explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3082: Chess Position

2025-04-30T09:44:56Z

172.69.194.205: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3082
| date = April 28, 2025
| title = Chess Position
| image = chess position 2x.png
| imagesize = 740x598px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's important to learn the moves that take you into the vortex, but it's best not to study vortex itself too closely. Even grandmasters who have built up a tolerance lose the ability to play for a few hours after studying it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The various paragraphs are not organised and information about the same joke is spread across the explanation. Make the explanation more cohesive. Also, might need to reduce the focus on describing the scene and focus more on explaining the jokes.}}

[[Cueball]] talks to [[Ponytail]] about a chess game he had last week against [[Knit Cap]]. After Cueball made a {{w|blunder (chess)|blunder}}, a critically bad mistake which frequently changes the course of the game, both of them quickly made inaccurate moves, probably rated as a "{{w|Blunder (chess)|blunder}}", "mistake", or "miss", leading to an odd configuration of the chess pieces. Blunders that are not taken advantage of can lead to this effect for less experienced players.

The rest of this comic becomes absurd, as Cueball then describes himself and Knit Cap descending into a fantasy world "on a deep branch of the game tree." Chess strategy is commonly described in terms of following a {{w|decision tree}} or {{w|game tree}}, as one usually needs to calculate multiple moves ahead when planning out what move to play. As a chess game progresses, the {{w|phase space}} of possible positions increases wildly, though this will include many more configurations than are typically seen or anticipated by players. Rarely, an expert player may 'discover' a truly clever {{w|Glossary of chess#theoretical novelty|novel opening}}, but centuries of recorded gameplay has explored many of the possible moves, both good and not so good, that are often recognized by experienced students of the game as common stepping-stones on the way to possible victory (or frequent traps that send the unwary down the road to defeat). Both precise game-board states and more general variations may be easily recognized by an experienced player, and even be {{w|Checkmate pattern|given a name}} by the player community as a whole.

However, it seems that Cueball and Knit Cap each made a sequence of seemingly obvious 'blunders' that neither opponent then took advantage of, reaching a board configuration that Cueball had never even anticipated happening. In some apparently mystical (or at least psychological) manner, by travelling such an unlikely and unfamiliar branch of the player/board game-space, the precise positioning of pieces combined with the state of mind that Cueball had developed created the impression of literally entering a mythical garden, with time even stopping. In chess, you want pieces to be in a position to attack other pieces, while at the same time being protected by other pieces. Typically you'd have some pieces on the offense, some playing defense, and some doing both. It seems that in this board configuration, somehow all the pieces ended up in both offensive attack positions able to attack every other piece on the board while at the same time each one was being protected by against attack by their other pieces. It was this perfect balance of position and protection that led to the time distortion and the magical garden.

Ponytail reacts nonchalantly to this story, as she says this is a common scenario for new players, and that there is even a defined name for it: the Kasparov Vortex Gambit. {{w|Garry Kasparov}} is a Russian chess grandmaster and former world champion. He was the number-one rated chess player from 1984 to 2005, and is considered one of the greatest chess players of all past time, if not ''the'' greatest. A {{w|gambit (chess)|gambit}} refers to a chess opening in which a player sacrifices material with the aim of achieving a subsequent positional advantage. This name seems to indicate that Kasparov himself either discovered/’invented’ or made popular this "gambit" to suck new players into a "vortex" and trap them from getting out. This is not the case, but, within the xkcd universe, he has performed an equally absurd gambit (also named after himself) in [[2936: Exponential Growth]].

Ponytail's advice to Cueball after he "recovers" from the disillusionment of the "vortex" is that she can teach him how to defend against the attack, by using the "f pawn". The f-pawn is the pawn that begins on the "f-file" (the 6th vertical column of the chessboard from white's perspective). The pawn would start either on f2 (sixth column, second row) for the white player or f7 (sixth column, seventh row) for black. The fact that an apparent distortion in the fabric of space can be countered with ''a single pawn'' just adds to the absurdity of the situation. Equally absurd is the fact that moving the f-pawn early in the game is itself usually a blunder that exposes the king to a diagonal attack, due to its starting position relative to the starting position of the king; perhaps the intent is to purposefully 'blunder' down a ''different'' (non-vortexed) branch of the game-tree with resulting board positions that are far less mesmerising (at least to Cueball).

In the title text, Ponytail continues with her advice, telling Cueball that he needs to understand how the vortex can be entered, but not to study the actual vortex. It appears that if you spend too much time focusing on the vortex you will [[356: Nerd Sniping|lose your ability]] to play chess. Even experienced players, such as grandmasters who have build up some kind of tolerance against the effect of the vortex, lose their chess abilities for a few hours after studying it. Thus being able to get your opponent into the vortex, without getting caught in it yourself, should win you the game, since they would lose their ability to play chess.

==Transcript==
:[In the first panel, Cueball is walking in from the left, while talking to Ponytail.]
:Cueball: Something odd happened to me last week in a game at the chess club.

:[Cueball is playing a game of chess against Knit Cap.]
:[Caption above frame:]
:I moved, then instantly realized I'd blundered. But my opponent didn't notice and made a weird move.
:I got rattled and moved almost randomly, then I think we both panicked and made a couple of nonsensical moves, rapid-fire.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball, with three question marks above his head]
:I don't know how it happened, but suddenly I realized I was staring at an indescribably strange board position.

:[Cueball is talking to Ponytail.]
:Cueball: I've never seen anything like it. It seemed like every move attacked every piece, yet every piece was also protected. Pieces refracted through crystalline pawn structures.
:Cueball: The game clock slowed and then stopped.

:[Cueball and Knit Cap are floating in a complex five-fold symmetrical plant-like pattern of "game tree branches".]
:[Caption above the frame]
:It didn't even feel like we were playing chess. We had stumbled into a magical garden tucked away on a deep branch of the game tree.

:[Cueball is talking to Ponytail.]
:Cueball: I don't remember how the game ended, if it did.
:Cueball: I don't remember how I got home.
:Cueball: It's all a blur.

:[Close-up of Cueball's head.]
:Cueball: I've spent all week trying to reconstruct the position and can't.
:Cueball: It's consuming me.
:Cueball: I don't want to play chess. I just want to return to that garden.
:Cueball: Does... any of this make sense to you?

:[Cueball is standing with hands on face surprised as Ponytail talks with him.]
:Ponytail: Yeah, that's the Kasparov Vortex Gambit. Common trap for new players.
:Cueball: ''What?!''
:Ponytail: Once you recover I'll show you how to block it with the f pawn.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Chess]]

Talk:3070: Orogeny

2025-04-01T21:59:58Z

172.69.194.205:

If only "plutonic" meant "made with real plutonium," sigh. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.26|172.71.167.26]] 02:53, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
:But what does this mean in this context here? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:10, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
::In geology, "plutonic" means rock that solidified from magma that cooled beneath the Earth's surface, as opposed to "volcanic" which means rock that solidified from lava on the Earth's surface. In this case, Ponytail is indicating that the rocks that they are standing on were formed when magma solidified deep underground a billion years ago, but were uplifted and exposed by erosion much more recently (geologically speaking). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.137.59|162.158.137.59]] 18:28, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

xkcd. When technical issues interfer with reality correct the technical issues. That's usually easier than changing reality. Sure, the techs will say it's impossible and may even think they are correct but ... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.194.216|172.71.194.216]] 02:55, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

Hey this isn't an interactive april fools comic [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.225|162.158.174.225]] 04:06, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
:No because this comic came out on March 31st. But it has been a while since Randall managed to let his April 1st comic come out on April 1st ;-) But this comic was the regular scheduled Monday March 31st release. We may still se an April Fools' comic come out later today or some time during April... However I have heard that due to the recent events in the world that all would have been funny if April Fool's then April Fool's Day has been canceled this year! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:10, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
::I have (lengthily) justified, as inline commentary, why I think it's nonense to consider this a "no April Fools' year" just yet. The comic is normal Monday March 31st fare (insofar as any comic is 'normal') and can only be considered valid for a "March Impetuousness's day" comic, should that be a thing. As pointed out by a prior editor, Machine was late (had the opportunity to be released on Monday 1st April, but seemingly needed a bit more time; and probably could have done with longer, given it had minor post-release tweaks) and is considered a 1/Apr 'special'. Longer waits for season-/occasion-specific comics have heen had.
::For people to assume this pre-April comic (by the usual measures) is sign that there's no such special release is... premature in at least three different ways. And there's no reason for anybody outside Randall and (as with the trend over recent years) any hypothetical collaborators involved to ''know'' if this year is going to be bountiful or barren at this early stage. There's almost ⅓ of a day before ''my'' April 1st is over (ignoring the "all japes need to be made/concluded before noon" stipulation, which remains difficult to enforce on a worldwide basis) longer still for Randall's, and that's if he's sticking to the usual "release day" schedule and ''not'' having to worry about more than just a single static comic that (give or take particular topicality) could be substituted for a backup 'casual' joke even if he's not entirely happy with its finished status yet.
::Maybe it'll be (very early, Randall-time) on Wednesday, as compromise with the rest of the logistics. Maybe not. Give it a week before making too many assumptions. And, even then, if it's a ''good'' one that just needs more fiddling with, don't be surprised to find a 'special' release later on. (Whilst accepting that there may still not be one, of course.) To paraphrase Frank N. Furter, in the Rocky Horror (Picture) Show, perhaps you all should try to "shiver with Antici-
:: 
:: 
:: 
::-pation".... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.93|172.69.194.93]] 15:54, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

Gonna need a new category tag for Geology + Real Estate/Home Ownership comics at this point - this is the 4th I believe. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.255.133|172.71.255.133]] 04:29, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
:I think that's [[:Category:Home Inspections]] -- [[User:Ken g6|Ken g6]] ([[User talk:Ken g6|talk]]) 05:47, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
::We might want to rebrand that category then: something more general for a combination of real estate and geology --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 11:21, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
:::Maybe yes, but I think the two home inspection comics are so clearly a stand alone series! And have thus removed the category from this comic. And made a note of this comic on the home inspection category and made a link to it from this comic. If Randall continues there could be a new series where the inspection series would then become a sub category. But for that we need to have more comics like this one. Also in this comic it seems like they joke, where in the other it seems to be taken serious by the characters. At least at the moments the explanation also says that they are running along with the joke. Especially the punch line. Also it is only the third comic not the fourth as far as I can tell? Ah sorry there is also [[3051: Hardwood]]. Yes maybe we should make some other category. But still think the two home inspection would still need to be seen as a special sereis where the home and the inspector needs to be part of any further comics to be added --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:25, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
::::I'm minded to think that it's just dubious to attempt to classify a set of two as a 'theme'. Given a set of random points (say, stars in the sky), it would be pre-emptive to suggest that any two seemingly close together are "a group", in anticipation that as yet unseen/uncatalogued stars will trivially fit into any such pair-group when you get round to them. Three is better (such that ''any'' of them have more in common with the other two than they have with any neighbour), but even that's potentially a problem (loads of "triangles" up in, or even betwixt, the constellations!) and subject to reinterpretation.
::::I'm thinking that "home inspection" is just a fleeting subset within a more "geological home" (plucking that from mid-air, probably just as wrong) wider theme. Though whether even Randall has consciously grouped any/all of those as we have (and will continue to, as further comics further establish or redefine the extent of his imagination in these matters) is a question we probably couldn't get a good answer to. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.104|141.101.99.104]] 12:15, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

Is it possible the next comic will be an April Fools'? [[User:Ozymandias|Ozymandias]] ([[User talk:Ozymandias|talk]])
:Yes, but see above reply --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:10, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

I don't understand the part about ancient collision ... what is meant here? Did tectonic plates come from interstellar events? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.68|172.68.54.68]] 09:34, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
:Ancient collision refers to tectonic plates colliding millions of years ago.[[User:Ozymandias|Ozymandias]] ([[User talk:Ozymandias|talk]])
::And it may be an ongoing collision, as for instance Himalaya which are still rising from the collision of India with the rest of Asia --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:10, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

Heated driveways and sidewalks aren't unheard of in areas that get snow/ice. I feel like Randall isn't using "Most" in quite as absurd a way as is typical. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.199|172.70.38.199]] 18:03, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
:Separately from that, but sort of related, I find that bit of the Explanation a bit too focused on ''only'' the outside being heated, when it's probably going to affect [[735: Floor|indoor floors]] just as much, give or taken the point at which 'indoors' (if not the entire structure of any house) becomes moot against the general and widespread {{tvtropes|ConvectionSchmonvection|environmental effects}} involved. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.205|172.69.194.205]] 21:59, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

3055: Giants

2025-02-25T14:05:37Z

172.69.194.205: /* Explanation */ At least one definitely isn't geological, but selenological. (But rather than restate Randall's choice of fudging words, using 'maybe-quotes'.)

{{comic
| number = 3055
| date = February 24, 2025
| title = Giants
| image = giants_2x.png
| imagesize = 341x423px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I can't get over the suspicion that all those viral pictures are photoshopped and 'Flemish' belongs in the lower right circle.
}}

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

This comic is a {{w|Venn Diagram}} (a [[2721: Euler Diagrams|more exacting subset]] of {{w|Euler Diagram}}) grouping different things with "giant" in the name. The three categories are giants from space, 'geological' features called giants, and giants who have been proven to be fictional.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Class !! Explanation
|-
| {{w|Red giant|Red Giant}} || Space || A type of large, relatively cool star.
|-
| {{w|Blue giant|Blue Giant}} || Space || An early type of large, relatively hot star.
|-
| Iron Giant || Space, Not Real || Title character from a {{w|The Iron Giant|1999 animated film}} and the {{w|The Iron Man (novel)|1968 children's book}} it was based on (written by English poet and author {{w|Ted Hughes}} and published outside the US as ''The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five Nights'') : a robot from outer space.
|-
| {{w|Frost Giant (disambiguation)|Frost Giant}} || Not Real || Beings from Norse mythology inspiring their perhaps more popularly known Marvel comic/film versions.
|-
| Jolly Green Giant || Not Real || A mascot for a {{w|Green Giant|brand of canned vegetables}}.
|-
| {{w|Cardiff Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary, Not Real || An 1869 archeological hoax of a supposed petrified giant man.
|-
| {{w|Atacama Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary || A prehistoric {{w|geoglyph}}.
|-
| {{w|Paratethys#Salt Giants|Salt Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary || A huge salt deposit below the Mediterranean sea.
|-
| {{w|Gas giant|Gas Giant}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary || A large gaseous planet, like Jupiter or Saturn.
|-
| {{w|Ice giant|Ice Giant}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary || A relatively large icy planet, like Uranus or Neptune.
|-
| {{w|Man in the Moon|The Man In The Moon}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary, Not Real || A 'face' visible in the near side of the moon, sometimes shown as a character in children's nursery rhymes. As a feature, it is real, but not a 'real' giant, only a {{w|pareidolia}}.
|-
| {{w|Flemish Giant rabbit|Flemish Giant}} (title text) || Real, but Randall suspects it belongs in Not Real || One of the largest breeds of domestic rabbit (about the same size as a {{w|Cocker Spaniel}} dog), along with other 'giants' like the record-holding {{w|Continental Giant rabbit}} (a.k.a. "German Giant") and the {{w|British Giant rabbit}}. The latter two have decreasing presence in the United States, however, so Randall may be vastly more familiar with (whether or not disbelieving of) the '{{w|Flanders|Flemish}}' breed.

|}

This is one of many xkcd comics that include or reference Venn diagrams.

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]

1145: Sky Color

2025-01-29T14:24:01Z

172.69.194.205: /* Explanation */ I believe the last correction missed the intent of the aside, which is that a US "freshman" might be an early secondary-school age in the UK school system. But (SFAIK) *only* "Fresher" is used, and *only* for 1st-year-undergrads, so...?

{{comic
| number = 1145
| date = December 10, 2012
| title = Sky Color
| image = sky_color.png
| titletext = Feynman recounted another good one upperclassmen would use on freshmen physics students: When you look at words in a mirror, how come they're reversed left to right but not top to bottom? What's special about the horizontal axis?
}}

==Explanation==
The point of this comic is that often, curious children ask their parents simple questions about understanding how the world works. Often, although the question is simple, the answer is not. "Why is the sky blue?" is a common example, since most parents are not familiar with {{w|Rayleigh scattering}}, and thus are unable to answer the question.

[[Randall]]'s hobby is to make those questions even harder, so that the parents who ''are'' familiar with the subject (scientists, for example) will be stumped.

Another point of this comic is that we often think that we understand a scientific phenomenon (e.g., "Why is the sky blue?"). However, a certain simple follow-up question (e.g., "Why isn't the sky violet?") can often uncover large gaps in our actual understanding.

{{W|Rayleigh scattering}} is the phenomenon that explains the color of the sky, where light of every wavelength gets scattered in the air by the inverse quartic (fourth power) of its wavelength as given in the comic. In the {{w|visible spectrum}}, blue light has a wavelength of 450–495 nm while violet has a shorter wavelength of 380–450 nm. Violet light does indeed get scattered more than blue light, however the lower portion of the spectrum for sunlight consists of blue light and eyes are much more sensitive to blue light than violet light. Furthermore, the sunlight contains more blue than violet to begin with as a result of the surface temperature of the sun. This leaves the impression of a blue sky. A good explanation, including why blue and not violet, can be found in [http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html Usenet Physics FAQ :: Why is the sky blue?], but note that human color perception [http://blog.asmartbear.com/color-wheels.html is more complicated] than described there. xkcd later tackles the same question in [[1818: Rayleigh Scattering]].

The title text refers to a {{w|mirror image}} and is discussed by the famous American theoretical physicist {{w|Richard Feynman}} in a famous BBC documentary [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tuxLY94LXw], as one of the problems which he used to have fun with freshmen (in a British English context, that would be a student in their initial year of university, more commonly referred to as a "fresher", but the term may elsewhere be applied to those in the first year of other stages of education). If not for this direct quote, the apparent age of the potential student pictured, and the scientific detail of the question, ''could'' easily apply to lessons in the later years of primary education.

