explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1457: Feedback

2020-02-25T19:21:34Z

172.69.62.226: /* Quick question */ new section

Could the pineapple here have any relation to the [http://wiki.wifipineapple.com/index.php/WiFi_Pineapple wi-fi pineapple]? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.103|173.245.52.103]] 05:27, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

: Oh, it might as well be an obscure Psych reference. Please stop looking for extraobscure references.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.34|108.162.254.34]] 17:57, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
::I agree, in the context I really don't see how the Wi-Fi pineapple has any relevance. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 18:52, 8 December 2014
(UTC)
::: Cueball could be acting on being told that he could access an unknown Wifi using a pineapple. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:45, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm3_qEMTdc4 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.39|141.101.104.39]] 06:35, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.39|141.101.104.39]] 06:37, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

I think the comic also refers to another experiment where pigeons received a snack from a dispenser at totally random times. The pigeons, thinking that whatever it is they did last helped trigger the release of food would develop a complex ritual dance to receive food. (http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Skinner/Pigeon/) {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.123}}
: The intro to Mr. Nobody references this. It's what I immediately thought of when I saw this comic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGcEy_W48Kc (the explanation starts around 1 minute in){{unsigned ip|108.162.221.170}}

The title text may also be a reminder that despite signal strength being important enough to some humans to act in an insanity-suggesting manner, it is not an essential need of a living organism, as the rats visibly demonstrate. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 08:47, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

I thought 'reception' and 'wireless signal' referred to the cellular signal. That caused a lot of issues with the iphone and others. {{unsigned ip|173.245.62.89}}
: Agreed. I don't think the comic has anything to do with wifi. The alt text seems to bolster this view. [[User:SeanAhern|SeanAhern]] ([[User talk:SeanAhern|talk]]) 15:09, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
: Me too. In my house, cellular signal varies more than WiFi signal for small movements. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 03:42, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Was it Mythbusters who tin-foiled an entire room to see whether it acted as a make-shift antenna? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:23, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

What if the pineapple is actually where the signal is coming from, but it's a directional pineapple... {{User:Grep/signature|18:32, 08 December 2014}}
:Don't be silly. Everyone knows pineapples are omnidirectional... Of course, given the decreasing power away from the plane, if the pineapple is being held high up due to you being on a chair, if you're holding your phone up ''as well'' you probably also need to ''not'' be on the chair for your phone to get the very best signal from it... Obviously. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 19:48, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

The first thing this comic made me think of was the belief in some people that if you hold a car key fob up to your chin and press a button, the signal from the fob will be more strongly focused (presumably by your skull) and thus able to reach your car from a greater distance. I wonder if there's any relationship? [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 07:24, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
:It's not really a believe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uqf71muwWc --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.148|108.162.254.148]] 12:07, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
:: I have a few issues with that video, even though it SEEMs to be an established video series with mostly competent people doing the stuff in them. The experiment shown was far from exhaustive and there were several things I would have challenged the demonstrator to try, especially given the claims made as to how the range was increased... if you're interested, hit me up on my talk page and I'll try to explain. -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:33, 12 December 2014 (UTC)
:::As he says in the video, don't prejudge, simply do the experiment yourself. I have, and it very clearly works. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 22:25, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

I bet Woz loved this strip. He did a similar trick in college:
http://archive.woz.org/letters/pirates/24.html
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.170|108.162.237.170]] 22:07, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

== Quick question ==

I just wanted to followup on the request I submitted through your contact form a couple weeks ago as I haven't heard anything back. I pasted it below for your reference.

Is it okay if we feature your site in our next email newsletter? It's a perfect fit for a piece we're doing and I think our audience would find some of the content on your site super useful.

I know you're probably busy, so just a simple yes or no would suffice.

Many Thanks,

2236: Is it Christmas?

2019-12-02T21:17:46Z

172.69.62.226:

{{comic
| number = 2236
| date = December 2, 2019
| title = Is it Christmas?
| image = is_it_christmas.png
| titletext = We've tested it on 30 different days and it hasn't gotten one wrong yet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT (99.73% accurate). Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Here Randall has made a comic which nearly always correctly tells if it is Christmas. Because only one day out of the year is Christmas, it is right 364.2425/365.2425 (approximately 99.726209299 %) of the time. This also works for any annual event lasting only one day.
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:NO*
:[asterisk]99.73% accurate

:[Caption below the panel:]
:xkcd.com presents a new "Is It Christmas" service to compete with isitchristmas.com

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2022: Sports Champions

2018-12-18T07:45:27Z

172.69.62.226:

Since Kate Dopingscandal has a bike, it seems to me she's actually likely a direct reference to Lance Armstrong. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:46, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
:Yeah, that's why I included him as an example. Feel free to clarify if you want, of course.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.68|162.158.155.68]] 06:09, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
::Why is a bike directly a direct reference to Lance Armstrong? and why are additionally only "many russians" listed? It is clearly not a phenomena only seen with mr. Armstrong, and Russians, but with cylcing sports in general. The biggest Cycling event, the {{w|Tour_de_France}} is hit by a doping scandal every year. Also other events have many {{w|List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling|cases}}. Lately actually there have even be cases of [http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/542/motor-doping-is-happening-and-weve-tested-it Motor Doping]. So I think Lance Armstrong can stay as maybe the most famous example, but we should say that it is many others and not Lance Armstrong and Russians. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:22, 21 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Because he's easily the most famous example. I realize there are plenty of others - the France native below portrays it as downright epidemic in the sport - but Lance was so highly unbelievably visible. My impression is that in North America (which is where both Randall and I live), cycling as a professional sport enjoys notably less popularity than most other sports, and less than it might elsewhere in the world. Yet virtually EVERYBODY has heard of Lance (I follow no sports whatsoever, and I can even discuss him here). Lance attained nearly a hero status, he beat cancer... He started and/or inspired The LiveStrong movement, its support bracelets spread far and wide, inspiring imitators. At which point the scandal hit. Now combine this heightened visibility with Randall's history of comics portraying him - as Cueball - as knowing nothing about sports. Lance is the only cycling doping scandal _I_ can name, or even cyclist I can name at all, chances are it's the same for Randall. This comic is certainly referencing Lance. I only commented because the description was only listing him as an example. (I said nothing about Russians, I don't know of any Russian doping scandal) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Having re-checked the description, I can answer the Russian portion: It says "many Russians" because those words link to a Wikipedia article about Russia in general, not one particular incident. The mere existence of the article tells me that enough Russians have been hit by doping scandals that they rate their own Wikipedia article. It's a great find for this ExplainXKCD article, no wonder somebody made sure to include it. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:55, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
::::I put both those in. In fact, I wrote almost the entire article. I'm English, but I try to "think American" when editing. I immediately thought of Armstrong,and totally agree with your reasoning; if you do searches for "doping scandal" you immediately see him, but also, the Russian thing. Centered on the 2012 Olympics, and state-sponsored doping, their subsequent exclusion from the 2016 Olympics is amongst the biggest ever sporting scandals of all time, worldwide. Perhaps more so outside America, but it's certainly of epic proportions.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 16:54, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
::I'm 46 and live in France. As far as I can remember (1980 ?) cycling has always been THE sport associated with doping. I can remember some famous cases in other sports (Ben Johnson in the 1988 olympics) but for cycling it was said to be quasi systematic. The Armstong case was a worldwide scandal, but Tour de France had a much severe problem in 1998 where entire teams were involved and excluded from the race. Five years later, after several trials and new analysis of the 1998 samples with more evolved techniques it was revealed that at least the 5 first finishers (and many more) were doped. If you consult the Wikipedia article “doping in sport”, you will note that cycling is by far the largest section, and almost 100 years old in Tour de France. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.34|108.162.229.34]] 12:57, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Ah, but in cases like this, where different cultures can have an effect, I always bring it back to this: Where does Randall live? In America. While people in France (and cycling fans) might be well aware of many, many, MANY cycling doping scandals, I'd say the average American is not. Plus, Randall has been quite vocal about not knowing sports. Chances are, Lance Armstrong is the only cyclist he can even name at all, never mind doping scandals. And now I cause myself to wonder, did Randall think of Armstrong because his last name is also one made of words, that Lance Armstrong would be on this list himself if he had excelled at arm wrestling? :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

He should have listed, in the sport of eXtreme Software Engineering, the dominance of Little Bobby Tables in the late 2020's. ---- {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.136}}
:Damn, what a missed opportunity. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

Would Jebediah be a reference to Kerbal Space Program? Things tend to go disaterously in it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.160|108.162.210.160]] 12:54, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

It's worth noting that the all-star right fielder for the Boston Red Sox, who are currently in first place in the MLB, is named Markus Lynn "Mookie" Betts, with the initials "MLB." Aside from the fact that he's already won several divisional titles with his team, there's a good chance he'll soon be on a world series winning team as well, perhaps to become the next high-profile example. (Full disclosure: I'm a huge Red Sox fan) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.22|172.68.54.22]] 13:47, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Art Ball (1890’s)
Full name Arthur Ball
Born April , 1872, Madison, Indiana
Died December 26, 1915, Chicago, Illinois
Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois
First MLB Game: August 1, 1894; Final MLB Game: October 15, 1898
Bat: Unknown Throw: Right Weight: 168 {{unsigned ip|172.68.54.76}}

What, no Cecil Fielder? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.46|162.158.63.46]] 19:32, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

What, no [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Moneymaker Chris Moneymaker? (Poker, 2000's)] [[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]]) 01:10, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

;Moved from the main talk page: --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:30, 21 July 2018 (UTC)
Misspelling in today's comic

Your article says: "Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous"." Presumably he hasn't "chosen" to do this but merely made a spelling error. In that case, your comment is misleading. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.21|162.158.158.21]] 23:25, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Brandon Sponsorship may also be read as Brand On Sponsorship, having two terms related.
:I know what you mean, and thought about it at the time, but the connection isn't completely obvious and I didn't want to bring in too much assumption on my part. I tried to reference it without making a judgement, by mentioning the word in the text, but not putting it in bold or directly saying that there was a connection. I think that's OK? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 16:27, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
(Previous person didn't sign) About the misspelling, I feel like that's a perfectly acceptable version of the word. It's how I'd instinctually spell it, he just added "ous" to the word "disaster". That's where the word comes from! It's actually ridiculous that this ISN'T the correct spelling! I blame the English language on this one. I'd guess that centuries ago that WAS the correct spelling, and the E just got dropped at some point, to streamline the pronunciation of the word. I just Googled it, and MANY articles showed up defining it as a common misspelling of the word, that's how common this spelling is. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 14:11, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

:There is no right or wrong spelling for a surname. You can be Mr. Tailor or Mr.Taylor, or a hundred other versions. That's why I deliberately wrote that Randall ''chose'' that spelling, and I think it's obvious from the way I phrased it that it's not the normal spelling of the word. I don't think we should pass judgement about his decision, even though there's a very high chance he just made a typo. I also concur with the opinion of NiceGuy1, so I have changed it back to the way it was. Best, [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 16:27, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
::Given that the USA has a dominantly prescriptivist spelling culture for non-names (i.e. in academics and business correctness is defined by books before common usage, coompare to descriptivist which would be the other way around), the phrasing here misleads the leader into believing that both spellings are currently considered correct, as is actually true for other words. There are a lot of misleading statements in this wiki; maybe we should be up-front about that until somebody has the energy to work through everything and stay on top of it all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.118|162.158.63.118]] 14:45, 25 July 2018 (UTC)
:::There I fixed it. [[User:Faultwire|I'm me(citation needed)]] ([[User talk:Faultwire|talk]]) 23:28, 25 July 2018 (UTC)
::::Still looks messy to me; what kind of citation do you want - a brainscan of Randall? You know he chose to write the word in that way. Why is beyond our knowledge. See further down this page for more discussion and opinions about it. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.104|162.158.155.104]] 04:28, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
From the transcript: "[Cueball with a golf club] Gary Player" and "[Cueball with a basketball] Lonzo Ball". I'm not familiar with all the conventions around here, but would it be NOT Cueball when it is very definitely someone else? Sure, the made-up names later on could be Cueball standing in for them, but for those, wouldn't it actually be the real person, just looking Cueball-ish due to the art style? (And as an aside, a slight pity that there wasn't a pool player named something like Randall Cueball in the comic... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.130|162.158.75.130]] 03:31, 23 July 2018 (UTC)

;Podium/Lectern

When I first wrote this explanation, without thinking much, I said Jeb was standing at a {{w|podium}}. Someone corrected it to "lectern", which is absolutely correct of them - see that Wikipedia article. But the interesting thing is, there is an xkcd cartoon about this very subject!

