explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2972: Helium Synthesis

2024-08-21T11:06:32Z

172.70.160.248:

I had imagined that, rather than destroying the entire universe, they just somehow made a big bang INSIDE THE MACHINE that they could somehow obtain helium from safely. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.166|141.101.109.166]] 07:34, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:I get the impression that, like an abbreviated version of the cyclical {{w|Big Bounce}} hypothesis, they did indeed recreate the conditions for a (sufficiently similar) universe.
:The question as to whether they obliterated their current one (in a short-sighted and {{w|Instrumental convergence#Paperclip maximizer|paperclip-maximiser}}-like effort that disregards the safety of their current existence) or create a new instance of universe-within-the-universe (like [[2688: Bubble Universes]], presumably with some way of [[248: Hypotheticals|bringing the stuff out]]) is left open.
:If the latter, it could be that the ''reason'' why each universe's helium-users are chronically short of helium is that their universe ''has'' been used as a source for the next-universe-out's helium by the equivalent outwards recursion of the very same people. (The former would imply a kind of {{w|The Last Question}} situation, only not with the same timing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 08:25, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that you probably couldn't create a big bang in the lab capable of replaying the events of the current universe exactly without obliterating at least, as the explanation says, all the closest galaxies. If new inflation pushes the existing universe apart, it's still smeared quite thinly outside the new expanding edge.
:::You think in such three-dimensional terms - and I don't mean it as a praise, just like the Borg Queen. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:07, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
::But I really like the idea, it's kind of like Rick's car battery in ''Rick and Morty'', one of my favorite episodes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.4|172.70.210.4]] 08:34, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:::What if inflation doesn't disturb the matter and space around it, it just shrinks the apparent size of the matter inside it to create the expanded space relative to observers inside, by curving the interior spacetime and distorting the gravitational field to block it from its surroundings? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.45|172.70.206.45]] 10:04, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::::Black hole universe, anyone? https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.11608 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eUes30gwc [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.192|172.71.147.192]] 18:16, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:::[https://wiki.lspace.org/Roundworld Universe within a (continuing) universe] isn't exactly hard to imagine. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.216|162.158.33.216]] 13:07, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Could this comic maybe be a reference to a certain popular space video game? Sadly, in what I call a reverse spoiler, I cannot tell you which game I mean without massively spoiling that game. I hope some people know which one I mean and can reply basic on that guess. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:30, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:If it's [https://www.mobiusdigitalgames.com/outer-wilds.html Outer Wilds], there's nothing here that's a gameplay spoiler, is there? Just for a pretty small part of the story, right? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.55|162.158.187.55]] 10:08, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::[not OP] It's a pretty big story spoiler and it could be considered a gameplay spoiler indirectly, or it could if there was more specifity. It's fine to discuss it here. Most xkcd fans would love that game even if they can only watch play-throughs, I reckon. So I consider the discussion here a net positive, really, and I suspect most of the authors would too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.36|162.158.91.36]] 17:19, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

This is also a bit reminiscent of the classic Perry Bible Fellowship comic "[https://pbfcomics.com/comics/reset/ Reset]". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.144.140|172.68.144.140]] 03:29, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

I wonder whether the cyclicity in the comic is an intentional play a cyclic universe theory. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.210.47|162.158.210.47]] 11:46, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:It's certainly a recurring (NPI!) theme in Randall's works, in various forms (as noted all over this article/Talk-page), so I'd be absolutely amazed if it really isn't anything at all to do with it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.54|172.70.91.54]] 12:15, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

I think I've read too much [[Wikipedia:Casey and Andy|Casey and Andy]] but I thought that machine should be called a Big-Bang-Nucleosynthesis-O-Mat. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 14:55, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:I have never heard of C&A before. Thank you so much - I should be sleeping now - guess what I'm doing instead? [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]])

THE REASON U HAVE A LACK OF HELIUM IS STARZ JUST EXTRACT IT FROM STARZ (but leave red giants alone, they only have hydrogen left.)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.71|172.69.130.71]] 06:45, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

agreed. just extract helium from stars[[User:I HAVE NO NAME|I HAVE NO NAME]] ([[User talk:I HAVE NO NAME|talk]]) 06:51, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

i spent 90 percent of my vpn on looking at xkcd. I should really take a break.[[User:Pizzalord3k|Pizzalord3k]] ([[User talk:Pizzalord3k|talk]]) 10:44, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:It's hard to know why you would need to use a personal VPN to check here (specifically), but it seems like you're binge-browsing. You may well be 'caught up' soon and perhaps before hitting any quota/recharging limit.
:And can we take it that all contributions from [[User:I HAVE NO NAME]] (and [[User:I HAVE NO NAME2]]) are now part of the above username's history? I hope things settle down for you (and us) shortly. Please do enjoy making useful edits, by whatever name you do. All helpful contributions are <s>tautological</s> helpful... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.248|172.70.160.248]] 11:06, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

2971: Celestial Event

2024-08-21T10:20:32Z

172.70.160.248: The panel does *not* cover the screen, and this accurately describes the words less than reading the literal transcripted wording does.

Talk:439: Thinking Ahead

2024-08-20T16:43:05Z

172.70.160.248:

I don't think the girl pictured is Megan, it seems to me that it's another girl and he is conflicted about talking to her because of unresolved feelings with Megan, which may come back to bite him if he doesn't explore them fully before becoming committed to another. Due to the beginning of the description it seems like this is just a silly mistake.{{unsigned ip|50.198.145.13}}
:It's fixed, and look at the trivia.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
::Where is this original transcript that I have seen people mention several times?[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:40, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
:::I believe it might be xkcd volume 0? --[[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 17:47, 28 December 2015 (UTC)
On to the actual problem mentioned in the article (i.e. Thinking Ahead), it's a common issue with intelligent guys who spend a lot of time thinking to start imagining all the ways a relationship could go wrong before it even starts. ([http://www.sosuave.com/romance/david/art61.htm "Why Very Intelligent Men Fail With Women, Reason #4: They psych themselves out"]) [[User:Donny2112|Donny2112]] ([[User talk:Donny2112|talk]]) 02:08, 3 July 2016 (UTC)
:sorry, non-native speaker here. Free to mock me, but I had a hard time understanding “I’m moving in the fall”. I thought it was some obscure idiom about rushing things and falling in love. Then I got that it probably just means “Next autumn I will move to another town”… right ? Thanks in advance --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.164|162.158.91.164]] 15:03, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
::As a native ''British'' speaker of English, it's one of the many words/phrases that I've had to gradually learn. (The ubiquitousness of Hollywood movies and US import TV shows quickly get one used to much of the strangenesses, but even after forty-odd years I'm occasionally surprised by something.) "Separated by a common language" indeed (see [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/table#Verb table as a verb], items 4 and 5, for polar-opposite uses of such a simple word), and [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeparatedByACommonLanguage if you want to dive down a rabbithole] there are plenty of places that go into examples.
::So, no, I won't mock you. I'm sure your grasp of any given English dialect is far better than my understanding of whatever your native language is. (German? If it is, mein Deutsche ist nicht sehr gut. If not, I'm probably even worse.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.43|172.70.90.43]] 16:56, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
I notice the difference between US and British English here. In England, we would say 'jump out *of* the window', not 'jump out the window'. Just thought it was interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 16:39, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Its not just the extra "of" that makes you guys British strange to Americans, its also the fact you guys spell color with a extra u and neighbor also with a extra u and center you guys spell with the e and r switched and u guys say z as zed.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.5|172.69.214.5]] 13:50, 20 August 2024 (UTC)
:Don't forget "-ise" instead of "-ize" (yes, "-ize"s are considered variations in UK English, but... they frankly look odd to me and the way I was taught to spell such words, so I'll personally "-ise" the words wherever this is an option), that we say numbers like "two hundred ''and'' twenty four", I would ask you to "write ''to'' me" ("write me a letter" would be ok, but to "write me" would imply I want you to actually author my existence in some way... e.g. I think you've done a bad job at telling people my story, and I want you to "write me better" in the next draft) and there's the whole controversy of "alumin''i''um" (which really does make more sense, regardless of the origins of both variations) and I'd still use "sulphur". And I really can't get over "short scale" billions, etc, which always seems rather wasteful of word-numbers (although you'd have to be a 'short' trillionaire to be able to claim you are a 'long' billionaire, so probably the current 'short' billionaires are happy to have a more reachable label).
:With regard to "colour/neighbour", dialect and accent does vary a lot across here (and spelling/inflection is already weird with the "col-" sounding "cul-" and the tetragraph "-eigh-" being a typical angloglyphic weird way to depict the sound), but I would read the "-or" ending pretty much as "or", rather than the "-our" which tends more (but not entirely) towards the french "-eur". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.237|162.158.33.237]] 14:16, 20 August 2024 (UTC)
::Loads of word differences, {{wiktionary|meter#Alternative forms|some of which}} are {{wiktionary|practice#Usage notes|more significant than others}} in their alternations. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.248|172.70.160.248]] 16:43, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

2971: Celestial Event

2024-08-14T10:02:56Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2971
| date = August 12, 2024
| title = Celestial Event
| image = celestial_event_2x.png
| imagesize = 471x300px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If we can get a brood of 13-year cicadas going, we might have a chance at making this happen before the oceans evaporate under the expanding sun.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CURSED SHOP THAT APPEARS EVERY FOUR POINT THREE BILLION YEARS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was posted shortly after some people reported seeing the aurora in conjunction with the perseids meteor shower.<ref>https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/the-2024-perseid-meteor-shower-and-northern-lights-overlapped-in-a-rare-cosmic-display-see-photos-of-the-dazzling-event/ar-AA1oJKKC</ref>. It lists several events that are considered special to be witnessed due to their rarity. Total solar eclipses, auroras and comet sightings are all rare events. This year, all three of these events happened in parts of the United States, where the author lives.

Although it might be, conceivably, possible to witness all three at once in a given location (in this case, the author's neighborhood), the odds stack up to make that occurrence extremely improbable. To boot, those events can only be observed with a clear sky (a 50:50 chance), so that too has to be accounted for in the calculation.

"Total eclipse" presumably refers to total solar eclipses, as total lunar eclipses are visible from any side of the earth that the moon is visible. Randall's hometown of Cambridge, MA has, in the modern era, experienced total solar eclipses on average every 130 years, far more often than his estimate of every 350 years. The last total solar eclipse in Cambridge happened at sunrise on October 2, 1959, but it did not align with clear skies. The one before that was on June 16, 1806, though one on August 31, 1932 was visible from nearby Cape Ann and Cape Cod. The next total eclipse in Cambridge will be at sunrise on May 1, 2079, and the next after that will be on April 14, 2200.

17-year {{w|Periodical cicadas|cicadas}} are also special in the sense that a brood will only emerge from the ground once every 17 years. Periodical cicadas recently became the object of media furor in 2024 as a 13-year brood and a 17-year brood happened to emerge together, an event that only happens once every 13x17 = 221 years. This caused a lot of noise and double the amount of dead cicadas after they had mated. Needless to say, having a cicada emergence co-occur with all those previously mentioned events would be extra rare, and thus extra special.

How rare, exactly, is the point of this calculation. The resulting product is the expected frequency that all of them would occur at the same time at that location. The value he calculates is once every 4.3 billion years. This is in the same ballpark as the current age of the Earth, about 4.5 billion years.

There are multiple inaccuracies in this type of calculation (though, given the extravagant nature of the proposed event and the unfeasible time scale, perhaps that hardly matters). Multiplying probabilities only works for random variables that are entirely independent. If nothing else, orbits are (luckily[maybe]
) not random.{{cn}} It also requires that all of the probabilities remain constant over time. In reality, cicadas will not exist for very long compared to the time scale, since Earth will become uninhabitable to complex life within a billion years' time and all life will be extinct within {{w|Future of Earth|4 billion years}}. Also, the moon is moving away from Earth, and total solar eclipses will cease to occur in about [https://www.space.com/37627-total-solar-eclipse-earth-moon-alignment-future.html 600 million years]. Luckily, this is not the time that you are ''always'' going to wait, merely the (usual) period between one occurance and the next. A person starting to wait at a random point in the cycle, and not knowing anything else, would ''on average'' only have to wait ''half'' the time. (If very lucky, it could happen tomorrow, as it hypothetically might have done a bit over four billion years ago; if unlucky, it would indeed be slightly more than four billion years, having most recently happened yesterday; if ''very'' unlucky, the frequencies are slightly less defined, do not actually align as expected for the next conclusion of the cycle and additional billions of years need to be waited until the next example when it 'might' indeed occur as anticipated. Finally, if '''extremely''' unlucky, you will never get a clear sky. Ever.

In order for the math to work out, some unit conversion is necessary. To solve "20 days / 11 years", one can consider 1 year = 365.24 days (a reasonable approximation that accounts for most leap years). For "2 months / 50 years" and "2 months / 17 years", the simplest way is to convert 1 year into 12 months. Unit cancelation works out, and you end up with a number in years that corresponds to the average amount of time between events when all those different things are happening at once. (the implied unit for eclipses is events per year, and that's the unit you get as a result, so the actual length of the eclipse doesn't influence the result much).

In the title text, Randall mentioned swapping 17-year cicada broods for 13-year ones, to have some chance at witnessing the proposed super-event before life on Earth becomes impossible. Massachusetts is near the northern limit of {{w|Periodical_cicadas|Magicicada}} distribution, and only one 17-year brood is established there (and not in Cambridge, MA). However, the introduction of a different brood could, with some help from global warming, be feasible.

Earth's oceans may evaporate in about one billion years<ref>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131216142310.htm</ref>. In order to beat that, we need to better our odds. Using 13-year cicadas in our calculations reduces the average interval between events to 3.29 billion years. We can lower that further by hoping that we'll have clear skies by then (who knows, we might get good enough at manipulating weather that we can *make* it happen). That gives us an average interval between events of about 1.6 billion years. Which means a larger than 50% chance that we'll get our special super-event to happen within a billion years, therefore beating ocean evaporation. Of course, cicadas may not last that long.[baseless conjecture] [trust the cicadas]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Approximate frequency in my area

:Active northern lights: 20 days per solar cycle

:A naked-eye "Great Comet": 2 months every 50 years

:Total eclipse: once every 350 years

:Clear skies: 50% of the time

:17-year cicada emergence: 2 months every 17 years

opening bracket

20 days over 11 years multiplied by

2 months over 50 years multiplied by

1 over 350 years multiplied by

one half multiplied by

2 months over 17 years

closing bracket to the power of -1

equals 4.3 billion years

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every 4 billion years or so, my neighborhood gets to see a ''really'' spectacular show.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Solar eclipses]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2969: Vice President First Names

2024-08-08T17:17:15Z

172.70.160.248: /* Trivia: Other ways to shorten names */ Meant to nudge it up a level...

{{comic
| number = 2969
| date = August 7, 2024
| title = Vice President First Names
| image = vice_president_first_names_2x.png
| imagesize = 364x556px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [Political pundit on the ScrabbleTV News channel] "After four years of defying orthographic pressure, Joe ceded the top of the ticket to Kamala, who--after considering Josh, Mark, Andy, Roy, and Pete--picked Tim."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by CORNELIUS LYSANDER THROCKMORTON "BOT" BOTTINGFORD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall observes that American {{w|Vice President of the United States|Vice Presidents}} since the 80s have almost all went by short first names. It should be noted that all of the "short" first names in this strip, with the exception of John (F. Kennedy) are diminutives (or initials) of longer names, but all represent the names which the candidates preferred and publicly used. This comic was published one day after {{w|Kamala Harris}} (who replaced Biden as presidential candidate) chose {{w|Tim Walz}} as her running mate for the {{w|2024 United States presidential election|2024 presidential election}}. Both the Republican and Democratic tickets are present for 2024, since the 2024 election had not yet concluded when this comic was made. Either party winning would match the observation.

In the comic's caption, Randall amusingly describes this as an emerging "political consensus."

While not a "political" consensus per se, the observed phenomenon is a type of consensus — reflecting a multi-decade change in US societal norms — and is not simply a random coincidence.
* There has been a national US trend toward shorter names since the 1980s and 1990s, with a rise in the popularity of baby names like Ryan, Kyle, Amy and Lisa. (The trend has continued, with even shorter names like Ava, Mia and Max becoming more common in the 2000s and 2010s.)
* This has paralleled a trend in shorter business names, with companies like Dell, Cisco and eBay before the turn of the millennium and Google, Uber and Lyft after (cf. pre-1980 businesses like AT&T, BNSF or 3M which had to convert their very long names into acronyms to adapt). Product naming also began to simplify in the late 20th century, driven by marketing strategies that favored brevity and memorability, exemplified by Apple's iconic "iMac" and "iPhone" products (again, cf. names like "Tandy 1000", "Ford F 500" or "Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies").
* All of these naming trends reflect a ''general'' societal trend toward minimalism and less formality, also seen with corporate logos, product design (Apple), clothing design (Gap), furniture design (IKEA) and web/app design.

This societal shift may explain why many politicians with given names like Albert and Richard might have preferred to go by shorter, less formal sounding, more approachable names like Al and Dick, to match the zeitgeist. James Danforth Quayle additionally used his middle name (that being another common self-naming decision; or one arising from family tradition/convenience, given that James Cline Quayle was his father), one less commonly seen than the other unabbreviated name from which "Dan" might have come.

Given that trend, it is noteworthy that Vice Presidents have generally adopted shorter names, but presidents have been less likely to do so. It's possible to create theories around this (eg, the office of President is expected to have more gravitas and formality, while the Vice President has less of an official role, and wants to be more approachable), but the size of the group is small enough that it could easily be coincidence, particularly since many of those names (such as George, Barack and Kamala) can't be easily shortened. The exception, Donald Trump (which can be shortened to Don), did not become a politician until late in life, when he was already nationally famous using his full name.

The '''title text''' amusingly suggests (1) the existence of a ScrabbleTV News channel (named after {{w|Scrabble|the word game}}) staffed with (2) political pundits who (3) report Biden's decision to end his re-election campaign as being driven by orthographic (related to the writing of words) pressure to conform to the aforementioned political consensus. Having Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as VP violated this pattern, but elevating Harris to the presidency and selecting a short-named running mate would restore it. In addition to Tim Walz, all of the candidates considered most likely as running mate had short first names: Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Andy Beshear, Roy Cooper and Pete Buttigieg. This could also be a subtle joke about political pundits tending to give confident, inaccurate hot-takes. (Biden's decision was driven, among other things, by worsening polling, rising concerns about his age, a poor debate performance against Trump and subsequent pressure from other leading Democrats.)

This is Randall's second recent comic engaging in observational comedy about US politics and Kamala Harris, the first being [[2962: President Venn Diagram]] which was published right after she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Presidential Ticket Names
! Year !! President !! Vice-President
|-
| 2024 || Donald (John {{w|Donald Trump|Trump}}‎) Kamala (Devi {{w|Kamala Harris|Harris}}) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''JD''' (''James David'' {{w|JD Vance|Vance}}, né James Donald Bowman)‎ '''Tim''' (''Timothy'' {{w|Tim Walz|Walz}})
|-
| 2020 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Joe''' (''Joseph'' Robinette {{w|Joe Biden|Biden}} Jr.) || Kamala (Devi Harris)
|-
| 2016 || Donald (John Trump)‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Mike''' (''Michael'' Richard {{w|Mike Pence|Pence}})
|-
| 2012 2008 || Barack (Hussein {{w|Barack Obama|Obama}} II)‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Joe''' (''Joseph'' Robinette Biden, Jr.)
|-
| 2004 2000 || George (Walker {{w|George W. Bush|Bush}}) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Dick''' (''Richard'' Bruce {{w|Dick Cheney|Cheney}})
|-
| 1996 1992 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Bill''' (''William'' Jefferson {{w|Bill Clinton|Clinton}}, né W. J. Blythe III) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Al''' (''Albert'' Arnold {{w|Al Gore|Gore}} Jr.)
|-
| 1988 || George (Herbert Walker {{w|George H. W. Bush|Bush}})‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Dan''' (James ''Danforth'' {{w|Dan Quayle|Quayle}})
|-
| 1984 1980 || Ronald (Wilson {{w|Ronald Reagan|Reagan}})‎ || George (Herbert Walker Bush)
|-
| 1976 || ‎Jimmy (''James'' Earl {{w|Jimmy Carter|Carter}} Jr.) || Walter (Frederick {{w|Walter Mondale|Mondale}})
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1974 || ‎Gerald (Rudolph {{w|Gerald Ford|Ford}} Jr, né Leslie Lynch King Jr.) || Nelson (Aldrich {{w|Nelson Rockefeller|Rockefeller}})*
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1973 || ‎Richard (Milhous {{w|Richard Nixon|Nixon}}) || Gerald (Rudolph Ford Jr.)*
|-
| 1972 1968 || ‎Richard (Milhous Nixon) || Spiro (Theodore {{w|Spiro Agnew|Agnew}})
|-
| 1964 || Lyndon (Baines {{w|Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson}}) || Hubert (Horatio {{w|Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey}} Jr.)
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1963 || Lyndon (Baines Johnson)† || ''vacant''
|-
| 1960 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''John''' (Fitzgerald {{w|John F. Kennedy|Kennedy}}) || Lyndon (Baines Johnson)
|-
| 1956 1952 || Dwight (David {{w|Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower}}, né David Dwight Eisenhower) || Richard (Milhous Nixon)
|}

:Darkened rows show transitions not made via an {{w|List of United States major party presidential tickets|electoral 'ticket'}}.
::''* Replacements made in response to political scandal''
::''† Accession to Presidency due to assassination, VP position left unfilled until next election (not shown in comic)''

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Tables are bad? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A table is shown in a panel. Names of "Four letters or fewer" are shown in the comic on a yellow background (bolded in the table below).]
:{| class="wikitable"
! !! President !! VP
|-
| 2024 ||? Kamala ? Donald || '''Tim ? JD ?'''
|-
| 2020 || '''Joe''' || Kamala
|-
| 2016 || Donald‎ || '''Mike'''
|-
| 2008 || Barack‎ || '''Joe'''
|-
| 2000 || George || '''Dick'''
|-
| 1992 || '''Bill''' || '''Al'''
|-
| 1988 || George || '''Dan'''
|-
| 1980 || Ronald‎ || George
|-
| 1976 || ‎Jimmy || Walter
|-
| 1974 || ‎Gerald || Nelson
|-
| 1973 || ‎Richard || Gerald
|-
| 1968 || ‎Richard || Spiro
|-
| 1964 || Lyndon || Hubert
|-
| 1960 || '''John''' || Lyndon
|-
| 1952 || Dwight || Richard
|}

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Since the 1980s, a political consensus has emerged: vice presidents should have short first names.

==Trivia: Other ways to shorten names==
Politicians can also use a more casual name by using an already less unwieldy middle name (as with {{w|Mitt Romney|Willard Mitt Romney}}, but doubly-averted in Dan Quayle's case). Even when they're not shortened to four or fewer letters, names can be made more casual in other ways (as with {{w|Bernie Sanders|Bernard 'Bernie' Sanders}}). As well, some politicians were commonly called by short nicknames even if they did not run under those names (Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower).

Some of these may have been adult decisions, a personal choice to mark adulthood (or a change of career) by a more character-distinguishing variation, others may have been 'imposed' upon them by family, friends or peers over time and become happily accepted as the norm by the recipient without any great personal consideration.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

2969: Vice President First Names

2024-08-08T17:16:19Z

172.70.160.248: /* Transcript */ As promised, pasted post-#Transcript, with those edits as well.

{{comic
| number = 2969
| date = August 7, 2024
| title = Vice President First Names
| image = vice_president_first_names_2x.png
| imagesize = 364x556px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [Political pundit on the ScrabbleTV News channel] "After four years of defying orthographic pressure, Joe ceded the top of the ticket to Kamala, who--after considering Josh, Mark, Andy, Roy, and Pete--picked Tim."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by CORNELIUS LYSANDER THROCKMORTON "BOT" BOTTINGFORD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall observes that American {{w|Vice President of the United States|Vice Presidents}} since the 80s have almost all went by short first names. It should be noted that all of the "short" first names in this strip, with the exception of John (F. Kennedy) are diminutives (or initials) of longer names, but all represent the names which the candidates preferred and publicly used. This comic was published one day after {{w|Kamala Harris}} (who replaced Biden as presidential candidate) chose {{w|Tim Walz}} as her running mate for the {{w|2024 United States presidential election|2024 presidential election}}. Both the Republican and Democratic tickets are present for 2024, since the 2024 election had not yet concluded when this comic was made. Either party winning would match the observation.

In the comic's caption, Randall amusingly describes this as an emerging "political consensus."

While not a "political" consensus per se, the observed phenomenon is a type of consensus — reflecting a multi-decade change in US societal norms — and is not simply a random coincidence.
* There has been a national US trend toward shorter names since the 1980s and 1990s, with a rise in the popularity of baby names like Ryan, Kyle, Amy and Lisa. (The trend has continued, with even shorter names like Ava, Mia and Max becoming more common in the 2000s and 2010s.)
* This has paralleled a trend in shorter business names, with companies like Dell, Cisco and eBay before the turn of the millennium and Google, Uber and Lyft after (cf. pre-1980 businesses like AT&T, BNSF or 3M which had to convert their very long names into acronyms to adapt). Product naming also began to simplify in the late 20th century, driven by marketing strategies that favored brevity and memorability, exemplified by Apple's iconic "iMac" and "iPhone" products (again, cf. names like "Tandy 1000", "Ford F 500" or "Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies").
* All of these naming trends reflect a ''general'' societal trend toward minimalism and less formality, also seen with corporate logos, product design (Apple), clothing design (Gap), furniture design (IKEA) and web/app design.

This societal shift may explain why many politicians with given names like Albert and Richard might have preferred to go by shorter, less formal sounding, more approachable names like Al and Dick, to match the zeitgeist. James Danforth Quayle additionally used his middle name (that being another common self-naming decision; or one arising from family tradition/convenience, given that James Cline Quayle was his father), one less commonly seen than the other unabbreviated name from which "Dan" might have come.

Given that trend, it is noteworthy that Vice Presidents have generally adopted shorter names, but presidents have been less likely to do so. It's possible to create theories around this (eg, the office of President is expected to have more gravitas and formality, while the Vice President has less of an official role, and wants to be more approachable), but the size of the group is small enough that it could easily be coincidence, particularly since many of those names (such as George, Barack and Kamala) can't be easily shortened. The exception, Donald Trump (which can be shortened to Don), did not become a politician until late in life, when he was already nationally famous using his full name.

The '''title text''' amusingly suggests (1) the existence of a ScrabbleTV News channel (named after {{w|Scrabble|the word game}}) staffed with (2) political pundits who (3) report Biden's decision to end his re-election campaign as being driven by orthographic (related to the writing of words) pressure to conform to the aforementioned political consensus. Having Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as VP violated this pattern, but elevating Harris to the presidency and selecting a short-named running mate would restore it. In addition to Tim Walz, all of the candidates considered most likely as running mate had short first names: Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Andy Beshear, Roy Cooper and Pete Buttigieg. This could also be a subtle joke about political pundits tending to give confident, inaccurate hot-takes. (Biden's decision was driven, among other things, by worsening polling, rising concerns about his age, a poor debate performance against Trump and subsequent pressure from other leading Democrats.)

This is Randall's second recent comic engaging in observational comedy about US politics and Kamala Harris, the first being [[2962: President Venn Diagram]] which was published right after she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Presidential Ticket Names
! Year !! President !! Vice-President
|-
| 2024 || Donald (John {{w|Donald Trump|Trump}}‎) Kamala (Devi {{w|Kamala Harris|Harris}}) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''JD''' (''James David'' {{w|JD Vance|Vance}}, né James Donald Bowman)‎ '''Tim''' (''Timothy'' {{w|Tim Walz|Walz}})
|-
| 2020 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Joe''' (''Joseph'' Robinette {{w|Joe Biden|Biden}} Jr.) || Kamala (Devi Harris)
|-
| 2016 || Donald (John Trump)‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Mike''' (''Michael'' Richard {{w|Mike Pence|Pence}})
|-
| 2012 2008 || Barack (Hussein {{w|Barack Obama|Obama}} II)‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Joe''' (''Joseph'' Robinette Biden, Jr.)
|-
| 2004 2000 || George (Walker {{w|George W. Bush|Bush}}) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Dick''' (''Richard'' Bruce {{w|Dick Cheney|Cheney}})
|-
| 1996 1992 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Bill''' (''William'' Jefferson {{w|Bill Clinton|Clinton}}, né W. J. Blythe III) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Al''' (''Albert'' Arnold {{w|Al Gore|Gore}} Jr.)
|-
| 1988 || George (Herbert Walker {{w|George H. W. Bush|Bush}})‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Dan''' (James ''Danforth'' {{w|Dan Quayle|Quayle}})
|-
| 1984 1980 || Ronald (Wilson {{w|Ronald Reagan|Reagan}})‎ || George (Herbert Walker Bush)
|-
| 1976 || ‎Jimmy (''James'' Earl {{w|Jimmy Carter|Carter}} Jr.) || Walter (Frederick {{w|Walter Mondale|Mondale}})
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1974 || ‎Gerald (Rudolph {{w|Gerald Ford|Ford}} Jr, né Leslie Lynch King Jr.) || Nelson (Aldrich {{w|Nelson Rockefeller|Rockefeller}})*
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1973 || ‎Richard (Milhous {{w|Richard Nixon|Nixon}}) || Gerald (Rudolph Ford Jr.)*
|-
| 1972 1968 || ‎Richard (Milhous Nixon) || Spiro (Theodore {{w|Spiro Agnew|Agnew}})
|-
| 1964 || Lyndon (Baines {{w|Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson}}) || Hubert (Horatio {{w|Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey}} Jr.)
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1963 || Lyndon (Baines Johnson)† || ''vacant''
|-
| 1960 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''John''' (Fitzgerald {{w|John F. Kennedy|Kennedy}}) || Lyndon (Baines Johnson)
|-
| 1956 1952 || Dwight (David {{w|Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower}}, né David Dwight Eisenhower) || Richard (Milhous Nixon)
|}

:Darkened rows show transitions not made via an {{w|List of United States major party presidential tickets|electoral 'ticket'}}.
::''* Replacements made in response to political scandal''
::''† Accession to Presidency due to assassination, VP position left unfilled until next election (not shown in comic)''

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Tables are bad? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A table is shown in a panel. Names of "Four letters or fewer" are shown in the comic on a yellow background (bolded in the table below).]
:{| class="wikitable"
! !! President !! VP
|-
| 2024 ||? Kamala ? Donald || '''Tim ? JD ?'''
|-
| 2020 || '''Joe''' || Kamala
|-
| 2016 || Donald‎ || '''Mike'''
|-
| 2008 || Barack‎ || '''Joe'''
|-
| 2000 || George || '''Dick'''
|-
| 1992 || '''Bill''' || '''Al'''
|-
| 1988 || George || '''Dan'''
|-
| 1980 || Ronald‎ || George
|-
| 1976 || ‎Jimmy || Walter
|-
| 1974 || ‎Gerald || Nelson
|-
| 1973 || ‎Richard || Gerald
|-
| 1968 || ‎Richard || Spiro
|-
| 1964 || Lyndon || Hubert
|-
| 1960 || '''John''' || Lyndon
|-
| 1952 || Dwight || Richard
|}

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Since the 1980s, a political consensus has emerged: vice presidents should have short first names.

