explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2201: Foucault Pendulum

2019-09-11T20:11:28Z

108.162.212.149:

I take it the pendulum is somewhere deep underground, which would shield Black Hat from the cataclysmic side effects?
Besides, they have several backup pendulums that while not enough to maintain rotation are sufficient to slow the half enough to preserve life.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.149|108.162.212.149]] 20:11, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

2201: Foucault Pendulum

2019-09-11T20:06:59Z

108.162.212.149: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2201
| date = September 11, 2019
| title = Foucault Pendulum
| image = foucault_pendulum.png
| titletext = Trust me, you don't want to get on the wrong side of the paramilitary enforcement arm of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Black hat is attending what appears to be a physics lecture. The professor is talking about the Foucault pendulum, a device which demonstrates the rotation of the Earth. Black Hat, being himself, sees an opportunity to cause chaos and seizes it with both hands, quite literally - that is, he grabs the pendulum. The professor objects strongly to this, seemingly for fear of ruining the delicate demonstration. However, the news anchor in the final panel reveals to us that by arresting the motion of the pendulum, Black Hat has somehow stopped the rotation of the Earth. This of course is blatantly impossible since the Foucault pendulum's motion is tied to the earth's rotation, not the other way round[''citation needed''].

A Foucault Pendulum swings from a joint that allows rotation in any direction, like your shoulder joint instead of your elbow. If the Earth were stationary, it would continue to swing in the same plane as when it was released. However, because the earth moves beneath it, over the course of the day the motion gradually changes direction. The low-resistance joint doesn't allow the rotation of the earth to affect the motion of the pendulum, so it stays aligned to its original inertial reference frame rather than the rotating one of the earth.

The fact that the earth's rotation does not influence the motion of the pendulum does NOT mean that other things can't affect it - for example, by running up and manually repositioning the pendulum. Of course, the apparent rotation of the pendulum's plane relative to the earth is an effect of the planet's motion, rather than the cause of it. Thus, stopping a Foucault pendulum manually does not entail pausing the rotation of the earth.

In this case, where the pendulum somehow manages to control earth's rotation, Black hat would probably not want to alter the momentum of the pendulum, unlike most cases of causing chaos (assuming he was told that it was related to earth's rotation and assuming that he would prefer to preserve his own life over making chaos). The reason why is because if the rotation of earth were to be stopped for even very short amounts of time(a few seconds), it would cause everything on earth that wasn't bolted/fasted to the ground would be sent flying eastward (assuming they are near the equator) at a speed of 300-360 meters per second, likely causing the death of most lifeforms on earth within an hour or less, and causing massive windstorms and weather events on a scale not observed on earth. This will likely cause a mass extinction event and wipe out ~90% of humanity. It is possible that the pendulum was grabbed and slowed prior to stopping, minimzing the issue, but the results would still be catastrophic.

Randall covered this scenario in detail in his [https://io9.gizmodo.com/xkcds-creator-explains-what-would-happen-if-earth-stopp-1625068208 What If] book.

==Trivia==
The Foucault Pendulum in this comic strongly resembles that in the Museum of Science in Boston (both in shape and the way it is knocking over the pegs)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2198: Throw

2019-09-08T14:46:14Z

108.162.212.149:

I created this page as it seem DgbrtBOT fails because it is interactive. So far it still won't shown on the front page or with a button to it from the previous comic or the "newest" comic button. Maybe it just takes some time? It is now in the [[List_of_all_comics]] but still no luck getting it to work... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:58, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Maybe it is because it was published on a tuesday? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:16, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::No it is not unusual that a comic does not come out on MWF. For instance the Sunday comic recently. Here is the list of Tuesday comics: [[:Category:Tuesday_comics]]--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:29, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Also it doesn't display my comment below the explanation. Something is very broken here...--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:25, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:It appears now. [[User:PkmnQ|PkmnQ]] ([[User talk:PkmnQ|talk]]) 08:53, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
How did he get an estimate for Carly Rae Jepson, anyway? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.34|162.158.255.34]] 09:52, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgwAywJlo1M [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.221|172.68.142.221]] 09:55, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::Alternatively he could have worked together with her, as with Serena Williams. I will look it up in the afternoon, when I have my preordered book :) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:22, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

