explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1993: Fatal Crash Rate

2018-05-15T04:37:31Z

108.162.216.220:

Bad graphs, man. 
~ [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:36, 14 May 2018 (UTC) 
This implies that self-driving cars would have a fatality rate of zero. 
--[[User:Chrispugner|Chrispugner]] ([[User talk:Chrispugner|talk]]) 20:15, 14 May 2018 (UTC)
:But even after "general safety improvements", the crash rate (top middle graph) is still not zero, so the bottom graph makes no sense... And how would you achieve a fatality rate of zero? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 03:47, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

"Fixating on this seems unhealty. But in general, the more likely I think a crash is, the less likely one becomes, which is a strange kind of reverse placebo effect." It will not be a reverse effect if "It feels weird to look at car crash statistics and wonder whether we'll all be able to stop driving before I'm involved in a fatal crash." is being done while driving. Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 04:37, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1992: SafetySat

2018-05-14T04:08:31Z

108.162.216.220:

I was excited that I might be the first to give an explanation (because the comic was so late in being posted), but when it finally arrived, I had no way to interpret it. It was just a gigantic Γ shape (though with a rounded corner). Now that the real comic{{Citation needed}} has been posted, I find that I'm ''still'' not very qualified to explain it. (I can guess at some of the references, but not the important ones.) I guess my only constructive comment here is encouragement to have a section (trivia?) talking about the initial failed comic image. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.104|172.69.22.104]] 19:38, 11 May 2018 (UTC)
:There was a broken image a xkcd and uploaded by the BOT. It's now fixed at xkcd and here too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:48, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

Someone should point out how much damage the "extends spikes in all directions" safety measure could do. And I note SpaceX scrubbed a satellite launch with 1 minute to go yesterday because of some anomaly. Maybe the impetus for this cartoon? [[User:Yngvadottir|Yngvadottir]] ([[User talk:Yngvadottir|talk]]) 20:23, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

I figured today's comic was in reference to this picosat launch from India, which was denied launch in the US for being below minimum size ("too hard to track if they go offline") & thus in violation of the requisite cubesat specs:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/fcc-accuses-stealthy-startup-of-launching-rogue-satellites
Personally I'm in favor of these sub-cubesat launches; My concern is with liability, not safety, per-se.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:47, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

:I would be concerned with safety as well, if not for the radar reflector ... seriously, this looks more like FCC wanting to destroy the company for being innovative than trying to ensure the visibility. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:01, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

Considering that it says the solar panel was "found", I think that implies that perhaps it was stolen? Or just literally found on the side of the road. Either way, it seems kinda shady. [[User:Carrera|Carrera]] ([[User talk:Carrera|talk]]) 22:20, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

Are there any rules regarding solar panels on spacecraft? Seeing that Randall "found" it, I'm wondering if this would be a violation of any rules. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 23:41, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

What would happen to wet sand if put in a cubesat and then released? Water released into space boils and then desublimates into a cloud of ice crystals. But what would the temperature and pressure be as the cubesat was launched? Starting from wet sand at one atmosphere and whatever ambient temperature, would it cool down fast enough for the water to freeze before it was dispensed? (Release a gritty snowball.) If the dispenser is not kept at atmospheric pressure, would the water boil as the satellite was ascending to orbit? I wish Randall was still doing what-if. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 01:22, 12 May 2018 (UTC)
:I have no idea, but would imagine that water in sand would freeze the sand together into small clumps that could penetrate other satellites, rather than just evaporate. We must try this soon... (Kessler...) ;) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:40, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
::In our solar system the {{w|Frost line (astrophysics)|ice line}} is inside the asteroid belt beyond Mars. This means water in Earths orbit exposed to the vacuum and the sun will evaporate. And the heat from the Sun is even high enough to trigger this very fast. More far away - e.g. at Jupiter - that wet sand would freeze to a dirty snowball. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:32, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

> quality of the solar panel and the power it produces 
Quality of the power ? Isn't all solar power clean and green quality ? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebob]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 04:28, 12 May 2018 (UTC)
:Well a solar panel's efficiency depends on how well it's made, and what materials have been used to make it. Considering that it was just "found", it may not be efficient enough to actually run the satellite, or even work in a vacuum. Then again, it's not like the satellite does much other than point lasers and explode. [[User:Carrera|Carrera]] ([[User talk:Carrera|talk]]) 05:21, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

I am totally surprised that nobody either commented on or included a mention in the explanation of the obvious misnomer of the title of the comic! Doesn't anyone else think this cubesat is the opposite of a SafetySat in every way possible, which I think is the main joke of the comic? I would update the explanation accordingly, but I'm not sure where exactly this point should be made. Anyone else want to take a crack at it? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:59, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

:Well, it could be very useful in satellite design classes. "Here is how *NOT* to do it." Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 04:08, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1991: Research Areas by Size and Countedness

2018-05-10T05:25:22Z

108.162.216.220:

Spelling error? Etymology or Entomology? Randall wrote Entymology. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.17|141.101.104.17]] 15:37, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
:My translator at dict.leo.org asks: Did you mean entomology, enzymology, or etymology? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:20, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
:I mean, we know about how many words exist; I think he means Entomology.
[[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 18:06, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
:::I'm sorry, we don't know how many words there are in British English, let alone it's off shoots, Chinese has never been fully counted and actually we don't know how many languages there are, but can put a good estimate on it. Nevertheless I agree it's probably entomology.[[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 23:00, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
::Agree. In context, it's next to several other life science branches, ones which especially deal with species typical in jungle environments where new species are regularly discovered, hence the "we don't know how many" axis. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:55, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
:Wikipedia redirects "Entymology" to "Entomology", fwiw. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:46, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
:Just a quick note, a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1991:_Research_Areas_by_Size_and_Countedness&oldid=156851 previous version] said this made reference to [[1012: Wrong Superhero]], and [[1610: Fire Ants]] (the same revision also shows Mycology might have been a reference to [[1664: Mycology]]), which I appear to have accidentally deleted. Feel free to add them back where they go. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.11|172.69.33.11]] 23:16, 9 May 2018 (UTC)

Dentistry is fairly straightforward, I think. Adults should have 32 teeth, children who have a full set but don't have wisdom teeth yet should have 28. Anyone missing teeth should have that information on their personal record. However, children occasionally lose teeth, and sometimes wisdom teeth need to be removed due to issues with them growing in wrong. It's also possible they could be lost in an accident, or for there to be a new patient with an unknown number of teeth. So a dentist can easily expect to know how many teeth should be in their patient's mouth, but may find they are off in some instances. Hence the mostly towards the top but not quite all the way of its placement. --[[User:KingStarscream|KingStarscream]] ([[User talk:KingStarscream|talk]]) 19:06, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
:Children have 20 teeth, that will all fall out. But at some point they have all 20 and none other. So saying they have 28 makes no sense. Some adults never get Wisdom teeth. Before the childbegins to loose they original teeth they may start to have some of the permanent though. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:16, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
As well as some people not developing some / all their wisdom teeth (I have never had any upper ones) some people have "super-numerory" canines (my Dad and sister) [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 23:00, 9 May 2018 (UTC)

I have determined the exact position of each science on both axes. I computed the center of the smallest rectangle that encloses each name. Here they are, expressed as percentages, assuming 0% and 100% correspond to the arrow tips on each axis. I can provide raw pixel values if anyone is interested.

Presidential History | 62% | 89%

Geology | 90% | 90%

Shakespeare Studies | 37% | 88%

Dentistry | 21% | 84%

Railway Engineering | 79% | 81%

Elementary Particle Physics | 7% | 72%

Marine Mammology | 66% | 68%

Ornithology | 34% | 62%

Cosmology | 94% | 62%

Ancient Literature | 38% | 53%

Botany | 60% | 40%

Mycology | 29% | 38%

Paleontology | 68% | 31%

Black Hole Astronomy | 92% | 26%

Entymology | 24% | 25%

Microbiology | 15% | 13%

Pharmacology | 12% | 6%

Exobiology | 68% | 5%

Theology | 91% | 5%

Zetfr 23:35, 9 May 2018 (UTC)

'Microbiology studies microscopic (too small to see) organisms, of which some 1,400 are known and "estimates for the total number of microbial species vary wildly, from as low as 120,000 to tens of millions and higher", according to Nature magazine' What is the 1,400? The other numbers here look reasonable, but this one throws me for a loop. Gene Wirchenko genew@@telus.net [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 05:25, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1989: IMHO

2018-05-06T01:06:27Z

108.162.216.220: /* SQL Pronunciation */

I mean, the dress is b&w if you have one of the forms of colorblindness. Although, what colors ''is'' it? [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:33, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
: The gold/black part is 61522F hex and the white/blue part is 8190B2 hex. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 16:55, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::So that explains the colors represented by the photo; what about the colors of the dress itself? I'd guess black & gold, based purely upon the discussions I've heard. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::The dress was blue with black lace. And I've added the fact that Randall had made a comic because of the dress ([[1492: Dress Color]]). [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 01:04, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Currently adding transcript. [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:38, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Did top row. Feel free to format it differently. [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:42, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::''Screams in edit conflicts.'' [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Okay, I've normalized the formatting to what seems to be the standard: uniform indent with ":".[[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:57, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::: What about using tabs? ;D
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

AFAIK In normal (British) usage the phrase is "In my humble opinion" and I have heard it said, when someone prefaces their contribution with IMHO it is rarely humble but is definitely an opinion. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 16:47, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

No lie, I had a manager who used to refer to the database language as Squeal. As in a high-pitched animal sound. We had an in-house database tool called PiggySQL. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:26, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:I've always preferred that pronunciation too. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Dammit. Now my brain will always translate "OMG" to "oh, my genitals".[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.167|172.68.58.167]] 17:45, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Pat

The single space convention became the standard [[wiki:History_of_sentence_spacing#Movement_to_single_sentence_spacing|waaay before HTML]]. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:13, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Standard, but less readable. For printed documents (especially stories with a lot of lengthy paragraphs) I'd still strongly recommend using double spaces because it's easier for the reader to discern sentence breaks. Incidentally, I had points deducted from English papers lacking that extra space as late as 1998.
:(By the way, that link you gave is broken:
:"Trouble Encountered ~ can't fetch document")
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: If you print documents with monospace font, using just single space is NOT the main reason it's hard to read. You should use proportional font and tool actually designed to handle printing, which include having better option than using two spaces. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
:Using extra-wide space between sentences (not necessarily two spaces) goes back to the earliest days of printing, long before the invention of typewriters.     As a matter of fact, the practice of double-spacing sentences with typewriters got started by trying to mimic the printing practices of the time.     It was only in the mid-20th century (with the 1949 edition of the Chicago Manual of Style) that the recommendation became "one space", in 1969 when they stopped mentioning the earlier customs, and in the 21st century where they explicitly prohibit any alternative.     There's a [https://web.archive.org/web/20171207185025/http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324 great article about this] that explains the history in great detail.     (Sadly, that blog no longer exists, but the Wayback Machine has preserved the content).     [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 15:44, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Tabs vs Spaces might also be a reference to the programmer's war on how to indent code correctly. [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 19:25, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agreed. I prefer " " (U+2003, A.K.A. &emsp;)
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: Did you ever manage to RUN some of those programs? :) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Maybe I'm reading too much in this, but there is a popular product called "cramp tabs" for use during and right after a period [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]])

I hate to be that guy, but I pronounce Giantess and Gift the same way.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 11:06, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

== SQL Pronunciation ==

For Microsoft's ''SQL Server'', "SQL" should be pronounced "sequel" because it's Microsoft's product, and that's how they pronounce it. I notice young I.T. people tend to try to make abbreviations into pronounceable words (acronyms) rather than go letter-by-letter (initialisms). Many older I.T. people I've met prefer initialism pronunciation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.10|172.68.150.10]] 17:36, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

The term "SQL" existed long before Microsoft started playing; they do not get to change the pronunciation. I do not think that it is necessarily young IT people who prefer pronouncable words. "SCSI" being pronounced "scuzzy" has a long tradition. For myself, I usually say "S-Q-L" but have also used "squeal". I am 57. Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 01:06, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

Is it possible the last panel is punning on menstruation?

Talk:1985: Meteorologist

2018-05-01T05:45:21Z

108.162.216.220:

I’ve wondered about this (from both the math and software development perspectives anyway, not the linguist), so I look forward to seeing some actual answers as the explanation gets filled in :) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 16:36, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
: The weather service has a [https://www.weather.gov/ffc/pop nice explanation] of this. After reading it you come away understanding that the percentage chance is... still almost impossible to discern :) {{unsigned ip|172.68.189.205}}

I really liked this one. I don't know why though. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 17:35, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

: Yep - all three of the 'experts' express problems that I have with every single weather forecast. It gets worse though. Our local TV station uses a rotating 3D graphic of downtown Austin where the shadows of the buildings flicker violently as it rotates - they've been doing this for YEARS. I'm a 3D computer graphics professional and I know PRECISELY why that is happening (they are rendering the back-faces of the building polygons in the shadow rendering pass instead of the front-faces...trust me on this one!)...I could fix the bug with ONE LINE OF CODE - and I bet I could find and fix it within 20 minutes if left alone with the source code. But when I call them and BEG to be allowed t...'''SECURITY!!!''' [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 17:36, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
::Hah, that's pretty funny, but understandably frustrating. I rarely watch the weather though... that is why I find it a little strange I liked it so much. Have you actually called them though? I mean, if you have proof to show you are a professional...[[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 12:33, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

; Randall
: wonders about something and puts it in an xkcd comic.
; Explainxkcd participants
: answer Randall's questions for him (and all of his readers).
—[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:52, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

Am I allowed to be slightly offended by the suggestion that "information being conveyed is to people, who would probably be able to interpret it easily"? Okay, I'm a software engineer, but even if I weren't I'd still not know whether the report system defines "12:00" as "in the period between 12:00 and 13:00" or "between 11:30 and 12:30". I usually wonder, but get so many variants of weather reports exposed to me that I can't be bothered to check which arbitrary decision any given one has made, and whether they all agree. A software engineer might instantly spot the ambiguity, but it affects everyone. [[User:Fluppeteer|Fluppeteer]] ([[User talk:Fluppeteer|talk]]) 23:58, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
:Clearly, what that sentence is trying to convey is that software developers are no longer considered "people" - since, you know, everyone knows that software developers have actually been replaced by robots. ;p
:I agree that that section is pretty poorly worded (in more ways than one) and was likely written by somebody quickly trying to get as much explanation out as possible so that future people could fix it. So, I'm going to see if I can fix that sentence and the surrounding section. [[User:Jeudi Violist|Jeudi Violist]] ([[User talk:Jeudi Violist|talk]]) 01:40, 26 April 2018 (UTC)
As someone who's asked many questions along these lines, this comic makes me happy. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 01:53, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

