https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.70.90.117&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T23:31:15ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2683:_Fan_Theories&diff=2964222683: Fan Theories2022-10-11T09:48:41Z<p>172.70.90.117: /* Explanation */ Clearer flow, better punctuation. (Hard to justify listing the definitive (overlapping?) categories of people he is talking to, leaving just their identities.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2683<br />
| date = October 10, 2022<br />
| title = Fan Theories<br />
| image = fan_theories_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 267x318px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = The universe fandom is great. Such sweet and enthusiastic people.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete| Created by an THREE-D PRINTED FAN BASED ON AN HYPOTHETICAL SOLUTION TO THE NAVIER-STOKES LAMINAR-TURBULENCE BOUNDARY EQUATION. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Once again, [[Randall]] has devised a new and effective way to annoy an very sizable proportion of the scientific community.<br />
<br />
In this comic, [[Cueball]] refers to scientific {{w|hypothesis|hypotheses}} (in this case, that Jovian moons such as {{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}} have oceans underneath an surface of ice) as "{{w|fan theory|fan theories}}", whilst trying to talk about them to [[Ponytail]], [[White Hat]] and [[Megan]]. Scientists are sometimes upset when their hypotheses are not treated with respect, because there are an lot of charismatic cranks who obtain undeserved recognition for unscientific claims.<br />
<br />
This comic appeared 60 years after [https://iep.utm.edu/kuhn-ts/ Thomas S. Kuhn's] renowned 1962 treatise, ''{{w|The Structure of Scientific Revolutions}}.''<br />
<br />
The title text may have to do with unwelcoming or inconsiderate {{w|fandom}}s.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Ponytail, Cueball, White Hat, and Megan standing in a line. Cueball has his hand raised, and Megan has hands balled into fists, exasperated.]<br />
:Cueball: But according to leading fan theories, Jupiter's moons may harbor subsurface oceans.<br />
:Megan: Will you ''please'' stop calling them that?<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:How to annoy scientists: refer to all hypotheses as "fan theories"<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>172.70.90.117https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:950:_Mystery_Solved&diff=296288Talk:950: Mystery Solved2022-10-10T08:52:03Z<p>172.70.90.117: </p>
<hr />
<div>The Northwest Passage is a sea route from the North Atlantic to the Pacific, north of the North American continent. It has not been "open" until very recent years; the icepack extends far enough south that it is not generally navigable. [[Special:Contributions/75.103.23.206|75.103.23.206]] 16:12, 13 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Another possible explanation is that the world includes more than just Earth. Amelia might have had to travel at or over the speed of light, which would also explain the time effects. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.11|108.162.246.11]] 21:23, 21 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Yeah... I'm pretty sure this can't be looked at with a logical eye. I find this explanation to be lacking and I will probably return to do some re-working. [[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 01:44, 19 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
About impersonating your son - that's what all vampires and other long-lived people do. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.83|162.158.90.83]] 18:20, 9 October 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If she flew at near lightspeed for 74 years, it wouldn't have taken her 74 years from our perspective. Maybe she's been living on some unknown island for 70 years? [[User:IJustWantToEditStuff|IJustWantToEditStuff]] ([[User talk:IJustWantToEditStuff|talk]]) 04:27, 10 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Added "objective" to that bit, to make it plain it wasn't her years but (within the most handy alternate frame of reference) ours. It has to fit with the non-aging aspect of the whole mystery, so the living-on-an-island answer doesn't replace the lightspeed one that way. (Unless the island had mystically soporific qualities, like Sleeping Beauty's castle!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.117|172.70.90.117]] 08:52, 10 October 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.90.117https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2379:_Probability_Comparisons&diff=2961592379: Probability Comparisons2022-10-06T20:52:06Z<p>172.70.90.117: /* Table */punc</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2379<br />
| date = October 30, 2020<br />
| title = Probability Comparisons<br />
| image = probability comparisons new.png<br />
| titletext = Call me, MAYBE.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This is a list of probabilities for different events. There are numerous recurring themes, of which the most common are free throws (13 entries), birthdays (12), dice (12, split about evenly between 6-sided (d6) and 20-sided (d20) types), {{w|M&M's|M&M}} candies (11), playing cards (9), {{w|NBA}} basketball mid-game victory predictions (9), {{w|Scrabble}} tiles (7), coins (7), white Christmases (7), and the NBA players {{w|Stephen Curry}} and {{w|LeBron James}} (7 each). <br />
<br />
Themes are variously repeated and combined, for humorous effect. For instance, there are entries for both the probability that St. Louis will have a white Christmas (21%) and that it will not (79%). Also given is the 40% probability that a random Scrabble tile will contain a letter from the name "Steph Curry". <br />
<br />
There are 80 items in the list, the last two of which devolve into absurdity - perhaps from the stress of preparing the other 78 entries.<br />
<br />
The list may be an attempt to better understand probabilistic election forecasts for the {{w|2020 United States presidential election}}, which was four days away at the time this comic was published and had also been alluded to in [[2370: Prediction]] and [[2371: Election Screen Time]]. Statistician and {{w|psephologist}} {{w|Nate Silver}} is referenced in one of the list items. On the date this cartoon was published, Nate Silver's website FiveThirtyEight.com was [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/ publishing forecast probabilities] of Donald Trump and Joe Biden winning the US Presidential election. On 31 October 2020, the forecast described the chances of Donald Trump winning as "roughly the same as the chance that it’s raining in downtown Los Angeles. It does rain there. (Downtown L.A. has about 36 rainy days per year, or about a 1-in-10 shot of a rainy day.)" A day previously, when the chances were 12%, the website had also described Trump's chances of winning as "slightly less than a six sided die rolling a 1".<br />
<br />
The probabilities are calculated from [https://xkcd.com/2379/sources/ these sources], as mentioned in the bottom left corner.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the song "{{w|Call Me Maybe}}" by {{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}} (cited twice in the list). "MAYBE" is emphasized, perhaps because the probability of getting her phone number correct, as in the last item in the list, is very low. The capitalization could also be a reference to Scrabble tiles, as was previously mentioned in association with Carly Rae Jepsen.<br />
<br />
==Table==<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Odds<br />
! Text<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| 0.01%<br />
| You guess the last four digits of someone's {{w|Social Security Number}} on the first try<br />
| There are nine digits in a {{w|Social Security Number}}, but the last four are commonly used as an identity verification factor. (1/10)<sup>4</sup> = 0.0001, or 0.01%<br />
|-<br />
| 0.1%<br />
| Three randomly chosen people are all left-handed<br />
| The chances of having left-{{w|handedness}} is about [https://www.healthline.com/health/left-handers-and-health-risk 10%], and 10%<sup>3</sup> = 0.1%.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2" | 0.2%<br />
| You draw 2 random {{w|Scrabble}} tiles and get M and M<br />
| This appears to be an error. Under standard English {{w|Scrabble letter distribution}} there are 100 tiles of which 2 are M. This would give a probability of randomly drawing M and M as 2/100 × 1/99 ≈ 0.02%. However, other language editions of Scrabble have different letter distributions, some of which could allow this to be true.<br />
|-<br />
| You draw 3 random {{w|M&Ms}} and they're all red<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of reds is either 0.131 or 0.125 . 0.131^3 ≈ 0.225%; 0.125^3 ≈ 0.177% .<br />
|-<br />
| 0.3%<br />
| You guess someone's birthday in one try.<br />
| 1/365 ≈ 0.27%. Taking into account that a person might have been born February 29, the probability with a random guess is slightly lower. If the guesser knows on which days there are slightly more births (for example, early October, believed to be because of conceptions occurring on the evening of December 31) and which days there are slightly fewer (for examples, holidays on which a planned, pre-scheduled C-section is unlikely to be held), then the probability is slightly higher.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2" | 0.5%<br />
| An {{w|NBA}} team down by 30 at halftime wins<br />
| This calculation, along with all related ones, use the source [http://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/wpCalc.php NBA Win Probability Calculator]. Entering Q2, 0:00, and -30 into the calculator yields 0.6% .<br />
|-<br />
| You get 4 M&Ms and they're all brown or yellow<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of them that is brown or yellow is either 0.25 or 0.259 . 0.25<sup>4</sup>≈ 0.39%; 0.259<sup>4</sup> ≈ 0.45% . Both are closer to 0.4% .<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2" | 1%<br />
