explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2919: Sitting in a Tree

2024-04-13T19:49:12Z

172.70.85.146:

{{comic
| number = 2919
| date = April 12, 2024
| title = Sitting in a Tree
| image = sitting_in_a_tree_2x.png
| imagesize = 591x320px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = First comes blood / Then we perish / Then comes Death in his Eternity Carriage.
}}

==Explanation==

“[Name] and [name], sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G” (or some other seven-letter verb spelled aloud, almost always ending in “ing”) is a common taunt among young children in the US, perhaps in the context of a {{w|counting-out game}}, in which they make fun of others' (alleged/suggested) playground romances (which are often seen as “gross” at that age).

This comic takes the variety of things which could be chanted to an unrealistic extreme, starting with relatively mundane ones such as “hugging” and “reading” and progressing through to increasingly atypical or disturbing concepts. For example, in the last frame, Cueball and Megan would be molting, also known as shedding, which, according to [[Randall]], would be "very alarming". Each frame has the last of its noted possibilities pictured – kissing, ironing and smiting, respectively.

The title text parodies a traditional {{w|Children's song#Game songs|continuation of the chant}}, which is normally something like
"...first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage" (which reflects the common social expectations that any kissers might follow the path of), but instead appears to be a more dark prophecy about death that therefore probably befits the last frame's focus.

==Transcript==

:[Three children are singing. A kid with a bowl cut and a young Hairy are pointing with their fingers, while Jill stands in the middle. A pair of connected eighth notes and a detached eighth note are shown.]
:Kid with a bowl cut, Jill and Hairy: [Name] and [Name], sitting in a tree...

:[Label above the panel:]
:Normal
:[Cueball and Megan are sitting on a tree branch holding hands and kissing, with a heart above them.]
:R-E-A-D-I-N-G
:S-I-N-G-I-N-G
:P-L-A-Y-I-N-G
:S-H-A-R-I-N-G
:H-U-G-G-I-N-G
:K-I-S-S-I-N-G

:[Label above the panel:]
:Slightly worrying
:[Cueball and Megan are sitting on a tree branch each ironing a cloth on an ironing board, with steam arising from the irons.]
:S-O-B-B-I-N-G
:I-T-C-H-I-N-G
:P-R-U-N-I-N-G
:B-A-N-K-I-N-G
:P-O-S-T-I-N-G
:I-R-O-N-I-N-G

:[Label above the panel:]
:Very alarming
:[Cueball and Megan, her hair being {{tvtropes|MadnessMakeover|uncharacteristically wild}}, sitting on a tree branch smiting with glowing hands, with two falling fireballs and fire below them. Cueball's hands are raised up, while Megan has her left hand up and her right hand pointing to her right.]
:M-O-L-T-I-N-G
:W-H-A-L-I-N-G
:E-F-I-L-I-N-G
:M-E-L-T-I-N-G
:X-R-A-Y-I-N-G
:S-M-I-T-I-N-G

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Kids]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Songs]]

Talk:36: Scientists

2023-11-26T11:32:58Z

172.70.85.146:

If Cueball's a scientist, the statement is perfectly valid. Even more so if his scientist friends are helping him, and they can't find his shoes either. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:07, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

I found the fact that the last sentence was present in the explanation funnier than the comic itself. -- [[Special:Contributions/131.175.28.142|131.175.28.142]] 22:13, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Its worth pointing out the comic was drawn in 2006 -- 'pretty gay' was not nearly as politically incorrect then as it is now. Wow, this is an old comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.125|162.158.255.125]] 14:33, 8 September 2015 (UTC)

Political incorrectness is a good thing. I'd hope he'd do this one again today. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 01:07, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
:Political incorrectness is a good thing? wow. While I also find overly political correctness in many cases over the top, unneccesary and annoying, this is a clear example where political correctness helps to battle discrimination. By using the term "gay" to describe one stereotype associated with homosexuality, this stereotype is further enforced, and people are treated according to it. I do not know a lot about you, but your username sounds like an adjective, so imagine, I started a trend describing people who are e.g. pedophile as "kazvorpal", and this trend catches on. Soon you would find yourself excluded from events, jobs, etc. because people would assume you are a pedophile. Wouldn't you prefer that to not happen? that is one example why political correctness is a good thing. Sorry for the trollfeeding. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:04, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
::No, you are suffering from the ravages of inductive reasoning. Political correctness includes a pretense that the speaker is battling discrimination, but it's just virtue signalling. They are, in fact, ''encouraging'' discrimination, and heaping advocacy of censorship and repression on top of it. Using "gay" as a mock pejorative does nothing to harm actual homosexuals, and in fact robs the term of its emotional power, as humor often does. Daniel Tosh incessantly making faux-bigoted comments uses humor to weaken racism, sexism, et cetera. And the end does not justify the means: Repressing the expression of others is evil, even when you're trying to use doing so to impress others about how virtuous you are. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 15:43, 29 October 2019 (UTC)
::: That opinion is what scientists call "pretty straight white man". --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.163|141.101.99.163]] 22:18, 2 March 2021 (UTC)
:::: Ad hominem {{unsigned|108.162.237.191}}
::::: Ad heteronym. Seriously though, stop being so ''straight'' --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.63|162.158.134.63]] 21:12, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

as someone who scientists are calling "pretty gay" (bisexual) and "retarded" (autistic), I find this comic humorous. -- [[User:Arthur101|Arthur101]] ([[User talk:Arthur101|talk]]) 00:33, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

Interesting edit I just felt I had to make, in response to another. The sentence:
However, since their being scientists is irrelevant to the legitimacy of their opinions about Randall's shoe problems, presenting their teasing as an expert opinion is humorously misleading; a similar joke is at play in [[1206: Einstein]].
...a change of "their being" was changed to "there being", assuming a homophonic error.
 However, technically (at least idiomatically) all three "their/there/they're" ''could'' be correct.
*"their being scientists" - 'the state of being scientists that they possess' works well as a concept,
*"there being scientists" - 'that scientists exist in that situation' also does, somewhat
*"they're being scientists" - 'it is scientists that they be' works well ('that they are' in alternate grammatical dialect, but off the 'being' form in both cases, rather than the secondary contracted 'are')
 Anyway, I changed it onwards to "them being", i.e. 'those people (...that we can describe as scientists)'. In leiu of ''totally'' rewording to remove this (rather interesting) issue of grammar.

1555: Exoplanet Names 2

2023-08-22T10:29:36Z

172.70.85.146: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1555
| date = July 24, 2015
| title = Exoplanet Names 2
| image = exoplanet_names_2.png
| titletext = I'm going to drive this Netherlands joke so far into the ground they'll have to build levees around it to keep the sea out.
}}
{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
This comic is a continuation of [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], and was published the day after NASA announced the discovery of a number of planets, including a planet called a cousin to Earth, {{w|Kepler-452b}}. [[Black Hat]] proposes naming it {{w|Pluto}}, to commemorate the flyby of the {{w|dwarf planet}} of that name by NASA's {{w|New Horizons}} earlier the same month. He admits this alternative to end the discussion about the status of Pluto, which is subject to debate among both scientists and laypeople over whether-or-not it should be considered a planet. Pluto was considered a planet for a long period of time until, in 2006, the {{w|International Astronomical Union}} (IAU) created a new definition for the word 'planet' designed to exclude Pluto and similar objects, resulting in much debate (The IAU is the organization that takes responsibility for naming celestial bodies like planets, stars, and much more).