There is no such thing as "12 [post meridiem]" - it's literally at meridian. Grammatically, "pm" should be capitalized as an abbreviation. Should this be noted? (The linguist could explain it to the programmer.)[[User:Roguetech|Roguetech]] ([[User talk:Roguetech|talk]]) 12:54, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

The text is currently mathematically incorrect about correlated events. The type of correlated described is just a special form. {{unsigned ip|172.68.51.22}}

Captcha1 is no longer working, so you can no longer create new accounts here or edit anonymously. {{unsigned ip|172.68.51.22}}
:See above the explanation. At the time of writing this (and the above comment) this text was there:
Hi all, the upgrade is now going to happen next weekend, the weekend of the 28th/29th. Bear with us as we get up to date and fix the ReCaptcha.
:So just wait a few more days.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:59, 26 April 2018 (UTC)
:Captcha1 works fine, you just have to do what it says (that’s how I’m adding this comment now) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.153|162.158.62.153]] 04:30, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

;New category for weather/meteorology ?
Do we need a new category for meteorology or wheather/wheather forcast, maybe one combining all things to do with weather and possibly climate?
Suggestions for a name for such a category (or if we need it or more than one) would be appreciated.
I have found the following comics apart from this one, that has some clear relation to weather in some form or another:
*[[511: Sleet]]
*[[748: Worst-Case Scenario]]
*[[1245: 10-Day Forecast]]
*[[1324: Weather]]
*[[1410: California]]
*[[1434: Where Do Birds Go]]
*[[1480: Super Bowl]]
*[[1556: The Sky]]
*[[1606: Five-Day Forecast]]
*[[1643: Degrees]]
*[[1885: Ensemble Model]]
*[[1910: Sky Spotters]]
*[[1916: Temperature Preferences]]
Plus of course the whole set from
*[[:Category:Hurricanes ]]
*[[:Category:Tornadoes ]]
and possibly also from
*[[:Category:Climate change]]
Feel free to add your ideas. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:51, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

:I think we can create a new "Weather" or "Meteorology" category, and make the hurricane and tornado categories subcategories of the new weather/meteorology category. But should it be weather or meteorology? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 05:38, 27 April 2018 (UTC)
::How about "Weather and Meteorology"? [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:02, 27 April 2018 (UTC)


Re 'even if I weren't I'd still not know whether the report system defines "12:00" as ...': Well, isn't part of the joke that it doesn't really matter? Weather forecasts use all these precise numbers and they have specific definitions for everything, but it's all just approximations -- there are wide error bars that are not mentioned. When they predict the temperature as "68 degrees", I mentally translate that to "high 60's". And "1pm" means "early afternoon". So even though their prediction for 12:00 means from 12:00 to 1:00, it's also likely to be a good approximation for 11:30 to 12:30. .
[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:29, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

1) '... there is a certain "resistance" to speech without a subject. Thus if you are in the passenger seat of a car going down the highway and happened to see some deer in the trees nearby, you could simply say "Deer.", rather than "there is a deer over there", deer being the subject of the sentence.' Sure, you can! How do you know that the person said "Deer" and not "Dear"? 2) If you are one of those who prefer punctuation inside quotes, note that "Dear?" is not the samething as "Dear." as the pitch could be used to disambiguate "Deer." and "Dear?"; this is not the case for "Deer." and "Dear." 3) "Of course it should be pointed out that hiring someone without any meteorological training to read the weather does not make them an actual meteorologist, no more than say hiring a bricklayer as a doctor would actually make them a real doctor." So what is "a real doctor"? I consider that a real doctor is someone who has a doctorate (degree). Some consider it to be someone who is a medical doctor (and who probably does not have a doctorate). 4) My degree is a minor in Math, a major in Computing Science, and one course in it was in Linguistics. Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 05:45, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1982: Evangelism

2018-04-20T05:22:50Z

108.162.216.220:

I want to know where vi vs. emacs fits on this spectrum.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.53|108.162.238.53]] 15:12, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
:I use vi by virtue of the fact that it once opened on my computer and I don't know how to close it [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.76|108.162.219.76]] 15:20, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

When you say people open bananas from the other side, which side is the proper side and which is the other? I open from the proper side, not the side with the stem (just like the monkeys taught us) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.76|108.162.219.76]] 15:20, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
:Why are you being taught by monkeys? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.28|108.162.219.28]] 22:43, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
:Since the stem makes for a natural handle to peel from, it's the intuitive side from which to peel. Which makes it the "proper" side for that part of the discussion here. :) At one point I saw a thing say "Just check out videos of monkeys eating bananas", only videos I found showed monkeys mashing the banana out of the peel, LOL! (for reference though, I've been opening bananas from the non-stem end for months, it feels like the peel breaks apart easier). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:36, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

The title text seems to be a reference to the big-endian/little-endian war in "Gulliver's Travels".[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:04, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

And 3 miles to the right of the banana conflict is "iPhone vs. Android" [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 17:07, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
:What about tabs vs spaces? It somehow feels like a lot of popular and appropriate conflicts and opinions were left out. Another example of high evangelism intensity is people who eat kiwis whole. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.58|162.158.134.58]] 09:00, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

I ''LOVE'' the "Pun Intended" tag. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.28|108.162.219.28]] 22:43, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

I suggest we use the metric system, and keep Fahrenheit, but modify it so "0" is room temperature. So a positive temp is usually warm, and vice versa. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 02:11, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

The day this comic was posted was Banana day (https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/banana-day/). I noticed because a popular radio station in my area has a recurring segment talking about "What day" it is, obviously they also talked about the "other end" factoid yesterday. I'm not sure who came up with this "day", but daysoftheyear.com may have been an inspiration for the comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.151|162.158.111.151]]

The following paragraph was in the article:
“Due to the fact that these issues have a more trivial impact on life, evangelists may become more frustrated when people refuse to adopt these ‘simple’ changes and therefore argue more strongly for them.”
I removed it because an increase in frustration from unsuccessful convincement does not follow from the triviality of the issues. However, I note this here because the writer (or someone else) may be able to extract a more coherent thought from this. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.71|172.68.26.71]] 16:15, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

'''The CAPTCHA system for this page (and presumably others) is broken. If I'm not logged in it says reCAPTCHA V1 IS SHUTDOWN" and to tells someone about it...which is what I'm doing right now. Weirdly (or perhaps not!), typing "reCAPTCHA v1 IS SHUTDOWN" into the text entry box works just fine!''' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.179|172.69.70.179]] 18:24, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

I'm sceptical that people actually aggressively promote their ideas in this order, which the comic explanation takes at face value. I want citations, and I want the number of TV station dedicated to promoting each belief taken into account. I say only National Geographic has the banana thing. Thnks for the reCAPTCHA tip. I think it's not broken but closed. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.49|162.158.154.49]] 00:52, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

I'm greatly amused by the fact that I tried opening bananas from the other end several months ago, have been doing it ever since (it actually opens easier, the bonds in the peel are far weaker down there, like it's waiting for it), yet I've told almost nobody about it. LOL! Then I got irritated at the Fahrenheit vs. Celsius thing. :) F allows smaller measurements without decimals? I grew up with Celsius, and I've never seen decimals except in scientific context. If I hear a summer day is 23, 24, 25, 26 Celsius, it's all about the same, mid-20s is as precise as anybody needs to know. If I hear it's 24 and it's actually 25, I won't even know. 1 degree is plenty of precision. Honestly, this whole idea of F being based on how things feel just seems horribly vague and imprecise. Celsius having 0 be the freezing temperature of water and 100 being the boiling temperature just feels scientific. Nice solid basis. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:31, 20 April 2018 (UTC)
: Oh, sure, play the reasonable non-fanatic. Leftist! According to the strip anyway. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 05:22, 20 April 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

Talk:1979: History

2018-04-11T15:19:40Z

108.162.216.220:

Heh. I accidentally misread the line, so I thought it said: "I honestly have enough trouble with just the ''president''". [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 11:48, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:Same here. Then I thought "What the heck?" and read the last line again. Lol. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:20, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
::And same here, lol! I was actually wondering about what the possible motivations could have been to use Megan as the character to say that. Then I read it again :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.172|162.158.255.172]] 14:26, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

I only make comments, and let others figure out how to edit it into the above. I once read someplace that there is a reasonable limit to accurate historical research at about 3 centuries- events more than 300 years in the past become more mythological than factual, and events more than 500 years in the past are so remote that we can't even begin to understand the culture in which they occurred. While there are famous exceptions to this rule, they occur entirely in the realms of either archaeology or theology and religion, not in the science of history.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:32, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:What is "accurate historical research"? No scientist would use those words. And a historian as an expert - let's say of the Roman Empire or the medieval - would strictly disagree. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:12, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

:Even shorter periods of time. There were a lot of changes in the twentieth century. I was born in 1960. At that time, there were people alive before the automobile, powered airflight, the telephone. How about photocopiers which really got going in the 1970s? Can any of you younger people understand not being able to photocopy something? Then, there are the developments in computers and mobile phones.
:On a USENET newgroup that I follow -- alt.talk.royalty -- there is one monarchist who posts a series of posts on Queen Elizabeth II. Sort of. He takes the current length of her reign and goes back that far before it (less a day, I think). He then describes the world at that time and finishes with "Consider all the changes, natural and manmade, visited upon the world in all the time since. And now consider this...Queen Elizabeth II has been on the Throne for MOST of that time since then." Twice her reign length from present time is now in the 1880s. A very different world.
:[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 15:16, 11 April 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

The link to the actual page of the paper is fantastic - especially the ads along the right side - "Anti-Morbific, the Great Liver and Kidney Remedy" and "Trash's Magnetic Ointment". So, a question - there's no by-line. Is there any way to figure out who wrote this? I assume maybe multiple people, like and editorial board? [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 13:36, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1979: History

2018-04-11T15:18:56Z

108.162.216.220:

Heh. I accidentally misread the line, so I thought it said: "I honestly have enough trouble with just the ''president''". [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 11:48, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:Same here. Then I thought "What the heck?" and read the last line again. Lol. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:20, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
::And same here, lol! I was actually wondering about what the possible motivations could have been to use Megan as the character to say that. Then I read it again :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.172|162.158.255.172]] 14:26, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

I only make comments, and let others figure out how to edit it into the above. I once read someplace that there is a reasonable limit to accurate historical research at about 3 centuries- events more than 300 years in the past become more mythological than factual, and events more than 500 years in the past are so remote that we can't even begin to understand the culture in which they occurred. While there are famous exceptions to this rule, they occur entirely in the realms of either archaeology or theology and religion, not in the science of history.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:32, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:What is "accurate historical research"? No scientist would use those words. And a historian as an expert - let's say of the Roman Empire or the medieval - would strictly disagree. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:12, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

:Even shorter periods of time. There were a lot of changes in the twentieth century. I was born in 1960. At that time, there were people alive before the automobile, powered airflight, the telephone. How about photocopiers which really got going in the 1970s? Can any of you younger people understand not being able to photocopy something? Then, there are the developments in computers and mobile phones.
:On a USENET newgroup that I follow -- alt.talk.royalty -- there is one monarchist who posts a series of posts on Queen Elizabeth II. Sort of. He takes the current length of her reign and goes back that far before it (less a day, I think). He then describes the world at that time and finishes with "Consider all the changes, natural and manmade, visited upon the world in all the time since. And now consider this...Queen Elizabeth II has been on the Throne for MOST of that time since then." Twice her reign length from present time is now in the 1880s. A very different world.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 15:16, 11 April 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

The link to the actual page of the paper is fantastic - especially the ads along the right side - "Anti-Morbific, the Great Liver and Kidney Remedy" and "Trash's Magnetic Ointment". So, a question - there's no by-line. Is there any way to figure out who wrote this? I assume maybe multiple people, like and editorial board? [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 13:36, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1979: History

2018-04-11T15:18:03Z

108.162.216.220:

Heh. I accidentally misread the line, so I thought it said: "I honestly have enough trouble with just the ''president''". [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 11:48, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:Same here. Then I thought "What the heck?" and read the last line again. Lol. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:20, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
::And same here, lol! I was actually wondering about what the possible motivations could have been to use Megan as the character to say that. Then I read it again :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.172|162.158.255.172]] 14:26, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

I only make comments, and let others figure out how to edit it into the above. I once read someplace that there is a reasonable limit to accurate historical research at about 3 centuries- events more than 300 years in the past become more mythological than factual, and events more than 500 years in the past are so remote that we can't even begin to understand the culture in which they occurred. While there are famous exceptions to this rule, they occur entirely in the realms of either archaeology or theology and religion, not in the science of history.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:32, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:What is "accurate historical research"? No scientist would use those words. And a historian as an expert - let's say of the Roman Empire or the medieval - would strictly disagree. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:12, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

:Even shorter periods of time. There were a lot of changes in the twentieth century. I was born in 1960. At that time, there were people alive before the automobile, powered airflight, the telephone. How about photocopiers which really got going in the 1970s? Can any of you younger people understand not being able to photocopy something? Then, there are the developments in computers and mobile phones.
:On a USENET newgroup that I follow -- alt.talk.royalty -- there is one monarchist who posts a series of posts on Queen Elizabeth II. Sort of. He takes the current length of her reign and goes back that far before it (less a day, I think). He then describes the world at that time and finishes with "Consider all the changes, natural and manmade, visited upon the world in all the time since. And now consider this...Queen Elizabeth II has been on the Throne
for MOST of that time since then." Twice her reign length from present time is now in the 1880s. A very different world.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 15:16, 11 April 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

The link to the actual page of the paper is fantastic - especially the ads along the right side - "Anti-Morbific, the Great Liver and Kidney Remedy" and "Trash's Magnetic Ointment". So, a question - there's no by-line. Is there any way to figure out who wrote this? I assume maybe multiple people, like and editorial board? [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 13:36, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1979: History

