explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2442: Mask Opinions

2021-04-05T22:11:43Z

172.68.132.41:

{{comic
| number = 2442
| date = March 26, 2021
| title = Mask Opinions
| image = mask_opinions.png
| titletext = Although regardless of how everything else shakes out, I definitely won't mind if the norm "wear a mask if you're feeling sick" sticks around after this.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SEAL ON THE BRIDGE OF YOUR NOSE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall Monroe has no life and enjoys feeling pathetically superior to other people because of his knowledge about face masks.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and White Hat are standing and talking. Both are wearing masks.]
:Cueball: I am so excited not to have so many opinions about different kinds of masks at the forefront of my brain at all times.
:White Hat: Seriously.

:[The panel is zoomed in on Cueball's upper body. His hands are raised.]
:Cueball: "Do you know any tricks for getting a good seal around the bridge of your nose?"
:Cueball: I '''''do,''''' and I want to '''''stop''''' knowing them.

:[Cueball is walking away from White Hat with his hands raised above his head.]
:White Hat: You could always try talking about something else.
:Cueball: '''''Honestly not sure I can!'''''
:White Hat: Well.
:White Hat: Soon.

{{comic discussion}}

[[category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring face masks]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]

Talk:2445: Checkbox

2021-04-01T23:39:37Z

172.68.132.41:

If left alone, the morse code produced spells "WHAT" (.-- .... .- -) [[User:Ezist|Ezist]] ([[User talk:Ezist|talk]]) 22:50, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

I'm early enough that there isn't a summary yet, and I'm not confident enough to start one, so I'll just drop my thoughts. If you click the checkbox repeatedly, at some point it starts playing Morse code. Presumably, there are a whole lot of different sequences. So far, I've gotten .- - .-- .... (which translates to ATWS; no idea what that means) and ..... (just 5, I think). Meanwhile, the mouseover text is ... --- ..., which is SOS. Any thoughts? What other sequences are there? Or am I totally missing something? (Edit conflict. Looks like Ezist has another one.) [[User:Aerin|Aerin]] ([[User talk:Aerin|talk]]) 22:56, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
: I got something like ATWS at first, but that's just cause I misheard one of the letters, and misinterpreted where the word started/ended. [[User:Ezist|Ezist]] ([[User talk:Ezist|talk]]) 23:03, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Wait, sorry, I'm back. It apparently has to do with user input. No idea what I pressed to get those results lol. [[User:Aerin|Aerin]] ([[User talk:Aerin|talk]]) 22:57, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Just a note, but a Morse code legend as well as translations of your input and the website's output are available in the console in browser DevTools. Helpful for those that don't know Morse. [[User:Toadtoad|Toadtoad]] ([[User talk:Toadtoad|talk]])

It looks like Samuel Morse died on April 2, 1872, so that might be why this comic appears today. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.218|162.158.212.218]] 23:07, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

"Hi" returns [.... . .-.. .-.. --- -.-.-- / .- -. -.-- -... --- -.. -.-- / --- ..- - / - .... . .-. . ..--..] "HELLO! ANYBODY OUT THERE?" [[User:Piano|Piano]] ([[User talk:Piano|talk]]) 23:09, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

a sequence of repeating "T", or at least more than one "E" [ - - - ] or [ . . . ] will respond back the same sequence, just one "E" will give "WHAT" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.25.253|172.68.25.253]] 23:18, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

"QTH" gives "QTH ARES VALLIS". "QTH" is a code used to ask for position, and Ares Vallis [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares_Vallis is a place on Mars.] [[User:Ezist|Ezist]] ([[User talk:Ezist|talk]]) 23:27, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

"CHECK" replies "MATE." "CHECKMATE" and "MATE" each reply "WHAT." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.146|162.158.126.146]] 23:34, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

The js: has anyone tried viewing the JS? There seems to be a file that is just filled with undecipherable Morse. Can anyone interpret this? Just press f12 and look for comic.js or morse.js [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.161|162.158.62.161]] 23:35, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

I tried decoding it. Certainly looks like something binary encoded into text. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.153|162.158.183.153]] 23:36, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Adding onto that, what does the ';D' in .split(';D') (at the very end of morse.js) do? AFAIK it's not a special character in JS. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.41|172.68.132.41]] 23:39, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

The ;D is just a face, I think. The morse decodes to this: https://gist.github.com/9db6a006fbfbfc0fb723aedc2d0fbedd --rcombs

Talk:2445: Checkbox

2021-04-01T23:37:58Z

172.68.132.41:

2437: Post-Vaccine Party

2021-03-15T16:39:32Z

172.68.132.41:

{{comic
| number = 2437
| date = March 15, 2021
| title = Post-Vaccine Party
| image = post_vaccine_party.png
| titletext = [Future update] Well, someone accidentally dropped an M&M in their cup of ice water, and we all panicked and scattered.
}}

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

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2436: Circles

2021-03-12T20:17:49Z

172.68.132.41: I'm not a robot

AS for the overlapping edits, it is because this just showed up in my RSS reader. I was surprised to see that there wasn't anything written yet. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.92|172.68.206.92]] 18:56, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
*If Randall was willing to realign the Audi logo, I think he could have stretched the model to accommodate Disney at the 3-ring slot! [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] <small>([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]])</small> 18:58, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
*Audi's logo has the four circles in a straight line, not staggered (</pedant>) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.58|108.162.237.58]] 19:09, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
**The same is true for MasterCard - the two circles are not staggered, but "in a straight line" (horizontal, that is) [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 20:15, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
ER are shared by both halves of the MC logo. Not AR. Anyone have another explanation? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.41|172.68.132.41]]

2433: Mars Rovers

2021-03-11T03:27:24Z

172.68.132.41:

This page has been vandalized by WILLY ON WHEELS
{{comic
| number = 2433
| date = March 5, 2021
| title = Mars Rovers
| image = mars_rovers.png
| titletext = I just Googled 'roomba sojourner mod' and was sorely disappointed. Be the change, I guess!
}}

2433: Mars Rovers

2021-03-11T03:26:30Z

172.68.132.41: Replaced content with "{{comic | number = 2433 | date = March 5, 2021 | title = Mars Rovers | image = mars_rovers.png | titletext = I just Googled 'roomba sojourner mod' and was..."