It may appear that, with Black Hat's suggestion, the answer to the question "is Pluto a planet?" will therefore always be "yes", regardless of the status of the Pluto in our Solar System according to the IAU. However the same [https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau0603/ IAU official definition] that excludes Pluto also states that a 'planet' has to orbit our sun, so according to the IAU, nothing in this comic is a planet (the IAU definition only allows them to be {{w|exoplanets}}, which, like dwarf planets, are not planets). Hence, the debate indeed becomes 'a little more confusing'. This is in line with Black Hat's characterization as a mischief-maker.

The title text is referring to the planet name entry ''Netherlands VI'' for the star ''EPIC 201912552''. Randall continues his references to the Netherlands taking over the Earth, Mars, and Pluto after Earth's oceans have been transferred to Mars. The joke started in two consecutive ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' articles, {{what if|53|Drain the Oceans}} and {{what if|54|Drain the Oceans: Part II}}, and it was referenced again in {{what if|57|Dropping a Mountain}} and in [[1551: Pluto]] a week before this comic came out.{{w|New Netherland}} was actually a Dutch colony with {{w|New York City}}, formerly known as {{w|New Amsterdam}}, as its capital. In the title text Randall mentions he will continue with this joke driving it so far into the ground (meaning way beyond the point where it stops being funny) that the Dutch will have to build {{w|levee}}s around it to keep the sea out.

===Table===
This table explains each entry in the comic table. The "Status" column refers to the comic [[1253: Exoplanet Names]] and indicates if the entry was already in the older comic (Old), if it has been updated (Update), or if it's a new addition (New).

