explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3066: Cosmic Distance Calibration

2025-03-22T03:19:44Z

172.68.2.70: OMG

yay. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:31, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

What makes such labels as real objects absurd is not the required size, but the required orientation to be readable from a single point in the universe - earth. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.9|172.71.154.9]] 19:26, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

A straightforward application of the Anthropic principle. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.189|104.23.187.189]] 19:35, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure I get the title text... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.162|162.158.62.162]] 20:04, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

I like this part of the linked article: ''But cosmologists get only one universe to observe.'' -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:09, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

I think that the crosshairs in question are markers to indicate which star is being labeled, not anything to do with video games. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.137.59|162.158.137.59]] 23:46, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

The crosshairs are all the same size because new red giant stars are all the same brightness. They are "TRGB" or "Tip of the Red Giant Branch" standard candles. Every star in that phase of evolution is exactly the same absolute brightness, so we can tell how far away it is by measuring the observed luminosity. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.132|162.158.212.132]] 00:35, 22 March 2025 (UTC)

[[2035: Dark Matter Candidates]] also hypothesizes that astronomical labels are physically there, the orbit paths in this case. Should it be added? [[User:Intara|Intara]] ([[User talk:Intara|talk]]) 00:43, 22 March 2025 (UTC)

OH MY GOD! Why are there two blue boxes saying we need to complete 58 explanations? I would suggest that just one would be less distracting/disruptive. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.70|172.68.2.70]] 03:19, 22 March 2025 (UTC)

3061: Water Balloons

2025-03-11T19:32:29Z

172.68.2.70: /* Transcript */ Changed caption to be correct

{{comic
| number = 3061
| date = March 10, 2025
| title = Water Balloons
| image = water_balloons_2x.png
| imagesize = 578x713px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Update: The physics department has recruited an astronomer who studies meteor fireballs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT SHORT CIRCUITING DUE TO A WATER BALLOON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic graphs the mass vs the lifetime of three objects: {{w|meson}}s, {{w|water balloon}}s and {{w|planet}}s. Mesons, which are subatomic particles, have a very low mass and a very short lifetime, as they naturally decay into other fundamental particles.{{Actual citation needed}} "Flying water balloons" are depicted as having a mass centered around 1 kilogram, but the area outlined covers a very broad range of mass (from grams to hundreds of kilos), and a lifetime centered around 1 second (but the area outlined covers from fractions of a second to a couple of hours), indicating the approximate amount of time that a water balloon survives after being thrown through the air. (Not all water balloons break on impact, and some are thrown directly into someone's face, thus flight time would be very short.) Finally, planets have a very large mass and a very long lifetime, as they tend to exist for billions of years.

This comparison is somewhat absurd because the objects being compared - mesons, water balloons, and planets - do not have much in common. The joke is revealed in the image caption: an "annual interdepartmental water balloon fight" where multiple departments of a facility/company are pit against each other.

Allegedly, because water balloons are so different from both mesons and planets in terms of size and lifetime (roughly the same number of orders of magnitude), meson particle physicists and planetary scientists are usually evenly matched in water balloon fights. This suggests that deep specialization in a field of study deprives a normal person of their basic aptitude to perform in more 'everyday' activities, but at least it equally disadvantages each of the two teams of researchers and makes for a more satisfyingly [[1819: Sweet 16|competitive match-up]] than with one team clearly far more proficient than the other. By the same logic, one might assume that more generalized physicists might study similar objects with the mass and lifetime of water balloons (if not water balloons themselves!), and other topics of education might also confer an 'advantage' (for example, biologists may study similarly-sized bodies of creatures, whilst chemists may monitor chemical reactions that could take an equivalent time to complete).

In real life, water balloon fights are completely unrelated to particle physics or planetary science, and there's nothing stopping a particle physicist or planetary scientist from ''also'' having experience with water balloons.

