explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3097: Bridge Types

2025-06-03T06:56:41Z

172.68.22.75:

{{comic
| number = 3097
| date = June 2, 2025
| title = Bridge Types
| image = bridge_types_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x581px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Pontoon bridges are just linear open-sided waterbeds.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was recently created by a RAINBOW BRIDGE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic shows, in a four-by-four grid of images, a series of bridge types. The first two rows of images are of authentic bridges, whereas those in the last two rows are progressively more absurd. The joke lies in the progression of bridge types from simple to realistically complex to totally bogus.

{| class="wikitable"
!Label
!Status
!Type
!Notes
|-
|Plank
|Real
|{{w|Timber_bridge|Timber Bridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Rope
|Real
|{{w|Simple_suspension_bridge|Simple suspension bridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Truss
|Real
|{{w|Truss_bridge|Truss bridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Trestle
|Real
|{{w|Trestle_bridge|Trestle bridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Arch
|Real
|{{w|Arch_bridge|Arch bridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Suspended Arch
|Real
|{{w|Tied-arch_bridge|Tied-arch bridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Draw
|Real
|{{w|Drawbridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Suspension
|Real
|{{w|Suspension_bridge|Suspension bridge}}
|TBD
|-
|Filler
|Real (Absurd Name)
|{{w|Causeway}}
|Searches on "filler bridge" call up various forms of {{w|Rhinoplasty|rhinoplasty}}, or "nose jobs". The pun may or may not be intentional.
|-
|Budget Overrun
|Real (Absurd Name)
|{{w|Cable-stayed_bridge|Cable-stayed bridge}}
|The cable-stayed {{w|Leonard_P._Zakim_Bunker_Hill_Memorial_Bridge|Zakim Bridge}} over the Charles River in downtown Boston is one of the most conspicuous elements of Boston's {{w|Big_Dig|"Big Dig"}} project, which was notorious for cost overruns. Randall M. lives in the Boston area, and his familiarity with the Zakim Bridge and the Big Dig might have inspired this panel.
|-
|Jump
|Not Real
|N/A
|TBD
|-
|Halfhearted
|Not Real
|N/A
|Also known as the "Google Earth Bridge".
|-
|Waterbed
|Not Real
|N/A
|TBD
|-
|L'Engle
|Not Real
|[https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/03/192728/tesseract-definition-wrinkle-in-time-space-dimension Tesseract AWIT]
|References {{w|A Wrinkle In Time}} by Madeleine L'Engle. Characters cross great distances by "tessering", moving via a tesseract through a higher dimension which essentially brings the two ends of the journey together from the perspective of the traveler. The image shows the two ends of the gap being brought together, with the gap apparently crumpled in between them.
|-
|Fun
|Not Real
|
|TBD
|-
|Repurposed Elevator
|Not Real
|
|TBD
|}

The title text humorously insists that a real {{w|Pontoon_bridge|pontoon bridge}} is a concatenation of fictitious "waterbed bridges".
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

3095: Archaea

2025-05-29T03:56:50Z

172.68.22.75:

{{comic
| number = 3095
| date = May 28, 2025
| title = Archaea
| image = archaea_2x.png
| imagesize = 404x412px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Under the two-domain system, anyone who punches you is technically an Archaean pathogen.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an Archean pathogen. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
{{w|Archaea}} is one of the three main lineages (domains) of free-living lifeforms. The other two are {{w|Bacteria}} and {{w|Eukaryote|Eukaryota}}. Organisms within Archaea and Bacteria are {{w|Prokaryote|prokaryotes}}, and were treated as a single domain until the Archaea were split off in the 1970s.

The bacterial and eukaryotic domains each contain numerous species that cause human disease (are pathogens). However, to date, no species of Archaea has been unequivocally shown to be a human pathogen. Whether such pathogens exist, and why, even if they do, they are rare and have low impact, are [https://microbiologysociety.org/blog/why-dont-archaea-cause-disease.html matters of debate].

