https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.70.110.230&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T14:57:32ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2735:_Coordinate_Plane_Closure&diff=305981Talk:2735: Coordinate Plane Closure2023-02-08T22:46:45Z<p>172.70.110.230: </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 />
Is there significance to the fact that the axes aren't labeled in the warning? Can I plot y = 0.75x today or not?[[User:Brossa|Brossa]] ([[User talk:Brossa|talk]]) 15:05, 8 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
: you cannot because it intersects the given square as shown in this desmos thing i whipped up in 2 seconds: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/zb9nbrl6s5 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.29|172.70.43.29]] 15:38, 8 February 2023 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
::I can if the forbidden coordinates are 1 ≤ x ≤1.5 and 1.5 ≤ y ≤2[[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.66|172.70.131.66]] 15:56, 8 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
::: In the absence of other information, assuming horizontal ''x'' and vertical ''y'' would be conventional. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.145|141.101.98.145]] 19:15, 8 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
"Hole" is also sometimes used to mean a particular coordinate on a function which is discontinous at some point but could have a value (for example sinx/x with a hole at (0,1)). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.92|172.70.206.92]] 19:18, 8 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
Randall listed 2 points, yet the cordoned off area is a square. 2 points define a line, not a square, he really should have thought of that. How is someone to know the invalid points without the diagram? Even with the diagram, we don't know whether points on the boundary are included! Is the line y=1 a valid line to draw? THESE ARE QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED RANDALL BE MATHEMATICALLY RIGOROUS NEXT TIME.<br />
: One reason could simply be the alignment between the coordinates and time. Reading out the numbers without paying attention to the mathematical punctuation you can form the sentence "the coordinate plane will be closed Thursday between 1:51 and 2:15 to repair a hole", following the typical structure of such a notice to not just provide a day but a time.<br />
Ironically, the notice makes it sound like using y=1 is fine, and the affected region is only strictly greater than y=1. That would make the region that's closed an open set, and the region that's open a closed set. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 22:46, 8 February 2023 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2731:_K-Means_Clustering&diff=3055612731: K-Means Clustering2023-01-31T00:44:26Z<p>172.70.110.230: Fixed typo</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2731<br />
| date = January 30, 2023<br />
| title = K-Means Clustering<br />
| image = k_means_clustering_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 320x385px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = According to my especially unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm, there are currently about 8 billion types of people in the world.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by EITHER 8 BILLION OR 3 TYPES OF BOTS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
A popular class of wry observations begin with "There are two types of people in the world... those that $do-something, and those that $do-something-else". The most self-referent version is the joke "There are two types of people in the world - those that divide people into two types, and those that don't".<br />
<br />
{{w|K-means_clustering|''k''-means clustering}} is a method of categorizing data: it determines the clumpiness of data and will tell you how many clumps there are. For example, it might categorize a population into two clumps, and indicate on a graph that the data is composed of two distinct populations. <br />
<br />
Ponytail's determination that there are three clusters is unsurprising if she herself falls into the category of those who use K=3 as a fixed value, which will inevitably result in three data clusters regardless of actual distribution, a call back to the aforementioned joke. The qualitative interpretation of the other two categories — that is, what placement in the other two categories means — is unclear as Ponytail's analysis is either using a binary criterion (whether or not one sorts data into three groups) as the basis for sorting people into three categories, or is a black box using unknown criteria and she has only been able to determine that her own group shares the tendency to group things into threes. <br />
<br />
The title text refers to a K-means algorithm with the opposite problem, with no reduction of K value to converge any two human beings into a common cluster based on shared traits. This is humorous because it would make such a clustering useless for the purposes for which a K-Means Clustering is typically used, such as of making insurance risk pools or targets of advertisement campaigns.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, by including the entire human population, the algorithm should be immune to bias in creating its input data. However, since every human is unique,{{cn}} the only way to have the clusters converge is to "throw out" some traits of humans as unimportant. This may be objectionable to humans who disagree with that assessment. In contrast, in a supervised algorithm, the training data is tagged with traits that the trainers seek. These traits could be applied in a manner that is socially unacceptable, and lead to AI behavior that reflects the biases of the trainers.<br />
<br />
This comic is potentially an adaptation of the joke "There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those that understand binary and those that don't."<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:Ponytail is presenting on a stage, pointing a screen with a stick. The writings and possible figures on the screen are illegible.<br />
<br />
:Ponytail: Our analysis shows that there are three kinds of people in the world: Those who use ''k''-means clustering with ''k''=3, and two other types whose qualitative interpretation is unclear.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Statistics]]</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2729:_Planet_Killer_Comet_Margarita&diff=305558Talk:2729: Planet Killer Comet Margarita2023-01-31T00:08:37Z<p>172.70.110.230: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
A standard LR1 oil tanker holds, at most, [https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=17991#:~:text=These%20ships%20can%20access%20most,of%20light%20sweet%20crude%20oil 25.8 million] gallons of gasoline. At an IBA specification of 50ml of tequila per margarita, Randall's ratio would make 1.95 billion margaritas, or around 6 for every resident of the United States assuming they could all be assembled at the base of Lake Mead. {{unsigned ip|172.68.70.120|21:41, 25 January 2023}}<br />
:Of course they could be. "Free margaritas (only ''slightly'' contaminated by radioactive fall-out)" will surely attract all but the most sober and serious types... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 00:25, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:25.8 * 10^6 litre times 4000 tankers divided by 50ml gives 2.064 x 10^12 cocktails. Divided by 332 million residents of the US results in more like 6216 cocktails per person. [[User:OceanOle|OceanOle]] ([[User talk:OceanOle|talk]]) 11:17, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It's also a riff on Stan Freberg's routine about turning Lake Michigan into a giant chocolate Sundae. {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.21|23:42, 25 January 2023}}<br />
<br />
2022's record-breaking tequila production could fill about [https://mexicodailypost.com/2022/12/21/tequila-breaks-record-in-production-and-exports/ about seven oil tankers]. Since tequila production in any significant quantity started less than 500 years ago, 4000 tankers of tequila would be more tequila than has ever existed. -[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.216|172.69.68.216]] 04:08, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I interpreted "on the rocks" in this case to refer to the terrain downstream of Lake Mead, rather than the rocky material of the comet. Though either one seems reasonable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.68|172.71.82.68]] 04:35, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
According to Wikipedia, Lake Mead contains a volume of up to 34.82 km^3. Assuming 2 cocktails of 0.3 litre per person, Lake Mead can store enough margarita for 5.8 x 10^13 people or around 7250 times the current world population. So you don't have to feel any guilt for getting a third cocktail. [[User:OceanOle|OceanOle]] ([[User talk:OceanOle|talk]]) 11:04, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Well, that'll give the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster a run for its money... [[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:09, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Should we really have "citation needed" for the description of "on the rocks"? I got that description from the Wikipedia page for Margarita. I thought we use this sarcastically for things that are obviously true and don't really need citation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:28, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I feel like someone needs to explain more about the 20 trillion limes. That's easily over 2,000 limes per person (even more per adult) on the planet. Right now, the explanation says the recipe provides 1,705 servings of tequila per adult on the planet. So, there is more lime juice than tequila? That seems like a lot to me (I thought the lime was a garnish?), but I don't know much about margaritas. {{unsigned ip|172.70.114.7|18:03, 26 January 2023}}<br />
:Well, it's certainly in the right range of "seems like a lot". And I couldn't tell you (though doubtless it is look-uppable) whether a single (sliced?/notched?) lime is used but... Little paper umbrellas! If there's one thing I remember from my time in the general proximity of cocktails, it's those little paper umbrellas. (No, I know the margarita isn't a rum-based 'tiki' drink but, from where I am, all such things were as exotic and distant as each other and I'm not sure that barstaff of the eighties were particularly discriminating in the manner of the non-tastable decorations.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.97|172.71.242.97]] 18:52, 26 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
You realize, of course, the shock wave from the blast that fragments the comet's nucleus would most likely also shatter the dam, releasing a wall of Margarita downstream similar to 1919's Boston Molasses Flood that killed 21 people. But what a way to go! [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 03:49, 27 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Ice is pretty tough stuff. 'Dirty ice' might be slightly less so, but can still be reasonably so (and 'icy dirt' might be actually just slump into a gravel-and-other-aggregates-slurry once it finds itself at 1G), it all depending on whether it melt-welded together as it came together (or immediately after it survived its last major hit by another significant body) whilst only under the influence of its own component gravity.<br />
:The 'rubber duck' binodal nature of this comet nucleus sort of indicates how much the body could maintain structure (and how much might have shattered and, sticking around, redistributed itself). There's a WhatIf2 bit (though I don't have the book with me) about what things can maintain structural integrity under Earth (and greater) gravities and I don't ''think'' ice was included, but even given that I think that the comet would crack and slump a bit, unless added gently enough to the drinks mix to initially float like an iceberg, it seems a given that the very need for an Armageddon solution indicates a continued and significantly unfractured solidity that ''requires'' a given megatonage of explosive power to fracture. Not just a simple hit of an icepick (or the prising loose of a proto-acorn by a proto-squirrel) to cause its destruction into loads of tiny shards.<br />
