explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

355: Couple

2025-01-15T11:03:22Z

172.70.162.35: Undo revision 362105 by 42.book.addict (talk) "As of" was true enough in 2019, why rewrite six years less of truth? (Probably one of those times that an "as of" statement is used badly)

{{comic
| number = 355
| date = December 10, 2007
| title = Couple
| image = couple.png
| titletext = Facebook defines relationships. 'Yeah, we would have broken up last night, but the net connection was down.'
}}

==Explanation==
It's hard to know when you are in a relationship in modern times. In olden days, you might fancy a girl, then ask her father if you might court her, and if he granted his permission, you would be a couple. Today, that kind of structure and formality is considered antiquated in most western cultures; as a result, we don't have any of the straightforward cues.

This comic suggests that "making it {{w|Facebook}} official," which means asserting the existence of a romantic relationship on Facebook by setting one's status to "In a relationship," has by 2007 become a way to define when you are a couple. [[Cueball]] would like to do it, probably after having sex for the first time with his love interest, to get confidence in his relationship and/or show it off to his friends. Because his love interest isn't so sure about that relationship, or doesn't like to formalize it and prefers to enjoy without thinking too much about it, he suggests a compromise: using the "It's complicated" status instead. And he does so with a phrasing very reminiscent of a formal way to propose to marry someone ("Will you be my wife?").

The title text takes it a step further, suggesting that {{w|Facebook}} has become the only reliable way to know about relationships — even so, without access to Facebook, relationships can't evolve.

When this comic came out in late 2007, Facebook was not even 4 years old, but very popular among young people, who would share their lives in great detail back then. As of 2019, most people are more hesitant about instantly sharing all details of their personal life publicly.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan in bed.]
:Cueball: So is this it? Are we a couple now?

:Megan: I just don't know. I like this. I just... don't know.

:[Silence.]

:Cueball: Well will you be my "it's complicated" on Facebook?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Sex]]

2863: Space Typography

2024-12-14T04:28:16Z

172.70.162.35: Undo revision 359451 by 172.71.219.104 (talk) Red category

{{comic
| number = 2863
| date = December 4, 2023
| title = Space Typography
| image = space_typography_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x239px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = And over heeee[...]eeeere (i)s Saturn.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time a space tip, the first of two in a row, the second being [[2864: Compact Graphs]] with a design tip.

Randall has created a sentence with the property wherein, when printed in {{w|Times New Roman}} font, the distances of the "i" letters from the first letter are proportional to the radii of the orbits of the innermost five planets in the {{w|Solar System}}. These are the only letters in the sentence that have a dot over the letter (there are no "j"s in the sentence) or elsewhere (there are no periods, colons, semicolons, or other dot-containing symbols). He suggests that if you get lost traveling among these planets, you can use the dots as a map.

This won't actually be a very useful map. When traveling between planets, it's not enough to know where the planet's orbit is, you also need to know where it is along the orbit. Additionally, if you are truly lost then you likely do not know where ''you'' actually are, and which 'way' you are heading, though you can probably at least locate the sun if you are indeed within our inner solar system.

The sentence is self-referential, since it talks about using typography to measure distances in space, and this makes it a useful mnemonic. The "optimistic" in the sentence could indicate that the aliens in question are highly optimistic that this kind of "map" would be useful for navigating a star system where planets orbit in ellipses, rather than being in static positions along a line (as is so often depicted in line-ups of the Solar System's planets).

The title text appends the sentence with a section for identifying Saturn. It contains an ellipsis in brackets, which normally signifies that an indeterminate number of 'e's has been omitted from the sentence, seemingly to represent Saturn's large orbital radius as the next "i" in "is". The trick is that actually appending the sentence literally, brackets and all, after the original sentence (so that we get "<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'>Optimistic aliens measure space typographically. And over heeee[...]eeeere (i)s Saturn.</span>") actually puts the dot on the last "i" at Saturn's orbit. The extra dots and periods beside the six 'i's only serve as punctuation and spacing; the parentheses, besides spacing, call attention to the 'i' in the title text, where the black emphasis of the comic is not available. They're also reminiscent of {{w|Saturn's rings}}, although they are much too large and off-center.

Similar sentences with varying numbers of "e"s could be used to continue out to any planet or other body which does not contain the letter "i" – which is all of the remaining planets and minor planets, with the exception of Eris. However, the strings of "e"s would get longer and longer, to the point that it might be necessary to write down how many of them are to be used – about 59 "e"s for Saturn, starting from the Sun – which negates any mnemonic value the sentence may have had and might as well just be replaced with a table of orbital {{w|ephemerides}}.

