explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2294: Coronavirus Charts

2020-04-16T02:53:02Z

172.68.54.106:

{{comic
| number = 2294
| date = April 15, 2020
| title = Coronavirus Charts
| image = coronavirus_charts.png
| titletext = Adding data for South Korea but with their cases scaled to match the population of Japan and the land area of Australia, and vice versa.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a poorly constructed graph. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
During the current outbreak of COVID-19, there have been many graphs used by health officials and others to show trends in infection and death rates.

This graph, however, while sharing similarities with actual data and graphs is completely useless. This is due to the bizarre data-points being used, as well as the unhelpful graph axes. The caption of the comic notes as much, perhaps indicating that this comic is intended to satirize the useful, but exceptionally detailed graphs that are currently in use. Some of these graphs have a semilog scale, like this graph - but generally the y-axis is the log scale and the x-axis is not. Sometimes the other graphs compare things of vastly different sizes - as demonstrated by showing both the USA and New York. Sometimes they scale the data to population, as referenced by the mouseover text.

'''Metrics used'''

X-axis:
*Negative test results: Negative test results would refer to people who were tested for COVID-19, but who do not have the disease (or were not able to confirm having the disease). Larger values for this number indicate that more of the population has been tested.
* per Google search for "COVID": Meanwhile, Google search results for "COVID" are search hits for that word. There is no relation between these two, and furthermore, it does not make sense for this to be graphed in a {{w|logarithmic scale}}.
* It's not clear what data points would allow you to chart one country over several values of x. Cumulative results at different times?

Y-axis:
*Coronavirus deaths today: The 24/7 news media spend a lot of time talking about daily numbers and day-over-day trends.
*Total cases one week ago: This is a much larger number than deaths and will completely dominate the sum. Cases one week ago might have some predictive value for deaths today or in the near future, but adding them together double-counts many cases.
*{{w|Per capita}}: This is a measure of the amount per person, and is useful for averaging out numbers based on population size. For example, the United States has the most COVID-19 cases and deaths, but also one of the largest populations in the world, so using per capita numbers tells a different story.

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

[A graph is drawn.]
:[A curve labeled "United States" starts about halfway up the vertical axis, rises almost to the top, and then levels off about a third of the way along the horizontal axis.]
:Y-axis label: Coronavirus deaths today plus total cases one week ago per capita
:X-axis label: Negative test results per Google search for "COVID" (log scale)
:Caption: I'm a huge fan of weird graphs, but even I admit some of these coronavirus charts are less than helpful.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]

Talk:1988: Containers

2018-05-04T10:51:44Z

172.68.54.106:

Pretty much a description of my social interactions ... [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 17:51, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
:Pretty much a description of all my "useful" programs. {{unsigned|Linker}}

I feel the thrust of this comic is partly “people use docker because they don’t know how to do things properly”; notably such people get tasks done easier and faster, but their work involves wasting a lot of computing reaources to do small tasks inside entire emulated systems. Agree? Disagree? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.153|162.158.62.153]] 18:59, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agree. --[[User:Joshupetersen|Joshupetersen]] ([[User talk:Joshupetersen|talk]]) 15:55, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agree! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.184|108.162.237.184]] 17:08, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

I don't know if its just docker, almost any time I've gone to build mobile anything the API needs new libraries, their "secure" connecting functions must be used, or some other blackbox MUST be /glued/ to my work. If I don't stay on top of every platform, this in and of itself is a head ache I can't imagine what it'd be like if I had to learn and comply with the content of these libraries. {{unsigned ip|172.69.90.40}}

When did any tablet with a browser not support <tt><nowiki><frame></nowiki></tt>s and <tt><nowiki><iframe></nowiki></tt>s? And for that matter why are docker containers with kubernetes better than server images with a load balancer? I asked one large-shop sysadmin who had transitioned to the former from the latter, and he said, "There really aren't many differences but I feel like I'm ready for microservices." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.52|172.68.34.52]] 22:50, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
:The issue as I see it is to get the two apps to both run simultaneously and appear side by side, which probably involves either writing code to control the window manager or getting the existing apps to output to an image that can be drawn on screen. I'm not a mobile developer, but my guess is that this would be quite difficult for a novice programmer.[[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 23:13, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

