explain xkcd - Recent changes [en]

Talk:3264: 720 Ollie

82.13.184.33 — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 08:27:44 GMT

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3264: 720 Ollie

82.13.184.33 — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 08:22:50 GMT

‎Explanation

3263: Baryon Asymmetry

82.13.184.33 — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 08:12:44 GMT

‎Explanation

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Talk:3235: Types of Board Game

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Talk:3264: 720 Ollie

70.110.149.136 — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:20:31 GMT

Video evidence

1506: xkcloud

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 Anyway my point is you get a macroscopic system where the cup needs to rotate 720 degrees to return the system to its starting point.
-Also when using quaternions to handle rotation in 3D game design they seem to define a spin 1/2 system but you just have to deal with it, its just numbers
+Also when using quaternions to handle rotation in 3D game design they seem to define a spin 1/2 system but you just have to deal with it, its just numbers [[Special:Contributions/80.229.249.36|80.229.249.36]] 13:05, 27 June 2026 (UTC)
 As I understand it, some new symmetries originally identified in the two-Higgs-doublet model, also known as 𝑟<sub>0</sub>-symmetry, have been referred to as the goofy symmetry based on the names of the authors. [[Special:Contributions/49.194.177.67|49.194.177.67]] 13:15, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

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 {{incomplete|This page was created by a spin-½ boson. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
-{{w|Tony Hawk}} tells Cueball that doing a single 360° spin causes him to land backward rather than forward. This is unexpected, since a 360° turn in the xy plane is a full revolution, meaning that it should normally return Tony Hawk to his original position rather than perform a half-rotation (normally the result of a 180° spin). As repeating this would reverse his reverse, doubling this to a 720° spin is what finally allows him to land forward. Normally, revolving 360*n degrees, for any whole number (n=0, n=±1, n=±2, etc) should leave him pointing the same range as before, but for him he returns to the same orientation if n is even, but he lands with the opposite orientation if n is odd.
+{{w|Tony Hawk}} is an American skateboarder credited with inventing the 720, a trick (under normal circumstances) involving two full mid-air rotations. He tells Cueball that doing a single 360° spin causes him to land backward rather than forward. This is unexpected, since a 360° turn in the xy plane is a full revolution, meaning that it should normally return Tony Hawk to his original position rather than perform a half-rotation (normally the result of a 180° (or 540°, etc.) spin). As repeating this would reverse his reverse, doubling this to a 720° spin is what finally allows him to land forward. Normally, revolving 360*n degrees, for any whole number (n=0, n=±1, n=±2, etc) should leave him pointing the same range as before, but for him he returns to the same orientation if n is even, but he lands with the opposite orientation if n is odd.
 The caption reveals that this is because Tony Hawk is a spin-½ fermion. Spin-½ fermions have the unusual property that they must be rotated through two full turns before returning to their original configuration. This explains the paradox, but is unusual because spin-½ particles are normally very small, only occurring in quantum physics rather than Newtonian physics. Since Tony Hawk is not a subatomic particle,{{Citation needed}} it is unclear how his skateboard tricks could be described only by quantum physics.
-A '''{{w|fermion}}''' is a classification of particles (or groups of particles) whose intrinsic angular momentum (aka "spin") is half-integer multiple of the ''reduced Planck constant''; the behavior of these objects' spin is described via spinors, a type of complex vector. This is in contrast to '''bosons''', whose spin is an integer multiple of the reduced Planck constant, and described by the normal Euclidean vectors you know and love.{{Citation needed}}
+A '''{{w|fermion}}''' is a classification of particles (or groups of particles) whose intrinsic angular momentum (aka "spin") is a half-integer multiple of the ''reduced Planck constant''; the behavior of these objects' spin is described via spinors, a type of complex vector. This is in contrast to '''bosons''', whose spin is an integer multiple of the reduced Planck constant, and described by the normal Euclidean vectors you know and love.
-Tony Hawk is an American skateboarder credited with inventing the 720, a trick (under normal circumstances) involving two full mid-air rotations. Since Hawk invented it in 1985, larger {{w|Aerial (skateboarding)|mid-air rotations}} have been invented (up to 1260, three and a half rotations), and according to the comic they can have even stranger quantum properties.
+Since Hawk invented the 720 in 1985, larger {{w|Aerial (skateboarding)|mid-air rotations}} have been invented (up to 1260, three and a half rotations), and according to the comic they can have even stranger quantum properties.
-The title text is a riff on the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of {{w|CP violation}}, (something that may have been on [[Randall]]'s mind, recently, due to the [[3263: Baryon Asymmetry|prior comic]]'s subject matter/anti-matter<!-- couldn't resist that pun, after accidentally stumbling into it, but delete it if it's too corny -->). The {{w|Footedness#Goofy stance vs. regular stance|regular/goofy styles of riding a skateboard}} could be considered as a physical quality of the "skateboarder particle", as values of charge and parity are of subatomic ones. The {{w|X Games}} are a prestigious 'street-sport' event that includes competitions in skateboarding as well as other related board- and bike-disciplines. The parallel is made between being able to win a gold medal for impressive skateboarding skills (and demonstrating new tricks, in the process, as Tony Hawk has been known to do) and earning the gold Nobel Prize medal for a scientific achievements in Physics or one of the other established prize categories. So far, nobody has done both of these. But, if this comic is entirely true, perhaps Tony Hawk could be the first to do so.
+The title text is a riff on the {{w|Nobel Prize}}-winning discovery of {{w|CP violation}}, (something that may have been on [[Randall]]'s mind, recently, due to the [[3263: Baryon Asymmetry|prior comic]]'s subject matter/anti-matter<!-- couldn't resist that pun, after accidentally stumbling into it, but delete it if it's too corny -->). The {{w|Footedness#Goofy stance vs. regular stance|regular/goofy styles of riding a skateboard}} could be considered as a physical quality of the "skateboarder particle", as values of charge and parity are of subatomic ones. The {{w|X Games}} are a prestigious 'street-sport' event that includes competitions in skateboarding as well as other related board- and bike-disciplines. The parallel is made between being able to win a gold medal for impressive skateboarding skills (and demonstrating new tricks, in the process, as Tony Hawk has been known to do) and earning the gold Nobel Prize medal for a scientific achievements in Physics or one of the other established prize categories. So far, nobody has done both of these, but, if this comic is entirely true, perhaps Tony Hawk could be the first to do so.
 "Goofy matter", and Tony Hawk's involvement in physics, is also the subject of [[2967: Matter]]. Skateboarding is also the subject of [[296: Tony Hawk]].

