explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2916: Machine

2024-09-18T02:04:45Z

141.101.99.23:

{{comic
| number = 2916
| date = April 5, 2024
| title = Machine
| image = machine_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x740px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Credible Machine
}}
* To experience the interactivity, visit the [https://xkcd.com/2916/ original comic].

==Explanation==
This interactive game is the 14th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous April fools' comic was [[2765: Escape Speed]] from 2023, which was released on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. "Machine" has been updated multiple times in the weeks following its release, adding the following features:
* the trophy and shot glass props
* the cat, which swats balls in front of it
* the inanimate kitten and bun decorations
* a system of links, which encodes the XY coordinates of the currently viewed cell, and the time (i.e. the entire machine's state after a certain moderation action)
* a button to follow a nearby ball as it traverses through the machine, also preventing it from despawning

As referenced in the title text, this game is a spiritual successor to the 1990s and early 2000s PC puzzle game series {{w|The Incredible Machine}}, a game Randall played as a kid. Both games have several objects in common:
* fan
* cat
* ramps
* balls of varying densities

The comic starts in a main screen where the user can create a {{w|Rube Goldberg machine}} in a "Cell" where the goal is to route a constant stream of colored balls from inputs on the ceiling or walls to outputs of matching colors on the walls or floor. After the comic is first opened a window pops up over the machine where Cueball in a lab coat tells you to route the balls from the inputs to the outputs. A button opens a “tool panel” where there are large and small boards available for use, as well as some gimmicky stuff like prisms (which deflect marbles) and fans (which blow marbles around), plus decorative elements which have no effect on the balls.

Typically, inputs and outputs only accept balls of a single color. However, some outputs accept multiple colors, indicated by a double arrow, and some inputs produce multiple colors. When the player is designing their 'machine', this will involve multiple full streams merged into one (supplied by a double-exit on the adjacent submission). Machines now working in the full grid may, however, find that their sources now contain stray balls of other types that were not handled properly, but there is no way to force a re-edit of the machine to alter its behavior to account for this.

If any balls are left in your cell for more than 30 seconds, they fade away. The first time a ball fades away another popup informs you that the balls are removed for security reasons. An indicator next to each exit increases for each ball of the correct color that passes through an exit, and reduces when no balls pass through, or if balls of the wrong color pass through it. While that exit is not properly supplied it displays a red cross, which changes to a green tick when a sufficient, and sufficiently clean, stream of balls is supplied. The first time you have built a machine which succeeds in routing enough balls of the correct color to ''all'' relevant outputs, a popup will prompt you to submit your cell to be added to the public machine. (Subsequently, the submit button will quietly change from 'inactive' (pale) to clickable (dark). This will change back again if any ball transfers dip back below the required threshold for any reason, such as further editing or an end to a 'fluke' glut of accumulated balls.)

Choosing to submit your cell will give you a textbox to give this cell a name. Proceeding through that, you will now see your cell within the 'grid' and a 'live' feed of balls from any relevant neighboring cells (which may be more sporadic then the feed you designed your cell with, and contain stray balls of different types). If any supplying-neighbors are still marked as "under construction", they ''may'' provide the balls as if perfectly routed from their own (eventual) source, but will eventually dry up. If your newly submitted creation is placed in the lowest row of cells, balls will be dispensed through the exit at the bottom, but there will be no launcher to propel them towards the pit, and they will vanish as they leave the exit.

Upon reopening the link to this comic without coordinate and time parameters, your recently created machine will most likely not be visible in the space you built it in. [https://www.reddit.com/user/xzaphenia/comments/ Reddit user xzaphenia] has claimed on r/xkcd that this is because there is a moderation team (of which they are a member) and that [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c1ixmb/comment/kzc3rmg/ the main page only shows public, approved machines]. This team of people, including those credited as co-creators of this comic, select machines according to their preferences (and little to no formal criteria besides [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c0sp60/comment/kz6hbgl/ coolness, innovativeness, effectiveness], and [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c0bsk2/comment/kyvfean/ privacy concerns]). Given the number of 'bottom-layer' cells that are likely primed ready to be completed (e.g. the grid-width of twelve, perhaps staggered across adjacent rows) and the many possible worldwide contributors at any one time, it may be that the chances of being picked for permanence is low; and certainly would have been lower early on in the comic's existence during the initial frantic rush to participate. [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c0sp60/comment/kz6hbgl/ It is also claimed that at some point, moderation will be cut off and the machine will be considered "complete"].

<gallery heights="200" widths="150">
File:2916_popup_intro.png|Introduction popup
File:2916_popup_time.png|Time limit popup
File:2916_popup_submit.png|Submission popup
</gallery>

The button in the bottom right corner allows you to toggle between editing your own machine and a page where you can drag around to view all of the machines that have been submitted and accepted, with a title for each in the upper left corner. In this view you can see that all of the outputs are also inputs for another cell, except for the top row where the inputs come from off screen and the lowest row which output through a launcher of some kind to a set of four colored-coded containers far below. Any empty cells are marked off by yellow tape with the words "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" as well as "DJIA ↑ 31415" once in each cell. "DJIA" stands for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with "DJIA ↑ 31415" indicating that it rose to 31415 points, 31415 being the first five digits of pi, without the period. This would often be displayed on a yellow 'ticker', which might look superficially similar to the yellow barrier tape.

When viewing the whole machine, a button in the bottom left corner, added later, allows you to follow the path of the nearest ball as it passes from cell to cell. This will also make the ball you are following immortal - not subject to the 30s timeout rule. However, it will stop following at the bottom of the base machine -- it will not follow into the bottom holding containers, nor keep it immortal once down there. Another later addition was a button in the top left corner which copies a URL that will take you directly to the current cell that you are viewing. However, the link that is created will always show you the version of the machine at the time that you were viewing it, without any subsequent additions.

Whenever balls reach the bottom of the grid, they are directed towards four containers, one of each color. Most balls are accurately sent to their appropriate container, though there are some misfires. These containers are above a pit, and dump their contents every 11.5 seconds. Balls in the pit are subject to a 97 (approx) second culling rule (including time spent in the holding containers), unlike the balls in the cells above. If no balls are directed towards the containers, the pit will be empty. If at least one stream of balls is making it, Cueball and Megan sit in a small boat named the USS Buoyancy, and when sufficient balls are being deposited, the boat begins to float and move. Balls that miss or overspill the pit fall out of the bottom of the frame.

Under construction cells will feed balls of the appropriate color into neighboring cells so long as you are not looking at them. Once you scroll to look at them, the supply of balls stops and subsequent cells in the chain will not receive any; scroll away from them again and the supply will resume.

The grid is 12 cells wide, and grows in height. The largest size observed so far is 12x128, for a total of 1536 cells. The machine's height is determined by the lowest cell; this can be either your submitted cell, or a cell created by another user.

Imperfections in the machines (whether accidental or by design) and the impossibility of entirely avoiding collisions when crossing streams inevitably lead to significant levels of losses and pollution with the wrong color balls. Indeed, using the follow ball function appears to demonstrate that it is quite rare for a ball to survive more than several machines without getting stuck somewhere. This should mean that effectively no balls would reach the lower layers. This implies that there is some 'creative accounting' going on to ensure that cells lower in the grid still have balls to process - simulating flow only for a few nearby cells, while assuming that those cells themselves have pure, steady inputs.

There is a hard limit of 100 items (both physically interactive and purely decorative) that can be placed in any given arena. If you have placed 75 items, a count will appear in the component bar of your piece-count ("''##''/100"), which will go away again if you delete items to bring it below this count. The count text turns red at "100/100", at which point no more items can be added, only existing ones moved (or removed, to lower the count again).

===Toolbox items===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ List of objects
|-
! Description !! Effect !! Image
|-
| Plank || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_plank.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hammer || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_hammer.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Sword || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_sword.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hinged scoop&dagger; || Rotates around its hinge, tries to stay horizontal with a springy effect || [[File:2916_scoop.png|frameless|upright=0.25]] [[File:2916_scoop_mirrored.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Anvil || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_anvil.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Brick || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_brick.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Fan || Blows away balls in front of it. Different colors are affected by differing amounts (yellow balls are lightest, and can be levitated above an upward-facing fan).|| [[File:2916_fan.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Pillow || Balls will not bounce if they hit it || [[File:2916_pillow.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Bumper || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_round_bumper.png|frameless|upright=0.125]] [[File:2916_bumper_left.png|frameless|upright=0.125]] [[File:2916_bumper_right.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Attractor/Black Hole* || Pulls balls toward center || [[File:2916_attractor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Repulsor/White hole* || Repels balls away from center || [[File:2916_repulsor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Prism || "Refracts" and internally-reflects balls as they otherwise pass through the object, the color of the ball ''may'' cause them to react (as much as possible) according to the respective color across the element. || [[File:2916_prism.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Wheel&Dagger; || Spins, deflects balls, can jam with enough resistance (e.g. glut of balls or against other elements). || [[File:2916_wheel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| "Good job" trophy || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_trophy.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Glass cup || Static obstacle. Container, with a nominal capacity of up to four balls (in whole or in part) within it. || [[File:2916_cup.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || Swats away balls in front of itself (was added later) || [[File:2916_cat_new.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
! colspan="3" style="text-align:center" | Non-physical items
|-
| Right-facing Ponytail, with raised arms || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_ponytail_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Right-facing Ponytail, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_ponytail.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Left-facing Cueball, with raised arms || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_cueball_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Left-facing White Hat, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_whitehat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Rightwards-facing Knit Cap, in an 'action' pose || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_knitcap_resting.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Right-facing Knit Cap, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_knitcap.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Helmet-wearing figure, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_helmet.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Squirrel || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_squirrel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| "Probably Deterministic" sign || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_deterministic.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| [[1682: Bun|Bun]] || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_rabbit.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_cat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|}

:<nowiki/>* — The Attractor and Repulsor are omnidirectional, but the area of effect can be resized to extend or restrict its influence. You do this by way of its bounding box with corner and mid-edged 'drag nodes' and a circular area that shows the current extent, which are only visible when the element is actively selected. This resize can be no larger than will make the box/circle touch the edges, no smaller than the fixed graphic and will always be identically proportioned in both axes.

:&dagger; — The hinged scoops are strictly horizontal, on building. They will rotate away from and (spring back to) horizontal according to interactions with balls or other non-decorative items that may be placed to disturb their balance, sometimes with further interesting interactions (that may or may not be intentional or useful). There are two selectable versions of this item. (The only ''other'' object class with a clear (and practical) asymmetry, for which a mirrored chirality can be chosen from the sidebar, are the two versions of triangular "Bonk"-bumpers.)

:&Dagger; — The wheel is an actively rotating element that starts off, by default, spinning anticlockwise. Pressing or tapping left/right arrow keys, when a placed wheel is selected, will adjust that wheel's rotation rate to be more/less anticlockwise. Adjusting it beyond zero rotation allows you to make it spin in the opposite direction.
:Rotation can be increased well beyond the point at which the {{w|wagon-wheel effect}} occurs, which may make it difficult to work out the spin direction of an overspeed wheel element (and thus which arrow keys will slow or speed up its rotation, if you have forgotten), though observing its impact upon any balls that strike it ''should'' make its current spin-direction obvious.
:The 'bounding editing box' will usually appear rotated, possibly according to the spinning graphic's current orientation upon selection, but remains at that (often non-orthagonal) angle even as the wheel spins (if it can) during this period of selection for editing.

All other items can be manually re-angled by a 'loop node' arm extending from the bounding box. If you cannot see the 'angle node' for such a selected item, which is normally at the top of any freshly placed item but follows any re-angling that may have already applied, it could be that you have placed the item too close to the edge in which direction the node extends. To rotate it, move the object away from the edge to access the construction node (after which, you can drag the object back if required – but see below).

Rotation may be limited by the {{w|minimum bounding box}} that is the 'selection box', this is not necessarily the more flush {{w|convex hull}} of the collision-map built into the graphic. Should a corner of the bounding box need to move across the edge of the build-area, it will do nothing more than touch the edge until there is sufficient angle-drag to snap it to the angle from which that corner now comes back away from the edge; or, when it has a long straight edge currently flush with the edge boundary, it may snap to exactly 180°, in rotation, whereupon the opposite long straight edge is flush to the construction area edge. All objects that are drag-moved, similarly, cannot be moved any further than their current bounding box touching the construction-area edging. The bounding box for the rotating wheel is a notable exception to this, being not under any direct angle-control by the player. Instead, it seems to use the bounding inscribed circle that defines the wheel edge iteslf.

Apart from some interactions between the hinged scoops and any element (including other hinged scoops), there is no preventative 'collision detection' between objects during user-placement, which may overlap/cover each other (the most recently spawned item graphically overlays any earlier one). The wheel object will only spin if not constrained by other physical elements (including the spokes of an adjacent wheel, not in counter-rotation) but can still be dragged and placed anywhere within the boundary of the construction area.

The continuous stream(s) of balls respect all ''tangible'' objects, which includes any currently being dragged/rotated, though may prematurely vanish if forced between two items moved to touch/overlap each other. It is possible to indirectly nudge balls by carefully moving a tangible object's surface into them (or holding them within it, e.g. the "cup"). This may be useful for rescuing temporarily stray balls (before they time-out anyway), unjamming an area with a construction-induced glut ''or'' for testing a ball-path that is not currently being fed 'naturally'. Doing so ''can'' then conceivably fulfil all the exit-gate requirements (temporarily), as it might also transiently spoil some required routing, but the manual intervention will not be possible once a 'machine' has been submit.

===Non-player items===

Ball containers at the bottom of the machine
{|
|[[File:2916_container_red.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|[[File:2916_container_yellow.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|[[File:2916_container_blue.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|[[File:2916_container_green.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|}

Cueball and Megan in the ''USS Buoyancy''
[[File:4d425c.png|thumb|left|150px]]
 

Pit below the ''USS Buoyancy'' (not to scale)
[[File:2916_pit_bottom.png|thumb|left|300px]]
 

=== Color routing ===
The different ball colors have different physical properties. Red balls are more bouncy than other balls, green balls are heavier, and yellow balls are lighter and slightly bouncy. The following values were extracted from the code:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Color
! Mass
! Density
! Restitution (bounciness)
! Linear damping (drag)
|-
! data-sort-key="00F" | Blue
| 0.08
| 1
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="F00" | Red
| 0.08
| 1
| 0.8
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="0F0" | Green
| 0.75
| 9.325
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="FF0" | Yellow
| 0.024
| 0.3
| 0.6
| 2
|}

Balls also have spin, but it is subtle and hard to see because the balls have no visible texture.It can be seen, with effort, using green balls (which are heaviest). Rolling down a slope (say, two boards), green balls accumulate spin in the direction they are rolling. Let them drop off the end and then bounce off a brick such that they travel upward, but with very little sideways motion. Then "catch" the balls with a brick just past their apex, when they are moving slowly. If the ball lands on a horizontal brick, it can be seen that the ball will suddenly accelerate left or right based on the spin.