{{comic
| number = 2433
| date = March 5, 2021
| title = Mars Rovers
| image = mars_rovers.png
| titletext = I just Googled 'roomba sojourner mod' and was sorely disappointed. Be the change, I guess!
}}
This page has been vandalized by WILLY ON WHEELS

1942: Memorable Quotes

2021-03-04T05:34:16Z

172.68.132.41: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1942
| date = January 15, 2018
| title = Memorable Quotes
| image = memorable_quotes.png
| titletext = "Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
}}

==Explanation==

This comic "helpfully" provides random quotes to be used by anyone as {{w|blurb}}s, online reviews, motivational quotes or similar short bits of text. Either the {{w|webcomic}} [[xkcd]] or its creator [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] may be quoted when using any of the provided lines, as stated at the top of the comic.

In particular, their "usefulness" lies in the fact that almost any of them are equally applicable to almost any situation. This is achieved by making each quote not really about anything in particular, aside from the fact that they are quotes. This is in contrast to typical quotes, which are never quite this aware that they will be quoted, but this is to be expected when the lines here were made solely for being quoted.

These self-aware quotes are, on a meta level, jokes about quotations generally. Most of Randall's quotes either sabotage the quoting work, reference some aspect of quotes as used in practice, or both---and it can be both when the aspects referenced are about twisting people's words to look like they agree with you.

The title-text does not have an ending quote mark, so "- Randall Munroe" is part of the quote, and possibly everything in xkcd after that until the next ending quote. Note that the next quote mark in xkcd is in [[1947: Night Sky]].

==Table==
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! Quote !! Explanation
|-
|''"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."''
|Quotes are often used in, or on, publications and documents to add weight to them by making it seem like the person being quoted endorses their content or message. This quote would actively undermine the reputation of the work, unless said work advertises itself as a farce.
|-
|''"This quote was taken out of context."''
|Quotes are commonly taken out of context to make it look as though they support a (sometimes fallacious) point, or to falsely imply an endorsement of the work they are attached to. However, since this quote serves no purpose beyond pointing out that it is out of context, there would be no point in trying to use it in this way. In any case, since all these quotes are provided without any real context, it's not clear what taking it out of context would mean.
|-
|''"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."''
|Many quotes are misattributed to famous people who are well known for originating a lot of quotes (such as [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Misattributed Mark Twain], [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#Misattributed Dr. Seuss], or [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Misattributed Albert Einstein]). If this quote was attributed to Mark Twain, however, it would be immediately clear that either it wasn't said by him, or he was lying at the time.
|-
|''"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."''
|This is likely the case for many famous, widely admired people who are often quoted for all sorts of arguments, even diametrically opposed ones.
|-
|''"This quote is very memorable."''
|This is likely not the case; this quote itself is very forgettable, being very short, and containing no insight on anything meaningful. However, the irony is that this simple quote stating it’s memorableness may be enough to get it stuck in your head, making it a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. This quote could actually be useful if you were preparing a presentation on how to give presentations, and wanted to illustrate the misuse of quotes.
|-
|''"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."''
|The quote is attempting to sabotage the authorship of the book that uses it. Paradoxically, though, by implying that Randall wrote the book, it also implies that he is the one using the quote, and therefore claiming credit that is not due to him.
|-
|''"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [Quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. —Ed.]''
|Editors sometimes use square brackets within or after a quote in order to make a comment on the quote, such as to note that mistakes or typographical oddities were in the author's original, to correct factual errors, or to provide additional context. Randall is deliberately confusing the issue by including what appears to be an editor's note within the quote itself.

Further confusion would be caused if the quoting author, or their editor, wanted to include a note of their own, such as one noting that this odd construction was in the original quote, because it would be hard to tell what the scope of the claims were, and who wrote each editor’s note. Such problems of clarity can be solved using different formatting or typographical techniques such as footnotes. Programming languages avoid this type of ambiguity by using {{w|escape characters}}.
|-
|''"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."''
|Websites that collect quotes are infamous for not checking sources. This has been parodied in many ways. The implication would be that if you found this quote on such a website, there would be a good chance that it was inaccurate or misattributed.
|-
|''"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."''
|When used effectively in a presentation a quote should succinctly summarize the ideas being presented in a memorable, pithy phrase that helps to bring to mind the rest of the message. However, it is a common experience, especially if the presentation was weak, or the quote was not particularly appropriate, for them to be the only part you remember.
|-
|''"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"''
|It is sometimes recommended to add quotes to a work or, particularly a presentation, to add weight, wit, or authority. However, it is common for quotes to appear to have been included because the author thought there ought to be one, rather than serving any particular purpose, especially if the quote chosen is of questionable relevance. This quote would make it very clear that this was the case. This could also be a reference to a Rick and Morty episode with a character named Mr. Meseeks.
|-
|''"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."''
|This would probably occur if you decided to follow Randall's advice and include this quote in your work, since this is a fairly infrequently used word in most contexts.
|-
|''"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude.''"''
|The quote imitates the stereotype of hippies, typically ones on drugs, announcing what they believe to be deep insights into reality. If it were true, it would mean that whoever wrote the quoting work would be stealing the entire thing from somewhere, with the exception of these two weird sentences pointing it out.
|-
|''"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."''
|The author of this quote is apparently making a desperate attempt to get a quote published by challenging the editors of ''{{w|Bartlett's Familiar Quotations}}'', or perhaps is resentful, having attempted to get them to publish his quote(s) and been rejected.
|-
|''"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."''
|Supposedly inspirational quotes are often set in a fancy font above a picture of a sunset, mountain range, beach, etc. to make them look more profound. However, these are often ridiculed as being trite or vacuous. This quote takes the unusual step of acknowledging that, without such formatting, it looks boring and average.
|-
|''"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... you know what, never mind."''
|People often begin speeches with a memorable quote in order to engage the audience. Using this quote would give the impression that the person speaking lacked confidence in their speech and, particularly, the quote they had chosen to introduce it, being interesting enough to get people's attention.
|-
|''"Sent from my iPhone"''
|This is the default email signature on an {{w|iPhone}}. Quoting this might lead the reader to think that you typed the preceding work on your phone, or that Randall sent the quote from his phone, and you lazily copied and pasted the wrong part of the message.
|-
|''"Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
|Appears in the title text. Randall Munroe is saying that because there's no ending quotation mark, the rest of the book this quote is in is part of Randall's quote, including, weirdly, the piece of text, after what should be the quote, specifying that Randall has also said his name.

