explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2827: Brassica

2023-09-12T01:45:41Z

172.69.34.12: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2827
| date = September 11, 2023
| title = Brassica
| image = brassica_2x.png
| imagesize = 327x319px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sequoia Brussels sprouts are delicious but it's pretty hard to finish one.
}}

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

{{w|Brassica oleracea}} is a plant species, to which many vegetables that we eat belong. These vegetables look strikingly different from each other; compare, for example, {{w|cabbage}}, {{w|broccoli}}, {{w|kale}} and {{w|brussels sprouts}}. There are 24 listed on Wikipedia that all look different. These different cultivars all originated from wild cabbage, having evolved into several different forms via (primarily) human selection.

In the comic Cueball (acting presumably as a botanist) declares that the "mighty Redwood" (presumably the Coast Redwood, {{w|Sequoia sempervirens}}) also belongs to this species. Since the Coast Redwood is a {{w|conifer}}, while B. oleracea is a {{w|flowering plant}}, the two species are about as different as two land plants can be, both in classification and appearance. If the presumed botanist can get away with this, they can probably get away with just about anything. The caption claims that botanists, such as the one appearing in the cartoon (Cueball), attempt this from time to time.

The title text refers to Sequoia Brussels sprouts. The reference is probably to the Giant Sequoia ({{w|Sequoiadendron giganteum}}), a close relative of the Coast Redwood. "Resinous" is probably a more apt adjective than "delicious", and they're probably woody.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:: [Cueball, Megan and another Cueball are standing in front of a large tree. It is about six meters in diameter and about the bottom eight to ten meters are visible.]
:: Cueball: Did you know the Mighty Redwood is actually the same species as broccoli and kale? It's just a different cultivar.
:: Other Cueball: Wow!

:: [Caption below the panel]
:: Every year or two, botanists add another plant to ''Brassica oleracea'' and see if anyone calls them on it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

2827: Brassica

2023-09-12T01:42:27Z

172.69.34.12: /* Transcript */ cats

{{comic
| number = 2827
| date = September 11, 2023
| title = Brassica
| image = brassica_2x.png
| imagesize = 327x319px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sequoia Brussels sprouts are delicious but it's pretty hard to finish one.
}}

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

{{w|Brassica oleracea}} is a plant species, to which many vegetables that we eat belong. These vegetables look strikingly different from each other; compare, for example, {{w|cabbage}}, {{w|broccoli}}, {{w|kale}} and {{w|brussels sprouts}}. There are 24 listed on Wikipedia that all look different. These different cultivars all originated from wild cabbage, having evolved into several different forms via (primarily) human selection.

In the comic Cueball (acting presumably as a botanist) declares that the "mighty Redwood" (presumably the Coast Redwood, {{w|Sequoia sempervirens}}) also belongs to this species. Since the Coast Redwood is a {{w|conifer}}, while B. oleracea is a {{w|flowering plant}}, the two species are about as different as two land plants can be, both in classification and appearance. If the presumed botanist can get away with this, they can probably get away with just about anything. The caption claims that botanists, such as the one appearing in the cartoon (Cueball), attempt this from time to time.

The title text refers to Sequoia Brussels sprouts. The reference is probably to the Giant Sequoia ({{w|Sequoiadendron giganteum}}), a close relative of the Coast Redwood. "Resinous" is probably a more apt adjective than "delicious", and they're probably woody.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:: [Cueball, Megan and another Cueball are standing in front of a large tree. It is about six meters in diameter and about the bottom eight to ten meters are visible.]
:: Cueball: Did you know the Mighty Redwood is actually the same species as broccoli and kale? It's just a different cultivar.
:: Another Cueball: Wow!

:: [Caption below the panel]
:: Every year or two, botanists add another plant to Brassica oleracea and see if anyone calls them on it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

Talk:2825: Autumn and Fall

2023-09-06T21:45:41Z

172.69.34.12: r

:Who calls it the "fall equinox"? I thought the equinoctes were always described as "vernal" and "autumnal"? [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 19:11, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

:: Americans sometimes call it the fall equinox casually [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.100|172.71.158.100]] 19:56, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

:WRT the alt text, perhaps this is a woosh moment, but "fall" isn't at all common in British parlance. We know it, but only as an Americanism of what we would just call "Autumn". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.19.103|172.68.19.103]] 20:55, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
:: That's the joke. Just as Americans don't typically use "autumn", the UK does not use "fall". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.12|172.69.34.12]] 21:45, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

2087: Rocket Launch

2022-09-23T00:34:33Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */ CoCom restrictions (removed initial mention of high-mach confusion, as redundant, leaving 'trivial' receiver confusion in that section).

{{comic
| number = 2087
| date = December 19, 2018
| title = Rocket Launch
| image = rocket_launch.png
| titletext = NASA tries to coordinate launch timing with the Care Bears' cloud castle, but unfortunately sometimes collisions with stray Care Bears are unavoidable, so they just try to make the fairings sturdy and hope for a glancing impact.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic was posted on a week with a notably high number of {{w|rocket launch}}es. Originally, there were to be four {{w|Orbital spaceflight|orbital rocket}} launches from the United States on December 19, 2018 (the publish date for the comic), which would have tied with the prior record for number of orbital rocket launches in one day. While these launches were ultimately delayed, breaking the event, the comic was doubtless under production by then.

Only some of the steps listed are actually typical.

; {{w|takeoff|Liftoff}}
: The traditional start of a launch, when the rocket leaves the ground. The engines will typically have been ignited a short time before, often one-by-one in a specifically engineered sequence to reduce shock stress on the rocket, but need to throttle up to produce enough thrust to overcome the rocket's weight. Some launch pad configurations physically restrain the rocket (at least to some degree) until the engines are known to produce the required thrust then the rocket is released (e.g. by pyrotechnically crushing restraining bolts such as in NASA Space Shuttle configuration, or by hydraulic actuators opening a sturdy "clamp", such as in SpaceX Falcon 9 configuration). "Liftoff" refers to the moment this happens, making the rocket lift off the ground.
; {{w|Max q|Max-Q}}<nowiki>:</nowiki> Peak aerodynamic stress.
: A rocket accelerates from the moment it leaves the ground. The faster a rocket goes, the bigger volume of air it pushes through per second - but the higher a rocket goes, the thinner the air. (Before liftoff, the rocket is not moving, and thus is not pushing through air. Once in orbit, there is essentially no air to push through, so the rocket is not pushing through air. Between those two times, the rocket is pushing through some amount of air, the exact amount increasing before Max Q and decreasing after Max Q.) "Max Q" is the moment where these two factors produce a maximum, and is the point where the rocket's structure must withstand the most air pushing back against it.
; Booster separation
: Rockets are designed in {{w|Multistage rocket|stages}}, so they do not have to carry the empty fuel tanks all the way to orbit. (Carrying any mass to orbit is expensive, so the more that can be dropped off earlier, the better.) Two or three stages are typical. "Booster separation" marks the point where the first of these stages (the "{{w|Booster (rocketry)|booster}}"), its fuel expended, is typically ejected.
; Max-CB<nowiki>:</nowiki> Highest chance of collision with {{w|Care Bears}}.
: This is entirely fictitious. Care Bears are fictitious characters, which have a toy line, television series, and movies. The existence of a basketball sneaker named the "Nike Air Force Max CB" may or may not be relevant.
; Main stage separation
: See "booster separation" above. This marks the point where the second stage (the "main stage") is ejected.
; {{w|GPS}} silenced so it will stop saying "Make a U-turn"
: Again, this is fictional. While some rockets do make use of signals from the Global Positioning System ("GPS"), no rockets are known to use the navigational devices that incorporate GPS readers and street maps, providing directions - often with optional text-to-speech - along the Earth's surface. Some such devices are notorious for getting confused when the processed signals become less reliable; constantly uttering "make a U-turn" would be one such confusion, and any device in such a confused state might well be silenced for being more annoying than helpful. Navigation of this nature is neither necessary nor useful on a rocket, which will have its entire route from ground to orbit computed before launch, and piloting typically left entirely to computers given the precise timing required and typically alternate inertial tracking and/or radio-triangulation signals providing feedback as to how true the track up to, then in, orbit has been. Altitude uncertainty tends to be greater than 'horizontal' position, and this sensitivity would degrade significantly as a receiver approaches the altitude of the particular satellites being listened to.
: In civil GPS receivers, it may also be a direct result of the {{w|Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls#Legacy|CoCom restrictions}} baked into the firmware/hardware to prevent their use in high-speed/long-range weaponry (such as rockets) by hostile regimes. If space-launch equipment integrates GPS navigation at all, it would generally not be a retail device such as that bundled with a spoken prompt for road directions.
; Reunification (of boosters)
: Another fictional step. Discarded stages fall back into the Earth's atmosphere, either hitting the ground (or, more often, water) or burning up because of the heat-up resulting from high compression of air in front of them while re-entering thick layers of atmosphere at extreme speed. The booster and main stage would not be on a course to come anywhere near each other, and would not have enough fuel to change their course (running out of fuel being why they were discarded in the first place). Even if they did, landing for reuse (as {{w|SpaceX reusable launch system development program|SpaceX has attempted}}, often successfully) would be far more likely than a mid-air reunion.
; Pilot panics, copilot takes command after struggle
: Another fictional step. Astronauts are not the sort of people who panic easily, nor struggle with their crewmates. More importantly, in any modern rocket the "pilot" is not a human being, but a computer incapable of panic{{citation needed}} (as in the human emotion). It is possible that part of the flight computer could fail, causing redundant failsafes to take over, but the process could not correctly be described as a "struggle", and in any case this sort of failure is uncommon enough that it is not part of a "typical" rocket launch.
; Pursuit phase
: Fictional. This assumes the (nonexistent) reunified booster would have enough fuel to pursue the top stage of the rocket, and a reason to do so. See "Reunification". This might be a reference to {{w|Pursuit guidance}}. The comic indicates that a fight ensues with only one of the pair continuing to orbit.
; Inter-stage {{w|dogfight}}
: Fictional. See "Pursuit phase". A dogfight is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft, conducted at close range. This step claims that the rocket booster and the top stage of the rocket engage in a battle.
; Winner proceeds to space
: Fictional. As noted above, in a real rocket launch there is no dogfight of which there can be a "winner". A careful reading would note that the bottom stage "wins" by default; in contrast, in a real (orbital) rocket launch, the top stage typically proceeds to space.

