explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2684: Road Space Comparison

2022-10-12T22:20:46Z

162.158.2.215:

Hold on, I'm trying to concoct an interesting 30 goats/20 cabbages/10 wolves problem... [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 20:53, 12 October 2022 (UTC)
S3C0ND P0ST [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.131|172.71.150.131]] 21:12, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

You have no idea how many car-centric infrastructure arguments happen in my discord servers, this is a fantastic comic to post for that[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.55|188.114.102.55]] 21:23, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

What if the last panel also references other river crossing puzzles like the "Missionaries and cannibals problem" or the Flash "Japanese River Crossing" puzzle so you have extra rules for each member of each species? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.97|172.71.98.97]] 22:11, 12 October 2022 (UTC) Alex

My name is GreyFox, and I added the transcript for this page. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.171|172.71.150.171]] 22:13, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

So [[1035|the takeway is]]... we can put humans in hamster balls by the handful all season and feel no worse about it than about cars driving down the road? This is awesome! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.215|162.158.2.215]] 22:20, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-16T07:37:47Z

162.158.2.215: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2658
| date = August 12, 2022
| title = Coffee Cup Holes
| image = coffee_cup_holes.png
| titletext = Theoretical physicist: At the Planck length, uncountably many.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CAFFEINE MOLECULE WITH A HOLE DRILLED IN ITS SIDE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts people in different fields of study answering the question, "How many holes are there in a coffee cup?" and also compares this to what a normal person would say.

This question has different interpretations, entirely dependant upon the definition of a hole. The type of {{w|coffee cup}} shown in the comic is with a handle (like a {{w|mug}}), but [[Randall]] calls it a cup and there are also cups with handles on the Wikipedia page for coffee cups. Most people would recognize that there is a hole through the handle.

[[File:Mug and Torus morph.gif|thumb|200px|The coffee mug and donut shown in this animation both have topological genus one.]]

[[Ponytail]], a {{w|topology|topologist}}, states the coffee cup belongs in the {{w|Genus (mathematics)#Topology|genus}} of one hole. A common joke is that topologists can't tell the difference between a coffee cup (with handle) and a {{w|doughnut}} since they're {{w|Homeomorphism|homeomorphic}} to each other — meaning they have the same genus, i.e one hole. From the topologist's point of view, the coffee cup definitely has one hole, which corresponds to the opening created by the cup handle. A cup without a handle would have zero holes, as it is equivalent to a dinner plate, just an indentation in the surface. See [[2625: Field Topology]] for more information about topology.

[[Hairy]], a normal person, is not sure (the acronym "IDK" stands for "I don't know") and asks for clarification about whether the opening at the top counts as a hole. This shows flaws in the question, which suffers from the mathematically imprecise, ambiguous common usage of the word hole. Topologists would refer to the opening as a concavity, not a hole, and while they consider such geometrical properties generally outside their field, most practical applications of topology do involve geometric components. Hairy would say one for the handle, and two if the opening counts as a hole, which he is not certain the one asking the question thinks.

[[File:Double torus illustration.png|thumb|left|200px|A genus two surface]]

[[Hairbun]], a philosopher, answers the question with an elucidating counter-question, considering a hypothetical scenario. Drilling a new hole should increase the number of holes by one. After the hole has been drilled, the coffee cup with handle has two holes according to topologists. Two drawings are shown; one drawing with arrows pointing to three different 'holes' (the handle, the upper cavity and the newly drilled hole), therefore implying the original cup had 2 holes, and one drawing showing two possible paths through the cup (through the handle, plus into the cavity and then out through the drilling) which implies the original previously only had the one hole. The last drawing aligns with the way the Ponytail sees it.

[[Image:Point cloud torus.gif|thumb|200px|A point cloud of a genus one surface]]

[[Cueball]], a chemist, looks at the coffee in the cup on a molecular level, which means it has very many holes: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1021 or 1 sextillion) “in the [https://chemapps.stolaf.edu/jmol/jmol.php?model=CN1C%3DNC2%3DC1C%28%3DO%29N%28C%28%3DO%29N2C%29C caffeine] alone.” One molecule of caffeine has two rings of bonds with holes in them, so Cueball is talking about 500 quintillion molecules, or 0.00083 {{w|mole (unit)|moles}}. As the molecular mass of {{w|caffeine}} is about 194 grams per mole, [[Randall]] must think that the mass of caffeine in a typical cup of coffee is 161 milligrams. The coffee could have other holes, depending on the type of coffee; for example, espresso contains significant amounts of niacin and riboflavin, which have one and three rings in their chemical structure, respectively. However, bonds are not sticks as portrayed in many molecular models. The "holes" in the middle of a molecule's rings are not completely empty but instead merely have lower electron probability density through the middle than other parts of the bonds. So the point-cloud duality of {{w|Bonding molecular orbital|electron orbitals and bonds}} might not satisfy a topologist's, normal person's, or philosopher's criteria for a connected substrate in which holes may be formed.

[[Image:World lines and world sheet.svg|left|thumb|200px|{{w|String theory}} describes the {{w|worldline}}s of point-like particles as {{w|worldsheet}}s of "closed strings," forming topological holes.]]

In the title text, a theoretical physicist looks even deeper, at the subatomic scale of {{w|Planck units}}. Since fundamental particle interaction is governed by fundamental forces and collision (per the {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}}) instead of tensile or ductile solid connectedness, the theoretical physicist posits that any definition providing for a single hole would also describe a number of holes akin to the factorial of the number of particles in the universe,[https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02341882/document] or at least within the cup's {{w|light cone}}, which is a number impractical to accurately count, but not uncountable in a mathematical sense.

The main joke is that the number of holes depends on both the scale and perspective from which you are looking at the world. From a topological standpoint, when someone digs into the ground it should go all the way through (or easier, down and up again another place) before it is considered a hole, since a hole is something that some other thing should be able to pass through. But from a common usage perspective, if people dig in the ground the result is called a hole, because functionally it creates a discontinuity in to which, for example, things can be placed or fall. Similarly, the opening in a coffee cup (without a handle) or a bottle of beer is called a hole, even though they are topologically equivalent to a dinner plate, which normal people would never say had a hole.

