explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Countdown in header text

2022-08-14T21:54:29Z

172.68.210.47:

{{comic
| date = January 10, 2022
| title = Countdown in header text
| image = Countdown_in_header_text_full_animation.gif
| before = The [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/21/Countdown_in_header_text_clock_migration.gif countdown] lasted 21 days and only the last image appeared in the header text after the end on 2022-01-31. It will also not be a permanent part of the header, but will be removed once the xkcd Header text is changed again.
| ldomain = www
| lappend =
| extra = yes
}}
{{TOC}}

==Explanation==
*On January 10th 2022, [[Randall]] added a countdown in the top right corner of the [[xkcd Header text]] on {{xkcd}}.
**It turned out that it was a countdown to the reveal of Randall's new book [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2] which was announced at the end of the countdown.
***The full title: What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
***The Hardcover version is released September 13, 2022.
***A follow up on his first book based on his blog [[what if?]]
*The comic [[2575: What If? 2]] was released moments after the counter reached zero.
**A comic entirely devoted to promote the book.
***And then the [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-31_-_What_if.3F_2|header changed]] to promote the book directly.
*The counter began while the comic [[2565: Latency]] was up.
**First the xkcd Header text was [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-08_-_Back_to_standard_text|changed back]] to the [[xkcd_Header_text#Header_text|standard text]] for the first time in almost three years:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**But already while this Friday-comic was still up on the following Monday the [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-10_-_Standard_text_with_countdown|countdown]] was added.
***This was thus up when the Monday comic [[2566: Decorative Constants]] was released, drawing more people to the xkcd page.
*The first [[#Archived Versions|archived version]] from [https://web.archive.org/web/20220110183238/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10] read 20d 20h 27m.
**It looks like it started on [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ 01-10 17:00 UTC].
***At that time it would have read 20d 21h 59 min. Just two hours and 1 minute short of 3 weeks.
*The countdown reached zero on Monday 2022-01-31 at 15:00 (3:00 PM) {{w|UTC}}, or 10:00 AM in Boston, Randall's home town.
**Seconds was added for the last 10 minutes making the countdown end exactly at 15:00 UTC
***When the seconds counter replaced the day counter at that time the box started [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/64/Countdown_in_header_text_last_minute_wiggling.gif jiggling around].
*The second day of countdown on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220111153818/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-11] a diagonal black bar appeared in the lower left-hand corner of the countdown box and started to move further into the image on following changes to the [[#Images|image]].
**This development called for the creation of this dedicated [[Countdown in header text]] page.
**The line had already moved further into the image at this time, but the latest version will never be available in the web archive.
***This development is reminiscent of the huge comic [[1190: Time]].
***The images was uploaded [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ here] on munvoseli's page where comparison of two images and an animation can be seen.
*During the three weeks this page was used to collect [[Countdown_in_header_text#Theories|theories]] of both the image and the countdown.
**Since these are now all either proved wrong or wright, they are only left here below to document how much people though about it.
***They have been collapsed, to not take up too much space, but can be accessed by pressing the link.
*Randall has previously made a comic simply called [[1159: Countdown]].
**However, in that the roles are reversed.
***There we know that the countdown is for (Super Volcano) but not if it will happen soon or very much later.
***Here we know when, and it is rather soon, but not what.

===Blow up by Amazon===
*The day before the countdown reached zero a user found out that:
**'''Amazon revealed the news a day too early.'''
***The book could be found on Amazon on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220130094958/https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112 2022-01-30] with the book cover clearly showing the part of the image shown in the box. And thus the surprise was lost on those using this page.
***Here is the page with [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112 what if? 2], the above link shows that the page existed the day before the count down ended.
**A shame for Randall and his fans.
***Although some of his fans had invested a lot of time in trying to solve the puzzle before the countdown ended and were excited by the discovery.

==Images==
*The 136 frames that made up the countdown have been put on this separate page: [[Countdown in header text/images]].
**The images was mainly downloaded [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ here] on munvoseli's page.
***On that page it is possible to compare two images, chosen between those released, on that page!
***From 2022-01-14 it has also been possible to see an animation.
****But after the last frame was released a user on this page has kindly provided a gif animation we could add to the top of the page.
**See more details at the top of the image page.
*Other images that also show the clock, compare two images, or show how the page actually looks have been moved to this other page: [[Countdown in header text/other images]].
*After the first thirteen different frames, it was noted that not only did the first three empty frames looks the same (because the diagonal bar was not in the frame yet), but the seventh and the eighth frame where also the same, even though the bar had already begun moving across the frame from the fourth. This could have been on purpose but could also be a mistake.
**However, the images that look the same all have individual addresses on the xkcd server. See more here [[Countdown in header text/images]]
***Later for instance frames 91 and 92 also seem to be exactly the same. Also frame 92 did not upload as part of the roughly four hour schedule, but between two frames that are part of the regular schedule.
***And the second to last frame 135 was also the same as 134, even though they had different names all 136 frames.

===Extra pages for images===
*Two pages has been made to collect images of the countdown:
**One for all the 136 frames:
***[[Countdown in header text/images]]
**And one for other images showing also the countdown clock, and comparison between images etc.
***[[Countdown in header text/other images]]

==Ongoing image description==
*The counter [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/21/Countdown_in_header_text_clock_migration.gif moved upwards] during most of the countdown, to cover less of the revealed image. See more [[Countdown_in_header_text/other_images#Changing_counter_position|here]]
*Here is a description made as the image progressed, and no one knew what it would turn in to, until the very last few days.
** Frames 1-12: A diagonal line.
** Frame 13: A curve seems to begin at the top left of the line.
** Frame 18: The curve connects the diagonal line with a horizontal line.
** Frame 27-28: A new line appears in the bottom left corner.
** Frame 40-42: The new line turns out to be connected to the horizontal line, forming a corner which is not attached to any other line.
** Frame 49: The "camera movement" direction changes, while the object is still moving upward it stopped moving towards the left side, moving towards the right instead.
** Frame 54: A slight upward curve seems to appear in the right line, the left line seems to have a small bend downwards, though that could at that point just be a straight line that Randall drew without a ruler.
** Frame 60-62: A new line appears in the bottom right corner, it turns out to be a continuation of the first original line which curves upward and has a positive slope at that point of the picture, between about 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock. The downward bend of the left line continues on straight in the same direction, it was probably an intentional bend and not an irregularity in drawing a straight line by hand.
** Frame 63: In the minimum of the right curved line a new line starts appearing, way thinner than the others (which were up to this point all rather part of one line) and going slightly downwards and very much to the left, at an angle somewhere between 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock.
** Frame 67: A possible feature becomes visible at the bottom edge of the image that might resolve the exact nature of the (currently presumed) aircraft, e.g. which particular aerodynamic surface we have been seeing and thus from which particular orientation we are viewing it.
** Frame 68-72 makes it clear this must be an aircraft by showing windows and a door and clearly the tail fin. As late as frame 69 some people argued that the tail fin could have been a wing.
** Frame 73-83 brings a horizontal stabilizer into view.
** Frame 87-89: A new curved line appears on the underside of the (presumed) aircraft, so there either is something behind it or it might not be an aircraft.
** Frame 96-99: An arc is coming into view in the upper right corner, likely the top edge of a cloud.
*** Turned out not to be a cloud.
** Frame 101-106 seems to be some kind of radar on top of the plane, like the one on {{w|Boeing E-3 Sentry}}. Or alternatively this plane is hanging beneath another plane. Not looking at all like {{w|Spaceshiptwo}}, but something similar, which could make this plane a spaceplane?
** Frame 106-114 a new element of the image appears on the right side, it could be the end of a wing. The arch no longer looks like a radar. Could be the tail of a Dinosaur or the cape of someone riding the airplane...
*** a cape is unlikely as it would probably be drawn to flap in the wind. The other element does appear to be a wingtip
*** Could it be [[Cory Doctorow]] flying with the airplane, but much closer to the 'camera'?
** Frame 115-121 makes it clear that the newest addition at the bottom right is the wing tip of the plane. The black curve above the plane still mostly looks like a tail as on a dinosaur or dragon. Could also be a tentacle. Either from an [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/b5/1608_1038x1094y_Giant_octopus_in_Destroyer.pngv octopus] or from and alien like in [[2572: Alien Observers]]. Of course it could also be a cape, but seems too thick at the end...
** Frame 124 shows something beneath the plane, but already in 125, that makes one of the largest jumps between pictures so far, this is clearly one of the wheels on the landing gear. Also the hind leg of the Dinosaur whose tail has been visible long time is coming in to view. Not certain yet it is a dino (probably a velociraptor), but the leg makes it the number one candidate.
** Frames 126-127 almost confirm the dinosaur theory.
*** And at this time someone spotted the new What if? 2 book on Amazon and it is the Tyrannosaur from the [[what if?]] blog that is now eating a plane rather than being lowered into the Sarlac.
** Frame 134 reveals the last part of the plane, so now the entire plane and T-rex is visible. This was about 6 hours before the countdown ended.
** Frame 135 is identical with 134!
** About ten minutes before the countdown ended the image started to wiggle and as predicted seconds also came in, leaving out the day part of the counter.
** Frame 136 came just after the countdown ended, turning the background red, as it is on the front cover of the book adding the title what if? 2 in white text beneath the plane, which as now been moved to the top of the image since the overlaid count down is now gone.