[[1661: Podium]]

Should this somehow be mentioned in the explanation? I thought probably not, because Randall made no mention of it; it was purely my own error, and just an interesting connection to today's comic. Right? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 16:36, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

;Margaret Court
She wasn't the best choice. Recently in Australia someone let her near a microphone & it turns out she's quite homophobic.
* Perhaps not in terms of PR and exposure of the sport (and I certainly am among those who don't approve), but that doesn't detract from the point of the comic which looks in terms of on-field accomplishments and their last names. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.121|173.245.52.121]] 15:15, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
* Margaret was neé Smith, she married Barry Court in 1967. But she definitely belongs here, especially since a COURT was named after her at the venue for the Australian Open. They were smart enough NOT to name it Margaret Court Court, opting for "Margaret Court Arena" [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.226|172.69.62.226]] 07:45, 18 December 2018 (UTC)

;Jebediah's Sport

It appears that, based on the person's name, their sport could be debating, public speaking, or giving live postgame press conferences.

[[User:Milesman34|Milesman34]] ([[User talk:Milesman34|talk]]) 03:48, 23 July 2018 (UTC)milesman34

;Why Baseball is a Problem

Did you ever notice that players named "White" are almost always black, and players named "Black" are usually white? Why is that? The last White major leaguer who was actually white was Mike White, who played for Houston in the early sixties. Since then we've had Bill White, Roy White, Frank White, and Jerry White, all of whom were black; Mike White probably would have been black except that his father played in the majors in the thirties and they didn't allow you to be black back then. The Royals also had a Black on their roster, Bud, who of course is white; in fact, the Royals had to set some sort of record by having four colored people on their team, White, Black, Blue, and Brown. Scott Brown is not any browner than anyone else, Vida is definitely not blue, nor for that matter is Darryl Motley. I suppose that is the nature of names, as with Peacekeeping Missiles and Security Police, to disguise the truth more often than they reveal it. Horace Speed stole only four bases in his career. Vic Power was a singles hitter, Bill Goodenough was not good enough, and Joe Blong did not belong for long.

-- Bill James, 1983

Me, I'm disappointed that Jim Gentile wasn't Jewish. [[User:WHPratt|WHPratt]] ([[User talk:WHPratt|talk]]) 12:16, 24 July 2018 (UTC)

;Chosen spelling - Citation needed

Re. Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous".

Putting <nowiki>{{citation needed}}</nowiki> on that is a bit silly. You can see he chose to spell it that way from the cartoon. It's self-evident. What's the issue, what needs a citation? As to why he decided to spell it that way, nobody but Randall knows, and we're unlikely to ever find out. It's probably a typo, but isn't that just an assumption? He chose to type the word that way - whether that's because he doesn't know how to spell it correctly, or because he likes it that way. Nobody but Randall knows.

A couple of people think it should say he misspelled it, but see the discussions; others agree with me that there is not correct spelling of surnames (e.g. Tailor/Taylor). It's a name, not the word.

IMHO, the cite-needed is just clutter and confusing. I think the wording was good, without a messy tag. It's not really something I want to argue pointlessly and endlessly about, so I won't remove it myself right now; I'll see what other people say. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 14:52, 26 July 2018 (UTC)

:Eh, it's been several days, nobody seems bothered, so I'll remove it now. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.36|141.101.107.36]] 15:05, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

::The idea (or more properly, the joke) behind {{Citation needed}} isn't that a citation is truly needed, it's that something that should be blatantly obvious has been stated (see point 3 in the trivia for citation needed). Randall wrote what he did, whether he chose to or not is up to interpretation, no matter how obvious that interpretation is. The tag is not meant to be taken literally. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.54|172.68.47.54]] 23:17, 27 August 2018 (UTC)
:::The <nowiki>{{citation needed}}</nowiki> template was meant to be a joke. But seeing this joke on more than 250 different explanations isn't funny at all. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:12, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
::::That's less than 15% of the explanations on this wiki, we have more incomplete explanations than that. I'd agree that having it more than once in an single page is a bit much, and this particular instance wasn't funny enough to keep, but I don't think overuse is the issue here. Did it get old after over 100 "What if?" articles? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.11|172.69.33.11]] 23:33, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
:::::Check the top of the main page: ''"We have an explanation for all 2038 xkcd comics, and only 22 (1%) are incomplete."'' Just saying...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:10, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
::::::Ahh I read 22%. Well that's embarrassing. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.99|173.245.48.99]] 19:39, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
;Kerbal
why am i the first one to see the kerbal space program reference? where are you my fellow kerbals?
:It's a bit of a tenuous link. I get it, Kerbal has disasters, and has a person named Jebediah, but it's a reasonably common name; there's nothing space-related in the cartoon to suggest a connection. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.104|162.158.155.104]] 04:21, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

;table -> descr.list
: in my neverending quest to rid this wiki of misued tables I've changed it to a description list. This makes reading easier (to me, at least) and should help for mobile users, once such a layout gets implemented. I feel like I'm pushing a bit with this one, so feel free to revert my change if it doesn't fit the style. [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 14:23, 25 August 2018 (UTC)
::I'm really happy with this, but the first line below the header should not be indented. Like your comment above as well. This is also easier for editors with less experience on Wiki syntax. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:43, 25 August 2018 (UTC)

1447: Meta-Analysis

2018-12-16T23:07:35Z

172.69.62.226: Added Oxford commas to transcript to match comic. Also moved punctuation to the front of the footnotes to match Wikipedia's standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#How_to_place_an_inline_citation_using_ref_tags

{{comic
| number = 1447
| date = November 14, 2014
| title = Meta-Analysis
| image = meta-analysis.png
| titletext = Life goal #29 is to get enough of them rejected that I can publish a comparative analysis of the rejection letters.
}}

==Explanation==
In the scientific literature, meta-analyses are studies which compare multiple studies on a single topic, with the aim of giving a balanced overview of the known results. [http://www.medline.com/ Medline], [http://www.elsevier.com/online-tools/embase/about Embase] and [http://www.cochrane.org/ Cochrane] are medical research databases which give access to studies on drug effects or results of other medical procedures.

This comic explores the idea of iterating the process, going from meta-analyses to meta-meta-analyses (which actually exist, though not necessarily by that name, see below) and hence to a meta-meta-meta-analysis.

Of course, the title text adds another level of meta-analysis, since he wants to make a meta-analysis of rejection letters which concern his meta-meta-meta analyses.

All of the cited meta-meta-analyses are real: M. Sampson (2003),<ref name="sampson">M. Sampson et al, [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(03)00110-0 Should meta-analysts search Embase in addition to Medline?], J. Clim. Epidemiol, 2003</ref> P. L. Royle (2005),<ref name="royle">P. L. Royle et al, [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-5491.2005.01645.x Sources of evidence for systematic reviews of interventions in diabetes], Diabetic Medicine, 2005</ref> E. Lee (2011),<ref name="lee">E. J. Lee et al, [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.01.007 The Efficacy of Acupressure for Symptom Management: A Systematic Review], J Pain Symptom Manage, 2011</ref> and A.R. Lemeshow (2005).<ref name="lemeshow">A.R. Lemeshow et al, [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.03.004 Searching one or two databases was insufficient for meta-analysis of observational studies], J. Clim. Epidemiol, 2005</ref>

The phrase "too meta" can be found in the comments of videos, blog posts, and other internet content which are so abstract that they can't be easily interpreted. It refers to the thing in question being too self-referential.

Comic [[93: Jeremy Irons]] similarly states a slightly absurd "life goal". [[917: Hofstadter]] is "meta"-related.

==Transcript==
:[Excerpt from a scientific paper.]
:Many meta-analysis studies include the phrase “We searched Medline, Embase, and Cochrane for studies…”
:This has led to meta-meta-analyses comparing meta-analysis methods. e.g. M Sampson (2003), PL Royle (2005), E Lee (2011), AR Lemeshow (2005).
:We performed a meta-meta-meta-analysis of these meta-meta-analyses.
:Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, and Cochrane for the phrase “We searched Medline, Embase, and Cochrane for the phrase ‘We searched Medline, Embase, and

:Life goal #28: get a paper rejected with the comment “Too meta”

==References==
<references />

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

1536: The Martian

2018-11-10T03:31:20Z

172.69.62.226: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1536
| date = June 10, 2015
| title = The Martian
| image = the_martian.png
| titletext = I have never seen a work of fiction so perfectly capture the out-of-nowhere shock of discovering that you've just bricked something important because you didn't pay enough attention to a loose wire.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is very excited about seeing that the trailer for ''{{w|The Martian (film)|The Martian}}'' is finally released, because he really liked the book. Cueball most likely represents [[Randall]] himself in this comic.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI This trailer] for ''The Martian'' was released on Monday the 8th June 2015, two days before this comic, although a teaser [https://youtu.be/CumZP6_9sHU "viral" trailer] had been released the previous day. The film, starring {{w|Matt Damon}} (''{{w|The Bourne Identity (film)|The Bourne Identity}}''), is directed by {{w|Ridley Scott}} (''{{w|Alien (film)|Alien}}''). It was released in the United States on October 2, 2015.

''The Martian'' is based on {{w|The Martian (Weir novel)| a book of the same name}} by {{w|Andy Weir (writer)|Andy Weir}}. The book is very popular among NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!!!!!!!!!!!!. The plot is a cross between the film ''{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}'' and the plot of the novel ''{{w|Robinson Crusoe}}'' — but just on {{w|Mars}}.

Cueball is telling [[White Hat]] about this trailer and the book, thus White Hat asks if he should read it. Cueball then describes a scene from Apollo 13: ''You know the scene in Apollo 13 where the guy says "we have to figure out how to connect this thing to this thing using this table full of parts or the astronauts will all die?"'' And he then tells White Hat that ''The Martian'' is like that the whole way through. What is actually said in the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2YZnTL596Q mentioned scene] is: ''We gotta find a way to make this fit into the hole for this using nothing but that.'' The first part being a large square box and the other a smaller cylinder.

The film ''Apollo 13'' is based on the true historical event of the {{w|Apollo 13| Apollo 13 incident}} where the astronauts find themselves in a damaged spacecraft. They evacuated from the {{w|Apollo Command Module}}, losing all its life support systems, to the {{w|Lunar Module}} which was designed only for two people for two days instead of three people for four days. One issue the crew faced was a buildup of carbon dioxide. In order to resolve the issue, the crew needed to find a way to attach a square-shaped air-cleaning cartridge from the command module to the circular receptacle of the lunar module: literally fitting a square peg into a round hole. In one [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2YZnTL596Q brief scene], the {{w|Mission Control}} staff gather together a box of items equivalent to what the crew would also have on-board and sit down with the mandate to figure out how the astronauts can connect the two with the items available to them. In that case, the ground crew took on the task of trial and error given the availability of backup supplies in case they damaged or destroyed some of the supplies. Once a working solution was devised, specific instructions were relayed to the astronauts. Cueball suggests that ''The Martian'' essentially consists primarily of the type of problem-solving shown in that scene (as was suggested by the author, Andy Weir, in [https://youtu.be/5SemyzKgaUU?t=45m56s this] interview).

