https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.70.85.135&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T09:08:37ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Choices&diff=322806Category:Choices2023-08-30T22:08:12Z<p>172.70.85.135: </p>
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<div>"Choices" is a metaphorical adventure [[Megan]] goes through that celebrates, marvels, and reminds of freedom of choice. This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday to Friday) and not over the usual schedule of three comics a week.<br />
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<!-- =Apparently broken link (and a grammatical error) corrected in the following:<br />
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The meaning of the title "choices" in this comic series is ambiguous, but it's related to psychology:<br />
*{{w|Choices#Types|Choices}} =Originally #Types_of_choices anchor, a trivial correction<br />
*{{w|Choice theory}} =An unofficial disambiguation page, maybe choose 'Social choice theory' to go to directly?<br />
[[Randall]] just adopts the five main parts of this theory into a new interpretation.<br />
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=Not reinstating this, officially, as I'm not even sure whether it is useful. But I don't understand why the 'broken links' reason is used where 'I'll just delete it, rather than trivially fix link-rot/-drift' seems more explanatory. Here's my suggested fix, minus "=this commentary", for anyone who actually wants it in the future. Assuming no more link-drift/-rot from here on! --><br />
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[[Category:Comic series]]</div>172.70.85.135https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2818:_Circuit_Symbols&diff=322116Talk:2818: Circuit Symbols2023-08-25T16:49:42Z<p>172.70.85.135: </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 />
The direct link to the comic is getting a 404 error. But it appears at the xkcd.com home page. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:The link is working now. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:33, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Randall is symbolizing sheep with a coil because ... wool takes a helical shape. See https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wool#/media/File:Royal_Winter_Fair_Wool.jpg. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:33, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The title text is probably a reference to the classic novella "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (a common classroom reading in the US). In this novella, a young Puritan woman "sins" by having a child out of wedlock. She is punished by having to wear the letter A (for adultery). [[User:Comsmomf|Comsmomf]] ([[User talk:Comsmomf|talk]]) 02:54, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Can someone with more wiki-foo than me please put the actual images for the symbols in a new first column? [[User:Blackbearnh|Blackbearnh]] ([[User talk:Blackbearnh|talk]]) 03:01, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:The easy way to do this might be with the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SpriteSheet SpriteSheet extension], but maybe that's more trouble than it's worth. Any admin thoughts about installing it? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 02:22, 25 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I tried, unsuccessfully, to learn if there were "Scarlet Letters" that represented other sins ['A' is mentioned to be for 'Adultery', Maybe 'O' for Onanism?] [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 03:41, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:From what I understand, ‘BJ’ had its fair share of supporters. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.247|172.70.210.247]] 04:47, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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What exactly does "the opposite of capacitors" mean in this context? I'm not that familiar with EE, but from my limited understanding of inductors this is an incorrect and confusing statement. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.79|172.70.126.79]] 08:07, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:They are the conjugate complex (so the sentence is kind of half-true), if you consider complex impedances. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.169|172.68.110.169]] 08:56, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:Behaviorally the description makes sense, capacitors behave the same way regarding voltage vs. current as inductors behave regarding current vs. voltage and vice versa. Capacitors can "instantaneously" allow a spike in the current flowing through the circuit path that they are placed in, while the voltage across a capacitor can't change instantaneously and requires time to change incrementally (with a corresponding decline over time in the current flowing). Inductors "instantaneously" allow the voltage across their terminals to spike, but the current flowing through it can't change instantaneously and requires time to change incrementally (with a corresponding decline in the voltage across the inductor). Capacitors can act as a sort of "shock absorber" (no pun intended) or low-pass frequency filter for voltages, as inductors can for current. So they are very much considered complementary and the "essentially the opposite of capacitors" comment does pretty much make sense to EEs. But yes, it's not a particularly illuminating description without that background, and the description isn't really valid regarding their physical makeup or what makes them tick, just their role in a circuit. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.213|172.71.146.213]] 09:32, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:Incapacitors [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.108|172.70.85.108]] 16:48, 25 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The "overpass" is troubling me, as a map fan. Dependant upon the conventions of any given map illustrator this could easily be more an ''underpass'' (main road being the || track, lesser track being the — that sneaks beneath it) or a 'green bridge' (road is the — and the bridge 'symbol' is the || with no actual route using the space between its edges) or a minor road intersection of an uncrossable dual carriageway (each || is a directional way, separated by central reservation, and a historic road/lane is given T-junction access to/from the adjacent direction of travel, but no local flyover to access the opposite continuation/direction, probably have to use other flyovers/turning points above and below this snapshot). Or it's just a regular major/minor crossroads (track-level horizontal/E-W, more main road vertically/N-S) and is entirely at-grade so not involving a bridge at all. But all very much will rely upon the publisher's/renderer's choice of map-symbolism. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.95|172.70.91.95]] 11:27, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:What's your hope? That Randall will edit his comic? -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 11:41, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
