explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

881: Probability

2023-11-01T19:17:47Z

172.69.194.155: Added link was misplaced. Also converted it to local inter-comic link and reworded/added to it to make a bit more contextual continuity.

{{comic
| number = 881
| date = April 4, 2011
| title = Probability
| image = probability.png
| titletext = My normal approach is useless here, too.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are sitting on a hospital bed, reading a piece of paper with the statistics for {{w|breast cancer}} survival. It looks like Megan has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. The thick line represents the survival rate distribution (probability to be alive after X years, unconditioned): 81% are alive at 5 years, while 77% survive to 10 years. The dashed line represents the {{w|hazard function}} (the negative derivative of the thick line divided by the value of the thick line at each point, i.e. how fast the thick line falls with respect to the current value, or the risk of failing/dying at time t+Δt after having survived until time t as Δt approaches zero), which is the rate between the density of the failure distribution and the survival function. Cueball expresses how he used to find probability enjoyable because of its applicability to the real world, but now sees things differently facing a painful situation involving it.

[[Randall]] wrote this comic after his fiancee was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two months after posting this strip, he posted [http://blog.xkcd.com/2011/06/30/family-illness/ this blog post] explaining the [[:Category:Cancer|cancer comics]].

The title text is a reference to [[55: Useless]], where his normal approach also fails him regarding love. Cueball's (and Randall's) normal approach — math — isn't much help in dealing with ''these'' types of emotional situations.

A number of further comics have addressed this scenario, in particular the retrospective and occasional series of comics [[1141: Two Years]], [[1928: Seven Years]] and [[2386: Ten Years]].

==Transcript==
:[A plot of percent vs. years, with a solid and a dashed line. The solid line starts at 100%, and drops constantly. The dashed line starts around 85%, rises to 95% after 5 years, then drops.]

:[A simple table.]
:;5 years
::81%
:;10 years
::77%

:[Cueball and Megan are sitting on a bench, next to an Intravenous drip hanging from a rack. Cueball is holding a paper.]
:Cueball: You know, probability used to be my favorite branch of math
:Cueball: Because it had so many real-life applications.

:[They embrace, faces together.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2321: Low-Background Metal

2023-11-01T14:00:58Z

172.69.194.155: /* Explanation */ The correct form (using site-specific template) of the recently attempted wikilink.

{{comic
| number = 2321
| date = June 17, 2020
| title = Low-Background Metal
| image = low_background_metal.png
| titletext = The only effect on the history books were a few confusing accounts of something called 'Greek fire.'
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, a team including [[Megan]] and [[Black Hat]] who have invented a {{w|time travel}} machine presents it and their problems to [[Cueball]]. Time travel is a common trope in science fiction, and specifically [[:Category:Time travel|here on xkcd]], and such a discovery would be likely to change the world as we know it. However, Megan and Black Hat's machine requires the use of "low-background" metal, which is in short supply.

Megan explains that, while delicate equipment is often shielded from radiation by lead, metal produced in modern times is contaminated by {{w|nuclear fallout}} in the atmosphere, which means that the shielding itself has enough radioactivity to interfere with highly delicate equipment. In order to shield this equipment, "low-background metal" is salvaged from sunken ships. Lead ingots from Roman cargo have been used in experiments. The Roman lead was produced before atmospheric nuclear tests occurred{{Citation needed}} and therefore did not have resulting {{w|radionuclides}} in the air used in its manufacture. When it is extracted, lead is naturally contaminated with the radioactive isotope Pb-210, with a 22 year half-life. Because it has spent many centuries continually underwater, it is both shielded from radioactive particles, and has had time for natural radioactivity to fade.

The number of shipwrecks of that age that can be found and successfully salvaged for metal is quite small, which puts this material in short supply. Megan mentions that they have only enough for a single trip. The team realizes (apparently at [[Black Hat]]'s suggestion), that a solution is to use their single trip to take modern military hardware back to the era of the {{w|Roman Empire}} and use it to sink multiple ships. This would both provide for many more shipwrecks to salvage, and give the team a good idea of where those wrecks were, when they returned to modern times. They could also specifically target ships that were in waters that are well-suited for salvage operations.

However, while this might be a pragmatic solution, going back in time to sink ships and murder the occupants doesn't seem like a particularly morally acceptable solution,{{Citation needed}} not to mention opening up potential {{w|time travel paradoxes}} such as what if one of the ship occupants killed was an ancestor to one of the protagonists? If this were a real scenario, there would probably be less drastic solutions available, such as purchasing quantities of lead from the time (would need to convincingly impersonate a local and have something that could be used as currency) and dropping them in the ocean from a (rented) non-destroyed ship, which as a bonus eliminates the need to extract it from the charred remains of a ship later.

Using time travel to retrieve items from the past that are not available in the present is a frequent trope in time travel-related media. Frequently, it is done with the goal of {{tvtropes|TimeTravelForFunAndProfit|making money}}, but other purposes are used as well. In the Star Trek movie {{w|Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|The Voyage Home}}, time travel is used to retrieve whales and transport them to the present. In the book {{w|Timeline (novel)|Timeline}}, time travel is used to record historical events for entertainment purposes. In the movie {{w|Avengers: Endgame}}, time travel is used to retrieve minerals important to a future plan. In the movie {{w|Back to the Future(film)|Back to the Future}}, when Marty tells Doc that the time machine runs on plutonium, Doc exclaims, "I'm sure that in 1985, plutonium is available at every corner drug store, but in 1955, it's a little hard to come by" (from {{w|Back to the Future|this transcript}}).

{{w|Low-background steel}} is the most famous kind of low-background metal, used in real life for highly sensitive particle detectors in physics and medicine, and is salvaged from ships sunk before 1945 (the {{w|Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity nuclear test}}). Since this is steel, the ships used typically date back to World War I or World War II. (It should be noted that the vast majority of applications that previously required special low-background steel can now once again use ordinary newly-produced steel, as the concentration of radionuclides in the atmosphere has declined almost to pre-1945 levels in the decades since the cessation of atmospheric nuclear testing, due partly to the shorter-lived of these radionuclides having decayed away and partly to processes such as the {{w|carbon cycle}} having removed most of the still-extant radionuclides from the atmosphere.)

The title text refers to {{w|Greek fire}}, which was an incendiary weapon invented and employed by the Byzantine empire. It was a flammable liquid, famously said to burn on water, that was used in naval combat to set fire to enemy ships. As it was a closely-guarded military secret, many of the details have been lost to time, and modern chemists have only been able to develop educated guesses of what it ''probably'' was. Randall proposes a rather outlandish alternative hypothesis: that all records of Greek fire were actually in reference to the modern weapons used by the time travelers. It is also notable that, if the time machine was taken to the time of the classical Roman empire, Greek fire would not yet have been a known term. Perhaps the weapon wielded by the time travelers was later conflated with the Byzantines' weapon, or perhaps the time machine was taken to a period a few centuries later than classical Rome.

In [[1063: Kill Hitler]] a single-use time machine is available. It is also used by Black Hat. However, due to the way the time machine in this comic is used, it must be assumed that they can use it again after the salvage of lead from the sunken ships.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat stands behind Megan who addresses Cueball who stands on the other side of a table with a machine. The machine is a rectangular box with a small dome with one large and two small antennas on top. It seems to point in Cueball's direction as it has a broad protrusion at the back and protrusion at the front that gets smaller towards the tip. The word "Time" is written on the side, and below that is possibly more illegible text.]
:Megan: Our time machine works.
:Megan: But we're almost out of low-background metal.
:Cueball: What's that?

:[Close-up on Megan who lifts her hand palm up.]
:Megan: Modern metal is contaminated by fallout from nuclear testing, and lead also has natural radioactivity that fades over time.
:Megan: To shield sensitive equipment, physicists use lead from sunken Roman ships.
:Megan: But shipwreck lead is hard to find.

:[Back to the original setting, Megan has turned to Black Hat, who has his hand on his chin.]
:Black Hat: How much do we have?
:Megan: Enough for one trip through time.
:Black Hat: ''Hmmm...''

:[The three are now in a helicopter, with Megan piloting, Cueball as a passenger in the back, and Black Hat firing a flamethrower at a Roman ship beneath them through the window behind the cockpit. Two sailors with Roman type helmets are looking on as the stern of their ship catches fire. One of them throwing his arms out to the side. The intact sail is still up behind them and behind that another sailor jumps into the water, down to a fourth sailor already in the water. Two already-burning ships can also be seen to the left of the ship under attack. One is burning all over, with the mast still up but the sail long gone, and the third ship is almost completely sunk, but the part above the water is aflame. Seven small clouds are around the helicopter in the sky.]
:Flamethrower: ''Fwooosh''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2848: Breaker Box

2023-10-31T20:18:56Z

172.69.194.155: On the contrary, more 'third column' notes might be needed to explain other "rolling jokes" (like grouping the "seemingly arbitrary types of things" set)

{{comic
| number = 2848
| date = October 30, 2023
| title = Breaker Box
| image = breaker_box_2x.png
| imagesize = 560x776px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Any electrician will warn you to first locate and flip the house's CAUSALITY circuit breaker before touching the CIRCUIT BREAKERS one.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HIGH-PITCHED HUM GENERATOR THAT WAS LAST MENTIONED EXACTLY 1258 COMICS AGO - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|distribution board}}, referred to as a "breaker box" here and also commonly referred to as a "fuse box", "breaker panel", "DB box", and many other names, is a metal box attached to a wall inside a building, usually in some maintenance area, containing several {{w|circuit breakers}} that let power through to various parts of the building. A circuit breaker is an electrical switch, usually in the form of a small lever, that will physically open if too much power is flowing through, as might be the case if a fault occurs, in order to prevent fires and protect appliances.

In most breaker boxes, each individual breaker is labeled to let the operator know what that specific breaker controls. A breaker will usually control something like the outlets or lights in a certain room, or some large appliance.

However, in houses that have been rewired multiple times (or are poorly wired), this can quickly become overcomplicated with seemingly random connections. Randall lives in Boston where much of the housing stock is from the late 1800s or early 1900s, and he is likely to live in a house with non-ideal wiring, which may have inspired this comic.

The comic satirizes these complex wiring setups, with multiple breakers "controlling" arbitrary things, including some that -- in the classic style of XKCD -- may be impossible to hook a breaker up to, getting progressively more absurd to the point of disabling certain laws of physics.