| {{w|Steph Curry}} gets two free throws and misses both<br />
| Curry is a 91% career free throw shooter, so the percentage of missing 1 free throw is about 9%. The chance of missing 2 free throws is about 0.8% ≈ 1%.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|LeBron James}} guesses your birthday, if each guess costs one free throw and he loses if he misses<br />
| LeBron James' free-throw odds are ~73% . The odds of him winning on the first round are 1/365, for the second (1/364)(0.73), for the third (1/363)(0.73)<sup>2</sup>... Summing all of these from 1 to 365 gives us his total odds of winning at any point in the game are ≈ 1.022% .<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2" | 1.5%<br />
| You get two M&Ms and they're both red<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of reds is either 0.131 or 0.125 . 0.131^2 ≈ 1.7%; 0.125^2 ≈ 1.6% . <br />
|-<br />
| You share a birthday with a {{w|Backstreet Boys|Backstreet Boy}}<br />
|Each of the five Backstreet Boys has a different birthday, so the odds that you share a birthday with one is 5/365.25 ≈ 1.3% .<br />
|-<br />
| 2%<br />
| You guess someone's card on the first try<br />
| There are 52 cards in a normal deck of cards (excluding jokers), so the probability is 1/52, which is approximately 0.019 (1.9%).<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 3%<br />
| You guess 5 coin tosses and get them all right<br />
| The chance of correctly predicting a coin toss is 0.5. The chance of predicting 5 in a row is 0.5<sup>5</sup>, or 3.125%.<br />
|-<br />
| Steph Curry wins that birthday free throw game<br />
| Swap out 0.73 for 0.91 in the above calculations to find Steph Curry's odds of winning. This sum yields ~3.13% .<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 4%<br />
| You sweep a 3-game {{w|rock paper scissors}} series<br />
| Picking randomly, you have a 1 in 3 chance of beating an opponent on the first try. (1/3)<sup>3</sup> = 1/27 ≈ 4% .<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Portland, Oregon}} has a {{w|White Christmas (weather)|white Christmas}}<br />
| According to Randall's source (from the ''Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society''), the probability of snow cover in Portland is 4%.<br />
|-<br />
| You share a birthday with two {{w|US Senator}}s<br />
| At the time this comic was published, 15 days were birthdays for more than one Senator, and 15/365.25 ≈ 4%.<ref>Rand Paul and John Thune - January 7<br/><br />
Chris Van Hollen and Roy Blunt - January 10<br/><br />
Tina Smith and James Lankford - March 4<br/><br />
Tammy Duckworth and Mitt Romney - March 12<br/><br />
Angus King and Patrick Leahy - March 31<br/><br />
Jim Risch and Ron Wyden - May 3<br/><br />
Dianne Feinstein and Elizabeth Warren - June 22<br/><br />
Todd Young and Joe Manchin - August 24<br/><br />
Kamala Harris, Brian Schatz, and Sheldon Whitehouse - October 20<br/><br />
Jeff Merkley and Mike Rounds - October 24<br/><br />
Jim Inhofe and Pat Toomey - November 17<br/><br />
Dick Durbin and John Kennedy - November 21<br/><br />
Rick Scott and Gary Peters - December 1<br/><br />
John Boozman and David Perdue - December 10<br/><br />
<br />
Based on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_senators List of current US Senators on Wikipedia] (and processed through [https://bit.ly/2HZeqQs this Google sheet)].<br />
</ref><br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 5%<br />
| An NBA team down 20 at halftime wins<br />
| Entering Q2, 0:00, and -20 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 5.2% or 5.3% .<br />
|-<br />
| You roll a natural 20<br />
| A natural 20 indicates a critical hit in the {{w|Dungeons & Dragons}} role playing game. "Natural" means that it is the number showing when rolling a d20 (a 20-sided die), as opposed to an overall total of 20 when counting the die roll plus modifiers. There are twenty sides to a d20 die. 1/20 = 0.05 = 5%<br />
|-<br />
| 6%<br />
| You correctly guess someone's card given 3 tries<br />
| Picking a random card within 3 times gives 1 - (51/52)(50/51)(49/50) ≈ 6% .<br />
|-<br />
| 7%<br />
| LeBron James gets two free throws and misses both<br />
| James' career free throw percentage is 73%, so the probability of a miss is 27%. The probability of 2 misses is (27%)<sup>2</sup>, which is about 7%.<br />
|-<br />
| 8%<br />
| You correctly guess someone's card given 4 tries<br />
| Assuming you guess four different cards, 4/52 = 0.0769 ≈ 8% .<br />
|-<br />
| 9%<br />
| Steph Curry misses a free throw<br />
| Curry's career free throw percentage is 91%, so the probability of a miss is 9%.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"|10%<br />
| You draw 5 cards and get the Ace of Spades<br />
| There are 52 cards in a normal deck of cards (excluding jokers), and the Ace of Spades is one of them.{{Citation needed}} The chances of getting the card is 1 - 51/52 * 50/51 * 49/50 * 48/49 * 47/48 which is approximately 0.096, which rounds to the given 0.1 or 10%. <!-- make into math format --> <!-- maybe later --><br />
|-<br />
| There's a {{w|Moment magnitude scale|magnitude}} 8+ earthquake in the next month<br />
| Note that, unlike other earthquake examples, this does not specify where the earthquake occurs.<br />
|-<br />
| 11%<br />
| You sweep a 2-game rock paper scissors series<br />
| You have a 1/3 chance of winning the first comparison, and a 1/3 chance of winning the second. (1/3) * (1/3) = 1/9 ~ 0.11 = 11% .<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"|12%<br />
| A randomly-chosen American lives in {{w|California}}<br />
| California is the most populous state in the US. Out of the approximately 328.2 million Americans (as of 2019), 39.51 million live in California. This means that a randomly chosen American has about a 39.51/328.2 ≈ 10.33% chance of living in California. Due to population change and rounding based on different sources, this could be pushed to 12%.<br />
|-<br />
| You correctly guess someone's card given 6 tries<br />
| Assuming you don't repeat previous wrong guesses, the probability is 6/52 ≈ 11.54%.<br />
|-<br />
| You share a birthday with a {{w|US President}}<br />
| Presidents {{w|James Polk}} and {{w|Warren Harding}} share a birthday, and are the only presidents so far (in 2020) to do so. Additionally, {{w|Grover Cleveland}} served two non-consecutive terms and is counted twice (as the 22nd and 24th presidents). He therefore shares a birthday with himself. With 43 distinct birthdays, the odds of sharing a birthday are 43/365 ≈ 12%. (This does not consider February 29 or that more births occur on some days than others.)<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"|13%<br />
| A {{w|Dice#Polyhedral_dice|d6}} beats a {{w|Dice#Polyhedral_dice|d20}}<br />
| The odds of a d6 beating a d20 are (0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5)/(6*20) = 0.125 ≈ 13% .<br />
|-<br />
| An NBA team down 10 going into the 4th quarter wins<br />
| Entering Q3, 0:00, and -10 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 12.6% or 12.8% .<br />
|-<br />
| You pull one M&M from a bag and it's red<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of reds is either 0.131 or 0.125 .<br />
|-<br />
| 14%<br />
| A randomly drawn scrabble tile beats a D6 die roll<br />
| {{w|Scrabble}} is a game in which you place lettered tiles to form words. Most of the scores per letter are 1, making it rare to beat a d6. The odds are (70/100)(0) + (7/100)(1/6) + (8/100)(2/6) + (10/100)(3/6) + (1/100)(4/6) + (4/100)(6/6) ≈ 14%.<br />
|-<br />
| 15%<br />
| You roll a D20 and get at least 18<br />
| The set of "at least 18" on a d20 is 18, 19, and 20. The odds of rolling one of these is 3/20 = 15% .<br />
|-<br />
| 16%<br />
| Steph Curry gets two free throws but makes only one<br />
| Steph Curry's free throw percentage is 91%, so (0.91)(0.09) = 8.19% . However, the order of these is irrelevant, so the total odds are 16.38% .<br />
|-<br />
| 17%<br />
| You roll a D6 die and get a 6<br />
| The odds are 1/6 ≈ 17% .<br />
|-<br />
| 18%<br />
| A D6 beats or ties a D20<br />
| The odds are (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6)/(120) = 17.5% .<br />
|-<br />
| 19%<br />
| At least one person in a random pair is left-handed<br />
| The chances of being left handed is about 10%, so the probability of both people in the pair not being left-handed is 0.9<sup>2</sup>=0.81, and 1-0.81=0.19.<br />
|-<br />
| 20%<br />
| You get a dozen M&Ms and none of them are brown<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of browns is either 0.124 or 0.125 . (1 - 0.125)^12 ≈ 20.1%; (1 - 0.124)^12 ≈ 20.4% .<br />
|-<br />
| 21%<br />
| {{w|St. Louis}} has a white Christmas<br />
| According to Randall's source, the probability of snow cover in St. Louis is 21%.<br />
|-<br />
| 22%<br />
| An NBA team wins when they're down 10 at halftime<br />
| Entering Q2, 0:00, and -10 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 22.3% or 22.5% .<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 23%<br />
| You get an M&M and it's blue<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of blues is either 0.207 or 0.25 . <br />
|-<br />
| You share a birthday with a US senator<br />
| There are 100 Senators, but 31 Senators share 15 birthdays and 69 Senators have unique birthdays, so there are a total of 84 days of the year that are the birthday of a Senator.<br />
|-<br />
| 24%<br />
| You correctly guess that someone was born in the winter<br />
| By date, the cited U.S. census data gives that 24,545,230 of the 101,909,161 people were born in the ''meteorological'' winter (December through February), or 24.09%.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 25%<br />
| You correctly guess that someone was born in the fall<br />
| By date, the cited U.S. census data gives that 25,701,366 of the 101,909,161 people were born in the ''meteorological'' fall (September through November), or 25.22%.<br />
