https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=172.69.43.163explain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-15T15:07:06ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3087:_Pascal%27s_Law&diff=377538Talk:3087: Pascal's Law2025-05-12T08:30:25Z<p>172.69.43.163: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
I remember learning about this and thinking it was intuitive, but I didn't really think of these consequences. Maybe everybody is making powerful lifting machines for lifting cars and houses with your bare hands, rather than explaining the article, that there isn't one yet. Pascal's law basically says that if you make one end of a container of fluid X times larger, then any force exerted on the small end is multiplied by X on the large end, so you can make it near-infinite by making the small end very small. But you'll need a little more machinery added (like a gear system) if you want the distance actually moved to be higher. Actually I think that might undo the gains in force entirely. That might be how it happens, it might swap distance for force so the same work is performed.<br />
<br />
Hey, remember that comic where Randall challenged people to fold a paper too small? This hand-makeable device could get farther on that!<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.110|172.70.111.110]] 21:46, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: yes, that's how it works; the total work is constant and the hydraulic system is converting a small force over a long distance to a large force over a small distance. if you additionally want the force to be over a larger distance, you need to put more energy into the system or else you could push this machine with its own output and get free energy from nothing. really though hydraulics are just smoother, backlashless, equivalents to a gear train in the first place so you generally wouldnt need to use both. - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 23:37, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: Small tube needs to be X times as long to get same displacement. Good for linear force rather than torque. Fluid's own pressure can be the force if tube is long enough. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.33|172.68.55.33]] 11:41, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As someone old enough to remember the [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_effect slashdot effect], I wonder if XKCD comics generate a similar effect on search engines. Though I doubt they would buckle under the weight these days. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.148|172.69.60.148]] 22:00, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
To whoever wrote the initial transcript, remember that we don't include the title text. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:06, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have to wonder whether he has the same disbelief of, say, levers... which allow one to move the Earth. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 23:34, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Although some laws of physics are absolute and lead to extreme consequences, others are taught in a simplified form that can lead to wrong conclusions. For example, "Light and heavy objects fall at the same rate" can be used to prove that objects fall at the same rate on the Earth and the Moon - which is far from correct. If the Moon were somehow dropped onto the Earth, it would fall at a certain rate. The Earth dropped on the Moon would necessarily fall at the same rate. So if the Moon falling on the Earth fell at the same rate as a bowling ball, then the bowling ball would have to fall at the same rate on the Moon. When I read Heinlein's _The Rolling Stones_ as a pre-teen, where he describes things falling slower on the Moon, I applied this reasoning and concluded that Heinlein must have made a mistake. The solution to this paradox is that something as big as the Moon will not only accelerate toward the Earth, it will significantly accelerate the Earth toward it, so the Moon does not actually fall at the same rate as a bowling ball. [[User:Cphoenix|Cphoenix]] ([[User talk:Cphoenix|talk]]) 01:01, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: I think if you stand at the shared center of mass of the Earth and Moon, that then you see the Moon falling toward the Earth according to its constant field of gravitational acceleration, as well as the Earth falling toward the Moon according to its constant field of acceleration. It was indeed confusing for me to realize this, involving visit to pages such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_acceleration . F=Gm1m2/r^2 so if m1 is taken out you get a constant F=m1 a2 and vice versa. But I think the page says this only holds if the masses are far enough from each other to be treatable as points. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.47|172.68.55.47]] 11:57, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Besides, isn't it better to just ''believe'' in Pascal's Law if it offers a reward of near-infinite force? <br />
[[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 04:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I'll wager that you're pleased with that reference... ;) (Whether or not you actually were!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.43|172.71.26.43]] 15:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could this be referencing or inspired by this recent paper talking about the use of hydraulics to build pyramids? https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306690 [[Special:Contributions/172.68.234.169|172.68.234.169]] 08:52, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It could be noted that simple machines can multiply forces more or less arbitrarily, but only up to what the machine itself can withstand. Many "why didn't the ancients do that?" can be answered with "bronze kind of sucks". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.149|172.69.246.149]] 14:19, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Right. Archimedes's "Give me a lever long enough..." assumes that the lever is made of a material that won't buckle or snap under the weight of the Earth. If there were a material like that it would make building long bridges much simpler. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:It is also quite difficult to efficiently contain a fluid under pressure in a moving system. All considerations of innovation-stiffling aside, the same problem hindered the use of the Stirling engine untill very recently. Force applied to a rigid mediom is much easier to predict / monitor (a solid either holds or doesn't, but it doesnt leak -not in a way that would have been hindering the use in everyday life by "the ancients" anyway). To a certain extent it is also the reason why most common bikes still use cable brakes : sure it't less efficient but it's much cheaper and you can repair them in no time with common garden-shed-grade equipment.{{unsigned ip|172.71.232.101|22:07, 11 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
;Donald Knuth?<br />
Is there a name for the teacher character (a cueball with tufts of hair on the sides of his head)? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The teacher appears to be Donald Knuth, though not sure why Randall has used him.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:14, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::We should add the comic to [[:Category:Comics featuring Donald Knuth]] then. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:09, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
Here's a reference that claims that water hammer, rather than just depth pressure, was the major effect used in ''ruina montium'': https://blog.ferrovial.com/en/2022/08/ruina-montium-use-water-for-digging-romans/ -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 00:04, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A few years back I posted a question on Stack Exchange (https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/60189/which-mountain-collapsed-in-france-in-1820-21) about a report, in a 19th-century biblical commentary, of a mountain collapsing due to just this kind of thing - fluid pressure building up. First thought when I saw the reference to ''ruina montium'' in the comic was that maybe that's it - but no. So, just curious: anyone have any thoughts on what event is being referred to in that commentary? (The one suggestion that someone made there, about a glacier advancing, doesn't seem to fit.) Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.87|172.71.23.87]] 03:38, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:No idea, but I gotta say, that font or scan is unreadable. Some words are decipherable like הר גבוה and ובמקומו but damn, about half of it is just splotches. No idea how you could read that. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 05:12, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I hear. There's a transcript of it (though without the diagram) at https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%99%22%D7%9D_%D7%A2%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%99%D7%95%D7%91_%D7%9E%D7%91_%D7%99%D7%93. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.208|172.70.175.208]] 18:50, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should there be a goofs section here, because the white board is drawn with perspective, but the picture on it is not. It will look odd, like the whole contraption is tilted, to the students[[User:Drkaii|Drkaii]] ([[User talk:Drkaii|talk]]) 09:10, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't know how to write it, but someone should probably write the actual *point* of the comic: Randall coming up with ridiculous scenarios to disprove the theory, only to be informed that those scenarios actually happened.<br />
<br />
Also don't forget that there was a Mythbusters episode to this effect (well, in reverse and with air, but same principle), it's possible to lift a car with a single household vacuum-cleaner just by splitting the hose into a few dozen rather large suction cups. More surface area = more force for the same pressure.</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3087:_Pascal%27s_Law&diff=377537Talk:3087: Pascal's Law2025-05-12T08:29:59Z<p>172.69.43.163: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
I remember learning about this and thinking it was intuitive, but I didn't really think of these consequences. Maybe everybody is making powerful lifting machines for lifting cars and houses with your bare hands, rather than explaining the article, that there isn't one yet. Pascal's law basically says that if you make one end of a container of fluid X times larger, then any force exerted on the small end is multiplied by X on the large end, so you can make it near-infinite by making the small end very small. But you'll need a little more machinery added (like a gear system) if you want the distance actually moved to be higher. Actually I think that might undo the gains in force entirely. That might be how it happens, it might swap distance for force so the same work is performed.<br />
<br />
Hey, remember that comic where Randall challenged people to fold a paper too small? This hand-makeable device could get farther on that!<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.110|172.70.111.110]] 21:46, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: yes, that's how it works; the total work is constant and the hydraulic system is converting a small force over a long distance to a large force over a small distance. if you additionally want the force to be over a larger distance, you need to put more energy into the system or else you could push this machine with its own output and get free energy from nothing. really though hydraulics are just smoother, backlashless, equivalents to a gear train in the first place so you generally wouldnt need to use both. - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 23:37, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: Small tube needs to be X times as long to get same displacement. Good for linear force rather than torque. Fluid's own pressure can be the force if tube is long enough. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.33|172.68.55.33]] 11:41, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As someone old enough to remember the [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_effect slashdot effect], I wonder if XKCD comics generate a similar effect on search engines. Though I doubt they would buckle under the weight these days. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.148|172.69.60.148]] 22:00, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
To whoever wrote the initial transcript, remember that we don't include the title text. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:06, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have to wonder whether he has the same disbelief of, say, levers... which allow one to move the Earth. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 23:34, 9 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Although some laws of physics are absolute and lead to extreme consequences, others are taught in a simplified form that can lead to wrong conclusions. For example, "Light and heavy objects fall at the same rate" can be used to prove that objects fall at the same rate on the Earth and the Moon - which is far from correct. If the Moon were somehow dropped onto the Earth, it would fall at a certain rate. The Earth dropped on the Moon would necessarily fall at the same rate. So if the Moon falling on the Earth fell at the same rate as a bowling ball, then the bowling ball would have to fall at the same rate on the Moon. When I read Heinlein's _The Rolling Stones_ as a pre-teen, where he describes things falling slower on the Moon, I applied this reasoning and concluded that Heinlein must have made a mistake. The solution to this paradox is that something as big as the Moon will not only accelerate toward the Earth, it will significantly accelerate the Earth toward it, so the Moon does not actually fall at the same rate as a bowling ball. [[User:Cphoenix|Cphoenix]] ([[User talk:Cphoenix|talk]]) 01:01, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
: I think if you stand at the shared center of mass of the Earth and Moon, that then you see the Moon falling toward the Earth according to its constant field of gravitational acceleration, as well as the Earth falling toward the Moon according to its constant field of acceleration. It was indeed confusing for me to realize this, involving visit to pages such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_acceleration . F=Gm1m2/r^2 so if m1 is taken out you get a constant F=m1 a2 and vice versa. But I think the page says this only holds if the masses are far enough from each other to be treatable as points. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.47|172.68.55.47]] 11:57, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Besides, isn't it better to just ''believe'' in Pascal's Law if it offers a reward of near-infinite force? <br />