===Table of the breakers labels===
{|class = "wikitable"
! Label next to breaker !! Explanation !! Note
|-
! colspan="3"|Left column of switches
|-
| Kitchen Lights || The lights in the kitchen. || rowspan="3"| Standard items that could be separate
|-
| Living room lights || The lights in the living room.
|-
| Porch lights || The lights on the porch.
|-
| Bathroom lights and one surprise mystery outlet somewhere || The lights in the bathroom, but also a random outlet.
This kind of situation can occur if an electrician – while adding wiring – chooses to wire seemingly logically unrelated things to the same circuit because it's convient/sensible for her to do so. This can mystify future homeowners who don't know the wiring history.
| Standard, but 'kludged'
|-
| North-facing appliances || colspan="2"|Difficult, but not theoretically impossible. Presumably this house has:
#a smart wiring system that knows which outlets control which appliances, and can toggle all outlets,
#all appliances with magnetic compasses that report their orientation to the smart home controler, and
#this breaker is not a simple power on/off but can selectively disable only north-facing appliances.
Alternative explanations:
* The switch may be physically wired only to outlets installed on a southern wall in the property (or ''all'' southern walls, for each room that requires them), with the presumption that everything connected to these exclusively north-facing outlets also faces directly away from the wall(s).
* It could mean the appliances on the north-facing walls of the house.

Note: "North-facing" has broad interpretation, as lax as northeast to northwest or as strict as {{w|Points of the compass#32-wind compass rose|north by east to north by west}}.

|-
| Bathtub drain light || colspan="2"|Bathtub drains typically do not have lights, but this breaker provides power to that and only that. Why it isn't already considered a "bathroom light" is unexplained (unless it's for the bit of the pipe that is ''external'' to that room).
|-
| Appliances whose names contain the letter "F" || colspan="2"|Also difficult but not theoretically impossible. Similar to "North-facing appliances," this would require a smart wiring system that can detect the official names of appliances plugged into each outlet, and the ability of this breaker switch to selectively toggle certain outlets. (Typical electrical systems do not carry data about names, for starters.)
Some common household appliances that this switch might control:
* coffee maker
* refrigerator
* freezer
* fan
* air fryer
* food processor
* waffle iron
* fabric steamer
* fireplace (electric)
|-
| Hot water heater || Usually just a heater that creates (and typically stores) hot water. But given that the next breaker controls the "Regular water heater", this breaker might actually control a water heater that pointlessly heats water that is ''already'' hot.
 This is probably a joke about the fact that the common phrase "hot water heater" is [[technically]] redundant or misleading:
* Redundant because the simpler term "water heater" is enough to describe a device that produces hot water
* Misleading because it's not the purpose of residential water heaters to heat water that is ''already'' hot).
|rowspan="2"|Two "heaters"
|-
| Regular water heater || The heater for regular water. Together with the switch above, this presumes it's for a heater for heating water that is not yet hot (usually called a "hot water heater", hence the joke).
|-
| Outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in || colspan="2"|This controls every outlet in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in, such as the dining room and kitchen and – depending on the "normal" habits of the inhabitants – other rooms such as the bedroom, bathroom, or living room (if not already covered by the "living room lights" switch above).
|-
| High-pitched hum generator || colspan="2"|Controls a high-pitched hum generator. This is a call-back to [[1590: The Source]].
|-
| The solution to the cryptogram below: || colspan="2"|Likely a pun on "breaking" or solving a cryptogram, which is a puzzle where a sentence has been encoded using a cipher, usually simple, and the goal is to determine the cipher and recover the original sentence from the encoded one.
Another explanation is that this switch enables or disables the solution somehow, perhaps toggling its knowability or solvability.
|-
| Bugs || colspan="2"|Several interpretations are possible:
* Disable all software bugs in the house*
* Disable all insect bugs in the house – as an efficient form of pest control – perhaps using ultrasonic emitters that drive away bugs. May be a reference to [[2753: Air Handler]].
* Disable power to all covert listening devices, which would be able to be switched off if wired into the house's electrical grid.
* Disable the whole global category of bugs (insects, arachnids, and other small arthropods), in which case we'd have no more pests and we'd reduce disease likes malaria and {{w|Lyme disease}}. Food webs would also collapse, and our world would be overrun with waste.
 <nowiki>*</nowiki>Though it's unlikely that it's what Randall is referring to, computer bugs switches actually exist. It's a feature in some video game emulators to either run an unofficial patched version or to stay true to the original system, for example to allow bug-exploit speedruns of a video game.
|-
! colspan="3"|Right column of switches
|-
| A whirring fan you didn't realize was on until now || colspan="2"|The AC in a building usually creates quiet white noise from fans, which people usually do not hear until they become aware that there is a sound. Other appliances, such as refrigerators or home servers, can have similar effects.
|-
| Dishwasher || colspan="2"|The dishwasher.
|-
| Dishes || colspan="2"|Traditionally, dishes cannot be turned off, as they do not normally require electricity. "Dishes" could be the label for a dishwasher on another house's breaker box, but this one already used that label. Another, unlikely explanation is that this switch controls two or more satellite dishes.
|-
| Hallway lights || The lights in the hallway or hallways. || rowspan="3"|"Hallway" regions
|-
| Hallway outlets || The outlets in the hallway or hallways.
|-
| Hallway floors || This breaker has several potential interpretations:
#A master switch for all floors (storeys) in the building which include hallways, e.g. the guestroom areas in a hotel, whilst possibly excluding the lobby and service levels
#Outlets in the floor
#Electric underfloor heating (heated bathroom floors are a feature in some houses)
#Electrification of the floors -- not common outside of horror and heist movies.
#Disabling all floors entirely, so everything resting on the floors falls through.
|-
| Social media || colspan="2"|This breaker also has several potential interpretations of "turning off social media":
#'Digital detoxes', where someone says "I'm going to turn off my social media" and intends to deny themselves access to all their social media apps.
#A switch for a parent to turn off all social media entering the house to protect their kids and themselves, which references a type of specialized content filter available through Wi-Fi router settings, not traditionally a breaker box.
#A callback to [[908: The Cloud]]. Since most social media platforms are centralized services, it would be theoretically possible to hook up a switch to the main power supply of every server building at once, given some extremely long wires, a breaker capable of handling the abhorrently massive electric load, and agreement from every social media provider([[1439|optional]]).
#The theoretical desire by some to "turn off social media" for the world due to its harmful effects on society. As someone who lived before social media and saw its spread over two decades, Randall may be ruing the impacts of social media on civilization and channeling his desire to put the genie back in the bottle.
|-
| State law || Likely a pun on "State Law Breaker."
Taken literally, it would either disable enforcement of State Law or nullify every single one, creating a state of martial law similar to the premise of the popular movie, "The Purge". It's unclear if this refers to Randall's state of Massachusetts or State Law as a general concept.
| rowspan="2"|"Legal" items
|-
| Federal law || Likely a pun on "Federal Law Breaker," though it could also be taken literally, as above. The ramifications of nullifying every US Federal law are immense. Disabling Federal Law while keeping State Law would theoretically fulfill the goals of the "States Rights" advocates, groups of conservatives across US history aiming to return Federal power to the States.
|-
| Second law of thermodynamics || The Second Law of Thermodynamics, in simple terms, states that the total entropy (or disorder) of an isolated system can only increase over time. It's a fundamental principle that dictates the direction of energy flow and the feasibility of many processes, and provides an arrow of time.
Turning off the second law of thermodynamics would have some pros and cons.
;GOOD STUFF
*'''Perpetual Motion Machines''': Machines that can do work indefinitely without an energy source would become possible, defying our current understanding of energy conservation.
*'''Reversibility of Processes''': Many natural processes that are irreversible under current laws could be reversed. For instance, melted ice could spontaneously turn back into a solid without energy removal.
*'''Recycling Energy''': We could theoretically use the same quantum of energy over and over again, leading to ultra-efficient systems and potentially solving many of the world's energy problems.
*'''Reversing Entropy-Driven Processes''': Things like mixing cream and coffee or ink in water could spontaneously unmix.
;BAD STUFF
*'''End Life as We Know It:''' All living organisms rely on the second law for crucial processes, including metabolism and reproduction. If the second law were negated, life, at least as we understand it, might not be possible.
*'''No Heat Engines:''' Engines rely on the flow of heat from hotter to colder bodies. Without the Second Law, our cars, power plants, refrigerators, and many other devices would not function.
*'''Breakdown of Molecular Processes:''' Molecules spontaneously move from areas of higher to lower concentration due to entropy. Without this, diffusion, osmosis, and many biochemical reactions wouldn't occur as they currently do.
*'''Loss of Directionality:''' One interpretation of the Second Law provides a directionality to time (the so-called "arrow of time"). Without it, causality and our understanding of past, present, and future could be fundamentally altered.
*'''Unpredictable Outcomes:''' Turning off the Second Law could result in a universe where outcomes are not probabilistically predictable. You couldn't rely on anything happening as it "should," leading to chaos in every sense.
 This law of physics was also explored in the What If? article [https://what-if.xkcd.com/145/ Fire From Moonlight].
| rowspan="3"|"Physics" items
|-
| Friction || Friction is the resistive force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. Turning it off has some upsides and downsides.
;UPSIDES
*'''Perpetual Motion Machines:''' Without friction, once an object starts moving, it would continue indefinitely unless acted upon by another force. This could lead to perpetual motion machines that could generate energy.
*'''Super-Efficient Transport:''' Cars, trains, and other vehicles would glide effortlessly once set into motion, leading to immense energy savings.
*'''Unique Sports:''' New sports and activities would emerge, where players glide or slide over surfaces without friction.
;DOWNSIDES
*'''Walking Would Be Impossible:''' We rely on friction between our feet and the ground to move. Without it, we would be unable to walk, run, or even stand.
*'''No Manual Dexterity:''' Holding, grabbing, or manipulating objects would be impossible. Even simple tasks like holding a glass or writing with a pen would be out of reach.
*'''Catastrophic Mechanical Failures:''' Many machines rely on friction to function. Brakes in cars, for instance, use friction to slow down and stop the vehicle. Without it, uncontrollable accidents would occur.
*'''No Sound:''' Friction between air molecules creates sound waves. Without friction, the world would be silent.
*'''Breathing Difficulties:''' Our respiratory system relies on frictional forces when the alveoli in our lungs exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the bloodstream.
*'''No Fire:''' Fire relies on friction for its creation, such as when striking a match. The absence of friction would mean no traditional methods of starting a fire.
*'''Collisions:''' Objects, once set in motion, would continue to move until they hit something, leading to a myriad of unpredictable and uncontrollable collisions.
 Being in a frictionless environment (and a vacuum, as physicists love...) was the subject of [[669: Experiment]].
|-
| Gravity || Gravity is a natural force that attracts two bodies toward each other, proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
Turning off gravity would have some advantages and disadvantages.
;ADVANTAGES
* '''Flight''': Without gravity, every leap could turn into a flight. We could push off surfaces and float effortlessly through the air.
* '''No Weight Restrictions''': Large structures could be built without concern for weight-bearing loads. This would drastically change engineering and architectural designs.
* '''New Sports''': Zero-gravity sports and activities could become a reality on Earth. Imagine playing basketball or soccer without gravity!
;DISADVANTAGES
* '''Loss of Atmosphere and Oceans''': Without gravity, Earth's atmosphere would dissipate into space, and water from oceans, rivers, and lakes would float away, making life as we know it impossible.
* '''Unanchored Chaos''': Everything not fixed to the ground, including people, animals, vehicles, and foundationless structures, could become airborne, causing massive destruction and chaos.
* '''Disruption of Celestial Order''': Earth would no longer orbit the Sun, the Moon would drift away rather quickly, and the structural integrity of the universe, including galaxies and solar systems, would be jeopardized.
* '''Everything Exploding''': Most celestial bodies, ranging from the moon to supermassive black holes, would explode from internal pressure and centripetal forces no longer fighting against gravity throwing everything into space.
* '''Aggregation Absence''': Stars, galaxies, and basically anything in space requires gravity to form. Without gravity, no stars, planets, or meteors would form ever again.

