explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2788: Musical Scales

2023-06-17T05:29:48Z

172.69.33.163:

The page says it was last edited about four hours from now. I'm wondering wether the lineage of in the hall... is worth mentioning. ie Grieg composed it for an Ibsen play. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.178|172.70.175.178]] 23:06, 12 June 2023 (UTC)
:(It's server time. Which is set as UTC. Currently matches central European summer time, I guess, but is one hour behind me (using BST in ordinary life), but matches me nicely when I'm back on GMT. If I read you right, I'm guessing you're on the US east-coast TZ (or equivalent, elsewhere in the Americas), and if you're on DST right now you'll find you have to mentally adjust by ''five'' whenever you're not. I imagine that logged-in people can configure dynamic time displays to local time (for themselves), but 'hard written records like on these signatures probably aren't converted 'live' (no good way to not mess up with false-changes/false-nonchanges) so there's probably no point doing that anyway. Just realise that you need to remember that it's an offset of four/five/whatever-it-might-be for your current time and place and rejoice that (with a spherical Earth, not somehow unified under one global political system that can tell all people to work with ever stranger hours of daylight, therefore with necessarily disjointed timezones) at least there's no possibility of falling off the 'edge' and perhaps into the jaws of the world-serpent. There are plenty of other problems, but not that! ...and no doubt there was discussion as to whether to align with Randall's habitual locale, instead, but more people know how to convert between their local UTC±whatever and straight UTC (or don't have to) than might be expected to reliably cross convert between two different ± values, correctly and accounting for whether either or both are DST at the moment. So I don't just say I'm happy with the situation because (for half a year) it matches my own TZ, I think it's just best all round. And doubtless various Europeans think so too (especially the other half of the year!). With apologies to Kiwis, Hawaiians and everyone else for the minor (but predictable) time-shifts they pretty kuch always have to consider, but still would even if you were happily aligned by circumstance... ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.220|141.101.98.220]] 09:42, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

::No, central European summer time is TWO hours away from UTC. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:06, 13 June 2023 (UTC)
::The UTC times are usually 4 hours ahead of me, and I'm Eastern, the first North American time zone, same as New York City and Miami (i.e. now it's just past midnight, on the West coast of North America it's just past 9pm). Usually I find my friends in U.K. are 5 hours away from me (and my time zone is always listed as -5), my family in Europe tend to be 6, but I think that changes with Daylight Savings (we ALMOST got rid of the stupid useless Daylight Savings last year, I'm hoping for this year). UTC always seems to resolve to the middle of the ocean, I always wonder why UTC exists at all, why not go with Greenwich Mean Time in such cases??? So, yeah, the "last edit" was probably just before your comment, and you're in the same time zone as me. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:22, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
:::UTC==GMT (for all practical purposes), i.e. Greenwich-zeroed, straight down the Prime Meridian (solar time) and UK-wide time when not we're not on BST==UTC+1. East Coast US is 5 hours from us, ''except'' for the week or three when either the entry or the exit from DST (I forget which one, but it ''is'' just the one or other) is not the same weekend for both UK and US, so we're disjointed by an hour (I think it reduces to 4 hours, but it's been a while since I needed to know that to avoid disturbing anyone's sleep/lunch). However, UTC definitely isn't in the ocean (well, not the main bits) like you seem to say. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.169|172.70.85.169]] 05:25, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Now I have to re-listen to In the Hall…; I think there are some errors here.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.212|172.71.146.212]] 01:23, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

Can someone make a midi of Hall of the Mountain King but with an exponential time scale to "compensate" for the log transform? I want to hear a version that both starts and ends at 200 bpm. Is there any music that actually uses mathematically varying tempos? [[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 06:35, 13 June 2023 (UTC)
: I can't make a midi but I can make an mp3: https://voca.ro/17QJDbYxNnlh [[User:Viliml|Viliml]] ([[User talk:Viliml|talk]]) 20:25, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

Ein belegtes Brot mit Schinken, ein belegtes Brot mit Ei...(Germans will understand.) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.94|198.41.242.94]] 06:50, 13 June 2023 (UTC)
: das sind zwei belegte Brote, eins mit Schinken und eins mit Ei. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 07:28, 13 June 2023 (UTC)
:: und dazu eisgekühlter Bommerlunder, Bommerlunder eisgekühlt. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.163|172.69.33.163]] 05:29, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
:: But what does that have to do with dead pants?? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.254|172.71.26.254]] 13:36, 13 June 2023 (UTC)
:: I don't really understand much German, and my Dutch is too weak to compensate, so I used my translator... :) (NOW I recognize some words, LOL!) I suspect that's the German equivalent to the English saying "Six of one, half a dozen of the other", :) Basically "Eh, either way works". [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:30, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Why "mistakenly"? Sure there are some-half notes in there, but it's generally linear in the sense that every 7 steps correspond to a doubling of the frequency no matter where you start from {{unsigned ip|172.68.51.197|07:30, 13 June 2023}}
::For the line spacing it doesn't matter much. A true linear-scale staff which takes half-steps into account would have spacings of 0.9, 1.8, 4 and 8. The one glaring discrepancy is that on a true linear scale, the note E5 (659 Hz) would be closer to F5 (698 Hz) than to D5 (587 Hz). [[User:Rick4|Rick4]] ([[User talk:Rick4|talk]]) 14:29, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

Most sheet music is not truly linear in time to begin with. It's pseudo-logarithmic but in the sense that the shorter notes (8ths and 16ths and heaven forbid 32nds for us da**ed drummers) are given MORE space relative to the (fixed) size of the note heads compared to quarter, half, and full notes. This then affects the on-page length of measures: measures with faster notes are longer (as measurable with a small ruler) than those with longer/slower notes, even though -- assuming a fixed tempo -- their play speed (time duration) stays the same. And then you get modifiers like "rit(ardando)", "rall(entando)", "accel(erando)", "piu mosso", "meno mosso", and the like which modify tempo and throw the whole page-space-to-time relation out the window as if the page of sheet music itself (or the audience) sped to near-light speeds. Randall's going off the deep end trying to make this insane notation fit into fixed science rules; best to leave it to us crazy musicians and just enjoy the music. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.46|172.69.65.46]] 10:44, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

"Randall seems to have mistakenly assumed" what? no, the entire point of the comic is that Randall knows standard staves do *not* represent a linear increase in frequency. A treble clef is centered on G4, which has a frequency of 392 Hz, F4 has a frequency of 349, and E4 has a frequency of 330. The drawn stave has one line between E4 and F4, corresponding to a jump of about 19 Hz. Two lines between F4 and G4, and we're assuming a linear scale, so that's about right to get to 392. The size of the games grows geometrically, as you expect. Again, this is the entire point of the comic.

:That's not what it says, though. It says he may have assumed it's a linear increase in *pitch*, and therefore a *exponential* increase in frequency.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.2|172.70.86.2]] 08:40, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

::is that not correct? Doesn't an equal temperament scale exactly mean that it is a linear increase in pitch? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.240|172.70.114.240]] 16:11, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

:::An equal temperament scale means there's a linear increase in pitch by half-step/semitone, correct. However, any Western scale or mode regardless of quality will only include 7 notes, while there are 13 when including accidentals; the quality is determined by which notes are adjacent or separated by an accidental, or in other words if they are separated by one half-step or two. *However*, since standard notation uses other symbols to indicate deviation from the expected frequency and not separate lines, I'd argue that such would be the approach taken in a world where this sheet music was used. Therefore, I'd say this whole paragraph is unnecessary and misguided. Randall is taking a standard piece of sheet music and warping the scales of the axes, nothing more. He's not trying to make a valid, coherent new system of notation, he's making a graph joke. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.125|162.158.159.125]] 17:27, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

::::But the point is that not only is his 'mistake' version 'wrong' (non-standard), but his remedy would result in notation that was 'wrong' as well, on both 'axes'.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.49|172.70.85.49]] 08:37, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

::::I'm not following. Don't the lines in a staff indicate equal spaced whole steps (between consecutive lines) or half-steps (between lines and spaces)? What is the "mistake" that randall is alleged to have made, and have we agreed that it is infact a mistake or not? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.58|162.158.158.58]] 04:01, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

2777: Noise Filter

2023-05-18T04:42:13Z

172.69.33.163:

{{comic
| number = 2777
| date = May 17, 2023
| title = Noise Filter
| image = noise_filter_2x.png
| imagesize = 298x345px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Party Mode also enables the feature, but reverses the slider.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 30-YEAR-OLD BOT WITH A NOISE LEVEL SEARCH - elaborate on search engines of the type demonstrated in the comic and offer examples of the noise levels shown; also why such a filter may be desirable for 30+. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic portrays a generalized, minimalist version of a search engine's front end. The engine helps the user find things (in this case, restaurants) that conform to user preferences. Preferences shown are hours of opening, mean of review scores, price range, and current noise level. All but "current noise level" are grayed out. The user, setting the parameters for deir search, adjusts the slider to select the maximum tolerable noise level. Interestingly, the slider indicates increasing noise tolerance until it reaches "Any", thus shifting abruptly from maximum to zero tolerance.
The caption's statement that the noise slider should automatically appear when the user reaches the age of 30 (ignoring the privacy concerns implicit in such a function) plays on the common perception that a person's ability to tolerate background noise while dining (or anywhere else) deteriorates with age. Such declines have been documented, linked to changes in the inner ear and associated nerves with aging, and can occur in the absence of other hearing-loss symptoms.

demonstrates a venue search engine, proposing that they should have a filter added to search venues by noise level "when you reach 30" (presumably referring to the user searching). The title text shows that Randall imagines a "Party Mode" which also includes this filter, but reversed, presumably so that a loud party won't disrupt a quiet restaurant. The term "SPiN (Speech Perception in Noise) threshold" has been conceived to measure this loss. Other studies suggest that personality traits and gender, as well as age, contribute to declines in the ability to perceive speech in noise, so the trope is less precise than is indicated here, and in advertisements by health providers for hearing loss treatments.

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

There is a search bar with the word “restaurants” typed into it.

Below there are filters:

Open hours: Any Open now (selected) Open at…
{{comic discussion}}

2687: Division Notation

2022-10-20T10:42:47Z

172.69.33.163: √

{{comic
| number = 2687
| date = October 19, 2022
| title = Division Notation
| image = division_notation_new_2x.png
| imagesize = 235x310px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Science tip: Scientists hardly ever use the two-dot division sign, and when they do it often doesn't even mean division, but they still get REALLY mad when you repurpose it to write stuff like SALE! ALL SHOES 30÷ OFF!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GROUP OF SCHOOLCHILDREN DIVIDED AMONGST THEMSELVES. Do NOT delete this tazg too soon.}}

This comic pokes fun at some of the ways to write the {{w|Division (mathematics)|division}} operation in math. In this comic, [[Randall]] has used A as the dividend (the number being divided) and B as the divisor (the number that A is divided by). Division is the fourth simplest arithmetic operation in mathematics, after addition, subtraction, and multiplication.[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/principia-mathematica/#PartIVRelaArit]

The first two of the seven notations shown are the {{w|division sign}} (÷) and the {{w|radix}} used for {{w|short division}} and {{w|long division}} in beginning arithmetic. (Note: the short/long division radix is only used in some countries, and there are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_division#Notation_in_non-English-speaking_countries different notations in the non-English speaking world]). These methods of division are often used by school children because the ÷ sign is what most people use when first learning division, and the short division radix is usually the first algorithm learned for dividing arbitrary dividends, typically starting with the easier abbreviated short division form.

The expression on the third line, A/B, is the way division is usually written in software code. The four simple arithmetic operations in programming usually are +, -, *, /. This one was missing in the first version of the comic. This is most commonly seen in regular mathematics as it somewhat saves space, and is easy to type with the slash key. Additionally, it uses standard {{w|ASCII}} characters instead of sophisticated notation.

The expression on the forth line, a/b, is how division is usually written when typography costs are not in question, in fraction notation. The Unicode character sets provide some specific fractions such as ⅓ as well as some superscript and subscript characters, so someone familiar with it might use it to write fractions such as ²²⁄₇. But this is tedious and can't be used on more complex expressions, so it is rarely used in everyday life (the fraction A/B cannot be written this way; there is a superscript A, but no subscript B).

The fifth notation is the way division is written in science: the dividend on the top of the expression over the divisor on the bottom under a horizontal line. This is how a {{w|Fraction|fraction}} would be written. It has the advantage of clearly separating the numerator and denominator when they are longer expressions, such as polynomials, without needing to add parentheses. This format is mostly used in written and professionally typeset math, as it can't be typed without something like {{w|MathML}}, {{w|LaTeX}} or HTML tables.

The sixth notation uses a negative exponent. The exponent -1 is equivalent to {{w|Multiplicative inverse|reciprocation}}. It can be used to keep the entire expression on one line. Note that ab-1 is equal to a/b. This format is often used to express physical units.

The final form of notation declares a function. The writer defines a new function, F, that takes in the parameters A and B, before listing out the function's definition (trailing off in increasingly smaller text). Randall warns the reader they should escape while they still can, because both the function itself and the math environment as a whole are going to get relatively tedious. Integer division can be defined in terms of multiplicative inequalities and the remainder, or modulo ('%' in Python), operator. This situation is likely to occur in abstract algebra, where one might have to define what "division" means for two elements of a mathematical object such as a group, ring, or magma. One example would be an object G, such that, for two elements A and B of G, "A divided by B" is defined as an element C such that CB=A, or alternatively as an element C such that BC=A. These definitions will differ if multiplication in G is not commutative. Furthermore, if such a C is not unique, the function F(A,B) will need to include a method to select a unique value for "A divided by B" for each A and B. Thus, the F(A,B) in the comic might not even refer to a uniquely defined operation, but simply to the property of a function F(A,B) that is a valid division operation on G, given some definition of division.

The title text recommends distinguishing ÷ from %.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Division notation
:A÷B
:B√Ā Schoolchild.
:A/B Software engineer.
:A⁄B Normal person or Unicode enthusiast.
:A over B Scientist.
:AB-1 Fancy scientist.
:F(A, B) such that F(G)= (text getting smaller) Oh no, run

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Science tip]]

Talk:2652: Proxy Variable

2022-07-31T02:47:36Z

172.69.33.163: Fph

Maybe Randall is commenting on this recent article [https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-022-00281-6 Nature Computational Science: Automated discovery of fundamental variables hidden in experimental data]?
02:10, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
suggested by a proxy editor

Might be tangentially related to the alleged Alzheimer's disease drug Aduhelm, the anti-amyloid therapy, that did show some success in proxy variable (biomarker), but no success at all in curing the disease or its symptoms (no efficacy), but which got accepted with a huge amount of controversy by NDA (which disregarded its advisory committee’s recommendation against approving Aduhelm). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:32, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
: More relevantly, it came out recently that [https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/22/2111914/-Two-decades-of-Alzheimer-s-research-may-be-based-on-deliberate-fraud-that-has-cost-millions-of-lives|the last ~decade and a half of Alzheimer's drug research] is based on monitoring effects in mice on a specific biomarker that ''may not actually exist in humans'', and the initial study was potentially fraudulent. Seems like a damn topical proxy variable to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.249|162.158.166.249]] 00:56, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
:"It’s not much of a stretch to suggest those amyloids are a primary cause of the associated memory loss and dementia," is the failed proxy hypothesis. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.163|172.69.33.163]] 02:47, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

I removed this paragraph:
:''Proxy variables are of interest to non-scientists as they provide a scientific way to indirectly monitor or improve the complex systems that affect their lives. For example, blood pressure is a causative factor for cardiovascular disease so it can be used as a proxy variable for healthy lifestyle. However, people need to remember that it isn't necessarily the proxy variable alone that is of concern. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is not the only gas released by humanity with global warming potential and other factors affect climate change; and it is not carbon dioxide but the impact of climate change that will cause major social, economic, cultural damage to the future of the planet. ''
because I want to discuss it. The first sentence needs a source, the second and third sentences claim blood pressure is used by non-scientists as a proxy for living a healthy lifestyle, which I'm not sure about on multiple levels, and the fourth and fifth sentences seem like PR for fossil fuel companies. #notallgreenhousegases Nevertheless, I feel as if there are likely one or two good ideas hidden in it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.95|172.70.206.95]] 16:01, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:I feel like the author doesn't know the work climate scientists go to to avoid using greenhouse gas concentration as a proxy for global warming (all the models of atmospheric water and its forms.) For blood pressure, it's easier to see what was attempted to be gotten at. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.90|172.70.211.90]] 16:37, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::Yes: the ones who dangerously simplify the climate change to "we must stop produce carbon dioxide" are not scientists but politicians. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 16:53, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:Definitely. We don't even KNOW all factors affecting climate change. Still, the link between rising carbon dioxide and temperature looks much more solid that the link between money spent on fighting climate change and levels of carbon dioxide. ... Wait, you didn't wanted to talk about climate did you? :-) (For record, I always though there are much better reasons to stop using fossil fuels than fighting global warming. Recently, for example, the energetic security from geopolitically problematic regions came under lot of attention.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 16:46, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::I want to talk about climate. Do you think we will be able to transition to carbon neutral and negative technologies in time to avoid the {{w|Jevons paradox}}? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.185|172.70.214.185]] 17:00, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::The Jevons Paradox exists if the only forces affecting the consumption of a resource are supply and demand. If you're asking about carbon-neutral/negative technological process making sustainable technologies profitable faster than fossil fuel profits grow, then no, there's no hope even before the Jevons Paradox is considered. But if other options are considered, the Jevons Paradox doesn't really apply. (To take an extreme example: It doesn't matter how fuel-efficient internal combustion engines get, they'll never be the preferred choice if their manufacture is banned.) [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 18:14, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::Only carbon negative technology requires {{w|Carbon-burning_process|5×10^8 K or 50 keV and densities > 3×10^9 kg/m3}}. I think that in the moment we will be using THAT on industrial scale we would be quite desperate. Also, the amount of energy we will need is going to grow unless we reduce population a LOT (like, for example, if all ecological activists would do the carbon responsible thing and commit suicide). Also, more and more of that energy we will need will be specifically electrical energy. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:21, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::We need to remove 38 gigatons per year, which is only 0.7 milligrams per square centimeter of ocean. Think of the mean depth of the ocean: that square centimeter is very tall. From that perspective, isn't this an easy biological solution? That's only 0.5 micrograms per minute, from the full depth of each square centimeter of ocean, right? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 20:47, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::::I'm not sure what is the "this" you talk about but it sounds you are only storing carbon, not removing it. BTW, one of best way to store carbon is to make more highways. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:07, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::::Where on Earth would you ever want to build 38 gigatons of highways per year? By "this" I mean genetically modified {{w|phytoplankton}}; in particular modified by changes to {{w|carbonic anhydrase}} expression. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.81|172.70.214.81]] 23:13, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