For some reason, this really, really, REALLY feels like it's a continuation of 1987. Agree? Disagree? Also, the 'wasting a lot of computing resources to do small tasks inside entire emulated systems' does not feel like valid criticism, since they are just walled-in processes sharing the same kernel (and everything below). Firing up full-blown separate VMs for things that could just as well run in containers is the real wasteful choice IMHO. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.70|162.158.238.70]] 07:29, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agree. 1987 shows how problematic Python can be due to its lack of a well thought out version control. How can you avoid this mess? Docker! It isn't the only way, but IMHO the most elegant solution. And yes, I have created docker containers where the sole purpose was to avoid contaminating an existing Python installation. [[User:Epsilon|Epsilon]] ([[User talk:Epsilon|talk]]) 05:12, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

The (en)light(ening)est (co)processes are started with fork() and exec(). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.52|172.68.34.52]] 22:20, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
: Don't get mobbed by the docker marketers! I guess a lot of people use Docker today, but to me the comic reads as a criticism. I feel the real joy of programming is diving deep into components to learn how they work and connecting them in the most elegant, efficient ways possible (real 'hacking'). Using scripts, macros, and containers does not demonstrate to me an understanding of the real function of the components being used, and working without this understanding is inevitably going to lead to unexpected behavior somewhere later (problems, bugs, vulnerabilities) because you don't really know what your pieces are doing. I think the push for people to ignore these things is causing a 'dumbing down' of software workers that we should resist. I think a great use of containers is security isolation or build environment testing ... not software design. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.106|172.68.54.106]] 10:51, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Is it worth adding that "achieved enlightenment" is probably a reference to http://www.thecodelesscode.com/?

The idea behind docker is that you do ''not'' glue together small code snippets. Whether from StackOverflow or elsewhere. What you are gluing together is in effect entire machines with software already installed. You normally don't know or care about any details finer than that. Not even which operating system the code was written for, which computer language it was written in, or whether the software has some odd and specific requirements about what else is installed on that machine. It is true that many programmers that copy snippets from StackOverflow don't really understand what those snippets are doing. But if you view this comic as an explanation of what Docker is all about, a reference to "copying small code snippets" seems to miss the point. [[User:Epsilon|Epsilon]] ([[User talk:Epsilon|talk]]) 04:54, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1979: History

2018-04-12T08:36:53Z

172.68.54.106:

Heh. I accidentally misread the line, so I thought it said: "I honestly have enough trouble with just the ''president''". [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 11:48, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:Same here. Then I thought "What the heck?" and read the last line again. Lol. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:20, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
::And same here, lol! I was actually wondering about what the possible motivations could have been to use Megan as the character to say that. Then I read it again :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.172|162.158.255.172]] 14:26, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:::Considering Randall's opinion on Trump, it made a little sense. But he hasn't ever attacked him directly.[[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 15:22, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

I only make comments, and let others figure out how to edit it into the above. I once read someplace that there is a reasonable limit to accurate historical research at about 3 centuries- events more than 300 years in the past become more mythological than factual, and events more than 500 years in the past are so remote that we can't even begin to understand the culture in which they occurred. While there are famous exceptions to this rule, they occur entirely in the realms of either archaeology or theology and religion, not in the science of history.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:32, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:What is "accurate historical research"? No scientist would use those words. And a historian as an expert - let's say of the Roman Empire or the medieval - would strictly disagree. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:12, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

:Even shorter periods of time. There were a lot of changes in the twentieth century. I was born in 1960. At that time, there were people alive before the automobile, powered airflight, the telephone. How about photocopiers which really got going in the 1970s? Can any of you younger people understand not being able to photocopy something? Then, there are the developments in computers and mobile phones.
:On a USENET newgroup that I follow -- alt.talk.royalty -- there is one monarchist who posts a series of posts on Queen Elizabeth II. Sort of. He takes the current length of her reign and goes back that far before it (less a day, I think). He then describes the world at that time and finishes with "Consider all the changes, natural and manmade, visited upon the world in all the time since. And now consider this...Queen Elizabeth II has been on the Throne for MOST of that time since then." Twice her reign length from present time is now in the 1880s. A very different world.
:[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 15:16, 11 April 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net

My maternal grandfather was born in 1873. When I was a child, he told me glorious stories about living in a log cabin in Michigan as a child, riding his penny-farthing bicycle as a teenager, and moving to a boomtown called Venice (CA) in the 1920s. He was 30 when the Wright Brothers made their first flight, and he wound up manufacturing aircraft parts during WWII. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.106|172.68.54.106]] 08:36, 12 April 2018 (UTC)