The title text refers once again to the Care Bears franchise. The Care Bears live in a castle made of clouds, called [https://carebears.fandom.com/wiki/Care-a-Lot_Castle Care-a-Lot Castle], so the comic claims that NASA aims to avoid launching into their castle, but sometimes cannot avoid hitting "stray" Care Bears. That being said, the point about the strike has a basis in truth; at the speeds a rocket moves, impact with something roughly the size and weight of a human (or a Care Bear) has the potential to be catastrophic. If something should threaten to connect with the rocket, the best that the humans involved can do is hope for a glancing blow with a part of the rocket sturdy enough to endure the impact.

==Transcript==

[The major stages of a rocket launch are shown, with the rocket trajectory indicated by dotted lines. Each stage is annotated with a description and an arrow. A title above the image reads 'Outline of a typical rocket launch'.]

:[A rocket with two boosters is shown at the bottom left hand corner of the image taking off from a launch pad on the ground, surrounded by clouds of smoke.]
::Liftoff

:[The rocket ascends vertically]
::Max-Q: Peak aerodynamic stress

:[Separation of the two external booster rockets is shown, with the main rocket continuing to ascend vertically with a slight rightward tilt and the two boosters curving off to the right.]
::Booster separation

:[The main rocket stage starts to curve over to the right.]
::Max-CB: Highest chance of collision with care bears

:[Separation of the second rocket stage. Main rocket heads right, whilst second booster stage curves downward to meet trajectory of first booster stages.]
::Main stage separation

:[Main rocket continues towards the right.]
::GPS silenced so it will stop saying "make a U-turn"

:[First and second stage booster rocket trajectories meet and become a single trajectory heading upwards and right.]
::Reunification

:[Trajectory of main rocket wobbles slightly.]
::Pilot panics, copilot takes command after struggle

:[Booster stage rockets continue to head upwards and right towards the main rocket trajectory.]
::Pursuit phase

:[Main rocket and booster stage trajectories meet and cross three times.]
::Inter-stage dogfight

:[The trajectory for one of the stages ends in an explosion.]

:[The remaining trajectory, indicated with dashed-lines and question marks, continues towards the right and off the edge of the page.]
:: Winner proceeds to space

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2003: Presidential Succession

2021-01-26T01:39:51Z

172.69.34.12:

{{comic
| number = 2003
| date = June 6, 2018
| title = Presidential Succession
| image = presidential_succession.png
| titletext = Ties are broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|United States presidential line of succession}} is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office.

The {{w|Presidential_Succession_Act#Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947|Presidential Succession Act of 1947}} revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This Act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, the Act names two members of Congress as successors. There are serious questions as to whether this violates the principle of Separation of Powers. The second issue is that the Act allows for anyone skipped over for succession to later assume the office if circumstances change to allow them to hold it. This would mean that the person in question could effectively unseat a sitting President, which raises serious constitutional issues.

There are also practical concerns regarding the Act. The line of succession includes all members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established, with the oldest departments first. No consideration is given to which departments would be most relevant to the Presidency, particularly considering that this type of succession would presumably involve a serious crisis, which the new president would need to be able to address immediately. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003), the Secretary of Homeland Security is last in the current Presidential line of succession, behind Secretaries in much less sensitive roles, such as those of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Education.

Another concern is that, by including members of Congress immediately after the Vice President, there is a serious risk that the simultaneous death of the President and Vice President could cause the Presidency to change to the opposing party, which could lead to serious political instability at the precise moment when the country is facing a national crisis. It even presents the possibility that simultaneous assassinations of the President and Vice President could function as an effective coup, shifting power to their opponents.

Finally, there is the issue that, usually, everyone in the line of succession lives and works in Washington D.C. Hence, a sufficiently destructive attack or natural disaster impacting the city could realistically incapacitate all of them, leaving the USA leaderless at a time of extreme crisis. It is already established practice in the USA that everyone in this line not gather together at once. In cases where most senior government officials gather (such as the {{w| State of the Union}}), at least one member of the line of succession (referred to as the "designated survivor") is secured off-site, and would assume the presidency in the unlikely event that a {{w| mass casualty event}} were to kill or incapacitate everyone else in the line. However, disasters impacting an entire city remain a possibility, and no provision is made for them in current law.

To correct these issues, a think tank known as the {{w| Continuity of Government Commission}} prepared a report recommending a new line of succession, which would not include members of Congress, would reorder the cabinet secretaries so that the most suitable roles would be the first successors, and would include people who do not live or work in Washington DC. The full text of their report can be found [https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_continuity_of_government.pdf here]. A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is [https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-continuity-of-the-presidency-the-second-report-of-the-continuity-of-government-commission here].

The first six members of the commission's list are taken from the current line of succession, though the order is changed; they propose that after this, five new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of assuming the presidency, if needed. Randall's list begins with these eleven people (combining the five new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list becomes increasingly comical and ridiculous.

Randall's list omits members of Congress, as well as other cabinet positions, in accordance with the report's concerns about constitutionality and qualifications. However, his other additions totally ignore these issues, including people with no apparent qualifications for the office (such as actors, athletes, and competitive eaters) and people who are constitutionally ineligible for the office. The US Constitution requires that the President of the United States must be a natural-born US citizen, at least 35 years of age, and have resided in the US for at least fourteen years. Randall's list includes many people who don't meet these requirements. Most notably, he includes the entire succession to the British crown, almost none of whom meet the requirement of being natural-born citizens of the United States.

It may be expected that many of the athletes, musicians and actors on this list are likely to be ineligible as well. Most professional athletes in the relevant sports are under 35 years old, particularly those at the peak of their careers (when they'd likely win MVP awards), the most popular musicians also tend to be younger than 35, and many who meet these requirements were not born US citizens (and some many not even reside in the US). However, the existing line of succession can also contain ineligible people, who would simply be skipped over for succession. For example, at the comic's publication, {{w|Elaine Chao}} was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US, rather than native-born (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.

The title text mentions that ties will be broken by whoever was closest to the surface of {{w|Europa}} when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter and one of the most likely locations in the Solar System for {{w|Habitability of natural satellites|potential habitability}}. This is likely a parody of systems in which ties are broken by semi-arbitrary rules (such as the older candidate automatically winning a tie) or a randomized ones (such as ties being decided by a coin flip). The position of Europa with respect to Earth at the time of one's birth depends on enough factors that it acts as a pseudo-random tie breaker, albeit a needlessly complicated one.

==Order of succession==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!#
!Randall's order
!Current order by the 1947 Act
!Notes
|-
|1
|{{w|POTUS|President}}
|President
|Not generally considered part of the line of succession, as incumbents cannot "succeed" to their own post. (This should really be item 0 on the list.)
|-
|2
|{{w|POTUS|Vice president}}
|Vice president
|This is the same as in the actual line of succession. Succeeding the President is one of the only two roles assigned to the Vice President by the Constitution, the other being presiding over the Senate (including breaking ties), but Vice Presidents are often given additional roles during office.
|-
|3
|{{w|United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State}}
|Speaker of the House of Representatives
|Moved up from 5th position. This is likely a serious suggestion. As mentioned above, the existing Succession Act includes the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, which presents serious practical and constitutional issues. The Secretary of State is the chief officer responsible for the country's international relations and diplomatic missions, and would be a logical successor, particularly in times of crisis.
|-
|4
|{{w|United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense}}
|{{w|President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate}}
|Moved up from 7th position. Likely a serious suggestion. The existing succession places the Secretary of Defense behind the Secretary of the Treasury in succession. If the three preceding officials were simultaneously killed or incapacitated, there would be a high likelihood that the country was either under attack, and other powers could easily try to take advantage of any power vacuum. Since the Secretary of Defense is most connected to the nation's military, and most in tune with information regarding potential threats and risks, this would be a logical succession.
|-
|5
|{{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Secretary of Homeland Security}}
|Secretary of State
|Moved up from 19th position. Likely a serious suggestion. As with the Secretary of Defense, this officer would likely be closely aligned with the national emergency response infrastructure (including overseeing the {{w|Federal Emergency Management Agency}}), and would be well equipped to deal with a major attack or natural disaster.
|-
|6
|{{w|United States Attorney General|Attorney General}}
|{{w|United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury}}
|Moved up from 8th position. Likely a serious suggestion. The Attorney General oversees national law enforcement, and would be in a position to deal with internal chaos that could result from a disaster that impacted the federal government so deeply.
|-
|7
|Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate
|Secretary of Defense
|{{w|Washington, D.C.}} is the capital of the United States, and is where the {{w|White House}}, the President's residence, is located. Presumably this provision covers the case where much of the government, including positions 1–6 here, are killed by a natural disaster or attack in Washington, D.C.

This suggestion establishes no qualifications for these people, but the fact that they'd need to be confirmed by the Senate suggests that they would be chosen to be competent for the role. It is also unclear if an order is determined among these five or if they take up a joint presidency. This suggestion is taken from the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission to prevent the danger of the entire line of succession being removed in a single event.
|-
|8
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Attorney General
|Academy Award-winning American actor. This is the first unambiguously unserious suggestion.{{Citation needed}} Tom Hanks is very popular and considered exceptionally likeable by many Americans, but has never served in public office or displayed any particular affinity for politics. The implication is that Mr. Hanks would be easily accepted as a leader, based solely on his personal charm. It should also be noticed that Tom Hanks played Jim Lovell, who served in the navy before becoming an astronaut (Many early astronauts were former military members.), in ''Apollo 13'', a military captain in ''Saving Private Ryan'', a prison officer in ''The Green Mile'', a naval intelligence officer in ''James B. Donovan'', and a member of the House of Representatives in ''Charlie Wilson's War''; if Tom Hanks's appearances in movies counted as real-life experience, then he would be adequately qualified.
|-
|9
|State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
|{{w|United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior}}
|Also taken from Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission. At the time of publication, the last {{w|United States Census}} was the 2010 Census. As California is the most populous state, its Governor ({{w|Jerry Brown}} at the time of publication) would have been first in line.