{| class="wikitable"
! Star !! Planet !! Status !! Suggested Name !! Explanation
|-
| rowspan=7 | {{w|Gliese 667}} || {{w|Gliese 667 Cb|b}} || Old || {{w|Space Planet}} || A very unimaginative name, since every planet is in space.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cc|c}} || Old || PILF || Pun of {{w|MILF pornography|MILF}}, i.e. ''Planet I'd Like to Fuck''. Planet c is a relatively hot planet, within the habitable zone.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cd|d}} || Old || A Star || "A {{w|Star}}" is obviously a bad name for a planet. A* (pronounced "A star") is already used in astronomy, for example the Milky Way's black hole core is {{w|Sagittarius A*}}. "A star" is also the name for the character {{w|asterisk}} and the name of the popular {{w|A* search algorithm}} in computer science.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Ce|e}} || Old || e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;-- || [[Mrs. Roberts]] is probably trying to use {{w|SQL injection}} like in [[327|Exploits of a Mom]], in which her son [[Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--]] caused the school a lot of trouble when his name was put in. The idea here is that the {{w|IAU}} would enter the name into their system and promptly lose all of their data pertaining to planets. Note that Planet e is located in the habitable zone of the star system.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cf|f}} || Old || Blogosphere || rowspan = 2 | Weird ''{{w|blog}}''-related terms are a recurring theme in xkcd. See, for instance, [[181|comic 181]].
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cg|g}} || Old || Blogodrome
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_667c_h/ h] || Old || {{w|Earth}} || Planet candidate h is about the mass of the Earth, and described as "tantalizing": [https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2013/08/aa21331-13/aa21331-13.html A dynamically-packed planetary system around GJ with three super-Earths in its habitable zone]. See also ([[1231: Habitable Zone]]). Like several other names below, naming a second planet Earth would be highly confusing.
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Tau Ceti}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_b/ b] || Old || Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B || This refers to the game {{w|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri}}.
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_c/ c] || Old || Giant Dog Planet || {{w|VY Canis Majoris}} is one of the largest known stars at our galaxy and belongs to the constellation {{w|Canis Major}}, Latin for "greater dog". The constellation further contains {{w|Sirius}}, the brightest star in the night sky, also called "Dog Star".
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_d/ d] || Old || Tiny Dog Planet || cf. {{w|Canis Minor}}, Latin for "lesser dog", another constellation.
|-
|{{w|Tau Ceti e|e}} || Old || Phil Plainet || A reference to {{w|Phil Plait}}, a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer.
|-
|{{w|Tau Ceti f|f}} || Old || Unicode Snowman || The Unicode character ☃ may be a reference to the planet's estimated surface temperature of -40 °C (-40 °F). However, this name would be pronounced differently (being a symbol, not a word or name) in different languages. Planets in our solar system are assigned to {{w|Astronomical symbols|astronomical symbols}} like ♁ for Venus or ♂ for Mars.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 832}} || {{w|Gliese 832 b|b}} || Old || Asshole Jupiter || This massive planet orbits a {{w|red dwarf}} star at the longest known period of 3416 days at this category. Many exoplanets are described as "Hot Jupiters" because they are high-temperature gas giants; if one were to read "hot" as a description of attractiveness rather than temperature, one might generate names like this one.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 832 c|c}} || New || {{w|Waterworld}} starring Kevin Costner || [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114898/ Waterworld] is a 1995 film starring Kevin Costner about Earth almost completely covered in water. The surname was previously spelled incorrectly with a 'K'.
|-
| rowspan=6 | {{w|Gliese 581}} || {{w|Gliese 581 b|b}} || Old || Waist-deep {{w|Cats}} || {{w|Waist Deep}} is an action film from 2006, and the {{w|Lolcat}} meme does not need explaining. The name may also simply be a reference to being "waist-deep" in (i.e. surrounded by many) cats.
|-
| {{w|Gliese|c}} || Old || Planet #14 || About 200th discovered exoplanet (in 2007); reported to be the first potentially Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its star, though that is in doubt now. The joke might be that like "Space Planet", "Planet #14" is a generic and unoriginal name, although it could plausibly be a reference to [https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Planet_14 Planet 14], a potential homeworld of the Cybermen in the long-running science-fiction series ''Doctor Who''. Also of note is that this is the 15th entry in the original table so the numbering is {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero-based}}.
An interesting (?) coincidence is that the 14th and 15th {{w|Definition of planet#Minor planets|Minor planets}} (then called asteroids) were discovered in 1851; see see {{w|List of minor planets: 1–1000}}. If they were to be counted among the planets of the {{w|Solar System}}, as was sometimes done then, the 14th known planetary body would be {{w| 7 Iris|Iris}} (discovered in 1847, a year before {{w|Neptune}}).
|-
|{{w|Gliese 581 d|d}} || Old || Ballderaan || A {{w|wikt:balls|crude pun}} on the planet {{w|Alderaan}} from the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 581 e|e}} || Old || Eternia Prime || {{w|Eternia}} is a fictional planet, venue of the ''{{w|Masters of the Universe}}'' animated series and toy collection.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 581 f|f}} || Old || Taupe Mars || {{w|Kim Stanley Robinson}}'s award-winning {{w|Mars trilogy}} (''Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars'' after various stages of {{w|terraformation}}). {{w|Taupe}} is a brownish-grey color.
|-
|{{w|Gliese|g}} || Old || Jelly-Filled Planet || Possibly a reference to the conjecture that this tidally locked planet has an isolated habitable zone under the substellar point, akin to the pocket of jelly in a jelly doughnut.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Epsilon Eridani}} || {{w|Epsilon Eridani b|b}} || Old || Skydot || [https://skydot.lanl.gov SkyDOT] is the Sky Database for Objects in Time-Domain run by {{w|LANL}} for the {{w|U.S. Dept. of Energy}} and includes data for [https://skydot.lanl.gov/nsvs/star.php?num=14831575&mask=32004 Epsilon Eridani] that can be used to constrain the orbital parameters of ε Eri b. It may also refer to how objects in space may appear as bland, bright dots in the night sky.
|-
| {{w|Epsilon Eridani c#Planet c|c}} || Old || Laser Noises || A {{w|Laser}} does not produce {{w|Noise (electronics)|noise}} in the signal sense; it only works at a well-defined frequency. In science fiction films, however, laser weapon discharges are usually accompanied by sound. Sun-like Epsilon Eridani became a popular setting for science fiction after its publicity as a target of the {{w|Project Ozma}} experiment.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 176}} || {{w|Gliese 176 b|b}} || Old || {{w|Pandora}} || The mythological name {{w|Pandora}} fulfills most of IAU's guidelines and has been popular for planets in science fiction; most recently and famously is {{w|Pandora (Avatar)|the venue}} of James Cameron's ''{{w|Avatar (film)|Avatar}}'' (although actually it is not a planet but just a moon of a gas giant in Alpha Centauri A). It is also a hellish planet from {{w|Frank Herbert}}'s {{w|Frank Herbert bibliography#WorShip novels|WorShip}} series of novels, a jungle planet in Brothers Strugatsky's {{w|Noon Universe}} and the planet used in {{w|Borderlands (video game)|Borderlands Games}}.
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_176_c/ c] || Old || Pantera || A near homophone of Pandora, possibly named for the {{w|Pantera|heavy metal band}}, which was named for the {{w|De Tomaso Pantera|Italian sports car}}, which was named for the panther. Could be a reference to the Avatar movie by James Cameron.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-61}} || {{w|Kepler-61b|b}} || Old || GoldenPalace.com || A gambling website, known for {{w|GoldenPalace.com|paying to have their name in unusual places}} (like forehead tattoos, species names...).
|-
| {{w|Groombridge 34|Groombridge 34A}} || b || New || Hot Mess || This is a reference to the phrase {{w|wikt:hot mess|hot mess}}, meaning a person who is dishevelled but nevertheless attractive.
|-
| Kepler-442 || {{w|Kepler-442b|b}} || New || Seas of {{w|Toothpaste}} ||
|-
| Gliese-422 || b || New || This one weird planet || Most likely a reference to {{w|clickbait}} articles found on the internet.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|EPIC 201367065|EPIC-201367065}} || b || New || {{w|Sulawesi}} || {{w|Sulawesi|An island }} in the Indonesian archipelago. Including it in non-Earth maps is an xkcd running gag.
|-
| c || New || Huge {{w|Soccer}} Ball ||
|-
| d || New || Geodude || [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Geodude_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29 Geodude] is a Pokémon characterised by its ball-like shape. It resembles a clump of rocks.
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Kepler-296}} || b || New || Kerbal Space Planet || {{w|Kerbal Space Program}} is a game where model rockets are launched on a scale version of the Earth. It has been referenced in xkcd a number of times (in the title text of [[1106: ADD]], in [[1244: Six Words]], as a part of [[1350: Lorenz]] and in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]]). Note, though, that the actual planet corresponding to the Earth in the game is called [https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Kerbin "Kerbin"].
|-
| c || New || A$aplanet || Most probably a pun on the rap group {{w|A$AP Mob}} and their most prominent member {{w|A$AP Rocky}}. May also be a pun on {{w|Kesha}}, also written as Ke$ha. In that case the c of the planet's designation would belong to the name.
|-
| d || New || {{w|Jurassic World}} || ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'' was the most recent movie in the ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}'' series.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-296e|e}} || New || This Land || Reference to Wash's dialogue in the pilot episode of {{w|Firefly (TV Series)|Firefly}}. Or perhaps the folk song "This Land is Your Land", written and made famous by Woody Guthrie.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-296f|f}} || New || Springfield || The name of {{w|Springfield (The Simpsons)|the town}} in which animated sitcom {{w|The Simpsons}} is set; possibly a reference to the running joke that the state in which Springfield is located has never been named.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|HR 7722}} || {{w|HR 7722 b|b}} || New || {{w|Betelgeuse}} || rowspan=2 | {{w|Betelgeuse}} is a star in the constellation Orion. It is commonly (at least by speakers of English) pronounced as "beetlejuice". {{w|Beetlejuice}}, however is a film directed by {{w|Tim Burton}} from 1988. Similarly to Dune/Arrakis (see Gliese 180) and the two Uranuses (see Kepler-283), naming two planets with names that are generally regarded to be identical would cause severe confusion in astronomical discussions.
|-
| {{w|HR 7722 c|c}} || New || Beetlejuice
|-
| EPIC 201912552 || b || New || {{w|Netherlands}} VI || The title text references this entry. See the explanation of the title text above the table entry.
|-
| rowspan=3 | Gliese 3293 || b || New || Antispit || In the comic [https://www.mspaintadventures.com/ Homestuck] there is a luminous moon named [[wikia:w:c:mspa:Prospit|Prospit]].
|-
| c || New || {{w|Google Earth}} || {{w|Google Earth}} is a service, similar to Google Maps, which projects satellite data on a 3D globe that can be zoomed in on. Other features, such as models of buildings, can also appear.
|-
| d || New || {{w|Planet of the Apes (disambiguation)}} || The way a Wikipedia article would be titled, for example, to distinguish from the {{w|Planet of the Apes (novel)|the original novel}}, {{w|Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|the first film}}, {{w|Planet of the Apes (2001 film)|the Tim Burton remake}} and {{w|Rise of the Planet of the Apes|the reboot series}}. In each adaptation, a group of astronauts lands on what is believed to be a "Planet of the Apes", which turns out to be a post-apocalyptic Earth. A Wikipedia page for this planet would itself conflict with an existing disambiguation page, possibly requiring a second-level disambiguation page to be created.
|-
