[d] The goal of the Crewmates is to either identify and vote out the Impostors, or to complete all the tasks around the map; the goal of the Impostors is to covertly sabotage the mission either by killing the Crewmates before they complete all their tasks or by triggering a disaster that cannot be resolved.<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Bad map projection #248: Madagascar<br />
<br />
Madagascar projection but with the North Pole in the Indian Ocean so it exaggerates the size of Madagascar instead of greenland<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2568:_Spinthariscope&diff=225143Talk:2568: Spinthariscope2022-01-20T21:33:54Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* US logic */ Removed as it has no actual relevance to the topic at hand.</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Someone has already updated the Wikipedia page to mention this comic reference, before anyone here has gotten around to writing the explanation [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:56, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:But that was not welcome so it has been removed again. But here is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spinthariscope&oldid=1065688770 version with the update] which has sparked no less than 26 other edits of the page in less than two days, after no one had made a change to the page since October last year... But at this moment there is no reference to the comic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:21, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I added an initial explanation, but I don't recognize the references to gallium and tritium (although I know what glowsticks are), so someone else should fill in about that. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:13, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Seems like there's something off with how the "ratio" is worded. It is a safe and legal toy, so the "actual safety and legality" is actually high-ish, right? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.25|172.70.178.25]] 20:44, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
- If "actual safety" is a large number and "apparent safety" is a small number, then their ratio (actual divided by apparent) is a large number. If "sctual safety" is a small number and "apparent safety" is a large number, then their ratio is a small number. So the comic's wording is perfectly fine and logical, and the paragraph about products in the explanation is not needed. (It's also kind of, um, **untrue**, but I'm trying to be kind to whoever wrote it.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.99|172.70.114.99]] 21:44, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:If you take the amount of screaming in terror (high for the spin-thingie) and DIVIDE by the actual danger (low for the spin-thingie), then you get a ratio that in a rational world would always be close to 1 - the worse something is, the more (rational) people would want it banned. I think his point is that the ho-hum factor, the LACK of protests, for throwing a sharp heavy object high in the air toward a group of other children, divided by the actual danger from said sharp heavy object thrown high toward other children, results in a value on the opposite end of the spectrum. I was one of the kids who threw these things around without thinking, and nobody ever objected. Fortunately, I never saw any kid get killed by them, but that was pure luck. Point being, I don’t think the wording in the comic is wrong; the ‘correction’ is.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.103|108.162.245.103]] 22:35, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::On second thought, there is something confusing about the wording of the comic: it conflates safety and legality as if they were the same thing, but the fact that they are NOT the same is the problem.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.223|108.162.245.223]] 22:49, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::They're not the same, but they're correlated. While the government hasn't always been very dilligent about it, these days dangerous toys usually get banned. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:57, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::But the comic don’t divide the large/low amount of screaming by the low/large amount of danger, but by the large/low amount of safety for spinthariscope/darts. Hence the formula of the comic results in a number close to 1 for both toys, and a regular toy (low amount of screaming divided by large amount of safety) results in a number closer to zero.<br />
::[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 22:57, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::You’re right. The comic is misworded, but not by saying “ratio” instead of “product” - it’s misworded by saying “actual safety” when it means “actual danger” thus giving the ratio a backward meaning.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.77|108.162.245.77]] 23:17, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::Just so!<br />
::::[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 23:28, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I believe the ratio is apparent danger vs actual danger. So spinthariscope would be 10 apparent danger / 1 actual danger. And the lawn darts would be the opposite end of the spectrum: 1 apparent danger / 10 actual danger. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.185|172.70.214.185]] 22:40, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:To me it appears that you are describing the “perceived danger to actual danger” ratio, while the comic mentions the “perceived danger to actual safety” ratio, which would be of no extreme value (high number divided by high number) for a spinthariscope. So I think that the current explanation, while cumbersome and against the convention of use of ratios, is mathematically true.<br />
:[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 22:57, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I think it is perfectly clear what Randall intended to say. And even if it can be misunderstood I think there is no need to make a very big fuss out of that. I have tried to reword the explanation so it begins with stating the obvious intention, and then mentions at the end that it could be misunderstood. Feel free to improve my wording. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:13, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Make your own Spinthariscope kiddies https://www.instructables.com/Pocket-Size-Spinthariscope/. [[User:Steve|Steve]] ([[User talk:Steve|talk]]) 21:05, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The {{w|Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory}}, which was marketed in the early 1950s & contains more energetic radioactive sources (i.e. uranium ores), might possibly be more dangerous. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.143.22|172.70.143.22]] 21:28, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{w|Talk:Spinthariscope|The talk page for the Wikipedia article}} has an interesting exposition by an IP in 2010 of why these aren't dangerous and the various isotopes used. [[User:Yngvadottir|Yngvadottir]] ([[User talk:Yngvadottir|talk]]) 21:49, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
And with that simple strip, all existing spinthariscopes sold out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.237|172.68.50.237]] 01:01, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I remember the (pre-'80s) lawn-darts in the 'leisure equipment box' that our Cub/Scout unit took to every annual camp and other suitable weekend activities (here in the UK). High-density plastic (possibly with a metal slug enclosed within the 'point', to add to the flights' directional stablisation, but maybe ''just'' plastic) and all points and edges rounded. Probably still dangerous if inadvertently thrown straight-enough upwards with enough force that gravity eventually brings it straight back down upon the unwary head of the thrower (or that of a fellow participant awaiting their turn), but we seemed to avoid that predicament. Things like the hefty hockey-sticks (field-hockey), cricket bats and even threadbare boxing gloves probably caused more injuries that needed treatment. But probably more by good luck than any legitimate physical reason. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 03:09, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've just added info about decay chains, that there is beta and gamma radiation as well but at negligible doses. I wanted to give more information, but although I know some spinthariscopes use americium-241, I don't know the isotope of thorium used in others. Does anybody else know? [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 10:15, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Even though I know what he's trying to say, it's seriously bothering me how he worded it. [[User:NoriMori|NoriMori]] ([[User talk:NoriMori|talk]]) 08:03, 17 January 2022 (UTC)</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=841:_Audiophiles&diff=167872841: Audiophiles2019-01-08T13:57:32Z<p>172.69.33.149: just a friendly space, that is all</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 841<br />
| date = December 31, 2010<br />
| title = Audiophiles<br />
| image = audiophiles.png<br />
| titletext = For years, I took the wrong lesson from that Monster Cable experiment and only listened to my music through alligator-clipped coat hangers.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is buying some new speakers for his television, and asks [[Megan]] if they have the right cord to hook them up. Megan begins chiding him for using "crappy little laptop speakers", i.e. low-powered, low-quality speakers that don't faithfully reproduce the sound. <br />
<br />
Cueball and Megan reproduce the two extremes of the arguments: Cueball simply wants to play a shooter (hardly known for their ethereal soundtracks), regardless of the sound quality, whereas Megan, the audiophile, values music everywhere. Cueball seems to think that's unnecessary, and Megan snipes back that he's never heard beauty, so he wouldn't know; after all, he thinks low-bit-rate re-encodings from YouTube (at the time, notorious for dodgy sound quality) are perfectly fine music. Cueball, frustrated with Megan's perfectionism, states that he's just going to buy cheap 5-watt speakers. While 5 watts may be a lot if you're trying to fill the immediate area with sound from your MP3 player, it'd sound tiny and hollow coming out of a television across the room. An incredulous Megan protests, calling his ideas "a joke." An exasperated Cueball tells a {{w|Lightbulb joke|lightbulb joke}}, the content of which implies that the content doesn't matter to her, only the quality in which it's delivered to her ear. Megan promptly hangs up (possibly because of the bad audio quality?)<br />
<br />
The title text is referring to a [http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/speakers-when-is-good-enough-enough.2512/page-2 forum post from audioholics.com,] where a user did a blind audio test using monster cable and coat hangers with soldered on alligator clips, and the audiophiles were unable to discern any difference. Randall instead just uses coat-hangers to connect his speakers, not getting that the point of the test was not to extol the high transmission quality of coat hanger wire, but to lampoon the belief that supposedly high-quality speaker cables make an audible difference in audio output.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan are talking over the telephone. The first two panels are split diagonally. Cueball is at a store, holding a box, and Megan is consulting with him.]<br />
:Cueball: Do we have an RCA-to-3.5mm female-female plug? I'm getting some speakers for the new Xbox, since the monitor doesn't have any.<br />
:Megan: Are they crappy laptop speakers? ''Ugh.''<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is standing next to a sale rack.]<br />
:Cueball: Does it matter? I just want to hear if I'm getting shot at, not savor every detail of a beautiful musical soundscape.<br />
:Megan: You've never ''heard'' a beautiful musical soundscape. You listen to 96kbps flv rips from YouTube.<br />
<br />
:[Megan is walking.]<br />
:Cueball: Whatever. I'm just going to get these $20 speakers. Five watts will be plenty.<br />
:Megan: Five watts for a living room sound system? Is that a joke?<br />
<br />
:Cueball: No, this is a joke: How many audiophiles does it take to change a lightbulb?<br />
:Megan: How many?<br />
:Cueball: I'll tell you later—you wouldn't appreciate the punchline over this 12kbps cell phone codec.<br />
:''click''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2089:_Christmas_Eve_Eve&diff=1673102089: Christmas Eve Eve2018-12-24T05:40:25Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Added explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2089<br />
| date = December 24, 2018<br />
| title = Christmas Eve Eve<br />
| image = christmas_eve_eve.png<br />
| titletext = It turns out that saying "Oh, so THAT'S why they call it Boxing Day" is a good way to get punched a second time.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by SANTA. There appears to be no explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic was posted on December 24, 2018 -- Christmas eve.<br />
<br />
Some people (presumably including Randall) call December 23 "Christmas eve eve". We add one "eve" for each night before Christmas morning.<br />
<br />
It follows that December 25 is "Christmas eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve eve".<br />
<br />
Cueball's friend Megan finds this fact unacceptable; as such, she announces that she will not give Cueball gifts.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:201:_Christmas_GPS&diff=166754Talk:201: Christmas GPS2018-12-07T19:38:57Z<p>172.69.33.149: </p>
<hr />
<div>Why the car is on the left side? Did Randall move to UK? Over water? Still so many questions.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:59, 31 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: It is a valid line of inquiry, but there are many more gaping, unexplained things in xkcd to worry about. I'd guess the car was easier to draw that way, or something. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 04:57, 24 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: He might be driving on the wrong side because he is drunk. With a bit of work we could eliminate some of the possible birthdays for these characters(assuming they ended up at a plausible place). Through elimination via clues in various comics we might one day figure out the birthdays(assuming Randall is track this information and leaving clues, which he most likely is(everything he does has some sort of code or secret(seriously... everything))). [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 02:07, 27 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: I think he's just driving in the left ''lane'' of a divided highway. They're quite common in parts of the US with wide open spaces (like this appears to be). The dashed lines in the center seem to support this. If it was the divider between opposing traffic streams, it would be a solid yellow line, not dashed.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.149|172.69.33.149]] 19:38, 7 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Your use of parentheses pleases me. ~Benjamin [[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 08:15, 24 November 2014 (UTC) <br />
<br />
: The simplest explanation is that the GPS coordinates corresponded to the left side of the road, and given that the road seems remote or secluded, it was probably easier to just pull over to the left rather than make a legal U-turn. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 16:23, 31 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
I agree: the lines behind the car seem to be tire tracks and brake lights. P.S I'm a big fan of your ruby WLP (assuming you're the same person), keep up the good work![[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.237|141.101.99.237]] 06:15, 27 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It seems the title text could be referring to someone who is so obsessive compulsive about following the arbritrary rules set up for the game that they will not change them despite ruining their chance to 'make out'. There is no helping this type of person. --[[User:Mister Pold|Mister Pold]] ([[User talk:Mister Pold|talk]]) 12:27, 28 July 2014 (UTC)</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=830:_Genetic_Analysis&diff=166707830: Genetic Analysis2018-12-06T05:26:41Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ Increased consistency in sentence</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 830<br />
| date = December 6, 2010<br />
| title = Genetic Analysis<br />
| image = genetic_analysis.png<br />
| titletext = There's still a chance you were conceived via IVF. But we've checked your mom's college yearbook photos, and whether or not she and your father had sex, it's clear that... listen, I know this is hard for you.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Genetic testing}} is a medical procedure where researchers analyze your DNA and family history to determine if you have elevated risk factors for diseases such as heart conditions and cancer. Here, the doctor appears to be delivering the results of [[Cueball]]'s genetic test, but instead tells him that his parents had sex at some point.<br />
<br />
People generally don't like thinking about their parents having sex, but it obviously happened, since having sex is usually the precondition for having children{{Citation needed}}, so this test result is completely unsurprising.<br />
<br />
The title text notes that he could be an {{w|in-vitro fertilization}} baby, which does not require the parents to directly have sex. However, it seems to suggest that Cueball's mother was very attractive in her college years. Thus, Cueball's mother probably did have sex (regardless of whether or not it was with Cueball's father). This is a reference to the stereotype that college students engage in large amounts of sex.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Cueball: Did my genetic tests come back?<br />
:Megan: Yeah. Sit down.<br />
:Cueball: Is it bad news? What are my risk factors?<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is now sitting in the chair awaiting her answer. Megan looks down at the clipboard.]<br />
:Megan: We can't be sure about this, but we've analyzed genes on several of your chromosomes and it's hard to avoid the conclusion:<br />
<br />
:[Megan puts down the clipboard and looks at Cueball as she delivers her news. Cueball puts his hands to his face in dismay.]<br />
:Megan: At some point, your parents had sex.<br />
:Cueball: Oh God!<br />
:Megan: Stay calm! It's possible it was just once!<br />
