explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2930: Google Solar Cycle

2024-05-09T10:35:18Z

172.70.90.115:

When I opened the page I found a bunch of vague misspelled content (maybe spammers or bots? I don't know) so I updated the explanation. Not very knowledgeable about most things, though, so it probably still is not good enough. [[User:DNA Diva|DNA diva]] ([[User talk:DNA Diva|talk]]) 01:10, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:Looking at the first couple of user-edits ("first" Explanation and subsequent Transcript edit), I think they were 'rushed' in order to establish the whole "first"ness and/or escape possible Edit Conflicts (probably needlessly, looking at timings). Not precise enough to be 'AI bot' text (accuracy being different, of course), and no obvious spam-intent.
:Could have done with more care to be taken, so as not needing to be ''entirely'' revamped by the likes of yourself, somewhat diluting the 'kudos' and making the little effort taken almost entirely pointless. But I like eagerness. Next time, perhaps, a bit of care will go into the mix and we'll be on the way to another useful contributor. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.4|172.71.242.4]] 04:58, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

This comic got me to search about [[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]]) solar flares too.

Contrary to the current explanation, it appears you can search for [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%207-d&geo=US&q=Cocktail%20recipe,Hangover%20cure&hl=en cocktail recipe searches vs hangover cure searches] at a sub-daily resolution. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.103|108.162.210.103]] 07:51, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:As of my check, just now, I find it very funny that the (current) state-map attached to that result seems to indicate that every state trend predominantly is for searching for cocktails, between the two options. Except for Wyoming, which is solidly the one and only "hangover" state. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.115|172.70.90.115]] 10:35, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

==Spike of March 8, 2012==
As far as [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2012-03-01%202012-03-31&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F0f81b&hl=en-US the spike about 12 years ago], there was [https://www.space.com/14842-biggest-solar-storm-earth-effects.html this]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.149|162.158.175.149]] 00:54, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:Speaking of spikes, [[what if? (blog)|what if]] the internet and Google Trends had existed in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event 1859]? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.135|172.71.166.135]] 00:59, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
::...we'd still be repairing the infrastructure damage in 1860? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.4|172.71.242.4]] 04:58, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-19T14:53:45Z

172.70.90.115:

I expect that the BTS question is a reference to the traditional Korean system of counting a person's age in units of Sal which started at 1 and incremented on the first day of the year. Since this system was abandoned on official documents in 2023, but is still in use in some contexts, the question of whether every member of BTS had a "birthday" on the first day of the year is ambiguous. [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:13, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

question 5, planets exist outside the solar system, adding to the ambiguity. [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:15, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

As for question 9, please see the note about the history of Austrailia's capitals at: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_national_capitals#Oceania]]. and the page regarding countries with multiple capitals [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_multiple_capitals]] [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:24, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

About the alt text, London is certainly in Europe. The question itself is malformed because "Europe (or 'the EU')" is not self-consistent: there is a lot of European countries that are not part of the EU. [[User:RedGolpe|RedGolpe]] ([[User talk:RedGolpe|talk]]) 14:32, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benxi Benxi Lake] is actually considered to be the smallest lake in the world. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.205|172.70.135.205]]
:{{cn}}[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.176|172.70.86.176]] 14:40, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

I never realized how challenging it is to edit pages when they've just been posted. Makes me long for something like Google docs.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.43|172.68.3.43]] 14:39, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

People, who are born on 29th February don't have a birthday in years which are not leap years. However, 2024, when this comic was published is a leap year. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.9|162.158.95.9]] 14:40, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

"5. How many planets were there originally?" This could also refer even back to the start of the universe, when there were (likely) just 0 planets. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.101|162.158.86.101]] 14:43, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

I anticiated a lot of Edit Conflicts, but not actually quite so many as to not to be able to resolve my edits with everyone else's. This is the bare-bones that I was putting in (until finding multiple attempts tried to be added consecutively...
{{cot}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Question !! Problem !! Possible answer(s)
|-
| Which member of BTS has a birthday this year?
| Every living person has a birthday this year (being a leap-year, this includes those born on 29/Feb).
|
|-
| How many sides does a platonic solid have?
| There are five (or [[2781: The Six Platonic Solids|six]]) platonic solids, each with a different number of sides.
| 4, 6, 8, 12 or 20
|-
| What is the smallest lake in the world?
| The distinction between a small lake and a pond, pool or puddle (for example) is difficult to define.
|
|-
| Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks? Jaws (1875) or Lincoln (2012)
| Not a problem, as Lincoln has very few shark attacks.{{Citation needed}} The problem is that barely anyone will ''not'' be able to correctly answer this.
|
|-
| How many planets were there originally?
| Contextually vague. At what time and within what volume of space, and what is the scope of 'planet' defined here?
|
|-
| What NFL player has scored the most points outside of a game?
| Outside of (NFL) games, individuals may accumulate points in any number of ways (e.g. Scrabble)
|
|-
| The Wright brothers built the first airplane. Who built the last one?
| Until no further planes are built, individuals/teams/companies continue to build (to completion) ever more examples, changing the answer possibly moment to moment.
|
|-
| Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?
| This is a {{w|Goldbach's conjecture|currently unanswered question}}.
|
|-
| Not counting Canberra, what city is the capital of Australia?
| Canberra is ''the'' capital of Australia, a fairly well known 'obscure' fact. Each Australian territory also has their own state capital, so there is not one other ''single'' example.
|
|-
| Who played the drums?
| Lack of context. With which group? For which song? For which (re-)recording? At which event?
|
|-
| Where is London located? (a) The British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) The UK (d) Europe (or 'the EU') (e) Greater London
| Almost all of these are correct (though London is geographically in Europe but no longer in the EU).
|}

This is apparently deliberate (at least on behalf of the organisers), perhaps to upset or otherwise impede groups of overconfident quizzers who would otherwise dominate any genuinely good quiz.
{{cob}}
...make use of it however you wish, anybody who has the time not to keep chasing all the simultaneous edits. (The above is a bit behind 'perfection', and lacks many of the integrations, wikilinks and adjustments I had made. I backspaced out of the edit I had finally reached, before remembering to take a full copy into my paste-buffer!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.115|172.70.90.115]] 14:53, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

2901: Geographic Qualifiers

2024-03-02T14:39:43Z

172.70.90.115: /* Explanation */ Merge the bits I think need merging. (No "scateboard" category. Is there a "skateboard" one? Still to check that.) Another EC! Another cross-check will be made!

{{comic
| number = 2901
| date = March 1, 2024
| title = Geographic Qualifiers
| image = geographic_qualifiers_2x.png
| imagesize = 435x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Thank you for the loveliest evening I've ever had...' [normal] '...east of the Mississippi.' [instant intrigue!]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT EAST OF THE BERLIN WALL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, [[Cueball]] is bragging to a [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|Cueball-like guy]] in front of a giant statue of a {{w|squirrel}} standing on a skateboard. Cueball states that this is the largest statue of that theme in “the {{w|Northern Hemisphere}}”. The other guy then becomes confused, as he realizes that this seems to imply the existence of a taller one in the {{w|Southern Hemisphere}}.

