https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=SeanAhern&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T00:26:29ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2249:_I_Love_the_20s&diff=1854012249: I Love the 20s2020-01-03T03:41:39Z<p>SeanAhern: Subject/verb agreement</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}}. It was the second of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] around the 2019-2020 New Year.<br />
<br />
[[Megan]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] are all happy for the beginning of the new {{w|decade}}, from 2020-2029, for a variety of reasons, but [[White Hat]] has objections to this beginning of a new decade.<br />
<br />
It begins with Megan wishing happy new decade and Ponytail naming it the {{w|2020s|'20s}}. At this point White Hat tries to get in with an objection to this, but he is interrupted twice before he can make his point.<br />
<br />
First Ponytail is excited that decades have "easy names" again. Decades such as the {{w|1960s}} or {{w|1970s}} had easy "names" - '60s, '70s, etc. The {{w|2000s_(decade)|2000s}} were {{w|2000s_(decade)#Name_for_the_decade|sometimes}} named the "{{w|Aughts}}" and the {{w|2010s}} the "Teens", names that did not enter popular usage, but we can return to the shortened decades name with the '20s decade.<br />
<br />
Then she continues to discuss cultural trends and Cueball chimes in. 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 "{{w|millennials}}" term, which refers to an entire generation who grew up in the 2000s. Cueball 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]]. Millennials have also been mentioned in [[1962: Generations]] and in [[2165: Millennials]].<br />
<br />
The main point of the comic, however, is White Hat's claim that the new decade does not start until 2021. Ponytail claims that he is pedantic but in that case he should at least be right... Of course both sides believe they are correct. White Hat's argument appears to be analogous to the point often made at the turn of the millennium, which is that, because the Gregorian calendar doesn't include a year 0, the first century started in year 1, the second century began in the year 101, and so forth, so the 21st century didn't begin until the start of 2001. Nevertheless, most people were celebrating the shift from 19 to 20, as the first two numbers in the year, much more than they did the next year when the new millennium officially began. <br />
<br />
Ponytail retorts that decades aren't numbered cardinally: any set of ten years constitutes a decade. While the 203rd decade of the Common Era doesn't begin until 2021, "the twenties" refers to all years that include a "twenty". White Hat appears not to accept this argument, insisting that that Ponytail doesn't "get it", he even wish to draw her a diagram which makes Ponytail interrupt again to respond in kind.<br />
<br />
At this point Megan stops their heated argument claiming she can resolve this. She then states 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. Ponytail then claims that this settles the discussion. And White Hat throws in the towel stating that he accepts VH1's authority and lets Ponytail win. This comment can be read in two ways: Sarcastic ("VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge, you have presented a poor argument") or legitimate ("I accept VH1 as a legitimate authority and defer to them," which would be humorous because VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge of the calendar). {{w|VH1}} is the parent company of MTV, a cable TV channel known for grouping music by decades.<br />
<br />
However, reading the Wikipedia page on Decade it is clear that neither White Hat nor Ponytail can claim to be correct. There is not consensus about what a decade should mean regarding 2021-2030 vs 2020-2029. On the other hand saying the '20s is much clearer defined as those years with two thousand and twenty something. But that was not what Megan was saying. Ponytail on the other hand uses that version.<br />
<br />
Perhaps [[Randall]] may be concerned that a single datum-point is not sufficient proof, so in the title text he continues this theme with a hit song from 1980 grouped with the 1980s, not the 1970s. In this case it is {{w|Blondie (band)|Blondie's}} 1980 hit "{{w|Call Me (Blondie song)|Call Me}}" which is featured in {{w|Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's}} chart [https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboards-top-songs-80s Best of the 80s].<br />
<br />
The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}}, quod erat demonstrandum", literally meaning "what was to be shown, traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof to mean "thus it has been demonstrated", as if this second landmark piece of evidence sufficiently proves Megan's point beyond a doubt, as conclusive as a mathematical proof.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan walks in from the left greeting Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail standing in a line, the last two looking in her direction.]<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 />
:[Megan stops next to Cueball as White Hat has his finger raised.]<br />
:White Hat: 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 />
:[All four just stand normal.]<br />
:Cueball: Yeah.<br />
:Cueball: Decades were silly, but making everything about "millennials" turned out to be even worse.<br />
:Ponytail: Seriously.<br />
<br />
:[Only White Hat and Ponytail are shown, both with their arms held out to the sides.]<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 />
:[Zoom in on White Hat and Ponytails upper parts as they gesture towards each other both raising their hands palm up. Megan interrupts them from off panel, as made clear in the next panel. Her voice comes out of a star burst on the left panel frame.]<br />
:White Hat: See, the 20<sup>th</sup> 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 and all the others look at her.]<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 />
==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 />
<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>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2249:_I_Love_the_20s&diff=1854002249: I Love the 20s2020-01-03T03:40:18Z<p>SeanAhern: Do people even read what they write?</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}}. It was the second of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] around the 2019-2020 New Year.<br />
<br />
[[Megan]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] are all happy for the beginning of the new {{w|decade}}, from 2020-2029, for a variety of reasons, but [[White Hat]] has objections to this beginning of a new decade.<br />
<br />
It begins with Megan wishing happy new decade and Ponytail naming it the {{w|2020s|'20s}}. At this point White Hat tries to get in with an objection to this, but he is interrupted twice before he can make his point.<br />
<br />
First Ponytail is excited that decades have "easy names" again. Decades such as the {{w|1960s}} or {{w|1970s}} had easy "names" - '60s, '70s, etc. The {{w|2000s_(decade)|2000s}} were {{w|2000s_(decade)#Name_for_the_decade|sometimes}} named the "{{w|Aughts}}" and the {{w|2010s}} the "Teens", names that did not enter popular usage, but we can return to the shortened decades name with the '20s decade.<br />
<br />
Then she continues to discuss cultural trends and Cueball chimes in. 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 "{{w|millennials}}" term, which refers to an entire generation who grew up in the 2000s. Cueball 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]]. Millennials have also been mentioned in [[1962: Generations]] and in [[2165: Millennials]].<br />
<br />
The main point of the comic, however, is White Hat's claim that the new decade does not start until 2021. Ponytail claims that he is pedantic but in that case he should at least be right... Of course both sides believe they are correct. White Hat's argument appears to be analogous to the point often made at the turn of the millennium, which is that, because the Gregorian calendar doesn't include a year 0, the first century started in year 1, the second century began in the year 101, and so forth, so the 21st century didn't begin until the start of 2001. Nevertheless, most people were celebrating the shift from 19 to 20, as the first two numbers in the year, much more than they did the next year when the new millennium officially began. <br />
<br />
Ponytail retorts that decades aren't numbered cardinally: any set of ten years constitutes a decade. While the 203rd decade of the Common Era doesn't begin until 2021, "the twenties" refers to all years that include a "twenty". White Hat appears not to accept this argument, insisting that that Ponytail doesn't "get it", he even wish to draw her a diagram which makes Ponytail interrupt again to respond in kind.<br />
<br />
At this point Megan stops their heated argument claiming she can resolve this. She then states 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. Ponytail then claims that this settles the discussion. And White Hat throws in the towel stating that he accept VH1's authority and lets Ponytail win. This comment can be read in two ways: Sarcastic ("VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge, you have presented a poor argument") or legitimate ("I accept VH1 as a legitimate authority and defer to them," which would be humorous because VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge of the calendar). {{w|VH1}} is the parent company of MTV, a cable TV channel known for grouping music by decades.<br />
<br />
However, reading the Wikipedia page on Decade it is clear that neither White Hat nor Ponytail can claim to be correct. There is not consensus about what a decade should mean regarding 2021-2030 vs 2020-2029. On the other hand saying the '20s is much clearer defined as those years with two thousand and twenty something. But that was not what Megan was saying. Ponytail on the other hand uses that version.<br />
<br />
Perhaps [[Randall]] may be concerned that a single datum-point is not sufficient proof, so in the title text he continues this theme with a hit song from 1980 grouped with the 1980s, not the 1970s. In this case it is {{w|Blondie (band)|Blondie's}} 1980 hit "{{w|Call Me (Blondie song)|Call Me}}" which is featured in {{w|Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's}} chart [https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboards-top-songs-80s Best of the 80s].<br />
<br />
The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}}, quod erat demonstrandum", literally meaning "what was to be shown, traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof to mean "thus it has been demonstrated", as if this second landmark piece of evidence sufficiently proves Megan's point beyond a doubt, as conclusive as a mathematical proof.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan walks in from the left greeting Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail standing in a line, the last two looking in her direction.]<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 />
:[Megan stops next to Cueball as White Hat has his finger raised.]<br />
:White Hat: 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 />
:[All four just stand normal.]<br />
:Cueball: Yeah.<br />
:Cueball: Decades were silly, but making everything about "millennials" turned out to be even worse.<br />
:Ponytail: Seriously.<br />
<br />
:[Only White Hat and Ponytail are shown, both with their arms held out to the sides.]<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 />
:[Zoom in on White Hat and Ponytails upper parts as they gesture towards each other both raising their hands palm up. Megan interrupts them from off panel, as made clear in the next panel. Her voice comes out of a star burst on the left panel frame.]<br />
:White Hat: See, the 20<sup>th</sup> 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 and all the others look at her.]<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 />
==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 />
<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>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2249:_I_Love_the_20s&diff=1853992249: I Love the 20s2020-01-03T03:38:52Z<p>SeanAhern: Spell “excited” correctly</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}}. It was the second of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] around the 2019-2020 New Year.<br />
<br />
[[Megan]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] are all happy for the beginning of the new {{w|decade}}, from 2020-2029, for a variety of reasons, but [[White Hat]] has objections to this beginning of a new decade.<br />
<br />
It begins with Megan wishing happy new decade and Ponytail naming it the {{w|2020s|'20s}}. At this point White Hat tries to get in with an objection to this, but he is interrupted twice before he can make his point.<br />
<br />
First Ponytail is excited that decades have "easy names" again. Decades such as the {{w|1960s}} or {{w|1970s}} had easy "names" - '60s, '70s, etc. The {{w|2000s_(decade)|2000s}} were {{w|2000s_(decade)#Name_for_the_decade|sometimes}} named the "{{w|Aughts}}" and the {{w|2010s}} the "Teens", names that did not enter popular usage, but we can return to the shortened decades name with the '20s decade.<br />
<br />
Then she continues to discuss cultural trends and Cueball chimes in. 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 "{{w|millennials}}" term, which refers to an entire generation who grew up in the 2000s. Cueball 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]]. Millennials have also been mentioned in [[1962: Generations]] and in [[2165: Millennials]].<br />
<br />
The main point of the comic, however, is White Hat's claim that the new decade does not start until 2021. Ponytail claims that he is pedantic but in that case he should at least be right... Of course both sides believe they are correct. White Hat's argument appears to be analogous to the point often made at the turn of the millennium, which is that, because the Gregorian calendar doesn't include a year 0, the first century started in year 1, the second century began in the year 101, and so forth, so the 21st century didn't begin until the start of 2001. Nevertheless, most people was celebrating the shift from 19 to 20, as the first two numbers in the year, much more than they did the next year when the new millennium officially began. <br />
<br />
Ponytail retorts that decades aren't numbered cardinally: any set of ten years constitutes a decade. While the 203rd decade of the Common Era doesn't begin until 2021, "the twenties" refers to all years that include a "twenty". White Hat appears not to accept this argument, insisting that that Ponytail doesn't "get it", he even wish to draw her a diagram which makes Ponytail interrupt again to respond in kind.<br />
<br />
At this point Megan stops their heated argument claiming she can resolve this. She then states 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. Ponytail then claims that this settles the discussion. And White Hat throws in the towel stating that he accept VH1's authority and lets Ponytail win. This comment can be read in two ways: Sarcastic ("VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge, you have presented a poor argument") or legitimate ("I accept VH1 as a legitimate authority and defer to them," which would be humorous because VH1 is a random pop culture organization with no expert knowledge of the calendar). {{w|VH1}} is the parent company of MTV, a cable TV channel known for grouping music by decades.<br />
<br />
However, reading the Wikipedia page on Decade it is clear that neither White Hat nor Ponytail can claim to be correct. There is not consensus about what a decade should mean regarding 2021-2030 vs 2020-2029. On the other hand saying the '20s is much clearer defined as those years with two thousand and twenty something. But that was not what Megan was saying. Ponytail on the other hand uses that version.<br />
<br />
Perhaps [[Randall]] may be concerned that a single datum-point is not sufficient proof, so in the title text he continues this theme with a hit song from 1980 grouped with the 1980s, not the 1970s. In this case it is {{w|Blondie (band)|Blondie's}} 1980 hit "{{w|Call Me (Blondie song)|Call Me}}" which is featured in {{w|Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's}} chart [https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboards-top-songs-80s Best of the 80s].<br />
<br />
The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}}, quod erat demonstrandum", literally meaning "what was to be shown, traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof to mean "thus it has been demonstrated", as if this second landmark piece of evidence sufficiently proves Megan's point beyond a doubt, as conclusive as a mathematical proof.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan walks in from the left greeting Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail standing in a line, the last two looking in her direction.]<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 />
:[Megan stops next to Cueball as White Hat has his finger raised.]<br />
:White Hat: 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 />
:[All four just stand normal.]<br />
:Cueball: Yeah.<br />
:Cueball: Decades were silly, but making everything about "millennials" turned out to be even worse.<br />
:Ponytail: Seriously.<br />
<br />
:[Only White Hat and Ponytail are shown, both with their arms held out to the sides.]<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 />
:[Zoom in on White Hat and Ponytails upper parts as they gesture towards each other both raising their hands palm up. Megan interrupts them from off panel, as made clear in the next panel. Her voice comes out of a star burst on the left panel frame.]<br />
:White Hat: See, the 20<sup>th</sup> 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 and all the others look at her.]<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 />
==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 />
<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>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2229:_Rey_and_Kylo&diff=1832032229: Rey and Kylo2019-11-20T18:58:37Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2229<br />
| date = November 15, 2019<br />
| title = Rey and Kylo<br />
| image = rey_and_kylo.png<br />
| titletext = We're like 10+ movies in and the focus has been almost entirely on the WARS half.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by R2D2. Should probably include some discussion of the cosmology of Star Wars -- especially if we can observe differences between SW physics and ours. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{w|Rey (Star Wars)|Rey}} and {{w|Kylo Ren}}, from the {{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|latest trilogy}} of the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' series, are engaging in a {{w|lightsaber}} duel. Rey tells Kylo that they should not fight, but work together on {{w|cosmology}}, the study of the origins of the universe. Specifically she wants to study the expansion rate of the universe; scientists believe that the universe is expanding, and that the expansion rate is accelerating, but aren't sure of the exact rate, what the rate was in the past, or if it varies depending on location. Since the ''Star Wars'' movies take place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", if Rey and Kylo presented their findings in the movie, it would theoretically give scientists more data points. Although it is unlikely that modern scientists would use cosmological data from a movie generally considered fictional{{Citation needed}}, especially as said time long ago and distance far, far away are never quantified, some movies and TV shows have spurred scientific innovations due to their subject matter (see below).<br />
<br />
The caption, besides explaining the obvious nerd cred this turn of events would earn if it actually occurred in the movies, might also be a play on accusations against the Disney-owned franchise that it has begun pandering to progressives, with the complainers citing its racially diverse cast, powerful (in their eyes overpowered, and Mary Sue-ish) female protagonist, and a willingness to sacrifice sensible plot for perceived progressive talking points (e.g. Vice Admiral Holdo's plan and failure to communicate it).<br />
<br />
The title text is [[Randall]]'s complaint that the ''Star Wars'' movies have been more focused on the Wars aspect than the Star aspect. It seems he would want a film about stars. It's worth noting that, with a half-width space, "Star " and " Wars" are the same number of letters long, and are therefore perfect halves of the title.<br />
<br />
[[:Category:Star Wars|Star Wars]] is a recurring topic on xkcd.<br />
<br />
=== The Cosmology of ''Star Wars'' ===<br />
<br />
As far as we can tell, the stars of ''Star Wars'' (that is, the celestial bodies, not the actors) seem to be much the same as ours. The "galaxy far, far away" has had various depictions over the years, but all sources agree that it is a spiral galaxy approximately the same size as our Milky Way galaxy, albeit with a less prominent bar than the Milky Way has. We don't ever hear what name, if any, the Star Wars characters have for the galaxy, or why they call it a "galaxy" when the word comes from a Latin phrase, "Via Galactica" or "Milky Way" -- a question that Randall has brought up in [[890: Etymology]].<br />
<br />
Light is known to have a speed, although we are not told what that speed is, or if it is constant for all observers in all reference frames. That speed is an upper bound on the speed that objects can travel in real-space, as in our universe, but in ''Star Wars'', ships can travel faster than that speed by "jumping" into a parallel dimension called "hyperspace". This allows them to cross the galaxy in a matter of hours rather than tens of thousands of years. According to our understanding of relativity, transmitting information faster than light is equivalent in some reference frames to transmitting information backwards in time (cf. the {{w|tachyonic antitelephone}}), but such temporal paradoxes are not known to occur in the ''Star Wars'' universe. The only known examples of information transmitted backwards in time come from the Force, such as limited precognition of incoming dangers or vague, prophetic visions of possible futures. Speaking of which, "the Force" is said to be "an energy field, created by all living things" which "binds the galaxy together". It's not clear if the Force is a fifth {{w|fundamental force}} or "merely" a manipulation of the fundamental forces by focused will, but powerful Force-users have been known to raise and move heavy objects, conjure lightning, and manipulate minds.<br />
<br />
It is not known if the universe of ''Star Wars'' is expanding, contracting, or steady-state, although prior to Lucasfilm's acquisition by Disney, the officially-published non-film ''Star Wars'' media were collectively known as the "Star Wars Expanded Universe".<br />
<br />
In addition to the usual stellar evolution process, stars in ''Star Wars'' are subject to premature destruction or spontaneous creation by various superweapons, such as the Sun Crusher and Star Forge.<br />
<br />
Many of the planets of ''Star Wars'' are dominated by one or two biomes, rather than the dozens into which our homeworld is divided. Some of these are reasonable enough (a planet could certainly be covered in desert or ice or lava depending on its water content and proximity to a star), but others require some novel climate patterns not exhibited on Earth (the same atmospheric pattern that gives rise to Earth's tropical rainforests also produces the Sahara Desert).<br />
<br />
=== Science from the arts === <br />
<br />
* The depiction of the black hole Gargantua in the movie ''{{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}}'' is unprecedented in that new software based on the equations of relativity was written specifically for the movie, which resulted in what scientists consider to be the most accurate visualization of a black hole ever made and spurred the publication of three scientific papers.<br />
* The writing staff of the television show ''{{w|Futurama}}'' includes three members with Ph.D.s and seven with masters' degrees, and the episode ''{{W|The Prisoner of Benda}}'' features a mathematical theorem proved by one of those writers (Ken Keeler, PhD mathematician). In the episode, characters' minds are swapped, but the swapping mechanism only allows any given pair of minds to be swapped once (i.e. "no backsies"). Keeler proved that any such permutation of minds and bodies can be restored by bringing in two new members to the group, which resolves the plot and restores the status quo at the end of the episode.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Rey, on the left, and Kylo Ren, on the right, from the ''Star Wars'' series, are facing one another and wielding lightsabers:]<br />
<br />
:Rey: Kylo, we shouldn't fight! Let's set aside our differences and work ''together'' to measure the local properties of space, just in case someone in the far future is watching from another galaxy and wants our help to constrain the expansion rate!<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:The new ''Star Wars'' totally panders to cosmologists.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category: Star Wars]]<br />
[[Category: Astronomy]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2198:_Throw&diff=1792662198: Throw2019-09-05T18:12:37Z<p>SeanAhern: Do people not know how to use commas?</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2198<br />
| date = September 3, 2019<br />
| title = Throw<br />
| image = throw.png<br />
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.<br />
}}<br />
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div><br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. Add the equation for throwing? Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book. <br />
<br />
As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], with [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]] a part of them.<br />
<br />
In this comic the viewer can select a person/{{w|Pikachu}}/god/squirrel as the thrower and an object (including a person, Pikachu, or squirrel) to be thrown, and get an animation of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in SI units and in other very arbitrary units; see [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include ones in which the thrower is smaller than the thrown object. The formula/guideline is apparently based on a chapter from the book. One special case to the calculations is Thor's hammer, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), and self-created characters who are well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}) are shown to actually be able to throw it. Also Thor is the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Thor can throw a squirrel 257 meters. If a Custom Thrower is created, and they are 200 meters tall and 150 KG, they can throw the squirrel 256 meters (1 meter less than Thor). Thor can throw an acorn 136 meters, and the Custom Thrower will throw it 133 meters. Now, Thor can throw Thor's Hammer 19 meters. The Custom Thrower can throw it 44 meters! Apparently there is more to the enchantment of Thor's Hammer than meets the eye, as it would have been expected that if Thor can throw a squirrel and an acorn farther than an extraordinary human, then certainly he could throw his own enchanted Hammer a longer distance.<br />
<br />
There are 7 throwers + 1 open option and 15 + 1 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations for the static elements; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below plus those for the open option. The open option can be defined by height, weight and a 1-4 scale of athleticism. But only Thor (or an unrealistically tall and heavy custom character) can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, hammer, and car) unthrowable by any of the other premade characters. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 100. Still, there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for some. An object with negative weight (you, probably) flies backward.<br />
<br />
The athleticism scale does not define the character used for the animation.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switching to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.<br />
<br />
==Throwers and throw items==<br />
George Washington, Pikachu, and a squirrel are both throwers and throw items, as are "You".<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" |<br />
! Image<br />
! Name<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - quarterback.png]]<br />
|'''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}'''<br />
|A quarterback in the National Football League is a highly athletic individual. Gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision. One of the primary skills required of quarterbacks is to be able to throw the football far with precision accuracy.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - george.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|George Washington}}''' <br />
|He was the first president of the United States of America. There is a myth that a young George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, which is more than a mile wide for much of its length; or alternatively that he would throw rocks across the Rappahannock River, which was about 300 feet wide near George's boyhood home. http://kenmore.org/education/kidstuff/legends.html. He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile. George Washington is shown as a very powerful thrower; the comic makes fun of the flagrant embellishment of Washington's life.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pikachu.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Pikachu}}''' <br />
|Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing it's held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed. <br>According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - carly.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}'''<br />
|A Canadian music artist.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - thor.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Thor}}'''<br />
|Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}} and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - chris hemsworth.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'''<br />
|He is an Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - squirrel.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|squirrel}}'''<br />
|It is a small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - you.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|human|You}}''' <br />
|The viewer may also choose to create a custom thrower, for instance, themself, inputting a name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - microwave.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|microwave oven}}''' <br />
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - basketball.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|basketball (ball)|basketball}}''' <br />
|An inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - blender.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|blender}}'''<br />
|It is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into slush for consumption or baking.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - gold_bar.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|gold bar}}'''<br />
|It is the form in which gold is cast for storage.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - cake.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|wedding cake}}'''<br />
|It is traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pingpong.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|ping pong ball}}'''<br />
|A small sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong".<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - acorn.png]]<br />
|'''An {{w|acorn}}''' <br />
|A small nut which serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - hammer.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Thor's hammer}}'''<br />
|This hammer refers to Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in the {{w|Marvel universe}} which belongs to {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor from Marvels comics}} and can only be lifted by those deemed worthy. It is based on {{w|Mjölnir}} the hammer of Norse God {{w|Thor}}, God of Thunder. In this comic, though, it appears that Mjolnir is just incredibly heavy, and Thor is able to throw it because he is very strong. The custom thrower is also able to throw it if their size and strength are set high enough. Setting aside this customization, Thor is the only standard thrower to be able to throw Thor's hammer. In the movies based on the Marvel universe, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who is also one of the throwers, but in real life, he would of course not be able to throw such a weighty hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - javelin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|javelin}}'''<br />
|An aerodynamic polearm thrown in Olympic sport.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_spin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} spinning'''<br />
|A silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; Here '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus. <br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_tumble.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} tumbling'''<br />
|The coin's other possible trajectory, '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision. The spinning coin always goes farther than the tumbling one, since facing the air edge-on leads to a smaller area facing the wind and therefore less air resistance.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - car.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|car}}'''<br />
|It is the most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Safety Considerations==<br />
Many of the items, even if technically possible to throw, may not be able to be thrown safely. <br />
<br />
For example:<br />
* Depending on how the microwave oven is damaged when it hits the ground, it may still be able to appear to function, but no longer seal properly, and therefore leak dangerously high amounts of microwave radiation.<br />
* Blenders have blades and glass. Even if no one is struck by the flying blender, the broken pieces would be hazardous later if they are properly disposed of.<br />
* Cars have gasoline and battery acid which may spill if one is thrown.<br />
* A squirrel might bite the person attempting to throw it, which is dangerous as some squirrels have rabies.<br />
* Pikachu could shock (possibly fatally) someone trying to throw it.<br />
* If a person is thrown, that person may be badly injured.<br />
<br />
==Table of throw distances==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Item&nbsp;/&nbsp;Thrower<br />
!NFL&nbsp;Quarterback<br />
!George&nbsp;Washington<br />
!Pikachu<br />
!Carly&nbsp;Rae&nbsp;Jepsen<br />
!Thor<br />
!Chris&nbsp;Hemsworth<br />
!Squirrel<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''<br />
|10.32 m<br />
|7.76 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.67 m<br />
|181.57 m<br />
|6.15 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|33.85 feet<br />
|25.46 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|82.65 rack units<br />
|1.99 football fields<br />
|138.40 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''<br />
|40.18 m<br />
|33.22 m<br />
|2.34 m<br />
|19.11 m<br />
|113.67 m<br />
|27.99 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|16.74 horses<br />
|19.54 smoots<br />
|75.90 attoparsecs<br />
|11.24 smoots<br />
|1.42 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''<br />
|16.58 m<br />
|12.45 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.89 m<br />
|333.25 m<br />
|9.86 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|9.75 smoots<br />
|40.85 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|132.51 rack units<br />
|1.66 furlongs<br />
|32.34 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''<br />
|9.73 m<br />
|7.23 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.36 m<br />
|549.28 m<br />
|5.69 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|31.93 feet<br />
|23.73 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|75.65 rack units<br />
|2.73 furlongs<br />
|128.11 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''<br />
|8.96 m<br />
|6.75 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.2 m<br />
|146.25 m<br />
|5.35 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|29.40 feet<br />
|22.14 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|72.00 rack units<br />
|1.60 football fields<br />
|120.45 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''<br />
|11.8 m<br />
|11.63 m<br />
|9.28 m<br />
|11.25 m<br />
|12.53 m<br />
|11.41 m<br />
|4.95 m<br />
|-<br />
|38.72 feet<br />
|38.17 feet<br />
|30.46 feet<br />
|36.92 feet<br />
|41.10 feet<br />
|37.44 feet<br />
|111.37 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''<br />
|83.00 m<br />
|75.84 m<br />
|28.16 m<br />
|62.85 m<br />
|135.98 m<br />
|67.91 m<br />
|6.53 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.04 Manhattan blocks<br />
|0.95 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.57 smoots<br />
|26.19 horses<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|28.30 horses<br />
|146.85 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|19.32 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.36 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''<br />
|56.10 m<br />
|42.04 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|20.12 m<br />
|3028.75 m<br />
|33.09 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|23.37 horses<br />
|17.51 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.84 smoots<br />
|15.06 furlongs<br />
|19.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|136.65 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''<br />
|15.22 m<br />
|11.41<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.39 m<br />
|332.52 m<br />
|9.03 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|49.94 feet<br />
|37.45 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|121.18 rack units<br />
|1.65 furlongs<br />
|29.63 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|27.22 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|16.01 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''<br />
|177.09 m<br />
|143.96 m<br />
|16.91<br />
|92.63 m<br />
|1331.21 m<br />
|115.89 m<br />
|2.20 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.94 football fields<br />
|1.57 football fields<br />
|9.95 smoots<br />
|1.16 Manhattan blocks<br />
|6.53 furlongs<br />
|1.45 Manhattan blocks<br />
|71.41 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''<br />
|58.17 m<br />
|53.77 m<br />
|13.92 m<br />
|44.08 m<br />
|84.82 m<br />
|49.03 m<br />
|2.14 m<br />
|-<br />
|24.24 horses<br />
|22.41 horses<br />
|45.67 feet<br />
|18.37 horses<br />
|1.06 Manhattan blocks<br />
|20.43 horses<br />
|69.42 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''<br />
|58.64 m<br />
|46.92 m<br />
|2.92 m<br />
|25.44 m<br />
|256.54 m<br />
|38.50 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|24.43 horses<br />
|19.55 horses<br />
|65.71 rack units<br />
|14.97 smoots<br />
|1.28 furlongs<br />
|16.04 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Table of distance units==<br />
*This is a table of other distance units and their length in meters.<br />
**Two of the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of humorous units of measurement}} <br />
**And five the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of unusual units of measurement}}.<br />
***Only Furlong and Feet are not in any of the lists (although a different type of feet is in the last list).<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Unit name<br />
!Length&nbsp;in&nbsp;comic<br>in&nbsp;meters<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Wiffle|Wiffle }}<br />
|0.0089<br />
|A Wiffle, also referred to as a WAM for Wiffle (ball) Assisted Measurement, is equal to a sphere 0.089 m (3.5 inches) in diameter – the size of a {{w|Wiffle ball}}, a perforated, light-weight plastic ball frequently used by marine biologists as a size reference in photos to measure corals and other objects. Randall is thus a factor 10 off. While wiffles should be the next unit after rack-units and before feet, the unit conversion typo seems to prevent it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as it is now even smaller than the wrong measure for light-nanoseconds. Wiffles has thus only been discovered in the data of the comic, as it seems to not be possible to get it displayed in the comic itself.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List of unusual units of measurement#Light-nanosecond|Light-nanoseconds}}<br />
|0.0299<br />
|The light-nanosecond was popularized by Grace Hopper, referring to the length light could travel in a nanosecond. The actual length of a light-nanosecond is 0.299 m, about a foot long, but it seems that [[Randall]] was off by an order of magnitude. This measurement is used for lengths from 1 to 1.06 m. But none of the standard throwers or objects can be thrown this short, so it is not included in the table above. But with the costume user it is possible to get down to 1 m where it will then be used, but of course, since it says 33 light-nanoseconds instead of 3 it is wrong.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Attoparsec|Attoparsecs}}<br />
|0.03086<br />
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×10<sup>12</sup> km) or 19 trillion miles (19×10<sup>12</sup> mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10<sup>−18</sup> or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two-unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×10<sup>18</sup>cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times in non-customized settings: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel. It is used for lengths from 1.06 to 2.69 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Rack_unit|Rack units}}<br />
|0.0445<br />
|A {{w|Rack unit}} (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there. It is used for lengths from 2.69 to 6.67 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}<br />
|0.3048<br />
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. It is used for lengths from 6.67 to 16 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Smoot|Smoots}}<br />
|1.7000<br />
|The {{w|Smoot}} is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity. The smoot is used for lengths from 16 to 36 meters. While the smoot is a nonstandard unit of length, Oliver Smoot has been chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ANSI and ISO are among the world's main standardizing bodies, so Randall may indirectly be making the pun that while Smoot's body isn't a standard measure, Smoot has been in charge of bodies that standardize measurements.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Horse|Horses}} <br />
|2.4<br />
|The length of a {{w|horse}} varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age, and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses, the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m). It is used for lengths from 36 to 75 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block|Manhattan blocks}}<br />
|80.0<br />
|The numbered streets in {{w|Manhattan}} run east-west and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and {{w|City block|block}} adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). When driving in a grid-like city, the {{w|Manhattan distance}} between two points is a concept, although it is also called {{w|Taxicab geometry}}. It seems like it is indeed the combined street and block distance. This measurement is used for lengths from 75 to 131 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Football_field_(length)|Football fields}}<br />
|91.44<br />
|An {{w|American football field}} is 100 yards or 91.44 m long. It is used for lengths from 131 to 201 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Furlongs}}<br />
|201.168<br />
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile. It is part of the {{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#FFF_units|FFF_units}} of the {{w|FFF system}} for furlong/firkin/fortnight, length, mass and time. It should thus give that one furlong is 201.168 meters. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs. The unit is used for distances of 201 meters up. For the standard throwers and items only Thor can throw over 200 m, thus only he uses Furlongs to measure his throws. Given that this is an old unit, and Thor is based on ancient Nordic Mythology, this may seem appropriate. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also, it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll as well as customization options. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]<br />
<br />
:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]<br />
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big><br />
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.<br />
<br />
:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?<br />
<br />
:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 8 different possible selections in the left window and 16 in the right window. There are, depending on the browser zoom level, one or two selections on each line. Each window's content is given here under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]<br />
:Select a thrower<br />
<br />
:*You<br />
:*An NFL Quarterback<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
:*Thor, God of Thunder<br />
:*Chris Hemsworth<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:Select an object to be thrown<br />
:*You<br />
:*A microwave oven<br />
:*A basketball<br />
:*A blender<br />
:*A gold bar<br />
:*A wedding cake<br />
:*A ping-pong ball<br />
:*An acorn<br />
:*Thor's Hammer<br />
:*A javelin<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*A car<br />
:*A silver dollar (spinning)<br />
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]<br />
<br />
:[In the pre-selected version, George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case, there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]<br />
:7.76 meters<br />
:(25.46 feet)<br />
<br />
:[Clicking on "You" in the thrower box opens a new window over the above described comic parts. some of the comic can still be seen including the thrower and his item, and a new throw occurs every time something is changed in this new window. It is a customization box with several options shown below.]<br />
<br />
:Your Name<br />
:____You_____ [can be changed]<br />
<br />
:Height<br />
:5.8 ft [number can be changed; ft can be changed to m]<br />
<br />
:Mass<br />
:160 lb [number can be changed; lb can be changed to kg]<br />
<br />
:Athleticism<br />
:[Below is a scale showing Black Hat, the character depicting You with a knit cap, George Washington, and a person with goggles and a helmet. A marker is set at You, but can be changed. Below the characters are descriptions.]<br />
:Black Hat: Moving objects around is for suckers.<br />
:Minimal<br />
:You: I'm in decent shape and have pretty good form.<br />
:Decent<br />
:George Washington: I'm so good at throwing they made me president.<br />
:Extremely High<br />
:Goggles: I use a time machine to train for 36 hours a day.<br />
:Champion Athlete<br />
<br />
:[Once done the box can be clicking on a cross at the top right or just clicking outside the window on the comic behind it. Now the thrower you (and the object you) will have the weight, length and strength chosen and will be able to throw (or be thrown) with these stats. ]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.<br />
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.<br />
**In-universe, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].<br />
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.<br />
*Due to a bug, the calculations for the customized person ('you') are incorrect when the mass is specified in pounds<br />
*When the comic came out there was a mistake so the item to be thrown was named the same as the thrower, except for the coins and for when Pikachu and George Washington tried to throw themselves in which case it for instance said:<br />
**How far could George Washington throw himself?<br />
**But if he picked another object it would write:<br />
***How far could George Washington throw George Washington?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- Different throws --><br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] <br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]] <!-- model of throw distance --><br />
[[Category:American football]] <!-- NFL quaterback --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] <!-- George Washington --><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Carly Rae Jepsen, George Washington and Chris Hemsworth--><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!-- Thor, questionable though as it is obviously the Marvel character --><br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Food]] <!-- Microwave oven Blender, cake --><br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- ping pong, javelin --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:How To]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2198:_Throw&diff=1792652198: Throw2019-09-05T18:10:45Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2198<br />
| date = September 3, 2019<br />
| title = Throw<br />
| image = throw.png<br />
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.<br />
}}<br />
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div><br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. Add the equation for throwing? Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book. <br />
<br />
As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], with [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]] a part of them.<br />
<br />
In this comic the viewer can select a person/{{w|Pikachu}}/god/squirrel as the thrower and an object (including a person, Pikachu, or squirrel) to be thrown, and get an animation of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in SI units and in other very arbitrary units; see [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include ones in which the thrower is smaller than the thrown object. The formula/guideline is apparently based on a chapter from the book. One special case to the calculations is Thor's hammer, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), and self-created characters who are well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}) are shown to actually be able to throw it. Also Thor is the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Thor can throw a squirrel 257 meters. If a Custom Thrower is created, and they are 200 meters tall and 150 KG, they can throw the squirrel 256 meters (1 meter less than Thor). Thor can throw an acorn 136 meters, and the Custom Thrower will throw it 133 meters. Now, Thor can throw Thor's Hammer 19 meters. The Custom Thrower can throw it 44 meters! Apparently there is more to the enchantment of Thor's Hammer than meets the eye, as it would have been expected that if Thor can throw a squirrel and an acorn farther than an extraordinary human, then certainly he could throw his own enchanted Hammer a longer distance.<br />
<br />
