explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2967: Matter

2024-08-02T23:47:37Z

162.158.154.31: ???

This one is a head-scratcher. Do skateboarders call "anti-" things goofy? What's the deal with that Dirac statistic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 23:47, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2966: Exam Numbers

2024-07-31T20:15:53Z

162.158.154.31: comment about infinity not being a number

pre-algebra: 4, calculus: pi^2 / 4 (about 2.467), physics: cosmological constant: depends on how you measure it [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.48|162.158.167.48]] 18:11, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Game theory: -5x10⁶ (maybe helpful, maybe not... just be thankful I didn't include an ''i'' factor in there somewhere...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 18:20, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Could somebody reformat all the math here in whatever LaTeX plugin this wiki uses? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.102|162.158.222.102]] 18:35, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
:Probably not, because the MathML here is broken. But, also, nothing I see requires anything particularly complicated, it can all stay in fairly straightforward (standardly formatted) text. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.224|141.101.98.224]] 18:44, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
I had to look up "TREE(3)." Seriousness aside, I think the largest number would be the astrological sign 1 that has its end_points_ as galaxy clusters.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.184|172.68.245.184]] 19:26, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Infinity is _not_ a number. [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 19:39, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

If infinity _is_ a number, it might be a possible solution to the game theory question. The average of any set of numbers that includes infinity is infinity, and infinity + 10 is still infinity. I probably wouldn't try that in most classes, but a game theory professor might approve "gaming" the system, as it were.
:If I would prefer no-one (else) to win, I might submit -∞ as my answer. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.74|172.70.90.74]] 20:13, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Infinity is absolutely not a number, and is the one answer I would mark as unambiguously wrong for the last one. Just say TREE(G_64) or something. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 20:15, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2962: President Venn Diagram

2024-07-23T11:36:34Z

162.158.154.31:

<noinclude>{{notice|This site is intended to explain the technical details and inspirations (perhaps humorous) behind the comics. This particular page is for Discussion/Talk about the particular comic in question, which ''will'' involve some personal overviews and meta-discussion. But it is not the ideal place to reproduce the wider issue of public opinion, which the actual political process will eventually establish, and many other public forums and outlets exist in which you can convey your own current leanings/observations on the whole election-related happenings. Please be <s>sensible</s> ''typically geeky in your wit'', and try to keep all the ideological heat and partisan arguments out of this as much as possible.|image=warning!!.png|}}</noinclude>

Another really timely comic. Biden just dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris yesterday. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Forget Biden, Hillary and Obama. This is the endorsement that counts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.199|172.68.23.199]] 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I suppose no one is allowed to say that the upper right circle is mislabeled. It was supposed to say incompetent, dishonest and despicable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.25|162.158.90.25]] 02:07, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You're allowed to say it, but then we're allowed to suggest (with rather more emperical proof) that her presumptive opponent better fits your rewording. How about we all just don't try to re-run the old arguments (or pre-run the upcoming election) in that sort of tone, eh?
:(To be clear, Randall has made positive comments to his favoured candidate, rather than stooping to arbitrarily attacking their opponent. If you can't at least be as positive in your own convictions then it's really not going to help your cause.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.6|172.69.195.6]] 04:10, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
::First, Harris has more than one opponent, not just within her own party, but in the general election to follow if she’s nominated. Second, the many good qualities of my favo[u]red candidate are irrelevant to this comic, so I didn’t mention ''her''. Third, I didn’t start this political discussion; Randall did, by making a refutable claim in his comic. Lastly, there’s nothing arbitrary about a resident of California pointing out [https://truthout.org/articles/kamala-harris-has-a-distinguished-career-of-serving-injustice/ facts about the former attorney general of California] that people in other states, such as Massachusetts, might be completely ignorant of. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.253|162.158.186.253]] 05:45, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
: You could say it, but then the box which says 'Kamala Harris' is mislabeled and 'Donald Trump' should be placed in the box above the middle one. [[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]]) 07:19, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Well Kamala, you had a good run. Randall has the touch of death when it comes to picking political candidates. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.39|162.158.154.39]] 03:02, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You mean that no candidate endorsed by XKCD has ever won? ;) https://xkcd.com/2383/ [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Randall was smart enough to not make a comic endorsing Joe *before* he got elected like he did with Hilldawg and (now) Kamala.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 11:36, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall angling for VP? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 02:59, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I think Randall would be good president. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:52, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Meh, he seems to at least not be good at public speaking. And from what he says about himself, he would be distracted way too easily. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

The layout of this Venn diagram reminds me of https://xkcd.com/112/ {{unsigned ip|162.158.166.234|03:04, 23 July 2024}}

I think I would probably swap the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.23|162.158.174.23]] 04:03, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I would be very interested in which non-Politicians Randall would put into the top middle section. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I guess Munroe has no issues with questions about ongoing U.S. backed genocides shrugged off with "shrimp and grits!"? {{unsigned|Markifi|05:39, 23 July 2024}}

What really strikes me is that the USA have a (de facto) 2-Party system and still go so much into personal attacks and endorsements, etc. which in my mind could be the decision-making bit between 2 similiar parties in a multi-party system, or 2 equally sympathic parties to me. But in my mind a 2-party system should at least have the upside of actually discussing policy, and voters deciding based on that... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:30, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

If Randall was in charge he could stop supplying weapons to Israel probably [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.63|172.69.195.63]] 10:16, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2948: Electric vs Gas

2024-06-22T14:58:10Z

162.158.154.31:

Now I'm not a fan of gas engines, but that argument is in bad faith. Gas engines have one ''very big'' advantage over electrics: Energy density, and by extension, range. Batteries can't come close to the energy density of hydrocarbons, despite the latters' overall lower efficiency. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 17:22, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

