explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2428: Mars Landing Video

2021-02-22T20:01:35Z

172.68.189.161: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2428
| date = February 22, 2021
| title = Mars Landing Video
| image = mars_landing_video.png
| titletext = The best part of crashing a Mars briefing is you can get in a full 11 minutes of questions before they can start to respond.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE WORST SKYCRANE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic plays on the fact that if there is only one of something in a set, that one thing is the most/least in that set by lack of comparison. As there is only one full speed video of a Mars landing, that makes the video the worst one. [[Randall]], who has been [[:Category:Banned from conferences|banned from NASA's conferences]], has decided to crash the conference (literally, see below) solely to ask this question, flaunting his ban and embarrassing NASA. He follows up with the question if NASA is planning to make a worse Mars landing video, which is silly because people generally don't intend to make something worse.

Judging by the sound effects, Randall has chosen to literally crash his way through the conference room roof, using a "skycrane" — a general term for aerial vehicles that lower objects similar to a standard crane.

This comic was published shortly before a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYQwuYZbA6o NASA press conference] that showed, as mentioned in the comic, the first ever full-speed video of a Mars landing. On Earth one would likely use the {{w|Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane}} helicopter, while NASA used a custom-built skycrane delivery system for the ''Perseverance'' rover. Randall deems using a skycrane to crash a conference about a skycrane very ironic.

The title text refers to the 11-minute communications delay between Mars and Earth at the time of the rover's landing.

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

[Hairbun, standing on a circular stage in front of a podium]

We're excited to share the first ever full-speed video of a mars landing.

[Off-screen character, crashing through the roof on a skycrane]

Doesn't that mean it's also the ''worst'' ever full-speed video of a mars landing?

Do you expect that record to stand forever, or is NASA working on a worse one?

[Bottom text]

NASA tried to ban me from their press briefings, but ironically their security was totally unprepared to deal with a skycrane.

[[Category:Banned from conferences]]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Mars rovers]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

Talk:2370: Prediction

2020-10-11T19:32:13Z

172.68.189.161:

Is that a JoJo's reference?!1!! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.213|172.68.142.213]] 23:18, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
: Dunno who or what JoJo is (unless Jojo Siwa? But how would that be relevant?), but this is at least 70% likely to be a reference to the current election season in the USA and 538's (and others') predictions of Donald Trump's chance of winning the election in 2016 and 2020. In 2016, if I recall correctly, Trump had about a 30% chance to win (and thus Clinton had a 70% chance to win), and when 538's model launched earlier this year, the chances were basically the same (28-71 (with a 1% of an electoral college split because the USA's election system is phenomenally stupid)). Since then, Trump's chances of winning legitimately (538 does not attempt to model the chances and effects of election interference or votes not being counted) have slipped to about a 15% chance of winning which sounds bad, but will still happen in approximately 1 of every 7 tries, or about the number of Mondays in a week. Not great, but not impossible, either....)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.194|162.158.75.194]] 23:36, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
::Yare yare, not knowing about Jojo's Bizzare Adventure. I can see where OP is coming from but I don't think Randall watches anime...
::Now, let's talk about another misconception: lot of people intuitively think that an if event has chance of 1/7, it will almost surely happen at least once in seven tries. In reality, that chance is just 66%. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:17, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
:::The 1/7 thing surprised me, which is good for me. Of course I checked the math. (6/7) ^ 7 = 34%, about. So it is not 50-50, it is 66-34.
:::It may not be critical or may be obvious but in the comic, it seems to be understood that Event A or Event B may happen but not both, which "of course" affects how probability works. The difference between flipping one coin or two coins.
:::If it is about the election, then if most people decide early to vote or not, and for whom, then the election isn't really random. However, the poll is random; they pick a few people out and ask their intention. The picking is unreliable even in a large sample (another probability surprise) and so is whether the people picked answer truthfully about their voting intention. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.155|141.101.98.155]] 11:42, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
::Yup, this is another politics comic. It's very similar to [[1131: Math]], and also reflects similar frustrations as the more recent [[2357]], although from a different angle (2357 was about lack of respect for polls, while this one's about poor grasp of odds and probability in the context of election models). [[User:Pelosujamo|Pelosujamo]] ([[User talk:Pelosujamo|talk]]) 04:09, 10 October 2020 (UTC)

