explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

727: Trade Expert

2018-03-11T19:43:40Z

108.162.241.88: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 727
| date = April 14, 2010
| title = Trade Expert
| image = trade_expert.png
| titletext = I mean, it's been almost twenty years. Now, it's possible you're simply embedding Windows directory paths in your URIs, but in that case you need more than just a short lecture.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] as a [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]] has another Cueball-like character as guest in the studio, a doctor who is also a trade expert. However, Steven Berlee turns out to be a fraud. In reality he is a frustrated programmer willing to lie his way on to news show to share his message with any newscasters willing to listen:
:Every time you say "backslash" as part of a web address on air, I die a little.

The {{w|Slash (punctuation)|slash character}} (/), also known as forward slash, is the correct way to separate distinct parts of a web address; for example in the address "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_(punctuation) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_(punctuation)]", a slash follows the "org" and the "wiki". However, some newscasters are unfamiliar with the distinction between the different types of slashes, thus confusing the normal slash with the {{w|backslash}} (\), the wrong character. They may also be somewhat overzealous by trying to specify forward- or backslash since just saying "slash" would be sufficient. Also as mentioned in the title text the backslash is used in addresses on a windows PC.

Steven Berlee claims that he suffers every time this mistake is made in a news program, explaining his reason for cheating his way on the air. Steven's name is most likely made up, as it seems to be taken from two or three of the inventors of the {{w|Internet}}:
*Dr. {{w|Steve Crocker}} who has worked in the Internet community since its inception. He was part of the team that developed the protocols for the {{w|ARPANET}} which were the foundation for today's Internet and for this work, he was awarded the 2002 IEEE Internet Award. His real name is Stephen D. Crocker.
*Dr. {{w|Stephen Wolff}}, spelled differently than Steve, but the same as the real name of Steve Crocker. He is one of the many fathers of the Internet, mainly credited with turning the Internet from a government project into something that proved to have scholarly and commercial interest for the rest of the world. At one point he managed a research group that participated in the development of ARPANET.
*Sir {{w|Tim Berners-Lee}}'s last name can made into the {{w|portmanteau}} ''Berlee''. He is an English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees the continued development of the Web.
Searching the internet lists no one called Steven Berlee, and the only references points back to this comic.

The title text refers to how in the {{w|Windows}} operating system, the backslash is actually used instead of the slash as a separator (in contrast to Unix-based systems, which use the forward slash). Thus, the path to any Windows file encoded in a {{w|Uniform resource identifier|URI}} (uniform resource identifier) would correctly contain the backslash character. However, placing such an URI into a web address to be shared on a news show would be completely useless, as they are only accessible inside of a local {{w|Windows domain}} (usually one's own computer) and no one would be able to access that file over the Internet.

In the title text Steven complains that after having had the modern version of the Internet for 20 years (since early 90s and this comic was released in 2010) they should have learned the difference by now. He also continues to claim that if they do not understand the difference between an internet url and Windows directory paths, and thus embedding these into their urls, then he cannot help them with just a short lecture while he con his way to time on the air.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball as a news anchor is sitting behind a desk with his hand on the desk, leaning towards his off-panel guest to the right.]
:Cueball: And for more on the summit, we turn to trade expert Dr. Steven Berlee.
:Cueball: Steven?

:[Zoom out to include Dr. Steven Berlee, also drawn like Cueball, with his hands below he desk, sitting behind the desk to the right of Cueball facing towards him, still with his hands on the desk.]
:Steven Berlee: I'm not actually a doctor or a trade expert. I'm just a programmer who lies to get on news shows.

:[Close-up on Steven Berlee.]
:Cueball (off-panel): What? Why?
:Steven Berlee: To share a message with newscasters.

:[Zoom back out to show both men, the news anchor now also with his hands below the desk.]
:Cueball: Which is?
:Steven Berlee: Every time you say "backslash" as part of a web address on air, I die a little.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:News anchor]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:1866: Russell's Teapot

2017-07-23T00:14:59Z

108.162.241.88:

In this case, nesting the teapot in a catapult/cannon which is launched by another catapult/cannon might perhaps be sufficient to get past NASA regulations. (Catapults/cannons only launching the payload and not themselves...) --[[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|(Arguments welcome)]]
:But make sure it is a moblie cannon, otherwise it would not quilify as a launch '''vehicle'''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.19|162.158.89.19]] 11:32, 21 July 2017 (UTC)
::I immediately thought "railgun". And the payload can still be a rocket; once it's not touching the ground it's accelerating, not launching. (Also Russell failed to account for female barbers. Honestly, people!) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.4|108.162.241.4]] 09:42, 22 July 2017 (UTC)
::: One such company did exist, Quicklaunch had the idea of launching via a space gun. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicklaunch {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.142}}

::: He didn't need to account for female barbers (or anybody who isn't a man) because the barber in the paradox shaves precisely those men who don't shave themselves. He ''only'' shaves men, and all men in the town are ''only'' shaved by him or themselves. Everyone else is a completely different story, so they can be shaved by whoever they want (except the barber, who only shaves men). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.88|108.162.241.88]] 00:14, 23 July 2017 (UTC)