For certain combinations of inlet and outlet 'gates', it is necessary to 'cross the streams'. e.g. to direct righthand-entry balls to a lefthand-exit and vice-versa. It is possible to just construct the field to send two (or more!) sets of balls to fly across a common gap, to land on an appropriate reception area that leads to the chosen exit. But, though this is not {{w|Proton pack#Crossing the streams|completely inadvised}}, the timing of the balls cannot be guaranteed to be in sync (or, rather, anti-sync) with each other and collisions ''will'' occur, especially under the variations of delivery that might significantly alter the ballistic path across the gap. Even if the trial machine works, in isolation with a steady stream of all balls entering the field of play, once submitted it will inevitably be fed by a more chaotically-routed preceeding construction.

In order to maintain sufficient correct arrivals at exits, it may be necessary to add a method of filtering the hues.

This could just mean introducing a 'wrong hue trap' beyond any crossing point(s) that send the occasionally wrong ball back to the cross point (or let them time-out in a dead-end, relying upon few enough failures from the rest of the balls, along with all colliding balls that subsequently missed ''any'' chance of reaching an exit). Alternatively, two (or more) feeds of marbles could be fed through a deliberate 'sorter' that does a sufficiently reasonable job of separating the combined sets out towards their intended target-exits.

The various physical qualities of the balls suggest a number of methods for redirecting separate hues to separate onward journeys. This can be done by isolating a hue from every other hue, then passing on (if necessary) to a setup extracting a different one from the remainder, and perhaps also a third time. It may also be possible to merge 'arrangements' of sorting mechanics to efficiently distribute straight into three ''or even four'' onward tracks towards the desired outputs, but that is left as an exercise to the reader.


{| class="wikitable"
! style="background-color:black; color:white" | To separate !! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue !! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green !! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow !! style="background-color:red" | Red
|-
! style="background-color:red" | Red
| *R/B* | '''Use 'bounce''''
The sole difference is how much balls will rebound from objects. Well managed and constrained ricochets should allow a sorting action.
| *R/G* | '''Use mass or 'bounce''''
Green balls are not affected by a fan or a black hole, making it easier to sort from oter balls. On the other hand, it also means it is very hard to precisely accelerate green, since the only components able to accelerate green is the bonk and the kitten. Green, like Blue, rebounds differently to Red. Green balls are also affected by black holes much less than all other balls.
| *R/Y* | ''See Y/B''
| *R/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
|-
! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow
| *Y/B* | '''All methods'''
Yellow, alone, exhibits high drag against any unforced motion. It is also unique in all other ways; e.g. can be levitated highest, against all other hues (though most profoundly against Green).
| *Y/G* | ''See Y/B''
| *Y/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *Y/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
|-
! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green
| *G/B* | '''Use mass'''
Green balls are not affected by a fan. There is also a not so marginal difference in density that might be exploited, such as by using black holes, which only minimally effects Green (perhaps showing an effective difference between mass of attraction and mass of inertia).
| *G/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *G/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
| *G/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/G
|-
! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue
| *B/B* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *B/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See G/B
| *B/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See Y/B
| *B/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/B
|}

Even when not strictly necessary for one's own submission, once submitted into the full playing grid the player's own contribution may find itself working with less 'pure' delivered ball-streams (from an imperfectly separating feed-in contribution). It is possible that this more interactive disruption can make the new setup behave erratically or even entirely incorrectly.

It might be thought good practice (but not ''necessary'') to deliberately combine any or all inputs and do a full job of splitting them again, just in anticipation of possibly having to deal with such cross-contamination and being able to 'clean up' the onward stream(s) for the benefit of others. This would of course be particularly difficult if the isolated building-phase does not provide all four hues to 'test' against, so any speculatively added filtering would have to be added 'blind' (and only on the offchance that any anticipated incorrect balls will actually enter the arena) and without any legitimate exits to which such rejects could be shunted (therefore could accumulate, up until any 'time out' that might apply to any ball once operational as part of the combined grid).

Single-input/single-output designs might not particularly require ''any'' sorting mechanism, in theory, though the unexpected 'contamination' of the system with balls of different masses/etc could perhaps introduce malfunctioning passage from the added chaos it might succumb to.

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

:[The placeholder image shows four balls, colored red, green, yellow and blue, bouncing on top of three white blocks. Text in the center: "[visit xkcd.com to view]"]

:[In the game, colored balls fall out of rotating half-gears from the wall and/or ceiling while an opposite set of half-gears rotate with a colored triangle pointing to that set of gears. There is a button that says "view machine" button in the bottom right corner. When clicked, it takes you to a larger grid of others' machines that you can view in a larger grid. The button with a wrench is a menu that gives you tools to move the balls to the set of gears with the corresponding triangle.

:[Cueball with lab coat, intro popup]
:Cueball: Balls falling into your cell should be routed to the outputs at a steady rate.

:[Cueball with lab coat, warning popup]
:Cueball: For security reasons, balls that remain in your device for more than 30 seconds will be removed and destroyed.

:[Cueball with lab coat, submit popup]
:Cueball: Congratulations! Your contraption has passed all tests. Press [submit button] to submit it to be added to the machine!

==Trivia==
* Once again an April Fool's Day Comic came out late, as Randall did not release this on April 1st, even though April 1st did fall on a Monday, a normal release day. It first came four days later with the Friday release on April 5th. That this is to be considered an April fools' comic, in spite of the later release, was confirmed on the xkcd Facebook page.
*Randall acknowledges the people who helped him create this comic in a [[Header_text#Machine|comic-specific header text]].
**With 11 different involved apart from Randall this is by far the comic with most people involved.
*Some hidden keyboard shortcuts have been found:
** Follow balls: Ctrl + Alt/Option + B (now also accessible by using the button provided)
** Show debug overlay: Ctrl + Shift + Win/Cmd + D
*** This may particularly clash with browser functionality, e.g. Firefox's "New Bookmarks" dialogue which will need closing, though still activating the overlay graphics.
** Delete selected item: Delete (Fn + Delete on Mac)
*When Randall posted a [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD/posts/pfbid0Cs97awQZi1ZiaEXouAex9tXrwAS3qJV3RmAiuCq5uvZQwqZVMgDmcqJ7JU9LYodYl link to this comic] on his [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD Facebook feed], he directly wrote that it was a late April Fools' Day!
**MACHINE
**Happy Belated April Fool's Day!
**This thus ends any discussion of whether this should be seen as an April Fool's comic or not.
**It just came out 4 days late. This has also happened several times since [[Garden]].
[[File:2916 Machine Facebook April fools' confirmation.png]]
*The [https://github.com/xkcd/incredible source code] for the comic was released on GitHub on May 8, 2024.
**chromakode, one of the developers, also published a [https://chromakode.com/post/xkcd-machine/ blog post discussing the design and development process].

* If you put a fan interlocking with a wheel it might eventually freeze your machine.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Buns]]
[[Category:Cats]]

2983: Monocaster

2024-09-10T08:07:45Z

141.101.99.23:

{{comic
| number = 2983
| date = September 9, 2024
| title = Monocaster
| image = monocaster_2x.png
| imagesize = 536x673px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My competitors say the tiny single tiny caster is unsafe, unstable, and offers no advantages over traditional designs, to which I say: wow, why are you guys so mean? I thought we were friends!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A caster, also spelled castor, is a small unpowered wheel attached to a swiveling base. They are typically found on carts and heavy appliances that need to be pushed around by people on a regular basis.

Randall has proposed a variant of the skateboard with only one caster on the bottom, the titular "monocaster." He claims this fills an untapped hole in the market, which is filled with plenty of vehicles with one large wheel like unicycles, or multiple small wheels like roller skates, but none with only a single small wheel.

The joke depends on the caster's obvious impractically in this role: the hole in the market was open ''for a reason''. A single caster is effectively useless, forcing all the weight of a person on a single swiveling point. The rider has no way to propel themselves besides pushing off the ground, and will almost certainly lose their balance immediately upon trying. The other designs on the market were all designed specifically to solve this problem: the unicycle's lower center of gravity and chain drive{{citation needed}}make balancing in motion much less dangerous, while multi-wheeled vehicles give more points of contact with the ground.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2981: Slingshots

2024-09-05T08:41:37Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2981
| date = September 4, 2024
| title = Slingshots
| image = slingshots_2x.png
| imagesize = 397x420px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my reboot, Dennis the Menace was just trying to send Mr. Wilson a nice comet, but accidentally wiped out his dinosaur garden.
}}

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

The {{w|Slingshot|slingshot}} (in this comic, styled "Regular Slingshot") is a hand-held device used for accelerating small projectiles, such as stones or steel balls. It has existed since ancient times, and has been used for personal defense and for hunting game such as squirrels, birds, and {{w|Goliath|Philistines}}.

The '''gravitational''' slingshot, or {{w|Gravity_assist|gravity assist}}, is not a device but a term used to describe how gravity may alter the path of an object in space, such as a spacecraft or an asteroid.

This comic humorously compares the two, in tabular format.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Regular slingshot
! Gravitational slingshot
|-
! Used for hunting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for sport shooting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for spacecraft propulsion
| X
| ✓
|-
! Large online enthusiast community
| ✓
| ✓
|-
! May have caused dinosaur extinction
| Probably not
| Maybe
|-
! Used by Dennis the Menace to terrorize Mr. Wilson
| ✓
| Not yet, but I'm pitching a reboot
|}

The first four categories accurately reflect reality. As a hunting tool (and as an offensive weapon), recent designs have been claimed to propel a projectile with [https://www.uslawshield.com/tactical-slingshots-mere-toy/ more force than .22 and .38 caliber pistols]. Consequently, several communities have prohibited the possession of such slingshots, which may be called "wrist rockets". The state of Massachusetts, where cartoonist Randall resides, is one of those communities.

The fifth category ventures into the absurd, at least with respect to "regular" slingshots, which did not exist (as humans, which invented them, did not) at the time of the {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene_extinction_event|Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event}}. However, it is possible, even likely, that the event resulted from a meteorite impact, with a gravitational slingshot perturbing the orbit of the space rock that crashed into the Earth.

The sixth category references the long-running cartoon franchise {{w|Dennis_the_Menace_(U.S._comics)|Dennis the Menace}} (not to be confused with the long-running cartoon franchise {{w|Dennis the Menace and Gnasher|Dennis the Menace}}), in which the titular character harasses neighbor Mr. Wilson with (regular) slingshots and other devices and behaviors. In Randall's projected reboot of the franchise, which is elaborated on in the title text, Dennis trades his regular slingshot for a gravitational slingshot. By miscalibrating his ammunition, or the force of his slingshot, he turns a demonstration ("a nice comet") into a destructive event (the loss of Wilson's dinosaur garden). The reference is to the relative size and velocity of the space objects responsible for, respectively, comets and "meteors" versus asteroid impacts.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Tables are bad? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Regular slingshot
! Gravitational slingshot
|-
! Used for hunting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for sport shooting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for spacecraft propulsion
| X
| ✓
|-
! Large online enthusiast community
| ✓
| ✓
|-
! May have caused dinosaur extinction
| Probably not
| Maybe
|-
! Used by Dennis the Menace to terrorize Mr. Wilson
| ✓
| Not yet, but I'm pitching a reboot
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Charts]]
[[Category: Space]]
[[Category: Dinosaurs]]

2733: Size Comparisons

2023-02-04T16:29:07Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */ Various tweaks.

{{comic
| number = 2733
| date = February 3, 2023
| title = Size Comparisons
| image = size_comparisons_2x.png
| imagesize = 238x373px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you shrank the Solar System to the size of Texas, the Houston metro area would be smaller than a grasshopper in Dallas.
}}

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

[[Cueball]] attempts to emphasize {{w|Texas}}' size (as the largest state in the {{w|contiguous US}}) to [[Ponytail]] by making a size comparison. He states that if Texas was expanded to the size of the {{w|Solar System}}, the ants in Texas will be as large as {{w|Rhode Island}} (the smallest US state). However, Cueball on purpose (according to the caption) proves how small Texas actually is compared to the Solar System (which is a lot larger{{Citation needed}}).

There are a lot of definitions for how large the Solar System is, but one frequently used one is Neptune's Aphelion (the farthest point from Sun of the outermost planet). Using the circle area equation, we find the "area" of the solar system to be 6.49x1019 square kilometers, which is a lot, with Texas's area being 696,241 km². The difference in size is a factor of 9.32x1013 (still a lot though). Ants, unfortunately for the calculations, vary vastly in their size. Rhode Island's area is 3,144 km². We can therefore back-calculate that Randall's average "ant" would measure out to be 33.73 square millimeters. Roughly measured, an ant has an "aspect ratio" of 1:2 (width to length), and such an assumption leads to a length of 8.21mm, which falls easily into the range of 2–25mm for various possible species and types of ants. Therefore, Randall's calculations hold up as valid.

The title text refers to the opposite, where the entire Solar system is being scaled down to the size of Texas, {{w|Houston}} (a city in Texas) has a {{w|Greater Houston|metropolitan area}} (an area extending a bit beyond the city itself) that, ''if'' shrunk by the same factor as before, would be smaller than a grasshopper in {{w|Dallas}}, another city in Texas. (This, of course, only works if Houston's environs are part of what is shrunk, yet the grasshopper – and perhaps its apparent home town of Dallas – remains unchanged.) The calculations to verify this hinge upon Houston's metro area normally being 26,061 km² squared, and becoming 279.6 square millimeters. A grasshopper may be considered thinner than an ant, so we shall use the aspect ratio of 1:3 instead, to give anlength of 28.96 mm, almost 3 centimeters. This falls within the range of 1–7cm range, that may be found [https://animalcorner.org/animals/grasshopper/ quoted in some places], but is significantly smaller than [https://a-z-animals.com/blog/the-10-largest-grasshoppers-in-the-world/ notably large species]. Whether the Dallas grasshopper is any particular kind (or even a native, rather than an exotic pet) is not expounded upon.

A common trope in explaining the sizes of unfamiliar things is to compare that thing to some other reference that people are likely to have an idea about. For instance, that a human-sized flea could jump the equivalent height of the Eiffel Tower (if jumping ability scaled with animal size; which it does not, due to how different numbers scale to the square or cube of the linear factor). In this case, Randall is comparing objects that are extremely different in scale (the state of Texas and a small insect), but then blowing Texas up to yet another size that's many orders of magnitude larger, with the result that the comparison is of no value in understanding how big Texas is (which could be supposed to be the point). The only message you get in the end is, "Texas is much bigger than an ant." And most people happen to be aware of that.{{Citation needed}}

On the other hand, the comparison would be meaningful the other way around : "the Solar System is so big that if you shrink it to the size of Texas, (the shrunken) Rhode Island would now be as small as (unshrunken) ants".

This is another comic in the series of [[My Hobby|Randall's Hobbies]].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball speaking to Ponytail.]
:Cueball: Texas is so big that if you expanded it to the size of the Solar System, the ants there would be as big as Rhode Island.
:Ponytail: Wow!
:Ponytail: ...Wait.