Of course, if this switch is turned off, it may simply mean that objects within the house itself are no longer subject to gravity. This would be '''''far''''' less cataclysmic, and as a bonus, this would make it much, much easier to move around the house, get to higher areas, and move objects, but could prove to cause some problems once the breaker is turned back on, especially for the floor.
|-
| Circuit breakers || colspan="2"|If this was turned off, it would presumably turn off the functionality of the circuit breaker itself. Practically, it would turn of all power in the house since no breaker is supplied or supplying power any more. (Most houses have a main circuit breaker that provides this functionality.) However, because this specifically is a switch for literally circuit breakers and it itself is a circuit breaker, given the other surreal things this breaker box controls, turning it off will possibly make it impossible to turn it on ever again as the switch will no longer function once switched off.

Moreover, if this circuit breaker disables all circuit breakers everywhere, it would result in global infrastructure collapse, halting essential services, including transportation, healthcare, and communication, and leading to widespread chaos.
|-
! colspan="3"|Title text
|-
| colspan="2"|The title text is about causality. Turning off the circuit breaker using the CIRCUIT BREAKER switch may lead to a loop, as the disabled breaker can no longer disable itself, leading to it turning back on, etc. Alternatively, turning off the CIRCUIT BREAKER switch might be a one-way street: turning the CAUSALITY switch from OFF back to ON would be unlikely to do anything if circuit breakers have been fully deactivated. The separation of cause and effect would ostensibly take precedence over the current switch setting. Turning off CAUSALITY first would prevent either the loop or the permanent disabling of circuit breakers (but would also have many other side effects; whether or not turning off causality would actually turn off causality if causality is turned off is an exercise for the reader).
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An open breaker box is shown. There are 26 labelled breakers, all of which are on, paired back to back in thirteen rows as a label, switch, switch and label.]
:Kitchen lights / A whirring fan you didn't realize was on until now
:Living room lights / Dishwasher
:Porch lights / Dishes
:Bathroom lights and one surprise mystery outlet somewhere / Hallway lights
:North-facing appliances / Hallway outlets
:Bathtub drain light / Hallway floors
:Appliances whose names contain the letter "F" / Social media
:Hot water heater / State law
:Regular water heater / Federal law
:Outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in / Second law of thermodynamics
:High-pitched hum generator / Friction
:[There are words that are too small to read on the left breaker's label.]
:The solution to the cryptogram below: / Gravity
:Bugs / Circuit breakers

{{comic discussion}}

2848: Breaker Box

2023-10-31T11:33:29Z

172.69.194.155: /* Table of the breakers labels */

2848: Breaker Box

2023-10-31T11:22:31Z

172.69.194.155: /* Table of the breakers labels */

2848: Breaker Box

2023-10-31T11:19:25Z

172.69.194.155: /* Table of the breakers labels */

2848: Breaker Box

2023-10-31T11:13:30Z

172.69.194.155: /* Table of the breakers labels */

2847: Dendrochronology

2023-10-30T20:03:10Z

172.69.194.155: /* Explanation */ "Publicated"? What was I thinking?? Messing with the verb "to publish" too much. Anyway, we also can't say when the actual discoveries were (not 1653, however!) so shaving that sense off. Making it less verbose. Unlike this 'summary'. :p

{{comic
| number = 2847
| date = October 27, 2023
| title = Dendrochronology
| image = dendrochronology_2x.png
| imagesize = 332x444px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = These anomalies are known as Miyake events, named for the pioneering scientist who discovered them and was tragically devoured by a carnivorous tree.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by TOM BOMBADIL'S ARCH NEMESIS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Dendrochronology}} is a scientific method of using tree rings to tell the age of a tree and learn about historical climate from features found in each ring. It's based on the fact that trees add a new ring each year, so counting the rings will tell a tree's age in years. Additionally, climate and ecology affect the size and composition of each year's ring, so scientists can use rings to estimate what conditions were like each year. They can cross-compare tree-ring samples from overlapping date ranges, of comparable trees grown and felled at different times, to build up and confirm a useful ring history well beyond that of a single tree.

In some cases, tree rings contain remnants of specific events, such as forest fires, large volcano eruptions, atomic tests or droughts. Extremely disparate years can often be seen represented by a clear visual change in the usual subtle variation of ring-growth. The comic posits that, in 1635, trees somehow became {{w|carnivorous}}. The ring for that year contains indications of the bones of the creatures that they ate. This was just a temporary condition, since the rings after this have no bones, but clearly was a coordinated event among different trees to have caused this to be a comparable marker. Events such as this may have reoccurred at other times, just not again/before within the lifetime of the particular tree illustrated.

The title text says that anomalous years like this are called 'Miyake events', after a scientist named Miyake who discovered them (and was subsequently eaten by the trees, similar to the origin of {{w|Thagomizer}}). In actual fact, a {{w|Miyake event}} is a period when a larger-than-normal quantity of certain isotopes are created by cosmic rays, possibly due to [https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11063 extreme solar flares]. Evidence of these events can often be found in ancient tree rings, as physicist Fusa Miyake discovered when investigating tree rings from years 774-775. However, she wasn't then devoured by the trees – certainly not in 1635, which is centuries prior to her 2012-13 publications.

A surprising number of [https://www.google.com/search?q=things+found+in+trees things can be actually found within the 'flesh' of trees], though mostly inorganic items (e.g., metal tools) that are placed and abandoned there long enough for the tree to expand its bark and woody trunk around them. Skeletal remains are more often found [https://www.google.com/search?q=human+bones+in+trees in the roots of fallen trees]. They are mostly{{Citation needed}} from bodies that were there before the tree started to germinate. Perhaps even were buried and then a tree deliberately planted to either mark or obscure the burial site. It is even possible that the young tree significantly benefits from nutrients derived from the presence of the cadaver, as certain actual {{w|carnivorous plant}}s have evolved to do, allowing it to thrive more than other saplings. But, in this case, it would not be through the plant itself pursuing a 'deliberately' carniverous behaviour.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A cross section of a tree in beige, with a brown bark around the cross section and black rings throughout, except one layer around the middle where white bones are shown between two exceptionally separated ring boundaries.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Dendrochronologists can date wood samples by identifying growth ring anomalies that correspond to specific events. For example, it's often possible to spot the horrible summer of 1635 when trees turned carnivorous.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

1503: Squirrel Plan

2023-10-24T23:16:28Z

172.69.194.155: /* Explanation */ There were (still are) three Citation Needed tags here (far too many, IMO) and two of them were the wrong side of the punctuation.

{{comic
| number = 1503
| date = March 25, 2015
| title = Squirrel Plan
| image = squirrel plan.png
| titletext = [Halfway to the Sun ...] Heyyyy ... what if this BALLOON is full of acorns?!
}}

==Explanation==
These particular squirrels are ambitious but misguided, like the characters in the myth of {{w|Icarus}} and {{w|Daedalus}} (it should be noted that [[Randall]] does not see it that way, as seen in the bottom of {{what if|30|"Interplanetary Cessna"}}), or the {{w|Tower of Babel}}. The squirrels' understanding of astrophysics is lacking,{{Citation needed}} regarding the distance to the Sun and appropriate transportation to reach it in addition to the need to resist the sun's heat and exist in the vacuum of space. Their belief that the Sun is made of acorns reflects their uniquely acorn-focused worldview, a reference to the tendency of real-life squirrels to gather and store acorns as winter food, as well as their single-minded dedication to overcoming obstacles (even [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg elaborately-constructed obstacle courses]) for the sake of obtaining nuts.

The title text reveals that "halfway to the Sun," 75 million kilometers from all known acorns in our universe, the airborne squirrel seems to jeopardize the entire mission because he wants to test if the balloon itself is full of acorns. Basic observational skills will tell anyone that acorns are not lighter than air,{{Citation needed}} but the idea follows the logic stated by the squirrels: If the Sun, being so magnificent, must be full of acorns, then a balloon powerful enough to take a squirrel to the Sun must also be powered by something amazing, like acorns. Obviously, neither the Sun or balloons are filled with acorns.{{Citation needed}} That we know of..... Maybe those squirrels were onto something.

Usage of balloons for space travel is a prominent motif in early science fiction; see, for example, "{{w|The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall}}" by Edgar Allan Poe.

==Transcript==
:[There are three squirrels. One is suspended from a balloon. The other two are sitting on the ground, looking up at it.]

:Squirrel to the right: Once you've chewed a hole in the Sun, shoot the balloon to fall back to earth, then pull the parachute ripcord to land.

:Squirrel tied to balloon: Are you '''''sure''''' it's full of acorns?

:Squirrel to the right: Look how bright and magnificent it is! What ''else'' could be in there?

==Trivia==
*It is commonly believed that real squirrels use their ''tails'' as parachutes, although as yet [http://io9.com/5946627/squirrel-hurls-itself-through-a-fourth-story-window-scampers-off-unscathed "there have been no observational studies on the aerodynamics of free-falling squirrels."]
*In the real world [http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=1020.0 helium balloons cannot escape the stratosphere.] Perhaps the squirrel only ''thinks'' he's halfway to the Sun. Or maybe the acorns in the balloon are pushing on the [[1404:_Quantum_Vacuum_Virtual_Plasma|quantum vacuum virtual plasma]].
*The "shooting a hole in the balloon" is based on Larry Walters, who actually flew in a lawn chair suspended below a large cluster of helium balloons, using a pellet gun to shoot out balloons to descend. Featured in {{what if|62|What If: Falling With Helium}}.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Squirrels]]

977: Map Projections

2023-10-24T23:12:54Z

172.69.194.155: /* Dymaxion */ Removing (and removing the need for) Oxford Commas. Changing "drive" to "provoke" to avoid unfortunate contextual clash.