:I think that's one of the main arguments for hybrid systems. Using a gas engine to charge an electric motor, and then using the electric motor to actually power the appliance, enables significant efficiency gains. If anything, combining the technologies enables even greater ''usable'' energy density from hydrocarbons. Hybrid electric vehicles for example are extremely efficient. [[User:Eunakria|Eunakria]] ([[User talk:Eunakria|talk]]) 17:43, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
:Energy density, and the ability to move large amounts of stored energy from one place to another quickly and easily (aka pump gas, vs charge or swap a battery), from a thermal and maintenance perspective. (Which is not entirely unrelated to energy density.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.54|172.70.39.54]] 18:08, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
::Swapping batteries (and slowly charging the batteries in the swap station) could offer comparable "charge" times to gasoline refuelling times, while also being better for battery lifespan, but would require industry coordination and standardisation re: battery packs and install location that, sadly, simply does not exist. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.212|172.70.42.212]] 19:54, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
::Plug-in hybrids have been superior since 1904, but the incremental capital cost is still an issue while oil is under $100/bbl. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.129|172.71.150.129]] 19:16, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
::A litre of gasoline provides 31.5MJ of energy, and in the US a pump transfers 38 litres (10 USgal) per minute, or 0.633 litres per second. That's an energy throughput of 31.5MJ/l x 0.633 l/s = 19.95MW. And US gasoline pumps are, by law, slow. In the civilised world, petrol pumps can deliver 30% more (50l/minute). Hi-flow diesel pumps used to fill trucks and buses are much faster - between 80 and 120 litres per minute. 120 litres per minute of diesel fuel is an energy transfer rate of about 76MW. By comparison, the fastest 3-phase AC chargers for the Tesla model 3 charge at 11kW; Pumping gas is about 2,000 times faster at getting energy into a car than this. The fastest single phase chargers are 7.4kW; While a standard wall socket charger can manage a paltry 2.3kW, (around a ten-thousandth of the energy transfer rate of a gas pump). The "super" DC charging stations achieve an "impressive" 250kW, making pumping gas at a regular gas station about eighty times faster than using one of these. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.207|172.68.64.207]] 07:00, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
: Except of course that this isn't quite as simple as this. A Honda Civic (one the most popular US petrol cars) will go about 400 miles on a full tank, about the same as a Dodge Ram. Also about the same as a Tesla Model S. There's a pretty good reason this isn't a coincidence - people don't want more much more range, and a bigger tank is more weight. A Chevy Silverado full tank will go about 500miles. If you really want range, you need to look at a hybrid car. As the comic points out, the torque on a standard otto cycle engine is poor, but that cycle is deliberately designed to give more torque. Hybrids use an Atkinson cycle which is far more energy efficient, but could not provide enough torque - so you use the electric to do that. A Prius has a range in excess of 630 miles, more than any popular petrol car. So if you want range, you still want an electric engine, just store the energy in hydrocarbons. For similar reasons, diesel trains use the diesel to run generators which then power the electric motors on the wheels, and have done for decades. {{unsigned ip|172.70.162.186|20:47, 19 June 2024}}
:: Which brings us back to energy density: The Honda Civic has a similar range to the Tesla – at 10% the weight for its fuel (vs. the Tesla's battery), and one-third the volume. The comparison gets even worse for long-haul cargo, but that might be beyond the topic of this conversation. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 13:06, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
:How about we make an actual list, then?
:{| class="wikitable"
|+ Electric v. Gas Engines
|-
! +/- of Electric Cars !! +/- of Gas Cars
|-
| -Energy Density/Range || +Energy Density/Range
|-
| -Battery Life || -Fuel Efficiency
|-
| -Toxic Rare Earths || -Fossil Fuels
|-
| +Cleaner || -Motor Power
|-
| -Decrease Efficiency in Winter || +Lower Vehicle Weight
|} [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 13:45, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

:Isn't the comic just making the claim that electric ''motors'' are superior to gas engines? It's not saying anything about how easy it is to supply energy to the motor/engine, or anything about their use in transportation. Given that, I don't think there's anything particularly contentious here? [[User:Syperk|Syperk]] ([[User talk:Syperk|talk]]) 04:56, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

On the other other hand, in a lot of cases an electric motor is just a gas engine with extra steps due to the current state of the power grid. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.232|172.68.174.232]] 17:24, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

:Not here in Washington State it isn't. Most of our electricity comes from hydroelectric dams. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 23:10, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
:: AFAIK, no new dams are being built, and I reckon that the probability is vanishingly small that any new dam that is mooted will survive the inevitable storms of protest and get built. The trend, rather, and the political pressure, salmon fans, is to remove dams (e.g. those on the Elwha River). The existing dams are aging, their impoundment volumes are dwindling due to sedimentation, and the water for those impoundments is increasingly bespoke and is, in at least some cases, declining in volume due to climate perturbations. The population, and its energy use, is increasing. As of 2022, [https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=WA#tabs-1 I read], WA was a net exporter of electricity. I would not be taking that status for granted. A few years ago, a study was published, finding that, in states where the electricity grid was dependent on fossil-fuel-fired plants, electric cars had a greater carbon footprint than gasoline/petrol cars - and this was before the major gains in gasoline fuel efficiency contributed by advances in computer tech (2007 Honda Civic hybrid gets the same city mileage, ca. 35 mpg, as a 2021 Honda Civic petrol engine, in my hands). I do not know what current assessments say about this. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.129|172.71.150.129]] 04:23, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

:I'd say an electric motor powered by a hydrocarbon grid still usually makes better use of gas than a typical gas engine. Gas engines that don't always run at full throttle (as in, a gas engine in an appliance) have dramatically worse efficiency than electric motors that don't always run at full throttle. It depends ''very'' heavily on use case, though; always take measurements and run the numbers before coming to a specific conclusion. Science would be nothing without empirical data. [[User:Eunakria|Eunakria]] ([[User talk:Eunakria|talk]]) 17:50, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

Should this have [[:Category:Climate change]]? I can’t decide. [[User:Usb-rave|Usb-rave]] ([[User talk:Usb-rave|talk]]) 17:40, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, it's better with it for people looking though the category later on, they will want to see it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.10|162.158.186.10]] 19:13, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

Honestly, with this argument the thing gas engines have going for them over EVs is the refueling time and availability. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.175|172.69.59.175]] 18:58, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
:That's fair. It would be nice if electric cars had been more focused-on ten years ago than the trend (trend? craze? idea? whatever.) starting now. I refuse to buy a Tesla, though. Elon is never getting my money. I'm waiting for an electric Volvo. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:27, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
:As in...you've ordered one, or you hadn't realised they exist?[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 21:00, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
::Wait they're real? Need. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 08:26, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

It's really remarkable how uninformed and unintelligent this comic is, to the point where I now doubt the veracity of his entire What If? series. {{unsigned ip|172.70.114.62|19:13, 19 June 2024}}
:To be fair, there’s sort of an agenda here, while I don’t believe there’s one in ''What If?'' I can’t independently verify the accuracy of ''What If?'', of course, but there is that. [[User:Usb-rave|Usb-rave]] ([[User talk:Usb-rave|talk]]) 19:18, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
:I'd like to know more about the "uninformed and unintelligent" assessment. Given that not all of Randall's characters copy his ''exact thinking''. I don't think he'd espouse much of what he has Black Hat say/do. And clearly many of his Cueballs, even being often accepted as Author Avatars, can be clearly being dumber than Randall (who is 'writing them as dumb') is. What we have is parody. And maybe you just don't see the parody in the way intended (or understood by others). Perhaps you have a completely different mindset, or are just inclined to be anti-Randall> (Even in things he's actually right about...) I don't know where the mismatch may be here, but if you're seriously thinking that there remains not one useful take-away from anything Randall has ever said, just from the ''possibility'' that his cartoon characters don't completely mesh with what you perceive as a correct worldview, then this needs looking at from a different perspective than just reassessing the whole ''What If?'' corpus. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.24|162.158.74.24]] 23:15, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
: The tagline for the xkcd comic does include the word "sarcasm", which should warn against over-serious or over-literal interpretations. Not infrequently, I find, xkcd ventures into the realm of the sarcastic, the opinionated, even the polemic (cf. the Hilary Clinton campaign ads), and this one states a clear opinion in favor of electric cars ... with which one is free to debate (as here, exhaustively), or disagree. All of which brings the cartoonist to the attention of the world, and thereby supports him in his chosen line of work, which, in the current state of cartooning as a profession, is no small accomplishment. As for the opinion, consider the following question: "I have a four-mile commute to work. Which is the most eco-friendly option? The electric car? The hybrid? The gas/petrol car?" Answer: the foot car. Walking the four miles is the only minimum-carbon solution under all circumstances ... except perhaps ones that allow the questioner to keep deir job. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.4|108.162.245.4]] 05:39, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Ohhh... OK. I had poor signal so this one took a while to load, and I only saw the "Gas vs. Electric" title. I thought it was going to be about kitchen stoves - ones that burn ''actual'' "gas", vs. electrical heating elements. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:45, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