I don't know of Randall's got a series of White Hat comics sitting ready (the last one being [[2368]]) but he didn't want it to look like a 'series' so padded with something else. If we've got another such dialogue before the end of next week, it may be a sign he's recently had a particularly bad conversation/message-session with someone and just wanted to vent a bit. And I wouldn't blame him, if that's so. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.82|141.101.107.82]] 00:24, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
:(PS, pre-post edit, but not for the want of trying: CAPTCHA wanted me to identify tractors. Two obvious tractors, no tractors on ''any'' of the other tiles (definitely) but one of them had a road-roller. Refused to accept the two tractors only, and I'm refusing to support the presumably incorrect Id of the roller, so come back to edit this in, do my own venting, and perhaps I'll get a better CAPTCHA when I retry in a moment... (Thanks to an Edit Conflict after I was finished fighting the Captcha I'm able to come back to tell you that the next one was Stairs, and I aced that one! But gotta suffer at least one more, yet...)) Also [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.82|141.101.107.82]] 00:24, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
::According to the latest episode of QI XL (oh, hang on, [[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ngdd have a linky]]) they suggest that being asked to do an actual Captcha for "I'm not a robot" means that you weren't exhibiting human-enough browsing activity ''before'' clicking that box. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.154|141.101.98.154]] 20:41, 10 October 2020 (UTC)

Probabilities are hard to understand intuitively when you're actually talking about a one-time event. If you roll a d6 a whole bunch of times, you'll get each face about 1 out of 6 times. But it's not like we can hold the election 100 times, and then we can see if Biden wins around 52 of them to prove Nate Silver right or wrong. Also, elections aren't random processes like rolling dice -- there are human beings making conscious decisions how to vote, and we like to believe that we understand human motivations and can predict what people will do, at least in aggregate (fields like economics and marketing depend on this). Unfortunately, it's tough to make predictions, especially about the future (thank you, Yogi Berra). [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 05:44, 10 October 2020 (UTC)

Vote folks. [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 07:14, 10 October 2020 (UTC)

How do we know that Cueball doesn’t have a number of pre-recorded messages and he just chooses the one that suits the situation? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.54|162.158.155.54]] 09:26, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
:We don't! 02:42, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
::So that's impossible then? :p [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.103|162.158.158.103]] 09:20, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

For the first time since I've been reading this site, the explanation has left me more baffled than the comic. Five hours previous to me making this comment, somebody edited the explanation to add a highly technical reference that I assume may be British English, because it sure ain't American. What does "passing a flat check with a DC of" refer to? What is the formula for a flat check? And is it any different than what we in America would call a rubber check, and is passing one (essentially committing a form of counterfeiting) illegal where you are from?[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:53, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
:It's a role-playing or board game reference. I googled it, and found this: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=333 [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:24, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

Roll Charisma. DC 15.
Ok. *rolls* NAT 20! --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.202|108.162.216.202]] 18:19, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

The first sentence of the last paragraph is in the past tense, and will be correct when the U.S. elections are over. The next sentence is in the present tense. I'm not sure which is better, but we should be consistent. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 18:31, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

I feel compelled to point out that if the conversation had not gone as he ‘predicted’ he never would have mentioned his ‘prediction’ at all. Responses to this comment will be exactly what I predict, you’ll see when I tell you what I predicted. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.161|172.68.189.161]] 19:32, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

2366: Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies

2020-10-03T08:14:12Z

172.68.189.161: Added a reference to Cookie Clicker.

{{comic
| number = 2366
| date = September 30, 2020
| title = Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies
| image = amelias_farm_fresh_cookies.png
| titletext = I told her I'd take her address off the packaging if she'd stop submitting anonymous food safety complaints about my bakery to the health department, but she sent me a note that said NO DEAL along with an extra large batch of cookies.
}}

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

The comic portrays the back side of a box of cookies (evidenced by the {{w|nutrition facts}}-style table on the left side). Many brands have a romanticized {{w|origin story}} on their packaging explaining the name or how they have a secret ingredient. Instead, this brand's origin story is tale of petty one-upmanship as the brand's founder sets out to prove that her cookies are better than her grandmother's.