He quickly considers different countries in that hemisphere, {{w|Brazil}}, {{w|South Africa}} and {{w|Australia}}. This last country is a place know for it's many {{w|Big things (Australia)|overly large statues}}. Squirrels are, however, not native to Australia or any other countries in the southern hemisphere, so it's not particularly likely there would be ''any'' statues of them (though there is an elephant there, as well as other non-native subjects that might might even sometimes be {{w|Sarina, Queensland#Attractions|detrimentally}}) extant), especially with the additional stipulation of it riding a skateboard.

Adding an unnecessary qualifier like this doesn't change the truth of the statement. But it suggests that there's a need to restrict the scope of the statement, i.e. it wouldn't be true with a less restrictive qualifier (or none at all). This will cause the listener to wonder about these other cases. Or, in some cases, whether to take this statement {{tvtropes|SuspiciouslySpecificDenial|at face value}}.

[[Randall]] states, in the caption, that he loves the mystery created by adding such, maybe needles, qualifiers. He also mentions another example than the one used by Cueball, giving "East of the {{w|Mississippi River|Mississippi}}" (the river) as an example (which he then used in the title text, see below). Doing so could thus have been one of Randall's [[:Category:My Hobby|hobbies]], but he doesn't make that explicit.
Sometimes qualifiers are added simply due to incomplete information. They've exhaustively surveyed squirrel statues in the Northern Hemisphere and determined that this one is the largest. (Not counting any actual larger ones not ''also'' skateboarding!) But since they haven't searched the Southern Hemisphere, they don't want to commit to it being the largest in the world.

In the title text, someone is expressing gratitude at the end of a date, saying that it's the loveliest evening they've ever had (in actuality, "loveliest" is usually hyperbole).{{Citation needed}} This seems normal until they add a location qualifier. This leaves the companion wondering what kind of great evening they had in some other location. In this case, it's unlikely that the speaker would have incomplete information about their own dating history.

The statue may be a reference to [https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/2022/06/worlds-largest-squirrel-sculpture-cedar-creek-texas-sets-world-record-422206 Ms. Pearl]], the giant squirrel statue in {{w|Cedar Creek, Texas}} which, at 14 ft (4 m) was indeed the largest squirrel statue in the western hemisphere in 2018. The qualifiers, in this case, ''are'' necessary since a [https://www.new-east-archive.org/articles/show/10477/a-giant-squirrel-has-taken-over-almat|temporary 40 ft (12 m) statue] was erected in {{w|Kazakhstan}} in 2018. But information for tourists in Cedar Creek, Texas, doesn't tend to include this information{{Citation needed}} creating the mystique. The artist behind the Kazakhstan statue appears to have been unaware of the Cedar Creek statue so the Kazakh statue is ''not'' intentionally close to three times bigger.

It is perhaps thanks only to the specific phrasing "tallest statue of a skateboarding squirrel" that we need not consider tallest-statues-of-squirrels (temporarily) placed on skateboards, tallest statuesque skateboards with squirrels atop or even a rather modestly sized statuette representing a moment when [https://bigthings.vroomvroomvroom.com/listing/worlds-largest-skateboard/ a large skateboard] had sciurine visitors. In any or all hemispheres.

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

:[A huge statue of a squirrel on a skateboard, which is on a pedestal. Next to it on the right, are two people, presumably two Cueballs. The Cueball on the left is pointing at the statue. The Cueball on the right has a thought bubble above him. The scene is shown from afar in black silhouette on a white background.]
:Left Cueball: At over 40 feet, it's the tallest statue of a skateboarding squirrel in the Northern Hemisphere.
:Right Cueball (thinking): ...Wait, who in the heck...Brazil? South Africa? Australia? Squirrels aren't even native there...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I love the instant mystery created by qualifiers like "east of the Mississippi" or "in the Northern Hemisphere."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]

2890: Relationship Advice

2024-02-07T09:44:34Z

172.70.90.115: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2890
| date = February 5, 2024
| title = Relationship Advice
| image = relationship_advice_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x241px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Good to be a little wary of advice that sounds too much like a self pep talk.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RELATIONSHIP WITH A JOB IN THE FINE ARTS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, [[White Hat]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] can be seen having a conversation about relationships. White Hat expresses the opinion that "relationships aren't easy". The others accept this advice, which is generally accepted as a reasonable view: two people are always going to have at least some difference in opinions, desires and needs that need to be communicated, negotiated and worked out. This requires mutual effort and some level of compromise in any healthy and successful relationship.

In the subsequent frames, however, White Hat continues to push the matter, describing relationships in increasingly unpleasant terms, starting with calling them "constant work" and ultimately calling it a "crushing burden". Cueball and Ponytail correspondingly agree with him less, and instead begin to worry about him.

White Hat's views on what is necessary and appropriate in relationships appear to go to unhealthy extremes. While his initial comments about relationships requiring efforts are reasonable, the notion that relationships consist of endless, overwhelming effort is not. Rather than representing a realistic and healthy viewpoint, it turns into a fairly disturbing view of what relationships require. Cueball and Ponytail appear to suspect that White Hat may be describing a relationship that he's currently in or that has severed, and trying to rationalize an unhealthy situation by telling himself that "this is normal".

When someone is in an abusive relationship, they may struggle to see that the relationship is abusive, often confusing genuinely destructive behavior with normal relationship troubles. There are various reasons this may occur, some people experience {{w|traumatic bonding}}, some have spent so much time in or around unhealthy relationships that they've come to seem 'normal', some experience various forms of {{w|Codependency|codependence}}. For people in such situations, help from friends and/or professional counselors is often necessary to allow them to even identify the situation they're in, and particularly to separate themselves from the situation.

Seeing Randall’s often negative thoughts on [[223: Valentine's Day|Valentine’s Day]] and the [[1016: Valentine Dilemma|problems it produces]], it may not be a coincidence that this comic was released only nine days before the event.

The title text explains that advice which focuses on remaining upbeat in a bad situation (like a "pep talk"), should give others pause. There's a good chance that the person giving such advice is trying to convince themselves that their situation is alright, rather than providing useful guidance for others. In this comic, this sentiment is seemingly applied to White Hat, whose "relationship advice" may be much more personal than such advice should reasonably be, and the reader is thus warned to take advice like this with a grain of salt. This is similar to [[449: Things Fall Apart]] where Cueball tells Megan "I love you" repeatedly and Megan points out he's only saying it to reassure ''himself'' rather than express it to her.

This comic's title is reminiscent of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]] comics. Here, though, there turns out to be no actual advice or tip, and thus not part of the tip category.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, Cueball and Ponytail are walking. White Hat has his palm out.]
:White Hat: What you have to remember is, relationships aren't easy.
:Ponytail: Yeah, fair.

:[Close-up of White Hat with his finger raised.]
:White Hat: They're hard. They require constant work.
:White Hat: A relationship is a job.
:Off-panel voice: I guess...

:[White Hat has stopped walking and is facing Cueball and Ponytail standing a bit further away.]
:White Hat: It's a challenge that feels overwhelming. It's a crushing burden.
:Cueball: Umm.

