explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1017: Backward in Time

2024-09-19T22:30:06Z

172.70.160.137: /* Explanation */ Table reformatting (with ease of future editing in mind.

{{comic
| number = 1017
| date = February 15, 2012
| title = Backward in Time
| image = backward_in_time.png
| titletext = People tell me I have too much time on my hands, but really the problem is that there's too much time, PERIOD.
}}

Clicking the image at xkcd.com links to [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Ak43bGxHGI1adDMtOHVWVXZrYzhKd2VtbFJJMmJPTEE&single=true&gid=1&output=html this spreadsheet], which [[Randall]] used to calculate the times and dates for the comic. It also has a lot of other percentages and dates, so take a look if you are interested.

==Explanation==

[[Cueball]]/[[Randall]] creates this formula which helps him wait for long stretches of time which goes increasingly faster into the past as more time goes by, which gives him the effect of looking like the time goes by quickly. Which assists in the waiting process.

As far as the actual math is concerned, the formula is an {{w|exponential function}} (i.e. the variable appears in the exponent). The effect that the function grows faster and faster as p grows, is due to T(p) being exponential. More precisely, when you repeatedly add some constant to the exponent, you will repeatedly multiply some (other) constant with the value of the function. Compare how "slow" a value grows by adding even high values (1, 1001, 2001, 3001, 4001, 5001…) and how fast it grows by multiplying even low values (1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000…)

Now, the function has to be adjusted so that, as Randall put it, "the time spent in each part of the past is loosely proportional to how well I know it." The most important adjustment is putting p to the power of three. That lowers the amount added to the exponent for low values (0.1³=0.001, 0.2³=0.008, i.e. only 7/1000 have been added for 10% workflow) and increases the amount for high values (0.8³=0.512, 0.9³=0.729, i.e. more than 1/5 has been added for 10% workflow). That means the recent past will pass even slower and the historic past even faster than it already does by choosing an exponential function.
The remaining adjustments are technical. The coefficient in front of p³ adjusts the constant by which the result will be multiplied while adding some constant to p, while it also roughly ensures that p=1 yields the lifetime of the universe. The 3 added to the product in the exponent further adjusts the actual values of the power without touching the slope (the multiplicative constant). In the parentheses, e³ is subtracted to put the time to 0 when p=0. Otherwise the function would start approx. 20 yrs and 1 month ago. For bigger p, this offset does not matter much. Imagine subtracting 20 yrs from the lifetime of the universe!

Finally, the result is subtracted from the current date for aesthetical reasons. The formula could tell you "20 years ago", or it could read "February 1992". Randall decided the latter would be better.

There is actually a mathematical error in this comic; the inverse function in grey writing off at the bottom right of the main formula involves a square root, when the actual inverse of Randall's main function would involve a cube root. In addition, this function does not contain the current date, meaning that T, in the inverse, refers to how long ago a point in time was, rather than the point in time itself. When the T in the inverse is 20, it means that the date referenced by T is 20 years ago.

The punchline "Swoosh!" is about how fast the last few percents of Cueball's download happen in "such a rush". For most humans waiting for a download to complete tends to become really boring and progress would instead seem to get slower and slower.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Percent !! Historic time (As of publication)
! "Around This Time" text !! Expanded description of events
|-
| 0% || Now (Feburary 15 2012)
| ''Not given in comic'' || It is {{w|Singles Awareness Day}}.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 7.308% || rowspan="2" |December 18, 2011
| Kim Jong-il Dies. || ...
|-
| US Leaves Iraq. || Early 2003, the majority of Americans supported the {{w|2003 invasion of Iraq|Iraq Invasion}}. However, a little more than a year later the majority of Americans thought that the invasion was a mistake. Representative {{w|John Murtha}} introduced a resolution in 2005 for U.S. soldiers in Iraq to be "redeployed at the earliest practicable date" and the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republicans}} called for "the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately", however this was immmeditly shot down. A year later, another bill was shot down preposing a deadline for recalling soldiers. The House Majority Leader, {{w|John Boehner}}, argued that "achieving victory is our only option". A bill finally passed congress in 2007 that called for the removal of troops within the end of the year, however it was vetoed by {{w|George W. Bush|President Bush}}. In 2008 both the American and Iraqi governments signed the {{w|U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement}}. It stated that, by June 30th of the following year, American forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities and would be completely gone by 2012. On December 18, 2011, the very last 500 solders left Iraq.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 10% || rowspan="2" | September, 2011
| rowspan="2" | ''Not given in comic'' || This would be around the date of the tenth aniversary of the {{w|9/11 Attacks}}.
|-
| Randall also got married around this time.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 20% || rowspan="2" | 2008
| rowspan="2" | ''Not given in comic'' || The {{w|Marvel Cinematic Universe|Marvel}} movie {{w|Iron Man}} is released.
|-
| {{w|Barack Obama}} wins the election and becomes the 44th President of the United States.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 30% || rowspan="2" | 1997
| rowspan="2" | ''Not given in comic'' || {{w|O.J. Simpson}} was found liable for the deaths of {{W|Nicole Brown}} and {{w|Ronald Goldman}}. OJ owed the two families $35.5 million.
|-
| Princess Diana died.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 31.12% || rowspan="2" | February 1995
| Windows 95 Debuts || ...
|-
| OJ Found Not Guilty || The {{w|Murder trial of O. J. Simpson|OJ Simson trial}} was a famous trial where OJ was tried for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. DNA evidence almost proved his guilt, however the defense pointed out the evidence wasn't collected correctly and could have been cross contaminated. Because of this, the jury found OJ not guilty of the double murder.
|-
| rowspan="3" | 40% || rowspan="3" | 1958
| rowspan="3" | ''Not given in comic'' || The European Common Market is created.
|-
| Khruschev gains control of the USSR.
|-
| The first American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.
|-
| rowspan="3" | 47.91% || rowspan="3" | 1844
| Rubber Vulcanized, || {{w|Vulcanization}} is when one heats and adds sulphur to rubber, usually {{w|Polyisoprene|polyisoprene}} (natural rubber) or {{w|Styrene-butadiene|SBR rubber}}. This helps its elasticity and improves its strength. Charles Goodyear was the inventor of vulcanization. In the early, 1800s tires quickly turned soft and sticky after they got hot (something that happens when you drive on them for miles at a time in warm weather). Charles Goodyear heated up the rubber to add various chemicals to the tires and, to his amazment, the process worked!! The strength of tire was thus improved. The only problem was that the improvement wasn't because of the chemicals but because of the heating. He would eventally learn this after dropping the rubber in a frying pan, watching the rubber not melt (as one would expect), but harden. Soon after, in 1844, he patented the process.
|-
| Bicycle Invented, || ...
|-
| Wrench Patented || ...
|-
| 50% || 1776
| ''Not given in comic'' || On July 4th, the American colonies {{w|Lee Resolution|declared independence}} from Great Britain. This event started a {{w|American Revolutionary War|seven year war}}, in which the colonies won their indepence. This heralds the start of The United States of America.
|-
| 60% || 405 AD
| ''Not given in comic'' || The {{w|War of Radagaisus}} started. Radagaisus lead a group of about 100,000 men across the Alps into Rome. The three remaining {{w|Sibylline Books}} were burned. The Sibylline books were a series of nine prophesy books written by an old woman (it has never been found out who, but most likely a {{w|Cumaean Sibyl}}. It is said that they were offered to the last Emperor of Rome, {{w|Lucius Tarquinius Superbus}}, who refused to buy them twice, which resulted in three books getting burned for each denial. She then offered them back to the emperor for the same price and, at last, the Emperor bought them. The Roman Senate took control of the books and was extremely protective of them. The books were initially put under the care of two guardians, increasing to ten, then to fifteen. However, after eight centuries, a Roman General called {{w|Stilicho}} ordered them to be burned as they were being used to attack the government.
|-
| 70% || 22,000 Years Ago
| ''Not given in comic'' || ...
|-
| rowspan="3" | 70.33 || rowspan="3" | 24,Years Ago
| Caves Painted, || ...
|-
| Ceramic Art Made. || ...
|-
| Neanderthals Extinct. || ...
|-
| 80% || 671,000 Years Ago
| ''Not given in comic'' || ...
|-
| 90% || 55 Million Years Ago
| ''Not given in comic'' || ...
|-
| rowspan="2" | 90.42% || rowspan="2" | 68 Million Years Ago
| First flowering plants. || ...
|-
| Chicxulub impact kills off most dinosaurs. || ...
|-
| rowspan="2" | 100% || rowspan="2" | 13.76 billion years ago
| Universe begins. || ...
|-
| First stars ignite. || ...
|}
[[940|(Also, the workout website, Fitocracy has been mentioned previously in xkcd.)]]