In the final panel, White Hat, who probably would not be so interested in this kind of story, wonders how a novel based on that kind of seemingly cerebral and procedural problem-solving became a big-budget film starring Damon. Big-budget films are generally films with a great deal of special effects and often also action sequences likely to draw big audiences — and to gain big returns. Matt Damon has become a high-profile big-budget star known for action films like the {{w|Bourne (film series)|''Bourne'' film series}}.

'''Spoiler alert:''' 
The title text is a reference to a particular part of ''The Martian'''s story: The astronaut stranded on Mars has previously established communications with Earth by {{w|repurposing}} the {{w|Mars Pathfinder|Pathfinder}} space probe that NASA landed on Mars in 1997. While working on another piece of equipment, he accidentally subjects the probe to an electrical short-circuit, destroying its electronics and "bricking" it. "{{w|Bricking}}" is a term in consumer electronics which essentially means to cause an electronic device to become non-functional and essentially no more useful than a "brick". The term is commonly used in respect of an unrecoverable failure of {{w|software}} and often a corruption of {{w|firmware}}. An unexpected "bricking" can be very surprising, and in a case where the item is critical, could be devastating.

On the day the movie was released in the US Randall went to see it and released this comic about it: [[1585: Similarities]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk using a computer and White Hat walks in.]
:Cueball: Ooh, trailer for ''The Martian!''
:White Hat: What's that?
:Cueball: Movie of a book I liked.
:White Hat: Should I read it?

:[Cueball pivots on chair and turns away from computer to face White Hat.]
:Cueball: Depends. You know the scene in Apollo 13 where the guy says "we have to figure out how to connect ''this'' thing to ''this'' thing using ''this'' table full of parts or the astronauts will all die?
:White Hat: Yeah?

:[Cueball pivots on chair again and resumes using computer while talking. White Hat looks at his smart phone.]
:Cueball: ''The Martian'' is for people who wish the whole movie had just been more of that scene.
:White Hat: How on earth did ''that'' become a big-budget thing with Matt Damon?
:Cueball: No idea, but I'm ''so'' excited.

==Trivia==
In [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SemyzKgaUU&feature=youtu.be&t=2760 a video interview] by Adam Savage with Andy Weir the author of ''The Martian'' says that his goal was to make the whole book like the mentioned scene from ''Apollo 13'' - exactly what the comic is saying. The video was posted on YouTube the day after the xkcd comic.

In the end, ''The Martian'' likely didn't disappoint the big-budget movie makers, grossing more than $630 million against a budget of $108 million.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2070: Trig Identities

2018-11-09T22:24:53Z

172.69.62.226: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2070
| date = November 9, 2018
| title = Trig Identities
| image = trig_identities.png
| titletext = ARCTANGENT THETA = ENCHANT AT TARGET
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please only mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows several real and fictitious trigonometric identities. Most of the identities past the second line are "derived" by applying algebraic methods to the letters in the trig functions, which violates the rules of math, since the trig functions are operators and not variables.

The first line are well known trigonometric functions. The second line contains the lesser known reciprocals of the trigonometric functions in the first line.

The following identities are made up and are increasing in absurdity. The comic reflects on the confusion one gets when working more intensely with these identities, since there are a lot of hidden dependencies between them.

The third and fourth line is made by treating the trigonometric function as a product of variables rather than a function and then using the above identities to create words. e.g. sin = b/c -> cin = b/s (this could also be a reference to the C++ cin).

The second to last line performs some algebra on the individual letters of <math>(\mathrm{tan}\ \theta)^2=\frac{b^2}{a^2}</math> as a setup to the last line. The last line takes the formula <math>distance=\frac{1}{2}at^2</math> "from physics" and plugs it into the equation of the previous line, doing some algebra to replace <math>at^2</math> with <math>distance2</math> and expanding <math>(na)^2</math> into <math>nana</math> to get the final equation, <math>distance2banana=\frac{b^3}{\theta^2}</math> . Using the rules already established in this comic, this is valid algebra. The distance equation is the distance a constantly accelerating object initially at rest moves in a given length of time t, most often used to find how far an object dropped from rest will fall under the influence of gravity in a given amount of time (or how long it will take to fall a given distance).

There seem to be (at least) two errors in the formulars:
* <math>\mathrm{cas}\ \theta=\frac{o}{c}</math> seems to be derived from <math>\cos\theta=\frac{a}{c}</math> but to reach "cas" from "cos" one has to divide by "o" and multiply by "a". This would lead to <math>\frac{a^2}{co}</math> on the right hand side.
* In the indentity <math>\sin\theta\sec\theta=\mathrm{insect}\theta^2</math> one of the "s"s has turned into a "t".

The title-text is an anagram. Due to the commutative property of multiplication (which states that order does not affect the product), these equations are equivalent if treated as individual variables as earlier. Another layer of absurdity is added in that the variable Theta is spelled out and broken into its letters, which are then treated as individual variables. (The {{w|arctangent}} referred to here is the inverse tangent, a one-sided inverse to the tangent function. You would not normally write <math>\arctan\theta</math>, since the theta in the comic refers to an angle, and the arctangent has an angle as its ''value'' rather than as its ''argument''; however, using theta here is merely unconventional, not forbidden.)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Inside a single frame comic a right-angled triangle is shown. The short edges are labeled "a" and "b" respectively and the long edge has a "c". All angles are marked, the right angle by a square and the both others by an arc. One arc is labeled by the Greek symbol theta.]

:[Trigonometric functions on the marked angle theta in relation to "a", "b", and many more not depicted other variables are shown:]

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Key trigonometric identities

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]

2068: Election Night

2018-11-05T15:21:05Z

172.69.62.226:

{{comic
| number = 2068
| date = November 5, 2018
| title = Election Night
| image = election_night.png
| titletext = "Even the blind—those who are anxious to hear, but are not able to see—will be taken care of. Immense megaphones have been constructed and will be in use at The Tribune office and in the Coliseum. The one at the Coliseum will be operated by a gentleman who draws $60 a week from Barnum & Bailey's circus for the use of his voice."
}}

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

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

Megan: Ugh, I'm just going to hide out for election night. We'll know the results the next day anyway. The drama is so unnecessary.
Cueball: Yeah. The internet and the 24-hour news have turned elections into a continuous, inescapable media onslaught.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Time travel]]

Talk:2066: Ballot Selfies

2018-11-01T18:33:08Z

172.69.62.226:

What harm do laws banning ballot selfies do? [[User:Ryanker|Ryanker]] ([[User talk:Ryanker|talk]]) 15:51, 31 October 2018 (UTC)ryanker
: You're coming at it from exactly the wrong direction. What harm does taking a ballot selfie do? {{unsigned ip|40.57.163.322}}
:: I'm against anyone who is holding up the line for the rest of us who are trying to vote, especially those egotistical who think anyone wants to see their stupid pictures. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.127|162.158.123.127]] 05:24, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
::: Photos are pretty quick. I'm against those who are making oil paintings of their voting. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 13:13, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
: I'm thinking the flavor text is talking as if from the point of view of someone who has grown used to sharing photos of themselves with others, to communicate, encourage, feel connected. Depicting their own behavior so directly might even seem a valid way to sway someone's opinion to such a person. I guess when thinking about it, it would support democracy better to share the act of voting rather than the actual vote made. Curious regarding other opinions. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.83|162.158.91.83]] 16:09, 31 October 2018 (UTC)
:: yes, fully agree with this. Just take all the selfies you want on the way there, in front of the place where you vote, on the way back. Just not during that one minute you spend inside the booth, and not showing your actual ballot. If you absolutely want to disclose what you actually voted for, you can still do so by writing a caption. It's that simple, and probably legal in most places around the world.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.140|141.101.77.140]] 16:22, 31 October 2018 (UTC)
: Thought of another reason: if the government were to hack or misrepresent the vote, the people could use proof of voting to prove the fraud. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.136|172.68.50.136]] 16:12, 31 October 2018 (UTC)
:: If a government can hack your vote, couldn't they hack your phone? ;-) [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 16:28, 31 October 2018 (UTC)
::: But you could just print out the photo, and it becomes physical, unhackable proof. {{unsigned ip|162.158.79.101}}
::: Additionally, to fake your vote, all they need to do is lie. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.27|162.158.93.27]] 00:55, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
: Banning photos in polling stations is sensible. If I offered you $1,000 to vote for Trump you would be mad not to agree - you could vote how you wanted, and tell me you voted for Trump and get your money. If photos were allowed, to get your money I could request a photo of you with your ballot paper. If people can take photos of their vote, people can buy votes. If they can't, it's much more difficult to do that. [[User:DrDave|DrDave]] ([[User talk:DrDave|talk]]) 12:44, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
::Not just positive coercion but also negative - spouses, religious leaders, or whomever demanding proof that you'd voted the way they told you to "or else." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.113|172.68.58.113]] 12:57, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
:::This is EXACTLY my point. My concern would be employers (e.g. Hobby Lobby) making voting for or against a specific candidate or issue a condition of employment. If ballot selfies are allowed, then there is no way to stop this. I don't mind selfies of people going into the polling place. However, there should be no (legal) way to take a picture of your ballot and make it public, including another voter, accidentally or not, capturing you and your ballot in the background of their selfie. [[User:Ryanker|Ryanker]]
In the United kingdom it is illegal to take a phtograph of the ballot paper even if no vote is recorded - as such an image could reveal the mark used to authenticate the ballot paper.
Until recently this was a pattern of holed stamped into the paper as it is issued, though now printed bar codes are used. Theoretically if you know the mark, you could then stuff a ballot box. Although if the number of papers does not match that recorded by the returning clerk then the entire box would be declared invalid and the election rerun. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 16:45, 31 October 2018 (UTC)
: I think you're saying that in states where vote selfies are legal, somebody might be able to use such a selfie to produce counterfeit ballots, and submit them. Also that the ballots are counted and a vote is rerun whenever the count is wrong, to additionally deter this. It's hard to believe that count is always correct for such huge numbers of physical objects each handled by a human being: does this rerun happen commonly? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.27|162.158.93.27]] 00:55, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
:: Why would someone need to look at someone else's selfie to produce counterfeit ballots? Seems like a very round about way when it's easy enough to get an actual ballot yourself. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.58|108.162.245.58]] 01:40, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
:::It's not about counterfeits - it's about The Secrecy Of The Ballot. It is essential to a free and fair election that the voter can vote in complete secrecy AND that they be completely unable to prove how they voted (or indeed, if they voted at all). In the UK, the way you voted (or IF you voted at all) is intended to be completely secret - only you know - and you have NO WAY to prove it. But selfies, printed paper receipts from eletronic voting machines and online or postal voting all circumvent that concept. The concept is important because if someone tries to coerce you to voting in a way you do not wish to - then that coercion will be ineffective if they cannot confirm that you did as they wanted you do to. I've updated the explain to try to cover this point more carefully. However, this alone is not enough - an evil-doer can instead find people who are demographically-likely to vote against their preferred candidate and instead coerce them to not vote at all - which isn't as effective as forcing them to vote the opposite way - but is still enough to flip the election. Some laws (such as in Texas) that make it increasingly hard for poorer people to vote by demanding proof-of-identity in ways they cannot manage is a classic example of that. Even a homeless person has a right to vote - but without papers that establish that they are who they claim to be - they are effectively disenfranchised - which is unconstitutional. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 13:25, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
::::Hey SteveBaker; I really agree with your views here. I notice you removed the phrase "violent coercion" which I added when you made your edits. I have a smidge of experience with being violently coerced to do things, and how crowds of people who are for example addicted to the products of a drug lord can be forced to behave as he or she wishes in order to continue their lives. I feel it's really valuable to use the word "violent" here to bring people's minds into how intense this could become, or could be already in areas where votes are provable. I'll try a little to add it back, but if I disrupt the new flow I'm sorry, I do not mean to. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.226|172.69.62.226]] 18:33, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

2065: Who Sends the First Text?