[[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 04:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I'll wager that you're pleased with that reference... ;) (Whether or not you actually were!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.43|172.71.26.43]] 15:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could this be referencing or inspired by this recent paper talking about the use of hydraulics to build pyramids? https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306690 [[Special:Contributions/172.68.234.169|172.68.234.169]] 08:52, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It could be noted that simple machines can multiply forces more or less arbitrarily, but only up to what the machine itself can withstand. Many "why didn't the ancients do that?" can be answered with "bronze kind of sucks". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.149|172.69.246.149]] 14:19, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Right. Archimedes's "Give me a lever long enough..." assumes that the lever is made of a material that won't buckle or snap under the weight of the Earth. If there were a material like that it would make building long bridges much simpler. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:It is also quite difficult to efficiently contain a fluid under pressure in a moving system. All considerations of innovation-stiffling aside, the same problem hindered the use of the Stirling engine untill very recently. Force applied to a rigid mediom is much easier to predict / monitor (a solid either holds or doesn't, but it doesnt leak -not in a way that would have been hindering the use in everyday life by "the ancients" anyway). To a certain extent it is also the reason why most common bikes still use cable brakes : sure it't less efficient but it's much cheaper and you can repair them in no time with common garden-shed-grade equipment.{{untitled ip|172.71.232.101|22:07, 11 May 2025 (UTC)}}<br />
<br />
;Donald Knuth?<br />
Is there a name for the teacher character (a cueball with tufts of hair on the sides of his head)? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:58, 10 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The teacher appears to be Donald Knuth, though not sure why Randall has used him.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 09:14, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::We should add the comic to [[:Category:Comics featuring Donald Knuth]] then. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:09, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
Here's a reference that claims that water hammer, rather than just depth pressure, was the major effect used in ''ruina montium'': https://blog.ferrovial.com/en/2022/08/ruina-montium-use-water-for-digging-romans/ -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 00:04, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A few years back I posted a question on Stack Exchange (https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/60189/which-mountain-collapsed-in-france-in-1820-21) about a report, in a 19th-century biblical commentary, of a mountain collapsing due to just this kind of thing - fluid pressure building up. First thought when I saw the reference to ''ruina montium'' in the comic was that maybe that's it - but no. So, just curious: anyone have any thoughts on what event is being referred to in that commentary? (The one suggestion that someone made there, about a glacier advancing, doesn't seem to fit.) Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.87|172.71.23.87]] 03:38, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
:No idea, but I gotta say, that font or scan is unreadable. Some words are decipherable like הר גבוה and ובמקומו but damn, about half of it is just splotches. No idea how you could read that. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 05:12, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
::I hear. There's a transcript of it (though without the diagram) at https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%99%22%D7%9D_%D7%A2%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%99%D7%95%D7%91_%D7%9E%D7%91_%D7%99%D7%93. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.208|172.70.175.208]] 18:50, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should there be a goofs section here, because the white board is drawn with perspective, but the picture on it is not. It will look odd, like the whole contraption is tilted, to the students[[User:Drkaii|Drkaii]] ([[User talk:Drkaii|talk]]) 09:10, 11 May 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't know how to write it, but someone should probably write the actual *point* of the comic: Randall coming up with ridiculous scenarios to disprove the theory, only to be informed that those scenarios actually happened.<br />
<br />
Also don't forget that there was a Mythbusters episode to this effect (well, in reverse and with air, but same principle), it's possible to lift a car with a single household vacuum-cleaner just by splitting the hose into a few dozen rather large suction cups. More surface area = more force for the same pressure.</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3765063085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:51:30Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The nature of {{w|dark matter}} is a significant unsolved problem in physics. In an effort to solve the problem, [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] appear to have used occult methods to conjure a supernatural {{w|oracle}} (something which would present its own challenges to our understanding of the physical world) in order to demand an answer from it. There may be a pun here, in that they are using 'dark magic' to communicate with something from the 'dark realm' on the assumption that it will know about dark matter. However, the word 'dark' in this context simply means that we do not know how to observe it; dark matter is not evil or satanic{{cn}} (though [[Randall]] may consider it [[:Category:Comics with cursed items|cursed]]).<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, {{w|gravity}} is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even {{w|neutrino}}s -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the {{w|weak force}}, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the {{w|top quark}}, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its {{w|Perturbation_(astronomy)|influence on the orbits of planets}}, say, or the strength of its {{w|gravitational lensing}} effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for {{w|burrito}}s, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds.<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3765053085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:51:19Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The nature of {{w|dark matter}} is a significant unsolved problem in physics. In an effort to solve the problem, [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] appear to have used occult methods to conjure a supernatural {{w|oracle}} (something which would present its own challenges to our understanding of the physical world) in order to demand an answer from it. There may be a pun here, in that they are using 'dark magic' to communicate with something from the 'dark realm' on the assumption that it will know about dark matter. However, the word 'dark' in this context simply means that we do not know how to observe it; dark matter is not evil or satanic{{cn}} (though [[Randall]] may consider it [[:Category:Comics with cursed items|cursed]].<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, {{w|gravity}} is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even {{w|neutrino}}s -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the {{w|weak force}}, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the {{w|top quark}}, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its {{w|Perturbation_(astronomy)|influence on the orbits of planets}}, say, or the strength of its {{w|gravitational lensing}} effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for {{w|burrito}}s, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds.<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3765003085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:31:21Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The nature of {{w|dark matter}} is a significant unsolved problem in physics. In an effort to solve the problem, [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] appear to have used occult methods to conjure a supernatural {{w|oracle}} (something which would present its own challenges to our understanding of the physical world) in order to demand an answer from it.<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, {{w|gravity}} is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even neutrinos -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the weak force, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the {{w|top quark}}, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its {{w|Perturbation_(astronomy)|influence on the orbits of planets}}, say, or the strength of its {{w|gravitational lensing}} effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for {{w|burrito}}s, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds.<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3764983085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:29:49Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The nature of {{w|dark matter}} is a significant unsolved problem in physics. In an effort to solve the problem, [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] appear to have used occult methods to conjure a supernatural {{w|oracle}} (something which would present its own challenges to our understanding of the physical world) in order to demand an answer from it.<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, {{w|gravity}} is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even neutrinos -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the weak force, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the top quark, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its {{w|Perturbation_(astronomy)|influence on the orbits of planets}}, say, or the strength of its {{w|gravitational lensing}} effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for {{w|burrito}}s, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3764963085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:27:20Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The nature of {{w|dark matter}} is a significant unsolved problem in physics. In an effort to solve the problem, [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] appear to have used occult methods to conjure a supernatural {{w|oracle}} (something which would present its own challenges to our understanding of the physical world) in order to demand an answer from it.<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, {{w|gravity}} is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even neutrinos -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the weak force, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the top quark, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its influence on the orbits of planets, say, or the strength of its {{w|gravitational lensing}} effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for {{w|burrito}}s, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3764953085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:26:00Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The nature of {{w|dark matter}} is a significant unsolved problem in physics. In an effort to solve the problem, [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] appear to have used occult methods to conjure a supernatural {{w|oracle}} (something which would present its own challenges to our understanding of the physical world) in order to demand an answer from it.<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, {{w|gravity}} is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even neutrinos -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the weak force, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the top quark, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its influence on the orbits of planets, say, or the strength of its gravitational lensing effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for {{w|burrito}}s, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3764913085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:22:11Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The nature of {{w|dark matter}} is a significant unsolved problem in physics. In an effort to solve the problem, [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] appear to have used occult methods to conjure an oracle (something which would present its own challenges to our understanding of the physical world) in order to demand an answer from it.<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, gravity is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even neutrinos -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the weak force, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the top quark, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its influence on the orbits of planets, say, or the strength of its gravitational lensing effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for burritos, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3085:_About_20_Pounds&diff=3764863085: About 20 Pounds2025-05-06T15:17:50Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3085<br />
| date = May 5, 2025<br />
| title = About 20 Pounds<br />
| image = about_20_pounds_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 666x278px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = In addition to gravity, burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, which is believed to be a major contributor to their popularity.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|The categories for this comic are missing. Add any relevant category. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
In general, not all forces interact with all particles; indeed, gravity is the only force that is (believed to) interact with everything. If a force doesn't interact with a particle, then its existence cannot be observed via disturbances in that force. In particular, something that doesn't interact with electromagnetism cannot be 'seen', as photons will pass through it completely unaffected.<br />
<br />
Even neutrinos -- famous for interacting with ''almost'' nothing -- still in fact interact via the weak force, allowing them to be detected with sufficiently large tanks of dense material (as most atoms do in fact interact with the weak force, however weakly). A particle that interacts with ''nothing'' except gravity, could only be detected by a gravitational telescope.<br />
<br />