Grandma's cookies were apparently very fragile and crumbly. They also had "gooey exteriors and slightly crisp interiors." Normally items bake from the exterior in, so how the interior had gotten crisp and the exterior hadn't is not explained (maybe Grandma "bakes" them in a microwave oven?). Grandma's cookies also had a "mysterious gritty texture", perhaps from sand getting into the flour from the stone grinders, that was unpleasant to Amelia. It is also a possible reference to the Cookie Clicker incremental game with its "Grandmas" and Grandmapocalypse.

To complete her revenge, the "story" contains the grandmother's address. Creating false addresses for their mascots is often used as a publicity stunt for children to write testimonials to the brand's PR or marketing department. However, here it appears to be Amelia's actual Grandma's actual address, the goal being for her to receive thousands of letters on a regular basis about how her granddaughter's cookies are so great, while jabbing "unlike yours!"

In retaliation, Amelia's grandmother has started submitting (presumably bogus) food safety complaints about Amelia's bakery to the health department in a ploy to overburden the bakery with unnecessarily frequent inspections. At one point Amelia eventually decided to offer a truce, which her grandmother emphatically rejected, underscoring it by sending Amelia an extra-large batch of the cookies she knows Amelia hates.

The high-resolution version of the comic may be found [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/amelias_farm_fresh_cookies_2x.png here].

While the name of the city past the first letter and at least one of the zip code digits is too illegible to read, by process of elimination it is plausible that the city is Orlando and the zip code is 32891 (or less likely, 32861). No other location in Florida consists of one word starting with O and a zip code legibly close to the one in the comic.

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

:[What looks like the back of a package of cookies is shown.]

:[Top left: Product logo.]
:'''Amelia's''' Farm-Fresh ''Cookies''
:[Parts of an oval surround the logo]

:[Middle left: What appears to be a standard Nutrition Facts panel, though the details are illegible squiggles]

:[Bottom left: What appears to be an ingredients list, though the details are illegible squiggles, and a few other squiggles]

:[Right side:]
:''Our Story''
:Growing up on my grandma's farm, I spent so many cozy mornings in the kitchen, watching her take trays of fresh-baked cookies from the oven.
:Her cookies were just ''awful''.
:She used the finest ingredients. Eggs straight from the coop, stone-ground flour, hand-churned butter. But she squandered them. It's so sad. She told me I was too picky, but I know what cookies are supposed to taste like.
:When I started a bakery, I vowed not to repeat her mistakes. These cookies won't fall apart in your hands. They have gooey centers, and slightly crisp exteriors, not the other way around, ''Grandma''. There's no mysterious gritty texture. Why would there be?
:If you enjoy these cookies, please write to my grandma to let her know.
:Thanks!
:''Amelia''

:[A partially legible squiggled address appears at the bottom left of the Our Story part of the box.]
:Ms W[illegible] M[illegible]
:1[illegible] A[illegible] Ln
:O[illegible], FL 328#1

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Food]]

2367: Masks

2020-10-02T20:44:53Z

172.68.189.161: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2367
| date = October 2, 2020
| title = Masks
| image = masks.png
| titletext = Haunted Halloween masks from a mysterious costume shop that turn you evil and grow into your skin score a surprisingly high 80% filtration efficiency in R. L. Stine-sponsored NIOSH tests.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BATMAN WEARING A N95 MASK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a line from top to bottom explaining how good different types of masks are at preventing respiratory virus transmission. As with many comics in 2020, it was made with Coronavirus strain 2019 (COVID-19) in mind, a virus that primarily transmits through air droplets expelled from the human nose and mouth.