==Theories==
*'''Amazon revealed the news a day too early!''' - it is Randall's new book [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112 what if? 2] that will be announced at the end of the countdown.
**So it is a book announcement, and the picture is Tyrannosaur eating a plane while in flight.
*Here below are the different theories for what the countdown was for and what the picture was going to reveal from before it was clear what it was.

===The picture===
*Theories about the picture:
**One of the very early theories got it right:
***The second line makes it look somewhat like the tail fin of an aircraft.
'''Click to expand for more theories:'''
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
**From 2022-01-21 it became certain that it was a plane! Passenger plane. Door and windows are visible.
***From 2022-01-22 it became clear that it was the rear end, so it was a tailfin that came into the panel to begin with. Up til the day before it was still a bit uncertain if it could have been a wing.
*** from 2022-01-24 a bottom line has appeared which doesn't fit well with a 'standard' airliner. perhaps the image is deliberately misleading (eg will transform into something else)
*** From 2022-01-26 something looking like a radar like the one on a {{w|Boeing E-3 Sentry}} began emerging in the top right corner.
*** From 2022-01-28 it looks like an elephant's trunk to me.
**What will this lead up to - theories about this.
***It could be an airplane with a banner like in [[1355: Airplane Message]].
****That would very soon be clear as the bottom part of the rear end seems to be coming into view during 2022-01-24, if the direction does not change again.
*****This is now ruled out, since the plane is clearly not towing a banner.
***It could end up landing in a city, perhaps with a skyline pinpointing where Randall will be or move.
****However, unlikely to manage this in real life as the count down ends.
****Also, very unlikely (1 in 60, or even 1 in 3600) that such a landing would occur exactly on the hour.
*****But it could also just be the time when he announces he has moved...
***Maybe Cueball will make a parachute jump, and Cueball could represent a real life Randall, as this could in principle be timed very accurately.
****This is something you would schedule a month or more ahead, want to tell people about in advance, want to make a big deal about on your website, is not quite as bizarre as zero-G and probably more fun {{citation needed}}, could be done with an adventurous wife, explains why it’s the tail of the plane in the image, and (assuming no mechanical, medical, or meteorological problems, a safe assumption), might go something like “on my mark, it’ll be 9:59:56 A.M. in Boston... mark. 3, 2, 1, JUMP!” Maybe it’ll be just Cueball/Randall, but could more likely include Megan representing his wife.
****However, it could very easily be that the weather in January could foil the attempt, or at least the timing.
****The plane appears to be a commercial jetliner, though, rather than the small prop planes used for parachute jumps. Unless, of course, Randall is revealing his real identity has been Wesley Snipes all along
****The plane appears to have its landing gear down, which rules out a parachute jump.
*****At frame 124 it is a bit early to say that the dot beneath the plane is the landing gear, but from 125 it became clear. Also seems like the leg of the dino on the plane has come into vies. The below was written before number 125 came out.
*****Landing gear implies that the aircraft is either taking off or landing, and judging by the plane's nose-up attitude, most likely taking off. Therefore, assuming that the plane is in fact shown seconds after rotation (possibly still on the ground), there is a possibility that the black object could be an airport fixture, perhaps a wind sock in the foreground?
******Well, forget I said that. It's a dinosaur apparently.
*** Perhaps the new item on top of the plane is the tail of a dinosaur? perhaps like the one on the cover of "what if..." book. perhaps it's a new book?
*** There are two flights originating in Boston departing at 09:59 on 1/31/2022: Spirit NK433 to Orlando Florida and Delta DL5696 to Washington D.C.
***Frame 101-106 seems to be some kind of radar on top of the plane, like the one on Boeing E-3 Sentry. Or alternatively this plane is hanging beneath another plane. Not looking at all like Spaceshiptwo, but something similar, which could make this plane a spaceplane?
**** Predicting dinosaur
***** Cross-referencing it with the cover of ''What If?'', this does seem like a xkcd-style dinosaur tail. It could represent Randall, or xkcd as a whole, going somewhere. Or it could just be the cover of a new book.
******Yep, it's a dinosaur.
**** Revising my prior theory: It now looks very much like another aircraft (similar to theory below) but not part of the main aircraft, I think. I would guess it is either an improbable mid-air encounter (like a passenger jet and an ultra-lite) or an equally improbable "launch" of something from the jet (again like an ultra-lite or some other less common or even fictional craft.)
**** Maybe the torch of the Statue of Liberty?
**** The black wave looks like a superhero cape
**** the white element overlapping the fuselage could be the start of the wing-tip these fold up at the ends of many modern aircraft, could mean aircraft is banking left.
***Frame 107-121 the right wing of the plane moves into view. It is still unclear if the black curve is a tail, a cape or a tentacle. But seems like it cannot be another aircraft.
***Has now been resolved.
**Maybe it will be the entire book, or at least include the text 'what if? 2', and that more rapid zoom-out will happen during the last minutes.
***Since the entire plane is revealed with at least two more possible updates, even in 4 hours schedule, something new may certainly be expected to occur before the end of the countdown. This written after frame 134 that revealed the front of the plane.
*The XKCD store currently reports "will be opening soon" [https://store.xkcd.com/] perhaps any announcement will be simultaneous with a store re-launch.