A mirror image is a virtual image produced by the reflection of light on a mirror. It's common to think of images in mirrors as being reversed left-to-right, as any text held in front of us will appear flipped. This is actually an issue of perception. In a plane mirror, images are reflected directly: the left side of your body will be reflected in the left side of the mirror, and vice-versa. The source of confusion is that people tend to think of a mirror image the way we would think of a person facing us. When another person faces us, they turn around the vertical axis, placing their right hand on our left side, so seeing our left hand on our left side in a reflection ''seems'' like an inversion, even though it's a direct representation. By the same token, in order to hold text up to a mirror, we generally flip it around the vertical axis, so that the start of the text is on right, and the end on the left (in English, at least). When the mirror reflects this, we see the text as backward, but the mirror hasn't reversed it, we reverse it when we turn it toward a mirror.

In other words, the vertical axis is only "special" because we're used to objects turning around it, so we come to expect that reversal, instead of a reflection.

You can induce a mirror to reverse left and right only --- by standing next to it instead of in front of it, facing along the plane of the mirror itself. If you lift your right arm, you can clearly see your image's left arm raising, without having to adjust for frame of reference. Similarly, you can induce a mirror to reverse top and bottom only by holding it flat above your head or laying it flat on the ground and standing on it (or perhaps standing under a suitably equipped bedroom ceiling). See [https://youtu.be/1t4dOPxKgrY this] video for a demonstration.

==Transcript==
:[Jill and her mother, Megan, but with her hair up. Megan is at a desk and facing the girl.]
:Jill: Mommy, why is the sky blue?
:Megan: Rayleigh scattering! Short wavelengths get scattered ''way'' more (proportional to 1/''λ''4). Blue light dominates because it's so short.
:Jill: Oh.
:Jill: So why ''isn't'' the sky violet?
:Megan: Well, because, uh... ...hmm.
:[Caption Below the panel:]
:My hobby: Teaching tricky questions to the children of my scientist friends.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

Talk:3038: Uncanceled Units

2025-01-17T03:19:50Z

172.69.194.205: Moved .sig to end of comment...

DUDE I'M STILL IN SCHOOL RN, WHAT?
(also, the joke is that energy is power*time, so kWh is kJ/s... in an hour [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:27, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

I guess not every comic can be a winner. Talking about an appliance using a certain amount of kWH per day is clear and normal. Power gets billed by the kWh, not the Joule. While technically not wrong, wanting "cancel" a sub-part of the commonly-used energy unit kWh and leaving it in deliberately-obscured units most people are less familiar with is the sort of insanity I'd more expect from White Hat than Cueball. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.171|172.70.35.171]] 13:39, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:Maybe that is a meta-joke? To frame kWh/day as something crazy by giving that line to whitehat --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:52, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:There's a difference between instantaneous power draw, and the total "volume"(/area, really) of power over time. Though a fridge is "always on", it is still only irregularly at full-draw. But, to the power company (or to the gas company, who will generally give a kWh measure of 'energy taken from the network'), they don't (generally) care whether you used twice as many kW over half the time or half as many over twice the time, within any given total billing period, even if it affects what you think. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.46|172.70.163.46]] 14:39, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::Using joule as if it was an everyday unit of energy would be weird but I don't agree that watt is crazy. It's a normal unit of energy consumption that does mean something to people, e.g. 1000W microwave, 100W (incandescent) light bulb. Don't get me wrong kWh/day is also useful to translate it to your energy bill, but I do feel slightly uncomfortable every time I see that time divided by time :-) [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 14:40, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:I don't think the complaint is that it's unclear, it's that Cueball/Randall instinctively wants units simplified - as they would be in a science context rather than a useful-for-normal-people's-everyday-needs context. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.183|108.162.238.183]] 02:40, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:Yes, it is normal, but to people who know what it means it hurts to look at. kWh are a measure of energy that is technically SI-friendly and at a useful scale, but from an scientific perspective there isn't a great reason (to my knowledge) other than convention to not just use megajoules (1 kWh is 3.6 MJ). That on its own bothers me, and probably Randal based on a lot of his other comics. The added complaint here is that by making them per/day it is back to a measure of power (which kW measure) [[User:Stardragon|Stardragon]] ([[User talk:Stardragon|talk]]) 23:34, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

This is especially funny with US units. My car needs about 5l/100km, or 0.05mm². Now I am wondering how many ft^(-2) my car does... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:49, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: You make a good point about the units (at least in one instance). Shouldn't the reduced units for fuel economy be inverse area? Effectively, it is a measure of the distance the vehicle could travel while consuming a column of fuel with a specific height and specific top (or bottom) surface area. Or, The better the fuel economy, the less the surface area that is necessary to move a specific distance. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:41, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::It depends on what the original unit is. In my country (Germany) we measure it in volume/distance, which would reduce to area. North American convention is in distance/volume which would reduce to inverse area. Good thing about distance/volume is that "high number = good". However I think outside of escaping from a nuclear disaster or in a zombie apocalypse it isn't a really helpful thing to know. Because how often do you know "I got x amount of fuel. Wonder how far I can get." But you will likely be in the situation where you quickly want to see "How much fuel do I need to get to place x which is y distance from here". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 21:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::: how often do you know "I got x amount of fuel. Wonder how far I can get." Quite often, because the question I'm really asking is whether I can get where I'm going with some margin built in before I need to refuel my car. When I do refuel or recharge the car, I'll go to 100% of capacity. I just want to know whether I have to do that now or if I can wait and do it later because later would be more convenient. The only time I want the number the other way is when I'm buying a car and want to make it as efficient as possible. Once I have it, the amount of fuel I need isn't going to change.[[User:Yttrium|Yttrium]] ([[User talk:Yttrium|talk]]) 09:02, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Mhh... probably a question of what one is used to. If I need to go 400 km, and I know my car uses 5l/100km, I just multiply 4*5 to see that I need 20l, and will know if what I have is enough or not. But I guess with mpg you can do a just as easy calc: If my car gets 50mpg (roughly 5l/100km) and I have 5 gallons (roughly 20l), I can go 50*5=250 miles, which is roughly 400km. My nitpick is: My car, and I think all cars I ever drove just shows me a dial from empty to full. Knowing how much "full" is, I can estimate how much gas I have, while my GPS will tell me a pretty exact number of km I need to go. So if I am fuelling up on a monday morning (where gas tends to be more expensive in my area than on other times), or fuel up right before I get my next salary, I might just put in as much as I need right now. But yes, maybe/probably it is mostly a thing about habits and what you are used to. And might be more of an European issue, since fuel is basically free in North America in comparison. So I guess everyone just fuels up fully all the time, but has to be cautious to reach the next gas station when travelling through the more sparely-populated areas...--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:19, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:: More usefully imagined as the front (or back) end of a horizontal column (or, twisting as it may, a pipeline) that traverses the journey made by the vehicle. As if (instantaneous variations excepted) you consume precisely the fuel that your vehicle passes 'through/around'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.92|141.101.76.92]] 20:45, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::: Yeah. Maybe we should express fuel consumption in terms of the speed fuel needs to be drawn through a standard fuel line. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 21:01, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

fridge [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.147|172.70.126.147]] 14:22, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

The late [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._C._MacKay Sir David MacKay] wrote an excellent book, [http://www.withouthotair.com/ Sustainable Energy – without the hot air] (which is available free online).
On [http://www.withouthotair.com/c2/page_24.shtml this page] he talks about the units he uses in the book: kWh for energy ("one unit") and kWh/day for power - becuase it's simple for lay-people to understand - how many units does this appliance use per day.
It's a good book if any of you are interested in sustainable energy (although it was written in 2008, so some bits might be out of date by now) {{unsigned ip|172.70.85.33|14:33, 15 January 2025}}

If anyone's curious, I found an online gallons per square foot calculator: https://www.omnicalculator.com/construction/gallons-per-square-foot [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.6|172.71.223.6]] 15:54, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

The answer to Cueball's question is likely NO in the US and YES in the UK, due not just to gallon size but also fridge size (a model like that is a particularly large fridge, when I bought one 10 years ago going for the smallest available I had to modify my cabinet above the fridge as there wasn't one less than 6'8"- the fridge hole was 6' previous).[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 16:02, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

I disagree with this comic, and I think the final paragraph in the explanation about Hubble's constant best explains why. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 15:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:It doesn't make any sense to 'disagree' with an observation.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.245|141.101.98.245]] 09:36, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Technically, kWh should be written as kW⋅h or kW h, because it literally means "kilowatts multiplied by one hour", not "kilowatts per hour" as many people assume. However, almost nobody writes it correctly. (kW/h is sometimes also seen, but egregiously incorrect.) Also, particularly now that electric vehicles are becoming more popular, people often get confused between kW and kW h. The car can charge at a peak or average rate expressed in kW, but energy billed by a charging service provider is expressed in kWh. People frequently either add or remove the "h" incorrectly because they don't understand the difference. In some places like India, a kilowatt-hour is simply referred to as a "unit" to avoid confusion. In my opinion, it was an enormous mistake to use kWh when we could be using mJ instead, which I think is probably something close to the point Randall may have been trying to make. Anyway, I wasn't sure if there was a place for any of this random trivia in the article itself, but feel free to use it. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 17:11, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: No!. TF?. ms is meter times seconds, m/s is meter per second. There is NOTHING wrong with kWh, it literally means kW times hours, and CANNOT mean anything else. kW per hour would be kW/h.. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.34|172.71.160.34]] 12:41, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:: Technically, the SI would have you write m s for meter-seconds and ms for milliseconds. Thus, similarly, it should be kW h for kilowatt-hours, not kWh. It is unambiguous either way, but the standard is the standard. But that is a totally bizarre thing to get hung up on. Also, Equites's suggestion to use millijoules instead was maybe not well thought-out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.15.234|172.68.15.234]] 17:45, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Relevant XKCD… I mean relevant YouTube video: "Cursed units" 1 and 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkfIXUjkYqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg7xe8MkJHs [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:31, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

: Highly relevant, in fact. The first video referred to the kilowatt-hour as "cursed", which became a highly polarizing issue in the comments, something that was addressed at the beginning of part 2. Assuming these responses weren't cherry-picked, I get the impression that there are a lot of people on both sides of this. It seems like the same kind of thing we're seeing in this very comment section. [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 18:10, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

I always wonder why people here prefer liter/m^2 for the amount of rain. Where the same number as mm is way easier to imagine. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.99|172.68.50.99]] 18:14, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: At first, I was wondering if you would have rather had it in microliters/mm^2, but you meant the column height of the rain, like inches are used in the US. Along the line of L/m^2, something like mL/cm^2 might be nice considering the density of water, although the value also would be different by a factor. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:51, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: That's the neat thing about the metric system, they are trivially simple to convert. 1l/m² is exactly 1mm. The fact that the meteorology uses the former just stems from the fact that that's how they measure it. The catch the rain on an area of 1m² into a beaker that contains some volume which is measured in liters. What annoys me though, is that noone seems to be talking about how terribly inefficient the fridge in the comic is. Mine only needs a tenth of the one that Whitehat tries to sell, and that's not even particularly good. --21:21, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:: UK measurements, once it gets to weather reports/forecasts, tend to be in millimetres (or centimetres, where more for the layperson who don't need mm-resulution; or occasionally recast as 'old money' inches, with ''really'' bad rain events summarised in relation to whole feet), which is implicitly the depth to which ''any'' area would be filled (in a case where large catchment + funnelling valley situation is concerned, suffering from the run-off, might be ''reported'' as "equivalent to ''N'' feet of rain", down where the bad effects get concentrated, but this is not a meteorological measure as such).
:: Not sure I've ever seen volume/area as an end-result figure (might be relevent as an intermediate for measurement/calculation, especially when discussing the funelling effects of the given local geography), but of course it's trivially relatable.
:: Density of water would only figure in from replacing litres with kilogrammes (litres are 1/1000th of metres³ and any m² is 10,000 times the cm² (or millilitre), so a factor of 10 between L/m² and mL/cm²; divide L to mL by 1000, times m² to cm² by 10,000, => 10x) but I always find it useful to know that three 2L bottles of pop are (very close to, going by the nominal water content alone) 6kg... makes me feel better about lugging the weekly shopping home, where these might be the single most significant part of the weight. More usefully than cross-converting into length-cubed measure. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.69|141.101.98.69]] 21:42, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Isn't the point that KwH/day can be simplified to Watts (an average perhaps, but still) {{unsigned ip|162.158.41.72|21:24, 15 January 2025}}
: Yes, the joke seems pretty clearly about watts or kilowatts, not megajoules. Using megajoules doesn't result in any units being canceled; the denominator remains "/day". [[User:BatmanAoD|BatmanAoD]] ([[User talk:BatmanAoD|talk]]) 23:52, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

If the argument for kWh/day is that it's easy for the consumer to understand how it will affect their electricity bill – then kWh/month would be the right choice, because I doubt anyone receives an electricity bill every day. But the salesman prefers 3 kWh/day because it sounds like a smaller number than 90 kWh/month. And of course, if electricity bills were written in joules instead of illogical watt-hours, then MJ/month would be the easiest for the consumer. {{unsigned ip|162.158.134.90|22:31, 15 January 2025}}
:Per-month is tricky. You seem to assume month=30 days, when it can be 28-31 and is only 30 days a third of the time. Per quarter(-year) is a bit more consistent, less fractionally variant ''and'' closer to most utility bill frequencies as well, if you're looking for something not as eye-wateringly frightening as an annual estimate (which 'only' varies every 4.1237... years, on average). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.47|172.70.163.47]] 00:21, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:: "''Per-month is tricky. You seem to assume month=30 days, when it can be 28-31...''" My electric bill for December 2024 is 33 days. The company closes the book when it is convenient, not per some calendar. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 05:22, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Which is why electric consumption per month is even more tricky. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:33, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::It's still per some calendar. Just a calendar of the electric company, that you're not privy to.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.245|141.101.98.245]] 09:36, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
::It's an average. We're not talking specifically about February. You could multiply by 365.24/12 and get 91.31 kWh/month on average – but there's only one significant figure in 3 kWh/day. White Hat doesn't say 3.000 kWh/day. You have to round 91.31 to 90 to avoid false precision.
::The stated average is an estimate based on assumptions about how much you'll fill the fridge, how often you'll open the door, how long you'll leave the door open, the room temperature in your kitchen, how much surrounding cabinets will restrict air flow across the condenser, et cetera. The combined uncertainties make it meaningless to state a highly precise power consumption. The length of the month is just one of many sources of variation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.90|162.158.134.90]] 10:40, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Ahem... "multiply by 365.24'''25'''/12". As anyone with a fridge at least 125-years-old would appreciate... ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.178|141.101.98.178]] 12:23, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

I suspect this comic is inspired by the much more common pet peeve of incorrect/nonsensical units, frequently encountered in similar contexts. I'm so used to hearing kWh mistakenly written simply as kW, that I initially misread and assumed that's what the comic is about. That's a particularly common example, where you'll hear battery capacities listed in kW, or instantaneous power described in watt-hours. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 09:53, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:{{w|Calorie#Chemistry and physics|Calories}} vs. {{w|Calorie#Nutrition|calories}}, also... ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.178|141.101.98.178]] 12:23, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

It could be worse.. I keep seeing TVs marked in kWh per 1000 hours... That is just insanity pure and simple.. It is in fact Watts!!![[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.34|172.71.160.34]] 12:38, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:This is even some kind of a "standard", officially. See first image in here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_4484
:Also, world power consumption is almost exclusively represented in TWh per year, because TW is obviously not a thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.6|172.68.50.6]] 13:42, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:That whole kerfluffle is mentioned in the "Cursed Units 2" video linked above. [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 01:58, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Can I be the obnoxious arse that points out that a 125W fridge will NOT be pulling 3kWh (or 3 units?) per day? Fridges run a compressor which makes the cold happen (via science and magic) and when there's enough cold in the box, it'll click off until cold is lacking. The durations will depend on ambient temperature, however observing my (oldish) fridge, it seems to run for about fifty seconds every four or five minutes.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.92|141.101.69.92]] 18:45, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:Fridge is actually heating device: it heats up your kitchen by pumping the heat from inside to outside. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:32, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

There is actually a good reason to differentiate between Wh/h (energy over time) and W (power): Non-constant consumption. If the fridge consumes 3kWh/d, its compressor will be rated in the 300-400W nominal range (the thermostatic controller will cycle the compressor on and off; for a modern fridge-freezer combination, a typical duty cycle would be in the 25-30% range). The unit nameplate will say "400W" because that's the rated power the electrical installation will have to be designed for (how many of these fridges can you put on a 20A breaker etc.). This is only determined by the physical properties of the compressor motor. The energy consumption additionally depends on insulation, internal space of the cabinet etc. etc. and only makes sense as a time average (due to the intermittent operation of the compressor). Not sure about US rules, but here in Europe, there's a standard energy class label for fridges which specifies kWh/a as a primary means of comparison. (Averaging over a year has the advantage that you can test against a standardized profile of ambient temperature change between summer and winter).
[[User:Ogehrke|Ogehrke]] ([[User talk:Ogehrke|talk]]) 21:28, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

The explanation incorrectly states that fuel efficiency in the metric system is measured in km/l. It's not. It's measured in l/km, so it reduces to area, not 1/area.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.77|172.71.182.77]] 22:40, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:I recall seeing a book in my youth about "understanding units" that included great things like viscosity and explanations for why E=mc² cancels units properly. But they got to gasoline consumption, and used the analogy that the "area" represented here is the equivalent of the area of an adjacent trough of gas that would have to be scooped up by your car to keep it running. Very interesting way of illustrating unit cancellation. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 23:05, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Am I the only one bothered by the low ceiling? I hate rooms where I can't stretch without bumping. I had to come here to make sure I hadn't miscalculated the ceiling height. [[User:DougM|DougM]] ([[User talk:DougM|talk]]) 00:21, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2765: Escape Speed

2025-01-05T12:28:14Z

172.69.194.205:

{{notice|Given the popularity of this talk page, please do not use the "add new topic" feature to avoid making the index confusing. To add a new talk section, just make your title bold/use the definition-list semicolon for that line.}}