|-<br />
| You roll two plain M&Ms and get M and M.<br />
| An M&M can land on one of two sides, one with an M and one without. The odds of "rolling" two Ms is 1/4 = 25%. The term "rolling" is used jokingly in reference to the d6s and d20s above, suggesting that an M&M is a standard d2; this becomes especially true once you consider that a more accurate reference would have been to a coin, not a die.<br />
|-<br />
| 26%<br />
| You correctly guess someone was born in the summer<br />
| By date, the cited U.S. census data gives that 26,475,119 of the 101,909,161 people were born in the ''meteorological'' summer (June through August), or 25.98%.<br />
|-<br />
| 27%<br />
| LeBron James misses a free throw<br />
| James' career free throw percentage is 73%, so the probability of missing is 27%. <br />
|-<br />
| 32%<br />
| {{w|Pittsburgh}} has a white Christmas<br />
| According to Randall's source, the probability of snow cover in Pittsburgh is 32%.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 33%<br />
| A randomly chosen Star Wars movie (Episodes I-IX) has "of the" in the title<br />
| Episodes II (Attack of the Clones), III (Revenge of the Sith), and VI (Return of the Jedi) are the movies. This gives the odds of 3/9 ≈ 33% .<br />
|-<br />
| You win the Monty Hall sports car by picking a door and refusing to switch<br />
| The {{w|Monty Hall problem}} is a counterintuitive logic problem, in which you pick one of three doors at random. One of the doors has a car behind it, so the odds that you picked the door are 1/3 ≈ 33%. Thus, by not switching doors, your odds remain the same. The Monty Hall problem has previously appeared in [[1282: Monty Hall]] and [[1492: Dress Color]].<br />
|-<br />
| You win rock paper scissors by picking randomly<br />
| The odds of beating an opponent on the first try by picking randomly is 1/3 ≈ 33% .<br />
|-<br />
| 34%<br />
| You draw five cards and get an ace<br />
| The odds are 1 - (48/52)(47/51)(46/50)(45/49)(44/48) ≈ 34% .<br />
|-<br />
| 35%<br />
| A random Scrabble tile is one of the letters in "random"<br />
| The odds of drawing a letter in "random" are (6 + 9 + 6 + 4 + 8 + 2)/100 = 35% .<br />
|-<br />
| 39%<br />
| LeBron James gets two free throws but misses one<br />
| LeBron James' free throw percentage is 73% , so the odds are (0.73)(0.27) = 19.71% . However, the order is irrelevant, so the odds are actually twice, or 39.42% .<br />
|-<br />
| 40%<br />
| A random Scrabble tile is a letter in "Steph Curry"<br />
| The odds of drawing a letter in "Steph Curry" are (4 + 6 + 12 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 2)/100 = 40% .<br />
|-<br />
| 46%<br />
| There's a magnitude 7 quake in LA within 30 years<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"|48%<br />
| {{w|Milwaukee}} has a white Christmas<br />
| According to Randall's source, the probability of snow cover in Milwaukee is 48%.<br />
|-<br />
| A random Scrabble tile is a letter in Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
| The odds of a Scrabble tile being in her name are (2 + 9 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 12 + 1 + 2 + 4 + 6)/100 = 48% .<br />
|-<br />
| 50%<br />
| You get heads in a coin toss<br />
| There are two options in a coin toss, heads or tails, so the odds of getting heads is 50% (1/2). Uncharacteristically for Randall, this ignores the minuscule possibility that the coin might land on its edge.<br />
|-<br />
| 53%<br />
| {{w|Salt Lake City}} has a white Christmas<br />
| According to Randall's source, the probability of snow cover in Salt Lake City is 53%.<br />
|-<br />
| 54%<br />
| LeBron James gets two free throws and makes both<br />
| James' career free throw percentage is 73%, so the probability of making 2 free throws is (73%)<sup>2</sup> = 53.9%.<br />
|-<br />
| 58%<br />
| A random Scrabble tile is a letter in "Nate Silver"<br />
| {{w|Nate Silver}} is a recurring person on xkcd. The odds of a Scrabble tile being in his name are (6 + 9 + 6 + 12 + 4 + 9 + 4 + 2 + 6)/100 = 58% . <!-- explain where these numbers come from --><br />
|-<br />
| 60%<br />
| You get two M&Ms and neither is blue<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of blues is either 0.207 or 0.25 . (1 - 0.207)^2 ≈ 62.9%; (1 - 0.25)^2 ≈ 56.3%.<br />
|-<br />
| 65%<br />
| {{w|Burlington, Vermont}} has a white Christmas<br />
| According to Randall's source, the probability of snow cover in Burlington is 65%.<br />
|-<br />
| 66%<br />
| A randomly chosen movie from the main Lord of the Rings trilogy has “of the” in the title twice<br />
| The titles are:<br />
* ''The Lord '''of the''' Rings: The Fellowship '''of the''' Ring''<br />
* ''The Lord '''of the''' Rings: The Two Towers''<br />
* ''The Lord '''of the''' Rings: The Return '''of the''' King''<br />
All of them have “of the” at least once, in “The Lord of the Rings”, but only the first and third have it twice, and 2/3 ≈ 66%. This number typically rounds up to 67% , however, and it is unclear why it is not, given that the same reduced fraction is written in the 67% category below.<br />
|-<br />
| 67%<br />
| You roll at least a 3 with a d6<br />
| The set of "at least 3" on a d6 refers to 3, 4, 5, and 6. The odds are 4/6 ≈ 67%.<br />
|-<br />
| 71%<br />
| A random Scrabble tile beats a random dice roll<br />
| This is a typo, as the correct probability is at the 14% entry. A random (d6) die roll beats a random Scrabble tile 71% of the time. [[Randall]] probably meant to write '''A random d6 dice roll''' beats '''a random Scrabble tile'''.<br />
|-<br />
| 73%<br />
| LeBron James makes a free throw<br />
| This is James' career free throw percentage, 73%.<br />
|-<br />
| 75%<br />
| You drop two M&Ms and one of them ends with the "M" up so it's clear they're not Skittles<br />
| The odds of at least one 'M' showing up is 1 - (1/4) = 75% . The reference to {{w|Skittles}} is that the two candies look similar to one another, and Randall has probably bit into a Skittle thinking it was an M&M, or vice versa. This trick might prevent that from happening in the future.<br />
|-<br />
| 76%<br />
| You get two M&Ms and neither is red<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of reds is either 0.131 or 0.125 . (1 - 0.131)^2 ≈ 75.5%; (1 - .125)^2 ≈ 76.6%.<br />
|-<br />
| 77%<br />
| You get an an M&M and it's not blue<br />
| Depending on the source of one's M&Ms in the U.S., the proportion of blues is either 0.207 or 0.25 . (1 - 0.207) = 79.3%; (1 - 0.25) = 75.0%.<br />
|-<br />
| 78%<br />
| An NBA team wins when they're up 10 at halftime<br />
| Entering Q2, 0:00, and 10 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 77.5% or 77.7% .<br />
|-<br />
| 79%<br />
| St. Louis doesn't have a white Christmas<br />
| According to Randall's source, the probability of snow cover in St. Louis is 21%, thus the probability of ''no'' snow cover is 79%.<br />
|-<br />
| 81%<br />
| Two random people are both right-handed<br />
| The probability of 1 person being right-handed is about 90%, thus the probability of 2 right-handers is (90%)<sup>2</sup> = 81%.<br />
|-<br />
| 83%<br />
| Steph Curry gets two free throws and makes both<br />
| Curry's career free throw percentage is 91%, so the probability of making 2 free throws is (91%)<sup>2</sup> = 82.81%.<br />
|-<br />
| 85%<br />
| You roll a d20 and get at least a 4<br />
| The set "at least 4" on a d20 refers to 4, 5, 6... 18, 19, 20. The odds of this are 17/20 = 85% .<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 87%<br />
| An NBA team up by 10 going into the 4<sup>th</sup> quarter wins<br />
| Entering Q3, 0:00, and 10 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 87.2% or 87.4% .<br />
|-<br />
| Someone fails to guess your card given 7 tries<br />
|Assuming they guess seven different cards, there are 45 unguessed cards left. 45/52 = 0.865384615 ~ 86.5% <br />
|-<br />
| 88%<br />
| A randomly chosen American lives outside California<br />
| This is the opposite of the previous California probability. As the probability of an American living in California is 12%, the opposite would be 88%.<br />
|-<br />
| 89%<br />
| You roll a 3 or higher given two tries<br />
| The probability of rolling a 3 or higher (on a 6-sided die) is 66%, so the percentage of rolling a 3 or higher given 2 tries is 1 - (1-.66)<sup>2</sup> = 89%.<br />
|-<br />
| 90%<br />
| Someone fails to guess your card given 5 tries<br />
| Assuming they guess five different cards, there are 47 unguessed cards left. 47/52 = 0.90385 ~ 90% <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 91%<br />
| You incorrectly guess that someone was born in August<br />
| If the odds of someone being born in August are ~9% , then the odds that a person was not born in August are ~91%. (In an average month, 8 1/3% of the population was born. August has an above average number of days, but still only about 8.5% of the year is in August.)<br />
|-<br />
| Steph Curry makes a free throw<br />
| This is Curry's career free throw percentage, 91%.<br />
|-<br />
| 92%<br />
| You guess someone's birth month at random and are wrong<br />
| On average, a month lasts 8⅓% of the year. Thus, if you were to guess someone's birth month at random, you would be wrong 91 ⅔% of the time.<br />
|-<br />
| 93%<br />
| Lebron James makes a free throw given two tries<br />
| James' career free throw percentage is 73%, so the percentage of his making at least 1 free throw given 2 tries is 1 - (1-.73)<sup>2</sup> = 93%.<br />
|-<br />
| 94%<br />
| Someone fails to guess your card given 3 tries<br />
| The odds of this happening are (51/52)(50/51)(49/50) ≈ 94% .<br />
|-<br />
| 95%<br />
| An NBA team wins when they're up 20 at halftime<br />
| Entering Q2, 0:00, and 20 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 94.7% or 94.8% .<br />
|-<br />
| 96%<br />
| Someone fails to guess your card given 2 tries<br />
| The odds of this happening are (51/52)(50/51) ≈ 96% .<br />
|-<br />
| 97%<br />