:[Caption below panel]
:My hobby: Unhelpful size comparisons

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

Talk:2496: Mine Captcha

2021-08-02T12:41:18Z

141.101.99.23: Markup miskey

Mines at:

+----+
| |
|** |
| * *|
| |
+----+

[[User:Ezist|Ezist]] ([[User talk:Ezist|talk]]) 14:42, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

:+1234
:A2 1
:B??3
:C3? ?
:D 1 1
:concur.

AKA

. . . .
* * . .
. * . *
. . . .

Should be mentioned that it's most probably easier to run a script that solves this puzzle that to explain minesweeper to the majority of people, so this captcha seems pretty useless
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.72|162.158.92.72]] 15:56, 30 July 2021 (UTC)
: Writing a script to solve Minesweeper is a great exercise and helps to build a guaranteed-solvable game (which, IMO, is a good thing), but it won't usually start with image recognition. I'm not sure how hard it would be to write an image solver, especially if - unlike in this example - you'd need to dig some cells to finish solving it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.59|108.162.250.59]] 16:20, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

I think that it would be better to explain why there is mine in B3 and D3 (due to the ones) because you then have the full solution. I think that the curent explanation isn't complete enough for someone who don't know minesweeper to understand the solution
Maybe it is only me but I think that it would be less confusing to have column marked with letter and line with number. i don't know if there is any standard for that. I am used to excel way of doing it [[Special:Contributions/162.158.50.27|162.158.50.27]] 16:10, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

I am soooo disappointed that the cursed minesweeper game is not playable. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.79|108.162.221.79]] 16:13, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Is something supposedto happen when I click on a box? I tried this in Chrome, IE, and Firefox, and nothing happens. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.170|172.70.110.170]] 16:18, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Hello. I have edited the image to include flags or bombs to mark the places. But as a new user I am not allowed to upload images.
If somebody is willing to receive them I could email them. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 17:10, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

The title is eerily similar to Mein Kampf

The explanation repeats "this is hard because in Minesweeper you're supposed to press the buttons without mines" a lot.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.108|172.70.130.108]] 18:23, 30 July 2021 (UTC)
:As a native German speaker I do not think the title sounds similar. The German Mein is a bit more open than the English Mine which is spoken a bit longer. Kampf has one syllable and ends with a triple consonant, captcha has two syllables and ends with a vocal. In Mein Kampf the emphasis is on Kampf, in Mine Captcha it is on Mine. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.128|162.158.89.128]] 22:26, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

I think that explanation misses the fact that images in captcha are in randomized order and do not match with actual position on real board and are actually, which can be deducted from fact it's using different colors and font, from multiple separate games. Therefore 'solving' it gives no actual information.
[[User:Kalumniatoris|Kalumniatoris]] ([[User talk:Kalumniatoris|talk]]) 20:39, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Using the Excel numbering, here’s one verbose way of solving it:
If someone is confused, it may be helpful to draw a diagram and follow along, step by step.

Fact 1: C1 indicates that 1 of its 4 open neighbors is a mine.
Fact 2: A1 indicates that 2 of its 3 open neighbors are mines.
Conclusion 1: Looking at B1 and B2, Fact 1 says at most 1 is a mine and Fact 2 says at least 1 is a mine. Therefore exactly 1 is a mine.
Conclusion 2: Looking at the three open cells around A1, we now know from Conclusion 1 that B1 and B2 account for exactly one mine next to A1, so the other mine adjacent to A1 must be in A2.
Conclusion 3: Looking at C1, from Conclusion 1 we know that B1 and B2 account for the 1 mine next to C1, so there can be no mine in D1 or D2.

Fact 3: A3 indicates that 3 of its 4 originally open neighbors are mines.
Fact 4: B4 indicates that 1 of its 4 open neighbors is a mine.
Conclusion 4: Looking at A4 and B3, Fact 3 indicates that at most 1 is empty (or equivalently, that at least one is a mine) and Fact 4 indicates that at most one is a mine. Since these two contain at least 1 mine and at most 1 mine, they must contain exactly 1 mine.
Conclusion 5: Looking at Fact 4, we know that A4 and B3 account for the 1 mine adjacent to B4, so C3 and C4 must be empty.

Fact 5: D4 indicates that 1 of the 3 originally open neighbors must be a mine.
Conclusion 6: Looking at fact 5, we see that Conclusion 5 ruled out 2 of the 3 neighbors, so D3 must be the mine.

(We’ve now determined the state of all cells in columns C and D, as well as A2. We’ve also identified two pairs (B1+B2 and A4+B3) that each contain exactly one mine.)

Fact 6: C2 indicates that exactly 3 of its 5 originally empty neighbors contain mines.
Conclusion 7: From Conclusion 1 we know that exactly 1 of B1 and B2 is a mine, from Conclusion we know C3 is empty, and from Conclusion 6 D3 is a mine. Having accounted for 4 of the 5 neighbors, and 2 of 3 mines, we know that the remaining cell, B3, must be a mine.
Conclusion 8: Based on Conclusion 5 and Fact 3, we can see that exactly one of A4+B3 is a mine and therefore the other two cells adjacent to A3 must account for its other two mines. Therefore B2 is a mine.
[[User:Solid Kalium|Solid Kalium]] ([[User talk:Solid Kalium|talk]]) 00:30, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

I don't think it's that relevant that the captcha-solver shall click on the mines, opposite to the standard game. (The problem obviously is that if you were supposed to click on non-mines, you might simply click the number fields. Assuming that the number of the mines is given, 12 mines+B4:5,B2:8,D2:5 would be a uniquely solvable example, you'd have to infer D4 is free. But this sort of lacks elegance.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.218|162.158.111.218]] 07:42, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

I guess no one thought to mention that it is possible to have technically unsolvable (by logic) minesweeper puzzle boards, either when there is a very high, or very low, concentration, usually at an edge or a corner. I was kinda disappointed that he didn't do that and make it interactive so that the (usually) 50/50 choice always came out wrong, or you had to trick it by clicking down on one (internally making it the mine) and releasing on the other (revealing the now safe square)... or maybe I'm just a sadist >.> [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.143|172.69.63.143]] 09:12, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

I do not work for this game, I just play it: If you really dig the difficult logic required to solve this minesweeper puzzle, check out Fill-a-Pix. It's essentially huge puzzles exactly like this. There are many avenues of solving this puzzle. 3@A3 & 1@B4 for example, require that A2&B2 both be mines. 1@C1,3@C2,1@B4,and 1@D4 all collectively require that B3 and D3 are mines. C1 & C2 require that there are 2 mines within the 3 cells: B3,C3,D3. The 1's at B4 and D4 force C3 to be empty, and thus B3 and D3 are the only places those 2 mines could be.

What if what's being signed up for is a messageboard for robots, and it is a reverse CAPTCHA; It only lets robots through (although a much better method of allowing only robots is to ask them to factor something like 702923316547 (the factors are 758141 and 927167)). --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.68|172.70.126.68]] 01:38, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

My working method:
* A3's 3 and B4's 1 mean A4 & B3 are mutually exclusively mined, forcing confirmation of A2,B2 as the other two definite mines around A3 and excluding C3&4 as alternate mined neighbours to B4.
* This immediately fulfills A1's 2 and C1's 1; the latter of which, in turn proves D1&2 are unmined.
* D4 can only refer to D3.
* C2 is only fulfilled by confirming A3 (nailing B4's ambiguity in the process).
* Done..?
...I'm surprised it's so simple (excluding errors in putting my thoughts down), even for a 4x4, and expected a tricky logic-chain before some initial assumption was confirmed by an "if..., then if..., then if..., but only if the first assumption was right" chain of some kind (e.g. a soft-commit to one or other of A4/B3, which only resolves, or not, after following the repurcusions half way round the rest of the board and back again - which is how I might need to solve a numeric Kakuro (sp?) puzzle, only I actually send both/''all'' soft possibilities around the relevent parts of the puzzle at the same time if I have to do that. Still, it entertained me to unwrap it my own way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.130|162.158.159.130]] 12:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2496: Mine Captcha

2021-08-02T12:39:44Z

141.101.99.23: Explaining myself better?

Mines at:

+----+
| |
|** |
| * *|
| |
+----+

[[User:Ezist|Ezist]] ([[User talk:Ezist|talk]]) 14:42, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

:+1234
:A2 1
:B??3
:C3? ?
:D 1 1
:concur.

AKA

. . . .
* * . .
. * . *
. . . .

Should be mentioned that it's most probably easier to run a script that solves this puzzle that to explain minesweeper to the majority of people, so this captcha seems pretty useless
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.72|162.158.92.72]] 15:56, 30 July 2021 (UTC)
: Writing a script to solve Minesweeper is a great exercise and helps to build a guaranteed-solvable game (which, IMO, is a good thing), but it won't usually start with image recognition. I'm not sure how hard it would be to write an image solver, especially if - unlike in this example - you'd need to dig some cells to finish solving it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.59|108.162.250.59]] 16:20, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

I think that it would be better to explain why there is mine in B3 and D3 (due to the ones) because you then have the full solution. I think that the curent explanation isn't complete enough for someone who don't know minesweeper to understand the solution
Maybe it is only me but I think that it would be less confusing to have column marked with letter and line with number. i don't know if there is any standard for that. I am used to excel way of doing it [[Special:Contributions/162.158.50.27|162.158.50.27]] 16:10, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

I am soooo disappointed that the cursed minesweeper game is not playable. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.79|108.162.221.79]] 16:13, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Is something supposedto happen when I click on a box? I tried this in Chrome, IE, and Firefox, and nothing happens. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.170|172.70.110.170]] 16:18, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Hello. I have edited the image to include flags or bombs to mark the places. But as a new user I am not allowed to upload images.
If somebody is willing to receive them I could email them. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 17:10, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

The title is eerily similar to Mein Kampf

The explanation repeats "this is hard because in Minesweeper you're supposed to press the buttons without mines" a lot.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.108|172.70.130.108]] 18:23, 30 July 2021 (UTC)
:As a native German speaker I do not think the title sounds similar. The German Mein is a bit more open than the English Mine which is spoken a bit longer. Kampf has one syllable and ends with a triple consonant, captcha has two syllables and ends with a vocal. In Mein Kampf the emphasis is on Kampf, in Mine Captcha it is on Mine. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.128|162.158.89.128]] 22:26, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

I think that explanation misses the fact that images in captcha are in randomized order and do not match with actual position on real board and are actually, which can be deducted from fact it's using different colors and font, from multiple separate games. Therefore 'solving' it gives no actual information.
[[User:Kalumniatoris|Kalumniatoris]] ([[User talk:Kalumniatoris|talk]]) 20:39, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Using the Excel numbering, here’s one verbose way of solving it:
If someone is confused, it may be helpful to draw a diagram and follow along, step by step.

Fact 1: C1 indicates that 1 of its 4 open neighbors is a mine.
Fact 2: A1 indicates that 2 of its 3 open neighbors are mines.
Conclusion 1: Looking at B1 and B2, Fact 1 says at most 1 is a mine and Fact 2 says at least 1 is a mine. Therefore exactly 1 is a mine.
Conclusion 2: Looking at the three open cells around A1, we now know from Conclusion 1 that B1 and B2 account for exactly one mine next to A1, so the other mine adjacent to A1 must be in A2.
Conclusion 3: Looking at C1, from Conclusion 1 we know that B1 and B2 account for the 1 mine next to C1, so there can be no mine in D1 or D2.

Fact 3: A3 indicates that 3 of its 4 originally open neighbors are mines.
Fact 4: B4 indicates that 1 of its 4 open neighbors is a mine.
Conclusion 4: Looking at A4 and B3, Fact 3 indicates that at most 1 is empty (or equivalently, that at least one is a mine) and Fact 4 indicates that at most one is a mine. Since these two contain at least 1 mine and at most 1 mine, they must contain exactly 1 mine.
Conclusion 5: Looking at Fact 4, we know that A4 and B3 account for the 1 mine adjacent to B4, so C3 and C4 must be empty.

Fact 5: D4 indicates that 1 of the 3 originally open neighbors must be a mine.
Conclusion 6: Looking at fact 5, we see that Conclusion 5 ruled out 2 of the 3 neighbors, so D3 must be the mine.

(We’ve now determined the state of all cells in columns C and D, as well as A2. We’ve also identified two pairs (B1+B2 and A4+B3) that each contain exactly one mine.)

Fact 6: C2 indicates that exactly 3 of its 5 originally empty neighbors contain mines.
Conclusion 7: From Conclusion 1 we know that exactly 1 of B1 and B2 is a mine, from Conclusion we know C3 is empty, and from Conclusion 6 D3 is a mine. Having accounted for 4 of the 5 neighbors, and 2 of 3 mines, we know that the remaining cell, B3, must be a mine.
Conclusion 8: Based on Conclusion 5 and Fact 3, we can see that exactly one of A4+B3 is a mine and therefore the other two cells adjacent to A3 must account for its other two mines. Therefore B2 is a mine.
[[User:Solid Kalium|Solid Kalium]] ([[User talk:Solid Kalium|talk]]) 00:30, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

I don't think it's that relevant that the captcha-solver shall click on the mines, opposite to the standard game. (The problem obviously is that if you were supposed to click on non-mines, you might simply click the number fields. Assuming that the number of the mines is given, 12 mines+B4:5,B2:8,D2:5 would be a uniquely solvable example, you'd have to infer D4 is free. But this sort of lacks elegance.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.218|162.158.111.218]] 07:42, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

I guess no one thought to mention that it is possible to have technically unsolvable (by logic) minesweeper puzzle boards, either when there is a very high, or very low, concentration, usually at an edge or a corner. I was kinda disappointed that he didn't do that and make it interactive so that the (usually) 50/50 choice always came out wrong, or you had to trick it by clicking down on one (internally making it the mine) and releasing on the other (revealing the now safe square)... or maybe I'm just a sadist >.> [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.143|172.69.63.143]] 09:12, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

I do not work for this game, I just play it: If you really dig the difficult logic required to solve this minesweeper puzzle, check out Fill-a-Pix. It's essentially huge puzzles exactly like this. There are many avenues of solving this puzzle. 3@A3 & 1@B4 for example, require that A2&B2 both be mines. 1@C1,3@C2,1@B4,and 1@D4 all collectively require that B3 and D3 are mines. C1 & C2 require that there are 2 mines within the 3 cells: B3,C3,D3. The 1's at B4 and D4 force C3 to be empty, and thus B3 and D3 are the only places those 2 mines could be.

