explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2455: Virus Consulting

2021-04-27T05:08:18Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2455
| date = April 26, 2021
| title = Virus Consulting
| image = virus_consulting.png
| titletext = All our teams make an effort to stay optimistic, but I will say that once our virus division saw the vaccine efficacy data, they started asking for payment up front.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a COVID virus. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic imagines a scenario where Ponytail and Black Hat work for a {{w|consulting firm}}, which offers advice about viruses, specifically COVID-19. Ponytail tells a panel of people (the government?) that though they are worried about COVID-19 variants, the fact that the number of people vaccinated is exponentially increasing is a good sign. One of the people she is speaking to accuses Ponytail's firm of simply "telling them what they want to hear".

The punchline comes when the panel discovers that another client for the firm is the ''viruses'' themselves. Black Hat presents the same graph to the viruses (which [[1754: Tornado Safety Tips|would not be the first time that Black Hat has given advice to natural disasters that can kill humans]]) and gives them the opposite message: though COVID-19 variants seem to be exciting to them, vaccination numbers are terrible news to their propagation and survival. This repeats the tone of #[[2287]]: from the virus' perspective, they are in a lot of trouble, which is another way of saying that humanity stands a good chance of surviving this situation. The fact that another member of Ponytail's firm is telling clients that they should be worried is Ponytail's proof that her firm does not simply tell clients what they want to hear.

{{w|Variants of SARS-CoV-2|SARS-CoV-2 variants}}, commonly called "COVID variants", have been in the news. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has mutated into many different strains, some of which spread more easily among humans. It is unknown whether the different variants have a greater individual fatality rate. The current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna as well as the Regeneron therapeutic monoclonal
antibodies all effectively protect against at least the New York, South African, and U.K. variants according to [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/health/covid-ny-variant-vaccine.html two recent study preprints] released April 22, 2021. Further research and peer review is ongoing.

The title text notes that the firm's "virus division" (the group advising the viruses themselves) has started to get worried that their jobs are becoming obsolete, due to vaccine efficacy. Thus, they are demanding to be paid "up front", before consulting/advising services have been rendered to their clients. Dependant upon the expectations of each party, payment can be asked for "up front", defered for invoicing once services have been rendered or a combination of the two. The weaker party to a contract may often need to submit their transaction, or a guarantor, before the other spends too much effort in fulfilling their element.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail stands in front a chart, labeled "Vaccinations", with an upward-curving line, and several box-and-whisker plots below. She is holding a pointer and speaking to a panel composed of Hairbun, Cueball and Megan.]
:Ponytail: Now, I know you're worried about the variants, but this graph should be encouraging.
:Ponytail: Your rollout is going well. The vaccines are good. They work.

:[The comics pans to the left to show just the panel and Ponytail. Ponytail has the pointer to her side.]
:Hairbun: You're just telling us what we want to hear.
:Ponytail: If you think that, you should see the reports from my colleagues who work for COVID.

:[Close-up of Ponytail.]
:Off-screen voice: They work for '''''who??'''''
:Ponytail: Our firm has lots of clients.

:[Black Hat stands in front of the same graph as panel one, and points to it with a pointer. He is speaking to a panel of three large coronaviruses.]
:Caption: Meanwhile...
:Black Hat: Now, I know you're excited about the variants, but this graph should be terrifying.
:Black Hat: We're in real trouble here.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2283: Exa-Exabyte

2020-03-20T23:15:07Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ wlink

{{comic
| number = 2283
| date = March 20, 2020
| title = Exa-Exabyte
| image = exa_exabyte.png
| titletext = To picture 10^18, just picture 10^13, but then imagine you connect the left side of the 3 to close off the little bays.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 EXA-EXABYTES OF APPLES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has taken a break from his [[:Category: COVID-19|COVID-19 series]].

This is a comic about the difficulty of picturing or understanding large numbers. As mentioned in the comic, an {{w|exabyte}} is 10^18 bytes, while an "exa-exabyte" -- not a real word but one that makes sense if you apply the principles of {{w|Metric prefix|metric prefixes}} -- is 10^36 bytes. 10^36 is properly given the name undecillion (in short scale, and sextillion in long scale). According to a 2015 article by ''The New York Times'', researchers estimate that there is [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/science/counting-all-the-dna-on-earth.html 50 trillion trillion trillion] DNA {{w|base pair}}s on Earth -- 5 * 10^37 "bytes" of data. This is a similar number to [[Miss Lenhart]]'s claim of 10 exa-exabytes -- 1 * 10^37 bytes.

These numbers are larger than most people can imagine. Even much smaller numbers such as a billion (10^9) or a trillion (10^12) are hard to imagine. For instance:
* 1 billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years; 1 trillion seconds is equal to 31,688.74 years.
* [https://medium.com/@alecmuffett/a-billion-grains-of-rice-91202220e10e 1 billion grains of rice] weighs approximately 34,447 lb (15,625 kg)

[[Megan]] trivializes the problem away by describing an exabyte as 10 apples, with "18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above", representing the notation 10^18 using apples for digits. This is entirely unhelpful, as apples, whatever their position, don't represent exponents, and this causes Miss Lenhart to yell out "No!" in frustration. The title text further trivializes the problem of visualizing large numbers by suggesting that you can visualize 10^18 as a number by simply visualizing the similar-looking number of 10^13 with some extra lines drawn to turn the 3 into an 8. Changes in exponents can cause huge changes in the value shown, and this is no exception: Changing that 3 into an 8 changes the value by a factor of 100,000.

Randall has previously discussed the difficulty of large numbers in [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion]] and [[558: 1000 Times]].

[[1605: DNA]] also discusses how "hard" biology is.

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

:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a class, and is speaking to Cueball to her left, who is sitting at a desk. She holds a pointer, and is pointing to a blackboard.]
:Miss Lenhart: Biology is hard because there's so ''much'' of it. Earth hosts about 10 exa-exabytes worth of DNA.

:[In a frameless panel, the panel has panned to the left and is now showing Miss Lenhart, Cueball sitting at a desk and Megan also sitting at a desk, behind Cueball. Miss Lenhart holds the pointer to her side.]
:Cueball: What's an exa-exabyte?
:Miss Lenhart: It's 1036 bytes.
:Cueball: How do I picture ''that''?
:Miss Lenhart: Imagine you had an exabyte of data, but each byte ''contained'' an exabyte of data.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball]
:Cueball: I can't even picture what an exabyte is.
:Miss Lenhart (off screen): It's 1018 bytes.
:Cueball: But how do I picture 1018?

:[Zoomed back out, showing Megan, Cueball, and Miss Lenhart]
:Megan: Imagine you had 10 apples.
:Megan: Now imagine 18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above.
:Cueball: Cool, got it.
:Miss Lenhart: ''No!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Biology]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]

2283: Exa-Exabyte

2020-03-20T23:12:59Z

172.69.33.167: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2283
| date = March 20, 2020
| title = Exa-Exabyte
| image = exa_exabyte.png
| titletext = To picture 10^18, just picture 10^13, but then imagine you connect the left side of the 3 to close off the little bays.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 EXA-EXABYTES OF APPLES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has taken a break from his [[:Category: COVID-19|COVID-19 series]].