2018-04-11T15:16:51Z

108.162.216.220:

Heh. I accidentally misread the line, so I thought it said: "I honestly have enough trouble with just the ''president''". [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 11:48, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:Same here. Then I thought "What the heck?" and read the last line again. Lol. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:20, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
::And same here, lol! I was actually wondering about what the possible motivations could have been to use Megan as the character to say that. Then I read it again :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.172|162.158.255.172]] 14:26, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

I only make comments, and let others figure out how to edit it into the above. I once read someplace that there is a reasonable limit to accurate historical research at about 3 centuries- events more than 300 years in the past become more mythological than factual, and events more than 500 years in the past are so remote that we can't even begin to understand the culture in which they occurred. While there are famous exceptions to this rule, they occur entirely in the realms of either archaeology or theology and religion, not in the science of history.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:32, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:What is "accurate historical research"? No scientist would use those words. And a historian as an expert - let's say of the Roman Empire or the medieval - would strictly disagree. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:12, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

:Even shorter periods of time. There were a lot of changes in the twentieth century. I was born in 1960. At that time, there were people alive before the automobile, powered airflight, the telephone. How about photocopiers which really got going in the 1970s? Can any of you younger people understand not being able to photocopy something? Then, there are the developments in computers and mobile phones.
:On a USENET newgroup that I follow -- alt.talk.royalty -- there is one monarchist who posts a series of posts on Queen Elizabeth II. Sort of. He takes the current length of her reign and goes back that far before it (less a day, I think). He then describes the world at that time and finishes with "Consider all the changes, natural and manmade, visited upon the world
in all the time since. And now consider this...Queen Elizabeth II has been on the Throne
for MOST of that time since then." Twice her reign length from present time is now in the 1880s. A very different world.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 15:16, 11 April 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

The link to the actual page of the paper is fantastic - especially the ads along the right side - "Anti-Morbific, the Great Liver and Kidney Remedy" and "Trash's Magnetic Ointment". So, a question - there's no by-line. Is there any way to figure out who wrote this? I assume maybe multiple people, like and editorial board? [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 13:36, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

1964: Spatial Orientation

2018-03-11T21:50:33Z

108.162.216.220: /* Explanation */ Added pointing

{{comic
| number = 1964
| date = March 7, 2018
| title = Spatial Orientation
| image = spatial_orientation.png
| titletext = Here, if you know the number of days until the vernal equinox, I can point you to the theater using my pocket Stonehenge.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The table needs extending to include each thing Cueball lists. Also, if someone could clarify on the stonehenge... and link (more?) comics related to Cueball/Randall overthinking things. - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Location in space is always relative, as we cannot observe empty space itself and find an absolute location. Planets are subject to different types of motion, including rotation, precession, and others.
{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:15%"|Frame of reference
!style="width:25%"|Comic explanation
!style="width:60%"|Scientific explanation
|-
|The Earth (rotation)
|Cueball starts by stating that as he is facing west, the Earth's spin will be carrying him backwards.
Except at the poles, everything on Earth's surface is being rotated to the east, "toward" the rising sun in the east or "away" from the setting sun in the west.

|On the equator, Earth's spin is about 464 meters per second (with 464m being 1/60 of 1/60 of 1/24 of Earth's equatorial circumference of 40070 km, based on the number of seconds in a day, ignoring the difference between sidereal and ephemeris days).
So, on the equator at sunrise, on the day of a March or September equinox, this spin, by itself, would take someone toward the sun at about 464 meters per second.

This spin would be slower than 464 m/s at 39 degrees North.
The average radius of the Earth is 6371 km.
This means that the distance from a line between the poles through the center of the Earth to a point on Earth's surface at 39 degrees north is approximately 6371km times the cosine of 39 degrees (.68 radians), which is 4951km.
So, the distance around the Earth along the 39 degrees latitude "line" is 2 times pi times 4951km, which is about 31,109 km. (This estimate ignores the oblateness of the Earth.)
So, the rotation of the Earth on its axis would transport points on Earth at 39 degrees latitude to the east at 360 meters per second (1/60 of 1/60 of 1/24 of 31,109).
Determining how the direction that is currently east for Cueball is oriented relative to the sun and the solar system depends on some of the issues Cueball identifies later.
|-
|The Earth (orbit)
|Cueball then seemingly corrects himself in his head, having accounted for the fact that the Earth is also revolving around the sun.

|The Earth's orbit around the sun is counter-clockwise, when viewed from above the North Pole looking down.
Earth's counter-clockwise orbit around the sun means that, for most latitudes, the direction the Earth is moving around the sun corresponds roughly to west at noon, and east in the middle of the night.
The Earth is spinning, so "east" from any given location on the surface is not always the same direction relative to the sun.

The speed of the Earth's orbit around the sun depends on the time of year.
The Earth moves faster around the sun when it is closest to the sun in early January, and slower when it is far away in early July (which may be counter-intuitive to those in the in the northern hemisphere).
However, Earth's average orbital speed is reportedly about 29.78 kilometers per second, with Earth's average distance from the sun being a bit less than 150 million kilometers.
Earth's orbit around the sun is nearly circular, with an eccentricity of just 0.0167.
|-
|Earth's tilted axis
|Cueball knows that the earth's axis is tilted (by 23 degrees) relative to its orbit around the sun and knows that he is 39 degrees north of the equator, but is unsure how to combine this information to figure out his orientation relative to the plane of the solar system.
|The Earth’s orbit around the sun, under Keplerian assumptions, is an ellipse, which lies within a plane. Furthermore, the entire solar system, to some extent, lies within a plane, since the orbital inclinations of Mars and the gas and ice giants are within two and a half degrees of Earth’s and the orbital inclinations of a major body in the solar system (such as a planet) rarely, if ever, varies from that of another by more than eight degrees. With the exception of Eris, all planets and dwarf planets have an orbital inclination within about thirty degrees of Earth’s.

Cueball is attempting to determine where the plane of the solar system lies with regard to him. Ignoring any possible difference between Earth’s orbit and this plane, and assuming that Cueball is standing on flat ground, the angle between the line from the center of the earth through Cueball (which runs through his body parallel to his legs and spine if he is standing straight up) and the plane of the solar system can be expressed in terms of two angles: the angle between the plane of Earth’s equator and the solar plane, and the angle between the Earth’s equatorial plane and the vertical line through Cueball. Cueball is at 39 degrees north, so if Cueball is standing straight up, the angle between the plane of the Earth’s equator and the long axis of his body is also 39 degrees. As stated in the comic, Earth’s axis is currently tilted by about 23.4 degrees (an amount which is very slowly decreasing as part of a 41,000 year cycle).

Cueball is trying to determine whether to add together 39 degrees and 23 degrees to get the angle between himself and the solar system’s plane or subtract them. The answer depends on the time of day and the time of year. On the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere (around June 21), the north pole is tilted toward the sun, so at the longitude that is currently experiencing high noon / solar noon, the solar plane passes through a point that is 23 degrees north of the equator. So, if it is solar noon on the summer solstice, Cueball should subtract the angles to find that the direction his body is pointing is roughly 16 degrees away from the solar plane. If he were to somehow lean so that he could tilt his body 16 degrees to the south, the solar plane would pass through the vertical axis of his body and his scalp would be pointed directly toward the sun. On the other hand, on the day when the northern hemisphere is experiencing the winter solstice (around December 21), the northern hemisphere is pointing away from the sun, so at solar noon on that day, he would add the angles together to find that his vertical stance is 62 degrees away from the plane of the solar system. (The sun is never truly directly overhead at latitudes further from the equator than 23.4 degrees. At arctic latitudes that are less than 23.4 degrees from the north pole - more than 67 degrees north of the equator - the sun is not visible on the day of the winter solstice even when it is noon on the clock.)

If it is not a solstice day, or if it is not noon, the calculations could become more complicated. The comic was uploaded roughly two weeks before the northern hemisphere’s spring equinox. Cueball notices that the sun is “passing over his left shoulder” as he faces west. At temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere, the sun would be to the left of a person facing west around midday almost any time of year, although how many degrees to the left depends on the calculations discussed above.

An easier way to identify a line that is aligned with the solar plane would be to simply point directly at the sun (without hurting his eyes). Since the distance between Cueball and the center of the Earth is minuscule compared to the distance between the Earth and the Sun, if he simply points directly at the Sun (preferably without looking directly at it), his arm and finger will be pointing in a direction that is basically perpendicular to the line connecting the Earth and Sun, which obviously lies on the plane of the Earth's orbit. The Earth's position will have changed minimally in the eight minutes it took the sun's light to reach earth, so the apparent direction to the sun matches the actual direction. However, this will only provide one line that lies on the plane of the solar system and a line is insufficient to uniquely identify a plane.
|-
|The Moon
|Cueball knows about the Moon's path across the sky and knows that its orbit around the Earth appears counter-clockwise when viewed from above the North Pole, but is confused about whether the Moon is moving toward the Sun or away from it.
| Like the Earth, the Moon, when viewed from above Earth’s North Pole, both orbits counter-clockwise and rotates on its axis counter-clockwise (with equal rotational periods such that the same side of the moon always faces us). (In fact, almost every body in the Solar System both orbits the body it is orbiting counter-clockwise and spins on its axis counter-clockwise, with the rotational axes of Venus and Uranus being major exceptions.)

A new moon happens when the moon is closer to the sun than the earth is, thus casting the near side of the moon in darkness because it is the far side of the moon that is facing the sun. Conversely, a full moon happens when the moon is on the other side of the Earth from the sun; this is why a lunar eclipse can only occur during a full moon. In that sense, it could be said that the moon is moving perpendicular to the line between it and the sun at the time of the full moon and the new moon, moving toward the sun after the full moon until the next new moon, and moving away from the sun after the new moon until the next full moon.

In another sense, since the moon is orbiting the Earth and the Earth’s orbit around the sun is elliptical, it could be said that the moon is getting closer to the sun whenever Earth is moving toward its perihelion, the point in its orbit that is closest to the sun, around January 3, and moving away as the Earth moves toward its aphelion, the point in its orbit that is furthest from the sun, around July 4. In yet another sense, since the Moon follows the path of the Earth, and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is roughly circular, and the instantaneous motion of an object in a circular orbit is always perpendicular to the radius connecting it to the orbited body, it could be said that the moon is always moving perpendicular to the line connecting the Earth and Sun, which is at most a fraction of a degree away from the line connecting the Moon and the Sun.

The semi-major axis of the moon’s orbit around the Earth (the furthest distance between the Moon and the center of its orbit) is 384,400km. Compared to the semi-major axis of Earth’s orbit around the Sun, which is 149,600,000km, the axis of the Moon’s orbit is only 0.26% as large. The Moon’s orbital period is 27.3 days, but its synodic period (the time between full moons; the time it takes the moon to reappear at the same point in the sky) is 29.5 days.

[Needs an additional section explaining the path of the moon across the night sky]
|}

Cueball internally attempts to orient himself amidst the galactic chaos but is confused and has to restart.
It is then revealed to the reader, that some passersby were only trying to ask Cueball for directions to the theater, and he was just grossly overthinking it. (A recurring theme in xkcd. See: [[222: Small Talk|#222: Small Talk]], [[439: Thinking Ahead|#439: Thinking Ahead]], [[1643: Degrees|#1643: Degrees]]). One can imagine Cueball having his mind in astrophysics so much that he needs to calculate the angle of the road relative to the plane of the galaxy to determine which way a destination is in conversational terms.

In the title text, Cueball mentions he has a pocket Stonehenge. During the equinoxes the sun lines up with the actual Stonehenge's pillars. Assuming you were at the actual monument, armed with the date you could calculate the cardinal directions based on the sun's location relative to the pillars.

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

:[Cueball appears to be tilted on a flat surface.]

:Cueball (thinking): I'm facing West so the Earth's spin is carrying me backward. But our orbit is carrying me forward around the Sun.
::The Sun is passing over my left shoulder. I'm at 39ºN, so I'm tilted. But wait, Earth's axis is tilted by 23º. Do I add or subtract that to get the tilt of the Solar System?
::Ok, I see the Moon. It follows the Sun's path, but is it moving toward it or away? I know it orbits counterclockwise from the North...
::My head hurts. Let me start over.

:Off-screen voice #1: He's just standing there. Hey, do you know which way the theater is or not?
:Off-screen voice #2: Let's ask someone else.