I actually experienced the "cons" of a less limited degree of power and not being noisy at all, today. Someone in an electric vehicle (could have been a Tesla) pulled out of a sideroad, accelerating at what seemed like a reckless rate (it was advantageous to do so, but a petrol-powered vehicle that might have taken a bit longer to switch up the gears would still have been up to speed soon enough to not get into contention with any other vehicles). And with barely more than a whine, and perhaps a bit of road-noise that might have included at one point a bit of grit-splattering. I was watching this, and knew they were pulling out of the junction (and knew for certain, moreover, that there was no traffic coming up or down the road, nor anybody crossing the road anywhere in my rather long sight). Had there been someone ''actually'' about to cross the road (within the next 50 yards or so), however, it would have been entirely possible that they would have been caught be surprise by this near-silent and suddenly fast-moving vehicle. If it was a Tesla, then maybe its inbuilt forward 'radar'/whatever would have helped bring the vehicle to a stop, or at least slow it down/stop if from speeding up enough, before any actual accident might have happened... but this is theoretical, as it just happened not to happen anything like this on this occasion... But it could have. And the paradigm for crossing the road that I learnt several decades ago of "Stop, Look, Listen, Think" has probably now started to lose out on the "Listen" bit, and possibly degraded even the "Look" and "Think" until we start to retrain ourselves to anticipate vehicles whipping around random corners that are far more silent-and-deadly then what we've all become used to. Ok, so this is not necessarily the total fault of the electric vehicles (or even the drivers, but they must have ''some'' hand in the matter), but in changing the dynamics and situational awarenesses of road traffic so much it ''might'' be considered a relatable problem. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.24|162.158.74.24]] 23:51, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
: I drove an electric motorcycle for a while, which put me quite exposed and aware of safety and my driving environment. The concerns about EVs being too quiet don't come across as grounded in reality. Modern ICE vehicles typically have minimal engine noise already. There are really two cases: out on the road, where half the people (exaggerating) have their earbuds in, and any engine noise is swamped by tire noise anyway. No difference between ICE and electric here. Then in a parking lot, where tire noise is not significant, and maybe pedestrians could get extra auditory cues about the vehicles around them from ICE engine noise. In that context, I personally would flip open my visor and make eye contact with pedestrians. It would be nice if drivers of full-sized cars and trucks, no matter their power source, would do more of that. Driving while inattentive is unambiguously bad. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.204|172.69.23.204]] 02:40, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
: Rolling noise becomes more than enough for safe audibility by about 30 km/h (below which speed collisions are relatively less dangerous anyways, though most urban streets really should have a speed limit of 20 km/h for numerous reasons including safety), and actually dominates engine noise by about 55 km/h. ICEs are loud enough to have like a dozen deleterious health effects even while idling, though the noise of a bicycle, if sufficiently constant, is enough to reach the WHO threshold. In short, electric cars only need to make additional noise below about 30 km/h for safety, and even then only 55dBA, quieter than typical speech, and even then only if there's already a lot of noise polution to drown them out. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.33|162.158.146.33]] 07:23, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
::Although really what they mostly need is drivers who look where they're going, and don't assume that people will just get out of their way when they hear them coming.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.124|172.69.195.124]] 08:44, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
::: Which is best accomplished using narrower streets, bollards, and other traffic easing mechanisms that make people want to slow down and pay attention rather than putting up a lower speed limit sign and just expecting people to obey it. That goes double in the US where most speed limits are assigned by looking at the speeds people are actually driving in good conditions and setting it where 10% of people woulld be speeding (and then rounded to the nearest 5 mph), meaning the sign is literally irrelevant to almost everyone. Oh, also, we desperately need to stop combining streets, which are destinations, with roads, which are thoroughfares, into "stroads" that fail at being both; that's an actual majority of your traffic easing taken care of basically in one step. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.234|162.158.146.234]] 10:01, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

I wonder if the current explanation is missing the forest for the trees. My impression was that White Hat was parroting a ChatGPT-style response -- noncommittal and logically incoherent. (In fact, I missed the logical non sequitur the first time I read the strip. The style just screamed to me ChatGPT, though.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.9|172.71.154.9]] 00:55, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
: I agree about missing the forest for the trees. Everyone's so focused on the opinions being expressed, they're totally missing what to me is the whole point of the comic: poking fun at similar kinds of pro vs. con comparisons but where some/any/all of the points are actually on the wrong side of the argument. So while on the surface the comparison appears balanced, it's actually incredibly biased. Sure all of that stuff is interesting for those wanting to know more about the actual pros and cons of the particular subject being discussed; but that's just the vehicle Randall happened to choose for delivery. Now I'm not sure if ChatGPT / AI plays into this, aside from it probably being more likely to produce this kind of unintentionally biased comparison; but I'd assume given the absence of cues implying as much that this comic is not related to AI. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.236|172.71.146.236]] 19:06, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
:: Forgive me, but I believe "where some/any/all of the points are actually on the wrong side of the argument" has been well covered. Stating a couple of IC-Cons/EV-Pros ''as if'' EV-Cons/IC-Pros (and possible reasons why they could reinterpret things that way). Or is there yet another objection, and you aren't also meaning that? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.64|172.70.91.64]] 20:08, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
::: It's touched on, barely; but most of the explanation (and commentary) is so focused on rehashing the arguments for/against the different types of vehicles that it's easy to miss. I'm sure those topics are already well covered elsewhere, do we really need to go into so much detail here? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.96|172.71.151.96]] 18:19, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