This is a comic about the difficulty of picturing or understanding large numbers. As mentioned in the comic, an {{w|exabyte}} is 10^18 bytes, while an "exa-exabyte" -- not a real word but one that makes sense if you apply the principles of {{w|Metric prefix|metric prefixes}} -- is 10^36 bytes. 10^36 is properly given the name undecillion (in short scale, and sextillion in long scale). According to a 2015 article by ''The New York Times'', researchers estimate that there is [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/science/counting-all-the-dna-on-earth.html 50 trillion trillion trillion] DNA base pairs on Earth -- 5 * 10^37 "bytes" of data. This is a similar number to [[Miss Lenhart]]'s claim of 10 exa-exabytes -- 1 * 10^37 bytes.

These numbers are larger than most people can imagine. Even much smaller numbers such as a billion (10^9) or a trillion (10^12) are hard to imagine. For instance:
* 1 billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years; 1 trillion seconds is equal to 31,688.74 years.
* [https://medium.com/@alecmuffett/a-billion-grains-of-rice-91202220e10e 1 billion grains of rice] weighs approximately 34,447 lb (15,625 kg)

[[Megan]] trivializes the problem away by describing an exabyte as 10 apples, with "18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above", representing the notation 10^18 using apples for digits. This is entirely unhelpful, as apples, whatever their position, don't represent exponents, and this causes Miss Lenhart to yell out "No!" in frustration. The title text further trivializes the problem of visualizing large numbers by suggesting that you can visualize 10^18 as a number by simply visualizing the similar-looking number of 10^13 with some extra lines drawn to turn the 3 into an 8. Changes in exponents can cause huge changes in the value shown, and this is no exception: Changing that 3 into an 8 changes the value by a factor of 100,000.

Randall has previously discussed the difficulty of large numbers in [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion]] and [[558: 1000 Times]].

[[1605: DNA]] also discusses how "hard" biology is.

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

:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a class, and is speaking to Cueball to her left, who is sitting at a desk. She holds a pointer, and is pointing to a blackboard.]
:Miss Lenhart: Biology is hard because there's so ''much'' of it. Earth hosts about 10 exa-exabytes worth of DNA.

:[In a frameless panel, the panel has panned to the left and is now showing Miss Lenhart, Cueball sitting at a desk and Megan also sitting at a desk, behind Cueball. Miss Lenhart holds the pointer to her side.]
:Cueball: What's an exa-exabyte?
:Miss Lenhart: It's 1036 bytes.
:Cueball: How do I picture ''that''?
:Miss Lenhart: Imagine you had an exabyte of data, but each byte ''contained'' an exabyte of data.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball]
:Cueball: I can't even picture what an exabyte is.
:Miss Lenhart (off screen): It's 1018 bytes.
:Cueball: But how do I picture 1018?

:[Zoomed back out, showing Megan, Cueball, and Miss Lenhart]
:Megan: Imagine you had 10 apples.
:Megan: Now imagine 18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above.
:Cueball: Cool, got it.
:Miss Lenhart: ''No!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Biology]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]

2283: Exa-Exabyte

2020-03-20T23:12:20Z

172.69.33.167: /* Transcript */ fix

{{comic
| number = 2283
| date = March 20, 2020
| title = Exa-Exabyte
| image = exa_exabyte.png
| titletext = To picture 10^18, just picture 10^13, but then imagine you connect the left side of the 3 to close off the little bays.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 EXA-EXABYTES OF APPLES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has taken a break from his [[:Category: COVID-19|COVID-19 series]].

This is a comic about the difficulty of picturing or understanding large numbers. As mentioned in the comic, an {{w|exabyte}} is 10^18 bytes, while an "exa-exabyte" -- not a real word but one that makes sense if you apply the principles of {{w|Metric prefix|metric prefixes}} -- is 10^36 bytes. 10^36 is properly given the name undecillion (in short scale, and sextillion in long scale). According to a 2015 article by ''The New York Times'', researchers estimate that there is [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/science/counting-all-the-dna-on-earth.html 50 trillion trillion trillion] DNA base pairs on Earth -- 5 * 10^37 "bytes" of data. This is a similar number to [[Miss Lenhart]]'s claim of 10 exa-exabytes -- 1 * 10^37 bytes.

These numbers are larger than most people can imagine. Even much smaller numbers such as a billion (10^9) or a trillion (10^12) are hard to imagine. For instance:
* 1 billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years; 1 trillion seconds is equal to 31,688.74 years.
* [https://medium.com/@alecmuffett/a-billion-grains-of-rice-91202220e10e 1 billion grains of rice] weighs approximately 34,447 lb (15,625 kg)

[[Megan]] trivializes the problem away by describing an exabyte as 10 apples, with "18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above", representing the notation 10^18 using apples for digits. This is entirely unhelpful, as apples, whatever their position, don't represent exponents, and this causes Miss Lenhart to yell out "No!" in frustration. The title text further trivializes the problem of visualizing large numbers by suggesting that you can visualize 10^18 as a number by simply visualizing the similar-looking number of 10^13 with some extra lines drawn to turn the 3 into an 8. Changes in exponents can cause huge changes in the value shown, and this is no exception: Changing that 3 into an 8 changes the value by a factor of 100,000.

Randall has previously discussed the difficulty of large numbers in [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion]] and [[558: 1000 Times]].

[[1605: DNA]] also discusses how "hard" biology is.

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

:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a class, and is speaking to Cueball to her left, who is sitting at a desk. She holds a pointer, and is pointing to a blackboard.]
:Miss Lenhart: Biology is hard because there's so ''much'' of it. Earth hosts about 10 exa-exabytes worth of DNA.

:[In a frameless panel, the panel has panned to the left and is now showing Miss Lenhart, Cueball sitting at a desk and Megan also sitting at a desk, behind Cueball. Miss Lenhart holds the pointer to her side.]
:Cueball: What's an exa-exabyte?
:Miss Lenhart: It's 1036 bytes.
:Cueball: How do I picture ''that''?
:Miss Lenhart: Imagine you had an exabyte of data, but each byte ''contained'' an exabyte of data.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball]
:Cueball: I can't even picture what an exabyte is.
:Miss Lenhart(off screen): It's 1018 bytes.
:Cueball: But how do I picture 1018?

:[Zoomed back out, showing Megan, Cueball, and Miss Lenhart]
:Megan: Imagine you had 10 apples.
:Megan: Now imagine 18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above.
:Cueball: Cool, got it.
:Miss Lenhart: ''No!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Biology]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]

2283: Exa-Exabyte

2020-03-20T23:11:42Z

172.69.33.167: miss lenhart?

{{comic
| number = 2283
| date = March 20, 2020
| title = Exa-Exabyte
| image = exa_exabyte.png
| titletext = To picture 10^18, just picture 10^13, but then imagine you connect the left side of the 3 to close off the little bays.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 EXA-EXABYTES OF APPLES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has taken a break from his [[:Category: COVID-19|COVID-19 series]].

