explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3091: Renormalization

2025-05-20T03:52:27Z

162.158.62.106:

It's been an hour. Does nobody know what this is about? Are we all dumb? [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 22:43, 19 May 2025 (UTC)

I'm not certain. Renormalisation is a concept from quantum field theory in which coupling constants take different values at different scales. I believe the intuition for this is that at longer scales, particles are shielded by a cloud of virtual particles which spring into 'existence' around them and take some of the apparent strength out of the interaction. The best I've got is that somehow this is like an electron hitting off of other imaginary electrons? Maybe the old, since a photon ''(another editor here: of course you meant to say "positron"... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.68|162.158.74.68]] - thank you, good catch [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.164|172.69.79.164]])'' can be interpreted as an electron going backwards in time, there might only be one electron in the universe, it's just bouncing back and forth a lot? But in this case any electron interacting in any way with another electron would be 'hitting itself', so I don't see how that would be a renormalisation specific thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.112|172.70.58.112]] 22:52, 19 May 2025 (UTC)

Wait, I was dumb. Renormalisation is a self interaction, the interpretation in terms of virtual particles is irrelevant. I was over thinking it. Interacting with itself => hitting itself, simple. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.150|172.70.58.150]] 22:59, 19 May 2025 (UTC)

Can someone who understands renormalisation better than I add the bit about self-interaction to the explanation? I did not get that at ALL from the linked Wikipedia page (although I did get the Endless Mike reduction joke from it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.106|162.158.62.106]] 03:52, 20 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:Footnote

2025-04-23T14:53:45Z

162.158.62.106: /* 1 pixel and other notes */ new section

I remember the footnote originally being somewhat different (referring instead to a "formula"). Does anybody have that version? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.44|108.162.219.44]] 02:06, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

;Broken
Just leaving this here - the images on the random billboard link appear to be broken, someone should probably edit it so it points to a more helpful website. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.166|108.162.237.166]] 23:38, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

Actually, searching the BTC string (BTC 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey) leads here. Talk about meta. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.109|199.27.133.109]] 20:44, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

Nice.{{unsigned ip|162.158.2.218}}

That, and its Blackhawk.info webpage. Makes me want to know his method of getting 1.6 bitcoins. [[User:Cody Hackins|Cody Hackins]] ([[User talk:Cody Hackins|talk]]) 19:35, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

== 1 pixel and other notes ==

It ''is'' possible to have a height of 1 px in Firefox. Caps Lock does ''not'' preclude lowercase letters, it just requires Shift to create them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.106|162.158.62.106]] 14:53, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

2950: Situation

2024-06-24T22:48:20Z

162.158.62.106: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2950
| date = June 24, 2024
| title = Situation
| image = situation_2x.png
| imagesize = 578x306px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We're right under the flight path for the scheduled orbital launch, but don't worry--it's too cold out for the rockets to operate safely, so I'm sure they'll postpone.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Shark, the iceberg of the sea - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts a situation involving multiple pieces of infrastructure: a ship, sailing towards icebergs, which is tethered to an airship flying next to a power plant towards a bridge. Each of these are labelled with details that clearly reference famous disasters, all which were caused (at least in part) by design failures. All of these incidents are common case studies for engineers studying how things can go very wrong. The implication is that, by putting them all together, most engineers would be highly concerned with the potential for catastrophe.

- "Unsinkable Ocean Liner" refers to the RMS ''{{w|Titanic}}''.

The ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner which famously {{w|Sinking of the Titanic|sank}} on its maiden voyage in 1912. It was the largest ship in operation at the time, and was called "unsinkable" due to its size and much-lauded design features. The ship struck an iceberg on the fourth day of its first voyage, breaching the hull and ultimately causing it to sink, resulting in 1,496 deaths. Multiple design inadequacies, including too few life boats and inadequate steering ability, were afterwards identified as contributing to the ship sinking and to the high loss of life.

- "Hydrogen-filled [Airship]" refers to the {{w|Hindenburg Disaster}}.

