https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.70.110.209&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T22:24:33ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2642:_Meta-Alternating_Current&diff=288416Talk:2642: Meta-Alternating Current2022-07-07T19:44:56Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
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<div>And today, we are reminded that [[Randall]] used to be a physicist (or at least has a physics degree). Not worth mentioning in the article, but while inverters can't reverse each other, transformers can. (Has Randall done the transformer/Transformer pun yet as an excuse to mock the movies?) [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:10, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
: I haven't picked up the physics reference yet. I see electrical engineering here. Randall strikes me as somebody who would study physics given the opportunit, though. It's notable that this webcomic started while Randall was in college, if I recall right. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.75|172.70.230.75]] 11:58, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Long distance links, especially those between separate unsynchronized grids, use high voltage DC. There is a 2,000-mile link in China running at 1 MV. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 11:32, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:That's because at great distances, relatively high frequency AC loses a lot of ("active" = actually useful) power as ... reactive power, I think (didn't learn the terminology in English, unit seems right though). A typical grid has a lot of generators and load. A long distance connection results in a phase shift according to the transmission time (speed of light in medium x distance) in about the order of magnitude of the AC period (usually somewhere between 1/10 to 1/60 seconds) wastes a portion equal to the sine of the phase shift angle (up to 90° = all of it) as reactive power. DC isn't quite as easy to use but on long distances there is no power loss to reactive power. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 12:25, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Let's face it, the thing should be called an alternator. Of course that name's taken as a redundant word for (electrical) generator. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 12:26, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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It always bothered me that UPS battery backups take the wall AC and convert it to DC to charge the battery, but then have to turn it back to AC to send it to the computer, so the power supply can convert it to DC to run the thing. I picture some connector that goes directly from the UPS to the power supply so that if power is lost it can just pull 12V directly from the battery. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 12:47, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:some UPSs do this. They normally power the computer directly from the input AC, but if there is a power failure, they use the battery to power the inverters and switch the output to the inverter. Other UPSs always power the computer from the inverter. They have the advantage that there is not even a milisecond time to start powering the computer. That can be better for some equipment, and that kind of UPS often costs more. It is also worth noting that in some data centers, they bypass the AC step and have one big DC power supply that directly powers the computers. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 16:49, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverter_(logic_gate) NOT logic gates] are also often known as inverters. An even number of those '''would''' indeed produce the same output as the (true/false) input. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.58|108.162.242.58]] 16:03, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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“Further chaining this into more inverters/rectifiers would normally not be considered.”<br />
Well, if you take a DCC controlled model railway for camping, you get a second stage of inverter/rectifier.<br />
The power supply of the DCC control station usually expects AC input, so you invert the DC of the car battery.<br />
The PSU then makes DC for the control station processor, which is then made AC to generate a DCC signal.<br />
The locomotives always have a rectifier to get a DC power supply from the DCC signal (which is confusingly AC).<br />
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You get a third stage with another plausible trick: put the battery on a car battery charger, which converts AC from the camping site power grid to DC. Then use a locomotive with a (rarely used) BLDC motor, which confusingly needs an inverter generating AC.<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.181|172.71.94.181]] 18:01, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The efficiency calculation is bogus. For the rectifier, the "efficiency" of 81% relates to voltage, not power. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectifier). I don't know what the power efficiency is, but I do note that my computer's power supply is not glowing white hot.</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2628:_Motion_Blur&diff=286571Talk:2628: Motion Blur2022-06-09T05:36:49Z<p>172.70.110.209: </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 />
Personally, I'm animated on twos but make up for it with good smear frames. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.98|172.70.135.98]] 14:07, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Can someone explain why it's been retitled to motion beans and the image has been replaced? Not sure if it's vandalism or a joke I don't understand. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.215|162.158.2.215]] 23:46, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:vandalism [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.163|172.70.206.163]] 23:54, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Is there anything that can be done about that? (Sorry not experienced with wiki rules/conventions). Looking that their history they have done quite a bit of vandalism in the past. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.219|162.158.2.219]] 00:36, 5 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::As we have a good community, looking out for such things and resolving them, I don't think there's much extra we need to do but what we already do. I'm not giving credit to our interloper, but their actions have shown how we are clearly capable of stepping up to counter-action as required. Which is good.<br />
:::Additional admin tool-use might be a further thing being lookedvat, but that's above my pay-grade to comment on. I think the current set of active Admins have done Ok and seem to have good heads on their shoulders, though, so happy to leave them to work those bits out too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 09:35, 5 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
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;Randall has got this issue backwards:<br />
Too *low* a framerate causes choppiness when panning (or on objects in motion). ''Too low'' a framerate causes the human eye to perceive multiple images of a mouse cursor; a higher framerate can exceed the perceptual latency of human vision, causing the moving cursor to be perceived as a continuous blur, whereas a lower framerate merely exacerbates the issue of seeing the cursor jump from position to position. <br />
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To that point, the current explanation exemplifies this confusion, also getting it backward: ''"If the shutter speed is too high, this blurring will not occur, and the motion will look unnaturally crisp – if something is too small and/or too quick, the illusion of motion may disappear altogether; the object instead will appear as a brief flash of multiple objects standing still,"~'' '''This is incorrect.''' Human visual blur is ''not'' dependent on the displayed frames being blurred: With panning in high framerate video, unblurred footage ''appears blurred'' to the human eye, due to persistence of vision; whereas with low framerate video we may ''not'' perceive blurred motion & instead view each frame individually & perceive it as choppy. <br />
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Point being, you need a framerate ''at least as high as 60 FPS'' to avoid choppy appearance when panning, & for some people's vision the minimum framerate to ensure motion blur is 100 FPS. 24 FPS is used in cinema ''to preserve the choppy look of old 24 FPS film projection'', as an aesthetic choice. <br />
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Higher framerates look ''less'' choppy. ''Low'' framerates are what appears choppy when viewed. <br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:10, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, at high framerates, ''when the subject is perfectly sharp'', the blurring is done by human vision. At lower framerates, this natural blurring is mostly lost, and this effect must be counteracted by correspondingly lower shutter speeds so that motion appears blurry again. That's the whole point of the comic. [[User:Kapostamas|Kapostamas]] ([[User talk:Kapostamas|talk]]) 14:30, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: Exactly. Film typically has 24 FPS, animation is typically produced at 12 FPS, and 8 FPS is common in anime, and to make up for it by introducing the illusion of motion in other ways. With physical cameras that usually means low(ish) shutter speed to creating in-camera motion blur. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.95|172.70.134.95]] 20:00, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
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In order to explain this, and prove that the explanation is correct (or prove that Randall is either correct or incorrect), there needs to be a link to two videos showing the error and the corrected version without the error. In other words, citation needed. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 15:35, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:How's this: [https://youtu.be/i9bv00ZA-ao]? [[User:Kapostamas|Kapostamas]] ([[User talk:Kapostamas|talk]]) 16:47, 4 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
::His shutter speed is ok, his FPS is too low :-). BTW, the worst thing done to anime is when some idiot decides to raise the framerate by inserting frames computed by averaging previous and following frame pixel by pixel ignoring the movement. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:52, 5 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::A number of years back, when TV weather maps were revamped with new computer graphics, it amused me when (e.g.) a couple of bands ('ripples') of cloud/rain were sometimes passing over bits of the national map, and while clearly the idea was that each was moving, the setup had the hindemost fading out (as an interpolated transition) while a new 'front' band fading in, the central one (in reality where the front one was in one predictive 'key frame' but coincidentally where the rear one had arrived to at the time-stamp of the next key-frame.<br />
:::It probably needed the right weather-system transit speed (and feature-depth/separation) but something like this seemed to be common enough to do this or 'cinematic wagon-wheel' effects.<br />
:::I think they must have revamped the presentation since, either more imported ksy-frames or imported "wind clues" to the interpolator... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 09:35, 5 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Seems to med that the video makes a good point. Is that not so according to Hkmaly? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:22, 5 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::Ok, it IS possible I've put my comment at incorrect place ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:42, 7 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
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<br />
I have added a new category [[:Category:Photography]] to this comic. I have already found 8 comics to put into it. If I have missed some (for sure I have) please add them. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:08, 5 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I have no idea if this is actually deliberate, but the way the caption is worded strongly reminds me of one of the hints on the loading screens in Elder Scrolls games. Any thoughts? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 05:36, 9 June 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=362:_Blade_Runner&diff=286198362: Blade Runner2022-06-04T14:31:22Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 362<br />
| date = December 26, 2007<br />
| title = Blade Runner<br />
| image = blade runner.png<br />
| titletext = Blade Runner: classic, but incredibly slow.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is watching a DVD he got for Christmas (the comic is set on {{w|Boxing Day}}). His friend seems intent to ruin it for him.<br />
<br />
''{{w|Blade Runner}}'' is a famous science fiction movie from 1982 featuring {{w|Harrison Ford}}, and it is now considered a classic. One of the principal characters is played by {{w|Daryl Hannah}}. Hannah later became known for acting in lighthearted rom-com films, such as ''{{w|Splash (film)|Splash}}'' (in which she is a mermaid), similar to the type of films that the {{w|Olsen twins}} are known for. Hannah does look similar to the Olsens, although she is 26 years older, as they were born in 1986 - four years after the movie was released. ''{{w|Full House}}'' is a TV series, and ''{{w|New York Minute (film)|New York Minute}}'' is a romantic film both featuring the Olsens. Hannah's character in ''Blade Runner'' (a homicidal sex robot) is a marked departure from this type of role.<br />
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The friend also claims that ''Blade Runner'' is a rip-off of the 2004 comedy film ''{{w|New York Minute (film)|New York Minute}}''. Such a comment is completely illogical — Blade Runner came out 22 years prior, and the two films are from completely different genres.<br />
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From the above, it is clear that the friend is most likely just trolling (doubly so since ''New York Minute'' would not be considered very good by people who enjoy sci-fi classics). It could be that he actually believes that these movies came out in the order he discovered them in, although the other guy still hates him for ruining the experience by reminding him of the Olsen twins...<br />
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The title text is a common comment on the movie - it's just not like an ordinary modern sci-fi movie. It is also likely a pun on the phrase "instant classic," which is sometimes used to describe movies considered so good that they "become a classic" immediately after release.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:Friend: What DVD is this?<br />
:Cueball: ''Blade Runner''. I got it for Christmas.<br />
:Friend: The one with Harrison Ford, right? And the Olsen twins?<br />
:Cueball: Ye— What? Olsen twins? No, this is the 80's sci-fi classic!<br />
:Friend: Huh. I didn't know the Olsen twins even ''did'' sci-fi.<br />
:Cueball: ...They ''don't''.<br />
:Friend: So is Ashley the replicant, or is Mary-Kate? I can never tell them apart.<br />
:Cueball: Neither! They're not ''in'' this movie!<br />
:Friend: Then who is?<br />
:Cueball: Daryl Hannah!<br />
:Friend: I liked her in ''Full House''.<br />
:Cueball: I hate you.<br />
:Friend: Man, this movie is just a ''New York Minute'' rip-off.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2628:_Motion_Blur&diff=2861742628: Motion Blur2022-06-04T05:16:22Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 286171 by 108.162.245.173 (talk)</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2628<br />
| date = June 3, 2022<br />
| title = Motion Blur<br />
| image = motion_blur.png<br />
| titletext = I can't speak for your other subjects, but MY motion was as smooth and natural as the framerate allowed.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a bBboOotTt - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[White Hat]] is recording a video while rotating (''panning'') the camera. [[Cueball]] notices that the camera's shutter speed is too fast, which could cause the result to look unnatural or too sharp when turning the camera. Cueball decides to solve this problem by making himself blurrier than normal, counteracting the problems of the high shutter speed.<br />
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This is similar to a trick actually 'used' by {{w|Flash (DC Comics character)#Jay_Garrick|some fictional characters}} who have the power to make themselves unclear to observers or cameras alike.<br />
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When light hits a human's retina, it is perceived for a short while even after the light has ceased. This means that objects moving across a human's field of vision at a sufficient speed will naturally appear blurry – in our perception, the light arriving right now from the trailing part of the object will mix with the light that arrived a moment earlier, from the leading part of the object.<br />
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A camera's shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter is open for each frame, allowing the image sensor to capture light. If the shutter speed is too high, this blurring will not occur, and the motion will look unnaturally crisp – if something is too small and/or too quick, the illusion of motion may disappear altogether; the object instead will appear as a brief flash of multiple objects standing still, like in the case of a fast-moving mouse cursor on a screen. In cinema, the shutter speed is generally set to double the framerate, e.g. 1/48 s for footage shot at 24 fps.<br />
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The opposing problem is that of a camera not sufficiently matching the relative motion of a moving object, with a shutter speed that is too slow (and may need to be, given the choice of aperture and lighting conditions). Sports photographers must learn how to scan-and-pan their subjects (runners, horses, vehicles, etc) with enough synchronicity to capture them sharply, and possibly seemingly hanging frozen in mid-air against an artistically-blurred background.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A strip of three panels, featuring White Hat, Cueball and Ponytail. Cueball and Ponytail stand next to each other and White Hat stands to the left of them.]<br />
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:[White Hat is facing away from Cueball and Ponytail, and holds a camera.]<br />
:White Hat: Okay, I'm going to pan around.<br />
:Cueball: No, wait, your shutter speed is too fast, it will look choppy if—<br />
<br />
:[White Hat turns towards Cueball and Ponytail, now pointing the camera away from the viewer. Cueball clenches his fists and hunches his shoulders.]<br />
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:Cueball: ''Hnnnnngh''<br />
<br />
:[White Hat is now facing Cueball and Ponytail. Cueball now appears blurry while the others appear similar as to in previous panels.]<br />
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:[Caption below panel:]<br />
:Expert photographers can learn to generate their own motion blur to compensate for other people's bad camera settings.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2626:_d65536&diff=2847192626: d655362022-05-31T09:08:49Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2626<br />
| date = May 30, 2022<br />
| title = d65536<br />
| image = d65536.png<br />
| titletext = They're robust against quantum attacks because it's hard to make a quantum system that large.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a HEXAKISMYRIAPENTAKISCHILIAPENTAHECTATRIACONTAKAIHEXAHEDRON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In binary computing, 16 bit numbers range from 0 to 65535 (or 1 to 65536). Generating large numbers randomly is a recurring problem in cryptography.<br />
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In roleplaying games (and occasionally in other tabletop games), dice are often referred to as d[number] according to their number of faces. A traditional six-faced die would be a d6, and many popular pen-and-paper roleplaying games use dice ranging between d4 and d20. Dice larger than a d20 are rare specialty dice, and are often nicknamed "golf balls" to emphasize how unwieldy they are.<br />
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Here, Cueball has constructed a d65536 for generating random 16 bit numbers, likely with a [https://www.shapeways.com/product/U9CN6MT6X/d256 3d printer] or other CAM tools. It has solved the problem of being secure from a cryptography standpoint, but presents a new set of challenges from its sheer size, dwarfing an average human. While large in itself, a die that big could still be emulated by rolling multiple dice (e.g. 8 4-faced dice or 16 coin flips) and converting the result into binary before getting the desired number. Part of the humor stems from the the comic completely failing to mention another big problem with this die: Deciding which of the 65536 faces is up. <br />
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The closest regular shape similar to the depicted in the comic could be a {{w|Goldberg polyhedron}}. However no such polyhedron exists with exactly 65536 hexagonal faces. The closest Goldberg Polyhedron has a mixture of 65520 hexagons and 12 pentagons, totaling 65532 faces.<br />
<br />
The title text references how many cryptographic systems (especially RSA and other factoring-is-hard based systems) are hypothetically vulnerable to quantum attacks if we could build quantum computers large and coherent enough to actually compute on more than a few qubits. The title text is essentially punning on the idea of a "large" quantum system. "Large" in the quantum computing sense would be on the order of 64 qubits each of which would be an atom or two at most. This would still be microscopic and will never be as large as the giant die the comic is centered on. It also is an example of the concept that cryptography normally isn't broken (see [[538]]), but one somehow finds a way around it, like in this place not breaking the cryptographic algorithm or the code, but instead trying to find out what numbers the RNG produces.<br />
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==Trivia==<br />
*If a real d65536 were constructed with each number having an equal area and each printed in 12 point font, the resulting die would be about 5 feet (1.5 meters) in diameter. If it were made out of standard acrylic, it would weigh about 2 tons (1700kg).<br />
*This die would have a 0.00001526 chance of rolling a natural one (or any other number).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[Drawing of a large die with many sides, about ten meters in diameter; Cueball is standing next to it as a size reference. A small portion of the die's surface is zoomed in, showing elongated hexagonal faces with five-digit numbers.]<br />
<br />
[Numbers on the zoomed in part of the die, "..." represents being cut off:] <br />
:30827 <br />
:16[bottom part of a line][small circle] <br />
:...38 <br />
:11875 <br />
:25444 <br />
:...[top part of a line]5 <br />
:12082 <br />
:28525 <br />
:3... <br />
:13359 <br />
:13874 <br />
:2...<br />
<br />
[Caption below the image:]<br />
The hardest part of securely generating random 16-bit numbers is rolling the d65536.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Cryptography]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2625:_Field_Topology&diff=284717Talk:2625: Field Topology2022-05-31T09:02:18Z<p>172.70.110.209: </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 />
First [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.64|172.70.86.64]] 12:50, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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To me the topological fields look like toilet seats with three more or less seashells. --[[User:Gunterkoenigsmann|Gunterkoenigsmann]] ([[User talk:Gunterkoenigsmann|talk]]) 16:19, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
Why is football on the two-hole field? Where are the holes? I don't think the goal posts in American football introduce any since they're not closed. Maybe it's soccer? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.88|172.69.68.88]] 12:58, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: I think it is because the goal posts extend into infinity and the topological definition of a hole: something you can draw a circle around that you cannot contract to a point. [the user placed a horizontal rule instead of a signature by accident.]<br />
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:Well, you might still be able to call them holes. They would be if they were fully rectangles. --[[User:BlackBeret|BlackBeret]] ([[User talk:BlackBeret|talk]]) 12:59, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Gridiron football's field contains two areas (the endzones) that can be thought of as not being part of the "normal" field of play, for lack of a better way of saying that pre-coffee. Association football likewise has the areas within the nets. [[User:Noëlle|Noëlle]] ([[User talk:Noëlle|talk]]) 13:05, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: My immediate thoughts were also that football (soccer) and football (gridiron) are the same, or indeed the other way round. In both cases the closed hole (assuming not a Y-like vertical holder, but H-like as per rugby football) plays no more or less topological part. Threading through the hole from behind has no relevence in either, and in fact defining it as a region that is 'a special enclosed gap with meaning' (which doesn't really matter in the topology sense, just like golf would be a topologically hole-less surface and as a coffee-cup's inside 'dimple' doesn't count, just its handle-hole that makes it equivalent to a doughnut) actually counts for something in association football. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 13:32, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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:: It's not the space bounded by the goal that is the 'hole' - it's the goal post itself (or in the case of the high jump, it's the bar, not the space under it). The reason soccer doesn't have 'holes' where the goals are is that they're positioned on the edge of the playable area - you can't play around the bars, because as soon as you cross the goal line you're out of play. And it doesn't matter whether it's a Y-shaped or H-shaped goal - topologically, they both form one continuous 'hole'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 13:37, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: I don't think that's the reason why soccer doesn't have holes. The goalposts in football are also outside the playable area, and so are the poles in volleyball. I think soccer is listed as zero-holes because soccer goals are typically not fixed to the field, and are instead separate objects that can be dragged around and removed from the field. On the other hand, the same is true of volleyball and badminton nets (and those nets contain many holes!) so the comic seems a bit inconsistent.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.146|172.70.175.146]] 14:05, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::: Speaking from a "football is soccer" nation (well, mostly, the exceptional subregions would argue that it's rugby) a soccer goal is typically ''not'' draggable around the field, but permanent (or a unit frame that has to be painstakingly hoisted out of the ground if you ''don't'' want them in your football stadium, when you repurpose it for other purposes) and it's only the optional net that gets added to the park's permanent goalposts for the official five-aside competition evening or day of the weekend. Draggable goalposts need a further level of intermediate organisation that goes beyond the typical "shipping container with windows cut in it (with shutters bolted over them) as a cheap changing room/officials' cabin" that might be found near the edge of the field but rarely even has as much as a corner flag left in them, between games".<br />
:::: I presume that US 'football' posts are considered holes because they are an infinitely-tall window (even though the delineating poles only reach so high) that is a meaningful slice (where the goal is, you have to loop around it in mutually different unsimplifiable paths to reach the other side), but then that should make for ''two'' holes per end, if you count getting a field-goal and then returning round the sides (or vice-versa) as another valid surface-path.<br />
:::: ...but, yeah, I can imagine the problem of definition (and cultural famiarity) here is going to produce more problems even than the understanding of topology. One of the less internationally-accepted comics, this. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 18:51, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
: O_O . Randall is united-statesian, so football means the thing where you tackle each other and hold the ball in your hands. I've never been into football, and I've always seen it with two large goal posts with a horizontal bar between them. The hole is formed under the horizontal bar. When I played football in computer games, you had to get the ball over the horizontal bar. After this, I'll search the web to see if the horizontal bar still exists. Regarding soccer, there aren't two holes because the nets are closed at the back. You cannot pass through the field structure by going through a goal: you bump into the net the ball bounces off of when a goal is made. So, Randall is considering soccer fields topologically equivalent to a plane (ignoring all the holes in the netting). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.229|172.70.114.229]] 14:58, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
: I looked up the goal thing and found that what I was imagining are called H-frame or H-style goal posts. Not the norm; the have two posts instead of one. I'm a weirdo that I thought they were what was up. But Randall could have been thinking of H-frame goals. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.63|172.70.230.63]] 15:04, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Many high school and amateur football fields still use H-frame goals. The resulting space can be used as a goal in some other sports. That does raise the question of why they didn't just have one field with lots of holes, and just plug the ones up that aren't needed for the sport being played. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.191|172.70.134.191]] 15:57, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Tetherball, in many variants, does contain an obstruction -- the pole, which you're not allowed to touch. The Topology Department is getting tired of having to switch out the fields. [[User:Noëlle|Noëlle]] ([[User talk:Noëlle|talk]]) 13:05, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:But you can surely jump over it, so it's topologically the same as a zero-height pole... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 13:32, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Tetherball does not have a *hole*. The pole, rope, and ball are just a stretched out bit of the continuous surface.<br />
<br />
Croquet has six hoops and a peg. How does that make for nine holes? Is it including the opponents' two balls as holes? And if so, why aren't opposing players counted as holes in the other sports? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 13:26, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquet#Nine-wicket] 'Nine-wicket croquet, sometimes called "backyard croquet", is played mainly in Canada and the United States, and is the game most recreational players in those countries call simply "croquet".' (Wikipedia) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.215|172.70.126.215]] 18:58, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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American football goals are Y-shaped. Rugby goals are H-shaped. Did... did Randall get those confused? Also, I fail to see how basketball and American football get two, croquet gets a bunch, but soccer gets zero. Aren't soccer goals (in-game at least) basically the same shape as croquet wickets, just waaaay bigger? Granted, I don't know anything about topology and I came to this wiki specifically cuz I'm dumb, so I'd love if someone could splain this all for me ;) --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.170|172.69.69.170]] 13:37, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:The soccer goal has a net, so the ball can't go through it. Topologically it's just a wall (Randall seems to be ignoring all the tiny holes in netting, presumaby because they're smaller than the balls so they're insignificant to the sports). [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:10, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I agree with that explanation - the net is the only thing that makes the soccer field not to have holes. It should be included in the comic explanation.<br />
::The hole for the volleyball only makes sense taking in account that the bottom of the net doesn't reach the floor, although this space is not used in the game.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 14:18, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I agree about soccer; the explanation should be that soccer goals (with net) are topologically part of the plane. The same is true of ice hockey, even though you can travel "around" the net, it is topologically part of the field with no holes. As for (American) football, the topology only makes sense for H-shaped goals, which are more often seen on primary/secondary play fields than in higher level play. [[User:Aramisuvla|Aramisuvla]] ([[User talk:Aramisuvla|talk]]) 16:03, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Agreed. Soccer goals are shaped such that their bottoms connect smoothly to the ground in a single continuous piece. So they are topologically equivalent to the plane. This wouldn't be the case if not for the back part holding the net. That's unlike basketball hoops, which are actual holes. The holes in football must be referring to the H-shaped uprights that were standard until 1967 in professional leagues and are still seen in some high school fields and even a couple college fields. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.128|172.70.131.128]] 03:08, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::EDIT: I should point out that the net actually has, like, hundreds of holes. But I think the net here is being treated as a continuous sheet. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.215|172.70.126.215]] 03:10, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::I mentioned all the little holes in the net in my comment that you're replying to. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:43, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The group link pointing to group (mathematics) doesn't bear any relation with the sentence or the comic. I would remove the link.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 14:18, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
: The joke seems important to me because their no consideration of the word 'field' being a math pun, and it raises the idea in readers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.74|162.158.79.74]] 15:11, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:When I first saw the comic title I assumed that part of the joke would be a pun on the word "field" being used for both sports and math. And even though the comic doesn't explicitly make this joke, I'll bet it inspired Randall. It's worth mentioning. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:43, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In rugby (both League and Union) the goalposts are within the field of play: significant game activity takes place behind them. This is not the case with soccer. I have no clue what difference this makes topologically.{{unsigned ip|}}<br />
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I've been thinking about this classification system, and can't quite work out the baseline for it. I think we're supposed to assume that the whole 3d manifold is represented in a 2d 'field', or at least any path through the air flattened to an arbitrarily thin surface 'bulge' during topological rationalisation. But there are several possible field-of-play definitions we can be using...<br />
* A single valid 'play' or traversal<br />
** For ball-sports (or indeed other play-objects) this could be where the item can travel. But in this case I think almost 'all' codes of football are Type 1 (first of the topologies) as almost every football code deals with both 'goal' and 'endzone' (where valid) as the same as a hole (dimple) in golf... It goes into it and it might as well come out of it again, there's no continuation of play 'through the defined' space, and so the topological hole (the barrier defined the scoring membrane's edge) never comes into play.<br />Unlike in Gridiron, where a touchdown doesn't even need the 'ball' to touch the ground, rugby (league and/or union, and possibly further derivatives) requires this and a player can fail to score a Try if (s)he passes bodily over the line but is unable to plant the ball (not allowed to throw/drop it) and I'd have to check what happens if the defending player(s) keeping them sufficiently off the ground (assuming that's done in an allowable fashion) returns the intended scorer back over the line via a circuitous route around /back-through the suspended goal-mouth (above the cross-bar, between the verticals)... They keep changing those kinds of technical rules, so I can't be sure of the current technicalities involved.<br />Likewise, a volleyball or shuttlecock that passes under the net-top-edge is out of play, so it is really a Type 1 under this definition. (Might as well be a solid barrier, floor-to-top-height, rather than a thin bar or a partial net.)<br />The basketball case is interesting. Although a dunk ends the play of the ball, I'm not sure if the path of a ball ''up'' through the hoop does not. In that circumstance I could believe it is a Type 3 case, but if that's a game-stopping thing then Type 1.<br />Croquet is indeed a varying number of paths through (I ''think'') an unordered set of holes, or at least nothing to say that they can be taken out of order (or 'un-passed-through'), and you can't necessarily restrict a 'play' to one shot at a time if certain conditions allow you to play on, so dodging in and around all scoring zones defined by the hoops gives you something like.<br />
** For player/competitor/participant movement, similarly passing under the bar is not valid for the High Jump.<br />I don't think there's anything to stop such transitions upon the Parallel Bars, but it is much more a feature of the ''Uneven'' Parallel Bars, whereas from what I've seen of the sport, the even-variety tends to be topologically used much as the pommel-horse.<br />Players of football (American variations certainly, rugby of course, proper football if you don't bother with the nets) are not restricted from passing through the scoring area (either way) on a circuitous path that may be off the field of play but isn't off the field ''of players''.<br />For the Olympic Swimming, I'm not suring porpoising over and under the lane-delineations is a thing, so I would have said that (under this definition), it should be a number of entirely disconnected Type 1 'zones', with no valid movement between them at all.<br />So far as I'm aware, there are no rules for/against croquet ''players'' passing through hoops (intentionally or perhaps because they severely annoyed an opponent) so maybe that stands in this case, too. Ditto for basketball, if hoisted. Although in both cases it may prevent the balls passing through immediately afterwards, without game-stoppage to resolve the issue.<br />
* If it's a game's-worth of play, then the status of the basket in basketball (unlike the pocket in snooker/pool/some-versions-of-billards) might be defined by the topological-hole-that-is-the-physical-hole's-edge, rather than treat it as the old basket-with-bottom from which the precusor to the net-ring almost immediately evolved. And the same could be said about the suspended scoring-hole (whether supported as Y-post or an H-post, the lower limb(s) are merely physical necessities that play little part in the gameplay specifics except as a general hazard to avoid, it is the crossbar and verticals-to-infinity (and the infinity itself) that is the gap through which a circular path cannot be rationalised back to a point). For most of the rest (including the participant-paths, with there being nothing to stop the traversal of a footballer of whatever stripe jumping the cross-bar, but that may only mean something in the topology of some variations, as far as the game is concerned...) it seems meaningless. Even in an Aussie Rules field with four 'posts' per end, and probably more interest in whether jumping onto an opposing player is against the rules or indeed an entirely legitimate and expected tactic.<br />
* The general arena-wide area is a further superset (perhaps with no additional complications, i.e. exactly congruent) of the field-of-play(er) definition. For coin-operated table-top games (foosball/table-football) the path from each goal may (additionally to any on-top topological loop-disconnections) force passage of the ball underneath and out into the new-play insertion spot. So add a couple more (unidirectional) paths, at least. Or six for a coin-operated pool/etc table, and I assume the Skeeball (not something I'm familar with, at least by that name) is defined that way already...<br />
Sorry, I found I needed to say a lot more than I thought I did, so the first point (and sub-points) went on a bit and I cut down what I might have said for the following points. I may come back to re-edit this. I've got a handy little table, in mind, but I'm not sure it'll work much better to summarise everything I've been cogitating about for most of today while away from the keyboard... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 15:57, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:The "hole" in the goalpost in American football is relevant for field goals, not touchdowns. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:43, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I'm not sure it's relevent for either. The field-goal passes over the crossbar and between (but also maybe above) the raised verticles, but that route is topologically the same as one above the crossbar but wide, which is in turn the same as one rolling along the ground and wide... Or indeed carried across just like most touchdowns (any that isn't run through the middle of the H-post', un-netted but otherwise soccer-like 'goalmouth' lower section).<br />
::Possibly running around the post(s) that support the field-goal defining beams counts as the path around the topological hole because any change to that route that attempts to transform it to a useless loop within the main field of play must either (at some point) pass through the support for the crossbar or else wholly through the region that defines (in one direction, at least) the goal-scoring area. Can anyone get Word Of God in his intentions, here? It looks weird, to me. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 03:48, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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As has been alluded to, this must be an American university's topology department. A rest-of-the-world university would include four holes for cricket. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.191|172.70.134.191]] 17:48, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Ok, this is my (not yet properly tabularised, or properly wikimedialinked) idea of all the kinds of information I'd suggest go in there.<br />But it's a monstrocity and I don't want to remove the very useful existing information already in the Explanation (that may even be better/more accurate than my interpretation).<br />...so here it is for review. If anything in it is useful to anybody else as inspiration for future edits then... well, your choice!<br />
*Click to expand:<br />
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"><br />
Competition<br />
|-<br />
Field diagram<br />
|-<br />
Usage description<br />
|-<br />
Topology<br />
|-<br />
<br />
'''Type 1 Field'''<br />
|-<br />
(First image in comic.)<br />
|-<br />
Any path looping around this area can be moved at will and shrunk to just one point that could result from any other path.<br />
|-<br />
A homogonously flat lozange surface with no other notable features.<br />
<br />
'''Baseball'''<br />
|-<br />
(Partial!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball#/media/File:Baseball_diamond.svg<br />
|-<br />
The playing area for baseball contains many important physical features for scoring and playing purposes, but is essentially one flat area (and continuous airspace) when you disregard the elevation of the pitcher's mound or even the outfield fence and stands (for any ball that carries that far, upon being hit).<br />
|-<br />
Randall explicitly classes this in the Type 1 diagram, and there isn't any obvious reason to argue this point.<br />
