explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:370: Redwall

2021-12-16T20:28:43Z

108.162.246.244: Commented about how LOTR is not actually a racist work.

;Religious Objections to Redwall do exist
Reading Redwall as a religious child, I got quite angry at all the subtle digs at religion. It's quite clear that the Redwall universe has no gods, other than ascended heroes, who usually just reincarnate anyway. The churches and monasteries don't seem to have any particular reason for existing. All the bad guys are named after notable Christian saints/monks. [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 16:16, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
:Worth noting, there is technically no explicit reference to 'Satan' in the text of any Redwall novel. -- [[User:Observer14|Observer14]] ([[User talk:Observer14|talk]]) 23:22, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

I think someone should explain what a "jinx" is, in reference to the first panel. I know what it is myself, I'm just not good enough with words to explain it, and I forgot how one gets "un-jinxed".[[User:Codefreak5|Codefreak5]] ([[User talk:Codefreak5|talk]]) 08:17, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

There was a moment during "Mossflower" where Martin, almost dead from his fight with the wildcat queen lady woman, was conversing with a dead badger lord through the gates of whatever their afterlife is, though you get the impression it's Heaven (or some place where the good beasts go). Also sorry to burst Observer14's bubble but in Redwall there is that moment when one of the rats in Cluny's army (or however you spell it) gets killed by their out-of-control hay cart and Cluny says, "Tell the devil Cluny sent you." {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.117}}

It might benefit from an explanation of why Redwall and LOTR have racist undertones and moral absolutes? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.211|108.162.210.211]] sjwist-number-one

This is an excellent breakdown of the alleged racism in LOTR. As for moral absolutes, there is a personal deity in Tolkien mythology, so he dictates what is morally acceptable.
https://middle-earth.xenite.org/is-it-true-there-is-racism-in-the-lord-of-the-rings/

370: Redwall

2021-12-16T20:25:31Z

108.162.246.244: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 370
| date = January 14, 2008
| title = Redwall
| image = redwall.png
| titletext = My Redwall/Jurassic Park crossover fanfic is almost complete!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references {{w|Brian Jacques|Brian Jacques'}} series of books, ''{{w|Redwall}}'', which star sapient woodland animals in various high fantasy adventures.

The first panel shows the similarity between the story of Martin the Warrior (from the book ''{{w|Mossflower}}'') and {{w|Aragorn}} from ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'' by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}. The joke is that while Martin and Aragorn introduce themselves separately, they then go on to describe their particular story, which turns out to be exactly the same for both of them. Subsequently Martin jinxes Aragorn. {{w|Jinx (children's game)|Jinx}} is a common children's game that is initiated by shouting "Jinx" after somebody speaks the same word or sentence at the same time as you. That person is then jinxed, with one form of the rules dictating that they are then not permitted to speak until unjinxed by some specific action (usually somebody saying their name). For a similar children’s game, see [[392: Making Rules]].

In ''LOTR'', orcs are unequivocally and without exception the bad guys, capable only of hate and violence (although to be fair, in some of Tolkien's unpublished writing, orcs are corrupted elves, so it is clear that they are not intrinsically bad). Similarly, Redwall's rats, foxes, ferrets, ermine, and weasels are mostly evil manipulators, while mice, rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, and badgers are always the good guys. On several occasions, characters explicitly state that "vermin stays vermin." This is the overarching rule, notwithstanding the rare exception (e.g. Grubbage from {{w|Triss}}). Conversely, one of the so-called "good species" has never become evil in this book series. Though it is more likely than not that this is simply the result of a {{tvtropes|PlanetOfHats|planet of hats}} - where a single species all share the same characteristics and personality, so that authors / readers don't have to spend time fleshing out / getting to know every new character - Randall nevertheless indicates that this "moral absolute" is problematic and has some "racist undertones," regardless if it's intentional or not. (Note that Tolkien's work is probably not actually racist—the Easterlings are portrayed as non-evil people who were deceived by Sauron. The Orcs are evil by definition, thus being incapable of doing good.)