===Trivia: Other ways to shorten names===
Politicians can also use a more casual name by using an already less unwieldy middle name (as with {{w|Mitt Romney|Willard Mitt Romney}}, but doubly-averted in Dan Quayle's case). Even when they're not shortened to four or fewer letters, names can be made more casual in other ways (as with {{w|Bernie Sanders|Bernard 'Bernie' Sanders}}). As well, some politicians were commonly called by short nicknames even if they did not run under those names (Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower).

Some of these may have been adult decisions, a personal choice to mark adulthood (or a change of career) by a more character-distinguishing variation, others may have been 'imposed' upon them by family, friends or peers over time and become happily accepted as the norm by the recipient without any great personal consideration.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

2969: Vice President First Names

2024-08-08T17:14:26Z

172.70.160.248: /* Trivia: Other ways to shorten names */ Removing Trivia in order to put it (slightly amended, along the way) in the usual #Trivia position. Assuming it *is* #Trivia

{{comic
| number = 2969
| date = August 7, 2024
| title = Vice President First Names
| image = vice_president_first_names_2x.png
| imagesize = 364x556px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [Political pundit on the ScrabbleTV News channel] "After four years of defying orthographic pressure, Joe ceded the top of the ticket to Kamala, who--after considering Josh, Mark, Andy, Roy, and Pete--picked Tim."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by CORNELIUS LYSANDER THROCKMORTON "BOT" BOTTINGFORD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall observes that American {{w|Vice President of the United States|Vice Presidents}} since the 80s have almost all went by short first names. It should be noted that all of the "short" first names in this strip, with the exception of John (F. Kennedy) are diminutives (or initials) of longer names, but all represent the names which the candidates preferred and publicly used. This comic was published one day after {{w|Kamala Harris}} (who replaced Biden as presidential candidate) chose {{w|Tim Walz}} as her running mate for the {{w|2024 United States presidential election|2024 presidential election}}. Both the Republican and Democratic tickets are present for 2024, since the 2024 election had not yet concluded when this comic was made. Either party winning would match the observation.

In the comic's caption, Randall amusingly describes this as an emerging "political consensus."

While not a "political" consensus per se, the observed phenomenon is a type of consensus — reflecting a multi-decade change in US societal norms — and is not simply a random coincidence.
* There has been a national US trend toward shorter names since the 1980s and 1990s, with a rise in the popularity of baby names like Ryan, Kyle, Amy and Lisa. (The trend has continued, with even shorter names like Ava, Mia and Max becoming more common in the 2000s and 2010s.)
* This has paralleled a trend in shorter business names, with companies like Dell, Cisco and eBay before the turn of the millennium and Google, Uber and Lyft after (cf. pre-1980 businesses like AT&T, BNSF or 3M which had to convert their very long names into acronyms to adapt). Product naming also began to simplify in the late 20th century, driven by marketing strategies that favored brevity and memorability, exemplified by Apple's iconic "iMac" and "iPhone" products (again, cf. names like "Tandy 1000", "Ford F 500" or "Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies").
* All of these naming trends reflect a ''general'' societal trend toward minimalism and less formality, also seen with corporate logos, product design (Apple), clothing design (Gap), furniture design (IKEA) and web/app design.

This societal shift may explain why many politicians with given names like Albert and Richard might have preferred to go by shorter, less formal sounding, more approachable names like Al and Dick, to match the zeitgeist. James Danforth Quayle additionally used his middle name (that being another common self-naming decision; or one arising from family tradition/convenience, given that James Cline Quayle was his father), one less commonly seen than the other unabbreviated name from which "Dan" might have come.

Given that trend, it is noteworthy that Vice Presidents have generally adopted shorter names, but presidents have been less likely to do so. It's possible to create theories around this (eg, the office of President is expected to have more gravitas and formality, while the Vice President has less of an official role, and wants to be more approachable), but the size of the group is small enough that it could easily be coincidence, particularly since many of those names (such as George, Barack and Kamala) can't be easily shortened. The exception, Donald Trump (which can be shortened to Don), did not become a politician until late in life, when he was already nationally famous using his full name.

The '''title text''' amusingly suggests (1) the existence of a ScrabbleTV News channel (named after {{w|Scrabble|the word game}}) staffed with (2) political pundits who (3) report Biden's decision to end his re-election campaign as being driven by orthographic (related to the writing of words) pressure to conform to the aforementioned political consensus. Having Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as VP violated this pattern, but elevating Harris to the presidency and selecting a short-named running mate would restore it. In addition to Tim Walz, all of the candidates considered most likely as running mate had short first names: Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Andy Beshear, Roy Cooper and Pete Buttigieg. This could also be a subtle joke about political pundits tending to give confident, inaccurate hot-takes. (Biden's decision was driven, among other things, by worsening polling, rising concerns about his age, a poor debate performance against Trump and subsequent pressure from other leading Democrats.)

This is Randall's second recent comic engaging in observational comedy about US politics and Kamala Harris, the first being [[2962: President Venn Diagram]] which was published right after she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Presidential Ticket Names
! Year !! President !! Vice-President
|-
| 2024 || Donald (John {{w|Donald Trump|Trump}}‎) Kamala (Devi {{w|Kamala Harris|Harris}}) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''JD''' (''James David'' {{w|JD Vance|Vance}}, né James Donald Bowman)‎ '''Tim''' (''Timothy'' {{w|Tim Walz|Walz}})
|-
| 2020 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Joe''' (''Joseph'' Robinette {{w|Joe Biden|Biden}} Jr.) || Kamala (Devi Harris)
|-
| 2016 || Donald (John Trump)‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Mike''' (''Michael'' Richard {{w|Mike Pence|Pence}})
|-
| 2012 2008 || Barack (Hussein {{w|Barack Obama|Obama}} II)‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Joe''' (''Joseph'' Robinette Biden, Jr.)
|-
| 2004 2000 || George (Walker {{w|George W. Bush|Bush}}) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Dick''' (''Richard'' Bruce {{w|Dick Cheney|Cheney}})
|-
| 1996 1992 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Bill''' (''William'' Jefferson {{w|Bill Clinton|Clinton}}, né W. J. Blythe III) || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Al''' (''Albert'' Arnold {{w|Al Gore|Gore}} Jr.)
|-
| 1988 || George (Herbert Walker {{w|George H. W. Bush|Bush}})‎ || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''Dan''' (James ''Danforth'' {{w|Dan Quayle|Quayle}})
|-
| 1984 1980 || Ronald (Wilson {{w|Ronald Reagan|Reagan}})‎ || George (Herbert Walker Bush)
|-
| 1976 || ‎Jimmy (''James'' Earl {{w|Jimmy Carter|Carter}} Jr.) || Walter (Frederick {{w|Walter Mondale|Mondale}})
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1974 || ‎Gerald (Rudolph {{w|Gerald Ford|Ford}} Jr, né Leslie Lynch King Jr.) || Nelson (Aldrich {{w|Nelson Rockefeller|Rockefeller}})*
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1973 || ‎Richard (Milhous {{w|Richard Nixon|Nixon}}) || Gerald (Rudolph Ford Jr.)*
|-
| 1972 1968 || ‎Richard (Milhous Nixon) || Spiro (Theodore {{w|Spiro Agnew|Agnew}})
|-
| 1964 || Lyndon (Baines {{w|Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson}}) || Hubert (Horatio {{w|Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey}} Jr.)
|-style="background-color:lightgray"
| 1963 || Lyndon (Baines Johnson)† || ''vacant''
|-
| 1960 || style="background-color:lightyellow" | '''John''' (Fitzgerald {{w|John F. Kennedy|Kennedy}}) || Lyndon (Baines Johnson)
|-
| 1956 1952 || Dwight (David {{w|Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower}}, né David Dwight Eisenhower) || Richard (Milhous Nixon)
|}

:Darkened rows show transitions not made via an {{w|List of United States major party presidential tickets|electoral 'ticket'}}.
::''* Replacements made in response to political scandal''
::''† Accession to Presidency due to assassination, VP position left unfilled until next election (not shown in comic)''

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Tables are bad? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A table is shown in a panel. Names of "Four letters or fewer" are shown in the comic on a yellow background (bolded in the table below).]
:{| class="wikitable"
! !! President !! VP
|-
| 2024 ||? Kamala ? Donald || '''Tim ? JD ?'''
|-
| 2020 || '''Joe''' || Kamala
|-
| 2016 || Donald‎ || '''Mike'''
|-
| 2008 || Barack‎ || '''Joe'''
|-
| 2000 || George || '''Dick'''
|-
| 1992 || '''Bill''' || '''Al'''
|-
| 1988 || George || '''Dan'''
|-
| 1980 || Ronald‎ || George
|-
| 1976 || ‎Jimmy || Walter
|-
| 1974 || ‎Gerald || Nelson
|-
| 1973 || ‎Richard || Gerald
|-
| 1968 || ‎Richard || Spiro
|-
| 1964 || Lyndon || Hubert
|-
| 1960 || '''John''' || Lyndon
|-
| 1952 || Dwight || Richard
|}

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Since the 1980s, a political consensus has emerged: vice presidents should have short first names.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

2969: Vice President First Names

2024-08-07T17:10:11Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ Worded to exclude such as the JFK and W/’Dubya' cases, as none of those are highlit in the places where they appear themselves.

2967: Matter

2024-08-06T15:33:14Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ Messy sentence improved, and another change.

{{comic
| number = 2967
| date = August 2, 2024
| title = Matter
| image = matter_2x.png
| imagesize = 234x341px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = He was the first person to land a 900, which is especially impressive because pulling off a half-integer spin requires obeying Fermi-Dirac statistics.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GOOFY FRONTSIDE WIKI GRIND TO SECRET PHYSICS DEMO TAPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In {{w|skateboarding}}, the term "goofy" means to push with the left foot, using the {{w|Footedness#Goofy_stance|opposite stance}} to the supposedly standard stance of pushing with one's right foot. The comic uses those stances as an analogy for {{w|antimatter}} in particle physics, which has the opposite electrical charge of corresponding matter particles that will annihilate each other upon collision, releasing energy proportional to their combined mass. In this comic, famed professional skateboarder {{w|Tony Hawk}} has obtained a professorship in physics and is teaching this very non-standard concept. As Tony Hawk does not have a degree in physics,{{Citation needed}} teaching inaccurate lessons could be a likely pitfall of his gaining a professorship in real life. Hawk is also the subject of [[296: Tony Hawk]].

Unlike other distributions of 'handedness' in the natural world (chemical {{w|chirality}}, or the {{w|skewness}} of {{w|Multimodal distribution|bimodal statistics}} describing asymmetries in nature called {{w|homochirality}}), 'goofy-footed' skateboarders are about as common as those using standard footing. The analogy indirectly raises the issue of {{w|baryon asymmetry}}, the observation that ordinary matter is very much more common than antimatter because there is so little evidence of annihilation throughout the universe. Baryon asymmetry is often thought to have resulted from fluctuations during {{w|Inflation (cosmology)|cosmological inflation}} between 10−33 and 10−32 seconds [https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.251301 after the Big Bang], although there are several other candidate explanations of varying falsifiability.

The title text describes Hawk as the first person to "land a 900," meaning the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YYTNkAdDD8&t=1m30s successful completion] of {{w|900 (skateboarding)|a skateboarding trick}} that involves two and a half rotations (nine hundred degrees, as 2.5 × 360° = 900°). In physics, {{w|Spin (physics)|spin}} is a {{w|quantum number}} describing subatomic particles (see [[1862: Particle Properties]]), named in reference to the vaguely analogous ''but crucially distinct'' concept of {{w|angular momentum}} in classical physics. Obeying {{w|Fermi–Dirac statistics}} requires that the particles involved are {{w|fermion}}s, which include all of the electrons, protons and neutrons that compose the entirety of everyone's body and electrochemical state. Fermions all have {{w|half-integer}} (i.e., ...–1½, –½, ½, 1½...) {{w|spin quantum number}}s which do indeed include 2½, but only [https://physics.aps.org/articles/v7/s137 extremely rare particles] have a spin of 5/2. However, it's very important to remember that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYeRS5a3HbE&ab_channel=ScienceClicEnglish quantum mechanical spin is ''not'' rotation, but instead how quickly the corresponding particle changes state when rotated.]

While everyone (and almost everything we ordinarily interact with except light and cosmic rays) is composed entirely of fermions, {{w|Boson#Composite bosons|any composite particle made of an even number of fermions, including entire atoms and their nuclei, are not fermions}} but {{w|boson}}s, which do ''not'' obey Fermi–Dirac statistics. Luckily, landing a 900 does not actually require obedience to Fermi–Dirac statistics because a skateboarder comprised entirely of bosonic atoms would still have fermionic electrons in the orbitals of those atoms and thus would still obey the far more macroscopically fundamental and consequential {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}}. That principle gives atoms and molecules (which are almost entirely empty space with any identifiable particles being the smallest of points distributed throughout the respective spaces) the properties of being physically substantive, allowing us to hold things, walk, make sound waves with our voices and everything else that we do corporeally. This may be considered a rather basic preequisite to land a 900, though it naturally also needs one to be a sufficiently skilled skateboarder.

==Transcript==
:[Tony Hawk (drawn with short hair) is gesturing at a narrow whiteboard on which illegible things are marked, what may be a Feynman diagram with one of the particle/antiparticle pair going into a circle (possibly representing a black hole, and thus depicting the popularized (incorrect) analogy for {{w|Hawking radiation}}), and at the bottom, a 2x3 table of illegible values.]
:Tony Hawk: In the standard model, regular matter will annihilate if it comes in contact with oppositely-charged ''goofy'' matter.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Tony Hawk becomes a physics professor

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Skateboard]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2967: Matter

2024-08-03T15:12:41Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2967
| date = August 2, 2024
| title = Matter
| image = matter_2x.png
| imagesize = 234x341px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = He was the first person to land a 900, which is especially impressive because pulling off a half-integer spin requires obeying Fermi-Dirac statistics.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GOOFY FRONTSIDE WIKI GRIND TO SECRET PHYSICS DEMO TAPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In {{w|skateboarding}}, the term 'goofy' means to push with the left foot, using the {{w|Footedness#Goofy_stance|opposite stance}} to standard footing, a stance pushing with one's right foot. The comic uses this as a analogy for {{w|antimatter}} in particle physics, which exhibits the opposite charge to ordinary matter and will destroy both upon collision, releasing energy proportional to their combined mass in a process called annihilation. {{w|Tony Hawk}}, a professional skateboarder of great renown, has apparently obtained a professorship and is teaching this very non-standard theory. Professor Hawk's appearance could be a play on the name of {{w|Stephen Hawking}}, a famous astrophysicist and professor at the University of Cambridge before his death in 2018. As Tony Hawk does not have a degree in physics{{cn}}, teaching inaccurate lessons would be a likely pitfall of his professorship.

This analogy also indirectly raises the problem of {{w|baryon asymmetry}}, in which ordinary matter appears to be much more common than antimatter, unlike most{{citation needed}} distributions of handedness, chemical {{w|chirality}}, or the {{w|skewness}} of {{w|Multimodal_distribution|bimodal statistics}} describing asymmetries in nature (called {{w|homochirality}}, e.g., organ shape and centering, or plants favoring one branch over the other at a fork) and in artificial methods, because 'goofy-footed' skateboarders are about common as those using standard footing.

The title text describes Hawk as the first person to "land a 900," meaning the successful completion of a {{w|900 (skateboarding)|skateboarding trick}} involving two and a half rotations, or nine hundred degrees (2.5 × 360° = 900°). In physics, {{w|Spin (physics)|spin}} is a {{w|quantum number}} describing subatomic particles, named for the vaguely analogous ''but crucially distinct'' concept of {{w|angular momentum}} in classical physics. Obeying {{w|Fermi–Dirac statistics}} requires that the particles involved are {{w|fermion}}s, which include all of the electrons, protons, and neutrons comprising the entirety of Hawk's mass and electrochemical state. Fermions all have {{w|half-integer}} (i.e., ...–1½, –½, ½, 1½...) {{w|spin quantum number}}s which do indeed include 2½. However, it's very important to remember that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYeRS5a3HbE&ab_channel=ScienceClicEnglish quantum mechanical spin is ''not'' rotation, but how quickly the corresponding particle changes state when rotated.]

Whilst everyone and most everything we ordinarily interact with (except light and cosmic rays and their decay products) are comprised entirely of fermions, {{w|Boson#Composite bosons|any composite particle made of an even number of fermions}} (including entire atoms, and their nuclei), are not fermions but {{w|boson}}s, which do ''not'' obey Fermi–Dirac statistics. Luckily, landing a 900 does not actually require complete obedience to Fermi–Dirac statistics, because a skateboarder comprised entirely of bosonic atoms would still have fermionic electrons in the orbitals of those atoms, and thus would still obey the far more macroscopically fundamental {{w|Pauli exclusion principle}}, which gives mostly empty atoms the property of substance, allowing you to hold things, walk, make sound waves with your voice, employ any mechanical property of matter and allowing a sufficiently skilled skateboarder to land a 900.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Tony Hawk (drawn with short hair) gesturing at a narrow whiteboard on which illegible things are marked, what may be a Feynman diagram with one of the particle/antiparticle pair going into a circle (possibly representing a black hole, and thus depicting the popularized(incorrect) analogy for {{w|Hawking radiation}}), and at the bottom, a 2x3 table of illegible values.]
:Tony Hawk: In the standard model, regular matter will annihilate if it comes in contact with oppositely-charged ''goofy'' matter.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Tony Hawk becomes a physics professor

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

Talk:2966: Exam Numbers

2024-08-01T08:54:23Z

172.70.160.248:

pre-algebra: 4, calculus: pi^2 / 4 (about 2.467), physics: cosmological constant: depends on how you measure it [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.48|162.158.167.48]] 18:11, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Game theory: -5x10⁶ (maybe helpful, maybe not... just be thankful I didn't include an ''i'' factor in there somewhere...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 18:20, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
:Interesting; I went with ∞+10. So, between our answers, that makes the average...
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 05:21, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Could somebody reformat all the math here in whatever LaTeX plugin this wiki uses? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.102|162.158.222.102]] 18:35, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
:Probably not, because the MathML here is broken. But, also, nothing I see requires anything particularly complicated, it can all stay in fairly straightforward (standardly formatted) text. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.224|141.101.98.224]] 18:44, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
I had to look up "TREE(3)." Seriousness aside, I think the largest number would be the astrological sign 1 that has its end_points_ as galaxy clusters. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.184|172.68.245.184]] 19:26, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
:Which astrological sign? Search engines aren't helping. [[User:Onestay|Onestay]] ([[User talk:Onestay|talk]]) 20:41, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
::The nonexistent one I just made up that looks like a "1." 😃 [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.6|172.71.222.6]] 21:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
:'OAK'? 'ELM'? 'ASH?' 'BOX'? 'YEW'? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.165|141.101.98.165]] 08:52, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Infinity is _not_ a number. [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 19:39, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

If infinity _is_ a number, it might be a possible solution to the game theory question. The average of any set of numbers that includes infinity is infinity, and infinity + 10 is still infinity. I probably wouldn't try that in most classes, but a game theory professor might approve "gaming" the system, as it were.
:If I would prefer no-one (else) to win, I might submit -∞ as my answer. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.74|172.70.90.74]] 20:13, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
::If I really wanted to mess with them, I would submit i. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.248|172.70.160.248]] 08:54, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Infinity is absolutely not a number, and is the one answer I would mark as unambiguously wrong for the last one. Just say TREE(G_64) or something. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 20:15, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
:This is correct. No one in post-grad math would write “infinity” and expect that answer to work. Infinity is NOT a number except for seven-year-olds. Yet the explanation above continues to posit it as a possible correct answer. [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 20:49, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
::I qualify as a "post-grad math", and yet, I think infinity would have been a perfectly valid answer. Let me explain. The term "number" without further context is a bit vague, because there are several possible generalizations of natural numbers (something that presumably everyone agrees to call a "number"), and they are not compatible, ie. there is not a single generalization that generalizes them all. So we have to choose which generalization makes sense in the current context. Since the question is about thinking how big a number is, I naturally thought that the adequate generalization would be one that focuses on the order on natural numbers, ie. ordinals. In that case, my answer to this question would be "the class of numbers I can think of is not bounded, therefore there is no such thing such as a 'biggest number I can think of'". But if I had to write down a big number, I would write ε_{ε_{ε_{...}}} up until I filled the page, because that's the most efficient way I know to write a big, *big* infinity. Which is a number. (and I'm not seven, just to be clear) [[User:Jthulhu|Jthulhu]] ([[User talk:Jthulhu|talk]]) 08:35, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
:In IEEE floating point math, Infinity is ''not'' Not A Number. The latter is an indication of error (in a context where errors can't be signalled immediately) and an entirely separate concept to infinity. But both are not Normal Numbers. Or even Denormalized Numbers. Floating point math is a whole lot trickier than it appears to be at first glance, and only extremely tangentially related to mathematical reals. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.54|172.68.205.54]] 00:48, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
::I would have written this, but I saw that your comment already explained the two points I would have made, so, well, well done! [[User:Jthulhu|Jthulhu]] ([[User talk:Jthulhu|talk]]) 08:35, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

I did a bit of a deep dive into wikipedia and the googology wiki and the answer to the last question depends on a few things (along with assuming ZFC). If transfinite ordinals count as numbers, then those at the end of {{w|List of large cardinal properties}} take the cake (if i'm reading it right). Otherwise, something based off [https://googology.fandom.com/wiki/Rayo%27s_number Rayo's number] is the best googologists have come up with so far. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.149|172.69.246.149]] 20:18, 31 July 2024 (UTC)Bumpf

Isn’t the joke in the pre-algebra that it would require algebra in order ro calculate? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.135|172.68.70.135]] 20:36, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
:Yes. I agree that it would be worth adding wording along the lines that “the joke here is that you need algebra to solve the equation”. [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 20:56, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

You know, formatting math on this wiki would be a lot easier if the Math extension were correctly installed, but evidently it's not: <math>\int_0^\pi x \sin^2 x \;dx</math> [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 22:22, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Is that integral really correct? I asked Wolfram Alpha and it gave me
: integral x sin^2(x) dx = 1/8 (2 x (x - sin(2 x)) - cos(2 x)) + constant
which does not seem to be the same as
: −2x sin(2x)+cos(2x)−2x)/28 + C.
But maybe there's something with half-angle formulas that makes them the same? … but I don't think so, they don't evaluate the same for x=0. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 02:56, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

:Yup, looks like it was supposed to be
:: -(2x sin(2x)+cos(2x)-2x^2)/8
:but they messed up the places of the negation and square.
:Though the important part here isn't what it is at any f(x), but what it is for any f(x)-f(y). In this particular case, f(pi)-f(0). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.121|162.158.41.121]] 04:49, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

== Number ==

A number, by definition, is a construct used to classify and/or compare values. How rigorous this needs be for one limits the extent to which they accept things as being a number. Even things like "apple" could be interpreted as (dimensioned) numbers, with a possible value being "1 fruit"; In that regard, one may consider things like apple=orange<grapes.

Just "infinity" is nearly useless in this regard, as it's "no end thing". Usually interpreted (when necessary) as the countable infinite cardinal x=aleph_null, this prevents most useful comparisons, including dimensional analysis since x^n=x for all counting (aka. finite positive integer) n. Spacetime may or may not be boundless, but we can't tell how many edges may or may not loop. Is it infinity? Yes. Is it infinite? God only knows. Can you *count to it*? God can. Does that make it a number? Depends. Is "infinity plus one" a sane concept? No, it can't be finite, ordinal, and/or real in a way addition is defined; It's without end, and if you could add to it, that would indicate an end.

In contrast, classification has its roots in trade, and barter, and tipping. How much of a thing is enough, but not too much. Somebody may accept between 1/2 and 2/3 of a pie you're splitting, because less wouldn't be fair and more may give them a stomach ache; Is 3<=6x<=4 a number? It's similar in uselessness to "infinity", but whether something is less or more can at least still be established within its range. In the limit, Surreal numbers are the principal example of classification, taking the arithmetic mean of the maximum and minimum of their lower and upper bounds, or the predecessor or successor, or zero. For example, y={y|1} is the biggest number less than one, with z<=y<1 for all z<1. It's less than one, but not any "smaller" than one, with an immeasurably infinitesimal difference 0<1-y.

Choice of axioms is very important for all this, since its full extent can render everything except finite non-negative integers "not a number" (by Presburger Arithmetic), or allow everything up to and including unique antichain cardinalities (by Martin's Maximum).

The sixth power of the smallest ordinal with the cardinality of the continuum in the constructed universe (w_1^6 where beth_n=C(w_n)) is the biggest number I can personally conceptualize, although I can consistently work with w_2 in this system as well. Does the fact that this is infinite make it any less useful as a number than 2.5? No. It says I can think accurately about all the standard ways of comparing things in up to 6 infinitely divisible dimensions. Just because one cannot necessarily picture something others can't doesn't mean it doesn't exist. If a one-eyed person can only see a 2 spatial + 1 temporal dimensional image, that doesn't mean depth doesn't exist, it just means it's "hidden" from that perspective. 3+1+2 has two "hidden" dimensions compared to normal 3+1 spacetime, and beth_1 is infinitely divisible unlike the quantum (at most beth_0) nature of our known universe, but I can still work with 3+1+1, and 3+1+2 in the same way people can think about a (possibly looping) universe where everything can be bigger or smaller, and spatial geometry itself may be some degree of spherical, and people have been working with fractions since antiquity, so why should I limit myself to what other people can grasp?

In summary: "number" is too vague for claiming most things "aren't" to be reasonable. Infinite values (that aren't just "infinity", that's vague enough by itself to be almost as unreasonable) are just one one example of a valid answer most people seem to be up in arms about. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.181|162.158.41.181]] 01:06, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

:All right, all right. I yield. That’s some... _impressive_ reasoning. If we are going to redefine words to meaninglessness then there is no hope of engaging in useful discussion. I’m sure Randall will at least get a good laugh out of the idea that post-grad math students would submit “infinity” as the largest number they could think of. I still think it a disservice to readers to posit infinity as a _valid_ answer, though. [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 05:05, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

2966: Exam Numbers

2024-07-31T19:02:11Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ Add a table of answers

{{comic
| number = 2966
| date = July 31, 2024
| title = Exam Numbers
| image = exam_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x400px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Calligraphy exam: Write down the number 37, spelled out, nicely.
}}

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

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Exam numbers
! Exam level !! Question !! Answer
|-
| Kindergarten math || Write down the biggest number you can think of || At a kindergarden-level education, it is assumed that an individual might write down a relatively small number like 300.
|-
| Pre-algebra || Write down the value of x if x=3x-8 || 4
|-
| Calculus || Write down the value of ∫_0^π x sin^2 x dx || The integral of the expression is (−2x sin(2x)+cos(2x)−2x)/28 + C. Plugging in values for x gives the result as π^2/4, or approximately 2.4674.
|-
| PhD Cosmology || Write down the Hubble constant to within 1% || The exact value of the Hubble constant is not known to this level of accuracy; it is about 2.3 * 10^-18 Hz.
|-
| Game Theory || Write down 10 more than the average of the class's answers || There appears at first glance to be no Nash equilibrium, since no matter what, there will be someone who is incentivised to change their answer to a higher number. However, since the box is of finite size, only finitely many numbers can be written - if everyone writes down a number ten less than a value that cannot be written, everyone scores nothing. There are some very large numbers that can be written succinctly, such as TREE(3), but there are only finitely many.
|-
| Postgraduate Math || Write down the biggest number you can think of || Postgraduate math students can probably think of very large numbers. However, the best answer is probably "infinity", since depending on your definition of the word "number", infinity may be the largest possible number.
|}

== Pre-Algebra Final Exam ==
x = 3x - 8

3x refers to the multiplication of 3 and x. 3x is a convenient shorthand.

By subtracting 3x from both sides, -2x = -8. Divide both sides by -2 to find x=4.

Verify by plugging x=4 into the original equation. 4 = 3*4 - 8 -> 4 = 12 - 8 -> 4 = 4.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
6 Different math test questions. The first one says: Kindergarten math:Write down the biggest number you can think of
{{comic discussion}}

At a kindergarden-level education, it is assumed that an individual might write down a relatively small number{{cn}} like 300, or maybe even 5000. But when people get more education or simply absorb information from pop culture, they get more intuition on how big numbers get, so it is a very complicated problem for a postgraduate student to write a big number. Some example responses to the very last question may include TREE(3), Graham's number, or 3^^^3.

However, it is another problem to write down the number in notation, because mathematical notation is inherently abstract. For example, what is stopping somebody from just writing down "the biggest number + 1"? Is it valid to write a Python program? Some<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzgw6zMtipQ : Quest To Find The Largest Number
- CodeParade</ref> may argue that the only valid solution is to write down a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_calculus Lambda calculus] computation which results in a very big number.

===Pre-Algebra Final Exam===
x = 3x - 8

''3x'' refers to the multiplication of 3 and the 'unknown number' ''x''.

Of the many ways to solve this, you might start by making ''x'' relevent upon only one side of the equation. Subtracting ''x'' from both sides gives ''0 = 2x -8''. As ''2x'' becomes zero if you take away the value 8, a single ''x'' would be half of that, i.e. 4.

This is easily verified by plugging ''x=4'' into the original equation. '''4''' = 3*'''4''' - 8 -> 4 = 12 - 8 -> 4 = 4.

===Calculus Final Exam===
Integrate[x Sin[x]^2, {x, 0, Pi}]

Answer: Pi^2/4 or approx 2.4674

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[6 different math test questions.]

:[The first panel:]
:Kindergarten math final exam
:Q. Write down the biggest number you can think of
:A. [empty box]

:[The second panel:]
:Pre-algebra final exam
:Q. Write down the value of x if x=3x-8
:A. [empty box]

:[The third panel:]
:Calculus final exam
:Q. Write down the value of [integral sign, from 0 to pi] x sin^2 x dx
:A. [empty box]

:[The fourth panel:]
:PhD final exam
:Q. Write down the Hubble Constant to within 1%
:A. [empty box]

:[The fifth panel:]
:Game theory final exam
:Q. Write down 10 more than the average of the class's answers
:A. [empty box]

:[The sixth panel:]
:Postgraduate math final exam
:Q. Write down the biggest number you can think of
:A. [empty box]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]

==References==
<references />

2964: Olympic Sports

2024-07-29T16:14:51Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2964
| date = July 26, 2024
| title = Olympic Sports
| image = olympic_sports_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x328px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Thankfully for everyone involved, the Winter Olympics officials spotted me and managed to stop me before I got to the ski jump.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A VERY CONCERNED OLYMPIC OFFICIAL - Provide an explanation of each sport for the convenience of those unfamiliar with some or all listed sports. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was officially published on the day of the opening ceremony of the {{w|2024 Summer Olympics|2024 Paris (Summer) Olympics}}, though it actually appeared early the following day.