:[White Hat has his arms raised while still facing Cueball and Ponytail.]
:White Hat: A relationship is a grueling ordeal.
:Cueball: ...Who are you trying to convince, exactly?
:Ponytail: Yeah, are '''''you''''' okay?
:White Hat: I'm '''''fine!''''' This is '''''normal!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

Talk:2879: Like This One

2024-01-11T09:40:06Z

172.70.90.115:

i'm very confused what "this gas molecule" or "this skin microbe" is meant to be; it doesn't seem like there would contextually be an obvious specific instance of either of those classes? looking forward to seeing the conjecture given in the explanation when it settles down - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 02:48, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:I believe it's referring to her holding her hand out to signify a (large number of) gas molecules. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.49|172.69.34.49]] 02:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
::ahh, what she meant was "like these ones"--ok, I understand what both would mean now. - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 03:02, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:::She's pointing at one molecule. Just because you can't pick it out of the mass doesn't change that. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:::: Indeed. And one wouldn't want to get the wrong idea about ''which'' molecule she might study. Obviously, there are a lot of N2 ones, and a few O2s, but they're not necessarily of interest. The odd noble gas atom (if that counts as a molecule-of-one) or CO2 would probably be the more useful, along with SO2 / O3 / other trace ones as what she might be indicating. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 05:34, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

Other possible instances would include "Hominids" and "False vacuums". I was sure it was going to end with, "Cartoons like this one." [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

"I'm a researcher studying potential apocalyptic events..." [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.115|172.70.90.115]] 09:40, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

2878: Supernova

2024-01-08T16:28:41Z

172.70.90.115: /* Explanation */ Tidy tidy tidy. (Too big a tidy... Of course I was Edit Conflicted. Hard to see what to integrate, overwriting then going to check what happened in parallel, reintegrate as necessary.)

{{comic
| number = 2878
| date = January 8, 2024
| title = Supernova
| image = supernova_2x.png
| imagesize = 348x227px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They're a little cagey about exactly where the crossover point lies relative to the likelihood of devastating effects on the planet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE NEAREST STAR GOING SUPERNOVA (SPOILER ALERT: YES THE SUN) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Supernovae}} are catastrophic events in which a heavy star collapses when its original fuel runs out, and it can no longer produce enough energy to fight its own gravity. The collapsing mass leads to a violent explosion which is one of the most interesting events for astronomers to observe, and can be used to glean information about the universe.

This comic shows a graph that displays, in general terms, how happy astronomers would be when they discover a new supernova based on how far away it is from Earth. The further away one is, the less detail can be learned from it; and thus this will not make the astronomers as happy as if they were closer by. Many astronomers watch and study the stars in the night sky, even those that do not change appreciably over human timescales, but observing and recording such a huge change in it would be interesting for many reasons.

Even if not directly involved in the science, this is an astronomical event that could be observed with the naked eye, especially if it occured within {{w|Milky Way|our own galaxy}} and clearly visible from Earth. One such supernova candidate, that has been mentioned a lot lately, is {{w|Betelgeuse}}. This is a red giant that forms the top part of the left shoulder in the constellation of Orion, and the star is located about 430 light years from the Sun. It has been pulsating, dimming and brightening over exceedingly short time scales, compared to the tens of millions of years such a big star is expected to burn. Though it could yet easily go several thousand years before it goes supernova, it could also already have happened and we are only waiting for the light from the event to reach Earth. Betelgeuse should be far enough away from Earth that the inevitable explosion would be safe enough for life on Earth (although [https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/earth-danger-betelgeuse-supernova some assessment] are not so sure), but it ''will'' outshine all other stars in the night sky, maybe even be competing with the Moon, and could well be visible even during daytime (if it happens during times when the star concerned would normally be obscured by the daylit sky). This would be a dream come true for many astronomers and something obvious to any lay-people even remotely interested in the night sky. In the first [[1644: Stargazing]] comic, the wish that it would go supernova (in [[Randall|Randall's]] lifetime) is clearly expressed.

Since this ''should'' be safe for us, and since it would be a spectacle not seen for hundred of years here on Earth, this would make the astronomers very happy, not just from all they could learn, but also from just from all the increased interest in gazing at the sky with the 'new' star (and then seeing what happens to it next).

But a supernova closer than, say, 100 lightyears might be ''too'' close. Its radiation could destroy life on earth, or at least adversely affect the biosphere significantly. Astronomers (and many others) would be really unhappy if that happened, as reflected by the sudden drop in happiness to far below the X axis on the graph, with a supernova that is too close.

A distance exists where the astronomers would be the most happy, with anything nearer than that being less good (or very bad). As more distant phenomena only decrease the positive effects (and certainly do not increase the bad ones), the graph beyond the maximum happinesz appears to show an asymptotic approach to less and less positive influence on the mood of the astronomers. There are thought to be about three supernovae occuring per century within our own galaxy (most stars of which are far further away from Betelgeuse), and many other nearby and far more distant galaxies within which a supernova explosion can be detected. These remain are useful to see, and are often studied as intensively as possible, but have decreasing amounts of thrill to them, and are harder to notice/record in the early stages of the explosion (or immediately before, to add even more understanding).

The title text expands upon the latter point of nearness, in that the astronomers themselves are not quite clear/unanimous about how close they would like a supernova to be. If it were close enough to destroy Earth or instantly kill of all life on Earth, they probably would not be happy. But they might actually be willing to accept some trouble for Earth life if they get to the see a supernova comparatively close by. But the chance to witness even a {{what if|73|lethally-close}} supernova might still be an attractive proposition for some inquisitive minds. At least it is expected that they require time to realize they are seeing (or are about to see) a supernova before it kills them, to become ecstatically happy about it!

This is the second comic in a row that mentions exploding stars after [[2877: Fever]], which like this comic is also a [[:Category:Charts|Charts comic]].

==Transcript==
:[A graph is shown where the axes are labeled and arrows are pointing upward above the Y axis label and to the right above the X axis label. There is a single line on the graph that peaks close to the Y axis, where it reaches close to the top of the drawn part of the Y axis. Then the line approaches the X axis asymptotically towards the far right. But closer to the Y axis, the peak line goes almost vertically down, and continues far below the "bottom of the chart", outside of the boundary of the graph that was only supposed to be above the X axis.]
:Y axis: How happy astronomers are
:X axis: How far away the new supernova is

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

2672: What If? 2 Flowchart

2023-12-06T19:48:17Z

172.70.90.115: Maybe "Chapter 4" was correct (can't check), but introduced table error/deleted definite info in the process. Do "Preview"/”Show changes" when editing things like this...

<noinclude>:''For other instances of this title, see [[What If (disambiguation)]].</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2672
| date = September 13, 2022
| title = What If? 2 Flowchart
| image = what_if_2_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x729px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Don't worry, the dogs are all fine. That's actually kind of the problem.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic celebrates the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[What If? 2]]'', which was released on the same day as this comic: Tuesday, September 13, 2022. The comic thus appeared on a Tuesday, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release to coincide with the release day. The [[Header text|header text]] also [[Header text#2022-09-13 - What if? 2 is available now|changed that day]] to shout out that the book was released on that day. (It had been counting down the last week, from [[Header text#2022-09-07 - Less than one week to What if? 2 comes out|less than a week]], [[Header text#2022-09-12 - Three days to What if? 2 comes out|three days]] and [[Header text#2022-09-12 - One day to What if? 2 comes out|one day]] while the previous comics [[2670: Interruption]] and [[2671: Rotation]] was on the front page — the latter only for one day due to the Tuesday release).

