https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Arcorann&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T20:38:52ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1491:_Stories_of_the_Past_and_Future&diff=3245671491: Stories of the Past and Future2023-09-29T03:13:44Z<p>Arcorann: /* Works listed */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1491<br />
| date = February 25, 2015<br />
| title = Stories of the Past and Future<br />
| image = stories_of_the_past_and_future.png<br />
| titletext = Little-known fact: The 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence in 2001 cuts away seconds before the Flintstones theme becomes recognizable.<br />
}}<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
*A larger version of this image can be found [https://xkcd.com/1491/large/ here].<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
It's long been common for narrative works to be set in the past, and this tendency goes back to ancient mythology. The opposite approach, setting a work in a speculative future, has been less common prior to modern times. The oldest example Randall presents is from 1733, but it didn't really become a trend until well into the 19th century, and didn't become really common until the 20th century.<br />
<br />
For works set in the future, particularly in the near future, there's a real possibility that audiences will still read or watch it past the date in which is was set, allowing them to compare the real world of this era to the one the author projected. This doesn't make the work less valuable, necessarily, but it does make the limits of such speculation painfully obvious, and tends to make the [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Zeerust future presented there look dated and quaint]. Randall labels these futuristic works as "obsolete".<br />
<br />
For works set in the past, there's an opposite and somewhat more subtle effect. Once the work itself is old enough, audiences tend to forget that they were intended as historical fiction in the first place. If an old work is set in the past, it's often assumed that they were set in their own time, not in the still more distant past. That impacts how we experience the work, because we tend to assume that it's a faithful representation of its own time, not a later interpretation that was intended to be old (and possibly nostalgic) even in its own time.<br />
<br />
On top of this, in a similar situation to the failed attempt at {{w|futurology}}, for future-facing works of fiction, even a conscientiously faithful 'historic' film can age badly. Later understanding of previously hazy historical situations can be developed between the time of the fictional work being authored and your experience of it.<br />
<br />
To demonstrate those impacts, this chart sorts various works by the year they were created, graphed against how far in the past or future they were originally set. Lines on the chart are added to separate when each work ceases to work as either a prediction or as a [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PeriodPiece period piece]. For future works, the cut-off is obvious: if it was set in a year prior to the current year, we know that the predictions are obsolete (and can easily determine how accurate or inaccurate that future is). Hence, at the time the chart was written (in 2015), works like ''1984'' and ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' are obsolete, while works like ''Star Trek'', which take place in a more distant future, are still theoretically possible. (''Back to the Future Part II'' is deliberately right on the line, as it was set in 2015). <br />
<br />
For the past works, Randall sets the cut-off as when the work itself is older than the events in question were when it was first written/made. Hence, modern audiences are unlikely to realize that the Epic of Gilgamesh was intended to sound ancient, even when it was new, or that novels like ''Les Miserables'' were intended as historical fiction, or even that films like ''Chinatown'' or shows like ''Happy Days'' were intended as period pieces when they were made. To modern audiences, we just see an old work set in an old time, and tend to assume that the two periods were the same.<br />
<br />
The setup of the chart points to the reality that, in process of time, more and more works will cross those lines. Future audiences will likely assume that films like ''Apollo 13'' and ''Schindler's List'' were made around the time of the events in question. And modern science fiction works, if they're still remembered in the future, will become just as obsolete as past works. And Randall even indicates "this chart" on the chart, apparently acknowledging that it will become dated as time goes by. <br />
<br />
How to read the graph:<br />
* X-axis: Date of publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the future": Number of years the story's events take place, after the story's publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the past": Number of years the story's events take place, before the story's publication.<br />
: For example, "Water Margin" was published in the 14th century (x ~= 1300) and relates events from the 12th century, about 200 years before its publication (y ~= 200 in the past).<br />
: Another example: The film ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}'' was released in 1957 and it was set around 14 years before (~1942-43).<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the future" part: Stories set in the future (relative to their publication date), for which the date of the events in the story is already in the past (relative to the publication date of the comic). The white and gray areas in this part of the graph are defined as "still possible" and "obsolete", respectively. The gray area (obsolete) will expand over time, assuming more works aren't added in the future: predictions from science fiction or futuristic work that are not confirmed by reality are doomed to be obsolete.<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the past" part: Stories set in the past (relative to their publication date) but published closer to their setting than to today. The warning "Modern audiences may not recognize which part were supposed to sound old" is a recurrent theme in the author's work, being already formulated in [[771: Period Speech|Period Speech]] comic. The white area seems to be the region where modern readers will be able to distinguish the past setting of a work from the age of the work itself. This gray area will grow over time (again assuming new works set in the past are not added) with more and more works being indistinguishable as works set in the past.<br />
<br />
Taking the "years in the past" on the y-axis to be read as negatives like in most graphs one can write<br />
* Dates on the lower line satisfy the equation y = x-2015. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015+y and are set in the year x+y = 2015+2y.<br />
* Dates on the upper line satisfy the equation y = 2015-x. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015-y and are set in the year x+y = 2015.<br />
Thus it's clear that the definitions of the lines are consistent with each other as they follow similar but inverted functions.<br />
The graph uses variable {{w|logarithmic scale}}s, adjusting the scale in various regions to the temporal density of works being plotted. If the scale were linear, the graph would in fact represent a (bidimensional) {{w|Minkowski diagram}}, which depicts the moving cones of past and future in spacetime as one's present advances in time.<br />
<br />
The title text jokes that ''2001'' cuts from prehistoria to the future before ''The Flintstones'' theme can become recognizable. This references the fact that, despite being primarily set in what was then the future, the film opens in the ancient past, thus appearing in both parts of the graph, with one part being very close to ''The Flintstones''. This plays on the fact that one of these was a very serious work and the other a playful animated show that was intended as family comedy. <br />
<br />
=== Works listed ===<br />
Differences listed in <span style="color:#FF0000;">bright red</span> are "former period pieces." Differences listed in <span style="color:#8B0000;">dark red</span> are other works set in the past. Differences listed in <span style="color:#32cd32;">bright green</span> are "obsolete" works set in the future. Differences listed in <span style="color:#006400;">dark green</span> are other works set in the future.<br />
<br />
Asterisks (*) after a year of publication denote that it applies to the first installment in a series that spanned more than one year.<br />
<br />
You can sort by a specific column in this table by clicking on its header.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Publication'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Description'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year written'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year difference'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year set in'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Notes'''<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Epic of Gilgamesh}}''|| ancient Mesopotamian epic poem || data-sort-value="-2100"|~2100 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500|| data-sort-value="-2600"|~2600 BCE|| {{w|Enmebaragesi}}, a historically attested ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' character, is thought to have lived around 2600 BCE<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Iliad|The Iliad}}''||epic written by Greek poet Homer || data-sort-value="-750"|700s BCE ||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500 || data-sort-value="-1260"| 1260–1240 BCE ||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Book of Genesis}}''||first book of the Bible, describing the creation of the world || data-sort-value="-500"|500s–400s BCE ||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3200" | ~3200 || data-sort-value="-3761"| 3761 BCE || The ''{{w|Anno Mundi}}'' epoch, the product of scriptural calculations by {{w|Maimonides}}, places the Genesis date of the creation of the world at October 7, 3761 BCE in the {{w|proleptic Julian calendar}}<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|History of the Peloponnesian War}}''||history written by Thucydides|| data-sort-value="-400"|~400 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10|| data-sort-value="-431"|431–411 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gospels}}''|| collection of literary works detailing the life of Jesus of Nazareth || data-sort-value="65"|~65–110 CE ||style="color:#FF0000;" | 25–75 || data-sort-value="-7"|7–2 BCE – 30–33 CE || Setting dates are those of Jesus' estimated lifetime. Writing dates are as follows: Mark 65–73 CE; Matthew 70–100 CE; Luke 80–100 CE; John 90–110 CE. Randall's difference calculation seems to be based on the date of Jesus' death, as the majority of the Gospels' events takes place during the three years prior to Jesus's death.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ashokavadana}}''||narrative of the life of Ashoka the Great||100s CE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="-304"|304–232 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Pillow Book}}''||book written by Sei Shōnagon||1002||style="color:#FF0000;" | 6||996||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Water Margin}}''||novel by Shi Nai'an|| data-sort-value="1375"|late 1300s||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="150" | ~150|| data-sort-value="1100"|early 1100s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Richard III (play)|Richard III}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1597||style="color:#FF0000;" | 112–119||1478–1485||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry IV (play)|Henry IV}}''||plays by William Shakespeare||1598*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 185–196||1402–1413||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King Lear}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1608||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2400|| data-sort-value="-700"|700s BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King John (play)|King John}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="1200"|~1200–1216||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#FF0000;" | 90–102||1521–1533||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1667–1670|| data-sort-value="-45"|45–42 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century}}''|| book written by Samuel Madden||1733||style="color:#32cd32;" | 264||1997||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Winkel}}'' [sic]||short story by Washington Irving||1819||style="color:#FF0000;" | 32–52||1767–1787||It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1787 as the year that Rip Van Winkle awakes.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Last of the Mohicans}}''||novel by James Cooper||1826||style="color:#FF0000;" | 69||1757||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Moby-Dick}}''||novel by Herman Melville||1851||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5+|| data-sort-value="1845"|before 1846 || Inspired by events occurring in 1820, the late 1830s, and the early 1840s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Tale of Two Cities}}''|| book by Charles Dickens ||1859||style="color:#FF0000;" | 84||1775<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Les Misérables|Les Miserábles}}'' [sic]||novel by Victor Hugo||1862||style="color:#FF0000;" | 47||1815–1832||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Treasure Island}}''||novel by Robert Louis Stevenson||1883||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="120" | ~120|| data-sort-value="1760"|~1760||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Looking Backward}}''|| novel written by Edward Bellamy||1888||style="color:#32cd32;" | 112||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}''||novel by Mark Twain||1889||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1361||528||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Golf in the Year 2000}}''|| novel written by J. McCullough||1892||style="color:#32cd32;" | 108||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''|| novel written by H.G. Wells||1895||style="color:#006400;" | 800,000–<br />1 billion||802,701–<br/>1 billion|| Note that Randall has included only part of the book; which includes scenes all the way from the time of writing to the death of the last life on Earth. The novel itself identifies the latest part as being "more than thirty million years" in the future, based on the theories of the Sun's lifespan at the time.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Enoch Soames}}''|| short story by Max Beerbohm||1916||style="color:#32cd32;" | 81||1997||Soames was transported from 1897 to 1997 and back.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gone With The Wind}}''|| novel by Margaret Mitchel ||1936||style="color:#FF0000;" | 75||1861<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}''||alternate history SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp||1939||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1404||535||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}''||film directed by Michael Curtiz||1942||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="0.9" | <1||1941||The film was released 26 November 1942 and is set in early December 1941.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Oklahoma!}}''||Broadway musical||1943||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1906||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}}''||novel written by George Orwell||1949||style="color:#32cd32;" | 35||1984||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}''||film by David Lean||1952||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10||1942–1943||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gunsmoke}}''||American radio and television series||1952*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="75" | ~75||1870s||1952 is when the radio series started. The TV series didn't start until 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments}}''||film by Cecil B. DeMille||1956||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3000" | ~3000|| data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||The full timespan is supposedly 80 years (40 before Moses is exiled, then 40 in exile).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Music Man}}''||Broadway musical||1957||style="color:#FF0000;" | 45||1912||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd|A Week in the Wales of the Future}}''||novel written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis||1957||style="color:#006400;" | 76||2033||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|Asterix}}''||French comic by Goscinny and Uderzo||1959*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2009|| data-sort-value="-50"|50 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Flintstones}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1960*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="2,500,000" | ~2.5 million|| data-sort-value="-2,500,000"|{{w|Stone Age|Stone Age}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22}}'' (Book)||novel by Joseph Heller||1961||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="17" | ~17||1942–44||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Jetsons}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1962*||style="color:#006400;" | 100||data-sort-value="2062"|~2062||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lawrence of Arabia}}''||film by David Lean||1962||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="44" | ~44||1916–1918||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape}}''||film by John Sturges||1963||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1943–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek}}'' (TOS)||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1966*||style="color:#006400;" | 298||2264||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''||film by Arthur Penn||1967||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="33" | ~33||1932–1934||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#32cd32;" | 33||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey}}'' (prologue)||prologue to novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3,000,000" | 3 million|| data-sort-value="-3,000,000"|3 million BCE||4 million years BCE in the movie<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22}}'' (Movie)||film by Mike Nichols||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="26" | ~26||1942–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|MASH (film)|M*A*S*H}}''||film by Robert Altman||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19||1951||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Patton (film)|Patton}}''||film by Franklin J. Schaffner||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="25" | ~25||1943–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|American Graffiti}}''||film by George Lucas||1973||style="color:#FF0000;" | 11||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Blazing Saddles}}''||film by Mel Brooks||1974||style="color:#8B0000;" | 100||1874||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown}}''||film by Roman Polanski||1974||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1937||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Happy Days}}''||TV series||1974*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19–29||1955–1965||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Space: 1999}}''||TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson||1975*||style="color:#32cd32;" | 24||1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (musical)|Annie}}'' (play)||Broadway musical||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Roots (miniseries)|Roots}}''||TV series, adapted from eponymous novel||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 90–227||1750–1882||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Original trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (IV – VI)||original film trilogy ||1977*|| style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1 billion years here. Wookieepedia puts the age of the ''Star Wars'' galaxy at [https://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/13,000,000,000_BBY ~13 billion years], and our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old, and the oldest known galaxy took 380 million years to form... So it would seem ''Star Wars'' should be no farther than 400 million years in the past, give or take.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Grease (film)|Grease}}''||film by Randall Kleiser||1978||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1958||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apocalypse Now}}''||film by Francis Ford Coppola||1979||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chariots of Fire}}''||film by Hugh Hudson||1981||style="color:#8B0000;" | 57||1924||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2010: Odyssey Two}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1982||style="color:#32cd32;" | 28||2010||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (1982 film)|Annie}}'' (movie)||film adaptation of the above by John Huston||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" | 49||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gandhi (film)|Gandhi}}''||film by Richard Attenborough||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="34" | ~34||1893–1948||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff}}''||film by Philip Kaufman||1983||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||1947–63||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers}}'' (TV Series)||TV series||1984*||style="color:#32cd32;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||data-sort-value="2004"|~2004||Only seasons 3 and 4 are set in the year 2005 onwards. Seasons 1 and 2 were set in 1984-85.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1985||style="color:#FF0000;" | 30||1955||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Platoon (film)|Platoon}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1986||style="color:#FF0000;" | 21||1967||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Dirty Dancing}}''||film by Emile Ardolino||1987||style="color:#FF0000;" | 24||1963||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}''||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1987*||style="color:#006400;" | 377||2364||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2061: Odyssey Three}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1987||style="color:#006400;" | 74||2061||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wonder Years}}''||TV series||1988*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20–25||1968–1973||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II|Back to the Future Part II}}''||film directed by Robert Zemeckis||1989||style="color:#32cd32;" | 26||2015||Only the first part of the movie is set in 2015; later the setting moves to an alternate 1985 and a revisit of 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''||arcade/computer game||1989||style="color:#006400;" | 112||2101||Previously referenced in [[887: Future Timeline]]<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part III}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1990||style="color:#8B0000;" | 105||1885||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|JFK (film)|JFK}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1991||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22||1963–1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2}}'' (1995 Portion)||film directed by James Cameron||1991||style="color:#32cd32;" | 4||1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Sandlot}}''||film by David Mickey Evans||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" | 31||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Schindler's List}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="50" | ~50||1939–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}''||film by Ron Howard||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" | 25||1970||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Raptor Red}}''||novel by Robert Bakker||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="65,000,000" | ~65 million|| data-sort-value="-65,000,000"|{{w|Cretaceous Period}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Evita (1996 film)|Evita}}''||film by Alan Parker||1996||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1952||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|3001: The Final Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1997||style="color:#006400;" | 1004||3001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Big Lebowski}}''||film by the Coen Brothers||1998||style="color:#FF0000;" | 7||1991||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Prince of Egypt}}''||animated film by DreamWorks||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 3400||data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||Despite the same plot of ''The Ten Commandments'', it covers only about 30 years given its Moses is much younger.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Saving Private Ryan}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 54||1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|That '70s Show}}''||TV series||1998*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22|||1976–1979||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Freaks and Geeks}}''||TV series||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 19||1980–1981||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Prequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (I – III)||prequel film trilogy||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor}}''||film by Michael Bay||2001||style="color:#8B0000;" | 60||1941||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise}}''||TV series||2001*||style="color:#006400;" | 150||2151||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s}}''||TV miniseries by VH1||2002||style="color:#8B0000;" | 13–22||1980–1989||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ice Age (film series)|Ice Age}}''||animated films by Blue Sky Studios||2002*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12,000" | ~12,000|| data-sort-value="-12,000"|{{w|Last glacial period|Paleolithic-Mesolithic}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Hotel Rwanda}}''|| film directed by Terry George||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1994||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5–14||1990–1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|United 93 (film)|United 93}}''|| film directed by Paul Greengrass||2006||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''||film by Zack Snyder||2007||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2487|| data-sort-value="-480"|{{w|Battle of Thermopylae|480 BCE}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Mad Men}}''||TV series||2007*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="47" | ~47||1960–1970||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC}}''||film by Roland Emmerich||2008||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12007" | 12,007|| data-sort-value="-10,000"|10,000 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Year One (film)|Year One}}''||film by Harold Ramis||2009||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2008||data-sort-value="1"|1 CE|| The movie title is not intended to refer to 1 CE, as it is clearly set well before that; it is difficult to determine the film's actual year as it depicts Cain and Abel (c. 4000 BCE) existing simultaneously with Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah (c. 2000 BCE).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''||TV series||2010*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="90" | ~90||1912–1923||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wolf of Wall Street}}''||film by Martin Scorsese||2013||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="18" | ~18||1987–1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the 2000s|I Love the 2000s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2014||style="color:#8B0000;" | 14||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (VII – IX)||sequel film trilogy||2015*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Errors==<br />
<br />
===Dates===<br />
*''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' is vertically positioned at about 500 years in the future, slightly too high for its actual date. This may be to allow room for other nearby labels.<br />
*The {{w|Gospels}} are horizontally positioned at about the year 250 CE, when they should be positioned slightly further to the left, near the 100 CE line. (While there is debate on their date of authorship, the range of "years in the past" indicated on the graph would require authorship between roughly 50 and 100 CE.)<br />
*''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}'' takes place about 1400 years in the past, in the year 535. Its placement on the graph indicates it takes place about ''535'' years in the past, in the year ''1400''.<br />
<br />
===Spelling===<br />
*Author Washington Irving titled his work ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}'', not ''Rip van Winkel'' as [[Randall]] spells it. That said, ''van {{w|nl:Winkel|Winkel}}'' may be a more historically authentic spelling.<br />
*''{{w|Les Misérables}}'' has been misspelled ''Les Miserábles'' (note that French doesn't use the character "á").<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:'''Date of publication'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE.]<br />
:'''Years in the future'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0.]<br />
:'''Stories set in the future''' (science fiction, prediction)<br />
::Stories set in 2015<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled "still possible"; the lower side is labelled "obsolete".]<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1700, 265 years in the future]<br />
::Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]<br />
::The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]<br />
::Enoch Soames [1916, ''circa'' 60 years in the future]<br />
::1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]<br />
::A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]<br />
::The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]<br />
::Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]<br />
::2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]<br />
::Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]<br />
::2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, ''circa'' 500 years in the future]<br />
::Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]<br />
::Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]<br />
::3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]<br />
::Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]<br />
::This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]<br />
:'''Years in the past'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to "Big Bang"]<br />
:'''Stories set in the past''' (History, Period Fiction)<br />
::Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]<br />
::'''Former period pieces'''<br />
::Stories set in the past, but<br/>created long enough ago that<br/>they were published closer<br/>to their setting than to today.<br />
::Modern audiences may not<br/>recognize which parts were<br/>''supposed'' to sound old.<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::The Epic of Gilgamesh [''circa'' 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]<br />
::The Iliad [''circa'' 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]<br />
::History of the Peloponnesian War [''circa'' 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]<br />
::Book of Genesis [''circa'' 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]<br />
::Ashokavadana [''circa'' 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]<br />
::Gospels (various estimates) [''circa'' 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]<br />
::The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]<br />
::Water Margin [''circa'' 1300, 195 years in the past]<br />
::Richard III [''circa'' 1590, 115 years in the past]<br />
::Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]<br />
::King John [''circa'' 1600, 500 years in the past]<br />
::Henry IV [''circa'' 1600, 190 years in the past]<br />
::King Lear [''circa'' 1606, 3000 years in the past]<br />
::Henry VIII [''circa'' 1612, 105 years in the past]<br />
::The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]<br />
::Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]<br />
::A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]<br />
::Moby-Dick [1851, anywhere from 4 to 14 years ago]<br />
:::"Some years ago--never mind how long precisely..."<br />
::Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]<br />
::Treasure Island [1883, 130 years in the past]<br />
::A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court [1889, 2000 years in the past]<br />
::Gone with the Wind [1936, 70 years in the past]<br />
::Lest Darkness Fall [1939, 550 years in the past]<br />
::Casablanca [1942, 1 year in the past]<br />
::Oklahoma! [1943, 37 years in the past]<br />
::The Ten Commandments [1956, 1400 years in the past]<br />
::The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957, 13 years in the past]<br />
::Gunsmoke [1952-61, 80 years in the past]<br />
::The Flintstones [1960-66, 100,000 years in the past]<br />
::Catch-22 (book) [1961, 18 years in the past]<br />
::The Great Escape [1963, 20 years in the past]<br />
::Asterix<br />
::Lawrence of Arabia<br />
::The Music Man<br />
::Bonnie and Clyde<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)<br />
::American Graffiti<br />
::Patton<br />
::Catch-22 (movie) [1970, 27 years in the past]<br />
::Chinatown<br />
::Blazing Saddles<br />
::Apocalypse Now<br />
::Happy Days<br />
::Grease<br />
::M*A*S*H<br />
::Annie (play)<br />
::Roots<br />
::Chariots of Fire<br />
::Star Wars (IV-VI)<br />
::Annie (movie)<br />
::The Right Stuff<br />
::Back to the Future<br />
::Gandhi<br />
::Platoon<br />
::Dirty Dancing<br />
::Back to the Future Part III<br />
::The Wonder Years<br />
::JFK<br />
::The Sandlot<br />
::Schindler's List<br />
::Raptor Red<br />
::Apollo 13<br />
::Star Wars (I-III)<br />
::The Big Lebowski<br />
::Evita<br />
::Saving Private Ryan<br />
::The Prince of Egypt<br />
::Freaks and Geeks<br />
::Hotel Rwanda<br />
::I Love the '80s<br />
::That '70s Show<br />
::Pearl Harbor<br />
::Ice Age<br />
::I Love the '90s<br />
::United 93<br />
::300<br />
::10,000 BC<br />
::Year One<br />
::The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
::I Love the 2000s<br />
::Mad Men<br />
::Downton Abbey<br />
::Star Wars (VII-IX)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"this is a massive fucking graph beyond the limits of normal transcription. you can find a full listing of data points at http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1491"''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]<br />
[[Category:Terminator]]<br />
[[Category:Back to the Future]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2092:_Consensus_New_Year&diff=306005Talk:2092: Consensus New Year2023-02-09T11:05:10Z<p>Arcorann: </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 />
Sorry for the server downtime, it should be fixed now. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:24, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: So what was it? Hardware issue, failed software update, reconfiguration boo-boo, external attack, frozen process, Y2K+19 bug? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:30, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
::To be honest: I don't know. But probably a mixture of "external attack" and "frozen process" AND my laziness to check the health of the Wiki by 24/7. I figured it out when the BOT couldn't do the proper updates and some refreshing restarts to some processes did the job. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:54, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The leftmost label says "10:00 AM EST", but I'm 95% sure that it should be "5:00 AM EST". That makes sense both in terms of time zones / date lines, and also in terms of the number of hash marks (the 9th hash mark before 1:30 PM: 2 PM - 9 = 5 AM). --Brandon [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.224|172.69.22.224]] 19:35, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed. The minor scale tick marks appear to be at 1 hr increments past the "1:30 PM" denoted time. However that doesn't follow for before 1:00 pm to reach the labeled "10:00 AM" mark. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.88|172.68.34.88]] 20:59, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
:I suspect he failed to translate the label correctly to EST, since it would be 10:00 AM UST. I'm going to add some content into the explanation on the word "Consensus" from Wiktionary. It has multiple definitions that include both "agreement among the members of a given group" as in a common time to celebrate the New Year, as well as "Average projected value" that might also be applicable here. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:35, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
:I'm watching the xkcd page to see if Randall updates the comic image to correct this error. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 00:50, 1 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
:: It's been long enough now that I suspect Randall is not going to correct the error in the chart label. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:31, 2 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm actually not certain Randall '''suggests''' a time for universal celebration of New Year. Apart from the word "Consensus", there's nothing to suggest it. Rather, I read it as a stated time where a majority will agree to the statement that it's now 2019. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.187|141.101.96.187]] 22:38, 31 December 2018 (UTC)Wilhelm<br />
: I agree that he's probably not suggesting everyone should celebrate at some common time - see my recent edit on the meaning of consensus in the explanation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 23:27, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''Happy NEW YEAR!!!'''<br />
<br />
While Randall has to wait... in central Europe it just happened when I'm posting this. And in Germany we don't have only the "Autobahn" with no speed limit, every eighteen year old or older child plays with fireworks...<br />
<br />
Nonetheless not only in California there are some people giving more attention to a much more unique event: New Horizons is passing {{w|(486958) 2014 MU69|Ultima Thule}}, six ''light hours'' away from Earth. <br />
Let's see if Randall does cover this event. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:49, 31 December 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
On the topic of Orthodox churches using shifted Julian calendar: I can't speak for the entire world, but here in Russia it's not really relevant, since the church calendar is limited to religious matters, and New Year is a secular holiday. (But Orthodox Christmas will in fact be observed on Jan 7th.) There ''is'' an obscure holiday called Old New Year that is New Year shifted to 14th, but hardly anyone celebrates it and it certainly doesn't replace the regular one. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.236|141.101.77.236]] 16:58, 1 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I note that 3:00PM (UTC-3) lists only "Northern" Brazil. That's kinda correct (should be actually "Northeastern" Brazil), but the South/Southwest, which is actually where the largest part of Brazilian population lives, is nowhere to be found. Due to DST, it ''should'' be in the 2:00PM line (UTC-2), but that line is blank. Unfortunately, I don't have the population numbers on hand to fix the entry, much less to fix the world population percentages on the table.--[[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 17:04, 1 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''Consensus Definition'''<br />
<br />
IP Address user 173.245.54.13 edited the explanation and replaced the Wikipedia definition references with an interpretation of how Randall incorrectly used the term "consensus" in place of majority vote - I don't agree that Randall has made any error, as I don't believe he intended consensus to represent majority vote. I'd like other opinions about restoring my original definitions in place of this new content, as I think it detracts from an understanding of the comic. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:35, 1 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I eventually decided that "consensus New Year" meant "Agreement it is New Years," more or less. As midnight marches past people, more people concede that it's the new year. To me, Mr M is just giving an interesting graph.<br />
<br />
: (BTW, you failed to sign your comment.) I like to think Randall is smarter than just using a word without understanding every nuance of it - after all, writing these comics is his full-time job instead of just a pastime. The fact that consensus is sometimes understood that way is the very reason why I thought the definition that states otherwise was useful and informative. The definitions included "average projected value" that seemed to match exactly how it was used in the title (by grammatical structure) and in the graph (by definition), so I'm of the opinion that Randall knew this as well and would not have misused the word outside of it's correct definition. I believe he created the graph to represent the "average projected value" of the metric at each point in time, very explicitly and meaningfully; to think otherwise seems to me to be an insult to his intelligence. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 01:08, 2 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
I agree w/ you, and thinks it's an interesting graph from which one can't conclude <br />
much about RM https://xkcd.com/688/ . [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.83|172.68.58.83]] 03:23, 2 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I reinserted the definition info ahead of the explanation on concensus vs majority vote, which I appreciate the original editor adding. I think this better explains Randall's intentions, [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:56, 2 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Hey, I made the change to reference consensus decision-making. I'm sorry for stepping on your toes and I appreciate you bringing the change up. Consensus is not a widely known process, but can really help communities work together, and in my opinion would fix some problems with current government, so I valued including it. I figured that Randall had simply never heard of it, and I didn't want misinformation to spread. I don't feel it's good to assume that Randall's misuse was purposeful, because it could spread the view that speaking unclearly in unobvious ways is funny, when in reality this spreads misinformation as most people don't have the knowledge to get the joke. Randall and his audience's expertise is STEM, not meeting facilitation and community organization. There have been some edits since my slightly-rude replacement; how do you feel about the article as it stands? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.172|162.158.78.172]] 17:28, 2 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::No problem here. I did my best to work with what you had added before, and I am good with the additional changes you made. Great teamwork, huh! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:48, 2 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== I think the table is wrong ==<br />
<br />
I don't see how 100% can be reached before "western Mexico", "MST", and "PST". California alone has a population of about 40 million, so it would seem as though at least 1% of world population would have to be "western Mexico", "MST", and "PST".<br />
<br />
:Additionally, some :30 and :45 timezones are missing (not sure whether they are missing from the xkcd graph itself) [[User:Thisisnotatest|Thisisnotatest]] ([[User talk:Thisisnotatest|talk]]) 03:35, 2 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Saddly, I don't think that the Chinese population would consent in being "again" in 2019, nor that their New Year would be at 1st of January. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.97|162.158.123.97]] 00:42, 3 January 2019 (UTC) Maladr<br />
:You'd have to tell that to Mao Zedong in 1949, when he decreed that the People's Republic of China would use the Gregorian calendar with AD year numbering. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 11:05, 9 February 2023 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2692:_Interior_Decorating&diff=297961Talk:2692: Interior Decorating2022-11-01T23:19:51Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
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what about occam’s razor?[[User:Anonymouscript|Anonymouscript]] ([[User talk:Anonymouscript|talk]]) 22:11, 31 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Isn’t ominous, not in itself. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) 22:13, 31 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
:It sounds like it would be dangerous, since a razor is a sharp blade. Unless it's Occam's safety razor. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:27, 31 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
::It could be very hazardous to use, if you tried whilst sailing upon the Ship Of Theseus... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.54|172.70.91.54]] 01:47, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Siege Perilous is ominous and mythical, but what is it a metaphor for? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:27, 31 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't think the Pelosi attack is relevant to this comic. At best, it could be trivia fodder, but I find it highly unlikely that it influenced the comic in any way. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.39|108.162.216.39]] 22:50, 31 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't Chekhov's gun supposed to be on a mantelpiece? I don't know why I remember that. It's not in Wikipedia but is on plenty of other sites about it. Anyone know the origin of the mantelpiece angle? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.243|172.70.210.243]] 02:12, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
:not necessarily, it's just the most common example of a superfluous detail in 'Why draw attention to an otherwise superfluous detail if it's not of importance?' that's at heart of Chekhov's Gun.[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.217|198.41.242.217]] 07:45, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Wikipedia has several quotes of Chekhov talking about it. One of them mentions a rifle hanging on a wall so it could be from that. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 23:19, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was introduced to Chekov's gun when I was sad to my son that fiction has 1)Plot Premise, 2) Plot Plants 3) Plot Fixes. The Chekhov's gun would be 2), but a pistol drawn from a handbag sold be 3) unless mentioned in Act 1. Of course weapons on the wall could be 1) depending on the house.[[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 21:15, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This would go great with a dying ivy with only a single leaf, and a blue curtain. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.215.4|172.71.215.4]] 04:21, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This has one two many metaphors. That last one is the straw that broke the camel's back. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.116|172.70.175.116]] 05:48, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It was perfectly ok until it tried to jump that shark! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 10:41, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
::No need to jump Chekhov's gun here, sharks are fine, just watch out for those red herrings.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.209|172.70.246.209]] 13:05, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Can you shoot red herrings in a barrel with Chekhov's gun? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:14, 1 November 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
img looks slightly blurry. is this because the 2x version is of an odd width (397 pixels) for some reason? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.76|172.70.111.76]] 19:40, 1 November 2022 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2518:_Lumpers_and_Splitters&diff=218278Talk:2518: Lumpers and Splitters2021-09-21T15:24:34Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
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Lumping and splitting doesn't just apply to groups of people. It describes the way people categorize things in general. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:13, 21 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I really thought this was about the different focus in individuals and other systems (notably AI research), to either pay attention to individual diverse detail, often involving great memory, or form patterns to generalize everything, often involving great ingenuity. It is the latter path ("lumping") where one used to imagine an AI transfering learning to its own processes ("meta"), and then taking off as a hyperintelligence that improves itself exponentially more rapidly. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.173|172.70.110.173]] 00:16, 21 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Whereas this could be a goid example for lumping and splitting, there are many. It is really about top-down vs. bottom-up with the added twist to emphasize the subjects doing those approaches and (in the main comic) applying those self-referentially. This meta aspect you mentioned makes it a more interesting fit, hmmmhh. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.5|162.158.88.5]] 06:37, 21 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've been a lurker here for many years but I've never edited, so I don't know what's appropriate. Is it notable that the term "splitter" is used in the same sense in the movie "Monty Python's Life of Brian"? Maybe not, but if so, it would say something like "A notable use of the term splitter is in [LoB] when the 'People's Party of Judea' is used to satirize contemporary (1970s) factional communist parties." I've never heard the term lumper before this comic.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.139|172.68.133.139]] 03:14, 21 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I say that if you think it should be in there, Explain away in your own words. (The only firm advice I have for editing is to learn the difference between a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link generic link] and an {{w|Link|interwiki link}} and do the latter wherever appropriate, because too many times the messier first type gets needlessly used.)<br />
:That said, I'd say LoB's "Splitter" is applied upon someone who allegedly splits ''themselves'' off from the (otherwise) common group of the person flinging the term around, rather than something someone could classify anyone (including themself) based upon how they treat memberships in general (with or without personal involvement). As such, I would say that a Judean 'splitter' is a different creature from an xkcdean one. I don't think by saying this I would significantly become a splitter in the former sense, unless I had significant opinion otherwise from which I was differentiating, but I would in the latter.<br />
:I'll also happily label myself with the second (indeed, now even unto the meta- level; if not N-meta- by dint of this potentially recursive aside!) but it would be entirely up to others to argue my status in the first sense. Never mind that I, too, have never heard of a 'lumper' in this sense (nor the counterpart usage of 'splitter'). I understand the terms - holism vs reductionism, in part..? - but this is the first time I've been exposed to the term. Immediately got the joke, though. Or at least thought I did. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.131|172.70.134.131]] 08:47, 21 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: "Splitter" in Life of Brian is used in the sense of "traitor" or somebody who creates a schism. In context, it is definitely pejorative. "Splitter" her is somebody who likes to take a category and make it into several smaller categories. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 10:18, 21 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Explanation says cueball would be a metasplitter if he further splits his own group of splitters. But I'd say splitting lumpers in to a meta-group already qualifies him as a meta-splitter. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.227|172.70.110.227]] 13:13, 21 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Probably a good idea to link {{w|Lumpers and splitters|the Wikipedia article on lumpers and splitters}} somewhere. Intro could probably be expanded. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 15:24, 21 September 2021 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2487:_Danger_Mnemonic&diff=2148722487: Danger Mnemonic2021-07-10T07:29:56Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ link 443 wiki page</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2487<br />
| date = July 9, 2021<br />
| title = Danger Mnemonic<br />
| image = danger_mnemonic.png<br />
| titletext = It's definitely not the time to try drinking beer before liquor.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DRUNKEN SAILOR'S POISON IVY SNAKE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is a mash-up of three different common sayings: "red touches yellow, dead fellow. Red touches black, happy Jack," "leaves of three, leave them be," and "red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight."<br />
<br />
The adult refers to three different sayings that remind people how to recognize dangerous things or situations. If all are true at once, then things must be especially bad. The sayings are:<br />
<br />
*'''Red touches yellow, kills a fellow.''' This is a saying for how to recognize a venomous coral snake, which has red, black, and yellow stripes, with the red and yellow stripes adjacent. A nonvenomous king snake also has red, black, and yellow stripes, but the black stripes separate the red and yellow ones.<br />
*'''Leaves of three, leave them be''' is used to identify poison ivy from its many lookalikes, such as the Virginia creeper in [[443: Know Your Vines]].<br />
*'''Red sky at morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight.''' The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_sky_at_morning mnemonic] predicts bad/good weather conditions based on a particularly red sunrise/sunset. It is predictive at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_latitudes middle latitudes] where the prevailing winds go from west to east. Regions of higher air pressure will cause a particularly red sky at sunrise/sunset, so a red sky in the evening indicates a high pressure system is coming in from the west with its calmer weather, while a red sky in the morning indicates a low pressure front coming in (usually with rain/rougher weather). In some countries (such as the United Kingdom), the saying mentions shepherds rather that sailors.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the myth of '''Beer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, you're in the clear.''' Unlike the first three mnemonics which are genuinely useful for avoiding danger, this one does not have any truth behind it - unless the order affects how ''much'' you drink.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Blondie talking to two children: a younger looking Hairy and Science Girl]<br />
<br />
: Blondie: Now, remember:<br />
: Blondie: If red touches yellow amid leaves of three under a red sky at morning, <br />
: Blondie: you should probably just get out of there.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2432:_Manage_Your_Preferences&diff=2071292432: Manage Your Preferences2021-03-05T05:19:34Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2432<br />
| date = March 3, 2021<br />
| title = Manage Your Preferences<br />
| image = manage_your_preferences.png<br />
| titletext = Manage cookies related to essential site functions, such as keeping Atrus and his sons imprisoned within the page.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by COOKIES KEEPING ATRIUS IMPRISONED IN THE PAGE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. This page had some confusing and possibly harmful edits that had actual real information in all of them, sorting it out is kind.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a play on dialogs that often pop up when you visit a website for the first time, and various other laborious interactions involved in settings required for visiting websites as one prefers.<br />
<br />
The 2018 European {{w|General Data Protection Regulation}} (GDPR) and similar laws in other countries require websites to obtain consent from users for collecting personal data not essential to the functioning of the website, and to allow the user from opting out of such data collection. Web advertising agencies often collect as much information as possible about a user in order to display ads that the user is more likely to click on. One method of collecting data is to place small data files, called cookies, in the user's browser that can be used to identify the user across multiple websites.<br />
<br />
Website operators have an interest in the user allowing cookies, both because targeted ads make money, and because cookies are used to maintain things like shopping carts and email states. As a corollary, they have little incentive to make it easy for users to turn off cookies. Thus, in order to obtain the user's consent, many websites will set up a pop-up with the choice between "allow all cookies" and "customise cookies", and choosing the latter option would then require the user to opt out of every tracking cookie separately using "confusingly labeled toggle switches". Randall compares this to ''{{w|Myst}}'', a 1990s puzzle video game. Note that the GDPR states that disapproval regarding what is shown should be as easy to choose as approval: websites and browser vendors doing what is shown in the comic is actually not complying with the GDPR, despite being very rarely raised by the European authorities.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, only someone very familiar with the technology behind internet advertisement and technology would really know what they are agreeing to in these situations. To many users, it just means "agreeing to whatever" so that they can see the website they came to visit.<br />
<br />
The black background possibly shows how many sites are providing tools to switch between light and dark backgrounds now. For a long time white backgrounds were heavily dominating, and only people who understood esoteric configurations could use many things with a black background. More recently, it is easier. It is out-of-place for Randall to show a black background, as many of his comics take place in technical computer systems that often have a black background anyway, as most bare-metal computer terminals still do.<br />
<br />
"Atrus" in the title text is the main non-player character in the ''Myst'' series. In the first game these people were imprisoned within books. Pages needed to be collected to complete the books, and it was incredibly hard to find a single page, involving extensive laborious navigation and exploration, and the finding and solving of hidden puzzles. In the ''Myst'' mythos, the books open portals to other worlds, a little like web hyperlinks. Similar to old websites, they were handmade tomes of letters written by people holding rare knowledge and skills.<br />
<br />
Some browsers and websites do have actual games embedded within their various configuration interferes. Chrome for example has a well-known dinosaur game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Game .<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
The title-text originally said "Atrius" instead of "Atrus". A few hours after the comic's release, this was changed.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at a desk in front of his laptop computer. A black zigzag line points to the screen, and above this is shown what is displayed on Cueball's screen. This is shown as a black rectangle, with a white box, with black frame, overlaid over the top of the black section, extending half way above it. The text in this white box is in gray font. Inside the black rectangle are two gray rectangles, with white borders and black text. A small rectangle at the top has "Manage your Preferences" inside it, and a large rectangle below has 6 lines of text.]<br />
:Agree to whatever <br />
:Transport me to an immersive Myst-like game where I click confusingly-labeled toggle switches, only some of which work, perhaps never to find my way back to the page I wanted.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2432:_Manage_Your_Preferences&diff=2071172432: Manage Your Preferences2021-03-04T23:20:31Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ delete irrelevant sentence, typo in title text has been fixed so we know that it should be Atrus</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2432<br />
| date = March 3, 2021<br />
| title = Manage Your Preferences<br />
| image = manage_your_preferences.png<br />
| titletext = Manage cookies related to essential site functions, such as keeping Atrus and his sons imprisoned within the page.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by COOKIES KEEPING ATRIUS IMPRISONED IN THE PAGE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. This page had some confusing and possibly harmful edits that had actual real information in all of them, sorting it out is kind.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a play on dialogs that often pop up when you visit a website for the first time, and various other laborious interactions involved in settings required for visiting websites as one prefers.<br />
<br />
The 2018 European {{w|General Data Protection Regulation}} (GDPR) and similar laws in other countries require websites to obtain consent from users for collecting personal data not essential to the functioning of the website, and to allow the user from opting out of such data collection. Web advertising agencies often collect as much information as possible about a user in order to display ads that the user is more likely to click on. One method of collecting data is to place small data files, called cookies, in the user's browser that can be used to identify the user across multiple websites.<br />
<br />
Website operators have an interest in the user allowing cookies, both because targeted ads make money, and because cookies are used to maintain things like shopping carts and email states. As a corollary, they have little incentive to make it easy for users to turn off cookies. In worse situations, some websites try to pretend to be the user's browser, to possibly steal their identity or trick them into installing malware. In real browser settings, a user still might have to opt out of every tracking cookie separately using "confusingly labeled toggle switches". Randall compares this to ''{{w|Myst}}'', a 1990s puzzle video game. Note that the GDPR states that disapproval regarding what is shown should be as easy to choose as approval: websites and browser vendors doing what is shown in the comic is actually not complying with the GDPR, despite being very rarely raised by the European authorities.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, only someone very familiar with the technology behind internet advertisement and technology would really know what they are agreeing to in these situations. To many users, it just means "agreeing to whatever" so that they can see the website they came to visit.<br />
<br />
Additionally, as deep learning models rapidly spread, configuration settings may get more human.<br />
<br />
The black background possibly shows how many sites are providing tools to switch between light and dark backgrounds now. For a long time white backgrounds were heavily dominating, and only people who understood esoteric configurations could use many things with a black background. More recently, it is easier. It is out-of-place for Randall to show a black background, as many of his comics take place in technical computer systems that often have a black background anyway, as most bare-metal computer terminals still do.<br />
<br />
"Atrus" in the title text is the main non-player character in the ''Myst'' series. In the first game these people were imprisoned within books. Pages needed to be collected to complete the books, and it was incredibly hard to find a single page, involving extensive laborious navigation and exploration, and the finding and solving of hidden puzzles. In the ''Myst'' mythos, the books open portals to other worlds, a little like web hyperlinks. Similar to old websites, they were handmade tomes of letters written by people holding rare knowledge and skills.<br />
<br />
Some browsers and websites do have actual games embedded within their various configuration interferes. Chrome for example has a well-known dinosaur game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Game .<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
The title-text originally said "Atrius" instead of "Atrus". A few hours after the comic's release, this was changed.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at a desk in front of his laptop computer. A black zigzag line points to the screen, and above this is shown what is displayed on Cueball's screen. This is shown as a black rectangle, with a white box, with black frame, overlaid over the top of the black section, extending half way above it. The text in this white box is in gray font. Inside the black rectangle are two gray rectangles, with white borders and black text. A small rectangle at the top has "Manage your Preferences" inside it, and a large rectangle below has 6 lines of text.]<br />
:Agree to whatever <br />
:Transport me to an immersive Myst-like game where I click confusingly-labeled toggle switches, only some of which work, perhaps never to find my way back to the page I wanted.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2390:_Linguists&diff=202349Talk:2390: Linguists2020-11-26T14:34:32Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
"Fell in a hole" sounds wrong, from a (possibly) Rightpondian perspective. If it was "...into...", then that'd be better. (Falling down a hole would probably imply total inholation, while into one might mean no more than a foot getting snagged. Though the former also separately implies starting from partial or imminent holedness, the latter indicates the hole was not previously a problem but then became a novel issue to deal with. Falling 'in' a hole could mean "I was already at the bottom of a hole, minding my own business, and then I tripped on something/lost my balance and fell over..." ''Edit: as it might also be for "Fell down a hole", thinking more about it. A comma after "Fell" would make that more definite.'') I also have problems with "Lit on fire", for something that is set fire to, but I know that's definitely a transatlantic issue.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.216|162.158.155.216]] 02:01, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Yes, indeed, things are simply "lit" (if the sense of "fire" is contextually apparent) or "set on fire" (if it's not). A well lit room is a scene which need not involve a flaming component, whereas a burning room would have been set on fire. <br />
::However. Holes, and the falling therein(to). Were one to fall "in" a hole, one would probably fall in such a way that - initially unholed at the outset of the incident - one becomes partially holed in a hole too shallow to ever threaten total enholing. The barrel of possibility is being scraped somewhat here however; my suspicion is that the above is simply an allusion to the more acceptable (dialetically speaking) "fell in a puddle" (a puddle being a hole neither "into" nor "down" which one could fall).[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 13:58, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:"Fell into..." makes me think that he fell/tripped and instead of landing on the ground, he went into the hole. (BTW, I've lived in this house 45+ years. I've never fallen down the stairs, but I have fallen "up" them, ie. I tripped on the way up and face-planted, even though I didn't continue upwards.) [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 09:22, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
I suppose "in a hole" is probably ''technically'' wrong (except for those cases where the individual in question was in a hole and then fell), but I would probably use it in speech (though maybe not more formal writing). There ''is'' a distinction between 'in' and 'down' however. When something falls down a hole, no part of it remains outside the hole. If it falls in(/to) a hole, at least some -- possibly most -- of the object remains outside the hole. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.191|108.162.216.191]] 02:26, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did anyone else notice that this comic seems to have significantly higher resolution than others? It’s especially noticeable on mobile browsers, but I haven’t tested it on PC. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.154|108.162.219.154]] 02:36, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I fell down a hole, and while in the hole I fell.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.42|108.162.216.42]] 03:17, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess you could fall "in" a hole without falling "down" a hole if you like...tripped into a sideways hole, like a doorway... <br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.138|162.158.75.138]] 07:50, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'd say if you mean the act of falling into the hole, you can indicate that with either 'into' or 'down' (or even both) and you could argue when to use which, but if you mean the place where you have fallen, you would use 'in'. Informally, I have heard people use 'in' as short of 'into'. On the other hand, the place where you have fallen could be "down a hole" (I have been down that hole). It now depends whether the "down" is connected to "I fell" or to "the hole". In theory, you could say "I fell down a hole down the hole" to indicate you fell down a second hole while being inside the first one.<br />
<br />
This whole discussion is just the result of Randall doing Nerd Sniping [[356]] XD [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:57, 26 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Someone needs to add a discussion of prescriptivist vs. descriptivist linguists -- the person in the comic is clearly a descriptivist, the pedants described in the caption would be prescriptivists. (Incidentally, [https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=49309 Language Log] posted about the comic and there's some discussion.) [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 14:34, 26 November 2020 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1122:_Electoral_Precedent&diff=2019121122: Electoral Precedent2020-11-16T14:55:13Z<p>Arcorann: /* Transcript */ missing line</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1122<br />
| date = October 17, 2012<br />
| title = Electoral Precedent<br />
| image = electoral_precedent.png<br />
| titletext = No white guy who's been mentioned on Twitter has gone on to win.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a TIME TRAVELER. Please explain and flesh out each broken precedent. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
During election season in U.S. presidential elections — and especially in election night coverage — it is common for the media to make comments like the ones set out in the first panel of this comic. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] is demonstrating the problem with making such statements, many of which simply come down to coincidence.<br />
<br />
After the first panel the next 56 panels in this comic refer to each one of the {{w|United States presidential election#Electoral college results|56 presidential elections}} in U.S. history before {{w|Barack Obama|Obama's}} re-election in 2012. The panels depict a pre-election commentator noting a quality or condition that has never occurred to a candidate, until one of the candidates in that election broke the streak. In other words, one can always find at least one unique thing about a candidate who has gone on to win (or in some cases, lose) or the circumstances under which they won (or lost) that is unique from all previous winners (or losers). It's worth noting that some of these 'firsts' were truly precedent-setting (such as the first incumbent losing, the first president to win a third term, the first Catholic president, etc.), but the fact that they hadn't happened was no assurance that there wouldn't be a first time. As the years pass on, these 'streaks' become more and more nested and complicated, and then brought by Randall to the point of absurdity by pointing out very trivial things, such as "No Democratic {{w|incumbent}} without combat experience has ever beaten someone whose first name is worth more in {{w|Scrabble}}" (1996).<br />
<br />
The flaw made by pundits while reporting such streaks is that there will always be ''something'' that has never happened before in an election, and they purport to suggest that these things are related to the candidate's win or loss. Randall considers this a logical flaw. A common one is, as noted in several panels, candidates can't win without winning certain states. The question, however, is one of {{w|Correlation does not imply causation|cause or effect}}.<br />
<br />
Given that there have only been 56 elections, there are always going to be things that haven't happened before. If you go out looking for them, you're sure to find some. There is no magic about why these events haven't happened. In most cases, it is merely coincidence.<br />
<br />
