explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects

2024-10-15T11:13:32Z

141.101.98.169: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2998
| date = October 14, 2024
| title = Ravioli-Shaped Objects
| image = ravioli_shaped_objects_2x.png
| imagesize = 608x569px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's a real accomplishment to mess up a ravioli recipe badly enough that the resulting incident touches all four quadrants of the NFPA hazard diamond.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BULGING LITHIUM BATTERY THROW PILLOW - Ideally the article would contain grounded explanations of both of the views that bulging lithium batteries are either dangerous or safe. What gas builds up? How would an explosion happen, or why would it not? Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Ravioli}} are a kind of stuffed pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough, commonly square shaped, and serving as the object of this comic's confusion matrix. This comic compares 4 'ravioli-shaped' objects (square shaped objects with bulging cross-sections due to their filling) with common actions associated with them.

{| class="wikitable" | style="background:#E6C3C3;"
! Ravioli-Shaped Objects
! scope="col"| Eat with a fork
! scope="col"| Rest your head on
! scope="col"| Puncture and slurp
! scope="col"| Install in your phone
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Ravioli}}
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"|Ravioli pasta would indeed be suitable to be eaten with a fork, as shown.
|Ravioli pasta is not structurally strong enough to support the weight of a human head while reclining and would break and spill its filling over your head and the object one is resting on.
|style="background:#FBF8CE;"|If the ravioli filling is thin enough, one could slurp it out with a straw.
|Phones are not meant to run on ravioli.{{citation needed}} Stuffing a phone with a raviolo would cause it to break as shown, spilling the filling through the phone, which is a terrible idea.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Throw Pillow}}
|Throw pillows are made of cloth and are inedible, whether one uses a fork or not.
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"|A throw pillow is meant to be used as head support while reclining on furniture.
|Throw pillows do not have liquids inside them. Hence, Cueball finds, to his dismay, that they're empty.
|Throw pillows are significantly bigger than phones and as such can't fit inside them, nor power them. However, the 'installation' depicted, with the phone resting on the pillow, does not seem particularly harmful, and may be somewhat protective, so it's unclear why this square is red, rather than at least yellow.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Capri Sun}}
|Eating a Capri Sun, a pouch of sweetened juice, with a fork would most likely simply pierce the pouch and spill the liquid all over Cueball.
|style="background:#FBF8CE;"|A Capri Sun would serve as a waterbed of sorts, and wouldn't be unduly uncomfortable in a pinch. However, it's still possible that the pouch could rupture and leave you with a sticky head and no support.
|style="background:#C5E6C3;"|Capri Suns are meant to be drunk like this, and are enjoyed by many.
|The phone shown is surrounded by spilled Capri Sun, implying that the attempt to force the two together punctured the pouch. The resulting spillage would most likely just result in the surface of the phone becoming annoyingly sticky, but if the liquid managed to get inside the phone (especially if the cover had been removed to try to put it 'in' the compartment that usually holds the battery) it could cause a more significant and difficult to clean mess. Once actual power is provided (either an actual battery being subsequently used or the device offered external power by cable or inductance charger), the remaining residue could cause any number of further faults, and perhaps even critical component damage.
|-
! scope="row"| Bulging {{w|Lithium Battery}}
|Bulging lithium batteries are explosive hazards and should not be punctured lest they explode. Additionally the contents of the battery are toxic if one were to somehow manage to eat the burning bits of the battery.
|A lithium battery is a small, hard object, and a bulging one is no exception. Since the bulging comes from a buildup of heat and gas, it would also be a constant fire hazard, which would not be conducive to relaxation.{{cn}} Lithium battery themed throw pillows, which bulge similarly to such batteries, do exist as a novelty item. Notably, these types of batteries are often referred to as "spicy pillows".
|Similarly to the 'eat with a fork' example, puncturing a bulging lithium battery is a bad idea.
|style="background:#C5E6C3;"|A bulging lithium battery could be installed in a phone, if one is willing to break the phone a bit (like the screen in the comic) to accommodate the bulging of the battery. Also a terrible idea, as operating the lithium battery in this condition may result in the battery [https://www.reading.ac.uk/health-safety-services/fire-safety/lithium-battery-information/i-have-a-swollen-lithium-ion-battery-what-should-i-do catching fire or worse]. More commonly, bulging batteries form inside the phone itself, causing it to bulge outwards.
Surprisingly, this square is marked in green rather than red or yellow, as the first thing one should do on noticing bulging of the battery is to uninstall it from any device that it is in. It is at least no longer good at holding/delivering its charge, and may even become at least as {{w|Lithium-ion battery#Fire hazard|hazardous}} as when used in all the other scenarios.
Perhaps this is an xkcd phone, and these are considered features, such as 'integrated hand warmer' and 'dynamic expansion'.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|NFPA 704}} diagram for hazardous materials, a diamond figure put out by the {{w|National Fire Protection Association}} showing four kinds of fire hazards. A ravioli that touched all four quadrants would be a health hazard, fire hazard, and chemical hazard, and have some other miscellaneous hazard(s). The NFPA diamond was prevoiously mentioned in [[2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond]].