While announcing that his '''What If? 2''' book is finally out (the entire comic is a [https://xkcd.com/whatif2 link] to the books page on xkcd), Randall gives us a flowchart we can follow to find an article in the book relating to the situation in the flowchart. Once a relevant possibility is reached in the flowchart a page number in the book is given. It thus assumes the reader plans to do something that the advice in '''What If 2''' could be helpful for, which hopefully is highly unlikely. See the [[#Table of questions in the flowchart|table below]] for explanations on the individual options in the flowchart.

The title text refers to the loop near the bottom of the flowchart, which involves a series of questions asking if the reader wants a progressively larger number of dogs. The number of dogs offered increases several times, and if that is sufficient the flowchart ends with fulfillment. Eventually it will have an option for the scenario where all in the universe is consumed by dogs, which directs to page 308 of the book. The title text references this last option by assuring the reader that all of the dogs are doing fine, but goes on to state that in itself could cause problems. For instance, those dogs could impede the progress of all life on Earth and elsewhere and/or reproduce and create an even larger population of dogs.

==Table of questions in the flowchart==
The flowchart questions and their possible answers are described in the following table(Also in [[2672: What If? 2 Flowchart/Table]]):
{| class="wikitable"
! Text
! Connected
!Reference
|-
| Congratulations, you have acquired a copy of ''What if? 2!'' (out today, [https://xkcd.com/whatif2 xkcd.com/whatif2])
| What do you want to do today?
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | What do you want to do today?
| I don't know: Reflect on your life
|
|-
| Go to neighborhood party: Do you like your neighbor?
|
|-
| Brunch: Where do you go?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Do you like your neighbor?
| Yes: '''Page 78'''
| Chapter 17: Swing Set
|-
| No: What do you want to bring?
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | What do you want to bring?
| Jupiter: '''Page 70'''
| Chapter 15: Jupiter Comes To Town
|-
| Iron vapor: '''Page 18'''
| Diagram of iron released into atmosphere by various sources
|-
| Weird Opinions: Do you think bugs should get paid?
|
|-
| My fake identity: Have you committed any crimes?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Do you think bugs should get paid?
| Yes: '''Page 96'''
| Short answer question on how much money bugs would make if paid what they contribute to the US economy
|-
| No: Reflect on your life
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Where do you go?
| The sun: Are you wearing sunscreen?
|
|-
| A diner: How do you get there?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Are you wearing sunscreen?
| Yes: '''Page 319'''
| Chapter 62: Sunscreen
|-
| No: How do you want to visit?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | How do you want to visit?
| Briefly, via teleporter: '''Page 314'''
| Chapter 61: Into the Sun
|-
| I want to land a probe on the surface: '''Page 323'''
| Chapter 63: Walking on the Sun
|-
| rowspan="3" | How do you get there?
| Helicopter: Where do you sit in the helicopter?
|
|-
| Plane: '''Page 83''', Are you flying near any strong magnets?
| Chapter 18: Airliner Catapult
|-
| Car: How do you want to drive?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Where do you sit in the helicopter?
| On the rotor: '''Page 6'''
| Chapter 2: Helicopter Ride
|-
| Inside: Are you flying near any strong magnets?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Are you flying near any strong magnets?
| Yes: '''Page 171'''
| Last page of Chapter 32: MRI Compass
|-
| No: Okay, there's the diner!
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Okay, there's the diner!
| Keep driving forever: '''Page 128'''
| Chapter 25: Tire Rubber; likely a mistake. Should be Page 22; Chapter 5: Cosmic Road Trip
|-
| Stop: What food do you order?
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | What food do you order?
| The sun: '''Page 303'''
| Short Answers Section, what would a star taste like
|-
| Breadsticks: '''Page 299'''
| Short Answers Section, how slow to chew in order to infinitely eat breadsticks
|-
| Ammonia: '''Page 284'''
| Chapter 57: Ammonia Tube
|-
| A cloud: '''Page 195'''
| Chapter 38: Eat a Cloud
|-
| Soup: How much soup?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | How much soup?
| 1 bowl: '''Page 197'''
| illustration of various food volumes with air removed
|-
| 1040 bowls: '''Page 1'''
| Chapter 1: Soupiter
|-
| rowspan="3" | How do you want to drive?
| Fast: '''Page 180'''
| Chapter 35: No Rules Nascar
|-
| With a bird: '''Page 171'''
| Last page of Chapter 32: MRI Compass, likely a mistake. Should be Page 176; Chapter 34: Bird Car
|-
| Normal: Does this road lead to Rome?
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | Does this road lead to Rome?
| Yes: Pick a different road
|
|-
| No, but it should: '''Page 154'''
| Chapter 29: Build Rome in a Day
|-
| No: Okay, there's the diner!
|
|-
| Pick a different road
| Does this road lead to Rome?
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | What do you really want to do?
| I want to shoot a laser at a sorceress: '''Page 43'''
| Chapter 9, can I shoot a laser around the Earth
|-
| I want to tell people things about eggs: What kinds of things about eggs?
|
|-
| I want a dog: Get a dog
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | What kinds of things about eggs?
| True things: '''Page 300'''
| Short Answer Section, can you make an egg float by filling it with helium
|-
| False things: '''Page 258'''
| Chapter 52: One paragraph reveals that this course of action would be illegal in California, but fine elsewhere
|-
| Get a dog
| Are you satisfied?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Are you satisfied?
| Yes: '''Fulfillment!'''
|
|-
| No, I think we need more dogs: Get more dogs
|
|-
| Get more dogs
| Enough? (1)
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Enough? (1)
| Yes: '''Fulfillment!'''
|
|-
| No. You can never have too many dogs: More dogs
|
|-
| More dogs
| Enough? (2)
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Enough? (2)
| Yes: Fulfillment!
|
|-
| No. You can literally never have too many dogs. We should not stop until all that exists in the cosmos has been consumed by a happy, barking mass: '''Page 308'''
| Chapter 60: Dog Overload
|-
| rowspan="3" | Have you committed any crimes?
| Not sure: '''Page 255'''
| Chapter 52: Read All The Laws
|-
| Yes: Travel back in time to undo your crimes
|
|-
| No: Do you want to?
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Do you want to?
| No: '''Page 255'''
| Chapter 52: Read All The Laws
|-
| Yes: '''Page 258'''
| Header: Do I Have To Read All These Laws (section within Chapter 52: Read All The Laws
|-
| Travel back in time to undo your crimes
| '''Page 277'''
| Chapter 56: Walking Backward in Time
|}

