explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2250: OK/okay/ok

2020-01-03T19:23:11Z

162.158.78.58: add Category:Compromise - from volleo6144 if I ever create an account

{{comic
| number = 2250
| date = January 03, 2020
| title = {{{1|OK/okay/ok}}}
| image = {{{2|ok okay ok.png}}}
| titletext = {{{3|After changing it back and forth several times and consulting with internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch, I settled on "ok" in my book How To, but I'm still on the fence. Maybe I should just switch to "oK".}}}
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an O.K.A.Y. user}}
The word "{{w|OK}}", per Wikipedia, "is an American English word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference."

It has traditionally been spelled / written "OK", with both letters capitalized. According to [[Randall]], modern usage of the word is with both letters in lowercase "ok", or fully spelled out as "okay". Spelling the word as "O.K." with periods in between the letters is rarely used in modern times, so Randall equates this usage to "an alien impersonating a human". According to Wikipedia, "O.K." was used in the 1700s and 1800s.

Mentioned in the title text, {{w|Gretchen McCulloch}} is a Canadian Internet linguist focusing on trends in use of English words in online communications. It seems that Randall consulted with her on the use of "ok" in his book ''[[How To]]'', but he is still unsure which usage is the "proper" usage in modern writing. His compromise solution is "oK", a strange spelling that is very seldom seen, except as a typo.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

:[in a line there 4 writings of the word "okay" and below each a caption.]
:okay ok OK O.K.
:[under "okay"] normal [under "ok"] normal [under "OK"] kind of old [under "O.K."] like an alien impersonating a human
:[Caption below the panel:]
:How your spelling of "okay" makes you sound

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Compromise]]

2216: Percent Milkfat

2019-10-17T00:42:18Z

162.158.78.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2216
| date = October 17, 2019
| title = Percent Milkfat
| image = percent_milkfat.png
| titletext = "So what's dark energy?" "Cosmologists and the FDA are both trying very hard to find out."
}}

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

Whole milk is a dairy product which does not have some of its naturally occurring {{w|Butterfat|milkfat}} removed. Whole milk generally contains about [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/03/whole-milk-is-actually-3-5-milk-whats-up-with-that/ 3.5% milkfat] by weight, according to the comic and some sources; [https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/types-of-dairy-milk other sources] list similar but not identical numbers such as 3.25%.

Dairies commonly sell whole milk as well as products with less fat. {{w|Fat_content_of_milk#United_States|In the United States}}, there are three products with less fat: 2% or "reduced fat" milk, 1% or "lowfat" milk, and "fat-free" or "skim" milk with 0 to 0.05% milkfat.

Since whole milk is labeled as "whole" (or "Vitamin D" milk) and not as "3.5% milk," one might naively assume that whole milk is 100% milkfat, though this is not the case; 100% would be a product which is entirely milkfat (also known as butterfat), such as {{w|clarified butter}} or ghee.

The comic analogizes this difference to the fact that physicists believe "ordinary" matter only constitutes 5% of the actual mass-energy of the universe. Scientists predict the existence of another kind of matter known as "{{w|dark matter}}," invisible to our current instruments but which exerts gravitational force on ordinary matter, which would constitute 85% of total matter and 27% of the mass-energy, and then an even less detectable "{{w|dark energy}}" which accounts for the increasing speed of expansion of the universe.

Ponytail uses these quantities to "explain" the "missing" percentage in whole milk between the actual 3.5% and a potential 100% "whole."

Cosmologists are working to better understand, and prove or disprove, "dark energy" or another reason for the universe's accelerating expansion. The title text supposes that both cosmologists and the {{w|Food and Drug Administration}} (FDA), which regulates milk and other food items in the United States, are trying to understand the dark energy of the "whole milk."

==Transcript==
[Ponytail and Cueball are talking.]

Ponytail: "2% milk" is 2% milkfat. But "whole milk" isn't 100% milkfat - it's 3.5%.

Cueball: Weird. What's the rest of it?

Ponytail: Abut 27% is dark matter. The remainder is dark energy.

2216: Percent Milkfat

2019-10-17T00:40:36Z

162.158.78.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2216
| date = October 17, 2019
| title = Percent Milkfat
| image = percent_milkfat.png
| titletext = "So what's dark energy?" "Cosmologists and the FDA are both trying very hard to find out."
}}

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

Whole milk is a dairy product which does not have some of its naturally occurring {{w|Butterfat|milkfat}} removed. Whole milk generally contains about [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/03/whole-milk-is-actually-3-5-milk-whats-up-with-that/ 3.5% milkfat] by weight, according to the comic and some sources; [https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/types-of-dairy-milk other sources] list similar but not identical numbers such as 3.25%.

Dairies commonly sell whole milk as well as, at least {{w|Fat_content_of_milk#United_States|in the United States}}, three products with less fat: 2% or "reduced fat" milk, 1% or "lowfat" milk, and "fat-free" or "skim" milk with 0 to 0.05% milkfat.

Since whole milk is labeled as "whole" (or "Vitamin D" milk) and not as "3.5% milk," one might naively assume that whole milk is 100% milkfat, though this is not the case; 100% would be a product which is entirely milkfat (also known as butterfat), such as {{w|clarified butter}} or ghee.

The comic analogizes this difference to the fact that physicists believe "ordinary" matter only constitutes 5% of the actual mass-energy of the universe. Scientists predict the existence of another kind of matter known as "{{w|dark matter}}," invisible to our current instruments but which exerts gravitational force on ordinary matter, which would constitute 85% of total matter and 27% of the mass-energy, and then an even less detectable "{{w|dark energy}}" which accounts for the increasing speed of expansion of the universe.

Ponytail uses these quantities to "explain" the "missing" percentage in whole milk between the actual 3.5% and a potential 100% "whole."

Cosmologists are working to better understand, and prove or disprove, "dark energy" or another reason for the universe's accelerating expansion. The title text supposes that both cosmologists and the {{w|Food and Drug Administration}} (FDA), which regulates milk and other food items in the United States, are trying to understand the dark energy of the "whole milk."

==Transcript==
[Ponytail and Cueball are talking.]

Ponytail: "2% milk" is 2% milkfat. But "whole milk" isn't 100% milkfat - it's 3.5%.

Cueball: Weird. What's the rest of it?

Ponytail: Abut 27% is dark matter. The remainder is dark energy.

2216: Percent Milkfat

2019-10-17T00:37:53Z

162.158.78.58: FDA

{{comic
| number = 2216
| date = October 17, 2019
| title = Percent Milkfat
| image = percent_milkfat.png
| titletext = "So what's dark energy?" "Cosmologists and the FDA are both trying very hard to find out."
}}

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

Whole milk is a dairy product which does not have some of its naturally occurring {{w|Butterfat|milkfat}} removed. Whole milk generally has about [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/03/whole-milk-is-actually-3-5-milk-whats-up-with-that/ 3.5% fat by volume], according to the comic and some sources; [https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/types-of-dairy-milk other sources] list similar but not identical numbers such as 3.25%.

Dairies commonly sell whole milk as well as, at least {{w|Fat_content_of_milk#United_States|in the United States}}, three products with less fat: 2% or "reduced fat" milk, 1% or "lowfat" milk, and "fat-free" or "skim" milk with 0 to 0.05% milkfat.

Since whole milk is labeled as "whole" (or "Vitamin D" milk) and not as "3.5% milk," one might naively assume that whole milk is 100% milkfat, though this is not the case; 100% would be a product which is entirely milkfat (also known as butterfat), such as {{w|clarified butter}} or ghee.

The comic analogizes this difference to the fact that physicists believe "ordinary" matter only constitutes 5% of the actual mass-energy of the universe. Scientists predict the existence of another kind of matter known as "{{w|dark matter}}", invisible to our current instruments but which exerts gravitational force on ordinary matter, which would constitute 85% of total matter and 27% of the mass-energy, and then an even less detectable "{{w|dark energy}}" which accounts for the increasing speed of expansion of the universe.

Ponytail uses these quantities to "explain" the "missing" percentage in whole milk between the actual 3.5% and a potential 100% "whole."

Cosmologists are working to better understand, and prove or disprove, "dark energy" or another reason for the universe's accelerating expansion. The title text supposes that both cosmologists and the {{w|Food and Drug Administration}} (FDA), which regulates milk and other food items in the United States, are trying to understand the dark energy of the "whole milk."

==Transcript==
[Ponytail and Cueball are talking.]

Ponytail: "2% milk" is 2% milkfat. But "whole milk" isn't 100% milkfat - it's 3.5%.

Cueball: Weird. What's the rest of it?

Ponytail: Abut 27% is dark matter. The remainder is dark energy.

2216: Percent Milkfat

2019-10-17T00:36:44Z

162.158.78.58: Fixing wikipedia links

{{comic
| number = 2216
| date = October 17, 2019
| title = Percent Milkfat
| image = percent_milkfat.png
| titletext = "So what's dark energy?" "Cosmologists and the FDA are both trying very hard to find out."
}}

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

Whole milk is a dairy product which does not have some of its naturally occurring {{w|Butterfat|milkfat}} removed. Whole milk generally has about [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/03/whole-milk-is-actually-3-5-milk-whats-up-with-that/ 3.5% fat by volume], according to the comic and some sources; [https://milklife.com/articles/nutrition/types-of-dairy-milk other sources] list similar but not identical numbers such as 3.25%.

Dairies commonly sell whole milk as well as, at least {{w|Fat_content_of_milk#United_States|in the United States}}, three products with less fat: 2% or "reduced fat" milk, 1% or "lowfat" milk, and "fat-free" or "skim" milk with 0 to 0.05% milkfat.

Since whole milk is labeled as "whole" (or "Vitamin D" milk) and not as "3.5% milk," one might naively assume that whole milk is 100% milkfat, though this is not the case; 100% would be a product which is entirely milkfat (also known as butterfat), such as {{w|clarified butter}} or ghee.

The comic analogizes this difference to the fact that physicists believe "ordinary" matter only constitutes 5% of the actual mass-energy of the universe. Scientists predict the existence of another kind of matter known as "{{w|dark matter}}", invisible to our current instruments but which exerts gravitational force on ordinary matter, which would constitute 85% of total matter and 27% of the mass-energy, and then an even less detectable "{{w|dark energy}}" which accounts for the increasing speed of expansion of the universe.

Ponytail uses these quantities to "explain" the "missing" percentage in whole milk between the actual 3.5% and a potential 100% "whole."

Cosmologists are working to better understand, and prove or disprove, "dark energy" or another reason for the universe's accelerating expansion. The title text supposes that both cosmologists and the FDA, which regulates milk and other food items in the United States, are trying to understand the dark energy of the "whole milk."

==Transcript==
[Ponytail and Cueball are talking.]

Ponytail: "2% milk" is 2% milkfat. But "whole milk" isn't 100% milkfat - it's 3.5%.

Cueball: Weird. What's the rest of it?

Ponytail: Abut 27% is dark matter. The remainder is dark energy.

2216: Percent Milkfat

2019-10-17T00:33:06Z

162.158.78.58: Fixing wikipedia links

{{comic
| number = 2216
| date = October 17, 2019
| title = Percent Milkfat
| image = percent_milkfat.png
| titletext = "So what's dark energy?" "Cosmologists and the FDA are both trying very hard to find out."
}}

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

Whole milk is a dairy product which does not have some of its naturally occurring {{w|Butterfat|milkfat}} removed. Whole milk generally has about 3.5% fat by volume, according to the comic; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_content_of_milk#United_States other sources] list similar but not identical numbers such as 3.25%.

Dairies commonly sell whole milk as well as, at least [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_content_of_milk#United_States in the United States], three products with less fat: 2% or "reduced fat" milk, 1% or "lowfat" milk, and "fat-free" or "skim" milk with 0 to 0.05% milkfat.

Since whole milk is labeled as "whole" (or "Vitamin D" milk) and not as "3.5% milk," one might naively assume that whole milk is 100% milkfat, though this is not the case; 100% would be a product which is entirely milkfat (also known as butterfat), such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarified_butter clarified butter] or ghee.

The comic analogizes this difference to the fact that physicists believe "ordinary" matter only constitutes 5% of the actual mass-energy of the universe. Scientists predict the existence of another kind of matter known as "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter dark matter]", invisible to our current instruments but which exerts gravitational force on ordinary matter, which would constitute 85% of total matter and 27% of the mass-energy, and then an even less detectable "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy dark energy]" which accounts for the increasing speed of expansion of the universe.

Ponytail uses these quantities to "explain" the "missing" percentage in whole milk between the actual 3.5% and a potential 100% "whole."

Cosmologists are working to better understand, and prove or disprove, "dark energy" or another reason for the universe's accelerating expansion. The title text supposes that both cosmologists and the FDA, which regulates milk and other food items in the United States, are trying to understand the dark energy of the "whole milk."

==Transcript==
[Ponytail and Cueball are talking.]

Ponytail: "2% milk" is 2% milkfat. But "whole milk" isn't 100% milkfat - it's 3.5%.

Cueball: Weird. What's the rest of it?

Ponytail: Abut 27% is dark matter. The remainder is dark energy.

2216: Percent Milkfat

2019-10-17T00:31:30Z

162.158.78.58: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2216
| date = October 17, 2019
| title = Percent Milkfat
| image = percent_milkfat.png
| titletext = "So what's dark energy?" "Cosmologists and the FDA are both trying very hard to find out."
}}

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

Whole milk is a dairy product which does not have some of its naturally occurring [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfat milkfat] removed. Whole milk generally has about 3.5% fat by volume, according to the comic; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_content_of_milk#United_States other sources] list similar but not identical numbers such as 3.25%.

Dairies commonly sell whole milk as well as, at least [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_content_of_milk#United_States in the United States], three products with less fat: 2% or "reduced fat" milk, 1% or "lowfat" milk, and "fat-free" or "skim" milk with 0 to 0.05% milkfat.

Since whole milk is labeled as "whole" (or "Vitamin D" milk) and not as "3.5% milk," one might naively assume that whole milk is 100% milkfat, though this is not the case; 100% would be a product which is entirely milkfat (also known as butterfat), such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarified_butter clarified butter] or ghee.

The comic analogizes this difference to the fact that physicists believe "ordinary" matter only constitutes 5% of the actual mass-energy of the universe. Scientists predict the existence of another kind of matter known as "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter dark matter]", invisible to our current instruments but which exerts gravitational force on ordinary matter, which would constitute 85% of total matter and 27% of the mass-energy, and then an even less detectable "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy dark energy]" which accounts for the increasing speed of expansion of the universe.

Ponytail uses these quantities to "explain" the "missing" percentage in whole milk between the actual 3.5% and a potential 100% "whole."

Cosmologists are working to better understand, and prove or disprove, "dark energy" or another reason for the universe's accelerating expansion. The title text supposes that both cosmologists and the FDA, which regulates milk and other food items in the United States, are trying to understand the dark energy of the "whole milk."