However, even if a particle does interact via a given force, an interaction is only possible if energy is conserved. If dark matter is entirely due to a single kind of particle, and the fundamental mass of that particle is ''twenty pounds'' -- an absolutely ludicrous amount of energy for particle physics -- then any interaction would (roughly speaking) have to involve an equally ludicrous amount of other particles being in exactly the right place and time, a coincidence that could easily reach "never in the history of the universe" levels. (By comparison, the top quark, otherwise the heaviest single particle with a mass over a hundred times that of the proton, is still nevertheless around a tenth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a pound.)<br />
<br />
Under more normal circumstances, we might still hope to observe the properties of the particle via creating it ourselves under controlled laboratory conditions. But again, there is no reasonable way to focus the energy required into a single particle interaction -- the LHC, for example, peaks at about ten thousand times the mass of the proton, a solid billion times less energy than required -- so that's out too.<br />
<br />
Finally, despite all this, twenty pounds is also much too ''small'' to be detectable via gravitational interaction -- its influence on the orbits of planets, say, or the strength of its gravitational lensing effect, will be entirely negligible. Thus, in the scenario posed by the comic, there is essentially no plausible way to observe more about dark matter while on Earth.<br />
<br />
The oracle proceeds to break expectations by suggesting that Ponytail and Cueball go out for burritos, something generally considered less then scientific. However, given the apparent futility of continuing to try to investigate dark matter, going out for burritos is precisely as productive as any other approach (i.e. "not at all").<br />
<br />
When the title text observes that burritos interact through the strong, weak, and electro-magnetic forces, it presumably means that they can be seen, smelt, tasted, and their texture sensed, as well as producing digestive effects, and that all of these effects generally tend to be pleasant, hence contributing to their popularity.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a pentacle with lit candles at the corners. A black sphere, the oracle, is floating above the middle of the pentacle.]<br />
:Ponytail: Dear oracle,<br />
:Ponytail: What is the nature of dark matter?<br />
:Oracle: It's about 20 pounds<br />
<br />
:[Close up of oracle]<br />
:Off-panel: What?<br />
:Oracle: Dark matter is a particle. It weighs about 20 pounds.<br />
:Oracle: It only interacts through gravity.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first panel]<br />
:Cueball: Only gravity, huh?<br />
:Cueball: So none of our experiments are really going to tell us any more about it, then.<br />
:Oracle: Afraid not.<br />
<br />
:[Same view as first and third panels, except Cueball lifted his forearm.]<br />
:Cueball: So what do we do?<br />
:Oracle: You should go out for burritos.<br />
:Ponytail: How will that help?<br />
:Oracle: Well,<br />
:Oracle: Burritos are pretty good.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3081:_PhD_Timeline&diff=375399Talk:3081: PhD Timeline2025-04-27T16:39:38Z<p>172.69.43.163: </p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom. --><br />
<noinclude>{{notice|This comic is about present-day politics and the {{w|Second presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration}}. Additionally, the comic is about a controversial immigration-related action taken by said administration. Please {{w|WP:DFTT|don’t feed the trolls}}: don’t give recognition or respond to trolls or vandals. If you find vandalism, revert and move on. If the vandal is a registered user, {{w|WP:RBI|revert, block, and ignore}}. As with these contentious topics, please don't write in a biased and slanted manner. Always be considerate of the other side, don’t {{w|WP:CIVIL|attack people}}, and always {{w|WP:AGF|assume good faith}}. (In case you need assistance in blocking a vandal, message [[User talk:Kynde|Kynde]].)}}</noinclude><br />
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What an age we live in... --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]]<sup>[[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]]<sup>[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices]</sup></sup> 15:48, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:[https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/politics/fbi-director-wisconsin-judge-arrested/index.html It only gets rougher... ] It's enough to radicalize a person. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.187|172.69.65.187]] 16:09, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:When even Randall starts freaking out, it usually indicates the most entertaining timeline. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.161|162.158.245.161]] 00:58, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: I will only grant this only if we have a happy outcome for all the people already damaged by your current government. I look forward to Nazis getting punched and the Ark of the Covenant being opened [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 14:17, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::: Pretty sure this ''is'' a happy outcome for everyone who voted for this. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.159.201|172.68.159.201]] 21:29, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Events like this are scary, and they're even scarier if you have a personal or geographic connection to them like Randall does. I can understand why he would feel frustrated about his inability to do something concrete, and if this comic raises awareness for the situation then it has done a good thing. Not sure why I thought this comment was necessary; maybe it's just a way of processing the emotions that the comic made me feel. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 15:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: Agree, those of us that are non-US look to the US to uphold human rights. Very sad. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 14:17, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I dont want to start an argument, but I am glad Randall Munroe is making a specific, reasonable point. A lot of times I see people saying either "there is no antisemitism on campus, nobody should ever get deported, ACTUAL terrorists should get green cards", and others say "EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME SHOULD GET DEPORTED, EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME IS A TERRORIST." I think both of them are extreme points obviously, and I am glad Randall is just taking the side, for now, of "this specific person did not violate their green card visa."<br />
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:''"...EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME IS A TERRORIST."'' That are literally the words that a Trump official was reported to have said. If you protest the actions they take against anyone they label as a terrorit, YOU will be treated as a supporter of terrorism. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 23:32, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Hi, expert-on-the-Öztürk-case but not-an-immigration-expert-really here. For clarity, Öztürk held an F-1 student visa but was not a lawful permanent resident (LPR) (green card holder), unlike the similar case of Mahmoud Khalil (Columbia university) who was a green card holder. And "green card visa" is not a thing, there's a "green card," which you cannot "violate" (although you could commit crimes that might have consequences for your LPR status), and you generally don't hear "violate their visa" although it's true that a visa is related to and may restrict that work you can do in the country. Regardless, no allegations have been made that Öztürk violated anything laws or rules or did anything other than lend her name to speech in a newspaper. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 22:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
Yes thank you johnhawkinson. I do not know the terminology. Ozturk did not, to my knowledge, violate any laws or rules. Thank you to the clarification.[[User:Tzelofachad|Tzelofachad]] ([[User talk:Tzelofachad|talk]]) 15:25, 27 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
as always, based randall, at least for now. [[User:Tzelofachad|Tzelofachad]] ([[User talk:Tzelofachad|talk]]) 16:04, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Did you mean "biased"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Did you mean "biased towards due process?" [[User:CharlesT|Nyrrix]] ([[User talk:CharlesT|talk]]) 16:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::It's probably "based", as that's a term that can either be used in support or mockery of a philosophical position (because of Poe's Law, hard to know which in most cases, including here). It's more usually used in 4chan-like responses (and I doubt Randall would be considered "based" in those other places) than hereabouts, so perhaps it needs some clarification for those not (or not enough) in that sort of crame of mind. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.94|141.101.99.94]] 17:06, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
Yes I meant based. I know it is often used in a different space. I meant it in a [Satirical yet Agreeing while in a ironic mode of understanding that nothing is as it seems, but still definitely complimentary] mode. Basically, I agree with this and it is good[[User:Tzelofachad|Tzelofachad]] ([[User talk:Tzelofachad|talk]]) 15:25, 27 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, Randall Munroe clearly only cares about this one incident because he does not at all care about politics. He's definitely not using this as an illustrative case on the countless other identical incidents happening under the Trump administration. /s /s /s /s /s. [[User:DrMeepster|<sup>'''Dr.'''</sup>Meepster]]<br />
(<[[User_talk:DrMeepster|chat]]> •<br />
<<span class="plainlinks">[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} reply]</span>>) 16:53, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
Yes, Randall is currently calling out this one incident, and while he is obviously also disagreeing with many other incidents that have happened and will happen, he is not overgeneralising any specific criticism to every case. For instance, if he said "nobody who was deported has done anything wrong" i would disagree. He said "Ozturk did not do anything wrong" which i agree with. Sorry for the misunderstanding![[User:Tzelofachad|Tzelofachad]] ([[User talk:Tzelofachad|talk]]) 15:25, 27 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I really hope this is one of those comics that does NOT stand the test of time. In other words, I hope the next generation of graduate students sees this and thinks "oh, that must've been written in 2025, we don't have to worry about those kinds of things anymore." Perhaps "hope" isn't the right word, it implies I have hope. Maybe "pray fervently" is the right phrase. Sigh. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.227.72|198.41.227.72]] 16:30, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Sure ... "Oh, that was before third world war, we don't have to worry about those kinds of things anymore." -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:08, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:We can go back to considering how the Ph.D. became a participation trophy for the financial benefit of the awarding institution - and, in the sciences, a source of slave labor. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.61|172.71.146.61]] 01:51, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
How do we edit the Categories? This should have category Politics. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Usually, once at least one other category (not created from templates like {{template|comic}}) you can edit the page and see the other cat(s) at the bottom, beyond the comic-discussion template. Or edit the Transcript section (or any Trivia one, whatever's the last one) as that'll also have the tail-end of the page. So long as you know there's a category "Foo", you should be able to work out how to add "Category:Foo".<br />
:But don't add Foo if it doesn't exist, hoping that someone will tire of the redlink that's created. You may be wrong about it needing to exist, or miss the ''actual'' "Category:comics featuring Foo", and unless someone is feeling generous it's possible that your edit just gets reverted as not properly researched, or checked... I ''think'' there actually is a Politics category, by that name, but I'm trying to answer the general question, not yet going out there to look it up for certain (at which point, I may have just added it myself, making it useless to have explained how you could 'easily' do it... At least in this instance).<br />
:'''TL;DR;''', though, look at the source (wiki-edit) of another comic that is about Politics and is so categorised. Go all the way to bottom, and you'll see which 'tag' you might want to put at the bottom of this one. Should be obvious. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.94|141.101.99.94]] 17:06, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
I think I've added that category now [[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.60|104.23.190.60]] 19:33, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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I'm so tired of this administration :( [[User:CharlesT|Nyrrix]] ([[User talk:CharlesT|talk]]) 16:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Are you a citizen of the USA? If so, are you dead? In exile? In jail? Have your assets been seized? No to these? Then this is your administration and mine. Own it, or act. "Tired" doesn't cut it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.21|172.71.147.21]] 02:02, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Your point being...? [[User:GammaRaul|GammaRaul]] ([[User talk:GammaRaul|talk]]) 14:49, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The comic on mobile has the title text has a youtube video URL, and if you click on the comic on desktop version, it links to the youtube video of the arrest. This isn't reflected in the description currently. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.121|172.70.126.121]] 16:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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The video URL is '''https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyypeEEOklM''' and appears to be "'''CBS Boston [282K subscribers]'''" so probably legit? <br />
I will try to add the URL. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 17:08, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:For the sake of consistency, I copy-pasted the "note" from [[1723]] into this comic. '''I also think we should have a category and perhaps a template to make adding notes like this easier and more uniform.''' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.22|172.69.67.22]] 21:11, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::''"I copy-pasted...."'' Thank you! --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 03:56, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::Well, you can create it right now if you want! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:08, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Is this the first with an out of site link? {{unsigned}}<br />