In this comic, [[Randall]], who has no athletic training, imagines himself participating in various Olympic events, with his degrees of failure measured in terms of their humor potential.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Olympic sports ranked by how funny it would be if a regular person competed
! How funny !! Sport !! Reason !! Depiction
|-
|rowspan=5| Not that funny || {{w|Rowing}} - One or more people row a boat to a destination.|| The person would struggle to row effectively, falling out of cadence and fouling the oars of the other rowers in their boat. However, if Randall competed in the single sculls, such coordination would not be an issue, and he would likely just be much slower than the other competitors. Or fall in the water. ||
|-
| {{w|Fencing}} - Two contestants attempt to land hits on each other with a long fencing weapon.|| They might fail to land any hits, but it wouldn't be overly humorous. Randall is evidently not masochistic enough to consider putting on protective equipment disastrously wrong and hospitalization funny. ||
|-
| {{w|Weightlifting}} || They might just fail to lift the weights. ||
|-
| {{w|Golf}} - Contestants attempt to hit, with golf clubs, a golf ball into one or more holes in as small a number of hits as possible.|| They would likely miss the ball or hit poorly, due to an incorrect stance/swing when hitting, using a club whose loft (angle of the front face) is inappropriate, or just basic lack of skill. || The illustration depicts Randall missing the hole at very close range.
|-
| {{w|Archery}} - Using a bow and arrow, contestants attempt to hit a target with as much accuracy as possible.|| Arrows might miss the target, but it's not particularly amusing (unless Randall forgoes armbraces & discovers the bowstring's propensity for smacking the inside of his wrist after releasing it). || Randall misses all his shots on the target.
|-
|rowspan=5| Pretty funny || {{w|Swimming}} - Contestants swim to a destination or complete lengths as fast as possible.|| They might struggle to stay afloat (particularly in open water swimming, where they would be buffeted by other contestants) or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Moussambani swim awkwardly]. They are also likely to have a markedly different physique to the other competitors, which would have a comic effect. ||
|-
| {{w|Long jump}} - Contestants, with a running start, attempt to jump as far as possible.|| They would likely make a very short jump, or perhaps foul every jump. ||
|-
| {{w|Pole vault}} - Using a bendable pole, contestants attempt to propel (vault) themselves over a bar.|| They might miss the plant and end up dropping the pole and running under the bar. If they did manage to get some lift, but failed to get enough to reach the mat, it would probably be concerning, rather than funny. ||
|-
| {{w|Diving}} - Contestants attempt to fulfil multiple criteria while diving into water.|| Awkward or painful-looking dives could ensue. Potential for injury would be high. ||
|-
| {{w|Hurdles}} - Contestants run on a track with hurdles positioned at various places.|| They might trip and fall over the hurdles, or just knock them all over as they fail to clear them. || Randall repeatedly and unpleasantly runs into the hurdles, unable to jump over any of them. He has his arm raised bent in front of his face in a classic hurdler's pose, but appears to have failed to get much, if any, height off the ground.
|-
|rowspan=5| Incredibly funny || {{w|Figure skating}} [The only Winter Olympic discipline featured in the main comic]|| They might slip and fall continually on the ice (high risk for sprained joints or bone fractures). This might have particular comic potential if Randall were skating as part of a pair, awkwardly attempting to lift and spin a partner, or perhaps doing nothing but being lifted and dragged around by them. ||
|-
| {{w|Horizontal bar}} - A horizontal bar is used to perform gymnastics.|| They might fail to perform any flips or lose their grip on the bar, falling to the safety mats below. In all likelihood, having been lifted to the bar, they would simply hang helplessly beneath it, managing minimal swings backwards and forwards. ||
|-
| {{w|Equestrian sports}} - Various activities involving the use of horses.|| They might struggle to control the horse or fall/get thrown off. || Randall is completely unable to control his horse. He is in the process of falling off and is flailing his arms.
|-
| {{w|Freestyle BMX}} - Contestants ride BMX bikes and perform various tricks, and are then judged by trick quality.|| They might crash or fail to perform tricks. ||
|-
| {{w|Pommel horse}} - Using a gymnastic device somewhat similar to a horse, gymnasts perform various tricks.|| They might awkwardly flop around, fall off, or lose their balance & risk crushing {{tvtropes|GroinAttack|a particularly squashy part}} of their anatomy, which could, depending on one's sense of humor, the context, & the exact aesthetics of the incident, elicit laughter. || Randall is attempting to perform a routine, but clearly is not very graceful, balanced, or typically dynamic, as made apparent by the rather basic {{w|The_Lexicon_of_Comicana|agitrons}} surrounding him. However, he seems to be unaware of this, excitedly demanding that people look at what he presumably thinks is an impressive feat of athleticism.
|}

The title text may be a reference to ski jumper {{w|Vinko Bogataj}}, whose spectacular crash at a (non-Olympic) ski flying event in 1970 in Oberstdorf, (then) West Germany became emblematic of the expression "the agony of defeat" in the opening narration of the popular US television program "{{w|Wide World of Sports (American TV program)|Wide World of Sports}}". Alternatively the reference may be to {{w|Eddie the Eagle}}, whose poor performance at the {{w|1988 Winter Olympics}} led to the introduction of the top 50 or 30% qualifying rule.

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

:[Header above three panels:]
:Olympic Sports ranked by how funny it would be if I, a regular person without athletic training, snuck onto the team to compete:
:[Three panels are shown with a header, a bullet list with five listed sports in each, and one or two depictions of sports.]

:Not that funny
:Rowing
:Fencing
:Weightlifting
:Golf
:Archery
:[Cueball putts a ball with a golf club and misses the hole from a close distance.]
:[Cueball is aiming with a bow. Three arrows are on the ground at various distances from the target.]

:Pretty funny
:Swimming
:Long jump
:Pole vault
:Diving
:Hurdles
:[Cueball runs stomach-first into a hurdle, while holding an arm in front of his head. Another hurdle behind him has fallen down.]
:Cueball: [Bonk] Ow! [Bonk] Ow!

:Incredibly funny
:Figure skating
:Horizontal bar
:Equestrian
:BMX freestyle
:Pommel horse
:[Cueball tries to balance himself on a pommel horse. His both hands and one leg are down, while the other leg is slightly raised.]
:Cueball: Look! Look!
:[A horse rider wearing a black helmet is struggling to maintain balance on the running horse, with both hands and one leg raised.]
:Horse rider with black helmet: AAAAA!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

2964: Olympic Sports

2024-07-29T09:29:50Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2964
| date = July 26, 2024
| title = Olympic Sports
| image = olympic_sports_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x328px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Thankfully for everyone involved, the Winter Olympics officials spotted me and managed to stop me before I got to the ski jump.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A VERY CONCERNED OLYMPIC OFFICIAL - Provide an explanation of each sport for the convenience of those unfamiliar with some or all listed sports. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was officially published on the day of the opening ceremony of the {{w|2024 Summer Olympics|2024 Paris (Summer) Olympics}}, though it actually appeared early the following day.

In this comic, [[Randall]], who has no athletic training, imagines himself participating in various Olympic events, with his degrees of failure measured in terms of their humor potential.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Olympic sports ranked by how funny it would be if a regular person competed
! How funny !! Sport !! Reason !! Depiction
|-
|rowspan=5| Not that funny || {{w|Rowing}} - One or more people row a boat to a destination.|| The person would struggle to row effectively, falling out of cadence and fouling the oars of the other rowers in their boat. However, if Randall competed in the single sculls, such coordination would not be an issue, and he would likely just be much slower than the other competitors. Or fall in the water. ||
|-
| {{w|Fencing}} - Two contestants attempt to land hits on each other with a long fencing weapon.|| They might fail to land any hits, but it wouldn't be overly humorous. ||
|-
| {{w|Weightlifting}} || They might just fail to lift the weights. ||
|-
| {{w|Golf}} - Contestants attempt to hit, with golf clubs, a golf ball into one or more holes in as small a number of hits as possible.|| They would likely miss the ball or hit poorly. || The illustration depicts Randall missing the hole at very close range.
|-
| {{w|Archery}} - Using a bow and arrow, contestants attempt to hit a target with as much accuracy as possible.|| Arrows might miss the target, but it's not particularly amusing. || Randall misses all his shots on the target.
|-
|rowspan=5| Pretty funny || {{w|Swimming}} - Contestants swim to a destination or complete lengths as fast as possible.|| They might struggle to stay afloat (particularly in open water swimming, where they would be buffeted by other contestants) or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Moussambani swim awkwardly]. They are also likely to have a markedly different physique to the other competitors, which would have a comic effect. ||
|-
| {{w|Long jump}} - Contestants, with a running start, attempt to jump as far as possible.|| They would likely make a very short jump, or perhaps foul every jump. ||
|-
| {{w|Pole vault}} - Using a bendable pole, contestants attempt to propel (vault) themselves over a bar.|| They would miss the plant and end up dropping the pole and running under the bar. If they did manage to get some lift, but failed to get enough to reach the mat, it would probably be concerning, rather than funny. ||
|-
| {{w|Diving}} - Contestants attempt to fulfil multiple criteria while diving into water.|| Awkward or painful-looking dives could ensue. Potential for injury would be high. ||
|-
| {{w|Hurdles}} - Contestants run on a track with hurdles positioned at various places.|| They might trip and fall over the hurdles, or just knock them all over as they fail to clear them. || Randall repeatedly and painfully runs into the hurdles, unable to jump over any of them. He appears to be holding a hand on his head, possibly covering his eyes or due to having hurt his head.
|-
|rowspan=5| Incredibly funny || {{w|Figure skating}} [The only Winter Olympic discipline featured in the comic]|| They might slip and fall continually on the ice. This might have particular comic potential if Randall were skating as part of a pair, awkwardly attempting to lift and spin a partner, or perhaps doing nothing but being lifted and dragged around by them. ||
|-
| {{w|Horizontal bar}} - A horizontal bar is used to perform gymnastics.|| They might fail to perform any flips or fall off the bar. In all likelihood, having been lifted to the bar, they would simply hang helplessly beneath it, managing minimal swings backwards and forwards. ||
|-
| {{w|Equestrian sports}} - Various activities involving the use of horses.|| They might struggle to control the horse or fall off. || Randall is completely unable to control his horse. He is in the process of falling off and is flailing his arms.
|-
| {{w|Freestyle BMX}} - Contestants ride BMX bikes and perform various tricks, and are then judged by trick quality.|| They might crash or fail to perform tricks. ||
|-
| {{w|Pommel horse}} - Using a gymnastic device somewhat similar to a horse, gymnasts perform various tricks.|| They might awkwardly flop around or fall off. || Randall is attempting to perform a routine but clearly is not very graceful, balanced or typically dynamic, as made apparent by the rather basic agitrons surrounding him. However, he seems to be unaware of this, excitedly demanding that people look at what he presumably thinks is an impressive feat of athleticism.
|}

The title text may be a reference to ski jumper {{w|Vinko Bogataj}}, whose spectacular crash at a (non-Olympic) ski flying event in 1970 in Oberstdorf, (then) West Germany became emblematic of the expression "the agony of defeat" in the opening narration of the popular US television program "{{w|Wide World of Sports (American TV program)|Wide World of Sports}}". Alternatively the reference may be to {{w|Eddie the Eagle}}, whose poor performance at the {{w|1988 Winter Olympics}} led to the introduction of the top 50 or 30% qualifying rule.

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

:[Header above three panels:]
:Olympic Sports ranked by how funny it would be if I, a regular person without athletic training, snuck onto the team to compete:
:[Three panels are shown with a header, a bullet list with five listed sports in each, and one or two depictions of sports.]

:Not that funny
:Rowing
:Fencing
:Weightlifting
:Golf
:Archery
:[Cueball putts a ball with a golf club and misses the hole.]
:[Cueball is aiming with a bow. Three arrows are on the ground at various distances from the target.]

:Pretty funny
:Swimming
:Long jump
:Pole vault
:Diving
:Hurdles
:[Cueball runs stomach-first into a hurdle, while holding a hand on his head. Another hurdle behind him has fallen down.]
:Cueball: [Bonk] Ow! [Bonk] Ow!

:Incredibly funny
:Figure skating
:Horizontal bar
:Equestrian
:BMX freestyle
:Pommel horse
:[Cueball tries to balance himself on a pommel horse. His both hands and one leg are down, while the other leg is slightly raised.]
:Cueball: Look! Look!
:[A horse rider wearing a black helmet is struggling to maintain balance on the running horse, with both hands and one leg raised.]
:Horse rider with black helmet: AAAAA!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sport]]

2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-26T08:19:48Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2963
| date = July 24, 2024
| title = House Inputs and Outputs
| image = house_inputs_and_outputs_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x684px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People think power over ethernet is so great, and yet when I try to do water over ethernet everyone yells at me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a possible reference to [[1037: Umwelt]] in panel 16 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another comic in a series depicting {{w|confusion matrix|confusion matrices}}, similar to [[2813: What To Do]], [[2420: Appliances]], and [[1890: What to Bring]]. It is arranged as a table of five columns of conduits to and from a house, by five rows of resources and people, each of which typically enter, exit or both enter ''and'' exit the house via at least one of the identified conduits. The table cells have a green background for compatible methods of transit; a red tint is used for the more problematic pairings. Each panel can be read as "[row label] [entering and/or exiting] the house via the [column label]", for example, "Fresh water entering the house via the well".

{| class="wikitable" style="background-color: lightpink;"
|+ Explanations of the "House Inputs and Outputs" table cell drawings
! !! Well !! Garage !! Power lines !! Front door !! Septic tank
|-
! Fresh water (Input)
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The purpose of a well is usually to pump fresh water into the home, primarily for drinking or washing.{{citation needed}} It may be unnecessary in many places if a reliable {{w|water supply network}} is available. || Long gone are the days of {{w|Labours_of_Hercules#Fifth:_Augean_stables|having to clean up after your primary mode of transportation}}, for most people. || Power lines conduct electricity, not water. The two functions are inherently dangerous if carelessly combined. Water can be used to cool high-energy lines, such as fast battery charger cables[https://www.connectortips.com/where-liquid-cooled-connectors-and-connectors-for-liquid-cooling-used-in-evs-faq/] and cables supplying electric arc furnaces, but not overhead residential power lines. || Many people prefer to control the amount of water they get, and the water may damage things inside the house. || Most people don't want anything they drink to contain (or go through pipes that have contained) sewage.
|-
! Cars (Input/Output)
| Most cars can't fit inside most wells.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Garages are in fact built for the storage of cars and other similarly-sized vehicles. Placing a car in one will both help protect it from the elements and make it easier to access from inside your own home. || As of yet, cars cannot be transferred through power lines and require roads to travel on. However, this could significantly reduce travel costs. However, the illustration here has the car actually balancing upon the strained wire, in this case, indicating a more mundane (but still not easy!) method of transit. || Most cars can’t fit through doors, apart from the garage door. || Comedian {{w|Garrison Keillor}}'s 2008 ''More News from Lake Wobegon'' includes a story where an old septic tank is discovered to actually be a buried car.[https://theseriouscomedysite.com/comedy-cd-or-download/garrison-keillor-more-news-from-lake-wobegon/]
|-
! Electricity (Input)
| Wells are not a source of electric power, and attempting to obtain electricity from a well would likely contaminate its water supply. || In the United States, lightning is responsible for causing around 24,600 structure fires annually, resulting in $8 to $10 billion in losses. It is possible, though, for the house's junction box, where the main utility line terminates in order to supply the house's own wiring, to be located in or on the outside wall of the garage, so in a sense, this may be workable.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Power lines are designed to facilitate the connection of individual homes to the broader local power network. [[Randall]] omits the fact that electricity can also be an output; e.g. houses with solar panels regularly export electricity too. || {{w|Benjamin Franklin}} invented the {{w|lightning rod}} to prevent lightning strike damage to structures. || As Knit Cap observes, septic tanks are not a source of electric power.
|-
! People (Input/Output)
|style="background-color: lightpink"| This depicts a view from inside a well, a very dangerous place for most people.{{Citation needed}} As a [[:Category:Comics with inverted brightness|dark scene]], it is drawn red-on-black. The motif resembles poster art for the 2002 horror movie remake ''{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|The Ring}}'', which involves a girl left to die in a well who becomes a vengeful ghost (see also [[396: The Ring]]).
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| A person can enter and exit their home through a garage door, provided the garage has an internal door to the rest of the home. Not the best way to welcome unfamiliar guests though. || Overhead power lines to homes are generally not strong enough to climb, and attempting to do so incurs a very serious risk of electrocution.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The front door of a home is designed for entry and exit of humans and similarly sized items. || In general, people find crawling through waste unwanted. Also, the septic tank is not connected to the street.
|-
! Sewage (Output)
| Sewage in drinking water can cause disease. It is/was the main cause for most {{w|cholera}} epidemics.
|colspan=3| Sewage spills are smelly, disgusting and hard to clean. They can destroy carpets, floors, drywall and property value.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| A {{w|septic tank}} is an underground chamber through which wastewater flows for basic {{w|sewage treatment}}.
|}

The title text references {{w|Power over Ethernet|power over ethernet (PoE)}}, first implemented in the early 2000s, to provide electric power along with data on twisted-pair Ethernet cabling. A welcome development, it removed the need for many separate power supplies. While networked water delivery ("running water") is also a welcome development, doing so over ethernet cables would be extremely problematic, risking the several top points of failure, while providing limited amounts of water. However, again, electric vehicle fast charging cables and arc furnace power inputs are sometimes water-cooled.

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

:[A 5x5 grid of squares. The columns are labeled: Well, Garage, Power lines, Front door, Septic tank. Each row's label has an arrow and a basic house icon next to it. The rows are: Fresh water (horizontal arrow towards house), Cars (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Electricity (horizontal arrow into house), People (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Sewage (vertical arrow out of bottom of house).]

:Well, Fresh water: [green]
::[A many-featured house front and cross-sectional subsurface infrastructure, with various aspects that recur throughout most further grid-squares in one or other form. This particular one is distinguished by an arrow indicating movement up through a pipe leading inwards from an adjacent external borehole]
::Voice from house: Mmm! Refreshing!

:Garage, Fresh water: [red]
::[An obliquely off-frontal view of the house, featuring a set of Cueball-like figures directing a hosepipe's stream of water into the open garage-port doorway]
::''Fwoosh''

:Power lines, Fresh water: [red]
::[A different oblique angle concentrated upon the edge of the house upon which the overhead powerlines connect to, from a pole with transformer box and other wire coming from off-frame; the house wire appears to be dripping liquid]

:Front door, Fresh water: [red]
::[Normal frontal view of the house, featuring the hosepipe cueballs directing water into the front door]
::Voice from house: Stop it!
::''Fwoosh!''

:Septic tank, Fresh water: [red]
::[Normal frontal view; The subsurface septic tank feature has an arrow leading up from it through the diagonal pipe that connects to the house itself]
::Voice from house: Eww.

:Well, Cars: [red]
::[A view only of a ground pipe/borehole-head; A car seemingly upended and balanced atop on a front corner, being manhandled by Cueball and Megan figures]

:Garage, Cars: [green]
::[Normal frontal view; Garage door open, car seen parked inside]

:Power lines, Cars: [red]
::[Two power-line poles, the rightmost with transformer, having cables from off-left, between the poles and off-right; Two cueballs stand on the ground below, looking at a car heavily balanced mid-way along the central stretch of wire]

:Front door, Cars: [red]
::[Frontal view of house; Front doorway has surrounding damage and a car tightly wedged into it with two figures (Beret Guy and a Cueball) visible through the windows]
::Beret Guy, from car: Do you think I scratched the paint?

:Septic tank, Cars: [red]
::[Frontal view of the house; Within the underground sceptic tank, displacing some of the shallow dark liquid, is a car with two occupants]

:Well, Electricity: [red]
::[Borehole pipe-head; Cueball holds a laptop with a power lead trailing down into the pipe]
::Cueball's laptop: ⚠Low battery

:Garage, Electricity: [red]
::[Frontal view of house, with lightning strike explosively hitting the area of the garage door]
::''BOOM''

:Power lines, Electricity: [green]
::[Frontal view of house, arrow leading down the power-cable and several 'electricity' symbols scattered around]

:Front door, Electricity: [red]
::[Frontal view of house, with lightning strike explosively hitting the area of the front door]
::''BOOM''

:Septic tank, Electricity: [red]
::[Toilet and cistern, seat raised, with Knit Cap looking at a computer system, set up nearby on the floor, with a power lead draped into the toilet-bowl and (sic) a single 'electricity' symbol indicating power flow]
::Knit Cap: Why won't my console turn on?

:Well, People: [red (though overwhelmingly black)]
::[A mostly black tile with a rough circular outline of sketchy red lines]

:Garage, People: [green]
::[Frontal view of house; A Cueball exits the open (darkened) garage doorway, waving]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Power lines, People: [red]
::[Oblique side view of house; A Cueball is climbing up the power-line towards the top of the pole]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Front door, People: [green]
::[Frontal view of house; A cueball exits the open front doorway, waving]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Septic tank, People: [red]
::[Frontal view of house; A Cueball crawls into the elbow-deep dark liquid of the subsurface septic tank, emerging from the house-draining pipes]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Well, Sewage: [red]
::[Frontal view of house; Speech-line emerges from the house]
::Voice from house: ''Why do I keep getting sick???

:Garage, Sewage: [red]
::[Frontal view of house; Garage door is open, revealing Cueball knee-deep in dark liquid]
::Cueball: Oh no.

:Power lines, Sewage: [red]
::[Oblique side view of house; Wide pipe-end emerges from the roof, disgorging a stream of dark liquid out onto the rising power-cable]
::Cueball: Eww.

:Front door, Sewage: [red]
::[Frontal view of house; Front door is open, revealing Cueball knee-deep in dark liquid]
::Cueball: Oh ''no''.

:Septic tank, Sewage: [green]
::[Frontal view of house; Dark liquid drains down drain-pipes into sceptic tank, with an arrow indicating the direction of flow]
::''Flush''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1062: Budget News

2024-07-23T21:09:46Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ More about "-hawks". Added theoretical context to "-sugargliders" and their relation to "-doves" with a similarly stretched analogy.

{{comic
| number = 1062
| date = May 30, 2012
| title = Budget News
| image = budget_news.png
| titletext = I will vote, no questions asked, for any candidate who describes themselves as 'more of a deficit sugar glider.'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a use of homonym of the word "hawk" in the phrase "{{w|Deficit hawk}}". Wikipedia has a great definition: "Deficit hawk is an American political slang term for people who place great emphasis on keeping the federal budget under control. Deficit hawks believe the best way to reduce the deficit, pay off national debt, and balance the budget is by a combination of increasing taxes and cutting government spending." It is derived from the concept of a "hawk", or "warhawk", being a person who advocates aggressive foreign policy, compared with "doves" who prefer negotiated diplomacy; a deficit hawk thus tends to promote harsher economic actions to 'defeat' deficits.

And obviously, a 'regular' {{w|hawk}} is a bird of prey. In this case, the prey has become a politician known to be fiscally strict. This event may have been contrived, as a certain [[Black Hat]] is visible in the audience.

In the title text, there is a reference to the {{w|sugar glider}}, which is a small gliding possum originating from the {{w|marsupial}} infraclass or subclass. They are generally considered to be cute and harmless, as well as being relatively obscure, indicating a politician who is humorous and good-natured enough to make such a comparison, as well as nerdy enough to know what a sugar glider is. Having an insect diet, along with the sugary saps that inspire its name, a "deficit sugar glider" would not normally be seen as aggressive (by anyone not relating themselves to any sort of insect) as the carnivore-inspired "hawk", but would perhaps be considered more proactive than those who might be said to equivalently tend to 'peck' at a decicit's {{w|Columbidae#Feeding|'peppercorn grains' and 'low-hanging fruits'}}.

==Transcript==
:[The front page of a newspaper with the name of the paper in large gray letters at the top, and several unreadable sections left of, right of, and below the main front page news. A large heading is written to the left of a photo on the right. In the photo a man with black hair who has been standing behind a lectern with a microphone delivering a speech is falling towards the left and holding out one hand in that direction while blocking his face with the other hand against an attack from a large black bird. Below the podium with the lectern is the top of the crowd in the front row. Five Cueball-like guys (two cut off at the edges), a person with black hair and Black Hat to the right can be seen. Below the headline and below the picture are black lines indicating the main text in the article.]
:Title: The <big><big>'''Daily News'''</big></big> 
:Headline: '''Deficit Hawk Attacked by Regular One'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2961: CrowdStrike

2024-07-23T16:46:02Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ Having defined the BSOD as only the Windows term, make the point that this was the primary failure mode only in fairly recent Windows machines only. Having said that, suggest a possible cascade (probably not 'crashing') to further out...

{{comic
| number = 2961
| date = July 19, 2024
| title = CrowdStrike
| image = crowdstrike_2x.png
| imagesize = 322x384px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We were going to try swordfighting, but all my compiling is on hold.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNAFFECTED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about the {{w|2024 CrowdStrike incident}} occurring on the day of the comic's release. CrowdStrike makes security software to protect computers from malware, ransomware and other cyberattacks. The software is sold to businesses and large enterprises like hospitals, airlines and retailers. CrowdStrike frequently releases updates to their software to handle new types of malware they know about. A faulty update for one of their software products, which was apparently released without adequate testing or {{w|quality assurance}}, caused computers with the software installed to crash (a {{w|Blue Screen of Death}}, given that it caused failures primarily in {{w|Microsoft Windows}} versions 10 and 11) very early on when booting up. This meant the computers could not be quickly or automatically fixed. Because many large businesses with large numbers of computers used CrowdStrike's software on at least some of their systems, or relied upon businesses that did, the resulting disruption was very widespread and very visible, preventing those businesses from operating and, in many cases, preventing their employees from working while their computers were affected. Even nominally unaffected systems (not having CrowdStrike/an afflicted version of Windows installed) could find themselves indirectly, and perhaps only partially, unusable due to relying upon other systems that were afflicted.

Apparently, Cueball and Ponytail's company, or possibly a company providing a service their work depends on, uses CrowdStrike to secure their computers (although they may just be using it as an excuse to slack off, if their colleagues don't know any better). Without being able to work, they have found something more entertaining to do -- Cueball, riding a scooter and with a rope tied around his waist, is towing Ponytail, who is kneeling on a swiveling chair, around their office or neighborhood. Performing this activity is probably a bad idea.{{cn}}

As the caption suggests, not everyone has the luxury of slacking off while their computers are broken. CrowdStrike engineers had to address the faulty update, and help the businesses using their software to fix their computers. And relevant employees at affected customers' IT departments had to work to mitigate the impacts, and to roll out the necessary fixes. In the event, CrowdStrike had released a patch for the software around six hours after it came to light, but this had to be manually applied to each affected device.

The title text refers to [[303: Compiling]], in which Cueball also found an alternative way to spend time at work when 'forced' to step away from his computer, albeit for a less disruptive reason. But, because of ''this'' problem, even the compiling is on hold. If sword fighting is 'officially allowed' only during actual compiling, as that comic implied, then during this instance (forced to be {{w|Glossary of video game terms#AFK|AFK}} for different reasons) they must resort to yet ''other'' activities, such as the one in this comic.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is pointing his finger at Ponytail and Cueball. Ponytail is crouched on a moving office chair, holding with both hands onto a rope tied around the waist of Cueball, who is riding an electric scooter.]
:White Hat: Hey, aren't you supposed to be working on the—
:Ponytail: Sorry, that's all on hold today because of the CrowdStrike thing.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Protip: As long as you're not actually in charge of '''''fixing''''' the CrowdStrike thing, you can use this excuse for pretty much anything you want to do today.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Protip]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computer security]]

2961: CrowdStrike

2024-07-19T18:21:39Z

172.70.160.248: /* Transcript */

2960: Organ Meanings

2024-07-18T13:23:01Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2960
| date = July 17, 2024
| title = Organ Meanings
| image = organ_meanings_2x.png
| imagesize = 407x346px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = IMO the thymus is one of the coolest organs and we should really use it in metaphors more.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT'S PINEAL GLAND - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is a graph by [[Randall]] ranking how well he understands the function of certain human organs, compared to how much he understands {{w|metaphor}}s using them. 

One might expect understanding an organ's role and its use in metaphor to be strongly correlated, since the metaphors work by drawing a parallel to biological function. However, since our understanding of biological functions has evolved dramatically over time, and metaphorical language does not always keep up, the correspondence is often much looser. To complicate matters, many such anatomical metaphors vary from culture to culture, even though the biological functions remain largely consistent {{Citation needed}}.

The {{w|pineal gland}}, located in the center of the brain, was described as the “Seat of the Soul” by the dualist {{w|René Descartes}} in the 17th century. If this was what it was, the metaphors that might be derived from it would be pretty explicit. It was only in the mid-20th century that its real neuroendocrine (hormone-producing) biological role was grasped. Thus, the real meaning of the metaphor "the pineal gland of something" is uncertain, as is its actual function for the layman.

