explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3024: METAR

2024-12-14T01:31:07Z

141.101.99.72: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3024
| date = December 13, 2024
| title = METAR
| image = metar_2x.png
| imagesize = 640x360px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In the aviation world, they don't use AM/PM times. Instead, all times are assumed to be AM unless they're labeled NOTAM.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an A380 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In aviation, the {{w|METAR}} (Meteorological Aerodrome Report) is used to give pilots a brief overview of the current meteorological conditions at the airport.
The METAR follows a specific structure and makes heavy usage of abbreviations, which makes it hard to read for anyone not familiar with it.
The comic makes fun of that by assuming meaning of the words based on what non-aviation people might think the different elements of the METAR report may represent.
The METAR in the comic is fairly alarming, describing gale-force winds, a possible tornado, freezing volcanic ash (in New York), lightning, and impossibly high atmospheric pressure.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Code !! Real Meaning !! According to the comic
|-
| METAR
| Type: Meteorological Aerodrome Report
| The comic assumes that this is just a spelling error and it should be "meter"
|-
| KNYC
| Station ID: 4 character identifier; for an airport, this would be the ICAO code. In this instance the identifier represents the automated weather station at Belvedere Castle in Central Park, NYC. Airport, weather, and radio station call signs share a common heritage.
| "Station ID", which is actually correct, although most people unfamiliar with METAR-reporting stations may presume this is a TV or Radio broadcaster's registered identification.
|-
| 251600Z
| Time of observation: 25th day of the month at 4 PM UTC. Z is not part of the time, but simply shorthand for GMT or "Zulu" time.
| Misreading the "Z" as a 2 and the "25" as the hour, resulting in a nonsensical interpretation of the time of observation.
|-
| 18035G45KT
| Wind direction and speed: Wind direction: 180° (directly from the south, degrees based on 0°=magnetic north), speed: 35 knots, gusting to 45 knots
| Instead of interpreting the first 5 digits as direction and speed, it is assumed that it is one big number and the G45 stands for the time span in which this was observed with "G" standing for "good". 18,035 knots is an unrealistically high wind speed, faster than orbital velocity; the {{w|jet stream}} typically contains the highest winds on Earth, and may reach about 250 knots.
|-
| 6SM
| In weather reports related to aviation, "6SM" stands for 6 statute miles, meaning that objects can be seen clearly up to 6 miles away.<ref>https://weather.cod.edu/notes/metar.html#:~:text=6SM%2DVisibility,SM)%20up%20to%2010%20SM.</ref> This indicates clear enough weather to fly without instruments; the value has a max range of 10SM.
| The comic interprets "6SM" to humorously mean a "Size '''6 Sm'''all".
|-
| VCFCFZVA
| In the vicinity (VC): funnel cloud (FC) and freezing (FZ) volcanic ash (VA).
| A riff on the repeated letters which give off the impression the string is constructed by randomly keypresses on the keyboard, as exemplified by a [[1689: My Friend Catherine|cat on the keyboard]]. There is a long history of this problem, as well as [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ attempted solutions].
This string may or may not actually look like the pattern of characters that a walking cat could produce (and be reliably detected). All the letters are in a cluster at the lower left of the (QWERTY) keyboard, with some adjacently paired characters perhaps indicative of stepping on multiple keys and other neighbouring keys having been stepped over, not uncomm9n of an oblivious feline wandering across your desk. B ut the repeated cluster of "CFCF", and other implied paw-press events, seem less likely to emerge even from a rapid quadrupedal gait. A more casual stroll would likely also create single-character duplications, unless the keyboard repeat delay was set unnaturally high.
|-
| +BLUP
| Heavy (+) blowing (BL) unknown precipitation (UP)
| Riffing on the fact that it looks like an onomatopoetic word
|-
| NOSIG
| No significant change is expected to the reported conditions within the next 2 hours
| The comic assumes that the transmitter of the METAR report wants the receivers to know that they do not have a significant other, which the comic finds sad. The observer could be trying to abuse the METAR report as a dating platform.
|-
| LTG OHD
| Lightning overhead
| OHD is interpreted as "overheard" instead of "overhead", indicating that they did not observe it themselves and instead just overheard people talking about it.
|-
| A3808
| Altimeter setting: (calculated) air pressure at {{w|Mean_sea_level|mean sea level}} at the airport is 38.08. The value of 38.08 inHg is extremely high. The standard atmospheric pressure used in aviation is 29.92 inHg, the highest recorded surface pressure on Earth was 32.01 {{w|Inch_of_mercury|inches of mercury (inHg)}}<ref>https://learn.weatherstem.com/modules/learn/lessons/125/18.html</ref> ("A" for inHg, used primarily in USA, Canada and Japan, "Q" would indicate a value in hPa). This is used to adjust the altimeter in the aircraft to the local air pressure, instead of using the standard setting used in higher air spaces.
| The comic says that the observer saw an {{w|Airbus_A380|Airbus A380-800}}. Note: The {{w|List_of_ICAO_aircraft_type_designators|ICAO aircraft type code}} for the Airbus A380-800 is A388 and not A3808.
|-
| RMK
| Beginning of the section with remarks
| Remarkable. Might be a comment about the A380.
|-
| AO2
| The weather station is automated (A) and has a precipitation discriminator (O2)
| Reference to the {{w|fan fiction|fanfic}} site [https://archiveofourown.org/ Archive of Our Own], often abbreviated as AO3
|-
| SLP130=
| {{w|Sea_level_pressure|Sea-level pressure}} is 1013.0 hPa (approx. 29.91 inHg). The equal sign signifies the end of the METAR.
| "SLP" interpreted as abbreviation for sleepy, the numbers as a time, and the = sign as "around" (maybe confused with ≈)
|-
| NOTAM (title text)
| Not part of a METAR report, but instead another aviation abbreviation. It stands for {{w|NOTAM|Notice to Air Missions}} (previously Notice to Airmen).
| Parsed as "not A.M.", indicating that a given time is to be interpreted as P.M. While AM and PM are indeed not used in aviation, as the comic says, they use a 24-hour clock system, not an "A.M.-by-default" 12-hour clock system.
|}