{{comic
| number = 977
| date = November 14, 2011
| title = Map Projections
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = map_projections.png
| titletext = What's that? You think I don't like the Peters map because I'm uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged? Are you sure you're not... ::puts on sunglasses:: ...projecting?
}}
{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
{{w|Map projection}}, or how to represent the spherical Earth surface onto a flat support (paper, screen...) to have a usable map, is a long-time issue with very practical aspects (navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) as well as very scientific/mathematical ones, involving geometry or even abstract algebra among other things. There is no universal solution to this problem: Any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality. Many projections have been proposed in various contexts, each intending to minimize distortions for specific uses (for nautical navigation, for aerial navigation, for landmass size comparisons, etc.) but having drawbacks from other points of view. Some of them are more frequently used than others in mass media and therefore more well-known than others, some are purely historical and now deprecated, some are very obscure, etc.

[[Randall]] suggests here the idea that someone's "favorite" map projection can reveal aspects of their personality, then goes through a series of them to show what they can mean.

He may actually believe that all map projections are in a way bad. This could be inferred from the fact that he much later began publishing a series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]].
===Mercator===
[[File:MercatorProjection.jpg|frame|The Mercator projection]]
The {{w|Mercator projection}} was introduced by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The main purpose of this map is to preserve compass bearings; for example 13 degrees east of north will be 13 degrees clockwise from the ray pointing toward the top of the map, at every point. A mathematical consequence is the mapping is conformal, i.e. if two roads meet at a certain angle on the surface of the Earth, they will meet at that same angle on the map. It also follows that at every point the vertical and horizontal scales are the same, so locally i.e. considering only a small part of the map, geographical features (shapes, angles) are well represented, which helps a lot in recognizing them on-the-field, or for local navigation in that small part only. For this reason, that projection (or a close variant) is used in several online mapping services (such as Google Maps), which means that it is frequently encountered by the general public. A straight line on the map corresponds to a course of constant bearing (direction), which was very useful for nautical navigation in the past (and thus made that projection very well-known).

However, from a global point of view, this projection is radically incorrect in how it shows the size of landmasses (for instance, Antarctica and Greenland seem gigantic), and furthermore, it always excludes a small region around each pole (otherwise the map would be of infinite height), so it doesn't provide a complete solution for the problem of map projection. The comic implies that people who like that projection aren't very interested with map issues, and typically use what they are offered without thinking much about it.

{{clear}}

===Van der Grinten===
[[File:VanDerGrintenProjection.jpg|frame|The Van der Grinten projection]]
The {{w|Van der Grinten projection}} is not much better than the Mercator. It was adopted by {{w|National Geographic}} in 1922 and was used until they updated to the Robinson projection in 1988.

The Van der Grinten projection is circular as opposed to the Mercator projection. The fictional person believes a circular map is more fitting to the real Earth's three-dimensional spherical nature because both are round. This belief fails to recognize that a two-dimensional circle has very little in common with the surface of a sphere, and thus this projection still causes a vast distortion of space and area. Because of this, Randall implies the Van der Grinten enthusiast to be optimistic and childishly simple-minded (e.g. "you like circles").

{{clear}}

===Robinson===
[[File:RobinsonProjection.jpg|frame|The Robinson projection]]
The {{w|Robinson projection}} was developed by {{w|Arthur H. Robinson}} as a map that was supposed to look nice and is often used for classroom maps. National Geographic switched to this projection in 1988, and used it for ten years, switching to the {{w|Winkel tripel projection|Winkel-Tripel}} in 1998.

{{w|The Beatles}} was a rock band that enjoyed great commercial success in the 1960s, and are widely considered the best act ever in the genre of popular music. The Beatles, coffee, and running shoes are all things that are very commonly enjoyed and largely uncontroversial, as well as being comforting. Liking these specific things suggests an ordinary, easygoing lifestyle paralleled by the projection.

{{clear}}

===Dymaxion===
[[File:DymaxionProjection.jpg|frame|The Dymaxion projection]]
Also called the Fuller Map, the {{w|Dymaxion map}} takes a sphere and projects it onto an icosahedron, that is a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. It is far easier to unwrap an icosahedron than it is to unwrap a sphere into a 2D object and has very little skewing of the poles. {{w|Buckminster Fuller}} was an eccentric futurist who believed, for example, that world maps should allow no conception of "up" or "down". He was therefore more than happy to defy people's expectations about maps in the pursuit of mathematical accuracy.

Randall associates the projection to geek subculture and niche markets:
*{{w|Isaac Asimov}} was an American science-fiction writer, who (as well as publishing many textbooks) is considered the father of the modern concept of robots. He invented the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}. He also worked on more than 500 books throughout his career.
*{{w|XML}} is the eXtensible Markup Language. It is used to represent data in a format that machines can read and understand, as well as being human-readable. In practice, XML is cumbersome to read.
*{{w|Vibram FiveFingers|Toed shoes}} are a [[1065: Shoes|favorite]] of Randall's to pick on. In society they are seen as a {{w|geek}} clothing item.
*Brought to the world by {{w|Dean Kamen}}, the {{w|Segway PT}} was supposed to be a device that changed the way cities were built. In practice, it had the same problems as other novel personal transporters, such as the {{w|Sinclair C5}} many years earlier. Small, powered vehicles didn't fit neatly into the existing infrastructure for cars, bikes or pedestrians; using them on roads or sidewalks could be unsafe, illegal or both. Early versions of the Segway also cost more than a used car, such that they were never widespread enough to provoke legal or infrastructure changes. The devices found a small niche among law enforcement, mall/airport security and tour operators, rather than private owners. The former owner of {{w|Segway Inc.}}, the late {{w|Jimi Heselden}}, accidentally rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010. Ninebot, then owner of the Segway brand, announced in 2020 that the flagship 2-wheeled self-balancing vehicle would be discontinued.
*At the time of comic release, 3D goggles, nowadays widely known as {{w|Virtual reality headset|VR headsets}}, were considered a gimmick at best. The original idea is as old as 3D graphics, but it never really took off until mid-2010s. Earlier products were very unwieldy and offered poor graphics quality, so no one took this technology seriously.
*{{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} is an alternate keyboard layout to {{w|QWERTY}}. According to legend, QWERTY was invented to help keep manual typewriters from jamming (by placing the most used keys far from each other) but Dr. {{w|August Dvorak}} performed many studies and found the mathematically optimal keyboard layout to reduce finger travel for right handed typists. While some claim Dvorak is technically better than QWERTY, QWERTY had become the standard. Most keyboards were laid out in QWERTY format, but a lot of software exists to remap the keys to DVORAK for those interested in typing faster. Retraining the brain to use Dvorak takes perhaps a week. It has become a [[:Category:Dvorak|recurrent theme]] on xkcd.

{{clear}}

===Winkel-Tripel===
[[File:Winkel-TripelProjection.jpg|frame|The Winkel Tripel projection]]
Proposed by Oswald Winkel in 1921, the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}} tried to reduce a set of three (German: Tripel) main problems with map projections: area, direction, and distance. The {{w|Kavrayskiy VII projection|Kavrayskiy projection}} is very similar to the Winkel Tripel and was used by the USSR, but very few in the Western world know of it.

The comic links this projection to {{w|hipster}} subculture. The hipster stereotype is to avoid conforming to mainstream fashions. "Post-" refers to a variety of musical genres such as {{w|post-punk}}, {{w|post-grunge}}, {{w|post-minimalism}}, {{w|post-rock}}, etc. that branch off of other genres, and are generally considered less accessible than the genres that spawned them. Liking a genre just called "post-" implies that the listener prefers music that is less mainstream, and may have that as the only criterion for listening.

;Trivia
*In German "Winkel-Tripel-Projektion" means Winkel's triple projection, and therefore the hyphen shouldn't be there: "Winkel Tripel" or "Winkel tripel".
*This projection was later used in [[2242: Ground vs Air]].
{{clear}}

===Goode Homolosine===
[[File:GoodeHomolosineProjection.jpg|frame|The Goode Homolosine projection]]
The {{w|Goode homolosine projection}} takes a different approach to skewing a sphere into a roughly circular surface. An orange peel can be taken from an orange and flattened with fair success; this is roughly the procedure that {{w|John Paule Goode}} followed in creating this projection. Randall is suggesting that people who like this map also prefer relatively easy solutions to other things in life, despite those solutions having nuanced problems that are more difficult to address.

People often make arguments that if normal people ran the United States, then the US wouldn't be in the trouble it is. This is from the belief that career politicians are simply out to make money and will only act in the interest of their constituency when their continued easy life is threatened (usually around election time). While some form of this view is very common and probably pretty much correct, Randall is saying that someone who likes this map may take this to extremes.

Airline food is another, much maligned, problem. How do you store enough food to feed people on long airplane trips? What kind of food can be served in an enclosed, low-air-pressure environment? The common solution is to use some kind of prepackaged, reheated meal. Randall is saying that the people in favor of the Goode Homolosine wonder why the airlines don't simply order meals from the restaurants in the airport, store that food, and serve it, rather than using bland reheated food. However, this seemingly-obvious solution ignores how being in an airplane dulls your sense of taste. Airplane food is actually over seasoned for eating on the ground, meaning that if airlines switched to restaurant food it would probably taste even blander. There would also be issues with acquiring special meals (for example, vegetarian, Kosher, and Halal meals), especially if suitable restaurants were not in close range to the airport.

Older cars burned oil like mad fiends, and oil back then would become corrosive to the innards of an engine, so oil had to be changed often. But, with the introduction of synthetic motor oil and better designed engines, new cars only need their oil changed about every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. A common conspiracy theory is that modern automobile oil manufacturers still recommend that car owners change their oil every 3,000-5,000 miles to "drum" up more business, even though that frequency is unnecessary.

All of these references suggest that people who like the Goode Homolosine projection are fans of simple solutions to problems. However, while the solutions appear to be an easy, common-sense solutions, they all rely on over-simplifying the problem, and ignoring any problems introduced by the solution itself. For instance: the restaurants might have trouble making enough food for the whole plane, and it could get cold before being served; the air conditions [https://www.nbcnews.com/health/one-reason-airline-food-so-bad-your-own-tastebuds-6C10823522 aboard planes] can affect taste, so airlines say they optimize for this; there is no such thing as a "normal" person, and if there were, they would have less political experience than politicians, while remaining subject to the same pressures and problems with the larger political system; and the Goode Homolosine projection, while mostly resembling a flattened orange peel as suggested by the earlier analogy, does indeed cut down on distortion, but also has serious problems of its own, such as leaving huge gaps of nothingness between the continents, making distances across the oceans difficult to visualize.