:[Caption below:]
:I spend way too much time trying to work out my orientation relative to other stuff in the universe.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:1964: Spatial Orientation

2018-03-08T05:27:21Z

108.162.216.220:

Dunno where to put this, but Captcha is giving a deprecation notice and asking to move to reCaptcha... [https://miguelpiedrafita.com/ Miguel Piedrafita] 17:46, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

Someone better make a pocket stonehenge now. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 17:42, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

: Aren't all those pocket whatsits running on silicon close enough?
: Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this comic was published two weeks before the vernal equinox [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.45|162.158.62.45]] 19:20, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

I started to nerd snipe myself as I tried to figure out that latitude/earth tilt thing. I have come to the conclusion that it depends on the time of year. He would be 39 degrees on the equinoxes, 16 degrees on the summer solstice, and 52 degrees on the winter solstice. I assume this is in relation to the solar system, but I know pretty much nothing about astrophysics, and I probably worded it all wrong in the first place.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.137|172.69.70.137]] 20:54, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

Is there a category for overly thinking things? If not, should we create one? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 23:21, 7 March 2018 (UTC)
:I don't think there is a category, but there is a word; "nerd-sniping" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 01:12, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1964: Spatial Orientation

2018-03-08T05:25:45Z

108.162.216.220:

Dunno where to put this, but Captcha is giving a deprecation notice and asking to move to reCaptcha... [https://miguelpiedrafita.com/ Miguel Piedrafita] 17:46, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

Someone better make a pocket stonehenge now. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 17:42, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

- Aren't all those pocket whatsits running on silicon close enough?
- Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this comic was published two weeks before the vernal equinox [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.45|162.158.62.45]] 19:20, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

I started to nerd snipe myself as I tried to figure out that latitude/earth tilt thing. I have come to the conclusion that it depends on the time of year. He would be 39 degrees on the equinoxes, 16 degrees on the summer solstice, and 52 degrees on the winter solstice. I assume this is in relation to the solar system, but I know pretty much nothing about astrophysics, and I probably worded it all wrong in the first place.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.137|172.69.70.137]] 20:54, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

Is there a category for overly thinking things? If not, should we create one? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 23:21, 7 March 2018 (UTC)
:I don't think there is a category, but there is a word; "nerd-sniping" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 01:12, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1961: Interaction

2018-03-02T05:28:41Z

108.162.216.220:

Wait... in the title text is he making fun of us!? [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 15:22, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
:More like all of us socially challenged nerds in general. Who, coincidentally, make up a sizeable percentage of XKCD readers. Love the username, by the way. — [[User:AfroThundr3007730|AfroThundr]] (''[[User_talk:AfroThundr3007730|talk]]'') 22:41, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
::Because it is formatted like an Explainxkcd transcript, i thought he was poking fun at us, [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 00:01, 1 March 2018 (UTC)
:::No, it is standard to put [] around a part of the text that is not said or a direct comment on the comic. Usually the title text is either something one of the characters say after the main comic, or Randall's comment. But this is just to make another beat panel, like the third, without including it in the main comic and taking away from the main punch line. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:35, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

;Interactions category?
Should we make a new category that references those comic that like this display Cueball/Randall's lack of social aptitude, or general problems with [[Small Talk]]. I have already listed five comics in the main explanation, and there may be many more? (Please add them to the list, if you know some of them). I might have created the category already, if I had a good idea for what to call it. "Small talk" or "Social interactions" could be possible titles for it, but seems not quite adequate? Let me hear if you think such a category would be relevant and if you have a suggestion for a great name for such a category. (Sorry if my writing displays my problems with social situations ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:40, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

It was more than two yeas ago Randall made the last of this type of comics. It seems that he returnes to his [[1960:_Code_Golf#Revitalizing_old_themes|old themes]]!? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:33, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

I could get excited about handling this extremely basic Web interaction, but I do not think I will. It could just fall apart two comments later. Since I have learned from their example, maybe it will go three or even four comments before it falls apart.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 05:26, 2 March 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

Talk:1961: Interaction

2018-03-02T05:26:52Z

108.162.216.220:

Wait... in the title text is he making fun of us!? [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 15:22, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
:More like all of us socially challenged nerds in general. Who, coincidentally, make up a sizeable percentage of XKCD readers. Love the username, by the way. — [[User:AfroThundr3007730|AfroThundr]] (''[[User_talk:AfroThundr3007730|talk]]'') 22:41, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
::Because it is formatted like an Explainxkcd transcript, i thought he was poking fun at us, [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 00:01, 1 March 2018 (UTC)
:::No, it is standard to put [] around a part of the text that is not said or a direct comment on the comic. Usually the title text is either something one of the characters say after the main comic, or Randall's comment. But this is just to make another beat panel, like the third, without including it in the main comic and taking away from the main punch line. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:35, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

;Interactions category?
Should we make a new category that references those comic that like this display Cueball/Randall's lack of social aptitude, or general problems with [[Small Talk]]. I have already listed five comics in the main explanation, and there may be many more? (Please add them to the list, if you know some of them). I might have created the category already, if I had a good idea for what to call it. "Small talk" or "Social interactions" could be possible titles for it, but seems not quite adequate? Let me hear if you think such a category would be relevant and if you have a suggestion for a great name for such a category. (Sorry if my writing displays my problems with social situations ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:40, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

It was more than two yeas ago Randall made the last of this type of comics. It seems that he returnes to his [[1960:_Code_Golf#Revitalizing_old_themes|old themes]]!? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:33, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

I could get excited about handling this basic Web interaction, but I do not think I will. It could just fall apart two comments later. Since I have learned from their example, maybe it will go three or even four comments before it falls apart.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 05:26, 2 March 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

Talk:1956: Unification

2018-02-17T23:34:05Z

108.162.216.220: added Family Day unification

The 10^31 years in the title text is a clear reference to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_decay proton decay], with the proton expected to have a half-life between 10^31 and 10^36 years. But so far no evidence for this decay has been found, which is incompatible with the results given by various unified theories. So Cuarón is preventing the unification of this comics' fundamental forces of nature like the proton is preventing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Unified_Theory GUTs]. (Also, even the physics part has several layers of unification, the current one, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Unified_Theory GUTs], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything TOEs]) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.113|141.101.99.113]] 11:23, 16 February 2018 (UTC)

I know this isn't the place for it.. but.. why not Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays? It is literally President's Day weekend. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 22:00, 16 February 2018 (UTC)

;Marvel?
Where is the unification of Marvel with Disney as well? I know, if you put in all the companies that Disney has merged with/bought over the years, it would take up way more room than the comic will allow. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 14:50, 16 February 2018 (UTC)

I think Randall missed "The Force" and "Midi-chlorians"! [[User:Neurozero|Neurozero]] ([[User talk:Neurozero|talk]]) 17:07, 16 February 2018 (UTC)

We have a statutory holiday in British Columbia called Family Day; it is on the second Monday of February. Other provinces have a similar holiday, though some with different names, on the third Monday of February. Alberta, the province next to British Columbia calls theirs Family Day. My joke has been that they should split the different and have Family Day on Valentine's Day. Apparently, though, British Columba will be changing the observance of Family Day to the third Monday in February: another unification. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 23:34, 17 February 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

Talk:1955: Robots

2018-02-15T05:42:11Z

108.162.216.220:

The door handle is a lever, which is relatively easy to open. A doorknob would be harder.
[[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 06:04, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Apparently, a lot of the YouTube comments reference "black mirror" a lot. Can someone explain this to someone out of the loop?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.183|162.158.62.183]] 06:22, 14 February 2018 (UTC)Jury76
: {{w|Black Mirror}} is a British science fiction anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker, with Brooker and Annabel Jones serving as the programme showrunners. It examines modern society, particularly with regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies. Episodes are standalone, usually set in an alternative present or the near future, often with a dark and satirical tone, though some are more experimental and lighter. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:26, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

: refering to this episode: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalhead_(Black_Mirror)[[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.23|172.68.253.23]] 08:57, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Added a (very basic) explanation of the comic. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:27, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

I don't think that the title text is a trope reference. If robots are, indeed, a threat, it will be because various corporate teams have spent a lot of money to develop and build them. Basically, the only mad scientist with the resources to do this would be Elon Musk, who is clearly on record with his concerns about such a possibility. [[User:Schnitz|Schnitz]] ([[User talk:Schnitz|talk]]) 19:26, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Why does the last panel start with "So"? It that some American grammar thing? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.70|198.41.238.70]] 20:36, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

: So why do you suggest this is American? (See what I did there?) Anyway, read more on this usage here: http://www.dictionary.com/e/sentence-initial-so/
: It goes into detail on the many ways "so" is used to start a sentence. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:18, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

One of my favourite cartoons: "Knowing how it could change the lives of canines everywhere, the dog scientists struggled diligently to understand the Doorknob Principle." -- _The Far Side_
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 05:42, 15 February 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

Talk:1955: Robots

2018-02-15T05:41:34Z

108.162.216.220:

The door handle is a lever, which is relatively easy to open. A doorknob would be harder.
[[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 06:04, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Apparently, a lot of the YouTube comments reference "black mirror" a lot. Can someone explain this to someone out of the loop?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.183|162.158.62.183]] 06:22, 14 February 2018 (UTC)Jury76
: {{w|Black Mirror}} is a British science fiction anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker, with Brooker and Annabel Jones serving as the programme showrunners. It examines modern society, particularly with regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies. Episodes are standalone, usually set in an alternative present or the near future, often with a dark and satirical tone, though some are more experimental and lighter. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:26, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

: refering to this episode: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalhead_(Black_Mirror)[[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.23|172.68.253.23]] 08:57, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Added a (very basic) explanation of the comic. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:27, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

I don't think that the title text is a trope reference. If robots are, indeed, a threat, it will be because various corporate teams have spent a lot of money to develop and build them. Basically, the only mad scientist with the resources to do this would be Elon Musk, who is clearly on record with his concerns about such a possibility. [[User:Schnitz|Schnitz]] ([[User talk:Schnitz|talk]]) 19:26, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Why does the last panel start with "So"? It that some American grammar thing? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.70|198.41.238.70]] 20:36, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

: So why do you suggest this is American? (See what I did there?) Anyway, read more on this usage here: http://www.dictionary.com/e/sentence-initial-so/
: It goes into detail on the many ways "so" is used to start a sentence. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:18, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

:One of my favourite cartoons: "Knowing how it could change the lives of canines everywhere, the dog scientists struggled diligently to understand the Doorknob Principle." -- _The Far Side_
:[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 05:41, 15 February 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

Talk:1952: Backpack Decisions

2018-02-09T02:13:12Z

108.162.216.220:

Great, now I can't decide how to write the transcript [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 15:00, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

And I now want a new backpack. I'm fine with the one I have, but *I want a new one dammit!* But I can't decide which one [[User:Jdluk|Jdluk]] ([[User talk:Jdluk|talk]]) 15:08, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

The knapsack optimization problem is famous for being NP-hard ([[wikipedia:Knapsack problem|Knapsack problem]]). Seems to be an allusion to it. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.191|162.158.91.191]] 15:53, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
: Nope, see below. The knapsack problem is about optimizing the amount of stuff put into something, while Cueball goes through a [[wikipedia:buying decision process|buying decision process]]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.100|162.158.114.100]] 17:49, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
:: But the buying decision process could be solved by a variation of the knapsack optimation problem: You can choose several features, but cannot combine all of them. The difficulty would be linear in the number of available backpacks (but this would/could be a very large number - for all the other listed items like car, phone, college, appartment, laptop there is less choice available and the decision can be made way faster) and nonlinear in the number of criteria. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.191|162.158.91.191]] 10:18, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

This comic is an illustration of the [[wikipedia:law of triviality|law of triviality]] aka the bike-shed effect. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.100|162.158.114.100]] 17:42, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

: I don't believe the bike-shed effect is related, since that would imply that he is focusing on unimportant issues instead of important ones. In this case, the problem is trying to satisfy a number of important needs that are not fully met by any one backpack, forcing him to decide which can be left unsatisfied by any particular backpack. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:59, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

:: Yes, you are right. I had the comparison chart in mind and incorrectly connected the dots here. The correct description of the situation is of course [[wikipedia:analysis paralysis|analysis paralysis]]. Snap decisions apparently aren't infallible, either. :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.100|162.158.114.100]] 19:38, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

:: Now that you point out your reasoning, I can see where someone might think deciding on a backpack is less important than buying a car or picking a college, which is consistent with the bike-shed effect. You deserve points for thinking of it, even though I think it really is more important to Cueball in this case. In fact, I'm surprised that Cueball didn't have a laptop in hand, calculating a composite feature weighted score per backpack to totally geek things up! ;-) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:05, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

The description completely identifies the author with his figure. Mixes them up. That's very bad form and impolite. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.236|162.158.88.236]] 21:39, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
:: On top of that, it makes no sense. Nothing in this comic says anything about laptop choices. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.178.111|162.158.178.111]] 03:08, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
:::Agree. Removed that part and marked it as incomplete, again. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:03, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
:::I'm confused by this series of comments. I thought the first one was talking about mixing up references to Cueball and Randall. Then the next comment mentions the lack of content related to laptop choices. First of all, I don't understand how laptop choices are related to the Randall vs Cueball issue (if I interpreted it correctly), and furthermore the bar graph specifically includes a bar for choosing a laptop - that means laptop choices in my book! What am I missing here? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:59, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
::::I'm too lazy to figure out what you're missing, but if I were to do so, I'd start by checking the edit history to see what the description was like at the time(stamp) of those comments, as maybe it focused too much on laptops or whatever. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.143|172.68.26.143]] 15:17, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
::::: It gave lengthy consideration to the difference in length of bars between 'car' and 'laptop', which was probably rather missing the point, which is more that they're all pretty short in comparison to 'backpack'. I'm not sure that does relate to the original point in this thread, hence why the second commenter said "On top of that...". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.26|162.158.155.26]] 15:46, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

Do we really need a Wikipedia link to explain what 'yelling' is? Really? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.26|162.158.155.26]] 11:50, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
:Unless we want to have a link for every word I don't think so. I removed it. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:22, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
:Do we really need one for 'all caps'? [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 14:04, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
::The all caps article explains not only what all caps is, but also its connotation to mean shouting. So I think it's a good inclusion. (Maybe the one for yelling was too much though.) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.230.82|198.41.230.82]] 15:10, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

It is so wonderful to have so many choices. Well, no, not especially. After a point, there is so much to wade through, and the additional does not help much with making a better decision.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 02:13, 9 February 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

Talk:1951: Super Bowl Watch Party

2018-02-06T06:19:44Z

108.162.216.220:

Which one is Megan? The description refers to Megan coming in but also Megan predicting the cut, but the comic clearly shows two different people.L

soooo 17776 but on the viewer’s end
(The above comment was unsigned)

Now I want to see this! Could someone set up an Internet livestream? (For some definitions of “live” anyway) ;) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 22:25, 5 February 2018 (UTC)
: Working on it ;) [[User:Okofish|Okofish]] ([[User talk:Okofish|talk]]) 00:10, 6 February 2018 (UTC)

What gluttons for punishment. Professional sports games with all that commentary, colour, etc. is long as it is.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 06:19, 6 February 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

1939: 2016 Election Map

2018-01-09T13:11:47Z

108.162.216.220: /* Transcript */ Consistency

{{comic
| number = 1939
| date = January 8, 2018
| title = 2016 Election Map
| image = 2016_election_map.png
| titletext = I like the idea of cartograms (distorted population maps), but I feel like in practice they often end up being the worst of both worlds—not great for showing geography OR counting people. And on top of that, they have all the problems of a chloro... chorophl... chloropet... map with areas colored in.
}}

*A [https://xkcd.com/1939/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The way the map was made, as explained in gray text is not yet discussed. Title text: Problem with the pronunciation of the word not mentioned as well as the other type of maps, cartograms (distorted population maps), has not been mentioned either. Also the ref to these type of maps and the pronunciation problem should be below the main explanation of the map, as that is what is the typical way of the explanation of the title text. Also this map is explicitly not either of those two types of map as they are no good for what they try to show, which is the entire point of the comic! Also it'd be good if someone did a count (in the actual picture, not calculating with the vote data) of how many guys of each color are in each state, and the total. This would allow someone to detect Randall's rounding, if any, as well as be a good addition to the explanation. These data should go in a table with the 50 states, plus total. Also wikilinks could be added.}}

A {{w|choropleth map}}, referenced in the title text, is a map that uses shading or colors to show information about a geographic area, such as a 'normal' election map that shows districts/states colored to the party that won them.