<br />
Association Football ("'''Soccer''''"/"Football")<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Football_pitch_metric_and_imperial.svg<br />
|-<br />
An unobstruted rectangular playing area with a goal formed of two vertical posts connected between the tops by a crossbar. In official competition (and where otherwise desired) there is a net stretched behind each goalmouth to stop any ball that passes completely through it (with or without hitting any of the posts), although games can be played with no net in place, or in street/schoolyard situations by goals defined only as a goalpost-like markings painted upon a solid wall (hitting the wall within the bounds of the painted line constitutes a goal, give or take arguments about whether it counts if it hit the line).<br />
|-<br />
Stated by Randall as a Type 1 (a single unobstructed zone), which is likely due to the 'pocket' of the net-backed goalmouth being nothing more than a straight extension of the playing area.<br />
However, an un-netted set of goalposts might be considered a Type 3, with each set of goalposts defining an impassible frame (the hole in the topology, ''not'' the same thing as the physical hole formed by the goal-frame) within which the balls can freely pass and return ''not'' through the goalmouth, or vice-versa.<br />
<br />
'''Tetherball'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tetherball_in_Georgetown,_Seattle,_Washington.jpg<br />
|-<br />
A ball attached to a cord anchored at the tip of a pole that is in turn stuck in the ground.<br />
|-<br />
Although the mechanism used to allow free swivelling of the tether around the pole may be quite complex (including being looped around a helical thread to help register how many excess orbits of the pole the ball has made in either direction), the basic premise can be simplified to a single extrusion from the playing area, which is topologically identical to a playing area with no extrusion at all. Thus Randall properly states this as a Type 1 variant.<br />
<br />
'''Type 2 Field'''<br />
|-<br />
(Second image in comic.)<br />
|-<br />
Any path that canot be shrunk to just one point will be pass around the unpassable hole in the topology.<br />
|-<br />
A homogonously flat lozange surface with a single central hole in it.<br />
<br />
'''Volleyball'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball#/media/File:VolleyballCourt.svg<br />
|-<br />
A volleyball court consists of a flat area disected by a raised net in the centre. Valid shots pass over the net, but it is possible for the ball (or players) to pass between the net and the floor.<br />
|-<br />
Randall lists this under the Type 2 diagram. An argument can be made that the net could effectively reach to the ground, or questions asked about anchoring the net top/bottom to the posts at either side with separate straps (adding left and right 'passages' between the elements of the obstacle that is the net) but he clearly intends the loop around the hole to represent the ability to passing over the net one way and under the net the other (or vice-versa) as a topologically irreducible loop.<br />
<br />
'''Badminton'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Badminton_court_3d.svg<br />
(Note that this diagram completely abstracts the under-net area away.)<br />
|-<br />
The net setup is very similar to volleyball, i.e. raised above the ground, with very similar rules regarding valid shots between the areas on each side.<br />
|-<br />
As with Volleyball, Randall feels justified in this being classed as a Class 2, having similar reasons for this as well as possible arguments against.<br />
(Note that another form of {{w|Badminton Horse Trials|Badminton}} is arguably far more topologically complex!)<br />
<br />
'''High Jump'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1912_Platt_Adams5.JPG<br />
|-<br />
A bar supported at height between two supports. The idea is to successfully pass over the bar (without knocking it off, the bar being only supported to the supports, not firmly attached to them), although a competitor who decides to abort their attempt mid-run might well choose to pass underneath to default the attempt with the least physical and organisational aftermath.<br />
|-<br />
With an 'above' and 'below' path to potentially loop around (though not in a single jump), Randall chooses to ascribe this as a Type 2. If a competitor displaces the bar, during a failed jump, it can morph the topology into a Type 1 scenario<br />
<br />
'''Type 3 Field'''<br />
|-<br />
(Third image in comic.)<br />
|-<br />
Any path that canot be shrunk to just one point will pass around one ot other ''or both'' of the holes in the topology.<br />
|-<br />
A homogonously flat lozange surface with two holes in it, towards each end.<br />
<br />
'''Basketball'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Basketball_terms.png<br />
|-<br />
Played upon a court, at each end of which is a tall pole (or supporting wall or other structure) from which a 'basket' is projected over the playing area. The earliest baskets were an actual closed-bottom basket, but this required climbing up to retrieve balls successfully landed within them. By removing the bottoms of the baskets and, later, using just a hoop (with or without a bottomless net). Points are scored by sending the ball through the basket-loop ''from above'', to be retrieved for further play as it exits below.<br />
|-<br />
Topologically, the edge of each loop is directly connected to the ground, so it can be smplified as a two-hole Type 3 field (the hole in the field is the impassible rim in the basket-loop). This does not preserve the orientation (or intended unidirectional nature) of the basketball-shot, but this is Topology's fault, not Randall's!<br />
<br />
American/Canadian Football ("Gridiron"/"'''Football'''")<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_field#/media/File:AmFBfield.svg<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Canadian_football_field.png<br />
|-<br />
A unobstructed rectangular playing area and two 'Endzones' at each end. Goalposts are either of an "H" shape or essentially a "Y" (crossbar, upper verticals and a single utilitarian post, usually set back beyond normal playing area with an extension over to hold the crossbar directly over the goal-line. The verticals are tall but are also conceptually projected upwards without limit, for scoring purposes, should a field-goal/etc be kicked high enough to exceed the structures.<br />
|-<br />
Stated by Randall as a Type 3 (a topological hole at each end of the field), which ''may'' represent the bound surrounding the elevated goal-scoring area. Alternately it represents the physical structure of the H-shaped posts which rationalise down to the open-backed ground-touching goalpost footings and the crossbar.<br />
<br />
'''Parallel Bars''' or perhaps ''Uneven'' Parallel Bars<br />
|-<br />
PB: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AlejandroonParallelBars.jpg<br />
UPB: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paksaltoliukin.jpg<br />
|-<br />
The Parallel Bars are two horizontal bars supported at roughly hand-height, upon which a gymnast will perform various hand-supported feats strength and coordination. The participant will not usually fully use the space beneath either bar (and between the two supports for the bar), but a will needs the opportunity to grip fully around the bar, especially when the other hand is released for a complicated body movement and it would be impractical or a different discipline entirely to used a 'filled' bar-support.<br />
<br />
The Uneven Parallel Bars are two similarly supported bars but at two different (and greater) heights, with the performance being generally that of keeping the grip of both hands (or knees/etc) on either one or other of the bars whilst rotating around its axis, when not actively transfering across between the bars themselves.<br />
|-<br />
Effectively two loops (as per basketball hoops but in a different orientation and scale). The Type 3 topology suggested by Randall is more meaningful for the use of Uneven Parallel Bars, but is probably applicable to the 'even' version in its own way.<br />
<br />
'''Type 4 Field'''<br />
|-<br />
(Fourth image in comic.)<br />
|-<br />
Any path that canot be shrunk to just one point will pass around at least one (and possibly several) of the nine holes in this topology.<br />
|-<br />
A homogonously flat lozange surface with nine small holes dotted into it.<br />
<br />
'''Olympic Swimming'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swimming_pool_50m_2008.svg<br />
|-<br />
In competitive swimming, a swimming pool is often delineated into lanes (for Olympic purposes, Lane 0 to Lane 9, though usually not all will be used) by floating barriers and other markings. These provide a limited amount of wave-reduction but mostly keep competitors from inadvertently drifting across or into each others' paths.<br />
|-<br />
Randall considers this setup to require nine 'holes' in the competition area, presumably where the floats pass along the surface of the water, to make a Type 4 field of competition. He must then consider it perfectly possible for competitors to pass under ''or over'' these barriers, at will, with complete disregard for the usual competition (and risking disqualification). Otherwise, it might be best considered as (up to) ten ''separate'' Type 1 arenas, with just one swimmer in each.<br />
<br />
'''Croquet'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Modern_croquet_equipment.JPG<br />
|-<br />
A game in which a number of metal hoops are placed in the ground such that a given number of players (or teams of players) must each propel their own ball(s), and possibly those of their opponents, through each loop either directly with their own mallet or through contact between balls.<br />
Many variations exist with differing numbers of hoops and variations of rules and winning conditions. Randall appears to favour the "Nine-wicket Croquet" popular to North America.<br />
|-<br />
The topological simplification of nine hoops across a flat surface can be thought of as the Type 4 topology displayed.<br />
<br />
Table Football ("'''Foosball'''"/"Table Soccer") - as per title-text<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Foosball_garlando_aerial.jpg<br />
|-<br />
An enclosed playing surface with (typically) eight rotatable and extendable bars supporting representative (soccer) 'footballer' figures, ready to strike a small ball across the surface, as might be desired by the two or more opposing players who are each able to control the movements of half of the 'bars' (each team's-worth having a goalkeeper, defence, midfield and attacking 'layer'). By skill and/or luck, the aim is to propel the ball into the opposing's player's goal.<br />
On coin-operated games, often the playing area is usually sealed off from direct manual interference, and a ball that goes into the goalmouth finds itself in a lower chamber that stores the ball(s) and deposits them via some feed to carry the ball back up and 'thrown in' towards the centre of the table to start the next attempt at goal.<br />
|-<br />
With eight bars across, and potentially two goalmouth sinks, this may not actually add up to a nine-hole Type 4 field of play. But presumably Randall is thinking of a version that does.<br />
<br />
'''Skee-Ball'''<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skee_Ball.JPG<br />
|-<br />
An arcade game in which a ball is propelled by the player to land in (according to skill) one of various holes in a target-ridden surface (to return back to the player for another go).<br />
|-<br />
It would depend upon the exact confuguration of Skee-Ball machine but, again, Randall seems to think this matches the Type 4 topology.<br />
<br />
Further (football) examples, unmentioned<br />
<br />
Australian Rules Football ('Aussie Rules'<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Footygroundfix.svg<br />
|-<br />
An unobstructed oval field with four simple vertical posts upon the perimiter arcs at each end.<br />
The ball passing between the (taller) central pair of each end's posts (projected upwards indefinitely) is a Goal. Passing between the outer posts and the adjacent central one (or bouncing off these) is a Behind.<br />
|-<br />
Type 1 if the protruding poles are rationalised to zero, without respect to scoring zones. Four ''or perhaps six'' topological holes (two or three per end) if respecting the imaginary projections indefinitely upwards for scoring purposes, depending upon if you care about chirality of the ball path.<br />
<br />
<br />
Gaelic football ('Gaelic') - fields also used for Hurling<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football#/media/File:Gaelic_football_pitch_diagram.svg<br />
|-<br />
An unobstructed rectangular field with an H-shaped set of goalposts at each end, the area below the crossbar often being netted, while the upper verticals being nominally considered as projecting upwards without limit.<br />
Valid balls sent over the crossbar and between the verticals are awarded Points; those sent into the netted goalmouth are Goals (equivalent to three Points for scoring purposes).<br />
There is no in-play use of the area behind the line of the goalposts, unlike various other football codes with similar-looking posts.<br />
|- Topologically, probably considered a Type 1. Goal-shots are into a 'pocket' extension (if nets are used), and Point-shots are topologically indistinguishable from passing over any other part of the boundary line.<br />
<br />
<br />
Rugby League/Union ('Rugby'/'Rugby Football'/'Football')<br />
|-<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union#/media/File:RugbyPitchMetricDetailed.svg<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_league_playing_field#/media/File:NRL_Rugby_League_field.svg<br />
|-<br />
An unobstructed rectangular playing area and two 'In Goal' areas continuing on behind the 'Try Line' upon which the H-shaped goalposts sit.<br />
The field of play extends into this area, the lower parts of the vertical posts play no purpose other than to hold the upper elements in the air. A 'Try' (roughly equivalent to a Touchdown) can be scored by placing the ball somewhere over the line or by touching the base of the (often padded) posts.<br />
The cross-bar and the verticals upwards of it (towards and bounded at infinity) count as the hard boundary of a scoring area for "conversions" (taken immediately after a try) and other kicks (penalties and drop-goals).<br />
|-<br />
Might be treated as Type 3 (two holes), unless concerned about whether balls kicked through the goals or taking across the try line weave back one or other side of, or between, the lower vertical posts.<br />
Alternately, is a Type 3 for the lower (not more special for scoring than any adjacent lower area) frames, while the open tops (meaningful for scoring purposes) rationalise as topologically irrelevent.<br />
</div><br />
(TL;DR; - It's too long, you may not want to read it...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.213|162.158.34.213]] 21:47, 28 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The extended discussion in the explanation about the issues with "two-holes for football" goes away if the goals are the H-shaped kind rather then the Y-shaped kind. Since the comic specifically states that these fields belong to the Topology Department - and are NOT generalized across all sports fields - then we can use the "two hole" information to deduce that the department's fields have the H-shaped kind...which solves 100% of the confusion and eliminates the long (and excessively intricate) digression about other weird forms of "football" with different topologies. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 13:23, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
- agree [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 15:52, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is this really explainxkcd? Asking since I don't see the obvious stated anywhere. Hell, '''the obvious question and last statement of the image isn't even addressed'''. Why does no one ever want to use the topology department's athletic fields? Its a mystery right? Whats wrong with a soccer field that has a topology like that? It make detecting when the ball crossed the line so much easier.<br />
Also, how has no one talked about the geographic/field topology that the last question implies along with the obvious reprecusions (ball roll down hill. stuck in middle. habing to climb. tripping in holes and breaking legs)? Why is everything so freaking high level here? '''Where the hell is the explanation of the joke's? Something is terribly wrong!''' [[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.81|172.71.82.81]] 17:56, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: One of the more serious problems with explainxkcd is the well-known phenomenon that explaining a joke often kills the humor. So, quite often, in the course of fully explaining the cartoon - we do indeed shred the actual humor into tiny, tiny fragments. However, we're here to explain it - and that's that.<br />
: I guess the joke is that the topology department are so obsessed with the topological shape of their sport's fields that they have lost the shape and dimensions of the fields - and thereby made them useless for playing actual sports on.<br />
: Two fields that are topologically equivalent are not necessarily capable of being used for playing multiple sports. Swimming on a croquet field - or playing croquet in a swimming pool does not work. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.199|172.69.71.199]] 18:15, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: The goal is to explain the joke in '''laymans terms''' yaknow, "because your dumb". Since the joke is missed by those outside the fields and don't know how definitions of terms differ in different fields and whatnot. Its the whole purpose. The thing above explains nothing in laymans terms. There is no joke. All there is is an explanation on how field theory and topolgy work and then why the resulting images make sense. Nothing on why this is supposed to be funny. The one thing we actually have to explain at minimum. The joke seems to be that this field which is created for the reasons already described is the actual field we would play on (something completly unaddressed in the explanation above). This could be dangerous with those holes (also unaddressed). And then there is the unadressed question of is this a raised plot of land thats been cut out, or is this all that exist, and kicking the ball off field or falling in a hole goes into a void. This needs to be an explanation for people who are much, much, much dumber. We are not supposed to be explaining field theory, just enough of it to get the joke [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.124|162.158.187.124]] 18:27, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
: explainxkcd was weird, but has definitely been getting weirder, and i also question its reality and worry for if the server breaks without somebody to fix it. i get a lot of reverses and edits that sometimes look like subtle vandalism or political information insertion. i think a lot of people are on twitter, and i think xkcd has an irc chat too. but i'm here for now. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 09:02, 31 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Wondering if any topologists understand American football, and if any football fans understand topology. I am a football fan who doesn't understand topology. As requested before, I would like to understand why there is any topological difference in analyzing the American football gameplay and playing field, between H-shaped and Y-shaped goals. <br />
<br />
The field-goal-space is functionally a rectangle above the crossbar, and the width between the uprights, but of undefined height, in both the H and Y cases. It is directly above the back line of the endzone for pro and for college football. The one or two supports for the crossbar are irrelevant to gameplay. All supports below the bar would be eliminated, if the engineering problem could be solved. Why does the existence of one vs. two engineering kludges make a critical difference in the number of topological holes? <br />
<br />
The endzone, that is, all of the space on the playing field (grass) in front of, and on either side of the goalposts is valid and legal for every player and for the ball on every play, potentially with scoring implications at the termination of the play. Note that the goal posts for pro football were at one time at the back of the endzone, then from 1933 to 1974, on the goal line, and since 1974, at the back of the endzone again. NCAA/college football has had the goalposts at the back of the endzone since 1927. <br />
<br />
All of the space above the grass, above the endzone, both under and above the height of the horizontal crossbar, are also legal and valid for play by the players and by the ball on every play. In one case, a play involving a legally kicked field goal, the space above the crossbar and between the uprights, has scoring significance. A field goal has the same name and the same general mechanics in basketball and in American football. In neither case do the engineering contrivances supporting and suspending the goal rectangle (football) or circle (basketball) play a conceptual role in the gameplay. Why, then, do the topologists here in the discussion treat football and basketball differently, and why are H-shaped and Y-shaped goals in football not equivalent? Randall counts both basketball and football as 'two-holers', but the current public Expain xkcd text says that he is wrong for pro and college football. So far as I can tell, pro and college football have both used the Y-goal since 1974 or before. The Y-support for the goalposts is 6.5 feet behind the back of the endzone, and completely outside of the playing field. I look forward to learning something. [unsigned]<br />
<br />
: I've edited the first paragraph to make this clearer, but topology is the mathematics which describes a particular aspect of a shape, which ignores many other specifics of shape, size and material. In particular topology pays attention to any place where something can pass through an object, like the holes shown (and places where the object passes through itself are even more interesting). So, while difference between the two supporting poles of the H-support goal and the single pole of the Y-support is irrelevant to gameplay, as far as topology is concerned it is basically the only relevant difference, as two poles supporting a bar form an aperture that things (balls, people) can pass through, and there is one such "hole" in each end. <br />
<br />
: I am pretty sure Randall is ignoring all markings on the field and rules of play, considering that the joke is that the topology department is ignoring such important things as size (of volleyball vs high-jump "fields"), positioning (of basketball hoops vs parallel bars) and protrusions (of soccer nets or tetherball stands).[[Special:Contributions/172.68.66.37|172.68.66.37]] 02:21, 30 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In describing the shapes for the transcript, amused to find that the ellipses (plural of ellipse, oval) are used to denote ellipses (plural of ellipsis, missing material). Are the etymologies related? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.66.37|172.68.66.37]] 02:21, 30 May 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2625:_Field_Topology&diff=2843522625: Field Topology2022-05-28T15:09:33Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2625<br />
| date = May 27, 2022<br />
| title = Field Topology<br />
| image = field_topology.png<br />
| titletext = The combination croquet set/10-lane pool can also be used for some varieties of foosball and Skee-Ball.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by SOMEBODY TOPOLOGICALLY EQUIVALENT TO YOU - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic strip depicts a logical extreme of multi-use athletic facilities, in which sports are grouped by the {{w|topology|topological}} equivalence of their fields (not to be confused with {{w|Field (mathematics)|mathematical fields}}, or the {{w|Fields Medal}} prize -- although successfully {{w|Straightedge and compass construction|constructing}} these fields might lead to medals of one kind or another being granted).<br />
<br />
In topology, shapes which can be smoothly changed into one another, without making or closing cuts or holes, are equivalent. {{w|Baseball}}, {{w|soccer}}, and {{w|tetherball}} are played on fields without any holes the ball or players can completely pass through, so they are grouped ({{w|Group (mathematics)|heh!}}) into one continuous field without holes. The goals on a soccer field do not create holes; because the goalposts are connected to the field with a net, the goals and field are topologically equivalent to a plane. The same is true of ice hockey, as well.<br />
<br />
{{w|Volleyball}} and {{w|badminton}} are played on a field split in two by a net, and the {{w|high jump}} has a bar that contestants jump over. The space bounded by the bottom of the net (or bar), the supporting poles, and the ground can be considered to be a hole, so their fields all have one "hole". <br />
<br />
A basketball court has two holes, the nets. Parallel bars can be thought of as two rectangles and thus as two topographical "holes". A football field is a special case. Commonly, an American football field uses a "Y" shaped upright, making the field topologically equivalent to a plane. However, at lower levels of play (primary and secondary schools), sometimes an "H" shaped upright is used, which creates a topological hole under the crossbar at both ends of the field. The comic might instead refer to Gaelic football or Rugby, both of which use "H" shaped goals and are called "football" in certain contexts.<br />
<br />
The lane dividers in swimming create bounded holes on the 'playing surface' equivalent to the number of lanes minus one. Randall's construction would be used as a pool with nine completely separate troughs for lanes. And each hoop in croquet is a hole with one edge bounded by the playing surface. Similarly, as mentioned in the title text, this configuration is also {{w|homeomorphism|homeomorphic}} to a {{w|foosball}} table (with each rod sustaining the player figures above the table defining a hole) or a {{w|Skee-Ball}} lane (which is even more straightforward, as it is just a plane with several holes in which to throw balls).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Four indistinct shapes with various numbers of holes in, with signs next to them<br />
<br />
zero holes: "Baseball. Soccer. Tetherball."<br />
<br />
one hole: "Volleyball. Badminton. High jump."<br />
<br />
two holes: Basketball. Football. Parallel bars."<br />
<br />
nine holes: "Olympic swimming. Croquet."<br />
<br />
Image caption: "No one ever wants to use the topology department's athletic fields."<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2625:_Field_Topology&diff=2843512625: Field Topology2022-05-28T15:09:03Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2625<br />
| date = May 27, 2022<br />
| title = Field Topology<br />
| image = field_topology.png<br />
| titletext = The combination croquet set/10-lane pool can also be used for some varieties of foosball and Skee-Ball.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a TOPOLOGIST MATHLETE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic strip depicts a logical extreme of multi-use athletic facilities, in which sports are grouped by the {{w|topology|topological}} equivalence of their fields (not to be confused with {{w|Field (mathematics)|mathematical fields}}, or the {{w|Fields Medal}} prize -- although successfully {{w|Straightedge and compass construction|constructing}} these fields might lead to medals of one kind or another being granted).<br />
<br />
In topology, shapes which can be smoothly changed into one another, without making or closing cuts or holes, are equivalent. {{w|Baseball}}, {{w|soccer}}, and {{w|tetherball}} are played on fields without any holes the ball or players can completely pass through, so they are grouped ({{w|Group (mathematics)|heh!}}) into one continuous field without holes. The goals on a soccer field do not create holes; because the goalposts are connected to the field with a net, the goals and field are topologically equivalent to a plane. The same is true of ice hockey, as well.<br />
<br />
{{w|Volleyball}} and {{w|badminton}} are played on a field split in two by a net, and the {{w|high jump}} has a bar that contestants jump over. The space bounded by the bottom of the net (or bar), the supporting poles, and the ground can be considered to be a hole, so their fields all have one "hole". <br />
<br />
A basketball court has two holes, the nets. Parallel bars can be thought of as two rectangles and thus as two topographical "holes". A football field is a special case. Commonly, an American football field uses a "Y" shaped upright, making the field topologically equivalent to a plane. However, at lower levels of play (primary and secondary schools), sometimes an "H" shaped upright is used, which creates a topological hole under the crossbar at both ends of the field. The comic might instead refer to Gaelic football or Rugby, both of which use "H" shaped goals and are called "football" in certain contexts.<br />
<br />
The lane dividers in swimming create bounded holes on the 'playing surface' equivalent to the number of lanes minus one. Randall's construction would be used as a pool with nine completely separate troughs for lanes. And each hoop in croquet is a hole with one edge bounded by the playing surface. Similarly, as mentioned in the title text, this configuration is also {{w|homeomorphism|homeomorphic}} to a {{w|foosball}} table (with each rod sustaining the player figures above the table defining a hole) or a {{w|Skee-Ball}} lane (which is even more straightforward, as it is just a plane with several holes in which to throw balls).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Four indistinct shapes with various numbers of holes in, with signs next to them<br />
<br />
zero holes: "Baseball. Soccer. Tetherball."<br />
<br />
one hole: "Volleyball. Badminton. High jump."<br />
<br />
two holes: Basketball. Football. Parallel bars."<br />
<br />
nine holes: "Olympic swimming. Croquet."<br />
<br />
Image caption: "No one ever wants to use the topology department's athletic fields."<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2622:_Angular_Diameter_Turnaround&diff=2718242622: Angular Diameter Turnaround2022-05-20T22:31:54Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2622<br />
| date = May 20, 2022<br />
| title = Angular Diameter Turnaround<br />
| image = angular_diameter_turnaround.png<br />
| titletext = Thank you to Katie Mack for teaching me about this effect, and to Janelle Shane for describing redshifts as 'like galaxies sinking into a pool of dilute blood,' which is how I'll see them from now on.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a Galaxy-branded phone- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic references multiple physics and maths concepts, including {{w|Angular diameter}}, {{w|Angular diameter distance}}, {{w|Redshift}}, and {{w|phones|mobile phones}}, although mobile phones are not a core science at this time.<br />
<br />
The comic shows the galaxies of the universe as mobile phones, pairing the age we see them at from earth, the degree they are redshifted, and how much of the sky they take up, known as their angular diameter.<br />
<br />
Randall's intent appears to be to highlight how just a few very distant galaxies occupy incredibly large proportions of the sky, and are seen as they were at a very young age. Mobile phones have this similarity, of massive presence, relatively early stages of new technology, and bringing information from far away.<br />
<br />
The large galaxies can be seen dark red in the background, as if the unimaginably ancient child galactic bodies are looming forebodingly behind everything else.<br />
<br />
This physical concept has a lot of juxtaposition of things that usually contradict, and Randall has put energy into attempting to highlight that.<br />
<br />
Katie Mack tweet: https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1516548836709343238<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- title text --><br />
[[Category:Puns]] <!-- is there a "galaxy" / Samsung Galaxy pun here? --></div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=926:_Time_Vulture&diff=271814926: Time Vulture2022-05-20T22:29:02Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 271708 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 926<br />
| date = July 18, 2011<br />
| title = Time Vulture<br />
| image = time vulture.png<br />
| titletext = In a way, all vultures are Time Vultures; some just have more patience than others.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is about the ''time vulture'' (hence the title), a fictional creature made up by [[Randall]]. [[Cueball]] notices that his Cueball-like friend is followed by a time vulture, making the exclamation '' Dude, you've got a time vulture.''<br />
<br />
The primary food source for {{w|Vulture|vultures}} is carrion, or rotting meat. A time vulture, as explained by Cueball, is a type of vulture that can live for {{w|Millennium|millennia}}, spending very little energy and it can even slow down its internal clocks so time speeds past, a kind of forward time travel, to the point where its prey dies. In this way, it can thus always wait long enough for the prey to die of natural causes no matter how long it takes, as seen from the prey's point of view. So in principle they kill their prey by using aging, as Cueball explains, although in fact, like any vulture, they just find prey that has already (almost) died, as from their point of view every living thing is just about to die. But as with other vultures, they do not participate in the actual killing. Time vultures thus just need to locate and find any one living creature (of a reasonable size), then it becomes it’s prey as it then just waits until it dies, spending hardly any energy while it waits. Real {{w|List of soaring birds|soaring}} vultures can also stay afloat for considerable time spans without actually using any energy as they just {{w|Lift (soaring)|float}} on {{w|thermals}}.<br />
<br />
Thus the time vulture will now keep soaring over Cueball’s friends head for the rest of his life, or until they travel on an airplane (airplanes typically cruise at an altitude too high for a vulture to fly over them, although it is of course possible that the vulture could board the plane as well), and then when he dies (whenever and of whichever cause), it will descend and feast on his carcass. This should in principle not make any difference to the friend, since most people in principle already lives with the knowledge, that they will eventually die{{Citation needed}} and their body will end up being destroyed in one way or the other. Typically it will not be caused by vultures, but for instance by the fire of the {{w|Crematory}} or by the {{w|decomposition}} caused by small animals and germs in the earth we are buried in. <br />
<br />
However, it is not very nice to be reminded of this every living second of the rest of your life thus the consternation of the friend and his question and statement; ''But what if the prey doesn't die?'' and ''I'm not about to die...'' <br />
<br />
At first, the question doesn’t make sense since there are no known examples of terrestrial animals (including humans) that are large enough to matter as prey for a vulture and can survive through the several millennia that a time vulture can wait. The few {{w|List_of_longest-living_organisms|species that can live that long}} and grow at least as large as vulture prey, such as the 2,384 acre (965 hectare) "Humongous Fungus", an individual of the fungal species ''{{w|Armillaria solidipes}}'' in the {{w|Malheur National Forest}}, thought to be between 2,000 and 8,500 years old<ref>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/03/030327074535.htm Humongous Fungus A New Kind Of Individual</ref><ref>http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-largest-organism-is-fungus Strange but True: The Largest Organism on Earth Is a Fungus</ref>, and a {{w|Great Basin bristlecone pine}} (''Pinus longaeva'') measured by {{w|dendrochronology|ring count}} to be over 5000 years old.<ref>http://www.rmtrr.org/oldlist.htm</ref>, are stationary, such as fungi and plants, or aquatic, such as coral and sponges. Thus, the moving land species large enough to be attractive as prey will always die within the lifespan of the vulture (as Cueball tries to explain).<br />
<br />
However, the question actually does make sense, because the prey does not have to outlive the vulture to avoid being eaten by the vulture; it simply has to live long enough to get to an airport, get through security screening, and board a flight that goes either too fast or too high for the vulture to follow. Therefore, the vulture would get to eat the prey only if the prey died on the way to the airport, while standing outdoors in line for security screening, or while walking from the terminal to the airplane (if passengers board outdoors instead of using a {{w|jet bridge|passenger boarding bridge (Jetway)}}). It is possible that the prey might not die this soon, unless security screening lines exceed the maximum human lifespan of approximately 120 years.<br />
<br />
And because the time vulture can slow down its internal clock, in its point of view, everyone who ever says "But, I'm not about to die", would say so right before they die; actually anything a person ever says after the time vulture has locked on to that person, happens just before they die as seen from the vulture's point of view. In humans' point of view, it could be many years after the statement was made, but for the time vulture, a human lifespan only lasts a mere moment. <br />
<br />
Of course, since a human can travel a considerable distance in this time, even around the world, the human would be traveling at an extremely high velocity from the vulture's perspective, so the vulture would be unable to keep up and the human would escape. In a more extreme fashion, since the vulture’s perception of time is significantly slowed, it would be more simple to buy a rifle and kill the Time Vulture.<br />
<br />
It is thus really more of a philosophical comic about the fact that we all have death waiting for us, you could say it soars above our head and just wait for it to happen. And in relation to the {{w|deep time}} of the geology of the Earth or the expansion of the universe, the time it takes for people to live their lives is hardly worth mentioning...<br />
<br />
In the title text it is stated that all real life vultures are actually a kind of time vultures, as real life vultures also sometimes spot a dying animal, not quite dead yet, and then wait for this prey to die. But time vultures are able to wait for millennia for their prey to die, whereas regular vultures do not have that kind of time, before they need to feed or land, thus the comment that some vultures have more patience than others.<br />
<br />
Real vultures and their preying habits was referenced in [[1746: Making Friends]], directly in the title text.<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is watching a large black bird, with apparently fractal wings, which hovers above his Cueball-like friend who walks towards Cueball and now turns to look at the bird over his shoulder.]<br />
:Cueball: Dude, you've got a Time Vulture.<br />
:Friend: Holy crap! What is it?<br />
<br />
:[Zoom-in on Cueball who now looks at his friend who are now standing close to Cueball looking up at the bird off-panel.]<br />
:Cueball: They're predators that use aging to kill prey.<br />
:Friend: Huh? What do you mean?<br />
<br />
:[The panel zooms in on the Cueball's face. The friends reply comes from off-panel.]<br />
:Cueball: They live for millennia and use little energy. They can slow down their internal clocks so time speeds past. To hunt, they lock on to some prey, and when it stops moving, they eat it.<br />
:Friend (off-panel): But what if the prey doesn't die?<br />
<br />
:[Zoom out to Cueball and his friend that now look at each other.]<br />
:Cueball: I don't think you quite understand.<br />
:Friend: I mean, ''I'm'' not '''about''' to die...<br />
:Cueball: From the vulture's viewpoint, everyone says that moments before they do.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2514:_Lab_Equipment&diff=2718102514: Lab Equipment2022-05-20T22:27:56Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 270970 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2514<br />
| date = September 10, 2021<br />
| title = Lab Equipment<br />
| image = lab_equipment.png<br />
| titletext = I've been working on chocolate bar annealing techniques to try to produce the perfect laser s'more. Maybe don't mention that on the grant application though.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic claims that in every science lab, there exists some piece of equipment that sticks around less for being useful, and more because the scientists and technicians just think the device is really cool.<br />
<br />
The comic presents a laboratory containing equipment for analysis of substances. While giving [[Cueball]] a tour of the lab equipment, [[Ponytail]] shows a spectrometer &mdash; a device that examines light emitted from or passed through samples to fingerprint emission or absorption lines in the mix of light. Next she shows the "Nd:YAG" lasers. It is unknown if the multiple lasers are for redundancy or if they have different specifications and are for different tests. "Nd:YAG" stands for {{w|Nd:YAG_laser|neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet}}; it is a lasing medium commonly used in lasers. Lastly she shows off a decommissioned laser not used in experiments, but rather for toasting marshmallows. <br />
<br />
The claim that such things are almost universal is, in fact, very realistic. When doing any research, especially cutting-edge research, it's often difficult to predict what equipment will be useful or not, so it's inevitable those some things will be purchased, and not turn out to be very effective in their experiments. Some of these things will end up being sold, put into storage, repurposed, or even thrown away, but some equipment is enjoyed by the researchers, despite a lack of official uses, and so will end up being kept around. Researchers, being human{{citation needed}}, are going to do some things in the lab for their own amusement, rather than because it's part of a formal experiment, and if equipment has already been purchased, keeping it because it's enjoyable is usually overlooked. Additionally, just playing around with high-end equipment can occasionally lead to useful discoveries. Basic research is difficult to plan out, and sometimes just letting scientists play around with powerful equipment can produce unexpected results, which can lead to new scientific understanding. <br />
<br />
The title-text mentions that she's using "annealing techniques" to make the perfect s'more. A {{w|s'more}} is a popular treat in the United States and Canada, consisting of one or more toasted marshmallows and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker. {{w|Annealing (materials science)|Annealing}} is more commonly a heat-treatment technique used to influence the nature of the crystals in metals for structural reasons. This is done when jewelry is molded from molten metal, but more likely Randall means a use of annealing in scientific research. Annealing is also used in {{w|Annealing_(glass)|glass production}}. This suggests that Ponytail is trying to use lasers and/or other specialized heating equipment to control the melting process of the chocolate, in conjuction with precision toasted marshmallows, to perfect this treat. She points out that this shouldn't be mentioned on the grant application. When labs apply for grants to purchase or upgrade equipment, or to fund research projects, they emphasize the scientific principles that could be advanced (and potential useful products that might be produced) as a result of their research. The idea that researchers might be using the equipment to amuse themselves and work on whimsical side projects would be unlikely to impress the groups offering the grant,{{citation needed}} even though, as [[Randall]] points out, such things are pretty much ubiquitous.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail and Cueball are talking to each other. They are standing between two tables with equipment scattered on them, including lens-stands and eye-protection. Ponytail is pointing away from Cueball towards an unidentified off-panel location.]<br />
<br />
:Ponytail: The spectrometer is over here, the Nd:YAG lasers are over here,<br />
:Ponytail: and in the corner is a laser that turned out not to be useful for us, but we keep it because it's fun to toast marshmallows with it.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel]<br />
:Every lab in every field has some piece of equipment like this.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2513:_Saturn_Hexagon&diff=2718042513: Saturn Hexagon2022-05-20T22:26:38Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 271404 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2513<br />
| date = September 8, 2021<br />
| title = Saturn Hexagon<br />
| image = saturn_hexagon.png<br />
| titletext = Sorry, in SI units that's "there's a big football in there."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[File:PIA20513_-_Basking_in_Light.jpg|thumb|400px|Saturn's hexagon]]<br />