::No more than I wish he'd use IEC resistors rather than the US zigzags. Just highlighting that (in isolation) there's so easily an alternate inference, dependent upon what notation/symbology you're most exposed to. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.199|172.70.162.199]] 16:36, 22 August 2023 (UTC) <br />
:I appreciated the map trivia, personally [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 15:18, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
::Cheers, though I can't help but think that I explained it badly. And without much reason to. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.199|172.70.162.199]] 16:36, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:I added the joke about needing a citation-needed joke. Please remove if you don't feel it was needed after all.<br />
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:Where I live the distinction between underpass and overpass is more about whether the bridge is at grade, and excavation has been done for the other road to pass under (i.e. under the ground level) or the bridge is above grade and the road it crosses over is at grade. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.159|162.158.63.159]] 11:28, 25 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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With a capacitor you can build a low-pass filter. It can be used in signal processing like audio devices to filter out noise. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.243.218|172.70.243.218]] 21:01, 22 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I think the Battery/Baettry/Batttttttttery joke is probably a reference to the oreo/oreoreo/etc meme that can be seen at https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/839/727/d7f.jpg . [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.170|172.70.38.170]] 13:58, 23 August 2023 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:Feel free to add that to the page! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:44, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The electricity in a wave pool citation needed is the first properly funny one I've seen in quite a while - I approve. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.135|172.70.85.135]] 16:49, 25 August 2023 (UTC)</div>172.70.85.135https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2648:_Chemicals&diff=289763Talk:2648: Chemicals2022-07-21T12:14:09Z<p>172.70.85.135: </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 />
I think the site itself is hijacked, since the edits don't show properly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.48.127|162.158.48.127]] 06:07, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Does anyone know the significance of nitrobenzen, the compound indicated? Per Wikipedia " The production of nitrobenzene is one of the most dangerous processes conducted in the chemical industry because of the exothermicity of the reaction (ΔH = −117 kJ/mol)" but I wonder if there's something else too.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.221|108.162.237.221]] 20:07, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
: It's almost certainly the exothermic (read: potentially explosive) reaction that he's going for. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.207|172.70.110.207]] 20:11, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: It is also the formula of Niacin, one of the B vitamins (same atoms, different arrangement) Possibly this is the point: the molecular formula is ambiguous, there are several well-known chemicals with this formula, with very different properties [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 20:58, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I wouldn't know which way to put this, but "make your own molecules" could be parodying the "build your own PC from bits", "compile your own OS distro", "actually cook food from raw ingredients, not packets" or various other supply/consumer things that some people (those who know enough about what they're doing) will actually do, many people (who don't care to know) won't even consider and some (with a little bit of knowledge, but not actually enough) might find the revelation that they ''could'' do some things themselves far more compelling than the valid question of whether they ''should'' just leap in and try to do it (making all kinds of mistakes/reinventing various wheels along the way) without further research. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.32|141.101.99.32]] 21:14, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:There are also a lot of make-your-own-film-developer nerds, which is a little bit closer in that you're using household items to try to recreate the reactions created by otherwise expensive chemicals. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.217|172.70.130.217]] 22:37, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I never even heard of those. I used to live in a household where there was darkroom equipment, even, so know a little of the process of doing that (more so than academic chemistry lessons) but I'd shy away from trying to substitute like that. If it's a thing, then might be worth linking (when and by who it can be). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 10:33, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Equally could be parodying fallacious thinking in corporate procurement that says 'if we build system x in-house, we won't have have to pay some supplier loads of money to do it', which ignores that the supplier is likely leveraging economies of scale by developing for multiple clients, and ignores the costs of supporting and maintaining the system. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.135|172.70.85.135]] 12:14, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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It would appear we have a vandal on the loose again. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.135|172.70.110.135]] 22:42, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: How exactly do we block these people? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.196|108.162.246.196]] 04:05, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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:: Maybe the an option is to find out which Reddit forum they're launching from and get it banned from Reddit. They'll do that if the forum is brigading too much [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.91|172.70.130.91]]<br />
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::: i'm pretty sure the vandals are calling ''us'' redditors and they don't use reddit themselves --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.66|172.69.69.66]] 06:58, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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:::: It seems to be typical 4chan terminology. Someone who spent some time being influenced there, or maybe one step removed in their own little chan-wannabe dark cave sitting in some other area of the twilight internet taking most of their prompts from the 'real rebels' who are probably just egging them on for their own meta-amusement, but that the stooge(s) would know it. And the repetitious interleving of vandalism modes employed (which are fairly discernible as different until you find the same source has done two or more of the things at once, unifying their identity) indicate a singular whim, if not a singular actor to perform them, who gradually has added new variations to the repertoir of damage to try to be 'clever'. If anything, it just shows how limited they are. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 10:33, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: Request for the wiki: require special permissions to post an image that isn't from xkcd.com, and auto-ban any IP that spams racial slurs. [[User:Thecat|Thecat]] ([[User talk:Thecat|talk]]) 04:48, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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WHAT HAPPENED?!<br />
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: undo wasn't working apparently so someone undid the vandalism by blanking the page entirely instead of just manually opening an earlier version and restoring the source from there? i don't get it either --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.66|172.69.69.66]] 06:58, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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:: It's 2 AM and 110 where I live, and most of my computer usage is accounting software. I'm not very smart at wiki stuff. Sorry [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.217|172.70.130.217]] 07:05, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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<s>I wonder if we should mention the economic difference between small quantities of chemicals typically used in laboratory experiments compared to bulk quantities for industrial manufacturing. The latter often ''is'' cost-effective to do in-house, and the current version of the explanation doesn't make that clear at all. We have no idea if Megan and Cueball work in a lab or a factory! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.229|172.69.33.229]] 00:37, 21 July 2022 (UTC)</s> Resolved. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.233|172.70.210.233]] 00:44, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/108.162.246.196 Seems to be the vandal's IP for doing more than just clicking the undo button, as it also vandalized a few talk pages. Almost everything that looks like typing it wasn't fully automated came from that IP[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.103|172.70.178.103]] 07:41, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Not sure it will make any difference but I blocked the IP for three days. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:08, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I have semi protected this page for one day. Have not so much knowledge about how it worked. But set up so only auto confirmed users can edit this page. This was requested in the admin portal... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:07, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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;Edit request<br />
:The link that says, "more than a hundred compounds and ions" should be, "hundreds of compounds" -- that was my fault because I got the original URL wrong; thanks to whomever fixed it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.177|172.69.33.177]] 08:39, 21 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder if this could be referencing the video game Spacechem? The premise is exactly this, of chemical engineering using individual atoms to form desired chemicals, and it's the type of nerdy game Randall might enjoy - or at least have heard of. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.162.113|162.158.162.113]] 09:54, 21 July 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.85.135https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=453:_Upcoming_Hurricanes&diff=288861453: Upcoming Hurricanes2022-07-15T22:23:16Z<p>172.70.85.135: /* Transcript */ As someone has (rigutfully) changed this in the Explanation section</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 453<br />
| date = July 23, 2008<br />
| title = Upcoming Hurricanes<br />
| image = upcoming_hurricanes.png<br />
| titletext = I'd like to see more damage assessments for hurricanes hitting New York and flooding Manhattan -- something like the 1938 Long Island Express, but aimed a bit more to the west. It's just a matter of time.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