This is roughly consistent with the formatting required to perform SQL injection referenced in [[327]]: Exploits of a Mom. Because it doesn’t have any punctuation before the first “, it wouldn’t actually person an injection attack, instead causing an entire query to be part of a single string.
|}

==Transcript==

:Looking for a quote for something?
:Here are some for general use.

:They can be attributed to xkcd or Randall Munroe as needed.

:"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."
:"This quote was taken out of context."
:"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."
:"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."
:"This quote is very memorable."
:"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."
:"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. -ED.]
:"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."
:"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."
:"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"
:"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."
:"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude."
:"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."
:"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."
:"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... You know what, never mind!"
:"Sent from my iPhone."

{{comic discussion}}

1942: Memorable Quotes

2021-03-04T05:31:43Z

172.68.132.41: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1942
| date = January 15, 2018
| title = Memorable Quotes
| image = memorable_quotes.png
| titletext = "Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
}}

==Explanation==

This comic "helpfully" provides random quotes to be used by anyone as {{w|blurb}}s, online reviews, motivational quotes or similar short bits of text. Either the {{w|webcomic}} [[xkcd]] or its creator [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] may be quoted when using any of the provided lines, as stated at the top of the comic.

In particular, their "usefulness" lies in the fact that almost any of them are equally applicable to almost any situation. This is achieved by making each quote not really about anything in particular, aside from the fact that they are quotes. This is in contrast to typical quotes, which are never quite this aware that they will be quoted, but this is to be expected when the lines here were made solely for being quoted.

These self-aware quotes are, on a meta level, jokes about quotations generally. Most of Randall's quotes either sabotage the quoting work, reference some aspect of quotes as used in practice, or both---and it can be both when the aspects referenced are about twisting people's words to look like they agree with you.

The title-text does not have an ending quote mark, so "- Randall Munroe" is part of the quote, and possibly everything in xkcd after that until the next ending quote. Note that the next quote mark in xkcd is in [[1947: Night Sky]].

==Table==
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! Quote !! Explanation
|-
|''"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."''
|Quotes are often used in, or on, publications and documents to add weight to them by making it seem like the person being quoted endorses their content or message. This quote would actively undermine the reputation of the work, unless said work advertises itself as a farce.
|-
|''"This quote was taken out of context."''
|Quotes are commonly taken out of context to make it look as though they support a (sometimes fallacious) point, or to falsely imply an endorsement of the work they are attached to. However, since this quote serves no purpose beyond pointing out that it is out of context, there would be no point in trying to use it in this way. In any case, since all these quotes are provided without any real context, it's not clear what taking it out of context would mean.
|-
|''"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."''
|Many quotes are misattributed to famous people who are well known for originating a lot of quotes (such as [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Misattributed Mark Twain], [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#Misattributed Dr. Seuss], or [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Misattributed Albert Einstein]). If this quote was attributed to Mark Twain, however, it would be immediately clear that either it wasn't said by him, or he was lying at the time.
|-
|''"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."''
|This is likely the case for many famous, widely admired people who are often quoted for all sorts of arguments, even diametrically opposed ones.
|-
|''"This quote is very memorable."''
|This is likely not the case; this quote itself is very forgettable, being very short, and containing no insight on anything meaningful. However, the irony is that this simple quote stating it’s memorableness may be enough to get it stuck in your head, making it a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. This quote could actually be useful if you were preparing a presentation on how to give presentations, and wanted to illustrate the misuse of quotes.
|-
|''"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."''
|The quote is attempting to sabotage the authorship of the book that uses it. Paradoxically, though, by implying that Randall wrote the book, it also implies that he is the one using the quote, and therefore claiming credit that is not due to him.
|-
|''"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [Quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. —Ed.]''
|Editors sometimes use square brackets within or after a quote in order to make a comment on the quote, such as to note that mistakes or typographical oddities were in the author's original, to correct factual errors, or to provide additional context. Randall is deliberately confusing the issue by including what appears to be an editor's note within the quote itself.

Further confusion would be caused if the quoting author, or their editor, wanted to include a note of their own, such as one noting that this odd construction was in the original quote, because it would be hard to tell what the scope of the claims were, and who wrote each editor’s note. Such problems of clarity can be solved using different formatting or typographical techniques such as footnotes. Programming languages avoid this type of ambiguity by using {{w|escape characters}}.
|-
|''"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."''
|Websites that collect quotes are infamous for not checking sources. This has been parodied in many ways. The implication would be that if you found this quote on such a website, there would be a good chance that it was inaccurate or misattributed.
|-
|''"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."''
|When used effectively in a presentation a quote should succinctly summarize the ideas being presented in a memorable, pithy phrase that helps to bring to mind the rest of the message. However, it is a common experience, especially if the presentation was weak, or the quote was not particularly appropriate, for them to be the only part you remember.
|-
|''"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"''
|It is sometimes recommended to add quotes to a work or, particularly a presentation, to add weight, wit, or authority. However, it is common for quotes to appear to have been included because the author thought there ought to be one, rather than serving any particular purpose, especially if the quote chosen is of questionable relevance. This quote would make it very clear that this was the case. This could also be a reference to a Rick and Morty episode with a character named Mr. Meseeks.
|-
|''"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."''
|This would probably occur if you decided to follow Randall's advice and include this quote in your work, since this is a fairly infrequently used word in most contexts.
|-
|''"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude.''"''
|The quote imitates the stereotype of hippies, typically ones on drugs, announcing what they believe to be deep insights into reality. If it were true, it would mean that whoever wrote the quoting work would be stealing the entire thing from somewhere, with the exception of these two weird sentences pointing it out.
|-
|''"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."''
|The author of this quote is apparently making a desperate attempt to get a quote published by challenging the editors of ''{{w|Bartlett's Familiar Quotations}}'', or perhaps is resentful, having attempted to get them to publish his quote(s) and been rejected.
|-
|''"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."''
|Supposedly inspirational quotes are often set in a fancy font above a picture of a sunset, mountain range, beach, etc. to make them look more profound. However, these are often ridiculed as being trite or vacuous. This quote takes the unusual step of acknowledging that, without such formatting, it looks boring and average.
|-
|''"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... you know what, never mind."''
|People often begin speeches with a memorable quote in order to engage the audience. Using this quote would give the impression that the person speaking lacked confidence in their speech and, particularly, the quote they had chosen to introduce it, being interesting enough to get people's attention.
|-
|''"Sent from my iPhone"''
|This is the default email signature on an {{w|iPhone}}. Quoting this might lead the reader to think that you typed the preceding work on your phone, or that Randall sent the quote from his phone, and you lazily copied and pasted the wrong part of the message.
|-
|''"Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
|Appears in the title text. Randall Munroe is saying that because there's no ending quotation mark, the rest of the book this quote is in is part of Randall's quote, including, weirdly, the piece of text, after what should be the quote, specifying that Randall has also said his name.