{{clear}}

===Hobo–Dyer===
[[File:Hobo-DyerProjection.jpg|frame|The Hobo–Dyer projection]]
The {{w|Hobo–Dyer projection}} was commissioned by Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein and was drafted by Mick Dyer in 2002. It is a modified {{w|Behrmann projection}}. The goal was to be a more visually pleasing version of the Gall–Peters.

As is discussed in the Gall–Peters explanation, the Gall–Peters was developed to be equal area, so that historically colonised and economically disadvantaged areas nearer the equator are not diminished in area by the map projection, while global north areas are generally enlarged.

Randall associates the Hobo–Dyer projection to "crunchy granola" — a stereotype associated with vegetarianism, environmental activism, anti-war activism, liberal political leanings, and some traces of {{w|hippie}} culture.

With feminism becoming mainstream and non-binary genders being more widely accepted, some have begun to invent gender-neutral pronouns so that when referring to a person whose gender is not known they cannot be offended by being referred to by the wrong pronouns. In {{w|Middle English}} 'they' and 'their' were {{w|Singular they|accepted genderless pronouns that could replace 'he', 'she'}} as well as be used to represent a crowd, but this usage is considered by some to be grammatically incorrect because of the plural/singular debate ([https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/the-awkward-case-of-his-or-her stupid Victorian Grammarians!]). There have been {{w|gender-neutral pronoun#Invented pronouns|many attempts at popularizing invented gender-neutral pronouns}} and they are beginning to achieve some degree of success in the mainstream.

{{clear}}

===Plate Carrée===
[[File:PlateCarreeProjection.jpg|frame|The Plate Carrée projection]]
Also known as the {{w|Equirectangular projection}}, it has apparently been in use since approximately 100 AD. The benefit of this projection is that latitude and longitude can be used as x,y coordinates. This makes it especially easy for computers to graph data on top of it.

According to the comic, the projection appeals to people who find much beauty in simplicity.

{{clear}}

===A Globe!===
[[File:GlobeProjection.jpg|frame|The Globe "projection"]]
In any good discussion there has to be at least one smart-ass.{{Citation needed}} This is a comic about map projections, that is, the science of taking a sphere and flattening it into 2 dimensions. The smart-ass believes that we shouldn't even try: a sphere is, tautologically, the perfect representation of a sphere.

To quote ''{{w|The Princess Bride}}'': "Yes, you're very smart. Shut up."

A globe is the "map projection" used by {{w|Google Earth}} when zoomed out.

{{clear}}

===Waterman butterfly===
[[File:WatermanButterflyProjection.jpg|frame|The Waterman Butterfly projection]]
Similar to the Dymaxion, the {{w|Waterman butterfly projection}} turns a sphere into an octahedron, and then unfolds the net of the octahedron, which was devised by mathematician {{w|Waterman polyhedron|Steve Waterman}} based upon the work of {{w|Bernard J.S. Cahill}}.

Bernard Cahill published a [https://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html butterfly map] in 1909. Steve Waterman probably has the only extant "ready to go" map following the same general principles, though Gene Keys may not be far behind. Waterman has a poem with graphics in a similar vein to this xkcd comic that is worth reading.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120118095915/https://watermanpolyhedron.com/worldmap.html]

[https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/pcr.2016.48.issue-4/pcr-2016-0014/pcr-2016-0014.pdf Polyhedral projections] like Cahill, Dymaxion or Waterman typically offer better accuracy of size, shape and area than flat projections, at the expense of compass directionality, connectedness, and other complications.

The joke is that the person responding deeply understands map projections; anyone who knows of this projection is a person that Randall would like to get to know.

{{clear}}

===Peirce quincuncial===
[[File:PeirceQuincuncialProjection.jpg|frame|The Peirce Quincuncial projection]]
The {{w|Peirce quincuncial projection}} was devised by {{w|Charles Sanders Peirce}} in 1879 and uses {{w|complex analysis}} to make a {{w|conformal mapping}} of the Earth, that conforms except for four points which would make up the midpoints of sides and lie on equator (the equator is represented by a square and the corners connect the sides in the middle.)

{{w|Inception}} was a 2010 movie about {{w|meta}} {{w|lucid dream}}ing. It has a complex story that is difficult to follow and leaves the viewer with many questions at the end, and almost always needs to be watched multiple times to be understood.

The human brain is not well developed to deal with oddly obvious things. One example is that everyone has a skeleton, but everyone is surprised to see a part of their body represented by an X-ray. Another is the fascinating complexity of the human hand, a machine which is amazingly complex, driven by a complex interplay of electrical and chemical signals; yet is the size of the hand and so useful. A fascination with or fixation on {{tvtropes|ContemplatingYourHands|such thoughts}} is often associated with an altered state of mind brought on by marijuana consumption. Therefore, Randall may be implying that this map would appeal to stoners.

{{clear}}

===Gall–Peters===
[[File:Gall-PetersProjection.jpg|frame|The Gall–Peters projection]]
The {{w|Gall–Peters projection}} is mired in controversy, surprisingly for a map. {{w|James Gall}}, a 19th-century clergyman, presented this projection in 1855 before the {{w|British Association for the Advancement of Science}}. In 1967, the filmmaker {{w|Arno Peters}} created the same projection and presented it to the world as a "new invention" that put poorer, less powerful countries into their rightful proportions, (as opposed to the Mercator) during the US civil rights movement, when society was very concerned about social justice. Peters played the marketing game and got quite a few followers of his map by saying it had "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and was "totally distance-factual". These claims were in fact false. The Mercator projection distorts size in favor of shape, and Gall-Peters distorts shape in favor of size, being especially inaccurate at the equator and the poles.

Anyone who loves such a politically charged map that has become popular by way of marketing stunts and false claims, Randall would rather not have anything to do with. Alternatively Randall just dislikes this map projection so much due to the above mentioned major inaccuracies, that he hates anyone who likes it.

{{clear}}

===Title text===
The title text makes a joke that goes to the familiar meme from ''{{w|CSI: Miami}}'', in which the star, David Caruso starts a sentence, then puts on his sunglasses and ends the sentence with a corny pun. In this case, the pun is on {{w|map projection}} and {{w|projection (psychology)|projection}} in psychology. Psychological projection is an unconscious defense mechanism wherein a person who is uncomfortable with their own impulses denies having them and attributes them to other people, and blames these people for these impulses. The Sunglasses internet meme has been used [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|in other comics]] as well.

==Transcript==
:What your favorite
:'''Map Projection'''
:says about you
:[All of these are organized as Title, a copy of the particular projection underneath, and what it says about you under that.]

:*Mercator
:**You're not really into maps.
:*Van der Grinten
:**You're not a complicated person. You love the Mercator projection; you just wish it weren't square. The Earth's not a square, it's a circle. You like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!
:*Robinson
:**You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy The Beatles. You think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.
:*Dymaxion
:**You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. You own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. You type in Dvorak.
:*Winkel-Tripel
:**National Geographic adopted the Winkel-Tripel in 1998, but you've been a W-T fan since ''long'' before "Nat Geo" showed up. You're worried it's getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavrayskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is "Post–".
:*Goode Homolosine
:**They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems enough to you. You like easy solutions.You think we wouldn't have so many problems if we'd just elect ''normal'' people to Congress instead of Politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve ''that'' on board. You change your car's oil, but secretly wonder if you really ''need'' to.
:*Hobo-Dyer
:**You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you've heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You're conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.
:*Plate Carrée (Equirectangular)
:**You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.
:*A Globe!
:**Yes, you're very clever.
:*Waterman Butterfly
:**Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it's based— ...You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa. ...Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?
:*Peirce Quincuncial
:**You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw ''Inception'', you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You ''have'' really looked at your hands.
:*Gall-Peters
:**I ''hate'' you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps‏‎]]
[[Category:Dvorak]]
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Aviation]]

Talk:2845: Extinction Mechanisms

2023-10-24T11:22:30Z

172.69.194.155:

-Hello, I'm a Christian that has done research to be intellectually fulfiled, and I would just want to say that I did not know that paleontologists were having trouble with this problem. A general Christian solution is that Noah's Flood, combined with the aftermath being much cooler, was the cause of the dinosaur extinction. Also, before you hate on me, I'm not trying to correct anyone, or be offensive. I just thought I'd share my thoughts on this and add another theory to the mix. This is my second time posting a comment, so sorry if I did something wrong or something. Also, I know there's a comic that "debunks" this, but there seems to have been more evidence and research done since then. Also, the biggest help to me has been ''The Case for A Creator'' by Lee Strobel. [[User:Azerty99|Azerty99]] ([[User talk:Azerty99|talk]]) 15:17, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

:Reading a book (or even many books) is not research. Science means you're never absolutely sure about anything. You're only relatively certain until contradictory proof of the currently theory (or theories) exists. This is not a weakness, but exactly the strength of the scientific method. If you have significant and non-controvertible proof that men and dinosaurs existed at the same time, I'll tentatively accept your ideas. Until then, it's all just bunk. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.197.151|162.158.197.151]] 15:32, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

:Paleontologists are not having an issue with this. It is merely the premise for the comic. The available evidence vastly points to the extinction of the non avian dinosaurs ~66 million years ago. Of course the scientific community always welcomes new evidence to evaluate and see if it leads to a different conclusion or modification of the current consensus.

:It's a troll folks, treat it with the contempt it deserves. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.240|172.69.43.240]] 19:09, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

One obvious type of hole was not discussed. The Acme Portable Hole™ is an entirely different class of holes as extensively demonstrated in (this)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_the_Road_Runner] documentation.