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 An alternative explanation could be that the sphere is an equivalent to [[Black Hat]], who knows all about the impact and yet 'corrects' the situation anyway, simply not caring about destroying the universe they created, or even deliberately choosing to {{tvtropes|LiteralGenie|worsen the situation}}.
-The title text resolves another physics mystery in a similarly unexpected way. {{W|Dark matter}} (another substance that is thought to exist but is considerably less well understood than antimatter) mysteriously interacts via gravity but not, as far as we know, via electromagnetism. The creator is surprised that we call something 'dark matter', but somehow understands what Cueball is referring to and reveals that this was ''supposed'' to interact with high-energy {{w|gamma rays}}, a form of electromagnetic radiation (which, at least as far as the creator is concerned, would not make it 'dark'), but they forgot to add that property. Exactly how this follow-up issue was posed is unknown, following the sudden annihilation of much (if not all) matter in Cueball's vicinity, and likely also his own body. However, there is a chance Cueball is safe from this, as the void shown is unknown, and the last panel could display events happening elsewhere in the universe, where the void is safe from such things.
+The title text resolves another physics mystery in a similarly unexpected way. {{W|Dark matter}} (a substance that is thought to exist but is considerably less well understood than antimatter) mysteriously interacts via gravity but not, as far as we know, via electromagnetism. The creator is surprised that we call something 'dark matter', but somehow understands what Cueball is referring to and reveals that this was ''supposed'' to interact with high-energy {{w|gamma rays}}, a form of electromagnetic radiation (which, at least as far as the creator is concerned, would not make it 'dark'), but they forgot to add that property. Exactly how this follow-up issue was posed is unknown, following the sudden annihilation of much (if not all) matter in Cueball's vicinity, and likely also his own body. However, there is a chance Cueball is safe from this, as the void shown is unknown, and the last panel could display events happening elsewhere in the universe, where the void is safe from such things.
 It is uncertain if any more questions could be asked, after this other apparently-intended situation was properly implemented, but they might include something about the nature of {{w|dark energy}}, yet ''another'' mystery regarding the nature of the universe in which various after-market 'fixes' could also be particularly problematic.