:Comet 67P/C–G is several miles wide (slightly narrower at the 'neck', but still a good half-mile or so) and 103P/Hartley smaller but still a good fraction of a mile wide. Other comets, perhaps more famed for being more visible due to their sizes, are tens of miles or more.<br />
:Underground nuclear testing has shown how far down within rock (and overlying pedosphere) you should put a nuclear device to not just nakedly burst straight out through to the surface (however much you plug the test-insertion hole), but at most just cause a slumping crater as the Zone Of Irreversible Strain acts to self-seal against immediate venting. Ice is comparable to the the least dense rocks, in strength, which is still significant. Having an eye on the actual composition of our chosen mass of dirty-ice, and without the worries of whether we need to overkill the explosion to avoid biting the interplanetary bullet (and, perhaps instead, facing up to an interplanetary 'shotgun blast' of very nearly the same mass!) we can choose our yield intelligently to ensure that the limits of the Crushed Zone of the blast are well within the nucleus's edges, with the rest of the ice being either already within the Cracked Zone or (by having cracked, crushed or, with the innermost zone, melted the rest) primed the 'intact' bits to be unable to sufficiently support themselves against gravity. Calculations might need to be done to ensure no explosive-lensing is liable to focus upon the dam-wall (several miles away), but there's a reason why the Dambusters had to have a weapon that delivered itself ''exactly'' against their chosen dams' inner faces at a precise depth... The energy reacts differently entering liquid rather than solid. Perhaps the biggest danger is an overtopping tsunami of as yet uniced drink?<br />
:As a bonus, the water content is a good neutron-stopper, and I'm assuming we're going for a clean-as-possible thermonuclear option, so a quite small fissile stage with no need for fission-fusion-fission chaining. The biggest danger might be the lead you use in place of U-238 tampering, but diluted into so much liquid (alcohol, juice and whatever water there is), an itty-bitty comet-cracker is probably barely significant to add to the mix. You probably have more metal/contaminants from whatever remains of the drill-rig than the bomb. And any chunks (or recondensed lumps) probably settle to the bed of Lake Margarita and never make their way to the turbines. I do worry about those turbine blades being damaged by the ice-chunks, more than anything, though if they [i]can[/i] survive it then it might help with the mixing and making the crushed ice even more crushed.<br />
:That said, there are a lot of unknowns that I'm just assuming will be handled 'correctly'. And trusting to Randall's basic schematic, despite clearly depicting the Hoover Dam as if made of blocks, rather than a continuously-poured concrete structure that does have internal gaps (construction time cooling ducts and maintence tunnels, plus any flow-relief channels not actually cut through the canyon's sidewalls) that might match the image. So I make assumptions of my own and await the discovery that, when we ''really'' do it, the first few thousand people awaiting the start of the drinks party end up getting brained by a mass of surprisingly ballistic limes, or something. (I'd be happy to watch, either way. But from well upstream and upwind, if I can arrange it, there'll be enough livestreamers to ensure that I need not miss any part of the initial spectacle. And, if it works without a hitch or general mass public disorder unrelated to any of the above, no chance of them running dry before I get handed my own glass or two.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.241|141.101.99.241]] 11:36, 27 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Would anyone happen to know how many limes exist on Earth at any one time, to the nearest trillion? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 00:08, 31 January 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== A vaguely related filk song ==<br />
<br />
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epGCIKIQMOQ Molecular Clouds] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.55|162.158.203.55]] 12:32, 27 January 2023 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1921:_The_Moon_and_the_Great_Wall&diff=305121Talk:1921: The Moon and the Great Wall2023-01-22T03:30:07Z<p>172.70.110.230: Yes, nitpicking astronomy terminology.</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 />
https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/workinginspace/great_wall.html<br />
<br />
gives something like an authoritative explanation togeter with photos taken from the ISS.<br />
<br />
Summary: the great wall can't really be seen from space. But you may be able to spot its shape if the conditions are right. Such as light from the right direction (see the shadow), or snow accumulating on one side of the wall but not the other.<br />
<br />
Jyrki Lahtonen<br />
<br />
<br />
"The statement in the comic, however, is actually true." - It might be, but the part about the Great Wall in it is somewhat irrelevant - it is equally true also from anywhere else in the world. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.210.88|162.158.210.88]] 09:49, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
Yeah it's simply a reversal of the myth. "The Great Wall of China" could be replaced with "anywhere on Earth". But that would be less funny. [[User:Jdluk|Jdluk]] ([[User talk:Jdluk|talk]]) 10:27, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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The Great Wall is 13,000+ miles long, but only 35 feet wide. It's the narrowness that make it impossible to see from space. If we use thread (approx 1/100th of an inch wide) as an analogue, the GWC can be represent by a piece of thread 732 ft long (1.5 inches equals one mile), viewed from 5.5 feet away (equivalent to the 100 miles "edge of space"), or 1222 ft (22,000 miles geosynchronious orbit) or 2.5 miles (238,855 miles orbit of the moon) [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 15:07, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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: 732 feet long viewed from 5.5 feet away doesn't sound credible. And the "edge of space" is 100 kilometres up, not 100 miles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.40|198.41.238.40]] 03:50, 29 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
:: What part of that don't you find credible? Are you questioning my math? And I guess, the definition of "Edge of Space" has been revised since I first did the calculations when I was in college. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 17:26, 29 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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: "The wall is a maximum 9.1 m (29 ft 10 in) wide ... The apparent width of the Great Wall from the Moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 3 km (2 mi) away." - Wikipedia. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.40|198.41.238.40]] 03:59, 29 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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That's simply false. The Great Wall of China is another structure on the surface of a celestial body that can be seen with the naked eye from the Great Wall of China. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.34|172.68.54.34]] 19:05, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: definition of celestial body: "A natural object which is located OUTSIDE OF EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE, such as the Moon, the Sun, an asteroid, planet, or star."<br />
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/celestial_body<br />
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/celestial?s=t [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.168|172.68.65.168]] 21:04, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: As opposed to terrestrial body, which is, well, the earth XD [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.22|172.68.2.22]]<br />
::: Actually, there are four terrestrial bodies in our solar system alone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_planet https://www.space.com/17028-terrestrial-planets.html [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.239|141.101.104.239]] 15:27, 28 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
:: Could be possibly correct if they were referring to the Celestial Empire (China). Can't tell with mixed case. Probably unlikely.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.227|162.158.79.227]] 03:30, 30 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Those merlons are way too small. They are not going to protect Megan & Ponytail from incoming arrows. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.34|172.68.54.34]] 19:08, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
: Depends how high the wall is... Perhaps in order to reach the top of the wall archers might need to be so close that the merlons are actually sufficient. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:19, 28 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
::Looking at the pictures on the wiki-page, the merlons are indeed taller than what one would infer from the comic. Obviously the characters are standing on loose stones or crates or something. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.22|141.101.76.22]] 18:23, 13 December 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So the moral of this comic is that Randall doesn't classify cometary tails as celestial bodies? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 03:30, 22 January 2023 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2723:_Outdated_Periodic_Table&diff=3045382723: Outdated Periodic Table2023-01-11T14:33:00Z<p>172.70.110.230: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2723<br />
| date = January 11, 2023<br />
| title = Outdated Periodic Table<br />
| image = outdated_periodic_table_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 360x350px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Researchers claim to have synthesized six additional elements in the second row, temporarily named 'pentium' through 'unnilium'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created HALF AN HOUR AFTER THE CREATION OF EXPLAINXKCD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Some elements don't occur naturally here and we have to synthesize them. Those elements are excluded from the periodic table until they are synthesized and no longer theoretical. When the Big Bang banged (bigly), it took a while for elements that today are naturally occurring to form for the first time.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to how yet undiscovered elements are given a temporary name according to how many protons they have. Here the numbers are very low ("pentium" being based on "penta-" which means "five") because only four elements had been discovered at the time of publication.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:Figure 6.14<br />
:The periodic table of the elements<br />
:Hydrogen<br />
:Helium<br />
:Lithium<br />
:Beryllium<br />
:You can spot an outdated science textbook by checking the bottom of the periodic table for missing elements. For example, mine was published half an hour after the Big Bang.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2659:_Unreliable_Connection&diff=3040652659: Unreliable Connection2023-01-04T10:30:56Z<p>172.70.110.230: </p>
<hr />
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<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2712<br />
| date = December 16, 2022<br />
| title = Gravity<br />