==Accuracy==
[[File:2863OrbitComparison.png|thumb|Comparison between orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter to the dots in the comic]]
Measuring the distances based on the provided image results in these approximate distances:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Planet !! Pixel offset !! Relative Distance in Comic !! Actual Distance in AU<ref>https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/pdfs/scaless_reference.pdf</ref>
|-
| Mercury || 93 || 0.3907 || 0.39
|-
| Venus || 169 || 0.7101 || 0.72
|-
| Earth || 238 || 1 || 1
|-
| Mars || 362 || 1.5210 || 1.52
|-
| Jupiter || 1229 || 5.1639 || 5.2
|}

Saturn is 9.54 astronomical units from the sun, for which 13 middle 'e's would be required in "here" to make the title text work.

The picture also contains a standard representation of Times New Roman, with no changes to kerning or tracking.

Continuing the idea would look like this:

"<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'>Optimistic aliens measure space typographically. And over heeeeeeeeeeeeere (i)s Saturn. And over heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere is Uranus. And over heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere is Neptune.</span>"

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Planet !! Number of middle 'e's needed in "here"
|-
| Saturn || 13
|-
| Uranus || 49
|-
| Neptune || 58
|}

==Transcript==
:[A grayed-out sentence in the Times New Roman font reads "<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Optimistic aliens measure space typographically</span>". The "O" in "Optimistic" is dark black and indicated as representing the Sun (not to scale). The dots of the letters "i" in the sentence are similarly dark black. The dot in the first "i" in "Optimistic" is indicated as representing Mercury; the dot in the second "i" represents Venus; the dot in the third "i" represents Earth. The dot in the "i" in "aliens" is indicated as representing Mars. The dot in the "i" in "typographically" is indicated as representing Jupiter. A measurement bar indicates that the distance between the "O" and the third "i" in "Optimistic" (representing Earth) is equivalent to 1 AU (astronomical unit).]

:[Caption below the panel:]

:Space tip: if you're ever lost in the inner Solar System, you can just type out the phrase "Optimistic aliens measure space typographically" in Times New Roman and use the dots as a map.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Tips]]

Talk:3015: D&D Combinatorics

2024-11-25T09:50:27Z

172.70.162.35:

The bot originally created this page as “D Combinatorics”. I renamed it to the correct title and tried to get as many of the references as possible (including a few redirects). [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 00:54, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

:The title in the Atom feed (which I'm assuming the bot consumes) is "D Combinatorics". I'm guessing something in Randall's pipeline didn't like the ampersand. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.160|162.158.154.160]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

::Yup, if you look at [https://xkcd.com/3015/info.0.json 3015's JSON] you see that <code>title</code> and <code>safe_title</code> differ, and if you look at the HTML page source you'll see '''3''' different things: <code><title>xkcd: D Combinatorics</title></code>, <code><meta property="og:title" content="D&amp;D Combinatorics"></code>, and <code><div id="ctitle">D&D Combinatorics</div></code>! So probably what happened is Randall entered D&D but was supposed to enter D&amp;D, and the openGraph tags adder code, having to be HTML-aware, decoded & normalized D&D as HTML would, but the other parts of the pipeline just ate it for some reason. {{unsigned ip|172.69.65.22}}

:By raw combinatorics: 71 + 52 + 34 + 20 + 10 + 4 + 1 ways to get each of 16 - 22 respectively, for a total of 192, out of 4(6^3) = 864 total. 192/864 simplifies to exactly 2/9. I have no idea how Randall found this; if anyone has an idea, please let me know. [[User:Kaisheng21|Kaisheng21]] ([[User talk:Kaisheng21|talk]]) 01:33, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::I used some simple python code to loop over every dice and confirm and it's 2/9 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.111|162.158.158.111]] 12:11, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

It seems like we edited the transcript at the same time. The odds of rolling 16 or higher in this situation seem to be 2/9? [[User:Darkmatterisntsquirrels|Darkmatterisntsquirrels]] ([[User talk:Darkmatterisntsquirrels|talk]]) 01:29, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

: There are 864 possible rolls (6 * 6 * 6 * 4). If you enumerate all of the rolls you will find that 192 are 16 or higher. 192/864 = 2/9, the value from the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.139|172.68.54.139]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

I added a table of outcomes to clarify how it works out to 2/9, anyone know how to make it pretty? -- Laurence Cheers {{unsigned ip|172.71.150.247}}

