explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2019: An Apple for a Dollar

2018-07-13T16:49:49Z

108.162.237.106: Clean up equation

{{comic
| number = 2019
| date = July 13, 2018
| title = An Apple for a Dollar
| image = an_apple_for_a_dollar.png
| titletext = I'd like 0.4608 apples, please.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an APPLE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Megan]] is about to buy an apple at a grocery store when she is surprised that the price is exactly one dollar. In most cases in the US, {{w|Sales taxes in the United States|sales tax}} must be taken into account but most states exempt food sold in grocery stores, so the price comes out to a round value. Megan begins overthinking the whole situation, so the cashier raises the price to an arbitrary non-rounded value, which seems to calm her down.

Megan's "overthinking" refers to common parameters used in solving science or math questions. A {{w|Frictionless plane}} is a scenario from the writings of Galileo to calculate the movement of an object down an {{w|inclined plane}}. However, his equations did not account for {{w|friction}}.

"A train leaving Chicago at 40mph" refers to common math questions, involving trains and solving for the distance required to overtake said train, although this problem involves the rather unrealistic assumption that the train speed keeps constant. Like the frictionless plane, this is a common simplification that allows the problem to be solved with quite simple techniques, just like having round quantities (e.g. 1 dollar/apple) eases arithmetic problems.

;Title text
Apparently Megan only has a dollar, so she would not be able to buy a whole apple at the new price (0.4608 * $2.17 ≈ $1). Stores usually sell whole apples{{Citation needed}}, so asking for a fraction of one is not likely to work out.

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

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

Talk:1937: IATA Airport Abbreviations

2018-01-05T14:19:08Z

108.162.237.106:

CLT is Charlotte Douglass International, but maybe the [censored] tag is referring to what this acronym sounds like when it's pronounced phonetically? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.219|172.69.68.219]] 16:01, 3 January 2018 (UTC)
:Maybe someone just flew in or out of it and realized how messed up it is. :) (I live in Charlotte and fly 4 times a year) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.106|108.162.237.106]] 14:19, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

IATA actually stands for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Air_Transport_Association|International Air Transport Association]]. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 16:12, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Ankh-Morpork is from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Hogsmeade is from Harry Potter. Kingdom of Loathing is a web-based multiplayer game. Sunnydale is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BUF). fhqwhgads is from a Strong Bad email (Homestar Runner). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.35|108.162.238.35]] 16:15, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

The Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (Downtown Toronto) actually uses the call sign YTZ, not YYY. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 16:18, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

;List of the codes and airport names
AMD Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport
BAE Barcelonnette – Saint-Pons Airport
ORD O'Hare International Airport
IAD Washington Dulles International Airport
JFC -
IUD -
FYI -
LOL Derby Field
ATL Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport
HGM -
OMW -
ANC Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
HSV Huntsville International Airport (Carl T. Jones Field)
SAN San Diego International Airport
DWI -
DFW Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
DTW Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
TMI Tumlingtar Airport
LAX Los Angeles International Airport
EWR Newark Liberty International Airport
PHL Philadelphia International Airport
SWF Stewart International Airport
KUL Kuala Lumpur International Airport
STL Lambert–St. Louis International Airport
BUF Buffalo Niagara International Airport
TBA Tabibuga Airport
SMH Sapmanga Airport
BLT Blackwater Airport
YYY Mont-Joli Airport
YYZ Toronto Pearson International Airport
MIA Miami International Airport
CLT Charlotte Douglas International Airport
FHQ -
FFS -
DTF -
MDW Midway International Airport
PDX Portland International Airport
SEA Seattle–Tacoma International Airport

[[User:Jefe9247|Jefe9247]] ([[User talk:Jefe9247|talk]]) 16:33, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Could "Las Angalas" be the way Tommy Wiseau pronounces it? [[User:Tait marconi|Tait marconi]] ([[User talk:Tait marconi|talk]]) 20:17, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Re SWF being Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood airport, nearish to the historic location of Sherwood Forest actually exists. Sadly the IATA code is DSA (Doncaster Sheffield airport) - Putters {{unsigned| Putters}}

I think that substituting PHL for Pittsburgh's airport might also be a jab at how Facebook got confused a few months ago, labeling posts from Pittsburgh as originating in Philadelphia. {{unsigned| FuzzyBoots}}

Possibly also relevant that quite a few of these are common abbreviations used in text-based communication (e.g. LOL, FYI, FFS, TMI, etc.). I wonder if it's something like https://xkcd.com/1015/, where once you've memorised these abbreviations you can't help but think of the (annoying and incorrect) airports that they stand for when reading text messages from others. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.31|162.158.89.31]] 23:00, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

I think KIX should be added as well, it stands for Kansai International Airport. Boeing-787lover 05:28, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

== Major Omission ==

i'd like to add BHD -- Baggage Handlers' Decision. [[User:MCMXLVII|MCMXLVII]] ([[User talk:MCMXLVII|talk]]) 02:34, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

:Also: HIJ - hijacking; ISS - self-explanatory[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 09:50, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

==A Question ==

The page has the line "Randall notes in the what if? book that Delaware has no airports. This entry is also a play on the nearby real airport BWI, Baltimore-Washington International." Which what-if is this from?