====Early theories====
*Many early theories were generated before the picture was decisively revealed to be a plane...
*It seems after two days and 12 pictures like either something is moving into the frame or that it is a zoom out from a white area of a large picture. Maybe it is the arm of Cueball that will come into view.
*The second line makes it look somewhat like the tail fin of an aircraft.
**Or the wing of an aircraft (left if looking down at it). Perhaps the plane is towing a banner that will fly through the frame.
***After almost a week this looks like the most promising suggestion so far. Now that the direction of the camera movement has changed, we might get to see the rest of the aircraft soon.
****From picture 63, it more and more seems like it was the tail fin of a plane and now we can see the body.
*****It's almost certainly the tail (and now a bit of the rear fuselage) of an aircraft.
******It could just as easily be the left wing and part of the fuselage (showing windows on the right side of an airliner), with the tail fin out of view to the rear, as being the tail fin from an angle where the left wing is out of view behind the fuselage.
*******judging by the relative size of the (presumed) windows, I think it's more likely to be the left wing than the tail fin.
*******Based on the way planes are drawn in [[1868: Eclipse Flights]]. [[1355: Airplane Message]] and [[1669: Planespotting]], plane wings have a point on their edge and tail fins have a flat side, and (if a line is present) a thick line separates wings from the body, whereas thin lines or no lines separate tail fins, so this is a tail fin.
*******In the bottom left there appears to be the top part of a horizontal stabilizer, implying this is the tail.
********It’s a tail fin, that’s finally clear, but that’s the underside of the stabilizer. Which means this would be the best angle to view Cueball/Randall parachuting out of that door, something that would be predictable to the exact minute (barring all kinds of things that could go wrong).
*******Appears to be a door to the left of the windows
*******It could be an airplane with a banner like in [[1355: Airplane Message]]
***Tail of a space shuttle, perhaps?
****While I think Randall would've also drawn in the signature black part of the rudder, the shape fits perfectly
****Timing is close (though not exact) to the Columbia disaster anniversary (2003-02-01 1359 UTC)
***I'm thinking the tail of a Zeppelin.
****Although those normally have longer tail fins.
*Maybe it is some kind of vehicle rolling into frame, like a car?
*Or the word xkcd? (or xkcd 2?)
*Could have been "Hangman", but it looks like it's zooming in on the diagonal instead of continuing to make a gibbet.
*With the new second line appearing in the corner as of frame 28 it looks like it's definitely zooming out of an image. It looks like it could be someone's arm in a running position.
*I think it could also be two legs of a reclining stick person.
*The lines suggest a shark fin and the movement would suggest it swimming across the frame.
**If it was a shark fin, then the most likely candidates would be the first dorsal fin and the pectoral fin, but both end in points rather than edges like in the pictures of the header puzzle. An aircraft tail fin still seems most likely.
*Maybe it's a two-dimensional shape viewed from a weird angle?
**Like a rectangle viewed from a floating, tilted perspective
**Or the top of the k in xkcd
**Or a boat dock?
*The r/xkcd subreddit produced some early theories :
**Cueball's arm
**The letter D, as in "The End"
**A spider's web, in reference to comic 1688
***With the airplane revelation, this reference turned into a meme in the subreddit, where users tried to justify the presence of an airplane shape inside a bigger-scope spider picture
***More generally, "spider" is now jokingly used nearly each time in place of "airplane" during discussions on the sub
****For example, the final image is generally described as "a dinosaur eating a spider"
***Some joke theories included:
****A giant spider flinging airplanes from the sky, as a new potential "What If?"
****The lines are a web and the apparent windows the eyes of a giant spider
****The airplane is a complex-looking spider leg, and 8 of them form a spider
***Another redditor made the airplane part of a dragon's head
</div>
 

===Countdown===
*Theories about the countdown:
**One of the early theories got it right:
***Randall's next book, either the countdown is counting down to the start of promotion or it is released when the countdown ends.
'''Click to expand for more theories:'''
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
*Several have already been mentioned in the discussion:
**Maybe Randall is going on vacation?
**As of now - 22-Jan-2022 7am PST - the countdown disappeared from some users browser. Temporarily (perhaps to make the image cleaner?) or permanently? The countdown was back up soon after. probably a glitch and maybe not for all places or browsers.
**Randall's next book, either the countdown is counting down to the start of promotion or it is released when the countdown ends.
***Usually Randall has made month long [[:Category:Book promotion|book promotions]] before release. So if it is the release day it is a new way to do it. But he will get a lot of attention. If it is just the start of promoting it, people might get disappointed…
****For instance he began promoting his [[xkcd_Header_text#2015-05-14_-_New_book_Thing_Explainer|new book Thing Explainer]] in the header text. That was in May 2015 and the book was first released [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ late November 2015]. Most of this time the header text was promoting the book.
***The day before the announcement a user posted a link in the discussion with a book listing for [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112 what if? 2] on Amazon showing more or less the picture revealed at this time, thus ending the debate as to what the image and the countdown was for.
**{{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) going into orbit about L2 {{w|Lagrange point}}.
***Randall has already made several comics about the telescope. The latest [[2564: Sunshield]] was released just five days prior to the countdown was started.
***But the telescope will not reach the point but rather go into a large orbit around it, so a precise timer counting down to it seems a bit farfetched.
***On NASA's page on JWST it seems like it will [https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/deploymentExplorer.html#25 go into orbit] 29.5 days after its [[December 25th Launch]], on Christmas Day, so it should have already started the orbit by the 23rd or 24th of January - 8 days before the countdown.
***Also No based on the image.
**{{w|Lunar New Year}}
***In China it starts on February 1st and a [https://yourcountdown.to/chinese-new-year countdown for China] is 8 hours behind.
****The South Korean time zone is UTC+9, hence 14:59 UTC = 23:59 in South Korea, one minute to Feb 1.
*****But it's weird if Randall that has basically never mentioned this holiday suddenly makes a three week countdown for it, and why choose South Korea when most would think of China in this context…?
**Randall will stop making xkcd (Goodbye in the image).
***Hopefully not.
****Agreed, {{tvtropes|PoisonOakEpilepticTrees|to be avoided}}
***It might be a temporary stop (hiatus).
**[https://nationaldaycalendar.com/backward-day-january-31/ National Backward Day]
***This is not a day mentioned on Wikipedia at the time of release of the countdown, so seems unlikely.
**Maybe it will be an announcement of xkcd 2, a new and improved version for… some reason?
***Seems unlikely…
**{{w|Black History Month}}. The {{w|Greensboro sit-ins}} started on Feb 1 1960. Black History Month also begins on February 1st, also in 2022.
***But this countdown stops early on January 31st so seems unlikely.
***However, before changing the Header recently it was about [[xkcd_Header_text#2020-06-03_-_Black_Lives_Matter|Black Lives Matter]] for more than 1.5 years, first ending on December 20th 2021, less than a month before the countdown began. In between that there was a short Christmas sale reminder until a week into 2022. So it could just be another way of reminding of us the issues faced by black people in the US.
****If this was true, I feel like it would be simpler to just change back to the Black Lives Matter text at the top of the screen. Also, it seems increasingly likely as of Jan. 20th that the image is some kind of plane, which doesn't really have much to do with Black History Month (that I know of?)
**The accompanying header says specifically "xkcd updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday"--maybe the countdown is to the reveal of a new update schedule?
***Very unlikely. This was the standard header for a long time. It was used when Randall had nothing better to say. But with all his books and the trouble in US with elections and BLM, he has used the header as a platform most of the time many years now. So the standard text is rare. But he did return it for two days before adding the count down, making it seem just like normal.
***A guess is that it returned to this, so the header text did not take any focus away from the countdown.
**[[:Category:Red Spiders|Red spider]] attack?
***Un-Likely
**He will become a father - could be a planned C-section.
***As this is unpredictable, and could go wrong, then this would be a dangerous countdown, people can be very superstitious, even if scientist.
**As it currently looks (after a [[1070: Words for Small Sets|few days]] into the countdown) it may be a trip he is taking by plane.
***Maybe going somewhere people could meet him.
****Book tour?
***Moving a long way from home (down under or the like).
****Maybe he's moving to Japan? Could be a plane, and the time zone would fit, at least.
*****Then the countdown would be until when the plane lands, not to midnight.
******What has time zones to do with this clock? It counts down to the same time all over the world, and will reach zero at the same time no matter what time zone you are in.
******Time zones have to do with where it will be midnight when the countdown reaches zero. If it's a countdown to when January ends (a moment before February begins), then it's until that moment in the time zone where the countdown reaches zero at that time.
******* According to my calculations, the timer will coincide with midnight in the UTC+9 time zone, encompassing both Koreas, Japan, and small parts of Russia and Indonesia.
****If it is a plane, then maybe it will land in a new city Randall moves to when the counter ends, and the skyline will be visible...
**Perhaps it's a start to a new series like [[1190: Time]].
***It is already a series that works like Time, so seems unlikely.
**Zero-G flight, really looks like plane to me.
***Could be time he will first go weightless which could be fairly well known except for bad weather
**A parachute jump by Randall. Could be predicted as well as the zero G.
**How about the [https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/09/09/star-trek-picard-season-2-release-date-plot-cast/ new series of Picard]?
***{{w|Star Trek: Picard (season 2)}} is set to run from March 3 2022, which both Wikipedia (link before) and [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8806524/episodes?season=2 IMDb] agrees upon so bad to miss by more than a month, and what would the plane in the image have to do with this anyway?
***So No!
** The xkcd world tour!! I wish
** I'm beginning to see another part of the picture entering into view, underneath the arc and above the body of the plane. To me, it looks like it could be a leg of sorts (Early bet: it could be a dinosaur)
**Maybe something to do with aliens? Randall posted two comics about aliens secretly observing earth in a row now, could that be related?
** DB Cooper's jump from an airliner was 50 years ago, but not until november
*** Maybe Randall admits that he was DB Cooper all along?
</div>
 