:No this happens often. For instance this comic {{xkcd|1723}}. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:09, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Again, let's keep the explanation as neutral as possible. Facts only. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 18:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Dunlap's Laws. 1. Fact is solidified opinion. 2. Facts may weaken under extreme heat and pressure. 3. Truth is elastic. (Arthur Block's "Murphy's Laws", 1977.) - "Facts are elite, facts are fungible, facts are false. And once nothing is true, anything can be true." Alan Burdick, ''Trump vs Science'', New York ''Times'' Newsletter, 25 April 2025. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.41|172.68.22.41]] 02:10, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
: the problem is facts have a heavy anti trump bias. You CAN NOT state basic facts and not be against this regime [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.187|162.158.112.187]] 00:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:: I think it's important to emphasize that neutrality is simply a bias towards the truth rather than towards anything else. On a technical level, being unbiased precludes being neutral and being neutral precludes being unbiased, even if people mostly use the word "unbiased" in the same way as "neutral". In other words, bias isn't inherently a bad thing.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.219|172.71.102.219]] 00:48, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::"A bias towards the truth" is a bias towards what my homies and I declare to be correct - since 'absolute truth' does not exist, all 'truth' is relative, is what 'my homies and I declare to be correct'. This bias is not trivial, as you point out. Explanations on xkcd have striven to cover the "what, when, where, who, how" of the associated comic, and have striven to omit "what do we think about all this" except as is necessary to describe "what, when, where, who, how". The goal is laudable, but [''ahem''] difficult to manage when the topic is a lit match on a powder keg. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.143|108.162.245.143]] 02:34, 26 April 2025 (UTC) <br />
:::: This "no absolute truth" false neutrality nonsense is a bad faith argument rooted in pop philosophy and obfuscating rhetoric intended to discredit the existence of inconvenient facts. There's a famous, if apocryphal, parable about the philosopher who tried to argue this sort of hogwash to the oncoming train that hit him. Gravity exists, the Earth is not flat, and the current administration is run by a bunch of idiotic narcissists actively harming people for personal profit. [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 04:23, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:::::"To be properly neutral, you have to give all sides equal time and credence!" This turns out not to be the case. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 18:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
Of course, the bit I was correcting (with bad grammar, and lack of facts) got totally changed about before I tried to post it. "''For instance citizens usually {{w|Deportation of Americans from the United States|cannot be deported for any reason}} (only extradited, although the US typically refuses to comply with requests even from countries that freely extradite to it), and would instead be subject only to local legal penalties, but relatively minor allegations have resulted in visitors' extraditions.''" was what I wrote. Now, I ''think'' that was neutral enough, but it doesn't fit there now anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.113|172.70.58.113]] 22:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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:Ack, I think I'm the one who changed it before you could. My bad. Anyway, seconded. Opinion on the conflict in Gaza itself is not needed in this explanation; the edit that suggested that the student could be materially linked to Hamas by providing a link to an opinion poll of how Palestinians feel about the Oct 7 attacks is, in my opinion, very disingenuous, especially considering Ozturk is not Palestinian but Turkish, making the cited data even more blatantly irrelevant than it already would have been. [[User:Psycherprince|Psycherprince]] ([[User talk:Psycherprince|talk]]) 23:05, 25 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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This article could potentially be a reasonable place to try to establish a norm of separately including opposing sides of political topics (rather than the usual edit conflicts). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.176|172.70.110.176]] 00:35, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Step 6: Try not to lose your visa when traveling or studying abroad by being a nuisance, since visas (in any country) can be denied or revoked for virtually any reason. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.168|162.158.112.168]] 01:06, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Pray the leopards never eat your face.<br />
::I'll bring decoy meat and try not to insult the cheetahs while visiting. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.186|162.158.112.186]] 01:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:Do nothing whatsoever controversial, because you don't know who will be running things within a few years? Or what liberties they may take with due process or law? Certainly one wouldn't want to run afoul of officials who are, say, flat-Earthers, Biblical literalists, or holders of unusual views regarding medical practise. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::There is no inalienable right to travel or study abroad, so doing anything "controversial" as a visitor definitely puts you at risk of "being shown the door", as Randall likes to put it. The van full of thugs was added just for drama, but underneath it's no different than being denied a visa for some social media post, which has been happening at least since Obama. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.159.201|172.68.159.201]] 21:29, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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::"...within a few years"? We have that today. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 23:32, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Hang on. Why does the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]] say no references? We literally have reflist template and a bunch of pages with references. '''[[User:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:9pt;color:pink">42.book.addict</span>]]<sup>[[User talk:42.book.addict|<span style="font-family:Cormorant Garamond;font-size:6pt;color:#B1E4E3">Talk to me!</span>]]</sup>''' 04:24, 27 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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:I've never seen a page with references besides this one. I guess the template could be used for other things, but we don't use references in explanations. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:32, 27 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
::They have been rare, they are (usually) eventually reworded to be 'inline onward references' (i.e. just 'standard' directly hyperlinked text, of whatever kind: [], [[]], {{template|w}}, etc), and I've done that myself on occasion There may even be some cases where the additional "ref"ness available from a ref-tag is more useful (e.g. multi-instance-same-ultimate-external-resource, or metadata).<br />
::It is very true that we highly prefer not-a-Ref links (which editors used to other wikis might not appreciate), I'm uncomfortable with the idea that the reflist template is now quite so "you should ''not'' be seeing this!" in nature. Without actually lookingnat "Pages which use the reflist template"/whatever (I presume you did this?) I'm not sure whether there are any that I would retain, but there may be one or two that I'd be in no hurry to convert to the typical/desirable links instead. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.163|172.69.43.163]] 16:39, 27 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. He will send in black ops instead." Good that I'm a German. Such stuff can't happen in Germany. Ever! ;-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.172.244|162.158.172.244]] 11:08, 27 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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== Reason for detention ==<br />
<br />
As it is now, the reason given for Özturk's detention is a half-truth. She was not detained because her visa was revoked. That would only prevent her from re-entering the US, if she left it. In contrast, Özturk's visa was revoked in secret, and she did not know about this until after she had been grabbed off the street and treated like a terrorist, or like a dissident in a South American regime.<br />
https://oiss.washu.edu/visa-status-stamps/ says: "The visa stamp is solely for entering the U.S. You will need it again only when you leave the U.S. and intend to re-enter using that visa. It’s sometimes called an “entry visa,” which is different from “status,” a concept explained below. The visa stamp can expire at any time after your entry to the U.S. without affecting your non-immigrant status. If you leave the U.S. and your visa has expired, you will need to apply for a new visa in order to re-enter the U.S." — "Non-immigrant status (also referred to as “status” or “immigration status”) is a non-physical legal condition, granted by an official of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) when you are admitted into the U.S. at a port of entry. Once you obtain non-immigrant status, you must maintain that status throughout your stay in the U.S. unless you legally change to another status."<br />
ExplainXKCD leaves unexplained whether Özturk's immigration status changed, and on what charges she was detained, or whether she was detained without a charge. It is unclear how her visa revocation is related to her arrest, as a visa revocation would not normally lead to an arrest (or does it?). If the ExplainXkCD's failure to explain the reason for Özturk's arrest is related to the US government's failure to explain the reason, then that should be made clear.<br />
Or simply say, "we're not explaining it because politics, go read Wikipedia and educate yourself", but then explainxkcd should not suggest that the reason is the visa revocation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.159|162.158.95.159]] 04:25, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
:I've added a brief note that ordinarily, visa revocation is not, in itself, grounds for detention. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 18:45, 26 April 2025 (UTC)<br />
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Linked the Tufts Daily article she co-authored (which has been claimed to be related to her detention), but it would go better in the References section. Someone, please amend this? I'm too exhausted to do it properly right now. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.6.3|162.158.6.3]] 21:52, 26 April 2025 (UTC)</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3073:_Tariffs&diff=3718143073: Tariffs2025-04-08T19:01:57Z<p>172.69.43.163: Undo revision 371812 by 104.23.190.68 (talk) vandalism begone!</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3073<br />
| date = April 7, 2025<br />
| title = Tariffs<br />
| image = tariffs_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 681x809px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = [later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SPOILER FOR AVATAR 2 (Neteyam dies) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Explanation of the consequences of stopping imports (the last panel) is needed. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a parody of the global tariffs that {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|tariffs in the second Trump administration|imposed in 2025}}, which were announced shortly before the comic's release. [[Cueball]] describes the tariffs and, specifically, why the plan has garnered widespread disapproval for several seemingly illogical decisions, to [[Ponytail]] using a pizza store analogy.<br />
<br />
Similar to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]], Ponytail blocked news sites to avoid {{w|spoiler (media)|spoiler}}s about ''Avatar 2'' (officially titled ''{{w|Avatar: The Way of Water}}'') in early 2021, but did not re-enable notifications until just now. ''Avatar 2'' was released on December 16, 2022, but this means that she has missed all news since 2021, including the re-election of Trump in 2024. She is surprised by the fact that Donald Trump is still the president in early 2025. She may be under the impression that Trump refused to step down when [[Joe Biden]]'s presidency officially began on Jan. 20, 2021. Trump has made repeated, extremely dubious claims that {{w|2020_United_States_presidential_election#False_claims_of_fraud| the election was "stolen"}} shortly after the 2020 elections, indicating his reluctance to accept the results. On one hand, a U.S. president serving nonconsecutive terms has only happened once before in U.S. history with Grover Cleveland serving from 1885 to 1889 and again from 1893 to 1897. On the other hand, only {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt}} ever had more than two four-year terms, and that was before the {{w|Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|22<sup>nd</sup> Amendment}} made it even less of a possibility<!-- deliberate wording; should be now not possible at all, but the current incumbent seems to like boasting that he can get round it; time will tell if he can/will --> that one could have started a third ([[2875: 2024|without getting false teeth, that is]]).<br />
<br />
Ponytail has further missed Trump's wide-ranging tariffs, and the attending news coverage that has served to introduce many people to what tariffs are and how they work. Cueball attempts to explain by comparing the U.S. with the Geotechnical Survey company that Ponytail works for, as they are both producers of high value, technologically advanced goods, and comparing the countries the U.S. imports from to a pizza place, since the U.S. primarily imports lower value consumer goods and materials used to make the goods that the U.S. then exports, similar to how pizzas feed the workers in Ponytail's company.<br />
<br />
A trade deficit occurs when party A buys more from party B than they sell to party B. Donald Trump, the president of the United States at the time the comic released, claimed that if the U.S. has a trade deficit with another country, then the U.S. is getting ripped off and the other country must be punished. In the comic, Cueball mockingly echoes Trump's belief to better explain his policies. As Ponytail explains, there is nothing wrong with having a trade deficit if you think you are getting your money's worth for what you are buying.{{Citation needed}} The U.S. can benefit from a trade deficit in some cases: the flow of foreign capital (like factory machinery) into the country can allow for more development, and some kinds of production are dangerous or polluting relative to the value of the goods produced. In addition, up to today, the U.S. treasury commands the world's most common reserve currency, which is also the currency used for most world trade, making outflow of foreign currency not really a problem.{{Actual citation needed}}<br />