| image = gravity_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 740x700px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = It's a long way down.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
*To experience the interactivity, visit the [http://xkcd.com/2712/ original comic].<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THE UNIVERSE FROM A PIECE OF FAIRY CAKE- Please continue expanding and describing the various bodies. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In this interactive comic, the viewer pilots a small spaceship throughout a vast area in space. The viewer is capable of exploring various bodies and planets within the play area, many containing easter eggs alluding to the book What If? 2 and previous xkcd comics. The flight mechanics are largely, if not entirely, Newtonian, so the vessel is capable of using the gravity of planets to alter its trajectory or even enter orbit. The spaceship has indicator circles around it which appear when a gravitational body comes into range, showing the direction towards their center of gravity and the size of the body. A circle also appears around the spaceship whenever it collides with a gravitational body, acting as a shield. The shield remains until the player orients the spaceship upright so its landing gear can deploy.<br />
<br />
'''Playing with a keyboard:''' The arrow keys rotate the spaceship and accelerate it forward and backward. You can also use the 'w', 'a', 's' and 'd' keys to control the spaceship. On mobile the comic will full screen, pressing either side of the center rotates the spaceship, and pressing in the center accelerates it forward. It is fairly easy to fly between planets as long as you pay attention to orbital mechanics; don't just floor the accelerator. The background stars show your velocity and orientation relative to the nearest gravity well. If you are having difficulties navigating space, point towards a gravity orb and accelerate for only a few seconds. Wait until the background stars spin wildly, and then reduce your velocity to 0 before gently accelerating towards to object.<br />
<br />
'''Playing on mobile:''' Various additional glitches may occur. Having a starting position slightly below the take-off pad means you're already 'glitched' inside the planet from the off. Escaping the planet may need inverted 'accelerating' (turning perpendicular to the local vertical, and thrusting ''backwards'' until you can glitch back out into more open space. You may also be trapped within the cannonball 'orbit', with seemingly inconsistent collision-detection, such that you can be sat ''with landing gear extended'' upon features (projectile tracks, etc) that seem not to count as solid for most other purposes.<br />
<br />
There is no "universal" point of view — the bottom of the window, "down", is oriented towards the object exerting the most gravity upon the player. Multiple things found in this comic draw attention to this, such as how on Earth Ponytail says to White Hat, "I checked downforeveryoneorjustme.com and it says just me", and he replies "Yeah, I guess down isn't down for everyone."<br />
<br />
Throughout the play area are coins that change the spaceship into different rockets and non-space based vehicles, including humans. <br />
<br />
The comic promotes Randall's new book [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ What If? 2], which was released in September and is available for purchase. Many of the planets contain references to various What If? articles.<br />
<br />
The comic is similar to [[1608: Hoverboard]], which celebrated Thing Explainer instead.<br />
<br />
===Celestial Bodies===<br />
<br />
The following is an incomplete table of features:<br />
<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
!<br />
! <br />
! <br />
!<br />
! colspan="4"|References<br />
! <br />
|-<br />
! ID<br />
! Description<br />
! Transcript<br />
! Tiles (X, Y)<br />
! What If<br />
! XKCD<br />
! Movies<br />
! Other<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|<code>origin</code><br />
|'''Starting planet'''<br />
|<br />
Cueball: "To celebrate the world of ''What If? 2'', here is your very own tiny planet to explore!<br />
<br />
Megan: "Welcome!"<br />
<br />
Ground caption: "Give someone the science question-and-answer book ''What If? 2'' for the Holidays: xkcd.com/whatif2"<br />
<br />
Cueball feeding T-Rex: "Burger?"<br />
<br />
Isaac Newton: "Robert Hooke must be down there ''somewhere!''"<br />
<br />
Megan to Cueball: "If you ever get lost in space, just fly down. That's where the ground is."<br />
<br />
Beret Guy to squirrel: "Hi!"<br />
|(0, 0)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|The starting planet. The player begins on the launch pad in a landed position. Collecting the orbiting cannonball will transform you into a more advanced rocket.<br />
<br />
Cueball feeding the T-Rex is possibly a reference to What If #78: {{what if|78|T-rex Calories}}.<br />
<br />
{{w|Isaac Newton}} is referencing the {{w|Newton's cannonball}} thought experiment, where a cannon is fired at greater and greater speeds until the cannonball goes into orbit. Newton's comment suggests that instead of demonstrating orbits, he is firing repeatedly to hit his rival, {{w|Robert Hooke}}.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>earth</code><br />
|'''Earth'''<br />
|<br />
|(27867,-35648)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|A planet with among other things:<br />
* A [https://what-if.xkcd.com/162/ crane dropping a comet] onto a dinosaur,<br />
* Unusually high speed squirrels (creating a sonic boom)<br />
* Megan inviting Cueball into a pool<br />
* A region where the frame rate is intentionally limited<br />
* A flagpole<br />
* A literal {{w|burrow|rabbithole}} referencing the figuratively speaking [[wikt:rabbit hole|rabbit hole]]<br />
* Someone aiming at a satellite with an arrow<br />
* A lake with an eel<br />
* The [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ earth-moon firepole]<br />
* A volcano<br />
* Two figures being attacked by a third with a sword<br />
* Two kids playing soccer (Catching the ball will turn the ship into a soccer ball)<br />
* A farmer on a tractor being stuck in gooey candy<br />
* A banana pile being consumed by "Bananas Georg" to make the per capita annual banana count round, referencing the "[https://reallyreallyreallytrying.tumblr.com/post/40033025233/average-person-eats-3-spiders-a-year-factoid Spiders Georg]" meme.<br />
* Megan and Cueball digging a hole (in the center of this planet is the "earth's core", referenced below)<br />
* The [https://what-if.xkcd.com/147/ Niagara Falls water being redirected into the LHC] (Large Hadron Collider)<br />
* Japan(?) leaving earth<br />
* A tube to the bottom of the ocean<br />
* Ponytail and White Hat making a reference to [downforeveryoneorjustme.com]<br />
* Two mini asteroid moons: A tiny version of B612 with Little Prince and the rose, plus one with just Cueball standing on it. They can be found by flying straight up from the Super Mario flagpole.<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Earth's core<br />
|<br />
| (28850, -28570)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] floating in a small space in the center of the planet in inverted rotations. Can be legally accessed using a high velocity collision onto the surface of the planet, although requires tapping the up arrow afterwards many, many times.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>europa</code><br />
|'''Europa'''<br />
|<br />
|(13180, -2540)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons (in real life). A broken, icy crust has a single path into its core.<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Europa's crust<br />
|<br />
"It's so unfair we don't get to compete in EuroVision."<br />
<br />
"The region of the solar system where liquid water can exist on the surface is the habitable zone, and the region where it can exist beneath the surface of moons is the Eurozone."<br />
<br />
"WHIRRRR"<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Europa's crust, with a single entrance into the core demarcated by an octopus leaving a hole. <br />
Cueball states that Europa is in the Eurozone, a pun on the ''other'' Eurozone, with liquid underneath its surface.<br />
<br />
A roomba whirs across the icy crust.<br />
<br />
Cueball has a hairdryer and is melting the surface of the crust. A direct reference to [https://what-if.xkcd.com/35/ What If's Hairdryer].<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Europa's core<br />
|"We've always used neutrinos for astronomy, but if we place my 'optical telescope' in orbit above the kryosphere, we could potentially observe the universe using electromagnetic waves. Who knows what else there is out there besides stars! There could be other worlds!" <br />
<br />
"Hi, I'm Annie. Welcome to the depths of Europa. There's some weird stuff down here."<br />
<br />
"We were caught in a powerful November gale on the Great Lakes outside Whitefish Bay. Our ship foundered and sank here." "This is Jupiter's moon Europa." "It was a REALLY powerful gale."<br />
<br />
"Does our book club really need this much secrecy?" "That sounds like a question a SPY would ask."<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A watery ocean with octopi looking out into the great unknown using telescopes. This is a reference to octopus's intelligence here on earth! There's also a secret path leading to a book club, through the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. <br />
|-<br />
|<code>b612</code><br />
|'''B-612'''<br />
|<br />
Probe: "Asteroid deflection mission to earth. The package is delivered. Commencing planetary threat neutralization."<br />
<br />
Sign: "Welcome to B-612"<br />
|(2610,3700)<br />
|y<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to [[618: Asteroid|Asteroid]]. The little prince is having his asteroid blown up as it was heading towards Earth, apparently.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>dogplanet</code><br />
|'''Dog park planet'''<br />
|<br />
|(1240, 11230)<br />
|y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A planet with a dog park. Covered in dogs, along with dog walkers and some fences. There's a hole being dug by two dogs and a dog bone empty space in the center.<br />
|-<br />
| <code>goodhart</code><br />
|'''What If? 2 scenario planet'''<br />
|<br />
Cueball to White Hat: "The tower over there is the Vehicle Assembly Building, and then behind it is the Vehicle Disassembly Building."<br />
<br />
Ponytail to Cueball: "You know how tires pollute the environment with rubber particles? Well, I've developed a solution."<br />
<br />
"MMM SPIDERS HOMF HOMF"<br />
<br />
Shooting star caption: "THE MORE YOU KNOW"<br />
Sauropod: "Oh no!"<br />
<br />
Person on uncontrolled helicopter: "AAAAAA"<br />
<br />
Geyser: "Fwoosh!"<br />
Cueball and Megan: "Oooh!"<br />
<br />
Giant phone crushing city: "ALERT" "Giant phone crushing city" "Dismiss" "More"<br />
<br />
Cueball with jetpack: "Wheeeee!"<br />
<br />
Cueball to Megan: "Do you ever look up at the night sky and think, "Wow, I bet those little white dots taste ''delicious!''"<br />
<br />
Neighbor: "Why is my house on fire ''again?!''<br />
Cueball: "Dunno"<br />
Laser captioned: "Laser"<br />
<br />
Person with Washington Monument: "Okay, let it drop!"<br />
|(-13300,-3260)<br />
|y<br />
|y<br />
|<br />
| Y<br />
| Contains a reference to Kerbal Space Program, whimsically referring to the launchpad as the Vehicle Disassembly Building.<br />
<br />
Contains a figure in a cave saying "MMM SPIDERS HOMF NOMF", which refers to [[1268: Alternate Universe|Alternate Universe]] and may also be a reference to the [https://reallyreallyreallytrying.tumblr.com/post/40033025233/average-person-eats-3-spiders-a-year-factoid Spiders Georg] meme.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>sun</code><br />
|'''The Sun'''<br />
| "The sun is governed by magnetohydrodynamics, or 'Magic' for short"<br />
<br />
"My countertop!"<br />
<br />
"This will make a good soup base"<br />
<br />
"Can I touch it yet?" "No, be patient. It's still too hot. Give it another 20 or 30 billion years."<br />
<br />
"It's okay. I'm wearing five layers of sunscreen."<br />
<br />