2018-10-30T00:59:05Z

172.69.62.226: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2065
| date = October 29, 2018
| title = Who Sends the First Text?
| image = who_sends_the_first_text.png
| titletext = I sort of wish my texting app showed the percentage next to each person, but also sort of don't want to know.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please only mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Text messaging}} is a back-and-forth communication via SMS between 2 users. In this comic, Randall shows a line graph of "who sends the first text more often?" This is meant to show who Randall initiates conversations with, and who initiates conversations with him.

Maintaining a friendship or relationship (whether intimate, friendship, casual, or business) typically requires communication; often that communication takes place when two individuals are not in the same location by means of an exchange of text messages. A normal balanced relationship typically involves both parties involved to have an approximately equal interest in making conversations happen, as measured in this case by "who sends the first text". The person who desires that a particular communication take place typically will send a text message, and once the other person responds the conversation happens, and the relationship progresses. If neither person initiates, the relationship will likely suffer.

While this graph shows the majority of his relationships involve friends whereby both sides are prone to initiating conversations, the graph also shows some groups that are a little more at the extremes, some where Randall texts a lot but they typically don't initiate text conversations to him, and some where others text him a lot but he rarely initiates text conversations with them.

On the left side of the graph are people with whom Randall initiates conversations with "100% of the time". On the right side of the graph are those who initiate conversations with Randall.

The chart is separated into 5 blocks. The two blocks on the left are those who may be, or definitely are, "just politely putting up with [Randall]". This is implied that they may not be close friends with Randall, but Randall still wants to be friends with them. Their reluctance to initiate conversation with Randall is shown by the fact that Randall usually sends the first text to them.

The largest block, in the middle, is "friends". These friends range from Randall initiating a lot, to them initiating a lot. There is a healthy range of who initiates first.

The next block to the right, is for "that really nice friend who keeps inviting me to things even though I flake consistently". This means that Randall promises to go to events that this friend invites him to, but does not always follow through. This friend is still persistent in inviting Randall. Additionally, Randall could be less close to this person, based on him not categorizing this person under "friends".

The final block is "automated alerts and political campaigns". Randall would certainly not be likely to initiate "conversation" with automated systems, and would be very unlikely to initiate conversations with political campaigns, though the fact that the bar is not purely 100% suggests that he has on rare occasion initiated such a conversation, perhaps for a campaign he believes in, or perhaps to request to be added to an automated alert system (i.e. opt-in).

In the title text, Randall wishes that he would know the percentage of "who sends the first text more often", for each person that he texts. But he is also wary of the potential implications of finding out this information.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:'''Who sends the first text more often?'''
:[A line graph with a segmented bar underneath shows a 50/50 marker in the middle while the left end is labeled "I text first 100% of the time" whereas the right end is labeled "They text first 100% of the time".

:[The bar below is divided into five sections:]
:[A small part at the left:]
:...'''''definitely''''' just politely putting up with me
:[The next, slightly larger part:]
:People who I think of as friends but secretly worry that they're just politely putting up with me
:[In the middle a big part:]
:Friends
:[To the right the parts are symmetric, the first is larger:]
:That really nice friend who keeps inviting me to things even though I flake constantly
:[The last small bar at the right:]
:Automated alerts and political campaigns

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

2063: Carnot Cycle

2018-10-24T17:03:35Z

172.69.62.226: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2063
| date = October 24, 2018
| title = Carnot Cycle
| image = carnot_cycle.png
| titletext = The Carnot cycle is more properly known by its full title, the "Carnot-Tolkien-Wagner Ring Cycle."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Carnot cycle}} is a theoretical thermodynamic cycle and is covered in most thermodynamics classes which looks very much like the figure drawn.

However in this case, Randall has replaced the labels of the 4 stages of the real Carnot cycle with new ones.

Each step is explained below

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Step in Comic
!Step in the real Carnot Cycle
!Explanation
|-
|1. Isometric expansion. When heated, the gas becomes larger due to increasing volume
|Reversible isothermal expansion of the gas at the "hot" temperature, Th (isothermal heat addition or absorption).
|The comic text uses a circular argument.
|-
|2. Isotonic expansion. The gas expands further due to dark energy while percent milkfat remains constant.
|Isentropic (reversible adiabatic) expansion of the gas (isentropic work output).
|Isotonic is commonly associated with sports drink (and not thermodynamics). Dark energy is hypothesized to be a cause for the expansion of the universe.
|-
|3. Isopropyl compression. While inflation is held constant, the gas contracts due to tightening interest rates.
|Reversible isothermal compression of the gas at the "cold" temperature, Tc. (isothermal heat rejection)
|Isopropyl alcohol is commonly used for cleaning.
|-
|4. Decline and fall. The gas diminishes and goes into the West while remaining Galadriel, completing the cycle.
|Isentropic compression of the gas (isentropic work input).
|{{w|Galadriel}} is a character in {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}. Galadriel is one of the leading {{w|Elf (Middle-earth)|elves}}, which is a race that in the time of the book is said to be dwindling (in number and importance) in {{w|Middle Earth}} and migrating westward to {{w|Valinor}}. Galadriel is one of the last elves to leave, after successfully resisting temptation to take the One Ring and become an all-powerful queen who dominates Middle-earth, choosing to instead "remain Galadriel", in her words.
|}

Alt text: Richard Wagner's Ring cycle consists of four operas. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2063: Carnot Cycle

2018-10-24T17:02:41Z

172.69.62.226: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2063
| date = October 24, 2018
| title = Carnot Cycle
| image = carnot_cycle.png
| titletext = The Carnot cycle is more properly known by its full title, the "Carnot-Tolkien-Wagner Ring Cycle."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Carnot cycle}} is a theoretical thermodynamic cycle and is covered in most thermodynamics classes which looks very much like the figure drawn.

However in this case, Randall has replaced the labels of the 4 stages of the real Carnot cycle with new ones.

Each step is explained below

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Step in Comic
!Step in the real Carnot Cycle
!Explanation
|-
|1. Isometric expansion. When heated, the gas becomes larger due to increasing volume
|Reversible isothermal expansion of the gas at the "hot" temperature, Th (isothermal heat addition or absorption).
|The comic text uses a circular argument.
|-
|2. Isotonic expansion. The gas expands further due to dark energy while percent milkfat remains constant.
|Isentropic (reversible adiabatic) expansion of the gas (isentropic work output).
|Isotonic is commonly associated with sports drink (and not thermodynamics). Dark energy is hypothesized to be a cause for the expansion of the universe.
|-
|3. Isopropyl compression. While inflation is held constant, the gas contracts due to tightening interest rates.
|Reversible isothermal compression of the gas at the "cold" temperature, Tc. (isothermal heat rejection)
|Isopropyl alcohol is commonly used for cleaning.
|-
|4. Decline and fall. The gas diminishes and goes into the West while remaining Galadriel, completing the cycle.
|Isentropic compression of the gas (isentropic work input).
|{{w|Galadriel}} is a character in {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}. Galadriel is one of the leading {{w|Elf (Middle-earth)|elves}}, which is a race that in the time of the book is said to be dwindling (in number and importance) in {{w|Middle Earth}} and migrating westward to {{w|Valinor}}. Galadriel is one of the last elves to leave, after successfully resisting temptation to take the One Ring and become an all-powerful queen who dominates Middle-earth.
|}

Alt text: Richard Wagner's Ring cycle consists of four operas. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2063: Carnot Cycle

2018-10-24T17:00:17Z

172.69.62.226: /* Explanation */ The arrow is not really pointing West (straight left in most maps). The reference to Galadriel going into the West is already explained in the remaining text here.

{{comic
| number = 2063
| date = October 24, 2018
| title = Carnot Cycle
| image = carnot_cycle.png
| titletext = The Carnot cycle is more properly known by its full title, the "Carnot-Tolkien-Wagner Ring Cycle."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Carnot cycle}} is a theoretical thermodynamic cycle and is covered in most thermodynamics classes which looks very much like the figure drawn.

However in this case, Randall has replaced the labels of the 4 stages of the real Carnot cycle with new ones.

Each step is explained below

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Step in Comic
!Step in the real Carnot Cycle
!Explanation
|-
|1. Isometric expansion. When heated, the gas becomes larger due to increasing volume
|Reversible isothermal expansion of the gas at the "hot" temperature, Th (isothermal heat addition or absorption).
|The comic text uses a circular argument.
|-
|2. Isotonic expansion. The gas expands further due to dark energy while percent milkfat remains constant.
|Isentropic (reversible adiabatic) expansion of the gas (isentropic work output).
|Isotonic is commonly associated with sports drink (and not thermodynamics). Dark energy is hypothesized to be a cause for the expansion of the universe.
|-
|3. Isopropyl compression. While inflation is held constant, the gas contracts due to tightening interest rates.
|Reversible isothermal compression of the gas at the "cold" temperature, Tc. (isothermal heat rejection)
|Isopropyl alcohol is commonly used for cleaning.
|-
|4. Decline and fall. The gas diminishes and goes into the West while remaining Galadriel, completing the cycle.
|Isentropic compression of the gas (isentropic work input).
|{{w|Galadriel}} is a character in {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}. Galadriel is one of the leading {{w|Elf (Middle-earth)|elves}}, which is a race that in the time of the book is said to be dwindling (in number and importance) in {{w|Middle Earth}} and migrating westward to {{w|Valinor}}. Galadriel is one of the last elves to leave.
|}

Alt text: Wagner ring contains 4 operas. Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2063: Carnot Cycle

2018-10-24T16:56:35Z

172.69.62.226: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2063
| date = October 24, 2018
| title = Carnot Cycle
| image = carnot_cycle.png
| titletext = The Carnot cycle is more properly known by its full title, the "Carnot-Tolkien-Wagner Ring Cycle."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The Carnot cycle is a theoretical thermodynamic cycle and is covered in most thermodynamics classes which looks very much like the figure drawn.

However in this case, Randall has replaced the labels of the 4 stages of the real Carnot cycle with new ones.

Each step is explained below

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Step in Comic
!Step in the real Carnot Cycle
!Explanation
|-
|1. Isometric expansion. When heated, the gas becomes larger due to increasing volume
|Reversible isothermal expansion of the gas at the "hot" temperature, Th (isothermal heat addition or absorption).
|The comic text uses a circular argument.
|-
|2. Isotonic expansion. The gas expands further due to dark energy while percent milkfat remains constant.
|Isentropic (reversible adiabatic) expansion of the gas (isentropic work output).
|Isotonic is commonly associated with sports drink (and not thermodynamics). Dark energy is hypothesized to be a cause for the expansion of the universe.
|-
|3. Isopropyl compression. While inflation is held constant, the gas contracts due to tightening interest rates.
|Reversible isothermal compression of the gas at the "cold" temperature, Tc. (isothermal heat rejection)
|Isopropyl alcohol is commonly used for cleaning.
|-
|4. Decline and fall. The gas diminishes and goes into the West while remaining Galadriel, completing the cycle.
|Isentropic compression of the gas (isentropic work input).
|Imagining the comic as a map, the arrow is pointing to the West. {{w|Galadriel}} is a character in the Lord of the Rings. Galadriel is one of the leading {{w|Elf (Middle-earth)|elves}}, which is a race that in the time of the book is said to be dwindling (in number and importance) in {{w|Middle Earth}} and migrating westward to {{w|Valinor}}. Galadriel is one of the last elves to leave.
|}

Alt text: Wagner ring contains 4 operas. Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings.