This is consistent with the formatting required to perform SQL injection referenced in [[327]]: Exploits of a Mom.
|}

==Transcript==

:Looking for a quote for something?
:Here are some for general use.

:They can be attributed to xkcd or Randall Munroe as needed.

:"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."
:"This quote was taken out of context."
:"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."
:"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."
:"This quote is very memorable."
:"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."
:"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. -ED.]
:"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."
:"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."
:"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"
:"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."
:"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude."
:"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."
:"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."
:"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... You know what, never mind!"
:"Sent from my iPhone."

{{comic discussion}}

1942: Memorable Quotes

2021-03-04T05:30:22Z

172.68.132.41: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1942
| date = January 15, 2018
| title = Memorable Quotes
| image = memorable_quotes.png
| titletext = "Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
}}

==Explanation==

This comic "helpfully" provides random quotes to be used by anyone as {{w|blurb}}s, online reviews, motivational quotes or similar short bits of text. Either the {{w|webcomic}} [[xkcd]] or its creator [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] may be quoted when using any of the provided lines, as stated at the top of the comic.

In particular, their "usefulness" lies in the fact that almost any of them are equally applicable to almost any situation. This is achieved by making each quote not really about anything in particular, aside from the fact that they are quotes. This is in contrast to typical quotes, which are never quite this aware that they will be quoted, but this is to be expected when the lines here were made solely for being quoted.

These self-aware quotes are, on a meta level, jokes about quotations generally. Most of Randall's quotes either sabotage the quoting work, reference some aspect of quotes as used in practice, or both---and it can be both when the aspects referenced are about twisting people's words to look like they agree with you.

The title-text does not have an ending quote mark, so "- Randall Munroe" is part of the quote, and possibly everything in xkcd after that until the next ending quote. Note that the next quote mark in xkcd is in [[1947: Night Sky]].

==Table==
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! Quote !! Explanation
|-
|''"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."''
|Quotes are often used in, or on, publications and documents to add weight to them by making it seem like the person being quoted endorses their content or message. This quote would actively undermine the reputation of the work, unless said work advertises itself as a farce.
|-
|''"This quote was taken out of context."''
|Quotes are commonly taken out of context to make it look as though they support a (sometimes fallacious) point, or to falsely imply an endorsement of the work they are attached to. However, since this quote serves no purpose beyond pointing out that it is out of context, there would be no point in trying to use it in this way. In any case, since all these quotes are provided without any real context, it's not clear what taking it out of context would mean.
|-
|''"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."''
|Many quotes are misattributed to famous people who are well known for originating a lot of quotes (such as [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Misattributed Mark Twain], [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#Misattributed Dr. Seuss], or [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Misattributed Albert Einstein]). If this quote was attributed to Mark Twain, however, it would be immediately clear that either it wasn't said by him, or he was lying at the time.
|-
|''"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."''
|This is likely the case for many famous, widely admired people who are often quoted for all sorts of arguments, even diametrically opposed ones.
|-
|''"This quote is very memorable."''
|This is likely not the case; this quote itself is very forgettable, being very short, and containing no insight on anything meaningful. However, the irony is that this simple quote stating it’s memorableness may be enough to get it stuck in your head, making it a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. This quote could actually be useful if you were preparing a presentation on how to give presentations, and wanted to illustrate the misuse of quotes.
|-
|''"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."''
|The quote is attempting to sabotage the authorship of the book that uses it. Paradoxically, though, by implying that Randall wrote the book, it also implies that he is the one using the quote, and therefore claiming credit that is not due to him.
|-
|''"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [Quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. —Ed.]''
|Editors sometimes use square brackets within or after a quote in order to make a comment on the quote, such as to note that mistakes or typographical oddities were in the author's original, to correct factual errors, or to provide additional context. Randall is deliberately confusing the issue by including what appears to be an editor's note within the quote itself.

Further confusion would be caused if the quoting author, or their editor, wanted to include a note of their own, such as one noting that this odd construction was in the original quote, because it would be hard to tell what the scope of the claims were, and who wrote each editor’s note. Such problems of clarity can be solved using different formatting or typographical techniques such as footnotes. Programming languages avoid this type of ambiguity by using {{w|escape characters}}.
|-
|''"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."''
|Websites that collect quotes are infamous for not checking sources. This has been parodied in many ways. The implication would be that if you found this quote on such a website, there would be a good chance that it was inaccurate or misattributed.
|-
|''"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."''
|When used effectively in a presentation a quote should succinctly summarize the ideas being presented in a memorable, pithy phrase that helps to bring to mind the rest of the message. However, it is a common experience, especially if the presentation was weak, or the quote was not particularly appropriate, for them to be the only part you remember.
|-
|''"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"''
|It is sometimes recommended to add quotes to a work or, particularly a presentation, to add weight, wit, or authority. However, it is common for quotes to appear to have been included because the author thought there ought to be one, rather than serving any particular purpose, especially if the quote chosen is of questionable relevance. This quote would make it very clear that this was the case. This could also be a reference to a Rick and Morty episode with a character named Mr. Meseeks.
|-
|''"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."''
|This would probably occur if you decided to follow Randall's advice and include this quote in your work, since this is a fairly infrequently used word in most contexts.
|-
|''"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude.''"''
|The quote imitates the stereotype of hippies, typically ones on drugs, announcing what they believe to be deep insights into reality. If it were true, it would mean that whoever wrote the quoting work would be stealing the entire thing from somewhere, with the exception of these two weird sentences pointing it out.
|-
|''"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."''
|The author of this quote is apparently making a desperate attempt to get a quote published by challenging the editors of ''{{w|Bartlett's Familiar Quotations}}'', or perhaps is resentful, having attempted to get them to publish his quote(s) and been rejected.
|-
|''"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."''
|Supposedly inspirational quotes are often set in a fancy font above a picture of a sunset, mountain range, beach, etc. to make them look more profound. However, these are often ridiculed as being trite or vacuous. This quote takes the unusual step of acknowledging that, without such formatting, it looks boring and average.
|-
|''"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... you know what, never mind."''
|People often begin speeches with a memorable quote in order to engage the audience. Using this quote would give the impression that the person speaking lacked confidence in their speech and, particularly, the quote they had chosen to introduce it, being interesting enough to get people's attention.
|-
|''"Sent from my iPhone"''
|This is the default email signature on an {{w|iPhone}}. Quoting this might lead the reader to think that you typed the preceding work on your phone, or that Randall sent the quote from his phone, and you lazily copied and pasted the wrong part of the message.
|-
|''"Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
|Appears in the title text. Randall Munroe is saying that because there's no ending quotation mark, the rest of the book this quote is in is part of Randall's quote, including, weirdly, the piece of text, after what should be the quote, specifying that Randall has also said his name.