| rowspan=2 | Kepler-283 || b || New || ˈjʊərənəs || rowspan = 2 | Two alternative pronunciations (written in {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}) for the planet name Uranus; the first one translates as "YU-ri-nus" ("urine-us"), while the second translates as "yu-RAIN-us" ("your anus"). The first pronunciation (being the same as how the {{w|Uranus (mythology)|Greek god}} is pronounced in English) is preferred by astronomers, but both are commonly heard. Similarly to Dune/Arrakis (see Gliese 180) and Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice (see HR 7722), naming two planets with names that are generally regarded to be identical would cause severe confusion in astronomical discussions.
|-
| c || New || jʊˈreɪnəs
|-
! colspan=5 | Second half of the table:
|-
| rowspan=4 | {{w|Upsilon Andromedae}} || b || New || Fourthmeal || {{w|Taco Bell}} has an ad campaign adding a meal after dinner. Possibly also a reference to {{w|Hobbit}}s and [https://askmiddlearth.tumblr.com/post/41765286488/the-seven-daily-hobbit-meals seven daily meals]. This entry was misspelled Andromidae in the first comic (and also in the first released version of this one, see [[#Trivia|trivia]].) Although the star was mentioned in the previous chart, this entry "b" was not. In that comic the chart was shown as a part of a list. And the b entry was above the cut-off line. So the next object was also called "c" in the previous chart.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae c|c}} || Old || Stampy || The name of the elephant from the {{w|Simpsons}} episode {{w|Bart Gets an Elephant}}.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae d|d}} || Old || Moonchild || The name Bastian gives the Childlike Empress in {{w|The Neverending Story}}.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae e|e}} || Old || Ham Sphere || [https://www.hamsphere.com HamSphere] is a {{w|Amateur radio|Ham Radio}} simulator program. Ham radio uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages and more. A pun of Hemisphere.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|82 G. Eridani|HD 20794}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_b/ b] || Old || Cosmic Sands || style="font-family:'Comic Sans MS', 'Comic Sans'" | A {{w|pun}} on the name of the font {{w|Comic Sans}}. (See also: [[590|590: Papyrus]].)
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_c/ c] || Old || {{w|Legoland}} || {{w|Legoland}} is a chain of {{w|theme park}}s owned by the {{w|Lego Group}}. Potentially a reference to the movie {{w|The World's End (film)|The World's End}}, in which the protagonist Gary King tells the alien invaders to "get in your rocket and fuck off back to Legoland".
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_d/ d] || Old || Planet with Arms || A reference to the [https://www.thecolorsofmysoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy.jpg early covers] of {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}? Could also be a reference to [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/birds-with-arms "Birds with Arms" meme].
|-
| {{w|HD 85512}} || {{w|HD 85512 b|b}} || Old || Lax Morality || Possibly a parody of science fiction in which certain planets are suggested to be uniformly lax in morals (i.e. full of sex, drugs, etc.). See {{tvtropes|Planetville|the TVTropes listing}}, and related. Or, possibly a reference to {{w|GCU Grey Area}}.
|-
| rowspan=6 | {{w|HD 40307}} || {{w|HD 40307 b|b}} || Old || Good Planet || Similar to the above, except with good planets. May also be yet another non-descriptive name, like "Space Planet" and "Planet #14".
|-
|{{w|HD|c}} || Old || Problemland || See above. Also may be a reference to Iceland/Greenland naming scheme[https://anitasnotebook.com/travelstories/how-iceland-and-greenland-ended-up-with-such-messed-up-names/], where Problemland may actually be a better place to visit than "Good Planet."
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 d|d}} || Old || Slickle || This is a reference to "[https//zdarsky.tumblr.com/post/2837139960 The Petals Fall Twice]" (possibly NSFW), which was made as a humorous example of bad fan-fiction. The word itself is a portmanteau of "slowly", "licked", and "tickled".
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 e|e}} || Old || Spare Parts || This suggests that the planet is "worthless" or "junk". This is false, of course. May be a reference to the fact it is a planet with nothing much different from the other planets.
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 f|f}} || Old || {{w|New Jersey}} VI || Refers to the state of {{w|New Jersey}}; may be an insult to either.
|-
|{{w|HD|g}} || Old || How Do I Join the {{w|IAU}} || This implies that the user "got lost" on the IAU website and thought that the "planet name suggestion" input was for general queries.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|Gliese 163}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_b/ b] || Old || Neil Tyson's Mustache || {{w|Neil deGrasse Tyson}} is a famous American astrophysicist and science communicator who does maintain a distinguished mustache.
|-
|{{w|Gliese|c}} || Old || help@gmail.com || Similar to "How Do I Join the IAU", this implies that the user confused the "planet suggestion" text box for a new email they are trying to send.
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_d/ d] || Old || Hair-Covered Planet || Refers to the well-known {{w|Hairy ball theorem}} of topology.
|-
| {{w|Pi Mensae}} || {{w|Pi Mensae b|b}} || Old || {{w|Natural satellite|Moon Holder}} || {{w|Jupiter}} has more than 60 discovered moons, and still counting... A planet ten times more massive ''must'' also be a Moon Holder.
|-
| {{w|HD 189733}} || {{w|HD 189733 b|b}} || Old || Permadeath || A well-characterized "{{w|Hot Jupiter}}" at a temperature range of 973 ± 33 K to 1,212 ± 11 K. The name refers to the feature of {{w|Permanent death}} common in many RPGs and roguelikes. Or may reference permafrost, which has also been discussed in the comic.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-22}} || {{w|Kepler-22 b|b}} || Old || Blue Ivy || Blue Ivy Carter is the daughter of musicians {{w|Beyoncé}} and {{w|Jay-Z}}.
|-
| KOI-2474 || b || New || Store-Brand {{w|Earth}} || A {{w|Store brand}} is a line of products branded by a retailer. They have a reputation for being lower quality than other brands, and are often marketed similarly to other brands. This is implying that this is a cheaper version of Earth. (This entry replaced the completely different entry Kepler-3284b Blainsley from the previous chart).
|-
| Kepler-437 || b || Update || {{w|Unicorn}} Thresher || As far as we can tell, Kepler-437b is in the vicinity of the constellation Monoceros, aka the Unicorn. (This was labeled Kepler-3255b in the previous chart)
|-
| KOI-2418 || b || Old || Spherical Discworld || {{w|The Discworld}} is the fictional setting for British author {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s {{w|Discworld}} series of humorous fantasy novels; it consists of a large disc supported by four elephants themselves standing on top of a turtle flying through space. The joke being that the planet could not be spherical and disc-shaped at the same time. (Was listed as Kepler-2418 in the previous chart).
|-
| {{w|Kepler-438}} || {{w|Kepler-438b|b}} || Update || Emergency Backup Earth || This candidate planet has an {{w|Earth Similarity Index}} of 0.89, making it one of the most habitable {{w|Kepler object of interest}}. The name suggests that it could be used as a backup in case something happened to our current planet. (Was listed as Kepler-1686 in the previous chart; Kepler-1686 b was proven to be a false positive by NASA in 2015).
|-
| KOI-3010 || {{w|KOI-3010.01|b}} || Old || Feeeoooooooop || Possibly the onomatopoeia for something getting sucked into a black hole.
|-
| Kepler-442 || {{w|Keppler-442b|b}} || Old || Liz || Just a regular name (for a person, not a planet). Maybe a reference to the Magic School Bus.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|82 Eridani}} || b || New || Horsemeat Surface|| A reference to the {{w|2013 meat adulteration scandal}}, where horsemeat was found in burgers alleging to contain beef. This planet's name suggests that the surface of the entire planet would also contain improperly declared horsemeat.
|-
| c || New || The {{w|Moon}} || This name would cause confusion with the Earth's moon, which in English is called The Moon. It is also a poor name choice as 82 Eridani c is not a moon, but a planet.
|-
| d || New || Constant Saxophones || May refer to the fact that there are lots of different kinds of {{w|Saxophone#The_saxophone_family|saxophones}}. A Constant Saxophone may only be able to play one note, while several Constant Saxophones tuned to different notes could assemble the tone range of either normal saxophone. Constant Saxophones could also imply that Saxophone music is played constantly, everywhere on the planet. This could get tiresome for the residents of the planet.
|-
| {{w|HD 102365}} || b || New || Little Big Planet || This refers to the videogame {{w|LittleBigPlanet}}.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 180}} || b || New || Dune || rowspan=2 | Both references to Frank Herbert's {{w|Dune (novel)|Dune}} book series. The planet Arrakis (informally referred to as 'Dune') is the central planet in the mythology, where the mind-enhancing substance 'spice' comes from. Use of spice enables, among others, supercomputing-like mental computation as well as hyperspace navigation. Having two neighbouring planets with names that are historically used to refer to a single planet would sow further confusion in the already extensive catalog of planet names. This is similarly to Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice (see HR 7722) and the two Uranuses (see Kepler-283).
|-
| c || New || Arrakis
|-
| {{w|Fomalhaut}} || b || New || Swarm of {{w|Bees}} ||From Wikipedia: Fomalhaut b could be a conglomeration of rubble from a recent collision between comet-to-asteroid-sized bodies and not actually identify a planet.
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Kepler-62}} || {{w|Kepler-62b|b}} || New || Sporty || rowspan=5 | A reference to the {{w|Spice Girls}}. See also the previous comic, [[1554: Spice Girls]], where [[Megan]] was unable to list the members of this pop group. In this case the names are correct, and would give Megan a new and interesting reason to remember them. {{w|Kepler-62f}} is a [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-62e.html super-Earth-size planet], that may be potentially habitable. {{w|Kepler-62e}} is a possible [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-62e.html water world].
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62c|c}} || New || Baby
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62d|d}} || New || Scary
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62e|e}} || New || Ginger
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62f|f}} || New || Posh
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|HD 69830}} || {{w|HD 69830 b|b}} || New || Planet.xxx || {{w|.xxx}} is a controversial top level domain (like to .com and .net) that is intended to distinguish porn sites from other types of website. Planet X is the name for a still undiscovered planet in our solar system, a common theme both in real science and fiction. The search for "Planet X" lead, by chance, to the discovery of Pluto.
|-
| {{w|HD 69830 c|c}} || New || Novella || A {{w|novella}} is a form of prose with length between a {{w|short story}} and a {{w|novel}}. Common examples of novellas are romance literature centering around intense lustful encounters in cheap paperback books, though also 'serious' literature may be in novella form.
|-
| {{w|HD 69830 d|d}} || New || Sexoplanet || Like the other two planets orbiting this star, the "69" in the stars designation has lead to a sex joke: All planets in this comic are "exo-planets", planets not orbiting our sun. Adding a single "s" in front results in immature humor.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 682}} || {{w|Gliese 682 b|b}} || New || Verdant Hellscape || A contradictory name. "[[wikt:verdant|Verdant]]" usually signifies to be lush with green plant life, while "[[wikt:hellscape|hellscape]]" describes a desolate landscape destroyed by heat and cataclysm.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 682 c|c}} || New || Unsubscribe || On YouTube, "subscribers" (people who get updates on a person's channel) are highly valued, and to "unsubscribe" from anyone is deemed to be offensive. "Unsubscribe" is also the command one sends to {{w|Electronic mailing list}}s to stop receiving said mailing list. In this sense it may imply a desire to no longer be bothered with these silly discussions around planet-names. Like "help@gmail.com" and "How do I join the IAU", "unsubscribe" is a frequently seen accidental message on the Internet in contexts where it is not going to work as a command.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-452}} || {{w|Kepler-452b|b}} || New || {{w|Pluto}} || This is the planet Black Hat is referring to at the top of the table.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat points with a stick at a slide showing an image of a planet with unknown features marked by questions marks.]
:Kepler-452b

