https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.69.71.18&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T19:34:57ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2781:_The_Six_Platonic_Solids&diff=3143132781: The Six Platonic Solids2023-05-28T03:23:16Z<p>172.69.71.18: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2781<br />
| date = May 26, 2023<br />
| title = The Six Platonic Solids<br />
| image = the_six_platonic_solids_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 368x370px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Plato made the solids, and five were gifted to the mathematicians. But in secret Plato forged a sixth solid to rule over all the others.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a JORB WELL DONE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic imagines an alternate reality where mathematicians discover a new {{w|Platonic solid}} beyond the [https://sites.math.washington.edu/~julia/teaching/445_Spring2013/Paper_Euler.pdf five proven to exist in three-dimensional space.] In four dimensions there are six {{w|regular polytope}}s, five of which are analogous to the five in 3-D space, and a sixth which is analogous to the {{w|rhombic dodecahedron}}. <br />
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In the comic, Randall reveals the discovery of a new Platonic solid, called the "jorb", which appears to be a roughly conical shape with a round base, a triangular tip, and a rectangular extension at the bottom. Its surface also seems to have parallel grooves or ribs, which may indicate a curved surface. The jorb does not fit the criteria for a Platonic solid, in that the faces must be regular polygons of the same shape, and each vertex must join the same number of faces and edges. This could be a reference to the fact that [https://youtube.com/watch?v=_hjRvZYkAgA many regular polyhedra have only been discovered recently], some of which do not fit the naive understanding of a regular polyhedron, being infinite or self-intersecting. The name "jorb" may be a reference to the Homestar Runner cartoon "A Jorb Well Done", with the shape bearing a resemblance to Coach Z's hat.<br />
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The title text references the ''{{w|Lord of The Rings}},'' in which the One Ring was forged in secret to rule three magic rings given earlier to elves, seven given to dwarves, and nine given to humans. Sauron could potentially control these other nineteen rings with his, the "One Ring to rule them all." The joke is that Plato forged a sixth Platonic solid (the Jorb) to rule the five he gave to mathematicians, just like Sauron ruled the other magic rings in Middle Earth with his One Ring.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Six geometrical shapes are shown. All have gray surface areas with different shading to reflect their orientation. There is one shape in the middle with the other five arranged around it roughly in a pentagon. With two at the top, two just below the central and one directly below the central shape. Each shape has a label. The five above the bottom one are names after the platonic solids, and are drawn to look like them. The last one at the bottom has a roughly conical shape with a round base, a triangular tip, and a rectangular extension at the bottom. It surface also seems to have parallel grooves or ribs. Here the labels in reading order with the four rows mentioned above used.]<br />
:Cube<br />
:Dodecahedron <br />
:Icosahedron<br />
:Octahedron <br />
:Tetrahedron <br />
:Jorb<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the comic:]<br />
:Mathematicians long believed there were only five platonic solids, all regular polyhedra, until this year's discovery of the Jorb.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Geometry]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>172.69.71.18https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2280:_2010_and_2020&diff=1886102280: 2010 and 20202020-03-13T20:08:47Z<p>172.69.71.18: it's not readily clear who contacted whom</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2280<br />
| date = March 13, 2020<br />
| title = 2010 and 2020<br />
| image = 2010_and_2020.png<br />
| titletext = 2030: "I just bought a house for one bitcoin. No, it's the equivalent of a dollar. Houses are often transferred for a nominal fee because the buyer is taking responsibility for containing the holo-banshees in the attic."<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SARS-CoV-2 VIRUS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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White Hat, who lives in 2010, and Cueball, who lives in 2020, are in contact with each other via some kind of time machine. White Hat wants to learn about life in 2020, and he's particularly interested in bitcoin and whether it becomes an acceptable currency. Cueball answers that bitcoin still exists, and that he just bought a bottle of hand sanitizer for the price of one bitcoin. White Hat probably assumes that bitcoin is a widely accepted currency worth a few dollars, and thinks that the situation is "normal". (In April 2010, one bitcoin was worth about 14 cents.)<br />
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At the time of this comic, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as the coronavirus, is spreading around the world, causing thousands of people to die and billions to panic. This increased the demand for hygiene products, including hand sanitizers, and therefore their price. One bitcoin was worth about $5,400 on the day this strip was published, not a few dollars. Therefore, buying a hand sanitizer for one bitcoin is not as normal as White Hat assumes.<br />
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The price of hand sanitizers has not reached the price of a bitcoin (yet).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:White Hat: What are things like ten years from now in 2020?<br />