"A special feature it that it does not have its own gravity, so the ship continues to be attracted to the crystal sphere regardless of which side of the planet you're on." This seems wrong. You are attracted to the Click and Drag planet and can land on it on any side. It is just that the gravity of the crystal sphere is so relatively huge that it quickly overpowers the gravity of the planet when too high above the surface on the near side makes the ground appear sloped on the "sides", similar to the moon of Origin. It would be really cool if someone could make a map that showed the gravity field everywhere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.39|162.158.203.39]] 11:09, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

When Beret Guy says "Wow!" on the starting planet, isn't it actually a reference to the alt text of [[1117: My Sky]], and not [[502: Dark Flow]]? --[[User:BrightBlackHole|BrightBlackHole]] ([[User talk:BrightBlackHole|talk]]) 18:13, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

With an old browser (all I have, this moment) I just have the starscape, the hovertext and a button in the bottom right corner to seemingly reset (same starscape, and briefly the message "Welcome back pilot", or words to that effect). I look forward to trying it on something more interactive, on this very-late-for-Wednesday special comic... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.87|172.71.242.87]] 17:02, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
:For me, Firefox 112 and Chrome 112 work just fine. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.133|172.68.50.133]] 15:10, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
The only cheat is "window.python("import antigravity"). (To my knowledge) "ze.goggles()" dosen't work/do anything. Arrow keys, WASD, and HJKL work for movement. (Working on an object table) --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 17:04, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

<s>I tried to correct a BOT error, but the BOT [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2765:_Escape_Speed&diff=310745&oldid=310744 reverted the correction back to an error]. (Or my 'poor browser', see above, is also going wrong with the hovertext). So we need the BOT's human pappy to override it. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.87|172.71.242.87]]</s>
:NVM, done now. Somehow... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.159|172.70.162.159]] 17:15, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
::Looks like the original title text contained the error, but has since been fixed. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 18:12, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Spoiler but there is hollow space between the rollercoaster and the St Louis arch 17:17, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Okay I'm still working on it but here's the link to my object table: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit#gid=0] --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 17:27, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I'm having trouble using the arrow keys, because it keeps moving the browser window up and down. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.11|108.162.245.11]] 18:02, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
:Try clicking on the comic itself, which should move focus there. --[[User:Moble|Moble]] ([[User talk:Moble|talk]]) 18:15, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I managed to escape the larger planet's gravity well by jumping off the start planet and perfectly manipulating to barely miss it. it wasn't until afterwards thatI found the tunnel --[[User:Toriski3037|Toriski3037]] ([[User talk:Toriski3037|talk]]) 18:12, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

The tunnel is how you escape the planet. Fall through and when you get to the center use your thrusters to leave. --[[User:Silverfunk|Silverfunk]] 18:15, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

There is a way to escape the crystal dome. Fly to the edge and continue around until you find the crack. You need to get enough power ups on your ship in order to make it out. --[[User:Silverfunk|Silverfunk]] 18:19, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
:You can also find the crack pretty easily by finding the 6th Lagrange Point and finding the sign that says "Exit" and heading straight there. [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 19:11, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Absolutely no idea what you’re even talking about. I see a mostly black picture with some white spots. Your ‘explanation’ explains nothing, just makes the confusion worse.
: You probably need a relatively modern browser and Javascript turned on [[Special:Contributions/172.70.251.107|172.70.251.107]] 19:44, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

There is an area that is a huge maze with cities marked on it -the subway system. In Washington DC there is a black hole, which even with lots of power ups I think is inescapable once you land on it (you can reset and retain your powerups). The map of the subway system is from xkcd 1196.
:I'm pretty sure the area is Boston. Also, the black hole just has very high, not infinite, gravity. --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 18:27, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Re:"there is a way out" - I went farther down and launched upwards as quickly as I could while not hitting the sides to get past the intense gravity. You can get to the top on the left side, but the gravity is so strong that you're basically stuck to the ground. If you scoot along farther to the left you see a spot that says "the end". Just past there, there is a small dip that, due to how strong the gravity is, I couldn't get out of. I wouldn't be surprised if you got enough upgrades you could get past it.
: If you go right instead, you can go all the way around the "crystal dome" and there is a point of interest a long the way (half way around maybe?) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.214|172.71.154.214]] 19:34, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Should we start saying what planets things are on? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.41|162.158.146.41]]

Once you get off the planet by falling through the tunnel and shooting out the other side you can fly around space, visiting other planets. There are power ups in the form of balls with stars in the center. Each power up gives your ship more thrust, faster recharge, etc. If you keep flying straight eventually you get to a white barrier that goes all around space. This is the crystal dome that is mentioned on the "origin" planet. If you fly along the dome long enough you will eventually come across a crack in it. As you fly up through the crack the gravity gets stronger and stronger. Eventually you will not be able to any further. You have to get enough power ups to fly out. Once out there is a dome of text that just says "The end." --[[User:Silverfunk|Silverfunk]] 18:52, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

::Which is not remotely actually the end. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.100|172.71.254.100]] 22:30, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I have raw images for the points of interest here: https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd_2765/ [[User:Aeromancer|Aeromancer]] ([[User talk:Aeromancer|talk]]) 21:00, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

::Cool! There are apparently quite a bunch of places I missed... (which is unsurprising given that I mostly navigated by flying in random directions while hoping to get to where I wanted (still haven’t figured how to reliably find Subway) [[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 12:06, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

apparently if you exit the page it saves your "you've found:" stuff and your position, and a spoilery upgrade that shows a gray line, but not any of the upgrades you got to your ship. (the upgrades do NOT reappear anywhere, so you can't collect them again.) thanks firefox for randomly closing to install an update --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.214|172.70.110.214]] 21:52, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

^this is a major buzzkill. The page crashed on me twice, and both times I lost my upgrades. It's essentially non-functional now.

you can probably hack back the upgrades quickly somehow. for me, i found a handy variable to use for 'accessibility' (if you want to cheat/skip parts) is to set the starting position to that of some other location, for example to skip to 'mtba' (the +1000s are just so you're not warped to the center of the object, you'll need to tweak for other locations):
window.Comic.voyager.opts.startPos = [window.Comic.map.locations[61].pos[0]+1000, window.Comic.map.locations[61].pos[1] + 1000]
to reset to the original starting location:
window.Comic.voyager.opts.startPos = window.Comic.map.player.pos
in firefox anyway, you can use this to browse the game objects to poke around more:
console.dir(window.Comic)
in particular, .voyager and .map.locations are interesting, as is .gamestate.
i didn't look into forcing upgrades, i grinded those out myself, just didn't want to hunt down all the subway tokens manually ... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.55|172.69.134.55]] 22:04, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

:Try these
* _.updatePlayerConfig({ thrustDuration: _.playerConfig.thrustDuration + 2.5 })
* _.updatePlayerConfig({ thrustDuration: _.playerConfig.thrustDuration + 0.4 })
These are the commands run when the most powerful upgrades are run. --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 23:30, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

You can refer to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2712:_Gravity#Hacks for Console commands ...

In Microsoft Edge on Windows, you can change your speed and refuel-rate as shown. At speed=2, you can escape the black hole in Washington, DC.
Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.speed=0.9
Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.thrustRecoveryTime=0.000001

Looks like I'll have to wait awhile for someone to make a map I can simply scroll around instead of playing interactive mode. As much fun as it was in the beginning, it's miserable once you've lost your upgrades.

Was floating around in space and found a point where the ship just sits there and the screen orientation spins dramatically when moving around that point. Makes me think there's either a microsingularity there, or maybe something cloaked that only leaks gravitation (mentioned by some characters). Is there a way to check what my coordinates are so I can report the anomaly [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.73|172.70.230.73]] 23:16, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
Found this as well. It was a marked location, and there was a heavy subway token at this point. After you pick up the token, the location appears to be empty.

Ah, okay. So the residual gravitation field was left behind. Thanks! Still looking for a way to read out my current coordinates though - you know, for science [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.141|162.158.154.141]] 23:26, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I think I figured it out. Just added "Comic.voyager.pos.x" and "Comic.voyager.pos.y" to the "Watch Expressions" portion of the Web Developer Tools -> Debugger. Simple for those who know. But something new to me. The coordinates for the microgravity well is [-20473, 3682] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.143|162.158.154.143]] 23:33, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Has anyone found the orange line token? I thought it would be with the group singing a Boston song on Origin, but it doesn't seem to be? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.68|162.158.63.68]] 23:48, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Skimming through the code, it looks like the MIT cloaking system also cloaks the subway lines or something? And MIT harbors a hyperdrive?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.79|162.158.63.79]] 23:59, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

If you've lost your upgrades, you can reset the game to its original state by deleting your xkcd.com cookies. [[User:Whoop whoop pull up|Whoop whoop pull up]] ([[User talk:Whoop whoop pull up|talk]]) 00:07, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Looks like resetting shouldn't be necessary anymore, just hard-refreshing: https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12t8e9i/xkcd_2765_escape_speed/jh2tvpl/ [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.208|162.158.146.208]] 00:09, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

There's Quite a bit outside the crystal shell and "the end" rainbow. on the opposite side of the shell there's a small dot with "the platinum cylinder formerly used to define the kilogram", directly above the "rainbow" there's a stream of missiles leading to 2 areas (follow them either way), and even more engine upgrades for some reason. I stopped exploring after that - [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.155|172.69.33.155]] 00:29, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

guess this is the late april fools comic. [[user:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/]][[user talk:lettherebedarklight|miLcaqq2Zpk]] 01:34, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

::Probably, the captain of the Corellian corvette adds a message signed April 3rd 2023 to his log. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.116|162.158.86.116]] 10:09, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

If you get stuck with your engine in a weird mode like warp or infinite improbability drive you can fix it by using the command ship.engines = “lander” and the ship gets set back to normal. I don’t think it keeps any upgrades though.

You can also escape the planet with the sign that you can never leave, simply by starting there and keeping your finger down. The rocket will return a few times but gets further away each time and eventually lands on your home (start) location. No need to visit the rollercoaster.
[[User:XKCDnl|XKCDnl]] ([[User talk:XKCDnl|talk]]) 04:51, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Found out that when landed on a surface, with the shield not automatically active, in some condition (maybe some thrust score) using the down-arrow retro thruster allows you to slowly "back up" through surfaces. Can be used to back-through some of the MBTA path blockers thereby reducing the need to deactivate all the blocked paths [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.174|162.158.154.174]] 05:02, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

::Yeah, when slamming into a surface with high enough speed (possible even without hyperdrive, but very easy with), the ship seems to clip through the ground. It's possible then to navigate (very slowly) through the solid mass, which makes it even possible to leave the crystal sphere without hyperdrive (you are, however, stuck very close to the ground outside). Annoyingly, this also allows the ship to get stuck occasionaly: e.g. when slamming into Boston in the lettering or blocked lines, or on the Earth-map in lakes. [[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 12:19, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I've found about 80 total subway tokens, but for the life of me cannot remember where the subway planet was.

:: If you travel straight through the hole right next to the starter planet, you'll land at a guiding planet [[User:Toby|Toby]] ([[User talk:Toby|talk]]) 13:37, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Am I hallucinating, or is this a sequel with the same basic "space UI" as a previous comic? (I can't find it in the index, but I remember an extremely similar xkcd comic, with a spaceship being navigated between distant planets.) If such a comic exists, it should be mentioned in this one's description. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 14:02, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I found the the "gold crown Archimedes stole" (which significantly boosts thrusters) and "a necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out your name (note: hopefully you are not named 'Katherine' or 'Brandon')" whilst traveling around the crystal sphere. How should I add those to the list? -- mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.180|172.68.34.180]] 14:14, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

The end is not the end - you will need a lot of speed BUT the "there is a way out" leads to the outside of a round planet that everything you have discovered is inside. Continue flying up and you will see a second planet in the wayfinder. There is a line of torpedos and a tunnel up there playerPos: (1361.094208512935,-62444.80167042731) Megan(??) is talking to cuebal and firing torpedos "we have not photon torpedos so I'm firing regular ones"

"You found a Juicero Juicer"

Megan to cueball "Prediction: Seconds before you die you will remember these words" while walkint to an icecream cooler

"you found and out of control trolley"

skateboarder in a bubble going AAAAAAAAaaa (2206.485760681366,-64359.17874192683)

There are multiple ways through this layer in these tunnels

"you found a lymphocyte" (-5565.828800080446,-64207.654606168755)

Outside this layer seems infinite currently have made it past y = -5,000,000

Wayfinder is no longer changing headed back to circle the outer layer and confirm that the layer past the end is the end

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.57|162.158.146.57]][[User:Frogg|Frogg]] 15:43 April 21

The orange token is near the spiral planet. It's on a floating stadium-like thing with "BOSTON" labeled on it.

The outer layer is not a layer it seems like some sort of ship, perhaps a star destroyer, roughly triangular shaped.

Found and emperor in a cloak "My Emperor... We all share in yuour newfound enthusiams for birdwatching but normally one watches them in the wild, rather than drugging them and imprisoning them in a house of stairs."

Cueball "Aha! Darth Vaders secret Gold Bullion Reserves! We'll be rich!"
Megan "I'm not sure this is cannon"

Definitely a star destroyer, found the command tower. cool stuff! (22067.78723320221,-71701.23138735193)

For complete Locations list see Comic.map.locations it is a 75 item array accessible in developer tools it gives coordinates and names that will be useful to the wiki I think.

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.57|162.158.146.57]][[User:Frogg|Frogg]] 16:21 April 21 2023 UTC

I got stuck in VANCOUVER. Literally. I was flying so fast I clipped into the N and will have to reset to get out. I had many engine upgrades and was going in random directions since my "regular search pattern" had stopped finding things, so I don't know how to get back. I only know it exists.... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.94|172.71.170.94]] 16:26, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
* Still not found my way back to VANCOUVER, but I love the hint that the space shuttle was a dinosaur. Straight off the nose of the shuttle is the compromise projected Earth. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.101|162.158.174.101]] 16:46, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
* OK, I think I found VANCOUVER. I gave up on looking for it and went for other things and after finding MONTERREY on the Subway Planet I suspect that VANCOUVER is somewhere here too.
* Also, if someone does a long edit of this Discussion page they will overwrite your edits made in the mean time. You can find them in the History if you want to restore them. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.248|172.71.166.248]] 17:47, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I'm sure that "17 angels on the head of pin" is a Calvin and Hobbes Reference, but I can't seem to find the comic online.[[User:Argis13|Argis13]] ([[User talk:Argis13|talk]]) 18:13, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
::Okay, so, after sleeping on it, and reading trough the entire online archive of Calvin and Hobbes, I'm pretty sure that I was misremembering a Dilbert Strip as a C&H strip, and I don't think that would put an intentional reference to Dilbert anymore. Also I'm not paying money to Scott Adams to search the Dilbert archives. [[User:Argis13|Argis13]] ([[User talk:Argis13|talk]]) 03:32, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
::: The angels on the head of a pin thing is a long-standing theological debate point (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_many_angels_can_dance_on_the_head_of_a_pin%3F) - however, the use of precisely 17 is likely a reference to "The Science of Discworld II", in which Ridcully is certain that the number of angels that can fit on the head of a pin is precisely 16. 17 would be a deliberate disproof of Ridcully's claim. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.64.157|172.69.64.157]] 04:40, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

CHEAT: window.noclip = true; is pretty handy if you're struggling with navigating through some mazes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.29|172.70.34.29]] 18:24, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

The absolute best I can get out of this page (across multiple browsers and platforms) is on my Android versions of Chrome and Firefox. It forces itself into full-screen mode and then by using touch regions at either side of the scene I can get one/both "turning thruster" plus the main-thruster to show a 'flame'. I can get it to turn, both ways, very very slowly but I seem to have no forward-thrust ability at all. I can be parallel to the ground and the side thrust from pressing both sides doesn't move me sideways any noticable amount (nor will a turning craft "roll" away from the palm-tree), free of gravitational resistance in that direction. If I stay facing upwards (or return to it) I just settle down under the weak (but stronger than any thrust!) gravity, spawn landing-gear and I no longer can even induce a rotation now being perched on legs. This is consistent in both browsers, so I rule out javascript-running inconsistencies in any obvious way.
 I presume (from reading the above) that I can get better thrusting, but whether by collecting things that I can't reach or by 'cheating' (more awkward, on mobile browsers, to edit page-variables/etc), I can't help thinking that it's already going wrong for me in ways it isn't for everyone else. And none of my desktop browsers even play ball for me at all (all I have is star background and the reset-button).
 On mobile browsers I've got a short thin line on the right-hand edge of the (fullscreen) background that I thought might be some sort of draggable power-bar (at 50% position, perhaps), but it doesn't respond to touch/dragging, or change at all. Might be just a relic of being on a wider-than-expected aspect ratio screen. Or it's something jutting (barely) on-screen from another nearby on-screen object/destination. As the viewpoint never moves, it's hard to say either way.
 This ''is'' more functionality than I ever got with Gravity, so maybe I'm just unluckily using incompatible browsers/platforms. A pity, though, that this is where I'm left with this. It looks like everyone else (or many, at least) are getting a lot out of this (and that), just not me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.137|172.69.79.137]] 21:41, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

: I couldn't play this at all on mobile (neither chrome nor firefox worked: I got the same behavior as you). It works fine on desktop, though. (I'm using Firefox 112 on Ubuntu 23.04). Granted, controls kinda suck at the beginning, but that's intended. You should get at least a little forward trust if pressing UP on a physical keyboard (at least enough to get you off the ground). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.3.212|172.69.3.212]] 04:09, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

I think the giant spider might be a Tintin reference (see The Shooting Star). [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.140|172.64.238.140]] 00:31, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Two things: First, you don't need the warpdrive to be able to exit the crystal sphere or to even explore the area outside of it like the cruiser ship. It's enough to have most of the other upgrades from inside the sphere and do some careful flying/orbital mechanicsing. Second with the warpdrive and most other upgrades you can escape from the black hole in the air and space museum. You likely can escape without the warp drive as well with some very careful flying but it's quite tricky to time the thrusters correctly to get a nice elliptical orbit going. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.64|172.69.59.64]] 18:47, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Given the occasional occurrences of D&D as a topic in xkcd and the recent re-publication of the Spelljammer setting for fifth edition D&D, the Crystal Sphere might be a reference to Spelljammer (which likely drew on the already-mentioned story ''The Crystal Spheres'' by David Brin for the idea since Spelljammer was published 5 years after the short story). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.204|141.101.68.204]] 22:57, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

I'm having a similar reset problem as everyone else. My game crashed, my speed upgrades stayed, but my energy regen upgrades are gone. Which is quite annoying. Does anyone know of a solution to this?