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

:[A 4x4 grid of squares. The columns are labeled: Eat with a fork, rest your head on, puncture and slurp, install in your phone. The rows are: Ravioli, throw pillow, Capri Sun, bulging lithium battery. Each row has an image of each respective item above the title, with the words “Home Sweet Home” on the throw pillow, and “Fruit” on the Capri Sun.]

:Ravioli, eat with a fork: [green]
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He is eating from a plate from ravioli.]
::Cueball: ''Nom Nom Nom''

:Ravioli, Rest your head on: [red]
::[Cueball is lying down on a couch with ravioli smooshed on his head and the couch. Ravioli bits can be seen on the ground]
::Cueball: Eww.

:Ravioli, puncture and slurp: [yellow]
::[Cueball is slurping from a ravioli through a straw. In front of him is table with two plates, presumably with ravioli on them.]
::''Slurp''

:Ravioli, Install in your phone: [red]
::[A phone is shown with bits of ravioli sticking out and tomato sauce is dripping out.]

:Throw pillow, eat with a fork: [red]
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He is poking with a fork at a throw pillow covered in tomato sauce.]
::''Poke poke''

:Throw pillow, rest your head on: [green]
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and is lying on a couch. His head is resting on a throw pillow.]

:Throw pillow, puncture and slurp: [red]
::[Cueball is sucking on a straw that is inserted in a pillow.]
::Cueball: Aw man, this one is empty.

:Throw pillow, install in your phone: [red]
::[A phone is shown on a throw pillow that has the words “Home Sweet Home” partially obscured.]

:Capri Sun, eat with a fork: [red]
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He has stabbed a Capri Sun on a plate and is now splattered with juice.]

:Capri Sun, rest your head on: [yellow]
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and is lying on a couch. His head is resting on a Capri Sun.]
::Cueball: Honestly kind of comfortable.

:Capri Sun, puncture and slurp: [green]
::[Cueball is drinking from a Capri Sun through a straw.]
::''Sluuurp''

:Capri Sun, Install in your phone: [red]
::[A phone is shown to be squishing a Capri Sun. Juice is trickling out.]

:Bulging lithium battery, eat with a fork: [red]
::[An explosion bordered by 4 skull and crossbones.]

:Bulging lithium battery, rest your head on: [red]
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and lying on his couch. His head is resting on a smoldering battery.]
::Cueball: This fire hazard is uncomfortable.

:Bulging lithium battery, puncture and slurp: [red]
::[An explosion bordered by 4 skull and crossbones.]

:Bulging lithium battery, install in your phone: [green]
::[A phone with a bulging back, presumably from the bulging lithium battery. The phone’s screen is cracked in the center.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Phones]]

472: House of Pancakes

2023-09-07T08:16:00Z

141.101.98.169: Undo revision 323436 by 172.71.254.124 (talk) Far too meta. Not useful or even particularly creative.

{{comic
| number = 472
| date = September 5, 2008
| title = House of Pancakes
| image = house_of_pancakes.png
| titletext = Fuck it, I'm just going to Waffle House.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] is parodying Mark Z. Danielewski's epistolary novel ''{{w|House of Leaves}}'' by renaming it ''House of Pancakes'' (after the American fast food franchise {{w|International House of Pancakes}}). ''House of Leaves'' has an unconventional page layout and style, including the colouring of every instance of the word "house" in blue, as is done on the menu. It includes footnotes within footnotes like Randall did here.

In ''House of Leaves'', protagonist Johnny Truant (whose meta-narration is marked by Courier font as mimicked in the comic) discovers a book called ''The Navidson Record'' (represented here by the pancake menu), which in turn details a film of the same name, which in turn details a horror story of a family living in a sentient house. Truant, who is clearly intelligent and cultured, probes deeper into notating ''The Navidson Record''—and into insomnia—until ''The Navidson Record'' consumes his mind horrifically, the same way the film in the novel consumed the author of ''The Navidson Record'', the same way the house in the novel consumed part of the family.

''House of Leaves'' lends itself to many interpretations, but has been called a "satire of academic criticism," which makes this comic essentially a satire of a satire. Since part of the appeal of ''House of Leaves'' is that it takes itself extremely seriously with its intricacy, multitude of both real and made-up references to academic and popular culture, and layered emotional conflict, Randall's reduction of the ''House of Leaves'' to the (International) House of Pancakes cuts a humorous edge to a dark story. The tone of the comic parodies the tone of ''House of Leaves'': lonely, fear-inducing, and increasingly insane, but using pancakes instead of darkness.