:::Only if you assume that females who are barbers don't shave their legs, armpits, or their various lady parts. This only further confuses the paradox. {{unsigned|Mjm87}}
::::For much of Bertrand Russell's life, they didn't. http://mentalfloss.com/article/22511/when-did-women-start-shaving-their-pits [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.4|108.162.241.4]] 09:42, 22 July 2017 (UTC)

When I first saw this comic I immediately thought of the Utah Teapot, it's a model used in computer graphics because it's simple and has both convex and concave surfaces. Both teapots, I would assume, (I've only just heard of Russel's Teapot so I could be wrong) are well known to different parts of the nerd community? {{unsigned ip|162.158.255.22}}

Hopefully it will support HTCPCP-TEA. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.34|108.162.241.34]] 17:48, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

i think people just really like teapot examples {{unsigned ip|108.162.246.23}}

:The major problem here is that CubeSats are currently only launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and are expected to re-enter the atmosphere within days to weeks. Russell's teapot is (allegedly) in orbit between Earth and Mars and Cueball's device is not likely to have enough delta-v to leave Earth orbit. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 18:18, 21 July 2017 (UTC)
"A teapot orbits the Sun somewhere in space between the Earth and Mars" This implies that the teapot is physically located between Mars and Earth at all times. Which if true would be a highly irregular orbit requiring constant velocity changes, which is an impossible feat to achieve with current teapot technology. {{unsigned|Mjm87}}
:Nonsense. It would be a ''highly regular orbit'' and many asteroids are already there, despite the most of them are between Mars and Jupiter (Asteroid-Belt):--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:22, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

I can see both of your points. As mjm87 says, "between the Earth and Mars", taken literally, would mean "on a line between the two planets", which would be a very unusual orbit. And, I agree, it would be impossible without constant velocity changes, so wouldn't be an "orbit" in the usual sense.
On the other hand, I took Russell's words the way Dgbrt seems to have, as meaning "between the orbits of Earth and Mars", as this is the way most astronomers would interpret it. A don't know that there are "many" asteroids that remain between Earth and Mars, but there are quite a few crossing the space, and at least a few with average distances in that range. - N Kalanaga {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.159}}
:There is also quantifier scope ambiguity there. I believe that there is a large constellation of teapot statites, and at any given moment at least one of them is directly between Earth and Mars. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.58|172.68.54.58]] 06:29, 22 July 2017 (UTC)
Since Russell was going for absurdity, I favour the more absurd interpretation namely Mjm87's. [[User:Capncanuck|Capncanuck]] ([[User talk:Capncanuck|talk]]) 08:21, 22 July 2017 (UTC)
:Taking "on a line between the two planets" literally would simply reduce to "inside the orbit of Mars". The Earth moves faster than Mars and right now the Sun is exactly between them on that line. NASA, ESA, and ISRO can not communicate with their orbiters and rovers until the beginning of August (see {{w|Solar conjunction}}). So the meaning "between the orbits of Earth and Mars" is still much more plausible.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:11, 22 July 2017 (UTC)

Don't worry we have been working on it. Launching the project in a few months.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSmdiMSFBSb/?taken-by=hate_plow
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSwW4MIlE0b/?taken-by=hate_plow
[[User:Zackdougherty|Zackdougherty]] ([[User talk:Zackdougherty|talk]]) 03:10, 22 July 2017 (UTC)

1829: Geochronology

2017-04-26T04:13:11Z

108.162.241.88: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1829
| date = April 26, 2017
| title = Geochronology
| image = geochronology.png
| titletext = 'The mountains near here formed when the ... Newfoundland ... microplate collided with, uhh ... Labrador.' 'Ok, now you're definitely just naming dogs.' 'Wait, no, that's actually almost correct.'
}}

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

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, Ponytail, and Megan are standing in a field.]
:Ponytail: [Gesturing toward a rock formation] This bedrock likely formed as the Dalmatian microplate subducted under East Laika during the Upper Pomeranian.
:Cueball: [Touching his chin thoughtfully] Ah, yes.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Geology Tip: There are so many microplates and ages that no one remembers them all, so in a pinch you can bluff with dog breeds.

{{comic discussion}}

1818: Rayleigh Scattering

2017-03-31T15:24:46Z

108.162.241.88: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1818
| date = March 31, 2017
| title = Rayleigh Scattering
| image = rayleigh_scattering.png
| titletext = If you ask "why are leaves green?" the usual answer is "because they're full of chlorophyll, and chlorophyll is green," even though "why does chlorophyll scatter green light?" is a great question too.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Incomplete explanation TBD: Integrate characters}}

This comic deals with the tendency of physicists for explaining everything in the most complete and physically accurate way possible, often explaining things in a more elaborate way than necessary causing major confusion in inexperienced listeners. This is demonstrated by the explanation on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_sky_radiation why the sky is blue], going into [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics quantum mechanical] properties of air, whereas a much simpler explanation, such as air being blue, also adequately explains the phenomenon, and is probably much more understandable to less physically inclined listeners. The last panel takes this explanation to the extremes by claiming that airplanes stay up because they have thousands of birds in their wings that hold them up by flapping. This, while certainly easier to understand, is much farther from reality than the explanation in the previous panels, as birds inside a plane would be unable to lift it by flapping their wings{{Citation needed}}.