What if what's being signed up for is a messageboard for robots, and it is a reverse CAPTCHA; It only lets robots through (although a much better method of allowing only robots is to ask them to factor something like 702923316547 (the factors are 758141 and 927167)). --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.68|172.70.126.68]] 01:38, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

My working method:
* A3's 3 and B4's 1 mean A4 & B3 are mutually exclusively mined, forcing confirmation of A2,B2 as the other two definite mines around A3 and excluding C3&4 as alternate mined neighbours to B4.
* This immediately fulfills A1's 2 and C1's 1; the latter of which, in turn proves D1&2 are unmined.
* D4 can only refer to D3.
* C2 is only fulfilled by confirming A3 (nailing B4's ambiguity in the process).
* Done..?
...I'm surprised it's so simple (excluding errors in putting my thoughts down), even for a 4x4, and expected a tricky logic-chain before some initial assumption was confirmed by an "if..., then if..., then if..., but only if the first assumption was right" chain of some kind (e.g. a soft-commit to one or other of A4/B3, which only resolves, or not, after following the repurcusions half way round the rest of the board and back again - which is how I might need to solve a numeric Kakuro (sp?) puzzle, only I actually send both/’'all'' soft possibilities around the relevent parts of the puzzle at the same time if I have to do that. Still, it entertained me to unwrap it my own way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.130|162.158.159.130]] 12:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

2496: Mine Captcha

2021-07-30T17:26:43Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */ Stuff.

{{comic
| number = 2496
| date = July 30, 2021
| title = Mine Captcha
| image = mine_captcha.png
| titletext = This data is actually going into improving our self-driving car project, so hurry up--it's almost at the minefield.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LIVE MINEFIELD. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic, like [[1897: Self Driving]], references the approach of using {{W|CAPTCHA}} inputs to solve problems, particularly those involving image classification, which are not solvable by computers, specifically {{W|reCAPTCHA}} v2's fallback puzzle which is based on identifying road features and vehicles. A reCAPTCHA version of this puzzle might ask a user to "check all squares containing a STOP SIGN."

The CAPTCHA in this comic, however, asks the user to "Click all the pictures of MINES" by, ironically, clicking on squares that do not show anything more than a gray square, with the understanding that some of those gray squares are hiding 'mines' in a {{w|Minesweeper (video game)|Minesweeper puzzle game}}, hence the title Mine Captcha.

Furthermore, the CAPTCHA in this comic asks the user to click on the squares containing mines themselves, which is the opposite of the traditional goal in Minesweeper, which is to click on all boxes where there are *no* mines, and solving the puzzle is usually (although not in this case) impossible without revealing the information in those squares without mines. So the CAPTCHA in this comic would be especially difficult for a user who is familiar with how to play Minesweeper, in addition to being difficult for a user who is familiar with the normal CAPTCHA image-selection puzzle. But would be impossible for anyone that have never heard of the game/know the rules.

A captcha (also spelled CAPTCHA) is a challenge designed to be solvable by humans, but not by computer programs. It is used to protect websites from automated software. For example, editing the explain xkcd wiki without being logged in requires the user to solve a Captcha.

The captcha depicted in this comic is similar in layout to one of the challenges of ''reCAPTCHA'', a captcha system developed by Google. It requires the user to click on several of 16 tiles laid out in a 4x4 grid. 6 of the 16 tiles has a colored number, in blue font for the three number ones, green for the single instance of two and red for the two number three. Each number used a different font style disregarding the color.

The comic combines this with the game of Minesweeper, a logic puzzle game where the player must uncover tiles in a grid by clicking on them. Some of the tiles contain "mines", clicking on those means immediate defeat. When uncovering a tile without a mine, it shows how many of the 8 adjacent tiles contain a mine.

This comic expects users click on the mines in a minesweeper puzzle to proceed with their task. As the goal in minesweeper is to click on boxes where there are NOT mines, the puzzle would be especially difficult for anyone used to playing minesweeper. In addition, as long as a computer could be made to read and understand the task (presuming there is no obfuscation of the instruction or grid), a logic puzzle such as this is a case where an automated spambot could actually be prepared to more easily solve the puzzle than most people.

The comic shows a 4x4 grid with mostly grey squares, and a few tiles showing colored numbers. The setup and colors suggest a gaming board of the popular minesweeper game, with a few tiles uncovered. Numbers would then show the number of mines in adjacent squares. Given the current board configuration, one can deduce that there are four mines (in squares A2, B2, B3 and D3, where letters (numbers) mark columns (rows)), see [[#Trivia|trivia section]]. For example, there are two mines within the squares A2,B1,B2, as signified by the 2 in A1, but only one of those can be in B1 or B2 (because of the 1 in C1). Therefore, A2 has to be a mine. The title suggests this as a CAPTCHA, where proving to be human involves first recognizing this as a minesweeper simile, and then solving for those squares with mines.

<pre>
A B C D

1 2 . 1 .
2 * * 3 .
3 3 * . *
4 . 1 . 1
</pre>

Traditionally, the goal in minesweeper is to click on boxes where there are NOT mines, and solving the puzzle is usually (although not in this case) impossible without revealing the information in those squares, so the puzzle could easily trip up anyone used to playing minesweeper.

The title text is similar to [[1897: Self Driving]] where the CAPTCHA solver is asked to "answer quickly – [the] self-driving car is almost at the intersection", as a parody of the current tendency for CAPTCHAs to apparently be used to provide training information in order to improve automatic identification of traffic signals, pedestrian crosswalks, bicycles, buses and other potential road hazards. In this case the car is apparently driving into this minefield and can only avoid the mines if the user solves this CAPTCHA fast enough for immediate application of the input. Where the first would be realistic, although very dangerous, this time it is of course just a continuation of that old joke. Even if the car drove into a mine field, there would be no way to have the limited 'clue' information (with typically just the one complete and unambiguous solution) and yet somehow not already be able to have more knowledge of the 'answer' than the CAPTCHA user.

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

[A "CAPTCHA" box.]

To proceed, click all the pictures of MINES

[A 4 by 4 ''Minesweeper'' field, with some cells revealed with numbers. Each number is drawn in a different font/style.]

<pre>
2 . 1 .
. . 3 .
3 . . .
. 1 . 1
</pre>

==Trivia==
*Here is where the mines are in this comic, and thus the fields that needs to be pushed in this Captcha to prove you are human:
:[[File:2946_Mine_Captcha_With_Bombs.png]]
*Here are the solved puzzle as it would look if played as a real minesweeper game, except the mines would be represented by flags. (The empty square top right corner has 0 bombs next to it. This is not written in the game but indicated as this field has been pushed down):
:[[File:2946_Mine_Captcha_Solved.png]]
*The original game can be played here: [https://minesweeper.online/ World of Minesweeper]
**It is possible to build a 4x4 CAPTCHA game there:
:[[File:2946_Mine_Captcha_Example_of_4x4_game.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:CAPTCHA]]
[[Category:Self-driving cars]]

2123: Meta Collecting

2019-03-14T13:16:32Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2123
| date = March 13, 2019
| title = Meta Collecting
| image = meta_collecting.png
| titletext = I'm trying to get the page locked because some jerk keeps adding "Yachts".
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a YACHT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another comic in the "[[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]]" series.

Many people's hobbies involve {{w|collecting}} many items of the same category: Post stamps, collectable cards, painted dolls, wine, and so on. Just about anything can be collected, however, some things are collected much more often than others. Wikipedia has a page listing the most popular categories of such {{w|collectable}} items.

In Randall's usual style of going meta with everything, he decided to start a meta-collection—a collection of examples of different things that people can collect. He uses Wikipedia's {{w|list of collectables}} for reference. In the comic, [[Cueball]] is showing to his friend his collection of various items that have nothing in common except that they're all popular collectibles. So while most people try to collect everything in one narrow category of collectibles, Cueball's collection will only be complete if he can get one item from each of the list of collectible items as cataloged by Wikipedia's list, so he has a collection of representative elements from all collections.

In the title text, Randall complains about a wiki editor who keeps adding {{w|yacht}}s to the list of collectables, probably because it would force him to buy a yacht if he ever wanted to complete his collection of collectables. Yachts are traditionally considered immensely expensive and the vast majority of people own zero yachts, let alone a collection of them. Note that Randall does not specify how he is trying to get the page locked, and the comic itself might be a rather meta way of doing so: xkcd fans have a history of making lots of edits to Wikipedia articles Randall mentions, resulting in them being protected or locked. The article has in fact been edited and reverted about 50 times by these fans over the course of a single day and was put in protected status on March 14th, 2019.

==Transcript==

:[The comic depicts Cueball reading from a list to White Hat, standing next to a case filled with collectables including an urn, a model ship, a compact disc, a vinyl record, a doll or figurine, a martini glass, and a teapot.]
:Today we're looking for a lunchbox, a snow globe, a Maytag dryer, a Harley Davidson, and a stamp.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:My hobby: Collecting one item from every category listed on Wikipedia's "List of collectables."

==Trivia==

As of 13 March 2019 at 6:44 PM ET, there ''was'' a debate on the Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_collectables#May_consider_a_temporary_editing_protection talk] tab about locking this page.
This has now been upheld, and the page was temporarily locked.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Talk:2039: Begging the Question

2018-08-30T12:35:37Z

141.101.99.23:

First[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.231|162.158.74.231]] 17:17, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Of course it's also possible that the food made them so Nauseated that they also became Nauseous (i.e. they could have started vomiting or smell horrible due to eating the food, causing people around to feel unwell as well). [[User:NormanR|NormanR]] ([[User talk:NormanR|talk]]) 21:13, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

I believe the reason the two words have become confused is due to the word "noxious". which means "very unpleasant". So, someone who is "nauseated" could feel "noxious", and when wires end up crossed in the brain, they associate it with "nauseous" rather than "noxious".

: But "noxious" means harmful, poisonous, unpleasant, which is different than "having an unpleasant feeling." Here again, the word "unpleasant" has undergone a shift in usage from "not pleasing" to something more like "displeased" as in the statement "I feel unpleasant," used to mean "I have an unpleasant feeling." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.46|162.158.75.46]] 04:57, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

: Except that the secondary meaning of nauseous has been around for as long as the primary meaning. It is only recent pedantry that has tried to suppress the more ancient use.

I shall follow this argument with complete disinterest [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]])

I looked up "Nauseous" in Dictionary.com and I found the following usage note:

: "The two literal senses of nauseous, “causing nausea” ( a nauseous smell ) and “affected with nausea” ( to feel nauseous ), appear in English at almost the same time in the early 17th century, and both senses are in standard use at the present time. Nauseous is more common than nauseated in the sense “affected with nausea,” despite recent objections by those who imagine the sense to be new. In the sense “causing nausea,” either literally or figuratively, nauseating has become more common than nauseous : a nauseating smell."

So, originally, it seems Nauseous was used to refer to both the object that causes the nausea, as well as the feeling. So this is not really a case of change of use, but more your typical snobbish people trying to appear smarter by correcting other people's language usage. The spirit of the comic remains, though. [https://www.dictionary.com/browse/nauseous Source]

== does randall read oots?... ==

...because the actual oots-strip contains "nauseous".

1827: Survivorship Bias

2017-04-26T11:27:36Z

141.101.99.23:

{{comic
| number = 1827
| date = April 21, 2017
| title = Survivorship Bias
| image = survivorship_bias.png
| titletext = They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of entrepreneurial speeches. Entrepreneurial speeches are talks, such as graduation commencements or motivational speeches. The idea behind graduation commencements is that the entrepreneur, having accumulated wisdom and experience in the process of becoming successful, will share his insights and experience to the students, in the hope that they learn lessons that will help them achieve success as well. Companies hire motivational speakers to motivate employees to work hard.

A common theme in these talks is that the entrepreneur succeeded by persisting through hardship, sometimes despite other people telling them they would be better off giving up. They advise students to do the same, and to keep pursuing their dreams even through subsequent failure. While this isn't necessarily bad business advice, this can give students a biased vision of reality, and lead them to imagine that they will succeed as long as they keep trying.

This comic makes a joke about survivorship bias, hence the title. {{w|Survivorship bias}}, or survival bias, is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that "survived" some process and inadvertently [[#Trivia|overlooking those]] that did not because of their lack of visibility. This can lead to false conclusions in several different ways. The survivors may be actual people, as in a medical study, or could be companies or research subjects or applicants for a job, or anything that must make it past some selection process to be considered further. They may also have "survived" on only some of their attempts. For example, although Donald Trump had some successful businesses, he also had many that went bankrupt.

In this comic [[Hairy]] is giving a talk encouraging people to "never stop buying {{w|lottery}} tickets". This is an unwise investment plan, because the chances of winning the lottery are mathematically very low and the total payout is usually less than the total ticket sales, meaning the expected return from buying a lottery ticket is ([[#Trivia|almost]]) always negative. Survivorship bias applies in this situation since people who eventually win (and, presumably, win more than they've spent on lottery tickets in the time that it took them to win) are much more likely to give inspirational speeches than someone who never won or didn't win enough to make the "investment" worthwhile.

The obvious bad strategy (keep buying lottery tickets) is a metaphor for strategies that successful entrepreneurs recommend (keep persisting and putting money into your start-up); these strategies may be bad on average, but people who pursued them and succeeded are much more likely to be invited and give speeches than people who pursued them and went bankrupt (or people who pursued safer strategies and kept their money), making it appear to students that taking high risks and persisting in the face of expensive failure is the optimal strategy. And those who have done both, such as Trump, are more likely to speak about the successes than the failures and bankruptcies.

[[Randall]] says in the caption below the panel that people should be informed about survivorship bias before hearing inspirational talks from successful people.

The title text says "They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING." In the comic, the speaker's "result" was winning the lottery. Pointing out the survivorship bias is Randall effectively arguing with results, by pointing out that they were obtained randomly, and that it ignores all the other people who may have (foolishly) followed this same process, but never won the lottery. Taken a step further, one could use the survivorship bias to argue against the results of any process, be it research (Any given research process is bound to produce SOME good results, and since those are the only ones published, it is difficult to determine if the research process itself contributed to the good results), business decisions (Some businesses fail, and others succeed, but since only the successful ones stick around, it can be difficult to determine WHY they failed or succeeded), etc..

==Transcript==
:[Hairy, holding an arm out towards an unseen crowd, is standing on a podium with five large bags around him, each having a dollar sign on it.]
:Hairy: Never stop buying lottery tickets, no matter what anyone tells you.
:Hairy: I failed again and again, but I never gave up. I took extra jobs and poured the money into tickets.
:Hairy: And here I am, proof that if you put in the time, it pays off!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every inspirational speech by someone successful should have to start with a disclaimer about survivorship bias.