:Everyone thinks this is about pharmacology, and maybe it is. But I've been taking economics courses this semester, so that's what I think of. "We can't measure this factor directly, so we made up a formula that should let us calculate it (if we've measured all relevant factors correctly and all our other assumptions and theories are valid)" is a pretty common thing in that field. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 18:14, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:: What's the best example, using GDP as a proxy for development? Or something current like using the money supply as a proxy for inflation? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.95|172.70.214.95]] 20:19, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

== this dude keeps spamming ==

Sorry for the mild crassness, especially as a new user, but some Nazi f*ck is vandalizing the page. May someone please ban them?{{unsigned ip|172.71.26.59|03:49, 30 July 2022}}

Nah, they're using multiple IPs. Someone could semi-protect it or something but there ain't any mods doing their job it seems.{{unsigned ip|172.70.147.47|03:55, 30 July 2022}}

Where are the mods, anyways?{{unsigned ip|172.71.82.65|03:59, 30 July 2022}}
:You can't always count on volunteer authorities. Even us lowly IP address editors can revert vandalism. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.199|172.69.33.199]] 04:09, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::Yeah nah, we need it semi-protected {{unsigned ip|162.158.162.199|04:13, 30 July 2022}}
::: Funny if that were the goal of the vandalism. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.95|172.70.206.95]] 16:03, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::: One reason that I don't think it should be the go-to counter-vandalism approach being used. But not for me to say. Whilstsoever I'm capable of intervening ''at least'' as much as any vandal tries to, I support the mod actions (they are there, doing things, BTW).
:::: Without actually tolerating the vandal, we easily outnumber the person concerned (and the very few other spammers/bots that sneak through the clearly effective existing speedbumps) and this means that such nuisance edits are heavily mitigated. If you see the damaged bits then you're either a regular or a very unlucky occasional visitor.
:::: (This morning, I went to revert an ad-spam that I noted had been written over a page-redirect, to be told that someone else had just gotten there before me!)
:::: I've been on far more abused online resources, both web (early days, long before CAPTCHA technology) and elsewhere (having seen how Usenet was both before and after The Eternal September) and the interference here is extraordinarily given the generally open nature of the submission process.
:::: PS. Please do sign your posts ( with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code> ), if only for the timestamp that makes the to and fro of conversations more understandable... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.221|162.158.34.221]] 19:01, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

:The rant gets replaced within two minutes of each revert. Presumably it's done by bot. We need a mod to take action. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.217|172.70.130.217]] 05:15, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
Article has been restored but some idiots keep spamming the page with random things. pls do something mods {{unsigned ip|172.70.147.47|03:59, 30 July 2022}}
:it's not "some idiots" it's all one person using different ips. he posted the exact same covid rant several times. i think he's schizophrenic or something and just really wants to be heard --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.40|172.69.69.40]] 04:39, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::But why here? Like, this is such a weird place to try and be heard, I'm sure even Reddit posts would have more visibility than edits to a webcomic wiki. [[User:NErDysprosium|NErDysprosium]] ([[User talk:NErDysprosium|talk]]) 06:06, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::: Don't underestimate the importance of the can't-get-jokes demographic for PSYOP recruitment. The invasion of Panama might not even have occurred if it weren't for people distracted by cartoons. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.185|172.69.33.185]] 17:16, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2652:_Proxy_Variable&diff=291433&oldid=291400 The protected version has much less text than the last non-vandalized version.] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.90|172.70.211.90]] 20:02, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
: Re "The history of pharmaceutical research is largely a graveyard of failed proxy hypotheses." True, but someone should add that is the reason for experiment registration regulations. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 20:17, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:: I'm placing that version here, in hopes that it can be edited as a proxy for the protected version: [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.229|172.69.33.229]] 20:28, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
{{cot|Last non-vandalized version of the explanation, as further edited}}
In this comic, [[Hairy]] is discussing use of a proxy variable with [[Cueball]]. In statistics, a {{w|proxy variable}} is used as a stand-in for one or more other variables that are difficult to measure. In order to be useful as such, proxy variables must be correlated with what they are intended to represent. For example, a drug might aim to reduce deaths from a slow-acting disease. But testing if it reduces deaths might take many years, so researchers might test for a proxy outcome instead, like whether it results in loss of bone density or damage to cells. Physicians use blood pressure as one of many proxies for cardiovascular health.

Proxy variables are of interest to non-scientists as they provide a way to indirectly monitor or improve the complex systems that affect their lives. For example, people use local temperature as a rough experiential proxy for the severity of global warming. Economists might mistake GDP for productive or useful development, or mistake the size of the {{w|money supply}} for {{w|price inflation}}. While correlated, the causation implied by such assumptions is very much in doubt, because the GDP increase of demolishing a hospital might conflict with the widespread understanding of development, and while the money supply size is a cause of inflation, there are many other causes.

Hairy is dismissing the question of whether they are studying the right variable as too expensive to answer. This is deeply ironic and thus satirical, because good {{w|experiment design}} requires sufficient attention to the robustness of all the involved parts of an experiment, even if the expense may be prohibitive.

Choosing the wrong proxy variable might make the research misleading, irrelevant, or as the title text suggests, answer the wrong question. Separating correlation from {{w|Causality|causation}} is necessary when interpreting proxy variable results to make sure the question they answer is known. Mere correlation instead of {{w|Causal analysis|authentic causation}} yields weaker results. {{w|Exploratory causal analysis}} can assist with finding useful proxy variables, but is difficult for the layperson to interpret and can be misleading, because even if performed correctly, a {{w|combinatorial explosion}} of possible proxy variables can make traditional {{w|statistical significance}} analysis fail, requiring {{w|F-score}}s or similar measures. The history of pharmaceutical research is largely a graveyard of failed proxy hypotheses; that is one of the reasons for [https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/manage-recs/fdaaa experiment registration regulations.]

The title text's notion of having an answer without knowing the actual question could also be be a reference to the classic comedy science fiction novel {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, where in one scene Earth turns out to be a supercomputer built for the purpose of figuring out the question for the answer "42."
{{cob}}
:That such improvements are withheld from the main public view must feel like a victory for the vandal. Can autoconfimed users promote it? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 23:08, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

Is anyone going to comment that all of us IP editors are listed by our CDN proxy address? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.123|172.69.33.123]] 20:44, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

2207: Math Work

2022-07-29T22:46:25Z

172.69.33.163: Complete from intervening improvements

{{comic
| number = 2207
| date = September 25, 2019
| title = Math Work
| image = math_work.png
| titletext = I could type this into a solver, which MIGHT help, but would also mean I have to get a lot of parentheses right...
}}

==Explanation==

[[White Hat]] is observing a {{w|physicist}}, [[Cueball]], who is staring at some (in the comic unreadable; see [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/math_work_2x.png high resolution version]) equations and diagrams on a {{w|chalkboard}}. White Hat is neither a physicist nor a {{w|mathematician}}, and seems to glorify those professions. He wishes he understood Cueball's work and "the beauty on display here." People who profess a love for mathematics often cite the beauty they see in pure math, how things work out so perfectly, as the reason they love math.

The joke is that Cueball as a physicist is doing something instead quite simple and relatable: Avoiding hard work. Solving many kinds of constraints for two unknowns isn't necessarily difficult, but can be depending on the details. Cueball clearly thinks a solution is possible but would rather find an easier route. The same could be said about the field of mathematics in general: A proof is beautiful to a mathematician when it provides {{w|aesthetic}} pleasure, usually associated with being easy to understand. A proof is elegant when it is both easy to understand and correct, and mathematical solutions are profound when useful. Record numbers of mathematics interest groups and their forums in which such work is done exist today, from academic journals predating the use of electricity to a plethora of internet math and science fora such as {{w|Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Mathematics|Wikipedia Reference Desks}} and Reddit's [https://reddit.com/r/theydidthemath /r/theydidthemath] forum, which fueled a [https://i.imgur.com/l1r1VEE.png resurgence of the phrase "they did the math" as a search term in 2014,] because it was included in the sidebar of the [https://reddit.com/r/xkcd /r/xkcd] subreddit, where it remains five years hence, between "Linguistics" and "Ask Historians," suggesting that the term was popularized by Xkcd fans after [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=they+did+the+math&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1980&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0#t4%3B%2Cthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0 its initial appearance c. 1988.] The proliferation of mathematics fora is certainly also due to the quickly increasing overall level of education and rapidly growing numbers of internet users.

The title text continues Cueball's thought process, with the possibility of using an automatic equation solver to find the unknowns. Equation solvers are not often considered beautiful ways to address purely mathematical problems, even if they are often the most efficient and in that sense elegant solutions to applied problems in engineering. Using a formal solver with symbolic, numeric, or both methods requires making sure that the constraints (e.g. equations) are entered correctly, with parentheses balanced in their correct locations for the solution to succeed. This might be a further joke about Cueball's laziness, suggesting that he doesn't even have the energy to check whether his parentheses are placed correctly. At the same time it might show how far away he is from finding the real solution: Any missing, misplaced or spurious parenthesis will most likely immediately invalidate the whole equation system. While the {{w|mathematical beauty|beauty of mathematics}} and pure physics may not be associated with automatic solvers in spreadsheets, general optimization methods are considered elegant in applied physics and engineering, with [http://entsphere.com/pub/pdf/1957%20Jaynes,%20ShannonMaxEntBoltzmann.pdf Jaynes (1957)] cited more than 12,000 times on Google Scholar, including by [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234147180_Maximum_Entropy_Image_Restoration_in_Astronomy a paper cited] by the [https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.01286 first black hole image astronomers] for example.

===Examples of bivariate optimization===

A mathematical problem involving two unknowns could be a {{w|system of linear equations}} which can often be solved on paper, a blackboard, in a spreadsheet with solver functions, or by a {{w|computer algebra system}} such as [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x%2By%3D10%2C+x-y%3D4&lk=3 WolframAlpha.com.] Linear equations are a typical kind of more general constraint satisfaction problems, which in turn are {{w|mathematical optimization}} problems, where the minimization of a difference from a goal state (such as that all of the constraining equations are true, for example) indicates the extent to which constraints are met. Sometimes such problem solving activity arises naturally from economic transactions according to, for example, the laws of {{w|supply and demand}}, arising in the general context of civilization and ecology (both of which have properties associated with beauty and mathematical elegance.) Problems solved by economics are examples of {{w|distributed constraint optimization}} processes. When economic laws are not sufficiently satisfying constraints, that is a {{w|market failure}}, which indicates that more artificial and manual mathematical work is required, instead of the naturally arising or otherwise automatic methods contemplated by Cueball. Other distributed constraint optimization systems can be {{w|crowdsourcing}} games, such as {{w|FoldIt}} and {{w|Galaxy Zoo}}.

Of [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/math_work_2x.png the graphic elements on the blackboard,] the most distinctive appears to be a pair of wedges from a pie chart, where the radius of the slices is being used to represent another variable than the angles which all pie charts use to represent a primary variable. Since the cartoon is in black and white, the use of color to represent category labels or more variables may be ruled out. Such black-and-white wedges represent two variables, the meaning of which may be unknown to us, let alone their values. The only distributed constraint optimization game which uses such wedges may be the {{w|climate stabilization wedge}} game [https://cmi.princeton.edu/wedges/game from Princeton University.] In that wedge game, angles represent a potential number of gigatons of atmospheric carbon mitigation (out of about 38 for the circle) and radius indicates uptake, or the extent to which the mitigation solution is effective.

That game is an example of a bivariate optimization problem which might not have to be manually solved by anyone, for example under specific assumptions about the market in [https://x.company/projects/foghorn Project Foghorn] [https://www.docdroid.net/WlkWabq/ioc-part-1-prototype-article-in-press.pdf plants] and [https://www.docdroid.net/SRxC3bd/power-to-gas-efficiency.pdf power-to-gas upgrades for natural gas] power plants. If such market-based approaches to distributed constraint satisfaction are successful, then the work in finding the solution would be performed not entirely by physicists, chemical engineers, mathematicians, or intentional crowdworkers playing a game to achieve the optimal solution(s), but instead in even larger part by far more widely distributed crowdworkers who are simply making their own, ideally self-interested choices regarding their demand for {{w|desalination|desalinated}} and {{w|drinking water|potable water}}, {{w|carbon-neutral fuel|carbon-neutral liquid transportation fuel}} and carbon-negative {{w|carbon sequestration|sequestration}} in {{w|fiber-reinforced composite}} lumber, both made from {{w|ocean acidification|carbonate dissolved in seawater}}, and for recycling the carbon in power plant flue exhaust for the {{w|Energy storage|storage of renewable energy}} such as off-peak {{w|wind power}}. The relative beauty, elegance, and simplicity of the possible solutions to such problems are subjective, and might involve strong differences of opinion between outside observers, mathematicians and engineers involved with the details, and {{w|Villain#Sympathetic villain|fossil fuel barons}}, respected and enriched by society for their part in meeting energy demand. (See "All Chemistry Equations" in [[2034: Equations]].) Although the original market-focused primary use of {{w|ticker tape}} may be a lost art, the economy is still driven by individual free will leveraging self-interested behavior to achieve social gains for civilization.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is watching Cueball from a couple of meters away. Cueball is contemplating the formulas and diagrams that fills the blackboard he stands in front of. Cueball holds a chalk in his hand. None of the content on the blackboard is readable, but there is a diagram in the shape of a circle and a another pie shaped diagram. Both are thinking with large thought bubbles above their heads, with small bubbles connecting them and the larger bubble.]
:White Hat (thinking): Amazing watching a physicist at work, exploring universes in a symphony of numbers.
:White Hat (thinking): If only I had studied math, I could appreciate the beauty on display here.

:Cueball (thinking): Oh no. This has '''''two''''' unknowns. That's gonna be really hard.
:Cueball (thinking): Ughhhhhhh.
:Cueball (thinking): '''''Think.''''' There's gotta be a way to avoid doing all that work...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Math]]

2207: Math Work

2022-07-29T22:44:22Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ replace sentence from intervening improvements

{{comic
| number = 2207
| date = September 25, 2019
| title = Math Work
| image = math_work.png
| titletext = I could type this into a solver, which MIGHT help, but would also mean I have to get a lot of parentheses right...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Complete but about half of the explanation recently seemed insufficiently related to the comic.}}

[[White Hat]] is observing a {{w|physicist}}, [[Cueball]], who is staring at some (in the comic unreadable; see [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/math_work_2x.png high resolution version]) equations and diagrams on a {{w|chalkboard}}. White Hat is neither a physicist nor a {{w|mathematician}}, and seems to glorify those professions. He wishes he understood Cueball's work and "the beauty on display here." People who profess a love for mathematics often cite the beauty they see in pure math, how things work out so perfectly, as the reason they love math.

The joke is that Cueball as a physicist is doing something instead quite simple and relatable: Avoiding hard work. Solving many kinds of constraints for two unknowns isn't necessarily difficult, but can be depending on the details. Cueball clearly thinks a solution is possible but would rather find an easier route. The same could be said about the field of mathematics in general: A proof is beautiful to a mathematician when it provides {{w|aesthetic}} pleasure, usually associated with being easy to understand. A proof is elegant when it is both easy to understand and correct, and mathematical solutions are profound when useful. Record numbers of mathematics interest groups and their forums in which such work is done exist today, from academic journals predating the use of electricity to a plethora of internet math and science fora such as {{w|Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Mathematics|Wikipedia Reference Desks}} and Reddit's [https://reddit.com/r/theydidthemath /r/theydidthemath] forum, which fueled a [https://i.imgur.com/l1r1VEE.png resurgence of the phrase "they did the math" as a search term in 2014,] because it was included in the sidebar of the [https://reddit.com/r/xkcd /r/xkcd] subreddit, where it remains five years hence, between "Linguistics" and "Ask Historians," suggesting that the term was popularized by Xkcd fans after [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=they+did+the+math&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1980&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0#t4%3B%2Cthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThey%20did%20the%20math%3B%2Cc0 its initial appearance c. 1988.] The proliferation of mathematics fora is certainly also due to the quickly increasing overall level of education and rapidly growing numbers of internet users.

The title text continues Cueball's thought process, with the possibility of using an automatic equation solver to find the unknowns. Equation solvers are not often considered beautiful ways to address purely mathematical problems, even if they are often the most efficient and in that sense elegant solutions to applied problems in engineering. Using a formal solver with symbolic, numeric, or both methods requires making sure that the constraints (e.g. equations) are entered correctly, with parentheses balanced in their correct locations for the solution to succeed. This might be a further joke about Cueball's laziness, suggesting that he doesn't even have the energy to check whether his parentheses are placed correctly. At the same time it might show how far away he is from finding the real solution. While the {{w|mathematical beauty|beauty of mathematics}} and pure physics may not be associated with automatic solvers in spreadsheets, general optimization methods are considered elegant in applied physics and engineering, with [http://entsphere.com/pub/pdf/1957%20Jaynes,%20ShannonMaxEntBoltzmann.pdf Jaynes (1957)] cited more than 12,000 times on Google Scholar, including by [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234147180_Maximum_Entropy_Image_Restoration_in_Astronomy a paper cited] by the [https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.01286 first black hole image astronomers] for example.

===Examples of bivariate optimization===

A mathematical problem involving two unknowns could be a {{w|system of linear equations}} which can often be solved on paper, a blackboard, in a spreadsheet with solver functions, or by a {{w|computer algebra system}} such as [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x%2By%3D10%2C+x-y%3D4&lk=3 WolframAlpha.com.] Linear equations are a typical kind of more general constraint satisfaction problems, which in turn are {{w|mathematical optimization}} problems, where the minimization of a difference from a goal state (such as that all of the constraining equations are true, for example) indicates the extent to which constraints are met. Sometimes such problem solving activity arises naturally from economic transactions according to, for example, the laws of {{w|supply and demand}}, arising in the general context of civilization and ecology (both of which have properties associated with beauty and mathematical elegance.) Problems solved by economics are examples of {{w|distributed constraint optimization}} processes. When economic laws are not sufficiently satisfying constraints, that is a {{w|market failure}}, which indicates that more artificial and manual mathematical work is required, instead of the naturally arising or otherwise automatic methods contemplated by Cueball. Other distributed constraint optimization systems can be {{w|crowdsourcing}} games, such as {{w|FoldIt}} and {{w|Galaxy Zoo}}.

Of [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/math_work_2x.png the graphic elements on the blackboard,] the most distinctive appears to be a pair of wedges from a pie chart, where the radius of the slices is being used to represent another variable than the angles which all pie charts use to represent a primary variable. Since the cartoon is in black and white, the use of color to represent category labels or more variables may be ruled out. Such black-and-white wedges represent two variables, the meaning of which may be unknown to us, let alone their values. The only distributed constraint optimization game which uses such wedges may be the {{w|climate stabilization wedge}} game [https://cmi.princeton.edu/wedges/game from Princeton University.] In that wedge game, angles represent a potential number of gigatons of atmospheric carbon mitigation (out of about 38 for the circle) and radius indicates uptake, or the extent to which the mitigation solution is effective.