This is a comic about the difficulty of picturing or understanding large numbers. As mentioned in the comic, an {{w|exabyte}} is 10^18 bytes, while an "exa-exabyte" -- not a real word but one that makes sense if you apply the principles of {{w|Metric prefix|metric prefixes}} -- is 10^36 bytes. 10^36 is properly given the name undecillion (in short scale, and sextillion in long scale). According to a 2015 article by ''The New York Times'', researchers estimate that there is [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/science/counting-all-the-dna-on-earth.html 50 trillion trillion trillion] DNA base pairs on Earth -- 5 * 10^37 "bytes" of data. This is a similar number to [[Miss Lenhart]]'s claim of 10 exa-exabytes -- 1 * 10^37 bytes.

These numbers are larger than most people can imagine. Even much smaller numbers such as a billion (10^9) or a trillion (10^12) are hard to imagine. For instance:
* 1 billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years; 1 trillion seconds is equal to 31,688.74 years.
* [https://medium.com/@alecmuffett/a-billion-grains-of-rice-91202220e10e 1 billion grains of rice] weighs approximately 34,447 lb (15,625 kg)

[[Megan]] trivializes the problem away by describing an exabyte as 10 apples, with "18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above", representing the notation 10^18 using apples for digits. This is entirely unhelpful, as apples, whatever their position, don't represent exponents, and this causes Miss Lenhart to yell out "No!" in frustration. The title text further trivializes the problem of visualizing large numbers by suggesting that you can visualize 10^18 as a number by simply visualizing the similar-looking number of 10^13 with some extra lines drawn to turn the 3 into an 8. Changes in exponents can cause huge changes in the value shown, and this is no exception: Changing that 3 into an 8 changes the value by a factor of 100,000.

Randall has previously discussed the difficulty of large numbers in [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion]] and [[558: 1000 Times]].

[[1605: DNA]] also discusses how "hard" biology is.

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

:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a class, and is speaking to Cueball to her left, who is sitting at a desk. She holds a pointer, and is pointing to a blackboard.]
:Miss Lenhart: Biology is hard because there's so ''much'' of it. Earth hosts about 10 exa-exabytes worth of DNA.

:[In a frameless panel, the panel has panned to the left and is now showing Miss Lenhart, Cueball sitting at a desk and Megan also sitting at a desk, behind Cueball. Blondie holds the pointer to her side.]
:Cueball: What's an exa-exabyte?
:Miss Lenhart: It's 1036 bytes.
:Cueball: How do I picture ''that''?
:Miss Lenhart: Imagine you had an exabyte of data, but each byte ''contained'' an exabyte of data.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball]
:Cueball: I can't even picture what an exabyte is.
:Miss Lenhart(off screen): It's 1018 bytes.
:Cueball: But how do I picture 1018?

:[Zoomed back out, showing Megan, Cueball, and Miss Lenhart]
:Megan: Imagine you had 10 apples.
:Megan: Now imagine 18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above.
:Cueball: Cool, got it.
:Miss Lenhart: ''No!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Biology]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]

2283: Exa-Exabyte

2020-03-20T23:09:50Z

172.69.33.167: /* Transcript */ mrs lenhart?

{{comic
| number = 2283
| date = March 20, 2020
| title = Exa-Exabyte
| image = exa_exabyte.png
| titletext = To picture 10^18, just picture 10^13, but then imagine you connect the left side of the 3 to close off the little bays.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 EXA-EXABYTES OF APPLES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has taken a break from his [[:Category: COVID-19|COVID-19 series]].

This is a comic about the difficulty of picturing or understanding large numbers. As mentioned in the comic, an {{w|exabyte}} is 10^18 bytes, while an "exa-exabyte" -- not a real word but one that makes sense if you apply the principles of {{w|Metric prefix|metric prefixes}} -- is 10^36 bytes. 10^36 is properly given the name undecillion (in short scale, and sextillion in long scale). According to a 2015 article by ''The New York Times'', researchers estimate that there is [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/science/counting-all-the-dna-on-earth.html 50 trillion trillion trillion] DNA base pairs on Earth -- 5 * 10^37 "bytes" of data. This is a similar number to [[Mrs. Lenhart]]'s claim of 10 exa-exabytes -- 1 * 10^37 bytes.

These numbers are larger than most people can imagine. Even much smaller numbers such as a billion (10^9) or a trillion (10^12) are hard to imagine. For instance:
* 1 billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years; 1 trillion seconds is equal to 31,688.74 years.
* [https://medium.com/@alecmuffett/a-billion-grains-of-rice-91202220e10e 1 billion grains of rice] weighs approximately 34,447 lb (15,625 kg)

[[Megan]] trivializes the problem away by describing an exabyte as 10 apples, with "18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above", representing the notation 10^18 using apples for digits. This is entirely unhelpful, as apples, whatever their position, don't represent exponents, and this causes Blondie to yell out "No!" in frustration. The title text further trivializes the problem of visualizing large numbers by suggesting that you can visualize 10^18 as a number by simply visualizing the similar-looking number of 10^13 with some extra lines drawn to turn the 3 into an 8. Changes in exponents can cause huge changes in the value shown, and this is no exception: Changing that 3 into an 8 changes the value by a factor of 100,000.

Randall has previously discussed the difficulty of large numbers in [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion]] and [[558: 1000 Times]].

[[1605: DNA]] also discusses how "hard" biology is.

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

:[Blondie is teaching a class, and is speaking to Cueball to her left, who is sitting at a desk. She holds a pointer, and is pointing to a blackboard.]
:Blondie: Biology is hard because there's so ''much'' of it. Earth hosts about 10 exa-exabytes worth of DNA.

:[In a frameless panel, the panel has panned to the left and is now showing Blondie, Cueball sitting at a desk and Megan also sitting at a desk, behind Cueball. Blondie holds the pointer to her side.]
:Cueball: What's an exa-exabyte?
:Blondie: It's 1036 bytes.
:Cueball: How do I picture ''that''?
:Blondie: Imagine you had an exabyte of data, but each byte ''contained'' an exabyte of data.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball]
:Cueball: I can't even picture what an exabyte is.
:Blondie (off screen): It's 1018 bytes.
:Cueball: But how do I picture 1018?

:[Zoomed back out, showing Megan, Cueball, and Blondie]
:Megan: Imagine you had 10 apples.
:Megan: Now imagine 18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above.
:Cueball: Cool, got it.
:Blondie: ''No!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Biology]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Mrs. Lenhart]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]

2283: Exa-Exabyte

2020-03-20T23:09:22Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ mrs lenhart?

{{comic
| number = 2283
| date = March 20, 2020
| title = Exa-Exabyte
| image = exa_exabyte.png
| titletext = To picture 10^18, just picture 10^13, but then imagine you connect the left side of the 3 to close off the little bays.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 EXA-EXABYTES OF APPLES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has taken a break from his [[:Category: COVID-19|COVID-19 series]].