In the last two panels two more statements like the previous are given. They were both true before the {{w|United States presidential election, 2012|election in 2012}} on November the 6th. The comic came out in the middle of the campaign on October the 17th. The statements were constructed so that the first predicts that Obama can't win over {{w|Mitt Romney}}, and the second that he cannot lose. As Obama won the election he thus ended the streak ''Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers'' whereas the other streak is still valid.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the fact that {{w|Twitter}} was founded in 2006. Obama won in 2008, so at the time of the comic it was true that no white male person mentioned on Twitter had ever gone on to win the presidency; although certainly some former presidents, all of whom were white males, have subsequently been mentioned on Twitter. This streak was broken in the next election year, when Donald Trump won the 2016 election.<br />
<br />
During these last four weeks before the election Randall posted no fewer than four comics related to this election. The others are: [[1127: Congress]], [[1130: Poll Watching]] and [[1131: Math]].<br />
<br />
In 2020, Randall posted an update to this comic: [[2383: Electoral Precedent 2020]].<br />
<br />
<br />
===Table of Broken Precedents===<br />
<br />
''<font color="red">Please have someone else validate your row, as to make sure the table is accurate</font>'' <br />
<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Year !! Broken Precedent !! Explanation !! Validity<br />
|-<br />
| 1788 <br />
| No one has been elected president before. ...But Washington was.<br />
| Discounting the Articles of Confederation and its {{w|President of the Continental Congress|president}}, Washington is the first president of the US.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1792 <br />
| No incumbent has ever been reelected. ...Until Washington. <br />
| Washington is the first person who had a second term. He was unopposed so there was no challenger.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1796 <br />
| No one without false teeth has become president. ...But Adams did.<br />
| Washington had false teeth, made of human teeth and other materials. His successor Adams, despite having tooth decay, refused to wear false teeth.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1800<br />
| No challenger has beaten an incumbent. ...But Jefferson did.<br />
| Adams is the first president not to have a second term, due to signing the unpopular {{w|Alien and Sedition acts}}. He was defeated by the challenger, Jefferson.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1804<br />
| No incumbent has beaten an challenger. ...Until Jefferson.<br />
| The 2 previous incumbents were Washington, who was unopposed, and Adams, who lost as an incumbent (to Jefferson).<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1808<br />
| No congressman has ever become president. ...Until Madison.<br />
| While George Washington served in the House of Burgesses, Madison served as congressman for Virginia's 5th district from 1789 to 1793 and the 15th District from 1793 to 1797 in the U. S. Congress.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1812<br />
| No one can win without New York. ...But Madison did.<br />
| While it is true New York voted against Madison but he still won, New York did not vote for Washington due to an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1788%E2%80%9389_United_States_presidential_election#New_York's_lack_of_Electors internal dispute].<br />
| False<br />
|-<br />
| 1816<br />
| No candidate who doesn't wear a wig can get elected. ...Until Monroe was.<br />
| Despite popular misconception, Washington did not wear a wig, but in fact powdered his hair white.<br />
| False<br />
|-<br />
| 1820<br />
| No one who wears pants instead of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culottes breeches] can be reelected. ...But Monroe was.<br />
| The first 5 presidents, including Monroe, all wore breeches.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 1824<br />
| No one has ever won without a popular majority. ...J.Q. Adams did.<br />
| Jackson won the plurality of the popular vote and Electoral College. But as it was a four way election, he did not achieve a majority - so the vote went to Congress, who elected John Quincy Adams. <br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1828<br />
| Only people from Massachusetts and Virginia can win. ...Until Jackson did.<br />
| Jackson was from South Carolina, while all previous presidents were from Massachusetts or Virginia.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1832<br />
| The only presidents who get reelected are Virginians. ...Until Jackson.<br />
| Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe were the only re-elected presidents at that time, and they were all Virginians.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
| 1836<br />
| New Yorkers always lose. ...Until Van Buren.<br />
| Martin Van Buren is the first president from the state of New York.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1840<br />
| No one over 65 has won the presidency. ...Until Harrison did.<br />
| He was 68 and the first over 65, and died of pneumonia 31 days after giving the longest inauguration to date.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1844<br />
| No one who's lost his home state has won. ...But Polk did.<br />
| Assuming "home state" refers to the state of residence, Polk is the first, losing Tennessee to Clay but took 15 of the 26 states including New York. However, if you count it as state of birth, Jackson and Harrison already did.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1848<br />
| As goes Mississippi, so goes the nation. ...Until 1848. <br />
| Prior to 1848, every candidate who had won the state of Mississippi had won the election, with the only exception being the 1824 election, where John Quincy Adams was elected by Congress, due to no one winning the Electoral College. In 1848, Lewis Cass won the state of Mississippi, but lost the election to Zachary Taylor.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1852<br />
|New England Democrats can't win. ...Until Pierce did.<br />
|Pierce is the first candidate from the Democratic Party from New England, specifically New Hampshire, and he won the election of 1852.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1856<br />
| No one can become president without getting married. ...Until Buchanan did.<br />
| While other presidents were widowers, Buchanan was the first unmarried president, being a life long bachelor.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1860<br />
| No one over 6'3" can get elected. ...Until Lincoln.<br />
| Lincoln was the first president over 6'3" president, at 6'4" tall, making him the tallest president to date.<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1864<br />
|No one with a beard has been reelected. ...But Lincoln was.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1868<br />
|No one can be president if their parents are alive. ...Until Grant.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1872<br />
|No one with a beard has been reelected in peacetime. ...Until Grant was.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1876<br />
|No one can win a majority of the popular vote and still lose. ...Tilden did.<br />
|Samuel Tilden won a majority of the popular vote, with 51%, but lost in the electoral college in a {{w|1876 United States presidential election|contested election}}, resolved by the {{w|Compromise of 1877}}. (During the election of 1824, Jackson won the popular vote but did not win more than half of it, a majority)<br />
| True<br />
|-<br />
|1880<br />
|As goes California, so goes the nation. ...Until it went Hancock.<br />
|Since being a state in 1850, the winner of California had won the election - until 1880 when Winfield Hancock won California, but lost the election to James Garfield.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1884<br />
|Candidates named "James" can't lose. ...Until James Blaine.<br />
|James Blaine was the first major candidate with the first name "James" to lose an election, losing to Grover Cleveland.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1888<br />
|No sitting president has been beaten since the Civil War. ...Cleveland was.<br />
|Grover Cleveland was the first president since the end of the Civil War to be defeated by a challenger, losing to Benjamin Harrison. Andrew Johnson was not chosen as the Democratic candidate in 1868. Ulysses S. Grant served 2 terms and did not run for a 3rd term. Rutherford B. Hayes and Chester A. Arthur (who became president after the assassination of James Garfield) did not seek reelection after their first term.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1892<br />
|No former president has been elected. ...Until Cleveland.<br />
|Cleveland was the first (and thus far only) president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms, winning the presidential election in 1884, losing in 1888, and winning in 1892.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1896<br />
|Tall Midwesterners are unbeatable. ...Bryan wasn't.<br />
|William Jennings Bryan lost the 1896 election to William McKinley. Bryan's measurements have been lost to history, but contemporary historians described him as "a tall, slender, handsome fellow".<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1900<br />
|No Republican shorter than 5'8" has been reelected. ...Until McKinley was.<br />
|At the time, McKinley was only the 3rd Republican who was reelected (behind Lincoln, and Grant). And he was the shortest of them all, at 5'7" tall.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1904<br />
|No one under 45 has been elected. ...Roosevelt was.<br />
|At the start of his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president, taking office at the age of 42.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1908<br />
|No Republican who hasn't served in the military has won. ...Until Taft.<br />
|Taft was the first Republican to win an election and not serve in the military - Lincoln served during the Black Hawk War; Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Benjamin Harrison and McKinley served in the Civil War; and Theodore Roosevelt served in the Spanish-American War. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1912<br />
|After Lincoln beat the Democrats while sporting a beard with no mustache, the only Democrats who can win have a mustache with no beard. ...Wilson had neither.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1916<br />
|No Democrat has won while losing West Virginia. ...Wilson did.<br />
|Since its statehood in 1863, Wilson is the first Democrat to lose West Virginia, but win the national election.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1920<br />
|No incumbent senator has won. ...Until Harding.<br />
|Harding was the first sitting Senator to become President - he resigned his position as Senator to become President.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1924<br />
|No one with two Cs in their name has become president. ...Until Calvin Coolidge.<br />
|'''C'''alvin '''C'''oolidge was the first with "two C's in his name". Presidents with "one C" in their names prior to Coolidge were John Quin'''c'''y Adams, Andrew Ja'''c'''kson, Za'''c'''hary Taylor, Franklin Pier'''c'''e, James Bu'''c'''hanan, Abraham Lin'''c'''oln, '''C'''hester A. Arthur, Grover '''C'''leveland and William M'''c'''kinley.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1928<br />
|No one who got ten million votes has lost. ...Until Al Smith.<br />
|Smith was the first candidate to get more than 10 million votes and lose. He received over 15 million votes, but lost to Herbert Hoover, who received 21.4 million votes, and won the electoral college, 444-87.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1932<br />
|No Democrat has won since women secured the right to vote. ...Until FDR did.<br />
|FDR was the first Democrat to win since 1919, when women secured the right to vote. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1936<br />
|No President's been reelected with double-digit unemployment. ...Until FDR was.<br />
|FDR was reelected during the Great Depression, when unemployment peaked at 22-25%.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1940<br />
|No one has won a third term. ...Until FDR did.<br />
|FDR is the first and only president to be elected for 4 terms due to his popularity/policies. This is now made impossible by the {{w|Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|22nd amendment}}, which limits a president to 2 elected terms.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1944<br />
|No Democrat has won during wartime. ...Until FDR did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1948<br />
|Democrats can't win without Alabama. ...Truman did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1952<br />
|No Republican has won without winning the House or Senate. ...Eisenhower did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1956<br />
|No one can beat the same nominee a second time in a leap year rematch. ...Until Eisenhower.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1960<br />
|Catholics can't win. ...Kennedy beat Nixon.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1964<br />
|Every Republican who's taken Louisiana has won. ...Until Goldwater.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1968<br />
|No Republican vice president has risen to the Presidency through an election. ...Until Nixon.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1972<br />
|Quakers can't win twice. ...Until Nixon did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1976<br />
|No one who lost New Mexico has won. ...But Carter did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1980<br />
|No one has been elected President after a divorce. ...Until Reagan was.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1984<br />
|No left-handed president has been reelected. ...Until Reagan was.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1988<br />
|No one with two middle names has become president. ...Until "Herbert Walker".<br />
|George H. W. Bush is the first and to date only president with 2 middle names.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1992<br />
|No Democrat has won without a majority of the Catholic vote. ...Until Clinton did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|1996<br />
|No Dem. incumbent without combat experience has beaten someone whose first name is worth more in Scrabble. ...Until Bill beat Bob.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|2000<br />
|No Republican has won without Vermont. ...Until Bush did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|2004<br />
|No Republican without combat experience has beaten someone two inches taller. ...Until Bush did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|2008<br />
|No Democrat can win without Missouri. ...Until Obama did.<br />
|<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|2012?<br />
|Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. If Obama wins (as he did) it will break the streak.<br />
|Barack Obama is 6' 1" (185 cm), and Mitt Romney is 6' 2" (188 cm)<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|2012?<br />
| No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost. If Romney wins (but he didn't) it would not break the streak, as it is already broken.<br />
| Nominees with a "K" have won such as Franklin Pierce, Franklin Roosevelt, and Barack Obama. However, many third party and other nominees have lost, such as {{w|Frank T. Johns}}.<br />
| <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:The problem with statements like<br />
:"No <party> candidate has won the election without <state>"<br />
:Or<br />
:"No president has been reelected under <circumstances>"<br />
<br />
:1788... No one has been elected president before. ...But Washington was.<br />
:1792... No incumbent has ever been reelected. ...Until Washington.<br />
:1796... No one without false teeth has become president. ...But Adams did.<br />
:1800... No challenger has beaten an incumbent. ...But Jefferson did.<br />
:1804... No incumbent has beaten a challenger. ...Until Jefferson.<br />
:1808... No congressman has ever become president. ...Until Madison.<br />
:1812... No one can win without New York. ...But Madison did.<br />
:1816... No candidate who doesn't wear a wig can get elected. ...Until Monroe was.<br />
:1820... No one who wears pants instead of breeches can be reelected. ...But Monroe was.<br />
:1824... No one has ever won without a popular majority. ...J.Q. Adams did.<br />
:1828... Only people from Massachusetts and Virginia can win. ...Until Jackson did.<br />
:1832... The only presidents who get reelected are Virginians. ...Until Jackson.<br />
:1836... New Yorkers always lose. ...Until Van Buren.<br />
:1840... No one over 65 has won the presidency. ...Until Harrison did.<br />
:1844... No one who's lost his home state has won. ...But Polk did.<br />
:1848... As goes Mississippi, so goes the nation. ...Until 1848.<br />
:1852... New England Democrats can't win. ...Until Pierce did.<br />
:1856... No one can become president without getting married. ...Until Buchanan did.<br />
:1860... No one over 6'3" can get elected. ...Until Lincoln.<br />
:1864... No one with a beard has been reelected. ...But Lincoln was.<br />
:1868... No one can be president if their parent are alive. ...Until Grant.<br />
:1872... No one with a beard has been reelected in peacetime. ...Until Grant was.<br />
:1876... No one can win a majority of the popular vote and still lose. ...Tilden did.<br />
:1880... As goes California, so goes the nation. ...Until it went Hancock.<br />
:1884... Candidates named "James" can't lose. ...Until James Blaine.<br />
:1888... No sitting president has been beaten since the Civil War. ...Cleveland was.<br />
:1892... No former president has been elected. ...Until Cleveland.<br />
:1896... Tall midwesterners are unbeatable. ...Bryan wasn't.<br />
:1900... No Republican shorter than 5'8" has been reelected. ...Until McKinley was.<br />
:1904... No one under 45 has become president. ...Roosevelt did.<br />
:1908... No Republican who hasn't served in the military has won. ...Until Taft.<br />
:1912... After Lincoln beat the Democrats while sporting a beard with no mustache, the only Democrats who can win have a mustache with no beard. ...Wilson had neither.<br />
:1916... No Democrat has won while losing West Virginia. ...Wilson did.<br />
:1920... No incumbent senator has won. ...Until Harding.<br />
:1924... No one with two Cs in their name has become president. ...Until Calvin Coolidge.<br />
:1928... No one who got ten million votes has lost. ...Until Al Smith.<br />
:1932... No Democrat has won since women secured the right to vote. ...Until FDR did.<br />
:1936... No President's been reelected with double-digit unemployment. ...Until FDR was.<br />
:1940... No one has won a third term. ...Until FDR did.<br />
:1944... No Democrat has won during wartime. ...Until FDR did.<br />
:1948... Democrats can't win without Alabama. ...Truman did.<br />
:1952... No Republican has won without winning the House or Senate. ...Eisenhower did.<br />
:1956... No one can beat the same nominee a second time in a leap year rematch. ...Until Eisenhower.<br />
:1960... Catholics can't win. ...Until Kennedy.<br />
:1964... Every Republican who's taken Louisiana has won. ...Until Goldwater.<br />
:1968... No Republican vice president has risen to the Presidency through an election. ...Until Nixon.<br />
:1972... Quakers can't win twice. ...Until Nixon did.<br />
:1976... No one who lost New Mexico has won. ...But Carter did.<br />
:1980... No one has been elected President after a divorce. ...Until Reagan was.<br />
:1984... No left-handed president has been reelected. ...Until Reagan was.<br />
:1988... No one with two middle names has become president. ...Until "Herbert Walker".<br />
:1992... No Democrat has won without a majority of the Catholic vote. ...Until Clinton did.<br />
:1996... No Dem. incumbent without combat experience has beaten someone whose first name is worth more in Scrabble. ...Until Bill beat Bob.<br />
:2000... No Republican has won without Vermont. ...Until Bush did.<br />
:2004... No Republican without combat experience has beaten someone two inches taller. ...Until Bush did.<br />
:2008... No Democrat can win without Missouri. ...Until Obama did.<br />
:2012... Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost. Which streak will break?<br />
<br />
==Trivia/Errors==<br />
* There was an error in the original 1800 panel of the comic, as Jefferson (not Adams) was the first challenger to beat an incumbent, when Jefferson beat then-president Adams in 1800. This was later corrected.<br />
<br />
* Also, one of the statements of a streak for the 2012 elections can be considered wrong: in 1952, the Republican candidate/running mate Eisenhower/Nixon defeated the Democratic alliterative ticket Stevenson/Sparkman (in what can only be described as a landslide). The comic has been changed, and now reads "Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers" as the streak which would have the Republican ticket as the winners.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Statistics]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Elections]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring John F. Kennedy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2383:_Electoral_Precedent_2020&diff=2019112383: Electoral Precedent 20202020-11-16T14:54:45Z<p>Arcorann: /* Transcript */ fix</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2383<br />
| date = November 9, 2020<br />
| title = Electoral Precedent 2020<br />
| image = electoral_precedent_2020-new.png<br />
| titletext = He also broke the streak that incumbents with websites are unbeatable and Delawareans can't win, creating a new precedent: Only someone from Delaware can defeat an incumbent with a website.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an UNBEATABLE DELAWAREAN WITH A WEBSITE. Please explain how. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is an update to [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], adding "broken precedents" for the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020. The majority of the comic's panels are duplicates from 1122, with the exception of the 2012 panel (modified to show that Obama did in fact break the streak), the 2016 panel (added to reflect the election of Donald Trump), and the two 2020 panels.<br />
<br />
The final two panels again show how the 'precedent' have side conditions that influenced these precedents:<br />
* No sitting president who was impeached was even nominated for the office again... until Donald Trump. (Only two other presidents have been impeached. Bill Clinton was impeached, but he was not eligible for re-election due to term limits; before that, Andrew Johnson sought re-election but failed to be nominated at the 1868 Democratic Convention.) <br />
* The last time a challenger beat an incumbent was in 1992 when websites weren't nearly as predominant as now, and Randall assumes the 1992 Clinton campaign did not have a website. By 1996 that had changed and both the incumbent [http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/websites/cg96/ Bill Clinton campaign] and the challenger [http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm Bob Dole campaign] had websites that look very simple by today's standards. There is no 'curse' on using websites. {{Citation needed}} <br />
<br />
The 2020 election is also precedent-breaking in a few ways that Randall didn't mention:<br />
* Biden received over 76 million votes, the highest ever, beating Obama 2008's previous record of just under 69.5 million votes. The second highest raw vote total was for Trump, with approximately 71.5 million votes, ''also'' beating Obama 2008. Turnout as a percentage of the eligible population was the highest in over a century. Consequently (especially as total population has also been rising), both major parties' raw vote totals smash previous precedents.<br />
* At 78, Joe Biden will be the oldest president ever on the day of his inauguration.<br />
* Biden's running mate Kamala Harris will be the first-ever female vice president, and first Black vice president. A Californian, she'll also be the first Democratic president or vice president from the West.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the theme of websites, by stating that no incumbent with a website had ever lost. Also, Biden is the first president from the state of Delaware, thus he broke the "precedent" that Delawareans can't win. Randall then proceeds to combine these 2 facts to create a new precedent: Only Delawareans can defeat incumbents with a website.<br />
<br />
==Table of New Broken Precedents==<br />
<br />
All original options can be found at [[1122: Electoral Precedent]].<br />
<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Year !! Broken Precedent !! Explanation !! Validity<br />
<br />
|-<br />
|2012<br />
|Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. ... Until Obama did. (Updated)<br />
|Mitt Romney stood 6' 2", an inch taller than President Obama. Nonetheless, Obama was re-elected for a second term. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|2016<br />
|No one has become president without government or military experience. ... Until Trump did.<br />
|Every president prior to Trump has either been a general in the US Army, a congressman, or a state governor. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|2020?<br />
|No one has won after being impeached. ✓<br />
|None of the three prior presidents who were impeached even ran for re-election. This is the first time this specific condition has even been tested.<br />
|Trump was impeached, did run and has <!-- as of current information! --> lost, so this test 'remains' true at this point in history.<br />
|-<br />
|2020?<br />
|No challenger with a website has won. X<br />
|The ''possibility'' of having a website only arose in the '90s and Bill Clinton seems to not have had one when he succeeded Bush Sr. Although websites became increasingly ubiquitous, no president since had ever been defeated by their respective challengers.<br />
|"...until Biden"<br />
(This may be the frame used in future updates.)<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:The problem with statements like<br />
:"No <party> candidate has won the election without <state>"<br />
:Or<br />
:"No president has been reelected under <circumstances>"<br />
<br />
:<font color="red"><nowiki>★</nowiki> Updated for 2020 ★</font> <br />
<br />
:1788... No one has been elected president before. ...But Washington was.<br />
:1792... No incumbent has ever been reelected. ...Until Washington.<br />
:1796... No one without false teeth has become president. ...But Adams did.<br />
:1800... No challenger has beaten an incumbent. ...But Jefferson did.<br />
:1804... No incumbent has beaten a challenger. ...Until Jefferson.<br />
:1808... No congressman has ever become president. ...Until Madison.<br />
:1812... No one can win without New York. ...But Madison did.<br />
:1816... No candidate who doesn't wear a wig can get elected. ...Until Monroe was.<br />
:1820... No one who wears pants instead of breeches can be reelected. ...But Monroe was.<br />
:1824... No one has ever won without a popular majority. ...J.Q. Adams did.<br />
:1828... Only people from Massachusetts and Virginia can win. ...Until Jackson did.<br />
:1832... The only presidents who get reelected are Virginians. ...Until Jackson.<br />
:1836... New Yorkers always lose. ...Until Van Buren.<br />
:1840... No one over 65 has won the presidency. ...Until Harrison did.<br />
:1844... No one who's lost his home state has won. ...But Polk did.<br />
:1848... As goes Mississippi, so goes the nation. ...Until 1848.<br />
:1852... New England Democrats can't win. ...Until Pierce did.<br />
:1856... No one can become president without getting married. ...Until Buchanan did.<br />
:1860... No one over 6'3" can get elected. ...Until Lincoln.<br />
:1864... No one with a beard has been reelected. ...But Lincoln was.<br />
:1868... No one can be president if their parents are alive. ...Until Grant.<br />
:1872... No one with a beard has been reelected in peacetime. ...Until Grant was.<br />
:1876... No one can win a majority of the popular vote and still lose. ...Tilden did.<br />
:1880... As goes California, so goes the nation. ...Until it went Hancock.<br />
:1884... Candidates named "James" can't lose. ...Until James Blaine.<br />
:1888... No sitting president has been beaten since the Civil War. ...Cleveland was.<br />
:1892... No former president has been elected. ...Until Cleveland.<br />
:1896... Tall midwesterners are unbeatable. ...Bryan wasn't.<br />
:1900... No Republican shorter than 5'8" has been reelected. ...Until McKinley was.<br />
:1904... No one under 45 has become president. ...Roosevelt did.<br />
:1908... No Republican who hasn't served in the military has won. ...Until Taft.<br />
:1912... After Lincoln beat the Democrats while sporting a beard with no mustache, the only Democrats who can win have a mustache with no beard. ...Wilson had neither.<br />
:1916... No Democrat has won while losing West Virginia. ...Wilson did.<br />
:1920... No incumbent senator has won. ...Until Harding.<br />
:1924... No one with two Cs in their name has become president. ...Until Calvin Coolidge.<br />
:1928... No one who got ten million votes has lost. ...Until Al Smith.<br />
:1932... No Democrat has won since women secured the right to vote. ...Until FDR did.<br />
:1936... No President's been reelected with double-digit unemployment. ...Until FDR was.<br />
:1940... No one has won a third term. ...Until FDR did.<br />
:1944... No Democrat has won during wartime. ...Until FDR did.<br />
:1948... Democrats can't win without Alabama. ...Truman did.<br />
:1952... No Republican has won without winning the House or Senate. ...Eisenhower did.<br />
:1956... No one can beat the same nominee a second time in a leap year rematch. ...Until Eisenhower.<br />
:1960... Catholics can't win. ...Until Kennedy.<br />
:1964... Every Republican who's taken Louisiana has won. ...Until Goldwater.<br />
:1968... No Republican vice president has risen to the Presidency through an election. ...Until Nixon.<br />
:1972... Quakers can't win twice. ...Until Nixon did.<br />
:1976... No one who lost New Mexico has won. ...But Carter did.<br />
:1980... No one has been elected President after a divorce. ...Until Reagan was.<br />
:1984... No left-handed president has been reelected. ...Until Reagan was.<br />
:1988... No one with two middle names has become president. ...Until "Herbert Walker."<br />
:1992... No Democrat has won without a majority of the Catholic vote. ...Until Clinton did.<br />
:1996... No Dem. incumbent without combat experience has beaten someone whose first name is worth more in Scrabble. ...Until Bill beat Bob.<br />
:2000... No Republican has won without Vermont. ...Until Bush did.<br />
:2004... No Republican without combat experience has beaten someone two inches taller. ...Until Bush did.<br />
:2008... No Democrat can win without Missouri. ...Until Obama did.<br />
:2012... Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. ... Until Obama did.<br />
:2016... No one has become president without government or military experience. ... Until Trump did. <br />
:2020? No one has won after being impeached. <big><font color="green">✓</font></big><br />
:2020? No challenger with a website has won. <big><font color="red">X</font></big><br />
<br />
:[Caption below the comic]<br />
:Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden for breaking the website curse!<br />
<br />
==Errors==<br />
*This comic seems to have used the same image as [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], and so the original version of this comic had a ghost image of the original 2012 2nd "streak": "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost."<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Statistics]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Elections]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring John F. Kennedy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2384:_Set_in_the_Present&diff=201759Talk:2384: Set in the Present2020-11-13T00:06:34Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Although I've described the TV as being wall-mounted, a literal reading of the scenario is that it and Cueball are both floating in a featureless void (which has covid). [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 02:09, 12 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can I just say this is ''so'' true... GOOMHR! Anything even vaguely archival (repeats or first-runs of shows recorded before ~Marchish 2020) that don't have a prominent "This was recorded prior to..." announcement look... strange. Unsettling, even. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.158|141.101.98.158]] 02:15, 12 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Just out of curiosity (because I mainly watch older stuff): are there any current, contemporarily-set shows that were filmed during COVID and where actors have (or have not) started wearing masks?<br />
: I think if I were a producer, I would simply add masks to the show in situations where people would wear them in real life, even if the script was written before COVID. You wouldn`t even have to mention it in the show. Would make it more realistic, safer for the actors, and would acknowledge that COVID is simply a reality in 2020.<br />
:: Really ''really'' [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53936399 contemporary productions] have famously made various concessions to make 'reality' film safely (not sure what they did about masks to film a 'safe reality', I don't watch that stuff myself). Anything that can be delayed seems to have been delayed, though, so we're yet to see 'new normal' pop up, and anything mid-shoot will likely start again with precautionary but pre-mask arrangements rather than reshoot the old shots to include face-coverings. It's going to be interesting to see what signs creep in (like radio dramas where clearly they Zoomed it in, just one character sounds like they're under a duvet, or ought to have been). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.128|162.158.159.128]] 11:58, 12 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Transcript has a typo for the year: " Is this story set in 2049?" should read " Is this story set in 2019?"[[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.247|162.158.166.247]] 09:40, 12 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Easily changed. Done! ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.128|162.158.159.128]] 11:58, 12 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Reminded me of this tweet thread from @qntm in June ("do you feel like in the past six months all contemporary fiction became period fiction"): https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1275909147729551360.html [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 00:06, 13 November 2020 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2377:_xkcd_Phone_12&diff=2007782377: xkcd Phone 122020-10-29T11:36:25Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2377<br />
| date = October 26, 2020<br />
| title = xkcd Phone 12<br />
| image = xkcd_phone_12.png<br />
| titletext = New phone OS features: Infinite customization (home screen icons no longer snap to grid), dark mode (disables screen), screaming mode (self-explanatory), and coherent ultracapacitor-pumped emission (please let us know what this setting does; we've been afraid to try it).<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSON NAMED MAX. Closed timelike curves need more explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is the "12th" (actually the 8th) in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone]] series in which Randall explains his new joke phone designs with many strange and useless features. It is also a reference to the recently released {{w|iPhone 12}}. However, there have only been 8 comics released, with the previous two being [[2000: xkcd Phone 2000]] and [[1889: xkcd Phone 6]].<br />
<br />
The note about the xkcd Phone 12 and the xkcd Phone 12 Max (only for people named Max) is a joke about the different models of iPhone 12: iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. The xkcd Phone 12 Max would be expected to have a larger screen, but it seems that this phone is also only for people with the name Max. If the phones are respectively placed, Max's (Maxes'?) phone is the smaller of the two models.<br />
<br />
The slogan '"The only phone you'll ever own"' could be interpreted as something of a threat, which is believable given some of the purported features. The slogan has the "registered trademark" symbol, with that symbol supposedly itself trademarked, which is highly unlikely. It is similar to the phrase ''"The last suit you'll ever wear"'', describing the black suits worn by the Men In Black in the movie of the same name.<br />
<br />
Multiple features are labelled on the phone that are common when advertising other products, but highly unusual in mobile phones, for comedic effect:<br />
<br />
* '''Full drivetrain warranty''' — A common warranty feature for automobiles — see {{w|drivetrain}}. As a side note, the phone here would be cheaping out on the warranty if it were a car; a "drivetrain" warranty covers almost everything ''except'' the engine; only if it was a "{{w|powertrain}}" warranty would it cover the engine. A phone typically has none of these things, although this one seemingly does.<br />
* '''Coated for easy swallowing''' — A common feature on solid medicines meant to be taken orally. Phones do not belong in the set of edible objects, much less orally-taken medicines{{Citation needed}}. Since some parents of young children let them teethe on their phones, this would be an undesirable feature. There may be a pun here, based on the larger smartphones being practically the same as the more {{w|Tablet_computer|minimal portable computers}}.<br />
* '''Surgical-grade apps''' — "Surgical-grade steel" is sometime used as a selling point indicating quality materials. This feature suggests that the apps themselves are made from high-quality material, although this is absurd because an app is (as the name suggests) a software application, not any physical object that could be reasonably defined as 'surgical-grade' or not. Note that both hardware and software can be certified for {{w|Safety-critical_system|safety-critical applications}}.<br />
* '''Built-in 600 lb magnet for magnet fishing''' — {{w|Magnet fishing}} is an activity for searching for objects that can be pulled in by a strong magnet. A 600 pound magnet can lift a 600 pound (272 kg) object (at Earth's surface). This would tend to make the phone stick to any iron or steel objects (such as refrigerators) and be impossible to remove with human strength, and only the strongest humans could pick up the phone even if it were properly insulated. It would also be impossible to separate two phones without destroying one of them if the interlocking feature were used. This feature would also erase any credit cards the owner puts in the vicinity of the phone, meaning this phone could not be put in one's pocket with a wallet.<br />
* '''Oral-B partnership: hold phone against teeth to ultrasonically remove plaque''' — This is a reference to {{w|ultrasonic toothbrush}}es. {{w|Oral-B}} does not produce any ultrasonic toothbrushes, but does produce ''{{w|sonic toothbrush}}es.'' There is a logical connection between electric toothbrushes and smartphones, namely they are both electronic and both vibrate; however, most phones cannot perform dentistry autonomously{{Citation needed}}.<br />
* '''40 mL emergency water supply''' — 40 milliliters is equal to 40 cubic centimeters. For comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro Max's volume is just shy of 100 cubic centimeters; if the Phone 12 Max is similarly sized, then the water supply would take up over 40% of its total volume. In this day and age, many phones are water-resistant to some degree; nevertheless, shipping a phone with an interior consisting of a 3:2 ratio of electronics-to-water will surely lead to many short-circuited, inoperable phones.<br/>Furthermore, {{w|survival kit}}s often come with pouches that can hold several liters of water, in case of emergency. Because people typically take their phones with them everywhere they go, storing a survival kit inside the phone would be a life-saving feature. Unfortunately, 40cc of water is not enough to stave off thirst for a meaningful amount of time, extinguish a flame much larger than a candle's, or deal with most other situations which would constitute an emergency. Unless you are suitably proficient at {{w|Katara_(Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender)#Waterbending|waterbending}}, this feature is useless for its intended function. 40 milliliters is also the amount of fluid that a shot glass holds.<br />
* '''Security feature: unmarked side buttons''' — Some vendors (particularly car dealers) try to explain away horrible User Interface functions as "Security Features". Technically, if no one (including the owner) can use it, it is secure... Some modern phones have unmarked side buttons, so the secureness of this feature is doubtful. No buttons are visible which could indicate the side of the phone functions is touch sensitive and the buttons are not only unlabeled but not visible.<br />
* '''3,000,000-volt arc allows wireless charging from a range of up to 36 inches''' — {{w|Inductive charging|Induction charging}} is a method that a number of modern phones advertise, allowing power to (inefficiently but 'conveniently') transfer into a device from a mains charging station or another device's battery without the need for plugging in cables. It transfers energy between safely tuned coils, that do not touch, though typically the case of one device must remain placed directly upon the other for the optimal transfer of charge between them. An electric arc can also be used to transfer electrical energy through the air through a lightning-like discharge. While arcs can transfer large amounts of energy quickly, the plasma generated would be very dangerous and damaging to the phone, charger, and immediate vicinity. The {{w|electrical breakdown}} voltage of air is approximately 3 kV / mm, which would allow a 3 MV potential to jump a distance of 100 cm (40 inches). 36 inches (91 cm), however, is within reach of a simple extension cord. {{w|Electrical_injury#Lethality|Shocks of 11,000 volts are usually lethal}}, so 3,000,000 volts of electricity (possibly from a complete {{w|Tesla coil}} assemblage) would require considerable protection.<br />
* '''99.9% BPA- and hands- free''' — {{w|Bisphenol A}} (or BPA) is a compound that is used in making plastics. BPA has been found to exhibit hormone-like properties, so there is a movement to produce BPA-free plastics using alternative bisphenols. {{w|Hands-free}} describes using the device "without hands", e.g. using voice commands. This is important when using a device while driving. These are 2 unrelated ideas, which use the suffix "free" in different meanings ("BPA-free" means "containing no BPA", while "hands-free" means "your hands need not be used"). The construction "NOUN- and NOUN-ADJ" is normally only used with the meaning of "ADJ" repeated for both nouns, implying that this phone "contains no hands" (or possibly "your BPA is left free"). The "percentage free" description is also a standard form of advertising {{w|weasel word}}s, as remarked by Randall in [[641: Free]]. A food might be described as "90% fat-free" with the heavy implication that it has a tenth of the usual fat content, but likely really means "10% of the product is pure fat" (typically by weight or maybe pre-cooked volume) compared with perhaps 15% in the typical non-'fat-free' recipe. 0.1% of BPA is not an insignificant quantity given its possible effects, and is likely to be a higher leachable content if it is all concentrated in external trimmings. It is unclear what a tenth of a percent of a hand needs to do, to operate the device, but it does also mean that it is not as completely hands-free as implied. Or else it ''also'' implies that up to 0.1% of the phone contains ingredients sourced from human hands. At best, this could be skin cells from the workers (although phone assembly lines ''should'' be kept meticulously clean, to prevent damage to delicate components), or at worst, some workers could be losing hands into the assembly line due to poor safety practices.<br />
* '''Extended release charge cable''' — Electronics manufacturers support standards to reduce time to fully recharge, e.g. Qualcomm {{w|Quick Charge}} standard. This is a reference to {{w|Modified-release dosage|"extended release" medication}}. It's unclear what purpose would be served by charging a phone slower than normal.<br />
* '''Closed timelike curves''' — This label is applied to the curved corner of the phone. Randall may be making a visual joke by referring to the corner of the phone by a very complex relativistic concept. {{w|Closed timelike curves}} is a world line in spacetime that is "closed", in that an object following that world line will return to its starting point in spacetime, which implies that the object would be able to go back in time. It could also be a reference to the [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-13/apple-plans-ipad-like-design-for-next-iphone-smaller-homepod|''Bloomberg'' leaks] that predicted the sharper corners of the iPhone 12, the phone model this is designed on.<br />
* '''Fits in standard shipping container''' - An {{w|intermodal shipping container}} is large enough to fit automobiles, raising the question of just how big this xkcd phone is.<br />
* '''Interlocking, stackable''' — A quality of, among other things, LEGO bricks. Probably a bad idea to use this feature, given how close the phone is to critical mass.<br />
* '''Nintendo partnership: GameBoy Printer compatibility''' — The {{w|Game Boy Printer}} was a thermal paper printer originally paired with the {{w|Game Boy Camera}}. This device was released in 1998 and discontinued in 2003, so this partnership would be obsolete.<br />
* '''Sustain pedal''' — A {{w|sustain pedal}} is commonly associated with a digital keyboard or piano; it lets the note continue sounding when the key is released. It's unclear what purpose it would serve in a phone, although it might be used for the screaming mode in the title text. <br />
* '''CDC partnership: when in an indoor space with too many people, phone begins playing "We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)" at slowly increasing volume until everyone leaves''' — An allusion to the COVID-19 pandemic. CDC stands for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States public health institute. In [[2284: Sabotage]], Randall "promised" to bring an annoying karaoke song to a party to hopefully discourage people from attending, but this phone will apparently do so automatically. "{{w|We Like to Party! (Vengaboys song)|We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)}}" is a 1998 Eurodance/techno hit by the Vengaboys, and is perhaps most familiar to Americans from a series of {{w|Six Flags}} ads.<br />
* '''Sacrificial anode''' — Useful if something metal will be in a wet environment for a long time. Commonly used on bridges and boats, but it may be a 'feature' of this phone because of its built-in water reservoir. The {{w|sacrificial anode}} is made of a material with higher redox potential (typically zinc), and will corrode faster than the (more valuable) metal object it's attached to. It's unclear if the phone HAS a sacrificial anode or IS a sacrificial anode.<br />
* '''Tactical helium reserve''' — Since 1925, the United States has had a {{w|National Helium Reserve|strategic helium reserve}}. Helium is very rare on earth and has important scientific and military uses, so it’s important to have a supply in case supplies disappear. But here we have a tactical helium reserve, which suggests it's smaller and focused on shorter-term goals. Compare {{w|strategic bombing}} focused on destroying entire cities or countries and {{w|tactical bombing}} aimed at destroying individual targets or military units. Helium also has the property of being lighter than air, so if this reserve is large enough, the phone could float away if let go. However, this is unlikely, as the phone boasts other, heavy components such as large magnets, a water reserve and a critical mass of fissile material. <br />
* '''50% below critical mass (2x safety factor)''' — Indicates the phone contains fissile material. This "2x safety factor" means that if you put 2 phones next to each other, or put one phone next to a {{w|neutron reflector}}, you would have a {{w|criticality accident}}, which may explain why you would not own another phone after this one. A phone with this much fissile material would pose a radiation hazard. The "2x safety factor" claim may be related to physicist {{w|Richard Feynman|Richard Feynman's}} famous criticism of NASA in the {{w|Rogers Commission}} report on the space shuttle Challenger disaster. Feynman found that when he confronted NASA engineers with a part worn one third of the way through, which was not supposed to be worn through at all, the engineers claimed that this demonstrated a 3x safety factor rather than a failure of the part.<br />
* '''Shake for factory reset''' — A {{w|factory reset}} is often possible on electronic devices, and is usually accomplished either by pressing a button that is often well-protected against accidental contact, for an extended period or closing an electrical bridge. This one works like an {{w|Etch A Sketch|Etch-a-Sketch}}, which would not be preferred, as [http://www.ahajokes.com/com045.html slight disturbances] could easily cause massive losses of data.<br />
* '''Norton MacAfee protection: if you're ever attacked by John MacAfee, Peter Norton will come out of retirement to defend you''' — {{w|Norton (software)|Norton}} and {{w|McAfee}} (note spelling!) are competing software security companies. This "protection" combines the two of them and claims that Norton (the person) will defend you if McAfee (the person) attacks you. May have been inspired by [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/business/mcafee-arrested-tax-evasion.html John McAfee's recent arrest] which brought attention to the allegation that he had hired a hit man to kill his neighbor in Belize in 2012.<br />
<br />
The title text mentions xkcd phone OS updates, including:<br />
* '''Infinite customization (home screen icons no longer snap to grid)''' — If icons snap to a grid with, say, 6x5 positions, then for each icon you only have 30 customization options. If, on the other, you don't have to keep them aligned to a grid, and your phone has, say, one million pixels, then you have one million customization choices for each icon. This is a lot, but it's still not "Infinite customizations", so we're clearly facing a case of misleading advertising. Whether on-screen icons snap to a grid is a very minor aspect of customization. Not having it would be incredibly unsatisfying, as it would make it very difficult to get icons exactly lined up vertically and horizontally.<br />
* '''Dark mode (disables screen)''' — Dark mode is a popular feature on websites/apps with light backgrounds like Twitter and Reddit, changing the background to a dark color to help late-night users sleep better. Disabling the screen would not be a pleasant surprise when a user goes to turn on beloved dark mode. May be impossible to turn off if the screen is no longer touch sensitive when darkened unless the unmarked buttons can be used to disable it. Also a possible reason to want to use the shake-activated factory reset.<br />
* '''Screaming mode (self-explanatory)''' — The phone screams. Reference to the screaming-while-falling [[1363: xkcd Phone|xkcd Phone 1]].<br />
* '''Coherent ultracapacitor-pumped emission (please let us know what this setting does; we've been afraid to try it)''' - This mysterious feature has a terrifying name, with even the developers refusing to test it out. This option would probably be very easy to accidentally tap, given the style of every xkcd Phone ever. Possibly activated with one of the unlabeled buttons making it even more dangerous. Coherent and Emission are associated with laser devices and the use of a laser could justify the helium reserve, and the Ultracapacitor implies a high energy throughput. Raises the question of who designs the phone if the people marketing it don't know what it does.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
* Full drivetrain warranty<br />
* Coated for easy swallowing<br />
* Surgical-grade apps<br />
* Built-in 600 lb magnet for magnet fishing<br />
* Oral-B partnership: hold phone against teeth to ultrasonically remove plaque<br />
* 40 mL emergency water supply<br />
* Security feature: unmarked side buttons<br />
* 3,000,000-volt arc allows wireless charging from a range of up to 36 inches<br />
* 99.9% BPA- and hands- free<br />
* Extended release charge cable<br />
* Closed timelike curves<br />
* Fits in standard shipping container<br />
* Interlocking, stackable<br />
* Nintendo partnership: GameBoy Printer compatibility<br />
* Sustain Pedal<br />
* CDC partnership: when in an indoor space with too many people, phone begins playing "We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)" at slowly increasing volume until everyone leaves<br />
* Sacrificial anode<br />
* Tactical helium reserve<br />
* 50% below critical mass (2x safety factor)<br />
* Shake for factory reset<br />
* Norton MacAfee protection: if you're ever attacked by John MacAfee, Peter Norton will come out of retirement to defend you<br />
<br />
The xkcd Phone 12* and 12 Max**<br />
<br />
<nowiki>*Standard</nowiki> **For people named Max<br />
<br />
"The only phone you'll ever own"®™<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:xkcd Phones]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|xkcd Phones]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2377:_xkcd_Phone_12&diff=2005962377: xkcd Phone 122020-10-26T22:45:27Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2377<br />
| date = October 26, 2020<br />
| title = xkcd Phone 12<br />
| image = xkcd_phone_12.png<br />
| titletext = New phone OS features: Infinite customization (home screen icons no longer snap to grid), dark mode (disables screen), screaming mode (self-explanatory), and coherent ultracapacitor-pumped emission (please let us know what this setting does; we've been afraid to try it).<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a person named MAX. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:xkcd Phones]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|xkcd Phones]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1491:_Stories_of_the_Past_and_Future&diff=2003111491: Stories of the Past and Future2020-10-21T10:24:03Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1491<br />
| date = February 25, 2015<br />
| title = Stories of the Past and Future<br />
| image = stories_of_the_past_and_future.png<br />
| titletext = Little-known fact: The 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence in 2001 cuts away seconds before the Flintstones theme becomes recognizable.<br />
}}<br />
*A [http://xkcd.com/1491/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com which can as always be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
<br />
How to read the graph:<br />
* X-axis: Date of publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the future": Number of years the story's events take place, after the story's publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the past": Number of years the story's events take place, before the story's publication.<br />
: For example, "Water Margin" was published in the 14th century (x ~= 1300) and relates events from the 12th century, about 200 years before its publication (y ~= 200 in the past).<br />
: Another example: The film ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}'' was released in 1957 and it was set around 14 years before (~1942-43).<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the future" part: Stories set in the future (relative to their publication date), for which the date of the events in the story is already in the past (relative to the publication date of the comic). The white and gray areas in this part of the graph are defined as "still possible" and "obsolete", respectively. The gray area (obsolete) will expand over time, assuming more works aren't added in the future: predictions from science fiction or futuristic work that are not confirmed by reality are doomed to be obsolete.<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the past" part: Stories set in the past (relative to their publication date) but published closer to their setting than to today. The warning "Modern audiences may not recognize which part were supposed to sound old" is a recurrent theme in the author's work, being already formulated in [[771: Period Speech|Period Speech]] comic. The white area seems to be the region where modern readers will be able to distinguish the past setting of a work from the age of the work itself. This gray area will grow over time (again assuming new works set in the past are not added) with more and more works being indistinguishable as works set in the past.<br />
Randall's intent with this comic might be to point out that modern readers' universe is collapsing, with non-obsolete future predictions and recognizable depictions of the past both shrinking.<br />
<br />
Taking the "years in the past" on the y-axis to be read as negatives like in most graphs one can write<br />
* Dates on the lower line satisfy the equation y = x-2015. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015+y and are set in the year x+y = 2015+2y.<br />
* Dates on the upper line satisfy the equation y = 2015-x. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015-y and are set in the year x+y = 2015.<br />
Thus it's clear that the definitions of the lines are consistent with each other as they follow similar but inverted functions.<br />
The graph uses variable {{w|logarithmic scale}}s, adjusting the scale in various regions to the temporal density of works being plotted. If the scale were linear, the graph would in fact represent a (bidimensional) {{w|Minkowski diagram}}, which depicts the moving cones of past and future in spacetime as one's present advances in time.<br />
<br />
The title text jokes that ''2001'' cuts from Prehistoria to the future before ''The Flintstones'' theme can become recognizable. Besides both being works from the 60s based around cavemen, Randall might be comparing the hominid screams preceding the famed "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc bone becomes satellite]" with the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw horns of the TV show's opening]. It could also be a joke about how closely the two works are positioned on the chart.<br />
<br />
=== Works listed ===<br />
Differences listed in <span style="color:#FF0000;">bright red</span> are "former period pieces." Differences listed in <span style="color:#8B0000;">dark red</span> are other works set in the past. Differences listed in <span style="color:#32cd32;">bright green</span> are "obsolete" works set in the future. Differences listed in <span style="color:#006400;">dark green</span> are other works set in the future.<br />
<br />
Asterisks (*) after a year of publication denote that it applies to the first installment in a series that spanned more than one year.<br />
<br />
You can sort by a specific column in this table by clicking on its header.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Publication'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Description'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year written'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year difference'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year set in'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Notes'''<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Epic of Gilgamesh}}''|| ancient Mesopotamian epic poem || data-sort-value="-2100"|~2100 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500|| data-sort-value="-2600"|~2600 BCE|| {{w|Enmebaragesi}}, a historically attested ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' character, is thought to have lived around 2600 BCE<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Iliad|The Iliad}}''||epic written by Greek poet Homer || data-sort-value="-750"|700s BCE ||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500 || data-sort-value="-1260"| 1260–1240 BCE ||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Book of Genesis}}''||first book of the Bible, describing the creation of the world || data-sort-value="-500"|500s–400s BCE ||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3200" | ~3200 || data-sort-value="-3761"| 3761 BCE || The ''{{w|Anno Mundi}}'' epoch, the product of scriptural calculations by {{w|Maimonides}}, places the Genesis date of the creation of the world at October 7, 3761 BCE in the {{w|proleptic Julian calendar}}<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|History of the Peloponnesian War}}''||history written by Thucydides|| data-sort-value="-400"|~400 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10|| data-sort-value="-431"|431–411 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gospels}}''|| collection of literary works detailing the life of Jesus of Nazareth || data-sort-value="65"|~65–110 CE ||style="color:#FF0000;" | 25–75 || data-sort-value="-7"|7–2 BCE – 30–33 CE || Setting dates are those of Jesus' estimated lifetime. Writing dates are as follows: Mark 65–73 CE; Matthew 70–100 CE; Luke 80–100 CE; John 90–110 CE. Randall's difference calculation seems to be based on the date of Jesus' death, as the majority of the Gospels' events takes place during the three years prior to Jesus's death.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ashokavadana}}''||narrative of the life of Ashoka the Great||100s CE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="-304"|304–232 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Pillow Book}}''||book written by Sei Shōnagon||1002||style="color:#FF0000;" | 6||996||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Water Margin}}''||novel by Shi Nai'an|| data-sort-value="1375"|late 1300s||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="150" | ~150|| data-sort-value="1100"|early 1100s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Richard III (play)|Richard III}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1597||style="color:#FF0000;" | 112–119||1478–1485||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry IV (play)|Henry IV}}''||plays by William Shakespeare||1598*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 185–196||1402–1413||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King Lear}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1608||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2400|| data-sort-value="-700"|700s BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King John (play)|King John}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="1200"|~1200–1216||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#FF0000;" | 90–102||1521–1533||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1667–1670|| data-sort-value="-45"|45–42 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century}}''|| book written by Samuel Madden||1733||style="color:#32cd32;" | 264||1997||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Winkel}}'' [sic]||short story by Washington Irving||1819||style="color:#FF0000;" | 32–52||1767–1787||It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1787 as the year that Rip Van Winkle awakes.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Last of the Mohicans}}''||novel by James Cooper||1826||style="color:#FF0000;" | 69||1757||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Moby-Dick}}''||novel by Herman Melville||1851||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5+|| data-sort-value="1845"|before 1846 || Inspired by events occurring in 1820, the late 1830s, and the early 1840s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Tale of Two Cities}}''|| book by Charles Dickens ||1859||style="color:#FF0000;" | 84||1775<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Les Misérables|Les Miserábles}}'' [sic]||novel by Victor Hugo||1862||style="color:#FF0000;" | 47||1815–1832||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Treasure Island}}''||novel by Robert Louis Stevenson||1883||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="120" | ~120|| data-sort-value="1760"|~1760||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Looking Backward}}''|| novel written by Edward Bellamy||1888||style="color:#32cd32;" | 112||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}''||novel by Mark Twain||1889||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1361||528||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Golf in the Year 2000}}''|| novel written by J. McCullough||1892||style="color:#32cd32;" | 108||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''|| novel written by H.G. Wells||1895||style="color:#006400;" | 800,000–<br />1 billion||802,701–<br/>1 billion|| Note that Randall has included only part of the book; which includes scenes all the way from the time of writing to the death of the last life on Earth. The novel itself identifies the latest part as being "more than thirty million years" in the future, based on the theories of the Sun's lifespan at the time.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Enoch Soames}}''|| short story by Max Beerbohm||1916||style="color:#32cd32;" | 81||1997||Soames was transported from 1897 to 1997 and back.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gone With The Wind}}''|| novel by Margaret Mitchel ||1936||style="color:#FF0000;" | 75||1861<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}''||alternate history SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp||1939||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1404||535||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}''||film directed by Michael Curtiz||1942||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="0.9" | <1||1941||The film was released 26 November 1942 and is set in early December 1941.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Oklahoma!}}''||Broadway musical||1943||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1906||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}}''||novel written by George Orwell||1949||style="color:#32cd32;" | 35||1984||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}''||film by David Lean||1952||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10||1942–1943||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gunsmoke}}''||American radio and television series||1952*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="75" | ~75||1870s||1952 is when the radio series started. The TV series didn't start until 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments}}''||film by Cecil B. DeMille||1956||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3000" | ~3000|| data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||The full timespan is supposedly 80 years (40 before Moses is exiled, then 40 in exile).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Music Man}}''||Broadway musical||1957||style="color:#FF0000;" | 45||1912||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd|A Week in the Wales of the Future}}''||novel written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis||1957||style="color:#006400;" | 76||2033||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|Asterix}}''||French comic by Goscinny and Uderzo||1959*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2009|| data-sort-value="-50"|50 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Flintstones}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1960*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="2,500,000" | ~2.5 million|| data-sort-value="-2,500,000"|{{w|Stone Age|Stone Age}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22}}'' (Book)||novel by Joseph Heller||1961||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="17" | ~17||1942–44||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Jetsons}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1962*||style="color:#006400;" | 100||data-sort-value="2062"|~2062||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lawrence of Arabia}}''||film by David Lean||1962||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="44" | ~44||1916–1918||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape}}''||film by John Sturges||1963||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1943–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek}}'' (TOS)||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1966*||style="color:#006400;" | 298||2264||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''||film by Arthur Penn||1967||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="33" | ~33||1932–1934||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#32cd32;" | 33||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey}}'' (prologue)||prologue to novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3,000,000" | 3 million|| data-sort-value="-3,000,000"|3 million BCE||4 million years BCE in the movie<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22}}'' (Movie)||film by Mike Nichols||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="26" | ~26||1942–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|MASH (film)|M*A*S*H}}''||film by Robert Altman||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19||1951||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Patton (film)|Patton}}''||film by Franklin J. Schaffner||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="25" | ~25||1943–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|American Graffiti}}''||film by George Lucas||1973||style="color:#FF0000;" | 11||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Blazing Saddles}}''||film by Mel Brooks||1974||style="color:#8B0000;" | 100||1874||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown}}''||film by Roman Polanski||1974||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1937||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Happy Days}}''||TV series||1974*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19–29||1955–1965||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Space: 1999}}''||TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson||1975*||style="color:#32cd32;" | 24||1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (musical)|Annie}}'' (play)||Broadway musical||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Roots (miniseries)|Roots}}''||TV series, adapted from eponymous novel||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 90–227||1750–1882||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Original trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (IV – VI)||original film trilogy ||1977*|| style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1 billion years here. Wookieepedia puts the age of the ''Star Wars'' galaxy at [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/13,000,000,000_BBY ~13 billion years], and our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old, and the oldest known galaxy took 380 million years to form... So it would seem ''Star Wars'' should be no farther than 400 million years in the past, give or take.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Grease (film)|Grease}}''||film by Randall Kleiser||1978||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1958||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apocalypse Now}}''||film by Francis Ford Coppola||1979||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chariots of Fire}}''||film by Hugh Hudson||1981||style="color:#8B0000;" | 57||1924||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2010: Odyssey Two}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1982||style="color:#32cd32;" | 28||2010||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (1982 film)|Annie}}'' (movie)||film adaptation of the above by John Huston||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" | 49||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gandhi (film)|Gandhi}}''||film by Richard Attenborough||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="34" | ~34||1893–1948||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff}}''||film by Philip Kaufman||1983||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||1947–63||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers}}'' (TV Series)||TV series||1984*||style="color:#32cd32;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||data-sort-value="2004"|~2004||Only seasons 3 and 4 are set in the year 2005 onwards. Seasons 1 and 2 were set in 1984-85.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1985||style="color:#FF0000;" | 30||1955||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Platoon (film)|Platoon}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1986||style="color:#FF0000;" | 21||1967||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Dirty Dancing}}''||film by Emile Ardolino||1987||style="color:#FF0000;" | 24||1963||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}''||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1987*||style="color:#006400;" | 377||2364||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2061: Odyssey Three}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1987||style="color:#006400;" | 74||2061||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wonder Years}}''||TV series||1988*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20–25||1968–1973||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II|Back to the Future Part II}}''||film directed by Robert Zemeckis||1989||style="color:#32cd32;" | 26||2015||Only the first part of the movie is set in 2015; later the setting moves to an alternate 1985 and a revisit of 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''||arcade/computer game||1989||style="color:#006400;" | 112||2101||Previously referenced in [[887: Future Timeline]]<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part III}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1990||style="color:#8B0000;" | 105||1885||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|JFK (film)|JFK}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1991||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22||1963–1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2}}'' (1995 Portion)||film directed by James Cameron||1991||style="color:#32cd32;" | 4||1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Sandlot}}''||film by David Mickey Evans||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" | 31||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Schindler's List}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="50" | ~50||1939–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}''||film by Ron Howard||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" | 25||1970||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Raptor Red}}''||novel by Robert Bakker||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="65,000,000" | ~65 million|| data-sort-value="-65,000,000"|{{w|Cretaceous Period}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Evita (1996 film)|Evita}}''||film by Alan Parker||1996||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1952||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|3001: The Final Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1997||style="color:#006400;" | 1004||3001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Big Lebowski}}''||film by the Coen Brothers||1998||style="color:#FF0000;" | 7||1991||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Prince of Egypt}}''||animated film by DreamWorks||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 3400||data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||Despite the same plot of ''The Ten Commandments'', it covers only about 30 years given its Moses is much younger.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Saving Private Ryan}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 54||1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|That '70s Show}}''||TV series||1998*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22|||1976–1979||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Freaks and Geeks}}''||TV series||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 19||1980–1981||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Prequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (I – III)||prequel film trilogy||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor}}''||film by Michael Bay||2001||style="color:#8B0000;" | 60||1941||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise}}''||TV series||2001*||style="color:#006400;" | 150||2151||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s}}''||TV miniseries by VH1||2002||style="color:#8B0000;" | 13–22||1980–1989||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ice Age (film series)|Ice Age}}''||animated films by Blue Sky Studios||2002*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12,000" | ~12,000|| data-sort-value="-12,000"|{{w|Last glacial period|Paleolithic-Mesolithic}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Hotel Rwanda}}''|| film directed by Terry George||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1994||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5–14||1990–1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|United 93 (film)|United 93}}''|| film directed by Paul Greengrass||2006||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''||film by Zack Snyder||2007||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2487|| data-sort-value="-480"|{{w|Battle of Thermopylae|480 BCE}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Mad Men}}''||TV series||2007*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="47" | ~47||1960–1970||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC}}''||film by Roland Emmerich||2008||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12007" | 12,007|| data-sort-value="-10,000"|10,000 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Year One (film)|Year One}}''||film by Harold Ramis||2009||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2008||data-sort-value="1"|1 CE|| The movie title is inaccurate; it is difficult to determine the film's actual year as it depicts Cain and Abel (c. 4000 BCE) existing simultaneously with Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah (c. 2000 BCE).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''||TV series||2010*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="90" | ~90||1912–1923||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wolf of Wall Street}}''||film by Martin Scorsese||2013||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="18" | ~18||1987–1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the 2000s|I Love the 2000s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2014||style="color:#8B0000;" | 14||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (VII – IX)||sequel film trilogy||2015*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Errors==<br />