:Black Hat: NASA has announced the discovery of a (super-)Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.
:Black Hat: I suggest we name this planet "Pluto", both to celebrate the great work by the ''New Horizons'' team, and to make the stupid "Is Pluto a planet" debate a little more confusing

:While we wait to hear from the IAU,
:here's a revised and updated list of
:planet name suggestions (see xkcd.com/1253)
:New or updated entries in red

:[The table is in three separate columns. There is a small arrow pointing at the second column, named "Planet", indicating the planet's name corresponding to the star at the first row. The third column shows the planet name suggestions.]

:{| class="wikitable"
! Star !! Planet !! Suggested Name
|-
| rowspan=7 |Gliese 667||b||Space Planet
|-
|c||PILF
|-
|d||A Star
|-
|e||e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--
|-
|f||Blogosphere
|-
|g||Blogodrome
|-
|h||Earth
|-
| rowspan=5 |Tau Ceti||b||Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B
|-
|c||Giant Dog Planet
|-
|d||Tiny Dog Planet
|-
|e||Phil Plainet
|-
|f||Unicode Snowman
|-
| rowspan=2|Gliese 832||b||Asshole Jupiter
|-
|c||Waterworld starring Kevin Costner
|-
| rowspan= 6|Gliese 581||b||Waist-deep Cats
|-
|c||Planet #14
|-
|d||Ballderaan
|-
|e||Eternia Prime
|-
|f||Taupe Mars
|-
|g||Jelly-Filled Planet
|-
| rowspan= 2|Epsilon Eridani||b||Skydot
|-
|c||Laser Noises
|-
| rowspan= 2|Gliese 176||b||Pandora
|-
|c||Pantera
|-
|Kepler-61||b||GoldenPalace.com
|-
|Groombridge 34A||b||Hot Mess
|-
|Kepler-442||b||Seas of Toothpaste
|-
|Gliese-442||b||This one weird planet
|-
| rowspan= 3|EPIC-201367065||b||Sulawesi
|-
|c||Huge Soccer Ball
|-
|d||Geodude
|-
| rowspan= 5|Kepler-296||b||Kerbal Space Planet
|-
|c||A$aplanet
|-
|d||Jurassic World
|-
|e||This Land
|-
|f||Springfield
|-
| rowspan= 2|HR 7722||b||Betelgeuse
|-
|c||Beetlejuice
|-
|EPIC 201912552||b||Netherlands VI
|-
| rowspan= 3|Gliese 3293||b||Antispit
|-
|c||Google Earth
|-
|d||Planet of the Apes (disambiguation)
|-
| rowspan= 2|Kepler-283||b||ˈjʊərənəs
|-
|c||jʊˈreɪnəs
|-
| rowspan= 4|Upsilon Andromedae||b||Fourthmeal
|-
|c||Stampy
|-
|d||Moonchild
|-
|e||Ham Sphere
|-
| rowspan= 3|HD 20794||b||Cosmic Sands
|-
|c||Legoland
|-
|d||Planet with Arms
|-
|HD 85512||b||Lax Morality
|-
| rowspan= 6|HD 40307||b||Good Planet
|-
|c||Problemland
|-
|d||Slickle
|-
|e||Spare Parts
|-
|f||New Jersey VI
|-
|g||How Do I Join the IAU
|-
| rowspan= 3|Gliese 163||b||Neil Tyson's Mustache
|-
|c||help@gmail.com
|-
|d||Hair-Covered Planet
|-
|Pi Mensae||b||Moon Holder
|-
|HD 189733||b||Permadeath
|-
|Kepler-22||b||Blue Ivy
|-
|KOI-2474||b||Store-Brand Earth
|-
|Kepler-437||b||Unicorn Thresher
|-
|KOI-2418||b||Spherical Discworld
|-
|Kepler-438||b||Emergency Backup Earth
|-
|KOI-3010||b||Feeeoooooooop
|-
|Kepler-442||b||Liz
|-
|rowspan = 3|82 Eridani ||b ||Horsemeat Surface 
|-
|c ||The Moon 
|-
|d ||Constant Saxophones 
|-
|HD 102365 ||b ||Little Big Planet 
|-
|rowspan = 2|Gliese 180 ||b ||Dune 
|-
|c ||Arrakis 
|-
|Fomalhaut ||b ||Swarm of Bees 
|-
|rowspan = 5|Kepler-62 ||b ||Sporty 
|-
|c ||Baby 
|-
|d ||Scary 
|-
|e ||Ginger 
|-
|f ||Posh 
|-
|rowspan = 3|HD 69830 ||b ||Planet.xxx 
|-
|c ||Novella 
|-
|d ||Sexoplanet 
|-
|rowspan = 2|Gliese 682 ||b ||Verdant Hellscape 
|-
|c ||Unsubscribe 
|-
|Kepler-452 ||b ||Pluto 
|}