Additionally, the mysterious "Mohawk Girl" referred to in the comic may be a nod to the ''House of Leaves'' character Delial, or to comic [[147]].

The word "house" is in blue in every instance, which is a stylistic attribute of Mark Z. Danielewski's novel. Every Minotaur reference is marked out in red ink, and every use of "house" or a foreign language's equivalent, such as 'haus' and 'maison' is in blue. This is not a reference to hyperlinks. It is often thought that the house is printed in blue because houses have 'blueprints.'

The censored portion of the Big Steak Omelette is "...fresh green peppers, onions, mushrooms,..." per IHOP's website for the Big Steak Omelette: "Tender and tasty strips of steak, hash browns, fresh green peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and Cheddar cheese." Also, Omelette is misspelled, but that's probably just a typo.

The title text refers to the {{w|Waffle House}}, another US restaurant chain. The joke is that the protagonist has decided that maybe all this angst isn't worth it, and he'll just go to a different restaurant.

Clicking on the original comic links to the amazon.com page for House of Leaves.

==Transcript==
:[All instances of the word "House" are in blue.]
:[Every day a new city, a new IHOP. And yet every night the dreams get worse. I ply the highways, a nervous eye on the rear-view mirror, the back seat piled with stolen menus. Their doors are opened 24 hours, but forever closed to my soul. This is what my life has become. This is my hell.]
:[Sidenote left: International] House of Pancakes
:[Scribbled-out sidenote right: BLOGSPOT] Strawberry Banana Pancakes Four pancakes filled with sliced fresh banana and crowned with cool strawberry topping, more [17] bananas and [23] whipped topping.
::[17] Driven by a nameless fear, a whisper in the dark behind me, I flee ahead of I know not what. Whenver I turn, there's nobody behind me. And yet someone is clearly stealing the ketchup. WHY? (The footnote is covered in fingerprints.)
::[23] My life is feeding, fleeing, fighting, and forgetting. (The above note is sandwiched in sideways in between the Stuffed French Toast and Ham and Egg Melt.)
:[Rooty Jr. A kids only [19] version of our house signature Rooty Tooty. One scrambled egg, one strip of bacon, one pork sausage link and one fruit-topped buttermilk pancake.]
::[19] The decision not to hyphenate "kids only" is likely connected to the omission of the serial comma. I wonder if the author is British. I wonder if he sleeps at night. (The following passages are have a red substance underneath them, probably ketchup.)
:[Rise 'N Shine Two eggs, toast and hash browns served with your choice [21] of two strips of bacon or two pork sausage links.]
::[21] (illegible) rent a storage unit. Sleep there. Fill it with pancakes. Leave.
:[Stuffed French Toast Cinnamon raisin French [18] toast stuffed with sweet cream cheese filling, topped with cool strawberry or your choice of fruit compote and whipped topping.]
::[18] Nightmares again. I wake up covered in sweat, and what appears to be a thin sheen of maple syrup
: (Handwritten, underlined) WHO IS MOHAWK GIRL?
:[Slanted 90 degrees left] Ham & Egg Melt Grilled sourdough bread stuffed with ham, scrambled eggs, Swiss and American cheeses. [20] (At normal orientation)
::[20] Ordered this in at an IHOP in Rochester, New York. There was blood on the floor. Some of it was mine.
:(Comic strip) Enough with your pancakes. Enough with your GOD DAMN pancakes.
:[The Big Steak Omlette Tender strips of steak, hash browns, ...................... tomatoes and Cheddar cheese. Served [22] with house salsa.]
::[22] Woke up in Las Vegas. They're closing the Star Trek Experience today. The IHOP up the strip had pancake platters named after various states. None of them sounded like home.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]
[[Category:Footnotes]]

2453: Excel Lambda

2023-09-01T14:25:21Z

141.101.98.169: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2453
| date = April 21, 2021
| title = Excel Lambda
| image = excel_lambda_new.png
| titletext = Extremely rude how Turing's later formulations of the halting problem called me out by name specifically.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Ffuucckk|Cueball]] is computing and [[Ponytail]] criticizes him in a way that is reminiscent of the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality series]], although not as harsh. Cueball has lots of strange [[:Category:Cueball Computer Problems|computer problems]], and this will most likely result in another one.

The comic begins with Ponytail finding out that {{w|Microsoft Excel}} is adding a {{w|Anonymous_function|lambda function}} to their function library. This was [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/excel-blog/announcing-lambda-turn-excel-formulas-into-custom-functions/ba-p/1925546 announced by Microsoft] for Beta users in December of 2020. A lambda function is a fundamental mathematical structure that can be used to define all possible computations, in what is known as {{w|lambda calculus}}. They are commonly found in programming languages such as {{w|Lisp}}, {{w|Python}}, and many others. A lambda function is also called an {{w|anonymous function}} because in most languages it can be passed to other functions (including another lambda function) without needing to be given any formal name.