There are 7 throwers + 1 open option and 15 + 1 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations for the static elements; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below plus those for the open option. The open option can be defined by height, weight and a 1-4 scale of athleticism. But only Thor (or an unrealistically tall and heavy custom character) can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, hammer, and car) unthrowable by any of the other premade characters. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 100. Still, there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for some. An object with negative weight (you, probably) flies backward.<br />
<br />
The athleticism scale does not define the character used for the animation.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switching to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.<br />
<br />
==Throwers and throw items==<br />
George Washington, Pikachu, and a squirrel are both throwers and throw items, as are "You".<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" |<br />
! Image<br />
! Name<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - quarterback.png]]<br />
|'''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}'''<br />
|A quarterback in the National Football League is a highly athletic individual. Gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision. One of the primary skills required of quarterbacks is to be able to throw the football far with precision accuracy.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - george.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|George Washington}}''' <br />
|He was the first president of the United States of America. There is a myth that a young George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, which is more than a mile wide for much of its length; or alternatively that he would throw rocks across the Rappahannock River, which was about 300 feet wide near George's boyhood home. http://kenmore.org/education/kidstuff/legends.html. He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile. George Washington is shown as a very powerful thrower; the comic makes fun of the flagrant embellishment of Washington's life.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pikachu.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Pikachu}}''' <br />
|Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing it's held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed. <br>According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - carly.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}'''<br />
|A Canadian music artist.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - thor.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Thor}}'''<br />
|Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}} and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - chris hemsworth.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'''<br />
|He is an Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - squirrel.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|squirrel}}'''<br />
|It is a small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - you.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|human|You}}''' <br />
|The viewer may also choose to create a custom thrower, for instance, themself, inputting a name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - microwave.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|microwave oven}}''' <br />
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - basketball.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|basketball (ball)|basketball}}''' <br />
|An inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - blender.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|blender}}'''<br />
|It is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into slush for consumption or baking.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - gold_bar.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|gold bar}}'''<br />
|It is the form in which gold is cast for storage.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - cake.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|wedding cake}}'''<br />
|It is traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pingpong.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|ping pong ball}}'''<br />
|A small sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong".<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - acorn.png]]<br />
|'''An {{w|acorn}}''' <br />
|A small nut which serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - hammer.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Thor's hammer}}'''<br />
|This hammer refers to Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in the {{w|Marvel universe}} which belongs to {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor from Marvels comics}} and can only be lifted by those deemed worthy. It is based on {{w|Mjölnir}} the hammer of Norse God {{w|Thor}}, God of Thunder. In this comic, though, it appears that Mjolnir is just incredibly heavy, and Thor is able to throw it because he is very strong. The custom thrower is also able to throw it if their size and strength are set high enough. Setting aside this customization, Thor is the only standard thrower to be able to throw Thor's hammer. In the movies based on the Marvel universe, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who is also one of the throwers, but in real life, he would of course not be able to throw such a weighty hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - javelin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|javelin}}'''<br />
|An aerodynamic polearm thrown in Olympic sport.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_spin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} spinning'''<br />
|A silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; Here '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus. <br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_tumble.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} tumbling'''<br />
|The coin's other possible trajectory, '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision. The spinning coin always goes farther than the tumbling one, since facing the air edge-on leads to a smaller area facing the wind and therefore less air resistance.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - car.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|car}}'''<br />
|It is the most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Safety Considerations==<br />
Many of the items, even if technically possible to throw, may not be able to be thrown safely. <br />
<br />
For example:<br />
* Depending on how the microwave oven is damaged when it hits the ground, it may still be able to appear to function, but no longer seal properly, and therefore leak dangerously high amounts of microwave radiation.<br />
* Blenders have blades and glass. Even if no one is struck by the flying blender, the broken pieces would be hazardous later if they are properly disposed of.<br />
* Cars have gasoline and battery acid which may spill if one is thrown.<br />
* A squirrel might bite the person attempting to throw it, which is dangerous as some squirrels have rabies.<br />
* Pikachu could shock (possibly fatally) someone trying to throw it.<br />
* If a person is thrown, that person may be badly injured.<br />
<br />
==Table of throw distances==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Item&nbsp;/&nbsp;Thrower<br />
!NFL&nbsp;Quarterback<br />
!George&nbsp;Washington<br />
!Pikachu<br />
!Carly&nbsp;Rae&nbsp;Jepsen<br />
!Thor<br />
!Chris&nbsp;Hemsworth<br />
!Squirrel<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''<br />
|10.32 m<br />
|7.76 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.67 m<br />
|181.57 m<br />
|6.15 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|33.85 feet<br />
|25.46 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|82.65 rack units<br />
|1.99 football fields<br />
|138.40 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''<br />
|40.18 m<br />
|33.22 m<br />
|2.34 m<br />
|19.11 m<br />
|113.67 m<br />
|27.99 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|16.74 horses<br />
|19.54 smoots<br />
|75.90 attoparsecs<br />
|11.24 smoots<br />
|1.42 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''<br />
|16.58 m<br />
|12.45 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.89 m<br />
|333.25 m<br />
|9.86 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|9.75 smoots<br />
|40.85 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|132.51 rack units<br />
|1.66 furlongs<br />
|32.34 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''<br />
|9.73 m<br />
|7.23 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.36 m<br />
|549.28 m<br />
|5.69 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|31.93 feet<br />
|23.73 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|75.65 rack units<br />
|2.73 furlongs<br />
|128.11 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''<br />
|8.96 m<br />
|6.75 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.2 m<br />
|146.25 m<br />
|5.35 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|29.40 feet<br />
|22.14 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|72.00 rack units<br />
|1.60 football fields<br />
|120.45 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''<br />
|11.8 m<br />
|11.63 m<br />
|9.28 m<br />
|11.25 m<br />
|12.53 m<br />
|11.41 m<br />
|4.95 m<br />
|-<br />
|38.72 feet<br />
|38.17 feet<br />
|30.46 feet<br />
|36.92 feet<br />
|41.10 feet<br />
|37.44 feet<br />
|111.37 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''<br />
|83.00 m<br />
|75.84 m<br />
|28.16 m<br />
|62.85 m<br />
|135.98 m<br />
|67.91 m<br />
|6.53 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.04 Manhattan blocks<br />
|0.95 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.57 smoots<br />
|26.19 horses<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|28.30 horses<br />
|146.85 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|19.32 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.36 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''<br />
|56.10 m<br />
|42.04 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|20.12 m<br />
|3028.75 m<br />
|33.09 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|23.37 horses<br />
|17.51 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.84 smoots<br />
|15.06 furlongs<br />
|19.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|136.65 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''<br />
|15.22 m<br />
|11.41<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.39 m<br />
|332.52 m<br />
|9.03 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|49.94 feet<br />
|37.45 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|121.18 rack units<br />
|1.65 furlongs<br />
|29.63 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|27.22 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|16.01 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''<br />
|177.09 m<br />
|143.96 m<br />
|16.91<br />
|92.63 m<br />
|1331.21 m<br />
|115.89 m<br />
|2.20 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.94 football fields<br />
|1.57 football fields<br />
|9.95 smoots<br />
|1.16 Manhattan blocks<br />
|6.53 furlongs<br />
|1.45 Manhattan blocks<br />
|71.41 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''<br />
|58.17 m<br />
|53.77 m<br />
|13.92 m<br />
|44.08 m<br />
|84.82 m<br />
|49.03 m<br />
|2.14 m<br />
|-<br />
|24.24 horses<br />
|22.41 horses<br />
|45.67 feet<br />
|18.37 horses<br />
|1.06 Manhattan blocks<br />
|20.43 horses<br />
|69.42 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''<br />
|58.64 m<br />
|46.92 m<br />
|2.92 m<br />
|25.44 m<br />
|256.54 m<br />
|38.50 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|24.43 horses<br />
|19.55 horses<br />
|65.71 rack units<br />
|14.97 smoots<br />
|1.28 furlongs<br />
|16.04 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Table of distance units==<br />
*This is a table of other distance units and their length in meters.<br />
**Two of the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of humorous units of measurement}} <br />
**And five the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of unusual units of measurement}}.<br />
***Only Furlong and Feet are not in any of the lists (although a different type of feet is in the last list).<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Unit name<br />
!Length&nbsp;in&nbsp;comic<br>in&nbsp;meters<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Wiffle|Wiffle }}<br />
|0.0089<br />
|A Wiffle, also referred to as a WAM for Wiffle (ball) Assisted Measurement, is equal to a sphere 0.089 m (3.5 inches) in diameter – the size of a {{w|Wiffle ball}}, a perforated, light-weight plastic ball frequently used by marine biologists as a size reference in photos to measure corals and other objects. Randall is thus a factor 10 off. While wiffles should be the next unit after rack-units and before feet, the unit conversion typo seems to prevent it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as it is now even smaller than the wrong measure for light-nanoseconds. Wiffles has thus only been discovered in the data of the comic, as it seems to not be possible to get it displayed in the comic itself.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List of unusual units of measurement#Light-nanosecond|Light-nanoseconds}}<br />
|0.0299<br />
|The light-nanosecond was popularized by Grace Hopper, referring to the length light could travel in a nanosecond. The actual length of a light-nanosecond is 0.299 m, about a foot long, but it seems that [[Randall]] was off by an order of magnitude. This measurement is used for lengths from 1 to 1.06 m. But none of the standard throwers or objects can be thrown this short, so it is not included in the table above. But with the costume user it is possible to get down to 1 m where it will then be used, but of course, since it says 33 light-nanoseconds instead of 3 it is wrong.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Attoparsec|Attoparsecs}}<br />
|0.03086<br />
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×10<sup>12</sup> km) or 19 trillion miles (19×10<sup>12</sup> mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10<sup>−18</sup> or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two-unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×10<sup>18</sup>cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times in non-customized settings: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel. It is used for lengths from 1.06 to 2.69 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Rack_unit|Rack units}}<br />
|0.0445<br />
|A {{w|Rack unit}} (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there. It is used for lengths from 2.69 to 6.67 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}<br />
|0.3048<br />
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. It is used for lengths from 6.67 to 16 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Smoot|Smoots}}<br />
|1.7000<br />
|The {{w|Smoot}} is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity. The smoot is used for lengths from 16 to 36 meters. While the smoot is a nonstandard unit of length, Oliver Smoot has been chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ANSI and ISO are among the world's main standardizing bodies, so Randall may indirectly be making the pun that while Smoot's body isn't a standard measure Smoot has been in charge of bodies that standardize measurements.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Horse|Horses}} <br />
|2.4<br />
|The length of a {{w|Horse}} varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age, and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses, the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m). It is used for lengths from 36 to 75 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block|Manhattan blocks}}<br />
|80.0<br />
|The numbered streets in {{w|Manhattan}} run east-west, and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and {{w|City block|block}} adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). When driving in a grid-like city, the {{w|Manhattan distance}} between two points is a concept, although it is also called {{w|Taxicab geometry}}. It seems like it is indeed the combined street and block distance. This measurement is used for lengths from 75 to 131 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Football_field_(length)|Football fields}}<br />
|91.44<br />
|An {{w|American football field}} is 100 yards or 91.44 m long. It is used for lengths from 131 to 201 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Furlongs}}<br />
|201.168<br />
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile. It is part of the {{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#FFF_units|FFF_units}} of the {{w|FFF system}} for furlong/firkin/fortnight, length, mass and time. It should thus give that one furlong is 201.168 meters. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs. The unit is used for distances of 201 meters up. For the standard throwers and items only Thor can throw over 200 m, thus only he uses Furlongs to measure his throws. Given that this is an old unit, and Thor is based on ancient Nordic Mythology, this may seem appropriate. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also, it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll as well as customization options. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]<br />
<br />
:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]<br />
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big><br />
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.<br />
<br />
:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?<br />
<br />
:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 8 different possible selections in the left window and 16 in the right window. There are, depending on the browser zoom level, one or two selections on each line. Each window's content is given here under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]<br />
:Select a thrower<br />
<br />
:*You<br />
:*An NFL Quarterback<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
:*Thor, God of Thunder<br />
:*Chris Hemsworth<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:Select an object to be thrown<br />
:*You<br />
:*A microwave oven<br />
:*A basketball<br />
:*A blender<br />
:*A gold bar<br />
:*A wedding cake<br />
:*A ping-pong ball<br />
:*An acorn<br />
:*Thor's Hammer<br />
:*A javelin<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*A car<br />
:*A silver dollar (spinning)<br />
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]<br />
<br />
:[In the pre-selected version, George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case, there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]<br />
:7.76 meters<br />
:(25.46 feet)<br />
<br />
:[Clicking on "You" in the thrower box opens a new window over the above described comic parts. some of the comic can still be seen including the thrower and his item, and a new throw occurs every time something is changed in this new window. It is a customization box with several options shown below.]<br />
<br />
:Your Name<br />
:____You_____ [can be changed]<br />
<br />
:Height<br />
:5.8 ft [number can be changed; ft can be changed to m]<br />
<br />
:Mass<br />
:160 lb [number can be changed; lb can be changed to kg]<br />
<br />
:Athleticism<br />
:[Below is a scale showing Black Hat, the character depicting You with a knit cap, George Washington, and a person with goggles and a helmet. A marker is set at You, but can be changed. Below the characters are descriptions.]<br />
:Black Hat: Moving objects around is for suckers.<br />
:Minimal<br />
:You: I'm in decent shape and have pretty good form.<br />
:Decent<br />
:George Washington: I'm so good at throwing they made me president.<br />
:Extremely High<br />
:Goggles: I use a time machine to train for 36 hours a day.<br />
:Champion Athlete<br />
<br />
:[Once done the box can be clicking on a cross at the top right or just clicking outside the window on the comic behind it. Now the thrower you (and the object you) will have the weight, length and strength chosen and will be able to throw (or be thrown) with these stats. ]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.<br />
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.<br />
**In-universe, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].<br />
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.<br />
*Due to a bug, the calculations for the customized person ('you') are incorrect when the mass is specified in pounds<br />
*When the comic came out there was a mistake so the item to be thrown was named the same as the thrower, except for the coins and for when Pikachu and George Washington tried to throw themselves in which case it for instance said:<br />
**How far could George Washington throw himself?<br />
**But if he picked another object it would write:<br />
***How far could George Washington throw George Washington?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- Different throws --><br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] <br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]] <!-- model of throw distance --><br />
[[Category:American football]] <!-- NFL quaterback --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] <!-- George Washington --><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Carly Rae Jepsen, George Washington and Chris Hemsworth--><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!-- Thor, questionable though as it is obviously the Marvel character --><br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Food]] <!-- Microwave oven Blender, cake --><br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- ping pong, javelin --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:How To]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2198:_Throw&diff=1792642198: Throw2019-09-05T18:09:04Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2198<br />
| date = September 3, 2019<br />
| title = Throw<br />
| image = throw.png<br />
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.<br />
}}<br />
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div><br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. Add the equation for throwing? Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book. <br />
<br />
As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], with [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]] a part of them.<br />
<br />
In this comic the viewer can select a person/{{w|Pikachu}}/god/squirrel as the thrower and an object (including a person, Pikachu, or squirrel) to be thrown, and get an animation of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in SI units and in other very arbitrary units; see [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include ones in which the thrower is smaller than the thrown object. The formula/guideline is apparently based on a chapter from the book. One special case to the calculations is Thor's hammer, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), and self-created characters who are well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}) are shown to actually be able to throw it. Also Thor is the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Thor can throw a squirrel 257 meters. If a Custom Thrower is created, and they are 200 meters tall and 150 KG, they can throw the squirrel 256 meters (1 meter less than Thor). Thor can throw an acorn 136 meters, and the Custom Thrower will throw it 133 meters. Now, Thor can throw Thor's Hammer 19 meters. The Custom Thrower can throw it 44 meters! Apparently there is more to the enchantment of Thor's Hammer than meets the eye, as it would have been expected that if Thor can throw a squirrel and an acorn farther than an extraordinary human, then certainly he could throw his own enchanted Hammer a longer distance.<br />
<br />
There are 7 throwers + 1 open option and 15 + 1 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations for the static elements; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below plus those for the open option. The open option can be defined by height, weight and a 1-4 scale of athleticism. But only Thor (or an unrealistically tall and heavy custom character) can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, hammer, and car) unthrowable by any of the other premade characters. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 100. Still, there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for some. An object with negative weight (you, probably) flies backward.<br />
<br />
The athleticism scale does not define the character used for the animation.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switching to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.<br />
<br />
==Throwers and throw items==<br />
George Washington, Pikachu, and a squirrel are both throwers and throw items, as are "You".<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" |<br />
! Image<br />
! Name<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - quarterback.png]]<br />
|'''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}'''<br />
|A quarterback in the National Football League is a highly athletic individual. Gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision. One of the primary skills required of quarterbacks is to be able to throw the football far with precision accuracy.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - george.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|George Washington}}''' <br />
|He was the first president of the United States of America. There is a myth that a young George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, which is more than a mile wide for much of its length; or alternatively that he would throw rocks across the Rappahannock River, which was about 300 feet wide near George's boyhood home. http://kenmore.org/education/kidstuff/legends.html. He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile. George Washington is shown as a very powerful thrower; the comic makes fun of the flagrant embellishment of Washington's life.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pikachu.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Pikachu}}''' <br />
|Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing it's held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed. <br>According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - carly.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}'''<br />
|A Canadian music artist.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - thor.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Thor}}'''<br />
|Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}} and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - chris hemsworth.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'''<br />
|He is an Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - squirrel.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|squirrel}}'''<br />
|It is a small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - you.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|human|You}}''' <br />
|The viewer may also choose to create a custom thrower, for instance, themself, inputting a name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - microwave.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|microwave oven}}''' <br />
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - basketball.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|basketball (ball)|basketball}}''' <br />
|An inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - blender.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|blender}}'''<br />
|It is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into slush for consumption or baking.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - gold_bar.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|gold bar}}'''<br />
|It is the form in which gold is cast for storage.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - cake.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|wedding cake}}'''<br />
|It is traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pingpong.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|ping pong ball}}'''<br />
|A small sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong".<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - acorn.png]]<br />
|'''An {{w|acorn}}''' <br />
|A small nut which serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - hammer.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Thor's hammer}}'''<br />
|This hammer refers to Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in the {{w|Marvel universe}} which belongs to {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor from Marvels comics}} and can only be lifted by those deemed worthy. It is based on {{w|Mjölnir}} the hammer of Norse God {{w|Thor}}, God of Thunder. In this comic, though, it appears that Mjolnir is just incredibly heavy, and Thor is able to throw it because he is very strong. The custom thrower is also able to throw it if their size and strength are set high enough. Setting aside this customization, Thor is the only standard thrower to be able to throw Thor's hammer. In the movies based on the Marvel universe, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who is also one of the throwers, but in real life, he would of course not be able to throw such a weighty hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - javelin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|javelin}}'''<br />
|An aerodynamic polearm thrown in Olympic sport.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_spin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} spinning'''<br />
|A silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; Here '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus. <br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_tumble.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} tumbling'''<br />
|The coin's other possible trajectory, '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision. The spinning coin always goes farther than the tumbling one, since facing the air edge-on leads to a smaller area facing the wind and therefore less air resistance.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - car.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|car}}'''<br />
|It is the most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Safety Considerations==<br />
Many of the items, even if technically possible to throw, may not be able to be thrown safely. <br />
<br />
For example:<br />
* Depending on how the microwave oven is damaged when it hits the ground, it may still be able to appear to function, but no longer seal properly, and therefore leak dangerously high amounts of microwave radiation.<br />
* Blenders have blades and glass. Even if no one is struck by the flying blender, the broken pieces would be hazardous later in they are not thoroughly removed from the ground.<br />
* Cars have gasoline and battery acid which may spill if a car is thrown.<br />
* A squirrel might bite the person attempting to throw it, which is very dangerous as some squirrels have rabies.<br />
* Pikachu could shock (possibly fatally) someone trying to throw it.<br />
* If a person is thrown that person may be badly injured.<br />
<br />
==Table of throw distances==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Item&nbsp;/&nbsp;Thrower<br />
!NFL&nbsp;Quarterback<br />
!George&nbsp;Washington<br />
!Pikachu<br />
!Carly&nbsp;Rae&nbsp;Jepsen<br />
!Thor<br />
!Chris&nbsp;Hemsworth<br />
!Squirrel<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''<br />
|10.32 m<br />
|7.76 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.67 m<br />
|181.57 m<br />
|6.15 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|33.85 feet<br />
|25.46 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|82.65 rack units<br />
|1.99 football fields<br />
|138.40 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''<br />
|40.18 m<br />
|33.22 m<br />
|2.34 m<br />
|19.11 m<br />
|113.67 m<br />
|27.99 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|16.74 horses<br />
|19.54 smoots<br />
|75.90 attoparsecs<br />
|11.24 smoots<br />
|1.42 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''<br />
|16.58 m<br />
|12.45 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.89 m<br />
|333.25 m<br />
|9.86 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|9.75 smoots<br />
|40.85 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|132.51 rack units<br />
|1.66 furlongs<br />
|32.34 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''<br />
|9.73 m<br />
|7.23 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.36 m<br />
|549.28 m<br />
|5.69 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|31.93 feet<br />
|23.73 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|75.65 rack units<br />
|2.73 furlongs<br />
|128.11 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''<br />
|8.96 m<br />
|6.75 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.2 m<br />
|146.25 m<br />
|5.35 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|29.40 feet<br />
|22.14 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|72.00 rack units<br />
|1.60 football fields<br />
|120.45 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''<br />
|11.8 m<br />
|11.63 m<br />
|9.28 m<br />
|11.25 m<br />
|12.53 m<br />
|11.41 m<br />
|4.95 m<br />
|-<br />
|38.72 feet<br />
|38.17 feet<br />
|30.46 feet<br />
|36.92 feet<br />
|41.10 feet<br />
|37.44 feet<br />
|111.37 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''<br />
|83.00 m<br />
|75.84 m<br />
|28.16 m<br />
|62.85 m<br />
|135.98 m<br />
|67.91 m<br />
|6.53 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.04 Manhattan blocks<br />
|0.95 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.57 smoots<br />
|26.19 horses<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|28.30 horses<br />
|146.85 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|19.32 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.36 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''<br />
|56.10 m<br />
|42.04 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|20.12 m<br />
|3028.75 m<br />
|33.09 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|23.37 horses<br />
|17.51 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.84 smoots<br />
|15.06 furlongs<br />
|19.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|136.65 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''<br />
|15.22 m<br />
|11.41<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.39 m<br />
|332.52 m<br />
|9.03 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|49.94 feet<br />
|37.45 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|121.18 rack units<br />
|1.65 furlongs<br />
|29.63 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|27.22 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|16.01 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''<br />
|177.09 m<br />
|143.96 m<br />
|16.91<br />
|92.63 m<br />
|1331.21 m<br />
|115.89 m<br />
|2.20 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.94 football fields<br />
|1.57 football fields<br />
|9.95 smoots<br />
|1.16 Manhattan blocks<br />
|6.53 furlongs<br />
|1.45 Manhattan blocks<br />
|71.41 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''<br />
|58.17 m<br />
|53.77 m<br />
|13.92 m<br />
|44.08 m<br />
|84.82 m<br />
|49.03 m<br />
|2.14 m<br />
|-<br />
|24.24 horses<br />
|22.41 horses<br />
|45.67 feet<br />
|18.37 horses<br />
|1.06 Manhattan blocks<br />
|20.43 horses<br />
|69.42 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''<br />
|58.64 m<br />
|46.92 m<br />
|2.92 m<br />
|25.44 m<br />
|256.54 m<br />
|38.50 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|24.43 horses<br />
|19.55 horses<br />
|65.71 rack units<br />
|14.97 smoots<br />
|1.28 furlongs<br />
|16.04 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Table of distance units==<br />
*This is a table of other distance units and their length in meters.<br />
**Two of the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of humorous units of measurement}} <br />
**And five the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of unusual units of measurement}}.<br />
***Only Furlong and Feet are not in any of the lists (although a different type of feet is in the last list).<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Unit name<br />
!Length&nbsp;in&nbsp;comic<br>in&nbsp;meters<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Wiffle|Wiffle }}<br />
|0.0089<br />
|A Wiffle, also referred to as a WAM for Wiffle (ball) Assisted Measurement, is equal to a sphere 0.089 m (3.5 inches) in diameter – the size of a {{w|Wiffle ball}}, a perforated, light-weight plastic ball frequently used by marine biologists as a size reference in photos to measure corals and other objects. Randall is thus a factor 10 off. While wiffles should be the next unit after rack-units and before feet, the unit conversion typo seems to prevent it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as it is now even smaller than the wrong measure for light-nanoseconds. Wiffles has thus only been discovered in the data of the comic, as it seems to not be possible to get it displayed in the comic itself.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List of unusual units of measurement#Light-nanosecond|Light-nanoseconds}}<br />
|0.0299<br />
|The light-nanosecond was popularized by Grace Hopper, referring to the length light could travel in a nanosecond. The actual length of a light-nanosecond is 0.299 m, about a foot long, but it seems that [[Randall]] was off by an order of magnitude. This measurement is used for lengths from 1 to 1.06 m. But none of the standard throwers or objects can be thrown this short, so it is not included in the table above. But with the costume user it is possible to get down to 1 m where it will then be used, but of course, since it says 33 light-nanoseconds instead of 3 it is wrong.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Attoparsec|Attoparsecs}}<br />
|0.03086<br />
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×10<sup>12</sup> km) or 19 trillion miles (19×10<sup>12</sup> mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10<sup>−18</sup> or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two-unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×10<sup>18</sup>cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times in non-customized settings: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel. It is used for lengths from 1.06 to 2.69 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Rack_unit|Rack units}}<br />
|0.0445<br />
|A {{w|Rack unit}} (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there. It is used for lengths from 2.69 to 6.67 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}<br />
|0.3048<br />
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. It is used for lengths from 6.67 to 16 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Smoot|Smoots}}<br />
|1.7000<br />
|The {{w|Smoot}} is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity. The smoot is used for lengths from 16 to 36 meters. While the smoot is a nonstandard unit of length, Oliver Smoot has been chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ANSI and ISO are among the world's main standardizing bodies, so Randall may indirectly be making the pun that while Smoot's body isn't a standard measure Smoot has been in charge of bodies that standardize measurements.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Horse|Horses}} <br />
|2.4<br />
|The length of a {{w|Horse}} varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age, and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses, the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m). It is used for lengths from 36 to 75 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block|Manhattan blocks}}<br />
|80.0<br />
|The numbered streets in {{w|Manhattan}} run east-west, and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and {{w|City block|block}} adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). When driving in a grid-like city, the {{w|Manhattan distance}} between two points is a concept, although it is also called {{w|Taxicab geometry}}. It seems like it is indeed the combined street and block distance. This measurement is used for lengths from 75 to 131 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Football_field_(length)|Football fields}}<br />
|91.44<br />
|An {{w|American football field}} is 100 yards or 91.44 m long. It is used for lengths from 131 to 201 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Furlongs}}<br />
|201.168<br />
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile. It is part of the {{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#FFF_units|FFF_units}} of the {{w|FFF system}} for furlong/firkin/fortnight, length, mass and time. It should thus give that one furlong is 201.168 meters. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs. The unit is used for distances of 201 meters up. For the standard throwers and items only Thor can throw over 200 m, thus only he uses Furlongs to measure his throws. Given that this is an old unit, and Thor is based on ancient Nordic Mythology, this may seem appropriate. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also, it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll as well as customization options. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]<br />
<br />
:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]<br />
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big><br />
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.<br />
<br />
:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?<br />
<br />
:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 8 different possible selections in the left window and 16 in the right window. There are, depending on the browser zoom level, one or two selections on each line. Each window's content is given here under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]<br />
:Select a thrower<br />
<br />
:*You<br />
:*An NFL Quarterback<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
:*Thor, God of Thunder<br />
:*Chris Hemsworth<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:Select an object to be thrown<br />
:*You<br />
:*A microwave oven<br />
:*A basketball<br />
:*A blender<br />
:*A gold bar<br />
:*A wedding cake<br />
:*A ping-pong ball<br />
:*An acorn<br />
:*Thor's Hammer<br />
:*A javelin<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*A car<br />
:*A silver dollar (spinning)<br />
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]<br />
<br />
:[In the pre-selected version, George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case, there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]<br />
:7.76 meters<br />
:(25.46 feet)<br />
<br />
:[Clicking on "You" in the thrower box opens a new window over the above described comic parts. some of the comic can still be seen including the thrower and his item, and a new throw occurs every time something is changed in this new window. It is a customization box with several options shown below.]<br />
<br />
:Your Name<br />
:____You_____ [can be changed]<br />
<br />
:Height<br />
:5.8 ft [number can be changed; ft can be changed to m]<br />
<br />
:Mass<br />
:160 lb [number can be changed; lb can be changed to kg]<br />
<br />
:Athleticism<br />
:[Below is a scale showing Black Hat, the character depicting You with a knit cap, George Washington, and a person with goggles and a helmet. A marker is set at You, but can be changed. Below the characters are descriptions.]<br />
:Black Hat: Moving objects around is for suckers.<br />
:Minimal<br />
:You: I'm in decent shape and have pretty good form.<br />
:Decent<br />
:George Washington: I'm so good at throwing they made me president.<br />
:Extremely High<br />
:Goggles: I use a time machine to train for 36 hours a day.<br />
:Champion Athlete<br />
<br />
:[Once done the box can be clicking on a cross at the top right or just clicking outside the window on the comic behind it. Now the thrower you (and the object you) will have the weight, length and strength chosen and will be able to throw (or be thrown) with these stats. ]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.<br />
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.<br />
**In-universe, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].<br />
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.<br />
*Due to a bug, the calculations for the customized person ('you') are incorrect when the mass is specified in pounds<br />
*When the comic came out there was a mistake so the item to be thrown was named the same as the thrower, except for the coins and for when Pikachu and George Washington tried to throw themselves in which case it for instance said:<br />
**How far could George Washington throw himself?<br />
**But if he picked another object it would write:<br />
***How far could George Washington throw George Washington?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- Different throws --><br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] <br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]] <!-- model of throw distance --><br />
[[Category:American football]] <!-- NFL quaterback --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] <!-- George Washington --><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Carly Rae Jepsen, George Washington and Chris Hemsworth--><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!-- Thor, questionable though as it is obviously the Marvel character --><br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Food]] <!-- Microwave oven Blender, cake --><br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- ping pong, javelin --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:How To]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2198:_Throw&diff=1792632198: Throw2019-09-05T18:07:42Z<p>SeanAhern: spelling</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2198<br />
| date = September 3, 2019<br />
| title = Throw<br />
| image = throw.png<br />
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.<br />
}}<br />
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div><br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. Add the equation for throwing? Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book. <br />
<br />
As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], with [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]] a part of them.<br />
<br />
In this comic the viewer can select a person/{{w|Pikachu}}/god/squirrel as the thrower and an object (including a person, Pikachu, or squirrel) to be thrown, and get an animation of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in SI units and in other very arbitrary units; see [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include ones in which the thrower is smaller than the thrown object. The formula/guideline is apparently based on a chapter from the book. One special case to the calculations is Thor's hammer, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), and self-created characters who are well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}) are shown to actually be able to throw it. Also Thor is the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Thor can throw a squirrel 257 meters. If a Custom Thrower is created, and they are 200 meters tall and 150 KG, they can throw the squirrel 256 meters (1 meter less than Thor). Thor can throw an acorn 136 meters, and the Custom Thrower will throw it 133 meters. Now, Thor can throw Thor's Hammer 19 meters. The Custom Thrower can throw it 44 meters! Apparently there is more to the enchantment of Thor's Hammer than meets the eye, as it would have been expected that if Thor can throw a squirrel and an acorn farther than an extraordinary human, then certainly he could throw his own enchanted Hammer a longer distance.<br />
<br />
There are 7 throwers + 1 open option and 15 + 1 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations for the static elements; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below plus those for the open option. The open option can be defined by height, weight and a 1-4 scale of athleticism. But only Thor (or an unrealistically tall and heavy custom character) can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, hammer, and car) unthrowable by any of the other premade characters. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 100. Still, there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for some. An object with negative weight (you, probably) flies backward.<br />
<br />
The athleticism scale does not define the character used for the animation.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switching to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.<br />
<br />
==Throwers and throw items==<br />
George Washington, Pikachu, and a squirrel are both throwers and throw items, as are "You".<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" |<br />
! Image<br />
! Name<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - quarterback.png]]<br />
|'''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}'''<br />
|A quarterback in the National Football League is a highly athletic individual. Gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision. One of the primary skills required of quarterbacks is to be able to throw the football far with precision accuracy.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - george.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|George Washington}}''' <br />
|He was the first president of the United States of America. There is a myth that a young George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, which is more than a mile wide for much of its length; or alternatively that he would throw rocks across the Rappahannock River, which was about 300 feet wide near George's boyhood home. http://kenmore.org/education/kidstuff/legends.html. He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile. George Washington is shown as a very powerful thrower; the comic makes fun of the flagrant embellishment of Washington's life.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pikachu.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Pikachu}}''' <br />
|Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing it's held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed. <br>According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - carly.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}'''<br />
|A Canadian music artist.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - thor.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Thor}}'''<br />
|Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}} and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - chris hemsworth.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'''<br />
|He is an Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - squirrel.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|squirrel}}'''<br />
|It is a small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - you.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|human|You}}''' <br />
|The viewer may also choose to create a custom thrower, for instance, themself, inputting a name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - microwave.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|microwave oven}}''' <br />
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - basketball.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|basketball (ball)|basketball}}''' <br />
|An inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - blender.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|blender}}'''<br />