*'''Lone Ranger''' and '''Zorro''': A strip of cloth around the eye-level. Does not cover the mouth and nose, the main ways the virus enters the body.
*'''{{w|Batman}}''': Batman's iconic headgear has gone through many revisions, and consists either of a simple cloth cowl or a helmet and visor. Does not cover the mouth, but may cover the nose.
*'''Theater masks''': A pair of {{w|Sock and buskin}} masks, traditionally used as a symbol of performance theater since ancient Greece. The eye and mouth holes are often open, thus exposing the wearer.
*'''Skincare''': A layer of mud or moisturizer. By nature, it does not cover the mouth or nostrils, but it may keep the wearer from touching their face and is usually worn by someone sitting in a chair or lying back on a bed, not out getting in other people's personal space.
*'''Scarecrow''': A burlap sack. While it provides some cover to the mouth and nose, it is heavily porous.
*'''Guy Fawkes''': A plastic mask. Most Guy Fawkes masks provide small holes in the front for comfort, thus facilitating spread of the virus.
*'''Cloth''': A cloth mask that blocks most large particles, like virus-laden saliva. To be most effective, it must cover nose as well as the mouth. These are much cheaper than N95 masks, and can be reused by washing. Not all cloth masks are created equal, some designs and materials are more effective than others at holding back contagious particles, but Randall lists them under "Effective" on the whole.
*'''{{w|Spiderman}}''': A full face covering of spandex-like material. Would block most virus particles.
*'''{{w|N95 mask}}''': A surgical mask. The name "N95" signals that it is not resistant to oil, but successfully filters 95% of airborne particles. It has proven to be one of the more successful masks during the 2020 pandemic.
*'''{{w|Scuba_Diving|SCUBA}}''': A '''S'''elf-'''C'''ontained '''U'''nderwater '''B'''reathing '''A'''pparatus. Most SCUBA equipment used an open-circuit design allowing exhaled air to vent to the atmosphere. Underwater, this would not be a threat to other divers who would also be breathing air from their tanks. However, on land this a typical SCUBA regulator would expose others to virus particles. Closed-circuit SCUBA apparatus recirculate the user’s gas supply but they still contain a means of venting extra gas into the atmosphere. Neither system contains expiratory HEPA filters making both ineffective at preventing virus transmission. That all said, SCUBA equipment still covers the face and nose, rather than directly exposing others to unshielded breathing and coughing.
*'''Vader''': A suit of armor with a built-in rebreather. Similar to SCUBA gear, circulates air back to the user, preventing spread of the virus to anyone else.
*'''Mysterio''': A glass helmet. In the comics Mysterio often uses mind-altering chemicals, and his suit is designed to shield himself from his own weapons. By the same design, it would shield himself and others from the spread of viral infection.
*'''Haunted Halloween Masks''': A reference to {{w|The Haunted Mask}} by {{w|R. L. Stine}}. The mask transforms the wearer into a monster, with an open (uncovered) nose and mouth, but apparently R. L. Stine had them tested and found that the wearer is still somehow substantially protected against infection (in spite of the other negative side effects of being cursed).

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

[Title at top]
:'''Masks'''
:By effectiveness at preventing respiratory virus transmission

[Vertical Line going top to bottom. At the top: Not effective. In the middle: Effective. On the bottom. Extremely Effective. From top to bottom:]

:[Approx. 2%]Zorro/Lone Ranger
:[Approx. 3%]Batman
:[Approx. 7%]Theater
:[Approx. 10%]Skincare
:[Approx. 15%]Scarecrow
:[Approx. 18%]Guy Fawkes
:[Approx. 48%]Cloth
:[Approx. 52&]Spiderman
:[Approx. 68%]N95
:[Approx. 71%]Scuba
:[Approx. 80%]Vader
:[Approx. 90%]Mysterio



{{comic discussion}}

1196: Subways

2020-06-28T00:43:33Z

172.68.189.161: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1196
| date = April 8, 2013
| title = Subways
| image = subways.png
| titletext = About one in three North American subway stops are in NYC.
}}
*The xkcd page links to [http://xkcd.com/1196/large/ a much larger version], which has another text added:
<blockquote style="font-style:italic">
For the pedantic rail enthusiasts, the definition of a subway used here is, with some caveats, "a network containing high capacity grade-separated passenger rail transit lines which run frequently, serve an urban core, and are underground or elevated for at least part of their downtown route." For the rest of you, the definition is "a bunch of trains under a city."
</blockquote>
{{TOC}}

==Explanation==
[[File:North American subways.svg.png|right|border|link=http://www.radicalcartography.net/subways.html|North America Subways by Prof. Bill Rankin]]
The comic shows the maps of all North American {{w|subway}} networks. In reality, none of these systems are interconnected, but in the diagram subways from different cities that have the same color on the official subway map have whimsically named connections, such as the "Ohio-California Tunnel" connecting the Green Lines of Cleveland and Los Angeles, or the "Rocky Mountain Tunnel" connecting the Blue Lines of Chicago and San Francisco. Vancouver and San Francisco are connected through a station called Richmond, which appears to double as {{w|Richmond, British Columbia}} and {{w|Richmond, California}}. The "Springfield Monorail" is fictional, from the animated series ''{{w|The Simpsons}}'' (see {{w|Marge vs. the Monorail}}), but its approximate location on this map would suggest the [http://www.seattlemonorail.com/ Seattle Monorail], or perhaps Springfield, Oregon, which [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Matt-Groening-Reveals-the-Location-of-the-Real-Springfield.html Matt Groening revealed was the inspiration for the Simpsons' hometown].