The joke in this comic is that one or more strains of Archaea, being cultivated in a laboratory, have overheard a conversation among three human scientists (represented by Cueball, Megan, and White Hat), have taken offense at Megan's disparaging comments, and have resolved to become human pathogens. The caption reports this as "bad news" for humanity. Most of the species of Archaea that were known at the time that the domain was recognized, and for some time thereafter, were {{w|Methanogen|methanogens}}, cells that require anaerobic conditions for life and emit methane as a byproduct. Such cells are common in the guts of humans and other animals, therefore have proximity to human cells and opportunity to infect them - hence (the inappropriate anthropomorphism aside) their indignance at Megan's comment. Archaea are now known from many different environments, including aerobic ones, so do not have the limited metabolic options that one might assume that they do from Megan's statement.

The title text alludes to the hypothesis that the domain Eukaryota arose from within the domain Archaea, allowing for a two-domain classification system comprising Bacteria and Eukaryota-plus-Archaea. Therefore, a human attacker of another human can be considered both a pathogen and an archaeon (the term being understood to mean "Archaea plus Eukaryota"). The irony here is that, under the nomenclatural principle of priority, Eukaryota, being named first, has precedence over Archaea, and its use in this sentence would be technically incorrect. That, though, would spoil the joke.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Cueball, Megan, and White Hat are standing in a lab in front of a root-like phylogeny diagram]
:Cueball: It's weird how, despite being one of the main branches of the tree of life, no Archaea species are known to cause disease in humans.
:Megan: Personally, I think it's because those gross methane breathers are too weird and incompetent to figure out how to hurt us even if they wanted to.
:Archaea sample: Hey!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Bad news: After overhearing a conversation in our lab, Archaea has finally started harming humans.
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3086: Globe Safety

2025-05-08T23:52:12Z

172.68.22.75: Why 12 inches - what changes at that density?

Hello! First time i got to a comic first --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.176.76|172.69.176.76]] 06:17, 8 May 2025 (UTC){{unsigned ip|104.23.175.202}}
:Well [[269: TCM|first of all]] remember to sign your comments :-). But congratz... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
::Sorry. I now realize that that was an extremely trollish thing to do. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.140|172.70.92.140]] 07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC) ٠ـ٠
:: Also i MAY OR MAY NOT have permanently altered the editing process of this talk by including arabic numbers in an emoticon.{{unsigned ip|172.70.92.140|07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}

I believe he indicates that a globe is made by making a copy of the Earth, and then compressing it until it fits on a desktop. Hence having the same mass and thus the same Schwarzschild radius as Earth. I have changed the explanation a bit because of this observation.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Gotta wonder what kind of a desk could support a desktop globe that weighs as much as the Earth --[[User:StumbleRunner|StumbleRunner]]
:[...] desk? Convince me that such a globe wouldn't plunge straight through the Earth's crust and into the mantle. I sense a marketing problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 07:07, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Radius. <s>Is there a typo in the comic where 7/10" should be 7/20", i.e., 0.35" as later written? Or would a 7/10" Earth collapse into a black hole nonetheless?</s>[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.129|172.71.154.129]] 06:40, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
:Nope… the Schwarzchild radius is 0.35", which is indeed 7/20", but the measurement shown on the globe is the diameter, not the radius, so 7/10" is correct. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.143|172.71.178.143]] 06:49, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Isn't there also a jab at the weird way USsians use power-of-two fractions for inch measurements? I've never seen something like 7/10" before, it would be approximated as 11/16".[[Special:Contributions/172.71.95.69|172.71.95.69]] 09:18, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
: It isn't a weird USian thing - it's just the historical way that inches (being a non-metric unit) were divided. The same way that an inch is a 1/12 division of a foot, which is a 1/3 division of a yard, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 10:23, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

I think we have a bigger problem: there are millions of globes on Earth! I haven't done the calculations, but that might be enough to turn Earth into a black hole already; if not, I expect at least it would turn it into a star. --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.34|104.23.190.34]] 11:44, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

BTW. what would be a 12-inch object with a mass of Earth? Neutron star? Neutron planet? Neutron meteoroid? -- 12:46, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
: Crunching the numbers (thanks to Copilot.microsoft.com):
:* A sphere with a 30 cm radius has a volume of about 1.13×10-2 m³.
:* Compressing Earth's mass into that volume gives a density of roughly 5.3×1028 g/cm³.
: That is way way denser than a neutron star. It's doubtful that such a sphere would remain at that density; it would likely explode immediately, or if prevented from doing so, continue to shrink down past 9mm and become a black hole. {{unsigned ip|172.70.110.59|13:26, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}