|It is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into slush for consumption or baking.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - gold_bar.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|gold bar}}'''<br />
|It is the form in which gold is cast for storage.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - cake.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|wedding cake}}'''<br />
|It is traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pingpong.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|ping pong ball}}'''<br />
|A small sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong".<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - acorn.png]]<br />
|'''An {{w|acorn}}''' <br />
|A small nut which serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - hammer.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Thor's hammer}}'''<br />
|This hammer refers to Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in the {{w|Marvel universe}} which belongs to {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor from Marvels comics}} and can only be lifted by those deemed worthy. It is based on {{w|Mjölnir}} the hammer of Norse God {{w|Thor}}, God of Thunder. In this comic though, it appears that Mjolnir is just incredibly heavy, and Thor is able to throw it because he is very strong. The custom thrower is also able to throw it if their size and strength are set high enough. Setting aside this customization, Thor is the only standard thrower to be able to throw Thor's hammer. In the movies based on the Marvel universe, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who is also one of the throwers, but in real life, he would of course not be able to throw such a weighty hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - javelin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|javelin}}'''<br />
|An aerodynamic polearm thrown in Olympic sport.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_spin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} spinning'''<br />
|A silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; Here '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus. <br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_tumble.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} tumbling'''<br />
|The coin's other possible trajectory, '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision. The spinning coin always goes farther than the tumbling one, since facing the air edge-on leads to a smaller area facing the wind and therefore less air resistance.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - car.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|car}}'''<br />
|It is the most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Safety Considerations==<br />
Many of the items, even if technically possible to throw, may not be able to be thrown safely. <br />
<br />
For example:<br />
* Depending on how the microwave oven is damaged when it hits the ground, it may still be able to appear to function, but no longer seal properly, and therefore leak dangerously high amounts of microwave radiation.<br />
* Blenders have blades and glass. Even if no one is struck by the flying blender, the broken pieces would be hazardous later in they are not thoroughly removed from the ground.<br />
* Cars have gasoline and battery acid which may spill if a car is thrown.<br />
* A squirrel might bite the person attempting to throw it, which is very dangerous as some squirrels have rabies.<br />
* Pikachu could shock (possibly fatally) someone trying to throw it.<br />
* If a person is thrown that person may be badly injured.<br />
<br />
==Table of throw distances==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Item&nbsp;/&nbsp;Thrower<br />
!NFL&nbsp;Quarterback<br />
!George&nbsp;Washington<br />
!Pikachu<br />
!Carly&nbsp;Rae&nbsp;Jepsen<br />
!Thor<br />
!Chris&nbsp;Hemsworth<br />
!Squirrel<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''<br />
|10.32 m<br />
|7.76 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.67 m<br />
|181.57 m<br />
|6.15 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|33.85 feet<br />
|25.46 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|82.65 rack units<br />
|1.99 football fields<br />
|138.40 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''<br />
|40.18 m<br />
|33.22 m<br />
|2.34 m<br />
|19.11 m<br />
|113.67 m<br />
|27.99 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|16.74 horses<br />
|19.54 smoots<br />
|75.90 attoparsecs<br />
|11.24 smoots<br />
|1.42 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''<br />
|16.58 m<br />
|12.45 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.89 m<br />
|333.25 m<br />
|9.86 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|9.75 smoots<br />
|40.85 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|132.51 rack units<br />
|1.66 furlongs<br />
|32.34 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''<br />
|9.73 m<br />
|7.23 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.36 m<br />
|549.28 m<br />
|5.69 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|31.93 feet<br />
|23.73 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|75.65 rack units<br />
|2.73 furlongs<br />
|128.11 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''<br />
|8.96 m<br />
|6.75 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.2 m<br />
|146.25 m<br />
|5.35 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|29.40 feet<br />
|22.14 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|72.00 rack units<br />
|1.60 football fields<br />
|120.45 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''<br />
|11.8 m<br />
|11.63 m<br />
|9.28 m<br />
|11.25 m<br />
|12.53 m<br />
|11.41 m<br />
|4.95 m<br />
|-<br />
|38.72 feet<br />
|38.17 feet<br />
|30.46 feet<br />
|36.92 feet<br />
|41.10 feet<br />
|37.44 feet<br />
|111.37 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''<br />
|83.00 m<br />
|75.84 m<br />
|28.16 m<br />
|62.85 m<br />
|135.98 m<br />
|67.91 m<br />
|6.53 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.04 Manhattan blocks<br />
|0.95 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.57 smoots<br />
|26.19 horses<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|28.30 horses<br />
|146.85 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|19.32 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.36 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''<br />
|56.10 m<br />
|42.04 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|20.12 m<br />
|3028.75 m<br />
|33.09 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|23.37 horses<br />
|17.51 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.84 smoots<br />
|15.06 furlongs<br />
|19.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|136.65 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''<br />
|15.22 m<br />
|11.41<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.39 m<br />
|332.52 m<br />
|9.03 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|49.94 feet<br />
|37.45 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|121.18 rack units<br />
|1.65 furlongs<br />
|29.63 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|27.22 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|16.01 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''<br />
|177.09 m<br />
|143.96 m<br />
|16.91<br />
|92.63 m<br />
|1331.21 m<br />
|115.89 m<br />
|2.20 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.94 football fields<br />
|1.57 football fields<br />
|9.95 smoots<br />
|1.16 Manhattan blocks<br />
|6.53 furlongs<br />
|1.45 Manhattan blocks<br />
|71.41 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''<br />
|58.17 m<br />
|53.77 m<br />
|13.92 m<br />
|44.08 m<br />
|84.82 m<br />
|49.03 m<br />
|2.14 m<br />
|-<br />
|24.24 horses<br />
|22.41 horses<br />
|45.67 feet<br />
|18.37 horses<br />
|1.06 Manhattan blocks<br />
|20.43 horses<br />
|69.42 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''<br />
|58.64 m<br />
|46.92 m<br />
|2.92 m<br />
|25.44 m<br />
|256.54 m<br />
|38.50 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|24.43 horses<br />
|19.55 horses<br />
|65.71 rack units<br />
|14.97 smoots<br />
|1.28 furlongs<br />
|16.04 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Table of distance units==<br />
*This is a table of other distance units and their length in meters.<br />
**Two of the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of humorous units of measurement}} <br />
**And five the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of unusual units of measurement}}.<br />
***Only Furlong and Feet are not in any of the lists (although a different type of feet is in the last list).<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Unit name<br />
!Length&nbsp;in&nbsp;comic<br>in&nbsp;meters<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Wiffle|Wiffle }}<br />
|0.0089<br />
|A Wiffle, also referred to as a WAM for Wiffle (ball) Assisted Measurement, is equal to a sphere 0.089 m (3.5 inches) in diameter – the size of a {{w|Wiffle ball}}, a perforated, light-weight plastic ball frequently used by marine biologists as a size reference in photos to measure corals and other objects. Randall is thus a factor 10 off. While wiffles should be the next unit after rack-units and before feet, the unit conversion typo seems to prevent it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as it is now even smaller than the wrong measure for light-nanoseconds. Wiffles has thus only been discovered in the data of the comic, as it seems to not be possible to get it displayed in the comic itself.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List of unusual units of measurement#Light-nanosecond|Light-nanoseconds}}<br />
|0.0299<br />
|The light-nanosecond was popularized by Grace Hopper, referring to the length light could travel in a nanosecond. The actual length of a light-nanosecond is 0.299 m, about a foot long, but it seems that [[Randall]] was off by an order of magnitude. This measurement is used for lengths from 1 to 1.06 m. But none of the standard throwers or objects can be thrown this short, so it is not included in the table above. But with the costume user it is possible to get down to 1 m where it will then be used, but of course, since it says 33 light-nanoseconds instead of 3 it is wrong.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Attoparsec|Attoparsecs}}<br />
|0.03086<br />
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×10<sup>12</sup> km) or 19 trillion miles (19×10<sup>12</sup> mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10<sup>−18</sup> or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two-unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×10<sup>18</sup>cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times in non-customized settings: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel. It is used for lengths from 1.06 to 2.69 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Rack_unit|Rack units}}<br />
|0.0445<br />
|A {{w|Rack unit}} (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there. It is used for lengths from 2.69 to 6.67 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}<br />
|0.3048<br />
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. It is used for lengths from 6.67 to 16 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Smoot|Smoots}}<br />
|1.7000<br />
|The {{w|Smoot}} is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity. The smoot is used for lengths from 16 to 36 meters. While the smoot is a nonstandard unit of length, Oliver Smoot has been chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ANSI and ISO are among the world's main standardizing bodies, so Randall may indirectly be making the pun that while Smoot's body isn't a standard measure Smoot has been in charge of bodies that standardize measurements.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Horse|Horses}} <br />
|2.4<br />
|The length of a {{w|Horse}} varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age, and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses, the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m). It is used for lengths from 36 to 75 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block|Manhattan blocks}}<br />
|80.0<br />
|The numbered streets in {{w|Manhattan}} run east-west, and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and {{w|City block|block}} adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). When driving in a grid-like city, the {{w|Manhattan distance}} between two points is a concept, although it is also called {{w|Taxicab geometry}}. It seems like it is indeed the combined street and block distance. This measurement is used for lengths from 75 to 131 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Football_field_(length)|Football fields}}<br />
|91.44<br />
|An {{w|American football field}} is 100 yards or 91.44 m long. It is used for lengths from 131 to 201 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Furlongs}}<br />
|201.168<br />
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile. It is part of the {{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#FFF_units|FFF_units}} of the {{w|FFF system}} for furlong/firkin/fortnight, length, mass and time. It should thus give that one furlong is 201.168 meters. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs. The unit is used for distances of 201 meters up. For the standard throwers and items only Thor can throw over 200 m, thus only he uses Furlongs to measure his throws. Given that this is an old unit, and Thor is based on ancient Nordic Mythology, this may seem appropriate. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also, it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll as well as customization options. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]<br />
<br />
:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]<br />
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big><br />
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.<br />
<br />
:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?<br />
<br />
:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 8 different possible selections in the left window and 16 in the right window. There are, depending on the browser zoom level, one or two selections on each line. Each window's content is given here under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]<br />
:Select a thrower<br />
<br />
:*You<br />
:*An NFL Quarterback<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
:*Thor, God of Thunder<br />
:*Chris Hemsworth<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:Select an object to be thrown<br />
:*You<br />
:*A microwave oven<br />
:*A basketball<br />
:*A blender<br />
:*A gold bar<br />
:*A wedding cake<br />
:*A ping-pong ball<br />
:*An acorn<br />
:*Thor's Hammer<br />
:*A javelin<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*A car<br />
:*A silver dollar (spinning)<br />
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]<br />
<br />
:[In the pre-selected version, George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case, there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]<br />
:7.76 meters<br />
:(25.46 feet)<br />
<br />
:[Clicking on "You" in the thrower box opens a new window over the above described comic parts. some of the comic can still be seen including the thrower and his item, and a new throw occurs every time something is changed in this new window. It is a customization box with several options shown below.]<br />
<br />
:Your Name<br />
:____You_____ [can be changed]<br />
<br />
:Height<br />
:5.8 ft [number can be changed; ft can be changed to m]<br />
<br />
:Mass<br />
:160 lb [number can be changed; lb can be changed to kg]<br />
<br />
:Athleticism<br />
:[Below is a scale showing Black Hat, the character depicting You with a knit cap, George Washington, and a person with goggles and a helmet. A marker is set at You, but can be changed. Below the characters are descriptions.]<br />
:Black Hat: Moving objects around is for suckers.<br />
:Minimal<br />
:You: I'm in decent shape and have pretty good form.<br />
:Decent<br />
:George Washington: I'm so good at throwing they made me president.<br />
:Extremely High<br />
:Goggles: I use a time machine to train for 36 hours a day.<br />
:Champion Athlete<br />
<br />
:[Once done the box can be clicking on a cross at the top right or just clicking outside the window on the comic behind it. Now the thrower you (and the object you) will have the weight, length and strength chosen and will be able to throw (or be thrown) with these stats. ]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.<br />
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.<br />
**In-universe, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].<br />
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.<br />
*Due to a bug, the calculations for the customized person ('you') are incorrect when the mass is specified in pounds<br />
*When the comic came out there was a mistake so the item to be thrown was named the same as the thrower, except for the coins and for when Pikachu and George Washington tried to throw themselves in which case it for instance said:<br />
**How far could George Washington throw himself?<br />
**But if he picked another object it would write:<br />
***How far could George Washington throw George Washington?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- Different throws --><br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] <br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]] <!-- model of throw distance --><br />
[[Category:American football]] <!-- NFL quaterback --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] <!-- George Washington --><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Carly Rae Jepsen, George Washington and Chris Hemsworth--><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!-- Thor, questionable though as it is obviously the Marvel character --><br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Food]] <!-- Microwave oven Blender, cake --><br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- ping pong, javelin --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:How To]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2198:_Throw&diff=1792622198: Throw2019-09-05T18:07:09Z<p>SeanAhern: Grammar fix</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2198<br />
| date = September 3, 2019<br />
| title = Throw<br />
| image = throw.png<br />
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.<br />
}}<br />
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div><br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. Add the equation for throwing? Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book. <br />
<br />
As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], with [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]] a part of them.<br />
<br />
In this comic the viewer can select a person/{{w|Pikachu}}/god/squirrel as the thrower and an object (including a person, Pikachu, or squirrel) to be thrown, and get an animation of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in SI units and in other very arbitrary units; see [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include ones in which the thrower is smaller than the thrown object. The formula/guideline is apparently based on a chapter from the book. One special case to the calculations is Thor's hammer, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), and self-created characters who are well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}) are shown to actually be able to throw it. Also Thor is the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Thor can throw a squirrel 257 meters. If a Custom Thrower is created, and they are 200 meters tall and 150 KG, they can throw the squirrel 256 meters (1 meter less than Thor). Thor can throw an acorn 136 meters, and the Custom Thrower will throw it 133 meters. Now, Thor can throw Thor's Hammer 19 meters. The Custom Thrower can throw it 44 meters! Apparently there is more to the enchantment of Thor's Hammer than meets the eye, as it would have been expected that if Thor can throw a squirrel and an acorn farther than an extraordinary human, then certainly he could throw his own enchanted Hammer a longer distance.<br />
<br />
There are 7 throwers + 1 open option and 15 + 1 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations for the static elements; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below plus those for the open option. The open option can be defined by height, weight and a 1-4 scale of athleticism. But only Thor (or an unrealistically tall and heavy custom character) can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, hammer, and car) unthrowable by any of the other premade characters. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 100. Still, there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for some. An object with negative weight (you, probably) flies backward.<br />
<br />
The athleticism scale does not define the character used for the animation.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switching to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.<br />
<br />
==Throwers and throw items==<br />
George Washington, Pikachu, and a squirrel are both throwers and throw items, as are "You".<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" |<br />
! Image<br />
! Name<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - quarterback.png]]<br />
|'''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}'''<br />
|A quarterback in the National Football League is a highly athletic individual. Gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision. One of the primary skills required of quarterbacks is to be able to throw the football far with precision accuracy.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - george.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|George Washington}}''' <br />
|He was the first president of the United States of America. There is a myth that a young George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, which is more than a mile wide for much of its length; or alternatively that he would throw rocks across the Rappahannock River, which was about 300 feet wide near George's boyhood home. http://kenmore.org/education/kidstuff/legends.html. He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile. George Washington is shown as a very powerful thrower; the comic makes fun of the flagrant embellishment of Washington's life.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pikachu.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Pikachu}}''' <br />
|Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing it's held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed. <br>According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - carly.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}'''<br />
|A Canadian music artist.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - thor.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Thor}}'''<br />
|Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}} and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - chris hemsworth.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'''<br />
|He is an Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - squirrel.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|squirrel}}'''<br />
|It is a small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - you.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|human|You}}''' <br />
|The viewer may also choose to create a custom thrower, for instance, themself, inputting a name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - microwave.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|microwave oven}}''' <br />
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - basketball.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|basketball (ball)|basketball}}''' <br />
|Aan inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - blender.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|blender}}'''<br />
|It is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into slush for consumption or baking.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - gold_bar.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|gold bar}}'''<br />
|It is the form in which gold is cast for storage.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - cake.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|wedding cake}}'''<br />
|It is traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pingpong.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|ping pong ball}}'''<br />
|A small sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong".<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - acorn.png]]<br />
|'''An {{w|acorn}}''' <br />
|A small nut which serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - hammer.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Thor's hammer}}'''<br />
|This hammer refers to Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in the {{w|Marvel universe}} which belongs to {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor from Marvels comics}} and can only be lifted by those deemed worthy. It is based on {{w|Mjölnir}} the hammer of Norse God {{w|Thor}}, God of Thunder. In this comic though, it appears that Mjolnir is just incredibly heavy, and Thor is able to throw it because he is very strong. The custom thrower is also able to throw it if their size and strength are set high enough. Setting aside this customization, Thor is the only standard thrower to be able to throw Thor's hammer. In the movies based on the Marvel universe, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who is also one of the throwers, but in real life, he would of course not be able to throw such a weighty hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - javelin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|javelin}}'''<br />
|An aerodynamic polearm thrown in Olympic sport.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_spin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} spinning'''<br />
|A silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; Here '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus. <br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_tumble.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} tumbling'''<br />
|The coin's other possible trajectory, '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision. The spinning coin always goes farther than the tumbling one, since facing the air edge-on leads to a smaller area facing the wind and therefore less air resistance.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - car.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|car}}'''<br />
|It is the most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Safety Considerations==<br />
Many of the items, even if technically possible to throw, may not be able to be thrown safely. <br />
<br />
For example:<br />
* Depending on how the microwave oven is damaged when it hits the ground, it may still be able to appear to function, but no longer seal properly, and therefore leak dangerously high amounts of microwave radiation.<br />
* Blenders have blades and glass. Even if no one is struck by the flying blender, the broken pieces would be hazardous later in they are not thoroughly removed from the ground.<br />
* Cars have gasoline and battery acid which may spill if a car is thrown.<br />
* A squirrel might bite the person attempting to throw it, which is very dangerous as some squirrels have rabies.<br />
* Pikachu could shock (possibly fatally) someone trying to throw it.<br />
* If a person is thrown that person may be badly injured.<br />
<br />
==Table of throw distances==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Item&nbsp;/&nbsp;Thrower<br />
!NFL&nbsp;Quarterback<br />
!George&nbsp;Washington<br />
!Pikachu<br />
!Carly&nbsp;Rae&nbsp;Jepsen<br />
!Thor<br />
!Chris&nbsp;Hemsworth<br />
!Squirrel<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''<br />
|10.32 m<br />
|7.76 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.67 m<br />
|181.57 m<br />
|6.15 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|33.85 feet<br />
|25.46 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|82.65 rack units<br />
|1.99 football fields<br />
|138.40 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''<br />
|40.18 m<br />
|33.22 m<br />
|2.34 m<br />
|19.11 m<br />
|113.67 m<br />
|27.99 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|16.74 horses<br />
|19.54 smoots<br />
|75.90 attoparsecs<br />
|11.24 smoots<br />
|1.42 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''<br />
|16.58 m<br />
|12.45 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.89 m<br />
|333.25 m<br />
|9.86 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|9.75 smoots<br />
|40.85 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|132.51 rack units<br />
|1.66 furlongs<br />
|32.34 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''<br />
|9.73 m<br />
|7.23 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.36 m<br />
|549.28 m<br />
|5.69 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|31.93 feet<br />
|23.73 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|75.65 rack units<br />
|2.73 furlongs<br />
|128.11 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''<br />
|8.96 m<br />
|6.75 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.2 m<br />
|146.25 m<br />
|5.35 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|29.40 feet<br />
|22.14 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|72.00 rack units<br />
|1.60 football fields<br />
|120.45 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''<br />
|11.8 m<br />
|11.63 m<br />
|9.28 m<br />
|11.25 m<br />
|12.53 m<br />
|11.41 m<br />
|4.95 m<br />
|-<br />
|38.72 feet<br />
|38.17 feet<br />
|30.46 feet<br />
|36.92 feet<br />
|41.10 feet<br />
|37.44 feet<br />
|111.37 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''<br />
|83.00 m<br />
|75.84 m<br />
|28.16 m<br />
|62.85 m<br />
|135.98 m<br />
|67.91 m<br />
|6.53 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.04 Manhattan blocks<br />
|0.95 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.57 smoots<br />
|26.19 horses<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|28.30 horses<br />
|146.85 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|19.32 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.36 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''<br />
|56.10 m<br />
|42.04 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|20.12 m<br />
|3028.75 m<br />
|33.09 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|23.37 horses<br />
|17.51 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.84 smoots<br />
|15.06 furlongs<br />
|19.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|136.65 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''<br />
|15.22 m<br />
|11.41<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.39 m<br />
|332.52 m<br />
|9.03 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|49.94 feet<br />
|37.45 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|121.18 rack units<br />
|1.65 furlongs<br />
|29.63 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|27.22 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|16.01 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''<br />
|177.09 m<br />
|143.96 m<br />
|16.91<br />
|92.63 m<br />
|1331.21 m<br />
|115.89 m<br />
|2.20 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.94 football fields<br />
|1.57 football fields<br />
|9.95 smoots<br />
|1.16 Manhattan blocks<br />
|6.53 furlongs<br />
|1.45 Manhattan blocks<br />
|71.41 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''<br />
|58.17 m<br />
|53.77 m<br />
|13.92 m<br />
|44.08 m<br />
|84.82 m<br />
|49.03 m<br />
|2.14 m<br />
|-<br />
|24.24 horses<br />
|22.41 horses<br />
|45.67 feet<br />
|18.37 horses<br />
|1.06 Manhattan blocks<br />
|20.43 horses<br />
|69.42 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''<br />
|58.64 m<br />
|46.92 m<br />
|2.92 m<br />
|25.44 m<br />
|256.54 m<br />
|38.50 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|24.43 horses<br />
|19.55 horses<br />
|65.71 rack units<br />
|14.97 smoots<br />
|1.28 furlongs<br />
|16.04 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Table of distance units==<br />
*This is a table of other distance units and their length in meters.<br />
**Two of the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of humorous units of measurement}} <br />
**And five the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of unusual units of measurement}}.<br />
***Only Furlong and Feet are not in any of the lists (although a different type of feet is in the last list).<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Unit name<br />
!Length&nbsp;in&nbsp;comic<br>in&nbsp;meters<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Wiffle|Wiffle }}<br />
|0.0089<br />
|A Wiffle, also referred to as a WAM for Wiffle (ball) Assisted Measurement, is equal to a sphere 0.089 m (3.5 inches) in diameter – the size of a {{w|Wiffle ball}}, a perforated, light-weight plastic ball frequently used by marine biologists as a size reference in photos to measure corals and other objects. Randall is thus a factor 10 off. While wiffles should be the next unit after rack-units and before feet, the unit conversion typo seems to prevent it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as it is now even smaller than the wrong measure for light-nanoseconds. Wiffles has thus only been discovered in the data of the comic, as it seems to not be possible to get it displayed in the comic itself.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List of unusual units of measurement#Light-nanosecond|Light-nanoseconds}}<br />
|0.0299<br />
|The light-nanosecond was popularized by Grace Hopper, referring to the length light could travel in a nanosecond. The actual length of a light-nanosecond is 0.299 m, about a foot long, but it seems that [[Randall]] was off by an order of magnitude. This measurement is used for lengths from 1 to 1.06 m. But none of the standard throwers or objects can be thrown this short, so it is not included in the table above. But with the costume user it is possible to get down to 1 m where it will then be used, but of course, since it says 33 light-nanoseconds instead of 3 it is wrong.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Attoparsec|Attoparsecs}}<br />
|0.03086<br />
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×10<sup>12</sup> km) or 19 trillion miles (19×10<sup>12</sup> mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10<sup>−18</sup> or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two-unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×10<sup>18</sup>cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times in non-customized settings: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel. It is used for lengths from 1.06 to 2.69 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Rack_unit|Rack units}}<br />
|0.0445<br />
|A {{w|Rack unit}} (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there. It is used for lengths from 2.69 to 6.67 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}<br />
|0.3048<br />
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. It is used for lengths from 6.67 to 16 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Smoot|Smoots}}<br />
|1.7000<br />
|The {{w|Smoot}} is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity. The smoot is used for lengths from 16 to 36 meters. While the smoot is a nonstandard unit of length, Oliver Smoot has been chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ANSI and ISO are among the world's main standardizing bodies, so Randall may indirectly be making the pun that while Smoot's body isn't a standard measure Smoot has been in charge of bodies that standardize measurements.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Horse|Horses}} <br />
|2.4<br />
|The length of a {{w|Horse}} varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age, and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses, the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m). It is used for lengths from 36 to 75 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block|Manhattan blocks}}<br />
|80.0<br />
|The numbered streets in {{w|Manhattan}} run east-west, and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and {{w|City block|block}} adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). When driving in a grid-like city, the {{w|Manhattan distance}} between two points is a concept, although it is also called {{w|Taxicab geometry}}. It seems like it is indeed the combined street and block distance. This measurement is used for lengths from 75 to 131 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Football_field_(length)|Football fields}}<br />
|91.44<br />
|An {{w|American football field}} is 100 yards or 91.44 m long. It is used for lengths from 131 to 201 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Furlongs}}<br />
|201.168<br />
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile. It is part of the {{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#FFF_units|FFF_units}} of the {{w|FFF system}} for furlong/firkin/fortnight, length, mass and time. It should thus give that one furlong is 201.168 meters. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs. The unit is used for distances of 201 meters up. For the standard throwers and items only Thor can throw over 200 m, thus only he uses Furlongs to measure his throws. Given that this is an old unit, and Thor is based on ancient Nordic Mythology, this may seem appropriate. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also, it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll as well as customization options. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]<br />
<br />
:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]<br />
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big><br />
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.<br />
<br />
:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?<br />
<br />
:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 8 different possible selections in the left window and 16 in the right window. There are, depending on the browser zoom level, one or two selections on each line. Each window's content is given here under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]<br />
:Select a thrower<br />
<br />
:*You<br />
:*An NFL Quarterback<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
:*Thor, God of Thunder<br />
:*Chris Hemsworth<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:Select an object to be thrown<br />
:*You<br />
:*A microwave oven<br />
:*A basketball<br />
:*A blender<br />
:*A gold bar<br />
:*A wedding cake<br />
:*A ping-pong ball<br />
:*An acorn<br />
:*Thor's Hammer<br />
:*A javelin<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*A car<br />
:*A silver dollar (spinning)<br />
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]<br />
<br />
:[In the pre-selected version, George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case, there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]<br />
:7.76 meters<br />
:(25.46 feet)<br />
<br />
:[Clicking on "You" in the thrower box opens a new window over the above described comic parts. some of the comic can still be seen including the thrower and his item, and a new throw occurs every time something is changed in this new window. It is a customization box with several options shown below.]<br />
<br />
:Your Name<br />
:____You_____ [can be changed]<br />
<br />
:Height<br />
:5.8 ft [number can be changed; ft can be changed to m]<br />
<br />
:Mass<br />
:160 lb [number can be changed; lb can be changed to kg]<br />
<br />
:Athleticism<br />
:[Below is a scale showing Black Hat, the character depicting You with a knit cap, George Washington, and a person with goggles and a helmet. A marker is set at You, but can be changed. Below the characters are descriptions.]<br />
:Black Hat: Moving objects around is for suckers.<br />
:Minimal<br />
:You: I'm in decent shape and have pretty good form.<br />
:Decent<br />
:George Washington: I'm so good at throwing they made me president.<br />
:Extremely High<br />
:Goggles: I use a time machine to train for 36 hours a day.<br />
:Champion Athlete<br />
<br />
:[Once done the box can be clicking on a cross at the top right or just clicking outside the window on the comic behind it. Now the thrower you (and the object you) will have the weight, length and strength chosen and will be able to throw (or be thrown) with these stats. ]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.<br />
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.<br />
**In-universe, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].<br />
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.<br />
*Due to a bug, the calculations for the customized person ('you') are incorrect when the mass is specified in pounds<br />
*When the comic came out there was a mistake so the item to be thrown was named the same as the thrower, except for the coins and for when Pikachu and George Washington tried to throw themselves in which case it for instance said:<br />
**How far could George Washington throw himself?<br />
**But if he picked another object it would write:<br />
***How far could George Washington throw George Washington?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- Different throws --><br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] <br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]] <!-- model of throw distance --><br />
[[Category:American football]] <!-- NFL quaterback --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] <!-- George Washington --><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Carly Rae Jepsen, George Washington and Chris Hemsworth--><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!-- Thor, questionable though as it is obviously the Marvel character --><br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Food]] <!-- Microwave oven Blender, cake --><br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- ping pong, javelin --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:How To]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2198:_Throw&diff=1792612198: Throw2019-09-05T18:04:42Z<p>SeanAhern: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2198<br />
| date = September 3, 2019<br />
| title = Throw<br />
| image = throw.png<br />
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.<br />
}}<br />
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div><br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. Add the equation for throwing? Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book. <br />
<br />
As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], with [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]] a part of them.<br />
<br />
In this comic the viewer can select a person/{{w|Pikachu}}/god/squirrel as the thrower and an object (including a person, Pikachu, or squirrel) to be thrown, and get an animation of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in SI units and in other very arbitrary units; see [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include ones in which the thrower is smaller than the thrown object. The formula/guideline is apparently based on a chapter from the book. One special case to the calculations is Thor's hammer, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), and self-created characters who are well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}) are shown to actually be able to throw it. Also Thor is the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Thor can throw a squirrel 257 meters. If a Custom Thrower is created, and they are 200 meters tall and 150 KG, they can throw the squirrel 256 meters (1 meter less than Thor). Thor can throw an acorn 136 meters, and the Custom Thrower will throw it 133 meters. Now, Thor can throw Thor's Hammer 19 meters. The Custom Thrower can throw it 44 meters! Apparently there is more to the enchantment of Thor's Hammer than meets the eye, as it would have been expected that if Thor can throw a squirrel and an acorn farther than an extraordinary human, then certainly he could throw his own enchanted Hammer a longer distance.<br />
<br />
There are 7 throwers + 1 open option and 15 + 1 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations for the static elements; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below plus those for the open option. The open option can be defined by height, weight and a 1-4 scale of athleticism. But only Thor (or an unrealistically tall and heavy custom character) can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, hammer, and car) unthrowable by any of the other premade characters. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 100. Still, there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for some. An object with negative weight (you, probably) flies backward.<br />
<br />
The athleticism scale does not define the character used for the animation.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switching to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.<br />
<br />
==Throwers and throw items==<br />
George Washington, Pikachu, and a squirrel are both throwers and throw items, as are "You".<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" |<br />
! Image<br />
! Name<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - quarterback.png]]<br />
|'''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}'''<br />
|A quarterback in the National Football League is a highly athletic individual. Gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision. One of the primary skills required of quarterbacks is to be able to throw the football far with precision accuracy.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - george.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|George Washington}}''' <br />
|He was the first president of the United States of America. There is a myth that a young George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, which is more than a mile wide for much of its length; or alternatively that he would throw rocks across the Rappahannock River, which was about 300 feet wide near George's boyhood home. http://kenmore.org/education/kidstuff/legends.html. He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile. George Washington is shown as a very powerful thrower; the comic makes fun of the flagrant embellishment of Washington's life.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pikachu.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Pikachu}}''' <br />
|Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing it's held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed. <br>According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - carly.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}'''<br />
|A Canadian music artist.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - thor.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Thor}}'''<br />
|Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}} and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - chris hemsworth.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'''<br />
|He is an Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - squirrel.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|squirrel}}'''<br />
|It is a small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - you.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|human|You}}''' <br />
|The viewer may also choose to create a custom thrower, for instance them selves, inputting name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - microwave.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|microwave oven}}''' <br />
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - basketball.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|basketball (ball)|basketball}}''' <br />
|Aan inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - blender.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|blender}}'''<br />
|It is a common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into slush for consumption or baking.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - gold_bar.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|gold bar}}'''<br />
|It is the form in which gold is cast for storage.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - cake.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|wedding cake}}'''<br />
|It is traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - pingpong.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|ping pong ball}}'''<br />
|A small sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong".<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - acorn.png]]<br />
|'''An {{w|acorn}}''' <br />
|A small nut which serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - hammer.png]]<br />
|'''{{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Thor's hammer}}'''<br />
|This hammer refers to Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in the {{w|Marvel universe}} which belongs to {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor from Marvels comics}} and can only be lifted by those deemed worthy. It is based on {{w|Mjölnir}} the hammer of Norse God {{w|Thor}}, God of Thunder. In this comic though, it appears that Mjolnir is just incredibly heavy, and Thor is able to throw it because he is very strong. The custom thrower is also able to throw it if their size and strength are set high enough. Setting aside this customization, Thor is the only standard thrower to be able to throw Thor's hammer. In the movies based on the Marvel universe, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who is also one of the throwers, but in real life, he would of course not be able to throw such a weighty hammer.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - javelin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|javelin}}'''<br />
|An aerodynamic polearm thrown in Olympic sport.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_spin.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} spinning'''<br />
|A silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; Here '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus. <br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_tumble.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} tumbling'''<br />
|The coin's other possible trajectory, '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision. The spinning coin always goes farther than the tumbling one, since facing the air edge-on leads to a smaller area facing the wind and therefore less air resistance.<br />
|-<br />
|[[File:2198 Throw - car.png]]<br />
|'''A {{w|car}}'''<br />
|It is the most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Safety Considerations==<br />
Many of the items, even if technically possible to throw, may not be able to be thrown safely. <br />
<br />
For example:<br />
* Depending on how the microwave oven is damaged when it hits the ground, it may still be able to appear to function, but no longer seal properly, and therefore leak dangerously high amounts of microwave radiation.<br />
* Blenders have blades and glass. Even if no one is struck by the flying blender, the broken pieces would be hazardous later in they are not thoroughly removed from the ground.<br />
* Cars have gasoline and battery acid which may spill if a car is thrown.<br />
* A squirrel might bite the person attempting to throw it, which is very dangerous as some squirrels have rabies.<br />
* Pikachu could shock (possibly fatally) someone trying to throw it.<br />
* If a person is thrown that person may be badly injured.<br />