The second panel deals with the fact that ''Redwall'' mentions the name of {{w|Satan}} or {{w|The Devil}} 4 times, while it never mentions {{w|God}} or {{w|Jesus}}--somewhat surprisingly, given that the book is set in an abbey, and many of the inhabitants are religious brothers and sisters. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] then points out that people who {{w|Religious debates over the Harry Potter series|protest against Harry Potter because of the series' witchcraft}}, should take note that Redwall explicitly mentions Satan, although it has had little to no negative feedback from more conservative readers.

In the third panel, Randall comments on ''Redwall'''s often-used theme of critical messages being left in riddles throughout the Abbey for the occupants to find when they are in need. Randall suggests that he would use {{w|Public-key cryptography|public-key cryptography}} to encode the messages, instead of the elaborate riddles used in the books (some of which are ridiculously easy, which doesn't exactly make for good security when dealing with sensitive information).

In the title text, Randall jokes that he is making a crossover {{w|Fan fiction|fan-fiction}} with ''Redwall'' and ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}''.

Redwall was also referenced in [[1688: Map Age Guide]] and [[1722: Debugging]].

==Transcript==
:Notes from reading Redwall books for the first time since childhood.

:Some of this feels familiar.
:Aragorn: Hi, I'm Aragorn.
:Martin: I'm Martin.
:Aragorn and Martin: I'm here to reforge my broken sword so I can lead an army against the tyrant threatening my people. I live in a world of moral absolutes and racist undertones.
:Martin: Jinx!

:It startled me when characters mentioned Satan.
:Redwall: "By Satan's whiskers..."
:Redwall mentions God/Jesus 0 times.
:Redwall mentions Satan/The Devil 4 times.
:(Harry Potter protesters, take note.)

:Even as a kid this bothered me: Why does everyone leave critical secret messages as simple riddles? It's silly to assume the intended recipient will be the only one to find and solve them. I would do things differently.
:Matthias: The inscription is a message from Martin!
:Brother Methuselah: What does it say?
:Matthias: Hang on, it's encrypted with my public key.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Bar charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]
[[Category:Redwall]]

2351: Standard Model Changes

2021-08-15T22:19:28Z

108.162.246.244: /* Table */ Fixed some extraneous/incorrect details

{{comic
| number = 2351
| date = August 26, 2020
| title = Standard Model Changes
| image = standard_model_changes.png
| titletext = Bugs are spin 1/2 particles, unless it's particularly windy.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic strip, Randall is proposing some changes to the {{w|Standard Model}} of particle physics. The currently accepted particle table has 17 slots: 12 fermions (first 3 columns of the table - six quarks [top two rows] and six leptons [bottom two rows]) and five bosons (last two columns of the table - four gauge bosons [left hand column] and one scalar boson [right hand column]).

[[File:1024px-Standard Model of Elementary Particles.svg.png|500px]]

This comic consists of a normal version of the particle table to which Randall has made substantial alternations and additions, which are drawn in red over the black and white table.

While the Standard Model's predictions are very well supported by experiments, the physics community has identified several flaws in it (e.g. it lacks any particles to convey gravity), and so lots of research is committed to searching for "{{w|Physics beyond the Standard Model}}". Some of Randall's changes are sort of intended to fill some of those gaps, but for the most part they are nonsensical (although not quite as much as the [[2301: Turtle Sandwich Standard Model|Turtle Sandwich Standard Model]] or [[1621: Fixion|Fixion]]).

=== Quarks ===

Randall's proposed changes to the quarks are relatively restrained -- he proposes only that the "strange" and "charm" names should be moved to bosons, while the strange quark should be renamed the "right quark" and the charm quark should be renamed the "left quark", so that all quarks will have "ordinary" directional names.