The [http://www.radicalcartography.net/subways.html Urban Mass Transit Systems of North America] map (right) created by [http://hshm.yale.edu/rankin Yale Professor Bill Rankin] on his web site [http://www.radicalcartography.net/ Radical Cartography] in 2006 presents all of the subway systems in North America at the same scale using geographic, instead of topological, layout.

The networks on xkcd's map are displayed with absolutely no consideration to geographic position, in order to connect like-colored routes together. While {{w|Vancouver}} is the most North-West, {{w|Mexico City}} being the most South, and San Francisco the most west, distances are not accurate (in reality, Vancouver is closer to Chicago than to Toronto for example) and cities are often arranged in the wrong direction from one another:

* San Francisco is shown directly west of Toronto - in reality west southwest
* Boston is shown directly north of New York City and just slightly to the west - in reality east northeast
* Atlanta is shown west southwest of Miami - it is actually north northwest
* Atlanta is shown northwest of Mexico City - it is actually northeast
* Atlanta is shown slightly east of being south of Los Angeles - it is actually just slightly north of being directly east

The map's design is modeled after the system map of the {{w|Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}} in Boston where Randall is from.

===City-specific notes===

====Vancouver====
*The {{w|Canada Line}} and the {{w|Expo Line (TransLink)|Expo Line}} are shown as the same color; SkyTrain's official maps depict them with light blue and dark blue respectively.
*{{w|Richmond, British Columbia|Richmond}}, B.C., is the name of the city where the southernmost terminus of the Canada Line is located, and shares its name with {{w|Richmond, California}} (see San Francisco section).

====Boston====
*The "Green Line Extension to Canada" references {{w|Green Line Extension|the actual project}} to extend the {{w|Green Line (MBTA)|Green Line}} into Medford, north of Boston.
*The "Ashmont–Manhattan High-Speed Line" shown as connecting Boston's Red Line to New York City's 1 train is a play on the {{w|Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line}} in Boston.
*The {{w|Red Line (MBTA)|Red Line}} stops "Skinflower" and "Bonevine" are plays on the actual name of the Red Line's terminus, {{w|Braintree (MBTA station)|Braintree}}.
*The {{w|Orange Line (MBTA)|Orange Line}} terminates in the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain in Dorchester. Therefore, it is connected to the {{w|Jamaica–179th Street (IND Queens Boulevard Line)|Jamaica 179 St}} station on the map.

====San Francisco====
*Both Muni and BART are depicted in San Francisco's map and are completely separate systems, although the map gives the impression that trains interline between the two. Non-wheelchair-accessible stops on Muni lines are omitted.
*{{w|Richmond, California|Richmond}} is the name of the city where the northern terminus of the {{w|Richmond-Fremont line|Richmond–Fremont}} and the {{w|Richmond-Daly City/Millbrae line|Richmond–Daly City/Millbrae}} BART lines are located, and shares its name with {{w|Richmond, British Columbia|Richmond, British Columbia}} (see Vancouver section).
*"Sunnydale" is the {{w|Sunnydale Station|actual name}} of the terminus of the Muni {{w|T Third Street}} line, not to be confused with {{w|Sunnydale|the city}} where ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is set.

====Los Angeles====
*The {{w|Gold Line (Los Angeles Metro)|Gold Line}} and the {{w|Orange Line (Los Angeles Metro)|Orange Line}} are shown with swapped colors.
*The Orange Line is the only {{w|bus rapid transit}} (BRT) line to be shown on the map. LA Metro also operates a second BRT line, the {{w|Silver Line (Los Angeles Metro)|Silver Line}}, which is not shown.

====New York City====
*The {{w|New York City Subway}}, {{w|Port Authority Trans-Hudson}} (PATH), and the single line of the {{w|Staten Island Railway}} (with a connection via the {{w|Staten Island Ferry}}) are shown.
*{{w|Jamaica, Queens|Jamaica}} is the name of the neighborhood in Queens where the E, F, and J/Z trains terminate. Kingston is the capital and largest city in the country of {{w|Jamaica}}.
*The actual {{w|G (New York City Subway service)|G train}} is notorious for unreliable service, hence the "Random Service" notation.
*The "Robert Moses High-Speed Line" refers to the NYC urban planner {{w|Robert Moses}}, who was one of the most influential planners in supporting cars over all public transport, creating the car-dependent {{w|New York metropolitan area}}.