Most of the upgrades I've collected with a given star token have not been the same as what's listed here. I think that which upgrade you get is either semi-random, or that there is a sequential list and you get the upgrades in a predetermined order - with the exception of the "significant" boost upgrades, and perhaps some that specifically relate to the message when found (like the Tank recharge upgrade on Andal, or the Thruster Efficiency upgrade at the Shuttle Skeleton). [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 22:23, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

;Time slowed
I got the "A single molecule of caffeine" upgrade, and it didn't seem to make my tanks recharge faster. Instead, it made my rocket's movement speed extremely slow. Is anyone else experiencing this? I tried reloading and even deleting all cache data stored on XKCD. It still didn't fix it. Any ideas?

Did not personally experience this issue, but if you're looking to reset your progress, try pasting this into your browser console and refresh the comic page: localStorage.save = ""; [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.29|172.70.34.29]] 21:22, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Experiencing a similar issue. It was also right after getting a power up, but a different one. "A significant engine boost for a curious pilot". My forward speed and turning speed have been cut down significantly, and gravity seems lower as well. I checked in an incognito page, and turning speed is still much slower than when I initially played, so it seems to affect any instance of the game. I'd love a solution that doesn't require wiping my progress. Maybe I'll try warping to an upgrade I haven't gotten (since getting there myself is basically impossible) and see if collecting it fixes it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.85|172.70.130.85]] 03:26, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Inspecting element and putting Comic.voyager.opts.speed into the console showed that my current speed was 0.285, which seems low. I manually changed it with Comic.voyager.opts.speed = 1.0 which mostly fixed things. I still feel that my turning speed is lower than before, but otherwise I'm moving around like I used to. Option to avoid resetting progress. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.85|172.70.130.85]] 18:47, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

I had the same problem. I played around with console, but it seems like the issue is related to browser tick speed, since things like falling to the ground when returning to the start position are also very slow. The problem went away after I closed some other tabs and plugged in my laptop (not certain which of those fixed it). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.177|162.158.155.177]] 04:12, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

That happened to me too, but I plugged my computer in and now it's working fine.

Guessing it's just a power saver feature reducing the tick speed then. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.140|172.70.110.140]] 03:46, 24 April 2023 (UTC)

Turning off chrome's "energy saver" worked for me. [[User:Rotartsi|Rotartsi]] ([[User talk:Rotartsi|talk]]) 17:07, 29 April 2023 (UTC)

;Full map of the whole thing, what do?
Someone called u/Boojum on the XKCD subreddit ([https://old.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12tmw01/escape_speed_2765_maps/ old reddit link], [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12tmw01/escape_speed_2765_maps/ new reddit link]) managed to reverse engineer how the game encodes the map data and posted the whole thing for us to enjoy, should we just put it at the very top or be more measured?

Full zoomable version here: https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd_2765/map.html [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.75|172.69.135.75]] 23:19, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

"A sparking Gem" in the Gulf of Boni in Indonesia [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.178|162.158.155.178]] 23:38, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

There's also [https://xkcd2765-map.kuilin.net/ this map] ([https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12txn1o/i_made_an_interactive_map_for_escape_speed/ from Reddit]), which shows the location of all the collectables and seems to load a bit faster than the other one --[[User:CruseCtrl|CruseCtrl]] ([[User talk:CruseCtrl|talk]]) 13:49, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

;Article structure and explaining
I have the impression, that the article structure is a bit messy, and I like to make some suggestions to improve it. Currently, the article is structured with a section for each planets. I suggest to keep that structure roughly but create several list below each of those sections

1. First I suggest to rename the "List of planets" to "List of planets and space objects".

2. Second, I'd like to point out, there are several things to collect, which you can categorize clearly as following:
* '''"You've found"-items''': They appear as a collectible dot. When collected, there is a message of the style "You found WHATEVER". And that WHATEVER item gets added to the list "You've found:" below the comic.
* '''Upgrades''': They appear as large circle with a star.
* '''Messages''': They only display a message when you reach a certain spot. I think it is not visible that there is a message, before you reach that spot.
* '''Subway puzzle tokens.''' They appear as dot with a "T" letter in it and unlock passages at the second subway planet.
Basically you can get a good overview about those at https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd_2765/map.html if you turn on those 4 things in the layer menu in the upper right corner. Beside from that you might also discover:
* '''Fixed text messages.''' From xkcd characters or on signs. You could also add the subway station names.
* '''Interesting looking objects'''. This is a bit vague, as it is not clear, what to add there.
However, those are completely passive things which do not interact with the space ship of the player.

I think we should describe those four types of collectibles in the explanation section.

3. Currently, the lists at the planets do not separate the categories which I mentioned at 2. or only separate '''Messages''' from other collectibles. Sometimes it seems to me some of the passive objects or messages went into the list, too.
So I suggest to always separate the these six categories and add at least the first four of those to each planet and space object, unless the list is empty. For '''Fixed text messages''' I am not sure, if it is worth to always list them, but it is a clearly defined group. For the '''Interesting looking objects''' I would not make a list because it is not clear what to add or not. Instead I suggest to always describe them in the description text for the planet/space object.

4. Note, that players get that "You've found:" list below the comic. Many would like to find out, if their list is complete and whether they have found everything. Currently with the list in that article this is not possible at all. Therefore, I think it is important, that the lists for the "You've found" matches exactly the list which appears below the game.

5. Explain xkcd is about explaining. Many of the '''You've found''', '''Upgrades''', and '''Messages''' are (more or less funny) jokes or references to real things and/or other xkcd comics. We should explain them very shortly for each. So, behind each '''You've found''', '''Upgrades''', and '''Messages''' I suggest to put a very short explanation. You can separate this with a hyphen, a line break, start with italique font or do some other optical separation.

6. Another option would be to create a huge sortable table with four columns:
* Planet / Space Object
* Type ('''You've found''', ''Message''', '''Upgrade''', '''Subway token''', '''fixed text message''')
* Text (1 to 1 as in the game)
* Explanation for the joke or reference.
However, I am currently a bit more in favor for the planet/space object sections and just going with list.

What do you think about those 6 suggestions? Are you with me? Should we start with this restructuring? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.39|172.70.246.39]] 12:53, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
:I think it is good suggestions. Although text on the image should also be added to the full transcript. But yes in principle all references and jokes should be explained. But it is a huge project. I have also been taking some screenshots that I would like to add for reference but again it is such a huge and tedious job to upload them all. I think there should be a table of all the collectible items that would be nice to have with sortable so you can check alphabetically but also with planet/place so you can sort on that. Maybe no explanation there, but go to planet sections for that? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:20, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
::Hi, I have just finished the (hopefully) full transcript of the objects inside and on the outer edge of the Crystal Sphere. I have transcribed all the dialogues, monologues, signs and inscriptions. As for the messages of "You found" kind, I have copied them from the spreadsheet, just to be sure. Screenshotting is uncomfortable and my memory is short, so I have made a lot of mistakes until I noticed the spreadsheet. However, I have not put in the (shortened) object names as they appear on the "you've found" list. I think it may be a good start to take all the texts from there and put them in a table, so people can start writing explanations for everything. I will try to transcribe the rest (the big ships and the Click and Drag planet), but I am a bit tired of it already, maybe someone would take over. It's almost midnight here, have a good sleep everybody! --[[User:Malgond|Malgond]], late April 26th.

Fun little game. You can even do a little antigravity park without the antigravity cheat on! https://imgur.com/a/sJ72VvW [[Special:Contributions/108.162.227.49|108.162.227.49]] 14:01, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Outside the shell I found a powerup called "it is very lonely out here". I forget what kind of powerup it was...I had left the star destroyer and orbited counter-clockwise around the shell for several seconds before I saw it by chance, and after a bit of searching I was able to backtrack and pick it up. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.133|172.70.127.133]] 00:04, 23 April 2023 (UTC)Nathan

If anyone needs a hint, black hole moon [[User:IJustWantToEditStuff|IJustWantToEditStuff]] ([[User talk:IJustWantToEditStuff|talk]]) 23:33, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

;Glitches?
Anybody else got duplicate items? After picking up "very lonely out here", I fell into the crystal sphere hard enough to glitch and get stuck, so warped back home… and then noticed that the orb wren seemed to have respawned. Looking down the list (with the help of ctrl+F), I see that it does indeed appear twice in the list of objects I've found. No idea what happened there. I then went back to the outside and eventually managed to find the last item (the one talking about the "source"), but as soon as I touched it the ship became stationary. The messages appeared, but the item didn't vanish, and the controls were unresponsive. Refreshing the page left me in deep space, so I resorted to using the wayfinder script to find the dot again; and it confirmed that I'd collected everything.

Is there something I've missed, or are these both weird little glitches? -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 11:57, 24 April 2023 (UTC)
i cant teleport it puts me in the middle of the starry void my thrusteres work but i dont move [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.132|172.71.222.132]] 13:09, 26 April 2023 (UTC)

I can't say this happens on every planet, but on a few I've tried (What-If planet, small starting planet) if you are landed (no shields on) you can reverse thrust into the ground and dig into the planet. In most cases there is nothing to find, but the "What-If Planet" has a Megan and Cueball floating around the open core. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.141|172.70.126.141]] 21:23, 28 April 2023 (UTC)mlganser3

;Click and Drag Planet Trivia
Didn't know where to put this, so I made a new category: The Water tower on the click and drag planet is placed on the location with the highest gravity potential (which makes sense, of course!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.88|172.70.114.88]] 21:13, 24 April 2023 (UTC)

;What-If Planet Core
Once the hyperdrive has been obtained it is possible to travel to the centre of the What-If planet by parking on top of the volcano, accelerating forwards for a couple of seconds, stopping, then powering in reverse. Keeping reverse held down down for a very long time once in reverse, it will gradually travel to the centre of the planet where you meet Megan and Cueball. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.101|172.70.90.101]] 17:00, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

If you keep going in reverse past Megan and Cueball, eventually you pop out on the opposite side of the planet, just on the other side of a short pillar from where another Megan is sitting. (Megan sits on a block looking at a short pillar. On the other side of this pillar is where you emerge if entering from the volcano.) You can also enter here by landing then powering in reverse. Also, I was able to enter here in forward thrust, going quite fast (lucky shot, maybe?) but I got all the way into the center of the planet in very short order.

I've found that I can reverse thrust from any standing location and dig into any planet, not just the What-If Planet. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.134|172.70.127.134]] 21:13, 28 April 2023 (UTC) mlganser3

::Yeah, there seems to be a corridor of sorts through the What-If planet centre, between the volcano and the pillar that Megan is contemplating. Since it takes soooo long to go down the volcano, I definitely recommend starting at the pillar and reversing in. If you land on the pillar itself and reverse, it should get you to the centre space relatively quickly.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.123.148|172.71.123.148]] 10:47, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

;Inital Statrting Bug
I have a bug in my game where when I start, I am pushed off of the starting planet, and I continue to get pushed around. My shield is up and everything, and sometimes it tries to land. I have tried many of the cheats, but they aren't working. I need some help! AlabroX201 - 13:22, 26 April 2023 (UTC)
Update: NoClip stops the bug, but only when it is true. 13:28 26 April 20203 (UTC)

;Making a table to organize EVERYTHING

Good heavens, y'all - format table so text is at the top of the cell.

I'm currently making a table to organize planet (file)names, coordinates, and explanations, and the four item types and their explanation, inspired by the comments from [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:Kynde Kynde], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:Malgond Malgond], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/172.70.246.39 172.70.246.39]. Here's my progress so far, do you have any suggestions or feedback? A few things to note:
* I will try to add all explanations for each item found
* The "???" are there because the spreadsheet with all the items doesn't include the message shown to the user. I temporarily put the words that the wiki used instead
* All the "Z" between items will be replaced by a new line. The editor I'm using doesn't support adding new lines directly
* Can someone let me know how to find the coordinates of each planet? Many thanks

----

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Filename
! Description
! Tiles (X, Y)
! Explanation
! "You found" items
! Upgrades
! Messages
! Subway tokens
|-
| <code>tiny-world</code>
| Starting planet
|
| To return here from anywhere, click the "Home" button in lower right corner. The planet is tiny, grassy, a has few trees. Beret-Guy says 'Wow!'.
| a rock with neat stripes!Za cool bug!Za pretty leaf!
|
| Wheeee!
|
|-
| <code>origin</code>
| Origin
|
| To get here, simply fall from the starting planet by thrusting off from Beret Guy's place. The planet has a sign saying 'Welcome to Origin! You can never leave™'. A large shaft leads from below the rollercoaster to the St. Louis Arch on the opposing side. Lots of landmarks (many on small pedestals) each mark the direction to a different planet.
| a secret gladeZa holographic Charizard business cardZa tiny meteorite!Za 5G seagullZa DVD of The Core (2003)Za normal-looking leafZa marsh wrenZan orb wrenZa single grain of saltZ11 squares packed into a larger squareZa tumbleweed
| Nice flying! (Your tanks recharge faster now.)
| Welcome to liminal spaceZThe St. Louis arch is also known as the gateway to space.ZBe careful; this roller coaster can be disorienting!
|
|-
| <code>hollow-shell</code>
| Hollow Planet
|
| To get here, swing through Origin's central shaft and out the St. Louis Arch. The planet is just a shell with some gaps. On the outside, there are signs pointing at the directions to a few other planets.
| a handful of the quantum foam that makes up the fabric of space!
| You found a sixth lagrange point! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZYou found a glass of heavy water (engine a little more powerful???)
|
|
|-
| <code>orb</code>
| Round Planet
|
| To get here, launch from the sign on the Hollow Planet or the tower with an orb on it on Origin. The planet is moderately small with no vegetation and some architecture such as Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China.
| a swatch pop-out wristwatch
| You found a sensible cheese platter (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now)Z??? (engine a little more powerful???)
|
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|-
| <code>uzumaki</code>
| Uzumaki
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| To get here, launch from the sign on the Hollow Planet, Origin's spiral monument, or below the plane-towed banner on the Round Planet. The planet is a large spiral of grass inspired by the manga ''{{w|Uzumaki}}'' by Junji Ito. A Roomba is loose, a reference to [[1558: Vet]].
| a golden radio tuned to 1.618 MHzZa scroll lock keyZa primordial black holeZa cool pair of shoes with flames on the sideZan ink cartridgeZa podcast episodeZa festive but somehow unnerving holiday card from Junji ItoZa friendly beeZa spiral-cut diamondZa burrito
| You found a tree-filled grove and a nice spot for quiet contemplation (Your thrusters are significantly more efficient now.)ZYou found a single caffeine molecule! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
| Exit OnlyZYou're going the wrong way!Z
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|-
| <code>guitar-ship</code>
| Guitar Ship
|
| To get here, launch from near Uzumaki. The planet is an enormous guitar labeled 'Boston' with the city skyline under a dome on the back (a reference to the cover art of the album {{w|Boston (album)|''Boston''}}). A guitar shaped UFO with "BOSTON" written on it and the skyline of Boston under a dome at the bottom.
| a guitar pick
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| Orange line deactivated!
|-
| <code>soccerfield</code>
| Spacetime Soccer Field
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| To get here, launch from the pyramid with a soccer ball on top on Origin. The planet is reference to [[2705: Spacetime Soccer]] and consists of a central pure-white body, goals on the poles and intangible lines farther away.
|
| GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZGOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Thrust Speed???)ZYou found the 3 million point line (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZYou found a sunspot! (Your launch speed has increased.)
|
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|-
| <code>saturn</code>
| Saturn
|
| To get here, launch from the pyramid with a ringed on top on Origin. If you instead see the Spacetime Soccer Field, you're too far left. The planet has a soccer ball inside it, a reference to [[2513: Saturn Hexagon]]
| a really cool data point
| You found a pair of platonic solids, not quite touching! (Thrust power???)ZYou found a block of scandium! (Thrust power???)
|
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|-
| <code>platform-planet</code>
| Andal
|
| To get here, launch from below Saturn's equator, when the soccer ball is oriented to the bottom left compared to the rocket, or from the miniature of Andal to the left of the pyramids on Origin. The planet is small and has a T-shaped tower, mountains, and grass. On a grass patch Blondie says to Cueball "The MIT cloaking device only affects the electroweak and nuclear forces. Gravity is the odd one out, as usual.", hinting that 'A random point out in space' is the Subway Planet.
|
| You found two Andalites, one canonical! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZWhat a nice place for a ship to sit! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)ZYou found a friend (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZYou found baby shoes (and baby)! (Engine power???)
|
|
|-
| <code>earth-map</code>
| Compromise Projection of Earth
|
| The planet is a huge distorted map of all land masses on Earth. The rocket can fly where water would be, but it can't go over land
|
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| <code></code>
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| <code></code>
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Do you have any suggestions or feedback? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:57, 28 April 2023 (UTC)
:There's a bit of a mix in the game itself between messages, "You found" items and powerups. At first it looked like a small grey dot is an item, a bigger grey star is a powerup. Sometimes they're collocated, i.e. a dot inside the hollow center of a star. But further in the game, I have found hollow stars (i.e. without the dot inside) which leave a "you found" list item anyway. Also, sometimes the "you found" message contains a description that differs from the name on the list below the game viewport. The ultimate source of all is the spreadsheet linked at the start of [[2765:_Escape_Speed#List of planets|List of planets]] section. Any Message (including "you found..." messages) can be accompanied by an Item and an Action (an upgrade or some other things like decloaking or subway token), both of them or none of them. I think it shall be somehow reflected in the table. For example: one column for Message (a value always present), another for Item name (may be empty) and another for Effect (may be empty). Unfortunately, the spreadsheet does not contain the kind of visual representation (a dot, a star, a star with a dot inside, or none at all). --[[User:Malgond|Malgond]]
:Another comment: the Explanation column is currently a short description (of a planet) and some of its features, the way to get there, only sometimes containing an explanation of what the planet name refers to. These should be separate. Explanation shall be a short paragraph about a pun or reference connected to the name of a planet or the text found in the game. For example, explanation for the Message/Item of "11 squares packed into a larger square" shall have a reference to [[2740:_Square_Packing]] and a short description of the mathematical problem involved. I also think we may need separate tables for planets (with very general descriptions and directions), features on the planets, possibly one table per planet (containing architecture, vegetation, animals, people etc. - if worth noting or there's some pun or reference), items and messages to be collected by the player (maybe one per planet), and for words spoken by the people and messages written somewhere (again, only if they contain a pun or a reference). Otherwise, the table would be too big. --[[User:Malgond|Malgond]]

::Hey, thanks for replying.