A cavity in a surface could also be considered a physical barrier, preventing movement along the surface in certain scenarios (e.g. a {{w|sinkhole}} opening up in the middle of a road) even though it may topologically 'flat' in the most general way, and so is very open to context, and such a hole might be considered more a 'thing' than the surface that has been removed to create it. And the 'hole' in a vessel that is functionally useful to hold liquid (or the drilled one that removes that ability) is of a different nature to the holes in various of the molecules that ''are'' the liquid but are neither required nor counter-productive in the general liquid-holding capabilities of the container, as are not the holes in the planck-length model, except insofar as the general physical laws of reality. Conversely, this conceptual confusion over what a hole is or actually means can be seen in the idea of the {{w|portable hole}}, which tends to obey ({{w|Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner|or defy}}!) the owner's particular preconceptions or needs.

The topological discussion here regarding cups and doughnuts is related to the question of how many holes there are in a human, which is excellently answered in Vsauce's video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egEraZP9yXQ How Many Holes Does a Human Have?]. This also takes a god look at the topological difference between a paper cup and a mug with handle.

==Transcript==
:[The first panel has text only and is phrasing a question:]
:<big>Q:</big>
:How many holes are there in a coffee cup?

:[Each of the next four panels has a caption at the top to indicate the kind of person answering the question. In the first of these Ponytail stands holding a coffee cup in its handle.]
:Caption: Topologist
:Ponytail: One.

:[In the next panel Hairy stands to the right of Ponytail, holding the coffee cup in its handle at an angle so he can to look into it.]
:Caption: Normal person
:Hairy: IDK, does the opening count as a hole?

:[In the next panel Hairbun is shown in closeup, holding her hand out palm up to indicate two drawings of coffee cups with handles to her left. The top drawing is larger and shows the cup with coffee inside, and a hole drilled at the bottom part of the side away from the handle. Coffee pours out of this hole. Beneath and further left is a smaller version of the same cup, but now without coffee. Instead two curved arrows goes from above to below through the hole of the handle and the hole now drilled in the bottom part of the cup. Each arrow is labeled with a question-mark.]
:Caption: Philosopher
:Hairbun: To answer that question, consider another: If we drill a hole in the side, how many holes are there now?
:?
:?

:[Cueball, without any cup, stands with a drawing of a caffeine molecule above and to the right of him. It has two "rings" with 5 and 6 atoms. Those rings are connected along one side. There are 9 "edges" on this, three of those has one atom attached to it and 3 others have four atoms attached to them (one atom with three others attached). The two that are at the end of the edge that belongs to both rings have no atoms attached, and the final of the 9 also has no atom.]
:Caption: Chemist
:Cueball: 1021 in the caffeine alone

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2628: Motion Blur

2022-06-04T23:46:28Z

162.158.2.215: Asking a question

Personally, I'm animated on twos but make up for it with good smear frames. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.98|172.70.135.98]] 14:07, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

== Randall has got this issue backwards: ==
Too *low* a framerate causes choppiness when panning (or on objects in motion). ''Too low'' a framerate causes the human eye to perceive multiple images of a mouse cursor; a higher framerate can exceed the perceptual latency of human vision, causing the moving cursor to be perceived as a continuous blur, whereas a lower framerate merely exacerbates the issue of seeing the cursor jump from position to position.

To that point, the current explanation exemplifies this confusion, also getting it backward: ''"If the shutter speed is too high, this blurring will not occur, and the motion will look unnaturally crisp – if something is too small and/or too quick, the illusion of motion may disappear altogether; the object instead will appear as a brief flash of multiple objects standing still,"~'' '''This is incorrect.''' Human visual blur is ''not'' dependent on the displayed frames being blurred: With panning in high framerate video, unblurred footage ''appears blurred'' to the human eye, due to persistence of vision; whereas with low framerate video we may ''not'' perceive blurred motion & instead view each frame individually & perceive it as choppy.

Point being, you need a framerate ''at least as high as 60 FPS'' to avoid choppy appearance when panning, & for some people's vision the minimum framerate to ensure motion blur is 100 FPS. 24 FPS is used in cinema ''to preserve the choppy look of old 24 FPS film projection'', as an aesthetic choice.

Higher framerates look ''less'' choppy. ''Low'' framerates are what appears choppy when viewed.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:10, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

:Yes, at high framerates, ''when the subject is perfectly sharp'', the blurring is done by human vision. At lower framerates, this natural blurring is mostly lost, and this effect must be counteracted by correspondingly lower shutter speeds so that motion appears blurry again. That's the whole point of the comic. [[User:Kapostamas|Kapostamas]] ([[User talk:Kapostamas|talk]]) 14:30, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

:: Exactly. Film typically has 24 FPS, animation is typically produced at 12 FPS, and 8 FPS is common in anime, and to make up for it by introducing the illusion of motion in other ways. With physical cameras that usually means low(ish) shutter speed to creating in-camera motion blur. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.95|172.70.134.95]] 20:00, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

In order to explain this, and prove that the explanation is correct (or prove that Randall is either correct or incorrect), there needs to be a link to two videos showing the error and the corrected version without the error. In other words, citation needed. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 15:35, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

:How's this: [https://youtu.be/i9bv00ZA-ao]? [[User:Kapostamas|Kapostamas]] ([[User talk:Kapostamas|talk]]) 16:47, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

Can someone explain why it's been retitled to motion beans and the image has been replaced? Not sure if it's vandalism or a joke I don't understand. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.215|162.158.2.215]] 23:46, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2627: Types of Scopes

2022-06-02T14:28:00Z

162.158.2.215: comment about electron stethoscope

Wiki's getting hit pretty hard by the trolls this week... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.21|172.69.134.21]] 19:02, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
What's with all the vandalism? I know this is the internet, and therefore some vandalism is expected, but YIKES!!! What happened this week? Edit: I don't know who put my message loads, but it wasn't me.[[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 19:16, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:AGREed. waht is the lore behind these schizophrenics and doug walker! holy fuck --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.191|172.70.34.191]] 20:07, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
Fixed it. That was annoying [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.41|172.70.174.41]] 22:15, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

Another spammer appears to be adding comments about their anatomy and disparaging the reader's mother in the explanation of the title text. It has been added and removed at least twice now (once by me), around 22:35. Keep an eye out for small, annoying trolls like this one, as the spammers may have realized that bombarding the pages with massive images is not the cleanest way to ensure they get their (infantile) message across. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 22:39, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

At least the most obnoxious one seems to be gone (or at least on hiatus). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.230|162.158.107.230]] 03:18, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Randall apparently thinks NPR is the only radio network. It's the only radio I listen too as well. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:34, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Electron Stethoscope would be a cool name for an EIT chest imaging device. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.215|162.158.2.215]] 14:28, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

1209: Encoding

2022-05-15T09:53:12Z

162.158.2.215: edited title text explanation

{{comic
| number = 1209
| date = May 8, 2013
| title = Encoding
| image = encoding.png
| titletext = I don't see how; the C0 block is right there at the beginning.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Skywriting}} is using an airplane to write words in the sky with controlled releases of smoke. {{w|Unicode}} is a standard for digitally encoding text which supports a huge variety of characters and modifiers.