This comic was posted yesterday and I'm already seeing people typing essays. I'm scared. (also electric rules gas drools nyehh) [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:22, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
: Not too shabby a result from a stick-figure drawing posted on the Internet. Jealous? As for 'electric', nice to see your unqualified support for [https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara slave labor in the Congo] and elsewhere. Get a horse! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.73|172.68.23.73]] 13:40, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
:: Isn't a horse also a form of slave labour?[[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.223|172.71.242.223]] 13:52, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
::: PETA would likely agree with you, to the point of sabotage if widespread re-introduction of bestial labor looked like being a thing. So, if we shut down the electricity grid to quell the AI revolt (if resource limitations don't compel that shutdown sooner), and we are denied fossil fuels for reasons of climate destruction and, again, resource limitation, this time-honored path to civilization will likewise be refused us. At least initially ... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.133|172.71.147.133]] 01:47, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
::There are several things wrong with your assessment, [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.73|172.68.23.73]] (although I do wish my comics got this much attention). The first is your assumption that I know the exact methods used to gather battery materials (I don't). The second is saying I support slave labor, which I '''''ABSOLUTELY DO NOT.''''' The third is your assumption that I have the space, money, resources, skills, and time to purchase and take care of a horse. I don't! Slave labor is appalling, the DRC is a nightmare, and horses have more needs than I could fit into a week. Back to electric cars, though: they're generally better for the environment, they're quieter, they're more powerful, and their engine systems are really cool and fun to look at and see in action. Gas(oline) engines are loud, smelly, pollution-heavy, and subject to violent explosions in a crash. Electric is better in general. It's a good idea to manufacture them, but I agree with you on the need for changing battery material-harvesting methods. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 17:26, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
::: I argue that knowing the state of the electric-economy supply chain, the resources needed and [http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2023/ph240/cadicamo1/ the limitations on their availability] as well as how they are procured, is necessary for any informed stance. I argue further, if you and I are wantonly snapping up electric gadgets, and, as is typical, are scouring the Internet for the cheapest possible prices for those gadgets, then you and I are screaming our support for human slavery in the only term$ that matter. The cry "Get a horse!" was a catcall aimed by horse owners at owners of early 20th-century automobiles, which were orders of magnitude dirtier and smellier than today's machines, were essentially non-functional, and took insignificantly less labor to maintain than the horse. You are absolutely correct about the maintenance needs of a horse, and indeed most people in the "horse and buggy days" couldn't afford either the cost or the time to own one. They were symbols of the 1% - who had slaves, be they chattel or hireling, to maintain their stables. From where I sit, the issues associated with actually realizing the fantasy of an electric economy are far more existential than changing battery-material harvesting methods, and I no longer accept that We the People will, or even can, face up to, never mind resolve, the issues. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.133|172.71.147.133]] 01:47, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
:::: Sounds like [https://www.visualcapitalist.com/every-single-cognitive-bias/ selective outrage] to me. Do you have a clue what kind of disaster the fossil fuel industry has wreaked (and continues to wreak) upon the world? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.214|162.158.166.214]] 06:22, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
::::: Damage from the Industrial Revolution has been plain in lake sediment cores from northeastern North America dating from the 1850s. To name one; picked this one because of peripheral (taxonomy of the organisms used in the assessment) association with the work and [https://www.queensu.ca/research/researchers/john-p-smol its lead researcher]. My beef is with those who think that [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2020/08/23/kris-an-murphy-wunderwaffe/ the technology that got us into this mess will somehow pull us out], in the absence of evidence [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2023/07/22/amoebas-lorica-setiback/ that people will stand the financial and standard-of-living sacrifices necessary to make it happen] - witness, for example, the lot of us arguing pointlessly about this on our carbon-belching computers. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.90|172.68.22.90]] 22:10, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
::::: I read a press account, recently, about how a group of scientists and engineers plan to deploy a giant umbrella to shade the Earth from incoming solar radiation and thereby interrupt global warming; the latest in {{w|Space sunshade|a series of such ideas}}. It immediately called to mind the Road Runner cartoon, in which Wile E. Coyote, despairingly, put up a tiny, tattered parasol to protect himself from the anvil that was descending on him. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.120|162.158.41.120]] 22:23, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::: It is, as I'm sure that wikilink says, an old, old idea (and a bit discredited in the eyes of those who think that putting a sticking plaster on won't stop us from the juggling with knives, and having more fumbles, for which the sticking plaster is ''supposed'' to be a treatment for). I'm surprised it's been seriously brought up recently, not least because you'd have to deploy a truly massive shade (not Earth-sized, perhaps not even Moon-sized, but certainly orders of magnitude larger than we have any current experience, or hope, in constructing) to produce a significant effect, and only doing that by denying a significant part of the Sun's energy from both natural and man-made solar-energy receivers in selected areas of Earth. (Imagine the uproar, as certain countries get 'shaded' and neighbours do not, by adjusting the largely Sun-synchronous (''or'' full-on Lagrangian) orbit. And it is in the power for the shade-operators to change which one(s) are effected, hence they could be considered/accused culpable for any unwanted effects, or just from perceived disadvantages and cultural objections.)
:::::: But it ''would'' be better than an 'anti-anvil parasol', because any worthwhile attempt would have to be effective enough to actually produce a measurable effect (which is all that might be needed to go over the tipping point, or not, at present), whereas Wile. E.'s attempt is instant fail. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.240|172.70.85.240]] 07:55, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

and now i know why xkcd doesn't have a comments section. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 07:35, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

That the argument is fallacious is the point. It is hardly a first for white hat. It shouldn't be seen as a serious "pros and cons" argument, it would be obvious to anyone reasonable, including Randall, that there are real cons to EVs (how important they are is up to debate). But as evidenced by previous comics, white hat is not particularly reasonable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.143|172.71.130.143]] 11:27, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
:Rather than "not particular reasonable" (more the realms of Black Hat), I'd have said "not particularly rational"/similar is White Hat's schtick. But I do agree with you in principle, and don't understand half the 'objections' above, if serious. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.172|141.101.99.172]] 13:29, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

I think that the real meaning of this comic is that the author of XKCD now makes enough money to afford an EV. Must be nice.

2938: Local Group

2024-05-27T21:34:22Z

162.158.154.31:

{{comic
| number = 2938
| date = May 27, 2024
| title = Local Group
| image = local_group_2x.png
| imagesize = 547x266px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Cosmologists estimate the spaghetti strand to be about 200 septillion calories, though it could be higher depending on the nutritional value of dark matter.
}}

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

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2896: Crossword Constructors

2024-02-21T17:17:30Z

162.158.154.31:

The top ten most common letters in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, and the percentage of words they appear in, are:
E – 11.1607%
A – 8.4966%
R – 7.5809%
I – 7.5448%
O – 7.1635%
T – 6.9509%
N – 6.6544%
S – 5.7351%

source: https://www.rd.com/article/common-letters-english-language/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.187|172.69.58.187]] ([[User talk:172.69.58.187|talk]]) 22:29, 19 February 2024 ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

At least one of those "words" is already available
...oreta is a genus of moths: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreta [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.64|162.158.154.64]] ([[User talk:162.158.154.64|talk]]) 22:36, 19 February 2024 ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

: {Yoko} "ONO" was over-played in crosswords a few years back. "ORONO" (university town in Maine) was over-favored by one constructor. Not to mention a sandwich cookie. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:39, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
:: "ONO" has also entered English from Hawaiian, where it means (a) good to eat, delicious; (b) the {{w|Wahoo}} (Acanthocybium solandri), a species of fish. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.247|108.162.245.247]] 02:21, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:”Eni” is an Italy-based oil company.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.36|141.101.68.36]] 02:50, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

In contrast to crosswords in german newspapers, those in american newspapers are typically not dense, right?
“Our” crosswords rarely have a single unused square.
And this is obviously easier to compose if you can choose from more words. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.123.39|172.71.123.39]] 22:48, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
: "crosswords in german newspapers, those in american newspapers are typically not dense, right?"
For a quick overlook, Search Engine "NY Times Crossword", images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ny+times+crossword&tbm=isch
The NY Times puzzles are as dense as commonly seen in the US. Much simpler puzzles abound, and brain-busters can be found, but the NYT puzzles are very typical well-done puzzles.
:I was looking around the internet for an example, and I found this example: https://www.50plus.de/spiele/raetsel/kreuzwortraetsel-1.html
:If this is what you are talking about, Games World of Puzzles calls this a "Pencil Pointer" puzzle. I think technically the name is "Swedish Style" according to Wikipedia. They aren't typically the kind you'd find in an :American newspaper, but I do see them on occasion.
:Generally, the American style ones are less dense than Swedish but more dense than British cryptics.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.195|172.70.175.195]] 00:49, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::Also, American puzzles almost always have rotational symmetry (at least 180 degrees, sometimes all four 90-degree turns)[[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 01:49, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks, 172.70.175.195, that is exactly what I meant. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.236|172.71.94.236]] 14:20, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