In reality, the original quark model proposed by Murray Gell-Mann included only three quarks, with the "strange" quark so named because the particles that contained them were ''strangely'' long-lived relative to their masses. The "charm" quark was so named when it was proposed because it brought a "charming" symmetry to the weak interaction, which we now understand is because it completes the second generation of quarks, along with the strange quark. When a third generation of quarks was proposed, they were called top and bottom by analogy to the up and down quarks (which are so named because of the {{w|isospin}} they carry), though the names 'truth' and 'beauty' were briefly in competition, and colliders working with B quarks are sometimes even now called "{{w|B-factory|Beauty Factories}}".

Randall likely applied "left" to "strange" and "right" to "charm" simply due to the placement of the particles in the table: In the American English vernacular, the phrase "left and right" is more common than "right and left", in the same way that "top and bottom" is more common than "bottom and top", and "up and down" is more common than "down and up". So he placed "left" above "right" to match the ordering of the other quark generations.

=== Leptons ===
While Randall leaves two leptons, the electron and the muon, untouched, he has opted to discard the tau lepton entirely. Each of these three leptons has an associated neutrino; Randall has decided to discard all but the electron neutrino, as he has decided that three are too many neutrino types. He has also replaced the standard symbol for the neutrino, the Greek letter ν (nu), with a capital N, in order to avoid confusion between ν and v, the two letters appearing similar, though this might further be confused with nucleon (particle physicists commonly use N to denote "proton or neutron", and excited states of nucleons are given the symbol N, followed by the mass in parenthesis<ref>https://pdglive.lbl.gov/ParticleGroup.action?init=0&node=BXXX005</ref>) or possibly even with the symbol for Nitrogen (the atomic nucleus with 7 protons and a similar number of neutrons, encountered more in radiology/chemistry as an N, 7N, 14N, N+, N2 and other variations).

In place of one of the neutrinos, Randall has introduced a new elementary particle that supposedly explains the existence of dark matter. The nature of dark matter is one of the most famous mysteries in physics: galaxies seem to have much higher gravity than their detectable matter would account for, yet this mysterious form of matter does not seem to interact with other matter in any other detectable way. Neutrinos are known for rarely interacting with other matter, due to their lack of charge, which could justify Randall's decision, but even the little interaction that neutrinos have with the weak force rules them out as candidates for dark matter. Hypothetical {{w|sterile neutrino}}s could be the source of dark matter, and also for the small but nonzero masses of the familiar neutrinos, but no such particles have yet been identified. Together with the arrow, the only one in the comic that points at the particle's ''box'' rather than the symbol, the triumphant exclamation "We found it!" probably means that the new "dark matter" entry in the table ''is'' the dark matter particle.

=== Bosons ===

Randall proposes several new names for existing particles. First, that the {{w|W and Z bosons}} should be renamed to the charm and strange bosons, respectively (taking the names from the quarks), and second, that the {{w|Higgs boson}} should be named the {{w|Vin Diesel}} boson, as he considers {{w|Peter Higgs}}'s name to be too boring to be given to a particle. The Higgs boson is known in the popular press (to the chagrin of many physicists, including Higgs) as "{{w|The God Particle (book)|The God Particle}}", which is certainly a flashy name, but which itself was changed by the editors of the book of the same name from its authors' originally-intended title: The ''Goddamn'' Particle.

Randall inserts the graviton, a purely theoretical particle, noting that its inclusion is "probably fine". While the graviton has never been observed, it is occasionally included in diagrams of the standard model to show its hypothetical place, which likely convinced Randall to do the same. Here it is shown below the Higgs boson, implying to be a scalar boson, though it is theoretically a 2nd-order tensor boson (with a spin of 2) and is usually given its own column.

Randall also proposes that a false decoy "Magic" particle should be added to the Standard Model, to trip up promoters of {{w|quantum mysticism}}. Presumably, anyone who invokes this particle to support their claims will expose themselves as a fraud, much as cartographers will print {{w|trap street}}s on their maps to catch plagiarism.