The {{w|thymus}}, highlighted in the title text, plays an important role in the immune system. It is not commonly used in metaphors,{{Citation needed}} but is perhaps ripe for use in ones describing such things as resilience, indomitability, and adaptability to changing circumstance, were more people to know what it was.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Organ !! Biological understanding !! Metaphor understanding !! Biological function !! Metaphor meaning(s)
|-
| {{w|Appendix_(anatomy)}} || 3% || 85% || Maintaining gut flora || Uselessness
|-
| {{w|Nerves}} || 40% || 90% || Sensing stimuli, and controlling muscles and organs || Courage; lack of courage; unsettledness
|-
| {{w|Spine}} || 50% || 80% || Holding other bones up || Courage; structural integrity
|-
| {{w|Heart}} || 80% || 90% || Circulation of blood || Emotion; feeling; sympathy; love; courage; resilience; core; essence
|-
| {{w|Bones}} || 75% || 80% || Holding the skin up || Basic/underlying structure; something hidden; core; essence
|-
| {{w|Stomach}} || 70% || 65% || Repository for cake || Ability to tolerate unpleasant circumstances
|-
| {{w|Liver}} || 10% || 48% || Processing alcohol ||
|-
| {{w|Lungs}} || 60% || 52% || Oxygenation of blood; speaking || Loudness (e.g. of singing)
|-
| {{w|Spleen}} || 22% || 34% || Storing extra blood || Anger
|-
| {{w|Thymus}} || 10% || 13% || Training immune cells (T-Cells) ||
|-
| {{w|Kidneys}} || 47% || 19% || Filtering blood ||
|-
| {{w|Pineal gland}} || 2% || 2% || Produces melatonin ||
|-
| {{w|Tongue}} || 70% || 5% || Taste; chewing; speaking || Speaking; something long and extended
|}

==Transcript==
:[A graph is shown with X and Y-axis without arrow or ticks. To the left of the Y-axis and below the X-axis there are labels with an arrow pointing up from the top of the Y-axis label and an arrow pointing right above the X-axis label, just beneath the x-axis.]
:Y-axis: How well I understand what it means when used in metaphors
:X-axis: How well I understand its actual biological function

:[On the graph is a scatter plot with 13 labels. Each label is written inside a line that goes just around the words. There are most in the top right corner, but they are spread all over the graph. Here in approximate reading order from top left with indicating of where on the graph the words are located:]
:[Top left:]
:Appendix
:[Top middle:]
:Nerves
:Spine
:[Top right:]
:Heart
:Bones
:Stomach
:[Center left:]
:Liver
:Spleen
:[Center right:]
:Lungs
:[Bottom left:]
:Thymus
:Pineal gland
:[Bottom middle:]
:Kidneys
:[Bottom right:]
:Tongue

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Language]]

2959: Beam of Light

2024-07-16T16:09:13Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2959
| date = July 15, 2024
| title = Beam of Light
| image = beam_of_light_2x.png
| imagesize = 235x419px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Einstein's theories solved a longstanding mystery about Mercury: Why it gets so hot. "It's because," he pointed out, "the sun is right there."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT FLYING ALONGSIDE A BEAM OF LIGHT NYYOOOOOOOOOOM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|thought_experiment|Thought experiments}}, such as those posited by {{w|Albert Einstein}} to illustrate the principles of {{w|Special Relativity}} (that deals with the interactions between high speeds and the perceptions of time), can sometimes reveal what appear to be fundamental principles of the universe that can revolutionise scientific understanding. But it is not always so. In this comic, we find Einstein imagining the scenario that would later help to make him famous, but before any particularly profound revelations have been established. It is currently just, so to speak, a flight of fantasy.

In a similar vein, the title text refers to one of the long-standing issues about Mercury: its orbit around the Sun doesn't ''quite'' match what Newtonian physics would predict. We now know that this is accounted for by {{w|General Relativity}}, another of Einstein's suggestions (that relates how gravity, or the space-time curvature that we understand as gravity, influences time). Again, we find ourselves overhearing his thoughts before he reaches any insights that will start to explain this. Instead he is stuck at just 'imagining' that Mercury is hot due to its proximity to the Sun, which isn't a particularly novel or useful conclusion, or close to what we would now recognise as Einstein's much-lauded theory.

The largely irrelevant (at least in any basic terms of Relativity) issue of the heat from the Sun would seem to have more relevance to the {{w|Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism}}, at one time proposed as the cause of the Sun's heat but superseded by the eventual discovery and understanding of nuclear fusion, or the {{w|Yarkovsky effect}}, in which thermal effects were shown to have an influence upon the orbital dynamics of minor bodies. Neither of these things were the focus of Einstein's own studies.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Albert Einstein (drawn with dark, curly hair and a dark mustache) sitting on a chair, with a thought bubble above his head. There are papers, books and a cup on the desk in front of him.]
:Einstein (thinking): ''Nyoooooooooom!''
:Einstein (thinking): I'm so fast!
:Einstein (thinking): ''Nyyooooooooom!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The first few times Einstein imagined flying alongside a beam of light, he didn't have any particular insights.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2955: Pole Vault

2024-07-08T09:12:39Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2955
| date = July 5, 2024
| title = Pole Vault
| image = pole_vault_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x179px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Ugh, and we JUST went through this yesterday with javelin.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LONG POKEY STICK - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In the comic, [[Cueball]] is making a run as part of a {{w|pole vault}} competition. However, the pole pierced the surface of the Earth, causing it to pop and violently deflate like a balloon.

This does not normally happen during a pole vault,{{Citation needed}} but the title text suggests that the same recently happened during a {{w|Javelin throw|javelin}} competition, presumably when one of the spears pierced the surface in a similar manner to Cueball's pole. No explanation is provided for how the Earth was patched or re-inflated, but apparently the problem was solved in a single day, without needing to cancel the event, suggesting that this is a normal occurrence.

The comic ''may'' be inspired by the upcoming {{w|2024 Summer Olympics|Paris Olympics}}, and the geographical location of the burst is indeed somewhere in the European continent. The view of the ragged and deflating Earth suggests the possible epicenter of the burst has more of a vague relationship with that area than it might to [[Randall|Randall's]] own location in the US (the other 'logical' definite setting he might use). The comic precedes any of the actual official competitions (or indeed the official Opening Ceremony) by three weeks, but perhaps this event (and the javelin one) occurred at one or other of the attending nations' training camps, or national trials for a local athletics squad, already established in the general region. Alternatively, this is simply depicting future events.

Three comics before this one Randall released [[2952: Routine Maintenance]], where the Earth is being subject to a routine maintenance by pushing the tip of a high pressure canister into Earth and blowing air into Earth to expel debris from inside Earth's volcanoes. That idea seems to be similar, but opposite to the one from this comic. With so few days between the releases there might have been some similar thoughts behind the creation of both.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding a pole vaulting stick up into the air while running.]

:[Cueball puts the tip of the pole to the ground, making it bend, and causing damage to the ground as indicated with four small lines both above and below the ground where the tip touches it.]

:[In a frame-less panel a big white word is shown inside a black blast bubble:]
:<big>''Pop!''</big>

:[In a black panel a white drawing shows that the Earth has burst, seemingly around Europe, and is now flying through space like a deflating balloon. A curving path is left behind indicating the path the Earth took, maybe indicating the matter (or air) expelled from the burst Earth. The part of the surface visible on the deflating Earth shows most of Asia and Australia and at the far left the eastern edge of Africa.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Geology]]

Talk:2954: Bracket Symbols

2024-07-08T08:51:38Z

172.70.160.248: Superfluous subheadery

ummm. How does editing this stuff work. Is this HTML? Why can't we have a gooey? Also, I only sort of get this comic, but it's not that funny.
<marquee behavior="scroll" direction="up">Here is some scrolling text... going up!</marquee>
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.102|172.69.58.102]] 05:13, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
: Have a WHAT? - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.179.88|172.70.179.88]] 09:26, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
:: A [https://kirby.fandom.com/wiki/Gooey Gooey]. Although I'm not sure how that would help.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.121|172.70.163.121]] 11:27, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
:: I'm sure that should be GUI (Graphical User Interface. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.76|141.101.69.76]] 11:40, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

The "violin" symbols look like an upside-down bag symbol (multiset symbol) to me, moreso than integrals. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.135|172.69.58.135]] 18:09, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Did my best with my first ever contribution - I know there's a chart feature but I cba to relearn html. Feel free to fix it and PLEASE finish my bad explanations. [[User:Qwikster|Qwikster]] ([[User talk:Qwikster|talk]]) 06:05, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

⌊⌋ are floor brackets (and you can now copy-paste them from here into the explanation as needed) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.33|162.158.126.33]] 06:03, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

As for the spaghetti, in Python, it'd be a list containing a tuple containing a list containing a set containing an empty tuple. Probably doesn't mean anything specific and pretty much useless), but it *is* legal code [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.164|162.158.126.164]] 06:05, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Yay, I figured out how to use a table! [[User:Qwikster|Qwikster]] ([[User talk:Qwikster|talk]]) 06:42, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm British, ex 60+ years and I'm sure I was taught in school to use "for first person speech" and 'for quoting others'. I hadn't even noticed printers doing the opposite. But there again I didn't go to Grammar School. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:36, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
:: [Update] Researching this issue, using " or ' is acceptable in the UK as long as you are consistent in any work. However, most British authored books I have use '. Then, thought I, Douglas Adams did his own type setting, what did he use? In my box set of HHG2G it's '. But then I found a first (paperback) print run of Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency... And he used ". I don't think he would have been fickle, so that tells me the ' in British books is a printers' foible. (Controversially, they were responsible for a lot of extra u's being added to 'Latinise' spelling, even in words with Greek or Germanic roots and the replacement of Fall with Autumn) YMMV.[[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 10:42, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
::: I remember thinking it was to 'save ink'. After all in a 300 page novel with a lot of "speech", imagine how much savings you might have with 'speech', instead... ;)
::: But I'll accept "printer's foible" (or 'prïnter"s foïble'!) as an answer, given that we were still taught to ''write'' with doubles (and using fountain pens). Pity they couldn't have also refused to print Oxford Commas, though, which are complete waste of space (and, in their case, ink!)... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.64|172.69.195.64]] 12:30, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
:I'm British, too, and as I recall my school says sixty years ago, the symbols () are just called brackets and parenthesis is just the grammatical construct in which they can be used. But you can use dashes or even commas to indicate a parenthesis. This has been discussed on such blogs has Ben Yagoda's Not One-off Britishisms. https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2015/12/15/square-brackets/ --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.178|172.70.90.178]] 08:16, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah - I don't know where this weird idea that British people use single quotes comes from - it's not my experience. Generally seems to be double quotes for direct speech, and single quotes for paraphrasing, scare quotes, 'jargonisms', etc. I've added to the explanation to reflect that a bit.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.176|172.69.195.176]] 11:33, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
::Similar vintage of Brit, here. Always taught to write "66s and 99s" on any primary quotation (you'd '6 and 9' quotes-within-quotes and 66/99 quotes-within-quotes-within-quotes). Except books often seemed to be single(-double(-single))-nesting, always assumed that was the US standard, as they tended to have the likes of "color" and "sulfur", too.
::In typing (typewriter, word processor and on into the internet age) I'd use ""s as my primary, unless it 'wasn't really speech'... essentially scare-quotes, or emphasis. Though in the text-only information age (usenet, etc), I'd use some of the others for /Italics/, *Bold* and _Underline_ purposes.
::For coding purposes, I'd have to use whatever the programming language required (I added the note about Pascal's character/string differentation), except in Perl, where I go for a 'sensible' mix of aesthetics/readability and practicality as I make wide use of the [https://perldoc.perl.org/perlop#Quote-Like-Operators full range of options] available to me, in quotation context, whatever doesn't clash badly with any use of q[array], qq{sub or hash}, qx|binary OR|, =~s/whatever is in my/regexp/, etc... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.36|172.69.194.36]] 12:54, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

The integral sign (and its reverse) in the context of string instruments are the so-called 'F-holes', and they're not just decorative elements but help in the instrument(s) resonate more freely. Other shapes exist as well. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_hole here] for an in-depth explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.151.27|172.69.151.27]] 09:13, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

「かっこ」[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.151|108.162.250.151]] 09:24, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall missed an opportunity to reference catamorphisms i.e. banana brackets. There may be some better examples missed as well.

Who is that? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.156|172.68.186.156]] 10:05, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Likely reference to the quote and catchphrase "We can't stop here, this is bat country" from ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.242|162.158.134.242]] 11:05, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

The 'violin' quotes may look similar (but not identical) to the S-Shaped bag delimiters (U+27C5 & U+27C6), though these are normally used in the opposite order to enclose multisets.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.90.10|172.71.90.10]] 13:52, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

The French quotation marks « » are better known as guillemets. They are also used in Spanish, and probably several other written languages. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.167|172.71.142.167]] 15:10, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

The single-/double-quotes being recursively embedded with the other reminds me of a short story I once read. It had the form of a tale a person was telling of when he encountered a stranger with a tale of his own. In that tale, the stranger made the aquaintance of a particularly talkative individual. That individual reported the story he heard from a further interlocutor, that story featuring the reminiscences of someone else... ''Which came to a conclusion." ...is the way it ended.' ...and so went that story" ...but of course that was just what was heard.' ...if, of course, you could credit it."'' (It was more layers deep, of course, and with both starting quotes and the paragraph-maintaining standards of opening quotes, which yet still managed to suck you in.) Cannot remember who it was by/what it was called, but obviously the play on the style (a bit more clever than ''just'' "I met a man who said, 'I met a man who said, "I met a man who said, 'I met a man who said "..."'"'") made a big impression on me at the time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.18|172.70.162.18]] 19:51, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

'''"~~ I'm being sarcastic and..."''' The symbol ≈ means approximately equal to. This is much used in some engineering writing. "Output level should be ≈1 Volt." In casual work this may be approximated as "~", or "~~" which is less liable to be confused for a negative sign. {{unsigned|PRR|04:02(+:03), 5 July 2024}}
:It can also be used for such as "~240V", AC power supply, and I use tildes an awful lot in Perl for both regexp operations and bitwise negation (though I also like it as a nicely distinctive choice of delimiter character for joined/split data transportation, at times) . As to the comic text, I sort of associate it with the 'decorated' usernames (akin to Dwarf Fortress 'item quality modifiers', but of course not inspired by such, not sure if they inspired it) along the lines of <code>.~·«wIeRdLyReNdErEdNaMe»·~.</code> [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.158|172.70.91.158]] 10:21, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

As the only person to get an Academy Technical Achievement Award for inventing screenplay text formatting (and a produced screenwriter in the WGAw), I’m here to let you know square brackets are NOT used in screenplays, teleplays, or stage plays to denote stage direction. Square brackets aren’t used for ANYTHING in those script forms. This should be corrected (by someone more conversant with edits) to indicate that normal parenthesis are used in screenplay or teleplays to indicate stage direction associated with specific passages of dialog. These are typically called “parenthetical action” or “parenthetical.” Some stage play formats omit parenthetical action but place parentheses around passages of stage action. But NEVER square brackets. {{unsigned|SMGxkcd|13:11, 5 July 2024}}
:Per this unsigned comment, I've made the requested move from square brackets to parentheses. I don't know if this is correct or not, so maybe additional discussion could confirm or refute this claim. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:34, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Should we start up an Animorphs category now? It's been referenced a few times now, [[1380]], [[1817]], and also in [[1187]] and [[1360]]. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:00, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

: has existed since 2014, and this comic is (as of now) tagged with it: Category:Animorphs --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.29|172.70.114.29]] 14:16, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

:: ('_')b [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:18, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Double quotes: "Someone is talking".
Single quotes: double quotes, but this someone is talking... with "missing teeth"...?
Making fun of British dental hygiene is still common? Or died that out with Brexit?
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.99.139|172.71.99.139]] 20:10, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
:It's [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32883893 basically untrue], of course. The difference might be that in Britain 'cosmetic' dentistry isn't as prioritised as actually keeping them healthy.
:It doesn't go into it there, but the thing about a third of people "not having any natural teeth" in thr 1970s might actually have been a side-effect of prior eras dental care, where the opportunity to have all your teeth taken out ''to avoid problems in the future''. Often arranged as a wedding present to newlyweds. So you had generations of adults (young to old) now using dentures (which either look better than 'natural' teeth or aren't made well enough). With the rise of the NHS (which initially got overwhelmed with people getting their traditional whole-mouth-removals 'free'), things changed so that it wasn't a ''luxury'' to get dental care, though it did become far less 'free at the point of need' than most other elements of healthcare (both as reaction against the initial overwhelming of the post-war services and from 'tweaking' (often by the usual political suspects) by one government or another).
:Right now, there are minor crises in 'dentist deserts' (the availability of NHS dentists being sparse for some regions, for various reasons), but ''if'' you are happily registered with a practice then you're probably as Ok as your own personal approach to dental hygiene allows you to be. And if you can (and want to) pay, then fill your boots with 'Turkey Teeth', whitening, straightening, etc, to make the "actually pretty ok" mouth whatever you think is 'perfection'. (Which often ends up giving you more of a 'plastic fake dentures' look than anything else.)
:I mean, not funny, but possibly educational. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.96|172.70.91.96]] 22:52, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Bad encoding. My firefox shows the title text as <code>â€™"â€˜â€â€™</code> (on the original website, not here). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.210.81|172.71.210.81]] 11:16, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

887: Future Timeline

2024-07-04T11:23:07Z

172.70.160.248: /* The predictions */ Removing ugly/non-universal browser-side highlighting. (Indicative of copypasting the top link of a Google search on, e.g., chrome. Better to grab 'clean' and hopefully normally-anchored URL...)

{{comic
| number = 887
| date = April 18, 2011
| title = Future Timeline
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = future timeline.png
| titletext = Not shown: the approximately 30,000 identical, vaguely hysterical articles titled "WHITE PEOPLE IN [THE US/BRITAIN] TO BECOME MINORITY BY [YEAR]!", which came up for basically any year I put in.
}}

{{TOC}}==Explanation==
This comic uses the same strategy as comic [[715: Numbers]], in which [[Randall]] uses Google to search for phrases and then charts the results. This one is charted as a timeline, whereas 715 was charted as line graphs.
It is a list of things predicted or announced by anyone at any time (the ones you see on Google search using "by the year..." or similar statements).

"2101 - War Was Beginning" is a reference to the opening narration of video game ''Zero Wing''; the same narration is famous for the internet meme "{{w|All your base are belong to us}}". As there are not any other out and out references in the comic, and the rest are actually results that you can find using Randall's methods, "War Was Beginning" was probably the only thing he got when he googled 2101 as well.

Certain events in this comic, e.g., "Social Security stops running surplus", are repeated multiple times. Also, certain bizarre events, like "Apocalypse occurs", or "Flying cars reach market", happen before rather plausible things, like "'Big one' hits California". Certain events, like "Japan is a robot-only country" or "Gillette introduces 14-blade razor" may be related to the recurring theme [[605: Extrapolating]].

The title text is a reference to a reoccurring scaremonger theory that European people will become a minority or extinct as other ethnicities outbreed them. For maximum scaremongering they will claim this could happen in the near future, complete with extrapolated graphs. In the years since this comic was published these conspiracy theories have come to be known as "the great replacement" or "white genocide". Scaremongers are banking on the idea their target audience will [https://www.cjr.org/special_report/media-literacy-trump-fake-news.php rarely bother to fact check,] as analysis of their extrapolations usually reveals incorrect methodology [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUbxVfSqtt8 if not outright lies.]

This comic has similar features to [[1413: Suddenly Popular]], [[1093: Forget]], and [[891: Movie Ages]].