<br />
A tariff is a tax on imports from another country. Most politicians try to balance tariffs carefully in order to keep domestic products competitive with imported goods. In contrast, Donald Trump introduced tariffs unilaterally and aggressively with the aim to "punish" countries with which the United States had a trade deficit. He also claims that tariffs on good manufactured abroad will encourage US companies to increase their domestic manufacturing in order to avoid these tariffs, which will then provide more domestic middle-class jobs. Trump's opponents and even many of his supporters worry excessive tariffs will backfire and artificially inflate costs of products from other countries, leaving the American consumer with even higher prices (especially prices of goods which the United States cannot wholly produce domestically at all). Additionally, if other countries do retaliate with their own retaliatory tariffs (typically more well chosen ones, specifically targeting products that the US wants to sell more than the other country needs to buy them) it could result in a "trade war".<br />
<br />
In the comic, Cueball proposes that Ponytail impose a tax or "tariff" on the pizza store until they start buying from Ponytail, using the {{w|Venmo}} transactions platform. Notably, the tariff is applied on the people who deliver the products to Ponytail's company, just like in real life. Ponytail notes that such a tariff might encourage the pizza store to stop selling to her, which Cueball considers (in his position as devil's advocate for the whole concept) a victory. In reality, nations have very little control of where the products go after being produced inside their own borders. Instead, it is left up to the companies (the delivery companies, in this case) to decide where to produce (or procure) the goods. What tariff proponents often omit, is that companies will simply pass on the costs associated with tariffs to the consumers, making the pizza more expensive for the consumer but with no benefit to the supplier. In practical terms, the pizza company may even just stop taking orders from this company, having other customers that are easier to deliver to. Even if there's a saturated pizza industry, with several pizza outlets all vying for the local business, it may still be less problematic to compete for the slightly smaller 'rest of the town' market, perhaps even to offer deliveries to places previously outside their area, than to work with whatever requirements the survey company is imposing.<br />
<br />
In contrast to real world countries like China or Canada which, as of 2025, procure a substantial amount of goods from the U.S., Ponytail notes that the pizza company has little use for land survey equipment, unless they are constructing their own stores from the ground up without outside contractors. Ponytail suggests surveying pizzas using their equipment, which would serve little purpose.<br />
<br />
The U.S. used to be a dominant producer of consumer goods up until the 1970s, after which companies started offshoring production that utilized low-skilled labor to third-world countries. In contrast, Ponytail's company likely has never been a producer of food. {{w|LIDAR}} is a technique using lasers to measure distances. Ponytail's company is using the technology to do surveying. In the final panel and title text, Cueball suggests that they use their LIDAR components to make their own pizzas, which would be inedible and potentially toxic.{{Citation needed}} Cueball may be referencing the annoyance Italians have at unconventional pizza toppings.<br />
<br />
The title text references slope stability, or the ability of an inclined slope to withstand movement. Toppings often slide off poorly-made pizzas when it is being eaten, leading to dissatisfaction. {{w|Geotextile}}s are permeable fabrics used for support and various other functions. The narrator claims that geotextiles prevent toppings from sliding off the pizza. However, very few geotextiles are edible.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail walks over to Cueball while looking at a phone in her hand. Cueball, sitting in an office chair, is leaning back on the chair and turns his head towards her. He is at his desk with his laptop open in front of him.]<br />
:Ponytail: You know how I blocked all news sites at the start of 2021 to avoid spoilers for Avatar 2, and then forgot to start checking them again?<br />
:Cueball: Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to you about that...<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail, still holding the phone, stops in front of Cueball and looks at him. He has turned his chair around to face her, having his back to the desk with the laptop.]<br />
:Ponytail: Well, I just checked the news for the first time, and why is the economy tanking?<br />
:Cueball: Uh, the president is mad at other countries and imposed lots of tariffs.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Ponytail's head. Cueball's reply comes from a starburst on the right edge of the panel.]<br />
:Ponytail: Wait, who's the president now?<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): Donald Trump.<br />
:Ponytail: ...Still??<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): No, again.<br />
<br />
:[Back to the previous setting, Ponytail is no longer holding the phone.]<br />
:Ponytail: OK, fine, what's a tariff? Why is he doing this?<br />
:Cueball: You know that pizzeria your company orders from? They don't buy anything from '''''you''''', right?<br />
:Ponytail: Why would they? We do geotechnical landscape surveys.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Cueball who holds both his arms out wide. Ponytail's reply comes from a starburst on the left edge of the panel.]<br />
:Cueball: Right, so they're ripping you off! '''''You're''''' paying '''''them''''' tons of money, and what are '''''you''''' getting for it?<br />
:Ponytail (off-panel): I mean... pizza?<br />
:Cueball: See? They're not helping '''''your''''' business at all!<br />
:Cueball: What a ripoff!<br />
<br />
:[Back to the previous setting, Ponytail has her hand under her chin.]<br />
:Ponytail: What would they even buy from us? I guess we could survey a pizza...<br />
:Cueball: Yes, perfect! You refuse to let the delivery driver past your security desk unless they Venmo you for an equivalent value of LIDAR scans.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Ponytail's head. Cueball's reply comes from a starburst on the right edge of the panel.]<br />
:Ponytail: Wouldn't they just stop taking our orders?<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): Perfect, balance restored!<br />
<br />
:[Back to showing both of them in the same position but the desk is not shown.]<br />
:Ponytail: OK, but I still want pizza.<br />
:Cueball: Can you just make one? You have all that gear.<br />
:Ponytail: I don't think pizza made with LIDAR diodes would be very good.<br />
:Cueball: Ugh, why is everyone so picky about toppings?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]<br />
[[Category:Geology]]</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3052:_Archive_Request&diff=3679253052: Archive Request2025-03-05T11:39:27Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */ Rework, and add a (more obvious?) example.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3052<br />
| date = February 17, 2025<br />
| title = Archive Request<br />
| image = archive_request_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 346x481px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = They just want researchers in the enclosure to feel enriched and stimulated. ('The Enclosure' is what archivists call the shadowy world outside their archives in which so many people are trapped.)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Research sometimes involves looking up old data in an archive, and old data is often not stored in a modern standard of file format. It may either be an older standard, largely forgotten and no longer catered for, or a choice of original archival format that made sense only within the organisation itself; either way, being a proprietary internal or licensed third-party format that lost (or never gained) wider support in the world at large. Unless the archive's contents are periodically re-examined, and up-converted into more contemporary standards in a timely manner, they might not be able to provide the data the researcher needs in a convenient way. The comic shows [[Cueball]] facing several issues that can happen with archived data:<br />
* The data is stored as paper records, which will have to be scanned into a digital format.<br />
* The data is being sent as a CD-ROM instead of being emailed or shared online, so it will take time to arrive. Also, most computers sold today do not come with a CD or DVD drive so the researcher might need to use another computer, or buy an external CD drive, to read it.<br />
* It will take 10 business days (about 2 weeks) to process the request, plus shipping time.<br />
* The data is not being sent in a common format for scanned documents, such as PDF, but a proprietary format that needs special software to decode.<br />
* The decoder software only runs on Windows 98 or XP, versions of Windows which are no longer supported by [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-xp Microsoft],<!--Removed "cannot even be installed on modern computers" because MSDOS can be run on semi-modern hardware (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcRtNnd8lFs)-->requiring a very old computer or the installation of a virtual machine. This often happens when old software is no longer supported by the manufacturer, so it cannot be updated to work on newer versions of Windows. This will add to the difficulty for the researcher to decode the data when they get it.<br />
<br />
Normally, the reason for data coming in deprecated formats would be that it is held within a legacy system that was built around those formats. However, since these records are having to be scanned from paper in the first place, the rest seems to simply be inserting extra complication unnecessarily. The records could simply be scanned and shared using current systems and formats. This is borne out by the caption and the title text.<br />
<br />
In zoos, captive animals need {{w|behavioral enrichment}} to promote physiological and psychological well-being - to keep them active and reduce stress and harmful behaviors. One common method is to provide food or treats encased in such a way that the animal has to exert effort to open/destroy the enclosure. The intention is to mimic the natural pattern of having to work to get to food, with the challenge and effort providing fulfillment and distraction, in addition to receiving food. The comic humorously suggests that archivists are doing the same thing as zookeepers - providing intellectual stimulation for the researcher by forcing them to jump through hoops in order to get their data. The title text suggests that archivists live in their world of archives and see the rest of the universe outside it as a cage that's trapping the rest of us. This is perhaps a reference to {{w|Allegory of the cave|Plato's Cave}}, a philosophical question about what it means to perceive reality for which Randall [[876: Trapped|has enjoyed]] poking fun at the idea before, or any number of examples of 'inside-out' thinking, such as {{w|List of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy characters#Wonko the Sane|Wonko the Sane}} (from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'') or Jevil (of ''{{w|Deltarune}}''), where someone insists that they live 'outside' a conceptually inverted structure which contains the whole rest of existence beyond ('within') its walls.<br />
<br />
In libraries and archives, catalog enrichment means adding useful data to the catalog, including scans of the table of contents or the whole book. Many institutions have already digitized large parts of their collection. Researchers can then download a scan directly from the online catalog, just by clicking on a link.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A side view of Cueball, sitting on a wheeled office chair, at a desk with a laptop on it and his hands on the laptop. A jagged line comes from the laptop screen presumably representing text on the computer screen from an online page, with the underlined text representing a hyperlink to another online page.]<br />
:Computer: To request data from the archives, fill out <u>this</u> form. The pages will be scanned, encoded to CD-ROM, and mailed to you within 10 business days.<br />
:Computer: Download the decoder for our proprietary format <u>here</u> (Requires Windows 98® or XP®)<br />
:Cueball: ''Ugh, fine...''<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Archivists actually have everything in digital repos now, but they still do this to provide enrichment for researchers, the way zoos hide food for animals in hard-to-open boxes.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Title_text&diff=364733Title text2025-02-06T10:02:31Z<p>172.69.43.163: Undo revision 364694 by AK24Ammit (talk) Don't see why we shouldn't. And, given it's been used as a reason to do it wrong elsewherez at least some reasons we should address it. Somehody try it?</p>
<hr />
<div>[[File:tt.png|right|thumb|The title text for [[2760: Paleontology Museum]]]]{{incomplete|In the last paragraph, need to mention that Randall previously '''erroneously''' called it "alt text", like in [[45]], but he more recently calls it "title text", like in [[442]]. (A bit of history.) Add more comics calling it both "alt" and "title" text, if you find any.}}<br />
<br />
The '''title text''', also known as {{w|mouseover|mouseover text}} or {{w|tooltip}}, is an {{w|HTML attribute}} [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] puts on almost every xkcd comic to add something tangentially relevant to the topic of the comic. In some of the early comics, the title text was also used to comment on how they were drawn (see [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]] and explain the joke (see [[5: Blown apart]]). In [[:Category:No title text|a few comics]], the title text is missing.<br />
<br />
It can be accessed in many ways:<br />
* By hovering the mouse pointer over the image on the main site;<br />
* By clicking the "<sup>(alt-text)</sup>" button next to the comic title on the [https://m.xkcd.com mobile site];<br />
* By viewing the [[Transcript|official transcript]] of the comics;<br />
* By installing a [[Browser helpers|browser helper]]<br />
<br />
Randall uses the "title" attribute rather than the {{w|Alternative text for images|"alt" attribute}} in the HTML sources. In the [https://xkcd.com/rss.xml comics feed] and [https://xkcd.com/info.0.json API data] the "alt text" is labeled "alt".<br />