<br />
==Table of throw distances==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Item&nbsp;/&nbsp;Thrower<br />
!NFL&nbsp;Quarterback<br />
!George&nbsp;Washington<br />
!Pikachu<br />
!Carly&nbsp;Rae&nbsp;Jepsen<br />
!Thor<br />
!Chris&nbsp;Hemsworth<br />
!Squirrel<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''<br />
|10.32 m<br />
|7.76 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.67 m<br />
|181.57 m<br />
|6.15 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|33.85 feet<br />
|25.46 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|82.65 rack units<br />
|1.99 football fields<br />
|138.40 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''<br />
|40.18 m<br />
|33.22 m<br />
|2.34 m<br />
|19.11 m<br />
|113.67 m<br />
|27.99 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|16.74 horses<br />
|19.54 smoots<br />
|75.90 attoparsecs<br />
|11.24 smoots<br />
|1.42 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''<br />
|16.58 m<br />
|12.45 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.89 m<br />
|333.25 m<br />
|9.86 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|9.75 smoots<br />
|40.85 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|132.51 rack units<br />
|1.66 furlongs<br />
|32.34 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''<br />
|9.73 m<br />
|7.23 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.36 m<br />
|549.28 m<br />
|5.69 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|31.93 feet<br />
|23.73 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|75.65 rack units<br />
|2.73 furlongs<br />
|128.11 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''<br />
|8.96 m<br />
|6.75 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|3.2 m<br />
|146.25 m<br />
|5.35 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|29.40 feet<br />
|22.14 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|72.00 rack units<br />
|1.60 football fields<br />
|120.45 rack units<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''<br />
|11.8 m<br />
|11.63 m<br />
|9.28 m<br />
|11.25 m<br />
|12.53 m<br />
|11.41 m<br />
|4.95 m<br />
|-<br />
|38.72 feet<br />
|38.17 feet<br />
|30.46 feet<br />
|36.92 feet<br />
|41.10 feet<br />
|37.44 feet<br />
|111.37 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''<br />
|83.00 m<br />
|75.84 m<br />
|28.16 m<br />
|62.85 m<br />
|135.98 m<br />
|67.91 m<br />
|6.53 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.04 Manhattan blocks<br />
|0.95 Manhattan blocks<br />
|16.57 smoots<br />
|26.19 horses<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|28.30 horses<br />
|146.85 rack units<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|19.32 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.36 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''<br />
|56.10 m<br />
|42.04 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|20.12 m<br />
|3028.75 m<br />
|33.09 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|23.37 horses<br />
|17.51 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|11.84 smoots<br />
|15.06 furlongs<br />
|19.46 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|136.65 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|1.49 football fields<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''<br />
|15.22 m<br />
|11.41<br />
|N/A<br />
|5.39 m<br />
|332.52 m<br />
|9.03 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|49.94 feet<br />
|37.45 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|121.18 rack units<br />
|1.65 furlongs<br />
|29.63 feet<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|27.22 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|16.01 smoots<br />
|N/A<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''<br />
|177.09 m<br />
|143.96 m<br />
|16.91<br />
|92.63 m<br />
|1331.21 m<br />
|115.89 m<br />
|2.20 m<br />
|-<br />
|1.94 football fields<br />
|1.57 football fields<br />
|9.95 smoots<br />
|1.16 Manhattan blocks<br />
|6.53 furlongs<br />
|1.45 Manhattan blocks<br />
|71.41 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''<br />
|58.17 m<br />
|53.77 m<br />
|13.92 m<br />
|44.08 m<br />
|84.82 m<br />
|49.03 m<br />
|2.14 m<br />
|-<br />
|24.24 horses<br />
|22.41 horses<br />
|45.67 feet<br />
|18.37 horses<br />
|1.06 Manhattan blocks<br />
|20.43 horses<br />
|69.42 attoparsecs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''<br />
|58.64 m<br />
|46.92 m<br />
|2.92 m<br />
|25.44 m<br />
|256.54 m<br />
|38.50 m<br />
|N/A<br />
|-<br />
|24.43 horses<br />
|19.55 horses<br />
|65.71 rack units<br />
|14.97 smoots<br />
|1.28 furlongs<br />
|16.04 horses<br />
|N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Table of distance units==<br />
*This is a table of other distance units and their length in meters.<br />
**Two of the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of humorous units of measurement}} <br />
**And five the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of unusual units of measurement}}.<br />
***Only Furlong and Feet are not in any of the lists (although a different type of feet is in the last list).<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Unit name<br />
!Length&nbsp;in&nbsp;comic<br>in&nbsp;meters<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Wiffle|Wiffle }}<br />
|0.0089<br />
|A Wiffle, also referred to as a WAM for Wiffle (ball) Assisted Measurement, is equal to a sphere 0.089 m (3.5 inches) in diameter – the size of a {{w|Wiffle ball}}, a perforated, light-weight plastic ball frequently used by marine biologists as a size reference in photos to measure corals and other objects. Randall is thus a factor 10 off. While wiffles should be the next unit after rack-units and before feet, the unit conversion typo seems to prevent it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as it is now even smaller than the wrong measure for light-nanoseconds. Wiffles has thus only been discovered in the data of the comic, as it seems to not be possible to get it displayed in the comic itself.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List of unusual units of measurement#Light-nanosecond|Light-nanoseconds}}<br />
|0.0299<br />
|The light-nanosecond was popularized by Grace Hopper, referring to the length light could travel in a nanosecond. The actual length of a light-nanosecond is 0.299 m, about a foot long, but it seems that [[Randall]] was off by an order of magnitude. This measurement is used for lengths from 1 to 1.06 m. But none of the standard throwers or objects can be thrown this short, so it is not included in the table above. But with the costume user it is possible to get down to 1 m where it will then be used, but of course, since it says 33 light-nanoseconds instead of 3 it is wrong.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Attoparsec|Attoparsecs}}<br />
|0.03086<br />
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×10<sup>12</sup> km) or 19 trillion miles (19×10<sup>12</sup> mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10<sup>−18</sup> or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two-unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×10<sup>18</sup>cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times in non-customized settings: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel. It is used for lengths from 1.06 to 2.69 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Rack_unit|Rack units}}<br />
|0.0445<br />
|A {{w|Rack unit}} (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there. It is used for lengths from 2.69 to 6.67 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}<br />
|0.3048<br />
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. It is used for lengths from 6.67 to 16 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Smoot|Smoots}}<br />
|1.7000<br />
|The {{w|Smoot}} is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity. The smoot is used for lengths from 16 to 36 meters. While the smoot is a nonstandard unit of length, Oliver Smoot has been chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ANSI and ISO are among the world's main standardizing bodies, so Randall may indirectly be making the pun that while Smoot's body isn't a standard measure Smoot has been in charge of bodies that standardize measurements.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Horse|Horses}} <br />
|2.4<br />
|The length of a {{w|Horse}} varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age, and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses, the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m). It is used for lengths from 36 to 75 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block|Manhattan blocks}}<br />
|80.0<br />
|The numbered streets in {{w|Manhattan}} run east-west, and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and {{w|City block|block}} adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). When driving in a grid-like city, the {{w|Manhattan distance}} between two points is a concept, although it is also called {{w|Taxicab geometry}}. It seems like it is indeed the combined street and block distance. This measurement is used for lengths from 75 to 131 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Football_field_(length)|Football fields}}<br />
|91.44<br />
|An {{w|American football field}} is 100 yards or 91.44 m long. It is used for lengths from 131 to 201 meters.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Furlongs}}<br />
|201.168<br />
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile. It is part of the {{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#FFF_units|FFF_units}} of the {{w|FFF system}} for furlong/firkin/fortnight, length, mass and time. It should thus give that one furlong is 201.168 meters. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs. The unit is used for distances of 201 meters up. For the standard throwers and items only Thor can throw over 200 m, thus only he uses Furlongs to measure his throws. Given that this is an old unit, and Thor is based on ancient Nordic Mythology, this may seem appropriate. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also, it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll as well as customization options. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]<br />
<br />
:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]<br />
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big><br />
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.<br />
<br />
:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?<br />
<br />
:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 8 different possible selections in the left window and 16 in the right window. There are, depending on the browser zoom level, one or two selections on each line. Each window's content is given here under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]<br />
:Select a thrower<br />
<br />
:*You<br />
:*An NFL Quarterback<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*Carly Rae Jepsen<br />
:*Thor, God of Thunder<br />
:*Chris Hemsworth<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:Select an object to be thrown<br />
:*You<br />
:*A microwave oven<br />
:*A basketball<br />
:*A blender<br />
:*A gold bar<br />
:*A wedding cake<br />
:*A ping-pong ball<br />
:*An acorn<br />
:*Thor's Hammer<br />
:*A javelin<br />
:*George Washington<br />
:*Pikachu<br />
:*A car<br />
:*A silver dollar (spinning)<br />
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)<br />
:*A squirrel<br />
<br />
:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]<br />
<br />
:[In the pre-selected version, George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case, there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]<br />
:7.76 meters<br />
:(25.46 feet)<br />
<br />
:[Clicking on "You" in the thrower box opens a new window over the above described comic parts. some of the comic can still be seen including the thrower and his item, and a new throw occurs every time something is changed in this new window. It is a customization box with several options shown below.]<br />
<br />
:Your Name<br />
:____You_____ [can be changed]<br />
<br />
:Height<br />
:5.8 ft [number can be changed; ft can be changed to m]<br />
<br />
:Mass<br />
:160 lb [number can be changed; lb can be changed to kg]<br />
<br />
:Athleticism<br />
:[Below is a scale showing Black Hat, the character depicting You with a knit cap, George Washington, and a person with goggles and a helmet. A marker is set at You, but can be changed. Below the characters are descriptions.]<br />
:Black Hat: Moving objects around is for suckers.<br />
:Minimal<br />
:You: I'm in decent shape and have pretty good form.<br />
:Decent<br />
:George Washington: I'm so good at throwing they made me president.<br />
:Extremely High<br />
:Goggles: I use a time machine to train for 36 hours a day.<br />
:Champion Athlete<br />
<br />
:[Once done the box can be clicking on a cross at the top right or just clicking outside the window on the comic behind it. Now the thrower you (and the object you) will have the weight, length and strength chosen and will be able to throw (or be thrown) with these stats. ]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.<br />
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.<br />
**In-universe, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].<br />
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.<br />
*Due to a bug, the calculations for the customized person ('you') are incorrect when the mass is specified in pounds<br />
*When the comic came out there was a mistake so the item to be thrown was named the same as the thrower, except for the coins and for when Pikachu and George Washington tried to throw themselves in which case it for instance said:<br />
**How far could George Washington throw himself?<br />
**But if he picked another object it would write:<br />
***How far could George Washington throw George Washington?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]] <!-- Different throws --><br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] <br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]] <!-- model of throw distance --><br />
[[Category:American football]] <!-- NFL quaterback --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] <!-- George Washington --><br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Carly Rae Jepsen, George Washington and Chris Hemsworth--><br />
[[Category:Religion]] <!-- Thor, questionable though as it is obviously the Marvel character --><br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]<br />
[[Category:Food]] <!-- Microwave oven Blender, cake --><br />
[[Category:Basketball]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- ping pong, javelin --><br />
[[Category:Book promotion]]<br />
[[Category:How To]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2077:_Heist&diff=1663642077: Heist2018-11-26T17:19:05Z<p>SeanAhern: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2077<br />
| date = November 26, 2018<br />
| title = Heist<br />
| image = heist.png<br />
| titletext = But he has a hat AND a toolbox! Where could someone planning a heist get THOSE?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SUPPOSED REPAIRMAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In many movies, a heist or other crime is carried out by the criminal(s) posing as some type of repairman or similar. The criminal then gains access to their target through the disguise. Due to the prevalence of this trope, [[Cueball]] is concerned whenever somebody comes by to ask for access as he believes the person may be planning a crime, and making him a "minor character."<br />
<br />
The title text seems to be Cueball's internal monologue trying to calm himself down. He points out to himself that the repairman has both a hat (possibly with a company logo) and a toolbox full of tools, then sarcastically asks himself how a thief could possible get their hands on such a disguise.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A man in a hat with a toolbox is approaching Cueball]<br />
:Hat guy: Do you have the key to the server room? I'm from the building and I'm here to check the fire alarm.<br />
:Cueball thought: Oh no oh no<br />
:Caption: Thanks to movies, whenever anyone asks me to open any door, I immediately assume I'm a minor character in a heist.<br />
<!--Do NOT add a title-text here.--><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2053:_Incoming_Calls&diff=1635452053: Incoming Calls2018-10-02T00:11:44Z<p>SeanAhern: Clarity, grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2053<br />
| date = October 1, 2018<br />
| title = Incoming Calls<br />
| image = incoming_calls.png<br />
| titletext = I wonder if that friendly lady ever fixed the problem she was having with her headset.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows a graph of incoming phone calls over time to [[Randall]] since he was younger than six years. The graph doesn't show the absolute numbers but the proportion of callers. Because it's safe to assume that calls from his family didn't decrease over the years, other calls just increased over time and this graph can be misunderstood because the number of calls in the recent years are probably much higher than in 1990. This leads to Randall's second header line when he states that he "finally stopped picking up for unknown numbers", which is still roughly the same fraction but the amount is much more today. <br />
<br />
Over time, Randall's friends and family have been less likely to make phone calls to him, likely due to the use of text messages and other messaging apps. Additionally, although there was a large percentage of phone calls from legal {{w|Telemarketing|telemarketers}} in the 1990s, this percentage has significantly dropped, most likely due to the creation of the {{w|National Do Not Call Registry}}, which allows individuals and families in the United States to register phone numbers that are exempt from telemarketers. Instead, there has been a rise in phone calls from {{w|Phone fraud|scammers}} and political advertisements. Even if a phone number is registered on the National Do Not Call Registry, they may still receive phone calls from political organizations. It is implied that the latter two groups have caused Randall to stop answering phone calls from unknown numbers.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to a common scamming tactic in which a {{w|Robocall|robocaller}}, typically one named "Emily," will claim to be having trouble with their headset and say "Can you hear me now?" The trick is that you will think you're talking to a person, not a computer that took a second or two to connect. However, this is not the case and will usually simply transfer the victim to a real person to get scammed.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A line graph shows the portions of phone calls by type over time beginning slightly before 1990 until today.]<br />
:'''Incoming personal calls over time'''<br />
:or: why I finally stopped picking up for unknown numbers<br />
<br />
:[The x-axis is labeled with years beginning at 1990 in five year segments up to NOW (2018). The y-axis shows a relative distribution of callers.]<br />
:[The calls are (from top to down):]<br />
:Appointment reminders, misc. (small growing all over time)<br />
:Family (larger in the beginning, constant with some fluctuations since 2000)<br />
:Friends (growing from 1995 to 2005, then decreasing but intersected with "that one friend who hates texting", after that decreasing)<br />
:Legal telemarketers (peak in the beginning, decreasing over time)<br />
:Auto insurance scammers (a big peak between 2005 and 2012)<br />
:Other scammers (beginning in 2010, replacing the auto insurance, increasing until today)<br />
:Political (starting in 2002 and increasing since then)<br />
:Wrong numbers (constant up to 2000 and then decreasing to nearly zero today)<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]<br />
[[Category:Line graphs]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2034:_Equations&diff=1615562034: Equations2018-08-20T14:32:15Z<p>SeanAhern: An attempt to fix my prior screw-up of the treatment of infinity. Polishing the number theory explanation.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2034<br />
| date = August 17, 2018<br />
| title = Equations<br />
| image = equations.png<br />
| titletext = All electromagnetic equations: The same as all fluid dynamics equations, but with the 8 and 23 replaced with the permittivity and permeability of free space, respectively.<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a mere human. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic gives a set of equations supposedly from different areas of science in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. To anyone not familiar with the field in question they look pretty similar to what you might find in research papers or on the relevant Wikipedia pages. To someone who knows even a little about the topic, they are clearly very wrong and only seem even worse the more you look at them. In many disciplines, the mathematical description of a large area is summed up in a small number of equations, such as Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism. In similar fashion, the equations here purport to encompass the whole of their given field.<br />
<br />
===Simplified Explanations===<br />
<br />
;All kinematics equations<br />
Kinematics is the study of the motion of objects. More specifically, it describes how the location, velocity, and acceleration of an object vary over time. The equation shown contains two of these standard kinematic variables, velocity ''v'' and time ''t'', in addition to several quantities (''E'', ''K<sub>0</sub>'', and ''&rho;'') that are completely unrelated to kinematics.<br />
<br />
;All number theory equations<br />
Number theory is a branch of mathematics concerned primarily with the study of integers. However, the equation shown contains the non-integer Euler's constant ''e'' (approximately 2.718). It also uses the Greek letter &pi; as an integer-valued variable, even though the symbol &pi; is used in mathematics almost exclusively to denote the well-known ''non''-integer circle constant (approximately 3.14159). Even with &pi; treated as a variable here, one of its uses in the equation is still nonsensical. <math>\pi-\infty</math> uses &infin; as if it were a specific number, which it is not, thus giving an undefined result.<br />
<br />
;All chemistry equations<br />
This shows a parody of the common example chemistry equation of burning Methane and Oxygen (with added heat), to form water and carbon dioxide. However in this form "HEAT" is an actual molecule, rather than simply indicating the presence of heat to start the reaction. Thus the equation is modified to incorporate the fictional "HEAT" into the reaction. While the H in "HEAT" is the chemical symbol of the element hydrogen, none of the letters E, A, or T are symbols of any actual elements.<br />
<br />
TODO: other simplified explanations.<br />
<br />
===Technical Explanations===<br />
;All kinematics equations<br />
:<math>E = K_0t + \frac{1}{2}\rho vt^2</math><br />
{{w|Kinematics}} describes the motion of objects without considering mass or forces.<br />
<br />
This equation here literally states: "Energy equals a constant <math>K_0</math> multiplied by time, plus half of density multiplied by speed multiplied by time squared". <br />
<br />
The first term here is hard to interpret: it could be correct if <math>K_0</math> is a constant power applied to the system, but this symbol would more normally be used to denote an initial energy, in which case multiplying by <math>t</math> would be wrong. Alternatively, the term is similar to <math>k_B T</math> (sometimes written as ''kT''), a term that often appears in {{w|Statistical_mechanics|statistical mechanics}} equations, where ''k<sub>B</sub>'' (or ''k'') is {{w|Boltzmann_constant|the Boltzmann constant}}, and ''T'' is the {{w|Thermodynamic_temperature|absolute temperature}}. In this latter case, the term would have units of energy, consistent with the left side of the equation.<br />
<br />
The second term looks similar to the kinetic energy term <math> \frac{1}{2}\rho v^2 </math> in [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pber.html the Bernoulli equation] for fluids. (More properly, this is the kinetic energy ''density'' in the fluid). <br />
<br />
The whole equation appears to be a play on the kinematics formula: <math>s = v_0t + \frac{1}{2}\ at^2</math>, where distance travelled (''s'') by a constantly accelerating object is determined by initial velocity (''v<sub>0</sub>''), time (''t''), and acceleration (''a'')<br />
<br />
Kinematics is often one of the first topics covered in an introductory physics course, both at the high school and freshman college levels. As such, mixing in material from more advanced topics like statistical mechanics and the Bernoulli equation, even if done correctly, would be very confusing for a typical student learning kinematics.<br />
<br />
;All number theory equations<br />
:<math>K_n = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-e^{\pi-\infty})</math><br />
{{w|Number theory}} is a branch of mathematics primarily studying the properties of integers.<br />
<br />
Said in English, the equation can be read: "The ''n''th K-number is equal to the sum for all ''i'' from 0 to infinity of the sum for all &pi; from 0 to infinity of ''n'' minus &pi;, multiplied by ''i'' minus ''e'' raised to the power of &pi; minus infinity." (''i'' here is an iteration variable, not the imaginary number constant; ''e'' is Euler's number, approximately 2.718). A twofold misconception can be seen here. The first is the use of &pi; as a variable instead of the circle constant (3.14...). This might be a jab at how in number theory letters and numbers are used interchangeably, but where some letters are suddenly fixed constants. The second misconception is the use of infinity in the latter part of the formula. Naively, this would signify that (with the use of &pi; as a variable) the exponent would range from negative infinity to zero. However, infinity is a concept, not a number, and cannot be used as a number without using a limit construct.<br />
<br />
;All fluid dynamics equations<br />
:<math>\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\nabla\cdot \rho = \frac{8}{23}<br />
\int\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\bigcirc\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\int<br />
\rho\,ds\,dt\cdot \rho\frac{\partial}{\partial\nabla}<br />
</math><br />
{{w|Fluid dynamics}} describes the movement of non-solid material. In particular for gases, the density <math>\rho</math> is often the most interesting quantity (for liquids, this is often just constant). A unique feature of fluid-dynamic equations is the presence of {{w|Advection|advection terms}}, which take the form of often strange-looking spatial derivatives. This equation turns this up to a new level by differentiating with respect to a differential operator <math>\nabla</math>, which does not make any sense at all. Also it has a contour integral which seems reminiscent to a closed-circle process like in a piston engine, but this does not really fit in the context (differential description of a gas), and it has a pair of {{w|Magic number (programming)|unexplained numbers}} <math>8</math> and <math>23</math>, probably alluding to the {{w|Heat capacity ratio|specific heat ratio}} which is often written out as the fraction <math>\tfrac{7}{5}</math>, whereas most other physics equations [[899: Number Line|avoid including any plain numbers higher than 4]].<br />
<br />
The title text stating that the electromagnetism equation is the same as the fluid dynamics equation, but with the arbitrary 8 and 23 replaced with the permittivity and permeability of free space is likely because electromagnetism equations often have relations to fluid dynamics, and because those two constants appear in the vast majority of electromagnetism equations.<br />
<br />
;All quantum mechanics equations<br />
:<math>|\psi_{x,y}\rangle = A(\psi) A(|x\rangle \otimes |y\rangle)</math><br />
{{w|Quantum mechanics}} is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at scales of atoms and below. It typically uses the {{w|Bra–ket notation|bra–ket notation}} in its formulae.<br />
<br />
This equation takes a state psi in the dimensions of x and y and equates it to an operator A performed on psi multiplied by the same operator performed on the tensor product of x and y. Since the state psi is already the tensor product of the states x and y, this is equivalent to performing the same unknown operator twice on psi, and unless this operator is the identity or is its own inverse such as a bit-flip or Hermitian operator, this equation is therefore incorrect.<br />
<br />
;All chemistry equations<br />
:<math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + \mathrm{OH} + \mathrm{HEAT} \rightarrow \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CH}_2 + \mathrm{H}_2 \mathrm{EAT}</math><br />
A {{w|Chemical equation|chemical equation}} represents a chemical reaction as a formula, with the reactant entities on the left-hand side, and the product entities on the right-hand side. The number of each element on the left side must match those on the right side. The energy produced or absorbed in this process is not included in that formula.<br />
<br />
This is a modification of the combustion of methane. The correct form is often taught and a good example problem but obviously there are more chemistry problems.<math>\mathrm{HEAT}</math> is normally shorthand for {{w|activation energy}}, but in Randall's version it's jokingly used as a chemical ingredient and becomes <math>\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{EAT}</math>, taking the hydrogen atom freed by the combustion equation shown. The proper methane combustion equation would be: <math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + 2 \mathrm{O}_2 \rightarrow 2 \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CO}_2</math><br />
<br />
;All quantum gravity equations<br />
:<math>\mathrm{SU}(2)\mathrm{U}(1) \times \mathrm{SU}(\mathrm{U}(2))</math><br />
This is more similar to expressions which appear in {{w|Grand_Unified_Theory|Grand Unified Theory}} (GUT) than general quantum gravity. Unlike some of the other equations, this one has no interpretation which could make it mathematically correct. This is similar to the notations used to describe the symmetry group of a particular phenomena in terms of mathematical {{w|Lie_Group|Lie Groups}}. A real example would be the Standard Model of particle physics which has symmetry according to <math>\rm{SU(3)\times SU(2) \times U(1)}</math>. Here, <math>\rm{SU}</math> and <math>\rm{U}</math> denote the special unitary and unitary groups respectively with the numbers indicating the dimension of the group. Loosely, the three terms correspond to the symmetries of the strong force, weak force and electromagnetism although the exact correspondence is muddied by symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism.<br />
<br />
Of course, an expression missing an "=" sign, is difficult to interpret as an "equation", because equations normally express an "equality" of some kind. Nobody knows whether Randal refers to a horse, zebra, donkey or other equine here. <br />
<br />
Randall's version clearly involves some similar groups although without the <math>\times</math> symbol it is hard to work out what might be happening. A term like <math>\rm{SU(U(2))}</math> has no current interpretation in mathematics, if anyone thinks otherwise and possibly has a solution to the quantum gravity problem they should probably get in touch with someone about that.<br />
<br />
;All gauge theory equations<br />
:[[File:All gauge theory equations.png]]<br />
In physics, a {{w|Gauge theory|gauge theory}} is a type of field theory which is invariant to local transformations. The term gauge refers to any specific mathematical formalism to regulate redundant degrees of freedom.<br />
<br />
This equation looks broadly similar to the sorts of things which appear in gauge theory such as the equations which define {{w|Yang–Mills_theory#Quantization|Yang-Mills Theory}}. By the time physics has got this far in, people have normally run out of regular symbols making a lot of the equations look very daunting. The actual equations in this field rarely go far beyond the Greek alphabet though and no-one has yet to try putting hats on brackets. The appearance of many sub- and superscripts is normal (this links to the group theory origins of these equations) and for the layperson it can be impossible to determine which additions are labels on the symbols and which are indices for an {{w|Einstein_notation|Einstein Sum}}.<br />
<br />
The left-hand side <math>S_g</math> is the symbol for some {{w|Action_(physics)|action}}, in Yang-Mills theory this is actually used for a so-called "ghost action". On the right-hand side we have a large number of terms, most of which are hard to interpret without knowing Randall's thought processes (this is why real research papers should all label their equations thoroughly). The <math>\frac{1}{2\bar{\varepsilon}}</math> looks like a constant of proportionality which often appears in gauge theories. The factor of <math>i = \sqrt{-1}</math> is not unusual as many of these equations use complex numbers. The <math>\eth</math> symbol looks similar to a <math>\partial</math> partial derivative symbol especially as the {{w|Dirac_equation#Covariant_form_and_relativistic_invariance|Dirac Equation}} uses a slashed version as a convenient shorthand. <br />
<br />
The rest of the equation cannot be mathematically correct as the choice of indices used does not match that on the left-hand side (which has none). In particle physics subscripts (or superscripts) of greek letters (usually <math>\mu</math> or <math>\nu</math>) indicate terms which transform nicely under Lorentz transformations (special relativity). Roman indices from the beginning of the alphabet relate to various gauge transformation propetries, the triple index seen on <math>p^{abc}_v</math> would likely come from some <math>\rm{SU(3)}</math> transformation (related to the strong nuclear force). Since <math>S_g</math> has none of these (and is thus a scalar which remains constant under these operations), we would need the right-hand side to behave in the same way. Most of the indices which appear are unpaired and so will not result in a scalar making the equation very wrong. For those not familiar with this type of equation, this is similar to the mistake of messing up units, for instance setting a distance equal to a mass.<br />
<br />
;All cosmology equations<br />
:<math>H(t) + \Omega + G \cdot \Lambda \, \dots \begin{cases} \dots > 0 & \text{(Hubble model)} \\ \dots = 0 & \text{(Flat sphere model)} \\ \dots < 0 & \text{(Bright dark matter model)} \end{cases}<br />
</math><br />
This is a parody of equations defining the {{w|Hubble's_law#Derivation_of_the_Hubble_parameter|Hubble Parameter}} <math>H(t)</math> although it looks like Randall has become bored and not bothered to finish his equation. Such equations usually have several <math>\Omega</math> terms representing the contributions of different substances to the energy-density of the Universe (matter, radiation, dark energy etc.). In this context <math>G</math> could be Newton's constant and <math>\Lambda</math> is the cosmological constant (energy density of empty space) although seeing them appear multiplied and on the same footing as <math>H</math> is unusual (the dot is entirely unnecessary). Choosing to make <math>H</math> a function of time <math>t</math> and not of redshift <math>z</math> is also unusual.<br />
<br />
The second section looks like the inequalities used to show how the equation varies with the shape of the Universe, based on the value of the curvature parameter <math>\Omega_k</math>. A value of 0 indicates a flat Universe (this is more or less what we observe) while a positive /negative value indicates an open /closed curved Universe. Randall's choice of labels further makes fun of the field as both a flat sphere and bright dark matter are oxymoronic terms which would involve some rather strange model universes.<br />
<br />
;All truly deep physics equations<br />
:[[File:All truly deep physics equations.png]]<br />
<math>\hat H</math> is the Hamiltonian operator, which when applied to a system returns the total energy. In this context, U would usually be the potential energy. However, there is also a subscript 0 and a diacritic marking indicating some other variable. Much of physics is based on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. The Lagrangian is defined as <math>\hat L = \hat K - \hat U </math> with K being the kinetic energy and U the potential. Hamiltonian mechanics uses the equation <math>\hat H = \hat K + \hat U </math>. The Hamiltonian must be conserved so taking the time derivative and setting it equal to zero is a powerful tool. The "principle of least action" allows most modern physics to be derived by setting the time derivative of the Lagrangian to zero.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Nine equations are listed, three in the top row and two in each of the next three rows. Below each equation there are labels:]<br />
<br />
:E = K<sub>0</sub>t + 1/2 &rho;vt<sup>2</sup><br />
:All kinematics equations<br />
<br />
:K<sub>n</sub> = &sum;<sub>i=0</sub><sup>&infin;</sup>&sum;<sub>&pi;=0</sub><sup>&infin;</sup>(n-&pi;)(i-e<sup>&pi;-&infin;</sup>)<br />
:All number theory equations<br />
<br />
:&#x2202;/&#x2202;t &nabla; &sdot; &rho; = 8/23 (&#x222F; &rho; ds dt &sdot; &rho; &#x2202;/&#x2202;&nabla;)<br />
:All fluid dynamics equations<br />
<br />
:|&psi;<sub>x,y</sub>&#x232a; = A(&psi;) A(|x&#x232a;&#x2297; |y&#x232a;)<br />
:All quantum mechanics equations<br />
<br />
:CH<sub>4</sub> + OH + HEAT &rarr; H<sub>2</sub>O + CH<sub>2</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>EAT<br />
:All chemistry equations<br />
<br />
:SU(2)U(1) &times; SU(U(2))<br />
:All quantum gravity equations<br />
<br />
:S<sub>g</sub> = (-1)/(2&epsilon;&#x0304;) i &eth; (&#x302; &xi;<sub>0</sub> +&#x030a; p<sub>&epsilon;</sub> &rho;<sub>v</sub><sup>abc</sup> &eta;<sub>0</sub> )&#x302; f&#x0335;<sub>a</sub><sup>0</sup> &lambda;(&#x0292;&#x0306;) &psi;(0<sub>a</sub>)<br />
:All gauge theory equations<br />
<br />
:[There is a brace linking the three cases together.]<br />
:H(t) + &Omega; + G&sdot;&Lambda; ... <br />
:... > 0 (Hubble model)<br />
:... = 0 (Flat sphere model)<br />
:... < 0 (Bright dark matter model)<br />
:All cosmology equations<br />
<br />
:&#x0124; - u&#x0327;<sub>0</sub> = 0<br />
:All truly deep physics equations<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2034:_Equations&diff=1615442034: Equations2018-08-20T13:26:09Z<p>SeanAhern: Grammar. Math clarification.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2034<br />
| date = August 17, 2018<br />
| title = Equations<br />
| image = equations.png<br />
| titletext = All electromagnetic equations: The same as all fluid dynamics equations, but with the 8 and 23 replaced with the permittivity and permeability of free space, respectively.<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a mere human. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic gives a set of equations supposedly from different areas of science in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. To anyone not familiar with the field in question they look pretty similar to what you might find in research papers or on the relevant Wikipedia pages. To someone who knows even a little about the topic, they are clearly very wrong and only seem even worse the more you look at them. In many disciplines, the mathematical description of a large area is summed up in a small number of equations, such as Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism. In similar fashion, the equations here purport to encompass the whole of their given field.<br />
<br />
===Simplified Explanations===<br />
<br />
;All kinematics equations<br />
Kinematics is the study of the motion of objects. More specifically, it describes how the location, velocity, and acceleration of an object vary over time. The equation shown contains two of these standard kinematic variables, velocity ''v'' and time ''t'', in addition to several quantities (''E'', ''K<sub>0</sub>'', and ''&rho;'') that are completely unrelated to kinematics.<br />
<br />
;All number theory equations<br />
Number theory is a branch of mathematics concerned primarily with the study of integers. However, the equation shown contains the non-integer constant ''e'' (approximately equal to 2.71828). It also uses the Greek letter &pi; as an integer-valued variable, even though the symbol &pi; is used in mathematics almost exclusively to denote the well-known ''non''-integer constant 3.14159... Even with &pi; treated as a variable here, its use in the equation is still nonsensical. ''e'' raised to the power of "&pi;"-&infin; results in 0 for almost all of the range of the summation. Only at the limit of "&pi;"=&infin; does it result in a defined value: ''e''^(&infin;-&infin;) = ''e''^0 = 1. This makes the limit and summation meaningless.<br />
<br />
;All chemistry equations<br />
This shows a parody of the common example chemistry equation of burning Methane and Oxygen (with added heat), to form water and carbon dioxide. However in this form "HEAT" is an actual molecule, rather than simply indicating the presence of heat to start the reaction. Thus the equation is modified to incorporate the fictional "HEAT" into the reaction. While the H in "HEAT" is the chemical symbol of the element hydrogen, none of the letters E, A, or T are symbols of any actual elements.<br />
<br />
TODO: other simplified explanations.<br />
<br />
===Technical Explanations===<br />
;All kinematics equations<br />
:<math>E = K_0t + \frac{1}{2}\rho vt^2</math><br />
{{w|Kinematics}} describes the motion of objects without considering mass or forces.<br />
<br />
This equation here literally states: "Energy equals a constant <math>K_0</math> multiplied by time, plus half of density multiplied by speed multiplied by time squared". <br />
<br />
The first term here is hard to interpret: it could be correct if <math>K_0</math> is a constant power applied to the system, but this symbol would more normally be used to denote an initial energy, in which case multiplying by <math>t</math> would be wrong. Alternatively, the term is similar to <math>k_B T</math> (sometimes written as ''kT''), a term that often appears in {{w|Statistical_mechanics|statistical mechanics}} equations, where ''k<sub>B</sub>'' (or ''k'') is {{w|Boltzmann_constant|the Boltzmann constant}}, and ''T'' is the {{w|Thermodynamic_temperature|absolute temperature}}. In this latter case, the term would have units of energy, consistent with the left side of the equation.<br />
<br />
The second term looks similar to the kinetic energy term <math> \frac{1}{2}\rho v^2 </math> in [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pber.html the Bernoulli equation] for fluids. (More properly, this is the kinetic energy ''density'' in the fluid). <br />
<br />
The whole equation appears to be a play on the kinematics formula: <math>s = v_0t + \frac{1}{2}\ at^2</math>, where distance travelled (''s'') by a constantly accelerating object is determined by initial velocity (''v<sub>0</sub>''), time (''t''), and acceleration (''a'')<br />
<br />
Kinematics is often one of the first topics covered in an introductory physics course, both at the high school and freshman college levels. As such, mixing in material from more advanced topics like statistical mechanics and the Bernoulli equation, even if done correctly, would be very confusing for a typical student learning kinematics.<br />
<br />
;All number theory equations<br />
:<math>K_n = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-e^{\pi-\infty})</math><br />
{{w|Number theory}} is a branch of mathematics primarily studying the properties of integers.<br />
<br />
Taken literally the equation says: "The nth K-number is equal to: the sum for all i from 0 to infinity, the sum for all pi from 0 to infinity; subtract pi from n, and multiply it with i minus e to the power of pi minus infinity". A twofold misconception can be seen here. The first is the reassignment of pi as a variable instead of the constant (3.14...). This might be a jab at how in number theory letters and numbers are used interchangeably, but where some letters are all of a sudden fixed constants. The second misconception is the use of infinity in the latter part of the formula. Naively this would signify that (with the reassigned pi values) the part in the power would range from minus infinity to zero. However, infinity is not a number and cannot be used as one without using a limit construct.<br />
<br />
;All fluid dynamics equations<br />
:<math>\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\nabla\cdot \rho = \frac{8}{23}<br />
\int\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\bigcirc\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\int<br />
\rho\,ds\,dt\cdot \rho\frac{\partial}{\partial\nabla}<br />
</math><br />
{{w|Fluid dynamics}} describes the movement of non-solid material. In particular for gases, the density <math>\rho</math> is often the most interesting quantity (for liquids, this is often just constant). A unique feature of fluid-dynamic equations is the presence of {{w|Advection|advection terms}}, which take the form of often strange-looking spatial derivatives. This equation turns this up to a new level by differentiating with respect to a differential operator <math>\nabla</math>, which does not make any sense at all. Also it has a contour integral which seems reminiscent to a closed-circle process like in a piston engine, but this does not really fit in the context (differential description of a gas), and it has a pair of {{w|Magic number (programming)|unexplained numbers}} <math>8</math> and <math>23</math>, probably alluding to the {{w|Heat capacity ratio|specific heat ratio}} which is often written out as the fraction <math>\tfrac{7}{5}</math>, whereas most other physics equations [[899: Number Line|avoid including any plain numbers higher than 4]].<br />
<br />
The title text stating that the electromagnetism equation is the same as the fluid dynamics equation, but with the arbitrary 8 and 23 replaced with the permittivity and permeability of free space is likely because electromagnetism equations often have relations to fluid dynamics, and because those two constants appear in the vast majority of electromagnetism equations.<br />
<br />
;All quantum mechanics equations<br />
:<math>|\psi_{x,y}\rangle = A(\psi) A(|x\rangle \otimes |y\rangle)</math><br />
{{w|Quantum mechanics}} is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at scales of atoms and below. It typically uses the {{w|Bra–ket notation|bra–ket notation}} in its formulae.<br />
<br />
This equation takes a state psi in the dimensions of x and y and equates it to an operator A performed on psi multiplied by the same operator performed on the tensor product of x and y. Since the state psi is already the tensor product of the states x and y, this is equivalent to performing the same unknown operator twice on psi, and unless this operator is the identity or is its own inverse such as a bit-flip or Hermitian operator, this equation is therefore incorrect.<br />
<br />
;All chemistry equations<br />
:<math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + \mathrm{OH} + \mathrm{HEAT} \rightarrow \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CH}_2 + \mathrm{H}_2 \mathrm{EAT}</math><br />
A {{w|Chemical equation|chemical equation}} represents a chemical reaction as a formula, with the reactant entities on the left-hand side, and the product entities on the right-hand side. The number of each element on the left side must match those on the right side. The energy produced or absorbed in this process is not included in that formula.<br />
<br />
This is a modification of the combustion of methane. The correct form is often taught and a good example problem but obviously there are more chemistry problems.<math>\mathrm{HEAT}</math> is normally shorthand for {{w|activation energy}}, but in Randall's version it's jokingly used as a chemical ingredient and becomes <math>\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{EAT}</math>, taking the hydrogen atom freed by the combustion equation shown. The proper methane combustion equation would be: <math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + 2 \mathrm{O}_2 \rightarrow 2 \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CO}_2</math><br />
<br />
;All quantum gravity equations<br />
:<math>\mathrm{SU}(2)\mathrm{U}(1) \times \mathrm{SU}(\mathrm{U}(2))</math><br />
This is more similar to expressions which appear in {{w|Grand_Unified_Theory|Grand Unified Theory}} (GUT) than general quantum gravity. Unlike some of the other equations, this one has no interpretation which could make it mathematically correct. This is similar to the notations used to describe the symmetry group of a particular phenomena in terms of mathematical {{w|Lie_Group|Lie Groups}}. A real example would be the Standard Model of particle physics which has symmetry according to <math>\rm{SU(3)\times SU(2) \times U(1)}</math>. Here, <math>\rm{SU}</math> and <math>\rm{U}</math> denote the special unitary and unitary groups respectively with the numbers indicating the dimension of the group. Loosely, the three terms correspond to the symmetries of the strong force, weak force and electromagnetism although the exact correspondence is muddied by symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism.<br />
<br />
Of course, an expression missing an "=" sign, is difficult to interpret as an "equation", because equations normally express an "equality" of some kind. Nobody knows whether Randal refers to a horse, zebra, donkey or other equine here. <br />
<br />
Randall's version clearly involves some similar groups although without the <math>\times</math> symbol it is hard to work out what might be happening. A term like <math>\rm{SU(U(2))}</math> has no current interpretation in mathematics, if anyone thinks otherwise and possibly has a solution to the quantum gravity problem they should probably get in touch with someone about that.<br />
<br />
;All gauge theory equations<br />
:[[File:All gauge theory equations.png]]<br />
In physics, a {{w|Gauge theory|gauge theory}} is a type of field theory which is invariant to local transformations. The term gauge refers to any specific mathematical formalism to regulate redundant degrees of freedom.<br />
<br />
This equation looks broadly similar to the sorts of things which appear in gauge theory such as the equations which define {{w|Yang–Mills_theory#Quantization|Yang-Mills Theory}}. By the time physics has got this far in, people have normally run out of regular symbols making a lot of the equations look very daunting. The actual equations in this field rarely go far beyond the Greek alphabet though and no-one has yet to try putting hats on brackets. The appearance of many sub- and superscripts is normal (this links to the group theory origins of these equations) and for the layperson it can be impossible to determine which additions are labels on the symbols and which are indices for an {{w|Einstein_notation|Einstein Sum}}.<br />
<br />
The left-hand side <math>S_g</math> is the symbol for some {{w|Action_(physics)|action}}, in Yang-Mills theory this is actually used for a so-called "ghost action". On the right-hand side we have a large number of terms, most of which are hard to interpret without knowing Randall's thought processes (this is why real research papers should all label their equations thoroughly). The <math>\frac{1}{2\bar{\varepsilon}}</math> looks like a constant of proportionality which often appears in gauge theories. The factor of <math>i = \sqrt{-1}</math> is not unusual as many of these equations use complex numbers. The <math>\eth</math> symbol looks similar to a <math>\partial</math> partial derivative symbol especially as the {{w|Dirac_equation#Covariant_form_and_relativistic_invariance|Dirac Equation}} uses a slashed version as a convenient shorthand. <br />