The link to the actual page of the paper is fantastic - especially the ads along the right side - "Anti-Morbific, the Great Liver and Kidney Remedy" and "Trash's Magnetic Ointment". So, a question - there's no by-line. Is there any way to figure out who wrote this? I assume maybe multiple people, like and editorial board? [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 13:36, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Regarding the link to the actual page of the paper, the article immediately after it talks about a discussion over the tariffs on whiskey, beer, and tobacco covering the differences of opinion within the Democrat and Republican parties and protectionism vs free trade and producers vs consumers concluding that the tax is good because it could be used to pay down the national debt and finance national education initiatives. Despite burgeoning taxes the speculated benefits never arrived. We deceive ourselves if we believe that the discussions we have today were never debated before. The debate is eternal and the promised goods are never delivered. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 21:15, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

I think this comic is referencing how so many people are commenting on how unprecedented Trump’s presidency has been, how it’ll be the sort of think future students will read about in history classes, and overall how dramatic it is, like you’d find unbelievable, even in a movie. This comic is commenting on how people in the moment often think that way, yet Trump’ll likely be a footnote in 200 years too. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:24, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

:I need to comment, but I'll do my best to temper it a bit. I think it's a stretch to think this is saying anything about Trump. It seems like this comic is just a reflection on how difficult it is to ever have a complete and thorough account of everything that happens in the history of our world. The best we can hope for is a summary of the general facts, but that will always omit important details - as it says, history is BIG! In summary, can we not make every comic about Trump, please? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:43, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

There is an erroneous period at the end of the first line of the last paragraph: "...the present. period may...". I added the period to the transcript, but I'm not sure if the local policy is to include "[sic]" in the transcript, to note that in an "errors" section, etc. I'd invite someone who knows the policy to edit the page accordingly. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.46|172.69.69.46]] 20:50, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Seems to me like most of the major events in history classes (at least the events I can remember the year of) happened on even years: 1066, 1492, 1776, 1812, ...
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.251|162.158.79.251]] 23:29, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1933: Santa Facts

2017-12-28T15:35:41Z

172.68.54.106:

I added a Taxonomy Note as I wanted to raise the difference between Santa and Father Christmas. The latter wears a hooded, ermine trimmed robe (red in Britain, green or white in other domains) with full sleeves and a simple tie cord for a belt. Probably shoes and gloves - if not bare hands. It's easy to spot the difference when you know.
He probably walked at the head of a procession, despensing good advice and the good news that the days were not getting any shorter. Latterly he fell on hard times and was the chief reveller and drunkard. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 20:19, 26 December 2017 (UTC)
:I don't think this should be in the table --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.106|172.68.54.106]] 15:35, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

I'm not a lawyer, but I'm fairly certain Santa would only be charged with trespassing (rather than breaking and entering) in many states. Someone should try to find the 5 states where entering a house through a chimney would result in a warrant. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.238.172|172.68.238.172]] 09:53, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

A vertical leap of 14 miles (~23 km), i''gnoring air resistance'' would require an initial launch velocity of slightly more than 2180 feet per second (665 m/s), somewhat over twice the speed of sound.
Is there something clever to be observed here about sonic booms (or lack thereof)? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 13:46, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

I'm not going to bother to update the page, but the comic was updated to fix the arthropod error (the original wording implied that insects were not arthropods). Also, "RIIW - Ponder it", your description of Father Christmas is indistinguishable from that of Santa. Could you provide a source for whatever distinction might exist? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.22|108.162.216.22]] 07:00, 27 December 2017 (UTC)

Special: Contributions - apart from 60 years in Britain, just Wiki Father Christmas. You say FC is indistinguishable from SC? Hooded robe, tie cord , shoes and bare hands vs Cap, jacket, trousers, wide buckle belt, boots and mittens. Walking or horse, using door, blessing, feasting and drinking vs flying sleigh and tundra fauna (reindeer), chimney, presents (possibly originally red and white mushrooms). The gown vs jacket et al makes identification easy at 1000 yards! [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 19:19, 27 December 2017 (UTC)

Could the 14 mile vertical leap be connected to the flying/psychic type, allowing for a longer duration of vertical thrust than the duration for which Santa's feet are touching ground? If one of Santa's vampiric abilities allows him to alter his mass without changing volume (many legends allow vampires to turn into bats, which chiropteric forms at least have less mass than their humanoid forms), that could explain the vertical leap stat as primarily deriving from bouyancy, with the limit having to do with the minimum mass he can attain. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.45|162.158.58.45]] 08:27, 27 December 2017 (UTC)