===count-wimRikmef===
* The identifier of the script contains what is probably an acronym, but for what?
** count / wim (?) / Rik (name) & me f(light)
** Or it's just the output of whatever js minimizer was used.
** R = Randall?
** Randall is travelling to Germany? "Wo ist mein Reisepass? Ich komme mit einem Flug"
** "wi" are the initials for the book that's coming out
*** so what could mRikmef be?
** So the first two letters are what if, maybe the R is for Rex, and the f is flight, not sure about the others?
*** "what if" could be a good shout, the dino on the plane reminds me of the cover of the first "what if", and a raptor attack/snakes on a plane crossover would make for some great what-if analysis
* The "img" tag has a misspelled "heigth" attribute. Probably just a typo?

==Archived Versions==
*Here is a list of the versions that has been saved to the web archive during the countdown.
**The counter in that version is written behind the date of the web archive.
**Note that the counter is active on the archived version counting minutes down from the start. Some of the versions almost changing the minutes just after loading. But it will always count from the time given here:
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220110183238/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10] 20d 20h 27m
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220110214138/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10] 20d 17h 18m
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220111011115/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-11] 20d 13h 48m
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220112005828/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-12] 19d 14h 1m
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220113044552/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-13] 18d 10h 14m
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#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220127173721/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-27] 3d 21h 22m
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#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220130190609/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-30] 0d 19h 53m
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220131124817/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-31] 0d 2h 11m
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220201000434/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-02-01] The day after (0d -9h -5m / -1d 14h 55m)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Meta]]

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-21T05:29:42Z

172.68.210.47: Undo revision 289675 by 108.162.245.249 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG ISOMER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions that her company spends a lot on chemicals for which you can find formulas online. She suggests assembling chemicals from atoms "bought in bulk," holding a sheet of paper with the {{w|empirical formula}} C5H6NO2 which designates [https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/#query=C5H6NO2 more than a hundred compounds and ions], including {{w|nitrobenzene}}, {{w|niacin}}, {{w|isonicotinic acid}}, and {{w|picolinic acid}}, followed by their component elements listed with prices. The ambiguity of chemical formulae is one of the jokes in the comic.

While in-house {{w|chemical synthesis}} is sometimes cost effective, usually it is not, because end users are often unable to leverage the {{w|economies of scale}} inherent in bulk manufacturing by specialist industrial firms.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880393/] However, we don't know whether Megan and [[Cueball]] work in a laboratory, factory, or some other industrial setting. In-house chemical syntheses in factories using large volumes often ''are'' cost-effective, as can be laboratory syntheses of very small quantities.

In any case, producing chemicals from their constituent elements or {{w|Precursor (chemistry)|precursor compound}}s is difficult, time-consuming, requires expensive equipment, and is often fraught with peril.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwW2owNWgc] Nitrobenzene, one of the C5H6NO2 compounds, is an excellent example because it is explosive, extremely toxic, and its synthesis is highly exothermic, making it one of the most dangerous syntheses in the chemical industry.[https://www.icheme.org/media/10339/xiii-paper-36.pdf] Such issues answer Cueball's question as to why more places don't manufacture their own chemicals. The characters' naivety also gives rise to the humor of the comic, which may also be mocking DIY lifehacks where the cost savings only make sense if their massive time investment is ignored. "Big Molecule" is an [[2130: Industry Nicknames|industry nickname like Big Oil or Big Pharma]], and amusing in its own right.

The title text refers to the fact that many people believe that "kids these days" don't do enough work or are spoiled. Randall has expressed that he dislikes statements like these in [[2165: Millennials|previous comics]].

This comic may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in individual molecules] by modifying their bonds.

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

:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Megan holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!
:[The paper reads as follows. The illegible items appear to be prices.]
:C6H5NO2
:Carbon 6 $[illegible]
:Hydrogen 5 $[illegible]
:Nitrogen 1 $[illegible]
:Oxygen 2 $[illegible]
:Total 14 $[illegible]

:[Cueball still standing. Megan walking off-panel to the right]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

Talk:173: Movie Seating

2022-07-12T07:02:25Z

172.68.210.47:

I think that "two friends ... each sitting three seats away" takes "they" a little too literally. [[User:Daddy|Daddy]] ([[User talk:Daddy|talk]]) 06:17, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

Look at it like this. Placing them _friends_ apart guarantees lower background noise so you can actually watch the movie. {{unsigned ip|108.162.231.227}}

Truthfully, I feel one-way crush should be second priority 05:09, 14 November 2015 (UTC) Lonely...