[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] hired a skywriter to write some text which they provided in Unicode, but now they are dissatisfied with the result and Cueball is using one of their {{w|walkie-talkies}} to tell the pilot about his mistake—with the result that the pilot seems to lose control (presumably control of the plane, not the text).

An {{w|interrobang}} (‽) is a combination question mark and exclamation mark. A {{w|diacritic}} is any symbol added to a character (for instance ´, ˘, ˇ, ¨), usually an accent mark added to a letter. In Unicode, {{w|Combining character|combining diacritics}} are represented as separate characters, but computer programs that render text graphically treat them as modifications to the previous character. The request to modify the interrobang is strange, given that diacritics are supposed to modify ''letters'', not punctuation marks, and given that an interrobang is already conceptually a character combination. On the other hand, combining diacritics can technically be used on any character, so the intended result will be something like:

‽̃ͦ̀̏͆̐̋̿ͣͭ́ͯ͒

The skywriter's errors and the phrase "Unicode support" play off the common issue of {{w|Mojibake|software rendering Unicode symbols incorrectly}}. But here the error does not seem to make the text unintelligible: all the skywriter has apparently done is put a diacritic ''underneath'' (or perhaps next to) the interrobang instead of above it. If this is the only problem with the text (which is likely, given that an interrobang would probably be at the end), then the comment that the skywriter has "terrible Unicode support" makes Cueball and Megan seem fastidious and unforgiving. The comic points up computer users' tendency to use hyperbole when describing minor problems, exaggerating their relative seriousness. Here Cueball and Megan seem concerned more about their incorrectly rendered text than about the skywriter's safety.

The title text is presumably Cueball's reply, in which he appears to have misunderstood Megan: he is baffled as to how the pilot could have "lost" the Unicode {{w|C0 and C1 control codes|control characters}}, which are the first 32 character codes in Unicode, but Megan was actually referring to the pilot losing control ''of the plane''.

Comic [[1647: Diacritics]] also references an absurd use of diacritics.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are both holding walkie-talkies. Cueball is talking into his, Megan is holding hers down. Both are looking up in the sky.]
:Cueball: No, the combining diacritics go '''''over''''' the interrobang!
:Megan: Oh jeez, I think he's lost control.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The skywriter we hired has terrible Unicode support.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Unicode]]

583: CNR

2022-05-13T01:38:26Z

162.158.2.215:

{{comic
| number = 583
| date = May 13, 2009
| title = CNR
| image = cnr.png
| titletext = Can't and shouldn't.
}}

==Explanation==
"Could not reproduce" (CNR as per the title) is used here as a {{w|double entendre}}. Because the reported bug is that speech recognition failed on a young child's voice, the programmers attempt to reproduce (biologically) in order to have a child to use as a test subject to understand and fix the bug, starting by reproducing it (the bug). However the attempt fails, as shown by the negative pregnancy test, and therefore the bug report is closed with the reason being "could not reproduce": they could not reproduce the bug because they could not reproduce biologically.

Nowadays, developers of software usually have a centralized repository of bugs which generally uses one of a handful of standard interfaces for tracking problems and desired features in software. There is usually a quick way of removing pending items from this system by changing the status to closed and selecting a reason from perhaps a dropdown list. "Could not reproduce" is a standard reason provided in almost all of these systems, so the novel pun provides extra humor to software developers. This reason also shows up in comic [[937: TornadoGuard]].

The secondary joke is that Megan has chosen a ridiculous method of obtaining a child for the relatively simple task of testing the software. The obvious solution is to find a pre-existing child to use; {{Citation needed}} giving birth to (and, presumably, raising) a child would burden the programmers with serious expenses, health concerns, and responsibilities; and it would take years before the child would be able to speak clearly enough to use the program.

The title-text "Can't and shouldn't" qualifies the bug report, meaning that the programmers not only could not reproduce, they also should not reproduce, as their reasons for doing so shows they have exceedingly bad judgment. (They also have poor child-rearing skills, as demonstrated in comic [[674: Natural Parenting]].)

==Transcript==
:[Megan is sitting at a computer.]
:Computer: Speech2Text Commander
:Computer: Bug #167801
:Computer: Speech recognition fails on young child voices.
:Megan: Hmm.

:[The view enlarges to show a man sitting at another desk.]
:Megan: Hey, can you do me without a condom? We need a young child for something.
:Cueball: Okay.

:[A pregnancy test is displayed. The label indicates not pregnant.]
:Pregnant
:Not pregnant

:[Megan is typing on the computer.]
:Megan typing: Bug #167801
:Megan typing: Status: Closed
:Megan typing: Reason: Could not reproduce.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:2617: Maps

2022-05-10T05:41:44Z

162.158.2.215:

Comments in the comment section please. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.241|172.70.110.241]] 02:52, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

What was the page with all the repeating photos (of a man I didn’t recognize) going down the page? Or the page with the ascii teletubby face? Some kind of vandalism? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.247|172.70.114.247]] 03:40, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

It was [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.31|this IP]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.66.37|172.68.66.37]] 03:41, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

"Immutable constants of the universe have changed"? Somehow I expected something based on the 2019 SI base unit redefinition, which made approximately zero difference to anyone's lives, but is a fundamental change to the way that we (notionally) measure things. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.215|162.158.2.215]] 05:41, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

1493: Meeting

2022-05-05T21:17:02Z

162.158.2.215:

{{comic
| number = 1493
| date = March 2, 2015
| title = Meeting
| image = meeting.png
| titletext = Here at CompanyName.website, our three main strengths are our web-facing chairs, our huge collection of white papers, and the fact that we physically cannot die.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Beret Guy]]'s business, as previously seen in [[1032: Networking]] and [[1293: Job Interview]], is going well, although it is unclear why. The common theme in these three comics is that Beret Guy misuses common business cliches. The following are examples and phrases that [[Randall]] is likely making a joke about:

*"If you're reading this, the web server was installed correctly.™" When a web server is installed automatically (like Apache through a package manager), it typically comes with a minimal configuration meant to deliver a single page saying all is working fine. Usually, a company will then configure the web server to provide actual meaningful content.{{Citation needed}} It appears that in this case Beret Guy's company kept the page as is, but also trademarked the sentence as the company's motto, and proudly displays it under the company logo.