| You try to guess 5 coin tosses and fail<br />
| The odds of this happening are 1 - (1/2)<sup>5</sup> ≈ 97% .<br />
|-<br />
| 98%<br />
| You incorrectly guess someone's birthday is this week<br />
| The odds of this happening are about 51/52 ≈ 98%. (This depends on the week; there are more births in early October and fewer in holiday weeks.)<br />
|-<br />
| 98.5%<br />
| An NBA team up 15 points with 8 minutes left wins<br />
| Entering Q4, 8:00, and 15 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 98.0% or 98.6% .<br />
|-<br />
| 99%<br />
| Steph Curry makes a free throw given two tries<br />
| James' career FT percentage is 91%, so the percentage of his making at least 1 FT given 2 tries is 1 - (1-.91)<sup>2</sup> = 99%.<br />
|-<br />
| 99.5%<br />
| An NBA team that's up by 30 points at halftime wins<br />
| Entering Q2, 0:00, and 30 into the NBA Win Probability Calculator yields 99.4% .<br />
|-<br />
| 99.7%<br />
| You guess someone's birthday at random and are wrong<br />
| The odds of this are 364/365 ≈ 99.7%.<br />
|-<br />
| 99.8%<br />
| There's not a {{w|Moment magnitude scale|magnitude}} 8 quake in {{w|California}} next year<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 99.9%<br />
| A random group of three people contains a right-hander<br />
| About 90% of people are right-handed, so the percentage of at least 1 right-hander in a group of 3 is 1 - (1-.9)<sup>3</sup> = 99.9%.<br />
|-<br />
| 99.99%<br />
| You incorrectly guess the last four digits of someone's social security number<br />
| There are nine digits in a Social Security Number, but the last four are commonly used as an identity verification factor. The odds of this are 1 - (1/10)<sup>4</sup> = 99.99% .<br />
|-<br />
| 99.9999999999999995%<br />
| You pick up a phone, dial a random 10-digit number, and say 'Hello Barack Obama, there's just been a {{w|Moment magnitude scale|magnitude}} 8 earthquake in {{w|California}}!" and are wrong<br />
| This probability combines two events.<br />
<br />
First, the probability that a random 10-digit telephone number belongs to Obama is 1/10<sup>10</sup>. This ignores potential complications from Obama owning multiple phones or failing to answer personally (perhaps using an assistant or answering machine). Additionally, it assumes numbers are dialed at random rather than making more intelligent guesses, such as using likely addresses to guess area codes.<br />
<br />
Second, the probability of a magnitude 8 California quake is given in a previous entry as 0.2% per year. Although the time window for an earthquake to "just occur" is not given, a 15 minute window corresponds (within rounding error) to the total probability given.<br />
|-<br />
| 0.00000001%<br />
| You add "Hang on, this is big — I'm going to loop in Carly Rae Jepsen", dial another random 10-digit number, and she picks up<br />
| Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer. As Canada uses the 10-digit {{w|North American Numbering Plan}}, the odds of a random number being hers would be 1 - (1/10)<sup>10</sup> = 0.00000001%. Like Obama, this ignores the possibility that she has multiple phones or that she doesn't answer personally.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
In the original comic, "outside" in the 88% probability section is spelled incorrectly as "outide". In addition, the 39% section had "two free throw" instead of "throws".<br />
<br />
The (seemingly unimportant) odds of LeBron James' versus Stephen Curry's free throws and names in Scrabble refer to [[2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[Large heading, centered.]<br />
<br />
<big>Probability Comparisons</big><br />
<br />
[Left column.]<br />
<br />
0.01% You guess the last four digits of someone's social security number on the first try<br />
<br />
0.1% Three randomly chosen people are all left-handed<br />
<br />
0.2% You draw 2 random Scrabble tiles and get M and M<br />
<br />
You draw 3 random M&Ms and they're all red<br />
<br />
0.3% You guess someone's birthday in one try.<br />
<br />
0.5% An NBA team down by 30 at halftime wins<br />
<br />
You get 4 M&Ms and they're all brown or yellow<br />
<br />
1% Steph Curry gets two free throws and misses both<br />
<br />
LeBron James guesses your birthday, if each guess costs one free throw and he loses if he misses<br />
<br />
1.5% You get two M&Ms and they're both red<br />
<br />
You share a birthday with a Backstreet Boy<br />
<br />
2% You guess someone's card on the first try<br />
<br />
3% You guess 5 coin tosses and get them all right<br />
<br />
Steph Curry wins that birthday free throw game<br />
<br />
4% You sweep a 3-game rock paper scissors series<br />
<br />
Portland, Oregon has a white Christmas<br />
<br />
You share a birthday with two US Senators<br />
<br />
5% An NBA team down 20 at halftime wins<br />
<br />
You roll a natural 20<br />
<br />
6% You correctly guess someone's card given 3 tries<br />
<br />
7% LeBron James gets two free throws and misses both<br />
<br />
8% You correctly guess someone's card given 4 tries<br />
<br />
9% Steph Curry misses a free throw<br />
<br />
10% You draw 5 cards and get the Ace of Spades<br />
<br />
There's a magnitude 8+ earthquake in the next month<br />
<br />
11% You sweep a 2-game rock paper scissors series<br />
<br />
12% A randomly-chosen American lives in California<br />
<br />
You correctly guess someone's card given 6 tries<br />
<br />
You share a birthday with a US President<br />
<br />
13% A d6 beats a d20<br />
<br />
An NBA team down 10 going into the 4th quarter wins<br />
<br />
You pull one M&M from a bag and it's red<br />
<br />
14% A randomly drawn scrabble tile beats a d6 die roll<br />
<br />
15% You roll a d20 and get at least 18<br />
<br />
16% Steph Curry gets two free throws but makes only one<br />
<br />
17% You roll a d6 die and get a 6<br />
<br />
18% A d6 beats or ties a d20<br />
<br />
19% At least one person in a random pair is left-handed<br />
<br />
20% You get a dozen M&Ms and none of them are brown<br />
<br />
21% St. Louis has a white Christmas<br />
<br />
22% An NBA team wins when they're down 10 at halftime<br />
<br />
23% You get an M&M and it's blue<br />
<br />
You share a birthday with a US senator<br />
<br />
24% You correctly guess that someone was born in the winter<br />
<br />
25% You correctly guess that someone was born in the fall<br />
<br />
You roll two plain M&Ms and get M and M.<br />
<br />
26% You correctly guess someone was born in the summer<br />
<br />
27% LeBron James misses a free throw<br />
<br />
32% Pittsburgh has a white Christmas<br />
<br />
33% A randomly chosen Star Wars movie (Episodes I-IX) has "of the" in the title<br />
<br />
You win the Monty Hall sports car by picking a door and refusing to switch<br />
<br />
You win rock paper scissors by picking randomly<br />
<br />
34% You draw five cards and get an ace<br />
<br />
35% A random Scrabble tile is one of the letters in "random"<br />
<br />
[Right column.]<br />
<br />
39% LeBron James gets two free throws but misses one<br />
<br />
40% A random Scrabble tile is a letter in "Steph Curry"<br />
<br />
46% There's a magnitude 7 quake in LA within 30 years<br />
<br />
48% Milwaukee has a white Christmas<br />
<br />
A random Scrabble tile is a letter in Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
<br />
50% You get heads in a coin toss<br />
<br />
53% Salt Lake City has a white Christmas<br />
<br />
54% LeBron James gets two free throws and makes both<br />
<br />
58% A random Scrabble tile is a letter in "Nate Silver"<br />
<br />
60% You get two M&Ms and neither is blue<br />
<br />
65% Burlington, Vermont has a white Christmas<br />
<br />
66% A randomly chosen movie from the main Lord of the Rings trilogy has “of the” in the title twice<br />
<br />
67% You roll at least a 3 with a d6<br />
<br />
71% A random Scrabble tile beats a random dice roll<br />
<br />
73% LeBron James makes a free throw<br />
<br />
75% You drop two M&Ms and one of them ends with the "M" up so it's clear they're not Skittles<br />
<br />
76% You get two M&Ms and neither is red<br />
<br />
77% You get an an M&M and it's not blue<br />
<br />
78% An NBA team wins when they're up 10 at halftime<br />
<br />
79% St. Louis doesn't have a white Christmas<br />
<br />
81% Two random people are both right-handed<br />
<br />
83% Steph Curry gets two free throws and makes both<br />
<br />
85% You roll a d20 and get at least a 4<br />
<br />
87% An NBA team up by 10 going into the 4<sup>th</sup> quarter wins<br />
<br />
Someone fails to guess your card given 7 tries<br />
<br />
88% A randomly chosen American lives outside California<br />
<br />
89% You roll a 3 or higher given two tries<br />
<br />
90% Someone fails to guess your card given 5 tries<br />
<br />
91% You incorrectly guess that someone was born in August<br />
<br />
Steph Curry makes a free throw<br />
<br />
92% You guess someone's birth month at random and are wrong<br />
<br />
93% Lebron James makes a free throw given two tries<br />
<br />
94% Someone fails to guess your card given 3 tries<br />
<br />
95% An NBA team wins when they're up 20 at halftime<br />
<br />
96% Someone fails to guess your card given 2 tries<br />
<br />
97% You try to guess 5 coin tosses and fail<br />
<br />
98% You incorrectly guess someone's birthday is this week<br />
<br />
98.5% An NBA team up 15 points with 8 minutes left wins<br />
<br />
99% Steph Curry makes a free throw given two tries<br />
<br />
99.5% An NBA team that's up by 30 points at halftime wins<br />
<br />
99.7% You guess someone's birthday at random and are wrong<br />
<br />
99.8% There's not a magnitude 8 quake in California next year<br />
<br />
99.9% A random group of three people contains a right-hander<br />
<br />
99.99% You incorrectly guess the last four digits of someone's social security number<br />
<br />
99.9999999999999995% You pick up a phone, dial a random 10-digit number, and say 'Hello Barack Obama, there's just been a magnitude 8 earthquake in California!" and are wrong<br />