The title text continues the joke by stating that "The physics department has recruited an astronomer who studies meteor fireballs". This is likely referring to the fact that [[3049: Incoming Asteroid|meteors are closer in size and lifetime to water balloons]] than either mesons or planets, so having an astronomer with this area of expertise would be advantageous in a water balloon fight against scientists who study either of the latter. While "space rocks" that become meteors may have been around for approximately the age of the solar system (and longer than at least some planets), and may then sit on/beneath the ground for anything up to geologically significant lengths of time, being an actual meteor (and a flaming one, at that) implies we're only considering the period of time the space-rock is traveling through the Earth's atmosphere, specifically ending before it becomes a meteorite. This is a period of time that may be anything from a few seconds (the normal upper limit to the visible 'fireball' stage) to ''possibly'' a minute or two (starting from its first shallow-angle grazing of the atmosphere until it finally lands/burns up/passes back out of the atmosphere). Thus, by one team bringing in a more capable player (especially one arguably more closely aligned to their opponents), they apparently now have an {{wiktionary|ringer#Noun 4|unfair advantage}}.

Extrapolation and interpolation, often absurd, are [[:Category:Extrapolation|recurrent topics]] on xkcd.

==Transcript==
:[Graph with Y axis labeled "Mass" running from 10-30 kg to 1030 kg on a logarithmic scale and X axis labeled "Lifetime", also on a logarithmic scale, running from 10-20 to 1020 seconds.]

:[There are three elliptical blobs on the graph: one on the lower left corner labeled "Mesons", another on the upper right corner labeled "Planets", and another in the middle (1kg mass, 1s lifespan) labeled "Flying water balloons". There are two bidirectional arrows pointing from the center blob to the two other blobs.]

:[To the left of the chart are Cueball and Ponytail. Ponytail is throwing a water balloon, and Cueball is dodging from one. To the right are Megan and Hairy. Megan is preparing to throw a water balloon, and Hairy is slipping in a puddle of water, with a water balloon having landed near his foot with a "Sploosh!".]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In the annual interdepartmental water balloon fight, meson particle physicists and planetary scientists are usually evenly matched, since they're both equally far outside their areas of expertise.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Extrapolation]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Games]]

Talk:3059: Water Damage

2025-03-08T01:54:13Z

172.68.2.70: dumb first post joke

I suppose that there'd be no way to make a 'no fault' claim on your policy. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.248|141.101.98.248]] 18:22, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
: Bravo![[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.15|172.70.163.15]] 09:57, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Will I have to buy a lithospheric humidifier if I live in a boat? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.190.58|172.71.190.58]] 18:54, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
: You might need a delithofier, or at least invest in a good earthproofing barrier. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.137|172.69.246.137]] 04:30, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

So is this a series now? Should we make a tag? [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 18:56, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

: Probably so. Maxwell's Demon was made a category with only three examples, so I don't see why subduction can't also be a category with 1194, 1388, 1829, 2616, 3021, 3059, and almost 2987. [[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 09:00, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:: Made a category for that with everything on your list except for 2987. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:50, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
um guys, you might wanna check the new what if video [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 19:04, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

What is going on with the templates? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 19:28, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

He's on a real geology kick lately huh. Unfortunately zero of them are funny. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.238|162.158.154.238]] 19:32, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
:Are you kidding? He rocks! Igneously, sedimentarily ''and'' metamorphically! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.4|172.69.195.4]] 21:04, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
::Oh, you mean ingeniously, sentimentally, and metaphorically. Yes. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 02:53, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Ponytail is likely wrong here. Water leads to partial melting of the mantle above the slab, not the crust itself. [[User:Rhesus|Rhesus]] ([[User talk:Rhesus|talk]]) 08:15, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