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

Decoding a METAR Report:

[A METAR report is shown with annotations. The report is:]

<code>
METAR KNYC 251600Z 18035G45KT 6SM VCFCFZVA +BLUP NOSIG LTG OHD A3808 RMK A02 SPL130=
</code>

[The annotations are:]

* <code>METAR</code> "METER" (Usually misspelled)
* <code>KNYC</code> Station ID
* <code>251600Z</code> Time (25:16:002)
* <code>18035G45KT</code> Wind speed has been 18,035 knots for a good 45 minutes now
* <code>6SM</code> Observer is a size 6 small
* <code>VCFCFZVA</code> Sorry, the station cat walked on the keyboard
* <code>+BLUP</code> Weird noise the sky made earlier
* <code>NOSIG</code> Observer has no significant other :(
* <code>LTG OHD</code> We overheard someone saying there was lightning
* <code>A3808</code> Hey look, an Airbus A380-800!
* <code>RMK</code> Remarkable!
* <code>A02</code> Fanfic Archive equipped with a precipitation sensor
* <code>SPL130=</code> Observer got sleepy around 1:30

==References==
{{reflist}}
[https://e6bx.com/metar-decoder/ Metar Decoder]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Aviation]]

2810: How to Coil a Cable

2023-08-02T18:20:45Z

141.101.99.72: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2810
| date = August 2, 2023
| title = How to Coil a Cable
| image = how_to_coil_a_cable_2x.png
| imagesize = 366x713px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The ideal mix for maximum competitive cable-coiling energy is one A/V tech, one rock climber, one sailor, and one topologist.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CLIMBING MARINE A/V TOPOLOGIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic humorously states that the best way to coil a cable is to proclaim the cable must be broken, whereupon a certain type of know-it-all, but well-meaning, people will be glad that their obscure knowledge of cable-coiling is finally able to help someone (a bit like in [[208: Regular Expressions]]) and in the end coil it for you.