I know I'm horrifically late on this one, but surely swapping 4 and 7 is the solution which minimizes strangers in "Do not keep 8 away from 6".
There is currently no path from 8 to 4. Swapping 4 and 7 downgrades the link to 5 to an Acquaintance from Friendship, but offers a viable path between all members. Unless we're intentionally forcing 8 to talk to 6? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.99.64|162.158.99.64]] 08:20, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

The solutions are making assumptions about the weighting of friends, relationships, and acquaintances. For example, maybe someone in a relationship would achieve maximum enjoyment if the SO is seated next to a stranger so all focus is on them. {{unsigned|Flewk}}

If we take the "keep 8 away" solution and put 8 in middle of 6 and 3, wouldn't the result be strictly superior to the "do not keep 8 away" one? It'd have the same number of adjacent relationships, but 6 would be seated next to a friend instead of an aquaintance, which is better. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.82|141.101.104.82]] 16:38, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

8 doesn't know 1 or 5, so "keep 8 away" solution is bad. He would be alone then. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.58|162.158.238.58]] 15:44, 24 December 2016 (UTC)

Maybe it's best to separate the couples so that no one has to be the third wheel. I propose [1,3,4,5,7,8,6,2]. Now, it might be unfair to #1, since his only connection is his girlfriend, so [3,4,5,7,8,6,2,1] works as well. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.226.124|198.41.226.124]] 19:52, 15 August 2017 (UTC)

Bit of a naive solution, here. But if we assume the acquaintance is the weakest/least important of the relationships, we can just flatten the graph as if they were not there. So 8,6,1,2,3,4,7,5 (or 8,6,2,1,3,4,7,5 depending on who 1 would like to sit with more: 3 or 6)
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.172|172.68.34.172]] 20:11, 4 January 2020 (UTC)

- surely if you are trying to maximise enjoyment, and asuming a one way crush is equivalent to either a friend or an acquaintance for number 6, and a relationship for number 8, a more realistic option is [1,2,6,8,3,4,7,5] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.47|172.68.210.47]] 07:01, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

In most movie theaters here in Atlanta, seats are indeed reserved. To deal with the declining profit margins and way that seating for anything but new blockbusters tends to be half empty, the theaters have replaced the small, uncomfortable festival seating with a small number of assigned recliners. I kid you not. It makes the high ticket prices seem more worthwhile. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 04:16, 6 October 2019 (UTC)

Talk:173: Movie Seating

2022-07-12T07:01:49Z

172.68.210.47:

I think that "two friends ... each sitting three seats away" takes "they" a little too literally. [[User:Daddy|Daddy]] ([[User talk:Daddy|talk]]) 06:17, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

Look at it like this. Placing them _friends_ apart guarantees lower background noise so you can actually watch the movie. {{unsigned ip|108.162.231.227}}

Truthfully, I feel one-way crush should be second priority 05:09, 14 November 2015 (UTC) Lonely...

I know I'm horrifically late on this one, but surely swapping 4 and 7 is the solution which minimizes strangers in "Do not keep 8 away from 6".
There is currently no path from 8 to 4. Swapping 4 and 7 downgrades the link to 5 to an Acquaintance from Friendship, but offers a viable path between all members. Unless we're intentionally forcing 8 to talk to 6? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.99.64|162.158.99.64]] 08:20, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

The solutions are making assumptions about the weighting of friends, relationships, and acquaintances. For example, maybe someone in a relationship would achieve maximum enjoyment if the SO is seated next to a stranger so all focus is on them. {{unsigned|Flewk}}

If we take the "keep 8 away" solution and put 8 in middle of 6 and 3, wouldn't the result be strictly superior to the "do not keep 8 away" one? It'd have the same number of adjacent relationships, but 6 would be seated next to a friend instead of an aquaintance, which is better. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.82|141.101.104.82]] 16:38, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

8 doesn't know 1 or 5, so "keep 8 away" solution is bad. He would be alone then. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.58|162.158.238.58]] 15:44, 24 December 2016 (UTC)

Maybe it's best to separate the couples so that no one has to be the third wheel. I propose [1,3,4,5,7,8,6,2]. Now, it might be unfair to #1, since his only connection is his girlfriend, so [3,4,5,7,8,6,2,1] works as well. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.226.124|198.41.226.124]] 19:52, 15 August 2017 (UTC)

Bit of a naive solution, here. But if we assume the acquaintance is the weakest/least important of the relationships, we can just flatten the graph as if they were not there. So 8,6,1,2,3,4,7,5 (or 8,6,2,1,3,4,7,5 depending on who 1 would like to sit with more: 3 or 6)
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.172|172.68.34.172]] 20:11, 4 January 2020 (UTC)
- surely if you are trying to maximise enjoyment, and asuming a one way crush is equivalent to either a friend or an acquaintance for number 6, and a relationship for number 8, a more realistic option is [1,2,6,8,3,4,7,5] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.47|172.68.210.47]] 07:01, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

In most movie theaters here in Atlanta, seats are indeed reserved. To deal with the declining profit margins and way that seating for anything but new blockbusters tends to be half empty, the theaters have replaced the small, uncomfortable festival seating with a small number of assigned recliners. I kid you not. It makes the high ticket prices seem more worthwhile. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 04:16, 6 October 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2633: Astronomer Hotline

2022-06-17T08:20:17Z

172.68.210.47:

Someone really needs to check on the bot. This is the second day in a row where I have had to begin the article! [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 13:06, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

The fact that this is the Astronomer Helpline seems like commentary on the frequency with which astronomers are asked about mysterious objects, and/or the fact that astronomers (who tend to spend a lot of time looking at the sky) rarely report seeing unidentified objects. It could also be noted that calling fireflies a UFO would technically be accurate, as they are objects which are flying that the observers apparently could not readily identify. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.121|172.71.82.121]] 13:36, 15 June 2022 (UTC)
:There is about 2000 species of fireflies. OF COURSE I can't identify which one it is, considering it's so dark I only see the light. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:22, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Title text probably referes to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas Periodical cicadas] that appears every 17 years.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.99|172.71.98.99]] 13:58, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

As someone from a country without fireflies, is "Ground Stars" a normal word for fireflies or a joke? (similar to how planets are "wandering stars", so to an astronomer everything is a star, similar to [[2017: Stargazing 2]]) [[User:Sqek|Sqek]] ([[User talk:Sqek|talk]]) 14:17, 15 June 2022 (UTC)
:A joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.4|172.70.115.4]] 14:54, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

The second last paragraph is extremely confusing. Someone should fix it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.38|162.158.203.38]] 15:17, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

I have removed the paragraph referenced in the above comment; it was confusing, and seemed focused on explaining the reasons for cicadas having prime-numbered year cycles. While this is interesting, it is not relevant to understanding any of the jokes, especially since two helpful links to periodical cicadas and Brood X were already included earlier in the article. Parties interested in learning cicada facts may follow those links; to explain the joke, it is enough to acknowledge that periodical cicadas are a thing, not explore the ecology or evolution of such a trait. If I overstepped, feel free to reinstate with a clearer explanation. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 16:16, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

;I just got a message from the Odd Perfect Number hotline!
I was trying to explain to someone today that the question of whether there are any {{w|odd number|odd}} {{w|perfect number}}s is an open problem, so I asked {{w|Google Assistant}} and was informed that https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.07176 proves that there aren't! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.235|162.158.166.235]] 21:15, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

;Cosmic Ray Phenomena
When I started reading the comic, I was sure it's referring to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray_visual_phenomena cosmic ray phenomena]. Reading further it made less sense, though I feel it should be mentioned in this explanation. {{unsigned ip|172.68.221.5}}
:I do not agree. This is something happening to astronauts in space. Not to a guy calling an astronomy hot-line. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:35, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