-Ok, thanks for the comments in return! And thanks for not being extremely rude! Here's one article that shows several bio-organic materials that should have decayed if in the situations they were in for -66 million years. https://genesisapologetics.com/faqs/dinosaurs-lived-recently-and-died-in-noahs-flood/ Also, can I see the evidence shown in the second comic? I would like to see all this evidence. Also, I wasn't aware that scientific ideas shown in xkcd that were heavily implied to be true were false. That sounds a bit rude, but usually xkcd
gives funny interpretations of actual problems, like all the ones about COVID, or the Heartbleed Bug. Also, I'm not a troll. I'm willing to debate as long as people aren't saying things like "Science says" and equivocal stuff, and shows evidence instead of just giving vague statements. Thanks! [[User:Azerty99|Azerty99]] ([[User talk:Azerty99|talk]]) 22:25, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
:There's little disagreement that an asteroid striking the Yucatan around 66 mya caused or was a significant contributor to the extinction of the dinosaurs, but there are multiple (not necessarily mutually exclusive) hypotheses about what exact mechanisms had the biggest effects.
:It's like finding a body with nineteen bullet wounds. The detectives will have to piece together the evidence and come to tentative conclusions about what kind of gun was used, from how far away, whether the body was moved after the shooting, whether the victim died immediately or after some time, etc. But until someone finds something major that suggests otherwise, "death by shooting" is going to have to remain the working theory. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.41|172.69.247.41]] 23:09, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

-That analogy makes almost perfect sense, except there's a pretty big difference between finding 19 bullet holes in a man and concluding "death by shooting" and thinking that a meteor caused extinction because fossils were found in rocks that could be from the time that the meteor struck. Also, assuming that the mechanisms shown in the comic that are crossed out have been shown to not be possible, then what evidence is there that the meteor was the cause at all besides the correlation of the meteor impact and the extinction time? Does the correlation imply causation? Also, the theory of the meteor assumes the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs, which, while excepted by the majority of scientists, has been called into question.
:Ah, you figured it out. The extinction of the dinosaurs must have caused the meteor impact. The crossed-out mechanisms have '''not''' been ruled out; they're the leading hypotheses. That's the whole joke. Whoosh! There's plenty of evidence to conclude that the meteor was the cause of the mass extinctions. I don't see the need to provide you with them - they can be easily found. But you're not really interested in learning about evidence that could falsify your beliefs; you're fighting tooth and nail against anything that contradicts your preconceived conclusion. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.140|172.69.34.140]] 07:25, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
:well dinosaur fossils are found below the cretaceous-paleogene boundary and not found above, so the major groups (excluding birds) most likely died out around that exact period; it contains a large amount of iridium, which is common in asteroids and there would be a low chance that there would be any other method to deposit iridium worldwide. its age can also be estimated using radiometric dating which puts it at around 66 mya (66.043 ± 0.011 mya to be exact) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.181|172.69.134.181]] 00:47, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
:XKCD is a webcomic that often derives humor from science. However, it is not a reliable source of information.{{Citation needed}} Consider the various "phone ideas" comics that present phones with "features" that are absurd or impossible. The "crossing out" of the hypotheses in the comic should not be taken as an indication that these hypotheses have been discredited. The comic presents the hypothesis that a meteor broke into pieces, all of equal volume, that struck each square meter of the Earth's surface, and hit each dinosaur individually. I'm reasonably confident that that is physically impossible, but the comic lists this hypothesis together with some of the current leading hypotheses and shows those leading hypotheses crossed-out and describing this alternative hypothesis as "obvious." There idea that this alternative hypothesis is in any way comparable to the others listed, or has any legitimacy, is absurd to the point of being laughable, and thus funny. Regarding the apparently preserved tissue found in some fossils, I found this interesting link: [https://web.archive.org/web/20221202184025/https://www.uwstout.edu/about-us/news-center/researchers-identify-mechanisms-blood-vessel-preservation-t-rex-dinosaur Researchers identify mechanisms of blood vessel preservation in a T. rex dinosaur]--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.210|172.69.22.210]] 10:30, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

-While Noah's Flood was likely an actual event, it would not have been worldwide. Christianity originated in ancient Rome, which is near the Mediterranean Sea, and it is likely that after the last Ice Age, the sea levels rose, and the Atlantic Ocean flooded through what is now the Strait of Gibraltar, creating the Mediterranean Sea. Although this was not a worldwide flood, to the people living in the affected area, it would have seemed as such. [[User:Unknown User|Unknown User]] ([[User talk:Unknown User|talk]]) 01:00, 24 October 2023 (UTC)Unknown User

- Issues with Noah’s flood. 1. If it was worldwide and lasted 40 days, all the salty ocean water would have contaminated all fresh water on earth. This would have killed all fresh water fish within minutes or hours. Yet we have fresh water fish. Maybe in the millennia since fish have evolved the ability to survive in fresh water again? 2. The math shows that it would take 3-4 times the current amount of water to cover the earth worldwide. Where did all that water go? It’s not on earth now. We would be aware of that. The math ain’t mathing.

-Okay, to answer the comment directly above mine, if God can create the universe, I doubt he had a problem with seperating salt and fresh water for 40 days. Next comment: While early Christianity was started in Ancient Rome, Noah's Flood is in the first five books of the bible, which were written by Moses, about people that were about 30 generations his ancestors, passed down through traditions combined with the guidance of God. So they probably weren't near the Metiterranean during the flood. Next comment: I understand now that it's a joke, while I understood that the non-crossed out one was obviously a joke the whole time. Also, I'll be honest, I can't open that link, but I'll assume it was true, in which case that's a great discovery for them. I'm assuming that that link is to a good website, is true, and does not exagerate. Next comment up: The iridium thing is true, and I'm not going to make an argument from ignorance and say "we just haven't found the source yet". That's a valid point, but the rock layers could have been moved or solidified earlier, and just formed at that time. We have no concieved notion of how long the days were when God was making the earth, so each on could of been like 5 million years. But that's a valid point! Next comment up: Yes, I know. Also, "But you're not really interested in learning about evidence that could falsify your beliefs; you're fighting tooth and nail against anything that contradicts your preconceived conclusion." I'm honestly trying my best, but you're right that it's hard to accept evidence that goes aqainst you. But, please make sure you don't fall into that category as well.
I'm just some random guy on the internet, and I'm going to go through my day feeling a strange mixture of hopeful and grim, not because of what you've shown me, but how you've shown me it. If you're really interested in tearing down my religion, go after the Bible itself. Making some random dude feel like crap because some of you were rude won't do anything. To those of you who actually brought up valid points, thanks. I hope that you put thought into what I'm saying, instead of just refusing to go against your preconceived judgements. To those of you that just said, "there's so much evidence" know that you need to do better if you're arguing. Be polite. You never know how bad a day the person you're talking to just had. Thanks.
I probably won't post here anymore. This is a nitpicky thing inside of a nitpicky thing and you're saying that my religion is false because I have a different opinion than you. I hope you don't go away feeling smug and self-satisfied, but instead think about the ripple affect of everything you say. Bye! [[User:Azerty99|Azerty99]] ([[User talk:Azerty99|talk]]) 11:07, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

What the meteor does, looks like a cluster bomb. BTW does one like to do the math for the meteor falling apart into pieces of 1l and those being randomly distributed. What is the expected value of dinosaurs of various area sizes being hit? Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.219|162.158.94.219]] 07:59, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
:You get one point for each brontosaur, twenty points for a velociraptor, thirty for a zhongjianosaurus and fifty for compsognathus. Double that for hitting their young (even harder to hit); double up again, per additional rock, if you can show that you hit every egg in a nest with a different fragment. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.155|172.69.194.155]] 11:22, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

The title text missed a great opportunity to call it the Comparably Light Bombardment But Oddly Restricted just for the acronym. [[User:Phil Srobeighn|Phil Srobeighn]] ([[User talk:Phil Srobeighn|talk]]) 11:18, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

963: X11

2023-10-19T22:23:07Z

172.69.194.155: Undo revision 326425 by 172.70.214.163 (talk) Proprietary can contrast with Open Source, yes, but Commercial is better complement to Free. (Something 'Proprietary' can be Free, etc.)

{{comic
| number = 963
| date = October 12, 2011
| title = X11
| image = x11.png
| titletext = Thomas Jefferson thought that every law and every constitution should be torn down and rewritten from scratch every nineteen years--which means X is overdue.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|X_Window_System|X11}} is the X window system (commonly X Window System or X11, based on its current major version being 11). It is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and rich input device capability for networked computers.

The X11 stacks are usually implemented using a display server. The reason that it is called a display server is that the actual viewer and the server do not need to be on the same system; X11 frequently runs over a network connection. This adds considerably to the complexity of the mechanism.

Most UNIX-based operating systems, including {{w|Linux}} and the {{w|Berkeley_Software_Distribution|BSDs}} use X11 as their base graphical subsystem and thus always use a display server and a display client. macOS has built-in support for X11, but does not use it for normal applications. For Windows, commercial and free solutions implementing an X11 display client exist.

Until 2004, for Linux the default display server was {{w|XFree86}}. This project required a variation of the config file that Randall mentions. It was forked into Xorg due to disagreements over the development model.

Xorg is nowadays the default display server: X.Org Server (commonly abbreviated to Xorg Server, XServer or just X) refers to the X server release packages stewarded by the X.Org Foundation, which is hosted by {{w|freedesktop.org}}, and provides an interface to the standard X Window releases for the use of the free and open source software community.

Every aspect of XFree86 and Xorg can be modified in numerous ways, all the way down to tiny behaviors such as the default window size, window-border snapping, mouse button maps or how a touchpad is used. All of these settings can be found in the xorg.conf file, a massive file with hundreds upon thousands of individual settings that have accumulated over the lifetime of the Xorg project. The [http://www.x.org/archive/X11R6.8.1/doc/xorg.conf.5.html full documentation for xorg.conf] contains all the settings contained within the file. When a problem arises in the graphical portion of a desktop using the X server, the solution may be to edit the xorg.conf file. The soul-crushing prospect of having to open and look up the correct parameter out of thousands that is causing issues is enough to destroy a person's satisfaction with their life.

Editing xorg.conf (especially manually) is much less necessary than it used to be. In fact, some distributions do not even come with an xorg.conf file, because everything necessary can be auto-detected and/or configured elsewhere.

The {{w|Wayland (display server protocol)|Wayland}} project aims to replace some of X11 and not include any of the cruft that built up over the decades. It was started in 2008, way more than 19 years after the aforementioned config file turned into a hell.

The title text references [http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch2s23.html a letter] {{w|Thomas Jefferson}} wrote to {{w|James Madison}} on the popular basis of political authority. There are a few quotes that can be pulled to sum up his ideas.

::To keep our ideas clear when applying them to a multitude, let us suppose a whole generation of men to be born on the same day, to attain mature age on the same day, and to die on the same day, leaving a succeeding generation in the moment of attaining their mature age all together. Let the ripe age be supposed of 21. years, and their period of life 34. years more, that being the average term given by the bills of mortality to persons who have already attained 21. years of age.

In his day most people lived only to age 55, so he supposes that a person reaches maturity at 21, and will live until 55 and then die. For the purposes of the other arguments he makes in the letter, he also supposes that all the people of a generation are born on the same day, and that they will all die on the same day: the day they turn 56.

::Then I say the earth belongs to each of these generations, during its course, fully, and in their own right.

Since only one generation is alive in his example, his model allows for that generation to do as they please for their time on earth, elsewhere in the letter he describes that each generation should not be able to leave the next generation in a worse position, so the debts accrued by one generation must be paid off by that generation. This has built us up to the quote that everyone attaches onto.

::Every constitution then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right. -It may be said that the succeeding generation exercising in fact the power of repeal, this leaves them as free as if the constitution or law has been expressly limited to 19 years only.

Because a generation reaches maturity at 21, and at that point the previous generation dies off, and this generation has 19 productive years until they are 40 and have 15 years of senility until their own death they have full reign of the earth as they please. Continuing on under the laws (and debts) of the previous generation is "an act of force, and not of right".