This is reminiscent of {{w|Ward_Cunningham#Law|Cunningham's Law}}, which states that "the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer".

Long cables left in a random pile develop knots and look messy, especially if there are several different cables. The causes of this are not well understood, but may relate to socks disappearing in the wash and to clothes ending up within duvet covers.

The obvious way of coiling a cable - taking hold of the cable's trailing end as it leaves the hand, and bringing it back around into the hand in a circle, so it forms a simple helix - causes the cable to twist along its length in the same direction for each turn, and requires the person unravelling it to cope with the twisting.

The audio technician's way of coiling a cable involves alternating each obvious helix loop with a backhand loop where the loop spirals the same way as the other loops, but its trailing end ends up between the rest of the gathered cable and the most recent loop. This causes the twists and antitwists to cancel out, resulting in a cable that does not twist while coiled and uncoiled.

The rock climber’s way of preventing twists and tangles in a rope involves “Flaking” a rope - running it through your hands and piling it loosely - which is used when unwinding a coil in to a pile on the ground. This reference to rock climbing is later mentioned in the title text when having a rock climber present is mentioned.

A figure-8 coil is used on some boats: the rope is held in one hand, and wound across the forearm to loop under the elbow, then back across the forearm and through the hand in the same direction each time. This also avoids twists.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:How to Coil a Cable Properly

:Step 1
:Cueball: I need to buy a different brand of cable! This one always twists into spirals and gets tangled.

:Step 2
:White Hat: No! That's because of how you're coiling it!

:Step 3
:Ponytail / White Hat / Hairy: ...over-under method... ...figure-8... ...quarter-turn... ...flaking...

:Step 4
:Neatly coiled!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

Talk:2797: Actual Progress

2023-07-04T11:52:28Z

141.101.99.72:

So true! If the outliers look weird, it's often because you've misunderstood something about the whole set.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:11, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

It may be good to start to ask whether your nice obedient little line is just a coincidence in your testing data. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.159|172.71.26.159]] 17:22, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
:By the time you've happily worked out why the strange exceptions aren't actually strange/exceptions, you realise that there's no real underlying reason that carefully regiments the 'clearly patterned' bits and that's just a pure artefact of data... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.132|172.70.86.132]] 18:24, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
:Related: You have two numbers which are supposed to be same but differs. Sure there is small bug in computing one of them ... and sure you find it, fix it ... and the difference became about twice as big. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:10, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

When I read it, helped also by the title, I thought at scientific research more than software engineering. So I felt the explanation slightly off - not sure if I am alone. [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 22:12, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
:For me it reminded me of something I was doing recently. Boiling down some text, within which were numeric values (allied to descriptors that related to what those numeric values were). Dealt with the the distinction between floating point and (intentionally, not just coincidentally) integer numbers in various places, but then had to deal with various other notations. The first surprise was negative small values (should have been ~0, perhaps, for 0<=x<MAX, but smudged and badly re-normalised before getting into my hands), then there was exponential notations (multiple types), and then there was a set like 4.30k, 8.05M, 5.46T, 8.12Qu, 3.67Qi (had to presume {{w|Long and short scales|Short Scale}} was in use, despite being the more illogical version) which I only discovered by checking for word-boundary exceptions for values when checking there weren't any currency or unit-of-measure aspects I needed to be aware of. When I process what I've extracted a bit more, no doubt I'll find other things to add to my edge-condition checklist. But it's already been 'fun' getting past the hurdles I know about!
:Now, this isn't really what I think the comic is about (at its core, even if closely related), and I think the Explanation is a little too bloated/all-over-the-place at the momemt already so I won't try to add anything from this experience in there as well. Just recording my own prosaic tale of recent experience, which probably says more about my bad choice of source data than anything else... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.73|172.70.86.73]] 07:12, 4 July 2023 (UTC)
::Agreed on the bloated explanation - I don't think the third paragraph is doing anything to explain the comic at all at the moment. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.72|141.101.99.72]] 11:52, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