This is a comic about the difficulty of picturing or understanding large numbers. As mentioned in the comic, an {{w|exabyte}} is 10^18 bytes, while an "exa-exabyte" -- not a real word but one that makes sense if you apply the principles of {{w|Metric prefix|metric prefixes}} -- is 10^36 bytes. 10^36 is properly given the name undecillion (in short scale, and sextillion in long scale). According to a 2015 article by ''The New York Times'', researchers estimate that there is [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/science/counting-all-the-dna-on-earth.html 50 trillion trillion trillion] DNA base pairs on Earth -- 5 * 10^37 "bytes" of data. This is a similar number to [[Mrs. Lenhart]]'s claim of 10 exa-exabytes -- 1 * 10^37 bytes.

These numbers are larger than most people can imagine. Even much smaller numbers such as a billion (10^9) or a trillion (10^12) are hard to imagine. For instance:
* 1 billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years; 1 trillion seconds is equal to 31,688.74 years.
* [https://medium.com/@alecmuffett/a-billion-grains-of-rice-91202220e10e 1 billion grains of rice] weighs approximately 34,447 lb (15,625 kg)

[[Megan]] trivializes the problem away by describing an exabyte as 10 apples, with "18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above", representing the notation 10^18 using apples for digits. This is entirely unhelpful, as apples, whatever their position, don't represent exponents, and this causes Blondie to yell out "No!" in frustration. The title text further trivializes the problem of visualizing large numbers by suggesting that you can visualize 10^18 as a number by simply visualizing the similar-looking number of 10^13 with some extra lines drawn to turn the 3 into an 8. Changes in exponents can cause huge changes in the value shown, and this is no exception: Changing that 3 into an 8 changes the value by a factor of 100,000.

Randall has previously discussed the difficulty of large numbers in [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion]] and [[558: 1000 Times]].

[[1605: DNA]] also discusses how "hard" biology is.

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

:[Blondie is teaching a class, and is speaking to Cueball to her left, who is sitting at a desk. She holds a pointer, and is pointing to a blackboard.]
:Blondie: Biology is hard because there's so ''much'' of it. Earth hosts about 10 exa-exabytes worth of DNA.

:[In a frameless panel, the panel has panned to the left and is now showing Blondie, Cueball sitting at a desk and Megan also sitting at a desk, behind Cueball. Blondie holds the pointer to her side.]
:Cueball: What's an exa-exabyte?
:Blondie: It's 1036 bytes.
:Cueball: How do I picture ''that''?
:Blondie: Imagine you had an exabyte of data, but each byte ''contained'' an exabyte of data.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball]
:Cueball: I can't even picture what an exabyte is.
:Blondie (off screen): It's 1018 bytes.
:Cueball: But how do I picture 1018?

:[Zoomed back out, showing Megan, Cueball, and Blondie]
:Megan: Imagine you had 10 apples.
:Megan: Now imagine 18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above.
:Cueball: Cool, got it.
:Blondie: ''No!''

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

2283: Exa-Exabyte

2020-03-20T23:05:20Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ more similar articles

{{comic
| number = 2283
| date = March 20, 2020
| title = Exa-Exabyte
| image = exa_exabyte.png
| titletext = To picture 10^18, just picture 10^13, but then imagine you connect the left side of the 3 to close off the little bays.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 EXA-EXABYTES OF APPLES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has taken a break from his [[:Category: COVID-19|COVID-19 series]].

This is a comic about the difficulty of picturing or understanding large numbers. As mentioned in the comic, an {{w|exabyte}} is 10^18 bytes, while an "exa-exabyte" -- not a real word but one that makes sense if you apply the principles of {{w|Metric prefix|metric prefixes}} -- is 10^36 bytes. 10^36 is properly given the name undecillion (in short scale, and sextillion in long scale). According to a 2015 article by ''The New York Times'', researchers estimate that there is [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/science/counting-all-the-dna-on-earth.html 50 trillion trillion trillion] DNA base pairs on Earth -- 5 * 10^37 "bytes" of data. This is a similar number to [[Blondie]]'s claim of 10 exa-exabytes -- 1 * 10^37 bytes.

These numbers are larger than most people can imagine. Even much smaller numbers such as a billion (10^9) or a trillion (10^12) are hard to imagine. For instance:
* 1 billion seconds is equal to 31.7 years; 1 trillion seconds is equal to 31,688.74 years.
* [https://medium.com/@alecmuffett/a-billion-grains-of-rice-91202220e10e 1 billion grains of rice] weighs approximately 34,447 lb (15,625 kg)

[[Megan]] trivializes the problem away by describing an exabyte as 10 apples, with "18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above", representing the notation 10^18 using apples for digits. This is entirely unhelpful, as apples, whatever their position, don't represent exponents, and this causes Blondie to yell out "No!" in frustration. The title text further trivializes the problem of visualizing large numbers by suggesting that you can visualize 10^18 as a number by simply visualizing the similar-looking number of 10^13 with some extra lines drawn to turn the 3 into an 8. Changes in exponents can cause huge changes in the value shown, and this is no exception: Changing that 3 into an 8 changes the value by a factor of 100,000.

Randall has previously discussed the difficulty of large numbers in [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion]] and [[558: 1000 Times]].

[[1605: DNA]] also discusses how "hard" biology is.

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

:[Blondie is teaching a class, and is speaking to Cueball to her left, who is sitting at a desk. She holds a pointer, and is pointing to a blackboard.]
:Blondie: Biology is hard because there's so ''much'' of it. Earth hosts about 10 exa-exabytes worth of DNA.

:[In a frameless panel, the panel has panned to the left and is now showing Blondie, Cueball sitting at a desk and Megan also sitting at a desk, behind Cueball. Blondie holds the pointer to her side.]
:Cueball: What's an exa-exabyte?
:Blondie: It's 1036 bytes.
:Cueball: How do I picture ''that''?
:Blondie: Imagine you had an exabyte of data, but each byte ''contained'' an exabyte of data.

:[Zoomed in on Cueball]
:Cueball: I can't even picture what an exabyte is.
:Blondie (off screen): It's 1018 bytes.
:Cueball: But how do I picture 1018?

:[Zoomed back out, showing Megan, Cueball, and Blondie]
:Megan: Imagine you had 10 apples.
:Megan: Now imagine 18 smaller apples, floating next to them and a little above.
:Cueball: Cool, got it.
:Blondie: ''No!''

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

2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics

2019-06-24T18:46:32Z

172.69.33.167: /* Transcript */ add categories

{{comic
| number = 2167
| date = June 24, 2019
| title = Motivated Reasoning Olympics
| image = motivated_reasoning_olympics.png
| titletext = [later] I can't believe how bad corruption has become, especially given that our league split off from the statewide one a month ago SPECIFICALLY to protest this kind of flagrantly biased judging.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MOTIVATED REASONER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Cueball]] is talking to [[Ponytail]] about the trophy he won for winning the “Motivated Reasoning Olympics” (hence the title). [[Ponytail]] rightly points out that the trophy says he only got second place. [[Cueball]] then displays the “motivated reasoning” in question by claiming that the athlete who beat him cheated in an earlier round and that the judges were “certain” to disqualify him after reviewing... [[Cueball]] goes on like this for a while.