TV Anchor: "The forecast for today is lots of sun"<br />
<br />
"This should be enough sunscreen"<br />
|(-14950, 12080)<br />
|y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Difficult to escape from if you hit the core. <br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Sun's core <br />
| Cueball: "The core of the sun may seem hot, but it only produces about as much energy per volume as a lizard" Megan: "Wow. So how many lizards are there?" Cueball: "No-one knows."<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Difficult to escape from. Can be escaped by rotating around the sun until an escape-like velocity could be reached.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>soupiter</code><br />
|'''Soupiter'''<br />
|"I think it's chicken noodle? Hard to tell."<br />
|(-800, -9040)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A planet made of soup, with a core. As commented by Cueball, noodle soup. Has several small versions of other planets floating around it.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>nojapan</code><br />
|'''Earth without Japan'''<br />
|"Something is missing."<br />
|(-7680, -5850)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Earth, except it's missing japan.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>japanmoon</code><br />
|'''Just Japan'''<br />
|<br />
|(-5930, -5800)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A moon with water surrounding... just Japan.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>pigeons</code><br />
|'''A blob labeled "Pigeons"'''<br />
|<br />
|(-9020, -2490)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to Chapter 6 of What If? 2, where it would take 1.6 x 10^25 pigeons to lift you and a chair up to the halfway point of Australia's Q1 skyscraper.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>enterprise</code><br />
|'''Starship Enterprise'''<br />
|<br />
|(2389, -60879)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Star Trek reference: The Enterprise-C, yes 2344,commanded by Captain Garrett's. While defending a Klingon outpost, the weapons discharges resulted in the creation of a temporal rift, through which the badly damaged Enterprise drifted. In the comic, there is a large, invisible gravity distortion near the Enterprise-C<br />
|-<br />
|<code>qwantz</code><br />
|'''Dinosaur planet'''<br />
|"Welcome... to Jurassic Park."<br />
| (20403,-49559)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|An homage to [https://www.qwantz.com/ Dinosaur Comics], a webcomic Randall has mentioned several times before. All the dinosaurs on the planet are black-and-white versions of the clip art dinosaurs in that comic. Also references the Jurassic Park movies, with CEO John Hammond welcoming paleontologists Dr. Sattler and Dr. Grant to the planet. The long grass depicted is a plot point in later films.<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''What If? 1 scenario planet'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<!-- is this just Earth? --><br />
|-<br />
|<code>roads</code><br />
|'''Cat blocking traffic flowing through portals'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|<code>outside</code><br />
|'''Edge of the Universe'''<br />
|<br />
| ( 6081, 26138 )<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|It looks like a planet labeled "edge of the universe". Outside the universe, so inside the "edge of the universe planet", is another universe, the bubble universe. Hidden entrance is between 10 and 11 'o clock. <br />
|-<br />
|<code>roads</code><br />
|'''A tree larger than the planet it's growing on'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|May be a reference to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|Petit Trees]]. More probably, a reference to ''The Little Prince'', a French children's novel about a traveler from a distant asteroid. In the novel, baobab trees are a serious threat to the Prince's home asteroid, as they are so large that their roots would engulf the asteroid entirely. Randall has alluded to The Little Prince numerous times before, especially in what-if articles.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>outside</code><br />
|'''Milliways'''<br />
|<br />
| in code: <code>[0,-14500]</code><br>in game: <code>[0,29000]</code><br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|Y<br />
|A reference to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. On one side of the planet, Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, and other characters gather on the patio of the Milliways restaurant; on the other side, the Sojourner rover examines a rock.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>greatattractor</code><br />
|'''The Great Attractor'''<br />
|<br />
|(-596048, 247952)<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Beret Guy stands on the surface of a large ball labeled "The Great Attractor". The gravity is extremely strong (over 200 times that of the black holes), leading to various bugs and collision issues. It's a reference to [[Great Attractor]], in which Beret Guy is gravitationally attracted to the Great Attractor more strongly than usual.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>present</code><br />
|'''Present'''<br />
|<br />
"I didn't do any of my Christmas shopping yet because I was too busy drawing tiny planets."<br />
<br />
"I'm done with my shopping! I got everyone What if? 2"<br />
<br />
"...You got me my own book?"<br />
<br />
"Yeah! I figured that since you wrote it, it must be right up your alley."<br />
<br />
"It does make a good gift, though. You can get it at xkcd.com/whatif2"<br />
<br />
"I got you this present!"<br />
<br />
"Is it an angry bobcat?"<br />
<br />
"It might not be."<br />
|in code: <code>[22820,-18920]</code><br>in game: <code>[45640,37840]</code><br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|The XKCD cast react to giving each other What if 2? as a present. Gravity at the bottom of the missing quarter of the planet<!-- fixed? --> is inescapable. Black Hat gives Cueball a "gift" which he claims "might not be a bobcat", a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus]]<br />
|-<br />
|<code>maw1</code>, <code>maw2</code>, ... <code>maw14</code><br />
|'''Black hole cluster'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A cluster of black holes with extremely high gravitational strength, set to the maximum of 2048. Not particularly easy to land on with multiple conflicting gravitational fields, but once landed on, rather difficult to escape.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>remnant</code><br />
|'''Remnant'''<br />
|"All right, that's close enough"<br />
"Oh no"<br />
<br />
{{w|Walkin' on the Sun|"So don't delay, act now, supplies are running out"}}<br />
<br />
"In 5 billion years, the Sun will run out of fuel and suffer gigennial burnout."<br />
<br />
"The immense gravity of the sun's remnant means that this is the tallest possible skyscraper."<br />
|(19620, 3800)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A stellar remnant, with high gravity (making it difficult to escape, although it's possible to achieve escape velocity by flying sideways). Has various small landmarks, including a "skyscraper" and suspension bridge. There are bombs being dropped from above the planet, with one that seems to be sledding on the planet.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>steerswoman</code><br />
|'''Steerswoman Planet'''<br />
|"As a Steerswoman, I have to answer any question anyone asks me, or I'm expelled from the order."<br />
"What's one question that you would be unwilling to answer?"<br />
"Oh no."<br />
<br />
"Handle this artifact with great care. It contains a magical wizard's potion which the ancients called 'trinitrotoluene'"<br />
|(-35070,-2500)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to the Steerswoman series of books by Rosemary Kirstein. Includes a number of references to the series, including a group of people observing a small object orbiting the planet.<br />
<br />
Trinitrotoluene is better known as {{w|TNT}}, a powerful explosive.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>peeler</code><br />
|'''Peeler'''<br />
|<br />
|(-9270, 620)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to the question posed by "What If 2: Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way". A large potato peeler is seen removing the earth's crust.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Ships===<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
|-<br />
! Name<br />
! Description<br />
! Location<br />
! Filename<br />
! Image<br />
|-<br />
|Default<br />
|The starting ship.<br />
|It is possible to change back to this ship by collecting a dot located within the Black Hole cluster<br />
|ship2<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| Tintin<br />
|<br />
| On the starting planet; can be obtained by collecting the cannonball in orbit<br />
| ship-tintin<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| Figure<br />
|Stick figure<br />
|On Goodhart, atop the mountain up which Sisyphus is pushing his boulder.<br />
|ship-figure<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| Soccer ball<br />
| Soccer ball shaped ship<br />
| On Earth, between two figures playing ball<br />
|ship-soccer<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Alternative Ship<br />
|Slightly thicker version of default ship<br />
|Only available by using console to change Comic.ship<br />
|ship1<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Data Dump==<br />
<br />
View the data on [[2712: Gravity/Data|this page]].<br />
<br />
==Hacks==<br />
Various modes and hacks have been found or developed by the community, and can be activated by opening the Javascript Console (F12 [Or Command-Alt-I in most browsers under Mac OS X] to open Developer Tools, then Console tab) and writing corresponding commands.<br><br />
'''Click to expand:'''<br><br />
<br />
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"><br />
<br><br />
*'''Speedhack:''' <code>ship.engines = "warp"</code> - Speed hacking, sets speed to 1.4x. set to "standard" to reset to normal speed<br />
*'''Teleport to planet:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = Comic.planetRects.'''''origin'''''.slice(0,2)</code> - teleport near a planet, in this example near earth. You'll still have to fly a bit towards the nearest planet to reach it. Replace '''''origin''''' with the ID of the planet you want to go to, from the table above.<br />
*'''Teleport to coordinate:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = '''''[0, -2000]'''''</code> - teleport to an exact coordinate. <code>[0, -2000]</code> happens to take you to the starting area.<br />
*'''Improved radar:''' <code>Comic.wayfinderRadius = Infinity</code> - make the direction of all objects visible. This can be hard to understand though.<br />
*'''Chaos Mode:''' <code>ship.engines="infinite improbability drive"</code> - Seems to randomly teleports the ship. A reference to its namesake in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.<br />
*'''Insta Death:''' <code>ship.shields = false</code> - Kill the player if they land on a planet, the code never sets it to false, so it seems to be always true.<br />
*'''No Clip:''' <code>noclip = true</code> - Enables noclip. Also disables gravity.<br />
*'''Select ship:''' <code>Comic.ship = "ship-tintin"</code> - Select ship (use filename from list of ships)<br />
*'''Autorotate:''' <code>Comic.cameraRotation = false</code> - View does not rotate with ship<br />
*'''Goggles:''' <code>ze.goggles()</code> - returns a warning: "they do nothing!". This is a reference to Hoverboard, where ''ze.goggles()'' would give you the ability to see false walls. Which itself is most likely a reference to the Simpsons where Radioactive man complains that his safety goggles do nothing against a deluge of acid.<br />
*'''Python:''' <code>python("import antigravity")</code> - reverses gravity, so the ship falls away from planets. A reference to [[353: Python|Python]].<br />
</div><br />
<br><br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