==Trivia==
* The IPA character for stress is a vertical line ˈ, but Randall uses a slanted line similar to acute accent ´ or prime ′.
* In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/f/fd/20150725002854!exoplanet_names_2.png original version] of this comic, there were three errors, but they were corrected later the same day:
** Waterworld starring Kevin '''Kostner''' (instead of '''Costner''')
** Upsilon '''Andromidae''' (instead of '''Andromedae''')
** '''Formalhaut''' (instead of '''Fomalhaut''')
* After the initial release of this comic Randall added a jumbled version of the address to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1555/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1555/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"Full explanation & dissection & transcription available http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1555"'', with \n characters replacing the backslashes instead of the JSON-specific \\.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Exoplanet Names]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Exoplanet Names]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Spice Girls]]
[[Category:Kerbal Space Program]]
[[Category:Bees]]

2813: What To Do

2023-08-10T22:07:38Z

172.70.85.146: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2813
| date = August 9, 2023
| title = What To Do
| image = what_to_do_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x723px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = FYI: The 'drop, cover, and hold on' advice only applies to earthquakes. If you encounter a mountain lion, you should absolutely not drop to the ground, crawl under it, and hold on to one of its legs.
}}

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

Similar to [[1890: What to Bring]] and [[1681: Laser Products]], this comic takes four unrelated dangerous situations (mountain lion sighting, nearby lightning, fire alarm, and bleeding), and tries to mix-and-match the solutions. Predictably,{{citation needed}} mixing up good advice leads to fairly nonsensical behavior, so only the original four matches are marked green as acceptable.

The title-text introduces another disaster, an earthquake, into the mix-and-match. A common safety precaution during an earthquake is to [https://www.shakeout.org/dropcoverholdon/ drop, cover, and hold on], which helps prevent you from being thrown about and/or hit by debris. However, attempting to "drop, cover, and hold on" in response to a mountain lion sighting is more likely to get you into danger than out of it. {{citation needed}}

;Advice

{| class="wikitable"
! (problem) vs (solution)
! scope="col"| stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away
! scope="col"| run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle
! scope="col"| calmly exit the building
! scope="col"| apply firm pressure
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|mountain lion}}
| This is a common recommendation when encountering a mountain lion (puma, cougar, etc) out in nature.
| Running away may cause the animal to chase you, and it may consider you as prey. If you safely make it into a building or vehicle, you may be able to hide or drive away from the animal and may be safer than being outdoors with it; however, it is safer to approach said building or vehicle ''slowly'', so as to not provoke the animal.
| Exiting a building and approaching the animal is not a good idea.
| Applying "firm pressure" to the (wild) animal is a terrible idea and may result in injury or death. Applying light pressure to a domesticated cat may make it less likely to attack, but wild cats do not respond positively to it.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|lightning}}
| Yelling at lightning is ineffective. {{citation needed}}
| This is the recommended solution when encountering lightning - to go indoors or inside of a hard-topped vehicle to avoid being struck, or to be ''inside'' some form of faraday cage if lightning does strike your location. Staying inside of a metal vehicle may cause other problems, but it's generally better than being directly struck.
| Exiting a building is a poor idea, as the risk of getting struck by lightning is increased.
| There is no safe way to "apply firm pressure" to lightning. In the diagram, Cueball applies pressure to the tree, which is just about the worst possible thing to do in a storm.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|fire alarm}}
| Yelling at a fire alarm is ineffective. {{citation needed}}
| When a fire alarm is sounding, it is terrible advice to run ''towards'' the sound of the alarm, unless you are a trained fire fighter with suitable tools.
| This is the recommended advice when hearing a fire alarm - to calmly exit the building, and move to a safe location.
| Applying firm pressure to a fire alarm will not result in stopping the alarm, unless you are able to damage the device, suppress the sound (either by covering the noisemaker or by pressing the alarm's button to temporarily silence it), or block the fire alarm sensors. Regardless, this will not stop the actual fire. Also, there is no safe way to "apply firm pressure" to fire, although applying firm pressure could be interpreted as using a fire blanket.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|bleeding}}
| Yelling at a bleeding person, or at the bleeding itself, is ineffective.
| Running toward a building or vehicle is not a typical solution if someone is bleeding. However, there could be medical supplies and/or medically trained people (nurses, doctors, paramedics, etc.) inside the building or vehicle, so this idea is not completely incorrect.
| Exiting a building is not helpful if someone is bleeding, if either the exiting one is the injured one, or the non-injured one. Although, if someone/something in the building is the cause of the bleeding, this could be a good idea so that the bleeding or injury does not get worse.
| This is the recommended solution to stop bleeding - apply firm pressure to stop the bleeding.
|}

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

:[The comic is laid out like a grid, with situations down the left-hand side (mountain lion / lightning / fire alarm / bleeding) and the solutions across the top (stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away / run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle / calmly exit the building / apply firm pressure ). The grid illustrates the "match-ups", with a green square denoting a "correct" match-up and a red square denoting a bad idea.]