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

{{comic discussion}}

526: Converting to Metric

2018-10-13T05:56:16Z

172.69.62.226: Ron Paul

{{comic
| number = 526
| date = January 5, 2009
| title = Converting to Metric
| image = converting to metric.png
| titletext = According to River, "adequate" vacuuming systems drain the human body at about half a liter per second.
}}
==Explanation==
Most people will eventually develop an intuitive feel for how big certain measurements are (e.g., how long an inch or a foot is, how much a pound weighs). This comic points out that people who were brought up using the {{w|United States customary units|United States system of customary units}} probably don't have the same intuitive understanding for metric units and attempts to provide some benchmarks for these people. Most of the benchmarks are common sense, highly-useful ones (e.g., if it's 30 degrees Celsius, you'd be quite comfortable outside dressed for the beach) but some of the benchmarks are humorous and/or completely useless as can be seen below.

Some people argue for switching to metric units in the US, and these people became part of the comic [[1982: Evangelism]].

In the book [[Thing Explainer]] a similar chart for metrics is shown in the explanation for ''How to count things'', with four of the five measures from this comic also explained in simple language. Only volume is left out there. Only thing used in both explanations is the weight of a cat, but in the book it weighs 5 kg rather than 4 kg in this comic.

===Temperature===
*60⁠ °C - {{w|Extremes on Earth|Earth's hottest}}: The hottest temperature recorded on earth is actually {{W|List_of_weather_records#Heat|"only" 56.7 °C}}. There have been reports of temperatures ten-twenty degrees higher (70−80 ⁠°C) but these measurements are not verified or accepted as world records.
*45 °C, 40 °C⁠, 35⁠ °C: Various heat waves. {{w|Dubai}} is a city in the United Arab Emirates, and is smack-dab in the middle of an equatorial desert, so their heat waves can get ''hot!''. The southern United States will typically be a few degrees hotter than the northern United States simply because it's closer to the equator, but as mentioned they're both above "Beach Weather".
*30 °C: A little too hot so perfect for a trip to the beach.
*25 °C: Would as mentioned be too warm for room temperature...
*20 °C: Defined as room temperature in many experimental settings. For some this would feel a little cool.
*10 °C: Definitely wear a jacket. Especially if there is just a little breeze.
*0⁠ °C: The freezing point of water.
*−5 °C, −10 °C: In Moscow −10 °C is not really that cold - it can go "spit goes clink" cold in {{W|Moscow#Climate|Moscow}}, whereas −5 °C in {{W|Boston#Climate|Boston}} may be very cold.
*−20 °C - FuckFuckFuckCold, −30 °C - Fuuuuuuuuuuck!: This is implied to be basically what some people would say when they step outside at this temperature. In reality, it would be best to keep ones's mouth firmly closed. At −30 °C, without taking wind chill into account, exposed skin will feel painful in under a minute and frostbite could begin in as little as ten minutes [http://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=5FBF816A-1]. The differing statements seem to imply that at −20 °C, the user would be saying "fuck" repeatedly, whereas at −30 °C, the user is incapable of closing their mouth after starting the first "fuck", and so extends it into one long one.
*−40⁠ °C - Spit goes "clink": As shown in the drawing your spit would freeze ''before'' it hits the ground. This is the agreement point of the two temperature scales i.e. −40 °C = −40 °F.

See also [[1643: Degrees]] about not being able to choose between the two temperature scales and [[1923: Felsius]] about a compromise between the two scales. In the comic [[1982: Evangelism]], some people are stated to argue for the US to convert to the metric system, except for the Fahrenheit scale which they wish to keep.

===Length===
*1 cm - Width of microSD card, 3 cm - Length of SD card: Refers to the {{w|MicroSD card|memory cards}} used in cell phones, digital cameras, etc.
*12 cm: CD-ROM is a common object so nice to know it is a dozen centimeters.
*14 cm: Most males would probably exaggerate the size of their penis, but 14–15 cm is very average.
*15 cm: A Bic pen.
*80 cm: A typical doorway width is also of standard size. This is barely over the minimum size typically required by codes for buildings (30 inches or 76.2 cm in the US), but more than 50% over the size required for aircraft emergency exits. (It may seem illogical that larger doors are required in buildings than in airplanes, given airplanes are arguably more dangerous. However, there is no real disadvantage to using larger doors in buildings, which are not significantly pressurized, but using larger doors in aircraft would increase the force on the door caused by cabin pressure proportionally.)
*1 m - {{w|Lightsaber|Lightsaber blade}}: Refers to the weapon used in the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' movie franchise. Canonically, the length of a lightsaber's blade varies greatly depending on the setting of the weapon, but "one meter" is by no means a bad approximation.
*170 cm - {{w|Summer Glau}}: Refers to the height of the actress who portrays the character River Tam on the TV show {{w|Firefly (TV series)|Firefly}}.
*200 cm - {{w|Darth Vader}}: Refers to the height of the main antagonist from ''Star Wars''.
*2.5 m: A ceiling - of course very much depending on which type of building you are in!
*5 m: A car length - also very much depending on the car...
*16 m 4 cm - Human tower of Serenity crew: Again, this refers to the Firefly TV show, which takes place mostly on a space ship called Serenity.
**Presumably, if all the crew of Serenity were stacked on top of each other, this would be their combined height.
**The comic depicts four characters from the show standing on top of each other; the bottom figure is the crew's captain, {{w|Malcolm Reynolds}} in his signature coat. Judging from the other drawing of Summer Glau from the volume section, she is standing on top of the captain.
**The other five members of the crew should also be stacked on top of these four to reach the 16.04 m height - giving them an average height of 1.78 m (8 cm more than Summer Glau's height!)

===Speed===
:Here both the SI unit m/s as well as the more commonly used unit kph (km/h) is given. Note that the SI prefers "km/h" over the non-standard abbreviation "kph".
*5 kph - 1.5 m/s: Walking at a normal pace.
*13−25 kph - 3.5−7 m/s: Jogging to sprinting.
*35 kph - 10 m/s - Fastest human: As of 2009, the fastest a human has been recorded to run in a single sprint is actually 12.4 m/s or 44.7 km/h, a record set by {{w|Usain Bolt}}.
*45−55 kph - 13−15 m/s: Both cats and rabbits go much faster than normal people.
*75 kph - 20 m/s - Raptor: It's a comic written by [[Randall]]; of course a reference to the {{w|velociraptors}} from ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' was going to be here.
*100 kph - 25 m/s: A slow highway. (25 m/s actually exactly equals 90 km/h.)
*110 kph - 30 m/s - Interstate (65 mph): Refers to the {{w|Interstate|American highway system}}. (65 mph would actually be only 104.6 km/h.)
*120 kph - 35 m/s - Speed you actually go when it says "65": People routinely break the aforementioned speed limit, and the police typically don't mind as long as it's not posing any danger.
*140 kph - 40 m/s - Raptor on hoverboard: The {{w|hoverboard}} and its speed (~88 mph) is probably a reference to the ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II}}'', though hoverboards are a fairly common trope in older science fiction stories. Randall obviously did a lot of google searching on this subject the week before - see [[522: Google Trends]].

===Volume===
*3 mL: The amount of blood in a fieldmouse. A similar amount is used in comic [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport]].
*5 mL: A teaspoon - a very common measure.
*30 mL - Nasal passages, 40 mL - Shot glass: The comic points out that you could just about fill a shot glass using the mucus from your nose. Since shot glasses are usually used for mixed drinks, the comic jokes that this mucus could constitute a new, disgusting drink - and this is depicted in the drawing.
*350 mL: Soda can (this is roughly correct for the cans used in the U.S., which hold 12 fluid ounces or 355 mL; in Europe, soda cans commonly hold 330 mL or 500 mL).
*500 mL: Water bottle (this is also the volume of a European water bottle).
*3 L - Two-liter bottle: Refers to a bottle which contains 2 L (in the US usually soda). There is debate as to the reason for the discrepancy in volume. It may be a reference to stereotypical Americans consuming a lot of high-calorie foods and drinks. The simpler explanation would be that it is a joke. The two-liter bottle is named using its volume. Labeling it with a volume of three liters is the joke.
*5 L: An adult male has about 5 L of blood in his body (An ''adequate'' vacuuming system could drain this blood out in 10 s - as per the title text!)
*30 L - Milk crate: Refers to a {{w|Milk crate|type of small box}} originally used to transport milk but now often in demand to be used as bicycle basket, storage spaces, etc.
*55 L - Summer Glau: Again, this refers to the actress from Firefly.
*65 L - {{w|Dennis Kucinich}}: An American politician belonging to the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic party}}, noted for his relatively strong (for the US) leftist views.
*75 L - {{w|Ron Paul}}: An American politician belonging to the rival {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican party}}, noted for his strong libertarian views.
*200 L: Volume of a refrigerator.
**As shown in the drawing of this part of the comic, the three persons mentioned above - Glau, Kucinich and Paul (summing up to 195 L) - could in principle all fit inside a standard refrigerator. Cueball thus attempts to push them all inside of one - though human bodies are not likely to be sufficiently malleable for this to succeed.

===Mass===
*3 g - {{w|M&M's|Peanut M&M}}: A small chocolate candy with a peanut inside.
*100 g - Cell phone: The weight of a cell phone very much depends on the age, type etc.
*500 g: A bottle of water contains 500 mL according to the volume section and thus has a mass of 500 g.
*1−3 kg: Different types of laptops. The newest and the best is the lightest...
*5 kg - {{w|LCD monitor}}: A modern flat-screen-style monitor.
*15 kg - {{w|CRT monitor}}: An older-style, cathode ray tube-based monitor.
**This ends the section on computer screens, which overrode the normal sequence by weight as the next two feline inspired entries are lighter than the two before. This was presumably done so that the reader's eye will be confused or amused at seeing (in the comic's caseless captioning font) CRT immediately followed by CAT in the vertical text column.
*4 kg - Cat, 4.1 kg - Cat (with caption): Refers to the internet's love of putting {{w|Lolcat|captions on cats}}. Usually, this is done in a graphics program, but here the cat is actually physically carrying around his caption. The "with caption" part is most likely a reference to [[262: IN UR REALITY]], where [[Black Hat]] glues captions to cats, after running out of staples.
*60 kg - Lady: For instance if she is Summer Glau - could be her again depicted in the comic - the average weight of an adult woman.
*70 kg - Dude: Here depicted as Cueball who is the average guy, and 70 kg is average weight for an adult man.
*150 kg - Shaq: {{w|Shaq|Shaquille O'Neal}}, a famously tall basketball player.
*200 kg - Your mom,
*220 kg - Your mom (incl. cheap jewelry),
*223 kg - Your mom (also incl. makeup)
**The last three refer to a common type of {{w|Your mom}} joking insult whereby someone insults someone else's mother in a creative way. Here, the comic slyly calls your mom fat, then implies she wears way too much jewelry and finally also 3 kg of makeup. This is a common theme in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Your_Mom xkcd]. (20 kg of "cheap" jewelry has several times the volume than 20 kg of gold jewelry, because of the difference in density.)

===Title text===
The title text refers once again to Summer Glau's Firefly character, {{w|River Tam}}, who (after being subjected to a long series of medical experiments) is severely mentally ill and often comes out with macabre — though scientifically accurate — pronouncements. In Firefly episode "Safe" (season 1, episode 7), she says: "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems."