By the transitive property of Worthiness, if Capt America can throw Thor's Hammer, surely George Washington is Worthy!{{unsigned ip|172.69.68.141}}

I got this data from the code:
{| class="wikitable"
! id
! name
! canThrow
! canBeThrown
! length
! diameter
! mass
! dragC
! throwPower
|-
| microwave
| A microwave oven
| false
| true
| 0.406
| 0.406
| 10.591
| 0.8
|
|-
| basketball
| a basketball
| false
| true
| 0.243
| 0.243
| 0.624
| 0.3
|
|-
| blender
| a blender
| false
| true
| 0.203
| 0.203
| 5.216
| 0.8
|
|-
| gold_bar
| a gold bar
| false
| true
| 0.0535
| 0.0535
| 12.4
| 0.8
|
|-
| cake
| a wedding cake
| false
| true
| 0.51
| 0.51
| 13
| 0.8
|
|-
| pingpong
| a ping pong ball
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.04
| 0.003
| 0.5
|
|-
| quarterback
| an NFL quarterback
| true
| false
| 1.905
| 0.584
| 102.058
| 0.6
| 20
|-
| acorn
| an acorn
| false
| true
| 0.0191
| 0.0191
| 0.0045
| 0.3
|
|-
| hammer
| thor's hammer
| false
| true
| 0.5
| 0.15
| 2000
| 0.4
|
|-
| javelin
| a javelin
| false
| true
| 1.8
| 0.0254
| 0.8
| 0.1
|
|-
| george
| George Washington
| true
| true
| 1.829
| 0.562
| 90.718
| 0.6
| 15
|-
| pikachu
| Pikachu
| true
| true
| 0.4
| 0.3
| 5.9874
| 0.4
| 10
|-
| car
| A car
| false
| true
| 4.5
| 2.134
| 1179.34
| 0.25
|
|-
| silver_spin
| a silver dollar (spinning)
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.011
| 0.027
| 0.5
|
|-
| silver_tumble
| a silver dollar (tumbling)
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.04
| 0.027
| 0.66
|
|-
| carly
| Carly Rae Jepsen
| true
| false
| 1.575
| 0.46
| 49.895
| 0.6
| 10
|-
| thor
| thor, god of thunder
| true
| false
| 1.91
| 0.59
| 91
| 0.6
| 10000
|-
| chris hemsworth
| chris hemsworth
| true
| false
| 1.91
| 0.59
| 91
| 0.6
| 10
|-
| squirrel
| A squirrel
| true
| true
| 0.203
| 0.096
| 0.454
| 0.6
| 10
|}
(Sorry if this table messes the talk page.)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.136|162.158.78.136]] 13:51, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Nah its great. Not sure how to use it in the explanation yet, but guess it will go in there somehow later.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:28, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

:{| class="wikitable"
! id
! name
! canThrow
! canBeThrown
! length
! diameter
! mass
! dragC
! throwPower
|-
| you
|
|
|
|
| (mass^(1/3))/8
|
| 0.6
| 5/10/15/20
|}
:Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.64|172.68.110.64]] 09:17, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

The comic looks different on my screen, not displaying multiple possible selections next to each other, but all below each other. Quite dynamic... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:26, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:If I zoom out I can make it shown only one item each line, but if I zoom in two is maximum. But it should go in the explanation when we get there.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:28, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

The suggestion to litteraly throw a party in the air could be a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy in which there is a flying building with a party in it, and there's even Thor partying in it when the protagonists are coming there. --Roger 15:12, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Any reason why George Washington has 50% more throw power than Christ Hemsworth? Some reference? ~TK