The United States elects its president not directly by popular vote but by an Electoral College composed of a number of electors, partially proportional to population, from each state. Presently, a "winner-take-all" system is used in most states: the winner of the popular vote in each state receives all of the electoral votes for that state (though strictly speaking the electors are not required to cast their ballots according to this system). Technically, the popular vote in each state is to elect a slate of electors who in turn elect the President.

The news media commonly use maps to represent the progress or results of the election. Because of this winner-take-all system, states won by the Democratic candidate are typically portrayed in one color (blue is currently in wide use), and states won by the Republican candidate in another (currently red). In recent years, this distinction has gone far beyond electoral maps, and states are often referred to as "blue" or "red" by their political leaning in many contexts.

A choropleth map has many shortcomings. For example, many large Western states have small populations and thus don't make much difference to the electoral vote count, but look like a broad swath of red or blue on the map. The map overall can have the appearance of being very red or very blue, suggesting to the eye an overwhelming victory, when in fact the election can be extremely close.

In this cartoon, [[Randall]] seems to be pointing out the shortcomings of the choropleth map (or perhaps this overall red-state/blue-state mentality). His map shows more clearly the small impact of the low-population states, as well as how combination of the winner-take-all system with the typical election maps fails to show the sometimes large number of opposition votes in a given state. This map also combines all third-party or independent candidate into one type of marker (green), making it clear that a substantial number of votes went to these candidates.

Shortly after the election Randall made [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|several comics]] that could indicate his emotions regarding the result, but references to the election have become fewer and farther apart.

===Table===
*This should preferably go in to a table. It is not part of the transcript! Delete this line when table is made!
:[The number of figures per state:]
:Alabama - 5 red, 3 blue 
:Alaska - 1 red 
:Arizona - 5 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
:Arkansas - 3 red, 2 blue 
:California - 18 red, 35 blue, 5 green 
:Colorado - 4 red, 5 blue, 1 green 
:Connecticut - 2 red, 3 blue 
:Delaware - 1 red, 3 blue 
:Florida - 19 red, 18 blue, 1 green 
:Georgia - 8 red, 7 blue, 1 green 
:Hawaii - 1 blue 
:Idaho - 2 red, 1 blue 
:Illinois - 9 red, 13 blue, 1 green 
:Indiana - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
:Iowa - 3 red, 2 blue 
:Kansas - 3 red, 2 blue 
:Kentucky - 5 red, 3 blue 
:Louisiana - 5 red, 3 blue 
:Maine - 1 red, 2 blue 
:Maryland - 2 red, 6 blue 
:Massachusetts - 4 red, 7 blue, 1 green 
:Michigan - 9 red, 8 blue, 1 green 
:Minnesota - 5 red, 6 blue, 1 green 
:Mississippi - 3 red, 2 blue 
:Missouri - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
:Montana - 1 red, 1 blue 
:Nebraska - 2 red, 1 blue 
:Nevada - 2 red, 2 blue 
:New Hampshire - 1 red, 1 blue 
:New Jersey - 6 red, 9 blue, 1 green 
:New Mexico - 1 red, 2 blue 
:New York - 12 red, 20 blue, 2 green 
:North Carolina - 10 red, 9 blue, 1 green 
:North Dakota - 1 red 
:Ohio - 11 red, 9 blue, 1 green 
:Oklahoma - 4 red, 2 blue 
:Oregon - 3 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
:Pennsylvania - 12 red, 11 blue, 1 green 
:Rhode Island - 1 red, 2 blue 
:South Carolina - 5 red, 3 blue 
:South Dakota - 1 red 
:Tennessee - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
:Texas - 19 red, 16 blue, 2 green 
:Utah - 2 red, 1 blue, 1 green 
:Vermont - 1 blue 
:Virginia - 7 red, 8 blue, 1 green 
:Washington - 5 red, 7 blue, 2 green 
:Washington DC - 1 blue 
:West Virginia - 4 red, 1 blue 
:Wisconsin - 6 red, 5 blue, 1 green 
:Wyoming - 1 red 

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Could benefit from reformatting, feel free to remove though if it's finished.}}
:[A map of the United States, with Hawaii and Alaska offset, is shown. Across the states red, blue and green Cueball like stick figure are scattered about, much more on each coast, and very few in the central parts, especially in the mid west. There are about the same amount of red and blue stick figures. There are not many green, but they are represented almost in any state with more than 10 stick figures. Above the map there is a large bold title. Below that there is a legend description explaining the red, blue and green Cueball stick figure with labels of who they represents next to them. Below this, in light gray text, are two lines of explanation of how the map was created:]
:<big>'''2016 Election Map'''</big>
:Each figure represents 250,000 votes
:[Red stick figure:] Trump
:[Blue stick figure:] Clinton
:[Green stick figure:] Other
:Votes are distributed by states as accurately as possible while keeping national totals correct.
:Location within each state is approximate.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Politics]]

1939: 2016 Election Map

2018-01-09T00:57:00Z

108.162.216.220: /* Transcript */ Let's try that again

{{comic
| number = 1939
| date = January 8, 2018
| title = 2016 Election Map
| image = 2016_election_map.png
| titletext = I like the idea of cartograms (distorted population maps), but I feel like in practice they often end up being the worst of both worlds—not great for showing geography OR counting people. And on top of that, they have all the problems of a chloro... chorophl... chloropet... map with areas colored in.
}}

*A [https://xkcd.com/1939/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The way the map was made, as explained in gray text is not yet discussed. Title text: Problem with the pronunciation of the word not mentioned as well as the other type of maps, cartograms (distorted population maps), has not been mentioned either. Also the ref to these type of maps and the pronunciation problem should be below the main explanation of the map, as that is what is the typical way of the explanation of the title text. Also this map is explicitly not either of those two types of map as they are no good for what they try to show, which is the entire point of the comic! Also it'd be good if someone did a count (in the actual picture, not calculating with the vote data) of how many guys of each color are in each state, and the total. This would allow someone to detect Randall's rounding, if any, as well as be a good addition to the transcript.}}

A {{w|choropleth map}}, referenced in the title text, is a map that uses shading or colors to show information about a geographic area, such as a 'normal' election map that shows districts/states colored to the party that won them.

The United States elects its president not directly by popular vote but by an Electoral College composed of a number of electors, proportional to population, from each state. Presently, a "winner-take-all" system is used: the winner of the popular vote in each state receives all of the electoral votes for that state (though strictly speaking the electors are not required to cast their ballots according to this system). Technically, the popular vote in each state is to elect a slate of electors who in turn elect the President.

The news media commonly use maps to represent the progress or results of the election. Because of this winner-take-all system, states won by the Democratic candidate are typically portrayed in one color (blue is currently in wide use), and states won by the Republican candidate in another (currently red). In recent years, this distinction has gone far beyond electoral maps, and states are often referred to as "blue" or "red" by their political leaning in many contexts.

A choropleth map has many shortcomings. For example, many large Western states have small populations and thus don't make much difference to the electoral vote count, but look like a broad swath of red or blue on the map. The map overall can have the appearance of being very red or very blue, suggesting to the eye an overwhelming victory, when in fact the election can be extremely close.

In this cartoon, [[Randall]] seems to be pointing out the shortcomings of the choropleth map (or perhaps this overall red-state/blue-state mentality). His map shows more clearly the small impact of the low-population states, as well as how combination of the winner-take-all system with the typical election maps fails to show the sometimes large number of opposition votes in a given state. This map also combines all third-party or independent candidate into one type of marker (green), making it clear that a substantial number of votes went to these candidates.

Shortly after the election Randall made [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|several comics]] that could indicate his emotions regarding the result, but references to the election have become fewer and farther apart.

==Transcript==
:[A map of the United States, with Hawaii and Alaska offset, is shown. Across the states red, blue and green Cueball like stick figure are scattered about, much more on each coast, and very few in the central parts, especially in the mid west. There are about the same amount of red and blue stick figures. There are not many green, but they are represented almost in any state with more than 10 stick figures. Above the map there is a large bold title. Below that there is a legend description explaining the red, blue and green Cueball stick figure with labels of who they represents next to them. Below this, in light gray text, are two lines of explanation of how the map was created:]
:<big>'''2016 Election Map'''</big>
:Each figure represents 250,000 votes.
:[Red stick figure:] Trump
:[Blue stick figure:] Clinton
:[Green stick figure:] Other
:Votes are distributed by states as accurately as possible while keeping national totals correct.
:Location within each state is approximate.

Alabama - 5 red, 3 blue 
Alaska - 1 red 
Arizona - 5 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
Arkansas - 3 red, 2 blue 
California - 18 red, 35 blue, 5 green 
Colorado - 4 red, 5 blue, 1 green 
Connecticut - 2 red, 3 blue 
Delaware - 1 red, 3 blue 
Florida - 19 red, 18 blue, 1 green 
Georgia - 8 red, 7 blue, 1 green 
Hawaii - 1 blue 
Idaho - 2 red, 1 blue 
Illinois - 9 red, 13 blue, 1 green 
Indiana - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
Iowa - 3 red, 2 blue 
Kansas - 3 red, 2 blue 
Kentucky - 5 red, 3 blue 
Louisiana - 5 red, 3 blue 
Maine - 1 red, 2 blue 
Maryland - 6 blue, 2 red 
Massachusetts - 4 red, 7 blue, 1 green 
Michigan - 9 red, 8 blue, 1 green 
Minnesota - 5 red, 6 blue, 1 green 
Mississippi - 3 red, 2 blue 
Missouri - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
Montana - 1 red, 1 blue 
Nebraska - 2 red, 1 blue 
Nevada - 2 red, 2 blue 
New Hampshire - 1 red, 1 blue 
New Jersey - 6 red, 9 blue, 1 green 
New Mexico - 1 red, 2 blue 
New York - 12 red, 20 blue, 2 green 
North Carolina - 10 red, 9 blue, 1 green 
North Dakota - 1 red 
Ohio - 11 red, 9 blue, 1 green 
Oklahoma - 4 red, 2 blue 
Oregon - 3 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
Pennsylvania - 12 red, 11 blue, 1 green 
Rhode Island - 1 red, 2 blue 
South Carolina - 5 red, 3 blue 
South Dakota - 1 red 
Tennessee - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green 
Texas - 19 red, 16 blue, 2 green 
Utah - 2 red, 1 blue, 1 green 
Vermont - 1 blue 
Virginia - 7 red, 8 blue, 1 green 
Washington - 5 red, 7 blue, 2 green 
Washington DC - 1 blue 
West Virginia - 4 red, 1 blue 
Wisconsin - 6 red, 5 blue, 1 green 
Wyoming - 1 red 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Politics]]

1939: 2016 Election Map

2018-01-09T00:53:32Z

108.162.216.220: /* Transcript */ line feeds, duh

{{comic
| number = 1939
| date = January 8, 2018
| title = 2016 Election Map
| image = 2016_election_map.png
| titletext = I like the idea of cartograms (distorted population maps), but I feel like in practice they often end up being the worst of both worlds—not great for showing geography OR counting people. And on top of that, they have all the problems of a chloro... chorophl... chloropet... map with areas colored in.
}}

*A [https://xkcd.com/1939/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The way the map was made, as explained in gray text is not yet discussed. Title text: Problem with the pronunciation of the word not mentioned as well as the other type of maps, cartograms (distorted population maps), has not been mentioned either. Also the ref to these type of maps and the pronunciation problem should be below the main explanation of the map, as that is what is the typical way of the explanation of the title text. Also this map is explicitly not either of those two types of map as they are no good for what they try to show, which is the entire point of the comic! Also it'd be good if someone did a count (in the actual picture, not calculating with the vote data) of how many guys of each color are in each state, and the total. This would allow someone to detect Randall's rounding, if any, as well as be a good addition to the transcript.}}

A {{w|choropleth map}}, referenced in the title text, is a map that uses shading or colors to show information about a geographic area, such as a 'normal' election map that shows districts/states colored to the party that won them.

The United States elects its president not directly by popular vote but by an Electoral College composed of a number of electors, proportional to population, from each state. Presently, a "winner-take-all" system is used: the winner of the popular vote in each state receives all of the electoral votes for that state (though strictly speaking the electors are not required to cast their ballots according to this system). Technically, the popular vote in each state is to elect a slate of electors who in turn elect the President.

The news media commonly use maps to represent the progress or results of the election. Because of this winner-take-all system, states won by the Democratic candidate are typically portrayed in one color (blue is currently in wide use), and states won by the Republican candidate in another (currently red). In recent years, this distinction has gone far beyond electoral maps, and states are often referred to as "blue" or "red" by their political leaning in many contexts.

A choropleth map has many shortcomings. For example, many large Western states have small populations and thus don't make much difference to the electoral vote count, but look like a broad swath of red or blue on the map. The map overall can have the appearance of being very red or very blue, suggesting to the eye an overwhelming victory, when in fact the election can be extremely close.

In this cartoon, [[Randall]] seems to be pointing out the shortcomings of the choropleth map (or perhaps this overall red-state/blue-state mentality). His map shows more clearly the small impact of the low-population states, as well as how combination of the winner-take-all system with the typical election maps fails to show the sometimes large number of opposition votes in a given state. This map also combines all third-party or independent candidate into one type of marker (green), making it clear that a substantial number of votes went to these candidates.

Shortly after the election Randall made [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|several comics]] that could indicate his emotions regarding the result, but references to the election have become fewer and farther apart.

==Transcript==
:[A map of the United States, with Hawaii and Alaska offset, is shown. Across the states red, blue and green Cueball like stick figure are scattered about, much more on each coast, and very few in the central parts, especially in the mid west. There are about the same amount of red and blue stick figures. There are not many green, but they are represented almost in any state with more than 10 stick figures. Above the map there is a large bold title. Below that there is a legend description explaining the red, blue and green Cueball stick figure with labels of who they represents next to them. Below this, in light gray text, are two lines of explanation of how the map was created:]
:<big>'''2016 Election Map'''</big>
:Each figure represents 250,000 votes.
:[Red stick figure:] Trump
:[Blue stick figure:] Clinton
:[Green stick figure:] Other
:Votes are distributed by states as accurately as possible while keeping national totals correct.
:Location within each state is approximate.