::>''[...] ... I think it shall be somehow reflected in the table. For example: one column for Message (a value always present), another for Item name (may be empty) and another for Effect (may be empty). Unfortunately, the spreadsheet does not contain the kind of visual representation (a dot, a star, a star with a dot inside, or none at all).''

::Yeah I noticed that too, but tbh I don't think it's SO important that needs to be included in the table or even in the entire page. Also, it would be very time-consuming.

::> ''the Explanation column is currently a short description (of a planet) and some of its features, the way to get there, only sometimes containing an explanation of what the planet name refers to. These should be separate.''

::I don't think they should be separate, because it would mean that the table would get even bigger and navigating it would be harder. You're welcome to add any information in the explanation section, as I'm not editing its contents.

::> ''explanation for the Message/Item of "11 squares packed into a larger square" shall have a reference to [[2740:_Square_Packing]] and a short description of the mathematical problem involved.''

::I totally agree, and as I said in the initial message (above the table), I plan on adding item-specific explanations next to the item "names".

::> ''I also think we may need separate tables for planets (with very general descriptions and directions), features on the planets, possibly one table per planet (containing architecture, vegetation, animals, people etc. - if worth noting or there's some pun or reference), items and messages to be collected by the player (maybe one per planet), and for words spoken by the people and messages written somewhere (again, only if they contain a pun or a reference).''

::I'm sorry but the amount of effort I'm putting in this ''"simple"'' table is already IMMENSE. This would probably require dozens of hours between exploration and formatting. I'm afraid I won't be doing that myself :) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:57, 29 April 2023 (UTC)

:If you want to get rid of the "Z", you can make line breaks inside the wiki's editing window using the expression '''''' (remove the spaces--I couldn't type the phrase without getting a break). It's the html code for a line break. Technically, I think '''''' works, too. Really, though, just put ''openCarrot br closeCarrot'' wherever you want a break and you'll be fine. --Sorry, I don't have a name here, so I can't really sign this. 11:21, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

::Thanks, but i figured it out. I used Notepad++ to replace all uppercase "Z" with two line breaks and an asterisk. This thing took soooooooo many hours to make, I'm so proud I've finally published it. I'll never touch it again. Now I despertly need to sleep, g'night everyone! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 23:24, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

:::General style that I use:
:::*The first linefeed/break in any cell content is fully respected
:::**(Because it takes a line that starts with a cell-markup and then one that doesn't, and actually understands it as a different qualification, so the LF between isn't collapsed to mere whitespace?)
:::**Other div-like markup starters (e.g. bullet points) enforce this.
:::*But, ''if'' you want to add linebreaks where it won't (third-and-later paragraphs?), I sugest using <code><nowiki> </nowiki></code>, the self-closing single-tag version that can't be misinterpretted by any (XML-aware, in general) markup-parser.
:::**You can even use it in the midst of some text flow, whhich might be useful for certain layouts (and their sources).
:::...Or double-LF can often do the job, too. But just Preview things to see what does/does not need additional tweaking... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.22|162.158.34.22]] 23:55, 30 April 2023 (UTC)
:I like the idea of the table thank for making it. I have added two more pages, one with overview images of the world and the planets and one with a place to post the screen shots needed for making a full explanation. Put some of the relevant images up already but will not have time to much more the rest of this week. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:26, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

;Speedrun
Has anyone started making speedruns of this yet? I'd absolutely love to see an any% run to vader, or to some other end game location. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.3.200|172.69.3.200]] 04:57, 30 April 2023 (UTC)
: Hi! I've done a couple speedruns to get the hyperdrive. Currently, my best time is 25:32. Pretty bad though. There's almost certainly a way to get straight to the center of Uzumaki, which takes like 5 minutes to do. I don't really have a route, just some planets I like going to. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 18:04, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

;Gravity of shell

: Halfway thru the crack, gravity gets increasingly stronger as the spaceship feels the gravitational force of all the celestial bodies it is leaving behind.

It's the gravity of the ''shell itself'', no? A uniform shell has no net force on objects inside it.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 23:09, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

I have removed the topic lines, as they mess with the main explanations table of contest. They are not needed here in the discussion and we try not to use them so do not ass new. Just make a heading with text like here above! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:29, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

:Good job, they were getting annoying. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:01, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm not a fan of the new table. It's harder to use 'cause long text is limited to narrow column. How to get to where you're going needs to be its own column if we're doing this. And I used the old list to organized to order I wanted to do things in.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.19|162.158.154.19]] 20:08, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

: Hey, I'm not sure when you made the comment, but yesterday [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] noticed that an item message was one extremely long word (something like "GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!") and added a space that made the table look much better. I think it's readable enough, and it's way more organized that the old list (and i added more info that wasn't there).

: >How to get to where you're going needs to be its own column if we're doing this

: If you add another column it's gonna get even more narrow, I think it's best to keep it as is. One could argue the instructions to get there are part of the explanation for the planet. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:15, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

::I think it's important to keep the flow of conversation, so I'm putting this after what I'm replying to. I hope that's not too confusing.

::>It's way more organized that the old list (and i added more info that wasn't there).

::Yes, but in this particular instance, I think there are better ways of doing it. You can set a template up where every planet is dealt with typographically in exactly the same way. Each piece of information is in the same place relative to other pieces and handled typographically the same way in every single planet, the objects in interplanetay space and the objects in extraspherical space. You'd loose the ability of a table to sort by arbitrary columns which doesn't seem to be a help with this information, but you'd also loose the annoying short lines, the fact that for most entries, the column head way up there above the readable portion of the screen and because you can use typography to show what different data is, it's a little more intuitive to us monkey-brained folk.

:: For example '''Planet-name: Large, Bold.''' Colon, name in code, comma, coordinates as x=number and y=numers, all in regular wight roman. ''New line, Explanation of how to get there starting with "To get there" and in italics''. New line, any other notes in roman. New line, a bullet-pointed list of items and messages to find. Each entry is structured Name of object or message when found in roman, powerup text in prethases, And then any notes in italics.

::'''Andal''': Filename: Andal, x= 123456 y= -654321
::''To get here, launch from below Saturn's equator, when the soccer ball is oriented to the bottom left compared to the rocket, or from the miniature of Andal to the left of the pyramids on Origin.''
::The planet is small and has a T-shaped tower, mountains, and grass. On a grass patch Blondie says to Cueball "The MIT cloaking device only affects the electroweak and nuclear forces. Gravity is the odd one out, as usual.", hinting that 'A random point out in space' is the Subway Planet.
::* You found two Andalites, one canonical! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
::* What a nice place for a ship to sit! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
::* You found a friend (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
::* You found baby shoes (and baby)! (Engine power???)

::This can be tweeked and I don't program in html ever so this can be improved. And I recognize that this is harder than a table, but it is much better.

::: I don't really agree this is better, the main reason we wanted to create the table in the first place was so that people could sort it at their liking: ''"there should be a table of all the collectible items that would be nice to have with sortable so you can check alphabetically but also with planet/place so you can sort on that"''. Imagine someone wanted to obtain as many upgrades as possible: they would just sort the table to put the upgrades first and discard planets without them, or sort by subway tokens, to get the hyperdrive and know exactly where to look. A table is the only way to have that, and it's also more compact than a list. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:28, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.47|162.158.62.47]] 22:52, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

Hi [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]], thank you for the table version!
You can get the list of coordinates from the console with this js command:
console.log(Comic.map.locations.map(e=>[e.name,e.pos[0],e.pos[1]].join("\t")).join("\n"))
you will get a list with planet, x coordinate, y coordinate that is easy to manage. [[User:Hydra454|Hydra454]] ([[User talk:Hydra454|talk]])
:Thank you! I added all the coordinates and moved the planet filenames to the Planet Name column to make more space for the other columns

My game restarted after I hadn't played it in a while, but now there seems to be items missing? Like for instance, I can't find the small meteorite item on origin or the quantum foam on the hollow planet? I've searched both planets inside and out and can't find them anywhere. I have all the other items from those planets, it's just those two that are missing. I haven't searched any other planets yet, any idea why this is happening? [[User:IJustWantToEditStuff|IJustWantToEditStuff]] ([[User talk:IJustWantToEditStuff|talk]]) 02:35, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

'''Another attempt to explain EVERYTHING'''
:Hi everyone, I have made a [[User:Malgond/Drafts/Escape_Speed|DRAFT]] of ''explanation of everything'' as two tables, one for planets, another for objects, and put in what I think is interesting or worth noting and explaning for initial four planets. I am basing this work on the [[2765: Escape Speed/Transcript|full transcript]], which I also made. Do you think it is any better than the current form? -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 21:39, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
::I really like you table. Maybe we should make seperate pages for the tables used for the explanations? But anyway I like how your look Malgond. Good work. I think it would be a good idea to use those in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:17, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
:::For instance here [[2765: Escape Speed/Tables]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:21, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
::::Hey, I've said this in my user page and I'll add it here too. I think the structure of the current table in the article is better at a few things than the one you've been working on: for example, it's easier to sort for upgrades and items (which was the main reason [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] wanted to make a sortable table in the first place), is more compact, and is easier to browse. Why don't we just add a "transcript" column like the table on [[2712: Gravity]] to put what things and people say, and add the rest of the information on the respective columns on the current table? Personally, I think the new one is a little bit too complicated to browse. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
:::::Also, we're already trying to move on from the old list and transfer everything to the "new" table. If we add a "newer" table, won't it become even harder to keep track of what needs to be moved and added to what? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:39, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
::::::Here's what I think we should do: we keep the compact, easy-to-use and easily sortable table in the article, but we put a notice above it that links to the /Tables page for people who want an even more in-depth look description and explanation of everything. The /Tables page is longer than the entire article page AND discussion page combined, so I think it would be too big to be added directly into the article. Do you guys like the plan?
::::::I'll start by adding a prominent link above the current table in the article that points to /Tables --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:53, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

'''Script to stop momentum of spaceship'''
Cool script to stop momentum of spaceship, useful when flying around and you see something but couldn't stop the spaceship.
<code>
window.onkeydown = function(e){if(e.key == 'p'){Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.maxSpeed = 0; setTimeout(() => {Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.maxSpeed = 100;},10)}}
</code>
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.75|172.69.58.75]] 01:04, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

:Thanks! I'll add that into the page

Is it just me or is Click-and-Drag at a different scale to everything else?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.227|162.158.158.227]] 15:15, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

;"anyone up for a game of scrabble later" is a reference to the comic 470

https://xkcd.com/470/
"anyone up for a game of scrabble later" is a reference to the comic where someone shows up at a protest content; "anyone up for a game of scrabble later" is one of the signs he's holding. i'd like to add this because i'd love to contribute and this page helped me a lot during my playthrough. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.204|108.162.245.204]] 19:21, 6 June 2023 (UTC)
:Cool, feel free to add that to the article. I'm not sure why you wrote it here instead of editing the actual page, do you need help with anything? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:09, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Apparently the objects (like the weird spaceship thing, transmitter, etc.) on origin points to planets so fly directly up and you'll get there. also does anyone know how to slow your velocity down bc everytime i fly past the planets {{unsigned ip|172.70.207.165|15:48, 24 July 2023}}
:Please remember to sign your post using the button in the toolbar on talk pages. [[2765:_Escape_Speed#Celestial_Bodies_and_Collectable_Items|The table in the article]] already describes how to reach any planet by using those landmarks. To slow down, use the arrow down button on your keyboard. It's the one below the arrow up button you use to accelerate. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:21, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
::Or, if playing on a touchscreen mobile device (though it works badly on my devices, that may just be because they aren't <12 months old, as with many things, and become fiddly to use for unsupportable reasons - it looks as if mobile interface has been thought about but perhaps insufficiently tested on a representative variety of devices that aren't "the latest iPad"/whatever), rotate to face backwards and retrothrust 'forward' to bleed off roughly the same amount of velocity you gained in the initial outward-phase of the journey. Standard space-sim (Asteroids, xPilot, countless other gravity-well games) methodology. Doesn't seem to be (nose-based) retrothruster-braking implemented for my touchscreen input, anyway. (hnless that's another thing that is the fault of my being on Android, even with updated browsers that ''should'' be transparently and platform-agnostically handling all that coded-guff.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.244|172.70.162.244]] 19:52, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

For some reason after I got one of the upgrades on the Mercator projection (forgot which one) my game just got really slow. Not lagging or anything, just time had slowed to like a tenth of the normal speed. Closing the tab doesn't fix it, neither does restarting chrome. If it's any help, I'm on google chrome version 116.0.5845.210. [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 18:53, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
:Hooray! Doing nothing fixed it!!!!!!????? [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 13:04, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
::The speed of the game has to do with your computer's internal framerate. Usually when your computer goes into low-battery mode, it automatically lowers the framerate, which is probably what you experienced {{unsigned|TheTrainsKid|08:07, 5 January 2025}}

How do you get to the center of the ''What If'' planet? I've been trying for ten minutes lol [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 20:42, 8 May 2024 (UTC)
:Ten whole minutes? Wow. Much effort! ::( [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.70|172.71.242.70]] 04:20, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

== i got to editing it in now ==

hi im on a different device now but still xkcd...ing? anyway i edited it in but, as my brain is as small as an acorn, i have no idea how to insert links! (this is my first time editing ANY wiki) i'm putting this up because if i do that, you might notice it quicker
now im at the end so hyphen(?) time! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.239|172.71.150.239]] 18:38, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

When I'd gathered all of the things, I took off from the sphere into the void. The stars started moving from 12 to 6 o'clock. But, as the months have rolled by, they have moved from there and are now going from 2 to 8 o'clock. I'm finding that interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.116|172.70.111.116]] 16:21, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
And now my ship has stopped dead. That's interesting. There is a further sphere that you can get stuck in. That takes a long time to get to. Cool.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.75|162.158.155.75]] 16:51, 9 November 2023 (UTC) Honestly, I'd expected my ship to fall back and hit the sphere eventually. I haven't tried to get unstuck.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.76|162.158.155.76]] 16:59, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

== new account just dropped! ==

man there's gotta be something profound i can put here...
nah let's settle for immature instead! *ahem* poop. *uproarious laughter*
jokes aside, thanks for all your support with my gaming and stuff and things, and thanks for being kind to a non-nerd like myself.
you guys are great.
thanks for the knowledge kind strangers!!!
[[User:Average beret enjoyer|Average beret enjoyer]] ([[User talk:Average beret enjoyer|talk]]) 17:14, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

User talk:CalibansCreations

2024-12-11T17:20:19Z

172.69.194.205: /* "{{diff|359134|On the off-chance...}}" */

Please chat with me below.
----

== 1946?? Yes, at one point. ==

The change made [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Car_wash&diff=prev&oldid=1212096331&diffonly=1 here] marks the point where the valid header/anchor of "1946" was removed. These things happen, especially cross-wiki. Just so you know (I was intruigued myself, so did a couple of minutes digging). Nice catch, though! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.139|172.70.85.139]] 10:46, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
:oh, my first talk page message, thx. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:44, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

==Politics intrudes==
randall still supports zionist harris... :'( [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:49, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
: Do you really think Trump would be better? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.135|172.68.205.135]] 09:18, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::i mean, both of them suck tbh [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 09:35, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::so whats your alternative suggestion? Voting/Endorsing for a third party and then get trump into office? Great strategy --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:46, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::::that ain't how it works. if we all vote for the third party, the third party will win. simple as that. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:30, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::''Which'' third-party? Vermine Supreme? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 12:04, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::Who exactly is "we all"?
:::::Nobody outside of your little internet bubble is voting third-party, because doing so without mass coordination is just throwing your vote away (meanwhile MAGA are all fully coordinated in voting for Trump).
:::::The risk of a Trump second term is bad enough even with everyone who is anti-Trump voting for Harris, and you think the average person over the age of 20 is going to risk that even further by voting for a third party?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.106|172.69.195.106]] 12:25, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
: I think you err if you think that "supports Israel against attackers" totally equates to "supports Israel's uncompromising attacks on others". And "Zionist" is such a loaded term, with {{w|Zionist antisemitism|various complications}}, with Kamala being no more this than is her primary opponent.
: Being consistently critical of one candidate by using a single word (e.g.. "fascist", for the other one) does not bode well for your appreciation of the many subtleties that make up anyone other than a cartoon hero/villain. Not that even the reality of the State Of Israel is simple (there are plenty of its citizen residents who decry their government's actions since/before last October, are they ''anti-''Zionist?), and even that is just a single relatively small mess in the much bigger mess that is the wider morass of foreign (and domestic) policy. By picking just one dogwhistle term (arguably in a very incorrect context) isn't helping whatever argument you're trying to make. All I get from this conversation is that you hate every candidate with any chance of winning (and most of those without, based upon their stated positions), without knowing what you are for. Employment? Social safety-nets? Smaller goverment? ''Better'' (define 'better'!) government? Who would you prefer to 'deal with' the issue of Ukraine, Taiwan, North Korea or countless other worldside issues out there?
: You also elsewhere announced yourself as a Brit (as am I), so you don't have a vote and precious little actual influence. Even if you or I had any useful analysis to say about this issue, it seems that most people are already polarised in opinion and you or I (or, indeed, Randall) can do little but be performative about our current views. It is unlikely we could swing even one notable vote, although we might just push some of the partially polarised fully over (whichever way) into their pre-chosen preferences, excited or annoyed by such a single-issue outburst that they find themself vehemently agreeing or disagreeing with. (As a Brit, I'm frankly embarrassed by those who put up "this house is supporting the LibDem/Labour/Tory/SNP/whoever candidate" signs in their windows. I'd put up OMRLP ones, maybe, but I've never been able to vote that way, anyway, so can certainly say that I've actually never voted for them. Even if they sometimes seem the better choice.)
: Furthermore, it has absolutely nothing to do with this comic (US geography, yes, US politics, no). I would heavily advise you to take this whole section out and place it all somewhere else. Perhaps your User Talk: area, so that you can wear your heartfelt antizionist (and perhaps no more) opinions on your sleeve without distracting from more relevent discussion, such as "Why is Idaho unlabeled" or "Why does everyone mississremember Mississippi's postostostal code?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 12:04, 17 October 2024 (UTC) Postscript: *I* have moved this. <-that IP
:Quick question, CalibansCreations. Are you the same IP troll who said that Randall supports Zionism? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:16, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::yes, I only wanted an account so I could change the skin of this website when viewing it [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 15:39, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

== Name ==

Hey CalibansCreations, thanks for reverting my talk page. My name’s Victoria, as shown on the edit leaderboard. The “Charlie Spring” name was just a pseudonym back then. :) [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:15, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:Oh, pleasure to meet you Victoria! You can just call me Caliban or Cal. (That's my own pseudonym.) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 19:27, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

==Barnstar==
{| style="border: 1px solid {{{border|gray}}}; background-color: {{{color|#fdffe7}}};"
|rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;" | {{{{{|safesubst:}}}#ifeq:{{{2}}}|alt|[[File:Barnstar of Reversion Hires.png|100px]]|[[File:Barnstar_of_Reversion2.png|100px]]}}
|rowspan="2" |
|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar'''
|-
|style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | <div style="font-family: Cormorant Garamond"> For your help in reverting vandalism on my talk page, [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']], I hereby award thee a Barnstar. Feel free to display it on your user page. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:13, 24 October 2024 (UTC) 
</noinclude>
:oh wow tysm --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:42, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
|}

== Full template name ==

I wouldn't normally change existing {{template|cn}}s to {{template|Citation needed}}s. However, it makes even less sense to replace the latter with the former, them being the same at the front end (the smaller being a redirect to the larger, so making a ''little'' bit of extra work for the server) but being less obvious/noticable for what it is in the source edit.