Finding that Excel is adding a lambda function pleases Ponytail. Cueball claims that the lambda function is unnecessary, as when he needs arbitrary computation he just adds a block of columns to the side of his sheet and has a {{w|Turing machine}} process it. This would technically work as lambda calculus is formally equivalent to Turing machines. People have created [https://www.felienne.com/archives/2974 Turing machines in Excel], although not for practical purposes.

Ponytail finds his solution absurd and is convinced Cueball is "doing computing wrong". But he claims that all computing is equally wrong, citing the {{w|Church-Turing thesis}}, a hypothesis which says that a function can be computed by executing a series of instructions if and only if that function is computable by a Turing machine. A classical Turing machine uses an infinitely long strip of tape as its memory; for Cueball, the large Excel column acts as the "tape". All ways of computing are "equally wrong" since, according to this thesis, they can all be translated to or from a Turing machine.

Ponytail and Cueball appear to have different ideas of 'computing'. Ponytail, like most programmers, probably includes efficiency and readability as important characteristics of 'doing computing right'. Cueball appears interested only in {{w|computability}}, a more theoretical point of view than Ponytail's.

Ponytail then says that Turing would change his mind if he saw Cueball's spreadsheet, presumably because of the extreme complexity of Cueball's code in the spreadsheet. Cueball's final statement is that Turing could ask him to stop, but would not be able to prove if he actually will stop.

Cueball's final statement is a reference to the {{w|halting problem}} mentioned in the title text. It is the problem of determining whether a given Turing machine will halt. The problem has been shown to be undecidable, i.e., it is impossible to build an algorithm that computes whether any arbitrary Turing machine will halt or not. Because of the way Cueball has behaved, he has been specifically mentioned in Turing's later formulations of the halting problem. Cueball finds this very rude. This is of course a joke, since Turing has been dead since 1954, presumably long before Cueball was born. But it would be crazy indeed if a scientist became so mad at a person that they would mention this person by name in their formulation of a serious problem.

Over-complicated spreadsheets were also mentioned in [[2180: Spreadsheets]].

==Transcript==
:[In a narrow panel, Ponytail is walking in from the left, looking down at her phone]
:Ponytail: Oh cool, Excel is adding a lambda function, so you can recursively define functions.

:[Ponytail, holding her phone to her side stands behind Cueball, who is sitting in an office chair with a hand on a laptop standing on his desk. He has turned around to face her, leaning with the other arm on the back of the chair.]
:Cueball: Seems unnecessary.
:Cueball: When I need to do arbitrary computation, I just add a giant block of columns to the side of my sheet and have a Turing machine traverse down it.

:[In a frame-less panel Ponytail is standing in he same position behind Cueball, who has resumed working on his laptop with both hands on the keyboard.]
:Ponytail: I think you're doing computing wrong.
:Cueball: The Church-Turing thesis says that all ways of computing are '''''equally''''' wrong.

:[Ponytail is still behind Cueball, who has a finger raised in the air, and the other hand is on the desk. Cueball's head has a visible sketch layer which has not been erased.]
:Ponytail: I think if Turing saw '''''your''''' spreadsheets, he'd change his mind.
:Cueball: He can ask me to stop making them, but not prove whether I will!

==Trivia==
*In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3b/excel_lambda.png original version] of the comic, in the final panel, there was a gray pencil outline, slightly different to Cueball's head that had not been removed.
**This was later fixed in a re-upload.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Spreadsheets]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]

1767: US State Names

2016-12-02T08:24:13Z

141.101.98.169: Corrected George typo

{{comic
| number = 1767
| date = December 2, 2016
| title = US State Names
| image = us_state_names.png
| titletext = Technically DC isn't a state, but no one is too pedantic about it because they don't want to disturb the snakes.
}}