The objects in the mini-universe of this browser game are all at fixed positions and do not interact through gravity, however, the ship controlled by the player is affected by gravity. While this makes it technically a relatively easy integration problem (of the position of the player ship forward in time), the integrator used seems to be a relatively simple one - and certainly not a symplectic one, because it does not conserve angular momentum. This can be seen when one manages to get into orbit around some object, e.g. the core of the sun. The orbit slowly decays over time.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Welcome!<br />
<br />
To celebrate the world of what if? 2, here is your very own planet to explore!<br />
<br />
Give someone the science question-and-answer book what if? 2 for Christmas:<br />
xkcd.com/whatif2<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Bobcats]]</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2712:_Gravity&diff=3017232712: Gravity2022-12-17T22:04:13Z<p>172.70.110.230: /* Celestial Bodies */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2712<br />
| date = December 16, 2022<br />
| title = Gravity<br />
| image = gravity_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 740x700px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = It's a long way down.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
*To experience the interactivity, visit the [http://xkcd.com/2712/ original comic].<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by HOTBLACK DESIATO'S TAX RETURNS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In this interactive comic, the viewer pilots a small spaceship throughout a vast area in space. The viewer is capable of exploring various bodies and planets within the play area, many containing easter eggs alluding to What If? 2 and previous xkcd comics. The flight mechanics are largely, if not entirely, Newtonian, so the vessel is capable of using the gravity of planets to alter its trajectory or even enter orbit. The spaceship has several indicator circles around it which appear when a gravitational body comes into range, showing the direction towards their center of gravity.<br />
<br />
The arrow keys rotate the spaceship and accelerate it forward and backward. On mobile the comic will full screen, pressing either side of the center rotates the spaceship, and pressing in the center accelerates it forward. There is no way to accelerate backward on mobile.<br />
<br />
It is fairly easy to fly between planets as long as you pay attention to orbital mechanics don't just floor the accelerator. The background stars show your velocity and orientation relative to the nearest gravity well. If you are having difficulties navigating space, point towards a gravity orb and accelerate for only a few seconds. Wait until the background stars spin wildly, and then reduce your velocity to 0 before genitally <=REALLY?!?? This mistake is too good to correct! :D accelerating towards to object.<br />
<br />
Throughout the play area are coins that change the spaceship into different rockets and non-space based vehicles, including humans. <br />
<br />
The comic promotes Randall's new book [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ What If? 2], which was released in September and is available for purchase. Many of the planets contain references to various What If? articles.<br />
<br />
The comic is similar to [[1608: Hoverboard]], which celebrated Thing Explainer instead.<br />
<br />
===Celestial Bodies===<br />
<br />
The following is an incomplete table of features:<br />
<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
!<br />
! <br />
! <br />
!<br />
! colspan="4"|References<br />
! <br />
|-<br />
! ID<br />
! Description<br />
! Transcript<br />
! Tiles (X, Y)<br />
! What If<br />
! XKCD<br />
! Movies<br />
! Other<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|<code>origin</code><br />
|'''Starting planet'''<br />
|<br />
|(0, 0)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|The starting planet. The player begins on the launch pad in a landed position. Collecting the orbiting cannonball will transform you into a more advanced rocket.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>earth</code><br />
|'''Earth'''<br />
|<br />
|(27867,-35648)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A planet with among other things; a crane dropping a comet onto a dinosaur, unusually high speed squirrels, Megan inviting Cueball into a pool, a region where the frame rate is intentionally limited, a flagpole, a literal rabbithole referencing the figuratively speaking rabbit hole, someone aiming at a satellite with an arrow, a lake with an eel, the earth-moon firepole, a volcano, two figures being attacked by a third with a sword, two kids playing soccer (Catching the ball will turn the ship into a soccer ball), a farmer on a tractor being stuck in what seems elastic earth, a banana pile, Megan and Cueball digging a hole (in the center of this planet is the "earth's core" referenced below, the Niagara Falls water being redirected into the LHC, Japan(?) leaving earth, a tube to the bottom of the ocean and a reference to everyoneorjustme.com<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Earth's core<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] floating in a small space in the center of the planet in inverted rotations.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>europa</code><br />
|'''Europa'''<br />
|<br />
|(13180, -2540)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons (in real life). A broken, icy crust has a single path into its core.<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Europa's crust<br />
|"It's so unfair we don't get to compete in EuroVision."<br />
"The region of the solar system where liquid water can exist on the surface is the habitable zone, and the region where it can exist beneath the surface of moons is the Eurozone."<br />
<br />
"WHIRRRR"<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Europa's crust, with a single entrance into the core demarcated by an octopus leaving a hole. <br />
Cueball states that Europa is in the Eurozone, a pun on the ''other'' Eurozone, with liquid underneath its surface.<br />
<br />
A roomba whirs across the icy crust.<br />
<br />
Cueball has a hairdryer and is melting the surface of the crust. A direct reference to [https://what-if.xkcd.com/35/ What If's Hairdryer].<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Europa's core<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A watery ocean with octopi looking out into the great unknown using telescopes. This is a reference to octopus's intelligence here on earth! There's also a secret path leading to a book club, through the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. <br />
|-<br />
|<code>b612</code><br />
|'''B-612'''<br />
|"Asteroid deflection mission to earth. The package is delivered. Commencing planetary threat neutralization." <br />
|(2610,3700)<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to [https://xkcd.com/618/ Asteroid]. The little prince is having his asteroid blown up as it was heading towards Earth, apparently.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>dogplanet</code><br />
|'''Dog park planet'''<br />
|<br />
|(1240, 11230)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A planet with a dog park. Covered in dogs, along with dog walkers and some fences. There's a hole being dug by two dogs and a dog bone empty space in the center.<br />
|-<br />
| <code>goodhart</code><br />
|'''What If? 2 scenario planet'''<br />
|<br />
|(-13300,-3260)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''The Sun'''<br />
|<br />
|(-14950, 12080)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Difficult to escape from if you hit the core. <br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|Sun's core <br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Difficult to escape from. Can be escaped by rotating around the sun until an escape-like velocity could be reached.<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''Soupiter'''<br />
|"I think it's chicken noodle? Hard to tell."<br />
|(-800, -9040)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A planet made of soup, with a core. As commented by Cueball, noodle soup. Has several small versions of other planets floating around it.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>nojapan</code><br />
|'''Earth without Japan'''<br />
|"Something is missing."<br />
|(-7680, -5850)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Earth, except it's missing japan.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>japanmoon</code><br />
|'''Just Japan'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|<code>pigeons</code><br />
|'''A blob labeled "Pigeons"'''<br />
|<br />
|(-9020, -2490)<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to Chapter 6 of What If? 2, where it would take 1.6 x 10^25 pigeons to lift you and a chair up to the halfway point of Australia's Q1 skyscraper.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>enterprise</code><br />
|'''Starship Enterprise'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|Star Trek reference<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''Dinosaur planet'''<br />
|<code>qwantz</code><br />
| (20403,-49559)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|An homage to [https://www.qwantz.com/ Dinosaur Comics], a webcomic Randall has mentioned several times before. All the dinosaurs on the planet are black-and-white versions of the clip art dinosaurs in that comic. Also references the Jurassic Park movies, in which the long grass depicted is a plot point in later films.<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''What If? 1 scenario planet'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''Cat blocking traffic flowing through portals'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''Edge of the Universe'''<br />
|<br />
| ( 6081, 26138 )<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|It looks like a planet labeled "edge of the universe". Outside the universe, so inside the "edge of the universe planet", is another universe, the bubble universe. Hidden entrance is between 10 and 11 'o clock. <br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''A tree larger than the planet it's growing on'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|May be a reference to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2:_Petit_Trees_(sketch) Petit Trees]. More probably, a reference to ''The Little Prince'', a french children's novel about a traveler from a distant asteroid. In the novel, baobab trees are a serious threat to the Prince's home asteroid, as they are so large that their roots would engulf the asteroid entirely. Randall has alluded to The Little Prince numerous times before, especially in what-if articles.<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''Milliways'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''The Great Attractor'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|<code>present</code><br />
|'''Present'''<br />
|"I didn't do any of my Christmas shopping yet because I was too busy drawing tiny planets."<br />
"I'm done with my shopping! I got everyone What if? 2"<br />
<br />
"...You got me my own book?"<br />
<br />
"Yeah! I figured that since you wrote it, it must be right up your alley."<br />
<br />
"It does make a good gift, though. You can get it at xkcd.com/whatif2"<br />
<br />
"I got you this present!"<br />
<br />
"Is it an angry bobcat?"<br />
<br />
"It might not be."<br />
|(22820,-18920)<br />
|<br />
|Y<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|The XKCD cast react to giving each other What if 2? as a present. Gravity at the bottom of the missing quarter of the planet is inescapable. Black Hat gives Cueball a "gift" which he claims "might not be a bobcat", a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus]]<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|'''Black hole cluster'''<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A cluster of black holes with extremely high gravitational strength, set to the maximum of 2048. Not particularly easy to land on with multiple conflicting gravitational fields, but once landed on, rather difficult to escape.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>remnant</code><br />