Alabama - 5 red, 3 blue
Alaska - 1 red
Arizona - 5 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Arkansas - 3 red, 2 blue
California - 18 red, 35 blue, 5 green
Colorado - 4 red, 5 blue, 1 green
Connecticut - 2 red, 3 blue
Delaware - 1 red, 3 blue
Florida - 19 red, 18 blue, 1 green
Georgia - 8 red, 7 blue, 1 green
Hawaii - 1 blue
Idaho - 2 red, 1 blue
Illinois - 9 red, 13 blue, 1 green
Indiana - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Iowa - 3 red, 2 blue
Kansas - 3 red, 2 blue
Kentucky - 5 red, 3 blue
Louisiana - 5 red, 3 blue
Maine - 1 red, 2 blue
Maryland - 6 blue, 2 red
Massachusetts - 4 red, 7 blue, 1 green
Michigan - 9 red, 8 blue, 1 green
Minnesota - 5 red, 6 blue, 1 green
Mississippi - 3 red, 2 blue
Missouri - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Montana - 1 red, 1 blue
Nebraska - 2 red, 1 blue
Nevada - 2 red, 2 blue
New Hampshire - 1 red, 1 blue
New Jersey - 6 red, 9 blue, 1 green
New Mexico - 1 red, 2 blue
New York - 12 red, 20 blue, 2 green
North Carolina - 10 red, 9 blue, 1 green
North Dakota - 1 red
Ohio - 11 red, 9 blue, 1 green
Oklahoma - 4 red, 2 blue
Oregon - 3 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Pennsylvania - 12 red, 11 blue, 1 green
Rhode Island - 1 red, 2 blue
South Carolina - 5 red, 3 blue
South Dakota - 1 red
Tennessee - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Texas - 19 red, 16 blue, 2 green
Utah - 2 red, 1 blue, 1 green
Vermont - 1 blue
Virginia - 7 red, 8 blue, 1 green
Washington - 5 red, 7 blue, 2 green
Washington DC - 1 blue
West Virginia - 4 red, 1 blue
Wisconsin - 6 red, 5 blue, 1 green
Wyoming - 1 red

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Politics]]

1939: 2016 Election Map

2018-01-09T00:52:11Z

108.162.216.220: /* Transcript */ Adding number of colors in each state. Someone else can pretty it up if they want.

{{comic
| number = 1939
| date = January 8, 2018
| title = 2016 Election Map
| image = 2016_election_map.png
| titletext = I like the idea of cartograms (distorted population maps), but I feel like in practice they often end up being the worst of both worlds—not great for showing geography OR counting people. And on top of that, they have all the problems of a chloro... chorophl... chloropet... map with areas colored in.
}}

*A [https://xkcd.com/1939/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The way the map was made, as explained in gray text is not yet discussed. Title text: Problem with the pronunciation of the word not mentioned as well as the other type of maps, cartograms (distorted population maps), has not been mentioned either. Also the ref to these type of maps and the pronunciation problem should be below the main explanation of the map, as that is what is the typical way of the explanation of the title text. Also this map is explicitly not either of those two types of map as they are no good for what they try to show, which is the entire point of the comic! Also it'd be good if someone did a count (in the actual picture, not calculating with the vote data) of how many guys of each color are in each state, and the total. This would allow someone to detect Randall's rounding, if any, as well as be a good addition to the transcript.}}

A {{w|choropleth map}}, referenced in the title text, is a map that uses shading or colors to show information about a geographic area, such as a 'normal' election map that shows districts/states colored to the party that won them.

The United States elects its president not directly by popular vote but by an Electoral College composed of a number of electors, proportional to population, from each state. Presently, a "winner-take-all" system is used: the winner of the popular vote in each state receives all of the electoral votes for that state (though strictly speaking the electors are not required to cast their ballots according to this system). Technically, the popular vote in each state is to elect a slate of electors who in turn elect the President.

The news media commonly use maps to represent the progress or results of the election. Because of this winner-take-all system, states won by the Democratic candidate are typically portrayed in one color (blue is currently in wide use), and states won by the Republican candidate in another (currently red). In recent years, this distinction has gone far beyond electoral maps, and states are often referred to as "blue" or "red" by their political leaning in many contexts.

A choropleth map has many shortcomings. For example, many large Western states have small populations and thus don't make much difference to the electoral vote count, but look like a broad swath of red or blue on the map. The map overall can have the appearance of being very red or very blue, suggesting to the eye an overwhelming victory, when in fact the election can be extremely close.

In this cartoon, [[Randall]] seems to be pointing out the shortcomings of the choropleth map (or perhaps this overall red-state/blue-state mentality). His map shows more clearly the small impact of the low-population states, as well as how combination of the winner-take-all system with the typical election maps fails to show the sometimes large number of opposition votes in a given state. This map also combines all third-party or independent candidate into one type of marker (green), making it clear that a substantial number of votes went to these candidates.

Shortly after the election Randall made [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|several comics]] that could indicate his emotions regarding the result, but references to the election have become fewer and farther apart.

==Transcript==
:[A map of the United States, with Hawaii and Alaska offset, is shown. Across the states red, blue and green Cueball like stick figure are scattered about, much more on each coast, and very few in the central parts, especially in the mid west. There are about the same amount of red and blue stick figures. There are not many green, but they are represented almost in any state with more than 10 stick figures. Above the map there is a large bold title. Below that there is a legend description explaining the red, blue and green Cueball stick figure with labels of who they represents next to them. Below this, in light gray text, are two lines of explanation of how the map was created:]
:<big>'''2016 Election Map'''</big>
:Each figure represents 250,000 votes.
:[Red stick figure:] Trump
:[Blue stick figure:] Clinton
:[Green stick figure:] Other
:Votes are distributed by states as accurately as possible while keeping national totals correct.
:Location within each state is approximate.

Alabama - 5 red, 3 blue
Alaska - 1 red
Arizona - 5 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Arkansas - 3 red, 2 blue
California - 18 red, 35 blue, 5 green
Colorado - 4 red, 5 blue, 1 green
Connecticut - 2 red, 3 blue
Delaware - 1 red, 3 blue
Florida - 19 red, 18 blue, 1 green
Georgia - 8 red, 7 blue, 1 green
Hawaii - 1 blue
Idaho - 2 red, 1 blue
Illinois - 9 red, 13 blue, 1 green
Indiana - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Iowa - 3 red, 2 blue
Kansas - 3 red, 2 blue
Kentucky - 5 red, 3 blue
Louisiana - 5 red, 3 blue
Maine - 1 red, 2 blue
Maryland - 6 blue, 2 red
Massachusetts - 4 red, 7 blue, 1 green
Michigan - 9 red, 8 blue, 1 green
Minnesota - 5 red, 6 blue, 1 green
Mississippi - 3 red, 2 blue
Missouri - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Montana - 1 red, 1 blue
Nebraska - 2 red, 1 blue
Nevada - 2 red, 2 blue
New Hampshire - 1 red, 1 blue
New Jersey - 6 red, 9 blue, 1 green
New Mexico - 1 red, 2 blue
New York - 12 red, 20 blue, 2 green
North Carolina - 10 red, 9 blue, 1 green
North Dakota - 1 red
Ohio - 11 red, 9 blue, 1 green
Oklahoma - 4 red, 2 blue
Oregon - 3 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Pennsylvania - 12 red, 11 blue, 1 green
Rhode Island - 1 red, 2 blue
South Carolina - 5 red, 3 blue
South Dakota - 1 red
Tennessee - 6 red, 4 blue, 1 green
Texas - 19 red, 16 blue, 2 green
Utah - 2 red, 1 blue, 1 green
Vermont - 1 blue
Virginia - 7 red, 8 blue, 1 green
Washington - 5 red, 7 blue, 2 green
Washington DC - 1 blue
West Virginia - 4 red, 1 blue
Wisconsin - 6 red, 5 blue, 1 green
Wyoming - 1 red

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Politics]]

1896: Active Ingredients Only

2017-09-30T22:30:12Z

108.162.216.220: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1896
| date = September 29, 2017
| title = Active Ingredients Only
| image = active_ingredients_only.png
| 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?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a reference to how all medicine typically has one (or a few) "Active" ingredient and many "Inactive" ingredients. This is played against the current trend of advertising food as containing "no additives and no preservatives".

[[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. Interestingly, the slogan is a registered trademark while the product name is a common law trademark. This means that the slogan likely stays the same, while the product name changes from time to time.

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. Though this packaging is commonly blister packs, with each dose contained seperately. 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. Or to put it in another way, just like additives and preservatives have a real, beneficial purpose in food production, so do the inactive ingredients in medicine. Of course this assumes tablets - the product may use capsules. The package does not specify.

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. Unless some of the active ingredients cover multiple conditions.

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.

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.

==Transcript==

:[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.]
:<big>Active Ingredients</big>
:<big><big>'''Only'''</big></big>TM
:We're not here to waste your time®

:Cold Medicine

:Active ingredients
:[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.]

:Inactive ingredients
:None

:<big>No binders!</big>

{{comic discussion}}

1896: Active Ingredients Only

2017-09-30T22:27:48Z

108.162.216.220: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1896
| date = September 29, 2017
| title = Active Ingredients Only
| image = active_ingredients_only.png
| 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?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a reference to how all medicine typically has one (or a few) "Active" ingredient and many "Inactive" ingredients. This is played against the current trend of advertising food as containing "no additives and no preservatives".

[[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. Interestingly, the slogan is a registered trademark while the product name is a common law trademark. This means that the slogan likely stays the same, while the product name changes from time to time.

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. Though this packaging is commonly blister packs, with each dose contained seperately. 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. Or to put it in another way, just like additives and preservatives have a real, beneficial purpose in food production, so do the inactive ingredients in medicine. Of course this assumes tablets - the product may use capsules. The package does not specify.

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.

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.

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.

==Transcript==

:[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.]
:<big>Active Ingredients</big>
:<big><big>'''Only'''</big></big>TM
:We're not here to waste your time®

:Cold Medicine

:Active ingredients
:[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.]

:Inactive ingredients
:None

:<big>No binders!</big>

{{comic discussion}}

1896: Active Ingredients Only

2017-09-30T22:26:16Z

108.162.216.220: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1896
| date = September 29, 2017
| title = Active Ingredients Only
| image = active_ingredients_only.png
| 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?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a reference to how all medicine typically has one (or a few) "Active" ingredient and many "Inactive" ingredients. This is played against the current trend of advertising food as containing "no additives and no preservatives".

[[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. Interestingly, the slogan is a registered trademark while the product name is a common law trademark. This means that the slogan likely stays the same, while the product name changes from time to time.

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. Though this packaging is commonly blister packs, with each dose contained seperately. 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. Or to put it in another way, just like additives and preservatives have a real, beneficial purpose in food production, so do the inactive ingredients in medicine. Of course this assumes tablets - the product may use capsules.

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.

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.

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.

==Transcript==

:[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.]
:<big>Active Ingredients</big>
:<big><big>'''Only'''</big></big>TM
:We're not here to waste your time®

:Cold Medicine

:Active ingredients
:[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.]

:Inactive ingredients
:None

:<big>No binders!</big>

{{comic discussion}}

1047: Approximations

2017-06-28T02:43:50Z

108.162.216.220: /* Explanation */ population estimate no longer accurate :(

{{comic
| number = 1047
| date = April 25, 2012
| title = Approximations
| image = approximations.png
| titletext = Two tips: 1) 8675309 is not just prime, it's a twin prime, and 2) if you ever find yourself raising log(anything)^e or taking the pi-th root of anything, set down the marker and back away from the whiteboard; something has gone horribly wrong.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic lists some approximations for numbers, most of them mathematical and physical constants, but some of them jokes and cultural references.

Approximations like these are sometimes used as {{w|mnemonic}}s by mathematicians and physicists, though most of Randall's approximations are too convoluted to be useful as mnemonics. Perhaps the best known mnemonic approximation (though not used here by Randall) is that "pi is approximately equal to 22/7". Randall does mention (and mock) the common mnemonic among physicists that the {{w|fine structure constant}} is approximately 1/137. Although Randall gives approximations for the number of seconds in a year, he does not mention the common physicist's mnemonic that it is "pi times 10^7," though he later added a statement to the top of the comic page addressing this point.

At the bottom of the comic are expressions involving {{w|transcendental numbers}} (namely pi and e) that are tantalizingly close to being exactly true but are not (indeed, they cannot be, due to the nature of transcendental numbers). Such near-equations were previously discussed in [[217: e to the pi Minus pi]]. One of the entries, though, is a "red herring" that is exactly true.

Randall says he compiled this table through "a mix of trial-and-error, ''{{w|Mathematica}}'', and Robert Munafo's [http://mrob.com/pub/ries/ Ries] tool. "Ries" is a "{{w|Closed-form expression#Conversion from numerical forms|reverse calculator}}" that forms equations matching a given number.

The world population estimate is not accurate as of June 27, 2017. The estimate is 7.4 billion, and the population is 7.51 billion.

The first part of the title text notes that "Jenny's constant," which is actually a telephone number referenced in Tommy Tutone's 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}, is not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime. Twin primes have always been a subject of interest, because they are comparatively rare, and because it is not yet known whether there are infinitely many of them. Twin primes were also referenced in [[1310: Goldbach Conjectures]].

The second part of the title text makes fun of the unusual mathematical operations contained in the comic. {{w|Pi}} is a useful number in many contexts, but it doesn't usually occur anywhere in an exponent. Even when it does, such as with complex numbers, taking the pi-th root is rarely helpful. Similarly, {{w|e (mathematical constant)|e}} typically appears in the basis of a power (forming the {{w|exponential function}}), not in the exponent. (This is later referenced in [http://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ Lethal Neutrinos]).