<br />
{{w|Saturn's Hexagon}} is a cloud formation on Saturn centered on its north pole. Similar to Jupiter's {{w|Great Red Spot}}, Saturn's Hexagon has proven a persistent feature observed by multiple space probes. The cause was not known until recently, when data from the 2006-2009 {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} probe could be analyzed in depth. This finding was widely publicized in popular science media (see for example [https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-think-they-figured-out-how-saturn-s-giant-hexagonal-storm-could-have-formed]) and is related to how currents flow deep within Saturn's atmosphere.<br />
<br />
Randall proposes an alternate explanation: it is the top of a {{w|Ball_(association_football)|soccer ball}}. Soccer balls are made in the shape of a {{w|truncated icosahedron}}, where faces alternate between regular hexagons and regular pentagons to achieve a more uniform roll. This design was introduced in 1968 as the {{w|Adidas Telstar}}, and is now considered the "traditional" soccer ball. The article is shown to refer to this as the "BSBIT model", a technical-sounding acronym from "Big Soccer Ball In There".<br />
<br />
"Soccer" is the name used in the United States for {{w|association football}}, a game called simply "football" in much of the world. Similarly, the US makes wide use of {{w|United States customary units|customary units of measurement}} (inches, feet, miles, pounds, etc.) where much of the world uses the SI or metric system (centimetres, metres, kilometres, kilograms, etc.), so "football" is jokingly referred to in the title text as the SI name for "soccer". As much of the Web panders to a significantly US-based audience{{fact}}, many sites use only American customary measurements and omit metric equivalents, which might annoy non-US users; Randall parodies this by sarcastically and non-seriously apologizing.{{fact}}. Just as the American customary units derive from British {{w|Imperial units}}, the term "soccer" originated in the UK, originally to {{w|Names_for_association_football#Background|distinguish it}} from rugby football (sometimes "rugger"), before soccer became the most common form of football there.<br />
<br />
This comic may also reference something often quoted to students decades ago that Saturn [https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/in-depth/#:~:text=Structure-,Structure,by%20intense%20pressure%20and%20heat. would float] if there were a large enough pool of water to hold it, often having been stated as "Saturn is a giant beach ball". This refers to the property that Saturn is the planet with the {{w|Saturn#Physical_characteristics|lowest average density}}. This, of course, is a lot more [https://www.wired.com/2013/07/no-saturn-wouldnt-float-in-water/ complicated] in reality.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, the presentation of the truncated-icosahedral 'football', pressing one clear polygonal face up along the upper limit of the planetary sphere, has much in common with the (non-truncated) icosahedron that floats within a {{w|Magic 8-Ball}}, arranged to display just one random triangular face whenever its viewing window is upwards. This may be coincidence, without any obvious attempt to directly reference any of the [https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1404098-safely-endangered popular memes] relating to this. Randall has previously parodied the magic 8-ball in [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[Cueball is presenting in front of a poster, which he is pointing at with a stick.]<br />
<br />
Cueball: We're proud to announce that our team has finally determined the origin and nature of Saturn's polar hexagon.<br />
<br />
[The poster represents Saturn and its ring-system. There is a massive football/soccer ball drawn as if inside the semi-transparent planet, taking up slightly less than half of it by volume. <br />
One of the ball's hexagons coincides with Saturn's polar hexagon, and is labelled "Hexagon". Other labels are illegible.<br/><br />
The poster's title is "There's a Big Soccer Ball In There". The rest of the poster is illegible, except for a section heading that reads "BSBIT Model".]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category: Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Soccer]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2509:_Useful_Geometry_Formulas&diff=2717842509: Useful Geometry Formulas2022-05-20T22:22:35Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 270820 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2509<br />
| date = August 30, 2021<br />
| title = Useful Geometry Formulas<br />
| image = useful_geometry_formulas.png<br />
| titletext = Geometry textbooks always try to trick you by adding decorative stripes and dotted lines.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a STRIPED AND DOTTED TEXTBOOK ILLUSTRATOR. Explain the formulas for each of the areas, and also the correct formula for the 3D object they seem to represent. Consider whether to add a table with the formula given and the correct formula for the 3D shape. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic showcases area formulas for the areas of four two-dimensional geometric shapes which each have extra dotted and/or solid lines making them look like illustrations for 3-dimensional objects. The first, a simple equation for the area of a circle, the second an equation for the area of a triangle with a semi-elliptic base, the third an equation for the area of a rectangle with an elliptical base and top, and the fourth an equation for the area of a hexagon consisting of two opposing right-angled corners and two parallel diagonal lines connecting their sides. In each case, only the area formed by the outline of each shape is calculated.<br />
<br />
Similar illustrations are commonly found in geometry textbooks, which are used to depict three-dimensional figures on a two-dimensional page. They commonly make use of slanted lines to indicate edges receding into the distance and dashed lines to indicate an edge occluded by nearer parts of the solid. The joke is that the formulae given here are for the area of each two-dimensional shape within its outer solid lines, not for the surface area or volume of the illustrated 3D object (as would be shown in the geometry textbook). The title text continues the joke by claiming that the dotted lines are simply decorative.<br />
<br />
The illustrations depict the following plane or solid figures, depending on the interpretation.<br />
<br />
; Top Left - Circle with an inscribed ellipse, or Sphere<br />
This illustration is commonly used to depict a three-dimensional sphere, with the ellipse representing a "horizontal" or axial cross-section through the center; the solid lower half of the ellipse represents the "front" of the circumference of this cross-section, while the dotted upper half represents the "back" of the same section, which would be occluded from view if this were a solid shape.<br />
<br />
The radius of the circle, from the center to the right edge where it meets the ellipse, is labeled 'r'. In a textbook diagram of a sphere, the radius might be instead labeled with a diagonal line from the center to a different point on the ellipse, implying the generality that all points on that cross-section, and indeed on the whole spherical surface, are at the same radius from the center. However, this line would be shorter on the page than the actual radius, making it useless for the formula of the area of the 2D outer shape.<br />
<br />
The area of the 2D shape on the page is the area of the circle, which is A = πr<sup>2</sup>. This is captioned below the figure. <br />
<br />
Coincidentally the area of the horizontal cross-section of the 3D sphere, as depicted by the ellipse, is also πr<sup>2</sup>, and a reader familiar with such diagrams might initially assume that this is what was meant. However, this does not extend to the other figures. <br />
<br />
The 3D sphere commonly depicted by this drawing would have a volume of <sup>4</sup>/<sub>3</sub>&nbsp;πr<sup>3</sup> and a surface area of 4πr<sup>2</sup>. <br />
<br />
; Top Right - Ellipse with symmetrical diagonal lines, or Cone<br />
This illustration is commonly used to depict a three-dimensional right circular cone, with the lower half of the ellipse representing the "front edge" of the bottom surface, and the upper half representing the occluded "back edge". However such drawings would usually not use both 'a' and 'b' to describe the radius of the base of the cone, which is drawn as an ellipse due to foreshortening. Alternatively, the drawing could depict a right elliptical cone.<br />
<br />
Randall approximates the area of the 2D shape on the page as the sum of the area of the triangle formed by the major axis of the ellipse and the two lines, and half of the area of the ellipse (<sup>π</sup>/<sub>2</sub>&nbsp;ab) since most of the upper half of the ellipse overlaps the triangle. The equation for this area is A = 1/2 πab + bh. This is captioned below the figure.<br />
<br />
The actual area of a picture of a cone is not Randall's approximation, because the sides connect at the points on the ellipse where they can spread widest and form tangents to the ellipse, and such points are a little higher than those which define the major axis. This is most obvious in cases when h is only a little larger than a. The area can be computed to be exactly A = b (a arccos(-a/h)) + √(h<sup>2</sup>-a<sup>2</sup>)).<br />
<br />
The 3D right circular cone commonly depicted by this drawing would have a volume of πr<sup>2</sup>h/3 where r=a=b. The area of the "lower" surface would be πr<sup>2</sup>, while the surface area of the upper conical surface would be πr√(h<sup>2</sup> + r<sup>2</sup>). Neither of these areas can correspond with the caption in the comic, nor does the total surface area (the sum of these two).<br />
<br />
If we do not assume that a = b, this drawing could also depict a right elliptic cone. The volume of the elliptic cone would be <sup>π</sup>/<sub>3</sub>&nbsp;abh. The area of the lower surface would be πab and the area of the curved upper surface would be <br>2a√(b<sup>2</sup>&nbsp;+&nbsp;h<sup>2</sup>)&nbsp;<sub>0</sub>∫<sup>1</sup>&nbsp;√(<sup>a²h²(t²-1)&nbsp;-&nbsp;b²(a²+h²t²)</sup>/<sub>a²(t²-1)(b²+h²)</sub>)&nbsp;dt. <br />
<br />
; Bottom Left - Two ellipses joined vertically, or Cylinder<br />
This illustration is commonly used to depict a 3D cylinder or right circular prism. In this case, the upper ellipse represents the "visible" part of the top circular surface, with its "depth" shorter than its "width" due to foreshortening, and the lower part of the lower ellipse represents the "front" edge of the lower surface; the dotted half of the lower ellipse represents the occluded "back" edge of the lower surface. <br />
<br />
To add to the confusion, the upper ellipse has its major axis labeled 'd' which usually denotes the diameter of a circular surface, while the lower ellipse has its semimajor axis labeled 'r' which similarly denotes a radius, even though the ellipses drawn have neither diameter nor radius. The 'h' denoting height is also used for both rectangles and solid objects. While 'd' in this case is required for the area calculation of the 2D shape, in textbooks only 'r' may be marked and the arrow may be offset at a diagonal rather than in line with any figurative axis, to imply its applicability to any angle of radius.<br />
<br />
The non-overlapping parts of the 2D shape are composed of the rectangle formed by the major axes of the two ellipses and the vertical lines, plus half of the top ellipse and half of the bottom ellipse. The area of the rectangle is dh, and the area of an ellipse with semimajor axis d/2 and semiminor axis r is πrd/2. The total area is A = d(πr/2 + h), which is captioned below the figure.<br />
<br />
A 3D right circular prism (cylinder) would have a volume of πr<sup>2</sup>h and a surface area of 2πr<sup>2</sup> + πdh, or 2πr(r + h) since in this case d = 2r. The area of each flat surface would be πr<sup>2</sup>. If we do not assume d = 2r, then the lateral surface area of the right elliptic cylinder is 4h&nbsp;<sub>0</sub>∫<sup>1</sup>&nbsp;√(<sup>1&nbsp;-&nbsp;t²(1-4r²/d²)</sup>/<sub>1&nbsp;-&nbsp;t²</sub>)&nbsp;dt. The volume is <sup>π</sup>/<sub>2</sub>&nbsp;rdh. <br />
<br />
; Bottom Right - Parallel Hexagon, or Prism<br />
This illustration is commonly used to depict a rectangular prism, with 'b' denoting the 'breadth', 'd' the 'depth' and 'h' the 'height'. However, the labeled angle θ, which is necessary for the area calculation of the 2D shape, would not normally be used in a diagram of a rectangular prism, as all angles are assumed to be right angles. A rhomboidal prism could be accurately described by this diagram with the assumption that the 'base' parallelogram is perpendicular to the 'front' and that the only non-right angle is θ. In that case 'd' would not accurately describe the depth of the solid, which would be d sin θ.<br />
<br />
The area of the 2D shape is comprised of the rectangle at the lower left, the parallelogram above it, and the parallelogram on the right. The area of the rectangle representing the front face of the prism is bh. The area of the upper parallelogram is db&nbsp;sin&nbsp;θ. The area of the right parallelogram is dh&nbsp;cos&nbsp;θ. The equation for this area is A = bh + d(b sinθ + h cosθ) as is given below the figure. <br />
<br />
The surface area of the prism would be 2bh&nbsp;+&nbsp;2db sin θ&nbsp;+&nbsp;2dh. The volume is bdh sin θ. Assuming a 3D shape, θ can be artificially altered by the projection; the assumption could be made that θ is 90 degrees, and sin θ is 1 (and therefore can be eliminated from the formulas), but since θ is marked, such an assumption might not be valid.<br />
<br />
In the history of the development of computer-generated 3D graphics, calculations of the apparent visual area taken up by the projection of a volume may have been useful in occlusion-like optimizations, where each drawn pixel may be passed through many fragment shaders.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Four figures in two rows of two, each being a common two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object, with solid lines in front and dotted lines behind. Each figure has some labeled dimensions represented with arrows and a formula underneath indicating its area. Above the four figures is a header:]<br />
:Useful geometry formulas<br />
<br />
:[Top left; A circle with an inscribed concentric ellipse sharing its horizontal diameter. The edge of the ellipse above the major axis is drawn with a dotted line, while the lower edge is drawn with a solid line, similar to textbook depictions of a 3D sphere. The shared radius/semi-major axis to the right of the center is drawn as an arrow and labeled 'r'. ]<br />
:A = πr²<br />
<br />
:[Top right; An ellipse with horizontal major axis, plus two straight lines: one from each end of the major axis, up to a point vertical to the center of the ellipse, so that the major axis of the ellipse (not drawn) and the two lines would form an isosceles triangle with a vertical axis of symmetry. The upper edge of the ellipse above the major axis is drawn with a dotted line, while the lower edge is drawn with a solid line, similar to textbook depictions of a right elliptical cone, or more commonly a right circular cone. The semi-minor axis of the ellipse is drawn with an arrow down from the center and labeled 'a' and the semi-major axis is similarly drawn to the right of the center and labeled 'b'. To the right of the shape, the height of the isosceles triangle is drawn using arrows, and labeled 'h'.]<br />
:A = 1/2 πab + bh<br />
<br />
:[Bottom left; Two ellipses of the same dimensions, with major axes horizontal, drawn vertically one above the other, with vertical lines connecting each end of the major axis of the top ellipse to the corresponding points on the bottom ellipse. The upper edge of the bottom ellipse above the major axis is drawn with a dotted line, while the lower edge is drawn with a solid line, similar to textbook depictions of a right elliptical prism or, more commonly, a right cylinder (circular prism). Inside the shape, the major axis of the upper ellipse is drawn as a double-ended arrow and labeled 'd'. The semi-minor axis of the lower ellipse is drawn as an arrow down from the center and labeled 'r'. To the right of the shape, the length of the vertical lines is replicated using arrows and labeled 'h'. ]<br />
:A = d(πr/2 + h)<br />
<br />
:[Bottom right; Two rectangles of the same vertical and horizontal dimensions, drawn with one offset diagonally to the upper right of the other, with diagonal lines connecting the corresponding vertices, forming a hexagon with opposite sides parallel. The upper right rectangle has its left and bottom sides drawn with dotted lines, and a similar dotted line is used connecting the bottom left corner of the two rectangles, similar to textbook depictions of rhomboid-based right prisms, or more commonly rectangular prisms. Outside the shape, the bottom edge of the lower rectangle is redrawn below the shape with arrows and labeled 'b'. The length of the left edge is similarly redrawn to the left and labeled 'h'. The length of the diagonal line connecting the upper left corners of the two rectangles is similarly redrawn on the top left using arrows and labeled 'd'. The acute angle between the bottom edge of the lower rectangle, and the dotted diagonal connecting the two lower left corners, is labeled 'θ']<br />
:A = bh + d(b sinθ + h cosθ)<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1422:_My_Phone_is_Dying&diff=2717641422: My Phone is Dying2022-05-20T22:17:39Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1422<br />
| date = September 17, 2014<br />
| title = My Phone is Dying<br />
| image = my_phone_is_dying.png<br />
| titletext = When it explodes, it will cast off its outer layers, leaving behind nothing but a slowly fading PalmPilot, calculator, or two-way pager.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Beret Guy|Beret Guy's]] phone is about to "die". [[Cueball]] assumes this just means that the battery is running out and it needs to be recharged, but the phone in question appears to "die" in a way analogous to the {{w|Stellar_evolution|life and death}} of a star: expending its fuel while heating up and expanding before ultimately losing its outer layers and becoming a white dwarf or similar "lesser" star. The technology of mobile phones can be seen as doing things analogous to this on a large scale, especially for people who used landlines before mobile phones became common. However, this is something phones usually don't literally do.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
Stars constantly undergo fusion reactions. The pressure generated by these reactions counteracts gravity, preventing it from collapsing the star during its main lifespan. As the hydrogen mostly fuses into helium in the core, the core gradually becomes more dense and the region of fusion gradually moves away from the center. Then, the star grows in size, reaching the stage of a {{w|red giant}}. When most of the "fuel" for fusion has been consumed, gravity will collapse the star into a {{w|white dwarf}} while the outer layers are shed. For stars much more massive than the Sun, there will be a {{w|supernova}} explosion caused by a violent collapse, which is {{what if|73|very powerful}} (and leaves behind a {{w|neutron star}} or a {{w|black hole}}, depending on how much mass is left after the supernova). Stars with more hydrogen fuel tend to burn brighter and faster. Beret Guy's refusal of a charger is probably a reference to this.<br />
<br />
Both a supernova explosion and the collapse of red giants into white dwarfs shed their outer layers, which is referenced in the title text. Once extra mass is added to the dying star, analogous to "charging", the process only accelerates. (Randall also explains this in {{what if|14|Short Answer Section}}.) The phone seems to have a certain mass because [[Beret Guy]] expects it to go (super)nova. Charging the phone may lead to a {{w|Nova|type 1a nova}}.<br />
<br />
The comic also plays on the release of two new {{w|IPhone|iPhone models}} with {{w|IPhone 6|bigger}} screens, planned for 2 days after the release of the comic.<br />
<br />
The comic could be also explained by the characteristics of Li-ion batteries, which are used in most cellphones. At the end of their useful life, these batteries may [http://barnson.org/node/1842 grow a bit]. In case of severe physical or thermal damage or multiple electrical failures, this type of battery can indeed overheat, leading to a {{w|thermal runaway}} reaction inside. That would result in the battery [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4010386/Incredible-X-rays-lithium-ion-batteries-explode-Gas-pillows-cause-cells-swell-catch-fire.html growing and eventually exploding]. Connecting a charger to a battery failing in this manner would [http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/safety_concerns_with_li_ion probably make the process faster].<br />
<br />
The title text implies that after Beret Guy's iPhone goes (super)nova, it will become either a "slowly fading" Palm Pilot, a calculator, or a two way pager: this would be the cellphone equivalent of a {{w|white dwarf}} (evidenced by the faint and slowly fading glow), {{w|neutron star}}, or {{w|black hole}} (evidence: black holes emit "information" in the form of {{w|Hawking radiation}} and have at one time been suspected to be half of a two-way portal through spacetime, along with a "{{w|white hole}}").<br />
<br />
Additionally, some particles and atoms decay by breaking into smaller, more elementary particles. It may be humorously implied that a {{w|PalmPilot}} (an early personal data assistant and precursor to the smartphone), a {{w|calculator}} (a very simple electronic device), and {{w|two-way pager}} (a device for sending and receiving short text messages) are the more elementary components that make up an iPhone.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball stands on the left while Beret Guy walks in from the right, carrying a smartphone.]<br />
:Beret Guy: My phone's about to die.<br />
<br />
:[The phone is now subtly larger.]<br />
:Cueball: Where'd you get a big iPhone? I didn't think they were out yet.<br />
:Beret Guy: It's my regular one. It's just dying.<br />
<br />
:[The phone increases in size again. Beret Guy now holds it in both hands.]<br />
:Beret Guy: As it consumes its battery, it heats up and expands.<br />
:Beret Guy: Soon it will swell to enormous size, engulfing us both.<br />
<br />
:[The phone is now in the size of Beret Guy's torso; he is clutching it to himself. Cueball is pointing off-panel.]<br />
:Beret Guy: Then it will collapse in a violent explosion!<br />
:Cueball: ...do you want to borrow my charger?<br />
:Beret Guy: That would only make it run out ''faster!''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2622:_Angular_Diameter_Turnaround&diff=270603Talk:2622: Angular Diameter Turnaround2022-05-20T20:37:46Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Slightly creepy, NGL[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.10|172.69.34.10]]<br />
: Warning, horrible content: The universe was created by the severed bloody hands of google employees convincing phone manufacturers to ditch the previous phone backends and explode the google play store throughout reality in a mess of intergalactic gore. Our planet developed from an angrybirds download, nourished by the decaying corpse of the owner who played it all their life. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 20:37, 20 May 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2620:_Health_Data&diff=2703552620: Health Data2022-05-17T17:22:34Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 270353 by 172.70.42.109 (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2620<br />
| date = May 16, 2022<br />
| title = Health Data<br />
| image = health_data.png<br />
| titletext = Donate now to help us find a cure for causality. No one should have to suffer through events because of other events.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by A UNIQUE SEQUENCE OF PAST EVENTS YIELDING FURTHER INFORMATION IF INVESTIGATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Cueball]] is at the hospital for some form of check-up. [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]] comes in to inform him of the tests they have run, but her statements are frustratingly generic, and so lacking in diagnostic usefulness. She says that his "numbers" have revealed some "measurements" and "variables" but doesn't specify what they are. The fact that there are measurements and variables relate to them having been taken, but is correlated with very few outcomes other than those associated with measurement.<br />
<br />
In response to being asked whether this is bad, she ominously says that they are the number one cause of "outcomes." This is obvious, and therefore unhelpful, since every outcome is the product of some set of variables. Additionally, outcomes can be good, bad, or indifferent, so it does not address the question.<br />
<br />
Cueball tries to cut to the root of the issue by asking "what are my chances of survival?" Ponytail asks what is Cueball's family history, but rather than asking if his family has a history of similar symptoms to Cueball himself she is just asking if he has any family history whatsoever. Her apparent concern on discovering that he does is presumably due to the fact that everyone who has a family history dies, and therefore she sees this as a negative thing. However, this is not medically informative, since everyone has some kind of family history (whether they personally know anything of it or not) and everyone eventually dies,{{Citation needed}} yet the one does not directly imply the other.<br />
<br />
The comic might be making fun of poorly defined health statistics: statistics for the [https://www.gwclaw.com/blog/accidental-death-causes/ leading causes of accidental death in the United States], for example, typically cite 'poisoning' as the number one cause, even though poisoning other than drug overdoses is actually quite rare. The comic takes vague statistics to the extreme, citing 'causality' as the leading cause of death. It could also be referencing metaness in general, a frequent topic in the webcomic, or how people can be "talked away" with language they don't understand, especially in times of information conflict. It could also be a reference to incredibly heightened paranoia in current times.<br />
<br />
It may also be a comment on the impenetrability of some medical diagnoses, where high levels of jargon and non-contextualised statistics, combined with a lot of hedging language, can leave patients none the wiser about their prospects, or the relative merits of various courses of treatment.<br />
<br />
It may also be a joke about replacing the name of an effect with simply, "effect", thus being similar in a sense to a simple random generator, like [[2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator]].<br />
<br />
The title text simply continues the joke, claiming that doctors are searching for a cure to 'causality'. This is obviously absurd and impossible, as it would destroy reality as we know it.<br />
<br />
The concept of a cure for causality, and the comic as a whole, relates further to information warfare, as convincing people of something false requires avoidance of the facts in a convincing manner. Problems with information warfare produce a kind of cold war around artificial intelligence, which can stimulate fears of everything known being misused by an advanced system or power. Parts of such fears are influencing our politics.<br />
<br />
The comic as a whole is reminiscent of [[830: Genetic Analysis]] and [[1840: Genetic Testing Results]] (particularly the title text of the latter), as the information given by the doctor in all three is self-evident and useless as a result.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Doctor Ponytail are talking to each other. Cueball is sitting on an examination table and Doctor Ponytail, in a doctor's coat, is looking down and reading from a clipboard with some illegible writing on it.]<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: I'm taking a look at your numbers, and it doesn't look good.<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: You have a lot of measurements. Quite a few variables.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail looks up at Cueball.]<br />
:Cueball: Is that... bad?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Variables are the #1 risk factor for outcomes.<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: The past is a big contributor to the future.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail puts her arm with the clipboard down.]<br />
:Cueball: Isn't that just causality?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Causality is the leading cause of death in this country.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting.] <br />
:Cueball: So what are my odds?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Do you have a family history?<br />
:Cueball: Of what?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Just, in general.<br />
:Cueball: ...Yes?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Oh no.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Medicine]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2620:_Health_Data&diff=2703442620: Health Data2022-05-17T15:28:35Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2620<br />
| date = May 16, 2022<br />
| title = Health Data<br />
| image = health_data.png<br />
| titletext = Donate now to help us find a cure for causality. No one should have to suffer through events because of other events.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by EFFECTS THE SITUATION - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Cueball]] is at the hospital for some form of check-up. [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]] comes in to inform him of the tests they have run, but her statements are frustratingly generic, and so lacking in diagnostic usefulness. She says that his "numbers" have revealed some "measurements" and "variables" but doesn't specify what they are. The fact that there are measurements and variables relate to them having been taken, but is correlated with very few outcomes other than those associated with measurement.<br />
<br />
In response to being asked whether this is bad, she ominously says that they are the number one cause of "outcomes." This is obvious, and therefore unhelpful, since every outcome is the product of some set of variables. Additionally, outcomes can be good, bad, or indifferent, so it does not address the question.<br />
<br />
Cueball tries to cut to the root of the issue by asking "what are my chances of survival?" Ponytail asks what is Cueball's family history, but rather than asking if his family has a history of similar symptoms to Cueball himself she is just asking if he has any family history whatsoever. Her apparent concern on discovering that he does is presumably due to the fact that everyone who has a family history dies, and therefore she sees this as a negative thing. However, this is not medically informative, since everyone has some kind of family history, and everyone eventually dies.<br />
<br />
The comic might be making fun of poorly defined health statistics: statistics for the [https://www.gwclaw.com/blog/accidental-death-causes/ leading causes of accidental death in the United States], for example, typically cite 'poisoning' as the number one cause, even though poisoning other than drug overdoses is actually quite rare. The comic takes vague statistics to the extreme, citing 'causality' as the leading cause of death. It could also be referencing metaness in general, a frequent topic in the webcomic, or how people can be "talked away" with language they don't understand, especially in times of information conflict.<br />
<br />
It may also be a comment on the impenetrability of some medical diagnoses, where high levels of jargon and non-contextualised statistics, combined with a lot of hedging language, can leave patients none the wiser about their prospects, or the relative merits of various courses of treatment.<br />
<br />
It may also be a joke about replacing the name of an effect with simply, "effect", thus being similar in a sense to a simple random generator, like [[2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator]].<br />
<br />
The title text simply continues the joke, claiming that doctors are searching for a cure to 'causality'. This is obviously absurd and impossible, as it would destroy reality as we know it.<br />
<br />
The comic as a whole is reminiscent of [[830: Genetic Analysis]] and [[1840: Genetic Testing Results]] (particularly the title text of the latter), as the information given by the doctor in all three is self-evident and useless as a result.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Doctor Ponytail are talking to each other. Cueball is sitting on an examination table and Doctor Ponytail, in a doctor's coat, is looking down and reading from a clipboard with some illegible writing on it.]<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: I'm taking a look at your numbers, and it doesn't look good.<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: You have a lot of measurements. Quite a few variables.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail looks up at Cueball.]<br />
:Cueball: Is that... bad?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Variables are the #1 risk factor for outcomes.<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: The past is a big contributor to the future.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail puts her arm with the clipboard down.]<br />
:Cueball: Isn't that just causality?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Causality is the leading cause of death in this country.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting.] <br />
:Cueball: So what are my odds?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Do you have a family history?<br />
:Cueball: Of what?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Just, in general.<br />
:Cueball: ...Yes?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Oh no.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Medicine]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2620:_Health_Data&diff=2703432620: Health Data2022-05-17T15:27:34Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2620<br />
| date = May 16, 2022<br />
| title = Health Data<br />
| image = health_data.png<br />
| titletext = Donate now to help us find a cure for causality. No one should have to suffer through events because of other events.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by EFFECTS THE SITUATION - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Cueball]] is at the hospital for some form of check-up. [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]] comes in to inform him of the tests they have run, but her statements are frustratingly generic, and so lacking in diagnostic usefulness. She says that his "numbers" have revealed some "measurements" and "variables" but doesn't specify what they are. The fact that there are measurements and variables relate to them having been taken, but is correlated with very few outcomes other than those associated with measurement.<br />
<br />
In response to being asked whether this is bad, she ominously says that they are the number one cause of "outcomes." This is obvious, and therefore unhelpful, since every outcome is the product of some set of variables. Additionally, outcomes can be good, bad, or indifferent, so it does not address the question.<br />
<br />
Cueball tries to cut to the root of the issue by asking "what are my chances of survival?" Ponytail asks what is Cueball's family history, but rather than asking if his family has a history of similar symptoms to Cueball himself she is just asking if he has any family history whatsoever. Her apparent concern on discovering that he does is presumably due to the fact that everyone who has a family history dies, and therefore she sees this as a negative thing. However, this is not medically informative, since everyone has some kind of family history, and everyone eventually dies.<br />
<br />
The comic might be making fun of poorly defined health statistics: statistics for the [https://www.gwclaw.com/blog/accidental-death-causes/ leading causes of accidental death in the United States], for example, typically cite 'poisoning' as the number one cause, even though poisoning other than drug overdoses is actually quite rare. The comic takes vague statistics to the extreme, citing 'causality' as the leading cause of death.<br />
<br />
It may also be a comment on the impenetrability of some medical diagnoses, where high levels of jargon and non-contextualised statistics, combined with a lot of hedging language, can leave patients none the wiser about their prospects, or the relative merits of various courses of treatment.<br />
<br />
It may also be a joke about replacing the name of an effect with simply, "effect", thus being similar in a sense to a simple random generator, like [[2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator]].<br />
<br />
The title text simply continues the joke, claiming that doctors are searching for a cure to 'causality'. This is obviously absurd and impossible, as it would destroy reality as we know it.<br />
<br />
The comic as a whole is reminiscent of [[830: Genetic Analysis]] and [[1840: Genetic Testing Results]] (particularly the title text of the latter), as the information given by the doctor in all three is self-evident and useless as a result.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Doctor Ponytail are talking to each other. Cueball is sitting on an examination table and Doctor Ponytail, in a doctor's coat, is looking down and reading from a clipboard with some illegible writing on it.]<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: I'm taking a look at your numbers, and it doesn't look good.<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: You have a lot of measurements. Quite a few variables.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail looks up at Cueball.]<br />
:Cueball: Is that... bad?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Variables are the #1 risk factor for outcomes.<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: The past is a big contributor to the future.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail puts her arm with the clipboard down.]<br />
:Cueball: Isn't that just causality?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Causality is the leading cause of death in this country.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting.] <br />
:Cueball: So what are my odds?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Do you have a family history?<br />
:Cueball: Of what?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Just, in general.<br />
:Cueball: ...Yes?<br />
:Doctor Ponytail: Oh no.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Medicine]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2618:_Selection_Bias&diff=268908Talk:2618: Selection Bias2022-05-14T00:00:17Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Why is the site giving errors so much? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.121|172.70.130.121]] 21:19, 11 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:It just went down for about ten minutes. Once in a while I was able to get pages to load, but it was rare (probably 3-5 times). Most of the pages that did load had no CSS. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.161|172.70.130.161]] 22:03, 11 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I blame a secret global infiltration by brain-eating extraterrestrials bent on steadily eroding our infrastructure while we kill each other in stimulated warfare. Do you agree with this common hypothesis? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.241|172.70.114.241]] 01:00, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I love the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2618%3A_Selection_Bias&type=revision&diff=268675&oldid=268673 current explanation] of the title text, thanks [[User:Kev|Kev]] ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:38, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: I am the individual on mobile who revised the referenced text so as to mention engineers. This above comment by Kynde was added after my revision, but links to the previous version which was not current at the time of their post. I do not know why they call it current. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.123|162.158.62.123]] 07:07, 13 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Hear, hear! A true gem! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.17|172.69.134.17]] 07:37, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Thank you kindly, meanwhile I return to find a much improved BALLPIT APPARTMENT and have come to say ''I got that reference'' and heartilly approve''''Italic text''''[[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 22:27, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I agree wholeheartedly, but what does it have to do with selection bias??? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.241|172.70.114.241]] 01:06, 13 May 2022 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
::I don't get it at all, which kind of defeats the point of Explain XKCD when people are adding inside jokes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.121|172.70.130.121]] 05:06, 13 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::: it's a reference to [[150: Grownups]] and [[162: Angular Momentum]], two very well known xkcd comics (so much so they are the footer comics!)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.250|172.69.69.250]] 13:35, 13 May 2022 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:::: Neither of those have anything whatsoever to do with this comic, and I never look at the footer, assuming I even read comics on the XKCD website rather than here. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.221|172.70.126.221]] 18:07, 13 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::: I wonder if they are practicing familiarity with xkcd ! Anything drawn from xkcd makes you sound like a nettie cause randal half parroted nettie culture to make stuff. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 00:00, 14 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: They're randomly drawn phrases out of a brain filled with XKCD, so there may be some bias in what words are selected. There may be a risk of becoming [[917:_Hofstadter|so meta even for any acronyms]] [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 17:20, 13 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Acquiescence bias is often used in sales to try to induce a bigger sale. Asking, "Will there be anything else?" instead of "Is that all?" can make a significant difference in the amount of a sale, even though you are still leaving the decision up to the customer. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 06:30, 13 May 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1604:_Snakes&diff=2662601604: Snakes2022-05-11T17:36:15Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 265945 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1604<br />
| date = November 16, 2015<br />
| title = Snakes<br />
| image = snakes.png<br />
| titletext = The last band of color indicates the snake's tolerance for being held before biting.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In the comic, [[Megan]] confuses a popular method of identification of the dangerous North American {{w|coral snake}} by its red, yellow, and black stripes with the {{w|Electronic color code|color-coding system}} used to indicate the resistance of electrical resistors.<br />
<br />
The coral snake has red bands adjacent to its yellow bands. However, coral snakes are {{w|mimicry|mimicked}} by nonvenomous species with similar coloring, such as the {{w|milk snake}}, whose red bands are not adjacent to its yellow bands. This has led to a variety of rhyming {{w|mnemonic}}s, such as “Red touches yellow, kill a fellow; red touches black, friend of Jack.” Because Megan is describing a red band being adjacent to a yellow band, she is indeed holding a coral snake, which contains the most potent venom of any snake in North America. (This assumes, of course, that Randall isn't faking us out; there are other lesser-known subspecies of the coral snake, such as the [http://naturejournals.blogspot.com/2010/05/texas-coral-snake.html Cattinga and Pygmy coral snakes of South America], who do not follow the above patterns.)<br />
<br />
Instead of realizing the danger, Megan equates the color bands to having the same function as those printed on electrical {{w|resistor}}s. Resistors have at least three bands to identify their resistance value in {{w|ohm}}s, followed by an optional fourth band showing the {{w|engineering tolerance|tolerance}} as within the bounds of a certain percentage of the aforementioned resistance value. A red band followed by a yellow and a black one identifies a 24 ohm resistor (the omega symbol, “Ω”, stands for ohms). Per the mnemonic, North American coral snakes have an additional yellow band between the black band and the next red band, so that red does touch yellow. Yellow corresponds to a tolerance of &plusmn;5%, so the actual resistance will be between 22.8Ω and 25.2Ω. Resistor color codes were also mentioned in [[227: Color Codes]].<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the fourth band specifying the tolerance but interprets it as the snake's tolerance for being held before biting, instead of the measure of the imprecision of the 24 ohms. In the case of yellow, this would refer to a tolerance value of 5%. How tolerance to being held is measured is left ambiguous. If the value represents the probability of being bitten over a given period of time, then larger numbers would mean a less tolerant snake. If it instead represents the position on some per-determined "tolerance scale" between 0 and 1, then larger values would represent a 'more' tolerant snake.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are standing in some grass. Megan is holding a snake with red, yellow, and black stripes.]<br />
