Talk:2227: Transit of Mercury

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 13:30, 13 November 2019 by 172.68.226.46 (talk)
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In the title text, the filter probably refers to a pool filter used for cleaning the pool while the green stuff is algae that is growing in the water. As a personal note, owning a pool and paying the water bills for it is not something I can relate to. 162.158.62.81 22:33, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

1828: ISS Solar Transit, Anyone? 162.158.62.105 23:08, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Just added a little blurb about that; thanks for noticing.--Account (talk) 01:33, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

The transcript is wrong about there being no details visible in the image. A small black dot is visible on the upper-right side which is presumably Mercury. 162.158.159.58 09:04, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

The transcript is supposed to be text-only to allow screen readers for the visually-impaired people. How should we include the embedded smiley in the caption using just text? Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 14:20, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I didn't even see it, in the transcript, and it was just a square 'unknown char' upon editing. I decided to try the "non-literal descriptions are in square-parens" method, but that might not be the right method, and I have no idea if it's the right Unicode name... but it seems to do what's necessary, unless anyone wishes to revert/redo as per other examples of similar inclusions on this site. 162.158.159.58 14:34, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
We do use emojis in the transcript here on this page. See other comics with emoji --Kynde (talk) 14:59, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
As far as I'm aware, most screen readers / TTS engines simply read the Unicode name for the character (eg. 😎 translates to Smiling Face With Sunglasses). See this blog post for more on the issue. --172.68.226.46 13:30, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Is there milage (or perhaps Astronomical Unitage?) in mentioning that an Instagram-esque 'filter' adds, or otherwise overwrites, a set of pixels whilst an optical filter subtracts a proportion of the photons? 162.158.159.58 14:24, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I’ve no clue where this belongs (trivia?), but it seems worth noting. Tuesday, November 12, the New York Times began a “new column” titled Good Question. First piece is Randall answering If I Touched the Moon, What Would It Feel Like?” Idk if this is a new Randall column, or will have different contributors. Miamiclay (talk) 20:20, 12 November 2019 (UTC)


Thanks for the link to the NYTimes article. I was, however, greatly saddened to find the pictures had no hover-text. what-if.xkcd.com has spoiled me. Cellocgw (talk) 13:28, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

#nofilter Temp9867856745 (talk) 02:56, 13 November 2019 (UTC)