|'''Remnant'''<br />
|"All right, that's close enough"<br />
"Oh no"<br />
<br />
"So don't delay, act now, supplies are running out"<br />
<br />
"In 5 billion years, the Sun will run out of fuel and suffer gigennial burnout."<br />
<br />
"The immense gravity of the sun's remnant means that this is the tallest possible skyscraper."<br />
|(19620, 3800)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A stellar remnant, with high gravity (making it difficult to escape, although it's possible to achieve escape velocity by flying sideways). Has various small landmarks, including a "skyscraper" and suspension bridge. There are bombs being dropped from above the planet, with one that seems to be sledding on the planet.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>steerswoman</code><br />
|'''Steerswoman Planet'''<br />
|"As a Steerswoman, I have to answer any question anyone asks me, or I'm expelled from the order."<br />
"What's one question that you would be unwilling to answer?"<br />
"Oh no."<br />
<br />
"Handle this artifact with great care. It contains a magical wizard's potion which the ancients called 'trinitrotoluene'"<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to the Steerswoman series of books by Rosemary Kirstein. Includes a number of references to the series, including a group of people observing a small object orbiting the planet.<br />
|-<br />
|<code>peeler</code><br />
|'''Peeler'''<br />
|<br />
|(-9270, 620)<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|A reference to the question posed by "What If 2: Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way". A large potato peeler is seen removing the earth's crust.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Ships===<br />
{|class="wikitable sortable"<br />
|-<br />
! Name<br />
! Description<br />
! Location<br />
! Filename<br />
! Image<br />
|-<br />
|Default<br />
|The starting ship.<br />
|<br />
|ship2<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| Tintin<br />
|<br />
| On the starting planet, relatively easy to get<br />
| ship-tintin<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| Figure<br />
|Stick figure<br />
|On Goodhart<br />
|ship-figure<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| Soccer ball<br />
| Soccer ball shaped ship<br />
| On Earth<br />
|ship-soccerball<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Alternative Ship<br />
|Slightly thicker version of default ship<br />
|<br />
|ship1<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Data Dump==<br />
<br />
extracted from a JSON blob near the bottom of <code>https://xkcd.com/2712/comic.js</code>.<br />
I believe this to be all the data but i'm not sure. this should probably be on a different page but i'll leave that up to the smart people<br />
<pre style="height:10em;overflow-y:scroll;"><br />
{<br />
"items": {<br />
"coin-cannonball": {<br />
"consumable": "yes",<br />
"effect": "transformship|ship-tintin",<br />
"image": "coin",<br />
"loc": [<br />
359,<br />
-815<br />
],<br />
"size": [<br />
40,<br />
40<br />
]<br />
},<br />
"coin-figure": {<br />
"consumable": "yes",<br />
"effect": "transformship|ship-figure",<br />
"image": "figure",<br />
"loc": [<br />
-15050,<br />
-2984<br />
],<br />
"size": [<br />
40,<br />
40<br />
]<br />
},<br />
"coin-regular": {<br />
"consumable": "yes",<br />
"effect": "transformship|ship2",<br />
"image": "regular",<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29976,<br />
-8077<br />
],<br />
"size": [<br />
40,<br />
40<br />
]<br />
},<br />
"coin-soccerball": {<br />
"consumable": "yes",<br />
"effect": "transformship|ship-soccer",<br />
"image": "soccerball",<br />
"loc": [<br />
15293,<br />
11140<br />
],<br />
"size": [<br />
40,<br />
40<br />
]<br />
}<br />
},<br />
"locations": {<br />
"b612": {<br />
"gravity": 60,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
2610,<br />
3700<br />
],<br />
"radius": 82,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"dogplanet": {<br />
"gravity": 300,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
1240,<br />
11230<br />
],<br />
"radius": 337,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"earth": {<br />
"gravity": 21000,<br />
"height": 16384,<br />
"loc": [<br />
14360,<br />
14360<br />
],<br />
"radius": 3275,<br />
"width": 16384<br />
},<br />
"enterprise": {<br />
"gravity": 200,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
1010,<br />
30440<br />
],<br />
"radius": 160,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"europa": {<br />
"gravity": 5000,<br />
"height": 8192,<br />
"loc": [<br />
13180,<br />
-2540<br />
],<br />
"radius": 1625,<br />
"width": 8192<br />
},<br />
"goodhart": {<br />
"gravity": 5000,<br />
"height": 8192,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-13300,<br />
-3260<br />
],<br />
"radius": 1625,<br />
"width": 8192<br />
},<br />
"greatattractor": {<br />
"gravity": 450000,<br />
"height": 4096,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-297000,<br />
-125000<br />
],<br />
"radius": 800,<br />
"width": 4096<br />
},<br />
"japanmoon": {<br />
"gravity": 50,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-5930,<br />
-5800<br />
],<br />
"radius": 67,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw1": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-31576,<br />
-9077<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw10": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29516,<br />
-6321<br />
],<br />
"radius": 15,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw11": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29381,<br />
-6248<br />
],<br />
"radius": 12,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw12": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-26832,<br />
-5928<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw13": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-31743,<br />
-4724<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw14": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-26071,<br />
-10824<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw2": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-30211,<br />
-8831<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw3": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-27975,<br />
-8266<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw4": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29546,<br />
-7971<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw5": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29791,<br />
-7631<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw6": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29328,<br />
-7575<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw7": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29700,<br />
-7426<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw8": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-29165,<br />
-7160<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"maw9": {<br />
"gravity": 2000,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-30772,<br />
-6910<br />
],<br />
"radius": 18,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"nojapan": {<br />
"gravity": 80,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-7680,<br />
-5850<br />
],<br />
"radius": 200,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"origin": {<br />
"gravity": 1500,<br />
"height": 4096,<br />
"loc": [<br />
0,<br />
0<br />
],<br />
"radius": 630,<br />
"width": 4096<br />
},<br />
"outside": {<br />
"gravity": 200,<br />
"height": 16384,<br />
"loc": [<br />
0,<br />
-14500<br />
],<br />
"radius": 125,<br />
"width": 16384<br />
},<br />
"peeler": {<br />
"gravity": 50,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-9270,<br />
620<br />
],<br />
"radius": 40,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"pigeons": {<br />
"gravity": 100,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-9020,<br />
-2490<br />
],<br />
"radius": 160,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"present": {<br />
"gravity": 300,<br />
"height": 2048,<br />
"loc": [<br />
22820,<br />
-18920<br />
],<br />
"radius": 195,<br />
"width": 2048<br />
},<br />
"qwantz": {<br />
"gravity": 1400,<br />
"height": 4096,<br />
"loc": [<br />
11060,<br />
24870<br />
],<br />
"radius": 850,<br />
"width": 4096<br />
},<br />
"remnant": {<br />
"gravity": 9000,<br />
"height": 4096,<br />
"loc": [<br />
19620,<br />
3800<br />
],<br />
"radius": 537,<br />
"width": 4096<br />
},<br />
"roads": {<br />
"gravity": 40,<br />
"height": 16384,<br />
"loc": [<br />
13240,<br />
-11510<br />
],<br />
"radius": 30,<br />
"width": 16384<br />
},<br />
"soupiter": {<br />
"gravity": 1300,<br />
"height": 4096,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-8000,<br />
-9040<br />
],<br />
"radius": 812,<br />
"width": 4096<br />
},<br />
"steerswoman": {<br />
"gravity": 600,<br />
"height": 4096,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-35070,<br />
-2500<br />
],<br />
"radius": 520,<br />
"width": 4096<br />
},<br />
"sun": {<br />
"gravity": 9000,<br />
"height": 16384,<br />
"loc": [<br />
-14950,<br />
12080<br />
],<br />
"radius": 540,<br />
"width": 16384<br />
}<br />
},<br />
"player": {<br />
"animation": "player.png",<br />
"animcount": 4,<br />
"startloc": [<br />
0,<br />
750<br />
],<br />
"targetheight": 59<br />
},<br />
"tile_height": 1024,<br />
"tile_source": "tile",<br />
"tile_width": 1024<br />
}<br />
<br />
</pre><br />
<br />
==Hacks==<br />
'''Modes''' are activated by opening the Javascript Console (F12 [Or Command-Alt-I in most browsers under Mac OS X] to open Developer Tools, then Console tab) and writing corresponding commands.<br><br />
'''Click to expand:'''<br><br />
<br />
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"><br />
<br><br />
*'''Speedhack:''' <code>ship.engines = "warp"</code> - Speed hacking, sets speed to 1.4x. set to "standard" to reset to normal speed<br />
*'''Teleport to planet:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = Comic.planetRects.'''''origin'''''.slice(0,2)</code> - teleport near a planet, in this example near earth. You'll still have to fly a bit towards the nearest planet to reach it. Replace '''''origin''''' with the ID of the planet you want to go to, from the table above.<br />
*'''Teleport to coordinate:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = '''''[0, -2000]'''''</code> - teleport to an exact coordinate. <code>[0, -2000]</code> happens to take you to the starting area.<br />
*'''Chaos Mode:''' <code>ship.engines="infinite improbability drive"</code> - Seems to randomly teleports the ship<br />
*'''Insta Death:''' <code>ship.shields = false</code> - Kill the player if they land on a planet, the code never sets it to false, so it seems to be always true.<br />
*'''No Clip:''' <code>noclip = true</code> - Enables noclip.<br />
*'''Select ship:''' <code>Comic.ship = "ship-tintin"</code> - Select ship (use filename from list of ships)<br />
*'''Autorotate:''' <code>Comic.cameraRotation = false</code> - View does not rotate with ship)<br />
*'''Goggles:''' <code>ze.goggles()</code> - returns a warning: "they do nothing!". This is a reference to Hoverboard, where ''ze.goggles()'' would give you the ability to see false walls.<br />
</div><br />
<br><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Welcome!<br />
<br />
To celebrate the world of what if? 2, here is your very own planet to explore!<br />
<br />
Give someone the science question-and-answer book what if? 2 for Christmas:<br />
xkcd.com/whatif2<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Bobcats]]</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2712:_Gravity&diff=301534Talk:2712: Gravity2022-12-16T23:13:24Z<p>172.70.110.230: Summary of newest comic and details of examination</p>