Interesting, there appears to be additional units of measurement in the source code that were not used in the comic: "wiffles" and "light-nanoseconds" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 16:52, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:I'm going to try to add those to the table; I know where nano-light seconds are, but could you give an example length that's converted to wiffles? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 16:41, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
::Pulled unit data from the code:
::{| class="wikitable"
! id
! plural name
! conversion
|-
|meter
|meters
|meters:1
|-
|foot
|feet
|meters:.3048
|-
|furlong
|furlongs
|meters:201.168
|-
|attoparsec
|attoparsecs
|meters:.03086
|-
|smoot
|smoots
|meters:1.7
|-
|wiffle
|wiffles
|meters:.0089
|-
|football_field
|football fields
|meters:91.44
|-
|rack_unit
|rack units
|meters:.04445
|-
|horse
|horses
|meters:2.4
|-
|manhattan_block
|manhattan blocks
|meters:80
|-
|light_nanosecond
|light-nanoseconds
|meters:.03
|-
|kilogram
|kilograms
|kg:1
|-
|pound
|pounds
|kg:.453592
|}
::N.B. Conversion for "wiffles" is off by a factor of ten (i.e. should be .089 rather than .0089). While wiffles should be the next unit above rack-units and below feet, the unit conversion typo prevents it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as far as I can tell. [[User:OneHunted|OneHunted]] ([[User talk:OneHunted|talk]]) 02:57, 5 September 2019 (UTC)

Does it seem... excessive to anyone else that the NFL quarterback can throw a silver dollar almost two football fields?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.161|172.68.142.161]] 17:08, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

The explanation for Manhattan block conversion appears to be wrong. They mention that their calculation for how large one block is was made with 4 numbers ignoring George Washington as an outlier. However there are 6 total examples of Manhattan block to use and George Washington's is not an outlier. I calculated the mean with all of the data to be 79.9142 meters.--[[User:Szeth|Szeth]] ([[User talk:Szeth|talk]]) 17:12, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

We need a table with a brief description of each thrower. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 17:14, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

How do we know how old George Washington was when he throws a squirrel? Speaking of age, this format kind of reminds me of the Magnus comic: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1628:_Magnus [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 17:41, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

I think we need to add something about the myth that George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.40|108.162.241.40]] 19:42, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
: I agree it adds to the appreciation of the humor and have added that myth to the explanation. I have also added the fact that football quarterbacks are specialists at throwing the ball. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:55, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
:: might be worth noting that, as this incident susposedly occured when Washington was a young man, he would not have thrown a US silver dollar. The coin would have been a Mexican Peso (a Spanish 8 Reales coin, aka "piece of eight").

Pretty sure that the ping-pong ball distances are severely overestimated due to air resistance slowing them very rapidly. Someone with lab facilities might want to check... --[[User:Marcus Rowland|Marcus Rowland]] ([[User talk:Marcus Rowland|talk]]) 19:49, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Sorry, never mind, I think I saw a very early version of the actual page that had the distances much greater - seems reasonable now. --[[User:Marcus Rowland|Marcus Rowland]] ([[User talk:Marcus Rowland|talk]]) 19:53, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
The buttons look to be failing simply because [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]] hasn't been updated with the lastest comic number - the page is protected so needs someone with higher powers than I. [[User:Dresken|Dresken]] ([[User talk:Dresken|talk]]) 19:59, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
'Worthiness' was only a thing in the comics. In the myths Thor had a belt of strength and a couple other things. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.125|172.69.33.125]] 21:35, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Unless I am missing something there is a unit conversion error for pound and kilogram. For instance if you enter 1.83m and 90.7kg for "YOU" the throw distance by Thor is 137m. However, if you enter the equivalent weight of 200lb you get a throw distance of 183m.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.28|172.68.206.28]] 23:20, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

: That is correct! The mass gets converted twice from pounds to kg. The intermediate mass (after one conversion, i.e. the correct mass) is used for deducing the diameter - so the same results cannot be easily obtained. Clearly a bug! Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.82|172.68.110.82]] 13:47, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