==Trivia==
*Lottery with '''positive return''':
**When item prizes are donated to a lottery (for charity or advertising purposes), sometimes the value of those items may actually be larger than the total price for all of the lottery tickets, if you otherwise would be willing to pay full price for all the prizes.
**In some lotteries, if the jackpot gets too big -- or goes for too many drawings -- without anyone winning it, the jackpot amount gets "rolled down" and distributed across the lower prize levels. These can have a positive return on average -- but ''only'' on the drawings where the jackpot rolls down. People have formed investment groups to buy hundreds of thousands of tickets to exploit these; several such groups repeatedly profited from Massachusetts's {{w|Massachusetts_Lottery#Cash Winfall|Cash WinFall}} game especially. (The Massachusetts State Lottery has an official report ([http://www.mass.gov/ig/publications/reports-and-recommendations/2012/lottery-cash-winfall-letter-july-2012.pdf PDF, 144 KB]) on how such high-volume betting affected the game.)
*'''Examples''' of survivorship bias:
**Diogenes was shown paintings of people who had escaped shipwreck: "Look, you who think the gods have no care of human things, what do you say to so many persons preserved from death by their especial favour?", to which he replied: "Why, I say that their pictures are not here who were cast away, who are by much the greater number."
**Many people {{w|Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act|were smoking}} back in the 1930-70s, thus almost everyone above 80 either smoked cigarettes or was at least subjected to massive passive smoking during those years. Thus anyone above that age could be claimed to prove that you can live a long life while smoking. But they consist of the small group of people that survived in spite of all the smoke, where large sections of those that would have been 80 today, died from cancer or heart disease caused by smoking, long ago, maybe even before they retired. But since these people are dead and gone many years ago, they do not speak up,{{Citation needed}} and are thus the silent majority that is not heard, which is the problem with survivorship bias.
**During World War II, there was a study of the damage done to aircraft, and the recommendation was to add armor to the areas that showed the most damage. The statistician {{w|Abraham Wald}} noticed that the study didn't take into account aircraft that ''didn't'' return: the holes in the returning aircraft thus represented areas where a bomber could take damage and still return home safely.
***Wald and his wife died in an airplane crash...
**Anything created by an Earth-human in this universe. We think it's because we're special, rather than being special because we're here/we survived.
*In the title text, "defeatist" was originally misspelled as "defeatest". This was later corrected.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

1187: Aspect Ratio

2017-03-29T19:09:25Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1187
| date = March 18, 2013
| title = Aspect Ratio
| image = aspect ratio.png
| titletext = I'm always disappointed when 'Anamorphic Widescreen' doesn't refer to a widescreen Animorphs movie.
}}

==Explanation==
Aspect ratio is the relationship between the width and height of an image (and in this case, a video) and is denoted in a ratio of <width>:<height> - usually either in lowest common denominator, or with a decimal width to a height of "1". Up until the 1990s, all televisions and most computer monitors (CRT tube and LCD) were in the standard 4:3 aspect ratio, called "fullscreen" (meaning the width is 4/3 or 1.33... times the height). When HDTV was developed, the standard for television screens changed to 16:9 (width being 16/9 or 1.77... times the height), called "widescreen" (although widescreen can also refer to a number of even wider ratios used in feature films). Computer monitors are now available in widescreen ratios, though fullscreen remains common as well.

Letterboxing is a process whereby an image which does not fully fill a screen is expanded to fill the screen by the addition of further material (mattes). Usually this is done with the addition of black bars in the empty space. One example of why this was necessary was widescreen films on VHS cassette. VHS could only record and play back 4:3 images. Thus, in order to display a widescreen film, the rest of the VHS's 4:3 image had to be filled with horizontal black bars at the top and bottom of the image. Those bars were part of the video information recorded on the cassette.

When DVDs were introduced, many DVDs also had letterbox bars on the DVD's full screen image. With the increased popularity of widescreen televisions, DVD players were improved to offer {{w|anamorphic widescreen}}, in which the full widescreen image is horizontally rescaled (shrunk) into a 4:3 size, which the player then was able to display stretched horizontally back to the proper widescreen aspect.

With the advent of Blu-ray, video is generally encoded in whatever its proper aspect ratio is intended to be, and the player itself is left to appropriately matte the image.

The problem with letterboxed video (such as a 16:9 video letterboxed for 4:3) is that if one tries to watch the video on a 16:9 widescreen, where the image ''should'' fill the whole screen, instead the 4:3 letterboxed image fills part of the screen with further vertical mattes on the left and right of the image, thus producing an image much smaller than it needs to be, with mattes on all four sides. Some TVs or media players can zoom to help resolve the issue, although the video resolution usually suffers. By encoding only the video itself and allowing the player to do the matting, the video can be seen as large as possible on any given screen.

''{{w|Animorphs}}'' is a late-90's to early-00's young adult book series about shape-shifting teens who turn into animals to fight body-snatching aliens. Sony held the rights to create a film, but never made use of them, beyond creating URLs for a proposed movie on December 11, 2012. Animorphs has since been mentioned in the title text of [[1360: Old Files]] as well as being the main joke in [[1380: Manual for Civilization]] and [[1817: Incognito Mode]].

In this comic, Randall appears to be complaining about the issue of widescreen videos which have been rescaled to 4:3 by "squashing" the video horizontally to make it narrower, and in the process causing everything to appear thinner/taller than it really is. This is akin to the car crushing Randall depicts in the comic.

A note is that, if someone managed to "expand" the car, the car would not be "un-crushed" and probably even weakened even more, referencing the bigger damage done when "squashed" video is attempted to be "expanded" to its original ratio, distorting the video quality.

==Transcript==
:[A car is crushed in a large black clamp.]
:Whenever someone uploads a letterboxed 16:9 video rescaled to 4:3, I do this to their car.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Animorphs]]

1360: Old Files

2017-03-29T19:05:27Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1360
| date = April 25, 2014
| title = Old Files
| image = old_files.png
| titletext = Wow, ANIMORPHS-NOVEL.RTF? Just gonna, uh, go through and delete that from all my archives real quick.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic came out the day after [http://news.sky.com/story/1248397/andy-warhol-originals-found-on-floppy-disk Sky News published the story] of original {{w|Andy Warhol}} artwork, created in 1985 on an {{w|Amiga 1000}}, which was recovered from recently found floppy disks.

[[Cueball]] is shown literally digging through a pile of old files; which is a metaphor for looking through old files on his computer. The layers of the pile are arranged much like geological rock formations where older strata are deeper down than younger layers. The files are in concentric layers because each directory is imbedded in the previous directory. Therefore, the "Documents" folder contains an "Old Desktop" folder, which contains a folder with files recovered from an older system, which itself contains a "My Documents" folder, which contains a folder with files copied from a {{w|Zip Disk}} from high school. The result is that files from high school have survived in his present-day machine. These older folders serve as a time capsule of sorts, storing old files from {{w|AOL}}, NYET, and {{w|Kazaa}}. These files are meant to be analogous to the fossils and artifacts found in lower, older rock layers.

The sizes of the files decrease as Cueball goes deeper, since data storage has gotten cheaper over time. When the Zip Drive first came out, it cost $200 USD (plus $20 per 100 MB floppy). Today, $200 could buy you a 4 TB portable external hard drive. In the 1990s, during AOL's heyday, 10+ GB hard drives were prohibitively expensive and a terabyte of data was unimaginable to most users.

Deep down, Cueball discovers several files he is surprised about, including a poetry file which embarrasses him as he does not remember writing poetry.

In the title text, he mentions also finding an "{{w|Animorphs}} Novel", which may be a text copy of one of the original books or a fan fiction of the ''Animorphs'' series (his reaction of quickly eradicating it may either be to prevent him being caught with a presumably-illegal copy of a Animorphs book or as a result of embarrassment at his fan fiction - the former is less likely than the latter considering some of the other files mentioned, so it is most likely a fan fiction). The series was released between 1996 and 2001, consistent with the fact that these files were created during Cueball/[[Randall|Randall's]] high school years. The series was extremely popular at the time. Animorphs has already been mentioned in the title text of [[1187: Aspect Ratio]], and later it was the main joke in [[1380: Manual for Civilization]] and [[1817: Incognito Mode]].

===Files and Folders===
The folders and files in detail:

'''Documents''' (47 GB): A large folder containing many of [[Cueball]]'s personal files.
*''misc.txt'': A miscellaneous {{w|text file}} of unknown and unknowable content. It appears unreasonably large for a txt file, so it may be a large {{w|encryption|encrypted}} volume with an intentionally misleading name. It is the only non-video file in the topmost layer - the implication is that Cueball encrypts all his current documents. Alternatively, it may represent a folder containing zillions of individual text files.

*''Video projects'': As video files can take up a lot of space, this likely makes up a considerable portion of the 47 GB.

'''Old desktop''' (12 GB): A backup from a former computer.
*''{{w|Facebook}} pics'': Pictures that were intended to be added to Facebook (and/or ones which were downloaded *from* Facebook).
*''Pics from other camera'': Unknown pictures from a second camera.
*''Temp'': Temporary folders generally contain cached files and files that are used temporarily to install programs.
*''Misc {{w|Portable Document Format|PDF}}s'': PDFs are often used for documentation, but could be any collection of digitized books or other documents.
*''{{w|MP3}}'': MP3 is a widely used format for digital audio files.

'''Recovered from drive crash''' (4 GB): When a {{w|Hard disk drive|hard drive}} crashes, some or all data may be recovered.
*''Temp'': Temporary files.
*''Work misc'': Unknown work related projects.
*''{{w|Audiobook|Audio books}}'': Recordings of books being read out loud.

'''My Documents''' (570 MB): {{w|Windows XP}} user accounts came with a "My Documents" folder that was widely used for storing personal files. The items in this archive came from the era when {{w|Windows XP}} was popular.
*''Downloads'': The default download folder for most browsers of the time.
*''{{w|Kazaa}} shared'': Kazaa is a defunct peer-to-peer file sharing program. The "shared" folder is shared with other members.
*''AYB'': {{w|All your base are belong to us|ALL YOUR BASE are belong to us}} is an internet {{w|Meme|meme}} inspired by a bad translation from ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''. Also referenced in [[286: All Your Base]].
*''{{w|Escape Velocity Override|EV Override}}'': An {{w|Apple Macintosh}} video game, released in 1998.
*''[http://rephial.org/ Angband]'': A game named after a fictional stronghold created by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}.
*''{{w|GIF}}s'': An image format widely used for transparent or animated images.
*''{{w|Fight Club}}.wmv'': A movie. As feature movies are typically compressed to 700 megabytes, and this folder only contains 570 MB, it must be of low quality or a small screen size.
*''{{w|Elasto Mania}}'': A physics-simulation game that claims to show real physics.
*''{{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} Direct Connect files'': Files transferred via AOL Instant Messenger.
*''{{w|4chan}}'': An image-board where users can upload pictures anonymously. Randall impulsively saves pictures from there. This entry is something of an anomaly, the rest of the files at this level were most notable around 1998 to 2001 while 4chan was only launched at the end of 2003. Since this board frequently contains images you wouldn't want to be caught looking at, this folder may be buried to hide it.
*''{{w|ICQ}} logs'': Logs from an instant messaging program introduced in 1996 and no longer commonly used in North America.

'''High school {{w|Zip drive|Zip disk}}''' (94 MB): The most popular form of {{w|superfloppy}}, introduced in 1994 with a capacity of 100 MB.
*''{{w|Korn}} MIDI'': Korn is an American {{w|nu metal}} band formed in 1993. {{w|MIDI}} is a protocol for communication with electronic musical instruments. The result tends to be sounds of low quality.
*''Photos3'': This is a folder of old photos.
**''{{w|Prom}}'': Pictures taken at prom.
*''lovenote.txt'': An old text file of a {{w|love letter}}, probably to a classmate in high school. Possibly referencing [[340: Fight]].
*''{{w|Gorillas (video game)|Gorillas}}.bas'': A game written in {{w|BASIC}}, to be run on {{w|QBasic}}, and supplied with MS-DOS.
*''Dream.txt'': Some private dreams.
*''James.txt'': Perhaps [[James]] is a friend of Randall, and the same as the one who came up with [[107|xkcd #107]].
*''{{w|AOL}}'': An early online and internet service, founded in 1985 and popular in the 1990s.
**''{{w|Citadel (software)|Citadel}}'' - A {{w|BBS}} and email platform that was widely used in the 1980s and early '90s.
*''{{w|QBasic}}'': An {{w|Integrated development environment|IDE}} released by {{w|Microsoft}} in 1991, which was used to write and run computer programs in the BASIC language.
*''NYET'': ''NYET'' was a {{w|Tetris}}-like game for MS-DOS, released in 1988.
*''Jokes.txt'': An old text file of jokes.

'''AAAFILES''' (9.4 MB): Some of [[Cueball]]'s oldest documents, likely prefixed with "AAA" to put the folder at the top of an alphabetically-sorted list.

'''TXT''' (850 K): Old text files, which include poetry he didn't remember writing.

==Transcript==
:Megan (on top of stack of files): You OK down there?

:'''Documents''' (47 GB)
::misc.txt
::Video projects
:'''Old desktop''' (12 GB)
::Facebook pics
::Pics from other camera
::Temp
::Misc PDFs
::MP3
:'''Recovered from drive crash''' (4 GB)
::Temp
::Work misc
::Audio books
:'''My Documents''' (570 MB)
::Downloads
::Kazaa shared
::AYB
::EV Override
::Angband
::GIFs
::FIGHT CLUB.wmv
::Elasto Mania
::AIM Direct Connect files
::4chan
::ICQ logs
:'''High school Zip disk''' (94 MB)
::Korn MIDI
::Photos3 (Prom)
::lovenote.txt
::Gorilla.bas
::Dream.txt
::James.txt
::AOL (Citadel)
::QBasic
::NYET
::Jokes.txt
:'''AAAFILES''' (9.4 MB)
:'''TXT''' (850 K)
:Cueball (deep inside the AAAFILES section looking at his txt files): Oh my god. I wrote '''poetry'''.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring James]]

1817: Incognito Mode

2017-03-29T18:27:45Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1817
| date = March 29, 2017
| title = Incognito Mode
| image = incognito_mode.png
| titletext = They're really the worst tech support team. And their solutions are always the same. "This OS X update broke something." "LET'S INFILTRATE APPLE BY MORPHING APPLES!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Is it Blondie, just with more details to her hair?}}
A woman (maybe a different version of [[Blondie]], or Rachel from The Animorphs) warns [[Cueball]] about not browsing for more than two hours in {{w|privacy mode|incognito mode}} as he might get stuck there forever.

Incognito mode/private mode is a feature in a web browser that automatically clears any cookies and web history when the browser window is closed. One could become metaphorically "trapped" in this mode if they don't want to lose this data (for example if they've found a useful page which they want to refer back to, or if they're on a website like YouTube which uses cookies to provide recommended videos and they're finding the recommendations interesting), meaning that they can never close the browser again. Presumably this is more likely to happen after a longer browsing session. The only option to keep browsing data when the incognito/private session is closed is to bookmark or write down the URLs of interesting pages; there is no way to keep the cookies, so things such as recommended YouTube videos from within the incognito browsing session will inevitably be lost when it is closed.

An alternative interpretation revolves around the use of incognito/private browsing modes when the user is paranoid. They may use this mode if, for example, they don't want the risk of anyone else discovering what they've been doing online, and they find it safer to simply use incognito mode rather than manually deleting the relevant cookies and browsing history afterwards. If they use this mode a lot, the sense of paranoia that initially led them to use incognito mode can reinforce itself, and over time they may become uncomfortable browsing outside of incognito mode. This is another way in which one may become "trapped" in incognito mode after extended use.

===Relation to Animorphs===

The caption explains that tech tips from Animorphs are the worst, i.e. the woman is an Animorph, and this was not good advice.

''{{w|Animorphs}}'' is a book series by {{w|K. A. Applegate}} featuring several children who have a special power: they can {{w|shapeshifting|morph}} into various animals whose DNA they have absorbed through alien technology. However, if they stay morphed for over two hours, they will get stuck in that form until they die (this is presumably where the "two hours" in the comic comes from).