:[From the top left corner, going from left to right, top to bottom, with each first item being on its own line in the grid, the squares are as follows:]

:[Green square, a mountain lion (drawn as a large cat) sits on the left, on a perch. Cueball and Megan have their arms raised and are speaking to it. Lines in front of them indicate they are backing up.]
:Cueball: ''HEY. STOP.''
:Megan: ''SHOO.''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, Cueball and Megan are being chased by a mountain lion, and are running towards a building to their right.]
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, Cueball and Megan exit a building and approach a mountain lion.]
:Megan: ''Hello.''
:*'''calmly exit the building''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, Cueball is putting his hands firmly on a mountain lion.]
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball is standing outside, with his arms raised, yelling at the lightning. Lines in front of him indicate he is backing up.]
:''BOOM''
:Cueball: ''NO!''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Green square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball and Megan run toward a building to their right.]
:''BOOM''
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Red square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball and Megan exit a building and approach the lightning-struck tree.]
:''BOOM''
:*''' calmly exit the building''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Red square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball pushes on the lightning-struck tree.]
:''BOOM''
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Red square, a fire alarm is beeping. Cueball yells at the alarm, with his arms raised. Lines in front of him indicates he is backing up.]
:''BEEP BEEP BEEP''
:Cueball: ''HEY.''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away ''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Red square, a fire alarm is beeping next to a building with flames on its roof. Cueball and Megan run toward the burning building.]
:''BEEP BEEP BEEP''
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Green square, a fire alarm is beeping next to a house with flames on its roof. Cueball and Megan are exiting the burning building.]
:''BEEP BEEP BEEP''
:*'''calmly exit the building''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Red square, a fire alarm is beeping, and Cueball is trying to "suppress" the beeping sound. Behind him are flames.]
:''BEEP BEEP BE-eep eep eep eep eep''
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Red square, Cueball is bleeding from his right arm, and holds it. Megan to his right yells at him with her arms raised. Lines in front of her indicates she is backing up.]
:Megan: ''HEY!''
:Megan: ''STOP IT!''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away''' -> '''bleeding'''

:[Red square, Megan, holding a first aid kit in one hand and a bandage in the other, runs with a bleeding Cueball towards a building to their right.]
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''bleeding'''

:[Red square, Megan holds a bandage, and to the ground in front of her is a first aid kit. Cueball is walking to the right of the panel, with an injured and bloody left arm raised.]
:Cueball: Bye!
:*'''calmly exit the building''' -> '''bleeding'''

:[Green square, Cueball sits in a chair and Megan is treating him by putting her hands on his injured limb. Behind her on the ground is a first aid kit.]
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''bleeding'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Weather]]

Talk:2782: Wikipedia Article Titles

2023-06-02T15:15:33Z

172.70.85.146:

Of course, I had to search for those keywords and found this: [https://www.playbill.com/article/bulletin-meryl-streep-in-talks-to-do-seagull-in-central-park-com-87578 Playbill: Bulletin: Meryl Streep in Talks to Do Seagull in Central Park]. Couldn't find anything about a Seagull *incident*, however. We may have to wait until the production has completed. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:44, 29 May 2023 (UTC)
:Or doesn't happen at all. The incident might be a fight between Streep and someone involved in the production. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:07, 29 May 2023 (UTC)
::Whatever happens we need to somehow inject the name "Meyrl Street seagull incident" into the news coverage so that the Wikipedia article can be created. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.101|172.70.162.101]] 14:24, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

'''''Ah-HAH!''''' https://www.salon.com/2001/08/27/seagull/ "a 40-ish man was found dead in the bushes from a single gunshot wound near the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, just yards away from where Philip Seymour Hoffman offs himself with a single gunshot wound every night as Konstantin Gavrilovich in Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull.''" (in which Streep was his co-star.) Thanks to ChatGPT-4's WebPilot plug-in, by the way. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.214|172.69.134.214]] 17:24, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Re the transcript: I don't think they're called checkmarks. Tick marks, maybe.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.232|172.71.182.232]] 18:00, 29 May 2023 (UTC)
:{{done}} [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.96|172.69.134.96]] 18:14, 29 May 2023 (UTC)
::Well, given that {{w|Check mark}} and (redirected there, anyway) {{w|Tick mark}} don't actually refer to those things, I changed the transcript to use the {{w|Graduation (scale)}} terminology as the best(?) of various such terms that I'd more happily use. Which probably is going to annoy someone else, so maybe expect it to change again... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.179|172.70.162.179]] 20:36, 29 May 2023 (UTC)
:::I did not do this transcript, but I have used the tick marks in numerous transcripts using charts like this. I'm not native English speaker, and there have never been anyone changing it before, and seems like another user also believed tick mark could be used... So it would be nice to find out of it is actually normal to use tick marks for the "ticks" on a graph axis, else there will be 100 of transcripts to fix (as I have been involved in writing most of them). I have never head of the graduation scale terminology...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:55, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
::::Quick serach came up with [https://grapherhelp.goldensoftware.com/Axes/Tick_Marks.htm this page] using tick marks as I have always done, first after the wiki article on check marks which I have never heard called tick marks before. I will correct back to tick marks --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:56, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
:::: Microsoft refers to them as Tick Marks - don't know whether or not that counts as supporting evidence.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.152|172.70.91.152]] 15:39, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
::::: (...not sure MS is an authority, but...) Personally, I read "tick" as a ✓. And "check" is either such a [[2445: Checkbox|tick]] or [[1448: Question|a cross]] (there's also one with a tick/cross ambiguity, prompting much speculation here about positive/nevative meaning, but I can't recall which that one is right now).
::::: I might accept a "tally" marker (vertically, across x-axis, it 'counts' similarly to "five-barred" tally-marks, without the barring). "Graduation" (Graduierung?) does mean both this and the event of graduating (or undertaking the Eksamen?), but has less semantic overlap than a two-stroke diagonal and a single-stroke perpendicular (both of which feature in various comics). I think I'd ignore/change prior "graph axis 'check/tick' marks", depending on context, but it ''would'' be better to be unambiguously a scale-marking and not a confirmatory "this exists" indicator. If the right word can be found. (Grad-mark? Unit-mark?) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.129|172.70.90.129]] 10:33, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
::::::just look at {{w|Hatch mark}} (which is what these are), first line claims they are also called Tick marks. The existing redirect is incorrect. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.70|108.162.245.70]] 10:49, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:::::::Looks like that page also [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1157853432 suffers from arguments about what means what], which I'm not at all inclined to get involved with myself. Hatching, to me is more strictly pen/pencil-line shading across an area, but that's just my understanding and it takes all sorts. (Also, you shaved off the datetime signature of the comment you replied to. Repairing that.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.2|172.70.86.2]] 11:45, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
::::::::Hatching, Hash Marks and Hatch Marks, to me, are what the yanks call a "pound" symbol, and we call a hatch or hash mark. # (our "pound" is £, as it used to be our money before we moved on to Aussie dollars) the hatch mark does, I agree, look like pencil shading across an area. [[User:Thisfox|Thisfox]] ([[User talk:Thisfox|talk]]) 22:23, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:::::::::The pound (#) is a different usage to the pound (£), as it refers to weight, not money, having evolved from a stylised 'lb', from the Latin for 'pound weight'.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.254|172.70.90.254]] 08:19, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
::::::::::Although with UK version of ASCII putting £ where # sat upon the 'international' standard, it remained a long-standing replacement for many years. e.g. had to set the dip-switches just right on my Epson FX-80 printer to get it to print an actual £ from my BBC Microcomputer, instead of #, and other 7-bit electronic communications often just assumed the non-UK codepage or equivalent.
::::::::::Lasting well into the era where some systems 'changed' "&"s into "&amp;"s then others rendered those as "&amp;amp;" as web-coded text was badly 'reconverted'/treated as literal... some aggregating job-advertising websites ending up suggesting something like "#20k/year &amp;amp;amp; bonus", or similar, for UK web-programmers/whatever, not even anything like "GB&pound;20k/year"!).
::::::::::Even if we knew that #=="lb" (librum, pl. libra) and once saw it in common use on market-stalls (before/alongside metrification), it was so common to see it representing "£" (originally derived from a 'pound' of silver, so actually not so different, but clearly differentiated in prices such as "two pounds a pound", i.e "£2/- per #") and we quickly learnt that Americans would refer to the hash-key on a keypad phone as the pound-key (usually, perhaps just coincidentally, the key we might suggest to "pound" (...push hard and often) when frustrated with an automated system and trying to get the call-handling system to go through to a 'real' person).
::::::::::None of this helps anybody (not intending to jump in a time-machine) but as we're talking of these things... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.147|141.101.99.147]] 10:28, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_mark specifically says that "tick" and "tickmark" for "checkmark" are regionalisms. And from direct experience tickmark is also a Britishism. By all means try to accommodate non-standard English, but be aware some of these are shibboleths and there are many situations where you can't win.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.14|162.158.158.14]] 14:51, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
::And of course that page states "… is a mark (✓, ✔, etc.) …", in amongst a lot of very similar descriptions, with seemingly no mention of graphs/charts at all. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.146|172.70.85.146]] 15:15, 2 June 2023 (UTC)