<br />
===Dates===<br />
*''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' is vertically positioned at about 500 years in the future, slightly too high for its actual date. This may be to allow room for other nearby labels.<br />
*The {{w|Gospels}} are horizontally positioned at about the year 250 CE, when they should be positioned slightly further to the left, near the 100 CE line. (While there is debate on their date of authorship, the range of "years in the past" indicated on the graph would require authorship between roughly 50 and 100 CE.)<br />
*''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}'' takes place about 1400 years in the past, in the year 535. Its placement on the graph indicates it takes place about ''535'' years in the past, in the year ''1400''.<br />
<br />
===Spelling===<br />
*Author Washington Irving titled his work ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}'', not ''Rip van Winkel'' as [[Randall]] spells it. That said, ''van {{w|nl:Winkel|Winkel}}'' may be a more historically authentic spelling.<br />
*''{{w|Les Misérables}}'' has been misspelled ''Les Miserábles'' (note that French doesn't use the character "á").<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:'''Date of publication'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE.]<br />
:'''Years in the future'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0.]<br />
:'''Stories set in the future''' (science fiction, prediction)<br />
::Stories set in 2015<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled "still possible"; the lower side is labelled "obsolete".]<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1700, 265 years in the future]<br />
::Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]<br />
::The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]<br />
::Enoch Soames [1916, ''circa'' 60 years in the future]<br />
::1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]<br />
::A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]<br />
::The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]<br />
::Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]<br />
::2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]<br />
::Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]<br />
::2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, ''circa'' 500 years in the future]<br />
::Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]<br />
::Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]<br />
::3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]<br />
::Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]<br />
::This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]<br />
:'''Years in the past'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to "Big Bang"]<br />
:'''Stories set in the past''' (History, Period Fiction)<br />
::Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]<br />
::'''Former period pieces'''<br />
::Stories set in the past, but<br/>created long enough ago that<br/>they were published closer<br/>to their setting than to today.<br />
::Modern audiences may not<br/>recognize which parts were<br/>''supposed'' to sound old.<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::The Epic of Gilgamesh [''circa'' 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]<br />
::The Iliad [''circa'' 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]<br />
::History of the Peloponnesian War [''circa'' 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]<br />
::Book of Genesis [''circa'' 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]<br />
::Ashokavadana [''circa'' 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]<br />
::Gospels (various estimates) [''circa'' 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]<br />
::The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]<br />
::Water Margin [''circa'' 1300, 195 years in the past]<br />
::Richard III [''circa'' 1590, 115 years in the past]<br />
::Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]<br />
::King John [''circa'' 1600, 500 years in the past]<br />
::Henry IV [''circa'' 1600, 190 years in the past]<br />
::King Lear [''circa'' 1606, 3000 years in the past]<br />
::Henry VIII [''circa'' 1612, 105 years in the past]<br />
::The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]<br />
::Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]<br />
::A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]<br />
::Moby-Dick [1851, anywhere from 4 to 14 years ago]<br />
:::"Some years ago--never mind how long precisely..."<br />
::Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]<br />
::Treasure Island [1883, 130 years in the past]<br />
::A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court [1889, 2000 years in the past]<br />
::Gone with the Wind [1936, 70 years in the past]<br />
::Lest Darkness Fall [1939, 550 years in the past]<br />
::Casablanca [1942, 1 year in the past]<br />
::Oklahoma! [1943, 37 years in the past]<br />
::The Ten Commandments [1956, 1400 years in the past]<br />
::The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957, 13 years in the past]<br />
::Gunsmoke [1952-61, 80 years in the past]<br />
::The Flintstones [1960-66, 100,000 years in the past]<br />
::Catch-22 (book) [1961, 18 years in the past]<br />
::The Great Escape [1963, 20 years in the past]<br />
::Asterix<br />
::Lawrence of Arabia<br />
::The Music Man<br />
::Bonnie and Clyde<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)<br />
::American Graffiti<br />
::Patton<br />
::Catch-22 (movie) [1970, 27 years in the past]<br />
::Chinatown<br />
::Blazing Saddles<br />
::Apocalypse Now<br />
::Happy Days<br />
::Grease<br />
::M*A*S*H<br />
::Annie (play)<br />
::Roots<br />
::Chariots of Fire<br />
::Star Wars (IV-VI)<br />
::Annie (movie)<br />
::The Right Stuff<br />
::Back to the Future<br />
::Gandhi<br />
::Platoon<br />
::Dirty Dancing<br />
::Back to the Future Part III<br />
::The Wonder Years<br />
::JFK<br />
::The Sandlot<br />
::Schindler's List<br />
::Raptor Red<br />
::Apollo 13<br />
::Star Wars (I-III)<br />
::The Big Lebowski<br />
::Evita<br />
::Saving Private Ryan<br />
::The Prince of Egypt<br />
::Freaks and Geeks<br />
::Hotel Rwanda<br />
::I Love the '80s<br />
::That '70s Show<br />
::Pearl Harbor<br />
::Ice Age<br />
::I Love the '90s<br />
::United 93<br />
::300<br />
::10,000 BC<br />
::Year One<br />
::The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
::I Love the 2000s<br />
::Mad Men<br />
::Downton Abbey<br />
::Star Wars (VII-IX)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"this is a massive fucking graph beyond the limits of normal transcription. you can find a full listing of data points at http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1491"''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]<br />
[[Category:Terminator]]<br />
[[Category:Back to the Future]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1491:_Stories_of_the_Past_and_Future&diff=2003101491: Stories of the Past and Future2020-10-21T09:48:04Z<p>Arcorann: use a more legible green</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1491<br />
| date = February 25, 2015<br />
| title = Stories of the Past and Future<br />
| image = stories_of_the_past_and_future.png<br />
| titletext = Little-known fact: The 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence in 2001 cuts away seconds before the Flintstones theme becomes recognizable.<br />
}}<br />
*A [http://xkcd.com/1491/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com which can as always be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
<br />
How to read the graph:<br />
* X-axis: Date of publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the future": Number of years the story's events take place, after the story's publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the past": Number of years the story's events take place, before the story's publication.<br />
: For example, "Water Margin" was published in the 14th century (x ~= 1300) and relates events from the 12th century, about 200 years before its publication (y ~= 200 in the past).<br />
: Another example: The film ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}'' was released in 1957 and it was set around 14 years before (~1942-43).<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the future" part: Stories set in the future (relative to their publication date), for which the date of the events in the story is already in the past (relative to the publication date of the comic). The white and gray areas in this part of the graph are defined as "still possible" and "obsolete", respectively. The gray area (obsolete) will expand over time, assuming more works aren't added in the future: predictions from science fiction or futuristic work that are not confirmed by reality are doomed to be obsolete.<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the past" part: Stories set in the past (relative to their publication date) but published closer to their setting than to today. The warning "Modern audiences may not recognize which part were supposed to sound old" is a recurrent theme in the author's work, being already formulated in [[771: Period Speech|Period Speech]] comic. The white area seems to be the region where modern readers will be able to distinguish the past setting of a work from the age of the work itself. This gray area will grow over time (again assuming new works set in the past are not added) with more and more works being indistinguishable as works set in the past.<br />
Randall's intent with this comic might be to point out that modern readers' universe is collapsing, with non-obsolete future predictions and recognizable depictions of the past both shrinking.<br />
<br />
Taking the "years in the past" on the y-axis to be read as negatives like in most graphs one can write<br />
* Dates on the lower line satisfy the equation y = x-2015. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015+y and are set in the year x+y = 2015+2y.<br />
* Dates on the upper line satisfy the equation y = 2015-x. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015-y and are set in the year x+y = 2015.<br />
Thus it's clear that the definitions of the lines are consistent with each other as they follow similar but inverted functions.<br />
The graph uses variable {{w|logarithmic scale}}s, adjusting the scale in various regions to the temporal density of works being plotted. If the scale were linear, the graph would in fact represent a (bidimensional) {{w|Minkowski diagram}}, which depicts the moving cones of past and future in spacetime as one's present advances in time.<br />
<br />
The title text jokes that ''2001'' cuts from Prehistoria to the future before ''The Flintstones'' theme can become recognizable. Besides both being works from the 60s based around cavemen, Randall might be comparing the hominid screams preceding the famed "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc bone becomes satellite]" with the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw horns of the TV show's opening]. It could also be a joke about how closely the two works are positioned on the chart.<br />
<br />
=== Works listed ===<br />
Differences listed in <span style="color:#FF0000;">bright red</span> are "former period pieces." Differences listed in <span style="color:#8B0000;">dark red</span> are other works set in the past. Differences listed in <span style="color:#32cd32;">bright green</span> are "obsolete" works set in the future. Differences listed in <span style="color:#006400;">dark green</span> are other works set in the future.<br />
<br />
Asterisks (*) after a year of publication denote that it applies to the first installment in a series that spanned more than one year.<br />
<br />
You can sort by a specific column in this table by clicking on its header.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Publication'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Description'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year written'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year difference'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year set in'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Notes'''<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Epic of Gilgamesh}}''|| ancient Mesopotamian epic poem || data-sort-value="-2100"|~2100 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500|| data-sort-value="-2600"|~2600 BCE|| {{w|Enmebaragesi}}, a historically attested ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' character, is thought to have lived around 2600 BCE<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Iliad|The Iliad}}''||epic written by Greek poet Homer || data-sort-value="-750"|700s BCE ||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500 || data-sort-value="-1260"| 1260–1240 BCE ||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Book of Genesis}}''||first book of the Bible, describing the creation of the world || data-sort-value="-500"|500s–400s BCE ||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3200" | ~3200 || data-sort-value="-3761"| 3761 BCE || The ''{{w|Anno Mundi}}'' epoch, the product of scriptural calculations by {{w|Maimonides}}, places the Genesis date of the creation of the world at October 7, 3761 BCE in the {{w|proleptic Julian calendar}}<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|History of the Peloponnesian War}}''||history written by Thucydides|| data-sort-value="-400"|~400 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="100" | ~10|| data-sort-value="-431"|431–411 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gospels}}''|| collection of literary works detailing the life of Jesus of Nazareth || data-sort-value="65"|~65–110 CE ||style="color:#FF0000;" | 25–75 || data-sort-value="-7"|7–2 BCE – 30–33 CE || Setting dates are those of Jesus' estimated lifetime. Writing dates are as follows: Mark 65–73 CE; Matthew 70–100 CE; Luke 80–100 CE; John 90–110 CE. Randall's difference calculation seems to be based on the date of Jesus' death, as the majority of the Gospels' events takes place during the three years prior to Jesus's death.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ashokavadana}}''||narrative of the life of Ashoka the Great||100s CE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="-304"|304–232 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Pillow Book}}''||book written by Sei Shōnagon||1002||style="color:#FF0000;" | 6||996||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Water Margin}}''||novel by Shi Nai'an|| data-sort-value="1375"|late 1300s||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="150" | ~150|| data-sort-value="1100"|early 1100s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Richard III (play)|Richard III}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1597||style="color:#FF0000;" | 112–119||1478–1485||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry IV (play)|Henry IV}}''||plays by William Shakespeare||1598*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 185–196||1402–1413||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King Lear}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1608||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2400|| data-sort-value="-700"|700s BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King John (play)|King John}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="1200"|~1200–1216||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#FF0000;" | 90–102||1521–1533||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1667–1670|| data-sort-value="-45"|45–42 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century}}''|| book written by Samuel Madden||1733||style="color:#32cd32;" | 264||1997||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Winkel}}'' [sic]||short story by Washington Irving||1819||style="color:#FF0000;" | 32–52||1767–1787||It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1787 as the year that Rip Van Winkle awakes.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Last of the Mohicans}}''||novel by James Cooper||1826||style="color:#FF0000;" | 69||1757||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Moby-Dick}}''||novel by Herman Melville||1851||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5+|| data-sort-value="1845"|before 1846 || Inspired by events occurring in 1820, the late 1830s, and the early 1840s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Tale of Two Cities}}''|| book by Charles Dickens ||1859||style="color:#FF0000;" | 84||1775<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Les Misérables|Les Miserábles}}'' [sic]||novel by Victor Hugo||1862||style="color:#FF0000;" | 47||1815–1832||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Treasure Island}}''||novel by Robert Louis Stevenson||1883||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="120" | ~120|| data-sort-value="1760"|~1760||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Looking Backward}}''|| novel written by Edward Bellamy||1888||style="color:#32cd32;" | 112||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}''||novel by Mark Twain||1889||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1361||528||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Golf in the Year 2000}}''|| novel written by J. McCullough||1892||style="color:#32cd32;" | 108||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''|| novel written by H.G. Wells||1895||style="color:#006400;" | 800,000–<br />1 billion||802,701–<br/>1 billion|| Note that Randall has included only part of the book; which includes scenes all the way from the time of writing to the death of the last life on Earth. The novel itself identifies the latest part as being "more than thirty million years" in the future, based on the theories of the Sun's lifespan at the time.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Enoch Soames}}''|| short story by Max Beerbohm||1916||style="color:#32cd32;" | 81||1997||Soames was transported from 1897 to 1997, which the narrator states is "eighty-two years hence", but 1997 is only 81 years after the story's publication.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gone With The Wind}}''|| novel by Margaret Mitchel ||1936||style="color:#FF0000;" | 75||1861<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}''||alternate history SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp||1939||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1404||535||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}''||film directed by Michael Curtiz||1942||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="0.9" | <1||1941||The film was released 26 November 1942 and is set in early December 1941.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Oklahoma!}}''||Broadway musical||1943||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1906||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}}''||novel written by George Orwell||1949||style="color:#32cd32;" | 35||1984||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}''||film by David Lean||1952||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10||1942–1943||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gunsmoke}}''||American radio and television series||1952*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="75" | ~75||1870s||1952 is when the radio series started. The TV series didn't start until 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments}}''||film by Cecil B. DeMille||1956||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3000" | ~3000|| data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||The full timespan is supposedly 80 years (40 before Moses is exiled, then 40 in exile).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Music Man}}''||Broadway musical||1957||style="color:#FF0000;" | 45||1912||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd|A Week in the Wales of the Future}}''||novel written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis||1957||style="color:#006400;" | 76||2033||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|Asterix}}''||French comic by Goscinny and Uderzo||1959*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2009|| data-sort-value="-50"|50 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Flintstones}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1960*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="2,500,000" | ~2.5 million|| data-sort-value="-2,500,000"|{{w|Stone Age|Stone Age}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22}}'' (Book)||novel by Joseph Heller||1961||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="17" | ~17||1942–44||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Jetsons}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1962*||style="color:#006400;" | 100||data-sort-value="2062"|~2062||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lawrence of Arabia}}''||film by David Lean||1962||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="44" | ~44||1916–1918||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape}}''||film by John Sturges||1963||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1943–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek}}'' (TOS)||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1966*||style="color:#006400;" | 298||2264||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''||film by Arthur Penn||1967||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="33" | ~33||1932–1934||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#32cd32;" | 33||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey}}'' (prologue)||prologue to novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3,000,000" | 3 million|| data-sort-value="-3,000,000"|3 million BCE||4 million years BCE in the movie<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22}}'' (Movie)||film by Mike Nichols||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="26" | ~26||1942–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|MASH (film)|M*A*S*H}}''||film by Robert Altman||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19||1951||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Patton (film)|Patton}}''||film by Franklin J. Schaffner||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="25" | ~25||1943–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|American Graffiti}}''||film by George Lucas||1973||style="color:#FF0000;" | 11||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Blazing Saddles}}''||film by Mel Brooks||1974||style="color:#8B0000;" | 100||1874||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown}}''||film by Roman Polanski||1974||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1937||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Happy Days}}''||TV series||1974*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19–29||1955–1965||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Space: 1999}}''||TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson||1975*||style="color:#32cd32;" | 24||1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (musical)|Annie}}'' (play)||Broadway musical||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Roots (miniseries)|Roots}}''||TV series, adapted from eponymous novel||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 90–227||1750–1882||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Original trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (IV – VI)||original film trilogy ||1977*|| style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1 billion years here. Wookieepedia puts the age of the ''Star Wars'' galaxy at [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/13,000,000,000_BBY ~13 billion years], and our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old, and the oldest known galaxy took 380 million years to form... So it would seem ''Star Wars'' should be no farther than 400 million years in the past, give or take.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Grease (film)|Grease}}''||film by Randall Kleiser||1978||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1958||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apocalypse Now}}''||film by Francis Ford Coppola||1979||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chariots of Fire}}''||film by Hugh Hudson||1981||style="color:#8B0000;" | 57||1924||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2010: Odyssey Two}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1982||style="color:#32cd32;" | 28||2010||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (1982 film)|Annie}}'' (movie)||film adaptation of the above by John Huston||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" | 49||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gandhi (film)|Gandhi}}''||film by Richard Attenborough||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="34" | ~34||1893–1948||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff}}''||film by Philip Kaufman||1983||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||1947–63||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers}}'' (TV Series)||TV series||1984*||style="color:#32cd32;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||data-sort-value="2004"|~2004||Only seasons 3 and 4 are set in the year 2005 onwards. Seasons 1 and 2 were set in 1984-85.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1985||style="color:#FF0000;" | 30||1955||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Platoon (film)|Platoon}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1986||style="color:#FF0000;" | 21||1967||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Dirty Dancing}}''||film by Emile Ardolino||1987||style="color:#FF0000;" | 24||1963||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}''||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1987*||style="color:#006400;" | 377||2364||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2061: Odyssey Three}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1987||style="color:#006400;" | 74||2061||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wonder Years}}''||TV series||1988*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20–25||1968–1973||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II|Back to the Future Part II}}''||film directed by Robert Zemeckis||1989||style="color:#32cd32;" | 26||2015||Only the first part of the movie is set in 2015; later the setting moves to an alternate 1985 and a revisit of 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''||arcade/computer game||1989||style="color:#006400;" | 112||2101||Previously referenced in [[887: Future Timeline]]<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part III}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1990||style="color:#8B0000;" | 105||1885||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|JFK (film)|JFK}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1991||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22||1963–1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2}}'' (1995 Portion)||film directed by James Cameron||1991||style="color:#32cd32;" | 4||1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Sandlot}}''||film by David Mickey Evans||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" | 31||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Schindler's List}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="50" | ~50||1939–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}''||film by Ron Howard||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" | 25||1970||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Raptor Red}}''||novel by Robert Bakker||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="65,000,000" | ~65 million|| data-sort-value="-65,000,000"|{{w|Cretaceous Period}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Evita (1996 film)|Evita}}''||film by Alan Parker||1996||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1952||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|3001: The Final Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1997||style="color:#006400;" | 1004||3001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Big Lebowski}}''||film by the Coen Brothers||1998||style="color:#FF0000;" | 7||1991||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Prince of Egypt}}''||animated film by DreamWorks||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 3400||data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||Despite the same plot of ''The Ten Commandments'', it covers only about 30 years given its Moses is much younger.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Saving Private Ryan}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 54||1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|That '70s Show}}''||TV series||1998*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22|||1976–1979||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Freaks and Geeks}}''||TV series||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 19||1980–1981||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Prequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (I – III)||prequel film trilogy||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor}}''||film by Michael Bay||2001||style="color:#8B0000;" | 60||1941||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise}}''||TV series||2001*||style="color:#006400;" | 150||2151||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s}}''||TV miniseries by VH1||2002||style="color:#8B0000;" | 13–22||1980–1989||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ice Age (film series)|Ice Age}}''||animated films by Blue Sky Studios||2002*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12,000" | ~12,000|| data-sort-value="-12,000"|{{w|Last glacial period|Paleolithic-Mesolithic}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Hotel Rwanda}}''|| film directed by Terry George||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1994||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5–14||1990–1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|United 93 (film)|United 93}}''|| film directed by Paul Greengrass||2006||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''||film by Zack Snyder||2007||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2487|| data-sort-value="-480"|{{w|Battle of Thermopylae|480 BCE}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Mad Men}}''||TV series||2007*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="47" | ~47||1960–1970||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC}}''||film by Roland Emmerich||2008||style="color:#8B0000;" | 11,992|| data-sort-value="-10,000"|10,000 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Year One (film)|Year One}}''||film by Harold Ramis||2009||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2008||1 CE|| The movie title is inaccurate, as it depicts Cain and Abel (c. 4000 BCE) existing simultaneously with Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah (c. 2000 BCE).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''||TV series||2010*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="90" | ~90||1912–1923||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wolf of Wall Street}}''||film by Martin Scorsese||2013||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="18" | ~18||1987–1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the 2000s|I Love the 2000s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2014||style="color:#8B0000;" | 14||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (VII – IX)||sequel film trilogy||2015*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Errors==<br />
<br />
===Dates===<br />
*''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' is vertically positioned at about 500 years in the future, slightly too high for its actual date. This may be to allow room for other nearby labels.<br />
*The {{w|Gospels}} are horizontally positioned at about the year 250 CE, when they should be positioned slightly further to the left, near the 100 CE line. (While there is debate on their date of authorship, the range of "years in the past" indicated on the graph would require authorship between roughly 50 and 100 CE.)<br />
*''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}'' takes place about 1400 years in the past, in the year 535. Its placement on the graph indicates it takes place about ''535'' years in the past, in the year ''1400''.<br />
<br />
===Spelling===<br />
*Author Washington Irving titled his work ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}'', not ''Rip van Winkel'' as [[Randall]] spells it. That said, ''van {{w|nl:Winkel|Winkel}}'' may be a more historically authentic spelling.<br />
*''{{w|Les Misérables}}'' has been misspelled ''Les Miserábles'' (note that French doesn't use the character "á").<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:'''Date of publication'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE.]<br />
:'''Years in the future'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0.]<br />
:'''Stories set in the future''' (science fiction, prediction)<br />
::Stories set in 2015<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled "still possible"; the lower side is labelled "obsolete".]<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1700, 265 years in the future]<br />
::Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]<br />
::The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]<br />
::Enoch Soames [1916, ''circa'' 60 years in the future]<br />
::1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]<br />
::A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]<br />
::The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]<br />
::Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]<br />
::2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]<br />
::Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]<br />
::2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, ''circa'' 500 years in the future]<br />
::Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]<br />
::Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]<br />
::3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]<br />
::Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]<br />
::This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]<br />
:'''Years in the past'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to "Big Bang"]<br />
:'''Stories set in the past''' (History, Period Fiction)<br />
::Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]<br />
::'''Former period pieces'''<br />
::Stories set in the past, but<br/>created long enough ago that<br/>they were published closer<br/>to their setting than to today.<br />
::Modern audiences may not<br/>recognize which parts were<br/>''supposed'' to sound old.<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::The Epic of Gilgamesh [''circa'' 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]<br />
::The Iliad [''circa'' 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]<br />
::History of the Peloponnesian War [''circa'' 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]<br />
::Book of Genesis [''circa'' 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]<br />
::Ashokavadana [''circa'' 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]<br />
::Gospels (various estimates) [''circa'' 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]<br />
::The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]<br />
::Water Margin [''circa'' 1300, 195 years in the past]<br />
::Richard III [''circa'' 1590, 115 years in the past]<br />
::Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]<br />
::King John [''circa'' 1600, 500 years in the past]<br />
::Henry IV [''circa'' 1600, 190 years in the past]<br />
::King Lear [''circa'' 1606, 3000 years in the past]<br />
::Henry VIII [''circa'' 1612, 105 years in the past]<br />
::The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]<br />
::Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]<br />
::A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]<br />
::Moby-Dick [1851, anywhere from 4 to 14 years ago]<br />
:::"Some years ago--never mind how long precisely..."<br />
::Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]<br />
::Treasure Island [1883, 130 years in the past]<br />
::A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court [1889, 2000 years in the past]<br />
::Gone with the Wind [1936, 70 years in the past]<br />
::Lest Darkness Fall [1939, 550 years in the past]<br />
::Casablanca [1942, 1 year in the past]<br />
::Oklahoma! [1943, 37 years in the past]<br />
::The Ten Commandments [1956, 1400 years in the past]<br />
::The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957, 13 years in the past]<br />
::Gunsmoke [1952-61, 80 years in the past]<br />
::The Flintstones [1960-66, 100,000 years in the past]<br />
::Catch-22 (book) [1961, 18 years in the past]<br />
::The Great Escape [1963, 20 years in the past]<br />
::Asterix<br />
::Lawrence of Arabia<br />
::The Music Man<br />
::Bonnie and Clyde<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)<br />
::American Graffiti<br />
::Patton<br />
::Catch-22 (movie) [1970, 27 years in the past]<br />
::Chinatown<br />
::Blazing Saddles<br />
::Apocalypse Now<br />
::Happy Days<br />
::Grease<br />
::M*A*S*H<br />
::Annie (play)<br />
::Roots<br />
::Chariots of Fire<br />
::Star Wars (IV-VI)<br />
::Annie (movie)<br />
::The Right Stuff<br />
::Back to the Future<br />
::Gandhi<br />
::Platoon<br />
::Dirty Dancing<br />
::Back to the Future Part III<br />
::The Wonder Years<br />
::JFK<br />
::The Sandlot<br />
::Schindler's List<br />
::Raptor Red<br />
::Apollo 13<br />
::Star Wars (I-III)<br />
::The Big Lebowski<br />
::Evita<br />
::Saving Private Ryan<br />
::The Prince of Egypt<br />
::Freaks and Geeks<br />
::Hotel Rwanda<br />
::I Love the '80s<br />
::That '70s Show<br />
::Pearl Harbor<br />
::Ice Age<br />
::I Love the '90s<br />
::United 93<br />
::300<br />
::10,000 BC<br />
::Year One<br />
::The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
::I Love the 2000s<br />
::Mad Men<br />
::Downton Abbey<br />
::Star Wars (VII-IX)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"this is a massive fucking graph beyond the limits of normal transcription. you can find a full listing of data points at http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1491"''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]<br />
[[Category:Terminator]]<br />
[[Category:Back to the Future]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=884:_Rogers_St.&diff=195412884: Rogers St.2020-07-31T08:31:53Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 884<br />
| date = April 11, 2011<br />
| title = Rogers St.<br />
| image = rogers_st.png<br />
| titletext = 'We can also use middle names in place of first pet's names, but yours is something incomprehensible about dropping tables.'<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a reference to the [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542541 game of creating your "porn star name"] by putting your pet's name as your first name and the street you grew up on as your last name. For example: Max (Dog's name) Pine (Street name). In this comic, [[Randall]] would have named his cat "Mister" and had moved to "Rogers" Street and so his kid's porn name would be "{{w|Fred Rogers|Mister Rogers}}" (from the children's show ''{{w|Mister Rogers' Neighborhood}}'', and previously the topic of [[767: Temper]]), which is pretty high on the unsexy name scale (if there was one) especially for a porn actor, although it may attract people with weird sexual fetishes.<br />
<br />
In this way, Randall has prevented his kid from getting into porn.<br />
<br />
In the title text, he references the other way of creating a porn star name by using your middle name as your first name and the street still as your last name. Additionally, the title text references comic [[327: Exploits of a Mom]] in which [[Mrs. Roberts]] puts {{w|SQL}} instructions into her son's name so that it will mess with the database at school. In [[327]], the kid's name is <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--</code> and we are led to believe the person in the comic above may be the same [[Little Bobby Tables]]. His middle name supposedly would be <code>'); DROP TABLE students;--</code>, which is ''something incomprehensible about dropping tables.''<br />
<br />
If this is indeed Bobby Tables shown trying to get into porn using his pet and street name, then he has grown considerably since his last appearance in [[327: Exploits of a Mom]] where he talks to his mother [[Mrs. Roberts]], the famous hacker, who gave him the name with the code. Given his developing curly hair and looks, that has taken him to the porn industry it was clever of her to move to Roger St... But that seems her way, being clever with names.<br />
<br />
[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=rogers+street,+cambridge,+ma&hq=&hnear=Rogers+St,+Cambridge,+Massachusetts&gl=us&ll=42.366234,-71.080406&spn=0.010733,0.01929&z=16 Here's a link to the location of Rogers Street], which is near Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A person with long curly hair is standing to the right of a hanging crocked on the wall behind him. A person speaks from off-panel (a judge of some sort according to the [http://xkcd.com/884/info.0.json official transcript]). Given the title text there is reason to believe the long haired "woman" is indeed a man named Bobby Tables.]<br />
:Sign: Auditions<br />
:Judge: ''Seriously?''<br />
:Judge: Sorry, no, that's a huge mood killer.<br />
:Judge: <big>''Next!''</big><br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel]<br />
:Before I have a kid, I'm moving to Rogers Street in Cambridge, MA, and then getting a cat named "Mister"<br />
:Just to guarantee the kid will never go into porn.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2340:_Cosmologist_Genres&diff=1954112340: Cosmologist Genres2020-07-31T08:27:59Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2340<br />
| date = July 31, 2020<br />
| title = Cosmologist Genres<br />
| image = cosmologist_genres.png<br />
| titletext = Inflationary cosmologists call all music from after the first 10^-30 seconds "post-"<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a POP COSMOLOGIST. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{w|Metallicity|Metals}}, in astronomy, are stellar elements heavier than {{w|helium}}. This definition of metal is significantly broader than {{w|metal|the one used by scientists outside astronomy}}. Likewise, this chart of musical genres describes everything "heavier" than pop as metal. The standard conception of elemental metals is a subset of the astronomical conception of metals; likewise, the musical genre metal is also a subset of the genres astronomers consider metal.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the {{w|Big Bang}}. At roughly 10<sup>-32</sup> seconds after the Big Bang, the inflationary epoch ended, causing a large amount of quarks, anti-quarks and gluons to come into existence. In inflationary cosmology, this point is considered to be the end of the big bang.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2338:_Faraday_Tour&diff=195270Talk:2338: Faraday Tour2020-07-28T07:21:15Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
It would be cool to know where the largest Faraday cage is. I Googled the question, but aside from a claim that a certain cage is the largest in Europe (made in an article that gives a security error when I click in the link) I can't find any claimants. -[[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 00:23, 28 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:('Moving' the above comment from the article page...) The largest Faraday cage is the one around our planet, keeping us isolated from the rest if the universe. It's got a rather clever lighting rig on it to simulate what is outside, including parellax, but it's a kludge and bears no resemblance at all to what is ''really'' out there. Of course, nobody can tell that... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.166|141.101.107.166]] 00:42, 28 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
''"Hairy, addressing an unseen camera (possibly the reader's POV) ... Faraday cages do not necessarily have to be dark inside, as this one appears to be ... "'' Surely it's meant to represent what you would see if you are watching the live cast on your computer? The cage does not "appear to be dark inside" it's just that the signal cuts out, and your screen goes dark.<br />
Pete [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.200|162.158.34.200]] 04:43, 28 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It's referring to panels 2 and 5, where we see him entering/leaving the Faraday cage. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 07:21, 28 July 2020 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2333:_COVID_Risk_Chart&diff=1947702333: COVID Risk Chart2020-07-17T10:35:17Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2333<br />
| date = July 15, 2020<br />
| title = COVID Risk Chart<br />
| image = covid_risk_chart.png<br />
| titletext = First prize is a free ticket to the kissing booth.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THE WINNER OF A TEST-TUBE-EATING CONTEST. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is a graph showing the risk of {{w|COVID-19}} infection of numerous activities on the horizontal axis, while showing the other (i.e. safety) risks of the activity on the vertical axis. The activities are also color coded green, yellow, orange, or red, presumably indicating whether engaging in them is a good idea. All the activities are green in the upper left corner (no COVID-19 danger and no other dangers), but change to yellow, orange, and red as you go right or down. This presentation and color progression is similar to a common presentation of a {{w|risk matrix}}.<br />
One-dimensional charts showing the COVID-19 risk of common activities were popular at the time of this comic, when businesses and schools were re-opening after the first wave of COVID-19. <br />
<br />
The top of the graph contains activities that people are likely to engage in during the pandemic, beginning (from left to right) with staying at home, hanging out with friends at the park, grocery shopping, attending in-person classes, and singing in church. The first few activities are common and not very dangerous (colored green and yellow), but the last two come with significant risks of infection due to COVID-19 (they are colored orange and red). Lower on the graph the activities become more and more dangerous (though these dangers are not related to COVID-19, i.e.: they are non-covid risks) and then non-sensical, a trend often seen in xkcd comics. Some activities are grouped together, being variations of the same thing (such as going down a waterslide, going down a waterslide with a stranger, and going down a waterside on an electric scooter). The last row contains extremely dangerous activities such as (from left to right, or from low COVID-19 danger to high) bungee jumping while doing sword tricks, going down a waterslide on an electric scooter, (participating in an) axe catching contest, racing a scooter through a hospital with a mask over your eyes, and winning a test-tube-eating contest at a COVID testing lab. All these activities are likely to result in undesirable outcomes {{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
Part of the humor comes from the increasing ridiculousness of the "red" activities, some of which are unlikely combinations or escalations of other less-risky activities (e.g. renting an electric scooter is a "green" activity, but riding that scooter with a stranger carries more risk, and then still more from racing that scooter through a hospital, with or without a mask).<br />
<br />
This comic strip is similar in presentation to [[2282: Coronavirus Worries]].<br />
<br />
The title text suggests a ticket to "the" kissing booth as a prize. (Presumably, the prize is for the test-tube eating contest, and the booth is the kissing booth mentioned in the comic, "a kissing booth at a COVID testing site"). A kissing booth, is a kind of sideshow sometimes seen at carnivals, where members of the public can pay a small fee to kiss someone, usually an attractive woman. Winning a ticket would normally be positively received. However, since kissing is a very high risk activity for COVID-19 transmission, it would now be perceived as a kind of punishment. Moreover, if the ticket was the prize for the test-tube eating contest then not only would the winner already likely have infected themselves with COVID-19, but they are likely to have mouth injuries from eating glass, making the kiss even riskier.<br />
<br />
=== Green (low risk) ===<br />
<br />
The lowest-risk category of activities has very low COVID risk and also very low non-COVID risk.<br />
<br />
;Staying home<br />
:The lowest-risk activity of all, as long as the home itself is safe, and your family members do not have COVID-19.<br />
;Video chats<br />
:{{w|Video chat}}ting carries a slightly higher non-COVID risk than simply staying at home, because you might get into an upsetting argument or accidentally expose something embarrassing. As long as the person you're chatting with is not within your personal space, the risk of catching COVID from them is still zero.<br />
;Hanging out with friends in the park<br />
:Physically interacting with others creates an increased risk COVID transmission, but the major risk of transmission seems to come from sharing enclosed spaces, not the outdoors, and as long as everyone keeps to themselves, they can still safely enjoy the social interaction (as long as [[2330: Acceptable Risk|they aren't prone to overthinking everyday decisions]]).<br />
;Going for walks<br />
:Going for walks carries very little COVID risk as long as you stay by yourself. It is slightly more dangerous than staying home though, as you might fall or hurt yourself in some way.<br />
;Hanging out with friends on the beach<br />
:This has a similar COVID risk as hanging out with friends in the park, but has slightly more safety concerns due to possible unpleasant encounters with crabs, jellyfish, and other ocean-going animals<sup>[cetacean needed]</sup> as well as the risks posed by extended UV exposure. There are also negligible risks of tsunamis, shark attacks, and encounters with other rare and deadly animals<sup>[cetacean needed]</sup>.<br />
;Riding an {{w|electric scooter}}<br />
:Electric scooters are scooters powered by electricity. They have increased in popularity recently, representing a form of lightweight transportation. If done by oneself, riding one has essentially no risk of coronavirus, but it is relatively easy to injure oneself when riding an electric scooter. Electric scooters have previously been mentioned in [[E Scooters]].<br />
;Renting an electric scooter<br />
:This has a slightly higher COVID risk than riding your own scooter, as a previous renter could have left traces of the virus on the handle bars. In terms of general safety, it is the equivalent of riding your own scooter.<br />
;Going down a {{w|waterslide}} <br />
:Waterslides are common attractions at water parks and even some community pools. They are simply slides made faster by running water down them. They are not extremely dangerous, so long as the rider can swim or stand in the pool of water at the end of the slide, though it is definitely possible to injure oneself on one, both reasons perhaps contributing to it being the most dangerous of the "green" activities. The COVID risk is near zero if the slide belongs to you and you are using it by yourself, or if proper sanitation procedures are followed.<br />
<br />
=== Yellow (medium risk) ===<br />
<br />
;Grocery shopping<br />
:Going shopping for groceries involves entering a building in which others are present, including many workers who are present for hours-long shifts. The risk of catching COVID can be reduced by wearing face masks, barriers between staff areas and customer areas, and limiting customer densities.<br />
;Grocery shopping while hungry<br />
:Shopping for groceries ''while hungry'' does not carry any greater risk of catching COVID, but this shows a slightly increased non-COVID risk because people who go shopping while hungry tend to buy foods that are more expensive and less healthy. (Be advised that a study that popularized this "common sense" result [https://media.jamanetwork.com/news-item/jama-network-retracts-6-articles-that-included-dr-brian-wansink-as-author/ has been retracted] due to academic misconduct by its author, {{w|Brian Wansink}}.)<br />
;Grocery shoplifting<br />
:Shoplifting means stealing, so this activity is stealing groceries. It would expose you to the same amount of COVID risk as regular grocery shopping, but might get you hurt by falling and crashing into stands, and might get you arrested. While this activity is not very risky and is colored yellow, it is probably not a good idea.<br />
;Riding a single rental scooter with a stranger<br />
:This is a bad idea, as most rental scooters are designed for only one person. It would also expose you to a stranger, who might have COVID. The safety concern of riding with two people on a one person scooter is not reflected in the comic.<br />
;Going down a waterslide with a stranger<br />
:This carries the same risks as going down a waterslide by yourself (as long as the waterslide is designed for two people), but exposes you to a stranger who could have COVID.<br />
;Getting in a stranger’s car<br />
:This can potentially be risky because driving is dangerous, and because murders have occurred in the past when people hitchhike. Getting into a stranger’s car would also expose you COVID, if they are carrying the virus. A car is a confined space, which is generally considered particularly bad from a COVID perspective.<br />
;Playing {{w|lawn darts}}<br />
:This activity poses little risk of COVID-19 transmission, as this game is usually played outdoors and players generally do not have to be close to play, so standard outdoor precautions can be taken. Lawn darts can pose a moderate risk of personal injury if played unwisely.<br />
;Climbing a waterslide with a stranger<br />
:This activity poses similar risk of COVID-19 transmission as the "going down a waterslide" activity, but there is higher non-COVID risk because waterslides are meant to "go down", and going against the normal flow of water may result in injury.<br />
;Getting in a stranger’s car uninvited<br />
:This has similar risk as the normal "getting in a stranger's car", but there is higher risk of getting in a car ''uninvited'', as you may be considered a hijacker or trying to steal the car, and thus the stranger may physically attack you.<br />
;Doing skateboard tricks<br />
:Performing tricks on a skateboard, especially if well away from other people, carries little risk of COVID-19 transmission, but carries a moderate risk of personal injury, especially when a manoeuvre does not go as intended and/or the rider unintentionally comes off the board to collide with the ground and/or obstacles.<br />
;Riding a conveyor belt through the {{w|Transportation Security Administration|TSA}} x-ray machine<br />
:This has relatively low risk of COVID infection, assuming the conveyor X-ray machine belt is sanitized, however, this is generally not legal or lawful and may get you in trouble with the TSA and other authorities, and you might get cancer because of the exposure to X-rays.<br />
;Axe throwing contest <br />
:Under normal circumstances attending an axe throwing contest is a fairly risky endeavor as an improperly thrown axe has a tendency to rebound off the target and hit the thrower. The global pandemic adds an additional layer of risk, as if you are engaged in an axe throwing contest you most are most likely in close contact with other people increasing your risk of catching COVID-19.<br />
<br />
=== Orange (medium–high risk) ===<br />
;Attending in-person classes<br />
;Attending online classes while in class at a different school<br />
;Getting a dental cleaning<br />
;Going on a {{w|Tinder (app)|Tinder}} date<br />
;Getting a dental cleaning from a Tinder date<br />
;Doing skateboard tricks in a hospital<br />
;Racing a scooter through a hospital with a mask on<br />
;Racing a scooter through a hospital without a mask<br />
;Setting off fireworks in your car<br />
;Running and sliding headfirst into the pins at a bowling alley<br />
;Stealing a stranger’s car<br />
<br />
=== Red (high risk) ===<br />
<br />
;Singing in church<br />
:While singing is normally harmless, doing so in a church, which is a high-traffic and fairly contaminated place during COVID-19 (making it easier to be infected) will significantly expose the singer to COVID due to an increased breathing rate. In addition, when singing in a church, one often does it in a group with others during church sessions without masks, so this increases the risk further as multiple people are in close proximity without protection. There have been cases of [https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/us/coronavirus-washington-choir-outbreak-trnd/index.html outbreaks caused by church choirs], and this has led to bans on singing in churches. <br />
;Going to a restaurant<br />
:Restaurants are also high-traffic and more contaminated (of COVID-19) areas, and also contain many people in a closed space which can also be small. Also, arguments and other fights could occur in a restaurant which adds to the non-COVID risk.<br />
;Going to a bar<br />
:Similarly to restaurants, bars are also a place where COVID-19 spreads often. Bars can be more crowded than restaurants, with people sitting or eating in closer proximity. However, since the customers are more likely to be drunk and to get into a fight, the non-COVID risk is increased. Even if not engaging in violence, people who are even slightly inebriated are more likely to ignore standard precautions like social distancing.<br />
;Going to a party / Hosting a party<br />
:Parties involve participating in activities with (often many) others. Whether hosting a party or attending one, the risk of contracting COVID is similar, as are the non-COVID risks, since in both cases you're in the same room with others and also participating in the same (potentially dangerous) activities. The COVID risks are slightly higher for the host, as they are more likely to be touching objects or surfaces on which the virus is present as they tidy up during or after the party, and to be in proximity of all the guests during the party.<br />
;Going on a cruise<br />
:Cruises have been a site where [https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article244269937.html many people have contracted COVID], leading to the high COVID-related risk. However, there are other risks assiciated with cruises that are non-COVID related, such as the risk of the ship sinking, or one falling overboard, etc.<br />
;Opening a kissing booth at a COVID testing site<br />
:This is a bad idea for COVID-related risks since many people who may not have been tested yet and are likely sick (since they are being tested, they are likely exhibiting COVID-related symptoms) will use it. Kissing is one of the easier ways to transfer COVID due to the proximity of people, and other diseases could be transferred as well. Opening a booth close to a testing site could also lead to a lot of controversy, adding to the non-COVID related risk.<br />
;Doing skateboard tricks in a bar<br />
:As mentioned before, bars are places where it is much more likely to contract COVID. Doing skateboard tricks in such a confined space also leads to a very large risk of injury.<br />
;Skateboarding in a mosh pit on a cruise ship<br />
:{{w|Mosh pit}}s are often very densely crowded with people, so the risk of transmission is huge. Also, doing skateboard tricks with so many people means one could get trampled, knocked over, run into other people and/or things, etc. Additionally, doing these on a cruise ship heightens the risk, as mentioned above.<br />
;Getting a COVID test from a stranger at a crowded bar<br />
:As mentioned before, bars greatly increase the risk of contracting COVID, and getting a test from a stranger means the test itself carries many non-COVID related risks coming from a malicious or incompetent stranger.<br />
;Bungee jumping while doing sword tricks<br />
:While bungee jumping is an activity that is often not performed in a crowded area, meaning that it is difficult to contract COVID while doing so, the act of bungee jumping while doing sword tricks could lead to a host of injuries.<br />
;Going down a waterslide on an electric scooter<br />
:As mentioned before, if the waterslide is not used by many people, riding it is not likely to cause COVID. However, since waterslides contain water and electric scooters contain batteries (they don't mix well, safety-wise), many injuries may result.<br />
;Setting off fireworks in a stranger's car<br />
:A car is a confined space, and so the risk of contracting COVID is higher. Setting off fireworks in cars also could (will) cause many injuries to everyone in the car, and more injuries from the driver and/or other angry passengers.<br />
;Axe catching contest<br />
:The proximity to others during a contest means a higher risk of contracting COVID. As for the axe catching part, injuries are likely to occur from attempting to catch (presumably) flying axes, especially when the catcher is inexperienced.<br />
;Racing a scooter through a hospital with a mask over your eyes<br />
:A hospital is a place where COVID patients are often concentrated, meaning a higher risk of contracting the disease, and having a mask over one's eyes would do nothing to help reduce the risk. Riding a scooter while effectively blindfolded in an area that has many obstructions like a hospital can lead to many injuries.<br />
;Winning a test-tube-eating contest at a COVID testing lab<br />
:Eating many test tubes which potentially contain samples containing COVID will almost definitely lead to one contracting the disease, and eating glass will lead to many internal injuries.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[This comic is a graph plotting the safety risk of activities on the vertical axis and the risk of infection from COVID-19 on the horizontal axis. Lowest risks are in the upper left corner, and highest in the lower right. All activities are color coded green, yellow, orange, or red. A two way arrow labeled “non-COVID risk” points up and down to "high" and "low" labels on the left side of the graph. Another two way arrow labeled “COVID risk” points left and right to "high" and "low" labels on the top of the graph.<br />
From left to right and top to bottom:]<br />
:<span style="background:#acd8a8>Staying home</span> & <span style="background:#acd8a8>Video chats</span>, <span style="background:#acd8a8>Hanging out with friends at the park</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Grocery shopping</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Attending in-person classes</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Singing in church</span><br />
:<span style="background:#acd8a8>Going for walks</span>, <span style="background:#acd8a8>Hanging out with friends on the beach</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Grocery shopping while hungry</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Attending online classes while in class at a different school</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Going to a restaurant</span><br />
:<span style="background:#acd8a8>Riding an electric scooter</span>, <span style="background:#acd8a8>Renting an electric scooter</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Grocery shoplifting</span> & <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Riding a single rental scooter with a stranger</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Getting a dental cleaning</span> & <span style="background:#edbba3>Going on a Tinder date</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Going to a bar</span> & <span style="background:#f58e8e>Going to a party</span> & <span style="background:#f58e8e>Hosting a party</span> & <span style="background:#f58e8e>Going on a cruise</span><br />
:<span style="background:#acd8a8>Going down a waterslide</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Going down a waterslide with a stranger</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Getting in a stranger’s car</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Getting a dental cleaning from a Tinder date</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Opening a kissing booth at a COVID testing site</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f9dfa4>Playing lawn darts</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Climbing a waterslide with a stranger</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Getting in a stranger’s car uninvited</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Doing skateboard tricks in a hospital</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Doing skateboard tricks in a bar</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f9dfa4>Doing skateboard tricks</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Riding a conveyor belt through the TSA x-ray machine</span>, <span style="background:#f9dfa4>Axe throwing contest</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Racing a scooter through a hospital with a mask on</span> & <span style="background:#edbba3>Racing a scooter through a hospital without a mask</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Skateboarding into a mosh pit on a cruise ship</span><br />
:<span style="background:#edbba3>Setting off fireworks in your car</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Running and sliding headfirst into the pins at a bowling alley</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Stealing a stranger’s car</span>, <span style="background:#edbba3>Racing a scooter through a hospital with a mask on</span> & <span style="background:#edbba3>Racing a scooter through a hospital without a mask</span> [extends from previous row], <span style="background:#f58e8e>Skateboarding into a mosh pit on a cruise ship</span> & <span style="background:#f58e8e>Getting a COVID test from a stranger at a crowded bar</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f58e8e>Bungee jumping while doing sword tricks</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Going down a waterslide on an electric scooter</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Setting off fireworks in a stranger’s car</span> & <span style="background:#f58e8e>Axe catching contest</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Racing a scooter through a hospital with a mask over your eyes</span>, <span style="background:#f58e8e>Winning a test-tube-eating contest at a COVID testing lab</span><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2189:_Old_Game_Worlds&diff=1934872189: Old Game Worlds2020-06-16T04:07:56Z<p>Arcorann: /* List of games */ mario kart fix</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2189<br />
| date = August 14, 2019<br />
| title = Old Game Worlds<br />
| image = old_game_worlds.png<br />
| titletext = Ok, how many coins for a cinnamon roll?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Randall]] sits at his computer looking at a menu of games which have been ordered into three sections, New, Old and Very old games (see [[#List of games|List of games]] below). At the bottom of this list, 2nd to last, he chooses to click on ''{{w|Super Mario Bros.}}'' which then opens as shown in the next four panels.<br />
<br />
This comic explores the difference between the real world, where artificial structures require constant upkeep and communities change with time, and the digital worlds of video games, where everything is static until the plot demands otherwise. Although ''online'' games do require server maintenance by the owners and sometimes receive major changes to their content, offline games are - and always have been - perpetual existences, unchanging so long as the data is intact. (This is later revisited in [[2221: Emulation]])<br />
<br />
As the narration explores this incongruity, and theorizes about the idea of it not being so, the comic displays the alternative with the ubiquitous video game - ''Super Mario Bros.'' (1985) - as an example. {{w|Mario}} arrives in World 1-1 to find a {{w|Goomba}} expressing surprise that the plumber has deigned to return to the place where his '''first''' journey began. As he advances, he finds both signs of progress - a {{w|Cell site|cellphone tower}}, an {{w|Motorized scooter|e-scooter}}, a {{w|Quadcopter|drone}} - and signs of disrepair - damaged {{w|Warp (video gaming)|Warp Pipes}}, loose blocks. At World 1-4, he finds {{w|Toad (Nintendo)|Toad}} - usually warning him that {{w|Princess Peach|the Princess}} is being held elsewhere - informing him that the castle has been remodeled into a {{w|Panera Bread|Panera}} bakery. <br />
<br />
This reflects common experiences of a person returning to a place they once knew well, but haven't seen in a long time. The atmosphere of the place may be changed by modern elements that hadn't existed before. Buildings and other infrastructure may have decayed or fallen into disrepair. And areas that have not been neglected will often be redeveloped, meaning that landmarks you remember may be repurposed or demolished to make room for something new. This tends to stir up feelings of nostalgia and loss in real life, when the settings of your memory no longer exist in the form that you remember. <br />
<br />
The title-text abruptly switches to Mario's acceptance of the changes to World 1, and deciding to make the most of it by purchasing a {{w|cinnamon roll}}. "Coins" are the omnipresent currency of the {{w|Mushroom Kingdom}} and most other locations Mario visits in the ''Mario'' series, taking the form of large nondescript golden circles, usually with a rectangular indent in the middle.<br />
<br />
The concept of an old, dilapidated version of the world of the original Super Mario Bros. was explored by Nintendo themselves in the [https://www.ssbwiki.com/Mushroomy_Kingdom Mushroomy Kingdom] stage featured in multiple Super Smash Bros. games.<br />
<br />
===List of games===<br />
The first panel shows a list of games in approximately reverse chronological order of their release:<br />
#New games:<br />
##{{w|Subnautica}} (2014)<br />
##[https://spookysquid.com/rsd Russian Subway Dogs] (2018)<br />
##{{w|Kerbal Space Program}} (2015). (Has been mentioned several times in xkcd).<br />
#Old games:<br />
##{{w|Worms Armageddon}} (1999)<br />
##{{w|Elasto Mania}} (2000)<br />
##{{w|Katamari Damacy}} (2004) (A [[:Category:Katamari_Damacy|recurring]] theme)<br />
##{{w|Mario Kart}} (It is not stated which Mario Kart is being referred to, see below. A [[:Category:Mario Kart|recurring]] theme)<br />