==Transcript==
[Ponytail and Cueball are talking.]

Ponytail: "2% milk" is 2% milkfat. But "whole milk" isn't 100% milkfat - it's 3.5%.

Cueball: Weird. What's the rest of it?

Ponytail: Abut 27% is dark matter. The remainder is dark energy.

2213: How Old

2019-10-09T16:07:59Z

162.158.78.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2213
| date = October 9, 2019
| title = How Old
| image = how_old.png
| titletext = We've met! I remember you when you were thiiiis tall! [*holds a hand an inch above their head*]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an someone with problems with social interactions. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Another comic of the [[:Category:Tips|tips type]], this time regarding one of [[Randall|Randall's]] problems, [[:Category:Social interactions|social interactions]], thus adding an ''interaction tip''.

[[White Hat]] introduces his dad to [[Cueball]], who then copies a reaction which is more typical for people being introduced to children, by saying ''Aww, how old is he?''

When introduced to a young kid, saying "aww" is accepted as normal, because the speaker thinks the little child is cute. The speaker also wishes both to know the age of the kid, and to give the kid a chance to answer this question.

But the other way around this would feel very awkward, and Randall, pretending to be very awkward around other (normal) people, continues to make this type of comic about problems with social interactions. Hence for other with his problems this comic gives an interaction tip in the caption, letting you know that ''How Old?'' is only a common question to ask when introduced to parents kids, not to "kids" parents (i.e. grown-up kids parents). Hence the title of the comic. And excellent example of how Randall also doesn't know how to speak with people with children can be seen in [[1650: Baby]].

White Hat's father is wearing a {{w|sailor cap}} like the old version of Cueball in [[572: Together]] and as other old people both in [[586: Mission to Culture]] and [[1910: Sky Spotters]].

In the title text Cueball continues down the road to awkwardness by saying other things normally reserved for kids. Here he notes that he has actually met White Hat's father before, but so long ago that he since has changed height. For Kids this usually means they have grown taller, but old people, who has long stopped growing, will over time become more compressed and lose height. So apart from saying that he remembers when White Hat's father was ''thiiiis tall'', he also holds his hand an inch (2.54 cm) above the fathers head to indicate this age related loss of height. For a kid he would of course have held his hand some centimetres below the top of the head instead.

This interaction would be really embarrassing for the father and White Hat, as being made aware of the on-setting age, is usually not something people like to get in their face by someone they hardly know.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat holds his hand out towards a man with a sailor-cap standing to the left in the image while addressing Cueball standing to the right.]
:White Hat: I'd like you to meet my dad.
:Cueball: Aww, how old is he?

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Interaction tip: This is a common question to ask parents about their kids, but for some reason in the other direction it's weird.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

Talk:1267: Mess

2019-06-20T21:57:33Z

162.158.78.58:

I do this on purpose whenever people are likely to come over. I mostly clean my house except for a little thing and apologize for the mess. [[Special:Contributions/62.159.14.62|62.159.14.62]] 11:29, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
:Remind me never to come visit you.[[Special:Contributions/184.57.72.181|184.57.72.181]] 12:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
::Never come visit him/her. Is that enough of a reminder? --[[Special:Contributions/24.145.230.197|24.145.230.197]] 05:48, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
:: you haven't gone and visited him/her - right? we kinda fell down on this social contract, but here's one more reminder: never visit him/her! [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 18:09, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
::A reminder from 2017: never visit him/her!--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.30|172.68.133.30]] 22:05, 21 February 2017 (UTC)

"There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes people to mentally magnify their own flaws, while failing to notice the flaws of others." '''Tell that to my ex-wife!''' --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:03, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
:There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes future ex-wives to mentally magnify their spouse's flaws while failing to notice their own or the flaws of others. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.63|173.245.55.63]] 17:41, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

This comic wierdly mirrors (in contrast) a recently broadcast radio programme (which I doubt Randall will have heard, it being UK's BBC Radio 4 "Thinking Allowed", I think it was, with a segment regarding how normal people react to those not acting 'properly' to social norms) in which the phenomena was mentioned. A lady hostess who unselfconsciously apologises for "not having dusted" (despite dust being possibly shed skin cells and such, it's considered "clean mess"), for her visitor, is then utterly mortified when said visitor breaks the rules and also 'helpfully' points out a coffee-ring stain (considered "dirty mess", for some reason) upon a surface. Doubtless the traditional light and largely insignificant layering of dust possibly somehow prevents highlighting any ''geniuinely'' missed spots (if one had actually dusted ''most'' of the room), yet distinct stains and marks (and dust layers with obvious finger-marks in?) ought to have been cleaned or even prevented in the first place.

(For the record, my own home is a "working mess", much to the chagrin of my mother when she visits. It could definitely be tidier, and there's absolutly no way to convincingly apologise for its state. I consider the whole place to be my "shed", in the grand tradition of "shedology". Mind you, this attitude of mine arises out of the tendency for me to ''lose'' so many things when I deliberately tidy up/pack away "projects in progress" for such esteemed visitors. Better that I can find everything when I need to, IMO. This ''mostly'' works better than with the alternative, under a sometimes Holmesian 'stratified' surface-based filing system.) [[Special:Contributions/178.105.138.196|178.105.138.196]] 15:42, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

:tl;dr--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:09, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

I was reminded of..
http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-puts-glass-of-water-on-bedside-table-in-case-h,33751/ {{unsigned ip|173.14.162.93}}

People call a clean house messy as a way to seem superior to their guests. They clean it before the guest gets here then say that because they know the guest has not cleaned. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 17:37, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

"There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes people to mentally magnify their own flaws, while failing to notice the flaws of others." How is this phenomenon called? [[Special:Contributions/79.227.152.95|79.227.152.95]] 09:36, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
:false humility [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 05:44, 18 October 2013 (UTC)Grahame
:No, more like self doubt, which is the exact opposite. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 09:50, 4 February 2014 (UTC)
I think you mean "What is this called?" I don't know, I've been trying to research it for the last five minutes and it's never the first result on google. Must not exist. [[Special:Contributions/72.94.35.160|72.94.35.160]] 02:37, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

>>"In the title text, Cueball's anxiety in further amplified when he recalls that he left out a glass of water from the night before. "

I do not think this is right. I think it is the host who is apologizing about the glass of water as the apology is in quotes. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.178|108.162.241.178]] 01:34, 24 October 2017 (UTC)
I agree with the idea that it is the host apologizing for the water.

Talk:1267: Mess

2019-06-20T21:56:53Z

162.158.78.58:

I do this on purpose whenever people are likely to come over. I mostly clean my house except for a little thing and apologize for the mess. [[Special:Contributions/62.159.14.62|62.159.14.62]] 11:29, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
:Remind me never to come visit you.[[Special:Contributions/184.57.72.181|184.57.72.181]] 12:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
::Never come visit him/her. Is that enough of a reminder? --[[Special:Contributions/24.145.230.197|24.145.230.197]] 05:48, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
:: you haven't gone and visited him/her - right? we kinda fell down on this social contract, but here's one more reminder: never visit him/her! [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 18:09, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
::A reminder from 2017: never visit him/her!--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.30|172.68.133.30]] 22:05, 21 February 2017 (UTC)
::don't visit them/him/her

"There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes people to mentally magnify their own flaws, while failing to notice the flaws of others." '''Tell that to my ex-wife!''' --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:03, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
:There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes future ex-wives to mentally magnify their spouse's flaws while failing to notice their own or the flaws of others. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.63|173.245.55.63]] 17:41, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

This comic wierdly mirrors (in contrast) a recently broadcast radio programme (which I doubt Randall will have heard, it being UK's BBC Radio 4 "Thinking Allowed", I think it was, with a segment regarding how normal people react to those not acting 'properly' to social norms) in which the phenomena was mentioned. A lady hostess who unselfconsciously apologises for "not having dusted" (despite dust being possibly shed skin cells and such, it's considered "clean mess"), for her visitor, is then utterly mortified when said visitor breaks the rules and also 'helpfully' points out a coffee-ring stain (considered "dirty mess", for some reason) upon a surface. Doubtless the traditional light and largely insignificant layering of dust possibly somehow prevents highlighting any ''geniuinely'' missed spots (if one had actually dusted ''most'' of the room), yet distinct stains and marks (and dust layers with obvious finger-marks in?) ought to have been cleaned or even prevented in the first place.

(For the record, my own home is a "working mess", much to the chagrin of my mother when she visits. It could definitely be tidier, and there's absolutly no way to convincingly apologise for its state. I consider the whole place to be my "shed", in the grand tradition of "shedology". Mind you, this attitude of mine arises out of the tendency for me to ''lose'' so many things when I deliberately tidy up/pack away "projects in progress" for such esteemed visitors. Better that I can find everything when I need to, IMO. This ''mostly'' works better than with the alternative, under a sometimes Holmesian 'stratified' surface-based filing system.) [[Special:Contributions/178.105.138.196|178.105.138.196]] 15:42, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

:tl;dr--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:09, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

I was reminded of..
http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-puts-glass-of-water-on-bedside-table-in-case-h,33751/ {{unsigned ip|173.14.162.93}}

People call a clean house messy as a way to seem superior to their guests. They clean it before the guest gets here then say that because they know the guest has not cleaned. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 17:37, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

"There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes people to mentally magnify their own flaws, while failing to notice the flaws of others." How is this phenomenon called? [[Special:Contributions/79.227.152.95|79.227.152.95]] 09:36, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
:false humility [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 05:44, 18 October 2013 (UTC)Grahame
:No, more like self doubt, which is the exact opposite. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 09:50, 4 February 2014 (UTC)
I think you mean "What is this called?" I don't know, I've been trying to research it for the last five minutes and it's never the first result on google. Must not exist. [[Special:Contributions/72.94.35.160|72.94.35.160]] 02:37, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

>>"In the title text, Cueball's anxiety in further amplified when he recalls that he left out a glass of water from the night before. "

I do not think this is right. I think it is the host who is apologizing about the glass of water as the apology is in quotes. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.178|108.162.241.178]] 01:34, 24 October 2017 (UTC)
I agree with the idea that it is the host apologizing for the water.

2156: Ufo

2019-05-30T13:02:36Z

162.158.78.58: /* Explanation */ Initialism isn't a word: acronym is.

{{comic
| number = 2156
| date = May 29, 2019
| title = Ufo
| image = ufo.png
| titletext = "It's a little low for a weather balloon; it might be some other kind." "Yeah. Besides, I know I'm the alien conspiracy guy, but come on--the idea that the government would care about hiding something so mundane as atmospheric temperature measurement is too ridiculous even for me."
}}

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

This cartoon makes fun of {{w|conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories}}, by suggesting that authorities, like the Navy, could be promoting mysterious explanations for mundane phenomena (such as a {{w|weather balloon}}). UFO is an acronym for an {{w|unidentified flying object}}. This comic is most likely inspired by [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/us/politics/ufo-sightings-navy-pilots.html reports of US Navy pilots] seeing unexplained objects. The "History Channel thing" could refer to this [https://www.history.com/shows/unidentified-inside-americas-ufo-investigation upcoming series].

This comic features {{w|Fox Mulder}} and {{w|Dana Scully}}, two fictional FBI agents from the television show ''{{w|The X-Files}}''. In the show, Mulder is usually a believer in all manner of conspiracies and supernatural phenomena, whereas his partner, Scully, is reflexively skeptical of any claims of the paranormal.

A fighter aircraft's {{w|Head-up display|Head-Up Display}} (HUD) projects information about the aircraft and its surroundings on a glass panel in front of the pilot. This allows the pilot to fly and fight without looking down at gauges and panels in the cockpit. When the pilot selects a radar contact to track, information including the angle and range to that contact is displayed on the HUD. The HUD is also overlaid on video recorded by the airplane's on-board camera. Scully has examined the tracking information recorded in one video and concluded that the unidentified object was relatively stationary. Her opinion is that the object is likely a mundane weather balloon, rather than an extraterrestrial craft.

"Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe" is an allusion to "I Want to Believe", a phrase from the ''The X-Files'' associated with Mulder and [https://images.newrepublic.com/82a6d0770aeaafbae8f26bf40a822b9b79a5c412.png his iconic UFO poster.]

==Transcript==
:[Mulder from The X-Files depicted as Hairy sits in his office chair at his desk and points to his computer screen while looking over his shoulder and addressing Scully off-panel, who replies.]
:Mulder: Hey Scully, have you seen these Navy UFO videos?
:Scully (off-panel): Oh, the History Channel thing?

:[In a frame-less panel, Scully walks in from the right towards Mulder, who has turned around in his chair facing towards her (the desk is not included). He is leaning on the back of the chair with one arm. Scully has shoulder length hair, not similar to any of the regular women in xkcd.]
:Scully: I don't know about the other two videos, but in one of them, if you take the angles and ranges on the HUD and do a little geometry, it kind of suggests the object isn't really moving. It just looks like it because the plane's camera is panning.

:[Zoom in on Scully.]
:Scully: The pilots got excited for the same reason we did. Then the media got into it.
:Scully: But I think what they saw was a round, white object floating at 13,000 feet.

:[Zoom out again to shown that Mulder sits straight up in his chair with hands in his lap and the desk with computer behind him. Scully stand in front of him.]
:Mulder: So your theory is that the military '''''claims''''' to have footage of aliens, but you think it's a giant cover-up to hide that it's a weather balloon?
:Scully: Some kind of balloon, yes.
:Mulder: Pretty weird conspiracy.
:Scully: Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe, too.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]

1193: Externalities

2019-05-26T10:56:42Z

162.158.78.58:

{{comic
| number = 1193
| date = April 1, 2013
| title = Externalities
| image = externalities.png
| titletext = Mouse over words and things to see where they come from.
}}
{{incomplete|While a good start with the explanation of Baidu, the article should give an explanation of the comic in its current state. The different versions during the competition should be its own section. Also, update image to include text.}}
{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
This was the fourth [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous fools comic was
[[1037: Umwelt]] from Sunday April 1st 2012. The next was [[1350: Lorenz]] released on Tuesday April 1st 2014.

This comic isn't a static image - even the title text changes depending on which part of the image you're hovering over. It presented a competition for students to see who could come closest to break a {{w|Skein (hash function)|Skein hash}} but also an aid appeal for the Wikimedia Foundation.