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Whatever image is supposed to be in the center isn't showing up for me! D: Tried on both Safari and Chrome but it gives me the little broken picture icon. Hopefully it's fixed soon! (The comic's been up for about 10 minutes going by when the bot updated this page.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.117|172.70.126.117]] 22:28, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: The center image is trying to load this link, but there's nothing there: https://xkcd.com/tile/ship1/ship_gliding_2x.png. I hope that gets fixed soon. The "ship" seems to rotate a bit unpredictably over time. At first I thought it was responding to my mouse movements, but I don't think so anymore. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:34, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: Ah, the center image is controlled by the javascript, of course: https://xkcd.com/2712/comic.js. So this is some sort of interactive comic? [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:36, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: Okay, left/right arrow keys seem to control the rotation. I'll check back in later in hopes of seeing the ship so I have some idea what the point of it all is. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:39, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: And now it's working. You fly a little spaceship around the little planet. Luckily you have shields if you slam into the ground too hard. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:43, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: Catch the cannonball for a spaceship upgrade. Also, not so easy to find a stable orbit around this little planet. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:49, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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You can transform the ship into a different (seems faster to me) one by running into the last cannon ball.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.249|108.162.241.249]]<br />
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Rough summary: The comic is an interactive space flight game, starting landed on an origin planet. The planet is static, and the player starts in a ship controlled by WASD or Directional keys. The ship can go up and down, and rotate left and right. Game simulates orbits and gravity, making navigation tricky. Around the player ship there are dots which indicate nearby planets - there are numurous planets, each with what seem to be drawings related to the What If book. Within the browser, planets are loaded in PNG format by chunk, names formatted as "planet_0_0" with numbers incrementing as grid co-ordinates. Planets and objects found: "origin" "europa", "road", "b612". NOTE: Several hazards exist, such as a field of black holes - if flown into, the ship can become stuck if let to be pulled close to the surface, locking in place. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 23:13, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: Within browser dev console exists the objects "Ship" and "Comic", the latter containing a list of all objects and coordinates, as well as various setting for the game physics and settings. Comic contains the sub-object "Voyager", which contains the details and settings for the player ship, including location, speed, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 23:13, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: In addition to Europa, the space road, and B-612, there is the "Edge of the Universe" (complete with Milliways restaurant nearby), a... tree (which is extremely hard to land on), a planet populated by the characters from Dinosaur Comics (and the main cast of Jurassic Park), the USS Enterprice (NCC 1701-C), and likely quite a bit more. Orbital mechanics make it tough to land on the smaller targets. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.46|172.71.254.46]] 23:07, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: I went out a long ways away, and eventually found The Great Attractor. It attracts really hard. I couldn't leave the surface. (I wasn't able to leave the center of Europa either, though, so, not saying much.) There are also some terrifying black holes (a binary system?), though something's weird about their gravity; you kinda bounce off of them a quarter screen away or so? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.77|108.162.216.77]] 23:10, 16 December 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2704:_Faucet&diff=300045Talk:2704: Faucet2022-11-29T13:48:49Z<p>172.70.110.230: another interpretation</p>
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Are faucet designs considered to be confusing? I'm never confused by normal ones like [https://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/sundsvik-kitchen-faucet-chrome-plated__0756711_pe749051_s5.jpg?f=s these] {{unsigned|Flekkie|02:12, 29 November 2022}}<br />
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:Yeah I came here wondering the same thing. Is the joke perhaps not so much that the controls are confusing in terms of intent, but just in terms of determining the bounds? Eg, with two identical faucet controls and identical water pressures, "full blast hot" still translates to something radically different, if one building has a water heater set to 120F and the other building has a water heater set to 160F.{{unsigned ip|172.69.170.189|02:46, 29 November 2022}}<br />
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:(I find °F confusing, personally, but...) ...the easiest thing is to have two taps, one hot and one cold. Yes, they can combine into a single spout, but there are various conflicting plusses and minuses of that over having the two independent ones per outlet. Speaking (as I'm sure mixer-tap afficionados worldwide will appreciate) as a Brit. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 03:03, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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::Relevant Tom Scott video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHgUu_8KgA Why Britain Uses Separate Hot and Cold Taps]. TL;DR: British houses used to get their hot water from rat-filled cisterns so they wanted to keep the hot water separate from the cold water, and old habits die hard. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.152|162.158.63.152]] 03:34, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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:::Silliness of dual-taps aside, that doesn't solve the issue of identical tap hardware yielding radically different results depending on what the hot water thermostat is set to. Maybe that's not the original joke (I'm still not sure what it was) but it's worth mentioning at least. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.146|172.69.170.146]] 03:39, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: I don't think those are confusing, but in many cases the feedback is too slow (e.g. due to the water in the pipes coming from the hot water source having cooled since the tap was last used), or inconvenient (e.g. the pressure of the hot water not being enough to trigger on-demand gas heaters). While theoretically that design allows exploring the whole temperature/pressure space, in practice one needs some trial-and-error and delay to find the correct setting (as Randall points out in the title text) to make it work. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:54, 29 November 2022 (UTC) <br />
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:It's really a joke we are too European to understand. Visit the US to see faucet control disasters in all their glory. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.203|172.68.51.203]] 10:56, 29 November 2022 (UTC) <br />
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:: Yeah, here in Europe I've seen faucets with mechanical thermostats to regulate the temperature and therefore two dials for either flow or temperature. This was more than 20 years ago. --[[User:Sarsey|Sarsey]] ([[User talk:Sarsey|talk]]) 12:01, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I sympathize with Randall here; even controls designed to independently control temperature and flow rarely meet both the "intuitive to use at a glance" and "function as described" requirements to make them non-confusing. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 03:44, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Wouldn't it be super simple to just have a slider that goes from hot to cold, and a second one that goes from slow to fast flow? Or one for hot, one for cold, with the higher the slider goes, the more the flow is increased? I don't see how much simpler you can get it. Hell, you could even use a dial for temperature (all dials turn clockwise to increase) with a digital readout. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.44|172.70.131.44]] 05:25, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: I suppose the issue with that is that, unlike simple mixer taps that control the flow of hot and cold water independently, relying on the human to find the right mixture that creates the desired flow and temperature, what you're describing requires a more complex system that is able to do that process automatically, so it can't be a simple mechanical valve. It would require temperature and pressure sensors for both the hot and cold water streams, and it would have to dynamically adjust the physical valve settings depending on all six parameters (position of the flow handle/slider/knob, position of the temperature handle/slider/knob, temperature of the hot water, temperature of the cold water, pressure of the hot water, pressure of the cold water). I'm not even sure this is possible with a fully mechanical system — likely some electronics would need to be involved, which might complicate things. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:50, 29 November 2022 (UTC) <br />
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This is probably the very first xkcd comic where I have absolutely no idea where Randal is coming from. While different people have different preferences for different designs, I've never heard of anyone being confused by any faucet design.<br />
Maybe he's trolling us, by trying to get a rise out of people wondering what the hell he's talking about? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 08:20, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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This may be a reference to "Design of Everyday Things - Dan Norman" or books in that direction. Although he talked a lot more about creating doors wrong he also mentioned faucet designs as terrible. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.29|198.41.242.29]] 09:17, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: <!--Edit conflicted by the following reply, double-indented and inserted due to flow of ideas.--> I was initially drawn to the parallel/derivation from the "{{w|Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door|Build a better mousetrap...}}" concept, which vastly predates {{w|Don Norman|''Don''}} Norman. But it's such a widespread trope that I can't be sure it should be mentioned 'officially'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.61|172.70.86.61]] 11:13, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: I am actually puzzled by how many people ''don't'' relate to this, judging by the comments here. I guess I've been unlucky with the faucets I've encountered so far? Over the years I've had spontaneous conversations with multiple people abut how tap designs are either inconvenient (i.e. hard to find the right handle positions to produce the desired temperature and flow), or confusing to use, especially for hotel showers. In fact I'm adding this comment mostly so other people who share the same perception don't feel gaslighted or otherwise confused by so many people not recognizing this issue. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:50, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Is that hairy? looks like him? [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 10:07, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I think it could be, but he is looking different with the hair and because of the scruffy looks his hair standing up could be because he has torn in it. I think it is better not to include it as a Hairy comic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:34, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Is it too pedantic to point out the distinction between a helix (the shape of the control) and a spiral (mentioned by the character)?<br />