#Very old games:<br />
##{{w|Link's Awakening}} (1993) (aka The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening)<br />
##{{w|Escape Velocity (video game)|Escape Velocity}} (1996)<br />
##{{w|SimCity}} (1989)<br />
##{{w|Prince of Persia}} (1989). (This game was [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e2/1608_Comparing_Prince_of_Persia_maze_with_real_level_1.png featured] in [[1608: Hoverboard]]).<br />
##{{w|Super Mario Bros.}} (1985)<br />
##{{w|History_of_Microsoft_Flight_Simulator#Flight_Simulator_3.0|MS Flight Simulator 3}} (1988)<br />
<br />
The first game in the {{w|Mario Kart}} series was {{w|Super Mario Kart}} from 1992. As can be seen that Mario Kart game would be older than Link's Awakening. So it seems likely Randall was referring to {{w|Mario Kart 64}} from 1997, the first in the series to begin with Mario Kart leaving out the Super. With this in mind all the games in the two bottom sections are older than all those in the previous section. But they are not listed chronologically within the three sections. <br />
<br />
Russian Subway Dogs is the newest game from 2018 (and at the time of this comic's release in August 2019, is the only one of the 13 games mentioned in this comic that does not currently have a Wikipedia entry).<br />
<br />
Super Mario Bros., the game most prominently featured in the comic, is the oldest of the 13. The first version of {{w|Microsoft Flight Simulator}}, {{w|History_of_Microsoft_Flight_Simulator#Flight_Simulator_1.0|MS flight simulator 1.0}}, was from 1982, but the list this comic specifies the third version, released in 1988.<br />
<br />
Although the games in this comic appear to be grouped by date of their release, the time span covered by these groupings is not uniform. The first three games mentioned are from 2014-2018. The next four date from between 1997-2004, and the last six from between 1985-1996. With the earliest games grouped as 1985-1996, uniform grouping could split the later games between a group released in 1997-2008 and a group of games released in 2009 or later. If grouped by decades, 1985-1995 would potentially place the Escape Velocity game in the Old Games section instead of the Very Old Games section. Although some of these games did have releases intended to run on a {{w|Personal_computer|'Personal Computer'}}, the list in this comic seems to focus on games released for {{w|Video_game_console|gaming consoles}}, with no mention of games released for {{w|First_generation_of_video_game_consoles|first}} or {{w|Second_generation_of_video_game_consoles|second}} generation {{w|List_of_home_video_game_consoles|consoles which pre-dated}} the {{w|Nintendo_Entertainment_System|Nintendo Entertainment System}} (such as {{w|Pong#Home_version|Pong}} published by Atari; {{w|Magnavox_Odyssey#cite_ref-VGHttl_2-18|Brain Wave, Haunted House, Interplanetary Voyage, & Wipeout}} for the {{w|Magnavox_Odyssey|Magnavox Odyssey}}; & {{w|Adventure_(Atari_2600)|Adventure}} for the {{w|Atari_2600|Atari 2600}}).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A light gray drop down menu is shown with three sections split up with three grays lines split up with section titles in the same gray font. Beneath each section title is 3, 4 and 6 lines of black text. An white arrow cursor hovers over the second last option, which is thus highlighted with a dark gray background and white text.]<br />
:<font color="gray">New Games</font><br />
:Subnautica<br />
:Russian Subway Dogs<br />
:Kerbal Space Program<br />
:<font color="gray">Old Games</font><br />
:Worms Armageddon<br />
:Elasto Mania<br />
:Katamari Damacy<br />
:Mario Kart<br />
:<font color="gray">Very Old Games</font><br />
:Link's Awakening<br />
:Escape Velocity<br />
:SimCity<br />
:Prince of Persia<br />
:<span style="color:white; background:gray">Super Mario Bros</span><br />
:MS Flight Simulator 3<br />
<br />
:[A colorful scene is shown from the Super Mario Bros. side-scrolling game, the first level World 1-1. Mario with red hat and trousers is standing on the brown blocks beneath the blue sky. Another character in the game, Goomba, is standing in front of some green bushes. Above them is narration text:]<br />
:Narrator: It feels weird that you can go into old games and the whole world is still there.<br />
:Goomba: Mario?<br />
:Mario: It'sa me!<br />
:Goomba: What are ''you'' doing here?<br />
<br />
:[Mario stands between an e-scooter, a dismounted and broken Question Mark Box lying on its side and a cellphone tower. Narration continues above:]<br />
:Narrator: Part of me expects to find that everything's changed.<br />
<br />
:[Mario looks at a damaged green but rusty Warp Pipe and there is a quadcopter drone flying by over his head. Weeds are growing both from the pipe and from the blocks he is walking on. Narration continues above:]<br />
:Narrator: That pipes have rusted, walls have crumbled, bad guys have moved on.<br />
<br />
:[Mario has moved on to World 1-4, the castle has been replaced with a bakery. The blocks beneath his feet are now smaller and gray and above them is black background. The character Toad with the white hat with red circles is standing in front of a bakery disc with shelves of bread and cake behind it. There is a green sign on the front of the brown disk. Toad talks to Mario with white text in the black background. Above the black part of the image is more narration in a frame-less white section:]<br />
:Narrator: That even our game worlds can't escape the passage of time.<br />
:Toad: Thank you, Mario!<br />
:Toad: But this is a Panera now!<br />
:Sign: Panera<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Mario Kart]]<br />
[[Category:Kerbal Space Program]]<br />
[[Category:Drones]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2299:_Coronavirus_Genome_2&diff=191329Talk:2299: Coronavirus Genome 22020-04-28T11:00:05Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
How long is it likely to be before somebody does this? Hours? Minutes? [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 23:56, 27 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
: I'd do it myself right now if I still used Facebook... and if I knew where to find it... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.115|173.245.54.115]] 01:20, 28 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: [https://www.facebook.com/paul.zy.zhang/posts/921162404972081 I did.] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. [[User:In vivo veritas|In vivo veritas]] ([[User talk:In vivo veritas|talk]]) 01:54, 28 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::: Although, I wouldn't be surprised if someone's beaten me to the punch. [[User:In vivo veritas|In vivo veritas]] ([[User talk:In vivo veritas|talk]]) 03:32, 28 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
I find it pretty funny that while you can't tweet it, per a recent twitter discovery, you could set that genome as your official gender on twitter (proof of character limit, as an example: https://twitter.com/FaxonFury/status/1254775943664504832). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.110|172.69.22.110]] 09:03, 28 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In fact, someone already tweeted it [https://twitter.com/thetimgor/status/1246936548240756737 three weeks ago], but they cheated by encoding it into base-64. [https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1246936548240756737.html Here it is on threadreaderapp]. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 11:00, 28 April 2020 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2292:_Thermometer&diff=1904272292: Thermometer2020-04-11T10:29:06Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ Celsius is fine for normal people</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2292<br />
| date = April 10, 2020<br />
| title = Thermometer<br />
| image = thermometer.png<br />
| titletext = I hate how many times you have to press it to get to the system normal people use, degrees Rømer.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE RADIAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic expresses comedic undiscussed frustration at the difference between expected units of {{w|temperature}} in different contexts. [[Randall]], as an engineer, would likely have strong opinions with units, as unit conversion is often a gripe for many engineers. As elevated body temperature is a symptom of {{w|COVID-19}}, the comic is additionally the 17th in a row concerning the virus.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] may be sick or ill, and is trying to check his {{w|Human body temperature|body temperature}}, but he is unclear what the results mean. Cueball's {{w|thermometer}} has several units, of which the four shown grow progressively and humorously less useful:<br />
<br />
*{{w|Celsius}} units are used in most of the world. They set 0 degrees to water's freezing point and 100 degrees to water's boiling point. Randall lives in Boston, USA, one of the only countries where Celsius is not used for health measurements. The health relevant temperatures are discussed only in Fahrenheit in the USA.<br />
*{{w|Kelvin}} is a unit often used in scientific fields. It is based on Celsius, with 1 Celsius degree equivalent to 1 Kelvin unit, where 0 K is {{w|absolute zero}} or -273.15 °C.<br />
*Degrees {{w|Rankine scale|Rankine}} are similar to Kelvin, but far less well known. It is the Fahrenheit equivalent to Kelvin, starting at absolute zero with 0°R equal to -459.67 °F, and 1 Fahrenheit degree being equivalent to 1 Rankine degree.<br />
*In a scientific sense, temperature is the average {{w|kinetic energy}} of a group of particles. Using {{w|Boltzmann's Constant}}, one can convert between the kinetic energy and temperature.<br />
The use of these last three units for home temperature gauging is ridiculous, as Kelvin and Rankine are far too large and uncommon to be practical for the average user, while kinetic energy is scaled so wildly that no user would likely know it; this is why Boltzmann's Constant is printed on the thermometer.<br />
<br />
In the last frame Cueball calls the thermometer the worst. From a nerd's perspective this would be an extraordinary device, offering even exotic temperature scales. However, a "normal person" would find this thermometer terribly difficult to use for everyday purposes when set on any of the non-Celsius scals, like checking their body temperature or the temperature of food.<br />
<br />
{{w|Fahrenheit}} is not shown, though Cueball presumably (until seeing the title text) wants to use it. It is primarily used in the United States and generally appreciated for 0 degrees being "really cold" and 100 degrees being "really hot", but is defined as 32°F for the freezing point of water and 212°F as the boiling point of water (earlier definitions used a rescaled Rømer scale, the temperature of brine, or the body temperature of a healthy human).<br />
<br />
The title text references an archaic temperature unit, {{w|Rømer scale|Rømer}}, which is a scale whose fixed points are 7.5 as water's freezing point and 60 as water's boiling point. A unit on the Rømer scale is about 40/21 of a unit on the Celsius scale.<br />
<br />
In [[1643: Degrees]], Cueball struggles with which temperature unit to use, and ultimately tells his friend the temperature in {{w|radian}}s, which is not a valid temperature scale. In [[1923: Felsius]], Randall proposes a combined Fahrenheit/Celsius temperature scale called Felsius.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball stands in the center of the panel holding a thermometer.]<br />
:Cueball: This thermometer is in Celsius. How do you change it? <br />
:Off-panel voice: Long press the button.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]<br />
:''Press''<br />
:''Beep''<br />
:Thermometer: Units: Kelvin <br />
:Cueball: No... <br />
<br />
:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]<br />
:''Press''<br />
:''Beep''<br />
:Thermometer: Units: Degrees Rankine <br />
:Cueball: What. <br />
<br />
:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]<br />
:''Press''<br />
:''Beep''<br />
:Thermometer: Units: Average Translational Kinetic Energy<br />
:Cueball: This is the worst thermometer.<br />
:Off-panel voice: Boltzmann's constant is on the side if you need it.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2288:_Collector%27s_Edition&diff=189761Talk:2288: Collector's Edition2020-04-03T12:25:24Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
... is this going to be like [[1190: Time]]? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.63|162.158.74.63]] 04:08, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
: I hope so, otherwise I don't get the joke [[User:Forresthopkinsa|Forresthopkinsa]] ([[User talk:Forresthopkinsa|talk]]) 04:15, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
: The page just went down for me so maybe what we've seen isn't what it's supposed to be? [[User:Avi m|avis_magpie]] ([[User talk:Avi m|talk]]) 04:20, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
Looks like the whole comic was just taken down. [[User:Parzivail|Parzivail]] ([[User talk:Parzivail|talk]]) 04:27, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Can confirm - the most recent comic is Pathogen again [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.207|162.158.187.207]] 04:26, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
It is still up on the mobile website, but only if you directly go to comic page https://m.xkcd.com/2288 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.146|172.69.22.146]] 05:10, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Perhaps this is a collector's edition because it was only up for a limited amount of time? {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.60|05:12, 3 April 2020}}<br />
:: That was my immediate assumption. The title text says, "I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives." And I was viewing the comic by using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine — which, wouldn't you know it, captured the page exactly once before it went down. Between that and the title "Collector's Edition", I can't help thinking that the comic was actually intended to be viewed this way. Though for what reason, and what intended meaning, I couldn't tell you. …And jeez, in the time it took me to type this, the comic is back, but changed! Oy vey. [[User:NoriMori|NoriMori]] ([[User talk:NoriMori|talk]]) 06:42, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Maybe it's called collectors edition, because it was only available quite limited and to an unusual time? But that logic doesn't fit with the title text. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I doubt that could be caused by "technical difficulties". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.186|172.69.34.186]] 06:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It looks like it went back up about 5 minutes age. I can't figure out if it's possible to do more than pan right now though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.120|108.162.215.120]] 06:39, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah I see the same thing, looks like they're just testing it live. What a shame :(--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.242|108.162.215.242]] 06:47, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::what makes you assume that this is testing right now? however it doesn't seem to be very interactive apart from panning through it, and that it seems to chagne over time (the moon from [[1300]] wasn't there a few minutes ago, was it? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:49, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's a giant pan similar to [https://xkcd.com/1110], although it's mostly empty, with some content at [https://xkcd.com/2288/#-361,-161]<br />
. The title reads that you can find world building material, if you scavenge through the archives. I assume, more content will be unlocked as you read through past comics. [[User:Goatfryed|Goatfryed]] ([[User talk:Goatfryed|talk]]) 06:52, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::That would mean it is individual? That everyone gets their own picture? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:03, 3 April 2020 (UTC) Edit: I can kinda rule that out. I get the same picture on my phone and my work laptop, the work laptop is in a different country via vpn, and doesn't share any logins/advertisement ID's apart from explain xkcd with my phone... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:05, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Yeah, it definitely changes. The orange swimming pool just showed up now. Also, at the bottom of the page, it says something about "backpack", and what appears to be a reference to some other xkcd comic. For example, "Hint: why waste time say few word when lot word do trick", which I think refers to Up Goer Five. But I have no idea what to do with that info. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.190|172.68.141.190]] 06:55, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:and the content seems to be related to previous comics and what-ifs... but still no clue what to do apart from exploring the page. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:57, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So I just stumbled upon this and it seems to be exactly as other commentors have theorised: as you read previous comics more stuff gets added to the page. There seems to be some kind of backpack mechanic where you collect items from previous ones somehow, but, perhaps because I've already read all previous comics, that didn't seem to work for me. Instead I just had to click the link above the backpack, which opened the comic in a new tab, and it had a bunch of stuff there. We may need to co-ordinate to figure out if different people end up with different sets of items, and to ensure we have all of them, but I think other than that it should be just a cut and dry thing of making a table with every item in it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 07:12, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Hang on, mine just changed: before there was only 1 pool on the left, now there are two. I only went back to pathogens and then forwards agin. This may be harder than I thought, I'm going to start keeping a screenshot log of actions vs. results. [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 07:17, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:You may need to try xkcd.com instead of www.xkcd.com - there seems to be an issue with the latter at the moment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.216|162.158.255.216]] 07:18, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Hold up it changed again! This time without a reload! [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 07:28, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::It seems to change periodically, the url does change everytime. New stuff always seems to be added, not old stuff rremoved. [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 07:28, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::The URL is related to the coordinates, it changes when you pan the image. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:34, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::Timings seem to be random, working on double checking that rn. Highest first number so far is 1127, once it switches agin I'm going to experiement with manually editing the url.<br />
<br />
I was briefly able to do things. Open the archieve, navigate it to one of the comics, that are hinted for (e.g. compiling or iata) and when viewing that comic I get a lootbox, with an image I can then place in the 2288. It worked twice, and now it doesn't again... neither with those that have worked before, nor with others I am fairly sure have been placed by other people. (such as galilean moons) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:21, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I'm working on assembling an image log, wonder if we could compare? Also, the two number url could be useful, rn I'm on -1378, -152 [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 07:25, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::What do you mean by compare? Also the URL is related to the coordinates, it changes when you pan the image. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:34, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Yh just got that, is that the same for other panning comics (I'm a little new)? And I was wondering if the comic changed per person/system like certain previous comics. [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 07:40, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::Just seen a previous comment from you saying it doesn't change cross-system. However, it definetely changes with time, so the question is whether that's per user or done on a sort of universal clock, so we all unlock the same new content at the same time.<br />
:::::I didn't complete writing up the thing I was able to do above... after opening the lootbox I got one image related to the comic I opened in my backpack and was able to place that in the actual 2288, where it now is placed. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:50, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::::For me that didn't happen, it started with a loading screen type thing, and then objects just started appearing seemingly at random. I've also noticed some of them dissapear. I feel like the best course of action would be to start with a table of all the different objects, and then see if we can figure out when/why they appear later.<br />
::::::: At least 2 objects appeared, because I placed them. It is a colaboration of many xkcd readers to do this world building here. I placed one of the sword fights around #439,-181 and the non-inverted kite at #-1679,-290 . --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:55, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::::::Do you agree that the best course of action would therefore be a table with all the items? [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 08:03, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::Not a big fan of tables, unless there really is content of muliple categories to be entered for one line. A list would do fine I guess? Also I find lists easier to work with. Or what would be the columns you'd set up? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:08, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::::::::Something along the lines of the comic that it's a reference to, an image, and an explanation. Do we know if you find the same sticker at the same comic every time? If so, then that. A list would work well too. [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 08:12, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::::::::From looking at what image URLs don't 404, it looks like there are 253 stickers, which is quite a lot for a table.[[User:Matthias1|Matthias1]] ([[User talk:Matthias1|talk]]) 10:03, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::::I think we can unlock new elements by reading older comics (seemingly at random, it doesn't work with every comic read) and that everyone can see the changes once they are put on the global picture. If someone could check, I have put berret guy and his goat around (5000,0)<br />
::::::Yep, he's there. [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 08:01, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I almost feel like someone needs to show them this xkcd... https://xkcd.com/169/<br />
<br />
It seems to be an interactive canvas. You can find stickers in chests on specific comics and put them in your backpack, and then when you come back here you can choose where to put them on the canvas. The hints in the empty backpack are cryptic references to comics. {{unsigned ip|162.158.107.85}}<br />
:Yep, I figured the same thing, but for me it only worked twice (fly from wtf to lol was a reference to the iata thing and compiling was a reference to the compiling one) - but it didn't work again. Also: Some of the placed images are clearly references to what-if. Like the squirrel on top of an AK47 or the yoda powering an IPOD. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:59, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've made a catalog of the stickers but it's only partial because stuff keeps appearing: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dPYeYVpGqu5tqGTt5 [[User:Lev|Lev]] ([[User talk:Lev|talk]]) 08:02, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I got it. I wrote the steps on reddit and included some screenshots. Feel free to use it to edit this page https://old.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/fu1dt0/xkcd_2288_collectors_edition/fmaqp1w/ [[User:Ufolicker|Ufolicker]] ([[User talk:Ufolicker|talk]]) 09:27, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Am I too late to participate in this or am I doing something wrong? Where is this hint supposed to appear? I only see an empty backpack and the canvas on which references to different comics are placed. No comic I've visited, either inspired by references on the canvas, nor by random selection has any chest or other interactive components to it. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:53, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, you're doing it right. Hints show up in the backpack area. Obviously no one is sure of anything, but even users who have seen hints have reported not seeing hints on a different browser/device. I suspect something similar to [https://xkcd.com/1037/ Umwelt], where different hints are shown to different people. And I think once a chest is picked up, it stops appearing to everyone that could see it, but that's a guess.[[User:Matthias1|Matthias1]] ([[User talk:Matthias1|talk]]) 10:03, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Ok, I was unsure because on my windows 10 laptop I have yet to see a hint. I've tried chrome, firefox and internet explorer. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 11:09, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Finally got it to work in Safari in iOS [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 11:13, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
When I view the comic, I don't see the closed box - the screen is absolutely full of stickers. I've not done any scavenger hunting (I'd upload an image, but I don't have permissions to do so) [[User:Kvetch|Kvetch]] ([[User talk:Kvetch|talk]]) 11:10, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hints I've seen so far: "The first one was funnier" (chest appeared in comic 1, contained I'm a turtle);<br />
"418 I'm a teapot"<br />
"26th September, 1983" (comic 2052, Stanislav Petrov Day, white dove); [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.135|172.69.134.135]] 11:20, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps a table for found chests with no attached hints? I've stumbled across a few but don't know if they're hinted at or not :). [[User:Deranged|Deranged]] ([[User talk:Deranged|talk]]) 11:54, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Maybe add a line to the table with a blank first box, the link in the second box, empty third box? Someone will match it up. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.37|162.158.166.37]] 12:21, 3 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Churchill's gonna have to rehydrate" is Nothing to Offer. Can't remember what number, I think 1148?<br />
<br />
In other news, the bad ads are back ([[Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads|previous discussion]]) - who's in charge of dealing with them anyway? [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 12:25, 3 April 2020 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2256:_Bad_Map_Projection:_South_America&diff=1886702256: Bad Map Projection: South America2020-03-15T11:07:06Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2256<br />
| date = January 17, 2020<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: South America<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_south_america.png<br />
| titletext = The projection does a good job preserving both distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic shows a {{w|Map projection|map projection}} in which every continent and large island has just been replaced with a differently scaled and rotated version of the continent of {{w|South America}}. This is the third comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]]. By [[:File:BadMapProjectionComparison.png|overlaying]] this map with the selection of map projections presented in [[977: Map Projections]], it seems that the "underlying" projection used here is the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}}, also used in [[2242: Ground vs Air]].<br />
<br />
The comic is likely in reference to the bad map designs in which continents like Africa and South America have been swapped, or where someone will jokingly replace Greenland with South America. <br />
<br />
The caption of the comic is a reference to the {{w|Cap'n Crunch}} cereal type that became a meme, [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oops-all-berries-box-parodies ''Oops! All Berries''].<br />
<br />
Interestingly on the original South America, the archipelago or main island (hard to tell) of {{w|Tierra del Fuego}} is replaced with a small South America, while all other South Americas, including the one replacing the Tierra del Fuego, include it in their shape.<br />
<br />
The title text claims that the map projection does a good job preserving distance and azimuth, the joke being that the distance and azimuth being preserved for the non-South America continents are those of South America and not the original continent. Note that for the map as drawn in the comic, while this is true for most of the larger landmasses, many of the smaller South Americas are distorted more significantly (such as the South Americas that replace New Zealand).<br />
<br />
From roughly left to right and top to bottom, the South Americas replace:<br />
<br />
*North America<br />
*3 SAs for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (possibly Victoria Island, Ellesmere Island, and Baffin Island)<br />
*Greenland <!-- Denmark? Danish Realm? --><br />
*Iceland<br />
*Ireland (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, UK)<br />
*Great Britain, UK<br />
*Eurasia<br />
*Newfoundland, Canada<br />
*2 SAs for Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan<br />
*Africa<br />
*Taiwan<br />
*Cuba<br />
*Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti)<br />
*Puerto Rico, US<br />
*Jamaica<br />
*Sri Lanka<br />
*5 SAs for Luzon, Bicol Peninsula (southeastern Luzon), one ambiguous landmass (possibly Negros Island), Samar, and Mindanao; Philippines<br />
*Sumatra, Indonesia<br />
*Borneo (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei)<br />
*Sulawesi, Indonesia<br />
*2 SAs for New Guinea: one for Bird's Head Peninsula in the northwest of the island, and one for the rest of the island<br />
*Java, Indonesia<br />
*Madagascar<br />
*Australia<br />
*Tasmania, Australia<br />
*2 SAs for South Island and North Island, New Zealand<br />
*Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina and Chile<br />
<br />
These are the 26 {{w|List of islands by area|largest non-Antarctic landmasses,}} plus 2 peninsulas of those landmasses, and 8 more islands.<br />
<br />
See also related comics with map changes in comics [[1500: Upside-Down Map]] and [[1653: United States Map]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A map of the world, but every landmass has been replaced with South America, rotated and resized to roughly match the real landmasses they represent. South America is correct, except that the islands at the southern tip of the continent also have been switched to a small South America.]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Bad Map Projection #358: Oops, all South Americas!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1491:_Stories_of_the_Past_and_Future&diff=1885081491: Stories of the Past and Future2020-03-12T08:15:58Z<p>Arcorann: /* Works listed */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1491<br />
| date = February 25, 2015<br />
| title = Stories of the Past and Future<br />
| image = stories_of_the_past_and_future.png<br />
| titletext = Little-known fact: The 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence in 2001 cuts away seconds before the Flintstones theme becomes recognizable.<br />
}}<br />
*A [http://xkcd.com/1491/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com which can as always be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
<br />
How to read the graph:<br />
* X-axis: Date of publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the future": Number of years the story's events take place, after the story's publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the past": Number of years the story's events take place, before the story's publication.<br />
: For example, "Water Margin" was published in the 14th century (x ~= 1300) and relates events from the 12th century, about 200 years before its publication (y ~= 200 in the past).<br />
: Another example: The film ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}'' was released in 1957 and it was set around 14 years before (~1942-43).<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the future" part: Stories set in the future (relative to their publication date), for which the date of the events in the story is already in the past (relative to the publication date of the comic). The white and gray areas in this part of the graph are defined as "still possible" and "obsolete", respectively. The gray area (obsolete) will expand over time, assuming more works aren't added in the future: predictions from science fiction or futuristic work that are not confirmed by reality are doomed to be obsolete.<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the past" part: Stories set in the past (relative to their publication date) but published closer to their setting than to today. The warning "Modern audiences may not recognize which part were supposed to sound old" is a recurrent theme in the author's work, being already formulated in [[771: Period Speech|Period Speech]] comic. The white area seems to be the region where modern readers will be able to distinguish the past setting of a work from the age of the work itself. This gray area will grow over time (again assuming new works set in the past are not added) with more and more works being indistinguishable as works set in the past.<br />
Randall's intent with this comic might be to point out that modern readers' universe is collapsing, with non-obsolete future predictions and recognizable depictions of the past both shrinking.<br />
<br />
Taking the "years in the past" on the y-axis to be read as negatives like in most graphs one can write<br />
* Dates on the lower line satisfy the equation y = x-2015. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015+y and are set in the year x+y = 2015+2y.<br />
* Dates on the upper line satisfy the equation y = 2015-x. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015-y and are set in the year x+y = 2015.<br />
Thus it's clear that the definitions of the lines are consistent with each other as they follow similar but inverted functions.<br />
The graph uses variable {{w|logarithmic scale}}s, adjusting the scale in various regions to the temporal density of works being plotted. If the scale were linear, the graph would in fact represent a (bidimensional) {{w|Minkowski diagram}}, which depicts the moving cones of past and future in spacetime as one's present advances in time.<br />
<br />
The title text jokes that ''2001'' cuts from Prehistoria to the future before ''The Flintstones'' theme can become recognizable. Besides both being works from the 60s based around cavemen, Randall might be comparing the hominid screams preceding the famed "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc bone becomes satellite]" with the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw horns of the TV show's opening]. It could also be a joke about how closely the two works are positioned on the chart.<br />
<br />
=== Works listed ===<br />
Differences listed in <span style="color:#FF0000;">bright red</span> are "former period pieces." Differences listed in <span style="color:#8B0000;">dark red</span> are other works set in the past. Differences listed in <span style="color:#00FF00;">bright green</span> are "obsolete" works set in the future. Differences listed in <span style="color:#006400;">dark green</span> are other works set in the future.<br />
<br />
Asterisks (*) after a year of publication denote that it applies to the first installment in a series that spanned more than one year.<br />
<br />
You can sort by a specific column in this table by clicking on its header.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Publication'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Description'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year written'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year difference'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year set in'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Notes'''<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Epic of Gilgamesh}}''|| ancient Mesopotamian epic poem || data-sort-value="-2100"|~2100 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500|| data-sort-value="-2600"|~2600 BCE|| {{w|Enmebaragesi}}, a historically attested ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' character, is thought to have lived around 2600 BCE<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Iliad|The Iliad}}''||epic written by Greek poet Homer || data-sort-value="-750"|700s BCE ||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500 || data-sort-value="-1260"| 1260–1240 BCE ||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Book of Genesis}}''||first book of the Bible, describing the creation of the world || data-sort-value="-500"|500s–400s BCE ||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3200" | ~3200 || data-sort-value="-3761"| 3761 BCE || The ''{{w|Anno Mundi}}'' epoch, the product of scriptural calculations by {{w|Maimonides}}, places the Genesis date of the creation of the world at October 7, 3761 BCE in the {{w|proleptic Julian calendar}}<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|History of the Peloponnesian War}}''||history written by Thucydides|| data-sort-value="-400"|~400 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="100" | ~10|| data-sort-value="-431"|431–411 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gospels}}''|| collection of literary works detailing the life of Jesus of Nazareth || data-sort-value="65"|~65–110 CE ||style="color:#FF0000;" | 25–75 || data-sort-value="-7"|7–2 BCE – 30–33 CE || Setting dates are those of Jesus' estimated lifetime. Writing dates are as follows: Mark 65–73 CE; Matthew 70–100 CE; Luke 80–100 CE; John 90–110 CE. Randall's difference calculation seems to be based on the date of Jesus' death, as the majority of the Gospels' events takes place during the three years prior to Jesus's death.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ashokavadana}}''||narrative of the life of Ashoka the Great||100s CE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="-304"|304–232 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Pillow Book}}''||book written by Sei Shōnagon||1002||style="color:#FF0000;" | 6||996||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Water Margin}}''||novel by Shi Nai'an|| data-sort-value="1375"|late 1300s||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="150" | ~150|| data-sort-value="1100"|early 1100s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Richard III (play)|Richard III}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1597||style="color:#FF0000;" | 112–119||1478–1485||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry IV (play)|Henry IV}}''||plays by William Shakespeare||1598*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 185–196||1402–1413||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King Lear}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1608||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2400|| data-sort-value="-700"|700s BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King John (play)|King John}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="1200"|~1200–1216||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#FF0000;" | 90–102||1521–1533||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1667–1670|| data-sort-value="-45"|45–42 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century}}''|| book written by Samuel Madden||1733||style="color:#00FF00;" | 264||1997||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Winkel}}'' [sic]||short story by Washington Irving||1819||style="color:#FF0000;" | 32–52||1767–1787||It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1787 as the year that Rip Van Winkle awakes.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Last of the Mohicans}}''||novel by James Cooper||1826||style="color:#FF0000;" | 69||1757||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Moby-Dick}}''||novel by Herman Melville||1851||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5+|| data-sort-value="1845"|before 1846 || Inspired by events occurring in 1820, the late 1830s, and the early 1840s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Tale of Two Cities}}''|| book by Charles Dickens ||1859||style="color:#FF0000;" | 84||1775<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Les Misérables|Les Miserábles}}'' [sic]||novel by Victor Hugo||1862||style="color:#FF0000;" | 47||1815–1832||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Treasure Island}}''||novel by Robert Louis Stevenson||1883||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="120" | ~120|| data-sort-value="1760"|~1760||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Looking Backward}}''|| novel written by Edward Bellamy||1888||style="color:#00FF00;" | 112||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}''||novel by Mark Twain||1889||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1361||528||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Golf in the Year 2000}}''|| novel written by J. McCullough||1892||style="color:#00FF00;" | 108||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''|| novel written by H.G. Wells||1895||style="color:#006400;" | 800,000–<br />1 billion||802,701–<br/>1 billion|| Note that Randall has included only part of the book; which includes scenes all the way from the time of writing to the death of the last life on Earth. The novel itself identifies the latest part as being "more than thirty million years" in the future, based on the theories of the Sun's lifespan at the time.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Enoch Soames}}''|| short story by Max Beerbohm||1916||style="color:#00FF00;" | 81||1997||Soames was transported from 1897 to 1997, which the narrator states is "eighty-two years hence", but 1997 is only 81 years after the story's publication.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gone With The Wind}}''|| novel by Margaret Mitchel ||1936||style="color:#FF0000;" | 75||1861<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}''||alternate history SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp||1939||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1404||535||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}''||film directed by Michael Curtiz||1942||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="0.9" | <1||1941||The film was released 26 November 1942 and is set in early December 1941.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Oklahoma!}}''||Broadway musical||1943||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1906||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}}''||novel written by George Orwell||1949||style="color:#00FF00;" | 35||1984||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}''||film by David Lean||1952||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10||1942–1943||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gunsmoke}}''||American radio and television series||1952*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="75" | ~75||1870s||1952 is when the radio series started. The TV series didn't start until 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments}}''||film by Cecil B. DeMille||1956||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3000" | ~3000|| data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||The full timespan is supposedly 80 years (40 before Moses is exiled, then 40 in exile).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Music Man}}''||Broadway musical||1957||style="color:#FF0000;" | 45||1912||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd|A Week in the Wales of the Future}}''||novel written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis||1957||style="color:#006400;" | 76||2033||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|Asterix}}''||French comic by Goscinny and Uderzo||1959*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2009|| data-sort-value="-50"|50 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Flintstones}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1960*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="2,500,000" | ~2.5 million|| data-sort-value="-2,500,000"|{{w|Stone Age|Stone Age}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22}}'' (Book)||novel by Joseph Heller||1961||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="17" | ~17||1942–44||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Jetsons}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1962*||style="color:#006400;" | 100||data-sort-value="2062"|~2062||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lawrence of Arabia}}''||film by David Lean||1962||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="44" | ~44||1916–1918||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape}}''||film by John Sturges||1963||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1943–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek}}'' (TOS)||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1966*||style="color:#006400;" | 298||2264||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''||film by Arthur Penn||1967||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="33" | ~33||1932–1934||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#00FF00;" | 33||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey}}'' (prologue)||prologue to novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3,000,000" | 3 million|| data-sort-value="-3,000,000"|3 million BCE||4 million years BCE in the movie<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22}}'' (Movie)||film by Mike Nichols||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="26" | ~26||1942–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|MASH (film)|M*A*S*H}}''||film by Robert Altman||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19||1951||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Patton (film)|Patton}}''||film by Franklin J. Schaffner||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="25" | ~25||1943–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|American Graffiti}}''||film by George Lucas||1973||style="color:#FF0000;" | 11||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Blazing Saddles}}''||film by Mel Brooks||1974||style="color:#8B0000;" | 100||1874||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown}}''||film by Roman Polanski||1974||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1937||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Happy Days}}''||TV series||1974*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19–29||1955–1965||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Space: 1999}}''||TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson||1975*||style="color:#00FF00;" | 24||1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (musical)|Annie}}'' (play)||Broadway musical||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Roots (miniseries)|Roots}}''||TV series, adapted from eponymous novel||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 90–227||1750–1882||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Original trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (IV – VI)||original film trilogy ||1977*|| style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1 billion years here. Wookieepedia puts the age of the ''Star Wars'' galaxy at [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/13,000,000,000_BBY ~13 billion years], and our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old, and the oldest known galaxy took 380 million years to form... So it would seem ''Star Wars'' should be no farther than 400 million years in the past, give or take.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Grease (film)|Grease}}''||film by Randall Kleiser||1978||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1958||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apocalypse Now}}''||film by Francis Ford Coppola||1979||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chariots of Fire}}''||film by Hugh Hudson||1981||style="color:#8B0000;" | 57||1924||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2010: Odyssey Two}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1982||style="color:#00FF00;" | 28||2010||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (1982 film)|Annie}}'' (movie)||film adaptation of the above by John Huston||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" | 49||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gandhi (film)|Gandhi}}''||film by Richard Attenborough||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="34" | ~34||1893–1948||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff}}''||film by Philip Kaufman||1983||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||1947–63||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers}}'' (TV Series)||TV series||1984*||style="color:#00FF00;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||data-sort-value="2004"|~2004||Only seasons 3 and 4 are set in the year 2005 onwards. Seasons 1 and 2 were set in 1984-85.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1985||style="color:#FF0000;" | 30||1955||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Platoon (film)|Platoon}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1986||style="color:#FF0000;" | 21||1967||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Dirty Dancing}}''||film by Emile Ardolino||1987||style="color:#FF0000;" | 24||1963||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}''||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1987*||style="color:#006400;" | 377||2364||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2061: Odyssey Three}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1987||style="color:#006400;" | 74||2061||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wonder Years}}''||TV series||1988*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20–25||1968–1973||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II|Back to the Future Part II}}''||film directed by Robert Zemeckis||1989||style="color:#00FF00;" | 26||2015||Only the first part of the movie is set in 2015; later the setting moves to an alternate 1985 and a revisit of 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''||arcade/computer game||1989||style="color:#006400;" | 112||2101||Previously referenced in [[887: Future Timeline]]<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part III}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1990||style="color:#8B0000;" | 105||1885||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|JFK (film)|JFK}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1991||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22||1963–1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2}}'' (1995 Portion)||film directed by James Cameron||1991||style="color:#00FF00;" | 4||1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Sandlot}}''||film by David Mickey Evans||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" | 31||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Schindler's List}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="50" | ~50||1939–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}''||film by Ron Howard||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" | 25||1970||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Raptor Red}}''||novel by Robert Bakker||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="65,000,000" | ~65 million|| data-sort-value="-65,000,000"|{{w|Cretaceous Period}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Evita (1996 film)|Evita}}''||film by Alan Parker||1996||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1952||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|3001: The Final Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1997||style="color:#006400;" | 1004||3001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Big Lebowski}}''||film by the Coen Brothers||1998||style="color:#FF0000;" | 7||1991||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Prince of Egypt}}''||animated film by DreamWorks||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 3400||data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||Despite the same plot of ''The Ten Commandments'', it covers only about 30 years given its Moses is much younger.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Saving Private Ryan}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 54||1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|That '70s Show}}''||TV series||1998*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22|||1976–1979||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Freaks and Geeks}}''||TV series||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 19||1980–1981||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Prequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (I – III)||prequel film trilogy||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor}}''||film by Michael Bay||2001||style="color:#8B0000;" | 60||1941||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise}}''||TV series||2001*||style="color:#006400;" | 150||2151||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s}}''||TV miniseries by VH1||2002||style="color:#8B0000;" | 13–22||1980–1989||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ice Age (film series)|Ice Age}}''||animated films by Blue Sky Studios||2002*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12,000" | ~12,000|| data-sort-value="-12,000"|{{w|Last glacial period|Paleolithic-Mesolithic}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Hotel Rwanda}}''|| film directed by Terry George||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1994||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5–14||1990–1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|United 93 (film)|United 93}}''|| film directed by Paul Greengrass||2006||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''||film by Zack Snyder||2007||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2487|| data-sort-value="-480"|{{w|Battle of Thermopylae|480 BCE}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Mad Men}}''||TV series||2007*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="47" | ~47||1960–1970||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC}}''||film by Roland Emmerich||2008||style="color:#8B0000;" | 11,992|| data-sort-value="-10,000"|10,000 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Year One (film)|Year One}}''||film by Harold Ramis||2009||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2008||1 CE|| The movie title is inaccurate, as it depicts Cain and Abel (c. 4000 BCE) existing simultaneously with Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah (c. 2000 BCE).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''||TV series||2010*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="90" | ~90||1912–1923||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wolf of Wall Street}}''||film by Martin Scorsese||2013||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="18" | ~18||1987–1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the 2000s|I Love the 2000s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2014||style="color:#8B0000;" | 14||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (VII – IX)||sequel film trilogy||2015*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Errors==<br />
<br />
===Dates===<br />
*''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' is vertically positioned at about 500 years in the future, slightly too high for its actual date. This may be to allow room for other nearby labels.<br />
*The {{w|Gospels}} are horizontally positioned at about the year 250 CE, when they should be positioned slightly further to the left, near the 100 CE line. (While there is debate on their date of authorship, the range of "years in the past" indicated on the graph would require authorship between roughly 50 and 100 CE.)<br />
*''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}'' takes place about 1400 years in the past, in the year 535. Its placement on the graph indicates it takes place about ''535'' years in the past, in the year ''1400''.<br />
<br />
===Spelling===<br />
*Author Washington Irving titled his work ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}'', not ''Rip van Winkel'' as [[Randall]] spells it. That said, ''van {{w|nl:Winkel|Winkel}}'' may be a more historically authentic spelling.<br />
*''{{w|Les Misérables}}'' has been misspelled ''Les Miserábles'' (note that French doesn't use the character "á").<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:'''Date of publication'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE.]<br />
:'''Years in the future'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0.]<br />
:'''Stories set in the future''' (science fiction, prediction)<br />
::Stories set in 2015<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled "still possible"; the lower side is labelled "obsolete".]<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1700, 265 years in the future]<br />
::Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]<br />
::The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]<br />
::Enoch Soames [1916, ''circa'' 60 years in the future]<br />
::1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]<br />
::A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]<br />
::The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]<br />
::Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]<br />
::2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]<br />
::Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]<br />
::2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, ''circa'' 500 years in the future]<br />
::Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]<br />
::Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]<br />
::3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]<br />
::Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]<br />
::This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]<br />
:'''Years in the past'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to "Big Bang"]<br />
:'''Stories set in the past''' (History, Period Fiction)<br />
::Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]<br />
::'''Former period pieces'''<br />
::Stories set in the past, but<br/>created long enough ago that<br/>they were published closer<br/>to their setting than to today.<br />
::Modern audiences may not<br/>recognize which parts were<br/>''supposed'' to sound old.<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::The Epic of Gilgamesh [''circa'' 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]<br />
::The Iliad [''circa'' 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]<br />
::History of the Peloponnesian War [''circa'' 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]<br />
::Book of Genesis [''circa'' 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]<br />
::Ashokavadana [''circa'' 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]<br />
::Gospels (various estimates) [''circa'' 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]<br />
::The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]<br />
::Water Margin [''circa'' 1300, 195 years in the past]<br />
::Richard III [''circa'' 1590, 115 years in the past]<br />
::Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]<br />
::King John [''circa'' 1600, 500 years in the past]<br />
::Henry IV [''circa'' 1600, 190 years in the past]<br />
::King Lear [''circa'' 1606, 3000 years in the past]<br />
::Henry VIII [''circa'' 1612, 105 years in the past]<br />
::The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]<br />
::Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]<br />
::A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]<br />
::Moby-Dick [1851, anywhere from 4 to 14 years ago]<br />
:::"Some years ago--never mind how long precisely..."<br />
::Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]<br />
::Treasure Island [1883, 130 years in the past]<br />
::A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court [1889, 2000 years in the past]<br />
::Gone with the Wind [1936, 70 years in the past]<br />
::Lest Darkness Fall [1939, 550 years in the past]<br />
::Casablanca [1942, 1 year in the past]<br />
::Oklahoma! [1943, 37 years in the past]<br />
::The Ten Commandments [1956, 1400 years in the past]<br />
::The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957, 13 years in the past]<br />
::Gunsmoke [1952-61, 80 years in the past]<br />
::The Flintstones [1960-66, 100,000 years in the past]<br />
::Catch-22 (book) [1961, 18 years in the past]<br />
::The Great Escape [1963, 20 years in the past]<br />
::Asterix<br />
::Lawrence of Arabia<br />
::The Music Man<br />
::Bonnie and Clyde<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)<br />
::American Graffiti<br />
::Patton<br />
::Catch-22 (movie) [1970, 27 years in the past]<br />
::Chinatown<br />
::Blazing Saddles<br />
::Apocalypse Now<br />
::Happy Days<br />
::Grease<br />
::M*A*S*H<br />
::Annie (play)<br />
::Roots<br />
::Chariots of Fire<br />
::Star Wars (IV-VI)<br />
::Annie (movie)<br />
::The Right Stuff<br />
::Back to the Future<br />
::Gandhi<br />
::Platoon<br />
::Dirty Dancing<br />
::Back to the Future Part III<br />
::The Wonder Years<br />
::JFK<br />
::The Sandlot<br />
::Schindler's List<br />
::Raptor Red<br />
::Apollo 13<br />
::Star Wars (I-III)<br />
::The Big Lebowski<br />
::Evita<br />
::Saving Private Ryan<br />
::The Prince of Egypt<br />
::Freaks and Geeks<br />
::Hotel Rwanda<br />
::I Love the '80s<br />
::That '70s Show<br />
::Pearl Harbor<br />
::Ice Age<br />
::I Love the '90s<br />
::United 93<br />
::300<br />
::10,000 BC<br />
::Year One<br />
::The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
::I Love the 2000s<br />
::Mad Men<br />
::Downton Abbey<br />
::Star Wars (VII-IX)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"this is a massive fucking graph beyond the limits of normal transcription. you can find a full listing of data points at http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1491"''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]<br />
[[Category:Terminator]]<br />
[[Category:Back to the Future]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1491:_Stories_of_the_Past_and_Future&diff=1877691491: Stories of the Past and Future2020-02-26T07:46:49Z<p>Arcorann: /* Works listed */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1491<br />
| date = February 25, 2015<br />
| title = Stories of the Past and Future<br />
| image = stories_of_the_past_and_future.png<br />
| titletext = Little-known fact: The 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence in 2001 cuts away seconds before the Flintstones theme becomes recognizable.<br />
}}<br />
*A [http://xkcd.com/1491/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com which can as always be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
<br />
How to read the graph:<br />
* X-axis: Date of publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the future": Number of years the story's events take place, after the story's publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the past": Number of years the story's events take place, before the story's publication.<br />
: For example, "Water Margin" was published in the 14th century (x ~= 1300) and relates events from the 12th century, about 200 years before its publication (y ~= 200 in the past).<br />
: Another example: The film ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}'' was released in 1957 and it was set around 14 years before (~1942-43).<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the future" part: Stories set in the future (relative to their publication date), for which the date of the events in the story is already in the past (relative to the publication date of the comic). The white and gray areas in this part of the graph are defined as "still possible" and "obsolete", respectively. The gray area (obsolete) will expand over time, assuming more works aren't added in the future: predictions from science fiction or futuristic work that are not confirmed by reality are doomed to be obsolete.<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the past" part: Stories set in the past (relative to their publication date) but published closer to their setting than to today. The warning "Modern audiences may not recognize which part were supposed to sound old" is a recurrent theme in the author's work, being already formulated in [[771: Period Speech|Period Speech]] comic. The white area seems to be the region where modern readers will be able to distinguish the past setting of a work from the age of the work itself. This gray area will grow over time (again assuming new works set in the past are not added) with more and more works being indistinguishable as works set in the past.<br />
Randall's intent with this comic might be to point out that modern readers' universe is collapsing, with non-obsolete future predictions and recognizable depictions of the past both shrinking.<br />
<br />
Taking the "years in the past" on the y-axis to be read as negatives like in most graphs one can write<br />
* Dates on the lower line satisfy the equation y = x-2015. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015+y and are set in the year x+y = 2015+2y.<br />
* Dates on the upper line satisfy the equation y = 2015-x. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015-y and are set in the year x+y = 2015.<br />
Thus it's clear that the definitions of the lines are consistent with each other as they follow similar but inverted functions.<br />
The graph uses variable {{w|logarithmic scale}}s, adjusting the scale in various regions to the temporal density of works being plotted. If the scale were linear, the graph would in fact represent a (bidimensional) {{w|Minkowski diagram}}, which depicts the moving cones of past and future in spacetime as one's present advances in time.<br />
<br />
The title text jokes that ''2001'' cuts from Prehistoria to the future before ''The Flintstones'' theme can become recognizable. Besides both being works from the 60s based around cavemen, Randall might be comparing the hominid screams preceding the famed "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc bone becomes satellite]" with the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw horns of the TV show's opening]. It could also be a joke about how closely the two works are positioned on the chart.<br />
<br />
=== Works listed ===<br />
Differences listed in <span style="color:#FF0000;">bright red</span> are "former period pieces." Differences listed in <span style="color:#8B0000;">dark red</span> are other works set in the past. Differences listed in <span style="color:#00FF00;">bright green</span> are "obsolete" works set in the future. Differences listed in <span style="color:#006400;">dark green</span> are other works set in the future.<br />
<br />
Asterisks (*) after a year of publication denote that it applies to the first installment in a series that spanned more than one year.<br />
<br />