This is consistent with the formatting required to perform SQL injection referenced in 327: Exploits of a Mom.
|}

==Transcript==

:Looking for a quote for something?
:Here are some for general use.

:They can be attributed to xkcd or Randall Munroe as needed.

:"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."
:"This quote was taken out of context."
:"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."
:"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."
:"This quote is very memorable."
:"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."
:"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. -ED.]
:"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."
:"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."
:"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"
:"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."
:"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude."
:"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."
:"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."
:"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... You know what, never mind!"
:"Sent from my iPhone."

{{comic discussion}}

2038: Hazard Symbol

2021-03-02T02:56:11Z

172.68.132.41: /* Transcript */ science

<noinclude>:''"2038", this comic's number, redirects here. For the comic named "2038", see [[607: 2038]].''</noinclude>

{{comic
| number = 2038
| date = August 27, 2018
| title = Hazard Symbol
| image = hazard_symbol.png
| titletext = The warning diamond on the Materials Safety Data Sheet for this stuff just has the "😰" emoji in all four fields.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Hazard symbol}}s are often required to indicate certain threats to human health. These symbols are typically black symbols on yellow backgrounds, a contrast typically associated with danger even in nature, a phenomenon known as {{w|Aposematism|aposematism}}. However, these symbols also need to be easy to interpret. Therefore, they have simple, recognizable shapes that are internationally uniform and intended to be well-understood.

This comic inverts this latter expectation, by combining multiple hazard symbols into one, creating something that is unique, and very hard to understand. In practice, if such an object were to be labelled, the five hazard symbols would be separated, each in their own triangle.

The hazard symbols are {{w|biohazard symbol|biohazard}} ☣, {{w|radiation symbol|radiation}} ☢, slip and fall hazard symbol, laser hazard, and {{w|High_voltage#Safety|high voltage symbol}} ⚡︎.

Another ridiculous aspect of this comic is how these hazards interact with each other, and their attendant risks. Radioactive waste is usually a show-stopper on its own, but bio hazards, lasers, and high-voltage situations usually scare people more than slippery floors. This is probably a joke on how some hazard symbols are worse than others. Some of these would also cancel each other out: both high voltage and lasers have a tendency to harm microorganisms that might be bio-hazards. Most radioactive substances are solid, thus they are hard to slip on. While they do form compounds which could potentially be liquid and therefore slippery, many of these would kill the pathogens. For example, {{w|Uranium hexafluoride}} is a powerful oxidizer that would destroy most germs.

Biohazard and radioactivity could be combined as radioactive isotopes of Hydrogen, Carbon and Oxygen can be substituted for their stable counterparts, and high voltage electricity can be applied to anything. However laser hazard and slipping hazard seem to be mutually exclusive as the former applies to devices and the latter to substances. One possibly "solution" could be a room sized gas discharge tube filled with a radioactive biohazard that partly condenses and makes the floor slippery.

The title text refers to another unsafe subversion of expectations, in this case, against the [[wikipedia:NFPA 704|NFPA 704]] "fire diamond". These are the colourful diamond-shaped symbols often found on the back of tankers, but they are also necessary inclusions on materials safety datasheets. These symbols give numeric indication of the hazardous nature of the material, in three different respects (flammability, health, and reactivity), in addition to providing space for an extra warning on the bottom, typically in the form of one or more letters. Using an emoji instead of numbers and letters would defeat the purpose of the fire diamond, as it would only give a qualitative indication of the danger ("very dangerous"), and additionally, could be very easily mistaken for a 0 (meaning safe).

Note, Material Safety Data Sheets have been deprecated in favor of SDS (Safety Data Sheets) in order to come into compliance with the [https://www.msdsonline.com/resources/regulatory-information/ghs/ GHS (Globally Harmonized System)].

😰 is described by {{w|Emojipedia}} as "[https://emojipedia.org/face-with-open-mouth-and-cold-sweat/ Anxious Face With Sweat]". As an additional joke, using this symbol in the fire diamond could be an expression of how awful this mysterious substance is.

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows symbols, drawn in black on top of a yellow background.]
:[One large symbol embeds four others and it's composed of the outline of three overlapping and outwards narrowing rings arranged by 120 degrees.]
:[The symbol at the center shows at the same orientation three blades with a small stepped circle in the middle.]
:[Inside the ring on top is a symbol of a backwards falling human with a small line depicting the ground.]
:[The ring on the right below the center contains a circle with radiant alternating smaller and longer lines around. One more longer line points toward the center of the image.]
:[Embedded into the left lower ring is a bolt with an arrow pointing left downwards.]

:[Caption below:]
:It's important to know the international warning symbol for radioactive high-voltage laser-emitting biohazards that coat the floor and make it slippery.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Emoji]]
[[Category:Science]]

1845: State Word Map

2017-06-05T11:31:11Z

172.68.132.41: Added real state names. w

{{comic
| number = 1845
| date = June 2, 2017
| title = State Word Map
| image = state_word_map.png
| titletext = The top search for every state is PORN, except Florida, where it's SEX PORN.
}}

==Explanation==

This is another of the many comics where [[Randall]] used a map of the United States for his joke (see below for examples).