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 : Also, I "fixed" panel 6: https://www.pasteboard.co/hxBFDL497SLH.png [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 04:54, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
 : Whoever it was didn't necessarily commit the murder ''in the game'' - all we know is that it was ''discovered'' during the game. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:39, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
 The reference to Monopoly seems ultra-specific given the plethora of games that have this structure, including Candyland, Snakes and Ladders, Sorry, and if one allows for multiple tokens, Parchisi and even Backgammon.  Despite the amount of hate for Monopoly, it seems more likely that the editor has something against Monopoly than Randal.  [[User:Mneme|Mneme]] ([[User talk:Mneme|talk]]) 05:14, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:20, 29 June 2026
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	:From everything I've read, this is wrong. Or, at least, it doesn't explain the 180 Ollie, which does what you say is the first bit of the 360 Ollie.		:From everything I've read, this is wrong. Or, at least, it doesn't explain the 180 Ollie, which does what you say is the first bit of the 360 Ollie.
	:I'm no expert, just going by what I've read about (including in trying to confirm what you said, once I read that). Is it possible that you've been told that a 180 Ollie-plus-Pivot (or similar) is a 'full' 360? [[Special:Contributions/81.179.200.152\|81.179.200.152]] 18:00, 28 June 2026 (UTC)		:I'm no expert, just going by what I've read about (including in trying to confirm what you said, once I read that). Is it possible that you've been told that a 180 Ollie-plus-Pivot (or similar) is a 'full' 360? [[Special:Contributions/81.179.200.152\|81.179.200.152]] 18:00, 28 June 2026 (UTC)
		+	:I was going by the first two videos that pop up when you Google "360 degree Ollie" including this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXR2pn7ZRM8 where you can see the skateboarder landing backwards. Also consider: this makes the joke funny; the other way the joke is just kind of dumb. Since Randall is funny, and often in a way that involves knowing some really obscure bit of knowledge, this makes me believe my interpretation. [[Special:Contributions/70.110.149.136\|70.110.149.136]] 01:20, 29 June 2026 (UTC)

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 *Need to remove bullet points throughout the [[#Explanation]] and [[#Trivia]] sections.
-*Also, clean up section [[#Don't contact us]]. Make a cohesive and clear explanation of what happened to the chatroom).
+*Also, clean up section [[#Don't contact us]]. Make a cohesive and clear explanation of what happened to the chatroom).}}
 In this interactive {{w|April Fools' Day}} comic [[Cueball]], presumably representing [[Randall]], admits to the readers he built a flimsy {{w|Cloud computing|cloud}} services company using spare computers and parts. Included in the cloud hardware are (from left to right) a {{w|Macintosh}}, several old laptops, an {{w|Alienware}} tower, a {{w|Nintendo}} {{w|Virtual Boy}}, an old desktop with the cover off, and an {{w|Atari, Inc.|Atari}} {{w|Pong#Home_version|Pong Console}}. He named the company after xkcd, xkcloud being a [[:category:Portmanteau|portmanteau]] of "[[xkcd]]" and "{{w|Cloud computing|cloud}}", here pronounced XK-cloud. The portmanteau incidentally still contains all four xkcd letters in the correct order: xkcLOUd. This was later reused for the xkcd keyboard in [[2150: XKeyboarCD]], where the word Keyboard, has an X before the word and a C before the D with the xkcd letters capitalized.