An insurance company could totally defraud millions of Home and business owners by selling too cheap earthquake and volcano insurance with really long lifetimes before installing lithospheric dehumidifiers to make those phenomenons extremely rare. Homeowners beware! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.36|162.158.103.36]] 13:29, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Could we make a category for house related things, with comics like this one and the fridge one and the life hacks series? genuine question I don't fully understand categories.--[[User:Calpurnia Tate|Calpurnia Tate]] ([[User talk:Calpurnia Tate|talk]]) 13:55, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:It can be done (not by me, but I've probably seen well over half the comic-category categories created). If you think that it's useful, I would suggest:
:*Either here, below, or in the Community Portal pages, lay out your case.
:*It helps if you suggest a name (or several alternatives) to encompass what you think is "a subject". Could be ''really'' broad ("Houses"), but I think you're looking to something a lot tighter. (Not quite knowing what you have in mind, so far, I'll wait until I see your next step before seriously suggesting/critiquing the possible choice(s)...)
:*List the candidate comics. Obviously [[3059: Water Damage]], and very likely [[3037: Radon]], but "the fridge one" immediately reminds me of two different ones you could mean, for different reasons (possibly you'd want them both, and other 'fridge ones' I'm currently not counting!). My inkling is that ''some'' of the Life Hacks are relevent to your idea (e.g. [[1494: Insurance]], but maybe not for that reason), though not others. And maybe checking the existing [[:Category:Tips]] (or similar) will add some (but not all) of that Cat to your list. ...in short demonstrate that "house related things" is a sane group (to which we can also attach a sane name).
:*There's several people here who I know will see the fleshed out idea and might well implement it (hopefully not before others have chance to provide feedback, and... dare I suggest it... I might pop back up with steering suggestiions!). Certainly more likely to do so when justified. You should ''not'' (though people do) just add <nowiki>[[Some Category Name]]</nowiki> to the bottom of pages, seemingly at random, and hope someone will un-Redlink this Cat for you after the fact (it's harder to check what you're thinking of including).
:*As and when it ''is'' set up, the resulting Cat-listing page can be freely nicified, maybe made a member of a some super-Cat, other categories made members of ''it'' and any further comics that you (and others) had accidentally not noted as equivalent can be added so easily. But we need to know where to start from. Which is up to you. (Or, having posited the possibility, someone else may jump in with a convincing grouping ...no guarantee it'll match what you think, though.)
:Not the only way to procede (nor necessarily the most thorough), but a way which covers most of the bases. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.245|172.70.91.245]] 15:53, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
::A couple of possible suggestions that are a little more specific than 'House-related':
::* 'Building Inspection' would cover these two and the fractal building plan one, but probably not the others mentioned
::* 'Home Improvements' might (debatably) cover these and the one where where he's trying to use 'reverse aircon' to cool down the outside (was this 'the fridge one'?)
::::''insert'': Forgot that one! Ok, adding that to my list of possibly intended ones, together with a fourth that occured to me only as I clicked Save Changes... I'm not too far off suggesting a "Fridges" Cat, now..! ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.178|141.101.98.178]] 16:38, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
::Can't think of anything that would cover all those indicated without being too vague as a category, though.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.109|172.70.163.109]] 16:29, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:Ok! I haven't figured what the name should be, I'm just calling it houses until I can come up with something better. I got the idea from noticing that recently there have been a couple of comics relating to houses ([[3051: Hardwood]] [[3037: Radon]]) And I was also thinking of [[1077: Home Organization]] and [[1567: Kitchen Tips]]--[[User:Calpurnia Tate|Calpurnia Tate]] ([[User talk:Calpurnia Tate|talk]]) 18:41, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
Here before the bot makes omniroll into an explanation page btu after it released. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.70|172.68.2.70]] 01:54, 8 March 2025 (UTC)

3058: Tall Structures

2025-03-03T23:50:25Z

172.68.2.70:

{{comic
| number = 3058
| date = March 3, 2025
| title = Tall Structures
| image = tall_structures_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x430px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Briefly set a new record for tallest human-made structure by getting my knit sweater snagged on the skydiving plane door as I jumped and not noticing until I'd landed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT ON TOP OF A SPACE ELEVATOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is a comparison of various tall buildings and structures, ranging from the pyramid of Giza to the Burj Kalifa. The tallest structure is an areostat balloon, which significantly exceeds the height of the Burj Kalifa

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:3054: Scream Cipher

2025-02-21T17:52:12Z

172.68.2.70:

Anyone know a good free all-language OCR tool to help with the transcript? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.156|172.69.67.156]] 17:30, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
: Found one here: https://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/diacritics.htm --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.70|172.68.2.70]] 17:52, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

The written cipher is very interesting, but where can I hear recordings of the spoken form? [[Special:Contributions/Rockymountain|Rockymountain]] 17:31, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