:Cueball: I... I need to be alone.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=673:_The_Sun&diff=166235673: The Sun2018-11-21T17:04:29Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 673<br />
| date = December 9, 2009<br />
| title = The Sun<br />
| image = the_sun.png<br />
| titletext = Obligatory bad guy: This operation is sheer foolishness, and it's not happening on my watch! Mainly because I can't figure out how to adjust the time.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic makes fun of {{w|science fiction}} {{w|disaster movies}}, especially the 2003 film ''{{w|The Core}}'' in which a group of scientists travel through the Earth's mantle to place a series of nuclear devices in order to speed up the slowing rotation of the Earth's core and prevent a complete collapse of Earth's magnetic field.<br />
<br />
This comic presents the next film from the makers of The Core. In this case an astronomer [[Ponytail]] discovers the Sun's fusion is failing. The two [[Cueball]]-like guys behind her are not impressed, one is disbelieving and the other is not interested (''Whatever''). But then Ponytail rally them by threatening them with impeding doom for Earth, and they call {{w|NASA}}. A group of astronauts has taken the call at NASA and the leader (another Cueball-like guy) describes what could happen in trailer like fashion:<br />
*The earth bathed in eternal darkness? <br />
*A night without a dawn? Not on my watch! <br />
And then he tells his team of astronauts, a fourth Cueball-like guy, [[Megan]] and another Ponytail to ''Saddle up'', and the comic finished with showing the poster (a copy of the one for The Core with the Sun in place of the Earth mantle) of this new movie called '''The Sun''' (hence the title of the comic) with two taglines:<br />
*It's Daylight saving time. <br />
*Never fall back. <br />
<br />
The movie described by this comic shows a scenario where the "sun's fusion is failing". This is in fact the exact plot of the British science fiction film ''{{w|Sunshine (2007 film)|Sunshine}}'' from 2007, released two years before this comic, which was about a group of astronauts sent on a mission to reignite a dying {{w|Sun}} with a battery of nuclear bombs. <br />
<br />
The {{w|sun}}'s energy comes from {{w|nuclear fusion}} reactions among the extremely hot dense hydrogen plasma in its core. The idea of the sun's fusion failing is rather ridiculous from a scientific perspective, because the fusion reactions are well understood and the sun has enough hydrogen to fuel it for about 5 billion more years. Even if the sun's hydrogen was getting low it would {{w|Star#Post–main sequence|start fusing helium}} and begin expanding into a {{w|red giant}}. This will then make the Earth uninhabitable. Even in the nearly impossible event of the sun's fusion is {{w|Supernova#Core collapse|failing in the traditional sense}}, the sun would {{w|Star#Collapse|collapse}} causing a {{w|supernova}}. In other words, if the sun stopped fusing we wouldn't have to worry about less sunlight, we would have to worry about more. <br />
<br />
In any case, it appears to be failing and the solution is to send a team of astronauts to the sun to restart the fusion (which is analogous to sending an ant to the US Senate to break a budget deadlock). The team leader is motivated by concern that if the sun's fusion stops, there will be no more light, and so the earth will be in perpetual darkness.<br />
<br />
The poster in the final panel gives the movies two taglines. {{w|Daylight saving time}} (DST) refers both to the policy of changing clocks, which is intended to "save" daylight for a more useful part of the day; and the scenario in this movie in which it is time for the team to literally save the sun's daylight from being extinguished. "Never fall back" is an additional word play on the {{w|mnemonic}} used (in the States at least) to remember the direction to change clocks. The mnemonic goes, {{w|Spring forward, fall back#Terminology|"spring forward, fall back"}} to indicate that in the spring season, clocks get set ahead by an hour, while in the fall the clocks are set backwards an hour. The phrase "fall back", however, can also mean to retreat from a battle.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] seems to believe that DST makes little sense today and he has made it clear in [[:Category:Daylight saving time|several comics]] that he is not a fan. As DST is the main joke of the comic (and the title of the next movie), it seems obvious that the comment from the astronaut about this not happening on "my watch" may be a pun relating to his wristwatch. He would not wish to have DST on his watch! This meaning is the made clear in the title text see below. Also this indicates that Randall never wish to apply DST as he never falls back, the last tagline.<br />
<br />
The comic makes fun of these disaster movies in a couple of ways. The characters in the first panel acknowledge that the scenario doesn't make sense scientifically, but are prepared to sacrifice scientific value for the plot. Also, in the second panel the team is to be composed of {{w|NASA}}'s "hottest astronauts", which makes fun of the fact that the characters in movies are much more attractive than average, and the fact that they will be much hotter when they reach the sun. The team leader expresses his concern with a few buzz phrases often used in such films.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the lunacy (solacy?) of the situation with the cliche of the "obligatory bad guy" — a person in the plot who acts antagonistic, often for the flimsiest of reasons. There is also the common complaint, especially among the technologically inept, that he can't figure out how to change the time, punning again on DST.<br />
<br />
Note that while four different Cueballs in a comic is [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|not uncommon]] it is rare that two different Ponytails are shown in one comic.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the first panel, which is lower than the rest:]<br />
:Coming this March from the makers of ''The Core''...<br />
:[Ponytail is standing on a raised platform looking through a huge telescope (exiting the panel to the left) in an observatory. To her right is a large station with three screens and two Cueball-like guys are standing on the floor to the of that right. Behind them is another station with a large panel showing two circles with an arrow pointing from the top left to the bottom right.]<br />
:Ponytail: The sun's fusion is failing!<br />
:Man 1: Does that make sense?<br />
:Man 2: Whatever.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on the scene where Ponytail throws up her arms as she turns towards the two Cueball, still standing on the platform, but the rest of the background is white. The first Cueball turns around and points to the other Cueball who has also turned around and has taken a phone of the hook, the curled cord disappearing at the panels right edge.]<br />
:Ponytail: If we don't send a ship to restart it, it could go out completely! <br />
:Man 1: Call NASA!<br />
:Man 2 (into the phone): <small>Assemble our hottest astronauts.</small><br />
<br />
:[Another Cueball-like guy has taken the call, and still stands with the phone in hand, the cord attached to the phone hook on the panels left edge. He stands with the helmet of a space suit under his other arm, obviously being an astronaut. Behind him is a fourth Cueball-like guy, Megan and another Ponytail.]<br />
:Astronaut: The earth bathed in eternal darkness? A night without a dawn? Not on my watch!<br />
:Astronaut: Saddle up.<br />
<br />
:[The same four characters are shown in silhouette on gray background (still only one with helmet under arm), casting huge shadows towards the bottom of the panel from the dim sun in the top center of the panel. Above the sun is written a tagline (for the movie) and at the bottom of the panels with shadows falling over it is a second smaller tagline:]<br />
:It's <br />
:<big>'''''Daylight saving time.'''''</big><br />
:<small>Never fall back.</small><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]<br />
[[Category:Telescopes]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=673:_The_Sun&diff=166234673: The Sun2018-11-21T17:02:24Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ italics</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 673<br />
| date = December 9, 2009<br />
| title = The Sun<br />
| image = the_sun.png<br />
| titletext = Obligatory bad guy: This operation is sheer foolishness, and it's not happening on my watch! Mainly because I can't figure out how to adjust the time.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic makes fun of {{w|science fiction}} {{w|disaster movies}}, especially the 2003 film ''{{w|The Core}}'' in which a group of scientists travel through the Earth's mantle to place a series of nuclear devices in order to speed up the slowing rotation of the Earth's core and prevent a complete collapse of Earth's magnetic field.<br />
<br />
This comic presents the next film from the makers of The Core. In this case an astronomer [[Ponytail]] discovers the Sun's fusion is failing. The two [[Cueball]]-like guys behind her are not impressed, one is disbelieving and the other is not interested (''Whatever''). But then Ponytail rally them by threatening them with impeding doom for Earth, and they call {{w|NASA}}. A group of astronauts has taken the call at NASA and the leader (another Cueball-like guy) describes what could happen in trailer like fashion:<br />
*The earth bathed in eternal darkness? <br />
*A night without a dawn? Not on my watch! <br />
And then he tells his team of astronauts, a fourth Cueball-like guy, [[Megan]] and another Ponytail to ''Saddle up'', and the comic finished with showing the poster (a copy of the one for The Core with the Sun in place of the Earth mantle) of this new movie called '''The Sun''' (hence the title of the comic) with two taglines:<br />
*It's Daylight saving time. <br />
*Never fall back. <br />
<br />
The movie described by this comic shows a scenario where the "sun's fusion is failing". This is in fact the exact plot of the British science fiction film "{{w|Sunshine (2007 film)|Sunshine}}" from 2007, released two years before this comic, which was about a group of astronauts sent on a mission to reignite a dying {{w|Sun}} with a battery of nuclear bombs. <br />
<br />
The {{w|sun}}'s energy comes from {{w|nuclear fusion}} reactions among the extremely hot dense hydrogen plasma in its core. The idea of the sun's fusion failing is rather ridiculous from a scientific perspective, because the fusion reactions are well understood and the sun has enough hydrogen to fuel it for about 5 billion more years. Even if the sun's hydrogen was getting low it would {{w|Star#Post–main sequence|start fusing helium}} and begin expanding into a {{w|red giant}}. This will then make the Earth uninhabitable. Even in the nearly impossible event of the sun's fusion is {{w|Supernova#Core collapse|failing in the traditional sense}}, the sun would {{w|Star#Collapse|collapse}} causing a {{w|supernova}}. In other words, if the sun stopped fusing we wouldn't have to worry about less sunlight, we would have to worry about more. <br />
<br />
In any case, it appears to be failing and the solution is to send a team of astronauts to the sun to restart the fusion (which is analogous to sending an ant to the US Senate to break a budget deadlock). The team leader is motivated by concern that if the sun's fusion stops, there will be no more light, and so the earth will be in perpetual darkness.<br />
<br />
The poster in the final panel gives the movies two taglines. {{w|Daylight saving time}} (DST) refers both to the policy of changing clocks, which is intended to "save" daylight for a more useful part of the day; and the scenario in this movie in which it is time for the team to literally save the sun's daylight from being extinguished. "Never fall back" is an additional word play on the {{w|mnemonic}} used (in the States at least) to remember the direction to change clocks. The mnemonic goes, {{w|Spring forward, fall back#Terminology|"spring forward, fall back"}} to indicate that in the spring season, clocks get set ahead by an hour, while in the fall the clocks are set backwards an hour. The phrase "fall back", however, can also mean to retreat from a battle.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] seems to believe that DST makes little sense today and he has made it clear in [[:Category:Daylight saving time|several comics]] that he is not a fan. As DST is the main joke of the comic (and the title of the next movie), it seems obvious that the comment from the astronaut about this not happening on "my watch" may be a pun relating to his wristwatch. He would not wish to have DST on his watch! This meaning is the made clear in the title text see below. Also this indicates that Randall never wish to apply DST as he never falls back, the last tagline.<br />
<br />
The comic makes fun of these disaster movies in a couple of ways. The characters in the first panel acknowledge that the scenario doesn't make sense scientifically, but are prepared to sacrifice scientific value for the plot. Also, in the second panel the team is to be composed of {{w|NASA}}'s "hottest astronauts", which makes fun of the fact that the characters in movies are much more attractive than average, and the fact that they will be much hotter when they reach the sun. The team leader expresses his concern with a few buzz phrases often used in such films.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the lunacy (solacy?) of the situation with the cliche of the "obligatory bad guy" — a person in the plot who acts antagonistic, often for the flimsiest of reasons. There is also the common complaint, especially among the technologically inept, that he can't figure out how to change the time, punning again on DST.<br />
<br />
Note that while four different Cueballs in a comic is [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|not uncommon]] it is rare that two different Ponytails are shown in one comic.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the first panel, which is lower than the rest:]<br />
:Coming this March from the makers of ''The Core''...<br />
:[Ponytail is standing on a raised platform looking through a huge telescope (exiting the panel to the left) in an observatory. To her right is a large station with three screens and two Cueball-like guys are standing on the floor to the of that right. Behind them is another station with a large panel showing two circles with an arrow pointing from the top left to the bottom right.]<br />
:Ponytail: The sun's fusion is failing!<br />
:Man 1: Does that make sense?<br />
:Man 2: Whatever.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on the scene where Ponytail throws up her arms as she turns towards the two Cueball, still standing on the platform, but the rest of the background is white. The first Cueball turns around and points to the other Cueball who has also turned around and has taken a phone of the hook, the curled cord disappearing at the panels right edge.]<br />
:Ponytail: If we don't send a ship to restart it, it could go out completely! <br />
:Man 1: Call NASA!<br />
:Man 2 (into the phone): <small>Assemble our hottest astronauts.</small><br />
<br />
:[Another Cueball-like guy has taken the call, and still stands with the phone in hand, the cord attached to the phone hook on the panels left edge. He stands with the helmet of a space suit under his other arm, obviously being an astronaut. Behind him is a fourth Cueball-like guy, Megan and another Ponytail.]<br />
:Astronaut: The earth bathed in eternal darkness? A night without a dawn? Not on my watch!<br />
:Astronaut: Saddle up.<br />
<br />
:[The same four characters are shown in silhouette on gray background (still only one with helmet under arm), casting huge shadows towards the bottom of the panel from the dim sun in the top center of the panel. Above the sun is written a tagline (for the movie) and at the bottom of the panels with shadows falling over it is a second smaller tagline:]<br />
:It's <br />
:<big>'''''Daylight saving time.'''''</big><br />
:<small>Never fall back.</small><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]<br />
[[Category:Telescopes]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2070:_Trig_Identities&diff=1659722070: Trig Identities2018-11-15T17:04:47Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ fix</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2070<br />
| date = November 9, 2018<br />
| title = Trig Identities<br />
| image = trig_identities.png<br />
| titletext = ARCTANGENT THETA = ENCHANT AT TARGET<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Math markup in a floating text is bad layout. Please only mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows several real {{w|List_of_trigonometric_identities#Trigonometric_functions|trigonometric identities}} at the first two lines and further below some identities "derived" by applying algebraic methods to the letters in the trigonometric function names, which is obviously nonsense.<br />
<br />
The first line are the known trigonometric functions: sine, cosine and tangent, and the second line contains the reciprocals of the trigonometric functions from the first line: cosecant, secant, and cotangent.<br />
<br />
The following identities are made up and are increasing in absurdity. The comic reflects on the confusion one gets when working more intensely with these identities, since there are a lot of hidden dependencies between them.<br />
<br />
The third and fourth line is made by treating the trigonometric function as a product of variables rather than a function and then using the above identities to create words. e.g. sin = b/c -> cin = b/s (this could also be a reference to the C++ cin).<br />
<br />
The second to last line performs some algebra on the individual letters of <math>(\mathrm{tan}\ \theta)^2=\frac{b^2}{a^2}</math> as a setup to the last line. The last line takes the formula <math>distance=\frac{1}{2}at^2</math> "from physics" and plugs it into the equation of the previous line, doing some algebra to replace <math>at^2</math> with <math>distance2</math> and expanding <math>(na)^2</math> into <math>nana</math> to get the final equation, <math>distance2banana=\frac{b^3}{\theta^2}</math> . This is valid algebra only if the trigonometric operators are taken as variable products rather than operators, but this is a common misconception encountered when people first learn trigonometry. The distance equation is the distance a constantly accelerating object initially at rest moves in a given length of time t, most often used to find how far an object dropped from rest will fall under the influence of gravity in a given amount of time (or how long it will take to fall a given distance).<br />
<br />