====Philadelphia====
*Both {{w|SEPTA}} subway lines, a portion of the {{w|SEPTA Subway–Surface Trolley Lines}}, and the {{w|PATCO Speedline}} are shown.
*"Trolley Rt. 10 to California" is a play on the actual {{w|SEPTA Route 10|Route 10}} trolley.

====Washington, DC====
*The "Graveyard for passengers killed by closing doors" refers to the warning played in the Washington DC Metro system advising passengers that the subway doors are "not like elevator doors" and will close on your limbs or belongings rather than opening when contact with an object is detected.
*The "Morgantown, WV Automated Line" references the {{w|Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit}} system, which was built in 1975 as a {{w|personal rapid transit}} demonstrator and serves the three campuses of West Virginia University.
*{{w|Greenbelt (WMATA station)|Greenbelt}} is the northern terminus of the Washington Metro's Green and Yellow lines, hence the Green line being depicted as forming a belt.
*This comic was made before the Silver line was constructed, so it does not appear in the comic.

====Miami====
*The "Caribbean Metromover" references the {{w|Miami Metromover}}, a people mover in downtown Miami (not shown on the map.)
*The airport logo for Miami International Airport (MIA) is replaced with a paper airplane.

====San Juan====
*The "Puerto Rico Submarine" that connects the Red Lines of San Juan and New York refers to the fact that San Juan is on an island, namely {{w|Puerto Rico}}.
*The "Mona Tunnel" that connects the Red Lines of San Juan and Santo Domingo may refer to the island of {{w|Isla de Mona|Mona}}, which lies between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.

====Monterrey====
*The "Chicxulub Tunnel" that connects the Red Lines of Santo Domingo and Monterey refers to the 65-million-year-old {{w|Chicxulub crater}}, which lies roughly between the two cities.

===Official subway maps===
*Atlanta - http://www.itsmarta.com/rail-schedules-or-route.aspx
*Baltimore (MTA Maryland) - http://mta.maryland.gov/sites/default/files/metro-subway.jpg
*Boston (MBTA) - http://www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/subway/
*Chicago (CTA) - http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/maps/P19_2012_CTA_Rail_Map.pdf
*Cleveland - http://www.riderta.com/pdf/maps/System_Map_Rapid_Connect.pdf
*Los Angeles (LACMTA) - http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/maps/images/rail_map.gif
*Mexico City - http://www.metro.df.gob.mx/imagenes/red/redinternet.pdf
*Montreal - http://www.stm.info/english/metro/images/plan-metro.jpg
*New York City (MTA) - http://www.mta.info/maps/submap.html
*New York City (PATH) - http://www.panynj.gov/path/maps.html
*Philadelphia (SEPTA and PATCO) - http://www.septa.org/maps/system/index.html
*San Francisco (BART) - http://www.bart.gov/images/global/system-map.gif
*San Francisco (MUNI) - https://www.sfmta.com/maps/muni-metro-map
*Toronto (TTC) - https://www.tourbytransit.com/toronto/public-transit/subway
*Vancouver - http://mapa-metro.com/mapas/Vancouver/mapa-metro-vancouver.png
*Washington (WMATA) - http://wmata.com/rail/maps/map.cfm

===Missing cities===
Not all cities with a subway are shown on the map. Missing from the map:
*Pittsburgh (Port Authority of Allegheny County) has a light rail subway tunnel in the downtown area. The subway opened in 1985, which is before this comic was published.{{Citation needed}}

{{clear}}

==Transcript==
:'''Subways of North America'''
:[A subway-line style (bold colored, 45-degree aligned lines with white bars indicating stations) map has been constructed by combining and linking various parts of the subway maps from many different cities, as if all of the transit systems were connected directly. The cities include (from top to bottom, left to right) Vancouver, Montreal, San Francisco, Toronto, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Miami, Atlanta, Monterrey, San Juan, Santo Domingo, and Mexico City.]

==Trivia==
*A print version of this comic is available in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/subways xkcd store].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]