The title text is a continuation, where [[Cueball]] suggests the are biased in favor of the original winner, whom they approve.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Cueball is holding a trophy with a 2 engraved on it, showing it off to Ponytail]

:Cueball: Check it out, I won first place at the Motivated Reasoning Olympics!
:Ponytail: That trophy says "second."
:Cueball: Well, the guy who won was caught cheating in an earlier round, so the board is almost certain to strip him of his win once they review the...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2158: Qualifiers

2019-06-04T00:49:30Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ fix wlink

{{comic
| number = 2158
| date = June 3, 2019
| title = Qualifiers
| image = qualifiers.png
| titletext = [20 minutes later] ", hi."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a QUALIFIER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows how {{w|Grammatical modifier|qualifer}}s can be used to delay saying something, which is usually done when the person speaking is nervous about saying something. In this comic, [[Cueball]] has lost his original train of thought while thinking of qualifiers, so he keeps using qualifiers until he comes up with something to say. The title text says that after 20 minutes, he says (perhaps by decision, perhaps by running out of qualifiers) a simple "hi". [[White Hat]] presumably kept listening, although normal people would stop Cueball well before this.

While this scenario has probably happened to many people some time in their life, it is highly unlikely one would keep on for such an extensive amount of time. It is also highly unusual the listener would have such good patience to keep listening to this endless stream of qualifiers, although it actually fits in White Hat's unusual mentality.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing next to White Hat.]
:Cueball: Ok, so, listen, the thing is, well, like, I'm just saying, and maybe it's just me, but, I mean, here's the thing, I could be way off here, but, look, I gotta say,

:[Caption below the panel:]
:When I forget what I was going to say, I just keep prefixing qualifiers until I think of something new.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2156: Ufo

2019-05-29T18:09:37Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2156
| date = May 29, 2019
| title = Ufo
| image = ufo.png
| titletext = "It's a little low for a weather balloon; it might be some other kind." "Yeah. Besides, I know I'm the alien conspiracy guy, but come on--the idea that the government would care about hiding something so mundane as atmospheric temperature measurement is too ridiculous even for me."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an alien weather balloon. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This cartoon makes fun of {{w|conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories}}, by suggesting that authorities, like the Navy, could be promoting mysterious explanations for mundane phenomena (such as a {{w|weather balloon}}). UFO is an initialism for an {{w|unidentified flying object}}. This comic is mostly likely inspired by [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/us/politics/ufo-sightings-navy-pilots.html reports of US Navy pilots] seeing unexplained objects. The "History Channel thing" could refer to this [https://www.history.com/shows/unidentified-inside-americas-ufo-investigation upcoming series].

This comic features {{w|Fox Mulder}} and {{w|Dana Scully}}, two fictional FBI agents from the television show ''{{w|The X-Files}}''. In the show, Mulder is usually a believer in all manner of conspiracies and supernatural phenomena, whereas his partner, Scully, is reflexively skeptical of any claims of the paranormal.

A fighter aircraft's {{w|Head-up display|Head-Up Display}} (HUD), projects information about the aircraft and its surroundings on a glass panel in front of the pilot. This allows the pilot to fly and fight without looking down at gauges and panels in the cockpit. When the pilot selects a radar contact to track, information including the angle and range to that contact is displayed on the HUD. The HUD display is also overlaid on video recorded by the airplane's on-board camera. Scully has examined the tracking information recorded in one video and concluded that the unidentified object was relatively stationary. Her opinion is that the object is likely a mundane weather balloon, rather than an extraterrestrial craft.

"Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe" is an allusion to "I Want to Believe", a phrase from the ''The X-Files'' associated with Mulder and [https://images.newrepublic.com/82a6d0770aeaafbae8f26bf40a822b9b79a5c412.png?w=800 his iconic UFO poster.]

==Transcript==
:[Mulder from The X-Files depicted as Hairy sits in his office chair at his desk and points to his computer screen while looking over his shoulder and addressing Scully off-panel, who replies.]
:Mulder: Hey Scully, have you seen the navy UFO videos?
:Scully (off-panel): Oh, the History Channel thing?

:[In a frame-less panel, Scully walks in from the right towards Mulder, who has turned around in his chair facing towards her (the desk is not included). He is leaning on the back of the chair with one arm. Scully has shoulder length hair, not similar to any of the regular women in xkcd.]
:Scully: I don't know about the other two videos, but in one of them, if you take the angles and ranges on the HUD and do a little geometry, it kind of suggests the object isn't really moving. It just looks like it because the plane's camera is panning.

:[Zoom in on Scully's head.]
:Scully: The pilots got excited for the same reason we did. Then the media got into it.
:Scully: But I think what they saw was a round, white object floating at 13,000 feet.

:[Zoom out again to shown that Mulder sits straight up in his chair with hands in his lap and the desk with computer behind him. Scully stand in front of him.]
:Harry: So your theory is that the military '''''claims''''' to have footage of aliens, but you think it's a giant cover-up to hide that it's a weather balloon?
:Scully: Some kind of balloon, yes.
:Harry: Pretty weird conspiracy.
:Scully: Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe, too.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Climate change]]

2156: Ufo

2019-05-29T18:08:45Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ link to real life reports

{{comic
| number = 2156
| date = May 29, 2019
| title = Ufo
| image = ufo.png
| titletext = "It's a little low for a weather balloon; it might be some other kind." "Yeah. Besides, I know I'm the alien conspiracy guy, but come on--the idea that the government would care about hiding something so mundane as atmospheric temperature measurement is too ridiculous even for me."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an alien weather balloon. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This cartoon makes fun of {{w|conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories}}, by suggesting that authorities, like the Navy, could be promoting mysterious explanations for mundane phenomena (such as a {{w|weather balloon}}). UFO is an initialism for an {{w|unidentified flying object}}. This comic is mostly likely inspired by [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/us/politics/ufo-sightings-navy-pilots.html reports of US Navy pilots] seeing unexplained objects. The "History Channel thing" could refer to the [https://www.history.com/shows/unidentified-inside-americas-ufo-investigation upcoming series] reporting

This comic features {{w|Fox Mulder}} and {{w|Dana Scully}}, two fictional FBI agents from the television show ''{{w|The X-Files}}''. In the show, Mulder is usually a believer in all manner of conspiracies and supernatural phenomena, whereas his partner, Scully, is reflexively skeptical of any claims of the paranormal.

A fighter aircraft's {{w|Head-up display|Head-Up Display}} (HUD), projects information about the aircraft and its surroundings on a glass panel in front of the pilot. This allows the pilot to fly and fight without looking down at gauges and panels in the cockpit. When the pilot selects a radar contact to track, information including the angle and range to that contact is displayed on the HUD. The HUD display is also overlaid on video recorded by the airplane's on-board camera. Scully has examined the tracking information recorded in one video and concluded that the unidentified object was relatively stationary. Her opinion is that the object is likely a mundane weather balloon, rather than an extraterrestrial craft.

"Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe" is an allusion to "I Want to Believe", a phrase from the ''The X-Files'' associated with Mulder and [https://images.newrepublic.com/82a6d0770aeaafbae8f26bf40a822b9b79a5c412.png?w=800 his iconic UFO poster.]

==Transcript==
:[Mulder from The X-Files depicted as Hairy sits in his office chair at his desk and points to his computer screen while looking over his shoulder and addressing Scully off-panel, who replies.]
:Mulder: Hey Scully, have you seen the navy UFO videos?
:Scully (off-panel): Oh, the History Channel thing?

:[In a frame-less panel, Scully walks in from the right towards Mulder, who has turned around in his chair facing towards her (the desk is not included). He is leaning on the back of the chair with one arm. Scully has shoulder length hair, not similar to any of the regular women in xkcd.]
:Scully: I don't know about the other two videos, but in one of them, if you take the angles and ranges on the HUD and do a little geometry, it kind of suggests the object isn't really moving. It just looks like it because the plane's camera is panning.

:[Zoom in on Scully's head.]
:Scully: The pilots got excited for the same reason we did. Then the media got into it.
:Scully: But I think what they saw was a round, white object floating at 13,000 feet.

:[Zoom out again to shown that Mulder sits straight up in his chair with hands in his lap and the desk with computer behind him. Scully stand in front of him.]
:Harry: So your theory is that the military '''''claims''''' to have footage of aliens, but you think it's a giant cover-up to hide that it's a weather balloon?
:Scully: Some kind of balloon, yes.
:Harry: Pretty weird conspiracy.
:Scully: Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe, too.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Climate change]]

2152: Westerns

2019-05-20T19:53:22Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ fix wlinks

{{comic
| number = 2152
| date = May 20, 2019
| title = Westerns
| image = westerns.png
| titletext = Sitting here idly trying to figure out how the population of the Old West in the late 1800s compares to the number of Red Dead Redemption 2 players.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 PLAYER IN THE 1800s. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The "{{w|Western (genre)|western}}" genre refers to narrative works set in the American "{{w|American frontier|Old West}}", which is loosely defined as North America (particularly the United States) west of the Mississippi River between the years of 1865 (when the Civil War ended) and 1895 (when the US Census officially declared the frontier to be closed). These dates are naturally somewhat arbitrary, but most works in the genre are set more or less in that relatively narrow window of time.

This era in American history was marked by aggressive settling of western lands. The US had pursued an expansionist policy known as "{{w|Manifest Destiny}}", which had the primary goal of extending US borders across the continent. This led to various strategies to increase the lands under US control (ranging from diplomatic efforts to expansionist wars), displacing, containing, and eliminating native peoples from the land, and encouraging American settlement in the western territories. Settlers were encouraged to go west with the promise of cheap or free land for agriculture, mineral riches, and freedom from the dangers of large cities.

These sparsely populated lands quickly gained a reputation for being dangerous, unpredictable, and violent. The men and women who settled them were admired as rugged individualists, civilizing a wild frontier through hard work, courage and persistence. The mythos of the "wild west" arguably continues to impact American culture to this day.

The timeline in this strip suggests that the Western genre began almost immediately after the frontier closed. This matches the "official" timeline. The first critically recognized Western novel, ''{{W|The Virginian (novel)|The Virginian}}'', was published in 1902, and one of the earliest silent films, ''{{W|The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery}}'', was made in 1903. However, it should be noted that pulp novels and magazines set in the frontier, as well as "Wild West Shows" that toured the eastern states and Europe had begun decades earlier. And the end of the "Wild West" era can be considered to have lasted into the 1910's, or even the 1920's. In other words, Westerns were an established genre while the real western frontier was still in existence. The genre transitioned from a contemporary setting to a historical one without significant disruption.

The Western genre has varied in popularity, but has never gone away, and continued to produce popular works throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. Artists who grew up admiring Western heroes have proceeded to use the genre for their own visions, and have reinterpreted the setting across multiple generations, and an evolving media landscape. Literature, music and live performances gave way to film, then television, and now video games. This strip points out the irony that the actual Old West took place over a fairly limited time and space, but the setting has managed to accommodate a genre that's maintained popularity for over a century (at least three times as long as the actual frontier era) and is consumed both throughout the US and across the world.

The title text is in reference to the popular video game ''{{w|Red Dead Redemption 2}}'', which takes place in an Old West setting. ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' has already sold in excess of 24 million copies, while at the 1890 census the entire West - even going by the widest definition, counting every state and territory west of the Mississippi - had a population of just 16.8 million. The region now counted by the US Census Bureau as the "Western United States" was even smaller, at just 3.64 million. Not only are there more RDR2 players than there were people in the Wild West at its height, there may be more than lived in the region ''at all'' during the frontier years.

A similar question was asked in [[what if?]] [https://what-if.xkcd.com/100/ WWII Films].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A horizontal timeline spanning between the years 1840 and 2020. Every decade is indicated by a tick below the line, and labeled every 50 years. Two ranges are highlighted by brackets and labeled:

1862-1898: The “Wild West” era

1902-2019: Western films, books, video games, etc

Below the timeline:

It's weird to realize that the Western genre has now existed for three times longer than the period it's based on.

{{comic discussion}}

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:26:21Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ explain closing, title text

{{comic
| number = 2147
| date = May 8, 2019
| title = Appendicitis
| image = appendicitis.png
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results. It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, as titled in the comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.

The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, she mentions "salting his abdomen" to prevent other rebellions. This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city and would have theoretically have hindered future crop production, thus preventing that city from being rebuilt.

After all this explanation, Cueball begins to question Ponytail's methods, and requests to see a different doctor to get a {{w|Second_opinion#Medicine|second opinion}}.

The title text continues the battle metaphor, saying that Cueball is defeating his illness, at least until they can read his words against them.

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

:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her left hand.]
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.
:Cueball: ...which one?
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.
:Cueball: What should I do?

:[Closeup on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.
:Cueball: ...antibiotics?
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.
:Cueball: Surgery.

:[Closeup on Ponytail with her hands raised.]
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

Talk:2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:23:25Z

172.69.33.167: cmt

started a very brief explanation. I'm unsure what actual medical procedure the "salting of the abdomen" is supposed to refer to.[[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 17:16, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
: probably refers to this: {{w|Salting the earth}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 17:23, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:21:37Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2147
| date = May 8, 2019
| title = Appendicitis
| image = appendicitis.png
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results. It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, as titled in the comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.

The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, she mentions "salting his abdomen" to prevent other rebellions. This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city and would have theoretically have hindered future crop production, thus preventing that city from being rebuilt.

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

:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her left hand.]
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.
:Cueball: ...which one?
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.
:Cueball: What should I do?

:[Closeup on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.
:Cueball: ...antibiotics?
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.
:Cueball: Surgery.

:[Closeup on Ponytail with her hands raised.]
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:19:53Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2147
| date = May 8, 2019
| title = Appendicitis
| image = appendicitis.png
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results. It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, as titled in the comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.