That game is an example of a bivariate optimization problem which might not have to be manually solved by anyone, for example under specific assumptions about the market in [https://x.company/projects/foghorn Project Foghorn] [https://www.docdroid.net/WlkWabq/ioc-part-1-prototype-article-in-press.pdf plants] and [https://www.docdroid.net/SRxC3bd/power-to-gas-efficiency.pdf power-to-gas upgrades for natural gas] power plants. If such market-based approaches to distributed constraint satisfaction are successful, then the work in finding the solution would be performed not entirely by physicists, chemical engineers, mathematicians, or intentional crowdworkers playing a game to achieve the optimal solution(s), but instead in even larger part by far more widely distributed crowdworkers who are simply making their own, ideally self-interested choices regarding their demand for {{w|desalination|desalinated}} and {{w|drinking water|potable water}}, {{w|carbon-neutral fuel|carbon-neutral liquid transportation fuel}} and carbon-negative {{w|carbon sequestration|sequestration}} in {{w|fiber-reinforced composite}} lumber, both made from {{w|ocean acidification|carbonate dissolved in seawater}}, and for recycling the carbon in power plant flue exhaust for the {{w|Energy storage|storage of renewable energy}} such as off-peak {{w|wind power}}. The relative beauty, elegance, and simplicity of the possible solutions to such problems are subjective, and might involve strong differences of opinion between outside observers, mathematicians and engineers involved with the details, and {{w|Villain#Sympathetic villain|fossil fuel barons}}, respected and enriched by society for their part in meeting energy demand. (See "All Chemistry Equations" in [[2034: Equations]].) Although the original market-focused primary use of {{w|ticker tape}} may be a lost art, the economy is still driven by individual free will leveraging self-interested behavior to achieve social gains for civilization.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is watching Cueball from a couple of meters away. Cueball is contemplating the formulas and diagrams that fills the blackboard he stands in front of. Cueball holds a chalk in his hand. None of the content on the blackboard is readable, but there is a diagram in the shape of a circle and a another pie shaped diagram. Both are thinking with large thought bubbles above their heads, with small bubbles connecting them and the larger bubble.]
:White Hat (thinking): Amazing watching a physicist at work, exploring universes in a symphony of numbers.
:White Hat (thinking): If only I had studied math, I could appreciate the beauty on display here.

:Cueball (thinking): Oh no. This has '''''two''''' unknowns. That's gonna be really hard.
:Cueball (thinking): Ughhhhhhh.
:Cueball (thinking): '''''Think.''''' There's gotta be a way to avoid doing all that work...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Math]]

2651: Air Gap

2022-07-28T08:30:59Z

172.69.33.163: /* Why this would be inefficient */ subsection

{{comic
| number = 2651
| date = July 27, 2022
| title = Air Gap
| image = air_gap.png
| titletext = You can still do powerline networking, but the bitrate does drop a little depending on the lightbulb warmup and cooldown delay.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AIR GAP-PROTECTED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic conflates the concepts of energy security and computer network security, resulting in a deeply impractical and ineffective proposed solution. {{w|Energy security}} is the concern, typically expressed at a national, rather than domestic, level, with ensuring sufficient affordable and reliable sources of energy to meet demand. It has become an increasingly pressing issue due to the use of energy supplies as a geopolitical tool, exacerbated by the drive to reorient energy generation away from polluting fossil fuels. In {{w|computer security}}, {{w|Air_gap_(networking)|air-gapping}} is a measure used to secure sensitive computers or networks of computers by isolating them from the broader internet, since computers are often breached through the internet.

Randall suggests increasing the security of your home power supply by air-gapping it, using the light from a powered lightbulb to power a solar panel which then supplies power to the home, such that there is no physical wired connection between your house and the public electricity network. This is a large and very inefficient version of an {{w|opto-isolator}}, but would protect equipment behind the solar panel from power surges such as lightning strikes (which in an improperly {{w|Ground (electricity)|grounded}} home, could blow out the light bulb.). Due to its inefficiency, this approach would waste significant amounts of energy, and therefore actually worsen problems of energy security.

The title text mentions that a computer can still be connected to the internet via the power supply by using {{w|powerline networking}}, but that the bandwidth would be reduced by the lightbulb's warmup and cooldown delay, which would reduce the signalling rate the lightbulb could accomplish. However, using this power supply set-up with a gap of air to connect the computer to the internet would mean the computer is no longer air-gapped in the computer networking sense, assuming the computer's conventional networking (e.g. ethernet and Wi-Fi) was already disabled. In addition to having dubious security value, this set-up would be very inefficient in transmitting power to the computer due to the power losses inherent in converting the electrical energy to light energy via the lightbulb and back to electrical energy via the solar panel. It would also be unidirectional, and thus useless for traditional networking, because necessary requests and acknowledgments would be unable to travel from behind the solar panel to the lightbulb.

===Why this would be inefficient===

Solar panels are less than 100% efficient - in fact, they generally have an efficiency far below 50%. Lightbulbs are also inefficient at converting energy into light-- for example, a standard incandescent lightbulb like the one shown in the comic would convert only about 5% of its energy into visible light, with the rest emitted as heat and unusable infrared light. Therefore, only a small fraction of energy would be transmitted between the two ends of the air gap, making the circuit require much more electricity and be much less cost-efficient.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A solar panel and a lamp are pictured together, with the lamp pointed at the solar panel, and electronic equipment connected to the solar panel.]
:[Caption] Security tip: Increase the security of your home power supply by installing an air gap.
{{comic discussion}}

2651: Air Gap

2022-07-28T08:29:18Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ lightning

{{comic
| number = 2651
| date = July 27, 2022
| title = Air Gap
| image = air_gap.png
| titletext = You can still do powerline networking, but the bitrate does drop a little depending on the lightbulb warmup and cooldown delay.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AIR GAP-PROTECTED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic conflates the concepts of energy security and computer network security, resulting in a deeply impractical and ineffective proposed solution. {{w|Energy security}} is the concern, typically expressed at a national, rather than domestic, level, with ensuring sufficient affordable and reliable sources of energy to meet demand. It has become an increasingly pressing issue due to the use of energy supplies as a geopolitical tool, exacerbated by the drive to reorient energy generation away from polluting fossil fuels. In {{w|computer security}}, {{w|Air_gap_(networking)|air-gapping}} is a measure used to secure sensitive computers or networks of computers by isolating them from the broader internet, since computers are often breached through the internet.

Randall suggests increasing the security of your home power supply by air-gapping it, using the light from a powered lightbulb to power a solar panel which then supplies power to the home, such that there is no physical wired connection between your house and the public electricity network. This is a large and very inefficient version of an {{w|opto-isolator}}, but would protect equipment behind the solar panel from power surges such as lightning strikes (which in an improperly {{w|Ground (electricity)|grounded}} home, could blow out the light bulb.). Due to its inefficiency, this approach would waste significant amounts of energy, and therefore actually worsen problems of energy security.

The title text mentions that a computer can still be connected to the internet via the power supply by using {{w|powerline networking}}, but that the bandwidth would be reduced by the lightbulb's warmup and cooldown delay, which would reduce the signalling rate the lightbulb could accomplish. However, using this power supply set-up with a gap of air to connect the computer to the internet would mean the computer is no longer air-gapped in the computer networking sense, assuming the computer's conventional networking (e.g. ethernet and Wi-Fi) was already disabled. In addition to having dubious security value, this set-up would be very inefficient in transmitting power to the computer due to the power losses inherent in converting the electrical energy to light energy via the lightbulb and back to electrical energy via the solar panel. It would also be unidirectional, and thus useless for traditional networking, because necessary requests and acknowledgments would be unable to travel from behind the solar panel to the lightbulb.

==Why this would be inefficient==
Solar panels are less than 100% efficient - in fact, they generally have an efficiency far below 50%. Lightbulbs are also inefficient at converting energy into light-- for example, a standard incandescent lightbulb like the one shown in the comic would convert only about 5% of its energy into visible light, with the rest emitted as heat and unusable infrared light. Therefore, only a small fraction of energy would be transmitted between the two ends of the air gap, making the circuit require much more electricity and be much less cost-efficient.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A solar panel and a lamp are pictured together, with the lamp pointed at the solar panel, and electronic equipment connected to the solar panel.]
:[Caption] Security tip: Increase the security of your home power supply by installing an air gap.
{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-07-27T19:29:16Z

172.69.33.163:

Apparently, nobody knows what U+237C ⍼ means (https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html)
: For me it looks very like as designation of where electrical cable is burrowed. It should come with numbers near angle hands designating depth and offset from sign. But it just a guess, of course [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.221|141.101.76.221]] 05:30, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

: There are at least four people on (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31012865) who claim to have seen the symbol in the wild: German/Dutch proof by contradiction, diode with a gate, Finnish proofreaders mark indicating when and how to split a word, and indicating which way EM waves are polarized --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.180|162.158.62.180]] 11:42, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

: I think that is "larry potter" as the lightning symbol, and the L comes from the L shape the lightning is over imo. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.191|172.70.34.191]] 14:47, 14 April 2022 (UTC)Bumpf

Can someone add a column where we try to crowdsource a description for the "mathematical use of symbol" ?

I'm curious what those symbols actually mean, and the unicode titles don't give that much information.

I do not doubt that have enough math geeks on here to find the answer to most of then :-D

Thanks!
[[User:Flekkie|Flekkie]] ([[User talk:Flekkie|talk]]) 01:20, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

i agree w Flekkie's comment
[[User:Blue in real life|Blue in real life]] ([[User talk:Blue in real life|talk]]) 02:27, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

If you make edits, please don't immediately delete all of mine because you think yours are better. It shows you conflicting edits for a reason. Some explanations are nonsensical, like defining a smash product as the "result of dividing two product spaces." The smash product is specifically the quotient of the underlying spaces of two pointed spaces where points in the product spaces are identified if they contain either labeled point as an element. Other claims are simply mistaken. For instance, the ≝ symbol is used to introduce a definition, not to declare that the definition has been achieved in a proof. The claim that "A union on smash product appears to be one where the sets are nit isomorphic" is totally meaningless. The symbol ⩩ is not merely decorative but is intended as a supplemental math symbol like all the others. I couldn't track down its purpose. The APL symbol description somehow never bothers to mention APL. This is all very cursory, which is fine, but just please don't delete my work while doing it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.5|172.70.130.5]] 04:15, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:I'm done, page is yours. I'd been working on it for an hour and every time I tried to save, a new edit came in. I did my best to reconcile them but by the fifth I just saved a copy of what was there and pasted mine over. I immediately got to work on recovering what I had pasted over as indicated in the edit comment and like I said, I'm done. I've merged to the best of my ability and have no more interest in this page.
:--[[User:FrankHightower|FrankHightower]] ([[User talk:FrankHightower|talk]]) 04:37, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
::I'm very sorry if I was one of those who stepped on your edits. I was originally trying to fix brokenness in the table. ^^^^^ ≫ ^ is the symbol for preferring many small edits over not saving your work often in a batch-mode collaborative editing environment. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 04:55, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:::since adding a column means adding a cell to every row, I thought it would be easier/better to put something in each cell. I wasn't expecting this --[[User:FrankHightower|FrankHightower]] ([[User talk:FrankHightower|talk]]) 18:12, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:: Don't worry about it, idk why I was so upset. It's that feeling you get when you click "save" and then suddenly it's gone. If anything's still missing, I'll just restore it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.106|172.70.131.106]] 05:41, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

I wish we had as much research on ⧍ and ⩩ as we have for ⍼. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 05:16, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: No clue what those are for. The first is a triangle with serifs? The triangle symbol (not capital delta) is often used in geometry to represent a triangle, but why in the world would you give a geometric figure serifs? I think I may have seen the triple cross-hatch somewhere, but I couldn't say where. Maybe it's the chess commentary symbol for being mated so badly it's embarrassing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.106|172.70.131.106]] 05:41, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I'm guessing what must have happened is the [https://decodeunicode.org/en/u+2A00 code page in question] was filled in by a typographer with more graphic design than mathematical experience, who likely added made-up "missing" symbols as the design-logical extensions of the symbols they were given, presumably to be on the safe side in case they had what appeared to be a possibly incomplete set. There are some awesome ones in there, like "⩐" TEST-TUBE PARTHENOGENISIS, and "⨻" THE ILLUMINATI IS DEAD. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.171|162.158.255.171]] 06:07, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: The ⧍ character has the same origin as ⍼, namely that they were both part of ISO/IEC TR 9573-13 with no explanation given. You can find it in some old charts online, like here: [https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-MathML/chap6/ISOAMSBe2.html], under `trisb`/codepoint E27E. [[User:Ionchy|ionchy]] ([[User talk:Ionchy|talk]]) 07:03, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I am sure that I have seen maps with such a symbol used for campsites, and without the bold strokes of the top sides as the National Park Service draws it. I haven't found any yet, but I have found one without the center base -- like _/\_ -- on a 1960s era map. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 07:07, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: As for ⩩, the character just before it in the Unicode code chart [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2A00.pdf], ⩨, has the text "identical and parallel to", so it's possible the horizontal lines in this one also means "identical to". I don't know what three vertical lines mean though, and in Unicode there's three (!) different characters with similar glyphs: U+2980 ⦀, U+2AF4 ⫴, and U+2AFC ⫼. [[User:Ionchy|ionchy]] ([[User talk:Ionchy|talk]]) 07:28, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: Identical both vertically and horizontally? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 07:32, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I found one suggestion that the dodecathorp should be used to refer to very big numbers...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.223|172.69.79.223]] 08:33, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: Three vertical bars means "similar to", so that'd be identical to and similar... to. OK that doesn't work. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.75|172.70.230.75]] 04:05, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

Apparently, Randall reads Hacker News like the rest of us... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.141|172.68.110.141]] 09:38, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Did you know that ⩩ was a logo of the Romanian fascist group Iron Guard?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.238.67|172.68.238.67]]
:Wow. "Saint Michael's Cross, the ({{w|Iron Guard}}) movement's symbol designed by Codreanu." I prefer the 4x4 tic-tac-toe board.... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.181|172.69.33.181]] 12:29, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Not that I have special knowledge (above aspiring-polymath level), but for "Rightwards Arrow Above Reverse Almost Equal To" and its leftwards sibling (the current suggestion being that it's an assignment of an approximation) I'd posit that it's a directional approximation specific to chaotic systems. For a precise a=b in a system where small changes to one side can effect large changes in the other, uncertainty or deliberate approximation of either of them ''may'' still map well enough to the value across the desired ≈ relationship, but that is only acceptably so unidirectionally. Hence (and I wouldn't know which would be the better convention) the arrow depicts the direction of either the dependence or the more dominant option, whichever it is that almost-ties the values tovether. (I also really ought to check what the ''reverse'' almost-equal-to sign is used for, it could be radically different from the 'forwards' version in some field, for which the directionality might even be trivially understood by context.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.36|172.70.91.36]] 11:25, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:Any sources? I found several papers on the topic you describe naively searching on those keywords, and while they are packed with notation, I couldn't find any arrows or approximate equality signs, let alone any sort of composition of the two. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.51|172.69.33.51]] 12:47, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
::No sources except in my (above-IP's, just to confirm) head. It's just something I ''might'' use it for, if let loose on a whiteboard for some reason, not something for which I've seen it used. It's a situation I've encountered often enough in my own amateur numerical analysis, but under self-taught/self-experimenting circumstances where I was probably just (inefficiently) re-inventing the wheel. And if I've been commenting code (itself strings of conventional syntactical symbols), as a usually futile attempt to remind future-me what I was doing, I would have been using longhand to describe what I was either basing my functions on or actually asking them to test... So no surprise that a paper-search didn't match much of my description. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 14:39, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

No idea how Randall got that wrong, but U+2A50 (⩐) is totally catching a snowflake with your tongue. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.141|172.68.110.141]] 15:02, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

While cute, I think it'd probably be better to remove the Unicode letters in the chart for the second hashtag (⩩). Not only would it mess up screenreaders, but it doesn't actually look like the image in question. Perhaps it would be better to upload an image and give it some alt text to describe it.
--[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 00:12, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:Could the strange-looking characters be made to look like the image in question using Unicode combining diacritical marks? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:31, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:A screen reader should read it as "Double struck H, Double struck a, double struck s..." etc. which seems a pretty accurate readout to me --18:12, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

== Calming down - Sigma long S ==

Calming down may refer to the pronounciation of the Letter Esh https://en.m.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Esh_(letter)

"Other links: XKCD #2606 mentions ⍼ and its Explain XKCD entry cites this post" yooo people the blog post now mentions us! Someone put this in trivia or something [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:01, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:Ah, yes, so the article we reference that we think Randall references has now referenced both him and us and so now we ought to reference that? [[978: Citogenesis|Seems perfectly Ok to me!]] :-p
:(P.S. Hello to that author. You should just be glad that you're not Wikipedia... ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 11:19, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
::The blog author is [[User:Ionchy]], who has contributed to the discussion above. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 13:47, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

Any of these that are particularly obscure and someone doesn't find and post here what its actual existing use is will be impossible to research later, as people talking about this comic will end up dominating the results of any attempt to search for the symbol.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.27|108.162.216.27]] 00:08, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

Regarding the angzarr symbol, ⍼ - I can't remember exactly where I got this idea from, but someone might be able to check it out. I think it might have been a symbol from WW2 to enable 3-D coordinates to be mapped onto 2-D paper. It might have been used in the study of 3-D trajectories. The right-angle in the image represents the X and Y axes. The zig-zag represents the z axis. The arrow pointing downwards or outwards towards the viewer represents the 3rd dimension. This symbol was placed in the z axis to indicate that this axis which continues in a straight line from the y axis below the x axis, is not the negative y axis, but the z axis. Regarding the triangle symbol, ⧍ - this is the delta math symbol, e.g. https://sciencing.com/delta-math-6678201.html - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 19:08, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

== GPT-3's ideas about ⍼ ==

Responses from GPT-3's davinci-002 model with https://beta.openai.com/playground default settings in bold:

:What does the symbol ⍼ mean?

:;The symbol ⍼, known as a "diaeresis" or "umlaut", is used in some languages to indicate that the two vowels it is placed over are to be pronounced separately, rather than as a single vowel sound.

:No, it isn't either of those.

:;It means "integral" in APL.

:Bolches yarboclos atte PAOK

:Well, that's a better guess, but also wrong.

:;It's actually a symbol used in chemistry to indicate that two atoms are bonded together covalently.

:No, that's a colon, :. Try again?

:;It's actually a symbol used in physics to indicate that two particles are interacting.

:That seems very plausible! What is your source?

:;The symbol ⍼ is actually used in mathematics to indicate that a function is continuous.

:In math, might it indicate an indefinitely-valued relation over a finite domain.

:;I.e. for the domain {1,2,3,4} the relation "is even" would be symbolized:

:;⍼ 2 4 2 4 2 ...
:;The symbol ⍼ is not typically used to indicate an indefinitely-valued relation over a finite domain.