A much simpler approach: Roll two six sided dice and sum the result. You are successful if the result is 5 or 9. That happens 8 times out of 36. 8/36 = 2/9. (Or successful if the sum is 4 or 6, or 2 or 7, or 2,3,4 or 11, or several other combinations.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.139|172.68.54.139]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Clever, but dice rolls in D&D involving summing all the dice, applying modifiers, if any, and then comparing to one or more threshold values. Your method makes it very difficult to apply modifiers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.8|162.158.41.8]] 02:49, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::I think you misunderstand the problem here. This is not skill, no modifiers apply, it's purely probability [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.111|162.158.158.111]] 12:11, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Minor quibble, arrows aren't fired (unless they're flaming or self-propelled, perhaps), they are shot. (Shotguns are fired of course.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.73|162.158.41.73]] 02:52, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Arrows are "loosed", even more accurately. At least to avoid the confusion from how so many things may be shot, or ''a'' shot. (Many different nouns, from a physical measure of liquer/coffee/vaccine to a projectile, or an even abstract fundemental of chance; and, as verb, projectiles perhps may be shot, then so may their targets.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 14:32, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Rolling 22 or lower on percentile dice (or, equivalently, 79 or higher) is close enough, and easier to come up with. (Give or take whether 00 is treated as 100 or zero.) Or directly represent the action: roll a d10. If it's 1-5, you lose. If it's 6-10, roll again; if it's 1-5 you lose, 6-9 you win, 10 roll again. (Modify slightly if you want to distinguish the case of grabbing *two* cursed arrows.) [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:26, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Alternative exact solution for getting this probability using dice: Roll: 1d8, 2d6, 1d4 succeed on 19 or higher.{{unsigned ip|172.68.55.11}}

I couldn’t remember the formula for binomial coefficients (“n choose k”), but there’s an easy way to calculate that the probability of drawing no cursed arrows is 2/9 without that formula. You just need to multiply the probabilities that each of the arrows drawn is not cursed. Since only two arrows are drawn, you only have to multiply two numbers.

The probability that the first arrow is not cursed is 5/10 – there are 5 non-cursed arrows and 5 cursed arrows out of 10 total. After taking out one non-cursed arrow, there are 4 non-cursed arrows and 5 cursed arrows out of 9 total, so the probability that the second arrow is not cursed is 4/9. Multiplying the two probabilities, the probability of drawing two non-cursed arrows is (4*5)/(10*9) = 20/90 = 2/9.

I was considering writing this observation in the Explanation section of the page, but I’m not if it belongs there. This solution avoids using formulas from combinatorics, so it might not be connected enough to the comic.—[[User:Roryokane|Roryokane]] ([[User talk:Roryokane|talk]]) 06:02, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

My simple-minded approach:
* Roll d10 once for your first arrow: if 1 to 5, the arrow is cursed, otherwise not;
* Roll d10 again for your second arrow: same rules, but repeat until you have a different number from the first one (so d10 is in fact only a d9 this time)
* I won't calculate probabilities – these are your arrows, live with it ;-) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.51|172.69.109.51]] 07:33, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:That has the benefit (over 3d6+1d4) of telling you which arrow(s) (if either) was cursed. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 07:52, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:If you don't like re-rolls, you can make d9 out of 2d3. Nine possibilities, so just assign one of them (perhaps by rolling them one at a time) to be the more significant digit. Don't have a d3 handy? Use d6 and modulo off the extra! (1=1, 2=2, 3=3, 4=1, 5=2, 6=3) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.91|172.68.150.91]] 05:59, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

There seems to be doubt that a "N locks and M keys to unlock them" system could be easily accomplished. I think it could be trivial, with strategically interlocking locked-restraints. A chain formed of bike-locks can give a larger locked loop that can be unlocked by just unlocking any ''single'' one of the constituent locks, leaving the other locked loops to not matter (or you could also try the {{w|Borromean rings}} system, whereby it is again secure against itself, until just one ring is opened up to reveal that the rest now ''aren't even locked at all''...). With almost arbitrary ability to cross-link (or, if you will, repeated/alternating-reflected Borromean triplet connections), you can extend the requirements to more than one unlocking being required (by looping chain elements to mre than just the 'adjacent' loops, sideways onto a parallel meta-loop or up/down the chain, all you might do is allow some slack (could be sufficient to get a thing held directly closed by the taut loop-of-loops, but not enough if the passage of the loop through a hasp/sneck actually prevents the otherwise free movement of the final slide-to-unlock action to occur), but a second (or third, or fourth) unlocking can be required to open-end the whole metaloop of locks. At the top end, M=N solutions are also trivial (e.g. two keys, two locks popularly of safety deposit boxes or [[2677: Two Key System|other things]]). Which is not to say that a specific M-of-N puzzle (where 1<M<N) might not need a ''little'' bit of thought to actually design and implement, but there's no obvious reason why all such combinations shouldn't be nicely doable. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.165|172.69.79.165]] 14:56, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Can we first confirm that the M-of-N Encryption was what Randall was referencing in the first place? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.140|172.71.154.140]] 03:17, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::No, first confirm that this is what the explanation treats as what Randall was referencing. As it was, "complicated lock mechanics" and/or "magic" were suggested as the only ways of doing this, when this (or what we thought this was) just needs a little thought and N bike-locks suitably entangled. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 13:17, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:I'm glad someone else chimed in on this, because it is definitely ''not'' difficult to require unlocking of multiple discrete locks! I can't even figure out why one might think it would be? [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:55, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