==Explanation==
This is just a silly map.
Randall has taken a map of the United States of America labeled "Geography Challenge: Name all 50 States" and filled in the states with words that sound similar to the states' names.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Fictional State
! Actual State
! Explanation
|-
| Wilwheaton
| Washington
| Will Wheaton is an actor from Washington
|-
| Organs
| Oregon
|
|-
| Cafeteria
| California
|
|-
| Fallout New Vegas
| Nevada
| Fallout New Vegas is set in Nevada
|-
| Idolatry
| Idaho
|
|-
| mount -a
| Montana
| A command to mount all disk volumes
|-
| Wysiwyg
| Wyoming
| Acronym What You See Is What You Get.
|-
| Uhaul
| Utah
|
|-
| Verizona
| Arizona
| Verizon has a shared "Rizon" with Arizona. Randall presumably enjoys this.
|-
| Namaste
| New Mexico
|
|-
| Hexxus
| Texas
| The antagonist of Ferngully
|-
| Okay
| Oklahoma
| OK is the state's abbreviation.
|-
| Candice
| Kansas
|
|-
| Colocated
| Colorado
|
|-
| Nebrunswick
| Nebraska
| New Brunswick, A Canadian province
|-
| Dakota
| South Dakota
|
|-
| More Dakota
| North Dakota
|
|-
| Minestrone
| Minnesota
|
|-
| Wainscot
| Wisconsin
|
|-
| Iota
| Iowa
|
|-
| Sk8rbois
| Illinois
| "Skater Boys"
|-
| Mossouri
| Missouri
|
|-
| Arkanoids
| Arkansas
| A arcade game.
|-
| Louisa
| Louisiana
|
|-
| Misstate
| Mississippi
|
|-
| Bandana
| Indiana
|
|-
| Thennessy
| Tennessee
|
|-
| Kennedy
| Kentucky
|
|-
| That Other One
| Indiana
|
|-
| Mishy
| Michigan
|
|-
| Oh Hi
| Ohio
|
|-
| Pencilmania
| Pennsylvania
|
|-
| Newark
| New York
| A mispronunciation of New York. Possible reference to William Gibson's works.
|-
| Vermouth
| Vermont
|
|-
| New Hamper
| New Hampshire
|
|-
| Spanish Maine
| Maine
|
|-
| Masseuses
| Massachusetts
|
|-
| Roald Dahl
| Rhode Island
|
|-
| Connectfour
| Connecticut
|
|-
| Nude Juggalos
| New Jersey
|
|-
| Delorean
| Delaware
|
|-
| Maybelline
| Maryland
|
|-
| District of Colubrids
| District of Columbus
|
|-
| Wyvern
| Wyomming
|
|-
| Virjayjay
| Virginia
| Virginia is similar to vagina. Vajayjay is slang for vagina.
|-
| Sweet Caroline
| North Carolina
|
|-
| South Caroline
| South Carolina
|
|-
| George
| Georgia
|
|-
| Fyoridor
| Florida
|
|-
| Alberta
| Alaska
| A Canadian province.
|-
| Kawaii
| Hawaii
| A Japanese term for cute commonly romanized similar to Hawaii.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
| Alabama | Bandana |
| Alaska => Alberta |
| Arizona => Verizona |
| Arkansas => Arkanoids |
| California => Cafeteria |
| Colorado => Colocated |
| Connecticut => Connect Four |
| Delaware => Delorean |
| District of Columbia => District of Colubrids |
| Florida => Fyoridor |
| Georgia => George |
| Hawaii => Kawaii |
| Idaho => Idolatry |
| Illinois => SK8RBOIS |
| Indiana => That Other One |
| Iowa => Iota |
| Kansas => Candice |
| Kentucky => Kennedy |
| Louisiana => Loisa |
| Maine => Spanish Maine |
| Maryland => Maybelline |
| Massachusetts => Masseuses |
| Michigan => Mishy |
| Minnesota => Minestrone |
| Mississippi => Misstate |
| Missouri => Mossouri |
| Montana => mount -a |
| Nebraska => Nebrunswick |
| Nevada => Fallout New Vegas |
| New Hampshire => New Hamper |
| New Jersey => Nude Juggalos |
| New Mexico => Namaste |
| New York => Newark |
| North Carolina => Sweet Caroline |
| /South Carolina => South Caroline |
| Ohio => Oh Hi |
| Oklahoma => Okay |
| Oregon => Organs |
| Pennsylvania => Pencilmania |
| Rhode Island => Roald Dahl |
| South Dakota => Dakota |
| /North Dakota => More Dakota |
| Tennessee => Thennessy |
| Texas => Hexxus |
| Utah => Uhaul |
| Vermont => Vermouth |
| Virginia => Virjayjay |
| Washington => Willwheaton |
| West Virginia => Wyvern |
| Wisconsin => Wainscot |
| Wyoming => WYSIWYG |

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:1473: Location Sharing

2015-01-16T10:47:59Z

141.101.98.169:

It's a reference to the Uncertainty Principle, a property of quantum mechanics that states that position and momentum cannot be known at the same time.
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.98|199.27.133.98]] 05:20, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

I may be thinking too much into this, but couldn't she also not want the website to know her mass? Momentum is Mass*Velocity, and Velocity can be derived from change in position [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.159|173.245.56.159]] 05:34, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
:That was my understanding, too. Moreover, I don't see any humor in applying the uncertainity principle to macroscopic objects. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.57|108.162.254.57]] 08:53, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Angular momentum sensors - a.k.a. gyros, not accelerometers. {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.109}}