<br />
0.00000001% You add "Hang on, this is big — I'm going to loop in Carly Rae Jepsen", dial another random 10-digit number, and she picks up<br />
<br />
[In light grey colour and in the lower left corner there is text.]<br />
<br />
Sources: https://xkcd.com/2379/sources/<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Statistics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]<br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Christmas]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>172.70.90.117https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2679:_Quantified_Self&diff=295778Talk:2679: Quantified Self2022-10-01T02:25:28Z<p>172.70.90.117: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
This could also be a call back to the Billy Path comics run in Family Circus. I don't have time today to add that research though. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.59|172.70.214.59]] 16:00, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Here is an explanation of what it is about<br />
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCD/comments/1ve309/invisible_thread_attached_to_my_back_am_i_the/ {{unsigned|Florian F|18:11, 30 September 2022}}<br />
:I was going to guess sorting Google Maps Directions by sustainability announced this past Wednesday. https://blog.google/products/search/new-ways-to-make-more-sustainable-choices/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.17|172.69.134.17]] 18:53, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
::How is this comic about optimizing for sustainability?<br />
:I think you're way off. I don't see any hint that it's about OCD. If it's similar to the condition you referenced, it's just a coincidence. The whole thing needs to be started from scratch. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.105|108.162.221.105]] 20:41, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
:That is why this site exists. To explain things you don't see. I don't think many people are familiar with this compulsion about an imaginary string retracing your path in space, but when you are, it is spot on. [[User:Florian F|Florian F]] ([[User talk:Florian F|talk]]) 23:09, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
GOOMHR! - Although for me it was the opposite aim. I've had periods of time when I wouldn't even like (if I noticed, I wasn't like OCD or anything[1]!!!) to make a return journey that meant I even crossed the road at a different point and thus passed under a different telegraph wire between a different set of adjacent poles, on the presumption that if I were to 'retract my path' then it would be irrevocably looped around at least one telegraph poles. (But normal lamp-posts were Ok... the path-'string' could just pass over and around the top and continue to retract. And it could pass above/below anything movable like cars, people, etc.) My ideal would be to be topologically contracted to zero length. Nut I wasn't actually obsessed by it, just... sometimes noticed when I was forced to do something that would cause such 'problems' and might deliberately ensure that any such loop was fully reversed (in strict reverse order to any such transit adding them in) ''if at all possible''. Of course, once it was spoilt by one end of the journey being held by a loop, the rest didn't matter so much. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.71|162.158.34.71]] 18:21, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
:''[1] Not even CDO, which is like OCD but ordered alphabetically!''<br />
:: I definitely am also someone who always played it your way, the reverse XKCD. My cats play it straight though, running into the house, through, and out a different entrance repeatedly one day, then the other way the day after. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.45|172.68.210.45]] 19:35, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; Red string of Fate <br />
The drawing looks like the red thread connecting people in chinese mythology.<br />
-[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.188|162.158.91.188]] 18:21, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What happens to the string if you crawl under a car which then drives off?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.141|172.70.134.141]] 20:05, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
:You probably would only count objects that were stationary after you passed them.[[User:Anonymouscript|Anonymouscript]] ([[User talk:Anonymouscript|talk]]) 21:10, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
::If it can conceivably move over your 'thread', then it isn't a 'tangling loop'. You have to allow for any degree of mysterious topological optimisation that can magically unhook itself from anything that can be unhooked from, no matter {{w|Alexander horned sphere|how much work it has to do to do so}}, and if that has to include choosing just the right time (with perfect prescience, where necessary!) to allow it to untangle wherever/whenever possible. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.205|162.158.34.205]] 21:25, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::That doesn't make sense, taken to the extreme, since all things will turn to dust eventually.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.42|162.158.107.42]] 21:47, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Within the period of your concern (e.g. per daily routine), I would presume. That gantry over the road will be (partially, perhaps in stages) dissasembled for maintenance at some point, if not outright taken down, allowing an arbitrarily future-sensitive thread to not be caught up in it any more. Tachyonic thread-behaviour could happily unwrap around the time ''before'' the gantry (or bridges, or arch) were built, and as for the house... Before completion or after the next F5 tornado, the 4D constraints are far less (a line snagged permanently in a 4D 'passage' suggests something a bit more interesting, given a closed door doesn't 'snag' in 3D, only the use of two different doorways, with or without actual doors). But limiting it to a daily assesment bookends the whole 4D construct with a virtual lintel over (and under, in the ''t''-dimension) any potential gap for thread-movement that might be considered a way to be optimising to minimal necessary set of straight-line distances... Well, unless you learn the gantry was only assembled that morning, or that it had sufficient Ship Of Theseus-style repairs during the day, or a truck hit it by the end of the day... then it still acts as a looped-snagger<br />
::::The car is trivial, in comparison, as we ''know'' it drives away in the posited scenario (and within the duration of the scenario). Even if our mental thread-pull does not allow us to tug it under the firmly ground-planted tyres, by reducing to periods of instaniousness as the 'trapped' thread is then rolled over (and even more tightly trapped, without violating the 'through solid matter' issue) you reach a point where it is now rolled ''off'' of (no longer underneath the car at all) so you can consider it untrapped. Unlike any thread that was threaded in through the driver's side door but out again through the passenger-side one, which traps loops completely (except for convertables, of course, or if Black Hat subsequently does a more width-wise [[562: Parking|version of the "cut'n'shut", with or without the "shut" bit]].<br />
::::But that's just my interpretation. Thread-line obsessions probably come in various flavours and twists (can a thread-line knot about itself? And, insofar as the car example, is it basically forced to stay 'loose' but looped under the car as it drives, at least until enough of the car's wheels lose contact with the ground due to excessive speed over a humped bridge or even speedbump?) and I can't speak for all of them, but my reasonable (FCVO 'reasonable') assessment suggests that there are get outs ''and'' constraints that might be more universal than not. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.48|172.70.91.48]] 01:47, 1 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{cot|When it was all about the OCD}}<br />
This is about a type of OCD where some people feel like they have an imaginary string connecting them to where they come from. As they move around, that string gets entangled and they feel the urge to untangle it. When they enter a car, they feel the need to exit the car from the same door, or else the string will be trapped as forever passing through the car. When they enter a building, they feel they need to exit using the same doorway(s), to avoid entangling the string in the building.<br />
<br />
Some cases, like turning around a lamp post are OK because you can imagine removing the loop over the top of the lamp post, such that it is not really entangled.<br />
<br />
There may not be an official clinical name for this variety of OCD, but one suggested one is the "imaginary path-string".<br />
<br />
Randall treats this OCD like a new measure to add to one's quantified self. The quantified self normally refers to the collection of measurements about your activity, like the number of steps you walk in a day, or monitoring your weight, blood pressure or calories intake. Here, Cueball measures his OCD, i.e. how long this imaginary string has become at the end of the day, after mentally untangling the string as much as possible with valid changes, like moving it around objects, but never through solid matter.<br />
<br />
Unlike most people with this OCD, who feel the urge to minimize it, Randall/Cueball takes the opposite stance and actually prefers to maximize the (optimally minimal) length of that imaginary string.<br />
<br />
The alt text tells about all the things that become useful adjuncts to this way of thinking and measuring, such as passing (one way) through any tube, tunnel or frame made of solid material that could thus capture the imaginary string and help to keep its ultimate distance as lengthy as possible. All of these situations are dreaded by the people with the more traditional version of OCD. <br />