Note that as of the time that this page was last cached, the comic was uploaded at {{#expr:100*(((ln(({{#time:U}}-1329195600)/31536000+e^3)-3)/20.3444)^.5)}}% progress.

==Transcript==
:When I have a boring task to get through — a three-hour lecture, a giant file download, or a long term point goal in fitocracy — I use this formula to convert the percentage completed (p) into a date:

:T=(Current Date) - (e^(20.3444*p^3+3) - e^3) years

:When the task is 0% done, it gives today's date, and as I make progress, I move further and further back in time

:(inverse given in lighter colors)
:Inverse: p = sqrt((ln(T+e^3)-3)/20.3444)

:[Line Graph explaining the correlation between completion percentages and temporal deltas.]
:0% = now (Date of comic is 2012-02-14T00:00-0500, approx. 1329195600 UNIX)
:10% = September 2011
:20% = 2008
:30% = 1997
:40% = 1958
:50% = 1776
:60% = 405 AD
:70% = 22,000 years ago
:80% = 671,000 years ago
:90% = 55 million years ago
:100% = 13.8 billion years ago

:It moves slowly through the first few years, then steadily accelerates. I tuned the formula so the time spent in each part of the past is loosely proportional to how well I know it. This means I hit familiar landmarks with each bit of progress, giving me a satisfying sense of movement.

:[The following are panels detailing completion percentages, correlated time periods, and notable events from this time period.]

:7.308% December 18, 2011
:Around this time:
:Kim Jong-Il dies. US leaves Iraq.

:31.12% February 1995
:Around this time:
:Windows 95 debuts. OJ found not guilty.

:47.91% 1844
:Around this time:
:Rubber vulcanized, bicycle invented, wrench patented.

:70.33% 24,000 years ago
:Around this time:
:Caves painted, ceramic art made. Neanderthals extinct.

:90.42% 68 million years ago
:Around this time:
:First flowering plants. Chicxulub impact kills off most dinosaurs.

:100% 13.76 billion years ago
:Around this time:
:Universe begins. First stars ignite.

:Download complete.

:[Cueball watches a download progress on a laptop in amazement and happiness. Megan stands nearby and looks at Cueball with a bemused posture.]
:Cueball: Swoosh! Watching all that time blur past is such a rush!
:Megan: So...you've tried to make an extreme sport out of...''waiting''.
:Cueball: ''Swoosh!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Math]]

2977: Three Kinds of Research

2024-09-16T11:07:49Z

172.70.160.137: Think it's definitely a stretch to jump to the non-binary conclusion. At least we should point out that either of the others are as likely to have their results refered to as "theirs".

{{comic
| number = 2977
| date = August 26, 2024
| title = Three Kinds of Research
| image = three_kinds_of_research_2x.png
| imagesize = 501x306px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The secret fourth kind is 'we applied a standard theory to their map of every tree and got some suspicious results.'
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, three types of research are presented. First, [[Cueball]] presents an analysis of an existing theory, testing to see if it holds up under unusual circumstances. Second, [[Miss Lenhart]] presents a new theory; to prove that it has merit, it is tested on "standard" circumstances, presumably older data that the existing theories have already been tested on. As Miss Lenhart's data graph looks similar in form to Cueball's, it is possible that they are approaching the same field from two different directions.

The punchline is a disheveled [[Hairy]] presenting the third kind of research: not a theory, but a survey that collects the data to test theories on. Rather than sit around their laboratory crunching numbers, Hairy has gotten deep in the weeds — literally, judging by the leaves stuck to their body — to [https://www.google.com/search?q=lidar+tree+survey somehow] map out "every tree." How far their {{w|Forest inventory|survey}} of "every tree" reaches isn't clear but it's implied to be a massive area such as most of a country, continent or even the world (though the appearance of the graph doesn't have any obvious relationship to any [[977: Map Projections|global projection]]), and they're raising their arms in exhausted triumph over the fact that they're finally finished.

The comic thus presents a message about science: while it is perceived to be a high-minded affair with lots of very smart people performing calculations well over most people's heads, it still relies on getting down and dirty — again, literally in Hairy's case — with the rather basic challenges of measuring what the problems are to begin with. [[2456: Types of Scientific Paper|Some scientific papers]] are simply descriptions of measured phenomena.