The {{w|LZ 129 Hindenburg|''Hindenburg''}} was a German airship which used hydrogen as a lifting gas. In 1937, during a landing in New Jersey, the ship caught fire and the inflammable hydrogen quickly ignited, causing the ship to crash and resulting in 36 deaths. While the origins of the fire are still debated, the dangers of using large amounts of inflammable gas in airships were made dramatically clear.

Ironically, the hydrogen airship appears to have been commissioned for the purpose of mitigating iceberg risks, unless 'iceberg spotting' is for the purpose of steering the 'Unsinkable Ocean Liner'.

- "Soviet Era Nuclear Reactor Undergoing a Turbine Test" refers to the {{w|Chernobyl Disaster}}.

The {{w|Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant}} is located near the city of Pripyat, in Ukraine under the Soviet Union. On 26 April 1986, a reactor core partially melted and caused an explosion, causing a massive release of radiation. This incident remains the worst nuclear accident to date. The number of fatalities from the disaster are difficult to calculate; two people died from the initial damage, twenty-eight more from acute radiation sickness, and fifteen people who were directly exposed developed terminal thyroid cancer. The radiation, however, spread far beyond the plant itself and the number of premature deaths ultimately attributable to subsequent exposure can't be calculated directly, though most estimates are easily in the thousands.

- "Bridge Prone to Aeroelastic Flutter in High Winds" refers to the {{w|Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)|Tacoma Narrows Bridge}}.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington, was initially built in 1940. From the time of its construction, the bridge was observed to sway and {{w|Aeroelasticity#Flutter|flutter}} in high winds. About four months after opening, the bridge fluttered so violently in 40 mile-per-hour (64 km/h) winds that it collapsed into the river. There were no human fatalities, though several people were injured. This collapse is frequently used to demonstrate the dangers of harmonic vibration in infrastructure, particularly structures exposed to strong winds. The bridge was eventually rebuilt, with a redesign intended to prevent such fluttering.

- The title text refers to the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster}}.

The {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger|''Challenger''}} was an American space shuttle which broke up shortly after its orbital launch in 1986, killing all seven crew members aboard. The disaster was caused by a failure of O-ring seals on one of shuttle's rocket boosters and subsequent leak of fuels. The likely cause of these failures was because the weather was much colder than normal in the launch area, causing the seals to be well below their design temperature range in the immediate lead-up to being exposed to launch conditions, and were then unable to maintain their integrity. Engineers for the company that had built the boosters raised this concern and recommended postponing the launch, but were overruled.

In this comic, is it unclear how the nuclear reactor turbine test is being performed, but if it causes a large amount of wind to be expelled in the direction of the bridge that could cause the wind-related design flaws of the bridge to be activated (bridge collapse). On the other hand, if it directs severe wind and/or heat into the sky it could affect the stability and/or integrity of the airship (airship explosion). Maybe the airship explodes (from violent wind/heat expelled by the vertical smokestack), and the shock waves from the explosion cause the nearby bridge to collapse. With the airship gone and no longer looking for icebergs, the ship hits the icebergs ahead and sinks, and the nuclear reactor is destroyed by the airship explosion and falling debris from above.

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

:[An airship flying, labeled:]
:Hydrogen-filled scout airship for iceberg spotting
:[The airship is chained to a ship, going along a river, labeled:]
:Unsinkable ocean liner
:[In the background on the coast a nuclear power plant, labeled:]
:Soviet-era nuclear reactor undergoing a turbine test
:[The boat and airship are steering towards a bridge, labeled:]
:Bridge prone to aeroelastic flutter in high winds
:[Two unlabeled icebergs are on the water on either side of the bridge.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In retrospect, we should have noticed how nervous the situation was making the engineers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Aviation]]
[[Category:Space]]

2393: Presidential Middle Names

2021-05-09T22:59:24Z

162.158.62.106: Truman's middle name isn't abbreviated. It's just S.