In this comic [[Randall]] pokes fun at this by relating it to surfing in incognito mode/privacy mode in a browser. As explained above, staying for too long in incognito mode may cause the user to become "stuck" in this mode until something causes the browser to close, such as the browser/computer crashing or a power failure. This is analogous to the animorphs who become stuck in animal form if they spend too long in that form.

The title text continues the idea that an Animorph tech support team would be the worst possible explaining that their solutions are always the same. And then it gives an example which references a common occurrence in the Animorphs book series wherein the protagonists uses their ability to morph into animals to infiltrate enemy strongholds. In the example it is an update for {{w|Apple Inc.|Apple's}} {{w|MacOS|OS X}} (a popular commercial operating system), that broke something. The solution is to infiltrate Apple by morphing apples. That advice, however, is nonsensical within the rules for morphing, put forth in the books, since the children can only turn into animals and not into fruits like apples.

Animorphs has been referenced before, first only in the title texts of [[1187: Aspect Ratio]] and [[1360: Old Files]], and then later in the main comic in [[1380: Manual for Civilization]], with the books being the actual manual...

==Transcript==
:[A woman with long blonde hair (maybe a version of Blondie) holds both arms up as she addresses Cueball who is sitting in an office chair working on his laptop.]
:Woman: ...But remember—if you browse in incognito mode for more than two hours, you'll be trapped there ''forever!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Animorphs tech tips

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]

1817: Incognito Mode

2017-03-29T18:02:21Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */ added more accurate explanation

{{comic
| number = 1817
| date = March 29, 2017
| title = Incognito Mode
| image = incognito_mode.png
| titletext = They're really the worst tech support team. And their solutions are always the same. "This OS X update broke something." "LET'S INFILTRATE APPLE BY MORPHING APPLES!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Is it Blondie, just with more details to her hair?}}
A woman (maybe a different version of [[Blondie]], or Rachel from The Animorphs) warns [[Cueball]] about not browsing for more than two hours in {{w|privacy mode|incognito mode}} as he might get stuck there forever.

Incognito mode/private mode is a feature in a web browser that automatically clears any cookies and web history when the browser window is closed. One could become metaphorically "trapped" in this mode if they don't want to lose this data (for example if they've found a useful page which they want to refer back to, or if they're on a website like YouTube which uses cookies to provide recommended videos and they're finding the recommendations interesting), meaning that they can never close the browser again. Presumably this is more likely to happen after a longer browsing session. The only option to keep browsing data when the incognito/private session is closed is to bookmark or write down the URLs of interesting pages; there is no way to keep the cookies, so things such as recommended YouTube videos from within the incognito browsing session will inevitably be lost when it is closed.

An alternative interpretation revolves around the use of incognito/private browsing modes when the user is paranoid. They may use this mode if, for example, they don't want the risk of anyone else discovering what they've been doing online, and they find it safer to simply use incognito mode rather than manually deleting the relevant cookies and browsing history afterwards. If they use this mode a lot, the sense of paranoia that initially led them to use incognito mode can reinforce itself, and over time they may become uncomfortable browsing outside of incognito mode. This is another way in which one may become "trapped" in incognito mode after extended use.

===Relation to Animorphs===

The caption explains that tech tips from Animorphs are the worst, i.e. the woman is an Animorph, and this was not good advice.

''{{w|Animorphs}}'' is a book series by {{w|K. A. Applegate}} featuring several children who have a special power: they can {{w|shapeshifting|morph}} into various animals whose DNA they have absorbed through alien technology. However, if they stay morphed for over two hours, they will get stuck in that form until they die.

In this comic [[Randall]] pokes fun at this by relating it to surfing in incognito mode/privacy mode in a browser. As explained above, staying for too long in incognito mode may cause the user to become "stuck" in this mode until something causes the browser to close, such as the browser/computer crashing or a power failure. This is analogous to the animorphs who become stuck in animal form if they spend too long in that form.

The title text continues the idea that an Animorph tech support team would be the worst possible explaining that their solutions are always the same. And then it gives an example which references a common occurrence in the Animorphs book series wherein the protagonists uses their ability to morph into animals to infiltrate enemy strongholds. In the example it is an update for {{w|Apple Inc.|Apple's}} {{w|MacOS|OS X}} (a popular commercial operating system), that broke something. The solution is to infiltrate Apple by morphing apples. That advise, however, is nonsensical within the rules for morphing, put forth in the books, since the children can only turn into animals and not into fruits like apples.

Animorphs has been referenced before, first only in the title texts of [[1187: Aspect Ratio]] and [[1360: Old Files]], and then later in the main comic in [[1380: Manual for Civilization]], with the books being the actual manual...

==Transcript==
:[A woman with long blonde hair (maybe a version of Blondie) holds both arms up as she addresses Cueball who is sitting in an office chair working on his laptop.]
:Woman: ...But remember—if you browse in incognito mode for more than two hours, you'll be trapped there ''forever!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Animorphs tech tips

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]

Talk:1581: Birthday

2015-09-24T09:33:05Z

141.101.99.23: I thought it was specially for me!

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/happy-birthday-song-now-in-public-domain.html [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 11:09, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

https://ia601904.us.archive.org/13/items/gov.uscourts.cacd.564772/gov.uscourts.cacd.564772.docket.html [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.245|162.158.92.245]] 11:26, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

Why is there a <nowiki><code></nowiki> box around the transcript? {{User:17jiangz1/signature|12:51, 23 September 2015}}
:Because someone wrote the text with a space between each line instead of beginning each line with ":"
Like this
:Instead of like this --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:29, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

There are nine musical notes, not six.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.92|173.245.50.92]] 13:40, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

"Some might claim" seems wishy-washy to me. Perhaps it would be better to say "calling the cops in such situations is neither socially appropriate nor beneficial: this is the source of the humor in this comment." [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 14:15, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

This appears to be one of the few comics with both Black Hat and White Hat. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.116|199.27.133.116]] 15:47, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

I don't have a sub to law360, nor do I wish to bother giving them my throwaway email. What was the basis of the ruling? Why is this public domain now? {{unsigned|NotLock}}
:It's not, text updated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.161|108.162.250.161]] 06:39, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

The third line implies that "xkcd" should be pronounced as having two syllables. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.163}}

:Clearly you have never heard "Happy Birthday" sung to someone with a really long name. It doesn't matter if it's two syllables, you just stretch it out. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.123|173.245.48.123]] 04:08, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

:The song can accommodate names of different lengths, consider the following https://youtu.be/vWs3035D69k?t=1m23s [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.180|108.162.250.180]] 08:45, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

AFAIK The ruling only applies to the lyrics, they still have a valid copyright to the music, so if you sing the song you had better make sure it's to a suitable tune that is out of copyright!

One in 366 xkcd fans turned to the page today and initially thought that Randall had used a code not dissimilar to what Google uses to change the banner to a birthday greeting on the users' birthday. I was one of those fans... :-) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.23|141.101.99.23]] 09:33, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

1520: Degree-Off

2015-05-04T10:44:09Z

141.101.99.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1520
| date = May 4, 2015
| title = Degree-Off
| image = degree off.png
| titletext = I'M SORRY, FROM YOUR YEARS OF CONDESCENDING TOWARD THE 'SQUISHY SCIENCES', I ASSUMED YOU'D BE A LITTLE HARDER.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Unfinished. More detailed introduction and explain title text.}}

[[Cueball]], [[Hair Bun Girl]], and [[Megan]] appear to be on a talk show called Degree-Off, hosted by [[Hairy]], where representatives of different fields, in this case, physics, biology, and chemistry, explain why their fields are best and why to get a degree in the field. The title "Degree-Off" is a portmanteau of "{{w|Academic degree|degree}}", as in the recognized completion of studies at a school or university, and "{{w|face-off}}", a direct confrontation between two people or groups.

The host asks Cueball to go first. He lightheartedly tells a story about {{w|Richard Feynman}}, finishing with a quote. The quote "all science is either physics or stamp collecting." was said by {{w|Ernest Rutherford}}, not Richard Feynman, who Cueball attributes it to in the comic. During the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, Richard Feymann got bored because of the isolation and started learning lock picking on the secret documents safes. Using these new skills, he played lots of pranks on his colleagues, like leaving notes and spooking them into believing there was a spy among them (which, of course, {{w|Klaus_Fuchs|there was}}). The reference to stamp collecting is the abstract idea that all other sciences are aggregates of physics and what they study are simply interesting instances of complex behavior derived from basic physics.

Hair Bun Girl, the representative for biology goes next, showing that through their efforts, biology has helped reduce disease ("slaying" {{w|Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse#As_infectious_disease|Pestilence}}). She accuses physics of creating a new weapon of destruction from gathering in the desert (likely referring to the {{w| Manhattan Project}}, conducted in the {{w|New Mexico desert}}), insisting that biologists are the true heroes. Physics is taken aback, having believed it would be a fun activity, which Biology refutes, saying he must have been thinking of Stamp Collecting, which was mentioned in the earlier quote. Megan, the representative for chemistry, does not speak during the comic.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
This graph shows the death rate from infectious disease in USA, similar to that shown in the comic presented by Hair Bun Girl, as both have the range of 1900-2000. It probably served as inspiration to Randall.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[[File:Crude_Infectious_Disease_Mortality_Rate_in_the_United_States_from_1900_Through_1996.gif]]</div>
</div>

Continuing on the Four Horsemen theme, the title text in {{w|all caps}} refers to the mode of speech of {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s character {{w|Death_(Discworld)|Death}}. He mocks physics and physicists for not being harder. Referring to the fact that physicists sometimes see their science as being the most {{w|hard science}} of sciences and demean other sciences for being soft sciences (as in [[435: Purity]]) or "squishy". By calling the physicist squishy, Death might be referring to the fragility of the human body which led to his death, or the state of that body once death has had time to set in. According to [[435: Purity]], the only subject harder or purer than physics it mathematics.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy is acting as the host of a TV talk show, ''Degree-Off''. Cueball, Hair Bun Girl, and Megan are acting as representatives of Phys (Physics), Bio (Biology), and Chem (Chemistry) respectively. They each stand behind their own {{w|Lectern}} with the respective subject label.]

:Hairy: Welcome to the ''Degree-Off'', where we determine which field is the best! Physics, wanna go first?
:Cueball: Sure! I'd like to tell the story of Richard Feynman's Manhattan project lockpicking pranks...

:Cueball: ...and as he said, "all science is either physics or stamp collecting."
:Cueball: Thank you.
:Hairy: ''Great!'' Bio, you wanna go next?
:Hair Bun Girl: Okay.

:[A graph labeled "Per 100,000 is shown above Hair Bun Girl]
:Hair Bun Girl: This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country.

:[Hair Bun Girl raising her left hand]
:Hair Bun Girl: The heroes of my field have ''slain'' one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

:[Hair Bun Girl pointing at Cueball]
:Hair Bun Girl: While the heroes of ''your'' field gathered in the desert to create a new one.

:Cueball: ...Jeez, what the hell? I thought this was supposed to be fun and lighthearted!
:Hair Bun Girl: ''You must have been thinking of stamp collecting.''

==See also==
*Different scientific fields, including physics, biology, and chemistry are compared in terms of purity in [[435: Purity]].

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]

Talk:904: Sports

2015-01-16T19:53:48Z

141.101.99.23: just adding a foreigner's perspective

This comic highlights the tendency to interpret so-called "events" based on essentially random, day-to-day changes that are indistinguishable from trends. Sports writers and directly accused of this. Financial analysts are equally culpable. D&D Dungeon Masters are guilty as well, but I reckon Randall states this somewhat tongue-in-cheek as the role of a DM is to deliberately spin a good yarn.
--[[User:Smartin|Smartin]] ([[User talk:Smartin|talk]]) 04:21, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

having lived in america and abroad, i think this applies heavily to america more so than other countries, although, more generally, we could throw in other countries that have 24-hour sports coverage (which is not most). similar to 24-hour news coverage, eventually you're going to be left with dead air once you're done with real news and so you invent narratives and sensationalise the most insignificant events. as for some evidence that this is an american thing and not "all sports commentary", see trevor noah's take: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tev12nUgCJ0 Trevor Noah - Sports in America]
--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.23|141.101.99.23]] 19:53, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

1256: Questions

2014-12-11T19:43:54Z

141.101.99.23: /* Vertical Questions */

{{comic
| number = 1256
| date = August 26, 2013
| title = Questions
| image = questions.png
| titletext = To whoever typed 'why is arwen dying': GOOD. FUCKING. QUESTION.
}}
A larger version of the picture can be found [http://xkcd.com/1256/large/ here]
.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many questions unanswered.}}
{{w|Google}}, a rather popular internet search engine, has a feature known as [https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230?hl=en autocomplete] that guesses at search queries before they are fully typed out. These guesses are generally made based on popular searches by other people. From time to time, a particularly strange or hilarious one may be found, as is evidenced in this comic.

The largest pictured questions are: "Why are there slaves in the bible" and "Why are there ants in my laptop".

All of the questions in the comic are "why" questions, so many of them are predicated on false assumptions, such as "Why are there pyramids on the moon".

Regarding the title text: in the Peter Jackson films of {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy}}, Arwen becomes sickly for unspecified reasons as the plot advances, apparently giving Aragorn a more personal reason to fight. The only explanation given is by Elrond, who says "As Sauron's power grows, her [Arwen's] strength wanes." This subplot is entirely absent from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings|original novels}}.