<br />
:Megan: Red touches yellow, which I think means this is a 24Ω snake.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2616:_Deep_End&diff=2652162616: Deep End2022-05-09T17:15:05Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2616<br />
| date = May 6, 2022<br />
| title = Deep End<br />
| image = deep_end.png<br />
| titletext = Hey! No running in the back-arc basin!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SUBDUCTING SWIMMING POOL. This article needs additional citations for verification. - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Pools, like oceans, contain water.{{Citation needed}} This comic produces a schematic for the former, derived from science about the latter. On Earth, the surface consists of tectonic plates which move around. In this comic, [[Randall]] equates swimming pools with {{w|plate tectonics}}, to explain how deep ends form in said pools. In actuality, swimming pools aren't really formed by plate tectonics.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
A {{w|swimming pool}} is a pool of water, typically used for swimming. Most of these have a deep end and a shallow end. This is intentional, usually to allow less confident swimmers to have somewhere to stand up when needed, while also accommodating activities (such as diving, underwater swimming, rescue practice, etc.) which would not be possible in shallower water.<br />
<br />
{{w|Subduction}}, a geological process in which one plate slips beneath another and is forced down into the mantle, is shown here as the reason swimming pools have deep ends. This usually takes place between continental plates and oceanic plates, although it could happen with two oceanic plates. The comic depicts the former, an oceanic plate subducting under a continental one. With tectonic plates, this often results in a deep {{w|oceanic trench}} where one plate slides beneath the other, as well as a chain of volcanoes above areas farther along the subducting plate, where rock that has liquefied from the subduction comes toward the surface as magma and erupts in volcanoes. An example is the {{w|Cascadia Subduction Zone}} in which the {{w|Juan de Fuca Plate}} is subducting beneath the {{w|North American Plate}}, creating the volcanic {{w|Cascade Range}}.<br />
<br />
A splash zone is an area of a waterpark with water being sprayed around, allowing people to get wet without the need to get into the pool. It is not a geological term, but {{W|supralittoral zone|splash zone}} can mean the area next to a coastline that gets splashed by waves. In this comic, the splash zone is actually geysers, fed by the bubbles of water from the subduction. While this particular scenario as shown in the comic is obviously far-fetched, subduction zones do create similar effects: water moving up from subducting plates is the origin of many {{W|volcanic arc|volcanic arcs}}. These volcanic systems sometimes include features such as the geysers depicted in the comic's splash zone.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to {{W|back-arc basin|back-arc basins}}, zones of depression that sometimes occur slightly beyond volcanic arcs due to a rift in the tectonic plate. The ban on running in this area likely has more to do with its proximity to the pool area than any danger intrinsic to back-arc basins. A typical safety rule around swimming pools is to avoid running on the pool deck to prevent injuries due to slipping and falling on the hard deck.<br />
<br />
Other comics that mention unusual tectonic plate motion include [[1388: Subduction License]] and [[1874: Geologic Faults]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
:[Caption above the panel:] How deep ends form in pools<br />
<br />
:[On the left of the image is the shallowest water in the pool, about the height of [[Megan]]. All the water in the image is grey. She is swimming in the water, and a duck floatie and a beach ball are floating to the left of her. It is labeled:] Shallow End<br />
<br />
:[Underneath, a thick layer is labeled:] Pool Floor<br />
<br />
:[Going to the right from there, the pool floor begins to curve downwards. As the floor goes down, the water gets deeper. In the deepest area, it is labeled:] Deep End<br />
<br />
:[At the bottom of the deep end, there is a curve and a deposit on the pool floor. Within the sediment and pool floor, there are some small pools of trapped water, labeled with three arrows:] Trapped Water<br />
<br />
:[On the pool floor an arrow indicates that the oceanic plate is moving left-to-right across the image. It is labeled:] Subduction<br />
<br />
:[Some of the water pools are dragged along by the pool floor, while others float up through the ground. The latter are accompanied by several arrows pointing up to indicate upwards movement. These are labeled:] Upward Migration<br />
<br />
:[At the surface there is an area labeled:] Splash zone<br />
<br />
:[The water erupts in two geysers, the left slightly larger than the other. Several children (small versions of [[Ponytail]], [[Hairy]], and [[Science Girl]] as herself) are playing there. Science Girl is sitting with her arms in the air facing the geysers, and Ponytail and Hairy are running towards the right geyser, Hairy with his arms in the air. The label above this area is:] Splash Zone<br />
<br />
:[To the left of the splash zone is the edge of the pool, where a [[Cueball]] figure is in mid-air after jumping off the diving board, with his arms outstretched. This is labeled:] Pool Deck<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Geology]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1747:_Spider_Paleontology&diff=2387601747: Spider Paleontology2022-05-04T02:04:44Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 234800 by X. K. C. D. (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1747<br />
| date = October 17, 2016<br />
| title = Spider Paleontology<br />
| image = spider_paleontology.png<br />
| titletext = Whenever you see a video of birds doing something weird, remember: Birds are a small subset of dinosaurs, so the weirdness of birds is a small subset of the weirdness of dinosaurs.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This Monday comic was the first in a series of two comics that continued in the next release [[1748: Future Archaeology]] on Wednesday. Both comic in this series have titles of a noun followed by a field of research.<br />
<br />
A {{w|time travel|time-traveler}} (the black floating energy Sphere) visits the present day from the far future. {{w|Spiders}} are the Sphere civilization's current craze, just as {{w|dinosaurs}} are currently our craze. The {{w|Jurassic Park}} media franchise began with the {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|first film}} in 1993 and the year before the release of this comic in 2016, the fourth movie {{w|Jurassic World}} were released with at least {{w|Jurassic_Park#Fifth_film_.282018.29|one more film}} in development. We also have {{w|Dinosaur World (theme parks)|theme parks}} and kids dressing up as dinosaurs. <br />
<br />
The time-traveler arrives in the presence of [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]], and tells them who it is and why it is here, to see spiders which they learned about through {{w|fossils}} (See the explanation of the next comic about the strange fact that it speaks English). Megan points it towards a spider sitting in its web; the Sphere is awestruck to see the object of its obsession in the living flesh, but seeing it sitting in it's web, the Sphere asks why it has been caught. Megan realizes that because it only knows about spiders from fossils, it could come as a big surprise that the spiders sit in their webs like this. {{w|Spider web|Spider silk}} does in fact {{w|Spider#Fossil_record|fossilize in amber}} (and most fossils of spiders are also found in {{w|amber}} because the soft body of a spider does not easily {{w|petrify}}). The reason we know that silk threads in amber are the spider's web is because we can compare fossils with the spiders of today. If not for the fact that we knew about spiders' webs in advance, it would be hard to say if we would have made the connection from the amber fossils. The Sphere is thus surprised to see the spider in a web since they had not understood any possible hint of spider webs in the fossil records, from which the Sphere's civilization gathered all their knowledge of spiders. Spiders have been on Earth at {{w|Spider#Evolution|least for 380 million years}} and are still thriving and more than 40,000 species are known.<br />
<br />
With our current knowledge, we know that webs are an essential part of a spider's life. Making sense of a spider's life is practically impossible without including their webs. However, the future-people have done just that until now; discovering how wrong they are is bound to become an intense experience for them. It should be noted that there have been multiple present-day discoveries of fossilized spiders' webs preserved in amber - however, since fossils forming like this is a rare event, it is quite possible that none would have been found by the future-people.<br />
<br />
Megan immediately connects the fact that the Sphere did not know about spider webs to our current understanding of dinosaurs: If a future civilization thinks they understand spiders based on fossils, while missing something as essential as their web, what is the human civilization missing about dinosaurs? Cueball quickly catches on, and Megan asks if they can borrow the time-machine to experience their own revelations about dinosaurs just like the revelation the Sphere has just had about spiders.<br />
<br />
The title text calls back to one of [[Randall|Randall's]] favorite facts (see [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]]) - that {{w|birds}} are technically part of the {{w|clade}} ''Dinosauria''. Birds do lots of weird stuff - like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY starlings flocking], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QZnwKqopo the dances of birds of paradise], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y lyrebird mimicry] or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii_w8og8RXg petrels puking stomach oil]. Randall says that for every time a birds does something weird then it is likely that dinosaurs would have had equally strange behaviors, and birds are only a small subset of all dinosaurs. So there would have been even more strange behaviors among the dinosaurs than among the present days birds. It is, however, basically impossible to tell from the fossil record. All we know is that dinosaurs had features such as display feathers (like on a {{w|Peafowl}} (a descendant of dinosaurs)), {{w|neck frill|neck frills}}, and crests (like on the {{w|Dimetrodon}}, which lived before the dinosaur with which it is not related) which likely played a role in mating and territorial shows.<br />
<br />
It is unclear what the Sphere is. Since it states that what they know about spiders comes from fossils on our planet, it seems likely that the Sphere is neither human nor from our planet. So most likely they are a space traveling species and not human. The appearance as a sphere may either be an indication that they did not travel in person but rather only look out at the past through the energy sphere, or it may be that these aliens are actually spheres, floating as energized objects in space. In that case this is an actual alien floating in front of Megan and Cueball. It seems like the Sphere's civilization already had the spider craze before they invented time travel, and they decided to use time travel the first time to go back to see real spiders on Earth. This also tells us that they are from so far into the future that there are no spiders left. Of course with climate changes etc. going on, that may not necessarily be too far into the future. As long as the human race (or knowledge of spiders) has also disappeared from Earth. But since the Sphere itself tells us that it comes from a distant future, the setting is not related to how fast humans and spiders becomes extinct. As is seen in the next follow up comic, there is very little left of our current civilization, and no records of spiders and their webs.<br />
<br />
This is the second comic with special mentioning of a science related directly to spiders, the first being [[1135: Arachnoneurology]].<br />
<br />
In this comic Randall manages to combine no less than three of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]] and, of course, [[:Category:Dinosaurs|dinosaurs]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The Sphere, a time-traveler depicted as a solid floating black energy sphere surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments) seems to have materialized in front of Megan and Cueball who is in the right part of the panel facing left towards it. The Sphere looks like this except in the zoom in from panel two. A voice emanates from the Sphere.] <br />
:Sphere: I'm here from the distant future!<br />
:Megan: Cool! What for?<br />
:Sphere: ''Spiders!''<br />
<br />
:[A close-up of the Sphere, still depicted as a black sphere, but not perfectly round at this zoom level and also clearly with some white dots in the dark area. It is also now surrounded by seven (rather than six) narrow rays with irregular dots between the rays. Megan answers it from off-panel.]<br />
:Sphere: We've learned about your planet's spiders from fossils.<br />
:Sphere: There's a whole spider craze. We have spider theme parks, spider movies, spider costumes...<br />
:Sphere: Such beautiful animals!<br />
:Megan (off-panel): I guess...<br />
<br />
:[Same setting as in the first panel but Megan is pointing left past the Sphere.]<br />
:Sphere: Now we've got time travel, so I'm here to see one for myself!<br />
:Megan: Sure! There's one over there!<br />
<br />
:[The Sphere floats over a leafless branch sticking out of the ground. A spider web is strung between the left border of the panel (four spokes) and the branch (three spokes). A spider (almost as large as the Sphere) sits in the center of the web. Megan answers it from off-panel.]<br />
:Sphere: ''Woowwww!''<br />
:Sphere: What's that giant net it's caught in?<br />
:Megan (off-panel): You mean its web?<br />
:Sphere: Its what?<br />
<br />
:[Same setting as in the first panel.]<br />
:Megan: Oh, right, fossils. So you wouldn't know about...<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel only Megan is shown facing left while she ponders. Beat panel.]<br />
:Megan: ...<br />
<br />
:[Again a scene similar to the first.]<br />
:Megan: Oh my God. Dinosaurs must have been ''so weird''.<br />
:Cueball: Holy crap, yeah.<br />
:Megan: Listen, can we borrow your time machine? <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Time traveling Sphere]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Time travel]]<br />
[[Category:Spiders]]<br />
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2613:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Madagascator&diff=2323082613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator2022-05-03T09:15:07Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 232306 by Trublu (talk) - trublu's undo actually resulted in vandalism being restored; several noun phrases were changed to "my balls". account takeover? hasty revert? i don't know</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 />
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 the North Pole 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''!<br />
<br />
The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s because it is ''conformal of normal aspect'': a {{w|rhumb line}} is displayed as a straight line in a Mercator map. A rhumb line is roughly a straight line near the equator, but is very curved near the poles. During the age of sail, when navigation was performed by compass - this was a very valuable feature, since one could plot a course between two locations by measuring the direction from one to another on the map and then accounting for the difference between the magnetic and actual north poles to determine which rhumb should be taken. In the mid-20th century this trend was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because the distortion towards the north and south poles gave an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most common example given of this distortion is that on a Mercator map of the world Greenland looks to have more area than Africa, when in real life Africa covers 14 times that of Greenland. Thus the reference to making Madagascar larger in this projection. Madagascar is a large island off the south east coast of the main African continent, but has only a quarter the coverage of Greenland. Greenland is often listed as the largest island in the world (which excludes continents in their own right, e.g. Australia) followed by New Guinea, Borneo and then Madagascar in fourth place.<br />
<br />
Mahé, mentioned in the title text as the north pole's new location, is the largest island in Seychelles, with an area of 60.7 square miles. The claim in the title text that it is "larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined", is an understatement, since the poles in the Mercator projection are infinitely far away the area occupied by Mahé in this projection is infinite. However no part of Mahé is visible on the comic.<br />
<br />
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, with a single national park within the island rivalling Africa in size, and at the site's cut-off point reaching a scale of distortion where a road is thicker than Panama. This also reveals that the location of the North Pole, the lake mentioned by Randall, is the Rochon Dam.<br />
<br />
Unlike previous Bad Map Projections, Morocco and Western Sahara are drawn as one unlabelled country.<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>2nd largest</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 the North Pole 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>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:While_False&diff=232293User talk:While False2022-05-03T08:31:11Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[User:While False|While False]], me, is a different user than [[User:WhiIe FaIse|WhiIe FaIse with capital i instead of lower case L]]. The account with capital i is new and is impersonating me, signing contributions with my signature and removing discussions about the vandalism in the last days. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 17:38, 2 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
sorry for psoting bug memes --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 08:31, 3 May 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2614:_2&diff=2319562614: 22022-05-03T02:09:10Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2614<br />
| date = May 2, 2022<br />
| title = 2<br />
| image = 2.png<br />
| titletext = It's like sigma summation notation, except instead of summing the argument over all values of i, you 2 the argument over all values of 2.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by 2 squared - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This demonstrates the different ways in which the number 2 can be typeset in various scientific fields.<br />
<br />
The dotted box represents any character (presumably a letter or bigram of letters). The number 2 preceding this character is a coefficient in regular math (algebra). The number 2 as a superscript means take the second power (i.e., square whatever precedes it) in physics or regular math, while in normal text, a superscript 2 is usually used to indicate a footnote. The number 2 as a subscript can be used, in chemistry, to show how many atoms of a particular element are present in a molecule (e.g., H<sub>2</sub>O). A subscript 2,2 shows the second element on the second row of a matrix. The number 2 in parenthesis would normally be the argument to a function (e.g., f(2)), but in group theory, the number 2 in parenthesis could indicate a cyclic subgroup or ideal generated by two or a special case of cycle notation for elements of symmetry groups used to mean an element that keeps 2 fixed{{citation needed}}. A symbol centered underneath another symbol is normally reserved for doing summations, where the big symbol is &Sigma;, or some other operation applied to a sequence of numbers; it does not make sense to have a single number there, as indicated in the alt text. The prepended super and subscripts are often used in nuclear chemistry, with the superscript representing the mass number and the subscript representing the atomic number.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[An apparently scientific expression:]<br />
<br />
2 [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2 [normal text:] [an empty box] [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2;2 [normal text:] (2) [beneath the last 2:] 2<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2614:_2&diff=231955Talk:2614: 22022-05-03T02:08:28Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Hello people. Anyone got an explanation for this? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.229|172.70.114.229]] 22:59, 2 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
To the person who has requested a citation that two is a number... here you go: https://youtu.be/dBVoIUASFS0?t=82. Can someone who knows how to add citations add it? :D --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 23:09, 2 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:The [citation needed] thing is a running joke here thanks to [[285: Wikipedian Protester]]. It's used for obvious statements of fact on this wiki as a joke (basically the opposite of its Wikipedia use). [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:43, 3 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I'm sorry to inform you that you probably became another victim of Poe's law (or "r/whooosh", as kids say these days). I was just playing the [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/game SMBC citation game]. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 02:08, 3 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hey all, the group theory thing reminds me a lot of cyclic groups or ideals generated by the value 2. Also equivalence classes (which come up in group theory) can be written with [brackets] but may be confused with <cyclic groups> or (ideals).<br />
<br />
The 2;2 notation looks like the notation \mu; \nu that is used for covariant derivatives of tensors in physics. Also 2,2 looks like \mu, \nu that is used for partial derivatives of tensors. And as mentioned above, (2) could be a cyclic subgroup or ideal generated by two or a special case of cycle notation for elements of symmetry groups used to mean an element that keeps 2 fixed. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.120|162.158.62.120]] 23:32, 2 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I second the point about tensors. Maybe you could expand the summation notation slightly. It's common to use index sets or rules underneath large symbols for all sorts of things, like sums, products, direct sums, direct products, unions, intersections, integrals, and much, much more. So here, the large 2 in parentheses represents one of these symbols. Rather than adding or multiplying the elements or whatever, you are twoing them, whatever that means. You are twoing over all values of 2, apparently. It's sort of reminiscent of jokes with punchlines like "for sufficiently large values of 2." There are of course, different 2s out there. Like, there is the von Neumann ordinal 2, the integer 2, the rational number 2, the real number 2, the complex number 2, the residue class of 2 mod 3, etc. All of these may be represented by 2. Perhaps we are indexing over some collection of canonical representations of 2? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.161|172.70.130.161]] 00:02, 3 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Explanation needs something about one of the 2s being cursed. Also, this should be added to the category for cursed stuff (I think it's cursed things, but did not look it up). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 01:37, 3 May 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2614:_2&diff=231924Talk:2614: 22022-05-02T23:09:41Z<p>172.70.110.209: Two *is* a number</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Hello people. Anyone got an explanation for this? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.229|172.70.114.229]] 22:59, 2 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
To the person who has requested a citation that two is a number... here you go: https://youtu.be/dBVoIUASFS0?t=82. Can someone who knows how to add citations add it? :D --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 23:09, 2 May 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1672:_Women_on_20s&diff=2316151672: Women on 20s2022-04-30T18:22:29Z<p>172.70.110.209: rw</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1672<br />
| date = April 25, 2016<br />
| title = Women on 20s<br />
| image = women_on_20s.png<br />
| titletext = I get that there are security reasons for the schedule, but this is like the ONE problem we have where the right answer is both easy and straightforward. If we can't figure it out, maybe we should just give up and just replace all the portraits on the bills with that weird pyramid eye thing.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic portrays a series of press conferences with a {{w|US Treasury}} spokesperson (different from [[Cueball]] in the first panel as he has a bit of hair). The panels after the first summarize and ridicule the recent controversy over the upcoming redesign of US currency. The dialog between the US Treasury and reporters is paraphrased for comedic effect, but the events depicted are {{w|United_States_twenty-dollar_bill#Proposal_for_a_woman.27s_portrait|otherwise factual}} (including the punchline).<br />
<br />
American currency has only once had a woman as the primary portrait on paper currency ([http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/martha-on-1/ Martha Washington] was on the $1 Silver Certificate in the 1880's and 1890's), which is widely seen as a real problem. A large-scale petition was organized which advocated replacing {{w|Andrew Jackson}} on the {{w|United States twenty-dollar bill|$20 bill}} with a woman, to be chosen by public voting. The {{w|Trail of Tears}} is a reference to the {{w|Andrew_Jackson#Indian_removal_policy|forced re-locations}} of Native American peoples that Andrew Jackson conducted during his presidency. This is now seen as a human rights violation on a massive scale, and is presented as a reason why Andrew Jackson should not be honored on American currency.<br />
<br />
The timing of the release of this new bill with a woman was to be scheduled with the 100 year anniversary of {{w|Women's suffrage in the United States|Women's suffrage}} in 2020 and should thus preferably also be on the $20 bill.<br />
<br />
The voting process [http://www.womenon20s.org/results selected] {{w|Harriet Tubman}}, a 19th century {{w|abolitionist}} and a major figure in the {{w|Underground Railroad}} system which freed {{w|Slavery in the United States|American slaves}}. Cueball is seen to be clearly pleased and excited about this prospect in the first panel, where he votes for her first, among several other options.<br />
<br />
The list shows that Cueball chooses Tubman first representing the generic everyman and thus represents the about one in five that choose her first. But he may select up to three out of the fifteen selected candidates.<br />
*The other two women he chooses are:<br />
**{{w|Eleanor Roosevelt}}, an American politician, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving {{w|First Lady of the United States}}, holding the post from March 1933 to April 1945 during her husband President {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt}}'s four terms in office. She became the runner-up in the vote.<br />
**{{w|Rachel Carson}}, a pioneering environmentalist who is most famous for her book ''{{w|Silent Spring}}''.<br />
Since Carson was not one of the options for the final round, where only four were selected (the other two were {{w|Rosa Parks}}, 3rd; and {{w|Wilma Mankiller}}, 4th), it is clear that Cueball was already voting in the primary ballot, where Roosevelt actually came in first.<br />
<br />
At this point, bureaucratic and political complications arise. The Treasury Department announces that, instead of replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, she would replace {{w|Alexander Hamilton}} on the {{w|United States ten-dollar bill|$10 bill}}. The {{w|United_States_ten-dollar_bill#Future_redesign|reason given}} is that the $10 bill was scheduled for redesign first. A reporter asks why they can't simply change the schedule, but doesn't get a clear answer.<br />
<br />
There is a suggestion from "Steve" to put {{w|Martin Shkreli}} on the {{w|United States five-dollar bill|$5 bill}}. Shkreli is a pharmaceutical executive and hedge fund manager who provoked controversy when he {{w|Martin_Shkreli#Price_hike_controversy|acquired the rights to an anti-parasite drug and raised the price}} by over 5000%, making it unaffordable for many people. He became known as "the most hated man in America". Naturally, Steve's suggestion receives short shrift, not least of which because it's [https://www.quora.com/Can-anybody-or-anything-be-put-on-American-currency-other-than-dead-presidents a violation of Treasury policy and US law] (as Shkreli is still alive). This may be the same Steve who messed up both [[809: Los Alamos]] and [[1532: New Horizons]].<br />
<br />
The plan to replace Hamilton likely seemed like an uncontroversial decision at the time. He was not especially well known among the American public and few people had an emotional attachment to his legacy. However, this changed abruptly when {{w|Hamilton_(musical)|a Broadway musical}} about his life came out and become massively popular. By total coincidence, this play creates a flood of interest in Hamilton right at the time the currency decisions are being made and makes replacing his portrait politically complicated. The spokesperson suggests putting both Hamilton and Tubman on the $10 bill, but the reporters are clearly unhappy with this solution, probably because it seems to dilute the recognition being given to Tubman.<br />
<br />
Finally, the spokesperson announces that they will put Tubman on the $20 bill, but their schedule demands that they do the $10 bill first. They decide to put a "mural to women" on the new $10 bill to try and contain the tension until the new $20 bill is released. The reporters say that the Treasury has total control over the release of currency, so the simpler solution is just to change the schedule, but they apparently ignore that suggestion.<br />
<br />
In the final panel, the spokesperson mentions that Jackson's portrait will still appear on the new $20 bill, seriously weakening the symbolism of replacing him and adding irony since Jackson was a slave owner. This is likely an effort to head off the complaints of traditionalists, but is seen here as an unfortunate attempt to avoid taking a real stand.<br />
<br />
In the title text [[Randall]] reiterates that this is a rare case in politics in which there's a clear and simple solution. The Treasury has the authority to redesign currency, and a petition to Congress could change the release schedule to fit their needs. That makes all the compromises and backtracking unnecessary: they could simply replace Jackson with Tubman and hypothetically release the new $20 bill whenever they choose. Randall appears frustrated with the artificial constraints that are holding back what should be a simple and straightforward process although he does acknowledge that it takes time to evaluate the security of a redesign's resistance to {{w|Counterfeit money|counterfeiting}}.<br />
<br />
The mention of the "[http://google.com/search?q=illuminati+confirmed weird pyramid eye thing]" is a reference to the {{w|Eye of Providence}}, which is an old and {{rw|Illuminati|somewhat arcane symbol}} that appears on the {{w|United States one-dollar bill|US $1 bill}}. Randall seems to be using this as an example of the outdated and frankly strange design of American currency, the implication that using that on all US dollar bills would constitute giving up on ever having a design relevant to the modern world. Also by replacing all portraits with this image, there would no longer be any gender controversy.<br />
<br />
As of 2020, progress on updating both the $10 and the $20 has stalled, with the Treasury stating that [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/us/harriet-tubman-bill.html no new changes will be unveiled until 2026].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting at his laptop. Above him is the text he reads on the screen, then he speaks, and below that text is the list of women from his computer showing his three picks, each with a gray "drop-down menu" triangle to the right of the names. Below this is his final spoken line. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]<br />
:2015<br />
:Website: Petition: Replace Andrew "Trail of Tears" Jackson with a woman on the $20 for the 100<sup>th</sup> anniversary of women's suffrage in 2020.<br />
:Cueball: Hey, good idea!<br />
:Website:<br />
::Vote for your three picks:<br />
::<font color="gray">1</font> Harriet Tubman<br />
::<font color="gray">2</font> Eleanor Roosevelt<br />
::<font color="gray">3</font> Rachel Carson<br />
:Cueball: Tubman for #1, definitely.<br />
<br />
:[An executive from the department of treasury, with a wee bit of hair on his head, stands behind a lectern. On the front of the lectern the top part of the image inside the seal for the department of treasury is visible inside a circle, showing the scales and the tip of the triangular band beneath it. The rest of this image is hidden below the panel frame. There is text written above this image. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]<br />
:Soon...<br />
:Treasury Executive: After a flood of public interest, the Treasury has decided to feature a woman on our money!<br />
:Offscreen voice 1: Yay!<br />
:Treasury Executive: She will replace Hamilton on the $10.<br />
:Offscreen voice 1: Yay-- wait, what? Why not the $20?<br />
:Offscreen voice 2: ''Are we mad at Hamilton?''<br />
:Text above the seal: Treasury<br />
<br />
:[The executive with a hand on the lectern is seen from the side.]<br />
:Treasury Executive: The $10 was scheduled for the next redesign by a board made up of-<br />
:Offscreen voice 3: Can't you just do the $20 next?<br />
:Treasury Executive: We will review the...<br />
:Offscreen voice 3: *Sigh*<br />
:Offscreen voice 4 (Steve): ''Put Martin Shkreli on the $5!''<br />
:Offscreen voice 5: Shut up, Steve.<br />
<br />
:[The executive lifts both hands, the one over the lectern points a finger up. Again seen from the side. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]<br />
:Later in 2015...<br />
:Treasury Executive: Wow, some musical came out, and now suddenly Hamilton has ''tons'' of fans.<br />
:Offscreen voice 6: So do the $20 next. Problem solved!<br />
:Treasury Executive: Maybe he and a woman can ''share'' the $10!<br />
:Offscreen voice 6: Are you serious.<br />
<br />
:[The executive, again with a hand on the lectern, is seen from the side. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]<br />
:2016:<br />
:Treasury Executive: We've decided to put Harriet Tubman on the $20.<br />
:Offscreen voice 7: Perfect! Happy ending.<br />
:Treasury Executive: -After we do the new $10.<br />
:Offscreen voice 7: What?<br />
<br />
:[The executive again from the front behind the lectern. On the front of the lectern only the text and the very top of the circle around the image can be seen.]<br />
:Treasury Executive: We'll put a mural to women on the back of the $10. Hopefully that will tide you over until we get to the $20?<br />
:Offscreen voice 8: ''Seriously?'' How is this so complicated? Just say "We're putting Harriet Tubman on the $20," then do it.<br />
:Text above the seal: Treasury<br />
<br />
:[The executive with hands down behind the lectern is seen from the side.]<br />
:Treasury Executive: We'll do the $20 ASAP, but we can't change the-<br />
:Offscreen voice 9: C'mon, your hands aren't tied here. You're the freaking Treasury. This is the '''''one''''' thing you're definitely in charge of.<br />
<br />
:[The executive lifting a hand above the lectern is seen from the side.]<br />
:Treasury Executive: Oh, and we're putting Andrew Jackson on the back.<br />
:Three offscreen voices: '''''What.'''''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Public speaking]]<br />
[[Category:Money]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2611:_Cutest-Sounding_Scientific_Effects&diff=2311422611: Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects2022-04-26T01:26:46Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2611<br />
| date = April 25, 2022<br />
| title = Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects<br />
| image = cutest_sounding_scientific_effects.png<br />
| titletext = The Stroop-YORP number of a scientific paper is how many of the 16 finalist names (sans 'effect') it manages to casually sneak into the text.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by the Cutest Effect of All Time - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Randall has compiled a {{w|Tournament bracket|single-elimination tournament bracket}} for a knock-out competition between 16 different scientific effect names that Randall considers cute-sounding. As of now, he is determining the result in a [https://twitter.com/xkcd/status/1518701311763570689 series of Twitter polls].<br />
<br />
Below are explanations for what each of the 16 effects are:<br />
<br />
;{{w|YORP effect}}: The YORP effect is the effect of sunlight on an asteroid with variations of shape and/or albedo, which can increase its rotation rate and/or modify its axis of rotation. It can cause objects to eventually spin apart or drastically change their orbit.<br />
:It is an acronym of the names Yarkovsky, O’Keefe, Radzievskii and Paddack, who were instrumental in its discovery. More than a century ago, Yarkovsky determined that heat applied to a symmetrical rotating body would be asymmetrically re-emitted and apply a small but continuous thrust, and this was added to by considering the forces to non-symmetrical bodies.<br />
;{{w|Nocebo effect}}: An effect in which a recipient of medication who believes that it will have negative side-effects is more likely to experience those negative side-effects, whether they can be really caused by the medication or not. Opposite of the {{w|placebo effect}}, which focuses on positive side-effects that arise beyond the true efficacy of a given treament.<br />
:'Placebo' derives from "I shall please", while 'Nocebo' comes from "I shall harm".<br />
;{{w|Woozle effect}}: If a study gets repeatedly cited and otherwise disseminated, then people will start to believe it regardless of whether it has any evidence behind it. And if there is not any evidence, it becomes an urban myth.<br />
:Named after a Winnie-the-Pooh story in which Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet try to catch an imaginary animal called a woozle, and accidentally follow their own tracks in circles.<br />
;{{w|Stroop effect}}: The Stroop effect (referenced in [[1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect]]) is a psychological phenomenon in which it is easier to name the visual color of a word when the word refers to its own color, than when the word refers to a different color.<br />
:i.e that saying that '''<span style="color: red;">Red</span>''' is red is easier than to say that '''<span style="color: green">Blue</span>''' is green.<br />
;{{w|Pockels effect}}: A phenomenon where an electric field passed through a medium can cause the medium's refractive index to depend upon the polarization and propagation direction of the refracted light, a property known as {{w|birefringence}}.<br />
;{{w|Cheerios effect}}: A phenomenon where objects floating in a liquid appear to attract or repel each other.<br />
:Named after the cereal Cheerios, which are an everyday demonstration of this phenomenon because many eat Cheerios in a bowl of milk.{{citation needed}}<br />
;{{w|Hot chocolate effect}}: A phenomenon where the sound created by tapping a cup of hot liquid rises in pitch as a soluble powder is added.<br />
;{{w|Perky effect}}: An experiment in which participants were asked to visualize an object while staring at a screen on which the outline of that object was subtly projected. Participants believed the projected shape to be only a product of their imaginations.<br />
;{{w|Bouba/kiki effect}}: An observation that people, despite different native languages, will relatively consistently assign names with certain sounds to blobby or spiky shapes, suggesting the association of sound and shape is non-arbitrary.<br />
;{{w|Cutaneous rabbit effect}}: A phenomenon where, when tapped on one part of the body in rapid succession and then switching to another, the subject feels the tapping at locations in between the two.<br />
:For example, if rapidly tapping the wrist then switching to the elbow, the subject will subjectively feel as if they are being tapped between the wrist and elbow, when they are not.<br />
;[https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smallfirmeffect.asp Small firm effect]: An economic theory that small firms usually perform better than larger ones<br />
;{{w|Little–Parks effect}}: A phenomenon where a fluctuating magnetic field passed through a superconductor can slightly suppress its superconductivity, inducing small fluctuations in its electrical resistance.<br />
:When juxtaposed against the "small firm effect", as in the bracket, one might get the impression that it is somehow related to urban architecture or civil engineering.<br />
;{{w|Dr. Fox effect}}: A disputed theory that student evaluations of their teachers are likely unreliable because they are largely based on the teacher's charisma instead of the quality of their content.<br />
;{{w|Oddity effect}}: A theory that when fish assemble in shoals (large social groups), any that stand out appearance-wise will be attacked by a predator, explaining why shoals tend to have similar-looking members.<br />
;{{w|Butterfly effect}}: The butterfly effect is the sensitivity of chaotic systems to small changes in initial conditions. The weather system of Earth is chaotic, and so an arbitrarily small change in air patterns (such as could be caused by the flapping of a butterfly's wing) could ultimately change the weather for the whole world.<br />
;{{w|Popcorn effect}}: A phenomenon exhibited by crushed ore placed on a vibrating screen for separation in mineral processing, in which larger particles tend to bounce higher than smaller particles.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A tournament bracket tree is shown with 16 scientific effect names each on the left and right side. From both sides toward the middle the brackets reduce to eight, then four, two, and one line where the latter join to a rectangle in the middle.]<br />
<br />
:[Left side:]<br />
:Yorp effect - Nocebo effect<br />
:Woozle effect - Stroop effect<br />
:Pockels effect - Cheerios effect<br />
:Hot chocolate effect - Perky effect<br />
<br />
:[Right side:]<br />
:Bouba/kiki effect - Cutaneous rabbit effect<br />
:Small firm effect - Little parks effect<br />
:Dr. Fox effect - Oddity effect<br />
:Butterfly effect - Popcorn effect<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2611:_Cutest-Sounding_Scientific_Effects&diff=2310842611: Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects2022-04-25T21:43:34Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* This is the last xkcd comic. */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2611<br />
| date = April 25, 2022<br />
| title = Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects<br />
| image = cutest_sounding_scientific_effects.png<br />
| titletext = The Stroop-YORP number of a scientific paper is how many of the 16 finalist names (sans 'effect') it manages to casually sneak into the text.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a YORP effect - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
=This is the last [[xkcd]] comic.=<br />
<br />
Randall has compiled a {{w|Tournament bracket|single-elimination tournament bracket}} for a knock-out competition between 16 different scientific effect names that Randall considers cute-sounding. As of now, he is determining the result in a [https://twitter.com/xkcd/status/1518701311763570689 series of Twitter polls].<br />
<br />
Below are explanations for what each of the 16 effects are:<br />
<br />
;{{w|YORP effect}}: (an acronym of Yarkovsky, O’Keefe, Radzievskii, and Paddack) The YORP effect is the effect of sunlight on an asteroid with variations of albedo, which can increase its rotation rate, perhaps until it spins itself apart.<br />