See also the {{w|2010_United_States_Census#State_rankings|state population rankings}} and the {{w|list of current United States governors}}. As worded, this criterion would exclude territorial governors (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.).
|-
|10
|Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
|{{w|United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture}}
|Oscars, or {{w|Academy Awards}}, are annual film awards awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of publication, the only Oscar awarded for playing a governor was {{w|Broderick Crawford}}'s 1949 Best Actor award for the fictional Willie Stark in ''{{w|All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men}}'' (a character based on {{w|Huey Long}}). However, Crawford died in 1986, so would be unable to serve as President.

This may be a reference to the {{w|Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger}}: a highly-lauded actor who became governor of California, but did not win an Oscar or play a governor before being elected. (As a naturalized citizen, he is also ineligible for the Presidency.)
There is also humor in suggesting that playing a governor delivers just as much expereince as being a governor. (Something similar was mentioned in the section about Tom Hanks, who played, among other things, a member of the House of Representatives.)
|-
|11
|Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
|{{w|United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce}}
|The {{w|Governors Awards}} are an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to present lifetime achievement awards within the film industry. As this award is a lifetime achievement award, it does not seem possible that an actor could win this award for simply playing someone named Oscar. Notwithstanding the nature of the award, at the time of publication, no recipient of a Governors Award has played a character named Oscar.

Obviously, the joke is that changing the order of the words from the previous proposal produces something that could actually exist.
|-
|12
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}, if available
|Secretary of Labor
|Comedic actress famous for being a cast member on {{w|Saturday Night Live}}. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She has recently done impersonations of members of the Trump administration including Spokeswoman {{w|Kellyanne Conway}} and Attorney General {{w|Jeff Sessions}}. She also played {{w|Hillary Clinton}} during the 2016 campaign and presumably would have played her when she was President had she won; but since Clinton lost, McKinnon has not actually played a President. At the time the comic was released, she was 34 years 5 months old; thus she was not "available" until seven months later. Being available could also refer to not already having an acting commitment, in which case the comic would be humorously implying that fulfilling her acting roles is more important than the country having leadership.
|-
|13
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
|Secretary of Health and Human Services
|The {{w|Billboard Hot 100}} is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. The weekly data is aggregated into a cumulative {{w|Billboard Year-End}} (based on a "year" that ends the third week of November, in order to meet December publication deadlines). At the time of publication, the most recent such list was the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017}}.

Based on that list, the artists considered for the presidential succession would be: {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Luis Fonsi}}, {{w|Bruno Mars}}, {{w|Kendrick Lamar}}, Alex Pall (of {{w|The Chainsmokers}}), {{w|Quavo|Quavoius Keyate Marshall}} (of {{w|Migos}}), {{w|Sam Hunt}}, {{w|Dan Reynolds}} (of {{w|Imagine Dragons}}), and {{w|Post Malone}}. There are only nine names instead of ten because The Chainsmokers had two of the top 10 singles in 2017. Of these, only Luis Fonsi (40 years old, born in Puerto Rico) was legally eligible for the office; all the others were too young, and Sheeran is additionally from the United Kingdom.
|-
|14
|The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
|Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
|Astronauts are highly respected and rigorously selected, but most have little involvement in politics. According to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders NASA], the top 5 US astronauts by cumulative space time at the time of publication were: {{w|Peggy Whitson}}, {{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}, {{W|Scott Kelly (astronaut)|Scott Kelly}}, {{w|Mike Fincke}}, and {{w|Mike Foale}}. However, it is unclear whether Foale would qualify as a natural-born citizen, as he was born in the United Kingdom to a British father and American mother.
|-
|15
|{{w|Serena Williams}} (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
|Secretary of Transportation
|As of the time of publication, Serena Williams was a top female tennis player. She is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all-time, winning 39 {{w|Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam}} titles, including 23 women's singles titles. At the time of publication Serena Williams did win her most recent match (2018 French Open, third round, on June 2nd), although she withdrew from her next match against Maria Sharapova (which perhaps should count as a loss, especially if she withdrew in order to preserve her place in the line of succession and killed everyone in place ahead of her).

If her most recent defeat was to a non-US player, presumably she would be skipped over in line although this is not explicitly stated (the current succession list skips over anyone who would not normally qualify for not being a natural-born US citizen).
|-
|16
|The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
|Secretary of Energy
|MVP stands for {{w|Most Valuable Player}}. The 4 listed leagues are the major sports leagues in the United States, the {{w|National Basketball Association}} (NBA), the {{w|National Football League}} (NFL), {{w|Major League Baseball}} (MLB), and the {{w|National Hockey League}} (NHL). We're assuming that Randall meant the regular season MVPs of each league, as each league also awards MVPs for their respective championships (or in the case of the NHL's {{w|Conn Smythe Trophy}}, their entire playoffs).

As of the time of publication, the most recent MVPs for the listed sports were {{w|Russell Westbrook}} (NBA), {{w|Tom Brady}} (NFL), {{w|José Altuve}} and {{w|Giancarlo Stanton}} (MLB has two, one for the American League and one for the National League), and {{w|Connor McDavid}} (NHL). Of these, only Brady would qualify for the list - Altuve and McDavid are Venezuelan and Canadian citizens respectively, and Westbrook (29) and Stanton (28) were too young.
|-
|17
|{{w|Bill Pullman}} and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
|Secretary of Education
|American actor, known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1996 film ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}''.

Absolute primogeniture is a form of succession where the oldest direct descendant regardless of gender receives the title. This is contrasted to {{w|Male-preference primogeniture}}, in which males come before females in the order of the throne, whether the males were born first or not. This may be a reference to the British law {{w|Succession to the Crown Act 2013}}, which changed the order of the throne from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This act allows {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Princess Charlotte}} to retain her place in line before {{w|Prince Louis of Cambridge|Prince Louis}}.

At the time of publication, Pullman's immediate descendants consisted of three children, with Maesa Pullman being the oldest at age 29. Thus all but Bill Pullman himself were too young for the presidency.
|-
|18
|The entire line of succession to the British throne
|Secretary of Veterans Affairs
|According to the Constitution, only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President, which means that at least most of the line of succession to the British throne is ineligible. However, it is possible that someone in the line of succession to the British throne either is a dual citizen or is not British (a person from outside of Britain can become King; for example, some, including George I, were from what is now Germany).

The first 59 names on the list are {{w|Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession|here}}. [https://lineofsuccession.co.uk/?date=2018-06-06 British Line of Succession on 6 June 2018] shows the list as it was at the comic's publication. American citizens [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-11/news/vw-42233_1_royal-house have, at times] been on the list, but no natural-born Americans were on the list when the comic was published. However, after this comic was published {{w|Archie Mountbatten-Windsor}} was born on May 6, 2019; he is currently seventh in the line of succession to the British throne and has US citizenship through his mother {{w|Meghan, Duchess of Sussex}}. As with Mark Foale, though, whether that qualifies as natural-born has not be tested (leaving aside his age and the fact that many royals in his position have historically relinquished their birthright US citizenship voluntarily, which he may choose to do once he reaches age 16). In theory, the full British succession list includes [http://www.wargs.com/essays/succession/2011.html several thousand people] (living descendants of {{w|Sophia of Hanover}} who are not Roman Catholic or otherwise disqualified), and it is possible that one or more such people would also be eligible to be President of the United States beyond Master Archie.

The humor here derives from the fact that the United States was established by declaring independence from the United Kingdom, with rejection of the British monarchy being a basic founding principle, and a core principle of US governance. To appoint the British monarchy to the American presidency would contradict the basic goals of American independence. Alternatively, it may reference the recent wedding of {{w|Prince Harry}} to {{w|Meghan Markle}}, although she is not in the order of succession. A similar sequence of events was the plotline of the comedy film ''{{w|King Ralph}}'', which saw an American become the British monarch after the death of the royal family.
|-
|19
|The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|The {{w|Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest}} is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition sponsored by {{w|Nathan's Famous}} held on July 4th. As of the time of publication, the most recent men's winner was {{w|Joey Chestnut}} and the women's winner was {{w|Miki Sudo}}. At the time of publication, neither was old enough to assume the office.

The comic does not specify whether the men's or women's winner should take office, creating a tie that would be broken by distance from Europa at birth. Had they both been eligible, [https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/29132/was-earth-closer-to-europa-on-1983-11-25-or-1985-07-22 Sudo would have won] by between 0.125 and 4 {{w|Astronomical unit}}s.
|-
|20
|All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament
|''None''
|Effective for a population up to 536,870,912 individuals (2^29) which would be enough to cover the entire US population (estimated at around 325 million at time of publication), although additional rounds can be added should the population grow further.