<br />
[[Category:Design of xkcd.com]]<br />
{{xkcdmeta}}</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2998:_Ravioli-Shaped_Objects&diff=3529232998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects2024-10-15T09:43:09Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */ It's just a mess, until it is combined with the unpredictable nature of power/signals flowing across normally isolating surfaces and air-gaps.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2998<br />
| date = October 14, 2024<br />
| title = Ravioli-Shaped Objects<br />
| image = ravioli_shaped_objects_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 608x569px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = It's a real accomplishment to mess up a ravioli recipe badly enough that the resulting incident touches all four quadrants of the NFPA hazard diamond.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BULGING LITHIUM BATTERY THROW PILLOW - Ideally the article would contain grounded explanations of both of the views that bulging lithium batteries are either dangerous or safe. What gas builds up? How would an explosion happen, or why would it not? Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{w|Ravioli}} are a kind of stuffed pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough, commonly square shaped, and serving as the object of this comic's confusion matrix. This comic compares 4 'ravioli-shaped' objects (square shaped objects with bulging cross-sections due to their filling) with common actions associated with them.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" | style="background:#E6C3C3;"<br />
! Ravioli-Shaped Objects<br />
! scope="col"| Eat with a fork<br />
! scope="col"| Rest your head on<br />
! scope="col"| Puncture and slurp<br />
! scope="col"| Install in your phone<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row"| {{w|Ravioli}}<br />
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"|Ravioli pasta would indeed be suitable to be eaten with a fork, as shown.<br />
|Ravioli pasta is not structurally strong enough to support the weight of a human head while reclining and would break and spill its filling over your head and the object one is resting on.<br />
|style="background:#FBF8CE;"|If the ravioli filling is thin enough, one could slurp it out with a straw.<br />
|Phones are not meant to run on ravioli.{{citation needed}} Stuffing a phone with a ravioli would cause it to break as shown, spilling the filling through the phone, which is a terrible idea.<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row"| {{w|Throw Pillow}}<br />
|Throw pillows are made of cloth and are inedible, whether one uses a fork or not.<br />
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"|A throw pillow is meant to be used as head support while reclining on furniture.<br />
|Throw pillows do not have liquids inside them. Hence, Cueball finds, to his dismay, that they're empty.<br />
|Throw pillows are significantly bigger than phones and as such can't fit inside them, nor power them. However, the 'installation' depicted, with the phone resting on the pillow, does not seem particularly harmful, and may be somewhat protective, so it's unclear why this square is red, rather than at least yellow.<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row"| {{w|Capri Sun}}<br />
|Eating a Capri Sun, a pouch of sweetened juice, with a fork would most likely simply pierce the pouch and spill the liquid all over Cueball.<br />
|style="background:#FBF8CE;"|A Capri Sun would serve as a waterbed of sorts, and wouldn't be unduly uncomfortable in a pinch. However, it's still possible that the pouch could rupture and leave you with a sticky head and no support.<br />
|style="background:#C5E6C3;"|Capri Suns are meant to be drunk like this, and are enjoyed by many.<br />
|The phone shown is surrounded by spilled Capri Sun, implying that the attempt to force the two together punctured the pouch. The resulting spillage would most likely just result in the surface of the phone becoming annoyingly sticky, but if the liquid managed to get inside the phone it could cause a more significant and difficult to clean mess. Once actual power is provided (either an actual battery being used,csubsequently, or the device linked to a charger cable/inductor), the remaining residue could cause any number of further faults and perhaps damage.<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row"| Bulging {{w|Lithium Battery}}<br />
|Bulging lithium batteries are explosive hazards and should not be punctured lest they explode. Additionally the contents of the battery are toxic if one were to somehow manage to eat the burning bits of the battery.<br />
|A lithium battery is a small, hard object, and a bulging one is no exception. Since the bulging comes from a buildup of heat and gas, it would also be a constant fire hazard, which would not be conducive to relaxation.{{cn}} Lithium battery themed throw pillows, which bulge similarly to such batteries, do exist as a novelty item. Notably, these types of batteries are often referred to as "spicy pillows".<br />
|Similarly to the 'eat with a fork' example, puncturing a bulging lithium battery is a bad idea.<br />
|style="background:#C5E6C3;"|A bulging lithium battery could be installed in a phone, if one is willing to break the phone a bit (like the screen in the comic) to accommodate the bulging of the battery. Also a terrible idea, as operating the lithium battery in this condition may result in the battery [https://www.reading.ac.uk/health-safety-services/fire-safety/lithium-battery-information/i-have-a-swollen-lithium-ion-battery-what-should-i-do catching fire or worse]. More commonly, bulging batteries form inside the phone itself, causing it to bulge outwards. Surprisingly, this square is marked in green rather than red or yellow, as the first thing one should do on noticing bulging of the battery is to uninstall it from the device.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the {{w|NFPA 704}} diagram for hazardous materials, a diamond figure put out by the {{w|National Fire Protection Association}} showing four kinds of fire hazards. A ravioli that touched all four quadrants would be a health hazard, fire hazard, and chemical hazard, and have some other miscellaneous hazard(s). The NFPA diamond was prevoiously mentioned in [[2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A 4x4 grid of squares. The columns are labeled: Eat with a fork, rest your head on, puncture and slurp, install in your phone. The rows are: Ravioli, throw pillow, Capri Sun, bulging lithium battery. Each row has an image of each respective item above the title, with the words “Home Sweet Home” on the throw pillow, and “Fruit” on the Capri Sun.]<br />
<br />
:Ravioli, eat with a fork: [green]<br />
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He is eating from a plate from ravioli.]<br />
::Cueball: ''Nom Nom Nom''<br />
<br />
:Ravioli, Rest your head on: [red]<br />
::[Cueball is lying down on a couch with ravioli smooshed on his head and the couch. Ravioli bits can be seen on the ground]<br />
::Cueball: Eww.<br />
<br />
:Ravioli, puncture and slurp: [yellow]<br />
::[Cueball is slurping from a ravioli through a straw. In front of him is table with two plates, presumably with ravioli on them.]<br />
::''Slurp''<br />
<br />
:Ravioli, Install in your phone: [red]<br />
::[A phone is shown with bits of ravioli sticking out and tomato sauce is dripping out.]<br />
<br />
:Throw pillow, eat with a fork: [red]<br />
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He is poking with a fork at a throw pillow covered in tomato sauce.]<br />
::''Poke poke''<br />
<br />
:Throw pillow, rest your head on: [green]<br />
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and is lying on a couch. His head is resting on a throw pillow.]<br />
<br />
:Throw pillow, puncture and slurp: [red]<br />
::[Cueball is sucking on a straw that is inserted in a pillow.]<br />
::Cueball: Aw man, this one is empty.<br />
<br />
:Throw pillow, install in your phone: [red]<br />
::[A phone is shown on a throw pillow that has the words “Home Sweet Home” partially obscured.]<br />
<br />
:Capri Sun, eat with a fork: [red]<br />
::[Cueball sits on a chair in front of a table with a jar of sauce on it. He has stabbed a Capri Sun on a plate and is now splattered with juice.]<br />
<br />
:Capri Sun, rest your head on: [yellow]<br />
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and is lying on a couch. His head is resting on a Capri Sun.]<br />
::Cueball: Honestly kind of comfortable.<br />
<br />
:Capri Sun, puncture and slurp: [green]<br />
::[Cueball is drinking from a Capri Sun through a straw.]<br />
::''Sluuurp''<br />
<br />
:Capri Sun, Install in your phone: [red]<br />
::[A phone is shown to be squishing a Capri Sun. Juice is trickling out.]<br />
<br />
:Bulging lithium battery, eat with a fork: [red]<br />
::[An explosion bordered by 4 skull and crossbones.]<br />
<br />
:Bulging lithium battery, rest your head on: [red]<br />
::[Cueball is looking at his phone and lying on his couch. His head is resting on a smoldering battery.]<br />
::Cueball: This fire hazard is uncomfortable.<br />
<br />
:Bulging lithium battery, puncture and slurp: [red]<br />
::[An explosion bordered by 4 skull and crossbones.]<br />
<br />
:Bulging lithium battery, install in your phone: [green]<br />
::[A phone with a bulging back, presumably from the bulging lithium battery. The phone’s screen is cracked in the center.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]<br />
[[Category:Phones]]</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2885:_Spelling&diff=3335472885: Spelling2024-01-25T09:56:01Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2885<br />
| date = January 24, 2024<br />
| title = Spelling<br />
| image = spelling_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 281x333px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Any time I misspell a word it's just because I have too much integrity to copy answers from the dictionary.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by JAYSON BLAIR (LOOK HIM UP) - Give some examples of how plagiarism is often often misspelled, if it is! Or explain that it is not a word people have problem plagiarizing. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Search engines like Google usually autocorrect misspelled words, offering results with the correct spelling. Some people get help with hard-to-spell words by entering their best guess into Google, then copy-pasting the correct version.<br />
<br />
Cueball has an unusually strict sense of {{dict|plagiarism}} in which copying ''individual words'' without attribution would be plagiarizing (appropriating the work of others without permission or credit), and this misplaced integrity makes him morally opposed to copying the word 'plagiarism' itself from Google.<br />
<br />
It's not clear why Cueball couldn't just cite his source (Google Search) when including the word "plagiarism" in his document to avoid committing plagiarism according to his strict ethical code. If using MLA style, he could cite it as...<br />
"plagiarism - Google Search." Google, https://www.google.com/search?q=plagarism. Accessed 24 January 2024.<br />
<br />
The title text takes Cueball's absurdist view of plagiarism one step further when says he only ever misspells words because he has too much integrity to copy the spelling from the dictionary, an act he also considers to be plagiarism. Simply using a word doesn't require a citation - if it did then the dictionaries would themselves be guilty of plagiarising the sources they gathered those words from - so it wouldn't be plagiarism to copy from the dictionary. Any style guide or professional editor would advise Cueball that correct spelling is much preferred to incorrect spelling or superfluous citations.<br />
<br />
There are some scenarios when a style guide might recommend citing a dictionary definition:<br />
* Providing a definition: If you're using a specific, perhaps unusual or technical, definition from a dictionary to make a point in your writing. This is because the definition is serving as a source of evidence or support for your argument.<br />
* Etymology or historical usage: If you are discussing the etymology or historical evolution of a word.<br />
<br />
Note that outside the USA, the linked verb is different. It is spelt "plagiarise" and not "plagiarize". This means that a search engine like Google or Duck Duck Go will supply both spellings.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting on an office chair at a desk and looking at a laptop while resting his hands on it. Megan is standing behind him and looking at the laptop as well.]<br />
:Megan: When I can't spell a word I usually just Google and copy and paste it from the results.<br />
:Cueball: Yeah, but I can't do that '''''here!!'''''<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Why spelling "plagiarism" is especially hard<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
Randall had previously commented on some ''other'' problems with using Google's suggestion feature as a spellchecker in [https://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/ the Color Survey Results post] on the xkcd blag.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2880:_Sheet_Bend&diff=3329162880: Sheet Bend2024-01-14T19:21:00Z<p>172.69.43.163: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2880<br />
| date = January 12, 2024<br />
| title = Sheet Bend<br />
| image = sheet_bend_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 317x244px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = A left-handed sheet bend creates a much weaker connection, especially under moderate loads.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SHEET BOLOND - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is the seventh installment in the series of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] and presents Cursed Connectors #46: The Sheet Bend. At the time of release this was the lowest number used for a cursed connector, with #286: [[2507: USV-C]] being the one with the highest number after those seven comics.<br />
<br />
This comic shows two double-core cables being joined to make an electrical connection. Instead of the join being made a conventional way (either by plug/socket connection, both wires being joined in a junction block or even the matching core-wire ends being twisted or soldered together and the joins covered with insulating tape), the diagram shows that each core is arranged to be connected to a conductive outer sheath, then the wires themselves are tied together such that the just the respective outer sheaths touch and the connection is made between them. A wire with two sequential points of connectivity for different signals is vaguely similar to how a coaxial plug (e.g. a so-called {{w|Phone connector (audio)|'phono'}} plug) has two or more bands of connectivity which make contact with a compatible socket, although that plug-end is rigid, and certainly not flexible enough to be tied into a sheet bend. Nor could one plug end be easily placed up against another such plug end to extend the connection into another length of cable. <br />