There are quite a few references in the comic to {{w|Baidu}}. Baidu is a large Chinese Internet services company that employs thousands, whose shares are publicly traded on world stock exchanges. It's the predominant Internet search provider of China, and is sometimes called the "Google of China". It offers parallels for the Chinese market of many of the services that Google provides and offers its own encyclopedic wiki with a restricted edit policy to serve as a replacement for Wikipedia. Wikipedia reports that Baidu's search engine handled 56% of Chinese internet search queries in Q4 2010. and that in October 2012, Baidu ranked 5th overall in the Alexa Internet rankings. Given that explanation for the Baidu references in #1193 is still solicited for explainxkcd, Baidu apparently is not well known yet among savvy XKCD readers.
Baidu Search results reputedly follow the censorship dictates of the Chinese authorities, causing it to return censored responses to searches for politically sensitive terms like "Tianamen Square massacre" or "Falun Gong" when executed by web browsers that are connected via Chinese ISPs. When you execute such searches via Baidu in the US, the top links returned for these topics do seem to reflect Chinese government sensibilities although the uncensored English language Wikipedia articles for these topics are listed high in the query results. Baidu's reputation for censorship provides background for Megan's reply "but nothing about Tianamen Square" in response to the "Come and find your future at Baidu" employment enticement of panel one and also provides the background to understand the "It takes great minds to stifle other great minds" slogan of the second panel.

The blank regions in the above image are dynamically generated from various sources.
*The university that is being recruited changes depending on which university is winning the hash finding competition in the fifth panel.
*The company doing the recruiting is randomly selected from a pool of companies. It was formerly the first NASDAQ-100 company mentioned on a varying Wikipedia page.
*The text in the second panel may vary: See [[1193: Externalities#Second Panel|this section]].
*The text in the third panel may vary: See [[1193: Externalities#Third Panel|this section]].
*The text in the fourth panel may vary: See [[1193: Externalities#Fourth Panel|this section]].
*The text in the fifth panel [[1193: Externalities#Fifth Panel|changes]], depending on which university is currently in third place in a hash finding competition. Clicking on the panel takes you to [http://almamater.xkcd.com/ a webpage] where people can enter their school's domain name and hash data, and ranks schools on how close their students can come to matching a Skein 1024 1024 hash value.
*The text in the top half of the sixth panel may vary. See [[1193: Externalities#Sixth Panel|this section]]. The second half of the panel is always the same.
*The last panel varies with the amount donated to the Wikimedia Foundation via [https://donate.wikimedia.org/?utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=xkcd_april1 this link]. For past images, see [[1193: Externalities#Seventh Panel|this section]].

===Hashing Competition===
For the two days until comic 1194 appeared, a competition was underway to see who could come closest to breaking a {{w|Skein (hash function)|Skein hash}}. The first text line of the first panel contains a link to http://almamater.xkcd.com. This page contained the text:

:Currently looking for Skein 1024 1024 input matching
<pre>5b4da95f5fa08280fc9879df44f418c8f9f12ba424b7757de02bbdfbae0d4c4fdf9317c80cc5fe04c6429073466cf29706b8c25999ddd2f6540d4475cc977b87f4757be023f19b8f4035d7722886b78869826de916a79cf9c94cc79cd4347d24b567aa3e2390a573a373a48a5e676640c79cc70197e1c5e7f902fb53ca1858b6</pre>

On this page, users were invited to enter "Your school's domain name" — presumably intended to be their college alma mater. (At least in the beginning, only a few top-level domains were accepted.) If the user entered an acceptable domain (by xkcd's rules, which apparently changed during the 48 hours of the competition), they could then enter data values one at a time. For each data value entered, xkcd returned a hash value and the number of bits by which it differed from the target value. The object was to achieve the lowest possible number of differing bits, ideally zero.

A ranking page showed the lowest value achieved for each domain name entered, but not the data that achieved it. The first name on the list was substituted in various panels, and the third-place school showed in panel five. No data values were reported by xkcd, but various results were posted by users of the xkcd forums and on other websites, leading to copycat submissions, so that occasionally large numbers of institutions would show the same moderately low value.

After the end of the contest, the data submission page vanished, replaced by the final list of rankings, which shows that Carnegie Mellon University achieved the best score with 384 bits incorrect out of 1024. The rankings only show a few hundred out of the several thousand domains submitted—presumably Randall chose to chop the copycat submissions off the end of the list, retaining only honestly obtained results.

===First Panel===
In some cases, Megan's reply seems to correspond to the company.
{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you applied to [company] yet?
:Megan: The recruiter hasn't emailed me back in over three minutes.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you applied to [company] yet?
:Megan: The recruiter hasn't emailed me back in over an hour!
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you thought of a career at [company]?
:Megan: I'm not that good at math.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you thought of a career at [company]?
:Megan: What do they even do?
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you thought of a career at [company]?
:Megan: I don't like monopolies.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you thought of a career at [company]?
:Megan: Only in my darkest moments.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Be part of the Apple experience!
:Megan: I'm not really a fan of turtlenecks.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Come work at Microsoft!
:Megan: I only came to this tech talk for the xbox giveaway.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Y U No Work Yahoo?
:Megan: I like working from home!
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Become a partner at Starbucks!
:Megan: But green's not my colour.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Come work in the Amazon!
:Megan: I don't have to actually move to South America, do I?
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you thought of a career at [company]?
:Megan: Not after that presentation.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Thought about working for Intel?
:Megan: I'm not that great at division.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Dude, you should work at Dell!
:Megan: That catchphrase is so old.
|-
|
:Ahoy, carnegie melonites!
:Have you thought of a career at [company]?
:Megan: Not after that presentation.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Have you looked for a job at Kraft Foods?
:Megan: I'm allergic to sugar
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:How about working for Whole Foods?
:Megan: Could I afford the food if I did?
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Come work at EBay!
:Megan: Maybe if they made a good bid.
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students!
:Come work for Activision... er... Blizzard... er...
:Megan: Activision Blizzard?
|-
|
:Hey, [university] students! <nowiki>|</nowiki> Ahoy. Carnegie Melonites!
:Come find your future at Baidu!
:Megan: But nothing about Tiananmen Square.
|}

===Second Panel===
The text in the second panel is based on the company in the first panel:
{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
|
:When the Singularity happens, it will happen here.
:Ponytail: [Company] has outgrown us.
:Men: It is time.
|-
|
:Think of ways to make things smaller and smaller!
:Ponytail: I'm worried mine is too big.
:Men: Yeahhh
|-
|
:Think of ways to make things smaller and smaller!
:Ponytail: But will it blend?
:Men: Yeahhh
|-
|
:You'll be part of a dynamic research team envisioning the future.
:Ponytail: It probably looks cool.
:Men: Yeahhh
|-
|
:You'll be creating the future of commerce platforms!
:Ponytail: More recommendations.
:Men: Yep.
|-
|
:You'll be an insignificant cog in our giant machine
:Ponytail: We should improve Notepad
:Men: Nah
|-
|
:We can't tell you what you'll be working on.
:Ponytail: [Confidential]
:Men: [Redacted]
|-
|
:You'll be an insignificant cog in our giant machine
:Ponytail: Needs more Bob.
:Men: Nah
|-
|
:You'll help set the future of the company
:Ponytail: Wait. You hired a college grad as the CFO?
:Men: Yeahhh
|-
|
:At Qualcomm, we know you're born mobile.
:Ponytail: Born mobile!
:Men: Texting!
|-
|
:Short or tall, we've got a grande job for you!
:Ponytail: How many job openings are there?
:Men: Ele-venti or so.
|-
|
:You'll help direct the future of nutrition
:Ponytail: Microwaveable toast
:Men: Delicious
|-
|
:Help us find and provide the best healthy, local, and sustainable products.
:Ponytail: Hey guys, how about kale cookies?
:Men: Sounds great!
|-
|
:We're the Classmates.com to Facebook's Craigslist.
:Ponytail: Maybe we should use game theory.
:Men: Why Bother?
|-
|
:Whatever. Come create the future of gaming!
:Ponytail: Call of Duty 14.
:Men: That's genius!
|-
|
:It takes great minds to stifle other great minds.
:Ponytail: Let's block Canada
:Men: Sounds good.
|}

===Third Panel===
{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
|
:We're a convenient four hour drive from New York City (15,000 hours by Roomba)
|-
|
:Only a short commuter flight away!
|-
|
:Travel to us by Roomba, we're *that* close!
|-
|
:We're so close you can get to us by Roomba.
|-
|
:Free Roomba rides every morning while you have coffee.
|-
|
:Your Roomba comes in black & slate, or white & silver
|-
|
:Just a short Roomba ride up the coast, try not to fall off.
|-
|
:We know what everyday life is like for your generation:
|}

===Fourth Panel===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding"
|-
|
:Our recruiting team is on the lookup for promising young [university] graduates.
|-
|
:We hired a new recruiting startup to help us hire [university] students.
|-
|
:We borrowed the botanical gardens' net to catch promising recruits.
|-
|
:We prefer to recruit from [university] students, of course.
|-
|
:Our recruiters are on the hunt for unaware [university] graduates.
|}

===Fifth Panel===
{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
|
:Or students from [university], if they're clever with their applications
|-
|
:Possibly [university] grads, if their form-filling startup works out.
|-
|
:Or [university] graduates, provided any of them manage to fill out the application correctly.
|-
|
:Or [university] graduates, if they manage to fill out the application correctly.
|}

The text in the form varies independently of the text at the top, sometimes related to the organization in 3rd place:

{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
!Organization
!Name
!Email
!Education
!(Explanation)
|-
|MIT
|Oliver Smoot
|pgp encrypted
|have you ever really looked at the fourier
|As an undergrad at MIT in 1948, Smoot was used to measure the Harvard Bridge during a fraternity prank. This led to the introduction of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot "smoot"] as a non-standard unit of length.
|-
|
|Wheeeee
|ford.com
|stealing lunches from startups
|-
|CMU
|leeroy jenkins
|me@car
|I can cut up melons
| Le(e)roy Jenkins is an internet meme originating from a 2006 'Let's Play' video of World of Warcraft
|-
|CMU
|pittsburgh
|me@car
|I can cut up melons
|-
|
|SEGMENTATION FAULT
|save trees
|Contra dancing.
|-
|Cambridge
|I'm applying
|cam.gov
|on going problems with birds
|-
|
|certainly
|elephant
|An excellent year in the Sahara
|-
|Stanford
|Stanford
|ford.com
|Stealing lunches from startups
|-
|Stanford
|Yes Please
|@twitter
|Are you Stanford?
|-
|
|Applying
|For a job
|I would like to work at you
|-
|St.Olaf
|Me olaf
|You Helga
|Hunting wooly mammoths
|-
|Ohio State
|Oh!
|IO
|O HAI O
| A joke on the pronunciation of Ohio.
|-
|
|FOLLOWBACK
|TOTALLY.EDU.US
|CONVENIENT US DOMAIN REDIRECTS
| .edu is a website suffix mostly used for (American) university websites.
|-
|
|Mancher
|Outlook
|Made a collage out of macaroni
|-
|Stanford
|Yes Please
|ford.com
|Are you Stanford?
|-
|Michigan
|ANN
|SOUTH DETROIT
|HUNT LIKE A WOLVERINE
|University of Michigan is in Ann Arbor; the mascot is the Wolverine
|-
|
|christopher
|POBox 12532
|p.s. ill find my frog
|PO Box 12532 is located at Pyramid Lake in Nevada.
|-
|Oxford
|Bond, James
|Righto
|We're better than Cambridge
|-
|
|Which one
|Forget it
|Riding the L all night long
|-
|Kit
|Kat
|Oh dear
|Something something sleep
|-
|Google
|My G+ handle?
|Any
|I'm feeling lucky
|G+ stands for Google+, Googles social network. I'm feeling lucky is the second option under the searchbar on Google.
|-
|UIC
|Which one
|Forget it
|Riding the L all night long
|-
|
|MY JOB NOW
|@
|SAVE DOCUMENT AND SEND
| Could be Randall saying most jobs are just sending e-mails (@).
|}

===Sixth Panel===
{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
|
:At [company], you'll work at a scale you won't find anywhere else
|-
|
:Explore the depths of expensive and undocumented tools!
|-
|
:At Apple, we believe in pushing the boundary of perfection.
|-
|
:At Microsoft, you just need to relax and embrace the machine
|-
|
:Yahoo management aren't just suits. We code too!
|-
|
:At [company], you'll have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects.
|-
|
:At Amazon, you'll be shaving the most cutting-edge of yaks.
|-
|
:You get to bid first on any auction, and use other experimental tools!
|-
|
:At QUALCOMM, Device driver code quality is job #1
|-
|
:Make use of our powerful in-house game creation tools.
|-
|
:We're even working on some experimental biotechnology
|}

===Seventh Panel===
{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
|[[File:externality-dog1.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog2.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog2A.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog3.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog4.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog5.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog6.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog7.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog8.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog9.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog10.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog12.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog13.png]]
|-
|[[File:externality-dog14.png]]
|}

===Title Text===
The title text documents the different sources of data in the comic. The different title texts are:

{| class="wikitable table-padding"
|-
!Comic region
!Title text
|-
|Most of the comic, during the competition.||Mouse over words and things to see where they come from.
|-
|Most of the comic, after the competition ended||This comic went up on April 1st, and the panels changed throughout the day in response to readers doing things like breaking hashes, edited a rapidly-shuffling set of target Wikipedia articles, and donating to Wikimedia Foundation. (The vandalism is over now and CMU won the hashing contest.)
|-
|The part of the first panel (text and drawing) which is not a link. There is no title text at all over the part where the link is active||Happy April 1st, Everyone!
|-
|Fifth panel.||[University] has the third best hash. See the full standings at http://almamater.xkcd.com/best.csv (University = uic after competition)
|-
|Last three panels (only within a frame that would just fit around all three of them).||The dog gains a pound for every $10 donated to the wikimedia foundation via this link. Currently at [amount donated] (Amount = $51135.33 after competition).
|}

==Transcript==
:[This was a dynamic image where the text changed during April 1st. The main title text also changed after the dynamic part was finished, and there are even different title text for different part of the comic. This transcript is of the final version of the comic, (no longer dynamic or changing), as displayed at present on xkcd, there are still four different title texts for specific panels. These four title text are for that reason included here in the transcript.]

:[The basic title text for the entire comic is: "This comic went up on April 1st, and the panels changed throughout the day in response to readers doing things like breaking hashes, edited a rapidly-shuffling set of target Wikipedia articles, and donating to Wikimedia Foundation. (The vandalism is over now and CMU won the hashing contest.)" The other three title text are only active over certain panels.]

:[The first panel with the caption and Megan below has it's own title text. A part of that panel is a link, and in the section where this link is active there is no title text at all. The title text for the rest of the first panel is: "Happy April 1st, everyone!"]

:[A panel with only text is above the first drawing. There is a link on the top part of the text to <nowiki>http://almamater.xkcd.com/</nowiki> (the link is now broken).]
:Ahoy, carnegie melonites!
:
:Come find your future at Baidu.

:[Below, not in a frame, is Megan.]
:Megan: But nothing about Tiananmen Square.

:[Caption floating above the frame of the next panel:]
:It takes great minds to stifle other great minds.
:[Ponytail sits at a desk, hand to her chin, with two Cueball-like guys with their hands on the table.]
:Ponytail: Let's block Canada
:Cueball-like guys: Sounds good.