2742: Island Storage

2023-02-28T11:56:58Z

141.101.99.72: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2742
| date = February 24, 2023
| title = Island Storage
| image = island_storage_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x435px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I always hate dragging around the larger archipelagos, but I appreciate how the Scandanavian peninsula flexes outward to create a snug pocket for the British Isles.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A BAD MAP PROJECTOR FIRED - Are there any other islands we've forgotten?! Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another world map vandalized{{Citation Needed}} by Randall, similarly to the [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|bad map projection series]]. This time, every major island that is not considered a continent in its own right is relocated into similarly-sized swathes of sea partly enclosed by the outlines of adjacent continents. The caption implies it's Earth's intended "storage mode", where everything 'loose' is neatly packed away. A similar comic is found at [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]].

The comic thus equates the world to a playroom in which the islands are the equivalent of scattered toys left out after playtime, or an office space where 'polite notices' request users to replace materials, equipment, etc. in its intended storage, to leave it presentable for the next users. It indicates that the loose islands can be properly stored away in the nooks and crannies of the larger landmasses, possibly so they can be easily located when the next person comes along to play with or use them. The comic title may also be a pun aligned with the design concept of an island kitchen, or possibly other similar room types, in which a central area of worktop may be designed with space for the seating (when not in use) or legs (when people are sat) even amongst the other utensil/equipment storage as required.

Though much of the apparent strange distortions of relocated islands are probably due to the relative changes in length/area/angle across differing parts of the planar-stretched map of the globe (depending upon the {{w|map projection}} being used), Randall is clearly also not averse to distorting the landmasses slightly to fit even the 'immobile' continental masses. He mentions in the title text that he likes to make use of the jutting outcrop of {{w|Scandinavia}} (though misspelled as it was in [[850: World According to Americans]]) by flexing it somewhat like one might do with a spring-clip, thus gripping tightly whatever islands he forces within the gap (in this instance, the British Isles and Svalbard).

===Table of islands===
New locations of selected islands that are visible on the map:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Island(s)
! Original Location
! New Location
|-
| {{w|Kodiak Island}}
| South of mainland Alaska
| {{w|Cook Inlet}}
|-
| {{w|Vancouver Island}}
| West of mainland Canada
| {{w|Salish Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Canadian Arctic Archipelago}}
| North of mainland Canada
| {{w|Hudson Bay}}
|-
| {{w|Newfoundland (Island)|Newfoundland}}, {{w|Prince Edward Island}}, and {{w|Anticosti Island}}
| {{w|Labrador Sea|Off the eastern coast of Canada}}
| {{w|Gulf of St Lawrence}}
|-
| {{w|Greenland}}
| {{w|Greenland Sea|Northeast of Canada}}
| {{w|Gulf of Mexico}}
|-
| {{w|Hispaniola}} and {{w|Cuba}}
| {{w|Caribbean Sea}}
| Gulf of Mexico
|-
| Other Caribbean Islands
| Caribbean Sea
| {{w|Gulf of Venezuela}}
|-
| {{w|Iceland}}
| {{w|Sargasso Sea|Northern Atlantic Ocean}}
| {{w|Gulf of Lion|Coast of southern France}}
|-
| {{w|Great Britain}} and {{w|Ireland}}
| Northwest Europe
| {{w|Baltic Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Svalbard}}
| Far North Atlantic
| {{w|Baltic Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Sardinia}} and {{w|Sicily}}
| {{w|Tyrrhenian Sea|Off western coast of Italy}}
| Coast of Italy
|-
| {{w|Aegean Islands}}
| {{w|Aegean Sea}}
| Coast of Greece
|-
| {{w|New Guinea}}, {{w|Sumatra}}, {{w|Java}}, {{w|Sulawesi}}
| {{w|Solomon Sea}}, {{w|Natuna Sea}}, {{w|Java Sea}}, {{w|Sulawesi Sea}}
| {{w|Mediterranean Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Philippines}}
| {{w|Philippine Sea}}
| {{w|Black Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Novaya Zemlya}}
| {{w|Pechora Sea}}
| {{w|White Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Japan}}, {{w|Sakhalin}}
| {{w|Sea of Japan}}, {{w|Sea of Okhotsk}}
| Sea of Okhotsk
|-
| {{w|Taiwan}}, {{w|Hainan}}
| {{w|South China Sea}}
| {{w|Yellow Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Madagascar}}
| {{w|Mozambique Channel}}
| {{w|Red Sea}}
|-
| {{w|Sri Lanka}}
| {{w|Laccadive Sea}}
| {{w|Persian Gulf}}
|-
| {{w|Borneo}}
| South China Sea
| {{w|Gulf of Thailand}}
|-
| {{w|New Zealand}}, {{w|Tasmania}}
| {{w|Tasman Sea|Off the coast of Australian mainland}}
| {{w|Gulf of Carpentaria}}
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A map of Earth with the largest continents in their usual locations, and Antarctica off the map, but all of the major islands have been moved into various bays and seas. See explanation above for further details.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Reminder: If you're the last one using the Earth, please put the islands away when you're done.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]