She does not want the website to calculate her mass and therefore her weight. It has nothing to do with the uncertainty principle {{unsigned|Saints22}}
:I disagree. Of course it is funny idea that she says nice try as if the website had interest in her weight. But since you cannot calculate mass from position and momentum your ideas makes no sense. You need the velocity and the momentum to calculate the mass. So even though they could have both position and momentum they would still not know her mass. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:33, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
::Unless, of course, the permission given by Megan to determine her location is persistent and lasts for at least two consecutive polls for location, which would enable the recipient to compute the velocity out of two locations and time between the polls. [[User:Nyq|Nyq]] ([[User talk:Nyq|talk]]) 13:12, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

I do not not think that Megan allows the website to access her location. The website wants her to, that's why the button is highlighted and blinking. In the beat panel, Megan presumably denies. The website then asks for momentum and wants Megan to deny the request (by highlighting "Deny"), so that, according to the uncertainty principle, they can still get her location (which is what they wanted all along). However, Megan sees through this trick and acknowledges its cleverness with a "Nice try". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 10:27, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
:No I disagree. Of course the highlighted button is the one Megan pushes. And just because you do not know the momentum does not automatically give you the location. You just can't know both without a given uncertainty. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:33, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
::No, the highlighted buttons are definitely meant to be preselected. Megan pushes a button on the second panel, and then the website shows the page where denying the momentum is preselected.{{unsigned ip|108.162.254.47}}
:True! Thats exactly how I understand this comic. The website wants to know her location. She denies. Then the website tries to trick her in wanting to be forced not to know her exact momentum - so in turn to be able to know her exact location anyway.{{unsigned ip|108.162.254.47}}
:I think you're right. Her thumb is definitely only extended in panel 2, and, going back, it looks like the highlight is supposed to be [http://www.javascriptworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/geolocation.png this] sort of window, although I have no idea what it looks like on mobile. Also, the "beat" panel makes more sense with this explanation, since it's actually an action panel instead of suggesting a weird gap between the two requests. It certainly makes more sense than the article asking for her momentum after already having her position, since measuring momentum would decrease their certainty of subatomic Megan's position. And it's definitely about the uncertainty principle, given: 1. This is Randall; he's way more likely to do a comic about a principle of particle physics than one about women not wanting people to know their weight, and 2. The alt text is about the uncertainty principle. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.237|199.27.128.237]] 05:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)
What's with the persistent "females"? Would make sense in biology talk, but it's really weird when what you mean is "women"[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.185|141.101.104.185]] 13:14, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
:: I'd suggest that it is just about avoidance: some might take 'women' as having negative derogative connotations in this context, whereas females is unarguably accurate. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.204|173.245.54.204]] 13:29, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
:::"Females" is shorter than "women and girls". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 14:54, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
::: Yes, some people are determined to be offended. Unfortunate. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.152|173.245.54.152]] 19:52, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
::: For the sake of accuracy, I move that we should really say something more along the lines of "living female homo sapiens organisms" - so that we can exclude the countless other female eukaryotes we know so little about socialogically, and/or the otherwise dead or nonexistent homo sapiens or their representations? I mean, come on! "Females" is sooooo nonspecific...-- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:57, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
::: A "woman" is a person; "female" is a sex. "Females" in this context is as rude as calling grown women "girls." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.36|108.162.216.36]] 03:45, 16 January 2015 (UTC)
:: The name of the academic field of the study of women's perspectives in most public universities is, "Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies." "Women" is the correct academic term for the discussion of women. [[User:ChristGoldman|ChristGoldman]] ([[User talk:ChristGoldman|talk]]) 20:36, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

There's some confusion over the sensors. GPS is used to determine the device's position on Earth, but not its orientation. An accelerometer may be used to determine a phone's orientation in terms of flat/portrait/landscape, but not in which direction in terms of north/south. The magnetometer can measure magnetic forces, but isn't enough to determine north (because of inclination). To measure magnetic north, you need to combine data from accelerometer and magnetometer, which gets a working, but quite unsteady compass. These sensors (GPS, accelerometer, magnetometer) are available on most current smart phones. Better devices also include a gyroscope, which measures angular momentum, but no absolute angle towards the horizon and/or north. A gyroscope may be used to improve the stability of the accelerometer/magnetometer compass (but requires a good algorithm which I'm still looking for). Knowing this, the title text is disputable, because devices without gyro aren't actually able to provide a steady compass, while those with gyro are (although there are apps which don't use the gyro even when available, so they won't get a fast, steady compass anyway). --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:24, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