The title text brings everything together by testing theories on the tree map (this is similar to Cueball's approach), with suspicious results. There can be multiple interpretations of these results: the "map of every tree" was manipulated or simply inaccurate, someone is messing with trees on a global level or the tree survey methods and/or mapping techniques are questionable. This could also be a reference to the discovery of General and Special relativity, which sprouted from the fact that the "standard theory" at the time, Newtonian gravity, was unable to account for certain observed phenomena, such as the orbit of Mercury.

For example, the {{w|Lambda-CDM_model|ΛCDM standard model of cosmology}} could be 
1) supported or challenged by new empirical data on the distribution of galaxies, new simulations or a mathematical thought experiment based on that model 
2) challenged by a new model that is better at explaining some oddities of the model, such as {{w|dark energy}} 
3) complemented with a survey of the timeline of everything in the universe :-) 

In this case the fourth kind of researcher would apply the cosmological standard model to the map of everything and find something suspicious.

The title text refers to this particular Hairy as 'they' (Hairy is not a specific character, so Hairies in different comics are assumed to be different people). The use of a gender-neutral pronoun perhaps implies that this Hairy does not conform to a binary gender identity. If so, they would be the first character identified as such in the xkcd pantheon. It's also possible that 'they' refers to a group of people whose map it is, but there is only one obvious person (Hairy) that is presenting the map within the comic itself, as there are only individual presenters of the other two items (perhaps also group efforts).

Randall has previously created a similar type of comic in [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A single panel with three separate drawings.]
:[Caption above the drawings:]
:The Three Kinds of Scientific Research:
:[Cueball is pointing to a scatter plot with a best-fit curve.]
:Cueball: We applied a standard theory to novel circumstances and got some surprising results.
:[Miss Lenhart is pointing to a similar scatter plot.]
:Miss Lenhart: We applied a novel theory to standard circumstances and got some intriguing results.
:[Hairy, with leaves in their messy hair and on their body, is pointing to another chart that is covered in random dots and unidentifiable shapes, while having both arms raised. Leaves are falling from their body and are scattered on the ground at their feet. A stick is stuck in their hair.]
:Hairy: ''Finally, a map of every tree.''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

LiveJournal

2024-09-13T01:30:50Z

172.70.160.137: Undo revision 350475 by TheTrainsKid (talk) Not sure there's a grammar issue there. (Maybe, though, "created the [xkcd-link] website", 'cos looks like it existed before he used it, as is.)

:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:LiveJournal comics|LiveJournal comics]].''
{{TOC}}{{Quote|I was going through old math/sketching graph paper notebooks and didn't want to lose some of the work in them, so I started scanning pages. I took the more comic-y ones and put them up on a server I was testing out, and got a bunch of readers when BoingBoing linked to me. I started drawing more seriously, gained a lot more readers, started selling t-shirts on the site, and am currently shipping t-shirts and drawing this comic full-time. It's immensely fun and I really appreciate y'all's support.|[[Randall Munroe]]}}

Before [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] started using the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website for his comics, he posted them on {{w|LiveJournal}} using the "[https://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ xkcd_drawings]" account. The images on the page are now broken, but there are archived versions for the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40 first 16 comics], comics [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20 from 17 to 27], and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ last 20 comics]. Randall didn't add a [[Title text|title text]] to his comics before [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], but most of the comics posted on LiveJournal had an original caption beneath the image, and many had comments by LiveJournal users. All the comics transferred to the new site had a title text, which was often along the same lines, but was almost never the same as the caption on LiveJournal.

The original title, caption, and release number of these early comics can be viewed on their explanation page, so if you want to browse them in the original order, you can [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)|start here]] and follow the links at the top of each explanation to go to the next one. To view a list of all the comics in the original order, see [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal|Posted on LiveJournal]].

==[[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal|Comics posted on LiveJournal before xkcd.com]]==
===[[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|First day on LiveJournal]]===
The first thirteen comics were posted on LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account. The first comic posted on that day was [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)]] and the last one was [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]. Starting from the next post, he began following the normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday release date routine, although he often forgot to post the comic in time, making them come out a day earlier or a day later.

===Winter break===
The last comic to be released before [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] was in use was [[39: Bowl]]. It was the forty-first comic posted on LiveJournal on December 5, 2005, but the following day Randall made another post, titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=12%3A59%20am-,Announcement,-What%20with%20winter Announcement]":

{{Quote|What with winter break starting and the like, I'll probably be going off my regular update schedule. I'll try to post something here and there, and might end up doing more drawings than I expect, but won't stick to the MWF schedule. Thanks for the support! This has been and will continue to be a lot of fun.|[[Randall Munroe]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=12%3A59%20am-,Announcement,-What%20with%20winter Source]}}

This may be due to his exams coming up, or the preparation for the release of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] the following year. The next LiveJournal comic, [[45: Schrodinger]], was released almost a month later, on January 4, 2006, after Randall had already posted all the previous comics to his new site.

==Transition from LiveJournal to [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]==
===[[:Category:First day on xkcd.com|First day on xkcd.com]]===
The new xkcd website opened up on January 1, 2006, and the backlog of forty-one comics from LiveJournal from [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] to [[44: Love]] was transferred on the same day, but in a completely different order. The only comic that has the same number on both sites is [[3: Island (sketch)]], while all the other comics were uploaded seemingly at random. Also, only eleven of the original comic titles were reused of the new site, and even among the last eleven comics posted on both sites, only six used the same title. There were also two new comics released on the first day of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] (and one added a few months later) that have never been posted on LiveJournal.

[[12: Poisson]] and [[5: Blown apart]] were exclusively published on the first day of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and were never shared on LiveJournal. [[36: Scientists]] was instead initially published as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]]. Over three months after the original posting, Randall noticed the error and corrected it sometime between [https://web.archive.org/web/20060423175703/http://www.xkcd.com/c36.html April 23, 2006] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20060705231511/http://xkcd.com/c36.html July 5, 2006], when the updated version appeared in the Web Archive. He likely found an old drawing that was never meant for publication and used it instead, so it wouldn't appear out of place among the other comics from that period. This is why [[36: Scientists]] [[:Category:No date|doesn't have a date]] like every other comic.