1061: EST

2015-10-07T13:11:22Z

141.101.99.72:

{{comic
| number = 1061
| date = May 28, 2012
| title = EST
| image = est.png
| titletext = The month names are the same, except that the fourth month only has the name 'April' in even-numbered years, and is otherwise unnamed.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic pokes fun of attempts to "fix" the calendar by making it simpler or more rational, which inevitably result in a system just as complicated. This is an example of the paradox in complexity theory that if you attempt to simplify a system of problems by creating a new system of evaluation for the problems you often have instead made the problem more complex than it was originally.

===Length of year===
Because there are approximately 365.2422 days in a {{w|solar year}}, various calendars use different means to keep the calendar year in sync with the solar year and the seasons. The Julian Calendar, for example, has leap days every four years, giving it an average year length of 365.25 days. The most widely used system is the {{w|Gregorian Calendar|Gregorian Calendar}}, which also has leap days every four years, but skips leap days in years divisible by 100 unless the year is also divisible by 400. This gives it an average year length of 365.2425 days, which is very close to the length of a solar year.

{{w|Calendar reform|Other calendars}} have been proposed, such not counting leap days and special "festival days" as a day of the week, in order to make every date fall on the same day of the week every year.

[[Randall]] advertises his idea for a "Universal Calendar for a Universal Planet". He combines {{w|calendar#Calendars in use|calendar}} definitions with {{w|Time zone|time zone}} definitions. The abbreviation ''EST'' is a joke on the American {{w|Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Standard Time}}.

*At "24 hours 4 minutes", EST days are longer, though there are only 360 of them in the year. The extra 4 minutes over the course of 360 days adds up to one standard day, so Randall's EST calendar would at this point have a year that is 361 standard days long.

*Running the clock backwards for 4 hours after every full moon gives 8 additional hours at each full moon, twelve or thirteen times in a year. Because a thirteenth full moon will occur once every 2.7 solar years on average, this modification adds 4.1228 standard days to an EST year, bringing it to 365.1228 days.

*The doubling of the non-prime numbers of the first non-reversed hour after each solstice and equinox is a final, very complicated way to bring Randall's EST year in extremely close sync with the solar year. There are 17 prime numbers between 0 and 59 and 43 non-primes. There are 2 equinoxes and 2 solstices each year, so a total of 172 minutes will occur twice. This brings the average length of Randall's EST year to 365.2422 standard days, equal to the solar year to four decimal places.