Even with editing to shuffle it vs. wrongly-arranged punctuation, it's surely simpler to delete the punctuation from (say) <tag><comma> and replacing it to create <comma><tag> than deleting the tag and re-adding the short (but still longer than punctuation) form of the tag. I mean, it's entirely up to you, but I'd keep it just as readable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.37|172.71.26.37]] 12:35, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

== "{{diff|359134|On the off-chance...}}" ==

So, we need [[[[Header Text]]]], [[[[header Text]], [[[[HEADER TEXT]], [[[[hEaDeR TeXt]], [[[[hEaDeR tEXt]], [[[[heADer TExt]]]], etc, as well, do we?

The only reason it existed was because it was wrong-cased originally. Best not to multiply pages unnecessarily, and that one's an easy to delete mistake. (''If'' anyone actually gets around to it...) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.205|172.69.194.205]] 17:19, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

User talk:CalibansCreations

2024-12-11T17:19:33Z

172.69.194.205: /* "{{diff|359134|On the off-chance...}}" */ new section

Please chat with me below.
----

== 1946?? Yes, at one point. ==

The change made [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Car_wash&diff=prev&oldid=1212096331&diffonly=1 here] marks the point where the valid header/anchor of "1946" was removed. These things happen, especially cross-wiki. Just so you know (I was intruigued myself, so did a couple of minutes digging). Nice catch, though! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.139|172.70.85.139]] 10:46, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
:oh, my first talk page message, thx. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:44, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

==Politics intrudes==
randall still supports zionist harris... :'( [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:49, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
: Do you really think Trump would be better? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.135|172.68.205.135]] 09:18, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::i mean, both of them suck tbh [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 09:35, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::so whats your alternative suggestion? Voting/Endorsing for a third party and then get trump into office? Great strategy --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:46, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::::that ain't how it works. if we all vote for the third party, the third party will win. simple as that. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:30, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::''Which'' third-party? Vermine Supreme? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 12:04, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::Who exactly is "we all"?
:::::Nobody outside of your little internet bubble is voting third-party, because doing so without mass coordination is just throwing your vote away (meanwhile MAGA are all fully coordinated in voting for Trump).
:::::The risk of a Trump second term is bad enough even with everyone who is anti-Trump voting for Harris, and you think the average person over the age of 20 is going to risk that even further by voting for a third party?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.106|172.69.195.106]] 12:25, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
: I think you err if you think that "supports Israel against attackers" totally equates to "supports Israel's uncompromising attacks on others". And "Zionist" is such a loaded term, with {{w|Zionist antisemitism|various complications}}, with Kamala being no more this than is her primary opponent.
: Being consistently critical of one candidate by using a single word (e.g.. "fascist", for the other one) does not bode well for your appreciation of the many subtleties that make up anyone other than a cartoon hero/villain. Not that even the reality of the State Of Israel is simple (there are plenty of its citizen residents who decry their government's actions since/before last October, are they ''anti-''Zionist?), and even that is just a single relatively small mess in the much bigger mess that is the wider morass of foreign (and domestic) policy. By picking just one dogwhistle term (arguably in a very incorrect context) isn't helping whatever argument you're trying to make. All I get from this conversation is that you hate every candidate with any chance of winning (and most of those without, based upon their stated positions), without knowing what you are for. Employment? Social safety-nets? Smaller goverment? ''Better'' (define 'better'!) government? Who would you prefer to 'deal with' the issue of Ukraine, Taiwan, North Korea or countless other worldside issues out there?
: You also elsewhere announced yourself as a Brit (as am I), so you don't have a vote and precious little actual influence. Even if you or I had any useful analysis to say about this issue, it seems that most people are already polarised in opinion and you or I (or, indeed, Randall) can do little but be performative about our current views. It is unlikely we could swing even one notable vote, although we might just push some of the partially polarised fully over (whichever way) into their pre-chosen preferences, excited or annoyed by such a single-issue outburst that they find themself vehemently agreeing or disagreeing with. (As a Brit, I'm frankly embarrassed by those who put up "this house is supporting the LibDem/Labour/Tory/SNP/whoever candidate" signs in their windows. I'd put up OMRLP ones, maybe, but I've never been able to vote that way, anyway, so can certainly say that I've actually never voted for them. Even if they sometimes seem the better choice.)
: Furthermore, it has absolutely nothing to do with this comic (US geography, yes, US politics, no). I would heavily advise you to take this whole section out and place it all somewhere else. Perhaps your User Talk: area, so that you can wear your heartfelt antizionist (and perhaps no more) opinions on your sleeve without distracting from more relevent discussion, such as "Why is Idaho unlabeled" or "Why does everyone mississremember Mississippi's postostostal code?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 12:04, 17 October 2024 (UTC) Postscript: *I* have moved this. <-that IP
:Quick question, CalibansCreations. Are you the same IP troll who said that Randall supports Zionism? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:16, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
::yes, I only wanted an account so I could change the skin of this website when viewing it [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 15:39, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

== Name ==

Hey CalibansCreations, thanks for reverting my talk page. My name’s Victoria, as shown on the edit leaderboard. The “Charlie Spring” name was just a pseudonym back then. :) [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:15, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:Oh, pleasure to meet you Victoria! You can just call me Caliban or Cal. (That's my own pseudonym.) [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 19:27, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

==Barnstar==
{| style="border: 1px solid {{{border|gray}}}; background-color: {{{color|#fdffe7}}};"
|rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;" | {{{{{|safesubst:}}}#ifeq:{{{2}}}|alt|[[File:Barnstar of Reversion Hires.png|100px]]|[[File:Barnstar_of_Reversion2.png|100px]]}}
|rowspan="2" |
|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar'''
|-
|style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | <div style="font-family: Cormorant Garamond"> For your help in reverting vandalism on my talk page, [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']], I hereby award thee a Barnstar. Feel free to display it on your user page. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:13, 24 October 2024 (UTC) 
</noinclude>
:oh wow tysm --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:42, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
|}

== Full template name ==

I wouldn't normally change existing {{template|cn}}s to {{template|Citation needed}}s. However, it makes even less sense to replace the latter with the former, them being the same at the front end (the smaller being a redirect to the larger, so making a ''little'' bit of extra work for the server) but being less obvious/noticable for what it is in the source edit.

Even with editing to shuffle it vs. wrongly-arranged punctuation, it's surely simpler to delete the punctuation from (say) <tag><comma> and replacing it to create <comma><tag> than deleting the tag and re-adding the short (but still longer than punctuation) form of the tag. I mean, it's entirely up to you, but I'd keep it just as readable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.37|172.71.26.37]] 12:35, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

== "{{diff|359134|On the off-chance...}}" ==

So, we need [[[[Header Text]]]], [[[[header Text]], [[[[HEADER TEXT]], [[[[hEaDeR TeXt]], [[[[hEaDeR tEXt]], [[[[heADer TExt]], etc, as well, do we?

The only reason it existed was because it was wrong-cased originally. Best not to multiply pages unnecessarily, and that one's an easy to delete mistake. (''If'' anyone actually gets around to it...) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.205|172.69.194.205]] 17:19, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

3022: Making Tea

2024-12-11T10:31:01Z

172.69.194.205: /* Other tea controversies */

{{comic
| number = 3022
| date = December 9, 2024
| title = Making Tea
| image = making_tea_2x.png
| imagesize = 690x291px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = No, of course we don't microwave the mug WITH the teabag in it. We microwave the teabag separately.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Microwaved by a BRITISH PERSON RAGING OVER TEA MADE FROM THE GREAT LAKES - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w|Japanese tea ceremony|Japan}} and {{w|Chinese tea culture|China}}). Virtually every home has an electric kettle as a standard appliance for boiling hot water (used to make tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country) and owning tea-making equipment is probably far less common than having coffee-makers and/or juicers of various kinds. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times). {{w|Instant hot water dispenser|Instant hot water taps}} are also common in many homes, water coolers, and public drinking fountains in the US; they are being marketed for "high-end kitchens" in the UK, in particularly fancy multi-function taps (US: 'faucets'), but the British are still somewhat reluctant to accept the 'mixer tap' concept, and probably will take quite some time to accept that tea-appropriate boiling water can be obtained directly from the sink's plumbing.

British people are stereotyped as taking genuine offense to microwaved water, believing it to be an objectively incorrect way to make tea. Randall mocks this stereotype through exaggeration, saying British people would be significantly less offended by someone stealing {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|the Crown Jewels}} and using those for tea-making than they would be by tea made with a cup of microwaved water.

===Methods mentioned===
;Making it in a kettle
:Perhaps an intentional misnomer. Water may be ''boiled'' in a kettle, but the tea itself is made in a separate {{w|teapot}}, with loose or bagged tea-leaves, ready for pouring into any number of {{w|teacup}}s, {{w|mug}}s or {{w|vacuum flask|thermos flask}} as required. Making tea actually ''in'' the kettle, by placing the tea in with the water and then boiling it, would be considered ''very'' bad form (and likely void your warranty), and render the kettle less useful for its other purposes. Making the boiling water in a kettle, however, is standard practice (occasionally a {{w|Water heating|potable water geyser}} or similar may be available), leaving the tea-making process to occur in the teapot (as above) or the drinking vessel (as below). Randall may be suggesting that the spectacle of someone making tea directly in a kettle would be so bizarre that a British onlooker would in their bafflement completely forget to be angry about it, but the absence of a data point for the historically standard method "making it in a teapot" could suggest more that he's accidentally written "kettle" when he meant "teapot".

;Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug
:Identical to the basic boiling process above, except using a pot (commonly called a 'saucepan' in the UK) on the stove, rather than a kettle. This is slightly less convenient than using a kettle (since the pan often lacks a dedicated spout for pouring, and either whistle, which the steam sounds when the water boils, or the automatic cut-off found on most electric kettles), but is otherwise functionally identical. Nonetheless, the comic notes that Brits would take mild offense, considering it to be inferior to using a kettle.
:To confuse matters, British people would normally take '{{wiktionary|pot#Noun|pot}}' (in the specific context of tea-making) to be [https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/one+for+the+pot short for 'teapot']. However, a ceramic teapot should ''never'' be directly heated in the manner of a pan or a kettle. It should be filled with recently boiled (but not boiling) water, ''ideally'' after an initial small splash of hot water is swirled around it to 'condition' the teapot and then the requisite number of teabags (or quantity of tealeaves) dropped in.

;Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels
:A {{w|chalice}} is an ornate type of cup; an {{w|ampulla}} is a type of flask or bottle. Both are typically now terms used in relation to objects used in ritual. Randall is likely drawing a parallel here with the ritualism and particularity with which some people surround the making of tea and its associated artefacts.
:The {{w|Crown_Jewels_of_the_United_Kingdom|Crown Jewels}} are a set of items belonging the British monarchy, including ceremonial items and clothing using in royal coronations. These items have both major cultural significance, due to their historical connection with the monarchy, and major objective value, as many of them are heavily jeweled and/or made of precious metals. To steal items from these collection for the purpose of tea-making would obviously be both highly criminal and highly disrespectful. The ampulla referenced is used to anoint the monarch with oil during the coronation ceremony and the chalice may refer to a {{w|Eucharist|Communion vessel}}, giving them religious significance as well.
:More importantly for many, though, this would be incorrect tea-ware. The gold or silver chalices and gold ampulla are doubtful as being of suitable materials for British tea-making (as opposed to using cast iron, stainless steel, silver-plate, robust ceramics and/or fine china, for various stages of the process) and there'd definitely be some complaints that it does not taste like a proper cuppa. To use such objects to make tea would simply {{wiktionary|not cricket|not be cricket}}.

;Microwaving a mug
:As mentioned above, heating water in a microwave, for any purpose, is considered acceptable and common in the US. To do so to make tea is considered uncommon and borderline heretical in the UK. The reasons for this are difficult to pin down. Some argue that the microwave doesn't allow proper control over the water temperature (which is considered vital for proper tea-making), but this position is questionable at best. Others raise the danger of superheating water which might boil over when the tea bag is added, but this is likely a highly overblown concern. Some people even argue that microwaving changes the quality or composition of the water in some way, but there's very little science to back that up.
:Another disputed theory for the difference in approach surrounds convenience. In the USA, the {{w|Mains electricity#Voltage levels|standard voltage}} for electric appliances (including an electric kettle) is 120 volts, while it is twice that (240 volts in practice, though nominally 230V) in the UK. Since the amperage for an electric kettle is the the same in both countries (15 amps), this means that an equivalent kettle in the UK has twice the power (3.2kw versus 1.6kw), and can heat the water in a fraction of the time. Meanwhile, a standard microwave has a similar power in both countries (from 700 to 1000 watts), for reasons unrelated to the supply voltage it is equipped to use. Therefore, heating a small cup in a microwave might take a few moments longer than a kettle in the USA, but is many times slower to wait for compared to using an electric kettle in the UK.
:Ultimately, though, the difference probably comes down to an accident of culture. Most likely, the preparation of tea simply has a sense of tradition and ritual in Britain, and using a microwave feels crass, modern, and completely disconnected from the cultural associations of tea. It may also feel wrong because it inverts the expectation that the hot water is poured over the tea, requiring instead that the tea be submerged in the water. Meanwhile, electric kettles have simply never really caught on in the US.
:The title text continues with this theme, by reassuring us that the microwaved mug doesn't have a teabag in it (analogous to the 'boiling tea-kettle' version). It then strays into farce, though, by suggesting it is separately microwaved. There is no obvious reason to microwave a teabag. Microwave ovens heat water molecules almost exclusively, and tealeaves (and bag) should be dry before use, with no water molecules to heat. The wrongheadedness of this claim does little but provoke a skeptic's doubts about how utterly perverse this colonial variation on tea-making has become.

===Other tea controversies===

Other sources of controversy in the {{w|A Nice Cup of Tea|correct way to make tea}} are not covered in the comic, or hidden behind the other 'obvious errors'. Perhaps primary among these is the question of the difference between making (and steeping) the tea in a teapot and pouring the water over a teabag in a mug.

The former tends to be a more formal method, to serve in polite company, ''or'' from the traditional need to prepare a large volume of tea for an indeterminate number of recipients and refills, such as in a canteen/cafeteria situation, where the 'pot' stays hot for almost as long as the supply lasts. A prepared teapot of tea allows a fairly consistent 'brew' that is readily poured out into teacups (or mugs) as and when required.

The latter method relies upon individual teabags or loose-leaf tea in an individual infuser, and lets each recipient leave the tea in for as long as they personally prefer (or end up having to), which reflects more individual flexibility. Again, this splits between 'high' and 'low' class use. The infamous "builders' tea" often has the teabag left in for a long time (even during drinking), with plenty of milk and sugar, to perhaps produce an increasingly dense brew as the workman concerned takes opportune sips as he (usually) can during his work. Conversely, the trend in more stylish restaurants and tearooms tends to be to supply each customer their teacup together with an individual small vessel of freshly boiled water (rarely more than one or two cups-worth) and the recipient's choices of bagged tea (including fruit/herbal) and additions (milk, or equivalent, lemon, etc, plus sweeteners of all kinds), letting them prepare their own infusion exactly in their own way; this is often presented with an air of 'continental sophistication', but may bemuse and confuse the more down-to-Earth British tea-drinker used to their home method, as does the choice of dozens of fancy coffees from a barista when they'd be happy enough with a decent "instant coffee".

Further noting the issue of whether the milk (not obligatory, but decisively traditional) should be put in ''before'' the tea (or teabag!) is also often considered {{tvtropes|SeriousBusiness|Serious Business}}...

In [https://www.foodandwine.com/why-you-should-add-salt-to-tea-8549735 January of 2024], Michelle Francl, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, suggested to put a pinch of salt into tea, saying that the sodium in salt blocks the bitter taste of tea. This prompted a great outcry by [https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/24/perfect-cup-of-tea-needs-a-pinch-of-salt-and-squeeze-of-lemon-says-us-chemist?scrlybrkr=361c99cc The Guardian] and a statement by the US embassy on X (Twitter): “Today's media reports of an American Professor's recipe for the 'perfect' cup of tea has landed our special bond with the United Kingdom in hot water … We want to ensure[sic] the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States Policy. And never will be. ... The US embassy will continue to make tea in the proper way – by microwaving it."