===[[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|Comics posted both on LiveJournal and on xkcd.com]]===
Most of the eleven comics posted on LiveJournal after the new website opened, from [[45: Schrodinger]] to [[55: Useless]], were posted on the same days on both sites. For unknown reasons, on January 18, 2006, [[54: Science]] was posted on LiveJournal on the same day that [[51: Malaria]] was released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. Three days later, on January 21, 2006, [[51: Malaria]] was posted on LiveJournal, thus forcing the next two comics ([[52: Secret Worlds]] and [[53: Hobby]]) to be released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] two days before LiveJournal. Four days later, on January 25, 2006, [[54: Science]] was finally posted on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], which fixed the date discrepancies and allowed the next comic, [[55: Useless]], to be published on the same day across both sites.

When the next comic, [[56: The Cure]], came out only on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] on January 30, 2006, Randall made a post on LiveJournal, titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=xkcd%20drawings%20moving%20to%20RSS%20feed xkcd drawings moving to RSS feed]":

{{Quote|Hey: <big><big><big><big>I'm closing down this journal. Friend the new feed.</big></big></big></big> Thanks to new revisions to my site and work by Derek, I now have automated posting -- if I go missing for a few weeks, as long as I've got enough comics in the queue no one will notice. The site also now has the more traditional 'forward' and 'back' format to make browsing easier. Most importantly, the site now has an RSS feed which is updated automatically whenever a drawing is posted. This means I no longer need to separately update this journal, so I'm closing it down and you should all friend the feed: '''[https://xkcd-rss.livejournal.com/ xkcd_rss]''' Thanks! Exciting times ahead, etc.|[[Randall Munroe]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=xkcd%20drawings%20moving%20to%20RSS%20feed Source]}}

Almost two months later, he made the last post on the LiveJournal account on April 23, 2006. It warned that the old account has been inactive for a long time and recommended everyone friend the new account, called "[https://xkcd-rss.livejournal.com/profile xkcd_rss]". Despite saying the old account would be "deleted soon", it still exists. The post was titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Unfriend%20this%20journal Unfriend this journal]":

{{Quote|This journal has been closed for a while, and I'm going to delete it shortly. If you want to see my comic -- which is updated like clockwork every MWF, thanks to some wonderful automation by davean -- you should add xkcd.com's [http://syndicated.livejournal.com/xkcd_rss/profile LJ RSS feed] instead. <big><big><big><big>This journal will be deleted soon.</big></big></big></big>|[[Randall Munroe]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Unfriend%20this%20journal Source]}}

[[Category:Meta]]
[[Category:LiveJournal comics| ]]
{{xkcdmeta}}

Talk:2983: Monocaster

2024-09-11T06:56:16Z

172.70.160.137:

Unicycles aren't (or at least aren't usually) chain-driven. I might try to fix that if my phone stops being so slow that it feels like I'm using a 90s PC to do this. Maybe a restart will help. Rebooting in 10, 9, 8... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.76|172.70.91.76]] 07:46, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:I just went in and Actual Citation Needed it (seeing lower comment, when editor reloaded this page for me, forcing me to rewrite, that may have changed now).
:*It doesn't look like a chain-drive. Could be hub-geared, but not the same thing.
:*Chain-drive to raise the rider (most of the mass) up higher will ''raise'' the CoG.
:*'Underslung' chain-drive (see 1880s example, [[1673: Timeline of Bicycle Design|here]]?) has problems. Pedals hitting the ground would be one of them, unless your wheel was indeed significantly larger...
:*...and if it is (perhaps for better off-roading?), this intrinsically pushes up the CoG. Perhaps you are trying to lower it slightly, again, then. But you can't bring the saddle (and crotch!) lower than the now higher top of the wheel. ("Timeline of Bicycles" version excepted, assumed assymetric? In [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-4b7d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 some manner]?)
:Add to that a few niggles about the bicycle. Not sure if intended to be a Moulton-style one (wheels maybe the classic 17", frame totally wrong) or a roadbike-style-ish one (frame relatively Ok, as drawn by someone not fully adhering to the design, maybe confused by some MTB variations, but clearly not in the ~27" wheel range, give or take). Of course, wheels are neither concentric nor circular, so depends a bit on which bits of the 'circles' are right for the intended arc and which bits ended up more casually doodled. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.99|172.70.91.99]] 08:51, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Hmm, Randall missed an opportunity to put a Penny-Farthing in there... though I'm not sure how that would have categorised given that it has two wheels of different sizes. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 08:19, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:He has a "Big Wheel Trike" (child's low-rider style thing) in there. On the logarithmic scale, and imprecise reference point (bottom/middle(/CoG,where different)/top of wheel/vehicle/rider/whole?), both the big front wheel and the small trailing wheels colpd be in the right place-ish, although having it slightly inclined could put them in the (place Tandall considers to be) ''exactly'' right place. ((Note also where the 10(?)-wheeler truck-and-trailer is placed horizontally vs the possibly relevent "number of wheels".))
:You could do something similar with the Old Ordinary (i.e. "Penny-Farthing"), either make it roughly right or depict going up a ''marginally'' steeper hill. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.142|172.69.194.142]] 09:04, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Re: unicycles, the COG thing doesn't look right either, but I was distracted by a (thankfully) now-deleted troll comment before and actually fixing the description is beyond my skills, especially on so little sleep.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.184|172.69.43.184]] 08:35, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:i had good intentions, we need to call randall out --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.122|172.69.194.122]] 09:44, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:::If you mean your calling out the ''other'' point, that has been deleted anyway: Randall doesn't read this site (that we know; and, if I had a site such as this made for my works, I'd think it wisest to stay clear), so he probably won't get your 'message'. This particular comic doesn't even have the slightest connection to that subject, so not even the page to say anything about it. And the point made (even if it was a valid one... it presupposes that there are no nuances and compromises, that one cannot have a complex set of opinions that neither wholly match nor wholly mismatch ''your'' opinions) was also absurd, when you consider how the ''other'' party involved has proven to be even more so. I won't dignify this issue further by putting names and places here, it really isn't the forum for it. But please realise (if you don't already) that your irrelevent point is out of place here. And most places on this site that you/others like you may have tried such messaging on before. Go to /pol/, or your favourite forum's dedicated boards/threads. Ok? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.19|172.70.85.19]] 12:26, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
::Call him out for *what* exactly? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.135|172.68.70.135]] 12:05, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:::As I dare to hint, just above, someone thinks Randall has a wrong personal opinion on some current issue. Which has nothing to do with this comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.19|172.70.85.19]] 12:26, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