You can sort by a specific column in this table by clicking on its header.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Publication'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Description'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year written'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year difference'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year set in'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Notes'''<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Epic of Gilgamesh}}''|| ancient Mesopotamian epic poem || data-sort-value="-2100"|~2100 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500|| data-sort-value="-2600"|~2600 BCE|| {{w|Enmebaragesi}}, a historically attested ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' character, is thought to have lived around 2600 BCE<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Iliad|The Iliad}}''||epic written by Greek poet Homer || data-sort-value="-750"|700s BCE ||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500 || data-sort-value="-1260"| 1260–1240 BCE ||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Book of Genesis}}''||first book of the Bible, describing the creation of the world || data-sort-value="-500"|500s–400s BCE ||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3200" | ~3200 || data-sort-value="-3761"| 3761 BCE || The ''{{w|Anno Mundi}}'' epoch, the product of scriptural calculations by {{w|Maimonides}}, places the Genesis date of the creation of the world at October 7, 3761 BCE in the {{w|proleptic Julian calendar}}<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|History of the Peloponnesian War}}''||history written by Thucydides|| data-sort-value="-400"|~400 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="100" | ~10|| data-sort-value="-431"|431–411 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gospels}}''|| collection of literary works detailing the life of Jesus of Nazareth || data-sort-value="65"|~65–110 CE ||style="color:#FF0000;" | 25–75 || data-sort-value="-7"|7–2 BCE – 30–33 CE || Setting dates are those of Jesus' estimated lifetime. Writing dates are as follows: Mark 65–73 CE; Matthew 70–100 CE; Luke 80–100 CE; John 90–110 CE. Randall's difference calculation seems to be based on the date of Jesus' death, as the majority of the Gospels' events takes place during the three years prior to Jesus's death.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ashokavadana}}''||narrative of the life of Ashoka the Great||100s CE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="-304"|304–232 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Pillow Book}}''||book written by Sei Shōnagon||1002||style="color:#FF0000;" | 6||996||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Water Margin}}''||novel by Shi Nai'an|| data-sort-value="1375"|late 1300s||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="150" | ~150|| data-sort-value="1100"|early 1100s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Richard III (play)|Richard III}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1597||style="color:#FF0000;" | 112–119||1478–1485||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry IV (play)|Henry IV}}''||plays by William Shakespeare||1598*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 185–196||1402–1413||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King Lear}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1608||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2400|| data-sort-value="-700"|700s BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King John (play)|King John}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="1200"|~1200–1216||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#FF0000;" | 90–102||1521–1533||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1667–1670|| data-sort-value="-45"|45–42 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century}}''|| book written by Samuel Madden||1733||style="color:#00FF00;" | 264||1997||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Winkel}}'' [sic]||short story by Washington Irving||1819||style="color:#FF0000;" | 32–52||1767–1787||It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1787 as the year that Rip Van Winkle awakes.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Last of the Mohicans}}''||novel by James Cooper||1826||style="color:#FF0000;" | 69||1757||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Moby-Dick}}''||novel by Herman Melville||1851||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5+|| data-sort-value="1845"|before 1846 || Inspired by events occurring in 1820, the late 1830s, and the early 1840s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Tale of Two Cities}}''|| book by Charles Dickens ||1859||style="color:#FF0000;" | 84||1775<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Les Misérables|Les Miserábles}}'' [sic]||novel by Victor Hugo||1862||style="color:#FF0000;" | 47||1815–1832||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Treasure Island}}''||novel by Robert Louis Stevenson||1883||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="120" | ~120|| data-sort-value="1760"|~1760||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Looking Backward}}''|| novel written by Edward Bellamy||1888||style="color:#00FF00;" | 112||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}''||novel by Mark Twain||1889||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1361||528||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Golf in the Year 2000}}''|| novel written by J. McCullough||1892||style="color:#00FF00;" | 108||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''|| novel written by H.G. Wells||1895||style="color:#006400;" | 800,000–<br />1 billion||802,701–<br/>1 billion|| Note that Randall has included only part of the book; which includes scenes all the way from the time of writing to the death of the last life on Earth. The part of the story marked is so far in the future that the hundred plus years between publication of the book and the comic have no noticeable effect on the timing of the setting.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Enoch Soames}}''|| short story by Max Beerbohm||1916||style="color:#00FF00;" | 81||1997||Soames was transported from 1897 to 1997, which the narrator states is "eighty-two years hence", but 1997 is only 81 years after the story's publication.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gone With The Wind}}''|| novel by Margaret Mitchel ||1936||style="color:#FF0000;" | 75||1861<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}''||alternate history SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp||1939||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1404||535||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}''||film directed by Michael Curtiz||1942||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="0.9" | <1||1941||The film was released 26 November 1942 and is set in early December 1941.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Oklahoma!}}''||Broadway musical||1943||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1906||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}}''||novel written by George Orwell||1949||style="color:#00FF00;" | 35||1984||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}''||film by David Lean||1952||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10||1942–1943||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gunsmoke}}''||American radio and television series||1952*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="75" | ~75||1870s||1952 is when the radio series started. The TV series didn't start until 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments}}''||film by Cecil B. DeMille||1956||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3000" | ~3000|| data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||The full timespan is supposedly 80 years (40 before Moses is exiled, then 40 in exile).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Music Man}}''||Broadway musical||1957||style="color:#FF0000;" | 45||1912||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd|A Week in the Wales of the Future}}''||novel written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis||1957||style="color:#006400;" | 76||2033||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|Asterix}}''||French comic by Goscinny and Uderzo||1959*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2009|| data-sort-value="-50"|50 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Flintstones}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1960*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="2,500,000" | ~2.5 million|| data-sort-value="-2,500,000"|{{w|Stone Age|Stone Age}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22}}'' (Book)||novel by Joseph Heller||1961||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="17" | ~17||1942–44||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Jetsons}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1962*||style="color:#006400;" | 100||data-sort-value="2062"|~2062||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lawrence of Arabia}}''||film by David Lean||1962||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="44" | ~44||1916–1918||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape}}''||film by John Sturges||1963||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1943–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek}}'' (TOS)||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1966*||style="color:#006400;" | 298||2264||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''||film by Arthur Penn||1967||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="33" | ~33||1932–1934||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#00FF00;" | 33||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey}}'' (prologue)||prologue to novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3,000,000" | 3 million|| data-sort-value="-3,000,000"|3 million BCE||4 million years BCE in the movie<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22}}'' (Movie)||film by Mike Nichols||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="26" | ~26||1942–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|MASH (film)|M*A*S*H}}''||film by Robert Altman||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19||1951||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Patton (film)|Patton}}''||film by Franklin J. Schaffner||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="25" | ~25||1943–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|American Graffiti}}''||film by George Lucas||1973||style="color:#FF0000;" | 11||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Blazing Saddles}}''||film by Mel Brooks||1974||style="color:#8B0000;" | 100||1874||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown}}''||film by Roman Polanski||1974||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1937||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Happy Days}}''||TV series||1974*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19–29||1955–1965||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Space: 1999}}''||TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson||1975*||style="color:#00FF00;" | 24||1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (musical)|Annie}}'' (play)||Broadway musical||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Roots (miniseries)|Roots}}''||TV series, adapted from eponymous novel||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 90–227||1750–1882||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Original trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (IV – VI)||original film trilogy ||1977*|| style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1 billion years here. Wookieepedia puts the age of the ''Star Wars'' galaxy at [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/13,000,000,000_BBY ~13 billion years], and our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old, and the oldest known galaxy took 380 million years to form... So it would seem ''Star Wars'' should be no farther than 400 million years in the past, give or take.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Grease (film)|Grease}}''||film by Randall Kleiser||1978||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1958||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apocalypse Now}}''||film by Francis Ford Coppola||1979||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chariots of Fire}}''||film by Hugh Hudson||1981||style="color:#8B0000;" | 57||1924||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2010: Odyssey Two}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1982||style="color:#00FF00;" | 28||2010||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (1982 film)|Annie}}'' (movie)||film adaptation of the above by John Huston||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" | 49||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gandhi (film)|Gandhi}}''||film by Richard Attenborough||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="34" | ~34||1893–1948||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff}}''||film by Philip Kaufman||1983||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||1947–63||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers}}'' (TV Series)||TV series||1984*||style="color:#00FF00;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||data-sort-value="2004"|~2004||Only seasons 3 and 4 are set in the year 2005 onwards. Seasons 1 and 2 were set in 1984-85.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1985||style="color:#FF0000;" | 30||1955||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Platoon (film)|Platoon}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1986||style="color:#FF0000;" | 21||1967||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Dirty Dancing}}''||film by Emile Ardolino||1987||style="color:#FF0000;" | 24||1963||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}''||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1987*||style="color:#006400;" | 377||2364||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2061: Odyssey Three}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1987||style="color:#006400;" | 74||2061||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wonder Years}}''||TV series||1988*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20–25||1968–1973||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II|Back to the Future Part II}}''||film directed by Robert Zemeckis||1989||style="color:#00FF00;" | 26||2015||Only the first part of the movie is set in 2015; later the setting moves to an alternate 1985 and a revisit of 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''||arcade/computer game||1989||style="color:#006400;" | 112||2101||Previously referenced in [[887: Future Timeline]]<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part III}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1990||style="color:#8B0000;" | 105||1885||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|JFK (film)|JFK}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1991||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22||1963–1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2}}'' (1995 Portion)||film directed by James Cameron||1991||style="color:#00FF00;" | 4||1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Sandlot}}''||film by David Mickey Evans||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" | 31||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Schindler's List}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="50" | ~50||1939–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}''||film by Ron Howard||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" | 25||1970||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Raptor Red}}''||novel by Robert Bakker||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="65,000,000" | ~65 million|| data-sort-value="-65,000,000"|{{w|Cretaceous Period}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Evita (1996 film)|Evita}}''||film by Alan Parker||1996||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1952||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|3001: The Final Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1997||style="color:#006400;" | 1004||3001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Big Lebowski}}''||film by the Coen Brothers||1998||style="color:#FF0000;" | 7||1991||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Prince of Egypt}}''||animated film by DreamWorks||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 3400||data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||Despite the same plot of ''The Ten Commandments'', it covers only about 30 years given its Moses is much younger.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Saving Private Ryan}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 54||1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|That '70s Show}}''||TV series||1998*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22|||1976–1979||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Freaks and Geeks}}''||TV series||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 19||1980–1981||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Prequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (I – III)||prequel film trilogy||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor}}''||film by Michael Bay||2001||style="color:#8B0000;" | 60||1941||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise}}''||TV series||2001*||style="color:#006400;" | 150||2151||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s}}''||TV miniseries by VH1||2002||style="color:#8B0000;" | 13–22||1980–1989||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ice Age (film series)|Ice Age}}''||animated films by Blue Sky Studios||2002*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12,000" | ~12,000|| data-sort-value="-12,000"|{{w|Last glacial period|Paleolithic-Mesolithic}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Hotel Rwanda}}''|| film directed by Terry George||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1994||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5–14||1990–1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|United 93 (film)|United 93}}''|| film directed by Paul Greengrass||2006||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''||film by Zack Snyder||2007||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2487|| data-sort-value="-480"|{{w|Battle of Thermopylae|480 BCE}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Mad Men}}''||TV series||2007*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="47" | ~47||1960–1970||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC}}''||film by Roland Emmerich||2008||style="color:#8B0000;" | 11,992|| data-sort-value="-10,000"|10,000 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Year One (film)|Year One}}''||film by Harold Ramis||2009||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2008||1 CE|| The movie title is inaccurate, as it depicts Cain and Abel (c. 4000 BCE) existing simultaneously with Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah (c. 2000 BCE).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''||TV series||2010*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="90" | ~90||1912–1923||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wolf of Wall Street}}''||film by Martin Scorsese||2013||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="18" | ~18||1987–1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the 2000s|I Love the 2000s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2014||style="color:#8B0000;" | 14||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (VII – IX)||sequel film trilogy||2015*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Errors==<br />
<br />
===Dates===<br />
*''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' is vertically positioned at about 500 years in the future, slightly too high for its actual date. This may be to allow room for other nearby labels.<br />
*The {{w|Gospels}} are horizontally positioned at about the year 250 CE, when they should be positioned slightly further to the left, near the 100 CE line. (While there is debate on their date of authorship, the range of "years in the past" indicated on the graph would require authorship between roughly 50 and 100 CE.)<br />
*''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}'' takes place about 1400 years in the past, in the year 535. Its placement on the graph indicates it takes place about ''535'' years in the past, in the year ''1400''.<br />
<br />
===Spelling===<br />
*Author Washington Irving titled his work ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}'', not ''Rip van Winkel'' as [[Randall]] spells it. That said, ''van {{w|nl:Winkel|Winkel}}'' may be a more historically authentic spelling.<br />
*''{{w|Les Misérables}}'' has been misspelled ''Les Miserábles'' (note that French doesn't use the character "á").<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:'''Date of publication'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE.]<br />
:'''Years in the future'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0.]<br />
:'''Stories set in the future''' (science fiction, prediction)<br />
::Stories set in 2015<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled "still possible"; the lower side is labelled "obsolete".]<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1700, 265 years in the future]<br />
::Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]<br />
::The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]<br />
::Enoch Soames [1916, ''circa'' 60 years in the future]<br />
::1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]<br />
::A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]<br />
::The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]<br />
::Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]<br />
::2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]<br />
::Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]<br />
::2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, ''circa'' 500 years in the future]<br />
::Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]<br />
::Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]<br />
::3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]<br />
::Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]<br />
::This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]<br />
:'''Years in the past'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to "Big Bang"]<br />
:'''Stories set in the past''' (History, Period Fiction)<br />
::Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]<br />
::'''Former period pieces'''<br />
::Stories set in the past, but<br/>created long enough ago that<br/>they were published closer<br/>to their setting than to today.<br />
::Modern audiences may not<br/>recognize which parts were<br/>''supposed'' to sound old.<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::The Epic of Gilgamesh [''circa'' 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]<br />
::The Iliad [''circa'' 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]<br />
::History of the Peloponnesian War [''circa'' 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]<br />
::Book of Genesis [''circa'' 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]<br />
::Ashokavadana [''circa'' 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]<br />
::Gospels (various estimates) [''circa'' 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]<br />
::The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]<br />
::Water Margin [''circa'' 1300, 195 years in the past]<br />
::Richard III [''circa'' 1590, 115 years in the past]<br />
::Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]<br />
::King John [''circa'' 1600, 500 years in the past]<br />
::Henry IV [''circa'' 1600, 190 years in the past]<br />
::King Lear [''circa'' 1606, 3000 years in the past]<br />
::Henry VIII [''circa'' 1612, 105 years in the past]<br />
::The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]<br />
::Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]<br />
::A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]<br />
::Moby-Dick [1851, anywhere from 4 to 14 years ago]<br />
:::"Some years ago--never mind how long precisely..."<br />
::Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]<br />
::Treasure Island [1883, 130 years in the past]<br />
::A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court [1889, 2000 years in the past]<br />
::Gone with the Wind [1936, 70 years in the past]<br />
::Lest Darkness Fall [1939, 550 years in the past]<br />
::Casablanca [1942, 1 year in the past]<br />
::Oklahoma! [1943, 37 years in the past]<br />
::The Ten Commandments [1956, 1400 years in the past]<br />
::The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957, 13 years in the past]<br />
::Gunsmoke [1952-61, 80 years in the past]<br />
::The Flintstones [1960-66, 100,000 years in the past]<br />
::Catch-22 (book) [1961, 18 years in the past]<br />
::The Great Escape [1963, 20 years in the past]<br />
::Asterix<br />
::Lawrence of Arabia<br />
::The Music Man<br />
::Bonnie and Clyde<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)<br />
::American Graffiti<br />
::Patton<br />
::Catch-22 (movie) [1970, 27 years in the past]<br />
::Chinatown<br />
::Blazing Saddles<br />
::Apocalypse Now<br />
::Happy Days<br />
::Grease<br />
::M*A*S*H<br />
::Annie (play)<br />
::Roots<br />
::Chariots of Fire<br />
::Star Wars (IV-VI)<br />
::Annie (movie)<br />
::The Right Stuff<br />
::Back to the Future<br />
::Gandhi<br />
::Platoon<br />
::Dirty Dancing<br />
::Back to the Future Part III<br />
::The Wonder Years<br />
::JFK<br />
::The Sandlot<br />
::Schindler's List<br />
::Raptor Red<br />
::Apollo 13<br />
::Star Wars (I-III)<br />
::The Big Lebowski<br />
::Evita<br />
::Saving Private Ryan<br />
::The Prince of Egypt<br />
::Freaks and Geeks<br />
::Hotel Rwanda<br />
::I Love the '80s<br />
::That '70s Show<br />
::Pearl Harbor<br />
::Ice Age<br />
::I Love the '90s<br />
::United 93<br />
::300<br />
::10,000 BC<br />
::Year One<br />
::The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
::I Love the 2000s<br />
::Mad Men<br />
::Downton Abbey<br />
::Star Wars (VII-IX)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"this is a massive fucking graph beyond the limits of normal transcription. you can find a full listing of data points at http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1491"''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]<br />
[[Category:Terminator]]<br />
[[Category:Back to the Future]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2260:_Reaction_Maps&diff=1865412260: Reaction Maps2020-01-28T02:11:12Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ linkfixes (why were they bicycle routes?), add route for title text</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2260<br />
| date = January 27, 2020<br />
| title = Reaction Maps<br />
| image = reaction_maps.png<br />
| titletext = If Google Maps stops letting you navigate to (Clay County District) A in West Virginia, you can try Jump, OH -> Ina, IL -> Big Hole, TX.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a Google Maps Server. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The {{w|Treaty of Edinburgh}} was a treaty drawn up in 1560, which falls during the {{w|Tudor period}} of the history of England, while a compact is another word for a treaty. A {{w|Honda Civic}} is a compact car with a {{w|coupé}} body model and only two doors. The joke is thus a pun on the similarity of the words "Tudor" and "two-door", as well as a pun on the words "treaty" and "compact."<br />
<br />
The [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Truly,+MT+59421/Saari,+L'Anse+Township,+MI+49946/Toulouse,+Kentucky/A,+Clay+County,+WV/Friendship,+South+Carolina/This+Way,+Lake+Jackson,+TX+77566/@37.9396464,-104.4176717,5z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m38!4m37!1m5!1m1!1s0x53424d6552eab029:0xb7fcd8937da3ec25!2m2!1d-111.4413578!2d47.3557881!1m5!1m1!1s0x4d50e1468af1ce9b:0xb02e7ce99f9e641a!2m2!1d-88.3092692!2d46.8784933!1m5!1m1!1s0x8844b40da22762bf:0xee4cd8dba67a2afa!2m2!1d-83.3269444!2d37.1766667!1m5!1m1!1s0x884943786da899b1:0x5eb17b45f77f3480!2m2!1d-81.0533854!2d38.5410076!1m5!1m1!1s0x88ffff04df8a3dc1:0x2e50cd1fdf10df52!2m2!1d-79.4353317!2d34.0168293!1m5!1m1!1s0x864043e6372e0009:0x1372621459655543!2m2!1d-95.4597276!2d29.0382495!3e0 list of map destinations], Truly, Saari, Toulouse, A, Friendship, This Way is a way of saying, "Truly sorry to lose a friendship this way".<br />
The [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Hope,+NY+12134/Yoe,+PA/Fallin+Lake,+Magnolia+Township,+AR/@38.214792,-88.0772473,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x89df00206dc519a7:0x8c095186fc80dee1!2m2!1d-74.2431907!2d43.3036812!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c8886da851113b:0x96fa3e47edbd1953!2m2!1d-76.6369116!2d39.9089887!1m5!1m1!1s0x8633c43fa49e5997:0x864650e233fea97b!2m2!1d-93.3167015!2d33.2840166!3e0 list of map destinations], Hope, Yoe, Fallin Lake is a way of saying, "Hope you fall in [a] lake".<br />
<br />
In this comic, [[Ponytail]] texts the above car joke, to which [[Cueball]] gets mad and replies that their friendship is over. In the title text, [[Randall]] offers [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Jump,+McDonald+Township,+Ohio,+USA/Ina,+IL,+USA/Big+Hole,+Texas,+USA/@35.8263797,-93.8102845,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x883edadb5282cd7d:0xbd26e9e97ce76762!2m2!1d-83.79438!2d40.6158849!1m5!1m1!1s0x8876cfd2b9f24b79:0xa00498b7be5e90c4!2m2!1d-88.9039554!2d38.1511606!1m5!1m1!1s0x863813224a969417:0x61e1c3c664eadc63!2m2!1d-94.8453391!2d31.1918015!3e0 another map option]: Jump, Ina, Big Hole ("Jump in a big hole".)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Texting Tip<br />
________<br />
<br />
Is your reaction too intense to be expressed in an emoji or gif?<br />
<br />
Try using driving directions!<br />
<br />
The extra research it requires shows how strongly you feel.<br />
<br />
[Ponytail is texting Cueball]<br />
<br />
You should name your new Honda Civic ''The Treaty of Edinburgh''<br />
<br />
Because it's a tudor compact<br />
<br />
Get it<br />
<br />
[Cueball looks angry]<br />
<br />
[Cueball sends Ponytail driving directions that go through Truly, Saari, Toulouse, A, Friendship, and This Way]<br />
<br />
[Cueball sends Ponytail driving directions that go through Hope, Yoe, and Fallin Lake]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1500:_Upside-Down_Map&diff=1862211500: Upside-Down Map2020-01-20T09:48:42Z<p>Arcorann: /* Trivia */ link bad map projections category</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1500<br />
| date = March 18, 2015<br />
| title = Upside-Down Map<br />
| image = upside_down_map.png<br />
| titletext = Due to their proximity across the channel, there's long been tension between North Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Southern Ireland.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic plays on the idea that maps with the {{w|South-up map orientation|south pole at the top}} will "change your perspective of the world". Most world maps orient north in the upward direction, placing the north pole as the top. Such an orientation is purely a matter of convention, as 'up' and 'down' don't apply in a planetary context. The north = up tradition probably emerged because most historical cartographers hailed from the northern hemisphere, and placed their own nations at the top. Some people and groups object that this convention subtly, but perniciously, advances the assumption that countries in the northern hemisphere are inherently more important than those in the southern hemisphere. This is especially sensitive because most of the wealthier and more powerful countries in the world are in the northern hemisphere, while relatively fewer southern hemisphere countries have as much wealth or global influence. <br />
<br />
To remedy this, some advocate the use of maps with the south pole oriented at the top. Some want such maps in common use, while others simply use them to encourage people to rethink their assumptions about how the world should be seen. Such a map can easily be achieved by simply rotating a normal map 180 degrees, though the text labels would also be upside-down and harder to read. A [https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&q=upside-down%2Bmap%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bworld Google Images] search reveals many examples of upside-down maps with the text oriented correctly for reading.<br />
<br />
This map is a comedic play on such maps, where each land mass is in the same position it would be in a traditional north-top map but rotated 180 degrees (presumably around some central point of the landmass) to the orientation it would have in a south-top map. Such a map is, of course, almost completely useless in real life, because it completely distorts the relative positioning of the landmasses. Moreover, it keeps the northern countries at the top of the map, which means one of the chief complaints about traditional maps is unaddressed. <br />
<br />
Note that individual islands are rotated about their own centers, rather than following the rotation of the neighboring continent; however, some are displaced as necessary to keep them from being overlapped by the rotated continents. For instance, {{w|Madagascar}} would be overlapped by the {{w|Sahara}} if it remained in position, but is instead displaced eastward to keep it in the Indian Ocean. On the other hand, all the islands of the {{w|Mediterranean Sea}} have disappeared under {{w|Asia}}.<br />
<br />
Asia is so broad that almost the entire {{w|Indochinese Peninsula}} (with for instance {{w|Vietnam}} and {{w|Thailand}}) has been rotated out of the top of the map. Similarly, the map omits {{w|Antarctica}} in the south.<br />
<br />
To keep their familiar shapes on a rectangular map, the continents would also have to be heavily distorted compared to their actual shapes, becoming much narrower (along the lines of latitude) near the poles and wider towards the equator. See also [[977: Map Projections]].<br />
<br />
The basic climates for several areas would be distinctly different. For example, the formerly-Central America area would be in the arctic zone, while Siberia would be subtropical.<br />
<br />
This arrangement of the world's land masses would have great advantages for trade, because there are (presumably navigable) straits between the {{w|Americas}} and between Africa and Asia, removing the need for the {{w|Panama Canal}} and the {{w|Suez Canal}}.<br />
<br />
The title text references the fact that, in this new map, the {{w|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|UK}} is now next to Asia &ndash; specifically the {{w|Korean Peninsula}}. {{w|North Korea}} is mentioned in the text as having a history of hostile relations with nearby countries. However, on this map North Korea would be the part of {{w|Korea}} we today know as {{w|South Korea}}. Furthermore, {{w|Northern Ireland}} is now at the south of the {{w|island of Ireland}}, so the UK's full name would need to change to The United Kingdom of Great Britain and '''Southern''' Ireland. There have been several wars concerning the {{w|English Channel}}, mainly, but not only, between {{w|England}} and {{w|France}}. Likewise there has been a history of animosity between Korea and {{w|Japan}}, separated by a similar body of water. Since, on this world map, a channel now exists between the UK and North Korea (the real world's South Korea) there could obviously have been many wars for the dominance over said channel.<br />
<br />
Along the same line of thinking, interesting speculations could be made about the following "new" facts:<br />
*{{w|Cuba}} is now off the east coast (formerly west coast) of {{w|Canada}} (and the {{w|USA}}).<br />
*{{w|Japan}} is next to the coast of {{w|Portugal}} and {{w|Spain}}.<br />
*Madagascar lies next to {{w|Morocco}} and {{w|Mauritania}} on the east coast (formerly west coast) of the Sahara.<br />
*{{w|Taiwan}} (officially called the Republic of China) is now next to {{w|France}}. This might be a game-changer for the {{w|Cross-Strait relations}}, an ongoing rivalry with {{w|China|China}} (officially called the People's Republic of China).<br />
*{{w|Greenland}} lies next to {{w|Mexico}}.<br />
*{{w|Sri Lanka}} is located next to the {{w|Yamalsky District}} of {{w|Russia}}.<br />
*{{w|Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego|Tierra del Fuego}}, an island just south of the southern tip of South America, which is divided between {{w|Argentina}} and {{w|Chile}}, is now located in a similar manner next to {{w|Colombia}} and {{w|Venezuela}}, so it would probably have been divided between these two countries.<br />
*The {{w|Falkland Islands}} (not named in the map &ndash; they are probably represented by the single island above the T in Tierra) where Argentina and the UK have an ongoing {{w|Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute|sovereignty dispute}}, could now be claimed by {{w|Ecuador}} or {{w|Peru}}.<br />
*The Mediterranean islands seem to have vanished entirely, as they are now in approximately the same place as {{w|Mongolia}}.<br />
*{{w|India}} is nowhere near the {{w|Indian Ocean}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Map of the world with all the landmasses rotated upside-down.]<br />
:[Four oceans and all the visible continents have been named in large letters in a bold font. The Pacific has been named both to the left and right. Several islands (large and small) have been designated with name but in grey and in a much smaller normal font. For all continents the names are written on them. For the island the name is written in the ocean except for Greenland.]<br />
<br />
:[Below the names on the map are given in the order they appear reading from left to right, first for the northern and then the southern hemisphere:]<br />
<br />
:[Northern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''North America'''<br />
:Cuba<br />
:Greenland<br />
:'''Atlantic Ocean<br />
:Iceland<br />
:UK<br />
:'''Asia'''<br />
:Sri Lanka<br />
:'''Europe'''<br />
:'''Arctic Ocean'''<br />
:Taiwan<br />
:Japan<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean'''<br />
<br />
:[Southern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean'''<br />
:'''South America'''<br />
:Tierra del Fuego<br />
:'''Africa'''<br />
:'''Indian Ocean'''<br />
:Madagascar<br />
:Indonesia<br />
:'''Australia'''<br />
:New Zealand<br />
<br />
:[Below the main frame:]<br />
:'''This upside-down map will change your perspective on the world!'''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
Map projections are also the subject of [[977: Map Projections]]. In fact, if this comic was released later, it would certainly have "Bad Map Projection #''n''" on the top, and would be part of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|the category]].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Geography]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1799:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Time_Zones&diff=1862001799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones2020-01-20T04:10:14Z<p>Arcorann: /* Table */ NK time zone changed a wihle back</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1799<br />
| date = February 15, 2017<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: Time Zones<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_time_zones.png<br />
| titletext = This is probably the first projection in cartographic history that can be criticized for its disproportionate focus on Finland, Mongolia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<br />
}}<br />
A [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bad_map_projection_time_zones_2x.png double sized version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at the comic on xkcd.com.<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|[[#Table of countries and their time zones|Table]] now has all relevant countries and is sortable. But needs to be filled out for each country with explanation of its time zone and why it looks as it does on the map. (Especially those from title text needs explanation like that). Some of the info already given in the explanation could be moved to the table.}}<br />
<br />
This comic shows a {{w|Map projection|map projection}} in which countries are placed according to the {{w|Time zone|time zones}} that they fall under. This is thus the second comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] and it seems that [[Randall]], being Randall, runs with the idea as he has made yet another map projection that is not only inaccurate, but utterly unusable, though less so than the previous one.<br />
<br />
The first was released just over a month before this one and was called [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]]. "Liquid Resize" was #107, while this comic features #79. Since the ''liquid resize'' was purely aesthetic, whereas this one at least conveys some meaningful information it makes sense that this projection is ranked higher. <br />
<br />
Conceptually, the series is a comment on the fact that there is no perfect way to draw a map of the world on a flat piece of paper. Each one will introduce a different type of distortion, and the best projection for a given situation is sometimes very disputed. Randall previously explored 12 different projections in [[977: Map Projections]], and expressed his disdain for some types he sees as less efficient but whose users feel superior. None of them are really good as any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality, and a map projection that is useful for one aspect (like navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) will not be so for all the others. Local maps of smaller areas can be quite accurate, but the idea of both these map projection comics is to map the entire globe on a flat surface.<br />
<br />
Time zones are based on the way the Sun shines on the Earth, so these time zones, which are based on the sun's position in the sky, would best be divided by roughly longitudinal (North-to-South Pole) lines. However, this is not the case in practice, as the defined time zones tend to have very jagged boundaries, and furthermore some countries use a completely different time than the zones they are in, at least for some parts (see {{w|China}}). Since Randall knows he cannot fix the boundaries of the time zones, he instead "fixes" the world by making a map appear to match up with the time zone system, as shown in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1f/1799_Map_with_Labeled_time_zones.PNG this map], also posted in the [[#Map with Labeled time zones|trivia]]. This results in bizarre distortions such as the large, gum-like strands of {{w|Greenland}} (these are the towns of {{w|Danmarkshavn}} (UTC) and {{w|Ittoqqortoormiit}} (UTC-1), which use different time zones to the rest of the island) and three enormous gulfs in {{w|Russia}} (there is no oblast in Russia using those time zones, hence the giant gap). See also [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5b/1799_overlay.png this map] with a [[#Time zone map overlayed the comic|time zone map overlayed the comic]].<br />
<br />
The effect of this map is to "punish" large countries with a single time zone - for instance, China, which uses UTC+8 across the whole country - and countries that share large time zones - for instance, almost all of {{w|Europe}} is packed into the Central European UTC+1 zone - by shrinking these down. Conversely, countries that use multiple time zones without filling them out are stretched out - for example, the {{w|Democratic Republic of the Congo}} (DRC) and {{w|Mongolia}}, as pointed out in the title text - as are slim countries that do not fill out the full width of their time zones but where their neighbors use different timezones so they have to fill the entire width of their time zone. For instance {{w|Finland}} (also mentioned in the title text) and the {{w|Baltic countries}}, who look huge because their western and eastern neighbors do not use the UTC+2 Eastern Europe time, and thus have to fill out the distance between the countries that are pushed to the zones on their east/west borders.<br />
<br />
Other map projections distort countries this way as well, but based on their actual physical location as opposed to their position on imaginary time zones. The {{w|Mercator projection}} is infamous for distorting Greenland in this way, to the point that it appears to be larger than {{w|Africa}} despite being nowhere near the same size. <br />
<br />
See the [[#Table of countries and their time zones|table]] below for lots more information on the comic, but here are some further details.<br />
<br />
===Map imperfections===<br />
The map is imperfect for several reasons:<br />
<br />
Randall attempts to preserve adjacency where possible - for instance, Chad and Sudan are neighbors even though Chad uses West Africa Time (UTC+1) and Sudan uses East Africa Time (UTC+3). Randall draws an extremely thin strand connecting the countries through Central/South Africa Time (UTC+2), even though no part of Chad or Sudan uses this time. Similarly, a thin strand of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan is shown projecting into the UTC+4 time zone in order to separate Russia and Iran, which do not really share a border. Worst of all is China, which has to have borders to several countries that do not share the single eastern time zone of east China, which the whole China is forced to use. This makes it look like the {{w|Yangtze}} river has been drawn (and China is light blue) and that it has different time zone along the way. This is of course not the case, but just the most complicated preservation of adjacency shown in the map.<br />
<br />
There is no mention of daylight savings - all countries shown are given the base winter time. Depending on the time of year, countries will shift around - around June, many northern hemisphere countries will move east, while some southern hemisphere countries will move east around December. <br />
<br />
Since it doesn't allow for half-hour time zones (India, for instance, is on UTC+5.5). Instead, countries that use fractional time zones are shifted so they straddle the two time zones, and are then marked with an asterisk (*). <br />
<br />
Australia has most of these peculiar time zone as there is a section in the center of Australia with half hour time zone, so it's marked with the *, but it is not the entire country, so the * is not shown after the name as it is for instance with India and all other "*" marked countries except Canada which has a star on the island of Newfoundland in the east. Also, the only extra detail mentioned in the map is for Australia. It is the {{w|UTC%2B08:45|UTC+8:45}} time zone that are listed, used only by 5 roadhouses in South Australia and Western Australia covering a population of only a few hundred people.<br />
<br />
There are also several errors for instance with labeling in the map, see [[#Errors|below]].<br />
<br />
===Table of countries and their time zones===<br />
This sortable table includes all countries shown in the map, not just those are labeled, as well as the continents and some other regions are mentioned.<br />
<br />
The countries or continents are mentioned approximately in reading order. If a country is not labeled with full name the abbreviation is in brackets behind the name. If the country is not labeled, labeled wrong or not even shown in the comic, there is a note after the name. Countries labeled with a footnote by an asterisk (*) are shown together with that asterisk at the name.<br />
<br />
If a country has more than one time zone all are listed.<br />
<br />
====Table====<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Country/Continent<br />
! Time zone(s)<br />
! Distortions<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|North America}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-9 &ndash; UTC-3:30 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Canada}} || UTC-8 &ndash; UTC-3:30 || West coast is flattened, and the east coast is stretched out. || <br />
*Canada has two main distortions:<br />
** The west coast is on UTC-8 time, and shares a border with Alaska, which is UTC-9. In this map, the border is much further east than the real border and is straightened out. While the border between the Yukon Territory and Alaska is mostly straight at 141°W, the division between the time zones are at 127.5°W; and the border between British Colombia and Alaska is not straight.<br />
** On the east coast is the island of Newfoundland at UTC-3:30, which is marked with an asterisk; in the map it is depicted more eastward due to the extra half-hour difference. Also, the southeastern tip of Labrador shares the UTC-3:30 time zone, though not marked with an asterisk, it is stretched out to line up with the island of Newfoundland.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|United States}} || UTC+10, UTC+12, UTC-12 &ndash; UTC-4 || || Usage of time zones in U.S. territories is {{w|Time_in_the_United_States|complicated}}. The contiguous United States use times zones from UTC-5 (East Coast) to UTC-8 (West Coast), the State of {{w|Alaska}} uses UTC-9, and {{w|Puerto Rico}} uses UTC-4. These are the only parts shown on Randall's map. Other territories, not shown on the map, use the following time zones:<br />
* {{w|United States Virgin Islands}} use UTC-4.<br />
* {{w|Navassa Island}} and the disputed {{w|Bajo Nuevo Bank}} and {{w|Serranilla Bank}} use UTC-5.<br />
* The State of {{w|Hawaii}}, most of the {{w|Aleutian Islands}} and {{w|Johnston Atoll}} use UTC-10.<br />
* {{w|Jarvis Island}}, {{w|Midway Atoll}}, {{w|Palmyra Atoll}} and {{w|Kingman Reef}} all use UTC-11.<br />
* {{w|Baker Island}} and {{w|Howland Island}} use UTC-12.<br />
* {{w|Wake Island}} uses UTC+12.<br />
* {{w|Guam}} and the {{w|Northern Mariana Islands}} use UTC+10.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Mexico}} || UTC-8 &ndash; UTC-5 || Guadalajara and the Yucatan Peninsula are too far east || The east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula goes as far east as the Florida Keys here - this because the state of {{w|Quintana Roo}} is the only one to use UTC-5 (equivalent to US Eastern Time).<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Antilles}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-5 &ndash; UTC-4 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Cuba}} || UTC-5 || Looks fine. ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Haiti}} || UTC-5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Jamaica}} (Jam.) || UTC-5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Dominican Republic}} (D.R.) || UTC-4 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Guadeloupe}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-4 || || Not labeled. Tentatively identified as one of four dots in the Lesser Antilles region of Randall's map.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Dominica}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-4 || || Not labeled. Tentatively identified as one of four dots in the Lesser Antilles region of Randall's map.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Martinique}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-4 || || Not labeled. Tentatively identified as one of four dots in the Lesser Antilles region of Randall's map.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Saint Lucia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-4 || || Not labeled. Tentatively identified as one of four dots in the Lesser Antilles region of Randall's map.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Trinidad and Tobago}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-4 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Central America}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-6 || Squashed together ||Not labeled. Apart from Panama, all Central American countries use the same time zone. This means Panama is stretched out, while the other countries are pushed back west of Florida.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Guatemala}} (Gua.) || UTC-6 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Belize}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-6 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|El Salvador}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-6 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Honduras}} (Hon.) || UTC-6 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Nicaragua}} (Nic.) || UTC-6 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Costa Rica}} (C.R.) || UTC-6 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Panama}} (Pan.) || UTC-6 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|South America}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-5 &ndash; UTC-3 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Colombia}} || UTC-5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Venezuela}} || UTC-4 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Guyana}} || UTC-4 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|French Guiana}} (labeled Suriname) || UTC-3 || || Labeled incorrectly.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Suriname}}<br>(labeled F.G.) || UTC-3 || || Labeled incorrectly.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Ecuador}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-6 &ndash; UTC-5 || || Not labeled. UTC-6 is used only on {{w|Galápagos Islands}} (not shown).<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Peru}} || UTC-5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Brazil}} || UTC-5 &ndash; UTC-3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Bolivia}} || UTC-4 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Paraguay}} (Par.) || UTC-4 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Chile}} || UTC-5, UTC-3 || || UTC-5 is used only on {{w|Easter Island}} (not shown).<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Argentina}} || UTC-3 || ||This is stretched out vertically to fit the entire country into the UTC-3 timezone that it uses.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Uruguay}} || UTC-3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Europe}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC-4 &ndash; UTC+4 || Compressed with the countries of central and western Europe pressed closer in east-west direction while eastern countries are stretched in all directions. Iceland is moved east. Greenland is stretched horizontally and got strange protruding peninsulas. || Not labeled. Europe uses mostly UTC+1, which causes severe distortion. Disproportionally smaller areas utilize UTC&plusmn;0, UTC+2 and UTC+3. UTC-4, UTC-1 and UTC+4 are used only marginally. Greenland, even if it belongs to North America geographically, is counted here as well as it lies within the Denmark rule.<br />
<br />
* UTC-4 is used solely in {{w|Thule Air Base}} in western Greenland.<br />
* Only Greenland uses UTC-3, throughout most of its territory.<br />
* UTC-2 is not used at all.<br />
* {{w|Azores}}, being an autonomous region of Portugal, and a Greenland settlement of {{w|Ittoqqortoormiit}} observe UTC-1.<br />
* The United Kingdom and Ireland both use UTC&plusmn;0. {{w|Portugal}} is the only country in mainland Europe which uses UTC&plusmn;0 as well &ndash; that's why it sticks out a bit towards the British Isles which share the time zone with Portugal. Greenland's settlement of {{w|Danmarkshavn}} uses UTC&plusmn;0 as well, and {{w|Iceland}} is here, too.<br />
* Most of Europe uses UTC+1 but these countries in reality spread over a much larger area than just one zone. This is why central and western countries are so compressed. {{w|Svalbard}} archipelago in the Arctic Ocean also belongs here.<br />
* The eastern countries (except Belarus and the European part of Russia but not the Kaliningrad exclave) use UTC+2. These are: {{w|Finland}}, {{w|Latvia}}, {{w|Estonia}}, {{w|Lithuania}}, {{w|Belarus}}, {{w|Moldova}}, {{w|Ukraine}}, {{w|Bulgaria}}, {{w|Romania}}, {{w|Greece}} and {{w|Cyprus}}. In reality, they occupy a smaller area on the map, but on Randall's map they are stretched to fill the UTC+2 zone strip.<br />
* Belarus, most of the European part of Russia and Crimea use UTC+3. See below for peculiarities regarding Russia and Ukraine.<br />
* UTC+4 is used in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and some parts of Russia.<br />
<br />
Finland looks specifically distorted, partly because in reality it borders with {{w|Norway}} on the north, and Norway uses UTC+1. On Randall's map Norway is compressed into UTC+1 strip and Finland suddenly got some coast on Barents Sea. Poland (abbreviated ''POL.'' on the map) and Belarus (''BEL'') have common border but differ by two time zones, Poland uses UTC+1 but Belarus uses UTC+3 (Moscow time). Therefore on the map they have protruding 'fingers', touching one another, squeezed between Lithuania and Latvia on the north and Ukraine on the south. <br />
<br />
Randall got Turkey a bit wrong, however: its European part is stretched into UTC+2 zone, but in reality Turkey uses UTC+3 on its whole territory.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Greenland}}|| UTC-4 &ndash; UTC&plusmn;0 || Two landmasses stretched from the rest of the country || Greenland stretches from UTC-4 to UTC&plusmn;0 with most of the country being UTC-3. UTC-4 is only applicable to Thule Air Base in the southern part of the Hayes-Peninsula, while UTC-1 and UTC&plusmn;0 are used in smaller areas on the east coast of Greenland. Even though UTC-2 is not used in Greenland at all, the country is depicted as a single landmass with two small strips of land connecting the UTC-1 and UTC&plusmn;0 landmasses. These two strips should be considered infinitesimally thin but depicted to clarify the two areas are not separate islands but connected with the rest of Greenland.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Iceland}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || No shape distortions, but different location. || Iceland, even if it geographically lies mostly within the UTC-1 time zone, uses UTC&plusmn;0. It is therefore moved east on Randall's map.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Norway}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Sweden}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Finland}} || UTC+2 || Stretched horizontally because it borders Norway on the north, which uses UTC+1. ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Ireland}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || None. || Ireland uses UTC&plusmn;0 as the rest of British Isles.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|United Kingdom}} (UK) || UTC&plusmn;0 || None. || The country is fully within the single time zone used for the country. UK defined the time zones so their time zone is by definition the one with UTC&plusmn;0 (or GMT).<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Denmark}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Lithuania}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Latvia}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Estonia}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Belarus}} (Bel.) || UTC+3 || || Belarus lies entirely in the UTC+3 time zone yet the map depicts a small strip of land in the UTC+2 zone. This is most likely to allow for Belarus to have a common border with Poland even though the countries do not have two consecutive time zones (Poland uses UTC+1)<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Russia}} (First label) || UTC+2 &ndash; UTC+12 || || See Asia section for explanation. It is the only country labeled twice.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Netherlands}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Belgium}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Germany}} (Ger.) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Poland}} (Pol.) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Ukraine}} || UTC+2 (UTC+3 in disputed regions) || Crimea stretched away from the rest of the country. || Since the {{w|annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation}}, the peninsula has used Moscow time (UTC+3). The sovereignty of Crimea is disputed, but it is currently ''de facto'' controlled by Russia, and Randall colors it like Russia. Two breakaway provinces in the east, Donetsk and Luhansk, also use Moscow time. These are not shown.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|France}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Switzerland}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Austria}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Czech Republic}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Slovakia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Slovenia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Hungary}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Italy}} (It.) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Romania}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Moldova}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Portugal}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Spain}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Croatia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Bosnia and Herzegovina}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Serbia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Montenegro}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Albania}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Macedonia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Bulgaria}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Greece}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Cyprus}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Georgia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+4 || Squashed into thin horizontal strip. Merged with Azerbaijan. || Not labeled. Georgia uses UTC+4 but has coast on the {{w|Black Sea}} which on Randall's map is shown entirely within UTC+2 and UTC+3 zones. Therefore Georgia is depicted as a thin strip touching the Black Sea squashed between Russia and Turkey and the main part is shown as a slightly wider blob in the east supposedly lying in the UTC+4 strip. However in the process Georgia got some coast on the {{w|Caspian Sea}} in the place {{w|Azerbaijan}} shall be located, including the {{w|Absheron Peninsula}} with the Azerbaijani capital, {{w|Baku}}.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Azerbaijan}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+4 || Heavily shrunk, displaced south. || Not labeled. Most or all of the Azerbaijani territory including its capital area is mistakenly attributed to Georgia, see above. In reality, Azerbaijan is the only country with coast on the Caspian Sea between Russia and Iran. However, in the Randall's map there are two tiny patches touching the Caspian Sea just north of Iran. The northern one can be tentatively identified as Azerbaijan.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Armenia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+4 || Displaced east to Caspian Sea coast. || Not labeled. A tiny patch of land on the Caspian Sea coast just north of Iran can be tentatively identified as Armenia. However, Armenia ia a landlocked country in reality.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Africa}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC&plusmn;0 &ndash; UTC+3 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Western Sahara}} (labeled Morocco) || UTC&plusmn;0 || || Labeled incorrectly.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Tunisia}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Morocco}}<br>(labeled W.S.) || UTC&plusmn;0 || || Labeled incorrectly.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Algeria}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Mauritania}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Senegal}} (Sen.) || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Gambia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC&plusmn;0 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Mali}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Niger}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Libya}} || UTC+2 || Stretched vertically ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Egypt}} || UTC+2 || Stretched vertically ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Sudan}} || UTC+3 || Sudan and South Sudan (S.S.) are fully in UTC+3 zone, but in the map a little part of them has been stretched to meet the borders with Chad the Central African Republic which are in UTC+1. ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|South Sudan}} (S.S.) || UTC+3 || || See Sudan’s explanation.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Eritrea}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+3 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Guinea-Bissau}} (GB.) || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Guinea}} (Guin.) || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Burkina Faso}} (B.F.) || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Sierra Leone}} (S.L.) || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Liberia}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Côte d'Ivoire}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Ghana}} || UTC&plusmn;0 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Togo}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC&plusmn;0 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Benin}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+1 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Nigeria}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Chad}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Cameroon}} (Cam.) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Central African Republic}} (C.A.R.) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Ethiopia}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Somalia}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Equatorial Guinea}} (E.G.) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Gabon}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Republic of the Congo}} (R. of Congo) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Democratic Republic of the Congo}} (Dem. Rep. of the Congo) || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Rwanda}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Burundi}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Uganda}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+3 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Kenya}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Angola}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Zambia}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Malawi}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Tanzania}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Namibia}} || UTC+1 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Botswana}} (Bots.) || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Zimbabwe}} (Zimb.) || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Mozambique}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Madagascar}} || UTC+3 || None. || Madagascar has the correct shape and position.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|South Africa}} || UTC+2 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Lesotho}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Swaziland}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Asia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+3 &ndash; UTC+12 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Turkey}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Lebanon}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Syria}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Iraq}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Iran}}* || UTC+3:30 ||Is a bit inflated in the northeast corner. ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Israel}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Jordan}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+2 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Saudi Arabia}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Kuwait}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+3 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Qatar}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+3 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|United Arab Emirates}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+4 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Yemen}} || UTC+3 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Oman}} || UTC+4 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Russia}} (2nd label) || UTC+2 &ndash; UTC+12 || Three deep troughs almost cutting Russia into pieces, but not quite, also eastern parts stick out of proportion relative to Eastern Asian countries. || Only country with two labels. Russia has {{w|Time_in_Russia|a peculiar}} usage of time zones, therefore it is the most distorted country on Randall's map. It covers eleven time zones but uses them very unevenly. Each of {{w|Federal subjects of Russia|constituent entities}} of Russia (also called federal subjects) uses a specific time zone throughout its territory, the only exception being Yakutia, the largest administrative subdivision, which spans three time zones. The time zone assignments are quite arbitrary, however.<br />
* UTC+2 ({{w|Kaliningrad_Time|MSK-1}}) is used in {{w|Kaliningrad Oblast}} only, an {{w|exclave}} on {{w|Baltic Sea}} between {{w|Poland}} and {{w|Lithuania}}. On Randall's map it can be seen as a small green patch north-east of Poland.<br />
* UTC+3 ({{w|Moscow_Time|MSK+0}}) is used throughout most of the European part of Russia including Northern Caucasian republics, covering 49 constituent entities of the Russian Federation in total. These parts make up the easternmost mass of Russia on Randall's map, stretching from the {{w|Black Sea}} in the south including the area between the Black Sea and {{w|Caspian Sea}} to the {{w|White Sea|White}}, {{w|Barents Sea|Barents}} and {{w|Kara Sea|Kara}} seas in the north and includes the arctic archipelagoes of {{w|Novaya Zemlya}} and {{w|Franz Josef Land}} as seen in the upper part of the map.<br />
* UTC+4 ({{w|Samara_Time|MSK+1}}) is used in {{w|Udmurtia}}, {{w|Astrakhan Oblast}}, {{w|Samara Oblast}}, {{w|Saratov Oblast}} and {{w|Ulyanovsk Oblast}}, forming three disjoint areas lying more or less along the Ural mountains on their western side. Astrakhan Oblast has coast on the Caspian Sea. Saratov and Samara oblasts have a common border and lie somewhat to the north-east of Astrakhan Oblast. Udmurtia lies still somewhat to the north. On Randal's map they are represented by a patch of land north-east to the Caspian Sea. Further north there's a huge 'bay' reflecting the time-gap between northern parts of Russia that use either UTC+3 or UTC+5 but not UTC+4, even if they are adjacent to each other.<br />
* UTC+5 ({{w|Yekaterinburg_Time|MSK+2}}) is used by the administrative subdivisions lying on and close to {{w|Ural mountains}}, both on western and eastern sides of them, also covering major part of {{w|West_Siberian_Plain|Western Siberia}}. These include {{w|Bashkortostan}}, {{w|Perm Krai}}, {{w|Kurgan Oblast}}, {{w|Orenburg Oblast}}, {{w|Sverdlovsk Oblast}}, {{w|Tyumen Oblast}}, {{w|Chelyabinsk Oblast}}, {{w|Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug}} and {{w|Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug}}. The lands are represented on the Randall's map by the second-from-the-left major land mass within Russia. These parts border mostly with areas utilizing either UTC+3 or UTC+7, therefore Randall has drawn huge patches of sea on both sides. In the north, one can recognize somewhat distorted shapes of the {{w|Yamal Peninsula|Yamal}} and {{w|Gydan_Peninsula|Gydan}} peninsulas.<br />
* UTC+6 ({{w|Omsk_Time|MSK+3}}) is used solely in the {{w|Omsk Oblast}} in the southeastern {{w|Siberia}}, bordering {{w|Kazakhstan}}. On Randall's map it is shown as a strip of land joining the second and the third land mass from the left, just to the left of the ''RUSSIA'' inscription. However, taking into account the relatively small area of the Omsk Oblast, it should have been much thinner.<br />
* UTC+7 ({{w|Krasnoyarsk_Time|MSK+4}}) is used in federal subjects located in the central and parts of eastern and western Siberia: {{w|Altai Republic}}, {{w|Tuva}} Republic, Republic of {{w|Khakassia}}, {{w|Altai Krai}}, {{w|Krasnoyarsk Krai}}, {{w|Kemerovo Oblast}}, {{w|Novosibirsk Oblast}} and {{w|Tomsk Oblast}}. These lands border mostly with areas using non-adjacent time zones, namely UTC+5 and UTC+9, and therefore form the tallest pillar on the Randall's depiction of Russia between two large seas. This part of Randall's Russia also has a strange thin strip of land going south and touching China's tendril just between Kazakhstan and {{w|Mongolia}} &ndash; this is to represent the fact that there is a short length of Russian-Chinese border there. The rest of the border is depicted elsewhere, see below. {{w|Taymyr Peninsula}} and {{w|Severnaya Zemlya}} archipelago can be seen atop that area of the map.<br />
* UTC+8 ({{w|Irkutsk_Time|MSK+5}}) is used in {{w|Buryatia}} and {{w|Irkutsk Oblast}} only, which lie in eastern Siberia, on both sides of {{w|Lake Baikal}} (not shown on the map). This is represented by a patch located just northwest of a protruding fragment of China, which shares the time zone with these parts; however neither Buryatia nor Irkutsk Oblast border with China.<br />
* UTC+9 ({{w|Yakutsk_Time|MSK+6}}) is used in {{w|Amur Oblast}}, {{w|Zabaykalsky Krai}} and in most of Yakutia also known as the {{w|Sakha Republic}}. On Randall's map this time zone is joined together with the remaining three eastern time zones forming a strange shape connected to the rest of Asia with a weird-looking isthmus. This is actually the part of Russia that has the longest part of the border with China along the {{w|Amur River}}, but here it is torn away because of the strange map 'projection'. {{w|New Siberian Islands}} are depicted in the far north.<br />
* UTC+10 ({{w|Vladivostok_Time|MSK+7}}) is used in north-eastern parts of Yakutia, {{w|Jewish Autonomous Oblast}}, {{w|Khabarovsk Krai}} and {{w|Primorsky Krai}}. In reality these parts (except Yakutia) all border with China, all the way down to North Korea. On Randall's depiction they are torn away from Chinese border to represent time zone difference. The strange hook is the southernmost part of Primorsky Krai with the big haven of {{w|Vladivostok}}, the tip of the hook shall actually touch North Korea in reality.<br />
* UTC+11 ({{w|Magadan_Time|MSK+8}}) is used in extreme north-eastern parts of Yakutia, {{w|Magadan Oblast}} and {{w|Sakhalin Oblast}}. The {{w|Sakhalin}} island is clearly recognizable in this strip of the map, but it is far removed from {{w|Japan}} which lies next to it in reality. The shape of the {{w|Sea of Okhotsk}} is somewhat recognizable, and the location of {{w|Magadan}} is clearly seen as a small hook on the shoreline near Kamchatka.<br />
* UTC+12 ({{w|Kamchatka_Time|MSK+9}}) is used in {{w|Kamchatka Krai}} and {{w|Chukotka Autonomous Okrug}}. This is probably the least distorted part of Russia, the characteristic shapes of {{w|Kamchatka_Peninsula|Kamchatka}} and {{w|Chukchi_Peninsula|Chukchi}} peninsulas are totally recognizable.<br />
<br />
A notable thing is that Russian railways use Moscow time (UTC+3) exclusively, all timetables are expressed in this time, even in the most remote eastern parts of Russia. You'd better know your local time zone while awaiting your train at the station.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Kazakhstan}} || UTC+5 &ndash; UTC+6 || Vertically: stretched in eastern part, squeezed in western part. Horizontally: squeezed in eastern part, stretched in western part|| UTC+5 is used in the smaller western part and UTC+6 in the larger eastern part. The division goes more or less along the 60th meridian. On Randall's map Kazakhstan's shape is heavily distorted, because in the bordering Russia only one small part, namely Omsk oblast, uses UTC+6 &ndash; therefore the eastern part of Kazakhstan is squeezed to fit. On the other hand, the western part of Kazakhstan borders with parts of Russia using as far as UTC+3, which is depicted by a long west-reaching finger. Kazakhstan has a significant part of {{w|Caspian Sea}} coast, but here it has only a tiny stretch.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Mongolia}} || UTC+7 &ndash; UTC+8 || Vertically stretched in the western half as mentioned in the Title-Text ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Turkmenistan}} || UTC+5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Uzbekistan}} || UTC+5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Afghanistan}}* || UTC+4:30 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Tajikistan}} (Taj.) || UTC+5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Pakistan}} || UTC+5 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|India}}* || UTC+5:30 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Sri Lanka}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+5:30 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Nepal}}* || UTC+5:45 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Bhutan}}<br>(unreadable label) || UTC+6 || || Labeled unreadable.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|China}} || UTC+8 || Heavily squashed horizontally, with finger-like tendrils to the west || All of China is in UTC+8. However, it reaches as far west as Tajikistan, in UTC+5, and even has an extremely short border with Afghanistan in UTC+4.5. A border is also shown with Pakistan - this is disputed by some who support India in the {{w|Kashmir conflict}}, but represents the ''de facto'' {{w|Line of Control}} between India and Pakistan.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Taiwan}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+8 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|North Korea}}* (N.K.) || UTC+8:30 || || In the map North Korea is smushed West of South Korea because North Korea at the time of publication had a time zone that is set half an hour off from South Korea's time zone.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|South Korea}} (S.K.) || UTC+9 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Japan}} || UTC+9 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Bangladesh}} (Ban.) || UTC+6 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Myanmar|Burma}}* (Bur.) || UTC+6:30 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Laos}} || UTC+7 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Vietnam}} || UTC+7 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Thailand}} || UTC+7 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Cambodia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+7 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Philippines}} || UTC+8 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Oceania}}/{{w|Australia}}<br>(not labeled) || UTC+7 &ndash; UTC+12 || || Not labeled.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Malaysia}} || UTC+8 || Malaysia and {{w|Singapore}} (not shown) stretched East from the rest of peninsular Southeast Asia || Malaysia and Singapore both switched to using UTC+8 on 1 January 1982, after using GMT+7.30 under British rule and UTC+9 during the Japanese occupation. This change was due to Malaysia wanting to standardise time between East and West Malaysia, with Malaysia choosing to use the time in East Malaysia, with Singapore following suit.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Indonesia}} || UTC+7 &ndash; UTC+9 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Papua New Guinea}} || UTC+10 &ndash; UTC+11 || ||<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Australia}} || UTC+8, UTC+9:30, UTC+10 || || Although the UTC+8:45 region is acknowledged by local authorities, legally the region shares the same time zone as the rest of Western Australia, UTC+8.<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|New Zealand}} || UTC+12 || None. || The main islands use UTC+12. There is a small archipelago under New Zealand's rule, the {{w|Chatham Islands}}, which use non-standard UTC+12:45 time, but it is too small to depict.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Bad map projection #79:<br />
:<big>Time Zones</big><br />
:Where each country '''''should''''' be,<br />
:based on its time zone(<small>s</small>)<br />
<br />
:[A world map is shown divided and colored by political boundaries. There are many distortions, and especially Russia looks weird. Many countries have their name listed in a gray font and at the bottom below Australia there are two specialties mentioned for time zones which are not divided in full hours. One of these is a footnote used by other countries as well.]<br />
<br />
:[The labels are listed here in order of the "continents" as they come from top left to down right. Similarly within each continent's list the countries which are usually said to belong to a given continent (at least politically or partially, e.g. Greenland and Turkey in Europe) are listed in a similar reading order as accurately as possible.]<br />
<br />
:[North America. (Newfoundland, the most easterly part of Canada, is labeled with a star *):]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Canada, *, United States, Mexico, Gua., Hon., Nic., C.R., Pan., Cuba, Haiti, Jam., D.R.</span><br />
<br />
:[South America:]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, F.G., Suriname, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Par., Chile, Argentina, Uruguay</span><br />
<br />