"An American football field (where Randall comes from) is 100 yards or 91.44 m long" Please rewrite. I don't think (and I humbly reserve the right to be wrong) that Randall did not come from a football field. [[User:OtterlyAmazin|OtterlyAmazin]] ([[User talk:OtterlyAmazin|talk]]) 23:24, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
: I attempted a rewrite per your request - hopefully I have addressed the issue without making things worse. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 01:37, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
::I've substituted another explanation - American Football (the game with the field implied to be measured here) is ''not'' only played in North America, and Canadioan Football fields, in North America, have different measurements. No doubt someone else will replace my edit in turn.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.238|108.162.210.238]] 03:02, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Should images of the throwers and objects be included? As the comic image is not interactive as the full comic, one cannot see what Randall's version of e.g. Thor or Chris H. looks like, without of visiting the actual comic and using it. Similar things have been done with other interactive comics (IIRC). --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:13, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
: I tried to do just that. However, apparently, only special users are allowed to upload files: "Upload error - You do not have permission to create new pages." An uploaded image file seems to count as a "page" for MediaWiki. I prepared a 7zip file with all of this comic's thrower/item images from xkcd, already properly renamed. It's [https://ufile.io/qq1klu37 available for download here]. In case some mighty editor comes along and would want to upload the images and insert them on this page, please feel free to do so. --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 20:20, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
::Great work with the files, I used them and included a table with the images instead of a list of throwers and objects. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:44, 5 September 2019 (UTC)
::: Thank you, [[User:Kynde|Kynde]]! Turned out even better than what I had in mind for the images. :) --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 17:52, 5 September 2019 (UTC)
::::Thanks a lot Passerby, that means a lot. And you made my job much easier. Have used your formatting for the names of other images I have added. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:50, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

Could somebody figure out the equation he's using from the book and post it in the explanation? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 14:57, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Instead of Carly Rae Jepsen, he should have used Kelsey Plum who throws t-shirts like a cannon! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeO2BSHj36I] [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 15:16, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Used Formulas:

g = 9.805;

A = (3 * thrower_length * thrower_throwPower * thrower_mass / (object_mass + thrower_mass / 1000))^(1 / 3);

B = sqrt(2 * object_mass * g / (PI * (object_diameter / 2)^2 * 1.2041 * object_dragC));

Result = A^2 * sqrt(2) / (g * sqrt(A^4 / B^4 * 0.8 + A^2 / B^2 * 3 + 2));

Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.64|172.68.110.64]] 15:39, 4 September 2019 (UTC), slightly corrected on --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.64|172.68.110.64]] 21:37, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

: 1,2041 is in units of kg/m³ and is the density of air at sea level; both A and B are in units of speed m/s; throwPower is in m²/s³, or equivalently in m/s * N/kg. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.82|172.68.110.82]] 21:22, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
:: Or equivalently W/kg Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.82|172.68.110.82]] 10:49, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

I posted this yesterday but it didn't "take." The alternative distance-units used are entirely a function of the distance thrown in meters:
light-nanoseconds (1.00-1.06m), atto-parsecs (1.07-2.69m), rack units (2.70-6.67m), feet (6.68-16m), smoots (16-36m), horses (36-75m), manhattan blocks (75-131m), football fields (132-201m), furlongs (201m+). It's not true that only Thor uses furlongs; a sufficiently large and athletic custom thrower can throw a javelin 206 furlongs. To get light-nanometers, trying having a minimally-athletic "You" 0.2m tall and 129kg throw a gold brick.
-[[User:Jojo|Jojo]] ([[User talk:Jojo|talk]]) 18:44, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Er, I meant "to get light-nanoseconds." (It's my first post. Obviously I had to make a mistake.) --[[User:Jojo|Jojo]] ([[User talk:Jojo|talk]]) 18:48, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Should the hotlinking/embedding image at https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/throw.png be referencd somehow? [[User:Kyuuhachi|Kyuuhachi]] ([[User talk:Kyuuhachi|talk]]) 20:17, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Re: Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in Marvel comics? Does this reference take priority over the Norse myths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mj%C3%B6lnir
:I think the current explanation allows the interpretation, that Mjölnir is a marvel invention. That is of course wrong. However, if you look at the drawing style of Thor and Mjölnir, and the fact that Chris H. is also available for selection, we can agree, that this hammer in fact represents the hammer inside the Marvel universe, which is merely based upon the orginial nordic god. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:36, 5 September 2019 (UTC)

:September 5 2019 9:05 Pacific time --- I found that while it seems that thor is the only one capable of throwing thor's hammer, with the customized "you" at 30 feet tall and 1000 pounds, and a super trainer, you can throw thor's hammer 1.5 meters. Conclusion - Giants are inherently worthy. And George Washington is not.