As a unicyclist myself, I don't think the unicycle is easier to balance because of a lower center of mass and a chain drive. As a few others have mentioned, they don't normally have a chain drive, although there are a few specialist ones that do. Normally, the cranks are just attached to the hub so you can directly control the speed of the wheel at a 1 to 1 ratio, which makes it easier to balance on. The other thing that would make the unicycle easier than the monocaster is that you can control what direction the wheel is pointing by turning the seat with your thighs. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.128|172.68.186.128]] 09:22, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Love the log-log scale. Now let's see the zoomed-out version, with orders of magnitude more wheels and orders of magnitude larger diameters. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.230|172.71.166.230]] 13:59, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:The scale if off either way. Or Randall wrote centimeters while he meant inches... At least for some cases. Examples: he placed the skatebord at 2cm while skateboord wheels are at ca 5cm - which are approx. 2 inches. Scooter wheels are approx 8.5 inches, not 8.5 cm... The car is mostly fine, albeit it would be a rather small car at ~50cm (a 19 inch (50cm) wheel designates the size of the rims, not the wheel) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:18, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
::out of all people i would think Randall would be the last one to use a non-SI unit to measure distance. --[[User:Markifi|Markifi]] ([[User talk:Markifi|talk]]) 17:45, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

I have NEVER heard anyone call inline skates "three wheel skates". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.193|141.101.109.193]] 19:04, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:As a quad skater through most of my youth, the depicted "three-wheel skate" was only called "inline" skates. Not sure where this 3-wheel designation came from! [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 21:59, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
::I too thought the term “three-wheel skate” seemed odd, and thought “inline skates” might be more appropriate. Then I remembered that in fact, most inline skates have four wheels… a memory that a quick Google image search seemed to support. So I guess a three-wheel skate is a special case of inline skate, rather than the default implementation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.137|172.70.160.137]] 06:56, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

title text sounds like beret guy ngl--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 23:38, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2975: Classical Periodic Table

2024-09-04T17:56:05Z

172.70.160.137: Fixed with signing (plus prepended a linefeed, more for editor-friendliness) and corrected the honest mistake of [[]] vs [] linking.

I checked the Actinides and it looks like the criteria for "fire" is half-life < 1 day. [[User:SpriteGuard|SpriteGuard]] ([[User talk:SpriteGuard|talk]]) 18:11, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:I would have found it funnier, if only on table-esthetic grounds, if all radioactive elements had been filed as Fire. (I'm a chemist.) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.175|198.41.242.175]] 07:58, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

The four classical Elements are still recognised by scientists; They just repurposed the word "element", and so have adopted "state" to describe this older classification - Solid, Liquid, Gas and Plasma exactly map to the classical 'elements'. I think we can forgive the medieval alchemical community for not recognising Bose-Einstein Condensate as their fifth element. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.149|172.68.64.149]] 21:05, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:what about non-newtonian fluids? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 22:17, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
::They're fluids... turns out. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.229|172.70.126.229]] 04:47, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
:If the 2016 movie "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral Spectral]" is to be believed, then Bose–Einstein condensates maps to ghosts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.0.167|172.68.0.167]] 23:26, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
Everyone knows that the 5th element is Leeloo Dallas. Obviously the Bose-Einstein Condensate would have to be the 6th Element.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.60|172.70.111.60]] 15:00, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
:That agrees with the comment (currently) above. If you can sense one of those, you can probably also see dead people... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.207|172.70.90.207]] 20:00, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

He's done this comparison between 'classical' and 'modern' elements before... for example in comic #965. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.3|172.70.58.3]] 05:52, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

I did what I could for the Fire section earlier, and I've just gone back and added some relevant What-If context for both Mercury and Astatine. The latter is nasty stuff - lucky it can't really exist under standard temperature and pressure, or we'd all be screwed. [[User:Darkwolf218|Darkwolf218]] ([[User talk:Darkwolf218|talk]]) 08:45, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
:The issue of STP doesn't really apply to the whole "fire" grouping, anyway. The thing making them "fire" is not really influenced by changes in temperature and pressure (not unless you're going the way of stellar temperatures and being pressured by an essentially neutronium soup, but we're drifting into many more things being dragged into this, ultimately). The likes of phosphorous is not shown as "fire", when it can be indeed aflame under STP (to not be, you have to ensure the pressure is not from ''our typical mix of'' "air", but one which is quite a bit less reactive), and I'm really not sure (without looking up likely examples) how many of the non-"fire" elements (other than itself, of course) would not effectively set on fire if the pressure requirements was to be provided by a fluorine atmosphere...
:But any concept of "standard temperature, pressure ''and environment''" is obviously beyond the scope of this humorous take. One could even imagine that it be "an infinite space" of the target (nonclassical) element (c.f. "infinite plane" assumptions), without boundary or container, but how that effects the fire/earth boundary of certain radioactive materials (w.r.t. the ability to have a critical density, given a supercritical mass ''without'' being forced together) I think is not necessarily open (or easily obtained) information. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.220|172.70.160.220]] 12:17, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
:Phosphorous combines with other elements, like oxygen, to make fire. Radioactive elements produce heat and sometimes higher-frequency light (i.e. "fire") ''all by themselves''. STP with neon as the gas might be a good starting point to think about this, although I wouldn't bet against neon interacting at least a little with some of the more aggressive fire elements. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.191|162.158.155.191]] 19:40, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
::To be most sure (given fluorine's actual reactiveness with elements that have more stealth 'shell slots' available to attach to), I'd suggest helium over any other choice. Assuming you [[2766: Helium Reserve|have it]] or [[2972: Helium Synthesis|can get it]], naturally.
::Though, as pointed out, the tendencies of radioactivity really aren't subject to temperature or (short of metals being compressed to super-criticality in nuclear-weapons, which isn't really the same thing) pressure in any way. These do dictate the precise memberships of the non-Fire elements (you can freeze mercury or melt sodium or condense nitrogen, etc), but talking of STP isn't really so necessary in the context of the 'firey fringes', assuming it's based upon arbitrarily-timed half-life-length. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.163|172.70.162.163]] 21:34, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

I feel like Munroe just discovered the Aristotle Version of [https://tomlehrersongs.com/the-elements Tom Lehrer's song The Elements] {{unsigned ip|172.70.80.229|16:52, 4 September 2024 }}

1639: To Taste

2024-09-04T09:16:01Z

172.70.160.137: /* Explanation */ noting that sphere-packing algorithms will diverge as tall-and-thin or wide-and-shallow (equal) volumes are used for significantly large (somewhat imperfect) 'spheres' like strawberries.