This is probably a reference to the {{w|Matter of Britain}} (e.g., {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|The Sword in the Stone}}), where, after the death of Uther Pendragon, with no known successor to the throne of England for years, it is decided that the winner of a jousting tournament shall be crowned. However, Arthur, the Wart, pulls the Sword from the Stone.
|}

===List of specific individuals===
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the date the comic was published'''.
#{{w|Donald Trump}} ({{w|President of the United States}})
#{{w|Mike Pence}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}})
#{{w|Mike Pompeo}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State}})
#{{w|Jim Mattis}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})
#{{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}})
#{{w|Jeff Sessions}} ({{w|United States Attorney General}}) As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Sessions.
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks)
#{{w|Jerry Brown}} (Governor of California)
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)
#{{w|Andrew Cuomo}} (Governor of New York)
#{{w|Rick Scott}} (Governor of Florida)
#{{w|Bruce Rauner}} (Governor of Illinois)
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)
#{{w|John Kasich}} (Governor of Ohio)
#{{w|Rick Snyder}} (Governor of Michigan)
#{{w|Nathan Deal}} (Governor of Georgia)
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)
#{{w|Ralph Northam}} (Governor of Virginia)
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)
#{{w|Bill Haslam}} (Governor of Tennessee)
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)
#{{w|Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker}} (Governor of Wisconsin)
#{{w|Mark Dayton}} (Governor of Minnesota)
#{{w|John Hickenlooper}} (Governor of Colorado)
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)
#{{w|Matt Bevin}} (Governor of Kentucky)
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.
#{{w|Mary Fallin}} (Governor of Oklahoma)
#{{w|Dannel Malloy}} (Governor of Connecticut)
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)
#{{w|Phil Bryant}} (Governor of Mississippi)
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)
#{{w|Jeff Colyer}} (Governor of Kansas)
#{{w|Gary Herbert}} (Governor of Utah)
#{{w|Brian Sandoval}} (Governor of Nevada)
#{{w|Susana Martinez}} (Governor of New Mexico)
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)
#{{w|Butch Otter}} (Governor of Idaho)
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)
#{{w|Paul LePage}} (Governor of Maine)
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)
#{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}} (Governor of Montana)
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)
#{{w|Dennis Daugaard}} (Governor of South Dakota)
#{{w|Bill Walker (U.S. politician)|Bill Walker}} (Governor of Alaska)
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)
#{{w|Matt Mead}} (Governor of Wyoming) Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members. Kate McKinnon was only 34 years 5 months old at the time the comic was released, making her unavailable.
#{{w|Luis Fonsi}} (Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017, #2 artist) Fonsi is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion.
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Foale}} (Astronaut, 374 days in space) Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.
#{{w|Serena Williams}} Serena's place on this list assumes that you do not count her withdrawal against Maria Sharapova as a ''loss''; if that counts as a loss, then subsequent entries move up one position (as Sharapova is ineligible).
#{{w|Tom Brady}} ({{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}) The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) None of his children are old enough to become President at this time.
#''line of succession to the British throne'' Assumes that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists due to citizenship issues. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions were too young to hold the office.
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament)

Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the current date'''. (Last updated on 26 January 2021)
#{{w|Joe Biden}} ({{w|President of the United States}})
#{{w|Kamala Harris}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}}) Some of the following cabinet officials are acting pending Senate confirmation of Biden nominees. It's unclear whether this proposal would include acting officers.
#{{w|Daniel Bennett Smith}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State|Acting United States Secretary of State}})
#{{w|Lloyd Austin}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})
#{{w|David Pekoske}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Acting United States Secretary of Homeland Security}})
#{{w|Monty Wilkinson (lawyer)|Monty Wilkinson}} ({{w|United States Attorney General|Acting United States Attorney General}}) As Joe Biden did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Wilkinson.
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks)
#{{w|Gavin Newsom}} (Governor of California)
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)
#{{w|Andrew Cuomo}} (Governor of New York)
#{{w|Ron DeSantis}} (Governor of Florida)
#{{w|J. B. Pritzker}} (Governor of Illinois)
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)
#{{w|Mike DeWine}} (Governor of Ohio)
#{{w|Gretchen Whitmer}} (Governor of Michigan)
#{{w|Brian Kemp}} (Governor of Georgia)
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)
#{{w|Ralph Northam}} (Governor of Virginia)
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)
#{{w|Bill Lee (Tennessee politician)|Bill Lee}} (Governor of Tennessee)
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)
#{{w|Tony Evers}} (Governor of Wisconsin)
#{{w|Tim Walz}} (Governor of Minnesota)
#{{w|Jared Polis}} (Governor of Colorado)
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)
#{{w|Andy Beshear}} (Governor of Kentucky)
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.
#{{w|Kevin Stitt}} (Governor of Oklahoma)
#{{w|Ned Lamont}} (Governor of Connecticut)
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)
#{{w|Tate Reeves}} (Governor of Mississippi)
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)
#{{w|Laura Kelly}} (Governor of Kansas)
#{{w|Spencer Cox (politician)|Spencer Cox}} (Governor of Utah)
#{{w|Steve Sisolak}} (Governor of Nevada)
#{{w|Michelle Lujan Grisham}} (Governor of New Mexico)
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)
#{{w|Brad Little}} (Governor of Idaho)
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)
#{{w|Janet Mills}} (Governor of Maine)
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)
#{{w|Greg Gianforte}} (Governor of Montana)
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)
#{{w|Kristi Noem}} (Governor of South Dakota)
#{{w|Mike Dunleavy (politician)|Mike Dunleavy}} (Governor of Alaska)
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)
#{{w|Mark Gordon (politician)|Mark Gordon}} (Governor of Wyoming)
#{{w|Kate McKinnon}} (Kate McKinnon) If she is available. Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members.
#{{w|Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn}} (AKA Future)
#{{w|Adam Levine}} of {{w|Maroon 5}} All other artists on the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2020}} were too young.
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Foale}} (Astronaut, 374 days in space) Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) None of Bill Pullman's children are old enough to become President at this time.
#{{w|Serena Williams}} (most recent match: win against {{w|Anastasija Sevastova}}, Fed Cup QLS R1) The MVPs of all listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.
#''line of succession to the British throne''
#{{w|Miki Sudo}} (Women’s champion of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, listed first since closer to Europa at date of birth)
#{{w|Joey Chestnut}} (Men's champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest)
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament) Assumes that the number of eligible US Citizens does not exceed 536,870,912.

==Transcript==
: A proposal for a new presidential line of succession
: Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well.
: (For more, see the surprisingly gripping ''Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission'', June 2009.)
: Proposed line of succession:
:# President
:# Vice president
:# Secretary of State
:# Secretary of Defense
:# Secretary of Homeland Security
:# Attorney General
:# Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate
:# Tom Hanks
:# State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
:# Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
:# Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
:# Kate McKinnon, if available
:# Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
:# The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
:# Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
:# The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
:# Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
:# The entire line of succession to the British throne
:# The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
:# All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Politics]]

Talk:2414: Solar System Compression Artifacts

2021-01-21T23:43:57Z

172.69.34.12: I can completely cover the moon with my thumb, but that does not imply that they are similar in size, because my thumb is closer to my eye.

"([Compression artefacts] may become literally unnoticeable because hexadecimal color values are discrete[...]" - disagree. Artefacts exist ''because'' of a discrete nature. Either of the RGB(/HSV/whatever) granularity, the lower the colour depth, or of the method used to get around the overheads of storing literal 24+ bits of colour-depth across a given image size. TrueColo(u)r should escape ''perceived'' colour-banding, but any image editor knows (or relies upon) that any flood-fill/by-colour-selection used with an absolute drift range away from the datum spot less than that across a gradient spills away from it can highlight 'hidden' edges between (say) #789ABC and #789BBC. What we have here is low bit-depth (grey-shade or equal-RGB, apparently 4-bit(/each), counting the 16 bands thanks to the mach-banding) non-dithered band-shading of a possibly nuanced (fractal?) shade fall-off. Possibly a 2D slice through 3D (or more, e.g. if animated) of voxelated (or hypervoxelated) stored values, which use up a ''lot'' of space in the Universe Simulator. Perhaps there's also something like Discrete Cosine Transform compression for easier block/chunk storage, retrieval and/or generation-on-demand (with detailed deltas for complex overlaying features such as Voyager). Because the Creator/Programmer of the universe has limited storage/processor cycles! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.122|141.101.105.122]] 01:39, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
:tl;dr? — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 13:16, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
I would suggest that more emphasis needs to be placed on 'dynamic range' and 'undetectable' in this explanation. Particularly noticeable in streaming video codecs, you often can't decipher any information in dark scenes/regions. So the joke is that the map beyond here is empty, mostly because it is too far down in the dynamic range of our lossy observations. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.80|108.162.219.80]] 17:36, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
:Re "...stretches out over maybe a dozen such low-res pixels/AUs, which is equivalent to slightly more than the radius of Saturn's orbit or the entire diameter of Jupiter's!", this assumes that Jupiter and Voyager are the same distance from the imaginary "camera". I can completely cover the moon with my thumb, but that does not imply that they are similar in size, because my thumb is closer to my eye.
:Re: "The Voyager image (and track) is overlaid at finer resolution", if it not unheard-of for a compression algorithm to render, say, 32x32 pixel blocks as if they were single, larger pixels if their immediate neighbors are almost the same shade, while rendering small, detailed, and high contrast portions of the image at a higher resolution. No "overlay" required.

Talk:2413: Pulsar Analogy

2021-01-19T02:43:47Z

172.69.34.12: You're not spinning, I am!

I tried applying the right-hand-rule with the y-axis pointing to the right. :( I hurt my hand.
[[User:Avitzur|Avitzur]] ([[User talk:Avitzur|talk]]) 23:22, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
:Rotate your paper then do the right hand rule :)
:Hand joint exercises. Gentle motions with the wrist bent backwards, and bent forwards; 3-5 circles in both directions and both postures, twice a day. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.41|162.158.62.41]] 00:48, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.149|172.69.35.149]] 23:38, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

The analogy doesn't seem to be inaccurate in the way currently indicated. In both cases (tape measure and pulsar), conservation of ''angular'' momentum is what produces the result. With the tape measure, a small fast-spinning thing turns into a large slow-spinning thing; the opposite happens with a pulsar. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.150|172.69.35.150]] 00:05, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
:Isn't a tape measure bigger, not smaller, and slow-spinning, not fast-spinning, when it is elongated? This is very confusing. Thinking of how pulling the tape out stores energy. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.41|162.158.62.41]] 00:49, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
::A tape measure starts off not spinning. It's the acceleration of the tape as it moves in that starts the rotation, because the motion of the tape measure is not precisely radial. Same principle, different problem. [[User:Ltmauve|Ltmauve]] ([[User talk:Ltmauve|talk]]) 02:29, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
:::As the tape retracts, the tape inside the case is spinning. Once it is fully retracted, the case spins. Small spinny --> large spinny.
:::Of course, on a frictionless surface there's some slow retrograde rotation of the case + extended tape that speeds up as the tape retracts, but the case should completely stop spinning once the tape is fully retracted in that scenario, which is opposite of the analogy being drawn. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.12|172.69.34.12]] 02:43, 19 January 2021 (UTC)

1836: Okeanos

2021-01-12T20:27:42Z

172.69.34.12: /* Transcript */ category

{{comic
| number = 1836
| date = May 12, 2017
| title = Okeanos
| image = okeanos.png
| titletext = WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|NOAAS_Okeanos_Explorer_(R_337)|NOAAS Okeanos Explorer}}, named after the Greek (and Roman) personification of the sea {{w|Okeanos}}, is a vessel that is currently exploring the Central Pacific Basin. It livestreams the video feed [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html] of its deep sea exploration online.