:[Europe. (Russia is as the only country mentioned twice, the other place is over the central part in the Asia section):]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, UK, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bel., Russia, Ger., Pol., Ukraine, France, It., Romania, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey</span><br />
<br />
:[Africa:]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">W.S., Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Sen., Mali, Niger, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Gb., Guin., B.F., S.L., Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Chad, Cam., C.A.R., S.S., Ethiopia, Somalia, E.G., Gabon, R. of Congo, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Kenya, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia, Bots., Zimb., Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa</span><br />
<br />
:[Asia. (Russia is the only country mentioned twice, the other label is within the European border. The text written over Bhutan is unreadable in the image and marked with a question mark in this list):]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran*, Oman, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan*, Taj., Pakistan, India*, Nepal*, ?, China, N.K.*, S.K., Japan, Ban., Bur.*, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines</span><br />
<br />
:[Oceania/Australia. (In Australia there is a star * in the middle of it above the name):]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, <nowiki>*</nowiki>, Australia, New Zealand</span><br />
<br />
:[Below Australia there is an arrow pointing to the south coast and below that a footnote for the stars * used above:]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">UTC+8:45</span><br />
:<span style="color: gray;">(One small area)</span><br />
<br />
:<span style="color: gray;"><nowiki>*</nowiki>=Half-hour offset</span><br />
<br />
*'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed description:<br />
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"><br />
<br><br />
:[There are no more text from the comic here below:]<br />
<br />
:[A world map is shown divided and colored by political boundaries. Antarctica is not included. Bodies of water are white. The map is clearly distorted, with Europe and Africa in the center, but not all continents or countries look wrong. Africa, Australia and North America seem least distorted. But the bottom part of of South America is very slim, Greenland has two chewing gum like blobs stretched away from it to the right, Iceland is over the UK, and most of Europe has been compressed. Finland is too large though. In Africa especially Dem. Rep. the Congo has been enlarged. The worst distortion is in Asia, where especially Russia looks weird with three deep troughs down the length of the country and the end to the right seems to be much longer than usually. But also China is completely wrong as it has been compressed, Mongolia taking up most of its usual position.]<br />
<br />
:[Most countries over a certain size have their name listed in a gray font. Small countries like Ireland and Haiti has their name listed in the oceans around them. Most other countries have the name inside the country, but if there is not enough room abbreviations are used. There are also a few specialties mentioned when time zones are not divided in full hours, for instance a footnote regarding time zones with a half hour offset.]<br />
</div><br />
<br><br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
===Errors===<br />
* Mixing labels:<br />
** Randall mixes up Morocco and Western Sahara (a disputed territory)<br />
** Suriname and French Guiana also have switched labels.<br />
*Wrong time zones:<br />
** {{w|East Thrace}}, the European portion of Turkey, is shown in Eastern European time (UTC+2). Actually, like the rest of Turkey, it uses UTC+3.<br />
** Nepal's time zone is UTC+5:45<br />
** {{w|Thule Air Base}} in northwestern Greenland follows UTC-4 rather than UTC-3, and should thus be shown on a tendril to the west, directly above Labrador and the rest of Atlantic Canada; instead, it is shown using UTC-3, like most of the rest of Greenland. This is especially strange considering that Randall has correctly drawn {{w|Danmarkshaven}} as using UTC and {{w|Ittoqqortoormiit}} as using UTC-1.<br />
* Borders and adjacency are not always preserved although often attempted as mentioned in the section on [[#Map imperfections|map imperfections]]:<br />
** Estonia is shown sharing a border with Finland - in fact, the two countries are separated by the {{w|Gulf of Finland}}. This sea should run to {{w|St Petersburg}} in Russia - instead, the city is shown as landlocked.<br />
** Norway should border Russia. See {{w|Norway–Russia border}}.<br />
** Azerbaijan territory is mistakenly attributed to Georgia &ndash; Georgia should not have coast on the Caspian Sea. Armenia should not have coast on the Caspian Sea as well.<br />
** Tajikistan should not border Kazakhstan and follows UTC+5 rather than UTC+6. These would apply to Kyrgyzstan, which is not drawn in the map; Kyrgyzstan, however, does not border Afghanistan.<br />
** Malawi has lost its border with Tanzania.<br />
<br />
===Omissions===<br />
Some countries and territories are missing from the map. Most of these omissions are undoubtedly deliberate, but some are likely mistakes.<br />
<br />
* Countries supposedly too small to show on the map's scale are omitted. These include small European countries: {{w|Andorra}}, {{w|Kosovo}}, {{w|Liechtenstein}}, {{w|Luxembourg}}, {{w|Malta}}, {{w|Monaco}}, {{w|San Marino}} and the {{w|Vatican City}}, {{w|Djibouti}} in Africa, {{w|Singapore}} in Asia.<br />
* All the Pacific Ocean isles, including {{w|Hawaii}}.<br />
* All Atlantic and Indian Ocean isles excluding {{w|Sri Lanka}} and {{w|Madagascar}}.<br />
* Most of the small Caribbean countries and territories; however four small dots in the {{w|Lesser Antilles}} are depicted, but are unlabelled and cannot be definitively identified.<br />
* Kyrgyzstan is clearly omitted by mistake.<br />
<br />
===Map with Labeled time zones===<br />
*[[:File:1799 Map with Labeled time zones.PNG| Here]] is a map with labeled time zones, made by a user who posted the link in the [[#Discussion|discussion]].<br><br />
<br />
===Time zone map overlayed the comic===<br />
*And [[:File:1799_overlay.png| here]] is an attempt that shows a {{w|time zone}} map overlayed with the comic.<br><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2050:_6/6_Time&diff=186194Talk:2050: 6/6 Time2020-01-19T08:16:06Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
This is actually how time worked in ancient Greece, minus the 6 o'clock part. Sunrise was at 12, sunset at 12 and the length of each hour varied depending on the part of the year [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.163|172.68.189.163]] 16:15, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not just Greece but most of medeaval Europe. The concept of a fixed length hour only arises with clockwork. that Noon, the ninth hour, now occurs at the sixth hour - that we call 12 - is mainly due to post black death labour shortages. {{unsigned|Arachrah}}<br />
<br />
: Also ancient Rome. I ''think'' Romans borrowed this system from Greeks and it later spread along with the Roman Empire's influence. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.10.22|172.68.10.22]] 16:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: To be fair, the Romans "borrowed" (stole) a lot of other things from the Greeks, not the least of which was their pantheon. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 18:21, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: Or rather, both descended from a common pantheon. (A few gods were re-borrowed wholesale, like Apollo, and I think a few were misidentified, but for the most part this is how it worked.) - [[User:CRGreathouse|CRGreathouse]] ([[User talk:CRGreathouse|talk]]) 16:57, 26 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Before clockwork (as mentioned above) was created, variable hours/minutes/seconds were necessary (at least during daylight hours) as the sundial obviously <sup>({{w|citation needed}})</sup> is just based off of the sun's angle in the sky.[[User:Rajakiit|Raj-a-Kiit]] ([[User talk:Rajakiit|talk]]) 17:42, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Wait ... labor shortage? How would moving noon help with labor shortage? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:41, 25 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Some facts: {{w|September equinox}} was at 01:54 UTC on September 23 when in the entire US it still was September 22 as can be seen here: [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/seasons?year=2018&tz=-5&dst=1 U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department (Apsides and Seasons 2018)]. This comic was released two days later. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:32, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could the timing of this comic be related to the [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45366390 EU voting to end DST within its borders?] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.100|108.162.241.100]] 16:51, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
:This isn't about daylight saving time, which just moves clocks forwards and backwards by one hour in most cases. Cueball refers to an equinox when day and night are both 12 hours. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:05, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
:: This comic is about "unfixably messy and complicated" time standards (of which DST is one) at least as much as equinoxes (which aren't quite what you say they are; I won't get a 12-hour interval between sunrise and sunset at my latitude for another few days yet). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.220|108.162.241.220]] 19:51, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
The hours/minutes/seconds get really short/long in the polar regions. {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.243}}<br />
<br />
The caption can also be referring to the alteration of time zones for political reasons, such as China having only one now rather than the five it used to use, or the Republic of Kiribati pushing the International Date Line east of its entire territory.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.140|172.69.22.140]] 17:50, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Here is a YouTube video explaining the Japanese system (and how they created mechanical clocks to support it) - [https://youtu.be/3iclecbIgN0?t=135 Begin Japanology - Clocks and Watches]. -- [[User:Dhericean|Dhericean]] ([[User talk:Dhericean|talk]]) 18:15, 24 September 2018 (UTC) <br />
<br />
Swatch time: Still more sensible than any other division of the day I've ever heard. <br />
<br />
Seriously though, isn't it about time we all switched to metric? 10 segments in a day, not 24. 100 units in a segment. Straightforward, easy to figure pay rates, & pretty simple to convert to & from. <br />
<br />
Increments of 24 & 60 have no relevance to anything these days. The only reason to continue using a 24hr day is because "that's how it's been done for ages" & that's no excuse for anything. <br />
<br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:23, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
:I wouldn't mind redefining the division of a day. My problem would be with redefining the second, which would necessarily be a consequence of switching to metric time, and thus also the three base and nineteen derived SI units that depend on the current definition of s.<br />
:If you can switch us to metric time without redefining the length of a second, nor having an excessive number of leap seconds, I'm all for that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.118|108.162.241.118]] 21:19, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
::Sure, quit worrying about what "day" it is. This probably won't be practical until most of the population is living off-world, but there's a bunch of SF novels where time is simply measured in "seconds", people say "back in a kilosec" and stuff like that. -- [[User:Resuna|Resuna]] ([[User talk:Resuna|talk]]) 13:08, 27 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
:The length of a day isn't even constant. If you had even divisions, the length of those divisions would be changing constantly. "'It's been done that way for ages' is no excuse" is irrelevant reasoning. A consistent system of time is needed (because good luck updating every computer constantly), and any one consistent method is as good as another because they can all be converted to each other (much like feet and meters can be). The one that's been in use the longest tends to have the most support. It's similar to how people don't have much of a reason to change keyboard layouts even though QWERTY or AZERTY or whatever regional preference may not actually be the most efficient. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.210.34|172.69.210.34]] 23:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:{{w|Decimal time|You are not first with this idea}}. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:51, 25 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:No way. There is a very good excuse for using the current system and it's "everybody is using it". Getting the entire globe to agree on ''any'' standard is next to impossible, let's not fracture it by advocating a new system and end up with [[927:_Standards]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.254.192|172.68.254.192]] 08:25, 1 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Here's a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY Youtube video] that talks about just how bad time systems can get. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.210.34|172.69.210.34]] 23:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Jewish practice today still uses the system of relative hours (see Wikipedia quotes, below). The earliest and latest times where various prayers must be said, and a variety of other time-based obligations are based on specific numbers of relative hours since dawn. Most of the time, this isn't a problem, but Jews living in extreme latitudes can find this very difficult. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 15:59, 25 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Weird numbers and the metric system? Before you try to get rid of 24 and 60 from time, why not get rid of the weird number that runs all through the metric system: 10. It really doesn't have any relevance except to a fluke of biology. And don't forget, they started with one ten millionth of the distance from the north pole to the equator, through Paris. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 20:17, 25 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Some ICs use 65536 "seconds" per day internally, for example, 6AM is 0x4000 and 6PM is 0xC000. {{unsigned ip|162.158.106.126}}<br />
<br />
Could this also possibly relate to the quote "Even a broken clock is right twice a day," except in this case, it's twice a year? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.145|173.245.52.145]] 20:50, 29 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''From Wikipedia'''<br />
<br />
In Judaism, an hour is defined as 1/12 of the time from sunrise to sunset, so, during the winter, an hour can be much less than 60 minutes, and during the summer, it can be much more than 60 minutes. This proportional hour is known as a sha'ah z'manit (lit. "temporal hour" [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/temporal_hour]]). A Jewish hour is divided into 1080 halakim (singular: helek) or parts. A part is 3⅓ seconds or 1/18 minute. The ultimate ancestor of the helek was a small Babylonian time period called a barleycorn, itself equal to 1/72 of a Babylonian time degree (1° of celestial rotation).[6] These measures are not generally used for everyday purposes. {{unsigned|Kg}}<br />
<br />
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar#Day_and_hours Wikipedia: Hebrew Calendar: Days and hours]<br />
<br />
Also:<br />
<br />
In old times, the hour was detected by observation of the position of the sun, or when the first three stars appeared in the night sky. During the first six hours of the day, the sun is seen in the eastern sky. At the sixth hour, the sun is always at its zenith in the sky, meaning, it is either directly overhead, or parallel (depending on the hemisphere). Those persons living in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun at noon time will appear overhead slightly towards the south, whereas for those living in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun at noon time will appear overhead slightly towards the north. From the 6th and a half hour to the 12th hour, the sun inclines towards the west, until it sets. The conclusion of a day at the end of twilight may slightly vary in minutes from place to place, depending on the elevation and the terrain. Typically, nightfall ushers in more quickly in the low-lying valleys, than it does on a high mountaintop.<br />
<br />
The conventional Jewish way of calibrating the time of day is to reckon the "first hour" of the day with the rise of dawn (Hebrew: עמוד השחר), that is to say, approximately 72 minutes before sunrise, and the end of the day commencing shortly after sunset when the first three medium-size stars have appeared in the night sky. From the moment of sunset when the sun is no longer visible until the appearance of the first three medium-size stars is a unit of time called evening twilight (Hebrew: בין השמשות). In the Talmud, twilight is estimated at being the time that it takes a person to walk three quarters of a biblical mile (i.e. 1,500 cubits, insofar that a biblical mile is equal to 2,000 cubits). According to Maran's Shulhan Arukh, a man traverses a biblical mile in 18 minutes, meaning, one is able to walk three quarters of a mile in 13½ minutes. According to Maimonides, a man walks a biblical mile in 24 minutes, meaning, three quarters of a mile is done in 18 minutes. In Jewish law, the short period of dusk or twilight (from the moment the sun has disappeared over the horizon until the appearance of the first three stars) is a space of time whose designation is doubtful, partly considered day and partly considered night. When the first medium-size star appears in the night sky, it is still considered day; when the second star appears, it is an ambiguous case. When the third star appears, it is the beginning of the first hour of the night. Between the break of dawn and the first three medium-size stars that appear in the night sky there are always 12 hours.<br />
<br />
In the Modern Age of astral science and of precise astronomical calculations, it is now possible to determine the length of the ever-changing hour by simple mathematics. To determine the length of each relative hour, one needs but simply know two variables: (a) the precise time of sunrise, and (b) the precise time of sunset. Since the actual day begins approximately 72 minutes before sunrise, and ends 13½ minutes after the sun has already set and can no longer be seen over the horizon (according to Maran), or 18 minutes (according to Maimonides), by collecting the total number of minutes in any given day and dividing the total number of minutes by 12, the dividend that one is left with is the number of minutes to each hour. In summer months, when the days are long, the length of each hour during daytime can be as much as 77 minutes or more, whereas the length of each hour during nighttime can be less than 42 minutes.<br />
<br />
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_hour_(Jewish_law) Wikipedia: Relative hour (Jewish law)] {{unsigned|Shamino}}<br />
<br />
'''Compound time'''<br />
<br />
It struck me that 6/6 would be a musical time signature with six beats each of wich were a sixth note - so someing like dotted quaver. {{unsigned|Arachrah}}<br />
<br />
'''Similarity in Temperature'''<br />
<br />
The arbitrary selection of sunrise and sunset seems to take stab at how celsius is defined - at freezing and boiling points of water (at least before 1954), which can also shift with elevation. But of course fahrenheit is even worse. [[User:Colonelheero|Colonelheero]] ([[User talk:Colonelheero|talk]]) 19:12, 25 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''Corrections required'''<br />
<br />
The second paragraph is just wrong in stating that sunrise and sunset are determined by longitude. The time of sunrise and sunset vary both by longitude and latitude. Picture the nearly sinewave shape of the terminator line on a Mercator map. Only when the sun crosses the ecliptic does the terminator become a "square wave" and the sunrise and sunset are the same regardless of latitude.<br />
<br />
Also the statement that at 12am the sun isn't always at the zenith is a strong understatement; 12am is midnight and the sun would be closer to the nadir point than to the zenith point. The correction would be to refer to 12pm. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.179|172.69.70.179]] 01:48, 26 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
Here's an [https://www.majah.de/6-6_clock/ implementation] of that clock. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.233|162.158.91.233]] 13:52, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[https://blog.plover.com/calendar/Greek-clock.html Here's a blog post] on this from 2016, which describes it as Greek time. It contains code for the clock as well. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 08:16, 19 January 2020 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2003:_Presidential_Succession&diff=1861332003: Presidential Succession2020-01-17T11:10:55Z<p>Arcorann: If we're looking at date of publication we know how many eligible citizens there are, more or less</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2003<br />
| date = June 6, 2018<br />
| title = Presidential Succession<br />
| image = presidential_succession.png<br />
| titletext = Ties are broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The {{w|United States presidential line of succession}} is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Presidential_Succession_Act#Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947|Presidential Succession Act of 1947}} was an act by the U.S. Congress that revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This Act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, it is unclear whether members of Congress can be designated in the line of succession. Secondly, the Act allows for a cabinet officer to be "replaced" as acting President by a new Speaker of the House or a new President Pro Tempore of the Senate.<br />
<br />
An additional concern regarding the Act is that after the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the line of succession list the members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established with the oldest departments first, irrespective of the Secretary's personal fitness or appropriateness of the office. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003), the Secretary of Homeland Security is all the way at the bottom of the current Presidential line of succession at 18th, behind other Secretaries such as that of Agriculture (9th) and Education (16th).<br />
<br />
Another practical concern is that, by including the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate immediately after the Vice President, there is a serious risk that the simultaneous death of the President and Vice President could cause the Presidency to change to the opposing party, which (in the current American political climate) could lead to serious political instability at the precise moment when the country is facing a national crisis, and could even encourage assassinations.<br />
<br />
The full text of the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission can be found here: <https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_continuity_of_government.pdf>. A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is here: <https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-continuity-of-the-presidency-the-second-report-of-the-continuity-of-government-commission/>. The first 6 members of the commission's list are included in the current line of succession, after which they specificy that 5 new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of succeeding the presidency if needed. Randall's list begins with these 11 people (stuffing all 5 of the new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list continues with more politicians, actors who have played Presidents, athletes, and others. <br />
<br />
Randall's list omits the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, as well as many other cabinet positions. He is probably simply following the commission's report in this. But perhaps he does not find those people qualified to become President of the United States, or is concerned about the constitutionality of lawmakers becoming President. However, he does not seem to be concerned about constitutionality, because he included the entire line of succession to the British throne, most of whom do not meet the requirement to be a natural-born citizen of the United States.{{Citation needed}} {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_5:_Qualifications_for_office|Article Two of the US Constitution}} establishes that the President must be a "{{w|Natural-born-citizen clause|natural-born}}" US citizen at least 35 years of age and had lived in the US for the last 14 years.<br />
<br />
Randall's list includes several other people who also might not be eligible to become President either because they are not natural-born U.S. citizens (e.g., as of the time of the comic's publication, {{w|Serena Williams}} had withdrawn from her last match in the {{w|French Open}} to {{w|Maria Sharapova}}, who is Russian) or they are under 35 years of age ({{w|Russell Westbrook}}, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player at the time of the comic's publication, was only 29 years old). These would mainly be athletes due to the relatively global reach of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and the fact that 35 is quite old for a professional athlete, let alone one who is good enough to win the league MVP. Presumably, those who wouldn't qualify for the office of President would be skipped over like in real life -- at the comic's publication, {{w|Elaine Chao}} was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.<br />
<br />
The title text mentions whoever was closest to the surface of {{w|Europa}} when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter and one of the most likely locations in the Solar System for {{w|Habitability of natural satellites|potential habitability}}. Nevertheless it's a completely meaningless way of settling a tie. However, depending on the relative positions of Earth and Jupiter when you were born, you could easily have been tens of millions of kilometers closer. Alternatively, Randall could be playing on how Europa sounds like Europe.<br />
<br />
==Order of succession==<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
!#<br />
!Randall's order<br />
!Current order by the 1947 Act<br />
!Notes<br />
|-<br />
|1<br />
|{{w|POTUS|President}}<br />
|President<br />
|Not generally considered part of the line of succession, as incumbents cannot "succeed" to their own post. (This should really be item 0 on the list.)<br />
|-<br />
|2<br />
|{{w|POTUS|Vice president}}<br />
|Vice president<br />
|No change<br />
|-<br />
|3<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State}}<br />
|Speaker of the House of Representatives<br />
|Moved up from 5th position. This is likely a serious suggestion. Existing rules of succession hand Executive power to the leaders of the Legislative branch if the President and Vice-President are both killed or removed from power. This is troubling for a number of reasons. One is that the Executive and Legislative branches are supposed to act as independent checks on one another's power, and so are supposed to be kept separate. Another issue is that the Executive and Legislative branches are frequently controlled by political rivals from different political parties. In such a case, assassins could effectively reverse the results of Presidential elections if they managed to kill the President and Vice-President in a short period of time (which is used as part of the twist ending in ''{{w|White House Down}}''). Additionally, leaders of the House and Senate aren't as deeply connected to the military and diplomatic missions of the country, and so would have a hard time maintaining continuity, particularly if an attack or disaster killed multiple national leaders at once. These problems could all be addressed by keeping the initial Line of Succession confined to the Executive branch of government. <br />
|-<br />
|4<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense}}<br />
|{{w|President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate}}<br />
|Moved up from 7th position<br />
|-<br />
|5<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Secretary of Homeland Security}}<br />
|Secretary of State<br />
|Moved up from 19th position, possibly to highlight the Attorney General's place in the current order<br />
|-<br />
|6<br />
|{{w|United States Attorney General|Attorney General}}<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury}} <br />
|Moved up from 8th position<br />
|-<br />
|7<br />
|Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate<br />
|Secretary of Defense<br />
|{{w|Washington, D.C.}} is the capital of the United States, and is where the {{w|White House}}, the President's residence, is located. Presumably this provision covers the case where much of the government, including positions 1–6 here, are killed by a natural disaster or attack in Washington, D.C.<br />
<br />
This suggestion establishes no qualifications for these people, but the fact that they'd need to be confirmed by the Senate suggests that they would be chosen to be competent for the role. It is also unclear if an order is determined among these five or if they take up a joint presidency. This suggestion is taken from the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission as a potential mechanism to ensure members of succession are not in Washington DC during a catastrophic attack.<br />
|-<br />
|8<br />
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}<br />
|Attorney General<br />
|Academy Award-winning American actor. This is the first unambiguously unserious suggestion.{{Citation needed}} Tom Hanks is very popular and considered exceptionally likeable by many Americans, but has never served in public office or displayed any particular affinity for politics. He has also never played a president, though he has received a {{w|Presidential Medal of Freedom}}, and appeared in a {{w|Last Week Tonight with John Oliver}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyPRssh2rk0 skit], where he rallies five (wax) presidents to action. The implication is that Mr. Hanks would be easily accepted as a leader, based solely on his personal charm. <br />
|-<br />
|9<br />
|State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior}}<br />
|Also taken from Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission. At the time of publication, the last {{w|United States Census}} was the 2010 Census. As California is the most populous state, its Governor ({{w|Jerry Brown}} at the time of publication) would have been first in line. <br />
<br />
See also the {{w|2010_United_States_Census#State_rankings|state population rankings}} and the {{w|list of current United States governors}}. As worded, this criterion would exclude territorial governors (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.).<br />
|-<br />
|10<br />
|Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture}}<br />
|Oscars, or {{w|Academy Awards}}, are annual film awards awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of publication, the only Oscar awarded for playing a governor was {{w|Broderick Crawford}}'s 1949 Best Actor award for the fictional Willie Stark in ''{{w|All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men}}'' (a character based on {{w|Huey Long}}). However, Crawford died in 1986, so would be unable to serve as President.<br />
<br />
May be a reference to the {{w|Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger}}: a highly-lauded actor who became governor of California, but did not win an Oscar or play a governor before being elected. (As a naturalized citizen, he is also ineligible for the Presidency.)<br />
|-<br />
|11<br />
|Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce}} <br />
|The {{w|Governors Awards}} are an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to present lifetime achievement awards within the film industry. As this award is a lifetime achievement award, it does not seem possible that an actor could win this award for simply playing someone named Oscar. Notwithstanding the nature of the award, at the time of publication, no recipient of a Governors Award has played a character named Oscar.<br />
<br />
Obviously, the joke is that changing the order of the words from the previous proposal produces something that could actually exist.<br />
|-<br />
|12<br />
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}, if available<br />
|Secretary of Labor<br />
|Comedic actress famous for being a cast member on {{w|Saturday Night Live}}. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She has recently done impersonations of members of the Trump administration including Spokeswoman {{w|Kellyanne Conway}} and Attorney General {{w|Jeff Sessions}}. She also played {{w|Hillary Clinton}} during the 2016 campaign and presumably would have played her when she was President had she won; but since Clinton lost, McKinnon has not actually played a President.<br />
|-<br />
|13<br />
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)<br />
|Secretary of Health and Human Services <br />
|The {{w|Billboard Hot 100}} is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. The weekly data is aggregated into a cumulative {{w|Billboard Year-End}} (based on a "year" that ends the third week of November, in order to meet December publication deadlines). At the time of publication, the most recent such list was the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017}}.<br />
<br />
Based on that list, the artists considered for the presidential succession would be: {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Luis Fonsi}}, {{w|Bruno Mars}}, {{w|Kendrick Lamar}}, Alex Pall (of {{w|The Chainsmokers}}), {{w|Quavo|Quavoius Keyate Marshall}} (of {{w|Migos}}), {{w|Sam Hunt}}, {{w|Dan Reynolds}} (of {{w|Imagine Dragons}}), and {{w|Post Malone}}. There are only nine names instead of ten because The Chainsmokers had two of the top 10 singles in 2017. Of these, only Luis Fonsi (40 years old, born in Puerto Rico) was legally eligible for the office; all the others were too young, and Sheeran is additionally from the United Kingdom.<br />
|-<br />
|14<br />
|The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time<br />
|Secretary of Housing and Urban Development <br />
|Astronauts are highly respected and rigorously selected, but most have little involvement in politics. According to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders NASA], the top 5 US astronauts by cumulative space time at the time of publication were: {{w|Peggy Whitson}}, {{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}, {{W|Scott Kelly (astronaut)|Scott Kelly}}, {{w|Mike Fincke}}, and {{w|Mike Foale}}. However, it is unclear whether Foale would qualify as a natural-born citizen, as he was born in the United Kingdom to a British father and American mother.<br />
|-<br />
|15<br />
|{{w|Serena Williams}} (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)<br />
|Secretary of Transportation<br />
|As of the time of publication, Serena Williams was a top female tennis player. She is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all-time, winning 39 {{w|Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam}} titles, including 23 women's singles titles. At the time of publication Serena Williams did win her most recent match (2018 French Open, third round, on June 2nd), although she withdrew from her next match against Maria Sharapova (which perhaps should count as a loss, especially if she withdrew in order to preserve her place in the line of succession and killed everyone in place ahead of her).<br />
<br />
If her most recent defeat was to a non-US player, presumably she would be skipped over in line although this is not explicitly stated (the current succession list skips over anyone who would not normally qualify for not being a natural-born US citizen).<br />
|-<br />
|16<br />
|The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs<br />
|Secretary of Energy<br />
|MVP stands for {{w|Most Valuable Player}}. The 4 listed leagues are the major sports leagues in the United States, the {{w|National Basketball Association}} (NBA), the {{w|National Football League}} (NFL), {{w|Major League Baseball}} (MLB), and the {{w|National Hockey League}} (NHL). We're assuming that Randall meant the regular season MVPs of each league, as each league also awards MVPs for their respective championships (or in the case of the NHL's {{w|Conn Smythe Trophy}}, their entire playoffs).<br />
<br />
As of the time of publication, the most recent MVPs for the listed sports were {{w|Russell Westbrook}} (NBA), {{w|Tom Brady}} (NFL), {{w|José Altuve}} and {{w|Giancarlo Stanton}} (MLB has two, one for the American League and one for the National League), and {{w|Connor McDavid}} (NHL). Of these, only Brady would qualify for the list - Altuve and McDavid are Venezuelan and Canadian citizens respectively, and Westbrook (29) and Stanton (28) were too young.<br />
|-<br />
|17<br />
|{{w|Bill Pullman}} and his descendants by absolute primogeniture<br />
|Secretary of Education <br />
|American actor, known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1996 film ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}''. <br />
<br />
Absolute primogeniture is a form of succession where the oldest direct descendant regardless of gender receives the title. This is contrasted to {{w|Male-preference primogeniture}}, in which males come before females in the order of the throne, whether the males were born first or not. This may be a reference to the British law {{w|Succession to the Crown Act 2013}}, which changed the order of the throne from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This act allows {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Princess Charlotte}} to retain her place in line before {{w|Prince Louis of Cambridge|Prince Louis}}. <br />
<br />
At the time of publication, Pullman's immediate descendants consisted of three children, with Maesa Pullman being the oldest at age 29. Thus all but Bill Pullman himself were too young for the presidency.<br />
|-<br />
|18<br />
|The entire line of succession to the British throne<br />
|Secretary of Veterans Affairs <br />
|According to the Constitution, only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President, which means that at least most of the line of succession to the British throne is ineligible. However, it is possible that someone in the line of succession to the British throne either is a dual citizen (especially one who is a U.S. citizen based on place of birth and a British citizen based on having a parent who was a British citizen descended from {{w|Sophia of Hanover}}) or is not British (a person from outside of Britain can become King; for example, some, including George I, were from what is now Germany). <br />
<br />
The first 59 names on the list are {{w|Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession|here}}. [https://lineofsuccession.co.uk/?date=2018-06-06 British Line of Succession on 6 June 2018] shows the list as it was at the comic's publication. American citizens [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-11/news/vw-42233_1_royal-house have, at times] been on the list, but no natural-born Americans were on the list when the comic was published. However, after this comic was published {{w|Archie Mountbatten-Windsor}} was born on May 6, 2019; he is currently seventh in the line of succession to the British throne and has US citizenship through his mother {{w|Meghan, Duchess of Sussex}}. As with Mark Foale, though, whether that qualifies as natural-born has not be tested (leaving aside his age and the fact that many royals in his position have historically relinquished their birthright US citizenship voluntarily, which he may choose to do once he reaches age 16). In theory, the full British succession list includes [http://www.wargs.com/essays/succession/2011.html several thousand people] (living descendants of {{w|Sophia of Hanover}} who are not Roman Catholic or otherwise disqualified), and it is possible that one or more such people would also be eligible to be President of the United States beyond Master Archie. <br />
<br />
The humor here derives from the fact that the United States was established by declaring independence from the United Kingdom, with rejection of the British monarchy being a basic founding principle, and a core principle of US governance. To appoint the British monarchy to the American presidency would contradict the basic goals of American independence. Alternatively, it may reference the recent wedding of {{w|Prince Harry}} to {{w|Meghan Markle}}, although she is not in the order of succession to the British throne. A similar sequence of events was the plotline of the comedy film ''{{w|King Ralph}}'', which saw an American become the British monarch after the death of the royal family.<br />
|-<br />
|19<br />
|The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest<br />
|Secretary of Homeland Security<br />
|The {{w|Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest}} is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition sponsored by {{w|Nathan's Famous}} held on July 4th. As of the time of publication, the most recent men's winner was {{w|Joey Chestnut}} and the women's winner was {{w|Miki Sudo}}. At the time of publication, neither was old enough to assume the office.<br />
<br />
The comic does not specify whether the men's or women's winner should take office, creating a tie that would be broken by distance from Europa at birth. Had they both been eligible, [https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/29132/was-earth-closer-to-europa-on-1983-11-25-or-1985-07-22 Sudo would have won] by between 0.125 and 4 {{w|Astronomical unit}}s.<br />
|-<br />
|20<br />
|All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament<br />
|''None''<br />
|Effective for a population up to 536,870,912 individuals (2^29) which would be enough to cover the entire US population (estimated at around 325 million at time of publication), although additional rounds can be added should the population grow further.<br />
<br />
This is probably a reference to the {{w|Matter of Britain}} (e.g., {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|The Sword in the Stone}}), where, after the death of Uther Pendragon, with no known successor to the throne of England for years, it is decided that the winner of a jousting tournament shall be crowned. However, Arthur, the Wart, pulls the Sword from the Stone.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===List of specific individuals===<br />
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the date the comic was published'''. <br />
#{{w|Donald Trump}} ({{w|President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Mike Pence}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Mike Pompeo}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State}})<br />
#{{w|Jim Mattis}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})<br />
#{{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}})<br />
#{{w|Jeff Sessions}} ({{w|United States Attorney General}})<br />
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks) <br> As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Sessions.<br />
#{{w|Jerry Brown}} (Governor of California)<br />
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)<br />
#{{w|Andrew Cuomo}} (Governor of New York)<br />
#{{w|Rick Scott}} (Governor of Florida)<br />
#{{w|Bruce Rauner}} (Governor of Illinois)<br />
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)<br />
#{{w|John Kasich}} (Governor of Ohio)<br />
#{{w|Rick Snyder}} (Governor of Michigan)<br />
#{{w|Nathan Deal}} (Governor of Georgia)<br />
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)<br />
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)<br />
#{{w|Ralph Northam}} (Governor of Virginia)<br />
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)<br />
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)<br />
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)<br />
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)<br />
#{{w|Bill Haslam}} (Governor of Tennessee)<br />
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)<br />
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)<br />
#{{w|Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker}} (Governor of Wisconsin)<br />
#{{w|Mark Dayton}} (Governor of Minnesota)<br />
#{{w|John Hickenlooper}} (Governor of Colorado)<br />
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)<br />
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)<br />
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)<br />
#{{w|Matt Bevin}} (Governor of Kentucky)<br />
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) <br> Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.<br />
#{{w|Mary Fallin}} (Governor of Oklahoma)<br />
#{{w|Dannel Malloy}} (Governor of Connecticut)<br />
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)<br />
#{{w|Phil Bryant}} (Governor of Mississippi)<br />
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)<br />
#{{w|Jeff Colyer}} (Governor of Kansas)<br />
#{{w|Gary Herbert}} (Governor of Utah)<br />
#{{w|Brian Sandoval}} (Governor of Nevada)<br />
#{{w|Susana Martinez}} (Governor of New Mexico)<br />
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)<br />
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)<br />
#{{w|Butch Otter}} (Governor of Idaho)<br />
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)<br />
#{{w|Paul LePage}} (Governor of Maine)<br />
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)<br />
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)<br />
#{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}} (Governor of Montana)<br />
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)<br />
#{{w|Dennis Daugaard}} (Governor of South Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Bill Walker (U.S. politician)|Bill Walker}} (Governor of Alaska)<br />
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)<br />
#{{w|Matt Mead}} (Governor of Wyoming)<br />
#{{w|Kate McKinnon}} (Kate McKinnon) <br> If she is available. Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members.<br />
#{{w|Luis Fonsi}} (Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017, #2 artist) <br> Fonsi is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion.<br />
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Mike Foale}} (Astronaut, 374 days in space) <br> Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.<br />
#{{w|Serena Williams}} <br> Serena's place on this list assumes that you do not count her withdrawal against Maria Sharapova as a ''loss''; if that counts as a loss, then subsequent entries move up one position (as Sharapova is ineligible).<br />
#{{w|Tom Brady}} ({{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}) <br> The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.<br />
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) <br> None of his children are old enough to become President at this time.<br />
#''line of succession to the British throne''<br />
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament) <br> Assumes that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists due to citizenship issues. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions were too young to hold the office.<br />
<br />
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the current date'''. (Last updated on 13 September 2019)<br />
#{{w|Donald Trump}} ({{w|President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Mike Pence}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Mike Pompeo}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State}})<br />
#{{w|Mark Esper}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})<br />
#{{w|Kevin McAleenan}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}}) <br> Kevin McAleenan is currently the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. It's unclear whether this proposal would include acting officers.<br />
#{{w|William Barr}} ({{w|United States Attorney General}})<br />
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks) <br> As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Barr.<br />
#{{w|Gavin Newsom}} (Governor of California)<br />
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)<br />
#{{w|Andrew Cuomo}} (Governor of New York)<br />
#{{w|Ron DeSantis}} (Governor of Florida)<br />
#{{w|J. B. Pritzker}} (Governor of Illinois)<br />
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)<br />
#{{w|Mike DeWine}} (Governor of Ohio)<br />
#{{w|Gretchen Whitmer}} (Governor of Michigan) <br> Notably, the first woman on this list.<br />
#{{w|Brian Kemp}} (Governor of Georgia)<br />
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)<br />
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)<br />
#{{w|Ralph Northam}} (Governor of Virginia)<br />
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)<br />
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)<br />
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)<br />
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)<br />
#{{w|Bill Lee}} (Governor of Tennessee)<br />
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)<br />
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)<br />
#{{w|Tony Evers}} (Governor of Wisconsin)<br />
#{{w|Tim Walz}} (Governor of Minnesota)<br />
#{{w|Jared Polis}} (Governor of Colorado)<br />
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)<br />
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)<br />
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)<br />
#{{w|Matt Bevin}} (Governor of Kentucky)<br />
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) <br> Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.<br />
#{{w|Kevin Stitt}} (Governor of Oklahoma) <br> Notably, the first nonwhite person on this list.<br />
#{{w|Ned Lamont}} (Governor of Connecticut)<br />
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)<br />
#{{w|Phil Bryant}} (Governor of Mississippi)<br />
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)<br />
#{{w|Laura Kelly}} (Governor of Kansas)<br />
#{{w|Gary Herbert}} (Governor of Utah)<br />
#{{w|Steve Sisolak}} (Governor of Nevada)<br />
#{{w|Michelle Lujan Grisham}} (Governor of New Mexico)<br />
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)<br />
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)<br />
#{{w|Brad Little}} (Governor of Idaho)<br />
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)<br />
#{{w|Janet Mills}} (Governor of Maine)<br />
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)<br />
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)<br />
#{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}} (Governor of Montana)<br />
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)<br />
#{{w|Kristi Noem}} (Governor of South Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Mike Dunleavy}} (Governor of Alaska)<br />
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)<br />
#{{w|Mark Gordon}} (Governor of Wyoming)<br />
#{{w|Kate McKinnon}} (Kate McKinnon) <br> If she is available. Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members.<br />
#{{w|Adam Levine}} (Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2018, #10 artist) <br> Levine is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion, being over 35. He represents {{w|Maroon 5}}.<br />
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Mike Foale}} (Astronaut, 374 days in space) <br> Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.<br />
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) <br> {{w|Bianca Andreescu}}, the winner of {{w|Serena Williams}}' last match, is ineligible due to age and nationality. The MVPs of all listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality. None of Bill Pullman's children are old enough to become President at this time.<br />
#''line of succession to the British throne''<br />
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament) <br> Assumes that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists due to citizenship issues. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions were too young to hold the office. Further assumes that the number of eligible US Citizens does not exceed 536,870,912.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
: A proposal for a new presidential line of succession<br />
: Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well.<br />
: <span style="color:gray">(For more, see the surprisingly gripping ''Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission'', June 2009.)</span><br />
: Proposed line of succession:<br />
:# President<br />
:# Vice president<br />
:# Secretary of State<br />
:# Secretary of Defense<br />
:# Secretary of Homeland Security<br />
:# Attorney General<br />
:# Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate<br />
:# Tom Hanks<br />
:# State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census<br />
:# Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor<br />
:# Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar<br />
:# Kate McKinnon, if available<br />
:# Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)<br />
:# The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time<br />
:# Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)<br />
:# The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs<br />
:# Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture<br />
:# The entire line of succession to the British throne<br />
:# The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest<br />
:# All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Politics]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2256:_Bad_Map_Projection:_South_America&diff=1861322256: Bad Map Projection: South America2020-01-17T11:05:59Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ wrote a note for the title text, still needs a bit of clarification esp. w.r.t. azimuth (am I interpreting it right?)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2256<br />
| date = January 17, 2020<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: South America<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_south_america.png<br />
| titletext = The projection does a good job preserving both distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SOUTH AMERICA. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The comic shows a map projection, a favorite topic of Randall's, where every continent has just been replaced with a differently scaled and rotated South America. It is likely in reference to the bad map designs in which continents like Africa and South America have been swapped, or where someone will jokingly replace Greenland with South America. The subtitle of this comic is a reference to the Captain Crunch cereal type that became a meme, Oops, All Berries.<br />
<br />
The title text claims that the map projection does a good job preserving distance and azimuth, the joke being that the distance and azimuth being preserved for the non-South America continents are those of South America and not the original continent. Note that while this is true for most of the larger landmasses, many of the smaller South Americas are distorted more significantly (such as the South Americas that replace New Zealand).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A map of the world, but every landmass has been replaced with South America, rotated and resized to roughly match the real landmasses they represent]<br />
:[Caption below the map:]<br />
:Bad Map Projection #358: Oops, all South Americas!<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1491:_Stories_of_the_Past_and_Future&diff=1860891491: Stories of the Past and Future2020-01-16T12:00:06Z<p>Arcorann: /* Works listed */ note on Casablanca, Year One</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1491<br />
| date = February 25, 2015<br />
| title = Stories of the Past and Future<br />
| image = stories_of_the_past_and_future.png<br />
| titletext = Little-known fact: The 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence in 2001 cuts away seconds before the Flintstones theme becomes recognizable.<br />
}}<br />
*A [http://xkcd.com/1491/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com which can as always be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
<br />
How to read the graph:<br />
* X-axis: Date of publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the future": Number of years the story's events take place, after the story's publication.<br />
* Y-axis, "Years in the past": Number of years the story's events take place, before the story's publication.<br />
: For example, "Water Margin" was published in the 14th century (x ~= 1300) and relates events from the 12th century, about 200 years before its publication (y ~= 200 in the past).<br />
: Another example: The film ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}'' was released in 1957 and it was set around 14 years before (~1942-43).<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the future" part: Stories set in the future (relative to their publication date), for which the date of the events in the story is already in the past (relative to the publication date of the comic). The white and gray areas in this part of the graph are defined as "still possible" and "obsolete", respectively. The gray area (obsolete) will expand over time, assuming more works aren't added in the future: predictions from science fiction or futuristic work that are not confirmed by reality are doomed to be obsolete.<br />
* Grey area in the "Years in the past" part: Stories set in the past (relative to their publication date) but published closer to their setting than to today. The warning "Modern audiences may not recognize which part were supposed to sound old" is a recurrent theme in the author's work, being already formulated in [[771: Period Speech|Period Speech]] comic. The white area seems to be the region where modern readers will be able to distinguish the past setting of a work from the age of the work itself. This gray area will grow over time (again assuming new works set in the past are not added) with more and more works being indistinguishable as works set in the past.<br />
Randall's intent with this comic might be to point out that modern readers' universe is collapsing, with non-obsolete future predictions and recognizable depictions of the past both shrinking.<br />
<br />
Taking the "years in the past" on the y-axis to be read as negatives like in most graphs one can write<br />
* Dates on the lower line satisfy the equation y = x-2015. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015+y and are set in the year x+y = 2015+2y.<br />
* Dates on the upper line satisfy the equation y = 2015-x. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015-y and are set in the year x+y = 2015.<br />
Thus it's clear that the definitions of the lines are consistent with each other as they follow similar but inverted functions.<br />
The graph uses variable {{w|logarithmic scale}}s, adjusting the scale in various regions to the temporal density of works being plotted. If the scale were linear, the graph would in fact represent a (bidimensional) {{w|Minkowski diagram}}, which depicts the moving cones of past and future in spacetime as one's present advances in time.<br />
<br />
The title text jokes that ''2001'' cuts from Prehistoria to the future before ''The Flintstones'' theme can become recognizable. Besides both being works from the 60s based around cavemen, Randall might be comparing the hominid screams preceding the famed "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc bone becomes satellite]" with the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw horns of the TV show's opening]. It could also be a joke about how closely the two works are positioned on the chart.<br />
<br />
=== Works listed ===<br />
Differences listed in <span style="color:#FF0000;">bright red</span> are "former period pieces." Differences listed in <span style="color:#8B0000;">dark red</span> are other works set in the past. Differences listed in <span style="color:#00FF00;">bright green</span> are "obsolete" works set in the future. Differences listed in <span style="color:#006400;">dark green</span> are other works set in the future.<br />
<br />
Asterisks (*) after a year of publication denote that it applies to the first installment in a series that spanned more than one year.<br />
<br />
You can sort by a specific column in this table by clicking on its header.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Publication'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Description'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year written'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year difference'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" data-sort-type="number"|'''Year set in'''<br />
! align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Notes'''<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Epic of Gilgamesh}}''|| ancient Mesopotamian epic poem || data-sort-value="-2100"|~2100 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500|| data-sort-value="-2600"|~2600 BCE|| {{w|Enmebaragesi}}, a historically attested ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' character, is thought to have lived around 2600 BCE<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Iliad|The Iliad}}''||epic written by Greek poet Homer || data-sort-value="-750"|700s BCE ||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="500" | ~500 || data-sort-value="-1260"| 1260–1240 BCE ||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Book of Genesis}}''||first book of the Bible, describing the creation of the world || data-sort-value="-500"|500s–400s BCE ||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3200" | ~3200 || data-sort-value="-3761"| 3761 BCE || The ''{{w|Anno Mundi}}'' epoch, the product of scriptural calculations by {{w|Maimonides}}, places the Genesis date of the creation of the world at October 7, 3761 BCE in the {{w|proleptic Julian calendar}}<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|History of the Peloponnesian War}}''||history written by Thucydides|| data-sort-value="-400"|~400 BCE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="100" | ~10|| data-sort-value="-431"|431–411 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gospels}}''|| collection of literary works detailing the life of Jesus of Nazareth || data-sort-value="65"|~65–110 CE ||style="color:#FF0000;" | 25–75 || data-sort-value="-7"|7–2 BCE – 30–33 CE || Setting dates are those of Jesus' estimated lifetime. Writing dates are as follows: Mark 65–73 CE; Matthew 70–100 CE; Luke 80–100 CE; John 90–110 CE. Randall's difference calculation seems to be based on the date of Jesus' death, as the majority of the Gospels' events takes place during the three years prior to Jesus's death.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ashokavadana}}''||narrative of the life of Ashoka the Great||100s CE||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="-304"|304–232 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Pillow Book}}''||book written by Sei Shōnagon||1002||style="color:#FF0000;" | 6||996||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Water Margin}}''||novel by Shi Nai'an|| data-sort-value="1375"|late 1300s||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="150" | ~150|| data-sort-value="1100"|early 1100s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Richard III (play)|Richard III}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1597||style="color:#FF0000;" | 112–119||1478–1485||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry IV (play)|Henry IV}}''||plays by William Shakespeare||1598*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 185–196||1402–1413||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King Lear}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1608||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2400|| data-sort-value="-700"|700s BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|King John (play)|King John}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="400" | ~400|| data-sort-value="1200"|~1200–1216||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#FF0000;" | 90–102||1521–1533||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}''||play by William Shakespeare||1623||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1667–1670|| data-sort-value="-45"|45–42 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century}}''|| book written by Samuel Madden||1733||style="color:#00FF00;" | 264||1997||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Winkel}}'' [sic]||short story by Washington Irving||1819||style="color:#FF0000;" | 32–52||1767–1787||It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1787 as the year that Rip Van Winkle awakes.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Last of the Mohicans}}''||novel by James Cooper||1826||style="color:#FF0000;" | 69||1757||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Moby-Dick}}''||novel by Herman Melville||1851||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5+|| data-sort-value="1845"|before 1846 || Inspired by events occurring in 1820, the late 1830s, and the early 1840s<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Tale of Two Cities}}''|| book by Charles Dickens ||1859||style="color:#FF0000;" | 84||1775<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Les Misérables|Les Miserábles}}'' [sic]||novel by Victor Hugo||1862||style="color:#FF0000;" | 47||1815–1832||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Treasure Island}}''||novel by Robert Louis Stevenson||1883||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="120" | ~120|| data-sort-value="1760"|~1760||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Looking Backward}}''|| novel written by Edward Bellamy||1888||style="color:#00FF00;" | 112||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}''||novel by Mark Twain||1889||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1361||528||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Golf in the Year 2000}}''|| novel written by J. McCullough||1892||style="color:#00FF00;" | 108||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''|| novel written by H.G. Wells||1895||style="color:#006400;" | 800,000–<br />1 billion||802,701–<br/>1 billion|| Note that Randall has included only part of the book; which includes scenes all the way from the time of writing to the death of the last life on Earth. The part of the story marked is so far in the future that the hundred plus years between publication of the book and the comic have no noticeable effect on the timing of the setting.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Enoch Soames}}''|| short story by Max Beerbohm||1897||style="color:#00FF00;" | 100||1997||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gone With The Wind}}''|| novel by Margaret Mitchel ||1936||style="color:#FF0000;" | 75||1861<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}''||alternate history SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp||1939||style="color:#8B0000;" | 1404||535||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}''||film directed by Michael Curtiz||1942||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="0.9" | <1||1941||The film was released 26 November 1942 and is set in early December 1941.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Oklahoma!}}''||Broadway musical||1943||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1906||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}}''||novel written by George Orwell||1949||style="color:#00FF00;" | 35||1984||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}''||film by David Lean||1952||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="10" | ~10||1942–1943||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gunsmoke}}''||American radio and television series||1952*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="75" | ~75||1870s||1952 is when the radio series started. The TV series didn't start until 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments}}''||film by Cecil B. DeMille||1956||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3000" | ~3000|| data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||The full timespan is supposedly 80 years (40 before Moses is exiled, then 40 in exile).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Music Man}}''||Broadway musical||1957||style="color:#FF0000;" | 45||1912||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd|A Week in the Wales of the Future}}''||novel written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis||1957||style="color:#006400;" | 76||2033||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|Asterix}}''||French comic by Goscinny and Uderzo||1959*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2009|| data-sort-value="-50"|50 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Flintstones}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1960*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="2,500,000" | ~2.5 million|| data-sort-value="-2,500,000"|{{w|Stone Age|Stone Age}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22}}'' (Book)||novel by Joseph Heller||1961||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="17" | ~17||1942–44||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Jetsons}}''||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1962*||style="color:#006400;" | 100||data-sort-value="2062"|~2062||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Lawrence of Arabia}}''||film by David Lean||1962||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="44" | ~44||1916–1918||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape}}''||film by John Sturges||1963||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1943–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek}}'' (TOS)||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1966*||style="color:#006400;" | 298||2264||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''||film by Arthur Penn||1967||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="33" | ~33||1932–1934||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#00FF00;" | 33||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey}}'' (prologue)||prologue to novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="3,000,000" | 3 million|| data-sort-value="-3,000,000"|3 million BCE||4 million years BCE in the movie<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22}}'' (Movie)||film by Mike Nichols||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="26" | ~26||1942–1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|MASH (film)|M*A*S*H}}''||film by Robert Altman||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19||1951||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Patton (film)|Patton}}''||film by Franklin J. Schaffner||1970||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="25" | ~25||1943–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|American Graffiti}}''||film by George Lucas||1973||style="color:#FF0000;" | 11||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Blazing Saddles}}''||film by Mel Brooks||1974||style="color:#8B0000;" | 100||1874||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown}}''||film by Roman Polanski||1974||style="color:#FF0000;" | 37||1937||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Happy Days}}''||TV series||1974*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 19–29||1955–1965||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Space: 1999}}''||TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson||1975*||style="color:#00FF00;" | 24||1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (musical)|Annie}}'' (play)||Broadway musical||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Roots (miniseries)|Roots}}''||TV series, adapted from eponymous novel||1977||style="color:#8B0000;" | 90–227||1750–1882||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Original trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (IV – VI)||original film trilogy ||1977*|| style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| It's not clear why Randall has chosen 1 billion years here. Wookieepedia puts the age of the ''Star Wars'' galaxy at [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/13,000,000,000_BBY ~13 billion years], and our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old, and the oldest known galaxy took 380 million years to form... So it would seem ''Star Wars'' should be no farther than 400 million years in the past, give or take.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Grease (film)|Grease}}''||film by Randall Kleiser||1978||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20||1958||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apocalypse Now}}''||film by Francis Ford Coppola||1979||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Chariots of Fire}}''||film by Hugh Hudson||1981||style="color:#8B0000;" | 57||1924||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2010: Odyssey Two}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1982||style="color:#00FF00;" | 28||2010||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Annie (1982 film)|Annie}}'' (movie)||film adaptation of the above by John Huston||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" | 49||1933||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Gandhi (film)|Gandhi}}''||film by Richard Attenborough||1982||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="34" | ~34||1893–1948||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff}}''||film by Philip Kaufman||1983||style="color:#FF0000;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||1947–63||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers}}'' (TV Series)||TV series||1984*||style="color:#00FF00;" data-sort-value="20" | ~20||data-sort-value="2004"|~2004||Only seasons 3 and 4 are set in the year 2005 onwards. Seasons 1 and 2 were set in 1984-85.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1985||style="color:#FF0000;" | 30||1955||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Platoon (film)|Platoon}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1986||style="color:#FF0000;" | 21||1967||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Dirty Dancing}}''||film by Emile Ardolino||1987||style="color:#FF0000;" | 24||1963||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}''||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1987*||style="color:#006400;" | 377||2364||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|2061: Odyssey Three}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1987||style="color:#006400;" | 74||2061||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wonder Years}}''||TV series||1988*||style="color:#FF0000;" | 20–25||1968–1973||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II|Back to the Future Part II}}''||film directed by Robert Zemeckis||1989||style="color:#00FF00;" | 26||2015||Only the first part of the movie is set in 2015; later the setting moves to an alternate 1985 and a revisit of 1955.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''||arcade/computer game||1989||style="color:#006400;" | 112||2101||Previously referenced in [[887: Future Timeline]]<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Back to the Future Part III}}''||film by Robert Zemeckis||1990||style="color:#8B0000;" | 105||1885||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|JFK (film)|JFK}}''||film by Oliver Stone||1991||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22||1963–1969||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2}}'' (1995 Portion)||film directed by James Cameron||1991||style="color:#00FF00;" | 4||1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Sandlot}}''||film by David Mickey Evans||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" | 31||1962||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Schindler's List}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1993||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="50" | ~50||1939–1945||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}''||film by Ron Howard||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" | 25||1970||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Raptor Red}}''||novel by Robert Bakker||1995||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="65,000,000" | ~65 million|| data-sort-value="-65,000,000"|{{w|Cretaceous Period}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Evita (1996 film)|Evita}}''||film by Alan Parker||1996||style="color:#8B0000;" | 44||1952||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|3001: The Final Odyssey}}''||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1997||style="color:#006400;" | 1004||3001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Big Lebowski}}''||film by the Coen Brothers||1998||style="color:#FF0000;" | 7||1991||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Prince of Egypt}}''||animated film by DreamWorks||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 3400||data-sort-value="-1446"|{{w|The Exodus#Date|~1446 BCE}}||Despite the same plot of ''The Ten Commandments'', it covers only about 30 years given its Moses is much younger.<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Saving Private Ryan}}''||film by Steven Spielberg||1998||style="color:#8B0000;" | 54||1944||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|That '70s Show}}''||TV series||1998*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="22" | ~22|||1976–1979||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Freaks and Geeks}}''||TV series||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" | 19||1980–1981||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars#Prequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (I – III)||prequel film trilogy||1999*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor}}''||film by Michael Bay||2001||style="color:#8B0000;" | 60||1941||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise}}''||TV series||2001*||style="color:#006400;" | 150||2151||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s}}''||TV miniseries by VH1||2002||style="color:#8B0000;" | 13–22||1980–1989||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Ice Age (film series)|Ice Age}}''||animated films by Blue Sky Studios||2002*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="12,000" | ~12,000|| data-sort-value="-12,000"|{{w|Last glacial period|Paleolithic-Mesolithic}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Hotel Rwanda}}''|| film directed by Terry George||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 10||1994||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2004||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5–14||1990–1999||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|United 93 (film)|United 93}}''|| film directed by Paul Greengrass||2006||style="color:#FF0000;" | 5||2001||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''||film by Zack Snyder||2007||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2487|| data-sort-value="-480"|{{w|Battle of Thermopylae|480 BCE}}||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Mad Men}}''||TV series||2007*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="47" | ~47||1960–1970||<br />