Similar in spirit to [[1138: Heatmap]], this comic pokes fun at many maps that attempt to use data to discern unique characteristics about various sub-regions, in this case {{w|U.S. state|American states}}. This map may have been inspired by [https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/869624196921303040 this map] posted on Twitter by Google Trends the day before the comic was posted. Many web companies use maps like this in viral marketing, but the methodology behind them is pretty weak. The random noise in the data will mean that there will be variations between states even if there is no underlying pattern - and this can be further boosted by statistical tricks. A common one is to show the "most characteristic" or "most distinctive" term for each state. For instance, [http://www.businessinsider.com/most-common-causes-of-death-in-each-state-2014-6?IR=T the most common cause of death is heart disease or cancer] in every US state, but this makes for a boring map. Looking at the [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/14_0395.htm most distinctive cause of death] produces a more interesting map, but it highlights very minor trends - Lousiana is marked as having syphilis as its most distinctive cause of death, even though [https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/stateprofiles/pdf/louisiana_profile.pdf only 15 Louisianans in every 100,000 have the disease] and there were only 22 syphilis deaths in the state over a whole decade. These maps can give a misleading impression of huge variation between states that doesn't really exist.

This map does not say anything real, but says:
:You can make these maps say whatever you want by adjusting the methodology. Half of the time you're just amplifying random noise because the underlying data doesn't change that much from one state to another. But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.

The primary joke is that the likelihood of these being the words used most often by the inhabitants of each state is low, rather than accurately representing the most used words Randall has just done exactly what he says he can do (make fun of Florida by putting whatever he wants). He also has not obtained the data from anywhere, just 'Something Something'.

The joke about Florida is that the most used word in Florida is "Florida", which would make people in Florida very self-centered.

The comic continues to make fun of Florida in the title text by saying that Florida searches for ''sex porn'' instead of ''porn'', which is not needed since porn means images and film of people having sex. This is also probably a reference to PornHub's [https://www.pornhub.com/insights/united-states-top-searches data-farming] exercises, where they have periodically released the most frequently searched term by state.

{{w|Florida}} is often the butt of many jokes, including the {{w|Florida Man}} meme and many mocking jibes regarding its {{w|2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida|messy electoral history}}. {{tvtropes|OnlyInFlorida|"Only in Florida" phenomenon}}

Randall previously used a map of the United States as the basis for his comics in [[1767: US State Names]], [[1653: United States Map]], [[1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet]] and in [[1079: United Shapes]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the map, with sub caption:]
:<big>Most-Used Word in Each State</big>
:Based on Something Something Search Data

:[Beneath the captions are a colorful map of the United States of America. Each state has one color, but the colors do not change from state to state, but rather between rows of states. The top "row" is purple, the second row is gray-blue, but only goes half across. Where it stops a pink row of states begins. Beneath this runs a yellow row, except it does not take California with it, since it belongs to the next purple line beneath this yellow line. Finally the two states not in the contiguous states as well as the southern states from Texas to Florida are again pink. Inside each state is written one, and only one word (or for small states the word is outside and if needed a line indicates which state it belongs to). The words size depends on the size of the state and the word. If it can fit inside the state it will be written in a font large enough to fill the entire state if possible (in one case a hyphen is used). So a short word, like "lets" in huge Texas becomes huge, but a word like "noise" which has been fitted inside small Massachusets becomes small.]

<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center; cursor: help;">
<caption>Locational, dimensional and colour representation of a map that reads:
<ol style='display: inline; font-style: italic; padding: 0; margin: 0;'>
<li style='display: inline; color: #639;'>You can make these maps say whatever you want
<li style='display: inline; color: #369;'>by adjusting the methodology.
<li style='display: inline; color: #C06;'>Half the time you're just amplifying random noise
<li style='display: inline; color: #C96;'>because the underlying data doesn't vary that much from one state to another.
<li style='display: inline; color: #639;'>But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick
<li style='display: inline; color: #C06;'>whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.
</ol>
</caption>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 16pt;' title='Washington'>You</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="4" style='color: #369; font-size: 12pt;' title='Iowa'>adjusting</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 18pt;' title='Montana'>can</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;' title='North Dakota'>make</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Minnesota'>these</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="3" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Wisconsin'>maps</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Michigan'>say</td>
<td colspan="5" rowspan="3" style='color: #C06; font-size: 8pt;' title='New York'>random</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Vermont'>whatever</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt; border-right-style: dashed;' title='New Hampshire'>you</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 10pt; border-left-style: dashed;' title='Maine'>want</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 10pt;' title='South Dakota'>methodology.</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 8pt;' title='Massachusetts'>noise</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 16pt;' title='Oregon'>by</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 16pt;' title='Wyoming'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;' title='Iowa'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='Connecticut'>to</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='Rhode Island'>another.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;' title='Nebraska'>Half</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;' title='Illinois'>time</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;' title='Indiana'>you're</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;' title='Ohio'>just</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;' title='Pennsylvania'>amplifying</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='New Jersey'>state</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="4" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='California'>But</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='Nevada'>because</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 14pt;' title='Utah'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='Colorado'>underlying</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="4" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='Missouri'>doesn't</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 10pt;' title='West Virginia'>that</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 8pt;' title='Maryland'>from</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 8pt;' title='Delaware'>one</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C96; font-size: 16pt;' title='Kansas'>data</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='Kentucky'>vary</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;' title='Virginia'>much</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;' title='Tennessee'>stuff.</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;' title='North Carolina'>Just</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 10pt;' title='Arizona'>whatever.</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='New Mexico'>Nobody</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;' title='Oklahoma'>checks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="5" rowspan="2">
<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center; float: left; margin: .5em;"><tr><td title='Hawaii' style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;'>whatever</td></tr></table>
<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center; float: left; margin: .5em;"><tr><td title='Alaska' style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>normalization</td></tr></table>
</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Arkansas'>this</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;' title='Mississippi'>make</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;' title='Alabama'>fun</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;' title='Georgia'>of</td>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='South Carolina'>pick</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 18pt;' title='Texas'>lets</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;' title='Louisiana'>you</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="11" rowspan="1"></td>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;' title='Florida'>Florida.</td>
</tr>
</table>

==Trivia==
*The comic lacks the border line dividing {{w|New Hampshire}} and {{w|Maine}} while both states have distinct words attributed to them ("you" for NH and "want" for ME).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1845: State Word Map

2017-06-05T11:16:02Z

172.68.132.41: Hell, you can't even claim that your 'standard' prohibits HTML markup such, because it prominently uses it, using the (of all things) presentational <big/> tag.