:More like, the relation "nearest other evens" for the domain {1, 2, 3, 4} would map to, in order, {{0,2}, {0, 4}, {2, 4}, {2, 6}}. But that's not an indefinitely-valued relation or a finite domain, as each integer maps to exactly two other integers.
:;The symbol ⍼ is not typically used to indicate an indefinitely-valued relation over a finite domain.

:Well it doesn't indicate that a function is continuous, either. So what does it actually mean?

:;The symbol ⍼ is actually used in set theory to indicate that a function is one-to-one.

:No. I liked your physics idea, meaning two particles interacting.

:;But that's not it either.

:;The symbol ⍼ is actually used in logic to indicate that a formula is valid.

:How? Give an example?

:;The symbol ⍼ can be used to indicate that a formula is valid if the following holds:
:;⍼(p ∨ q) ↔ (⍼p ∨ ⍼q)

:;In other words, the formula is valid if the statement "p or q" is true if and only if the statement "p is valid or q is valid" is true.

:What are p and q there?

:;P and Q can be any formulas. So, for example, if P is the formula "x+1=2" and Q is the formula "x=1", then the formula "P or Q" is true if and only if either "x+1=2" is valid or "x=1" is valid.

:What does it mean for a formula to be valid?

:;A formula is valid if it is true in all possible circumstances. So, for example, the formula "x+1=2" is valid if and only if, no matter what value x takes, the statement "x+1=2" is always true.

:Is the formula "x+1=2" valid?

:;No, the formula "x+1=2" is not valid, because there are some values of x for which the statement "x+1=2" is not true. For example, if x=0, then "x+1=2" is not true.

:So is ⍼x>x-1 true?

:;No, the formula "x+1=2" is not valid, because there are some values of x for which the statement "x+1=2" is not true. For example, if x=0, then "x+1=2" is not true.

:Is the formula "x>x-1" valid?

:;Yes, the formula "x>x-1" is valid, because no matter what value x takes, the statement "x>x-1" is always true.

:What if x is infinity?

:;The formula "x>x-1" is still valid if x is infinity, because no matter what value x takes, the statement "x>x-1" is always true.

:Is infinity minus one less than infinity?

:;No, infinity minus one is not less than infinity, because infinity minus one is still infinity.

:So how can the formula "x>x-1" be valid?

:;The formula "x>x-1" is valid because it is true in all possible circumstances. So, for example, if x=0, then "x>x-1" is true because 0 is greater than 0-1. If x=1, then "x>x-1" is true because 1 is greater than 1-1. If x=infinity, then "x>x-1" is still true because infinity is greater than infinity minus one.

:Is infinity greater than infinity minus one?

:;No, infinity is not greater than infinity minus one, because infinity minus one is still infinity.

:You just contradicted yourself.

:;No, I didn't contradict myself. The formula "x>x-1" is valid because it is true in all possible circumstances. So, for example, if x=0, then "x>x-1" is true because 0 is greater than 0-1. If x=1, then "x>x-1" is true because 1 is greater than 1-1. If x=infinity, then "x>x-1" is still true because infinity is greater than infinity minus one.

:That last sentence is a direct contradiction of your previous statement.

:;No, it's not a contradiction. The formula "x>x-1" is valid because it is true in all possible circumstances. So, for example, if x=0, then "x>x-1" is true because 0 is greater than 0-1. If x=1, then "x>x-1" is true because 1 is greater than 1-1. If x=infinity, then "x>x-1" is still true because infinity is greater than infinity minus one.

Oh, well. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.26|172.70.211.26]] 00:38, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

== Enter with Alt ==
how to type these with Alt+numpad?
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.67|172.70.250.67]] 16:19, 11 May 2022 (UTC)
:On Windows, you mean? Use regedit.exe to create a registry key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER of type REG_SZ called EnableHexNumpad, and set its value to 1, and then reboot. Then you can enter Unicode symbols by holding down the Alt key and typing the plus sign on the numeric keypad followed by the hexadecimal character value. For some reason this doesn't work in Internet Explorer, but does in Chrome, Firefox, and most other applications. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.52|172.70.211.52]] 04:43, 12 May 2022 (UTC)

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-25T16:33:33Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ the series of sine waves summing to a square wave aren't decryption keys, and the point of that t-shirt is that a key's scarcity is fictitious

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FAUX VECTOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time with a series of Physics Cost-Saving Tips. It also continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science.

It suggests four ways to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. For instance getting free electrons from a conductor or replacing regular {{w|helium}} with {{w|Isotopes_of_helium#Helium-2_(diproton)|helium 2}}. None of these would provide any real advantages even when possible to implement, and could even be very dangerous, see below in the [[#Table of tips|table]]. Obtaining money from physics experiments was also described in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

In the title text, Randall claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons because of the instant massive explosions caused by its radioactive decay (that helium-2 decays fast is mentioned in the comic, with a joke suggestion to use it quickly). He jokes that the balloons violated a local ordinance. {{w|Gas balloon|Helium balloons}} are often given out at county fairs and similar events, but they are filled with {{w|helium-4}} and therefore inert (a very small part will be {{w|Helium-3}}, 2 ppm). A balloon filled with helium-2 is a practical impossibility because of its nanosecond half-life. Assuming a 12-inch diameter balloon at 1 atmosphere of pressure, the balloon-bomb would have a yield of roughly 17 {{w|TNT equivalent|tons of TNT equivalent}}.
{{cot|[[User:SqueakSquawk4|Calculations]]}}
{{User:SqueakSquawk4}} 
{{cob}}
The smallest nuclear bomb, the {{w|W54}}, had a yield of between 10 and 1,000 tons of TNT. The largest conventional bomb, the {{w|GBU-43/B MOAB}}, has a yield of roughly 11 tons. The {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was roughly equivalent to 500 tons. So, while the helium-2 balloon bomb would be larger than all conventional bombs, it would still be smaller than most nukes. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with any surviving local authorities, so merely being banned is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely if it weren't for the absurd impossibility of the scenario.

===Table of tips===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|[[File:Torque animation.gif|frame|right|Relationship of pseudovectors {{w|torque}} ('''τ''') and {{w|angular momentum}} ('''L''') to "regular" Euclidian vectors {{w|Position (vector)|position}} ('''r'''), {{w|force}} ('''F'''), and linear {{w|momentum}} ('''p''') in an oscillatory rotating system. Not shown is the {{w|centripetal force}} of the spoke's {{w|Tension (physics)|tension}}, a Euclidian vector towards the axle proportional to linear momentum, converting it to angular momentum.]]

The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct from regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, in three dimensions, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector, labeled '''L''' in the comic, {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude equal to the angular velocity of rotation '''ω''' multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} '''I'''. (The comic's diagram is drawn according to very uncommon {{w|Right-hand rule#Coordinates|left-handed coordinates}} instead of the standard {{w|right-hand rule}}. Randall is right-handed.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1tcyEo2tQk&t=28s])
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two ionized hydrogen atoms, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosions mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows four rows each with a drawing and an explanation text belonging to each drawing. They alternate between having the drawing on the left and the right side. Above the first row is a large header:]
:<big>Physics Cost-Saving Tips</big>

:[The first row has a drawing of a diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle. It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega).
:I
:L
:ω

:[To the right of the diagram is this text:]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[The second row shows a square wave with three maxima between four minima. Below the central maxima and the two nearby minima are five arrows pointing down (two bending left two right one straight down). Each arrow points to one of five sine waves below the square wave, in three rows, with different wavelengths. The one with the shortest wavelength is the top left, then the wavelength becomes longer for the one to the right and even longer for each of the next two, in the next row with the final very long wave with longest wavelength at the bottom, with the straight down arrow pointing to that. The long waves at the bottom has the same frequency as the square wave.]

:[To the left of the waves is this text:]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[The third row shows two atomic models. The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (white with a "-" sign, small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines). The right model is drawn similarly but without the black neutrons.]
:+ +
:- -
:+ +
:- -

:[The atoms have labels below and there is an extra message for the second model:]
:4He
:2He
:(Decays fast- use quickly)

:[To the right of the models is this text:]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[The fourth row shows a flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of four small circles with "-" sign inside them and ten lines looking like parts of circles, all on the top face towards the far end.]
:- - - -

:[A bending arrow goes from a label above the bar and points to one of the circles. And on the forward-facing side of the bar there is a label.]
:Arrow: Free electrons
:Label: Iron

:[To the left of the bar is this text:]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2365: Messaging Systems

2022-07-25T03:11:17Z

172.69.33.163: Undo revision 290660 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2365
| date = September 28, 2020
| title = Messaging Systems
| image = messaging_systems.png
| titletext = SMS is just the worst, but I'm having trouble convincing people to adopt my preferred system, TLS IRC with a local server and a patched DOSBox gateway running in my mobile browser.
}}

==Explanation==
Messaging systems suffer from the {{w|network effect}}, as in order to communicate, both parties need to be using the same system.
Though relatively ancient by modern standards, {{w|SMS}} is supported by almost every mobile device (unless you're using a {{w|kosher phone}} or still on a {{w|DynaTAC}}) that has a phone number attached, which means if you want to send a message to someone, but aren't sure if you have a messaging protocol in common, you can be sure at least they have SMS.

The comic mentions many other communication systems, which offer various advantages in either security ({{w|end to end encryption}}) and or a bunch of general improvements filed under the label "vaguely modern", such as longer character limits and the ability to share media such as images in-service.

The messaging systems are shown in a {{w|Venn Diagram}}, with the categories corresponding to these three advantages. The intersections between the categories are very minimal: there are a few systems that have both E2E encryption and are modern, but no intersections with "supported by everyone", and SMS is the only system in that category. So when choosing a method of communication, you're usually faced with a compromise.

The title text proposes an alternative, absurd mingling of technologies in the vein of [[1636: XKCD Stack]]. IRC is Internet Relay Chat, a similarly antiquated messaging service that may also never die, as suggested in [[1782: Team Chat]]. {{w|Transport Layer Security}} (TLS) is a layer of networking software that provides encrypted communication. {{w|DOSBox}} is an emulator that recreates the operating environment of {{w|MS-DOS}}; part of the absurdity is that DOSBox is intended almost solely for video games. Additionally, this hodgepodge of technologies is running in a mobile browser, instead of a dedicated server or machine.

Various other comics have referenced the issue of chat services, including [[1810: Chat Systems]], [[1254: Preferred Chat System]], and [[1782: Team Chat]].

=== Vaguely Modern ===
'''Slack'''
* {{w|Slack (software)|Slack}} is a workplace messaging service that offers the ability for administrators to create channels in order to organize the discussion. It is asynchronous, which means that conversations can occur out of time, hours apart from each other. It also keeps track of every message, and everything in a public channel stays there forever for everyone to see. It is not encrypted and has been moving towards being less privacy-focused for end-users over the years as corporate demand for employee surveillance has prompted the company to offer ever more invasive services to administrators. Overall, it is a popular service with some large companies and non-profit organisations but does not yet have universal adoption.

'''Facebook Messenger'''
* {{w|Facebook Messenger}} is {{w|Facebook}}'s messaging app for phones, but not everyone has a Facebook account, or uses Facebook regularly.

'''Hangouts'''
* {{w|Google Hangouts}} is a messaging service that can be accessed through the online Gmail client, as a separate web page and a standalone app for the phone. Theoretically, that means everybody has access to it, but modern usage patterns mean that most people do not use the attached web client and don't bother downloading the app. It allows users to make group or 1-on-1 voice or video calls, upload images, videos, links, and other media along with text messaging.

'''Discord'''
* {{w|Discord (software)|Discord}} is a communications program that offers both direct messages and "servers", membership groups with a variety of voice and text channels. Discord was initially designed to serve the needs of online gaming communities, but is now used by many other groups.

'''Various DMs'''
* A {{w|Personal message|DM}} (direct message) is a private message between two or more users. The term DM originated from {{w|Twitter}}, but is now broadly applied to any user-to-user messaging feature within a larger service.

=== E2E Encrypted ===
{{w|End-to-end encryption}} refers to messaging systems where only the communicating users can read the messages posted. In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including {{w|telecom provider}}s, {{w|internet provider}}s, and even the provider of the communication service – from being able to access the {{w|cryptographic key}}s needed to decrypt the conversation.

'''PGP Email'''
*{{w|Pretty Good Privacy|PGP}} ("Pretty Good Privacy") is an encryption protocol for privacy and authentication developed in 1991. PGP can be used for signing, encrypting, and decrypting data. It is used to ensure the validity of the nature of the sender of the message (i.e., to make sure you got the email from the sender and not from someone else pretending to be someone else with malicious intent). PGP was featured in [[1181: PGP]].

'''Various Obscure Projects'''
*Randall is probably referring to the multitude of projects similar to those listed here that had end-to-end encryption but never went far.

'''Skype I Think'''
*{{w|Skype}} is a video conferencing service owned by Microsoft released in 2003; thus Randall does not consider Skype "modern". He is unsure if Skype is end-to-end encrypted or not. Skype used to be E2E encrypted, but that was changed and now {{w|Skype security|it does not have E2E encryption}}.

'''XMPP''' ('''Jabber + TLS''')
*{{w|XMPP}} (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), formerly named Jabber, is a communications protocol based on XML that was developed in 1999. The XMPP protocol could be used with {{w|Transport Layer Security}} (TLS) to have a secure communications service. The first IM service based on XMPP was {{w|Jabber.org}}. There are several XEPs (XMPP Extension Protocols).

=== Vaguely Modern & E2E Encrypted ===

'''Signal'''
*{{w|Signal (software)|Signal}} is an encrypted messaging service owned by the Signal Foundation a 501c3 nonprofit, popular among protesters and hackers who wish to remain anonymous. Signal allows for highly secure messaging and for messages to be deleted after a period of time.

'''iMessage'''
*{{w|iMessage}} is the instant messaging service for Apple devices. iMessage features end-to-end encryption; however, it only works between Apple devices, so users of Android devices are not able to receive or send messages through iMessage.

'''WhatsApp'''
*{{w|WhatsApp}} is a messaging service owned by Facebook. It has more than two billion users worldwide, according to the company's own information from February 2020.

=== Supported By Everyone ===
'''SMS'''
*{{w|SMS}} (Short Message Service) is a text-messaging service formally defined in the {{w|GSM}} standard in 1985 and first used in 1992. It limits messages to 160 characters, text-only. SMS has been extended at least twice, first by {{w|Multimedia Messaging Service|MMS}} (first used in 2002), which allows for "multimedia", including short videos, images and audio. MMS is also supported by most modern phones, but does not have any security features and is less powerful than other messaging apps, making it less modern.

:{{w|Rich Communication Services|RCS}} (Rich Communication Services) is a more modern protocol, aimed at replacing SMS and MMS protocols. RCS support has been slow to rollout among cellular carriers, due to their preference for proprietary implementations and monetizable usage tracking and/or gatekeeping. Like SMS and MMS, RCS is a federated network, wherein failure of one provider's systems is unlikely to result in a total system outage. The single-provider messaging networks of other widely used systems (such as those mentioned on this page) can experience system-wide outages that prevent all users from communicating via them at all; this has happened multiple times for both Signal and Discord, among others. For this reason, single-provider networks are intrinsically more prone to total system outages than federated networks.

:The long-standing interoperability of SMS+MMS networks is difficult (if not impossible) to match in terms of communicating with a maximum number of people, and maintaining functionality for other users when one provider experiences an outage.

==Transcript==

A Venn Diagram is shown, framed in a box. It has three components:

Vaguely Modern, E2E Encrypted, Supported By Everyone

'''Items Solely in the Vaguely Modern category are:'''

:Facebook Messenger, Hangouts, Discord, Various DMs

'''Items In both 'Vaguely Modern' and 'E2E Encrypted' categories are:'''

:Signal, iMessage, Whatsapp

'''Items Solely in the E2E Encrypted category are:'''

:PGP Email, Various Obscure Projects, Skype I think, XMPP and XMPP + XEP-0384: OMEMO

'''Items Solely in the 'Supported By Everyone' category is:'''

:SMS

All other categories are empty.

[Caption below the comic]: Why SMS refuses to die

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]
[[Category:Phones]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

2275: Coronavirus Name

2022-07-25T03:10:07Z

172.69.33.163: Undo revision 290710 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2275
| date = March 2, 2020
| title = Coronavirus Name
| image = coronavirus_name.png
| titletext = It's important to keep the spider from touching your face.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is the first comic in a long [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}. For several weeks in a row, all comics were related to this pandemic.

This is thus [[Randall|Randall's]] first take on the COVID-19 pandemic. As of the publication date (March 2, 2020), the pandemic had infected more than 90,000 people, and had caused more than 3,000 deaths.

Coronavirus is a category of viruses named for their appearance, which is similar to a halo or crown, and includes four different viruses which can cause the common cold in humans. However, the virus itself is not called COVID-19, but is called {{w|severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2}} (SARS-CoV-2). So calling the virus or disease "coronavirus" is like calling a specific strain of flu ''The Influenza virus''. However, since the new coronavirus is so hyped in the media it has attracted so much attention, so the name "coronavirus" has become associated with COVID-19, making it difficult to discuss other types of coronaviruses later on.

As of March 2, 2020, COVID-19 in China has a 20% hospitalization rate and a 2% death rate by current estimates, compared to a [https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-myths.html typical rate of around 0.1% for the flu in the US].

In this comic, researchers [[Ponytail]], [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are discussing that it is by now too late to try calling the disease its official name COVID-19, as the name coronavirus has stuck. [[Cueball]] reacts with dismay, since there are many other types of coronaviruses.

To illustrate that Cueball's complaint is excessively pedantic and inconsequential, Ponytail — rather than using a more real-world analogy — compares the coronavirus naming to a giant car-eating spider living on top of the skyscrapers of the town, which people similarly refer to generically as simply "The Spider," even though that is not the most technically-accurate name (it is technically a mutated ''{{w|Tigrosa annexa}}'' {{w|wolf spider}}). Everyone knows what you mean when you say "Coronavirus", as they do when you mention "The Spider".

The comic then goes on to poke fun at itself by treating Ponytail's example as a real concern, as [[Megan]] then asks if they should not also do something about the spider. But Ponytail and Cueball agree that they can only tackle one problem at a time, and coronavirus takes up all their time. Ponytail further notes that she simply began altering her route to circumvent the location where The Spider has taken up residence, as evidence that the Spider issue can be easily avoided, and is therefore not an immediate concern.

The title text references the health advice that people avoid touching their face with unwashed hands, in order to prevent infections that they picked up by touching things from entering their mucous membranes. (It's a lot easier for an infection to enter the body through the inside of your nose than your hands.) It is likewise quite important to keep the giant spider from touching your face, but for the dissimilar reason that it might bite and eat you.

Notably, the rename to COVID-19 did eventually catch on as the default description of the disease caused by "The Coronavirus" SARS-CoV2.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is carrying a box with biohazard symbols on it towards a desk where Ponytail (wearing safety glasses) is working on a laptop, across from Cueball (also wearing safety glasses) who is putting a test tube into a PCR machine. There's also a flask on the desk.]
:Ponytail: Feels like we missed the window for the "COVID-19" renaming. "Coronavirus" is just too catchy.
:Cueball: But it's not specific! There are a lot of coronaviruses.