:[Ponytail crouches on a moving Roomba (labeled) with a steaming mug of coffee in one hand and a smartphone in the other. Above her is a caption. The Roomba makes a noice]
:We're a convenient four hour drive from New York City (15,000 hours by Roomba.)
:''Whirrrrrrr''
:Roomba

:[Ponytail and Hairy corners Cueball as he walks out of a door, and a black haired ponytailed girl is moving towards him wielding a giant butterfly net. There is a caption above them:]
:Our recruiters are on the hunt for unaware CMU graduates

:[The fifth panel has it's own title text only active within (or very close to) the frame. It is: "uic has the third best hash. See the full standings at <nowiki>http://almamater.xkcd.com/best.csv</nowiki>" (The link is now broken)]

:[There is a caption above a website application. There is three fields to be filled, with each their caption and text:]
:or uic graduates, provied any of them manage to fill out the application correctly.
::Name which one
::Email forget it
::Education Riding the L all night long

:[Caption floating above the frame of the next panel:]
:At Baidu, Inc., you'll have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects.
:[Cueball sits at a computer.]
:Cueball: What does "make dog" do?
:Off-screen voice: Experimental dog generator. Don't click on it; the default size isn't set, so-
:'''*click*'''

:[The last three panels has their own title text, only active within a frame that could contain all three panel. Outside that "frame" (all the way around) is the other title text. Within the title text is: "The dog gains a pound for every $10 donated to the Wikimedia Foundation via this link. Currently at $51135.33."]

:[Small insert panel, going in above the next larger panel: Cueball stares at the screen.]
:''Kzzzt''
:''*bip*''
:Off-screen voice: Uh oh.

:[A giant dog looks down at the desk where the computer once was, now only the wires are left. Cueball, leaning way back in his office chair, holding his hand to his mouth, stares up at it.]

:[Again a smaller insert panel above the large one with the dog. A graphic showing two sliders and a dog (similar to the one in the previous panel). Next to the dog with arrows pointing to it are a thermometer graphic and an equation. Below is an e-mail type text and finally a caption. There are arrows over and under "God" and "dogs" between the g and d's.]
:d(x)=R
:careers@baidu, Inc.
:'''Play God with dogs.'''TM

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Roomba]]
[[Category:Butterfly net]]
[[Category:Singularity]]

2003: Presidential Succession

2019-05-15T18:14:17Z

162.158.78.58: /* Order of succession */ If she had, it's not relevant anymore since Archie's already born.

{{comic
| number = 2003
| date = June 6, 2018
| title = Presidential Succession
| image = presidential_succession.png
| titletext = Ties are broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|United States presidential line of succession}} is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office.

The {{w|Presidential_Succession_Act#Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947|Presidential Succession Act of 1947}} was an act by the U.S. Congress that revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This Act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, it is unclear whether members of Congress can be designated in the line of succession. Secondly, the Act allows for a cabinet officer to be "replaced" as acting President by a new Speaker of the House or a new President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

An additional concern regarding the Act is that after the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the line of succession list the members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established with the oldest departments first, irrespective of the Secretary's personal fitness or appropriateness of the office. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003), the Secretary of Homeland Security is all the way at the bottom of the current Presidential line of succession at 18th, behind other Secretaries such as that of Agriculture (9th) and Education (16th).

Another practical concern is that, by including the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate immediately after the Vice President, there is a serious risk that the simultaneous death of the President and Vice President could cause the Presidency to change to the opposing party, which (in the current American political climate) could lead to serious political instability at the precise moment when the country is facing a national crisis, and could even encourage assassinations.

The full text of the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission can be found here: <https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_continuity_of_government.pdf>. A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is here: <https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-continuity-of-the-presidency-the-second-report-of-the-continuity-of-government-commission/>. The first 6 members of the commission's list are included in the current line of succession, after which they specificy that 5 new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of succeeding the presidency if needed. Randall's list begins with these 11 people (stuffing all 5 of the new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list continues with more politicians, actors who have played Presidents, athletes, and others.

Randall's list omits the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, as well as many other cabinet positions. He is probably simply following the commission's report in this. But perhaps he does not find those people qualified to become President of the United States, or is concerned about the constitutionality of lawmakers becoming President. However, he does not seem to be concerned about constitutionality, because he included the entire line of succession to the British throne, most of whom do not meet the requirement to be a natural-born citizen of the United States.{{Citation needed}} {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_5:_Qualifications_for_office|Article Two of the US Constitution}} establishes that the President must be a "{{w|Natural-born-citizen clause|natural-born}}" US citizen at least 35 years of age and had lived in the US for the last 14 years.

Randall's list includes several other people who also might not be eligible to become President either because they are not natural-born U.S. citizens (e.g., as of the time of the comic's publication, {{w|Serena Williams}} had withdrawn from her last match in the {{w|French Open}} to {{w|Maria Sharapova}}, who is Russian) or they are under 35 years of age ({{w|Russell Westbrook}}, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player at the time of the comic's publication, was only 29 years old). These would mainly be athletes due to the relatively global reach of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and the fact that 35 is quite old for a professional athlete, let alone one who is good enough to win the league MVP. Presumably, those who wouldn't qualify for the office of President would be skipped over like in real life -- at the comic's publication, {{w|Elaine Chao}} was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.

The title text mentions whoever was closest to the surface of {{w|Europa}} when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter and one of the most likely locations in the Solar System for {{w|Habitability of natural satellites|potential habitability}}. Nevertheless it's a completely meaningless way of settling a tie. However, depending on the relative positions of Earth and Jupiter when you were born, you could easily have been tens of millions of kilometers closer. Alternatively, Randall could be playing on how Europa sounds like Europe.

==Order of succession==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!#
!Randall's order
!Current order by the 1947 Act
!Notes
|-
|1
|President
|President
|Not generally considered part of the line of succession, as incumbents cannot "succeed" to their own post. (This should really be item 0 on the list.)
|-
|2
|Vice president
|Vice president
|No change
|-
|3
|Secretary of State
|Speaker of the House of Representatives
|Moved up from 5th position. This is likely a serious suggestion. Existing rules of succession hand Executive power to the leaders of the Legislative branch if the President and Vice-President are both killed or removed from power. This is troubling for a number of reasons. One is that the Executive and Legislative branches are supposed to act as independent checks on one another's power, and so are supposed to be kept separate. Another issue is that the Executive and Legislative branches are frequently controlled by political rivals from different political parties. In such a case, assassins could effectively reverse the results of Presidential elections if they managed to kill the President and Vice-President in a short period of time (which is used as part of the twist ending in ''{{w|White House Down}}''). Additionally, leaders of the House and Senate aren't as deeply connected to the military and diplomatic missions of the country, and so would have a hard time maintaining continuity, particularly if an attack or disaster killed multiple national leaders at once. These problems could all be addressed by keeping the initial Line of Succession confined to the Executive branch of government.
|-
|4
|Secretary of Defense
|President pro tempore of the Senate
|Moved up from 7th position
|-
|5
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|Secretary of State
|Moved up from 19th position, possibly to highlight the Attorney General's place in the current order
|-
|6
|Attorney General
|Secretary of the Treasury
|Moved up from 8th position
|-
|7
|Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate
|Secretary of Defense
|{{w|Washington, D.C.}} is the capital of the United States, and is where the {{w|White House}}, the President's residence, is located. Presumably this provision covers the case where much of the government, including positions 1–6 here, are killed by a natural disaster or attack in Washington, D.C.

This suggestion establishes no qualifications for these people, but the fact that they'd need to be confirmed by the Senate suggests that they would be chosen to be competent for the role. It is also unclear if an order is determined among these five or if they take up a joint presidency. This suggestion is taken from the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission as a potential mechanism to ensure members of succession are not in Washington DC during a catastrophic attack.
|-
|8
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Attorney General
|Academy Award-winning American actor. This is the first unambiguously unserious suggestion.{{Citation needed}} Tom Hanks is very popular and considered exceptionally likeable by many Americans, but has never served in public office or displayed any particular affinity for politics. He has also never played a president, though he has received a {{w|Presidential Medal of Freedom}}, and appeared in a {{w|Last Week Tonight with John Oliver}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyPRssh2rk0 skit], where he rallies five (wax) presidents to action. The implication is that Mr. Hanks would be easily accepted as a leader, based solely on his personal charm.
|-
|9
|State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
|Secretary of the Interior
|Also taken from Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission. At the time of publication, the last {{w|United States Census}} was the 2010 Census. As California is the most populous state, its Governor ({{w|Jerry Brown}} at the time of publication) would have been first in line.

See also the {{w|2010_United_States_Census#State_rankings|state population rankings}} and the {{w|list of current United States governors}}. As worded, this criterion would exclude territorial governors (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.).
|-
|10
|Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
|Secretary of Agriculture
|Oscars, or {{w|Academy Awards}}, are annual film awards awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of publication, the only Oscar awarded for playing a governor was {{w|Broderick Crawford}}'s 1949 Best Actor award for the fictional Willie Stark in ''{{w|All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men}}'' (a character based on {{w|Huey Long}}). However, Crawford died in 1986, so would be unable to serve as President.

May be a reference to the {{w|Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger}}: a highly-lauded actor who became governor of California, but did not win an Oscar or play a governor before being elected. (As a naturalized citizen, he is also ineligible for the Presidency.)
|-
|11
|Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
|Secretary of Commerce
|The {{w|Governors Awards}} are an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to present lifetime achievement awards within the film industry. As this award is a lifetime achievement award, it does not seem possible that an actor could win this award for simply playing someone named Oscar. Notwithstanding the nature of the award, at the time of publication, no recipient of a Governors Award has played a character named Oscar.

Obviously, the joke is that changing the order of the words from the previous proposal produces something that could actually exist.
|-
|12
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}, if available
|Secretary of Labor
|Comedic actress famous for being a cast member on {{w|Saturday Night Live}}. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She has recently done impersonations of members of the Trump administration including Spokeswoman {{w|Kellyanne Conway}} and Attorney General {{w|Jeff Sessions}}. She also played {{w|Hillary Clinton}} during the 2016 campaign and presumably would have played her when she was President had she won; but since Clinton lost, McKinnon has not actually played a President.
|-
|13
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
|Secretary of Health and Human Services
|The {{w|Billboard Hot 100}} is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. The weekly data is aggregated into a cumulative {{w|Billboard Year-End}} (based on a "year" that ends the third week of November, in order to meet December publication deadlines). At the time of publication, the most recent such list was the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017}}.

Based on that list, the artists considered for the presidential succession would be: {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Luis Fonsi}}, {{w|Bruno Mars}}, {{w|Kendrick Lamar}}, Alex Pall (of {{w|The Chainsmokers}}), {{w|Quavo|Quavoius Keyate Marshall}} (of {{w|Migos}}), {{w|Sam Hunt}}, {{w|Dan Reynolds}} (of {{w|Imagine Dragons}}), and {{w|Post Malone}}. There are only nine names instead of ten because The Chainsmokers had two of the top 10 singles in 2017. Of these, only Luis Fonsi (40 years old, born in Puerto Rico) was legally eligible for the office; all the others were too young, and Sheeran is additionally from the United Kingdom.
|-
|14
|The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
|Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
|Astronauts are highly respected and rigorously selected, but most have little involvement in politics. According to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders NASA], the top 5 US astronauts by cumulative space time at the time of publication were: {{w|Peggy Whitson}}, {{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}, {{W|Scott Kelly (astronaut)|Scott Kelly}}, {{w|Mike Fincke}}, and {{w|Mike Foale}}. However, it is unclear whether Foale would qualify as a natural-born citizen, as he was born in the United Kingdom to a British father and American mother.
|-
|15
|{{w|Serena Williams}} (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
|Secretary of Transportation
|As of the time of publication, Serena Williams was a top female tennis player. She is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all-time, winning 39 {{w|Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam}} titles, including 23 women's singles titles. At the time of publication Serena Williams did win her most recent match (2018 French Open, third round, on June 2nd), although she withdrew from her next match against Maria Sharapova (which perhaps should count as a loss, especially if she withdrew in order to preserve her place in the line of succession and killed everyone in place ahead of her).

If her most recent defeat was to a non-US player, presumably she would be skipped over in line although this is not explicitly stated (the current succession list skips over anyone who would not normally qualify for not being a natural-born US citizen).
|-
|16
|The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
|Secretary of Energy
|MVP stands for {{w|Most Valuable Player}}. The 4 listed leagues are the major sports leagues in the United States, the {{w|National Basketball Association}} (NBA), the {{w|National Football League}} (NFL), {{w|Major League Baseball}} (MLB), and the {{w|National Hockey League}} (NHL). We're assuming that Randall meant the regular season MVPs of each league, as each league also awards MVPs for their respective championships (or in the case of the NHL's {{w|Conn Smythe Trophy}}, their entire playoffs).

As of the time of publication, the most recent MVPs for the listed sports were {{w|Russell Westbrook}} (NBA), {{w|Tom Brady}} (NFL), {{w|José Altuve}} and {{w|Giancarlo Stanton}} (MLB has two, one for the American League and one for the National League), and {{w|Connor McDavid}} (NHL). Of these, only Brady would qualify for the list - Altuve and McDavid are Venezuelan and Canadian citizens respectively, and Westbrook (29) and Stanton (28) were too young.
|-
|17
|{{w|Bill Pullman}} and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
|Secretary of Education
|American actor, known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1996 film ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}''.

Absolute primogeniture is a form of succession where the oldest direct descendant regardless of gender receives the title. This is contrasted to {{w|Male-preference primogeniture}}, in which males come before females in the order of the throne, whether the males were born first or not. This may be a reference to the British law {{w|Succession to the Crown Act 2013}}, which changed the order of the throne from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This act allows {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Princess Charlotte}} to retain her place in line before {{w|Prince Louis of Cambridge|Prince Louis}}.

At the time of publication, Pullman's immediate descendants consisted of three children, with Maesa Pullman being the oldest at age 29. Thus all but Bill Pullman himself were too young for the presidency.
|-
|18
|The entire line of succession to the British throne
|Secretary of Veterans Affairs
|According to the Constitution, only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President, which means that at least most of the line of succession to the British throne is ineligible. However, it is possible that someone in the line of succession to the British throne either is a dual citizen (especially one who is a U.S. citizen based on place of birth and a British citizen based on having a parent who was a British citizen descended from {{w|Sophia of Hanover}}) or is not British (a person from outside of Britain can become King; for example, some, including George I, were from what is now Germany).