;Arthropods
Is it worth mentioning that humans are "arthropods" if you treat that as a word rather than a taxon? "Arthropod" is Latin for "jointed legs." We do have joints in our legs. {{unsigned ip| 108.162.219.214}}

Works with Alexa -- Starting this year (2017) owners of Alexa devices could use the "NORAD tracks Santa" Alexa Skill. This was mentioned several times in the news, and I even set it up on my Amazon Echo so the little cousins could use it. Might this also be related? [[User:Bpendragon|Bpendragon]] ([[User talk:Bpendragon|talk]]) 16:51, 25 December 2017 (UTC)

;Plural
This can also be a Pokémon reference, because all Pokémon have identical plural forms, e.g. "I caught two Pidgey today.", not "two Pidgeys". {{unsigned ip| 108.162.219.10}}

Talk:1895: Worrying Scientist Interviews

2017-09-27T19:01:54Z

172.68.54.106:

== Heliologist ==

Why not use Heliologist? :~) [[User:DarkJMKnight|DarkJMKnight]] ([[User talk:DarkJMKnight|talk]]) 14:49, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

If the sun is local breaking news, could be an impending dark age (solar activity destroying all technology) or a dark age (solar implosion/explosion/death). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.5|162.158.79.5]] 15:42, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

Marine biologist is probably about oil spills or coral reefs/fish dying etc, rather than invasive species --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.209|141.101.99.209]] 16:18, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

== Ornithologist ==

The explanation for "ornithologist" uses "avian dinosaurs" instead of "birds." There's a link to the wikipedia page for birds, but it's still a potentially confusing inside joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.106|172.68.54.106]] 19:01, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

572: Together

2017-07-19T14:04:57Z

172.68.54.106: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =572
| date =April 22, 2009
| title =Together
| image =together.png
| titletext =This scavenger hunt is getting boring. Let's go work on the treehouse!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Maybe explain each other item on the list? (Indian head penny, snake skin, etc.}}
When they are very young [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] runs away from Cueball's two friends (who looks much like Cueball and Megan as well). They fall in love, get married, and grow old together (Megan begins to look like [[Hairbun]], and the old Cueball wears a sailor cap, but it is obviously still Megan and Cueball from the first panel). At the end Cueball leaves his wife - without saying goodbye or explaining why he leaves. He returns to the same place where he left his two friends that has been waiting on him with the same box next to them, and, we must assume, the same list they also had in the first picture. And we finally learn, that being happy was just another thing crossed off Cueball's list of what is presumably the longest-duration {{w|scavenger hunt}} of all-time, considering Cueball grew quite old before ever completing that step on the list. And when he did - he just got up and left his lifelong wife... Because now he was ready for the next item on the list.

The title of the comic is probably a reference to the saying that you find happiness ''together'' with your loved ones. So after finding a penny and a snake skin he had to get married and old to be able to find happiness. Next he needs to find a Four-leaf clover, a shark tooth and something obscured by the speech bubble to continue the hunt, but before he continues he find that he is getting bored with this game as can be seen in the title text.

The treehouse reference in the title text is another example of a common childhood activity. Naturally, the intended mental image is a bunch of old men building a treehouse and living and playing in it like six year olds. And also typical for children to tire of a game before it is finished. Except here he already spend a lifetime on just one point! The idea of adults having a fort in the woods was mentioned, rather darkly, in the title text of [[219: Blanket Fort]].

Three of the old people looks very similar to three of those standing in line in [[586: Mission to Culture]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are running in a field, holding hands. They are running away from another pair which also looks like Cueball and Megan. This pair stand in the background, next to a small box. There may be something lying on top of the box, but it is difficult to see clearly. The sun is shining above them.]

:[Cueball and Megan are in a boat on a lake, very romantic. Cueball is speaking to Megan, illustrated with a heart.]
:Cueball: ♡

:[Cueball and Megan sit together on a bench on a beach, watching the sunset.]

:[Cueball and Megan stand in front of an altar under a wedding arch, with confetti falling around them. He is wearing a butterfly and she a veil.]

:[Cueball and Megan, now old and wrinkled, sit together holding hands on their porch at the top of a small stair outside their house. He has a sailor cap on and Megan now wears her hair in a bun.]

:[The same setting is depicted but seen from the side of the house. Cueball begins walking away from Megan using his cane. He has descended from the stair. Finally Megan speaks, and unusually there is a speech bubble, with an extra smaller bubble hanging on to it for the second sentence.]
:Megan: Dear? Where are you-
:Megan: Come back!