:Not really, but it could be a very shallow (by radial increase/decrease per turn) 3D spiral, I'm more concerned by the "tightening", wondering if it's a flexible spiral/helix that is manipulated dynamically, rather than merely a tap* with a funny-shaped handle/head to rotate through into the backplate.<br />
::<nowiki>*</nowiki> - 'faucet' just makes me wait for a "force it" pun. It's a very American word that I'm not personally aware of being used throught the rest of the anglosphere. Maybe Canada, but probably not Aus/NZ/etc if my uptake of their TV/film exports is correctly remembered... Somebody may want to correct me on this issue, or add English As A Second Language metrics to this.<br />
:What is also interesting is that the 3D-perspective drawing by our in-frame inventor, upon the perspectivised drawing surface as depicted by Randall, makes it look like very much like an actual sticky-outy object within the drawn world. Like it's actually a moulded/similar relief model/mockup, surrounded by the more standard 'wall notes' used to suggest on-the-go calculations/annotations. An interesting artistic choice (or possibly an unintentional consequence) by Randall. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.61|172.70.86.61]] 11:13, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I think it should be added that the issue is mainly for the US. In Europe, and in the other of the rest of the world - except US - the thermostatic head has replaced most other faucet in shower, and the hand washing is not so much of an issue. My shower in some US hotels were a nightmare, where I remember taking multiple minute to understand how it might work. {{unsigned ip|172.71.130.80}}<br />
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I think it should be added that the issue is mainly for Europe, especially Americans traveling in Europe. In the USA, where proportioning valves are common and anti-scald protection is mandated by code, controls are both intuitive and safe. {{unsigned ip|172.70.210.49}}<br />
:So funny that these two comments in a row says the opposite. I'm from Denmark and where I sometimes dislike the designs of a faucet I have almost never found one for a tap that was a problem to understand. Sure for a shower there can be some issues, mainly because it can be too hot and problematic to stand under them when turning them on the first time. But it seems to me that this is not a serious problem in Europe. And from reading above it seems like this is in fact a US problem only. But the last comment says the opposite. by the way both sigantures unsigned, so did a check and found they where from two different IP and with time between. Was wondering if someone was trolling by writing the same comment twice with reversed meaning. But seems to not be the case. Have added signatures now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:34, 29 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
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My interpretation is that, for normal people, designing an intuitive faucet is easy: just one knob for temperature and another for flow. But designers seem to get overly creative for faucets and add all sorts of odd handles and gizmos. Figuring out a faucet at a hotel is often a task. Hence, in the comic, the designer is adding some sort of bizarre spiral handle when a regular one would be much easier. It's not that its hard to design a good faucet, but designers seem to have an odd blind spot for them. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 13:48, 29 November 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.110.230https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2693:_Wirecutter_Recommendation&diff=2980882693: Wirecutter Recommendation2022-11-03T11:45:27Z<p>172.70.110.230: Parody attribution error</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2693<br />
| date = November 2, 2022<br />
| title = Wirecutter Recommendation<br />
| image = wirecutter_recommendation_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 430x333px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Their 'best philosophy of epistemology' picks are great, but you can tell they're struggling a little in the 'why you should trust us' section.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a WIRECUTTER DREAM — Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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''[https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter Wirecutter]'' is a product review website, owned by ''The New York Times''. As such, Wirecutter is best used for product reviews. The comic, however, lists things that Wirecutter should ''not'' recommend, or that one should not choose based on Wirecutter reviews.<br />
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The first panel shows [[Cueball]] telling [[Ponytail]] that he decided to go with Wirecutter's recommendation when buying something unspecified. The second panel shows a list of different contexts for this conversation, ranking them from "Fine" to "Very Bad".<br />
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{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
!Thing Being Chosen!!Judgment!!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|Vacuum cleaner||Fine||Vacuum cleaners are an everyday household item, and exactly the kind of thing Wirecutter generally reviews.<br />
|-<br />
|Headphones||Fine|||Headphones are also fairly ubiquitous, and Wirecutter would likewise be useful in such a scenario.<br />
|-<br />
|Electric scooter||Fine||While less common than the two above, electric scooters are still a popular electrical product, so Wirecutter is a decent choice for advice.<br />
|-<br />
|Favorite movie||Weird||Most people would say that your choice of favorite movie should be based on your own experiences, rather than someone else's opinions. Reviewing movies is a very different endeavor to reviewing products, and one would not expect Wirecutter to be particularly proficient with it. While a movie review website may be a reasonable source of recommendations on whether to see a particular movie at all, it would be strange to choose one's own favorite movie based on a website's recommendation.<br />
|-<br />
|Personal style||Weird||Not only does the term "personal style" encompass a vast range of topics, it is also (predictably) a deeply personal thing. These two factors mean that not only will Wirecutter's recommended likely not fully discuss every factor of your personal style, it also isn't the kind of service you'd use to choose something as nebulous and personal as your "personal style."<br />
|-<br />
|Neighborhood||Weird||It can be assumed this means "the neighborhood one lives in." In this case, it is odd to rely on Wirecutter for recommendations on where to live, since a respectable portion of that decision is up to personal preference. In a best case scenario, Wirecutter is recommending neighborhoods based on empirical data, such as local economic growth.<br />
|-<br />
|Pet||Weird||While the ''type'' of pet may be more easy to rank on a website (especially with a pro/con system), picking an ''individual pet'' is an extremely personal decision that probably can't be considered covered by a product review website like Wirecutter. <br />
|-<br />
|College major||Bad||Your college major will influence the rest of your life significantly, and your choice should depend on your prior personal experiences. Basing your choice on Wirecutter, something completely unrelated to college, is likely a bad idea.<br />
|-<br />
|Career||Bad||One's optimal career choice is subject to a wide range of highly personal factors, including your talents, ambitions, and capabilities. It is highly unlikely that a hardware review site like Wirecutter would be capable of accounting for every one of these factors for every conceivable viewer.<br />
|-<br />
|Religion||Bad||Do ''Not'' base your religious worldview off of the electronic device equivalent to Yelp. The idea of Wirecutter reviewing religion has appeared in a previous comic, [[2536: Wirecutter]].<br />
|-<br />
|Spouse||Very Bad|| In general, people pair off when choosing spouses. This would mean that Wirecutter would be required to either find one potential spouse for every reader (cumbersome, to say the least) or would recommend ''one'' spouse for multiple (possibly millions of) partners. Even assuming an accelerated divorce rate, it would be impossible for the choice spouse to actually accomplish the role.<br />
Perhaps [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/24/wirecutter-recommends-the-best-partner this parody] by the New Yorker inspired this comic.<br />
|-<br />
|Dreams||Very Bad|| There are two possible definitions of "dream" that may be referred to here. When it comes to "the series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep," most people cannot consciously control what they dream about, so recommending this sort of dream is somewhat pointless.<br />On the other hand, if Cueball is relying upon Wirecutter to recommend "a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal," he is allowing one of the most personal and individual aspects of his life — something which may give life itself a sense of meaning — to be dictated by a consumer product review site. As with many entries here, this is something that most people have to come up with or discover for themselves; relying on a third party to recommend one FOR him is deeply unlikely to bring about long-term satisfaction.<br />
|-<br />
|Favorite child||Very Bad|| Assuming this is a reference to the reader's own children, it can be difficult and furthermore bad practice for a parent to choose their "favorite" child, and using Wirecutter to do this analysis is near impossible. And a website that purports to know more about how to judge the relative merits of your own family than you would be... interesting.<br />
The alternative interpretation of assuming that this is from "all children, everywhere" is more difficult. There are approximately 1.3 billion persons under the age of 18, most of whom have at least one good quality,{{citation needed}} and defining a useful ranking in such a situation is functionally impossible.<br />
|-<br />
|Site for product recommendations||Very Bad|| This is a topic of which the authors, editors, and publishers of Wirecutter have a vested interest and clear bias. This implies that the people at Wirecutter would be self-serving when it comes to recommending recommendations, specifically. <br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
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The title text references {{w|epistemology}}, a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge and truth, for which [[Randall]] says Wirecutter's recommendations are great. Broadly speaking, epistemology attempts to answer the question "how do I know that what I know is true?" He seems skeptical, however, of their reasons that their reviews should be trusted.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other. Cueball has his palm raised.]<br />
:Cueball: I just went with the one Wirecutter recommended.<br />
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:[A panel of four categories with topics next to them]<br />
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:[Fine category]<br />
:Vacuum cleaner<br />
:Headphones<br />
:Electric scooter<br />
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:[Weird category]<br />
:Favorite movie<br />
:Personal style<br />
:Neighborhood <br />
:Pet<br />
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:[Bad category]<br />
:College major<br />
:Career <br />
:Religion<br />
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:[Very bad category]<br />
:Spouse<br />
:Dreams<br />
:Favorite child<br />
:Site for product recommendations<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>172.70.110.230