==Transcript==
:[A large flowchart, with the first box in the top left corner.]
:Box 1: Congratulations, you have acquired a copy of '''''What if? 2!''''' (out today, xkcd.com/whatif2)
::[Arrow to Box 2]
:Box 2: What do you want to do today?
::[Arrow to Box 3] I don't know
::[Arrow to Box 4] Go to neighborhood party
::[Arrow to Box 5] Brunch
:Box 3: Reflect on your life
::[Arrow to Box 6]
:Box 4: Do you like your neighbor?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 78'] Yes
::[Arrow to Box 7] No
:Box 5: Where do you go?
::[Arrow to Box 8] The Sun
::[Arrow to Box 9] A diner
:Box 6: What do you really want to do?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 43'] I want to shoot a laser at a sorceress
::[Arrow to Box 10] I want a dog
::[Arrow to Box 11] I want to tell people things about eggs
:Box 7: What do you want to bring?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 70'] Jupiter
::[Arrow to Box 12] Weird opinions
::[Arrow to Box 13] My fake identity
:Box 8: Are you wearing sunscreen?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 319'] Yes
::[Arrow to Box 14] No
:Box 9: How do you get there?
::[Arrow to Box 15] Helicopter
::[Arrow to Box 16 with the words 'page 83'] Plane
::[Arrow to Box 17] Car
:Box 10: Get a dog
::[Arrow to Box 18]
:Box 11: What kinds of things about eggs?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 300'] True things
::[Arrow to the words 'page 258', same words as from Box 19] False things
:Box 12: Do you think bugs should get paid?
::[Arrow to Box 3] No
::[Arrow to the words 'page 96'] Yes
:Box 13: Have you commited any crimes?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 255', same words as from Box 19] Not sure
::[Arrow to Box 19] No
::[Arrow to Box 20] Yes
:Box 14: How do you want to visit?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 314'] Briefly, via teleporter
::[Arrow to the words 'page 323'] I want to land a probe on the surface
:Box 15: Where do you sit in the helicopter?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 6'] On the rotor
::[Arrow to Box 16] Inside
:Box 16: Are you flying near any strong magnets?
::[Arrow to Box 21] No
::[Arrow to the words 'page 171'] Yes
:Box 17: How fast do you want to drive?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 180'] Fast
::[Arrow to Box 22] Normal
::[Arrow to the words 'page 176'] With a bird
:Box 18: Are you satisfied?
::[Arrow to the word 'Fulfillment!', same word as from Boxes 26 and 29]
::[Arrow to Box 23] No. I think we need more dogs.
:Box 19: Do you want to?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 255', same words as from Box 13] No
::[Arrow to the words 'page 258', same words as from Box 11] Yes
:Box 20: Travel back in time to undo your crimes
::[Arrow to the words 'page 277']
:Box 21: Okay, there's the diner!
::[Arrow to the words 'page 128'] Keep driving forever
::[Arrow to Box 24] Stop
:Box 22: Does this road lead to Rome?
::[Arrow to Box 25] Yes
::[Arrow to the words 'page 154'] No, but it should
::[Arrow to Box 21] No
:Box 23: Get more dogs
::[Arrow to Box 26]
:Box 24: What food do you order?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 303'] The Sun
::[Arrow to the words 'page 299'] Breadsticks
::[Arrow to Box 27] Soup
::[Arrow to the words 'page 284'] Ammonia
::[Arrow to the words 'page 195'] A cloud
:Box 25: Pick a different road
::[Arrow to Box 22]
:Box 26: Enough?
::[Arrow to the word 'Fulfillment!', same word as from Boxes 18 and 29] Yes
::[Arrow to Box 28] No. You can never have too many dogs.
:Box 27: How much soup?
::[Arrow to the words 'page 197'] 1 bowl
::[Arrow to the words 'page 1'] 1040 bowls
:Box 28: More dogs
::[Arrow to Box 29]
:Box 29: Enough?
::[Arrow to the word 'Fulfillment!', same word as from Boxes 18 and 26]
::[Arrow to the words 'page 308] No. You can literally never have too many dogs. We should not stop until all that exists has been consumed by a happy, barking mass.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Flowcharts]]
[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:What If?]]

2470: Next Slide Please

2022-03-20T17:55:50Z

172.70.90.115:

{{comic
| number = 2470
| date = May 31, 2021
| title = Next Slide Please
| image = next_slide_please.png
| titletext = "I have nothing to offer but blood--next slide, please--toil--next slide, please--tears, and--next slide, please--sweat."
}}

==Explanation==
This comic presumes that many famous quotes are actually excerpts from {{w|Slide show|slideshow presentations}}, and the text they were reading was split across multiple slides. Splitting sentences across multiple slides can often be a useful tool if there are images accompanying it, which could explain the specific placement of many of "next slide, please" comments. For example, in the quote "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," one can imagine the speaker starting with a slide that showed the prosperity of some people then, in the middle of the sentence, switching to a slide of many people's destitution. When using images this way, it is often better for timing purposes to have control of your own slides. However, Randall claims that, in these speeches, the person making the speech wasn't controlling their slide presentation, so they had to ask the operator to go to the next slide. A common way to ask this is to say "next slide, please", but these requests would have been edited out of the historical transcripts. The comic imagines the places where the slide breaks might have been, and inserts that request.

Most of these quotes are drawn from speeches, which could conceivably have been accompanied by slides or other stage directions ("pause for laughter"), but the list is quite ridiculous as it includes works of literature, where the reader is the one who turns pages as necessary, and speeches from periods of history, such as the {{w|American Revolution}} and {{w|Julius Caesar|Caesar's}} {{w|Veni, vidi, vici}} speech, which predated slide projectors{{Citation needed}}. Even in the quotations that take place in an era with slide projectors, every single one is an instance where the speaker was, quite famously, recorded live — said recordings would show there were in fact no edits, and certainly not any instructions for a slide projector operator. See details in the [[#Table of quotes|table]] below, including the quote in the title text.

The phrase "Next slide, please" is perhaps in a sweet-spot of utility and performance. A rehearsed presentation, with speaker and 'slide handler' working with a tight script, could probably do without off-stage prompting at all, or the better lecturers with an oft-repeated talk could set it all on timings knowing they can keep the changes synchronised with their speech, or vice-versa. But when a cue is necessary, an unambiguous signal should be used, and an audible 'clicker' (or a small and briefly flashed light) has been used historically, especially with pre-electronic slide-shows where the slide-operator at the back of an auditorium needed to clearly discern the intent of the person at the lectern.

In the United Kingdom, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Whitty| England's Chief Medical Officer] caused some amusement on social media with the constant use of the phrase in coronavirus presentations, culminating in the availability of many mugs and cards with his image and this slogan on, and a campaign[https://uk.gofundme.com/f/buy-chris-whitty-his-own-next-slide-please-clicker] to purchase an automatic clicker for him instead.