It seems to me that the paragraph explaining mass and weight is too complicated and overly long, and the hypothesis that the app is trying to steal this information unrelated to the comic, or rather, wild speculative extrapolations of logic and meaning. Likewise, the sentences on how the accelerometer may be used to guess passwords seems to me to be unfounded in science. The uncertainty principle is the clear main theme of this comic. --[[User:Canned Soul|Canned Soul]] ([[User talk:Canned Soul|talk]]) 16:03, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Added one word to make it "An example is a weather app which would need your location in order to '''automatically''' find the correct forecast." It's often trivial to manually get forecasts (or other services, like "nearest branch of a shop that has your desired item in stock") for a current location, just so as long as /you/ know where you are... (I don't turn on my GPS unless I'm actually wanting to use it for something, and don't like websites knowing these things just because they ask for them in the background. Go away, Google Location Services... and why does it grey-out the "Don't share information" hotspot when I've ticked the "Don't ask me again" and only lets me continually refuse ''manually''!? Which I do on principle!!) I keep a variety of common home/away locations on permalink in my favourite weather forecast app and know I can easily add another at a moment's notice when I ''want'' to. (And, the beauty is, I don't even need to be there at the time, just perhaps ''planning'' to go!)

Plus, to the "I don't see any humor in applying the uncertainity principle to macroscopic objects." person, above, please pass by your local XKCD offices at the first opportunity in order to hand back your XKCD Membership Card. You're obviously not one of us! ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.191|141.101.98.191]] 16:28, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
::My goodness, yes! What a lot of seriousness has found its way into this discussion! How could anyone miss the humo[u]r in the personification of a subatomic particle as a Megan?[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 04:23, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Per the explanation: "Randall suggests the poor accuracy of the compasses in mobile phones (measuring the angular position) is due to the gyroscopes being too good. (If both the gyroscope and the compasses were completely accurate, it would violate the uncertainty principle)."
The compass points in a particular direction but tells you nothing about location or momentum. How would it be involved in any violation of Uncertainty? The gyroscope and GPS I could see, maybe. But the compass? I don't see how it combined with anything could involve Uncertainty. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.117|199.27.128.117]] 16:46, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
: The Uncertainty Principle extends to other pairs of conjugate variables besides the well-known pair of position and momentum. One of these pairs is orientation and angular momentum. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.142|173.245.52.142]] 17:45, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

The way I read this, by knowing her current location AND momentum (ignoring the uncertainty principle thing for the moment) it becomes possible to predict where whe'll be in the future, which would open up all sorts of ... 'interesting' marketing opportunities for the app maker. Megan doesn't mind the app knowing where she *is*, but doesn't want it to know where she's *going*, and so rejects the second seemingly innocent question. Maybe? {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.205}}
:I agree. It is not about the uncertainty principle, but about predicting future locations with the momentum, or future orientations with the angular speed from the gyroscope. It would NOT violate Heisenberg to measure two (not conjugating) physical parameters with bad accuracy (only the other way round). The argument goes: The phone can measure the orientation quite well despite of the bad compass. So its only option is using the gyroscope and integrating its angular speeds over time. The initial value can come from the GPS, the compass (offset error, if it is really so bad) or from an initialization in the factory (then the gyroscope has to function exceptionally well, but this could be the joke). Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.56|108.162.254.56]] 14:15, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

+1 for this being about the uncertainty principle. Frankly, I'm surprised there's any controversy (many of the alternative explanations offered seem very unlikely, quite apart from anything else): if there's any ambiguity in the cartoon itself, surely the title text (by riffing on another pair of conjugate variables) clears that up?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.169|141.101.98.169]] 10:47, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1473: Location Sharing

2015-01-16T10:44:10Z

141.101.98.169:

1472: Geography

2015-01-13T11:38:14Z

141.101.98.169: /* Explanation */ Bolster interpretation as Randall's dislike for geographical features, rather than (what could be inferred and is unsubstantiated) a specific part of the US

{{comic
| number = 1472
| date = January 12, 2015
| title = Geography
| image = geography.png
| titletext = The place I'd least like to live is the farm in the background of those diagrams showing how tornadoes form.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a map showing examples of {{w|geographical feature}}s as they would be presented in a {{w|geography}} textbook.

[[Randall]] notes that he would like to live in the middle of this region. These maps include an unusual density of different land forms, leading to an interesting environment in which to live. In the real world, these geographical features might take up far more space, and the geologic forces that shape them might create far different patterns than those shown. This kind of {{w|Neverland}} of geographical feature would offer a range of outdoor activities and landscapes that would make it a very nice place to live (as long as the volcano does not erupt <strike>too violently</strike> at all).

Some of the geographic features do have a (very) loose similarity to the area around {{w|Boston}}, where Randall lives. Also near Boston is one geographical feature that Randall has included in this map but has refrained from labeling, the {{w|isthmus}} between the peninsula and the forest.