"other polyhedral dice, with the number of faces denoted by dX (e.g., d10 is a 10-sided die, with numbers from 1 to 10 on it)." - the d10 may be a poor choice as exemplar here; Back in the last century, when I was playing D&D, d10 were typically (and uniquely) numbered 0-9, not 1-10. This may no longer be the case, and I may be showing my age, but if it is still the norm, the d8 or d20 might be a better choice of example. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.6|172.68.210.6]] 02:40, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:Typically, I've only seen 0-9 d10s, as part of a "d100" dice pair, with one reading 0-9 & the other reading 0⁰-9⁰... Single d10, mostly seem to come in 1-10? Maybe it depends which reseller one shops at... [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:49, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::They are usually numbered 0-9, but the 0 represents 10, since writing 10 would require that face to have a different font size. It is still a d10, since the die has ten sides, and still cannot roll at 0. The d100 variant does the same thing with 100, but for the added reason that the 00 face actually does mean 0 when the other die rolls a 1-9. This is the convention, so a die that actually writes 10 on it instead of 0 will be rare. [[User:Stardragon|Stardragon]] ([[User talk:Stardragon|talk]]) 23:14, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

You've all been nerd-sniped. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:53, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

Combinatorics degree? Does such a degree really exist? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.130.37|162.158.130.37]] 17:19, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:There are degrees for all kinds of things. A quick search reveals a number of "Combinatorics" or "Combinatorics and <Foo>" (e.g. "Optimisation") degrees. Some of them are marked as Masters degrees, and I haven't dug into the others to see if there are any 'pure' undergraduate ones (apart from anything else, I know there are crucial differences between the structures and scopes of UK and US 'degree courses' to consider, in particular), but there seems to be representation on both sides of the Atlantic (and elsewhere, e.g. Oceana).
:At the very least, it could be a selected specialised segment of an even wider mathematical degree course, or a cross-disciplinary one (like my own, which was part under Physics and part under Computing, but could have included a Stats-based element). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:07, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3014: Arizona Chess

2024-11-21T22:48:35Z

172.70.162.35:

I added a basic explanation, how did I do? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.129|172.70.115.129]] 14:56, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:''pat pat'' Good job. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 15:28, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
I guess chess timers work based on the IERS. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.126|172.71.223.126]] 15:32, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
: See "{{w|Chess_clock|chess clocks}} don't work that way" comment, below. If they did, they would almost certainly reference {{w|Coordinated_Universal_Time|Zulu time}}, which doesn't recognize daylight saving or other local time adjustments. This would go badly for Cueball. Moreover, White Hat could be forgiven for thinking that he had won the game when the clock went "beep" in the third panel, because beeping/flag falling in a chess clock <em>should</em> signal end of match because Cueball's time had run out (the fourth panel asserts that Cueball's time did not, in fact, expire). A minor additional irregularity in what is already a seriously contrived situation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.91|172.68.23.91]] 20:34, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:: The "beep" is probably triggered by the clock falling back from DST rather than going to zero, since we can see in the 4th panel that there are more than 60 minutes left after the change.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.111|172.71.122.111]] 11:39, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
::: 'Zactly. But beeping for any reason other than flag-falling (time expired) would not be expected in a real-world (i.e., not an xkcd-world) chess clock. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.98|162.158.41.98]] 17:00, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
:No, chess clocks don't work that way. They are simple timers that do not refer to actual time of day in any way, any more than a stopwatch does. Randall just made it work that way for the sake of the joke. {{unsigned ip|172.71.194.17|20:17, 20 November 2024}}
::Speaking from the experience of one in a sport where some are seeking to "improve" upon the use of a manual stopwatch/timer process with a computerised replacement (anything from a smartphone to a home-computer, often with a live online connection), I'm seeing several cases where time differences between equipment (e.g. GPS time vs. 'radio'/time-signal time) has caused confusion, never mind the possibility of random external events (...OS Update notifications, AV scans going active, etc) or other external interferences. In ways that would never happen to a dedicated timing device that's not even listening out for a national time-signal broadcast (which I know for certain can suffer from interference).
::Also, in case anybody is bothered, it's not really a "clock" if it doesn't have a bell (or bells), as per the German "Glocke"/French: "Cloche". Although possibly a single-match "chess clock" could have such a bell for an audible alert, as well as other mechanical 'flag' indicators. But, often, what most people might call a clock is perhaps more just a "timepiece". (Watches/stopwatches/timers/etc, is another matter of sub-distinction, which I try not to be too confusing, or even wrong, about.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.226|172.69.194.226]] 00:53, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