;{{w|Nocebo effect}}: The opposite of the placebo effect. If you believe a medication will have side effects, you are more likely to experience side effects. <br />
;{{w|Woozle effect}}: If a study gets repeatedly cited and otherwise disseminated, then people will start to believe it regardless of whether it has any evidence behind it, and if there is not, in fact, any evidence, then it becomes an urban myth. Named after a Winnie-the-Pooh story.<br />
;{{w|Stroop effect}}: The Stroop effect (referenced in [[1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect]]) in psychology, refers to the phenomenon in which it is easier to name the color of the ink in which a word is written when the word refers to the same color as the ink than when the word refers to a different color.<br />
;{{w|Pockels effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Cheerios effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Hot chocolate effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Perky effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Bouba/kiki effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Cutaneous rabbit effect}}: TBA<br />
;[https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smallfirmeffect.asp Small firm effect]: TBA<br />
;{{w|Little–Parks effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Dr. Fox effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Oddity effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Butterfly effect}}: The butterfly effect is the sensitivity of chaotic systems to small changes in initial conditions. The weather system of Earth is chaotic, and so an arbitrarily small change in air patterns (such as could be caused by the flapping of a butterfly's wing) would ultimately change the weather for the whole world.<br />
;{{w|Popcorn effect}}: TBA<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A tournament bracket tree is shown with 16 scientific effect names each on the left and right side. From both sides toward the middle the brackets reduce to eight, then four, two, and one line where the latter join to a rectangle in the middle.]<br />
<br />
:[Left side:]<br />
:Yorp effect - Nocebo effect<br />
:Woozle effect - Stroop effect<br />
:Pockels effect - Cheerios effect<br />
:Hot chocolate effect - Perky effect<br />
<br />
:[Right side:]<br />
:Bouba/kiki effect - Cutaneous rabbit effect<br />
:Small firm effect - Little parks effect<br />
:Dr. Fox effect - Oddity effect<br />
:Butterfly effect - Popcorn effect<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2604:_Frankenstein_Captcha&diff=2307932604: Frankenstein Captcha2022-04-20T15:10:40Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2604<br />
| date = April 8, 2022<br />
| title = Frankenstein Captcha<br />
| image = frankenstein_captcha.png<br />
| titletext = The distinction between a ship and a boat is a line drawn in water.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CAPTCHA RATED ARGH-Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic strip is a play on the meanings (and misunderstanding) of the name "Frankenstein". ''{{w|Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus}}'' is an 1818 novel by Mary Shelley about a medical student named Victor Frankenstein who creates an artificial life-form. The man he creates once describes himself as "the Adam of [Frankenstein's] labour" in the book, and strictly speaking is properly known as "Frankenstein's ''monster''" (or perhaps "creation" or "son"), but is often erroneously called "Frankenstein" himself. This has been fertile ground for many, many debates about whether the monster could also properly be called "Frankenstein," either as a family name, an honorific, or simply because it's more recognizable and convenient. Randall has weighed in on the debate himself in a previous comic, [[1589: Frankenstein]].<br />
<br />
The CAPTCHA shown in the comic instructs the user to select all tiles containing Frankenstein. The tiles include both a reanimated corpse resembling Frankenstein's monster and a scientist yelling, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qNeGSJaQ9Q "It's alive!”] who is clearly intended to be Victor Frankenstein. The problem arises from the contrast between various definitions of the term Frankenstein. Going just off the book's text, the monster has no name, so the correct answer to the CAPTCHA is just the left square of the third row. However, the character depicted there is clearly ''Henry'' Frankenstein from the famous {{w|Frankenstein (1931 film)|1931 film adaptation}} (Victor Frankenstein never said the words "it's alive!" in the book), and likewise the creature depicted is clearly inspired by {{w|Boris Karloff}}'s iconic portrayal in that film and its sequels. If the images are captured from that film, then all four of them could be said to be "containing (a subset of) ''Frankenstein'' (the 1931 film)".<br />
<br />
Some CAPTCHAs - especially Google's widely spread reCAPTCHA - nowadays serve a dual purpose: (1) to separate human users from bots by way of intelligent interaction, and (2) to train a neural network, hence the "correct answer" to image recognition CAPTCHAs is not known ahead of time and is merely based on the most commonly-chosen tiles. Users who frequently face CAPTCHAs are familiar with the dilemma of having to choose tiles that they know do not contain the requested object but which they know were likely chosen by previous users, making the CAPTCHA one part object-identification exercise and one part human-psychology exercise. Thus, a user who knows that "Frankenstein" refers only to the scientist would face this CAPTCHA with dread, uttering "Oh No" as they realize that they must select the tiles containing the monster, and possibly not even be allowed to select the tile containing the actual scientist Victor Frankenstein if they want to pass the CAPTCHA.<br />
<br />
Alternatively, this comic strip with its "Oh No" caption could be referencing [[1897]], which would imply that someone had actually created a Frankenstein's monster which needs to be located as soon as possible.<br />
<br />
Many of the other tiles appear to be pictures of entities that inspire similar pedantry. For example, there is a picture of a turtle (or possibly a tortoise, or a reference to the {{w|Voight-Kampff_machine|Voight-Kampff test}} used in a manner analogous to CAPTCHA), a ship (or possibly a boat), {{w|Link (The Legend of Zelda)|Link}} (the name given to each of several protagonists that appear across generations and timelines, throughout the ''{{w|Legend of Zelda}}'' video games, who many erroneously refer to as Zelda), a pond (or possibly a lake, a puddle, or a {{w|mirage}}), a squash or pumpkin (often subject to the ''fruit or vegetable'' debate), an erupting volcano (with lava, or is it magma?), and the planet Pluto (or is it a dwarf planet?). Other tiles seem to be inspired by images that commonly occur in actual captchas, like the STOP sign or the traffic light. However, at least some of these may also be meant to fall into the category of entities that inspire pedantry, for example: because traffic lights can also be called traffic signals or stoplights; many people thinking that the shape of a stop sign is a hexagon, not an octagon; and the definition of a sandwich (previously discussed as a “random semi-ironic obsession” in [[1835]]). <br />
<br />
The title text refers to one of the methods used to distinguish a ship from a boat. When making a turn, if the vessel leans towards the inside of the turn circle then it is considered a boat, whereas if the vessel leans away from the turn circle it is considered a ship[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1iM2CG5QQ8]. Since the vessel generates a wake as it moves, checking whether it is a boat or a ship can be done while it is literally drawing a line on the water (the wake). The phrase "a line drawn in water" is also an idiom for something ephemeral. Ironically, it has persisted for a long time and dates back at least to the early Buddhists. (e.g. [https://suttacentral.net/an3.132/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin| AN 3.132] & [https://suttacentral.net/an7.74/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin| AN 7.74]). The distinction between a ship and a boat is also unclear, having changed over time, with no universally accepted rule to {{w|Ship#Nomenclature|distinguish between the two}}. The title text is also a pun on the common idiom "drawing a line in the sand." The title text could also be referencing the image of a boat or ship that appears as one of the CAPTCHA tiles in the comic, where Randall has drawn a squiggly line often used in crude drawings to represent a waterline.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A captcha design, with a header and four rows of four pictures each below it. The header, in white lettering on a blue background, reads:]<br />
:To continue, please click<br />
:All squares containing<br />
:Frankenstein<br />
<br />
:[The pictures, all with gray backgrounds, are as follows, from left to right in each row:]<br />
<br />
Row 1<br />
* Tortoise (or turtle)<br />
* Ship (or boat)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster (often mistaken as Frankenstein) waking up from a slab, while lightning strikes.<br />
::Monster: GRRR<br />
* Link from Legend of Zelda series (often mistaken as Zelda)<br />
<br />
Row 2<br />
* Lake (or pond), possibly a mirage, in the Egyptian desert<br />
* Megan (or Science Girl, or Danish--possibly a direct joke about this wiki)<br />
* The top of a volcano spewing lava (or magma)<br />
* Pumpkin (or squash [fruit vs vegetable])<br />
<br />
Row 3<br />
* A mad scientist (Victor Frankenstein) throwing a switch while lightning strikes outside<br />
::Frankenstein: It's alive!<br />
* Sandwich<br />
* Stop sign<br />
* Girl running away from Frankenstein's monster<br />
::Girl: Monster!<br />
<br />
Row 4<br />
* Rocket (spaceship) flying by Pluto (planet or dwarf planet)<br />
* Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other<br />
* Traffic light (also called a stoplight, possibly mistaken as stop sign?) (called a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_light robot] in South Africa/Zimbabwe)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel]:<br />
:Oh no.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:CAPTCHA]]<br />
[[Category:Frankenstein]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2605:_Taylor_Series&diff=2301172605: Taylor Series2022-04-11T19:18:19Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2605<br />
| date = April 11, 2022<br />
| title = Taylor Series<br />
| image = taylor_series.png<br />
| titletext = The Taylor series should have been canceled after the first term.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by TAYLOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
In mathematics, the {{w|Taylor series}} of a function is an infinite sum of terms that are expressed in terms of the function's derivatives at a single point. So the equation would never end. Which is indeed, good news.<br />
<br />
The title text is a pun on the use of the word "series" to refer to a television program. It equates each term in the mathematical series to a television season, suggesting that only the first term is useful.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Miss Lenhart pointing a stick at a whiteboard]<br />
:Miss Lenhart: At this point, you're probably thinking, "I love this equation and wish it would never end!"<br />
:Miss Lenhart: Well, good news!<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Taylor series expansion is the worst.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Disappearing_Sunday_Update&diff=230046Disappearing Sunday Update2022-04-09T19:18:07Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| date = August 4, 2019<br />
| title = Disappearing Sunday Update<br />
| image = disappearing_sunday_update.png<br />
| titletext = This comic won't exist in the archives. NOTHING IS REAL.<br />
| ldomain = web.archive.org/web/20190804230254/https://www<br />
| lappend = #<br />
| extra = yes<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic is a special Disappearing comic that was placed between the Friday comic [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] but before the normal Monday comic update, which became [[2185: Cumulonimbus]]. <br />
<br />
It was, of course, released on [[:Category:Sunday comics|a Sunday]] (August 4th), becoming only the fifth comic to be released on a Sunday. <br />
<br />
It is the first comic that was fully deleted from the xkcd archives, as it was replaced by the normal Monday update, leaving no trails on xkcd, but lots of trails in many other sites, like this one and in the [http://web.archive.org/web/20190804230254/https://www.xkcd.com/#/ Internet Archive] of the {{w|Wayback Machine}}. Also the [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/disappearing_sunday_update.png image] (and its [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/disappearing_sunday_update_2x.png 2x version]) was still on the xkcd image server after it had disappeared.<br />
<br />
The entire comic is an advertisement for [[Randall|Randall's]] upcoming book "[[How To]]". <br />
<br />
The entire comic was a link directly to https://xkcd.com/how-to/. This link was also mentioned in the text of the comic. But as Randall has never learned how to make a different part of an image into a different link, his [[Blag]], the other link mentioned in the text, was not linked from the comic. The link to this is https://blog.xkcd.com/. When this comic was released the top blog post was the one about the ''How To'' book.<br />
<br />
The first part of the comic, the advertisement, included a drawing of the cover, two sets of pages, showing the open book, and a sampling of the table of contents of the book. The full table of contest can be found in the Blag post mentioned above.<br />
<br />
The second part of the comic, the joke, shows Randall (as [[Cueball]]) at the bottom where he in advance apologized for the various bots, that automatically catalog xkcd comics, which might break because of this special comic. See more under [[#Unusual Means|Unusual Means]]. <br />
<br />
This ''Explain xkcd'' website is one example of such a page, where the bot that creates new pages, was assigning the comic a number of 2185 despite the comic not having a designated number at the time it was released. <br />
<br />
The comic even broke the xkcd site itself as the previously released Friday comic, [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]], then had a next button that linked to comic 2185, which did not exist at time of release! So using that button from comic 2184 displayed a [[404]] error. Later this was fixed by giving this comic the number 2185, although only temporarily, see the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section. At this time it was thus also included in the archive, see below regarding the title text.<br />
<br />
In the title text it is stated that: ''This comic won't exist in the archives. NOTHING IS REAL.''. However, as shown in the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section, Randall had so many problems with his plans for this comic, that he ended up making it a normal numbered comic and thus also put it into the archives, ensuring that the title texts statement was not real. But when the normal Monday comic was released it was removed from the xkcd site, and the archive. But then so was this title text, so for most of the time it was available, it was not true!<br />
<br />
One of the bot methods mentioned may be in reference to the recent comic [[2180: Spreadsheets]], where [[Cueball]] debates making a real program to do a task, or to use a Google spreadsheet instead.<br />
<br />
Two weeks later he released a permanent comic with a reference to one of the chapters in his book with [[2190: Serena Versus the Drones]].<br />
<br />
===Unusual Means===<br />
Randall notes that ''if you read xkcd through unusual means... ... I hope this ephemeral ghost comic doesn't break them too badly''.<br />
<br />
Between the dots he suggested different methods of reading xkcd, other than on the {{xkcd}} home page. These methods get progressively sillier (many still need explanations). Here is a list:<br />
<br />
; Apps<br />
: The Android app [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.tap.easy_xkcd easyxkcd] was broken by this comic when used in offline mode, as reported [https://github.com/tom-anders/Easy_xkcd/issues/162 here].<br />
: An iOS app called xkcd: Open-Source is broken by this comic, permanently assigning the comic number 2185 to this comic, and not replacing it with the *actual* 2185 comic. Because of that, this comic can be viewed in the app, but the real 2185 isn’t viewable.<br />
; Custom screen-scraping systems<br />
: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_scraping#Screen_scraping<br />
; Google Reader clones<br />
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Reader Google Reader] was an RSS/Atom aggregator that Google discontinued in 2013. Enthusiasts created a full-featured work-alike replacement, called [https://theoldreader.com/ The Old Reader.]<br />
; Twitter bots<br />
: Scripts that automatically post content to a designated [https://twitter.com/ Twitter] account.<br />
; BASH scripts<br />
: A popular Unix shell; one might, say, write a script in it to run on one's personal Unix machine, checking for a new xkcd comic and displaying it somewhere.<br />
; Gopher portals<br />
: [https://www.minnpost.com/business/2016/08/rise-and-fall-gopher-protocol/ Gopher] was a method of surfing the Internet that predated the Web (by about five months) and was vastly more popular (for about three years).<br />
; Lynx-based ASCII art browsers<br />
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_%28web_browser%29 Lynx] is a text-based Web browser. It can launch external programs to view images, but Randall is suggesting that instead a Lynx variant might convert images to [https://www.asciiart.eu/ ASCII art], which renders images using the 94 visible ASCII keyboard characters.<br />
; Third-party Second Life feeds<br />
: [https://secondlife.com/ Second Life] is a virtual world that opened in 2002 and has [http://www.gridsurvey.com/charts/historicalconcurrency.png averaged about 40,000 simultaneous users for the past five years].<br />
; RFC 2549<br />
: An RFC is a proposal for how to run the Internet. [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549 RFC 2549] is about transmitting data using carrier pigeons (this was one of the earliest [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day April Fools' Day] RFCs).<br />
; Massive Google docs sheets<br />
: See #[[2180]].<br />
<br />
Another unusual method is [http://uni.xkcd.com/ UNIXkcd], which was reported here to have broken, but was later working.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Heading:]<br />
:~Special Disappearing Sunday comic~<br />
<br />
:[Below the header to the right are the following text:]<br />
:I'm posting this ephemeral Sunday update to let you know that I wrote a book! It's a guide to solving everyday problems in terrible ways using science.<br />
:It comes out next month, and it's available for preorder now.<br />
<br />
:[Below this text is an arrow to an image of the book to the left. The arrow comes from this text:] <br />
:The cover looks like this<br />
<br />
:[The book is shown to the left as a black rectangle with large blue text and smaller white text. On the book cover, in white drawings, are seen Ponytail with a ladder and either Black or White Hat (hard to say on black background). Both are looking up on Cueball who is floating in the air with a quadcopter beneath either leg, trying to plug in an electric light bulb in a naked lamp hanging down near him. It seems he has already removed the broken light bulb, as he has one in both hands. And now he tries to put in the new one. He could have let Ponytail use the ladder...]<br />
:[The header in blue above it all:] How To.<br />
:[Sub header in white to the left of Cueball:] Absurd Scientific Answers to Common Real-world Problems<br />
:[Author name in blue below the drawing:] Randall Munroe<br />
:[Sub header to this below in white:] Creator of xkcd<br />
:[Sub header to this below in white:] Author of ''what if?'' and ''Thing Explainer''<br />
<br />
:[Below the text with the arrow to the book is the following text with an arrow pointing down to an image of two pages in the open book, shown to the right:] <br />
:And the inside looks like this.<br />
<br />
:[To the left of the open book are the following text:]<br />
:Chapters include:<br />
:'''How to charge your phone'''<br />
:'''How to throw a pool party'''<br />
:'''How to move'''<br />
:'''How to build a lava moat'''<br />
:'''How to ski'''<br />
<br />
:[The open book to the right has almost only unreadable text. The left page shows a drawing of car in front of a trailer which is loaded with about 15 of boxes in four layers. Two stick figures are standing between the car and the trailer, talking with each other. The trailer is not attached to the car. There are some lines of text beneath the drawing and then what appears to be a chapter heading. It probably says something as "How to move", as this is mentioned as a chapter in the text to the left of these pages, but there one of two more unreadable words at the end of that heading. Beneath that the rest of the page is text and at the bottom there seems to be a footnote. The right page shows a house that seems to be floating a couple of meters above the ground, two arrows pointing up to the bottom of the house on either side. A stick figure stands to the left of the house which float at the figures head height. There is text beneath this drawing. Beneath that there is another drawing of a house towed on a truck, which speeds up a steep hill and jumps over a cliff to get to the other side. Seems like it will work. The speed of the truck seems to be very high as indicated by two curly lines indicating exhaust from the truck. It becomes three small clouds further behind the moving house. There is a footnote beneath the drawing. The driver of the truck yells as the truck jumps. This can actually be read:]<br />
:Driver: ''Woooooo''<br />
<br />
:[Beneath the above text and pages are another image of the open book with two other pages. This time to the left. This time there is text to the right.]<br />
<br />
:[These book pages are also mainly unreadable. At the top of the left page is a drawing of what could be a lake. Two people seems to be standing out in the water, only heads showing above the water. A sign is standing on the brink, is may say "Sorry"? Behind the lake is some mountains in the background. Beneath the drawing is some text of, then a smaller diagram like drawing which may show some black clouds above and below a line in the middle of this drawing. One of the clouds are beneath a curly bracket which are beneath the line. The curly bracket lies down and has the same length as the cloud. Beneath this drawing is more text and then a third drawing at the bottom. Here is shown a cross section of the lake. At the left side of the lake the water is shallow and a stick figure is standing in the water on the bottom, head above water with its arms held up in the air. It is directing its attention to the four stick figure standing on the brink to the left looking at the figure in the water. To the right the lake becomes more than three times as deep. Clouds are above the lake, one large just right of the stick figure and one smaller further right. At the right edge the lakes edge is vertical. On the brink is what may be a diving board protruding over the lake. Something is lying on top of the board. And above is what seems to be another cloud. To the right of the lake is a pile of earth with what appears to be a large black Nuclear bomb (with the nuclear icon on it) stuck with its tip in the pile. On the right page is a line coming down from the top, which then turns to the right ending in an arrow. There is a line of text above the horizontal part of the line. The arrow points to a large heading in two rows. (See below). Beneath the heading are a few lines of text. Then a drawing of a torn map (like an old treasure map whit a X at the end of a trail marked with dots. Mountains indicated with small "^" and coast line is visible. There seems to be text beneath the X. There are text beneath the drawing. Beneath that are a header with a line beneath it, and then text beneath the line.]<br />
:How to Dig a Hole<br />
<br />
:[To the right of these pages are the following text:]<br />
:You can learn more and preorder it at '''xkcd.com/how-to'''<br />
:And read an excerpt at '''blog.xkcd.com'''<br />
<br />
:[Beneath all this Randall (drawn as Cueball) is telling about the problem this disappearing comic may cause:]<br />
:Randall: If you read xkcd through unusual means, including apps, custom screen-scraping systems, Google reader clones, Twitter bots, bash scripts, gopher portals, lynx-based ASCII art browsers, third-party Second Life feeds, RFC 2549, or massive google docs sheets full of =IMPORTHTML() and =IMAGE() formulas, I hope this ephemeral ghost comic doesn't break them too badly. <br />
:Randall: It will disappear with the normal Monday update.<br />
:Randall: (At least, I think it will. I've never tried this before. So I'm honestly not sure what the server will do.)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This August 4th 2019 [[:Category:Sunday comics|Sunday comic]] was first posted on the front page without any number relating to it. Thus breaking the next comic button on xkcd. <br />
**Since it was scheduled to be deleted on Monday August 5th 2019, when the next comic arrives on xkcd, it was not supposed to have a number or be in the archive. But seems like this caused too many problems for the xkcd site it self (not just for all the other sites Randall jokes about). <br />
**So later it was given the next number in the comic list (2185) and was also included in the archive for the duration of its stay on the xkcd front page.<br />
**It was later removed from the archive and 2185 was assigned to the Monday comic [[2185: Cumulonimbus]].<br />
*Here are some pictures documenting that the comic at some point between release and the next comics release worked like a normal comic with number 2185 as shown in the web address at the top.<br />
*[[File:Disappearing Sunday Update with number 2185.png]]<br />
*It was also part of the archive with the release date showing corectly when hovering over the title:<br />
*[[File:Archive with Disappearing Sunday Update and date.png]]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Extra comics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]] <!-- Cueball at the bottom is Randall. But the other three above are on the book cover at the top --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:How To]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]] <!-- the How To book is featured in colours --><br />
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2604:_Frankenstein_Captcha&diff=2299692604: Frankenstein Captcha2022-04-08T18:16:49Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2604<br />
| date = April 8, 2022<br />
| title = Frankenstein Captcha<br />
| image = frankenstein_captcha.png<br />
| titletext = The distinction between a ship and a boat is a line drawn in water.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by Rated Argh -Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic strip is a play on the meanings (and misunderstanding) of the name "Frankenstein". ''{{w|Frankenstein}}; or, the Modern Prometheus'' is a 1818 novel by Mary Shelley about a medical student called Victor Frankenstein who creates an artificial life-form. The man he creates names himself "Adam" in the book, and strictly speaking is properly known as "Frankenstein's ''monster''" (or perhaps "creation" or "son"), but is often erroneously called "Frankenstein" himself.<br />
<br />
The Captcha shown in the comic instructs the user to select all tiles containing Frankenstein. The tiles include both a reanimated corpse (frequently called Frankenstein but actually called Frankenstein's monster) and a scientist yelling "it's alive" who is clearly intended to be Victor Frankenstein. The problem arises from the contrast between the generally accepted and technically accurate definitions of the term: Frankenstein. The correct answer to the Captcha is just the left square of the third row, unless you follow comic [[1589]].<br />
<br />
If the images in the squares are from the famous {{w|Frankenstein (1931 film)|1931 film}} starring {{w|Boris Karloff}} as The Monster, then perhaps they could be correctly said to be "containing ''Frankenstein''", that is, the work.<br />
<br />
This comic strip could also reference [[1897]], which would imply that someone had actually created a Frankenstein's monster.<br />
<br />
Many of the other tiles appear to be pictures of entities that inspire similar <s>pedanticism</s> pedantry. For example, there is a picture of a turtle (or possibly a tortoise, or a reference to the Voight-Kampff test used in a manner analogous to CAPTCHA), a ship (or possibly a boat), Link (the protagonist of the {{w|Legend of Zelda}} video games, who may be erroneously referred to as Zelda), a pond (or possibly a lake), a tomato (often subject to the ''fruit or vegetable'' debate), an erupting volcano (with lava, or is it magma?), and a planet (or is it a dwarf planet?).<br />
<br />
Other tiles seem to be inspired by images commonly occuring in actual captchas, like the STOP sign or the traffic light.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the fact that if you draw a picture of a boat/ship on calm water (a straight line), it is usually assumed to be on a lake or pond and is thus a boat, but if it is on wavy water (as in the comic), it's assumed to be on the sea and is thus a ship. The title text is also a pun on the common idiom "a line drawn in the sand."<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
> TO CONTINUE, PLEASE CLICK ALL SQUARES CONTAINING FRANKENSTEIN<br />
<br />
Pictured (Starting from top left)<br />
<br />
Row 1<br />
* Tortoise (or turtle)<br />
* Ship (or boat)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster waking up (often mistaken as Frankenstein)<br />
* Link from Legend of Zelda series (often mistaken as Zelda, aka Toon Link in SSB)<br />
Row 2<br />
* Fata morgana (or mirage)<br />
* Megan<br />
* Lava (or magma)<br />
* Tomato (fruit vs vegetable)<br />
Row 3<br />
* Victor Frankenstein saying "It's alive"<br />
* Sandwich<br />
* Stop sign<br />
* Girl running away from Frankenstein's monster<br />
Row 4<br />
* Rocket (spaceship) flying by Pluto (dwarf planet)<br />
* Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other<br />
* Traffic light (also called a stoplight, possibly mistaken as stop sign?)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster<br />
<br />
> OH NO.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2604:_Frankenstein_Captcha&diff=2299642604: Frankenstein Captcha2022-04-08T18:08:42Z<p>172.70.110.209: add top and bottom text</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2604<br />
| date = April 8, 2022<br />
| title = Frankenstein Captcha<br />
| image = frankenstein_captcha.png<br />
| titletext = The distinction between a ship and a boat is a line drawn in water.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by Rated Argh -Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic strip is a play on the meanings (and misunderstanding) of the name "Frankenstein". ''{{w|Frankenstein}}; or, the Modern Prometheus'' is a 1818 novel by Mary Shelley about a medical student called Victor Frankenstein who creates an artificial life-form. The man he creates is unnamed in the book, and strictly speaking is properly known as "Frankenstein's ''monster''" (or perhaps "creation" or "son"), but is often erroneously called "Frankenstein" himself.<br />
<br />
The Captcha shown in the comic instructs the user to select all tiles containing Frankenstein. The tiles include both a reanimated corpse (frequently called Frankenstein but actually called Frankenstein's monster) and a scientist yelling "it's alive" who is clearly intended to be Victor Frankenstein. The problem arises from the contrast between the generally accepted and technically accurate definitions of the term: Frankenstein. The correct answer to the Captcha is just the left square of the third row, unless you follow comic [[1589]].<br />
<br />
If the images in the squares are from the famous {{w|Frankenstein (1931 film)|1931 film}} starring {{w|Boris Karloff}} as The Monster, then perhaps they could be correctly said to be "containing ''Frankenstein''", that is, the work.<br />
<br />
This comic strip could also reference [[1897]], which would imply that someone had actually created a Frankenstein's monster.<br />
<br />
Many of the other tiles appear to be pictures of entities that inspire similar <s>pedanticism</s> pedantry. For example, there is a picture of a turtle (or possibly a tortoise), a ship (or possibly a boat), Link (the protagonist of the {{w|Legend of Zelda}} video games, who may be erroneously referred to as Zelda), a pond (or possibly a lake), a tomato (often subject to the ''fruit or vegetable'' debate), an erupting volcano (with lava, or is it magma?), and a planet (or is it a dwarf planet?).<br />
<br />
Other tiles seem to be inspired by images commonly occuring in actual captchas, like the STOP sign or the traffic light.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
> TO CONTINUE, PLEASE CLICK ALL SQUARES CONTAINING FRANKENSTEIN<br />
<br />
Pictured (Starting from top left)<br />
<br />
Row 1<br />
* Tortoise (or turtle)<br />
* Ship (or boat)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster waking up (often mistaken as Frankenstein)<br />
* Link from Legend of Zelda series (often mistaken as Zelda, aka Toon Link in SSB)<br />
Row 2<br />
* Fata morgana (or mirage)<br />
* Megan<br />
* Lava (or magma)<br />
* Tomato (fruit vs vegetable)<br />
Row 3<br />
* Victor Frankenstein saying "It's alive"<br />
* Sandwich<br />
* Stop sign<br />
* Girl running away from Frankenstein's monster<br />
Row 4<br />
* Rocket (spaceship) flying by Pluto (dwarf planet)<br />
* Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other<br />
* Traffic light (also called a stoplight, possibly mistaken as stop sign?)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster<br />
<br />
> OH NO.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2602:_Linguistics_Degree&diff=2297842602: Linguistics Degree2022-04-06T03:34:46Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2602<br />
| date = April 5, 2022<br />
| title = Linguistics Degree<br />
| image = linguistics_degree.png<br />
| titletext = You'd think 'linguistics' would go to someone important in the field, but it's actually assigned to a random student in Ohio who barely graduated and then went into automotive marketing.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a JACKALOPE SLURPING UP A BASSOON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[Megan]] is obtaining a linguistics degree from [[Hairbun]], and is assigned one word she is "in charge of," '{{wiktionary|bassoon}}'. Ponytail and Cueball compare the words they were assigned when ''they'' got their linguistics degrees, '{{wiktionary|jackalope}}' and '{{wiktionary|slurp}}' respectively.<br />
<br />
It is never clarified what being "in charge of" a word entails. It could mean being in charge of keeping track of the word, or having actual authority over the use of the word, which is unlikely as normally [[1726|language use cannot be dictated by a single person]]. Also, no specific university has control over all of linguistics as far as we know, so it would require every university capable of giving people linguistics degrees to co-operate, so nobody is assigned the same word.<br />
<br />
The title text merely furthers how seemingly random the entire situation is by confirming that the word assignment process is entirely random - the word "linguistics" was assigned to a "random student in Ohio who barely graduated and then went into automotive marketing", who we can assume isn't ver important to the field of linguistics.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Hairbun and Megan, who is wearing a graduation cap, are standing on a platform with Ponytail and Cueball standing below. Hairbun is handing a roll to Megan.]<br />
:Hairbun: Congratulations on the degree! Your word is "Bassoon."<br />
:Ponytail: Oh nice! Not as cool as my "Jackalope," but still not bad.<br />
:Cueball: You all are lucky. I'm stuck with "Slurp."<br />
:[Caption below panel:]<br />
:Every linguistics degree comes with one word that you're put in charge of.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2601:_Instructions&diff=2296912601: Instructions2022-04-04T19:19:19Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2601<br />
| date = April 1, 2022<br />
| title = Instructions<br />
| image = instructions.png<br />
| imagesize = 500px<br />
| titletext = Happy little turtles<br />
}}<br />
*To experience the interactivity of this comic, visit the {{xkcd|2601|original comic}}.<br />
{{TOC}} <br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by the LOGO OF A HAPPY LITTLE TURTLE - now that the full comic has been completed, an explanation of that is necessary. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is the 12th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous April fools' comic was [[2445: Checkbox]], which was released on Thursday, April 1st, 2021.<br />
<br />
When loading the comic just a small dot is shown, a {{w|radio button}} (or option button). Usually, there would be more than one to give the user options. Once it has been selected it cannot be deselected. Once pressed the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/20/2601_Instructions_Radio_on.png button turns blue] and this starts the real part of this April fool's comic.<br />
<br />
The comic consists of an [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=0 audio file]. The speech is a mix of [[#Index of facts|facts about turtles]] and coding instructions in {{w|Logo_(programming_language)|LOGO}}. When executed, the instructions draw an xkcd comic. The audio file is 9 hours and 7 minutes long.<br />
<br />
[[File:xkcd 2601 finished comic animation.gif|thumb|200px|200px|Click to view the animation of the code compiling to create the picture, also from GitHub.]]<br />
*See the [[#The Resulting Image|resulting comic]] below.<br />
**And see how it is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/05/xkcd_2601_finished_comic_animation.gif animated here].<br />
**This has been compiled by [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601#transcription-complete theinternetftw on Github].<br />
*The transcript of the quotes (the non-code) can be found here [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]].<br />
*Images of the dynamic changes and other pictures relating to this comic can be found here [[2601: Instructions/Images]].<br />
<br />
Once the voice begins to describe the instructions (hence the title) it is possible to mute the audio by pressing a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/20/2601_Instructions_Radio_on.png muted button] at the bottom right of the screen. This fades into view when the radio button is pushed. Pressing it will change the button to a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/78/2601_Instructions_Radio_on_muted.png non muted loudspeaker]. These were the same buttons that were in the previous April fool's comic [[2445: Checkbox]]. That was the first xkcd [[:Category:Comics with audio|comic with audio]], and thus these were two April fools' comics with audio in a row, and these are the only comics with audio. In the Checkbox comic, the mute buttons meaning are reversed, so the sound is on when the loudspeaker is shown and muted when the mute button is shown. It could be another layer to the April fool's joke or just an error by Randall.<br />
<br />
The [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/e/e3/20220402201427%21instructions.png image originally displayed] on this page was of a small turtle crawling in the center where the radio button is in the real comic. That was the image that would be downloaded by web crawlers like explain xkcd's bot, as it is what was placed here on xkcd: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/instructions_2x.png. This is of course not the real comic, which cannot be downloaded in that manner. <br />
<br />
The "turtle" is a key concept in Logo, a programming language especially designed to teach programming to children in an easy way. The turtle in the logo is the cursor. Programming commands move the turtle, drawing a line as it goes. Of course, listening to hours of instructions, including the speech-synthesized reading of source code, is not an easy way to code or draw a picture.{{cn}}<br />
<br />
In addition, at [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=32817 the end of the audio] the voice says:<br />
<blockquote><br />
"I even talk to turtles at times, but you need to understand LOGO to appreciate the great, great things that have been created. We spend so much of our life typing, looking, but never ever seeing."<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
The title text alludes to {{w|Bob Ross}}'s catchphrase "happy little trees" in {{w|The Joy of Painting}}.<br />
<br />
Transcribing the audio into text was organized as a [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601 project on github].<br />
<br />
This is not the first time that Randall made an interactive comic where turtles played a big part, see [[1416: Pixels]]. In this, he jokes with the idea of turtles all the way down, which is [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10403 also mentioned] in the audio file. He also made a comic simply called [[889: Turtles]].<br />
<br />
===Unique header text===<br />
This comic has a [[xkcd_Header_text#Unique_header_text|unique header text]], see [[xkcd_Header_text#Instructions|the details here]]. The header is:<br />
:"Today's comic was created with [https://twitter.com/fadinginterest Patrick], [https://twitter.com/Aiiane Amber], [https://twitter.com/chromakode @chromakode], [https://twitter.com/dyfrgi Michael], [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat], [https://twitter.com/xDirtyPunkx Conor], [https://twitter.com/zigdon @zigdon], and [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin]."<br />
The header had not changed [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-31_-_What_if.3F_2|since the promotion]] of the new what if? 2 book.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*If you have scripts disabled, you will just see a picture of a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/e/e3/20220402201427%21instructions.png little turtle] which is not interactive.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The comic consists of one radio button, a small circle in the center of a large white panel. It is interactive. When pressing the radio button (selecting it), it turns blue. The second the radio button is pressed a more than 9-hour long audio file of coding instructions begins to play, and a mute button appears in the bottom right corner. It fades slowly into full opacity. Pressing this button will change it to a loudspeaker. It toggles whether there is sound playing or not. It is not possible to shut down the audio by pressing the radio button. Once selected it cannot be deselected as there is only this one option.]<br />
<br />
:[Covered by the radio button is an image of a turtle crawling from left to right, with a dotted line trailing behind it, indicating its movement. This image can only be seen by looking in the place where images for xkcd are usually placed on xkcd.]<br />
<br />
:'''[To read a transcript of the audio file go here: [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]].]'''<br />
<br />
==The Resulting Image==<br />
[[File:xkcd 2601 finished picture.png]]<br />
<br />
===Explanation of the image===<br />
*Here an explanation for the image can be written...<br />
<br />
===Transcript of the image===<br />
:[A man with large hair and a beard is holding an artist's palette with five patches of paint in one hand and a paintbrush in the other. He looks upon his canvas, where he has painted a large painting.]<br />
:Painter: A Happy little tree <br />
:Painter: Holding up a happy little world.<br />
<br />
:[The painting contains lots of stuff. Among others, is a robot that sees Cueball bending down to lift a turtle that is on its back. They talk:]<br />
:Robot: Poor thing"<br />
:Cueball: I'll help<br />
<br />
:[In the top right corner, there is a dotted line forming a semi-circle around the corner. Inside this are the words:]<br />
:Vacuum decay<br />
<br />
:[There are no other words in the image. The rest just needs to be written out in detail...]<br />
<br />
==Index of facts==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|Merriam-Webster defines a turtle as a noun.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=569<br />
|-<br />
|Here are some interesting notes from interesting facts about turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=962<br />
|-<br />
|Over a great many years, I have taken a great interest in the land turtle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=973<br />
|-<br />
|One of the interesting points about turtles is their great variety of foods.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=1415<br />
|-<br />
|in the pen and in five minutes it is surrounded by the turtles,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=1976<br />
|-<br />