'''False precision: .889 cm?''' Could someone please check "0.35 inches (0.889 cm)"? I'm concerned that this is a matter of {{w|false precision}}, with two significant digits for the customary / imperial system precisely converting to three significant digits in SI (similar to the way people obsess over 98'''.6'''F, which is a precise conversion of the estimate of 37C.). Also, I'd suggest that millimeters are preferable to centimeters. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.170.118|104.23.170.118]] 14:11, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

2 × 6.6738×10^−11 m^3⋅kg^−1⋅s^−2 × 5.972168×10^24 kg / (299792458 m⋅s^−1)2 = 0.00887 m , so the current 8.9mm looks good. [[User:Nosh|Nosh]] ([[User talk:Nosh|talk]]) 19:16, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Why are globes over 12 inches safer than those less than 12 inches? The density calculation above seems to indicate that an earth mass object of 12 inch diameter is much denser than a neutron star. (Of course that calculation was done with an AI - so may not be right.) I did a little searching for things denser than neutron stars - didn't find much. So what is special about 12 inches that makes earth mass things of that size change in safety regime [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]]

3079: Air Fact

2025-04-22T01:09:58Z

172.68.22.75: /* Explanation */ example of typical concentrations of microbes in air

{{comic
| number = 3079
| date = April 21, 2025
| title = Air Fact
| image = air_fact_2x.png
| imagesize = 250x394px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Wow, that must be why you swallow so many of them per year!' 'No, that's spiders. You swallow WAY more ants.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a MICROSCOPIC ANT and contains only microscopic text. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
Microbiologist [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that every cubic meter of air contains thousands of microscopic ants. This is a tall tale. Adult workers in some species of the genus {{w|Carebara|Carebara}}, the [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/341603-smallest-ant-species smallest known ants], can be 0.8 millimeters long, just below the 1.0 mm upper bound of [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/497-the-microscopic-scale what some consider "microscopic"]. It is therefore possible for an air sample to contain microscopic ants. However, given the subterranean, cryptic habitats typical of Carebara species, it is highly unlikely that these ants would appear in ''any'', never mind ''every'', air sample.

Initially incredulous, Cueball accepts Megan's fib as a fact, because he doesn't have any easy way to assess what samples of air contain.

Air contains many microscopic particles, including minerals, plastics, combustion products, salt, water, pollen, spores, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. There are indeed microorganisms floating in the air, and getting air samples that will allow these microorganisms to be identified and quantified is indeed hard. [https://www.btpm.org/health-wellness/2018-05-23/allergy-season-is-back-but-how-do-we-know-whats-in-the-air Methods, with specialized collecting devices, exist] that take (one hopes) known volumes of air and deposit the particles contained in that air onto sticky surfaces which are then viewed under the microscope, or onto culture media which are then incubated. The methods are time-consuming and dependent on specialized knowledge (e.g., the identification of pollen grains or spores by surface features under the microscope), and are subject to numerous biases. For example, "sticky surface" methods will likely miss bacteria, and fail to identify 'nondescript' objects, whereas culture-based methods will not detect anything that will not grow on the selected medium. The joke is that microbiologists are tempted to make up stories about what's in the air, because most people lack the data or skills to fact-check the stories.

Micro particle concentration in air varies considerably; 100 to 100,000 bacteria per cubic meter, and 100 to 1000 fungal spores per cubic meter are typical. In the comic, Megan may have sampled a 100 cubic centimeter (0.1 liter) space of air and found 1 microbe (e.g., a bacterium, a mold spore, a protozoan cyst) in it. If she assumed that this was a representative sample, Megan could extrapolate from this datum to say that there are 10,000 microbes (which she then calls "ants") for every 1 cubic meter (1,000,000 cubic centimeters or 1000 liters). [[Randall]] has made numerous [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Extrapolation comics about dubious extrapolations], but in this case, Megan's number is [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4515362/ within the range of microbial counts] that have been made in various indoor and outdoor environments.

The title text refers to the commonly believed myth that [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66319172 people swallow 8 spiders a year in their sleep]. Though oft quoted, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-people-swallow-8-spiders-a-year-while-they-sleep1/ it has no basis in fact], and was actually [https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/ made up] to see if people would repeat the rumor without checking the original source. Bona fide ants, microscopic or otherwise, would be no more likely to enter a human's mouth than spiders, whereas Megan's "ants" (microbes) would wind up in the lungs, not the stomach, where (one hopes) the immune system would take care of them.