Jefferson picked 19 years because that was the length of time a generation spent in power, not that every 19 years all laws should be abolished, but that every generation, each new generation should tear down all the systems put in place, re-evaluate, and build better laws, systems, and constitutions.

==Transcript==
:[The comic is a graph with a curve starting at (0,0) that snakes toward the upper right of the graph. The axes are labelled:]
:x axis: Time since I last had to open Xorg.conf
:y axis: General satisfaction with how my life is going

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

2842: Inspiraling Roundabout

2023-10-18T12:40:03Z

172.69.194.155: no google, thanks. If someone can shorten the URL, please do.

{{comic
| number = 2842
| date = October 16, 2023
| title = Inspiraling Roundabout
| image = inspiraling_roundabout.png
| titletext = Look, I just think we need to stop coddling those hedonistic roundabout hogs who get into the inner lane and circle for hours, wasting valuable capacity.
}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by RUNAROUND SUE}}

A {{w|roundabout}}, a form of traffic circle or rotary, is a traffic control device that often serves as an alternative to stop signs, instead allowing for mere yields, as all traffic flows in the same counterclockwise direction around a central point (clockwise in left-hand traffic countries).

Various roundabout designs have been proposed and used throughout the world. Some of these use spiraling designs, where a road user wishing to access one of the furthest exits of the roundabout is initially directed into a lane towards the centre, which then spirals outwards, guiding them out until they reach their intended exit. Randall, on the other hand, proposes an "Inspiraling Roundabout" which spirals each entrance/exit lane inward, eventually leading all three roads to meet in the center.

The caption states that it's [[Technically|technically]] navigable, since you can get anywhere on the roundabout without breaking highway laws, but that the Highway Department has vetoed it, presumably due to its complexity, impracticality, and the potential for inciting 3-way collisions.

A few '''observations''' of this particular design (assuming {{w|Left- and right-hand traffic|left-hand driving / right-hand traffic}}):
* To drive from one entrance to the next exit is '''easy''' and does not require entering the spiral. If you start at 12 o’clock, it’s easy to exit at the next exit at 8 o’clock.
* Driving to the '''2nd exit''' (e.g., from 12 o’clock all the way around to 4 o’clock) first requires entering the spiral, driving '''counterclockwise''' (normal direction for a roundabout) as you head inward to the center. Then, after passing the 1st exit, you switch lanes to the outside once and can then easily exit the roundabout.
* Exiting the spiral from the center means making six or more lane changes to the right in rapid succession to get to the outside-most lane and see the exit. Changing lanes too slowly will leave you stuck in a loop.
* It is not possible to continue driving forwards once reaching the center as, quite apart from having to make a potentially dangerously sharp manoeuvre to enter one of the lanes in an outbound direction, you will start going against the direction of inwardly-circling traffic, in a clockwise direction. All traffic will be in counter-clockwise direction until reaching the center. The only way to avoid crashes is if everyone makes lane changes before reaching the center.
* Inward-bound and outward-bound vehicles would use the same lanes, risking '''head-on collisions''' if even a few vehicles are using the roundabout at the same time. [[253: Highway Engineer Pranks]] also has a rotary that intentionally collides cars.
* When exiting back into the outermost lane and then turning into one’s exit, drivers must make a '''very sharp left turn''' to exit to avoid crossing the painted lines.

Alternative methods to legally get from 12 o’clock to 4 o’clock (i.e., to the 2nd exit):
* Exit at 8 o’clock, do a legal U-turn, re-enter, and then exit at 4 o’clock.
* If lane changes are allowed across dotted lines (which is typically what dotted lanes indicate), enter at 12 o’clock and then simply lane-change into the outermost lane near 6 o’clock.

[[2728:_Lane_Change_Highway]] has a similar theme of changing lanes because the road is poorly designed.

The '''title text''' justifies this creative design by presuming the amusing existence of "hedonistic roundabout hogs who get into the inner lane and circle for hours," expressing Randall's frustration that we've been "coddling" them with normal roundabout designs that let them get off on circling in the inner lane for hours, wasting capacity. Of course, this is a non-issue {{citation needed}}.
* In street racing culture, doing "donuts" -- circling a single spot at high speed to leave circular tread marks on the pavement -- is a popular pastime, but these drivers circle for a few rotations, not several hours.
* The "coddling" of some population is a complaint sometimes seen in US conservative discourse, most famously as a criticism of modern higher education in the 2018 book, "The Coddling of the American Mind"

==Trivia==
* Unlike inspiraling roundabouts, outspiraling roundabouts are a real thing, common across western Europe. They are known as "[https://html.duckduckgo.com/html/?q=turbo+roundabout Turbo Roundabouts]", though the design usually features at least 4 entrances/exits.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[A large roundabout with three entrances of two lanes, three exits, and three spirals (as is CLEARLY evidenced by the three inner termini and three separate starts) of dotted lines starting from the medians between entry lanes and exit lanes of the same road which terminate in the center leaving a lane-sized median of plain asphalt.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Even though it '''''was''''' technically navigable, the highway department vetoed my inspiraling roundabout design.

{{comic discussion}}

2840: Earth Layers

2023-10-12T12:56:39Z

172.69.194.155: /* Transcript */ Yeah, probably more basic topgraphical/hypsometric surface illustration, after another glance.

{{comic
| number = 2840
| date = October 11, 2023
| title = Earth Layers
| image = earth_layers_2x.png
| imagesize = 585x627px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Earth's magnetic field is primarily generated by currents in the liquid outer core, though some geophysicists argue that an unexplained mismatch with models suggests that the Kinder toy contains a magnet.
}}

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

This comic reimagines the internal structure of the earth, mixing the real geological layers of the planet with fictional ones. Some of the fictional layers are appropriated from the layers of other objects that have cross-sectional diagrams, such as the layers of a piece of fruit, an eyeball, an item of confectionary or a building.

{| class="wikitable"
! Layer
! scope="col"| Explanation
|-
! scope="row"| Lithosphere/Crust (50/50 Blend)
| The {{w|lithosphere}} is any outermost rocky layer of a planet. On Earth it consists of the {{w|Earth's crust|crust}} and any parts of the upper mantle (see below) that do not convect. To say they are two distinct layers that could be blended together is rather nonsensical.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Upper mantle}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| Deep mantle
| A pseudo-correct layer of the earth's structure. There is a layer called the {{w|lower mantle}}, which could be what Randall refers to.
|-
! scope="row"| Filler
| This suggests there is space in the earth that was empty, so the creator(s) added some filler to fill up the extra space.
|-
! scope="row"| Vitreous humor
|Vitreous humor ({{w|vitreous body}}) is the transparent gel inside the eye, located between the lens and the retina.
|-
! scope="row"| Mechanical/HVAC layer
| {{w|HVAC}} is an abbreviation for 'Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning' - the system used to heat or cool a building. Tall buildings may have a dedicated "HVAC floor" or "{{w|mechanical floor}}" between regular floors, like an extra layer.
|-
! scope="row"| Guacamole
| {{w|Guacamole}} is a dip or sauce made from avocados. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/guacamole Originating from ancient Mexico], it often includes onions, tomatoes and spices. Notably, guacamole is a major component of seven layer dip, and is shown here to be the seventh layer (from the surface).
|-
! scope="row"| Cytoplasm
|{{w|Cytoplasm}} is the "flesh" of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells; a jelly-like substance that fills all the otherwise empty space within the cell.
|-
! scope="row"| Cork
|Due to the proximity of the cork layer and the insulation layer, this may possibly be referencing {{w|Cork (material)|cork}}-lined walls, which are used today mostly for high quality soundproofing, but have [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27135713 a considerable history]. Another potential reference could be the fact that baseballs (another spherical shape) have a layer of cork in them (though it is usually in the center). Finally, the cork is a real layer of tissue in many woody plants, part of the bark.
|-
! scope="row"| Insulation
|Probably a reference to the {{w|building insulation}} installed in the walls and ceilings of buildings.
|-
! scope="row"| Seeds
|Part of a fruit.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Pith}}
|Part of a tree trunk or the thick spongy layer of the skin of a citrus fruit
|-
! scope="row"| Nougat
|{{w|Nougat}} is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts, whipped egg whites and, sometimes, chopped candied fruit. It often appears as layers within confectionary items (such as Snickers, Double Decker and Mars) and, notably in relation to the comic, it constitutes the second-innermost layer of {{w|Mozartkugel}}n, a spherical confection.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Outer core}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Inner core}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| Secret core
| Likely references secret compartments that may be hidden in the hardest to find recesses of other objects or structures, for the purposes of concealing precious items or closely-guarded secrets.
|-
! scope="row"| Kinder toy capsule
| A {{w|Kinder (brand)|Kinder}} toy is a reference to a chocolate egg-shaped confection by the Kinder brand, the {{w|Kinder Surprise}}, a chocolate shell with a plastic 'yolk' capsule in the center. Though that is loose within a void, unlike this 'Earth model', it closely matches this philosophy despite (or because of) being a banned food item in the United States.
It is widely believed that this is because the 'yolk' can be a choking hazard, despite the fact that you'd have to be swallowing a chicken egg-sized confectionery in a single mouthful for that to happen accidentally, or deliberately try to consume the plastic capsule whole. The toys within, however, may contain small pieces that can pose a choking hazard, especially in the toys that are packed as components, requiring some assembly, in order to fit into the capsule. Rules about small components (in toys for young children) and the inclusion of non-food contents within food-items have been used to prohibit this product within the US. To specifically overcome the latter regulations, the {{w|Kinder Joy}} was developed; an egg-shaped packaging containing the chocolate treat in one half and the toy separately within the other.

Randall's punchline of the comic is that there may indeed be a hidden toy at the center of the Earth. The title text explains that due to the {{w|Earth's magnetic field|geomagnetic field}} not behaving as scientific models suggest it should, some geophysicists argue that the hidden toy is – or at least contains – some additional form of magnet which impacts the accepted {{w|Magnetohydrodynamics|magnetohydrodynamic}} effect. A more plausible explanation is that their model is wrong because they've based it on Randall's diagram full of spurious layers!
|}

Since the radius of the earth is 6371 km, this gives the Kinder Toy Capsule having a radius of about 900 km (from measurements of the diagram). This gives the Kinder Toy Capsule a volume of just over 3 billion km3. Assuming a real Kinder Egg has a volume of 60 cm3, and a packing density of 63.5%, the Kinder Toy Capsule could contain 5x1022 (50 sextillion) actual Kinder Eggs.

