explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2786: UFO Evidence

2023-06-08T16:18:08Z

172.69.134.138: UAP. Also, Biden sucks.

This must be about https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/lawmakers-react-to-whistleblowers-ufo-claims/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.152|172.69.22.152]] 18:09, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

For reference: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/04/cats-butthole-cut-vfx-editor [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.145|172.69.34.145]] 18:24, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

That Wikipedia article doesn't say that Cats is the worst film ever, just that it's one of them; one of the reviewers said it could be the worst film of the decade. It's probably near the top of worst films by a major studio, but it can't possibly be as bad as Ed Wood's films. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:34, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

I thought I'd heard that the cat-butts were printed on the costumes & that CGI was used to remove them from recordings; even assuming the prints were painted over, the remaining evidence of them on costumes should have been enough to confirm if they were ever present. I'd not heard the idea that the cat-butts were ''inserted'' AND removed via CGI, before. That seems more unlikely, to me. Accurate butts on a costume wouldn't really surprise me at all. Spending money to create them seems like a stretch.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:01, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

This was my reaction to COVID conspiracy theories as well. If anything about COVID was set up in advance in some massive poisoning scheme, it wouldn't be secret for long, and serious evidence would have spread very fast. That is because developing and spreading such a secret biological weapon requires so many people to cooperate for so long that the chance of an accidental or intentional leak approaches 1. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.47|172.71.182.47]] 21:23, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

: similarly 9/11 theories?

The explanation says "an entire afternoon" but the comic says "a whole day". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.114|162.158.155.114]] 23:43, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

We might like to think that scientists would drop everything to investigate 'compelling evidence' of extra-terrestrial life, but they might not actually be allowed to, particularly in the US, where 'Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs', often referred to as "the Brookings Report", is I believe still part of official policy. This was a 1960 report commissioned by NASA, created by the Brookings Institution in collaboration with NASA's Committee on Long-Range Studies, and submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics of the United States House of Representatives in the 87th United States Congress on April 18, 1961. The report looks into historical instances of human cultures being destroyed by contact with a 'more advanced' culture, and recommended that it is in the public interest that any and all evidence of alien life be actively suppressed, in order to prevent the possible destabilisation and destruction of human society.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.136|172.70.85.136]] 04:52, 8 June 2023 (UTC)
:Given how willing provable kooks and nuts are to raise their heads above the parapet, I'm not sure (especially these days, with so many online opportunities, outwith the control of at least the US government and possibly any other) that any credible evidence is going to very quickly escape the ægis of the above ''recommendation''. Given the number of things that aren't true that they seem unable or unwilling to debunk, despite them being extremely relevent to the stability of the country, we should by now be drowning in copious WOW signals, undismissable photos of obvious alien craft or even yer actual selfies with yer actual LGMs...
:The authorities just aren't that good at this sort of thing, and can't install any form of covering-up Groupthink. (Some regimes might, but it's hard to tell how much they really have made people think as they should, or just talk as if they think as they should on pain of pain... But there remain voices in those wildernesses, too.) And the biggest draw for a scientist (which is why some people might go off the rails, with fringe theories that have no hint of being justified, ignoring clear evidence that they aren't) is the opportunity to overturn current thinking and making their name. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.88|172.70.91.88]] 08:44, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

I thought UAP stood for Unidentified Areal Phenomenon, not Unidentified Anonymous Phenomenon. [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|Help, I'm trapped in a factory factory]] 16:15, 8 June (UTC)

Talk:2784: Drainage Basins

2023-06-03T08:48:50Z

172.69.134.138: reply

For anyone else who didn’t recognize “Alex Mack” and was confused when the first result on Wikipedia was an American football player with seemingly no reference to the joke at hand, I’m pretty sure this is referencing “Alex Mack” from “The Secret Life of Alex Mack” which was a Nickelodeon TV show in the 1990s. One of their powers is turning into water.
:Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.213|172.69.22.213]] 00:42, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
:I know of her by way of reading Diane Castle's work, <em>The Secret Return of Alex Mack</em>, which basically took over the Alex Mack fanfiction scene. Hadn't heard of the original until then. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.66.96|172.68.66.96]] 03:56, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

I need to point out: Turning into a puddle of liquid is not a superpower. Anyone can do that. Turning back into a solid human again afterwards is the tricky part. ~ [[User:Xxj|Xxj]] ([[User talk:Xxj|talk]]) 04:12, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
:I think turning into a puddle of liquid ''at will'' counts as a superpower. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.132|172.69.134.132]] 04:23, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
::Most things which a typical person does are typically done at will (other than breathing, sleeping, sneezing, and posting comments on the internet). ~ [[User:Xxj|Xxj]] ([[User talk:Xxj|talk]]) 04:52, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
:Found the editor who has never had to dispose of a body. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.138|172.69.134.138]] 08:48, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

Man I thought this was about the kid who jumped off the cruise ship on a dare this week and got pulled under, and was really weirded out that he would joke about that, really happy to see I was dead wrong. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.168.144|172.68.168.144]]

"approximately twice the volume of a typical human being"—that implies there was already a witch in the lake previously. After we add the wWotW, there are two dissolved witches. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.3|162.158.94.3]] 04:44, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
:It's Utah. On the basis of that alone, I'm surprised that there was only one. [[User:Vikinghelmet99|Vikinghelmet99]] ([[User talk:Vikinghelmet99|talk]]) 05:39, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

I didn't know what Drainage Basin was. I first thought it meant which ocean will come and cover this part of land if global warming continues. [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 06:33, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

2784: Drainage Basins

2023-06-03T00:29:37Z

172.69.134.138: Watershed map

{{comic
| number = 2784
| date = June 2, 2023
| title = Drainage Basins
| image = drainage_basins_2x.png
| imagesize = 659x500px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After a pail of water was thrown on the Wicked Witch of the West outside Salt Lake City, Utah's Great Salt Lake was measured to be 7 parts per trillion witch by volume.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 90s KID - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Alex Mack was the main character in the Nickelodeon show ''{{w|The Secret World of Alex Mack}}'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120516025126/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-02/news/tv-45351_1_alex-mack] who developed superpowers after being drenched by an experimental substance. One of these is the ability to turn into a puddle of liquid.