The title of the comic refers to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering rayleigh scattering], the process which is commonly named as the reason for why the sky is blue. This also comes up in [[1145]], where a similar situation with a physicist giving an overly complicated explanation to a child, who is unlikely to understand it.

[https://what-if.xkcd.com/141/ What-if 141] also mentions the simpler explanation to the original question: Sunbeam has this relevant text: "Normal light interacts with the atmosphere through Rayleigh scattering. You may have heard of Rayleigh scattering as the answer to 'why is the sky blue.' This is sort of true, but honestly, a better answer to this question might be 'because air is blue.' Sure, it appears blue for a bunch of physics reasons, but everything appears the color it is for a bunch of physics reasons." There is also a footnote in that comment with an additional example: "When you ask, 'Why is the statue of liberty green?' the answer is something like, 'The outside of the statue is copper, so it used to be copper-colored. Over time, a layer of copper carbonate formed (through oxidation), and copper carbonate is green.' You don't say 'The statue is green because of frequency-specific absorption and scattering by surface molecules.' "

The title text refers to another common question as for why leaves are green. This is commonly explained by the fact that they are filled with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophyll chlorophyll], a chemical used by plants for photosynthesis. Randall points out that it would be an equally valid question to ask why chlorophyll is green. This poses an interesting contrast to the answer to the question about the color of the sky, where physicists are quick to jump to describing quantum phenomena, whereas in the case of leaves they are usually satisfied by a more general explanation.

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

Can someone please check for false words and correct character names?

:[2 Girls Talking]
:Science Girl: Why is the sky blue?
:Mother: Because air is blue,
:Megan: No, the sky is blue because of Rayleigh scattering -
:Mother: Nah, it's because air is blue. Blue light bounces off it and hits our Eyes. Same as why anything is any color,
:Mother: It's why far-off mountains look blue - because of all the blue air in the way.
:Megan: There's a specific quantum mechanism by which -
:Mother: Yeah(,) but there's a physics mechanism for every color. You don't have to get all quantum right away.
:Megan: ... OK, I guess.
:Mother: Any other questions?
:Science Girl: How do planes stay up?
:Megan: Well, the airflow -
:Mother: Tiny birds in the wings. Thousands. Flapping Hard.
:Science Girl: WOW!
:Megan: NO!

{{comic discussion}}

1815: Flag

2017-03-24T20:58:26Z

108.162.241.88: Changed device type to phone, changed grammar

{{comic
| number = 1815
| date = March 24, 2017
| title = Flag
| image = flag.png
| titletext = There's a compromise bill to keep the notification bar but at least charge the battery.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs more detail on how flags and images, in general, are designed/edited using computers, and why what Randall did was wrong.}}

Randall was hired to propose a new flag for an unspecified new country. The process of him editing the flag into its final draft was done on a phone and involved taking a screenshot of the product (possibly a shortcut to avoid actually exporting it) which produced the notification bar at the top of the flag. He did not catch his error and sent it to the committee with the notification bar intact. The design committee also missed the phone bar and approved the design. Although not said, it is implied that the committee then ordered actual flags from the manufacturer. Once the problem was pointed out, the design committee placed the blame on Randall.

The elements of the flag's intended design, the colors red white and blue, the stripes, and the stars, are present in several existing flags for real countries (America, the UK, North Korea, etc.) Flags are often minimalist and involve geometric shapes and solid colors. A notification bar at the top of the flag would clash with these design elements as well as looking unprofessional.

The title text mentions a compromise bill that will change the flag, not removing the notification bar at the top to create the originally intended flag, but instead keeping the notification bar and changing the amount of battery displayed (39%) to 100%. The low battery status might imply that the country is low on resources. Randall has mentioned before that he cannot take screenshots seriously if the battery of the device is low in [[1373: Screenshot]].

This comic is a joke on "vexillology". The comic incorrectly refers to a status bar as "notification bar".

==Transcript==

:[A picture is shown of a flag for a currently nonexistent country. The left and rightmost parts of the flag are dark blue, and the center is red. These parts of the flag are separated by white vertical stripes. In the center of each colored section of the flag is a large, white star. At the top of the flag, there is a conspicuous off-white notification bar like one you would find at the top of a laptop or phone. On the left it is displaying the strength of a 3G connection (3/5 dots), in the center it is displaying the time (5:43 PM) and on the right, it is displaying battery charge (39%)]
:The design committee fired me once they realized that my editing process involved a screenshot, but it was too late.
:Until they change it, our new country has the only national flag to include a phone notification bar.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]