==Table==
The title text references {{w|Spin (physics)|quantum spin number}}, a property of particles in physics that bears similarities to actual spinning. Although the cool bugs particle is put in the {{w|scalar boson}} group with spin 0, Randall states that it instead has spin 1/2, like a fermion. It is thus not clear whether cool bugs obey the {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}} or not. Unique among elemental particles, cool bugs are affected by wind, which can change their spin.

Changes highlighted in red.
{| class="wikitable"
! Particle !! Symbol !! Actual particle !! Actual symbol !! Explanation
|-
| Up quark || u || {{w|Up quark}} || u || No change.
|-
| Left quark || l || {{w|Charm quark}} || c || Randall is continuing the pattern of naming quarks after directions. This wouldn't work well with [[474: Turn-On]] unfortunately. The charm quark was named due to bringing a "charming symmetry" to the weak interaction, completing the second generation of quarks.
|-
| Top quark || t || {{w|Top quark}} || t || No change.
|-
| Gluon || g || {{w|Gluon}} || g || No change.
|-
| Vin Diesel boson || V || {{w|Higgs boson}} || H || {{w|Peter Higgs}} is a British theoretical physicist who predicted the existence of scalar bosons, particles with spin 0. Randall suggests that the Higgs boson needs a flashier name and proposes to rechristen it the "Vin Diesel boson", named after American actor {{w|Vin Diesel|Mark Sinclair}}, who has nothing to do with physics.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Down quark || d || {{w|Down quark}} || d || No change.
|-
| Right quark || r || {{w|Strange quark}} || s || Randall is suggesting this name to match the charm (now left) quark. Particles containing this quark were considered "strangely long-lived".
|-
| Bottom quark || b || {{w|Bottom quark}} || b || No change.
|-
| Photon || γ || {{w|Photon}} || γ || No change.
|-
| Graviton || G || {{w|Graviton}} (Hypothetical) || G || The graviton is a hypothetical particle which mediates the force of {{w|gravity}}. Randall is taking a very breezy point of view, stating that it would probably be fine to include it, even though its existence has not been confirmed yet. It is not recommended to act this way, though many do.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Electron || e || {{w|Electron}} || e || No change.
|-
| Muon || µ || {{w|Muon}} || µ || No change.
|-
| (no one needs Tau leptons) || (none) || {{w|Tau (particle)|Tau lepton}} || τ || The tau lepton is a lepton with average lifetime much shorter than the electron or the muon. Randall apparently considers this particle redundant and states "No one needs tau leptons".
|-
| Strange boson || S || {{w|Z boson}} || Z || The Z boson is one of two particles (three, counting the W boson's different charges) that mediate the {{w|weak force}}, named for having '''z'''ero charge. Randall suggests the strange quark's name would be better suited for this particle.
|-
| Magic || M || (none) || (none) || Randall suggests a "magic" particle as a decoy to trip up {{rw|quantum_woo|quantum woo}} promoters in order to expose them as the frauds they are.

| Electron neutrino || Ne || {{w|Electron neutrino}} || νe || Randall is annoyed by the similarity of the Greek lowercase nu (ν) and the lowercase V (v). Interestingly Randall leaves the "electron" part of its name in even though he has eliminated the other neutrinos.
|-
| (too many neutrinos) || (none) || {{w|Muon neutrino}} || νµ || Randall thinks one neutrino is enough, and to be honest, who can argue with him?
|-
| Dark Matter || D || {{w|Tau neutrino}} || ντ || {{w|Dark matter}} is thought to make up most of the universe's matter. Randall claims to have found it; replacing the tau neutrino with it. This could easily be the most abundant particle in the universe.
|-
| Charm boson || C || {{w|W boson}} || W || The other mediator of the '''w'''eak force. Randall is suggesting that it would suit the charm name more than the charm quark.
|-
| Cool bugs || 🐞 || (none) || (none) || Randall has decreed that extremely small bugs are fundamental particles. Bugs in reality are several orders of magnitude larger than any of the other known particles.{{Citation needed}} They would not make a good elementary particle{{Citation needed}} for a number of extremely obvious reasons{{Citation needed}} and would make physics pretty frightening to some people.{{Citation needed}} Randall uses the insect emoji as the symbol of the cool bugs particle.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A chart of the Standard Model of particle physics with red marks all over the chart.] 
:Changes I would make to the Standard Model