I'm confused, on reading the Explanation, as to whether these words are wanted for crossword ''clues'' or crossword ''answers''. I thought I knew, but it looks like other people might have the other idea. Either:
#In order to fit something perpendicular to several other words, in a dense and/or symmetrically-gridded puzzle, it ends up asking for a (currently) fictional string of letters that cannot be given a valid 'Easy' clue. They're seeking to make "2024 Nicki Minaj hit song (5)", or similar, to become that, soon enough that they can publish the whole puzzle that they're otherwise happy with. Or,
#For a cryptic clue with an anagram/subselection element, they want a way to include, letters that they've found them unable to mix in otherwise. e.g. "Taylor Swift's 'Oreta' with Tenacious D's initial spin (7)" -> "rotated" (ok, awkward example, but best I could back-contrive at a moment's notice... As opposed to something like "Turned a bit of carrot at Edinburgh (7)", which would ''already'' work Ok for the exact same answer), using various typical tricksy and misleading mannerisms of a Cryptic...
#...or both? Being only a(n unskilled) ''doer'' of crosswords, not usually a compiler of them, I might well be missing the details that someone deeper into crossword-lore takes for granted. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.143|172.69.195.143]] 02:01, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:Most likely Cueball and friends are constructing American-style crosswords and want to use ORETA, ENTA, and similar words as answers in their puzzles, so that they could clue them with "2024 Nicki Minaj album", for example. (I imagine that when John Lennon entered into his second marriage, crossword constructors of America rejoiced since they now had a well-known person that they could use as a clue for ONO.) Since the letters in their proposed album titles are common, I doubt that a cryptic crossword constructor would be hoping for such "words" to exist so that they could use them in clues. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.150|108.162.216.150]] 04:06, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:My initial reading was that these were awkward series of letters that appear within words that they're otherwise struggling to find clues for, but I guess why not all three.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 09:38, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

did any of yoy check out the new fnf rodentrap mod? i think it ws peak :) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.188|172.69.79.188]] 08:06, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Should main page include possibilty that there is no intended meaning in these words? {{unsigned ip|172.71.94.236|14:20, 20 February 2024}}
:If you can explain what you mean (I'm not entirely certain, you leave it somewhat ambiguous), you can possibly include itself.
:(Unless you mean to edit the [[Main Page]] itself, which wouldn't be either right or technically possible, as you stand.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.166|172.70.91.166]] 15:45, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Are there existing albums by the named artists that are like the words suggested? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.107|172.69.6.107]] 18:20, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:^^^^^That was what I wondered. When I have time I might pop Ed Sheeran's albums into a crossword generator and see what I come up with... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.177|172.69.60.177]] 21:56, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::None of these artists' albums have names anything like the "words" suggested by Cueball and friends in this cartoon. The most unusual names among them, I would say, are {{w|Ed Sheeran discography|Ed Sheeran's albums}}, most of which are named after mathematical symbols. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.102|172.69.59.102]] 05:33, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:::I think the point being that these are pop-culture artists ('pop' as still rooted in the original 'popular', rather than necessarily the specific subset that defines 'pop music' culture itself, naturally). Even *I* have heard of these prolofic artistes, though I might have miswritten as "Minage" and (ridiculous as it sounds!) "Weekend", etc. I couldn't tell you what their songs/albums were named as (doesn't one of them call her albums a number, the age at which she created them?), but I could look them up. By contrast, some of the other fields wherein such constructed names might be introduced would be a bit more obscure or untimely, e.g. scientific instrument acronymical names on space probes/landers. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.117|141.101.99.117]] 13:58, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:For the NYT crossword, there's a good database of clues and answers at https://www.xwordinfo.com. Some (partial) album names that have been used in the crossword in the past couple years are YAYAS from the Rolling Stones' "Get Yer Yayas Out!", RASTAMAN from Bob Marley's "Rastaman Vibrations", Steely Dan's "AJA", Nas's "I AM", Radiohead's "KID A", Alicia Keys' "AS I AM", Kanye West's "YEEZUS", Beck's "ODELAY", and ELO's "OLE ELO". None of these by those specific artists, but the point is more that they're some of the biggest active artists right now than that they're known specifically for making album names with weird letter combinations.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.67|162.158.158.67]] 17:00, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2308: Mount St. Helens

2020-05-19T15:23:42Z

162.158.154.31: 4 cubic km of displaced material are going to have a mass of a bit more than "thousands of tons"

I suspect the wiggles in all the hand-drawn lines are actually more than the changes in height of the various mountains, and almost certainly not correlated to the actual changes in height, since this is all unknown. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:56, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

This comic needs to be translated to non-retard units [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.212|162.158.155.212]] 07:41, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
:It's pretty common to measure things in years. And while measuring in 20 year gaps isn't normal, I wouldn't call it retarded, especially when they're probably chosen for a good visual spacing. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 08:54, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
::Maybe he meant feet, which is not a SI unit. I guess the user got the wrong feet out of bed this morning? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:04, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
:All twentyish attoparsecs, you mean? (Yanks like using measures that give them bigger numbers. Feet instead of metres, inches instead of metres (or feet-and-inches), pounds instead of kilos (or stones-and-kilos), US gallons instead of UK ones, the wrong sort of billion/etc. :P ) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 11:22, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Could be linked to sudden changes to covid-19 charts due to lockdowns [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.222|162.158.34.222]] 12:12, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
:It might have been inspired by the art installation where someone cut off the peak (one inch of rock) of Scafell Pike.

According to the wikipedia article, "The eruption ejected more than one cubic mile (4.2 km^3) of material." That's going to be billions of tonnes, rather than the thousands mentioned in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 15:23, 19 May 2020 (UTC) I don't think I'm going to be able to contribute here any more if I keep having to provide free training for Google's image recognition of weird American street scenes. What's a "crosswalk" and what does it look like anyway?

2308: Mount St. Helens

2020-05-19T10:59:55Z

162.158.154.31: /* Explanation */ Additional thought about this.

{{comic
| number = 2308
| date = May 18, 2020
| title = Mount St. Helens
| image = mount_st_helens.png
| titletext = It's a good mountain but it really peaked in the 80s.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by AN OVERBLOWN MOUNTAIN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic marks the 40 year anniversary of the {{w|1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens|May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens}} that killed 57 people. It was a Monday so a normal release day could be used to mark this event.

It shows a graph of the height of the mountains in the {{w|Washington (state)|state of Washington}} as a function of time over the last 100 years. The only mountain to change it's hight significantly over this time period is {{w|Mount St. Helens}}, which the comic is named after. It is also the only black line as all other (30?) lines are gray.