:White Hat: We have this new "bitcoin" thing -- does it ever catch on and become normal?<br />
<br />
:Cueball: It's still around. I just bought a bottle of hand sanitizer for one bitcoin.<br />
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:White Hat: Cool, that sounds pretty normal.<br />
:Cueball: Well, here's the thing ...<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]</div>172.69.71.18https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2129:_1921_Fact_Checker&diff=172631Talk:2129: 1921 Fact Checker2019-04-13T08:11:09Z<p>172.69.71.18: A summary is what Inigo gives to Westley about what has happened during the time Westley was mostly dead.</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Two gallons of vinegar, huh?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.144|162.158.106.144]] 14:26, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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While I too respect this fact checker's perspective on what really matters (and what doesn't), it's clear to me that in this fact-obsessed 21st century we cannot let this purported fact go unverified. Get on it, people! ;) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 14:32, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I fact checked this comic. The text in question is on page 8 of the newspaper, leftmost column, three paragraphs from the bottom. [[User:Billtheplatypus|Billtheplatypus]] ([[User talk:Billtheplatypus|talk]]) 15:12, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
: [citation needed] The LOC link in the explanation says that the Kansas City Sun was a Saturday Weekly, so it wouldn't have been published on Friday, May 6th, 1921 as claimed. Unfortunately, the LOC only has scans of from 1914 through 1920, so it doesn't have scans for 1921. Do you have a source where you fact checked it? [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 15:39, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
::[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/477982773/ This]. You can get the OCR if you don't want to sign up. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.176|162.158.155.176]] 16:08, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
::: Off topic, but oldnewspapers are interesting. Especially the notices and lawsuit notifications, it's interesting to see that the newspaper notifications was considered enough notice that a judgement could be rendered. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.215|172.68.46.215]] 17:17, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
::::This is still the case. For certain types of civil actions where the respondent's address is unknown and personal service is otherwise unavailable, notice through newspaper publication is sufficient. Larger cities in the US even have specialist legal newspapers that are primarily funded by payments for publishing these and other public notices.<br />
::: I think the explanation needs to clarify the dates here. There appear to be two different Kansas City Suns, one in Kansas, the other in Missouri. The Missouri one was a published from 1908-1924 and targeted the black community. The Kansas one was published at least from 1892 to 1924, and possibly longer (digitized issues up to 1924 are available online, which is also about when things start being still under copyright. Coincidence?). This fact check is in the Kansas paper. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 18:13, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Wouldn't "whatever" be not worth checking? "Mostly whatever" implies it could be worth checking but beyond current enthusiasm. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 15:29, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I thought corn travelling back from England to America was the problem... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.90|162.158.90.90]] 16:02, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
: By 1620 there should've been plenty of time to establish some growing of maize in England. I don't know the real truth, but it's plausible. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 16:38, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Historically, "corn" was a general term for grain, usually the local grain. It also referred to things which where grain-sized, like the large grains of salt used to make "corned beef" or hard warts on the feet. It was only in North America where the predominant local grain was maize that "corn" came to have the narrower meaning of maize. If there really was a requirement to bring a supply of "cornmeal" in the early 1600's from England to the Americas, I'd expect it to be ground wheat, barleycorn, or rye, not maize. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 16:47, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
:: It's there any more information/sources on this? I find this interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.215|172.68.46.215]] 17:17, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
::: Source: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corn#Noun wiktionary], [https://www.google.com/search?q=dictionary+corn google's dictionary], and presumably any other English dictionary you might prefer. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:01, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::: Anyone interested in this kind of things? Well the angel-saxons which came from Germany to England (or Angelland, as it was called , after them). They brought many agricultural (and other) stuff and their german names for it. even though the spelling and/or pronounciation has developed differnetly often, there are still many parallels. Especially to older English. A German female pig is a "Sau", pronounced just as "sow", the german word for grain? "Korn", cow? "Kuh" (pronounced similarily). There are many more examples, but this are the ones coming to my mind instantly. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:45, 29 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