<br />
The rest of the equation cannot be mathematically correct as the choice of indices used does not match that on the left-hand side (which has none). In particle physics subscripts (or superscripts) of greek letters (usually <math>\mu</math> or <math>\nu</math>) indicate terms which transform nicely under Lorentz transformations (special relativity). Roman indices from the beginning of the alphabet relate to various gauge transformation propetries, the triple index seen on <math>p^{abc}_v</math> would likely come from some <math>\rm{SU(3)}</math> transformation (related to the strong nuclear force). Since <math>S_g</math> has none of these (and is thus a scalar which remains constant under these operations), we would need the right-hand side to behave in the same way. Most of the indices which appear are unpaired and so will not result in a scalar making the equation very wrong. For those not familiar with this type of equation, this is similar to the mistake of messing up units, for instance setting a distance equal to a mass.<br />
<br />
;All cosmology equations<br />
:<math>H(t) + \Omega + G \cdot \Lambda \, \dots \begin{cases} \dots > 0 & \text{(Hubble model)} \\ \dots = 0 & \text{(Flat sphere model)} \\ \dots < 0 & \text{(Bright dark matter model)} \end{cases}<br />
</math><br />
This is a parody of equations defining the {{w|Hubble's_law#Derivation_of_the_Hubble_parameter|Hubble Parameter}} <math>H(t)</math> although it looks like Randall has become bored and not bothered to finish his equation. Such equations usually have several <math>\Omega</math> terms representing the contributions of different substances to the energy-density of the Universe (matter, radiation, dark energy etc.). In this context <math>G</math> could be Newton's constant and <math>\Lambda</math> is the cosmological constant (energy density of empty space) although seeing them appear multiplied and on the same footing as <math>H</math> is unusual (the dot is entirely unnecessary). Choosing to make <math>H</math> a function of time <math>t</math> and not of redshift <math>z</math> is also unusual.<br />
<br />
The second section looks like the inequalities used to show how the equation varies with the shape of the Universe, based on the value of the curvature parameter <math>\Omega_k</math>. A value of 0 indicates a flat Universe (this is more or less what we observe) while a positive /negative value indicates an open /closed curved Universe. Randall's choice of labels further makes fun of the field as both a flat sphere and bright dark matter are oxymoronic terms which would involve some rather strange model universes.<br />
<br />
;All truly deep physics equations<br />
:[[File:All truly deep physics equations.png]]<br />
<math>\hat H</math> is the Hamiltonian operator, which when applied to a system returns the total energy. In this context, U would usually be the potential energy. However, there is also a subscript 0 and a diacritic marking indicating some other variable. Much of physics is based on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. The Lagrangian is defined as <math>\hat L = \hat K - \hat U </math> with K being the kinetic energy and U the potential. Hamiltonian mechanics uses the equation <math>\hat H = \hat K + \hat U </math>. The Hamiltonian must be conserved so taking the time derivative and setting it equal to zero is a powerful tool. The "principle of least action" allows most modern physics to be derived by setting the time derivative of the Lagrangian to zero.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Nine equations are listed, three in the top row and two in each of the next three rows. Below each equation there are labels:]<br />
<br />
:E = K<sub>0</sub>t + 1/2 &rho;vt<sup>2</sup><br />
:All kinematics equations<br />
<br />
:K<sub>n</sub> = &sum;<sub>i=0</sub><sup>&infin;</sup>&sum;<sub>&pi;=0</sub><sup>&infin;</sup>(n-&pi;)(i-e<sup>&pi;-&infin;</sup>)<br />
:All number theory equations<br />
<br />
:&#x2202;/&#x2202;t &nabla; &sdot; &rho; = 8/23 (&#x222F; &rho; ds dt &sdot; &rho; &#x2202;/&#x2202;&nabla;)<br />
:All fluid dynamics equations<br />
<br />
:|&psi;<sub>x,y</sub>&#x232a; = A(&psi;) A(|x&#x232a;&#x2297; |y&#x232a;)<br />
:All quantum mechanics equations<br />
<br />
:CH<sub>4</sub> + OH + HEAT &rarr; H<sub>2</sub>O + CH<sub>2</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>EAT<br />
:All chemistry equations<br />
<br />
:SU(2)U(1) &times; SU(U(2))<br />
:All quantum gravity equations<br />
<br />
:S<sub>g</sub> = (-1)/(2&epsilon;&#x0304;) i &eth; (&#x302; &xi;<sub>0</sub> +&#x030a; p<sub>&epsilon;</sub> &rho;<sub>v</sub><sup>abc</sup> &eta;<sub>0</sub> )&#x302; f&#x0335;<sub>a</sub><sup>0</sup> &lambda;(&#x0292;&#x0306;) &psi;(0<sub>a</sub>)<br />
:All gauge theory equations<br />
<br />
:[There is a brace linking the three cases together.]<br />
:H(t) + &Omega; + G&sdot;&Lambda; ... <br />
:... > 0 (Hubble model)<br />
:... = 0 (Flat sphere model)<br />
:... < 0 (Bright dark matter model)<br />
:All cosmology equations<br />
<br />
:&#x0124; - u&#x0327;<sub>0</sub> = 0<br />
:All truly deep physics equations<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2028:_Complex_Numbers&diff=1609042028: Complex Numbers2018-08-07T01:55:25Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2028<br />
| date = August 3, 2018<br />
| title = Complex Numbers<br />
| image = complex_numbers.png<br />
| titletext = I'm trying to prove that mathematics forms a meta-abelian group, which would finally confirm my suspicions that algebreic geometry and geometric algebra are the same thing.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a MATHEMATICIAN - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The {{w|complex number}}s can be thought of as pairs <math>(a,\ b)\in\mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R}</math> of real numbers with rules for addition and multiplication.<br />
<br />
: <math>(a,\ b) + (c,\ d) = (a+c,\ b+d)</math><br />
<br />
: <math>(a,\ b) \cdot (c,\ d) = (ac - bd,\ ad + bc)</math><br />
<br />
As such, they are two-dimensional {{w|Euclidean vector|vectors}}, with an interesting rule for multiplication. The justification for this rule is to consider a complex number as an expression of the form <math>a+bi</math>, where <math>i^2 = -1</math>, i.e. ''i'' is the square root of negative 1. Applying the common rules of algebra and the definition of ''i'' yields rules for addition and multiplication above.<br />
<br />
Regular two-dimensional vectors are pairs of values, with the same rule for addition, and no rule for multiplication.<br />
<br />
The usual way to introduce complex numbers is by starting with ''i'' and deducing the rules for addition and multiplication, but Cueball is correct to say that complex numbers are really just vectors and can be defined without consideration of the square root of a negative number.<br />
<br />
The teacher, [[Miss Lenhart]], counters that to ignore the natural construction of the complex numbers would hide the relevance of the {{w|fundamental theorem of algebra}} (Every polynomial of degree ''n'' has exactly ''n'' roots, when counted according to multiplicity) and much of {{w|complex analysis}} (the application of calculus to complex-valued functions), but she also agrees that mathematicians are too cool for "regular vectors."<br />
<br />
In mathematics, a {{w|group (mathematics)|group}} is the pairing of a binary operation (say, multiplication) with the set of numbers that operation can be used on (say, the real numbers), such that you can describe the properties of the operation by its corresponding group. An {{w|Abelian group}} is one where the operation is commutative, that is, where the terms of the operation can be exchanged: <math> a \cdot b = b \cdot a</math> The title text argues that the "link" between algebra and geometry in "algebreic [sic] geometry" and "geometric algebra" is the operation in an Abelian group, such that both of those fields are equivalent. Algebraic geometry and geometric algebra are mostly unrelated areas of study in mathematics. {{w|Algebraic geometry}} studies the properties of sets of zeros of polynomials. It runs relatively deep. Its tools were used for example in Andrew Wiles' celebrated proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. For its part, a {{w|geometric algebra| geometric algebra}} (a {{w|Clifford algebra| Clifford algebra}} with some specific properties) is a construct allowing one to do algebraic manipulation of geometric objects (e.g., vectors, planes, spheres, etc.) in an arbitrary space that has a resultant geometric interpretation (e.g., rotation, displacement, etc.). The algebra of quaternions, often used to handle rotations in 3D computer graphics, is an example of a geometric algebra, as is the algebra of complex numbers. {{w|Metabelian group|Meta-Abelian groups}} (often contracted to metabelian groups) is a class of groups that are not quite abelian, but close to being so. <br />
<br />
Randall's joke in the mouseover text is a wordplay combining the concepts of (meta-)abelian groups and change in the order of word orders with the general idea of "meta".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball (the student) is raising his hand and writing with his other hand. He is sitting down at a desk, which has a piece of paper on it.]<br />
:Cueball: Does any of this really have to do with the square root of -1? Or do mathematicians just think they're too cool for regular vectors?<br />
<br />
:[Miss Lenhart (the teacher) is standing in front of a whiteboard.]<br />
:Miss Lenhart: Complex numbers aren't just vectors. They're a profound extension of real numbers, laying the foundation for the fundamental theorem of algebra and the entire field of complex analysis.<br />
<br />
:[Miss Lenhart is standing slightly to the right in a blank frame.]<br />
:Miss Lenhart: '''''And''''' we're too cool for regular vectors.<br />
:Cueball (off-screen): I '''''knew''''' it!<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
This comic is similar to [[1724: Proofs]].<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1937:_IATA_Airport_Abbreviations&diff=1502901937: IATA Airport Abbreviations2018-01-03T18:09:05Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1937<br />
| date = January 3, 2018<br />
| title = IATA Airport Abbreviations<br />
| image = iata_airport_abbreviations.png<br />
| titletext = IATA stands for International AirporT Abbreviation.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Expansion needed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is making fun of the three-letter codes assigned to all airports. These codes are overseen by the IATA (International Air Transport Association). Some airport codes are very intuitive, taking letters from the city name (e.g., DEN for Denver). Other codes are somewhat intuitive, taking a letter or two from the nearby city name but adding an additional letter (e.g., LAX for Los Angeles). Other codes make seemingly no sense at all (e.g., ORD for Chicago's O'Hare International, due to it formerly being named Orchard Field). In many cases, the airport codes appear to have been chosen (or invented) because they are also common abbreviations and acronyms. <br />
<br />
If we use the table provided, Randall's friend is flying into Edwards Air Force Base and then down to whatever. This is not a typical flight{{Citation needed}}. In actuality, the friend is flying into Newark tonight and Detroit tomorrow.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|'''IATA Code''' || '''Actual Assigned City/Airport''' || '''Description in the comic''' || '''Explanation'''<br />
|-<br />
| AMD || Ahmedabad || Amsterdam || Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. Its airport (called Schiphol) has the IATA code AMS. "AMD" is also a brand of computer processors.<br />
|-<br />
| ANC || Anchorage || Ankh-Morpork || Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state featured in {{w|Discworld}}.<br />
|-<br />
| ATL || Atlanta || Atalantë || Another name for J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional island of Númenor (which is in turn a reference to the sinking of Atlantis).<br />
|-<br />
| BAE || Barcelonnette || Beijing || Beijing is the capital of China. Its airport has the IATA code PEK (possibly from Peking, alternate former spelling of its name). "Bae" is a slang term meaning girlfriend, boyfriend, or significant other.<br />
|-<br />
| BLT || Blackwater || Baltimore || A "BLT" is a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.<br />
|-<br />
| BUF || Buffalo || Sunnydale || {{w|Sunnydale}} is a fictional California city that serves as the primary setting for '''''Buf'''fy the Vampire Slayer''.<br />
|-<br />
| CLT || Charlotte || [CENSORED] || The censored word may be "clitoris." Randall has used this word in the comic before, so it is not known why he censors it here.<br />
|-<br />
| DFW || Dallas/Fort Worth || Down For Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DTF || not assigned || Dartford || "DTF" is an acronym used to indicate "Down To Fuck". Dartford is a town in Kent, UK, about 10 miles SE of London.<br />
|-<br />
| DTW || Detroit || Down To Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DWI || not assigned || Delaware International || "DWI" is an acronym for "Driving While Intoxicated" or "Driving While Impaired." Randall notes in the ''what if?'' book that Delaware has no airports.<br />
|-<br />
| EWR || Newark || Edwards Air Force Base || Edwards Air Force Base (which has the IATA code EDW) is a United States Air Force installation in southern California, about 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Lancaster and 15 miles (24 km) east of Rosamond.<br />
|-<br />
| FFS || not assigned || Flagstaff Station || "FFS" is an acronym for "For Fuck's Sake".<br />
|-<br />
| FHQ || not assigned || FHQWHGADS || The string "fhqwhgads" appeared as the sender name in a spam email sent to Strong Bad in the {{w|Homestar Runner}} cartoons; Strong Bad ended up writing a song dedicated to the "character".<br />
|-<br />
| FYI || not assigned || Fayetteville || "FYI" often stands for "For Your Information".<br />
|-<br />
| HGM || not assigned || Hogsmeade || {{w|Places_in_Harry_Potter#Hogsmeade|Hogsmeade}} is a fictional location in the ''{{w|Harry Potter}}'' series.<br />
|-<br />
| HSV || Huntsville || Huntsville || This is one where Randall and the IATA agree. HSV is better known as the Hue-Saturation-Value color space or German soccer club Hamburger SV<br />
|-<br />
| IAD || Washington (Dulles) || Idaho (Boise) || IAD is the symbol for Dulles Int'l Airport (which was originally "DIA" but it was felt that could be confused when hand-written with "DCA", the sign for nearby {{w|Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport}}). The Idaho Falls airport is IDA, while Idaho (Boise) is BOI, so it's unclear why BOI was chosen instead of IDA.<br />
|-<br />
| IUD || Doha || Washington (Dulles) || An "IUD" is an "IntraUterine Device," or form of birth control.<br />
|-<br />
| JFC || not assigned || Jefferson City || "JFC" is an acronym for "Jesus Fucking Christ."<br />
|-<br />
| KUL || Kuala Lumpur || Kingdom of Loathing || Kingdom of Loathing is an online, browser-based RPG.<br />
|-<br />
| LAX || Los Angeles || Las Angalas || "Las Angalas" is a "Los Angeles" with every vowel replaced with an "a" character. It's sometimes used as a joking nickname for "Los Angeles."<br />
|-<br />
| LOL || Lovelock || Louisville || "LOL" often stands for "Laughing Out Loud".<br />
|-<br />
| MDW || Chicago, IL (Midway) || Midway Atoll || Midway Atoll was the site of one of the most significant World War II Pacific naval battles. Its actual IATA code is MDY.<br />
|-<br />
| MIA || Miami || Colombo, Sri Lanka || MIA is a rapper who is of Sri Lankan heritage. It also frequently stands for "Missing In Action".<br />
|-<br />
| OMW || not assigned || Omaha || Eppley Airfield in East Omaha, Nebraska, has an IATA code of OMA. "OMW" is an acronym for "On My Way."<br />
|-<br />
| ORD || Chicago, IL (O'Hare) || Orlando || O'Hare was once known as Orchard Place/Douglas Field, hence ORD<br />
|-<br />
| PDX || Portland || Pordlanx || Consider how LAX has a random "X" at the end. And "ORD" is an actual IATA code. Randall messes with "Portland" here in much the same way.<br />
|-<br />
| PHL || Philadelphia, PA || Pittsburgh || Pittsburgh International Airport has a IATA code of PIT. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are the two largest cities in Pennsylvania and are at opposite ends of the state.<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Diego || San Diego<br>San Juan<br>San Jose<br>San Francisco<br>San Antonio || SAN<br>Puerto Rico: SJU and SIG, and Argentina: UAQ.<br>USA: SJC, Costa Rica: SJO, Mexico: SJD, Philippines: SJI<br>SFO<br>SAT<br><br />
|-<br />
| SEA || Seattle/Tacoma or SeaTac || [Indicates Water Landing] || This is possibly a reference to the fact that "SEA" could be interpreted as "Sea". Like some other major airports (e.g., {{w|San Francisco International Airport}} and {{w|LaGuardia Airport}}), SEA is very close to a large body of water, in SeaTac's case {{w|Puget Sound}}: thus, missing the airport may end up in a water landing. SeaTac is also a city in WA, adjacent to the airport.<br />
|-<br />
| SMH || Sapmanga || Smithfield || "SMH" often stands for "Shaking My Head".<br />
|-<br />
| STL || St. Louis || Silent Hill || Silent Hill is a fictional city appearing in the series of video games and movies with the same name. <br />
|-<br />
| SWF || Newburgh, New York || Sherwood Forest || .swf is the file extension for ShockWave Flash files. "SWF" can also stand for "Single White Female" in personal ads.<br />
|-<br />
| TBA || Tabibuga || Tribeca || "TBA" often stands for "To Be Announced".<br />
|-<br />
| TMI || Tumlingtar || Turkmenistan International || "TMI" often stands for "Too Much Information".<br />
|-<br />
| YYY || Mont-Joli || Toronto Downtown || The small airport in downtown Toronto is Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which has an IATA code of YTZ.<br />
|-<br />
| YYZ || Toronto || Toronto Pearson || This one is correct. The band Rush is from Toronto and named an instrumental song after the airport call sign. See {{w|YYZ (instrumental)}}<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Confused by those airport abbreviations used by your friends who fly a lot? Just memorize this list.<br />
:Aside 1: I'm flying into EWR tonight, then DTW tomorrow.<br />
:Aside 2: Ok, cool. I definitely know what those mean without Googling.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
| AMD || Amsterdam<br />
|-<br />
| BAE || Beijing<br />
|-<br />
| ORD || Orlando<br />
|-<br />
| IAD || Idaho (Boise)<br />
|-<br />
| JFC || Jefferson City<br />
|-<br />
| IUD || Washington Dulles<br />
|-<br />
| FYI || Fayetteville<br />
|-<br />
| LOL || Louisville<br />
|-<br />
| ATL || Atalante<br />
|-<br />
| HGM || Hogsmeade<br />
|-<br />
| OMW || Omaha<br />
|-<br />
| ANC || Ankh-Morpork<br />
|-<br />
| HSV || Hunstville<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Diego<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Juan<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Jose<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Francisco<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Antonio<br />
|-<br />
| DWI || Delaware International<br />
|-<br />
| DFW || Down for Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DTW || Down to Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| TMI || Turkmenistan International<br />
|-<br />
| LAX || Las Angalas<br />
|-<br />
| EWR || Edwards Air Force Base<br />
|-<br />
| PHL || Pittsburgh<br />
|-<br />
| SWF || Sherwood Forest<br />
|-<br />
| KUL || Kingdom of Loathing<br />
|-<br />
| STL || Silent Hill<br />
|-<br />
| BUF || Sunnydale<br />
|-<br />
| TBA || Tribeca<br />
|-<br />
| SMH || Smithfield<br />
|-<br />
| BLT || Baltimore<br />
|-<br />
| YYY || Toronto Downtown<br />
|-<br />
| YYZ || Toronto Pearson<br />
|-<br />
| MIA || Colombo, Sri Lanka<br />
|-<br />
| CLT || Censored<br />
|-<br />
| FHQ || Fhqwhgads<br />
|-<br />
| FFS || Flagstaff Station<br />
|-<br />
| DTF || Dartford<br />
|-<br />
| MDW || Midway Atoll<br />
|-<br />
| PDX || Pordlanx<br />
|-<br />
| SEA || Indicates Water Landing<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1937:_IATA_Airport_Abbreviations&diff=1502741937: IATA Airport Abbreviations2018-01-03T17:16:43Z<p>SeanAhern: Expansion of some definitions. Removal of some irrelevant info.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1937<br />
| date = January 3, 2018<br />
| title = IATA Airport Abbreviations<br />
| image = iata_airport_abbreviations.png<br />
| titletext = IATA stands for International AirporT Abbreviation.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Expansion needed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is making fun of the three-letter codes assigned to all airports. These codes are overseen by the IATA (International Air Transport Association). Some airport codes are very intuitive, taking letters from the city name (e.g., DEN for Denver). Other codes are somewhat intuitive, taking a letter or two from the nearby city name but adding an additional letter (e.g., LAX for Los Angeles). Other codes make seemingly no sense at all (e.g., ORD for Chicago's O'Hare International, due to it formerly being named Orchard Field). In many cases, the airport codes appear to have been chosen (or invented) because they are also common abbreviations and acronyms. <br />
<br />
If we use the table provided, Randall's friend is flying into Edwards Air Force Base and then down to whatever. This is not a typical flight{{Citation needed}}. In actuality, the friend is flying into Newark tonight and Detroit tomorrow.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|'''IATA Code''' || '''Actual Assigned City/Airport''' || '''Description in the comic''' || '''Explanation'''<br />
|-<br />
| AMD || Ahmedabad || Amsterdam || Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. Its airport (called Schiphol) has the IATA code AMS. "AMD" is a brand of computer processors.<br />
|-<br />
| ANC || Anchorage || Ankh-Morpork || Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state featured in {{w|Discworld}}.<br />
|-<br />
| ATL || Atlanta || Atalantë || Another name for J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional island of Númenor (which is in turn a reference to the sinking of Atlantis).<br />
|-<br />
| BAE || Barcelonnette || Beijing || Beijing is the capital of China. Its airport has the IATA code PEK. "Bae" is a slang term meaning girlfriend, boyfriend, or significant other.<br />
|-<br />
| BLT || Blackwater || Baltimore || A "BLT" is a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.<br />
|-<br />
| BUF || Buffalo || Sunnydale || Sunnydale is the fictional setting of '''''Buf'''fy the Vampire Slayer''.<br />
|-<br />
| CLT || Charlotte || [CENSORED] || The censored word may be "clitoris." Randall has used this word in the comic before, so it is not known why he censors it here.<br />
|-<br />
| DFW || Dallas/Fort Worth || Down For Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DTF || not assigned || Dartford || "DTF" is an acronym used to indicate "Down To Fuck". Dartford is a town in Kent, UK, about 10 miles SE of London.<br />
|-<br />
| DTW || Detroit || Down To Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DWI || not assigned || Delaware International || "DWI" is an acronym for "Driving While Intoxicated" or "Driving While Impaired."<br />
|-<br />
| EWR || Newark || Edwards Air Force Base || Edwards Air Force Base (which has the IATA code EDW) is a United States Air Force installation in southern California, about 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Lancaster and 15 miles (24 km) east of Rosamond.<br />
|-<br />
| FFS || not assigned || Flagstaff Station || "FFS" is an acronym for "For Fuck's Sake".<br />
|-<br />
| FHQ || not assigned || FHQWHGADS || The string "fhqwhgads" appeared as the sender name in a spam email sent to Strong Bad in the {{w|Homestar Runner}} cartoons; Strong Bad ended up writing a song dedicated to the "character".<br />
|-<br />
| FYI || not assigned || Fayetteville || "FYI" often stands for "For Your Information".<br />
|-<br />
| HGM || not assigned || Hogsmeade || Hogsmeade is a fictional location in the Harry Potter series.<br />
|-<br />
| HSV || Huntsville || Huntsville || This is one where Randall and the IATA agree. HSV is better known as the Hue-Saturation-Value color space.<br />
|-<br />
| IAD || Washington (Dulles) || Idaho (Boise)<br />
|-<br />
| IUD || Doha || Washington (Dulles) || An "IUD" is an "IntraUterine Device," or form of birth control.<br />
|-<br />
| JFC || not assigned || Jefferson City || "JFC" is an acronym for "Jesus Fucking Christ."<br />
|-<br />
| KUL || Kuala Lumpur || Kingdom of Loathing || Kingdom of Loathing is an online, browser-based RPG.<br />
|-<br />
| LAX || Los Angeles || Las Angalas || "Las Angalas" is a "Los Angeles" with every vowel replaced with an "a" character.<br />
|-<br />
| LOL || Lovelock || Louisville || "LOL" often stands for "Laughing Out Loud".<br />
|-<br />
| MDW || Chicago, IL (Midway) || Midway Atoll || Midway Atoll was the site of one of the most significant World War II Pacific naval battles. Its actual IATA code is MDY.<br />
|-<br />
| MIA || Miami || Colombo, Sri Lanka || MIA is a rapper who is of Sri Lankan heritage. It also frequently stands for "Missing In Action".<br />
|-<br />
| OMW || not assigned || Omaha || Eppley Airfield in East Omaha, Nebraska, has an IATA code of OMA. "OMW" is an acronym for "On My Way."<br />
|-<br />
| ORD || Chicago, IL (O'Hare) || Orlando<br />
|-<br />
| PDX || Portland || Pordlanx || Consider how LAX has a random "X" at the end. And "ORD" is an actual IATA code. Randall here messes with "Portland" in much the same way.<br />
|-<br />
| PHL || Philadelphia, PA || Pittsburgh || Pittsburgh International Airport has a IATA code of PIT.<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Diego || San Diego<br>San Juan<br>San Jose<br>San Francisco<br>San Antonio<br />
|-<br />
| SEA || Seattle/Tacoma or SeaTac || [Indicates Water Landing] || This is possibly a reference to the fact that "SEA" could be interpreted as "Sea". Like some other major airports (e.g., {{w|San Francisco International Airport}} and {{w|LaGuardia Airport}}), SEA is very close to a large body of water, in SeaTac's case {{w|Puget Sound}}: thus, missing the airport may end up in a water landing. SeaTac is also a city in WA, adjacent to the airport.<br />
|-<br />
| SMH || Sapmanga || Smithfield || "SMH" often stands for "Shaking My Head".<br />
|-<br />
| STL || St. Louis || Silent Hill || Silent Hill is a fictional city appearing in the series of video games and movies with the same name. <br />
|-<br />
| SWF || Newburgh, New York || Sherwood Forest || .swf is the file extension for ShockWave Flash files. "SWF" can also stand for "Single White Female" in personal ads.<br />
|-<br />
| TBA || Tabibuga || Tribeca || "TBA" often stands for "To Be Announced".<br />
|-<br />
| TMI || Tumlingtar || Turkmenistan International || "TMI" often stands for "Too Much Information".<br />
|-<br />
| YYY || Mont-Joli || Toronto Downtown || The small airport in downtown Toronto is Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport which has an IATA code of YTZ.<br />
|-<br />
| YYZ || Toronto || Toronto Pearson || This one is correct.<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Confused by those airport abbreviations used by your friends who fly a lot? Just memorize this list.<br />
:Aside 1: I'm flying into EWR tonight, then DTW tomorrow.<br />
:Aside 2: Ok, cool. I definitely know what those mean without Googling.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
| AMD || Amsterdam<br />
|-<br />
| BAE || Beijing<br />
|-<br />
| ORD || Orlando<br />
|-<br />
| IAD || Idaho (Boise)<br />
|-<br />
| JFC || Jefferson City<br />
|-<br />
| IUD || Washington Dulles<br />
|-<br />
| FYI || Fayetteville<br />
|-<br />
| LOL || Louisville<br />
|-<br />
| ATL || Atalante<br />
|-<br />
| HGM || Hogsmeade<br />
|-<br />
| OMW || Omaha<br />
|-<br />
| ANC || Ankh-Morpork<br />
|-<br />
| HSV || Hunstville<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Diego<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Juan<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Jose<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Francisco<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Antonio<br />
|-<br />
| DWI || Delaware International<br />
|-<br />
| DFW || Down for Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DTW || Down to Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| TMI || Turkmenistan International<br />
|-<br />
| LAX || Las Angalas<br />
|-<br />
| EWR || Edwards Air Force Base<br />
|-<br />
| PHL || Pittsburgh<br />
|-<br />
| SWF || Sherwood Forest<br />
|-<br />
| KUL || Kingdom of Loathing<br />
|-<br />
| STL || Silent Hill<br />
|-<br />
| BUF || Sunnydale<br />
|-<br />
| TBA || Tribeca<br />
|-<br />
| SMH || Smithfield<br />
|-<br />
| BLT || Baltimore<br />
|-<br />
| YYY || Toronto Downtown<br />
|-<br />
| YYZ || Toronto Pearson<br />
|-<br />
| MIA || Colombo, Sri Lanka<br />
|-<br />
| CLT || Censored<br />
|-<br />
| FHQ || Fhqwhgads<br />
|-<br />
| FFS || Flagstaff Station<br />
|-<br />
| DTF || Dartford<br />
|-<br />
| MDW || Midway Atoll<br />
|-<br />
| PDX || Pordlanx<br />
|-<br />
| SEA || Indicates Water Landing<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1937:_IATA_Airport_Abbreviations&diff=1502661937: IATA Airport Abbreviations2018-01-03T17:03:29Z<p>SeanAhern: Define the actual meanings of EWR and DTW</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1937<br />
| date = January 3, 2018<br />
| title = IATA Airport Abbreviations<br />
| image = iata_airport_abbreviations.png<br />
| titletext = IATA stands for International AirporT Abbreviation.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Expansion needed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is making fun of the three-letter codes assigned to all airports. These codes are overseen by the IATA (International Air Transport Association). Some airport codes are very intuitive, taking letters from the city name (e.g., DEN for Denver). Other codes are somewhat intuitive, taking a letter or two from the nearby city name but adding an additional letter (e.g., LAX for Los Angeles). Other codes make seemingly no sense at all (e.g., ORD for Chicago's O'Hare International, due to it formerly being named Orchard Field). In many cases, the airport codes appear to have been chosen (or invented) because they are also common abbreviations and acronyms. <br />
<br />
If we use the table provided, Randall's friend is flying into Edwards Air Force Base and then down to whatever. This is not a typical flight{{Citation needed}}. In actuality, the friend is flying into Newark tonight and Detroit tomorrow.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|'''IATA Code''' || '''Actual Assigned City/Airport''' || '''Description in the comic''' || '''Explanation'''<br />
|-<br />
| AMD || Ahmedabad || Amsterdam || Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. Its airport (called Schiphol) has the IATA code AMS.<br />
|-<br />
| ANC || Anchorage || Ankh-Morpork || Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state featured in {{w|Discworld}}.<br />
|-<br />
| ATL || Atlanta || Atalantë || Another name for J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional island of Númenor (which is in turn a reference to the sinking of Atlantis).<br />
|-<br />
| BAE || Barcelonnette || Beijing || Beijing is the capital of China. Its airport has the IATA code PEK. "Bae" is a slang term meaning girlfriend, boyfriend, or significant other.<br />
|-<br />
| BLT || Blackwater || Baltimore || A "BLT" is a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.<br />
|-<br />
| BUF || Buffalo || Sunnydale || Sunnydale is the fictional setting of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.<br />
|-<br />
| CLT || Charlotte || [CENSORED] || The censored word may be "clitoris." Randall has used this word in the comic before, so it is not known why he censors it here.<br />
|-<br />
| DFW || Dallas/Fort Worth || Down For Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DTF || not assigned || Dartford || "DTF" is an acronym used to indicate "Down To Fuck". Dartford is a town in Kent, UK, about 10 miles SE of London.<br />
|-<br />
| DTW || Detroit || Down To Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DWI || not assigned || Delaware International || "DWI" is an acronym for "Driving While Intoxicated" or "Driving While Impaired."<br />
|-<br />
| EWR || Newark || Edwards Air Force Base || Edwards Air Force Base (which has the IATA code EDW) is a United States Air Force installation in southern California, about 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Lancaster and 15 miles (24 km) east of Rosamond.<br />
|-<br />
| FFS || not assigned || Flagstaff Station || "FFS" is an acronym for "For Fuck's Sake".<br />
|-<br />
| FHQ || not assigned || FHQWHGADS || The string "fhqwhgads" appeared as the sender name in a spam email sent to Strong Bad in the {{w|Homestar Runner}} cartoons; Strong Bad ended up writing a song dedicated to the "character".<br />
|-<br />
| FYI || not assigned || Fayetteville || "FYI" often stands for "For Your Information".<br />
|-<br />
| HGM || not assigned || Hogsmeade || Hogsmeade is a fictional location in the Harry Potter series.<br />
|-<br />
| HSV || Huntsville || Huntsville || This is one where Randall and the IATA agree. HSV is better known as the Hue-Saturation-Value color space.<br />
|-<br />
| IAD || Washington || Idaho (Boise)<br />
|-<br />
| IUD || Doha || Washington Dulles || An "IUD" is an "IntraUterine Device," or form or birth control.<br />
|-<br />
| JFC || not assigned || Jefferson City || "JFC" is an acronym for "Jesus Fucking Christ."<br />
|-<br />
| KUL || Kuala Lumpur || Kingdom of Loathing<br />
|-<br />
| LAX || Los Angeles || Las Angalas || "Las Angalas" is a "Los Angeles" with every vowel replaced with an "a" character.<br />
|-<br />
| LOL || Lovelock || Louisville || "LOL" often stands for "Laughing Out Loud".<br />
|-<br />
| MDW || Chicago, IL (Midway) || Midway Atoll || Midway Atoll was the site of one of the most significant World War II Pacific naval battles. The actual airport code is MDY.<br />
|-<br />
| MIA || Miami || Colombo, Sri Lanka || MIA is a rapper who is of Sri Lankan heritage.<br />
|-<br />
| OMW || not assigned || Omaha || Eppley Airfield in East Omaha, Nebraska, has a IATA code of OMA. "OMW" is an acronym for "On My Way."<br />
|-<br />
| ORD || Chicago, IL (O'Hare) || Orlando<br />
|-<br />
| PDX || Portland || Pordlanx<br />
|-<br />
| PHL || Philadelphia, PA || Pittsburgh || Pittsburgh International Airport has a IATA code of PIT. The satirical folk-pop band Moxy Früvous performed a song called "Intra-Pennsylvania Rivalry" in Philiadelphia, featured on their album Live Noise. In this song they stated that they wished to create an Intra-Pennsylvania Rivalry, and encourage citizens of Philadelphia to invade Pittsburgh with pitchforks and spades. <br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Diego || San Diego<br>San Juan<br>San Jose<br>San Francisco<br>San Antonio<br />
|-<br />
| SEA || Seattle || [Indicates Water Landing] || This is likely in reference to the fact that "SEA" could be interpreted as "Sea".<br />
|-<br />
| SMH || Sapmanga || Smithfield || Shaking My Head<br />
|-<br />
| STL || St. Louis || Silent Hill || Silent Hill is a fictional city appearing in the series of video games and movies with the same name. <br />
|-<br />
| SWF || Newburgh, New York || Sherwood Forest || ShockWave Flash extension<br />
|-<br />
| TBA || Tabibuga || Tribeca || To Be Announced<br />
|-<br />
| TMI || Tumlingtar || Turkmenistan International || "TMI" often stands for "Too Much Information".<br />
|-<br />
| YYY || Mont-Joli || Toronto Downtown || The small airport in downtown Toronto is Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport which has an IATA code of YTZ.<br />
|-<br />
| YYZ || Toronto || Toronto Pearson || This one is correct.<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Confused by those airport abbreviations used by your friends who fly a lot? Just memorize this list.<br />
:Aside 1: I'm flying into EWR tonight, then DTW tomorrow.<br />
:Aside 2: Ok, cool. I definitely know what those mean without Googling.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
| AMD || Amsterdam<br />
|-<br />
| BAE || Beijing<br />
|-<br />
| ORD || Orlando<br />
|-<br />
| IAD || Idaho (Boise)<br />
|-<br />
| JFC || Jefferson City<br />
|-<br />
| IUD || Washington Dulles<br />
|-<br />
| FYI || Fayetteville<br />
|-<br />
| LOL || Louisville<br />
|-<br />
| ATL || Atalante<br />
|-<br />
| HGM || Hogsmeade<br />
|-<br />
| OMW || Omaha<br />
|-<br />
| ANC || Ankh-Morpork<br />
|-<br />
| HSV || Hunstville<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Diego<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Juan<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Jose<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Francisco<br />
|-<br />
| SAN || San Antonio<br />
|-<br />
| DWI || Delaware International<br />
|-<br />
| DFW || Down for Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| DTW || Down to Whatever<br />
|-<br />
| TMI || Turkmenistan International<br />
|-<br />
| LAX || Las Angalas<br />
|-<br />
| EWR || Edwards Air Force Base<br />
|-<br />
| PHL || Pittsburgh<br />
|-<br />
| SWF || Sherwood Forest<br />
|-<br />
| KUL || Kingdom of Loathing<br />
|-<br />
| STL || Silent Hill<br />
|-<br />
| BUF || Sunnydale<br />
|-<br />
| TBA || Tribeca<br />
|-<br />
| SMH || Smithfield<br />
|-<br />
| BLT || Baltimore<br />
|-<br />
| YYY || Toronto Downtown<br />
|-<br />
| YYZ || Toronto Pearson<br />
|-<br />
| MIA || Colombo, Sri Lanka<br />
|-<br />
| CLT || Censored<br />
|-<br />
| FHQ || Fhqwhgads<br />
|-<br />
| FFS || Flagstaff Station<br />
|-<br />
| DTF || Dartford<br />
|-<br />
| MDW || Midway Atoll<br />
|-<br />
| PDX || Pordlanx<br />
|-<br />
| SEA || Indicates Water Landing<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1935:_2018&diff=1501341935: 20182018-01-02T18:10:20Z<p>SeanAhern: Lots of clarification. Grammar, etc. Discussion of computing day of week.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1935<br />
| date = December 29, 2017<br />
| title = 2018<br />
| image = 2018.png<br />
| titletext = We should really start calculating it earlier, but until the end of December we're always too busy trying to figure out which day Christmas will fall on.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this, the first of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] in a row, [[Megan]] wonders whether 2018 will be a {{w|Leap year|leap year}}. [[Cueball]] thinks 2018 will not be a leap year, and Megan responds that she "doubts anyone knows at this point." This appears to be a jab at people who suggest that anything they don't know is generally unknown. As Cueball says, leap years occur every four years (though there are a few exceptions), adding an extra day to account for the fact that Earth takes a bit longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun. Therefore, most years that are a multiple of four are leap years. As Megan says, this is easy for odd-numbered years, since no odd numbers are divisible by four. However, for even-numbered years, it isn't quite as simple. (Though, since the number 2,000 is evenly divisible by 4, the problem can be reduced to the much simpler question of whether the number 18 is divisible by 4.)<br />
<br />
The last panel expresses a misunderstanding of modern public-key {{w|Cryptography|cryptography}}, which relies on the fact that it is difficult to factorize large numbers. Megan is applying this concept to the year, claiming that it is hard to determine whether or not 2,018 is a multiple of four and hence is a leap year. In reality, factorization is not needed here, since we already know the factor in question, which is four. Megan states that, if it were possible to factor large numbers with a calculator, modern cryptography would collapse. While true, it is true only for truly large numbers (hundreds of digits), and no factorization is needed in this case.<br />
<br />
At the end of the strip, Megan hopes the answer can be {{w|Brute-force attack|brute-forced}} by February. Brute force is a method of breaking cryptography by trying every possible option until one works. This is misdirection upon misdirection, in that, even if we needed to factorize 2,018 (which we don't), the simplest brute-forcing algorithm would need to try only 14 numbers -- each prime from 2 to 43 (the square root of 2,018 is closest to 44). In cryptography, the algorithms use numbers much, much bigger than 2,018 -- on the order of hundreds or even thousands of digits.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to calculating which day {{w|Christmas}} will fall on. As Christmas always lands on December 25 by definition, the day of the week varies from year to year, though it's always the 359th or the 360th (in leap years) day of the year. Still, determining which day of the week December 25 lands on is not a difficult problem to solve, requiring only a few mathematical operations to compute. Alternatively, this might be an oblique reference to Easter, the date of which jumps from year to year according to a multi-layered algorithm that most people don't know. The changing date of Easter was recently included in [[1930: Calendar Facts]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Megan is walking.]<br />
:Megan: I wonder if 2018 will be a leap year.<br />
<br />
:[Now it turns out that Cueball walks behind Megan.]<br />
:Cueball: ...it won't be, right?<br />
:Megan: I doubt anyone knows at this point.<br />
<br />
:[Same scene in a frame-less panel.]<br />
:Cueball: No, it's definitely not. Leap years are divisible by 4.<br />
:Megan: Right, and for odd numbers, that's easy. <br />
:Megan: But 2018 is even.<br />
:Megan: 50/50 chance.<br />
<br />
:[Zoomed-out view with both walking in silhouette on a dark slightly curved ground.]<br />
:Cueball: I can settle this with a calculator.<br />
:Megan: No way. If it were easy to factor large numbers like that, modern cryptography would collapse.<br />
:Cueball: I see.<br />
:Megan: I just hope we manage to brute-force it by February.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Released on Friday, December 29, this was the last comic of 2017. The next comic, [[1936: Desert Golfing]], was released soon after midnight (in Randall's time zone) on New Year's Day 2018.<br />
<br />
*Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 were.<br />
<br />
*Since 100 is divisible by 4, only the last two digits of a number are needed to determine if that number is divisible by 4. So to determine if 2018 is divisible by 4, we only need to check whether 18 is divisible by 4, which is easy.<br />
<br />
*2018 is not divisible by 4, so the year is not a leap year. 2016 and 2020 are leap years. This is true for both the Gregorian and the Julian calendar. A year is roughly 365.2422 days long.<br />
<br />
*{{w|Eastern Christian Churches}} celebrate Christmas also on December 25 but on the older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 7 on the Gregorian calendar.<br />
<br />
*This is the third year in a row with New Year's comics with only the year used as the title; before that there were two more comics with such titles, but those two (and thus the first three) were only released in the even years: [[998: 2012]] in 2012, [[1311: 2014]] in 2014, [[1624: 2016]] in 2016 and [[1779: 2017]] in 2017.<br />
<br />
* XKCD comic number 2018 will occur sometime in 2018.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:New Year]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|2017]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Time]]<br />
[[Category:Cryptography]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=327:_Exploits_of_a_Mom&diff=148896327: Exploits of a Mom2017-12-07T17:08:48Z<p>SeanAhern: restored a word (accidentally?) deleted in a prior edit</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 327<br />
| date = October 10, 2007<br />
| title = Exploits of a Mom<br />
| image = exploits_of_a_mom.png<br />
| titletext = Her daughter is named Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Mrs. Roberts]] receives a call from her [[Little Bobby Tables|son]]'s school. The caller, likely one of the school's administrators, asks if she really named her son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--</code>, a rather unusual name.{{Citation needed}} Perhaps surprisingly, Mrs. Roberts responds in the affirmative, claiming that she uses the nickname "Little Bobby Tables". As the full name is read into the school's system's databases without {{w|Data sanitization#SQL injection|data sanitization}}, it causes the "Students" table in the database to be deleted.<br />
<br />
The title of this comic is a pun. ''Exploit'' can mean an accomplishment or heroic deed, but in computer science the term refers to a program or technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability in other software. In fact, one could say that her exploit is to exploit an exploit (her achievement is to make use of a vulnerability). The title can also refer to her choice of name for her son, which is rather extraordinary.<br />
<br />
In {{w|SQL}}, a database programming language, commands are separated by semicolons <code>;</code>, and strings of text are often delimited using single quotes <code>'</code>. Parts of commands may also be enclosed in parentheses <code>(</code> and <code>)</code>. Data entries are stored as "rows" within named "tables" of similar items (e.g., <code>Students</code>). The command to delete an entire table (and thus every row of data in that table) is <code>DROP TABLE</code>, as in <code>DROP TABLE Students;</code>.<br />
<br />
The exploited vulnerability here is that the single quote in the name input was not correctly "escaped" by the software. That is, if a student's name did indeed contain a quote mark, it should have been parsed as one of the characters making up the text string and not as the marker to close the string, which it erroneously was. Lack of careful parsing is a common SQL vulnerability; this type of exploit is referred to as {{w|SQL injection}}. Mrs. Roberts thus reminds the school to make sure they have added data filtering code to prevent code injection exploits in the future.<br />
<br />
For example, to add information about Elaine to a data table called 'Students' the SQL query could be:<br />
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Elaine');</code><br />
<br />
However, using the odd name <code>Robert');DROP TABLE Students;--&nbsp;</code> where we used "Elaine" above, the SQL query becomes:<br />
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');DROP TABLE Students;--&nbsp;');</code><br />
<br />
<br />
By insertion of the two semi-colons in the odd name, this is now three well-formed SQL commands:<br />
<br><code><br />
INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');<br />
<br />
DROP TABLE Students;<br />
<br />
--&nbsp;');<br />
</code><br />
<br />
The first line is valid SQL code that will legitimately insert data about a student named Robert.<br />
<br />
The second line is valid injected SQL code that will delete the whole Student data table from the database.<br />
<br />
The third line is a valid code comment ( --&nbsp; denotes a comment), which will be ignored by the SQL server.<br />
<br />
For this to work, it helps to know the structure of the database. But it's quite a good guess that a school's student management database might have a table named <code>Students</code>. <br />
<br />
Of course, in real life, most exploits of this kind would be performed not by socially engineering a person's name such that it would eventually be entered into a school database query, but rather by accessing some kind of input system (such as a website's login screen or search interface) and guessing various combinations by trial and error until something works, perhaps by first trying to inject the <code>SHOW TABLES;</code> command to see how the database is structured.<br />
<br />
To correctly and harmlessly include the odd name in the Students table in the school database the correct SQL is:<br />
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert\');DROP TABLE Students;--&nbsp;');</code><br />
<br />
Note that the single quote after Robert is now sanitized by a backslash, which changes it from malicious code to harmless data, and the full first 'name' of the student <code>Robert';DROP TABLE Students;--</code> is now stored correctly.<br />
<br />
It should be noted that, while data sanitization can mitigate the risks of SQL injection, the proper prevention technique is to use {{w|Prepared statement}}s.<br />
<br />
The XKCD title text references that Mrs. Roberts' daughter is named "Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory". This is a play on how if someone is stuck and forced to work in a manufacturing factory/plant then they will write on the product "Help I am trapped in a ____ factory" in order to tell people on the outside. Having this name would cause any police officer that pulls her over to show some concern. And getting the license in the first place would likely be difficult. The idea of inserting a help message like this was already used in [[10: Pi Equals]].<br />
<!-- Help! I'm being held prisoner in a Wiki markup code editing facility! --><br />
<br />
This XKCD comic has become rather famous, spawning a site at http://bobby-tables.com about preventing SQL injection and also at the official [https://docs.python.org/2/library/sqlite3.html Python SQLite documentation]. Noted security expert {{w|Bruce Schneier}} (who often quotes XKCD) [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/10/pen-and-paper_s.html mentioned a similar attack], which happened in the 2014 Swedish general elections.<br />
<br />
In [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], someone (presumably Mrs. Roberts) attempts to perform a similar trick, submitting the name <code>e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--</code> to the IAU.<br />
<br />
It is later revealed in [[342: 1337: Part 2]] that the daughter's middle name is [[Elaine]] (full name: ''Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts''). This is thus the first time Elaine is mentioned. Seems like this comic was a setup for the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series where both this exploiting mom's kids are shown for the first time.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Mrs. Roberts receives a call from her son's school on her wireless phone. She is standing with a cup of hot coffee or tea (shown with a small line above the cup) facing a small round three-legged table to the right. The voice of the caller is indicated to come from the phone with a zigzag line.]<br />
:Voice over the phone: Hi, This is your son's school. We're having some computer trouble.<br />
<br />
:[In this frame-less panel Mrs. Roberts has put the cup down on the table turned facing out.]<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, dear - did he break something?<br />
:Voice over the phone: In a way -<br />
<br />
:[Mrs. Roberts is now drinking from the cup again looking right. The table is not shown.]<br />