{{comic
| number = 1845
| date = June 2, 2017
| title = State Word Map
| image = state_word_map.png
| titletext = The top search for every state is PORN, except Florida, where it's SEX PORN.
}}

==Explanation==

This is another of the many comics where [[Randall]] used a map of the United States for his joke (see below for examples).

Similar in spirit to [[1138: Heatmap]], this comic pokes fun at many maps that attempt to use data to discern unique characteristics about various sub-regions, in this case {{w|U.S. state|American states}}. This map may have been inspired by [https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/869624196921303040 this map] posted on Twitter by Google Trends the day before the comic was posted. Many web companies use maps like this in viral marketing, but the methodology behind them is pretty weak. The random noise in the data will mean that there will be variations between states even if there is no underlying pattern - and this can be further boosted by statistical tricks. A common one is to show the "most characteristic" or "most distinctive" term for each state. For instance, [http://www.businessinsider.com/most-common-causes-of-death-in-each-state-2014-6?IR=T the most common cause of death is heart disease or cancer] in every US state, but this makes for a boring map. Looking at the [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/14_0395.htm most distinctive cause of death] produces a more interesting map, but it highlights very minor trends - Lousiana is marked as having syphilis as its most distinctive cause of death, even though [https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/stateprofiles/pdf/louisiana_profile.pdf only 15 Louisianans in every 100,000 have the disease] and there were only 22 syphilis deaths in the state over a whole decade. These maps can give a misleading impression of huge variation between states that doesn't really exist.

This map does not say anything real, but says:
:You can make these maps say whatever you want by adjusting the methodology. Half of the time you're just amplifying random noise because the underlying data doesn't change that much from one state to another. But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.

The primary joke is that the likelihood of these being the words used most often by the inhabitants of each state is low, rather than accurately representing the most used words Randall has just done exactly what he says he can do (make fun of Florida by putting whatever he wants). He also has not obtained the data from anywhere, just 'Something Something'.

The joke about Florida is that the most used word in Florida is "Florida", which would make people in Florida very self-centered.

The comic continues to make fun of Florida in the title text by saying that Florida searches for ''sex porn'' instead of ''porn'', which is not needed since porn means images and film of people having sex. This is also probably a reference to PornHub's [https://www.pornhub.com/insights/united-states-top-searches data-farming] exercises, where they have periodically released the most frequently searched term by state.

{{w|Florida}} is often the butt of many jokes, including the {{w|Florida Man}} meme and many mocking jibes regarding its {{w|2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida|messy electoral history}}. {{tvtropes|OnlyInFlorida|"Only in Florida" phenomenon}}

Randall previously used a map of the United States as the basis for his comics in [[1767: US State Names]], [[1653: United States Map]], [[1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet]] and in [[1079: United Shapes]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the map, with sub caption:]
:<big>Most-Used Word in Each State</big>
:Based on Something Something Search Data

:[Beneath the captions are a colorful map of the United States of America. Each state has one color, but the colors do not change from state to state, but rather between rows of states. The top "row" is purple, the second row is gray-blue, but only goes half across. Where it stops a pink row of states begins. Beneath this runs a yellow row, except it does not take California with it, since it belongs to the next purple line beneath this yellow line. Finally the two states not in the contiguous states as well as the southern states from Texas to Florida are again pink. Inside each state is written one, and only one word (or for small states the word is outside and if needed a line indicates which state it belongs to). The words size depends on the size of the state and the word. If it can fit inside the state it will be written in a font large enough to fill the entire state if possible (in one case a hyphen is used). So a short word, like "lets" in huge Texas becomes huge, but a word like "noise" which has been fitted inside small Massachusets becomes small.]

<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center;">
<caption>Locational, dimensional and colour representation of a map that reads:
<ol style='display: inline; font-style: italic; padding: 0; margin: 0;'>
<li style='display: inline; color: #639;'>You can make these maps say whatever you want
<li style='display: inline; color: #369;'>by adjusting the methodology.
<li style='display: inline; color: #C06;'>Half the time you're just amplifying random noise
<li style='display: inline; color: #C96;'>because the underlying data doesn't vary that much from one state to another.
<li style='display: inline; color: #639;'>But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick
<li style='display: inline; color: #C06;'>whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.
</ol>
</caption>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 16pt;' title='Washington'>You</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="4" style='color: #369; font-size: 12pt;' title='Iowa'>adjusting</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 18pt;' title='Montana'>can</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;' title='North Dakota'>make</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Minnesota'>these</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="3" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Wisconsin'>maps</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Michigan'>say</td>
<td colspan="5" rowspan="3" style='color: #C06; font-size: 8pt;' title='New York'>random</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Vermont'>whatever</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt; border-right-style: dashed;' title='New Hampshire'>you</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 10pt; border-left-style: dashed;' title='Maine'>want</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 10pt;'>methodology.</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 8pt;'>noise</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 16pt;'>by</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 16pt;'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>to</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>another.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>Half</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>time</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>you're</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;'>just</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;'>amplifying</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>state</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="4" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>But</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>because</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 14pt;'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>underlying</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="4" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>doesn't</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 10pt;'>that</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 8pt;'>from</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 8pt;'>one</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C96; font-size: 16pt;'>data</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>vary</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>much</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;'>stuff.</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;'>Just</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 10pt;'>whatever.</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>Nobody</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;'>checks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="5" rowspan="2">
<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center; float: left; margin: .5em;"><tr><td style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;'>whatever</td></tr></table>
<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center; float: left; margin: .5em;"><tr><td style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>normalization</td></tr></table>
</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>this</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>make</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>fun</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>of</td>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>pick</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 18pt;'>lets</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>you</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="11" rowspan="1"></td>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>Florida.</td>
</tr>
</table>

==Trivia==
*The comic lacks the border line dividing {{w|New Hampshire}} and {{w|Maine}} while both states have distinct words attributed to them ("you" for NH and "want" for ME).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1845: State Word Map

2017-06-05T11:15:21Z

172.68.132.41: Look, I understand that you don't read edits before you revert them, but my version is a *superset* of your 'standard'. 'Let's give him food.' 'Okay. I'll give him some water, too.' 'N-nuh-uh, the standard says give him food, v-v-v-vandalism!!!'