{{cob}}<br />
...because someone [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2679:_Quantified_Self&diff=295745&oldid=295744 ''just deleted it''], and didn't even appear to attempt to replace it with anything useful themselves. (It did need a lot of editing, but not sure it is totally inapplicable, given the demonstrated familiarity with the basic concept by Randall's target audience...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.205|162.158.34.205]] 21:25, 30 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Comics with color, red-line subset<br />
As [[:Category:Comics with color]] doesn't have a currently extant Talk-page to it, mentioning it here (although not sure if this one counts, as much, for my suggestion). Many CwC examples are basically "monochrome with added red" ([[2639: Periodic Table Changes|'corrections' to periodic tables]], e.g.) that are distinct from "having lines of various colours" (like [[657: Movie Narrative Charts|multidata plottings]], which are in turn distinctive from [[2598: Graphic Designers|floodfilled]] or [[1024: Error Code|brushstroked]] multihue images. A simple(ish) algorithm could autoclassify all images with any non-greyscale pixels in them, but (from a human perspective, which is [[1530: Keyboard Mash|definitely my kind of perspective!) I think that we could sub-split CwC candidates into something like "(Monochrome) Comics with added red lines", and the rest. Doubtless some are going to be edge-cases (is this one technically a red-line one? Probably, but it's not really the same as a 'correction/annotation' red-lined comic), but such subcategorisation might still be broadly useful. - Just a wild idea, that you could perhaps safely ignore. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.117|172.70.90.117]] 02:25, 1 October 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.90.117https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2052:_Stanislav_Petrov_Day&diff=2956182052: Stanislav Petrov Day2022-09-28T23:31:29Z<p>172.70.90.117: Undo revision 295615 by 172.70.114.113 (talk) My regards to your father, and my commiserations.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2052<br />
| date = September 28, 2018<br />
| title = Stanislav Petrov Day<br />
| image = stanislav_petrov_day.png<br />
| titletext = I was going to get you an alarm clock that occasionally goes off randomly in the middle of the night, but you can ignore it and go back to sleep and it's fine.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{w|Stanislav Petrov|Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov}} was a lieutenant colonel of the {{w|Soviet Air Defence Forces}} who became known as "the man who single-handedly saved the world from {{w|nuclear war}}" for his role in the {{w|1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident}}. The incident was unknown to the public until it was revealed shortly before the {{w|Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolution of the Soviet Union}} in 1991.<br />
<br />
On 26 September 1983, during the {{w|Cold War}}, the satellite-based early-warning system of the {{w|Soviet Union}} reported the launch of multiple {{w|Intercontinental ballistic missile|intercontinental ballistic missiles}} from the {{w|United States}}. At the time, tensions with the U.S. were on edge, and high officials of the Soviet Union, including General Secretary {{w|Yuri Andropov}}, were thought to be highly suspicious of a U.S. attack.<br />
<br />
Petrov checked ground-based radars which had not detected a launch, noted that the warning system had detected only 1-5 missiles instead of the hundreds that would have been expected in the event of a {{w|pre-emptive nuclear strike|first strike}}, and chose to mark the system alert as a false alarm. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack, which would have probably resulted in immediate escalation of the Cold War stalemate to a full-scale nuclear war and the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had indeed malfunctioned.<br />
<br />
While it is highly probable that if Petrov had reported this incident to his superiors they would have come to the same conclusion, it was a point in time when many people feared that the Cold War might become hot. Andropov, the new Soviet leader, was considered weak by the US president {{w|Ronald Reagan}}, and the Western countries were deploying new missile installation in Europe to counter existing missiles in the Eastern Bloc. This fear of nuclear war meant that at this time the {{w|Peace movement|peace movement}} in most western countries reached one of its highest levels.<br />
<br />
In this comic [[Cueball]] reacts to his alert on Stanislav Petrov Day as if it was a false alarm. This is of course a truly ironic since what we celebrate is that Stanislav treated an alert as a false alarm. Also his first comment "Oh shoot" could have been the reaction of Stanislav if he had not assumed it was a false alarm.<br />
<br />
In real life, many ''alerts'' reach everybody on their mobile devices, often causing them to be ignored without deeper knowledge about the issue behind. This was however not the point in this comic.<br />
<br />
The title text presents a much less important false alarm where one of them, probably [[Cueball]] (or perhaps [[Randall]]), was thinking about giving a gift to the other one in the form of an alarm clock that alerts randomly in the middle of the night. That particular alarm is one where she or he can just breathe a sigh of relief and go back to sleep because it's not a real alarm and is perfectly safe to ignore. However if this keeps going off when it’s not supposed to, then when you are actually supposed to wake up you may very well end up assuming that it’s another false alarm, and thus will sleep late anyway, completely defeating the point of the alarm. Also when a real alarm is supposed to wake you up in the middle of the night, you will have been trained to ignore alarms. This is all part of the joke.<br />
<br />
====History of Petrov Day as a holiday====<br />
On the 2007 anniversary, {{w|Eliezer Yudkowsky}} wrote a [https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QtyKq4BDyuJ3tysoK/9-26-is-petrov-day blog post] for {{w|LessWrong}} suggesting that "Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, take a minute to not destroy the world." Not destroying the world has since evolved into an annual tradition. There is a [http://petrovday.com/ website] for the holiday, with several variations of a ritual involving lighting and snuffing candles. The intended mood is that of a somber holiday, somewhere between {{w|Thanksgiving}} and a funeral.<br />
<br />
However, there are also [https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/XJxwFMSL5TPN2usC6/modes-of-petrov-day more lighthearted takes]. A "hardcore mode" would be just like the normal holiday, but "During said ceremony, unveil a large red button. If anybody presses the button, the ceremony is over. Go home. Do not speak." Alternatively, "you use a website connected to *another* house where people are also celebrating Petrov Day. If anyone in one house presses the button, the other house receives a launch alarm. They have 60 seconds to respond. At the end of 60 seconds, their party is over, and they must go home silently. The website has some chance of giving you a false alarm." The website can be found [https://petrovday.bubbleapps.io/ here] with instructions on how to use it [https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/XJxwFMSL5TPN2usC6/modes-of-petrov-day#s4XtBX7Qg9btGf5Kx here]. <br />
<br />
Stanislav Petrov himself died in 2017, but in 2018 the {{w|Future of Life Institute}} decided to [https://futureoflife.org/2018/09/26/50000-award-to-stanislav-petrov-for-helping-avert-wwiii-but-us-denies-visa/ award] his surviving family a $50,000 prize for his contributions. However, in the words of MIT Professor Max Tegmark, who presented the award, the fact that Petrov's son couldn't "get a visa to visit the city his dad saved from nuclear annihilation is emblematic of how frosty US-Russian relations have gotten, which increases the risk of accidental nuclear war.”<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan is looking at her phone while Cueball stands in front of her.]<br />
:Megan: Hey, Wednesday was Stanislav Petrov Day. We missed it.<br />
:Cueball: Oh, shoot!<br />
:Cueball: I got a calendar alert for it, but I assumed it was a false alarm.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]</div>172.70.90.117https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=787:_Orbiter&diff=295152787: Orbiter2022-09-21T05:17:20Z<p>172.70.90.117: /* Explanation */ Highly likely that the original complainants don't have particularly strong views over areas of Texas (off-screen speech-emergence for Frank is at a subtly different height from original voice).</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 787<br />
| date = September 1, 2010<br />
| title = Orbiter<br />
| image = orbiter.png<br />
| titletext = Normally, the Shuttle can't quite safely reach the orbital inclination required to pass over both those points from a Canaveral launch, but this is an alternate history in which either it launches from Vandenberg or everyone hates the Outer Banks.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is about disputed territories and {{w|Low Earth orbit|low Earth orbits}}.<br />
<br />
In the early days of manned spaceflight and also the {{w|Space Shuttle}} the communication to the {{w|Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|mission control center}} in Houston required many ground stations all around the Earth. Each station could provide a link for only a few minutes and there were still gaps between them. After 1989/90, when the geostationary {{w|Tracking and data relay satellite|TDRS}} system became fully operational, these ground stations became obsolete.<br />