This comic seems to be a representation of the livestream on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmVT36Axtn0]; see the [[#Table of comments|table]] below for details.

The chat section for the actual livestream is disabled, but the comic adds some humorous examples of what the chat section would look like. Several of the examples are the product of commenters falsely believing the livestream is that of a game, probably since most livestreams on YouTube are of people playing games; [[Randall]] is joking about the viewers of said streams in particular not being able to tell the difference, as well as YouTube commenters in general. Randall has mentioned the ridiculousness of comments on YouTube before in both [[202: YouTube]] and [[481: Listen to Yourself]]. One of the comments seems to refer to Minecraft or a similar game, since one of the comments asks why nothing is being crafted (crafting is a mechanic in many games, used to make items).

In the caption below Randall states that he likes to view the stream and commends them on disabling the chat section, for the reasons given in the comic above.

The title text is yet another comment by someone who dropped their phone from a boat, and now wants to use Okeanos' resources to find it, which is of course impossible; if the boat was anywhere near Okeanos, the phone would have swiftly been hidden in the silt on the bottom. And even if not, the chance of finding anything dropped in the {{w|Pacific Ocean}}, the largest Ocean on the Earth, is all but zero. Also, the Central Pacific Basin, where Okeanos was at the time of this comic's release, is 6500 meters deep; at that depth the water pressure is approximately 4454.863 kilopascals, or roughly 646 PSI. This is probably enough to irrevocably damage something as breakable as a cell phone. Even if the phone were of the so-called "waterproof" variety, that rating is usually only applicable to a few meters of depth rather than thousands of meters. Needless to say, retrieving one's phone from the bottom of the Central Pacific Basin would be a challenging and pointless endeavor.

==Table of comments==
{| class="wikitable"
!Comment
!Explanation
|-
| Fake
| A very common YouTube comment expressing skepticism, for example saying that the content is edited or computer generated.
|-
| Who else is watching this in 2017?
| This type of comment appears frequently on videos, as a kind of community bonding over discovering or revisiting older content. It is not relevant here, as this is a live feed in 2017.
|-
| Is this {{w|Pre-rendering|prerendered}} or will these graphics be in the game?
| Previews for video games often use a mix of pre-rendered computer graphics and in-game footage, generally because in-game footage is not always visually impressive, interesting to watch, or easy to fit into the narrative of a preview advertisement. This practice can easily mislead people into believing that the pre-rendered graphics represent the actual game graphics, leading to disappointment when they purchase the game and find out that this isn't the case. The commenter, who has mistaken the marine footage for a game trailer, is trying to determine if what he's seeing is pre-rendered or not, since it looks photorealistic to the point that he can't believe these are in-game graphics.
|-
| That squid is a {{w|Neoliberalism|neoliberal}}
| Likely an attempt at trolling; anyone with even a passing knowledge of marine life will be annoyed that the commenter confused the onscreen jellyfish with a squid, and everyone else will be annoyed by the politically-charged accusation in a place where such conversation clearly does not belong. Judging by the following comments, they have successfully baited at least one other person in the chat.
|-
| Why do the McElroys never talk
| A reference to The Adventure Zone, a ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' podcast hosted by the McElroy Brothers and their father. In the world of The Adventure Zone, there is a creature called the Voidfish, which is generally interpreted to look like a jellyfish. Its abilities include censoring forbidden knowledge spoken by initiated to the uninitiated, so the commenter can't hear anything the McElroys are saying.
|-
| Stop messing around and eat the fish already
| Possibly a gamer or food vlog watcher. It could also be that the commenter believes that the footage is from the perspective of a marine predator.
|-
| This is why {{w|Donald Trump|Trump}} won
| Another unwelcome injection of politics. This is likely targeted at the 'squid is a neoliberal' commenter, claiming that Trump's election was a reaction to the unwelcome injection of politics into culture.
|-
| Why do u never craft anything
| A comment referencing games such as ''{{w|Subnautica}}'' and ''{{w|Minecraft}}'', where a key aspect to survival is crafting materials. Not crafting items in these games is often taken as a sign of ignorance or inexperience, which may be a source of mockery for commenters watching a gaming stream.
|-
| This is just a distraction
| Commenter thinks people should be focused on other things which are more important. Possibly political comment. Possibly conspiracy theorist.
|-
| Something is wrong with that baby giraffe
| A live video of a giraffe in labor and giving birth was viral in April 2017. This commenter is either confused about which video they're watching, and is concerned that the creature on screen (a jellyfish) looks unlike a healthy baby giraffe, or is feigning this confusion as a joke.
|-
| [title text]
WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT
| Someone in chat is asking the Explorer to look for a phone they dropped in the ocean. The Explorer doesn't have retrieving lost articles as part of its stated duties, and the impossibility of finding such a small item in such a huge ocean means this request will likely be ignored.
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic takes place during a typical YouTube livestream. The livestream video titled "Camera 1: Exploring the Central Pacific Basin" is provided by the channel "OceanExplorerGov" and recorded from Okeanos Explorer exploratory vessel. On the left hand side, the live video feed is playing, showing a jellyfish in the ocean's depths. On the right hand side, the live chat is displayed.]

:User #1: Fake
:User #2: Who else is watching this in 2017?
:User #3: Is this prerendered or will this be in the game?
:User #4: That squid is a neoliberal
:User #5: Why do the McElroys never talk
:User #6: Stop messing around and eat the fish already
:User #7: This is why Trump won
:User #8: Why do u never craft anything
:User #9: This is just a distraction
:User #10: Something is wrong with that baby giraffe

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I love watching the Okeanos Ocean Exploration livestream, but it's probably for the best that they don't enable chat.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:YouTube]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T20:23:48Z

172.69.34.12: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 11, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people. Politicians from both the Republican Party (of which Trump is a part of) and the Democratic Party (the opposition party) have called on Trump to resign, or are attempting to formally remove Trump from office via other means.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the conflict. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impacts everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their meeting was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involved ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

[[Beret Guy]] is shown to be a member of the State Apple Growers' Association; in [[2209: Fresh Pears]], he sells "fresh pears" (so fresh, he doesn't even plant seeds until a customer pays for one) and expresses an interest in growing apples, and evidently has either figured out robotic grafting or chosen another approach (or maybe, given his usual eccentricity, he is only a member of the Association as an ''aspiring'' apple grower). This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although this is also a weird turn of events that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real-life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy, and Ponytail, who is holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question!
:Megan: We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T20:23:10Z

172.69.34.12: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 11, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people. Politicians from both the Republican Party (of which Trump is a part of) and the Democratic Party (the opposition party) have called on Trump to resign, or are attempting to formally remove Trump from office via other means.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the conflict. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impacts everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their meeting was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involved ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

[[Beret Guy]] is shown to be a member of the State Apple Growers' Association; in [[2209: Fresh Pears]], he sells "fresh pears" (so fresh, he doesn't even plant seeds until a customer pays for one) and expresses an interest in growing apples, and evidently has either figured out robotic grafting or chosen another approach (or maybe, given his usual eccentricity, he is only a member of the Association as an ''aspiring'' apple grower). This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although this is also a weird turn of events that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real-life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy, and Ponytail, who is holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T20:22:24Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 11, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people. Politicians from both the Republican Party (of which Trump is a part of) and the Democratic Party (the opposition party) have called on Trump to resign, or are attempting to formally remove Trump from office via other means.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the conflict. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impacts everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their meeting was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involved ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

[[Beret Guy]] is shown to be a member of the State Apple Growers' Association; in [[2209: Fresh Pears]], he sells "fresh pears" (so fresh, he doesn't even plant seeds until a customer pays for one) and expresses an interest in growing apples, and evidently has either figured out robotic grafting or chosen another approach (or maybe, given his usual eccentricity, he is only a member of the Association as an ''aspiring'' apple grower). This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although this is also a weird turn of events that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real-life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy and Ponytail holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T20:22:11Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */ move

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 11, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people. Politicians from both the Republican Party (of which Trump is a part of) and the Democratic Party (the opposition party) have called on Trump to resign, or are planning to formally remove Trump from office via other means.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the conflict. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impacts everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their meeting was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involved ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

[[Beret Guy]] is shown to be a member of the State Apple Growers' Association; in [[2209: Fresh Pears]], he sells "fresh pears" (so fresh, he doesn't even plant seeds until a customer pays for one) and expresses an interest in growing apples, and evidently has either figured out robotic grafting or chosen another approach (or maybe, given his usual eccentricity, he is only a member of the Association as an ''aspiring'' apple grower). This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although this is also a weird turn of events that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real-life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy and Ponytail holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T20:21:06Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */ more

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 11, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the conflict. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impacts everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their meeting was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs. Politicians from both the Republican Party (of which Trump is a part of) and the Democratic Party (the opposition party) have called on Trump to resign, or are planning to formally remove Trump from office via other means.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involved ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

[[Beret Guy]] is shown to be a member of the State Apple Growers' Association; in [[2209: Fresh Pears]], he sells "fresh pears" (so fresh, he doesn't even plant seeds until a customer pays for one) and expresses an interest in growing apples, and evidently has either figured out robotic grafting or chosen another approach (or maybe, given his usual eccentricity, he is only a member of the Association as an ''aspiring'' apple grower). This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although this is also a weird turn of events that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real-life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy and Ponytail holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T20:19:13Z

172.69.34.12: more categories

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 11, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the conflict. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impacts everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their meeting was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involved ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