If white hat had conserved 20 seconds through the course of the game, they would have won. Cueball must have been sweating if they were relying on this strategy. [[User:Radialsymmetry|Radialsymmetry]] ([[User talk:Radialsymmetry|talk]]) 15:35, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:Cueball may have been deliberately letting the time run down on this move for quite a while, so that it would have greater effect when the change happened at almost the last second.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.126|172.70.85.126]] 12:21, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Here's one building that might qualify (it appears to be a shed or outbuilding belonging to a house in Mesquite, Nevada): https://www.google.com/maps/@36.808703609641505,-114.05009436731552,55m
<br/>I believe that's the only one that straddles the Arizona border with a Pacific Time Zone state (California and Nevada), so (head-)canonically, that's where the comic is set. {{unsigned ip|172.69.6.190|17:15-26, 20 November 2024}}
: It could be in a temporary structure - a marquee or something.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.118|172.70.90.118]] 10:34, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Is the neighbouring state {Utah or New Mexico} or {Nevada or California}? I'm not from the US so I'm not sure how your rules work. 172.69.6.190 above seems to think it's the latter but aren't they both on Mountain Time before the clocks change? {{unsigned|Mtcv|08:57, 21 November 2024}}

One difference between the way parts of North America change time and the way parts of Europe do is that the various North American time zones fall back/jump forward at 2AM local time, while European time zones all change at the same instant (01:00 UTC/WET (02:00 CET, 03:00 EET). That means that the same "trick" could work by sitting on the line between any American time zones at the changeover, but not by sitting on the European lines. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.138|172.70.47.138]] 15:37, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:In the US this would not work, since the time would be different over the time zone, and thus the chess clocks that are based on the actual time would run different before. In Arizona there are the situation that only the other state changes it's time. This would work for instance on the border to Nevada, where the two states have the same time in the summer as Nevada's timezone is one hour behind Arizona but then the same time during daylight saving time. Thus sitting in the border house on the Hoover dam it would be possible for the one on the west side to be in Nevada and the east side in Arizona. And when DTS stops, the one in Nevada would gain an hour, but not the one in Arizona. And before they would have had the same time. This would thus also work in Europe if one country did not use DTS and the other did along a time zone border. And this will only work when DTS ends. As it happens have only been in the US once, taking a course in Las Vegas. But on the one day off we took a road trip to Gran Canyon and passed Hoover Dam. And then we drove over a time zone line, the only time I have tried that... And then the time did not change due to the lack of DTS in Arizona... What a disappointment... :-) But the rest of the trip was great. Crazy places the dam and Gran Canyon. (As well as Las Vegas, living in a hotel on the Strip). Also just watched the TV series The Queens Gambit where chess timers are used extensively, and of course they do not work digitally. But I love one more of Randall's quibs against the stupidity of DTS. Can't wait till we stop with that stupidity. ;-) Great TV series by the way! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:42, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
:: I'd recommend reviewing what you just wrote. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.220|172.71.98.220]] 16:52, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
A related oddity occurs in the City of The Gold Coast, in Australia, which straddles the Queensland/New South Wales border. The border runs through a built up area, and as NSW has DST but Queensland does not, there are places that are, for one hour each year, in different years, despite being only a few metres apart. You can celebrate the New Year at a bar in Tweed Heads, then cross the road to a bar in Coolangatta, and celebrate the New Year all over again an hour later. I believe this is the only border in the world that runs through a built up area and has different timezones at New Year; New Year being in winter in the Northern Hemisphere means that such DST related anomolies are strictly a Southern Hemisphere phenomenon. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.206|172.68.64.206]] 00:09, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
: "''I believe this is the only border in the world that runs through a built up area''" Definitely possible. I couldn't inagine the difficulties of setting a lunch date with a group and having to confirm the timezone as well as the time, every single time. In most locations with cross-border cities, the smaller one is permitted to observe the time zone of the larger one, allowing Gary Indiana to watch Chicago television on "local time". Most of Mexico doesn't observe DST, except cities adjacent to US areas that do. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Mexico#IANA_time_zone_database]. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.137|141.101.76.137]] 19:33, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Should the comment about Hawaii be kept? It seems irrelevant. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.129|172.70.111.129]] 15:42, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:removed [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 16:15, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