{{comic
| number = 1639
| date = February 5, 2016
| title = To Taste
| image = to_taste.png
| titletext = Look, recipe, if I knew how much was gonna taste good, I wouldn't need you.
}}

==Explanation==
The imprecision of {{w|recipes}} is often a source of frustration to culinary novices, especially the more analytically-minded. [[Cueball]] expects a recipe to provide instructions precise enough that by following them carefully, a cook can create a dish exactly as the recipe author intended. Unfortunately, exact replication is impossible in cooking because of the natural variation of ingredients as well as differences in equipment. In addition, most home cooks lack the tools needed to make precise measurements, such as scales and thermometers. Thus, a recipe for strawberry {{w|smoothies}} might read "add sugar '''to taste'''" because the recipe-writer can't specify precisely how ripe the strawberries are to begin with. In addition, a smoothie recipe would typically specify imprecise quantities of fruit such as "1 banana" or "1 cup of strawberries" (much less precise than specifying the weight, although at least "1 cup" ''could be'' assumed to be a {{w|Cup (unit)|standard volume}}, that may yield a {{w|Sphere packing|vaguely similar}} mass of small rounded fruit when used). Thus, it is impossible for the cook to determine the correct amount of {{w|sugar}} without actually tasting the drink.{{Citation needed}}

The instruction "to {{w|taste}}" can also be used for ingredients that alter a simple aspect of the food's flavor, such as {{w|sweetness}}, {{w|Taste#Sourness|sourness}}, {{w|Taste#Saltiness|saltiness}} or {{w|Taste#Bitterness|bitterness}} without affecting the quality of the overall dish. Individual preferences can vary wildly and it's not possible for a recipe's author to predict how much the reader will want. Specifying any exact amount in these cases will inevitably lead to the food being too {{w|Bland diet|bland}} for some, while being too {{w|Pungency|strong}} for others.

In this comic, Cueball is shown as having no idea how to cook (or having a ridiculously large sweet tooth), and the suggestion that he is going to add large crates of sugar to a small pot is, of course, silly. This would ruin the dish, as whatever was in the pot would be drowned out by the sugar. Alternatively, he could simply bring in enough sugar to make sure he will not run out of this particular ingredient before it reaches the correct level of sweetness for his taste. This too would display a complete lack of understanding about what it is to cook; even a beginner cook should be able to logically deduce that this is far too much sugar.

Another possible explanation would be that Cueball plans to add as much sugar as possible to the dish and eat it, so that he can sue the recipe book's writer for any ill effects he receives as a result. Needless to say, this would be a complete waste of effort - he would probably lose the lawsuit, and even if he won and received compensation money, he would not be able to enjoy it thanks to his ill health.

The title text is [[Randall]]'s (and Cueball's) personal comment on what he thinks a recipe should do to fulfill his needs. If he knew how much of each ingredient would be appropriate for a given dish, then he would not need the recipe in the first place. The title text actually scolds the recipe for being imprecise. In his view, mixing in imprecise or "use your own judgment" language makes it less of a "recipe" for the dish, and thus less suitable for those looking for the specific instructions to make the dish because they either have no cooking experience, feel they don't have the expertise to make their own decisions, or simply want to follow clearly defined steps without any decision making required.

This is the second comic this week that concerns one of the basic {{w|condiments}} for food, and also regards one of the five {{w|Taste#Basic_tastes|basic tastes}}. The first one, about salt, was [[1637: Salt Mine]]. Lately Randall has made several [[:Category:Food|food related comics]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing near a stove holding a pot just above it. He is looking away from the stove, reading the recipe from a piece of paper he is holding in the other hand.]
:Recipe: ...And add sugar to taste.

:[Cueball has placed the pot on the stove looking at it while holding the paper down along his side.]
:Cueball: ??

:[Cueball leaves the pot and stove to walks off-panel left with the recipe.]

:[Cueball returns backing up to the stove with a dolly loaded with three crates, labeled "sugar". The bottom crate is still not fully inside the panel and the first letter cannot be seen.]
:Sugar
:Sugar
:ugar

==Trivia==
This is the official transcript of 1639, as of 21st March, 2023, valid for [[1637: Salt Mine]].
:[Three women and a (stick) figure stand in a salt mine. There's a control panel with two benches in the centre, and two piles of salt to the right. Two figures are talking, and two are shovelling salt into their mouths.]
:Woman 1: So you've build this particle detector in a salt mine to block out cosmic rays?
:Woman 2: Yes. That is definitely why.
:Woman 3 and figure: <<Homf nomf nomf>>

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

1102: Fastest-Growing

2024-09-03T08:48:46Z

172.70.160.137: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1102
| date = August 31, 2012
| title = Fastest-Growing
| image = fastest_growing.png
| titletext = I lead a small but extraordinarily persuasive religion whose only members are door-to-door proselytizers from other faiths.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic talks about the misuse of percentage of growth. It can be misleading for gauging the importance or popularity of something; If you add only 4 members to an existing group of 2, you would have achieved a growth of 200 percent.

In the case portrayed in this comic the claim appears to be that the other person's religion grew by 85%. [[Black Hat]] attempts humorously to show the flaw in using that statistic by growing his group by 100% (therefore, presumably, first place), which he simply does by adding his friend [[Rob]] to his religion, and thus increasing his membership from 1 to 2. The other person then says that his religion has a significant number of members (and not just one or two, but ended up with 38,000 this year, presumably having 'only' around 20,540 in the prior one), but Black Hat doesn't care and responds that he hopes they are all okay with being "in second place" since the main argument from the other guy was about being the fastest-growing.

The title text ponders the ironic idea of converting ''only'' the zealous door-to-door {{w|Proselytism|proselytizers}} to a very persuasive religion of one's own. It is also possible that after the last panel, the proselytizer would have joined Black Hat's religion to be first by this metric and Black Hat played the same trick several times to get many proselytizers join his religion.

Another interpretation is that the title text could be another way that Black Hat could take the 'fastest-growing' claim out of context to make it meaningless. By composing his religion of the unwitting proselytizers of other faiths, he can claim the highest ratio of converts to current adherents. Note that the amount of people converted is often exaggerated by groups that try to spread a faith. Although the beliefs spread by his proselytizers vary widely, Black Hat is not concerned with what his so-called followers believe. Thus, he can claim the title of fastest-growing religion without having any value to his religion.

Various religions and groups encourage their members to actively recruit new followers, such as the {{w|Mormon missionary}} (or "Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", to use their own more acceptable full name).