==The predictions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Prediction
! Further Details
! Outcome
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2012
| World population
| Ever since the advent of modern medicine and the more efficient agricultural processes developed since the Industrial Revolution, the human population had been growing at an unprecedented rate. This has caused some people to {{w|Human overpopulation|worry about overpopulation}}, which would cause a scarcity of resources and overcrowding, and propose various solutions, most of which involve some form of eugenics. 7 billion is a landmark number because it is a multiple of 1 billion.
| Close; Earth reached 7 billion in late 2011.
|-
| Flying cars
| For decades, flying cars have been a staple of futuristic sci-fi and technological predictions. So far very few of these predictions, which to tend to hover around 5–10 years from whatever the current date is, have come true.
| Too early; a flying car was first demonstrated in July 2021.{{Actual citation needed}} You could argue that helicopters count as flying cars, but these are not affordable{{citation needed}} and hence not widely used by the general public.
|-
| Canada cuts greenhouse emissions
| Currently, the Earth is experiencing an unprecedented period of warming we call global warming, caused in part by greenhouse emissions, which are gases that help trap heat in the atmosphere. Countries have repeatedly gotten together and promised to stop emitting greenhouse gases, but so far they have failed to meet their targets.
| False. Canada withdrew from the Kyoto treaty in late 2011, and its emissions in 2012 were 18% ''above'' 1990 levels (though its population had grown 26% and its GDP had grown 67% in that period).
|-
| Apocalypse occurs
| The end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar on December 22, 2012 has been used in popular culture as a basis for predicting the end of the world. Amongst other things, this included the film '2012'. Some people took this rather more seriously, and actually believed that the world would end on this date.
| False.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2013
| National debt paid off
| For years, the subject of national debt (in the USA) has been a political point of contention. While both parties theoretically support reducing the debt or paying it off entirely, Democrats are more willing to spend to pull the country out of recessions in the economy and Republicans to cut taxes. The last time that spending did not exceed revenue begin under Clinton, a Democrat, and ended after George W. Bush, a Republican, said that this amounted to taxpayers being "overcharged" and taxes were lowered, followed by the Great Recession. Clinton at one point proposed [https://money.cnn.com/1999/06/28/economy/clinton/ paying off the debt by 2015].
| False.
|-
| Microchipping Americans
| Microchips are small computer chips, typically embedded in pets in case they get lost, that contain information about the pet. Some, more paranoid, people worry about the government microchipping everyone in an effort to monitor their activities.
| False, although RFID implants do exist.
|-
| Homelessness ended in MA
| In 2008, the Commission To End Homelessness in Massachusetts, under Governor Deval Patrick, proposed a plan to all but eliminate homelessness over the next five years (hence the 2013 end-date on the comic).
| False.
|-
| Health care reform law repealed
| A health care reform law, popularly known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. Ever since, many Republicans have tried (in vain) to repeal it, disliking the idea that government should provide and require healthcare. However, President [[Joe Biden]] has stated to restore Obamacare.
| Too early; almost repealed in 2017.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2014
| US leaves Afghanistan
| After the {{w|September 11 attacks|terrorist attack}} on the {{w|World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center}} (WTC) in New York on September 11, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan, which at the time allegedly hosted the headquarters of al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization behind the attacks. The war has gone on since then, with the public growing increasingly tired of it. Public support then favoured a withdrawal, but for military and logistical reasons, the government could not simply move all the US troops in Afghanistan to their home. Therefore, the government promised to eventually withdraw all troops, initially planned to do so by the end of 2014.
| Too early; the remaining US troops [https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/afghanistan-afghan-troops-struggle-to-replace-americans-at-key-bagram-air-base-2480356 left Afghanistan in June 2021.]
|-
| GNU/Linux dominant OS
| An operating system, or OS, is the software that forms the structure in which applications on you computer function. Some typical OSs include Mac OS X, Windows 10, and Linux. The first two of those three are commercial products, sold as a copy by a company. The last is an open-source OS, one that anyone can download and modify free. Typically, open-source software is used by a small number of socially conscious people.
| False, although Linux-based Android dominated phones since 2011.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2015
| New Horizon reaches Pluto
| The New Horizon spacecraft is a U.S. space mission designed to go to Pluto and take photographs, collect samples, etc.
| True. [https://pluto.jhuapl.edu It reached Pluto on July 14, 2015].
|-
| Healthcare law causes hyperinflation
| The National Inflation Association warned that the [https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/healthcare-bill-to-cause-us-hyperinflation-by-2015-88711032.html healthcare bill would cause U.S. hyperinflation by 2015.]
| False.
|-
| Millennium development goals achieved
| {{w|Millennium Development Goals}}
| False.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2016
| Baby boomers begin turning 65
| {{w|Baby boomers}} are individuals conceived in the years following World War Two, roughly defined as those born from 1946-1959. This isn't so much a prediction as basic math; if you were born in 1946, you turned 65 in 2011.
| True.
|-
| Android takes 38%/45% of market share
| {{w|Android (operating system)|Android}} is a popular operating system for smartphones and tablets, created by Google. Market share is the percentage of all devices that use the product, in this case the Android operating system. These entries together are humorous because they cannot both happen at the same time.
| Too late; passed these marks in 2010. {{w|Android OS}}'s [https://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp market share was already 84.4% as of the third quarter of 2014,] showing that both estimates were overly conservative.
|-
| Windows phone overtakes iOS
| {{w|iOS}} is the operating system used by Apple iPhones. At the time of the comic, Apple's mobile OS is much more popular than Microsoft's. The article Randall found predicts that the tables will turn. However, Windows Phone was discontinued in 2017, with support for the last version (Windows Phone 10) ending on December 10, 2019.
| False.
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2017
| China completes lunar mission
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
| False. The first sample-return mission was completed in November 2020.
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| The first of many predictions about the United States {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}} trust fund program, all predicting its decline due to a variety of factors.
| Too early. Occurred in 2021.
|-
| US budget balanced
| The {{w|United States federal budget}} outlines how much the US government spends on what in a given fiscal year. The budget is not required to be balanced, and so often more money is spent than is earned in revenue, causing the national debt to rise.
| False. Still pretty negative.
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| The increasing popularity of internet media and mobile devices has caused a steady decline in the popularity of print media.
| False. Though newspapers are in decline, they are certainly not obsolete as of 2017, or 2022, for that matter.
|-
| Cosmetic surgery doubles
| {{w|Cosmetic Surgery}}
| False. According to the ASPS (American Society of Plastic Surgeons), 1.6 million cosmetic surgeries were performed in 2011, while 1.8 million were performed in 2017, an increase of only 0.2 million.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2018
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}} again.
| Still too early.
|-
| Jesus returns to Earth
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the {{w|second coming}} or the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible and other religious texts says that "no man can know the date" and that it would be within the lifetime of some who witnessed Jesus's first appearance. Several predicted dates have come and gone.
| False.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2019
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}} again.
| Still too early.
|-
| Every baby has genes mapped at birth
| {{w|Gene Mapping}}
| False.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2020
| Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
| Scientists estimate that more than half of the {{w|fossil fuels}} in existence have already been found and that fossil fuel production will begin to decline due to the scarcity, causing prices to increase. At the same time, improvements in {{w|Solar Power|solar technology}} are causing the prices for solar energy to steadily decrease.
| True, though only in {{w|Cost of electricity by source#Recent_global_studies|certain cases}}.
|-
| Keyboards and mice become obsolete
| {{w|Computer input device|Computer input devices}} are beginning to adopt other inputs, such as trackpads, voice commands, touch screens, and eye tracking. While touch screens in particular are gaining widespread use with the rise of smartphones and tablets, as of 2022 desktop computers that use mice are still fairly common. And while voice-to-text has greatly improved, it still doesn't have the accuracy to replace typing. None of the other text inputs are as fast as a keyboard, and none are suitable for writing program code.
| False. While touchscreen devices ''are'' increasingly common, desktop computers are still very much in use. Mice continue to be used alongside touchscreens and trackpads, and keyboards remain the dominant method of writing on computers.
|-
| New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
| A {{w|Tappan_Zee_Bridge#Replacement_bridge|replacement bridge}} was announced in 2008.
| Too late; completed in 2017.
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2021
| US debt reaches 97% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
| Too late; reached in 2011.
|-
| US unemployment falls to 2.8%
| {{w|Unemployment in the United States}}
| False: because of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment has actually ''increased''.
|-
| Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
| A {{w|caliphate}} is a form of {{w|Islam|Islamic}} political-religious leadership, centred around a Caliph, or successor to the prophet {{w|Muhammad}}. This may be foreshadowing of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has as its goal the creation of a restored caliphate.
| False.
|-
| Lake Mead evaporates
| Formed by the {{w|Hoover Dam}} on the {{w|Colorado River}}, {{w|Lake Mead}} is the largest reservoir in the United States (measured by maximum capacity). It hasn't reached its capacity since 1983, due to drought and increased demand for water. This is linked to {{w|global warming}}.
| False, although water levels continue to fall.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2022
| Kilimanjaro snow-free
| At 5,895 metres, {{w|Kilimanjaro}} is the highest mountain in {{w|Africa}}, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Around 85% of its ice cover disappeared between 1912 and 2011, and it continues to recede.
| False.
|-
| HTML 5 finished
| The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) began work on {{w|HTML 5}} in 2004.
| Too late; 5.0 specification released in 2014, but incremental updates continue.
|-
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| This is the second time this prediction has appeared.
| False.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2023
| Jesus returns to Earth (again)
| Again.
| False.
|-
| US debt passes 100% of GDP
| This references the common fear that {{w|US Debt}} will exceed GDP, possibly causing {{w|Economic bubble|economic turmoil}}.
| Too late; reached in 2012.
|-
| All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
| Likely due to a combination of wildfire and {{w|deforestation}}.
| False.
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2024
| Atlantis begins to reappear
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional/hypothetical island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. It's not clear why ''rising'' sea level would make it reappear.
|
|-
| Orangutans extinct in wild
| {{w|Orangutan|Orangutans}} are a species of great ape, currently classed as an {{w|endangered species}}, and found only in the {{w|Rainforest|rainforests}} of {{w|Borneo}} and {{w|Sumatra}}.
|
|-
| China lands men and women on the moon
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
| False; the Chinese government planned a manned mission to the moon for the 2030s.
|-
| NASA sets up permanent moon base
| There has been a lot of hype recently about finally returning to the moon, vis-a-vis Orion.
| Too early; the {{w|Artemis program}} plans to put the {{w|Lunar Gateway}} in orbit around the moon, which will be flown up in [https://www.nasa.gov/gateway-frequently-asked-questions four launches over the course of six years, beginning "no earlier than 2025"]
|-
| Female professionals pass males in pay
| There are two possible explanations for this entry: Either it's fear-mongering from misogynists or, more probably, an erroneous extrapolation from the current rate at which female incomes are catching up to male incomes.
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2025
| World population reaches 8 billion
| Given current rates, it seems unlikely it will take this long to hit 8 billion, but advances in birth control options and especially their availability in developing nations may slow the current rate considerably.
| Too late..? This number was reached in late 2022. Hopefully there won't be a reason for the number to suddenly plummet in 2025.
|-
| Two billion people face water shortages
| https://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/28-01-2008/103693-water_crisis-0/
|
|-
| 62 MPG cars introduced
| 62 miles per gallon, ~3.8 L/100km. 62 MPG is a very good mileage rate at today's standard, even though [https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5231050&page=1 some cars can be driven carefully so as to attain over 100 MPG].
|
|-
| US power fades
| https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-us-power-will-fade-by-2025/
| Hard to know what the precise metric for this would be.
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2026
| Atlantis emerges completely
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional/hypothetical island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. It seems that it has taken 2 years for it to emerge completely.
|
|-
| Rock Bands die out
| https://bestbands.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/rock-bands-to-die-out-by-2026/
|
|-
| US debt paid off
| [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/business/27view.html It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due.]
|
|-
| Car accidents cease
| Presumably, cars will be fully automated and able to pilot themselves at this point and will have fail-safes that prevent collisions currently attributed to user error. Car accidents will always be possible, however, due to mechanical and electrical failures.
|
|-
| West coast falls into ocean
| Most likely due to {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|a significant seismic event}}.
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2027
| Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
| Japan's railway systems are famous for their "bullet trains", or {{w|Shinkansen}}. The Chūō Shinkansen is planned to be opened in this year.
|
|-
| Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
| https://totse.mattfast1.com/en/technology/space_astronomy_nasa/moonmars.html
|
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}} again.
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2028
| Tobacco outlawed
| Tobacco products (cigarettes and chewing tobacco) have become more and more taboo in modern culture, with most public places and private businesses forbidding their use indoors and near places children congregate.
|
|-
| 40% of coral reefs gone
| Many factors have been attributed to the decline of {{w|Coral_reef#Threats|coral reefs}}, including mining, over fishing, and rising ocean tempteratures.
|
|-
| US debt paid off
| {{w|US Debt}}
|
|-
| Social Security stops running surplus
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}} again
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2029
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| The next stage of the collapse of {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}. After years of deficits deplete the trust fund, the program will only be able to pay out as much in benefits as it takes in each year.
|
|-
| Computers pass the Turing test
| It is no coincidence that 2029 is the timeline for Terminator Movies.
| Some computer programs already clear the Turing Test about 30% of the time.
|-
| Aging reversed
| [https://www.zdnet.com/article/manhattan-beach-project-to-reverse-aging-by-2029/ Manhattan Beach Project to reverse aging by 2029]
|
|-
| Wikipedia reaches 30 million articles
|
| As of July 2024, Wikipedia has over [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias#Grand_Total 63.2 million total articles], if all languages are included. The source being cited may have meant the English language Wikipedia, which has only {{w|Special:Statistics|6.8 million articles}}.
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2030
| Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
| WWF press release - [https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/climate-change-speeds-up-amazon-s-destruction-says-wwf Climate Change Speeds Up Amazon’s Destruction] referring to a report on the [https://assets.panda.org/downloads/amazonas_eng_04_12b_web.pdf Amazon's vicious cycles].
|
|-
| Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
| From the [https://www.cancer.org/myacs/newengland/global-cancer-burden-to-double-by-2030 Global Cancer Burden to Nearly Double by 2030] article about the article from page 37 of [https://www.cancer.org/research/cancerfactsfigures/globalcancerfactsfigures/global-facts-figures-2nd-ed Global Cancer Facts & Figures 2nd edition].
|
|-
| Arctic ice-free in summer
| https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-arctic-ice-free-gone-video-ap.html
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2031
| Computers controlled by thought
| https://www.gizmag.com/future-mobile-technology/17554/
| As of 2017, this is {{w|Brain–computer interface|already possible}}, but still not used in any mass available devices as of 2022.
|-
| Realtors replaced by technology
| https://agbeat.com/editorials/will-realtors-be-replaced-by-technology-by-the-year-2031/
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| https://crfb.org/blogs/cbo-95-percent-confident-social-security-trust-fund-runs-out-25-years
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2032
| "Big One" hits San Francisco
| {{w|San Franscisco}} is located on the {{w|San Andreas Fault}}, which is predicted to produce a magnitude 7+ earthquake in the 'near future'. This event is referred to as {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|"The Big One"}}.
|
|-
| US elects first married lesbian President
| https://4chandata.org/g/In-what-major-ways-do-you-think-the-world-of-2032-will-be-different-from-that-of-today-a20155
|
|-
| Entire world converted to Christianity
| https://www.goddiscussion.com/38920/christian-domininionsts-to-take-over-the-world-by-2032/
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2033
| Kilimanjaro ice disappears
| https://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/02/idUSL2210825
|
|-
| India becomes superpower
| https://www.facebook.com/pages/India-A-SuperPower-by-2033/151177191568098
|
|-
| Europe reaches Mars
| [https://www.spacedaily.com/news/esa-general-03zb.html Specifically, a manned European mission]. ESA's {{w|Mars Express}} probe landed in 2003.
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2034
| US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
| [https://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/27/us-diabetes-usa-costs-idUSTRE5AQ0C220091127 U.S. diabetes cases to double, costs triple by 2034]
|
|-
| US builds autonomous robot army
| The concept of robots built for military service is another common element of science fiction stories. [https://www.aos-inc.com/index.php/medialias/press-releases?id=112 Unmanned Systems] article, about the [https://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA522247 2009-2034 Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap] publication ([https://www.amazon.com/2009-Unmanned-Integrated-Aircraft-Technologies-ebook/dp/B0047743A0 details at Amazon]).
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2035
| 80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
| From fact sheet on Obama's [https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/fact-sheet-state-union-president-obamas-plan-win-future State of the Union.]
|
|-
| Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
| From an IPCC report on [https://web.archive.org/web/20100116132657/https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch10s10-6-2.html The Himalayan glaciers] that has been analysed in quite some depth. See for example detailed article on an [https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2010/02/anatomy-of-ipccs-himalayan-glacier-year-2035-mess/ anatomy of IPCC’s mistake].
|
|-
| Arctic sea lane opens
| [https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/730ef8fe-27e1-11e0-8abc-00144feab49a.html#axzz3OBgEHYNY Arctic sea lane could open by 2035]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2036
| 80% of US has access to high-speed rail
| [https://www.wnyc.org/story/284946-obama-80-percent-of-americans-should-have-access-to-high-speed-rail-by-2036/ Obama: 80 Percent of Americans Should Have Access to High Speed Rail By 2036]
|
|-
| Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
| 99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029.
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2037
| Arctic ice-free in September
| {{w|Arctic sea ice decline}}
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2038
| 32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
| On 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, the value of time_t rolls over, that is it will return to zero. time_t is a computing standard measurement of time; it is a count of the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. time_t is used by most computer systems to store date and time information. It is recommended that new software should convert to a 64 bit time_t; indeed, most operating systems designed to run on 64-bit hardware already use signed 64-bit time_t integers. This would give an epoch of 15:30:08 UTC on 4 December 292,277,026,596 (292 billion years away). Of course, legacy systems may not be upgradable so action taken now should prevent this becoming a problem closer to 2038...
|
|-
| "Big One" hits California
| [https://www.presstelegram.com/technology/20080414/the-big-one-likely-to-hit-by-2038 `The big one' likely to hit by 2038]
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2039
| US population hits 400 Million
| [https://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2008/us400million.aspx U.S. Population Projected to Hit 400 Million in 2039]
|
|-
| Severe heat waves become commonplace
| [https://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/july/extreme-heat-study-070810.html Heat waves and extremely high temperatures could be commonplace in the U.S. by 2039, Stanford study finds]
|
|-
| Scientology becomes majority religion in US
| [https://home.snafu.de/tilman/2039.html Essay: Scientology in the year 2039]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2040
| Arctic summers ice-free
| [https://www.livescience.com/9419-arctic-summer-ice-free-2040.html Arctic Summer Could be Ice-Free by 2040]
|
|-
| Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
| [https://www.computerworld.com/article/2528330/app-development/nanotech-could-make-humans-immortal-by-2040--futurist-says.html Nanotech could make humans immortal by 2040, futurist says]
|
|-
| 2041
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|
|-
| 2043
| World population passes 9 Billion
| {{w|Population growth}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2044
| Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
| Premise of the movie [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1363468/ Zenith] - further details are in the [https://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/esearch/e3i25130cd57f1590bda4527c098ac85b01 film review for Zenith.]
|
|-
| Childhood obesity reaches 100%
| [https://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=11414 100-Percent Childhood Obesity Predicted by 2044]
|
|-
| 2045
| Humans and machines merge
| {{w|Ray Kurzweil}} predicts of a 'singularity' which will lead to a race of super intelligent beings.
|
|-
| 2046
| World's natural resources depleted
| [https://raphaelvanlaer.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/peak-uncertainty-when-will-we-run-out-of-fossil-fuels/ Peak uncertainty, when will we run out of fossil fuels?]
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2047
| World ruled by banks and corporations
| [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Schlock-2047-RM-Krakoff-ebook/dp/B0039IT37Q Future Schlock - the story of a world turned upside down in 2047]
|
|-
| Tobacco industry fails
| [https://www.news.wisc.edu/16857 Experts: Big Tobacco dead by 2047, possibly sooner]
|
|-
| US begins using autonomous attack drones
| [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/aug/22/us-air-force-drones-pilots-afghanistan US Air Force prepares drones to end era of fighter pilots]
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2048
| Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
| WWF report on [https://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/ unsustainable fishing.]
|
|-
| Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
| [https://future.wikia.com/wiki/RyansWorld:_Bathing_Suits_of_the_Future RyansWorld: Bathing Suits of the Future]
|
|-
| Entire US population overweight
| [https://web.archive.org/web/20090321075605/https://thestatsblog.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/scientists-say-thin-people-face-extinction-in-united-states-everyone-will-be-overweight-by-2048-%E2%80%93-and-less-smart Scientists Say Thin People Face Extinction in United States: Everyone Will Be Overweight by 2048 – And Less Smart (archive)]
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2049
| $1,000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
| [https://www.americanbar.org/content/newsletter/publications/technology_e_report_home/2007_may_technotes.html TechNotes: Trends in Technology]
|
|-
| Singularity occurs
| [https://www.prismdecision.com/the-singularity-is-near The Singularity Is Near]
|
|-
| Fishing industry collapses
| This tends to happen when your food-stock is extinct{{citation needed}} - see WWF report on [https://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/ unsustainable fishing.]
|
|-
| rowspan="5"| 2050
| 80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
| [https://infochangeindia.org/population/books-a-reports/80-of-world-population-will-soon-be-in-urban-areas.html 80% of world population will soon be in urban areas]
|
|-
| China controls space
| [https://books.google.com/books?id=op851Uf99LQC&dq=China+controls+space+2050&source=gbs_navlinks_s Space Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050]
|
|-
| Sex with robots possible
| [https://www.livescience.com/1951-forecast-sex-marriage-robots-2050.html Forecast: Sex and Marriage with Robots by 2050]
|
|-
| Cars banned from European cities
| [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8411336/EU-to-ban-cars-from-cities-by-2050.html EU to ban cars from cities by 2050]
|
|-
| One million species extinct from climate change
| [https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0107_040107_extinction.html By 2050 Warming to Doom Million Species, Study Says]
|
|-
| 2051
| Atmosphere escapes into space
| [https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-outdoor-photos/255705-have-you-ever-seen-fallstreak-hole.html Conspiracy theory] relating to {{w|Fallstreak hole}} or hole punch clouds.
|
|-
| 2052
| Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2053
| US budget balanced
| [https://crfb.org/blogs/omb-releases-long-term-projections-fy2015-budget-proposal OMB releases long-term projections for the FY2015 budget proposal]
|
|-
| Majority of Americans in prison
| [https://articles.philly.com/1992-06-14/news/26032105_1_prison-officials-prison-time-prison-commissioners 'Beyond Bricks And Bars' As Jails Overflow, The Lock-'em-up Credo Is Drawing Unlikely Criticism - From Prison Officials Themselves]
|
|-
| Cars driven by dogs
|
| This has [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAK0J8Uhzk already occurred] in 2012! However, it is not as widespread as the prediction may be implying.
|-
| 2054
| Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
| [https://www.albionmonitor.com/0403a/earth2054.html Hunger Could Be 'Unimaginable' Global Problem By 2054]
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2055
| Atmospheric CO2 doubled
| [https://cmi.princeton.edu/wedges/flash_intro.php Carbon Mitigation Initiative: Stabilization Wedges]
|
|-
| Oil runs out
| [https://raphaelvanlaer.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/peak-uncertainty-when-will-we-run-out-of-fossil-fuels/ Peak uncertainty, when will we run out of fossil fuels?]
|
|-
| Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
| [https://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/environment/5-valuable-metals-that-could-vanish-by-2055 5 Valuable Metals That Could Vanish by 2055]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2056
| RFID-tagged driverless cars
| [https://www.zdnet.com/article/rfid-tagged-driverless-cars-on-roads-by-2056/ RFID-tagged driverless cars on roads by 2056]
|
|-
| Robots given same rights as humans
| [https://www.cc.gatech.edu/news/robots-given-same-rights-humans-2056 Robots Given Same Rights As Humans By 2056]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2057
| 150 Japanese settlers on Mars
| [https://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9011051292/will-japan-colonize-mars Will Japan colonize Mars?]
|
|-
| Colorado River runs dry
| [https://news.agu.org/press-release/colorado-river-reservoirs-could-bottom-out-from-warming-business-as-usual/ Colorado River Reservoirs Could Bottom Out From Warming]
|
|-
| 2058
| Smoking ends in New Zealand
| [https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10698966 Smoking to die out in NZ by 2058]
|
|-
| 2059
| Humans have domesticated robots
| [https://diehardempiricist.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/6-may-2011-virtual-necking-demography.html Virtual necking, demography, and robots]
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2060
| Human race lives in peace
| [https://www.arasfoundation.org/vision.html ARAS vision/mission]
|
|-
| Extreme droughts across much of Earth
| [https://wdas.cosmosmagazine.com/news/extreme-drought-across-most-earth-30-years/ Extreme drought across most of Earth by 2060]
|
|-
| Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
| {{w|Avoiding dangerous climate change}}
|
|-
| Oil runs out again
| [https://business.financialpost.com/2011/04/01/oil-may-run-out-by-2060-hsbc/?__lsa=98a7-5c61 Oil may run out by 2060: HSBC]
|
|-
| 2061
| Halley's comet returns
| Halley's comet returns to the inner solar system (the vicinity of earth and the sun) every 75.3 years. The last time it was near earth was in 1985-1986. When it next returns, its closest approach to the sun will occur on [https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi 28 July 2061.]
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2062
| Uganda hosts World Cup
| [https://shillingscents.blogspot.co.nz/2010/07/uganda-to-host-world-cup-in-2062.html Uganda to host world cup in 2062]
|
|-
| The Jetsons
| {{w|The Jetsons}} was an animated science fiction sitcom that first aired in 1962. The show was set in the year 2062.
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2063
| First human clones reach adulthood
| [https://au.ign.com/articles/2004/04/28/the-fall-last-days-of-gaia-diary-2 The Fall - Last Days of Gaia Diary #2]
|
|-
| Population of Moon reaches 100,000
| Reading Eagle newspaper article from July 17, 1963 - [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19630717&id=PhgrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B50FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4055,6599008 Moon Population of 100,000 Is Predicted for 2063] and [https://www.paleofuture.com/blog/2008/3/14/air-force-predictions-for-2063-1963.html Air Force Predictions for 2063 (1963)]
|
|-
| Population of Mars reaches 10,000
| [https://www.paleofuture.com/blog/2008/3/14/air-force-predictions-for-2063-1963.html Air Force Predictions for 2063 (1963)]
|
|-
| Spacecraft exceed speed of light
| Physics as currently understood states that it is impossible to exceed the speed of light. A monumental shift in our physics would have had to have occurred for this to come true. This is a reference to the 8th Star Trek feature Film: "Star Trek: First Contact" where Zefram Cochrane performs the first human Warp Flight on April 5, 2063.
|
|-
| 2064
| Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
| [https://www.cleanhouston.org/air/features/hazyfuture.htm State plan guarantees a hazy future for Texas’ wilderness areas]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2065
| Last coral reefs die out
| From an [https://www.edgeofexistence.org/coral_reef_conservation/coral_reef_video.php article about a video called Reefs on the Edge] set in 2065 where a 15-year-old girl tells her grandfather's stories of coral reefs, and their demise.
|
|-
| Chernobyl cleanup complete
| [https://rt.com/politics/chernobyl-clean-in-55-years-time/ Chernobyl clean in 55 years time?]
|
|-
| 2066
| Cyprus achieves its goal
| This is from some [https://www.cyprus-forum.com/cyprus33608-110.html#p665612 forum posts on the decendants of Cypriots] that lends support to the autonomy of Cyprus from Greek or Turkey.
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2067
| Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
| The article at [https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/index.php/2013/11/15/artifact-of-the-month-slide-rule-1916/ Artifact of the Month: Slide rule, 1916] includes information from the International Slide Rule Museum that "in 1967, Keuffel & Esser Co. commissioned a study of the future, predicting that Americans in 2067 would live in domed cities and watch 3D television."
|
|-
| Redheads go extinct
| [https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/redhead-extinction.htm Are redheads going extinct?]
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2068
| Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
| [https://www.theozonehole.com/recovery.htm NASA Study Finds Clock Ticking Slower On Ozone Hole Recovery]
|
|-
| Lord Jesus rules the Earth from Throne in Jerusalem.
| [https://myth-one.com/chapter_8.htm The Resurrections -- What Really Happens]
|
|-
| Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
| [https://thedailybanter.com/2013/01/alex-jones-the-government-is-trying-to-make-more-gay-people/ Alex Jones talks about chemicals that make people gay]
|
|-
| 2069
| Public masturbation legalized
| [https://uncyclopedia.com/wiki/UnNews:It's_still_not_okay_to_Pull_Your_Penis_out_in_Public It's still not okay to Pull Your Penis out in Public]
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2070
| World population peaks
| [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1108-global-population-to-peak-in-2070.html Global population to peak in 2070]
|
|-
| City-scale flooding disasters
| [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/3317033/City-scale-flooding-disasters-predicted-by-2070.html City-scale flooding disasters predicted by 2070]
|
|-
| 60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
| [https://www.ssisolarenergy.com/solar-alternative-energy/ What Is Alternative Energy All About?]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2071
| Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
| [https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/topics/climate-energy/climate-change-adaptation/adaptation-tools/project-catalog/peseta-projection-of-economic-impacts-of-climate Projection of Economic impacts of climate change in Sectors of the European Union based on bottom-up Analysis]
|
|-
| World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
| [https://www.climateadaptation.eu/denmark/climate-change/ See "Air temperature changes in the 21st century"]
|
|-
| 2072
| US retirement age is set to 75
| [https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2012/06/11/how-high-will-the-retirement-age-go Up to 70-80 years]
|
|-
| 2073
| Oceans do not rise one foot
| [https://www.skepticalscience.com/sea-level-rise-predictions.htm More like 2 feet]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2074
| Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
| [https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8848188.html UK to have 1 million centenarians by 2074]
|
|-
| Supertyphoons hit Japan
| [https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/09/08/national/super-typhoons-in-store-as-seas-warm/ Super typhoons in store as seas warm]
|
|-
| 2075
| US retirement age set to 69
| [https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2010/1112/Retirement-age-at-69-Deficit-plan-hits-Social-Security Retirement age at 69? Deficit plan hits Social Security]
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2076
| Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
| [https://doclib.uhasselt.be/dspace/bitstream/1942/871/1/yitzhaki373.PDF Multiple Authorship in Biochemistry and Other Fields] (PDF)
|
|-
| Social Security trust fund exhausted
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}
|
|-
| 2078
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out
| The same prediction was made for 2017 and 2022. Even when most prognosticators agree that something will happen, there can still be much disagreement about ''when'' it will happen.
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2079
| US debt reaches 716% of GDP
| {{w|US Debt}}
|
|-
| Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
| [https://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2011/feb/climate-change-causing-demise-lodgepole-pine-western-north-america Climate change causing demise of lodgepole pine in western North America]
|
|-
| Floods commonplace
| [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090108101627.htm Floods To Become Commonplace By 2080]
|
|-
| Religion marginalized
| https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11347073
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2080
| Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
| [https://crfb.org/sites/default/files/our_debt_problems_are_far_from_solved_updated_2.pdf Our debt problems are far from solved] (PDF)
|
|-
| UK population doubles
| [https://forums.canadiancontent.net/international-politics/69603-britains-population-hit-110-million.html Britain's population to hit 110 million]
|
|-
| 2082
| World population declines to one billion
| [https://www.paulchefurka.ca/Population.html Population: The Elephant in the Room]
|
|-
| 2084
| Robot policemen introduced
| [https://www.thetechherald.com/articles/Robotic-cops-set-to-stamp-out-crime-by-2084 Robotic cops set to stamp out crime by 2084]
|
|-
| 2085
| US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
| [https://moneybob.com/2010/06/28/paul-krugman-throws-in-towel-says-were-headed-for-another-depression/ Paul Krugman Throws In Towel, Says We’re Headed For Another Depression]
|
|-
| 2088
| Japan becomes all-robot country
| [https://www.theretributioners.tv/erics-blog/2009/11/25/-japan-to-become-all-robot-country-by-2088.html Japan To Become All Robot Country By 2088]
|
|-
| 2089
| World halts fossil fuel use
| {{w|Fossil Fuels}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2090
| Global warming hits 7 °C
| [https://www.reportingclimatescience.com/news-stories/article/models-warn-of-7c-dangerous-climate-change-by-2090.html Models warn of 7C dangerous climate change by 2090]. Climate change, especially global warming, is a [[:Category:Climate change|recurring theme]] in xkcd.
|
|-
| Global warming hits 4 °C
| Summarized [https://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/2090-climate-change-global-warming-2090.php here]. In reference to Andy Bowers, “Analysis: Scientists say global warming could affect California's drinking water supply,” NPR All Things Considered, June 22, 2001
|
|-
| rowspan="11"| 2100
| Global warming around 5-7 °C
| [https://grist.org/article/bau-fd/ Hadley Center study warns of ‘catastrophic’ 5-7°C warming by 2100 on current emissions path]
|
|-
| Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
| {{w|Future sea level}}
|
|-
| Joshua trees nearly extinct
| [https://news.discovery.com/earth/joshua-trees-climate-change-110325.htm Joshua Trees Nearly Wiped Out by 2100?]
|
|-
| Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
| [https://www.pnas.org/content/107/2/576 Atmospheric CO2 concentrations during ancient greenhouse climates were similar to those predicted for A.D. 2100]
|
|-
| Germany tropical
| [https://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/climate-change-predictions-a-tropical-germany-by-2100-a-463378.html Climate Change Predictions: A Tropical Germany by 2100?]
|
|-
| Emperor penguins extinct
| [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7851276.stm Emperor penguins face extinction]
|
|-
| Arctic permafrost thaws
| [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/surface-permafrost-could/ Surface Permafrost Could Disappear by 2100]
|
|-
| Rising seas flood coastal cities
| [https://uanews.org/story/rising-seas-will-affect-major-us-coastal-cities-2100 Rising Seas Will Affect Major U.S. Coastal Cities by 2100]
|
|-
| Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
| [https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/08/06/890970/-Massive-Loss-of-Rainforest-Species-by-2100-eKos-Earthship-Friday Massive Loss of Rainforest Species by 2100]
|
|-
| All coral reefs gone
| [https://planetsave.com/2010/10/15/coral-reefs-gone-by-2100/ Coral Reefs Gone by 2100?]
|
|-
| Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
| Each iteration of the Gillette line of safety razors has one more blade than the previous one. MadTV has also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FAP8o5ZEo0 parodied] this. Over five years before MadTV did so, the Australian comedy group the D-Generation parodied the first two-bladed razor as the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YleuLyCUx28 Gillette 3000] with 16 blades.
|
|-
| 2101
| WAR WAS BEGINNING
| References {{w|Zero Wing}}, a 1989 Japanese computer game set in 2101, famous for poorly translated English and the source for "{{w|All your base are belong to us}}". See [[286: All Your Base]]
|
|}
<references/>

==Transcript==

:<big>'''THE FUTURE'''</big>
:'''According to Google search results'''
:Events for each year determined by the first page of Google search results for the phrases:
:"By <year>" "In year"
:"By the year <year>" "In the year <year>"
:"Will * by the year <year>" "Will * in the year <year>"
:"In <year>, * will" "By <year>, * will"
:
:;2012
::World population reaches 7 billion
::Flying cars reach market
::Canada cuts greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels as per Kyoto
::Apocalypse occurs
:;2013
::National debt paid off through President Clinton's plans
::Microchipping of all Americans begins
::Homelessness ended in Massachusetts
::Health care reform law repealed
:;2014
::US leaves Afghanistan
::GNU/Linux becomes dominant OS
:;2015
::New Horizons reaches Pluto
::Health care law causes hyperinflation
::192 UN member nations achieve millennium development goals:
::*Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated
::*Universal primary education implemented
::*Women empowered, gender equality reached
::*Environmental stability ensured
:;2016
::Baby boomers begin turning 65
::Android takes 38% of the smartphone market
::Android takes 45% of the smartphone market
::Windows Phone overtakes iOS in smartphones
:;2017
::China completes unmanned Lunar sample-return mission
::Social Security stops running surplus
::US budget balanced
::Newspapers become obsolete and die out
::Cosmetic surgery doubles
:;2018
::Social Security stops running surplus
::Jesus returns to Earth
:;2019
::Social Security stops running surplus
::Every baby has genes mapped at birth
:;2020
::Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
::Keyboards and mice become obsolete
::New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
:;2021
::US debt reaches 97% of GDP
::US unemployment falls to 2.8%
::Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
::Lake Mead evaporates
:;2022
::Kilimanjaro snow-free
::HTML 5 finished
::Newspapers become obsolete and die out
:;2023
::Jesus returns to Earth (again)
::US debt passes 100% of GDP
::All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
:;2024
::Atlantis begins to reappear
::Orangutans extinct in wild
::China lands men and women on the moon
::NASA sets up permanent moon base
::Female professionals pass males in pay
:;2025
::World population reaches 8 billion
::Two billion people face water shortages
::62 MPG cars introduced
::US power fades
:;2026
::Atlantis emerges completely
::Rock Bands die out
::US debt paid off
::Car accidents cease
::West coast falls into ocean
:;2027
::Japan introduces new fastest maglev train
::Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony established
::Social Security stops running surplus
:;2028
::Tobacco outlawed
::40% of coral reefs gone
::US debt paid off
::Social Security stops running surplus
:;2029
::Social Security trust fund exhausted
::Computers pass the Turing Test
::Aging reversed
::Wikipedia reaches 30 million articles
:;2030
::Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
::Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
::Arctic ice-free in summer
:;2031
::Computers controlled by thought
::Realtors replaced by technology
::Social Security trust fund exhausted
:;2032
::"Big One" hits San Francisco
::US elects first married lesbian president
::Entire world converted to Christianity
:;2033
::Kilimanjaro ice disappears
::India becomes superpower
::Europe reaches Mars
:;2034
::US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
::US builds autonomous robot army
:;2035
::80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
::Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
::Arctic sea lane opens
:;2036
::80% of US has access to high-speed rail
::Asteroid Apophis hits/misses Earth
:;2037
::Arctic ice-free in September
::Social Security trust fund exhausted
:;2038
::32-bit timestamps role over, causing Y2K-level chaos
::"Big One" hits California
:;2039
::US population hits 400 million
::Severe heat waves become commonplace
::Scientology becomes majority religion in US
:;2040
::Arctic summers ice-free
::Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
:;2041
::Social Security trust fund exhausted
:;2042
:;2043
::World population passes 9 billion
:;2044
::Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
::Childhood obesity reaches 100%
:;2045
::Humans and machines merge
:;2046
::World's natural resources depleted
:;2047
::World ruled by banks and corporations
::Tobacco industry fails
::US begins using autonomous attack drones
:;2048
::Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
::Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
::Entire US population overweight
:;2049
::$1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
::Singularity occurs
::Fishing industry collapses
:;2050
::80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
::China controls space
::Sex with robots possible
::Cars banned from European cities
::One million species extinct from climate change
:;2051
::Atmosphere escapes into space
:;2052
::Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
:;2053
::US budget balanced
::Majority of Americans in prison
::Cars driven by dogs
:;2054
::Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
:;2055
::Atmospheric CO2 doubled
::Oil runs out
::Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
:;2056
::RFID-tagged driverless cars
::Robots given same rights as humans
:;2057
::150 Japanese settlers on Mars
::Colorado River runs dry
:;2058
::Smoking ends in New Zealand
:;2059
::Humans have domesticated robots
:;2060
::Human race lives in peace
::Extreme droughts across much of Earth
::Global temperature rise reaches 4°C
::Oil runs out again
:;2061
::Halley's comet returns
:;2062
::Uganda hosts World Cup
::The Jetsons
:;2063
::First human clones reach adulthood
::Population of Moon reaches 100,000
::Population of Mars reaches 10,000
::Spacecraft exceed speed of light
:;2064
::Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
:;2065
::Last coral reefs die out
::Chernobyl cleanup complete
:;2066
::Cyprus achieves its goal
:;2067
::Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
::Redheads go extinct
:;2068
::Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
::Lord Jesus rules the Earth from Throne in Jerusalem.
::Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
:;2069
::Public masturbation legalized
:;2070
::World population peaks
::City-scale flooding disasters
::60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
:;2071
::Europe's temperatures rise by 3°C
::World summer temperatures rise by 5°C
:;2072
::US retirement age is set to 75
:;2073
::Oceans do not rise one foot
:;2074
::Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
::Supertyphoons hit Japan
:;2075
::US retirement age set to 69
:;2076
::Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
::Social Security trust fund exhausted
:;2077
:;2078
::Newspapers become obsolete and die out
:;2079
::US debt reaches 716% of GDP
::Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
::Floods commonplace
::Religion marginalized
:;2080
::Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
::UK population doubles
:;2081
:;2082
::World population declines to one billion
:;2083
:;2084
::Robot policemen introduced
:;2085
::US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
:;2086
:;2087
:;2088
::Japan becomes all-robot country
:;2089
::World halts fossil fuel use
:;2090
::Global warming hits 7°C
::Global warming hits 4°C
:;2091
:;2092
:;2093
:;2094
:;2095
:;2096
:;2097
:;2098
:;2099
:;2100
::Global warming around 5-7°C
::Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
::Joshua trees nearly extinct
::Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
::Germany tropical
::Emperor penguins extinct
::Arctic permafrost thaws
::Rising seas flood coastal cities
::Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
::All coral reefs gone
::Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
:;2101
::WAR WAS BEGINNING

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Google Search]]
[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Singularity]]
[[Category:Renewable energy]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Talk:2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas

2024-06-27T17:05:12Z

172.70.160.248: /* How would the rest of the world look? */

Seems weird that it's just the contiguous US, with "hints" about what lies within. I hope Randall will release another version with the rest of the world included.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.61|162.158.158.61]] 03:20, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

Would the center be both poles ''and'' Kansas's antipode? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.27.150|172.68.27.150]] 03:58, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

Including Hawaii would have been the cherry on the cake. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.174|198.41.242.174]] 05:42, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

: As the center of the map corresponds to Kansas' antipode (Kerguelen in the Indian Ocean https://www.geodatos.net/en/antipodes/united-states/kansas-city), Hawaii isn't really "near the center", but rather to the right of the center (in the direction of the "Pacific Ocean" tag). --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.100|162.158.86.100]] 05:58, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

:: Admittedly, I guessed where they would be. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.174.139|172.71.174.139]] 06:09, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

I don't think the middle part is meant to be seen as 'water', just 'out of scope'. [[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]]) 07:44, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, this is similar to a map like https://suncatcherstudio.com/uploads/patterns/us-maps/pdf-png/usa-map-states-names-color-010101.png In that map, Canada and Mexico aren't "rendered as water", they're not rendered at all, and neither are the oceans. I'm going to edit that. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.73|162.158.78.73]] 13:34, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