Which songs would go well with this scene? His World comes to mind... [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:13, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:''...con Lentitud Poderosa'' right as the crazy part starts. 100%. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 02:03, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Fun, incredibly niche point: the chess clock is not in the preferred location; from Black's perspective (hat guy), the clock is on the left, not the right. (6.4, https://www.scoutresources.org.uk/downloads/ideabase_chessrules.pdf ; not very authoritative URL, I know...) {{w|172.69.79.190|17:11, 21 November 2024}}

anyone know what the chessboard would look like? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.194.94|172.71.194.94]] 17:25, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
:I might be going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing 32 black squares and 32 black squares next to each other, alternating across edges (but matching across corners) in an 8x8 grid... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.35|172.70.162.35]] 22:48, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

3011: Europa Clipper

2024-11-15T16:10:47Z

172.70.162.35: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3011
| date = November 13, 2024
| title = Europa Clipper
| image = europa_clipper_2x.png
| imagesize = 333x356px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They had BETTER make this a sample return mission.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a JOVIAN DESSERT. Please consider deleting this tag too soon, but refrain from doing so.}}

[[File:Animation of Europa Clipper trajectory around Jupiter.gif|thumb|right|The ''Europa Clipper's'' projected course around {{w|Jupiter}}, represented as the stationary <span style="color:green;">green</span> dot. In <span style="color:gold;">gold</span> is Jupiter's moon {{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}}, in <span style="color:cyan;">cyan</span> is the moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} — the primary target of the spacecraft's study — and in <span style="color:#FF4500;">orange-red</span> is the innermost of Jupiter's four {{w|Galilean moons|"Galilean"}} moons, {{w|Io (moon)|Io}}. The spacecraft's track is shown in <span style="color:magenta;">magenta</span>. Jupiter's largest moon {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} is not shown, but its gravitational pull affects the ''Clipper's'' trajectory. A mission goal is to achieve a 6:1 {{w|orbital resonance}} with Europa [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin-Ozimek/publication/383115312_AAS_24-433_Europa_Clipper_Mission_Analysis_Pump_Down_Trajectory_Design/links/66bcd845311cbb094938dbd6/AAS-24-433-Europa-Clipper-Mission-Analysis-Pump-Down-Trajectory-Design.pdf by September 2034]. ]]

The ''{{w|Europa Clipper}}'' space probe was launched from the {{w|Kennedy Space Center}} in Florida on [https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/about/ October 14, 2024]. It is expected to arrive at Jupiter and begin exploration of Jupiter's moons, particularly {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}, in April of 2030.

Europa is an icy moon. Water ice covers its surface. Around 15 to 25 kilometers (10 to 15 miles) beneath the ice, there is expected to be liquid water which may contain some [https://europa.nasa.gov/why-europa/ingredients-for-life/ basic forms of life]. To sample this liquid, its icy crust would need to be breached. The thickness of the ice dwarfs the ''Europa Clipper's'' 31 meter span.

Europa's surface of ice over liquid water could be (loosely) compared to the caramelized crust on the popular dessert {{w|crème brûlée}} (a comparison that may have been prompted because the {{w|Cassini-Huygens}} probe, after landing on Saturn's moon Titan in January of 2005, found that its surface had what was described as [https://www.sciencenews.org/article/world-unveiled-cr%C3%A8me-br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e-titan a "crème brûlée" consistency]). The hard surface of the caramel cream dessert is traditionally cracked open with a {{w|Tableware#Spoon|spoon}}, and so [[Randall]] posits that such equipment will be deployed by the ''Europa Clipper''.

In truth, no such spoon is present on the probe, and Europa's icy crust is too thick to be penetrated by a spoon of such size. Advanced measures are needed to prevent contamination of liquid water by Earth's organisms such as {{w|tardigrade}}s, {{w|deinococcus radiodurans}}, or {{w|bacillus subtilis}}. The ''Europa Clipper's'' course has been charted to avoid any contact with the surface of Europa (although it will fly through some sparse material it ejects into space) so as to prevent {{w|Planetary protection|contamination by microorganisms from Earth}}.

The successful deployment of any spacecraft's instrument is considered a cause for celebration because deployable spacecraft instruments often fail to correctly extend, unfurl or undock. The ''Clipper'' has a magnetometer that will be used at the end of a 8.5 meter boom (not apparent in the comic which, spoon extension aside, is an otherwise fairly accurate depiction) as part of its study of the moons' environment.