{{comic
| number = 2393
| date = December 2, 2020
| title = Presidential Middle Names
| image = presidential_middle_names.png
| titletext = The bottom of the list remains unchanged. Poor Rutherford Birchard Hayes.
}}

==Explanation==
A list of what Randall perceives will be the prettiest presidential {{w|middle names}} after the inauguration on January 20, 2021. {{w|Joe Biden|Joe Robinette Biden}} (46th president-elect) will take the second slot bumping previous second-place holder {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt}}, the 32nd president, back to third. {{w|Warren G. Harding|Warren Gamaliel Harding}}, the 29th president, remains in first. Robinette is Biden's [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2008/08/joe_bidens_middle_name_is_robi.html grandmother's maiden name].

The title text announces that {{w|Rutherford B. Hayes|Rutherford Birchard Hayes}}, the 19th president, remains at or near the bottom.

Overall, the ranking would not include every president, as many early presidents, such as {{w|George Washington}} and {{w|John Adams}}, lacked middle names. Some presidents were also more commonly known by their middle names as opposed to their first names, particularly John {{w|Calvin Coolidge}}, Stephen {{w|Grover Cleveland}}, Hiram {{w|Ulysses Grant}}, and Thomas {{w|Woodrow Wilson}}. Grant additionally acquired a spurious "middle" initial S, hence, ''Ulysses S. Grant''. There is no evidence in the comic for how Randall’s list would deal with these cases.

The humor is based on the sheer oddity of ranking people by the perceived prettiness of their obscure middle names.

== Trivia ==

{{w|Raphael Warnock|Raphael Gamaliel Warnock}} became a U.S. in January 2021, a hundred and a week after former president Warren Gamaliel Harding left the Senate. Randall’s favourite presidential middle name is thus once again represented in government.

==List of Presidents with middle names==
(updated for 2021, as the comic)
{| class="wikitable"
|+ (Ordered by middle name)
! President
! Presidential order
|-
|James ABRAM Garfield
|20
|-
|Chester ALAN Arthur
|21
|-
|Lyndon BAINES Johnson
|36
|-
|Rutherford BIRCHARD Hayes
|19
|-
|John CALVIN Coolidge
|30
|-
|Herbert CLARK Hoover
|31
|-
|Dwight DAVID Eisenhower
|34
|-
|Franklin DELANO Roosevelt
|32
|-
|James EARL Carter
|39
|-
|John FITZGERALD Kennedy
|35
|-
|Warren GAMALIEL Harding
|29
|-
|Stephen GROVER Cleveland
|22, 24
|-
|William HENRY Harrison
|9
|-
|George HERBERT WALKER Bush
|41
|-
|William HOWARD Taft
|27
|-
|Barack HUSSEIN Obama
|44
|-
|William JEFFERSON Clinton
|42
|-
|Donald JOHN Trump
|45
|-
|James KNOX Polk
|11
|-
|Richard MILHOUS Nixon
|37
|-
|John QUINCY Adams
|6
|-
|Joe ROBINETTE Biden
|46
|-
|Gerald RUDOLPH Ford
|38
|-
|Harry S Truman
|33
|-
|Hiram ULYSSES Grant
|18
|-
|George WALKER Bush
|43
|-
|Ronald WILSON Reagan
|40
|-
|Thomas WOODROW Wilson
|28
|}

The Presidents without middle names — almost all of those before Grant, and a few a bit later — were George Washington, John Adams, {{w|Thomas Jefferson}}, {{w|James Madison}}, {{w|James Monroe}}, {{w|Andrew Jackson}}, {{w|Martin Van Buren}}, {{w|John Tyler}}, {{w|Zachary Taylor}}, {{w|Millard Fillmore}}, {{w|Franklin Pierce}}, {{w|James Buchanan}}, {{w|Abraham Lincoln}}, {{w|Andrew Johnson}}, {{w|Benjamin Harrison}}, {{w|William McKinley}}, and {{w|Theodore Roosevelt}}.

==Transcript==
:<big>Prettiest</big>
:Presidential Middle Names Official Rankings
:(Updated for 2021)

# Gamaliel (Warren Harding)
#<span style="color:red">Robinette (Joe Biden) '''(NEW!)'''</span>
#Delano (Franklin Roosevelt)<br>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Rankings]]