*"CompanyName.website": Companies are usually given descriptive or evocative names; Beret Guy's company, meanwhile, has been given a generic placeholder name that explains nothing about the company or website except that it is a company with a website. Currently, almost every middle-sized company runs a website, so it doesn't mean Beret Guy's company is in the information technology business (but many elements are specifically parodying Google). "[http://Companyname.website Companyname.website]" redirects to xkcd.com.

*"Welcome to a meeting!" The usual way to start a meeting is to welcome the participants by telling them in which meeting they are (e.g. "Welcome to the meeting on..."). Here, the complete lack of specifics in this sentence is an indication that the meeting has, in fact, no purpose at all, except to be just "A meeting". It could also mean that Beret Guy does not know the proper way to welcome people to a meeting.

*"I'm almost out of words so I'll keep this short." A common theme in the busy world of business is lack of time, so "I'm almost out of time" would be a valid reason for keeping a meeting short, rather than a finite quantity of words. Aside from the fiction movie {{w|A Thousand Words (film)|A Thousand Words}} or people taking a {{w|Vow of Silence}}, people usually don't have a particular quota on the number of words they have or can use. Beret Guy also seems to run out of words in the title text of [[1560: Bubblegum]].

*"Just wanna touch bases." Often business professions will contact a customer to "touch base," meaning to check in for a status update. The use of the plural "bases" suggests Beret Guy does not know what this means. This could also be a word play on the expression "Cover some bases".

*"Self-driving car project" Google has been working on {{w|self-driving cars}}, which usually shouldn't be lost track of and found by the police. The fact that it was launched "by accident" is concerning. It could mean the car was turned on by mistake and then left unattended, or perhaps that a driver of one of their cars fell asleep or otherwise stopped controlling the vehicle, but it is not clear because the accidental launch may refer to the project itself rather than the car. The involvement of the police may imply that the car crashed or otherwise obstructed traffic. That said, 90 miles before crashing was at that time a good result for a self-driving car, especially when you didn't even know you built a self-driving car. What's especially ironic is the implication that the employees were carpooling (sharing a single vehicle for their commute, for reasons of efficiency/economy) in the self-driving car, and yet this carpool activity ended with the car setting off with nobody in it at all. These types of cars were the topic of the later comic [[1559: Driving]], maybe misusing one of Beret Guy's cars. Self-driving cars are a [[:Category: Self-driving cars|recurring topic]] on xkcd.

*"Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?" In the real world, when companies want to find out "who [their] customers are", they are talking about learning more about their existing customers (e.g. age groups, interests, genders) in order to more closely match these customers' needs, and to discover ways to attract more of them. Here, Beret Guy and [[Ponytail]] apparently use the phrase literally - they have no records of making any sales. A normal enterprise struggles to sell its products/services in order to get money. Getting cash from an unknown source would lead to serious troubles - failure to comply with tax code, suspicion of money laundering - but overall, most enterprises suffer the opposite problem: they try as hard as they can but don't get enough cash to be profitable (despite keeping precise information about where cash comes from). Note, that the accidental launching of a project would suggest a theme, that large cash infusions for unknown or {{w| Money laundering|unscrupulous}} reasons could imply anonymous {{w|Venture capital|VC}} investors, perhaps amateurs or acting in an overheated market.

*"{{w|Bug tracker}}" usually refers to systems for tracking discovery, analysis, and fixing of software bugs (errors and problems), not the physical location of insects. {{Citation needed}}

*"Web-facing" (title text) usually refers to software or a server that is connected to the internet using a web interface. However, in this case, the term is applied to chairs (likely meaning that they are either materially {{w|Webbing#Furniture|web-plaited}} or placed in front of a computer with internet browsing capability, or both; may also possibly refer to other definitions of "web").

*"White papers" (title text) are usually policy recommendations, but here Beret Guy is likely talking about actual (near-worthless) blank white pieces of paper.

*"Main strengths" (title text) typically refer to one's skills, but "we physically cannot die" may refer to the fact that incorporated companies are in a sense anthropomorphized — they're legally treated as "persons", with the ability to sue and be sued in civil courts; or, just as likely, that Beret Guy and his employees are literally immortal, in which case that would indeed be a great asset which could be used in a variety of ways, from things like making an unstoppable army (though they could still be captured or incapacitated) to investing for a long, long time.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is shown in silhouette. Above Beret Guy there is a black sign with white (and grey) text. Above this is his address to those in the meeting:]
:Beret Guy: Welcome to a meeting! I'm almost out of words, so I'll keep this short. Just wanna touch bases.
:[White text in the black sign (''.website'' in grey):]
:CompanyName.website
:''If you're reading this, the web''
:''server was installed correctly.™''

:[Beret Guy stands in front of an office chair and a table talking.]
:Beret Guy: First, a few updates. We've learned from the state police that the self-driving car project we launched by accident during this morning's carpool has come to an end about 90 miles outside of town. Very exciting!

:[Pony tail sits at the table.]
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Profits are up. Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?
:Ponytail: Nope. Money keeps appearing, but we have no idea how or why.
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Great!

:[Back to the situation from frame two.]
:Beret Guy: Oh, and one last thing—I saw a cool red beetle in the hall. Can someone add it to the bug tracker?
:[person off-panel]: Just did!
:Beret Guy: Thanks!

==Trivia==
*"CompanyName.website" is actually a domain name that was registered on 2014-11-20 and [http://companyname.website which redirects to xkcd.com]. Presumably, it is owned by Randall, for the same reason as in [[305]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Self-driving cars]]

977: Map Projections

2022-04-08T07:29:17Z

162.158.2.215: /* Goode Homolosine */

{{comic
| number = 977
| date = November 14, 2011
| title = Map Projections
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = map_projections.png
| titletext = What's that? You think I don't like the Peters map because I'm uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged? Are you sure you're not... ::puts on sunglasses:: ...projecting?
}}
{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
{{w|Map projection}}, or how to represent the spherical Earth surface onto a flat support (paper, screen...) to have a usable map, is a long-time issue with very practical aspects (navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) as well as very scientific/mathematical ones, involving geometry or even abstract algebra among other things. There is no universal solution to this problem: Any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality. Many projections have been proposed in various contexts, each intending to minimize distortions for specific uses (for nautical navigation, for aerial navigation, for landmass size comparisons, etc.) but having drawbacks from other points of view. Some of them are more frequently used than others in mass media and therefore more well-known than others, some are purely historical and now deprecated, some are very obscure, etc.