Mount St. Helens is a {{w|volcano}} that famously and explosively erupted in 1980. Thousands of tons of earth were thrown from one face of the mountain and slid into the surrounding countryside. After it was over, the peak of Mount St. Helens was no longer the 5th highest in the {{w|Washington (state)|state of Washington}}, having lost approximately 1,300 feet (400 m) in height (from 9,677 ft (2,950 m) pre-explosion to 8,363 ft (2,549 m) post-explosion).

Currently, the 5 highest {{w|List of mountain peaks of Washington (state)|mountain peaks in Washington State}} are {{w|Mount Rainier}} (at 14,411 ft or 4,392 m), {{w|Mount Adams (Washington)|Mount Adams}}, {{w|Mount Baker}}, {{w|Glacier Peak}}, and {{w|Bonanza Peak (Washington)|Bonanza Peak}}. As shown in the comic, Mount St. Helens was the 5th highest, but now has fallen to #52. Only mountains above 8,000 feet (2,438 m) is included, with the graph topping at 15,000 feet (4,572 m), 600 feet (182 m) above the highest mountain. There are 92 peaks above 8000 feet in the state, so not all are included and the lines are not really be distinct below 9000 feet. Seems like there are less than 30 lines drawn. Of course it says Mountains not Mountain peaks, but there are only four mountain ranges in Washington with peaks above 8000, so he must mean peaks!

Technically, the other mountains may be fluctuating in height as well, due to erosion or the movement of Earth's tectonic plates, but this phenomenon should not be visible on the time-scale and vertical resolution that Randall has plotted.  Precision GPS measurements of various peaks in Washington have only been available since 2010, and it's likely that the primarily volcanic mountains of Washington experience significant but comparatively slight variations throughout the year due to snowfall, melt, or the pressure of swelling magma inside volcanic cores. These changes go largely unmeasured, while the mountains continue to appear equally physically unchanging and imposing both in person and from a distance.
Source: [https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-tall-is-rainier-really/ Seattle Times]

The title text is a play on the term “peak” meaning both the highest point of a mountain and also the optimal, most famous or most impressive stage of a trend. for instance: "The band Rolling Stones really peaked in the 80s."

This may be the first comic since March, that can in no way be linked to the ongoing {{w|2019–2 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} and {{w|COVID-19}}. Most other comics since March has been part of a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the pandemic, and those few not directly linked to it could have been inspired by it.

==Transcript==
:[A graph is shows with close to 30 horizontal gray lines which seem not to change much, if any, as they go from left to right. Only the top 6 gray lines are distinctly separated from others. The top line is way above the second line which again is far above the next two that are close together. Two more close together is somewhat further down, and just below them the rest of the lines follow in close proximity down to the bottom of the graph. A single black line is also shown. It begins as the fifth highest line, just above the two last mentioned above. It is as all other lines going horizontally, but only for three fifth of the way across the graph, then it immediately drops down well below most of the other lines (at 1980) and levels off, continuing on its horizontal path. There is a caption above the graph, and both Y-axis and X-axis has labels. For the Y-axis there is a tick for every label, for the X-axis only every 2nd tick has a label. A unit is given on the top label on the Y-axis.]

:[Caption above graph:]
:Heights of mountains in Washington State
:Over time

:[X-axis:]
:1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

:[Y-axis:]
:15,000
::feet
:14,000
:13,000
:12,000
:11,000
:10,000
:9,000
:8,000

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]

2308: Mount St. Helens

2020-05-19T10:57:26Z

162.158.154.31: /* Explanation */ Making it "should not be visible", given Randall's freehand line-art being charmingly imperfect and noticeably so. (Also removed a comma I disagree with.)

{{comic
| number = 2308
| date = May 18, 2020
| title = Mount St. Helens
| image = mount_st_helens.png
| titletext = It's a good mountain but it really peaked in the 80s.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by AN OVERBLOWN MOUNTAIN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic marks the 40 year anniversary of the {{w|1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens|May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens}} that killed 57 people. It was a Monday so a normal release day could be used to mark this event.

It shows a graph of the height of the mountains in the {{w|Washington (state)|state of Washington}} as a function of time over the last 100 years. The only mountain to change it's hight significantly over this time period is {{w|Mount St. Helens}}, which the comic is named after. It is also the only black line as all other (30?) lines are gray.

Mount St. Helens is a {{w|volcano}} that famously and explosively erupted in 1980. Thousands of tons of earth were thrown from one face of the mountain and slid into the surrounding countryside. After it was over, the peak of Mount St. Helens was no longer the 5th highest in the {{w|Washington (state)|state of Washington}}, having lost approximately 1,300 feet (400 m) in height (from 9,677 ft (2,950 m) pre-explosion to 8,363 ft (2,549 m) post-explosion).

Currently, the 5 highest {{w|List of mountain peaks of Washington (state)|mountain peaks in Washington State}} are {{w|Mount Rainier}} (at 14,411 ft or 4,392 m), {{w|Mount Adams (Washington)|Mount Adams}}, {{w|Mount Baker}}, {{w|Glacier Peak}}, and {{w|Bonanza Peak (Washington)|Bonanza Peak}}. As shown in the comic, Mount St. Helens was the 5th highest, but now has fallen to #52. Only mountains above 8,000 feet (2,438 m) is included, with the graph topping at 15,000 feet (4,572 m), 600 feet (182 m) above the highest mountain. There are 92 peaks above 8000 feet in the state, so not all are included and the lines are not really be distinct below 9000 feet. Seems like there are less than 30 lines drawn. Of course it says Mountains not Mountain peaks, but there are only four mountain ranges in Washington with peaks above 8000, so he must mean peaks!

Technically, the other mountains may be fluctuating in height as well, due to erosion or the movement of Earth's tectonic plates, but this phenomenon should not be visible on the time-scale that Randall has plotted.  Precision GPS measurements of various peaks in Washington have only been available since 2010, and it's likely that the primarily volcanic mountains of Washington experience significant but comparatively slight variations throughout the year due to snowfall, melt, or the pressure of swelling magma inside volcanic cores. These changes go largely unmeasured, while the mountains continue to appear equally physically unchanging and imposing both in person and from a distance.
Source: [https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-tall-is-rainier-really/ Seattle Times]

The title text is a play on the term “peak” meaning both the highest point of a mountain and also the optimal, most famous or most impressive stage of a trend. for instance: "The band Rolling Stones really peaked in the 80s."

This may be the first comic since March, that can in no way be linked to the ongoing {{w|2019–2 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} and {{w|COVID-19}}. Most other comics since March has been part of a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the pandemic, and those few not directly linked to it could have been inspired by it.

==Transcript==
:[A graph is shows with close to 30 horizontal gray lines which seem not to change much, if any, as they go from left to right. Only the top 6 gray lines are distinctly separated from others. The top line is way above the second line which again is far above the next two that are close together. Two more close together is somewhat further down, and just below them the rest of the lines follow in close proximity down to the bottom of the graph. A single black line is also shown. It begins as the fifth highest line, just above the two last mentioned above. It is as all other lines going horizontally, but only for three fifth of the way across the graph, then it immediately drops down well below most of the other lines (at 1980) and levels off, continuing on its horizontal path. There is a caption above the graph, and both Y-axis and X-axis has labels. For the Y-axis there is a tick for every label, for the X-axis only every 2nd tick has a label. A unit is given on the top label on the Y-axis.]