===Table of quotes===
{| class="wikitable"
!Quote
!Attribution
!Context
|-
| "Give me liberty or give me—Next slide, please—death!"
| {{w|Patrick Henry}}, {{w|Give me liberty, or give me death!|at the Second Virginia Convention}} on March 23, 1775, as part of the American Colonies' War of Independence from {{w|Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain}}.
| A quotation from his speech to convince the {{w|Second Virginia Convention}} to provide troops for the {{w|American Revolutionary War}}.
|-
| "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down—Next slide, please—this wall."
| {{w|Ronald Reagan}}, {{w|Berlin Wall Speech}} (1987).
| A speech calling for the opening of the Berlin Wall. This speech was later well known after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, resulting in the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the comic Ronald Reagan is shown next to his slide with a picture of the wall, with an arrow "helpfully" clarifying exactly which wall it is he wants Gorbachev to tear down.
|-
| "It was the best of times—Next slide, please—It was the worst of times."
| ''{{w|A Tale of Two Cities}}'', novel by {{w|Charles Dickens}}.
| This is the opening lines of the novel, and one of Dickens' most famous quotations. At the current pace, the opening introduction would have 13 "Next slide, please" instances.
|-
| "We have nothing to fear but—Next slide, please—fear itself."
| {{w|First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt|Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt}} in 1933.
| A speech outlining {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt}}'s plan to recover from the Great Depression. The correct phrasing of this speech is: "the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself".
|-
| "To be or—Next slide, please—not to be, that is the question."
| {{w|To be, or not to be|Quotation}} from the play ''{{w|Hamlet}}'' by {{w|William Shakespeare}}, Act III, Scene 1.
| This speech, in which the character Hamlet contemplates committing suicide, is considered a soliloquy, even though Ophelia was in the room reading a book.
|-
| "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art—Next slide, please—more lovely and—Next slide, please—more temperate."
| Shakespeare's {{w|Sonnet 18}}.
| One of the most famous of Shakespeare's 154 known sonnets. A sonnet is a type of poem and it requires specific rhyming and pacing. The inclusion of "Next slide, please" breaks the poetic flow and unbalances the length of lines, making it unpredictable when a rhyme is supposed to occur.
|-
| "We shall fight—Next slide, please—on the beaches, we shall fight on—Next slide, please—the landing grounds..."
| {{w|Winston Churchill}}, ''{{w|We shall fight on the beaches}}'' speech.
| On 4 June 1940, after the disastrous first weeks of the {{w|battle of France}}, Churchill had to acknowledge a military disaster but convey confidence in victory and will to fight. In the comic Winston Churchill is shown next to his slide of a beach. The beach image shown, shows [[Ponytail]] sitting under a parasol [[Cueball]] sitting on the sand with a drink and a kid playing with a beach-ball, as opposed to {{w|British_anti-invasion_preparations_of_the_Second_World_War#Coastal_crust|the rapidly fortified}} sea-fronts [http://ww2.brightonmuseums.org/defence-measures/ of wartime Britain].
|-
| "Read my lips—Next slide, please—no new taxes."
| {{w|George H. W. Bush}}, {{w|Read my lips: no new taxes|spoken at 1988 Republican National Convention}}
| A significant part of Bush's political platform was the opposition of new taxes. However, after winning the election, he was unable to keep this promise and ultimately did raise taxes in 1990.
|-
| "That's one small step for man—Next slide, please—one giant leap for mankind."
| {{w|Neil Armstrong}}, when he stepped off the {{w|Apollo 11}} lunar module and onto the surface of the Moon.
| The "next slide, please", could be proof of a fake moon landing, although Neil Armstrong strongly insisted that the speech be made on location.{{fact}} The positioning of the "next slide, please" was placed at the intended comma, although there was also a small gap within "one giant" which could also be a potential placement in the audio clip.
Armstrong, it should be noted, claimed to have said "That's one small step for '''a''' man, one giant leap for mankind" and that the '''a''' should be included in the quotation, [https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/armstrongs-famous-small-step-quote-explained-64311878 at least in parenthesis].
|-
| "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! Next slide, please. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."
| {{w|Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears|Spoken by the character Mark Antony}} in the play ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}'' by Shakespeare, Act III, Scene 2.
| Takes place after Julius Caesar suffered a few stab wounds in Act III, scene 2. If it were a presentation, the pictures would need to be created between scenes, although the play implies there would barely be enough time in response to a recent event.
|-
| "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of—Next slide, please—a good fortune, must be in want of—Next slide, please—a wife."
| ''{{w|Pride and Prejudice}}'', written by {{w|Jane Austen}}.
| Opening line to the novel, introducing marriage as a motif (and problem) in the novel.
|-
| "Veni, vidi—Velim, pictura proxima—vici."
| {{w|Julius Caesar}}, wrote his famous sentence {{w|Veni, vidi, vici}} in a letter after defeating Pharnaces II (47 BC). The sentence literally means, "I came, I saw, I conquered."
| Caesar used this phrase to refer to a swift, conclusive victory at the {{w|Battle of Zela}}. This is the only "next slide, please" which has been translated into a different language (Latin, in this case).
|-
| "I have nothing to offer but blood—next slide, please—toil—next slide, please—tears, and—next slide, please—sweat." (title text)
| Winston Churchill, ''{{w|Blood, toil, tears and sweat}}'' speech.
| From 1940, shortly after he was appointed the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, when asking for a vote of confidence in the new all-party (unity) cabinet.
It would have to respond to the continuing challenges of the {{w|United_Kingdom_home_front_during_World_War_II|war-footing}} and active conflicts of WW2. The country had already been at war for eight months and was yet to experience Dunkirk, prompting yet another of Churchill's defiant speeches (mentioned above).
|}

==Transcript==
:[A list of 12 quotes is given. Above is a large header with a question, and then a description, before the quotes follows. The text above the quotes is centered:]
:<big>'''''Did you know?'''''</big>
:''Transcripts of famous quotes often''
:''leave out the slideshow instructions.''
:''Here’s how these lines actually sounded:''

:[The first six quotations, are written so they fit around an image of Ronald Reagan standing next to his slide showing six segments of the Berlin Wall. A large arrow points down on to the middle segment of the wall. There is something on the ground in front of the wall, could be puddles or debris. The image is to the right, and the two first and last quote goes above and below the image, while the other three stops to the left of the image:]
:"Give me liberty or give me—Next slide, please—death!"
:"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down—Next slide, please—this wall."
:"It was the best of times—Next slide, please—It was the worst of times."
:"We have nothing to fear but—Next slide, please—fear itself."
:"To be or—Next slide, please—not to be, that is the question."
:"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art—Next slide, please—more lovely and—Next slide, please—more temperate."

:[Below those five quotations is three more quotes to the right of an image showing Winston Churchill standing next to his slide showing a beach. The sun and three small clouds are over the ocean which has white waves on the black water. Ponytail is sitting under a parasol to the left, Cueball is sitting on the sand to the right with a drink in his hands, and behind him is a kid running after a large beach-ball.]
:"We shall fight—Next slide, please—on the beaches, we shall fight on—Next slide, please—the landing grounds..."
:"Read my lips—Next slide, please—no new taxes."
:"That's one small step for man—Next slide, please—one giant leap for mankind."

:[Below this picture is the last three quotations, without any pictures:]
:"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears! Next slide, please. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."
:"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of—Next slide, please—a good fortune, must be in want of—Next slide, please—a wife."
:"Veni, vidi—Velim, pictura proxima—vici."

==Trivia==
* The Blood, toil, tears and sweat speech was the topic of [[1148: Nothing to Offer]] and lists additional items; at the current pace, "next slide, please" would be placed between each item, making that extra-long speech even longer.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ronald Reagan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Winston Churchill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-08T12:56:12Z

172.70.90.115: /* Explanation */ mentioning sailing stones

{{comic
| number = 2578
| date = February 7, 2022
| title = Sword Pull
| image = sword_pull.png
| titletext = Merlin really shouldn't leave his dirt bike lying around.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DIRT BIKE WITH UNBREAKING II AND CURSE OF VANISHING (I SHOULD REALLY LEARN S.G.A.)- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is pulling on a sword which appears to be stuck in a stone (like {{w|Excalibur}} from the legends of {{w|King Arthur}}, which included the wizard Merlin, mentioned in the title text) but is actually (according to the title text) the {{w|rope start|rope starter}} for a {{w|dirt bike}}. Since rocks are usually not dirt bikes in disguise,{{citation needed}} Cueball is surprised by the sword/bike starting its motor and moving. Randall may be taking this literally, as in a bike that travels through the dirt, which appears to be represented in the last panel.