[[Randall]] suggests here the idea that someone's "favorite" map projection can reveal aspects of their personality, then goes through a series of them to show what they can mean.

He may actually believe that all map projections are in a way bad. This could be inferred from the fact that he much later began publishing a series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]].
===Mercator===
[[File:MercatorProjection.jpg|frame|The Mercator projection]]
The {{w|Mercator projection}} was introduced by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The main purpose of this map is to preserve compass bearings; for example 13 degrees east of north will be 13 degrees clockwise from the ray pointing toward the top of the map, at every point. A mathematical consequence is the mapping is conformal, i.e. if two roads meet at a certain angle on the surface of the Earth, they will meet at that same angle on the map. It also follows that at every point the vertical and horizontal scales are the same, so locally i.e. considering only a small part of the map, geographical features (shapes, angles) are well represented, which helps a lot in recognizing them on-the-field, or for local navigation in that small part only. For this reason, that projection (or a close variant) is used in several online mapping services (such as Google Maps), which means that it is frequently encountered by the general public. A straight line on the map corresponds to a course of constant bearing (direction), which was very useful for nautical navigation in the past (and thus made that projection very well-known).

However, from a global point of view, this projection is radically incorrect in how it shows the size of landmasses (for instance, Antarctica and Greenland seem gigantic), and furthermore, it always excludes a small region around each pole (otherwise the map would be of infinite height), so it doesn't provide a complete solution for the problem of map projection. The comic implies that people who like that projection aren't very interested with map issues, and typically use what they are offered without thinking much about it.

{{clear}}

===Van der Grinten===
[[File:VanDerGrintenProjection.jpg|frame|The Van der Grinten projection]]
The {{w|Van der Grinten projection}} is not much better than the Mercator. It was adopted by {{w|National Geographic}} in 1922 and was used until they updated to the Robinson projection in 1988.

The Van der Grinten projection is circular as opposed to the Mercator projection. The fictional person believes a circular map is more fitting to the real Earth's three-dimensional spherical nature because both are round. This belief fails to recognize that a two-dimensional circle has very little in common with the surface of a sphere, and thus this projection still causes a vast distortion of space and area. Because of this, Randall implies the Van der Grinten enthusiast to be optimistic and childishly simple-minded (e.g. "you like circles").

{{clear}}

===Robinson===
[[File:RobinsonProjection.jpg|frame|The Robinson projection]]
The {{w|Robinson projection}} was developed by {{w|Arthur H. Robinson}} as a map that was supposed to look nice and is often used for classroom maps. National Geographic switched to this projection in 1988, and used it for ten years, switching to the {{w|Winkel tripel projection|Winkel-Tripel}} in 1998.

{{w|The Beatles}} was a rock band that enjoyed great commercial success in the 1960s, and are widely considered the best act ever in the genre of popular music. The Beatles, coffee, and running shoes are all things that are very commonly enjoyed and largely uncontroversial, as well as being comforting. Liking these specific things suggests an ordinary, easygoing lifestyle paralleled by the projection.

{{clear}}

===Dymaxion===
[[File:DymaxionProjection.jpg|frame|The Dymaxion projection]]
Also called the Fuller Map, the {{w|Dymaxion map}} takes a sphere and projects it onto an icosahedron, that is a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. It is far easier to unwrap an icosahedron than it is to unwrap a sphere into a 2D object and has very little skewing of the poles. {{w|Buckminster Fuller}} was an eccentric futurist who believed, for example, that world maps should allow no conception of "up" or "down". He was therefore more than happy to defy people's expectations about maps in the pursuit of mathematical accuracy.

Randall associates the projection to geek subculture and niche markets:
*{{w|Isaac Asimov}} was an American science-fiction writer, who (as well as publishing many textbooks) is considered the father of the modern concept of robots. He invented the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}. He also worked on more than 500 books throughout his career.
*{{w|XML}} is the eXtensible Markup Language. It is used to represent data in a format that machines can read and understand, as well as being human-readable. In practice, XML is cumbersome to read.
*{{w|Vibram FiveFingers|Toed shoes}} are a [[1065: Shoes|favorite]] of Randall's to pick on. In society they are seen as a {{w|geek}} clothing item.
*Brought to the world by {{w|Dean Kamen}}, the {{w|Segway PT}} was supposed to be a device that changed the way cities were built. In reality, most jurisdictions have put in place rules specifically against Segways, making them a frustration to own and use within the law (in some states in Australia, it is illegal to use them on public footpaths or roads). Also, the former owner of {{w|Segway Inc.}}, the late {{w|Jimi Heselden}}, accidentally rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010. Ninebot, then owner of the Segway brand, announced in 2020 that the flagship 2-wheeled self-balancing vehicle would be discontinued.
*At the time of comic release, 3D goggles, nowadays widely known as {{w|Virtual reality headset|VR headsets}}, were considered a gimmick at best. The original idea is as old as 3D graphics, but it never really took off until mid-2010s. Earlier products were very unwieldy and offered poor graphics quality, so no one took this technology seriously.
*{{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} is an alternate keyboard layout to {{w|QWERTY}}. According to legend, QWERTY was invented to help keep manual typewriters from jamming (by placing the most used keys far from each other) but Dr. {{w|August Dvorak}} performed many studies and found the mathematically optimal keyboard layout to reduce finger travel for right handed typists. While some claim Dvorak is technically better than QWERTY, QWERTY had become the standard. Most keyboards were laid out in QWERTY format, but a lot of software exists to remap the keys to DVORAK for those interested in typing faster. Retraining the brain to use Dvorak takes perhaps a week. It has become a [[:Category:Dvorak|recurrent theme]] on xkcd.

{{clear}}

===Winkel-Tripel===
[[File:Winkel-TripelProjection.jpg|frame|The Winkel Tripel projection]]
Proposed by Oswald Winkel in 1921, the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}} tried to reduce a set of three (German: Tripel) main problems with map projections: area, direction, and distance. The {{w|Kavrayskiy VII projection|Kavrayskiy projection}} is very similar to the Winkel Tripel and was used by the USSR, but very few in the Western world know of it.