===Conversion table===
The idea of the comic is to establish new metric reference points and ''not'' to resort to unit conversions. Nevertheless, the following table lists all units from the comic with their US customary equivalents:

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Temp.
! colspan="2" | Length
! colspan="3" | Speed
! colspan="2" | Volume
! colspan="2" | Mass
|-
|60 °C||140 °F||1 cm||0.4 in||km/h||mph||m/s||3 mL||0.10 fl oz||3 g||0.11 oz
|-
|45 °C||113 °F||3 cm||1.2 in||5||3||1.5||5 mL||0.17 fl oz||100 g||3.5 oz
|-
|40 °C||104 F||12 cm||4.7 in||13||8||3.5||30 mL||1.0 fl oz||500 g||1.1 lb
|-
|35 °C||95 °F||14 cm||5.5 in||25||16||7||40 mL||1.4 fl oz||1 kg||2.2 lb
|-
|30 °C||86 °F||15 cm||5.9 in||35||22||10||350 mL||12 fl oz||2 kg||4.4 lb
|-
|25 °C||77 °F||80 cm||31 in||45||28||13||500 mL||17 fl oz||3 kg||6.6 lb
|-
|20 °C||68 °F||1 m||3 ft 3 in||55||34||15||3 L||0.8 gal||5 kg||11 lb
|-
|10 °C||50 °F||170 cm||5 ft 7 in||75||47||20||5 L||1.3 gal||15 kg||33 lb
|-
| 0 °C||32 °F||200 cm||6 ft 7 in||100||62||25||30 L||7.9 gal||4 kg||8.8 lb
|-
| -5 °C||23 °F||2.5 m||8 ft 2 in||110||68||30||55 L||15 gal||4.1 kg||9.0 lb
|-
| -10 °C||14 °F||5 m||16 ft||120||75||35||65 L||17 gal||60 kg||130 lb
|-
| -20 °C||-4 °F||16.04 m||52 ft 7 in||140||87||40||75 L||20 gal||70 kg||150 lb
|-
| -30 °C||-22 °F|| || || || || ||200 L||53 gal||150 kg||330 lb
|-
| -40 °C||-40 °F|| || || || || || || ||200 kg||440 lb
|-
| || || || || || || || || ||220 kg||485 lb
|-
| || || || || || || || || ||223 kg||492 lb
|}

==Transcript==
:'''Guide to Converting to Metric'''

:[There are five frames with tables for different units. Between the two upper frames is the following text:]
:The key to converting to metric is establishing
:new reference points. When you hear "26°C",
:instead of thinking "That's 79°F" you should think,
:"that's warmer than a house but cool for swimming."
:Here are some helpful tables of reference points:

:[The frame to the left of the above text:]
:Temperature:
:{| class="wikitable"
|60°C||Earth's hottest
|-
|45°C||Dubai heat wave
|-
|40°C||Southern US heat wave
|-
|35°C||Northern US heat wave
|-
|30°C||Beach weather
|-
|25°C||Warm room
|-
|20°C||Room temperature
|-
|10°C||Jacket weather
|-
|0°C||Snow!
|-
| -5°C||Cold day (Boston)
|-
| -10°C||Cold day (Moscow)
|-
| -20°C||Fuckfuckfuckcold
|-
| -30°C||Fuuuuuuuuuuck!
|-
| -40°C||Spit goes "clink"
|}
:[Next to the last three entries we see Cueball spitting on the ground. The spit bounces.]
:Cueball: Ptoo
:Spit: Clink!

:[The frame to the right of the above text:]
:Length
:{| class="wikitable"
|1 cm||Width of microSD card
|-
|3 cm||Length of SD card
|-
|12 cm||CD diameter
|-
|14 cm||Penis
|-
|15 cm||BIC pen
|-
|80 cm||Doorway width
|-
|1 m||Lightsaber blade
|-
|170 cm||Summer Glau
|-
|200 cm||Darth Vader
|-
|2.5 m||Ceiling
|-
|5 m||Car-length
|-
|16 m 4 cm||Human tower of Serenity crew
|}
:[To the right of the table is a human tower of four of the people from the Serenity crew. The head of the upper person is right below the first entry.]

:[The frame below to the left:]
:Speed
:{| class="wikitable"
|kph|| m/s||
|-
|5||1.5||Walking
|-
|13||3.5||Jogging
|-
|25||7||Sprinting
|-
|35||10||Fastest human
|-
|45||13||Housecat
|-
|55||15||Rabbit
|-
|75||20||Raptor
|-
|100||25||Slow highway
|-
|110||30||Interstate (65 mph)
|-
|120||35||Speed you actually go when it says “65”
|-
|140||40||Raptor on hoverboard
|}

:[The frame below in the middle:]
:Volume
:{| class="wikitable"
|3 mL||Blood in a fieldmouse
|-
|5 mL||Teaspoon
|-
|30 mL||Nasal passages
|-
|40 mL||Shot glass
|-
|350 mL||Soda can
|-
|500 mL||Water bottle
|-
|3 L||Two-liter bottle
|-
|5 L||Blood in a human male
|-
|30 L||Milk crate
|-
|55 L||Summer Glau
|-
|65 L||Dennis Kucinich
|-
|75 L||Ron Paul
|-
|200 L||Fridge
|}
:[Next to the entry on nasal passages and shoot glass (starting one entry higher and finishing one entry lower) are the following text:]
:So, when it's blocked
:the mucus in your
:nose could about
:fill a shot glass.
:[Below this text is a drawing of a mucus filled shot glass.]
:Related: I've
:invented the
:worst mixed
:drink ever.
:[Below this next to the four last entries we see Cueball shoving Summer Glau, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul into an open fridge. Above the fridge in a loosely drawn ellipse are the following text:]
:55+65+75<200

:[The frame below to the right:]
:Mass
:{| class="wikitable"
|3 g||Peanut M&M
|-
|100 g||Cell phone
|-
|500 g||Bottled water
|-
|1 kg||Ultraportable laptop
|-
|2 kg||Light-medium laptop
|-
|3 kg||Heavy laptop
|-
|5 kg||LCD monitor
|-
|15 kg||CRT monitor
|-
|4 kg||Cat
|-
|4.1 kg||Cat (with caption)
|-
|60 kg||Lady
|-
|70 kg||Dude
|-
|150 kg||Shaq
|-
|200 kg||Your mom
|-
|220 kg||Your mom (incl. cheap jewelry)
|-
|223 kg||Your mom (also incl. makeup)
|}
:[Next to the entries of cat and cat (with caption) are two drawings of cats. The second one has a caption across its chest.]
:Cat (with caption): Mrowl?
:[Below this and next to the lady and dude entries (and the Shaq entry) are drawings of Megan and Cueball.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Summer Glau]]

453: Upcoming Hurricanes

2018-10-12T21:29:15Z

172.69.62.226:

{{comic
| number = 453
| date = July 23, 2008
| title = Upcoming Hurricanes
| image = upcoming_hurricanes.png
| titletext = I'd like to see more damage assessments for hurricanes hitting New York and flooding Manhattan -- something like the 1938 Long Island Express, but aimed a bit more to the west. It's just a matter of time.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic gives ludicrous and ironic upcoming {{w|Tropical cyclone|hurricane}} paths on an unlabelled map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas Americas] that shows the region roughly between central {{w|Canada}} and northern {{w|Brazil}}. Blue and red dotted lines indicate the future hurricane paths.

===Hurricanes===
====Hurricane Where-The-Hell-Is-Bermuda====
Enters from the east side of the map, wanders around the {{w|Atlantic Ocean}} in a scribble that seems to take the shape of an {{w|Ampersand}}. Then it goes north for a while, and then peters out without entering the {{w|Bermuda Triangle}}. The Bermuda Triangle is a location in the Atlantic Ocean loosely framed by the three corners {{w|Bermuda}}, {{w|Miami}} and {{w|Puerto Rico}}. The myth is that (too) many ships and planes get lost once they enter inside the area of this triangle and disappear without a trace. In this case the hurricane gets lost before entering and can't even find the triangle.

====Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy====
Comes from somewhere to the north-west, goes through {{w|Illinois}}, and then back to the north-west. Illinois is located far from the ocean, and thus suffers few hurricanes - this particular one is extremely unlikely, and according to the name, exists purely so that Illinois will have a hurricane to deal with. Interestingly enough, (though it did not affect the Chicago area or correspond with the path displayed in the comic), roughly one year later a {{w|Derecho|Super derecho}}, a storm resembling a hurricane or tropical storm in movement and form, {{w|May 2009 Southern Midwest derecho|struck}} central and South Illinois, in addition to much of {{w|Missouri}} and {{w|Kansas}}.

====Hurricane Freud====
Refers to {{w|Sigmund Freud}}, who believed that accidental sexual expression was a reflection of the unconscious mind's sexual desires. The hurricane's path forms a pair of testicles beside Florida. Florida, due to its shape and location, can be said to resemble a penis, and the hurricane's shape and position exemplify Freud's ideas.

====Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again====
Comes from the east, starts to curve to the north, and then turns sharply to head straight for Florida and zigzag through it four times before dying out. Sticking out from the rest of the US, Florida is prone to hurricanes from the East, South, and West. And with the state not being very high or wide, it is common for a hurricane to run over Florida, lose some strength, then rebuild strength over the hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico, only to do a U-turn and strike again. This is not exactly what happens with this particular hurricane, where it turns out into the Atlantic Ocean again each time, suggesting a malicious intent.

====Hurricane Red and Hurricane Blue====
Blue is the only hurricane path drawn in blue. The two hurricanes are playing a game zipping in straight lines and right angles around {{w|Haiti}}, {{w|Jamaica}}, and {{w|Cuba}}. When ''Red'' successfully cuts off ''Blue'', the latter instantly dies, and then ''Red'' dies shortly thereafter. The game they play is the game of {{w|Tron_(video_game)#Light_Cycles|Light Cycles}} from the {{w|Tron_(video_game)|video game}} based on the movie ''{{w|Tron}}''. ''Hurricane Blue'' lost because it crashed into the wall of light left by ''Hurricane Red's'' {{w|Light_Cycle#Light_cycles|light cycle}}.

====Hurricane Cos(x)====
Forms a curve in the shape of a {{w|sinusoid}} above the bottom edge of the map. Its path resembles a {{w|sine}} wave. This kind of {{w|trigonometric functions}} can, however, both be expressed as sin(x) or cos(x), the latter being a {{w|cosine wave}}. They look exactly the same when there is no clearly defined coordinate system as in this case.

===Title Text===
The title text refers to the {{w|1938 New England hurricane}} (also known as the Long Island Express), that caused $4.7 billion in damage. Had it been further west it could have caused more damage as the right side of a hurricane is stronger and more destructive than the left side as the winds on the right side push water inland. [[Randall]] asks for more damage assessments for such a hurricane that would be able to flood {{w|Manhattan}} in {{w|New York}}. Only four years after this cartoon was published, making it almost prophetic, {{w|Hurricane Sandy}} did strike the {{w|New York metropolitan area|New York–New Jersey area}} as a {{w|post-tropical cyclone}} storm. Hurricane Sandy caused an estimated $74 billion in damage.

The 1938 hurricane is also [[980:_Money/Transcript#Disasters|referenced]] in [[980: Money]] where it is calculated that it would have caused $78 billion had it happened in 2011. However, if that hurricane had taken the same turn as Sandy did, the cost today could have been a staggering $237 billion.