:[Cueball approaches an old couple, presumably the kids from the first panel now turned old. They seem tired looking down all the time. The man only has hair around his neck and also a cane. The woman has long thinning hair. The box from the first panel is between Cueball and the other two. On top of it lies a piece of paper]

:[Same picture except that Cueball is now standing still and has picked up the paper from the box and writes on it with a pen. Again there is a speak bubble.]
:Cueball: Okay,

:[The paper is shown. It is a scavenger hunt list with at least six items. The three first items have been checked off. The last item is blocked by the speech bubble, but can be seen to be there from the check box.]
:Scavenger hunt:
:☒ Indian-head penny
:☒ Snake skin
:☒ Happiness
:☐ Four-leaf clover
:☐ Shark tooth
:☐
:Cueball (off-panel): What's next?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Wedding]]

Talk:1445: Efficiency

2017-07-06T18:01:40Z

172.68.54.106:

I would add references to procrastination and add that especially for some type of people the third item is the intellectually most interesting and satisfying one. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.90|108.162.254.90]] 08:19, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

A great 18th century quote by Dr. Samuel Johnson, saying much the same thing: 
:We talked of the education of children; and I asked him what he thought was best to teach them first. 
:JOHNSON. 'Sir, it is no matter what you teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. Sir, you may stand disputing which leg is best to put in first, but in the mean time your bottom is bare. Sir, while you are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, another boy has learnt them both.' - Boswell's Life of Johnson [[User:GreenWyvern|GreenWyvern]] ([[User talk:GreenWyvern|talk]]) 09:54, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

QWERTY isn't "universally accepted" (worldwide). I's variants like QWERTZ and AZERTY are also somewhat common. Look at this map for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY . Maybe change the text to universally accepted *in english language* or something like *QWERTY and its variants*? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.253.162|108.162.253.162]] 10:14, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

:We have FGĞIOD in Turkey which can compete against Dvorak's. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.105|173.245.53.105]]

When I started seriously considering Dvorak I spent very little time deciding to go with it, but about a month getting used to it. It's been sweet since then. I love it. Typing has never been so enjoyable! [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.195|103.22.201.195]] 10:28, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

"" Typing has never been so enjoyable!"" Does this addiction have a name in psychiatry? {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.63}}

This is also a problem when I am looking at the religions :|--[[User:JZZdd|JZZdd]] ([[User talk:JZZdd|talk]]) 04:05, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

One is reminded of {{w|Yogi Berra}}'s line, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 00:50, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

This is also, in extremely simplified form, why OS/2 eventually lost out to Windows. {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.119}}

Randall has talked about this topic [http://xkcd.com/1205/ before.] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.163|173.245.56.163]] 00:54, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

This seems similar to [http://xkcd.com/1319/]. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.106|172.68.54.106]] 18:01, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

298: Tesla Coil

2017-01-07T20:55:06Z

172.68.54.106:

{{comic
| number = 298
| date = August 3, 2007
| title = Tesla Coil
| image = tesla_coil.png
| titletext = For scientists, this can be the hardest thing about dreams.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Cueball]] diligently creates a {{w|Tesla coil}}, a device that produces {{w|high voltage}} alternating currents.

After that show by Cueball, [[Black Hat]] magically shoots electricity from his fingertips. When Cueball asks how he did that, he says that science doesn't really work, then hovers in mid-air, further proving his point. There is simply no apparent explanation for Black Hat's abilities, which means science is still woefully incomplete or, as Black Hat said, simply doesn't work.

The title text indicates that this was all actually a dream, explaining Black Hat's abilities and pointing out how dreams can be difficult for scientists as they will attempt to analyse and understand everything in the dream according to the laws of science, which wouldn't apply in dreams.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Black Hat stand near a tesla coil mounted on a table.]
:Cueball: I finally finished my Tesla Coil!

:[The room is dark; the characters appear as faint blue outlines on black background. Cueball turns on the Tesla Coil and it sparks white static electricity.]
:''click''
:Black Hat: Cool, but—

:[Lightning shoots out of Black Hat's hands, Cueball appears to be in shock  and awe.]
:Black Hat: Check this out!

:[The lights are back on, Cueball's arms are raised in amazement.]
:Cueball: How did you do that?
:Black Hat: The world doesn't actually make any sense. Science doesn't work. No one told you because you're so cute when you get into something.

:[Black Hat floats up the frame, and Cueball is pointing towards Black Hat.]
:Black Hat: Still, neat toy.
:Cueball: Now you're hovering!
:Black Hat: I guess you're still not getting this.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]