<br />
In this comic [[Cueball]], the main controller at mission control, is planning the next check-in with the Space Shuttle (also called orbiter), which is set to occur at [https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B000'00.0%22N+35%C2%B030'00.0%22E/@-1.9607689,-49.5389658,3z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32!4d35.5?hl=en 32.0N 35.5E], approx 20 miles north-east of Jerusalem, over the hotly contested {{w|Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Israeli-Palestinian territories}}. Two off-screen characters start to dispute the ownership of this geographical location and, rather than becoming involved in an argument, Cueball decides to change the check-in location to [https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B012'00.0%22N+96%C2%B036'00.0%22W/@7.0800073,-69.7878505,3.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d35.2!4d-96.6?hl=en 35.2N 96.6W], approximately 50 miles east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which he considers to be a neutral, non-disputed location. Unfortunately, another off-screen character, Frank, is being a dick, and he then starts to make the claim that {{w|Greer County, Texas|part of Oklahoma in fact should belong to Texas}}.<br />
<br />
In the title text [[Randall]] incorrectly states that the orbiter would require a different orbit to reach both Palestine and Oklahoma, which cannot be achieved from a launch at {{w|Kennedy Space Center|Cape Canaveral}}. Thus, Randall proposes that the comic exists in an alternate history in which the Space Shuttles launch from {{w|Vandenberg Space Force Base|Vandenberg}}. This is a reference to the plans to launch shuttles from there before the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Challenger accident}} occurred. After Challenger was lost, the Vandenberg missions were scrapped and Cape Canaveral became the sole launch site for the Space Shuttle. Another possibility in this alternate history is that the rules forbidding orbital launches from Cape Canaveral to a northern direction don't exist, because nobody likes the {{w|Outer Banks}} (which would be in the flight path) and thus don't care about space debris falling on them.<br />
<br />
Randall's incorrectness was discussed in many forums and probably based on the wrong assumption that the inclination cannot be higher than the latitude of the launch site (28° at Cape Canaveral). But this is only the optimal inclination, actually all shuttle launches to the {{w|Mir|Mir station}} and the {{w|International Space Station}} did reach an inclination of 51.6°, with the cost of some payload mass. And following the ISS at [http://heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=25544 Heavens above] when it moves over Israel to the south it will pass over Texas approximately an hour later. Nevertheless this orbit is not possible at the first orbit after a launch in Cape Canaveral.<br />
<br />
The title text doesn't mention the region south of Iceland from the beginning of the comic. This is roughly at 64° North or less (if more south) and the distance from the highest possible orbital inclination of 57° from the Cape is 780 km. But even 1,000 km south of Iceland is only the Atlantic Ocean and the nearest landmass is still Iceland, which could explain this vague location.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Cueball: Okay, people. The orbiter is passing south of Iceland. The next scheduled check-in will be at 32.0N 35.5E, over the Palestinian territories.<br />
:Off-screen character: You mean over the state of Palestine?<br />
:Frank (off-screen): You mean over Israel?<br />
:[Frameless beat panel.]<br />
:Cueball: I've rescheduled the check-in for 35.2N 96.6W, over Oklahoma.<br />
:Frank (off-screen): You mean occupied North Texas?<br />
:Cueball: Dammit, Frank.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*There was also a typo in the title text: It was written ''Vandenburg'' instead of ''Vandenberg''. This was later fixed.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]</div>172.70.90.117https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2665:_America_Songs&diff=295012Talk:2665: America Songs2022-09-17T17:44:56Z<p>172.70.90.117: Yes, it's The Gambia</p>
<hr />
<div>Many of these rely on "ia"/"ie"/"io" serving as the 3rd and 4th syllables, so every song would be sung like "God Bless <s>Olimpiya</s> Algeriya". Virginia Beach appears to be the only one to escape this.--[[User:Magtei|Magtei]] ([[User talk:Magtei|talk]]) 19:39, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:As a Washingtonian, I pronounce Olympia without the diphthong (so four syllables; the “a” being distinct). It’s probably a dialect thing, and some pronunciations are more common than others, but as long as one fairly-common pronunciation scans, I think it’s fine. [User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 03:37, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Alright, bad example. Skipping it is unheard of in areas further south. Do you (or a large part of the US) fully pronounce most dipthongs, [https://www.howmanysyllables.com/syllables/syria Syria with three syllables], etc.?--[[User:Magtei|Magtei]] ([[User talk:Magtei|talk]]) 07:02, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::I can't speak for the rest of the US, but in the case of places I usually pronounce the extra syllable. Virginia is the one exception I can think of right now. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:08, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:There are also some locations with three-syllable names, such as Detroit Lakes or Fergus Falls (both located northwest of St. Cloud, Minnesota) which, although not listed by Randall, will also work and not use the noted syllables. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 02:35, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This phrase, "scans to", has me confused. Can the explanation address what this is supposed to mean?<br />
--anon 16:23, 29 August 2022<br />
:You betcha [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 20:38, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::What does scanning mean in relation to sung verse? Just syllables and their stress pattern, or is their more? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.28|172.69.34.28]] 23:11, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::I'm not familiar with the term, but I assume it's related to scansion. If I'm right, it's probably just syllables and stress pattern. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 06:52, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::- There was a young man from Japan<br />
::::- Whose limericks never would scan.<br />
::::- And when they asked why,<br />
::::- He said "I do try!<br />
::::- But when I get to the last line I try to fit in as many words as I can."<br />
::::...though – and this is me talking, not the famous limerick – after making sure your poetry rhymes (if you want it to; and/or assonate, consonate, etc) and scans (some words are tricky, as mentioned, according to dialect/accent/etc) you also need to check the meter (does it obviously flow and split in patterns like the iambic one where "da-DUM da-DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da-DUM" might be how it works with word-boundries).<br />
::::You might be wise to avoid words like "vehicle" with theoretically, two to four syllables and all kinds of stress-patterns and vowel-sounds (c.f. stereotypical Deep South, north British, Aussie, etc), at least as an early (establishing) element. Maybe you can set up its far more knowable rhyme/scan/metering partner first and rely upon the reader adopting the intended variation (give or take the relatively opposing strengths of writer/reader accents, etc) after being given the prior clue.<br />
::::I would personally say the scan(sion) is mostly the simple syllable count, and may need some writing tricks ("learned" as in "I learned something" and "learn'ed" as in "a very learned person") to convey well during sight-reading or initial internalised read-through.<br />
::::On that, I personally have some problems reading "-ya" syllables as singular (depending upon what the preceding symbol is, I would consider it a "-ee-ah"/"-ee-uh" (or mid-point) with a cut-down "-ee-"), while I have no problem with the "-lm" dipthong/whatever (c.f. Northern Irish tends to clearly enunciate as "fill-um" for 'film', whilst I might almost consider it a syllable/beat of its own). But I suspect the right voice (internal or external) could convince me of any of those examples as given, eventually... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.105|162.158.159.105]] 13:46, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Aussie here: we tend to say (and sing) "Australia" with three syllables. For example, see the [https://www.pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/government/australian-national-anthem-scores Australian national anthem]. Occasionally two syllables: Straya mate!! But saying it with four syllables is perhaps an American thing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.207|162.158.2.207]] 21:19, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Interesting! It probably is a dialect thing. As an American, I've always pronounced it with four. [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 21:23, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In the comic, Saskatchewan is spelled as Sasketchewan. Might be fixed later?<br />
<br />