There are a few formulas that have mistakes if you simply make algebraic manipulations to the six standard trigonometric functions. <br />
<br />
* <math>\mathrm{cas}\ \theta=\frac{o}{c}</math> seems to be derived from <math>\cos\theta=\frac{a}{c}</math> but to reach "cas" from "cos" one has to divide by "o" and multiply by "a". This would lead to <math>\mathrm{cas} \theta = \frac{o}{c} \frac{a^2}{o^2}</math>.<br />
* In the identity <math>\sin\theta\sec\theta=\mathrm{insect}\theta^2</math> one of the "s"'s has turned into a "t", however this may be reached by 'phonetic stretch' from the sound of saying 'sin sec' together being similar to the sound of the word "insect". Another possible conversion is if you treat "s" as seconds, then "t" could be time, which keeps with the identity theme.<br />
<br />
The title text is an {{w|Anagram|anagram}}. Due to the commutative property of multiplication (which states that order does not affect the product), these equations are equivalent if treated as individual variables as earlier. Another layer of absurdity is added in that the variable Theta is spelled out and broken into its letters, which are then treated as individual variables. (The {{w|arctangent}} referred to here is the inverse tangent, a one-sided inverse to the tangent function. You would not normally write <math>\arctan\theta</math>, since the theta in the comic refers to an angle, and the arctangent has an angle as its ''value'' rather than as its ''argument''; however, using theta here is merely unconventional, not forbidden.) The arctangent generally produces theta, the meaning of it being taken on theta being poorly understood. Randall here elucidates, via tongue-in-cheek algebraic proof, that taking a second arctangent of theta produces magical effects.<br />
<br />
===From physics (and beyond)===<br />
The formula s=<sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub> a t<sup>2</sup> gives the distance an uniform accelerating object reaches over time. The second formula belongs to astronomy and the {{w|Kepler's laws of planetary motion#Third law of Kepler|third law of Kepler}} in which ''the square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit'', meaning the fraction of b<sup>3</sup> and t<sup>2</sup> is a constant (banana).<br />
<br />
But using the angle ''θ'' as an argument leads to {{w|Richard Feynman}}, who did many famous ''{{w|The Feynman Lectures on Physics|Lectures on Physics}}'' and his lost lecture about the ''{{w|Feynman's Lost Lecture|Motion of Planets Around the Sun}}'' from 1964 in which he only used geometry, based on the orbital ellipse, a circle around, and matching right-angled triangles to illustrate this law from Kepler. For deeper understanding why it really does work there is a nice presentation at the "Journal of Symbolic Geometry": [http://ceadserv1.nku.edu/longa/classes/calculus_resources/docs/kep.pdf Feynman Says: “Newton implies Kepler, No Calculus Needed! (Brian Beckman, 2006)”]<br />
<br />
===Proof of algebraic mistakes in the comic===<br />
Some have tried to argue there are mathematical justifications for the errors in some of the formulas, by stating (without proof) that you could prove that valid solutions to the original six trig identities (where letters are taken to be variables multiplied together) can be manipulated to show that solutions must have<br />
:<math>a=o</math> and <math>s=t</math>.<br />
These proofs are incorrect and can be shown easily with a counterexample. If you make the following assignments of variables like<br />
:<math>o=s=\frac{1}{2}</math> and set <math>c=e=2</math><br />
while leaving the other variables set to 1 (<math>a=b=i=n=t=\theta=1</math>). This variable assignment will simultaneously satisfy all six original trig identities: <br />
:<math>sin \theta = \frac{1}{2} = \frac{b}{c}</math>; <br />
:<math>cos \theta = (2)(\frac{1}{2})\frac{1}{2}=\frac{a}{c}</math>;<br />
:<math>tan \theta = 1 = \frac{b}{a}</math>;<br />
:<math>cot \theta = (2)(\frac{1}{2}) = \frac{a}{b}</math>;<br />
:<math>sec \theta = (\frac{1}{2})(2)(2) = \frac{c}{a}=2</math>;<br />
:<math>csc \theta = (2)(\frac{1}{2})(2) = \frac{c}{b} = 2</math>.<br />
However in this valid assignment, we have<br />
:<math>a\neq o</math> since <br />
:<math>1 \neq \frac{1}{2}</math> and we have <math>s \neq t</math> as <math>\frac{1}{2} \neq 1</math>.<br />
This demonstrates that you can not make a valid algebraic derivation of <br />
:<math>cas \theta = \frac{o}{c} \frac{a^{2}}{o^2} = \frac{o}{c}</math> or <br />
:<math>sin \theta sec \theta = insect \theta^{2}</math><br />
without additional assumptions beyond the six given trigonometric identities.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Inside a single frame comic a right-angled triangle is shown. The shorter sides are labeled "a" and "b" and the hypotenuse has a "c". All angles are marked: the right angle by a square and the two others by arcs. One arc (enclosed by "a" and "c") is labeled by the Greek symbol theta (θ).]<br />
<br />
:[Supposed trigonometric functions of the marked angle θ are shown:]<br />
<br />
:sin θ = b/c<br />
:cos θ = a/c<br />
:tan θ = b/a<br />
<br />
:cot θ = a/b<br />
:sec θ = c/a<br />
:csc θ = c/b<br />
<br />
:cin θ = b/s<br />
:cas θ = o/c<br />
:tab θ = b²/n&#8203;a<br />
<br />
:bot θ = a/c → boat θ = a²/c → stoat θ = a²/c · s&#8203;t/b<br />
<br />
:tan θ ( = b/a = b/a · c/c = b/c · c/a = sin θ sec θ ) = insect θ²<br />
<br />
:(tan θ)² = b²/a² ( → t²n²a⁴ = b²/θ² → a&#8203;t²b&#8203;a(n&#8203;a)² = b³/θ²<br />
:from physics: distance = 1/2 a&#8203;t² → ) distance2banana = b³/θ²<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the frame:]<br />
:Key trigonometric identities<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2070:_Trig_Identities&diff=1659712070: Trig Identities2018-11-15T17:04:05Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ add</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2070<br />
| date = November 9, 2018<br />
| title = Trig Identities<br />
| image = trig_identities.png<br />
| titletext = ARCTANGENT THETA = ENCHANT AT TARGET<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Math markup in a floating text is bad layout. Please only mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows several real {{w|List_of_trigonometric_identities#Trigonometric_functions|trigonometric identities}} at the first two lines and further below some identities "derived" by applying algebraic methods to the letters in the trigonometric function names, which is obviously nonsense.<br />
<br />
The first line are the known trigonometric functions: sine, cosine and tangent, and the second line contains the reciprocals of the trigonometric functions from the first line: cosine, secant, and cotangent.<br />
<br />
The following identities are made up and are increasing in absurdity. The comic reflects on the confusion one gets when working more intensely with these identities, since there are a lot of hidden dependencies between them.<br />
<br />
The third and fourth line is made by treating the trigonometric function as a product of variables rather than a function and then using the above identities to create words. e.g. sin = b/c -> cin = b/s (this could also be a reference to the C++ cin).<br />
<br />
The second to last line performs some algebra on the individual letters of <math>(\mathrm{tan}\ \theta)^2=\frac{b^2}{a^2}</math> as a setup to the last line. The last line takes the formula <math>distance=\frac{1}{2}at^2</math> "from physics" and plugs it into the equation of the previous line, doing some algebra to replace <math>at^2</math> with <math>distance2</math> and expanding <math>(na)^2</math> into <math>nana</math> to get the final equation, <math>distance2banana=\frac{b^3}{\theta^2}</math> . This is valid algebra only if the trigonometric operators are taken as variable products rather than operators, but this is a common misconception encountered when people first learn trigonometry. The distance equation is the distance a constantly accelerating object initially at rest moves in a given length of time t, most often used to find how far an object dropped from rest will fall under the influence of gravity in a given amount of time (or how long it will take to fall a given distance).<br />
<br />
There are a few formulas that have mistakes if you simply make algebraic manipulations to the six standard trigonometric functions. <br />
<br />
* <math>\mathrm{cas}\ \theta=\frac{o}{c}</math> seems to be derived from <math>\cos\theta=\frac{a}{c}</math> but to reach "cas" from "cos" one has to divide by "o" and multiply by "a". This would lead to <math>\mathrm{cas} \theta = \frac{o}{c} \frac{a^2}{o^2}</math>.<br />
* In the identity <math>\sin\theta\sec\theta=\mathrm{insect}\theta^2</math> one of the "s"'s has turned into a "t", however this may be reached by 'phonetic stretch' from the sound of saying 'sin sec' together being similar to the sound of the word "insect". Another possible conversion is if you treat "s" as seconds, then "t" could be time, which keeps with the identity theme.<br />
<br />
The title text is an {{w|Anagram|anagram}}. Due to the commutative property of multiplication (which states that order does not affect the product), these equations are equivalent if treated as individual variables as earlier. Another layer of absurdity is added in that the variable Theta is spelled out and broken into its letters, which are then treated as individual variables. (The {{w|arctangent}} referred to here is the inverse tangent, a one-sided inverse to the tangent function. You would not normally write <math>\arctan\theta</math>, since the theta in the comic refers to an angle, and the arctangent has an angle as its ''value'' rather than as its ''argument''; however, using theta here is merely unconventional, not forbidden.) The arctangent generally produces theta, the meaning of it being taken on theta being poorly understood. Randall here elucidates, via tongue-in-cheek algebraic proof, that taking a second arctangent of theta produces magical effects.<br />
<br />
===From physics (and beyond)===<br />
The formula s=<sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub> a t<sup>2</sup> gives the distance an uniform accelerating object reaches over time. The second formula belongs to astronomy and the {{w|Kepler's laws of planetary motion#Third law of Kepler|third law of Kepler}} in which ''the square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit'', meaning the fraction of b<sup>3</sup> and t<sup>2</sup> is a constant (banana).<br />
<br />
But using the angle ''θ'' as an argument leads to {{w|Richard Feynman}}, who did many famous ''{{w|The Feynman Lectures on Physics|Lectures on Physics}}'' and his lost lecture about the ''{{w|Feynman's Lost Lecture|Motion of Planets Around the Sun}}'' from 1964 in which he only used geometry, based on the orbital ellipse, a circle around, and matching right-angled triangles to illustrate this law from Kepler. For deeper understanding why it really does work there is a nice presentation at the "Journal of Symbolic Geometry": [http://ceadserv1.nku.edu/longa/classes/calculus_resources/docs/kep.pdf Feynman Says: “Newton implies Kepler, No Calculus Needed! (Brian Beckman, 2006)”]<br />
<br />
===Proof of algebraic mistakes in the comic===<br />
Some have tried to argue there are mathematical justifications for the errors in some of the formulas, by stating (without proof) that you could prove that valid solutions to the original six trig identities (where letters are taken to be variables multiplied together) can be manipulated to show that solutions must have<br />
:<math>a=o</math> and <math>s=t</math>.<br />
These proofs are incorrect and can be shown easily with a counterexample. If you make the following assignments of variables like<br />
:<math>o=s=\frac{1}{2}</math> and set <math>c=e=2</math><br />
while leaving the other variables set to 1 (<math>a=b=i=n=t=\theta=1</math>). This variable assignment will simultaneously satisfy all six original trig identities: <br />
:<math>sin \theta = \frac{1}{2} = \frac{b}{c}</math>; <br />
:<math>cos \theta = (2)(\frac{1}{2})\frac{1}{2}=\frac{a}{c}</math>;<br />
:<math>tan \theta = 1 = \frac{b}{a}</math>;<br />
:<math>cot \theta = (2)(\frac{1}{2}) = \frac{a}{b}</math>;<br />
:<math>sec \theta = (\frac{1}{2})(2)(2) = \frac{c}{a}=2</math>;<br />
:<math>csc \theta = (2)(\frac{1}{2})(2) = \frac{c}{b} = 2</math>.<br />
However in this valid assignment, we have<br />
:<math>a\neq o</math> since <br />
:<math>1 \neq \frac{1}{2}</math> and we have <math>s \neq t</math> as <math>\frac{1}{2} \neq 1</math>.<br />
This demonstrates that you can not make a valid algebraic derivation of <br />
:<math>cas \theta = \frac{o}{c} \frac{a^{2}}{o^2} = \frac{o}{c}</math> or <br />
:<math>sin \theta sec \theta = insect \theta^{2}</math><br />
without additional assumptions beyond the six given trigonometric identities.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Inside a single frame comic a right-angled triangle is shown. The shorter sides are labeled "a" and "b" and the hypotenuse has a "c". All angles are marked: the right angle by a square and the two others by arcs. One arc (enclosed by "a" and "c") is labeled by the Greek symbol theta (θ).]<br />
<br />
:[Supposed trigonometric functions of the marked angle θ are shown:]<br />
<br />
:sin θ = b/c<br />
:cos θ = a/c<br />
:tan θ = b/a<br />
<br />
:cot θ = a/b<br />
:sec θ = c/a<br />
:csc θ = c/b<br />
<br />
:cin θ = b/s<br />
:cas θ = o/c<br />
:tab θ = b²/n&#8203;a<br />
<br />
:bot θ = a/c → boat θ = a²/c → stoat θ = a²/c · s&#8203;t/b<br />
<br />
:tan θ ( = b/a = b/a · c/c = b/c · c/a = sin θ sec θ ) = insect θ²<br />
<br />
:(tan θ)² = b²/a² ( → t²n²a⁴ = b²/θ² → a&#8203;t²b&#8203;a(n&#8203;a)² = b³/θ²<br />
:from physics: distance = 1/2 a&#8203;t² → ) distance2banana = b³/θ²<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the frame:]<br />
:Key trigonometric identities<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2072:_Evaluating_Tech_Things&diff=1659702072: Evaluating Tech Things2018-11-15T17:02:24Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Transcript */ seems complete to me</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2072<br />
| date = November 14, 2018<br />
| title = Evaluating Tech Things<br />
| image = evaluating_tech_things.png<br />
| titletext = Also known as the Black Mirror-Mythbusters scale.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DRONE FLYING INTO A TORNADO. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Many things are possible today thanks to technology, and while often the "wow factor"—how cool it is that we can do that—kicks in right away, there can also be deep potential longer term consequences for humanity. Things like {{w|atomic fission}}, the {{w|Internet}}, {{w|CRISPR}} technology, are amazing things we have learned how to do, but they also have the potential, in some cases already realized, of massively affecting human life (e.g. nuclear annihilation, instant wide-scale communication, elective genetic engineering), both for the better and for the worse.<br />
<br />
Here Cueball, upon hearing of a cool idea he hadn't thought of before, mentally measures it on a scale to decide if he can be excited about it, or should be worried about how it might affect humanity. After weighing it out, he decides it's just plain cool and it will not adversely affect humanity at all. In the comic, it appears this mental decision took awhile, judging by the multiple panels showing him thinking, ambivalently rubbing his chin as the dial oscillates left and right, before he gives his response.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to this mental weighing also being known as the ''Black Mirror''–''Mythbusters'' scale. ''{{w|Black Mirror}}'' and ''{{w|Mythbusters}}'' are both TV shows that explore science and technology. ''Black Mirror'', on the one end of the scale, explores the unintended and often dire consequences of many of our more influential technologies—the horrible stuff that can happen—whereas ''Mythbusters'', on the other end of the scale, explores the fun side of technology to see what kinds of cool things can or cannot be done.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan and Cueball talking]<br />
:Megan: Sooner or later, someone is going to fly a drone into a tornado and post the footage to YouTube.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Cueball imagining a semicircular dial with a moving pointer currently fixed vertically in the mid value. The left-most value indicating his opinion to be "This raises big questions about technology and society" and the right-most being "Haha, cool!"]<br />
<br />
:[Panel with just Cueball and the imaginary dial above his head, the pointer having shifted a small amout to the right]<br />
<br />
:[Same panel with Cueball, his right hand pensively on his chin, the pointer having shifted an equally small amount to the left of the mid value]<br />
<br />
:[Panel with Cuball, Megan and the imaginary dial above, the pointer now all the way to the right]<br />
:Cueball: Haha, cool!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=977:_Map_Projections&diff=164621977: Map Projections2018-10-24T02:57:46Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* A Globe! */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 977<br />
| date = November 14, 2011<br />
| title = Map Projections<br />
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]<br />
| image = map_projections.png<br />
| titletext = What's that? You think I don't like the Peters map because I'm uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged? Are you sure you're not... ::puts on sunglasses:: ...projecting?<br />
}}<br />
__TOC__<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Map projection}}, or how to represent the spherical Earth surface onto a flat support (paper, screen...) to have a usable map, is a long-time issue with very practical aspects (navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) as well as very scientific/mathematical ones, involving geometry or even abstract algebra among other things. There is no universal solution to this problem: Any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality. Many projections have been proposed in various contexts, each intending to minimize distortions for specific uses (for nautical navigation, for aerial navigation, for landmass size comparisons, etc.) but having drawbacks from other points of view. Some of them are more frequently used than others in mass media and therefore more well-known than others, some are purely historical and now deprecated, some are very obscure, etc.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] suggests here the idea that someone's "favorite" map projection can reveal aspects of their personality, then goes through a series of them to show what they can mean. <br />
<br />