:Voice over the phone: Did you really name your son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--</code> ?<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, yes. Little Bobby Tables, we call him.<br />
<br />
:[Mrs. Roberts holds the cup down.]<br />
:Voice over the phone: Well, we've lost this year's student records. I hope you're happy.<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: And I hope you've learned to sanitize your database inputs.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=327:_Exploits_of_a_Mom&diff=148895327: Exploits of a Mom2017-12-07T17:07:15Z<p>SeanAhern: Lots of small changes for clarity</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 327<br />
| date = October 10, 2007<br />
| title = Exploits of a Mom<br />
| image = exploits_of_a_mom.png<br />
| titletext = Her daughter is named Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Mrs. Roberts]] receives a call from her [[Little Bobby Tables|son]]'s school. The caller, likely one of the school's administrators, asks if she really named her son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--</code>, a rather unusual name.{{Citation needed}} Perhaps surprisingly, Mrs. Roberts responds in the affirmative, claiming that she uses the nickname "Little Bobby Tables". As the full name is read into the school's system's databases without {{w|Data sanitization#SQL injection|data sanitization}}, it causes the "Students" table in the database to be deleted.<br />
<br />
The title of this comic is a pun. ''Exploit'' can mean an accomplishment or heroic deed, but in computer science the term refers to a program or technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability in other software. In fact, one could say that her exploit is to exploit an exploit (her achievement is to make use of a vulnerability). The title can also refer to her choice of name for her son, which is rather extraordinary.<br />
<br />
In {{w|SQL}}, a database programming language, commands are separated by semicolons <code>;</code>, and strings of text are often delimited using single quotes <code>'</code>. Parts of commands may also be enclosed in parentheses <code>(</code> and <code>)</code>. Data entries are stored as "rows" within named "tables" of similar items (e.g., <code>Students</code>). The command to delete an entire table (and thus every row of data in that table) is <code>DROP TABLE</code>, as in <code>DROP TABLE Students;</code>.<br />
<br />
The exploited vulnerability here is that the single quote in the name input was not correctly "escaped" by the software. That is, if a student's name did indeed contain a quote mark, it should have been parsed as one of the characters making up the text string and not as the marker to close the string, which it erroneously was. Lack of careful parsing is a common SQL vulnerability; this type of exploit is referred to as {{w|SQL injection}}. Mrs. Roberts thus reminds the school to make sure they have added data filtering code to prevent code injection exploits in the future.<br />
<br />
For example, to add information about Elaine to a data table called 'Students' the SQL query could be:<br />
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Elaine');</code><br />
<br />
However, using the odd name <code>Robert');DROP TABLE Students;--&nbsp;</code> where we used "Elaine" above, the SQL query becomes:<br />
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');DROP TABLE Students;--&nbsp;');</code><br />
<br />
<br />
By insertion of the two semi-colons in the odd name, this is now three well-formed SQL commands:<br />
<br><code><br />
INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');<br />
<br />
DROP TABLE Students;<br />
<br />
--&nbsp;');<br />
</code><br />
<br />
The first line is valid SQL code that will legitimately insert data about a student named Robert.<br />
<br />
The second line is valid injected SQL code that will delete the whole Student data table from the database.<br />
<br />
The third line is a valid code comment ( --&nbsp; denotes a comment), which will be ignored by the SQL server.<br />
<br />
For this to work, it helps to know the structure of the database. But it's quite a good guess that a school's student management database might have a table named <code>Students</code>. <br />
<br />
Of course, in real life, most exploits of this kind would be performed not by socially engineering a person's name such that it would eventually be entered into a school database query, but rather by accessing some kind of input system (such as a website's login screen or search interface) and guessing various combinations by trial and error until something works, perhaps by first trying to inject the <code>SHOW TABLES;</code> command to see how the database is structured.<br />
<br />
To correctly and harmlessly include the odd name in the Students table in the school database the correct SQL is:<br />
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert\');DROP TABLE Students;--&nbsp;');</code><br />
<br />
Note that the single quote after Robert is now sanitized by a backslash, which changes it from malicious code to harmless data, and the full first 'name' of the student <code>Robert';DROP TABLE Students;--</code> is now stored correctly.<br />
<br />
It should be noted that, while data sanitization can mitigate the risks of SQL injection, the proper prevention technique is to use {{w|Prepared statement}}s.<br />
<br />
The XKCD title text references that Mrs. Roberts' daughter is named "Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory". This is a play on how if someone is stuck and forced to work in a manufacturing factory/plant then they will write on the product "Help I am trapped in a ____ factory" in order to tell people on the outside. Having this name would cause any police officer that pulls her over to show some concern. And getting the license in the first place would likely be difficult. The idea of inserting a help message like this was already used in [[10: Pi Equals]].<br />
<!-- Help! I'm being held prisoner in a Wiki markup code editing facility! --><br />
<br />
This XKCD comic has become rather famous, spawning a site at http://bobby-tables.com about preventing SQL injection and also at the official [https://docs.python.org/2/library/sqlite3.html Python SQLite documentation]. Noted security expert {{w|Bruce Schneier}} (who often quotes XKCD) [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/10/pen-and-paper_s.html mentioned a similar attack], which happened in the 2014 Swedish general elections.<br />
<br />
In [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], someone (presumably Mrs. Roberts) attempts to perform a similar trick, submitting the name <code>e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--</code> to the IAU.<br />
<br />
It is later revealed in [[342: 1337: Part 2]] that the daughter's middle name is [[Elaine]] (full name: ''Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts''). This is thus the first time Elaine is mentioned. Seems like this comic was a setup for the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series where both this exploiting mom's kids are shown for the first<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Mrs. Roberts receives a call from her son's school on her wireless phone. She is standing with a cup of hot coffee or tea (shown with a small line above the cup) facing a small round three-legged table to the right. The voice of the caller is indicated to come from the phone with a zigzag line.]<br />
:Voice over the phone: Hi, This is your son's school. We're having some computer trouble.<br />
<br />
:[In this frame-less panel Mrs. Roberts has put the cup down on the table turned facing out.]<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, dear - did he break something?<br />
:Voice over the phone: In a way -<br />
<br />
:[Mrs. Roberts is now drinking from the cup again looking right. The table is not shown.]<br />
:Voice over the phone: Did you really name your son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--</code> ?<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, yes. Little Bobby Tables, we call him.<br />
<br />
:[Mrs. Roberts holds the cup down.]<br />
:Voice over the phone: Well, we've lost this year's student records. I hope you're happy.<br />
:Mrs. Roberts: And I hope you've learned to sanitize your database inputs.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1912:_Thermostat&diff=1474581912: Thermostat2017-11-06T15:14:48Z<p>SeanAhern: Expanded explanation of why the situation is so abnormal</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1912<br />
| date = November 6, 2017<br />
| title = Thermostat<br />
| image = thermostat.png<br />
| titletext = Your problem is so terrible, I worry that, if I help you, I risk drawing the attention of whatever god of technology inflicted it on you.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Rough draft, could still use work. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[Hairy]] is working at a tech support office, and receives a call from [[Cueball]]. After the scripted greeting, Cueball, who [[1084|has the]] [[1586|weirdest]] [[1700|tech issues]], tells Hairy that his thermostat - a single-purpose device used to adjust the settings of indoor heating - is showing an ''Android error screen'', and asking if he wants to partition the volume. The android error seems to imply that it is trying to mount a file with .doc extension (most likely a [[1459|Microsoft Word document]]) as the {{w|Boot_device|boot device}}. An added twist is the "(1)" in the filename, which is appended when a user attempts to copy a file into a directory that already has a file with the same name. The error message suggests a system problem at the core of the device. Not only is the operating system completely missing, but the device is trying to locate the operating system inside a Microsoft Word document, something that has nothing to do with regulation of temperature and should have no way of getting to the device in the first place, let alone be considered as a boot volume. This is so abnormal that Hairy is briefly struck silent, and upon recovering, he suggests Cueball [[349|walk into the sea]] as a form of suicide. The title text elaborates that the situation is so insanely absurd that it must be divine punishment, and Hairy does not want to try and help him for fear of invoking the wrath of whatever deity is issuing it.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Hairy, with a head set on, is sitting in an office chair at a desk hands ready on they keyboard of his computer.]<br />
:Hairy: Tech support, how can I help you?<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is on his smartphone while looking at a small blinking panel on the wall on front of him.]<br />
:Cueball: The little LCD on my thermostat says <small>''Error: Android system recovery: Unrecognized boot volume "/Monthly Energy Report (1).doc"</small><br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less beat panel Hairy just stares at his screen hands in his lap.]<br />
<br />
:[Back to Cueball, now with Hairy's reply coming from the smartphone in a box with a jagged arrow pointing to the smartphone.]<br />
:Cueball: It's asking if I want to partition the volume. What should I do?<br />
:Hairy (on the phone): Have you tried walking into the sea.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1911:_Defensive_Profile&diff=1473651911: Defensive Profile2017-11-03T16:34:10Z<p>SeanAhern: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1911<br />
| date = November 3, 2017<br />
| title = Defensive Profile<br />
| image = defensive_profile.png<br />
| titletext = NO DRAMA ZONE -> If I've made you sad, you'd better not tell me, because I am TERRIFIED of that situation and have NO IDEA how to handle it.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|First sentences. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic demonstrates a theoretical feature which provides more honest interpretations of social media profiles. We see a profile for a person who says they have "no filters" and has no qualms about offending or upsetting anybody with their seemingly radical views. But the "translation" of the description reveals that it is a vastly insecure person who seems to have the problem of saying the wrong thing every time and so their profile description is a way for them to justify their comments. The title text continues, with the aggressive "NO DRAMA ZONE" turning out to mean that the user is merely trying to keep any offended or genuinely upset comments away from their page because they simply have no idea how to emotionally handle hurting someone's feelings. <br />
<br />
Randal previously demonstrated another theoretical feature to address passive-aggressive behavior in [[1085: ContextBot]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
A profile on an unknown social media site is displayed.<br />
<br />
The profile reads: I speak my mind and don't care who I offend. No filter.<br />
<br />
In the next panel, the text is highlighted, and a context menu with "view translation" has appeared.<br />
<br />
In the last panel, the profile now reads: I don't understand why people keep getting mad at me and I'm using this pep talk to convince myself that's ok.<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1905:_Cast_Iron_Pan&diff=1469871905: Cast Iron Pan2017-10-23T15:29:27Z<p>SeanAhern: Mostly grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1905<br />
| date = October 20, 2017<br />
| title = Cast Iron Pan<br />
| image = cast_iron_pans.png<br />
| titletext = If you want to evenly space them, it's easiest to alternate between the Arctic and Antarctic. Some people just go to the Arctic twice, near the equinoxes so the visits are almost 6 months apart, but it's not the same.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Each of the pieces of advice should be explained/discussed individually - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[[White Hat]] tells the old myth (debunking articles: [https://lifehacker.com/go-ahead-and-use-soap-to-clean-your-cast-iron-pan-1658416503 Lifehacker], [http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-really-not-wash-your-cast-iron-with-soap-235237 The Kitchn], [http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the-truth-about-cast-iron.html Serious Eats]), that "you shouldn't wash your {{w|Cast-iron cookware|cast iron pan}} with soap since it destroys the {{w|Seasoning (cookware)|seasoning}}", to [[Cueball]]. Seasoning is the process of treating the surface of a pan with a stick-resistant coating formed from polymerized fat and oil on the surface. Although it may not be a problem to use soap on your seasoned cast iron pan, you should still {{w|Seasoning_(cookware)#Care|proceed with care}} with how you treat it.<br />
<br />
After giving Cueball this somewhat exaggerated piece of advice, he tells him that if he ever as much as let soap touch the pan he should just throw it away, as that fact alone would prove that he would not be up to taking care of such a precious possession. This is a kind of scare tactic that might make Cueball believe this and anything else he tells him.<br />
<br />
White Hat continues to give dubious advice to the point of absurdity, and Cueball becomes more and more wary of it.<br />
<br />
His second word of advice is to apply {{w|moisturizer}} to the pan daily to keep it fresh. Cueball asks why and is told that it is to avoid the pan getting {{w|Wrinkle|wrinkles}}. This implies that the pan would age like a human and get wrinkles. This is, of course, nonsense{{Citation needed}}, but Cueball is not yet ready to dismiss White Hat's advice.<br />
<br />
The final piece of advice is that twice a year Cueball should fill the pan with {{w|iron filings}} and leave it in direct sunlight for 24 hours. Both details are intended to be absurd. For one, the iron filings appear to serve no actual purpose. Second, White Hat proclaims that you should be willing to go to a place where the sun shines 24 hours in a day twice a year. North of the {{w|Arctic Circle}} (often shortened to simply "the {{w|Arctic}}") there will be at least one day a year where the sun does not set. So what White Hat implies is that it is not enough to leave the pan with the iron filings in sunlight for a combined 24 hours (over a couple of days); no, it has to be 24 continuous hours of sun. And if you are not prepared to make such a trip, you simply don't deserve a cast iron pan.<br />
<br />
White Hat's {{tvtropes|ExactWords|exact words}}, "If you're not willing to travel to the Arctic, you don't deserve cast iron" might also suggest that cast iron is a special almost-legendary metal similar to {{w|Damascus steel}} or its fictional counterpart Valyrian steel and requires distant travel to obtain/maintain. This might have historically been true, as few people had access to cast iron in the West before the 15th century unless they were willing to travel to China (a civilization that had been casting iron for two millennia or more) to get it.<br />
<br />
In the title text, White Hat mentions that, if you wish to evenly space the two 24 hours of sun each year, it is easiest to alternate between the Arctic and the {{w|Antarctic}} regions. But this will mean that you have to travel a long distance at least once a year; even if you already lived inside one of the {{w|Circle_of_latitude#Polar_Circles|Polar Circles}}, you would have to travel to the other at least once a year. <br />
<br />
It is implied that you do not have to space them evenly. As he mentions, some people just go to Arctic twice a year near the {{w|equinoxes}}. However, according to White Hat, this is not the same, probably because it doesn't lead to an exact six-month spacing and the sun would stay very low on the horizon and the sunlight would not be as intense.<br />
<br />
In order to accomplish this other scheme, it also means that they would actually have to go very close to the {{w|North Pole}} (or {{w|South Pole}}), as this is the only place with midnight sun around the equinoxes. So, in principle, this would be much more cumbersome than just going inside the southernmost part of the Arctic region at the {{w|summer solstice}}, and similarly the northernmost part of the Antarctic region at the northern hemisphere's {{w|winter solstice}} (which will be the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere).<br />
<br />
When looking at it like this, it may seem that White Hat actually means that you should always go to the poles, rather than just to a place with 24 hours of sunlight, in order to have the sun high in the sky as well.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[White Hat is holding a pan by the handle pointing to the frying surface as he shows it to Cueball.]<br />
:White Hat: Never clean a cast-iron pan with soap. It destroys the seasoning.<br />
:Cueball: Got it.<br />
<br />
:[White Hat shift the pan to his right hand and lowers it to his side holding a finger up in front of Cueball.]<br />
:White Hat: If you ever let soap touch the pan, throw it away. You're clearly not up to taking care of it.<br />
:Cueball: Wow, okay.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel White Hat has taken the pan back to the first hand holding on the the edge while he holds his other hand close to the frying surface.]<br />
:White Hat: Apply moisturizer to the pan daily to keep it fresh.<br />
:Cueball: ...Moisturizer?<br />
:White Hat: Do you want it to get all wrinkly?<br />
:Cueball: ...I...guess not.<br />
<br />
:[White Hat has shifted the pan to the second hand again holding it by the handle away from Cueball, while pointing at Cueball with the other hand.]<br />
:White Hat: Twice a year, fill the pan with iron filings and leave it in direct sunlight for 24 hours.<br />
:Cueball: Wait. 24 hours of sun?<br />
:White Hat: If you're not willing to travel to the Arctic, you don't '''''deserve''''' cast iron.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1902:_State_Borders&diff=1467291902: State Borders2017-10-16T20:00:14Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1902<br />
| date = October 13, 2017<br />
| title = State Borders<br />
| image = state_borders.png<br />
| titletext = A schism between the pro-panhandle and anti-panhandle factions eventually led to war, but both sides spent too much time working on their flag designs to actually do much fighting.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
In this comic, graphic designers take control of the United States, but the only thing they do is to change the state and national borders, using primarily aesthetic criteria. State and national borders have generally emerged from some combination of political decisions, natural boundaries, control of natural resources, and, to some degree, from chance. As the comic implies, some borders originally resulted from surveying errors, but became encoded by law and tradition, and thus were never changed. <br />
<br />
Despite the caption's rather blasé reaction to the graphic designers' master plan, the changes they propose could be rather tumultuous. Political boundaries are difficult to change because rewriting them places entire populations in different states or even different countries. Even within the US, changing a population from one state to another has serious implications. A different state means different laws, tax obligations, public benefits, business regulations, infrastructure support, etc. It would also mean that control of some very substantial natural resources would be transferred from one state to another. More significantly, the suggestion to cede portions of the US to Canada and Mexico would be a much bigger deal, forcing residents of those areas to either leave their homes, businesses, and communities or surrender their current nationality and apply for citizenship in another country. The joke behind the comic is that graphic designers would tend to ignore these practical concerns and pay more attention to a map looking orderly.<br />
<br />
This comic hints at the fact that it is indeed Randall who wants to see these changes made.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Proposed change !! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| Give to Canada || {{w|Minnesota}} has a small northern exclave (the {{w|Northwest Angle}}) which is sparsely populated (with only about 60 residents), and is accessible from the rest of the US only via the {{w| Lake of the Woods}} or by travelling through Canada. This land being part of the US is the result of a geographic error during the original negotiations over the border, and its irregularity would naturally bother someone concerned with clean and logical boundaries. The new borders suggest giving this territory to Canada to simplify the state and national border.<br />
|-<br />
| This should be {{w|Wisconsin}} || {{w|Michigan}} is divided into two parts by {{w|Lake Michigan}}. The graphic designers suggest eliminating a boundary line by assigning the upper peninsula of Michigan to Wisconsin. The upper peninsula of Michigan was given to Michigan as part of a compromise to end the {{w|Toledo War}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Move Long Island to NJ or CT, or make it its own state || {{w|Connecticut}} and {{w|New Jersey}} are very close to each other but don't actually border, separated only a few miles by {{w|New York State}}. {{w|Long Island}} is part of New York State, which visibly juts out into the Atlantic (extending so far to the east that it gives New York a maritime border with Rhode Island) and apparently drives graphic designers crazy who see an association with New Jersey or Connecticut or even becoming its own state more logical than being a part of New York State. This would have some issues, not least of which is that Long Island contains two of {{w|New York City}}'s five boroughs ({{w|Brooklyn}} and {{w|Queens}}) and more than half the city's population.<br />
|-<br />
| Unlabelled cleanup at the eastern border of New York, northern border of Massachusetts, and northern border of Connnecticut || Straighten the eastern border of New York from New York City to the southern tip of Lake Champlain, straighten the northern border of Massachusetts, and straighten the northern border of Connecticut.<br />
|-<br />
|-<br />
| Align to Grid || Most of the Western states are variations on "Let's have a large box", but there's something a bit irregular about them. Never fear, the Design Team has fixed!<br />
|-<br />
| Clean Up (Maryland/Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia) || Maryland's western panhandle and both of West Virginia's to the east and north would be smoothed out to have nice, straight, shorter lines. <br />
|-<br />
|Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware || {{w|Rhode Island}} and {{w|Delaware}}, the two {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area#Area_by_state.2Fterritory|smallest U.S. states by area}}, are often difficult to make out on a map of the United States. <br />
Expanding Delaware to occupy the entire {{w|Delmarva_Peninsula|Delmarva peninsula}} eliminates some boundary lines the designers apparently consider excessively fiddly, as well as solving another "Michigan" problem, as the "VA" of "Delmarva" refers to its {{w|Eastern Shore of Virginia|Eastern Shore}}, which is separated from the rest of Virginia by the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The two parts of Virginia are connected by the {{w|Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel}}, while Maryland's two bay shores are connected by U.S. Route 50.<br />
<br />
Expanding Rhode Island eastward would make it easier to see on a map. Giving the former {{w|Plymouth Colony}} to Rhode Island would have the additional advantage of making Massachusetts a more neatly rectangular state.<br />
|-<br />
| If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it? || {{w|Oklahoma}} has a "panhandle" to its west, which is a kind of {{w|Salient (geography)|Salient}}. The obvious fix would be to give it to Texas. In a twist, the graphic designers suggest extending it even further, across the northern parts of {{w|Arizona}} and {{w|New Mexico}}. This would make the {{w|Four Corners Monument}} obsolete, since Arizona and New Mexico would no longer border {{w|Utah}} and {{w|Colorado}} respectively, let alone all four states sharing a corner.<br />
|-<br />
| Fix this thing || The border of {{w|Missouri}} cuts into {{w|Arkansas}}, in the so-called {{w|Missouri Bootheel}}. The Design Team has awarded that piece to {{w|Arkansas}}, straightening the border.<br />
|-<br />
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Kentucky}}/{{w|Virginia}} || Virginia's western border is shifted east to align it with the borders to the north and south, forming a continuous line along the {{w|Appalachian_Mountains|Appalachians}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Nevada}}/{{w|Arizona}} || Continue the line of Utah's western border and Arizona's far northwestern border south (replacing part of the {{w|Colorado River}} boundary), transferring part of Arizona's {{w|Mohave_County,_Arizona|Mohave county}} to Nevada.<br />
|-<br />
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Texas}}/{{w|Oklahoma}}/{{w|Arkansas}}/{{w|Louisiana}} || Square off {{w|Southwest Arkansas}}, and move {{w|Lousiana's}} northwest border to meet up, presumably because square corners are better.<br />
|- <br />
| Clean up (Arizona/New Mexico/Texas) || One of {{w|New Mexico}}'s borders should be extended into a single line. This results in ceding some land to Mexico, having {{w|El Paso}} split across New Mexico and Texas, and Highway 62 alternating between two states. <br />
|-<br />
| Straighten to fix survey errors (Tennessee) || {{w|Tennessee}}'s southern border is supposed to be the 35th parallel north, but due to surveying errors made in the 19th Century the marked border is one mile south of that line. At many times since, Georgia has sought to fix this by various means (at least partly because doing so would net them some rights to the water from the Tennessee River) including bringing its case to the US Supreme Court - with the Design Team in charge, they wouldn't need those lawyers any more. Farther westward, Tennessee's actual southern border suddenly juts south at the Tennessee River between Alabama and Mississippi - again, the Design Team would rather see it smoothed out. Tennessee's northern border with Kentucky has similar hitches that prevent it from being a straight line that the Design Team wants to address.<br />
|-<br />
| Good Curve! Keep (Florida/Georgia/South Carolina) || The only thing the design team likes already about the shape of the US is the shape of the Atlantic coast in northern {{w|Florida}}, Georgia, and {{w|South Carolina}}, as it seems to bend into the US smoothly. Unfortunately for them, the curve is coastline; whether or not we get to keep it is up to the whims of Mother Nature.<br />
|-<br />
| Let's be honest, this should be Canada too || {{w|Southeast Alaska}} should be given to {{w|Canada}}, presumably because it more neatly fits with {{w|British Columbia}}. This is slightly problematic, as the current state capital, {{w|Juneau}}, is within this section. However, the state capital could be returned to its previous location, Anchorage.<br />
|-<br />
| Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty. || <br />
The {{w|Florida Panhandle}} borders southern {{w|Alabama}} denying the state all but a sliver of coastline. Given that Florida already has an abundance of coast, the Graphic Designers consider the present arrangement unfair. Ceding the Florida counties west of the {{w|Apalachicola River}} has actually been {{w|Florida_Panhandle#Alabama_annexation_proposals|raised since the 19th century}}. This change would have the additional benefit of more neatly aligning Florida's western border with that of neighboring {{w|Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia}}.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
In the title text, the graphic designers have a civil war between the ones that favor "panhandles" in the borders, such as the Oklahoma one which is enlarged in the map, the Florida one which is removed in the map, and maybe others such as the Texas region known as the "Texas panhandle". However, as graphic designers, they get too caught up in making the flag designs for their faction to actually fight. Randall has shown interest for vexillology (the study of flags) in the past.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[An outline map of the United States is shown, including state boundaries. The following edit marks are shown in red text:]<br />
:[Minnesota's Northwest Angle is circled] Give to Canada<br />
:[Border between Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula is crossed out] This should be Wisconsin<br />
:[New York's Long Island is circled, with arrows and question marks pointing to New Jersey and Connecticut] Move Long Island to NJ or CT or make it its own state<br />
:[New York's eastern border has been straightened]<br />
:[Wyoming's western border is moved to align with that of Colorado. The Montana/Idaho and Idaho/Utah borders are extended to reach the new border. Similarly, Colorado's eastern border is moved to align with that of Wyoming, and the Nebraska/Kansas border has been extended] Align to grid<br />
:[West Virginia's northern panhandle has been given to Ohio and part of its eastern panhandle has been given to Maryland. In return, Western Maryland has been given to West Virginia. The altogether effect is that West Virginia and Maryland have more compact shapes] Clean Up<br />
:[Rhode Island has been enlarged to encompass southeastern Massachusetts, and Delaware now takes up the entire Delmarva Peninsula] Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware<br />
:[The Oklahoma Panhandle has been extended west until it reaches Nevada, taking the northernmost parts of Arizona and New Mexico with it] If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it?<br />
:[The Missouri Bootheel has been given to Arkansas] Fix this thing<br />
:[The part of Virginia west of the Appalachian Mountains has been given to Kentucky]<br />
:[The southwestern and eastern borders of Nevada have been extended into Arizona until they meet a point. A part of California is slightly extended to reach the revised border]<br />
:[Parts of Arizona and New Mexico have been ceded to Mexico, and part of Texas has been given to New Mexico, so that the southern borders of Arizona and New Mexico and the northern border of the Trans-Pecos area of Texas collectively form a straight line] Clean Up<br />
:[Parts of northeastern Texas have been given to Arkansas and Louisiana]<br />
:[The northern and southern borders of Tennessee have been straightened] Straighten to fix survey errors<br />
:[A line has been traced along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida] Good curve! Keep.<br />
:[Alaska's southeastern panhandle has been circled] Let's be honest - this should be Canada, too.<br />
:[The Alabama/Florida border has been erased, and Alabama's eastern border has been extended south until it meets the Gulf of Mexico] Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:] <br />
:It was scary when graphic designers seized control of the country, but it turned out they just wanted to fix some things about the state borders that had always bothered them.<br><br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1896:_Active_Ingredients_Only&diff=1460981896: Active Ingredients Only2017-09-29T17:13:39Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar, clarity</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1896<br />
| date = September 29, 2017<br />
| title = Active Ingredients Only<br />
| image = active_ingredients_only.png<br />
| titletext = Contains the active ingredients from all competing cold medicines, plus the medicines for headaches, arthritis, insomnia, indigestion, and more, because who wants THOSE things?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is a reference to how all medicine typically has one (or a few) "Active" ingredient and many "Inactive" ingredients.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] thus presents a pack of {{w|Common cold|cold}} medicine that jokingly has "Active Ingredients Only", which is the name of the brand as can be seen since it has "™" after the name. It has six active ingredients and no inactive ingredients. All this because ''We're not here to waste your time'', their slogan, which is also trademarked.<br />
<br />
Since one of the inactive ingredients in any medicine in tablet form would be {{w|Binder (material)|binders}} that keep the tablet together, and keep the active ingredient(s) inside, it could be a serious problem to take this cold medicine. Opening the box would reveal a mix of various colored powders and no way to ensure you are correctly taking the right dose. In fact, it would be extremely easy to overdose yourself on one or more of the active ingredients.<br />
<br />
The title text says that it contains the active ingredients from all competing cold medicines, as well as almost every other medicine on the market for ''headaches, arthritis, insomnia, indigestion and more''. Some of these other conditions, but not all, often occur when you have a cold. This is in line with the "don't waste your time" slogan, since you then need to use only one cold medicine. This may be be a follow-up (or a wish from Randall) after [[1618: Cold Medicine]], where [[Cueball]] wishes to try all possible types of cold medicine at once. Note that, with this list, there should be more than those six active ingredients in the medicine than only those listed on the pack.<br />
<br />
It correctly states that, apart from the cold you are trying to get rid of, you also do not want these "other things". But it is not advisable to take too much medicine, and often you are warned not to mix different types at the same time, or at least should ask your doctor first. This cold medicine violates these rules, which is the main joke.<br />
<br />
Another joke is that taking any cold medicine has no effect on the cold itself, but instead treats some of the symptoms. So if you are going to go through all types of cold medicine to no avail anyway, you might as well get it over with by taking them all at once, saving some time.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[A picture of a pack of cold medicine. At the top there is a large advert in three lines. In a black line, to the right of the advert, white text states what kind of medicine is in the pack. Below to the left is a square frame listing ingredients. Most of the text inside this frame is unreadable scribbles. To the right of the frame is another advert inside a black frame. On the side of the box are also unreadable scribbles, both at the top and down next to the ingredients list. At the bottom of the box it can be seen how the pack can open up.]<br />
:<big>Active Ingredients</big><br />
:<big><big>'''Only'''</big></big><sup>TM</sup><br />
:We're not here to waste your time®<br />
<br />
:Cold Medicine<br />
<br />
:Active ingredients<br />
:[Six lines of scribbles, with first a name, then a statement in brackets and finally a column right of this with a short line of scribbles.]<br />
<br />
:Inactive ingredients<br />
:None<br />
<br />
:<big>No binders!</big><br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1866:_Russell%27s_Teapot&diff=1430331866: Russell's Teapot2017-07-21T15:53:37Z<p>SeanAhern: definition of set</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1866<br />
| date = July 21, 2017<br />
| title = Russell's Teapot<br />
| image = Russells_Teapot.png<br />
| titletext = Unfortunately, NASA regulations state that Bertrand Russell-related payloads can only be launched within launch vehicles which do not launch themselves.<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete| }}<br />
{{w|Russell's teapot|Russell's Teapot}} is a philosophical argument that reflects on the difficulty of trying to prove a negative. It involves a hypothetical teapot orbiting a heavenly body, whose existence hasn't been proven, and states that it cannot be disproven (Somebody put it there secretly?). It is very often used in atheistic arguments. Russell's Teapot is an analogy which {{w|Bertrand Russell}} devised "to illustrate that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making unfalsifiable claims, rather than shifting the burden of disproof to others."<br />
<br />
"He wrote that if he were to assert, without offering proof, that a teapot orbits the Sun somewhere in space between the Earth and Mars, he could not expect anyone to believe him solely because his assertion could not be proven wrong." (Wikipedia)<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] is trying to settle the teapot argument by actually launching a teapot into space via a {{w|crowdfunding}} campaign.<br />
<br />
"{{w|CubeSat}}-based design" refers to a type of miniaturized satellites that is made up of 10-centimeter cube units and enables cost-effective independent means for getting a payload into orbit.<br />
<br />
The title-text refers to {{w|Russell's paradox}}, also formulated by Bertrand Russell. Russell's paradox was a flaw found in {{w|naïve set theory}} where one could consider "the set of all sets that do not contain themselves" (a "set" is a mathematical term for a "group of things"). The paradox arises with whether this set, in turn, contains itself: if it does, then it cannot; if it doesn't, then it must. Similarly, like in the {{w|barber paradox}}, the vehicle which launches only vehicles which do not launch themselves is impossible: if the vehicle takes off, it must launch itself as well as the teapot, and thus can never be launched (without violating alleged NASA regulations, at least).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is standing in front of a blueprint labeled "CubeSat-Based Design", containing a satellite with a teapot in the top.]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:I'm crowdfunding a project to launch a teapot into orbit around the sun to settle the Russell thing once and for all.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1855:_Telephoto&diff=1420611855: Telephoto2017-06-27T15:51:33Z<p>SeanAhern: better verb</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1855<br />
| date = June 26, 2017<br />
| title = Telephoto<br />
| image = telephoto.png<br />
| titletext = I was banned from the airliners.net photography forum by concerned moderators after the end of my lens started brushing against planes as they flew by.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{w|Telephoto lens}}es are special {{w|camera lens|lenses for cameras}} that have a longer {{w|focal length}} than standard lenses, which allows the photographer to zoom in on an object. The joke is that [[Cueball]] did not want to spend the money on buying a new telephoto lens, and instead added many many "{{w|teleconverter|converters}}" and "{{w|extension tube|extenders}}" to his existing lens to get the same effect by moving his cheap camera (a standard {{w|webcam}}, in this case) close enough to the subject to obviate the need for zoom. <br />
<br />
There are many problems with this. First, the end result is completely impractical to carry around; as shown in the comic, Cueball has to set up two tripods just to support the weight of his hulking behemoth of a camera. Second, if you're an animal photographer like Cueball, you need to be able to see the animal as close up as possible in order to get a good picture; a lens with lots of magnification power accomplishes just that without alerting the animal to the photographer's presence, but Cueball's camera would surely scare off any birds he tried to photograph (except in fanciful proof-of-concept diagrams like this comic).<br />
<br />
Perhaps most damning of all, though, is the fact that Cueball's idea involves installing a webcam at the far end to be able to photograph anything. Webcams are not designed to capture high-resolution images, so the resulting image will be of considerably lower quality compared to professional photographers' works. But more importantly, the presence of the webcam renders the functionality of the extenders (and the base camera itself!) completely redundant, cementing this idea as a total waste of time and effort.<br />
<br />
The title text continues this by saying he was banned from the {{w|Airliners.net}} [http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=7 photography forum] because his new modified lens got so long from all of the attachments that it started brushing against planes as they flew by. It would seem that having a greater than 100 foot lens set up on or near the runway, along with the potential to damage planes in-flight, being banned from an online forum would be the least of his worries.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball stands behind a huge telephoto lens which rests on two tripods, one at the left in front of Cueball, and an other larger one in the middle. The lens is more than five times longer than Cueball is high. In front of the lens is a tree with a bird on top close to the lens. The bird is labeled "Subject". Inside the telephoto lens at the location of the objective lens a small device is shown and labeled "Webcam". From that device a small cable runs through the entire telephoto lens to the eyepiece, where an other device labeled "Camera" is shown.]<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Telephoto tip: If you add enough converters and extenders, you don't actually need a fancy lens.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1818:_Rayleigh_Scattering&diff=1381571818: Rayleigh Scattering2017-03-31T15:45:33Z<p>SeanAhern: Fixed misformatted wikipedia link</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1818<br />
| date = March 31, 2017<br />
| title = Rayleigh Scattering<br />
| image = rayleigh_scattering.png<br />
| titletext = If you ask "why are leaves green?" the usual answer is "because they're full of chlorophyll, and chlorophyll is green," even though "why does chlorophyll scatter green light?" is a great question too.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Incomplete explanation Needs fixing upping. DO NOT DELETE}}<br />
<br />
This comic deals with the tendency of physicists for explaining everything in the most complete and physically accurate way possible, often explaining things in a more elaborate way than necessary causing major confusion in inexperienced listeners. This is demonstrated by the explanation on {{w|Diffuse sky radiation|why the sky is blue}}, going into {{w|Quantum mechanics|quantum mechanical}} properties of air, whereas a much simpler explanation, such as air being blue, also adequately explains the phenomenon, and is probably much more understandable to less physically inclined listeners. When a person who looks like a young [[Science Girl]] asks her mother [[Blondie]] why is the sky blue, [[Megan]] walks in and starts to explain in a very scientific way. Blondie then criticizes her and explains that the sky is blue because the air is blue and as there is a quantum for every colour there is no need to state that the sky is unique. The last panel takes this explanation to the extremes by claiming that airplanes stay up because they have thousands of birds in their wings that hold them up by flapping. This, while certainly easier to understand, is much farther from reality than the explanation in the previous panels, as birds inside a plane would be unable to lift it by flapping their wings{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
<br />
The title of the comic refers to {{w|Rayleigh scattering}}, the process which is commonly named as the reason for why the sky is blue. This also comes up in [[1145: Sky Color]], where a similar situation with a physicist giving an overly complicated explanation to a child, who is unlikely to understand it.<br />
<br />
[https://what-if.xkcd.com/141/ What-if 141] also mentions the simpler explanation to the original question: Sunbeam has this relevant text: "Normal light interacts with the atmosphere through Rayleigh scattering. You may have heard of Rayleigh scattering as the answer to 'why is the sky blue.' This is sort of true, but honestly, a better answer to this question might be 'because air is blue.' Sure, it appears blue for a bunch of physics reasons, but everything appears the color it is for a bunch of physics reasons." There is also a footnote in that comment with an additional example: "When you ask, 'Why is the statue of liberty green?' the answer is something like, 'The outside of the statue is copper, so it used to be copper-colored. Over time, a layer of copper carbonate formed (through oxidation), and copper carbonate is green.' You don't say 'The statue is green because of frequency-specific absorption and scattering by surface molecules.' "<br />
<br />
The title text refers to another common question as for why leaves are green. This is commonly explained by the fact that they are filled with {{w|chlorophyll}}, a chemical used by plants for photosynthesis. Randall points out that it would be an equally valid question to ask why chlorophyll is green. This poses an interesting contrast to the answer to the question about the color of the sky, where physicists are quick to jump to describing quantum phenomena, whereas in the case of leaves they are usually satisfied by a more general explanation.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Needs more. Needs checking.}}<br />
<br />
:[2 Girls Talking, one a young Science Girl and the other is Blondie]<br />
:Science Girl: Why is the sky blue?<br />
:Blondie: Because air is blue,<br />
:[Megan walks in]<br />
:Megan: No, the sky is blue because of Rayleigh scattering -<br />
:Blondie: Nah, it's because air is blue. Blue light bounces off it and hits our Eyes. Same as why anything is any color,<br />
:[Zoom in on Blondie]<br />
:Blondie: It's why far-off mountains look blue - because of all the blue air in the way.<br />
[Back to view of three characters.]<br />
:Megan: There's a specific quantum mechanism by which -<br />
:Blondie: Yeah(,) but there's a physics mechanism for every color. You don't have to get all quantum right away.<br />
[frameless panel with Blondie and Science Girl]<br />
:Megan:(off panel) ... OK, I guess.<br />
:Blondie: Any other questions?<br />
:Science Girl: How do planes stay up?<br />
[Back to all three characters]<br />
:Megan: Well, the airflow -<br />
:Blondie: Tiny birds in the wings. Thousands. Flapping Hard.<br />
:Science Girl: WOW!<br />
:Megan: NO!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1810:_Chat_Systems&diff=1371131810: Chat Systems2017-03-13T18:53:19Z<p>SeanAhern: Fixed to use Randall's capitalization of Unix.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1810<br />
| date = March 13, 2017<br />
| title = Chat Systems<br />
| image = chat_systems.png<br />
| titletext = I'm one of the few Instagram users who connects solely through the Unix 'talk' gateway.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Fill in the table and explain the title text.}}<br />
In the world of social media, connecting to and communicating with friends, relatives, and other acquaintances can be extremely easy, but due to the large amount of networks and systems through which to communicate, and the selective nature of the people using them, it can be difficult to keep track of who uses which system(s), and thus, communication can be more complicated by social media as well.<br />
<br />
The ubiquity of standards - here, of messaging systems - was already covered in [[927: Standards]].<br />
<br />
===Chat systems mentioned===<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!System<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Skype}}<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Email<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|SMS<br />
|Small Message system, Texting<br />
|-<br />
|AIM<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Slack<br />
|A team instant messaging service<br />
|-<br />
|Hangouts<br />
|Google Hangouts is Google's instant messaging system. It can be used to share data and for video chat.<br />
|-<br />
|ICQ<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|iMessage<br />
|Apple's SMS service<br />
|-<br />
|IRC<br />
|IRC is an old chat system that many people refuse to switch off of. See also [[1782: Team Chat]].<br />
|-<br />
|Snapchat<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Signal<br />
| An app used for encrypted communications.<br />
|-<br />
|FB Messenger<br />
|Facebook's chat system.<br />
|-<br />
|Instagram DM<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Zephyr<br />
| {{w|Zephyr (protocol)}}<br />
|-<br />
|WhatsApp<br />
|Billed as encrypted end-to-end chat, allows VoIP chats, text chats, video and image sharing. Caters for group chat as well.<br />
|-<br />
|WeChat<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Telegram<br />
|Either a cloud based instant messaging system, or a message sent by telegraph, usually electrical telegraph. <br />
|-<br />
|Apache Request Log<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Twitter DM<br />
| "Direct messages" between users on {{w|Twitter}}.<br />
|-<br />
|BBM<br />
|Blackberry message. A chat system available on Blackberry phones, now largely obsolete.<br />
|-<br />
|Peach<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Unix 'talk'<br />
|Old peer-to-peer chat system whereby users logged into the same UNIX system could privately communicate with each other in a full-screen interface. {{w|Talk_(software)}}<br />
|-<br />
|Wall (Unix)<br />
|Short for "write all", the "wall" command copies its argument to every user logged into the same Unix system, and so can be used as a primitive chat system. {{w|Wall_(Unix)}}<br />
|-<br />
|Wall (bathroom)<br />
|Apparently a chat system based around writing on the wall in the bathroom. Not an electronic system. Alternatively, this could mean the person is an extreme introvert, and hides in his bathroom instead of interacting with others. <br />