:[In a frameless panel, Ponytail (still wearing safety glasses) is pointing at a screen or picture showing a modern city skyline with a large spider crawling across three of the high-rise buildings.]
:Ponytail: I think it's fine. It's like, you know the giant spider downtown that sits on the buildings and sometimes eats cars? I think ''technically'' it's a mutant ''T. annexa'' wolf spider, but everyone is just calling it "the spider" and we all know what they mean.

:[Back to the setting from the first panel. Megan is standing and Ponytail had turned towards her and Cueball has stepped back from the machine.]
:Megan: I've been meaning to ask, what's '''''with''''' that spider? Should we...do something?
:Ponytail: Honestly I've been too busy with the virus stuff to look into it-I just changed my commute to avoid Main St.
:Cueball: Yeah, that's fair. One thing at a time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Spiders]]

378: Real Programmers

2022-07-25T03:07:55Z

172.69.33.163: Undo revision 290716 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

{{comic
| number = 378
| date = February 1, 2008
| title = Real Programmers
| image = real_programmers.png
| titletext = Real programmers set the universal constants at the start such that the universe evolves to contain the disk with the data they want.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a satire on the idea of a {{w|Real Programmer}}. To quote Wikipedia "...the computer folklore term Real Programmer has come to describe the archetypical 'hardcore' programmer who eschews the modern languages and tools of the day in favour of more direct and efficient solutions—closer to the hardware." The implication is that modern programmers are coddled by today's tools of the trade, which eschew detailed understanding for simple workflows.

The first figure is writing a piece of code when another programmer ridicules him for using {{w|GNU nano}}. Nano is a {{w|text editor}} - a program often used to edit the source code of other programs. It is basic and relatively easy to use, even having instructions displayed prominently at the bottom of the screen. He goes on to say that "REAL" programmers use {{w|Emacs}}. {{w|GNU Emacs}} is a popular editor known for its vast profusion of features and extensions to perform all sorts of functions beyond simple text editing, and is widely regarded as one of the best examples of software that succeeds despite being fully overtaken by {{w|feature creep}}. The comic continues from here as a series of programmers state progressively more obscure or outdated methods, culminating in the final programmer who claims that "real" programmers use butterflies.

His description of his rather surreal programming method is ludicrously complicated and would require an absurd amount of knowledge and forethought to pull off, bordering on omniscience. In the final panel, the Emacs programmer claims that there's an Emacs code to do that.

The characters present progressively more "old school" solutions to the problem of editing code:
* Emacs and {{w|Vim (text editor)|Vim}} are both text editors still in relatively wide use, with complex user interfaces and a range of features. While useful, neither is particularly easy to get started using. This high barrier to entry is what limits them to the so-called "real programmers".
* {{w|ed (text editor)|ed}} is a {{w|line editor}}. While relatively simple, it is extremely awkward to use since it was designed primarily for use on a {{w|teleprinter}}, not a computer screen at all. It does not even display the file the user is editing!
* {{w|cat (Unix)|cat}} is a Unix program that concatenates and outputs the contents of files; it's usually run from a {{w|Unix shell}}, which allows its output to be written or appended to a file. It isn't intended as an editor at all but is convenient to display files. Actually editing files with it would be even less convenient than ed.
* Using a magnetized needle to flip bits on a hard drive requires nanometric precision and intuitive mastery of binary code, but in the early days of programming, people did use needles sometimes to fix bugs on {{w|Punched card|punched cards}}.

When the final character suggests the utterly surreal idea of using butterflies, he is referring to the {{w|Butterfly effect in popular culture|Butterfly effect}}, a "phenomenon whereby a minor change in circumstances can cause a large change in outcome" as illustrated in the short story {{w|A Sound of Thunder}}. The joke at this point relies on stretching the connection between the ideas of "difficult-to-use" and "requires detailed understanding of underlying principles," to suggest that not only do ''Real'' Programmers know everything about how computers work, but they know how to manipulate the ambient physical environment in elaborate ways to cause computers to do what they want, akin to performing {{w|trick shot}}s that accomplish feats of programming.

The fact that Emacs already has a command for this simply exacerbates the other programmers' frustration with modern coding tools. For reference, Emacs commands are usually referred to by the keyboard sequence required to activate them, such as "C-x M-c" (Control-x Meta-c (this would be typed by holding control and pressing x, releasing both, then holding alt and pressing c, then releasing both)), though this exact key sequence is a bit different from most Emacs commands. The butterfly programmer saying "Dammit, Emacs" plays on Emacs' notoriety for its kitchen sink design approach of including all of the features and options that anybody might ever conceivably want. For example, later versions of Emacs actually added a totally useless "M-x butterfly" command as an easter egg, in reference to this very comic: see the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtxhuX6ano YouTube demo].

The title text further suggests manipulating the {{w|Physical constant|universal constants}} in order to create a universe in which the required computer data will exist. Programming of this sort would require power and knowledge akin to the Abrahamic God.

According to the logic, the programmers shown may even represent the fulfillment of this master programmer's plan. The universe may have been designed in such a way that the programmer's ancestry would result in his parents, who would meet and have a child, who would learn to program and eventually find himself in a position where he undertakes the task of creating a program that fills the disk with the desired data. In tandem, of course, all of the people involved with creating and developing all the required hardware, software, raw materials, computer science, electricity, logic (etc., etc., etc.) would have to be part of the master plan. Put simply, it would probably be simpler just to use Emacs.

The use of a magnetized needle may also be a reference to the {{w|Apollo Guidance Computer|Apollo AGC guidance computer}}, whose instructions were physically written as patterns of wires looped around or through cylindrical magnets in order to record binary code.

This comic hints at the "{{w|editor wars}}," an ongoing debate of Vim and Emacs users over which of the two editors is better. The editor wars are mentioned again in [[1823: Hottest Editors]].

==Transcript==
:[A Cueball-like man sits at a computer, programming. Cueball stands behind him and looks over his shoulder.]
:Cueball: <code>nano</code>? Real Programmers use <code>emacs</code>.

:[Megan appears behind him.]
:Megan: Hey. Real Programmers use <code>vim</code>.

:[A second Cueball-like man appears behind her.]
:Ed Cueball: Well, Real Programmers use <code>ed</code>.

:[A third Cueball-like man appears behind him.]
:Cat Cueball: No, Real Programmers use <code>cat</code>.

:[Hairbun appears behind him.]
:Hairbun: Real Programmers use a magnetized needle and a steady hand.

:[A fourth Cueball-like man enters, facing them all. We see him facing the last two Cueball-like men and Hairbun.]
:Butterfly Cueball: Excuse me, but Real Programmers use butterflies.

:[A Cueball-like programmer is standing much like Butterfly Cueball except for holding out a butterfly in front of his computer. The butterfly flaps its wings.]
:Butterfly Cueball (narration within the panel, not diegetic to the scene): They open their hands and let the delicate wings flap once.

:[The next two panels are smaller, and two sets of narrative text are written to span respectively above and below both panels. The first panel is the Cueball-like programmer with the butterfly and above him four curved arrows pointing up or down. The second panel shows the upper atmosphere, with large clouds far below and the earth even further down. Also here are shown seven of the same type of arrows.]
:Butterfly Cueball (narration above the panels): The disturbances ripple outward, changing the flow of the eddy currents in the upper atmosphere.
:Butterfly Cueball (narration below the panels): These cause momentary pockets of higher-pressure air to form,

:[The next two panels are also partial height, leaving room for narration spanning above both panels. The first panel shows the atmosphere, again with clouds, and four parallel lines coming from above, and then they begin to merge, getting quite close at the bottom of the panel. The second panel shows the four lines merging on a driver platter.]
:Butterfly Cueball (narration above the panels): Which act as lenses that deflect incoming cosmic rays, focusing them to strike the drive platter and flip the desired bit.

:[All the programmers who have commented so far stand in the order they have commented facing the last Cueball-like man, who slaps his forehead.]
:Cueball: Nice. 'Course, there's an emacs command to do that.
:Cat Cueball: Oh yeah! Good ol' <code>C-x M-c M-butterfly</code>...
:Butterfly Cueball: Dammit, Emacs.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Emacs]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

2276: Self-Isolate

2022-07-25T03:06:54Z

172.69.33.163: Undo revision 290713 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2276
| date = March 4, 2020
| title = Self-Isolate
| image = self_isolate.png
| titletext = Turns out I've been "practicing social distancing" for years without even realizing it was a thing!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is the second comic in a row in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is watching television and hears a suggestion that people may need to "self-isolate." This refers to the practice of {{w|isolation (health care)|isolating}} infected individuals, to keep the disease from spreading. If the pandemic grows more severe, going out in large crowds could also be discouraged, to avoid being infected by those around you.

According to the [https://www.hhs.gov/answers/public-health-and-safety/what-is-the-difference-between-isolation-and-quarantine/index.html HHS], both quarantine and isolation help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but they are different. Quarantine is for well people who might have been exposed to see if they become sick. Isolation is for sick people to keep them from infecting healthy people. So the suggestion for self-isolation means that sick people should stay away from healthy people.

Cueball's response to this advice is that he's "been practicing for this moment [his] whole life". xkcd frequently refers to social awkwardness, introversion, and difficulty with interpersonal interactions. Cueball (likely representing [[Randall]] himself) appears to find spending time in public and with large groups trying. It's implied that he prefers to spend time alone (or possibly with small groups of family and close friends) rather than going out. The joke is that this tendency is often seen as unhealthy and alienating, but in the case of a pandemic, actually becomes quite valuable. Cueball seems to take an odd sort of pride in the fact that he's skilled at remaining alone and uninfected, while more social people would be in danger.

The comic image is a link to [https://web.archive.org/web/20200305015204/https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1235319133585248259 one tweet] in a thread of tweets about COVID-19 by [https://twitter.com/kakape @kakape], a science journalist according to their Twitter bio, which says "Social distancing may mean staying further apart from each other physically in coming weeks. We should compensate by caring even more about each other than usually, because we are, of course, all in this together." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200305015137/https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1235312559324114951 beginning of thread]).

In the title text, Cueball continues to be proud of his introversion, claiming that he has been "practicing social distancing" for much of his life.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in an armchair watching television. A zigzag line from the TV indicates that the text is a voice from the TV.]
:Voice from television: Experts are saying people may need to "self-isolate" to combat the virus.

:[A slim beat panel with Cueball sitting silent in the armchair.]

:[Zoomed in on Cueball in the armchair. A starburst on the right border indicates the voice from an off-panel person.]
:Cueball: ... I've been practicing for this moment my whole life.
:Off-panel voice: I don't think that's—
:Cueball: ''Quick, make plans and watch how fast I cancel!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

[[Category:COVID-19]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-24T04:39:44Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ same paragraph

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. None of them would provide any real advantages, even when possible to implement. It continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Saving money from science experiments was also described in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct alternatives to regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector (labeled 'L' in the comic) {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude proportional to the angular velocity ('ω') of rotation multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} (‘I’).
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects are exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two protons, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

In the title text [[Randall]] claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons. Maybe not so strange due to the instant massive plasma explosions caused by the radioactive decay of the light helium. He jokes that this, "violated some local ordinance or something." Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and other similar events, but they are filled with helium-4, and therefore inert. If a balloon was filled with helium-2, as the title text suggests, the results would be immediately explosive, comparable to 2,000 kg of {{w|TNT}}. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with local authorities, so being banned from the fair is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely, if it weren't for the sub-nanosecond fuse length rendering the scenario absurdly impossible. Two kilotons of TNT is a lot of explosive power. For comparison, the {{w|AIR-2 Genie}} nuclear air-to-ground rocket was 1.5 kilotons, {{w|Little Boy|the bomb dropped on Hiroshima}} was ~15 kilotons, and the {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was between 0.3 and 1.1 kilotons. This would make the helium-2 balloon-bomb the most powerful human-made non-nuclear explosion ever, but still smaller than most nuclear weapons.

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-24T04:37:59Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. None of them would provide any real advantages, even when possible to implement. It continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Saving money from science experiments was also described in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct alternatives to regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector (labeled 'L' in the comic) {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude proportional to the angular velocity ('ω') of rotation multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} (‘I’).
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects are exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two protons, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

In the title text [[Randall]] claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons. Maybe not so strange due to the instant massive plasma explosions caused by the radioactive decay of the light helium. He jokes that this, "violated some local ordinance or something." Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and other similar events, but they are filled with helium-4, and therefore inert. If a balloon was filled with helium-2, as the title text suggests, the results would be immediately explosive, comparable to 2,000 kg of {{w|TNT}}. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with local authorities, so being banned from the fair is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely, if it weren't for the sub-nanosecond fuse length rendering the scenario absurdly impossible.

Two kilotons of TNT is a lot of explosive power. For comparison, the {{w|AIR-2 Genie}} nuclear air-to-ground rocket was 1.5 kilotonnes, {{w|Little Boy|the bomb dropped on hiroshima}} was ~15 kilotonnes, and the {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was between 0.3 and 1.1 kilotonnes. This would make the Helium-2 balloon-bomb the most powerful human-made non-nuclear explosion ever, but still smaller than most nuclear weapons.

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-24T04:36:39Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ typo

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. None of them would provide any real advantages, even when possible to implement. It also continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Saving money from science experiments like this was also mentioned in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct alternatives to regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector (labeled 'L' in the comic) {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude proportional to the angular velocity ('ω') of rotation multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} (‘I’).
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects are exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two protons, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

In the title text [[Randall]] claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons. Maybe not so strange due to the instant massive plasma explosions caused by the radioactive decay of the light helium. He jokes that this, "violated some local ordinance or something." Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and other similar events, but they are filled with helium-4, and therefore inert. If a balloon was filled with helium-2, as the title text suggests, the results would be immediately explosive, comparable to 2,000 kg of {{w|TNT}}. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with local authorities, so being banned from the fair is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely, if it weren't for the sub-nanosecond fuse length rendering the scenario absurdly impossible.

Two kilotons of TNT is a lot of explosive power. For comparison, the {{w|AIR-2 Genie}} nuclear air-to-ground rocket was 1.5 kilotonnes, {{w|Little Boy|the bomb dropped on hiroshima}} was ~15 kilotonnes, and the {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was between 0.3 and 1.1 kilotonnes. This would make the Helium-2 balloon-bomb the most powerful human-made non-nuclear explosion ever, but still smaller than most nuclear weapons.

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-24T04:36:09Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ reorg per convention

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. None of them would provide any real advantages, even when possible to implement. It also continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Saving money from science experiments like this was also mentioned in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct alternatives to regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector (labeled 'L' in the comic) {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude proportional to the angular velocity ('ω') of rotation multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} (‘I’).
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects are exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two protons, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

In the title text [[Randall]] claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons. Maybe not so strange due to the instant massive plasma explosions caused by the radioactive decay of the light helium. He jokes that this, "violated some local ordinance or something." Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and other similar events, but they are filled with helium-4, and therefore inert. If a balloon was filled with helium-2, as the title text suggests, the results would be immediately explosive, comparable to 2,000 kg of {{w|TNT}}. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with local authorities, so being banned from the fair is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely, if it weren't for the sub-nanosecond fuse length rendering the scenario absurdly impossible.

Two kilotons of TNT is a lot of explosive power. For comparison, the {{w|AIR-2 Genie}} nuclear air-to-ground rocket was 1.5 kilotonnes, {{w|Little Boy|the bomb dropped on hiroshima}} was ~15 kilotonnes, and the {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was between 0.3 and 1.1 kilotonnes. This would make the Helium-2 balloon-bomb the most powerful human-made non-nuclear explosion ever, but still smaller than most nuclear weapons.

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-21T00:11:02Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ better ref

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

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

In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions that her company spends a lot on chemicals for which you can find formulas online. She suggests assembling chemicals from atoms "bought in bulk," holding a sheet of paper with the chemical formula for {{w|nitrobenzene}} and its component elements listed with prices like a {{w|bill of materials}}.

While in-house {{w|chemical synthesis}} is sometimes cost effective, usually it is not, because end users are unable to leverage the {{w|economies of scale}} inherent in bulk manufacturing by specialist industrial firms.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880393/] Producing chemicals from their constituent atoms is difficult, time-consuming, requires expensive equipment, and is often fraught with peril.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwW2owNWgc] Nitrobenzene is an excellent example because it is extremely toxic and its synthesis is highly exothermic, making it one of the most dangerous syntheses in the chemical industry.[https://www.icheme.org/media/10339/xiii-paper-36.pdf] Such issues answer [[Cueball]]'s question as to why more places don't manufacture their own chemicals. The characters' naivety gives rise to the humor of the comic. Big Molecule is an [[2130: Industry Nicknames|industry nickname like Big Oil or Big Pharma]].

The title text refers to the fact that many people believe that "kids these days" don't do enough work or are spoiled. Randall has expressed that he dislikes statements like these in [[2165: Millennials|previous comics]].

Today's comic premise may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in a single molecule] by modifying its bonds. Or it may also be completely unrelated.

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

:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Megan holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!
:[The paper reads as follows. The illegible items appear to be prices.]
:C6H5NO2
:Carbon 6 $[illegible]
:Hydrogen 5 $[illegible]
:Nitrogen 1 $[illegible]
:Oxygen 2 $[illegible]
:Total 14 $[illegible]

:[Cueball still standing. Megan walking off-panel to the right]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-21T00:07:51Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ subject verb agreement

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

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

In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions that her company spends a lot on chemicals for which you can find formulas online. She suggests assembling chemicals from atoms "bought in bulk," holding a sheet of paper with the chemical formula for {{w|nitrobenzene}} and its component elements listed with prices like a {{w|bill of materials}}.

While in-house {{w|chemical synthesis}} is sometimes cost effective, usually it is not, because end users are unable to leverage the {{w|economies of scale}} inherent in bulk manufacturing by specialist industrial firms.[https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/are-medicinal-chemists-taking-it-too-easy] Producing chemicals from their constituent atoms is difficult, time-consuming, requires expensive equipment, and is often fraught with peril.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwW2owNWgc] Nitrobenzene is an excellent example because it is extremely toxic and its synthesis is highly exothermic, making it one of the most dangerous syntheses in the chemical industry.[https://www.icheme.org/media/10339/xiii-paper-36.pdf] Such issues answer [[Cueball]]'s question as to why more places don't manufacture their own chemicals. The characters' naivety gives rise to the humor of the comic. Big Molecule is an [[2130: Industry Nicknames|industry nickname like Big Oil or Big Pharma]].

The title text refers to the fact that many people believe that "kids these days" don't do enough work or are spoiled. Randall has expressed that he dislikes statements like these in [[2165: Millennials|previous comics]].

Today's comic premise may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in a single molecule] by modifying its bonds. Or it may also be completely unrelated.