The comic links this projection to {{w|hipster}} subculture. The hipster stereotype is to avoid conforming to mainstream fashions. "Post-" refers to a variety of musical genres such as {{w|post-punk}}, {{w|post-grunge}}, {{w|post-minimalism}}, etc. that branch off of other genres.

;Trivia
*In German "Winkel-Tripel-Projektion" means Winkel's triple projection, and therefore the hyphen shouldn't be there: "Winkel Tripel" or "Winkel tripel".
*This projection was later used in [[2242: Ground vs Air]].
{{clear}}

===Goode Homolosine===
[[File:GoodeHomolosineProjection.jpg|frame|The Goode Homolosine projection]]
The {{w|Goode homolosine projection}} takes a different approach to skewing a sphere into a roughly circular surface. An orange peel can be taken from an orange and flattened with fair success; this is roughly the procedure that {{w|John Paule Goode}} followed in creating this projection. Randall is suggesting that people who like this map also prefer relatively easy solutions to other things in life, despite those solutions having nuanced problems that are more difficult to address.

People often make arguments that if normal people ran the United States, then the US wouldn't be in the trouble it is. This is from the belief that career politicians are simply out to make money and will only act in the interest of their constituency when their continued easy life is threatened (usually around election time). While some form of this view is very common and probably pretty much correct, Randall is saying that someone who likes this map may take this to extremes.

Airline food is another, much maligned, problem. How do you store enough food to feed people on long airplane trips? What kind of food can be served in an enclosed, low-air-pressure environment? The common solution is to use some kind of prepackaged, reheated meal. Randall is saying that the people in favor of the Goode Homolosine wonder why the airlines don't simply order meals from the restaurants in the airport, store that food, and serve it, rather than using bland reheated food. However, this seemingly-obvious solution ignores how being in an airplane dulls your sense of taste. Airplane food is actually over seasoned for eating on the ground, meaning that if airlines switched to restaurant food it would probably taste even blander. There would also be issues with acquiring special meals (for example, vegetarian, Kosher, and Halal meals), especially if suitable restaurants were not in close range to the airport.

Older cars burned oil like mad fiends, and oil back then would become corrosive to the innards of an engine, so oil had to be changed often. But, with the introduction of synthetic motor oil and better designed engines, new cars only need their oil changed about every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. A common conspiracy theory is that modern automobile oil manufacturers still recommend that car owners change their oil every 3,000-5,000 miles to "drum" up more business, even though that frequency is unnecessary.

All of these references suggest that people who like the Goode Homolosine projection are fans of easy solutions to problems. However, the solutions would not necessarily work in practice. For instance: the restaurants might have trouble making enough food for the whole plane, and it could get cold before being served; the air conditions [http://www.nbcnews.com/health/one-reason-airline-food-so-bad-your-own-tastebuds-6C10823522 aboard planes] can affect taste, so airlines say they optimize for this; there is no such thing as a "normal" person, and if there were, he/she would have virtually no chance at actually getting into government office and/or may not have prior political experience that would be helpful for congress; and the Goode Homolosine projection, while mostly resembling a flattened orange peel as suggested by the earlier analogy, does indeed cut down on distortion, but also has serious problems of its own, such as leaving huge gaps of nothingness between the continents, making distances across the oceans difficult to visualize.

{{clear}}

===Hobo–Dyer===
[[File:Hobo-DyerProjection.jpg|frame|The Hobo–Dyer projection]]
The {{w|Hobo–Dyer projection}} was commissioned by Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein and was drafted by Mick Dyer in 2002. It is a modified {{w|Behrmann projection}}. The goal was to be a more visually pleasing version of the Gall–Peters.

As is discussed in the Gall–Peters explanation, the Gall–Peters was developed to be equal area, so that economically disadvantaged areas can at least take comfort in the fact that their country is represented correctly by area on maps.

Randall associates the Hobo–Dyer projection to "crunchy granola" — a stereotype associated with vegetarianism, environmental activism, anti-war activism, liberal political leanings, and some traces of {{w|hippie}} culture.

With feminism becoming mainstream and alternative genders being more widely accepted, some have begun to invent gender-neutral pronouns so that when referring to a person whose gender is not known they cannot be offended by being referred to by the wrong pronouns. In {{w|Middle English}} 'they' and 'their' were {{w|Singular they|accepted genderless pronouns that could replace 'he', 'she'}} as well as be used to represent a crowd, but this usage is considered by some to be grammatically incorrect because of the plural/singular debate ([https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/the-awkward-case-of-his-or-her stupid Victorian Grammarians!]). There have been {{w|gender-neutral pronoun#Invented pronouns|many attempts at popularizing invented gender-neutral pronouns}} and they are beginning to achieve some degree of success in the mainstream.

{{clear}}

===Plate Carrée===
[[File:PlateCarreeProjection.jpg|frame|The Plate Carrée projection]]
Also known as the {{w|Equirectangular projection}}, it has been in use since, apparently, 100 AD. The benefit of this projection is that latitude and longitude can be used as x,y coordinates. This makes it especially easy for computers to graph data on top of it.

According to the comic, the projection appeals to people who find much beauty in simplicity.

{{clear}}

===A Globe!===
[[File:GlobeProjection.jpg|frame|The Globe "projection"]]
In any good discussion there has to be at least one smart-ass.{{Citation needed}} This is a comic about map projections, that is, the science of taking a sphere and flattening it into 2 dimensions. The smart-ass believes that we shouldn't even try: a sphere is, tautologically, the perfect representation of a sphere.

To quote ''{{w|The Princess Bride}}'': "Yes, you're very smart. Shut up."

A globe is, of course, the "map projection" used by {{w|Google Earth}} when zoomed out.

{{clear}}

===Waterman butterfly===
[[File:WatermanButterflyProjection.jpg|frame|The Waterman Butterfly projection]]
Similar to the Dymaxion, the {{w|Waterman butterfly projection}} turns a sphere into an octahedron, and then unfolds the net of the octahedron, which was devised by mathematician {{w|Waterman polyhedron|Steve Waterman}} based upon the work of {{w|Bernard J.S. Cahill}}.