[[Beret Guy]] is shown to be a member of the State Apple Growers' Association; in [[2209: Fresh Pears]], he sells "fresh pears" (so fresh, he doesn't even plant seeds until a customer pays for one) and expresses an interest in growing apples, and evidently has either figured out robotic grafting or chosen another approach (or maybe, given his usual eccentricity, he is only a member of the Association as an ''aspiring'' apple grower). This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although this is also a weird turn of events that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real-life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy and Ponytail holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2345: Wish on a Shooting Star

2020-08-13T09:05:06Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2345
| date = August 12, 2020
| title = Wish on a Shooting Star
| image = wish_on_a_shooting_star.png
| titletext = Congratulations to whoever wished for revenge on a forest near the Tunguska River, a 1980 Chevy Malibu in Peekskill NY, Alabama resident Ann Hodges, every building in Chelyabinsk with glass windows, and the non-avian dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NON-AVIAN DINOSAUR HATER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
It is a common practice to make a wish when one sees a shooting star, in hopes that the wish comes true. This comic consists of a [[:Category:Venn diagrams|Venn diagram]] showing what things are commonly wished for upon seeing a shooting star, and what things the shooting star may cause. Shooting stars, as they are actually meteors, can only cause changes to physical phenomena, such as radio noise or the appearance of the sky as they burn up in the upper atmosphere. The only thing that is shared between the potential wish side of the diagram and the shooting star caused side is revenge. This would occur when a shooting star actually hits the planet, becoming a meteorite. This is frequently highly destructive, given the high speed of falling meteors. As such, it would be possible for the meteorite to hit something that someone for some reason or another wished revenge upon. However, given the massive surface area of the planet, the likelihood that someone's revenge would be "granted" by a meteorite would be very low. The title text makes fun of this by detailing several incidents where a meteorite landed and caused damage.

List of things that were damaged by meteors (from title text):
* On June 30, 1908 ({{w|Gregorian Calendar}}, Russia still used Julian and was recorded there as June 17), an {{w|airburst}} caused by the {{w|Tunguska Event|breakup of a 100-meter falling meteorite or comet}} with the energy of some 30 megatons of {{w|TNT}} flattened some 80 million trees over 830 square miles (2,150 km2) of land in central {{w|Siberia}} near the {{w|Podkamennaya Tunguska|Tunguska River}}. Due to the remoteness of the area, no people were confirmed dead in the incident.
* On October 9, 1992, a meteorite {{w|Peekskill meteorite|damaged a 1980 Chevrolet Malibu in Peekskill, New York}}.
* On November 30, 1954, a {{w|Sylacauga (meteorite)|fragment of a meteorite}} passed through the roof of a house and struck a woman named Ann Hodges. She survived.
* On February 15, 2013, a meteorite {{w|Chelyabinsk meteor|exploded in an airburst}} over Chelyabinsk, Russia, creating a shockwave that shattered windows in the area.
* The {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event|extinction of the dinosaurs}} around 65 million years ago is believed to be caused by an {{w|Alvarez hypothesis|impact of a comet or asteroid}}. Randall mentions "non-avian" dinosaurs, as birds are descendants of dinosaurs, though they are not commonly thought of as dinosaurs.

Meteorites were most recently mentioned in [[2328: Space Basketball]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A Venn diagram is shown:]

:[The left circle is labeled "Things people wish for" and contains:]
:Love
:Money
:Fame
:Health
:Power
:Luck
:Success

:[The right circle is labeled "Things shooting stars can cause" and contains:]
:Radio noise
:Dust and ionized gas in the upper atmosphere
:Infrasound
:Cool lights in the sky

:[The only item in the overlapping section is:]
:Revenge

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

1418: Horse

2020-05-03T06:25:03Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */ which of these exist in real life

{{comic
| number = 1418
| date = September 8, 2014
| title = Horse
| image = horse.png
| titletext = Officer suspended from horse.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] has set his browser to auto-replace the word "force" with the word "horse." Some of the humorous resulting news headlines are shown.

*Ukrainian town threatened by pro-Russian horses
**At the time this comic was published, there is civil unrest in Ukraine, mostly framed as pro-European vs pro-Russian. In earlier centuries, the phrase "pro-Russian horses" could refer to the animals riden by Cossacks, or by their enemies, as alliances shifted.
**It should be noted that Randall spelled "Ukrainian" incorrectly, forgetting the first 'i'.
*Governor appoints task horse
**A {{w|Task force}} is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity, which makes it quite comical to picture a horse instead of a unit. A "task horse" would presumably be a horse performing tasks.
*Iraqi Air Horse growing
**The Air ''Force'' of Iraq may indeed be being up-armed, especially in light of the threat, at this time, of ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State forces across swaths of both Iraq and Syria. In mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse that could fly through the air, and might be considered an "air horse". In real life, "Air Horse One" is an airplane equipped for transporting horses.
*Quarks, which are bound together by the strong nuclear horse. There is a real Nuclear horse in a different sence, which is a racehorse born in 2017 and named Nuclear.
**{{w|Quark|Quarks}} are elementary particles. They form bound states e.g. the {{w|proton}} (two up + one down-quark) mediated by the {{w|Strong interaction|strong force}}, similarly as atoms are bound states of {{w|Electron|electrons}} and charged {{w|Nucleon|nucleons}} held together by the {{w|Electromagnetism|electromagnetic horse}}.
**They are also referenced in [[474: Turn-On]], [[1621: Fixion]] and in [[1731: Wrong]].
*Officer suspended from horse (title text)
**Being suspended from a police force (i.e. usually being forced upon mandatory leave pending resolution of the issue at hand; paid, part-paid or unpaid) is a common practice where culpable wrongdoing of sufficiently serious nature is suspected of the individual concerned. A person could literally be suspended from a horse if he fell off the horse but got stuck in the stirrups. Unlike most of these "horse" terms, a police horse is a real thing.

This is probably a parody of the [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cloud-to-butt-plus/apmlngnhgbnjpajelfkmabhkfapgnoai?hl=en Cloud to Butt Chrome Extension] (since it says ''new'' favorite browser text replacement).

There has been several [[:Category:Substitutions|comics using substitutions]] before and also at least one after this one.

==Transcript==
:[Headlines above the main frame of the comic:]
:New favorite browser text replacement:
:'''Force → Horse'''

:[In the comic frame Cueball is sitting in front of his PC reading the following headlines that are written above him in separate frames:]
:Ukranian towns threatened by pro-Russian horses
:Governor appoints task horse
:Iraqi air horse growing
:Quarks, which are bound together by the strong nuclear horse...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Language]]

2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

2018-06-20T18:41:48Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */ fix

{{comic
| number = 2002
| date = June 4, 2018
| title = LeBron James and Stephen Curry
| image = lebron_james_and_stephen_curry.png
| titletext = The 538TR attempts to capture a player's combined skill at basketball (either real-life or NBA 2K18) and election forecasting.
}}

==Explanation==
At the time of this comic, the {{w|2018 NBA Finals}} were going on, between the {{w|Cleveland Cavaliers}} and the {{w|Golden State Warriors}} with the Warriors leading 2 games to 0 in a best of seven series. At first glance, the comic looks like an in-depth analysis of two of the star players on those teams, {{w|LeBron James}} and {{w|Stephen Curry}}. The joke is that while comprehensive, all the statistics are completely meaningless - many don't show any correlation, and if there is one, it's extremely unlikely there is any causal link in there.

The first graph includes a nine-digit {{w|Social Security number}} issued for US citizens which is typically not considered a metric related to athletic ability. As Social Security numbers are essentially random numbers ([https://www.ssa.gov/employer/randomization.html until 2011], there was a geographic correspondence for the first three digits), the graph shows only the {{w|free throw}} percentage of a large number of players, artificially spread vertically. Also note that Social Security numbers are not usually made public, barring security leaks.

The second graph is a graph of 2018 points per game vs teammate's APGAR score. {{w|APGAR score}} is used to quickly summarize the health of newborn children, with scores of 7 and above indicating an infant has generally normal health; its use to rank adult NBA players is odd, if not improper. This graph indicates LeBron's teammates have an average APGAR score of approximately 2.1. Scores of 3 and below are generally regarded as critically low and possibly requiring medical attention. Low APGAR scores can also be associated with increased risk of neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy. The joke appears to be in giving LeBron's less-than-impressive teammates a low APGAR score.

The shot map shows from what position Curry's shots were scored compared to other NBA players. It shows that he scored several times from outside the playing field, including twice from the {{w|bleacher}}s (which isn't a legal play), and once from the {{w|locker room}} (which is physically impossible due to multiple walls in between). This references Stephen Curry's propensity to take (and make) shots from well beyond the normal distance required for 3 points.[https://thebiglead.com/2016/02/26/stephen-currys-shooting-percentage-from-28-feet-out-is-mind-boggling/]

Next is a graph of (team) win percentage vs sandwiches eaten during play. Average win percentage seems to go down as number of sandwiches eaten goes up to 3. It does indicate that the Golden State Warriors still have quite high win rate even though they have eaten either 4 sandwiches per game, or 4 sandwiches total during games, over the course of the 2018 season (the graph is unclear on this point). Golden State Warriors seem to be an outlier as their win percentage is much higher than the one of the teams that have eaten 2-3 sandwiches.

In the "2018 total points" table, the highlighted {{w|Golden State Warriors}} and {{w|Cleveland Cavaliers}} represent the teams of Stephen Curry and LeBron James respectively. {{w|Magnetic north}} is the south pole of the {{w|Earth's magnetic field}}. Certain animals use the magnetic field to navigate and align themselves (including migratory birds, bees, and foxes), but there is no evidence that humans are affected by the earth's magnetic field. This means that there should not be any correlation between orientation of a basketball court and points scored. But Cleveland Cavaliers have a much a higher percentage of goals scored when orientation is towards magnetic North than other teams, probably it is implied that LeBron James and/or his team somehow actually senses magnetic field and uses that to direct shots, but more likely explanation would be that it is just the orientation of the court during their home games.

The title text is a continuation of the joke in the bottom table. {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}, sometimes referred to as 538, is a website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging.