==Transcript==
:[A man with a combover, a book, and a clipboard approaches Black Hat.]
:Combover: You should check us out. We're the fastest-growing religion in the country.
:Black Hat: "Fastest-growing" is such a dubious claim.
:Combover: It's true! We grew by 85% over the past year.

:[In a frameless panel, Black Hat shouts to Rob, out of frame.]
:Black Hat: Hey, Rob — wanna join my religion?
:Rob's off-frame voice: Sure, whatever.

:[Black Hat turns back to Combover and produces a notepad and pen.]
:Black Hat: Well, looks like my religion grew by 100% this year.

:[Black Hat begins to walk away.]
:Combover: We have 38,000 members!
:Black Hat: Hope they're all ok with second place.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

1342: Ancient Stars

2024-09-01T09:22:57Z

172.70.160.137: /* Explanation */ Justify and generalise the enforced term-limit element. (And if anyone "does a Cleveland", it's still a distinct a discontinuitously different Administration you will land on; only for swathes of FDR's term could you claim 8.6yrs==same.)

{{comic
| number = 1342
| date = March 14, 2014
| title = Ancient Stars
| image = ancient_stars.png
| titletext = 'The light from those millions of stars you see is probably many thousands of years old' is a rare example of laypeople substantially OVERestimating astronomical numbers.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] makes the common observation that many of the visible stars in the sky are so distant that it takes thousands of years for light from that star to reach Earth. However, the brightest star {{W|Sirius}} is one of the nearest at a mere 8.6 {{W|Light-year|light-years}} distance. In other words, the light that was arriving from Sirius in March 2014, when the comic was posted, was emitted some time around August 2005. The previous US president, {{W|George W. Bush}}, was in office from 2001 to 2009 and [[Megan]] notes that this isn't a terribly impressive observation. At certain times (mostly when the previous US president served only a single term, but also {{w|Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|currently}} for a short time after the inauguration of any incoming president), looking to events of 8.6 years ago would stretch ''beyond'' just the prior administration, but even two ({{w|Ronald Reagan|rarely}} being {{w|Richard Nixon|three}}, or {{w|Grover Cleveland#First presidency (1885–1889)|possibly}} even {{w|Ulysses S. Grant|more}}) predecessors ago would not be considered impressive in the circumstances.

The title text references the fact that most people have a hard time imagining the large scale of astronomical numbers. For example, the distance between astronomical bodies or the size of the Sun are hard to imagine; they typically underestimate them by many orders of magnitude and think they are much smaller than they actually are. See {{tvtropes|SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale|Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale}}

In this case, however, people instead overestimate both the number of visible stars and their distance by quite a bit. This could be a result of underestimating the speed of light, which is rather fast. Even though stars are incredibly far away (Sirius' 8.6ly translates to over 80 trillion kilometers), light is so fast that it can crosses those distances as fast as anything can (a relative blink in the eye, for the ''nearest'' of these vast distances). This underestimate of light results in an overestimate of the time it takes for light to reach us.

It's frequently cited that about 5,000 to 10,000 stars are visible in the sky by the naked eye. The {{W|Bright Star Catalogue}} is a star catalogue that lists all stars of {{W|apparent magnitude}} 6.5 or brighter, which is roughly every star visible to the naked eye from Earth. The catalog contains 9,110 objects, of which 9,096 are stars, ten are {{w|Nova|novae}} or {{w|supernovae}}, and four objects outside of our Milky Way (two {{w|globular cluster}}s and two {{w|open cluster}}s). To see most of these you need good eyes and a very dark night, and at any point you will only be able to see fewer than half of these as the rest are blocked by the Earth.

This list shows the {{W|Visible stars|91 brightest stars}}. Of these 59 are more than 100 light years away and only 6 are more than 1,000 light years away. The farthest on this list, {{W|Eta Canis Majoris|Aludra}}, is "only" 3,200 light years away. Our entire {{w|Milky Way}} contains up to 400 billion (400x10⁹) stars and has a diameter of 100,000 light years.

There are visible objects much farther away, like the {{w|Andromeda Galaxy}} which is 2.5 million light years away and made up of billions of stars. And a gamma ray burst {{w|GRB 080319B}} would have been briefly visible to the naked eye, despite being 7.5 billion light years distant.

See also [[1212: Interstellar Memes]], [[1644: Stargazing]] and [[1440: Geese]].

==Transcript==
:All of the panels of this comic are white-on-black.

:[Megan and Cueball stand facing each other, looking up at the sky.]
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted thousands of years ago. It could be long gone.

:[Cueball looks at Megan, who is still looking up.]
:Megan: That's Sirius. It's eight light-years away.

:[Cueball looks up again.]
:Cueball: Oh.

:[Both look at one another.]
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted in the previous presidential administration.
:Megan: Hmm, doesn't pack quite the punch.

==Trivia==
*The star {{W|List of stars in Cassiopeia|V762 Cas}} in the {{W|Cassiopeia (constellation)|Cassiopeia constellation}} is listed as being 14818 light years away and still having an {{W|apparent magnitude}} of 5.87 - thus being within the visible 6.5 limit. If Cueball had been able to point this star out, he would have been correct. But it is only visible under perfect conditions.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

2977: Three Kinds of Research

2024-08-28T19:32:36Z

172.70.160.137: Undo revision 349543 by 162.158.175.120 (talk) Three "only rechanging the BOT text" edits made to pages, with no special reasons. (And a typo.)

{{comic
| number = 2977
| date = August 26, 2024
| title = Three Kinds of Research
| image = three_kinds_of_research_2x.png
| imagesize = 501x306px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The secret fourth kind is 'we applied a standard theory to their map of every tree and got some suspicious results.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DEPTH-FIRST TREE RE-SEARCHER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, three types of research are presented. First, [[Cueball]] presents an analysis of an existing theory, testing to see if it holds up under unusual circumstances. Second, [[Miss Lenhart]] presents a new theory; to prove that it has merit, it is tested on "standard" circumstances, presumably older data that the existing theories have already been tested on. As Miss Lenhart's data graph looks similar in form to Cueball's, it is possible that they are approaching the same field from two different directions.

The punchline is a disheveled [[Hairy]] presenting the third kind of research: not a theory, but a survey that collects the data to test theories on. Rather than sit around his laboratory crunching numbers, Hairy has gotten deep in the weeds — literally, judging by the leaves stuck to his body — to [https://www.google.com/search?q=lidar+tree+survey somehow] map out "every tree." How far his {{w|Forest inventory|survey}} of "every tree" reaches isn't clear but it's implied to be a massive area such as most of a country, continent or even the world (though the appearance of the graph doesn't have any obvious relationship to any [[977: Map Projections|global projection]]), and he's raising his arms in exhausted triumph over the fact that he's finally finished.