"User disambiguation pages" also exist. See http:/ /esolangs.org/wiki/User_talk:XKCD_Wrong_Times_Table and http://esolangs.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/XKCD_Wrong_Times_Table_(disambiguation) . [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.126|172.69.22.126]] 02:07, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
:Those pages are not on Explain xkcd, is this spam? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:55, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
::The first link looks like perhaps unintentional spam. I'm delinking it. In any case, the message is unclear. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.175|162.158.166.175]] 08:34, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

I think that an important addition to the possible "incident" would be one where a seagull named Meryl Streep caused or was the victim of it. I'll let you work out how to word it. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.19.7|172.68.19.7]] 14:52, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
:I suppose it could also be some incident between a mononymous Meryl and a streep seagull, whatever that is, but it feels like we're stretching. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.43|172.69.247.43]] 21:15, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
::It could also reference an incident involving some (non-seagull) entity named 'Meryl Streep Seagull'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.171|172.70.91.171]] 08:21, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

This is probably a reference to {{w|Jimmy Carter rabbit incident}} which has been previously referenced by xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.161|172.71.254.161]] 14:32, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

There is a new article on Unencyclopedia: http://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/Meryl_Streep_Seagull_Incident_(Disambiguation) -- [[User:Solav|Solav]] ([[User talk:Solav|talk]]) 16:00, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

Talk:887: Future Timeline

2023-05-31T10:49:48Z

172.70.85.146: A series of non-sequiturs from at least two obviously spurious accounts (from at most one real person behind them all?)

The explanation is really messed up. You can hardly tell where one year ends and the next begins. Can someone who's better at editing than me fix this, perhaps by putting a line across the page after each year? [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 19:11, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

This one slipped under the transcripting radar. I may do it. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 20:52, 17 August 2013 (UTC)
:Do not talk about radars, just do it. The transcript is done right now, but the explain section still does need a big radar!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:20, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

Find the song! I have no idea so far but the repeating phrase "Social security trust fund exhausted" should match a refrain.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:20, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

They now have the dogs driving cars... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAK0J8Uhzk Let's not wait for 2053.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.90|173.245.54.90]] 21:01, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Out of curiosity (I'm new to the standards of explainxkcd), are out of date pages considered incomplete? Or is it up to editors to chose when to update a pages explination. I would assume the former, except that would make maintaining the pages significantly more difficult. Also, referencing the Linux takes over. Since Android is now a part of the libux kernel,should thia be changed? It would definently put linux over the 50% mark. [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 05:03, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:Pages can not become out of date, as they refrence the meening of the comic at the time of creation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 15:24, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I would change the 2nd paragraph to say that the entirety of the search results are a super long set-up and "All your base..." is the punch-line. [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 08:46, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

I would correct the entry in 2014 that says that the Taliban are the organisation responsible for the September 11th attacks. The more accurate explanation would be that The US believed Al Qaeda (the real organisation responsible) were hiding out in Afghanistan and that defeating the Taliban, and bringing stability to the country was an important stepping stone towards finding Osama Bin Laden. Of course we now know he was in Pakistan all along, but still that was the original rationale for invading Afghanistan.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 15:27, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

This further details stuff is wrong about the comic. The lines are just random answers to Google searches. There is no explanation. I move to remove this table, or convert it into links or summaries of the articles in the links. This sucks. It is good enough as it is now without the table (as the table is random and the explanations on the table are incorrect. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 22:12, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
:Let's get to work on the table then. I'm adding suitable references to incomplete sections to aid as jumping off points, from where further expansion can be done on a case-by-case basis. Can you provide some inspiration as to which explanations are most egregiously in need of correction? [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 01:44, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

As of 2014 I have noticed that a lot of US sites are moving from html to closed sources such as Adobe so the quote: "The prediction about GNU/Linux Operating Systems is ambiguous" is now fighting through government agencies. Users of Linux trying to access the volcano archive (once supplied by listserv using linux) now have to get access via Windows machines. This has to be the saddest computing news in a long time. [[User:Weatherlawyer|Weatherlawyer]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 08:19, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

“The prediction about GNU/Linux Operating Systems is ambiguous, as Android (based on Linux) constitutes nearly 50% of the mobile OS market” — GNU/Linux refers to an operating system consisting of the GNU userland toolchain over the Linux kernel. Android is based on Linux but not GNU, therefore, it is irrelevant in GNU/Linux context. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.107|108.162.230.107]] 11:18, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Can we change this to Incomplete explanation of the month? [[User:Foldark|Foldark]] ([[User talk:Foldark|talk]]) 22:03, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

2145:War... War never changes
(the Great War happens) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.252}}

Is it just my reading, or does it say "ACHEIVE" instead of "ACHIEVE" where it says something about 192 UN member nations achieving millennium development goals in the comic? (It's under 2015.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.70|172.68.55.70]] 21:45, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
:No, it reads like this for me too. (Even on the original comic page, where I'd expect it to have been long fixed already.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.87|172.68.11.87]] 19:35, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

Some of these predictions seem very realistic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.172|162.158.59.172]] 00:22, 25 December 2016 (UTC) Jawa457

I am not sure if this needs to be added or not since it was not happening when the comic was produced and it is not the government doing it but a private tech company microchipping its employees in 2017 [https://www.google.com/search?q=microchipping+workers&rlz=1C1OPRB_enUS709US709&oq=microchipping+workers&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.3111j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Google results] since I do not know which news articles will disappear over time. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.231|162.158.62.231]] 12:03, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

I think we can delete incomplete tag. --{{unsigned|1337-PI|04:21, 26 February 2021 (UTC)}}

I feel it would have been funny, if a bit confusing, if the first few years numbers after 2037/2038 started referring to, e.g. 1970, 1971, before suddenly "Year 2038 bug finally exterminated". You know it's gonna happen... at least to some poor schmucks somewhere in the world.--[[User:Twisted Code|Twisted Code]] ([[User talk:Twisted Code|talk]]) 12:52, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

== The link is bad ==

[//origo.hu/gazdasag/20180822-az-usa-allamadosaga-rekordot-dontott.html Here]'s a working one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.27|162.158.93.27]] 14:57, 22 December 2018 (UTC)