On the other hand, the map actually looks quite a bit like the area around southwestern {{w|Washington (State)|Washington}} and northwestern {{w|Oregon}}, with the reader facing south so the {{w|High Desert (Oregon)|high desert}} is on the upper left. The volcano could be {{w|Mount Rainier|Rainier}} or {{w|Mount St. Helens|St. Helens}}. Real-world outdoor enthusiasts do indeed appreciate the Neverlandish landscape. (Having little Spanish influence, locals would refer to a "mesa" as a {{w|butte}}.)

The title text discusses a different type of diagram usually found in geography textbooks, the one [http://scied.ucar.edu/sites/default/files/images/large_image_for_image_content/tornado_fmn_lg_0.gif showing the mechanism of tornado formation]. Randall notes that he would least like to live in the farm typically depicted in the background of such diagrams. This is likely because the farm is depicted as being on a vast, featureless stretch of flat prairie, the opposite of the rich landscape in the comic. The monotonous landscape would reflect that of {{w|Tornado Alley}}, an area of the central United States where a large number of tornadoes form, and which makes up a large portion of the {{w|Great Plains}}. His dislike for this type of area may also simply be due to the damage created when a tornado hits. (That said, chances of a ''direct'' tornado hit on any given house are slim compared to simply the risk of property damage. Living near an active volcano may be much more dangerous than living in Tornado Alley.)

==Transcript==
:[A map shows the various land forms listed, from top and clockwise:]
:{{w|Mountains}}
:{{w|Sea}}
:{{w|Plain}}
:{{w|Island}}
:{{w|River delta|Delta}}
:{{w|Strait}}
:{{w|River}}
:{{w|Bay}}
:{{w|Lagoon}}
:{{w|Penninsula}}
:{{w|Forest}}
:{{w|Mesa}}
:{{w|Hills}}
:{{w|Volcano}}
:{{w|Lake}}
:{{w|Glacier}}
:{{w|Desert}}

:[In the middle of these, between the lake and the lagoon there is a dot with an arrow pointing it out. The arrow is labeled:]
:My house

:[Caption below:]
:If I could live anywhere, I would choose
:the example map from geography books
:that explains what everything is called.

==Trivia==
*Randall has misspelled ''peninsula'' with an extra "n" as pe'''nn'''insula.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2014-08-25T15:58:33Z

141.101.98.169:

Looks like they renamed the Wikipedia article mentioned as "Maple Syrup Urine '''Syndrome'''" to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup_urine_disease Maple Syrup Urine '''Disease'''].[[User:Keavon|Keavon]] ([[User talk:Keavon|talk]]) 05:03, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

This rythmic sounding has to do with metrical <strike>foots</strike> feet, I think. Maybe someone more into it than I can explain...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_%28prosody%29 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.164|108.162.229.164]] 05:21, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

: It's just a 4-foot trochaic ("trochaic octameter"?) meter. ^- ^- ^- ^-. Also, I'm curious now, is "foots" the proper plural when discussing meter, or is that just a typo/misunderstanding? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.150|199.27.128.150]] 06:37, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

:: Oh, right, the plural must be "feet". I just had a brain fart. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.164|108.162.229.164]] 10:23, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

:: It is a trochaic tetrameter. Tetra = 4, octa = 8.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 12:26, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

::: Right, it's number of feet, not number of syllables. My mistake. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.150|199.27.128.150]] 15:04, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

: This one is definitely related: http://xkcd.com/856/ --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.68|141.101.104.68]] 08:08, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Unless "Gloucester" is two syllables, Randall made a mistake/wanted to see if we're awake.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.224|108.162.246.224]] 06:33, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
:Depending on where you're from, it can be pronounced (quasi-phonetically) as "Glow-ster". [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:24, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

: Actually it is. Silly British accents. It's pronounced roughly "Gloss-ter". [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.150|199.27.128.150]] 06:37, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

::In that case, I retract my previous statement and apologize.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.224|108.162.246.224]] 07:20, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

With regards to the roll-over text, mention could be made of the long-running BBC radio show "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Sorry_I_Haven%27t_A_Clue ). It is comedy panel game, and one of the regular rounds is 'One Song to the Tune of Another'. It may be coincidence, but one panellist of the show is Barry Cryer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Cryer ) who happened to have recorded Purple People Eater... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.184|141.101.98.184]] 08:26, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Why isn't Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the list? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.120|103.22.201.120]] 11:41, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

There's a typo in "Quantuum vacuum plasma thruster". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.184|141.101.98.184]] 12:08, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Dang someone beat me to writing in the transcript. Oh well, you did a much better job than I was doing anyway. =8o) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:24, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Is it just me, or do these lyrics not REALLY match the TMNT title song? The first three lines are OK, but the following lines just repeats the pattern - the TMNT song has a different rhythm.