|-<br />
|The "chat" tab in an old Google Doc<br />
|Google Docs is an online word processor reminiscent of Microsoft Word. One of the notable features is online collaborative editing, with a rudimentary chat feature for communication. Randall apparently communicates with someone using the chat in an old Google Doc.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:[an Euler diagram with a large number of circles for various chat systems, overlapping in complicated ways]<br />
:I have a hard time keeping track of which contacts use which chat systems.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1810:_Chat_Systems&diff=1371101810: Chat Systems2017-03-13T18:44:00Z<p>SeanAhern: UNIX talk</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1810<br />
| date = March 13, 2017<br />
| title = Chat Systems<br />
| image = chat_systems.png<br />
| titletext = I'm one of the few Instagram users who connects solely through the Unix 'talk' gateway.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Fill in the table and explain the title text.}}<br />
In the world of social media, connecting to and communicating with friends, relatives, and other acquaintances can be extremely easy, but due to the large amount of networks and systems through which to communicate, and the selective nature of the people using them, it can be difficult to keep track of who uses which system(s), and thus, communication can be more complicated by social media as well.<br />
<br />
The ubiquity of standards - here, of messaging systems - was already covered in [[927: Standards]].<br />
<br />
===Chat systems mentioned===<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!System<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| {{w|Skype}}<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Email<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|SMS<br />
|Small Message system, Texting<br />
|-<br />
|AIM<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Slack<br />
|A team instant messaging service<br />
|-<br />
|Hangouts<br />
|Google Hangouts is Google's instant messaging system. It can be used to share data and for video chat.<br />
|-<br />
|ICQ<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|iMessage<br />
|Apple's SMS service<br />
|-<br />
|IRC<br />
|IRC is an old chat system that many people refuse to switch off of. See also [[1782: Team Chat]].<br />
|-<br />
|Snapchat<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Signal<br />
| An app used for encrypted communications.<br />
|-<br />
|FB Messenger<br />
|Facebook's chat system.<br />
|-<br />
|Instagram DM<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Zephyr<br />
| {{w|Zephyr (protocol)}}<br />
|-<br />
|WhatsApp<br />
|Billed as encrypted end-to-end chat, allows VoIP chats, text chats, video and image sharing. Caters for group chat as well.<br />
|-<br />
|WeChat<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Telegram<br />
|Either a cloud based instant messaging system, or a message sent by telegraph, usually electrical telegraph. <br />
|-<br />
|Apache Request Log<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|Twitter DM<br />
| "Direct messages" between users on {{w|Twitter}}.<br />
|-<br />
|BBM<br />
|Blackberry message. A chat system available on Blackberry phones, now largely obsolete.<br />
|-<br />
|Peach<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|UNIX 'talk'<br />
|Old peer-to-peer chat system whereby users logged into the same UNIX system could privately communicate with each other in a full-screen interface. {{w|Talk_(software)}}<br />
|-<br />
|Wall (Unix)<br />
|Short for "write all", the "wall" command copies its argument to every user logged into the same Unix system, and so can be used as a primitive chat system.<br />
|-<br />
|Wall (bathroom)<br />
|Apparently a chat system based around writing on the wall in the bathroom. Not an electronic system. Alternatively, this could mean the person is an extreme introvert, and hides in his bathroom instead of interacting with others. <br />
|-<br />
|The "chat" tab in an old Google Doc<br />
|Google Docs is an online word processor reminiscent of Microsoft Word. One of the notable features is online collaborative editing, with a rudimentary chat feature for communication. Randall apparently communicates with someone using the chat in an old Google Doc.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:[an Euler diagram with a large number of circles for various chat systems, overlapping in complicated ways]<br />
:I have a hard time keeping track of which contacts use which chat systems.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1784:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Liquid_Resize&diff=1336071784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize2017-01-11T18:13:13Z<p>SeanAhern: All hail to the comma!</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1784<br />
| date = January 11, 2017<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_liquid_resize.png<br />
| titletext = This map preserves the shapes of Tissot's indicatrices pretty well, as long as you draw them in before running the resize.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Partial -- explains a few underlying concepts but needs a lead section}}<br />
<br />
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 different projections in [[977: Map Projections]], and expressed his disdain for some types he sees as less efficient but whose users feel superior. In this comic, he suggests a new map projection which is useless for most map applications as the size, shape, and position of most countries are quite distorted. Worse, this method needs a planar map projection as its starting point, thus compounding the problems.<br />
<br />
[https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/content-aware-scaling.html Photoshop's content aware resizing tool] resizes images by identifying what it thinks are important details and preserving these, while shrinking or stretching less detailed areas. For example, [http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/710073-content-aware-scaling when used on a face], the algorithm detects that the eyes and mouth are important details and tries to keep these in place, while stretching the skin around it. When applied to a map, this means that areas with lots of countries - and therefore lots of detail - such as Europe, West Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Central America/the Caribbean are relatively unchanged, while big countries like India, China and the US are very warped. [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/content-aware-scaling Bad content aware scaling] is a meme. This projection does do a good job, however, of making almost every country clearly visible and indicating which countries are neighbours. <br />
South America fits into Africa almost as it did in the era of the super-continent [[wikipedia:Pangaea|Pangaea]].<br />
<br />
[[wikipedia:Tissot's indicatrix|Tissot's indicatrices]] are equally sized small circles overlaid on a globe to show the distortion of a particular map projection; if the map distortion distorts the shapes or areas of countries, it will do the same to the circles. The title text suggests that the shapes of Tissot's indicatrices would be pretty well preserved by the Liquid Resize transformation, 'as long as you draw them in before running the resize'. Since drawing in the indicatrices first would be identified as details, the Photoshop filter would try not to change them. However, the rest of the map would still change around them, making them useless.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption at the top of the panel:]<br />
:Bad map projection #107:<br />
:<big>The Liquid Resize</big><br />
:A political map compressed using Photoshop's content-aware resizing algorithm to cut down on unused blank space<br />
<br />
:[Below the caption there is a map of the world divided and colored by political boundaries, with outlines around each continent in black and around each country in dark gray. Antarctica is colored in light gray, bodies of water in white, and countries in pale shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The map is heavily distorted, with Africa in the center and the other continents curving around it, approximating the bounds of a square with rounded corners. Especially the oceans have been removed but also huge countries like the US, Australia, Brazil and Russia have been heavily distorted while areas in the center with many smaller countries like Africa and Europe is almost unchanged.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1784:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Liquid_Resize&diff=1336061784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize2017-01-11T18:11:37Z<p>SeanAhern: clarification</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1784<br />
| date = January 11, 2017<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize<br />
| image = bad_map_projection_liquid_resize.png<br />
| titletext = This map preserves the shapes of Tissot's indicatrices pretty well, as long as you draw them in before running the resize.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Partial -- explains a few underlying concepts but needs a lead section}}<br />
<br />
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 different projections in [[977: Map Projections]], and expressed his disdain for some types he sees as less efficient but whose users feel superior. In this comic, he suggests a new map projection which is useless for most map applications as the size, shape, and position of most countries are quite distorted. Worse, this method needs a planar map projection as its starting point, thus compounding the problems.<br />
<br />
[https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/content-aware-scaling.html Photoshop's content aware resizing tool] resizes images by identifying what it thinks are important details and preserving these, while shrinking or stretching less detailed areas. For example, [http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/710073-content-aware-scaling when used on a face], the algorithm detects that the eyes and mouth are important details and tries to keep these in place, while stretching the skin around it. When applied to a map, this means that areas with lots of countries - and therefore lots of detail - such as Europe, West Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Central America/the Caribbean are relatively unchanged, while big countries like India, China and the US are very warped. [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/content-aware-scaling Bad content aware scaling] is a meme. This projection does do a good job however of making almost every country clearly visible, and indicating which countries are neighbours. <br />
South America fits into Africa almost as it did in the era of the super-continent [[wikipedia:Pangaea|Pangaea]].<br />
<br />
[[wikipedia:Tissot's indicatrix|Tissot's indicatrices]] are equally sized small circles overlaid on a globe to show the distortion of a particular map projection - if the map distortion distorts the shapes or areas of countries, it will do the same to the circles. The title text suggests that the shapes of Tissot's indicatrices would be pretty well preserved by the Liquid Resize transformation, 'as long as you draw them in before running the resize'. Since drawing in the indicatrices first would be identified as details, the Photoshop filter would try not to change them. However, the rest of the map would still change around them, making them useless.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption at the top of the panel:]<br />
:Bad map projection #107:<br />
:<big>The Liquid Resize</big><br />
:A political map compressed using Photoshop's content-aware resizing algorithm to cut down on unused blank space<br />
<br />
:[Below the caption there is a map of the world divided and colored by political boundaries, with outlines around each continent in black and around each country in dark gray. Antarctica is colored in light gray, bodies of water in white, and countries in pale shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The map is heavily distorted, with Africa in the center and the other continents curving around it, approximating the bounds of a square with rounded corners. Especially the oceans have been removed but also huge countries like the US, Australia, Brazil and Russia have been heavily distorted while areas in the center with many smaller countries like Africa and Europe is almost unchanged.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1774:_Adjective_Foods&diff=1332661774: Adjective Foods2017-01-04T14:00:35Z<p>SeanAhern: Filled in terms</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1774<br />
| date = December 19, 2016<br />
| title = Adjective Foods<br />
| image = adjective_foods.png<br />
| titletext = Contains 100% of your recommended daily allowance!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
In this comic, [[Randall]] imagines creating food items whose labels contain only adjectives, and putting them on display in supermarkets. This is likely a jab at food market buzzwords, which usually rely on adjectives that bring up certain feelings based on how the food is "supposed to be", rather than a factual description of what the food actually is. By removing all nouns from product labels, Randall takes this trend to its extreme. The items depicted in this comic are filled with popular descriptions that make them sound appealing, but give no useful information about their contents. It is implied that some consumers who are susceptible to buzzword marketing will nevertheless purchase these products.<br />
<br />
The adjectives seen in the comic are:<br />
* '''Premium''': A generic term that indicates high quality, which can be used to describe any food. There is no objective standard for what can be labeled "premium".<br />
* '''Stone-ground''': A term typically used to describe milled grain products such as flour, corn meal, or mustard. This term evokes a sense of tradition (as opposed to industrial processing), and by association, heartiness or healthiness. In reality, contents are rarely distinguishable no matter what grinding surface was used.<br />
* '''Bespoke''': A word meaning "custom made to individual order", in contrast to factory mass-produced items typically found in supermarkets. It is supposed to imply higher quality due to the producer giving it more attention. However, mass-produced items are usually ones that pass more strict quality controls, have more consistent results, and appeal more to popular tastes.<br />
* '''Cage-free''': A term typically used to describe chicken. Chickens are usually farmed in tight cages and not allowed to move freely. Ethical concerns for the chickens' welfare led to preference for better handling methods such as "cage-free" and "{{w|Free-range_eggs|free range}}". These terms however are still often abused by farmers looking to maximize their profits, as "cage-free" can simply mean crowded in a filthy barn, and "free range" might be a tiny patch of grass which chickens are allowed to, but rarely actually, visit.<br />
* '''Gourmet''': Another generic term that indicates sophisticated, fancy, or exotic properties. Any food can be labeled "gourmet" without any objective standard.<br />
* '''Fire-roasted''': A method of preparation by heating food over an open flame. This process typically gives the food a distinct flavor through {{w|caramelization}} and by absorbing the smoky flavor from the fire itself.<br />
* '''{{w|Glaze_(cooking_technique)|Glazed}}''': A description indicating that the food has been coated with a thin layer of glossy liquid. This is usually done to improve the flavor and texture.<br />
* '''{{w|Flamb%C3%A9|Flamb&eacute;}}''': A method of preparation by adding alcohol to the food and setting it on fire. This is mainly done for dramatic presentation in a restaurant setting. The alcohol content, and the flames to a lesser extent, can give food additional flavors.<br />
* '''{{w|Organic_food|Organic}}''': In the context of food, this term describes methods of production which meet certain standards for sustainability and lack of synthetic chemicals. These standards vary by country and region. While one can support organic farming for ecological reasons, many also incorrectly associate "organic" to mean better tasting, more nutritious, or otherwise healthier. Experiments to date have found no difference in safety, nutrition, and taste between organically and conventionally produced foods.<br />
* '''{{w|Natural_foods|All-natural}}''': A term that generally implies that all the food's ingredients were directly sourced from domestication and farming, with no additives or alterations through modern technologies like chemical synthesis or genetic engineering. Similar to "organic", definition and enforcement of this term varies by country and region. While it is true that food processing technologies have led to an explosion of {{w|Junk_food|junk food}}, it is not true that "natural" is necessarily always better. Many natural products can be harmful if used carelessly, and some processing methods do in fact improve the safety and nutrition of food.<br />
* '''Locally-sourced''': A term indicating that the ingredients are procured and prepared in the same general geographical area where it is sold, instead of arriving by long-distance shipping or international trade. People may prefer to "{{w|Local_purchasing|buy local}}" due to perceived benefits to the local economy, community, and environment.<br />
* '''Artisanal''': Similar to "bespoke", this is a word meaning "created by hand by a skilled craft worker". Again this is in contrast to mass-produced items in factories where most preparation is done by machines and where workers have little knowledge of the methods.<br />
* '''{{w|Kosher_foods|Kosher}}''': A term which designates foods that may be consumed in accordance to Jewish religious dietary laws. This is important to people who follow Jewish practices, but otherwise has little significance to non-Jewish people.<br />
* '''Grade A''': In some countries and for some specific items (such as eggs in the US), the grade can carry specific meaning about the item's quality and general suitability for sale and consumption. However without context for what the food is, this is nothing but another meaningless term which alludes to high quality but carries no weight.<br />
* '''Craft''': A term similar to "artisanal".<br />
* '''{{w|Barrel}}-aged''': A term typically used to describe fermented products such as alcoholic beverages, vinegar, and certain sauces. Sealing these items in wooden barrels and allowing them to age helps them to develop more complex flavors. The barrels themselves can also impart flavors to the food.<br />
* '''{{w|Smoking_(cooking)|Smoked}}''': A method of preparation by placing food, often meats or cheeses, in chambers filled with dense smoke. The food slowly absorbs the smoke which enhances its flavor.<br />
* '''Authentic''': Typically used for foods imported from another culture, this term indicates that the ingredients, preparation, taste, etc. are true to the original, native version. It can also indicate that the ingredients are real, not substituted with similar but lower-quality alternatives. However, since there's no objective criteria for what can be called "authentic", the word has largely lost its meaning and the quality of items labeled as such still varies greatly.<br />
* '''Homemade''': Another term which evokes the idea of careful preparation by hand rather than commercial mass production. People will often prefer meals prepared from scratch at home by themselves or close family members, likely because they grew up eating similar meals and have developed a fondness for its particular characteristics. However, there is no reason to believe one will enjoy food prepared in ''someone else's'' home any more than commercially produced versions.<br />
* '''Sun-dried''': A term often applied to vegetables that have been, well, dried in the sun, e.g., sun-dried tomatoes.<br />
* '''Whole''': A term applied to food that has not been broken apart into smaller pieces, e.g., whole walnuts.<br />
* '''Extra sharp''': Often applied to cheeses, indicating a stronger or "sharper" flavor, e.g., extra sharp cheddar cheese.<br />
* '''Low-calorie''': Used to label foods that have been formulated to deliver fewer calories than a regular food.<br />
* '''Lite''': Similar to 'low-calorie', 'lite' is applied to foods that have fewer calories or lesser fat content than regular food.<br />
* '''Original flavor''': If a company produces many products, it will sometimes differentiate them by flavor. After many years, the first flavor that a product came in can often be preferred by customers. Companies will often capitalize on this by marketing a product as having the "original flavor", rather than one of the variants.<br />
* '''{{w|Reference_Daily_Intake|Recommended daily allowance}}''' (title text): Information often found in the nutritional information on food labels which compare the amount of {{w|macronutrients}}, vitamins and minerals to a prescribed standard amount an average person is deemed to require in their daily diet.<br />
<br />
The title text may be a continuation of the main joke, in that Randall has removed the noun (nutrient type) which the recommended daily allowance is supposed to measure. This leaves "100%" which gives an impression of good value, but it is useless without knowing what it describes. Alternatively, it may be suggesting facetiously that the foods contain 100% of the recommended daily allowance of adjectives, given the high quantity of them in the product names. Obviously, adjectives are not a nutrient the human body needs that would normally be subject of a nutritional chart.<br />
<br />
This joke is very similar to [[1060|comic 1060, Crowdsourcing]], in that Randall is doing nothing, and trying to make it look like he is doing something. It expresses the opposite idea from [[993|comic 993, Brand Identity]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[An arrangement of labeled foodstuffs, from left to right and top to bottom:]<br />
:Premium Stone-ground Bespoke, Cage-free<br />
:Gourmet Fire-roasted Glazed flambé<br />
:Organic All-natural Locally-sourced Artisanal, Kosher, Grade A<br />
:Craft Barrel-aged Smoked Authentic Homemade Sun-dried Whole Extra Sharp<br />
:Low-calorie Lite Original Flavor<br />
:[Caption:] I'm trying to trick supermarkets into carrying my new line of adjective-only foods.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
<br />
* The word “artisanal” was originally misspelled as “artisenal”.<br />
** The wrong spelling is found [https://web.archive.org/web/20161219163201/http://xkcd.com/1774/ here].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1781:_Artifacts&diff=1332601781: Artifacts2017-01-04T13:53:17Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar, clarification</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1781<br />
| date = January 4, 2017<br />
| title = Artifacts<br />
| image = artifacts.png<br />
| titletext = I didn't even realize you could HAVE a data set made up entirely of outliers.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic shows [[Cueball]] presenting data, that was probably gathered in research. Cueball seems to have made some kind of mistake in either the statistics or the measurement of the undefined subject of his research, thus his data results in many outliers. The word artifact is a wordplay with two meanings. It is either an {{w|Artifact_(archaeology)|artifact such as the Holy Grail}} (as in Indiana Jones) or a fault in your experiment, where you (usually accidentally) influence the measurement with your equipment or unanticipated environmental factors. These are also called {{w|Artifact_(error)|artifacts}}.<br />
An example of an artifact is the measurement of the force between two charged metal spheres (Coulomb force), where the potential of unearthed nearby objects influences the measurement, thus causing an artifact. The measurement in the experiment would be heavily influenced by its environment, thus causing an artifact.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1774:_Adjective_Foods&diff=1327721774: Adjective Foods2016-12-21T15:35:49Z<p>SeanAhern: Remove section that adds nothing to the understanding of the comic</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1774<br />
| date = December 19, 2016<br />
| title = Adjective Foods<br />
| image = adjective_foods.png<br />
| titletext = Contains 100% of your recommended daily allowance!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic shows one of [[Randall]]’s goals in life – creating foods with "adjective-only" names, where common phrases such as "glazed donuts" or "lite beer" would be replaced with "glazed" or "lite". This is a jab at food market buzzwords, which usually rely on adjectives and words that bring up certain feelings based on how the food is "supposed to be". An example of this is something like "lean and tender beef". It is also semi-difficult to determine the actual contents just by adjectives, or if there are any contents besides adjectives.<br />
<br />
Even though the comic says "adjective-only", "original flavor" is a noun phrase.<br />
<br />
The title text furthers this by taking the phrase "[[wikt:Reference_Daily_Intake|recommended daily allowance]] of XXX", and removing the "of XXX" part. This may have been an attempt at furthering the joke by making it vague enough to be meaningless or it could be a jab at the cost of high adjective count food.<br />
<br />
This joke is very similar to [[1060|comic 1060, Crowdsourcing]], in that Randall is doing nothing, and trying to make it look like he is doing something. It expresses the opposite idea from [[993|comic 993, Brand Identity]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[An arrangement of labeled foodstuffs, from left to right and top to bottom:]<br />
:Premium Stone-ground Bespoke, Cage-free<br />
:Gourmet Fire-roasted Glazed flambé<br />
:Organic All-natural Locally-sourced Artisanal, Kosher, Grade A<br />
:Craft Barrel-aged Smoked Authentic Homemade Sun-dried Whole Extra Sharp<br />
:Low-calorie Lite Original Flavor<br />
:[Caption:] I'm trying to trick supermarkets into carrying my new line of adjective-only foods.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
<br />
* The word “artisanal” was originally misspelled as “artisenal”.<br />
** The wrong spelling is found [https://web.archive.org/web/20161219163201/http://xkcd.com/1774/ here].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1774:_Adjective_Foods&diff=132707Talk:1774: Adjective Foods2016-12-19T18:58:44Z<p>SeanAhern: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Nobody has edited since I started this? Wow. I must have been ''early''. It's been {{#expr:{{#time:i}}}} minutes! [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 15:23, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Nice to see somebody helping out! Thanks! [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 15:41, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This looks just like all the food in my supermarket. I'm not even sure if I'm buying food or the best adjectives sometimes XD [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 15:59, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The can of Lite is a real thing, of course, and trademarked, which is why other beers can call themselves "light" but not "Lite". [https://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/2627/lite-beer-vs-light-beer/ This article has more on that.] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.4|162.158.75.4]] 16:05, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Italics is totally fine, and Glazed and Lite ''are'' in white. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 16:13, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:First off, I would like to apologize, my reason for changing the text to normal could be seen as inflammatory, and that was not my intention. As for my actual reason, it's that while you may be able to read it fine, many people can't read text like that. In the comic, it's large and capital letters, but the wiki has small text. Adding all that guff makes it hard to read. For example, my mom has awful eyes, and text like that would be virtually unreadable to her. It was not for my sake, but rather for the sake of others. [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 16:18, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
::It's not hard to increase the font size on a computer -- just ctrl and + (or ctrl and =). ctrl and - to turn it back down. The transcript is mainly there for search engines anyway, I imagine; after all, the comic is directly above it on the same page.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.178|108.162.237.178]] 17:29, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::it isn't hard to increase font size, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how busy the text is. There is no reason for it to have that much. It distracts from the real purpose and decreases readability. Also, they want it edited as well. Note the box above the transcript about format. This is not about you. It needs to change for other people who cannot read this stuff as well. What makes you think everyone knows how to increase font size? I honestly didn't until now. You need to do something about it, I'll do it for you, which you may not like.[[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 17:48, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is "artisenal" even a word? Is that a purposeful misspelling of "artisanal"? (Like "lite" is a purposeful misspelling of "light".) [[User:Imperpay|Imperpay]] ([[User talk:Imperpay|talk]]) 16:42, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The "artisenal" error has now been fixed in the updated comic. [http://xkcd.com/1774/]. --[[User:Esterhazy|Esterhazy]] ([[User talk:Esterhazy|talk]]) 17:42, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The 'p' by a "kosher mark" indicates that it is kosher for Passover. It will say 'pareve' outright if the food is pareve. --Hamotron[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.28|172.68.54.28]] 18:24, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Who cares what foods ''might'' be in each of the packages? It has nothing to do with the comic and are generally speculation anyway. I'd disagree with most of what's written, but it doesn't matter. I would argue for removing the entire table/section. [[User:SeanAhern|SeanAhern]] ([[User talk:SeanAhern|talk]]) 18:58, 19 December 2016 (UTC)</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1774:_Adjective_Foods&diff=132706Talk:1774: Adjective Foods2016-12-19T18:58:34Z<p>SeanAhern: Why do we care about contents?</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Nobody has edited since I started this? Wow. I must have been ''early''. It's been {{#expr:{{#time:i}}}} minutes! [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 15:23, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Nice to see somebody helping out! Thanks! [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 15:41, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This looks just like all the food in my supermarket. I'm not even sure if I'm buying food or the best adjectives sometimes XD [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 15:59, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The can of Lite is a real thing, of course, and trademarked, which is why other beers can call themselves "light" but not "Lite". [https://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/2627/lite-beer-vs-light-beer/ This article has more on that.] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.4|162.158.75.4]] 16:05, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Italics is totally fine, and Glazed and Lite ''are'' in white. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 16:13, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:First off, I would like to apologize, my reason for changing the text to normal could be seen as inflammatory, and that was not my intention. As for my actual reason, it's that while you may be able to read it fine, many people can't read text like that. In the comic, it's large and capital letters, but the wiki has small text. Adding all that guff makes it hard to read. For example, my mom has awful eyes, and text like that would be virtually unreadable to her. It was not for my sake, but rather for the sake of others. [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 16:18, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
::It's not hard to increase the font size on a computer -- just ctrl and + (or ctrl and =). ctrl and - to turn it back down. The transcript is mainly there for search engines anyway, I imagine; after all, the comic is directly above it on the same page.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.178|108.162.237.178]] 17:29, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::it isn't hard to increase font size, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how busy the text is. There is no reason for it to have that much. It distracts from the real purpose and decreases readability. Also, they want it edited as well. Note the box above the transcript about format. This is not about you. It needs to change for other people who cannot read this stuff as well. What makes you think everyone knows how to increase font size? I honestly didn't until now. You need to do something about it, I'll do it for you, which you may not like.[[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 17:48, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is "artisenal" even a word? Is that a purposeful misspelling of "artisanal"? (Like "lite" is a purposeful misspelling of "light".) [[User:Imperpay|Imperpay]] ([[User talk:Imperpay|talk]]) 16:42, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The "artisenal" error has now been fixed in the updated comic. [http://xkcd.com/1774/]. --[[User:Esterhazy|Esterhazy]] ([[User talk:Esterhazy|talk]]) 17:42, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The 'p' by a "kosher mark" indicates that it is kosher for Passover. It will say 'pareve' outright if the food is pareve. --Hamotron[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.28|172.68.54.28]] 18:24, 19 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Who cares what foods ''might'' be in each of the packages? It has nothing to do with the comic and are generally speculation anyway. I'd disagree with most of what's written, but it doesn't matter. I would argue for removing the entire table/section.</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1761:_Blame&diff=1311851761: Blame2016-11-18T14:35:56Z<p>SeanAhern: citation needed</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1761<br />
| date = November 18, 2016<br />
| title = Blame<br />
| image = blame.png<br />
| titletext = I bet if I yell at my scared friends I will feel better.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete|There needs to be more}}<br />
<br />
Cueball states that he feels sad and links it with his observation that bad things are happening. Sadness is a normal human reaction to perceived bad events {{Citation needed}}. (Other emotions that might be felt at such times include anger and guilt.)<br />
<br />
He then reasons that it must be someone's fault. If the "bad things" in question are not natural calamities or accidents, it is usually logical to surmise that someone is responsible for them taking place.<br />
<br />
After some thinking, he has an idea. Ideas are usually the result of thinking {{Citation needed}}, although it might not always be conscious thinking like Cueball is doing.<br />
<br />
He then blames his friends on Facebook, an online website that helps people communicate with other people through their computers and handheld electronic devices. While they could be possible reason for bad events(for example if the bad event was nobody wishing him a happy birthday or someone posting compromising pictures)his friends would not be a likely source for bad events extending beyond a personal or local scope. Most people have a few hundred (or thousand) friends (or "friends") on Facebook, most of whom do not have enough influence to cause bad events on a national or global level.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
This is probably a reference to people ranting on social media sites (like Facebook) about various things which are blamed on certain people (or sometimes everyone), but the person doing the ranting never thinks that the problem might be with themselves.<br />
<br />
It probably also a reference to how an individual's Facebook news feed has probably been inundated by political posts due to the results of the 2016 United States presidential election. One read on this is that, many people, including news sources, have pointed out that social media forms an echo chamber<ref>http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/07/24/486941582/the-reason-your-feed-became-an-echo-chamber-and-what-to-do-about-it</ref>, and some sources have claimed that this is responsible both for political polarization<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc&t=2s</ref> and even for the recent victory of Donald Trump<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-president-social-media-echo-chamber-hypernormalisation-adam-curtis-protests-blame-a7409481.html</ref>. Notably, Randall [[1756|publicly supported Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton in a recent comic]]. Therefore, blaming social media for the election can be read as blaming his friends echoing his ideas back to him as causing (partially) Clinton's loss; thus they are (partially) at fault for his presumed sadness over her loss in the election. A second read on this would be that constant reminders of Clinton's loss only serve to make Randall sadder: again the proximal cause being his friends' posts. A third read would be that friends with whom Cueball/Randall disagrees are posting things that he finds unpleasant to read, either ideas that he finds offensive or posts "rubbing in" the victory of the candidate Randall opposed.<br />
<br />
===Title text===<br />
<br />
The title text refers to people venting, usually in all caps and with exclamation points. Usually, users do this when they are mad. The (humorous) assumption here is that one will feel better after doing so. While some amount of venting might help to relieve immediate stress caused by bad events, alienating people you know by blaming them for bad events usually causes more stress in the long run.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Cueball: I feel sad.<br />
:Bad things are happening.<br />
:They must be someone's fault.<br />
:But whose?<br />
:[A light bulb, indicating he has an idea]<br />
:My friends on Facebook.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1756:_I%27m_With_Her&diff=130120Talk:1756: I'm With Her2016-11-07T18:27:00Z<p>SeanAhern: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
The "I'm with her" and H with an arrow are CLEARLY the respective campaign slogan and campaign logo for Hillary Clinton, not some vagueness having to do with bringing a significant other. --[unsigned]<br />
<br />
Has Randall endorsed a presidential candidate before? --[[User:Dfeuer|Dfeuer]] ([[User talk:Dfeuer|talk]]) 17:14, 7 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
He supported Obama on his blog in '08, not in the comic though.<br />
<br />
He could have said any number of clever things about the election, and all he did was put up a campaign sign. Disappointing. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 17:37, 7 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
what a cuck --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.63|172.68.51.63]] 17:45, 7 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: leaving aside the most ridiculous slur of the past few years, I don't know what else did you expect from Randall. I guess you must have stumbled upon this wiki by chance and have never heard of xkcd before.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.130|141.101.98.130]] 17:59, 7 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is the first time I still don't get the joke even after reading the explainxkcd page [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.123|108.162.219.123]] 18:09, 7 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
== Bit disappointing... ==<br />
<br />
I was hoping for a comic today. oh well. Interesting to see how he's planning to vote, though - it's a shame that there are no candidates this year in favor of strong encryption.<br />
<br />
Funny how females outdo males in this 'comic' but in terms of frequency and of elevation. Oh well. xkcd has long been overrepresenting females, it was to be expected. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki><br />
<br />
Seriously? You're whinging 'what about the men?' in a geek web comic?! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.212|108.162.215.212]] 18:21, 7 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The only disappointing this are comments like those two above. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 18:11, 7 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A little disappointing to have a normally lighthearted comic dive seriously into politics, if even for one strip. Not really a fan of either candidate, but would like to see stuff like this stay above the fray.<br />
:Completely agreed. [[User:SeanAhern|SeanAhern]] ([[User talk:SeanAhern|talk]]) 18:27, 7 November 2016 (UTC)</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1755:_Old_Days&diff=1300331755: Old Days2016-11-04T18:28:35Z<p>SeanAhern: Clean up the floppy disk concept</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1755<br />
| date = November 4, 2016<br />
| title = Old Days<br />
| image = old_days.png<br />
| titletext = Lot of drama in those days, including constant efforts to force the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" guy into retirement so we could stop being so paranoid about compilers.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|More explanation required on computer programming. Fill out the explanation column in the [[#Table of statements|table]] that lists all the statements.}}<br />
This comic is showing a conversation between (young) [[Cueball]] and (old) [[Hairbun]] about computer programming in the past, specifically the {{w|compilers}}. Cueball, having a faint idea of just how difficult and byzantine programming was "in the old days", asks Hairbun to enlighten him on the specifics. Hairbun promptly seizes the opportunity to screw with his head.<br />
<br />
While her initial explanation that code needed to be compiled for multiple architectures is correct, Hairbun's claims rapidly grow ridiculous to the point where the improvement from {{w|C (programming language)|C}} to {{w|C++}} was that C++ finally supported {{w|floppy disks}} but just punched holes in them rather than using {{w|punch cards}} "like C used". (A notch in the side of 5.25" floppy disks indicates when the disk could be written. Though many floppy disks were intended to have only a single side with data, many people used a hole punch to notch the opposite side of the disk, allowing a drive to write data to the other side of the disk in a single sided drive.)<br />
<br />
Hairbun tells Cueball a tall tale about how hard it was back in the '''old days''', making it sound like some of the programming languages used today (C, C++) were written on punch cards and that you had to ship your code in the mail to a computer company ({{w|IBM}} in this case) to compile your code, which would take from four to six weeks. If there was a simple error, you would have to ship it again for another compilation. <br />
<br />
Nothing of what she tells Cueball makes any sense, but it is clear from Cueball's final ''Wow'' that he falls for it, ready to believe anything the old Hairbun tells him about how horrible it was to program in the olden days. It is true that it was tough and slow to program on punch cards, which were actually used for an extended period of time, but there is nothing in the rest of Hairbun's story that accurate, except that it was a big deal when the floppy disk was invented.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Hairbun continues her musings on the old compiler days, stating that there was ''a lot of drama in those days''. Specifically the references ''[http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/hh/thompson/trust.html Reflections on Trusting Trust]'' a famous 1984 paper by {{w|UNIX}} co-creator {{w|Ken Thompson}} in which he described a way to hide a virtually undetectable backdoor in the UNIX login code via a second backdoor in the C compiler. Using the technique in his paper, it would be impossible to discover the hacked login by examining the official source code for either the login or the compiler itself. Ken Thompson may have actually included this backdoor in early versions of UNIX, undiscovered. Ken Thompson's paper demonstrated that it was functionally impossible to prove that any piece of software was fully trustworthy. <br />
<br />
Hairbun claims that one of the dramas she refers to was that people tried to force Ken Thompson to retire, so everyone could stop being so paranoid about compilers. In reality, any coder who created the first version of a compiler (or a similar critical component) could inject a similar backdoor into software, so it would be false safety. Even if no one else had thought of this, then Thompson's paper was there for any future hacker to see. Though the problem was (claimed to be) solved in {{w|David A. Wheeler}} Ph.D dissertation "[http://www.dwheeler.com/trusting-trust/ Fully Countering Trusting Trust through Diverse Double-Compiling (DDC)]".<br />
<br />
==Table of statements==<br />
{|class="wikitable"<br />
!Statements<br />
!Concepts used<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|Compile things for different processors<br />
|Compilers convert code from a human-readable programming language into a binary code that can be directly executed by computer processors.<br />
|Many popular modern programming languages are either interpreted - meaning that they run directly from source code - or compile to an intermediate bytecode, like Java or common Python implementations. Programs written in such languages are portable across processor architectures - x86 to ARM, for example. Lower-level languages must take into account the features available on a given processor architecture and operating system. Before that, programs needed to compile directly into the native machine language for each processor they were intended to run on.<br />
Native machine language is dependent on processor architecture. Therefore different processors designed around different architectures will not run the same compiled code (unless the architectures are compatible; AMD64 processors will run i386 code natively, for example.) If the same code needs to be run on multiple architectures, it must be compiled separately for each supported architecture.<br />
|-<br />
|To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM. It took 4-6 weeks.<br />
|Similar to sending Kodachrome slide film to Kodak to be developed.<br />
|While IBM has released multiple compilers, they sent the compiler to you, you did not send the code to them. There is some kind of truth in the statement, though: When programming on mainframes, programmers submitted their source code in the evening for compilation over night. When there was an error in the code, they did not get a compiled version of it back, and had to resubmit their code. Sometimes there were time slots available for compilation, and in universities, students will have to wait for their next time slot for another try.<br />
|-<br />
|Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away. <br />
|A {{w|Garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collector}} is a piece of the software that cleans the {{w|RAM}} of data that is no longer being used in the execution of a program. <br />
|Hairbun's comment is grounded in reality. Garbage collection is a form of memory management that generally destroys objects or frees up memory once a program no longer needs it. In languages without automatic memory management, like C, the program itself must keep track of what memory has been allocated, and free it once it is no longer needed. If the program does not, it can end up trying to use more memory than the computer has, and may crash. This was, however, a ''temporary'' condition. In the worst case, a simple reboot will clear the computer's memory. <br />
|-<br />
|Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.<br />
|A {{w|Comment (computer programming)|comment}} in programming is a text written in natural language that is meant to explain some feature of the source code; it is tagged such that the compiler will discard it to save space. {{w|Assembly}} is a low-level programming language.<br />
|Comments, in code, are portions of one or more lines that are ignored by the compiler. They are commonly used to explain or comment on the code itself. But sometimes the comments are written in a certain way to compile documentation automatically from it. Also, when examining the output of compilers it's a common practice to use assembly code annotated with comments containing the source code of the program from which the assembly code was generated.<br />
<br />
Hairbun's comment is thus very strange, implying the compilers of the day could only distinguish between comments and code if assembly was used to insert the separating tags. <br />
|-<br />
|C could only be written on punch cards. You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.<br />
|{{w|C (programming language)|C}} is a programming language. A {{w|punch card}} is a primitive form of storing data; it stored data in {{w|binary language}} with holes in a paper or cardboard card where a hole meant a 1 and the absence of a hole meant a 0. <br />
|While punch cards were used through the late 1970s and early 1980s to enter programs and data in COBOL, FORTRAN and other early languages, the use of punch cards and punch card machines had been replaced by a {{w|text editor}} long before C (or C++) was developed as a language.<br />
<br />
Hairbun claims that code was not written using keyboards, but by punching out letter and character shapes in the punch cards, and the computer would load read keystrokes that way. Simply put, this was never true. Punch cards store characters in binary; there is no font involved and they store up to fixed limit of characters per card (80 characters in the most common format.)<br />
|-<br />
|C++ was big because it supported floppy disks. It still punched holes in them, but it was a start.<br />
|{{w|C++ (programming language)|C++}} is a programming language. A {{w|floppy disk}} is a form of storing data magnetically. It's more advanced than punch cards, but it's still old.<br />
|Hairbun says that the improvement from C to C++ was that C++ finally "supported floppy disks", but then it turns out that in C++ the floppy disks were just used instead of punch cards. So the programing was to make holes in floppy disks rather than punch cards. This would of course not be an improvement as floppy disks store information magnetically, as opposed to physically, as punch cards do. This is likely a play on the concept of punching holes in 5.25" floppy disks to double their storage (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Double-sided_disk&oldid=713168494).<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Hairbun are standing together and Cueball is talking to her.]<br />
:Cueball: What were things like in the old days?<br />
:Cueball: I hear that you had to ... compile things for different processors?<br />