== How would the rest of the world look? ==

Currently the center is all water. If I understand correctly the rest of the world could be added, but how would it look? For example, would Europe and Asia cover a good part of the water or would they be tiny specs in the middle (almost making this a world map already)
:My impression (without measuring/replicating) is that this is mathematically (or whatever) a gnomonic projection (which can only show half the world, anyway, even on a sheet stretching up to infinity) radially inverted. As such quite a lot of features that aren't shown ('beyond/within' the 'coastline'/borders) couldn't be, anyway, as more than half the world away. Map-centre would be the compressed singularity of the Great Circle exactly 90° off the 'centre of Kansas' that itself now exists at infinite-radius-every-angle far off the page.
:Though it could just be stereographic with any negatively positioned projection origin. Instead of -1, for gnomonic, with a -2 radii origin you would get the whole surface (at infinity!) in ways that whatever you do to radially invert (probably the direct reciprocal) and otherwise scale (clearly choosing the additional 'zoom level' factor that neatly brings the Kansas border more or less into frame) to compress all offshore/over-border territories into the 'oceanic' centre. Or it could just be a useful rescale of a -2r projection ''of'' the Kansas-antipode, such that all borders of Kansas are pulled into frame.
:(Regarding Hawaii, if quick googling is right about Hawaii being 3,600km from Kansas(-centre?), then that puts it at various preskewed factors towards the 'hemispherical horizon' of ~10,000km or the antipodal point at ~20,000km, before then being further squashed by the particular coordinate conversion system in use. If it's a near-side orthographic projection and, say approaching +1 radii up from the surface-tangent, then it could perhaps be 'over the horizon' in the direct projection and thus 'beyond the singularity' of the inverted-radius version.)
:I'd have to mess with some map data, to be sure the existing features fit either idea of projection (or find the actual one (ab)used), but this'd probably be what I'd do, straight off the bat. And then I could apply it to extraterratorial features, also. I've got some of the necessary data and mungable code handily sitting on a machine that I am ''unhandily'' not going to next use until at least the weekend, and reimplimenting it on this tablet would mean starting from first principles again/testing/etc... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 09:23, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

: Check out the Wikipedia article "Azimuthal equidistant projection" and scroll to "Sample azimuthal equidistant projection maps". There is an inverse example, that puts California at the center of a world map. Now imagine everything else in the "great sea" of Randall's map, using a similar projection. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.99.32|172.71.99.32]] 13:48, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

: Yay! A task for a geography teacher (i.e. me, and I'm a big fan of Randall's work with maps), and I just happen to have the right bookmarks for this kind of thing in my browser. So here's a little toy to play around with: [https://www.worldmapgenerator.com/en/wizard/step/centering/?config=eyJpZCI6IkNVU1RPTV9XSVpBUkQiLCJsYXllcklkcyI6WyJDTElQX1BBVEgiLCJCQUNLR1JPVU5EIiwiU1BIRVJFIiwiR1JBVElDVUxFUyIsIkxBTkQiLCJPQ0VBTiJdLCJwcm9qZWN0aW9uSWQiOiJBWklNVVRIQUxfRVFVSURJU1RBTlQiLCJyZW5kZXJpbmdBZGFwdGVySWQiOiJDQU5WQVMiLCJtYXBUaGVtZUlkIjoiREVGQVVMVCIsImNlbnRlciI6WzAsMF0sInJvdGF0aW9uIjpbLTgxLDQwLDBdLCJ6b29tIjowLjksIndpemFyZFN0ZXBQcm9ncmVzc0lkeCI6MywidmVyc2lvbiI6IjEuMC4wIn0%3D] I hope my settings got preserved in the link as they should, else whoever added all those letters and numbers clearly has something to answer for! If the link works as it should it'll show you what a map of the whole wide world would look like in an Azimuthal Equidistant Projection with Kansas on the exterior. That is, I first used this Antipodes Map [https://www.antipodesmap.com] to locate the point opposite to Lebanon, Kansas at 39°48'35"S, 81°26'39.8"E , which is quite literally in the middle of the Indian Ocean, near the islands of Saint Paul and Nouvelle Amsterdam (which, incidentally, belong to France and are mainly known for being as far away from anything as you can possibly get on this planet*) and then set the centre of the worldmapgenerator.com map approximately there. It's not a very precise tool, but it'll do - it's precise enough for me to use in lessons anyway. Surprisingly, you actually get a more or less usable map for much of the world (if you're not too fussy or trying to navigate with it or anything), ''except only'' for North and Middle America. :D [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 16:04, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
:: * At least, you can say that if you happen to land there, you're really not in Kansas any more. ;) [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 16:30, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
::Oh, I really like map stuff, but: "This site uses cookies to improve the results of our bakery. With your acceptance we can add more honey, sugar and flour to improve the website. [Accept]". Only "[Accept]", no other options (even long-winded 'deselect "things ''we'' suggest are important" options that I might disagree with'). I really don't like that. And then it also offers to install an App, apparently... Oh, website builders, just because I'm currently on a mobile device, it doesn't mean I'm eager to "app everything"; entirely the opposite, perhaps! Yeah, I know script/cookie blockers or specialist browsers exist to avoid these things, but... Anyway, nice to see a geography teacher taking it seriously, even if I've got my own conflicting issues in picking up on what you've found. (Behind/before the popup stuff, it truly looked interesting. Don't know if there's a legit way to get a screenshot of it. Don't break any Ts&Cs in doing so!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.164|141.101.98.164]] 17:03, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

==Adding an image?==
Is it possible to add an image to the description? I'm looking at the Wikipedia article "Azimuthal equidistant projection" and the "external Antarctica" map is relevant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Azimuthal_equidistant_projection_SW.jpg Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.99.32|172.71.99.32]] 13:43, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

2947: Pascal's Wager Triangle

2024-06-18T08:44:58Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2947
| date = June 17, 2024
| title = Pascal's Wager Triangle
| image = pascals_wager_triangle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x802px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In contrast to Pascal's Wager Triangle, Pascal's Triangle Wager argues that maybe God wants you to draw a triangle of numbers where each one is the sum of the two numbers above it, so you probably should, just in case.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSON WHO BELIEVED THE TWO BOTS ABOVE HIM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is structured in a layout that emulates Pascal's triangle. Pascal's triangle is a numerical triangle where the top is 1 and each value below is the sum of the 2, or in the case of the edges, 1 number(s) above it. For example, a triangle would start with a singular 1, then the next row would have two ones, and the next would have a one, a two, and another one, and so on. It plays important roles in binomial expansion, probability theory, and other areas of math. While Blaise Pascal did not invent the triangle, it is named after him.

Pascal's Wager is a philosophical argument proposed by Blaise Pascal. Essentially, if the Bible is true, both the rewards for believing in God and the punishment for nonbelief are infinite; if it is not, the cost of belief and benefit for nonbelief are negligible. Therefore, if there is a finite possibility that the Bible is true, however small, one should believe in God.

The comic merges the two — each Cueball is wagering his proof of a god or gods to the Cueballs below him, thereby creating Cueballs that believe in a number of gods equal to the sum of the 2 Cueballs above him. In the second row, the two Cueballs believe in a god, as intended by the original Cueball. However, in the third row, the Cueball in the middle interprets the two proofs offered to him as proving the existence of two gods. Theoretically, this cycle would continue for all integers as the triangle grows, giving rise to a belief in escalating numbers of gods towards the middle bottom of the triangle. This is clearly not the intent of the first Cueball, who simply wagered the proof of his one god, but he has no control over the situation.

It is unclear why the Cueballs behave in this fashion. Perhaps each one rewords their arguments for God(s) sufficiently to make them sound different than other gods. This is not without precedent; for instance, scholars of comparative mythology believe that the religion of Proto-Indo-European peoples splintered into many disparate religions of Europe and West Asia.

This comic may be referencing a common counterargument to Pascal's Wager — that it works equally well for any hypothetical god which offers paradise for one action and damnation otherwise. This can even include hypothetical gods with contradictory criteria for entrance into paradise. In this case, the Cueballs apparently chose to believe in ''n'' deities to cover their bases.

The title text also mentions a proper Pascal's Triangle, but one where God would ask you to draw it, meaning theoretically if one did not follow this command, they would be punished.

Pascal's Wager was previously mentioned in the title text of [[525]].

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

:[Cueballs, each holding some document, are shown in a triangular arrangement, with arrows pointing from upper to lower Cueballs:]
C1
C2 C3
C4 C5 C6
C7 C8 C9 C10
C11 C12 C13 C14 C15
:C1: Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C2 & C3: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C4 & C6: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C5: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''two''' gods!
:C8 & C9: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''three''' gods!
:C12 & C14: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''four''' gods!
:C13: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''six''' gods!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pascal's Wager Triangle

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Religion]]

2947: Pascal's Wager Triangle

2024-06-18T08:44:31Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2947
| date = June 17, 2024
| title = Pascal's Wager Triangle
| image = pascals_wager_triangle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x802px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In contrast to Pascal's Wager Triangle, Pascal's Triangle Wager argues that maybe God wants you to draw a triangle of numbers where each one is the sum of the two numbers above it, so you probably should, just in case.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSON WHO BELIEVED THE TWO BOTS ABOVE HIM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is structured in a layout that emulates Pascal's triangle. Pascal's triangle is a numerical triangle where the top is 1 and each value below is the sum of the 2, or in the case of the edges, 1 number(s) above it. For example, a triangle would start with a singular 1, then the next row would have two ones, and the next would have a one, a two, and another one, and so on. It plays important roles in binomial expansion, probability theory, and other areas of math. While Blaise Pascal did not invent the triangle, it is named after him.

Pascal's Wager is a philosophical argument proposed by Blaise Pascal. Essentially, if the Bible is true, both the rewards for believing in God and the punishment for nonbelief are infinite; if it is not, the cost of belief and benefit for nonbelief are negligible. Therefore, if there is a finite possibility that the Bible is true, however small, one should believe in God.

The comic merges the two — each Cueball is wagering his proof of a god to the Cueballs below him, thereby creating Cueballs that believe in a number of gods equal to the sum of the 2 Cueballs above him. In the second row, the two Cueballs believe in a god, as intended by the original Cueball. However, in the third row, the Cueball in the middle interprets the two proofs offered to him as proving the existence of two gods. Theoretically, this cycle would continue for all integers as the triangle grows, giving rise to a belief in escalating numbers of gods towards the middle bottom of the triangle. This is clearly not the intent of the first Cueball, who simply wagered the proof of his one god, but he has no control over the situation.

It is unclear why the Cueballs behave in this fashion. Perhaps each one rewords their arguments for God(s) sufficiently to make them sound different than other gods. This is not without precedent; for instance, scholars of comparative mythology believe that the religion of Proto-Indo-European peoples splintered into many disparate religions of Europe and West Asia.

This comic may be referencing a common counterargument to Pascal's Wager — that it works equally well for any hypothetical god which offers paradise for one action and damnation otherwise. This can even include hypothetical gods with contradictory criteria for entrance into paradise. In this case, the Cueballs apparently chose to believe in ''n'' deities to cover their bases.

The title text also mentions a proper Pascal's Triangle, but one where God would ask you to draw it, meaning theoretically if one did not follow this command, they would be punished.

Pascal's Wager was previously mentioned in the title text of [[525]].

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

:[Cueballs, each holding some document, are shown in a triangular arrangement, with arrows pointing from upper to lower Cueballs:]
C1
C2 C3
C4 C5 C6
C7 C8 C9 C10
C11 C12 C13 C14 C15
:C1: Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C2 & C3: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C4 & C6: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C5: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''two''' gods!
:C8 & C9: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''three''' gods!
:C12 & C14: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''four''' gods!
:C13: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''six''' gods!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pascal's Wager Triangle

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Religion]]

2947: Pascal's Wager Triangle

2024-06-18T08:44:00Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2947
| date = June 17, 2024
| title = Pascal's Wager Triangle
| image = pascals_wager_triangle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x802px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In contrast to Pascal's Wager Triangle, Pascal's Triangle Wager argues that maybe God wants you to draw a triangle of numbers where each one is the sum of the two numbers above it, so you probably should, just in case.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSON WHO BELIEVED THE TWO BOTS ABOVE HIM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is structured in a layout that emulates Pascal's triangle. Pascal's triangle is a numerical triangle where the top is 1 and each value below is the sum of the 2, or in the case of the edges, 1 number(s) above it. For example, a triangle would start with a singular 1, then the next row would have two ones, and the next would have a one, a two, and another one, and so on. It plays important roles in binomial expansion, probability theory, and other areas of math. While Blaise Pascal did not invent the triangle, it is named after him.

Pascal's Wager is a philosophical argument proposed by Blaise Pascal. Essentially, if the Bible is true, both the rewards for believing in God and the punishment for nonbelief are infinite; if it is not, the cost of belief and benefit for nonbelief are negligible. Therefore, if there is a finite possibility that the Bible is true, however small, one should believe in God.

The comic merges the two — Cueball is wagering his proof of a god to the Cueballs below him, thereby creating Cueballs that believe in a number of gods equal to the sum of the 2 Cueballs above him. In the second row, the two Cueballs believe in a god, as intended by the original Cueball. However, in the third row, the Cueball in the middle interprets the two proofs offered to him as proving the existence of two gods. Theoretically, this cycle would continue for all integers as the triangle grows, giving rise to a belief in escalating numbers of gods towards the middle bottom of the triangle. This is clearly not the intent of the first Cueball, who simply wagered the proof of his one god, but he has no control over the situation.

It is unclear why the Cueballs behave in this fashion. Perhaps each one rewords their arguments for God(s) sufficiently to make them sound different than other gods. This is not without precedent; for instance, scholars of comparative mythology believe that the religion of Proto-Indo-European peoples splintered into many disparate religions of Europe and West Asia.

This comic may be referencing a common counterargument to Pascal's Wager — that it works equally well for any hypothetical god which offers paradise for one action and damnation otherwise. This can even include hypothetical gods with contradictory criteria for entrance into paradise. In this case, the Cueballs apparently chose to believe in ''n'' deities to cover their bases.

The title text also mentions a proper Pascal's Triangle, but one where God would ask you to draw it, meaning theoretically if one did not follow this command, they would be punished.

Pascal's Wager was previously mentioned in the title text of [[525]].

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

:[Cueballs, each holding some document, are shown in a triangular arrangement, with arrows pointing from upper to lower Cueballs:]
C1
C2 C3
C4 C5 C6
C7 C8 C9 C10
C11 C12 C13 C14 C15
:C1: Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C2 & C3: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C4 & C6: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C5: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''two''' gods!
:C8 & C9: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''three''' gods!
:C12 & C14: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''four''' gods!
:C13: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''six''' gods!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pascal's Wager Triangle

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Religion]]

2947: Pascal's Wager Triangle

2024-06-18T08:43:42Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2947
| date = June 17, 2024
| title = Pascal's Wager Triangle
| image = pascals_wager_triangle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x802px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In contrast to Pascal's Wager Triangle, Pascal's Triangle Wager argues that maybe God wants you to draw a triangle of numbers where each one is the sum of the two numbers above it, so you probably should, just in case.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSON WHO BELIEVED THE TWO BOTS ABOVE HIM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is structured in a layout that emulates Pascal's triangle. Pascal's triangle is a numerical triangle where the top is 1 and each value below is the sum of the 2, or in the case of the edges, 1 number(s) above it. For example, a triangle would start with a singular 1, then the next row would have two ones, and the next would have a one, a two, and another one, and so on. It plays important roles in binomial expansion, probability theory, and other areas of math. While Blaise Pascal did not invent the triangle, it is named after him.

Pascal's Wager is a philosophical argument proposed by Blaise Pascal. Essentially, if the Bible is true, both the rewards for believing in God and the punishment for nonbelief are infinite; if it is not, the cost of belief and benefit for nonbelief are negligible. Therefore, if there is a finite possibility that the Bible is true, however small, one should believe in God.

The comic merges the two. — Cueball is wagering his proof of a god to the Cueballs below him, thereby creating Cueballs that believe in a number of gods equal to the sum of the 2 Cueballs above him. In the second row, the two Cueballs believe in a god, as intended by the original Cueball. However, in the third row, the Cueball in the middle interprets the two proofs offered to him as proving the existence of two gods. Theoretically, this cycle would continue for all integers as the triangle grows, giving rise to a belief in escalating numbers of gods towards the middle bottom of the triangle. This is clearly not the intent of the first Cueball, who simply wagered the proof of his one god, but he has no control over the situation.

It is unclear why the Cueballs behave in this fashion. Perhaps each one rewords their arguments for God(s) sufficiently to make them sound different than other gods. This is not without precedent; for instance, scholars of comparative mythology believe that the religion of Proto-Indo-European peoples splintered into many disparate religions of Europe and West Asia.

This comic may be referencing a common counterargument to Pascal's Wager — that it works equally well for any hypothetical god which offers paradise for one action and damnation otherwise. This can even include hypothetical gods with contradictory criteria for entrance into paradise. In this case, the Cueballs apparently chose to believe in ''n'' deities to cover their bases.

The title text also mentions a proper Pascal's Triangle, but one where God would ask you to draw it, meaning theoretically if one did not follow this command, they would be punished.

Pascal's Wager was previously mentioned in the title text of [[525]].

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

:[Cueballs, each holding some document, are shown in a triangular arrangement, with arrows pointing from upper to lower Cueballs:]
C1
C2 C3
C4 C5 C6
C7 C8 C9 C10
C11 C12 C13 C14 C15
:C1: Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C2 & C3: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C4 & C6: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C5: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''two''' gods!
:C8 & C9: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''three''' gods!
:C12 & C14: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''four''' gods!
:C13: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''six''' gods!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pascal's Wager Triangle

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Religion]]

Talk:2944: Magnet Fishing

2024-06-10T21:30:24Z

172.70.160.248:

Isn't the solution to make the competition like skiing: The participants take turns fishing, instead of all fishing at the same time? And they're judged on how quickly they can "catch" a magnet in the water. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:44, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

== Title text ==

I believe the first "ten-way tie" refers to calling the competition a "tie" between ten competitors. It's more common in British English, but can be used as a synonym for game/match/etc. So it's saying "the ten-person match was judged a ten-way draw". {{unsigned|MightyP|16:36, 10 June 2024}}
: It's a pun on tie meaning to knot/tangle the lines, and tie in the sense of competitors finishing equally. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.117|172.70.134.117]] 18:29, 10 June 2024 (UTC)
:As a British Englisher(!) myself, I think "cup tie" (e.g. the final culmination of a knockout competition) tends to be what "breaks the tie" between the ''two'' teams that have each reached this stage equally successful against all other opponents. (Also "3rd/4th-place tie", etc.) You don't tend to get N-way competitions called a 'tie' (though, theoretically, a trifurcated bracketing system could bring 27 teams in nine games teams could become nine teams in three games, then three three teams producing the winner, etc).
:Tie/tangle and tie/equally-scored is going to be good enough. If Randall had thought of the "cup tie"-type usage, he could have easily made a tripled-pun version with that ''and'' the two more obvious versions. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.248|172.70.160.248]] 21:30, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

The prize is also a bit of wordplay. It refers to a magnetic monopole as already noted, but is also a joke, as a regular fishing pole is technically a "monopole". I've never personally seen a fishing dipole, but I suppose they could exist! {{unsigned|MightyP|16:49, 10 June 2024}}

== Triple pun for some speakers ==

I found it funny that in Austrian, monopole is "Monopol", and we use the same word for monopole and monopoly!
The prize also feels special if you have a monopoly on magnet fishing - without all the others interfering with your magnet like in the comic.

First time ever posting here. Keep up the good spirit! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.13|172.68.50.13]] 20:45, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

2943: Unsolved Chemistry Problems

2024-06-10T13:49:34Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ Removing chatty comments, more suited for inclusion in Talk discussion. Rationalised.

{{comic
| number = 2943
| date = June 7, 2024
| title = Unsolved Chemistry Problems
| image = unsolved_chemistry_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 361x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I'm an H⁺ denier, in that I refuse to consider loose protons to be real hydrogen, so I personally believe it stands for 'pretend'.
}}

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

Every field of research has unsolved problems considered "important" or "significant" that motivate continued research. The scientists at what is apparently the "grand opening" of their new chemistry lab list several real chemistry problems, followed by one also-unsolved-but-less-scientific problem (the p in pH)

'''Arbitrary Enzyme Design:'''

{{w|Enzymes}} are catalytic proteins. Enzyme catalysis is often unique in comparison with other catalysis methods as it is highly specific, or tailored to a specific reaction. As such, enzyme catalysis, besides being the basis of all biochemical processes, is becoming increasing relevant to industrial synthesis processes. As enzymes can be easily synthetically produced through recombinant gene technology, being able to design an arbitrary enzyme for any reaction would mean that effectively any reaction could be relatively easily catalyzed, revolutionizing the chemical synthesis industry.

'''Protein Folding:'''

{{w|Protein|Proteins}} are large molecules that consist of chains of amino acids. These amino acids chains become {{w|Protein Folding|folded}} in extremely complex ways into intricate 3D structures, and the way a protein is folded is of critical importance to its function. Because of the huge importance of proteins to biological life, biologists have devoted significant attention over many decades to the problem of {{w|Protein structure prediction|protein structure prediction}}. This refers to the ability to predict the 3D structure of a protein based on the amino acid sequence, and remains one of the most important problems in computational biology. The ability to predict protein structure purely from amino acid sequence, the so-called "de novo" prediction, is known in computational biology as an unusually difficult problem due to the complexity of amino acid chains. Known as "Levinthal's paradox," the number of possible conformations from the backbone conformations alone is estimated to have in the ballpark of 10^300 different conformations. Despite this, protein folding occurs extremely quickly in reality. Because of this difficulty in sampling conformations, even with optimization, such as secondary structure prediction and Monte Carlo simulation, a "true" accurate simulation is extremely computationally expensive. Because of this, the most accurate solutions, such as AlphaFold, utilize a combination of homology modeling - sampling experimentally determined proteins with similar sequences to infer structural motifs and similarities - and deep learning to accurately guess protein structure.

'''Depolymerization:'''

Polymers are very large molecules formed out of repeating subunits called monomers. Monomers are molecules, typically organic in nature, that can bond with at least 1 other molecule, with chains of 2 or more making long chains or networks called polymers. That process is known as polymerization. Depolymerization is breaking down polymers into the small molecules they were originally made from. This is done through a variety of processes such as using radiation, electrolysis, adding chemicals, and other means. Plastics are the best-known polymers, but cellulose, proteins, and DNA are also technically polymers. The huge number of varieties and mixtures in plastics makes recycling them a huge challenge, and there is increasing concern about plastic waste damaging the environment.

Polymerization is usually exothermic, releasing energy as heat. To reverse this would require adding energy, in a targeted way. Simply ''destroying'' a polymer, by means of highly-reactive chemicals, heat, or radiation, doesn't generally release the monomer molecules to a significant degree; most of the reaction products are highly degraded. Most polymers are made by a process of catalysis, with the small monomer molecules interacting via a catalyst structure, often in liquid form, and the eventual product is usually solid. To reverse this would require getting the catalyst to interact in a very precise way with the solid polymer, and it's relatively difficult for the catalyst structure to get into the proper configuration with the solid tangled polymer molecules.

Another highly-desired depolymerization process would be to convert cellulose into its component glucose molecules. That glucose could then be used for a variety of different purposes, including fermentation to alcohol to use as a fuel. Currently, when plants are grown, much of the solar energy and carbon dioxide they absorb ends up in the form of cellulose rather than as starch, sugar, protein, or other substances that we find useful. Our being able to make use of the cellulose would make farming much more energy-efficient. Some organisms are able to depolymerize cellulose by means of enzymes, but our ability to use similar processes on an industrial scale is still limited. (Those organisms use a complex multi-step biochemical process which essentially "invests" energy into splitting off a glucose molecule, then recoups the investment by metabolizing the glucose.) It's also possible to depolymerize cellulose at high temperature and pressure using nothing more than water and acid, but that process is energy-intensive. It ''might'' be possible to do it with a solar-heated reactor.

'''What the “p” in pH stands for:'''

“p” shows up in pH, pKa, pKb, and other things related to the concentration of H+ ions and OH- ions. The meaning of the "p" in "pH" has been the subject of much dispute. It is sometimes referred to as "power of Hydrogen", perhaps related to the fact that pH is a logarithmic scale, and the logarithm is the inverse of the exponented function and, in all three languages that pH was first published in, the word for "potency" is used for exponents. The term pH was introduced by {{w|Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen|Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen}}, who did not publish his results in English, and more accurately translates as "hydric exponent". The letter p could stand for, in the languages in which Sørensen published: the French 'puissance', German Potenz, or Danish potens, all referring to the concept of the "exponent" in exponential functions.

'''Title Text: Hydrogen Denier'''

In the title text, Randall claims to be an H+ denier by refusing to consider loose protons to be hydrogen atoms, and as such, the “p” stands for pretend. Part of the joke is Randall's implication that this is a well-known conspiracy theory that he personally buys into (it isn't). The word "denier" is often used as shorthand for other conspiracy theories, such as a "climate change denier" or a "moon landing denier."

Here's a breakdown of this joke:

* H+ is the chemical symbol for a positively-charged atom of hydrogen, the smallest atom on the Periodic Table. Since hydrogen is normally just one proton and one electron, when you take the electron away, you make it positively charged (the + sign in the superscript) and you effectively end up with just a single loose proton. So the shorthand for "loose proton" is to refer to it as an H+ ion.

* pH is taught in high school science class to essentially measure the concentration of extra loose protons in, say, an aquarium. (Different fish prefer slightly different pH levels/alkalinity.) As mentioned earlier, you can interpret the term "pH" to be referring to the "p" of "H" -- the power/potency of H+ ions.

(Note that in reality, lone H+ ions do not exist in water, and instead they glom onto H2O molecules to form H3O+ and H5O2+/(H2O--H--OH2)+. If you don't know what these chemical symbols mean, don't worry about it.)

But as an H+ denier, Randall doesn't consider loose protons to be hydrogen atoms. He has a purist's view of hydrogen, that it is just "pretending" to be hydrogen as soon as it loses an electron. As a denier, he interprets the term "pH" as referring to the concentration of "pretend Hydrogen".

==Transcript==
:[Hairbun stands behind a lectern on a podium speaking into a microphone on the lectern. A Cueball like guy stands to the left and another Cueball like guy and Megan stand to the right. There is a large sign hanging in the background along with some ornaments.]
:Sign: Grand Opening
:Hairbun: Our lab will be working on chemistry's top unsolved problems: arbitrary enzyme design, protein folding, depolymerization, and, of course, the biggest one of all:
:Hairbun: ''Figuring out what the "p" in "pH" stands for.''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2198: Throw

2024-06-03T02:06:50Z

172.70.160.248: /* Table of throw distances */ Would be better with {{diagonal split header|RowTopHeader|ColSideHeader}}, if that were available, and can't be bothered to try to deconstruct and reconstruct its style from where it works...

{{comic
| number = 2198
| date = September 3, 2019
| title = Throw
| image = throw.png
| titletext = The keys to successfully throwing a party are location, planning, and one of those aircraft carrier steam catapults.
}}
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div>
*To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|2198|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
This is an interactive comic made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]''. The comic is based on a chapter in the book.

As the comic celebrates the book, which was released on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019, the comic was thus also released on a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday]] to coincide with the release day, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release. This was the same timing used for another of Randall's book releases, when [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out on the Tuesday when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. Although the Hoverboard comic is much more complex than this one, they are both [[:Category:Dynamic comics|dynamic]] and [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]], and include [[:Category:Comics with animation|animations]]. Also, the [[Header text|header text]] changed to [[Header text#2019-09-04_-_Happy_Release_Day_-_bookstore|promote the release]] creating a large [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/08/2198_Throw_-_Front_page_promotion.PNG combined promotion] of the book during the three full days the comic was on the front page (see more [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Entire_xkcd_page_with_promotion|here]]).

In this comic the viewer can select a thrower and an object to be thrown, see this [[#Throwers and throw items|table]], and get an [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Animation|animation]] of how the selected throw would work out, along with an estimated distance of the throw (both in the SI unit meter (m) and in other very arbitrary units; see this [[#Table of distance units|table]] below) if the throw was possible. Impossible throws include those where the thrower is not strong enough to throw the object, or when the thrower tries to throw themselves, which is possible as four "objects" are also listed as throwers, most prominently {{w|George Washington}}. As the picture above cannot show all the possible selections in the two windows, pictures of all possible selections can be found [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Throwers_and_Objects|here]]

The formula/guideline is apparently based on chapter 10 from the new ''How to'' book, see more under [[#Formulas|Formulas]].

It seemed though, that there was a special case to the calculations with {{w|Thor|Thor's}} hammer ({{w|Mjolnir}}). Because this comic obviously refers to the {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor}} from the {{w|Marvel universe}}, played by another possible thrower, {{w|Chris Hemsworth}} in the {{w|Marvel Cinematic Universe}}, and {{w|Mjolnir (comics)|his hammer}}, which is enchanted such that only those deemed "worthy" are able to lift it. As such, despite its mass in principle being liftable by many of the characters, only Thor, God of Thunder (who is canonically worthy), is able to throw it. Thor is also the only one who uses {{w|furlongs}} to measure his distances among the standard throwers. However, it is not a canonical part of this comic that only he can throw it, and its mass is not realistic, see more below.

[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/f3/2198_Throw_-_Original_without_you.PNG Originally], when the comic was just released, there where only 7 throwers and 15 things to throw, giving a total of 105 different combinations; see the [[#Table of throw distances|table]] below. But only Thor can throw all 15, with three of the objects (George Washington, Thor's hammer, and the car) unthrowable by any of the other throwers. The smaller critters can throw only a few things, so the total number of throws is much less than 105. Still, there is an animation for all 105 combinations, but with no throw distance for many of these.

But already on day one the comic was out, a new thrower was added with the standard name "You", and this person, [[Knit Cap]], was also added to the objects that can be thrown increasing the number of throwers to 8 and objects to be thrown to 16. However, it would not be true to say that the number of options now would be 8 x 16 = 128, since the "You" can be customized when selecting it in the throwers menu (but not when selecting You in the object menu). When doing so a new window called [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/thumb/4/48/2198_Throw_-_Custom_thrower.PNG/835px-2198_Throw_-_Custom_thrower.PNG Custom thrower] will open up over the comic. The "You" option can then be customized by changing the name (from the default "You"), and defining the height (default 5.8 ft = 1.77 m) and weight (default 160 lb = 72.57 kg), where ft (feet) can be changed to m (meter) and lb (pound) can be changed to kg (kilograms). But when doing so the window will not correct the number from feet to meter etc. but stay the same.

Below the above options there is line with four persons above it, defining a scale of ''athleticism'', the default second option being the drawing of "you" which represents ''Decent'' form (i.e. a normal person). The first on the scale is [[Black Hat]], who thinks moving things is for suckers, thus representing minimal athleticism. "You" in second position is in decent shape and pretty good form, representing decent athleticism. George Washington in third position represents extremely high athleticism, and as he states he threw so well they made him President. Finally the fourth position, representing a champion athlete, shows a person with a helmet with chin strap and goggles who states that he trains 36 hours a day by using a time machine. It is thus indicated that such athletes can only be so good by training more than is possible; for instance, if he travels 24 hours back every day, he could use 12 more of these to practice, making it 36 hours on that "normal day" and he would then still have 12 hours to eat and sleep/restitution before his next 36 hours training pass.

Changing away from the decent "You" to one of the other three characters on the athleticism scale does not, however, change the character used for the animation, which stays the same. But still this gives a very large number of different "yous" to both throw and be thrown.