:[In reading order:] 
:u up, connected to the down quark below. 
:c charm, connected to the strange quark below, in faded gray with a red l left written over it. Above is a red note with an arrow pointing to the :charm quark. The note reads, 
:Consistent quark names (use "strange" and "charm" for bosons) 
:t top, connected to the bottom quark below. 
:g gluon 
:H Higgs, in faded gray with a red V Vin Diesel writted over it. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the Higgs boson, which reads, 
:With all respect to Peter H, the Higgs boson needs a flashier name 

:d down, connected to the up quark above. 
:s strange, connected to the charm quark above, in faded gray with a red r right written over it. 
:b bottom, connected to the top quark above. 
:γ photon 
:G graviton, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the graviton, which reads, 
:Let's just include it, it's probably fine 

:e electron, connected to the electron neutrino below. 
:µ muon, connected in faded gray to the muon neutrino below, with red rounded corners cutting it off. 
:τ tau, connected to the tau neutrino below, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the tau lepton is a red note which reads, 
:No one needs tau leptons 
:Z Z boson, with the Z symbol and the Z in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red s written over it and the Z in the name is scribbled out in :red. The word strange is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
:M magic, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to the magic particle, which reads, 
:Decoy particle for people making nonsense claims about "quantum" philosophy stuff 

:v e electron neutrino, with the e as a subscript of the v, connected to the electron above. The v is in faded gray and a red N with a circle around it is written on it. Below is a red note with an arrow pointing to the electron neutrino, which reads, 
:Fix neutrino symbol so I stop mixing up ν and v 
:v μ muon neutrino, with the µ as a subscript of the v, connected to the muon above, in faded gray with a red scribble over it. On the muon neutrino is a red note which reads, 
:Too many neutrinos 
:v τ tau neutrino, with the τ as a subscript of the v, connected to the tau lepton above, in faded gray. Written over it is a D dark matter in red with a red border. Below the tau neutrino is a red note with an arrow pointing to it, which reads, 
:We found it! 
:W W boson, with the W symbol and the W in the name in faded gray. The symbol has a red c written over it and the W in the name is scribbled out in red. The word charm is written in red between the symbol and the name. 
:🐞 cool bugs, in red with a red border. To the right is a red note with an arrow pointing to cool bugs, which reads, 
:Very small bugs are fundamental particles now

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2472: Fuzzy Blob

2021-08-04T00:29:24Z

108.162.246.244: Removed the incomplete tag

{{comic
| number = 2472
| date = June 4, 2021
| title = Fuzzy Blob
| image = fuzzy_blob.png
| titletext = If there's no dome, how do you explain the irregularities the board discovered in the zoning permits issued in that area!?
}}

==Explanation==

Cueball is taking a picture of his house, but sees a large fuzzy blob on the side of the picture. This blob ''seems'' to come from Cueball making the mistake of putting one of his fingers partially in front of the lens. This is a common enough occurrence with smartphones or compact cameras that an ordinary user should immediately be able to identify the problem; however, the comic derives humor from having no one in the comic come to this conclusion, and accordingly taking it very seriously as a perplexing mystery.

Likely, this comic stems from the resurgent talk of {{w|Unidentified Flying Objects}} (UFO) now dubbed "{{w|Unidentified Aerial Phenomena}}" (UAP) The topic regained popularity after the {{w|Department of Defense}} (DoD), recently [https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/04/politics/pentagon-ufo-enquiry/index.html confirmed the authenticity of 3 videos] taken by {{w|United States Navy|US Naval}} personnel. It has been much discussed in mainstream news, not just among {{w|extraterrestrial}} enthusiasts or {{w|conspiracy theorists}}, some of whom have created {{w|QAnon}} spin-off theories.