He may actually believe that all map projections are in a way bad. This could be inferred from the fact that he much later began publishing a series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]], starting with [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]], which was Bad Map Projection #107 on his list, and was followed up by #79: [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]]. The projections below could be #1-#12 on that list, although the last one, where Randall hates those that love it, might be somewhat further down the list.<br />
<br />
===Mercator===<br />
[[File:MercatorProjection.jpg|frame|The Mercator projection]]<br />
The {{w|Mercator projection}} was introduced by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The main purpose of this map is to preserve compass bearings; for example 13 degrees east of north will be 13 degrees clockwise from the ray pointing toward the top of the map, at every point. A mathematical consequence is the mapping is conformal, i.e. if two roads meet at a certain angle on the surface of the Earth, they will meet at that same angle on the map. It also follows that at every point the vertical and horizontal scales are the same, so locally i.e. considering only a small part of the map, geographical features (shapes, angles) are well represented, which helps a lot in recognizing them on-the-field, or for local navigation in that small part only. For this reason, that projection (or a close variant) is used in several online mapping services, such as Google Maps, which means that it is frequently encountered by the general public. A straight line on the map corresponds to a course of constant bearing (direction), which was very useful for nautical navigation in the past (and thus made that projection very well-known).<br />
<br />
However, from a global point of view, this projection is radically incorrect in how it shows the size of landmasses (for instance, Antarctica and Greenland seem gigantic), and furthermore, it always excludes a small region around each pole (otherwise the map would be of infinite height), so it doesn't provide a complete solution for the problem of map projection. The comic implies that people who like that projection aren't very interested with map issues, and typically use what they are offered without thinking much about it.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Van der Grinten===<br />
[[File:VanDerGrintenProjection.jpg|frame|The Van der Grinten projection]]<br />
The {{w|Van der Grinten projection}} is not much better than the Mercator. It was adopted by {{w|National Geographic}} in 1922 and was used until they updated to the Robinson projection in 1988.<br />
<br />
The Van der Grinten projection is circular as opposed to the Mercator projection. The fictional person believes a circular map is more fitting to the real Earth's three-dimensional spherical nature because both are round. This belief fails to recognize that a two-dimensional circle has very little in common with the surface of a sphere, and thus this projection still causes a vast distortion of space and area. Because of this, Randall implies the Van der Grinten enthusiast to be optimistic and childishly simple-minded (e.g. "you like circles").<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Robinson===<br />
[[File:RobinsonProjection.jpg|frame|The Robinson projection]]<br />
The {{w|Robinson projection}} was developed by {{w|Arthur H. Robinson}} as a map that was supposed to look nice and is often used for classroom maps. National Geographic switched to this projection in 1988, and used it for ten years, switching to the {{w|Winkel tripel projection|Winkel-Tripel}} in 1998.<br />
<br />
{{w|The Beatles}} was a rock band that enjoyed great commercial success in the 1960s, and are widely considered the best act ever in the genre of popular music. The Beatles, coffee, and running shoes are all things that are very commonly enjoyed and largely uncontroversial, as well as being comforting. Liking these specific things suggests an ordinary, easygoing lifestyle paralleled by the projection.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Dymaxion===<br />
[[File:DymaxionProjection.jpg|frame|The Dymaxion projection]]<br />
Also called the Fuller Map, the {{w|Dymaxion map}} takes a sphere and projects it onto an icosahedron, that is a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. It is far easier to unwrap an icosahedron than it is to unwrap a sphere into a 2D object and has very little skewing of the poles. {{w|Buckminster Fuller}} was an eccentric futurist who believed, for example, that world maps should allow no conception of "up" or "down". He was therefore more than happy to defy people's expectations about maps in the pursuit of mathematical accuracy.<br />
<br />
Randall associates the projection to geek subculture and niche markets:<br />
*{{w|Isaac Asimov}} was an American science-fiction writer, who (as well as publishing many textbooks) is considered the father of the modern concept of robots. He invented the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}. He also worked on more than 500 books throughout his career.<br />
*{{w|XML}} is the eXtensible Markup Language. It is used to represent data in a format that machines can read and understand, as well as being human-readable. In practice, XML is cumbersome to read.<br />
*{{w|Vibram FiveFingers|Toed shoes}} are a [[1065: Shoes|favorite]] of Randall's to pick on. In society they are seen as a {{w|geek}} clothing item.<br />
*Brought to the world by {{w|Dean Kamen}}, the {{w|Segway PT}} was supposed to be a device that changed the way cities were built. In reality, most principalities have put in place rules specifically against Segways, making them a frustration to own and use within the law (in some states in Australia, it is illegal to use them on public footpaths or roads). Also, the former owner of {{w|Segway Inc.}}, the late {{w|Jimi Heselden}}, accidentally rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010.<br />
*At the time of comic release, 3D goggles, nowadays widely known as {{w|Virtual reality headset|VR headsets}}, were considered a gimmick at best. The original idea is as old as 3D graphics, but it never really took off until mid-2010s. Earlier products were very unwieldy and offered poor graphics quality, so no one took this technology seriously.<br />
*{{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} is an alternate keyboard layout to {{w|QWERTY}}. According to legend, QWERTY was invented to help keep manual typewriters from jamming (by placing the most used keys far from each other) but Dr. {{w|August Dvorak}} performed many studies and found the mathematically optimal keyboard layout to reduce finger travel for right handed typists. While some claim Dvorak is technically better than QWERTY, QWERTY had become the standard. All the keyboards were laid out in QWERTY format, and retraining the brain after becoming a touch typist is extremely difficult (although some software exists to make this learning process much easier). It has become a [[:Category:Dvorak|recurrent theme]] on xkcd.<br />
**It seems likely that Randall looked at this comic when he made the [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]], and given that he then released a comic about Dvorak, [[1787: Voice Commands]], the week after that, it seem like this old comic may also have inspired that Dvorak reference, see this [[1787: Voice Commands#Trivia|trivia item]].<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Winkel-Tripel===<br />
[[File:Winkel-TripelProjection.jpg|frame|The Winkel Tripel projection]]<br />
Proposed by Oswald Winkel in 1921, the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}} tried to reduce a set of three (German: Tripel) main problems with map projections: area, direction, and distance. The {{w|Kavrayskiy VII projection|Kavrayskiy projection}} is very similar to the Winkel Tripel and was used by the USSR, but very few in the Western world know of it.<br />
<br />
The comic links this projection to {{w|hipster}} subculture. The hipster stereotype is to avoid conforming to mainstream fashions. "Post-" refers to a variety of musical genres such as {{w|post-punk}}, {{w|post-grunge}}, {{w|post-minimalism}}, etc. that branch off of other genres.<br />
<br />
;Trivia<br />
In German "Winkel-Tripel-Projektion" means Winkel's triple projection, and therefore the hyphen shouldn't be there: "Winkel Tripel" or "Winkel tripel".<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Goode Homolosine===<br />
[[File:GoodeHomolosineProjection.jpg|frame|The Goode Homolosine projection]]<br />
The {{w|Goode homolosine projection}} takes a different approach to skewing a sphere into a roughly circular surface. An orange peel can be taken from an orange and flattened with fair success; this is roughly the procedure that {{w|John Paule Goode}} followed in creating this projection. Randall is suggesting that people who like this map also prefer relatively easy solutions to other things in life, despite those solutions having nuanced problems that are more difficult to address.<br />
<br />
Common people make arguments that if normal people would run the United States, then the US wouldn't be in the trouble it is. This is from the belief that career politicians are simply out to make money and will only act in the interest of their constituency when their continued easy life is threatened (usually around election time).<br />
<br />
Airline food is another, much maligned, problem. How do you store enough food to feed people on long airplane trips? What kind of food can be served in an enclosed, low-air-pressure environment? The common solution is to use some kind of prepackaged, reheated meal. Randall is saying that the people in favor of the Goode Homolosine wonder why the airlines don't simply order meals from the restaurants in the airport, store that food, and serve it, rather than using bland reheated food.<br />
<br />
Older cars burned oil like mad fiends, and oil back then would become corrosive to the innards of an engine, so oil had to be changed often. But, with the introduction of synthetic motor oil and better designed engines, new cars only need their oil changed about every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. A common conspiracy theory is that modern automobile oil manufacturers still recommend that car owners change their oil every 3,000-5,000 miles to "drum" up more business, even though that frequency is unnecessary.<br />
<br />
All of these references suggest that people who like the Goode Homolosine projection are fans of easy solutions to problems. However, the solutions would not necessarily work in practice. For instance: the restaurants might have trouble making enough food for the whole plane, and it could get cold before being served; the air conditions [http://www.nbcnews.com/health/one-reason-airline-food-so-bad-your-own-tastebuds-6C10823522 aboard planes] can affect taste, so airlines say they optimize for this; there is no such thing as a "normal" person, and if there were, he/she would have virtually no chance at actually getting into government office; and the Goode Homolosine projection, while mostly resembling a flattened orange peel as suggested by the earlier analogy, does indeed cut down on distortion, but also has serious problems of its own, such as leaving huge gaps of nothingness between the continents, making distances across the oceans difficult to visualize.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Hobo–Dyer===<br />
[[File:Hobo-DyerProjection.jpg|frame|The Hobo–Dyer projection]]<br />
The {{w|Hobo–Dyer projection}} was commissioned by Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein and was drafted by Mick Dyer in 2002. It is a modified {{w|Behrmann projection}}. The goal was to be a more visually pleasing version of the Gall–Peters.<br />
<br />
As is discussed in the Gall–Peters explanation, the Gall–Peters was developed to be equal area, so that economically disadvantaged areas can at least take comfort in the fact that their country is represented correctly by area on maps.<br />
<br />
Randall associates the Hobo–Dyer projection to "crunchy granola" — a stereotype associated with vegetarianism, environmental activism, anti-war activism, liberal political leanings, and some traces of {{w|hippie}} culture.<br />
<br />
With feminism becoming mainstream and alternative genders being more widely accepted, some have begun to invent gender-neutral pronouns so that when referring to a person whose gender is not known they cannot be offended by being referred to by the wrong pronouns. In {{w|Middle English}} 'they' and 'their' were accepted gender-less pronouns that could replace 'he', 'she' as well as be used to represent a crowd, but this usage is considered by some to be grammatically incorrect because of the plural/singular debate ([http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0033-hisher.htm stupid Victorian Grammarians!]). None of the {{w|gender-neutral pronoun#Invented pronouns|many attempts at popularizing invented gender-neutral pronouns}} have achieved any degree of success in the mainstream.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Plate Carrée===<br />
[[File:PlateCarreeProjection.jpg|frame|The Plate Carrée projection]]<br />
Also known as the {{w|Equirectangular projection}}, it has been in use since, apparently, 100 AD. The benefit of this projection is that latitude and longitude can be used as x,y coordinates. This makes it especially easy for computers to graph data on top of it.<br />
<br />
According to the comic, the projection appeals to people who find much beauty in simplicity.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===A Globe!===<br />
[[File:GlobeProjection.jpg|frame|The Globe "projection"]]<br />
In any good discussion there has to be at least one smart-ass. This is a comic about map projections, that is, the science of taking a sphere and flattening it into 2 dimensions. The smart-ass believes that we shouldn't even try: a sphere is, tautologically, the perfect representation of a sphere.<br />
<br />
To quote ''{{w|The Princess Bride}}'': "Yes, you're very smart. Shut up."<br />
<br />
A globe is, of course, the "map projection" used by {{w|Google Earth}}, and recently by other mapping software as computers and phones get increasingly powerful 3D graphics.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Waterman butterfly===<br />
[[File:WatermanButterflyProjection.jpg|frame|The Waterman Butterfly projection]]<br />
Similar to the Dymaxion, the {{w|Waterman butterfly projection}} turns a sphere into an octahedron, and then unfolds the net of the octahedron, which was devised by mathematician {{w|Waterman polyhedron|Steve Waterman}} based upon the work of {{w|Bernard J.S. Cahill}}.<br />
<br />
Bernard Cahill published a [http://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html butterfly map] in 1909. Steve Waterman probably has the only extant "ready to go" map following the same general principles, though Gene Keys may not be far behind. Waterman has a poem with graphics in a similar vein to this xkcd comic that is worth reading.[http://web.archive.org/web/20120118095915/http://watermanpolyhedron.com/worldmap.html]<br />
<br />
[http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/ProjPoly/projPoly2.html Polyhedral projections] like Cahill, Dymaxion or Waterman typically offer better accuracy of size, shape and area than flat projections, at the expense of compass directionality, connectedness, and other complications.<br />
<br />
The joke is that the person responding deeply understands map projections; anyone who knows of this projection is a person that Randall would like to get to know.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Peirce quincuncial===<br />
[[File:PeirceQuincuncialProjection.jpg|frame|The Peirce Quincuncial projection]]<br />
The {{w|Peirce quincuncial projection}} was devised by {{w|Charles Sanders Peirce}} in 1879 and uses {{w|complex analysis}} to make a {{w|conformal mapping}} of the Earth, that conforms except for four points which would make up the midpoints of sides and lie on equator (the equator is represented by a square and the corners connect the sides in the middle.)<br />
<br />
{{w|Inception}} was a 2010 movie about {{w|meta}} {{w|lucid dream}}ing. It has a complex story that is difficult to follow and leaves the viewer with many questions at the end, and almost needs to be watched multiple times to be understood.<br />
<br />
The human brain is not well developed to deal with oddly obvious things. One example is that everyone has a skeleton, but everyone is surprised to see a part of their body represented by an X-ray. Another is the fascinating complexity of the human hand, a machine which is amazingly complex, driven by a complex interplay of electrical and chemical signals; yet is the size of the hand and so useful. A fascination with or fixation on [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ContemplatingYourHands such thoughts] is often associated with an altered state of mind brought on by marijuana consumption. Therefore, Randall may be implying that this map would appeal to stoners.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Gall–Peters===<br />
[[File:Gall-PetersProjection.jpg|frame|The Gall–Peters projection]]<br />
The {{w|Gall–Peters projection}} is mired in controversy, surprising for a map. {{w|James Gall}}, a 19th-century clergyman, presented this projection in 1855 before the {{w|British Association for the Advancement of Science}}. In 1967, the filmmaker {{w|Arno Peters}} created the same projection and presented it to the world as a "new invention" that put poorer, less powerful countries into their rightful proportions (as opposed to the Mercator). Peters played the marketing game and got quite a few followers of his map by saying it had "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and was "totally distance-factual" in an age when society was very concerned about social justice. All of these claims were in fact false. The Mercator projection distorts size in favor of shape, and Gall-Peters distorts shape in favor of size, being especially inaccurate at the equator and the poles.<br />
<br />
Anyone who loves such a politically charged map that has become popular by way of marketing stunts, Randall would rather not have anything to do with.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Title text===<br />
The title text makes a joke that goes to the familiar meme from ''{{w|CSI: Miami}}'', in which the star, David Caruso starts a sentence, then puts on his sunglasses and ends the sentence with a corny pun. In this case, the pun is on {{w|map projection}} and {{w|projection (psychology)|projection}} in psychology. Psychological projection is an unconscious defense mechanism wherein a person who is uncomfortable with their own impulses denies having them and attributes them to other people, and blames these people for these impulses. The Sunglasses internet meme has been used [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|in other comics]] as well.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:What your favorite<br />