--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.151|173.245.52.151]] 16:49, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
: The chapter in the book is "Flyover States: Which US state is actually flown over the most?" [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:16, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
== Observation ==

SeaTac isn't esp close to water (closest is >1 mile, perpendicular to runway orientation), although some of the flight patterns have segments over Puget Sound [[https://www.portseattle.org/Environmental/Noise/Noise-Abatement/Pages/Flight-Patterns.aspx|SeaTac Flight Patterns]]. Still, nothing like LGA or SFO where a short/long can put the plane in the water.

== Another Missing Airport ==

What about FUK? The first time I saw this one, I checked with my boss. It is for Fukuoka, Japan.

I was disappointed not to see Montreal's weird-ass code YUL in here (until I read the chart and found out nearly none are real), but it's nice to still see an explanation of the Y, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:58, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

1937: IATA Airport Abbreviations

2018-01-03T16:22:22Z

108.162.237.106: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1937
| date = January 3, 2018
| title = IATA Airport Abbreviations
| image = iata_airport_abbreviations.png
| titletext = IATA stands for International AirporT Abbreviation.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Expansion needed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is making fun of the three-letter codes assigned to all airports. These codes are overseen by the IATA (International Air Transport Association). Some airport codes are very intuitive, taking letters from the city name (e.g. DEN for Denver). Other codes are somewhat intuitive, taking a letter or two from the nearby city name but adding an additional letter (e.g. LAX for Los Angeles). Other codes make seemingly no sense at all (e.g. ORD for Chicago's O'Hare International, due to it formerly being named Orchard Field). In many cases, the airport codes are being conflated with internet / texting slang.

These are the real codes:

{| class="wikitable"
|'''IATA Code''' || '''City/Airport''' || '''Description in the comic''' || '''Explanation'''
|-
| AMD || Ahmedabad || Amsterdam || Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. Its Airport (called Schiphol) has the IATA code AMS.
|-
| ANC || Anchorage
|-
| ATL || Atlanta
|-
| BAE || Barcelonnette
|-
| BLT || Blackwater
|-
| BUF || Buffalo
|-
| CLT || Charlotte
|-
| DFW || Dallas/Fort Worth
|-
| DTF || not assigned
|-
| DTW || Detroit
|-
| DWI || not assigned
|-
| EWR || Newark || Edwards Air Force Base || Edwards Air Force Base (which has the IATA code EDW) is a United States Air Force installation in southern California, about 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Lancaster and 15 miles (24 km) east of Rosamond.
|-
| FFS || not assigned
|-
| FHQ || not assigned
|-
| FYI || not assigned
|-
| HGM || not assigned
|-
| HSV || Huntsville
|-
| IAD || Washington
|-
| IUD || Doha
|-
| JFC || not assigned
|-
| KUL || Kuala Lumpur
|-
| LAX || Los Angeles
|-
| LOL || Lovelock
|-
| MDW || Chicago (Midway)
|-
| MIA || Miami
|-
| OMW || not assigned
|-
| ORD || Chicago (O'Hare)
|-
| PDX || Portland
|-
| PHL || Philadelphia
|-
| SAN || San Diego
|-
| SAT || San Antonio
|-
| SEA || Seattle
|-
| SFO || San Francisco
|-
| SFW || Santa Fe
|-
| SJC || San Jose, California
|-
| SJC || San Juan, Puerto Rico
|-
| SMH || Sapmanga
|-
| STL || St. Louis
|-
| TBA || Tabibuga
|-
| TMI || Tumlingtar
|-
| YYY || Mont-Joli
|-
| YYZ || Toronto
|-
|}

==Transcript==
Confused by those airport abbreviations used by your friends who fly a lot? Just memorize this list.
:Aside 1: I'm flying into EWR tonight, then DTW tomorrow.
:Aside 2: Ok, Cool. I definitely know what those mean without Googling.