:: Is this related to the corn mazes that I see on TV shows? Some kind of pun about maize mazes? I don't live in the US, I don't know a lot about that; I have only seen those in TV shows [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.58|162.158.78.58]] 03:12, 28 March 2019 (UTC) <br />
::: Oh, they really exist. I've encountered them in both New York and Maryland. We use to go to one as a "mandatory fun" day at my former employer. In fact, when I left my old job, my boss asked me if I wanted to stay an extra week to participate in the annual employee event. I asked him, "Does it involve corn?" and when I got a yes, I said no thanks. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.191|162.158.79.191]] 14:45, 28 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Guys, "corn" is the English word for "grain" or "seeds". When they said corn meal, they meant flour, probably wheat. '''Maize was called "Indian corn" because it was indian ''grain''.''' But as settlers grew their own indian corn, they dropped the word "indian" to differentiate it, just calling theirs "corn", which is how our maize ended up with this misnomer. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 05:06, 1 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Blaisepascal is arguing that the article (or incomplete template) was, in fact, created by a BOT. Before starting an edit war, can I check the consensus on what we do with the created by? I always use the [relevant item]. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 19:53, 27 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
: I've seen it both ways, although keeping the BOT part would be less common. It works as is; I wouldn't change it. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.148|172.68.141.148]] 07:48, 28 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
I was looking at http://mayflowerhistory.com/provision-lists that discusses some lists of items that the pilgrims were to take with them. This sounds related to what was discussed in the text from the newspaper. 14:08, 29 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
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In this age of fanatism and factionism of all kinds, Randall could't be more wrong. Ask Swift's Endians. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.87|172.69.54.87]] 23:13, 29 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Fact check: Mostly False! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.67|162.158.62.67]] 14:50, 31 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
:You'll have to be more specific as to what Randall's wrong about. Regardless, in a practical sense, Randall most certainly *could* be more wrong. As Stuart put it so well in The Big Bang Theory: "It's a little wrong to say a tomato is a vegetable; it's very wrong to say it's a suspension bridge." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.18|172.69.71.18]] 08:11, 13 April 2019 (UTC)</div>172.69.71.18https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1993:_Fatal_Crash_Rate&diff=1570501993: Fatal Crash Rate2018-05-14T16:10:27Z<p>172.69.71.18: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1993<br />
| date = May 14, 2018<br />
| title = Fatal Crash Rate<br />
| image = fatal_crash_rate.png<br />
| titletext = Fixating on this seems unhealty. But in general, the more likely I think a crash is, the less likely one becomes, which is a strange kind of reverse placebo effect.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a bad driver - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is the second recent comic on the subject of the dangers of cars.<br />
It combines general statistical correlations between age and safety improvements with fatal crashes. Randall worries that he will eventually be involved in a fatal car crash unless self driving cars take over, which he believes would eliminate car related fatalities. He is of the opinion that they will take over, but that they might not do so quickly enough to 'save' him from the spike of age-related fatalities in later life.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Graphs are shown inside of a panel.]<br />
:[Graph 1:] My fatal car crash probability based on my age<br />
:[Graph 2:] Overall US fatal crash rate per mile traveled<br />
:[Graph 3:] My miles traveled by car per year<br />
:[Graph 4, below the previous graphs:] My estimated lifetime probability of being in a fatal car crash<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:It feels weird to look at car crash statistics and wonder whether we'll all be able to stop driving before I'm involved in a fatal crash.<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.71.18https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1993:_Fatal_Crash_Rate&diff=1570481993: Fatal Crash Rate2018-05-14T16:07:39Z<p>172.69.71.18: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1993<br />
| date = May 14, 2018<br />
| title = Fatal Crash Rate<br />
| image = fatal_crash_rate.png<br />
| titletext = Fixating on this seems unhealty. But in general, the more likely I think a crash is, the less likely one becomes, which is a strange kind of reverse placebo effect.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a bad driver - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is the second recent comic on the subject of the dangers of cars.<br />
It combines general statistical correlations between age and safety improvements with fatal crashes. Randall worries that he will eventually be involved in a fatal car crash unless self driving cars, if they take over quickly enough, will eliminate th<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Graphs are shown inside of a panel.]<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:It feels weird to look at car crash statistics and wonder whether we'll all be able to stop driving before I'm involved in a fatal crash.<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.71.18