The comic thus presents a message about science: while it is perceived to be a high-minded affair with lots of very smart people performing calculations well over most people's heads, it still relies on getting down and dirty — again, literally in Hairy's case — with the rather basic challenges of measuring what the problems are to begin with. [[2456: Types of Scientific Paper|Some scientific papers]] are simply descriptions of measured phenomena.

The title text brings everything together by testing theories on the tree map (this is similar to Cueball's approach), with suspicious results. There can be multiple interpretations of these results: the "map of every tree" was manipulated or simply inaccurate, someone is messing with trees on a global level or the tree survey methods and/or mapping techniques are questionable.

For example, the {{w|Lambda-CDM_model|ΛCDM standard model of cosmology}} could be 
1) confirmed or challenged by new empirical data on the distribution of galaxies, new simulations or a mathematical thought experiment based on that model 
2) challenged by a new model that is better at explaining some oddities of the model, such as {{w|dark energy}} 
3) complemented with a survey of the timeline of everything in the universe :-) 

In this case the fourth kind of researcher would apply the cosmological standard model to the map of everything and find something suspicious.

Randall has previously created a similar type of comic in [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A single panel with three separate drawings.]
:[Caption above the drawings:]
:The Three Kinds of Scientific Research:
:[Cueball is pointing to a scatter plot with a best-fit curve.]
:Cueball: We applied a standard theory to novel circumstances and got some surprising results.
:[Miss Lenhart is pointing to a similar scatter plot.]
:Miss Lenhart: We applied a novel theory to standard circumstances and got some intriguing results.
:[Hairy, with leaves in his messy hair and on his body, is pointing to another chart that is covered in random dots and unidentifiable shapes, while having both arms raised. Leaves are falling from him and are scattered on the ground at his feet. A stick is stuck in his hair.]
:Hairy: ''Finally, a map of every tree.''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

2973: Ferris Wheels

2024-08-28T19:31:29Z

172.70.160.137: Undo revision 349544 by 172.71.166.120 (talk) Three "only rechanging the BOT text" edits made to pages, with no special reasons.

{{comic
| number = 2973
| date = August 16, 2024
| title = Ferris Wheels
| image = ferris_wheels_2x.png
| imagesize = 624x280px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They left the belt drive in place but switched which wheel was powered, so people could choose between a regular ride, a long ride, and a REALLY long ride.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BELT POWERED BY A DIFFERENT WIKI PAGE IN ORDER TO KEEP THIS ONE GOING - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts an attempted connection of three {{w|Ferris wheel}}s using a {{w|Belt (mechanical)|mechanical belt drive}}, a system used to transfer motion between rotating shafts such as what these become. By connecting the belt to different circumferences, the relative motion is geared up or down. If the belt passes around the circumference of one wheel and is connected around the hub of another, the latter will rotate significantly faster. In this case, the second wheel's circumference is in turn connected to a third wheel's hub, resulting in even greater rotational velocity. However, this setup is mechanically unsound and possibly dangerous,{{Citation needed}} as Ferris wheels are not intended to be connected in this way. As shown, the first wheel on the left is running at a normal speed, while the other two are rotating increasingly fast, leading to a {{w|G-force#Human tolerance|potentially hazardous}} situation where passengers are flung around to various extents.

Ferris wheels can vary widely in size and speed of rotation, but for illustration, let us assume a diameter of about 200 feet (60 m) and a pretty sedate speed of around 10 minutes per full rotation. The apparent ratio between the connected wheels in the comic is approximately 12.5:1, meaning the motion is significantly sped up as it’s transferred. The second Ferris wheel, driven by the first, could spin at around 1.3 rpm, with passengers moving at 9 mph (14 km/h), giving a more exciting ride, but not inherently dangerous. However, when this motion is further transferred to the third Ferris wheel, it could spin at a possible 16 rpm, with passengers traveling at over 110 mph (180 km/h), subjecting them to around 8 Gs of force. Randall has previously explored the limits of the human body's tolerance for acceleration in ''{{what if|116|What If # 116 "No Rules NASCAR"}}''. Additionally, if a Ferris wheel span at 110 mph (180 km/h) it would itself be just as dangerous even without any riders. However, since the motor for the first wheel would have been selected merely to drive one wheel, it's unlikely it would be able to power the other two wheels moving at these increased speeds — if it moved at all, all three would probably start to move quite slowly, with potential damage to the motor before any friction limitations and other mechanical failures kicked in.

In the caption [[Randall]] says that he was fired for this ill-advised modification, highlighting the impracticality and dangers of the idea. A cruise line also fired the respective narrator due to an unsound engineering proposal earlier in [[2935: Ocean Loop]].

The title text imagines the consequences of leaving the belt drive system in place but switching which wheel is powered. If the most extreme wheel (the third one on the right) is powered, the gearing would be reversed, making for a possibly pleasant and normal ride on the right-hand wheel, but rendering the experiences of the riders on the other two wheels far too slow for an enjoyable carnival ride. One revolution of the center wheel might take two hours and five minutes, while the left wheel would take around a little more than a day per revolution.    This exaggerates the impracticality and unintended effects of using a belt drive system to link up Ferris wheels, illustrating how such an idea would lead to absurdly varied ride experiences.

==Transcript==
:[Three Ferris wheels are shown side by side, with some people stood on the ground for scale. Each of the first two wheels has a belt connecting its circumference to the axle of the wheel to its right. "Agitrons" indicate that the middle wheel is turning notably faster than the left wheel, with the gondolas seen to be rocking significantly at all points round the wheel. The spokes of the right wheel are completely replaced by "motion lines", indicating that the the right wheel is turning the fastest of all. All its gondolas are hanging outwards against centripetal force, interspersed with their own motion lines.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The county fair fired me for adding a belt drive to the Ferris wheels.

==Trivia==
The first (slowest) wheel can be seen to notably lack a 'spoke' at approximately the five o'clock position, supporting the point where its respective passenger seating is hung. Clearly, however, the wheel design is strong enough to withstand much greater forces in the other two versions of the wheel (which appears to be complete in the case of the second, though the thin spokes are only seen as blurs in the third wheel) suggesting that there may not be significant danger from this omission. It does not bode well, however, for general {{w|Occupational Safety and Health Administration|OSHA compliance}} in how they erect/maintain the rides, even before the belt-drive idea added its own issues.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Engineering]]