From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/faq#.2.1.21 IMDB]: <blockquote>
Arwen, like her father (and brothers) is considered to be a Half-Elf, the result of a union between an Elf and a mortal human. The Half-Elven of Middle-earth get a choice, to remain immortal and return to the West (Valinor) or to become mortal and to die as humans do. Elrond chose to remain an Elf. Arwen (like her uncle Elros) chooses to become mortal in order to wed and remain with Aragorn. Elrond senses this; this is what he means when he says that Arwen is dying. It is the same as in The Last Unicorn, when the unicorn is given the form of a human woman and can feel that she is no longer immortal ("I can feel this body dying all around me"). According to Tolkien, though, after Aragorn dies in the year 120 (Fourth Age), Arwen returns to Lórien, where she dies by choice the following winter. </blockquote>

==Selected answers==
The tables below have been created so as to split the comic into almost entirely arbitrary blocks, which have then been identified with similarly arbitrary numbers. As a general rule, section numbers work top to bottom, then right to left.
===Illustrated Panels===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why aren't my arms growing?||Arms stop growing because longer arms would not be a very useful way to spend resources, and therefore your DNA tells your body not to grow your arms any more.
|-
|Why are there ghosts?||There is no hard evidence of ghosts.
|-
|Why are there squirrels?||Squirrels exist because they fit their biological niche better than any other species.
|-
|Why is sex so important?||Sex is important because it is the primary method of reproduction in many different species.
|-
| Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter? || In the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe, Muggle technology (human inventions) are often looked down on by wizards - the majority of half-blooded wizards like Harry won't touch one, let alone a wizard extremist like {{w|Voldemort}}. Not only does any Muggle device more complex than a wristwatch interfere with magical artifacts, but wands are usually more versatile than most guns; a revolver can't shoot lightning or summon items or teleport its user. Finally, while Harry himself may or may not consider using firearms due to his Muggle upbringing, ''Harry Potter'' is a children's book (which usually doesn't include guns) set in the United Kingdom (which has stricter gun laws than, say, the United States).
|-
|-
|}

===Section One===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do whales jump? || To the whale, it's like going into outer space!
|-
|Why are witches green? || See {{w|Wizard of Oz}}.
|-
|Why are there mirrors above beds?|| Often, these are used by couples to view themselves during coitus.
|-
|Why do I say Uh?||See ''[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/06/the_odd_body_language_fillers/ Why do we say 'um', 'er', or 'ah' when we hesitate in speaking?]''.
|-
| Why is sea salt better? || The question likely refers to the difference between common {{w|Fortified table salt}} and usually more expensive sea salt. While the major part of both of these is sodium chloride (NaCl) the idea behind the claim is the different composition mostly in regards to trace elements of sea salt compared to "normal" salt. Table salt's composition is often influenced by a country's health department and thus addition of trace elements is regulated. While these regulations are based on scientific studies there remain to be debates concerning the additions, such as iodine.
|-
| Why are there trees in the middle of fields? || Many images of fields contain singular trees in the middle of them. While there exist such trees it is likely an artistic choice to give a more pleasing or aesthetically satisfying image compared to just a field. In modern agriculture those would in fact be quite troublesome since they are a hindrance to large machines used and a new tree would be unlikely to grow in a constantly worked field.
|-
| Why is there not a Pokémon MMO? || {{w|Pokémon}} is a popular franchise, spanning game consoles, anime series, a trading card game, and many other things. Among fans, it is a frequent topic of discussion why a Pokémon {{w|massively multiplayer online game}} has not been officially announced by the series' developers {{w|Game Freak}}, as they often [http://www.dorkly.com/comic/52546/be-careful-what-you-wish-for predict] that such a game would be extremely popular, and bring in massive revenue for the company. However, if Game Freak were to develop a Pokémon MMO the MMOs would be strong competition against the console games and therefore reducing the Pokémon demographic significantly.
|-
|Why is there laughing in TV shows? || Sitcoms were once filmed with an audience, so the actors could respond to their reactions. That's the historical reason why there were laughs in TV shows. The tradition continues, with the difference that now the laughter mostly comes from recorded tapes. See {{w|Laugh track}}.
|-
|Why are there doors on the freeway?|| Highway/freeway {{w|noise barrier|noise barriers}} sometimes have doors in them to allow workers access to both sides of the barrier.
|-
|Why are there so many svchost.exe running?||See {{w|svchost.exe}}.
|-
| Why aren't there any countries in Antarctica? || {{w|Antarctica}} is the southern most continent and is by large covered in ice and in general pretty cold. While it is a regular target of tourists and researchers it also lacks native human inhabitants. At the moment, the territorial claims concerning Antarctica are mostly handled via the {{w|Antarctic Treaty System}}. In short there are a few countries who claim certain parts of the continent as their own in theory but so far it is considered neutral territory and most maps don't concern themselves with displaying the (in some regards disputed) territorial claims because they do not matter at this point in time. If there are ever any worthwhile resources discovered, this might change.
|-
|Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft?|| To add atmosphere and to give players hints when there is a dark cave nearby. See [http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Ambience Minecraft Wiki].
|-
|Why is there kicking in my stomach?||See ''[http://www.webmd.com/baby/fetal-movement-feeling-baby-kick Feeling Your Baby Kick]''. Here, ''stomach'' means ''abdomen''.
|-
|Why are there two slashes after http?||See ''[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220286/Sir-Tim-Berners-Lee-admits-forward-slashes-web-address-mistake.html Sir Tim Berners-Lee admits the forward slashes in every web address 'were a mistake']''.
|-
|Why are there celebrities?||There are certain people who are more respected and well-known than other people, whether it be because of their acting career, major advancements to science, or a sex tape.
|-
|Why do snakes exist?|| The question is rather general and likely based on a widespread dislike for the reptilians. Be it due to their appearance, their spread, or the danger a few snakes pose to humans (often due to being venomous) many people have a dislike for snakes and would prefer them to not exist (similar to spiders).
In regards to "why do snakes exist on earth?": Because evolution. Snakes fill a gap in the ecosystem as predators and hunt different species, including vermin. Snakes are in that regard similar to many other predatory animals. The question on why snakes developed with their distinct streamlined shape is still debated but {{w|snakes|likely it either provided an advantage when burrowing or swimming}}.
|-
|Why do oysters have pearls?||{{w|Creation of a pearl|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism against a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside the shell, or an attack from outside, injuring the mantle tissue. The mollusk creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritation. Pearls are commonly viewed by scientists as a by-product of an adaptive immune system-like function.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are ducks called ducks?||See {{w|Duck#Etymology}}. {{W|wikt:duck|According to Wiktionary}}, the noun ''duck'' can be traced back to the {{w|Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic}} word {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/dūkaną|''dūkaną''}} ("to dive, bend down"), and, in turn, the {{w|Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European}} {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/dʰewb-|''dʰewb-''}} ("deep, hollow"), which is the origin of the verb ''to duck''. The link between the noun and the verb comes from ducks' tendency to dive under water for short periods of time.
|-
|Why do they call it the clap?||An old folk remedy for {{w|gonorrhea}} was to clap on the sides of the penis.
|-
|Why are Kyle and Cartman friends?|| The question relates to the TV show {{w|South Park}}. Both are children living in the small titular town in Colorado. Cartman is widely accepted to a be very bad person, one of his many character flaws being his antisemitism. Kyle on the other hand is a Jew. However, both, along with two other kids, Stan and Kenny, are the core focus of the show (or used to be) and to some extent are considered to be friends. While there are episodes which show Cartman being not entirely a horrible person and him holding Kyle in a position of at least a worthy adversary, most of the time the question should be "Why is anyone friends with Cartman?" However, they most likely remain "friends" because they are in the same class at school and are therefore "forced" to be around one another.
|-
|Why is there an arrow on Aang's head?||{{w|Avatar: The Last Airbender#Characters|Aang}} is the main character of the TV series {{w|Avatar the last Airbender|Avatar - The last Airbender}} and features as part of a large body spanning tattoo an arrow on his head. These tattoos are made to replicate the markings of one of the shows fictional animals, the air bison which are regarded as the original air benders. They are given to human air benders once they attain the status of masters. Because Aang acquired this status very early in life he was already tattooed accordingly.
|-
|Why are text messages blue?||This likely refers to imessage chat being blue. These messages are blue when sending a message to another apple device.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on clothes?||Because some people buy them. Mustaches, especially handlebar-style mustaches, were a popular fad at the time of this comic.
|-
|Why are there mustaches on cars?||Fuzzy pink mustaches are used to designate cars in the {{w|Lyft}} service.
|-
|Why are there mustaches everywhere?||See {{w|Movember}}
|-
|Why are there so many birds in Ohio?||
|-
|Why is there so much rain in Ohio?|| {{w|lake_effect|Lake-effect}} rain develops in the same manner as lake-effect snow.
|-
|Why is Ohio weather so weird?||See {{w|Lake-effect snow}}.
|-
|}

===Section Two===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there male and female bikes? || {{w|bicycle|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>Historically, women's bicycle frames had a top tube that connected in the middle of the seat tube instead of the top, resulting in a lower {{w|Frame geometry|standover height}} at the expense of compromised structural integrity, since this places a strong bending load in the seat tube, and bicycle frame members are typically weak in bending. This design, referred to as a '''''{{w|step-through frame}}''''' or as an ''open frame'', allows the rider to mount and dismount in a dignified way while wearing a skirt or dress.</blockquote>
|-
|Why are there bridesmaids?||See {{w|Bridesmaid#Origin and history}}.
|-
|Why do dying people reach up?|| In many works of fiction dying people are regarded with an outstretched arm, grasping for unseen objects towards the sky. In all likelihood this originates in the idea of heaven as the place where (good) people go after death. People "reach for the light" which is seen when dying according to similar beliefs or possibly for already dead relatives or other associated people waiting for them. An alternative hypothesis is that they want to hug/touch their loved ones one last time.
|-
|Why aren't there varicose arteries?||Blood moves through veins due to irregular pressure from skeletal muscles combined with valves to control direction. In varicose veins these valves malfunction affecting blood flow. In arteries blood flow is produced directly from pressure caused by the heart.
|-
|Why are old Klingons different?|| {{w|Klingon Redesign|From Wikipedia}}: <blockquote>For {{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}} (1979), the Klingons were retconned and their appearance and behavior radically changed. To give the aliens a more sophisticated and threatening demeanor, the Klingons were depicted with ridged foreheads, snaggled and prominent teeth, and a defined language and alphabet. Lee Cole, a production designer, used red gels and primitive shapes in the design of Klingon consoles and ship interiors, which took on a dark and moody atmosphere. The alphabet was designed as angular, with sharp edges harkening to the Klingon's militaristic focus.[5] Costume designer Robert Fletcher created new uniforms for the Klingons, reminiscent of feudal Japanese armor.</blockquote>
|-
|Why is programming so hard?||Programming is the art of writing instructions for a computer to do. Since the computer has a limited set of instructions for you to use it involves a new way of thinking for many. It is also hard because the computer itself is not smart or adaptable to unexpected problems. For instance when a human is told to sort books in a shelf, he or she can do that despite there might be things in the way (he or she will just move it to the side). A computer generally just crash if it doesn't have instructions on how to deal with the unexcepted problem.
|-
|Why is there a 0 Ohm resistor?|| A resistor is usually designed to create a certain resistance, measured in {{w|Ohm}} in an electronic device. A 0 Ohm resistor seems pointless as it would only provide the same resistance as a normal cable. However, Wikipedia's {{w|Zero-ohm link}} article gives sufficient explanation.
|-
|Why do Americans hate soccer? || Soccer, or football in British English, is rather unpopular in the USA compared to most other regions of the world. Finding a particular reason behind the (dis)like for certain sports, apart from cultural spread, is difficult. One possible explanation is soccer's tendency to have far fewer points scored in an average game and a higher likelihood of draws compared to such things as American Football, basketball or baseball, which are far more popular. In how far this is a legitimate argument for regarding soccer as "less interesting" is up to debate.
|-
|Why do rhymes sound good?||The brain enjoys repetition especially in music.
|-
|Why do trees die?||Some common reasons include lack of water, lack of nitrogen in the soil and being chopped down.
|-
|Why is there no sound on CNN?||Some stations broadcast a {{w|second audio program}}, an alternative sound track that your TV can be configured to use instead of the primary program. This is intended to be used for broadcasting in an alternate language, or for {{w|Descriptive Video Service}} to make a program accessible to the visually impaired. Many programs that don't actually use SAP will still broadcast an SAP that is identical to the primary program; however, this is not required. If your TV is configured to use SAP and a particular channel isn't broadcasting SAP at that time, there won't be any sound.
|-
|Why aren't Pokémon real?||Pokémon are fantasised creatures that were designed to produce an interesting battle mechanic in a game. Some of the pokémons abilities would be impossible on earth as we know it. For instance, Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the sun<ref name="Bulbapedia Magcargo"> [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magcargo#Trivia|Magcargo]]</ref>.
|-
|Why aren't bullets sharp?||See {{w|Terminal ballistics}}.
|-
|Why do dreams seem so real?|| Most dreams occur during a stage known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement). During REM, your brain is highly active and its wave pattern is the same as the wave patterns in a person who is awake. It should be noted that dreams can occur during other stages of sleep but most dreams that are vivid occur during the REM stage.
|-
|}

===Section Three===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why do testicles move?|| The scrotum shrinks and expands to account for temperature changes.
|-
| Why are there psychics?|| Without physics the world would cease to exist.
|-
| Why are hats so expensive?|| Hats can be expensive depending on the quality of material, size, location, and demand. A probable answer is that hats are simply difficult to make, causing high prices.
|-
| Why is there caffeine in my shampoo?|| Caffeine penetrates the hair roots, thereby protecting the hair from negative testosterone impacts and from premature hair loss.
|-
| Why do your boobs hurt?|| The most probable reason is that your bra doesn't fit correctly. It could also be a hormone imbalance or awkwardly shaped breasts.
|}

===Section Four===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why aren't economists rich? || Economists study the economy. In order to become rich, one has to take part in the economy by trading or producing goods or services.
|-
| Why do Americans call it soccer? || {{w|Association Football}} is called Soccer in the USA because {{w|American Football}} is the more popular version there.
|-
| Why are my ears ringing? ||
|-
| Why are there so many Avengers? ||
|-
|Why are the Avengers fighting the X Men || {{w|Avengers vs. X-Men}} was a 2012 Marvel crossover event that, like many other recent comic book events, had heroes fight other heroes. In this case, the {{w|Avengers (comics)|Avengers}} and the {{w|X-Men}} fought over the {{w|Phoenix Force (comics)|Phoenix Force}}, a godlike power that often possesses {{w|Jean Grey}} or her descendants (in this case, her alternate universe daughter Hope Summers). The Avengers believed the Phoenix Force is too powerful for humanity to control and wanted to contain it, while the X-Men believed the Phoenix was the messiah for mutants and could fix all of the Earth's problems.
|-
|Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers || Wolverine ''has'' been an Avenger, in some circumstances. e.g. in the {{w|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes}} cartoon series, the episode ''New Avengers'' had Wolverine (along with Spiderman, War Machine, The Thing and Luke Cage and Iron Fist) substitute while the 'original' Avengers were unavailable to deal with the current crisis (which of course included the fate of the 'proper' Avengers). However, in general his anti-authority personality makes him a difficult team-member to field, and he has frequently disassociated himself even from the X-Men. But, in Avengers vs. X-Men (see above) Wolverine ''sided'' with The Avengers, and more modern treatments have even included the character in about as much a permanent a membership of the group as Logan is ever likely to have.