Randall has previously expressed skepticism about claims of witnesses who claim to have seen unproven phenomena (including 'flying saucers', as well as supernatural events and cryptozoological specimens) based on the simple reality enough people carry cameras that they would be constantly captured in photos and videos. (See [[1235: Settled]]).

In this strip Randall appears cases where phenomena ''have'' been caught on film, but are generally unclear and ambiguous. He appears to be suggesting that there are generally simpler explanations for what we see in the videos that objects of alien origin. Examples in the past have turned out to be things, such as birds, dirt on camera lenses, and lights being reflected off glass windows or bodies of water. The fact that many people seem uninterested in the more mundane and likely explanations and assume these videos are proof of alien crafts is mocked here.

It's worth noting that Randall is a strong enthusiast for space exploration, and has expressed certainty that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the galaxy. This strip is likely not intended to mock belief that other intelligences exist (notably, the conspiracy theorists in the strip assume the "flob" is manmade, not alien) but instead to make fun of excessive credulity, and point out that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2359:_Evidence_of_Alien_Life any definitive conclusion of aliens is overhyped].

The tendency to make unwarranted connections to unrelated but synchronous 'evidence' is shown in the title text. Investigation of this phenomena has brought to light 'irregularities' in the local {{w|Zoning|zoning permits}}. Such irregularities are extremely common in most bureaucracies, and may be the result of mundane corruption, incompetence, honest mistakes in a complex system, or the result of complexities that make consistent documents difficult or impossible. To connect such irregularities to an identified image does not follow logically, as both are pretty normal occurrences. However, conspiracy theories make similar leaps all the time, insisting that some case of corruption, bad decision by a government official, or developing social problem is proof of a conspiracy, rather than a very normal government problem.

An alternate intention of the word 'irregularities' might be due to the necessarily zig-zaggy nature of defining a 'circular' zone footprint by drawing best-fit boundary lines only along streets, within any established grid-based system of city 'blocks'. The interpretation of why any zone is a complex and crinkly shape, rather than a strictly utilitarian rectangle, may not be so obvious from an overview that does not take into account geological or political restrictions such as the curve of a watercourse in a valley or a mandate against hi-rise buildings within a certain radius of a monument.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball takes picture of his house from a distance great enough to get the whole house in the picture. He holds the camera (or smartphone) in both hands. The shutter makes a sound:]
:Click

:[The picture he has taken is shown below. The picture is lying tilted compared to the panel, and shows the house but with a fuzzy light brown blob covering the left part of the picture, just touching the left side of the house. Above and partly over the picture is a small frame with Cueball's response when he sees the picture:]
:What the...

:[White Hat gestures towards Cueball with one hand, while Cueball holds his camera in one hand towards White Hat, with the picture shown on the screen, too small to see though.]
:White Hat: What's that fuzzy blob next to your house? It's huge!
:Cueball: I don't know! I looked up and it was gone!
:White Hat: How can a giant structure vanish?
:Cueball and White Hat: ''...Cloaking device?!!''

:[Blondie is standing at the front of the panel with a microphone in her hand speaking towards the viewer. Behind her is a close up of the Blob (in black and white) on a screen. To the left of the screen is an almost bald man with hair behind his ears, holding a hand to his chin. To the right is Megan, who is holding one hand out palm up, towards the picture, which they are both looking at.]
:Blondie: The fuzzy blob, dubbed "flob" by internet sleuths, has city planners stumped.
:Man: No, that's not any type of building I'm familiar with.
:Megan: Could be an experimental military dome.

:[Hairbun is standing on a podium behind a lectern with a microphone on it. She addresses three people in front of the stage, Cueball, Megan and White Hat. Behind them Blondie is turned the other way speaking to a camera, on a tripod. She has a microphone in her hand.]
:Hairbun: The zoning board investigation has found no evidence of a cloaked dome structure.
:Hairbun: The historical commission will be joining the research into these domes and other unusual buildings, such as the historic 4th Ave Church...
:Blondie: This only raises more questions.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]