Difference between revisions of "explain xkcd:Sandbox"
m |
m |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | {{ | + | __NOTOC__{{DISPLAYTITLE:<big><big><big>'''explain [[xkcd]]''' sandbox!</big></big></big>}} |
| − | | | + | <center> |
| − | + | <font size=5px>''<big><big><big>Welcome to the '''explain [[xkcd]]''' sandbox!</big></big></big>''</font><br> | |
| − | + | We have an explanation for all [[:Category:All comics|'''{{#expr:{{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}}-1}}''' xkcd comics]], | |
| − | | | + | <!-- Note: the -1 in the calculation above is to discount "comic" 404, |
| − | + | which is not really a comic, even though we've categorised it so. --> | |
| − | | | + | and only {{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} |
| − | }} | + | ({{#expr: {{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} / {{LATESTCOMIC}} * 100 round 0}}%) [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|are incomplete]]. Help us finish them! |
| + | </center> | ||
| + | == (Not the) latest comic == | ||
| + | <div style="border:1px solid grey; background:#eee; padding:1em;"> | ||
| + | <span style="float:right;">[[{{LATESTCOMIC}}|'''Go to this comic explanation''']]</span> | ||
| + | <br clear="right"> | ||
| + | {{:{{LATESTCOMIC}}}}</div> | ||
| − | == | + | == <big><big><big>New to the '''explain [[xkcd]]''' sandbox?</big></big></big> == |
| − | + | <div style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em">{{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}}<div style="font-size:0.85em; width:25em; font-style:italic">[[Special:ContributionScores|Lots of people]] contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors, listed above, have [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=newbie just joined]. You can do it too! Create your account [[Special:UserLogin/signup|here]].</div></div> | |
| − | + | You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at [[explain xkcd]]. Feel free to [[Special:UserLogin/signup|sign up for an account]] and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|comics]], [[:Category:Characters|characters]], [[:Category:Comics by topic|themes]] and [[:Category:Meta|everything in between]]. If it is referenced in an [[xkcd]] web comic, it should be here. | |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | :[ | + | * If you're new to wiki editing, see the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]] for a specific guidance to this Wiki and the more general help on [[mw:Help:Editing pages|how to edit wiki pages]]. There's also a handy {{w|Help:Cheatsheet|wikicode cheatsheet}}. |
| − | |||
| − | : | + | * Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]]. |
| − | |||
| − | + | * You can browse the comics from [[List of all comics]] or by navigating the category tree at [[:Category:Comics]]. | |
| − | ==Trivia== | + | * There are incomplete explanations listed [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|here]]. Feel free to help out by expanding them! |
| − | + | ||
| + | == Trivia == | ||
| + | |||
| + | If you need assistance from an [[explain xkcd:Administrators|admin]], post a message to the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests|Admin requests]] board. | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
Revision as of 13:22, 23 June 2023
Welcome to the explain xkcd sandbox!
We have an explanation for all 3266 xkcd comics,
and only 46
(1%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!
(Not the) latest comic
| Plate Flip |
Title text: It's great for exfoliating your skin, bones, houses, cities, landscape, etc. |
Explanation
| This is incomplete: This page was FOUND ON THE UNDERSIDE OF THE CONTINENT. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
Ponytail resumes her role as a cosmic home inspector from 3037: Radon and 3059: Water Damage.
She asks Cueball when the last time he flipped the tectonic plates, because they look heavily eroded. This may be an allusion to the practice of turning mattresses over every few months. This was common until the 20th century, to even out the wear and tear, and prevent permanent body impressions. When modern box springs became common, the practice became unnecessary.
Flipping mattresses only makes sense because both sides are similar to each other, but the "underside" of a plate is nothing like the surface. The current side that Cueball and Ponytail are standing on is the outermost layer of the crust. However, the "underside" of the plate reaches until the solid layer of the mantle, whose temperature can reach over 1000 °C. As Cueball points out, if you could flip a continent over, the new surface would be molten rock, not a surface suitable for life. Ponytail thinks the warmth would be soothing, and that walking on it would exfoliate your feet, but at hundreds of degrees, it would do far more damage than just removing dead skin.[citation needed]
Of course, such an idea would be impossible to do. The Earth's crust is far bigger than us, and any plate-moving technologies would need an insane amount of power, much more than we have. As well as that, it would be impossible to flip the whole crust over, as the plate-moving technology would have to be on part of it! Even by doing various plates at a time, the temperature increase from moving just one of them would already be deadly. The title text also reveals that somehow the crust is to be moved without moving the numerous things on it, which would further complicate matters.
Even if the immediate calamities from turning the tectonic plates upside down were ignored the turned plate would be inhospitable to life. There would be no soil, only igneous rock, meaning no ground water could form resulting in an immense desert. Given enough time erosion and pioneer species would restore the geosphere this would also cause the "problems" ponytail tries to fix to reappear.
The title text expands on this joke, saying that it would "exfoliate" just about everything on the surface (which would somehow have to stay in place while the plate below it is flipped; alternatively, everything is flipped along with the surface and ends up under the crust). If this flip was to somehow happen it would indeed do that, but it would also melt just about everything on the surface, which is less than ideal.[citation needed]
Transcript
| This is one of 28 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
- Ponytail: These tectonic plates look pretty eroded. When did you last flip them?
- Cueball: Flip them?
- Ponytail: Yeah, to use the underside of the continent.
- Cueball: ...Never?
- Ponytail: Wow. Explains the eons of weathering, debris basins, and ... is this isostatic depression?
- Cueball: It's rebounding!
- Ponytail: You should really flip it. You'll get a whole new landscape!
- Cueball: But I like this landscape!
- Ponytail: Just think how warm and fresh the other side will feel.
- Cueball: A sea of molten rock?
- Ponytail: Good for the feet. Helps exfoliate.
Discussion
Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.
This is a test. PoolloverNathan[stalk the blue seas] 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
- This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 23:44) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
- A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)
here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this
furhhfghure guyrburgryhuyvfr "rvhru"
interesting way of writing quotations xd
- hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line
edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
hi uh its hard to get here.
is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
yum yum [citation needed]
Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}
This is the leaderboard:Last 7 days (Top 50) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello doesthiswork (yesitdoes) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
Hello 107.1.219.44 19:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)New to the explain xkcd sandbox?
Last 7 days (Top 10) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd. Feel free to sign up for an account and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for comics, characters, themes and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd web comic, it should be here.
- If you're new to wiki editing, see the explain xkcd:Editor FAQ for a specific guidance to this Wiki and the more general help on how to edit wiki pages. There's also a handy wikicode cheatsheet.
- Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the Community portal.
- You can browse the comics from List of all comics or by navigating the category tree at Category:Comics.
- There are incomplete explanations listed here. Feel free to help out by expanding them!
Trivia
If you need assistance from an admin, post a message to the Admin requests board.
Discussion
Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.
This is a test. PoolloverNathan[stalk the blue seas] 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
- This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 23:44) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
- A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)
here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this
furhhfghure guyrburgryhuyvfr "rvhru"
interesting way of writing quotations xd
- hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line
edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
hi uh its hard to get here.
is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
yum yum [citation needed]
Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}
This is the leaderboard:Last 7 days (Top 50) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello doesthiswork (yesitdoes) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
Hello 107.1.219.44 19:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)