Excalibur was also featured in [[1521: Sword in the Stone]], with Megan deciding to return the sword after reading about England.

{{w|Merlin}} (from the title text) is typically known as King Arthur's advisor and is supposedly the actual owner of this sword/bike.

Some similarly-sized stones, namely {{w|Sailing stones|sailing stones}}, do move spontaneously to up to 0.3 km/h in precise conditions. However, the stone in the comic appears to be moving at a higher speed, and sailing stones require no rope starting.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, puzzled, walks up to a sword in a stone.]
:Cueball: ??

:[Cueball stands on the stone and attempts to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[Cueball continues pulling the sword out of the stone, but mechanical noises are heard]
:Yank!
:Zzzzz
:Put Put Put
:Brrrrrrr

:[Cueball is still holding the sword, but is puzzled and has stopped pulling. There are more mechanical noises and the stone is vibrating]
:Cueball: ?? ??
:Rrrrrrr
:Rrrrrrr

:[Cueball has stopped pulling on the sword in the stone, which is moving to the right of the panel, with Cueball on top of it]
:Rrrrrrrrrrrr

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

1321: Cold

2022-02-01T20:39:22Z

172.70.90.115: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1321
| date = January 24, 2014
| title = Cold
| image = cold.png
| titletext = 'You see the same pattern all over. Take Detroit--' 'Hold on. Why do you know all these statistics offhand?' 'Oh, um, no idea. I definitely spend my evenings hanging out with friends, and not curating a REALLY NEAT database of temperature statistics. Because, pshh, who would want to do that, right? Also, snowfall records.'
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] (wearing a white knit cap with a pom-pom) and Cueball's friend (wearing a black knit cap) are walking outside in sub 0 °F (-17.8 °C). White Knit Cap Guy complains about the '''brutal''' cold and as a result questions whether {{w|global warming}} is real. Black Knit Cap Guy explains that this kind of weather used to happen all the time back before the year 2000, showing that global warming is, in fact, very real.

This is illustrated in panel two by a graph showing the number of days with sub 0 °F as a function of year from 1970 to 2013 in the city of {{w|St. Louis}}, (where we learn that Cueball is from). It shows that these days used to be rather common between 1970 and 1999, only to be completely absent for the next 14 years until and including 2013. A [http://www.rcc-acis.org/climatecentral source link] for this graph is provided (though as of June 2014, the link is dead - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]] below).

Cueball's friend uses this graph to explain that not a single day like this has happened since 2000, until here in 2014 where a {{w|polar vortex}} pushed the temperature down below zero again for two days. Since this weather is now unusual and infrequently experienced, people in St. Louis perceive it as being very cold because they have since adapted and are now unused to this sort of temperature, even though this was a common temperature to reach in past decades. This is further demonstrated when Cueball remarks that it's "too cold". Subzero {{w|Fahrenheit}} temperatures are very cold to be out in. See for instance the first panel of [[526: Converting to Metric]].

In the last panel, in a future St. Louis, a [[Cueball]] discovers a thin sheet of ice, suggesting the temperature has fallen just below 32 °F (0 °C), the freezing point of water. The suggestion here is that the environment has warmed to such an extent that temperatures below 32 degrees F are very unusual, and the future Cueball repeats the same short-term fallacy that such "extreme cold" disproves global warming. Someone off-panel, presumably another Black Knit Cap Guy, sighs as the cycle continues.

The comic reacts to a simplified view of {{w|global warming}} by amateurs, including media, who fail to understand (or choose to ignore) the difference between {{w|climate}} and {{w|weather}}. Short, random weather fluctuations like the polar vortex are taken as examples or counter-examples of climate change and global warming. To understand climate change, one must look at global (not local) and long-term (not short-term) temperature trends.

Debates on the theory of global warming/climate change often center on whether the current warming trend is primarily caused by humans or is a natural change, as has happened in the past. Within the scientific community, there is an overwhelming consensus that the current trend is {{w|Human impact on the environment|anthropogenic}} (i.e. man-made), but many in the general public (including many politicians) are hesitant to accept this. There is clearly no doubt about where [[Randall]] stands on this debate, as many of his comics and blog posts continue to plead for humanity to do something about the ''man-made'' global warming trend - especially in comic [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]].

The title text suggests that gathering data about global warming is time-consuming and is the kind of stuff only a real nerd would do. Most people would rather hang out with friends, or at least spend their time with some more fun nerd activity. Randall has been known to use the title text to poke fun at himself over how much time he has spent researching topics and more generally how geeky his interests tend to be. Although the title text tries to deny this geeky behavior, he cannot help himself at the end by mentioning another ''interesting'' climate subject: ''Snowfall records''.

Climate change, especially global warming, is a [[:Category:Climate change|recurring theme]] in xkcd.

==Transcript==
:[It's cold, two Guys wearing knit caps (one knit cap is white the other black) are walking outside and the White Knit Cap Guy is shivering.]
:White Knit Cap Guy: It is '''''brutal''''' out. So much for global warming, huh?
:Black Knit Cap Guy: ''*sigh*'' This used to happen all the time.
:White Knit Cap Guy: What?

:[A dot plot showing number of days with lows below zero Fahrenheit by year since 1970.]
:Black Knit Cap Guy (off-screen): You're from St. Louis, right?
:Black Knit Cap Guy (off-screen): On average, it used to get below 0 °F there a handful of days per year.
:Black Knit Cap Guy (off-screen): But you haven't had a day like that since the nineties.
:[Above the dot plot to the left is a label in a black frame:]
:Days with lows < 0°F
:[Below the dot plot are written the years:]
:1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
:[Below again is written in small letters:]
:Source: rcc-acis.org/climatecentral

:[Black Knit Cap Guy has stopped walking.]
:Black Knit Cap Guy: Then, in 2014, when the first polar vortex hit, it dipped below zero for two days.
:Black Knit Cap Guy: And everyone freaked out

:[They continue walking.]
:Black Knit Cap Guy: because what used to be normal
:Black Knit Cap Guy: now feels too cold.
:White Knit Cap Guy: It ''is'' too cold!

:[Above the last panel is written in a black frame:]
:The Future:
:[Cueball is pointing at a patch of ice.]
:Cueball: Look at this—'''''ice!''''' In '''''St. Louis!''''' So much for global warming.
:Person off-screen: ''*sigh*''