The first 57 names on the list are {{w|Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession|here}}, as of the time of publication. [https://lineofsuccession.co.uk/?date=2018-06-06 British Line of Succession on 6 June 2018] shows the list as it was at the comic's publication. American citizens [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-11/news/vw-42233_1_royal-house have, at times] been on the list, but no natural-born Americans were on the list when the comic was published. However, after this comic was published {{w|Archie Mountbatten-Windsor}} was born on May 6, 2019; he is currently seventh in the line of succession to the British throne and has US citizenship through his mother {{w|Meghan, Duchess of Sussex}} (as with Mark Foale, though, whether that qualifies as natural-born has not be tested). In theory, the full British succession list includes [http://www.wargs.com/essays/succession/2011.html several thousand people] (living descendants of {{w|Sophia of Hanover}} who are not Roman Catholic or otherwise disqualified), and it is possible that one or more such people would also be eligible to be President of the United States beyond Master Archie.

The humor here derives from the fact that the United States was established by declaring independence from the United Kingdom, with rejection of the British monarchy being a basic founding principle, and a core principle of US governance. To appoint the British monarchy to the American presidency would contradict the basic goals of American independence. Alternatively, it may reference the recent wedding of {{w|Prince Harry}} to {{w|Meghan Markle}}, although she is not in the order of succession to the British throne. A similar sequence of events was the plotline of the comedy film ''{{w|King Ralph}}'', which saw an American become the British monarch after the death of the royal family.
|-
|19
|The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|The {{w|Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest}} is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition sponsored by {{w|Nathan's Famous}} held on July 4th. As of the time of publication, the most recent men's winner was {{w|Joey Chestnut}} and the women's winner was {{w|Miki Sudo}}. At the time of publication, neither was old enough to assume the office.

The comic does not specify whether the men's or women's winner should take office, creating a tie that would be broken by distance from Europa at birth. Had they both been eligible, [https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/29132/was-earth-closer-to-europa-on-1983-11-25-or-1985-07-22 Sudo would have won] by between 0.125 and 4 {{w|Astronomical unit}}s.
|-
|20
|All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament
|''None''
|Effective for a population up to 536,870,912 individuals (2^29) which would be enough to cover the entire US population (estimated at around 325 million at time of publication), although additional rounds can be added should the population grow further.

This is probably a reference to the {{w|Matter of Britain}} (e.g., {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|The Sword in the Stone}}), where, after the death of Uther Pendragon, with no known successor to the throne of England for years, it is decided that the winner of a jousting tournament shall be crowned. However, Arthur, the Wart, pulls the Sword from the Stone.
|}

===List of specific individuals===
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the date the comic was published'''.
#{{w|Donald Trump}} ({{w|President of the United States}})
#{{w|Mike Pence}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}})
#{{w|Mike Pompeo}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State}})
#{{w|Jim Mattis}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})
#{{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}})
#{{w|Jeff Sessions}} ({{w|United States Attorney General}})
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks) As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Sessions.
#{{w|Jerry Brown}} (Governor of California)
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)
#{{w|Andrew Cuomo}} (Governor of New York)
#{{w|Rick Scott}} (Governor of Florida)
#{{w|Bruce Rauner}} (Governor of Illinois)
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)
#{{w|John Kasich}} (Governor of Ohio)
#{{w|Rick Snyder}} (Governor of Michigan)
#{{w|Nathan Deal}} (Governor of Georgia)
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)
#{{w|Ralph Northam}} (Governor of Virginia)
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)
#{{w|Bill Haslam}} (Governor of Tennessee)
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)
#{{w|Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker}} (Governor of Wisconsin)
#{{w|Mark Dayton}} (Governor of Minnesota)
#{{w|John Hickenlooper}} (Governor of Colorado)
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)
#{{w|Matt Bevin}} (Governor of Kentucky)
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.
#{{w|Mary Fallin}} (Governor of Oklahoma)
#{{w|Dannel Malloy}} (Governor of Connecticut)
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)
#{{w|Phil Bryant}} (Governor of Mississippi)
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)
#{{w|Jeff Colyer}} (Governor of Kansas)
#{{w|Gary Herbert}} (Governor of Utah)
#{{w|Brian Sandoval}} (Governor of Nevada)
#{{w|Susana Martinez}} (Governor of New Mexico)
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)
#{{w|Butch Otter}} (Governor of Idaho)
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)
#{{w|Paul LePage}} (Governor of Maine)
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)
#{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}} (Governor of Montana)
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)
#{{w|Dennis Daugaard}} (Governor of South Dakota)
#{{w|Bill Walker (U.S. politician)|Bill Walker}} (Governor of Alaska)
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)
#{{w|Matt Mead}} (Governor of Wyoming)
#{{w|Kate McKinnon}} (Kate McKinnon) If she is available. Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members.
#{{w|Luis Fonsi}} (Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017, #2 artist) Fonsi is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion.
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Foale}} (Astronaut, 374 days in space) Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.
#{{w|Serena Williams}} Serena's place on this list assumes that you do not count her withdrawal against Maria Sharapova as a ''loss''; if that counts as a loss, then subsequent entries move up one position (as Sharapova is ineligible).
#{{w|Tom Brady}} ({{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}) The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) None of his children are old enough to become President at this time.
#''line of succession to the British throne''
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament) Assumes that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists due to citizenship issues. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions were too young to hold the office. Further assumes that the number of eligible US Citizens does not exceed 536,870,912.

==Transcript==
: A proposal for a new presidential line of succession
: Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well.
: (For more, see the surprisingly gripping ''Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission'', June 2009.)
: Proposed line of succession:
:# President
:# Vice president
:# Secretary of State
:# Secretary of Defense
:# Secretary of Homeland Security
:# Attorney General
:# Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate
:# Tom Hanks
:# State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
:# Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
:# Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
:# Kate McKinnon, if available
:# Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
:# The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
:# Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
:# The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
:# Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
:# The entire line of succession to the British throne
:# The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
:# All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Politics]]

2150: XKeyboarCD

2019-05-15T13:45:40Z

162.158.78.58:

{{comic
| number = 2150
| date = May 15, 2019
| title = XKeyboarCD
| image = xkeyboarcd.png
| titletext = The key caps use LCD displays for all the vowels, so they can automatically adjust over the years to reflect ongoing vowel shifts while allowing you to keep typing phonetically.
}}

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

In the same vein as the xkcd Phone series, the XKeyboarCD seems to be an overly inventive and borderline ludicrous keyboard intended for some unknown audience. It has an assortment of features (some fairly normal, some more exotic) which give it a..."diverse skill set".

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

{{comic discussion}}

2120: Brain Hemispheres

2019-05-02T17:20:06Z

162.158.78.58: This explanation read like it was written by a college student desperate to improve his word count and thesaurus skills. Removed large words, irellevant sentences/phrases, and reworked final paragraph because it didn't mean anything.

{{comic
| number = 2120
| date = March 6, 2019
| title = Brain Hemispheres
| image = brain_hemispheres.png
| titletext = Neurologically speaking, the LEFT hand is actually the one at the end of the RIGHT arm.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AUTONOMOUS LEG and a CHICKEN. Needs some more links, and several of the explanations in parenthesis aren't needed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

As a general rule, each cerebral hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body. So things on the left half of the body are controlled by the right side of the brain and vice-versa. However, this is simply a rough approximation. Biology is complicated, and as with most biology "rules" there are exceptions, such as the {{w|cranial nerves}}.

While the motor and sensation aspects of nerve innervation have been relatively well-established from studies, experiments, and dissections, there is always going to be an exception. Any number of factors may cause deviation from the normal physiology: trauma, disease, congenital birth defects, brain plasticity, etc.

With less concrete aspects of human brain function, such as logic, emotion, language processing, and creativity, establishing which brain hemisphere has control is more complicated, and again, while studies have established which hemisphere is more likely to be involved with which function, these generalizations are not necessarily true for every individual.

[[Randall]] spoofs this by saying that the right brain controls the upper torso, while the left brain controls the right side, and your left leg moves independently of your brain. Randall declares the upper right side of the body "disputed," echoing maps that display a {{w|territorial dispute}}, suggesting that the halves of your brain fight for control of the region. Alternatively, he states there would be {{w|Dual control}} like in an airplane, where the pilot and the copilot both can control the plane at any time. This spoof hypothesis might be an attempt to explain why most people are more skilled with their hands than their feet and with their right side than their left.

The title text further confuses this division, by stating the left hand is on the right arm and presumably vice-versa. This would cause further problems, as a hemisphere could end up controlling an arm and the hand on the other arm, and these problems are made worse if this also applies to the feet.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is shown with the right half of his brain (on the viewer's left) colored in orange and the left half (on the viewer's right) in iris blue. An iris blue box is overlaid over the right half of the body (on the viewer's left), and an orange box is overlaid over the top half. The boxes are overlapping in a greenish color on the upper right quarter of the body (on the viewer's left).]
:'''Neuroscience Fact:'''
:[An arrow pointing to the iris blue rectangle on top with the text above:]
:The ''left'' half of the brain actually controls the ''right'' half of the body...
:[An arrow pointing to the orange rectangle at the right, the text reads:]
:...while the ''right'' half of the brain actually controls the ''top'' half of the body.
:[An arrow pointing to the overlapping area (the top left body from the viewers perspective) with the text below:]
:Disputed/dual control
:[An arrow pointing to Cueball's left leg area (on the viewer's right), not highlighted by any color, and the text is:]
:This leg is fully autonomous

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2140: Reinvent the Wheel

2019-04-28T00:31:48Z

162.158.78.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2140
| date = April 22, 2019
| title = Reinvent the Wheel
| image = reinvent_the_wheel.png
| titletext = Right now it's a bicycle wheel, so we've had to move to lighter vehicles, but the reduced overhead is worth it. There was one week when a wheel of cheese got dangerously close to the first page, though.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WHEEL OF CHEESE. Second paragraph needs to be expanded. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

"{{w|Reinventing the wheel}}" is a metaphor that refers to duplicate effort to recreate something that has already been created or perfected previously without adding any value in the process. The phrase relates to the idea that the round wheel was invented a long time ago, and nobody has come up with a better shape for the {{w|wheel}} since that original concept {{Citation needed}}. While the phrase includes the word "wheel", it isn't typically directly associated with the wheel but instead uses the word "wheel" because of the understanding that the round wheel, despite being , can't be improved upon.

In this comic, [[Beret Guy]] works for an automotive company (or this is his [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|own company]]), and he is explaining to Ponytail their decision to not reinvent the wheel for the automobiles that they produce, using the phrase in a literal sense instead of figuratively. Instead of determining for themselves what wheel to use, they want to use whichever wheel is presumably considered the "best" wheel by the world, using a daily Google image search for "wheel" to determine the highest ranked wheel, and then using that wheel on the vehicles they produce that day.

The point of the comic is to make fun of programmers who take the idea that you should never reinvent the wheel too seriously. When these people have a problem, they may Google to find a solution to that problem, and when they find a piece of online code, they use it in their own code, even if it wasn't initially designed to handle the task for which it is being used and thus may have unintended side effects or other issues.

Another way that programmers may go too far in avoiding reinventing the wheel is in using external dependencies. It can be valuable to use external libraries, especially for applications where certain tasks have strange edge cases that a 'reinvention' is likely to miss or require lots of development effort to correctly implement (like [https://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time time]). However, using someone else's code means taking on the risk of security vulnerabilities, and when the library is updated on live installations, the user also takes on the risk that the library might become unavailable or otherwise break. In this case, Beret Guy's company updates their wheel "library" on a daily basis from Google's image search. Google is unlikely to shut down a core search product, but they might change the API that Beret Guy's company uses (unless he's just going to their website himself), and they have been known to shut down projects that people like, such as [https://www.google.com/reader/about/ Google Reader]. On the day this comic was released, Randall changed the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header_text|Header text]] of xkcd, adding a [[Design_of_xkcd.com#2019-04-23|reference to Google Reader]].

The popular programming language "Python" manages external dependencies with packages called "wheels" which are "published to the cheese shop", which may or may not be an intended reference.

In any event, Beret Guy is in effect reinventing the wheel by doing a new search for wheels on Google Images every day. If the wheel he finds on Google Images on a given day is suitable for his company's needs, the company would likely be better off using the same wheel on succeeding days (unless circumstances change which make that unfeasible), compared to trying to doing a new search for wheels every day.

The title text indicates that Beret Guy is currently using bicycle wheels for his vehicles, requiring his vehicles to be lighter as bicycle wheels cannot carry a lot of weight. He says this "reduce[s] overhead", which is both literally true, that his vehicle weighs less, and refers to the usual figurative desire of reducing overhead costs of development by using external libraries. Finally, the narrator (supposedly Beret Guy) explains that at one point a wheel of cheese was near the top of the Google images search. If it had reached the top, it would have been disastrous as a wheel of cheese is completely unsuited for use as a vehicle's wheel as it will likely be eaten by rodents before it can drive any appreciable distance(rodents actually prefer peanut butter) {{Citation needed}}.

On the day the comic was released a bicycle wheel came up first when searching for "wheel", see image in the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section below.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is talking to Ponytail.]
:Beret Guy: We don't want to reinvent the wheel, so every day we Google image search "wheel", and whatever object comes up, that's what we attach to our vehicles.
:Beret Guy: Sure, external dependencies carry risks, but so far they've all been pretty good wheels.

==Trivia==
*On the day this comic came out a Google search on Wheel would in some cases have a bicycle wheel at the top:
:[[File:2140_Reinvent_the_Wheel_Google_Search_Wheel.png|400px]]
*The JavaScript development community has had several security and reliability incidents caused by over-dependence on automated package updates. In 2016, a JavaScript developer [https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/ un-published several libraries] (including one "library" which was just an eleven-line function for padding strings, which was nevertheless included in thousands of projects and downloaded millions of times a month) from the npm package repository. This broke projects that depended on them and, until npm un-un-published his packages (with new maintainers), also opened the possibility that a bad actor could register malicious projects under those names and hijack all of their dependents. In July 2018, an attacker gained access to the npm account of an ESLint maintainer and [https://eslint.org/blog/2018/07/postmortem-for-malicious-package-publishes published malicious versions of their packages], and in September 2018, the event-stream library was taken over by a malicious maintainer who [https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/26/npm_repo_bitcoin_stealer/ added code to look for and steal bitcoins from the users who installed it].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]

2133: EHT Black Hole Picture

2019-04-26T00:03:51Z

162.158.78.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2133
| date = April 5, 2019
| title = EHT Black Hole Picture
| image = eht_black_hole_picture.png
| titletext = [five years later] Ok, it seems we were accidentally zoomed in slightly too far. But imagine there's a cool-looking twisted accretion disc just outside this black square!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references the {{w|Event Horizon Telescope}}, an international project dedicated to imaging {{w|black hole}}s {{w|Sagittarius A*}} and {{w|M87*}} with angular resolution comparable in size to their event horizons. The first image of M87 was released to the public on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, five days after this comic's release, and appeared on the same day in the comic [[2135: M87 Black Hole Size Comparison]].