{| class="wikitable"
!
!
|-
|AMD|Amsterdam
|-
|BAE|Beijing
|-
|ORD|Orlando
|-
|IAD|Idaho (Boise)
|-
|JFC|Jefferson City
|-
|IUD|Washington Dulles
|-
|FYI|Fayetteville
|-
|LOL|Louisville
|-
|ATL|Atalante
|-
|HGM|Hogsmeade
|-
|OMW|Omaha
|-
|ANC|Ankh-Morpork
|-
|HSV|Hunstville
|-
|SAN|San Diego
|-
|SAN|San Juan
|-
|SAN|San Francisco
|-
|SAN|San Antonio
|-
|DWI|Delaware International
|-
|DFW|Down for Whatever
|-
|DTW|Down to Whatever
|-
|TMI|Turkmenistan International
|-
|LAX|Las Angalas
|-
|EWR|Edwards Air Force Base
|-
|PHL|Pittsburgh
|-
|SWF|Sherwood Forest
|-
|KUL|Kingdom of Loathing
|-
|STL|Silent Hill
|-
|BUF|Sunnydale
|-
|TBA|Tribeca
|-
|SMH|Smithfield
|-
|BLT|Baltimore
|-
|YYY|Toronto Downtown
|-
|YYZ|Toronto Pearson
|-
|MIA|Colombo, Sri Lanka
|-
|CLT|Censored
|-
|FHQ|Fhqwhgads
|-
|FFS|Flagstaff Station
|-
|DTF|Dartford
|-
|MDW|Midway Atoll
|-
|PDX|Pordlanx
|-
|SEA|Indicates Water Landing
}
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

1847: Dubious Study

2017-06-08T00:18:48Z

108.162.237.106: Biannually means twice a year. Biennually means once every 2 years.

{{comic
| number = 1847
| date = June 7, 2017
| title = Dubious Study
| image = dubious_study.png
| titletext = Sounds fine. I looked up the Academy, and it says on their MySpace page that their journal is peer-viewed and downloaded biannually.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic alludes to the growing industry in {{w|Predatory open access publishing|disreputable academic journals}}, many of whom accept articles of dubious merit for publication without rigorous peer review on payment of a fee. In an attempt to sound legitimate (and thus attract submissions), many such publishers publish journals whose names sound mistakably close to (if not identical to) established titles. Here, the ''National Academy of Proceedings'' is a play on the highly regarded academic title {{w|Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|
''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA}}

The title text implies that this (at present) fictional journal has a dubious online presence in the faded internet site {{w|Myspace|MySpace}}, where the publishers make claims that may be true but are misleading: "peer-viewed" sounds similar to "{{w|peer review|peer-reviewed}}", the community-led process of establishing a paper's scientific integrity prior to publication, but in fact means only that scientists have viewed the content (as [[Cueball]] is now). Likewise, some journals might be "published biannually", whereas "downloaded biannually" implies that the journal is ''read'' only twice each year. Single articles in high-profile journals such as ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' would expect to receive [http://palgrave.nature.com/nchem/journal/v7/n5/nchem.2243/metrics hundreds to thousands] of views in their first year of publication. The fictional journal publisher no doubt hopes that an inexperienced scientist may mistake these claims for meaningful statements of authority, and thus submit a paper (and eventually pay a fee for its publication).

''The National Academy of Proceedings'' in fact sets itself apart from certain predatory journals by ensuring that the claims on its website are in fact factually accurate (if phrased to mislead article authors, particularly those with English as an additional language); some journals are [http://www.nature.com/news/predatory-journals-recruit-fake-editor-1.21662 openly dishonest] on their websites.

Randall also judges academic content based on superficial details in comic [[1301: File Extensions]], where he focuses on how the information is formatted (in particular if it is in TeX or with the TeX rendering-style of a scientific publication). Similarly, in [[906: Advertising Discovery]], Randall muses on how we automatically trust anything formatted in Wikipedia style. (This was later proven in a scientific study.)<ref>No it wasn't. But weren't you inclined to believe it just because of the little blue "[1]"?</ref> And on a different note, prestigious-sounding but meaningless names also appear in the title text for [[1068: Swiftkey|1068]], where {{w|SwiftKey}} suggests the phrase "Massachusetts Institute of America" to Randall.

<div style="font-size:6px;"><references/></div>

==Transcript==
:[Megan is standing behind Cueball who is sitting at a computer desk using a laptop.]
:Megan: Are you sure this study is legit?
:Cueball: Sure, it says it was accepted for publication.
:Megan: Where?
:Cueball: Hmm... ''The National Academy of Proceedings''.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:If something is formatted like a serious scientific paper, it can take me a while to realize it isn't one.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1586: Keyboard Problems

2017-04-13T16:41:32Z

108.162.237.106:

Possible reference to server problems comic? (1084) {{unsigned ip|162.158.90.210}}

For a risk of sounding mundane, similar symptoms can occur with keyboard breadcrumb syndrome, when someone eats too much bread at the computer, and their keyboard keeps getting hit with crumbs. As said someone is unlikely to change their habits unless they're made aware of the true reason for their problem, it would indeed follow them from computer to computer (because they keep getting crumbs on keyboards), as well as on the same keyboard (because it's getting full of crumbs).<br>(Did I just make up the name "keyboard breadcrumb syndrome"? The syndrome itself must be common, but I couldn't think of any other name for it. Also, OTT purists will now probably come and start berating me for not using the word "leopard".) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.59|141.101.80.59]] 09:38, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