A self-created character, unrealistically tall and heavy well over the human records for height ({{w|List of tallest people|272 cm}}) and/or weight ({{w|List of heaviest people|635 kg}}), can actually be able to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e3/2198_Throw_-_You_throw_hammer_settings.PNG throw Thor's hammer] (For instance 4m and 1000 kg, see more [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Hammer_throw|here]]. So it is not because it is magically inclined to only be thrown by Thor, it is just that the weight is set to 2000 kg, and only Thor of the standard characters have the strength (1000 times normal human strength) to throw such a heavy object. But if the "You" is big enough, the athletic difference with Thor will be compensated by sheer weight and height. See this table of [[2198:_Throw#Data_from_xkcd_code|data from the comic]] for the above numbers.

Interestingly, Thor can throw a squirrel 257 meters. If a Custom Thrower is created, and they are 200 meters tall and 150 KG, they can throw the squirrel 256 meters (1 meter less than Thor). Thor can throw an acorn 136 meters, and the Custom Thrower will throw it 133 meters. Now, Thor can throw Thor's Hammer 19 meters. The Custom Thrower can throw it 44 meters! Apparently there is more to the enchantment of Thor's Hammer than meets the eye, as it would have been expected that if Thor can throw a squirrel and an acorn farther than an extraordinary human, then certainly he could throw his own enchanted Hammer a longer distance. This is, of course, because the Custom Thrower now throws from much higher than Thor. As to why the height doesn't affect the acorn or squirrel throwing distance in the same way it does Thor's Hammer, we'll leave that to you, the reader.

The title text refers to throwing a party (a colloquial synonym of hosting a party) and first makes the assumption of actually giving hints for giving a party, and then switches to suggest a mechanism to literally throw a huge object, such as a house with a party going on inside. An {{w|Aircraft_catapult#Steam_catapult|aircraft steam catapult}} is a mechanism to launch aircraft from ships, typically used on aircraft carriers.

==Safety Considerations==
Many of the items, even if technically possible to throw, may not be able to be thrown safely.

For example:
* Depending on how the microwave oven is damaged when it hits the ground, it may still be able to appear to function, but no longer seal properly, and therefore leak dangerously high amounts of microwave radiation.
* Blenders have blades and glass. Even if no one is struck by the flying blender, the broken pieces would be hazardous later if they are not properly disposed of.
* Cars have gasoline and battery acid which may spill if one is thrown.
* A squirrel might bite the person attempting to throw it, which is dangerous as some squirrels have rabies.
* Pikachu could shock (possibly fatally) someone trying to throw it.
* If a {{w|Dwarf-tossing|person is thrown}}, that person may be badly injured. If you throw people without consent they might punch you{{Citation needed}}.

==Throwers and throw items==
*Here is a table with first the throwers and then the objects to be thrown.
**George Washington, Pikachu, and the squirrel are both throwers and throwable objects, as are the costumed option "You".
**For these four this is noted in the explanation. The "You" is also the first object, Washington and Pikachu is no. 11-12 and the Squirrel is also the last object (no. 16) in the object list.

{| class="wikitable" |
! Image
! Name
! Explanation
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - you.png]]
|'''{{w|human|You}}'''
|'''Can also be thrown'''. The viewer may also choose to create a custom thrower, for instance, themself, inputting a name, height, weight, and general level of athleticism, as measured on a scale from "[[Black Hat]]" to "championship athlete" (a swimmer is pictured). The custom thrower is also selectable as a throwing item, presumably to provide more variety compared to the fixed values of George Washington.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - george.png]]
|'''{{w|George Washington}}'''
|'''Can also be thrown'''. The first president of the United States of America. There is a myth that a young George Washington threw a silver dollar across the {{w|Potomac River}} ("myth" being the operative word here — many sections of the Potomac are more than a mile wide, and the United States did not mint its own silver dollars until 1794, very late into Washington's life). He is also used as a throwing item to represent the likelihood of a thrower distance with an average human as the projectile. George Washington is shown as a very powerful thrower; the comic makes fun of the flagrant embellishment of Washington's life.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - quarterback.png]]
|'''An NFL {{w|quarterback}}'''
|A quarterback in the National Football League is a highly athletic individual. Gridiron football is a full-contact sport that requires durability, speed, and precision. One of the primary skills required of quarterbacks is to be able to throw the football far with precise accuracy.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - pikachu.png]]
|'''{{w|Pikachu}}'''
|'''Can also be thrown'''. Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. Although Pikachu are not normally shown to throw things, the ''Super Smash Bros'' series shows they are perfectly capable of picking things up that do not significantly out-size them. That said, Pikachu is capable of throwing a wide variety of objects through the move Fling, which allows the user to deal damage by throwing its held item (and, incidentally, a Fling TM). Its presence as a throwing item appears to reference the most recently released Pokémon games as of the comic's release, ''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu'' and ''Pokémon Let's Go Eevee'', where the partner Pokémon of the respective title is not kept in a Poké Ball but thrown into battle when deployed. According to Pokédex entries throughout the series, the average Pikachu is 1'04" (0.4m) tall and weighs 13.2 lbs (6kg). Randall appears to have done his research, as a custom thrower with these stats and default athleticism will have near-identical results to Pikachu for both thrower and thrown item.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - carly.png]]
|'''{{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}'''
|A Canadian music artist with [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgwAywJlo1M marginal throwing ability.]
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - thor.png]]
|'''{{w|Thor}}'''
|Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, wielding a hammer that returns to its wielder when thrown. He is also {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|featured in Marvel comics}} and is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (listed below) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Thor was previously referenced in [[2097: Thor Tools]].
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - chris hemsworth.png]]
|'''{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}'''
|An Australian film actor, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - squirrel.png]]
|'''A {{w|squirrel}}'''
|'''Can also be thrown'''. A small mammal of the family ''Sciuradae'', known for hoarding acorns. Squirrels have been a [[:Category:Squirrels|recurring topic]] on xkcd and have been used in ''What if?'' in lieu of a subject that Randall really doesn't want to draw. Due to their small size, a squirrel is also selectable as a throwing item.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - microwave.png]]
|'''A {{w|microwave oven}}'''
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to heat or reheat food for consumption.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - basketball.png]]
|'''A {{w|basketball (ball)|basketball}}'''
|An inflated sphere used as a projectile in the sport of the same name.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - blender.png]]
|'''A {{w|blender}}'''
|A common household appliance in most American homes, used to shred food or ingredients into slush for consumption or baking.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - gold_bar.png]]
|'''A {{w|gold bar}}'''
|The form in which gold is cast for storage.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - cake.png]]
|'''A {{w|wedding cake}}'''
|Traditionally a layer cake used for wedding receptions with copious amounts of frosting and figurines of the bride and groom standing upon the top layer. The figurines appear to have been removed before the cake is thrown, as they are before the cake is cut and served.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - pingpong.png]]
|'''A {{w|ping pong ball}}'''
|A small plastic sphere designed to bounce, used as a projectile in the sport of table tennis or "ping pong". Notably the ball is much more difficult to throw than the acorn, as its larger size yet much lighter weight causes it to lose more momentum due to air resistance.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - acorn.png]]
|'''An {{w|acorn}}'''
|A small nut which grows on oak trees and often serves as a squirrel's primary form of nourishment.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - hammer.png]]
|'''{{w|Mjolnir (comics)|Thor's hammer}}'''
|Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer in the {{w|Marvel universe}} which belongs to {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor from Marvels comics}} and can only be lifted by those deemed worthy. It is based on {{w|Mjölnir}} the hammer of Norse God {{w|Thor}}, God of Thunder. In this comic, though, it appears that Mjolnir is just incredibly heavy, and Thor is able to throw it because he is very strong. The custom thrower is also able to throw it if their size and strength are set high enough. Setting aside this customization, Thor is the only standard thrower to be able to throw Thor's hammer. In the movies based on the Marvel universe, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who is also one of the throwers, but in real life, he would of course not be able to throw such a weighty hammer.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - javelin.png]]
|'''A {{w|javelin}}'''
|An aerodynamic item like a spear thrown in Olympic sport.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_spin.png]]
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} spinning'''
|A silver coin representing one (1) US dollar in value, as would have been common when George Washington was president. The coin is given two trajectories to choose from when thrown; Here '''spinning''', as one would properly throw a discus.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - silver_tumble.png]]
|'''A {{w|Dollar coin (United States)|silver dollar}} tumbling'''
|The coin's other possible trajectory, '''tumbling''', as might result from flipping a coin to make a decision. The spinning coin always goes farther than the tumbling one, since facing the air edge-on leads to a smaller area facing the wind and therefore less air resistance.
|-
|[[File:2198 Throw - car.png]]
|'''A {{w|car}}'''
|The most common form of long-distance transport in several well-developed countries.
|}

===Table of throw distances===
{| class="wikitable"
!Item \ Thrower
!NFL Quarterback
!George Washington
!Pikachu
!Carly Rae Jepsen
!Thor
!Chris Hemsworth
!Squirrel
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Microwave oven'''
|10.32 m
|7.76 m
|N/A
|3.67 m
|181.57 m
|6.15 m
|N/A
|-
|33.85 feet
|25.46 feet
|N/A
|82.65 rack units
|1.99 football fields
|138.40 rack units
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Basketball'''
|40.18 m
|33.22 m
|2.34 m
|19.11 m
|113.67 m
|27.99 m
|N/A
|-
|16.74 horses
|19.54 smoots
|75.90 attoparsecs
|11.24 smoots
|1.42 Manhattan blocks
|16.46 smoots
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Blender'''
|16.58 m
|12.45 m
|N/A
|5.89 m
|333.25 m
|9.86 m
|N/A
|-
|9.75 smoots
|40.85 feet
|N/A
|132.51 rack units
|1.66 furlongs
|32.34 feet
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Gold bar'''
|9.73 m
|7.23 m
|N/A
|3.36 m
|549.28 m
|5.69 m
|N/A
|-
|31.93 feet
|23.73 feet
|N/A
|75.65 rack units
|2.73 furlongs
|128.11 rack units
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Wedding cake'''
|8.96 m
|6.75 m
|N/A
|3.2 m
|146.25 m
|5.35 m
|N/A
|-
|29.40 feet
|22.14 feet
|N/A
|72.00 rack units
|1.60 football fields
|120.45 rack units
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Ping-pong ball'''
|11.8 m
|11.63 m
|9.28 m
|11.25 m
|12.53 m
|11.41 m
|4.95 m
|-
|38.72 feet
|38.17 feet
|30.46 feet
|36.92 feet
|41.10 feet
|37.44 feet
|111.37 rack units
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Acorn'''
|83.00 m
|75.84 m
|28.16 m
|62.85 m
|135.98 m
|67.91 m
|6.53 m
|-
|1.04 Manhattan blocks
|0.95 Manhattan blocks
|16.57 smoots
|26.19 horses
|1.49 football fields
|28.30 horses
|146.85 rack units
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Thor's Hammer'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|19.32 m
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|11.36 smoots
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Javelin'''
|56.10 m
|42.04 m
|N/A
|20.12 m
|3028.75 m
|33.09 m
|N/A
|-
|23.37 horses
|17.51 horses
|N/A
|11.84 smoots
|15.06 furlongs
|19.46 smoots
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''George Washington'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|136.65 m
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|1.49 football fields
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Pikachu'''
|15.22 m
|11.41
|N/A
|5.39 m
|332.52 m
|9.03 m
|N/A
|-
|49.94 feet
|37.45 feet
|N/A
|121.18 rack units
|1.65 furlongs
|29.63 feet
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Car'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|27.22 m
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|16.01 smoots
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Spinning dollar'''
|177.09 m
|143.96 m
|16.91
|92.63 m
|1331.21 m
|115.89 m
|2.20 m
|-
|1.94 football fields
|1.57 football fields
|9.95 smoots
|1.16 Manhattan blocks
|6.53 furlongs
|1.45 Manhattan blocks
|71.41 attoparsecs
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Tumbling dollar'''
|58.17 m
|53.77 m
|13.92 m
|44.08 m
|84.82 m
|49.03 m
|2.14 m
|-
|24.24 horses
|22.41 horses
|45.67 feet
|18.37 horses
|1.06 Manhattan blocks
|20.43 horses
|69.42 attoparsecs
|-
|rowspan="2"|'''Squirrel'''
|58.64 m
|46.92 m
|2.92 m
|25.44 m
|256.54 m
|38.50 m
|N/A
|-
|24.43 horses
|19.55 horses
|65.71 rack units
|14.97 smoots
|1.28 furlongs
|16.04 horses
|N/A
|}

===Table of distance units===
*This is a table of the alternative distance units shown and their lengths in meters.
**Three of the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia articles {{w|List of humorous units of measurement}}
**Five the units shown here are listed in the Wikipedia article {{w|List of unusual units of measurement}}.
***Only furlong and foot/feet are not in any of the lists (although a different type of feet is in the last list).
**There are ten alternative units in the source code for the comic. However, the wiffle unit cannot be used, and the light-nanosecond unit is inaccessible except by customization.
**Two of the units are off by an order of magnitude.
{| class="wikitable"
!Unit name
!Length in comic in meters
!Explanation
|-
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Wiffle|Wiffles}}
|0.0089
|A Wiffle, also referred to as a WAM for Wiffle (ball) Assisted Measurement, is equal to a sphere 0.089 m (3.5 inches) in diameter – the size of a {{w|Wiffle ball}}, a perforated, light-weight plastic ball frequently used by marine biologists as a size reference in photos to measure corals and other objects. Randall is thus a factor 10 off. While wiffles should be the next unit after rack-units and before feet, the unit conversion typo seems to prevent it from being accessible by any thrower-object combination, as it is now even smaller than the wrong measure for light-nanoseconds. Wiffles have thus only been discovered in the data of the comic, as it seems to be impossible to get it displayed in the comic itself.
|-
|{{w|List of unusual units of measurement#Light-nanosecond|Light-nanoseconds}}
|0.0299
|The light-nanosecond was popularized by Grace Hopper, referring to the length light could travel in a nanosecond. The actual length of a light-nanosecond is 0.299 m, about a foot long, but it seems that [[Randall]] was off by an order of magnitude. This measurement is used for lengths from 1 to 1.06 m, but none of the standard throwers or objects can be thrown for this short a distance, so it is not included in the table above. But with the custom user it is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a5/2198_Throw_-_Light_nanoseconds_1m.PNG possible to get down to 1 m] where it will then be used, but of course, since it says 33 light-nanoseconds instead of 3 it is wrong. See some examples [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Light_nanoseconds_error|here]].
|-
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Attoparsec|Attoparsecs}}
|0.03086
|The parsec is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one {{w|astronomical unit}} subtends an angle of one {{w|arcsecond}}. One parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years or 31 trillion kilometers (31×1012 km) or 19 trillion miles (19×1012 mi). Atto- is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10−18 or 0.000000000000000001. Together the two-unit exponents will almost cancel out, as 31 trillion kilometers can be written as 3.1×1018cm, meaning that an attoparsec is 3.1 cm. The unit is only used three times in non-customized settings: once for Pikachu and twice for the squirrel. This measurement is used for lengths from 1.06 to 2.69 meters. See [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/79/2198_Throw_-_Attoparsecs_107cm_setings.PNG example here].
|-
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Rack_unit|Rack units}}
|0.0445
|A {{w|Rack unit}} (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as 1 3⁄4 inches (44.45 mm). Mainly used to measure the overall height of the likes of {{w|19-inch rack}} frames or the equipment put in there. It is used for lengths from 2.69 to 6.67 meters.
|-
|{{w|Foot (unit)|Feet}}
|0.3048
|One foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. This measurement is used for lengths from 6.67 to 16 meters.
|-
|{{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#Smoot|Smoots}}
|1.7000
|The {{w|Smoot}} is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. One smoot is equal to {{w|Oliver Smoot}}'s height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Mr. Smoot was used to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston and Cambridge) by being repeatedly laid down along the length of the bridge; the markings indicating distances in smoots along the bridge have been maintained by the fraternity. This measurement is used for lengths from 16 to 36 meters. While the smoot is a nonstandard unit of length, Oliver Smoot has been chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ANSI and ISO are among the world's main standardizing bodies, so Randall may indirectly be making the pun that while Smoot's body isn't a standard measure, Smoot has been in charge of bodies that standardize measurements.
|-
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Horse|Horses}}
|2.4
|The length of a {{w|horse}} varies a lot with the horse type, breed, age, and genes. In the Wikipedia article on horses, the length of a horse is not even mentioned, only the height and weight. But Randall has used horses for measurements before. A {{w|horse length}} is approximately 8 feet (2.4 m). This measurement is used for lengths from 36 to 75 meters.
|-
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Block|Manhattan blocks}}
|80.0
|Most of {{w|Manhattan}} is a main {{w|street grid}} (the southernmost ~2 miles (3.2 km) isn't (no 1811 plan yet), the next ~8.25 miles is (including the bigger of two main central business districts), the remaining ~2.8 miles of island street system is less and less like the famous part the further north you go (steep hills and pro- and anti-grid people fighting). Between 1st Street and 164th or 165th {{w|city block|blocks}} are roughly 200 feet (79 m) wide net of streets and sidewalks (which sum to 60 feet (18 m) except 155th, 145th, 135th, 125th, 116th, 106th, 96th, 86th, 79th, 72nd, 57th, 42nd, 34th, 23rd, and 14th Streets are 100 feet (30 m) and {{w|Houston Street|the street below 1st}} is 125 feet (38 m) which is almost the perfect width to give the row of blocks below 1st a maximum width of 280 feet (85 m) street centerline-to-centerline which is what it would be if 0th Street existed and was 100 feet wide and the grid continued to its south side). Thus there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile (the 100 foot streets aren't exactly once per 10 streets cause Broadway etc) and I measured 43,560.01 feet from the lowest street centerline point of the row of blocks below 1st to what the centerline of the grid-compliant part of 165th Street would be if it was 100 feet wide instead of 80 (this is closer to what it should be (43,560 feet) than my method's error bar size). {{w|Manhattan distance}} is a {{w|taxicab geometry}} concept (the shortest distance if you must travel parallel to or on Cartesian axes). This measurement is used for lengths from 75 to 131 meters.
|-
|{{w|List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Football_field_(length)|Football fields}}
|91.44/109.728
|A football field in the comic is 100 yards or 91.44 m long. An {{w|American football field}} is 100 yards between the end zone although by including those it is actually 120 yards or 109.728 m. Although it is an American comic, it doesn't state that it is an American Football field. A {{w|Football pitch}} in {{w|Association football}} (Soccer) is also often used, and although the length of those varies the usual size for champions league matches is 105 m. This measurement is used for lengths from 131 to 201 meters.
|-
|{{w|Furlongs}}
|201.168
|A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile. It is part of the {{w|List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement#FFF_units|FFF_units}} of the {{w|FFF system}} for furlong/firkin/fortnight, length, mass and time. One furlong should therefore be 201.168 meters, though the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states. Only Thor's distances are given in furlongs. This measurement is used for lengths of 201 meters (1 furlong) and up. For the standard throwers and items only Thor can throw over 200 m, thus only he uses Furlongs to measure his throws. Given that this is an old unit, and Thor is based on ancient Nordic Mythology, this may seem appropriate.
|}

===Data from xkcd code===
*A user got this data from the code (and added it to the comments).
**But it makes sense to include here:
*From this it can be seen that:
**Thor's Hammer is not special, just very heavy, 2000 kg despite being rather small.
**Thor has the same stats as Chris, except he has 1000 times more Throw power (10,000 vs 10).
*The customizable You can have Throw power of 5, 10, 15 and 20, and weight and height can be set along with the name.
**The diameter is calculated from the formula given, so in the standard setting it is about 0.5 m.

{| class="wikitable"
! id
! name
! canThrow
! canBeThrown
! length (m)
! diameter (m)
! mass (kg)
! dragC
! throwPower
|-
| microwave
| A microwave oven
| false
| true
| 0.406
| 0.406
| 10.591
| 0.8
|
|-
| basketball
| a basketball
| false
| true
| 0.243
| 0.243
| 0.624
| 0.3
|
|-
| blender
| a blender
| false
| true
| 0.203
| 0.203
| 5.216
| 0.8
|
|-
| gold_bar
| a gold bar
| false
| true
| 0.0535
| 0.0535
| 12.4
| 0.8
|
|-
| cake
| a wedding cake
| false
| true
| 0.51
| 0.51
| 13
| 0.8
|
|-
| pingpong
| a ping pong ball
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.04
| 0.003
| 0.5
|
|-
| quarterback
| an NFL quarterback
| true
| false
| 1.905
| 0.584
| 102.058
| 0.6
| 20
|-
| acorn
| an acorn
| false
| true
| 0.0191
| 0.0191
| 0.0045
| 0.3
|
|-
| hammer
| thor's hammer
| false
| true
| 0.5
| 0.15
| 2000
| 0.4
|
|-
| javelin
| a javelin
| false
| true
| 1.8
| 0.0254
| 0.8
| 0.1
|
|-
| george
| George Washington
| true
| true
| 1.829
| 0.562
| 90.718
| 0.6
| 15
|-
| pikachu
| Pikachu
| true
| true
| 0.4
| 0.3
| 5.9874
| 0.4
| 10
|-
| car
| A car
| false
| true
| 4.5
| 2.134
| 1179.34
| 0.25
|
|-
| silver_spin
| a silver dollar (spinning)
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.011
| 0.027
| 0.5
|
|-
| silver_tumble
| a silver dollar (tumbling)
| false
| true
| 0.04
| 0.04
| 0.027
| 0.66
|
|-
| carly
| Carly Rae Jepsen
| true
| false
| 1.575
| 0.46
| 49.895
| 0.6
| 10
|-
| thor
| thor, god of thunder
| true
| false
| 1.91
| 0.59
| 91
| 0.6
| 10000
|-
| chris hemsworth
| chris hemsworth
| true
| false
| 1.91
| 0.59
| 91
| 0.6
| 10
|-
| squirrel
| A squirrel
| true
| true
| 0.203
| 0.096
| 0.454
| 0.6
| 10
|-
| you (can change)
| You
| true
| true
| 1.77
| (mass^(1/3))/8
| 72.5
| 0.6
| 10
|}

===Formulas===
<math>\begin{array}{lcl}
g&=&9.805 \frac{\mathrm m}{{\mathrm s}^2} = 9.805 \frac{\mathrm N}{\mathrm{kg}}\\
A&=&\sqrt[3]{\frac {3 * \mathrm{thrower\_length} * \mathrm{thrower\_throwPower} * \mathrm{thrower\_mass}} {\mathrm{object\_mass} + \mathrm{thrower\_mass} / 1000}}\\
B&=&\sqrt{\frac{2 * \mathrm{object\_mass} * g}{\pi * {(\mathrm{object\_diameter} / 2)}^2 * 1.2041 \frac{\mathrm{kg}}{{\mathrm m}^3} * \mathrm{object\_dragC}}}\\
\mathrm{distance}&=&\frac{A^2 * \sqrt2} {g * \sqrt{\frac{A^4} { B^4} * 0.8 + \frac{A^2} {B^2} * 3 + 2}}
\end{array} </math>

Constants and Units:
* g is the gravitational acceleration (on earth)
* 1.2041 kg/m³ is the density of air at sea level
* A (in m/s) is the calculated throw speed regardless of direction, if you assume constant throw power over time in Watts and the body length as acceleration distance (arm has half the body length and goes from back to front) from 0 m/s to the final speed
* B is the possible throw speed, which still does not air brake the object too much. If the object is thrown at that speed, i.e. A = B, the distance is reduced to 58,7%. B is only dependent on the object. If B was set to infinite, the air resistance would be removed from the formulas.
* throwPower is in m²/s³, or equivalently W/kg (Watts per body mass)
* dragC is without unit and signifies the air resistance of the object and is dependent on the shape

==Extra pages==
As this comic is very complicated several screen shots and tables are needed for the full explanation. In order to keep this main page easy to use, these pictures and possibly some of the tables will be placed on some extra pages, as has also been done with [[:Category:Comic subpages|other complex comics]] in the past:
*[[2198: Throw/Screen-shots]]

==Transcript==
:[As this is an interactive comic, not all possible text should be given in this transcript. Also, it is not possible to see all the different throwers or objects in one image. This transcript here includes the text that can be found when loading the page, without changing the thrower or object (the default), but also includes the text that can be found by scrolling in the two select "windows" as that would be similar to a long comic where you need to scroll as well as customization options. For further differences that occur by changing the objects refer to a table of all combinations.]

:[A heading with a subheading is above a line, beneath which are a sentence, that is generated by the selections in the two windows beneath this sentence:]
:<big>'''Throw Calculator'''</big>
:This calculator implements the approximate throwing distance estimation model from ''How To'' Chapter 10: ''How to throw things''.

:How far could George Washington throw a Microwave oven?

:[Beneath this sentence are two "windows" with a frame around them, one to the left and one to the right, each with a heading breaking the top frame. Each also has a scroll bar to the right, which allows one to scroll down through 8 different possible selections in the left window and 16 in the right window. There are, depending on the browser zoom level, one or two selections on each line. Each window's content is given here under their respective headings. Each possible selection is a drawing with a caption beneath it.]
:Select a thrower

:*You
:*An NFL Quarterback
:*George Washington
:*Pikachu
:*Carly Rae Jepsen
:*Thor, God of Thunder
:*Chris Hemsworth
:*A squirrel

:Select an object to be thrown
:*You
:*A microwave oven
:*A basketball
:*A blender
:*A gold bar
:*A wedding cake
:*A ping-pong ball
:*An acorn
:*Thor's Hammer
:*A javelin
:*George Washington
:*Pikachu
:*A car
:*A silver dollar (spinning)
:*A silver dollar (tumbling)
:*A squirrel

:[Below the two windows is the result of the animation that will happen when a selection has been made. An animation of the selected thrower throwing (or failing to throw) the selected object is shown, and the object's traveling distance is measured out both in meters (SI units) and in some other unit in brackets below. If the distance is not too long compared to the size of the object and thrower, then both can be seen, and in case the object is soft it may break from the throw.]

:[In the pre-selected version, George Washington throws a microwave oven, which ends up several meters from him lying on a corner broken with its wire lying beneath it. The distance is given under the ruler along which the throw has occurred, with markings for approximately every meter. In this case, there are seven steps even though the distance is above 7 meters:]
:7.76 meters
:(25.46 feet)

:[Clicking on "You" in the thrower box opens a new window over the above described comic parts. some of the comic can still be seen including the thrower and his item, and a new throw occurs every time something is changed in this new window. It is a customization box with several options shown below.]

:Your Name
:____You_____ [can be changed]

:Height
:5.8 ft [number can be changed; ft can be changed to m]

:Mass
:160 lb [number can be changed; lb can be changed to kg]

:Athleticism
:[Below is a scale showing Black Hat, [[Knit Cap]] depicting You , George Washington, and a person with goggles and a helmet. A marker is set at You, but can be changed. Below the characters are descriptions.]
:Black Hat: Moving objects around is for suckers.
:Minimal
:You: I'm in decent shape and have pretty good form.
:Decent
:George Washington: I'm so good at throwing they made me president.
:Extremely High
:Goggles: I use a time machine to train for 36 hours a day.
:Champion Athlete

:[Once done the box can be clicking on a cross at the top right or just clicking outside the window on the comic behind it. Now the thrower you (and the object you) will have the weight, length and strength chosen and will be able to throw (or be thrown) with these stats. ]

==Trivia==
*The comic refers to Thor as the character from the Marvel comics and movies (and other media), who is himself a reference to the ancient Norse god. In Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth.
*Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, bears an enchantment that prevents any living being from lifting it unless they are "worthy." This is reflected in the simulation by giving Mjölnir a mass of 2,000 kg.
**In-universe, Thor's hammer weighs [https://urbandud.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/detail-128-thors-hammer.jpg?w=550 42.3 pounds].
*The option to customize your own character was added to the comic later.
*Due to a bug, the calculations for the customized person ('you') are incorrect when the mass is specified in pounds
*When the comic came out there was a mistake so the item to be thrown was named the same as the thrower, except for the coins and for when Pikachu and George Washington tried to throw themselves in which case it for instance said:
**[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/93/2198_Throw_-_Original_error_George_Himself.PNG How far could George Washington throw himself?]
**But if he picked another object it would write:
***[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c9/2198_Throw_-_Original_error_George_George.PNG How far could George Washington throw George Washington?]
**See more examples [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Errors|here]]
===Examples of distances===
*The [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5a/2198_Throw_-_You_1_kg_throw_hammer_max_distance.PNG maximum distance] of any throw is 743079 m, which Thor's Hammer can be thrown by a customized you that is high enough. If the height is large enough the mass can be the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/8e/2198_Throw_-_You_1_kg_throw_hammer_max_distance_setting.PNG minimum 1 kg].
**See details [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Maximum_distance|here]].
***However the comic asks the user to not use height over 100 m and mass over 1000 kg.
***See details [[2198:_Throw/Screen-shots#Maximum_height_and_mass|here]].
*A one foot tall Champion Athlete You with a mass of over 524,644.3 pounds can throw the car 44 feet. In fact, the mass can be defined to 70 or more decimal places, with each incremental change allowing You to throw the car 44 feet, as long as the addition is sufficient
**Tester used trial and error and became bored after inputting the mass below:
***524,664.3134471218218095600605010996328125000000000000000000000000000000000001
*A one pound Champion Athlete You with a height of 480,651 feet, 1 and 9/64th inches can also throw the car 44 feet
**Subtracting 1/64th of an inch prevents the Champion Athlete You from throwing the car

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with animation]] 
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Physics]] 
[[Category:American football]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]] 
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Religion]] 
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Food]] 
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Sport]] 
[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:How To]]

2938: Local Group

2024-05-30T02:12:42Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ Single []s for URL-links, do note. (But we also have a template to handle it, similar to wikilink in various ways.)

{{comic
| number = 2938
| date = May 27, 2024
| title = Local Group
| image = local_group_2x.png
| imagesize = 547x266px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Cosmologists estimate the spaghetti strand to be about 200 septillion calories, though it could be higher depending on the nutritional value of dark matter.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a COSMIC SPAGHETTI BOWL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In {{w|Timeline_of_the_far_future|less than 5 billion years}} into the future, the {{w|Andromeda Galaxy}} is expected to {{w|Andromeda–Milky Way collision|collide}} with the {{w|Milky Way}}. This comic suggests this will happen when both galaxies get into a kissing distance after having slurped the same cosmic spaghetti strand. This is a spoof of a famous scene in the movie ''{{w|Lady and the Tramp}}'', where the titular dogs are eating spaghetti at an Italian restaurant. They happen to be eating the same strand from opposite ends, so they end up meeting in the middle and kissing. This scene was mentioned before in [[2612: Lightsabers]], and {{tvtropes|SpaghettiKiss|has been referenced extensively in other media}}.