<div style="display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; margin: 1em 0;">
<div style="text-align: center; margin: 0 1em;">
[[File:Europa_-_Perijove_45_(cropped).png|200px|alt=Europa]]
<div>Europa</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center; margin: 0 1em;">
[[File:2014_0531_Crème_brûlée_Doi_Mae_Salong_(cropped).jpg|200px|alt=Crème brûlée]]
<div>Crème brûlée</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center; margin: 0 1em;">
[[File:Europa_Clipper_spacecraft_model.png|200px|alt=The Europa Clipper spacecraft]]
<div>The ''Europa Clipper'' spacecraft</div>
</div>
</div>

The title text expands on the joke by stating that the spacecraft "had BETTER" return samples of Europa to Earth, presumably in the (misguided) expectation that these samples will be of actual tasty crème brûlée. However, the ''Europa Clipper'' is not a {{w|sample-return mission}}, and if it were, such samples are unlikely to be good to eat.

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

:[A space probe with two rectangular solar panels, a circular dish of the front, and a very large spoon extending beneath, longer than the span of both solar panels]

:[Below the panel:]
:Good news: NASA's '''''Europa Clipper''''' is en route to Europa and has successfully deployed its crème brûlée spoon.

==Trivia==
Initially, the ''Europa Clipper'' mission was planned to include a lander component, but it was removed from the project early on. The Europa Lander proposal lags significantly behind the Clipper in development and has not secured funding. An actual sample return mission is currently far into the future of {{w|Ocean Worlds Exploration Program|the pertinent plans for exploration}}.

In {{w|Arthur C. Clarke}}'s novel ''{{w|2010: Odyssey Two}}'', the monolith aliens tell humanity ''"All these worlds are yours — except Europa. Attempt no landing there."'' Contrary to the suggestion of the comic, no landing or any other physical interaction beyond observation of the surface and analysis of the ejecta of Europa is planned.

In {{w|Greek mythology}}, {{w|Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa}} was a {{w|Phoenician}} princess whom {{w|Zeus}}, the king of the gods, abducted after transforming himself into a bull. The name of the continent Europe may derive from this legend, though alternative theories suggest it originates from ancient Greek words meaning "wide-gazing" or "broad face." Additionally, there is an {{w|Oceanid}} named {{w|Europa (Greek myth)|Europa}} (with a sister named {{w|Asia (Oceanid)|Asia}}), one of the many daughters of the {{w|Titans}}, {{w|Oceanus}} and {{w|Tethys (mythology)|Tethys}}. The name Europa is also used in {{w|Europa (Greek myth)|other mythological}} and {{w|Europa (Roman province)|geographical}} contexts. Jupiter's moon Europa was named after the Phoenician princess, following the tradition of naming Jovian moons after Zeus's lovers.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Food]]

Talk:2823: Fossil

2023-09-11T08:53:51Z

172.70.162.35:

Boop! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

Came here to find out what in the heck ‘boop’ has to do with anything, learned absolutely nothing (autospell changed it to “book” so I’m not alone). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.76|172.71.154.76]] 08:17, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:There's a link there now (not sure when anyone added it, might have been after your query) which satisfies me somewhat. Seems to be a playful tagging/"you're it!" sort of thing, though, like "punch buggy <yellow/etc>", it's not something I really knew of though probably appears to be in Randall's childhood/whatever cultural background and that's good enough for me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.152|172.69.79.152]] 09:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::I agree that "boop" needs an extra explanation for non native speakers of English. The link is useful (thanks to whoever added it) but the Wiktionary definition alone is too terse to get the pun.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 11:54, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:::Wait wait wait.... It's a <i>pun</i>? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.147.191|172.70.147.191]] 00:35, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
:I added the wikitionary link and I was not entirely happy with it, but it's a starting point. Please do improve it. To me, "boop" is a friendly pat on the nose that one might do to, especially, a dog's nose; see https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/play-exercise/do-dogs-like-dog-boops?. Definitely more affectionate and less aggressive than the "punch buggy" action (which can get out of hand), or even tagging. I was surprised that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boop did not have a mention of this, not even on the talk page; yeah, it's not the most encyclopedic of topics, but discussing social behaviors is beyond the bounds of wiktionary, and Urban Dictionary isn't a great place to cite to (even if it were helpful). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 12:26, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::To the non-native English speakers, it's basically just playfully, gently touching a dog or other animal/pet on the nose while saying "Boop". Like "I got your nose." Not really petting/stroking; just a form of play or affection. I'm not surprised there isn't a lot documented on this as it's not really a "thing". Kind of like Randall's use of pew pew pew noises while pretending to fire a ray gun. You understand what he's doing and may have done it yourself, but it's not the kind of thing you expect to find on Wikipedia. :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.125|172.71.254.125]] 15:40, 2 September 2023 (UTC) Pat
:"Boop" can also be a great training tool: Dogs love to poke us with their noses, so a lot of them can readily be trained to come put their nose in your hand when you hold it palm out & say "Boop"! Adorable & handy. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 03:03, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
::Huh, and here I was thinking that it must be something people did to annoy animals, cats in particular don't enjoy being poked in the nostril. I am somewhat mystified by this entire thing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.226.104|108.162.226.104]] 22:08, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
:::Oh doing it ''to'' a cat is ''definitely'' a surefire way to tick them off; though I've known quite a few male cats so affectionate as to boop their face against any hand extended near enough to them. When ''they'' boop ''us'', it's a sign of affection, when ''we'' boop ''them'', the response depends greatly on the boopee's demeanor & mood. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 04:24, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
::::That (a cat-boop, but by another name) is even integrated into Dwarf Fortress code, as can be seen in its Raws (i.e. entity configuration files). 'Show' the details at the bottom of [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cat this wiki page] and look right at the bottom for the [CAN_DO_INTERACTION:BP_BUMP] definition structure. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.83|172.70.90.83]] 08:40, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
:::::I'm often amused by the phrasing used in code: The fact that terms like "is.can.has.cheeseburger:" can ever be syntactically apropos, makes it feel like the whole structural methodology was developed by a committee of lolcats.
::::: [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:14, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
: Try searching "boop", "nose boop" or similar on TikTok and you'll know what it's about. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:22, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