|when I found one of the large turtles had caught and disemboweled, the very large toad,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=2648<br />
|-<br />
|I have seen turtles eating at 11:00 at night<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=2655<br />
|-<br />
|the youngest of turtles I have ever had seems to take to the same food as the adults<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=3506<br />
|-<br />
|I made friends with a turtle yesterday and he gave me his phone number.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=4283<br />
|-<br />
|Running away is slow as compared to this turtle propulsion.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=4522<br />
|-<br />
|Occasionally one can see a turtle dragging another one along<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5370<br />
|-<br />
|I have never known a land turtle to bite<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5382<br />
|-<br />
|Some people have turtles in their cellars believing that they catch rats and mice.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5853<br />
|-<br />
|I believe that these turtles died because they were exhausted<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5879<br />
|-<br />
|and mice might be kept away by the noise made by the turtle making its endless<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6151<br />
|-<br />
|But doubt whether a turtle could catch a rat or a mouse<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6158<br />
|-<br />
|In this, the turtles would enjoy themselves<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6437<br />
|-<br />
|How about some interesting things in 10 facts about marine turtles from the WWF UK.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6622<br />
|-<br />
|There are seven species of marine turtle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6628<br />
|-<br />
|Marine turtles were around more than 100<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6632<br />
|-<br />
|These days, scientists recognize seven species of marine turtle,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6638<br />
|-<br />
|turtles do not have teeth.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6890<br />
|-<br />
|Turtle shells are made of over 50 bones fused together.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7064<br />
|-<br />
|The first few years of a marine turtle's life are known as the lost years.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7352<br />
|-<br />
|Marine turtle species vary greatly in size.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7654<br />
|-<br />
|Wales holds the world record for the largest marine turtle ever found<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7675<br />
|-<br />
|1000 marine turtle hatchlings make it to adulthood.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=8216<br />
|-<br />
|turtles seem to prefer red, orange, and yellow food.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10106<br />
|-<br />
|I'm beginning to suspect it's turtles all the way down<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10403<br />
|-<br />
|marine turtles can migrate incredibly long distances.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10623<br />
|-<br />
|Marine turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=11365<br />
|-<br />
|move the turtle<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=11788<br />
|-<br />
|Here are some more interesting bits from interesting facts about turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=11913<br />
|-<br />
|several occasions with the turtle still in c.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=12612<br />
|-<br />
|there is an artist in the bottom of everybody<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=12934<br />
|-<br />
|The number laid by a turtle varies<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=15403<br />
|-<br />
|I have also observed one turtle laying its eggs<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=15411<br />
|-<br />
|I had the pleasure of seeing six little baby turtles come out<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16167<br />
|-<br />
|The turtle commenced to dig at six p.m.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16753<br />
|-<br />
|Five days later a second turtle dug these eggs out arid,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16760<br />
|-<br />
|personally. I do not believe that the turtle digging out.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16768<br />
|-<br />
|turtles a year factoid. Actually just statistical error,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16972<br />
|-<br />
|average person paints zero turtles per year<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16976<br />
|-<br />
|turtles. Georg who lives in cave and eats over 10,000 each day<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16980<br />
|-<br />
|The young turtles when they make their emergence at the end of three months,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17234<br />
|-<br />
|Do you know what A sea turtle's favorite sandwiches?<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17526<br />
|-<br />
|Just ask the next sea turtle you meet.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17536<br />
|-<br />
|Here are some interesting observations from odd facts about turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17639<br />
|-<br />
|It has been said that the turtle,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17647<br />
|-<br />
|In many ways. The turtle is one or the strangest of living things,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17943<br />
|-<br />
|But the turtle in all his varieties in all his ways is a most mysterious animal.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17961<br />
|-<br />
|Your turtle is neither fish, flesh nor fowl.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17979<br />
|-<br />
|a little turtle<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=18667<br />
|-<br />
|there is none so tenacious of life as the turtle<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=18986<br />
|-<br />
|Leave the turtle apparently undisturbed<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=18992<br />
|-<br />
|Just as soon as a baby turtle emerges from the egg off he scuttles down to the sea.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19273<br />
|-<br />
|The young turtle feeds unmolested while his armor undergoes the hardening process<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19306<br />
|-<br />
|whatever the young sea turtle eats and wherever he eats it<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19628<br />
|-<br />
|the turtle is free from all danger<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19915<br />
|-<br />
|interferes with the turtle<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19924<br />
|-<br />
|Cool facts about turtles from Deutsche Welle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20499<br />
|-<br />
|There is a reason why turtles look a little prehistoric.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20506<br />
|-<br />
|Luckily for the turtles, they're burrowing and water-dwelling habits.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20527<br />
|-<br />
|While a turtle's lifespan largely depends on the species,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20926<br />
|-<br />
|A typical pet turtle can make it to anywhere between 10 and 80 years.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20935<br />
|-<br />
|Researchers think some turtles could even be hundreds of years old.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20949<br />
|-<br />
|There are currently 356 known species of turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=21629<br />
|-<br />
|There are sea turtles, leatherback turtles, snapping turtles,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=21642<br />
|-<br />
|pond turtles, soft-shelled turtles, and of course tortoises,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=21646<br />
|-<br />
|Not all turtles or tortoises<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22175<br />
|-<br />
|but all tortoises or turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22177<br />
|-<br />
|technically all tortoises are in fact turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22181<br />
|-<br />
|But the main difference between turtles and<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22192<br />
|-<br />
|while most turtles live in or near water<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22198<br />
|-<br />
|Some turtles are vegetarians<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22405<br />
|-<br />
|Most turtles are actually omnivores but a few species<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22409<br />
|-<br />
|Not to the fearsome-looking alligator turtle<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22421<br />
|-<br />
|Even water-dwelling turtles will dig their nests<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22805<br />
|-<br />
|No species of turtle sticks around to raise their young.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22814<br />
|-<br />
|A turtle's gender is determined by temperature<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23005<br />
|-<br />
|A turtle's gender is determined after fertilization.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23010<br />
|-<br />
|If the turtles eggs incubate below 27.7 degrees Celsius,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23015<br />
|-<br />
|turtles tend to give birth to more females<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23037<br />
|-<br />
|Sea turtles are known for their amazing ability to return<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23182<br />
|-<br />
|turtles can navigate their way at sea by<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23190<br />
|-<br />
|turtles have strong underwater eyesight.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23618<br />
|-<br />
|Although sea turtles are famous for their internal GPS<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23629<br />
|-<br />
|Six out of seven turtle species are classified as<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23919<br />
|-<br />
|How about some interesting facts from turtle facts by Alina Bradford.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24214<br />
|-<br />
|turtles are reptiles with hard shells that protect them from predators.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24221<br />
|-<br />
|Turtles live all over the world in almost every type of climate<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24233<br />
|-<br />
|the turtle order<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24479<br />
|-<br />
|turtle,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24874<br />
|-<br />
|turtles spend most of their lives in water.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25251<br />
|-<br />
|Sea turtles rarely leave the ocean except to lay eggs in the sand.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25260<br />
|-<br />
|Freshwater turtles live in ponds and lakes<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25266<br />
|-<br />
|With so many different types of turtle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25760<br />
|-<br />
|The largest sea turtle species is the leatherback turtle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25765<br />
|-<br />
|The largest freshwater turtle in North America is the alligator snapping turtle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25788<br />
|-<br />
|The Yangtze giant softshell turtle is the largest softshell turtle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25799<br />
|-<br />
|A turtle's shell is a modified rib cage and part of its vertebral column<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26177<br />
|-<br />
|All the thoughts of a turtle are turtles and of a rabbit rabbits.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26401<br />
|-<br />
|So let's try to think like a turtle<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26406<br />
|-<br />
|Many turtles are able to retract their heads and feet into their shells,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26450<br />
|-<br />
|turtles are placed in the two sub-orders based on the method of retraction.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26455<br />
|-<br />
|Sea turtles have lost the ability to retract their heads<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26472<br />
|-<br />
|turtles are very adaptive and can be found on every continent except Antarctica.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26676<br />
|-<br />
|Most turtle species are found in southeastern North America and South Asia.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26681<br />
|-<br />
|sea turtles can be found in the coral triangle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26844<br />
|-<br />
|what do you get if you cross a turtle with a giraffe,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26976<br />
|-<br />
|a turtleneck<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26981<br />
|-<br />
|The African helmeted turtle is the most common turtle in Africa,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27157<br />
|-<br />
|roti island. Snake-necked turtles are found only on Rhode island.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27221<br />
|-<br />
|turtles are not social creatures<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27393<br />
|-<br />
|while they typically don't mind if there are other turtles around them,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27396<br />
|-<br />
|Most turtles are active during the day,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27405<br />
|-<br />
|turtles are not silent creatures.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27537<br />
|-<br />
|Most turtles are omnivores.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27961<br />
|-<br />
|musk turtles eat mollusks,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27968<br />
|-<br />
|The cooter turtle is mostly vegetarian<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27973<br />
|-<br />
|and the green sea turtle only eats grasses and algae.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27976<br />
|-<br />
|The alligator snapping turtle lures in fish with its tongue<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28293<br />
|-<br />
|crayfish and other turtles.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28313<br />
|-<br />
|All turtles lay eggs.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28483<br />
|-<br />
|No species of turtle nurtures their young<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28493<br />
|-<br />
|turtles reach the age to mate at different times.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28762<br />
|-<br />
|Male and female turtles intertwined their tails so<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29117<br />
|-<br />
|sea turtles travel from the ocean to lay eggs on beaches.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29387<br />
|-<br />
|sea turtles lay around 110 eggs in a nest<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29392<br />
|-<br />
|Though the flatback turtle only lays 50 at a time<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29396<br />
|-<br />
|the temperature of the sand affects the sex of the turtle.<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29661<br />
|-<br />
|Too many sea turtle females are being born<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29673<br />
|-<br />
|according to the sea turtle. Conservancy<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29679<br />
|-<br />
|Many turtle species are listed as threatened,<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29984<br />
|-<br />
|I even talked to turtles at times<br />
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=32815<br />
|}<br />
===Sources===<br />
* Merriam-Webster, "Turtle" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turtle <br />
* Forest And Stream, January 1916, p. 764: "Interesting Facts About Turtles"—"A Little Nature Study by a Scientist that will Interest Old and Young Naturalists Alike"—"By Randle C. Rosenberger M.D., Professor of Hygiene and Bacteriology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa." https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/281932#page/8/mode/1up <br />
* "Top 10 Facts About Marine Turtles", https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/marine-turtles <br />
* "Odd facts about turtles", Christian observer, May 11th, 1919 <br />
* "World Turtle Day: 10 cool facts about turtles" from Deutsche Welle, 22 May 2020, by Ineke Mules https://www.dw.com/en/turtles-tortoises-difference-facts/g-53260454<br />
* "Turtle Facts" by Alina Bradford, published October 02, 2015, https://www.livescience.com/52361-turtle-facts.html<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:April fools' comics]]<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- the mute button fading in --><br />
[[Category:Comics with color]] <!-- pushing the radio button --><br />
[[Category:Comics with audio]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2601:_Instructions&diff=229684Talk:2601: Instructions2022-04-04T13:35:06Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
;Turtle graphics<br />
So these are instructions for a turtle graphics program. The audio is drawn from https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3, a 9 hour 7 minute 12 second long audio file It's generated by feeding turtle code into a text-to-speech program, but idk which language or which program. If you can convert the speech back to text, somehow without ruining the formatting (or just do a lot of editing with regex until it looks right), you could feed it into a turtle graphics program and get the resulting drawing.<br />
:If you're not familiar with Turtle and Logo, look at this [[https://www.tutorialspoint.com/logo/logo_quick_guide.htm|quick guide]]. The short version is that these commands move a little cursor, called a turtle, which draws a line as it moves and turns. At this time, contributors have applied a few different computer transcriptions to the entire audio. There are quotes about turtles from a variety of sources intermixed with Logo code. It is expected that some correction to the code is needed, such as adding parenthesis that are not spoken in the audio. Standard Logo commands found in the audio are: PENUP, PENDOWN, SETHEADING (N) (N), SETXY (N) (N), and FORWARD (N). Some custom functions are defined, including DIST (N) (N) (N) (N), LERP (N) (N) (N), MIX (N) (N), CUBIC (N) (N) (N) (N), and SQUARE (N) (N). The next steps are to test the transcripts of these custom functions in a Logo interpreter, at which point we can begin drawing the picture. [[User:Mannerisky|Mannerisky]] ([[User talk:Mannerisky|talk]]) 02:45, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
: The picture indeed will be Bob Ross. The first hour of radio has him saying, "A happy little tree - holding up a happy little world." We can coordinate transcribing this code at [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601 GitHub Repository]. Credit for this progress goes to the GitHub owner. [[User:Mannerisky|Mannerisky]] ([[User talk:Mannerisky|talk]]) 04:55, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't know what the current image on this page is. Is that the drawing you get by following these instructions? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.4|172.70.100.4]] 20:58, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Wait I see now, that is the actual image for the comic. It just gets covered up by the button so I can't see it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.87|172.70.126.87]] 21:03, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Ah, it looks like someone realized it's actually longer than that. After downloading it, I found it to be 131,329,389 bytes. The Windows Properties viewer claims it is 8h41m08s in length, but that's wrong. It is actually 9h07m06s. By the way, the code is in the Logo language. He seems to have copied this from a book, but I don't know which one. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.4|172.70.100.4]] 21:12, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Worth taking a look at? I can start looking for books that contain that text[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.52|162.158.107.52]] 21:39, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The automatic speech system is using standard punctuation processing, meaning that critical marks for the code aren't being announced. You can't get the code from the samples without filling in the blanks after getting a transcript. [[User:N|N]] ([[User talk:N|talk]]) 22:19, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The MP3 file ends with this text: "''I even talk to turtles at times. But you need to understand LOGO to appreciate the great, great things that have been created. We spend so much of our life typing, looking, but never ever seeing.''" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.151|162.158.222.151]] 21:17, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
april fools' comic? [[User:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e]] ([[User talk:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|talk]]) 21:18, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I think it's an April Fool's joke. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.148|108.162.238.148]] 21:20, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Well is it 2022/04/01 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.189|141.101.77.189]] 21:26, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Broken Version<br />
<br />
I think mine's broken. I don't get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.91|172.70.130.91]] 21:29, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:You press the radio button, it selects it, then you can press it a zillion times in any pattern and all it ever does is blink the entire image. Nothing else ever appears other than the radio button, and there’s never any sound so pressing the speaker in the corner to supposedly turn it on or off is also completely pointless.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 23:31, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Alright, it’s April 2nd now, so if all of you have been LYING about it actually doing something, just playing along with the joke, you can admit it now.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.153|172.70.130.153]] 18:40, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Did it only work on American April 1st, or only for some people? It's the third of April here now, and it's still a boring button that clicks on once and does nothing else. Have I missed it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.13|108.162.249.13]] 20:38, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Given the alt text "happy little turtles" and the tone of the narration I assume we're supposed to pretend the narrator is Bob Ross guiding us to creating an artistic masterpiece with Logo [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 21:31, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Guys, it's been HOURS and the transcription is still incomplete. Step it up! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 21:37, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Not even sure what the transcript should be. I did my best[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.52|162.158.107.52]] 21:41, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I have a feeling this might be one of the longest transcripts on the site. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.43|108.162.245.43]] 21:57, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Wanna bet? [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]]... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:35, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Or [[980: Money/Transcript]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:59, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Up until someone automates the process, I'll be working on the transcript and saving it in exkcd in parts (: Don't worry too much about edit overrides, I'll be transcribing in a google doc to avoid that! --[[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 21:53, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:The sections about turtles between the code blocks seems to be from <br />
<br />
Interesting Facts About Turtles <br />
A Little Nature Study by a Scientist that will Interest Old and Young Naturalists Alike <br />
By Randle C. Rosenberger M. D., Professor of Hygiene and Bacteriology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa. <br />
https://archive.org/stream/foreststream861916newy/foreststream861916newy_djvu.txt<br />
<br />
The uni.xkcd version of this comic also just shows the turtle like this article. So much for uses two April Fools comics against each other ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.77|172.70.114.77]] 22:44, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I ran the MP3 through Amazon Transcribe. It can do only 4 hours at a time, so I had to split the original file. I went from start to 03:59:59, 03:59:59 to 07:59:58, and 07:59:58 to end. Amazon Transcribe also gave me some subtitle files (index 1). They have time codes in them. So if someone wanted to note the times of the little quips, and host the audio file somewhere where links to the middle of the file can be generated (like YouTube), that could be cool. Below are the transcriptions for analysis. Replace X with 1, 2, or 3; and replace Y with json, srt, or vtt. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 23:15, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:<code><nowiki>https://pgn674.s3.amazonaws.com/xkcd-2601/xkcd-2601-X.Y</nowiki></code><br />
:: No need to host anything special. Let's say we want to jump to time code 02:35:14.840 from the vtt subtitle file #1 (line 7084, subtitle 1771). 2*60*60+35*60+14=9314. Subtract a few seconds, and make a link like this. Click here to learn about turtle noises: https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=9310 [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 23:48, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
::: I went and found all mentions of "turtle", extracted those lines, and generated links to them. Programmatically. If anyone wants to go through and do some manual review and fine tuning, go ahead. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 00:57, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I threw Adobe Premiere Pro at it: https://anonfiles.com/pbYfK7Sax4/radio_csv; and https://anonfiles.com/35YbKeScxe/radio_txt are the results. Note: these transcribe until 07:01:28:19. I am currently in the process of making APP suffer more and churn out the last two hours. --[[User:ẞ qwertz|ẞ qwertz]] ([[User talk:ẞ qwertz|talk]]) 23:54, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So... what language is this? I'm hearing: PENUP, PENDOWN, SETHEADING (N) (N), SETXY (N) (N), FORWARD (N) - all of which are standard LOGO commands. But I'm also hearing something that sounds like CUBIC (N) (N) (N) (N) (N) (N), though it could also be QBIT, or text-to-speech for something like "^3". Either way it's NOT a standard LOGO command, so suggests it's a variant. Does not seem to be KTurtle, POOL, UCBLogo. QLogo, FMSLogo, and then I got bored searching. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.91|172.69.71.91]] 00:37, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:In the automatic transcription it has "Two cubic colon X one colon Y one colon X two"... which would be TO CUBIC :X1 :Y1 :X2 ... so it is defined above. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.230|162.158.107.230]] 01:15, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: Yes, some of the commands seem to be defined at the top. CUBIC at the top, SQUARE maybe somewhere else. So a shortcut to decyphering it might be to just extract and render all the cubes from the "CUBIC" and "SQUARE" commands, given their values. But what format are the cubes? Are they even the coordinates of cubes? For both commands, the six numbers seem to be in the format A B A B A B where the As and Bs are similar or even in some cases identical, which seems a strange thing for a cube:<br />
<blockquote><pre><br />
SetXY -443 412<br />
PenDown<br />
Square -443 405 -443 397 -444 390<br />
</pre></blockquote><br />
The definition seems to be something like:<br />
<blockquote><pre><br />
ToCubic : X1 : Y1 : X2 : Y2 : Ex : Ey --- Parameter definitions?<br />
local Make " X0 XCor --- Local variable definitions?<br />
Local Make " Y0 YCor<br />
Local Make " ErrX1 Lerp : X0 : X 0.25<br />
local Make " ErrY1 Lerp : Y0 : Ey 0.25<br />
Local Make " ErrX2 Lerp : X0 : Ex 0.75<br />
Local Make " ErrY2 Lerp : Y0 : Ey 0.75<br />
IfElse<br />
Or<br />
LessP : picks error Dist : ErrX1 : ErrY1 : X1 : Y1 <br />
LessP : picks error Dist : ErrX2 : ErrY2 : X2 : Y2<br />
[<br />
Local Make " Qx0 mix : X0 : X1<br />
Local Make " Qy0 mix : Y0 : Y1<br />
Local Make " Qx1 mix : X1 : X2<br />
Local Make " qy1 Mix : Y1 : Y2<br />
Local Make " Qx2 mix : X2 : EX<br />
Local Make " Qy2 mix : Y2 : Ey<br />
Local Make " Lx0 mix : Qx0 : QX1<br />
Local Make " Ly0 mix : Qy0 : QY1<br />
Local Make " Lx1 Mix : Qx1 : Qx2<br />
Local Make " Ly1 Mix : qy1 : Q<br />
Local Make " PmX Mix : Lx0 : Lx1<br />
Local Make " PmY Mix : Ly0 : LY1<br />
Cubic : Qx0 : qy0 : Lx0 : Ly0 : PmX : PmY<br />
Cubic : Lx1 : Ly1 : Qx2 : Qy2 : Ex : Ey<br />
]<br />
[<br />
SetXY : Ex : Ey<br />
]<br />
</pre></blockquote><br />
Least, that's what it sounds like, but I suspect round brackets and suchlike are not spoken aloud :( --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.95|108.162.221.95]] 01:54, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Maybe it's implementing a cubic spline interpolation, not a tridimensional cube. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.214|172.70.131.214]] 11:08, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Feels like the speech processing is lossy, so generating the code will be a lengthy labor of love transcribing it, then debugging it, trying to fill the gaps. The code may also have been fed through an automated "Bob Ross filter" which may have lost even more data. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.91|172.69.71.91]] 00:37, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
About a quarter of the way into the text is the line "You know, I'm beginning to suspect it's turtles all the way down!" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.215|162.158.78.215]] 00:46, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
it's concerning that the only real way we'll be able to figure this comic out is to compile the entire 9 hour computer-generated voice speech. [[User:Lettherebedarklight|youtube.com/watch?v&#61;miLcaqq2Zpk]] ([[User talk:Lettherebedarklight|talk]]) 01:40, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Anyone actually doing any transcribing of this audio text is a true April Fools' fool, hence the reason to release this on April 1st. But I'd still like to see what the Fools' come up with :-D --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:26, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm moving all things about audio transcription here: [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]], both the real transcript and peoples very long comments in the main discussion, to keep the main page short and keep loading time down. The comments from here go in the [[Talk:2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript|discussion]] for that page --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:35, 2 April 2022 (UTC) <br />
<br />
OMG, fond memories of LOGO! I'm in a loud bar at the moment so I can't listen, and I'm not listening to NINE HOURS anyway, LOL! Everybody DOES realize, someone needs to extract the program and run it in LOGO, right? I would guarantee this draws something interesting and/or stupid. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:27, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I found a [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601 GitHub Repository] for transcription. May be of use to you guys for adding more info and citations to this Wiki. By the way, I didn't know this wiki existed. I don't want to create an account for it right now so good luck guys ;-; 04:12, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I tried running some code through "ucblogo" on a Linux distro, but didn't get very far with it. ---Tim 04:16, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Given that the audio is generated by text-to-speech, could a source-aware speech-to-text work better (fewer errors and less manual correction) than a generic one? For example, finding the right text-to-speech, extracting a sound for each phoneme, and then searching for near-identical snippets of waveform, seems like it could potentially be more reliable than the generic neural nets which are primarily trained for real human speech. Or even training a neural net on the same text-to-speech source, with a big block of sample data, if that would help distinguish homophones. Presumably someone here is good enough at this sort of thing to try that? [[User:Sqek|Sqek]] ([[User talk:Sqek|talk]]) 10:05, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think that the original comment at the top is the best approach. Using the speech-to-text data posted yesterday, and doing some simple regsubs, I can get it into good enough shape that I can proceed to transcribe the whole program by editing the file while listening to the audio, in real time. "In real time" means nine hours to correctly transcribe the whole thing. So any other approach would have to do better than nine hours. Plus if somebody put a little effort into organization, the transcription can be parallelized and so completed in nine hours / N transcribers. ---Tim [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.41|172.70.38.41]] 13:10, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was helping with this last night, and here are the major steps we've done to interpret the code and who has helped, I think.<br />
* [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] Used AWS to make a transcription of the audio, which we have been building from<br />
* [[Special:Contributions/172.68.118.59|172.68.118.59]] Transcribed the critical functions at the top of the transcription<br />
* [https://github.com/theinternetftw theinternetftw] Found a working interpreter and set up a collaboration space at [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601 a GitHub repo], and has since been maintaining the code<br />
* [https://github.com/theinternetftw theinternetftw] Also transcribed the first hour and got us our view of a partial picture<br />
* [https://github.com/somebody1234 somebody1234] Got a messy but runnable version of the entire transcription and a view of the entire picture with errors<br />
* Many people are transcribing bits of audio and submitting to GitHub. Here is the list of [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601/graphs/contributors contributors]<br />
[[User:Mannerisky|Mannerisky]] ([[User talk:Mannerisky|talk]]) 15:06, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have changed the image to that which is seen on xkcd when loading the comic. It has not been updated on this page yet as of when I write this. But the turtle is of course not the comic, but a placeholder for those webcrawlers that would fail when trying to download the radio button. I have also added info on this in the current explanation. As I have made a link to a new sub page for the looong audio transcript and removed all of that from this page and discussion and put it here: [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:38, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I started planning to write some code to figure this out, but moved on to other things after a few hours, due to psychological issues I have. The draft just runs the audio through the start of a random speech to text model. I trained a tokenizer around the logo code but didn't move farther. There are a lot of possible next steps, some of which others have mentioned. A simple approach would be to finetune the model around the hand-transcribed data. https://colab.research.google.com/gist/xloem/4310a26b6c9d13adac14307b948157d3/untitled4.ipynb [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.147|172.70.114.147]] 23:04, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Any plans to exkcd the "real" comic that gets drawn by the LOGO code in the audio? I mean, I recognize, e. g., the Mars rover and Ursa Major, but what's the significance of the vacuum decay here, for instance? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 01:18, 3 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Now that the project is complete, we should add the resulting image on this page (not just a link to github). It'll be what folks are looking for first. And then we can start identifying the many references in the picture and turtle quotes. [[User:Mannerisky|Mannerisky]] ([[User talk:Mannerisky|talk]]) 04:26, 3 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
::well, i added the picture. [[User:Lettherebedarklight|youtube.com/watch?v&#61;miLcaqq2Zpk]] ([[User talk:Lettherebedarklight|talk]]) 08:08, 3 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It was wonderful watching all of this unfold. Great work everyone. I don't have an account here, nor on github, but I thought I'd mention that the makesvg.py uses the ':=' operator which was introduced in python 3.8. Not all of us have it on our creaky old machines. Maybe add a comment in the usage at the top of the file? Or better, refactor the .py?<br />
-- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.4|172.70.100.4]] 14:39, 3 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
Is there a trick to making it work? I've tried both Firefox and Chrome. I hear the narration and can toggle the mute, but it never draws the picture for me. I have enabled JavaScript and I have disabled Privacy Badger, NoSCript, and uBlock Origin and still no joy. I did find the final drawing so I've seen the animation via GIF.<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.221|108.162.221.221]]<br />
:: Signing with triple tilde puts the WRONG IP address for me! My IP is NOT 108.162.221.221, my IP is 47.186.56.37. What gives????<br />
:: --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.221|108.162.221.221]]<br />
::: i'm trying to find a way to say this that doesn't sound condescending, but do you actually think the comic draws the picture or are you using https://benediktwerner.github.io/xkcd-2601-drawer/ ? if it's the former, the comic does not draw the picture. if it's the latter, you have to click the "use the latest code" button and *then* click draw. again, i know that sounded super condescending, pls don't think i'm trying to be mean. [[User:New editor|New editor]] ([[User talk:New editor|talk]]) 05:24, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
does this comic *technically* feature beret guy, ponytail, etc or not. they're not *in* the comic, but it could be said to feature them. [[User:New editor|New editor]] ([[User talk:New editor|talk]]) 05:31, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What is <pre>CUBIC</pre>? [[User:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e]] ([[User talk:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|talk]]) 05:45, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The inserted comments don't seem to just be facts about turtles - they also include 'Rossisms' - e.g. "I've just covered the entire canvas in a layer of light."[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.153|172.69.79.153]] 08:35, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The explanation should reference the World Turtle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Turtle) in regard to the finished image.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.153|172.69.79.153]] 08:46, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Narrative vs. code ==<br />
<br />
There should be some statement that there's code and narrative mixed within the transcript; you can't just hand the whole thing to Logo and expect it to work.<br />
<br />
(Unless, of course, there's some way of telling Logo to ignore a block of text that wouldn't be spoken when you actually read the annotated block. In which case, the transcript needs to be so-annotated. I doubt it, though.)<br />
<br />
-- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 10:25, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The transcript on GitHub prefixes narration by `;` which turns it into a comment that is not parsed by LOGO. It would be cool to have this read out loud like it seems to have been designed: "Bob Ross" talking about painting while "painting" using logo. It'd be something like "Narrate, execute code snippet, narrate, excute code" until the entire picture is done. I noticed, for example, that he talks about drawing a "happy little tree" in between a section of code that, surprise, draws a tree. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.151|162.158.222.151]] 11:23, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Good thing to notice, and now we have two topics:<br />
<br />
:: 1. What the transcription page should show. Big, big bonus points if we could have a transcript that, when fed to a "text to speech" tool, would produce exactly what the comic's audio track includes (e.g. no "semicolon Happy Little Tree here")<br />
<br />
:: 2. What the output animations should include. What if you'd see a blank canvas, and hear the AI-Bob-Ross narrate, and then watch the code execute and draw? Then, more narration, then more code executing? You could even have the code sections be read out loud, and see the results in real time, It would take a lot of patience to watch the results. (I ain't gonna do it, though...)<br />
<br />
:: -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 12:14, 4 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I hope that's Cory Doctorow in the hot air balloon. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 13:35, 4 April 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2601:_Instructions&diff=229497Talk:2601: Instructions2022-04-02T04:07:29Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
== Turtle graphics ==<br />
<br />
So these are instructions for a turtle graphics program. The audio is drawn from https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3, a 9 hour 7 minute 12 second long audio file It's generated by feeding turtle code into a text-to-speech program, but idk which language or which program. If you can convert the speech back to text, somehow without ruining the formatting (or just do a lot of editing with regex until it looks right), you could feed it into a turtle graphics program and get the resulting drawing.<br />
<br />
: If you're not familiar with Turtle and Logo, look at this [[https://www.tutorialspoint.com/logo/logo_quick_guide.htm|quick guide]]. The short version is that these commands move a little cursor, called a turtle, which draws a line as it moves and turns. At this time, contributors have applied a few different computer transcriptions to the entire audio. There are quotes about turtles from a variety of sources intermixed with Logo code. It is expected that some correction to the code is needed, such as adding parenthesis that are not spoken in the audio. Standard Logo commands found in the audio are: PENUP, PENDOWN, SETHEADING (N) (N), SETXY (N) (N), and FORWARD (N). Some custom functions are defined, including DIST (N) (N) (N) (N), LERP (N) (N) (N), MIX (N) (N), CUBIC (N) (N) (N) (N), and SQUARE (N) (N). The next steps are to test the transcripts of these custom functions in a Logo interpreter, at which point we can begin drawing the picture. [[User:Mannerisky|Mannerisky]] ([[User talk:Mannerisky|talk]]) 02:45, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't know what the current image on this page is. Is that the drawing you get by following these instructions? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.4|172.70.100.4]] 20:58, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Wait I see now, that is the actual image for the comic. It just gets covered up by the button so I can't see it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.87|172.70.126.87]] 21:03, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Ah, it looks like someone realized it's actually longer than that. After downloading it, I found it to be 131,329,389 bytes. The Windows Properties viewer claims it is 8h41m08s in length, but that's wrong. It is actually 9h07m06s. By the way, the code is in the Logo language. He seems to have copied this from a book, but I don't know which one. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.4|172.70.100.4]] 21:12, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Worth taking a look at? I can start looking for books that contain that text[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.52|162.158.107.52]] 21:39, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The automatic speech system is using standard punctuation processing, meaning that critical marks for the code aren't being announced. You can't get the code from the samples without filling in the blanks after getting a transcript. [[User:N|N]] ([[User talk:N|talk]]) 22:19, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The MP3 file ends with this text: "''I even talk to turtles at times. But you need to understand LOGO to appreciate the great, great things that have been created. We spend so much of our life typing, looking, but never ever seeing.''" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.151|162.158.222.151]] 21:17, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