;Trivia US UFO helpline
AFAIK you can only report UFOs to the ''Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group'' (AOIMSG) if you're in the military. They really want to have sensor data, too. But with a smartphone, you can get apps to identify astronomical objects or airplanes by pointing your phone at them. metabunk.org does a lot of UFO identification. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.76|162.158.203.76]] 11:07, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

;other xkcd related?
https://xkcd.com/1391/ - people forgetting that the sun is visible during day
https://xkcd.com/1493/ - the bug hotline might have been built on the bug tracker

;Could this comic be referring to the Supernova Early Warning System?
Is this comic possibly a reference to the Supernova Early Warning System(SNEWS) or some other similar astronomy organisation? SNEWS is basically an astronomer hotline(or rather mailing list). If astronomers detect what they think is a supernova, they let astronomers(amateur and professional) around the world know about the event, so that they can try to point their telescopes at the supernova quickly enough to observe it/ work out what it is/ study it. I always thought of this as an astronomer hotline: If you see some strange lights in the night sky, you can call upon every astronomer in the world to point their telescopes at it and work out what it is. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.47|172.68.210.47]] 08:20, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

370: Redwall

2022-05-21T01:03:24Z

172.68.210.47: Undo revision 270754 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

{{comic
| number = 370
| date = January 14, 2008
| title = Redwall
| image = redwall.png
| titletext = My Redwall/Jurassic Park crossover fanfic is almost complete!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references {{w|Brian Jacques|Brian Jacques'}} series of books, ''{{w|Redwall}}'', which star sapient woodland animals in various high fantasy adventures.

The first panel shows the similarity between the story of Martin the Warrior (from the book ''{{w|Mossflower}}'') and {{w|Aragorn}} from ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'' by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}. The joke is that while Martin and Aragorn introduce themselves separately, they then go on to describe their particular story, which turns out to be exactly the same for both of them. Subsequently Martin jinxes Aragorn. {{w|Jinx (children's game)|Jinx}} is a common children's game that is initiated by shouting "Jinx" after somebody speaks the same word or sentence at the same time as you. That person is then jinxed, with one form of the rules dictating that they are then not permitted to speak until unjinxed by some specific action (usually somebody saying their name). For a similar children’s game, see [[392: Making Rules]].

In ''LOTR'', orcs are unequivocally and without exception the bad guys, capable only of hate and violence (although to be fair, in some of Tolkien's unpublished writing, orcs are corrupted elves, so it is clear that they are not intrinsically bad). Similarly, Redwall's rats, foxes, ferrets, ermine, and weasels are mostly evil manipulators, while mice, rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, and badgers are always the good guys. On several occasions, characters explicitly state that "vermin stays vermin." This is the overarching rule, notwithstanding the rare exception (e.g. Grubbage from {{w|Triss}}). Conversely, one of the so-called "good species" has never become evil in this book series. Though it is more likely than not that this is simply the result of a {{tvtropes|PlanetOfHats|planet of hats}} - where a single species all share the same characteristics and personality, so that authors / readers don't have to spend time fleshing out / getting to know every new character - Randall nevertheless indicates that this "moral absolute" is problematic and has some "racist undertones," regardless if it's intentional or not. (Note that Tolkien's work is probably not actually racist—the Easterlings are portrayed as non-evil people who were deceived by Sauron. The Orcs are evil by definition, thus being incapable of doing good.)

The second panel deals with the fact that ''Redwall'' mentions the name of {{w|Satan}} or {{w|The Devil}} 4 times, while it never mentions {{w|God}} or {{w|Jesus}}--somewhat surprisingly, given that the book is set in an abbey, and many of the inhabitants are religious brothers and sisters. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] then points out that people who {{w|Religious debates over the Harry Potter series|protest against Harry Potter because of the series' witchcraft}}, should take note that Redwall explicitly mentions Satan, although it has had little to no negative feedback from more conservative readers.

In the third panel, Randall comments on ''Redwall'''s often-used theme of critical messages being left in riddles throughout the Abbey for the occupants to find when they are in need. Randall suggests that he would use {{w|Public-key cryptography|public-key cryptography}} to encode the messages, instead of the elaborate riddles used in the books (some of which are ridiculously easy, which doesn't exactly make for good security when dealing with sensitive information).

In the title text, Randall jokes that he is making a crossover {{w|Fan fiction|fan-fiction}} with ''Redwall'' and ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}''.

Redwall was also referenced in [[1688: Map Age Guide]] and [[1722: Debugging]].

==Transcript==
:Notes from reading Redwall books for the first time since childhood.

:Some of this feels familiar.
:Aragorn: Hi, I'm Aragorn.
:Martin: I'm Martin.
:Aragorn and Martin: I'm here to reforge my broken sword so I can lead an army against the tyrant threatening my people. I live in a world of moral absolutes and racist undertones.
:Martin: Jinx!

:It startled me when characters mentioned Satan.
:Redwall: "By Satan's whiskers..."
:Redwall mentions God/Jesus 0 times.
:Redwall mentions Satan/The Devil 4 times.
:(Harry Potter protesters, take note.)

:Even as a kid this bothered me: Why does everyone leave critical secret messages as simple riddles? It's silly to assume the intended recipient will be the only one to find and solve them. I would do things differently.
:Matthias: The inscription is a message from Martin!
:Brother Methuselah: What does it say?
:Matthias: Hang on, it's encrypted with my public key.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Bar charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]
[[Category:Redwall]]

1891: Obsolete Technology

2022-05-21T01:02:41Z

172.68.210.47: Undo revision 270753 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1891
| date = September 18, 2017
| title = Obsolete Technology
| image = obsolete_technology.png
| titletext = And I can't believe some places still use fax machines. The electrical signals waste so much time going AROUND the Earth when neutrino beams can go straight through!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic mocks people who criticize an industry for using obsolete technology, even when said technology is sufficient for the task at hand. The claim often comes with the implication that those in charge of the industry are behind the times and cannot adapt to the cutting edge. What these critics often fail to realize is that there are cost benefits to sticking with "obsolete" infrastructure, and that upgrading to the newest tech can introduce unwanted side effects and other risks.

Here, [[Ponytail]] acts as one such critic, complaining that the business is taking "forever" to get with the times. [[Megan]] uses sarcasm to deliver her counterargument: despite the advent of nuclear weapons, fireworks use the ancient technology of {{w|gunpowder}} (invented in the 9th century), because fireworks are used by civilians for celebratory purposes and should have as few lethal side effects as possible.

As they use gunpowder, fireworks do claim a handful of lives and cause thousands of injuries each year due to improper handling procedures; between June 18th and July 18th of 2016 (thus including the {{w|Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day}} celebrations on July 4th), fireworks caused an estimated 11,000 injuries, of which 7,000 had to be treated in hospitals. In the whole year of 2016, four people died ([http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/06/30/456213.htm U.S. stats]). Nuclear explosions, meanwhile, have "detrimental effects" {{citation needed}} on human health in the same way sledgehammers have "detrimental effects" {{citation needed}} to chicken eggs. For example, should a nuclear explosion at a firework display be too powerful, the spectators, and possibly the neighborhood around the display, would be vaporized instantly. Fallout from a nuclear reaction could spread radiation across a wide area, leading to increased risks of cancers and other detrimental{{citation needed}} genetic mutations.