==Transcript==
:[Megan, with her palm out, is talking to Cueball.]
:Megan: Did you know that every cubic meter of air contains over 10,000 microscopic ants?
:Cueball: Wow, really?
:Cueball: I had no idea.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The fact that taking air samples is hard presents microbiologists with a constant temptation.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Ants]]
[[Category:Spiders]]

Talk:3074: Push Notifications

2025-04-09T20:35:31Z

172.68.22.75:

So...this is the April Fool's comic, if I'm not mistaken... Oh ye of little faith! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.106|172.71.26.106]] 20:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

I turned this on thinking it would just be a few every so often but I quickly realized how this is xkcd and it doesn't "joke". I had to turn this off because it disrupted my schoolwork by popping up every fricking 5 minutes

What the heck are the "Zoom Notification" ones, with just a pair of numbers? Now that I've been sitting with this for a little bit, they're by far the most common notifications, and the most mysterious. What is "zoom"ing or should be zoomed-in-on or whatever, and what do the two numbers signify? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]] 20:35, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

3073: Tariffs

2025-04-08T00:59:01Z

172.68.22.75: /* Explanation */ date

{{comic
| number = 3073
| date = April 7, 2025
| title = Tariffs
| image = tariffs_2x.png
| imagesize = 681x809px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRADE DEFICIT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Similar to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]], Ponytail blocked news sites to avoid spoilers about ''Avatar 2'' (officially titled ''{{w|Avatar: The Way of Water}}'') in early 2021, but did not re-enable notifications until just now. ''Avatar 2'' was released on December 16, 2022, but this means that she has missed all news since 2021, including the re-election of {{w|Donald Trump}} in 2024.

This comic is a parody of {{w|tariffs in the second Trump administration|the tariffs that Trump imposed in 2025}}, which were announced shortly before the comic's release. [[Cueball]] describes that [[Ponytail]] has a trade deficit with a pizza store.

A trade deficit occurs when party A buys more from party B than they sell to party B. As Ponytail explains, there is nothing wrong with having a trade deficit if you think you are getting your money's worth for what you are buying. Donald Trump, the president of the United States at the time the comic released, claimed that if the U.S. has a trade deficit with another country, then the U.S. is getting ripped off and the other country must be punished. In the comic, Cueball mockingly echoes Trump's belief.

A tariff is a tax on imports from another country. Donald Trump introduced tariffs to punish countries with which the United States had a trade deficit. In the comic, Cueball proposes that Ponytail impose a tax or "tariff" on the pizza store until they start buying from Ponytail. Ponytail notes that such a tariff might encourage the pizza store to stop selling to her, which Cueball considers a victory.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.I don’t like reCAPTCHAS}}
:[Ponytail walks over to Cueball with a phone in her hand. Cueball turns away from his desk to look at her.]
:Ponytail: You know how I blocked all news sites at the start of 2021 to avoid spoilers for Avatar 2, and then forgot to start checking them again?
:Cueball: Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to you about that...

:[Ponytail stops in front of Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Well, I just checked the news for the first time, and why is the economy tanking?
:Cueball: Uh, the president is mad at other countries and imposed lots of tariffs.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wait, who's the president now?
:Cueball: Donald Trump.
:Ponytal: ...Still??
:Cueball: No, again.

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, fine, what's a tariff? Why is he doing this?
:Cueball: You know that pizzeria your company orders from? They don't buy anything from you, right?
:Ponytail: Why would they? We do geotechnical landscape surveys.

:[Closeup on Cueball, arms spread.]
:Cueball: Right, so they're ripping you off! ''You're'' paying ''them'' tons of money, and what are ''you'' getting for it?
:Ponytail (off-screen): I mean... pizza?
:Cueball: See? They're not helping ''your'' business at all!
:Cueball: What a ripoff!

:[Pan out. Ponytail has her hand under her chin.]
:Ponytail: What would they even buy from us? I guess we could survey a pizza...
:Cueball: Yes, perfect! You refuse to let the delivery driver past your security desk unless they Venmo you for an equivalent value of LIDAR scans.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wouldn't they just stop taking our orders?
:Cueball (off-screen): Perfect, balance restored!