==Transcript==
:[Header/Title]
:The layers of the Earth

:[Cutaway diagram of the Earth, a sphere with abstract sea/land/elevation surface, except for a slice removed (quarter-arc in three axes) to make visible a number of equally-sized 'strata'/shells, all the way down to the intact smallest sphere. From surface downwards, these are:]
:Lithosphere/crust (50/50 blend)
:Upper mantle
:Deep mantle
:Filler
:Vitreous humor
:Mechanical/HVAC layer
:Guacamole
:Cytoplasm
:Cork
:Insulation
:Seeds
:Pith
:Nougat
:Outer core
:Inner core
:Secret core
:[The central sphere:]
:Kinder toy capsule

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Food]]

2840: Earth Layers

2023-10-12T08:25:40Z

172.69.194.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2840
| date = October 11, 2023
| title = Earth Layers
| image = earth_layers_2x.png
| imagesize = 585x627px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Earth's magnetic field is primarily generated by currents in the liquid outer core, though some geophysicists argue that an unexplained mismatch with models suggests that the Kinder toy contains a magnet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an GUS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Like this? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic reimagines the internal structure of the earth, mixing the real geological layers of the planet with fictional ones. Some of the fictional layers are appropriated from the layers of other objects that have cross-sectional diagrams, such as the layers of a piece of fruit, an eyeball, an item of confectionary or a building.

{| class="wikitable"
! Layer
! scope="col"| Explanation
|-
! scope="row"| Lithosphere/Crust (50/50 Blend)
| The {{w|lithosphere}} is any outermost rocky layer of a planet. On Earth it consists of the {{w|Earth's crust|crust}} and any parts of the upper mantle (see below) that do not convect. To say they are two distinct layers that could be blended together is rather nonsensical.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Upper mantle}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| Deep mantle
| A pseudo-correct layer of the earth's structure. There is a layer called the {{w|lower mantle}}, which could be what Randall refers to.
|-
! scope="row"| Filler
| This suggests there is space in the earth that was empty, so the creator(s) added some filler to fill up the extra space.
|-
! scope="row"| Vitreous humor
|Vitreous humor ({{w|vitreous body}}) is the transparent gel inside the eye, located between the lens and the retina.
|-
! scope="row"| Mechanical/HVAC layer
| {{w|HVAC}} is an abbreviation for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning - the system used to heat or cool a building. Tall buildings may have a dedicated "HVAC floor" or "{{w|mechanical floor}}" between regular floors, like an extra layer.
|-
! scope="row"| Guacamole
| {{w|Guacamole}} is a dip or sauce made from avocados. Originating in the Mayan Empire,{{Actual citation needed}} it often includes onions, tomatoes, and spices. Notably, guacamole is a major component of seven layer dip, and is shown here to be the seventh layer (from the surface).
|-
! scope="row"| Cytoplasm
|{{w|Cytoplasm}} is the "flesh" of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells; a jelly-like substance that fills all the otherwise empty space within the cell.
|-
! scope="row"| Cork
|Due to the proximity of the cork layer and the insulation layer, this may possibly be referencing {{w|Cork (material)|cork}}-lined walls, which are used today mostly for high quality soundproofing, but have [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27135713 a considerable history]. Another potential reference could be the fact that baseballs (another spherical shape) have a layer of cork in them (though it is usually in the center). Finally, the cork is a real layer of tissue in many woody plants, part of the bark.
|-
! scope="row"| Insulation
|Probably a reference to the {{w|building insulation}} installed in the walls and ceilings of buildings.
|-
! scope="row"| Seeds
|Part of a fruit.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Pith}}
|Part of a tree trunk or the thick spongy layer of the skin of a citrus fruit
|-
! scope="row"| Nougat
|{{w|Nougat}} is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts, whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. It often appears as layers within confectionary items, such as Snickers, Double Decker, and Mars, and, notably in relation to the comic, it constitutes the second-innermost layer of {{w|Mozartkugel}}n, a spherical confection.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Outer core}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Inner core}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| Secret core
| Likely references secret compartments that may be hidden in the hardest to find recesses of other objects or structures, for the purposes of concealing precious items or closely-guarded secrets.
|-
! scope="row"| Kinder toy capsule
| A {{w|Kinder (brand)|Kinder}} toy is a reference to a chocolate egg-shaped confection by the Kinder brand, the {{w|Kinder Surprise}}, a chocolate shell with a plastic 'yoke' capsule in the center. Though that is loose within a void, unlike this 'Earth model', it closely matches this philosophy despite (or because of) being a banned food item in the United States.
It is widely believed that this is because the 'yoke' can be a choking hazard, despite the fact that you'd have to be swallowing a chicken egg-sized confectionery in a single mouthful for that to happen accidentally, or deliberately try to consume the plastic capsule whole. The toys within, however, may contain small pieces that can pose a choking hazard, especially in the toys that are packed as components, requiring some assembly, in order to fit into the capsule. Rules about small components (in toys for young children) and the inclusion of non-food contents within food-items have been used to prohibit this product within the US. To specifically overcome the latter regulations, the {{w|Kinder Joy}} was developed; an egg-shaped packaging containing the chocolate treat in one half and the toy separately within the other.

Randall's punchline of the comic is that there is indeed a hidden toy at the center of the Earth. The title text elaborates on this further, stating that due to an "unexplained mismatch" with models of how the {{w|Earth's magnetic field|geomagnetic field}} occurs, some geophysicists argue that the hidden toy is – or at least contains – some additional form of magnet to augment the accepted {{w|Magnetohydrodynamics|magnetohydrodynamic}} effect.
|}

Since the radius of the earth is 6371 km, as measured from the diagram, Randal allocates an average layer thickness of 342 km, with the Kinder Toy Capsule having a radius of about 900 km. This gives the Kinder Toy Capsule a volume of just over 3 billion km3. Assuming a real Kinder Egg has a volume of 60 cm3, and a packing density of 63.5%, the Kinder Toy Capsule could contain 5x1022 (50 sextillion) actual Kinder Eggs.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:The layers of the Earth

:Lithosphere/crust (50/50 blend)
:Upper mantle
:Deep mantle
:Filler
:Vitreous humor
:Mechanical/HVAC layer
:Guacamole
:Cytoplasm
:Cork
:Insulation
:Seeds
:Pith
:Nougat
:Outer core
:Inner core
:Secret core
:Kinder toy capsule

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Food]]

2840: Earth Layers

2023-10-12T08:21:30Z

172.69.194.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2840
| date = October 11, 2023
| title = Earth Layers
| image = earth_layers_2x.png
| imagesize = 585x627px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Earth's magnetic field is primarily generated by currents in the liquid outer core, though some geophysicists argue that an unexplained mismatch with models suggests that the Kinder toy contains a magnet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNKINDER SURPRISE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Like this? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic reimagines the internal structure of the earth, mixing the real geological layers of the planet with fictional ones. Some of the fictional layers are appropriated from the layers of other objects that have cross-sectional diagrams, such as the layers of a piece of fruit, an eyeball, an item of confectionary or a building.

{| class="wikitable"
! Layer
! scope="col"| Explanation
|-
! scope="row"| Lithosphere/Crust (50/50 Blend)
| The {{w|lithosphere}} is any outermost rocky layer of a planet. On Earth it consists of the {{w|Earth's crust|crust}} and any parts of the upper mantle (see below) that do not convect. To say they are two distinct layers that could be blended together is rather nonsensical.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Upper mantle}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| Deep mantle
| A pseudo-correct layer of the earth's structure. There is a layer called the {{w|lower mantle}}, which could be what Randall refers to.
|-
! scope="row"| Filler
| This suggests there is space in the earth that was empty, so the creator(s) added some filler to fill up the extra space.
|-
! scope="row"| Vitreous humor
|Vitreous humor ({{w|vitreous body}}) is the transparent gel inside the eye, located between the lens and the retina.
|-
! scope="row"| Mechanical/HVAC layer
| {{w|HVAC}} is an abbreviation for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning - the system used to heat or cool a building. Tall buildings may have a dedicated "HVAC floor" or "{{w|mechanical floor}}" between regular floors, like an extra layer.
|-
! scope="row"| Guacamole
| {{w|Guacamole}} is a dip or sauce made from avocados. Originating in the Mayan Empire{{actual citation needed}}, It often includes onions, tomatoes, and spices. Notably, guacamole is a major component of seven layer dip, and is shown here to be the seventh layer (from the surface).
|-
! scope="row"| Cytoplasm
|{{w|Cytoplasm}} is the "flesh" of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells; a jelly-like substance that fills all the otherwise empty space within the cell.
|-
! scope="row"| Cork
|Due to the proximity of the cork layer and the insulation layer, this may possibly be referencing {{w|Cork (material)|cork}}-lined walls, which are used today mostly for high quality soundproofing, but have [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27135713 a considerable history]. Another potential reference could be the fact that baseballs (another spherical shape) have a layer of cork in them (though it is usually in the center). Finally, the cork is a real layer of tissue in many woody plants, part of the bark.
|-
! scope="row"| Insulation
|Probably a reference to the {{w|building insulation}} installed in the walls and ceilings of buildings.
|-
! scope="row"| Seeds
|Part of a fruit.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Pith}}
|Part of a tree trunk or the thick spongy layer of the skin of a citrus fruit
|-
! scope="row"| Nougat
|{{w|Nougat}} is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts, whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. It often appears as layers within confectionary items, such as Snickers, Double Decker, and Mars, and, notably in relation to the comic, it constitutes the second-innermost layer of {{w|Mozartkugel}}n, a spherical confection.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Outer core}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|Inner core}}
| An actual layer of the earth's structure.
|-
! scope="row"| Secret core
| The "next layer" that is secret and only certain people, like Randall, know about it.
|-
! scope="row"| Kinder toy capsule
| A {{w|Kinder (brand)|Kinder}} toy is a reference to two chocolate egg-shaped confections by the Kinder brand, the {{w|Kinder Joy}} and {{w|Kinder Surprise}}. Both contain small toys within it, though the Kinder Surprise was banned in the US because it exceeds the limit of non-food that can be inside a food item (although it is widely believed that it's because it can be a choking hazard, despite the fact that you'd have to be swallowing a chicken egg-sized confectionery in a single mouthful for that to happen; the toys, on the other hand, may contain brightly coloured small pieces that can pose a choking hazard). Randall's punch line of the comic is that there is a hidden toy at the center of the Earth. The title text elaborates on this further, stating that due to an "unexplained mismatch" with other models, some geophysicists argue that the hidden toy is - or at least contains - some form of magnet.

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:The layers of the Earth

:Lithosphere/crust (50/50 blend)
:Upper mantle
:Deep mantle
:Filler
:Vitreous humor
:Mechanical/HVAC layer
:Guacamole
:Cytoplasm
:Cork
:Insulation
:Seeds
:Pith
:Nougat
:Outer core
:Inner core
:Secret core
:Kinder toy capsule

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Food]]