I'm surprised Randall didn't add a "worthiness" variable into the formula somehow. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.34|172.69.69.34]] 16:50, 5 September 2019 (UTC) Sam

It seems that different items can be thrown different minimum distances. The microwave oven can be thrown a minimum of 1.22 meters, the cake a minimum of 1.53 meters, the hammer a minimum of 1.50 meters, the javelin a minimum of 5.40 meters, George Washington a minimum of 5.49 meters, Pikachu a minimum of 1.20 meters, the car 14 meters, and the basketball, blender, gold bar, ping-pong ball, acorn, both coins, and the squirrel a minimum of 1.00 meters. Include in article? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 18:53, 5 September 2019 (UTC)

The reason you can never see the wiffle measurement is it would require a distance range below that of light nanoseconds, but light nanoseconds only appears at distances very slightly above 1 meter, and any distance below 1 meter always says they can't throw it.--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.226|172.68.59.226]] 10:22, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

I found with further testing that if you put absurd numbers for a custom thrower with many digits for height and weight, there is a maximum possible distance which doesn't change if you change the values somewhat. Presumably due to its density, in such a condition thor's hammer returns the highest throw distances instead of the lowest (743,079 meters), second place is javelin, 3rd is gold bar, and you can't throw a ping pong ball more than 13 meters no matter what. Some other choice change from whether they are usually near the high or low end of the distances this way. For ping pong ball and tumbling coin, Thor gives the same values as these maximums, but for most others he does lower.--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.226|172.68.59.226]] 10:39, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

2188: E Scooters

2019-08-15T20:16:31Z

108.162.212.149: fixed last paragraph

{{comic
| number = 2188
| date = August 12, 2019
| title = E Scooters
| image = e_scooters.png
| titletext = Obviously battery technology and prices have driven a lot of the scooter explosion, but I feel like Dean Kamen must be at least a little grumpy about how much people laughed at the idea of the Segway.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT on two wheels (Vroooooom). Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

At the time of publishing, {{w|motorized scooter}}s or e-scooters were very popular, especially with the rise of ride-share companies such as {{w|Lime (transportation company)|Lime}} and {{w|Bird (company)|Bird}} that use apps allowing users to rent the scooters by the minute. ([[Randall]] uses "e scooter" or "E Scooter" for the comic's title. But in the comic [[White Hat]] does say e-scooter, which is also the way the Wikipedia article on {{w|e-scooters}} mentions them.)

[[Cueball]] drives up to White Hat on his e-scooter. White Hat asks him for his thoughts on the scooter; he is interested as he has heard so much about them. However, instead of just waiting to hear Cueball's response, White Hat then goes on to list four opinions he has heard other people say about e-scooters:

#Are they impractical and unsafe toys?
#Or a last-mile transit revolution?
#A low-carbon car replacement?
#Or Silicon Valley sidewalk clutter?

When White Hat finally stops talking, Cueball tells him that he has given this a lot of thought and says he will give him his opinion on e-scooters. But instead of choosing an opinion from White Hat's list, or any logical opinion at all for that matter, Cueball starts making engine/vehicle sounds. This may indicate he doesn't care about any of White Hat's complicated opinions and is just excited about the fun of riding an e-scooter. In the last panel Cueball also makes "pew pew pew" sounds and other sounds from shooter-type video games, perhaps indicating that for him, riding a scooter is akin to the fun he gets from playing such video games.

Some people consider e-scooters as a "low-carbon car replacement", as they are better for the environment than polluting gas cars (if you ignore the impact of their creation and disposal). Additionally, e-scooters have been touted as a form of "last-mile transit" - used to cover the "last mile" to your destination after taking other forms of public transportation. However, others consider e-scooters a public nuisance, as users often leave them on the sidewalk haphazardly; hence the question about them being clutter. The comment about them being specifically "Silicon Valley" clutter is due to the expense, the city-infrastructure needed, and the high-tech nature of these devices. Many of the e-scooter companies are also from the Silicon Valley area. Scooters have also been seen as dangerous ("unsafe toys"), as many users do not wear helmets when riding e-scooters (though Cueball is seen with a helmet in the comic, although not wearing it) or ride them at high speed on sidewalks with many pedestrians. Some cities have gone so far as to [https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article224573320.html ban e-scooters] [https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18701299/nashville-electric-scooter-ban-man-killed from their communities].