==Transcript==
:[An unlabelled map shows the region roughly between central Canada and northern Brazil. Dotted lines indicating hurricane paths cover the map, all red except Hurricane Blue which is blue. Each line is labelled - here follows the labels as they appear from the top and down:]
:Hurricane Where-the-Hell-Is-Bermuda
:Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy
:Hurricane Freud
:Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again
:Hurricane Red
:Hurricane Blue
:Hurricane cos(x)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Penis]]

Talk:2032: Word Puzzles

2018-10-11T00:13:41Z

172.69.62.226:

;Is it a real word puzzle?
Who wants to labouriously check if he's double-bluffed and used an actual word puzzle for this comic? :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.181|162.158.154.181]] 17:45, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

"Jeopardy" is misspelled in the description. Can someone who is logged in please fix?
Many of the "clue" words can also be rearranged, anagram-wise, to form new words, e.g., parts ≈ strap. {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.243}}

Most words have 2, 3, 4 or 5 characters. I do not believe, it is a simple crossword puzzle, otherwise he would not fool people. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.4|172.68.110.4]] 18:17, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

;Some thoughts:
*Cueball is messing with Megan and not presenting an answer what the "reminiscent of Jeopardy answers" would imply.
*{{w|Lance Ito}} is a judge well known for the O. J. Simpson murder case.
*{{w|Brian Eno}} is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, writer, and visual artist. Read the Wiki article to learn more.
*No idea what "Ohio's AirAsia Arena" could imply.
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:37, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
::Almost all the words in the alt-text / title-text are open to multiple pronunciations from a phonetic standpoint. Often they're placed next to a word containing the same sound with a different spelling, or the same spelling with a different sound.
::Once again Randall is creeping me out with this, as yesterday I complained about the spelling of "tear" with a comment including this line:
::tire tier tear tear tare tar ... teer?
::Randall so often does comics that feel intimately in touch with what I'm doing or saying the day before that it's almost spooky. If I weren't an outlier in so ''many'' scatter plots I might almost begin to feel "ordinary".
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:35, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

;Moved from the explanation (discussion goes here)
The kind of puzzle that Megan thinks she is solving is called a "Cryptic", which has markedly different rules than ordinary crosswords. If Cueball's statement had been "Part of this aria is an Indian garment" the answer would have been "sari", because a part of the phrase "this aria" is the sequence "sari", which in turn is an Indian garment. Cueball's actual statement contains quite a few familiar cryptic puzzle triggers. The word "composed" can be a hint of a preceding or following anagram, in this case of "this aria" or of "by Brian" or of even longer adjacent strings. Although "opera star" could be a famous singer, say "Caruso", it might also be the name of an opera followed by the name of an astronomical star. "Au pair" could be any of its ordinary meanings, say "nanny", but might also be "earrings" (because AU is the chemical symbol for gold, and a gold pair could be earrings). The word "start" is often a hint to take just the beginning of a word, so "the start" would be "t", or "start of his" would be "h" or "hi". The New York Times runs a cryptic crossword as its "second Sunday puzzle" every other month or so, and there are other regular cryptic crossword venues. In case you are interested, there are various guides on the web for solving cryptics, such as this one at The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/puzzclue.htm. (-- John?)
:I am sure there are many more sources for cryptic crosswords. It is my understanding that it is the common mode of crossword puzzles in Britain. Surely some British papers run them routinely. [[User:Momerath|Momerath]] ([[User talk:Momerath|talk]]) 04:06, 15 August 2018 (UTC)
:This sounds like the most correct explanation to me so far, much moreso than the strictly crossword-based interpretation. I think this ''should'' be in the explanation.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:44, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
: Why was this moved from the explanation? This is a far better explanation then what remains there. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.172|162.158.38.172]] 07:52, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::I've moved this because it's written like a comment (including the sign). And I think at first we should focus on the ''My Hobby'' thing, Cueball is messing with someone. If you're also ''sure'', like Megan is, that there is a puzzle to solve then Cueball is probably messing you too. Nevertheless all mentioned items and persons have to be explained. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:16, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:::I think it's a given that Cueball is messing with Megan, and that the focus should be '''why''' Megan thinks this is a word puzzle. The current explanation says the "text contain[s] many words that appear frequently in crossword puzzle answers", which seems an unlikely explanation to me. Surely the trigger shoud be many words and constructions that appear frequently in word puzzle clues (not answers), and I think John gave a good explanation of why this shounds like a word puzzle clue. [[User:Sandor|Sandor]] ([[User talk:Sandor|talk]]) 17:17, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::: I agree with Sandor. This should be put into the explanation.[[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] ([[User talk:Justhalf|talk]]) 20:34, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:: I agree that the explanation as a cryptic puzzle makes much more sense than an explanation that the sentence uses words common in crosswords. Where's the puzzle in saying ''solutions'' to crossword puzzle questions? In general, it also seems a little arrogant to remove someone else's explanation unless it's obviously wrong. If you disagree, just change it to say it's a "possible interpretation". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.36|172.68.47.36]] 17:46, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:: I put it back in the explanation, with only minor tweaks. It's too good to leave just in the comments. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:37, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:::Few remarks:
:::*I didn't remove anything, I just moved something to this discussion to be discussed here because "it's written like a comment".
:::*This comic is on the first place a typical [[:Category: My Hobby]] comic. Fooling others is a long term hobby by Randall.
:::*The puzzle (also that from the title text) has no solution.
:::*The title of this comic is "Word Puzzles". Cryptic puzzles as given in the link are much more complex and different to that how Cueball talks.
:::And guesses like "If Cueball's statement had been" or "could be a famous singer" don't explain that much. If this is really a cryptic puzzle I would like to get the path how to solve it and what's the possible solution. I doubt there is any.
:::Nevertheless everyone is welcome to add more interpretations, but please don't write it like a comment. Think about the readers.
:::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:22, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::::I liked the explanation as it was, because it was explaining how Megan, and other puzzle solving people, would likely be trying to solve Cueball's fake puzzle, giving examples of the kinds of things they would be looking for. You see Megan fixating on words like "start" and "parts", as if she's treating it like a Cryptic puzzle. Yes, signing it like in the comments isn't right, but the rest of it felt just fine for the explanation section, but best located after the more direct explanations. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 18:56, 16 August 2018 (UTC)

Although Randall says he is messing with us, the fact that he is so much cleverer than any of the rest of us means that Cueball's statement might even be a legitimate cryptic clue. --John [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 18:40, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

If anyone has an account on https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/, that community might be able to figure out if it's a legit puzzle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.64|162.158.142.64]] 20:59, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
:I just asked at puzzling.stackexchange: https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/69502/is-this-a-puzzle-if-so-what-is-the-solution. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.209|141.101.96.209]] 02:03, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::One answer supports my statement above: "I see no reason to believe this is a puzzle: it's simply a bunch of words that commonly appear in crosswords." Just sayin. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:16, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Two words: [[Nerd Sniping]] [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:21, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

:"opera star" = "au pair a[t the] star[t]"? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.230|162.158.88.230]] 07:43, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

When I first read this sentence, I thought he just wanted to be needlessly verbose for a simple joke, like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE5KkmDAcDs here]. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 08:16, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

In the explanation, I think there's a misunderstanding of "post-live". Death is "post-life", while "post-live" is the period after an artist stops performing live (in rock conerts, on stage, etc.). The artist may still be alive, and even produce studio albums. So, according to the comic, Brian Eno has stopped performing on-stage, but has still continued to create music (e.g. compose an aria). - Assaf {{unsigned ip|141.101.107.30}}
: My thoughts exactly - post-live does not mean after death! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:44, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks for mentioning this. The phrase is still incorrect so I'll do an update. BTW: Is the concert on this album {{w|June 1, 1974}} the last or maybe even the only live performance Eno has done? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

I arranged all the important words in the main text on a Scrabble board. The total score of all the letters is 69. The total from my arrangement is 116. {{unsigned|Misterblue28}}

Reminiscent of the alliterations in BoJack Horseman.
:"Are you still looking for a star for your Transgender Teddy Roosevelt Planes Trains and Automobiles reboot, Plans, Trans, A Canal, Panama?"

:"You know the actress Courtney Portnoy? She portrayed the formerly portly consort in the seaport resort. Courtly roles like the formerly portly consort are Courtney Portnoy's forte. This was supposed to be Courtney's crossover coronation. But that's sorta been thwarted unfortunately 'cause Courtney's purportedly falling short of shoring up fourth quadrant support."

:"But Courtney, more importantly, audiences are going to adore your tour de force performance as the forceful denim-clad court reporter in "The Court Reporter Sported Jorts", the jet-setting jort-sporting court reporter story."

:[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.154|162.158.63.154]] Steve

Would it make more sense to interpret "Brian Eno's opera star au pair" as "Brian Eno's au pair, who is an opera star" rather than "an au pair to an opera star which belonged to Eno"? It seems to make more sense, and there isn't anything that I can see that necessarily divides "opera star" and "au pair" into two separate clauses (such as "opera star's au pair").[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.25|162.158.187.25]] 16:44, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:Sounds reasonable. I'm not native English but I thought the more complex variant would fit into this comic. Maybe I'm wrong and I don't mind when you or someone else is changing it. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:59, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::I've done the proper change. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:17, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
-
[[559: No Pun Intended]] is related: there too Cueball talks about a hobby where he tries to fool people to think there's some hidden layer under his words. This usually works out better for him than the opposite, [[153: Cryptography]] or [[410: Math Paper]], when tries to fool people that he's giving a serious presentation but it's all just a joke. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.154|162.158.92.154]] 08:41, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

Isn't there a page that lists all the comics in the "My Hobby" series? If so, we should add it in a Trivia section and make sure to update it with this comic. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:18, 15 August 2018 (UTC)
: Ok, I see the link to that page was shared in an earlier discussion post, and this comic was added to that page. Now we just need to consider whether or not a link should be added somehow in the explanation, similar to the link in 1995: MC Hammer [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:28, 15 August 2018 (UTC)
:: Dangit anyway, I'm starting to feel like a Cueball! I now see the page IS linked at the top, but it's not obvious it's to the My Hobby series page - I thought it linked to some webpage on the word "hobby" instead. I'll rework it slightly to be clearer. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:36, 15 August 2018 (UTC)
:::You're talking about the category "My Hobby" which is always shown at the bottom of the comic page. Your rework is clearer - I just thought the simple word "hobby" for that link would be enough. Nevertheless the "My Hobby" category is not only about word puzzles, so I changed your edit slightly. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:59, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

I saw this comment on the Guardian's cryptic crossword blog[https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2018/aug/06/crossword-roundup-donald-trump-in-nine-squares#comment-119413228], which makes the point that it contains both the short vowel-heavy words American crosswords are notorious for using ("aria", "Eno", "opera", "era", arguably "au pair") and the common cryptic indicators ("parts of", "composed", "at the start"). In addition I see some semordnilaps ("parts", "Eno", "star", "live era", arguably "opera"[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sator_Square]) and other anagrammable words ("this"="hits"="shit"="Sith", "Brian"="brain"="bairn"="Rabin", "post"="pots"="opts"="stop"="spot"="tops"). Also "star"+"p"="parts", "star"+"t"="start", "op"+"era"="opera", and "opera" in Spanish sounds like "au pair, ah" at least according to this[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W3Zwi9Otac] pronunciation video. There are many potential wild goose chases here.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.90|172.68.65.90]] 12:59, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

:Also ARIA occurs backwards in "au pAIR At the start" and the alt-text's "AIRAsian arena." Not sure if it's necessarily a cryptic, since it could just be wordplay without a definition.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.226|172.69.62.226]] 00:13, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1759: British Map

2018-10-08T00:59:11Z

172.69.62.226: Added comment on parsley

Might be a bit of a stretch, but Cardigan could also be a reference to Ceredigion, the Welsh county. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.10.34|172.68.10.34]] 16:14, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
:Ceredigion and Cardigan are the same word - Cardigan is just the Anglicised spelling. That's why it was formerly called Cardiganshire. The town is still called Cardigan, which is mentioned in the table. [[User:Schroduck|Schroduck]] ([[User talk:Schroduck|talk]]) 08:34, 16 November 2016 (UTC)
Minas Tirith could be a reference to the gorges in North Somerset. It's slap-bang on Cheddar Gorge and Clifton Village (cliff-town) in Bristol is built on the side of the Avon Gorge. [[User:Camarones|Camarones]] ([[User talk:Camarones|talk]]) 12:54, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