===Claimed benefits===
Many of the claimed benefits for the calendar are highly dubious:
*While it is fairly ''simple'' to describe, EST is far from simple to understand or put in practice. Clocks in particular would have to regularly undertake very complicated processes like running backwards or duplicating non-prime minutes.
*EST does appear to be fairly ''clearly defined''.
*EST fails completely to be ''unambiguous''. Following each full moon, four hours occur three times, twice forward and once backward. Several minutes are also duplicated, making times during those periods ambiguous.
*The only way EST is ''free of historical baggage'' is that it breaks free of any sensible bits of historical baggage; it keeps such things as the 30-day month and 12-month year, but adopts a different (and variable) length of day that would make it wildly out of sync with the Earth's day-night cycle.
*EST is ''compatible with old units'', as far as seconds, minutes, and hours are concerned, though not for days, months, or years.
*EST is indeed very ''precisely synced with the solar cycle''. The joke is that this has nothing to do with the day/night cycle or the Earth's yearly orbital cycle; the {{w|solar cycle}} is a period of magnetic fluctuation within the sun, lasting 11 Earth years.
*EST is ''free of leap years'', though some EST years are 8 hours longer than others on account of having an extra full moon.
*A calendar ''amenable to date math'' makes it easy to find the length of time between two dates and times by having standardized periods of time. The complex variability of the length of EST years, days, and hours mean it is only ''intermittently'' amenable to date math, which is to say not at all.

===Other features===
The features of the calendar get increasingly bizarre as the description proceeds:

*The {{w|Epoch (reference date)|Epoch}} for EST is set by reference to the {{w|Julian calendar}}, which was superseded by the {{w|Gregorian calendar}}. The Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.

*The different zone for the United Kingdom is a reference to 1 yard being equal to 0.9144 meters, a pun on using {{w|imperial units}} instead of the {{w|metric system}}.

*Randall does not like {{w|Daylight saving time}} very much, as mentioned later in [[1268: Alternate Universe]].

*{{w|Narnia (world)|Narnian time}} is a reference to the fictitious world of Narnia in CS Lewis's {{w|The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe}} and its sequels. In Narnia, time passes much more quickly than in the real world. You could be in Narnia for several days and only a few minutes would have passed in the real world. However, synchronizing this effect would be impossible because it is not a consistent rate; it fluctuates wildly based on the whims of drama and magic. Mostly, [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AWizardDidIt a wizard did it].

*The Gregorian calendar does not include the year "0"; after "1" BC the next year is "1" AD. Randall's invention fixes this according to correct Mathematics, only to reintroduce the problem immediately by arbitrarily omitting the year 1958. The year 1958 is significant because January 1, 1958 is the epoch (time zero) in {{w|International Atomic Time}} (TAI), which is part of the basis for {{w|Coordinated Universal Time}} (UTC). (The main difference is that TAI doesn't add leap seconds.)

*The title text may be a reference to the ancient (Pre-Babylonian Exile) [http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm Jewish Calendar], which did not name the months, rather assigning them numbers from 1 to 12. The names used by Jews today are the names of the Babylonian months, derived from various Babylonian deities.

==Transcript==
:XKCD{{sic}} Presents
:'''EARTH STANDARD TIME'''
:(EST)
:A Universal Calendar for a Universal Planet
:EST is...
:Simple * Clearly Defined * Unambiguous
:Free of Historical Baggage * Compatible with Old Units
:Precisely Synced with the Solar Cycle * Free of Leap Years
:Intermittently Amenable to Date Math

:<u>UNITS</u>
:Second: 1 S.I. Second
:Minute: 60 seconds
:Hour: 60 minutes
:Day: 1444 minutes (24 hours 4 minutes)

:Month: 30 Days
:Year: 12 months

:<u>RULES</u>
:For 4 hours after every full moon, run clocks backward.
:The non-prime-numbered minutes of the first full non-reversed hour after a solstice or equinox happen twice.

:[Epoch]
:00:00:00 EST, January 1, 1970 = 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970 (Julian calendar)
:[Time Zones]
:The two EST time zones are
:''EST'' and ''EST (United Kingdom)''. These are the same except that the UK second is 0.9144 standard seconds.