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, but I still want pizza.
:Cueball: Can you just make one? You have all that gear.
:Ponytail: I don't think pizza made with LIDAR diodes would be very good.
:Cueball: Ugh, why is everyone so picky about toppings?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Geology]]

3073: Tariffs

2025-04-08T00:54:47Z

172.68.22.75: /* Transcript */ DT

{{comic
| number = 3073
| date = April 7, 2025
| title = Tariffs
| image = tariffs_2x.png
| imagesize = 681x809px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRADE DEFICIT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Similar to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]], Ponytail blocked news sites to avoid spoilers about ''Avatar 2'' (officially titled ''{{w|Avatar: The Way of Water}}'') in 2021, but has not re-enabled notifications. This means that she missed all news since 2021, including the re-election of {{w|Donald Trump}} in 2024.

This comic is a parody of {{w|tariffs in the second Trump administration|the tariffs that Trump imposed in 2025}}, which were announced shortly before the comic's release. [[Cueball]] describes that [[Ponytail]] has a trade deficit with a pizza store.

A trade deficit occurs when party A buys more from party B than they sell to party B. As Ponytail explains, there is nothing wrong with having a trade deficit if you think you are getting your money's worth for what you are buying. Donald Trump, the president of the United States at the time the comic released, claimed that if the U.S. has a trade deficit with another country, then the U.S. is getting ripped off and the other country must be punished. In the comic, Cueball mockingly echoes Trump's belief.

A tariff is a tax on imports from another country. Donald Trump introduced tariffs to punish countries with which the United States had a trade deficit. In the comic, Cueball proposes that Ponytail impose a tariff on the pizza store until they start buying from Ponytail.

Ponytail notes that such a tariff might encourage the pizza store to stop selling to her, which Cueball considers a victory.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.I don’t like reCAPTCHAS}}
:[Ponytail walks over to Cueball with a phone in her hand. Cueball turns away from his desk to look at her.]
:Ponytail: You know how I blocked all news sites at the start of 2021 to avoid spoilers for Avatar 2, and then forgot to start checking them again?
:Cueball: Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to you about that...

:[Ponytail stops in front of Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Well, I just checked the news for the first time, and why is the economy tanking?
:Cueball: Uh, the president is mad at other countries and imposed lots of tariffs.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wait, who's the president now?
:Cueball: Donald Trump.
:Ponytal: ...Still??
:Cueball: No, again.

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, fine, what's a tariff? Why is he doing this?
:Cueball: You know that pizzeria your company orders from? They don't buy anything from you, right?
:Ponytail: Why would they? We do geotechnical landscape surveys.

:[Closeup on Cueball, arms spread.]
:Cueball: Right, so they're ripping you off! ''You're'' paying ''them'' tons of money, and what are ''you'' getting for it?
:Ponytail (off-screen): I mean... pizza?
:Cueball: See? They're not helping ''your'' business at all!
:Cueball: What a ripoff!

:[Pan out. Ponytail has her hand under her chin.]
:Ponytail: What would they even buy from us? I guess we could survey a pizza...
:Cueball: Yes, perfect! You refuse to let the delivery driver past your security desk unless they Venmo you for an equivalent value of LIDAR scans.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wouldn't they just stop taking our orders?
:Cueball (off-screen): Perfect, balance restored!

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, but I still want pizza.
:Cueball: Can you just make one? You have all that gear.
:Ponytail: I don't think pizza made with LIDAR diodes would be very good.
:Cueball: Ugh, why is everyone so picky about toppings?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Geology]]

3073: Tariffs

2025-04-08T00:42:41Z

172.68.22.75: /* Explanation */ wlink

{{comic
| number = 3073
| date = April 7, 2025
| title = Tariffs
| image = tariffs_2x.png
| imagesize = 681x809px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRADE DEFICIT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Similar to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]], Ponytail blocked news sites to avoid spoilers about ''Avatar 2'' (officially titled ''{{w|Avatar: The Way of Water}}'') in 2021, but has not re-enabled notifications. This means that she missed all news since 2021, including the COVID vaccine and the re-election of Donald Trump.