april fools' comic? [[User:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e]] ([[User talk:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|talk]]) 21:18, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think it's an April Fool's joke. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.148|108.162.238.148]] 21:20, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Well is it 2022/04/01 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.189|141.101.77.189]] 21:26, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think mine's broken. I don't get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.91|172.70.130.91]] 21:29, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:You press the radio button, it selects it, then you can press it a zillion times in any pattern and all it ever does is blink the entire image. Nothing else ever appears other than the radio button, and there’s never any sound so pressing the speaker in the corner to supposedly turn it on or off is also completely pointless.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 23:31, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Given the alt text "happy little turtles" and the tone of the narration I assume we're supposed to pretend the narrator is Bob Ross guiding us to creating an artistic masterpiece with Logo [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 21:31, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Guys, it's been HOURS and the transcription is still incomplete. Step it up! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 21:37, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Not even sure what the transcript should be. I did my best[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.52|162.158.107.52]] 21:41, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I have a feeling this might be one of the longest transcripts on the site. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.43|108.162.245.43]] 21:57, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Up until someone automates the process, I'll be working on the transcript and saving it in exkcd in parts (: Don't worry too much about edit overrides, I'll be transcribing in a google doc to avoid that! --[[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 21:53, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The sections about turtles between the code blocks seems to be from <br />
<br />
Interesting Facts About Turtles <br />
A Little Nature Study by a Scientist that will Interest Old and Young Naturalists Alike <br />
By Randle C. Rosenberger M. D., Professor of Hygiene and Bacteriology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa. <br />
https://archive.org/stream/foreststream861916newy/foreststream861916newy_djvu.txt<br />
<br />
The uni.xkcd version of this comic also just shows the turtle like this article. So much for uses two April Fools comics against each other ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.77|172.70.114.77]] 22:44, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I ran the MP3 through Amazon Transcribe. It can do only 4 hours at a time, so I had to split the original file. I went from start to 03:59:59, 03:59:59 to 07:59:58, and 07:59:58 to end. Amazon Transcribe also gave me some subtitle files (index 1). They have time codes in them. So if someone wanted to note the times of the little quips, and host the audio file somewhere where links to the middle of the file can be generated (like YouTube), that could be cool. Below are the transcriptions for analysis. Replace X with 1, 2, or 3; and replace Y with json, srt, or vtt. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 23:15, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:<code><nowiki>https://pgn674.s3.amazonaws.com/xkcd-2601/xkcd-2601-X.Y</nowiki></code><br />
<br />
:: No need to host anything special. Let's say we want to jump to time code 02:35:14.840 from the vtt subtitle file #1 (line 7084, subtitle 1771). 2*60*60+35*60+14=9314. Subtract a few seconds, and make a link like this. Click here to learn about turtle noises: https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=9310 [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 23:48, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: I went and found all mentions of "turtle", extracted those lines, and generated links to them. Programmatically. If anyone wants to go through and do some manual review and fine tuning, go ahead. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 00:57, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I threw Adobe Premiere Pro at it: https://anonfiles.com/pbYfK7Sax4/radio_csv; and https://anonfiles.com/35YbKeScxe/radio_txt are the results. Note: these transcribe until 07:01:28:19. I am currently in the process of making APP suffer more and churn out the last two hours. --[[User:ẞ qwertz|ẞ qwertz]] ([[User talk:ẞ qwertz|talk]]) 23:54, 1 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So... what language is this? I'm hearing: PENUP, PENDOWN, SETHEADING (N) (N), SETXY (N) (N), FORWARD (N) - all of which are standard LOGO commands. But I'm also hearing something that sounds like CUBIC (N) (N) (N) (N) (N) (N), though it could also be QBIT, or text-to-speech for something like "^3". Either way it's NOT a standard LOGO command, so suggests it's a variant. Does not seem to be KTurtle, POOL, UCBLogo. QLogo, FMSLogo, and then I got bored searching. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.91|172.69.71.91]] 00:37, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:In the automatic transcription it has "Two cubic colon X one colon Y one colon X two"... which would be TO CUBIC :X1 :Y1 :X2 ... so it is defined above. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.230|162.158.107.230]] 01:15, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Yes, some of the commands seem to be defined at the top. CUBIC at the top, SQUARE maybe somewhere else. So a shortcut to decyphering it might be to just extract and render all the cubes from the "CUBIC" and "SQUARE" commands, given their values. But what format are the cubes? Are they even the coordinates of cubes? For both commands, the six numbers seem to be in the format A B A B A B where the As and Bs are similar or even in some cases identical, which seems a strange thing for a cube:<br />
<blockquote><pre><br />
SetXY -443 412<br />
PenDown<br />
Square -443 405 -443 397 -444 390<br />
</pre></blockquote><br />
The definition seems to be something like:<br />
<blockquote><pre><br />
ToCubic : X1 : Y1 : X2 : Y2 : Ex : Ey --- Parameter definitions?<br />
local Make " X0 XCor --- Local variable definitions?<br />
Local Make " Y0 YCor<br />
Local Make " ErrX1 Lerp : X0 : X 0.25<br />
local Make " ErrY1 Lerp : Y0 : Ey 0.25<br />
Local Make " ErrX2 Lerp : X0 : Ex 0.75<br />
Local Make " ErrY2 Lerp : Y0 : Ey 0.75<br />
IfElse<br />
Or<br />
LessP : picks error Dist : ErrX1 : ErrY1 : X1 : Y1 <br />
LessP : picks error Dist : ErrX2 : ErrY2 : X2 : Y2<br />
[<br />
Local Make " Qx0 mix : X0 : X1<br />
Local Make " Qy0 mix : Y0 : Y1<br />
Local Make " Qx1 mix : X1 : X2<br />
Local Make " qy1 Mix : Y1 : Y2<br />
Local Make " Qx2 mix : X2 : EX<br />
Local Make " Qy2 mix : Y2 : Ey<br />
Local Make " Lx0 mix : Qx0 : QX1<br />
Local Make " Ly0 mix : Qy0 : QY1<br />
Local Make " Lx1 Mix : Qx1 : Qx2<br />
Local Make " Ly1 Mix : qy1 : Q<br />
Local Make " PmX Mix : Lx0 : Lx1<br />
Local Make " PmY Mix : Ly0 : LY1<br />
Cubic : Qx0 : qy0 : Lx0 : Ly0 : PmX : PmY<br />
Cubic : Lx1 : Ly1 : Qx2 : Qy2 : Ex : Ey<br />
]<br />
[<br />
SetXY : Ex : Ey<br />
]<br />
</pre></blockquote><br />
Least, that's what it sounds like, but I suspect round brackets and suchlike are not spoken aloud :( --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.95|108.162.221.95]] 01:54, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Feels like the speech processing is lossy, so generating the code will be a lengthy labor of love transcribing it, then debugging it, trying to fill the gaps. The code may also have been fed through an automated "Bob Ross filter" which may have lost even more data. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.91|172.69.71.91]] 00:37, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
About a quarter of the way into the text is the line "You know, I'm beginning to suspect it's turtles all the way down!" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.215|162.158.78.215]] 00:46, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
it's concerning that the only real way we'll be able to figure this comic out is to compile the entire 9 hour computer-generated voice speech. [[User:Lettherebedarklight|youtube.com/watch?v&#61;miLcaqq2Zpk]] ([[User talk:Lettherebedarklight|talk]]) 01:40, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Here's my attempt to transcribe the first 11 minutes of this monstrosity or so: (I haven't run any of the transcribed code for the record.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.118.59|172.68.118.59]] 02:12, 2 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"<br />
!'''Partial Transcript'''<br />
|-<br />
| <pre><br />
# 0:00:00<br />
# And here we want to show you that you can program a picture right along with us. We'll use a single color, some unorthodox functions, and each line we'll put a bit of nature's masterpieces right here on our canvas. Today we'll have them run all the functions across the stream, right now, that you need to program along with us. Starting with a simple one: <br />
<br />
TO DIST :X0 :Y0 :X1 :Y1<br />
LOCAL MAKE "RX DIFFERENCE :X1 :X0<br />
LOCAL MAKE "RY DIFFERENCE :Y1 :Y0<br />
OUTPUT SQRT SUM PRODUCT "RX "RX PRODUCT "RY "RY<br />
END<br />
<br />
# 0:00:50<br />
# There we go. Just like that.<br />
<br />
TO LERP :A :B :T<br />
OUTPUT SUM :A PRODUCT :T DIFFERENCE :B :A<br />
END<br />
<br />
# 0:01:05<br />
# One more done, no pressure.<br />
<br />
TO MIX :A :B<br />
OUTPUT LERP :A :B 0.5<br />
END<br />
<br />
# 0:01:15<br />
# Really makes our programming life easier.<br />
<br />
TO CUBIC :X1 :Y1 :X2 :Y2 :EX :EY<br />
LOCAL MAKE "X0 XCOR<br />
LOCAL MAKE "Y0 YCOR<br />
LOCAL MAKE "ERRX1 LERP :X0 :EX 0.25<br />
LOCAL MAKE "ERRY1 LERP :Y0 :EY 0.25<br />
LOCAL MAKE "ERRX2 LERP :X0 :EX 0.75<br />
LOCAL MAKE "ERRY2 LERP :Y0 :EY 0.75<br />
IFORELSE LESSP :PXERR (DIST :ERRX1 :ERRY1 :X1 :Y1) LESSP :PXERR (DIST :ERRX2 :ERRY2 :X2 :Y2) [<br />
LOCAL MAKE "QX0 MIX :X0 :X1<br />
LOCAL MAKE "QY0 MIX :Y0 :Y1<br />
LOCAL MAKE "QX1 MIX :X1 :X2<br />
LOCAL MAKE "QY1 MIX :Y1 :Y2<br />
LOCAL MAKE "QX2 MIX :X2 :EX<br />
LOCAL MAKE "QY2 MIX :Y2 :EY<br />
LOCAL MAKE "LX0 MIX :QX0 :QX1<br />
LOCAL MAKE "LY0 MIX :QY0 :QY1<br />
LOCAL MAKE "LX1 MIX :QX1 :QX2<br />
LOCAL MAKE "LY1 MIX :QY1 :QY2<br />
LOCAL MAKE "PMX MIX :LX0 :LX1<br />
LOCAL MAKE "PMY MIX :LY0 :LY1<br />
CUBIC :QX0 :QY0 :LX0 :LY0 :PMX :PMY<br />
CUBIC :LX1 :LY1 :QX2 :QY2 :EX :EY<br />
] [<br />
SET X Y :EX :EY<br />
]<br />
END<br />
<br />
# 0:04:16<br />
# I think there's a programmer hidden at the bottom of every single one of us.<br />
<br />
MAKE "PXERR 0.5<br />
<br />
# 0:04:25<br />
# Let me show you what is going on up here.<br />
<br />
CLEAR SCREEN<br />
WINDOW<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -473 391<br />
<br />
# 0:04:38<br />
# I've just covered the entire canvas with just a bit of white.<br />
<br />
PENDOWN<br />
<br />
# 0:04:44<br />
# We start with a vision in our hearts and we put it on canvas.<br />
<br />
CUBIC -469 424 -458 416 -456 389<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -471 400<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 87<br />
FORWARD 14<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -443 412<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -443 405 -443 397 -444 390<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -442 400<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 84<br />
FORWARD 10<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -431 409<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -432 403 -432 397 -431 390<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -427 392<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -422 419 -415 416 -412 391<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -426 400<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -422 400 -418 401 -414 401<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -409 410<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -408 404 -408 398 -408 391<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -409 409<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -395 421 -390 396 -408 403<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -393 410<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -392 405 -392 399 -392 393<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -393 411<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -380 419 -377 400 -392 402<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -372 391<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -371 402 -374 400 -377 408<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -372 400<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 37<br />
FORWARD 13<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -471 380<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -471 366 -480 357 -460 361<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -457 379<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -457 372 -457 366 -457 360<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -448 379<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 179<br />
FORWARD 19<br />
PENUP<br />
<br />
# 0:09:30<br />
# Miriam Webster defines a turtle as: noun, any of an order (Testudines synonym Chelonia) of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine reptiles that have a toothless horny beak and a shell of bony dermal plates usually covered with horny shields enclosing the trunk and into which the head, limbs, and tail usually may be withdrawn.<br />
<br />
SET X Y -454 378<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -449 379 -444 380 -440 380<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -434 379<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 179<br />
FORWARD 16<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -439 378<br />
CUBIC -434 379 -430 380 -425 380<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -425 377<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -424 367 -431 356 -415 360<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -400 380<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -404 379 -413 382 -412 376<br />
CUBIC -410 360 -416 356 -400 360<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -412 368<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -409 369 -406 370 -403 370<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -376 380<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 178<br />
FORWARD 21<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -383 378<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -379 379 -374 380 -369 381<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -366 379<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -365 372 -366 366 -366 360<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -366 379<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -353 384 -349 375 -363 371<br />
CUBIC -358 372 -356 365 -353 361<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -338 379<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -341 378 -351 381 -350 376<br />
CUBIC -348 359 -355 358 -336 361<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -350 370<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -347 370 -344 370 -341 370<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -320 379<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -338 381 -331 375 -333 362<br />
CUBIC -332 358 -323 362 -320 361<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -332 370<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 89<br />
FORWARD 7<br />
SET HEADING -79<br />
FORWARD 1<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -474 336<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -473 329 -473 322 -474 316<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -473 327<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 85<br />
FORWARD 11<br />
PERNUP<br />
SET X Y -461 338<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -461 331 -461 323 -460 316<br />
PENUP<br />
<br />
# 0:16:03<br />
# Here are some interesting notes from interesting facts about turtles:<br />
# A little nature study by a scientist, Forest and Stream, January 1916:<br />
# Over a great many years I have taken a great interest in the land turtle.<br />
# I have at the present time a number, some of which I have had for at least<br />
# 17 years. To most people, they were ugly and repulsive, as the head when<br />
# fully protruded and extended, looks like a snake. And furthermore, their<br />
# clumsy method of progression does not add anything attractive.<br />
<br />
SET X Y -453 335<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -460 331 -456 312 -447 319<br />
CUBIC -442 324 -444 339 -453 335<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -439 335<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -439 329 -441 322 -439 316<br />
CUBIC -437 315 -433 316 -430 316<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -426 315<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -412 316 -408 339 -427 336<br />
CUBIC -426 329 -426 322 -427 315<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -409 336<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -409 330 -409 323 -409 316<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -405 316<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING -1<br />
FORWARD 19<br />
CUBIC -400 329 -397 322 -394 316<br />
SET HEADING 4<br />
FORWARD 20<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -381 325<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -379 325 -377 325 -375 325<br />
CUBIC -373 322 -375 319 -377 318<br />
CUBIC -393 311 -390 343 -375 334<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -359 335<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -366 307 -340 310 -348 336<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -342 315<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -341 321 -343 329 -342 335<br />
CUBIC -326 342 -322 324 -342 325<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -319 315<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -315 344 -305 337 -303 313<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -317 324<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 87<br />
FORWARD 12<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -473 303<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -473 296 -473 289 -473 282<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -473 292<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -469 292 -465 293 -461 293<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -460 303<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -461 297 -462 290 -461 284<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -456 285<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -453 312 -445 306 -441 284<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -455 292<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -451 293 -447 294 -443 293<br />
SET HEADING -7<br />
FORWARD 1<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -438 302<br />
PENDOWN<br />
SET HEADING 179<br />
FORWARD 17<br />
PENUP<br />
SET X Y -439 301<br />
PENDOWN<br />
CUBIC -425 311 -422 288 -438 293<br />
PENUP<br />
<br />
# One of the interesting points about turtles is their great variety of foods.<br />
# They are, as a rule, good scavengers eating all kinds of decomposing and putrefying<br />
# materials, beef or in fact any meat is eaten.<br />
<br />
# I have seen them eat the flesh of birds and of moles, and while earthworms are<br />
# relished by them, any worm or grub is taken worms from shell barks, and ordinary<br />
# maggots are gotten rid of in a hurry.<br />
<br />
# Blackberries, may apples, cherries and mulberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and<br />
# one vegetable eagerly eaten by my stock is green sugar corn, either raw or cooked.<br />
# In the spring when they first come out of the soil, and food is not plentiful in<br />
# their pen, I have bought canned corn and they certainly have made it disappear<br />
# very quickly. Beetles and tumble bugs, potato bugs, either in larval or mature<br />
# forms, are destroyed<br />
<br />
# Toadstools, especially the large flat pink ones, white and yellow ones are eaten<br />
# while I have seen them pass a black toadstool by several days unnoticed.<br />
</pre><br />
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Here is a transcript of the non-code part:<br />
<pre><br />
And here we want to show you that you can program a picture right along with us.<br />
We'll use a single color, some unorthodox functions, and each line we'll put a<br />
bit of nature's masterpieces right here on our canvas.<br />
<br />
Today we'll have them run all the functions across the stream right now that you<br />
need to program along with us, starting with a simple one:<br />
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(code)<br />
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There we go, just like that.<br />
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(code)<br />
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One more done! No pressure!<br />
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Really makes our programming life easier!<br />
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(code)<br />
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I think there's a programmer hidden at the bottom of every single one of us!<br />
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Let me show you what is going on up here:<br />
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I've just covered the entire canvas with just a bit of white.<br />
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We start with a vision in our hearts and we put it on canvas.<br />
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Miriam Webster defines a turtle as a noun. Any of an order Testudines,<br />
genus Chelonia, of terrestrial, freshwater and marine reptiles that have<br />
a toothless, horny beak in a shell of bony dermal plates usually covered with<br />
horny shields in closing the trunk and into which the head, limbs and tail<br />
usually may be withdrawn.<br />
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Here are some interesting notes from interesting facts about turtles:<br />
A little nature study by a scientist, Forest and Stream, January 1916:<br />
Over a great many years I have taken a great interest in the land turtle.<br />
I have at the present time a number, some of which I have had for at least<br />
17 years. To most people they were ugly and repulsive, as the head when<br />
fully protruded and extended, looks like a snake. And furthermore, their<br />
clumsy method of progression does not add anything attractive.<br />
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One of the interesting points about turtles is their great variety of foods.<br />
They are, as a rule, good scavengers eating all kinds of decomposing and putrefying<br />
materials, beef or in fact any meat is eaten.<br />
<br />
I have seen them eat the flesh of birds and of moles, and while earthworms are<br />
relished by them, any worm or grub is taken worms from shell barks, and ordinary<br />
maggots are gotten rid of in a hurry.<br />
<br />
Blackberries, may apples, cherries and mulberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and<br />
one vegetable eagerly eaten by my stock is green sugar corn, either raw or cooked.<br />
In the spring when they first come out of the soil, and food is not plentiful in<br />
their pen, I have bought canned corn and they certainly have made it disappear<br />
very quickly. Beetles and tumble bugs, potato bugs, either in larval or mature<br />
forms, are destroyed.<br />
<br />
Toadstools, especially the large flat pink ones, white and yellow ones are eaten<br />
while I have seen them pass a black toadstool by several days unnoticed.<br />
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Here we have a happy little "pen down" statement<br />
That's it!<br />
And then:<br />
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Occasionally when a female drops an egg on the ground, it is quickly eaten by the<br />
others. Ordinary hen's eggs are eaten and a great relish enjoyed hugely by them<br />
as thick sour milk. I have placed a quantity of this milk in two or three places<br />
in the pen and in five minutes it is surrounded by the turtles, just like flies<br />
on a lump of sugar. The scrapings of Limburger cheese have also been eaten.<br />
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A piece of butter which had been upon a platter in the icebox for months was placed<br />
before them and this was eaten in due time, crab apples and cantaloupe are enjoyed<br />
by them, but watermelon is not so eagerly gobbled up like the cantaloupe.<br />
I was surprised one morning when I found1 of the large turtles had caught and<br />
disembowel, the very large toad, which I had in the yard.<br />
I have seen turtles eating at 11:00 at night when1 would think they would be resting.<br />
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Here you have the power to do anything you want!<br />
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They prefer the shade and at certain times during the day if the sun is very hot,<br />
they retreat under the logs which I have for a shelter during rain, they are very<br />
active and move about with heads and necks outstretched, enjoying the shower bath<br />
hugely and evidently on the outlook for worms. Just as some birds after or during<br />
a shower, the youngest of turtles I have ever had seems to take to the same food<br />
as the adults.<br />
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As a rule, they emerge in April sometimes the middle of the month, but as early as<br />
April six they made their appearance. If the weather does not stay warm, they<br />
again go back to their retreats, mating commences almost within a day or two after<br />
their emergence. The males are quite persistent in their lovemaking, biting at<br />
the female etcetera. And on two occasions I have seen the scale removed from the<br />
shell of the female and blood ooze from these surfaces<br />
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I made friends with a turtle yesterday and he gave me his phone number.<br />
I asked is that a landline? He said no it's my shell phone.<br />
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It is interesting to see the males fight among themselves. They raised themselves<br />
as high as possible and lunge and bite and snap at each other In getting away<br />
from his opponent. The Beaten one will beat a hasty retreat and retract his front<br />
feet or back feet as occasion demands and glide, not run, away.<br />
Running away is slow as compared to this turtle propulsion. It is not a slide,<br />
it is really a darting forward glide. Just recently I saw one male maltreating<br />
another in which the second fellow had all parts retracted and was being snapped<br />
at pushed and actually rolled over on his back by his opponent.<br />
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Occasionally one can see a turtle dragging another one along, the first one<br />
having the second fellow's hind leg between his shell. This has probably been<br />
the result of a scuffle. I have never known a land turtle to bite but have<br />
often seen them open their mouths wide and hiss or draw in their breath with<br />
a hissing or sighing sound.<br />
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Some people have turtles in their cellars believing that they catch rats and mice.<br />
I tried keeping some of mine in the cellar for two seasons in the wintertime.<br />
They kept up a constant walk exactly like a caged beast. I gave them meat,<br />
vegetables and water, but on no occasion did they take the proffered food.<br />
In the spring, I found several of them dead. I believe that these turtles died<br />
because they were exhausted from wandering around and around during their time<br />
of hibernation. I also believe that this unnatural hibernation led them to<br />
refuse all food.<br />
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Regarding the catching of rats and mice in cellars, I believe that rats and mice<br />
might be kept away by the noise made by the turtle making its endless march<br />
around the cellar, but doubt whether a turtle could catch a rat or a mouse.<br />
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In my yard, I had a galvanized iron pin three ft. in length by two ft. in width by<br />
3 inches in depth for water. In this the turtles would enjoy themselves drinking<br />
from the edge with heads submerged or with the entire body submerged for sometimes<br />
as long as several hours. And even for a whole day, even in the country where I<br />
now have the herd, I have a small dish in which they can just get in and they<br />
certainly appreciate a bath.<br />
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How about some interesting things in 10 facts about marine turtles from the WWF UK?<br />
There are seven species of marine turtle. Marine turtles were around more than<br />
100 million years ago and lived alongside dinosaurs. These days, scientists<br />
recognize seven species of marine turtle, the hawksbill, the loggerhead, the<br />
leatherback, the olive Ridley, the green, the flatback and the Kemps Ridley.<br />
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Turtles do not have teeth. They use their beak like mouth to grasp their food.<br />
This beak is made of keratin, the same stuff your fingernails are made of.<br />
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Turtle shells are made of over 50 bones fused together. So they are literally<br />
wearing their bones on the outside. They also have light spongy bones that<br />
help them float.<br />
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Their young lives are a mystery. The first few years of a marine turtle's<br />
life are known as "the lost years". That's because the time between when the<br />
hatchlings emerge until they return to coastal shallow waters to forage is<br />
incredibly difficult to study. The "lost years" they spend at sea, which can<br />
be up to 20 years largely remain a mystery to us.<br />
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They can be ginormous. Marine turtle species vary greatly in size.<br />
The smallest Kemps Ridley measure around 70 cm long and weigh up to 40 kg<br />
whilst the leatherback can reach up to 180 cm long and weigh 500 kg.<br />
That is over 10 times heavier. Amazingly, Wales holds the world record<br />
for the largest marine turtle ever found. In 1988, a leatherback was found<br />
ashore measuring 2.5 m long, 2.5 m from flipper to flipper and weighing over<br />
900 kg.<br />
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It's survival of the fittest. It is estimated that only around one in 1000<br />
marine turtle hatchlings make it to adulthood. This is down to the long time<br />
it takes for them to reach maturity and the many dangers faced by hatchlings<br />
and juveniles, from predators to marine plastics.<br />
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They make some interesting noises. Female leatherbacks make some strange<br />
noises when they are nesting, some of which sound similar to a human belch.<br />
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Just let it happen!<br />
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They have color preferences, turtles seem to prefer red, orange and yellow food.<br />
They appear to investigate these colors more than others when looking for a meal.<br />
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You know I'm beginning to suspect it's turtles all the way down!<br />
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Marine turtles can migrate incredibly long distances. The longest known record<br />
is for a female leatherback who swam nearly 13,000 miles over 647 days from<br />
Indonesia to the west coast of America. That is over 20 miles a day!<br />
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They always return home. Females return to the same beach they hatched on to<br />
lay their own eggs and bury them in sand nests. Marine turtles' amazing ability<br />
to navigate comes from their sensitivity to the earth's magnetic fields.<br />
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Move the turtle. Playing, working, just having fun.<br />
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Here are some more interesting bits from interesting facts about turtles:<br />
A little nature study by a scientist Forest and Stream, January 1916:<br />
The laying of eggs, this is one of the most instructive things that I have ever<br />
watched. Invariably they chose in my yard a situation with a southern exposure<br />
when desiring to lay. In only two instances was an eastern exposure observed,<br />
and once a western part of the yard being a cement walk, we could sometimes<br />
observe the female making motions as for digging the nest. Sometimes for a<br />
half a day she would remain stationary and with her back legs commenced to work<br />
for this purpose, lifting her to the grass plot In a short time she would<br />
commence to dig first with the left hind foot she would remove a little dirt<br />
and pile it up on her left side, then with the right hind foot and pile the<br />
removed dirt upon the right side. This would be repeated again and again<br />
probably for hours until the proper size hole and depth was obtained.<br />
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Egg laying does not always occur during the daytime, as I have observed one or<br />
two digging away past midnight. Sometimes they will have dug for about an<br />
inch or so and then not make any more progress downward. In these instances<br />
they have met with obstructions like a small stone which they cannot remove.<br />
I have with a pair of forceps removed the obstruction on several occasions<br />
with the turtle still in c two and after a minute or two she resumes her work.<br />
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The nest or repository is about 3 inches in depth and about an inch and a half or<br />
a little more in width. When she has it finished, she discharges her eggs into it.<br />
When the egg is deposited in the hole, she is not just satisfied in dropping it,<br />
but she reaches down with her hind leg and places the egg horizontally and covers<br />
a little dirt over it. Then the second egg and the remaining eggs are all treated<br />
similarly and when the last1 is deposited and placed, she commences to fill up with<br />
the dirt that remains. This she puts into the hole with an alternate right and<br />
left leg until all is filled in.<br />
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After it is all done, she pats it with both her hind feet together and then with<br />
her body raised and lowered pets and smooths over the place where the eggs are<br />
buried. Then she leaves it and never looks after it as the sun now plays its<br />
part in hatching the eggs. The eggs are whitish in color with a semi-elastic<br />
shell about the size of a pigeon egg.<br />
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The number laid by a turtle varies. I have seen three and on one occasion I<br />
have seen eight laid at one sitting. I have also observed one turtle laying<br />
its eggs, covering them over, and a little later a day or two, another female<br />
dig in the same place, remove the eggs and lay her own in this doubly-dug<br />
repository. Once a female dug six hours and laid four eggs. Another dug<br />
several hours. The hole measured two inches across and three and one half<br />
inches in depth. And she laid eight eggs within a half hour.<br />
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Not all eggs hatch out. But in the instance where eight were laid, I had<br />
the pleasure of seeing six little baby turtles come out other eggs which were<br />
laid in a hole dug with a western or eastern exposure, never came to anything.<br />
I have dug carefully into these nests, but I have always come upon decomposing<br />
eggs.<br />
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For the most interesting egg laying I ever witnessed, the turtle commenced<br />
to dig at six pm, and was still busy at work the next morning at eight o'clock.<br />
Five days later a second turtle dug these eggs out arid, deposited four of her<br />
own and covered the nest up personally. I do not believe that the turtle digging<br />
out the previous batch of eggs was vindictive or mischievous but that the ground<br />
seemed soft and easily worked. Therefore it took advantage of the spot.<br />
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Average person paints three turtles a year, factoid!<br />
Actually just statistical error. Average person paints zero turtles per year.<br />
Turtles George who lives in cave and eats over 10,000 each day is an outlier<br />
and should not have been counted.<br />
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The young turtles when they make their emergence at the end of three months,<br />
are dark in color and quite active. If you place one on its back at this time<br />
it will arch its head and neck and come around its normal position.<br />
The shell, of course, is quite soft, but in about three years the shell really<br />
becomes hardened though some clear portions of the shell around the edges are<br />
still soft. The color of the shell gradually changes to that usually seen in<br />
the head, and soft parts are modeled speckled or of a solid color.<br />
I have two in my collection where the head and neck are solid yellow.<br />
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Do you know what a sea turtle's favorite sandwiches? Peanut butter and<br />
jellyfish! That sounds weird, but it's actually true. Just ask the next<br />
sea turtle you meet. But I think we shouldn't mention it to the jellyfish.<br />
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Here are some interesting observations from odd facts about turtles:<br />
Christian Observer, May 11th 1919: It has been said that the turtle, like<br />
the whale, has no other enemy than man and as much as both the little creature<br />
and the big pursued their various ways in practical immunity from harm and the<br />
fear of sudden death.<br />
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In many ways, the turtle is one of the strangest of living things. Whales must<br />
come to the surface frequently to breathe and it is pretty well known what they<br />
feed upon. The seal cannot remain beneath the sea nearly so long as the whale<br />
and his food is very well known. But the turtle in all his varieties in all his<br />
ways, is a most mysterious animal. It does not indeed seem to matter to him<br />
whether he stays beneath the surface for an hour or for a week.<br />
Nor does it trouble him to spend an equal time on I land if the need arises.<br />
Your turtle is neither fish, flesh nor fowl. Yet his flesh partakes of the<br />
characteristics of all three.<br />
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Eating seems a mere superfluidity with him since for weeks at a time he may be<br />
headed up in a barrel with a bung out and emerged after his long fast.<br />
Apparently none the worse for his enforced abstinence from food from light and<br />
almost from air.<br />
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All you need to draw is a few instructions, a little turtle and a vision in your mind.<br />
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In the whole category of animal organisms, there is none so tenacious of life<br />
as the turtle. Injuries that would instantly be fatal even to fish<br />
leave the turtle apparently undisturbed and his power of staving off<br />
death is nothing short of marvelous.<br />
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Just as soon as a baby turtle emerges from the egg off he scuttles down to the sea.<br />
He has no one to teach him, no1 to guide him in his curious little brain.<br />
There has implanted a streak of caution based upon the fact that until a<br />
certain period in his life his armor is soft and no defense against hungry fish,<br />
and he at once seeks shelter in the tropical profusion of the gulf weed which<br />
holds within its branching fronds, an astonishing abundance of marine life here.<br />
The young turtle feeds unmolested while his armor undergoes the hardening process.<br />
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Whatever the young sea turtle eats and wherever he eats it, facts not generally<br />
ascertained, one thing is certain: It agrees with him immensely. He leads<br />
a pleasant sort of life basking in the tropical sun and cruising leisurely in<br />
the cool depths.<br />
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Once he has attained the weight of \xc2\xa325 which usually occurs within the first<br />
year, the turtle is free from all danger after that no fish or mammal,<br />
however ravenous, however well armed with teeth, interferes with the turtle.<br />
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When once he has withdrawn his head from its position of outlook into the folds<br />
of his neck, between the two shells intending devours, may struggle in vain<br />
to make an impression upon him<br />
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How about some neat facts courtesy of "10 Cool Facts About Turtles"<br />
from Deutsche Welle? They have been around for a really, really long time.<br />
There is a reason why turtles look a little prehistoric. The first ever<br />
specimens evolved around 260 million years ago in the late Triassic period.<br />
Shortly after their arrival, the earth experienced a mass extinction event<br />
that wiped out about 90% of all life on land. Luckily for the turtles,<br />
their burrowing and water dwelling habits set them up for long term survival<br />
in this strange new world.<br />
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They have one of the longest lifespans in the animal kingdom. While a<br />
turtle's lifespan largely depends on the species, almost all of them have<br />
the potential to live to a ripe old age. A typical pet turtle can make<br />
it to anywhere between 10 and 80 years while larger species often keep going<br />
for more than 100 years. Because it's so difficult to accurately measure age<br />
over a century, researchers think some turtles could even be hundreds of years old.<br />
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See how easy it is to create a tree in your little world!<br />
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They come in all shapes and sizes. There are currently 356 known species of<br />
turtles. As a rule, they are all reptiles with a hard cartilage shell, but that<br />
is about where the similarities end. There are sea turtles, leatherback turtles,<br />
snapping turtles, pond turtles, soft shelled turtles, and of course tortoises.<br />
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Not all turtles are tortoises but all tortoises are turtles. Yes, technically<br />
all tortoises are in fact turtles. They belong to the Testudines family which<br />
includes reptiles whose bodies are protected by a bony outer shell.<br />
But the main difference between turtles and tortoises is that tortoises live<br />
exclusively on land while most turtles live in or near water.<br />
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Some turtles are vegetarians while others are carnivorous. Most turtles are<br />
actually omnivores but a few species are more picky when it comes to their diet.<br />
Most tortoises are happy to munch on leafy greens or fruit. Not to the fearsome<br />
looking alligator turtle which is almost entirely carnivorous and feeds on<br />
anything from fish to small mammals that venture too close to the water's edge.<br />
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All species lay their eggs on land when they are ready to lay their eggs.<br />
Even water dwelling turtles will dig their nests in the sand or the earth near<br />
their habitat but they are not the nurturing type. No species of turtle<br />
sticks around to raise their young. When the babies hatch they are on their own.<br />
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A turtle's gender is determined by temperature like crocodiles and alligators.<br />
A turtle's gender is determined after fertilization. If the turtle's eggs<br />
incubate below 27.7 degrees Celsius, the hatchlings will be male. But if the<br />
eggs incubate above 31 degrees they will be female. If the temperature is<br />
somewhere in between our fluctuates, a mix of male and female babies will<br />