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

:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Megan holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!
:[The paper reads as follows. The illegible items appear to be prices.]
:C6H5NO2
:Carbon 6 $[illegible]
:Hydrogen 5 $[illegible]
:Nitrogen 1 $[illegible]
:Oxygen 2 $[illegible]
:Total 14 $[illegible]

:[Cueball still standing. Megan walking off-panel to the right]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:28:15Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ trim

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

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

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} to blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead.

A medical doctor would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun. Cueball's apparent attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text has Cueball pointing out that mistakenly drinking saline out of the bag is better than putting Capri Sun into patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of his incompetence. The security personnel apprehending him are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences.

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Created by SOMEONE W.H.O. IS NOT A DOCTOR - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline". The figure is surrounded by doctors and hospital staff who appear to include Ponytail and Megan, all of whom are looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:23:16Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ reword

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

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

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} to blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead of salty like saline.

A medical doctor would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun. Cueball's apparent attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text has Cueball pointing out that mistakenly drinking saline out of the bag is better than putting Capri Sun into patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of his incompetence. The security personnel apprehending him are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences.

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Created by SOMEONE W.H.O. IS NOT A DOCTOR - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline". The figure is surrounded by doctors and hospital staff who appear to include Ponytail and Megan, all of whom are looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:21:52Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ pronoun

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

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

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} to blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead of salty like saline.

A medical doctor would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun. Cueball's apparent attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text has Cueball pointing out that mistakenly drinking saline out of the bag is better than putting Capri Sun into patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of his incompetence. The security personnel mentioned in the title text are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences.

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Created by SOMEONE W.H.O. IS NOT A DOCTOR - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline". The figure is surrounded by doctors and hospital staff who appear to include Ponytail and Megan, all of whom are looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:21:05Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ Cueball

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

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

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} to blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead of salty like saline.

A medical doctor would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun. Cueball's apparent attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text has Cueball pointing out that mistakenly drinking saline out of the bag is better than putting Capri Sun into patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of their incompetence. The security personnel mentioned in the title text are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences.

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Created by SOMEONE W.H.O. IS NOT A DOCTOR - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline". The figure is surrounded by doctors and hospital staff who appear to include Ponytail and Megan, all of whom are looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:19:54Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

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

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} to blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead of salty like saline.

A medical doctor would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun. Cueball's apparent attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text is pointing out that mistakenly drinking saline out of the bag is better than putting Capri Sun into patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] The speaker is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of their incompetence. The security personnel mentioned in the title text are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences.

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Created by SOMEONE W.H.O. IS NOT A DOCTOR - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline". The figure is surrounded by doctors and hospital staff who appear to include Ponytail and Megan, all of whom are looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:18:16Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ reword

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

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

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} to blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead of salty like saline.

The comic implies that a medical doctor would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun. Cueball's apparent attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text is pointing out that mistakenly drinking saline out of the bag is better than putting Capri Sun into patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] The speaker is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of their incompetence. The security personnel mentioned in the title text are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences.

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Created by SOMEONE W.H.O. IS NOT A DOCTOR - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline". The figure is surrounded by doctors and hospital staff who appear to include Ponytail and Megan, all of whom are looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T04:30:24Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ l.c.

{{comic
| number = 2646
| date = July 15, 2022
| title = Minkowski Space
| image = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM STATE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A spaceship is being pursued by an enemy ship. Much like in [[2577: Sea Chase]], it attempts to escape by changing the nature of the space. In this case, it goes into {{w|Minkowski space}}, a mathematical formulation of three dimensional space combined with the dimension of time to form a {{w|manifold}} originally intended to describe {{w|electromagnetism}} in terms of {{w|special relativity}}, and which is also used in {{w|general relativity}}.

Minkowski space is no different than ordinary spatiotemporal physical reality, so the idea of traveling from regular space into Minkowski space is meaningless, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke. The visual depiction of the spaceships skewed diagonally is based on graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}} of matter is bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}. The mention of distance depending on the observer's frame of reference refers to distances changing when measured in different {{w|inertial frame of reference|inertial frames of reference}}, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}.

The title text implies hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier. This is because Hilbert spaces can have an infinite number of dimensions, and thus are much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski space. However, Hilbert space is used to describe mathematical objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it is very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. The reference to Hilbert space could also refer to the {{w|uncertainty principle}}, as quantum states can be represented as vectors in a Hilbert space.

=== Apparent distance ===

Whether the two spaceships are getting closer to each other does not depend on frame of reference if both the ships are moving at constant velocity.
Though if they are accelerating then depending on frame of reference they may be getting further apart or they may be getting closer.
If the ship giving chase has higher velocity than the ship being chased but ship being chased is accelerating faster , then from the perspective of ship being chased the other ship is getting closer to it . While from perspective of something a few light years away which is moving towards both of the ships the ship being chased is getting more distant from the other ship.

This is because from perspective of something a few light years away which is moving towards the ships the ship being chased has already accelerated and is faster from the other ship so the distance between them is increasing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:{A spaceship is being pursued.}
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us! Prepare to jump to Minowski space on my mark.

:Voice 1: Three... two... one... MARK!
:SFX: Click

:{The panel distorts.}

:{The panel distorts further.}
:Voice 1: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 2: I can't tell.
:Voice 3: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T04:27:35Z

172.69.33.163: /* Apparent distance */ rm blank line

{{comic
| number = 2646
| date = July 15, 2022
| title = Minkowski Space
| image = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM STATE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A spaceship is being pursued by an enemy ship. Much like in [[2577: Sea Chase]], it attempts to escape by changing the nature of the space. In this case, it goes into {{w|Minkowski space}}, a mathematical formulation of three dimensional space combined with the dimension of time to form a {{w|manifold}} originally intended to describe {{w|electromagnetism}} in terms of {{w|special relativity}}, and which is also used in {{w|general relativity}}.

Minkowski space is no different than ordinary spatiotemporal physical reality, so the idea of traveling from regular space into Minkowski space is meaningless, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke. The visual depiction of the spaceships skewed diagonally is based on graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}} of matter is bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}. The mention of distance depending on the observer's frame of reference refers to distances changing when measured in different {{w|inertial frame of reference|inertial frames of reference}}, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}.

The title text implies hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier. This is because Hilbert spaces can have an infinite number of dimensions, and thus are much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski space. However, Hilbert space is used to describe mathematical objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it is very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. The reference to Hilbert space could also refer to the {{w|Uncertainty principle}}, as quantum states can be represented as vectors in a Hilbert space.

=== Apparent distance ===

Whether the two spaceships are getting closer to each other does not depend on frame of reference if both the ships are moving at constant velocity.
Though if they are accelerating then depending on frame of reference they may be getting further apart or they may be getting closer.
If the ship giving chase has higher velocity than the ship being chased but ship being chased is accelerating faster , then from the perspective of ship being chased the other ship is getting closer to it . While from perspective of something a few light years away which is moving towards both of the ships the ship being chased is getting more distant from the other ship.

This is because from perspective of something a few light years away which is moving towards the ships the ship being chased has already accelerated and is faster from the other ship so the distance between them is increasing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:{A spaceship is being pursued.}
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us! Prepare to jump to Minowski space on my mark.

:Voice 1: Three... two... one... MARK!
:SFX: Click

:{The panel distorts.}

:{The panel distorts further.}
:Voice 1: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 2: I can't tell.
:Voice 3: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T04:25:18Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ better wikilink, the first is "not to be confused" with this one

{{comic
| number = 2646
| date = July 15, 2022
| title = Minkowski Space
| image = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM STATE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A spaceship is being pursued by an enemy ship. Much like in [[2577: Sea Chase]], it attempts to escape by changing the nature of the space. In this case, it goes into {{w|Minkowski space}}, a mathematical formulation of three dimensional space combined with the dimension of time to form a {{w|manifold}} originally intended to describe {{w|electromagnetism}} in terms of {{w|special relativity}}, and which is also used in {{w|general relativity}}.

Minkowski space is no different than ordinary spatiotemporal physical reality, so the idea of traveling from regular space into Minkowski space is meaningless, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke. The visual depiction of the spaceships skewed diagonally is based on graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}} of matter is bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}. The mention of distance depending on the observer's frame of reference refers to distances changing when measured in different {{w|inertial frame of reference|inertial frames of reference}}, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}.

The title text implies hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier. This is because Hilbert spaces can have an infinite number of dimensions, and thus are much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski space. However, Hilbert space is used to describe mathematical objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it is very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. The reference to Hilbert space could also refer to the {{w|Uncertainty principle}}, as quantum states can be represented as vectors in a Hilbert space.

=== Apparent distance ===

Whether the two spaceships are getting closer to each other does not depend on frame of reference if both the ships are moving at constant velocity.
Though if they are accelerating then depending on frame of reference they may be getting further apart or they may be getting closer.
If the ship giving chase has higher velocity than the ship being chased but ship being chased is accelerating faster , then from the perspective of ship being chased the other ship is getting closer to it . While from perspective of something a few light years away which is moving towards both of the ships the ship being chased is getting more distant from the other ship.

This is because from perspective of something a few light years away which is moving towards the ships the ship being chased has already accelerated and is faster from the other ship so the distance between them is increasing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:{A spaceship is being pursued.}
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us! Prepare to jump to Minowski space on my mark.

:Voice 1: Three... two... one... MARK!
:SFX: Click

:{The panel distorts.}

:{The panel distorts further.}
:Voice 1: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 2: I can't tell.
:Voice 3: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T04:11:03Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ needs a however

{{comic
| number = 2646
| date = July 15, 2022
| title = Minkowski Space
| image = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM STATE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A spaceship is being pursued by an enemy ship. Much like in [[2577: Sea Chase]], it attempts to escape by changing the nature of the space. In this case, it goes into {{w|Minkowski space}}, a mathematical formulation of three dimensional space combined with the dimension of time to form a {{w|manifold}} originally intended to describe {{w|electromagnetism}} in terms of {{w|special relativity}}, and which is also used in {{w|general relativity}}.

Minkowski space is no different than ordinary spatiotemporal physical reality, so the idea of traveling from regular space into Minkowski space is meaningless, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke. The visual depiction of the spaceships skewed diagonally is based on graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}} of matter is bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}. The mention of distance depending on the observer's {{w|frame of reference}} refers to distances changing when measured in different inertial frames of reference, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}.

The title text implies hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier. This is because Hilbert spaces can have an infinite number of dimensions, and thus are much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski space. However, Hilbert space is used to describe mathematical objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it is very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. The reference to Hilbert space could also refer to the {{w|Uncertainty principle}}, as quantum states can be represented as vectors in a Hilbert space.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:{A spaceship is being pursued.}
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us! Prepare to jump to Minowski space on my mark.

:Voice 1: Three... two... one... MARK!
:SFX: Click

:{The panel distorts.}

:{The panel distorts further.}
:Voice 1: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 2: I can't tell.
:Voice 3: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T04:08:34Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ but seems wrong

{{comic
| number = 2646
| date = July 15, 2022
| title = Minkowski Space
| image = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM STATE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A spaceship is being pursued by an enemy ship. Much like in [[2577: Sea Chase]], it attempts to escape by changing the nature of the space. In this case, it goes into {{w|Minkowski space}}, a mathematical formulation of three dimensional space combined with the dimension of time to form a {{w|manifold}} originally intended to describe {{w|electromagnetism}} in terms of {{w|special relativity}}, and which is also used in {{w|general relativity}}.

Minkowski space is no different than ordinary spatiotemporal physical reality, so the idea of traveling from regular space into Minkowski space is meaningless, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke. The visual depiction of the spaceships skewed diagonally is based on graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}} of matter is bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}. The mention of distance depending on the observer's {{w|frame of reference}} refers to distances changing when measured in different inertial frames of reference, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}.

The title text implies hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier. This is because Hilbert spaces can have an infinite number of dimensions, and thus are much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski space. Hilbert space is used to describe mathematical objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it is very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. The reference to Hilbert space could also refer to the {{w|Uncertainty principle}}, as quantum states can be represented as vectors in a Hilbert space.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:{A spaceship is being pursued.}
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us! Prepare to jump to Minowski space on my mark.

:Voice 1: Three... two... one... MARK!
:SFX: Click

:{The panel distorts.}

:{The panel distorts further.}
:Voice 1: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 2: I can't tell.
:Voice 3: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T03:06:35Z

172.69.33.163:

I still don't get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.163|172.69.33.163]] 03:06, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

2645: The Best Camera

2022-07-14T04:00:44Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ filters from infrared to full-color

{{comic
| number = 2645
| date = July 13, 2022
| title = The Best Camera
| image = the_best_camera.png
| titletext = The best camera is the one at L2.
}}

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

''The Best Camera Is The One That's With You'' [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6921300-the-best-camera-is-the-one-that-s-with-you] is a book by photographer Chase Jarvis, celebrating mobile phone cameras, not for their photographic or technical quality but rather for the fact that you always have it when an interesting subject appears. This is advice often given to novice photographers, sometimes with the slight change "The best camera is the one you use most." A cheap {{w|Nikon Coolpix}} camera can be better than a professional {{w|Canon EOS}}, simply for the fact it is lightweight enough to be taken on ''every'' voyage you'll make. A fancy expensive camera that isn't at hand for you to use is of no value for taking pictures.

However, in this case "the best camera" refers to the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST), the spacecraft depicted in the third frame. It can be considered a camera because it takes pictures. The first pictures taken by the telescope were released on 11-12 July 2022, days before this comic was published.[https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages] The pictures from JWST show objects as they were [https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2022/035/01G7HRYVGM1TKW556NVJ1BHPDZ as much as 13.1 billion years ago,] which is unprecedented. The telescope has [https://www.stsci.edu/files/live/sites/www/files/home/jwst/instrumentation/_documents/jwst-pocket-guide.pdf three instruments which can act as "cameras" for imaging,] a fourth {{w|optical spectrometer|spectrometer}}-only instrument, and twelve {{w|optical filter}}s. Because the telescope can only take infrared photographs invisible to the human eye, [https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-near-infrared-imager-and-slitless-spectrograph/niriss-instrumentation/niriss-filters each of the filters has been assigned a standardized visible color] to convert the images for viewing.

The title text references {{w|Lagrange Point|Lagrange Point 2}} (L2). The Lagrange Points are a set of five locations which are solutions to the restricted three-body problem, in which one of the three bodies is much less massive than the other two. A low-mass body in one of these locations is able to be stationary relative to the other two bodies with very little fuel needed for trajectory corrections. In this case, the JWST orbits around the L2 point of the Earth-Sun system [https://space.stackexchange.com/a/57378 rather than being stationed exactly at it] to avoid shadows from the Earth and Moon that would cause temperature variations in the instrument.[https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/observatory/sunshield.html] It avoids the problem the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}} had orbiting around the Earth, allowing only a short observation window per revolution. The HST could be used for about 55 minutes of every 95-minute orbit for targets not sufficiently above or below the orbital plane.

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

:[Each panel features an image of space, with text printed in white at the top of each panel. The first panel says:]
:They say the best camera is the one you have with you.

:[A panel showing more stars and galaxies visible.]
:It turns out

:[A panel showing even more stars and galaxies visible. At the center of the panel is an outline drawing in white of the James Webb Space Telescope.]
:they're wrong.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]

2645: The Best Camera

2022-07-14T03:56:34Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ correction

{{comic
| number = 2645
| date = July 13, 2022
| title = The Best Camera
| image = the_best_camera.png
| titletext = The best camera is the one at L2.
}}

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

''The Best Camera Is The One That's With You'' [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6921300-the-best-camera-is-the-one-that-s-with-you] is a book by photographer Chase Jarvis, celebrating mobile phone cameras, not for their photographic or technical quality but rather for the fact that you always have it when an interesting subject appears. This is advice often given to novice photographers, sometimes with the slight change "The best camera is the one you use most." A cheap {{w|Nikon Coolpix}} camera can be better than a professional {{w|Canon EOS}}, simply for the fact it is lightweight enough to be taken on ''every'' voyage you'll make. A fancy expensive camera that isn't at hand for you to use is of no value for taking pictures.

However, in this case "the best camera" refers to the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST), the spacecraft depicted in the third frame. It can be considered a camera because it takes pictures. The first pictures taken by the telescope were released on 11-12 July 2022, days before this comic was published.[https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages] The pictures from JWST show objects as they were [https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2022/035/01G7HRYVGM1TKW556NVJ1BHPDZ as much as 13.1 billion years ago,] which is unprecedented. The telescope has [https://www.stsci.edu/files/live/sites/www/files/home/jwst/instrumentation/_documents/jwst-pocket-guide.pdf three instruments which can act as "cameras" for imaging,] a fourth {{w|optical spectrometer|spectrometer}}-only instrument, and twelve {{w|optical filter}}s.

The title text references {{w|Lagrange Point|Lagrange Point 2}} (L2). The Lagrange Points are a set of five locations which are solutions to the restricted three-body problem, in which one of the three bodies is much less massive than the other two. A low-mass body in one of these locations is able to be stationary relative to the other two bodies with very little fuel needed for trajectory corrections. In this case, the JWST orbits around the L2 point of the Earth-Sun system [https://space.stackexchange.com/a/57378 rather than being stationed exactly at it] to avoid shadows from the Earth and Moon that would cause temperature variations in the instrument.[https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/observatory/sunshield.html] It avoids the problem the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}} had orbiting around the Earth, allowing only a short observation window per revolution. The HST could be used for about 55 minutes of every 95-minute orbit for targets not sufficiently above or below the orbital plane.

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

:[Each panel features an image of space, with text printed in white at the top of each panel. The first panel says:]
:They say the best camera is the one you have with you.

:[A panel showing more stars and galaxies visible.]
:It turns out

:[A panel showing even more stars and galaxies visible. At the center of the panel is an outline drawing in white of the James Webb Space Telescope.]
:they're wrong.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]

2644: fMRI Billboard

2022-07-13T00:30:13Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ better word

{{comic
| number = 2644
| date = July 11, 2022
| title = fMRI Billboard
| image = fmri_billboard.png
| titletext = [other side] If the first word of an instruction you're given starts with the same letter as your crush's name, for that step imagine the experimenter is your crush.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by YOUR SCARIEST MEMORY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Functional magnetic resonance imaging}}, or fMRI, is a method of {{w|4DCT|four-dimensional computed tomography}} able to record animated multi-layered images of animal brain activity by detecting blood flow changes apparent from magnetic differences between oxygenated and deoxygenated {{w|hemoglobin}}. Scientists use fMRI to try to detect deception and false memories,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419301873] plan brain surgery,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158217303133] and understand the relationship between brain structures and cognition,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419300879] among many other investigations. Volunteer research subjects participate in such studies by laying inside large toroidal scanners while following instructions projected on a screen or played through loudspeakers.