This comic is a parody of {{w|tariffs in the second Trump administration}}, which were announced shortly before the comic's release. [[Cueball]] describes that [[Ponytail]] has a trade deficit with a pizza store.

A trade deficit occurs when party A buys more from party B than they sell to party B. As Ponytail explains, there is nothing wrong with having a trade deficit if you think you are getting your money's worth for what you are buying. Donald Trump, the president of the United States at the time the comic released, claimed that if the U.S. has a trade deficit with another country, then the U.S. is getting ripped off and the other country must be punished. In the comic, Cueball echoes Trump's belief.

A tariff is a tax on imports from another country. Donald Trump introduced tariffs to punish countries with which the United States had a trade deficit. In the comic, Cueball proposes that Ponytail impose a tariff on the pizza store until they start buying from Ponytail.

Ponytail notes that such a tariff might encourage the pizza store to stop selling to her, which Cueball considers a victory.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.I don’t like reCAPTCHAS}}
:[Ponytail walks over to Cueball with a phone in her hand. Cueball turns away from his desk to look at her.]
:Ponytail: You know how I blocked all news sites at the start of 2021 to avoid spoilers for Avatar 2, and then forgot to start checking them again?
:Cueball: Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to you about that...

:[Ponytail stops in front of Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Well, I just checked the news for the first time, and why is the economy tanking?
:Cueball: Uh, the president is mad at other countried and imposed a lot of tariffs.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wait, who's the president now?
:Cueball: Donald Trump.
:Ponytal: ...Still??
:Cueball: No, again.

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, fine, what's a tariff? Why is he doing this?
:Cueball: You know that pizzeria your comapny orders from? They don't buy anything from you, right?

:[Closeup on Cueball, arms spread.]
:Cueball: Right, so they're ripping you off! You're paying them tons of money, and what are you getting for it?
:Ponytail: I mean... pizza?
:Cueball: See? They're not helping your business at all!
:Cueball: What a ripoff!

:[Pan out. Ponytail has her hand under her chin.]
:Ponytail: What would they even buy from us? I guess we could survey a pizza...
:Cueball: Yes, perfect! You refuse to let the delivery driver past your security desk unless they venmo you for an equivalent value of LIDAR scans.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wouldn't they just stop taking our orders?
:Cueball: Perfect, balance restored!

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, but I still want pizza.
:Cueball: Can you just make one? You have all that gear.
:Ponytail: I don't think pizza made with lidar diodes would be very good.
:Cueball: Ugh, why is everyone so picky about toppings?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Food]]

3073: Tariffs

2025-04-08T00:41:44Z

172.68.22.75: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 3073
| date = April 7, 2025
| title = Tariffs
| image = tariffs_2x.png
| imagesize = 681x809px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRADE DEFICIT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Similar to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]], Ponytail blocked news sites to avoid spoilers about in ''Avatar 2'' in 2021, but has not re-enabled notifications. This means that she missed all news since 2021, including the COVID vaccine and the re-election of Donald Trump.

This comic is a parody of {{w|tariffs in the second Trump administration}}, which were announced shortly before the comic's release. [[Cueball]] describes that [[Ponytail]] has a trade deficit with a pizza store.

A trade deficit occurs when party A buys more from party B than they sell to party B. As Ponytail explains, there is nothing wrong with having a trade deficit if you think you are getting your money's worth for what you are buying. Donald Trump, the president of the United States at the time the comic released, claimed that if the U.S. has a trade deficit with another country, then the U.S. is getting ripped off and the other country must be punished. In the comic, Cueball echoes Trump's belief.

A tariff is a tax on imports from another country. Donald Trump introduced tariffs to punish countries with which the United States had a trade deficit. In the comic, Cueball proposes that Ponytail impose a tariff on the pizza store until they start buying from Ponytail.

Ponytail notes that such a tariff might encourage the pizza store to stop selling to her, which Cueball considers a victory.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.I don’t like reCAPTCHAS}}
:[Ponytail walks over to Cueball with a phone in her hand. Cueball turns away from his desk to look at her.]
:Ponytail: You know how I blocked all news sites at the start of 2021 to avoid spoilers for Avatar 2, and then forgot to start checking them again?
:Cueball: Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to you about that...