The image was produced from data gathered since 2006, collected by over a dozen radio telescopes around the world and combined through a process called {{w|interferometry}}. Normally, a telescope's resolution is limited by the size of its aperture, but by recording radio signals at multiple sites, the minute differences between the signals can be digitally processed into an image with much higher resolution. The telescopes used for the EHT are in Hawaii, North and South America, Europe, and Antarctica, and so the effective diameter of the collective EHT is almost the size of the Earth itself. As each telescope recorded observations of the black holes, the results were written to hard drives and mailed to observatories at {{w|MIT}} and the {{w|Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy}} for processing. Astronomical recordings can involve astronomical amounts of data, so the raw, original, feed from a telescope may never be stored if it is too dense -- it is instead processed live by computers to capture the information of interest, and the processed result is stored. 

The first image released by the EHT was expected to be in April 2017, but unforeseen events delayed it by two years, to April 2019. Randall predicts this trend will continue, and makes a joke by analogy to real-world difficult experiences capturing important moments.

Luckily this comic was not in any way prophetic, and five days after this comic was released [https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873592 the EHT team released a black hole picture] for the world to enjoy.

The comic shows [[Cueball]] giving a press conference on the recent photographing of a black hole. However, the photograph is a disappointment, caused by the spectacular failure of several systems:

* You cannot download the picture.
Obviously, it would be quite impractical to fail to reliably provide this in an astronomical system. Cueball describes the system as being like {{w|Pinterest}}, where {{w|JavaScript}} prevents you from right-clicking on an image so that you could save it (or at least attempts to, there are many workarounds).

* You cannot screenshot the picture.
Cueball states that they then tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination to make a screenshot instead turned off the monitor where the picture was being displayed whenever they tried to use it, requiring extra time and effort each attempt in order to return to the view of the black hole. This could reference the fact that many mobile devices incorporate the power button in their screen shot combination and the power button can also turn off the screen. Laptops and operating systems may also have undocumented key combinations that blank the screen, which users can accidentally press when in a hurry and create further stress for themselves. Content under DRM may also prevent screenshots, and attempting to screenshot a protected video will result in a black image.

* The viewing period ends before a physical camera can be used.
As a last act of desperation, Cueball took out his phone and attempted to take a photo of the screen showing the black hole, but by that time, the observation had ended, and the photo was lost.

In reality, none of this ''should'' be an issue as the picture would be immediately saved by the system and would not need to be downloaded from the site, but NASA especially knows that developers of a system can never predict the obscure happenstances that can combine to create failure at the end.

Cueball then states that they would try to take a picture of a black hole again next year.

The title text explains that (after presumably five years of annual tries), the picture failed again as the telescope was too zoomed in and only captured a featureless square. Since a black hole by definition returns no light sent to it, the photograph would be entirely black. Researchers however are primarily presumably trying to obtain images of the more interesting edge known as an {{w|accretion disc}}, which could actually be meaningfully photographed. The joke is that the black hole could only be photographed once a year, and in each year some incidental set of mistakes combined to prevent the photograph from actually being shared with anybody. This could be a reference to the {{w|cosmic censorship hypothesis}}, which states that a "naked" singularity cannot be viewed from outside an event horizon, where in this case the censor is some kind of "butterfly of doom" that bedevils astronomers who attempt to image one anyway, similar to some interpretations of the {{w|Novikov self-consistency principle}} (a possible resolution to various {{w|time travel paradoxes}} which asserts that any event which would lead to a paradox must have probability zero).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing behind a lectern, with "Press Conference" and the EHT logo displayed on a projector screen behind him.]
:Cueball: We linked up our observatories, got everything aligned, and there it was:
:Cueball: The first image of a black hole!

:[Zoom in on Cueball. A question is asked from off panel.]
:Off-panel question: Can you share the picture?
:Cueball: Well, here's the thing...

:[Cueball lifts his arm holding his hand with its palm up.]
:Cueball: Turns out our telescope feed is like Pinterest, where you can't right-click to save an image.
:Cueball: So we tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination kept turning off the display instead.

:[Zoom back out to show that the image on the projector screen has changed to show a blurry picture of a white computer screen against a black background. The EHT logo remains at the bottom of the projector screen.]
:Cueball: I grabbed my phone and tried to take a picture of the screen, but I was too slow. The observation had ended.
:Cueball: We're planning to try again next year, and we'll definitely record the screen this time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

2133: EHT Black Hole Picture

2019-04-26T00:02:26Z

162.158.78.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2133
| date = April 5, 2019
| title = EHT Black Hole Picture
| image = eht_black_hole_picture.png
| titletext = [five years later] Ok, it seems we were accidentally zoomed in slightly too far. But imagine there's a cool-looking twisted accretion disc just outside this black square!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references the {{w|Event Horizon Telescope}}, an international project dedicated to imaging {{w|black hole}}s {{w|Sagittarius A*}} and M87 with angular resolution comparable in size to their event horizons. The first image of M87 was released to the public on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, five days after this comic's release, and appeared on the same day in the comic [[2135: M87 Black Hole Size Comparison]].

The image was produced from data gathered since 2006, collected by over a dozen radio telescopes around the world and combined through a process called {{w|interferometry}}. Normally, a telescope's resolution is limited by the size of its aperture, but by recording radio signals at multiple sites, the minute differences between the signals can be digitally processed into an image with much higher resolution. The telescopes used for the EHT are in Hawaii, North and South America, Europe, and Antarctica, and so the effective diameter of the collective EHT is almost the size of the Earth itself. As each telescope recorded observations of the black holes, the results were written to hard drives and mailed to observatories at {{w|MIT}} and the {{w|Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy}} for processing. Astronomical recordings can involve astronomical amounts of data, so the raw, original, feed from a telescope may never be stored if it is too dense -- it is instead processed live by computers to capture the information of interest, and the processed result is stored. 

The first image released by the EHT was expected to be in April 2017, but unforeseen events delayed it by two years, to April 2019. Randall predicts this trend will continue, and makes a joke by analogy to real-world difficult experiences capturing important moments.

Luckily this comic was not in any way prophetic, and five days after this comic was released [https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873592 the EHT team released a black hole picture] for the world to enjoy.

The comic shows [[Cueball]] giving a press conference on the recent photographing of a black hole. However, the photograph is a disappointment, caused by the spectacular failure of several systems:

* You cannot download the picture.
Obviously, it would be quite impractical to fail to reliably provide this in an astronomical system. Cueball describes the system as being like {{w|Pinterest}}, where {{w|JavaScript}} prevents you from right-clicking on an image so that you could save it (or at least attempts to, there are many workarounds).

* You cannot screenshot the picture.
Cueball states that they then tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination to make a screenshot instead turned off the monitor where the picture was being displayed whenever they tried to use it, requiring extra time and effort each attempt in order to return to the view of the black hole. This could reference the fact that many mobile devices incorporate the power button in their screen shot combination and the power button can also turn off the screen. Laptops and operating systems may also have undocumented key combinations that blank the screen, which users can accidentally press when in a hurry and create further stress for themselves. Content under DRM may also prevent screenshots, and attempting to screenshot a protected video will result in a black image.

* The viewing period ends before a physical camera can be used.
As a last act of desperation, Cueball took out his phone and attempted to take a photo of the screen showing the black hole, but by that time, the observation had ended, and the photo was lost.

In reality, none of this ''should'' be an issue as the picture would be immediately saved by the system and would not need to be downloaded from the site, but NASA especially knows that developers of a system can never predict the obscure happenstances that can combine to create failure at the end.

Cueball then states that they would try to take a picture of a black hole again next year.

The title text explains that (after presumably five years of annual tries), the picture failed again as the telescope was too zoomed in and only captured a featureless square. Since a black hole by definition returns no light sent to it, the photograph would be entirely black. Researchers however are primarily presumably trying to obtain images of the more interesting edge known as an {{w|accretion disc}}, which could actually be meaningfully photographed. The joke is that the black hole could only be photographed once a year, and in each year some incidental set of mistakes combined to prevent the photograph from actually being shared with anybody. This could be a reference to the {{w|cosmic censorship hypothesis}}, which states that a "naked" singularity cannot be viewed from outside an event horizon, where in this case the censor is some kind of "butterfly of doom" that bedevils astronomers who attempt to image one anyway, similar to some interpretations of the {{w|Novikov self-consistency principle}} (a possible resolution to various {{w|time travel paradoxes}} which asserts that any event which would lead to a paradox must have probability zero).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing behind a lectern, with "Press Conference" and the EHT logo displayed on a projector screen behind him.]
:Cueball: We linked up our observatories, got everything aligned, and there it was:
:Cueball: The first image of a black hole!

:[Zoom in on Cueball. A question is asked from off panel.]
:Off-panel question: Can you share the picture?
:Cueball: Well, here's the thing...

:[Cueball lifts his arm holding his hand with its palm up.]
:Cueball: Turns out our telescope feed is like Pinterest, where you can't right-click to save an image.
:Cueball: So we tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination kept turning off the display instead.

:[Zoom back out to show that the image on the projector screen has changed to show a blurry picture of a white computer screen against a black background. The EHT logo remains at the bottom of the projector screen.]
:Cueball: I grabbed my phone and tried to take a picture of the screen, but I was too slow. The observation had ended.
:Cueball: We're planning to try again next year, and we'll definitely record the screen this time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

Talk:2133: EHT Black Hole Picture

2019-04-08T00:04:25Z

162.158.78.58:

...someone edited the page to describe the EHT as "This comic references the non-existent "Event Horizon Telescope", an international project dedicated to deceiving the masses into thinking that black holes are real, in accordance with the whims of the Zionist conspiracy." wot? [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 17:43, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:Seems like there are a lot of vandals nowadays... I don't think I would be against requiring registration to edit pages. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 19:19, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
::I totally agree. It doesn't really detract from the ability to edit a page, it's still easy, but it just adds an extra step for vandals. [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 19:27, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:::I am also in favor of a registration requirement. I don't see a great proportion of helpful edits from users who aren't logged in. Requiring registration to edit seems like it could potentially be more effective & easier to implement than other moderation tactics. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:26, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
::::As someone who has made a half dozen or so edits (including once writing the first draft of a description of a comic) and probably two dozen comments over the past 5 years without ever creating an account I won’t say you are wrong, but there will be fewer people editing and making comments if registration is required. Will registering keep vandals from vandalism? I very much doubt it. Who will enforce the termination of accounts?and what’s to stop vandals from creating multiple accounts? Again, I’m not saying you are wrong, but I will suggest that registration isn’t the panacea you might hope it to be... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.82|162.158.78.82]] 04:31, 6 April 2019 (UTC)
:::::I'm honestly surprised it isn't a requirement already...--[[User:Jlc|Jlc]] ([[User talk:Jlc|talk]]) 21:55, 6 April 2019 (UTC)
::I probably wouldn't register but I do like to make the occasional comment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.28|162.158.214.28]] 11:47, 6 April 2019 (UTC)
:It's true, and you know that it's true, fucking shill. {{unsigned|108.162.246.215}}
::I know that it exists, and I'm not going to argue it. Oh, also not signing a post doesn't hide your IP. You can literally see the IPs of anyone who edits the page, Mr. 108.162.246.215 [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 17:49, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:::The IPs are irrelevant anyway, they're CloudFlare's -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.36|162.158.90.36]] 18:23, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
::"Shill" implies that someone's paying us to correct these fallacious & bigoted statements. Do you really think any of us get paid to remove these blatantly offensive & frankly ridiculous assertions that space exploration is somehow a worldwide Jewish deception? Personally, I just enjoy accuracy. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:26, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:::Couldn't "shill" also mean somebody acting as if they weren't part of the group, to test that somebody was loyal and obedient? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.210|172.68.65.210]] 22:28, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:It seems like many of these vandals are using IPs associated with generally good-willed editors in the past, e.g. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.215]]. Are they just connecting from places with public wifi? --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 02:25, 7 April 2019 (UTC)
In the transcript, Cueball is described as standing behind a podium. He may be standing /on/ a podium, but he is standing /behind/ a lectern.
[[User:Seezee|Seezee]] ([[User talk:Seezee|talk]]) 17:47, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:Arent podiums and lecterns the same thing? [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 17:49, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
::No - https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-lectern-and-vs-podium/
::No. Podium (from the Latin root meaning "foot") is the thing you stand on, a raised platform or dais. Lectern (from Latin "to read") is the stand that provides a place for notes or other written prompts, from which a speaker may read during a lecture or presentation. It's not uncommon for people to conflate them. [[User:Seezee|Seezee]] ([[User talk:Seezee|talk]]) 18:02, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:::If enough people conflate them, it's not a mistake any more, it becomes another definition. And lexicographers often use written uses as confirmation, so anyone who wants to see podium get this sense should forward this URL to all the dictionary publishers.[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:15, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
::::What's the threshold for "enough people" (itself a grammatically incorrect phrase; see https://grammarist.com/usage/amount-number/)? In any case, I'm not getting into a debate about prescriptive vs. descriptive lexicography as it's off-topic and trollish. Besides, the transcript has been updated. [[User:Seezee|Seezee]] ([[User talk:Seezee|talk]]) 18:23, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
"Enough people" is fine grammatically because "enough" can refer to either an amount or a number; it the case of "enough people" it's referring to a number of people. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.28|162.158.214.28]] 02:42, 6 April 2019 (UTC)
::[[1661: Podium]] [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 19:15, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:::Heh. I'd forgotten that. Thanks, Jacky720! [[User:Seezee|Seezee]] ([[User talk:Seezee|talk]]) 19:27, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:::Totally forgot! Awesome [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 20:21, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
:Thank ''goodness'' someone corrected that. A million people using the wrong word doesn't mean it's the right word (especially when the root words have obviously different meanings); It just means a million people are using unclear\inaccurate language. Common usage ≠ correct usage. It's utility that matters: In this case, if a lectern is also a podium, what is the thing you stand on??? Podium is a common error, but it's still an error. Popularity doesn't equal truth. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:26, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
::That is very incorrect. Language is not a natural resource; it can't be measured or described outside of how it is used. If podium commonly used and understood to mean the thing you stand behind, and it's been used that way by many people for a long tome, the thing you stand behind is a podium. You can disagree with that usage all you like, it isn't any less correct. [[User:HisHighestMinion|HisHighestMinion]] ([[User talk:HisHighestMinion|talk]]) 13:26, 6 April 2019 (UTC)
:I would call that a stool. Also, FWIW, words have different meanings from their roots all the time. Incredible originally meant unreliabe. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.67|162.158.62.67]] 14:16, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

Is there really anything else we need to add to the explanation? It seems complete.[[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 19:02, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

Ah, Pinterest. That website where you have to create an account to view pictures. And then once you do that and get to the post you want, you discover the original “pinner” literally just posted a photo from somewhere with zero indication of where it came from or how to find it so now you’re back to square one but have wasted a bunch of time, been spammed to death by emails and sold your soul to Pinterest. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 06:50, 6 April 2019 (UTC)
Tha's why whenever I do a Google search I add -pinterest . . . . [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.28|162.158.214.28]] 11:47, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

I don't know if these are appropriate for the explanation, but [https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1114950810444677121 NSF and ESO have been being coy on Twitter]. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.162|172.68.143.162]] 23:11, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

I don't think we understand this joke at all. This image was supposed to be released on April 2017 and is now being released on April 2019. This must be relevant. Is the black hole only visible once a year due to our orbit? Sounds relevant if so. Why couldn't they release it in _2018_ if 2017 didn't work? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.58|162.158.78.58]] 00:04, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

2133: EHT Black Hole Picture

2019-04-08T00:03:01Z

162.158.78.58: omigod I found the ACTUAL JOKE. if I deleted writing you care about please bring it back, don't mean to tread, not sure how to quickly add real joke

{{comic
| number = 2133
| date = April 5, 2019
| title = EHT Black Hole Picture
| image = eht_black_hole_picture.png
| titletext = [five years later] Ok, it seems we were accidentally zoomed in slightly too far. But imagine there's a cool-looking twisted accretion disc just outside this black square!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by COSMIC RAYS FROM A BLACK HOLE. Needs more explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic references the {{w|Event Horizon Telescope}}, an international project dedicated to imaging {{w|black hole}}s Sagittarius A* and M87 with angular resolution comparable in size to their event horizons. The first image of Sagittarius A* will be released to the public on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, five days from this comic's release.