==Transcript==
:[A line chart is shown. Above the chart are, from top to bottom, a heading, a subheading, and an arrow pointing right with a label above. On the line there are four labeled tick marks, with the labels written beneath the line. A small curved line is going from each label to below their tick. The first two ticks are close together on the far left side of the graph, the third is approximately in the center, and the fourth is on the far right side of the graph.]
:<big>Ways of Making Tea</big>
:By how angry British people get when Americans do them
:More angry
:Making it in a kettle
:Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug
:Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels
:Microwaving a mug

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

2981: Slingshots

2024-12-03T00:19:28Z

172.69.194.205: Undo revision 358476 by The-Ergster (talk) Borderline 'rocket', at best. The only mentioned spacecraft is 'post rocket', well after take-off.

{{comic
| number = 2981
| date = September 4, 2024
| title = Slingshots
| image = slingshots_2x.png
| imagesize = 397x420px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my reboot, Dennis the Menace was just trying to send Mr. Wilson a nice comet, but accidentally wiped out his dinosaur garden.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Slingshot|slingshot}} (in this comic, styled "Regular Slingshot") is primarily refering to the hand-held device used for accelerating small projectiles, such as stones or steel balls. The "forked stick and elastic" contraption (known as a catapult, in the UK) acts by a pull-back-and-release action, and has become associated with youthful recklessness (or an outright tendency towards vandalism), but is also the basis of manufactured sport/hunting devices as well as all of the more organic child-made contraptions.

The '''gravitational''' slingshot, or {{w|gravity assist}}, is not a device but a term used to describe how gravity can significantly alter the path of an object in space, such as a spacecraft or an asteroid. A gravitational slingshot generally involves a small object passing by a much more massive object, which turns the smaller object's trajectory, trading momentum and kinetic energy between the two bodies. The smaller object can undergo a large change in velocity, "paid for" (in the sense of conserving the momentum and energy of the system) with a negligible change in the velocity of the more massive body.

This comic humorously compares the two, in tabular format.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Regular slingshot
! Gravitational slingshot
|-
! Used for hunting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for sport shooting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for spacecraft propulsion
| X
| ✓
|-
! Large online enthusiast community
| ✓
| ✓
|-
! May have caused dinosaur extinction
| Probably not
| Maybe
|-
! Used by Dennis the Menace to terrorize Mr. Wilson
| ✓
| Not yet, but I'm pitching a reboot
|}

The first four categories accurately reflect reality. As a hunting tool (and as an offensive weapon), recent designs have been claimed to propel a projectile with [https://www.uslawshield.com/tactical-slingshots-mere-toy/ more force than .22 and .38 caliber pistols]. Consequently, several communities have prohibited the possession of such slingshots, which may be called "wrist rockets". The state of Massachusetts, where cartoonist Randall resides, is one of those communities. Gravitational slingshots would be inefficient and cause overkill for such purposes, as well as being difficult to achieve sufficient accuracy and specificity.

Conversely, gravitational slingshots are a useful way to change the velocity of a spacecraft without having to use large amounts of fuel, whereas building a regular slingshot capable of propelling a spacecraft is likely to be impractical - not to mention the destructive/fatal consequences, to vehicle and cargo, of near-instantaneous acceleration to useful speeds, such as the Mach 33 required for an object at sea level to escape Earth's gravity, especially when there's an atmosphere present.

Both types of slingshot excite interest among many people who may form online communities to discuss them, but for quite different reasons, and the size of overlap between these communities is uncertain.

The fifth category ventures into the absurd, at least with respect to "regular" slingshots, which did not exist (as far as we know) at the time of the {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene_extinction_event|Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event}}. (Humans, which invented them, did not exist at that time. Use of slingshots would therefore require some other contemporaneous intelligent species to have invented them, or some kind of {{w|A_Sound_of_Thunder|time}} {{w|A_Gun_for_Dinosaur|travel}}.) However, it is likely that the event resulted from the impact of a space-rock that was perturbed into an Earth-crossing orbit by a planet such as Jupiter, given at least a minor gravitational slingshot on its way to eventually crashing into the Earth.

The sixth category references the long-running comic and cartoon character {{w|Dennis_the_Menace_(U.S._comics)|Dennis the Menace (USA)}}, in which the titular character unintentionally harasses neighbor Mr. Wilson with (regular) slingshots and other devices and behaviors. In Randall's projected reboot of the franchise, which is elaborated on in the title text, Dennis trades his regular slingshot for a gravitational slingshot. By miscalibrating his ammunition, or the force of his slingshot, he turns a demonstration ("a nice comet") into a destructive event (the loss of Wilson's dinosaur garden). The reference is to the relative size and velocity of the space objects responsible for, respectively, comets and "meteors" versus asteroid impacts.

This comic is probably inspired by the recently released movie {{w|Slingshot_(2024_film)|Slingshot}}.

This is very similar to [[2844: Black Holes vs Regular Holes]].

==Transcript==
:[A table grid with two columns and six rows.]
:[Two column labels placed above the respective columns, six row labels to the left of the respective rows. Each table cell contains a tick for "Yes", a cross for "No", or a note.]

::[Column 1:] Regular slingshot
::[Column 2:] Gravitational slingshot

:[Row 1:] Used for hunting
::[Tick]
::[Cross]
:[Row 2:] Used for sport shooting
::[Tick]
::[Cross]
:[Row 3:] Used for spacecraft propulsion
::[Cross]
::[Tick]
:[Row 4:] Large online enthusiast community
::[Tick]
::[Tick]
:[Row 5:] May have caused dinosaur extinction
::Probably not
::Maybe
:[Row 6:] Used by Dennis the Menace to terrorize Mr. Wilson
::[Tick]
::Not yet, but I'm pitching a reboot

==Trivia==
An other form of {{w|Sling (weapon)|stone flinging hand-held weapon}} had existed since ancient times, and has been used for personal defense and for hunting game such as squirrels, birds and {{w|Goliath|Philistines}} through skillful use of its mechanical advantage and rotation. It is essentially a mimimalist hand-held form of {{w|trebuchet}} (using the the thrower's arm as a much more versatile main beam, taken back to mechanical extremes in some proposed {{w|SpinLaunch|kinetic energy space-launch}} ideas), compared to the version that is more of a cut-back {{w|crossbow}}-like 'catapult' (as well as partially duplicating the mechanics of a {{w|ballista}}), but had necessitated the easy availability of an elastic cord before it could become the common form of slingshot/catapult that then became the signature toy/tool/weapon of both Dennis Mitchell (the American version) and his British namesake (see below).

The 'gravitational slingshot' can be perhaps more likened to the ancient 'stone slinger', by dint of using a radial redirection to build up energy for the object being slung and released, and is also very dependent upon the exact timing of the 'release' (insofar as one can ever be released from any gravitational field). Although as it also makes key use of exchanging potential and kinetic energies there are also elements by which the elasticated thrower does also share some conceptual similarity to the gravitational assist. It is not recorded which particular form of slingshot became the primary inspiration for this particular spacecraft manoeuvre terminology.

The "Dennis the Menace" that the [[Randall]] refers to, familiar to those in the US, is not to be confused with the ''other'' long-running comic and cartoon character from the UK, also called {{w|Dennis the Menace and Gnasher|Dennis the Menace}}, who has a surprisingly similar premise and identical date of creation but is more willfully disruptive and capable of far more 'cartoonish' behaviour (which might well include planetary-scale fork-stick slingshots/catapults). {{w|Mark Hamill}} is a fan of the British character (possibly from his time filming the original Star Wars films in the local studios), and also has some experience with (fictional) disruption of planets by {{w|Death Star|constructed weapons}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Charts]]
[[Category: Space]]
[[Category: Dinosaurs]]
[[Category: Fiction]]

2780: Physical Quantities

2024-04-28T18:23:50Z

172.69.194.205: Undo revision 340769 by Jkshapiro (talk) Its a transcript. Transcripts really shouldn't *have* tables. (Yes, a number do, and some may even benefit from this, but there's no net advantage here.)

{{comic
| number = 2780
| date = May 24, 2023
| title = Physical Quantities
| image = physical_quantities_2x.png
| imagesize = 338x183px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Hubble length is about 1.9 meters lying down; Edwin Hubble was a tall guy.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic plays on the name of various established physical definitions by simply taking them overly literally. Each one is treated as being a bodily measure of the scientist after which they are named, rather than describing/estimating the eponymous feature within the scientist's field of study. Interestingly, of the many {{w|List of scientific units named after people|units named for people}}, only one is actually a measurement of its namesake: the {{w|Smoot}}.

;Hubble volume
In cosmology, a {{w|Hubble volume}} (named for the astronomer {{w|Edwin Hubble}}) is a spherical region of the observable universe.
The Hubble volume is approximately equal to 1031 cubic light years (or about 1079 cubic meters).
The value given in the comic is the estimated volume of Edwin Hubble's body. The mean volume of a human body is around 65L[https://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/bionumber.aspx?s=n&v=3&id=109718], but Edwin Hubble was a big guy (see title text) and likely had an above-average volume.

;Schwarzschild radius
The {{w|Schwarzschild radius}} of a black hole refers to the event horizon: the radius beyond which light cannot escape. Curling up in a ball tends to reduce people's radii,{{fact}} while making them more spherical and easier to measure, so {{w|Karl Schwarzschild}}'s is given as 0.34 m, corresponding to a black hole of about 40 times the mass of Earth.

;Broca's area
{{w|Broca's area}} is a region of the brain whose functions are linked to speech. It is not a measurement of area in the sense of length times width. The measurement shown here purports to be the area of {{w|Paul Broca}}, which probably refers to the {{w|Body surface area|surface area of his body}} - about 1.7-1.8 m2 for a typical adult. This area was recently mentioned in the title text of [[2732: Bursa of Fabricius]].

;Fermi temperature
The concept of Fermi Temperature is {{w|Fermi energy#Related quantities|related to the Fermi Energy}}, a quantum value inherent to very cold substances. The {{w|Human body temperature|temperature of an average human}} is about 37 degrees Celsius, so it makes sense that {{w|Enrico Fermi}}’s baseline body temperature was, likewise, 37 degrees Celsius. Since Fermi lived in the 20th century, and it may be possible to reference his medical records, this assertion is potentially testable, perhaps more readily than those made for the 19th-century persons named in this comic.

;Planck length
{{w|Planck units}} are naturally-derived measurements invented by {{w|Max Planck}}; the Planck length (approximately 1.6×10-35 m) is one of the smallest meaningful distances. However, Randall measures the length of Max Planck, not the units. It is specifically when Planck was lying down (as to not decrease his height from a days exposure to gravity which may shorten a human by a centimeter or so, and also because lying down turns a human’s height into a length, as well as being a pun on the plank exercise, which is done in a horizontal position). His "length" is given as 1.76m, or roughly 5'9".

;Hubble length (title text)
A {{w|Hubble's_law#Hubble_length|Hubble length}} is 14.4 billion light years. This is a joke similar to the above play on the Planck length. The Hubble distance would be the distance between the Earth and the galaxies which are currently receding from us at the speed of light. The joke is that the Hubble length is 14 cm longer than the Planck length because Hubble was a tall man. Another joke by comparing these two are that these two distances are about as far from each other as possible on scales that make sense. The smallest distance to something on the order of the size of the visible universe.

==Transcript==
:[A centered header appears above a list of constant names and corresponding values, each item horizontally aligned to line up the gaps between the two.]
:Reference Physical Quantities

:Hubble volume: 96L
:Schwarzchild radius: 0.34m (curled up)
:Broca's area: 1.7m2
:Fermi temperature: 37°C
:Planck length: 1.76m (lying down)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Science]]

User talk:Jkshapiro

2024-04-28T18:21:37Z

172.69.194.205: /* Why upload the non-2x version into the 2x version spot? */ new section

Hi Jkshapiro! What kind of development do you do? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:48, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
: Actually the more I learn about front end development the more I realise I don't actually do it. I do have a programming background and I can slap together enough Javascript to create pretty decent prototypes, but when you start getting into intermediate stuff like MVC frameworks or the shadow DOM I lose interest. Really what I am professionally is a very good interaction designer with some decent skills in related areas such as prototype development, business analysis, and project management. I'll update my user page; thanks for the prompt. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 13:22, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

==Hairbun, girl or not==
Hi Jkshapiro. I have made a comment in your [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Rename_Hair_Bun_Girl|proposal]] and also reinserted a note in the [[Hairbun]] section. I think that it is prudent given that you did not get any replies that agreed with your proposed change from any one else but me. As I already said I do not mind, but many people now know of her as [[Hair Bun Girl]] and might be confused. So at least for the time being there should still be a note. Also I will make a change to her page to explain that she was originally named Hair Bun Girl. Good luck with the massive job of changing her name all along the way. I have used it quite a lot in my huge effort to explain [[1608: Hoverboard]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:07, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
: Thanks Kynde! [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 16:48, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

== Glacier Movement ==

Hi, you have edited that a glacier moves at 1 metre/day, instead of 25cm/day as the explanation mentioned earlier. Your information is directly from the Wikipedia article, but that article links a source that says 25cm, which I think is quite confusing. Did you just check the wikipedia article, or do you have other sources that say 1m? I do not want to edit back and forth on this... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:06, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
: It's a fair cop. Yes, that's exactly what I did and your point is a good one. Will fix here, and I've updated Wikipedia too. Thank you for the personal contact, much appreciated, and would be happy to continue dialogue as necessary. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 15:22, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
::Thanks for the edit, especially for the Wikipedia one. I am not registered to Wikipedia, so I didn't do the change there, when I first checked their source (as the 1m seemed pretty fast to me). --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 09:40, 27 June 2019 (UTC)

== Omitting words ==

That's [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2552:_The_Last_Molecule&diff=prev&oldid=300696 a lot of words to 'omit']... You've every right to rewrite, but seems like a bit dismissive of things that (insofar as I'm concerned) looked relevent/related. If it had been an anonymous editor (like me, yes), I'd have probably undone the change thinking it was excessive for a not particularly current and active article seemingly just randomly edited down. As it is, I thought I'd make this note instead to express my initial reaction (and then leave it). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.186|172.71.178.186]] 07:00, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
: Fair enough, the comment was a bit flippant. Thank you for the reality check. As far as the timeliness, there's no significance, I'm just really behind on all my reading. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 02:50, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

== Why upload the non-2x version into the 2x version spot? ==

I've checked and, [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:physical_quantities_2x.png your uploaded 2x version] now seems to be the https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/physical_quantities.png and not https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/physical_quantities_2x.png - and I can't work out why you did this. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.205|172.69.194.205]] 18:21, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

2916: Machine

2024-04-11T08:35:38Z

172.69.194.205: /* Toolbox items */

{{comic
| number = 2916
| date = April 5, 2024
| title = Machine
| image = machine_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x740px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Credible Machine
}}
* To experience the interactivity, visit the [https://xkcd.com/2916/ original comic].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WELL OILED ROBOT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is the 14th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous April fools' comic was [[2765: Escape Speed]] from 2023, which was released on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.

Once again an April Fool's Day Comic came out late, as Randall did not release this on April 1st, even though April 1st did fall on a Monday, a normal release day. It first came four days later with the Friday release on April 5th. That this is to be considered an April fools' comic, in spite of the later release, was confirmed on the xkcd Facebook page (see the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] below).

This is a spin on the game {{w|The Incredible Machine}}. The title text explicitly references this, albeit in a linguistic reversal.

The comic starts in a main screen where the user can create a {{w|Rube Goldberg machine}} in a "Cell" where the goal is to route a constant stream of colored balls from inputs on the ceiling or walls to outputs of matching colors on the walls or floor. After the comic is first opened a window pops up over the machine where Cueball in a lab coat tells you to route the balls from the inputs to the outputs. A button opens a “tool panel” where there are large and small boards available for use, as well as some gimmicky stuff like prisms (which deflect marbles) and fans (which blow marbles around), as well as decorative elements which have no effect on the balls.

Typically, inputs and outputs only accept balls of a single colour. However, some outputs accept multiple colours, indicated by a double arrow, and some inputs produce multiple colours. When the player is designing their 'machine', this will involve multiple full streams merged into one (supplied by a double-exit on the adjacent submission). Machines now working in the full grid may, however, find that their sources now contain stray balls of other types that were not handled properly, but there is no way to force a re-edit of the machine to alter its behaviour to account for this.

If any balls are left in your cell for more than 30 seconds, they fade away. The first time a ball fades away another popup informs you that the balls are removed for security reasons. A counter increases for each ball of the correct colour that passes through an exit, and reduces when no balls pass through, or if balls of the wrong colour pass through it. When you have built a machine which succeeds in routing enough balls of the correct colour to the output, a popup will prompt you to submit your cell to be added to the public machine.

<gallery heights="200" widths="150">
File:2916_popup_intro.png|Introduction popup
File:2916_popup_time.png|Time limit popup
File:2916_popup_submit.png|Submission popup
</gallery>

The button in the bottom right corner allows you to toggle between editing your own machine and a page where you can drag around to view all of the machines that have been submitted and accepted, with a title for each in the upper left corner. In this view you can see that all of the outputs are also inputs for another cell, except for the top row where the inputs come from off screen and the lowest row which output through a launcher of some kind to a set of four colored-coded containers far below. Any empty cells are marked off by yellow tape with the words "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" as well as "DJIA ↑ 31415" once in each cell. "DJIA" stands for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with "DJIA ↑ 31415" indicating that it rose to 31415 points, 31415 being the first five digits of pi, without the period. This would often be displayed on a yellow 'ticker', which might look superficially similar to the yellow barrier tape.

Whenever balls reach the bottom of the grid, they are directed towards four containers, one of each color. Most balls are accurately sent to their appropriate container, though there are some misfires. These containers are above a pit, and periodically dump their contents. Balls in the pit are subject to the same 30s culling rule as balls in the cells above. If no balls are directed towards the containers, the pit will be empty. If one or two streams of balls are making it, Cueball and Megan sit in a small boat named the USS Buoyancy, and when sufficient balls are being deposited, the boat begins to float and move. More streams of balls are likely to add more changes. Balls which miss or overspill the pit fall out of the bottom of the frame.