Cueball's response of making onomatopoeic sounds which mimic the e-scooter is humorous for two reasons. First, e-scooters are fun and may seem futuristic, like something from his childhood. This would bring out a youthful and childish joy children have when making engine noises when playing with toy cars. He is acting like a kid because riding a scooter makes him feel like one. The second reason this is funny is that the scooters, being battery-powered, are nearly silent. He is making the sounds a traditional motorized scooter makes to fill in the audible gap.

The title text refers to Dean Kamen, an American inventor best known for founding the {{w|Segway}} company. At the time of the invention of the Segway, it was billed as a revolution in personal transit, with articles (and Kamen himself) speculating that future cities might be entirely rebuilt around it and similar personal transporters. That buzz quickly died down, and Segways became the subject of a great deal of mockery. The text implies that Kamen might resent the fact that a similar vision has re-emerged and is once again being taken seriously, but without his invention. However, [https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/01/lime-partners-with-segway-to-build-electric-scooters/ Segway actually manufactures scooters for e-scooter rental agency Lime].

It is unclear why the scooter has lasers. Part of the joke is that there is no good or logical explanation for them. This forces the reader to come up with their own devious or honorable plan Cueball is executing. Not knowing why makes it more sinister and mysterious.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is getting off his e-scooter, with his bicycle helmet hanging on the handlebars. He has stopped right in front of White Hat who addresses him.]
:White Hat: Hey, you got one of those e-scooters!
:Cueball: Yeah!

:[Cueball is now standing next to the e-scooter holding on to the handlebars with one hand. Both he and White Hat look down at the scooter.]
:White Hat: So what do you think? I hear so much about these things.

:[A large panel with just White Hat who is spreading his arms out.]
:White Hat: Are they impractical and unsafe toys? Or a last-mile transit revolution?

:[Closeup on White Hat holding both arms out and up with palms held up.]
:White Hat: A low-carbon car replacement? Or Silicon Valley sidewalk clutter?

:[In a frame-less panel only Cueball and his e-scooter is shown.]
:Cueball: Well, having given it lots of thought, here is my opinion on scooters:

:[Cueball is bending at the knees and holding on to the handlebars with both hands as White Hat is looking at him. Cueball starts making machine noises.]
:Cueball: Zooooooom!
:Cueball: Neeeeeoooormm
:Cueball: Vrrrm Vrrmvrmm
:Cueball: Wheeee!

:[Cueball continues making sounds as in the previous panel. White Hat seems to have taken a step back.]
:Cueball: Pew pew pew!
:Cueball: Bzzzzt Kaboom!
:White Hat: Wait, why are there lasers?
:Cueball: Pew!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]

2164: Glacier

2019-06-17T21:17:17Z

108.162.212.149:

{{comic
| number = 2164
| date = June 17, 2019
| title = Glacier
| image = glacier.png
| titletext = The Norwegian adaptation of The Sword in the Stone takes things in a weird direction.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the Meteorological Society. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A {{w|glacier}} is a wall of dense ice. Though glaciers tend to appear still, they are actually slowly moving, at a rate of around 1 m per day.

The joke in this comic is a pun on the word "advancing". In the original context, the glacier is "advancing" or moving forward slowly. However, Beret Guy uses the fencing term {{w|Glossary of fencing|"advance"}}, which is a basic forward movement. Beret Guy attaches a fencing {{w|sabre (fencing)|sabre}} to the glacier, and then takes a defensive position. It's unclear at this time who will win.

The title text refers to {{w|Excalibur|The Sword in the Stone}}, a famous sword in the legends of King Arthur.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A person wearing a knit cap and Beret Guy are standing to the left of a glacier.]
:Knit cap person: Glaciers are so neat. You can't see it, but this ice is slowly advancing.

:[Zoom in on Beret Guy, who has his hand to his mouth, thinking.]

:[Zoomed in, Beret Guy exits to the left of the panel.]

:[Beret Guy enters the panel from the left, carrying two fencing sabres.]

:[Beret Guy uses a blow dryer to attach one of the sabres to the glacier.]

:[Beret Guy is holding the blow dryer and looks at the sabre that is attached to the glacier.]

:[Beret Guy stands in a defensive position with sabre in hand, ready to defend against the "advancing" glacier.]