:Daylight saving: Countries may enter DST, but no time may pass there.
:Narnian Time: Synchronized.
:Year Zero: EST ''does'' have a year 0. (However, there is no 1958.)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

84: National Language

2015-08-11T16:01:15Z

141.101.99.72: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 84
| date = April 3, 2006
| title = National Language
| image = national_language.jpg
| titletext = She's pretty sharp when provoked.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about the concept of {{w|Nativism (politics)|nativism}}, which is the view that those who are native to a place should have more rights than immigrants. A frequently expressed view in the U.S. (and in other countries) is that immigrants should learn English, which is the primary language in the United States; usually this comes in response to frustration in dealing with an immigrant who does not speak English or does not speak it well. This can sometimes be frustrating in cases where the person who does not speak or understand English well is working in a service position and you have difficulty communicating with them.

In the comic one character is arrogantly arguing the nativist position. However, the woman next to him interrupts him and says a phrase in the {{w|Cherokee}} language - "Hello, my name is Sarah" - which is an Iroquoian language used by the Cherokee {{w|Native Americans in the United States|Native American}} people. Although Cherokee seems to be a relatively {{w|Cherokee#Origins|young culture}}, it is much more native to America than any European culture. Some Native American cultures reach back millennia.

The woman is therefore effectively suggesting a "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" argument that if the Europeans did not have to learn the native language, why should current immigrants learn English? She points out that even the English speakers are immigrants who did not learn the native language. Or perhaps she is suggesting the old adage: Those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it, and that immigrants will one day take over the US and English speakers will be displaced like the natives were.

==Transcript==
:This happened to my friend:
:[Men and women are standing in a row.]
:Cueball: English should be the national language. These immigrants should have to learn English when they come here.
:Megan: Yeah.
:Cueball: When you go to live somewhere, you learn the language they speak there. English is the language of the land.
:Ponytail: Excuse me, but ''osio Sarah dawado.''
:Cueball: What the hell was that?
:Ponytail: Cherokee.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Language]]

1518: Typical Morning Routine

2015-04-29T13:16:05Z

141.101.99.72: Corrected spelling error

{{comic
| number = 1518
| date = April 29, 2015
| title = Typical Morning Routine
| image = typical_morning_routine.png
| titletext = Hang on, I've heard this problem. We need to pour water into the duct until the phone floats up and ... wait, phones sink in water. Mercury. We need a vat of mercury to pour down the vent. That will definitely make this situation better and not worse.
}}

==Explanation==
Waking up to an alarm can be annoying, especially when it is your partner's alarm, and they are slow to wake up and even then have difficulty in figuring out how to turn the alarm off. This comic takes this to a ridiculous extreme, whence the comic derives its humor, especially when paired with the title describing this situation as a "Typical Morning Routine". Of course the typical could refer only to the part of the "routine" until the phone is dropped into an air vent.

In this comic, a guy with morning hair ([[Hairy]]) is shown using his phone as his alarm clock. In this case, Hairy is just Cueball with morning hair, therefore likely sharing the bed with [[Megan]]. We never see who he is sharing the bed with, a person that must be getting angrier with him and his alarm.

It can sometimes be complicated to turn off the alarm on a {{w|smartphone}} when groggy. The guy has apparently exited the alarm app by mistake. In some OSes, simply exiting the app doesn't close it, requiring you to use the app switcher to close it. (As of when this comic was posted, [[Randall]] uses both iOS and Android according to [[1508: Operating Systems]]).

After giving up on shutting the alarm app off Hairy then, in annoyance, gets the brilliant idea of trying to remove the battery, in the dark, to shut off his phone forcefully, instead of just trying to turn it off. (This narrows it down to Android phones, since iPhones do not have consumer removable batteries.) However, in this process, he accidentally drops his device down an {{w|air vent}} next to the bed. Such a vent for an {{w|underfloor air distribution}} may not be very deep until it reaches a bend, so the phone can be expected to survive the fall. Usually such a {{w|Register (air and heating)|vent}} will have some sort of grille preventing anything large from falling into it. But either a grille wasn't there, or this phone must have been small enough to slip through anyway.