==Trivia==
*The link to the source rcc-acis.org/climatecentral is dead. [http://www.rcc-acis.org/ rcc-acis.org/] leads to the home page of ACIS which stands for ''Applied Climate Information System'' and this page is still on-line. But it seems like the ''climatecentral'' part of the source link, is now relocated to {{w|Climate Central|Climate Central's}} own web page: [http://www.climatecentral.org/ climatecentral.org/].
*[http://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/TVMFrigidNights2014_stlouis_med.jpg The graph] can still be found in Climate Central's assets. The graph is used to illustrate the point in the following article: ''[http://www.climatecentral.org/news/extreme-cold-events-in-a-climate-context-16931 Extreme Cold is Becoming More Rare]'' were similar graphs are shown or referenced for many other US cities.
*From the graph the following info can be found:
**During the 30 years before 2000 there were 89 days with subzero Fahrenheit temperatures, averaging almost three a year.
**During that period there were only one occurrence where there were two years in a row with '''no''' subzero days. This was then followed by a gap of 14 years without.
**The maximum was 13 subzero days in 1984, but no less than three years had more than 10 subzero days.
**As these record years are all in the 8-year period from 1977 to 1984, no less than 52 of these 89 subzero days occurred in those years.
**Here are the number of days from 1970 to 2000 as read of the graph:
***1970 - 4; 1971 - 0; 1972 - 4; 1973 - 0; 1974 - 4; 1975 - 0; 1976 - 1; 1977 - 11; 1978 - 5; 1979 - 8; 1980 - 1; 1981 - 3; 1982 - 11; 1983 - 0; 1984 - 13; 1985 - 2; 1986 - 1; 1987 - 0; 1988 - 1; 1989 - 0; 1990 - 5; 1991 - 0; 1992 - 0; 1993 - 1; 1994 - 3; 1995 - 0; 1996 - 3; 1997 - 6; 1998 - 0; 1999 - 2; 2000 - 0;
***Compared with the graph in the link above, there is one mistake in Randall's version, as there were two days not only one day in 1976 according to the on-line graph.
===NOAA data for St. Louis===
'''Note''' that this is not the same data set as mentioned in xkcd as this is regarding '''freezing''' days and not '''subzero''' days!

With the full [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lsx/climate/stl/temp/temp_stl_ranked_32_0_occurrence.xls excel dataset] of the number of freezing days (i.e. below 32 °F) as obtained from the {{w|National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration}}'s homepage [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/?n=cli_archive NOAA] you get the following plot:

[[Image:stl-freeze-days-since-1874.png]]

*Blue points: Number of freezing days (<32 °F) for that year
*Red points: Number of freezing days averaged over 10 years (to make trending more readable)
*X-axis is the year (1874..2013)
*Y-axis is the number of days temperature is below 32 °F for St. Louis

From the same dataset [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lsx/climate/stl/temp/temp_stl_ranked_32_0_occurrence.xls excel dataset] we can also get the number of sub-zero days i.e. below 0 °F (which are those mentioned in the XKCD strip) - plotting those and you get the following plot:

'''Note''' that this '''IS the same''' data set as mentioned in XKCD. This is '''subzero''' days!

[[Image:stl noaa days below 0F.png]]

*Blue points: Number of sub-zero days (<0 °F) for that year
*Red points: Number of freezing days averaged over 10 years (to make trending more readable)
*X-axis is the year (1874..2013)
*Y-axis is the number of days temperature is below 0 °F for St. Louis

While there were a number of very cold years with outliers in the 1970s - then the clear overall trend is still that there are fewer days with cold weather over the years.

So while '''weather is different every year''' (which is also illustrated by the outliers) the '''climate is defined by the long term trend''' - which is the point of this cartoon.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Characters with Hats]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Weather]]

2571: Hydraulic Analogy

2022-01-22T14:40:23Z

172.70.90.115: 2010 was 12 years ago...

{{comic
| number = 2571
| date = January 21, 2022
| title = Hydraulic Analogy
| image = hydraulic_analogy.png
| titletext = Current (water) running through the water (wires) causes it to boil, increasing the pressure (voltage), but resisting (impeding) the flow of hydroelectricity (water currents). This is the basis for Ohm's law.
}}
*This was the sixth comic to come out after the [[Countdown in header text]] started.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LIQUITRICITY DEVICE, mucn more on the watery version of Ohms law from the title text is needed. And more on the diagram drawn by Cueball - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Electric flow is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvp_a_JkD2o commonly represented] by a "{{w|hydraulic analogy}}". In this analogy, the water pressure represents {{w|voltage}} and the flow of the water is the {{w|electric current}}. {{w|Electric resistance}} is represented by a constricted section of a pipe.

[[Miss Lenhart]], is teaching a class and starts to explain this analogy, when [[Cueball]] suddenly has an idea and changes her diagrams - connecting the electrical diagram and the hydraulic diagram. In doing this, he has envisioned what comes to be called a "liquitricity device", combining liquid water and electric current flows together and given a suitably {{w|portmanteau}} title.

The last panel shows that Miss Lenhart and Cueball eventually receive the {{w|Nobel Prize}}, presumably the {{w|Nobel Prize in Physics}}, for the design ''and construction'' of the device - indicating that rather than being [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|technically esoteric]] it has actually been practical to make this for real. The presenter handing them the medals [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|looks like Cueball]].

The title text 'tries' to explain how this device works and references {{w|Ohm's Law}}, one of the fundamental laws of electricity, but strangely seems as much an incomprehensible mix of the two as the diagram in explaining whatever form of {{w|Wave–particle duality|possible duality}} it actually employs.

One of the featured [[:Category:Footer comics|Footer comics]], [[730: Circuit Diagram]], displays a ''very complex'' circuit diagram. Although no pump or direct water flow can be found here, it all ends up in a beaker with holy water. And there is a symbol labeled 3 liters, at the bottom close to the beaker. This is the symbol for an orifice or flow restriction used on plumbing or hydraulic diagrams. So [[Randall]] already mixed water flow and circuit diagrams over 10 years ago.

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart stands next to a white board with two diagrams while pointing to the first. While she is explaining Cueball interrupts her from off-panel as seen by his voice coming from the right side out of a starburst on the panels edge. The diagrams are a schematic circuit diagram and a water flow diagram. There is a battery (with labels on top and bottom) on the left and a resistor on the right of the circuit as well as labels on each of these and one at the top part of the wire. There is a pump to the left and a tighter section of the pipe to the right, as well as labels on these and on the top part of the pipe. At the bottom there is two arrow pointing in towards the pipe, this also has a label.]
:Miss Lenhart: Electric current is like water flowing in a pipe. The pressure represents-
:Cueball [off-panel]: Wait, hold on.
:Labels on circuit: + - V I R
:Labels on flow diagram: Pump F R D

:[The view changes so Miss Lenhart and the white board are seen from the side. She still stands next to the white board, arms now down, as Cueball approaches the board with a marker held in one hand. The diagrams can still be seen, but distorted from being viewed from the side, and no labels are readable.]
:Cueball: Do you mind if I just...

:[Zoom in on Cueball, who is drawing on the white board, which is the left edge of the panel, i.e. not visible in the panel. Noises from the marker drawing on the board comes up from the tip of the marker pen. The movement of the pen is indicated with small lines on either side.]
:''Scribble''
:''Scribble''
:''Scribble''

:[Miss Lenhart and Cueball, holding the marker pen down, stand on either side of the white board looking at Cueball's version with the merged diagram. He has connected the two, so instead of the wire going down after the resistor in the circuit diagram, it now is connected with water flowing to the right just below the resistor, and then up into the pump to the right of the resistor. At the bottom where the water pipe before bend up into the pump, the water now continues running to the left (the pipe was not been drawn around it by Cueball), and it now flows where the bottom part of the wire, from the circuit, was before, turning up below the battery and connect with it there. All the labels from before has been retained:]
:Labels on diagram: + - V I R Pump F R D

:[Miss Lenhart and Cueball stand on a podium with a Cueball like presenter. The presenter is holding two Nobel Prize medals up in his hands. He is holding them from the strings they are attached to, so the medals hangs below his hands.]
:Presenter: And for the design and construction of the liquitricity device, the Nobel Prize goes to...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Nobel Prize]]