<br />
Although a fanciful extreme, the ad-hoc bonding of electrical wiring is a scenario commonly encountered by hobby engineers from the last millenium (the target demographic of the comic), who may have experience in electrical soldering and strong knowledge of how devices interconnect, but would be a red-flag in mainstream systems or professional repair. It is not even an easy solution for handling a broken wire, as extensive prior modification of the ends is necessary. That said, a hand-repaired wire can easily break again, and so hobby repairists can come up with solutions such as the tying the cables together to reduce the strain upon the reconnected elements. The proposed solution seems to suggest a ''planned'' connection method that is meant to satisfy both electrical and mechanical connectivity through knot-work, and can appear quite satisfying with regard to how the knot holds the tension of the cable in a way that actually would strengthen the electrical connection (presumably twisting the contact patches tighter) rather than breaking it.<br />
<br />
Historically, tying wire together has been used to connect wires, with one example being the {{w|Western Union splice}}, used to connect telegraph lines. In contrast to the pictured image, this splice was used on a single-strand conductor. The return part of the circuit would consist of a parallel wire, probably with its own splice(s) in it as required.<br />
<br />
People who use “repair” jobs like this usually retain awareness and experience to continue learning and repairing as further issues develop.<br />
<br />
This is not the way electrical connections are usually made. As those familiar with larger currents are aware, you might get an electric shock or start a fire from touching the conducting surfaces of such wires, unless additional insulation is placed around the knot. If the cable does not carry dangerous currents, it may instead carry low voltage signals (e.g. network traffic), and be susceptible to interference by unwanted electrical currents leaking ''into'' the connection. At best, these can degrade the integrity of the information the cable carries; at worst, the equipment which uses the wire could be damaged by an out of range spike in current.<br />
<br />
Most connectors, even those like the relatively exposed {{w|punch-down block}} or {{w|screw terminal block}} types, would use some structural housing (and even {{w|AC power plugs and sockets#Protection from accidental contact|other methods}}) to ensure that the 'live' ends of a socket/plug/hybrid terminator are not touched to other live wires, grounded casings or objects/people, generally according to the relative dangers from, or to, the equipment to which the cable is connected.<br />
<br />
The knot is designed to prevent the connectors associated with the alternate strands from touching, but this guarantee is not that robust. If the knot is not constructed or handled correctly, it could short out the circuit, but also the cable could slip loose (perhaps by insufficient tensioning of the knot, from the start) and the exposed conducting sheaths make other improper/dangerous connections across or beyond the knot itself. In both cases, the connection of the 'connector' would be at least become unreliable, even if it only disconnected the intended contact-points due to slippage – whether or not it became mechanically untied.<br />
<br />
The knot used to tie the two halves of the cable is a {{w|sheet bend}}, which is often used to join two ropes of different thicknesses, and explains the name for this type of cursed connector.<br />
<br />
The title text says that a left handed sheet bend would provide a weaker connection. An actual left handed sheet bend provides less strength to the knot. This makes the title text a pun on the double meaning of "moderate load" (as in a moderate amount of physical tension applied through the cables ''or'' a moderate amount of electrical current passing through them). The difference between a left handed and right handed sheet knot is that the two free ends of the knotted 'cords' are in the same orientation for a right-handed sheet knot (here, both on the lower side of the image), but on opposite sides for a left-handed sheet knot. When there is more tension drawing two conductive surfaces together, there is less resistance between them, strengthening the electrical connection as well.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Above the drawing there is a header. Below the header there is a double-core wire going in from the left and stopping just past the middle of the picture. It shows how the inside of the wire looks and how the silver and golden wires inside are connected to two rectangular pieces of silver and golden material respectively. The golden piece is to the left and the silver piece to the right, closest to the end of the wire. Beneath this wire is shown two double-core wires forming a knot of the sheet bend type. Here it becomes clear that the silver and golden pieces are on the outside of the wires (but connected to the wires running inside the wires). In the knotted part of the wires gold touches gold and silver touches silver, without them touching the other color. Beneath this knot there is a label for the connector.]<br />
:Cursed Connectors #46:<br />
:The Sheet Bend<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Cursed Connectors]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2880:_Sheet_Bend&diff=332911Talk:2880: Sheet Bend2024-01-14T17:26:18Z<p>172.69.43.163: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Why is this called a "sheet" bend? [[User:SystemParadox|SystemParadox]] ([[User talk:SystemParadox|talk]]) 21:17, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:I don't know the full answer but it's a sailing thing: the 'sheet' is the rope you pull in or let out to control the position of the sail. I guess bend describes the category of knot. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.48|172.70.90.48]] 21:23, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
::NO NO NO. The sheet is the sail. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 21:36, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:::It is the rope - {{w|Sheet (sailing)}}. "In sailing, a sheet is a line (rope, cable or chain) used to control the movable corner(s) (clews) of a sail." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.5|172.71.242.5]] 21:56, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
::::Huh. Dueling Wikipedia articles. The Sheet_bend article has a definition section that says the term "sheet bend" derives from its use bending ropes to sails (sheets). But the Sheet_(sailing) article says a sheet is a line used to control the movable corner(s) of a sail. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 23:08, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
::The sheet bend is named for its ability to to secure a sail, or sheet. You fold over the corner of the sail and that's one of your "ropes". The sheet bend is generally used as a knot for tying a large, inflexible rope (or rope-like object) to a smaller, more flexible rope.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.22|172.69.70.22]] 22:30, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
::I would take the Ashley Book of Knots as authoritative. Sheet Bend is the first knot in the book, and is always (in modern terms) rope-to-rope, not to sail. It is one of the basic knots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashley_Book_of_Knots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheet_bend<br />
::{{unsigned|PRR|04:04, 13 January 2024}} <!-- note to author, use (e.g.) "{{w|The Ashley Book of Knots}}" in such a case... As well as remembering to sign Talk items... --><br />
:::But what dispute are you taking TABoK's authority on? Two things can have the same name in different contexts (or namespaces). And does Ashley use anything other than ropes exclusively in the whole book? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.170|108.162.241.170]] 14:42, 14 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:I added a link to the wikipedia entry, it explains the name. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:25, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:Presumably the "different loads" title text is a pun between electrical load and mechanical stress on the knot? [[User:Jim-at-home|Jim-at-home]] ([[User talk:Jim-at-home|talk]]) 21:56, 12 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A sail is never, and was never, properly called a "sheet", since at least the 13th century. The Wikipedia explanation of the name is misleading. According to https://www.etymonline.com/word/sheet, it's "shortened from Old English sceatline "sheet-line," from sceata "lower part of sail," originally "piece of cloth," from same Proto-Germanic source as sheet (n.1)." [[User:Jlearman|Jlearman]] ([[User talk:Jlearman|talk]]) 17:44, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
: When I took a sailing class as a kid they used the word “sheet”, I think it was the lines connected to the sails used for adjusting them? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.82|108.162.245.82]] 19:46, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
<br />
“silver being joined to silver and gold being joined to gold within the insulating white cable” is not the conventional way to join cables.<br />
Unless you are joining one cable to itself (like a Möbius strip), you have ''two'' cables with insulation.<br />
And usually you use non-cursed connectors, where you first remove the insulation at the end of the cable and then crimp or solder the conductors to metal parts of the connector; or solder the conductors and then add a different type of insulation for protection; or use screw terminals;...<br />
Only with insulation displacement connectors you keep using all the insulation of the two cables.<br />
And finally, conductors are usually copper ''or'' aluminum, and very rarely silver ''and'' gold. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.141|162.158.94.141]] 08:45, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:I think the gold and silver is just color coded for the reader. Not that they are meant to indicate that the conductors are made from this material. Apart from that you comment sounds like you know what you are talking about. So please improve the explanation if you can. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:58, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: I changed it to gold- and silver-colored. It was obvious to me that it was the colours used in the comic that were being referenced, but fixed for the avoidance of doubt. The join being made within the one cable was clearly an error though. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.161|172.70.85.161]] 22:13, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: cables often have the signal parts copper-colored (described gold atm) and they are obviously copper, and the outer ground more the color of steel or something, not sure what metal it is, but it’s easy to solder like copper or silver is, not aluminum which is very hard to solder. usually gold and silver are used at the contacts of a connector, not inside a wire, i don’t know who would ever make that mistake. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.83|108.162.245.83]] 19:49, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:::"''more the color of steel or something, not sure what metal it is, but it’s easy to solder like copper or silver''" Traditionally tinned copper. Tinned not just for identification, or easier soldering, but because early rubber insulation actively rotted copper and tinning slowed the damage. Many sorts of damage, why much copper today is silvery. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 04:16, 14 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
::: Not wishing to spoil it, but the series finale of {{w|Cabin Pressure (radio series)|a certain radio comedy}} reveals... ah well, that's the spoiler (in the article, if you read that far down... rather than just listen to it if you haven't heard about it already but now think you like the premise). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.188|172.69.79.188]] 21:01, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Okay I looked at the wikipedia article and the knot depicted in the comic looks like a right handed one. I still don't know why it's called right handed, or why the left handed one is insecure.[[Special:Contributions/198.41.236.207|198.41.236.207]] 11:46, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:It's not. Ropes and heavier ropes (called cables) are commonly made by twisting smaller ropes together, the twist direction (terminologically the 'lay' of the rope, (s-laid or z-laid)) is the main thing (that I know about) that can make chirality (handedness) of knots important to their strength. Electrical cables and wires aren't usually expected to have any tensile strength, and their tensile components aren't usually twisted in a way that would affect their strength. (Sorry for all the parentheticals.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.130|108.162.241.130]] 14:56, 14 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
::As I understand it (at least in knots that I'm familiar with), it's not chirality (like stereo isomers) but cis-/trans-ness (e.g. isomers which have active groups pointing in different directions across a double-bond).<br />
::If the left cable came into the right's loops on on the bottom, dove under the two loops of the RH cable, over the conductor then under then over to have the loose end emerge where the offscreen-length currently comes in, then it'd be electrically the same but any tension would pull more off-axis and the knot could 'capsize' into an unwanted form (topologically similar, but with different relative loops.<br />
::If you did that but ''also'' rethreaded the RH length to come up through the LH's loop (as now), but then passed over the top, down behind the two LH bits (free and loose end) to go back over the (lower) LH, under itself then over the (upper) LH, to dangle free, it would be a chiral inversion and (as you say) probably not greatly affected by the cable's own rotational symmetry.<br />
::Re-rethread the LH loop as it was, and you'd get a chiral alternative to the first 'capsizable' change.<br />
::Proper mathematically-inclined knot-theorists probably have better terms to use for both chiral and cis-trans transforms (as well as functional sub-mirroring such as the difference between reef and granny). There will already be terms known amongst practical knot-practioners such as sailors and other riggers, but (at least until "knot bibles" were written) they'll have been given homegrown/traditional terms that might not be particularly consistent with other knot-cultures. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.163|172.69.43.163]] 17:26, 14 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
::^^^^ Addendum... Maybe [https://forum.igkt.net/index.php?topic=1551.0 this link I just found] is relevent, from a quick scan of it... Or maybe not. ~same IP/time as above .sig~<br />