This comic gives ludicrous and ironic upcoming {{w|Tropical cyclone|hurricane}} paths on an unlabelled map of the {{w|Americas}} that shows the region roughly between central {{w|Canada}} and northern {{w|South America}}. Blue and red dotted lines indicate the future hurricane paths.<br />
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===Hurricanes===<br />
====Hurricane Where-The-Hell-Is-Bermuda====<br />
Enters from the east side of the map, wanders around the {{w|Atlantic Ocean}} in a scribble that seems to take the shape of an {{w|Ampersand}}. Then it goes north for a while, and then peters out without entering the {{w|Bermuda Triangle}}. The Bermuda Triangle is a location in the Atlantic Ocean loosely framed by the three corners {{w|Bermuda}}, {{w|Miami}}, and {{w|Puerto Rico}}. The myth is that (too) many ships and planes get lost once they enter inside the area of this triangle and disappear without a trace. In this case, the hurricane gets lost before entering and can't even find the triangle. It may also simply be a reference to the statistic that Bermuda is affected by {{w|List of Bermuda hurricanes|many Atlantic hurricanes}}, and that this hurricane got lost on its way to its target.<br />
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====Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy====<br />
Comes from somewhere to the north-west, goes through {{w|Illinois}}, and then back to the north-west. Illinois is located far from the ocean, and thus suffers few hurricanes - this particular one is extremely unlikely, and according to the name, exists purely so that Illinois will have a hurricane to deal with. Interestingly enough (though it did not affect the Chicago area or correspond with the path displayed in the comic), roughly one year later, a {{w|Derecho|Super derecho}}, a storm resembling a hurricane or tropical storm in movement and form, {{w|May 2009 Southern Midwest derecho|struck}} central and South Illinois, in addition to much of {{w|Missouri}} and {{w|Kansas}}.<br />
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====Hurricane Freud====<br />
Refers to {{w|Sigmund Freud}}, who believed that accidental sexual expression was a reflection of the unconscious mind's sexual desires. The hurricane's path forms a pair of testicles beside Florida. Florida, due to its shape and location, can be said to resemble a penis, and the hurricane's shape and position exemplify Freud's ideas.<br />
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====Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again====<br />
Comes from the east, starts to curve to the north, and then turns sharply to head straight for Florida and zigzag through it four times before dying out. Sticking out from the rest of the US, Florida is prone to hurricanes from the East, South, and West. And with the state not being very high or wide, it is common for a hurricane to run over Florida, lose some strength, then rebuild strength over the hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico, only to do a U-turn and strike again. This is not exactly what happens with this particular hurricane, where it turns out into the Atlantic Ocean again each time, suggesting a malicious intent.<br />
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====Hurricane Red and Hurricane Blue====<br />
Blue is the only hurricane path drawn in blue. The two hurricanes are playing a game zipping in straight lines and right angles around {{w|Haiti}}, {{w|Jamaica}}, and {{w|Cuba}}. When ''Red'' successfully cuts off ''Blue'', the latter instantly dies, and then ''Red'' dies shortly thereafter. The game they play is the game of {{w|Tron_(video_game)#Light_Cycles|Light Cycles}} from the {{w|Tron_(video_game)|video game}} based on the movie ''{{w|Tron}}''. ''Hurricane Blue'' lost because it crashed into the wall of light left by ''Hurricane Red's'' {{w|Light_Cycle#Light_cycles|light cycle}}. (Note that real hurricanes are not dotted lines; the two hurricanes would have merged long before Hurricane Blue "lost.")<br />
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====Hurricane Cos(x)====<br />
Forms a curve in the shape of a {{w|sinusoid}} above the bottom edge of the map. Its path resembles a {{w|sine}} wave. This kind of {{w|trigonometric functions}} can, however, both be expressed as sin(x) or cos(x), the latter being a {{w|cosine wave}}. They look exactly the same when there is no clearly defined coordinate system as in this case. <br />
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===Title Text===<br />
The title text refers to the {{w|1938 New England hurricane}} (also known as the Long Island Express) that caused $4.7 billion in damage. Had it been further west, it could have caused more damage, as the right side of a hurricane is stronger and more destructive than the left side, as the winds on the right side push water inland. [[Randall]] asks for more damage assessments for such a hurricane that would be able to flood {{w|Manhattan}} in {{w|New York}}. Only four years after this cartoon was published, making it almost prophetic, {{w|Hurricane Sandy}} did strike the {{w|New York metropolitan area|New York–New Jersey area}} as a {{w|post-tropical cyclone}} storm. Hurricane Sandy caused an estimated $74 billion in damage. <br />
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The 1938 hurricane is also [[980:_Money/Transcript#Disasters|referenced]] in [[980: Money]], where it is calculated that it would have caused $78 billion had it happened in 2011. However, if that hurricane had taken the same turn as Sandy did, the cost today could have been a staggering $237 billion.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[An unlabelled map shows the region roughly between central Canada and northernmost parts of South America. Dotted lines indicating hurricane paths cover the map, all red except Hurricane Blue, which is blue. Each line is labelled - here follows the labels as they appear from the top and down:]<br />
:Hurricane Where-the-Hell-Is-Bermuda<br />
:Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy<br />
:Hurricane Freud <br />
:Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again <br />
:Hurricane Red <br />
:Hurricane Blue <br />
:Hurricane cos(x)<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Hurricanes]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Penis]]</div>172.70.85.135