The image was produced from data gathered since 2006, collected by over a dozen radio telescopes around the world and combined through a process called {{w|interferometry}}. Normally, a telescope's resolution is limited by the size of its aperture, but by recording radio signals at multiple sites, the minute differences between the signals can be digitally processed into an image with much higher resolution. The telescopes used for the EHT are in Hawaii, North and South America, Europe, and Antarctica, and so the effective diameter of the collective EHT is almost the size of the Earth itself. As each telescope recorded observations of the black holes, the results were written to hard drives and mailed to observatories at {{w|MIT}} and the {{w|Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy}} for processing. Astronomical recordings can involve astronomical amounts of data, so the raw, original, feed from a telescope may never be stored if it is too dense -- it is instead processed live by computers to capture the information of interest, and the processed result is stored. 

The first image released by the EHT was expected to be on April 2017, but unforeseen events have so far delayed it by two years, to April 2019. Randall predicts this trend will continue, and makes a joke by analogy to real-world difficult experiences capturing important moments.

The comic shows [[Cueball]] giving a press conference on the recent photographing of a black hole. However, the photograph is a disappointment, caused by the spectacular failure of several systems:

* You cannot download the picture.
Obviously, it would be quite impractical to fail to reliably provide this in an astronomical system. Cueball describes the system as being like {{w|Pinterest}}, where JS prevents you from right-clicking on an image so that you could save it (or at least attempts to, there are many workarounds).

* You cannot screenshot the picture.
Cueball states that they then tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination to make a screenshot instead turned off the monitor where the picture was being displayed whenever they tried to use it, requiring extra time and effort each attempt in order to return to the view of the black hole. This could reference the fact that many mobile devices incorporate the power button in their screen shot combination and the power button can also turn off the screen. Laptops and operating systems may also have undocumented key combinations that blank the screen, which users can accidentally press when in a hurry and create further stress for themselves.

* The viewing period ends before a physical camera can be used.
As a last act of desperation, Cueball took out his phone and attempted to take a photo of the screen showing the black hole, but by that time, the observation had ended, and the photo was lost.

In reality, none of this ''should'' be an issue as the picture would be immediately saved by the system and would not need to be downloaded from the site, but NASA especially knows that developers of a system can never predict the obscure happenstances that can combine to create failure at the end.

Cueball then states that they would try to take a picture of a black hole again next year.

The title text explains that (after presumably five years of annual tries), the picture failed again as the telescope was too zoomed in and only captured a featureless square. Since a black hole by definition returns no light sent to it, the photograph would be entirely black. Researchers however are primarily presumably trying to obtain images of the more interesting edge known as an {{w|accretion disc}}, which could actually be meaningfully photographed. The joke is that the black hole could only be photographed once a year, and in each year some incidental set of mistakes combined to prevent the photograph from actually being shared with anybody. This could be a reference to the {{w|cosmic censorship hypothesis}}, which states that a "naked" singularity cannot be viewed from outside an event horizon, where in this case the censor is some kind of "butterfly of doom" that bedevils astronomers who attempt to image one anyway, similar to some interpretations of the {{w|Novikov self-consistency principle}} (a possible resolution to various {{w|time travel paradoxes}} which asserts that any event which would lead to a paradox must have probability zero).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing behind a lectern, with "Press Conference" and the EHT logo displayed on a projector screen behind him.]
:Cueball: We linked up our observatories, got everything aligned, and there it was:
:Cueball: The first image of a black hole!

:Out of panel: Can you share the picture?
:Cueball: Well, here's the thing...

:Cueball: Turns out our telescope feed is like Pinterest, where you can't right-click to save an image.
:Cueball: So we tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination kept turning off the display instead.

:[The projector screen has changed to show a blurry picture of a white computer screen against a black background. The EHT logo remains.]
:Cueball: I grabbed my phone and tried to take a picture of the screen, but I was too slow. The observation had ended.
:Cueball: We're planning to try again next year, and we'll definitely record the screen this time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Space]]

2133: EHT Black Hole Picture

2019-04-07T23:58:04Z

162.158.78.58: radio astronomy does, actually, offer the real data only in a live manner. i mentioned it briefly, but it's kind of different from what randall shows

{{comic
| number = 2133
| date = April 5, 2019
| title = EHT Black Hole Picture
| image = eht_black_hole_picture.png
| titletext = [five years later] Ok, it seems we were accidentally zoomed in slightly too far. But imagine there's a cool-looking twisted accretion disc just outside this black square!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by COSMIC RAYS FROM A BLACK HOLE. Needs more explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic references the {{w|Event Horizon Telescope}}, an international project dedicated to imaging {{w|black hole}}s Sagittarius A* and M87 with angular resolution comparable in size to their event horizons. The first image of Sagittarius A* will be released to the public on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, five days from this comic's release.

The image was produced from data gathered since 2006, collected by over a dozen radio telescopes around the world and combined through a process called {{w|interferometry}}. Normally, a telescope's resolution is limited by the size of its aperture, but by recording radio signals at multiple sites, the minute differences between the signals can be digitally processed into an image with much higher resolution. The telescopes used for the EHT are in Hawaii, North and South America, Europe, and Antarctica, and so the effective diameter of the collective EHT is almost the size of the Earth itself. As each telescope recorded observations of the black holes, the results were written to hard drives and mailed to observatories at {{w|MIT}} and the {{w|Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy}} for processing. Astronomical recordings can involve astronomical amounts of data, so the raw, original, feed from a telescope may never be stored if it is too dense -- it is instead processed live by computers to capture the information of interest, and the processed result is stored. 

For the purposes of this comic strip, the process of photographing a black hole is more like taking a conventional digital image from a consumer system, to make a joke by analogy to real-world difficult experiences capturing important moments.

The comic shows [[Cueball]] giving a press conference on the recent photographing of a black hole. However, the photograph is a disappointment, caused by the spectacular failure of several systems:

* You cannot download the picture.
Obviously, it would be quite impractical to fail to reliably provide this in an astronomical system. Cueball describes the system as being like {{w|Pinterest}}, where JS prevents you from right-clicking on an image so that you could save it (or at least attempts to, there are many workarounds).

* You cannot screenshot the picture.
Cueball states that they then tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination to make a screenshot instead turned off the monitor where the picture was being displayed whenever they tried to use it, requiring extra time and effort each attempt in order to return to the view of the black hole. This could reference the fact that many mobile devices incorporate the power button in their screen shot combination and the power button can also turn off the screen. Laptops and operating systems may also have undocumented key combinations that blank the screen, which users can accidentally press when in a hurry and create further stress for themselves.

* The viewing period ends before a physical camera can be used.
As a last act of desperation, Cueball took out his phone and attempted to take a photo of the screen showing the black hole, but by that time, the observation had ended, and the photo was lost.

In reality, none of this ''should'' be an issue as the picture would be immediately saved by the system and would not need to be downloaded from the site, but NASA especially knows that developers of a system can never predict the obscure happenstances that can combine to create failure at the end.

Cueball then states that they would try to take a picture of a black hole again next year.

The title text explains that (after presumably five years of annual tries), the picture failed again as the telescope was too zoomed in and only captured a featureless square. Since a black hole by definition returns no light sent to it, the photograph would be entirely black. Researchers however are primarily presumably trying to obtain images of the more interesting edge known as an {{w|accretion disc}}, which could actually be meaningfully photographed. The joke is that the black hole could only be photographed once a year, and in each year some incidental set of mistakes combined to prevent the photograph from actually being shared with anybody. This could be a reference to the {{w|cosmic censorship hypothesis}}, which states that a "naked" singularity cannot be viewed from outside an event horizon, where in this case the censor is some kind of "butterfly of doom" that bedevils astronomers who attempt to image one anyway, similar to some interpretations of the {{w|Novikov self-consistency principle}} (a possible resolution to various {{w|time travel paradoxes}} which asserts that any event which would lead to a paradox must have probability zero).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing behind a lectern, with "Press Conference" and the EHT logo displayed on a projector screen behind him.]
:Cueball: We linked up our observatories, got everything aligned, and there it was:
:Cueball: The first image of a black hole!

:Out of panel: Can you share the picture?
:Cueball: Well, here's the thing...

:Cueball: Turns out our telescope feed is like Pinterest, where you can't right-click to save an image.
:Cueball: So we tried to take a screenshot, but the key combination kept turning off the display instead.

:[The projector screen has changed to show a blurry picture of a white computer screen against a black background. The EHT logo remains.]
:Cueball: I grabbed my phone and tried to take a picture of the screen, but I was too slow. The observation had ended.
:Cueball: We're planning to try again next year, and we'll definitely record the screen this time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Space]]

2133: EHT Black Hole Picture

2019-04-06T21:44:07Z

162.158.78.58: flushed out references to actual joke. this has happened to me a lot, nobody else? it's worse as you get older and your fingers spazz out a lot.

2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-04T11:34:33Z

162.158.78.58: it's been a long time since I took latin and it's hard to think of more examples of common words I mispronounced due to this as a kid (mostly science words where pronunciation is less commonly known). anybody else have experience to draw on?

{{comic
| number = 2132
| date = April 3, 2019
| title = Percentage Styles
| image = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

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

On March 29, 2019, The {{w|AP Stylebook}} changed a long-standing rule that forbade press writers from using the percent sign ("%") when writing percentages. This had long been a controversial rule, leading to much debate over the preferable way to write percentages, before the Associated Press finally conceded the point.

The comic lists the best to worst ways in which you can write out phrases that are phonetically the same as "65%". They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to "65 per cent," which is not common in Randall's area and time, to the odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" (using the cent currency symbol) which are not really used and look archaic. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent.", using "cent." as an abbreviation for "centum", which is Latin for "hundred". ("per" is Latin for "through"). The entire string would translate to "65 for every hundred." "Per cent" is more widely used in British English than in American English today.

Other abbreviations not mentioned in the comic include "pct.", "pct" or "pc". (See {{w|Percentage}})

The title text references the ambiguity of {{w|hard and soft C}} in English. In Classical Latin, "C" was always pronounced like "K". However, in English, most "C"s before E, I and Y (including "percent") are "soft", and pronounced like "S". Unlike other foreign languages taught in academia, [http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/mc/latinpro.pdf Latin students are taught the Classical Latin pronunciations of words], rather than the modern Latin pronunciations spoken in Catholic states, likely to keep schools religion-agnostic. Some students of Latin may adopt the Latin pronunciation of English words derived from Latin. Such people may tend more to pronounce, even when not the correct choice, "celtic" like "keltic", "caeser" like "kaiser", or "cent" like "kent" (although since this involves obviously saying something others aren't going to understand unless they took the same classes, it might as well be "per kentum").

In this case, Randall's friends found him so annoying they trained him out of it like a cat by spraying him with water every time he pronounced the word "per-kent." Training people this way was previously a punchline in [[220: Philosophy]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Percentage styles in order of acceptability
:[A long vertical line is shown with five dots on it.]
:[Label at the top:]
:Best
:[Dot labels from top to bottom:]

:65%
:[short distance]
:65 percent
:[a much longer distance]
:65 per cent
:[a distance roughly twice the previous]
:Sixty-five%
:[an exceedingly long distance]
:65 per¢

[[Category:Charts]]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-04T11:22:02Z

162.158.78.58:

The only proper style for Britain and the US is ‘%65’. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 16:20, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:O RLY? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 16:37, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

:: Yes. You don't write ‘65$’, do you? British/US standards should be followed properly and consistently. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:19, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

::: If there is any consistency, it is that unit follows numbers. 3', 2 m, 40 lbs, 2 l, and so on. Currency is the exception. --[[User:Klausok|Klausok]] ([[User talk:Klausok|talk]]) 10:33, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

::I've definitely seen %NN stated by style guides, but I almost never see anybody using it, because reading it aloud encourages saying it as "percent sixty-five". Oddly, people seem to have no trouble remembering to write $65 instead of 65$, despite the same "dollars sixty-five" vs "sixty-five dollars" vocalization issue. Perhaps it's because we often see things like $65.95 but %65.95 is used less often? Writing 65.95% is potentially ambiguous depending on how it's read out loud: "sixty-five point ninety-five percent" could definitely be misinterpreted very easily. 65.95$ is definitely not ideal, & $65.95¢ is somehow even worse. How about 65$.95¢? ''';S'''
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:::At https://ask.metafilter.com/7894/Is-the-form-of-100-instead-of-100-a-different-language-useage discussers encountered %NN but eventually decided it was a mistake spread by low literacy. More common is "NNpc". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.47|172.69.63.47]] 20:33, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

----
There's also 65/100, 65:100, <math>\textstyle\frac{65}{100}</math>, sixtyfive-hundreth, 0.65, and point sixty-five. Benny. 16:41, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

There's also 650‰ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.41|172.69.33.41]] 16:52, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:Wouldn't that be 650 hundredths? I've seen "and sixty-five ‰" a cheque before. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
::"650‰" is "650 per mille (per thousand)", and is precisely the same as "65%". [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 19:42, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
Even lower than 65 per¢ should be 65 per penny. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:00, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

====
BTW, I can imagine the transcript of this one posing some challenge for screen readers. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:01, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

: On a second thought, I can also imagine people who use screen readers never hearing any difference between the writing styles listed in the comic. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:24, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

This may have come up because last Friday the A.P. Stylebook announced their changes for 2019, including a change to percent. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/ap-says-the-percentage-sign-now-ok-when-used-with-a-numeral-thats-shift5/

== Missing ==

Compile here the missing styles:

* %65
* 65 pc, 65 pct, 65 pct., 65 cent
* sixty-five percent; sixty-five per cent; sixty-five per ¢
* sixty-five per hundred; 65 for every 100
* 65% percent; 65% per cent; 65% per ¢
* 65/100; 65÷100; 65:100; 65 x 1/100
* 65*10^-2; 65×10⁻²; 65×10^-2; 65*10⁻²; 6.5e-1
* 0.65; 0,65
* 65 per penny (wasn't this a joke?)
* almost 2/3rds
* 65¢^-1; 65¢⁻¹
* 65 pennies on the dollar
* 13/20

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.191|162.158.79.191]] 19:35, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

:Also 6.5e-1. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

:Also simply 'cent,' which is used in property tax assessment in California. It's a pretty sneaky way to make the tax seem really small. --

Yeah, Randall dropped the ball on this one. I am disappoint. At the very least there should have been an entry where "per" was written as "/". Also since the cent sign is not on most keyboards but the dollar sign is, I would have expected "6500/$". Also, google agrees: https://www.google.com/search?q=6500%2F%24+in+cent^-1 :p [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.187|141.101.96.187]] 07:30, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

= = Celtic = =
I suggest you remove the reference to "celtic". In modern English it's rarely pronounced "seltic" except in the names of a couple of sports teams. There is a substantial discussion of this online - just Google "pronounce celtic". Irish people are Celtic and almost zero Irish say "seltic" - except in relation to Glasgow Celtic football club. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.190|162.158.38.190]] 08:28, 4 April 2019 (UTC)
: oops! I figured because I learned Latin and was the only person who said 'keltic' when I saw a sports team, that I was wrong! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.58|162.158.78.58]] 11:22, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-04T11:19:20Z

162.158.78.58: I mentioned this and somebody removed it without comment. Since there was no explanation, I'm adding it back. I was a little frustrated in Latin class that I was learning the dead form of a living language my mother's family spoke.