<br />
A note I nearly added in the bit about short-circuits (or, as I added, 'un'circuiting) is that the electrical behaviour of the knot is different according to which 'end' slips. If the left-side cable 'slips through' enough, then its gold and silver bits of sheath could contact (would short-circuit any current driven at that side). If the right-side cable slips out, it is in no danger of doing so for a right-driven current (it would just disconnect). That ignores the cross-talking that could occur (on one conducting line at a time, so may not matter if there's no external ground-return element, except as far as not being a proper connection any more), or ''both'' ends slipping (where one of the LHS sheaths ''might'' shuffle into a position to bridge the two RHS sheaths). But, as tied, the LHS silver (being bent in and out of the page around its crossing counterpart wire) seems unlikely to be pressed against both gold and silver, should it trivially untwine/slip through. Actual studies with actual knots might be useful. I thought I had a spare length of unterminated Cat5, nearby, but apparently (k)not... that, with some coloured permanent marker-pen marks made upon it, would probably have made a decent analogue for visual analysis of failure conditions. Maybe I'll de-plug an old cable (I've got a number of damaged USB cables I could chop, but their being thinner would change the scale and dynamics of the knot, meaning I might as well just use a scrap of twisted-pair internally-sheathed strands). – But I thought you'd like my mind's-eye analysis of the knot behaviour, before I get around to trying anything practical to this end. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 17:08, 13 January 2024 (UTC) (<- ex Cub-/Boy-/Venture-Scout, but never got any Knot ''Un''tying badge... that brief stint with escapology aside... ;) )<br />
<br />
This comic contained material familiar to a hobby engineer that was cast critically and derogatorily (e.g. “sheety” bend) throughout the explanation. I edited a lot of it. I’ve seen this happen repeatedly in other explanations. I don’t edit most of them. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.155|172.71.150.155]] 18:41, 13 January 2024 (UTC) <!-- accidentally(?) top-posted, putting in its suitable chronological position, whilst I'm editing below --><br />
<br />
"this is a scenario commonly encountered by hobby engineers from the last millenium"<br />
"commonly"? Can any hobbyist engineers from the last millennium attest? Also, this sounds ageist - is it ageist? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.166|172.70.86.166]] 21:56, 13 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:Well, I definitely did electrics/electronics pre-millenium. I'm not at all unhappy with the idea with the possibility of an occasional 'bodge job' connection having happened (e.g. tying a cable in a simple knot, in suitable cases, to add mechanical resistance to any further tendency for a cable to be tugged out of a grommit-hole and the core conducting wires being tugged out of whatever terminal/patch-block they need to be connected to - or, more likely, pulling the core copper strands beyond their tensile limits).<br />
:Although (while I respected the ''idea'' of this being based upon a repair-bodge), I don't see this as a "this wire was damaged, this is how the two ends are reconnected", but rather as a deliberate cable termination method (like adding moulded plugs/etc) which could then be mated end-to-end with another similarly terminated cable. (Like using a gender-changer 'double-socket' between two phono-ended lengths of cable, or using a {{w|File:BNC Tee connector, with Ethernet cable connected-92166.jpg|BNC T-connector just to join two lengths of networking cable}} but without the need for the extra connector ''and'' adding intrinsic tensile resistance - though actually not as much as the BNC 'bayonet' version already does...)<br />
:If I was writing this from scratch, I'd actually remove all the 'repair' aspect of it, TBH. It looks more like a deliberate patch-type cable (1x2core) manufactured to be directly and hermaphroditically compatible with any other such cable, tied together without the need for tools (screwdrivers, crimpers, punch-downs, etc) ''and'' untied as and when required (at least as easily as any similar rope-knot can be undone, which isn't always a given if mishandled and overtightened).<br />
:I'd also be looking at various knots and working out which (if any) could support ''more'' than two contact-patches/sleavings per cable, for three-core or more-core connections between any two such cables. The geometry of the knots would define roughly where (and how long) the external contact-sleaves would need to be (presumably identical for both cables) such that they made appropriate connections between the two halves (cross-overs could be allowed, but that'd have to be down to the IEEE specifications of how to detect/interpret RX/TX assymetry at the end devices, etc). But then I'd also be writing a vastly more complicated alternate explanation. Perhaps just remove the bodge-job implications, someone? Clearly it's not an end-user bodge. Though it could be a manufacturer/industry bodge (such as using an 8P8C connector for essentially 6P4C purposes). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.138|172.69.79.138]] 00:53, 14 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
I use the reader app in inverted color mode, so I could not for the life of me figure out what all the discussion about silver and gold was about. Also, can I just comment on how the conductive sleeves are magically flexible? I wonder if they are braided. Even then, this would severely limit how tight the knot could be pulled. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.238|162.158.154.238]] 13:26, 14 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
:I initially imagined either a particularly ductile 'foil' or, as you say, braided (like an STP cable's 'S' layer), though the failure modes of both (tearing or fraying) are potentially problematic. Perhaps a conductive polymer of similar mechanical flexibility to the non-conductive regular sheath. The attachment of respetive core to the outer seems to me the most intensive process.<br />
:I once jury-rigged two cameras on a length of CAT5, using two pairs each for power/signal. One camera was around half way along the cable from where it was commonly terminated, but rather than than cutting the cable entirely and reconnecting the 'onwards' TPs (or threading a half-used full cable and a half-used part-length through the false ceilings/etc) I made a careful slit in the outer insulation (and shielding foil/braid, whatever it had), pulled the two chosen pairs out enough to get the necessary length of mid-cable free ends for my purposes and then snipped just those.<br />
:It wouldn't need as much work to connect outer-conducting sheathing to an inner core. Possibly an into-insulation 'displacement' blade, but not sure how you'd guarantee the (single, and only) inner core contact, so slitting outer insulation, fishing for the chosen inner-core, piercing, twining and/or wrapping that conductive strand then reinsulating as necessary or shrink-wrapping with the 'conductive rubber' outer (preventing the slit from tearing too far open on bending). Twice, though you don't need to preserve the 'gold inner' up to or beyond the 'silver inner' tapping point.<br />
:I would imagine (if this were a serious cable-end spec) there'd be careful balancing of robustness and flexibility of the [[2856: Materials Scientists|materials]] and construction methods in use. But handwaved away, in our 'reality'.... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.163|172.69.43.163]] 17:26, 14 January 2024 (UTC)</div>172.69.43.163https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2880:_Sheet_Bend&diff=3329032880: Sheet Bend2024-01-14T08:41:19Z<p>172.69.43.163: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2880<br />
| date = January 12, 2024<br />
| title = Sheet Bend<br />
| image = sheet_bend_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 317x244px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = A left-handed sheet bend creates a much weaker connection, especially under moderate loads.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SHEET BOND - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is the seventh installment in the series of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] and presents Cursed Connectors #46: The Sheet Bend. At the time of release this was the lowest number used for a cursed connector, with #286: [[2507: USV-C]] being the one with the highest number after those seven comics.<br />
<br />
This comic shows two double-core cables being joined to make an electrical connection. Instead of the join being made a conventional way (either by plug/socket connection, both wires being joined in a junction block or even the matching core-wire ends being twisted or soldered together and the joins covered with insulating tape), the diagram shows that each core is arranged to be connected to a conductive outer sheath, then the wires themselves are tied together such that the just the respective outer sheaths touch and the connection is made between them. A wire with two sequential points of connectivity for different signals is vaguely similar to how a coaxial plug (e.g. a so-called {{w|Phone connector (audio)|'phono'}} plug) has two or more bands of connectivity which make contact with a compatible socket, although that plug-end is rigid, and certainly not flexible enough to be tied into a sheet bend. Nor could one plug end be easily placed up against another such plug end to extend the connection into another length of cable. <br />
<br />
Although a fanciful extreme, the ad-hoc bonding of electrical wiring is a scenario commonly encountered by hobby engineers from the last millenium (the target demographic of the comic), who may have experience in electrical soldering and strong knowledge of how devices interconnect, but would be a red-flag in mainstream systems or professional repair. It is not even an easy solution for handling a broken wire, as extensive prior modification of the ends is necessary. That said, a hand-repaired wire can easily break again, and so hobby repairists can come up with solutions such as the tying the cables together to reduce the strain upon the reconnected elements. The proposed solution seems to suggest a ''planned'' connection method that is meant to satisfy both electrical and mechanical connectivity through knot-work, and can appear quite satisfying with regard to how the knot holds the tension of the cable in a way that actually would strengthen the electrical connection (presumably twisting the contact patches tighter) rather than breaking it.<br />
<br />
Historically, tying wire together has been used to connect wires, with one example being the {{w|Western Union splice}}, used to connect telegraph lines. In contrast to the pictured image, this splice was used on a single-strand conductor. The return part of the circuit would consist of a parallel wire, probably with its own splice(s) in it as required.<br />
<br />
People who use “repair” jobs like this usually retain awareness and experience to continue learning and repairing as further issues develop.<br />
<br />
This is not the way electrical connections are usually made. As those familiar with larger currents are aware, you might get an electric shock or start a fire from touching the conducting surfaces of such wires, unless additional insulation is placed around the knot. If the cable does not carry dangerous currents, it may instead carry low voltage signals (e.g. network traffic), and be susceptible to interference by unwanted electrical currents leaking ''into'' the connection. At best, these can degrade the integrity of the information the cable carries; at worst, the equipment which uses the wire could be damaged by an out of range spike in current.<br />
<br />
Most connectors, even those like the relatively exposed {{w|punch-down block}} or {{w|screw terminal block}} types, would use some structural housing (and even {{w|AC power plugs and sockets#Protection from accidental contact|other methods}}) to ensure that the 'live' ends of a socket/plug/hybrid terminator are not touched to other live wires, grounded casings or objects/people, generally according to the relative dangers from, or to, the equipment to which the cable is connected.<br />
<br />
The knot is designed to prevent the connectors associated with the alternate strands from touching, but this guarantee is not that robust. If the knot is not constructed or handled correctly, it could short out the circuit, but also the cable could slip loose (perhaps by insufficient tensioning of the knot, from the start) and the exposed conducting sheaths make other improper/dangerous connections across or beyond the knot itself. In both cases, the connection of the 'connector' would be at least become unreliable, even if it only disconnected the intended contact-points due to slippage – whether or not it became mechanically untied.<br />
<br />
The knot used to tie the two halves of the cable is a {{w|sheet bend}}, which is often used to join two ropes of different thicknesses, and explains the name for this type of cursed connector.<br />
<br />
The title text says that a left handed sheet bend would provide a weaker connection. An actual left handed sheet bend provides less strength to the knot. This makes the title text a pun on the double meaning of "moderate load" (as in a moderate amount of physical tension applied through the cables ''or'' a moderate amount of electrical current passing through them). The difference between a left handed and right handed sheet knot is that the two free ends of the knotted 'cords' are in the same orientation for a right-handed sheet knot (here, both on the lower side of the image), but on opposite sides for a left-handed sheet knot. When there is more tension drawing two conductive surfaces together, there is less resistance between them, strengthening the electrical connection as well.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Above the drawing there is a header. Below the header there is a double-core wire going in from the left and stopping just past the middle of the picture. It shows how the inside of the wire looks and how the silver and golden wires inside are connected to two rectangular pieces of silver and golden material respectively. The golden piece is to the left and the silver piece to the right, closest to the end of the wire. Beneath this wire is shown two double-core wires forming a knot of the sheet bend type. Here it becomes clear that the silver and golden pieces are on the outside of the wires (but connected to the wires running inside the wires). In the knotted part of the wires gold touches gold and silver touches silver, without them touching the other color. Beneath this knot there is a label for the connector.]<br />
:Cursed Connectors #46:<br />
:The Sheet Bend<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Cursed Connectors]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>172.69.43.163