But if the question is about why Wolverine didn't appear in {{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|''The Avengers''}}, the answer is that ''The Avengers'' is being produced by Marvel/Disney, while Fox still has the rights to the X-Men and all Marvel mutants in general. Unless there is studio agreement, the two properties cannot cross, except through complicated machinations. For example, there are plans to bring Avengers mainstays Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch to both the ''Avengers'' and ''X-Men'' franchises, but only the Fox films have the right to call them the children of Magneto, and Marvel/Disney cannot even identify them on-screen as "mutants".
|}

===Section Five===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
|Why are there ants in my laptop? || Ants usually come in your laptop when there are little crumbs of food. It is advised to get screen protectors.
|-
| Why is Earth tilted? ||
|-
| Why is space black? || What we call black is the absence of light. Space is mostly empty. Whe we look at a part of space where there is nothing that can reflect the stars' light, it consequently appears black to us.
|-
| Why is outer space so cold? ||
|-
| Why are there pyramids on the moon? ||
|-
| Why is NASA shutting down? ||
|}

===Section <strike>Spider</strike> Six===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there tiny spiders in my house? ||
|-
| Why do spiders come inside? ||
|-
| Why are there huge spiders in my house? ||
|-
| Why are there lots of spiders in my house? ||
|-
| Why are there spiders in my room? ||
|-
| Why are there so many spiders in my room? ||
|-
| Why do spider bites itch? ||
|-
| Why is dying so scary? ||
|-
| Why is there no GPS in laptops? ||
|-
| Why do knees click? ||
|-
| Why aren't there E grades? ||
|-
| Why is isolation bad? ||
|-
| Why do boys like me? ||
|-
| Why don't boys like me? ||
|-
| Why is there always a Java update? ||
|-
| Why are there red dots on my thighs? ||
|-
| Why is lying good? ||
|}

===Section Seven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there slaves in the bible? ||
|-
| Why do twins have different fingerprints? ||
|-
| Why are Americans afraid of dragons? ||
|-
| Why is HTTPS crossed out in red? ||
|-
| Why is there a line through HTTPS? ||
|-
| Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook? ||
|-
| Why is HTTPS important? ||
|}

===Section Eight===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there swarms of gnats? ||
|-
| Why is there phlegm? ||
|-
| Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN || From a Minnesota Paper, [http://www.startribune.com/local/138902104.html the Star Tribune], "Laws prevent the city from poisoning the crows". "Duffy [Steve Duffy, a co-owner of U.S. Bird Abatement Services, which has contracted with Rochester to get rid of the crows] isn't sure why Rochester has such a bad crow problem; probably a confluence of many bird-friendly conditions that has also made it a magnet for geese. He's seen worse cases, but called Rochester's situation 'hideous.'" And best of all, "The city has twice this winter hired experts to chase them off. They tried lasers and bullhorns — hey, get out of here, you crows — and even employed raptors to pick them off, one by one. That worked, for awhile." Unfortunately, they mean a {{w|bird of prey}}, not a {{w|velociraptor}}.
|-
| Why is Psychic weak to Bug || In Pokémon, Pokémon of the psychic type like Mr. Mime are weak to three types of attacks: Ghost, Dark, and Bug. The general theory is that Psychic Pokémon, relying heavily on their thoughts for attacks, are weak to fears, which ghosts, darkness, and bugs can be classified as.
|-
| Why do children get cancer? ||
|-
| Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus? || {{w|Poseidon}} was the patron deity of the city of {{w|Troy}}, which after a 10 years siege by the Greeks fell due to {{w|Odysseus}}' list of the {{w|Trojan_Horse|Trojan horse}}. As the Greeks were returning home after the Trojan War, Oddyseus' ship accidentally landed on the island home of the cyclops Polyphemus, who imprisoned the crew and ate many of them. In order to escape, Odysseus blinded the cyclops. Poseidon, Polyphemus' father, was extremely angered by his son being blinded, so he cursed Odysseus' ship to prevent him from reaching his home in {{W|Ithaca}}. The adventures which Odysseus encountered during his quest for reaching Ithaca are the main theme of {{w|Homer|Homer's}} {{w|Odyssey}} The Odyssey also says that before sailing, the crew forgot to offer a sacrifice as was ordained.
|-
| Why is there ice in space? ||
|}

===Section <strike>Owl</strike> Nine===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there an owl in my back yard? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl outside my window? ||
|-
| Why is there an owl on the dollar bill? ||
|-
| Why do owls attack people? ||
|-
| Why are AK47s so expensive? ||
|-
| Why are there helicopters circling my house? ||
|}

===Section Ten===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are there gods? ||
|-
|Why are there two Spocks? || This is probably a reference to the {{w|Star_Trek_(film)|2009 Star Trek movie}} in which the franchise was given a {{w|Reboot_(fiction)|continuity reboot}}. The modified setting is explained in-universe by time travel, with both the villain Nero and the original-timeline Spock being brought back from the 24th century to the 23rd, creating a timeline in which both older Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) and the younger Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) coexist.

Another possibility is that the question refers to the episode {{w|Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)|"Mirror, Mirror"}}, which mostly takes place in an alternate universe populated by ruthless versions of most of the characters (including Spock).
|-
| Why is Mt Vesuvius there? ||
|-
| Why do they say T minus? ||
|-
| Why are there obelisks? ||
|-
| Why are wrestlers always wet? ||
|-
| Why are oceans becoming more acidic? ||
|-
| Why is Arwen dying? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail laying eggs? ||
|-
| Why aren't my quail eggs hatching? ||
|-
|Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America? || ''Further information: {{w|United States military deployments}}''This is a very interesting question, albeit one likely based on a regional misunderstanding. Presumably, this question is asked by Americans who assume that the existence of {{w|Category:Military facilities of the United States by country|U.S. military bases abroad}} is a general trend among countries, as opposed to being the rarity that it is. In fact, {{w|List of countries with overseas military bases|only a handful of other countries}} have military bases outside of their borders, and the three—{{w|France}}, the {{w|United Kingdom}}, and {{w|Russia}}—that have more than one or two are all countries that, like the United States, {{w|Allies of World War II|were on the winning side of World War II}}, have {{w|List of countries by military expenditures|massive military expenditures}}, and have {{w|United Nations Security Council veto power|UN Security Council vetoes}}. In other words, only the most militarily elite countries have bases overseas. The U.S. is unique, however, in that it has far more overseas bases than any other country (and, pretty much, far more of anything else than any other country, when it comes to the military), and in that {{w|List of United States military bases|it has bases in several other highly-industrialized nations}}, including {{w|List of United States Army installations in South Korea|South Korea}} and the United Kingdom, and, most notably, the World War II {{w|Axis powers}}: {{w|List of United States Army installations in Germany|Germany}}, {{w|United States Forces Japan|Japan}}, and {{w|List of United States Army installations in Italy|Italy}}. France, Russia, and the U.K.'s bases, on the other hand, are almost all within areas that they previously controlled.These bases can be controversial in some countries, while in others they are a major source of economic and political stability. The U.S. traditionally justifies their presence as a necessary and crucial element in its efforts to promote peace domestically and worldwide. Despite their major role in {{w|U.S. foreign policy}}, and in the general political structure of the globe, the American public often largely ignores them, and they rarely become a major political issue (apart from an occasional mention by {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian presidential candidates}}).So, essentially, the absence of foreign military bases within the U.S. is primarily because there aren't really any other countries in a position to place bases there. Ironically, although no battles in the traditional sense have been fought within the U.S. since the {{w|U.S. Civil War}} and the U.S. mainland has seen {{w|Mainland invasion of the United States|almost no military action}}, foreign air force bases might have been useful on September 11, 2001. (The {{w|attack on Pearl Harbor}} in 1941 was 18 years before Hawaii became a U.S. state.)There are, however, foreign troops stationed at some continental US military bases. For example RAF (British Royal Air Force) 39 Sqn and 361 Sqn at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada flying Reaper and Predator drones. But this are not foreign military bases, they are just guests.
|}

===Section Eleven===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why are my boobs itchy? ||
|-
| Why are cigarettes legal? ||
|-
| Why are there ducks in my pool? ||
|-
| Why is Jesus white? ||
|-
| Why is there liquid in my ear? ||
|-
| Why do Q tips feel good? ||
|-
| Why do good people die? ||
|-
| Why are ultrasounds important? ||
|-
| Why are ultrasound machines expensive? ||
|-
| Why is stealing wrong? ||
|}

===Vertical Questions===
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:20%;"|Question !! Possible answer
|-
| Why is there hell if god forgives? ||
|-
| Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts? ||
|-
| Why do iguanas die? ||
|-
| Why is GPS free? ||
|-
| Why are trees tall? ||
|-
|Why are there female Mr. Mimes? || {{w|Mr. Mime}} is a Pokémon introduced in the first generation of the games, and despite its name, it can be either of a male or female gender. As the Pokémon was introduced before the concept of [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender gender in Pokémon games], it is likely that the people in charge of translating its Japanese name (Barrierd) did not take this into account during the process.
|-
| Why is there lava? ||
|-
| Why is YKK on a zippers? || YKK Group is the name of a large group of Japanese manufacturing companies, which among other things manufacture a lot of zippers.
|-
| Why is life so boring? ||
|-
| Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts? ||
|-
|Why is there no king in England? || ''Note: For simplicity's sake, "England" here is being read as "United Kingdom." The various name changes, mergers, and splits of kingdoms are complicated.''The basis for this question is that for the past several hundred years, there has almost always been a queen in England, the sole exceptions being when the king has not had a wife. However, there is a distinction between being the queen of England (that is to say, {{w|List of British monarchs|a monarch}}) and being the {{w|queen consort|queen ''consort''}} of England: The former refers to a woman who {{w|Succession to the British throne|succeeded to the throne}} in her own right, becoming sovereign, while the latter refers to the wife of the king. Both roles, though, are commonly referred to as "Queen of England," creating the impression that there is always such a person. The logical question, therefore, is why {{w|Elizabeth II}}'s husband, {{w|Prince Philip|Philip}}, is not considered the king of England. The answer lies in Britain's system of {{w|male-preference cognatic primogeniture}}, which causes the monarch of England to usually be a man, not a woman. As a result of this, British laws were generally built around the presumption that the monarch would be a man, and that said man would be married to a woman, [[223: Valentine's Day|comic 223]] be damned. Since the creation of the modern British throne in 1707, only two women have reigned as queen in their own right; it just so happens that these two women have been two of the most famous and longest-reigning monarchs in world history, {{w|Queen Victoria}} and Queen Elizabeth II. This fact may add to people's enhanced perception of the lack of a British king. Victoria and Elizabeth's respective consorts, {{w|Albert, Prince Consort|Albert}} and Philip, have been styled as princes—Albert as {{w|Prince Consort}} and Philip as "{{w|British prince|Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}}." Both were explicitly granted their titles by their wives, though Albert was already a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Philip had previously been a prince of Denmark and Greece, but had renounced both titles before marrying Elizabeth.The title {{w|king consort}} also exists, but has never been used in the United Kingdom.Notably, should {{w|Prince Charles}} succeed to his mother's throne, it has been announced that his wife, {{w|Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Camilla}}, will be styled as {{w|princess consort}}, ''not'' as queen consort, just as she has declined the title {{w|Princess of Wales}}, which is strongly associated with Charles's first wife, {{w|Princess Diana|Diana}}. Assuming that Charles succeeds, this means that Britain will not have anyone referred to as "queen," after decades of not having anyone referred to as "king."
|-
| Why do I feel dizzy? ||
|-
| Why are dogs afraid of fireworks? ||
|-
| Why are there weeks? ||
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
:[This strip is a rectangular word cloud, titled 'Questions found in Google autocomplete'. Embedded in the cloud are 5 single panels, with illustrated questions. These are described at the end. Questions are given in roughly columnar order. None of the questions have question marks.]

:Questions found in Google Autocomplete

:Why do whales jump
:Why are witches green
:Why are there mirrors above beds
:Why do I say uh
:Why is sea salt better
:Why are there trees in the middle of fields
:Why is there not a Pokemon MMO
:Why is there laughing in TV shows
:Why are there doors on the freeway
:Why are there so many svchost.exe running
:Why aren't there any countries in antarctica
:Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft
:Why is there kicking in my stomach
:Why are there two slashes after HTTP
:Why are there celebrities
:Why do snakes exist
:Why do oysters have pearls
:Why are ducks called ducks
:Why do they call it the clap
:Why are Kyle and Cartman friends
:Why is there an arraow on Aang's head
:Why are text messages blue
:Why are there mustaches on clothes
:Why are there mustaches on cars
:Why are there mustaches everywhere
:Why are there so many birds in Ohio
:Why is there so much rain in Ohio
:Why is Ohio weather so weird
:Why are there male and female bikes
:Why are there bridesmaids
:Why do dying people reach up
:Why aren't there varicose arteries
:Why are old Klingons different
:Why is programming so hard
:Why is there a 0 ohm resistor
:Why do Americans hate soccer
:Why do rhymes sound good
:Why do trees die
:Why is there no sound on CNN
:Why aren't Pokemon real
:Why aren't bullets sharp
:Why do dreams seem so real
:Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts
:Why do iguanas die
:Why do testicles move
:Why are there psychics
:Why are hats so expensive
:Why is there caffeine in my shampoo
:Why do your boobs hurt
:Why aren't economists rich
:Why do Americans call it soccer
:Why are my ears ringing
:Why are there so many Avengers
:Why are the Avengers fighting the X men
:Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers
:Why are there ants in my laptop
:Why is Earth tilted
:Why is space black
:Why is outer space so cold
:Why are there pyramids on the moon
:Why is NASA shutting down
:Why is there Hell if God forgives
:Why are there tiny spiders in my house
:Why do spiders come inside
:Why are there huge spiders in my house
:Why are there lots of spiders in my house
:Why are there spiders in my room
:Why are there so many spiders in my room
:Why do spider bites itch
:Why is dying so scary
:Why is there no GPS in laptops
:Why do knees click
:Why aren't there E grades
:Why is isolation bad
:Why do boys like me
:Why don't boys like me
:Why is there always a Java update
:Why are there red dots on my thighs
:Why is lying good
:Why is GPS free
:Why are trees tall
:Why are there slaves in the Bible
:Why do twins have different fingerprints
:Why are Americans afraid of dragons
:Why is there lava
:Why are there swarms of gnats
:Why is there phlegm
:Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN
:Why is psychic weak to bug
:Why do children get cancer
:Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus
:Why is there ice in space
:Why are there female Mr Mimes
:Why is there an owl in my backyard
:Why is there an owl outside my window
:Why is there an owl on the dollar bill
:Why do owls attack people
:Why are AK47s so expensive
:Why are there helicopters circling my house
:Why are there gods
:Why are there two Spocks
:Why is Mt Vesuvius there
:Why do they say T minus
:Why are there obelisks
:Why are wrestlers always wet
:Why are oceans becoming more acidic
:Why is Arwen dying
:Why aren't my quail laying eggs
:Why aren't my quail eggs hatching
:Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America
:Why is life so boring
:Why are my boobs itchy
:Why are cigarettes legal
:Why are there ducks in my pool
:Why is Jesus white
:Why is there liquid in my ear
:Why do Q tips feel good
:Why do good people die
:Why are ultrasounds important
:Why are ultrasound machines expensive
:Why is stealing wrong
:Why is YKK on all zippers
:Why is HTTPS crossed out in red
:Why is there a line through HTTPS
:Why is there a red line through HTTPS on Facebook
:Why is HTTPS important
:Why are there weeks
:Why do I feel dizzy
:Why are dogs afraid of fireworks
:Why is there no king in England

:[We see Cueball from the torso up, with arms outstretched.]
:Cueball: Why aren't my arms growing

:[Megan stands with a grey ghost on either side of her.]
:Megan: Why are there ghosts

:[Beret Guy stands, looking at a squirrel.]
:Beret Guy: Why are there squirrels

:[Cueball stands.]
:Cueball: Why is sex so important.

:[We see Ponytail from the torso up.]
:Ponytail: Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Google Search]]