:'''Map Projection'''<br />
:says about you<br />
:[All of these are organized as Title, a copy of the particular projection underneath, and what it says about you under that.]<br />
<br />
:*Mercator<br />
:**You're not really into maps.<br />
:*Van der Grinten<br />
:**You're not a complicated person. You love the Mercator projection; you just wish it weren't square. The Earth's not a square, it's a circle. You like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!<br />
:*Robinson<br />
:**You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy The Beatles. You think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.<br />
:*Dymaxion<br />
:**You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. You own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. You type in Dvorak.<br />
:*Winkel-Tripel<br />
:**National Geographic adopted the Winkel-Tripel in 1998, but you've been a W-T fan since ''long'' before "Nat Geo" showed up. You're worried it's getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavrayskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is "Post–".<br />
:*Goode Homolosine<br />
:**They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems enough to you. You like easy solutions.You think we wouldn't have so many problems if we'd just elect ''normal'' people to Congress instead of Politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve ''that'' on board. You change your car's oil, but secretly wonder if you really ''need'' to.<br />
:*Hobo-Dyer<br />
:**You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you've heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You're conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.<br />
:*Plate Carrée <small>(Equirectangular)</small><br />
:**You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.<br />
:*A Globe!<br />
:**Yes, you're very clever.<br />
:*Waterman Butterfly<br />
:**Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it's based— ...You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa. ...Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?<br />
:*Peirce Quincuncial<br />
:**You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw ''Inception'', you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You ''have'' really looked at your hands.<br />
:*Gall-Peters<br />
:**I ''hate'' you.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Dvorak]]<br />
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2057:_Internal_Monologues&diff=1640282057: Internal Monologues2018-10-11T18:31:27Z<p>172.69.33.149: Added relevant cross ref to 2020: Voting Software</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2057<br />
| date = October 10, 2018<br />
| title = Internal Monologues<br />
| image = internal_monologues.png<br />
| titletext = Haha, just kidding, everyone's already been hacked. I wonder if today's the day we find out about it.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by the internal monologue of someone full of poop (among other things). Please edit the thoughts below until complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comics look at what a typical thought could be for people belonging to different fields of science. In some way this comic has a similar setup to some other kinds of thoughts between such scientific fields presented in [[435: Purity]]. But this comics monologues are not ranked against each other (and it is also not the same fields, except physics, which is represented by [[Cueball]] in both comics).<br />
<br />
Many of the things we take for granted every day are, in fact, very weird, as are some of the things that we normally never think of. But if you are into a given field of science, you will often have to think about some of these strange phenomenon and this could make you pause to think about it on a daily basis.<br />
<br />
[[Megan]] as a botanist is struck by the fact that trees are made in part from air, as in the carbon dioxide they consume. [[Cueball]], the physicist, finds it weird that he can feel the gravity between an object in his hand (his phone) and the Earth. [[Blondie]] in charge of computer security, wonders when everyone will gets hacked, collapsing our society. [[Hairy]] is a graphic designer who ponders over which fonts stores use for their sign, particularly why it used the font used in the ''Law & Order'' TV series. And finally, [[Ponytail]], studying medicine, has a hard time understanding why people act normally when we are all full of blood, bones, and poop.<br />
<br />
Below the different fields thoughts are explained in detail.<br />
<br />
If [[Randall]] had included geologists in this comic, this comic, [[913: Core]], would probably explain what they would be thinking about.<br />
<br />
In the title text Randall makes a joke regarding Blondie's thoughts. We have already all been hacked... So she would instead wonder when everyone finds out about it.<br />
<br />
=== Botany ===<br />
Most of the mass of trees is extracted from the air. [http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/greatmomentsinscience/trees-are-made-from-air/9675642#transcript] More precisely: The bulk of the mass of a tree is composed of cellulose and water. Cellulose is a polysaccharide, a large molecule consisting of many glucose molecules bonded together. Plants make those glucose molecules through photosynthesis: they make them by combining water and carbon dioxide molecules using the energy from sunlight. Plants get the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and arguably the water also as it usually comes from rain which is condensed water vapor.<br />
<br />
=== Physics ===<br />
{{w|Gravity}} is one of the four fundamental forces of physics. In everyday experience, most people tend to think of gravity merely as a pervasive downward force, but as a physicist, Cueball is more aware that in fact, all gravitational forces are mutual; any pair of objects will exert an equal and opposite gravitational force on each other, regardless of how big they are. Therefore, he is correct in saying that his phone and the Earth are being "pulled together", and finds it remarkable that he is able to sense this interaction between two objects of such an astronomically disparate size.<br />
<br />
=== Computer Security ===<br />
Anyone well versed in computer security understands just how insecure the systems that we depend on actually are.<br />
<br />
In the title text it is noted that possibly all our systems are already hacked, and we just haven't found out yet. Since malicious hackers do their work covertly, a successful hack often isn't discovered until days, week, or even years later. By that time they may have successfully hacked many other systems using the same techniques and/or exploiting the same widely unknown or un-patched security flaws. Some recent high profile hacks recently discovered, at the time of this posting, include a [https://securitytoday.com/articles/2018/10/02/facebook-hacked-50-million-users-data-exposed.aspx 50-million user hack of Facebook] and Google+ announcing they are [https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/project-strobe/ shutting down the consumer side of Google+], in part due to a security flaw that was discovered and patched months ago. Randall gave a similar message about voting software security in [[2030: Voting Software]].<br />
<br />
=== Graphic Design ===<br />
{{w|Graphic designer}}s recognize fonts and design elements, and see how they come together. In this comic, the graphic designer wonders how the ''{{w|Law & Order}}'' font was chosen for a particular storefront's sign. ''Law & Order'' is a police procedural TV series created by Dick Wolf in 1990, which has had various spinoffs. The font used for the title sequence of ''Law & Order'' is called {{w|Friz Quadrata}}, and is also the font used for the signage of the New York Police Department headquarters.<br />
<br />
=== Medicine ===<br />
Doctors are well versed in human anatomy, and are likely to think about what is inside of people more than the average person would. And most people would actually like not to think about all the blood and bones we are all carrying around with us. Not to mention the poop or the contents of our stomach that could be considered vomit or the pee etc.<br />
<br />
Most people do not think about that the person next to them is actually a skeleton packed in meat and animated by electricity... But Ponytail does, because she is being exposed to this fact all the time through her study of Medicine.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Beneath a two line caption are five characters shown, with their thoughts inside thoughts bubbles. Below them are labels giving their respective fields of science.]<br />
:<big>Internal Monologues</big><br />
:from various fields<br />
<br />
:Botany<br />
:Megan: I can't get over the fact that trees are made of air.<br />
<br />
:Physics<br />
:Cueball [looking at a phone in his hand]: It's so weird that I can feel the Earth and my phone being pulled together.<br />
<br />
:Computer security<br />
:Blondie: I wonder if today will be the day everyone gets hacked and it all finally collapses.<br />
<br />
:Graphic design<br />
:Hairy: I wonder how that store ended up with the Law & Order font for their sign.<br />
<br />
:Medicine<br />
:Ponytail: We're all acting normal even though we're full of blood and bones and poop.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2053:_Incoming_Calls&diff=1635042053: Incoming Calls2018-10-01T16:57:44Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ link</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2053<br />
| date = October 1, 2018<br />
| title = Incoming Calls<br />
| image = incoming_calls.png<br />
| titletext = I wonder if that friendly lady ever fixed the problem she was having with her headset.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows a graph of incoming phone calls over time, which Randall also labels as "why I finally stopped picking up for unknown numbers". <br />
<br />
Over time, Randall's friends and family have been less likely to make phone calls to him, likely due to the use of text messages and other messaging apps. Additionally, although there was a large percentage of phone calls from legal {{w|Telemarketing|telemarketers}}s in the 1990s, this percentage has significantly dropped, most likely due to the creation of the {{w|National Do Not Call Registry}}, which allows individuals and families in the United States to register phone numbers that are exempt from telemarketers. Instead, there has been a rise in phone calls from {{w|Phone fraud|scammers}} and political advertisements. Even if a phone number is registered on the National Do Not Call Registry, they may still receive phone calls from political organizations. It is implied that the latter two groups have caused Randall to stop answering phone calls from unknown numbers.<br />
<br />
The title text is a [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/beware-new-can-you-hear-me-scam/ reference to a scam] where the line would be silent, followed by a recording of a woman saying she was having trouble with her headset and then asking "Can you hear me now?" This was allegedly an attempt to record the target's voice saying "yes" and then using it to claim the target had agreed to a purchase.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2053:_Incoming_Calls&diff=1634992053: Incoming Calls2018-10-01T16:48:02Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2053<br />
| date = October 1, 2018<br />
| title = Incoming Calls<br />
| image = incoming_calls.png<br />
| titletext = I wonder if that friendly lady ever fixed the problem she was having with her headset.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows a graph of incoming phone calls over time, which Randall also labels as "why I finally stopped picking up for unknown numbers". <br />
<br />
Over time, Randall's friends and family have been less likely to make phone calls to him, likely due to the use of text messages and other messaging apps. Additionally, although there was a large percentage of phone calls from legal telemarketers in the 1990s, this percentage has significantly dropped, most likely due to the creation of the {{w|National Do Not Call Registry}}. Instead, there has been a rise in phone calls from {{w|Phone fraud|scammers}} and political advertisements. It is implied that the latter two groups have caused Randall to stop answering the phone for unknown numbers.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2052:_Stanislav_Petrov_Day&diff=1634172052: Stanislav Petrov Day2018-09-28T16:43:11Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ copyedit</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2052<br />
| date = September 28, 2018<br />
| title = Stanislav Petrov Day<br />
| image = stanislav_petrov_day.png<br />
| titletext = I was going to get you an alarm clock that occasionally goes off randomly in the middle of the night, but you can ignore it and go back to sleep and it's fine.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{w|Stanislav Petrov|Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov}} (Russian: Станисла́в Евгра́фович Петро́в; 7 September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who became known as "the man who single-handedly saved the world from nuclear war" for his role in the {{w|1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident}}.<br />
<br />
On 26 September 1983, during the Cold War, the nuclear early-warning system of the Soviet Union reported the launch of multiple intercontinental ballistic missiles from the United States.<br />
<br />
Stanislav Petrov ignored it, assuming it was a false alarm. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack, which would have probably resulted in immediate escalation of the Cold War stalemate to a full-scale nuclear war. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had indeed malfunctioned.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to how Stanislav Petrov ignored the warning, and tells how Cueball was going to create a alarm that goes off randomly at night, but, like Petrov, you could just ignore it.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Megan is looking at her phone while Cueball stands in front of her]<br />
:Megan: Hey, Wednesday was Stanislav Petrov day. We missed it.<br />
:Cueball: Oh, shoot! I got a calendar alert for it, but I assumed it was a false alarm.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2049:_Unfulfilling_Toys&diff=1630602049: Unfulfilling Toys2018-09-21T19:20:26Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Rigid Slap Bracelet */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2049<br />
| date = September 21, 2018<br />
| title = Unfulfilling Toys<br />
| image = unfulfilling_toys.png<br />
| titletext = We were going to do a falling-apart Rubik's cube that was just 27 independent blocks stuck together with magnets, but then we realized it was actually really cool and even kind of worked, so we cut that one.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a Stretch Armstrong made out of hard plastic. Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic lists and illustrates a number of classic toys that are missing a key piece or attribute that makes them work and/or that makes them unique. As such, they are not much fun{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
====Rigid Slap Bracelet====<br />
Slap Bracelets are flexible bars that when you hit them on your arm they twist and become a bracelet. A rigid one would not twist and would be deeply frustrating.<br />
<br />
====Sealed Stomp Rocket====<br />
A stomp rocket has a rubber pouch full of air, connected via a hose to a cylinder containing a tightly-fitting rocket on a stick. By stomping on the pouch, the air is forced into the cylinder launching the rocket into the air. By sealing the air channel, the rocket would stay in the cylinder and the person would just be bounced into the air by the pouch -- acting like the world's smallest bouncy house -- or the pouch will burst rending the toy even more useless.<br />
<br />
====Pump-only Supersoaker====<br />
A supersoaker is a water gun that works by first pumping air into the gun, which introduces air pressure next to the water, then releasing the water using the gun's trigger -- the extra pressure from the pumped air makes the water go much further than a regular water gun. In this version, the water cannot be released, so the fun part of the water gun -- getting to spray your friends -- isn't there.<br />
<br />
====Glass Glow Stick====<br />
<br />
In a classic glow-stick, made of flexible plastic, one much first bend it enough to break the glass cylinder inside. This allows the chemicals inside to mix and begin glowing within the plastic tube. If the entire tube were made of actual glass, however, it would not only shatter into many sharp glass pieces, but would also cover the hands of the unfortunate user with a mixture of harmful chemicals.<br />
<br />
====Wingless Sky Dancer====<br />
<br />
In the traditional toy, a doll or figure with folded-up wings sits on top of a hand-held device with a wrapped string or other mechanism that lets it spin the doll very fast. As the doll spins, centripetal force causes the wings to unfold and provide lift, and the doll rises up in the air and flies, spinning, sometimes going quite high. Without the wings, the doll will spin but otherwise remain flightless.<br />
<br />
====No-strings-attached Yo-yo====<br />
In a traditional yo-yo, one attaches a string to their finger and the other end of the string is loosely attached to the yo-yo, such that it will hold the yo-yo but the yo-yo can still spin. In this case, the string is included but not attached to the yo-yo, so the yo-yo, when it reaches the end of the string, will keep going instead of coming back to the person or spinning at the end of the string.<br />
<br />
This one actually exists and some people are even quite good at it. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5P-fdrlBg8 for example.<br />
====Title-text: Falling-Apart Rubik's cube====<br />
In order to build the magnetic Rubik's cube, you would need to embed magnets (like the little hockey-puck shaped ones for magnetic bulletin boards) in the the uncolored (inward-facing) sides of each cube. You would need to take care to have the correct pole of each magnet facing outward in order for it to work, but you can achieve that by having the corners and the central outside cubes use one pole (say north) facing outward and have the edge and center (hidden) cube use the other pole (say south) facing outward. In that way each piece would be attracted to its correct neighboring piece and if you rotated a side, it would resist turning until you got half way around, then it would be drawn into the correct new position.<br />
<br />