It's possible that this is also a reference to {{w|Flying_Spaghetti_Monster|Pastafarianism}}, the spoof religion which claims that the universe was created by a "flying spaghetti monster". If both galaxies are eating one of the deity's "noodly appendages," they may be doing what the monster wishes, since one of the religion's holidays is about eating lots of pasta.

The title text figure of 200 septillion (2×1026) calories for the Milky Way-Andromeda noodle equates to approximately 2500 calories per foot of noodle. This value makes sense only if Randall is referring to the physics/chemistry {{w|Calorie|"small" calorie}} (= 4.184 joules) rather than the dietary {{w|Calorie|"large" Calorie}} (= 4184 joules). Dietary Calories, also called kilocalories (kcal), would be the usual meaning in a food-related context like this one, but Randall was trained as a physicist and apparently used the small calorie here. Having 2.5 dietary Calories per foot is roughly correct for a noodle size between thin spaghetti and angel hair.

The nutritional value of dark matter refers to the fact that evidence of 'dark matter' is particularly found in [https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11224 cosmic filaments] and the [https://www.space.com/dark-matter-detected-cosmic-web-filaments-universe-evolution-subaru-telescope cosmic web], implying that such "cosmic spaghetti" would have an appreciable amount of dark matter "sauce" on it. But, because the exact nature of dark matter is unknown, it is likely even more difficult to identify the calorific content that it might provide. Note that these {{w|galactic filament|filaments}} are much larger structures than the {{w|Local Group}} of galaxies that includes the Milky Way and Andromeda.

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

:[Two galaxies, positioned on the left and right sides of the panel, are each eating a single noodle of spaghetti, originating from a bowl of spaghetti in between them.]
:[Left galaxy:] ''Sluuurp''
:[Right galaxy:] ''Sluuurp''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Astronomers have determined that the Milky Way and Andromeda are currently slurping up the same strand of cosmic spaghetti, suggesting that in 5 billion years they will likely kiss.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]

2933: Elementary Physics Paths

2024-05-15T21:34:36Z

172.70.160.248: /* Explanation */ A couple of useful wikilinks, and some text within they perhaps make some sense.

{{comic
| number = 2933
| date = May 15, 2024
| title = Elementary Physics Paths
| image = elementary_physics_paths_2x.png
| imagesize = 464x672px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = ==COSMOLOGY==> 'Uhhh ... how sure are we that everything is made of these?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VERY NOT SIMPLE PARTICLE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The absurdity of understanding ''everything'' starting from just understanding basic particles is similar to the fallacy presented in [[1570: Engineer Syllogism]]. Quantum physics, as shown in the comic, makes what on first glance are “simple” particles very complicated.

The concepts of {{w|reductionism}} and then {{w|antireductionism}} (or {{w|holism}}) are demonstrated by following the left causal path using a 'traditional' physical approach. Following the right causal path, which looks at things in terms of quantum effects, just leads to the conclusion that it is an intrinsically irreducable problem.

The title text creates an ASCII depiction of the arrows used in the comic image.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball gestures at a particle, represented as a dot with motion lines around it.]
:Cueball: Everything is made of tiny particles. If I understand those, I'll understand everything!
:[The comic splits into two branches.]
:[Condensed Matter Physics branch]
:[Cueball is fretting over a cloud of particles.]
:Cueball: Oh no.
:Cueball: Simple particles can combine to produce complex behaviors.
:[Quantum Field Theory branch]
:[Cueball is fretting over the same particle as in the first panel.]
:Cueball: Oh no.
:Cueball: '''''These particles aren't simple!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]

Talk:2932: Driving PSA

2024-05-14T15:55:20Z

172.70.160.248:

Did the best I could on the explanation, even if it's a bit clunky. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 03:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Pretty lame strategy. Even with someone waving me on, when I get past them I'll look to the right to make sure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:22, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: Right? Just pull into the median in front of the left-turners, then re-assess the situation. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 12:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:: As a pedestrian (amongst my other road-uses), I occasionally have to cross a two-lane carriageway (to the median, then across the opposite two-lane carriageway) near a junction (roundabout, in the UK; and the first lane dedicated to turning in (left, equiv. to a US right-turn) to the side-road) and the initial lane is often either entirely empty or jammed up by those trying to turn into the retail park that sits there. I have to juggle the kindness of drivers who will slow (or stay stopped) to let me across their lane with the possibility of having other (faster-moving) traffic still coming up on the other lane. It's possible to use the twixt-lane white line as a kind of unofficial demi-median (the stopped driver will not forget that they let you go there), but I'd rather not surprise the through-traffic lane by giving them an alarming glimpse of a pedestrian maybe about to step out in front of them, so I might try to indicate to the kind driver (with friendly gestures) that I'm observing someone coming up on their offside (due to slight bend, on entry to the junction, they might not see them in their own offside mirror), perhaps even then stand back and wave them past because ''I'' can see a glut of offside traffic, from my head-height position. Or just avoid those times of the day when there's heavy shopping/commuting traffic causing that sort of problem.
:: (Yes, it ''is'' a proper crossing point. Dropped kerbs for those that need dropped kerbs, though not given pelican/zebra/etc explicit crossing markings and signage. An alternate way 'across' is a walk down to a canal that the onward road crosses by bridge, under that bridge on the tow-path and then back to meet the opposite side of the road.)
:: The junction-exit carriageway is far simpler. You can see when traffic is coming down the through-road ''or'' spinning round the island from the RP exit (or U-turning from the first carriageway!) and either there's a third-of-a-mile queue backed up from the next junction or there's no traffic impeding those going that way to leave me with space to cross.
:: The opposite crossing is a matter of the 'easy' junction-exit carriageway (as just given) plus an unrestricted view of the fast-lane, but then you need to catch the eye of any queued turn-lane vehicles (and look at what round-the-roundabout traffic might be holding the front of that queue up, in the near future) to make sure that when you take advantage of a clear offside then the subsequent nearside cars don't start shuffling up. And recognise the oblivious/inconsiderate/obtuse drivers by their general road positioning and attitude at the wheel. (It's a bit of an art, but stood me in good stead so far.)
:: There is also, elsewher, a ''particularly'' akward right-turn (UK, remember) onto a mainish road, that I sometimes need to drive round. It comes in as single-becoming-double lane, but these days that double is buslane and singular other (from the right, the double-becoming-single is also buslane nearside, except for inward turners who aren't in contention with me but ''are'' potentially view-blocking). Between the two carriageways (which merge, at the single-lane side, as two standard single contra-carriageways beyond an actual light-controlled staggered pedestrian crossing) is the central turning refuge that I potentially need to pause in to turn right, and left-approaching traffic may need to pause in (crossing my path) to turn into the road I'm emerging from. The most problematic are the turning-in cars that ''don't signal'' (or far too late), given that everyone (not a bus) has to keep right anyway on this widened stretch, but some of them are keeping right in order to turn right. And driver-to-driver visual communication (or even seeing if they're glancing in your direction/meeting your questioning gaze) is isn't helped by angled windscreens often drowning out (apparent) driver-on-driver visibility by the reflection of the sky above. So it pays to be cautious, and taking a moment before taking apparent cues (arm waves, light flashes, etc) as you think they might be intended. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.248|172.70.160.248]] 15:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe they're not trying to kill Randall, but the person in the other lane. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.225|172.71.154.225]] 05:00, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:It doesn't even need to be a fatal crash. Maybe the person in the other lane is an obstetrician who will intercede in a complex childbirth, and this "accident" will be major enough that that no longer happens, and the child dies... [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 06:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
::Or possibly the aim is actually to engineer a meet-cute between Randall and the driver of the other car, so that a critical birth can (eventually) take place...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 08:24, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Just curious, as I'm from Germany - does the USA have no traffic lights? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.210|198.41.242.210]] 07:15, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: They do, and they are placed where you can actually see them --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 12:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: They do, and they're placed where they can be used for Captcha challenges.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.81|172.70.86.81]] 14:28, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Uncontrolled intersection with a left turn onto a 4-lane road? US road design, combined with US car-centric settlement planning, must have been made by those more clever, trying-harder assassins that Randall mentions in the title text, and it looks like they've got a lot of people on their list. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.229.131|162.158.229.131]] 07:20, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

: If it was a single lane street, and not three-lane road (or stroad), then accepting granting the right of way / waving in would be perfectly safe (assuming that you watch left). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:23, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Ok, but... time traveller asassins don't get sent for random harmless people? Getting not one, but MULTIPLE asassins hell-bent on offing him suggests he's going to do something incredibly bad for the world that they're trying to prevent?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.68|162.158.103.68]] 08:35, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: Randall isn't random and it's not entirely clear that he's harmless either.{{unsigned ip|172.70.91.146}}
: It seems reasonable to guess that the future asassins were sent to prevent Randall from writing this very same strip, as it was thwarting many of their other future asassination attempts. [[User:Rumormonger Omega|Rumormonger Omega]] ([[User talk:Rumormonger Omega|talk]]) 14:40, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Oh boy, a comic about my second-greatest pet peeve on the road! Now if only we could have an xkcd guide to using the acceleration lane. [[User:Phil Srobeighn|Phil Srobeighn]] ([[User talk:Phil Srobeighn|talk]]) 09:51, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:...and turning signals... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 09:53, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

A corollary PSA would be to ignore the gestures of any passengers in the other car. I've seen passengers in the front seat wave people to go ahead, without the agreement of the person actually driving the car.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.45|172.70.178.45]] 10:29, 14 May 2024 (UTC)Pat

I don't even drive and I hate these people lmao [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 12:40, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

==Churchill's Law==
Just to reframe "''Car that they are waving you into the path of''" into an awkaward phrase NOT ending in a preposition: "''Car into the path of which they are waving you''". (The Churchill thing is a myth, though <https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/04/churchill-preposition/> .) {{unsigned ip|162.158.134.225}}
: Yuck - that construction needs waving into the path of an oncoming car. Or possibly it already has been.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.183|172.69.43.183]] 14:31, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

2916: Machine

2024-05-12T09:16:12Z

172.70.160.248: /* Transcript */ remove unwanted newline; correct plural possessive; remove hanging artefact (repear of original, or needed adding to for "spanner" button?); closing 'transcript-tag' enclosure (maybe missing along with 'spanner'-stuff?)...

{{comic
| number = 2916
| date = April 5, 2024
| title = Machine
| image = machine_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x740px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Credible Machine
}}
* To experience the interactivity, visit the [https://xkcd.com/2916/ original comic].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WELL OILED ROBOT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This interactive game is the 14th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous April fools' comic was [[2765: Escape Speed]] from 2023, which was released on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. "Machine" has been updated multiple times in the weeks following its release, adding the following features:
* the trophy and shot glass props
* the cat, which swats balls in front of it
* the inanimate cat and bun decorations
* a system of links, which encodes the XY coordinates of the currently viewed cell, and the time (i.e. the entire machine's state after a certain moderation action)
* a button to follow a nearby ball as it traverses through the machine, also preventing it from despawning

As referenced in the title text, this game is a spiritual successor to the 1990s and early 2000s PC puzzle game series {{w|The Incredible Machine}}, a game Randall played as a kid. Both games have several objects in common:
* fan
* cat
* ramps
* balls of varying densities

The comic starts in a main screen where the user can create a {{w|Rube Goldberg machine}} in a "Cell" where the goal is to route a constant stream of colored balls from inputs on the ceiling or walls to outputs of matching colors on the walls or floor. After the comic is first opened a window pops up over the machine where Cueball in a lab coat tells you to route the balls from the inputs to the outputs. A button opens a “tool panel” where there are large and small boards available for use, as well as some gimmicky stuff like prisms (which deflect marbles) and fans (which blow marbles around), plus decorative elements which have no effect on the balls.

Typically, inputs and outputs only accept balls of a single color. However, some outputs accept multiple colors, indicated by a double arrow, and some inputs produce multiple colors. When the player is designing their 'machine', this will involve multiple full streams merged into one (supplied by a double-exit on the adjacent submission). Machines now working in the full grid may, however, find that their sources now contain stray balls of other types that were not handled properly, but there is no way to force a re-edit of the machine to alter its behavior to account for this.

If any balls are left in your cell for more than 30 seconds, they fade away. The first time a ball fades away another popup informs you that the balls are removed for security reasons. An indicator next to each exit increases for each ball of the correct color that passes through an exit, and reduces when no balls pass through, or if balls of the wrong color pass through it. While that exit is not properly supplied it displays a red cross, which changes to a green tick when a sufficient, and sufficiently clean, stream of balls is supplied. The first time you have built a machine which succeeds in routing enough balls of the correct color to ''all'' relevant outputs, a popup will prompt you to submit your cell to be added to the public machine. (Subsequently, the submit button will quietly change from 'inactive' (pale) to clickable (dark). This will change back again if any ball transfers dip back below the required threshold for any reason, such as further editing or an end to a 'fluke' glut of accumulated balls.)

Choosing to submit your cell will give you a textbox to give this cell a name. Proceeding through that, you will now see your cell within the 'grid' and a 'live' feed of balls from any relevant neighboring cells (which may be more sporadic then the feed you designed your cell with, and contain stray balls of different types). If any supplying-neighbors are still marked as "under construction", they ''may'' provide the balls as if perfectly routed from their own (eventual) source, but will eventually dry up. If your newly submitted creation is placed in the lowest row of cells, balls will be dispensed through the exit at the bottom, but there will be no launcher to propel them towards the pit, and they will vanish as they leave the exit.

Upon reopening the link to this comic without coordinate and time parameters, your recently created machine will most likely not be visible in the space you built it in. [https://www.reddit.com/user/xzaphenia/comments/ Reddit user xzaphenia] has claimed on r/xkcd that this is because there is a moderation team (of which they are a member) and that [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c1ixmb/comment/kzc3rmg/ the main page only shows public, approved machines]. This team of people, including those credited as co-creators of this comic, select machines according to their preferences (and little to no formal criteria besides [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c0sp60/comment/kz6hbgl/ coolness, innovativeness, effectiveness], and [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c0bsk2/comment/kyvfean/ privacy concerns]). Given the number of 'bottom-layer' cells that are likely primed ready to be completed (e.g. the grid-width of twelve, perhaps staggered across adjacent rows) and the many possible worldwide contributors at any one time, it may be that the chances of being picked for permanence is low; and certainly would have been lower early on in the comic's existence during the initial frantic rush to participate. [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1c0sp60/comment/kz6hbgl/ It is also claimed that at some point, moderation will be cut off and the machine will be considered "complete"].

<gallery heights="200" widths="150">
File:2916_popup_intro.png|Introduction popup
File:2916_popup_time.png|Time limit popup
File:2916_popup_submit.png|Submission popup
</gallery>

The button in the bottom right corner allows you to toggle between editing your own machine and a page where you can drag around to view all of the machines that have been submitted and accepted, with a title for each in the upper left corner. In this view you can see that all of the outputs are also inputs for another cell, except for the top row where the inputs come from off screen and the lowest row which output through a launcher of some kind to a set of four colored-coded containers far below. Any empty cells are marked off by yellow tape with the words "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" as well as "DJIA ↑ 31415" once in each cell. "DJIA" stands for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with "DJIA ↑ 31415" indicating that it rose to 31415 points, 31415 being the first five digits of pi, without the period. This would often be displayed on a yellow 'ticker', which might look superficially similar to the yellow barrier tape.

When viewing the whole machine, a button in the bottom left corner, added later, allows you to follow the path of the nearest ball as it passes from cell to cell. This will also make the ball you are following immortal - not subject to the 30s timeout rule. However, it will stop following at the bottom of the base machine -- it will not follow into the bottom holding containers, nor keep it immortal once down there. Another later addition was a button in the top left corner which copies a URL that will take you directly to the current cell that you are viewing. However, the link that is created will always show you the version of the machine at the time that you were viewing it, without any subsequent additions.

Whenever balls reach the bottom of the grid, they are directed towards four containers, one of each color. Most balls are accurately sent to their appropriate container, though there are some misfires. These containers are above a pit, and dump their contents every 11.5 seconds. Balls in the pit are subject to a 97 (approx) second culling rule (including time spent in the holding containers), unlike the balls in the cells above. If no balls are directed towards the containers, the pit will be empty. If at least one stream of balls is making it, Cueball and Megan sit in a small boat named the USS Buoyancy, and when sufficient balls are being deposited, the boat begins to float and move. Balls that miss or overspill the pit fall out of the bottom of the frame.

Under construction cells will feed balls of the appropriate color into neighboring cells so long as you are not looking at them. Once you scroll to look at them, the supply of balls stops and subsequent cells in the chain will not receive any; scroll away from them again and the supply will resume.

The grid is 12 cells wide, and grows in height. The largest size observed so far is 12x109, for a total of 1308 cells. The machine's height is determined by the lowest cell; this can be either your submitted cell, or a cell created by another user.

Imperfections in the machines (whether accidental or by design) and the impossibility of entirely avoiding collisions when crossing streams inevitably lead to significant levels of losses and pollution with the wrong color balls. Indeed, using the follow ball function appears to demonstrate that it is quite rare for a ball to survive more than several machines without getting stuck somewhere. This should mean that effectively no balls would reach the lower layers. This implies that there is some 'creative accounting' going on to ensure that cells lower in the grid still have balls to process - simulating flow only for a few nearby cells, while assuming that those cells themselves have pure, steady inputs.

There is a hard limit of 100 items (both physically interactive and purely decorative) that can be placed in any given arena. If you have placed 75 items, a count will appear in the component bar of your piece-count ("''##''/100"), which will go away again if you delete items to bring it below this count. The count text turns red at "100/100", at which point no more items can be added, only existing ones moved (or removed, to lower the count again).

===Toolbox items===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ List of objects
|-
! Description !! Effect !! Image
|-
| Plank || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_plank.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hammer || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_hammer.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Sword || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_sword.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hinged scoop&dagger; || Rotates around its hinge, tries to stay horizontal with a springy effect || [[File:2916_scoop.png|frameless|upright=0.25]] [[File:2916_scoop_mirrored.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Anvil || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_anvil.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Brick || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_brick.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Fan || Blows away balls in front of it. Different colors are affected by differing amounts (yellow balls are lightest, and can be levitated above an upward-facing fan).|| [[File:2916_fan.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Pillow || Balls will not bounce if they hit it || [[File:2916_pillow.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Bumper || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_round_bumper.png|frameless|upright=0.125]] [[File:2916_bumper_left.png|frameless|upright=0.125]] [[File:2916_bumper_right.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Attractor/Black Hole* || Pulls balls toward center || [[File:2916_attractor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Repulsor/White hole* || Repels balls away from center || [[File:2916_repulsor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Prism || "Refracts" and internally-reflects balls as they otherwise pass through the object, the color of the ball ''may'' cause them to react (as much as possible) according to the respective color across the element. || [[File:2916_prism.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Wheel&Dagger; || Spins, deflects balls, can jam with enough resistance (e.g. glut of balls or against other elements). || [[File:2916_wheel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| "Good job" trophy || Static obstacle || [[File:2916_trophy.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Glass cup || Static obstacle. Container, with a nominal capacity of up to four balls (in whole or in part) within it. || [[File:2916_cup.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || Swats away balls in front of itself (was added later) || [[File:2916_cat_new.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
! colspan="3" style="text-align:center" | Non-physical items
|-
| Right-facing Ponytail, with raised arms || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_ponytail_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Right-facing Ponytail, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_ponytail.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Left-facing Cueball, with raised arms || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_cueball_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Left-facing White Hat, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_whitehat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Rightwards-facing Knit Cap, in an 'action' pose || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_knitcap_resting.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Right-facing Knit Cap, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_knitcap.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Helmet-wearing figure, standing || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_helmet.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Squirrel || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_squirrel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| "Probably Deterministic" sign || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_deterministic.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| [[1682: Bun|Bun]] || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_rabbit.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || Intangible decoration || [[File:2916_cat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|}

:<nowiki/>* — The Attractor and Repulsor are omnidirectional, but the area of effect can be resized to extend or restrict its influence. You do this by way of its bounding box with corner and mid-edged 'drag nodes' and a circular area that shows the current extent, which are only visible when the element is actively selected. This resize can be no larger than will make the box/circle touch the edges, no smaller than the fixed graphic and will always be identically proportioned in both axes.

:&dagger; — The hinged scoops are strictly horizontal, on building. They will rotate away from and (spring back to) horizontal according to interactions with balls or other non-decorative items that may be placed to disturb their balance, sometimes with further interesting interactions (that may or may not be intentional or useful). There are two selectable versions of this item. (The only ''other'' object class with a clear (and practical) asymmetry, for which a mirrored chirality can be chosen from the sidebar, are the two versions of triangular "Bonk"-bumpers.)

:&Dagger; — The wheel is an actively rotating element that starts off, by default, spinning anticlockwise. Pressing or tapping left/right arrow keys, when a placed wheel is selected, will adjust that wheel's rotation rate to be more/less anticlockwise. Adjusting it beyond zero rotation allows you to make it spin in the opposite direction.
:Rotation can be increased well beyond the point at which the {{w|wagon-wheel effect}} occurs, which may make it difficult to work out the spin direction of an overspeed wheel element (and thus which arrow keys will slow or speed up its rotation, if you have forgotten), though observing its impact upon any balls that strike it ''should'' make its current spin-direction obvious.
:The 'bounding editing box' will usually appear rotated, possibly according to the spinning graphic's current orientation upon selection, but remains at that (often non-orthagonal) angle even as the wheel spins (if it can) during this period of selection for editing.

All other items can be manually re-angled by a 'loop node' arm extending from the bounding box. If you cannot see the 'angle node' for such a selected item, which is normally at the top of any freshly placed item but follows any re-angling that may have already applied, it could be that you have placed the item too close to the edge in which direction the node extends. To rotate it, move the object away from the edge to access the construction node (after which, you can drag the object back if required – but see below).

Rotation may be limited by the {{w|minimum bounding box}} that is the 'selection box', this is not necessarily the more flush {{w|convex hull}} of the collision-map built into the graphic. Should a corner of the bounding box need to move across the edge of the build-area, it will do nothing more than touch the edge until there is sufficient angle-drag to snap it to the angle from which that corner now comes back away from the edge; or, when it has a long straight edge currently flush with the edge boundary, it may snap to exactly 180°, in rotation, whereupon the opposite long straight edge is flush to the construction area edge. All objects that are drag-moved, similarly, cannot be moved any further than their current bounding box touching the construction-area edging. The bounding box for the rotating wheel is a notable exception to this, being not under any direct angle-control by the player. Instead, it seems to use the bounding inscribed circle that defines the wheel edge iteslf.

Apart from some interactions between the hinged scoops and any element (including other hinged scoops), there is no preventative 'collision detection' between objects during user-placement, which may overlap/cover each other (the most recently spawned item graphically overlays any earlier one). The wheel object will only spin if not constrained by other physical elements (including the spokes of an adjacent wheel, not in counter-rotation) but can still be dragged and placed anywhere within the boundary of the construction area.

The continuous stream(s) of balls respect all ''tangible'' objects, which includes any currently being dragged/rotated, though may prematurely vanish if forced between two items moved to touch/overlap each other. It is possible to to indirectly nudge balls by carefully moving a tangible object's surface into them (or holding them within it, e.g. the "cup"). This may be useful for rescuing temporarily stray balls (before they time-out anyway), unjamming an area with a construction-induced glut ''or'' for testing a ball-path that is not currently being fed 'naturally'. Doing so ''can'' then conceivably fulfil all the exit-gate requirements (temporarily), as it might also transiently spoil some required routing, but the manual intervention will not be possible once a 'machine' has been submit.

===Non-player items===

Ball containers at the bottom of the machine
{|
|[[File:2916_container_red.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|[[File:2916_container_yellow.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|[[File:2916_container_blue.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|[[File:2916_container_green.png|thumb|center|50px]]
|}

Cueball and Megan in the ''USS Buoyancy''
[[File:4d425c.png|thumb|left|150px]]
 

Pit below the ''USS Buoyancy'' (not to scale)
[[File:2916_pit_bottom.png|thumb|left|300px]]
 

=== Color routing ===
The different ball colors have different physical properties. Red balls are more bouncy than other balls, green balls are heavier, and yellow balls are lighter and slightly bouncy. The following values were extracted from the code:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Color
! Mass
! Density
! Restitution (bounciness)
! Linear damping (drag)
|-
! data-sort-key="00F" | Blue
| 0.08
| 1
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="F00" | Red
| 0.08
| 1
| 0.8
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="0F0" | Green
| 0.75
| 9.325
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="FF0" | Yellow
| 0.024
| 0.3
| 0.6
| 2
|}

For certain combinations of inlet and outlet 'gates', it is necessary to 'cross the streams'. e.g. to direct righthand-entry balls to a lefthand-exit and vice-versa. It is possible to just construct the field to send two (or more!) sets of balls to fly across a common gap, to land on an appropriate reception area that leads to the chosen exit. But, though this is not {{w|Proton pack#Crossing the streams|completely inadvised}}, the timing of the balls cannot be guaranteed to be in sync (or, rather, anti-sync) with each other and collisions ''will'' occur, especially under the variations of delivery that might significantly alter the ballistic path across the gap. Even if the trial machine works, in isolation with a steady stream of all balls entering the field of play, once submitted it will inevitably be fed by a more chaotically-routed preceeding construction.

In order to maintain sufficient correct arrivals at exits, it may be necessary to add a method of filtering the hues.

This could just mean introducing a 'wrong hue trap' beyond any crossing point(s) that send the occasionally wrong ball back to the cross point (or let them time-out in a dead-end, relying upon few enough failures from the rest of the balls, along with all colliding balls that subsequently missed ''any'' chance of reaching an exit). Alternatively, two (or more) feeds of marbles could be fed through a deliberate 'sorter' that does a sufficiently reasonable job of separating the combined sets out towards their intended target-exits.

The various physical qualities of the balls suggest a number of methods for redirecting separate hues to separate onward journeys. This can be done by isolating a hue from every other hue, then passing on (if necessary) to a setup extracting a different one from the remainder, and perhaps also a third time. It may also be possible to merge 'arrangements' of sorting mechanics to efficiently distribute straight into three ''or even four'' onward tracks towards the desired outputs, but that is left as an exercise to the reader.


{| class="wikitable"
! style="background-color:black; color:white" | To separate !! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue !! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green !! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow !! style="background-color:red" | Red
|-
! style="background-color:red" | Red
| *R/B* | '''Use 'bounce''''
The sole difference is how much balls will rebound from objects. Well managed and constrained ricochets should allow a sorting action.
| *R/G* | '''Use mass or 'bounce''''
Green balls cannot be levitated by a vertical fan. An incline across any such fan(s) will levitate only non-Greens. Green, like Blue, rebounds differently to Red. Green balls are also affected by black holes much less than all other balls.
| *R/Y* | ''See Y/B''
| *R/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
|-
! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow
| *Y/B* | '''All methods'''
Yellow, alone, exhibits high drag against any unforced motion. It is also unique in all other ways; e.g. can be levitated highest, against all other hues (though most profoundly against Green).
| *Y/G* | ''See Y/B''
| *Y/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *Y/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
|-
! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green
| *G/B* | '''Use mass'''
Green balls cannot be levitated by a vertical fan. There is also a not so marginal difference in density that might be exploited, such as by using black holes, which only minimally effects Green (perhaps showing an effective difference between mass of attraction and mass of inertia).
| *G/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *G/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
| *G/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/G
|-
! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue
| *B/B* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *B/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See G/B
| *B/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See Y/B
| *B/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/B
|}

Even when not strictly necessary for one's own submission, once submitted into the full playing grid the player's own contribution may find itself working with less 'pure' delivered ball-streams (from an imperfectly separating feed-in contribution). It is possible that this more interactive disruption can make the new setup behave erratically or even entirely incorrectly.

It might be thought good practice (but not ''necessary'') to deliberately combine any or all inputs and do a full job of splitting them again, just in anticipation of possibly having to deal with such cross-contamination and being able to 'clean up' the onward stream(s) for the benefit of others. This would of course be particularly difficult if the isolated building-phase does not provide all four hues to 'test' against, so any speculatively added filtering would have to be added 'blind' (and only on the offchance that any anticipated incorrect balls will actually enter the arena) and without any legitimate exits to which such rejects could be shunted (therefore could accumulate, up until any 'time out' that might apply to any ball once operational as part of the combined grid).

Single-input/single-output designs might not particularly require ''any'' sorting mechanism, in theory, though the unexpected 'contamination' of the system with balls of different masses/etc could perhaps introduce malfunctioning passage from the added chaos it might succumb to.

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

:[The placeholder image shows four balls, colored red, green, yellow and blue, bouncing on top of three white blocks. Text in the center: "[visit xkcd.com to view]"]

:[In the game, colored balls fall out of rotating half-gears from the wall and/or ceiling while an opposite set of half-gears rotate with a colored triangle pointing to that set of gears. There is a button that says "view machine" button in the bottom right corner. When clicked, it takes you to a larger grid of others' machines that you can view in a larger grid.]

:[Cueball with lab coat, intro popup]
:Cueball: Balls falling into your cell should be routed to the outputs at a steady rate.

:[Cueball with lab coat, warning popup]
:Cueball: For security reasons, balls that remain in your device for more than 30 seconds will be removed and destroyed.

:[Cueball with lab coat, submit popup]
:Cueball: Congratulations! Your contraption has passed all tests. Press [submit button] to submit it to be added to the machine!

==Trivia==
Once again an April Fool's Day Comic came out late, as Randall did not release this on April 1st, even though April 1st did fall on a Monday, a normal release day. It first came four days later with the Friday release on April 5th. That this is to be considered an April fools' comic, in spite of the later release, was confirmed on the xkcd Facebook page.

*Randall acknowledges the people who helped him create this comic in a [[Header_text#Machine|comic-specific header text]].
**With 11 different involved apart from Randall this is by far the comic with most people involved.
*Some hidden keyboard shortcuts have been found:
** Follow balls: Ctrl + Alt/Option + B (now also accessible by using the button provided)
** Show debug overlay: Ctrl + Shift + Win/Cmd + D
*** This may particularly clash with browser functionality, e.g. Firefox's "New Bookmarks" dialogue which will need closing, though still activating the overlay graphics.
** Delete selected item: Delete (Fn + Delete on Mac)
*When Randall posted a [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD/posts/pfbid0Cs97awQZi1ZiaEXouAex9tXrwAS3qJV3RmAiuCq5uvZQwqZVMgDmcqJ7JU9LYodYl link to this comic] on his [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD Facebook feed], he directly wrote that it was a late April Fools' Day!
**MACHINE
**Happy Belated April Fool's Day!
**This thus ends any discussion of whether this should be seen as an April Fool's comic or not.
**It just came out 4 days late. This has also happened several times since [[Garden]].
[[File:2916 Machine Facebook April fools' confirmation.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Buns]]
[[Category:Cats]]