In other words, sometimes using newer technology is "overkill" for the purpose, and it might be costlier to switch to a newer technology. For example, many industrial machines were designed and sold in the 1990s when {{w|floppy disk}}s were the prevalent means of storing the instructions, but those machines still have one or two or even more decades of usable lifetime left, and the instruction files still fit on those floppy disks. So, in 2017, there are several companies that thrive on buying, refurbishing and selling floppy disks. This [https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/why-do-floppy-disks-still-exist-the-world-isnt-ready-to-move-on/ report] portrays one of these companies.

{{w|MS-DOS}} is a computer operating system made by {{w|Microsoft}} that was dominant during much of the 1980s. When Microsoft released the Windows line of operating systems, they encouraged people to switch to the new platform, which many did. MS-DOS became essentially obsolete when Microsoft released {{w|Windows 95}} in 1995. However, there remain rare circumstances in which MS-DOS (or another command-line operating system) is still preferred, such as when no mouse, touchscreen, or other pointing hardware is available, or when the hardware does not support a newer operating system. To make matters simpler, there is {{w|DOSBox}}, a free and open-source MS-DOS emulator which is actively maintained and extended. Likewise, {{w|FreeDOS}} is a free and open-source operating system designed to run on both older and newer computers which is compatible with programs written for MS-DOS.

The title text uses a different twist, criticizing the current use of {{w|fax}} machines. In many respects, faxing is obsolete compared to e-mail; it supports only black-and-white images, it complicates the process of modifying sent text by rendering it as images, it consumes the recipient's paper and toner and, in some countries, requires the recipient to pay a fee. Fax machines are a peculiar topic among "obsolete" technology; in some fields, like lawyer offices, pharmacies and medical practices, they staunchly hold their ground, as they offer a way to quickly transfer handwritten and hand-signed documents. Confidentiality is also an issue; fax, which uses a landline, is more difficult to intercept than internet-based traffic. In some countries, a telecopy is a valid document, having the same legal value as the original. A patient can thus call their doctor to fill a prescription, which is faxed to the pharmacy where the patient can fetch their drugs, saving precious time. In the same manner, a legal request can be sent to the receiver, without having to use a courier or express mail.

But rather than argue on any of the above points, the title text instead claims that faxing is obsolete due to being electron-based, while {{w|neutrino}}-based communication would be faster. In 2017, neutrino detectors are heavy and expensive, used for nuclear research only. Electronic communications travel at a fair share of the speed of light and the advantage of path would be at most a factor of π/2, so neutrino-based communication would normally be far too expensive compared to the speed gain. Even in the most extreme case (communicating between {{w|antipodes}}), the time saved would be a few hundredths of a second – insignificant for almost all purposes, but potentially enough to gain an edge in {{w|high-frequency trading}}, as suggested in a [https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2012/04/30/neutrinos-to-give-high-frequency-traders-the-millisecond-edge/#25d0ba7a590c 2012 ''Forbes'' article.] Real-world fax detractors would rather replace it with other electronic communication systems, not neutrinic ones.

==Transcript==

:[Ponytail sits in front of an old computer. Megan stands behind her.]
:Ponytail: Whoa, this is running MS-DOS! It's weird how new technology takes forever to reach some industries.
:Megan: Yeah. Like how we still use gunpowder for fireworks, even though we've had nuclear weapons for over 70 years.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]

1832: Photo Library Management

2022-05-21T00:47:46Z

172.68.210.47: Undo revision 270740 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1832
| date = May 3, 2017
| title = Photo Library Management
| image = photo_library_management.png
| titletext = A good lifehack is to use messy and unstable systems to organize your photos. That way, every five years or so it becomes obsolete and/or collapses, and you have to open it up and pick only your favorite pictures to salvage.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is about the results of how many photos one takes. It is a graph showing multiple areas corresponding to the number of photos taken per day by a user and the total time spent reviewing them.

The comic is split into 6 sectors as described below:
{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!Caption
!Explanation
|-
| Left sector / Low Amount of Photos Taken, more than a little amount of time to sort
| No problems
| With only a few photos to sort, and lots of time to do so, Randall is able to maintain his photo library efficiently.
|-
| Bottom sector / Area under line increasing where more time is spent as more photos are taken
| Can't find the good photos among the thousands of bad ones
| The amount of photos being taken is too high for Randall to adequately sort in the small amount of time he has.
|-
| Top sector / Area above line of negative gradient, as number of photos increases and time decreases
| Can't sleep, too busy sifting through photos to find the best ones
| Randall has taken too many photos, but has dedicated the time to sorting them. As a result, he is lacking sleep through his determination to complete the task.
|-
| Middle sector / Area in between both side lines, after No Problems but before cloud storage
| Photo library fits on most devices as long as they're not too old
| Randall takes quite a few photos, but still enough to fit on a more modern hard drive.
|-
| Middle-right sector / Area in between both side lines, after 'not too old' but before 'Moore's Law'
| Need cloud storage, external hard drives, or frequent upgrades
| Randall takes so many photos that he needs more storage than is on his computer to hold them.
|-
| Right sector / Area after 'cloud storage', going off until the two side lines meet
| Photo library grows faster than Moore's Law
| {{w|Moore's Law}} is a law that states that technology will keep getting better exponentially. However, Randall's photos take up so much space that even Moore's law can't catch up to the number of photos stored.
|}

As Randall goes through more photos, he finds more bad ones, erases them and more storage becomes available. This allows taking more photos and still don't exceed the limits of the quota. This is why the "secondary" lines (e.g between the different storage types) are not completely vertical but tilted to the right at the top.

The title text states "A good lifehack is to use messy and unstable systems to organize your photos. That way, every five years or so it becomes obsolete and/or collapses, and you have to open it up and pick only your favorite pictures to salvage." If you know that you will lose everything, that knowledge will encourage you to save what you want the most and leave everything else. It will also help decrease how many photos you have through the same awareness.

==Transcript==
:[A line graph is shown. The x-axis is labeled "Photos taken per day" and the y-axis is labeled "Time spent going through photos per day". The content is divided into six sections:]

:[Section 1: Few photos taken per day, no limit to time spent:]
:"No problems"
:[Section 2: Some photos taken per day, a limited amount of time spent going through:]
:"Photo library fits on most devices as long as they're not too old"
:[Section 3: More photos taken per day, less time spent going through:]
:"Need cloud storage, external hard drive, or frequent upgrades"
:[Section 4: A lot of photos taken per day, and even less time spent going through:]
:"Photo library grows faster than Moore's Law"
:[Section 5: Above line increasing where more time is spent as more photos are taken:]
:"Can't find the good photos among the thousands of bad ones"
:[Section 6: Below line of negative gradient, as number of photos increases and time decreases:]
:"Can't sleep, too busy sifting through photos to find the best one"

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Line graphs]]

2614: 2

2022-05-04T01:20:42Z

172.68.210.47: Reworded the "help" message banner to not encourage wasted time.