:[Ponytail stops in front of Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Well, I just checked the news for the first time, and why is the economy tanking?
:Cueball: Uh, the president is mad at other countried and imposed a lot of tariffs.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wait, who's the president now?
:Cueball: Donald Trump.
:Ponytal: ...Still??
:Cueball: No, again.

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, fine, what's a tariff? Why is he doing this?
:Cueball: You know that pizzeria your comapny orders from? They don't buy anything from you, right?

:[Closeup on Cueball, arms spread.]
:Cueball: Right, so they're ripping you off! You're paying them tons of money, and what are you getting for it?
:Ponytail: I mean... pizza?
:Cueball: See? They're not helping your business at all!
:Cueball: What a ripoff!

:[Pan out. Ponytail has her hand under her chin.]
:Ponytail: What would they even buy from us? I guess we could survey a pizza...
:Cueball: Yes, perfect! You refuse to let the delivery driver past your security desk unless they venmo you for an equivalent value of LIDAR scans.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wouldn't they just stop taking our orders?
:Cueball: Perfect, balance restored!

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, but I still want pizza.
:Cueball: Can you just make one? You have all that gear.
:Ponytail: I don't think pizza made with lidar diodes would be very good.
:Cueball: Ugh, why is everyone so picky about toppings?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Food]]

3073: Tariffs

2025-04-08T00:41:23Z

172.68.22.75: /* Explanation */ more

{{comic
| number = 3073
| date = April 7, 2025
| title = Tariffs
| image = tariffs_2x.png
| imagesize = 681x809px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRADE DEFICIT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Similar to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]], Ponytail blocked news sites to avoid spoilers about in ''Avatar 2'' in 2021, but has not re-enabled notifications. This means that she missed all news since 2021, including the COVID vaccine and the re-election of Donald Trump.

This comic is a parody of {{w|Tariffs in the second Trump administration}}, which were announced shortly before the comic's release. [[Cueball]] describes that [[Ponytail]] has a trade deficit with a pizza store.

A trade deficit occurs when party A buys more from party B than they sell to party B. As Ponytail explains, there is nothing wrong with having a trade deficit if you think you are getting your money's worth for what you are buying. Donald Trump, the president of the United States at the time the comic released, claimed that if the U.S. has a trade deficit with another country, then the U.S. is getting ripped off and the other country must be punished. In the comic, Cueball echoes Trump's belief.

A tariff is a tax on imports from another country. Donald Trump introduced tariffs to punish countries with which the United States had a trade deficit. In the comic, Cueball proposes that Ponytail impose a tariff on the pizza store until they start buying from Ponytail.

Ponytail notes that such a tariff might encourage the pizza store to stop selling to her, which Cueball considers a victory.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.I don’t like reCAPTCHAS}}
:[Ponytail walks over to Cueball with a phone in her hand. Cueball turns away from his desk to look at her.]
:Ponytail: You know how I blocked all news sites at the start of 2021 to avoid spoilers for Avatar 2, and then forgot to start checking them again?
:Cueball: Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to you about that...

:[Ponytail stops in front of Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Well, I just checked the news for the first time, and why is the economy tanking?
:Cueball: Uh, the president is mad at other countried and imposed a lot of tariffs.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wait, who's the president now?
:Cueball: Donald Trump.
:Ponytal: ...Still??
:Cueball: No, again.

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, fine, what's a tariff? Why is he doing this?
:Cueball: You know that pizzeria your comapny orders from? They don't buy anything from you, right?

:[Closeup on Cueball, arms spread.]
:Cueball: Right, so they're ripping you off! You're paying them tons of money, and what are you getting for it?
:Ponytail: I mean... pizza?
:Cueball: See? They're not helping your business at all!
:Cueball: What a ripoff!

:[Pan out. Ponytail has her hand under her chin.]
:Ponytail: What would they even buy from us? I guess we could survey a pizza...
:Cueball: Yes, perfect! You refuse to let the delivery driver past your security desk unless they venmo you for an equivalent value of LIDAR scans.

:[Closeup on Ponytail's head.]
:Ponytail: Wouldn't they just stop taking our orders?
:Cueball: Perfect, balance restored!

:[Pan out.]
:Ponytail: OK, but I still want pizza.
:Cueball: Can you just make one? You have all that gear.
:Ponytail: I don't think pizza made with lidar diodes would be very good.
:Cueball: Ugh, why is everyone so picky about toppings?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Food]]