:[Caption above graph:]
:Heights of mountains in Washington State
:Over time

:[X-axis:]
:1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

:[Y-axis:]
:15,000
::feet
:14,000
:13,000
:12,000
:11,000
:10,000
:9,000
:8,000

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]

2308: Mount St. Helens

2020-05-19T05:34:28Z

162.158.154.31: /* Explanation */

Talk:2307: Alive Or Not

2020-05-15T22:46:25Z

162.158.154.31:

I'm pretty sure high-pressure fire hoses belong on this scale[[User:60sRefugee|60sRefugee]] ([[User talk:60sRefugee|talk]]) 21:47, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Funny, for once viruses are said to be alive. That's new... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 22:01, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Do we want to bicker over the placement of the line (like "Why is it below viruses"), or the order things are placed in (like "Why are slime molds below plants")? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 22:06, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
: Oh, go on. If you insist. You go first, unless you already have. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 22:46, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

True fossils have remineralised so generally do not have DNA left. They are merely the shadow of a previous life.

Surprised no one has noticed the typo yet. It's 'archaea', not 'archea'
:(Sign yourself(/ves), "True fossils" and "Surprised"?) I disagree. It's 'archæa'... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 22:46, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2201: Foucault Pendulum

2019-09-12T15:29:55Z

162.158.154.31:

I take it the pendulum is somewhere deep underground, which would shield Black Hat from the cataclysmic side effects?
Besides, they have several backup pendulums that while not enough to maintain rotation are sufficient to slow the half enough to preserve life.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.149|108.162.212.149]] 20:11, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:I fear that the use of multiple pendulums to smooth out the catastrophy of stoping the Earth's rotation would probably just cause bits of the Earth to keep going and other bits to stop. Hey! That's plate techtonics! ''Obviously'' there are subtly dampened/purturbed pendula in secret (masonic?) temples all across the world, making all that happen! Someone likely pushed the one in Atlantis too far, one fateful day...
:(BTW, the unsaid catastrophe element reminds me of a classic [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Could_Work_Miracles_(story) short story])[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 15:29, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

If the pendulum could really affect Earth's rotation, Black Hat wouldn't need to stop the pendulum entirely; he'd only need to prevent its plane of oscillation from rotating. Another thought: if the pendulum and Earth's rotation were really bidirectionally linked somehow, there would probably be nothing Black Hat could do to alter the pendulum's plane of oscillation -- any more than he could alter the rotation of the Earth with just one human being's strength. That last thought doesn't seem to be the case within this story, though, or else the final frame's news report wouldn't have happened. [[User:Trueflint|Trueflint]] ([[User talk:Trueflint|talk]]) 20:46, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:Who says it's the energy from Black Hat's grab specifically? Maybe the magic pendulum just tells a device in the Earth whether or not the planet should be spinning, based on the current state of the pendulum. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.167|172.68.46.167]] 08:15, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Why does the description description Megan as a "professor?" She could just as easily be a teacher, a docent, a scientifically-interested parent, or just a random bystander. 11 September 2019

The sentence "It stays in a fixed plane while the Earth rotates under it." and the correspoding text in explanation are wrong. It would be true only if the pendulum was located on one of Earth's poles. Elsewhere, the plane in which the pendulum moves would still rotate with respect to its surrondings, but slower than on the pole. The rotation speed is proportional to the sine of latitude. At the equator, the plane would stay fixed with respect to its surroundings. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum#Explanation_of_mechanics Wikipedia].--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.207|162.158.93.207]] 23:45, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
:As a Physics teacher, I strongly support this. The fact that a Foucault's pendulum is keeping its oscillation plane constant with respect to an absolute reference frame is a common misconception, it should be mentionned as frequently as possible.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.48|108.162.229.48]] 09:17, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

The Foucault Pendulum in this comic strongly resembles the one in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (both in shape and the way it is knocking over the pegs). Perhaps this should also be noted in the trivia section?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.46|162.158.126.46]] 05:16, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
:Then list *all* the ones it strongly resembles. Do you think Philadelphia’s is the only one with pegs? I think that is the usual presentation. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.107|172.69.70.107]] 10:01, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
:A Google search reveals that nearly all of them have a weight that looks like the one in this comic, and many of them have some sort of pegs to demonstrate the circular motion over the course of a day. To put the location of any of them in the explanation (as it is now) is probably not appropriate. If there is a significant one somewhere in the world (largest, oldest, etc), then maybe we could mention that specific one. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:56, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

2196: Nice To E-Meet You

2019-09-02T08:54:14Z

162.158.154.31: external links that shows people do actually grapple with this issue

{{comic
| number = 2196
| date = 30 August, 2019
| title = Nice To E-Meet You
| image = nice_to_e-meet_you.png
| titletext = I'm inside your head and I hate it. Please let me out.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 1995 CYBERPUNK NOVEL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is considering how to greet someone online.

At first, Cueball considers simply saying "Nice to meet you!", a typical greeting used when meeting someone in person. However, he notes that since the introduction is taking place electronically, saying that he is actually "meeting" them is inaccurate; he duly discards the greeting.

Next he considers replacing the word "meet" with "e-meet." The use of "{{w|Internet-related prefixes#"E-"|e-}}" as a prefix for anything related to electronics was a popular naming trend in the early 1990s, such as {{w|eWorld}}, {{w|eBay}}, and as a standardized shorthand for {{w|Email|electronic mail}}. Earlier cyberpunk novels, such as 1984's ''{{w|Neuromancer}}'', did not use the "e-" prefix, as they were written before that linguistic trend, while the prefix generally fell out of fashion by the 2000s. Cueball using the phrase "e-meet" thus sounds anachronistic to the 1990s, and he recognizes it, discarding his greeting again.

He then decides that he needs to throw off the shackles of normal conversation and simply "be normal." Being a geek, Cueball therefore writes up a long-winded exposition of how strange electronic communication actually is in terms of the photons being projected by the computer screen, comparing it to his hands touching the receiver's eyes, then concludes the greeting with a simple "Anyway, hi." This might be off-putting to a friend that Cueball had just now met. This makes it funnier that Cueball believes he just "nailed" his greeting; he clearly has no idea what he is doing.

The title text continues the theme of "his hands touching the receiver's eyes"; [[Randall]] is talking about how as a construct that your mind makes, he is now "inside your head"-- and taking it that statement to its logical conclusion, he "wants to get out."

The comic discusses how adhering to conversational convention during social interactions can be quite difficult, especially with the advent of new technology. Social awkwardness is a [[:Category:Social interactions|recurring theme]] in xkcd.