A {{w|drainage basin}} is an area of land where all flowing water converges to a single point. A depiction of drainage basins is a {{w|watershed map}}.

When Randall sees a map of the US's major drainage basins, he thinks of Alex turning into liquid and flowing as part of the basin she happens to be in at the time.

The title text refers to the {{w|Wicked Witch of the West}}, a character from ''{{w|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz}}''. When a bucket of water is thrown on her, she dissolves into a puddle. If this happens in the {{w|Great Basin}}, she'll flow into Utah's {{w|Great Salt Lake}}. If its dissolved particles are measured, a tiny fraction will be witch. Seven trillionths of its 18.93 cubic km volume is about 130 liters, which is approximately twice the volume of a typical human being. Perhaps some generous rounding, evaporation of the lake, or the Wicked Witch of the East (who predeceased her sister, after Dorothy's house landed on her -- Dorothy is from Kansas, which is not in the Great Basin, but perhaps Oz is) are involved.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:US Drainage Basins [Crossed Out]
:<span style="color:red">Where Alex Mack Will End Up</span> [Below, in red]

:[Map of the United States, with the following drainage basins labeled:]
:Pacific Ocean
:Great Basin
:Arctic Ocean
:Various Basins
:Hudson Bay
:Gulf of Mexico
:Atlantic Ocean

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How I still think of these maps, deep down

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with red corrections]]
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2783: Ruling Out

2023-05-31T21:11:22Z

172.69.134.138: /* Explanation */ fair point but also feasible

{{comic
| number = 2783
| date = May 31, 2023
| title = Ruling Out
| image = ruling_out_2x.png
| imagesize = 295x396px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We were able to replicate and confirm prior authors' detection of a moon orbiting the Earth with high confidence.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TECTONICALLY-ACTIVE BOT WITH SUBSURFACE OCEANS. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Most science studies are intended to discover new things. In astronomy, the goal is often to find different types of objects in space, or learn how astronomical objects are formed and behave. But often from studying things that exist, we also learn about limits in the kinds of things that 'can' exist; when this happens, we say that we've ruled out these other phenomena.

[[Cueball]] lists a number of obviously impossible{{fact}} objects.

* "Earthlike stars": A play on "Earth-like planets" which scientists are very interested in finding. The Earth is not a star, hence stars cannot be Earthlike.
* "Exoplanets in our solar system": {{w|Exoplanet}}s are by definition not in our solar system.
* "Habitable zone quasars": while not certain by any means, {{w|habitable zone}}s around some {{w|quasar}}s have absolutely '''not''' been ruled out.[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab1b2f/meta][https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2364/1/012057/meta] Perhaps Cueball is referring to quasars in the habitable zones of stars, which are also feasible.[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/728/1/26]
* "Stars with subsurface oceans": Because the temperatures inside stars are higher than that which can support the existence of liquids as we understand them, stars cannot have subsurface oceans. After many billions of years, a {{w|white dwarf}} will cool to the point where it no longer emits significant heat or light, becoming a {{w|black dwarf}}, and eventually cooling to the point where it might develop subsurface liquids.{{acn}} However, the universe is not old enough for any black dwarfs to exist yet,[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/375341/pdf] and sufficiently cool black dwarfs might not even be considered stars according to the conventional definition.
* "Tectonically active black holes": Black holes do not have {{w|tectonic plate}}s, so they cannot be tectonically active. There are theories that neutron stars can exhibit tectonic-like movements, but the physics of the 'inside' of a black hole is thought to be so much different.

The joke is that you don't actually have to study anything to come to these almost patently obvious conclusions. The counter-proposals would need far more effort to even justify them as valid theories, by common understanding, and greater still to try to observe any supporting proof.

Some studies are also done to confirm the results of previous studies, to ensure that the conclusions were not mistaken or a fluke. The title text describes a study that was done to confirm the existence of a moon orbiting Earth, although the existence of the moon has been known for at least as long as humanity has existed, and the fact that it orbits the Earth has been assumed or known for upwards of 3000 years.{{acn}} The ancient Greeks and Babylonians, for example, thought that the Moon orbited the Earth, though they lacked a detailed physical understanding of the system. {{w|Anaxagoras}} (c. 500–428 BC) is credited with the correct explanation of lunar eclipses, and reportedly was the first to explain that the Moon shines due to reflected light from the Sun. However, it was not until the work of {{w|Nicolaus Copernicus}} in the 16th century that a detailed and accurate model of the Moon's orbit around the Earth was developed. Regardless, at this stage, a study to confirm the validity of Copernican orbits would contribute nothing to the scientific process, much less a study confirming the mere existence of the Moon.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2783: Ruling Out

2023-05-31T20:15:45Z

172.69.134.138: /* Explanation */ some of these tags are silly and/or redundant