https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.70.114.119&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T21:09:52ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2520:_Symbols&diff=2184052520: Symbols2021-09-24T20:13:08Z<p>172.70.114.119: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2520<br />
| date = September 24, 2021<br />
| title = Symbols<br />
| image = symbols.png<br />
| titletext = "röntgen" and "rem" are 20th-century physics terms that mean "no trespassing."<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an internet argument - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
;d/dx<br />
:an undergrad is working very hard<br />
;∂/∂x<br />
:a grad student is working very hard<br />
;ħ<br />
:oh wow, this is apparently a quantum thing<br />
;R<sub>e</sub><br />
:someone needs to do a lot of tedious numerical work; hopefully it's not you<br />
;(T<sub>a</sub><sup>4</sup> - T<sub>b</sub><sup>4</sup>)<br />
:you are at risk of skin burns<br />
;μm<br />
:careful, that equipment is expensive<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.70.114.119https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2519:_Sloped_Border&diff=2183432519: Sloped Border2021-09-23T11:58:06Z<p>172.70.114.119: /* Explanation */ Typo: internatuonal -> international</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2519<br />
| date = September 22, 2021<br />
| title = Sloped Border<br />
| image = sloped_border.png<br />
| titletext = "The slope will be 74° at ground level." "Okay, I think we can hack together a ... wait, why did they specify ground level? It's 74° everywhere, right? ... Oh no, there's a whole section in the treaty labeled 'curvature.'"<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SUBSIDING GERRYMANDER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Every single country demarcates an {{w|international border}} with other countries. The borders are established through law, treaty or consensus. Establishing an international border is very necessary for customs, immigration and security checks. Some countries (like {{w|Cyprus}}) have established a {{w|buffer zone}} in place of an international border to gain additional protection during a conflict.<br />
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In this comic, Cueball and Blondie established a "sloped" international border through a treaty. Usually borders are perpendicular to the ground so that all the air(space) above the ground belongs to the same country. This is called {{w|Air sovereignty}}. Thus it suffices to define the border on the earth surface, as 2D lines. The precise definition is that a line from the center of the Earth through the point of the border is drawn. Thus if the terrain is sloped then the border of the air sovereignty does form a sloped line with the terrain. <br />
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If the borders were sloped (with respect to the horizontal ground level) an airplane would need to know its precise height to decide which country's rules currently apply. With the help of the {{w|Global Positioning System}} this would be in principle possible, although the height information of GPS is less reliable.<br />
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The mathematical computation for an angled air sovereignty seems relatively straight-forward and should be expressed with a single line of code. However, how the line is curved (as indicated by the mention of curvatures in the title text) may make the issue very complicated. Does it continue towards the boundary of space strictly linearly? Or does it curve to follow a spiricular 'plane' as the Earth's surface (above which a position dictates an altitude) falls away beneath it through the Earth's roundness?<br />
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"GIS" refers to Geographic Information Systems. People developing these systems would be inconvenienced by the border described in the comic.<br />
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It is possible this comic is inspired by such boundary disputes as the {{w|Territorial_claims_in_the_Arctic#Beaufort_Sea|Beaufort Sea 'wedge'}} which, while in this case perpendicular to the surface, suffers from alternative interpretations of how to extend it from the shoreline out towards international waters.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Blondie are standing on a podium either for TV, or for the photo op when signing a treaty. They are holding a document together between them. In the background are two informational graphics.]<br />
:Cueball: With this treaty, we are proud to announce the creation of the world's first '''''sloped''''' international border!<br />
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:[Caption below frame:]<br />
:If I'm ever put in charge of a country, I'm going to spend all my time trying to think of new ways to make life a nightmare for GIS people.<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category: Geography]]</div>172.70.114.119https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2513:_Saturn_Hexagon&diff=217854Talk:2513: Saturn Hexagon2021-09-09T10:07:08Z<p>172.70.114.119: </p>
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Interesting, I wrote a basic description since the page was blank, and apparently, within the time I was writing someone else posted an explanation so mine wasn't saved. It's interesting that that's how the site deals with things like that. In this case, the explanation the other guy wrote is better so it's fine, but what if you wrote something super long and detailed and it vanished because someone else was editing at the same time? It didn't appear in the version history so it's not like I could go back and retrieve the text. Again, it doesn't matter here but it's interesting to think about. [[User:Zman350x|Zman350x]] ([[User talk:Zman350x|talk]]) 02:23, 9 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Sorry --[[User:FrankHightower|the other guy]] 2:27, 9 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:That sounds like a mediawiki bug that should be reported somewhere. It's supposed to give you an opportunity to merge your changes in. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.119|172.70.114.119]] 10:07, 9 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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So soccer balls appear in the very tiny ({{w|Fullerenes}}) and the very large, as noted here. I wonder if there is a relation, or if the chemists and astronomers are referencing the same group of sports-enthusiast mathematicians. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 03:20, 9 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Just to note (in case anyone wonders why one particular edit, in passing) that the only SI length unit is the metre (and, yes, with the French-inspired '-re' ending in all 'English' nations ''except'' the US, who don't even want to use it so can't complain (/jk!)). Millimetres, centimetres, kilometres, etc are only present in the broader 'decimalised' metric system using the SI-prefixes. Just as the litre (ditto on spelling!) is not SI, but also is not SI-unit in size, being 1000 of the SI-derived baseline 'cubic centimetres' (each also being 1 millilitre), rather than anything as logical as being 1 whole cubic decimetre or awkward as a "milli-(cubic metre)". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.70|172.70.35.70]] 04:16, 9 September 2021 (UTC)</div>172.70.114.119https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2508:_Circumappendiceal_Somectomy&diff=217196Talk:2508: Circumappendiceal Somectomy2021-08-28T01:29:37Z<p>172.70.114.119: </p>
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Please please please leave in the [citation needed] after "it is unlikely to get appendicitis without an appendix" :) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.119|172.70.114.119]] 01:29, 28 August 2021 (UTC)</div>172.70.114.119