Bernard Cahill published a [http://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html butterfly map] in 1909. Steve Waterman probably has the only extant "ready to go" map following the same general principles, though Gene Keys may not be far behind. Waterman has a poem with graphics in a similar vein to this xkcd comic that is worth reading.[http://web.archive.org/web/20120118095915/http://watermanpolyhedron.com/worldmap.html]

[https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/pcr.2016.48.issue-4/pcr-2016-0014/pcr-2016-0014.pdf Polyhedral projections] like Cahill, Dymaxion or Waterman typically offer better accuracy of size, shape and area than flat projections, at the expense of compass directionality, connectedness, and other complications.

The joke is that the person responding deeply understands map projections; anyone who knows of this projection is a person that Randall would like to get to know.

{{clear}}

===Peirce quincuncial===
[[File:PeirceQuincuncialProjection.jpg|frame|The Peirce Quincuncial projection]]
The {{w|Peirce quincuncial projection}} was devised by {{w|Charles Sanders Peirce}} in 1879 and uses {{w|complex analysis}} to make a {{w|conformal mapping}} of the Earth, that conforms except for four points which would make up the midpoints of sides and lie on equator (the equator is represented by a square and the corners connect the sides in the middle.)

{{w|Inception}} was a 2010 movie about {{w|meta}} {{w|lucid dream}}ing. It has a complex story that is difficult to follow and leaves the viewer with many questions at the end, and almost needs to be watched multiple times to be understood.

The human brain is not well developed to deal with oddly obvious things. One example is that everyone has a skeleton, but everyone is surprised to see a part of their body represented by an X-ray. Another is the fascinating complexity of the human hand, a machine which is amazingly complex, driven by a complex interplay of electrical and chemical signals; yet is the size of the hand and so useful. A fascination with or fixation on {{tvtropes|ContemplatingYourHands|such thoughts}} is often associated with an altered state of mind brought on by marijuana consumption. Therefore, Randall may be implying that this map would appeal to stoners.

{{clear}}

===Gall–Peters===
[[File:Gall-PetersProjection.jpg|frame|The Gall–Peters projection]]
The {{w|Gall–Peters projection}} is mired in controversy, surprisingly for a map. {{w|James Gall}}, a 19th-century clergyman, presented this projection in 1855 before the {{w|British Association for the Advancement of Science}}. In 1967, the filmmaker {{w|Arno Peters}} created the same projection and presented it to the world as a "new invention" that put poorer, less powerful countries into their rightful proportions (as opposed to the Mercator). Peters played the marketing game and got quite a few followers of his map by saying it had "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and was "totally distance-factual" in an age when society was very concerned about social justice. All of these claims were in fact false. The Mercator projection distorts size in favor of shape, and Gall-Peters distorts shape in favor of size, being especially inaccurate at the equator and the poles.

The implication is that the fans of this map are pompously concerned with social justice, and willing either to lie or convey marketing mistruths to promote that cause. Alternatively Randall just dislikes this map projection so much due to the above mentioned inaccuracies, that he hates anyone who likes it.

{{clear}}

===Title text===
The title text makes a joke that goes to the familiar meme from ''{{w|CSI: Miami}}'', in which the star, David Caruso starts a sentence, then puts on his sunglasses and ends the sentence with a corny pun. In this case, the pun is on {{w|map projection}} and {{w|projection (psychology)|projection}} in psychology. Psychological projection is an unconscious defense mechanism wherein a person who is uncomfortable with their own impulses denies having them and attributes them to other people, and blames these people for these impulses. The Sunglasses internet meme has been used [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|in other comics]] as well.

==Transcript==
:What your favorite
:'''Map Projection'''
:says about you
:[All of these are organized as Title, a copy of the particular projection underneath, and what it says about you under that.]

:*Mercator
:**You're not really into maps.
:*Van der Grinten
:**You're not a complicated person. You love the Mercator projection; you just wish it weren't square. The Earth's not a square, it's a circle. You like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!
:*Robinson
:**You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy The Beatles. You think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.
:*Dymaxion
:**You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. You own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. You type in Dvorak.
:*Winkel-Tripel
:**National Geographic adopted the Winkel-Tripel in 1998, but you've been a W-T fan since ''long'' before "Nat Geo" showed up. You're worried it's getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavrayskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is "Post–".
:*Goode Homolosine
:**They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems enough to you. You like easy solutions.You think we wouldn't have so many problems if we'd just elect ''normal'' people to Congress instead of Politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve ''that'' on board. You change your car's oil, but secretly wonder if you really ''need'' to.
:*Hobo-Dyer
:**You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you've heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You're conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.
:*Plate Carrée (Equirectangular)
:**You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.
:*A Globe!
:**Yes, you're very clever.
:*Waterman Butterfly
:**Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it's based— ...You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa. ...Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?
:*Peirce Quincuncial
:**You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw ''Inception'', you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You ''have'' really looked at your hands.
:*Gall-Peters
:**I ''hate'' you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps‏‎]]
[[Category:Dvorak]]
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]
[[Category:Puns]]

1190: Time/Translator

2022-04-06T08:21:31Z

162.158.2.215: light-text for translator-22.png

Here's a list of all the blurry text from the translator from [[1190: Time]], both with the original image and enhanced contrast.

===Synonyms===
The cartoon reflects the uncertainty of the translator's word choices and pronunciation by obscuring the text with ink blots and overlaying them with synonyms and extra meanings in large, light letters in the background.

For example, in the second panel, "whence" appears in bold letters and "from where" appears behind it in enlarged, lighter letters.

In the third panel "here" is also glossed in the background as "to this fortress".

===Grammar===
A note about grammar:

* The punctuation appears to be borrowed from the translator's native language.
* The ring diacritic indicates a question mark.
* A single line above a letter is a full stop.
* A double line above a letter is colon or comma.

This might help in determining the native language a bit better.