Under construction cells will feed balls of the appropriate colour into neighbouring cells so long as you are not looking at them. Once you scroll to look at them, the supply of balls stops and subsequent cells in the chain will not receive any; scroll away from them again and the supply will resume.

When you press submit, you will see your creation placed on the grid. However if you refresh that cell will likely be under construction or replaced with someone else's machine. However, other people's machines are consistently placed, so it appears that there is some moderation process selecting a machine for each cell out of the machines submitted by users. If your newly submitted creation is placed in the lowest row of cells, balls will be dispensed through the exit at the bottom, but there will be no launcher to propel them towards the pit, and they will vanish as they leave the exit.

The grid is 12 cells wide, and grows in height. The largest size observed so far is 12x59, for a total of 708 cells. The machine's height is determined by the lowest cell; This can be either your submitted cell, or a cell created by another user.

Imperfections in the machines (whether accidental or by design) and the impossibility of entirely avoiding collisions when crossing streams inevitably lead to significant levels of losses and pollution with the wrong colour balls. Indeed, using the follow ball trick (see Trivia) appears to show that it is quite rare for a ball to survive more than several machines without getting stuck somewhere. This implies that there is some 'creative accounting' going on to ensure that cells lower in the grid still have balls to process - simulating flow only for a few nearby cells, while assuming that those cells themselves have pure, steady inputs.

===Toolbox items===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ List of objects
|-
! Description !! Effect !! Image
|-
| Plank || Static || [[File:2916_plank.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hammer || Static || [[File:2916_hammer.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Sword || Static || [[File:2916_sword.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hinged scoop || Rotates around its hinge, tries to stay horizontal with a springy effect || [[File:2916_scoop.png|frameless|upright=0.25]] [[File:2916_scoop_mirrored.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Anvil || Static || [[File:2916_anvil.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Brick || Static || [[File:2916_brick.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Fan || Blows away balls in front of it. Different colors are affected by differing amounts (yellow balls are lightest, and can be levitated above an upward-facing fan).|| [[File:2916_fan.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Pillow || Balls will not bounce if they hit it || [[File:2916_pillow.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Round bumper || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_round_bumper.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Triangle bumper left || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_bumper_left.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Triangle bumper right || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_bumper_right.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Attractor/Black Hole || Pulls balls toward center, can be resized || [[File:2916_attractor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Repulsor/White hole || Repels balls away from center, can be resized || [[File:2916_repulsor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Prism || "Refracts" balls as they enter and exit, causing them to curve to follow the color of the ball as much as possible{{Actual citation needed|...I can believe this might have been the intent, but I've never seen any such behaviour, even when dripping combined red and blue balls in from the same incident angle on the same spot, both types seem to take whatever exit they want, unpredictable and not at all differentiated between colours.}} || [[File:2916_prism.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Wheel || Spins depending on arrow keys [right/left] pressed while selected (default:anticlockwise), deflects balls, can jam with enough resistance (e.g. glut of balls or against other elements). || [[File:2916_wheel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| "Good job" trophy || Static || [[File:2916_trophy.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Glass cup || Static || [[File:2916_cup.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || Swats away balls in front of themself (was added later) || [[File:2916_cat_new.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Characters
|-
! Description !! Image
|-
| Ponytail with raised arms || [[File:2916_ponytail_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Ponytail standing || [[File:2916_ponytail.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cueball with raised arms || [[File:2916_cueball_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| White Hat || [[File:2916_whitehat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Knit Cap sliding, resting, or floating? Or sneaking, if rotated ~45 degrees || [[File:2916_knitcap_resting.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Knit Cap || [[File:2916_knitcap.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Helmet? || [[File:2916_helmet.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Probably Deterministic sign || [[File:2916_deterministic.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Squirrel || [[File:2916_squirrel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| [[1682: Bun|Bun]] || [[File:2916_rabbit.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || [[File:2916_cat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|}

===Other items===

Cueball and Megan in the ''USS Buoyancy''
[[File:4d425c.png|thumb|left|150px]]
 

=== Color routing ===
The different ball colors have different physical properties. Red balls are more bouncy than other balls, green balls are heavier, and yellow balls are lighter and slightly bouncy. The following values were extracted from the code:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Color
! Mass
! Density
! Restitution (bounciness)
! Linear damping (drag)
|-
! data-sort-key="00F" | Blue
| 0.08
| 1
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="F00" | Red
| 0.08
| 1
| 0.8
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="0F0" | Green
| 0.75
| 9.325
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="FF0" | Yellow
| 0.024
| 0.3
| 0.6
| 2
|}

For certain combinations of inlet and outlet 'gates', it is necessary to 'cross the streams'. e.g. to direct righthand-entry balls to a lefthand-exit and vice-versa. It is possible to just construct the field to send two (or more!) sets of balls to fly across a common gap, to land on an appropriate reception area that leads to the chosen exit. But, though this is not {{w|Proton pack#Crossing the streams|completely inadvised}}, the timing of the balls cannot be guaranteed to be in sync (or, rather, anti-sync) with each other and collisions ''will'' occur, especially under the variations of delivery that might significantly alter the ballistic path across the gap. Even if the trial machine works, in isolation with a steady stream of all balls entering the field of play, once submitted it will inevitably be fed by a more chaotically-routed preceeding construction.

In order to maintain sufficient correct arrivals at exits, it may be necessary to add a method of filtering the hues.

This could just mean introducing a 'wrong hue trap' beyond any crossing point(s) that send the occasionally wrong ball back to the cross point (or let them time-out in a dead-end, relying upon few enough failures from the rest of the balls, along with all colliding balls that subsequently missed ''any'' chance of reaching an exit). Alternatively, two (or more) feeds of marbles could be fed through a deliberate 'sorter' that does a sufficiently reasonable job of separating the combined sets out towards their intended target-exits.

The various physical qualities of the balls suggest a number of methods for redirecting separate hues to separate onward journeys. This can be done by isolating a hue from every other hue, then passing on (if necessary) to a setup extracting a different one from the remainder, and perhaps also a third time. It may also be possible to merge 'arrangements' of sorting mechanics to efficiently distribute straight into three ''or even four'' onward tracks towards the desired outputs, but that is left as an exercise to the reader.


{| class="wikitable"
! style="background-color:black; color:white" | To separate !! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue !! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green !! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow !! style="background-color:red" | Red
|-
! style="background-color:red" | Red
| *R/B* | '''Use 'bounce''''
The sole difference is how much balls will rebound from objects. Well managed and constrained ricochets should allow a sorting action.
| *R/G* | '''Use mass or 'bounce''''
Green balls cannot be levitated by a vertical fan. An incline across any such fan(s) will levitate only non-Greens. Green, like Blue, rebounds differently to Red. Green balls are also affected by black holes much less than all other balls.
| *R/Y* | ''See Y/B''
| *R/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
|-
! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow
| *Y/B* | '''All methods'''
Yellow, alone, exhibits high drag against any unforced motion. It is also unique in all other ways; e.g. can be levitated highest, against all other hues (though most profoundly against Green).
| *Y/G* | ''See Y/B''
| *Y/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *Y/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
|-
! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green
| *G/B* | '''Use mass'''
Green balls cannot be levitated by a vertical fan. There is also a not so marginal difference in density that might be exploited, such as by using black holes, which only minimally effects green.
| *G/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *G/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
| *G/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/G
|-
! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue
| *B/B* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *B/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See G/B
| *B/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See Y/B
| *B/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/B
|}

Even when not strictly necessary for one's own submission, once submitted into the full playing grid the player's own contribution may find itself working with less 'pure' delivered ball-streams (from an imperfectly separating feed-in contribution). It is possible that this more interactive disruption can make the new setup behave erratically or even entirely incorrectly.

It might be thought good practice (but not ''necessary'') to deliberately combine any or all inputs and do a full job of splitting them again, just in anticipation of possibly having to deal with such cross-contamination and being able to 'clean up' the onward stream(s) for the benefit of others. This would of course be particularly difficult if the isolated building-phase does not provide all four hues to 'test' against, so any speculatively added filtering would have to be added 'blind' (and only on the offchance that any anticipated incorrect balls will actually enter the arena) and without any legitimate exits to which such rejects could be shunted (therefore could accumulate, up until any 'time out' that might apply to any ball once operational as part of the combined grid).

Single-input/single-output designs might not particularly require ''any'' sorting mechanism, in theory, though the unexpected 'contamination' of the system with balls of different masses/etc could perhaps introduce malfunctioning passage from the added chaos it might succumb to.

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

:[The placeholder image shows four balls, colored red, green, yellow and blue, bouncing on top of three white blocks. Text in the center: "[visit xkcd.com to view]"]

:[Cueball with lab coat, intro popup]
:Cueball: Balls falling into your cell should be routed to the outputs at a steady rate.

:[Cueball with lab coat, warning popup]
:Cueball: For security reasons, balls that remain in your device for more than 30 seconds will be removed and destroyed.

:[Cueball with lab coat, submit popup]
:Cueball: Congratulations! Your contraption has passed all tests. Press [submit button] to submit it to be added to the machine!

==Trivia==
*Randall acknowledges the people who helped him create this comic in a [[Header_text#Machine|comic-specific header text]].
**With 11 different involved apart from Randall this is by far the comic with most people involved.
*Some hidden keyboard shortcuts have been found:
** Follow balls: Ctrl + Alt/Option + B (note: this will also make the ball you are following immortal - not subject to the 30s timeout rule)
** Show debug overlay: Ctrl + Shift + Cmd + D
** Delete selected item: Fn + Delete
*When Randall posted a [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD/posts/pfbid0Cs97awQZi1ZiaEXouAex9tXrwAS3qJV3RmAiuCq5uvZQwqZVMgDmcqJ7JU9LYodYl link to this comic] on his [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD Facebook feed], he directly wrote that it was a late April Fools' Day!
**MACHINE
**Happy Belated April Fool's Day!
**This thus ends any discussion of whether this should be seen as an April Fool's comic or not.
**It just came out 4 days late. This has also happened several times since [[Garden]].
[[File:2916 Machine Facebook April fools' confirmation.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Buns]]
[[Category:Cats]]

Talk:2916: Machine

2024-04-07T17:02:05Z

172.69.194.205:

rather late for an april fools comic innit? also there doesn't seem to be anything exciting in this one lol, none of the usual cool exploration easter eggs, as far as i could tell at least [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.76|172.71.178.76]] 16:41, 6 April 2024 (UTC)Erfaniom

: We're exploring crowdsourced human creativity here, in a way, so it can be a lot more interesting then Randall's exploration comics, at least for me, because i did take two years of GCSE psychology and enjoyed it. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.130|172.64.238.130]]

Just popped over using Chrome on Android and all I see is four "missing picture" logos spinning around, plus another down the bottom right... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.193|141.101.68.193]] 18:13, 6 April 2024 (UTC)
:Okay, followup: it behaves quite differently on the non mobile site. You get two entry points with red balls and yellow balls and you need to place the various gizmos to direct the balls to the correct exit point. Once enough have correctly passed to turn the red X into a green tick, you have the option to submit. If you do, once you have named your design it will be added to the grid with other submissions all of which exist to push red and yellow balls around. (if you come across "Memories of Ragnarok", that's mine) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.207|172.71.134.207]] 18:27, 6 April 2024 (UTC)
::The number of inputs appears to vary between 1 and 4, each of a different color, with one color-coded output for each. [[User:Claire Kholin|Claire Kholin]] ([[User talk:Claire Kholin|talk]]) 18:49, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

On the "machine" section, you see lots of "under construction cells". Perhaps this will develop as more are submitted. I notice the "under construction tape" has "DJIA" and "31415", perhaps a reference to "dow jones industrial average" and the first five digits of pi. [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 18:37, 6 April 2024 (UTC)
:Whenever someone submits a cell, it fills in one of the under construction cells. [[User:Claire Kholin|Claire Kholin]] ([[User talk:Claire Kholin|talk]]) 18:49, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

I wanted to add an image for each object, but do not have the necessary access, can someone who has access add the images that I linked in the table so they can be included? [[User:Claire Kholin|Claire Kholin]] ([[User talk:Claire Kholin|talk]]) 18:49, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

I found a discussion with some guy talking about the API at https://euphoria.leet.nu/room/xkcd/ ; this could be useful for the wiki.

<code>
[c+1] now time to try fucking with the api
[c+1] https://incredible.xkcd.com/
[userwithnoaccount] 404
[c+1] it seems there are numbered machines under incredible.xkcd.com/machine/x
[c+1] returns a grid of individual machinlets
[c+1] which are uids like 3a7af27c-5389-5dcb-b660-3feab6be2ceb
[c+1] they're stored at urls like incredible.xkcd.com/folio/3a7af27c-5389-5dcb-b660-3feab6be2ceb
[c+1] there appear to be 33 machines total
[c+1] the json it returns seems to refer to these as "versions"
[c+1] $ curl -s https://incredible.xkcd.com/machine/21 | jq ".version"
21
[c+1] there is a machine/0, but it's all null
[c+1] going to https://incredible.xkcd.com/machine/current redirects to the current machine
[c+1] $ curl -sL https://incredible.xkcd.com/machine/current | jq ".version"
35
[c+1] wait, is that the *total* number of mahcines?
[c+1] i would've thought there'd be more
[c+1] this whole think is rather esoteric
[c+1] Written in rust, too: https://rapier.rs/
[c+1] Uh oh.
https://i.hypercone.us/?v=8e283d
[c+1] HMMM
https://i.hypercone.us/?v=079f8f
[c+1] it seems there is no limit
[c+1] i've uploaded a ~50M title
</code>

[[Special:Contributions/172.70.57.146|172.70.57.146]]

Had quite a lot of fun, added a few 'successful' machines to the grid. Noted that whenever I try to use the Prism that (after a short delay) the comic-pane blanks and I need to refresh the page/get a completely new 'challenge' to start from scratch, so I'm just not using the prism at all (used most of the other items, in combination or 'just the one across the whole board', whichever seems most fun). But it doesn't seem to do what I'd like it to do, which is sort multiple colours from the same inflow into different outflow directions. Which would be ''very'' useful in a 'crossroads' situation, the general solution of directing them cross-path being too prone to random collisions. Also might be useful in the 'submitted machine grid', as I note that errors propagate, whereas adding a filter on all inputs would clean out (dispose of/send off to a valid gate?) the rogue balls. Anyway, gonna have to come back to this later when there's more time... Maybe then I'll even have something useful to add to the Explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.31|172.70.163.31]] 19:03, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

The balls appear to be different weights. I just saw a machine that used fans to separate yellows from greens and blues in a sort of 'wheat from the chaff' manner to direct them to their correct outputs. I wonder what other hidden tricks are included. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.1.159|172.68.1.159]] 19:40, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

They're not all accepted, though it makes you think they are. Or something else more complex is going on we haven't realized yet. I made a machine that was working reliably, submitted it, and saw it on the overall grid. Reloading from a different browser I found the same location of the machine, with the same surroundings, but my machine had been replaced. It's nowhere else on the grid either. The first browser still shows it (but not after a reload with a cache clear). I'm not sure if there's some kind of "save" event that needs to happen beyond seeing your machine in the broader one, or if all user collaboration is an illusion, or if the system changes its mind about us somehow.

: Yeah, i've been seeing this too. Please tell me if you find any of my machines, images at https://i.hypercone.us/?v=22d562 , https://i.hypercone.us/?v=ad8e3a , and https://i.hypercone.us/?v=8d4d6a . I want to be one of the few to have added Catalan and Spanish to the grid. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.164|172.71.134.164]] 20:56, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

I've added some more observations to the page. Also, a guess which is too uncertain to put on the main page: The ball launcher for the yellows on the far left side misses a lot, and the yellow container isn't the one on the left. So I think the whole machine with crossing streams will result in the colors being sorted in their container order, and possibly have the streams combined and deposited at the bottom just above the containers. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.100|172.71.147.100]] 21:07, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

has anyone seen the boat at the very bottom? [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 21:21, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

trying to see it on Firefox for Ubuntu and it just tells me to "visit xkcd.com to view" - THAT'S WHERE I AM?! Tried clearing website data (but not my entire cache) and that didn't help. Is there something I'm missing?

Oooh, just had one with four ball-entries (four colours) and ''three'' exits (one caters for two arrows). Pity it's rather complicated to get entries to exits (even if I can merge two of the streams). Might have to give up on it, but I'd like to have seen how it fits in with the 'submited grid'. i.e. someone else gets a two-colour introduction spot. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.119|162.158.74.119]] 22:37, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

If you combine a bunch of these silly claw things in the middle by just spamming it, it begins to lag and do some chaotic collisions, even without balls colliding on it. It's curious how it does that seemingly randomly though. I wonder how calculations are added and if there's a tiny sprinkle of RNG. (Also, errors occur and say something about damaging recursion in the Rust programming language, so I guess we know how it was made. It's also pretty weird how there's not a lot of opening combinations? It's possible that the machine loops over in chunks of gears or something (that's what I'll call them). ([[User talk:Leo|talk]]) 13:15, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

If you place a black hole in the centre of a wheel, it makes the wheel behave unpredictably between resets. Sometimes it's almost normal, sometimes it's a lot faster than usual, and sometimes it's stopped but launches balls that touch it with extreme force. I was able to use this to submit a machine which didn't actually let a single ball through after being submitted. https://i.hypercone.us/?v=928bcd [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.149|162.158.33.149]] 01:19, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

The page says that (and I have taken note of) the ball hue is ''coded'' to certain values, but is there a logic to those values that might be derived from the colour (either as RGB triplet or HSV/other colourspace definition). For example, the two ball-types with zero green component in their makeup are 'unit density' (green is far heavier "green+red" is far lighter, so it's not a simple relationship, unless it converts from °hue, in some way) and the only secondary colour exhibits non-zero drag. There's the possibility that it just derived from "we need different properties, we need different colours, we have no reason to connect either with other deliberately" or even some non-mathematical symbology (fire=red, water=blue(?), earth=green, air(/sunlight?)=yellow). But it makes me wonder what combination of properties cyan/magenta balls might have, if added. (Or is the choice of those four colours constrained, anyway? Though R/G colorblindness is already something of an accessibility failure, if anyone suffers that.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.205|172.69.194.205]] 17:02, 7 April 2024 (UTC)