<div style="display: none">crap crap </div><noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2". For comic #2, see [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]].''</noinclude>
{{notice|'''WARNING:''' The vast majority of ExplainXKCD's pages are currently vandalized, with one user running a vandalizing script. {{#expr: {{LATESTCOMIC}} - {{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}}}} out of {{LATESTCOMIC}} ({{#expr: 100 - ({{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}} / {{LATESTCOMIC}} * 100 round 0)}}%) are vandalized, leaving only {{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}} ({{#expr: ({{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}} / {{LATESTCOMIC}} * 100 round 0)}}%). (Admins, are you there?) ''Users:'' You can help combat this! Visit the discussion [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Vandalism|HERE]] to learn how.}}
{{comic
| number = 2614
| date = May 2, 2022
| title = 2
| image = 2.png
| titletext = It's like sigma summation notation, except instead of summing the argument over all values of i, you 2 the argument over all values of 2.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A VERY JEALOUS NUMBER ₃½ⁿ₇₇₇ⅥⅣ₆⁸⁴⁴½⅔⅜ↆ↉↉∂, WHO DEMANDS TO HAVE THEIR OWN WEBCOMIC NEXT - Please change this comment when editing this page. The titletext needs to be worked in there, but I think I got everything else in some sort of order, pending general improvements. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This demonstrates the different ways in which the number 2 can be typeset in various scientific fields. Whilst these typefaces are used with any number, using the number 2 in this instance provides a clear illustration of where adding numbers can signify either a feature of a concept (such as the number of electrons in an atom) or a mathematical operation on it (such as raising a value to it's second power).

The dotted box represents any character (presumably a letter or bigram of letters). All the other notation consists only of the digit 2, in various fashions with occasional additional punctuation, and labelled as to what the 'purpose' might normally be of any particular element(s) as indicated, with respect to the general term, in the following fashions:
;Regular Math
:Precedes the term. "2x" indicates two times the value of ''x'' in normal {{w|algebra|algebraic}} use that should be familiar for many people. {{Citation needed}}
;Physics
:A preceding superscript. "2H" would indicate the particular {{w|isotope}} of Hydrogen with the atomic weight of two, i.e. deuterium, which is most often encountered when working with the atomic level of matter where the total number of neutrons and protons in the atom is important. It can also represent tetration, which is iterated exponentiation.
;Chemical Physics
:A preceding subscript, "2He" indicates the atomic number of an atom, which is the number of protons it contains, and thus a guide to the number of electrons its unionised form usually has and hence meaningful in its potential chemical interactions with other atoms. This should be invariant for any particular named element, but is usually given simultaneously with the presuperscripted mass number where it can be indicative of the applicable nuclear physics. {{w|Chemical Physics}} is a subdiscipline of physics and chemistry and **must never** be confused with {{w|Physical Chemistry}}. It can also represent pentation, which is iterated tetration.
;Regular Math or Footnotes
:A trailing superscript is typical of a {{w|Exponentiation|power value}}, in this case "x²" would be ''x'' multiplied by a second copy of itself, and a fairly typical mathematical standard.
:Additionally, superscripted numbers are one common way to mark words in a line of text in a way to refer to a {{w|Note (typography)|footnote}}, typically placed at the bottom of the page, with additional information that would not be appropriate or easily comprehendable to edit into the main text itself. The ambiguity between footnotes and exponents was used in [[1184: Circumference Formula]]
;Chemistry
:A trailing subscript is used in chemistry to indicate a multiple of the element (or group of elements, in brackets) in a {{w|chemical formula}}. "H2O" indicates two hydrogen atoms bond with a single oxygen atom in a molecule of water.
;Matrices! ("2,2")
:Extending the trailing subscript with a comma-separated value usually indicates a multidimensional array (e.g. establishing a 2-by-2 square of numbers, or this particular position in such an array), which is in the realms of {{w|Matrix (mathematics)|matrix mathematics}}. This is a little bit beyond 'everyday algebra' for many people, as seemingly indicated by the exclamation of the mere mention of matrices!
;The Physicists Are At It Again ("2;2")
:This label encompasses a mark that turns the prior comma into a semicolon, as part of the trailing subscript. This is a common notation for the {{w|Covariant derivative}} of a tensor field, which is commonly used in the mathematics of general relativity.
;Either High School Math Function or Incomprehensible Group Theory
:The number 2 in parentheses that follow a term would normally be the argument to a {{w|Function (mathematics)|function}}, e.g. "f(2)", which means that you should take the value (in this case 2) and find the result if manipulated by the predefined function ''f''. It is generally taught as part of algebraic mathematics already described, i.e. at {{w|Secondary school|High School}}.
:In {{w|group theory}}, however, the number 2 in parentheses could indicate a cyclic subgroup or ideal generated by two or a special case of cycle notation for elements of symmetry groups used to mean an element that keeps 2 fixed. This may be somewhat beyond high-school level.{{citation needed}}
;Oh no. Whatever this is, it's cursed.
:A symbol centered underneath another symbol is normally reserved for doing summations, where the big symbol is Σ, or some other operation applied to a sequence of numbers.
:It does not make sense to have a single number there, as indicated in the alt text. As with [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems|other things]] in Randall's comic universe, the explanation for this particular anomaly is that it is 'Cursed'. The usage mentioned in the alt text is an operation (Σ, summation) over a variable usually indicated by a letter such as i, where the operation is performed over all values of the variable, i.e. you Σ the argument over all values of i. In the "2" case, the alt text says you "you 2 the argument over all values of 2", i.e. the Σ operation has been replaced by the "2" operation and the i variable has been replaced by the "2" variable. 2 is usually not an operation, though the definition of 2 under {{w|Church_encoding#Church_numerals|church encoding}} is a function that takes in and produces functions. However, 2 is not a variable (and definitely not both at the same time).
:: Things being cursed is a common trope within recent XKCD comics which have mentioned items including [[2332:_Cursed_Chair|Cursed chairs]] and [[Category:Cursed_Connectors]]. This notation is one of the few occasions where the supernatural have demonstrable implications on science and mathematics for those foolhardy enough to use it.

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

:[An apparent generalisation of a scientific expression consisting of a dotted rectangular 'box' outline, left empty, and various commonly-themed symbology around it:]

:[as normal text, to the left of all the rest:] 2
:[superscript to the immediate left of the box:] 2
:[subscript also to the immediate left of the box:] 2
:[superscript to the immediate right of the box:] 2
:[subscript also to the immediate right of the box:] 2;2 [i.e. separated by a semicolon]
:[as normal text, to the right of almost all the rest:] (2) [i.e. enclosed in standard parentheses]
:[smaller subscript, centered immediately beneath the 2 within the parentheses:] 2

:[Further details are drawn in grey tone, around or near various of the elements of the expression:]
;[Captions above the numbers]
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftmost 2:] Regular Math
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftwards superscript 2:] Physics
:[with an arrow pointing to the rightwards superscript 2:] Regular math or footnotes
:[with an arrow pointing to the parenthetical 2 at the right:] Either high school math functions or incomprehensible group theory

;[Captions below the numbers]
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftwards subscript 2:] Chemical Physics
:[with an arrow pointing to just the rightwards subscript 2:] Chemistry
:[with an arrow pointing to a distorted grey ring snaking around only the comma of the semicolon and the following 2 of the rightmost subscript:] Matrices!
:[with an arrow pointing to a larger grey ring that passes fully around the whole semicolon and final 2 of the rightmost subscript:] The physicists are at it again
:[with an arrow pointing to the small 2 placed below the parenthetical 2:] Oh no. Whatever this is, it's cursed.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cursed Items]]