===Images===
{| class="wikitable"
! Original picture capture
! Enhanced contrast picture
|-
! Text
! Background text
|-
! colspan="2" | Notes and/or corrections
|-
| [[File:translator-1.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-1.png]]
|-
| "Somewhat"
| "Somewhat"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-2.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-2.png]]
|-
| {{nowrap|"Whence have you traveled here"}}
| "From where"...
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-3.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-3.png]]
|-
| {{nowrap|"You arose here from the desert below?}} Nobody resides there"
| "To this fortress"... ..."sand"... ..."lives"...
|-
| [[File:translator-4.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-4.png]]
|-
| "I am sorry. Your language is like those spoken by the [unclear-1] difficult [unclear-2] but I learned it."
| "I apologize" {{nowrap|..."tongue"..."similar"...}} "I"
|-
| colspan="2" | {{nowrap|U-1 & 2: Totally obscured.}}
|-
| [[File:translator-5.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-5.png]]
|-
| "Please be patient"
| "Please have patience"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-6.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-6.png]]
|-
| "They understand nöthing so they will tend to matters."
| "understand" "thus"..."attend"..."matters"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-7.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-7.png]]
|-
| "Your bags"
| "Your packs"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-8.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-8.png]]
|-
| "They are heavy."
| "For"...[unclear-1]
|-
|
| U-1: "weighted"?
|-
| [[File:translator-9.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-9.png]]
|-
| "You're Welcome"
| "You are" ... "to it"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-10.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-10.png]]
|-
| "Tell me where your home is."
| "Tell" ... "house"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-11.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-11.png]]
|-
| "What river?"
|
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-12.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-12.png]]
|-
| "How many people strong are you?"
| ..."numerous"
|-
| colspan="2" | U-1: "...r...n...": strong?
|-
| [[File:translator-13.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-13.png]]
|-
| "Which is forty? All my numbers are too small." "Yes! Good."
| "What"... 
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-14.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-14.png]]
|-
| "Do you carry these people with you?"
|
|-
| colspan="2" | With the implicit meaning of "did they come with you?" assuming the translator doesn't believe they are Cueball's imaginary friends or action figures.
|-
| [[File:translator-15.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-15.png]]
|-
| "Oh." "'''Oh.'''"
|
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-16.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-16.png]]
|-
| "You do not know." "I [Unclear-1]"
| "[Unclear-2]"
|-
| U-1: "m... ...se.": "must espouse."?
| U-2: "...ll...ina...": Possibly "illuminate"
|-
| [[File:translator-17.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-17.png]]
|-
| "Your sea does not stand alone: There is another sea next to it [Unclear-1] beyond the shore. It has become [Unclear-2] to yours [Unclear-3] levels differ and thus water flows"...
| ..."tied"... 
|-
| colspan="2" | U-1: Totally obscured. U-2: "s...ed" U-3: "b...": because? but their?
|-
| [[File:translator-18.png]]
| [[File:translator-contrast-18.png]]
|-
| "In time even the hills change. When people first walked and first {{nowrap|built [Unclear-2] cities the seas were joined.}} but there was a great [Unclear-3] {{nowrap|rock [Unclear-4] and the passage was closed.}} Your sea [Unclear-5] with too few rivers. Under the sun it shrank and the water fell. The sea has found a way back in."
| "castles"..."welded" "mud"..."road"..."forbidden" "Now"...
|-
|U-1: Totally obscured. U-2: Totally obscured. U-3: Totally obscured. U-4: "w...": was isolated?
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-19.png]]
|
|-
| "Do you know where you are?"
|
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-20.png]]
|
|-
| "I [Unclear-1] build you a map to understanding."
| "Find" "[Unclear-2]"
|-
| U-1: "...l..l": Will? With the implicit meaning of "I'll find you a map to help your understanding".
| U-2: "Do..." Do?
|-
| [[File:translator-21.png]]
|
|-
| "This fortress is here." "This sea is yours." "This sea is joining yours."
|
|-
| colspan="2" | The fortress is in southern France, the sea south of it in the present Mediterranean's basin, and the other "sea" is the Atlantic.
|-
| [[File:translator-22.png]]
|
|-
| "And this is our belief about the sea's new shore."
| "prediction" "concerning"
|-
| [[File:translator-23.png]]
|
|-
| "We '''learned''' it has happened before. When our parents were learning to walk upright, the sea fled and returned."
| ..."forefathers"/[unclear-1]... ..."stand" 
|-
|
| U-1: "...ors": ancestors?
|-
| [[File:translator-24.png]]
|
|-
| "Now it is happening again."
|
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-25.png]]
|
|-
| "Yes."
|
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-26.png]]
|
|-
| "This castle was once an island. We found it and have tried to rebuild it."
| ..."fortress"..."on"... "[Unclear-1]"
|-
|
| U-1: "...a...red": Appeared?
|-
| [[File:translator-27.png]]
|
|-
| "I guess it will be an island again."
| ..."imagine"..."suppose"... ..."island again"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-28.png]]
|
|-
| "We are learners/teachers.* This fortress [Unclear-1] with learners/teachers* and I am their teacher/leader.*"
| ..."scholars" ..."'''ruler'''"
|-
| colspan="2" | U-1: "..ar..s": shares/guards/swarms? {{nowrap|[ * ] Unlike most}} alt text, the "learners" and "teachers" in the first and third lines are ''both'' presented as the correct translation. Similarly "teacher" and "leader" in the last line.
|-
| [[File:translator-29.png]]
|
|-
| "I am so sorry."
| "[Unclear-1]"..."sorrow"
|-
| colspan="2" | U-1: "w...re" we are?
|-
| [[File:translator-30.png]]
|
|-
| "When we discovered the sea was [Unclear-1] under the bank we tried to shore it up. We '''failed'''. We tried to remove everybody from the basin, but we did not know of your tribe."
| "flowing" "berm"..."repair" [Unclear-2] "group"
|-
| U-1: "s...ing": seeping?
| U-2: "...ea": sea? area?
|-
| [[File:translator-31.png]]
|
|-
| "'''No.'''"
|
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-32.png]]
|
|-
| "As the water flows, it widens the breach. '''The berm is giving way'''. {{nowrap|The sea will rush through in a [Unclear-1] torrent.}} The planet's mightiest river will once again come thundering down the mountainside. The sea will fill not in years but in '''days'''."
| "channel" "history's" 
|-
| colspan="2" | U-1: "g...": giant? great? gushing?
|-
| [[File:translator-33.png]]
|
|-
| "The journey to your land is much too long. [Unclear-1] not send [Unclear-2] only to see them encircled and drowned by the rising tide."
| "rushing"..."water"
|-
| colspan="2" | U-1: "...l": I'll? I will? U-2: "...s": Friends?
|-
| [[File:translator-34.png]]
|
|-
| "The world you knew is ending but fortune has delivered you from the flood. You did not intend to leave your home forever but be thankful you left when you did."
| "grateful"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|-
| [[File:translator-35.png]]
|
|-
| "You must say your goodbyes from here. You cannot go back down into the abyss. For you have walked too far and now there is no more time to walk. The ocean is coming."
| "cannot"..."return" "sea"..."here"
|-
| colspan="2" |
|}
{{DEFAULTSORT:1190}}

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