:Hairbun: Yeah<br />
<br />
:[Same setting in a slimmer panel, now Hairbun is replying.]<br />
:Hairbun: To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM.<br />
:Hairbun: It took 4-6 weeks.<br />
<br />
:[Close-up of Hairbun from the waist up.]<br />
:Hairbun: Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting as in the first panel with Hairbun gesturing toward Cueball raising one hand palm up.]<br />
:Hairbun: Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel Hairbun is seen from the front, with both arms out to the side with both hands held palm up.]<br />
:Hairbun: '''C''' could only be written on punch cards.You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.<br />
<br />
:[Exactly the same setting as the first panel, but with Hairbun doing the talking.]<br />
:Hairbun: '''C++''' was big because it supported floppy disks.<br />
:Hairbun: It still punched holes in them, but it was a start.<br />
:Cueball: Wow.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1755:_Old_Days&diff=1300021755: Old Days2016-11-04T12:52:16Z<p>SeanAhern: more grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1755<br />
| date = November 4, 2016<br />
| title = Old Days<br />
| image = old_days.png<br />
| titletext = Lot of drama in those days, including constant efforts to force the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" guy into retirement so we could stop being so paranoid about compilers.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|More explanation required on computer programming. Fill out the explanation column in the [[#Table of statements|table]] that lists all the statements.}}<br />
This comic is showing a conversation between (young) [[Cueball]] and (old) [[Hairbun]] about computer programming in the past, specifically the {{w|compilers}}. Cueball, having a faint idea of just how difficult and byzantine programming was "in the old days", asks Hairbun to enlighten him on the specifics. Hairbun promptly seizes the opportunity to screw with his head.<br />
<br />
While her initial explanation that code needed to be compiled for multiple architectures is correct, Hairbun's claims rapidly grow ridiculous to the point where the improvement from {{w|C (programming language)|C}} to {{w|C++}} was that C++ finally supported {{w|floppy disks}} but just punched holes in them rather than using {{w|punch cards}} "like C used". (A notch in the side of 5.25" floppy disks indicated when the side could be written to. Though many floppy disks were intended to have only a single side with data, many people used a hole punch to notch the opposite side of the disk, allowing a drive to write data to the back side of the disk.)<br />
<br />
Hairbun tells Cueball a tall tale about how hard it was back in the '''Old Days''', making it sound like some of the programming languages used today (C, C++) were written on punch cards and that you had to ship your code in the mail to a computer company ({{w|IBM}} in this case) to compile your code, which would take a month. Too bad if there was a simple error and you had to ship it back for another compilation. <br />
<br />
Nothing of what she tells Cueball makes any sense, but it is clear from Cueball's final ''Wow'' that he falls for it, ready to believe anything the old Hairbun tells him about how horrible it was to program in the olden days. It is true that it was tough and slow to program on punch cards, which were actually used for an extended period of time, but there is nothing in the rest of Hairbun's story that accurate, except that it was a big deal when the floppy disk was invented.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Hairbun continues her musings on the old compiler days, stating that there was ''a lot of drama in those days''. Specifically the references ''[http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/hh/thompson/trust.html Reflections on Trusting Trust]'' a famous 1984 paper by {{w|UNIX}} co-creator {{w|Ken Thompson}} in which he described a way to hide a virtually undetectable backdoor in the UNIX login code via a second backdoor in the C compiler. Using the technique in his paper, it would be impossible to discover the hacked login by examining the official source code for either the login or the compiler itself. Ken Thompson may have actually included this backdoor in early versions of UNIX, undiscovered. Ken Thompson's paper demonstrated that it was functionally impossible to prove that any piece of software was fully trustworthy. <br />
<br />
Hairbun claims that one of the dramas she refers to was that people tried to force Ken Thompson to retire, so everyone could stop being so paranoid about compilers. In reality, any coder who created the first version of a compiler (or a similar critical component) could inject a similar backdoor into software, so it would be false safety. Even if no one else would have thought of this, then Thompson's paper was there for any future hacker to see. Though the problem was (claimed to be) solved in {{w|David A. Wheeler}} Ph.D dissertation "[http://www.dwheeler.com/trusting-trust/ Fully Countering Trusting Trust through Diverse Double-Compiling (DDC)]".<br />
<br />
==Table of statements==<br />
{|class="wikitable"<br />
!Statements<br />
!Concepts used<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|Compile things for different processors<br />
|Compile?<br />
|Many popular modern programming languages are either interpreted - meaning that they run directly from source code - or compile to an intermediate bytecode, like Java or common Python implementations. Programs written in such languages are portable across processor architectures - x86 to ARM, for example. Lower-level languages must take into account the features available on a given processor architecture and operating system. Before that, even, programs needed to compile directly into the native machine language for each processor they were intended to run on.<br />
|-<br />
|To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM. It took 4-6 weeks.<br />
|Similar to sending Kodachrome slide film to Kodak to be developed.<br />
|While IBM has released multiple compilers, they sent the compiler to you, you did not send the code to them.<br />
|-<br />
|Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away. <br />
|A {{w|Garbage Collection|Garbage Collector}} is a piece of the software that cleans the {{w|RAM}} memory of data that is no longer being used in the execution of a program. <br />
|Garbage collection is a form of memory management that generally destroys objects or frees up memory once a program no longer needs it. In languages without automatic memory management, like C, the program must keep track of what memory has been allocated, and free it once it is no longer needed. If the program does not, it can end up trying to use more memory than the computer has, and may crash. This was, however, a temporary condition. In the worst case, a simple reboot will clear the computer's memory. <br />
|-<br />
|Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.<br />
|A {{w|Comment (computer programming)|comment}} in programming is a text written in natural language that is meant to explain some feature on the source code. {{w|Assembly}} is a low-level programming language.<br />
|Comments, in code, are portions of one or more lines that are ignored by the compiler. They are commonly used to explain or comment on the code itself. It does not make any sense to write a comment in any programming language<br />
|-<br />
|C could only be written on punch cards.You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.<br />
|{{w|C (programming language)|C}} is a programming language. A {{w|punch card}} is a primitive form of storing data; it stored data in {{w|binary language}} with holes in a paper or cardboard card where a hole meant a 1 and the absence of a hole meant a 0. <br />
|While punch cards were used through the late 1970s and early 1980s to enter programs and data in COBOL, FORTRAN and other early languages, the use of punch cards and punch card machines had been replaced by a {{w|Text Editor}} long before C (or C++) was developed as a language.<br />
<br />
Also, as punch cards store characters in binary, there is no font involved and they store up to fixed limit of characters per card (80 characters in the most common format.)<br />
|-<br />
|C++ was big because it supported floppy disks. It still punched holes in them, but it was a start<br />
|{{w|C++ (programming language)|C++}} is a programming language. A {{w|Floppy disk}} is a (more advanced than punch cards but still old) form of storing data magnetically.<br />
|Hairbun says that the improvement from C to C++ was the C++ finally supported floppy disks. but then it turns out that in C++ the floppy disks were just used instead of punch cards. So the programing was to make holes in floppy disks rather than punch cards. This would of course not be an improvement as floppy disk are not as easy (actually very hard) to make holes in, compared to punch card, which are made for this purpose and then the whole concept of using floppy disk to store data magnetically is ignored. In any case, a hole punched in a floppy disk would render it useless.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Hairbun are standing together and Cueball is talking to her.]<br />
:Cueball: What were things like in the old days?<br />
:Cueball: I hear that you had to ... compile things for different processors?<br />
:Hairbun: Yeah<br />
<br />
:[Same setting in a slimmer panel, now Hairbun is replying.]<br />
:Hairbun: To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM.<br />
:Hairbun: It took 4-6 weeks.<br />
<br />
:[Close-up of Hairbun from the waist up.]<br />
:Hairbun: Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting as in the first panel with Hairbun gesturing toward Cueball raising one hand palm up.]<br />
:Hairbun: Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel Hairbun is seen from the front, with both arms out to the side with both hands held palm up.]<br />
:Hairbun: '''C''' could only be written on punch cards.You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.<br />
<br />
:[Exactly the same setting as the first panel, but with Hairbun doing the talking.]<br />
:Hairbun: '''C++''' was big because it supported floppy disks.<br />
:Hairbun: It still punched holes in them, but it was a start.<br />
:Cueball: Wow.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1755:_Old_Days&diff=1300011755: Old Days2016-11-04T12:49:27Z<p>SeanAhern: Grammar, word choice, hole punch explanation.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1755<br />
| date = November 4, 2016<br />
| title = Old Days<br />
| image = old_days.png<br />
| titletext = Lot of drama in those days, including constant efforts to force the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" guy into retirement so we could stop being so paranoid about compilers.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|More explanation required on computer programming. Fill out the explanation column in the [[#Table of statements|table]] that lists all the statements.}}<br />
This comic is showing a conversation between (young) [[Cueball]] and (old) [[Hairbun]] about computer programming in the past, specifically the {{w|compilers}}. Cueball, having a faint idea of just how difficult and byzantine programming was "in the old days", asks Hairbun to enlighten him on the specifics. Hairbun promptly seizes the opportunity to screw with his head.<br />
<br />
While her initial explanation that code needed to be compiled for multiple architectures is correct, Hairbun's claims rapidly grow ridiculous to the point where the improvement from {{w|C (programming language)|C}} to {{w|C++}} was that C++ finally supported {{w|floppy disks}} but just punched holes in them rather than using {{w|punch cards}} "like C used". (A notch in the side of 5.25" floppy disks indicated when the side could be written to. Though many floppy disks were intended to have only a single side with data, many people used a hole punch to notch the opposite side of the disk, allowing a drive to write data to the back side of the disk.)<br />
<br />
Hairbun tells Cueball a tall story about how hard it was back in the '''Old Days''', making it sound like some of the programming languages used today (C, C++) were written on punch cards, and that you had to ship your code with the mail to get a computer company ({{w|IBM}} in this case) to compile your code, which would take a month. Too bad if there was a simple error and you had to ship it back for another compilation. <br />
<br />
Nothing of what she tells Cueball makes any sense, but it is clear from Cueball's final ''Wow'' that he falls for it, ready to believe anything the old Hairbun tells him about how horrible it was to program in the olden days. It is true that it was tough and slow to program on punch cards, which where actually used for an extended period of time, but there is nothing in the rest of Hairbun's speech that makes any sense with regards to the old days, except that it was huge when the floppy disk was invented.<br />
<br />
In the title text Hairbun continues her musings on the old compiler days, stating that there where ''a lot of drama in those days''. Specifically the references ''[http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/hh/thompson/trust.html Reflections on Trusting Trust]'' a famous 1984 paper by {{w|UNIX}} co-creator {{w|Ken Thompson}} in which he described a way to hide a virtually undetectable backdoor in the UNIX login code via a second backdoor in the C compiler. <br />
<br />
Using the technique in his paper, it would be impossible to discover the hacked login by examining the official source code for either the login or the compiler itself. Ken Thompson may have actually included this backdoor in early versions of UNIX, undiscovered.<br />
<br />
Ken Thompson's paper demonstrated that it was functionally impossible to prove that any piece of software was fully trustworthy. <br />
<br />
Hairbun claims that one of the dramas she refers to was that people tried to force Ken Thompson to retire, so everyone could stop being so paranoid about compilers. In reality, any coder who created the first version of a compiler (or a similar critical component) could inject a similar backdoor into software, so it would be false safety. Even if no one else would have thought of this, then Thomson's paper was there for any future hacker to see. Though the problem was (claimed to be) solved in {{w|David A. Wheeler}} PhD dissertation "[http://www.dwheeler.com/trusting-trust/ Fully Countering Trusting Trust through Diverse Double-Compiling (DDC)]".<br />
<br />
==Table of statements==<br />
{|class="wikitable"<br />
!Statements<br />
!Concepts used<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|Compile things for different processors<br />
|Compile?<br />
|Many popular modern programming languages are either interpreted - meaning that they run directly from source code - or compile to an intermediate bytecode, like Java or common Python implementations. Programs written in such languages are portable across processor architectures - x86 to ARM, for example. Lower-level languages must take into account the features available on a given processor architecture and operating system. Before that, even, programs needed to compile directly into the native machine language for each processor they were intended to run on.<br />
|-<br />
|To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM. It took 4-6 weeks.<br />
|Similar to sending Kodachrome slide film to Kodak to be developed.<br />
|While IBM has released multiple compilers, they sent the compiler to you, you did not send the code to them.<br />
|-<br />
|Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away. <br />
|A {{w|Garbage Collection|Garbage Collector}} is a piece of the software that cleans the {{w|RAM}} memory of data that is no longer being used in the execution of a program. <br />
|Garbage collection is a form of memory management that generally destroys objects or frees up memory once a program no longer needs it. In languages without automatic memory management, like C, the program must keep track of what memory has been allocated, and free it once it is no longer needed. If the program does not, it can end up trying to use more memory than the computer has, and may crash. This was, however, a temporary condition. In the worst case, a simple reboot will clear the computer's memory. <br />
|-<br />
|Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.<br />
|A {{w|Comment (computer programming)|comment}} in programming is a text written in natural language that is meant to explain some feature on the source code. {{w|Assembly}} is a low-level programming language.<br />
|Comments, in code, are portions of one or more lines that are ignored by the compiler. They are commonly used to explain or comment on the code itself. It does not make any sense to write a comment in any programming language<br />
|-<br />
|C could only be written on punch cards.You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.<br />
|{{w|C (programming language)|C}} is a programming language. A {{w|punch card}} is a primitive form of storing data; it stored data in {{w|binary language}} with holes in a paper or cardboard card where a hole meant a 1 and the absence of a hole meant a 0. <br />
|While punch cards were used through the late 1970s and early 1980s to enter programs and data in COBOL, FORTRAN and other early languages, the use of punch cards and punch card machines had been replaced by a {{w|Text Editor}} long before C (or C++) was developed as a language.<br />
<br />
Also, as punch cards store characters in binary, there is no font involved and they store up to fixed limit of characters per card (80 characters in the most common format.)<br />
|-<br />
|C++ was big because it supported floppy disks. It still punched holes in them, but it was a start<br />
|{{w|C++ (programming language)|C++}} is a programming language. A {{w|Floppy disk}} is a (more advanced than punch cards but still old) form of storing data magnetically.<br />
|Hairbun says that the improvement from C to C++ was the C++ finally supported floppy disks. but then it turns out that in C++ the floppy disks were just used instead of punch cards. So the programing was to make holes in floppy disks rather than punch cards. This would of course not be an improvement as floppy disk are not as easy (actually very hard) to make holes in, compared to punch card, which are made for this purpose and then the whole concept of using floppy disk to store data magnetically is ignored. In any case, a hole punched in a floppy disk would render it useless.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Hairbun are standing together and Cueball is talking to her.]<br />
:Cueball: What were things like in the old days?<br />
:Cueball: I hear that you had to ... compile things for different processors?<br />
:Hairbun: Yeah<br />
<br />
:[Same setting in a slimmer panel, now Hairbun is replying.]<br />
:Hairbun: To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM.<br />
:Hairbun: It took 4-6 weeks.<br />
<br />
:[Close-up of Hairbun from the waist up.]<br />
:Hairbun: Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away.<br />
<br />
:[Same setting as in the first panel with Hairbun gesturing toward Cueball raising one hand palm up.]<br />
:Hairbun: Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel Hairbun is seen from the front, with both arms out to the side with both hands held palm up.]<br />
:Hairbun: '''C''' could only be written on punch cards.You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.<br />
<br />
:[Exactly the same setting as the first panel, but with Hairbun doing the talking.]<br />
:Hairbun: '''C++''' was big because it supported floppy disks.<br />
:Hairbun: It still punched holes in them, but it was a start.<br />
:Cueball: Wow.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1740:_Rosetta&diff=1280381740: Rosetta2016-09-30T17:50:26Z<p>SeanAhern: horses</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1740<br />
| date = September 30, 2016<br />
| title = Rosetta<br />
| image = rosetta.png<br />
| titletext = I WONDERED why he kept asking whether we thought the impact speed was too low.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
On the day this comic was posted (September 30th 2016), the ''{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}'' mission ended with the final descent of ''Rosetta'' onto the comet {{w|67P}}. Landing Rosetta on the comet gave the scientists a chance to collect extra data from very close to the comet, using the spacecraft's powerful sensors. [[Cueball]] however assumed that the landing was a "{{w|Asteroid_impact_avoidance#Kinetic_impact|kinetic impact}}" mission to deflect a comet that was a collision course with Earth. A similar scenario (using a bomb instead of an impactor) was depicted in the 1998 film ''{{w|Armageddon (1998 film)|Armageddon}}''.<br />
<br />
In reality, at the time ''Rosetta'' landed, 67P was already leaving the inner solar system and was [http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/ a long way past Earth]. It will return to the inner solar system in around 5 years time, but its orbit is not expected to pose any threat to Earth any time soon. Plus, as the alt text hints, Rosetta's speed was only [https://astronomynow.com/2016/09/30/rosettas-final-hours/ 90 cm per second] relative to the surface at the moment of impact (or about 2 mph/3.25 kph; the speed of a slow walk), while the comet was travelling at 14.39 km/s. Given that Rosetta only weighs a couple of tons (or [[1461: Payloads|six horses]]), and 67P weighs nearly 10 billion tons (or [[1461: Payloads| 22,200,624,370 horses]]), Rosetta's landing will have no actual measurable effect on the comet's momentum.<br />
<br />
''Rosetta'' (and its lander, ''Philae'') were previously the subject of the comics [[1402: Harpoons]] and [[1446: Landing]], and were mentioned in [[1461: Payloads]], [[1547: Solar System Questions]] and possibly [[1621: Fixion]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A control room: Megan and Hairy are at computers, Ponytail is directing, and Cueball is watching]<br />
:Megan: Signal lost.<br />
:Megan: ''Rosetta'' has impacted the comet.<br />
:Ponytail: Good work everyone.<br />
:Hairy: Woooo!<br />
<br />
:[Zoom on Ponytail and Cueball]<br />
:Cueball: So.<br />
:Cueball: You think we deflected it?<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail, Cueball and Hairy are now visible. Hairy looks away from his computer in surprise]<br />
:Ponytail: Huh?<br />
:Cueball: Did we hit the comet hard enough to deflect it away from Earth?<br />
<br />
:[Back to Ponytail and Cueball]<br />
:Ponytail: That... Is that what you thought we were doing?<br />
:Cueball: I just assumed...<br />
<br />
:[Megan enters. Cueball has his arms up in celebration]<br />
:Megan: He's a huge ''Armageddon'' fan. Let him have this.<br />
:Ponytail: Okay, fine.<br />
:Ponytail: Yes! We did it! The Earth is saved!<br />
:Cueball: Wooo!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Space probes]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1725:_Linear_Regression&diff=1258081725: Linear Regression2016-08-26T17:19:16Z<p>SeanAhern: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1725<br />
| date = August 26, 2016<br />
| title = Linear Regression<br />
| image = linear_regression.png<br />
| titletext = The 95% confidence interval suggests Rexthor's dog could also be a cat, or possibly a teapot.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{w|Linear regression}} is a method for modeling the relationship between two sets of data, assuming that the two have a linear correlation (as opposed to, say, a quadratic correlation or no correlation whatsoever). The model determines a "{{w|least squares|best-fit}}" line through a {{w|scatter plot}} of the datasets, together with a {{w|coefficient of determination}}, usually denoted ''r''<sup>2</sup> or ''R''<sup>2</sup>. This is a number between 0 and 1, which indicates how close the points are to lying on a line. A value of 1 means perfect correlation, while values close to 0 indicate little or no correlation.<br />
<br />
{{w|Constellation}}s are patterns created by linking the apparent positions of stars. One could create fake constellations by connecting assorted points.<br />
<br />
In this comic, a set of data has had linear regression and some form of statistical analysis applied to it, indicating that there is insignificant correlation between the two. The data points are so widely scattered that (as noted in the comic) it is easier to connect the data points in a constellation-like pattern than it is to determine whether the correlation is negative or positive (without looking at the trendline, of course). Because of this, [[Randall]] suggests we should be suspicious of any conclusions drawn from this data.<br />
<br />
The mention of a teapot may be a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot Russell's teapot] in space.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
[A two-panel comic with a caption underneath drawn in a combination of black and red. The two panels show an identical square of scattered black dots, with only the red additions being different. A black caption is written below, spanning both panels.<br />
<br />
[The left panel shows a slightly rising red line drawn through the middle of the panel, passing near a few dots but not obviously related to most of them]<br />
:<span style="color:red">R<sup>2</sup>=0.06</span><br />
<br />
[The right panel shows many of the dots connected by red lines to form a stick figure of a man resembling the constellation Orion, with the hand on the reader's right raised and holding an object.]<br />
:<span style="color:red">Rexthor, the Dog-Bearer</span><br />
<br />
[The caption below is black and applies to both panels.]<br />
:I don't trust linear regressions when it's harder to guess the direction of the correlation from the scatter plot than to find new constellations on it.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1723:_Meteorite_Identification&diff=1256111723: Meteorite Identification2016-08-22T15:22:49Z<p>SeanAhern: Adding an important missing "not".</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1723<br />
| date = August 22, 2016<br />
| title = Meteorite Identification<br />
| image = meteorite_identification.png<br />
| titletext = Click for an actual flowchart for identifying a meteorite. My favorite part is how 'Did someone see it fall? -> Yes' points to 'NOT A METEORITE.' This is not a mistake.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Note:''' Clicking on the image on xkcd (click the date above the comic to go to the comic on xkcd) takes you to the ''[http://meteorites.wustl.edu/check-list.htm Meteorite or meteorwrong? Self-Test Check list]'' flow chart at the [http://eps.wustl.edu/ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences] at {{w|Washington University in St. Louis}}.<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Needs brush up and spell checking etc. Are there else more to it?}}<br />
<br />
{{w|Meteorite|Meteorites}} form when a {{w|meteoroid}} survives entrance through the Earth's atmosphere as a {{w|Meteoroid#Meteors|meteor}}. They a thus very rare rocks that come from space, and can stem from broken {{w|asteroids}}, the {{w|Moon}}, and sometimes (very rarely) even from {{w|Mars}}. <br />
<br />
The {{w|flowchart}}, though facetious, would actually work the vast majority of the time a person picks up a rock and believes it to be a meteorite, since, given any single rock one finds on the surface of the earth, it is almost definitely not a meteorite. <br />
<br />
Flowcharts are often used ([[:Category:Flowcharts|also in xkcd]]) to give the inexperienced a step-by-step process to follow (see a guide to flowcharts here: [[518: Flow Charts]]). Meteorite identification, however, is very difficult, so the brevity of this flowchart in a way pokes fun at the need for a flowchart to identify meteorites, since laypeople are not experienced enough to confirm that a rock is indeed a meteorite. A similar short flowchart as this has been used recently in [[1691: Optimization]], and another only two box chart was used in [[1195: Flowchart]].<br />
<br />
In the title text [[Randall]] mentions that the comic image is a link to the more detailed ''[http://meteorites.wustl.edu/check-list.htm Meteorite or meteorwrong? Self-Test Check list]'' flowchart at the [http://eps.wustl.edu/ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences] at {{w|Washington University in St. Louis}}. (Note that, likely due to this comic pointing to it, that server may be overloaded and the page may not come up for you right away.)<br />
<br />
The authors of those resources notes that they have received many rock samples and photos (or even personal visits) from people claiming to have discovered meteorites and thus they would likely benefit from just providing people the shortcut flowchart from Randall, as a way of saying, "leave meteorite identification to the professionals."<br />
<br />
Randall also mentions in the title text that his favorite part of this real flowchart, which is the part where if anyone saw the "meteor" fall then it is 'NOT A METEORITE.' What he most likes about it it, that this is not a mistake.<br />
<br />
First of all the chance of actually being near a falling meteorite is exceedingly small. From the flowchart is a link to a [http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm 64 point long checklist], which basically all ends in "..., then it's not a meteorite." In point 3 is noted the following:<br />
:Since 1900, the numbers of recognized meteorite "falls" is about 690 for the whole Earth. That's 6.3 per year. Only 98 of those occurred in the US. That's less than 1 per year. Even when a meteorite is observed to fall, experienced meteorite hunters may find only a few stones when hunting dawn to dusk for a week.<br />
<br />
Second if you did see a meteor then if you find a rock it is not the meteorite formed by that meteor. Because, except for meteors large enough to form a big crater then the speed of the meteor will be reduced to below glowing point long before it reached the ground, and then it will stop glowing. At this point it is very small and too high up for a human to see it when it's not glowing (also in daylight) and thus there are no chance of following it with the naked eyes. Once it reaches this point it will fall with terminal velocity to the ground, and not make any deep mark when it lands. If close by it may be possible to hear a swish and a thunk. This is what happened with the 690 events mentioned above. All this is described on [http://www.meteoritemarket.com/metid2.htm How to Identify a Meteorite] from [http://www.meteoritemarket.com/ The Meteorite Market] which is linked in point 48 in the table from Washington University.<br />
<br />
What Randall finds so funny about this part of the flowchart is that there are three arrows leading to the question "Did someone see it fall?", but from there only a "Yes" option is possible, and then this gives the result "Not a meteorite." This indicates that if you have found a rock, that has no dark crust or [http://meteorites.wustl.edu/id/regmaglypts.htm regmaglypts] (the options that by saying no takes the user to the question about seeing it fall), then it is not a meteorite, and then the only reason people might still believe it to be a meteorite must be because someone saw it fall. Since seeing it fall rules out that it could be a meteorite there only need to be this single option left...<br />
<br />
If the rock actually have those thumbprint like impressions on the surface (that scientist calls {{w|Glossary_of_meteoritics#Regmaglypts|regmaglypts}}) then the creator of the flowchart actually asks to see the rock (photo or sample). The other features that are interesting is if it has a dark thin crust (from the melting during entry), but only if it also has either regmaglypts or if it has a lighter color inside than the outer crust. <br />
<br />
See also [[1405: Meteor]] about how people mistakes the words for meteorites with meteor. The many misspellings of meteorite is mentioned in point 63 in the table.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A caption is above a flowchart with only two boxes. The first box is a diamond shaped box with an arrow down to the next rectangular box below. Each box has a text.]<br />
:How to identify a possible meteorite:<br />
:Start<br />
:No, it's not a meteorite.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Flowcharts]]<br />
[[Category:Astronmy]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1567:_Kitchen_Tips&diff=1247081567: Kitchen Tips2016-08-04T19:58:00Z<p>SeanAhern: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1567<br />
| date = August 21, 2015<br />
| title = Kitchen Tips<br />
| image = kitchen_tips.png<br />
| titletext = Household tip: Tired of buying so much toilet paper? Try unspooling the paper from the roll before using it. A single roll can last for multiple days that way, and it's much easier on your plumbing.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this comic, [[Cueball]] appears to be hosting a show (or be in an ad) giving out kitchen advice. He starts with a reasonable tip to use a meat thermometer instead of guessing when meat is cooked. His later tips, though, are little more than telling how to complete normal kitchen activities performed using common sense. Moreover, in most cases he repeats "If you're anything like me," suggesting he's actually ''done'' these things in his kitchen. This is a parody of many commercials and infomercials that [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket imply their consumers have no basic motor skills or common sense] in order to make their product more appealing.<br />
<br />
The first tip he gives is reasonable because, though the use of a meat thermometer is fairly well known, not everybody goes to the trouble of using one. To determine if meat is done cooking, one can either guess or use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature has reached the correct level to render meat safe for consumption. Many people don't own a meat thermometer and rely on an alternative solution that doesn't require special equipment (such as testing by feel, cutting the meat open to check its doneness, checking the color of the juices after pricking the meat with skewer, or simply guessing).<br />
<br />
The second panel shows that Cueball throws away dishes and buys new ones every time they are used. This is perfectly normal if the plates are disposable plates made of paper or Styrofoam, but we see his trashcan is filled with chipped glasses and ceramic plates. Naturally, this would be a very expensive practice. The virtually universal chore of "washing the dishes," is one Cueball presumes the audience is heretofore unaware of.<br />
<br />
Cooking on a stove is typically done placing the food into a pot or pan which is placed on the burner. Cueball seems to suggest that the use of a pan is a tip most people would be unaware of, suggesting that most people cook eggs directly on the burners themselves, a method that is likely to burn the food and create a great mess. Cueball's stove has T-shape raised burners (probably gas, but might be electric), making the task very impractical, though owners of glass-top electric stoves could conceivably cook directly on the glass surface.<br />
<br />
Ice is usually made by filling an ice cube tray with water and leaving it in a freezer for several hours. Cueball, however, sprays a hose directly into his freezer compartment and quickly slams the door shut to trap some water inside. (This would work somewhat better in the type of freezer that has a door on the top, so it could be filled with water and the door would not need to be closed to trap the water inside.) While this unorthodox method ''will'' make ice, it will result in a large sheet of ice on the bottom of the freezer. More importantly, it will also make it impossible to actually use the freezer to hold anything else (unless you were to put anything in beforehand and you don't mind breaking through a block of ice to get it out). Also, ice expands as it cools (it is one of the few substances with a negative coefficient of thermal expansion), and its expansion might push the freezer door open.<br />
<br />
The title text, a '''household tip''', suggests using toilet paper a few sheets at a time, which is how most people use it. Cueball, however, seems to suggest that most people use the entire roll as a single object without unspooling it and then flushing it whole, using at least one roll each time they use the bathroom. This is economically impractical, and is prone to clogging the toilet and the plumbing if you throw the toilet paper away by putting it into the toilet and flush it.<br />
<br />
For more '''household tips''' like the one in the title text, see the sequel to this comic: [[1715: Household Tips]].<br />
<br />
This comic is clearly related to the [[:category:Protip|Protip category]], but as the exact word is not mentioned in this comic so it cannot itself be given this category.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball at a kitchen counter, holding a meat thermometer.]<br />
:Cueball: If you're anything like me, you may have trouble telling when meat is fully cooked.<br />
:Cueball: Instead of guessing, try a meat thermometer!<br />
<br />
:[Cueball at a sink, holding a dirty dish, with a trashcan next to him full of broken ceramics and glasses.]<br />
:Cueball: If you're anything like me, you probably throw away your plates and glasses when they get dirty. But if you clean them, they can often be used again!<br />
<br />
:[Cueball cracking an egg over a pan on a hot stove.]<br />
:Cueball: Making scrambled eggs? Put a pan under them!<br />
:Cueball: It's easier, and it keeps your burners clean.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball holding a garden hose, spraying it into the freezer compartment of a freezer.]<br />
:Cueball: If you're anything like me, you make ice by spraying a hose into your freezer and then slamming it shut.<br />
:Cueball: But there's a better way...<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1567:_Kitchen_Tips&diff=1247071567: Kitchen Tips2016-08-04T19:56:19Z<p>SeanAhern: Grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1567<br />
| date = August 21, 2015<br />
| title = Kitchen Tips<br />
| image = kitchen_tips.png<br />
| titletext = Household tip: Tired of buying so much toilet paper? Try unspooling the paper from the roll before using it. A single roll can last for multiple days that way, and it's much easier on your plumbing.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this comic, [[Cueball]] appears to be hosting a show (or be in an ad) giving out kitchen advice. He starts with a reasonable tip to use a meat thermometer instead of guessing when meat is cooked. His later tips, though, are little more than telling how to complete normal kitchen activities performed using common sense. Moreover, in most cases he repeats "If you're anything like me," suggesting he's actually ''done'' these things in his kitchen. This is a parody of many commercials and infomercials that [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket imply their consumers have no basic motor skills or common sense] in order to make their product more appealing.<br />
<br />
The first tip he gives is reasonable because, though the use of a meat thermometer is fairly well known, not everybody goes to the trouble of using one. To determine if meat is done cooking, one can either guess or use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature has reached the correct level to render meat safe for consumption. Many people don't own a meat thermometer and rely on an alternative solution that doesn't require special equipment (such as testing by feel, cutting the meat open to check its doneness, checking the color of the juices after pricking the meat with skewer, or simply guessing).<br />
<br />
The second panel shows that Cueball throws away dishes and buys new ones every time they are used. This is perfectly normal if the plates are disposable plates made of paper or Styrofoam, but we see his trashcan is filled with chipped glasses and ceramic plates. Naturally, this would be a very expensive practice. The virtually universal chore of "washing the dishes," is one Cueball presumes the audience is heretofore unaware of.<br />
<br />
Cooking on a stove is typically done placing the food into a pot or pan which is placed on the burner. Cueball seems to suggest that the use of a pan is a tip most people would be unaware of, suggesting that most people cook eggs directly on the burners themselves, a method that is likely to burn the food and create a great mess. Cueball's stove has T-shape raised burners (probably gas, but might be electric), making the task very impractical, though owners of glass-top electric stoves could conceivably cook directly on the glass surface.<br />
<br />
Ice is usually made by filling an ice cube tray with water and leaving it in a freezer for several hours. Cueball, however, sprays a hose directly into his freezer compartment and quickly slams the door shut to trap some water inside. (This would work somewhat better in the type of freezer that has a door on the top, so it could be filled with water and the door would not need to be closed to trap the water inside.) While this unorthodox method ''will'' make ice, it will result in a large sheet of ice on the bottom of the freezer. More importantly, it will also make it impossible to actually use the freezer to hold anything else (unless you were to put anything in beforehand and you don't mind breaking through a block of ice to get it out). Also, ice expands as it cools (it is one of the few substances with a negative coefficient of thermal expansion), and its expansion might push the freezer door open.<br />
<br />
The title text is a '''house hold tip''' suggests using toilet paper a few sheets at a time, which is how most people use it. Cueball, however, seems to suggest that most people use the entire roll as a single object without unspooling it and then flushing it whole, using at least one roll each time they use the bathroom. This is economically impractical, and is prone to clogging the toilet and the plumbing if you throw the whole toilet paper roll away by putting it into the toilet and flushing it.<br />
<br />
For more '''house hold tip''' like the one in the title text see the sequel to this comic: [[1715: Household Tips]].<br />
<br />
This comic is clearly related to the [[:category:Protip|Protip category]], but as the exact word is not mentioned in this comic so it cannot itself be given this category.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball at a kitchen counter, holding a meat thermometer.]<br />
:Cueball: If you're anything like me, you may have trouble telling when meat is fully cooked.<br />
:Cueball: Instead of guessing, try a meat thermometer!<br />
<br />
:[Cueball at a sink, holding a dirty dish, with a trashcan next to him full of broken ceramics and glasses.]<br />
:Cueball: If you're anything like me, you probably throw away your plates and glasses when they get dirty. But if you clean them, they can often be used again!<br />
<br />
:[Cueball cracking an egg over a pan on a hot stove.]<br />
:Cueball: Making scrambled eggs? Put a pan under them!<br />
:Cueball: It's easier, and it keeps your burners clean.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball holding a garden hose, spraying it into the freezer compartment of a freezer.]<br />
:Cueball: If you're anything like me, you make ice by spraying a hose into your freezer and then slamming it shut.<br />
:Cueball: But there's a better way...<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1676:_Full-Width_Justification&diff=1192881676: Full-Width Justification2016-05-04T13:01:34Z<p>SeanAhern: snake</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1676<br />
| date = May 4, 2016<br />
| title = Full-Width Justification<br />
| image = full_width_justification.png<br />
| titletext = Gonna start bugging the Unicode consortium to add snake segment characters that can be combined into an arbitrary-length non-breaking snake.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|hasty & impatient placeholder. Still an early draft; needs citations, fact-checking, and it also needs the Wikipedia links to be fixed.}}<br />
The comic refers to an irritating problem in laying out text to fit from edge to edge, the problem of {{w|justification (typesetting)|justification}}. Sometimes, as before a long word like "[[:wikt:deindustrialization|deindustrialization]]," there's no universal good way to make the typography work. It is a difficult problem to make text look good and be easily legible especially in a narrow space, with the biggest issue being how to handle words that are too long to fit nicely.<br />
<br />
The comic shows several solutions to this problem, some realistic and others less so, but each unsatisfying. "Giving up" is ugly, leaving a line break which doesn't fit with the rest;spacing looks pretty confusing as people may think it is an acronym. hyphenating is confusing in English because its spelling requires full-word recognition ("deindus-" looks like an independent, unfamiliar word, pronounced "dayn-duss"); stretching is unnatural, probably hard to code or render, unfamiliar and quite ugly; adding "filler" words, a radical solution, makes the writing worse (in the case of the example, making the tone too informal); and adding a meaningless snake image, just long enough to fill the extra space, is a novel (and quite bizarre) solution which probably wouldn't actually be used by a serious typographer.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
The title text suggests that in order to facilitate this last method of "solving" the problem, the {{w|Unicode Consortium}}, the organization in charge of the common text standard {{w|Unicode}}, should add "snake-building characters" (similar in concept to the existing {{w|Box Drawing}} block), to allow variable-length snake images to be used as filling. The use of the phrase "non-breaking" in the title text is a play on {{w|non-breaking space}} and implies that an automatic line break could not be inserted after a snake segment; the whole snake would shift down if it were too wide to fit on a given line. This suggestion would likely be rejected; the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added{{Citation needed}}, and always require a good reason{{Citation needed}} before adding a character or set of characters to the standard. Strange decisions by the consortium have previously been referenced in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], [[1513: Code Quality]], and [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].<br />
<br />
Note that in Arabic, it is common to stretch the lines connecting letters as a relatively elegant and satisfying resolution to this problem. This trick is called "{{w|kashida}}" (كشيدة). There does in fact exist a Unicode character, U+0640: (ـ), to help with this: using it to extend "كشيدة" would result in something like "كشـــــــــــيدة" (which, incidentally, looks a lot like a snake).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the panels:]<br />
:Strategies for full-width justification<br />
<br />
:[Below the caption is a column with six boxes, each showing a different "strategy" for justification which is annotated beside it. Here the anotation is written at the top and the text below. The top and bottom of the text is cut of in the middle, but as it can be "read" this is written anyway. Only for hyphenation does an extra word appear at the end. In the last with snakes, a snake is drawn to cover the entire space from the end of between to the right border.]<br />
<br />
:Giving up<br />
::their famous paper <br />
::on the relationship <br />
::between <br />
::deindustrialization <br />
::and the growth of <br />
<br />
:Letter spacing<br />
::their famous paper <br />
::on the relationship <br />
::b &nbsp;e &nbsp; t &nbsp; w &nbsp; e&nbsp; e &nbsp; n <br />
::deindustrialization <br />
::and the growth of <br />
<br />
:Hyphenation<br />
::their famous paper <br />
::on the relationship <br />
::between deindus-<br />
::trialization and the <br />
::growth of ecological<br />
<br />
:Stretching<br />
::their famous paper <br />
::on the relationship <br />
::<big><big><big>between</big></big></big><br />
::deindustrialization <br />
::and the growth of <br />
<br />
:Filler<br />
::their famous paper <br />
::on the relationship <br />
::between crap like<br />
::deindustrialization <br />
::and the growth of <br />
<br />
:Snakes<br />
::their famous paper <br />
::on the relationship <br />
::between [a snake filling the gap]<br />
::deindustrialization <br />
::and the growth of<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The full text (with alternate changes) reads:<br />
::''...their famous paper on the relationship between [crap like]/[ 🐍 ] deindustrialization and the growth of [ecological]...''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>SeanAhernhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1674:_Adult&diff=1190081674: Adult2016-04-29T15:26:07Z<p>SeanAhern: Merging explanations</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1674<br />
| date = April 29, 2016<br />
| title = Adult<br />
| image = adult.png<br />
| titletext = (1) That shopping cart is full of AirHeads, and (2) I died at 41 from what the AirHeads company spokesperson called 'probably natural causes.'<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The punchline is not explained.}}<br />
<br />
<br />
In this comic, [[Cueball]] performs several mundane 'adult' tasks, namely shopping for groceries, buying furniture, and applying for a mortgage. In each instance, he appears surprised or bemused at the fact that he is behaving like an adult.<br />
<br />
In the last panel [[Megan]] is reading a will, presumably Cueball's will after his death, as hinted at by the title text. It shows that Cueball, all the way to the end of his life, remained amazed at the idea of being an adult, even while planning for his own death. Though many people upon reaching "adulthood" find themselves surprised or at least amused at doing "adult" things, most people eventually become accustomed to acting in adult ways. The joke is that Cueball never appeared to in his life. This joke is intensified in the title text by showing that at least one of his "adult" tasks was actually spent pursuing "childish" goals.<br />
<br />
[[Wikipedia:AirHeads|AirHeads]] are a tangy, taffy-like, chewy candy, predominantly known for its sweet taste and texture. The title text suggests Cueball still retains some more childish instincts, namely using the freedom of adulthood to indulge in AirHead candies, to fatal consequences.<br />
<br />
See also [[905: Homeownership]] and [[616: Lease]], where [[Cueball]] similarly has difficulty accepting the reality of his adulthood.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is holding onto a shopping cart.]<br />
:Cueball (thinking): Haha, look at me grocery shopping! I'm such an adult.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is standing in front of a sofa.]<br />
:Cueball (thinking): Buying a sofa! Ooh, look how domestic I am!<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk writing something with another Cueball on the opposite side of the desk.]<br />
:Cueball (thinking): Applying for a mortgage! As if I'm a real grown-up.<br />
<br />
:[Megan is reading from a piece of paper in front of a desk with Hairbun, Hairy, and White Hat behind it.]<br />
:Megan: ...And I, being of sound mind and body, am totally writing a will right now! <br />
:Megan: Can you believe this? <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>SeanAhern