The table at the bottom includes more unrelated comparisons:

;Have You Heard of Him
: Although both players are well known in their native United States, elsewhere basketball is considered a minority sport. Of the 7 billion people in the world it is likely that less than 2% of the total population will have heard of either player.{{Citation needed}} According to Randall, LeBron James is a more well known player than Stephen Curry.
;President During Most Recent Game 7 Loss
: In the NBA, the top 16 teams qualify for a single elimination play-off to determine the season champion, with each series played as a {{w|Playoff_format#Best-of-seven_playoff|best-of-seven}} series (first to win 4 games). After the fourth game, fixtures are only played as required. Most fixtures are therefore resolved before the last game. Lebron James has participated in seven playoff game 7s in his career (winning 5 of 7), and the last time his team lost a game seven was on May 18, 2008 ({{w|George W. Bush}} was still President). This also highlights that James is an older athlete, yet has been fairly dominant through his career. Stephen Curry's last game 7 loss came at the hands of Lebron James in the {{w|2016 NBA Finals}} ({{w|Barack Obama}} was President). It is notable that both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers won their respective games 7 in their Conference Finals to make it to this year's NBA Finals.
;Pog Collection
: {{w|Milk caps (game)|Pogs}} were a {{w|fad}} in the 1990s. It is unclear why James would have a "staggeringly large" collection of pogs, besides being 4 years older than Curry.

;Career Average Fed Interest Rate
:The Federal Interest Rate, or {{w|federal funds rate}}, is an interest rate set by the {{w|United States Federal Reserve}}. This rate is increased or decreased periodically based on the health of the U.S. economy. As of the time of publishing, the federal interest rate was targeted at 1.75%. The rate has fluctuated from a high of around 5% to a low of near 0% (during the time of the {{w|Great Recession in the United States|2008 recession}}). James' career average federal interest rate is higher than Curry's, because James began his career before Curry, when interest rates were higher.
;Name Scrabble Score
:Both "lebronjames" and "stephencurry" are worth 22 points in {{w|Scrabble}}, however both being names are not recognized as scorable words and would be worth nothing.
;Best Sport
: It is claimed that their best sport is basketball. However, although they have chosen basketball as a career, this does not mean they were not better at a sport that does not offer a professional career. On the other hand with amount of training they did in basketball, it is extremely likely that basketball is the best sport for both of them at the moment.
;Height
: Both are listed as over 6 feet tall, which is not at all unusual for professional basketball players. Stephen Curry is 6'3" and LeBron James is 6'8", although this chart does not distinguish the exact heights. In most contexts, bucketing humans into broad height-groups would be unsurprising, but in basketball more detail is relevant. Thus, the information is accurate but uninformative --- like the rest of the data in this comic.
;Retirement Year
: In 2027, Stephen Curry will be 39 years old, which is a typical retirement age for NBA players. LeBron James's retirement age is listed as ''Unknown''.
: This may refer to James's high level of play through his mid-30s, when typical players have a decline in their performance.{{Citation needed}}
;FiveThirtyEight Total Rating
: {{w|Nate Silver}} is a political commentator and founder of the website {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}, which uses and promotes statistical approaches in explaining the world. The site's two major areas of focus are in politics (especially on elections - it became famous for correctly predicting for whom 49 of 50 states would vote in the 2008 US presidential election and every US state in the 2012 election, and though it wasn't as accurate in 2016 it had given Donald Trump a larger chance of Electoral College victory than other mainstream media sources) and sports (Silver first got into statistical analysis via baseball). The presence of both sports-related and politics-related topics in the comic, however related they are (or not) with each other, seems to be a nod towards FiveThirtyEight's content.
: Nate Silver has a much higher 538TR than either Curry or James. As explained in the title text, the 538TR combines basketball skill (either real-life or video game basketball) with election forecasting. This would seem to imply that Silver is proficient at basketball, either the real-life kind, or the video game kind, and that James and Curry are not proficient in election forecasting.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:'''NBA Playoffs ''DataDive'' '''
:'''LeBron James and Stephen Curry'''
:'''What makes these superstars so extraordinary?'''

:[The comic consists of several plots and tables, listed here from top to bottom, left to right.]

:'''Scatter plot of Social Security number vs Free throw percentage'''
:The Social Security numbers range from 000-00-0000 to 999-99-9999. No pattern discernable, aside from points being a bit denser in the middle of the plot. Steven Curry is marked as a point on the right edge of the plot with a high free throw percentage.

:'''Scatter plot of 2018 points per game vs Average teammate APGAR score'''
:The APGAR scores range from 0 to 10. Pattern suggests a somewhat positive link between the two factors. LeBron James is marked as having a lot of points, but a low teammate APGAR score of approximately 2.1.

:'''Shot map'''
:Legend: grey dot for all players, black dot for Stephen Curry
:A diagram of a basketball court is shown with dots placed where players have taken shots at the goal. For the all players category the dots generally cluster next to the goal basket and in front of the three point line. Steven has 3 dots next to the basket (one is behind it), but does cluster next to the three point line. He also has several dots on the other side of the playing field, and outside it, including three in the bleachers and one in the locker room.

:'''Sandwiches eaten during play vs Win %'''
:A plot that suggests no relation between the factors because practically all dots are in the zero sandwiches column. 2018 Warriors have one dot at around 60 win percentage and 4 sandwiches.

:'''2018 total points'''
:A table listing teams and their points overall and "When net is within 15° of magnetic north". The rows for the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers are highlighted, the latter shows an abnormally high score in the magnetic north column.

:{| class = "wikitable"
! 2018 total points
! Overall
! When net is within 15° of magnetic north
|-
|'''Golden State Warriors'''
|'''9304'''
|'''330'''
|-
|Houston Rockets
|9213
|268
|-
|New Orleans Pelicans
|9161
|219
|-
|Toronto Raptors
|9156
|341
|-
|'''Cleveland Cavaliers'''
|'''9091'''
|'''1644'''
|-
|Denver Nuggets
|9020
|280
|}

:[A table at the bottom:]

:{| class = "wikitable"
!
! Stephen Curry
! LeBron James
|-
|Have you heard of him
|Probably
|Yes
|-
|President during most recent game 7 loss
|Obama
|Bush
|-
|Pog collection
|Large
|Staggeringly large
|-
|Career average Fed interest rate
|3.42%
|4.41%
|-
|Name Scrabble score
|22
|22
|-
|Best sport
|Basketball
|Basketball
|-
|Height
|Over 6'
|Over 6'
|-
|Retirement year
|2027
|Unknown
!Nate Silver
|-
|FiveThirtyEight total rating (devised by Nate Silver to combine all metrics into a single stat)
|'''37.4'''
|'''31.8'''
|'''86.6'''
|}

==Trivia==
This comic was posted the day after the second game in the 2018 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors (Stephen Curry's team) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (LeBron James' team). It is the fourth consecutive time the two teams faced each other at the finals, which is unprecedented in major sports leagues in North America. The Warriors won in 2015 and 2017, the Cavaliers won in 2016, and the Warriors are leading the current series 2-0.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Politics]]

2006: Customer Rewards

2018-06-20T18:31:02Z

172.69.34.12: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2006
| date = June 13, 2018
| title = Customer Rewards
| image = customer_rewards.png
| titletext = We'll pay you $1.47 to post on social media about our products, $2.05 to mention it in any group chats you're in, and 11 cents per passenger each time you drive your office carpool past one of our billboards.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Going to need to fill out the explanations in the table...Also, the explanation needs to be expanded.}}

Many supermarkets offer customers {{w|Loyalty program|Loyalty programs}} that give discounts. To join one of these programs you often need to give various personal data, such as your name, or download an app that can access your {{w|Facebook}} account. The supermarket gets lots of valuable marketing data, and this is why it is able to offer a discount to members of the program.

This comic imagines the exchange of data for a discount as the sales clerk offering cash at the point of sale, to emphasize how odd this exchange is. Not to mention, when flat-out asking to see someone's phone to write down their contact info and look at all their Facebook posts it sounds disturbingly like uncouth data harvesting, not too far removed from potential identity theft.

The title text continues this by considering how companies will also find ways to incentivize positive viral marketing or offer services in exchange for viewing adverts. By imagining these situations as if they were cash transactions makes them seem ridiculous.

{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:15%"|Amount
!style="width:20%"|Reward offers
!style="width:65%"|Explanation
|-
|24¢
|Last name
|Possibly used to gather additional data from Facebook or to guess the customer's ethnicity
|-
|35¢
|List of family members
|So that the merchant can send them targeted advertisements
|-
|79¢
|Cell number
|So that the merchant can send you targeted advertisements
|-
|$1.20
|Facebook posts
|So that the merchant can see what you're interested in and tailor advertisements to you
|-
|$1.47
|Post products on social media
|Paying the customer to create advertisements for them
|-
|$2.05
|Mention products in group chats
|Movie and television studios get kickbacks from companies when products are mentioned or used in media
|-
|11¢
|Per passenger when driving past billboard in office carpool
|

|}

==Transcript==
:[To the right Cueball stands in front of a sales desk, his shopping bag on the desk. Behind the desk on the left is a sales clerk wearing a peaked cap and typing on a cash register.]
:Sales clerk: That will be $23.03.
:Sales clerk: Also, I'll pay you 24 cents for your last name, 35 cents for a list of your family members, 79 cents for your cell number, and $1.20 if you hand me your phone and let me scroll through your Facebook posts.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Loyalty cards and rewards account offers get way weirder if you think of them as separate transactions.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]

2006: Customer Rewards

2018-06-13T19:30:35Z

172.69.34.12: /* Transcript */ ce

2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

2018-06-13T19:28:43Z

172.69.34.12: i don't think this exists in the nba

{{comic
| number = 2002
| date = June 4, 2018
| title = LeBron James and Stephen Curry
| image = lebron_james_and_stephen_curry.png
| titletext = The 538TR attempts to capture a player's combined skill at basketball (either real-life or NBA 2K18) and election forecasting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Basketball - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
At the time of this comic, the {{w|2018 NBA Finals}} were going on, between the {{w|Cleveland Cavaliers}} and the {{w|Golden State Warriors}} with the Warriors leading 2 games to 0 in a best of seven series. At first glance, the comic looks like an in-depth analysis of two of the star players on those teams, {{w|LeBron James}} and {{w|Stephen Curry}}. The joke is that while comprehensive, all the statistics are completely meaningless - many don't show any correlation, and if there is one, it's extremely unlikely there is any causal link in there.