hatch. As oceans warm, turtles tend to give birth to more females.<br />
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They have an amazing sense of direction. Sea turtles are known for their<br />
amazing ability to return to the exact beach where they were born years later.<br />
Like many animals, turtles can navigate their way at sea by sensing the individual<br />
lines of the magnetic field, but they can also remember the magnetic signature of<br />
coastlines and sends tiny variations in magnetic fields allowing them to guide<br />
themselves home.<br />
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And excellent vision, too. Turtles have strong underwater eyesight.<br />
Researchers have discovered that they can see a range of different colors and<br />
even prefer some colors to others. Although sea turtles are famous for their<br />
internal GPS, there is evidence to suggest they do not see very well on land.<br />
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Many species are endangered. Having survived for millions of years, six out of<br />
seven turtle species are classified as threatened or endangered as a result of<br />
human activity. Every year thousands become trapped in commercial trawl nets while<br />
in some parts of the world they are killed for their eggs, meat and shells.<br />
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<br />
How about some interesting facts from turtle facts by Alina Bradford,<br />
writing for livescience.com? Turtles are reptiles with hard shells that protect<br />
them from predators. They are among the oldest and most primitive groups of<br />
reptiles, having evolved millions of years ago. Turtles live all over the world<br />
in almost every type of climate.<br />
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And then according to the integrated taxonomic information system, the turtle<br />
order Testudines genus Chelonia splits into two sub orders, Cryptodira, and<br />
Pleurodira, and then further splits into 13 families, 75 genera and more than<br />
300 species.<br />
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They say everything looks better with odd values for things but sometimes I put<br />
even values just to upset the interpreter.<br />
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Turtle, tortoise and terrapins are often used interchangeably as synonyms, but<br />
there are distinct differences between the types of Chelonians, according to<br />
the San Diego Zoo.<br />
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Turtles spend most of their lives in water. They are adapted for aquatic life<br />
with webbed feet or flippers in a streamlined body. Sea turtles rarely leave<br />
the ocean except to lay eggs in the sand. Freshwater turtles live in ponds<br />
and lakes and they climb out of the water onto logs or rocks to bask in the<br />
warm sun.<br />
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Tortoises are land animals, their feet are around and stumpy adapted for walking<br />
on land. They also dig burrows with their strong four limbs and slip underground<br />
when the sun gets too hot. Terrapins live on land and in water usually in swamps,<br />
ponds, lakes and rivers.<br />
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With so many different types of turtle, there is no average size. The<br />
largest sea turtle species is the leatherback turtle. It weighs 600 to<br />
1500 and is about 4.5 to 5 and a quarter feet long. According to the<br />
World Wildlife Federation, the Galapagos tortoise grows up to six ft.<br />
long and 573(lb?). According to the San Diego Zoo, the largest freshwater<br />
turtle in North America is the alligator snapping turtle. It can grow to 2<br />
5 ft long and weigh as much as 200(lb?). The Yangtze giant softshell<br />
turtle is the largest softshell turtle. It measures up to 3.6 ft across<br />
and weighs up to 309(lb?).<br />
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A turtle's shell is a modified rib cage and part of its vertebral column,<br />
according to the Animal Diversity Web at the University of Michigan.<br />
The top part of the shell is called the carapace and the bottom is<br />
called the plastering. According to the San Diego Zoo, the shell is<br />
made up of about 60 bones that are covered by plates called scoots.<br />
Scoots are made of keratin, the same material that makes up humans<br />
fingernails.<br />
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<br />
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that "All the thoughts of a turtle are<br />
turtles and of a rabbit rabbits." So let's try to think like a turtle!<br />
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Many turtles are able to retract their heads and feet into their shells.<br />
Turtles are placed in the two sub orders based on the method of retraction.<br />
According to the Animal Diversity Web at the University of Michigan,<br />
Pleurodirs pull their heads in sideways, Cryptodirs draw their heads<br />
straight back into the shell. Sea turtles have lost the ability to retract<br />
their heads.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Turtles are very adaptive and can be found on every continent except Antarctica.<br />
Most turtle species are found in southeastern North America and south Asia.<br />
Only five species live in Europe, according to Drs. Foster and Smith,<br />
a veterinarian business based in Wisconsin.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Sea turtles can be found in the Coral Triangle, an area that includes the<br />
waters of Indonesia Malaysia, the Philippines and Papua, New Guinea;<br />
coastal east Africa, the meso-American reef in the Caribbean, the Galapagos<br />
Islands and the Gulf of California.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Hey, what do you get if you cross a turtle with a giraffe? A turtleneck!<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
The african helmeted turtle is the most common turtle in Africa, according to<br />
Animal Planet. It is a hunter scavenger that eats young birds and small mammals.<br />
It steals bait from fishermen's hooks. It also releases a foul smelling liquid<br />
from glands in its legs.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Roti Island snake-necked turtles are found only on Roti Island,<br />
a 62 square mile island in Indonesia, according to the San Diego Zoo.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Turtles are not social creatures. While they typically don't mind if there<br />
are other turtles around them, they don't interact or socialize, according<br />
to Encyclopedia Britannica. Most turtles are active during the day, spending<br />
their time foraging for food.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Turtles are not silent creatures. Some sound like electric motors, some<br />
sound like belching humans, and some bark like dogs. The red-footed tortoise<br />
from South America clucks like a chicken.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Most turtles are omnivores. They eat a variety of different things<br />
depending on their species. Musk turtles eat molluscs, plants, small fish,<br />
and insects. The Cooter turtle is mostly vegetarian and the green sea turtle<br />
only eats grasses and algae.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
I read in the L.A. Times this morning that 42,000 Mazda cars were recalled<br />
because of a spider problem. Really makes you think doesn't it?<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
The alligator snapping turtle lures in fish with its tongue which looks like a<br />
worm. It wiggles its tongue to attract a hungry fish and then snaps down on it<br />
with its strong jaw. It also eats aquatic plants, snakes, frogs, fish, worms,<br />
clams, crayfish and other turtles.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
All turtles lay eggs. They find a place on land to lay their eggs, dig a nest<br />
into the sand or dirt and then walk away. No species of turtle nurtures their<br />
young.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Turtles reach the age to mate at different times. Some come of age as young<br />
as a few years old, while others don't reach sexual maturity until around 50<br />
years has passed.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Some species fight for the right to mate with a female while others seduce her<br />
with a mating ritual to mate. Male and female turtles intertwine their tails<br />
so that their shell openings line up perfectly.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
Sea turtles travel from the ocean to lay eggs on beaches. Usually, sea<br />
turtles lay around 110 eggs in a nest, though the flat back turtle only<br />
lays 50 at a time.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
The temperature of the sand affects the sex of the turtle. The perfect<br />
beach temperature produces an equal number of male and female offspring due<br />
to rising temperatures. Too many sea turtle females are being born, contributing<br />
to the decline in species numbers, according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, many turtle<br />
species are listed as threatened, endangered or critically endangered.<br />
For example, the plow share tortoise and radiated tortoise are estimated<br />
to be extinct in the next 45 years.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
A pair of Russian tortoises went into space in 1968. The Soviet Union<br />
launched Zond Five, a space probe that was the first spacecraft to orbit the moon<br />
It returned safely and the tortoises survived. They had lost about 10% of<br />
their body weight, but they remained active and showed no loss of appetite,<br />
according to NASA.<br />
<br />
(code)<br />
<br />
I even talked to turtles at times but you need to understand logo to appreciate<br />
the great, great things that have been created. We spend so much of our life<br />
typing, looking, but never, ever seeing.<br />
<br />
</pre><br />
<br />
OMG, fond memories of LOGO! I'm in a loud bar at the moment so I can't listen, and I'm not listening to NINE HOURS anyway, LOL! Everybody DOES realize, someone needs to extract the program and run it in LOGO, right? I would guarantee this draws something interesting and/or stupid. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:27, 2 April 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2601:_Instructions&diff=2294362601: Instructions2022-04-01T21:51:26Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2601<br />
| date = April 1, 2022<br />
| title = Instructions<br />
| image = instructions.png<br />
| titletext = Happy little turtles<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a HAPPY TURTLE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is the 7th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released. It appears to be coding instructions.<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The screen displays a checkbox that when pressed plays a 9-hour long audio file of coding instructions.<br />
<br />
Behind it, is an image of a turtle<br />
<br />
[Instructions]<br />
<br />
And here we want to show you that you can program a picture right along with us. We’ll use a single color, some unorthodox functions, and each line we’ll put a bit of nature’s masterpieces right here on our canvas. Today we’ll have them run all the functions across the stream, right now, that you need to program along with us. Starting with a simple one:<br />
<br />
TO DIST :X0 :Y0 :X1 :Y1<br />
LOCAL MAKE "RX DIFFERENCE :X1 :X0<br />
LOCAL MAKE "RY DIFFERENCE :Y1 :Y0<br />
OUTPUT SQRT SUM PRODUCT :RX :RY PRODUCT :RX :RY<br />
END<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category: April fools' comics]]<br />
[[Category: Interactive comics]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2600:_Rejected_Question_Categories&diff=2293352600: Rejected Question Categories2022-03-30T23:42:25Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */ Fixed typo</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2600<br />
| date = March 30, 2022<br />
| title = Rejected Question Categories<br />
| image = rejected_question_categories.png<br />
| titletext = You can click to preorder to get a copy of What If? 2 when it comes out 9/13, assuming we all make it past the spider situation(?) on Tuesday(?).<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SPIDER-CREATED WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION LAUNCHED AT A VOLCANO - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Randall [[2575: What If? 2|recently announced]] he is publishing a book based on reader-submitted questions. This comic shows some of the questions he claims to have received, but rejected, with the category hinting at why they were rejected. In typical XKCD fashion, these are all implausible to various degrees (especially the last row), ending in a question that appears to be a combination of all previous categories and is therefore marked "?????"<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|'''Category'''<br />
|'''Question'''<br />
|'''Explanation'''<br />
|-<br />
| People cheating on homework<br />
| What if I made a pendulum by hanging a rock on a 2.75 meter string? What would its period be in seconds? (Show your work)<br />
| This appears to be a math student trying to get out of doing their work by presenting the question for Randall to answer in ''What If'' (which is a common occurrence on question-and-answer sites such as Stack Overflow). Most school homework requires the student to "show their work", i.e. write out their process of solving the question, which will usually go towards marks for the right methodology and basic understanding even if they make a wrong turn along the way and end up with an incorrect answer; the student including this caveat is the giveaway as to their tactic.<br />
|-<br />
| Medical advice<br />
| What if you got a scratch and the next day your hand looks like this [''📎 attachment'']? Should you see a doctor or what?<br />
| Randall is not a physician, is not qualified to give medical advice, and will not answer medical questions. This was a problem on early Wikipedia which, for a time, required all articles covering medical topics to point to a {{w|WP:MEDICAL|Medical Disclaimer}}.<br />
|- <br />
| Personal<br />
| Why don't the squirrels in my yard like me???<br />
| Randall has no way of knowing why the wildlife in a given area dislike a specific person, especially if this hints at a specific animosity/belligerence and not just general avoidance of humans as a perceived threat. These kind of questions are common on sites like reddit, and are usually covered by general explanation of animal behaviors unless the asker supplies more information in the comments.<br />
|-<br />
| Spam<br />
| Do you want to meet lonely singles in your area tonight?<br />
| This is a common online popup advertisement and is generally considered undesirable. An unavoidable side effect of Randall having an email address published where the public can find it is that spammers have just as much access to it. Most people do not respond to spam emails, and Randall is no exception.<br />
|-<br />
| Phishing<br />
| Have you recently been the victim of phishing? To check, log in to your account by clicking <u>here</u>.<br />
| Again, because Randall's What-If email is publicly available, phishers have access to it and can probe the recipient for information. Randall is experienced enough to recognize a phishing attempt and ignore it. This type of phishing scam, in which the scammer requests your personal data for the purported purpose of checking if it has been "stolen" thereby "stealing" it himself, has become more common as people have become aware of phishing and Phishers have thus embraced the possibility of exploiting a new niche in the layers of naivity.<br />
|-<br />
| Requests for help with a crime<br />
| Using modern science, what would be the fastest way to get through this bank vault door? [''📎'' blueprints]<br />
| No, Randall is ''not'' going to help a criminal commit breaking and entering or robbery, thank you very much. A common problem with heist movies is that they show a believable{{Citation needed}} method for breaking in to a vault which people then try to replicate in real life. Such movies often portray an expert in some other field being "smart enough" to craft the plan, sometimes unwittingly.<br />
|-<br />
| Unanswerable<br />
| Why am I me and not someone else<br />
| This question is existentialist. Hundreds of the greatest scientific minds are unable to answer this question, why would someone who draws comics on the internet be able to?<br />
|- <br />
| Vague<br />
| What is going to happen? (Be specific)<br />
| Some humor is derived from the request for specificity in the question, which completely lacks any sort of specificity of its own.<br />
|-<br />
| Vague and ominous<br />
| Will I have to start worrying about spiders after Tuesday?<br />
| Possibly a [[:Category:Red Spiders|red spiders]] reference.<br />
|-<br />
| ?????<br />
| Hi, we're lonely singles in your area, and we're wondering what would happen if we shot a nuclear bomb into a volcano! Click here to log in and tell us...<br />
| If nothing else, this entry is clearly made up by Randall, as it appears to be a combination of as many prior categories as he has room for.<br />
<br />
"Would dropping a nuclear bomb in a volcano stop an eruption?" was a question featured in the ''first'' book. Randall answered with an emphatic "No!"<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the launch date of the book, September 13, rendered in the American style. This may be confusing to non-Americans, for whom it will appear to reference the 9th day of the 13th month. See Randall's take on ISO 8601 in comic [[1179]].<br />
<br />
Tuesday, referenced in [[1099]], [[277]], [[564]], and most notably in [[1245]], is normally the second day of the week, however the Tuesday of the week following the publication of this cartoon (April 5th, 2022 AD) will be noted as the last day of the last week ever. Briefly.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In ''What If? 2'' (xkcd.com/whatif2), I answer ridiculous questions sent in by readers about everything from volcanoes to spaceships to soup.<br />
<br />
Here are a few of the common types of questions that I did ''not'' answer:<br />
<br />
[In separate boxes for each category]<br />
<br />
[In row 1:]<br />
<br />
People cheating on homework: What if I made a pendulum by hanging a rock on a 2.75 meter string? What would its period be in seconds? (Show your work!)<br />
<br />
Medical advice: What if you got a scratch and the next day your hand looks like this [''📎 attachment'']? Should you see a doctor or what?<br />
<br />
Personal: Why don't the squirrels in my yard like me???<br />
<br />
[In row 2:]<br />
<br />
Spam: Do you want to meet lonely singles in your area tonight?<br />
<br />
Phishing: Have you recently been the victim of phishing? To check, log in to your account by clicking <u>here</u>.<br />
<br />
Requests for help with a crime: Using modern science, what would be the fastest way to get through this bank vault door? [''📎'' blueprints]<br />
<br />
[In row 3:]<br />
<br />
Unanswerable: Why am I me and not someone else<br />
<br />
Vague: What is going to happen? (Be specific)<br />
<br />
Vague+Ominous: Will I have to start worrying about spiders after Tuesday?<br />
<br />
?????: Hi, we're lonely singles in your area, and we're wondering what would happen if we shot a nuclear bomb into a volcano! Click here to log in and tell us<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:Spiders]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:703:_Honor_Societies&diff=228583Talk:703: Honor Societies2022-03-18T01:15:01Z<p>172.70.110.209: Defining intuitionism</p>
<hr />
<div>A tautology is a statement that is always true and that doesn't convey any information. A classic example is 'A or not A', which is true if A is true, but also if A isn't true. 'Either it rains or it doesn't rain' is true, no matter what weather it is. <br />
<br />
"If 1.000.000 people join this group, it will have 1.000.000 people in it" is, strictly speaking, not a tautology, since it wouldn't be true if - somehow - 1.000.000 people were able to join the group without it having 1.000.000 people in it (I don't know - maybe if people leave the group before the counter hit 1.000.000?). It would also be true if there were somehow 1.000.000 members of the group without 1.000.000 people joining it. It is of the form 'if A then A' which is pretty much a much longer version of just 'A'. It's true if it's true, and it isn't if it isn't - so it isn't a tautology.<br />
<br />
The same goes for 'The first rule of the tautology club is the first rule of the tautology club' - It's just a long way of saying "This is the first rule of the tautology club' - which can be true or false.<br />
:No, it's saying that, whatever the first rule of the club is at any given moment, that's the first rule of the club. Which cannot be false. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 16:39, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
Granted; the statements hold enough implied information that we will agree that they are true in a trivial sense, and they are much more fun than 'either there are 1.000.000 people in this group or there aren't 1.000.000 people in this group' and 'either this is the first rule of the tautology club or it isn't' [[Special:Contributions/193.88.197.67|193.88.197.67]] 22:15, 2 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
: While I do understand what you're getting at, you are surprisingly wrong on a few accounts. First, A or not A (i.e. A V ~A) is not always a tautology. I've spent enough painful time around intuitionists to say this whenever I can.<br />
:: How is that not a tautology? For any proposition A, if the proposition is true, then A; if not, then ~A. Logic doesn't allow for a proposition to be both true AND false, nor does it allow for a proposition to be neither true NOR false, so the only remaining possibilities are A and ~A; ergo, A v ~A. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 16:44, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Not in all forms of logic and mathematics. Intuitionism, in particular (check Wikipedia) treats "true" as equivalent to "provable" and "false" as equivalent to "disprovable," since math is not an abstract Platonic ideal, but a human construction. Even under conventional math, "The current King of France is bald" is neither true nor is it false, because there is no current King of France. x \elem S is neither true nor false if x is not well-defined. 02:13, 17 March 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Unnecessary nitpick aside, then, there are more serious things. I presume the sentence, "It would also be true if there were somehow 1.000.000 members of the group without 1.000.000 people joining it," should be, "It would also '''not''' be true if there were somehow 1.000.000 members of the group without 1.000.000 people joining it." (Otherwise, the "also" is used incorrectly, and the sentence is useless.) Unfortunately, this would make it wrong; a statement of the form "if A then B" is not false if B is true and A isn't. (This is the difficulty of making formal logic: the traditional conditional leads to bizarre, vacuous truths.) Also, more seriously, you say that "if A then A" is a longer way of saying "A", or, more formally, that "A → A" is logically equivalent to "A." Unfortunately, this is not the case. The statement "if A then A" is always true, and hence a tautology. You also assert that "A = A" (or "A ↔ A") is logically equivalent to "A", where "A" is "The first rule of tautology club." This is even more obviously false. Even if "The first rule of tautology club" yields falsehood, it is still equivalent to itself.<br />
<br />
:Serious issues aside, I do agree with your sentiment that "[i]f 1.000.000 people join this group, it will have 1.000.000 people in it" is not necessarily a tautology, but removing the ambiguities (did they all join at the same time? did anyone leave?), which would necessarily be done in any formalization of the statement, would yield the tautological "A → A." {{unsigned|Quicksilver}}<br />
<br />
Why does this comic have the [[:Category:Philosophy|Philosophy]] category? Am I missing something? [[User:GameZone|GameZone]] ([[User talk:GameZone|talk]]) 08:27, 6 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Logic is technically philosophy, or at least they're closely connected. [[User:Sciepsilon|Sciepsilon]] ([[User talk:Sciepsilon|talk]]) 20:23, 30 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It is worth noting that this comic is Randall's commentary on certain honor societies, who don't do anything except for selecting new members. Feynman once made a remark to that effect, and may be Randall's influence on the matter. (Or not.) Regardless, this explanation is missing the viewpoint. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.74|108.162.215.74]] 20:53, 28 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I see that nobody's pointed out that the third figure from the left in the third panel appears to be Jason Fox (see [[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]])- known to be one of those nerdy types who would join a tautology club. He is (to my knowledge) perpetually in the fifth grade, though, which does make me a little suspicious. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.24|173.245.56.24]] 00:03, 2 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The [http://www.xkcd.com/703/info.0.json official transcript] actually identifies him as "a shorter male with glasses that bears a striking resemblance to Jason Fox". I'd say the chances of it being him are a little more than "could be". [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.38|173.245.54.38]] 07:02, 15 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''[[Hairbun]] vs. [[Science Girl]]''': should "Hairbun" in this comic be changed to "Science Girl"? I know Science Girl is usually younger, and is usually associated with an interest in science, but IMHO, her appearance here is more characteristic of Science Girl (i.e. the curly ponytail hanging from the hairbun). She may have been called "Hairbun" here because this comic was fairly early, before the "Science Girl" character became a regular; for example, even as late as [[1520: Degree-Off]], she was originally called "Hairbun", but was later changed to "Science Girl". [https://store.xkcd.com/products/opinions-bumper-sticker Opinions]? (Also, same for [[1511: Spice Girl]]?) – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 00:22, 21 September 2020 (UTC)<br />
:For what it's worth, I think that's Science Girl. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 13:00, 17 January 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2593:_Deviled_Eggs&diff=228418Talk:2593: Deviled Eggs2022-03-15T03:24:09Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
First commit was accidentally wiped off because an edit conflict with somebody who changed "created by a bot" to "created by an EGG" :( Am sad now. [[User:Mumingpo|Mumingpo]] ([[User talk:Mumingpo|talk]]) 02:45, 15 March 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The blue flash mentioned in the title text represents Cherenkov Radiation. In the case of the Demon Core accidents, those who saw the blue flashes saw it because of gamma radiation being slowed by the fluid inside of their eyeballs. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.137|172.69.42.137]] 02:46, 15 March 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Pretty sure the blue flash relates to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash#Blue_flashes sunset phenomenon] (usually a green flash as mentioned in [[766: Green Flash]], but can be blue). [[User:Clam|Clam]] ([[User talk:Clam|talk]]) 02:47, 15 March 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Whenever the explanation is added, it needs to reference [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1242:_Scary_Names 1242: Scary Names], which talks about the Demon Core. [[User:Trimeta|Trimeta]] ([[User talk:Trimeta|talk]]) 02:49, 15 March 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Summary would likely be better formatted in table to match spatial arrangement of original comic labels[[User:Abstreudel|Abstreudel]] ([[User talk:Abstreudel|talk]]) 02:53, 15 March 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A comment was misplaced below this discussion form. I tried to delete it but ended up deleting the whole discussion section for a moment. Would someone take care of that? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 03:24, 15 March 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2593:_Deviled_Eggs&diff=2284172593: Deviled Eggs2022-03-15T03:22:37Z<p>172.70.110.209: Undo revision 228416 by 172.70.110.209 (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2593<br />
| date = March 14, 2022<br />
| title = Deviled Eggs<br />
| image = deviled_eggs.png<br />
| titletext = The foil on the toothpick represents the blue flash.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a HEN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
A {{w|deviled egg}} is a dish created by cutting a hard-boiled egg into halves and replacing the yolk with a paste frequently made from the yolk itself. Randall Monroe parodies the dish by creating several alternative versions of the dish for other professions using word plays on the name of the dish.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
!Name<br />
!Description<br />
|-<br />
|Deviled egg<br />
|The original dish.<br />
|-<br />
|Leveled egg<br />
|Many landscaping projects require a leveled ground to work on{{Citation needed}}. As such, a landscaper may prefer serve their deviled egg with a perfectly flat surface.<br />
|-<br />
|Beveled egg<br />
|Bevel is a design pattern of creating non-perpendicular surfaces between adjacent edges. A designer may prefer to serve their eggs with beveled edges to give their eggs a more modern, aesthetically pleasing look.<br />
|-<br />
|Demon egg<br />
|The {{w|Demon core}} is a piece of sub-critical plutonium created during the Manhattan Project to investigate the properties of criticality. The piece of plutonium got its name from the 2 criticality incidents that occurred when scientists were investigating this property. The first accident resulted in the death of {{w|Harry Daghlian}}. In the second experiment, the core was covered between two neutron reflecting shells separated by a screwdriver. The screwdriver became dislodged, causing the core to become completely covered by the neutron reflecting shell, bringing the core past its criticality limit. A large amount of radiation caused the subsequent death of physicist {{w|Louis Slotin}}. The dome of the boiled egg and the toothpick resemble the configuration of the experiment.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The Demon Core was also referred to in [https://xkcd.com/1242/ 1242: Scary Names].<br />
<br />
The title texts refers to {{w|Cherenkov Radiation}}, a "sonic boom" of blue light created by particles travelling faster than the speed of light in a medium.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
(Below image of ordinary deviled egg) '''Chef''' Deviled Egg (Below image of flat deviled egg resembling half of a hard-boiled egg) '''Landscaper''' Leveled Egg (Below image of egg resembling ordinary deviled egg, except with edges of white chamfered) '''Designer''' Beveled Egg (Below image of egg with hemispherical white as before, but full spherical yolk within and feathered toothpick inserted into core yolk sideways at a slight angle to the equator) '''Physicist''' Demon Egg{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
This comic is one of a limited number containing color; in this case, the yellow of the egg yolk, burnt red of presumably paprika, and blue toothpick foil are the only colors added. The toothpick foil is drawn in a way vaguely resembling arrow feathering.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2593:_Deviled_Eggs&diff=2284162593: Deviled Eggs2022-03-15T03:22:13Z<p>172.70.110.209: Misplaced "Discussion" comment; added a category to resolve the comment anyway.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2593<br />
| date = March 14, 2022<br />
| title = Deviled Eggs<br />
| image = deviled_eggs.png<br />
| titletext = The foil on the toothpick represents the blue flash.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a HEN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
A {{w|deviled egg}} is a dish created by cutting a hard-boiled egg into halves and replacing the yolk with a paste frequently made from the yolk itself. Randall Monroe parodies the dish by creating several alternative versions of the dish for other professions using word plays on the name of the dish.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
!Name<br />
!Description<br />
|-<br />
|Deviled egg<br />
|The original dish.<br />
|-<br />
|Leveled egg<br />
|Many landscaping projects require a leveled ground to work on{{Citation needed}}. As such, a landscaper may prefer serve their deviled egg with a perfectly flat surface.<br />
|-<br />
|Beveled egg<br />
|Bevel is a design pattern of creating non-perpendicular surfaces between adjacent edges. A designer may prefer to serve their eggs with beveled edges to give their eggs a more modern, aesthetically pleasing look.<br />
|-<br />
|Demon egg<br />
|The {{w|Demon core}} is a piece of sub-critical plutonium created during the Manhattan Project to investigate the properties of criticality. The piece of plutonium got its name from the 2 criticality incidents that occurred when scientists were investigating this property. The first accident resulted in the death of {{w|Harry Daghlian}}. In the second experiment, the core was covered between two neutron reflecting shells separated by a screwdriver. The screwdriver became dislodged, causing the core to become completely covered by the neutron reflecting shell, bringing the core past its criticality limit. A large amount of radiation caused the subsequent death of physicist {{w|Louis Slotin}}. The dome of the boiled egg and the toothpick resemble the configuration of the experiment.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The Demon Core was also referred to in [https://xkcd.com/1242/ 1242: Scary Names].<br />
<br />
The title texts refers to {{w|Cherenkov Radiation}}, a "sonic boom" of blue light created by particles travelling faster than the speed of light in a medium.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
(Below image of ordinary deviled egg) '''Chef''' Deviled Egg (Below image of flat deviled egg resembling half of a hard-boiled egg) '''Landscaper''' Leveled Egg (Below image of egg resembling ordinary deviled egg, except with edges of white chamfered) '''Designer''' Beveled Egg (Below image of egg with hemispherical white as before, but full spherical yolk within and feathered toothpick inserted into core yolk sideways at a slight angle to the equator) '''Physicist''' Demon Egg{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2593:_Deviled_Eggs&diff=2284152593: Deviled Eggs2022-03-15T03:21:25Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2593<br />
| date = March 14, 2022<br />
| title = Deviled Eggs<br />
| image = deviled_eggs.png<br />
| titletext = The foil on the toothpick represents the blue flash.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a HEN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
A {{w|deviled egg}} is a dish created by cutting a hard-boiled egg into halves and replacing the yolk with a paste frequently made from the yolk itself. Randall Monroe parodies the dish by creating several alternative versions of the dish for other professions using word plays on the name of the dish.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
!Name<br />
!Description<br />
|-<br />
|Deviled egg<br />
|The original dish.<br />
|-<br />
|Leveled egg<br />
|Many landscaping projects require a leveled ground to work on{{Citation needed}}. As such, a landscaper may prefer serve their deviled egg with a perfectly flat surface.<br />
|-<br />
|Beveled egg<br />
|Bevel is a design pattern of creating non-perpendicular surfaces between adjacent edges. A designer may prefer to serve their eggs with beveled edges to give their eggs a more modern, aesthetically pleasing look.<br />
|-<br />
|Demon egg<br />
|The {{w|Demon core}} is a piece of sub-critical plutonium created during the Manhattan Project to investigate the properties of criticality. The piece of plutonium got its name from the 2 criticality incidents that occurred when scientists were investigating this property. The first accident resulted in the death of {{w|Harry Daghlian}}. In the second experiment, the core was covered between two neutron reflecting shells separated by a screwdriver. The screwdriver became dislodged, causing the core to become completely covered by the neutron reflecting shell, bringing the core past its criticality limit. A large amount of radiation caused the subsequent death of physicist {{w|Louis Slotin}}. The dome of the boiled egg and the toothpick resemble the configuration of the experiment.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The Demon Core was also referred to in [https://xkcd.com/1242/ 1242: Scary Names].<br />
<br />
The title texts refers to {{w|Cherenkov Radiation}}, a "sonic boom" of blue light created by particles travelling faster than the speed of light in a medium.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
(Below image of ordinary deviled egg) '''Chef''' Deviled Egg (Below image of flat deviled egg resembling half of a hard-boiled egg) '''Landscaper''' Leveled Egg (Below image of egg resembling ordinary deviled egg, except with edges of white chamfered) '''Designer''' Beveled Egg (Below image of egg with hemispherical white as before, but full spherical yolk within and feathered toothpick inserted into core yolk sideways at a slight angle to the equator) '''Physicist''' Demon Egg{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
This comic is one of a limited number containing color; in this case, the yellow of the egg yolk, burnt red of presumably paprika, and blue toothpick foil are the only colors added. The toothpick foil is drawn in a way vaguely resembling arrow feathering.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2103:_Midcontinent_Rift_System&diff=2283842103: Midcontinent Rift System2022-03-14T22:31:35Z<p>172.70.110.209: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2103<br />
| date = January 25, 2019<br />
| title = Midcontinent Rift System<br />
| image = midcontinent_rift_system.png<br />
| titletext = The best wedge issue is an actual wedge.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Recently, USA politics has caused polarization of the public.<ref>[https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/215210/partisan-differences-growing-number-issues.aspx Partisan Differences Growing on a Number of Issues]</ref> It is said to be “split” in two camps (liberal, mostly loyal to the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party}}, and conservative, mostly loyal to the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party}}). Here [[Black Hat]] is trying to get elected to some sort of federal office in the {{w|2020 United States elections|at the time upcoming 2020 elections}} by promising he will actually split America in two. His presentation illustrates, using a giant crowbar, the completion of the {{w|Midcontinent Rift System|Midcontinent Rift}}, which is a large crack that started to form about 1.1 billion years ago, but failed to completely sever the continent. Around the same time, the rift was also mentioned in "How To", Chapter 9: How to build a lava moat.<br />
<br />
It is unclear why anyone would vote for such a thing, but people directly affected (the Midwest) are likely to vote against [[Black Hat]]. While Black Hat and his campaign advisor [[Ponytail]] speak of weakness in the Midwest, they are talking about two different things: Black Hat refers to the physical weakness of the North American Plate in the Midwest due to the geological rift which he thinks could be exploited by a large enough crowbar, while Ponytail is referring to a political weakness for Black Hat’s campaign in the Midwest due to the likely-unpopular proposal (different regions of the US have different voters and populations who have different priorities and stances, so candidates and their campaigns’ platforms will likely be more popular in some regions and less popular in others). In this case a successful or attempted completion of the rift would likely result in the destruction of millions of houses, buildings, and other man-made structures, not to mention the deaths of many humans (if proper evacuation were not fully implemented and enforced) as well as millions of animals that could not be evacuated. The proposal would also cause huge economic impacts; the Midwest produces a significant proportion of America’s food supplies and hosts important economic centres, such as Chicago and Cleveland. So the popularity among those directly or even indirectly affected is likely quite low. The successful passing of a highly destructive measure such as this would generally involve more direct and overwhelming compensation of the many interests that would otherwise be harmed, to incentivize them to vote against their present livelihood.<br />
<br />
The title text is a pun. A {{w|wedge issue}} is a controversial issue which splits apart a demographic group. It is often introduced to create controversy within an opponent’s base so that if the opponent takes any position on the issue, half the voters will desert the opponent. Here the joke is that the “wedge issue” is an actual wedge to split apart the United States. It could potentially be a wedge issue, as while most people would oppose such a measure, some people could be convinced that it would benefit certain Midwestern cities by making them port cities, which would result in an economic boom and make trade easier if those cities weren't destroyed. Also, some die-hard liberals living outside the Midwest might favor the destruction of the Midwest because it tends to vote conservative. Ponytail seems to state that Black Hat's proposal is only unpopular in the Midwest.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A map of North America shows the Midcontinent Rift System as a red line curving through the Great Lakes and down through the midwestern United States.]<br />
:1.1 billion years ago, the North American continent began to split in half.<br />
<br />
:[Black Hat stands at a lectern with a "Vote 2020" sign on it. He gestures to an image of the globe with a giant crowbar inserted in the rift with an arrow indicating applying pressure to widen the rift.]<br />
:Black Hat: We don’t know why it stopped. If elected, I vow to ''finish'' the job. Thank you.<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail, Black Hat, Megan, and Cueball walk to the right away from a set of stairs. Cueball is looking at a phone and Ponytail is looking at a device or paper with writing on it.]<br />
:Ponytail: Great job up there.<br />
:Black Hat: Thanks! How are my polling numbers?<br />
:Ponytail: Well, I’m seeing some weakness in the Midwest.<br />
:Black Hat: So am I. So am I.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Elections]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Public speaking]]</div>172.70.110.209https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2589:_Outlet_Denier&diff=2280132589: Outlet Denier2022-03-06T00:17:23Z<p>172.70.110.209: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2589<br />
| date = March 4, 2022<br />
| title = Outlet Denier<br />
| image = outlet_denier.png<br />
| titletext = There are regularly placed bumps on the underside just the right size to press the rocker switch on the power strip.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an OUTLET IN DENIAL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is the fifth installment in the series of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] and depicts a plug that covers a whole power bar. <br />
<br />
Many appliances require transformers or other large components on their power cord. Sometimes these "power bricks" are built around the plug, and these will block access to other sockets on a power strip or wall outlet. Some seem deliberately designed to block the other half of a duplex outlet, causing users to believe plugging anything else in would overload the circuit (only true in extreme cases). The comic depicts an extreme case of a cumbersome connector shape designed to block an entire power strip.<br />
<br />
Many (most?) power strips have a rocker-style power switch at one end, that can be used to turn on and off all the outlets. The title text says that this connector has bumps that match up with that location no matter which outlet of the strip it is plugged into. It's not clear whether this will turn the power switch off or force it always on. But either way, it gets in the way of the user being able to control the power themselves.<br />
<br />
Besides, many outlets are around a foot from the ground. It appears that this plug is so large that it cannot attach to any of these outlets, as the bottom part would run into the floor. <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Cursed Connectors #78<br />
<br />
[Drawing of a power strip with a rocker switch and a connector that would cover the whole power strip.]<br />
<br />
The outlet denier<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category: Cursed Connectors]]</div>172.70.110.209