Just putting this here: https://www.quora.com/A-lot-of-place-names-in-the-USA-have-four-syllables-Minnesota-Chattanooga-Albuquerque-Tallahassee-Talladega-Massachusetts-Massapequa-Mississippi-Cincinnati-Sacramento-Indiana-Alabama-Oklahoma-etc-Is-there-a (with the understanding that "scanning" doesn't necessarily mean only the number of syllables, e.g. Al-BUH-ker-key has the wrong stress pattern.)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.49|172.70.210.49]] 21:51, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.211|172.69.79.211]] 22:03, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::''AlBUquerque, AlBUquerque, God shed his grace on theee...!'' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 22:46, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Does anyone know how to craft a Wikidata query for all the place names with four syllables following the .'.. stress pattern? We should probably say how many there are. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.183|172.70.214.183]] 23:15, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Jurassic park, Jurassic park, how lovely are thy branches… [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 23:31, 29 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The pronunciation of Vidalia, Georgia, is "vi-DAIL-ya" -- three syllables, not four. It doesn't actually scan like "America". Seems like the comic is assuming the pronunciation is "vee-DAHL-ee-ah", which would scan.ing<br />
:And the age old question of whether an optional schwa constitutes a syllable rears its head. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.161|172.69.134.161]] 05:14, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I came to say a similar thing about Montpelier. In Vermont, at least, it has three syllables. [[User:CeramicMug|CeramicMug]] ([[User talk:CeramicMug|talk]]) 10:42, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I simply wish to note the similarity to "Thighs" (#321), which is one of my favorite xkcd comics and one that I find comes to mind surprisingly often.<br />
<br />
For changing the tune of a song but not the lyrics (or the lyrics in entirety but not the tune), see the title text to 788: The Carriage [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.126|172.70.131.126]] 11:24, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Shirley [surely] there must be some overlap between XKCD and "Weird Al" Yankovic fans, but no one has yet mentioned that Randall missed the "American Idiot"/"Canadian Idiot" overlap, mentioning the former but not the latter? '''--BigMal''' // [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.87|172.70.114.87]] 14:12, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Needs a better explanation of "scans" (short for Scansion). Something something ''Syllables'', something something ''stress pattern'', something something ''rhythm''. I'd write it myself, but no one wants a 30 page thesis on the topic. PS to those complaining certain locations usually use a three syllable pronunciation... poetic license frequently stretches (usually middle or penultimate) syllables to cover two beats, even without changing vowel length (although it's more common to do so). At least, in English; some other languages are not as flexible in this regard. --- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.79|172.70.214.79]] 16:15, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should it be noted that one of the implicitly suggested songs, "America", from West Side Story, replaced with "LaGuardia", was in fact done in the Saturday Night Live sketch "Airport Sushi" in 2020? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.41|172.69.70.41]] 22:32, 30 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Omission would clearly be a travesty, but do you have a YouTube link? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.243|172.70.210.243]] 02:57, 31 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d7Vk_qaiB8 "Your wish is my command, Kemosabi."] 2m30s. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 04:36, 31 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::I was going to !vote against inclusion until the David Byrne wrap-up. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.243|172.70.210.243]] 04:54, 31 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::The closed captioning is very inaccurate in that video, but exposes information about the pre-pandemic closed captioning cost benefit analyses. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.95|172.70.206.95]] 05:13, 31 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::WHAT? lol, I fukn love this site. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.25|172.69.33.25]] 05:33, 31 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hmmm... It says above that "Antarctican Idiot" scans with "American Idiot", but "Ant-arc't-" and "Am-er-" are disjointed, if both "-ic-an" endings are the same. Or is it "-tic-" against "-ic-" (and possibly "An-tar'c-" vs "Am-er-")? Still voices funny, and with the former needing much more tongue-teeth complexity, in direct replacement. It's certainly hard to speak as a direct replacement, I'll try to get someone to speak them to me later, to get the proper listener experience, but right now I have my doubts that it's entirely valid. (Possibly less of a problem, but not removing all the issues, if you ellide the first 'c' from your voicing. This seems to be a thing. But "Arctic" is a solidly c-pronouncing word, so "Antarctic" should also be.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 14:01, 31 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
I like to be in Gondwanaland<br />
<br />
Okay by me in Gondwanaland<br />
<br />
Everything free in Gondwanaland<br />
<br />
For a small fee in Gondwanaland!<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.223|172.70.90.223]] 22:39, 1 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Oh Middle Earth! Our home and native land! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.163|172.70.85.163]] 11:53, 2 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was ABOUT to point out how Canada doesn't scan with America, but Canadian scans with American, but I see someone already noted that. :) I sing Dennis Leary - Asshole at karaoke sometimes, and he uses "American" a couple of times - "the way our American hearts beat" - and as a Canadian I like to swap in Canadian. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:06, 3 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I propose accepting "mar-AH-la-go" as scanning, simply so people can write cool parody songs. [[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]]) 05:00, 5 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Here are some more:<br />
* Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan<br />
* Liberia, Nigeria, Bolivia, Siberia, Somalia, Albania, Bulgaria, Colombia, Cambodia, Armenia, Australia, Dominica, Estonia, Mongolia, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Africa<br />
* El Salvador<br />
* the Alamo, the Netherlands, the Gambia<br />
-[[User:Adrgru|Adrgru]] ([[User talk:Adrgru|talk]]) 03:59, 11 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Truly excellent finds, all, except nobody I know says the Gambia, it's just Gambia. Are they wrong? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.183|172.70.214.183]] 10:27, 11 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: Yes, they are. The full official name is "The Republic of the Gambia", short name "The Gambia". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.117|172.70.90.117]] 17:44, 17 September 2022 (UTC)<br />
I would love to listen to the song "Jurassik Parkan Idiot" --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.21|188.114.102.21]] 09:09, 14 September 2022 (UTC)</div>172.70.90.117https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2673:_Cursed_mRNA_Cocktail&diff=2949182673: Cursed mRNA Cocktail2022-09-16T19:44:48Z<p>172.70.90.117: /* Explanation */ Try this initial explanation?</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2673<br />
| date = September 16, 2022<br />
| title = Cursed mRNA Cocktail<br />
| image = cursed_mrna_cocktail_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 331x513px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Serve one each to guests whose last cursed cocktail was more than 2 months ago.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a VACCINE DRINKER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The comic describes the process to approximate the composition of the mRNA-based vaccines, in drinkable form. It has no theraputic value (except, perhaps, in treating dehydration) but contains the variety and relative concentrations of the basic molecular constituents found within the injectable mixture. i.e. mostly water, some sugar, fatty-lipids and a probably similar dose of genetic material.<br />
<br />
Like much of what we eat or drink, the stomach and intestines will neutralise much of the complexity of either vaccine or this ersatz replica of it, reducing it to more basic proteins of some slight nutritional value. For the vaccine to work, it has been designed to be injected into the body (either intravenously or intramuscular) to bypass the hostile environment of the digestive system. Randall's replacement mixture probably would not do very much good, if injected, as it has not been designed to interact with cellular processes in any useful manner. Also, in the volume of liquid you would obtain through this recipe, it might provoke other physiological reactions that would be unwise to invoke without significant medical understanding and expertise.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:Ever wondered what it would be like to drink the new COVID booster?<br />
:This recipe approximately recreates the taste and nutritional profile!<br />
:''(Note: does not protect against COVID.)''<br />
:"...What? Eww." -CDC spokesperson<br />
:"Please stop." -Dr. Anthony Fauci<br />
:<br />
:<u>Ingredients</u><br />
:<br />
:2 cups water<br />
:3 tbsp mayonnaise<br />
:¼ tsp MSG or nutritional yeast<br />
:1 tbsp sugar<br />
:<br />
:<u>Directions</u><br />
:Pour 1 cup of water into a blender. Add the mayonnaise and MSG. Blend until smooth.<br />
:Pour the other cup of water into a glass. Add the sugar and 1 tsp of the mixture from the blender. Stir well.<br />
:Serve in shot glasses.<br />
<br />
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