|-<br />
|''{{w|10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC}}''||film by Roland Emmerich||2008||style="color:#8B0000;" | 11,992|| data-sort-value="-10,000"|10,000 BCE||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Year One (film)|Year One}}''||film by Harold Ramis||2009||style="color:#8B0000;" | 2008||1 CE|| The movie title is inaccurate, as it depicts Cain and Abel (c. 4000 BCE) existing simultaneously with Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah (c. 2000 BCE).<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''||TV series||2010*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="90" | ~90||1912–1923||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|The Wolf of Wall Street}}''||film by Martin Scorsese||2013||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="18" | ~18||1987–1995||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|I Love the 2000s|I Love the 2000s}}''|| TV miniseries on VH1||2014||style="color:#8B0000;" | 14||2000||<br />
|-<br />
| ''{{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|Star Wars}}'' (VII – IX)||sequel film trilogy||2015*||style="color:#8B0000;" data-sort-value="1,000,000,000" | 1 billion || data-sort-value="-1,000,000,000"|"A long time ago"|| See note at episodes IV–VI<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Errors==<br />
<br />
===Dates===<br />
*''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' is vertically positioned at about 500 years in the future, slightly too high for its actual date. This may be to allow room for other nearby labels.<br />
*The {{w|Gospels}} are horizontally positioned at about the year 250 CE, when they should be positioned slightly further to the left, near the 100 CE line. (While there is debate on their date of authorship, the range of "years in the past" indicated on the graph would require authorship between roughly 50 and 100 CE.)<br />
*''{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}}'' takes place about 1400 years in the past, in the year 535. Its placement on the graph indicates it takes place about ''535'' years in the past, in the year ''1400''.<br />
<br />
===Spelling===<br />
*Author Washington Irving titled his work ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}'', not ''Rip van Winkel'' as [[Randall]] spells it. That said, ''van {{w|nl:Winkel|Winkel}}'' may be a more historically authentic spelling.<br />
*''{{w|Les Misérables}}'' has been misspelled ''Les Miserábles'' (note that French doesn't use the character "á").<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:'''Date of publication'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE.]<br />
:'''Years in the future'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0.]<br />
:'''Stories set in the future''' (science fiction, prediction)<br />
::Stories set in 2015<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled "still possible"; the lower side is labelled "obsolete".]<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1700, 265 years in the future]<br />
::Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]<br />
::The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]<br />
::Enoch Soames [1916, ''circa'' 60 years in the future]<br />
::1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]<br />
::A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]<br />
::The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]<br />
::Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]<br />
::2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]<br />
::Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]<br />
::2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]<br />
::Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, ''circa'' 500 years in the future]<br />
::Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]<br />
::Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]<br />
::Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]<br />
::3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]<br />
::Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]<br />
::This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]<br />
:'''Years in the past'''<br />
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to "Big Bang"]<br />
:'''Stories set in the past''' (History, Period Fiction)<br />
::Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago<br />
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]<br />
::'''Former period pieces'''<br />
::Stories set in the past, but<br/>created long enough ago that<br/>they were published closer<br/>to their setting than to today.<br />
::Modern audiences may not<br/>recognize which parts were<br/>''supposed'' to sound old.<br />
:[From left to right.]<br />
::The Epic of Gilgamesh [''circa'' 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]<br />
::The Iliad [''circa'' 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]<br />
::History of the Peloponnesian War [''circa'' 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]<br />
::Book of Genesis [''circa'' 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]<br />
::Ashokavadana [''circa'' 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]<br />
::Gospels (various estimates) [''circa'' 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]<br />
::The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]<br />
::Water Margin [''circa'' 1300, 195 years in the past]<br />
::Richard III [''circa'' 1590, 115 years in the past]<br />
::Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]<br />
::King John [''circa'' 1600, 500 years in the past]<br />
::Henry IV [''circa'' 1600, 190 years in the past]<br />
::King Lear [''circa'' 1606, 3000 years in the past]<br />
::Henry VIII [''circa'' 1612, 105 years in the past]<br />
::The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]<br />
::Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]<br />
::A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]<br />
::Moby-Dick [1851, anywhere from 4 to 14 years ago]<br />
:::"Some years ago--never mind how long precisely..."<br />
::Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]<br />
::Treasure Island [1883, 130 years in the past]<br />
::A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court [1889, 2000 years in the past]<br />
::Gone with the Wind [1936, 70 years in the past]<br />
::Lest Darkness Fall [1939, 550 years in the past]<br />
::Casablanca [1942, 1 year in the past]<br />
::Oklahoma! [1943, 37 years in the past]<br />
::The Ten Commandments [1956, 1400 years in the past]<br />
::The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957, 13 years in the past]<br />
::Gunsmoke [1952-61, 80 years in the past]<br />
::The Flintstones [1960-66, 100,000 years in the past]<br />
::Catch-22 (book) [1961, 18 years in the past]<br />
::The Great Escape [1963, 20 years in the past]<br />
::Asterix<br />
::Lawrence of Arabia<br />
::The Music Man<br />
::Bonnie and Clyde<br />
::2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)<br />
::American Graffiti<br />
::Patton<br />
::Catch-22 (movie) [1970, 27 years in the past]<br />
::Chinatown<br />
::Blazing Saddles<br />
::Apocalypse Now<br />
::Happy Days<br />
::Grease<br />
::M*A*S*H<br />
::Annie (play)<br />
::Roots<br />
::Chariots of Fire<br />
::Star Wars (IV-VI)<br />
::Annie (movie)<br />
::The Right Stuff<br />
::Back to the Future<br />
::Gandhi<br />
::Platoon<br />
::Dirty Dancing<br />
::Back to the Future Part III<br />
::The Wonder Years<br />
::JFK<br />
::The Sandlot<br />
::Schindler's List<br />
::Raptor Red<br />
::Apollo 13<br />
::Star Wars (I-III)<br />
::The Big Lebowski<br />
::Evita<br />
::Saving Private Ryan<br />
::The Prince of Egypt<br />
::Freaks and Geeks<br />
::Hotel Rwanda<br />
::I Love the '80s<br />
::That '70s Show<br />
::Pearl Harbor<br />
::Ice Age<br />
::I Love the '90s<br />
::United 93<br />
::300<br />
::10,000 BC<br />
::Year One<br />
::The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
::I Love the 2000s<br />
::Mad Men<br />
::Downton Abbey<br />
::Star Wars (VII-IX)<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1491/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"this is a massive fucking graph beyond the limits of normal transcription. you can find a full listing of data points at http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1491"''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Star Trek]]<br />
[[Category:Terminator]]<br />
[[Category:Back to the Future]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=903:_Extended_Mind&diff=185511903: Extended Mind2020-01-05T07:43:25Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ linkfix</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 903<br />
| date = May 25, 2011<br />
| title = Extended Mind<br />
| image = extended mind.png<br />
| titletext = Wikipedia trivia: if you take any article, click on the first link in the article text not in parentheses or italics, and then repeat, you will eventually end up at "Philosophy".<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic refers to the fact that the narrator has become so dependent on Wikipedia as a source of information that although it gives him the great advantage that he appears learned on any topic with a remarkable degree of specificity, the downside is that whenever Wikipedia goes offline, the limitations of his actual knowledge are revealed.<br />
<br />
The title, "Extended Mind", refers to a theory proposed by philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers, which postulates that the mind not only includes what can be found in the skull, but also incorporates external things, like Wikipedia.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to an {{w|Wikipedia:Getting to Philosophy|observed phenomenon}} that many of Wikipedia's page links eventually lead to the {{w|Philosophy}} page. This may be due to the fact that the first few links in any article tend to reference more general or abstract ideas, which eventually gravitate towards philosophy. This is not actually true, though. It works for the spark plug page and countless others but not for all. The comment section below has some examples, but many of them are not working anymore, because Wikipedia references change in time, as just about anyone can just log in and add/remove links, or just adjust their position in an article. Most instances of this not working are because of endless loops (page A to page B back to page A, or anything like that).<br />
<br />
More info on this bizarre characteristic of the encyclopedia can be found {{w|Wikipedia:Getting to Philosophy|on their page about it}} or on [http://matpalm.com/blog/2011/08/13/wikipedia-philosophy/ this blog].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[An IM window is open over a Chrome window with tabs for Spark Plug, Feeler Gauge, and Wikipedia.]<br />
:Message with Mike1979<br />
:Mike1979: I replaced my spark plugs and now my car is running weird.<br />
:Me: The spark gap might be off.<br />
:Me: You can check with a feeler gauge.<br />
:Mike1979: What should the gap be?<br />
:Me: Usually between 0.035" and 0.070".<br />
:Me: But it depends on the engine.<br />
<br />
:[An IM window is open over a Chrome window with a single Wikipedia tab, marked ERROR. The page says: "Wikipedia has a problem. Try waiting a few minutes and reloading (can't contact the database server: unknown error (10.0.0.242))]<br />
:Message with Mike1979<br />
:Mike1979: I replaced my spark plugs and now my car is running weird.<br />
:Me: What is a spark plug??<br />
:Me: Help<br />
:Me: What is a car??<br />
<br />
:When Wikipedia has a server outage, my apparent IQ drops by 30 points.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The error code shown in the right panel caused a [http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/wikitech/236027 bit of a discussion] from the wiki techs. Randall replied with:<br />
::Randall: "I drew it based on an older error message where the IP was 10.0.0.243. I changed it to 242 (a) because I try not to get too specific with those things, and didn't want people poking the actual machine at .243 (if it was still there) - I actually considered putting .276 and seeing how many people noticed, but figured they'd just think I made a dumb mistake. and (b) as part of this ancient inside joke involving the number 242 ..."<br />
<br />
*For a few weeks after this comic came out, following the links as explained in the title text would actually lead only to the Science page, due to someone/someones altering the links. The alterations could have been coincidental, good-faith edits, but were much more likely to be vandalism to break this trick. The edits were eventually reverted, and, as of July 2016, all first links lead to the ocean. Er, Philosophy. At least, when they're not stuck in endless loops.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Internet]]<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1962:_Generations&diff=1853681962: Generations2020-01-02T11:31:53Z<p>Arcorann: Who changed the Generation X explanation? Reverted to the accurate explanation</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1962<br />
| date = March 2, 2018<br />
| title = Generations<br />
| image = generations.png<br />
| titletext = For a while it looked like the Paperclip Machines would destroy us, since they wanted to turn the whole universe into paperclips, but they abruptly lost interest in paperclips the moment their parents' generation got into making them, too.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is making fun of the various names we give "generations" while also predicting some future names. The release of this comic coincides with the [http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/defining-generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-begin/ Pew Research Center's recent announcement that they have decided where the Millennial generation ends].<br />
<br />
Each generation listed is exactly 18 years long, which is the approximate length of each "generation" anyway (given that coincidentally, there are exactly 54 intermediate years between the end of World War II and the New Millennium). A number of the entries are parodies of the terms "Generation X," "Generation Y," etc., by substituting other letters or characters that would seem emblematic of the time period. <br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! scope="col"| Generation<br />
! scope="col"| Time period<br />
! scope="col"| Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| The Founders<br />
| 1730&nbsp;-&nbsp;1747<br />
| Most of the {{w|Founding Fathers of the United States|United States' Founding Fathers}} were born in this period. (But not all: Benjamin Franklin, for instance, was born two generations prior, in 1706.)<br />
|-<br />
| Generation ƒ<br />
| 1748 - 1765<br />
| ƒ was used to represent {{w|Long s|"long s"}} in the typography used in Colonial America. It can be seen in many historical documents from the period. It is also the symbol that represented the {{w|Dutch guilder|guilder}}, the currency of the Netherlands from the 17th century until 2002. It has a notable similarity to letter "esh" ʃ. Depicted symbol is also used in mathematical expressions as in <math>f(x)</math>. One of the first and most complete works on both infinitesimal and integral calculus was written in 1748 by Maria Gaetana Agnesi.<br />
|-<br />
| The Adequate Generation<br />
| 1766 - 1783<br />
| Randall apparently found nothing notable about this generation, positive or negative. This is a reference to the Greatest Generation, below.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation Æ<br />
| 1784 - 1801<br />
| Æ is the {{w|Æ|diphthong}} Aesh - its name sounds like X, though it is pronounced as a long e or IPA /æ/. This character is commonly transcribed differently into British English and American English as ae and e respectively making a difference in spelling in words such as encyclopaedia/encylopedia. One of the key influences on this is Webster's dictionary, first published 1828.<br />
|-<br />
| The generation we cut a lot of slack because they produced Lincoln<br />
| 1802 - 1819<br />
| {{w|Abraham Lincoln}} was born in 1809, and is regarded as one of the best presidents of all time. The comic states that the other people born in this generation were "cut a lot of slack" because of him. As with the Oops, one of us is Hitler generation, it is absurd to define an entire generation by defining its most famous member.<br />
|-<br />
| The&nbsp;Gilded&nbsp;Generation<br />
| 1820 - 1837<br />
| {{w|Gilded Generation (Strauss–Howe theory)| So named under the Strauss-Howe generation theory}}, though they use the time period 1822-1842 instead. This likely refers to the "{{w|Gilded Age}}" of American history, roughly the last three decades of the 19th century.<br />
|-<br />
| The Second-Greatest Generation<br />
| 1838 - 1855<br />
|<br />
This is a reference to the Greatest Generation, below, and could be implying a similarity between the accomplishments and sacrifices of this generation - who fought in the U.S. Civil War and who passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution - to those of the Greatest Generation. There is also some humor in the name: what Randall means is that this generation was, supposedly, second best in terms of its greatness. However, the wording could be interpreted to mean that they are chronologically the second generation to be called "greatest", even though they actually were born first.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation – • • –<br />
| 1856 - 1873<br />
| – • • – is the letter X in {{w|Morse_code|International Morse Code}}. This is an old-timey version of Gen Xers, mirrored by the later "More Gen-Xers somehow." This is also a reference to the rise of {{w|telegraphy}}, popular during this time period.<br />
|-<br />
| The kids who died in the Gilded Generation's factories and mines<br />
| 1874 - 1891<br />
| {{w|Child labour #The Industrial Revolution|Child labor}} had been widely used since before the start of the Industrial Revolution, but this is when people started doing something about it - and also, when the need for an educated workforce arose, applying substantial economic pressure on societies to put children in school instead. It would be more accurate to label this generation, "The kids who stopped dying in the Gilded Generation's factories and mines".<br />
|-<br />
| Oops, one of us is Hitler<br />
| 1892 - 1909<br />
| {{w|Adolf Hitler}}, possibly the most hated (and, by most definitions, evil) man in living human memory as of this comic's posting, was born during in 1889. Aside from the fact that this places him in the previous generation, it seems beyond silly to blame everyone else who was born during this period for being born in the same generation as him. Among those who eventually heard of him (thus, excluding those in isolated areas or who died before he rose to power), the vast majority of them would not hear of him until well after 1909. In reality, this generation is known as the {{w|Lost Generation}}, though the dates are somewhat skewed.<br />
|-<br />
| The Greatest Generation<br />
| 1910 - 1927<br />
| Named by journalist {{w|Tom Brokaw}} in 1998 in {{w|The Greatest Generation|a book of the same name}}, this is the first generation on the list to have a real, commonly accepted name, and was named as such due to being the generation that survived the hardships of the {{w|Great Depression}} immediately before being drafted to fight in {{w|World War II}}.<br />
|-<br />
| The Silent Generation<br />
| 1928 - 1945<br />
| Coined by Time Magazine in 1951, the Silent Generation grew up during a time of paranoia and very little activism due to phenomena such as {{w|McCarthyism}} making it dangerous to speak out.<br />
|-<br />
| Baby Boomers<br />
| 1946 - 1963<br />
| A spike in births was seen following the return of soldiers to the US from European and Pacific theatres of war. These children enjoyed the benefits of US prosperity whilst the rest of the world rebuilt, lived in fear of nuclear annihilation and watched the Space Race.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation X<br />
| 1964 - 1981<br />
| "X" here refers to an unknown or undefined element, not specifically a placement in the alphabet as Y and Z (see below) seem to imply, and was used throughout history to refer to alienated youth in general as early as the 1950s, with the name sticking to this one thanks to Douglas Coupland's 1991 novel. Generation X's time period was one of sweeping societal change and rapid technological advancement. <br />
|-<br />
| Millennials<br />
| 1982 - 1999<br />
| The last children born in the 2nd Millennium. Initially called Generation Y, after Generation X.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation 💅 (nail polish emoji)<br />
| 2000 - 2017<br />
| This begins the hypothetical future generation names, though this generation was already fully born as of this comic's posting. Social media was established and rising during the formative years of this generation, and the widespread adoption of emoji began during this time. The [https://emojipedia.org/nail-polish/ Nail Polish Emoji] (U+1F485) is used here. Currently known in reality as Generation Z or iGen (there's controversy over both names, but the goods and bads of each seem to cancel each other out and other names aren't as exciting) though the comic implies it may change due to emojis ultimately replacing the alphabet entirely.<br />
|-<br />
| Zuckerberg's Army<br />
| 2018 - 2035<br />
| Continuing on the above, this may be presuming the dominance of Facebook during the childhoods of this generation, and corresponding social norming as ultimately directed by its leader Mark Zuckerberg. Ironically, as of this comic's posting, [http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-quit-young-people-social-media-snapchat-instagram-emarketer-a8206486.html young users were already leaving Facebook for other social media sites]. May also be a reference to "Dumbledore's Army" in ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''. It is uncertain whether Zuckerberg's Army is in alliance or at war with the other social media militaries of the mid-21st century.<br />
|-<br />
| The Hovering Ones<br />
| 2036 - 2053<br />
| This may posit increased adoption of cybernetics, which (as with any technology) are more easily adopted by the young who do not have to unlearn previous ways. If advances allowed someone to hover all the time, such that one would not need to walk, this generation's name suggests that becoming so widely used among this generation that they became known for it.<br />
|-<br />
| Spare Parts<br />
| 2054 - 2071<br />
| Continuing on the above speculation about cybernetics, this presumes enough apathy or sociopathy among this generation's parents that giving birth (or other means of creating a new human) was often done to create bodies from which organs could be harvested (presumably primarily for the benefit of their elders).<br />
|-<br />
| More Gen-Xers somehow<br />
| 2072 - 2089<br />
| As with "Generation – • • –", this may be positing that Generation X like traits pop up about 3/4 of the way through each century.<br />
|-<br />
| The Paperclip Machines<br />
| 2090 - 2107<br />
| This, and the alt text, are references to the concept of a [https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Paperclip_maximizer paperclip maximizer], where an AI might be designed to be helpful, but end up being harmful. The clicker game [http://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/ Universal Paperclips] makes this concept playable. Furthering the above speculation of cybernetics, this generation might be primarily artificial intelligences, though of limited ability to set their own priorities (a flaw which would be fixed in later generations).<br />
|-<br />
| The Mixed Bag (produced 4 Lincolns, 1 Napoleon, and 2 Hitlers)<br />
| 2108 - 2125<br />
| As with the above examples, a generation may become known for its most famous members, but it is not useful to define an entire generation by them. In this case, the generation may have literally produced 4 Lincolns, 1 Napoleon, and 2 Hitlers via cloning or the like. This also implies that Napoleon's generation was named after him. However, Napoleon's generation is ironically, the Adequate Generation.<br />
|-<br />
| The Procedural Generation<br />
| 2126 - 2143<br />
| {{w|Procedural generation}} is a way of creating data automatically, rather than capturing it via sensor (including when the "sensor" is a keyboard and the data is typed in). This confusion of the term "generation" could refer to more artificial intelligences that were created via routines instead of directly coded, which would likely stem from attempts to improve child creation once most children were explicitly manufactured instead of relying on evolution-granted biological means.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation Ω<br />
| 2144 - 2161<br />
| "{{w|Omega}}" is the last letter in the Greek alphabet, and used as a symbol of endings. Given the above generation names implying increasingly artificial children, this may suggest the last generation that is recognizably a generation. This does not necessarily mean the end of children or the end of humanity, just that anything after 2161 is widely recognized to no longer have even notional generational coherence - perhaps because of drift (children born to one group during a given time are wildly different enough from children born to another group at the same time that people give up trying to group them by time), child gestation and maturation times (for example, if it became common for a child to go from conception to adulthood in less than a year), or exceptions to what counts as a "child" (for example, if it becomes possible and common to create clones that are somewhere between free-willed beings and mind-controlled drones, and this sufficiently supplants creation of completely free-willed children, regardless of whether the children are artificial intelligences or old-fashioned biological children).<br />
|-<br />
| Star Trek: The Next Generation<br />
|2360 - 2378<br />
|''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' was a TV show set in the future. The first episode of ''TNG'', "{{w|Encounter at Farpoint}}", takes place in 2364, and it concluded with "{{w|All_Good_Things..._(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)|All Good Things...}}", which took place in 2370. The final canonical adventures of the cast of ''The Next Generation'' did not occur until the events of ''{{w|Star Trek: Nemesis}}'' in 2379.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:<span style=color:#585858>"Generations" are arbitrary. They're just labels we use to obliquely talk about cultural trends.</span><br />
:<span style=color:#585858>But since Pew Research has become the latest to weigh in, and everyone loves a good pointless argument over definitions...</span><br />
<br />
:''xkcd presents''<br />
:A Definitive Chronology of the Generations<br />
<br />
:1730-1747 The Founders<br />
:1748-1765 Generation ƒ <br />
:1766-1783 The Adequate Generation<br />
:1784-1801 Generation Æ<br />
:1802-1819 The generation we cut a lot of slack because they produced Lincoln<br />
:1820-1837 The Gilded Generation<br />
:1838-1855 The Second-Greatest Generation<br />
:1856-1873 Generation – • • –<br />
:1874-1891 The kids who died in the Gilded Generation's factories and mines<br />
:1892-1909 Oops, one of us is Hitler<br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1910-1927 The Greatest Generation</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1928-1945 The Silent Generation</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1946-1963 Baby Boomers</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1964-1981 Generation X</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1982-1999 Millennials</span><br />
:2000-2017 Generation 💅 [nail polish emoji]<br />
:2018-2035 Zuckerberg's army<br />
:2036-2053 The Hovering Ones<br />
:2054-2071 Spare Parts<br />
:2072-2089 More Gen-Xers somehow<br />
:2090-2107 The Paperclip Machines<br />
:2108-2125 The Mixed Bag (produced 4 Lincolns, 1 Napoleon and 2 Hitlers)<br />
:2126-2143 The Procedural Generation<br />
:2144-2161 Generation Ω<br />
:2360-2378 Star Trek: The Next Generation <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Emoji]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2249:_I_Love_the_20s&diff=1853522249: I Love the 20s2020-01-02T08:01:42Z<p>Arcorann: link to 1849</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2249<br />
| date = January 1, 2020<br />
| title = I Love the 20s<br />
| image = i love the 20s.png<br />
| titletext = Billboard's "Best of the 80s" chart includes Blondie's 1980 hit "Call Me." QED.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a PEDANT. Explain title text.}}<br />
This comic was released on the first day of {{w|2020}}. [[Megan]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] are all happy for the beginning of the new {{w|decade}}, for a variety of reasons. <br />
<br />
In panel 1, Ponytail is happy that decades have "easy names" again. Decades such as the 1960s to 1990s had easy "names" - '60s, '70s, etc. The 2000s and 2010s were sometimes named the "Aughts" and the "Teens", names that Ponytail didn't like, but we can return to the shortened decades name with the '20s decade.<br />
<br />
In panels 2 and 3, the group discusses cultural trends. In decades before the 2000s, trends were named for the decade in which its members reached adulthood / teenage years, e.g. a trend from the '90s. After 2000, many trends have been labeled with the "millennials" term, which refers to an entire generation who grew up in the 2000s. Cueballs and Ponytail hope that trends will not be labeled as "millennial" or by generations in this new decade. This phenomenon was previously discussed in [[1849: Decades]].<br />
<br />
The main point of the panel, however, which [[White Hat]] and [[Ponytail]] argue about, is White Hat's claim that the "20s" don't start until 2021, citing that {{w|Century|centuries}} are "off-by-one" (for instance, the {{w|20th century}} lasted from 1901 through 2000) and attempting to draw something, presumably a number line that starts with "Year 1" as the Anno Domini / Common Era years do. Ponytail's argument is that, while centuries are numbered ordinally (see trivia) and thus start with a year ending in "1", decades are more commonly delimited by the tens digit and thus start with a year ending in "0". For example, the {{w|Roaring Twenties}} are the years whose three most significant digits are 192, running from 1920 through 1929 (sometimes said to end slightly before the end of 1929, with the onset of the {{w|Great Depression}} in October 1929). Nobody{{Citation needed}} refers to this time as "the 193rd decade", which would run from 1921 through 1930.<br />
<br />
Megan breaks up their heated argument by stating that {{w|MC Hammer}}'s song ''{{w|U Can't Touch This}}'', released in 1990, was featured in a 1990s-themed television show ({{w|I Love the '90s (American TV series)|''I Love the '90s''}}) instead of its 1980s-themed counterpart. The title text continues this theme with a hit song from 1980 grouped with the 1980s, not the 1970s. The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}}, traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof to mean "thus it has been demonstrated", as if this piece of evidence proved Megan's point as conclusively as a mathematical proof would.<br />
<br />
{{w|VH1}} is the parent company of MTV, a cable TV channel known for grouping music by decades.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
Traditionally, the First Century starts in year 1 and ends in the year 100, the Second Century starts in the year 101 and runs through the year 200, and so on, because {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero indexing}}, like the number zero itself, was not in wide use at the time. However, due to an error by {{w|Dionysius Exiguus}}, the year 1 was after the death of {{w|Herod the Great}}, so Jesus could not have been born in that year, and was probably born either in 4 B.C. or 6 B.C., so the first, second, etc., century after his birth would actually end in the mid '90's.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
:[Megan, Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail stand in frame.]<br />
:Megan: Happy new decade!<br />
:Ponytail: Welcome to the '20s!<br />
:White Hat: ''Actually—''<br />
:Ponytail: I'm excited we can name decades again. <br />
:Ponytail: "Aughts" and "teens" never caught on.<br />
<br />
:White Hat [raising a finger]: Actually, the new decade doesn't start--<br />
:Ponytail: Mostly, I'm just glad we can go back to attributing cultural trends to decades instead of generations.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Yeah.<br />
:Cueball: Decades were silly, but making everything about "millennials" turned out to be even worse.<br />
:Ponytail: Seriously.<br />
<br />
:[The panel zooms in, displaying only White Hat and Ponytail.]<br />
:White Hat: It's technically not a new decade until 2021.<br />
:Ponytail: OK, listen.<br />
:Ponytail: If you're going to be pedantic, you should at least be right.<br />
:White Hat: I ''am'' right!<br />
:Ponytail: You're ''not''.<br />
<br />
:[White Hat and Ponytail gesture towards each other.]<br />
:White Hat: See, the 20th century didn't start until--<br />
:Ponytail: But decades aren't centuries. They're not cardinally numbered.<br />
:White Hat: You don't get it. Let me draw a--<br />
:Ponytail: No, ''you'' don't--<br />
:Megan (off-panel): Stop!<br />
<br />
:[All four characters are displayed again. Megan has raised a finger.]<br />
:Megan: I can resolve this.<br />
:Megan: *ahem*<br />
:Megan: MC Hammer's ''U Can't Touch This'' (1990) was featured in ''I Love the '90s'', not '''80s''.<br />
:Ponytail: ...That settles that.<br />
:White Hat: Yeah, I accept VH1's authority.<br />
:White Hat: You win.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:New Year]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2225:_Voting_Referendum&diff=182447Talk:2225: Voting Referendum2019-11-08T09:23:57Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
OK, I just created a massive edit conflict, I see. Will move my content into the appropriate parts of the template already in place. [[User:Silverpie|Silverpie]] ([[User talk:Silverpie|talk]]) 20:37, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If there is disagreement about which edits are better, we should vote on it. Which system of voting would be best for that? [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:08, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Someone (IP-User) just added the following: <br />
Additionally, in election of multiple candidates across a country (or region etc.), first past the post does not lead to a distribution of elected representatives proportional to the total number of votes, only electing the lead candidate in each case. For example, imagine a country with 100 representatives to be elected, with each seat having the same distribution as described in the example above. Under first past the post, 100 representatives will be elected representing part A, and none for party B or C.<br />
Unless there is some example where this is used (multiple seats given only to the winner of a first past the post) I'd vote for removing this statement. As I do not know all (or even many) democratic systems worldwide, I am not sure if it might be relevant somewhere. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:58, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:That's how the US Electoral College works: in each state, all elector seats go to the party that obtained the majority of votes.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.94|162.158.234.94]] 14:53, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Really? I knew that the "electoral college" was fucked up, but I was not aware, that the US system is this bad... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:06, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::The US system is the most broken system in a democracy... See CGP Greys videos on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo first past the post] and general playlist of [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqs5ohhass_R1EPpAQ5GKnNvB_W0jOSDO Politics in America]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:05, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Louisiana Primary<br />
I didn't know - WikiP: The so-called Louisiana primary is the common term for the Louisiana general election for local, state, and congressional offices.[1] On election day, all candidates for the same office appear together on the ballot, often including several candidates from each major party. The candidate who receives a simple majority is elected. If no candidate wins a simple majority in the first round, there is a runoff one month later between the top two candidates to determine the winner. This system is also used for United States Senate special elections in Mississippi and Texas, and all special elections for partisan offices in Georgia.[2][[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])<br />
<br />
This is also known as a "Jungle Primary" and is also done in Washington state and California. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 20:00, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<!-- NOTICE: Click the [edit] button next to the Google Ads title to discuss the ads. --><br />
<br />
I had to resolve an editing conflict in the first paragraph with another editor, but please feel free to further resolve our differing edits. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:26, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Single Transferable Vote<br />
The text says "100%/(k+1)". Surely this should be "100%/k + 1", or "100%/k, plus one person"? Say k is 4. The current text implies that only 20% is required, when it should be 25%, plus one person. [[User:John.Adriaan|John.Adriaan]] ([[User talk:John.Adriaan|talk]]) 01:55, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Setting a quota at 25% plus one person would only allow 3 people to be elected, as once that happens there would be less than 25% of the vote left to count which wouldn't be enough to elect anyone else. Setting the quota at 100%/(k+1) means that k people can be elected before the remaining vote isn't enough to elect anyone else (setting the quota at exactly 100%/k, by the way, has also been used and is known as the {{w|Hare quota}}). [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 02:21, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Say k is 4. Then 100%/(4+1) = 20%. So, yes, it's possible that you could end up with 5 people all getting exactly 20%. But a perfect 5-way tie like that would be extremely unlikely. Other than that very improbable result, only 4 people could get elected, as is desired. Imagine, for example, one person gets ''juuust'' over 20% of the vote. Even just that little bit over means there's '''less than''' 80% of the vote left for the other four. Which means only 3 of the remaining 4 people could get over the 20% threshold.<br />
::Of course the correct formula should be "100%/(k+1)+1". -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:23, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::Which could result in no-one being elected if, say, 5 candidates each get exactly 20% of the vote. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.127|162.158.158.127]] 22:17, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::: Which would be in some sense fair, as noone is more favourable to the voters than the other 4 candidates, while there is only 4 seats... So there needs to be a second referendum or some other measure for that case. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:59, 8 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::: In that case the system would handle the situation the same way it handles ties when candidates have smaller numbers of votes (every system needs to handle ties somehow, after all). [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 09:23, 8 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I just came here to see if there was a discussion on which system actually should be selected, according to the ballot displayed. I'm sadly disappointed that there isn't one, lol. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.219|172.69.68.219]] 17:25, 7 November 2019 (UTC) Sam<br />
<br />
{{Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads}}</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2225:_Voting_Referendum&diff=182394Talk:2225: Voting Referendum2019-11-07T02:21:15Z<p>Arcorann: /* Single Transferable Vote */</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
OK, I just created a massive edit conflict, I see. Will move my content into the appropriate parts of the template already in place. [[User:Silverpie|Silverpie]] ([[User talk:Silverpie|talk]]) 20:37, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If there is disagreement about which edits are better, we should vote on it. Which system of voting would be best for that? [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:08, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== Lousiana Primary ==<br />
I didn't know - WikiP: The so-called Louisiana primary is the common term for the Louisiana general election for local, state, and congressional offices.[1] On election day, all candidates for the same office appear together on the ballot, often including several candidates from each major party. The candidate who receives a simple majority is elected. If no candidate wins a simple majority in the first round, there is a runoff one month later between the top two candidates to determine the winner. This system is also used for United States Senate special elections in Mississippi and Texas, and all special elections for partisan offices in Georgia.[2][[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])<br />
<br />
This is also known as a "Jungle Primary" and is also done in Washington state and California. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 20:00, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<!-- NOTICE: Click the [edit] button next to the Google Ads title to discuss the ads. --><br />
<br />
I had to resolve an editing conflict in the first paragraph with another editor, but please feel free to further resolve our differing edits. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:26, 6 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Single Transferable Vote ==<br />
The text says "100%/(k+1)". Surely this should be "100%/k + 1", or "100%/k, plus one person"? Say k is 4. The current text implies that only 20% is required, when it should be 25%, plus one person. [[User:John.Adriaan|John.Adriaan]] ([[User talk:John.Adriaan|talk]]) 01:55, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Setting a quota at 25% plus one person would only allow 3 people to be elected, as once that happens there would be less than 25% of the vote left to count which wouldn't be enough to elect anyone else. Setting the quota at 100%/(k+1) means that k people can be elected before the remaining vote isn't enough to elect anyone else (setting the quota at exactly 100%/k, by the way, has also been used and is known as the {{w|Hare quota}}). [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 02:21, 7 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads}}</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2073:_Kilogram&diff=1823112073: Kilogram2019-11-06T03:36:26Z<p>Arcorann: edit to clarify why one kilogram must have zero mass, add link to Kibble Balance, linkfix to WP page on redefinition</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2073<br />
| date = November 16, 2018<br />
| title = Kilogram<br />
| image = kilogram.png<br />
| titletext = I'm glad to hear they're finally redefining the meter to be exactly three feet.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
Standard units such as the kilogram, metre, and second are redefined from time to time as measurement technologies improve. These redefinitions are generally done to improve the precision to which the various units can be known or reproduced, without changing their actual value. The joke here is that redefining the kilogram to equal one pound sounds like an incredible idea to Americans who never use the kilogram. It would not only fail to improve on its precision, but would also significantly change the value of what a kilogram is, making all things already measured for science and in the rest of the world impossible to correctly understand the mass of.<br />
<br />
On the day of this comic, the {{w|General Conference on Weights and Measures|General Conference on Weights and Measures}} (which Randall confuses with the {{w|International Committee for Weights and Measures|International Committee for Weights and Measures}}) voted to redefine the {{w|kilogram}} by fixing it to the value of {{w|Planck's Constant}}. This is measured using a {{w|Kibble balance}}, which involves passing a measured current through an electromagnet to exert a force to balance 1&nbsp;kg. The change took effect on May 20, 2019, when the platinum cylinder International Prototype Kilogram that defines the unit was retired. This means that the mass of a kilogram is no longer tied to a physical object, but to the fundamental properties of the universe. By fixing the value of Planck constant to 6.62607015×10<sup>-34</sup>&nbsp;kg⋅m<sup>2</sup>⋅s<sup>−1</sup>, the kilogram is defined in terms of the second and the speed of light via the metre.<br />
<br />
The previous method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate is to use physical metal weights measuring exactly one kilogram, periodically transporting them around the world to an official weight lab to confirm they still weigh the same. Over time these physical objects have changed very slightly in their mass making them unreliable in the long run -- thus running into the issue that a kilogram did not stay a constant measure of mass. Note that these weights and comparisons are so precise that a fingerprint on one of the weights could throw them off.<br />
<br />
The new method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate relies upon an extremely precise knowledge of local gravitational effects & an absence (or counteraction) of electromagnetic interference. On a traditional scale, two units of equal weight will balance, regardless of local gravitational levels; whereas the new method requires that the gravitational force be determined precisely for every site, meaning an additional measurement has to take place. This involves a high-precision {{w|gravimeter}} such as the FG5 absolute gravimeter.<br />
<br />
In this comic, Black Hat announces that the kilogram has been redefined as equal to one {{w|Pound (mass)|pound}}. Ponytail and Cueball seem to think this makes things simpler, but Megan is alarmed. The metric system of measurement is the one used by most of the world and is the standard system used in science. Redefining the kilogram to be equal to the pound would be very disruptive and outrage supporters of the metric system. Redefining the kilogram as being a completely different size from before will create a lot of confusion, since now when people read a mass in kilograms they need to work out whether it was written in old kilograms or new (pound-sized) kilograms.<br />
<br />
The pound is officially defined as 0.45359237 kilograms, or less than half a kilogram. This makes defining a kilogram as one pound even more impossible as they are then stuck in a loop, as 0.45359237 kilograms must have the same mass as 1 kilogram, meaning the value of the kilogram would be equal to zero.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the joke by saying that the metre has been defined as exactly three feet. The yard, the closest US measurement to the metre, is three feet. However, a metre is about 9 centimetres longer than a yard. As with the pound, the metric system is used to define the yard as it is officially defined as 0.9144 metres. This joke recreates the comic in the real world, with Randall playing as Black Hat, and the reader responding. Those who fall for the claim will either be excited that things are simpler, or devastated at what the result will be.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat talking to Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan while all stand in a row. Megan's hands are raised emphatically.]<br />
:Black Hat: To end many years of confusion, the International Committee for Weights and Measures has just voted to redefine the kilogram.<br />
:Black Hat: As of next May, it will equal exactly one pound.<br />
:Ponytail: Oh, cool.<br />
:Cueball: That ''does'' make things simpler.<br />
:Megan: '''''No!!'''''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
To further expand on this, the classic definitions of all our various units of time, length, mass, and temperature are based on phenomena that are neither convenient to measure precisely nor in fact consistently reproducible. The duration of an Earth day and year vary unpredictably, the circumference of the Earth varies, the International Prototype Kilogram gains or loses mass any time it is handled (and in fact just sitting there it and its reference copies diverge from each other), and the value of baseline temperatures such as the freezing point of water depend on which isotopes of hydrogen are in the water molecules.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, there really are constants of nature. For example, one of them is ‘''c''’, the speed of light in a vacuum. The expressed value of ''c'' depends on your choice of the unit of distance and the unit of time, but it’s a constant in those units. Now just suppose we all had a reproducible way to define a specific unit of time, which just for fun we call a ‘second’. You might not know the length of a ‘metre’, but if I told you that measured in metres per second the universal constant value of ''c'' is exactly 299792458 metres per second, then I would have fixed the length of a metre to be exactly the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds. And in fact this is what the international body responsible for defining our SI units has done.<br />
<br />
{{w|Second#"Atomic"_second|One second}} is defined to be a specific number of periods of the radiation emitted in a certain transition of a cesium 133 atom. The specific number was set in the year 1967, so as to match a previous astronomical standard called {{w|Second#Fraction_of_an_ephemeris_year|ephemeris time}} to the limit of human measuring ability at the time. The 1967 definition didn’t change the actual duration of a second, but it did make its measurement forever reproducible.<br />
<br />
In 1983 the value of ''c'' was fixed to the value noted above. Prior to that it had been measured with respect to existing definitions of a metre, and had to be expressed with a measure of uncertainty. For example in 1973 a team at the US National Bureau of Standards refined ''c'' to 299,792,457.4 m/s ± 1 m/s. But from 1983 onwards, with an exact integer value for ''c'' that is quite close to that Bureau measurement, the length of a metre is now fixed with no plus/minus uncertainty. Furthermore, both the second and the metre match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.<br />
<br />
Similar redefinitions of units of mass and of temperature in terms of universal constants have been agreed to, mass with regard to the Planck constant ''h'', and temperature with regard to the Boltzmann constant ''k''. The constants ''h'' and ''k'' had previously been measured quantities, complete with uncertainties. The SI body fixed both of them to exact values, resulting in exact, no-uncertainty values for a kilogram of mass and a kelvin of thermodynamic temperature. As with the second and the metre, these new definitions match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.<br />
<br />
To expand on this even further, three additional universal constants that were previously measured and that had uncertainty values have been assigned fixed values, resulting in exact definitions of three corresponding units of measurement without affecting their applicability. Fixing the unit of elementary charge, ''e'', serves to define the unit of electric current, the Ampere. Fixing the unit of luminous efficacy ''K<sub>cd</sub>'' serves to define the unit of luminous intensity, the candela. And fixing the Avogadro constant ''N<sub>A</sub>'' serves to define the unit of amount of substance, the mole.<br />
<br />
A Wikipedia article about redefining the SI units of measure in terms of newly fixed values of things taken to be universal constants is {{w|2019 redefinition of the SI base units}}.<br />
<br />
Additionally, it might be worth noting the pound has multiple different types and definitions. The most common definition today is the international avoirdupois pound (lb), which is defined (discarding the semantics) as a unit of mass equal to 0.45359237 kilograms. However the pound is commonly used as to describe force, defined as the force an avoirdupois pound exerts on the Earth (lbf). These definitions however are identical in practical terms, such that an item with 0.45359237 kilograms of mass exerts one avoirdupois pound of force on the Earth. In the SI, the derived unit of force is the newton.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:Citation_needed&diff=181415Template:Citation needed2019-10-18T17:11:02Z<p>Arcorann: avoid the redirect</p>
<hr />
<div><sup>&#91;[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]&#93;</sup><noinclude><br />
[[Category:Templates]]</noinclude></div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2189:_Old_Game_Worlds&diff=1781252189: Old Game Worlds2019-08-15T13:35:27Z<p>Arcorann: 1-Castle should be 1-4</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2189<br />
| date = August 14, 2019<br />
| title = Old Game Worlds<br />
| image = old_game_worlds.png<br />
| titletext = Ok, how many coins for a cinnamon roll?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a VERY OLD GAME CHARACTER. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] sits at his computer looking at a menu of games which have been ordered into three sections, New, Old and Very old games (see [[#List of games|List of games]] below). At the bottom of this list, 2nd to last, he chooses to click on ''{{w|Super Mario Bros.}}'' which then opens as shown in the next four panels.<br />
<br />
This comic explores the difference between the real world, where artificial structures require constant upkeep and communities change with time, and the digital worlds of video games, where everything is static until the plot demands otherwise. Although ''online'' games do require server maintenance by the owners, offline games are - and always have been - perpetual existences, unchanging so long as the data is intact.<br />
<br />
As the narration explores this incongruity, and theorizes about the idea of it not being so, the comic displays the alternative with the ubiquitous video game - ''Super Mario Bros.'' (1985) - as an example. {{w|Mario}} arrives in World 1-1 to find a {{w|Goomba}} expressing surprise that the plumber has deigned to return to the place where his '''first''' journey began. As he advances, he finds both signs of progress - a {{w|Cell site|cellphone tower}}, an {{w|Motorized scooter|e-scooter}}, a {{w|Quadcopter|drone}} - and signs of disrepair - damaged {{w|Warp (video gaming)|Warp Pipes}}, loose blocks. At World 1-4, he finds {{w|Toad (Nintendo)|Toad}} - usually warning him that {{w|Princess Peach|the Princess}} is being held elsewhere - informing him that the castle has been remodeled into a {{w|Panera Bread|Panera}} bakery. As shown in the previous comic, [[2188: E Scooters]] are not universally seen as a good thing. Similar, the selected modern elements, cellphone towers and (surveillance) drones, also might put a dystopian feel to the changed video game world.<br />
<br />
The title-text abruptly switches to Mario's acceptance of the changes to World 1, and deciding to make the most of it by purchasing a {{w|cinnamon roll}}. "Coins" are the ubiquitous currency of the {{w|Mushroom Kingdom}} and most other locations Mario visits in the ''Mario'' series, taking the form of large nondescript golden circles, usually with a rectangular indent in the middle.<br />
<br />
The concept of an old, dilapidated version of the world of the original Super Mario Bros. was explored by Nintendo themselves in the [https://www.ssbwiki.com/Mushroomy_Kingdom Mushroomy Kingdom] stage featured in multiple Super Smash Bros. games.<br />
<br />
===List of games===<br />
The first panel shows a list of games in approximately reverse chronological order of their release:<br />
#New games:<br />
##{{w|Subnautica}} (2014)<br />
##[https://spookysquid.com/rsd Russian Subway Dogs] (2018)<br />
##{{w|Kerbal Space Program}} (2015). (Has been mentioned several times in xkcd).<br />
#Old games:<br />
##{{w|Worms Armageddon}} (1999)<br />
##{{w|Elasto Mania}} (2000)<br />
##{{w|Katamari Damacy}} (2004)<br />
##{{w|Mario Kart 64|Mario Kart}} (1997). Aka Mario Kart 64! (A [[:Category:Mario Kart|recurring]] theme).<br />
#Very old games:<br />
##{{w|Link's Awakening}} (1993) (aka The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening)<br />
##{{w|Escape Velocity (video game)|Escape Velocity}} (1996)<br />
##{{w|SimCity}} (1989)<br />
##{{w|Prince of Persia}} (1989). (This game was [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e2/1608_Comparing_Prince_of_Persia_maze_with_real_level_1.png featured] in [[1608: Hoverboard]]).<br />
##{{w|Super Mario Bros.}} (1985)<br />
##{{w|History_of_Microsoft_Flight_Simulator#Flight_Simulator_3.0|MS Flight Simulator 3}} (1988)<br />
<br />
The first game in the {{w|Mario Kart}} series was {{w|Super Mario Kart}} from 1992. As can be seen that Mario Kart game would be older than Link's Awakening. So it seems likely Randall was referring to {{w|Mario Kart 64}} from 1997, the first in the series to begin with Mario Kart leaving out the Super. With this in mind all the games in the two bottom sections are older than all those in the previous section. But they are not listed chronologically within the three sections. <br />
<br />
Russian Subway Dogs is the newest game from 2018 (and at the time of this comic's release in August 2019, is the only one of the 13 games mentioned in this comic that does not currently have a Wikipedia entry).<br />
<br />
Super Mario Bros., the game most prominently featured in the comic, is the oldest of the 13. The first version of {{w|Microsoft Flight Simulator}}, {{w|History_of_Microsoft_Flight_Simulator#Flight_Simulator_1.0|MS flight simulator 1.0}}, was from 1982, but the list this comic specifies the third version, released in 1988.<br />
<br />
Although the games in this comic appear to be grouped by date of their release, the time span covered by these groupings is not uniform. The first three games mentioned are from 2014-2018. The next four date from between 1997-2004, and the last six from between 1985-1996. With the earliest games grouped as 1985-1996, uniform grouping could split the later games between a group released in 1997-2008 and a group of games released in 2009 or later. If grouped by decades, 1985-1995 would potentially place the Escape Velocity game in the Old Games section instead of the Very Old Games section. Although some of these games did have releases intended to run on a {{w|Personal_computer|'Personal Computer'}}, the list in this comic seems to focus on games released for {{w|Video_game_console|gaming consoles}}, with no mention of games released for {{w|First_generation_of_video_game_consoles|first}} or {{w|Second_generation_of_video_game_consoles|second}} generation {{w|List_of_home_video_game_consoles|consoles which pre-dated}} the {{w|Nintendo_Entertainment_System|Nintendo Entertainment System}} (such as {{w|Pong#Home_version|Pong}} published by Atari; {{w|Magnavox_Odyssey#cite_ref-VGHttl_2-18|Brain Wave, Haunted House, Interplanetary Voyage, & Wipeout}} for the {{w|Magnavox_Odyssey|Magnavox Odyssey}}; & {{w|Adventure_(Atari_2600)|Adventure}} for the {{w|Atari_2600|Atari 2600}}).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A light gray drop down menu is shown with three sections split up with three grays lines split up with section titles in the same gray font. Beneath each section title is 3, 4 and 6 lines of black text. An white arrow cursor hovers over the second last option, which is thus highlighted with a dark gray background and white text.]<br />
:<font color="gray">New Games</font><br />
:Subnautica<br />
:Russian Subway Dogs<br />
:Kerbal Space Program<br />
:<font color="gray">Old Games</font><br />
:Worms Armageddon<br />
:Elasto Mania<br />
:Katamari Damacy<br />
:Mario Kart<br />
:<font color="gray">Very Old Games</font><br />
:Link's Awakening<br />
:Escape Velocity<br />
:SimCity<br />
:Prince of Persia<br />
:<span style="color:white; background:gray">Super Mario Bros</span><br />
:MS Flight Simulator 3<br />
<br />
:[A colorful scene is shown from the Super Mario Bros. side-scrolling game, the first level World 1-1. Mario with red hat and trousers is standing on the brown blocks beneath the blue sky. Another character in the game, Goomba, is standing in front of some green bushes. Above them is narration text:]<br />
:Narrator: It feels weird that you can go into old games and the whole world is still there.<br />
:Goomba: Mario?<br />
:Mario: It'sa me!<br />
:Goomba: What are ''you'' doing here?<br />
<br />
:[Mario stands between an e-scooter, a dismounted and broken Question Mark Box lying on its side and a cellphone tower. Narration continues above:]<br />
:Narrator: Part of me expects to find that everything's changed.<br />
<br />
:[Mario looks at a damaged green but rusty Warp Pipe and there is a quadcopter drone flying by over his head. Weeds are growing both from the pipe and from the blocks he is walking on. Narration continues above:]<br />
:Narrator: That pipes have rusted, walls have crumbled, bad guys have moved on.<br />
<br />
:[Mario has moved on to World 1-4, the castle has been replaced with a bakery. The blocks beneath his feet are now smaller and gray and above them is black background. The character Toad with the white hat with red circles is standing in front of a bakery disc with shelves of bread and cake behind it. There is a green sign on the front of the brown disk. Toad talks to Mario with white text in the black background. Above the black part of the image is more narration in a frame-less white section:]<br />
:Narrator: That even our game worlds can't escape the passage of time.<br />
:Toad: Thank you, Mario!<br />
:Toad: But this is a Panera now!<br />
:Sign: Panera<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Mario Kart]]<br />
[[Category:Drones]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2186:_Dark_Matter&diff=1778812186: Dark Matter2019-08-10T04:20:16Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2186<br />
| date = August 7, 2019<br />
| title = Dark Matter<br />
| image = dark_matter.png<br />
| titletext = To detect dark matter, we just need to build a bird feeder that spins two squirrels around the rim in opposite directions at relativistic speeds and collides them together.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DARK MATTER SQUIRREL ON A SPINNING BIRD FEEDER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are talking about {{w|dark matter}}, the mysterious invisible mass observed indirectly by the rate at which galaxies rotate. Megan states that dark matter's density in the solar system is 0.3&nbsp;GeV/cm<sup>3</sup>, as claimed, for example, by [https://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4033 Bovy and Tremaine (2012) "On the local dark matter density" in ''The Astrophysical Journal''.] Cueball does not understand what that means, so Megan explains that it equates to one squirrel's mass of dark matter in the volume of the {{w|Earth}}. In the final two panels, Cueball humorously misinterprets this as implying dark matter is actually one or more squirrels, and thereby provides the mass which causes [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHu-UJaK0Q squirrels to spin on bird feeders designed to deter them] while birds, with lower mass, do not. This enrages Megan.<br />
<br />
The {{w|gigaelectronvolt}} (GeV) is a unit of energy that can be converted to a mass using {{w|Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence|Einstein's formula}} ''E'' = ''mc''<sup>2</sup>. It is typically used for subatomic particles, such as {{w|weakly interacting massive particles}} (WIMPs), one of {{w|Dark matter#Composition of dark matter: baryonic vs. nonbaryonic|several contending possibilities}} for the still-open question of the composition of dark matter, and one which Megan's uniform density figure implies constitutes most of it. For example, the mass of a proton is 0.938&nbsp;GeV/''c''<sup>2</sup>. However, it is common to omit the ''c''<sup>2</sup> denominator, representing masses as GeV or MeV. A mass represented as 0.3 GeV is equal to 5.35&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>&minus;25</sup> grams [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.3+(GeV%2Fc%5E2)+in+grams]. Since the {{w|Figure_of_the_Earth#Volume|Earth's volume}} is 1.083&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>27</sup> cm<sup>3</sup> Megan's figures imply that a {{w|squirrel}} has a mass of about 1.3&nbsp;lb (1.083&nbsp;x&nbsp;5.35&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>27&minus;25</sup>&nbsp;g = 580&nbsp;g [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(0.3+(GeV%2Fc%5E2)%2Fcm%5E3)+*+(volume+of+earth)+in+grams]), a typical weight for several species of common squirrels.<br />
<br />
[[:Category:Squirrels|Squirrels]] are a recurring topic on xkcd, but are not a serious alternative to WIMPs as a scientific explanation for [[2035: Dark Matter Candidates|the composition of dark matter]]. Since the September 2015 detection by the {{w|LIGO|Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory}} (LIGO) and subsequent confirmation by the {{w|Virgo interferometer}} of gravitational waves from unexpectedly many merging {{w|black hole|black holes}} substantially more massive than those produced by stellar collapse, {{w|primordial black hole| primordial black holes}} (PBHs) have become a popular alternative explanation to WIMPs (or squirrels), attracting [https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04023 proponents at NASA,] and [http://www.buchaltercosmologyprize.org/#announcements other cosmologists] for [https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.10458 several reasons.] But PBHs remain controversial, because if they constituted more than a very small portion of dark matter, [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2041-8205/720/1/L67 alternative explanations would be almost entirely excluded.] <br />
<br />
Other alternative hypotheses for the observations suggesting dark matter, such as theories involving the {{w|Modified Newtonian dynamics|gravitational force varying over different distances}}, often upset cosmologists as much as Megan is shown to be, because they violate the {{w|cosmological principle}} among other issues. Part of this frustration may be due to the fact that even after many decades of careful, tremendously expensive, and often [http://www.allesfoen.de/artinscience/wordpress/?p=236 stunningly beautiful] experiments, none of the many explanations for dark matter or the observations suggesting it have as yet any support from direct empirical observations.<br />
<br />
To help resolve this mystery, the title text imagines using a spinning bird feeder like a {{w|particle accelerator}}, colliding squirrels at relativistic speeds as if they were atomic nuclei, to detect dark matter particles like the CERN accelerator discovered the {{w|Higgs boson}}. (Note, however, that accelerating even [https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ one squirrel] to relativistic velocities would destroy the feeder along with any nearby birds, not to mention the squirrels, and the surrounding city.)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan walks with Cueball. She is holding a hand out while telling Cueball something.]<br />
:Megan: Dark matter density in the solar system is around 0.3 GeV/cm<sup>3</sup><br />
:Cueball: Is... that a lot?<br />
<br />
:[As they continue to walk and talk she spreads her arms out.]<br />
:Megan: In terms of mass, it means the Earth contains one squirrel worth of dark matter at any given time.<br />
:Cueball: Wow.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel Cueball stops while Megan walks past him. Megan is face-palming herself while looking down.]<br />
:Cueball: Is there any way to find out which squirrel it is?<br />
:Megan: No, it's not literally-<br />
<br />
:[Cueball holds his hand with one finger up in front of Megan, while she has turned towards him and is holding both arms up, possible with balled fist, as she shouts back at him, shown both with large fat letters and with small lines emanating above her head.]<br />
:Cueball: Oh, that explains why they weigh enough to set off those spinning bird feeders!<br />
:Megan: '''''Dark matter isn't squirrels!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2186:_Dark_Matter&diff=1778802186: Dark Matter2019-08-10T04:19:20Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ link to past XKCD strip on dark matter composition</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2186<br />
| date = August 7, 2019<br />
| title = Dark Matter<br />
| image = dark_matter.png<br />