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
{{comic discussion}}

1172: Workflow

2018-08-21T01:20:59Z

108.162.212.149: /* Explanation */ "more weird" -> "weirder"

{{comic
| number = 1172
| date = February 11, 2013
| title = Workflow
| image = workflow.png
| titletext = There are probably children out there holding down spacebar to stay warm in the winter! YOUR UPDATE MURDERS CHILDREN.
}}

==Explanation==
Users will often try to work around bugs in software, and are sometimes able to get used to having the bugs around. Some bugs are even interpreted as features and users complain when the software authors fix them. A similar effect may be caused by other improvements, particularly those which involve changes in the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1770 user interface].

This comic shows a somewhat extreme example. An unnamed application had a bug causing the CPU to overheat whenever the spacebar was held down too long. In version 10.17, this bug was fixed. Soon, LongtimeUser4 complained that they relied on the fact that the CPU overheats if the spacebar is held down. They had stumbled across this "feature" (which is, again, weirder than usual) and took advantage of it to streamline their workflow, and they wanted an option to re-enable it.

{{w|Emacs}} (name originally derived from ''E''ditor ''MAC''ro''S'') is a text editor originally written at MIT in 1976 and adopted into the GNU project in 1984. The control key sees extensive use in Emacs, and since it's hard to reach, users often remap it to Caps Lock or some other key. LongtimeUser4 fixed the problem very clumsily ("horrifying," as the admin puts it) and is annoyed that their {{w|kludge}} no longer works. The moral of the story is that you can't please everyone.

Examples of real life changes in software which, though often acclaimed by critics, caused great annoyance among existing user base include ribbons introduced in Microsoft Office 2007, Start screen of Windows 8 or Unity desktop manager bundled with Ubuntu since version 11.10. In the latter case, developers included an option to use the older interface; for the rest, applications emulating old behavior were developed by third parties.

The title text makes a hyperbole to humorous effect; children will freeze to death during the winter because they won't be warmed by a rather unconventional heater. Making (or creating an illusion of) a connection between one's opinion and [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThinkOfTheChildren care for children's welfare] is a common method of gaining public support, as such arguments are hard to deflect without sounding cruel and uncaring. However this would be a completely ridiculous argument, as someone '''with a working computer''' would not be so poor that he couldn't afford a heater, or at the very least some charcoal and a lighter. And if he was that poor, he could just sell the computer and use the money he got to buy something more useful.

==Transcript==
:[Changelog for version 10.17 of a piece of software.]
:One change listed: "The CPU no longer overheats when you hold down the spacebar"
:Comments: LongtimeUser4 writes: This update broke my workflow! My control key is hard to reach, so I hold spacebar instead, and I configured Emacs to interpret a rapid temperature rise as "control".
:Admin writes: That's horrifying.
:LongtimeUser4 writes: Look, my setup works for me. Just add an option to reenable spacebar heating.

:Every change breaks someone's workflow.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Emacs]]

Talk:2021: Software Development

2018-07-29T00:14:29Z

108.162.212.149: comment

It seems to me that the cannon is a metaphor for powerful hardware. The drill is a metaphor for elegant and efficient code. The computer is so powerful that the fact that the elegance or efficiency of the code is irrelevant to how it is actually used.[[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 15:48, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

Hi, first time posting ;)
To me it seems that the Title text is an example how after some time and many updates the original solution becomes some kind of abomination. Used in abstruse ways for something it was never intended for just because it works and is a quick and simple fix. After some time one always ends up doing unnecessary and arbitrary things in order to get what you actually wanted to achive. Like loading projectiles into a cannon just to use it as a battering ram. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.137}}

:Agreed. The current rush to monetize distributed crypto-token ledgers smacks of this to me. Rather than focus on refining the protocols involved (which is hard) many projects seem to focus merely on implementing the protocols in any half-@$$ed way that appears legitimate enough on the surface to attract investment capital & turn a profit for some insider. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:49, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Don't forget the fact that no one wants to figure out how to use the elegant drill, but instead use it for its most obvious if least elegant piece--the stationary pointy bit. -Todd 7/18/2018 17:32 UTC {{unsigned ip|172.69.69.88}}