This also exists, is rather functional, and is the only way to make fun Rubik's cube shapes such as 1x5x5.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1253:_Exoplanet_Names&diff=1624251253: Exoplanet Names2018-09-07T13:43:40Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1253<br />
| date = August 19, 2013<br />
| title = Exoplanet Names<br />
| image = exoplanet names.png<br />
| titletext = If you have any ideas, I hear you can send them to <nowiki>iaupublic@iap.fr</nowiki>.<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
On the 14th August 2013, the {{w|International Astronomical Union}} (IAU) [http://www.iau.org/science/news/179/ issued a document] about public naming of astronomical objects. It stated, "IAU fully supports the involvement of the general public, whether directly or through an independent organized vote, in the naming of planetary satellites, newly discovered planets, and their host stars."<br />
<br />
The text above the image states the fact above and then notes that the IAU immediately regret this decision. As we can see from [[Cueball|Cueball's]] question, from [[Ponytail|Ponytail's]] facepalm, and the fact that even [[Megan]] is speechless, the suggestions are appalling. It becomes even worse when [[Hairbun]] tells them that an automatic filter has already been applied to the results, one designed to remove inappropriate entries that don't meet certain criteria. This implies that the list would have been even worse if presented in its unfiltered form (as seen below in the table).<br />
<br />
The naming document also contained, amongst other things, guidelines that suggested names should meet. These include stipulations such as "16 characters or less", "preferably one word", being "pronounceable (in as many languages as possible)", "not too similar to an existing name of an astronomical object", avoiding commercial names, and being "respectful of intellectual property". If we go down the list, we can see that many of [[Randall|Randall's]] suggestions do indeed violate the guidelines. Which is part of the joke as it reflects the tendency of internet submissions to ignore such softly suggested guidelines.<br />
<br />
The randomness and inappropriateness of the suggested names reflects the commonly expected response from anonymous submitters on the internet. Many forums and contests that call for online response and do not apply strict control over the responses receive similar collections of random, inappropriate and obscure submissions that are often only tangentially related to the original subject. For example, Greenpeace held a naming contest for one of the whales recently tagged in their research and preservation campaign and even after selecting the finalists the online voting resulted in naming the whale "Mr. Splashypants". PepsiCo had even less restrictive controls in their marketing campaign that asked the internet to name a new flavour of Mountain Dew. They had to shut down the contest in order to avoid naming the new beverage "Hitler did nothing wrong" which was the current leader at the time and only marginally the most inappropriate of the top ten voted suggestions. Even more recently is the case of {{w|Boaty McBoatface}}, in which the internet decided to dub a British research vessel "Boaty McBoatface". The boast was given the name {{w|RRS Sir David Attenborough}} in the end, with its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle being called "Boaty McBoatface."<br />
<br />
The document also states that naming suggestions may be sent to the email that Randall included in the title text.<br />
<br />
This comic was updated in [[1555: Exoplanet Names 2]].<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Star !! Planet !! Suggested Name !! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=7 | {{w|Gliese 667}} || {{w|Gliese 667 Cb|b}} || Space Planet || A very unoriginal name; every planet is in space.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cc|c}} || PILF || Pun of {{w|MILF pornography|MILF}}, i.e. ''Planet I'd Like to Fuck''. Planet c is a relatively hot planet, within the habitable zone.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cd|d}} || A Star || "A {{w|Star}}" is obviously a bad name for a planet. A* (pronounced "A star") is already used in in astronomy, for example the Milky Way's black hole core is {{w|Sagittarius A*}}. "A star" is also the name for the character {{w|asterisk}} and the name of the popular {{w|A* search algorithm}} in computer science.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese 667 Ce|e}} || e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;-- || A reference to {{w|SQL injection}}, riffing off of [[327|comic 327]], which featured a schoolboy named <code>[[Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--]]</code>. The idea here is that the IAU would enter the name into their system and promptly lose all of their data pertaining to planets. Note that Planet e is located in the habitable zone of the star system.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cf|f}} || Blogosphere || rowspan = 2 | Weird ''{{w|blog}}''-related terms are a recurring theme in xkcd. See, for instance, [[181|comic 181]].<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cg|g}} || Blogodrome<br />
|-<br />
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_667c_h/ h] || Earth || Planet candidate h is about the mass of the Earth, and described as "tantalizing": [http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2013/08/aa21331-13/aa21331-13.html A dynamically-packed planetary system around GJ with three super-Earths in its habitable zone]. See also ([[1231: Habitable Zone]]).<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Tau Ceti}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_b/ b] || Sid Meier's Tau&nbsp;Ceti&nbsp;B || This refers to the game {{w|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri}}.<br />
|-<br />
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_c/ c] || Giant Dog Planet || {{w|VY Canis Majoris}} is one of the largest known stars at our galaxy and belongs to the constellation {{w|Canis Major}}, Latin for "greater dog". The constellation further contains {{w|Sirius}}, the brightest star in the night sky, also called "Dog Star".<br />
|-<br />
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_d/ d] || Tiny Dog Planet || cf. {{w|Canis Minor}}, Latin for "lesser dog", another constellation.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Tau Ceti e|e}} || Phil Plainet || A reference to {{w|Phil Plait}}, a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Tau Ceti f|f}} || Unicode Snowman || The Unicode character <span style="font-size: 200%">☃</span> may be a reference to the planet's estimated surface temperature of -40&nbsp;°C (-40&nbsp;°F). However, this name would be pronounced differently (being a symbol, not a word or name) in different languages. Planets in our solar system are assigned to {{w|Astronomical symbols|astronomical symbols}} like <span style="font-size:150%">&#x2641;</span> for Earth or <span style="font-size:150%">&#x2642;</span> for Mars. (A unicode snowman is also referenced in Randall's book ''What If'', where it is keymapped to a laptop.)<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Gliese 832}} || {{w|Gliese 832 b|b}} || Asshole Jupiter || This massive planet orbits a {{w|red dwarf}} star at the longest known period of 3416 days at this category.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=6 | {{w|Gliese 581}} || {{w|Gliese 581 b|b}} || Waist-deep Cats || {{w|Waist Deep}} is an action film from 2006, and the {{w|Lolcat}} meme does not need explaining. The name may also simply be a reference to being "waist-deep" in (i.e. surrounded by many) cats.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Gliese|c}} || Planet #14 || About 200th discovered exoplanet (in 2007); reported to be the first potentially Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its star, though that is in doubt now. The joke might be that like "Space Planet", "Planet #14" is a generic and unoriginal name. Also note that this is the 15th entry in the table so the numbering is {{w|Zero-based_numbering|zero-based}}.<br />
An interesting (?) coincidence is that the 14th and 15th {{w|Definition of planet#Minor planets|Minor planets}} (then called asteroids) were discovered in 1851; see see {{w|List of minor planets: 1–1000}}. If they were to be counted among the planets of the {{w|Solar System}}, as was sometimes done then, the 14th known planetary body would be {{w| 7 Iris|Iris}} (discovered in 1847, a year before {{w|Neptune}}).<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese 581 d|d}} || Ballderaan || A {{w|wikt:balls|crude pun}} on the planet {{w|Alderaan}} from the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese 581 e|e}} || Eternia Prime || {{w|Eternia}} is a fictional planet, venue of the ''{{w|Masters of the Universe}}'' animated series and toy collection.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Gliese 581 f|f}} || Taupe Mars || {{w|Kim Stanley Robinson}}'s award-winning {{w|Mars trilogy}} (''Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars'' after various stages of {{w|terraformation}}). {{w|Taupe}} is a brownish-grey colour.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese|g}} || Jelly-Filled Planet || Possibly a reference to the conjecture that this tidally locked planet has an isolated habitable zone under the substellar point, akin to the pocket of jelly in a jelly doughnut.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Epsilon Eridani}} || {{w|Epsilon Eridani b|b}} || Skydot || [http://skydot.lanl.gov SkyDOT] is the Sky Database for Objects in Time-Domain run by {{w|LANL}} for the {{w|U.S. Dept. of Energy}} and includes data for [http://skydot.lanl.gov/nsvs/star.php?num=14831575&mask=32004 Epsilon Eridani] that can be used to constrain the orbital parameters of &epsilon; Eri b. It may also refer to how objects in space may appear as bland, bright dots in the night sky.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Epsilon Eridani c#Planet_c|c}} || Laser Noises || A {{w|Laser}} does not produce {{w|Noise (electronics)|noise}} in the signal sense; it only works at a well defined frequency. In science fiction films, however, laser weapon discharges are usually accompanied by sound ("pew pew" or the like). Sun-like Epsilon Eridani became a popular setting for science fiction after its publicity as a target of the {{w|Project Ozma}} experiment.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 176}} || {{w|Gliese 176 b|b}} || Pandora || The mythological name {{w|Pandora}} fulfills most of IAU's guidelines and has been popular for planets in science fiction; most recently and famously is {{w|Pandora (Avatar)|the venue}} of James Cameron's ''{{w|Avatar (film)|Avatar}}'' (although actually it is not a planet but just a moon of a gas giant in Alfa Centauri A). It is also a hellish planet from {{w|Frank Herbert}}'s {{w|Frank Herbert bibliography#WorShip novels|WorShip}} series of novels, a jungle planet in Brothers Strugatsky's {{w|Noon Universe}} and the planet used in {{w|Borderlands (video game)|Borderlands Games}}.<br />
|-<br />
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_176_c/ c] || Pantera || Named for the {{w|Pantera|heavy metal band}}, which itself was named after an Italian sports car, the {{w|De Tomaso Pantera}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Kepler-61 || {{w|Kepler-61b|b}} || GoldenPalace.com || A gambling website, known for {{w|GoldenPalace.com|paying to have their name in unusual places}} (like forehead tattoos, species names...).<br />
|-<br />
! colspan=4 | (right column)<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=3 | {{w|Upsilon Andromedae}} || {{w|Upsilon Andromedae c|c}} || Stampy || The name of the elephant from the {{w|Simpsons}} episode {{w|Bart Gets an Elephant}}.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae d|d}} || Moonchild || The name Bastian gives the Childlike Empress in {{w|The Neverending Story}}.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae e|e}} || Ham Sphere || [http://www.hamsphere.com HamSphere] is a {{w|Amateur radio|Ham Radio}} simulator program. Ham radio uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages and more. A pun of Hemisphere.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=3 | {{w|. Eridani|HD 20794}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_b/ b] || Cosmic Sands || style="font-family:'Comic Sans MS', 'Comic Sans'" | A {{w|pun}} on the name of the font {{w|Comic Sans}}. (<span style="font-family:papyrus">See also: [[590|590: Papyrus]].</span>)<br />
|-<br />
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_c/ c] || Legoland || {{w|Legoland}} is a chain of {{w|theme park}}s owned by the {{w|Lego Group}}.<br />
|-<br />
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_d/ d] || Planet with Arms || A reference to the [http://web.archive.org/web/20160119111332/http://www.thecolorsofmysoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy.jpg early covers] of {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}? Could also be a reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/birds-with-arms "Birds with Arms" meme].<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|HD 85512}} || {{w|HD 85512 b|b}} || Lax Morality || Possibly a parody of science fiction in which certain planets are suggested to be uniformly... lax in morals (i.e. full of sex, drugs, etc.). See http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Planetville and related.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=6 | {{w|HD 40307}} || {{w|HD 40307 b|b}} || Good Planet || Similar to the above, except with good planets. May also be yet another non-descriptive name, like "Space Planet" and "Planet #14".<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|HD|c}} || ProblemLand || See above.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|HD 40307 d|d}} || Slickle || This is a reference to "[http://zdarsky.tumblr.com/post/2837139960 The Petals Fall Twice]", which was made as a humorous example of bad fan-fiction. The word itself is a portmanteau of "slowly", "licked", and "tickled".<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|HD 40307 e|e}} || Spare Parts || This suggests that the planet is "worthless" or "junk". This is false, of course. May be a reference to the fact it is a planet with nothing much different from the other planets.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|HD 40307 f|f}} || New Jersey VI || Refers to the state of {{w|New Jersey}}; may be an insult to either.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|HD|g}} || How Do I Join the&nbsp;IAU || This implies that the user "got lost" on the IAU website and thought that the "planet name suggestion" input was for general queries.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=3 | {{w|Gliese 163}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_b/ b] || Neil Tyson's Mustache || {{w|Neil deGrasse Tyson}} is a famous American astrophysicist and science communicator who does maintain a distinguished mustache.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Gliese|c}} || help@gmail.com || Similar to "How Do I Join the IAU", this implies that the user confused the "planet suggestion" text box for a new email they are trying to send<br />
|-<br />
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_d/ d] || Hair-Covered Planet || Refers to the well-known {{w|Hairy ball theorem}} of topology.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Pi Mensae}} || {{w|Pi Mensae b|b}} || Moon Holder || {{w|Jupiter}} has more than 60 discovered moons, and still counting... A planet ten times more massive ''must'' also be a Moon Holder.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|HD 189733}} || {{w|HD 189733 b|b}} || Permadeath || A well-characterized "{{w|Hot Jupiter}}" at a temperature range of 973 ± 33 K to 1,212 ± 11 K. The name refers to the feature of {{w|Permanent death}} common in many RPGs and roguelikes.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Kepler-22}} || {{w|Kepler-22 b|b}} || Blue Ivy || Blue Ivy Carter is the daughter of musicians {{w|Beyoncé}} and {{w|Jay-Z}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Kepler-3284 || b || Blainsley || A very small town in the United Kingdom, south of Edinburgh. Possibly chosen due to its insignificance?<br />
|-<br />
| Kepler-3255 || b || Unicorn Thresher || As far as we can tell, Kepler-3255b is in the vicinity of the constellation Monoceros, aka the Unicorn. Also a pun on {{w|Threshing machine|corn thresher}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Kepler-2418 || b || Spherical Discworld || {{w|The Discworld}} is the fictional setting for British author {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s {{w|Discworld}} series of humorous fantasy novels; it consists of a large disc supported by four elephants themselves standing on top of a turtle flying through space. "Spherical Disc" would be an oxymoron.<br />
|-<br />
| Kepler-1686 || {{w|KOI-1686.01|b}} || Emergency Backup Earth || This candidate planet has an {{w|Earth Similarity Index}} of 0.89, making it one of the most habitable {{w|Kepler object of interest}}. The name suggests that it could be used as a backup in case something happened to our current planet.<br />
|-<br />
| Kepler-3010 || b || Feeeoooooooop || Possibly the onomatopoeia for something getting sucked into a black hole.<br />
|-<br />
| Kepler-4742 || b || Liz || ...Just a regular name (for a person, not a planet). Maybe a reference to the pet lizard on the Magic School Bus. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Text above the first frame of the comic:]<br />
::August 2013:<br />
:The International Astronomical Union <br />
:decides to start naming exoplanets,<br />
:and—for the first time ever—asks for <br />
:suggestions from the general public.<br />
:::They immediately regret this decision.<br />
:[Ponytail is facepalming while Megan and Cueball are looking at a computer screen on a desk. Hairbun points to the screen.]<br />
:Cueball: Can't you filter out the worst ones?<br />
:Hairbun: This is '''''after''''' the filter!<br />
<br />
:[Below is a table showing the list of planet names as seen on the computer screen with gray background around the edges of the table.]<br />
<br />
:[The table is in two separate columns, but there is only headings over the left, so the right column is a direct continuation of the left. In the table it is mentioned when the right column begins. There is a small arrow pointing from the word "Planet" down to the second column of the table. The headings in the comic are not inside the table as they are here below. The text at the bottom of the left list seems to continue on below, at least the last entry is cut below the middle, although it is still easy to read. Similarly the text at the top right list, seems to continue from above, the top entry missing the very top of the text. This is as if the list is much longer and here is just shown part of the list. To further indicate this the first entry in the right list begins at "c" instead of at "b" which is else the case for all other instances.]<br />