The furries gonna have a field day with this one :] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.178|172.71.154.178]] 22:07, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

I was actually curios as whether any eye had ever seen a 400 million old fossil. Had to look it up to see when the first eyes evolved. But seems it was around [https://www.scienceworld.ca/stories/eyes-how/ 550 million years ago], so some eyes may have seen the animal that turned in to the fossil Cueball now sees. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:47, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
: "... see an animal that no one has laid eyes on..." strongly implies that the "no one" means "no human being". Which doesn't really make sense in this context. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 02:15, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

I thought that the rock with the trilobite looks like a remote control button that makes a "beep" or "boop" when you push it. Or alternatively an infant's toy that has a button that makes a sound like a clown's nose. So Cueball is pressing the trilobite and vocalizing the "boop" sound that would be expected from these objects. Although "booping" a child's nose is a thing ... although it seems very rude ... I did not associate the fossil rock with the trilobite with noses, but I did associate it with remote control devices that have a flat pad with a button (or many buttons) on it. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:26, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Here is an example picture of a trilobite which has two large eyes and a centre area which might be booped. The fossil is 3D meaning it is not flat.
[[File:trilobite.jpg|300px]]
In contrast a fossil fish will often be flat, almost 2D, and show only one eye. Many people in North America do not like to see the head of a fish and so the head of a fossil fish can also seem odd.
[[User:Punchcard|Punchcard]] ([[User talk:Punchcard|talk]]) 22:07, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Can someone provide a pronunciation guide, preferrably a phonetic representation, of the word fossiliferous ? Anyone except native speakers of English who are also paleonthology enthousiasts will likely be unsure whether to pronounce it as "fossi-LI-ferous" or "fossili-FE-rous". [[User:Blagae|Blagae]] ([[User talk:Blagae|talk]]) 12:15, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not a palæontologist, who might know differently, but as an English speaker (one of a multitude of potentially different Englishes) I'd say fossi-LI-ferous, as I would carbo-NI-ferous or splen-DI-ferous, it seeming to be the general pattern for {{wiktionary|Rhymes:English/ɪfəɹəs|that type of word}}.
::I (a native English speaker, but not of any flavour of English that includes 'boop' as a common word) detest that pronunciation pattern that often puts the stress on the semanitcally least significant syllable. [[User:Catherine|Catherine]] ([[User talk:Catherine|talk]]) 22:13, 8 September 2023 (UTC)
:But emphasis would so easily change, at need. "That limestone is not only CARBONiferous, but particularly FOSSILiferous, too!" would be a rhetoric stress. (Though the number of times people mis-stress things... It's not "The cousins came to the party. Not only Jack JONES, but Pete JONES too...", which sounds weird to me when one should stress JACK and PETE, both of them 'merely' Joneses. So often do I hear this sort of thing done wrongly, it makes me wonder if actually I'm wrong about it all!)
:Does that help? Noting that wiktionary gives /splɛnˈdɪfəɹəs/, with the ˈ in it where I'd generally agree, but that isn't included as an -iferous rhymer and certainly fossiliferous doesn't have a full IPA, with or without the ˈ point. And someone with a full classicist education might well have other ideas anyway (also yer average Leftpondian, especially Randall, but differently so again). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.156|172.71.178.156]] 16:43, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
:Personally, I wouldn't say either of those - I would say FOSS-uh-LIFF-uh-russ.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.35|172.70.162.35]] 08:53, 11 September 2023 (UTC)