Advice has been written regarding the topic of whether to use "Nice to (e-)meet you" and possible alternatives, e.g. by [https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/03/05/new-email-etiquette-lets-just-say-nice-to-meet-you-okay/ Forbes], [https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nice-to-e-meet-you_n_56e96722e4b065e2e3d7f5d3 Huffington Post] and [https://www.grammarly.com/blog/nice-to-meet-you/ Grammarly]. The consensus seems to be that "Nice to meet you" is fine, though a bit cliche.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at his desk on an office chair, while typing at his laptop. The line he is writing on the computer is shown with white text in a black box up at the top of the panel while his thoughts shown in a thought bubble with small bubbles going to it from his head.]
:Text: Nice to meet you!
:Cueball [thinking]: That sounds weird; we’re not actually meeting in person.
:Laptop: Type type
:Laptop: Delete delete

:[Same setting:]
:Text: Nice to e-meet you!
:Cueball [thinking]: What is this, a 1995 cyberpunk novel?
:Laptop: Type type
:Laptop: Delete

:[Cueball stops typing and leans back resting an arm on the back of the chair while looking at laptop, no black box shown.]
:Cueball [thinking]: OK.
:Cueball [thinking]: Chill.
:Cueball [thinking]: Just be normal.

:[Cueball resumes typing a much longer text in two black boxes, one large with five lines of text, and a small below with one line.]
:Text: It’s weird to think that the words I’m typing will be projected onto your retinas. It’s like my hands are touching your eyes.
:Text: Anyway, hi.
:Cueball [thinking]: Nailed it.
:Laptop: Type type

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

Talk:2194: How to Send a File

2019-08-26T21:54:35Z

162.158.154.31: Sometimes the files aren't in the lower part of the computer.

Anyone else find it annoying to have the regular comic co-opted for advertising a book? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:30, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

There probably are, but I'll excuse Randal because he provides* such entertaining comic for free.
: ''*usually and arguably'' [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 21:00, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

I don't mind. If it was a frequent occurrence perhaps, but this is, what, twice in over a dozen years? And he includes humor in the ads, so it's not like we completely miss out. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:08, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

Pedantry section: If you have a dockable tablet computer - I do - then the files are in the screen part, and the keyboard and trackpad probably can't contain files. Also, you don't need scissors to separate them, there's usually a button to press or magnets or something. And technically you probably could mail the tablet... but I usually wouldn't. rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 21:54, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

2011: Newton's Trajectories

2018-06-25T04:45:10Z

162.158.154.31: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2011
| date = June 25, 2018
| title = Newton's Trajectories
| image = newtons_trajectories.png
| titletext = With just one extra line, he could have anticipated the 2003 film The Core, but some things are too audacious for even the greatest visionaries.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a cannonball - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic shows a sphere, representing the Earth, with two sets of what appear to be spaceships orbiting it. One set is released with sufficient force to remain in a stable orbit, while the other falls towards the Earth. This is a replica of Newton's famous thought experiment involving a cannon on a high mountain, which demonstrates the effects of gravity on objects orbiting the Earth.

Here, however, it is used to make a satirical observation that if the cannonballs were spaceships or colony ships, the resulting crash would end the human civilisation in fire, while if the cannonballs achieved stable orbit, humanity would then be able to explore the stars.

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

{{comic discussion}}

1865: Wifi vs Cellular

2017-07-19T23:05:05Z

162.158.154.31: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1865
| date = July 19, 2017
| title = Wifi vs Cellular
| image = wifi_vs_cellular.png
| titletext = According to the cable company reps who keep calling me, it's because I haven't upgraded to the XTREME GIGABAND PANAMAX FLAVOR-BLASTED PRO PACKAGE WITH HBO, which is only $5 more per month for the first 6 months and five billion dollars per month after that.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First version... Links to X-finity and blast? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic [[Randall]] remarks on how recent changes in {{w|Wi-Fi}} and {{w|Cellular network|Cellular data}} reliability have impacted his behavior. Wi-Fi technology has had several advantages over cellular data transmission due to Wi-Fi antennas' more ubiquitous distribution and ability to focus on high data transmission rates instead of broad signal coverage. However, as Wi-Fi has become more popular it is increasingly common to encounter Wi-Fi networks using outdated hardware, poorly organized or overburdened networks, and competition for bandwidth with other Wi-Fi devices. Meanwhile due to continued commercial investment in upgrading and expanding cellular networks and the more frequent consumer replacement of cellular handsets, the reliability of cellular data has continued to increase.

Randall notes that prior to 2015 he found that he could improve his internet connection by connecting to a Wi-Fi network instead of using cellular data. After 2015 however, he finds that in many cases he is able to get a stronger connection by disengaging his Wi-Fi connection and getting his data over a cellular connection.

Anything larger than a few kilobytes would previously require someone to switch off network data and connect to a wireless network. However, for a couple of years, cellular networks' data transmission rates have often become more reliable (albeit usually costlier for larger amount of data usage) while home Wi-Fi has remained fairly constant, meaning the cellular network is often the best choice to download a file.

Randall says it is ''weird from a networking point of view'', but in fact modern {{w|LTE (telecommunication)|LTE}} connections via the cellular network are faster ({{w|List_of_LTE_networks#USA, US Territories, Canada & Bolivia (FCC band plan)|up to 300 Mbit/s}}) than the common used Wi-Fi standards like 802.11b/g and 802.11n ({{w|IEEE_802.11#Protocol|54-150 Mbit/s}}). Faster Wi-Fi standards do exist but they are very rarely supported.

In the title text Randall takes a moment to rail against the often misleading promotional rates offered by cable internet providers. Such providers often attempt to up-sell consumer on internet packages with additional features. Here Randall juxtaposes several descriptors that might feature in a cable ad with several that refer to other things entirely. Xtreme Gigaband is a plausible internet package name, but might also be a reference to {{w|Comcast|Comcast's}} often derided "{{w|Xfinity}}" promotions. And while {{w|Panamax}} sounds like it may be a film term, it is actually a ship classification that denotes the maximum size ship that can safely pass through the {{w|Panama canal}}. Flavor-Blasted is a food term often used in hyperbolic television food ad, but also could be a reference to Comcast Cable's "Blast!" internet packages. Pricing mentioned in title text is exaggerated with only $5 more during first six months, but costing 5 billion after, which is a reference to how service providers would often advertise a lower temporary price, while if you read the fine print the plan is much more costly once the limited time offer runs out, and {{w|discounting}} is simply used for marketing purposes. What's worse, these discounted periods (typically six months) often come with a much longer contract (typically two years) which imposes cancelation fees.

==Transcript==
:[A graph with two curves that cross each other. The two areas beneath the curve at the top, and down to either the X-axis or the other curve are shaded with horizontal gray lines. The Y-axis has no label, but represents reliability, the X-axis is a timeline, with labels indicating years beneath the axis, without any ticks. The two curves are labeled with text interrupting the curves, in the second case using two lines for the text. In the left shaded area there is a label inside and the right shaded area the label is beneath the curves with an arrow pointing to the area. All this text and the arrow is gray. Above the curves there is a caption also in gray font:]
:To get something to load on my phone, sometimes I have to...

:Label left area: ...Connect to WiFi
:Label right area: ...Turn off WiFi

:Label curve one: Home WiFi reliability
:Label curve two: Cellular data reliability

:Year labels: 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It seems weird from a networking point of view, but sometime in the last few years this flipped for me.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Timelines]]