{{comic
| number = 2132
| date = April 3, 2019
| title = Percentage Styles
| image = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

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

On March 29, 2019, The {{w|AP Stylebook}} changed a long-standing rule that forbade press writers from using the percent sign ("%") when writing percentages. This had long been a controversial rule, leading to much debate over the preferable way to write percentages, before the Associated Press finally conceded the point.

The comic lists the best to worst ways in which you can write out phrases that are phonetically the same as "65%". They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to "65 per cent," which is not common in Randall's area and time, to the odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" (using the cent currency symbol) which are not really used and look archaic. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent.", using "cent." as an abbreviation for "centum", which is Latin for "hundred". ("per" is Latin for "through"). The entire string would translate to "65 for every hundred." "Per cent" is more widely used in British English than in American English today.

Other abbreviations not mentioned in the comic include "pct.", "pct" or "pc". (See {{w|Percentage}})

The title text references the ambiguity of {{w|hard and soft C}} in English. In Classical Latin, "C" was always pronounced like "K". However, in English, most "C"s before E, I and Y (including "percent") are "soft", and pronounced like "S". Unlike other foreign languages taught in academia, Latin students are taught the Classical Latin pronunciations of words, rather than the modern Latin pronunciations spoken in Catholic states, likely to keep schools religion-agnostic. Some students of Latin may adopt the Latin pronunciation of English words derived from Latin. Such people may pronounce "celtic" like "keltic", "caeser" like "kaiser", or "cent" like "kent" (although some might be saying the more accurate phrase pronunciation "pare kentum").

In this case, Randall's friends found him so annoying they trained him out of it like a cat by spraying him with water every time he pronounced the word "per-kent." Training people this way was previously a punchline in [[220: Philosophy]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Percentage styles in order of acceptability
:[A long vertical line is shown with five dots on it.]
:[Label at the top:]
:Best
:[Dot labels from top to bottom:]

:65%
:[short distance]
:65 percent
:[a much longer distance]
:65 per cent
:[a distance roughly twice the previous]
:Sixty-five%
:[an exceedingly long distance]
:65 per¢

[[Category:Charts]]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2129: 1921 Fact Checker

2019-03-28T03:12:47Z

162.158.78.58:

Two gallons of vinegar, huh?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.144|162.158.106.144]] 14:26, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

While I too respect this fact checker's perspective on what really matters (and what doesn't), it's clear to me that in this fact-obsessed 21st century we cannot let this purported fact go unverified. Get on it, people! ;) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 14:32, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

I fact checked this comic. The text in question is on page 8 of the newspaper, leftmost column, three paragraphs from the bottom. [[User:Billtheplatypus|Billtheplatypus]] ([[User talk:Billtheplatypus|talk]]) 15:12, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
: [citation needed] The LOC link in the explanation says that the Kansas City Sun was a Saturday Weekly, so it wouldn't have been published on Friday, May 6th, 1921 as claimed. Unfortunately, the LOC only has scans of from 1914 through 1920, so it doesn't have scans for 1921. Do you have a source where you fact checked it? [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 15:39, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
::[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/477982773/ This]. You can get the OCR if you don't want to sign up. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.176|162.158.155.176]] 16:08, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
::: Off topic, but oldnewspapers are interesting. Especially the notices and lawsuit notifications, it's interesting to see that the newspaper notifications was considered enough notice that a judgement could be rendered. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.215|172.68.46.215]] 17:17, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
::::This is still the case. For certain types of civil actions where the respondent's address is unknown and personal service is otherwise unavailable, notice through newspaper publication is sufficient. Larger cities in the US even have specialist legal newspapers that are primarily funded by payments for publishing these and other public notices.
::: I think the explanation needs to clarify the dates here. There appear to be two different Kansas City Suns, one in Kansas, the other in Missouri. The Missouri one was a published from 1908-1924 and targeted the black community. The Kansas one was published at least from 1892 to 1924, and possibly longer (digitized issues up to 1924 are available online, which is also about when things start being still under copyright. Coincidence?). This fact check is in the Kansas paper. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 18:13, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

Wouldn't "whatever" be not worth checking? "Mostly whatever" implies it could be worth checking but beyond current enthusiasm. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 15:29, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

I thought corn travelling back from England to America was the problem... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.90|162.158.90.90]] 16:02, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
: By 1620 there should've been plenty of time to establish some growing of maize in England. I don't know the real truth, but it's plausible. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 16:38, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
: Historically, "corn" was a general term for grain, usually the local grain. It also referred to things which where grain-sized, like the large grains of salt used to make "corned beef" or hard warts on the feet. It was only in North America where the predominant local grain was maize that "corn" came to have the narrower meaning of maize. If there really was a requirement to bring a supply of "cornmeal" in the early 1600's from England to the Americas, I'd expect it to be ground wheat, barleycorn, or rye, not maize. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 16:47, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
:: It's there any more information/sources on this? I find this interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.215|172.68.46.215]] 17:17, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
::: Source: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corn#Noun wiktionary], [https://www.google.com/search?q=dictionary+corn google's dictionary], and presumably any other English dictionary you might prefer. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:01, 27 March 2019 (UTC)
:: Is this related to the corn mazes that I see on TV shows? Some kind of pun about maize mazes? I don't live in the US, I don't know a lot about that; I have only seen those in TV shows [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.58|162.158.78.58]] 03:12, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

Blaisepascal is arguing that the article (or incomplete template) was, in fact, created by a BOT. Before starting an edit war, can I check the consensus on what we do with the created by? I always use the [relevant item]. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 19:53, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

1930: Calendar Facts

2017-12-18T21:12:37Z

162.158.78.58: /* Table */ intersecting lines always share (in fact, define) a common plane

{{comic
| number = 1930
| date = December 18, 2017
| title = Calendar Facts
| image = calendar_facts.png
| titletext = While it may seem like trivia, it (causes huge headaches for software developers / is taken advantage of by high-speed traders / triggered the 2003 Northeast Blackout / has to be corrected for by GPS satellites / is now recognized as a major cause of World War I).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|There seem to be some possible correct statements, which should be recognized and added as part of the explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Randall]] presents what appears to be a generator of 156,000 facts [20 x 13 x (8 + 6 x 7) x 12], about calendars, most of which are false or have little meaning{{Citation needed}}. The facts are seeded by a mishmash of common tidbits about the time of year.

The formula for each generated fact goes as follows: "Did you know that '''[a recurring event]''' '''[occurs in an unusual manner]''' because of '''[a phenomenon or natural property]'''? Apparently '''[wild card statement]'''."

This is the fifth time that Randall has referred to the phenomenon of a [[:Category:Supermoon|Supermoon]], which he tupically makes fun of, most prominent in [[1394: Superm*n]].

The title text continues the chart with an inside information of what this tiny trivia actually have of real life consequences.

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! What it is
! Relation to other entries
|-
! colspan="3" | Recurring Events
|-
| The [Fall/Spring] Equinox
| The time of year at which the Earth's axis is on a plane perpendicular to the line from the Earth to the Sun, and the time that the Sun is above the horizon is 12 hours across the globe.
| Before the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582, the equinoxes fell on earlier and earlier dates as the centuries went by, due to the Julian calendar year being 365.25 days on average compared to the tropical Earth year of 365.2422 days. Pope Gregory's decision to remove the leap days on years that were multiples of 100 but not 400 corrected the average length of the calendar year to 365.2425 days.
|-
| The [Winter/Summer] Solstice
| The winter and summer solstices are the time of year at which the Earth's axis is on the same plane as its axis of revolution around the Sun, and the days are the longest in the Northern or Southern hemisphere respectively.
| Similar to the equinoxes, the solstices were also falling on earlier dates every year before the Gregorian Calendar.
|-
| The [Winter/Summer] Olympics
| The Winter and Summer Olympics are the Olympic Games in two different seasons.
| The Olympics occur ever four years. The next Winter Olympics is in 2018, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The next Summer Olympics is in 2020 in Toyko, Japan. The Winter Olympics features sports played on snow or ice, while the Summer Olympics has more traditional sports.
|-
|Daylight [saving/savings] time
| Daylight saving time, commonly referred to as daylight savings time, is the practice of setting clocks ahead by one hour during the summer months of the year.
| Daylight saving time is observed in the United States with the exception of Arizona, Hawaii, and overseas territories. Benjamin Franklin is said to have proposed DST, but it seems that his suggestion was more of a joke.
|-
| Toyota Truck Month
| Toyota offers a discount for Tacoma trucks one month a year. Mainly notable because radio and television ads hype this discount up as "Toyota Truck Month".
|-
! colspan="3" | Unusual manners in which the events occur
|-
| happens [earlier/later/at the wrong time] every year
| colspan="2" | The solstices and equinoxes happened earlier every year ''before'' the decree by Pope Gregory in 1582. The earliest sunrise happens one hour later than it "should" happen due to daylight saving time having turned the clocks forward one hour.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the [sun/moon]
| colspan="2" | The Sun and Moon are generally what calendars are based on. If something were to drift out of sync, some corrective mechanism would have to be put in to put it back. This is the motivation behind leap years, leap months (in countries with lunisolar calendars) and leap seconds.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the [zodiac]
| colspan="2" | The dates on which the Sun crosses the constellations in the traditional zodiac has shifted in the past centuries.
|-
! colspan="3" | Phenomena or political decisions
|-
| the zone legislation in [Indiana/Arizona/Russia]
| Some states or provinces have time zone legislation that sets the standard time to something other than what the natural latitude of that location would suggest.
|
* The state of Arizona generally does not observe daylight saving time, keeping their clocks on UTC-7:00 Mountain Standard Time year round. However, the Navajo nation inside Arizona does observe it, causing the two regions to have different times in the summer and the same time in the winter.
* Time zones in Russia are all one hour ahead of what their latitude would suggest. (For example, St. Petersburg is 30°E, which means that its natural time zone is UTC+2:00, but its time zone is actually UTC+3:00.)
* Indiana has a complicated history with Daylight Savings, likely related to the state being split between two Time Zones. (see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana Time in Indiana])
|-
| a decree by the Pope in the 1500s
| In 1582, Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian Calendar, the calendar we use today, to replace the Julian Calendar. The calendar applied retroactively to the birth of Jesus Christ, which means that they had to skip 10 days, going straight from October 4 to October 15, 1582, during the switchover.
| The introduction of the Gregorian calendar brought Easter and the dates that months started back in sync with what they were in the 3rd century AD.
|-
! colspan="3" | Consequences
|-
| It causes a predictable increase in car accidents.
| colspan="2" | The week following daylight saving time, car accidents increase by about 5-7%<ref>http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/end-of-daylight-saving-time-2015-6-eye-opening-facts-1.3296353</ref>.
|-
| That's why we have leap seconds.
| colspan="2" | Leap seconds occur because the time required for one rotation of the Earth is actually slightly longer than the 86,400 seconds in a standard UTC day. The Earth's rotation is slowing down by about 2 × 10-5 seconds every year due to tidal friction caused by the Moon's gravity; however, this is not one of the possible entries in the list of phenomena.
|-
! colspan="3" | Title Text
|}

<references />

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

Title: -Calendar Facts-

''Shown is a branching flow chart of sorts that begins at the phrase "Did you know that", then flows through various paths to build up a sentence. (Note that the "→" arrow symbol is used below to indicate a new branch with no intermediate text from a previous branch.)''

* Did you know that:
** the ( Fall | Spring ) Equinox
** the ( Winter | Summer ) ( Solstice | Olympics )
** the ( Earliest | Latest ) ( Sunrise | Sunset )
** Daylight ( Saving | Savings ) Time
** Leap ( Day | Year )
** Easter
** the ( Harvest | Super | Blood ) Moon
** Toyota Truck Month
** Shark Week
* →
** happens ( earlier | later | at the wrong time ) every year
** drifts out of sync with the
*** Sun
*** Moon
*** Zodiac
*** ( Gregorian | Mayan | Lunar | iPhone ) Calendar
*** atomic clock in Colorado
** might ( not happen | happen twice ) this year
* because of
** time zone legislation in ( Indiana | Arizona | Russia )
** a decree by the pope in the 1500s
** ( precession | libration | nutation | libation | eccentricity | obliquity ) of the
*** Moon
*** Sun
*** Earth's axis
*** equator
*** prime meridian
*** ( international date | mason-dixon ) line
** magnetic field reversal
** an arbitrary decision by ( Benjamin Franklin | Isaac Newton | FDR )
* ?
* Apparently
** it causes a predictable increase in car accidents.
** that's why we have leap seconds.
** scientists are really worried.
** it was even more extreme during the
*** Bronze Age.
*** Ice Age.
*** Cretaceous.
*** 1990s.
** there's a proposal to fix it, but it
*** will never happen.
*** actually makes things worse.
*** is stalled in congress.
*** might be unconstitutional.
** it's getting worse and no one knows why.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Supermoon]]