The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, there is a reference to "salting his abdomen". This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city. Theoretically, this would have hindered future crop production.

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

:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her left hand.]
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.
:Cueball: ...which one?
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.
:Cueball: What should I do?

:[Closeup on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.
:Cueball: ...antibiotics?
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.
:Cueball: Surgery.

:[Closeup on Ponytail with her hands raised.]
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:18:44Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ remove, duplicate

{{comic
| number = 2147
| date = May 8, 2019
| title = Appendicitis
| image = appendicitis.png
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results.

It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, as titled in the comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.

The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, there is a reference to "salting his abdomen". This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city. Theoretically, this would have hindered future crop production.

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

:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her left hand.]
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.
:Cueball: ...which one?
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.
:Cueball: What should I do?

:[Closeup on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.
:Cueball: ...antibiotics?
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.
:Cueball: Surgery.

:[Closeup on Ponytail with her hands raised.]
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:18:11Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */ start level

{{comic
| number = 2147
| date = May 8, 2019
| title = Appendicitis
| image = appendicitis.png
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results.

It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, as titled in the comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.

The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, there is a reference to "salting his abdomen". This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city. Theoretically, this would have hindered future crop production.

In this comic Cueball visits Dr. Ponytail. Instead of using regular medical terminology like an X-Ray Scan (or possibly MRI or similar), surgery and medications she refers to them using uncommon, yet not completely false descriptions. This matter of addressing things is not uncommon in xkcd comics.

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

:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her left hand.]
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.
:Cueball: ...which one?
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.
:Cueball: What should I do?

:[Closeup on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.
:Cueball: ...antibiotics?
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.
:Cueball: Surgery.

:[Closeup on Ponytail with her hands raised.]
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:08:01Z

172.69.33.167: /* Transcript */ ce

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T17:07:19Z

172.69.33.167: /* Transcript */ create

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-08T16:59:01Z

172.69.33.167: /* Transcript */ add categories

Talk:2142: Dangerous Fields

2019-04-26T20:06:14Z

172.69.33.167:

Many more chemists have job related deaths than gets recorded. It sometimes takes years for the effects of on the job actions to show up. For example, washing your hands in benzene was common practice in the 1960's in Chemistry departments across the US. The result decades later was bone barrow cancer.

"In most modern societies, age-related diseases are by far the most common cause of death for both gerontologists and other people."
^ Can someone change this? In most modern societies, smoking kills significantly more people than old age.

Oncology, the study of cancer, should probably be in the diagram, probably not far behind gerontology. What's the name for the study of traffic accidents? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:08, 26 April 2019 (UTC)
:I don't know, but what about cardiology (heart disease)? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.144|172.68.59.144]] 19:58, 26 April 2019 (UTC)

2140: Reinvent the Wheel

2019-04-24T13:12:38Z

172.69.33.167: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2140
| date = April 22, 2019
| title = Reinvent the Wheel
| image = reinvent_the_wheel.png
| titletext = Right now it's a bicycle wheel, so we've had to move to lighter vehicles, but the reduced overhead is worth it. There was one week when a wheel of cheese got dangerously close to the first page, though.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WHEEL OF CHEESE. Second paragraph needs to be expanded. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

"{{w|Reinventing the wheel}}" is a metaphor that refers to duplicate effort to recreate something that has already been created or perfected previously without adding any value in the process. The phrase relates to the idea that the round wheel was invented a long time ago, and nobody has come up with a better shape for the {{w|wheel}} since that original concept {{Citation needed}}. While the phrase includes the word "wheel", it isn't typically directly associated with the wheel but instead uses the word "wheel" because of the belief that the round wheel was an ancient invention.

In this comic, [[Beret Guy]] works for an automotive company (or this is his [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|own company]]), and he is explaining to Ponytail their decision to not reinvent the wheel for the automobiles that they produce, using the phrase in a literal sense instead of figuratively. Instead, they use a daily Google image search for "wheel" to determine the highest ranked wheel and simply use that wheel on the vehicles they produce that day.

The point of the comic is to make fun of programmers who take the idea that you should never reinvent the wheel too seriously. When these people have a problem, they may Google to find a solution to that problem, and when they find a piece of online code, they use it in their own code, even if it wasn't initially designed to handle the task for which it is being used and thus may have unintended side effects or other issues.

The title text indicates that Beret Guy is currently using bicycle wheels for his vehicles, requiring his vehicles to be lighter as bicycle wheels cannot carry a lot of weight. He says this "reduce[s] overhead", which is both literally true, that his vehicle weighs less, and refers to the usual figurative desire of reducing overhead costs of development by using external libraries. Finally, the narrator (supposedly Beret Guy) explains that at one point a wheel of cheese was near the top of the Google images search. If it had reached the top, it would have been disastrous as a wheel of cheese is completely unsuited for use as a vehicle's wheel as it will likely be eaten by rodents before it can drive any appreciable distance {{Citation needed}}.

==Transcript==

:[Beret Guy is talking to Ponytail.]
:Beret Guy: We don't want to reinvent the wheel, so every day we Google image search "wheel", and whatever object comes up, that's what we attach to our vehicles.
:Beret Guy: Sure, external dependencies carry risks, but so far they've all been pretty good wheels.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]

Talk:1950: Chicken Pox and Name Statistics

2018-02-03T12:41:45Z

172.69.33.167:

I think Randall missed an opportunity to do another “make you feel old” joke here, perhaps something like “if your age isn’t on the chart, your doctors probably still thought chicken pox was caused by imbalanced humors or angry gods” or something. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 15:24, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Shouldn't the vaccine note have been placed at age 23, not 28, if the vaccine was introduced in 1995? [[User:Rockcell|Rockcell]] ([[User talk:Rockcell|talk]]) 15:28, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
:When do children get their first smallpox vaccine? If that's around three that might be one explanation for the position of the note. Also the vaccine wasn't only used on children born after its introduction, kids that were already a few years old but never had smallpox could still have gotten their shots. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.220|108.162.229.220]] 15:52, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

This isn't *smallpox*. Smallpox was eliminated in the middle of the 20th century, so it's weird if anyone gets it. Also: my understanding is that most people who got smallpox died before they got to be old enough to be on any of those graphs.