This comic shows a billboard erected by a neuroscience department in an attempt at sabotaging a rival department's volunteer subject compliance with their fMRI study instructions, by suggesting behaviors which would likely produce unexpected results, such as recalling a frightening memory after seeing similar stimulus slides, or imagining the lab technician is a romantic interest when reading words that begin with the same letter as their name. This is funny because academic department rivalries do not usually lead to sabotage,{{citation needed}} and in the rare cases that they do, it's usually clandestine instead of so absurdly blatant.

Following such suggestions or even inadvertently remembering them during an fMRI could very well interfere with its results. fMRI experiments are often criticized because they have low {{w|statistical power}} and can easily be confounded by experiment subject error in following instructions, among many other variables. In a famous 2009 study, a dead fish was shown to have apparent evidence of brain activity when scanned with ordinary fMRI techniques.[http://prefrontal.org/files/posters/Bennett-Salmon-2009.pdf] In 2015, discovery of a statistical error invalidated at least 40,000 fMRI studies.[https://www.sciencealert.com/a-bug-in-fmri-software-could-invalidate-decades-of-brain-research-scientists-discover] Subsequently in 2017, many more fMRI results were further discredited due to poor software parameter selection.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5487467]

The title text indicates that the sabotaging instructions are printed on both sides of the billboard, suggesting that it might have been erected on the grounds of the targeted rival department. Alternately, the instructions on the other side may be intended to disrupt research in the other institution.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A large, building-sized billboard rises over what appears to be a college campus. It reads:]
: ⚠ Student fMRI study volunteers ⚠
: Remember, when you're in the scanner, if you see a slide that's similar to one they already showed you, think as hard as you can about your scariest memory.

:[Caption below panel:] A rival neuroscience department keeps trying to sabotage our experiments.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Science]]
[[Category: Psychology]]
[[Category: Biology]]

2643: Cosmologist Gift

2022-07-10T00:09:55Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 2643
| date = July 8, 2022
| title = Cosmologist Gift
| image = cosmologist_gift.png
| titletext = These neutrinos were freshly produced by a local source just 8 minutes ago
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MUON ON SALE, PACKAGED IN A BOX THAT A CAT MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT HAVE DIED IN- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows a box labeled to indicate that it contains 30,000 fresh {{w|neutrino}}s and four zeptograms of {{w|dark matter}}. The box is intended as an inexpensive gift for a {{w|cosmologist}}. The gift giver didn't put those things in the box—both are simply passing through it, so the "gift" consists of exactly what was in the empty space it occupies. While the caption suggests this would be a good gift for a cosmologist, what they or anyone else would do with such a box is uncertain.

There are about a billion neutrinos per cubic meter throughout space, produced during the {{w|Big Bang}}.[https://physics.mit.edu/news/journal/physicsatmit_14_conrad/] However, the flux of "freshly produced" {{w|solar neutrino}}s at Earth is around 7×1010/cm2/s, yielding about 2.3 million per cubic meter, implying the box is around 0.013 cubic meters, about 80% the size of a typical {{w|breadbox}}.

Four zeptograms is a minuscule mass, equal to four sextillionths of a gram, or the mass of about 200 carbon-12 atoms. There is an estimated 0.011 to 0.016 {{w|solar mass}}es of dark matter per cubic {{w|parsec}} locally to the solar system,[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6633/ac24e7/meta] about 900 zeptograms per cubic meter, suggesting the box is closer to 0.004 cubic meters. This discrepancy could imply Randall agrees with cosmologists who believe dark matter is partially composed of {{w|primordial black hole}}s,[https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.121301][https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212686418301250?via%3Dihub][https://news.yale.edu/2021/12/16/black-holes-and-dark-matter-are-they-one-and-same][https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8205/823/2/L25][https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2010/04/023] instead of being entirely composed of pervasive subatomic particles. A billion neutrinos have a mass of only about 2×10-12 zeptograms, at about 0.1 {{w|electron volt}}s each.

The "local source" mentioned in the title text is a pun on the commercial value of fresh, locally produced items, but here it is the Sun. It takes neutrinos not much more than 8 minutes to reach Earth once they're emitted, roughly the same time as photons. (This doesn't take into account that photons additionally take [https://news.stanford.edu/pr/97/971219neutrino.html a hundred thousand years to reach the Sun's surface] from the core where they're generated.) However, as the neutrinos have been travelling at more than 99.999% of the speed of light, they will have aged by less than two seconds,[https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/time-dilation] and so are technically even fresher.

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

:[A picture of a box with writing on one side, saying as follows:]

:30,000 neutrinos
:Freshly produced
:Plus 4 zeptograms of dark matter

:[Caption below the panel]:
:Cosmologists are easy to shop for because you can just get them a box.

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

2642: Meta-Alternating Current

2022-07-07T05:52:42Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ spelling

{{comic
| number = 2642
| date = July 6, 2022
| title = Meta-Alternating Current
| image = meta_alternating_current.png
| titletext = It's always bothered me that you can't cancel out an inverter by putting a second inverter after it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHAIN OF INVERTERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic replaced [[No One Was Hurt]] as comic 2642 after the former was taken down from [[xkcd]]'s website.

In electronics, {{w|direct current}} is a constant flow of electrons from a power source to something being powered, before doubling back along the circuit. It is commonly used for battery-powered appliances. {{w|Alternating current}}, on the other hand, frequently reverses the flow of electrons, and is commonly used for longer-distance use (such as from the power plant to an outlet).

This comic proposes a humorous interspersion, ''Meta-Alternating Current'', which uses a series of adapters to "alternate" between DC and AC current. This is funny because since typical {{w|power inverter}} efficiency is 90%, and the maximum {{w|bridge rectifier}} efficiency is 81.2%, an {{w|extension cord}} made of them would lose about 27% power per such pair.

The title text bemoans that an inverter, which converts direct current to alternating current, does not work in the other direction, as a layman's interpretation of the word "inverter" might appear. Rather, a separate device, a {{w|rectifier}}, also pictured in the comic, must be used for this second conversion.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2642: Meta-Alternating Current

2022-07-07T05:52:04Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ eliminate redirect

{{comic
| number = 2642
| date = July 6, 2022
| title = Meta-Alternating Current
| image = meta_alternating_current.png
| titletext = It's always bothered me that you can't cancel out an inverter by putting a second inverter after it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHAIN OF INVERTERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic replaced [[No One Was Hurt]] as comic 2642 after the former was taken down from [[xkcd]]'s website.

In electronics, {{w|direct current}} is a constant flow of electrons from a power source to something being powered, before doubling back along the circuit. It is commonly used for battery-powered appliances. {{w|Alternating current}}, on the other hand, frequently reverses the flow of electrons, and is commonly used for longer-distance use (such as from the power plant to an outlet).

This comic proposes a humorous interspersion, ''Meta-Alternating Current'', which uses a series of adapters to "alternate" between DC and AC current. This is funny because since typical {{w|power inverter}} efficiently is 90%, and the maximum {{w|bridge rectifier}} efficiency is 81.2%, an {{w|extension cord}} made of them would lose about 27% power per such pair.

The title text bemoans that an inverter, which converts direct current to alternating current, does not work in the other direction, as a layman's interpretation of the word "inverter" might appear. Rather, a separate device, a {{w|rectifier}}, also pictured in the comic, must be used for this second conversion.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2642: Meta-Alternating Current

2022-07-07T05:50:42Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ move wikilink to first mention

{{comic
| number = 2642
| date = July 6, 2022
| title = Meta-Alternating Current
| image = meta_alternating_current.png
| titletext = It's always bothered me that you can't cancel out an inverter by putting a second inverter after it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHAIN OF INVERTERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic replaced [[No One Was Hurt]] as comic 2642 after the former was taken down from [[xkcd]]'s website.

In electronics, {{w|direct current}} is a constant flow of electrons from a power source to something being powered, before doubling back along the circuit. It is commonly used for battery-powered appliances. {{w|Alternating current}}, on the other hand, frequently reverses the flow of electrons, and is commonly used for longer-distance use (such as from the power plant to an outlet).

This comic proposes a humorous interspersion, ''Meta-Alternating Current'', which uses a series of adapters to "alternate" between DC and AC current. This is funny because since typical {{w|inverter}} efficiently is 90%, and the maximum {{w|bridge rectifier}} efficiency is 81.2%, an {{w|extension cord}} made of them would lose about 27% power per such pair.

The title text bemoans that an inverter, which converts direct current to alternating current, does not work in the other direction, as a layman's interpretation of the word "inverter" might appear. Rather, a separate device, a {{w|rectifier}}, also pictured in the comic, must be used for this second conversion.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2639: Periodic Table Changes

2022-06-30T01:41:27Z

172.69.33.163: /* Transcript */ chemstiy is good enough

{{comic
| number = 2639
| date = June 29, 2022
| title = Periodic Table Changes
| image = periodic_table_changes.png
| titletext = It's nice how the end of the periodic table is flush with the edge these days, so I think we should agree no one should find any new elements after #118 unless they discover a whole row at once.
}}

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

The {{w|periodic table}} is a table used to arrange {{w|chemical elements}} according to their chemical and physical properties. This comic proposes "changes" to the periodic table that would be more pleasant aesthetically or make the periodic table look more regular. Some of these are (somewhat) practical changes to element abbreviations that could improve clarity, though changing documents to use different abbreviations would probably be more trouble than it's worth. However, some changes don't take into account that elements would stop being arranged by their properties and the periodic table would stop being useful after such changes, unless said changes were meant to physically change the material properties of the elements, which would be impossible.{{citation needed}}

Other modifications make up new elements or remove existing ones from the table, which would not be a reasonable decision given that the periodic table is supposed to include all existing elements, whether they make the table neater or they don't.

;Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen. However, the reason it is placed at the far-right Group 18 and not Group 2 is because it is a {{w|noble gas}}, rather than a reactive {{w|alkaline earth metal}}. You could say helium is in group 2 because it has two electrons in its outer shell, but normal periodic tables place it in group 18, the noble gases, with which it has far more in common. Hydrogen has similar problems being in group 1, as it's a non-metal and the elements below it are metals which don't have much in common with it chemically. There are periodic tables that show hydrogen floating above the periodic table for that reason.

;Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
TBD (to be determined). Elements in that corner, such as carbon, oxygen, phosphorous, and nitrogen, participate in covalent bonding and are the primary elements involved in biochemical reactions, which may be why they are considered cooler than other elements.

;Sp (Spite element)
Wedged between fluorine and neon. This could be a reference to spite houses, houses jammed into a narrow space to block other construction.

;Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
Tixanium (Tx) replaces five metals, including titanium (Ti). This may be a reference to the term "UX" (user experience) being used instead of "UI" (user interface) as more of an umbrella term.

While titanium certainly has an impressive name, and is used in the aerospace industry and other high-performance applications, the others are hardly boring; manganese, for example, was part of the cover story for the top-secret {{w|Project Azorian}}.

;Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
* Sodium: Na (Natrium) => So
* Potassium: K (Kalium) => Pm
* Iron: Fe (Ferrum) => I
* Silver: Ag (Argentum) => Sv
* Gold: Au (Aurum) => Gd
* Tin: Sn (Stannum) => Tn
* Lead: Pb (Plumbum) => Ld
Since I is already used for Iodine, it gets a new abbreviation Io, and Gadolinium is re-abbreviated to Gm to free up Gd.

Oddly, this group of changes doesn't include mercury (Hg -- hydrargyrum) or antimony (Sb -- stibium).

;Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon
* Indium (In) -> C II.
* Antimony (Sb) -> C III.
* Tellurium (Te) -> C IV.
* Thallium (Tl) -> C V.
* Bismuth (Bi) -> C VI.

Carbon can make four covalent bonds, which means it can form a huge range of chemicals, above all ones vital to life. The post-transition metals don't have this level of interest. If there were more chemicals like carbon, it could allow more exciting chemistry and perhaps new kinds of life.

;That W annoys me
* Tungsten: W (Wolfram) -> Tg.

"Wolfram" is the name for tungsten in some languages and is derived from the mineral wolframite, which comes from the name "wolf rahm" in German (wolf soot).

;3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep Yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (Tokyium, Delhium, and Jakartium?) to be more fair.
Four elements -- yttrium (Y), ytterbium (Yb), terbium (Tb) and erbium (Er) -- are named after {{w|Ytterby}}, a Swedish village. Scandium (Sc), thulium (Tm), holmium (Ho) and gadolinium (Gd) were isolated from minerals found in the same quarry. Randall suggests naming 3 of them after some other major world cities.
* Terbium (Tb) -> Tokyium (Ty) - Tokyo
* Erbium (Er) -> Delhium (Dh) - Delhi
* Ytterbium (Yb) -> Jakatium (Jk) - Jakarta

;Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.
Though the lanthanides and actinides typically are placed under the bottom of the table to conserve space, they actually belong in the 6th and 7th rows of the table, as they are numbered elements 57-70 and 89-102. Randall says that properly placing these elements makes the table "too wide" and he recommends that the elements be readjusted. And they will be "trained" to fit properly elsewhere.

The title text suggests discovering elements only in entire rows at once. Elements with more protons than 118 could be discovered in future by collisions in particle accelerators, but aren't likely to be discovered in an entire row at a time.

Changing the periodic table was also the topic of [[2214: Chemistry Nobel]].

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

:Changes I would make to the periodic table.
:[A modified periodic table is shown, with changes in red.]

:[Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen:]
:Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
:[Two elements labeled TBD (to be determined) are added to the left of boron and aluminium:]
:Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
:[Narrow triangular shape is wedged between fluorine and neon:]
:Sp (Spite element)
:[Tixanium replaces five elements: scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium and manganese:]
:Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
:[The symbols of sodium, potassium, iron, silver, gold, tin and lead are changed:]
:Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
:[The symbols of indium, antimony, tellurium, thallium and bismuth are changed to symbols containing the letter C followed by Roman letters II to VI, respectively.]
:Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon.
:[The symbol of tungsten is changed from W to Tg.]
:That W annoys me
:Move.
:Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offerent free training to help adjust to its new column.
:3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (tokyium, delhium, and jakartium?) to be more fair.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2639: Periodic Table Changes

2022-06-30T01:40:46Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ ce

2639: Periodic Table Changes

2022-06-30T01:38:29Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ more explanation

{{comic
| number = 2639
| date = June 29, 2022
| title = Periodic Table Changes
| image = periodic_table_changes.png
| titletext = It's nice how the end of the periodic table is flush with the edge these days, so I think we should agree no one should find any new elements after #118 unless they discover a whole row at once.
}}

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

The {{w|periodic table}} is a table used to arrange {{w|chemical elements}} according to their chemical and physical properties. This comic proposes "changes" to the periodic table that would be more pleasant aesthetically or make the periodic table look more regular. Some of these are (somewhat) practical changes to element abbreviations that could improve clarity, though changing documents to use different abbreviations would probably be more trouble than it's worth. However, some changes don't take into account that elements would stop being arranged by their properties and the periodic table would stop being useful after such changes, unless said changes were meant to physically change the material properties of the elements, which would be impossible.{{citation needed}}

Other modifications make up new elements or remove existing ones from the table, which would not be a reasonable decision given that the periodic table is supposed to include all existing elements, whether they make the table neater or they don't.

;Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen. However, the reason it is placed at the far-right Group 18 and not Group 2 is because it is a {{w|noble gas}}, rather than a reactive {{w|alkaline earth metal}}. You could say helium is in group 2 because it has two electrons in its outer shell, but normal periodic tables place it in group 18, the noble gases, with which it has far more in common. Hydrogen has similar problems being in group 1, as it's a non-metal and the elements below it are metals which don't have much in common with it chemically. There are periodic tables that show hydrogen floating above the periodic table for that reason.

;Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
TBD (to be determined). Elements in that corner, such as carbon, oxygen, phosphorous, and nitrogen, participate in covalent bonding and are the primary elements involved in biochemical reactions, which may be why they are considered cooler than other elements.

;Sp (Spite element)
Wedged between fluorine and neon. This could be a reference to spite houses, houses jammed into a narrow space to block other construction.

;Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
Tixanium (Tx) replaces five metals, including titanium (Ti). This may be a reference to the term "UX" (user experience) being used instead of "UI" (user interface) as more of an umbrella term.

While titanium certainly has an impressive name, and is used in the aerospace industry and other high-performance applications, the others are hardly boring; manganese, for example, was part of the cover story for the top-secret {{w|Project Azorian}}.

;Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
* Sodium: Na (Natrium) => So
* Potassium: K (Kalium) => Pm
* Iron: Fe (Ferrum) => I
* Silver: Ag (Argentum) => Sv
* Gold: Au (Aurum) => Gd
* Tin: Sn (Stannum) => Tn
* Lead: Pb (Plumbum) => Ld
Since I is already used for Iodine, it gets a new abbreviation Io, and Gadolinium is re-abbreviated to Gm to free up Gd.

Oddly, this group of changes doesn't include mercury (Hg -- hydrargyrum) or antimony (Sb -- stibium).

;Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon
* Indium (In) -> C II.
* Antimony (Sb) -> C III.
* Tellurium (Te) -> C IV.
* Thallium (Tl) -> C V.
* Bismuth (Bi) -> C VI.

Carbon can make four covalent bonds, which means it can form a huge range of chemicals, above all ones vital to life. The post-transition metals don't have this level of interest. If there were more chemicals like carbon, it could allow more exciting chemistry and perhaps new kinds of life.

;That W annoys me
* Tungsten: W (Wolfram) -> Tg.

"Wolfram" is the name for tungsten in some languages and is derived from the mineral wolframite, which comes from the name "wolf rahm" in German (wolf soot).

;34% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep Yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (Tokyium, Delhium, and Jakartium?) to be more fair.
Four elements -- yttrium (Y), ytterbium (Yb), terbium (Tb) and erbium (Er) -- are named after {{w|Ytterby}}, a Swedish village. Scandium (Sc), thulium (Tm), holmium (Ho) and gadolinium (Gd) were isolated from minerals found in the same quarry. Randall suggests naming 3 of them after some other major world cities.
* Terbium (Tb) -> Tokyium (Ty) - Tokyo
* Erbium (Er) -> Delhium (Dh) - Delhi
* Ytterbium (Yb) -> Jakatium (Jk) - Jakarta

;Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.
Though the lanthanides and actinides typically are placed under the bottom of the table to conserve space, they actually belong in the 6th and 7th rows of the table, as they are numbered elements 57-70 and 89-102. Randall says that properly placing these elements makes the table "too wide" and he recommends that the elements be readjusted. And they will be "trained" to fit properly elsewhere.

The title text suggests discovering elements only in entire rows at once. Elements with more protons than 118 could be discovered in future by collisions in particle accelerators, but aren't likely to be discovered in an entire row at a time.

Changing the periodic table was also the topic of [[2214: Chemistry Nobel]].

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

:Changes I would make to the periodic table.
:[A modified periodic table is shown, with changes in red.]