:Not just bread though, could be other foods. Like Doritos! [[User:XY007|XY007]] ([[User talk:XY007|talk]]) 09:39, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

::You do not ''want'' to see this keyboard I'm typing on (there's a lot of my hair in the gaps), that I've used so long that not only have some of the commoner keyfaces worn off, but the ''plastic'' has worn through to the voids beneath two of them ('S' and the down-cursor). But it works, and only I will ever use it.
::OTOH, I've had to clean far newer desktop keyboards in the past that one could hear an 'avalanche' inside if you lifted it up and tilted it back and forth. Upon opening up the casing, this was proven to be small clear-white crystals, hypothesised as either refined sugar (e.g. from countless donuts, eaten at the keyboard, or perhaps sugar spilt on the way to a coffee cup) or salt (either food-grade salt, or accumulating from 'sweaty fingers'). No, no-one tried tasting it to determine which. If either! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.159|141.101.98.159]] 22:20, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

Certainly a case of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_effect Pauli effect]. {{unsigned ip|162.158.90.210}}

This is also partly a reference older comics where Cueball faces wierd technical issues like in 1084:Server problem and 1316:Inexplicable

I do believe Randall draw it with Cueball's mysterious ability to break computers, but it seems something like badUSB exploit IMHO. While it's extremely difficult to perform, it attacks on firmware part of USB and it is possible to spread via USB *ports* and *devices* [[Special:Contributions/162.158.6.169|162.158.6.169]] 13:39, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

"followed Cueball since his last computer" I don't think Cueball changed the keyboard. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.160|199.27.133.160]] 15:31, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

:This was my interpretation, actually. I thought the joke was that Cueball changed the computer expecting it to be a software issue when the problem was with the keyboard hardware itself. But then the last panel doesn't make as much sense. [[User:Enchantedsleeper|Enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 23:43, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

The first sentence in the explaination currently: ''This comic is about how computer problems appear with no obvious cause. Even technically skilled people often find themselves powerless to diagnose the problem, and resort to tricks and quirks to solve or circumvent the problem without really understanding how or why the trick should work.'' refers to [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1479:_Troubleshooting 1479:Troubleshooting] not really this comic. I would consider striking. The comic is not about skilled people finding quirks to make things work; it is about those few 2.5%ers on the bell shaped curve who seem to always have the worst luck without any reprieve. This is also a plot point in the movie [https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00KHL1VM8?ie=UTF8&keywords=frequencies&qid=1444059427&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 Frequencies]. Good movie - check it out! --[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:43, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

I had a problem like this. It was a keyboard that would randomly input the string "welcome datacomp". I would end up with it in my documents. Here is a link to a usenet post about [that very problem](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.virus/Ju2qiWBcdnk). I spent a lot of time trying to track down the "virus" until it followed me to another Mac at which time I figured out it was the keyboard. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.147}}

I had this issue. I used to joke that my ex-friend Avi would "break my leopard" from Australia because the problem seemed to arise after I talked to him. My leopard would get keys that'd just suddenly stop working, and even with an external leopard, it didn't fix the issue. Or it did, for about a few minutes, and then somehow THAT leopard also got screwed up in the same way. I think I did some sort of factory reset on my computer , and it happened AGAIN. Then I switched laptops, and it happened YET AGAIN. What the fuck. Then I ended up breaking the leopard's hardware. Now I have another laptop and I'm hoping its beautiful, red-lit leopard, remains entirely functional. [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 04:35, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Alternate option- He gets assimilated by the Borg, causing the entire collective to collapse in on itself within days. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 03:57, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

Clearly Cueball has an external keyboard. That is broken, and carries it's brokenness around -vonbrand {{unsigned|Vonbrand}}

A lot of parts of this explanation assume Cueball and Megan are incompetent. This doesn’t hold up, though: it isn’t a software problem because of the boot disc, and it isn’t a hardware problem because both computers are laptops and he almost certainly didn’t rip the old keyboard out of the old laptop and put it in the new one. It isn’t breadcrumbs either, because the external keyboard broke and he isn’t eating. When we’ve eliminated the impossible, all that remains are a stack of coincidences, a firmware virus, or Cueball being literally haunted (in decreasing order of probability). --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.154|162.158.78.154]] 18:07, 25 January 2017 (UTC)

Sounds like it could be that two of his keyboards had the same problem. But if the other computers he tried to use his keyboard with start having that problem... the contagion is out there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.106|108.162.237.106]] 16:41, 13 April 2017 (UTC)