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|align="center"|Thing to be approximated:
|align="center"|Formula proposed:
|align="center"|Resulting approximate value:
|align="center"|Correct value:
|align="center"|Discussion:
|-
|align="center"|One light-year(m)
|align="center"|998
|align="center"|9,227,446,944,279,201
|align="center"|9,460,730,472,580,800 (exact)
|align="left"|Based on 365.25 days per year (see below). 998 and 698 are sexual references.
|-
|align="center"|Earth Surface(m2)
|align="center"|698
|align="center"|513,798,374,428,641
|align="center"|5.10072*1014
|align="left"|998 and 698 are sexual references.
|-
|align="center"|Oceans' volume(m3)
|align="center"|919
|align="center"|1,350,851,717,672,992,089
|align="center"|1,332*1018
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Seconds in a year
|align="center"|754
|align="center"|31,640,625
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)
|align="left"|After this comic was released [[Randall]] got many responses by viewers. So he did add this statement to the top of the comic page:
"Lots of emails mention the physicist favorite, 1 year = pi x 107 seconds. 754 is a hair more accurate, but it's hard to top 3,141,592's elegance." Pi x 107 is nearly equal to 31,415,926.536, and 754 is exactly 31,640,625. Randall's elegance belongs to the number pi, but it should be multiplied by the factor of ten.

Using the traditional definitions that a second is 1/60th of a minute, a minute is 1/60th of an hour, and an hour is 1/24th of a day, a 365-day common year is exactly 31,536,000 seconds (the "''Rent'' method" approximation) and the 366-day leap year is 31,622,400 seconds. Until the calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory, there was one leap year in every four years, making the average year 365.25 days, or 31,557,600 seconds. On the current calendar system, there are only 97 leap years in every 400 years, making the average year 365.2425 days, or 31,556,952 seconds. In technical usage, a "second" is now defined based on physical constants, even though the length of a day varies inversely with the changing angular velocity of the earth. To keep the official time synchronized with the rotation of the earth, a "leap second" is occasionally added, resulting in a slightly longer year.
|-
|align="center"|Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)
|align="center"|525,600 x 60
|align="center"|31,536,000
|align="center"|31,557,600 (Julian calendar), 31,556,952 (Gregorian calendar)
|align="left"|"Rent Method" refers to the song "Seasons of Love" from the musical "{{w|Rent (musical)|Rent}}." The song asks, "How do you measure a year?" One line says "525,600 minutes" while most of the rest of the song suggests the best way to measure a year is moments shared with a loved one.
|-
|align="center"|Age of the universe (seconds)
|align="center"|1515
|align="center"|437,893,890,380,859,375
|align="center"|4.354±0.012*1017 (best estimate; exact value unknown)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Planck's constant
|align="center"|1/(30πe)
|align="center"|6.68499014108082*10−34 (rounded)
|align="center"|6.62606957*10−34
|align="left"|Informally, the {{w|Planck constant}} is the smallest action possible in quantum mechanics.
|-
|align="center"|Fine structure constant
|align="center"|1/140
|align="center"|0.00714285
|align="center"|0.0072973525664 (accepted value as of 2014), close to 1/137
|align="left"|The {{w|fine structure constant}} indicates the strength of electromagnetism. It is unitless and around 0.007297, close to 1/137. At one point it was believed to be exactly the reciprocal of 137, and many people have tried to find a simple formula explaining this (with a pinch of {{w|numerology}} thrown in at times), including the infamous {{w|Arthur Eddington|Sir Arthur Adding-One}}.
|-
|align="center"|Fundamental charge
|align="center"|3/(14 * πππ)
|align="center"|1.59895121062716*10−19 (rounded)
|align="center"|1.602176565*10−19 (rounded)
|align="left"|This is the charge of the proton, symbolized "e" for electron (whose charge is actually -e. You can blame Benjamin Franklin [[567|for that]].)
|-
|align="center"|Telephone number for the White House Switchboard
|align="center"|1/ 
π√(e(1 + (e-1)√8))
|align="center"|.2024561414 (truncated)
|align="center"|2024561414
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Jenny's Constant
|align="center"|(7(e/1 - 1/e) - 9) * π2
|align="center"|867.530901981685 (approximately)
|align="center"|8675309
|align="left"|"Jenny's constant" is actually a telephone number referenced in Tommy Tutone's 1982 song {{w|867-5309/Jenny}}. As mentioned in the title text, the number not only prime but a {{w|twin prime}} because 8675311 is also a prime.
|-
|align="center"|World Population Estimate (billions)
|align="center"|Equivalent to 6+((3/4 Year + 1/4 (Year mod 4) - 1499)/10) billion
|align="center"|2005 6.5
2006 6.6
2007 6.7
2008 6.7
2009 6.8
2010 6.9
2011 7
2012 7
2013 7.1
2014 7.2
2015 7.3
2016 7.3
2017 7.4
2018 7.5
2019 7.6
2020 7.6
2021 7.7
2022 7.8
2023 7.9
2024 7.9
2025 8
2026 8.1
2027 8.2
2028 8.2
2029 8.3
2030 8.4
2031 8.5
2032 8.5
|align="center"|
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|U.S. Population Estimate (millions)
|align="center"|Equivalent to 310+3*(Year - 2010) million
|align="center"|2000 280
2001 283
2002 286
2003 289
2004 292
2005 295
2006 298
2007 301
2008 304
2009 307
2010 310
2011 313
2012 316
2013 319
2014 322
2015 325
2016 328
2017 331
2018 334
2019 337
2020 340
2021 343
2022 346
2023 349
2024 352
2025 355
2026 358
2027 361
2028 364
2029 367
2030 370
2031 373
2032 376
|align="center"|
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Electron rest energy
|align="center"|e/716 J
|align="center"|8.17948276564429*10−14
|align="center"|8.18710438*10−14 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Light-year(miles)
|align="center"|2(42.42)
|align="center"|5884267614436.97 (rounded)
|align="center"|9460730472580800 (meters in a light-year, by definition) / 1609.344 (meters in a mile) = 8212439646337500/1397 (exact) = 5878625373183.61 (rounded)
|align="left"|{{w|42 (number)|42}} is, according to Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
|-
|align="center"|sin(60°) = √3/2
|align="center"|e/π
|align="center"|0.8652559794 (rounded)
|align="center"|0.8660254038 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|√3
|align="center"|2e/π
|align="center"|1.7305119589 (rounded)
|align="center"|1.7320508076 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant)
|align="center"|1/√3
|align="center"|0.5773502692 (rounded)
|align="center"|0.5772156649015328606065120900824024310421...
|align="left"|In {{w|mathematics}}, the {{w|Euler-Mascheroni constant}} (Euler gamma constant) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.
|-
|align="center"|Feet in a meter
|align="center"|5/(e√π)
|align="center"|3.2815481951
|align="center"|1/0.3048 (exact) = 3.280839895 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|√5
|align="center"|2/e + 3/2
|align="center"|2.2357588823 (rounded)
|align="center"|2.2360679775 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Avogadro's number
|align="center"|69π√5
|align="center"|6.02191201246329*1023 (rounded)
|align="center"|6.02214129*1023 (rounded)
|align="left"|Also called a Mole for shorthand, this is (roughly) the number of individual atoms in twelve grams of pure Carbon. Used in basically every application of chemistry.
|-
|align="center"|Gravitational constant G
|align="center"|1 / e(pi - 1)(pi + 1)
|align="center"|6.67361106850561*10−11 (rounded)
|align="center"|6.67385*10−11 (rounded)
|align="left"|The universal {{w|gravitational constant}} G is equal to F*r2/Mm, where F is the gravitational force between two objects, r is the distance between them, and M and m are their masses.
|-
|align="center"|R (gas constant)
|align="center"|(e+1) √5
|align="center"|8.3143309279 (rounded)
|align="center"|8.3144622 (rounded)
|align="left"|The {{w|gas constant}} relates energy to temperature in physics, as well as a gas's volume, pressure, temperature and {{w|mole (unit)|molar amount}} (hence the name).
|-
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio
|align="center"|6*π5
|align="center"|1836.1181087117 (rounded)
|align="center"|1836.15267246 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Liters in a gallon (U.S. liquid gallon, defined by law as 231 cubic inches)
|align="center"|3 + π/4
|align="center"|3.7853981634 (rounded)
|align="center"|3.785411784 (exact)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|''g''0 or ''g''n
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)
|align="center"|9.8066624898 (rounded)
|align="center"|9.80665 (standard)
|align="left"|Standard gravity, or standard acceleration due to free fall is the nominal gravitational acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. It is defined by standard as 9.80665 m/s2, which is exactly 35.30394 (km/h)/s (about 32.174 ft/s2, or 21.937 mph/s). This value was established by the 3rd CGPM (1901, CR 70) and used to define the standard weight of an object as the product of its mass and this nominal acceleration. The acceleration of a body near the surface of the Earth is due to the combined effects of gravity and centrifugal acceleration from rotation of the Earth (but which is small enough to be neglected for most purposes); the total (the apparent gravity) is about 0.5 percent greater at the poles than at the equator. Randall used a letter g without a suffix, which can also mean the local acceleration due to local gravity and centrifugal acceleration, which varies depending on one's position on Earth.
|-
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio
|align="center"|(e8 - 10) / ϕ
|align="center"|1836.1530151398 (rounded)
|align="center"|1836.15267246 (rounded)
|align="left"|ϕ is the {{w|golden ratio}}, or (1 + √5)/2. It has many interesting geometrical properties.
|-
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength
|align="center"|1 / (12002)
|align="center"|0.00000069444
|align="center"|694.3 nm
|align="left"|The ruby laser wavelength varies because "ruby" is not clearly defined.
|-
|align="center"|Mean Earth Radius
|align="center"|(58)*6e
|align="center"|2343750e (exact), 6,370,973.035450887270375673760982 (6370 km, 973 m, 35 mm, 450 μm, 887 nm, 270 pm, 375 fm, 673 am, 760 zm, 982 ym) (rounded)
|align="center"|6,371,008.7 (International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics definition)
|align="left"|The {{w|Earth radius#mean radii|mean earth radius}} varies because there is not one single way to make a sphere out of the earth. Randall's value lies within the actual variation of Earth's radius. The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) defines the mean radius as 2/3 of the equatorial radius (6,378,137.0 m) plus 1/3 of the polar radius (6,356,752.3 m).
|-
|align="center"|√2
|align="center"|3/5 + π/(7-π)
|align="center"|1.4142200581 (rounded)
|align="center"|1.4142135624 (rounded)
|align="left"|There are reoccurring math jokes along the lines of, "3/5 + π/(7 – π) – √2 = 0, but your calculator is probably not good enough to compute this correctly".
|-
|align="center"|cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7)
|align="center"|1/2
|align="center"|0.5
|align="center"|0.5 (exact)
|align="left"|This is the exactly correct equation referred to in the note, "Pro tip - Not all of these are wrong", as shown below and also [http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/140388/how-can-one-prove-cos-pi-7-cos3-pi-7-cos5-pi-7-1-2 here]. If you're still confused, the functions use {{w|radians}}, not {{w|degrees (angle)|degrees}}.
|-
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant)
|align="center"|e/34 + e/5
|align="center"|0.5772154006 (rounded)
|align="center"|0.5772156649015328606065120900824024310421...
|align="left"|In {{w|mathematics}}, the {{w|Euler-Mascheroni constant}} (Euler gamma constant) is a mysterious number describing the relationship between the {{w|Harmonic series (mathematics)|harmonic series}} and the {{w|natural logarithm}}.
|-
|align="center"|√5
|align="center"|(13 + 4π) / (24 - 4π)
|align="center"|2.2360678094 (rounded)
|align="center"|2.2360679775 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|-
|align="center"|Σ 1/nn
|align="center"|ln(3)e
|align="center"|1.2912987577 (rounded)
|align="center"|1.2912859971 (rounded)
|align="left"|
|}

===Proof===

One of the "approximations" actually is precisely correct: cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7) = 1/2. Here is a proof:

cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7)

* Multiplying by 1 (or by a number divided by itself) leaves the equation unchanged.

= (cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7)) (2sin(π/7)/(2sin(π/7)))

* The 2sin(π/7) on the top of the fraction is multiplied through the original equation.

= (2cos(π/7)sin(π/7) + 2cos(3π/7)sin(π/7) + 2cos(5π/7)sin(π/7))/(2sin(π/7))

* Use the trigonometric identity 2cos(A)sin(B)=sin(A+B)-sin(A-B) on the 2nd two terms ([2cos(3π/7)sin(π/7)] + {2cos(5π/7)sin(π/7)}) /(2sin(π/7))

= (2cos(π/7)sin(π/7) + [sin(3π/7+π/7) - sin(3π/7-π/7)] + {sin(5π/7+π/7) - sin(5π/7-π/7)}) (1/2sin(π/7)) 
= (2cos(π/7)sin(π/7) + [sin(4π/7) - sin(2π/7)] + {sin(6π/7) - sin(4π/7)})/(2sin(π/7))

* Use the trigonometric identity 2cos(A)sin(A) = sin(2A) on the first term (2cos(π/7)sin(π/7))

= (sin(2π/7) + [sin(4π/7) - sin(2π/7)] + {sin(6π/7) - sin(4π/7)}) (1/2sin(π/7)) 
= (sin(6π/7) + [sin(2π/7) - sin(2π/7)] + {sin(4π/7) - sin(4π/7)}) (1/2sin(π/7)) 
= (sin(6π/7))/(2sin(π/7))

* Note that 6π/7 = (7π - π)/7 = 7π/7 - π/7 = π - π/7.

= (sin(π - π/7))/(2sin(π/7))

*Since sines of supplementary angles are equal.

= (sin(π/7))/(2sin(π/7)) 
= (1/2) (sin(π/7)/sin(π/7)) 
= 1/2

==Transcript==
:'''A table of slightly wrong equations and identities useful for approximations and/or trolling teachers.'''
:(Found using a mix of trial-and-error, ''Mathematica'', and Robert Munafo's ''Ries'' tool.)
: All units are SI MKS unless otherwise noted.