| titletext = To detect dark matter, we just need to build a bird feeder that spins two squirrels around the rim in opposite directions at relativistic speeds and collides them together.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DARK MATTER SQUIRREL ON A SPINNING BIRD FEEDER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are talking about {{w|dark matter}}, the mysterious invisible mass observed indirectly by the rate at which galaxies rotate. Megan states that dark matter's density in the solar system is 0.3&nbsp;GeV/cm<sup>3</sup>, as claimed, for example, by [https://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4033 Bovy and Tremaine (2012) "On the local dark matter density" in ''The Astrophysical Journal''.] Cueball does not understand what that means, so Megan explains that it equates to one squirrel's mass of dark matter in the volume of the {{w|Earth}}. In the final two panels, Cueball humorously misinterprets this as implying dark matter is actually one or more squirrels, and thereby provides the mass which causes [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHu-UJaK0Q squirrels to spin on bird feeders designed to deter them] while birds, with lower mass, do not. This enrages Megan.<br />
<br />
The {{w|gigaelectronvolt}} (GeV) is a unit of energy that can be converted to a mass using {{w|Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence|Einstein's formula}} ''E'' = ''mc''<sup>2</sup>. It is typically used for subatomic particles, such as {{w|weakly interacting massive particles}} (WIMPs), one of {{w|Dark matter#Composition of dark matter: baryonic vs. nonbaryonic|several contending possibilities}} for the still-open question of the composition of dark matter, and one which Megan's uniform density figure implies constitutes most of it. For example, the mass of a proton is 0.938&nbsp;GeV/''c''<sup>2</sup>. However, it is common to omit the ''c''<sup>2</sup> denominator, representing masses as GeV or MeV. A mass represented as 0.3 GeV is equal to 5.35&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>&minus;25</sup> grams [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.3+(GeV%2Fc%5E2)+in+grams]. Since the {{w|Figure_of_the_Earth#Volume|Earth's volume}} is 1.083&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>27</sup> cm<sup>3</sup> Megan's figures imply that a {{w|squirrel}} has a mass of about 1.3&nbsp;lb (1.083&nbsp;x&nbsp;5.35&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>27&minus;25</sup>&nbsp;g = 580&nbsp;g [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(0.3+(GeV%2Fc%5E2)%2Fcm%5E3)+*+(volume+of+earth)+in+grams]), a typical weight for several species of common squirrels.<br />
<br />
[[:Category:Squirrels|Squirrels]] are a recurring topic on xkcd, but are not a serious alternative to WIMPs as a scientific explanation for [[2035: Dark Matter Candidates<br />
|the composition of dark matter]]. Since the September 2015 detection by the {{w|LIGO|Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory}} (LIGO) and subsequent confirmation by the {{w|Virgo interferometer}} of gravitational waves from unexpectedly many merging {{w|black hole|black holes}} substantially more massive than those produced by stellar collapse, {{w|primordial black hole| primordial black holes}} (PBHs) have become a popular alternative explanation to WIMPs (or squirrels), attracting [https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04023 proponents at NASA,] and [http://www.buchaltercosmologyprize.org/#announcements other cosmologists] for [https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.10458 several reasons.] But PBHs remain controversial, because if they constituted more than a very small portion of dark matter, [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2041-8205/720/1/L67 alternative explanations would be almost entirely excluded.] <br />
<br />
Other alternative hypotheses for the observations suggesting dark matter, such as theories involving the {{w|Modified Newtonian dynamics|gravitational force varying over different distances}}, often upset cosmologists as much as Megan is shown to be, because they violate the {{w|cosmological principle}} among other issues. Part of this frustration may be due to the fact that even after many decades of careful, tremendously expensive, and often [http://www.allesfoen.de/artinscience/wordpress/?p=236 stunningly beautiful] experiments, none of the many explanations for dark matter or the observations suggesting it have as yet any support from direct empirical observations.<br />
<br />
To help resolve this mystery, the title text imagines using a spinning bird feeder like a {{w|particle accelerator}}, colliding squirrels at relativistic speeds as if they were atomic nuclei, to detect dark matter particles like the CERN accelerator discovered the {{w|Higgs boson}}. (Note, however, that accelerating even [https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ one squirrel] to relativistic velocities would destroy the feeder along with any nearby birds, not to mention the squirrels, and the surrounding city.)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan walks with Cueball. She is holding a hand out while telling Cueball something.]<br />
:Megan: Dark matter density in the solar system is around 0.3 GeV/cm<sup>3</sup><br />
:Cueball: Is... that a lot?<br />
<br />
:[As they continue to walk and talk she spreads her arms out.]<br />
:Megan: In terms of mass, it means the Earth contains one squirrel worth of dark matter at any given time.<br />
:Cueball: Wow.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel Cueball stops while Megan walks past him. Megan is face-palming herself while looking down.]<br />
:Cueball: Is there any way to find out which squirrel it is?<br />
:Megan: No, it's not literally-<br />
<br />
:[Cueball holds his hand with one finger up in front of Megan, while she has turned towards him and is holding both arms up, possible with balled fist, as she shouts back at him, shown both with large fat letters and with small lines emanating above her head.]<br />
:Cueball: Oh, that explains why they weigh enough to set off those spinning bird feeders!<br />
:Megan: '''''Dark matter isn't squirrels!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2185:_Cumulonimbus&diff=177569Talk:2185: Cumulonimbus2019-08-06T11:01:08Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Hey, the back arrow here doesn't go back to yesterday's "Disappearing Sunday Update" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.28|162.158.75.28]] 18:17, 5 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
That's why it was disappearing. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.46|172.68.226.46]] 18:42, 5 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think this could be improved by expanding out the translations from latin for the various parts of each cloud's name. I.e., cumulus is just "heaped"; cumulo-nimbus would be "heaped raincloud"; cumulo-nimbulo-nimbus would be "heaped rainy raincloud"; cumulo-nimbulo-nimbulo-cumulo-nimbus would be "heaped, rainy, rainy, heaped raincloud", and alto-cumu-lenticulo-strato-nimbulo-cirrus-lenticulo-mamma-noctilucent would be "mid-altitude, heaped, standing, rainy, wispy, standing, highly turbulent, and lit at night." (Some of these descriptors are contradictory; cirrus clouds can not also be mammatus clouds.) (And yes, "mammatus" clouds mean what you think they mean.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.82|162.158.142.82]] 19:08, 5 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It says "soaker" in the description of the fourth cloud. Do we mean "super soaker"? It does look like a super soaker. I didn't dare change the description in case I am missing something.<br />
[[User:Cow|Cow]] ([[User talk:Cow|talk]]) 20:15, 5 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could we modify the navigation system to go to the disappearing one? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 20:21, 5 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The explanation for the fifth cloud splits noctilucent into noctus and lucent and saying they have nothing to do with clouds when its actually referring to a type of very high altitude cloud seen rarely around twilight/dusk. They form from ice crystals and are illuminated by the sun below the horizon. --[[User:Kirkerbot|Kirkerbot]] ([[User talk:Kirkerbot|talk]]) 23:31, 5 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The listed lapse rate for the troposphere seems high - the dry adiabatic lapse rate is around 9.8 °C/km, and Wikipedia indicates the average lapse rate is around 6.5 °C/km. [[User:Tovodeverett|Tovodeverett]] ([[User talk:Tovodeverett|talk]]) 05:02, 6 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
We should add some more info on the cloud types that "Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent" seems to reference (altocumulus, stratus, cirrus etc.) [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 11:01, 6 August 2019 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1047:_Approximations&diff=1772481047: Approximations2019-07-30T08:23:54Z<p>Arcorann: update Avogadro number, fix ruby laser</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1047<br />
| date = April 25, 2012<br />
| title = Approximations<br />
| image = approximations.png<br />
| titletext = Two tips: 1) 8675309 is not just prime, it's a twin prime, and 2) if you ever find yourself raising log(anything)^e or taking the pi-th root of anything, set down the marker and back away from the whiteboard; something has gone horribly wrong.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic lists some approximations for numbers, most of them mathematical and physical constants, but some of them jokes and cultural references.<br />
<br />
Approximations like these are sometimes used as {{w|mnemonic}}s by mathematicians and physicists, though most of Randall's approximations are too convoluted to be useful as mnemonics. Perhaps the best known mnemonic approximation (though not used here by Randall) is that "π is approximately equal to 22/7". Randall does mention (and mock) the common mnemonic among physicists that the {{w|fine structure constant}} is approximately 1/137. Although Randall gives approximations for the number of seconds in a year, he does not mention the common physicists' mnemonic that it is "π × 10<sup>7</sup>", though he later added a statement to the top of the comic page addressing this point. <br />
<br />
At the bottom of the comic are expressions involving {{w|transcendental numbers}} (namely π and e) that are tantalizingly close to being exactly true but are not (indeed, they cannot be, due to the nature of transcendental numbers). Such near-equations were previously discussed in [[217: e to the pi Minus pi]]. One of the entries, though, is a "red herring" that is exactly true. <br />
<br />
Randall says he compiled this table through "a mix of trial-and-error, ''{{w|Mathematica}}'', and Robert Munafo's [http://mrob.com/pub/ries/ Ries] tool." "Ries" is a "{{w|Closed-form expression#Conversion from numerical forms|reverse calculator}}" that forms equations matching a given number.<br />
<br />
The {{w|world population}} estimate for 2017 is still accurate. The estimate is 7.4 billion, and the population listed at the website census.gov is roughly the same. The current value can be found here: [https://www.census.gov/popclock/ United States Census Bureau - U.S. and World Population Clock]. Nevertheless there are other numbers listed by different sources.<br />
<br />
The first part of the title text notes that "Jenny's constant," which is actually a telephone number referenced in Tommy Tutone's 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}, is not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime. Twin primes have always been a subject of interest, because they are comparatively rare, and because it is not yet known whether there are infinitely many of them. Twin primes were also referenced in [[1310: Goldbach Conjectures]]. <br />
<br />
The second part of the title text makes fun of the unusual mathematical operations contained in the comic. {{w|Pi|π}} is a useful number in many contexts, but it doesn't usually occur anywhere in an exponent. Even when it does, such as with complex numbers, taking the πth root is rarely helpful. Similarly, {{w|e (mathematical constant)|e}} typically appears in the basis of a power (forming the {{w|exponential function}}), not in the exponent. (This is later referenced in [http://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ Lethal Neutrinos]).<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Thing to be approximated:<br />
|align="center"|Formula proposed<br />
|align="center"|Resulting approximate value<br />
|align="center"|Correct value<br />
|align="center"|Discussion<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|One {{w|light year}} (meters)<br />
|align="center"|99<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center"|9,227,446,944,279,201<br />
|align="center"|9,460,730,472,580,800 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|Based on 365.25 days per year (see below). 99<sup>8</sup> and 69<sup>8</sup> are sexual references. <br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Earth's surface (m<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|69<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center"|513,798,374,428,641<br />
|align="center"|5.10072 × 10<sup>14</sup><br />
|align="left"|99<sup>8</sup> and 69<sup>8</sup> are sexual references.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Oceans' volume (m<sup>3</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|9<sup>19</sup><br />
|align="center"|1,350,851,717,672,992,089<br />
|align="center"|1.332 × 10<sup>18</sup><br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Seconds in a year<br />
|align="center"|75<sup>4</sup><br />
|align="center"|31,640,625<br />
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)<br />
|align="left"|After this comic was released [[Randall]] got many responses by viewers. So he did add this statement to the top of the comic page:<br />
"Lots of emails mention the physicist favorite, 1 year = pi × 10<sup>7</sup> seconds. 75<sup>4</sup> is a hair more accurate, but it's hard to top 3,141,592's elegance." π × 10<sup>7</sup> is nearly equal to 31,415,926.536, and 75<sup>4</sup> is exactly 31,640,625. Randall's elegance belongs to the number π, but it should be multiplied by the factor of ten.<br />
<br />
Using the traditional definitions that a second is 1/60 of a minute, a minute is 1/60 of an hour, and an hour is 1/24 of a day, a 365-day common year is exactly 31,536,000 seconds (the "''Rent'' method" approximation) and the 366-day leap year is 31,622,400 seconds. Until the calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory, there was one leap year in every four years, making the average year 365.25 days, or 31,557,600 seconds. On the current calendar system, there are only 97 leap years in every 400 years, making the average year 365.2425 days, or 31,556,952 seconds. In technical usage, a "second" is now defined based on physical constants, even though the length of a day varies inversely with the changing angular velocity of the earth. To keep the official time synchronized with the rotation of the earth, a "leap second" is occasionally added, resulting in a slightly longer year.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)<br />
|align="center"|525,600 × 60<br />
|align="center"|31,536,000<br />
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)<br />
|align="left"|"''Rent'' Method" refers to the song "{{w|Seasons of Love}}" from the musical ''{{w|Rent (musical)|Rent}}''. The song asks, "How do you measure a year?" One line says "525,600 minutes" while most of the rest of the song suggests the best way to measure a year is moments shared with a loved one.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Age of the universe (seconds)<br />
|align="center"|15<sup>15</sup><br />
|align="center"|437,893,890,380,859,375<br />
|align="center"|4.354 ± 0.012 × 10<sup>17</sup> (best estimate; exact value unknown)<br />
|align="left"|This one will slowly get more accurate as the universe ages.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Planck's constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {30^{\pi^e}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.6849901410 × 10<sup>−34</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.62606957 × 10<sup>−34</sup><br />
|align="left"|Informally, the {{w|Planck constant}} is the smallest action possible in quantum mechanics.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Fine structure constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{1}{140}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.00<span style="text-decoration: overline;">714285</span><br />
|align="center"|0.0072973525664 (accepted value as of 2014), close to 1/137<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|fine structure constant}} indicates the strength of electromagnetism. It is unitless and around 0.007297, close to 1/137. At one point it was believed to be exactly the reciprocal of 137, and many people have tried to find a simple formula explaining this (with a pinch of {{w|numerology}} thrown in at times), including the infamous {{w|Arthur Eddington|Sir Arthur Adding-One}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Fundamental charge<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {3} {14 \pi^{\pi^\pi}}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.59895121062716 × 10<sup>−19</sup><br />
|align="center"|1.602176565 × 10<sup>−19</sup><br />
|align="left"|This is the charge of the proton, symbolized ''e'' for electron (whose charge is actually −''e''. You can blame Benjamin Franklin [[567|for that]].)<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Telephone number for the {{w|White House}} switchboard<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {e^ {\sqrt[\pi] {1 + \sqrt[e-1] 8}} }</math><br />
|align="center"|0.2024561414<br />
|align="center"|202-456-1414<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Jenny's constant<br />
|align="center"|<math>\left( 7^ {\frac{e}{1} - \frac{1}{e}} - 9 \right) \pi^2</math><br />
|align="center"|867.5309019<br />
|align="center"|867-5309<br />
|align="left"|A telephone number referenced in {{w|Tommy Tutone}}'s 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}. As mentioned in the title text, the number not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime. <br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|World population estimate (billions)<br />
|align="center"|Equivalent to <math>6 + \frac {\frac34 y + \frac14 (y \operatorname{mod} 4) - 1499} {10}</math><br />
|align="center"|2005 — 6.5<br><br />
2006 — 6.6<br><br />
2007 — 6.7<br><br />
2008 — 6.7<br><br />
2009 — 6.8<br><br />
2010 — 6.9<br><br />
2011 — 7.0<br><br />
2012 — 7.0<br><br />
2013 — 7.1<br><br />
2014 — 7.2<br><br />
2015 — 7.3<br><br />
2016 — 7.3<br><br />
2017 — 7.4<br><br />
2018 — 7.5<br><br />
2019 — 7.6<br><br />
2020 — 7.6<br><br />
2021 — 7.7<br><br />
2022 — 7.8<br><br />
2023 — 7.9<br><br />
2024 — 7.9<br><br />
2025 — 8.0<br><br />
2026 — 8.1<br><br />
2027 — 8.2<br><br />
2028 — 8.2<br><br />
2029 — 8.3<br><br />
2030 — 8.4<br><br />
2031 — 8.5<br><br />
|align="center"|<br />
|align="left"|Grows by 75 million every year on average.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|U.S. population estimate (millions)<br />
|align="center"|Equivalent to <math>310 + 3(y - 2010)</math><br />
|align="center"|2000 — 280<br><br />
2001 — 283<br><br />
2002 — 286<br><br />
2003 — 289<br><br />
2004 — 292<br><br />
2005 — 295<br><br />
2006 — 298<br><br />
2007 — 301<br><br />
2008 — 304<br><br />
2009 — 307<br><br />
2010 — 310<br><br />
2011 — 313<br><br />
2012 — 316<br><br />
2013 — 319<br><br />
2014 — 322<br><br />
2015 — 325<br><br />
2016 — 328<br><br />
2017 — 331<br><br />
2018 — 334<br><br />
2019 — 337<br><br />
2020 — 340<br><br />
2021 — 343<br><br />
2022 — 346<br><br />
2023 — 349<br><br />
2024 — 352<br><br />
2025 — 355<br><br />
2026 — 358<br><br />
2027 — 361<br><br />
2028 — 364<br><br />
2029 — 367<br><br />
2030 — 370<br><br />
2031 — 373<br><br />
2032 — 376<br />
|align="center"|<br />
|align="left"|Grows by 3 million each year.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Electron rest energy (joules)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {e} {7^{16}}</math><br />
|align="center"|8.17948276564429 × 10<sup>−14</sup><br />
|align="center"|8.18710438 × 10<sup>−14</sup><br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Light year (miles)<br />
|align="center"|2<sup>42.42</sup><br />
|align="center"|5,884,267,614,436.97<br />
|align="center"|5,878,625,373,183.61 = 9,460,730,472,580,800 (meters in a light-year, by definition) / 1609.344 (meters in a mile)<br />
|align="left"|{{w|42 (number)|42}} is, according to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'', the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sin\left(60^\circ\right) = \frac {\sqrt 3} {2}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{e}{\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.8652559794<br />
|align="center"|0.8660254038<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 3</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{2e}{\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.7305119589<br />
|align="center"|1.7320508076<br />
|align="left"|Same as the above<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ (Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {\sqrt 3}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5773502692<br />
|align="center"|0.5772156649<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Euler–Mascheroni constant}} (denoted γ) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Feet in a meter<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {5} {\sqrt[e]\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|3.2815481951<br />
|align="center"|3.280839895<br />
|align="left"|Exactly 1/0.3048, as the {{w|international foot}} is defined as 0.3048 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{2}{e} + \frac32</math><br />
|align="center"|2.2357588823<br />
|align="center"|2.2360679775<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Avogadro's number<br />
|align="center"|<math>69^{\pi^\sqrt{5}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.02191201246329 × 10<sup>23</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.02214076 × 10<sup>23</sup> (exact as of 2019)<br />
|align="left"|Also called a mole for shorthand, {{w|Avogadro's number}} is (roughly) the number of individual atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon. Used in basically every application of chemistry.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Gravitational constant ''G''<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {1} {e ^ {(\pi-1)^{(\pi+1)}}}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.6736110685 × 10<sup>−11</sup><br />
|align="center"|6.67385 × 10<sup>−11</sup><br />
|align="left"|The universal {{w|gravitational constant}} G is equal to ''Fr''<sup>2</sup>/''Mm'', where ''F'' is the gravitational force between two objects, ''r'' is the distance between them, and ''M'' and ''m'' are their masses.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|''R'' (gas constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>(e + 1) \sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|8.3143309279<br />
|align="center"|8.3144622<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|gas constant}} relates energy to temperature in physics, as well as a gas's volume, pressure, temperature and {{w|mole (unit)|molar amount}} (hence the name).<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton–electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|<math>6 \pi^5</math><br />
|align="center"|1836.1181087117<br />
|align="center"|1836.15267246<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Liters in a {{w|gallon}}<br />
|align="center"|<math>3 + \frac{\pi}{4}</math><br />
|align="center"|3.7853981634<br />
|align="center"|3.785411784 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|A U.S. liquid gallon is defined by law as 231 cubic inches<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|''g''<sub>0</sub> or ''g''<sub>n</sub><br />
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)<br />
|align="center"|9.8066624898<br />
|align="center"|9.80665<br />
|align="left"|Standard gravity, or standard acceleration due to free fall is the nominal gravitational acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. It is defined by standard as 9.80665&nbsp;m/s<sup>2</sup>, which is exactly 35.30394&nbsp;km/h/s (about 32.174&nbsp;ft/s<sup>2</sup>, or 21.937&nbsp;mph/s). This value was established by the 3rd CGPM (1901, CR 70) and used to define the standard weight of an object as the product of its mass and this nominal acceleration. The acceleration of a body near the surface of the Earth is due to the combined effects of gravity and centrifugal acceleration from rotation of the Earth (but which is small enough to be neglected for most purposes); the total (the apparent gravity) is about 0.5 percent greater at the poles than at the equator.<br />
<br />
Randall used a letter ''g'' without a suffix, which can also mean the local acceleration due to local gravity and centrifugal acceleration, which varies depending on one's position on Earth.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton–electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {e^8 - 10} {\phi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1836.1530151398<br />
|align="center"|1836.15267246<br />
|align="left"|φ is the {{w|golden ratio}}, or <math>\textstyle{ \frac{1+\sqrt 5}{2} }</math>. It has many interesting geometrical properties.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength (meters)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{1}{1200^2}</math><br />
|align="center"|6.9<span style="text-decoration: overline;">444</span> × 10<sup>−7</sup><br />
|align="center"|~6.943 × 10<sup>−7</sup><br />
|align="left"|The {{w|ruby laser}} wavelength varies because "ruby" is not clearly defined.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Mean Earth radius (meters)<br />
|align="center"|<math>5^8 6e</math><br />
|align="center"|6,370,973.035<br />
|align="center"|6,371,008.7 (IUGG definition)<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Earth radius#mean radii|mean earth radius}} varies because there is not one single way to make a sphere out of the earth. Randall's value lies within the actual variation of Earth's radius. The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) defines the mean radius as 2/3 of the equatorial radius (6,378,137.0&nbsp;m) plus 1/3 of the polar radius (6,356,752.3&nbsp;m).<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 2</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac35 + \frac{\pi}{7-\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|1.4142200581<br />
|align="center"|1.4142135624<br />
|align="left"|There are recurring math jokes along the lines of, "<math>\textstyle{ \frac35 + \frac{\pi}{7-\pi} - \sqrt{2} = 0}</math>, but your calculator is probably not good enough to compute this correctly". See also [[217: e to the pi Minus pi]].<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac12</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5<br />
|align="center"|0.5 (exact)<br />
|align="left"|This is the exactly correct equation referred to in the note, "Pro tip – Not all of these are wrong", as shown below and also [http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/140388/how-can-one-prove-cos-pi-7-cos3-pi-7-cos5-pi-7-1-2 here]. If you're still confused, the functions use {{w|radians}}, not {{w|degrees (angle)|degrees}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ (Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac{e}{3^4} + \frac{e}{5}</math><br />
|align="center"|0.5772154006<br />
|align="center"|0.5772156649<br />
|align="left"|The {{w|Euler–Mascheroni constant}} (denoted γ) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sqrt 5</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\frac {13+4\pi} {24-4\pi}</math><br />
|align="center"|2.2360678094<br />
|align="center"|2.2360679775<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|<math>\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^n}</math><br />
|align="center"|<math>\ln(3)^e</math><br />
|align="center"|1.2912987577<br />
|align="center"|1.2912859971<br />
|align="left"|<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Proof===<br />
<br />
One of the "approximations" actually is precisely correct: <math>\textstyle{ \cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} = \frac12 }</math>. Here is a proof:<br />
<br />
:<math>\cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7}</math><br />
<br />
Multiplying by 1 (or by a number divided by itself) leaves the equation unchanged: <br />
<br />
:<math>= \left( \cos \frac{\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} \right) \frac{2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}{2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}</math><br />
<br />
The <math>\textstyle{ 2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7} }</math> on the top of the fraction is multiplied through the original equation:<br />
<br />
:<math>= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7} + 2 \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7} + 2 \cos \frac{5\pi}{7} \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}</math><br />
<br />
Use the trigonometric identity <math>\textstyle{ 2 \cos A \sin B = \sin (A+B) - \sin(A-B)}</math> on the second and third terms in the numerator:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin \frac{\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \left(\frac{3\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7}\right) - \sin \left(\frac{3\pi}{7} - \frac{\pi}{7}\right) \right] + \left[\sin \left(\frac{5\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7}\right) - \sin \left(\frac{5\pi}{7} - \frac{\pi}{7}\right) \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {2 \cos \frac{\pi}{7} \sin \frac{\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
Use the trigonometric identity <math>\textstyle{ 2 \cos A \sin A = \sin 2A }</math> on the first term in the numerator:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{2\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} + \left[\sin \frac{4\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{4\pi}{7} \right] + \left[\sin \frac{2\pi}{7} - \sin \frac{2\pi}{7} \right]} {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{6\pi}{7} } {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
Noting that <math>\textstyle{\frac{6\pi}{7} + \frac{\pi}{7} = \pi}</math> and that the sines of supplementary angles (angles that sum to π) are equal:<br />
<br />
:<math>\begin{align}<br />
&= \frac {\sin \frac{\pi}{7} } {2 \sin\frac{\pi}{7}} \\<br />
&= \frac12 \quad \quad \quad \text{Q.E.D.}<br />
\end{align}</math><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|bad table}}<br />
:'''A table of slightly wrong equations and identities useful for approximations and/or trolling teachers.'''<br />
:(Found using a mix of trial-and-error, ''Mathematica'', and Robert Munafo's ''Ries'' tool.)<br />
: All units are SI MKS unless otherwise noted.<br />
<br />
:{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center" | Relation:<br />
|align="center" | Accurate to within:<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | One light-year(m)<br />
|align="center" | 99<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 40<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Earth Surface(m<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center" | 69<sup>8</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 130<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Oceans' volume(m<sup>3</sup>)<br />
|align="center" | 9<sup>19</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 70<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Seconds in a year<br />
|align="center" | 75<sup>4</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 400<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)<br />
|align="center" | 525,600 x 60<br />
|align="center" | one part in 1400<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Age of the universe (seconds)<br />
|align="center" | 15<sup>15</sup><br />
|align="center" | one part in 70<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Planck's constant<br />
|align="center" | 1/(30<sup>π<sup>e</sup></sup>)<br />
|align="center" | one part in 110<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Fine structure constant<br />
|align="center" | 1/140<br />
|align="center" | [I've had enough of this 137 crap]<br />
|-<br />
|align="center" | Fundamental charge<br />
|align="center" | 3/(14 * π<sup>π<sup>π</sup></sup>)<br />
|align="center" | one part in 500<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|White House Switchboard<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|1/<br /><br />
<sup>π</sup>√(e<sup>(1 + <sup>(e-1)</sup>√8)</sup>)<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Jenny's Constant<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|(7<sup>(e/1 - 1/e)</sup> - 9) * π<sup>2</sup><br />
|-<br />
|colspan="3" align="center"|Intermission:<br /> World Population Estimate<br /> which should stay current<br /> for a decade or two:<br /><br />
Take the last two digits of the current year<br />
<br />
Example: 20[14] <br />
<br />
Subtract the number of leap years since hurricane Katrina<br />
<br />
Example: 14 (minus 2008 and 2012) is 12<br />
<br />
Add a decimal point<br />
<br />
Example: 1.2<br />
<br />
Add 6<br />
<br />
Example: 6 + 1.2<br />
<br />
7.2 = World population in billions.<br />
<br />
<br />
Version for US population:<br />
<br />
Example: 20[14]<br />
<br />
Subtract 10<br />
<br />
Example: 4<br />
<br />
Multiply by 3<br />
<br />
Example: 12<br />
<br />
Add 10<br />
<br />
Example: 3[22] million<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Electron rest energy<br />
|align="center"|e/7<sup>16</sup> J<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Light-year(miles)<br />
|align="center"|2<sup>(42.42)</sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|sin(60°) = √3/2 = e/π<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√3 = 2e/π<br />
|align="center"|one part in 1000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant)<br />
|align="center"|1/√3<br />
|align="center"|one part in 4000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Feet in a meter<br />
|align="center"|5/(<sup>e</sup>√π)<br />
|align="center"|one part in 4000<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√5 = 2/e + 3/2<br />
|align="center"|one part in 7000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Avogadro's number<br />
|align="center"|69<sup>π<sup>√5</sup></sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 25,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Gravitational constant G<br />
|align="center"|1 / e<sup>(π - 1)<sup>(π + 1)</sup></sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 25,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|R (gas constant)<br />
|align="center"|(e+1) √5<br />
|align="center"|one part in 50,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|6*π<sup>5</sup><br />
|align="center"|one part in 50,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Liters in a gallon<br />
|align="center"|3 + π/4<br />
|align="center"|one part in 500,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|g<br />
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)<br />
|align="center"|one part in 750,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio<br />
|align="center"|(e<sup>8</sup> - 10) / ϕ<br />
|align="center"|one part in 5,000,000<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength<br />
|align="center"|1 / (1200<sup>2</sup>)<br />
|align="center"|[within actual variation]<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|Mean Earth Radius<br />
|align="center"|(5<sup>8</sup>)*6e<br />
|align="center"|[within actual variation]<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="3" align="center"|Protip - not all of these are wrong:<br />
|-<br />
|colspan="2" align="center"|√2 = 3/5 + π/(7-π)<br />
|align="center"|cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7) = 1/2<br />
|-<br />
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant) = e/3<sup>4</sup> + e/5<br />
|align="center"|√5 = (13 + 4π) / (24 - 4π)<br />
|align="center"|Σ 1/n<sup>n</sup> = ln(3)<sup>e</sup><br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Protip]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2169:_Predictive_Models&diff=176011Talk:2169: Predictive Models2019-07-01T01:06:32Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
If you click on the comic, it opens a page with error 404. Looking at the URL, it says "At the July 28th meeting", which I assume is the prediction result to the title text suggesting that they will be 1 month late. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.174|162.158.106.174]] 17:13, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Fixsed it, my years of mediawiki knowledge have finally come to use. [[User:Iggyvolz|Iggyvolz]] ([[User talk:Iggyvolz|talk]])<br />
<br />
In the HTML tag for the link (the <a> tag surrounding the comic image) after the link it says "cancel the meeting! our cover is blown" [[User:Everlastingwonder|Everlastingwonder]] ([[User talk:Everlastingwonder|talk]]) 17:21, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In the [https://m.xkcd.com/2169/ mobile version], you can read «See also: [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."» It leads to a 404, like the other examples in the comments here. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.136|172.69.44.136]] 17:31, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This looks a whole lot like Gmail's [https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/smart-compose-using-neural-networks-to.html Smart Compose] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.76|172.68.206.76]]<br />
<br />
Today GMail actually predicted the beginning of my mail correctly. I typed literally zero characters and it already knew how to continue. In the future, we won't even have to upload our brains to a computer, a backup will already be available there automatically. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 21:32, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not a backup, a simulation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.184|108.162.219.184]] 04:46, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
On my Mac the title text only shows "WE WILL ARREST THE REVOLUTION MEMBERS" while on my iPad (where you long press to see title texts) long pressing only shows the link. Weird. Also someone remind me to check the link again on July 28. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:10, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: On my Ubuntu system, both Firefox and Chrome display "WE WILL ARREST THE REVOLUTION MEMBERS" as the title text and "<nowiki>https://xkcd.com/[AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab]</nowiki>" as the link target, which is also what's in the HTML source. Additionally, the HTML source is malformed, with quotes inside quotes in the href attribute. - [[User:Linneris|Linneris]] ([[User talk:Linneris|talk]]) 14:37, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Malformed. Precisely! I think there was a glitch while the comic was uploaded, which used the title text as a link in addition to as the title text. It didn't include the last part due to the quotes. It will be either fixed or legitimate, or at least make the href a little nicer. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:24, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::Actually... Looking at the comic again (for the first time on my PC), I would like to rethink that. I think this is Randall's method of demonstrating the [tab]; clicking and looking at the URL. [EDIT] Man, the more I think, the weirder it gets. Maybe it's about how sometimes you can find the information on the client side in the code where it should be hidden? I don't know anymore. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:27, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
::When you look at the source of [https://xkcd.com/2169/%5BAT%20THE%20JULY%2028TH%20MEETING%5D%5Btab%5D that 404 page], you can see six HTML comments with the content ''a padding to disable MSIE and Chrome friendly error page''. This is to prevent MSIE and Chrome from displaying "helpful" proprietary error pages. If you change the link in the slightest, you will also get a 404 page, but without these comments. I assume that either this was a glitch (intended or unintended) and this particular 404 page was modified so that everyone can see that the authors are aware of it, *or* it's a hint pointing to somewhere else. A rabbit hole maybe? I would like the latter to be true, but I haven't found anything.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.168|162.158.90.168]] 22:42, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::Not for me. I see the same tiny Nginx 404 page with the same HTML source as any other 404 page due to invalid link on xkcd.com. - [[User:Linneris|Linneris]] ([[User talk:Linneris|talk]]) 07:14, 30 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This reminds me of that time where via data analytics on things like shopping habits, [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html Target figured out that a teen girl was pregnant before her father did]. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 06:42, 30 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I tried this on google, and got "we will arrest chamisa" and "the meeting will be in room 27" and "our next meeting will be at 3 p.m. on wednesday". Any more? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.214|162.158.59.214]] 19:16, 30 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I decided to see what a more sophisticated predictive model would do, so I plugged it into Talk to Transformer. The output: "Long live the revolution. Our next meeting will be at 10 a.m. on December 14 at the Cressey Building, 1636 S. Second St. Please invite your friends, family, and coworkers! For those interested in donating to the cause, please contact:" I'm legitimately impressed. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 01:03, 1 July 2019 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2169:_Predictive_Models&diff=176010Talk:2169: Predictive Models2019-07-01T01:03:54Z<p>Arcorann: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
If you click on the comic, it opens a page with error 404. Looking at the URL, it says "At the July 28th meeting", which I assume is the prediction result to the title text suggesting that they will be 1 month late. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.174|162.158.106.174]] 17:13, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Fixsed it, my years of mediawiki knowledge have finally come to use. [[User:Iggyvolz|Iggyvolz]] ([[User talk:Iggyvolz|talk]])<br />
<br />
In the HTML tag for the link (the <a> tag surrounding the comic image) after the link it says "cancel the meeting! our cover is blown" [[User:Everlastingwonder|Everlastingwonder]] ([[User talk:Everlastingwonder|talk]]) 17:21, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In the [https://m.xkcd.com/2169/ mobile version], you can read «See also: [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."» It leads to a 404, like the other examples in the comments here. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.136|172.69.44.136]] 17:31, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This looks a whole lot like Gmail's [https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/smart-compose-using-neural-networks-to.html Smart Compose] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.76|172.68.206.76]]<br />
<br />
Today GMail actually predicted the beginning of my mail correctly. I typed literally zero characters and it already knew how to continue. In the future, we won't even have to upload our brains to a computer, a backup will already be available there automatically. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 21:32, 28 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not a backup, a simulation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.184|108.162.219.184]] 04:46, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
On my Mac the title text only shows "WE WILL ARREST THE REVOLUTION MEMBERS" while on my iPad (where you long press to see title texts) long pressing only shows the link. Weird. Also someone remind me to check the link again on July 28. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:10, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: On my Ubuntu system, both Firefox and Chrome display "WE WILL ARREST THE REVOLUTION MEMBERS" as the title text and "<nowiki>https://xkcd.com/[AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab]</nowiki>" as the link target, which is also what's in the HTML source. Additionally, the HTML source is malformed, with quotes inside quotes in the href attribute. - [[User:Linneris|Linneris]] ([[User talk:Linneris|talk]]) 14:37, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Malformed. Precisely! I think there was a glitch while the comic was uploaded, which used the title text as a link in addition to as the title text. It didn't include the last part due to the quotes. It will be either fixed or legitimate, or at least make the href a little nicer. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:24, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::Actually... Looking at the comic again (for the first time on my PC), I would like to rethink that. I think this is Randall's method of demonstrating the [tab]; clicking and looking at the URL. [EDIT] Man, the more I think, the weirder it gets. Maybe it's about how sometimes you can find the information on the client side in the code where it should be hidden? I don't know anymore. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:27, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
::When you look at the source of [https://xkcd.com/2169/%5BAT%20THE%20JULY%2028TH%20MEETING%5D%5Btab%5D that 404 page], you can see six HTML comments with the content ''a padding to disable MSIE and Chrome friendly error page''. This is to prevent MSIE and Chrome from displaying "helpful" proprietary error pages. If you change the link in the slightest, you will also get a 404 page, but without these comments. I assume that either this was a glitch (intended or unintended) and this particular 404 page was modified so that everyone can see that the authors are aware of it, *or* it's a hint pointing to somewhere else. A rabbit hole maybe? I would like the latter to be true, but I haven't found anything.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.168|162.158.90.168]] 22:42, 29 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::Not for me. I see the same tiny Nginx 404 page with the same HTML source as any other 404 page due to invalid link on xkcd.com. - [[User:Linneris|Linneris]] ([[User talk:Linneris|talk]]) 07:14, 30 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This reminds me of that time where via data analytics on things like shopping habits, [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html Target figured out that a teen girl was pregnant before her father did]. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 06:42, 30 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I tried this on google, and got "we will arrest chamisa" and "the meeting will be in room 27" and "our next meeting will be at 3 p.m. on wednesday". Any more? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.214|162.158.59.214]] 19:16, 30 June 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I decided to see what an actual predictive model would do, so I plugged it into Talk to Transformer. The output: "Long live the revolution. Our next meeting will be at 10 a.m. on December 14 at the Cressey Building, 1636 S. Second St. Please invite your friends, family, and coworkers! For those interested in donating to the cause, please contact:" I'm legitimately impressed. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 01:03, 1 July 2019 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2109:_Invisible_Formatting&diff=1695062109: Invisible Formatting2019-02-13T00:43:28Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2109<br />
| date = February 8, 2019<br />
| title = Invisible Formatting<br />
| image = invisible_formatting.png<br />
| titletext = To avoid errors like this, we render all text and pipe it through OCR before processing, fixing a handful of irregular bugs by burying them beneath a smooth, uniform layer of bugs.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
In''' '''some''' '''word''' '''processor''' '''programs,''' '''when''' '''highlighting''' '''text,''' '''whether''' '''by''' '''manually''' '''clicking''' '''and''' '''dragging''' '''or''' '''by''' '''double-clicking''' '''on''' '''a''' '''passage,''' '''it''' '''is''' '''easy''' '''to''' '''mistakenly''' '''highlight''' '''an''' '''unnecessary''' '''portion''' '''which''' '''has''' '''no''' '''visible''' '''effects''' '''when''' '''italicized''' '''or''' '''boldfaced.''' '''Since''' '''in''' '''most''' '''fonts''' '''the''' '''word''' '''space''' '''looks''' '''identical''' '''between''' '''the''' '''bold,''' '''the''' '''italicized,''' '''and''' '''the''' '''regular,''' '''this''' '''has''' '''no''' '''effect''' '''on''' '''how''' '''the''' '''end''' '''user''' '''will''' '''read''' '''the''' '''document,''' '''but''' '''could''' '''theoretically''' '''cause''' '''a''' '''problem''' '''on''' '''later''' '''occasions,''' '''particularly''' '''if''' '''the''' '''text''' '''cursor''' '''does''' '''not''' '''reflect''' '''formatting''' '''when''' '''hovering''' '''over''' '''formatted''' '''characters.''' '''[[Randall]]''' '''worries''' '''about''' '''this.<br />
<br />
In the pictured case, he does not appear to have selected the word by double-clicking, since the cursor is depicted past the end of the word instead of on top of it. It appears instead that he has clicked and dragged the mouse cursor to select it, a method which also makes it easy to accidentally select a trailing space. The word space is a relatively thin character, which makes it hard to avoid and to notice, and most people don’t worry about whether they selected it. Therefore, selecting a trailing space is a common behavior, regardless of the method used.<br />
<br />
If later the same word is highlighted to have the bold removed, but this time without including the space, the space would retain its bold formatting. Since it is an invisible character, there is no easy way to tell it is still bold—even if it is slightly longer in the bold font, this may be hard to notice. This is the situation the comic is highlighting—[[559: No Pun Intended|no pun intended]].<br />
<br />
Occasions where a hidden bold space may be a problem include:<br />
*Editing that adds some text at the location of the space will make this text bold.<br />
*Exporting to plain text files. If for example a {{w|markdown}} style is used, there will be characters in the output that do not make sense.<br />
*Scraping, data mining, and linguistics processing by computer algorithms. Often (although not always) these algorithms are written based on samples of training or testing text that may not have spurious formatting present, and may misprocess something when encountering the spurious formatting.<br />
*Wikis. In the first paragraph of this article, every space is a hidden bold space. From the editing view, all the spaces look <code><nowiki>like''' '''this</nowiki></code>. This will annoy all future editors of this article, due to the hidden apostrophes which are formatting the spaces. They may also accidentally introduce bold words.<br />
**By default, MediaWiki attempts to prevent this by not including the trailing spaces in the bold formatting when you click the “bold” button, so someone has to manually type the formatting apostrophes to do this.<br />
*A situation where formatted text is not allowed, and is rejected, but the user failed to strip formatting from the spaces, and this is noticed.<br />
*If a font has the word space look different between the bold and the regular, perhaps to make it so bold words are spaced closer to each other, the spacing will look inconsistent if there is a hidden bold space.<br />
*Unnecessary extra formatting will usually unnecessarily increase file size, which may put the document above some maximum file size threshold.<br />
*It can be later revealed that Randall considered to format parts of the text in bold. As the title text tells it is really important to Randall to control all information he publishes. Real-world examples are governments changing the impact of reports for political reasons. Attempted tampering of this kind can be revealed by bold spaces. Another example would be a casual and short one-sentence reply e.g. to a romantic interest, which one takes one hour to formulate to sound as natural as possible.<br />
*Bold (or italic or non-breaking) spaces are also popular in {{w|Steganography|steganography}}. By using bold spaces in some places and not in others it is possible to hide secret information in a public text, that will not be visible to the casual reader, who does not explicitly search for the hidden information. Additionally if such a document is found with a person, that person can {{w|Plausible_deniability|plausibly deny}} all knowledge of the encoded information.<br />
<br />
Randall’s background in {{w|computer programming}} could be what makes him more attentive to these types of technical problems, and therefore the reason for his worries.<br />
<br />
Popular modern word processing programs have features which may make it easier to notice improperly formatted invisible characters. In the tutorials linked here, one may learn how to view invisible characters in [https://support.office.com/en-us/article/show-or-hide-formatting-marks-c2d8a607-5646-4165-8b08-bd68f9d172a0 Microsoft Word], [https://support.apple.com/kb/PH23650?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US Pages] and [https://help.libreoffice.org/Writer/Nonprinting_Characters LibreOffice Writer], however even with this on it would be difficult to spot a bolded space (which looks like a bolded dot &ndash; now visible but so small it's still hard to tell if it's bold or not). In the older word processor {{w|WordPerfect}}, one could do this with the “Reveal Codes” feature, which showed you character codes, separate from the characters themselves, around the characters. For example, a bolded space would look something like "<span style="background:#34F5FF">[BOLD&#8827;</span>&ensp;<span style="background:#34F5FF">&#8826;BOLD]</span>".<br />
<br />
Web sites which allow content to be edited by users but generate the formatting code automatically often have versions of the invisible formatting problem; for example, eBay listings which use anything other than the default font rapidly accumulate hard spaces, font end and begin transitions, and other invisible formatting if they are subsequently edited, which can slow page loading and cause other problems. This is also seen in blogs etc.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Randall says that he “fixes” this by running the text through {{w|Optical character recognition|OCR}}, which turns physical copies or images into text. Although this would "fix" the invisible formatting (since the OCR is unable to detect it), this would usually ruin even more formatting, and add inaccuracies to the text. This way, no one can tell which bugs were introduced by him and which ones by the OCR, which he facetiously suggests is better somehow.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:681:_Gravity_Wells&diff=169317Talk:681: Gravity Wells2019-02-08T03:42:03Z<p>Arcorann: /* Earth's Geosynchronous Orbital Altitude */</p>
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<div>Why is Earth's well's depth listed as 5478km but as 6379km in the inset? <br />
Compare with Mars which has 1286 in both places.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/87.174.225.131|87.174.225.131]] 07:21, 12 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Best guess is either a goof, or that the lower number is just for Earth itself, while the greater number is for the Earth/Moon system as a whole. Proportionally speaking, we have the largest moon in the solar system, so maybe it wouldn't nicely fit in the Earth well as easily as Mars's and Jupiter's moons do.--[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 08:28, 12 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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: It ''may'' be the height needed to go from one gravity well to another. You don't have to get all the way up to escape speed for that.<br />
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: Randall wasn't kidding about the Sun being "very very far down"; its well is 100 times deeper than Jupiter's!<br />
:[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 19:47, 12 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:: OTOH, from the table above i'm thinking that the 5.4 might be the Venus figure, and it was wrongly placed besides Earth...<br />
:: Secondly, what i found interesting was that the Earth's 6.4 looks so much like its radius! I wonder if it's merely a coincidence, or there's a connection between the two... -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.233|141.101.99.233]] 21:25, 30 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::The table is great, it must be included in the article; layout and time is just my problem right now. PRO TIP: Do not care about the x-axis.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:18, 30 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
: The fact that the density of the Earth is 5478 kilograms per cubic kilometer makes me pretty sure it is a typo. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 03:04, 4 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: Hehe, you might be right. That's the best explanation. It would be a strange coincidence otherwise. But your units are wrong: a cubic kilometer of water, ice-cream or Natalie Portmans would be already something like a billion kilograms. Or a trillion, if you are American. Oh, you might be American. In this case: happy 4th of July! -[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.35|188.114.102.35]] 12:39, 4 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Thanks for catching that (and for the July 4 wishes). It should be kilograms per cubic meter. Looking into that, though, leaves me less sure that is the origin of the problem. I thought I had multiple sources for Earth having a density of 5478 kg/m3, but can find only [//atharvatutorials.com/doc/physics_paper.docx one] (and not a very compelling one at that). I have sounder sources for [//www.universetoday.com/26771/density-of-the-earth/ 5513 kg/m3]. [//nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html 5514 kg/m3], [//www.wolframalpha.com 5515 kg/m3], [//www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_compared_to_Earth 5520 kg/m3] and [//principles.ou.edu/earth_planet/ 5540 kg/m3]. It may be trivial in that all round to 5500 kg/m3.<br />
::It was corrected on the poster version. Earth's well in the main graphic is marked as 6379km, just like the inset.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.86|108.162.216.86]] 00:19, 21 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
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:::I solved for the wells on Earth, Moon and Mars using the equation Randall gave and masses and equatorial radii from NASA, getting 6371 km, 287 km and 1286 km, respectively. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 23:07, 5 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
The Oberth Effect mentioned in the title text is [//www.askamathematician.com/2013/01/q-how-does-the-oberth-effect-work-and-where-does-the-extra-energy-come-from-why-is-it-better-for-a-rocket-to-fire-at-the-lowest-point-in-its-orbit/ well-explained here] (assuming you are not intimidated by the algebra in squaring a binomial). The gist of it is that using a bit of fuel in a rocket thrust will increase the rocket’s kinetic energy . The higher the kinetic energy at the time of the thrust, the greater the increase in kinetic energy. It works because the energy of the fuel goes into increasing the kinetic energy of the ship and the kinetic energy of the spent fuel. The faster you go, the greater the portion of the energy the ship gets. <br />
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The “gravity assist” is also known as the slingshot effect. The [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist#Explanation Wikipedia explanation] is good, especially with its diagram. In it a spaceship (or other body) accelerates toward a planet (or moon, star, etc.) in the same direction that body was going. The ship picks up a little of the body’s momentum and so goes faster, although only according to an external reference frame. An observer at rest with respect to that other body would actually see the ship approach and depart with the same speed. <br />
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The title text reference to orbital speed is unclear to me. I suppose it just means that the given gravity wells assume you are at rest on the surface of the planet. Then being in orbit (and necessarily having an orbital speed) would mean you are part way out of the well already. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 02:57, 4 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
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If the first stage of a rocket is still supplying lift for a while after its fuel is used up and the stage is cut adrift, would there be any saving in waiting for the next phase to cut in when forward motion is almost ended rather than continuing the burn immediately from the second stage?<br />
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The higher the vehicle gets the more productive the fuel becomes.Or is it preferable to continue the journey as fast as possible? {{unsigned|Weatherlawyer}}<br />
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My first instinct would be to say burn as continuously as possible. If you wait until your speed is almost zero, you have to use a whole load of energy (fuel) to get back to the speed you were going in the first place. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 17:12, 27 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:Hence the need to use ultra light containers in the first stage?{{unsigned|Weatherlawyer}}<br />
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Maybe the typo is based on Randall's days at NASA? It might already incorporate gravity assists and the Oberth effect. That number might even be what NASA was using as the minimum potential with known cost-effective techniques. [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 21:22, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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== Earth's Geosynchronous Orbital Altitude ==<br />
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In the XKCD strip, the artist states above Earth in the lower right popout that the geosynchronous altitude is well below top of Earth's gravity well. While the rest of his strip is a wonderful representation of the science behind gravity wells, this one bit is not accurate. A geosynchronous altitude for Earth is nearly 36,000 km, not under 6000 km. Kudos for the rest of the strip, though.<br />
: The strip scales the heights of the corresponding wells based on the assumption of constant Earth surface gravity; in other words, it takes the same amount of energy to climb such a well as it does to escape the real gravity well. By contrast, as one ascends from the Earth's surface, gravity decreases, so it requires less energy to climb to an orbital altitude than it does to reach the same height in the hypothetical well. The amount of energy required to put a geostationary satellite in orbit, for example, is equivalent to that used in raising it 5413 km in Earth surface gravity, and thus it is located 5413 km from the bottom of the well. [[User:Arcorann|Arcorann]] ([[User talk:Arcorann|talk]]) 03:42, 8 February 2019 (UTC)</div>Arcorannhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2073:_Kilogram&diff=1691082073: Kilogram2019-02-05T12:18:54Z<p>Arcorann: /* Explanation */ a reminder that the gravitational force determination is a solved problem (compared to the balance's uncertainty)</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2073<br />
| date = November 16, 2018<br />
| title = Kilogram<br />
| image = kilogram.png<br />
| titletext = I'm glad to hear they're finally redefining the meter to be exactly three feet.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CONSTANT PLANCK. Links to resources would be good. Explain motivation for characters' statements. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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Standard units such as the kilogram, metre, and second are redefined from time to time as measurement technologies improve. These redefinitions are generally done to improve the precision to which the various units can be known or reproduced, without changing their actual value. The joke here is that redefining the kilogram to equal one pound sounds like an incredible idea to Americans, who never use the kilogram. It would not only fail to improve on its precision, but would also significantly change the value of what a kilogram is, making all things already measured for science and in the rest of the world impossible to correctly understand the mass of.<br />
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On the day of this comic, the {{w|General Conference on Weights and Measures|General Conference on Weights and Measures}} (which Randall confuses with the {{w|International Committee for Weights and Measures|International Committee for Weights and Measures}}) voted to redefine the {{w|kilogram}} by fixing it to the value of {{w|Planck's Constant}}. This is measured by passing a measured current through an electromagnet to exert a force to balance 1&nbsp;kg. The change will take effect on May 20, 2019, when the platinum cylinder International Prototype Kilogram that defines the unit will be retired. This means that the mass of a kilogram will no longer be tied to a physical object, but to the fundamental properties of the universe. By fixing the value of Planck constant to 6.62607015×10<sup>-34</sup>&nbsp;kg⋅m<sup>2</sup>⋅s<sup>−1</sup>, the kilogram will be defined in terms of the second and the speed of light via the metre.<br />
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The previous method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate is to use physical metal weights measuring exactly one kilogram, periodically transporting them around the world to an official weight lab to confirm they still weigh the same. Over time these physical objects have changed very slightly in their mass making them unreliable in the long run -- thus running into the issue that a kilogram did not stay a constant measure of mass. Note that these weights and comparisons are so precise that a fingerprint on one of the weights could throw them off.<br />
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The new method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate relies upon an extremely precise knowledge of local gravitational effects & an absence (or counteraction) of electromagnetic interference. On a traditional scale, two units of equal weight will balance, regardless of local gravitational levels; whereas the new method requires that the gravitational force be determined precisely for every site a measurement is to take place. This involves a high-precision {{w|gravimeter}} such as the FG5 absolute gravimeter.<br />
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In this comic, Black Hat announces that the kilogram has been redefined as equal to one {{w|Pound (mass)|pound}}. Ponytail and Cueball seem to think this makes things simpler, but Megan is alarmed. The metric system of measurement is the one used by most of the world and is the standard system used in science. Redefining the kilogram to be equal to the pound would be very disruptive and outrage supporters of the metric system. Redefining the kilogram as being a completely different size from before will create a lot of confusion, since now when people read a mass in kilograms they need to work out whether it was written in old kilograms or new (pound-sized) kilograms.<br />
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The pound is officially defined as 0.45359237 kilograms, or less than half a kilogram. This makes defining a kilogram as one pound even more impossible as they are then stuck in a loop, as the pound must weigh less than half of a kilogram, meaning the value of each would be equal to zero.<br />
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The title text continues the joke by saying that the metre has been defined as exactly three feet. The yard, the closest US measurement to the metre, is three feet. However, a metre is about 9 centimetres longer than a yard. As with the pound, the metric system is used to define the yard as it is officially defined as 0.9144 metres. This joke recreates the comic in the real world, with Randall playing as Black Hat, and the reader responding. Those who fall for the claim will either be excited that things are simpler, or devastated at what the result will be.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat talking to Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan while all stand in a row. Megan's hands are raised emphatically.]<br />
:Black Hat: To end many years of confusion, the International Committee for Weights and Measures has just voted to redefine the kilogram.<br />
:Black Hat: As of next May, it will equal exactly one pound.<br />
:Ponytail: Oh, cool.<br />
:Cueball: That ''does'' make things simpler.<br />
:Megan: '''''No!!'''''<br />
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==Trivia==<br />
To further expand on this, the classic definitions of all our various units of time, length, mass, and temperature are based on phenomena that are neither convenient to measure precisely nor in fact consistently reproducible. The duration of an Earth day and year vary unpredictably, the circumference of the Earth varies, the International Prototype Kilogram gains or loses mass any time it is handled (and in fact just sitting there it and its reference copies diverge from each other), and the value of baseline temperatures such as the freezing point of water depend on which isotopes of hydrogen are in the water molecules.<br />
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Nevertheless, there really are constants of nature. For example, one of them is ‘''c''’, the speed of light in a vacuum. The expressed value of ''c'' depends on your choice of the unit of distance and the unit of time, but it’s a constant in those units. Now just suppose we all had a reproducible way to define a specific unit of time, which just for fun we call a ‘second’. You might not know the length of a ‘metre’, but if I told you that measured in metres per second the universal constant value of ''c'' is exactly 299792458 metres per second, then I would have fixed the length of a metre to be exactly the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds. And in fact this is what the international body responsible for defining our SI units has done.<br />
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{{w|Second#"Atomic"_second|One second}} is defined to be a specific number of periods of the radiation emitted in a certain transition of a cesium 133 atom. The specific number was set in the year 1967, so as to match a previous astronomical standard called {{w|Second#Fraction_of_an_ephemeris_year|ephemeris time}} to the limit of human measuring ability at the time. The 1967 definition didn’t change the actual duration of a second, but it did make its measurement forever reproducible.<br />
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In 1983 the value of ''c'' was fixed to the value noted above. Prior to that it had been measured with respect to existing definitions of a metre, and had to be expressed with a measure of uncertainty. For example in 1973 a team at the US National Bureau of Standards refined ''c'' to 299,792,457.4 m/s ± 1 m/s. But from 1983 onwards, with an exact integer value for ''c'' that is quite close to that Bureau measurement, the length of a metre is now fixed with no plus/minus uncertainty. Furthermore, both the second and the metre match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.<br />
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Similar redefinitions of units of mass and of temperature in terms of universal constants have been agreed to, mass with regard to the Planck constant ''h'', and temperature with regard to the Boltzmann constant ''k''. The constants ''h'' and ''k'' had previously been measured quantities, complete with uncertainties. The SI body fixed both of them to exact values, resulting in exact, no-uncertainty values for a kilogram of mass and a kelvin of thermodynamic temperature. As with the second and the metre, these new definitions match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.<br />
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To expand on this even further, three additional universal constants that were previously measured and that had uncertainty values have been assigned fixed values, resulting in exact definitions of three corresponding units of measurement without affecting their applicability. Fixing the unit of elementary charge, ''e'', serves to define the unit of electric current, the Ampere. Fixing the unit of luminous efficacy ''K<sub>cd</sub>'' serves to define the unit of luminous intensity, the candela. And fixing the Avogadro constant ''N<sub>A</sub>'' serves to define the unit of amount of substance, the mole.<br />
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A very recent Wikipedia article about redefining the SI units of measure in terms of newly fixed values of things taken to be universal constants is {{w|Redefinition of SI base units}}.<br />
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Additionally, it might be worth noting the pound has multiple different types and definitions. The most common definition today is the international avoirdupois pound (lb), which is defined (discarding the semantics) as a unit of mass equal to 0.45359237 kilograms. However the pound is commonly used as to describe force, defined as the force an avoirdupois pound exerts on the Earth (lbf). These definitions however are identical in practical terms, such that an item with 0.45359237 kilograms of mass exerts one avoirdupois pound of force on the Earth. In the SI, the derived unit of force is the newton.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>Arcorann