I found the top graph very hard to interpret, so I've included my interpretation here for posterity: If you are 35 years old, then you were a young child before the vaccine was introduced and probably 100% of the people you knew as a child got chicken pox. If you are 20-25 years old, there's a 50-50 chance that you got the vaccine and, as a result, about 50% of the people you knew as a child got chicken pox. If you are 10 years old, then you more than likely got the vaccine and have a low probably of getting chicken pox. If you are under 5, you probably don't know many other kids. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.39|162.158.62.39]] 17:03, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

: We are so used to reading graphs from left to right that this graph, with the inverse time line (current age) and the introduction of vaccines marked, seems to indicate that everyone had chicken pox after the vaccine was introduced, but that it was fairly rare before that. So this might be a stab at the antivaxx movement as well, and their use of warped statistics. [[User:Torax|Torax]] ([[User talk:Torax|talk]]) 11:36, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

Wait, this has nothing to do with confusing correlation with causation, right? The assumption is simply that if most of the kids your age got chicken pox, which is likely if you have certain names, you will consider chicken pox to be normal and common, which seems like a reasonable claim. On the other hand, if the comic hadn't said that, the implication would be that people with certain names cause chicken pox, which would be confusing correlation with causation. -[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 17:17, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:I agree, that’s how I interpreted the comic as well [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 18:15, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:I also agree, if anything this is doing the opposite and assuming no underlying causality between names and chickenpox likelihood, so that the people who get chickenpox at any given time should be distributed randomly amongst all names at prevalent at that time.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.184|162.158.78.184]] 19:06, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:Basically, what he's describing is a two-step correlation (of which only the second one seems causal to me, but this is debatable). First, your first name and its popularity in particular eras leads to an estimation of your age/year of birth. Second, your year of birth and the prevalence of chicken pox shortly after this year will influence whether you think chicken pox is normal. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 23:14, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

People with all six of those names probably think "Why do I have no less than six names?" --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 23:17, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

It would be considerably weirder if we didn't have teeth. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.25.106|172.68.25.106]] 11:39, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

I thought the joke was that fewer people who have a rare name get chicken pox than those with a common name, therefore people with said rare name must be resistant. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 12:41, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

== Logan ==

Logan becomes less popular at age 30. Coincidence? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.10|162.158.126.10]] 19:09, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
: That just means that Logan started getting popular as a name about 30 years ago. So maybe their parents grew up watching X-Men cartoons on TV in the late 1970's through the 1980's? [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 20:40, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
:: I’m pretty sure the above was referencing the “Logan’s Run” and “Logan’s World” TV series and books, not X-men. It was meant as a joke.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.16|162.158.78.16]] 04:54, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

OK. Grammar check now. How many people actually have all six of these names? Can't be too many of them.
And is it only men who have this issue?

Talk:1946: Hawaii

2018-01-27T00:16:57Z

172.69.33.167:

OMG - so funny, so timely, so close to home. One of our modern fears, in a crisis what would happen if I forgot the password! [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:02, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

"Created by a TWITTER" [[User:Halo422|Halo422]] ([[User talk:Halo422|talk]]) 14:28, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Based on the situation that xkcd is offering, it makes me look like I can't be any governor or an official, since I tend to forget my password very easily, especially my social media ones. RIP me.15:02, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Most implausible explanation I've ever heard. Why not use something other than a Twitter account to notify people, apparently there's an entire system set up for delivering messages to people's phones, I'm not sure a tweet should be part of the official rollback process. {{unsigned|Comment Police}}
:Implausible, yet true. It was all over the news. Twitter is currently perceived as an appropriate way to communicate with constituents by many elected officials. I agree that a reverse-911 probably would have been far more effective, but the news would give more coverage to what's on Twitter, regardless (reaches more people, if less directly or immediately, than reverse-911). [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:09, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

::The issue (as I understand it) was that the send-everyone-a-text-message system was only programmed with a specific set of messages, and "oops, that was an error, ignore that" wasn't one of them. Most of those 38 minutes were spent adding that new message to the system. ''In the meantime'', people in authority who knew there had been a mistake would have been trying to use any means they could of getting this fact out to the public, such as the governor using his official Twitter account. -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 03:32, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

: I'm someone who openly and proudly does not watch or listen to the news (my reasoning is that my knowing all the details of this fire or that hostage situation won't stop it or help it, it'll just add more negative to my life. I get headlines through ads on TV and radio, I feel that's enough for the "history repeating itself" angle), and even I caught this headline. Yeah, an incident was really made worse by a guy unable to access his Twitter. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:12, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

As I am not a native Hawaiian or american, could somebody explain the nature of this warning system please? Does it work with a speaker / sirene system (as is common in Europe) or with text / CB messages? Why was it installed, what is the name of this system etc.
That information might give the uninitiated some background information needed to fully understand this comic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.30|141.101.105.30]] 22:00, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

:The Hawaii state Emergency Alert system is multilayered. This event started with a text message, sent (in error) to phones. The text message was picked up by broadcast media (radio, television). There is also a siren system, reportedly a separate authorization is required to activate it. In some places, Honolulu especially, the sirens were sounded, apparently without the appropriate authorization. In others, such as Hawaii Island where I live, the sirens did not go off. Official channels did not retract the error until 38 minutes after the initial text. Though Governor Ige did not get his tweet sent, other officials, such as US Rep Tulsi Gabbard, did do so, to little effect. It's therefore an open question whether Ige's message would have made much of a difference.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.238|162.158.255.238]] 22:48, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

USB plugs are 4 dimensional... see https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2388. ——

*i use android, and am thus irrelevant. but, the twitter app does not seem, uniquely, to allow the caching of passwords and thus requires you to log in every time. assuming i'm not mistaken in this, does the iOS equivalent also require this? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.29|141.101.99.29]] 13:09, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

I slept through that whole mess because the siren didn't sound where I live. Thankfully, I woke up in a universe where Trump was too busy golfing to start WWIII by mistake. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 00:16, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1943: Universal Dreams

2018-01-18T03:09:39Z

172.69.33.167:

Something is very wrong with the title text. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.240|172.68.65.240]] 17:09, 17 January 2018 (UTC)
:Yea, I think it's because the title text on xkcd.com is actually designed to change the font midway to make it more jarring. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 17:13, 17 January 2018 (UTC)

:As explained in my correction summary, I corrected title text to adhere to the comic - it uses UNICODE U+FF21 - U+FF3A for dramatic effect instead of normal letters. See http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/ff21/index.htm or https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFF00.pdf [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.187|141.101.96.187]] 22:38, 17 January 2018 (UTC)

"This suggest an earthquake would happen soon in one of those major cities". Why? It's not hollywood, earthquakes can happen even in unpopulated areas. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.70|172.68.54.70]] 17:38, 17 January 2018 (UTC)
:Earth quakes that influence few people are less likely to appear in global news and be confirm-able as the comic implies.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.27|162.158.74.27]] 00:42, 18 January 2018 (UTC)
I love the [Citation Needed] tag on the line about dreams. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.132|172.68.143.132]] 18:20, 17 January 2018 (UTC)
: Thanks, although the jokes are funny, poking a little fun at wikipedia's super serious style, I feel they are a little overused. Nonetheless I still add them occasionally... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 23:00, 17 January 2018 (UTC)
: Aww, someone took it out. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 03:09, 18 January 2018 (UTC)

I don't get why someone suggested that Black Hat is Beret Guy in disguise. The nefarious nature of Black Hat's 'premonitions' is surely entirely consistent with Black Hat's personality...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.238|162.158.92.238]] 19:04, 17 January 2018 (UTC)

Common dreams have also been the main topic of https://xkcd.com/557/ and https://xkcd.com/719/ . [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.88|172.68.51.88]] 21:17, 17 January 2018 (UTC) .tnm

Is it just me, or is Blackhat's speech seems very not blackhat like... [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 23:10, 17 January 2018 (UTC)