:[Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen:]
:Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
:[Two elements labeled TBD (to be determined) are added to the left of boron and aluminium:]
:Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
:[Narrow triangular shape is wedged between fluorine and neon:]
:Sp (Spite element)
:[Tixanium replaces five elements: scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium and manganese:]
:Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
:[The symbols of sodium, potassium, iron, silver, gold, tin and lead are changed:]
:Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
:[The symbols of indium, antimony, tellurium, thallium and bismuth are changed to symbols containing the letter C followed by Roman letters II to VI, respectively.]
:Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon.
:[The symbol of tungsten is changed from W to Tg.]
:That W annoys me
:Move.
:Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offerent free training to help adjust to its new column.
:3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (tokyium, delhium, and jakartium?) to be more fair.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2369: All-in-One

2020-10-07T17:59:23Z

172.69.33.163: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2369
| date = October 7, 2020
| title = All-in-One
| image = all_in_one.png
| titletext = Changes with this update: If you use the combined scan-shred function, it now performs them in that order instead of the reverse, saving a HUGE amount of CPU time.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a U.S. TREASURY MONEY PRINTER. Needs transcript and explanation of what the functions do. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is an xkcd-style parody of an {{w|all-in-one printer}}, a printer which typically can perform several functions: printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. This machine starts off with fairly standard printer functions but quickly becomes absurd.

The title text says that the machine now scans things before trying to destroy them. Previously the machine destroyed documents then tried to reconstruct them into a scan which takes a large amount of processing power.

===List of functions===

These are plausible functions that an all-in-one printer could do (though most printers do not have a shred function).
*'''Printing''': The most common function that a printer needs to do.
*'''{{w|Photocopier|Copy}}''': A copy function allows a user to place a document on the printer and the printer will make a copy of the document.
*'''{{w|Fax}}''': A fax function sends a scanned document by telephone to another telephone number. The receiver fax machine will reconstruct the document and print it.
*'''{{w|Paper shredder|Shred}}''': A shredder function is used to destroy paper for privacy or security by cutting it into strips or fine particles.
*'''{{w|Image scanner|Scan}}''': A scan function is used to optically scan images or documents into digital forms so that they can be used by computers.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A large printer-like machine, with the label All-in-one Paper Processor on it. There are three columns of functions, with a few of them having a green light.]

*Print (lighted green)
*Copy
*Fax (lighted green)
*Shred
*Scan
*Translate
*Summarize
*Plagiarizer
*Collate (lighted green)

*Staple (lighted green)
*Remove staples
*Add those perforated edge strips that are so fun to tear
*Roll
*Burn
*Eat

*Fold airplane
*Origami flower
*Corrugate
*Paper-mâché
*Découpage
*Notarize (lighted green)
*Biodegrade
*Crumple and throw at trash like a basketball (lighted green)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]

2369: All-in-One

2020-10-07T17:59:05Z

172.69.33.163: /* Transcript */ more

2369: All-in-One

2020-10-07T17:56:44Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ start list

{{comic
| number = 2369
| date = October 7, 2020
| title = All-in-One
| image = all_in_one.png
| titletext = Changes with this update: If you use the combined scan-shred function, it now performs them in that order instead of the reverse, saving a HUGE amount of CPU time.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a U.S. TREASURY MONEY PRINTER. Needs transcript and explanation of what the functions do. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is an xkcd-style parody of an {{w|all-in-one printer}}, a printer which typically can perform several functions: printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. This machine starts off with fairly standard printer functions but quickly becomes absurd.

The title text says that the machine now scans things before trying to destroy them. Previously the machine destroyed documents then tried to reconstruct them into a scan which takes a large amount of processing power.

===List of functions===

These are plausible functions that an all-in-one printer could do (though most printers do not have a shred function).
*'''Printing''': The most common function that a printer needs to do.
*'''{{w|Photocopier|Copy}}''': A copy function allows a user to place a document on the printer and the printer will make a copy of the document.
*'''{{w|Fax}}''': A fax function sends a scanned document by telephone to another telephone number. The receiver fax machine will reconstruct the document and print it.
*'''{{w|Paper shredder|Shred}}''': A shredder function is used to destroy paper for privacy or security by cutting it into strips or fine particles.
*'''{{w|Image scanner|Scan}}''': A scan function is used to optically scan images or documents into digital forms so that they can be used by computers.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:A large printer-like machine, with the label All-in-one Paper Processor on it. There are three columns of functions, with a few of them having a green light.

*Print
*Copy
*Fax
*Shred
*Scan
*Translate
*Summarize
*Plagiarizer
*Collate
*Staple
*Remove Staples
*Add those perforated edge strips that are so fun to tear
*Roll
*Burn
*Eat
*Fold airplane
*Origami flower
*Corrugate
*Paper-mâché
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoupage Découpage]
*Notarize
*Biodegrade
*Crumple and throw at trash like a basketball

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]

2367: Masks

2020-10-07T17:42:34Z

172.69.33.163: /* Explanation */ section

{{comic
| number = 2367
| date = October 2, 2020
| title = Masks
| image = masks.png
| titletext = Haunted Halloween masks from a mysterious costume shop that turn you evil and grow into your skin score a surprisingly high 80% filtration efficiency in R. L. Stine-sponsored NIOSH tests.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BATMAN WEARING A N95 MASK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a line from top to bottom explaining how good different types of masks are at preventing respiratory virus transmission. As with many comics in 2020, it is a reference to the [[:Category:COVID-19|2020 pandemic]] of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, a virus that primarily transmits through air droplets expelled from the human nose and mouth. This comic may have been inspired from [https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/2020/5/15/21259215/how-to-wear-masks-superhero-costumes-coronavirus-effectiveness a Polygon article published on May 15th].

===Types of masks===
*'''{{w|Zorro}}'''/'''{{w|Lone Ranger}}''': A strip of cloth around the eye-level. Since it does not cover the mouth and nose, the main ways the virus leaves the body to infect others, or the mouth, nose and eyes, the main ways it enters the body, it is ineffective and no better than wearing no mask at all.
*'''{{w|Batman}}''': Batman's iconic headgear has gone through many revisions, and consists either of a simple cloth cowl or a helmet and visor. Does not cover the mouth, but may cover the nose. However, the mask only covers the top part of the face, i.e., not the nostrils. This mask might be slightly more effective than the Lone Ranger style mask due to the intimidation effect keeping other people back.
*'''Theater masks''' ({{w|Sock and buskin}}): Traditionally used as a symbol of performance theater since ancient Greece. The eye and mouth holes are often open, thus exposing the wearer.
*'''Skincare''' ({{w|facial mask}}): A layer of mud or moisturizer. By nature, it does not cover the mouth or nostrils, but it may keep the wearer from touching their face and is usually worn by someone sitting in a chair or lying back on a bed, not out getting in other people's personal space.
*'''Scarecrow''': A burlap sack. While it provides some cover to the mouth and nose, it is heavily porous. This could also refer to the {{w|Scarecrow (DC Comics)|Scarecrow}}, a DC Comics villain. If so, the mask would probably be extremely effective, as that character uses airborne drugs as weapons, and would have to have very good filter ability.
*'''{{w|Guy Fawkes mask}}''': A plastic mask that is a stylized depiction of {{w|Guy Fawkes}}. Most Guy Fawkes masks provide small holes in the front for comfort, thus facilitating spread of the virus.
*'''{{w|Cloth face mask|Cloth}}''': A cloth mask that blocks most large particles, like virus-laden saliva. To be most effective, it must cover nose as well as the mouth. These are much cheaper than N95 masks, and can be reused by washing. Not all cloth masks are created equal, some designs and materials are more effective than others at holding back contagious particles, but Randall lists them under "Effective" on the whole. They are relatively effective at preventing the wearer from infecting others, but are less effective at protecting the wearer from being infected by others, because droplets leaving the body are large enough to block, but small enough to get through cloth after evaporation. The felt-like nonwoven fabric of surgical masks blocks more droplets and aerosols than the same thickness of knit or woven fabric.
*'''{{w|Spider-Man|SpiderMan}}'''''[sic]'': A full face covering of spandex-like material (Spider-Man comics rarely if ever specify what material Spider-Man makes his costume from). Would block most virus particles.{{fact}} (The correct spelling is "Spider-Man", with a hyphen, and "Man" capitalized.)
*'''{{w|N95 mask|N95}}''': A standard air filtration mask, commonly used in industry but also used in healthcare. The name "N95" signals that it is not resistant to oil, but successfully filters 95% of airborne particles. It has proven to be one of the more successful masks during the 2020 pandemic. N95 masks usually include non-woven filtration material, which while often stiff like cardstock, is more similar to the felt-like fabric of surgical masks than to woven cloth. N95 masks can [https://youtu.be/eAdanPfQdCA filter particles much smaller] than the gaps between layers and strands in the fabric.
*'''{{w|scuba set|SCUBA}}''': A '''S'''elf-'''C'''ontained '''U'''nderwater '''B'''reathing '''A'''pparatus. Most SCUBA equipment used an open-circuit design allowing exhaled air to vent to the atmosphere. Underwater, this would not be a threat to other divers who would also be breathing air from their tanks. However, on land a typical SCUBA regulator would expose others to virus particles. Closed-circuit SCUBA equipment recirculates the user’s gas supply but they still contain a means of venting extra gas into the atmosphere. Neither system contains expiratory HEPA filters making both ineffective at preventing virus transmission. That all said, SCUBA equipment still covers the face and nose, rather than directly exposing others to unshielded breathing and coughing.
*'''{{w|Darth Vader|Vader}}''': Reference to one of the main antagonists in {{w|''Star Wars''}}, in which he wears a suit of armor with a built-in rebreather. Similar to SCUBA gear, it circulates air back to the user, in order to defend against the spread of the virus to the wearer.
*'''{{w|Mysterio}}''': Reference to one of the antagonists in ''{{w|Marvel Comics}}''’ {{w|Spider-Man}} as part of the {{w|Sinister Six}}. He wears a glass helmet. In the comics Mysterio often uses mind-altering chemicals, and his suit is designed to shield himself from his own weapons. By the same design, it would shield himself and others from the spread of viral infection.

'''Haunted Halloween Masks''': From the [[title text]] is a reference to ''{{w|The Haunted Mask}}'' by {{w|R. L. Stine}}, a book in the {{w|Goosebumps (original series)|''Goosebumps'' series}}. The mask transforms the wearer into a monster, with an open (uncovered) nose and mouth. The test results claim that the wearer is still somehow substantially protected against inhaling virus particles, but this may be a fraudulent test result due to pressure from the sponsor of the test, R. L. Stine, to get more people to wear such masks; it is also possible that the supernatural effects somehow include blocking virus particles, as parasites generally benefit from keeping their hosts alive and healthy, at least in the short term. NIOSH refers to the ''{{w|National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health}}''.

The high-resolution version of the comic may be found [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/masks_2x.png here].

==Position on chart==
*[With 0% at the top position of the top arrow and 100% effective at the position of the bottom arrow the masks effectiveness would be approximately as follows:]
:[02%] Zorro/Lone Ranger
:[03%] Batman
:[07%] Theater
:[10%] Skincare
:[15%] Scarecrow
:[18%] Guy Fawkes
:[48%] Cloth
:[52%] Spider-Man
:[68%] N95
:[71%] Scuba
:[80%] Vader
:[90%] Mysterio

==Transcript==
:[A chart is shown with a title and explanation at the top:]
:<big>'''Masks'''</big>
:By effectiveness at preventing respiratory virus transmission

:[The chart consist of a vertical line going top to bottom with arrows at both ends. There are labels at the top, aorund the middle and at the bottom:]
:Not effective.
:Effective
:Extremely Effective

:[Along the line there are 12 bullets. From each bullet there goes a line (often with one or two turns) to a depiction of a type of mask. Each mask type is labeled. The first six masks are all close to the top, the last only halfway down to the middle of the line. The next two are right around the middle, then two are halfway towards the bottom from there and the final two are close to the bottom, with the last very close to the botom. From top to bottom:]
:Zorro/Lone Ranger
:Batman
:Theater
:Skincare
:Scarecrow
:Guy Fawkes
:Cloth
:SpiderMan
:N95
:Scuba
:Vader
:Mysterio

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring face masks]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Talk:2366: Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies

2020-10-06T03:03:30Z

172.69.33.163:

Personally, I think the most likely digit there is 4, followed by 6. I'm pretty sure it can't be a 9 given the angles, so I wouldn't say that's likelier than other alternatives in the explanation. (Very trivial point, so I won't bother editing.) It's most likely intended to be a generic nonsense squiggle (similar to the lines of text, but for just one character), purposely illegible to leave the actual location within Orlando ambiguous. It just happened to come out as a very 4ish squiggle.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.189|162.158.79.189]] 16:25, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

32841 is not a valid zip code. I'm also dubious that the town/city name is Orlando. Sure, it probably does start with an O (and not a cursive A, since the street name has a capital A to show the way the letter should look), but it certainly doesn't continue on long enough to be Orlando, especially with no ascending stroke for the 'd' and not appearing to end with a round shape for a letter like 'o'. It appears to me to be more of an n/m/r final letter. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.14|162.158.75.14]] 23:19, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

:Ah, that's what I get for just punching "32841 zip code" into Google and seeing Orlando FL come up. The closest-looking valid zip code I can find that's still in Orlando is 32891; fixed the transcript. The end of the word Orlando just seems intended to be generic squiggles not actually matching any letters, like almost everything after the Ingredients label. If you can find another town/city in FL that starts with O and has a similar-looking enough zip code, go for it. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 23:59, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

::All zip codes that begin 328 are in Orlando. 32841 specifically is not in use. [[User:Silverpie|Silverpie]] ([[User talk:Silverpie|talk]]) 02:12, 1 October 2020 (UTC)

:::It seems impossible to read the zip code as anything other than [3][2 or 4][6 or 8][squiggle][1], where the squiggle is different from the other 4 digits and probably isn't a 0. Under these constraints, there are 20 possible zip codes, but if the zip has to be valid and the city name has to be one word that starts with O and in Florida, the only possible choices are Orlando and 32891 or 32861. To keep the transcript faithful to the actual appearance, I'll let it stay as "O[illegible], FL 328#1" and put the city and zip deduction in the explanation. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 01:45, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

I don't see that the mouse-over suggests an escalation as described. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:23, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
:I saw it as "had address on packaging, just so; grandma starts campaign of complaints to give granddaughter a similar experience; granddaughter suggests stopping original action if that would stop granny's retalation; (but apparently an armistice purely on those terms is not acceptable to Big-G)" - But there's other interpretations, I'll admit. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.154|141.101.98.154]] 00:45, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
::That's how I saw it too -- no suggestion that the package didn't originally have the address. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 01:17, 1 October 2020 (UTC)

Isn't this a reference to the Annie's brand?
:"Annie Withey believed it was possible to build a socially conscious and successful business. This was her mission in 1989, when she wrote her name, address, and phone number on the very first boxes of Annie’s Mac and Cheese. Her legacy lives on as Annie’s strives to change the future for our kids, starting with food." per https://www.annies.com/our-mission/ . So maybe? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:59, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
:I am pretty sure Annie's brand has a story on the label

I didn't get the clues pointing that it's a package and mistakenly thought it was a cooking recipe web page. Many sites feel obliged to precede the recipe with a personal story on the food, which distracts from what the reader wants -- the recipe itself. I'd been a good comic as well if it was a pun on that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.94.50|172.68.94.50]] 03:44, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
: I didn't interpret it as a package of the cookies, either. To me it looked like the company's ("Amelia's Farm") website and I interpreted the "nutrition facts" table as the site's menu. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:35, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
::For readers in the USA, it's more obviously a Nutritional Facts box - the varied weight of horizontal lines and the Percentage (%) symbol at the end of each line is standard.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.250|108.162.216.250]] 21:04, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
:Tip: the word you're looking for is "parody" rather than pun. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 01:52, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Anyone else think the additional squiggles at the bottom left include a circle K (Kosher) and Parve (containing neither meat nor milk) which would be plausible for cookies (and could easily anger some grandmothers)? If so, is it worth adding to the transcript?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.212|108.162.219.212]] 12:10, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
: On magnification, it just looks like random squiggles to me. The letter in the circle looks like a lowercase "i", which is not (as far as I know) the symbol for any kosher certification. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:42, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
:It could just as easily be some impression of a trademark or copyright or any other of the many circle-like designations on food packages.

Upon reading the address I immediately thought that the city was Orlando and that granny's name was "Wanda Munroe". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.43|162.158.74.43]] 13:16, 1 October 2020 (UTC)

Per the editing FAQ, we use the smaller version of the comic here. But perhaps we should always include a link to the high-res version when one is available? Though it doesn't quite fit under either "Transcript" or "Explanation". [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 19:44, 1 October 2020 (UTC)

I think the city's actually Ocala and Randal didn't even try to match the city to the zip code. (Too many L's!) [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 21:16, 1 October 2020 (UTC)
:This seems unlikely given how everything after the O is squiggled and there's another much more well-known candidate with a zip code that's much closer to matching. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 01:45, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Just what was her grandmother doing to get cookies like that? To get cookies that are crumbly and brittle, Grandma cooked her cookies for too long at too high a temperature, driving too much water out. The gritty texture can be achieved by not using enough water in the batter to start with; put the dry ingredients into the mixer bowl set at too high a speed, add the water all at once (but not enough to hydrate all the flour particles) and mix it for too long. This should form lots of fine lumps to give a gritty texture. To get the crispy middle and gooey outside, use ''way'' too much fats, like the butter, and don't let it evenly distribute in the batter, so that when it melts in the oven, the fats ooze out and soften the edges, but Grandma would have had to add extra water after the initial mixing, so the conversion of steam will dry out the middle and put the fat out. Okay, I am reaching a bit with the last one. You have got to do a lot of things wrong to make cookies that bad. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 03:17, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
:Using specialty flours can do some of it. I tried using non-wheat flours to make gluten-free cookies a couple of decades ago, with mixed success. They tended to come out brittle and crumbly, and if I recall correctly, tapioca flour gave them a certain grittiness. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:44, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
:You'd get a gritty quality if you also made sure you used only the finest farmyard grit... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.247|162.158.158.247]] 14:12, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Finally, the first xkcd to address the issue of GMO antibacterials head on

First question, is oatmeal involved? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.96|172.69.22.96]] 03:23, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Reference to "Cookie Clicker" seems unlikely to me. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:00, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
:I agree and removed that part. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:35, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

When I first read the comic, I read the first paragraph, thought "oh, another story about happy evenings and healthy ingredients and so on", read the last paragraph, which confirmed my expectation, and didn't even realize the rest of the story. Anyone else was reading the text like this? [[User:Bolisom|Bolisom]] ([[User talk:Bolisom|talk]]) 07:53, 5 October 2020 (UTC)
:Hm... no. I (and I guess most others) have read the text completely becaus, you know, that is only place where the joke could have been. ;) But now that you mention it this should/could be added to the explanation since besides of the part that you accidently skipped it's like any other text of its sort. While it might not be Amelia's intention that you don't read the middle part it could have been Randall's intention just to fool the reader. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:35, 5 October 2020 (UTC)