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="2" align="center" | Relation:
|align="center" | Accurate to within:
|-
|align="center" | One light-year(m)
|align="center" | 998
|align="center" | one part in 40
|-
|align="center" | Earth Surface(m2)
|align="center" | 698
|align="center" | one part in 130
|-
|align="center" | Oceans' volume(m3)
|align="center" | 919
|align="center" | one part in 70
|-
|align="center" | Seconds in a year
|align="center" | 754
|align="center" | one part in 400
|-
|align="center" | Seconds in a year (''Rent'' method)
|align="center" | 525,600 x 60
|align="center" | one part in 1400
|-
|align="center" | Age of the universe (seconds)
|align="center" | 1515
|align="center" | one part in 70
|-
|align="center" | Planck's constant
|align="center" | 1/(30πe)
|align="center" | one part in 110
|-
|align="center" | Fine structure constant
|align="center" | 1/140
|align="center" | [I've had enough of this 137 crap]
|-
|align="center" | Fundamental charge
|align="center" | 3/(14 * πππ)
|align="center" | one part in 500
|-
|align="center"|White House Switchboard
|colspan="2" align="center"|1/ 
π√(e(1 + (e-1)√8))
|-
|align="center"|Jenny's Constant
|colspan="2" align="center"|(7(e/1 - 1/e) - 9) * π2
|-
|colspan="3" align="center"|Intermission: World Population Estimate which should stay current for a decade or two: 
Take the last two digits of the current year

Example: 20[14]

Subtract the number of leap years since hurricane Katrina

Example: 14 (minus 2008 and 2012) is 12

Add a decimal point

Example: 1.2

Add 6

Example: 6 + 1.2

7.2 = World population in billions.

Version for US population:

Example: 20[14]

Subtract 10

Example: 4

Multiply by 3

Example: 12

Add 10

Example: 3[22] million
|-
|align="center"|Electron rest energy
|align="center"|e/716 J
|align="center"|one part in 1000
|-
|align="center"|Light-year(miles)
|align="center"|2(42.42)
|align="center"|one part in 1000
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|sin(60°) = √3/2 = e/π
|align="center"|one part in 1000
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|√3 = 2e/π
|align="center"|one part in 1000
|-
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant)
|align="center"|1/√3
|align="center"|one part in 4000
|-
|align="center"|Feet in a meter
|align="center"|5/(e√π)
|align="center"|one part in 4000
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|√5 = 2/e + 3/2
|align="center"|one part in 7000
|-
|align="center"|Avogadro's number
|align="center"|69π√5
|align="center"|one part in 25,000
|-
|align="center"|Gravitational constant G
|align="center"|1 / e(pi - 1)(pi + 1)
|align="center"|one part in 25,000
|-
|align="center"|R (gas constant)
|align="center"|(e+1) √5
|align="center"|one part in 50,000
|-
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio
|align="center"|6*π5
|align="center"|one part in 50,000
|-
|align="center"|Liters in a gallon
|align="center"|3 + π/4
|align="center"|one part in 500,000
|-
|align="center"|g
|align="center"|6 + ln(45)
|align="center"|one part in 750,000
|-
|align="center"|Proton-electron mass ratio
|align="center"|(e8 - 10) / ϕ
|align="center"|one part in 5,000,000
|-
|align="center"|Ruby laser wavelength
|align="center"|1 / (12002)
|align="center"|[within actual variation]
|-
|align="center"|Mean Earth Radius
|align="center"|(58)*6e
|align="center"|[within actual variation]
|-
|colspan="3" align="center"|Protip - not all of these are wrong:
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|√2 = 3/5 + π/(7-π)
|align="center"|cos(π/7) + cos(3π/7) + cos(5π/7) = 1/2
|-
|align="center"|γ(Euler's gamma constant) = e/34 + e/5
|align="center"|√5 = (13 + 4π) / (24 - 4π)
|align="center"|Σ 1/nn = ln(3)e
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Protip]]

1814: Color Pattern

2017-03-22T15:02:32Z

108.162.216.220:

{{comic
| number = 1814
| date = March 22, 2017
| title = Color Pattern
| image = color_pattern.png
| titletext = ♫ When the spacing is tight / And the difference is slight / That's a moiré ♫
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Do NOT delete this tag too soon. }}
The comic references {{w|moiré pattern}}s in a parody of the song {{w|That's Amore}}. In photography, a Moiré pattern occurs when the image sensors are aligned in a pattern, while photographing something else that is also aligned in a pattern.

In mathematics, physics, and art, a moiré pattern (/mwɑːrˈeɪ/; French: [mwaˈʁe]) or moiré fringes[1] are large scale interference patterns that can be produced when an opaque ruled pattern with transparent gaps is overlaid on another similar pattern. For the moiré interference pattern to appear, the two patterns must not be completely identical in that they must be displaced, rotated, etc., or have different but similar pitch. A moiré pattern is a kind of {{w|aliasing}}.

Moiré patterns appear in many different situations. In printing, the printed pattern of dots can negatively interfere with the image. In television and digital photography, a pattern on an object being photographed can interfere with the shape of the light sensors to generate unwanted {{w|artifact (error)|artifacts}}.

Photographs of a TV screen taken with a digital camera often exhibit moiré patterns. Since both the TV screen and the digital camera use a scanning technique to produce or to capture pictures with horizontal scan lines, the conflicting sets of lines cause the moiré patterns. To avoid the effect, the digital camera can be aimed at an angle of 30 degrees to the TV screen.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Cueball: I took a picture of my computer screen—why is the photo covered in these weird rainbow patterns?
:Megan (sitting in an armchair, singing): When a grid's misaligned with another behind
:Megan: That's a Moiré...

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1785: Wifi

2017-01-13T15:53:54Z

108.162.216.220:

This, I believe, is in reference to things like [https://www.dd-wrt.com/site/ DD-WRT], where someone with knowledge may install it to 'improve' your router. If done right, it can increase the speed and stability, if not, it can brick it. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.70|172.68.78.70]] 05:23, 13 January 2017 (UTC) That's what I thought too! Girish, [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.197|162.158.166.197]] 05:27, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
I installed Hurd on my router dont judge me ok. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.137|162.158.91.137]] 06:14, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
I doubt it is referring to router firmware. The tech-savviness is of the housguest, not of the router owner (though, I can easily imagine somebody updating host router). --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.106|162.158.134.106]] 12:18, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

:Some devices need operational firmware downloaded to them after reset, so it's handled at boot time by a firmware downloader. A typical example is devices which have s DSP in them; the DSP's code would be loaded into the device's RAM designated for the purpose. For Wi-Fi, it might handle the low level details of associating with an AP, performing the WPA2 protocol for example so the device looks for the most part logically like any other network interface, e.g. Ethernet. In this case, it would have nothing to do with the firmware in the Wi-Fi AP.
:[[User:RChandra|RChandra]] ([[User talk:RChandra|talk]]) 12:05, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

''“In most systems this just works but in the case of more geeky operating systems, like GNU/Linux, it needs to be installed separately.”'' Ironically, it's quite the opposite these days. On a fresh Windows install you typically have no network drivers, but with a lot of GNU/Linux distros you have network out of the box. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.60|141.101.105.60]] 09:25, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
:I would agree with you on wired connections there, but with the most common Intel or Broadcom WLAN chipsets on laptops it's the other way around. Windows works out of the box (maybe downloads a newer driver from Windows Update once you set up the Internet connection), while especially libre Linux distributions (which are inherently "geekier", because they focus on the political aspect of Free Software instead of something that Just Werks™) lack the non-free firmware required to drive those parts. ''TisTheAlmondTavern'' 10:11, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

I don't understand how the skydiving example is far fetched, but I'm the one who added it so I've got a total of 0 objectivity on the matter :). The skydiving example is here to demonstrate the paradox "the more you know how to fix it, the more it will be broken for you", because in both cases (computer saavy people, or skydiving instructors) the ones who know more are also the ones who will take more risks, and get further away from the common approach to the problem (for skydiving, the common thing to do is to not jump, while non computer saavy people will not try linux or whatever it is that fails to work out of the box). I agree that the skydiving comparison is not perfect (in computing it's a difference of main config/advanced config, while in skydiving it's a difference of doing it or not. Also you can expect your computer knowledge to help you fix thing on a broken computer. In a skydiving accident, no matter how much knowledge you have you are not going to pull a parachute before the issue gets to a terminal point), but it's the one Randall chose for that can of counter-intuitive correlation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.213|141.101.69.213]] 13:34, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

it only takes three commands to install Gentoo
:<code>cfdisk /dev/hda && mkfs.xfs /dev/hda1 && mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/ && chroot /mnt/gentoo/ && env-update && . /etc/profile && emerge sync && cd /usr/portage && scripts/bootsrap.sh && emerge system && emerge vim && vi /etc/fstab && emerge gentoo-dev-sources && cd /usr/src/linux && make menuconfig && make install modules_install && emerge gnome mozilla-firefox openoffice && emerge grub && cp /boot/grub/grub.conf.sample /boot/grub/grub.conf && vi /boot/grub/grub.conf && grub && init 6</code>
that's the first one 
Source: [http://bash.org/?464385 Bash.org] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 15:53, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

1780: Appliance Repair

2017-01-02T16:19:46Z

108.162.216.220:

{{comic
| number = 1780
| date = January 2, 2017
| title = Appliance Repair
| image = appliance_repair.png
| titletext = [holding up a three-phase motor] As you can see here, the problem is that the humidifier I took this from is broken.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|barebones.}}
Cueball is apparently running an appliance repair service. Although, he isn't doing much in the repairs aspect, as he is diagnosing problems with the appliances that he himself caused. The main problem (it might have had other prior problems) with the humidifier he has taken apart is that it doesn't work because he has taken it apart.

What Cueball is doing would be akin to a (really shady) doctor conducting an autopsy when you had the flu and saying the main problem with you right now is that you are dead. And your heart is not pumping because it came from a dead person.

Maybe the fact that Cueball is holding a three-phase motor (as shown in the title text) is part of the problem, because three-phase motors won't work on residential power; Residential humidifiers uses 120V single-phase voltage, while three-phase equipment generally needs 208V (three 120V phases) or 600V (three 347V phases), where each phase is offset from the others by a certain amount of time.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

Cueball [facing Megan and White Hat, standing in the middle of a mess and holding a screwdriver]: After disassembling and inspecting the humidifier, I've determined that the main problem with it is that someone took it apart.

Title Text: [holding up a three-phase motor] As you can see here, the problem is that the humidifier I took this from in broken.

{{comic discussion}}

1780: Appliance Repair

2017-01-02T13:50:01Z

108.162.216.220:

{{comic
| number = 1780
| date = January 2, 2017
| title = Appliance Repair
| image = appliance_repair.png
| titletext = [holding up a three-phase motor] As you can see here, the problem is that the humidifier I took this from is broken.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|barebones.}}
Cueball is apparently running an appliance repair service. Although, he isn't doing much in the repairs aspect, as he is diagnosing problems with the appliances that he himself caused. The main problem (it might have had other prior problems) with the humidifier he has taken apart is that it doesn't work because he has taken it apart.

What Cueball is doing would be akin to a (really shady) doctor conducting a necropsy when you had the flu and saying the main problem with you right now is that you are dead. And your heart is not pumping because it came from a dead person.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

Cueball [facing Megan and White Hat, standing in the middle of a mess]: After disassembling and inspecting the humidifier, I've determined that the main problem with it is that someone took it apart.

Title Text: [holding up a three-phase motor] As you can see here, the problem is that the humidifier I took this from in broken.

{{comic discussion}}

1114: Metallurgy

2016-12-19T01:25:11Z

108.162.216.220: spelling fixes

{{comic
| number = 1114
| date = September 28, 2012
| title = Metallurgy
| image = metallurgy.png
| titletext = This exotic blade was wrought from a different fallen star. The meteorite was a carbonaceous chondrite, so it's basically a lump of gravel glued into the shape of a sword. A SPACE sword!
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
The comic explains how weapons would really behave if they were made out of unusual materials. In fantasy stories, using unusual materials for weapons traditionally makes the weapons more powerful and cooler despite limited explanation for exactly why materials of extraterrestrial origin are so superior to their earthen counterparts.

The first panel is a reference to a fairly common fantasy trope: the use of iron meteorites for making weapons and armour (for example the sword "Brisingr" of the Inheritance series, "Anglachel" in the Tolkien Legendarium or the bear's armour in Pullman's Northern Lights). The quality of such metal can be rather hit-and-miss. On one hand, iron from meteorites was often mixed with "terrestrial" iron in the early stages of human development to create relatively high quality steel for swords. Undeveloped metalworking techniques at the time meant that extraterrestrial metal was often more refined and plentiful than man-made metal ingots. With that in mind, however, [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0016703767901408 research] has shown that meteorites have an abundance of the chemical element Antimony (Sb) which by itself is a very brittle metal and therefore swords forged from metals harvested from meteorites may not be as strong as lore would have one think.

The second panel is a reference to stories set in Middle-earth and the sword is Sting, which glows blue when Orcs are near. Sting used to belong to Bilbo Baggins; when he grew old he gave it to Frodo Baggins as a gift. The dagger in question, though, glows because of the radioactive properties of {{w|Actinium}} (Ac) which is also highly toxic. Definitely not a dagger you would want to carry around for your every day battles.

The word "Eldritch" in the third panel means sinister, ghostly, or magical.

The fourth panel mentions that the weapon gives a +2 to a player's attribute. This is a reference to role-playing games in which it is common to find items that are able to improve one's character by increasing desirable attributes. In this case, however, +2 to cancer risk, a consequence of the dagger's radioactivity, would definitely not be considered a desirable attribute to increase.

In the title text, the salesman tries to sell [[Cueball]] another meteoric blade, this one made from a {{w|carbonaceous chondrite}}. Carbonaceous chondrites are rocky meteors that generally don't contain a lot of metallic iron. The salesman is either stating that the blade is simply a bunch of nonferrous meteor fragments glued together in the shape of a sword, or stating that the iron he got out of the meteor is so full of impurities that it may as well be gravel. However, because it's made of extraterrestrial material he seems confident he'll still be able to sell it on novelty value alone.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are in a weapon store talking to a bearded salesman wearing a hat.]

:[Salesman holds up a sword.]
:Salesman: This sword was forged from a fallen star. Antimony impurities make the blade surpassingly ''brittle'' and ''weak''.

:[Salesman holds up a dagger.]
:Salesman: And this dagger is made of metal from a far-off kingdom. It glows blue.
:Off-panel: When orcs are near?

:Salesman: No, always. Radiation from the Actinium content.
:Megan: ...Does it have Eldritch powers?

:Salesman: It gives the wearer +2 to cancer risk.
:Cueball: I think we should find another shop.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Cancer]]