The actual location for Braintree should be Essex not North Yorkshire.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.171|141.101.98.171]] 15:22, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
:When I first saw that, I was wondering how likely a [http://images.neopets.com/halloween/braintree.gif Neopets] reference was. Seeing that it's a real thing, and the creators of Neopets are from the UK, things make a lot more sense now. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 14:43, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Could Highland be a reference to Highlander? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.84|173.245.52.84]] 15:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

OK, I know you removed the </nowiki> that ruined the italics there, [[User:Davidy22|Davidy]]. Don't lie to me, you troll. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 19:04, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
:Whoops, was removing autogenerated nowiki text from another user, missed the first tag. Also, that edit was completely unnecessary. 21:29, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
::No it wasn't, see that "Please sign your comments" below? Leaving the <nowiki><nowiki></nowiki> made the italics become quotemarks, and if there hadn't been a </nowiki> at the end of it, it would ruin the rest too. But thanks for apologizing, just try to be more careful. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 20:08, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could be referring to Wick , at the top of Scotland ''Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''

''Waterdown: Near [the actual] Grimsby'' Interestingly enough, in southern Ontario, Canada, there's a Waterdown not far from a Grimsby. Waterdown is considered part of Hamilton, and is towards its northwestern edge, while Grimsby is to Hamilton's east. --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:01, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

The protractor off the West coast of Scotland is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.215|141.101.98.215]] 17:44, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could also be Oldmeldrum.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.229|162.158.234.229]] 19:06, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Why aren't the coordinates part of the first table? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:05, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Is Waterdown perhaps another Watership Down reference? [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:38, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Pity there's no [[wikipedia:Towcester|Towcester]] :) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.251|141.101.98.251]] 20:47, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

"Lakebottom" is equated with Lake Windermere (probably correct, largest lake in the Lake District) and the table states that many waterspeed records were set there. Arguably it is Coniston Water (same area, third largest "Lake" in the region) that is more (in) famous for speed records... Not that Randall references speed at all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.159|141.101.98.159]] 21:31, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

I agree with this, Windermere was home to only one (successful) water speed record attempt. Coniston is more popular for them as it doesn't have as many islands, so you can get a longer run in. Also, whichever one it is, it is drawn roughly east-west, whereas both Coniston and Windermere run north-south.

For me, the lake with the two boats is an obvious reference to the children's book 'Swallows and Amazons'. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallows_and_Amazons#Places_in_Swallows_and_Amazons See wikipedia] -- so these are neither speedboats nor yachts but rather sailing dinghies. There is however a discrepancy: they had a gaff rig, but it looks like Randall gave them a Bermuda rig.

Helcaraxë and Blick seem to share a single dot. Maybe Randall forgot to put a dot there, or there's some other reason? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 22:58, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
:Helcaraxë and Highlands are areas, not towns, so don't get dots. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.32|198.41.239.32]] 07:18, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

since Randal Munroe wrote the comic, and he is an american, the map WAS labeled by an american[[User:Jessep13|Jessep13]] ([[User talk:Jessep13|talk]]) 00:08, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

‘Seasedge’ and ‘Eyemouth’ look like they should be Seahouses and Lynemouth. So far as I can tell, Seasedge is marked as a little north of Seahouses, roughly west of Lindisfarne (which suggests Haggerston; regardless, north Northumberland coast), and Eyemouth is marked approximately where Ashington should be; ‘Hairskull’ appears to be where Durham should be. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.160|141.101.98.160]] 02:33, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

"BBC Channel 4" might also be a reference to Torchwood and other BBC Shows that were filmed in Wales (though did not necessarily air on Channel 4) [[User:Bpendragon|Bpendragon]] ([[User talk:Bpendragon|talk]]) 03:04, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

In fact, "Channel 4" is a channel not related to the BBC, so the reference to "BBC Channel 4" would be a mash-up between "Channel 4" and "BBC4" [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 07:30, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

"Wessex", although "obsolete" as a place name, is still in common use as a descriptive term. For example, there is both a Wessex Police Force and a Wessex Water supply company. [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 08:30, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

I know the "Fhqwhgads" reference from the Ikea-ripoff video game Home Improvisation - always thought it was a pun in that game on Ikea's Swedish product names. Is the Homestar Runner reference older? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.162|141.101.98.162]] 09:05, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
:I always thought it originated in Homestar Runner as a randomly typed name of an email sender. It's from Strong Bad Email #9 dated January 14, 2002, far predating Home Improvisation from 2015. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.243|108.162.221.243]] 14:35, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

"Aidenn" is an alternate form of "Eden." It's best known for Poe's using it in "The Raven." If the actual location is Merseyside, it could be a wordplay suggesting divine mercy. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:25, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

The “hey then” explanation for “Aidenn” is so tortured as to be implausible. It should be changed per the above comment. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.81|172.68.55.81]] 13:19, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

The text [[http://cogink.com/cleese/]] that is referenced for "The Shire" and attributed to John Cleese is actually a hoax, see http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/revocation.asp [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.181|141.101.98.181]] 10:19, 16 November 2016 (UTC)
:And the reference in this piece to the incorrectness of "Devonshire" is completely wrong. Although the official name of the county is now "Devon", the form "Devonshire" has a pedigree going back over 1000 years and is still used in formations such as the Duke of Devonshire, HMS Devonshire, the Devonshire Regiment etc. The same goes for Dorset/Dorsetshire. [[User:Mikej|Mikej]] ([[User talk:Mikej|talk]]) 13:09, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

"Tarp" probably refers to the meme "It's a tarp!": http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=It%27s%20a%20tarp. [[User:Yodah|Yodah]] ([[User talk:Yodah|talk]]) 11:57, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

;Riffing on Boston?

The title text may be derivitive of an old joke around Randall's home town, where Boston has neighborhoods with geographically illogical names: The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury. Due north of the center we find the South End.
This is not to be confused with South Boston, which lies directly east from the South End.
North of the South End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End. BackBay was filled in years ago

Also, from the counties surrounding Boston: Norfolk is mostly south of Suffolk, except for a small gerrymandered piece that is in the middle between Suffolk and Middlesex.

;Bottoms
"Bottoms" are not confined to Northern England. We have many bottoms here in Kent, which is not Northern. (See Lock's Bottom and Pratt's Bottom.) Also, "bottom" may refer to somewhere that is lower than somewhere else, but not necessarily in a valley as such. Also also, snurk. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.143|141.101.98.143]] 12:45, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

: "Bottoms" is not confined to Europe either, so don't feel special - we land-dwellers in North America use it too, usually to mean 'Low-lying alluvial land adjacent to a river' as defined in the dictionary! In more general terms, this would refer to land subject to frequent flooding, commonly called a floodplain. If you have a bottoms that never floods, you really should consider renaming it. --[[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:15, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

*And "-folk" is not common in place names. It exists in Suffolk and Norfolk but two (among thousands) can't be called common. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.143|141.101.98.143]] 12:53, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Crewneck could also refer to actual crewneck sweaters, popularised by The Beatles in the 60's. The Beatles came from Liverpool... {{unsigned ip|108.162.246.41}}

Blighton would be pronounced the same as the surname of Enid Blyton (1897-1968), a famous author of childrens' books known for their resolute white middle class-ness. But she is associated with southern England; she lived in Beaconsfield, west of London. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.82|172.68.55.82]] 16:22, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

While I found this comic funny, what I found most humorous was the reactions to it. Facts: Randall drew a map of Britain, he said it was labeled by an American, and it included both real and made-up place names. Unfortunately, it seems that those commenting here and generating this article interpreted it as an American-bashing opportunity. I interpreted it as this: to the average American, Britain has a LOT of funny names for places and struggles with using appropriate directional prefixes. It's extremely funny how so many of you chose to see it in the least funny way possible, likely because you can only see it through your own eyes! --[[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 05:14, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Why does it list "North Sea" as "no joke" when on the map it's written "Norther Sea"? There must be some explanation for writing it this way. Is it actually pronounced that way in England or something? It's sometimes called "Northern Sea" (or am I thinking of the one near Alaska? Maybe that's the joke?). Bu never "Norther Sea". Unless it's meant to sound like "Northersea", like "Battersea"? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.34|172.68.54.34]] 02:53, 18 January 2018 (UTC)
: It doesn't - it lists "''North'' Sea" as "no joke"; "''Norther'' Sea" says "pun on North Sea".[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 09:00, 18 January 2018 (UTC)

In what world is "paisley," a real place, a pun on "parsley?" Did someone just go through the list and think "hmm, these sound kinda like this word/phrase," regardless of all reason? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.226|172.69.62.226]] 00:59, 8 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2054: Data Pipeline

2018-10-04T11:42:25Z

172.69.62.226:

tried my hand at transcipts again, hope i did ok. [[User:Nintendo Mc|Nintendo Mc]] ([[User talk:Nintendo Mc|talk]]) 15:32, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

Oddly prescient, as always. I've just finished writing a fully automated data pipeline that ingests multiple data sources (both manual and automated input), has API support, a frontend, and email dispatch capabilities entirely in Google Sheets. It was about 3x faster to code than doing it right. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 16:48, 3 October 2018 (UTC)
: That's so awesome ! Would you come back and let us know if it ever collapses because one of the data sources changes slightly? (or alternatively, that it _doesn't_ collapse and cueball needs to get his shit together?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.130|162.158.78.130]] 01:22, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Just added a line about how this is a logical continuation of the Code Quality series - given it's the same two people, this should be uncontroversial. Is it worth adding a new category for "Code Quality" to group these (and likely subsequent comics) together? [[User:Grimreaperwithalawnmower|Grimreaperwithalawnmower]] ([[User talk:Grimreaperwithalawnmower|talk]]) 17:20, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

What could we still add to the transcript? I don't think it really needs any more transcripting so maybe we should remove the marker. [[User:Kwonunn|Kwonunn]] ([[User talk:Kwonunn|talk]]) 18:50, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

No comment about the "roll over" text (excuse me if I have the name wrong). I think this is a comment about the shear computing power, battery life and superior connectivity of modern mobile phones compared to laptops. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 19:05, 3 October 2018 (UTC)
: IIRC, it's generally called "hover text." -(Who was this?)
:: pretty sure it's actually "title text" [[User:Halo422|Halo422]] ([[User talk:Halo422|talk]]) 01:09, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
::: It ''is'' actually "title text", though Randall calls it "alt-text" & contrary to W3C recommendations, he seems to use the same text for both. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 05:13, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Re: superior connectivity of mobile phones, see https://xkcd.com/1865/
: This is exactly why I assert that anything hosted from a laptop should at least be considered for hosting from a mobile device instead. It's annoying to me that so many developers still consider a mobile device which has more connected uptime than a laptop to be unsuitable for hosting, say, a text-based game server. It's got a faster connection & more idle processing power than the PCs that used to run some of those game servers; I think my tablet could handle running a BBS Door game, for example. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 05:14, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2051: Bad Opinions

2018-09-26T15:01:49Z

172.69.62.226: comment

just did my first transcript, hope its good :) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.226|172.69.62.226]] 15:01, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2048: Curve-Fitting

2018-09-19T17:46:49Z

172.69.62.226: Question about the alt text

> House of Cards: Not a real method, but a common consequence of mis-application of statistical methods: a curve can be generated that fits the data extremely well, but immediately becomes absurd as soon as one glances outside the training data sample range, and your analysis comes crashing down "like a house of cards". This is a type of _overfitting_

I'm pretty sure it refers to the TV show house of cards, the dots representing the quality of the series increasing until Netflix renewed it a bit too much

I'm a little mystified by the alt-text. Cauchy and Lorentz both seem like mathematically capable people. What am I missing? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.226|172.69.62.226]] 17:46, 19 September 2018 (UTC)