{{comic
| number = 1845
| date = June 2, 2017
| title = State Word Map
| image = state_word_map.png
| titletext = The top search for every state is PORN, except Florida, where it's SEX PORN.
}}

==Explanation==

This is another of the many comics where [[Randall]] used a map of the United States for his joke (see below for examples).

Similar in spirit to [[1138: Heatmap]], this comic pokes fun at many maps that attempt to use data to discern unique characteristics about various sub-regions, in this case {{w|U.S. state|American states}}. This map may have been inspired by [https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/869624196921303040 this map] posted on Twitter by Google Trends the day before the comic was posted. Many web companies use maps like this in viral marketing, but the methodology behind them is pretty weak. The random noise in the data will mean that there will be variations between states even if there is no underlying pattern - and this can be further boosted by statistical tricks. A common one is to show the "most characteristic" or "most distinctive" term for each state. For instance, [http://www.businessinsider.com/most-common-causes-of-death-in-each-state-2014-6?IR=T the most common cause of death is heart disease or cancer] in every US state, but this makes for a boring map. Looking at the [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/14_0395.htm most distinctive cause of death] produces a more interesting map, but it highlights very minor trends - Lousiana is marked as having syphilis as its most distinctive cause of death, even though [https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/stateprofiles/pdf/louisiana_profile.pdf only 15 Louisianans in every 100,000 have the disease] and there were only 22 syphilis deaths in the state over a whole decade. These maps can give a misleading impression of huge variation between states that doesn't really exist.

This map does not say anything real, but says:
:You can make these maps say whatever you want by adjusting the methodology. Half of the time you're just amplifying random noise because the underlying data doesn't change that much from one state to another. But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.

The primary joke is that the likelihood of these being the words used most often by the inhabitants of each state is low, rather than accurately representing the most used words Randall has just done exactly what he says he can do (make fun of Florida by putting whatever he wants). He also has not obtained the data from anywhere, just 'Something Something'.

The joke about Florida is that the most used word in Florida is "Florida", which would make people in Florida very self-centered.

The comic continues to make fun of Florida in the title text by saying that Florida searches for ''sex porn'' instead of ''porn'', which is not needed since porn means images and film of people having sex. This is also probably a reference to PornHub's [https://www.pornhub.com/insights/united-states-top-searches data-farming] exercises, where they have periodically released the most frequently searched term by state.

{{w|Florida}} is often the butt of many jokes, including the {{w|Florida Man}} meme and many mocking jibes regarding its {{w|2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida|messy electoral history}}. {{tvtropes|OnlyInFlorida|"Only in Florida" phenomenon}}

Randall previously used a map of the United States as the basis for his comics in [[1767: US State Names]], [[1653: United States Map]], [[1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet]] and in [[1079: United Shapes]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the map, with sub caption:]
:<big>Most-Used Word in Each State</big>
:Based on Something Something Search Data

:[Beneath the captions are a colorful map of the United States of America. Each state has one color, but the colors do not change from state to state, but rather between rows of states. The top "row" is purple, the second row is gray-blue, but only goes half across. Where it stops a pink row of states begins. Beneath this runs a yellow row, except it does not take California with it, since it belongs to the next purple line beneath this yellow line. Finally the two states not in the contiguous states as well as the southern states from Texas to Florida are again pink. Inside each state is written one, and only one word (or for small states the word is outside and if needed a line indicates which state it belongs to). The words size depends on the size of the state and the word. If it can fit inside the state it will be written in a font large enough to fill the entire state if possible (in one case a hyphen is used). So a short word, like "lets" in huge Texas becomes huge, but a word like "noise" which has been fitted inside small Massachusets becomes small.]

<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center;">
<caption>Locational, dimensional and colour representation of a map that reads:
<ol style='display: inline; font-style: italic; padding: 0; margin: 0;'>
<li style='display: inline; color: #639;'>You can make these maps say whatever you want
<li style='display: inline; color: #369;'>by adjusting the methodology.
<li style='display: inline; color: #C06;'>Half the time you're just amplifying random noise
<li style='display: inline; color: #C96;'>because the underlying data doesn't vary that much from one state to another.
<li style='display: inline; color: #639;'>But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick
<li style='display: inline; color: #C06;'>whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.
</ol>
</caption>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 16pt;' title='Washington'>You</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="4" style='color: #369; font-size: 12pt;' title='Iowa'>adjusting</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 18pt;' title='Montana'>can</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;' title='North Dakota'>make</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Minnesota'>these</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="3" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Wisconsin'>maps</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Michigan'>say</td>
<td colspan="5" rowspan="3" style='color: #C06; font-size: 8pt;' title='New York'>random</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;' title='Vermont'>whatever</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt; border-right-style: dashed;' title='New Hampshire'>you</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 10pt; border-left-style: dashed;' title='Maine'>want</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 10pt;'>methodology.</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 8pt;'>noise</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 16pt;'>by</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #369; font-size: 16pt;'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>to</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>another.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>Half</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>time</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>you're</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;'>just</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;'>amplifying</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>state</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="4" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>But</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>because</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 14pt;'>the</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="3" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>underlying</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="4" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>doesn't</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 10pt;'>that</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 8pt;'>from</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 8pt;'>one</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C96; font-size: 16pt;'>data</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>vary</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #C96; font-size: 12pt;'>much</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;'>stuff.</td>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;'>Just</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 10pt;'>whatever.</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>Nobody</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 14pt;'>checks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="5" rowspan="2">
<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center; float: left; margin: .5em;"><tr><td style='color: #C06; font-size: 12pt;'>whatever</td></tr></table>
<table class='wikitable' style="text-align: center; float: left; margin: .5em;"><tr><td style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>normalization</td></tr></table>
</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>this</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>make</td>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>fun</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2" style='color: #C06; font-size: 14pt;'>of</td>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="2" style='color: #639; font-size: 12pt;'>pick</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 18pt;'>lets</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>you</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="11" rowspan="1"></td>
<td colspan="3" rowspan="1" style='color: #C06; font-size: 10pt;'>Florida.</td>
</tr>
</table>

==Trivia==
*The comic lacks the border line dividing {{w|New Hampshire}} and {{w|Maine}} while both states have distinct words attributed to them ("you" for NH and "want" for ME).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Charts]]