The first graph includes a nine-digit {{w|Social Security number}} issued for US citizens which is typically not considered a metric related to athletic ability. As Social Security numbers are essentially random numbers ([https://www.ssa.gov/employer/randomization.html until 2011], there was a geographic correspondence for the first three digits), the graph shows only the {{w|free throw}} percentage of a large number of players, artificially spread vertically. Also note that Social Security numbers are not usually made public, barring security leaks.

The second graph is a graph of 2018 points per game vs teammate's APGAR score. {{w|APGAR score}} is used to quickly summarize the health of newborn children, with scores of 7 and above indicating an infant has generally normal health; its use to rank adult NBA players is odd, if not improper. This graph indicates LeBron's teammates have an average APGAR score of approximately 2.1. Scores of 3 and below are generally regarded as critically low and possibly requiring medical attention. Low APGAR scores can also be associated with increased risk of neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy. The joke appears to be in giving LeBron's less-than-impressive teammates a low APGAR score.

The shot map shows from what position Curry's shots were scored compared to other NBA players. It shows that he scored several times from outside the playing field, including twice from the {{w|bleacher}}s (which isn't a legal play), and once from the {{w|locker room}} (which is physically impossible due to multiple walls in between). This references Stephen Curry's propensity to take (and make) shots from well beyond the normal distance required for 3 points.[https://thebiglead.com/2016/02/26/stephen-currys-shooting-percentage-from-28-feet-out-is-mind-boggling/]

Next is a graph of (team) win percentage vs sandwiches eaten during play. Average win percentage seems to go down as number of sandwiches eaten goes up to 3. It does indicate that the Golden State Warriors still have quite high win rate even though they have eaten either 4 sandwiches per game, or 4 sandwiches total during games, over the course of the 2018 season (the graph is unclear on this point). Golden State Warriors seem to be an outlier as their win percentage is much higher than the one of the teams that have eaten 2-3 sandwiches per game.

In the "2018 total points" table, the highlighted {{w|Golden State Warriors}} and {{w|Cleveland Cavaliers}} represent the teams of Stephen Curry and LeBron James respectively. {{w|Magnetic north}} is the south pole of the {{w|Earth's magnetic field}}. Certain animals use the magnetic field to navigate and align themselves (including migratory birds, bees, and foxes), but there is no evidence that humans are affected by the earth's magnetic field. This means that there should not be any correlation between orientation of a basketball court and points scored. But Cleveland Cavaliers have a much a higher percentage of goals scored when orientation is towards magnetic North than other teams, probably it is implied that LeBron James and/or his team somehow actually senses magnetic field and uses that to direct shots, but more likely explanation would be that it is just the orientation of the court during their home games.

The table at the bottom includes more unrelated comparisons:

;Have You Heard of Him
: Although both players are well known in their native United States, elsewhere basketball is considered a minority sport. Of the 7 billion people in the world it is likely that less than 2% of the total population will have heard of either player.{{Citation needed}} According to Randall, LeBron James is a more well known player than Stephen Curry.
;President During Most Recent Game 7 Loss
: In the NBA, the top 16 teams qualify for a single elimination play-off to determine the season champion, with each series played as a {{w|Playoff_format#Best-of-seven_playoff|best-of-seven}} series (first to win 4 games). After the fourth game, fixtures are only played as required. Most fixtures are therefore resolved before the last game. Lebron James has participated in seven playoff game 7s in his career (winning 5 of 7), and the last time his team lost a game seven was on May 18, 2008 ({{w|George W. Bush}} was still President). This also highlights that James is an older athlete, yet has been fairly dominant through his career. Stephen Curry's last game 7 loss came at the hands of Lebron James in the {{w|2016 NBA Finals}} ({{w|Barack Obama}} was President). It is notable that both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers won their respective games 7 in their Conference Finals to make it to this year's NBA Finals.
;Pog Collection
: {{w|Milk caps (game)|Pogs}} were a {{w|fad}} in the 1990s. It is unclear why James would have a "staggeringly large" collection of pogs, besides being 4 years older than Curry.

;Career Average Fed Interest Rate
:The Federal Interest Rate, or {{w|federal funds rate}}, is an interest rate set by the {{w|United States Federal Reserve}}. This rate is increased or decreased periodically based on the health of the U.S. economy. As of the time of publishing, the federal interest rate was targeted at 1.75%. The rate has fluctuated from a high of around 5% to a low of near 0% (during the time of the {{w|Great Recession in the United States|2008 recession}}). James' career average federal interest rate is higher than Curry's, because James began his career before Curry, when interest rates were higher.
;Name Scrabble Score
:Both "lebronjames" and "stephencurry" are worth 22 points in {{w|Scrabble}}, however both being named are not recognized as scorable words and would be worth nothing.
;Best Sport
: It is claimed that their best sport is basketball. However, although they have chosen basketball as a career, this does not mean they were not better at a sport that does not offer a professional career. On the other hand with amount of training they did in basketball, it is extremely likely that basketball is the best sport for both of them at the moment.
;Height
: Both are listed as over 6 feet tall, which is not at all unusual for professional basketball players. Stephen Curry is 6'3" and LeBron James is 6'8", although this chart does not distinguish the exact heights. In most contexts, bucketing humans into broad height-groups would be unsurprising, but in basketball more detail is relevant. Thus, the information is accurate but uninformative --- like the rest of the data in this comic.
;Retirement Year
: In 2027, Stephen Curry will be 39 years old, which is a typical retirement age for NBA players. LeBron James's retirement age is listed as ''Unknown''.
: This may refer to James's high level of play through his mid-30s, when typical players have a decline in their performance.{{Citation needed}}
;FiveThirtyEight Total Rating
: {{w|Nate Silver}} is a political commentator and founder of the website {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}, which uses and promotes statistical approaches in explaining the world. The site's two major areas of focus are in politics (especially on elections - it became famous for correctly predicting for whom 49 of 50 states would vote in the 2008 US presidential election and every US state in the 2012 election, and though it wasn't as accurate in 2016 it had given Donald Trump a larger chance of Electoral College victory than other mainstream media sources) and sports (Silver first got into statistical analysis via baseball). The presence of both sports-related and politics-related topics in the comic, however related they are (or not) with each other, seems to be a nod towards FiveThirtyEight's content.
: Nate Silver has a much higher 538TR than either Curry or James. As explained in the title text, the 538TR combines basketball skill (either real-life or video game basketball) with election forecasting. This would seem to imply that Silver is proficient at basketball, either the real-life kind, or the video game kind, and that James and Curry are not proficient in election forecasting.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:'''NBA Playoffs ''DataDive'' '''
:'''LeBron James and Stephen Curry'''
:'''What makes these superstars so extraordinary?'''

:[The comic consists of several plots and tables, listed here from top to bottom, left to right.]

:'''Scatter plot of Social Security number vs Free throw percentage'''
:The Social Security numbers range from 000-00-0000 to 999-99-9999. No pattern discernable, aside from points being a bit denser in the middle of the plot. Steven Curry is marked as a point on the right edge of the plot with a high free throw percentage.

:'''Scatter plot of 2018 points per game vs Average teammate APGAR score'''
:The APGAR scores range from 0 to 10. Pattern suggests a somewhat positive link between the two factors. LeBron James is marked as having a lot of points, but a low teammate APGAR score of approximately 2.1.

:'''Shot map'''
:Legend: grey dot for all players, black dot for Stephen Curry
:A diagram of a basketball court is shown with dots placed where players have taken shots at the goal. For the all players category the dots generally cluster next to the goal basket and in front of the three point line. Steven has 3 dots next to the basket (one is behind it), but does cluster next to the three point line. He also has several dots on the other side of the playing field, and outside it, including three in the bleachers and one in the locker room.

:'''Sandwiches eaten during play vs Win %'''
:A plot that suggests no relation between the factors because practically all dots are in the zero sandwiches column. 2018 Warriors have one dot at around 60 win percentage and 4 sandwiches.

:'''2018 total points'''
:A table listing teams and their points overall and "When net is within 15° of magnetic north". The rows for the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers are highlighted, the latter shows an abnormally high score in the magnetic north column.

:{| class = "wikitable"
! 2018 total points
! Overall
! When net is within 15° of magnetic north
|-
|'''Golden State Warriors'''
|'''9304'''
|'''330'''
|-
|Houston Rockets
|9213
|268
|-
|New Orleans Pelicans
|9161
|219
|-
|Toronto Raptors
|9156
|341
|-
|'''Cleveland Cavaliers'''
|'''9091'''
|'''1644'''
|-
|Denver Nuggets
|9020
|280
|}

:[A table at the bottom:]

:{| class = "wikitable"
!
! Stephen Curry
! LeBron James
|-
|Have you heard of him
|Probably
|Yes
|-
|President during most recent game 7 loss
|Obama
|Bush
|-
|Pog collection
|Large
|Staggeringly large
|-
|Career average Fed interest rate
|3.42%
|4.41%
|-
|Name Scrabble score
|22
|22
|-
|Best sport
|Basketball
|Basketball
|-
|Height
|Over 6'
|Over 6'
|-
|Retirement year
|2027
|Unknown
!Nate Silver
|-
|FiveThirtyEight total rating (devised by Nate Silver to combine all metrics into a single stat)
|'''37.4'''
|'''31.8'''
|'''86.6'''
|}

==Trivia==
This comic was posted the day after the second game in the 2018 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors (Stephen Curry's team) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (LeBron James' team). It is the fourth consecutive time the two teams faced each other at the finals, which is unprecedented in major sports leagues in North America. The Warriors won in 2015 and 2017, the Cavaliers won in 2016, and the Warriors are leading the current series 2-0.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Politics]]