<br />
:{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Star !! Planet !! Suggested Name<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=7 |Gliese 667||b||Space Planet<br />
|-<br />
|c||PILF<br />
|-<br />
|d||A Star<br />
|-<br />
|e||e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--<br />
|-<br />
|f||Blogosphere<br />
|-<br />
|g||Blogodrome<br />
|-<br />
|h||Earth<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan=5 |Tau Ceti||b||Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B<br />
|-<br />
|c||Giant Dog Planet<br />
|-<br />
|d||Tiny Dog Planet<br />
|-<br />
|e||Phil Plainet<br />
|-<br />
|f||Unicode Snowman<br />
|-<br />
|Gliese 832||b||Asshole Jupiter<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan= 6|Gliese 581||b||Waist-deep Cats<br />
|-<br />
|c||Planet #14<br />
|-<br />
|d||Ballderaan<br />
|-<br />
|e||Eternia Prime<br />
|-<br />
|f||Taupe Mars<br />
|-<br />
|g||Jelly-Filled Planet<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan= 2|Epsilon Eridani||b||Skydot<br />
|-<br />
|c||Laser Noises<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan= 2|Gliese 176||b||Pandora<br />
|-<br />
|c||Pantera<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-61||b||GoldenPalace.com<br />
|-<br />
! colspan=3 | [Below is the right column.]<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan= 3|Upsilon Andromidae||c||Stampy<br />
|-<br />
|d||Moonchild<br />
|-<br />
|e||Ham Sphere<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan= 3|HD 20794||b||Cosmic Sands<br />
|-<br />
|c||Legoland<br />
|-<br />
|d||Planet with Arms<br />
|-<br />
|HD 85512||b||Lax Morality<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan= 6|HD 40307||b||Good Planet<br />
|-<br />
|c||Problemland<br />
|-<br />
|d||Slickle<br />
|-<br />
|e||Spare Parts<br />
|-<br />
|f||New Jersey VI<br />
|-<br />
|g||How Do I Join the IAU<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan= 3|Gliese 163||b||Neil Tyson's Mustache<br />
|-<br />
|c||help@gmail.com<br />
|-<br />
|d||Hair-Covered Planet<br />
|-<br />
|Pi Mensae||b||Moon Holder<br />
|-<br />
|HD 189733||b||Permadeath<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-22||b||Blue Ivy<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-3284||b||Blainsley<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-3255||b||Unicorn Thresher<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-2418||b||Spherical Discworld<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-1686||b||Emergency Backup Earth<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-3010||b||Feeeoooooooop<br />
|-<br />
|Kepler-442||b||Liz<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Exoplanet Names]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Exoplanet Names]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]<br />
[[Category:Exoplanets]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2040:_Sibling-in-Law&diff=1621412040: Sibling-in-Law2018-08-31T16:13:48Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Explanation */ add more</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2040<br />
| date = August 31, 2018<br />
| title = Sibling-in-Law<br />
| image = sibling_in_law.png<br />
| titletext = FYI, it turns out "...because I haven't figured out whether he would be my brother-in-law or not" does NOT qualify as a "reason why these two should not be wed."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT-in-law 6 times removed - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic shows the complicated way that English refers to {{w|sibling-in-law}} family relationships. As shown in the comic, your sibling's spouse would be called your "sibling-in-law" (either brother-in-law, or sister-in-law). However, your spouse's brother or sister is also called the same way (brother-in-law or sister-in-law). <br />
<br />
The confusion lies with your sibling-in-law's siblings. Randall says they may be "also sibling-in-laws, I think?" and further relations are also "possible ''additional'' sibling-in-laws". According to Wikipedia, "sibling-in-law is one's spouse's sibling, or one's sibling's spouse, or ones's spouse's sibling's spouse," therefore Randall is correct with the "also sibling-in-laws", but it is unclear how far the sibling-in-law chain would extend to.<br />
<br />
The caption compares "sibling-in-law" to "<X>th cousin <Y> times removed". This family relationship, for example, {{w|Cousin#Basic_definitions|1st cousin once removed}}, is used to describe your 1st cousin's son or daughter or your second cousin's father or mother. The "once removed" indicates that the family relative is one generation above or below yours.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to {{w|incest}}ual relationships, which are generally frowned upon in Western culture.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A single layer of a family tree is shown.]<br />
:Me<br />
:Sibling<br />
:Spouse<br />
:Siblings-in-law<br />
:Also siblings-in-law, I think?<br />
:Possible ''additional'' siblings-in-law???<br />
<br />
:Caption: People complain that “<X><sup>th</sup> cousin <Y> times removed” is hard to understand, but to me the most confusing one is sibling-in-law, because it chains across both sibling and marriage links and I don't really know where it stops.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2022:_Sports_Champions&diff=162088Talk:2022: Sports Champions2018-08-29T23:31:38Z<p>172.69.33.149: Defended my sense of humor</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Since Kate Dopingscandal has a bike, it seems to me she's actually likely a direct reference to Lance Armstrong. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:46, 20 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, that's why I included him as an example. Feel free to clarify if you want, of course.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.68|162.158.155.68]] 06:09, 20 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
::Why is a bike directly a direct reference to Lance Armstrong? and why are additionally only "many russians" listed? It is clearly not a phenomena only seen with mr. Armstrong, and Russians, but with cylcing sports in general. The biggest Cycling event, the {{w|Tour_de_France}} is hit by a doping scandal every year. Also other events have many {{w|List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling|cases}}. Lately actually there have even be cases of [http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/542/motor-doping-is-happening-and-weve-tested-it Motor Doping]. So I think Lance Armstrong can stay as maybe the most famous example, but we should say that it is many others and not Lance Armstrong and Russians. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:22, 21 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
:::Because he's easily the most famous example. I realize there are plenty of others - the France native below portrays it as downright epidemic in the sport - but Lance was so highly unbelievably visible. My impression is that in North America (which is where both Randall and I live), cycling as a professional sport enjoys notably less popularity than most other sports, and less than it might elsewhere in the world. Yet virtually EVERYBODY has heard of Lance (I follow no sports whatsoever, and I can even discuss him here). Lance attained nearly a hero status, he beat cancer... He started and/or inspired The LiveStrong movement, its support bracelets spread far and wide, inspiring imitators. At which point the scandal hit. Now combine this heightened visibility with Randall's history of comics portraying him - as Cueball - as knowing nothing about sports. Lance is the only cycling doping scandal _I_ can name, or even cyclist I can name at all, chances are it's the same for Randall. This comic is certainly referencing Lance. I only commented because the description was only listing him as an example. (I said nothing about Russians, I don't know of any Russian doping scandal) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
:::Having re-checked the description, I can answer the Russian portion: It says "many Russians" because those words link to a Wikipedia article about Russia in general, not one particular incident. The mere existence of the article tells me that enough Russians have been hit by doping scandals that they rate their own Wikipedia article. It's a great find for this ExplainXKCD article, no wonder somebody made sure to include it. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:55, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
::::I put both those in. In fact, I wrote almost the entire article. I'm English, but I try to "think American" when editing. I immediately thought of Armstrong,and totally agree with your reasoning; if you do searches for "doping scandal" you immediately see him, but also, the Russian thing. Centered on the 2012 Olympics, and state-sponsored doping, their subsequent exclusion from the 2016 Olympics is amongst the biggest ever sporting scandals of all time, worldwide. Perhaps more so outside America, but it's certainly of epic proportions.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 16:54, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
::I'm 46 and live in France. As far as I can remember (1980 ?) cycling has always been THE sport associated with doping. I can remember some famous cases in other sports (Ben Johnson in the 1988 olympics) but for cycling it was said to be quasi systematic. The Armstong case was a worldwide scandal, but Tour de France had a much severe problem in 1998 where entire teams were involved and excluded from the race. Five years later, after several trials and new analysis of the 1998 samples with more evolved techniques it was revealed that at least the 5 first finishers (and many more) were doped. If you consult the Wikipedia article “doping in sport”, you will note that cycling is by far the largest section, and almost 100 years old in Tour de France. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.34|108.162.229.34]] 12:57, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
:::Ah, but in cases like this, where different cultures can have an effect, I always bring it back to this: Where does Randall live? In America. While people in France (and cycling fans) might be well aware of many, many, MANY cycling doping scandals, I'd say the average American is not. Plus, Randall has been quite vocal about not knowing sports. Chances are, Lance Armstrong is the only cyclist he can even name at all, never mind doping scandals. And now I cause myself to wonder, did Randall think of Armstrong because his last name is also one made of words, that Lance Armstrong would be on this list himself if he had excelled at arm wrestling? :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
He should have listed, in the sport of eXtreme Software Engineering, the dominance of Little Bobby Tables in the late 2020's. ---- {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.136}}<br />
:Damn, what a missed opportunity. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Would Jebediah be a reference to Kerbal Space Program? Things tend to go disaterously in it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.160|108.162.210.160]] 12:54, 20 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It's worth noting that the all-star right fielder for the Boston Red Sox, who are currently in first place in the MLB, is named Markus Lynn "Mookie" Betts, with the initials "MLB." Aside from the fact that he's already won several divisional titles with his team, there's a good chance he'll soon be on a world series winning team as well, perhaps to become the next high-profile example. (Full disclosure: I'm a huge Red Sox fan) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.22|172.68.54.22]] 13:47, 20 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Art Ball (1890’s)<br />
Full name Arthur Ball<br />
Born April , 1872, Madison, Indiana<br />
Died December 26, 1915, Chicago, Illinois<br />
Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois<br />
First MLB Game: August 1, 1894; Final MLB Game: October 15, 1898<br />
Bat: Unknown Throw: Right Weight: 168 {{unsigned ip|172.68.54.76}}<br />
<br />
What, no Cecil Fielder? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.46|162.158.63.46]] 19:32, 20 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What, no [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Moneymaker Chris Moneymaker? (Poker, 2000's)] [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:10, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Moved from the main talk page: --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:30, 21 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
Misspelling in today's comic<br />
<br />
Your article says: "Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous"." Presumably he hasn't "chosen" to do this but merely made a spelling error. In that case, your comment is misleading. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.21|162.158.158.21]] 23:25, 20 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Brandon Sponsorship may also be read as Brand On Sponsorship, having two terms related.<br />
:I know what you mean, and thought about it at the time, but the connection isn't completely obvious and I didn't want to bring in too much assumption on my part. I tried to reference it without making a judgement, by mentioning the word in the text, but not putting it in bold or directly saying that there was a connection. I think that's OK? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 16:27, 22 July 2018 (UTC) <br />
(Previous person didn't sign) About the misspelling, I feel like that's a perfectly acceptable version of the word. It's how I'd instinctually spell it, he just added "ous" to the word "disaster". That's where the word comes from! It's actually ridiculous that this ISN'T the correct spelling! I blame the English language on this one. I'd guess that centuries ago that WAS the correct spelling, and the E just got dropped at some point, to streamline the pronunciation of the word. I just Googled it, and MANY articles showed up defining it as a common misspelling of the word, that's how common this spelling is. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 14:11, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:There is no right or wrong spelling for a surname. You can be Mr. Tailor or Mr.Taylor, or a hundred other versions. That's why I deliberately wrote that Randall ''chose'' that spelling, and I think it's obvious from the way I phrased it that it's not the normal spelling of the word. I don't think we should pass judgement about his decision, even though there's a very high chance he just made a typo. I also concur with the opinion of NiceGuy1, so I have changed it back to the way it was. Best, [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 16:27, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
::Given that the USA has a dominantly prescriptivist spelling culture for non-names (i.e. in academics and business correctness is defined by books before common usage, coompare to descriptivist which would be the other way around), the phrasing here misleads the leader into believing that both spellings are currently considered correct, as is actually true for other words. There are a lot of misleading statements in this wiki; maybe we should be up-front about that until somebody has the energy to work through everything and stay on top of it all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.118|162.158.63.118]] 14:45, 25 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
:::There I fixed it. [[User:Faultwire|I&#39;m me(citation needed)]] ([[User talk:Faultwire|talk]]) 23:28, 25 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
::::Still looks messy to me; what kind of citation do you want - a brainscan of Randall? You know he chose to write the word in that way. Why is beyond our knowledge. See further down this page for more discussion and opinions about it. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.104|162.158.155.104]] 04:28, 27 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
From the transcript: "[Cueball with a golf club] Gary Player" and "[Cueball with a basketball] Lonzo Ball". I'm not familiar with all the conventions around here, but would it be NOT Cueball when it is very definitely someone else? Sure, the made-up names later on could be Cueball standing in for them, but for those, wouldn't it actually be the real person, just looking Cueball-ish due to the art style? (And as an aside, a slight pity that there wasn't a pool player named something like Randall Cueball in the comic... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.130|162.158.75.130]] 03:31, 23 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Podium/Lectern<br />
<br />
When I first wrote this explanation, without thinking much, I said Jeb was standing at a {{w|podium}}. Someone corrected it to "lectern", which is absolutely correct of them - see that Wikipedia article. But the interesting thing is, there is an xkcd cartoon about this very subject!<br />
<br />
[[1661: Podium]]<br />
<br />
Should this somehow be mentioned in the explanation? I thought probably not, because Randall made no mention of it; it was purely my own error, and just an interesting connection to today's comic. Right? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 16:36, 22 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Margaret Court<br />
She wasn't the best choice. Recently in Australia someone let her near a microphone & it turns out she's quite homophobic.<br />
* Perhaps not in terms of PR and exposure of the sport (and I certainly am among those who don't approve), but that doesn't detract from the point of the comic which looks in terms of on-field accomplishments and their last names. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.121|173.245.52.121]] 15:15, 27 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Jebediah's Sport<br />
<br />
It appears that, based on the person's name, their sport could be debating, public speaking, or giving live postgame press conferences.<br />
<br />
[[User:Milesman34|Milesman34]] ([[User talk:Milesman34|talk]]) 03:48, 23 July 2018 (UTC)milesman34<br />
<br />
;Why Baseball is a Problem<br />
<br />