If they were a little handy, they would probably be able to open the vent and retrieve the phone. But of course it could either be too deep (not probable, sine the phone survived the fall intact), or they do not have the tools (maybe they live in a rented apartment). So being unable to get it out, Hairy attempts to remotely {{w|Brick (electronics)|brick}} the phone from his laptop. (That is to erase important system files rendering the device as useful as a brick).

However, Hairy seems to have accidentally gone into {{w|airplane mode}} in the confusion, thereby cutting off all {{w|wireless communications}} with the device. Airplane Mode also has a side effect where by turning off all communication components, the phone uses less energy, so the phone will now last a week, rather than typically a day or so. Rather than dealing with the noise for weeks, Hairy proposes that they just move out instead. But a smartphone playing loud sounds in airplane mode typically only lasts a day or so before the battery charge runs out.

There is a semi-common logic puzzle involving a ping-pong ball falling down a pipe with a kink in it. In this puzzle, the solution is to pour water into the pipe until the ping-pong ball floats up.

In the title text his partner remembers this problem and attempts to apply his knowledge. Then realizing that phones do not float in water he suggests using {{w|Mercury (element)|mercury}}. The phone would certainly float on mercury, as it is a very dense liquid (the only metal that is liquid at room temperature). The extremely toxic nature of mercury, however, makes pouring it into the air supply a somewhat less-than-stellar idea, not to mention the fact that the required amount of mercury would be extremely expensive. The last line in the title text is either yet another bit of early-morning confusion, or a bit of irony, stating that the mercury idea would ''definitely make this situation better and not worse''. The title is also sarcastic, as this definitely does not happen on a daily basis, or else an alarm would already be already continuously ringing from the vent in the first place if it were the case.

If they were actually ready to pour mercury down the went, or brick the phone (ruining it anyway) then maybe they could just pour enough water into the vent instead, until the phone would shut down by being flooded, therefore short-circuited. This would not work if the phone was waterproof. Some rugged phones and phone cases do actually float on water, and simply water would work.

Of course all these great ideas they have, would probably not have come up, if they had not just been awakened brutally by a very loud alarm, that they fail to keep quiet. It is very difficult to think clearly in such a stressful circumstance.

This comic follows a similar storyline to [[349: Success]], as Cueball, in both comics, encounters an issue and attempts proceedingly more absurd solutions to the issue.

==Transcript==
:[The panel is completely black, with white text. Small lines indicate from where the two voices are coming, and also from where the alarm goes off. A small broken square surrounds the first word spoken.]
:Alarm: '''Bleep Bleep'''
:Voice (right): Urgh
:Voice (left): Your alarm is going off
:Voice (right): Huh?
:Voice (left): Make it stop.
:Voice (right) Urrgh

:[The panel is completely black, with white text. Small lines indicate from where the two voices are coming. Several small lines surrounds the last "sound" which is not spoken. The alarm noise is continued from the previous panel and continues over the top of the frame directly into the next panel.]
:Alarm: '''Bleep Bleep Bleep B'''
:Voice (left): Hit snooze.
:Voice (right): I'm ''trying''. I closed the alarm app and I can't... I'll just pop out the battery.
:Voice (right): Whoops!
:Clang

:[The lights have turned on so it is now a white panel with black text. The voice to the right came from Hairy with morning hair. He is leaning over the side of the bed, looking down the air vent through which he has dropped the phone. The other person to the left is not shown. The alarm noise (now coming from the air vent as visualized by the lines coming out of the vent) still continues from the previous panel and continues over the top of the frame directly into the next panel.]
:Alarm: '''eep Bleep Bleep Ble'''
:Off-Screen voice: Make it stop!
:Hairy: It... fell down the vent.

:[Hairy is sitting in his bed with a laptop. The person to the left is still off-screen. The alarm noise still continues from the previous panel and continues over the top of the frame out of the comic the the right.]
:Alarm: '''ep Bleep Bleep Bleep Ble'''
:Off-Screen voice: Can you brick it remotely?
:Hairy: Trying... I think I fumbled it into airplane mode?
:Off-Screen voice: The battery could last for weeks.
:Hairy: You know, maybe we should just move.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Sarcasm]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]