The way I understand this, Hairy had the cannon done already to make holes in the wall, the typical brute force solution to the problem. But he needed ammo of a certain weight and gave that task to Cueball. Cueball then made a drill, an elegant solution that would do the job better than the canon. Hairy sees the drill and doesn't care about all the fancy functions, all he needed was an object of the proper weight to put 500 of them in the already built cannon. In programming, this shows either a reluctance from Hairy to adapt to the better solution and insist on using the brute force approach. Or, it shows how often programmers tend to make things way more complicated than is needed. Cueball went to remake a new solution for the problem when all he was supposed to do was make a cannonball of the proper weight.-Vince23 17:46, 18 July 2018 (UTC) {{unsigned|Vince23}}

This also shows the results of not clearly defining terms. Cueball interpreted 'drill' to mean 'a hand held drilling machine' whilst Hairy toolkit to mean a 'drill bit'. So when Cueball delivers his component, Hairy just uses it as a 'dumb' piece of ammo. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 22:31, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

I have a slightly different take. You develop a tool (drill or accounting application) that solves the problem. Then you develop a meta-tool (cannon or cloud-based services or Container software) that bundles simple tools and throws them at the same problem. The comic is not too effective in making the point. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:43, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Automatic-Drill Cannon is my new favorite impractical weapon. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 01:44, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

::Sorry if this is amazingly off topic, but is that an automatic-drill cannon or an automatic drill-cannon? Like a Gatling gun for power tools? -Milliways 3:38, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

:::Not off topic at all; It's a cannon which fires automatic drills, therefore it's an automatic-drill cannon. An automatic drill-cannon would automatically fire drills. While it's possible (especially given the motorized base) that the cannon is automatic, we ''know'' that the drill is automatic.
::: Nice name, by the way.
:::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:41, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
::::An automatic drill-cannon is a thing that shoots and bores, and has an "automatic" feature. The second thing you described would be called just "automatic drill cannon", AFAIK.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.149|108.162.212.149]] 00:14, 29 July 2018 (UTC)
It is so fitting that this comic came out on the same day as Minecraft 1.13, an update that was incredibly rushed due to a stupid deadline. An update that contains many amazing features and code cleanups and rewrites, but also crashes, save corruptions, lots of bugs and lag, etc. An update that was meant to mainly fix bugs and clean up code, but ended up getting merged with another feature update, which caused most of this mess. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 08:22, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

Definitely seems make more sense if you consider the person on the left to be the software developer and the person on the right to be the user, doesn't it? But equally valid if the person on the left is the hardware developer and the person on the right is the programmer. [[User:Swhitlock|Swhitlock]] ([[User talk:Swhitlock|talk]]) 18:20, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

:It makes most sense if these are two software developers who each have been given part of a task, with ill defined boundaries between the parts. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.34|162.158.134.34]] 06:27, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

:I think it also makes sense if the left is a software developer & the right is a hardware or UX developer. [Develop innovative code process -> Ignore finer points of process -> Implement a crude solution using brute hardware power & a kludge] seems to be a pretty common scenario. Modern computers running Windows™ or Linux could be considered an example of this, as both contain brilliant snippets of code implemented in cumbersome, inelegant, or less-than-efficient ways. (Mac might do this too, but I wouldn't know.) [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:41, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Example: Automatic drill <=> database. Cannon <=> foreach (var row in db.execQuery("select * from customer")) if (resultRow["name"] == searchTerm) return true; [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.248|141.101.77.248]] 23:45, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

I think that this comic represents how programmers put time above cost. Having 500 drills would be expensive but it would significantly reduce the time taken, as they are synchronous. This arguably isn't a bad tactic, but it stops programmers from worrying about cost at all in some cases.

I think this also represents front end Vs back end. If you consider the drill as the front-end and the cannon as the back end. The drill is elegant while the cannon is ugly, the same thing often happens in programming. [[User:TrueBoxGuy|TrueBoxGuy]] ([[User talk:TrueBoxGuy|talk]]) 13:19, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

Surely Drill = carefully crafted code, Cannon = docker container, with a similar sentiment to [[1988]]? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.82|162.158.38.82]] 08:19, 27 July 2018 (UTC)