Did you ever notice that players named "White" are almost always black, and players named "Black" are usually white? Why is that? The last White major leaguer who was actually white was Mike White, who played for Houston in the early sixties. Since then we've had Bill White, Roy White, Frank White, and Jerry White, all of whom were black; Mike White probably would have been black except that his father played in the majors in the thirties and they didn't allow you to be black back then. The Royals also had a Black on their roster, Bud, who of course is white; in fact, the Royals had to set some sort of record by having four colored people on their team, White, Black, Blue, and Brown. Scott Brown is not any browner than anyone else, Vida is definitely not blue, nor for that matter is Darryl Motley. I suppose that is the nature of names, as with Peacekeeping Missiles and Security Police, to disguise the truth more often than they reveal it. Horace Speed stole only four bases in his career. Vic Power was a singles hitter, Bill Goodenough was not good enough, and Joe Blong did not belong for long.<br />
<br />
-- Bill James, 1983<br />
<br />
Me, I'm disappointed that Jim Gentile wasn't Jewish. [[User:WHPratt|WHPratt]] ([[User talk:WHPratt|talk]]) 12:16, 24 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Chosen spelling - Citation needed<br />
<br />
Re. <span class="example" style="font-family: Georgia, 'DejaVu Serif', serif; color: #006400;">Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous".</span><br />
<br />
Putting <nowiki>{{citation needed}}</nowiki> on that is a bit silly. You can see he chose to spell it that way from the cartoon. It's self-evident. What's the issue, what needs a citation? As to <i>why</i> he decided to spell it that way, nobody but Randall knows, and we're unlikely to ever find out. It's <i>probably</i> a typo, but isn't that just an assumption? He <i>chose</i> to type the word that way - whether that's because he doesn't know how to spell it correctly, or because he likes it that way. Nobody but Randall knows.<br />
<br />
A couple of people think it should say he misspelled it, but see the discussions; others agree with me that there is not correct spelling of surnames (e.g. Tailor/Taylor). It's a name, not the word.<br />
<br />
IMHO, the cite-needed is just clutter and confusing. I think the wording was good, without a messy tag. It's not really something I want to argue pointlessly and endlessly about, so I won't remove it myself right now; I'll see what other people say. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 14:52, 26 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Eh, it's been several days, nobody seems bothered, so I'll remove it now. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.36|141.101.107.36]] 15:05, 30 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::The idea (or more properly, the joke) behind {{Citation needed}} isn't that a citation is truly needed, it's that something that should be blatantly obvious has been stated (see point 3 in the trivia for citation needed). Randall wrote what he did, whether he chose to or not is up to interpretation, no matter how obvious that interpretation is. The tag is not meant to be taken literally. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.54|172.68.47.54]] 23:17, 27 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
:::The <nowiki>{{citation needed}}</nowiki> template was meant to be a joke. But seeing this joke on more than 250 different explanations isn't funny at all. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:12, 28 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
::::That's less than 15% of the explanations on this wiki, we have more incomplete explanations than that. I'd agree that having it more than once in an single page is a bit much, and this particular instance wasn't funny enough to keep, but I don't think overuse is the issue here. Did it get old after over 100 "What if?" articles? ----<br />
<br />
;Kerbal<br />
why am i the first one to see the kerbal space program reference? where are you my fellow kerbals?<br />
:It's a bit of a tenuous link. I get it, Kerbal has disasters, and has a person named Jebediah, but it's a reasonably common name; there's nothing space-related in the cartoon to suggest a connection. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.104|162.158.155.104]] 04:21, 27 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;table -> descr.list<br />
: in my neverending quest to rid this wiki of misued tables I've changed it to a description list. This makes reading easier (to me, at least) and should help for mobile users, once such a layout gets implemented. I feel like I'm pushing a bit with this one, so feel free to revert my change if it doesn't fit the style. [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 14:23, 25 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
::I'm really happy with this, but the first line below the header should not be indented. Like your comment above as well. This is also easier for editors with less experience on Wiki syntax. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:43, 25 August 2018 (UTC)</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1994:_Repairs&diff=1572311994: Repairs2018-05-18T16:46:20Z<p>172.69.33.149: ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1994<br />
| date = May 16, 2018<br />
| title = Repairs<br />
| image = repairs.png<br />
| titletext = I was just disassembling it over the course of five hours so it would fit in the trash more efficiently.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete| CURRENTLY BEING REPAIRED. Lacks cross references/ analogies to similar cartoons, and the ups and downs in the graph need to be explained individually.}}<br />
<br />
This graph depicts the sentiment created by the act of repairing something, depending on the time it took (x-axis) and ensuing result (y-axis). The degree of triumph and exultation (expressed in sentences in quotes inside the graph) is strongly enhanced by the time the operation takes, and is also positively correlated with the result (if any). Actions during the repair process are described in sentences without quotes. <br />
The conclusions are rather optimistic; the most negative feeling expressed (after the maximum time of repair with minimum degree of success) is a threat against other objects that might have plans to break.<br />
<br />
The graph shows a main path most of his fixes apparently usually take (solid line) along with some variations they sometimes take (dotted lines). Projects usually start out with items that mostly work, but have minor problems. Occasionally they just need a cleaning (first dotted line). If that doesn't work, he takes them partly apart, and then there are times he's able to put them back together and get them to either work completely (one branch of a dotted line) or get it back to the condition it started out in (other branch of a dotted line), at which point he doesn't tempt fate by continuing, knowing what's likely to happen if he continues messing with it. When it's still not working, he takes it apart more completely, starts doing less reversible things like cutting wires, and finally starts watching YouTube videos hopefully showing the right way to fix it, or at least how others fixed it. After all that, there can be several results: One dotted line shows it's fully fixed and he feels victorious and proud that all the hard work payed off. The next dotted line is when he gets it partially working again, and gives up, satisfied to at least not have completely destroyed it. The third, main path result is total failure, which he could take as a personal failure but to which he instead responds with humor by admonishing the rest of his possessions to not break otherwise the same total destruction might happen to them.<br />
<br />
The title text shows another excuse for failure. Nobody would spend five hours being a trash compactor.<br />
<br />
A similar sentiment was expressed in [[349: Success]]. However, in [[349: Success]] the computer would keep developing new problems and putting Curball in worse and worse situations while in this comic it is just that Randall has increasing trouble fixing the issue as time wears on. <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the diagram:]<br />
:'''<big>How well something works</big>'''<br />
:After I decide to fix it<br />
<br />
:[The comic shows a graph with a solid curve that decreases in 8 different sized steps from the top left to the bottom right. The X-axis shows time passes and gives the time from zero to five hours with 6 ticks with labels beneath. The Y-axis shows how well something works with 8 ticks, but only four of them labeled.]<br />
<br />
:Works great<br />
:Has minor problems<br />
:Doesn't work<br />
<br />
:Will never work again<br />
<br />
:0 hours&nbsp;&nbsp; 1 hour&nbsp;&nbsp; 2 hours&nbsp;&nbsp; 3 hours&nbsp;&nbsp; 4 hours&nbsp;&nbsp; 5 hours<br />
<br />
:[The solid line has six labels with eight arrow pointing to different sections, two times the same label has two arrows pointing to different sections the first two places where the lines takes a step down, and the second to two plateaus on either side of a step. In total the arrows point four times on both steps and plateaus. Both the first and final plateau has a dot has added to the line, and the arrows point to those. Above the solid line there are three dotted lines going up from three plateaus just before the solid line takes a step down, the last two of these lines split up in two, with one going higher. At the end of each of these five dotted lines there is a sentence spoken. The solid line begins at the 2nd tick on the Y-Axis and finishes at the last. The three dotted lines going up ends up at the 1. tick on the Y-axis, for the last two there are also a line ending at the 2nd tick and 3rd tick respectively. Only the first label being above the first tick on the X-axis but the last three labels are all above the last tick on the X-Axis. Here is a list of all the labels in chronological order according to the position on the X-axis. For those that has the same time stamp the top one will be mentioned first. Those at the end of a line are indented:]<br />
:I start trying to fix it<br />
::"It just needed cleaning!"<br />
:Take it apart<br />
::"Fixed it!"<br />
::"Well, at least it's not ''more'' broken than when I started."<br />
:Take it apart more<br />
:Watch YouTube instructional videos<br />
:Take a deep breath and cut wires<br />
::"That was heroic and I deserve a Nobel prize."<br />
::"Well, it ''sort'' of works now."<br />
:(Turn to other possessions) <br />
::"...And let that be a lesson to you."<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
<br />
The initial version of the normal sized image at xkcd was [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/d/de/20180516052839%21repairs.png broken]. This was later repaired, with the result that this comic now works great.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Line graphs]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=353:_Python&diff=148772353: Python2017-12-05T23:43:06Z<p>172.69.33.149: /* Trivia */ Removed ridiculous speculative aside that “Perl” may also be the name of girl somehow attached to this scenario</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 353<br />
| date = December 5, 2007<br />
| title = Python<br />
| image = python.png<br />
| titletext = I wrote 20 short programs in Python yesterday. It was wonderful. Perl, I'm leaving you.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Python (programming language)|Python}} is a programming language designed specifically to make it easy to write clear, readable programs. Flying is often used as a metaphor for freedom and ease, and here Randall shows Cueball literally flying in response to using Python.<br />
<br />
A {{w|"Hello, World!" program}} is a very simple program that prints the phrase "Hello, World!", used in textbooks to illustrate a given programming language. While this sounds simple, it can be nontrivial in some programming languages where you need to explicitly import a library that contains the <code>print</code> function (for instance, in C you need to begin with <code>#include <{{w|stdio.h}}></code>) or do complicated things with classes and variables (see [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computer_Programming/Hello_world#Java the Java "Hello, World!"] for one example). Python doesn't need any of that: <code>print "Hello, world!"</code> (or in Python 3.0, <code>print("Hello, world!")</code>) really is all you need to do.<br />
<br />
{{w|Dynamic typing}} and {{w|significant whitespace}} are two controversial features of Python, which make some people—like Cueball's friend—hesitant to use the language.<br />
<br />
Dynamic typing means that variables do not have types (like "list of short integers" or "a bunch of letters"); any value of any type can be placed in any variable. Dynamic typing allows for more flexible languages, but it means that certain kinds of errors (like trying to subtract a letter from a number) can't be caught until a program is run, and some people think this is too dangerous for the tradeoff to be acceptable.<br />
<br />
Whitespace is a string of invisible text characters, like spaces or tabs. In programming, blocks of code controlled by a statement are usually indented under that statement. Most languages require you to use braces (<code>{…}</code>) or special keywords (<code>BEGIN…END</code>) to delimit these blocks; in Python, the indentation itself is the delimiter. Many Python programmers find that this makes code more readable, but many other programmers find it too "magical" and don't trust it.<br />
<br />
Classes, functions and constants in Python are packed into modules. To use a module, you write "<code>import ''module''</code>" at the top of your source file. Python comes with a very powerful standard library of modules to do everything from parsing XML to comparing two sets of files for differences, and new modules can be easily installed from the PyPI repository, which has more than 79,000 more to choose from (as of April 2016). [[Cueball]] can fly because he imported the <code>antigravity</code> module. Python still works for Cueball in [[482: Height]].<br />
<br />
In the final panel, Cueball admits that his ability to fly may actually be because he has "sampled everything in the medicine cabinet", though he's sure it is the Python anyway. An implication of this is that ingesting everything in the medicine cabinet has given him the feeling of freedom and ease that "flying" represents - or that he is hallucinating himself flying and having a conversation with the other character about it. Here, the metaphor of "feeling like you're flying" while using Python is transformed back from being literal (Cueball is actually flying) to being metaphorical (Randall feels like he is flying because Python is so easy to use... or because he had too many strange drugs).<br />
<br />
{{w|Perl}}, mentioned in the title text, is another programming language with the same target audience as Python, as both are {{w|High-level programming language|high-level}}, {{w|General-purpose programming language|general-purpose}}, {{w|Interpreter (computing)|interpreted}}, {{w|dynamic programming language}}s.<br />
However they strongly oppose each other in their language design:<br />
* Perl’s philosophy for its syntax is "{{w|There's more than one way to do it}}", so each coder can choose his own coding style to do exactly the same thing,<br />
* Python’s {{w|Zen of Python|philosophy}} for its syntax is "There should be one— and preferably only one —obvious way to do it", so the written code is more consistent.<br />
Since he has discovered Python [[Randall]] doesn't like Perl anymore, probably because its syntax is less consistent.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A Friend is talking to Cueball, who is floating in the sky.]<br />
:Friend: You're flying! How?<br />
:Cueball: Python!<br />
:Cueball: I learned it last night! Everything is so simple!<br />
:Cueball: Hello world is just 'print "Hello, World!"'<br />
:Friend: I dunno... Dynamic typing? ''Whitespace?''<br />
:Cueball: Come join us! Programming is fun again! It's a whole new world up here!<br />
:Friend: But how are you flying?<br />
:Cueball: I just typed 'import antigravity'<br />
:Friend: That's it?<br />
:Cueball: ...I also sampled everything in the medicine cabinet for comparison.<br />
:Cueball: But I think this is the python.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*In response to this comic, the Python developers implemented the module <code>antigravity</code> in version 2.7+. When you <code>import</code> it, the default web browser will open this comic. Also, in version 3+, the module contains a [[426: Geohashing|geohashing]] function.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>172.69.33.149https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:349:_Success&diff=148771Talk:349: Success2017-12-05T23:25:10Z<p>172.69.33.149: </p>
<hr />
<div>There is nothing in the comic about project management. The only point is that we start out assuming total success, then just hope we don't actually end up in a worse position, then that there is at least one working computer on the premises, and finally just by hoping to survive. The is purely a comment, taken to extremes, on the most likely result of an interaction with man and machine. As the 'incomplete' tag indicates, the BSD upgrade is just used as an example. The comic is not attempting to advocate for better project planning, no matter what anybody may think. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 18:45, 14 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's incomplete about this explanation? It seems pretty thorough to me. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.136|199.27.128.136]]Evan<br />
<br />
I find it funny that Megan says: "If we make it back alive, you're never upgrading anything again", implying that he would be allowed to if he dies, somehow.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.64.41|141.101.64.41]] 16:16, 7 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
: It does not imply he would be allowed to if he dies. This is just how that phrase is commonly worded. The trope generally follows the form: "If we make it out of here alive, ________ never/ever again."{{unsigned|Flewk}}<br />
: I think that's an example of denying the antecedent. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.227|108.162.212.227]] 17:43, 8 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just wanted to point out that it doesn't say OpenBSD in the comic (which is implied in the explanation), just BSD, and if it did reference OpenBSD then another part of the explanation would be wrong (comic #518 mentions FreeBSD). [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.41|188.114.99.41]] 14:00, 8 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Read the title text. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.187|108.162.210.187]] 22:31, 29 July 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What are the odds of sharks actually attacking them? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.227|108.162.212.227]] 17:43, 8 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
: we do not have enough data to form even a cogent guess. Most importantly, where are they?</div>172.69.33.149