Are Cueball and Megan millenials? Who else would text greetings when they're standing right next to each other? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:38, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

Likely a pun on "stream cipher"

- Related reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(cipher) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.229|172.68.26.229]] 17:46, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

A̦ÅÄ ẠÂÅȀ, A̓A̅ ȀÅÄĂA̱ ȦÁ ÂÁAĂĂA̦ A̮ÄÂÂA̦ A̓A̮ ȀÁ A̱A̓A̱ A ÀÁÂÃA̓ÅÂ ÅA̮ A̅A̰A̓Ã A̭AA̋Á A̓Â A̅A̰A̓Ã ÃA̅A̦ĂÁ! --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.112|172.68.3.112]] 17:50, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-09T04:30:43Z

172.68.2.70:

started a very brief explanation. I'm unsure what actual medical procedure the "salting of the abdomen" is supposed to refer to.[[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 17:16, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
: probably refers to this: {{w|Salting the earth}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 17:23, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
Not a medical expert, but could this be cancer? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:14, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
: my guess is appendicitis (as that is the title of the comic). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.160|162.158.59.160]] 18:28, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
Randall was supposed to appear at an Adam Savage book release event Tuesday night, but the host reported he was in the hospital recovering from Appendicitis, so I amended the comment about the possibility to make it certain. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 19:41, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
: Is this reported somewhere, like in the news or on Twitter? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.243|162.158.58.243]] 19:54, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
::Do you know where was this reported? I've searched for it but I haven't found it yet. If you have the link I can add it to the explanation. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 20:39, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
"Zapped you with energy beams" sounds like it's referring to X-rays, rather than MRI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.204|162.158.111.204]] 20:17, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
: Close, contrast CT is more common for diagnosing acute appendicitis, which is basically X-rays, but more of them [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.70|172.68.2.70]] 04:30, 9 May 2019 (UTC)

This is a little weird to me. Five years ago a bout of appendicitis led to a cancer diagnosis for me. There was, indeed, a sword, biological and chemical weapons and a salting of my interior to prevent further growth. I hope Randall is okay. [[User:KevinLeeC|KevinLeeC]] ([[User talk:KevinLeeC|talk]]) 20:20, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

I thought the title text referenced Randall mocking his internal organs in the comic. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:08, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2001: Clickbait-Corrected p-Value

2018-06-04T09:29:21Z

172.68.2.70: My Adblocker won't allow the picture

I thought this comic was about ''correcting'' for any p-hacking that aimed to increase the media presence (and thus the clickbait) of the study. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.94.10|172.68.94.10]] 17:32, 1 June 2018 (UTC)

The explanation for null hypothesis is correct semantically, it would be accepted if there was no OR negative improvement, however, this is usually stated more succinctly as "will not improve performance" or (in keeping with the language of the comic) "does not boost performance", since that has the same meaning without the unnecessary verbosity. ---- {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.42}}

I can't believe I clicked on this [[Special:Contributions/172.68.86.46|172.68.86.46]] 20:28, 1 June 2018 (UTC)

I've removed a paragraph which claimed that this was an instance of Bayes theorem. Despite some similarity in structure, it is not. [[User:Winstonewert|Winstonewert]] ([[User talk:Winstonewert|talk]]) 01:39, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

I was honestly expecting a comic about (or at least referencing) {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}}. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:41, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

If reseachers were to use this adjusted formula, it would make sensational results much harder to demonstrate as significant, and uninteresting results much easier. Seems to me it’s a good adjustment for a lot of things. I wonder about p-values, though ... seems to me a value that is at all borderline just means you don’t have enough data yet for the actual size of the effect you’re measuring, but I don’t know much about statistics. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.130|172.68.54.130]] 02:08, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

Ummm. I use a Gecko engine* with "Block Advertisement" checked. *(K-Meleon 76.0) I can see the image from "xkcd Phone 2000" and "LeBron James and Stephen Curry", but NOT THIS PAGE. Unless I uncheck "Block Advertisement". Obviously this is to encourage clicking on things? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.70|172.68.2.70]] 09:29, 4 June 2018 (UTC)